RTHK: Rain and landslides kill 48 in Nepal and India Heavy monsoon rains and landslides have killed almost 50 people in Nepal and India in recent days, authorities said on Sunday. In western Nepal at least 22 people died after landslides buried more than 100 houses on Friday, said police official Narayan Dangi. Eleven people were injured, including three airlifted to hospital by army helicopter. "Rescue teams are still searching for one missing person," Dangi said. A major relief operation was underway with the police and army clearing debris and distributing food, tents and clothes. Over the border in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, heavy rains have killed 26 people since Friday, officials said. The fatalities included nine labourers buried alive when a wall under construction in the state capital Lucknow collapsed on their huts, according to a government statement. The annual monsoon brings South Asia 70-80 percent of its annual rain but it also brings death and destruction, with nearly 1,400 people killed in Pakistan in recent weeks. The rainfall is hard to forecast and varies considerably, but scientists believe that climate change is making the monsoon stronger and more erratic. (AFP) This story has been published on: 2022-09-18. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site. 0108263 License for publishing multimedia online Registration Number: 130349 Registration Number: 130349 Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism. President Joe Biden recently met several hate crime survivors including Vilma Kari, the 66-year-old victim of a violent incident in New York City during the United We Stand Summit at the White House on Thursday. The recent summit was hosted to counter the corrosive effects of hate-fueled violence on our democracy and public safety and honor the resilience of communities who are healing from hateful attacks, including mass shootings, from Oak Creek to Orlando, Charleston, Pittsburgh, El Paso, Atlanta, Buffalo, and beyond, the White House said. In addition to meeting the survivors, Biden also met the relatives of mass shooting victims. More from NextShark: India confirms Asias first recorded monkeypox death Kari was one of the hate crime victims invited to the event. The 66-year-old was walking in Midtown Manhattan on March 29, 2021, when a man, later identified as 38-year-old Brandon Elliot, suddenly attacked her in front of an apartment building. NYPD says 65-year-old Asian American woman was walking to church this morning when suspect assaulted her and said f*** you, you dont belong here. Happened in front of 360 W. 43rd St. 11:40am. Sources say building security guard not only failed to render her aid... 1/2 pic.twitter.com/ZLtQEHHJci CeFaan Kim (@CeFaanKim) March 30, 2021 More from NextShark: 40 More Women Come Forward Against Columbia University Doctor After Evelyn Yang Breaks Silence In addition to injuries to her body and head, the Filipino American victim suffered a fractured pelvis after being punched and kicked by Elliot, who was eventually arrested and charged with two counts of assault as a hate crime and attempted assault as a hate crime, among other charges. Story continues More from NextShark: Philly Restaurant Sparks Outrage With COVID Mac Chinese Chili Dish Kari's daughter, Elizabeth, founded AAP(I belong) following the violent incident involving her mother. The nonprofit organization was established as a place to share stories and words of encouragement from those who have encountered anti-Asian hatred. As President Biden and his administration are calling for an end to hate fueled violence in our country, they had asked my mom to join a panel to share her story as a survivor and her thoughts of how we can overcome hate, Elizabeth wrote in AAP(I belong)s recent Instagram post. We were able to underline the importance of our AAP(I belong) nonprofit and its initiative of showcasing anonymous stories of encounters with anti-Asian hate and creating a sense of community around these somber shared experiences, highlighting the importance of this issue, she added. People can share their experiences or stories on the nonprofits website and can also submit their entries anonymously. View this post on Instagram A post shared by AAP(I belong) (@aapibelong) "All those stories [on racism, anti-Asian attacks], we sort of compiled them. Last year, we did a pop-up, an exhibition at the Museum of Chinese in America in New York and we exposed those stories, whats happening to our community, Elizabeth said. View this post on Instagram A post shared by AAP(I belong) (@aapibelong) During the summit, Biden condemned white supremacy and declared that all forms of hate fueled by violence have no place in America. As to those who say, we bring this up, we just divide the country bring it up, we silence it, instead of remaining silenced. For in silence, wounds deepen, Biden said. Im calling on Congress to get rid of special immunity for social media companies and impose much stronger transparency requirements on all of them." Featured Image via @CeFaanKim (left), The White House (right) We can readily understand why investors are attracted to unprofitable companies. For example, although Amazon.com made losses for many years after listing, if you had bought and held the shares since 1999, you would have made a fortune. Nonetheless, only a fool would ignore the risk that a loss making company burns through its cash too quickly. Given this risk, we thought we'd take a look at whether Opthea (ASX:OPT) shareholders should be worried about its cash burn. In this article, we define cash burn as its annual (negative) free cash flow, which is the amount of money a company spends each year to fund its growth. The first step is to compare its cash burn with its cash reserves, to give us its 'cash runway'. Check out our latest analysis for Opthea How Long Is Opthea's Cash Runway? A company's cash runway is calculated by dividing its cash hoard by its cash burn. When Opthea last reported its balance sheet in June 2022, it had zero debt and cash worth US$45m. Importantly, its cash burn was US$71m over the trailing twelve months. Therefore, from June 2022 it had roughly 8 months of cash runway. Notably, analysts forecast that Opthea will break even (at a free cash flow level) in about 4 years. That means unless the company reduces its cash burn quickly, it may well look to raise more cash. Depicted below, you can see how its cash holdings have changed over time. How Is Opthea's Cash Burn Changing Over Time? In the last year, Opthea did book revenue of US$199k, but its revenue from operations was less, at just US$91k. We don't think that's enough operating revenue for us to understand too much from revenue growth rates, since the company is growing off a low base. So we'll focus on the cash burn, today. Over the last year its cash burn actually increased by a very significant 57%. While this spending increase is no doubt intended to drive growth, if the trend continues the company's cash runway will shrink very quickly. While the past is always worth studying, it is the future that matters most of all. So you might want to take a peek at how much the company is expected to grow in the next few years. How Hard Would It Be For Opthea To Raise More Cash For Growth? Since its cash burn is moving in the wrong direction, Opthea shareholders may wish to think ahead to when the company may need to raise more cash. Issuing new shares, or taking on debt, are the most common ways for a listed company to raise more money for its business. Commonly, a business will sell new shares in itself to raise cash and drive growth. By looking at a company's cash burn relative to its market capitalisation, we gain insight on how much shareholders would be diluted if the company needed to raise enough cash to cover another year's cash burn. Opthea's cash burn of US$71m is about 23% of its US$313m market capitalisation. That's fairly notable cash burn, so if the company had to sell shares to cover the cost of another year's operations, shareholders would suffer some costly dilution. Is Opthea's Cash Burn A Worry? Opthea is not in a great position when it comes to its cash burn situation. While its cash burn relative to its market cap wasn't too bad, its cash runway does leave us rather nervous. Shareholders can take heart from the fact that analysts are forecasting it will reach breakeven. After looking at that range of measures, we think shareholders should be extremely attentive to how the company is using its cash, as the cash burn makes us uncomfortable. Separately, we looked at different risks affecting the company and spotted 4 warning signs for Opthea (of which 2 make us uncomfortable!) you should know about. Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of companies insiders are buying, and this list of stocks growth stocks (according to analyst forecasts) Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Join A Paid User Research Session Youll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here Former NFL great Herschel Walker admits hes not that smart as he seeks to downplay expectations for his upcoming Georgia Senate debate with Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) The Republican retired football great claimed hes just a bumpkin who wouldnt have a chance of out-talking the erudite Warnock when they spar face-to-face on Oct. 14. Im a country boy. ... Hes a preacher, Walker said. [Warnock] is smart and wears these nice suits. Walker, who starred for the University of Georgia and in the National Football League, warned supporters not to expect much from him when the pair face off. He is going to show up and embarrass me at the debate, Walker said. Im just waiting to show up, and I will do my best. Walker has run a rocky campaign and has faced attacks over his previous violent threats against his ex-wife. He suggested climate change couldnt be real. He also admitted failing to acknowledge three children from former relationships, even though he often speaks about the importance of Black men being responsible fathers. Walker, who grew up in rural Wrightsville, Ga., is down in most polls to Warnock, who is also the pastor of Atlantas iconic Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once preached. The November race is likely to be close as the two parties are evenly matched in the Peach State. It will help determine control of the Senate, with Democrats favored to hold onto their razor-thin edge. Warnock and Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), who is not up for reelection, won their seats last year, becoming the first Democrats in decades to win statewide office. President Biden also narrowly beat former President Donald Trump in 2020 in an election that cemented Georgias status as a battleground state. Reuters (Reuters) -A U.S. judge on Friday dismissed Mexico's $10 billion lawsuit seeking to hold U.S. gun manufacturers responsible for facilitating the trafficking of a deadly flood of weapons across the U.S.-Mexico border to drug cartels. The decision by Chief Judge F. Dennis Saylor in federal court in Boston is a victory for Smith & Wesson Brands Inc, Sturm, Ruger & Co and others accused of undermining Mexico's strict gun laws by designing, marketing and selling military-style assault weapons that cartels could use. Mexico said it would appeal the decision. Sep. 19Honolulu police opened an attempted murder investigation in Ewa Beach this afternoon. According to a police media notification, the incident occurred about 3 :31 p.m. at 91-101 Papipi Road. Further details are not yet available. It was just Sept. 8 when Honolulu police opened up an earlier second-degree attempted murder investigation for an alleged shooting in the same location. In that earlier case, police said a 44-year-old homeless man reported being shot at Oneula Beach Park, also known as Hau Bush, by an unknown suspect who fled in a vehicle at about 8 :50 p.m.According to the Honolulu Emergency Medical Services Department, the man sustained a gunshot wound to his groin. Paramedics treated him and took him in serious condition to a hospital. Ewa Beach became the newest location to scale up its Weed and Seed crime reduction program in August. The multiagency program seeks to "weed out " criminals from a particular district and then "seed " communities by investing in social and economic revitalization. The program began scaling up its Chinatown and Kalihi-Palama program in July 2021 and added Pearl City /Waipahu on July 1. This latest attempted murder investigation follows a Thursday town hall meeting convened by Honolulu City Councilmember Andria Tupola, who represents Ewa Beach, to address the rise in crime in West Oahu. HPD Chief of Police, Arthur "Joe " Logan, and First Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Thomas J. Brady spoke at the event. ISLAMABAD (AP) Pakistan said Monday there have been no fatalities for the past three days from the deadly floods that engulfed the country since mid-June, a hopeful sign that the nation is turning a corner on the disaster. Since the start of the unprecedented monsoon rains and flooding, 1,545 people have died and thousands more have been injured. The floods have affected 33 million people, leaving hundreds of thousands homeless. Swelling waters have swept away villages, roads and bridges, and at one point inundated a third of Pakistan's territory. In the aftermath of the devastation, doctors and medical workers are battling the increase in waterborne diseases and other infections, and struggling to treat the sick and deliver medicines, food supplies and tents to people displaced by the floods. The National Disaster Management Authority said the waters have now returned to normal levels in all rivers, lakes and reservoirs. Experts have said the flooding was worsened by climate change. According to the provincial health department in Sindh, the country's worst-hit province, a total of 68,418 patients were registered there on Sunday. Hundreds of villages in Sindh remain under water. Last week, doctors said they treated 90,000 patients at medical and makeshift camps across the province. Most of the patients, mainly women and children, suffer from waterborne diseases, skin infections and dengue fever, the Sindh health department said. Among those killed by the floods in Pakistan this summer were 552 children and 315 women. Last week, the U.N. children's agency said more deaths from diseases can be avoided by ensuring medical facilities in flood-affected areas were adequately supplied. I have been in flood-affected areas ... the situation for families is beyond bleak, and the stories I heard paint a desperate picture," said Abdullah Fadil, the UNICEF representative in Pakistan, adding that young mothers were exhausted or ill and unable to breastfeed their babies. Story continues All of us on the ground see malnourished children, battling diarrhea and malaria, dengue fever, and many with painful skin conditions," Fadil added. A lot of the mothers are anemic and malnourished themselves and have very low-weight babies." Fadil has said the floods have affected 16 million children. Pakistani authorities have set up more than 13,000 medical camps in flood-hit areas in Sindh. Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, who is in New York to attend the gathering of world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly, urged the international community to send more help to flood victims. Sharif is expected to make another appeal for help at the U.N. event. Alabama Florence: An inmate who authorities say escaped with the help of a jail supervisor who later killed herself shared nearly 1,000 phone calls with the woman before the breakout, news outlets report. Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton said Casey White and Vicky White, who were not related, may have planned his escape over the phone, but authorities must listen to each of 949 calls before making a determination. Authorities have said the two were in a romantic relationship, and Singleton said at least some of the calls were sexual in nature. The phone calls occurred after Casey White was transferred from the Lauderdale County Jail to a state prison where he was held until being returned to Lauderdale County before the escape, the sheriff said. Casey White walked out of the jail in handcuffs in April accompanied by Vicky White, the assistant corrections director, prompting an 11-day search for the pair. On the day of the escape, Vicky White, 56, told co-workers she was driving the inmate to a mental health evaluation. The two were eventually discovered in Indiana, where Casey White was captured. Vicky White shot herself in the head moments before the man was arrested, authorities said. Casey White was charged with escape and murder in her death. The defense has filed documents suggesting Vicky White was in charge of the escape. Alaska Anchorage: A powerful storm sweeping north through the Bering Strait on Saturday caused widespread flooding in several western Alaska coastal communities, knocking out power and sending residents fleeing for higher ground. The force of the water moved some homes off their foundations, and one house in Nome floated down a river until it got caught at a bridge. The potent storm what remains of Typhoon Merbok has been influencing weather patterns as far away as California. In Alaska, no injuries or deaths were immediately reported, said Jeremy Zidek, spokesperson for the Alaska Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. Officials had warned that some places could see their worst flooding in 50 years and that the high waters could take up to 14 hours to recede. Gov. Mike Dunleavy issued a disaster declaration during the day. The nearly 1,000-mile storm front has damaged roads and potentially other infrastructure, Dunleavy said at a Saturday evening news conference. Officials will evaluate any effects on water and sewer systems, seawalls, fuel storage areas, airports, and ports. Federal Emergency Management Agency representatives were already in Alaska before the storm, and Dunleavy said they will stay to help assess damage. Arizona Phoenix: The Republican leaders of the Arizona Legislature will not try to defend a new law limiting up-close filming of police that has been blocked by a federal judge, a decision that essentially ends the fight over the contentious proposal. Senate President Karen Fann and House Speaker Rusty Bowers both said they would not intervene in the case by the Friday deadline set by the federal judge when he temporarily blocked the new law from taking effect last week on First Amendment grounds. And the bills sponsor, Republican state Rep. John Kavanagh, said Friday that he has been unable to find an outside group to defend the law, which was challenged by news media organizations and the American Civil Liberties Union. The groups will now ask that the law, which was set to take effect next week, be permanently blocked. Kavanagh said he will review U.S. District Judge John J. Tuchis ruling and see if he can craft a law that passes constitutional muster. He said the law is needed to keep people from distracting police trying to make an arrest, but Tuchi agreed with the challengers that it runs afoul of precedents that say the public and press have a right to film police doing their jobs. Tuchi noted there are already Arizona laws barring interfering with police and said singling out people for taking videos appears to be unconstitutional on its face. Arkansas Little Rock: Former White House press secretary Sarah Sanders, a Republican who is running for governor, was released from a hospital Saturday after undergoing surgery for thyroid cancer. Following successful surgery on Friday to remove her thyroid and surrounding lymph nodes and in consultation with her physician, Sarah was discharged from an Arkansas hospital cancer-free, said Sanders spokesperson Judd Deere. She will spend the remaining portion of her recovery at home. Deere told the Associated Press that Sanders, 40, planned to resume campaigning soon, but it was not known precisely when she would return. Sanders said Friday when announcing the surgery that a biopsy earlier this month revealed she had thyroid cancer. Dr. John R. Sims, a surgeon at CARTI Cancer Center in Little Rock who is one of Sanders doctors, said her cancer was a stage 1 papillary thyroid carcinoma, the most common type of thyroid cancer, and said she has an excellent prognosis. Sims said Sanders will need adjuvant treatment with radioactive iodine and long-term continuing care. Sanders, who served as ex-President Donald Trumps spokeswoman until 2019, is running against Democratic nominee Chris Jones. She is the daughter of former Gov. Mike Huckabee. California San Francisco: A new state law will help military service members who were discharged under dont ask, dont tell policies because of their sexual or gender identities to reestablish their eligibility for Veterans Affairs benefits, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Saturday. For decades, our bravest heroes, men and women who wore the uniforms of the armed services had to hide who they really were, and many were other than honorably discharged if their sexuality was discovered, Newsom said in a statement after announcing he had signed the bill. Gays and lesbians were banned in the military until the 1993 approval of dont ask, dont tell, the policy that allowed them to serve only if they did not openly acknowledge their sexual orientation. Rather than helping, advocates say, it created more problems. Repeal of the law was approved by Congress and then-President Barack Obama in late 2010 and took effect nine months later, allowing lesbian, gay and bisexual people to serve openly. The Department of Defense subsequently created a path for veterans who had been discharged under the policy to receive the full range of veterans benefits. But many veterans sadly dont know or cant even access this important process, Newsom said, adding that some have had to hire expensive legal counsel to navigate the process. Were taking steps to fix this. Colorado Craig Station, near Craig, Colo, is one of the largest coal-fired power plants in the West, burning coal mined from leased Bureau of Land Management to generate electricity for Colorado and several other states. Denver: Stricter air quality regulations are coming for northern Colorado businesses after the Environmental Protection Agency on Friday downgraded the area to a category for severe violators of ozone standards. Drivers may have to pay higher gas prices, too, because the reclassification prohibits the sale of conventional gasoline within one year. State environmental officials, however, believe they can achieve better air quality without needing to switch to the reformulated blend of gasoline the EPA requires, Colorado Air Pollution Control Division spokesperson Leah Schleifer said in a news release. Colorado has asked the EPA to reassess that requirement and consider the states alternative plan. The gasoline blend would raise gas prices 20-30 cents per gallon, AAA estimates, according to the Denver Post. The area includes a large swath of northern Colorado including Denver, Boulder, Greeley, Fort Collins and Loveland. Colorado estimates it will issue more stringent permits for 600 oil and gas facilities and about 100 more industrial sites, the news release said. The Colorado area was one of six areas to get downgraded by the EPA along with the Chicago area; Texas Dallas-Forth Worth and Houston areas; parts of Connecticut and the New York-New Jersey-Long Island area; and the Morongo Band of Mission Indians in Southern California. Connecticut Waterbury: Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who is on trial in Connecticut for calling the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre a hoax, continued Friday to describe the proceedings as a kangaroo court from his Infowars studio in Texas. Jones commentary became a focus of testimony on the fourth day of the trial, with a lawyer for the Sandy Hook families questioning a corporate representative for Jones Infowars brand about how seriously the company was taking the trial. The lawyer, Christopher Mattei, showed the jury a photo he said was of an Infowars webpage, depicting the judge in the trial with lasers shooting out of her eyes. On a scale of one to 10, how seriously is Infowars taking this trial? Mattei asked the corporate representative, Brittany Paz. Ten. Its serious to me, Paz responded. The exchange occurred as Jones prepares to attend the trial in Waterbury this week and as the judge, Barbara Bellis, considers a request by the families lawyers to limit what Jones and his lawyer can say and argue in court. Jones is expected to testify, but its not clear yet when. They are pretending to the world that its an actual trial, but Im guilty when I get there, and I cant say Im innocent, Jones said on his Infowars web show Friday. Everybody fundamentally knows thats a fraud. Delaware Rehoboth Beach: In future summers, the edges of the citys boardwalk could have a new, larger look. Multiple plans are in the works to build hotels in Rehoboth Beach, one of Delawares most popular destinations that keeps getting busier. In the coming years, when beachgoers look back on the avenue from the sand, there will likely be more oceanfront balconies and windows than one-story shops. Two projects could shake up the end of the boardwalk. The longtime owner of the Candy Kitchen corner wants to build a 100-plus room building there in the image of a mid-20th-century hotel. Across the avenue, Grotto Pizza is taking over the former Dolles with plans for a restaurant and hotel. Elsewhere on Rehoboth Avenue, a motel is being renovated into a boutique hotel. A court battle will decide whether an office strip is replaced by another hotel. District of Columbia Washington: Local officials will consider legislation Tuesday to support migrants bused into the district from Texas and Arizona, WUSA-TV reports. The DC Council plans to vote on an emergency bill introduced by Councilmember Brianne Nadeau at the request of Mayor Muriel Bowser. The measure calls for the establishment of welcome and reception services and the provision of food, clothing, medical services, cash assistance and other necessities for migrants. But the proposal has some residents worried about unintended consequences. The Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless called the legislation a poison apple Thursday. LegalAidDC tweeted Friday that the council should reject the bill in its current form, saying it will weaken basic protections that all unhoused individuals & families deserve when they seek help in the District. The group also said in a statement that it is concerned about the unchecked powers it would give the mayor. The Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid Network has repeatedly taken issue with Bowsers claims that the overwhelming majority of migrants do not want to stay in D.C. once they arrive, saying that takes focus off the need to support those migrants who do want to stay in the capital. Local nonprofits say almost all the people arriving are asylum-seekers with pending immigration cases. Florida Fort Lauderdale: Attorneys for school shooter Nikolas Cruz asked for the judge in his murder case to remove herself Friday, two days after she scolded them when they abruptly rested their case after calling only a fraction of their expected witnesses. The Broward Public Defenders Office said in a motion that Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer held a long-standing animosity toward lead defense lawyer Melisa McNeill. The motion cited Floridas Judicial Code of Conduct that states a judge shall disqualify himself or herself if the judges impartiality might reasonably be questioned, including but not limited to instances in which the judge has a personal bias or prejudice concerning a party or a partys lawyer. Defense attorneys said Scherers repeated improper and unjustified attacks on the defense counsel undermine the publics confidence in the judicial system and have also caused Cruz to fear that he will not receive a fair trial. Prosecutors said in a response that Scherer has been respectful to both sides. Cruzs attorneys had told the judge and prosecutors they would be calling 80 witnesses but surprisingly rested at the start of Wednesdays court session after calling only about 25 of them. Scherer called the decision without warning to her or the prosecution the most uncalled for, unprofessional way to try a case. Georgia Decatur: Stacey Abrams, the Democratic nominee for governor, is launching an intensive effort to get out the vote by urging potential supporters to cast in-person ballots the first week of early voting as she tries to navigate the states new election laws. The strategy, outlined to the Associated Press by Abrams top aides, is a shift from 2018, when she spent generously in her first gubernatorial bid to encourage voters to use mail ballots. It also moves away from Democrats pandemic-era emphasis on mail voting, a push that delivered Georgias electoral votes to President Joe Biden and helped Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff win concurrent U.S. Senate runoffs to give Democrats control of Capitol Hill. Republicans, including Abrams opponent, Gov. Brian Kemp, answered in 2021 with sweeping election changes that, among other provisions, dramatically curtailed drop boxes for mail ballots, added wrinkles to mail ballot applications and ballot return forms, and made it easier to challenge an individual voters eligibility. But it also expanded in-person voting. Its self-evident we have to have a big early vote in-person, said Abrams campaign manager Lauren Groh-Wargo, arguing the new mail ballot procedures make it risky for Democrats to rely too heavily on that option. Whats not self-evident, Groh-Wargo said, is how the hell you do that. Hawaii Honolulu: A business owner and a Maui County official have been charged with bribery and public corruption involving more than $2 million in cash and gifts, federal court documents unsealed Thursday showed. Milton Choy, the owner of a Honolulu company that provides wastewater services and supplies, is accused of bribing Stewart Olani Stant, who was a wastewater manager and then director of the Maui County Department of Environmental Management. Choy provided Stant with cash deposited directly to Stants bank accounts, plus gambling chips and trips to Las Vegas, U.S. Attorney for Hawaii Clare Connors said at a news conference. In return, prosecutors said Choy received upward of $19 million in business contracts from the county. Messages left for Stant on various social media sites were not immediately returned. Listed phone numbers had been disconnected. Choy took responsibility for his actions and admitted everything he did to federal investigators, said his attorney Michael Green. He gave unprotected statements thats where you dont ask for a lawyer, and you you sit down with the agents and tell them what you did. And he did that, Green said. The two will be arraigned in federal court Monday. Idaho Lewiston: Huckleberries are highly sought after, but the coveted mountain fruit was difficult to find across much of northern Idaho and eastern Washington this year. Pickers were able to locate some productive plants and patches, but they frequently encountered healthy bushes that had few berries or none at all, The Lewiston Tribune reports. In general terms, this is not a very good year, said Wayne Kasworm, a grizzly bear biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service who tracks huckleberry production in the Selkirk, Cabinet and Yaak mountain ranges. With a changing climate, scientists like him increasingly are tracking huckleberries that are an important food source for grizzly bears and other wildlife and coveted by people as well. Native Americans have harvested huckleberries for thousands of years and continue to do so today. The small berries with a pleasant mix of sweet and tart are targeted by recreational and commercial pickers as well. They are used to make pies, ice cream and other desserts, as well as being added to pancakes, milkshakes and smoothies. Grizzlies depend on the berries as a key food source. The other thing Ive learned in the process of doing this work is just how many other species rely on huckleberries. Its really a keystone species, said Tabitah Graves, a U.S. Geological Survey scientist. Illinois Chicago: Two police officers face felony charges for allegedly shooting and seriously wounding an unarmed man during a July shootout on the citys southwest side that also wounded a second man, authorities said Friday. Sgt. Christopher Liakopoulos, 43, and Officer Ruben Reynoso, 42, of the Chicago Police Department, have been charged with one count each of aggravated battery with a firearm, aggravated discharge of a firearm and official misconduct, said Cook County States Attorney Kim Foxx. She said the officers were relieved of their police powers Thursday before they turned themselves in to authorities. Foxx said both officers are being charged with having fired their shots that wounded an unarmed 23-year-old man identified separately Friday through a civil court filing as Miguel Medina on July 22 in the citys Pilsen neighborhood. That man has since recovered and is cooperating with the investigation, she said. The victim who was shot and injured in this incident was not in possession of a weapon, nor did he fire a weapon at these two officers, Foxx said during a news conference. The officers were heading to a morning training course and were in plain clothes at the time of the shooting. They werent wearing their police body cameras because they were going to training, Assistant States Attorney Alyssa Janicki said. Prosecutors later obtained surveillance video from the area. Indiana Elkhart: A staffer for U.S. Rep. Jackie Walorski was trying to pass a flatbed truck on a northern Indiana highway last month when the SUV in which they were traveling crashed into an oncoming car, killing Walorski and three other people, police said Friday. A witness traveling behind the SUV told investigators it sped up, crossed the centerline of the two-lane highway as it neared the truck, and pulled into the path of the other car when the crash happened about 12:30 p.m. Aug. 3, according to the Elkhart County Sheriffs Office. Airbag control module data from the SUV driven by Zachery Potts, 27, who was Walorskis district director, showed it was going 77 mph at the time of the crash on a rural stretch of Indiana 19 near the town of Wakarusa, the office said. All of the evidence and information gathered is consistent with someone attempting to pass another vehicle on a two-lane roadway, the sheriffs office said in a statement. Walorski, 58, was a Republican first elected in 2012 and was seeking reelection this year to a sixth term. The sheriffs office released statements from the county coroner ruling the deaths of Walorski and the others as accidental from injuries suffered in the crash. Investigators blamed the crash on Potts for driving left of center with a contributing factor of excessive speed. Iowa A look at plans for the Scott Avenue Dam. Des Moines: The Iowa Confluence Water Trails project received a big boost Friday when Gov. Kim Reynolds announced she will allocate $7 million in federal funding for its construction. Though backers of the project aim to develop outdoor attractions across 150 miles of waterways in central Iowa, the governor allocated the latest round of funding to one of the projects focal points: the Scott Avenue dam development at the confluence of the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers in downtown Des Moines. Developers plan to turn the low-head dam into two whitewater features for rafting, kayaking, canoeing, tubing and surfing. They also expect to add trails, a plaza and fishing areas. The latest grant represents about 13% of the $53.5 million budget for the development. The water trails comprise one of two Des Moines projects that received federal money through the states Destination Iowa program Friday, with the governor allocating $1 million to renovation of the Val Air Ballroom in West Des Moines. Reynolds also awarded Council Bluffs and the Southwest Iowa Nonprofit for Collaborative Impact $4.9 million for a joint plan to redevelop a stretch of that citys Missouri River frontage. Kansas Topeka: Hundreds of thousands of dollars of COVID-19 relief funds spent by state and local governments could have violated federal rules or were ill-advised, a report released Wednesday by the Legislatures nonpartisan auditing office showed. The audit comes as state officials are still grappling with how to spend millions in federal pandemic relief, with the process to dole out the money coming under fire over transparency concerns. Of the $18 million in expenditures by county governments, nonprofits and businesses reviewed by the Division of Legislative Post Audit, officials flagged $1.1 million in spending as ill-advised, with an additional $264,000 considered wasteful or excessive. And while 85% of funding was considered to be clearly allowable under federal guidelines, it was unclear whether $2.7 million in spending was acceptable. Another $48,000 was deemed to likely not be allowed. Potentially problematic expenditures ranged from a recipient of a small-business grant who conducted a festival to the purchase of electronic signs, sports equipment and office supplies by local governments. In Bourbon County, officials gave a vendor $450,000 to start a grocery store in a part of Fort Scott considered to be a food desert only to see the store close after a few months. Kentucky Paducah: When 14-year-old Michael Carneal opened fire on his fellow students during a morning prayer meeting in 1997, school shootings were not yet a part of the national consciousness. The carnage that left three students dead and five more injured at Heath High School, near Paducah, ended when Carneal put down his weapon, and the principal walked him to the school office a scene that seems unimaginable today. Also stretching todays imagination: Carneals life sentence guaranteed an opportunity for parole after 25 years, the maximum sentence permissible at the time given his age. A quarter-century later, Carneal is 39 with a parole hearing this week that comes at a very different time in American life after Columbine, after Sandy Hook, after Parkland, after Uvalde. Today, police officers and metal detectors are an accepted presence in many schools, and even kindergartners are drilled to prepare for active shooters. Twenty-five years seemed like so long, so far away, Missy Jenkins Smith recalls thinking at the time of the sentencing. Jenkins Smith was 15 when she was shot by Carneal, someone she considered a friend. The bullet left her paralyzed, and she uses a wheelchair to get around. The shooting at Heath High School took place Dec. 1, 1997, less than four months before a shooting in Jonesboro, Arkansas. Carneals parole hearing is scheduled to start Monday with testimony from those injured in the shooting and close relatives of those who were killed. Louisiana Baton Rouge: Families and businesses in Tangipahoa Parish are a step closer to getting paid for flood damages in 1983 caused by the construction of Interstate 12. A $95 million payment was approved Friday by the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget, The Advocate reports. The committees action allows the money to be moved to an escrow account and eventually to the 1,246 victims, 400 families and 96 businesses harmed. This is the single final payment that resolves the entirety of the lawsuit, Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne said. When those payments will be made is unclear. The state earlier put $6 million into an account for the plaintiffs, which means the total settlement is $101 million, the newspaper reports. Dardenne said he is confident a district judge will approve the payment, which will then allow a special master to decide how much individuals and businesses are owed. Rains on April 6, 1983, flooded about 6,000 homes in the Baton Rouge area. In Tangipahoa Parish, east of Baton Rouge, the newly opened I-12 acted like a large levee and resulted in water from the Tangipahoa River being diverted into homes and businesses. In 1999, a jury decided that the I-12 bridge over the river did not change elevation crossing the river as it should have and awarded plaintiffs in $92 million. However, nothing happened for years while the state Department of Transportation and Development appealed, and the Legislature declined to approve the award. Maine Augusta: Wild blueberries were smaller this summer in the barrens of Maine, where the sweet crop expanse dominates treeless plains of sandy soil. Some of the lowbush berries started shriveling or ripened too quickly, hitting the dry ground before harvest season began. The drought-stressed plants were speeding up their production process. Lobster and blueberries go hand-in-hand when people think of Maine. The states iconic wild blueberries are one of only three fruits native to North America, and theyre loaded with twice the antioxidants of their ordinary crop equivalent. There are 36,000 acres of commercial wild blueberry land in the state, and the crops total value reaches tens of millions of dollars each year. But climate change-induced drought is threatening the superfood fruit, particularly the native lowbush species in Maine where irrigation systems are few and far between. With climate change creating a world of extremes in New England longer and more frequent dry spells punctuated by deluges of rain within shorter periods of time the regions blueberry farmers face the task of adapting. In every season, there are all of these different weather events that can happen that can increase or decrease the crop, said Lily Calderwood, extension wild blueberry specialist and assistant professor of horticulture at the University of Maine. Every year is a new adventure. And because of climate change, we have seasonal droughts that occur more frequently now. Maryland Baltimore: A court hearing has been set for Monday to consider a request from prosecutors to vacate the 2000 murder conviction of Adnan Syed, whose case was chronicled in the hit podcast Serial. Baltimore Circuit Judge Melissa Phinn scheduled the hearing for 2 p.m., The Baltimore Sun reports. The development comes after Baltimore prosecutors filed a motion Wednesday saying a lengthy investigation conducted with the defense had uncovered new evidence that could undermine the conviction of Syed. He has served more than 20 years in prison for the strangling of his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee, who was 18 when she was killed in 1999. Her body was found buried in a Baltimore park. Syed, 42, has maintained his innocence for decades and captured the attention of millions in 2014 when the debut season of the Serial podcast focused on the case and raised doubts about some of the evidence, including cellphone tower data. Prosecutors said in their motion that they werent asserting that Syed is innocent but that they lacked confidence in the integrity of the conviction and recommended he be released on his own recognizance or bail. We believe that keeping Mr. Syed detained as we continue to investigate the case with everything that we know now, when we do not have confidence in results of the first trial, would be unjust, States Attorney Marilyn Mosby said. Massachusetts Boston: Taxpayers can look forward to seeing a return of some of their tax dollars this year, Gov. Charlie Baker said Friday. The announcement came after the state auditors office certified that tax revenues exceeded allowable revenues under a little-noticed 1986 law that kicked in due to the states soaring tax collections. As a result, taxpayers are on tap to claim a share of more than $2.9 billion dollars. Those eligible will receive refunds automatically as a check sent through the mail or via direct deposit. Distribution of refunds is expected to begin in November. In general, eligible taxpayers will receive a credit in the form of a refund that is approximately 13% of their Massachusetts Tax Year 2021 personal income tax liability, officials said. To be eligible, individuals must have filed a 2021 state tax return on or before Oct. 17, 2022. An individuals credit may be reduced due to unpaid taxes, unpaid child support or certain other debts. Michigan Detroit: A judge on Friday signed off on a fund for more than 1,000 people who said they were sexually assaulted by a University of Michigan doctor an order that allows victims to start collecting a portion of a $490 million settlement negotiated with the school. The University of Michigan offers its heartfelt apology for the abuse perpetrated by the late Robert Anderson. We hope this settlement helps the healing process for survivors, said Paul Brown, chairman of the schools governing board. Anderson died in 2008 after working at the university for nearly 40 years. He was director of the campus Health Service and a physician for multiple sports teams, including football. Former athletes, students and others who had no connection to the university mostly men said they were molested by Anderson during routine physicals or other visits. The settlement was announced in January, but the final details took months to wrap up. The university said the deal recently got approval from 98% of claimants. Its been a long road, said Richard Schulte, a lead negotiator for Andersons victims. Im very happy for the survivors and glad I could get it across the finish line. Six percent, or $30 million, of the settlement will be set aside for people who step forward later with claims. Minnesota St. Paul: Democratic Gov. Tim Walz agreed Saturday to two additional debates against Scott Jensen, following complaints from the Republican challenger that Walz is ducking him. The candidates will meet for an Oct. 18 debate sponsored by a group of television stations that includes KEYC in Mankato, KTTC in Rochester, KBJR in Duluth and KXJB in Fargo, North Dakota. Another debate is scheduled for Oct. 28 on Minnesota Public Radio. Jensen called Walzs announcement a classic case of too little, too late because early voting begins this week. Jensen, a former state senator, and Walz previously debated at Farmfest, a yearly agricultural expo near Redwood Falls. The Walz campaign said that holding three debates matches the number of forums that were held in the U.S. Senate elections won by Amy Klobuchar in 2018 and Tina Smith in both 2018 and 2020. Both debates will be streamed online, according to Walzs campaign. Mississippi Jackson: The citys water crisis isnt over, even if its boil-water advisory was lifted Thursday. While the state stopped handing out free bottled water at sites around Jackson on Saturday night, the city said water pressure still hasnt been fully restored, and state health officials said lead in some pipes remains so worrisome that pregnant women and young children should still use bottled water. The water thats coming out of my kitchen sink smells like fresh sewage as soon as you turn it on, it hits you right in the face. Its horrible, resident and mother Carey Wooten said earlier this month. Ive tried to give one of my dogs the water, but when she smells it, she wont even touch it. She walks away from it. Wooten said Friday that the liquid flowing into her kitchen sink still smells like sewage, but not as bad as before, and shes glad she wont have to run to distribution sites before their bottled water supplies run out each day. Other residents said Friday that their water remains too discolored to count on, so now theyll have to rely on water distribution by community-run charities or buy water again themselves, adding insult to injury. Residents, politicians, experts and activists say systemic racism is the root cause of the crisis. White flight that began accelerating around 1980, a decade after the citys schools began integrating, left less revenue to maintain infrastructure. Middle-class Black people then moved out to escape urban decay and rising crime. State and federal spending never made up the difference. Missouri Clayton: A convicted felon accused of livestreaming threats to bomb and kill people while dressed as Batman villain the Joker was sentenced Friday to 60 days in jail, with credit for several months served after his arrest. Jeremy Garnier, 51, of University City, was sentenced after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge of making a terrorist threat. Prosecutors reduced the charge from a felony for the March 2020 incident. Garnier told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he never intended to make a threat and pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor to avoid many more months in jail. I was talking like the Joker, Garnier said Saturday in an interview. I was in character. Everybody knew that it was a joke and that I had no intentions of following through with a threat. Garnier told the Post-Dispatch he served more than 20 years in federal and state prison for robbing a credit union in the 1980s and for other felonies in order to support his crack habit. He said he is now sober and wants to use his platform to raise awareness about the opioid epidemic. He said he has learned another hard lesson. Think before you act, he said. Your actions have repercussions. No matter how trivial and joking I thought it was, people took it seriously. Montana Helena: A judge has determined three laws passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature to regulate activities on university campuses are unconstitutional, including one that sought to ban transgender women from participating on female collegiate sports teams. Montanas Constitution gives the state board of regents full authority to govern public college campuses and precludes state lawmakers from imposing their own rules, District Court Judge Rienne McElyea said in a ruling issued Wednesday that was emailed to attorneys in the case Friday. Her ruling noted that the Montana Supreme Court recently affirmed the same conclusion in a challenge to a bill that sought to allow more people to carry guns on campuses. The ruling was the second judicial setback of the week on laws passed by Montanas 2021 Legislature that affected transgender residents. A different state judge on Thursday clarified that he temporarily blocked health officials from enforcing a state rule that would prevent transgender people from changing the gender on their birth certificate. In response, the Republican-run state on Thursday said it would defy the order. The ruling comes amid a heated national debate over whether transgender women should be allowed to participate in female sports at the high school and collegiate level. Nebraska Omaha: A judge has rejected a lawsuit filed by two Omaha women who sought to have both their names listed as parents on their childrens birth certificates, saying the request conflicts with state law. Lancaster County District Judge Ryan Post said in his ruling last month dismissing the lawsuit that state law requires birth certificates to acknowledge paternity. Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services policy also requires that parents listed on birth certificates be the biological parents of the child, he said. The Nebraska chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union sued the state last year on behalf of Erin Porterfield and Kristin Williams. They said the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services repeatedly denied their request to amend one sons birth certificate in their effort to get full legal recognition as parents of both their sons one born to each woman conceived through a sperm donor. Porterfield and Williams were in a romantic partnership from 2000 to 2013 two years before same-sex marriage was legalized in Nebraska. Porterfield gave birth to their first son in 2002, and Williams gave birth to their second son in 2005 before their romantic relationship ended in 2013. But both women continue to share parenting duties. In their lawsuit, the women said that state officials treat unmarried, same-sex couples differently than unmarried, opposite-sex couples, violating their due process and equal protection rights. Nevada Reno: The GOPs nominee for governor said Thursday that he would fight against a national abortion ban if Congress were to pass one. Its the vote of the people within the state of Nevada, and I will support that, Joe Lombardo, who is generally anti-abortion, told reporters while campaigning. That is an issue that doesnt need to be in politics. Nevada voters codified the right to abortion up to 24 weeks into pregnancy into law in a 1990 referendum. Any order to further restrict abortion would have to come from a vote of the people, not the Legislature, unlike in many other states. Last week U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., proposed a near-total abortion ban after 15 weeks. The legislation undermined many GOP candidates arguments this summer that the future of abortion rights in the U.S. would be decided by individual states. Lombardo, who is the Clark County sheriff, has long maintained that as governor he would respect the 1990 vote, though he is Catholic and holds anti-abortion views. Still, a nationwide abortion ban would supersede Nevada law, and it is unclear how Lombardo could fight one. Republican April Becker, a candidate in Nevadas 3rd Congressional District, opposes abortion except for instances of rape and incest. But she told NBC News last week that she would vote against a nationwide abortion ban, calling it unconstitutional for Congress to regulate abortion. New Hampshire Concord: A legislator on Friday proposed extending the March deadline to close the states troubled youth detention center amid concerns that the current timeline would endanger public safety. Debate over the future of the Sununu Youth Services Center in Manchester began years ago but has come to a boil amid horrific sexual abuse allegations. Frustrated with spending $13 million a year to operate a 144-bed facility for about a dozen teens, lawmakers set a mandatory March 1 closing date. But the centers fate remains unclear after lawmakers were unable to agree this year on how to replace it. Rep. Jess Edwards, R-Auburn, said Friday that he plans to introduce two bills for the legislative session that starts in January: one to extend the deadline by three months and another calling for a new 12- to 14-bed facility, with room for 18 if necessary. He told Deputy Health Commissioner Lori Weaver he is concerned about what will happen March 1 without such measures. The Legislature let you down, he said. We just could not reach agreement, so we gave you nothing to go on in terms of money to plan and design it. Weaver said she cant predict the centers population six months in advance, but based on the current situation, there would be a definite impact on public safety if the deadline arrived without further guidance. New Jersey Steve Barlotta performs on the saxophone with the Sensational Soul Cruisers outside CentraState's Star and Barry Tobias Ambulatory Campus in Freehold Township, N.J., on Wednesday evening. Barlotta credits hospital staff for saving his life in 2020, when he was on a ventilator for 24 days and later had to relearn how to move again. Freehold Township: In 2020, as saxophonist Steve Barlotta was recovering from a near-fatal bout with COVID-19 that included 24 days on a ventilator, the Jackson resident made a promise to everyone who treated him at CentraState Medical Center. He was like, Im going to play a concert out in the parking lot for everyone, said Shannon Lenahan, a neurologic clinical specialist who helped Barlotta bounce back from near-total paralysis. We were like, OK, People say stuff like that all the time, and they go home and get sidetracked. Barlotta did not get sidetracked. On Wednesday, he and his band Sensational Soul Cruisers performed a 90-minute concert on the hospitals campus as a thank-you to the doctors, nurses and rehab therapists who saved his life and restored his health. To see it actually happen and come to fruition was really special, Lenahan said. He didnt forget. He was a little emotional, and it was a little emotional for us to be able to say, This is why we did it. Barlotta, who has played alongside Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, Gary U.S. Bonds and the Monkees, capped the show with two numbers that came straight from the heart: Youre All I Need to Get By and Aint No Mountain High Enough, both made famous by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell. New Mexico Albuquerque: The states green chile season is in full swing as the aroma of fresh roasted peppers permeates the air, but growers and exporters in Mexico are just as busy, and thats causing a crunch at the international border. Authorities said last Monday that agricultural inspectors with U.S. Customs and Border Protection have been processing dozens of chile imports daily at the port of entry in Columbus, New Mexico. Theyre looking for any pests in the shipments that could affect domestic production in the state where green chile is a signature crop and a cultural icon. Chile is a huge crop for farmers in New Mexico, so it is important that CBP agriculture specialists identify and stop any dangerous pests from making it into the state and potentially spreading, acting Columbus Port Director Sam Jimenez said in a statement. As part of Operation Hot Chile, Jimenez said agricultural inspectors are being assigned to Columbus from other locations to help with the increased traffic. The inspectors will process around 100 chile shipments a day during the busiest part of the season. Imports have grown significantly each season, with inspectors seeing a nearly 25% jump since 2016. Officials are expecting continued growth this year. Despite more imports, New Mexico farmers are seeing higher yields from their crops, and the states reputation for growing what many have anointed as the best green chile in the world is expanding, said Travis Day, executive director of the New Mexico Chile Association. New York New York: Yeshiva University has abruptly suspended student club activity in the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court decision last week that ordered the school to recognize for now an LGBTQ student group. In an email to students, university officials said Friday that the school would hold off on all undergraduate club activities while it immediately takes steps to follow the roadmap provided by the U.S. Supreme Court to protect YUs religious freedom. On Wednesday, the high court cleared the way for the LGBTQ group, YU Pride Alliance, to gain official recognition from the Jewish university in New York. The undergraduate group describes itself as a supportive space for all students, of all sexual orientations and gender identities, to feel respected, visible, and represented. By a 5-4 vote Wednesday, the justices lifted a temporary hold on a court order that requires Yeshiva University to recognize the group, even as a legal fight continues in New York courts. Two conservatives, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh, sided with the courts three liberal justices to form a majority. The disagreement among the justices appears to be mostly about procedure, and the case is being closely watched by other faith-based institutions. North Carolina Raleigh: The states hospitals and hospital systems on Friday unveiled an offer that could shake up stalled negotiations to pass legislation that would expand Medicaid to cover hundreds of thousands of low-income adults. The North Carolina Healthcare Association said the offer sent to Republican legislative leaders and Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper also contained reforms to some state laws that require regulatory approval before certain medical buildings can be constructed or services offered in a region. Senate leader Phil Berger this summer accused the association of refusing to compromise on certificate of need rules. Changes to these rules were contained in the Senate version of an expansion measure approved in June. Berger said they were needed to increase the supply of medical services that would be needed to treat the growing Medicaid population. Cooper, a big expansion proponent, told reporters last week that it would make sense for hospitals to negotiate with Berger on those rules, which hospitals contend help community facilities that disproportionately serve the uninsured or underinsured remain open. Our board of trustees has made the difficult decision to propose certificate of need law reforms, board chair Dr. Roxie Wells said in a news release. North Dakota Bismarck: The state would spend up to $80 million over the next two years to address child care under a proposal pitched Tuesday by Gov. Doug Burgum. The GOP-led Legislature meets again in January and will consider the plan that also includes a child care tax credit for low- to middle-income families, expansion of child care assistance, and matching money for businesses that offer their employees child care. The second-term Republican governor said the lack of available and affordable child care for families contributes to workforce shortages that have hamstrung the states economy. Adequate and affordable child care helps attract and retain companies in the state, he said. North Dakota has tens of thousands of unfilled jobs, and many families have to make a choice to work and pay for child care or not work at all, Burgum said. North Dakota has more than 64,000 children under the age of 5 in some 45,000 households across the state, Burgum said. The states more than 800 licensed child care providers employ more than 6,000 people, he said. In spite of that working families are experiencing a child care crisis, Burgum said. There are more children than there are slots. Ohio Columbus: The states efforts to curb gerrymandering are not working, and voters must once again amend the Ohio Constitution to take politics completely out of the process, the retiring chief justice of the state Supreme Court said Thursday. The current redistricting commission, created by constitutional amendment in 2015, has had no discernible effect on gerrymandering, and as a result voters this fall will elect candidates based on unconstitutional legislative districts, Republican Maureen OConnor said in her annual and final state of the judiciary speech. A new amendment must create a commission that restricts partisan politics by prohibiting elected officials from serving, OConnor said. The current Ohio Redistricting Commission consists of elected lawmakers and state officeholders, including the governor, and has a 5-2 Republican majority. Instead, commission members must consist of sensible people who are not driven by politics but rather by whats fair, OConnor said. Fair representation and justice. OConnors remarks echoed the position she took in January when the court first ruled in a 4-3 decision with OConnor in the majority that initial maps drawn by the commission were unconstitutional. The court made similar rulings four more times before a federal court ordered Ohio to use the third set of Statehouse maps approved by the Ohio Redistricting Commission, maps the state Supreme Court had also found unconstitutional. Oklahoma Oklahoma City: An embattled jail is facing even more criticism after an inmate was able to leave the booking area unsupervised and raped a handcuffed female inmate who was awaiting release, according to charges filed Thursday. The victim was handcuffed to a bar attached to a wall in the receiving area of the Oklahoma County jail and unable to escape when Donta Ramone Thomas, 44, was able to remove her pants and rape her July 19, according to charging documents submitted by District Attorney David Prater. Jail surveillance video of the incident showed Thomas ignored orders to stand with his back to the wall and wait for other inmates to be processed after he was booked into jail on assault charges. Thomas disregarded these instructions and walked away from the area, according to an affidavit. He walked down the hallway toward the old medical screening area, where (the victim) was sitting, handcuffed to a bar. The incident is the latest at the jail, where a nine-member trust took over the jail from the sheriffs office in 2020, tasked with managing its operation and finances. Oklahoma Countys Board of Commissioners unanimously approved of the trust the previous year. This is another example of the jail trust failing to protect those who they are responsible to care for, Prater said. Oregon Oregon City: A 23-acre property near Willamette Falls has a new name, based on its old name. Formerly known as the Blue Heron Paper Mill, the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde has renamed the site Tumwata Village in recognition of the native name for the falls, tumwata, and the ancestors who called the site home. As a name, Tumwata Village represents the Grand Ronde tribes connection to the falls, as well as the sacred lands and practices of our ancestors, said Cheryle A. Kennedy, chairwoman of the Grand Ronde tribe and descendant of the Clackamas people. The Grand Ronde tribes connection to the falls goes back to creation, Kennedy said. Pre-European contact, the land was home to her ancestors, including the village of the Clowewalla the Willamette band of Tumwaters. It was also the Kosh-Huk-shix Village of Clackamas people. They lived and used the area to hunt and fish before the Willamette Valley Treaty of 1855 led to the forcible removal of the tribal populations from the falls area to the Grand Ronde reservation. Even after removal, people still went back to fish and gather at the falls. The connection has remained, Kennedy said. The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde began the process of acquiring the land around the falls at least two decades ago, Kennedy said. The purchase was finalized in 2019. Pennsylvania Harrisburg: More than 1.7 million public and private school students in the state will be able to get breakfast for free under a plan that will begin next month and run through the school year, officials announced. The $21.5 million plan will be paid for with money from the previous years School Food Services General Fund appropriation. Schools that participate in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs will receive support from the program. The pandemic-era federal aid that made school meals available for free to all public school students ended this past school year, despite a push in Congress to extend it. In Pennsylvania, officials say breakfast consumption under the free meals program increased by 16%, compared to pre-pandemic levels. Nationwide, other states have adopted legislation to provide free meals regardless of income level. Rhode Island Warwick: Short-term rentals such as those offered through websites like Airbnb and VRBO could be severely restricted as town officials contemplate an ordinance to limit them to owner-occupied units in just a few zoning districts. The Warwick Planning Board, in front of a nearly empty meeting room Wednesday night, voted to ask the planning staff who helped draft the ordinance to make a recommendation to the City Council, with instructions to ensure that rules around accessory dwelling units conform to a new state law. Planner Tom Kravitz said he was directed to get an opinion on the ordinance from the board. However, aside from asking Kravitz to issue a recommendation and worries about the state law change to accessory dwelling units, the Planning Board members did not discuss the regulation. Kravitz said the owner-occupied regulation should reduce the chances for complaints around parking and noise, citing the example of Newport, which now requires owners to occupy the units they are renting. Making the owner live in or adjacent to the property being rented provides oversight over guests, he said. The proposed zoning change cites short-term rentals as a source of noise, congestion, pollution and disorderly behavior and of generally disturbing the peace. South Carolina Charleston: Lawsuits filed to stop the removal of memorials to Confederate leaders and a pro-slavery congressman have been dropped. The Post and Courier reports that the American Heritage Association helped fund one of the lawsuits. It had been filed by descendants of John C. Calhoun, a former congressman and vice president who died before the Civil War, opposing the city of Charlestons removal of Calhouns statue. The association also had filed a lawsuit opposing the removal of a Robert E. Lee Memorial Highway marker from the campus of a charter school in Charleston and the renaming of an auditorium that had been named after Christopher Memminger, a treasury secretary of the Confederacy. The stone-and-metal monument to Lee was removed in July 2021 and placed in storage. The city made a deal with the South Carolina State Museum to take the statue of Calhoun. Both suits had been filed in state court. The highway marker and auditorium lawsuit was dropped Sept. 13. The Calhoun lawsuit was dropped Sept. 15, the newspaper reports. AHA President Brett Barry declined to comment on the status of the Calhoun case, despite the descendants request for dismissal. Charleston monuments are an integral part of the citys historical and artistic American landscape, Barry told The Post and Courier. South Dakota Sioux Falls: The states corn harvest may not have much juice this year. According to the National Agricultural Statistics Services latest crop production report, the states crop yield is estimated at 138 bushels per acre a number nowhere near the record-breaking harvest of 2020, when farmers gathered a staggering 162 bushels per acre. In the northeastern counties, springtime floods and incessant rainfall oversaturated the region with moisture. The precipitation flooded some fields, preventing producers from being able to plant their seeds during a critical planting window. Things did turn drier up in the northeast corner over the last two weeks, but, really, the question is whether that corn actually got planted, said DaNita Murray, executive director of South Dakota Corn Growers Association. John Horter is one producer who received a mixed bag from the wet spring. On his farm in western Day County, he called the rains timely and the weather conditions almost perfect. The past two weeks of heat, he said, are drying out his fields just in time for the harvest. But theres a lot of lost potential: The corn in his fields looks good, he said, but the rains flooded whats traditionally his highest yielding areas of the farm, which kept him from being able to plant those acres. Tennessee Nashville: The police officers who fatally shot a man walking on an interstate will not face criminal charges, a district attorney announced Friday. A lawsuit filed last week by the widow of Landon Eastep alleges that law enforcement used excessive force and should be liable for his death in Nashville. Chelesy Eastep argued it was unfair to expect her husband to act reasonably with multiple guns pointed at him. However, Davidson County District Attorney Glenn Funk said in a statement that after reviewing the case, Easteps actions were designed to cause officers to perceive an immediate threat. Easteps encounter with police began with a state trooper checking on him as he sat on a guardrail along Interstate 65 the afternoon of Jan. 27. After a brief interaction, Eastep pulled a box cutter, and the trooper called for backup, police said. Many other officers arrived, blocking traffic along the normally bustling travel corridor in both directions as a helicopter circle overhead. Authorities pleaded with Eastep, 37, to surrender while they kept their guns drawn. During this encounter with law enforcement officers, Mr. Eastep became emotional, began sobbing, and reportedly started cutting his wrists a few times with a box cutter from his pocket, Chelesy Easteps lawsuit says. Texas Austin: A judge on Friday expanded her order blocking the state from investigating families of transgender youth who have received gender-affirming medical care. Judge Amy Clark Meachum issued a temporary injunction preventing the state from investigating members of the LGBTQ advocacy group PFLAG Inc. over the medical care. The group has more than 600 members in Texas. Meachum in July issued an order blocking the investigations against two families of transgender children who had sued the state. Meachums order Friday also blocked the state from investigating the family of another teen who had sued, though the family said after the lawsuit was filed that they learned the investigation against them had been dropped. Meachum wrote that without the order, the families would suffer probable, imminent, and irreparable injury in the interim. The ruling was the latest against the states efforts to label gender-affirming care as child abuse. The Texas Supreme Court in May allowed the state to investigate parents of transgender youth for child abuse while also ruling in favor of one family who was among the first contacted by child welfare officials following the order by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott. Utah Provo: Gov. Spencer Cox took to Twitter on Saturday night to call out the behavior of University of Oregon fans during a game against Brigham Young University. UOs student section, The Pit Crew, has since issued a public apology, as have university officials. In a video posted to Twitter, Oregon fans in the schools student section can be seen chanting (expletive) the Mormons. BYU is a private university sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Cox retweeted the video, calling it religious bigotry alive and celebrated in Oregon. Other videos and photos of attendees who also allegedly participated in the chanting were posted on Twitter. The Pit Crew on Twitter issued an apology Saturday night, saying its members do not condone or support any hateful speech directed towards ones religion and are ashamed of those who participated. In contrast, BYU kicked off the game by honoring former Oregon tight end Spencer Webb before the game, running onto the field with a flag bearing Webbs No. 18. Webb, who wouldve been a junior this season, died in July during an outing at Triangle Lake. Vermont Burlington: The U.S. Department of Labor is getting involved after finding some businesses in the state have failed to protect teenage workers. There has been a national trend of increased child-labor law violations, which had been steadily decreasing until 2015, when the numbers began to tick up again. The Department of Labors Northern New England office said it has taken strong enforcement actions including conducting investigations and engaging in outreach in order to decrease federal labor violations at businesses across the region. A news release from the labor department cited examples of violations in the food service industry this year at McDonalds and Dunkin franchises. At nine New England McDonalds locations run by Coughlin Inc., 142 workers ages 14 and 15 worked more hours than federal law permits. And an investigation found 18 workers ages 14 and 15 illegally operated an oven or a fryer without a device to automatically raise and lower the basket. Two minors were burned, and the company paid $109,125 in penalties. Vermont Donut Enterprises LLC and related companies running 12 Dunkin franchise locations were also cited for not adhering to restrictions on 14- and 15-year-old workers. There were 44 violations involving hours worked and 17 violations for operating high-speed ovens. A 16-year-old was illegally allowed to drive a vehicle between two locations. Six minors received burns, and the company was fined $15,737 in civil penalties. Virginia Richmond: Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkins administration has rewritten the states model policies for the treatment of transgender students, issuing guidance for school divisions that would roll back some accommodations and tighten parental notification requirements. The new model policies from the Virginia Department of Education, which were posted online Friday, say students participation in certain school programming and use of school facilities like bathrooms or locker rooms should be based on their biological sex, with modifications offered only to the extent required under federal law. The policies also say that students who are minors must be referred to by the name and pronouns in their official records, unless a parent approves the use of something else. Regarding parental notification, the guidelines say school divisions may not encourage teachers to conceal information about a students gender from his or her parents. And they say parents must be given an opportunity to object before counseling services pertaining to gender are offered. The guidance is subject to a 30-day public comment period that opens later this month. Then, in accordance with a 2020 state law, local school boards must adopt policies that are consistent with the departments but may be more comprehensive, the document says. Washington The city closed the West Seattle Bridge abruptly in March 2020 after questions were raised about its structural integrity following the discovery of cracks. Seattle: After 21/ 2 years of inspection and repair work, authorities have reopened the West Seattle Bridge, the main route between the peninsula of West Seattle and the rest of the city. The Seattle Department of Transportation announced that the bridge had reopened Saturday night, even as crews continued removing some barricades and detour signs. Officials closed the span in March 2020 after cracks were found to be growing rapidly. The repair work included 60 miles of steel cables that form the new backbone of the bridge. Each of the cables was anchored into new specialized concrete blocks woven into the structure. The department said crews also installed a network of reinforced carbon fiber sheets wrapped inside and outside the bridge walls and injected 240 gallons of epoxy into cracked concrete. Authorities say the bridge is now much stronger and more resilient to seasonal temperature changes and will last for decades to come. Engineers will continue to monitor the bridge using cameras, sensors and inspections. West Virginia Charleston: Republican Gov. Jim Justice on Friday signed into law a ban on abortions at all stages of pregnancy, making West Virginia the second state to enact a law prohibiting the procedure since the U.S. Supreme Courts June ruling overturning its constitutional protection. The bill will go into effect immediately, except for the criminal penalties, which will go into effect in 90 days, Justice said. He described the legislation on Twitter as a bill that protects life. I said from the beginning that if WV legislators brought me a bill that protected life and included reasonable and logical exceptions I would sign it, and thats what I did today, he said. The ban has exemptions for medical emergencies and for rape and incest victims until eight weeks of pregnancy for adults and 14 weeks for those under the age of 18. Victims must report their assault to law enforcement 48 hours before the procedure. Minors can report to the police or a doctor, who then must tell police. The bill requires abortions to be performed by a physician at a hospital a provision that at least two Republican lawmakers have said was intended to shut down abortions at the Womens Health Center, which has provided the procedure since 1976 and was the states sole abortion clinic. Providers who perform illegal abortions can face up to 10 years in prison. Wisconsin Madison: A local alderman whose name appears on the membership rolls of a far-right extremist group has resigned, citing safety concerns for his family. Madison Alderman Gary Halverson was among hundreds of elected officials, military members and law enforcement officers who were on a leaked list of Oath Keepers members, the group thats accused of playing a key role in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. Halverson said his resignation follows some vandalism at his house, which he said has triggered symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder for his wife. For anyone who has PTSD, or lived with someone who does, knows that when something happens that is triggering, it is absolutely terrifying, and that terror can last for days or weeks or longer, Halverson said in a statement. He did not specify what damage was done to his property or how it might be linked to his Oath Keepers membership. Halverson was elected in April 2021 and had one year left in his term. He said he joined the Oath Keepers in mid-2020 without vetting the organization. I thought I joined an organization that welcomed veterans who cared about our democracy, Halverson said earlier this month. I was misled and I terminated the membership two months later in Aug 2020. Wyoming Cheyenne: State transportation officials have asked the Biden administration to ease proposed federal requirements to receive funding toward a network of electric vehicle chargers. EVs account for 0.1% of vehicle registrations in Wyoming, and state Department of Transportation Director Luke Reiner told federal officials that it would be irresponsible and illogical to spend now on requirements that include four charging ports at stations every 50 miles. It will be more than 20 years before theres enough EV adoption in the state to worry about lines at a four-port station, Reiner said. So instead of concentrating solely on major highway corridors, Reiner said, the federal money should also be used in areas away from interstates that attract lots of tourists, such as Yellowstone National Park. Most of our EVs will be tourist traffic, Reiner said Wednesday. The idea is if youre a nice lady from Iowa with an electric car, and you want to get to Yellowstone, we want to get you there. ... We want to make sure these stations are in populated areas so theres more chance of success. Wyoming asked for exceptions from the mileage requirement for 11 stretches of highway. Federal officials have not yet responded, Reiner said, and the states plan is still pending. From USA TODAY Network and wire reports This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Hospital concert, Serial revisited: News from around our 50 states Last week, the Republican governors of Florida and Texas sent well over a dozen migrant children, including one as young as one month old, on highly controversial plane and bus trips to liberal locales across the East Coast. The children were among the over 100 asylum-seekers, many of them Venezuelan dispatched to Marthas Vineyard, New York City, and Washington DC. On Friday, Florida chartered two planes that sent roughly 50 migrants, many of them waiting in Texas, for their legally protected asylum claims to process, to the wealthy island of Marthas Vineyard. The group included about a dozen children of elementary school age, Richie Smith, the islands superintendent of schools, told the MV Times. Children as young as two were on the flights, reported NPR. Some of the kids were reportedly hula hooping as local officials scrambled to find emergency housing for the migrants. One family told the Texas Tribune they and their 7-year-old daughter had endured abductions and beatings from a Mexican drug cartel as they made their journey from Peru to the US. When they told us that they were going to help us with the rent, to get a job, that was the only option left to us, one of the migrants, Eduardo, said. The White House condemned the flights on Friday. "These were children. They were moms. They were fleeing communism. And what did Governor DeSantis and Governor Abbott do to them? They used them as political pawns, treated them like chattel," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at a press briefing on Friday. Numerous asylum seekers say they were enticed to take the journey with false claims of work , housing, and social services allegedly offered by a mysterious woman only known as Perla. Officials have condemned the flights as a form of human trafficking. Shipping vulnerable migrants across the country is not a campaign tactic. It is human trafficking, U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar, a former refugee herself, said on Thursday. It is the abuse of dozens of human beings and a celebration of that abuse for political gain. Story continues Others have suggested that if migrants and their families were lured onto the flights under false pretenses, it could be grounds for a criminal investigation. Multiple children were also photographed on a trio of buses carrying over 100 people that the state of Texas sent to vice-president Kamala Harriss doorstep at the Naval Observatory in Washington, DC, on Thursday and Saturday. Among the group was a one-year-old baby, the Washington Post reports . Numerous children were photographed on the at least 15 buses full of migrants the state of Texas sent to New York City over the weekend. Kids were photographed sleepily getting off the charters with oversized backpacks, bright pink sandals, and plastic bags full of belongings. Passengers on the bus rides described brutal conditions and going hungry. We stopped for food, but not a lot of people had cash to buy any food. Im so, so hungry, Gustavo Pacheco, 35, told The New York Post. Governor Abbott has sent nearly 10,000 migrants to Washington since April with thousands more going to New York and Chicago,The Guardian reports. Both he and Governor DeSantis have stood by the policies. "The Biden-Harris Administration continues ignoring and denying the historic crisis at our southern border, which has endangered and overwhelmed Texas communities for almost two years," Mr Abbott said in a statement last week. "Our supposed Border Czar, Vice President Kamala Harris, has yet to even visit the border to see firsthand the impact of the open border policies she has helped implement, even going so far as to claim the border is secure. Texas will continue sending migrants to sanctuary cities like Washington, D.C. until President Biden and Border Czar Harris step up and do their jobs to secure the border." Last week, the Florida governor said more flights may be to come, and said such transports were bringing migrants to greener pastures. Video from Iran shows hundreds gathered in protest at the funeral for a 22-year-old whom police arrested and allegedly beaten to death for violating strict laws requiring women to cover their hair, prompting further calls to deny Iran's president entry to the U.S. as he prepares to speak at the U.N. General Assembly this week. Irans morality police arrested Mahsa Amini, a Kurdish-Iranian woman, on Sept. 14 near a train station while visiting the capital with her family. No explanation was offered, but witnesses said that the police accused Amini of failing to properly wear her hijab (headscarf). The police rushed Amini to hospital shortly after she fell into a coma during her detention, claiming that she had collapsed while in custody, but her family said they saw evidence of beatings. Amini died three days later, but the police deny that Amini was killed. Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman for the U.N. Secretary-General, told Fox News Digital that the colleagues in the U.N. office in Iran were "deeply saddened" by Aminis death and extend their "heartfelt condolences." He did not confirm whether the secretary-general would raise the topic during a potential meeting with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi this week. IRAN'S MORALITY POLICE ACCUSED OF MURDERING WOMAN FOR NOT PROPERLY WEARING HIJAB, SPARKING PROTESTS Her death prompted waves of protests over the weekend, with women gathering in the streets to remove their hijab or cut their hair. Other reports indicate that mobile internet has been cut in several areas of Tehran as the protests continue. According to an Iranian news Twitter account 1500 Tasvir, "A group of women in Tehran took the hijab off and blocked the street to protest the murder of Masha Amini by the Hijab Police of the Islamic Republic, chanting ISIS, ISIS." Ashok Swain, a professor at Uppsalla University in Sweden, posted a video on Twitter and noted that protestors shouted "death to the dictator" at Aminis funeral, calling the women "simply inspirational." Story continues IRANIAN LEADER APPEARS IN PUBLIC AFTER CANCELING ENGAGEMENTS DUE TO ILLNESS Additional video posted online Monday showed Iran security forces beating protestors in Tehran near the detention center where Amini was held prior to falling into her coma. Anti-riot forces also sprayed protestors in an effort to clear them from the streets. "Mahsa Amini represents every young Iranian man and woman," Foreign Desk Editor-in-Chief Lisa Daftari told Fox News Digital. "Her senseless death is symbolic not only of the regimes barbaric treatment of its citizens, but she represents the many victims whose lives have been taken." UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY DRAWS DICTATORS, PRESIDENTS AS WAR HITS EUROPE, THREATENS ASIA - BUT CLIMATE REMAINS FOCUS "You see protests erupting all over Iran, because this is just one of many stories that are untold," Daftari continued. "The Iranian people are sending a clear message to the global community and to the U.S. in particular to stop normalizing the inhumane actions of this regime." Aminis brother Kiarash told the Iran Wire news organization that he filed a complaint at the courthouse in Tehran and wanted to "tell everyone in Iran what happened." Robert Malley, the Biden administration's special envoy for Iran, criticized Amini's death, calling it "appalling." "The regime is now claiming that Mahsa suffered a cardiac event while in detention, but it is clear to all that she suffered from serious injuries from the beating she received during arrest," Banafsheh Zand, an Iranian-American researcher, told Fox News Digital. "My question to Western modern women is, is emancipation for thee and not for me?" EXCLUSIVE: Over 30 Senate Republicans are calling on Attorney General Merrick Garland to give the prosecutor investigating Hunter Biden special counsel authority as the investigation into the president's son heats up. In a letter led by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the senators warn of potential political interference in the high-profile probe being conducted by Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss, a prosecutor appointed by former President Donald Trump. The senators plan to send the letter later Monday, Cornyn's office told Fox News Digital. "As detailed by Senator Grassley, highly credible whistleblower have come forward to detail a widespread effort within the FBI to downplay or discredit negative information about Hunter Biden," the letter reads. "Instead of encouraging FBI and DOJ whistleblower to report crimes and promote government transparency, you took the inexplicable step of chilling lawful whistleblower activity." It continues: "Indeed, on August 30, 2022 you issued a memorandum prohibiting DOJ and FBI employees from communicating with Senators, Representatives, congressional committees, or congressional staff without advance coordination, consultation and approval by OLA." HUNTER BIDEN SAID HE WOULD BE 'HAPPY' TO INTRODUCE BUSINESS ASSOCIATES TO TOP CCP OFFICIAL The letter comes after a source told Fox News in July the Hunter Biden investigation has reached a "critical stage," with officials weighing possible charges for tax violations, possible foreign lobbying violations and more. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) speaks to reporters ahead of a weekly Republican luncheon on Capitol Hill on June 22, 2022 in Washington, DC. Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images HUNTER BIDEN: NEW YORK MAG IS LATEST MAINSTREAM OUTLET TO TAKE SCANDALOUS LAPTOP SERIOUSLY When the Biden administration took power, the administration asked Weiss to stay in his role even amid turnover at many other U.S. attorney positions. This was to avoid the appearance of political interference. The group of Senate Republicans led by Cornyn says that is not enough. Story continues Attorney General Merrick Garland in Senate testimony earlier this year indicated that he is comfortable with how the investigation into Hunter Biden is proceeding without a special counsel in place. "Given the politicization of the DOJ under your watch and the importance of avoiding any appearance of impropriety, the undersigned request that you provide U.S. Attorney Weiss the full protections and authorities of a special counsel," the letter said. "This is one important action that you can take that will go a long way to restoring faith in our governmental institutions." Garland in Senate testimony earlier this year defended the Justice Department's handling of the investigation, particularly in leaving Weiss, a Trump appointee, in charge of it. The attorney general, however, declined to specifically address the issue of whether to appoint a special counsel to look into the younger Biden and his business affairs. The federal investigation into Hunter Biden and his tax affairs has reached a "critical stage," a source told Fox News this summer, as officials are looking into whether to charge President Bidens son with various tax violations, possible foreign lobbying violations and more. (Randy Holmes via Getty Images) "The investigation is being run and supervised by the United States attorney in Delaware who is an appointee of the previous administration, and continues on as the United States attorney," Garland said under questioning from Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind. "The question of whether to have a special counsel is one that's internal decision-making in the department so I don't want to make any judgments one way or another," he added. "But I'm quite comfortable with the United States attorney for that district continuing in the role he's playing." Fox News' Brooke Singman, David Spunt and Bill Mears contributed to this report. (Bloomberg) -- When Hurricane Fiona lashed Puerto Rico Sunday, it left at least one dead, washed out bridges and roads, ripped off roofs and sent more than 2,100 people scrambling to emergency shelters. It also laid bare, once again, just how sickly the islands power infrastructure is. Most Read from Bloomberg Even before the storm touched land on the southwestern tip of the island, it had provoked a general blackout that affected the entire US territory of 3.1 million people. Luma Energy said that it restored power to more than 100,000 of its 1.5 million clients. Fiona Hits Dominican Republic After Lashing Puerto Rico The power outages hit as Puerto Ricos Electric Power Authority, known as Prepa, is dealing with a bankruptcy with no clear end in sight. Court ordered mediation to reduce the $9 billion debt the company owes broke down on Friday -- just hours before Fiona hit -- opening the door to prolonged and costly litigation with bondholders. For many, the outage is a reminder of the dark days after Hurricane Maria slammed into Puerto Rico as a Category 4 storm in 2017. Maria claimed almost 3,000 lives, destroyed the electrical grid and left vast swathes of the island in the dark. It took almost a year to completely restore power. Problems Persist Yajaira Vargas, 56, was selling tripe and chicken soup out of the back of her car in the Barrio Obrero neighborhood of San Juan on Monday morning, as Fiona was still dumping rain on the capital. After Hurricane Maria, she was left without power for more than a month. While Fiona was mild by comparison, Vargas has little faith her electricity will be restored quickly. Story continues Im not going home until I sell all of this, because it has to be refrigerated and Im not going to let it go bad, she said, as she ladled soup from a cooler. You never know when the lights are going to come on. Since Maria hit, the federal government directed $9.5 billion to repair the system, and the island put the management of electricity transmission and distribution into private hands. And yet problems persist. The island still has some of the most expensive and least reliable energy of any US jurisdiction. And blackouts are common, even without storms. On a clear, windless day in April, a fire at an aging substation sparked an island-wide outage that took days to recover from. And federally funded projects, while vital and massive, are moving at a glacial pace. Of the billions allocated for the electrical grid, only about $40 million has been disbursed, according to FEMA Associate Administrator Anne Bink. The slow pace is not limited to the islands power authorities. Of the $21 billion that FEMA has designated for public assistance projects overall in Puerto Rico, only 2% has been spent, said Chris Currie, a director in the Government Accountability Offices Homeland Security and Justice Team. Power Consortium Speaking to Congress last week, Currie said a lack of trained staff and Puerto Rico governments not matching funds were slowing down the flow of federal aid. These federal dollars are not just critical for rebuilding damaged projects, he said. This is critical for the economy of Puerto Rico for the years to come. Its a huge part of their expected GDP and I think its very important that we continue to monitor them. Puerto Rico Power Utility Inches Toward Litigation to Cut Debt Much will be riding on the performance of Luma, the private consortium of Atco Ltd. and Quanta Services Inc., working with Innovative Emergency Management Inc. The company snagged the estimated $1.5 billion, 15-year contract in June last year with the promise that it would be able to unlock federal funding and speed the recovery. But 15 months into the deal resentment is growing. A recent report by the Center for a New Economy, a local think tank, argued that Luma has not improved service or reduced costs since taking over. Continued blackouts have sparked mass protests from unhappy customers. Global popstar Bad Bunny routinely skewers Luma during his sold out concerts. A powerful faction of Puerto Ricos legislature -- including House Speaker Rafael Hernandez -- is now actively trying to rescind the contract. Luma denies its falling down on the job and has blamed most of its problems on its predecessor, Prepa, which still controls power generation. Existential Threat The transmission and distribution system that Luma inherited was weakened by years, if not decades, of poor design, little to no maintenance, lack of proper inspection and other profound failures that continue to impact the overall stability and reliability of the system, Luma Senior Vice President for Engineering Shay Bahramirad told US congress last week. Crews were scrambling on Monday to assess the damage, as police said they had found the body of a 58-year-old man who had been dragged away by a river in the municipality of Comerio. Agriculture Secretary Ramon Gonzalez told El Nuevo Dia newspaper that crop loss was likely in the millions. While Luma Energy was just beginning to take stock of the damage, it also warned it could take several days to fully restore power. The power woes are more than just a nuisance, theyre an existential threat to the islands economy, says Yandia Perez, the executive vice president of the Puerto Rico Manufacturers Association. With expensive, inefficient and dirty energy we cannot promote industry or even talk about sustainable economic development on the island, she said. The lack of reliable energy and a sluggish economy have led to a historic population outflow. From 2010 to 2020, the island lost 12% of its population -- most moving to the US mainland. In order for Puerto Ricos economy and population to rebound, affordable and reliable energy is critical, said John Ceffalio, senior municipal research analyst at CreditSights. Puerto Rico has a once in a generation opportunity to rebuild its grid and to make it more resilient using federal funds as a result of FEMA aid from Hurricane Maria, Ceffalio said. Its crucial for the future of the island that they take advantage of that soon and rebuild a modern electric distribution system. (Updated to include death in first graph and comment on crop losses in 18th graph) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2022 Bloomberg L.P. A man walks on a road flooded by Hurricane Fiona in Cayey, Puerto Rico, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022. AP Photo/Stephanie Rojas Hurricane Fiona made landfall in Puerto Rico's southwest coast on Sunday afternoon. Videos from social media show flooding in parts of the island triggered by the fierce storm. Rising global temperatures contribute to more intense storms, according to a growing body of research. Four people have been killed due to the catastrophic flooding and high-speed winds from Hurricane Fiona. Hurricane Fiona struck Puerto Rico on Sunday, triggering an island-wide blackout and major flooding. The storm's landfall coincides with the 5-year mark of 2017's devastating Hurricane Maria from which the territory has yet to fully recover. According to the National Hurricane Center, the Category 1 storm made landfall on Puerto Rico's southwestern coast, around 3:20 p.m. ET local time on Sunday, with maximum sustained winds of 85 miles per hour. "The damages that we are seeing are catastrophic," Puerto Rico Governor Pedro Pierluisi said on Sunday, per The Associated Press. On Monday, Pierluisi told CNN at least two people have died. The news outlet reported a 58-year-old man was washed away by La Plata River behind his home in Comerio. In a separate incident, firefighters in the city of Arecibo said one man died from burn wounds after attempting to fill his generator with gasoline. The National Guard officials said about a 1,000 people had been rescued by emergency crews by noon on Monday, according to CNN. As the hurricane barreled into the island, brown water rushed through streets and into homes. More than a foot of rainfall has drenched the island in several locations, and one reporting station reported more than 2 feet of rain in the last 24 hours. Nearly the entire island remains under flood warnings. El negrito kiki Camarena (@AngelLuis377) September 18, 2022 Jose Luis German Mejia, an emergency management official, told CNN, more than one million people in the country are without running water after the storm knocked 59 aqueducts out of service. One person died after being hit by a falling tree, The Washington Post reported. Story continues The impact from the storm also killed a man in Guadeloupe. Authorities in the French Caribbean region said the man's home had been swept away and he was found dead. On Sunday morning, U.S. President Joe Biden declared a state of emergency in Puerto Rico as the storm approached, ordering federal assistance to supplement disaster response efforts. A worker of the Loiza municipality calls on residents to evacuate due to imminent flooding due to the rains of Hurricane Fiona, in Loiza, Puerto Rico, Sunday, September 18, 2022. AP Photo/Alejandro Granadillo A video from a flooded area in Arecibo show a door-to-door search and rescue operation, with many people refusing to leave their home. V. Torres Montalvo (@Motinsitepegas) September 19, 2022 The storm downed electricity transmission lines, leading to "a blackout on all the island," according to a press release by LUMA Energy the private company that operates power transmission and distribution in Puerto Rico. The company said it could take days to fully restore service. On Monday morning, the head of Puerto Rico's Aqueducts and Sewers Authority said 750,000 clients don't have water on the island following the hurricane. Juan Carlos Pedreira (@juancpedreira) September 19, 2022 Fiona barraged an island that was already fragile after Hurricane Maria, a Category 5 storm which damaged houses, destroyed the power grid, and caused nearly 3,000 deaths. More than 3,000 homes still have only a blue tarp as a roof. Another video captures the moment wind gusts from hurricane Fiona rip off the roof of a house in Ponce, on the south part of the island. It's unknown whether someone was in the house at the time. V. Torres Montalvo (@Motinsitepegas) September 18, 2022 Human-caused climate change is making hurricanes like Fiona more dangerous, according to a growing body of research. Earth's warmer and moister atmosphere and warmer oceans provide fuel for hurricanes, causing more intense rainfall and windspeeds. "Catastrophic and life-threatening flooding" is forecast to continue across the majority of Puerto Rico, the National Hurricane Center said. After slamming into Puerto Rico on Sunday, Hurricane Fiona moved into the Dominican Republic on Monday morning. The National Hurricane Center said on Monday that "hurricane conditions" were expected to continue over portions of the Dominican Republic. This story has been updated with new information. Read the original article on Business Insider PureWow One of the most highly-anticipated films of 2022 was Blondea Netflix drama based on the Joyce Carol Oates novel of the same name, which tells a fictionalized version of Marilyn Monroe's life and stars Ana de Armas (Knives Out) in the lead role. And although the film met a mixed reception (including from PureWow) upon its release, it still managed to sit strong at the number-one spot on Netflix's most-watched movies list from the day it premiered. That was, until a new movie just overtook it. Th A lawsuit challenging Indiana's restrictive abortion law started out in the court of a Democrat in liberal Monroe County, but has landed in the hands of a Republican judge in conservative Owen County. A hearing on a request for a preliminary injunction to suspend the new anti-abortion law during the legal challenge is scheduled for 2 p.m. Sept. 19 in Monroe Circuit Court. It won't be a Monroe County judge who decides though. Owen Circuit Court II Judge Kelsey Blake Hanlon has been assigned special judge in the case. The Republican was elected to the bench in 2014, and was one of three considered to replace a retiring state appeals court judge this month. More:Judge Pete Foley selected as next member of Indiana Court of Appeals Hanlon was appointed to oversee the abortion challenge after transfers from three Monroe County civil court judges, all Democrats, sent the case to Greene Circuit Judge Erik Allen. He's a Republican responsible for appointing special judges in Judicial District 20, which is Monroe, Greene, Owen and Lawrence counties. All nine judges in Monroe County are Democrats; just three handle civil cases such as this. There's a total of seven judges in the other three counties Allen had to choose from, and all are Republicans. After the local Democrats passed the case on, it was destined to land with one of the Republican judges in a neighboring county. More:Mourning the dawn of Indiana's abortion law, protesters gather at Monroe County Courthouse Here's how the case progressed: The lawsuit initially was filed Aug. 30 by the ACLU of Indiana, randomly assigned to Monroe Circuit Court 4 with Judge Catherine Stafford. But it was filed mistakenly as a civil miscellaneous case, and had to be refiled the next day as a civil plenary case. That time it landed in the court of Monroe Circuit Judge Holly Harvey. Three days later, without citing a reason, she recused herself from the case. A court reporter in her office said Harvey had no comment as to why. Story continues On Sept, 8, both sides agreed to transfer the case to Monroe Circuit Judge Geoff Bradley, who later that day issued a ruling stating he "hereby declines jurisdiction of this case." He didn't give a reason either. Indiana trial rules require a reason for a judicial recusal in criminal cases, but not in civil ones: "... such change shall be granted upon the filing of an unverified application or motion without specifically stating the ground therefor." The same day Bradley sent the case out of his court, it went to Allen to appoint a special judge. He chose fellow Republican Hanlon. "No other local judge is able to take this appointment," his order reads. Hanlon took the case over on Sept. 9 and conducted a hearing via telephone with the lawyers in the case Sept. 12. The lawsuit calls the anti-abortion law unconstitutional and an invasion of a pregnant person's right to privacy in regard to making their own medical decisions. On Thursday, Hanlon issued two rulings on motions filed in the case. She denied a request by the plaintiffs for a temporary restraining order to stop the law from going into effect Sept. 15, citing the Sept. 19 hearing on the injunction petition. And she granted a defense request, from the office of Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, for an additional 30 days to respond to the lawsuit's claims. The new deadline is Oct. 26. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Indiana abortion clinics and providers, is against the Indiana Medical Licensing Board, which sets standards and issues physician licenses. Also listed as defendants are prosecutors in the five counties Monroe, Hendricks, Marion, St. Joseph and Lake where abortion services are provided. They decide whether to file criminal charges if the law is violated. Contact H-T reporter Laura Lane at llane@heraldt.com or 812-318-5967. This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: After several transfers, Owen County judge gets state abortion lawsuit Queen Elizabeth. Illustrated | Getty Images On Monday, the British royal family, world leaders, and other dignitaries will gather at Westminster Abbey to pay their final respects to Queen Elizabeth II. Her funeral is set to begin at 11 a.m. London time, and will be televised around the world. Here's everything you need to know: How can I watch the queen's funeral in the United States? The funeral will begin at 6 a.m. ET and 3 a.m. PT on Monday, with live coverage on several networks, including NBC, ABC, CNN, BBC America, and Fox News. BBC News will also livestream the funeral, as will ITV News on YouTube. What can we expect on Monday? This will be the first state funeral held in Britain since Winston Churchill's death in 1965, the first funeral at Westminster Abbey for a monarch since King George II in 1760, and the first time cameras will be allowed at a British monarch's funeral (King George VI's procession was broadcast live on television in 1952, but not his funeral). The queen's coffin has been lying in state at Westminster Hall since Wednesday, with members of the public lining up for hours in order to file past her coffin and pay their respects. On Monday morning, a gun carriage towed by 142 sailors will bring her coffin to Westminster Abbey, with the procession led by roughly 200 musicians with the Scottish and Irish Regiments, The New York Times reports. The funeral service will be conducted by the Dean of Westminster, with British Prime Minister Liz Truss and Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland giving readings. The sermon will be delivered by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev. Justin Welby. Just before the end of the funeral at noon, there will be two minutes of silence, marked nationwide. At the conclusion of the service, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and NHS doctors and nurses will lead a procession to Wellington Arch, where the queen's coffin will be moved to a hearse for the drive to Windsor Castle. Where will the queen be buried? Queen Elizabeth will be buried at St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle. Her husband of 73 years, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, was interred in the Royal Vault beneath the chapel following his death in 2021, and he will be moved and buried next to the queen in the King George VI Memorial Chapel. This chapel is also the final resting place of Queen Elizabeth's father, George VI; the Queen Mother; and the queen's younger sister, Princess Margaret. Story continues A committal service will be led by the Dean of Windsor, with the royal family joined by current and former members of the queen's personal staff. The Archbishop of Canterbury will read a blessing, the queen's piper will play a lament, and the Crown Jeweller will remove the Imperial State Crown, orb, and scepter from the coffin, placing the priceless jewels on an altar before he returns them to the Tower of London. At the conclusion of the service, the Archbishop of Canterbury will give a blessing and the attendees will sing "God Save The King." The burial will be private, BBC News reports, with just close family members in attendance. Did the queen have any say in her funeral service? Yes, she did. Buckingham Palace aides told BBC News Queen Elizabeth was consulted on the arrangements, including the order of the service, and requested "a playing of a lament by her piper." Which dignitaries and notable names will be attending the queen's funeral? More than 2,000 people are expected to gather for the funeral. The official guest list hasn't been released, but several world leaders and royals have said they are attending, including President Joe Biden with first lady Dr. Jill Biden; Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau; French President Emmanuel Macron; New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern; Kenyan President William Ruto; Japan's Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako; King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of Belgium; King Felipe VI of Spain; and King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands. It won't just be household names at Westminster Abbey; BBC News reports that 200 people who were recognized at the Queen's Birthday Honors have also been invited to the funeral, including health care workers who were on the frontlines fighting COVID-19. You may also like Steven Spielberg's The Fabelmans gets a key boost in the 2023 Best Picture race 5 scathingly funny cartoons about Steve Bannon's indictment Princess Charlotte wears horseshoe brooch that the queen gave her at funeral Every investor in Molson Coors Beverage Company (NYSE:TAP) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. We can see that institutions own the lion's share in the company with 81% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk). Institutional investors endured the highest losses after the company's market cap fell by US$375m last week. However, the 13% one-year return to shareholders might have softened the blow. But they would probably be wary of future losses. Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Molson Coors Beverage. See our latest analysis for Molson Coors Beverage What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Molson Coors Beverage? Institutional investors commonly compare their own returns to the returns of a commonly followed index. So they generally do consider buying larger companies that are included in the relevant benchmark index. We can see that Molson Coors Beverage does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. This can indicate that the company has a certain degree of credibility in the investment community. However, it is best to be wary of relying on the supposed validation that comes with institutional investors. They too, get it wrong sometimes. If multiple institutions change their view on a stock at the same time, you could see the share price drop fast. It's therefore worth looking at Molson Coors Beverage's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters. Institutional investors own over 50% of the company, so together than can probably strongly influence board decisions. Hedge funds don't have many shares in Molson Coors Beverage. Dodge & Cox is currently the largest shareholder, with 13% of shares outstanding. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 10.0% and 7.5%, of the shares outstanding, respectively. Story continues We also observed that the top 10 shareholders account for more than half of the share register, with a few smaller shareholders to balance the interests of the larger ones to a certain extent. While studying institutional ownership for a company can add value to your research, it is also a good practice to research analyst recommendations to get a deeper understand of a stock's expected performance. There are plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too. Insider Ownership Of Molson Coors Beverage The definition of company insiders can be subjective and does vary between jurisdictions. Our data reflects individual insiders, capturing board members at the very least. Management ultimately answers to the board. However, it is not uncommon for managers to be executive board members, especially if they are a founder or the CEO. Insider ownership is positive when it signals leadership are thinking like the true owners of the company. However, high insider ownership can also give immense power to a small group within the company. This can be negative in some circumstances. Our information suggests that Molson Coors Beverage Company insiders own under 1% of the company. We do note, however, it is possible insiders have an indirect interest through a private company or other corporate structure. It is a very large company, so it would be surprising to see insiders own a large proportion of the company. Though their holding amounts to less than 1%, we can see that board members collectively own US$51m worth of shares (at current prices). In this sort of situation, it can be more interesting to see if those insiders have been buying or selling. General Public Ownership With a 12% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Molson Coors Beverage. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run. Private Company Ownership It seems that Private Companies own 6.7%, of the Molson Coors Beverage stock. Private companies may be related parties. Sometimes insiders have an interest in a public company through a holding in a private company, rather than in their own capacity as an individual. While it's hard to draw any broad stroke conclusions, it is worth noting as an area for further research. Next Steps: I find it very interesting to look at who exactly owns a company. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. Consider risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for Molson Coors Beverage you should know about. But ultimately it is the future, not the past, that will determine how well the owners of this business will do. Therefore we think it advisable to take a look at this free report showing whether analysts are predicting a brighter future. NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Join A Paid User Research Session Youll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here To get a sense of who is truly in control of Champion Iron Limited (ASX:CIA), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are individual investors with 42% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company. While institutions who own 21% came under pressure after market cap dropped to AU$2.7b last week,individual investors took the most losses. In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Champion Iron. View our latest analysis for Champion Iron What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Champion Iron? Institutions typically measure themselves against a benchmark when reporting to their own investors, so they often become more enthusiastic about a stock once it's included in a major index. We would expect most companies to have some institutions on the register, especially if they are growing. Champion Iron already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. This can indicate that the company has a certain degree of credibility in the investment community. However, it is best to be wary of relying on the supposed validation that comes with institutional investors. They too, get it wrong sometimes. When multiple institutions own a stock, there's always a risk that they are in a 'crowded trade'. When such a trade goes wrong, multiple parties may compete to sell stock fast. This risk is higher in a company without a history of growth. You can see Champion Iron's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story. We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Champion Iron. Because actions speak louder than words, we consider it a good sign when insiders own a significant stake in a company. In Champion Iron's case, its Top Key Executive, William OKeeffe, is the largest shareholder, holding 8.7% of shares outstanding. With 8.4% and 8.1% of the shares outstanding respectively, Investissement Quebec, Investment Arm and WC Strategic Opportunity, L.P. are the second and third largest shareholders. Story continues A closer look at our ownership figures suggests that the top 16 shareholders have a combined ownership of 50% implying that no single shareholder has a majority. While studying institutional ownership for a company can add value to your research, it is also a good practice to research analyst recommendations to get a deeper understand of a stock's expected performance. There are plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too. Insider Ownership Of Champion Iron While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it. Insider ownership is positive when it signals leadership are thinking like the true owners of the company. However, high insider ownership can also give immense power to a small group within the company. This can be negative in some circumstances. Our information suggests that insiders maintain a significant holding in Champion Iron Limited. Insiders own AU$331m worth of shares in the AU$2.7b company. That's quite meaningful. Most would say this shows a good degree of alignment with shareholders, especially in a company of this size. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling. General Public Ownership The general public-- including retail investors -- own 42% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. While this size of ownership may not be enough to sway a policy decision in their favour, they can still make a collective impact on company policies. Private Equity Ownership Private equity firms hold a 8.4% stake in Champion Iron. This suggests they can be influential in key policy decisions. Sometimes we see private equity stick around for the long term, but generally speaking they have a shorter investment horizon and -- as the name suggests -- don't invest in public companies much. After some time they may look to sell and redeploy capital elsewhere. Private Company Ownership Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 15%, of the company's shares. It might be worth looking deeper into this. If related parties, such as insiders, have an interest in one of these private companies, that should be disclosed in the annual report. Private companies may also have a strategic interest in the company. Next Steps: I find it very interesting to look at who exactly owns a company. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. Like risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 3 warning signs for Champion Iron (of which 1 can't be ignored!) you should know about. Ultimately the future is most important. You can access this free report on analyst forecasts for the company. NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Join A Paid User Research Session Youll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here Angie Jordan was chosen as the executive director of the new Iowa City South District Self-Supported Municipal Improvement District, or SSMID, in Pepperwood Plaza, hoping to use her position to bolster businesses and strengthen the neighborhood she calls home. Jordan, one of the main organizers and small business owners who pushed for the creation of the economic development tool, was chosen last week from six applicants in a nationwide search. The search committee from the SSMID's board assessed resumes, interviews and writing samples from all the applicants before unanimously choosing Jordan. In an interview with the Press-Citizen, Jordan said she is excited to get started.. "It really legitimizes the efforts that I've been doing for 15 years in Iowa City," Jordan said. "To lead and share the vision and co-create the vision with a team to get the work done." Angie Jordan, the new executive director of the Iowa City's South District business district, is shown at a 2019 knitting circle. She has been heavily involved in the community since returning to live here in 2008. Jordan was born in Iowa City and lived here off and on before moving back in 2008. She is heavily involved in the community. She owns Banjo Knits Empowerment; is president of the nonprofit South District Neighborhood Association; helps lead the South District Diversity Market; and is part of a team looking to work with the Iowa City Ad Hoc Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The SSMID was passed by the Iowa City Council earlier this year and the board of property owners began working to get it up and running. The SSMID was authorized to generate about $104,000 annually, with a levy of $5 per $1,000 assessed taxable valuation. This conversation with Jordan has been edited for clarity and length. More: Iowa City Riverfront West redevelopment team plans six-story student apartment complex by 2025 What is a SSMID? Can you describe it as if you were talking to someone who isn't familiar with it? Jordan: Really what it is is a geographic location that is outlined around a spot in town that all the properties in that geographic location pay into a tax. They self-tax and from that tax comes a budget to make improvements however those commercial properties owners and those on the SSMID's board decide. Story continues It's a really a tool to invest in yourself and empower yourself. It's a nonprofit and you can also collaborate. It's a vehicle to increase advocacy for your district, to leverage different monetary or other resources. This map shows the proposed South District Self-Supported Municipal Improvement District centered around Pepperwood Plaza in Iowa City. This self-taxing district is self-imposed, correct? Yeah, so there was a petition last year that the City Council approved. There's a certain percentage of property owners in that district, in that area that signed a petition. If you get a certain percentage that signed that petition then everybody in that area has to pay into it. It's something the district in that area wants and ours is for five years. So we only have five years to prove that this investment is worth it. That the return is much higher than the investment. Once the five years is up, the property owners can sign another petition to extend the duration and also to extend the boundaries. More: Iowa City Council considers new regulations for outdoor dining, could lower fees to help restaurants You were just named executive director of the South District SSMID. How does it feel? It feels so exciting! It's one of those things where you keep putting in the work and the time and the grind and the blood, sweat and tears, and you keep doing it and expanding the teams you're on and a part of. These are things that are possible. Not only the property owners, but the other folks on the board believe in this. What does the executive director do? They work together with the board of directors; we have a large, diverse board. They handle the daily operations of the SSMID; they are leveraging all the different resources, including financial; creating a lot of relationships with existing property owners who are paying into the SSMID. I will be creating new connections with entities like the University of Iowa, Kirkwood, the Iowa City Area Development to funnel and channel their energy and momentum into our side of town to not just revitalize it, but to help inform and tailor their services and impact to the South District. The executive director also develops programming, coordinates events and one day I hope to have a staff so it's not just me. Mainly, I want to make sure our actions align with our vision and our mission. More: Pinseekers Topgolf-style facility gets groundbreaking date in Tiffin; IMAX movie theatre announced In your first year as executive director, what are your goals for the South District SSMID? Before you go big and swing hard, you really need to figure out your baseline. What is our vision? What does that mean? How do we make those things we're dreaming about concrete and measurable? The first year is figuring out the goals, how we do this together and how do we evaluate ourselves so we know we are moving towards our vision. We also need to establish the roles that different entities associated with the SSMID play and building our team. That gives us a stepping stone, or a holding, like in rock-climbing. It allows for us to look back and say we have a return on our first year investment and how can we make this better. To an everyday resident who comes to Pepperwood Plaza, how will they see the impact of the SSMID show up? There will be more signage, it will be more vibrant and exciting. They will have heard about it with the marketing, communication and advocacy. A unification in our branding, way-finding. It will be more appealing, inviting and exciting because there will be something happening there. How do you think the property and business owners will view the impact of the SSMID? They're going to see an increase in foot traffic. They're going to see their footprint elsewhere outside of our district. People are going to start being able to start drawing connections between people and efforts and businesses that have existed for a long time but haven't been on the map consistently or in a big way. My hope is they're going to see themselves outside of the district and that's going to bring more business and more awareness to their property and hopefully that will translate to more sales. Their property values will go up and they'll be able to flourish. More: Indigenous Peoples Art Gallery gets a new space in Iowa City. Here's what its founder has planned. People at South District's Diversity Market, located in the Pepperwood Plaza parking lot in Iowa City, May 28. Will the South District SSMID take on a new name, instead of this acronym? Like how the other Iowa City SSMID named themselves the Downtown District? The short answer is yes. "SSMID" is such a mouthful and it doesn't really share what we do. One of the first things I'll be doing is working with the executive committee to work on some of those pieces. We need to have our branding reflect the flavor of our side of town and "SSMID" does not do that. What makes this SSMID different from other like the Iowa City Downtown District or NewBo in Cedar Rapids? Our SSMID is grassroots. It wasn't by businesses wanting to make more money. That's a big piece of it, but we also have signed on our board the neighborhood association. This is something that people from the area wanted. A thriving business district. It happened because the residents wanted a flourishing business district. How will the South District Diversity Market be impacted by the SSMID? The Diversity Market was actually a selling point for two years for the SSMID, where grassroots efforts from the area and JD Beauty Supply wanted to show that a large-scale market, an ongoing market that had a season, vendors and established clientele, could actually happen on this side of town. We proved that we can have big events, live entertainment, business incubation and promotion of existing businesses. That had never been done on this side of town to this degree. More: Iowa City artist, activist purchases former Varsity Cleaners space to use for Wright House of Fashion The front facing view of the proposed South District Market and storelocal storage co-op in Iowa City. What new businesses can people expect to come to Pepperwood Plaza? There is an indoor market that will have self-storage on the backside. That is all run and taken care of by the property owner, which is SouthGate. They're experimenting and seeing if this market can happen inside and also planning to have outdoor patio space, opportunity for live music, perhaps a food truck night. A Quick Shine Car Wash will go in where the old Tuesday Morning building was demolished. That actual space will be used. Compared to when you have something vacant, ugly and broken, now it will be vibrant and used. Similarly, the Popeyes going in where the old Pizza Hut was. You have to go to Coralville for Popeyes, now you can go to the South District for Popeyes. You are heavily involved in your community, neighborhood and have your own nonprofit and this is large new responsibility for you. Do you feel up to the task to handle it all? Absolutely. People see the front-facing me, that "Angie is so busy," or "Angie is doing all these things," but they don't see on the backside is very intentionally and learned over the past years that you have to be very efficient. When you're working with the neighborhood to do X, Y and Z, you're also tethering that to four other things. That's something I've gotten really good at over the years through trial and error and it's also something that allows me to legitimize my efforts to focus. I'm not just a concerned resident. I have legitimacy now. I can go places that with certain hats on that I had before I wasn't allowed or welcome. I can "work smarter not harder," and this job allows me to weave things even closer together. I can work on economic development through the SSMID, but also through doing that I'm helping to empower our neighborhood, school and business incubation efforts. You and so many others have pushed for this for so long. How does it feel that this is becoming a reality now that you're at the helm? It feels like I'm finally at a spot where I knew I'd already get to. I saw myself there and saw the vision but wasn't sure if that could actually exist in reality. There's a relief that you can dream big and put in the work. And you have to be on a team with people and organizations that see that same vision. That makes me excited to continue the work because I'm like, hey, I can get this far but now I have a team with more access. We should be shooting for more stars. It is also very humbling because sometimes the people you think should be in those positions don't get appointed or don't stay. I take this very seriously. This isn't something that was handed to me. This is something they are entrusting me with, and that's something I want to hold myself accountable to. I'm ready to just keep doing the work. More: New indoor market planned for vacant Slumberland building in Iowa City's South District George Shillcock is the Press-Citizen's local government and development reporter covering Iowa City and Johnson County. He can be reached at (515) 350-6307, GShillcock@press-citizen.com and on Twitter @ShillcockGeorge This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: Angie Jordan answers questions on the Iowa City South District SSMID Iran accused the United States of creating an "industry of litigation" over terror claims against Tehran as it opened its bid at the UN's top court Monday to unfreeze billions of dollars in assets frozen by Washington. The case before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) comes as hopes fade of reviving a landmark deal -- from which former US president Donald Trump withdrew in 2018 -- that sought to tame Iran's nuclear ambitions. Tehran took Washington to the Hague-based ICJ in 2016 after the US Supreme Court ordered some $2 billion in Iranian assets to be frozen, ordering the cash to go to survivors and relatives of attacks blamed on the Islamic republic. These included the 1983 bombing of a US Marine barracks in Beirut which killed 299 people including 241 US soldiers, and the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia which left 19 dead. Iran's representative Tavakol Habibzadeh told ICJ judges on Monday that the US ruling opened the way for "billions of dollars in compensation and punitive damages through default judgements." "By doing so the United States have created an industry of litigation against Iran and Iranian companies," said Habibzadeh, who heads Iran's Centre for Legal Affairs. Another lawyer for Iran, Vaughan Lowe, said Iran "denies that it is responsible for the injuries to those victims." "United States legislation doesn't bother with proof or with attribution, or with responsibility," he said. ""Never mind proving that Iran is guilty in any particular case Sentence first, verdict afterwards." Iran says the freezing of the funds breached the 1955 Treaty of Amity with the United States, an agreement signed before Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution severed relations between the countries. Tehran argues the US seizure of Iranian financial assets and those of Iranian companies is illegal, adding that resolving the case is crucial at a time when Iran is facing economic difficulties after sanctions and runaway inflation. Story continues - 'Unclean hands' - In turn Washington has unsuccessfully tried to get the lawsuit thrown out, alleging that Iran's "unclean hands" -- a reference to Tehran's alleged backing of terrorist groups -- should disqualify its bid to recover the $2 billion of assets. US representatives are set to respond at the ICJ on Wednesday. The US announced in October 2018 that it was pulling out of the Treaty of Amity after the ICJ in a separate case ordered Washington to lift nuclear-related sanctions on humanitarian goods for Iran. The ICJ is the top court of the United Nations and was set up after World War II to resolve disputes between member states. Its rulings are binding and cannot be appealed, but it has no means of enforcing them. Monday's hearing comes as hopes fade of reviving the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and the West which gives Iran sanctions relief in return for restricting its nuclear programme. Trump pulled out of what he called the "terrible" deal in 2018 and began reimposing sanctions, prompting Tehran to roll back its commitments made under the pact. Talks have been ongoing in Vienna since April last year, aimed at restoring the agreement by lifting sanctions on Tehran once again and pushing Iran to fully honour its obligations. But Western powers have raised doubts over Iran's replies to their latest overtures. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi meanwhile on Monday demanded US "guarantees" it will not withdraw again from the nuclear deal, ahead of his debut visit to the United Nations. jhe/dk/yad (Bloomberg) -- Johnson & Johnson faced tough questions from federal appellate judges about whether placing a unit in bankruptcy to deal with more than 40,000 cancer lawsuits over its baby powder was legitimate. Most Read from Bloomberg The three-judge panel in Philadelphia heard arguments about LTL Managements Chapter 11 case Monday and will decide later whether the case was filed in good faith, or should be thrown out because J&J and its units dont face immediate financial distress. Should J&J and LTL lose, juries would once again hear talc cancer claims, leaving J&J facing legal and financial uncertainties as it fights individual cases around the country. Last year, the health care giant used a legal maneuver, known as the Texas Two-Step, to funnel the suits into a new unit without any operations. That unit, LTL, immediately filed for bankruptcy to block the litigation while trying to negotiate settlements. Cancer victims claim tainted talc in J&Js iconic baby powder made them sick and want the federal appeals court to let their lawsuits go forward instead of being resolved as part of LTLs Chapter 11 case. The judges asked LTLs lawyers whether the case was really filed to project J&J from the lawsuits, or to give the company an advantage in negotiating a deal to end them all, as cancer victims claim. The timing really suggests you did this for litigation advantage, Judge Luis Felipe Restrepo asked during an unusual, three-hour hearing on Monday. You concede there is a litigation advantage? Litigation Costs If there is an advantage to bankruptcy, its incidental, LTL lawyer Neal Katyal said. I think its a byproduct, but that it isnt the reason for the bankruptcy. Katyal was a former acting solicitor general in the Obama administration, meaning he argued cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. Story continues J&J, which denies its baby powder products cause cancer, argues LTLs Chapter 11 case is the only way of corralling talc litigation costs and ensuring victims get a fair payment. US Bankruptcy Judge Michael Kaplan, who is based in Trenton, New Jersey -- not far from J&Js headquarters in New Brunswick -- ruled in February LTLs bankruptcy was legitimate and a better solution than continuing to have juries weigh claims nationwide. Since the day LTL began this process, it has consistently and unequivocally endorsed early resolution for the benefit of all parties, including current and future claimants, J&J said in an emailed statement. We hope the court agrees with Judge Kaplans well-reasoned opinion that this filing was done in good faith and is the right way to efficiently and equitably resolve these cases. During Mondays appellate arguments, Katyal repeatedly pointed to a $4.7 billion award in 2018 to about 20 women who blamed their cancers on J&Js baby powder as one of the justifications for the company putting the newly created unit into Chapter 11. The award -- later cut to $2.1 billion -- blew up any chance J&J could put together a reasonable settlement program in the future, the lawyer said. J&J ended up paying a total of $2.5 billion with interest. Lottery-Style After that case, plaintiffs lawyers all wanted similar lottery-style home runs of a verdict, Katyal said. Mark Lanier, the Texas-based lawyer who won the mammoth award against J&J, dismissed Katyals description of the verdict. Not a lottery verdict. It was the penalty for killing people for money, Lanier said in an emailed statement. Talc victims contend J&J knew for more than 50 years its talc-based powders were tainted with asbestos, a carcinogen, and continued to sell its iconic baby powder anyway to rack up profits. J&J took the product off the market in the U.S. and Canada in 2020 and has announced it will no longer sell it globally after next year. Katyal also cited rising defense costs for the talc cases as another justification for LTLs bankruptcy filing. He said the worlds largest maker of health-care products is paying as much as $5 million per case for lawyers and other costs. Thats a huge dead-weight loss. But Jeffrey Lamken, who represents talc victims, noted in his argument J&J has a market capitalization of $450 billion. Chain Reaction The appellate judges also asked whether the ruling could set off a chain reaction of similar filings by otherwise solvent companies seeking to get the benefits of bankruptcy without any of the downsides. Advocates for cancer victims say the filing is just a way for J&J to cap how much it has to pay out. LTLs bankruptcy would be difficult to copy, in part because of an agreement requiring the assets of J&Js consumer-products unit to be used to pay cancer claimants and other LTL creditors as part of the Chapter 11 case, Katyal told the court. That means the claimants have access to $61 billion and will collect more as part of LTLs restructuring than if they tried their cases in state and federal courts, he said. Under the Texas Two-Step, a profitable company restructures to shift mass-tort suits to a specific unit, which then files for bankruptcy in hopes of working out a comprehensive settlement of the claims. A handful of companies, including Koch Industries Georgia-Pacific unit, used the strategy before J&J. Those cases remain in bankruptcy court in North Carolina. LTLs bankruptcy is the first Texas Two-Step to reach an appeals court. After victim groups challenged Kaplans ruling, the federal appeals court in Philadelphia agreed to expedite the case. The judges that heard the arguments Monday gave each side more than an hour to make their case --more time than typically alloted for such presentations. J&Js strategy has been condemned by some legal scholars and members of Congress because the company is receiving a major benefit of Chapter 11 rules -- a halt to lawsuits -- without filing for bankruptcy, where the company would be subject to court oversight of its spending and other practices. The handful of the companies that have used the strategy since it emerged in 2017 have faced suits targeting their use of asbestos, a toxic industrial material. The cases take advantage of special rules set up by Congress for companies threatened with insolvency by such suits. The J&J bankruptcy case is LTL Management LLC, 21-30589, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of New Jersey (Trenton). (Updates with details of $4.7 billion talc verdict in 10th paragraph) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2022 Bloomberg L.P. U.S. Attorney Roger B. Handberg announced that Jacksonville native Michael Ray King, 42, has pleaded guilty to using the Internet to download and receive videos and images of children being sexually abused. STORY: Colts no-show in return to Jacksonville, get blanked 24-0 King faces up to 20 years in federal prison and a potential life term of supervised release. He will also be required to register as a sex offender and forfeit certain computer media. King was arrested by FBI agents on Nov. 18, 2021. His sentencing hearing has not yet been scheduled. According to court documents, in 2021, the FBI was investigating individuals who were using online networks to receive and share child sex abuse materials. The investigation revealed that in July, August and September 2021, King used a computer connected at his residence to access videos depicting child pornography. On Nov. 18, 2021, during the execution of a federal search warrant at Kings home, FBI personnel seized an external computer hard drive that was connected by a cable to a gaming computer. A forensic examination of this external drive revealed that it contained at least 250 images and at least 50 videos depicting child sexual abuse, including young children being sexually assaulted, bestiality and bondage. This drive also contained evidence showing dates and times that King had downloaded these materials from the Internet. STORY: Tagovailoa, Dolphins stun Ravens with huge 4th-quarter rally This case was investigated by the FBI. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney D. Rodney Brown. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mai Tran is handling the seized materials. This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorneys Offices and the Criminal Divisions Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children and to identify and rescue victims. Story continues CLICK HERE for more information about Project Safe Childhood. STAY UPDATED: Download the Action News Jax app for live updates on breaking stories BALTIMORE Adnan Syed, a Baltimore man whose legal saga spawned hit podcast Serial, is a free and innocent man. For now. Baltimore Circuit Judge Melissa Phinn on Monday overturned Syeds first-degree murder conviction in the 1999 killing of Hae Min Lee after prosecutors and Syeds lawyer filed motions questioning the integrity of the trial and evidence that has left him behind bars these past 23 years. The judge ordered him unshackled in court and to remain on GPS monitoring pending a new trial. Prosecutors have 30 days to determine whether they want to drop the murder charge against Syed, or to try him again for murder in his ex-girlfriends death. Syed, 41, has always maintained his innocence. Hae Min Lee, 18, was strangled to death and buried in a clandestine grave in Leakin Park. Authorities at the time said they suspected that Syed, her ex-boyfriend, struggled with her in a car before killing her. The states theory? The popular honors student at Woodlawn High School couldnt handle it when Lee broke up with him. He was 17 at the time of his arrest, and has been behind bars for 23 years. Syed is currently incarcerated at the Patuxent Institution, a state prison in Jessup. In the states motion to overturn his conviction, prosecutors wrote not that they believed Syed was innocent, but that they no longer had faith in the integrity of his conviction. It is in the interests of justice and fairness that these convictions be vacated and that the defendant, at a minimum, be afforded a new trial, wrote Becky Feldman, chief of the States Attorneys Offices Sentencing Review Unit. Syeds first trial in 1999 ended with a mistrial. In 2000, a jury found him guilty of murder. The judge handed down life plus 30 years in prison at sentencing. Despite fighting to uphold the conviction in years past, prosecutors now say Syed may not be Lees killer. According to their motion to vacate his conviction, the state has known since 1999 of two alternative suspects who may have killed Lee. Story continues One of the suspects had threatened her, saying he would make her disappear. He would kill her, prosecutors wrote. The state did not disclose the alternative suspects to Syeds defense before trial, meaning his attorneys couldnt use that information to argue his innocence to a jury. Prosecutors described one of the suspects as a serial rapist, saying the suspect was convicted in a series of sexual assaults after Syeds trial. Police discovered Lees car near the residence of one of the suspects, the states motion said. Syed was convicted, in part, because of cellphone location data that has since been found to be unreliable, according to prosecutors. They also highlighted the inconsistent statements of his co-defendant, Jay Wilds, who testified against him. Given the stunning lack of reliable evidence implicating Mr. Syed, coupled with increasing evidence pointing to other suspects, this unjust conviction cannot stand, said Erica Suter, Syeds lawyer and director of the Innocence Project clinic at the University of Baltimore School of Law. Syeds conviction became a matter of international intrigue after Serial, a podcast released in 2014 that pioneered the true crime genre, raised new questions about Lees death. Since then, his legal journey has been the subject of books, other podcasts and television documentaries which spawned new legal filings in his case. The courts turned down all of his appeals, the last in 2019, when the Supreme Court declined to hear his case. Things were quiet until this spring. Behind the scenes, Suter had been working with prosecutors in hopes of reducing Syeds prison term in light of a new state law enabling those convicted of crimes before they turn 18 to ask the court to modify their punishment. While examining the case, prosecutors agreed to request new DNA testing for items collected as evidence of Lees killing. Phinn ordered the tests in March, but the results have so far been inconclusive, court documents show. Tests for a few of the items are pending. Lees family has maintained their belief Syed is guilty and have struggled with the publicity and support Syed receives. It remains hard to see so many run to defend someone who committed a horrible crime, who destroyed our family, who refuses to accept responsibility, when so few are willing to speak up for Hae, the family said in a 2016 statement issued through the Maryland Attorney Generals Office. Unlike those who learn about this case on the Internet, the family said then, we sat and watched every day of both trials so many witnesses, so much evidence. The Lee family had not spoken publicly about the case since then until Monday. A Minnesota District Court judge on Monday denied MyPillow CEO Mike Lindells motion to throw out a lawsuit brought by a voting technology company that claims he defamed it by pushing the false narrative that the 2020 election was stolen. Smartmatic, a company that provided election technology and services to Los Angeles in the 2020 election, alleges in the complaint that both Lindell and MyPillow defamed the voting tech company by falsely promoting the theory that its machines had been hacked or rigged in favor of President Joe Biden. Lindell is a staunch supporter of former President Donald Trump and has falsely maintained since 2020 that Trump won the election over Biden. Smartmatic also alleges that Lindell, who has advertised promo codes for MyPillow products to viewers and listeners during TV and radio segments where he pushed the false narrative that voting technology was rigged in the 2020 election, used deceptive trade practices. The complaint is one of a flurry of cases filed after the 2020 election by Smartmatic and Dominion, another voting technology company, against Trump allies and media outlets who have spread false allegations about the companies voting systems. Lindell moved to dismiss Smartmatics complaint, arguing that the company failed to adequately plea the defamation claim, and that the deceptive trade practices claim fails because Lindell was acting in a personal, not professional, capacity when making statements about the 2020 election. MyPillow separately moved to dismiss Smartmatics complaint, arguing that it is shielded by the First Amendment and that it did not make any statements about Smartmatic. The company also argued that Lindells statements cant be imputed to MyPillow. U.S. District Judge Wilhelmina Wright on Monday denied both Lindells and MyPillows motions to dismiss the complaint. The court concluded that Smartmatic has alleged sufficient facts to support its defamation claim, including its claims that Lindells statements were false, that his defamatory statements were communicated to outside parties, that he knew or should have known his statements were false and that he acted with actual malice in promoting them. The court concluded that MyPillow can be vicariously liable for Lindells actions, since the CEO intentionally promoted MyPillow while allegedly defaming Smartmatic in the media and during public appearances. The court also maintained that Smartmatic can pursue its claim that Lindell violated the Minnesota Deceptive Trade Practice law, since the company has alleged sufficient evidence to its claim that Lindells statements were made in part to promote MyPillow. Editors note: Daily coverage of the Parkland trial is being provided to all readers as a public service. Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer refused to step down from the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School mass shooting case Monday, dismissing a defense demand filed Friday as legally insufficient. Its the only comment a judge is allowed to make when asked to recuse oneself, and Scherer did it in writing, handing copies of her ruling to attorneys on both sides without addressing it in open court. Confessed gunman Nikolas Cruz appeared in court on Monday along with his legal team from the Broward Public Defenders Office, prosecutors and the judge, who are wrangling over what the state will and will not be allowed to say during its rebuttal case, which gets underway next week. The rebuttal case gives prosecutors a chance to address the arguments defense experts made seeking mercy based on the mental health issues suffered by Cruz throughout his life, based on alcohol and drug abuse by his biological mother while she was pregnant. The defense wanted Scherer off the case because, in their eyes, she took her criticism of their team too far when they rested without warning last week. The judges comment that her criticism of lead defense attorney Melisa McNeill was long overdue proved that she had a bias against the defense that has infected this entire trial, the defense argued. Prosecutors, in their response, argued that the judges comments were not heard by the jury and did not jeopardize the defendants right to a fair trial. Cruz pleaded guilty in October to 17 counts of first-degree murder and 17 counts of attempted murder in the Feb. 14, 2018, massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Jury selection in the sentencing trial began in April, and the jury of seven men and five women is tasked solely with determining whether Cruz should be sentenced to death or life in prison. Scherer said she will issue written rulings this week on two defense motions. The first limits the extent to which prosecutors can address the swastikas and hate speech found in Cruzs possessions and correspondence. The second challenges a new expert witness who, defense lawyers say, will not be available for a pre-trial interview until Friday, giving the defense team no time to prepare for an effective cross-examination. Rafael Olmeda can be reached at rolmeda@sunsentinel.com, 954-356-4457 or on Twitter @rolmeda Jury deliberations are underway in the murder trial of a metro Atlanta attorney accused of running over a real estate investor, 60-year-old Hamid Jahangard following a dispute over a golf ball. Channel 2s Michael Seiden was the only TV reporter in court for closing arguments. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] After four days of testimony and 20 witnesses, the fate of Bryan Schmitt is now in the hands of the jury. The only thing that escalated the confrontation were this defendants intentional and deliberate actions, said prosecutor Pat Dutcher. You got to be a psychopath to say, Im gonna go run some guy over in the middle of the afternoon in his own driveway with cars going back and forth. Thats just the kind of person I am! But we know thats not the person he is, defense attorney, Don Samuel said. During closing arguments Monday, prosecutors attacked Schmitts credibility, accusing him of giving conflicting statements to police and witnesses on the night of July 30, 2019. RELATED STORIES: Thats when prosecutors say a neighbors surveillance camera captured Schmitt heading home from work, driving down River Valley Road, when he heard something bounce off the front of his Mercedes. They say when he turned around to question the father of 2, who had been bouncing a golf ball on his driveway and talking on the phone. Prosecutors claim he became enraged and intentionally slammed into him. It was a violent death. It was a gruesome death. It was a death that left him suffering in the hospital for two days until he was pronounced brain dead, Dutcher said. But the defense claims it was all a tragic mistake. Showing jurors how he hit the brakes before the collision. Story continues He puts the brakes on! He veers to the right! Hes not accelerating as much as he could! Hes not jamming the pedal to the metal. These are all signals that this was not an intentional murder, Samuel said. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] The defense also said Schmitt immediately stops and jumps out of his car and runs back to render aid. Schmitt is charged with murder, two counts of felony murder and two counts of aggravated assault. IN OTHER NEWS: Sterigenics, its parent company and a corporate predecessor should pay $363 million in damages for exposing a Willowbrook, Illinois, woman and thousands of others to cancer-causing ethylene oxide pollution, a Cook County jury decided Monday. After a five-week trial and a day of deliberations, the jury decided breast-cancer survivor Sue Kamuda should get $38 million from the companies. Jurors imposed another $325 million in punitive damages as punishment for decades of toxic air pollution that drifted into neighborhoods near a former Willowbrook sterilization facility. Sterigenics should pay $220 million, parent company Sotera Health $100 million and Griffith Foods $5 million, the jury decided. The verdict exceeded the $346 million that Kamudas attorney, Patrick Salvi II, had urged the jury to assess during his closing arguments. Kamuda is the first of more than 700 people seeking recompense from Sterigenics, an Oak Brook, Illinois-based company that uses ethylene oxide to sterilize medical instruments. Salvi and his colleagues accused the companies of being more interested in profits than public health. Emails and corporate documents highlighted on a courtroom screen showed the companies knew long ago that ethylene oxide, or EtO, is extremely dangerous. But the companies delayed installing pollution-control equipment and attempted to undermine federal regulations that would require costly improvements at sterilization facilities, the documents showed. They did not treat EtO like a carcinogen, they treated it like an ATM, Salvi said. Sterigenics and Sotera said in a statement they might appeal the verdict. We do not believe the jury verdict in this matter reflects the evidence presented in court, the companies statement said. We will continue to vigorously defend against allegations about our ethylene oxide operations and emissions. Lawyers for the companies argued that Salvi offered no proof that Kamudas breast cancer was caused by exposure to ethylene oxide. They also brought in industry-connected scientists who attempted to persuade the jury the Willowbrook facility never posed a danger to its neighbors. Story continues The now-closed Willowbrook facility was built in the early 1980s by the company now known as Griffith Foods. Sotera Health absorbed Sterigenics after a series of mergers, corporate restructurings and private equity deals. After monitoring ethylene oxide concentrations in and around Willowbrook for several months, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency concluded that Sterigenics pollution increased the risk of developing cancer for people living as far as 25 miles away from the sterilization facility. Sterigenics closed the plant in 2019 under pressure from community groups, local officials, state lawmakers, members of Congress and Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who at one point that year banned the company from using ethylene oxide. Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle are paying homage to Queen Elizabeth II at the monarch's funeral on Monday morning. As more than 2,000 people gathered to watch the queen's memorial service at Westminster Abbey in London, the Princess of Wales and Duchess of Sussex showed up to the event wearing all-black in accordance with requirements during a mourning period. Both also accessorized with jewelry inspired and gifted by the late queen. Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle pay homage to the late Queen Elizabeth II at her funeral. (Photo: Getty Images) Middleton's necklace was likely the standout piece of the day as the four-string pearl and diamond choker which belonged to the queen has a storied history with both the late monarch and Middleton's late mother-in-law, Princess Diana. The Princess of Wales (Kate) is today wearing the pearl and diamond choker that belonged to the Queen. The Queen wore it in the 80s to a state dinner. Princess Diana was also loaned the choker. pic.twitter.com/KIUsz9LDuv Kate Bennett (@KateBennett_DC) September 19, 2022 The choker was gifted to the queen from Japan in the 1970s and can be seen in photos from a state visit in 1983. Princess Diana also wore it to a state visit in 1982, as well as some other occasions. The piece has been on long-term loan with Middleton who wore it to the queen and Prince Philip's 70th anniversary celebration in 2017 and the prince's funeral in 2021. Princess Diana at Westminster Pier ready to greet Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands as she arrives on her state visit in November 1982. (Photo by Jayne Fincher/Princess Diana Archive/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) The Princess of Wales also wore the Bahrain Pearl Drop Earrings from the queen's jewelry box, which were a wedding gift from the ruler of Bahrain in 1947. Middleton's earrings from the queen on display. (Photo: Getty Images) The earrings, decorated with multiple diamonds and a dangling pearl, were worn by Middleton to the Remembrance Day service in 2016. Queen Elizabeth II had worn the same accessory to the event the year prior. Markle also wore a significant pair of earrings similarly featuring diamonds and pearls, which she sported during her first solo outing with the queen in 2018. Story continues Markle wore the earrings gifted by the queen to their first outing together in 2018. (Photo: Getty Images) The Duchess of Sussex honored the important outing and her time with the queen by rewearing the gift as the queen was laid to rest. Wellness, parenting, body image and more: Get to know the who behind the hoo with Yahoo Life's newsletter. Sign up here. (PA) Carole and Michael Middleton have arrived at Westminster Abbey for the Queens funeral. The duo have arrived ahead of their daughter, Kate, Princess of Wales, who is expected to arrive soon with Camilla, Queen Consort. Carole was seen wearing a long black tailored coat and a wide-brimmed hat, while Michael was wearing a morning suit with pinstripe trousers. The state funeral service will begin at 11am and be conducted by David Hoyle, the Dean of Westminster. In The Bidding, the Dean will say: Here, where Queen Elizabeth was married and crowned, we gather from across the nation, from the Commonwealth, and from the nations of the world, to mourn our loss, to remember her long life of selfless service. Kates children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, are expected to be among the 2,000 people gathered at Westminster Abbey to remember the Queen before a committal service at Windsor Castle. Millions of people across the UK are expected to watch the funeral on TV, with thousands already camped out to line the route along The Mall. Meanwhile, inside the Abbey, hundreds of dignitaries are due to attend, with presidents, prime ministers among them. All members of the British royal family will attend the Queens funeral, including King Charles III and the Queen Consort. His siblings the Princess Royal, the Duke of York, and the Earl of Wessex will also honour their mother at the funeral. The Queen also has four living cousins the Duke of Kent, the Duke of Gloucester, Prince Michael of Kent, and Princess Alexandra who are sure to attend. The Queens late sister, Princess Margaret, also has two children who are expected to attend the funeral: Lady Sarah Chatto and David Armstrong-Jones, 2nd Earl of Snowdon. Kentucky State Police are investigating a shooting that left a McKee man dead. State police were contacted just before 5 p.m. on Sunday, in reference to a shooting that occurred outside of a residence in Jackson County. The initial investigation indicates 42-year-old Billy Isaacs was fatally shot during an altercation at a residence on KY-3445 in Jackson County, according to state police. He was pronounced dead at the scene by the Jackson County Coroners Office. According to police, 54-year-old McKee resident Ricky G. McQueen was arrested and lodged in the Jackson County Detention Center on a murder charge. The ongoing investigation is being conducted by state police Detective Anthony Bowling, state police said. He was assisted at the scene by state police personnel, the Jackson County Sheriffs Office, the Jackson County Coroners Office and Jackson County EMS. Sandra Oh attends the 2022 Emmys. Mark Von Holden/NBC/Getty Images "Killing Eve" star Sandra Oh attended Queen Elizabeth II's funeral. She was part of the delegation from Canada along with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife. She was invited after becoming a member of the Order of Canada. "Killing Eve" star Sandra Oh was one of several celebrities who attended Queen Elizabeth II's funeral on Monday. Politicians and dignitaries from all around the world attended the funeral at Westminster Abbey to honor the British monarch who died earlier this month at the age of 96. Oh was among them as part of a delegation from Canada. Oh's invitation to the funeral came after she was made a member of the Order of Canada earlier this year. The Order, which was founded by the late Queen in 1967, recognizes "people who make extraordinary contributions to the nation," according to the website for the governor-general of Canada. Oh was awarded the honor in June for her "artistic career filled with memorable stage, television and film roles in Canada and abroad." The Golden Globe-winning actress has had notable roles in series such as "Grey's Anatomy" and "Killing Eve." Videos of the Canadian actor walking with the procession have gone viral online. Last week, according to the Daily Mail, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Oh would be part of the delegation during a special address in a session of Canada's House of Commons. Trudeau himself and his wife led the delegation from Canada which included musician Gregory Charles and Olympic swimmer Mark Tewksbury, who are also members of the Order. The adventurer Bear Grylls was another notable celebrity at the event. He attended as a representative of the Scouts organization. Read the original article on Insider King Charles III (Carl De Souza/PA) (PA Wire) The King has thanked the nation for the outpouring of support and warmth his family has received as a touching image of the Queen was released in tribute. Charless praise came as it emerged Prince George and Princess Charlotte will join their parents, the Prince and Princess of Wales, at the Queens state funeral, mourning their great-grandmother with more than 2,000 others at Westminster Abbey. US President Joe Biden said the world is better because of the Queen as he offered his condolences to the British people for their loss, ahead of her funeral. A minutes silence was held at 8pm on Sunday, with Prime Minister Liz Truss standing outside Downing Street, as the nation paused to reflect on the eve of Queens burial. In his message issued by Buckingham Palace, Charles said: Over the last 10 days, my wife and I have been so deeply touched by the many messages of condolence and support we have received from this country and across the world. In London, Edinburgh, Hillsborough and Cardiff we were moved beyond measure by everyone who took the trouble to come and pay their respects to the lifelong service of my dear mother, the late Queen. As we all prepare to say our last farewell, I wanted simply to take this opportunity to say thank you to all those countless people who have been such a support and comfort to my family and myself in this time of grief. A previously unseen portrait of the Queen smiling with joy was released by the Palace on the eve of her funeral. The new portrait of the Queen (Ranald Mackechnie/PA) (PA Media) The image was taken by photographer Ranald Mackechnie ahead of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations, and shows the monarch beaming brightly at the camera in her Windsor Castle home. The Duke of York was the last of the Queens children to pay tribute, with Andrew saying: Mummy, your love for a son, your compassion, your care, your confidence, I will treasure forever. Andrew hailed the Queen for her knowledge and wisdom infinite, with no boundary or containment, adding: I will miss your insights, advice and humour. Story continues Mr Biden visited Westminster Hall with first lady Jill Biden to pay his respects to the late monarch and after signing a book of condolence at Lancaster House said: You were fortunate to have had her for 70 years, we all were. The world is better for her. Members of the public queue on the South Bank (Danny Lawson/PA) (PA Wire) The queue of people waiting to pay their respects to the Queen at her coffin in Westminster Hall ran through the capital with the expectation it would be closed at some point, ahead of the final mourner being able to view the coffin at 6.30am on Monday. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport said the estimated wait was at least eight hours, down from 14 hours earlier in the day. The King hosted a Buckingham Palace reception on Sunday for world leaders, welcoming around 500 global figures and their partners. They included the US president and his wife, Frances President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and her counterpart from Canada Justin Trudeau and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. The event was attended by William and Kate and other working members of the royal family including the Earl and Countess of Wessex, the Princess Royal and Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, and the Queen Consort. About 2,000 people including foreign royals, presidents and prime ministers will flock to Westminster Abbey on Monday for a day of pageantry, military processions and solemnity in honour of the Queen. The Archbishop of Canterbury will give the sermon in front of a congregation including leading figures from UK national life. Mourners in the capital will be treated to the spectacle of a ceremonial procession through the capital that will take the coffin followed by her children and some of her grandchildren to the state hearse at Wellington Arch. It will travel to St Georges Chapel at Windsor Castle for a committal service attended by the Queens family, friends and personal staff before a private family burial service in the evening. Deadline UPDATED with latest: Just days after being pummeled by Hurricane Ian, Universal Orlando Resort has announced that tomorrow, October 1, the resort will be open to all guests. A phased reopen began today for guests of the resorts hotels who rode out the storm there. The resorts popular Halloween Horror Nights will also be open [] Kourtney Kardashian. Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic/Getty Images Kourtney Kardashian clarified her comments regarding letting her children eat french fries. In a Wall Street Journal interview, she said her son asked her for McDonald's fries and she refused. Kardashian later told Vogue that her family does eat french fries, but she avoids McDonald's. Kourtney Kardashian Barker responded to controversy over giving her children McDonald's french fries, after she told the Wall Street Journal that she told her son that he couldn't have the food. In a new interview with Vogue, Kardashian Barker called the fervor over her comments "annoying," saying her family makes french fries at home and she doesn't outright deny them to her children. "We're a french fry-loving family, to clear that up," Kardashian Barker told Vogue. "We love french fries; we go to restaurants that have fries. Just McDonald's specifically. I love to avoid fast food when we can." In the Wall Street Journal interview published on September 12, Kardashian Barker said that her son asked her for french fries from McDonald's when they were having "one-on-one time," saying that he told her that it had been a "year" since he had last had them. While a parenthetical in the Journal story labeled the son in question as Kardashian Barker's 12-year-old Mason, she clarified to Vogue that it was actually her 7-year-old Reign who asked for the fries. Kardashian Barker said that she told her son, "Today's not the day, sorry." Her refusal was reported on by other outlets as well. Kardashian Barker said that the media fervor around the french-fry comment was part of why she disliked doing press. "I was walking with Travis today and I was like, 'This is so annoying; this is why I don't like doing interviews,'" she told Vogue, referencing her husband Travis Barker. "Other outlets then twist it and make it into something else." In the original Wall Street Journal interview, Kardashian Barker said Mason's birth was when she started on her "wellness journey." Now, in addition to her lifestyle brand Poosh, she's launching a line of edible supplements called Lemme. Read the original article on Insider MONDAY, 19 SEPTEMBER 2022, 13:20 Dmitry Peskov, press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation, has praised Hungary for what he called an "independent stance" in the European Union. Source: European Pravda, citing Peskov who commented on the EU's intention to freeze payments to Hungary. "Hungary remains a member of the EU, [and] sometimes there are disagreements. As an aside, this decision should be viewed in the context of the dynamics of the situation in question. Because a settlement plan (or solution) is being worked out. Hungary takes an independent stance on many issues, we welcome it," Gazeta.Ru quoted Peskov as saying. Background: On Sunday, the European Commission recommended not to allocate 65% of funds (7.5 billion euros) to Hungary under three programs from the key EU fund due to problems with the rule of law in this country. At the same time, the European Commission laid the groundwork for a possible compromise that would let Budapest keep the money. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said that Warsaw opposed Brussels' intentions to financially punish Hungary. In Slovakia, opinions on Brussels' plans to withhold 7.5 billion euros from Hungary are divided. Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron! MOSCOW (Reuters) -The Kremlin on Monday rejected allegations that Russian forces had committed war crimes in Ukraine's Kharkiv province as a "lie". Around 450 bodies - most of which Ukraine says are civilians - have been found in mass graves near Izium after Russian troops were this month forced out of the Kharkiv region, much of which they had controlled since the first weeks of their military campaign in Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said investigators at the site had found evidence of torture, including bodies with hands tied, and accused Russian troops of committing war crimes. Asked on Monday about Zelenskiy's statements, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters: "It's the same scenario as in Bucha. It's a lie, and of course we will defend the truth in this story." Russia previously rejected claims that its troops had committed war crimes in Bucha, outside Kyiv, after evidence of civilians being killed while the town was controlled by Russian troops came to light after Russia's withdrawal at the end of March. (Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Kevin Liffey) Naason Joaquin Garcia, leader of the Mexico-based La Luz del Mundo church, at his bail review hearing in July 2019. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) Naason Joaquin Garcia, head of the Mexico-based La Luz del Mundo megachurch, pleaded guilty in June to sexually abusing girls from his congregation and was sentenced to nearly 17 years behind bars. But his congregation has continued to pray for its leader from more than 1,000 miles away at the church's temple in Guadalajara, where it held its Holy Supper, the church's annual pilgrimage and most sacred practice. Garcia addressed his followers via phone from a Los Angeles prison, the Associated Press reported. "I do not see the bars that separate me from you," he said. "I see your beautiful faces ... because you are the children of God." Garcia originally faced 36 charges, including human trafficking, rape, child pornography and forcible oral copulation of a minor, and was held on $90-million bail. Five women, known as Jane Does, said he sexually abused them between 2015 and 2019 and were told that if they went against Garcia, they would be going against God. Despite maintaining his innocence since he was arrested in 2019 at Los Angeles International Airport, Garcia unexpectedly pleaded guilty to two counts of forcible oral copulation on a minor and one count of committing a lewd act on a child in exchange for a reduced sentence. Despite the conviction, Garcia's loyal followers have pledged to stand by him. "The apostle always shows determination to move forward," Phares Ruiz, who traveled to attend the Holy Supper and whose family has belonged to the church for three generations, told the Associated Press. "He's firm in his convictions, and the church is firm as well in its purpose of moving forward." Sara Pozos, 49, told the wire service that Garcia's imprisonment has "united the church" and changed it "for the better." "It has been a very difficult issue, of course, for him and for us," she said. "We all suffer something in life, but one learns to know those moments where you see that God is doing something to help you, to get ahead, not to let you fall." Story continues Former members of the church have spoken out about the alleged sexual abuse they suffered. Sochil Martin said her aunt offered her as a "sexual servant" to Garcia's father, who was the church's leader, and then to Garcia, his successor. Martin said Garcia's plea deal felt like a "slap to the face" to his victims. She's also concerned that other potential survivors won't come forward after seeing the Jane Does be subjected to harassment and intimidation by church members. What are these girls gonna think? There is no justice, especially if youre Latino, she said. La Luz del Mundo said in a statement released after Garcia's sentencing that he had no choice but to accept with much pain that the agreement presented is the best way forward to protect the church and his family. Garcia is the grandson of the church's founder, Eusebio Joaquin Gonzalez, known to the congregation as Aaron. The organization has churches in East and West L.A., Orange County and Palm Springs. The five victims also filed a civil lawsuit this month in the Los Angeles County Superior Court, seeking damages against the church. They also named Garcia, his wife and children and three other women in the suit, who they said either know about the abuse or helped groom them for Garcia. According to the lawsuit, the women said they were "routinely coerced" since they were children to believe that Garcia's wishes were direct orders from God and that if they didn't obey, it would lead to catastrophic consequences including, but not limited to, eternal damnation, unspeakable tragedy, infertility, and countless other harms." This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. L3Harris, one of the worlds 10 largest defense companies, and Embraer said theyll work together to create an agile tanker based on the Brazilian aerospace companys KC-390 Millennium, with the aim of selling to the U.S. Air Force. In a statement ahead of the Air Force Associations Air Space & Cyber conference that starts today in National Harbor, Maryland, the companies said they agreed to add boom refueling capabilities and modernized communications equipment to the KC-390s in support Joint All Domain Command and Control, or JADC2, requirements. The update will also include systems to sustain operations in contested areas, they said. L3Harris and Embraer said the enhanced KC-390 would be able to support the Air Forces Agile Combat Employment concept of establishing a dispersed network throughout a region to lessen reliance on centralized air bases vulnerable to single attacks. U.S. Air Force strategic planners have stated agile combat employment will require refueling platforms optimized to support a disaggregated approach to air dominance in contested logistics environments, said L3Harris CEO Christopher Kubasik, in the statement. Collaborating with Embraer to develop and integrate new capabilities to the multi-mission KC-390 provides a cost-effective, fast-to-field solution that embodies our trusted disruptor approach. The KC-390s existing capabilities include a variable speed drogue for refueling aircraft in flight, as well as the ability to receive fuel and take off and land from short and improvised runways. The Brazilian air force flies the KC-390, and Portugal and Hungary will start using it in 2023 and 2024, respectively. Embraer sought to work with Boeing in 2018 to develop new markets for the plane, a deal that would have given the U.S. company a 49 percent stake in the KC-390 program. The companies also at that time were pursuing a strategic partnership that would have given Boeing an 80% stake in Embraers commercial and service business for $4.2 billion. That effort collapsed in 2020 when Boeing pulled out of the deal. The Rev. David F. Ryan, pastor of St. Francis de Sales Parish and School in Lake Zurich, is facing two allegations of sexually abusing a minor a little more than a year after he was reinstated as pastor following an investigation into claims of sexual abuse dating back 26 years. Cardinal Blase Cupich of the Archdiocese of Chicago announced in a letter to St. Francis de Sales parishioners on Friday that Ryan has been asked to step aside from his duties as pastor while the archdioceses Independent Review Board investigates the allegations and reports its recommendations to Cupich. As is the case with all such matters, the archdiocese will report these allegations to civil authorities and offer assistance to the persons who made them, Cupich wrote. He added, (Ryan) has agreed to cooperate fully with our process, which will move forward as expeditiously as possible. We will provide Fr. Ryan with pastoral assistance, and I know he is grateful for your support. In 2021, the archdiocese reinstated Ryan after an investigation into allegations of sexually abusing minors began in 2020 related to Ryans time at Maryville Academy in Des Plaines. He began working there in 1985, and was promoted to acting executive director of Maryville Academy in 2003. He also previously worked at parishes in Godfrey, and is a former director for the Catholic Childrens Home in Alton, Illinois, near St. Louis. When announcing the internal investigation into Ryan in 2020, Cupich wrote that the archdiocese reported the allegations to the Cook County states attorneys office and the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. A representative from St. Francis de Sales Parish, part of the Archdiocese of Chicago, deferred comment to the archdiocese when reached by phone. The archdiocese did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday. Ryan also did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A representative from the Lake County states attorneys office said Monday its sex crimes division had not yet received a report about the allegations. Story continues Ryan served on the Board of Governors for the City Club of Chicago, but the webpage which linked to his biography was no longer available Monday. Ryan was ordained in Springfield in 1979. We have appreciated your patience with this process in the past and your understanding that only with an impartial and thorough effort can we fulfill our duty to protect the young people in our care and, if the investigation warrants, restore the good name of the one so accused, Cupich wrote Friday. Please know I am keeping all of you in my prayers as we complete this process, he continued. I hope you will join me in praying for everyone involved in the work of protecting children. Fifth-grade students in Fairfield Elementary School play during recess on the first day of school Sept. 6 in Eugene. Students can now play with different classes during recess, a loosening of COVID-19 protocols. Oregon reported far fewer coronavirus cases in the week ending Sunday, adding 2,595 new cases. That's down 30.4% from the previous week's tally of 3,728 new cases of the virus that causes COVID-19. Oregon ranked third among the states where coronavirus was spreading the slowest on a per-person basis, a USA TODAY Network analysis of Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the latest week coronavirus cases in the United States decreased 7.7% from the week before, with 436,694 cases reported. With 1.27% of the country's population, Oregon had 0.59% of the country's cases in the last week. Across the country, 24 states had more cases in the latest week than they did in the week before. Lane County reported 172 cases and one death in the latest week. A week earlier, it had reported 276 cases and five deaths. Throughout the pandemic it has reported 72,386 cases and 619 deaths. >> See how your community has fared with recent coronavirus cases Across Oregon, cases fell in 28 counties, with the best declines in Multnomah County, with 533 cases from 771 a week earlier; in Washington County, with 328 cases from 532; and in Lane County, with 172 cases from 276. a Within Oregon, the worst weekly outbreaks on a per-person basis were in Wallowa County with 444 cases per 100,000 per week; Umatilla County with 126; and Wasco County with 109. The Centers for Disease Control says high levels of community transmission begin at 100 cases per 100,000 per week. Adding the most new cases overall were Multnomah County, with 533 cases; Washington County, with 328 cases; and Clackamas County, with 271. Weekly case counts rose in seven counties from the previous week. The worst increases from the prior week's pace were in Wallowa, Umatilla and Lake counties. >> Track coronavirus cases across the United States In Oregon, 21 a people were reported dead of COVID-19 in the week ending Sunday. In the week before that, 44 people were reported dead. Story continues A total of 885,963 people in Oregon have tested positive for the coronavirus since the pandemic began, and 8,492 people have died from the disease, Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the United States 95,658,236 people have tested positive and 1,053,419 people have died. Oregon's COVID-19 hospital admissions rising USA TODAY analyzed federal hospital data as of Sunday, Sept. 18. Likely COVID-19 patients admitted in the state: Last week: 685 The week before that: 667 Four weeks ago: 686 Likely COVID-19 patients admitted in the nation: Last week: 57,618 The week before that: 58,248 Four weeks ago: 66,210 Hospitals in 15 states reported more COVID-19 patients than a week earlier, while hospitals in 14 states had more COVID-19 patients in intensive-care beds. Hospitals in 22 states admitted more COVID-19 patients in the latest week than a week prior, the USA TODAY analysis of U.S. Health and Human Services data shows. The USA TODAY Network is publishing localized versions of this story on its news sites across the country, generated with data from Johns Hopkins University and the Centers for Disease Control. If you have questions about the data or the story, contact Mike Stucka at mstucka@gannett.com. This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Oregon COVID-19 updates: Cases plummet 30.4% across state Associated Press Alabama reclaimed No. 1 from Georgia in The Associated Press college football poll in one of the closest votes in the recent years, and six teams including Kansas made their season debut on Sunday. The Crimson Tide received 25 first-place votes and 1,523 points in the AP Top 25 presented by Regions Bank, two points more than the Bulldogs. Georgia received 28 first-place votes to become the first team since Alabama in November 2019 to have the most first-place votes but not be No. 1. Some Democratic lawmakers are accusing Gov. Brian Kemp of supporting potential legislative efforts to ban access to a certain form of contraception. The Kemp campaign calls those accusations a lie. Before June 24, economic issues and a looming threat of recession were the top campaign issues. Thats the day the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, pushing abortion and womens reproductive rights into the forefront of several political races across Georgia. Women are not going to stand up and take this again. We will fight, Atlantas Democratic state Rep. Kim Schofield said Monday. She and other female lawmakers criticized recent comments made by Kemp surrounding access to certain contraceptions like Plan B. Even as Republicans are campaigning hard on economic issues and the threat of a possible recession, Democrats are campaigning hard on issues of abortion and womens reproductive rights. RELATED STORIES: State Sen. Elena Parent insists recent audio of Kemp talking at a University of Georgia football tailgate shows he supports potential legislative efforts to ban access. Access to all forms of contraception is a fundamental right, Parent said. The Kemp campaign fired back, calling those accusations lies. The governor has never opposed access to contraception despite the attempts of desperate Democrats and their media allies to spread a complete lie. The full audio proves the governors position remains the same. Channel 2 Action News was there as Kemp signed the states heartbeat abortion bill into law, though it only became law once the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. A lower court reinstated it during an appeal. Democrats promised to continue to fight it and any efforts to limit access to contraceptives. Story continues All of this rest(s) on this one thing. It impacts Georgians on a fundamental level, Parent said. Recent polls show a tightening race between Kemp and his Democratic challenger, Stacey Abrams. RELATED NEWS: Mayor Paul TenHaken gives the annual budget address on Thursday, July 21, 2022, at Carnegie Town Hall in Sioux Falls. Drug use, overdoses and people's willingness to use guns are the growing threats in Sioux Falls when it comes to public safety, law enforcement officials said Monday. Minnehaha County and Sioux Falls criminal justice leaders gave a public safety update for what they all said is a "safe" and secure city, unless you're involved in illegal drugs. Sioux Falls Mayor Paul TenHaken opened the public safety update by presenting the figures he said he most cares about when looking at crime statistics in the city crimes per capita. And during the last 10 years, violent crime and property crime per 1,000 people stats have remained steady with little increase or decrease. TenHaken said taking this data into account, the rise in crime can be attributed to the rise in population. Outside of the rise in population, TenHaken along with other law enforcement leaders, including Sioux Falls Police Chief Jon Thum, said repeat offenders and parole violators are the people committing crimes. "Many of the crime issues that we see in the community, especially in the last couple of years, have been really cyclical," TenHaken said. More: Sioux Falls Mayor Paul TenHaken says creating safe communities requires collaboration Here are a few highlights of what officials discussed during the briefing: Property crime and violent crime rates per capita in Sioux Falls. What crimes are increasing in Sioux Falls? Calls for service from January to August have remained steady at around 86,000 per year for the last three years, according to data from the city. Homicides have gone down compared to the last two years, although that figure includes a record 13 seen in 2020. In 2021, Sioux Falls saw five homicides, which is equal to the current tally for 2022. Aggravated assaults are at their highest figure in the last three years, with 375 reported in the city from January to August of this year, according to the data. Aside from that, the city also reported 313 assaults classified as domestics. Robberies have also increased, but Thum said it's not due to gas station or store robberies on the rise but rather smaller thefts. Story continues "It's people stealing from each other sometimes inconsequential things," Thum said, "A phone gets taken from somebody or somebody gets beaten up at a park." Are more parolees the issue? Forty-one percent of inmates at the Minnehaha County Jail were either on probation or parole when they were arrested, according to Minnehaha County Sheriff Mike Milstead. The sheriff, along with TenHaken, said many of the violent offenders in the criminal justice system are already known to law enforcement. "There are more parolees in our community than ever before," TenHaken said, "We've seen a roughly 50% increase in people in our community on parole." TenHaken said the Labor Day homicide in Sioux Falls involved someone on parole that was released from prison. TenHaken said the gun used in that homicide was most likely obtained illegally. Darrian Lamar Johnson, 38, has been charged with first-degree murder in that case. Milstead said there's an issue with the parole system that's leading to more people committing crimes in the community. The county has more than 400 parole absconders that law enforcement don't know where they're located. Fentanyl seizures in Sioux Falls from January to August 2022. Rise in overdose deaths and problem with fentanyl Fentanyl and meth seizures were a major talking point throughout the public update. In 2021 across Sioux Falls there were 1,740.09 grams of fentanyl seized. That's more than six times what was seized in 2020. The figure through August of 2022 stands at 812.01 grams. Milstead said drugs continue to be an issue for the county. Ninety percent of the drugs making their way to the county come from Mexico, according to Milstead. Many of the chemicals used in making some of the drugs come from China. More Argus911: Man charged with kidnapping, assault after holding girlfriend in apartment for days, police say Milstead reported there had been 35 overdose deaths in 2021 for the county, which was a 40% increase from the year prior and a 133% increase in five years. A large portion of the overdose deaths were because of fentanyl, Milstead said. Meth is also a cause of overdose deaths in the county. Sioux Falls, Rapid City often landing spot for parolees Milstead said that the presence of resources in Rapid City and Sioux Falls meant that often parolees were released into one of the two communities, even if it wasnt where they lived or where they committed the crime that got them into prison. He said hed spoken with Secretary of Corrections Kellie Wasko last week, and said he was encouraged by her desire to look at increasing parole services in more rural areas of South Dakota. There are some cases where an individual just wants to get away from this environment, Milstead said, with parolees often wanting to live back at home instead of in a halfway house. But because the parole services arent available there, it makes that parole plan not one that could be accepted. TenHaken, Milstead push back on recreational marijuana TenHaken has never been shy about expressing his feelings on marijuana, and that didnt change Monday morning. If we think that legalizing marijuana in the fall is going to lead to a safer community, we have another thing coming, he said, referring to IM-27, the ballot measure legalizing recreational marijuana that South Dakotans will vote on this November. TenHaken hinted that it wasnt the last time hed be talking about the issue, and Milstead said it was bold for him to take a leadership position on it. Recreational marijuana is not right for South Dakota from my standpoint, Milstead said. Milsteads presentation focused largely on the dangers of fentanyl and meth, although he did list marijuana alongside them as drugs that were connected with a high number of violent crimes in Minnehaha County, which he said was largely due to the prevalence of drug rips that occurred during marijuana deals. TenHaken spoke on the topic again near the end of the presentation, saying that legalization wouldnt affect the black market and that revenues would be offset by the costs of dealing with unintended consequences. Minnehaha County Sheriff Mike Milstead warns Minnehaha County commissioners during their weekly meeting that fentanyl-involved overdoses are on the rise and they aren't stopping. Photo taken on Tuesday, May 24, 2022. Milstead says concern for officers at an all-time high I have never been more concerned about the safety of our men and women in uniform than I am today, Milstead said during the presentation, noting that hed been in the Sioux Falls Police Department for 24 years before 25 years as sheriff. Part of that, he said, was the fact that more and more police are dealing with people who are armed, often because theyve stolen a gun from an unlocked car, an issue the Sioux Falls Police Department has struggled with for years. Milstead said the sheriffs office recently worked to arrest nine people who had made threats to law enforcement, all of whom were on either probation or parole. That also took four guns off the street, one of which had been illegally modified. These are the types of individuals our police officers are dealing with at a higher rate, Milstead said. TenHaken said more people are willing to use guns in crimes. "We are a state that loves the Second Amendment, as do I, but there are more firearms and more people who are willing to use firearms," he said. "The days of fisticuffs have given ways to people willing to use guns in an altercation." Got a story idea from your community? Email reporter Alfonzo Galvan at agalvan@argusleader.com or follow him on Twitter @GalvanReports. This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Here's what stood out from Sioux Falls' public safety update Lithuania may ban the citizens of Belarus with Schengen visas from entering the country I can see very clearly that the Belarusian regime is also engaged in warfare and is carrying out a hybrid attack with illegal migrants against Lithuania, she said. Read also: Nine EU countries no longer accept Russian visa applications I think that there are very serious arguments to consider the inclusion of Belarus as well (in the visa ban). Bilotaite also said that only those citizens of Russia who meet the following criteria will be allowed to enter Lithuania: persons coming for humanitarian reasons; fighters against the Kremlin regime; dissidents transiting through Lithuania; persons engaged in international transportation; persons with long-term visas or residence permits. Read also: White House rules out visa ban for all Russians Several EU members have previously limited the issuing of tourist visas to Russian citizens, pointing out that visiting Europe is a privilege, not a right. The EU agreed to suspend a treaty that simplified and expedited visa issuance to Russian citizens, starting on Sept. 12. From now on, Russians will find that getting an EU visa will be more expensive, take longer, and require more documents for the application. While the bloc has refused to issue a blanket ban on visas for Russia chiefly due to German and French objections Poland, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania said they will take national steps to limit the number of Russian citizens they admit. Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine Disneys The Little Mermaid live-action reboot has been facing unwarranted blowback before even being released, with racists lamenting the shift from the original white, red-haired Ariel to Halle Baileys Black Ariel for absolutely no reason other than the change in skin tone. Adaptations regularly change aspects of the original story, especially when a lot of time has passed and a story has been adapted again and again in different ways. Theres no reason to make claims that the source material needs to be diligently followed, other than using it as an excuse for racism. That said, if we were to take any of this seriously, the actual source material dates back much farther than Disneys 1989 film. In fact, Hans Christian Andersen originally wrote the fairy tale in 1837, and it has widely been interpreted as a story about Andersens own longing to be with his longtime friend Edvard Collin, after finding out he was engaged to marry a woman. That The Little Mermaid has queer origins is nothing new, but a thread making the rounds on Twitter dives into just how chaotic those origins are. Writer Dana Schwartz initially brought up Andersens obsession with and intrusion upon Charles Dickens, culminating in a bizarre extended stay at Dickens house definitely worth a read. @teaberryblue expanded on this by pivoting directly back to The Little Mermaid and its queer ties, calling Anderson a Disaster Bi Trash Fire. So its important to know that Andersen was what we would probably call bi or pan now but more importantly [that] Andersen had crushes on basically everyone he met and had A Lot Of Feelings and almost always took it badly when those feelings werent returned, she wrote. \u201cSo anyway one of these crushes was on a guy named Edvard Collin, who happened to be the son of Andersen\u2019s patron in Copenhagen when Andersen first moved there as a teenager so firstly, important to know they grew up in the same house for a period.\u201d Tea Berry-Blue (@Tea Berry-Blue) 1663374602 \u201cAnyway, Andersen was convinced that they were madly in love and society was keeping them apart and Collin, who was convinced that Andersen was a perfectly nice friend who just had some really weird ways of showing affection, went about living his life and eventually got engaged.\u201d Tea Berry-Blue (@Tea Berry-Blue) 1663374602 \u201cCollin wrote a letter to Andersen (you can find all these letters online) and was like \u201cHey I\u2019m really hurt, I\u2019ve always regarded you as a friend why are you doing this?\u201d And Andersen wrote back basically HOW COULD YOU SAY THIS WHAT DO YOU MEAN \u201cFRIEND!?\u201d\u201d Tea Berry-Blue (@Tea Berry-Blue) 1663374602 \u201cAnyway Collin married his fianc\u00e9e and Andersen responded by writing The Little Mermaid and MAILING IT TO HIM.\u201d Tea Berry-Blue (@Tea Berry-Blue) 1663374701 \u201cI feel that this gets overlooked so often in explaining the context of the story, like yes, it is Andersen working out his feelings about the object of his affection not being returned and feeling like an outsider for loving a man but IT WAS FOR MAKING THAT MAN FEEL BAD.\u201d Tea Berry-Blue (@Tea Berry-Blue) 1663374918 \u201cThe irony is that a lot of historians disagree on which people he actually did have relationships with because Andersen was so bad at reading other people\u2019s intentions toward him that his diaries are totally unreliable.\u201d Tea Berry-Blue (@Tea Berry-Blue) 1663375383 So there you have it. The deepest origins of The Little Mermaid are actually gay, but that doesnt mean having a Black mermaid pursuing a heterosexual relationship is an inaccurate representation that destroys the story in any way. That said, a movie about Andersens own life with a focus on his queer yearnings and keeping it as chaotic and messy as it sounds like it actually was sounds like the next best move for Hollywood. And then maybe a gay adaptation of The Little Mermaid to go along with it. Lets see bigots try to hold a logical argument against that. RELATED | The 40 Best Queer Animated Shows Ever & Where To Watch Them A woman who has helped hundreds of people in the recovery community is facing serious charges of DUI and child endangerment. Chartiers Township police arrested Michelle Africa Wednesday evening. According to the criminal complaint, they received several 911 calls about a woman driving erratically, who had hit a mailbox and kept going. One of the calls said it appeared like a young girl was trying to get out of the car. Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts. Investigators say that young girl also called 911, saying she was afraid and trying to get out of the car. The girl told police Africa stopped her from exiting the vehicle by pulling her hair and scratching her arm. Police stopped Africas car in an alley, saying she had bloodshot eyes and slurred speech. The officer said she was unsteady on her feet and smelled like alcohol. Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW Africa is a case worker at the Washington Drug and Alcohol Commission, where she has helped hundreds of recovering addicts. She has spoken out in the past to Channel 11 about her passion for helping people in the recovery community. We reached out to the executive director who said she cannot comment on a personnel issue. But a colleague of Africas said, I hope the inspiration Michelle gave to others, not to stay in the darkness, she can give to herself. I hope she emerges from this better and wiser. Im grateful no one was injured. Workers at Big Fellas bar in Canonsburg told us they gave police surveillance video that showed Africa had only 3 drinks and did not appear intoxicated when she left the building. Police say her blood alcohol levels were 2.5x the legal limit. TRENDING NOW: Queen Elizabeth II funeral: Mourners gather as hearse travels to Windsor Castle Police: South Hills man charged after luring kids into his home, locking them there Pittsburgh officials working to address homeless encampments VIDEO: Ring doorbell video shows moment police responded to overnight shooting in Munhall DOWNLOAD the Channel 11 News app for breaking news alerts More than 150 years ago, a prison complex known as the Lone Rock stockade operated at one of the biggest coal mines in Tennessee. It was powered largely by African American men who had been arrested for minor offenses like stealing a hog if they committed any crime at all. Women and children, some as young as 12, were sent there as well. The work, dangerous and sometimes deadly, was their punishment. The state was leasing these prisoners out to private companies for a fee, in a practice known all across the South as convict leasing. In states like Texas, Florida, Georgia and Alabama , prisoners were also used to help build railroads, cut timber, make bricks, pick cotton and grow sugar on plantations. __________ In a joint investigation, reporters from the Associated Press and Reveal at the Center for Investigative Reporting spent months unearthing this history. They focused on Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad, which ran the stockade and coal mine, and the company that later bought it, U.S. Steel. The team found someone living today whose ancestor was imprisoned in the Lone Rock stockade nearly 140 years ago. They also interviewed the descendent of a man who got rich from his role in pioneering Tennessees convict leasing system. The reporters also heard from U.S. Steel. For the first time, it said it was willing to discuss its past with members of the affected community. Listen to the podcast here: WHAT IS CONVICT LEASING? Convict leasing was essentially a new form of slavery that started after the Civil War and went on for decades across the South. States and companies got rich by arresting mostly Black men and then forcing them to work for major companies. The 13th Amendment, passed after the Civil War, banned slavery and involuntary servitude. But it made an exception for people convicted of a crime, offering legal cover for convict leasing. Tennessee and many other states adopted similar language in their constitutions that still exists today. Story continues WHAT WAS THE THE LONE ROCK STOCKADE? The Lone Rock stockage operated in Tracy City, Tennessee for more than 25 years. The prisoners lived in cramped, unsanitary conditions. Built to hold 200 people at a time, the prison sometimes held 600. The men risked their lives every day above ground too, manning fiery, dome-shaped coke ovens used in the iron-making process. They were helping Tennessee, Coal, Iron and Railroad get rich. The company was an economic powerhouse, later bought by the worlds biggest company at the time: U.S. Steel Corporation. HOW DID THE PRISON POPULATION CHANGE AFTER EMANCIPATION? The racial makeup of prison populations changed almost overnight after the Civil War. In Tennessee, during slavery less than 5 percent of the prisoners were Black. In 1866, after emancipation, that number jumped to 52 percent. And by 1891 it had skyrocketed to 75 percent. WHAT ARE BLACK CODES? Black codes are laws passed by states that targeted African Americans for minor crimes such as vagrancy, jumping a ride on a train car or not having proof of employment. In Tennessee, people were sentenced up to five years of hard labor in the coal mine for having interracial relationships. WHAT DOES U.S. STEEL SAY NOW ABOUT THEIR USE OF CONVICT LEASING? The United States Steel Corporation, also known as U.S. Steel, was founded by American business giants, which included J.P. Morgan and Andrew Carnegie. It has operations in the U.S. and Central Europe, and remains a leading steel producer. The company used convict labor for at least five years in Alabama in the early 1900s, but has never spoken openly about this dark chapter of its history. It has misrepresented its use of prison labor and has not acknowledged the men who died in its mines. After being contacted by the AP and Reveal reporters, the company agreed for the first time to sit down and talk with members of the affected community. U.S. Steel also confirmed it owns a cemetery located at the site of its former coal mine: U. S. Steel does not condone the practices of a century ago, it said in a statement. Given the amount of time that has lapsed, we, unfortunately, do not have comprehensive records relative to this situation." We would be pleased to consider a memorial plaque should members of the affected community express an interest. We would also be happy to meet with them and discuss these topics. _____ This story was supported by Columbia Universitys Ira A. Lipman Center for Journalism and Civil and Human Rights in conjunction with Arnold Ventures. Princess Charlotte wore a special brooch to pay tribute to her great-grandmothers love for all things equestrian at the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. The seven-year-old daughter of the Prince and Princess of Wales pinned a small but meaningful horseshoe-shaped brooch to her dress when she attended the ceremony on Monday (19 September). She arrived at Westminster Hall alongside her eldest brother, Prince George, and her parents. Together, the Waleses walked behind the late Queens coffin in the procession through the gothic church, behind other senior members of the royal family, including King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort. Eagle-eyed fans spotted Charlottes diamond brooch, praising it as a wonderful gesture to the Queen, who died at the age of 96 on Thursday (8 September). The late monarch famously loved horses and equestrian sport. She is believed to have owned more than 100 horses over her lifetime. Lauren Kiehna, editor of The Court Jeweller blog, tweeted that the brooch marked Charlottes very first piece of significant jewellery. A lovely tribute to a great-grandmother who so loved horses, she added. Another Twitter user said: Sweet child! And such a thoughtful way of paying her respects. Princess Charlotte of Wales is seen leaving Westminster Abbey on September 19, 2022 (Getty Images) Earlier, the BBCs Huw Edwards described George and Charlotte as immaculate when they stepped into the church. George wore a navy blue suit with a black tie, while Charlottes black dress coat and black hat resembled her mothers. During the ceremony, Charlotte could be seen looking around the church from under the brim of her hat as the mourners sang The Lords My Shepherd. Queen Camilla, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, Catherine, Princess of Wales, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, walk after a service at Westminster Abbey on the day of the state funeral and burial of Britain's Queen Elizabeth (REUTERS) A short while later, as George read the order of the service during the Archbishop of Canterburys sermon, his sister was seen whispering something to her mother. The Queens death came just as the Waleses moved to their new home in the Queens Windsor estate, away from Kensington Palace. The children, including youngest son Prince Louis, four, began their first week at Lambrook School in Berkshire on the say their great-grandmother passed away. The Princess of Wales told well-wishers at Sandringham that all three children have settled in nicely with their new school and have new friends. A well-known Macau gambling boss in China's special administrative region of Macau denied charges including enabling illegal gaming, running a criminal syndicate and money laundering at the start of his trial on Monday. Alvin Chau was chairman of Macau's Suncity junket - which brokers the gambling activity of Chinese high rollers - until December 2021, a month after his arrest on a warrant from the eastern Chinese city of Wenzhou accusing him of operating illegal gambling activities on the Chinese mainland. Macau is the only city in China where citizens are legally permitted to gamble in casinos. Chau told Macau's primary court that he did not operate any illegal gambling or commit money laundering, according to public broadcaster TDM. He said his business in the Philippines was also permitted by local authorities there, TDM reported. Junkets are middlemen who help facilitate gambling for wealthy Chinese in Macau, extending them credit and collecting on their debt on behalf of casino operators. Marketing or soliciting gambling in mainland China is illegal. Chau said no one from Suncity Group had promoted gambling on the mainland. Chau's Suncity was a major player in Macau until 2019, prior to the coronavirus outbreak, accounting for around 25% of total gaming revenues, industry executives said. That year, Macau casinos generated $36 billion in revenue. The junket industry has collapsed in the former Portuguese colony since Chau's arrest with all of Suncity's VIP rooms shuttered last December. Many others folded, hit by poor sentiment and a lack of business due to COVID-19 related travel restrictions. Macau's number two junket boss Levo Chan, who headed Tak Chun, was arrested by Macau police in January on suspicion of criminal organisation, illegal gambling and money laundering. Both men remain in Macau prison, a far cry from the jewelled opulence of the VIP parlours they once presided over. (Reporting by Farah Master; Editing by Mark Heinrich) Anthony Joshua is close to a domestic super-fight with Tyson Fury (PA Wire) Deontay Wilder has criticised Anthony Joshuas career and suggested it has been manufactured for him. Wilder added that while he respects Joshua as a person, in a business sense he doesnt like him. The American names the London 2012 Olympics - where the Brit was controversially awarded the decision on home soil in the gold-medal bout against Roberto Cammarelle - as just one example of when things were given to the 32-year-old. Yall gon make me strike up a blunt, man, Wilder told Brian Custer on The Last Stand Podcast. The things Ive been saying before, many things Ive been saying before. They made Anthony Joshua. They made him. This has nothing to do with oh he dont like him nah it aint that, know what Im sayin? I dont like him in a business sense. As a person, Anthony Joshua as a man, as a person, I dont have nothing that I dislike as a person but as a businessman, in this business? I dont like him at all. I dont like the antics of business and how they conduct business because this is a gladiator business. Again, personally, I have nothing against him. Personally, I dont know him as a man. As far as business is concerned, I dont care nothing for him. But they made him. From the Olympics to the pro rankings. You know that. Business is business. Were born to do it. Not made it. For me, a lot of people agree they gave him, even with the Olympics they gave him that medal. With these belts, they bought a lot of these belts. Theres nothing wrong with that because a lot of people buy certain positions, certain things, whatever. So if you have the money or whatever then go do it. But I think the way they move him and prepared him for certain moments that he was not ready for. Joshua recently lost his rematch to Oleksandr Usyk but is in the process of agreeing a fight with compatriot Tyson Fury. Fury became the WBC champion after defeating Wilder in the second of their trilogy of bouts, having seen their first fight - which he was widely thought to have won - end as a draw. Fifty-five percent of Americans are more concerned about the Socialist Left than they are about MAGA Republicans, according to a new Harvard-CAPS Harris poll. The poll asked respondents: Are you more concerned about the Socialist left in America and the power they are gaining or more afraid of MAGA Republicans and the power they are getting? Just 45 percent of respondents said they are more concerned with MAGA Republicans. The poll also asked voters: Do you think there are tens of millions of dangerous MAGA Republicans backing violence and trying to overthrow the constitution or is that a gross exaggeration and distortion? Most voters (54 percent) believe the number of dangerous MAGA Republicans is grossly exaggerated. Forty-six percent said there are tens of millions of dangerous MAGA Republicans, including 73 percent of Democrats, 20 percent of Republicans and 42 percent of independents. The poll was conducted September 7 and 8, one week after President Biden gave a speech in Philadelphia saying former president Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic. Now I want to be very clear up front not every Republican, not even the majority of Republicans are MAGA Republicans, Biden said in his remarks, which were touted as a soul of the nation address. He added: Not every Republican embraces their extreme ideology. I know because Ive been able to work with these mainstream Republicans. But theres no question that the Republican Party today is dominated, driven, and intimidated by Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans and that is a threat to this country. Fifty-six percent of voters opposed the speech Biden gave, the Harvard-CAPS Harris poll found. Sixty-percent called the speech divisive, while just 40 percent said the speech helps unite the country and move it forward. Fifty-four percent said the speech was just fear-mongering and 46 percent said the fears are justified. More from National Review A man killed his ex-wife and her son during an argument over electricity use in the house they shared, according to a Florida sheriffs office. The man, whom the office identified as Michael Williams, 47, shot his 48-year-old ex-wife and her 28-year-old son because he was angry that they were leaving the lights on in the house, according to the Volusia County Sheriffs Office. Deputies responded to the house in DeLand, about 40 miles north of Orlando, just before 8 p.m. on Sept. 18. Williams had called 911 to report that hed shot the woman and her son in self-defense, according to a news release posted on the sheriffs office Facebook page. Deputies found the woman, identified as Marsha Ebanks-Williams, and her son, Robert Adams, dead inside the home. Adams two children, who are 5 and 6 years old, were also inside the house but were not injured. During a news conference, Volusia County Sheriffs Chief Deputy Brian Henderson said Williams had been arguing with his ex-wife, with whom he was living, and her son for days about use of electricity in the house. Earlier in the day on Sept. 18, he cut power to the house, locked an electrical panel and left the home. Later, Ebanks-Williams and Adams cut the lock and turned the power to the house back on, Henderson said. He became upset and that started this argument, which ultimately resulted in these two people being shot and killed, Henderson said. Williams told deputies that he had been attacked by the victims, was held down and punched in the face, according to the sheriffs office. During a news conference, Henderson held up Williams mugshot so reporters could see. He claims that he was violently attacked by these two. Now, I dont see anything on this guy, Henderson said, referring to injuries and markings. This does not look like a violent attack to me that warrants being shot multiple times. Williams is being held in the Volusia County jail without bond. He faces two counts of first-degree murder, according to the sheriffs office. Story continues Obituaries for Ebanks-Williams and Adams could not be found. This was a senseless murder that did not have to occur, Henderson said. Dad pleads guilty to running wife over with kid in SUV. Hell spend 20 years in prison Woman fatally shoots pro bull rider in argument after visiting fair, Utah officials say 6-year-old twins use toys and hair dryer to defend mom from boyfriend, Florida cops say A man left two headless bull elk to waste in Montana, officials said. Now hell pay thousands. The 37-year-old Missoula man pleaded guilty to poaching two bull elk in October, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks said. Officials said the man shot two bull elk on private property in the Little Snowy Mountains. He didnt have permission or a necessary permit to kill the elk, wildlife officials said. The man shot the two bull elk from the road and drove onto private property to get the elk, officials said. Later, (the man) discarded the elk keeping the heads, resulting in the wasting meat charge, Fish, Wildlife and Parks officials said in a news release. The man was banned from hunting, trapping and fishing for five years. He was also ordered to pay $2,000 in fines and restitution. In a separate case, a 47-year-old Ballantine man pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of a trophy big game animal and tampering with evidence, officials said. The man shot a bull elk in November 2019 in the Little Snowy Mountains and was also banned from hunting for five years, officials said. He was ordered to pay $10,000 in fines and restitution. Poacher could face jail time after bear found dead at Colorado RV park, officials say Homeowners find bear cub in kitchen. It had to be euthanized, Colorado officials say Star of TV show The Bear Whisperer killed bear in Alaska national park, feds say Mark Frerichs was abducted by the Taliban in 2020 The Taliban have released a US engineer they had held hostage since 2020 in exchange for an Afghan tribal leader held in US custody since 2005. Mark Frerichs was handed over at Kabul airport on Monday, the Taliban said. In return they received Bashir Noorzai, a Taliban ally serving a life sentence for drug trafficking. US President Joe Biden said that the swap required "difficult decisions" that he did not take lightly. Mr Frerichs, 60, was abducted by the Taliban the year before the group swept back to power in Afghanistan and its Western-backed government collapsed. He had been living and working in Kabul as a civil engineer for 10 years. Mr Frerich's sister, Charlene Cakora, said the family had never given up hope of getting him back. "I am so happy to hear that my brother is safe and on his way home to us. Our family has prayed for this each day of the more than 31 months he has been a hostage," she said in a statement. "There were some folks arguing against the deal that brought Mark home, but President Biden did what was right. He saved the life of an innocent American veteran." Art Frerichs, Mr Frerichs' father, told the BBC that while they received a phone call from Mr Biden, they have yet to speak to Mark. "We're definitely feeling very relieved. It's been a long time," he said. The detention of the former navy officer has been a major impediment to improving relations between the US and the Taliban, whose government is still to be recognised by any country in the world. President Biden said in January: "The Taliban must immediately release Mark before it can expect any consideration of its aspirations for legitimacy. This is not negotiable." At least one other American remains in Taliban hands. Filmmaker Ivor Shearer and his Afghan producer, Faizullah Faizbakhsh, were detained in Kabul in August. Eric Lebson, a former national security official who worked as a volunteer to help the Frerichs family, said he hoped Mr Biden's actions to secure Mr Frerichs' release "are an indicator of his commitment to do the same on an urgent basis for other Americans held hostage or wrongfully detained abroad". Story continues "They are being held because they are Americans and they need the US government to bring them home," Mr Lebson said. Bashir Noorzai told reporters in Kabul his release would bring peace with the US Bashir Noorzai was given a hero's welcome on his return to the Afghan capital, and was greeted by Taliban fighters carrying garlands of flowers. "My release together with that of an American will make peace between the countries," he told a news conference. Noorzai was a close ally and friend of Taliban founder Mullah Omar and helped finance the first Taliban government in the 1990s. He did not hold an official position but "provided strong support including weapons", Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told the AFP news agency. Noorzai had served 17 years in US custody for heroin smuggling. Prosecutors said he ran a vast opium-growing operation in Kandahar province, the Taliban's traditional heartlands in the south of the country. At the time of his arrest in 2005, he was considered one of the biggest drug dealers in the world, controlling more than half of Afghanistan's drug exports, which account for most of the world's harvest. In 2008, he was convicted by a court in New York of conspiring to smuggle more than $50m of heroin into the United States. (Reuters) -A Maryland judge on Monday vacated the 2000 murder conviction of Adnan Syed after prosecutors said there were grave problems with his trial, including two other possible suspects in the killing of his former girlfriend who were never disclosed to the defense. The case gained national attention when the podcast "Serial" raised doubts about his guilt. Syed, now 42, has always said he was innocent and did not kill Hae Min Lee, who was 18 when she was strangled and buried in a Baltimore park in 1999. Judge Melissa Phinn of the Circuit Court in Baltimore ordered Syed to be released from prison, where he was serving a life sentence, and put on home detention and that a new trial be scheduled. Syed emerged smiling from the courthouse as onlookers cheered and applauded, though he did not speak. The state's attorney for Baltimore filed a motion https://content.govdelivery.com/attachments/MDBALTIMORESAO/2022/09/14/file_attachments/2270053/Syed%20-%20Motion%20to%20Vacate%20-%2009-14-2022.pdf to vacate the conviction on Wednesday following a year-long investigation conducted alongside a public defender representing Syed, in which several problems were found with witnesses and evidence from the trial. Prosecutors told the court they were not yet asserting that Syed is innocent but that they no longer had confidence in "the integrity of the conviction," and that justice required that Syed at least be afforded a new trial. They said Syed should be released from prison, where he has spent more than two decades, while prosecutors complete the investigation and decide whether to seek a new trial or to prosecute a different suspect. Prosecutors said that they had found new information about two alternative suspects, whom they have not named, including one who had threatened to kill Lee, and both of whom have a history of violent crimes against women. Their identities were known to the original prosecutors but not disclosed to the defense as required by law. Story continues Prosecutors also decided a key witness and the detective who investigated the murder were unreliable. They also found new information that cast doubt on the cellphone data prosecutors relied upon at trial to place Syed at the scene of the murder. Young Lee, the victim's brother, told the court he was shocked and his family felt betrayed that the prosecutors had reversed course after standing by the conviction for decades. "It's really tough to go through this again and again and again," he said, his voice breaking and wavering at times. "It's a living nightmare." The podcast "Serial," produced by Chicago public radio station WBEZ, drew national attention to the case in 2014. "Justice over convictions is not only our mantra but our mission," Marilyn Mosby, the state's attorney for Baltimore, said at a news conference after the hearing. She said her office was awaiting new test results on DNA evidence before announcing her next steps. (Reporting by Jonathan Allen in New York; Editing by Mark Porter and Lisa Shumaker) McDonald's is gradually resuming operations in Ukraine Read also: Russia uses Japanese restaurant for fake narrative about Ukraine, says NSDC The first three restaurants will reopen at 3 Bazhana Avenue, 7 Hryshka Str., and 2a Haharina Avenue in Kyiv. At first, the establishments will be open for delivery only, with indoor seating, express windows and McDrive reopening in October, Mudzhyri said. Read also: UN finally reaches liberated villages of Kherson Oblast, distributes 35,000 food kits At the same time, seven more restaurants will reopen in Kyiv in about a week. The rest of the restaurants will reopen in the capital city and in various cities in the west of the country over the time, she said. Read also: Estonias ban on Russians with visas, McDonalds returning to Ukraine, two-year bond payment deferrals The New Voice of Ukraine newsletter Initially, the order will be available only through the McDelivery service provided by the Glovo delivery service. In other cities, the restaurants will also reopen for delivery only. Later, they will be open for visitors. The restaurants will be open from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. (or according to the working hours of a shopping mall if the restaurant is located inside one). At the same time, they will be closed during an air raid alerts to allow staff and visitors to evacuate to the nearest shelter. McDonalds announced on Aug. 11 that it plans to reopen its restaurants in Ukraine over the next few months. The company closed all its restaurants in Ukraine on Feb. 24 following Russias full-scale invasion of the country. Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine Meghan Markle celebrated the late Queen Elizabeth II in subtle fashion at the monarchs state funeral on Monday. Looking stricken and somber, Meghan wore the diamond and pearl drop earrings the Queen gifted her during their first solo outing in 2018, but that wasnt the only part of her attire that nodded to Queen Elizabeth. Inspired by the history of her relationship with the Queen, Meghan wore a simple and elegant black Stella McCartney cape dress a design that may look very familiar to fans of the Duchess. Meghan wore the same dress in navy in 2018 during Queen Elizabeths 92nd birthday celebrations at the Royal Albert Hall, but her history with cape dresses goes beyond that. More from SheKnows This morning thousands gathered to honor Queen Elizabeth II at her funeral, and many of the British Royal family were in attendance. See which members arrived below. https://t.co/DNo6LLk7wM SheKnows (@SheKnows) September 19, 2022 The Duchess of Sussex has donned caped dresses a number of times since joining the royal family she wore a cream-colored Givenchy cape dress during her solo engagement with the Queen in 2018; she wore a variety of caped gowns during her royal tours of Morocco and the South Pacific prior to stepping down as a working royal, and she chose cape dresses for her final engagements as a working member of the family, including the 2020 Commonwealth Day Service where she stunned in a sophisticated green number. Click here to read the full article. Under microscopic scrutiny by both the royal machine and the public, Meghan ensured her mourning attire was within the parameters of the royal funeral dress code, which requires black knee-length dresses or coats and black hats with optional veils. Story continues In addition to making a fashion statement, perhaps the Duchesss clothing choice was also inspired by a need to draw strength during a time of intense public analysis of the royals every move capes represent strength in cultures around the globe, after all. Before you go, click here to see our favorite of Queen Elizabeths fashion moments! Queen Elizabeth . Best of SheKnows Sign up for SheKnows' Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. FIRST ON FOX: A group of GOP House members sent a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Monday demanding answers about a leaked memo describing what they called "blanket denial of religious accommodation" to the military's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. Fifteen Republican members of Congress, led by Reps. Jim Banks of Indiana and Darrell Issa of California, were responding to a partially leaked internal memo by the Pentagon's Acting Inspector General Sean O'Donnell to Austin written in June, but circulated on Sept. 2. The IG writes in the memo that he reviewed "concerning denials of religious liberty accommodation requests from COVID-19 vaccination requirements." O'Donnell stated that the purpose of the report is "To inform [Secretary Austin] of potential noncompliance with standards for reviewing and documenting the denial of religious accommodation request from Service members." He said that the Department of Defense (DOD) hotline lit up with "dozens" of complaints regarding denied religious exemption requests from military service members. PENTAGON IN POTENTIAL NONCOMPLIANCE WITH LAW AFTER DENYING VACCINE RELIGIOUS ACCOMMODATION REQUESTS: IG In their letter, the House members cited reports that the Pentagon has overwhelmingly rejected most of the approximately 24,000 service member requests for religious exemptions to the vaccine. "As of February 2022, the Department of the Navy had granted only a single, partial exemption to its COVID-19 vaccine mandate on religious grounds, and as of July 2022 the Department of the U.S. Army had approved just 20 of over 8,000 requests, the Department of the Air Force had approved less than 130 of over 9,000 requests, and the U.S. Marines had only approved seven of over 3,700 requests," the letter said, adding that at least 75,000 troops face potential discharge because of the vaccine mandate. NAVY SEALS SEEKING RELIGIOUS EXEMPTIONS TO VACCINE MANDATE FACING INTIMIDATION AND HARASSMENT, SOURCES SAY Story continues The members of Congress expressed particular concern that the majority of religious exemptions that DOD did approve were given to service members on the verge of retirement, and that non-religious exemptions were approved "at a far higher rate than religious exemptions." "This suggests the DOD is applying different policies toward service members' applications based on their religious beliefs and expected employment status," the letter said. The letter further noted that the IG's report found "denial memorandums we reviewed generally did not reflect an individualized analysis." "As the memo explains, the described blanket denial of religious accommodation violates DOD Instruction 1300.17, which directs officials to review each [religious accommodation] request individually, considering the full range of facts and circumstances relevant to the specific request," the members said, going on to note that such denial would also be in violation of the Supreme Court's ruling in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby. NAVY QUIETLY ROLLED BACK PUNISHMENTS FOR SEALS SEEKING RELIGIOUS EXEMPTIONS TO THE COVID VACCINE The members concluded by requesting a complete copy of the IG's June memo; all records of religious accommodation requests regarding COVID-19 vaccinations submitted to the Navy, Air Force and Army; and all Pentagon internal policy directives related to the review process for religious accommodation requests regarding COVID-19 vaccinations. The members also urged Austin to remind all DOD employees and officials of their legal responsibility to take appropriate measures to preserve all documents, communications and other records in accordance with federal law. Rep. Jim Banks speaks at a press conference following a Republican caucus meeting at the U.S. Capitol on June 8, 2022. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images In addition to Banks and Issa, the other members who signed their name to the letter were Reps. Marjorie Taylor Green of Georgia, Lance Gooden of Texas, Doug Lamborn of Colorado, Christopher Smith of New Jersey, Diana Harshbarger of Tennessee, Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Elise Stefanik of New York, Vicky Hartzler of Missouri, Jodey Arrington of Texas, Louie Gohmert of Texas, Glenn Grothman of Wisconsin, Clay Higgins of Louisiana, and Carlos Gimenez of Florida. In response to the IG report last week, a Pentagon spokesperson told Fox News Digital in a statement: "The department has a Uniform Standards for Mandated Coronavirus Vaccination Working group that meets regularly to ensure the department is doing everything we can to best protect our service members and their families." Fox News' Kelly Laco contributed to this report. Motorists in metro Detroit are paying, on average, some of the highest gas prices in Michigan, according to AAA. Metro Detroits average price for regular unleaded gasoline is $3.91 a gallon, 10 cents more than the state average of $3.81 a gallon, and 23 cents more than the national average of $3.68, AAA announced Monday. The auto club tracks prices at about 130,000 stations nationwide. "After some price fluctuations, Michigan motorists are beginning to see prices drop once again," Adrienne Woodland, a spokeswoman for AAA, said. "If demand continues to fall, alongside lower crude prices, then gas prices will likely continue to decline." Gas prices in Michigan were down 4 cents from a week ago after a brief 2 cent average spike following several weeks of declines, AAA reported. The new price is13 cents lessthan this time last month, but 65 cents more than it was at this time a year ago. More:Mitch Albom: One of Lions' biggest, smallest players come up huge More:Michigan schools newest mental health workers have four legs and a tail The most expensive gas price averages in the state: Metro Detroit: $3.91 Ann Arbor: $3.88 Traverse City: $3.86 The least expensivegas price averages: Grand Rapids: $3.68 Benton Harbor: $3.70 Lansing: $3.72 Part of what is driving the drop is an overall decline in gas demand, which, according to the Energy Information Administration, decreased from to 8.49 million barrels a day to 8.73 million barrels a day. While gasoline demand has decreased, fluctuating oil prices have led to smaller pump price decreases. However, if oil prices continue to rise, the national average will likely reverse as pump prices increase. Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or fwitsil@freepress.com. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan gas prices fall again after brief spike a week ago The migrants Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis sent to Martha's Vineyard were homeless and given "multiple opportunities" to voluntarily take the trip or stay behind, senior officials in the DeSantis administration told reporters on a background call Monday afternoon. The officials said the migrants that were sent on two planes to the Massachusetts island last week, which sparked a major backlash from Democrats, were "wandering the border" homeless in Texas before being intercepted by Florida to be given "a better life" in a sanctuary state. "So the groups in Texas that we've identified, the majority if not all of the individuals that originated in Texas and ended up on the flight to Martha's Vineyard were indeed homeless, hungry, sleeping outside in parking lots," the officials said. "Many have been in a shelter at some point previously and had been kicked out, did not have a place to go, and essentially we're wandering homeless along the border." The DeSantis administration said the migrants were informed of their destination and that they were given "multiple" opportunities to decline the trip. Officials said the individuals were offered hotels, meals, showers and haircuts for a couple of days before the trip and that some indeed declined to go. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announces that he wants to raise the minimum starting salary for teachers during a press conference held at Bayview Elementary School on October 07, 2019 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images RON DESANTIS SENDS TWO PLANES OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS TO MARTHA'S VINEYARD "During the flights, individuals were given bags with snacks, with water and other provisions and information taken from the Massachusetts website that talks about benefits that are available in a sanctuary state," the officials said. The administration also said the rumors about the migrants being promised jobs in Marthas Vineyard were also untrue, and that the individuals were simply presented with information about the benefits and services that are commonly found in sanctuary states. "These were homeless people that were in a rough situation and undoubtedly had their circumstance improved," the officials said. "In fact, several have already communicated their thanks for the opportunity to go to the sanctuary state." Multiple Democrats including the White House have accused DeSantis transportation of migrants out of state as being illegal. California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom sent a letter asking Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate whether DeSantis could be charged with kidnapping, despite launching a program as San Francisco mayor that bussed thousands of homeless people out of San Francisco and the state. Rafael Eduardo (left) an undocumented immigrant from Venezuela hugs another immigrant outside of the Saint Andrews Episcopal Church, on Martha's Vineyard. Dominic Chavez/The Washington Post via Getty Images Migrants flown to Martha's Vineyard received brochures falsely promising cash and job placement services. They were flown to the Massachusetts island, as a political stunt by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Lawyers for Civil Rights is seeking a criminal investigation. Migrants who were flown to Martha's Vineyard as part of an anti-liberal political stunt by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis were given misleading brochures promising cash assistance, job placement services, and more, according to their lawyers. The Boston-headquartered Lawyers for Civil Rights, which is representing about 30 of the immigrants flown to Martha's Vineyard, shared links to photos of the brochure via Twitter. The group says the migrants received the brochure "at some point during their expulsion and relocation from Texas & Florida." The reference to Florida relocation is unclear because DeSantis' office previously confirmed that the planes were chartered to transport the 50 migrants from Texas, not Florida. Lawyers for Civil Rights and DeSantis' office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. NPR previously reported that a woman the migrants identified as "Perla" promised them work permits in Boston, but links to the brochure photos were posted on Twitter Monday and were reported by Popular Information. Immigration attorney Matt Cameron told the publication that the benefits in the brochure are resettlement benefits for refugees referred by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and authorized to live in the United States, but they are not available in Massachusetts to the migrants who are still seeking asylum. The "Massachusetts Refugee Benefits" brochure describes benefits including "up to 8 months of cash assistance," "job placement, retention and upgrade services," "assistance with housing," food, clothing and more. Lawyers for Civil Rights also posted their requests for a federal and Massachusetts criminal investigation into DeSantis' decision to transport the migrants, who were moved to Cape Cod for "shelter and humanitarian support," according to the governor's office. Story continues "Our clients were induced to board airplanes and cross state lines under false pretenses," they alleged in both letters. "Individuals, working in concert with the Florida Governor, made numerous false promises to our clients, including of work opportunities, schooling for their children, and immigration assistance, in order to induce them to travel." Mid-air, they wrote, their clients learned they were bound for Martha's Vineyard rather than Boston and those who had "induced" them to travel under "these false pretenses disappeared, leaving our clients to learn that the offers of assistance had all been a ruse to exploit them for political purposes." The lawyers say many of their clients were put up in hotels, paid for by those making false representations, until there were enough people to fill the planes. They have documentary evidence, including photos, that should allow law enforcement to locate alleged perpetrators as well as documents that their clients were required to sign, they wrote. "This type of conspiracy to deprive our clients of their liberty and civil rights and interfere with federal immigration proceedings must be thoroughly investigated for violations of criminal laws," they wrote. DeSantis has said the migrants were transported voluntarily and that they knew where they were going because they signed a waiver and were given a map of Martha's Vineyard, according to CNN. Lawyers for Civil Rights says migrants bound for Martha's Vineyard received this brochure promising cash, job placement and more. Lawyers for Civil Rights Brochure given to migrants bound for Martha's Vineyard. Lawyers for Civil Rights Read the original article on Business Insider A bus carrying Venezuelan migrants from Martha's Vineyard arrives off of a freight ferry in Woods Hole. Photo by John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images Migrants flown to Martha's Vineyard last week are now being housed at a nearby military base. Massachusetts said Joint Base Cape Cod will provide food, drinks, clothes, and other services. Fifty migrants were unexpectedly flown to the state on Wednesday by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Dozens of migrants who were sent to Martha's Vineyard last week are now living in empty dorm rooms and eating at school-style cafeteria tables at a Massachusetts military base. A new video published on Sunday by the state's executive office of public safety and security gives a look at some facilities inside Joint Base Cape Cod, where the 50 migrants shipped to the area by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have been offered shelter and humanitarian support. The video features a series of images provided by the Massachusetts National Guard and shows a few accommodations at the base, including a cafeteria with school cafeteria tables, a lounge room with a few couches, a set of bunk beds with a desk and chair in a dorm room, and a pillow with a blanket and sheets for the beds. A cafeteria at Joint Base Cape Cod. Screengrab via Massachusetts National Guard A room at Joint Base Cape Cod. Screengrab via Massachusetts National Guard A dorm room at Joint Base Cape Cod. Screengrab via Massachusetts National Guard Insider requested but was denied access to Joint Base Cape Cod on Monday. An official from the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) told Insider that the state is focusing its efforts right now on helping the migrants. "The dormitory-style space at JBCC allows organizers to create specific housing areas for families, who will remain together as a unit, women, and any person with specific needs including medical care," a joint statement from MEMA, the National Guard, and the executive office of public safety and security said. "Dedicated space for these groups ensures their continued safety, security, and privacy," the statement added. Migrants at the base are being provided with food, drinks, clothing, and hygiene kits, as well as services for mental health, healthcare, and crisis counseling. The state also said it is providing access to legal services, and assistance with temporary housing and children's education. Story continues Florida's DeSantis claimed responsibility for flying the Venezuelan migrants on two planes from Texas to the scenic island of Martha's Vineyard on Wednesday. The move cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in state funds, and sparked furious backlash due to political and humanitarian concerns. Massachusetts officials were given no warning of the inbound migrants, at least some of whom said they were lured to the state with false promises of expedited employment. Attorneys for the migrants and various politicians including California Gov. Gavin Newsom have slammed DeSantis for what's being dubbed as a political stunt and are urging both state and federal prosecutors to open a criminal probe into the incident. Though locals on Martha's Vineyard immediately pulled together to help assist the migrants, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker announced on Friday that Joint Base Cape Cod would start providing shelter and support for the group. The military base is located inland on Massachusetts' Cape Cod peninsula and is, according to Boston.com, already a MEMA-designated emergency shelter. Read the original article on Business Insider Mikella DeBina was abducted by knifepoint in Hawaii on 16 September (Hawaii Police handout) A 15-year-old girl in Hawaii who had been reported missing was found thanks in part to two Good Samaritans who offered aid. Mikella DeBina was allegedly abducted near Anaehoomalu Bay between 1.30pm and 2.20pm on Friday, 16 September. The girl's aunt, Laurene Debina, told KGMB that a kidnapper approached Mikella and her boyfriend at a beach on Friday. He allegedly used the knife to coerce Mikella to join him and to tie up and blindfold her boyfriend. Mikella's mother said that her daughter convinced her alleged kidnapper - later identified as 52-year-old Duncan Kealoha Mahi -to take her out to get food. Once they arrived at a restaurant, Mikella tried to slip away from her abductor. Bridge Hartman, a host at the restaurant, witnessed Mikella try to slip away before she was caught again by her abductor. Mr Hartman said he sensed something was wrong about the duo. Something is off, Mr Hartman said. Even if it wasnt her, my brain was like, I need to get her. Thankfully Mr Hartman knew Mikella was missing after an Amber Alert was issued on Friday, and recognised who she was and what was happening. "I was like, Wait, whats happening? It just wasnt connecting," he said. "Then, I realized it was her. And I yelled out, Thats the girl. Thats the AMBER Alert girl. Once he realised who she was, he rushed in to help. She got away from him like just for like a brief moment, Mr Hartman said. And I was able to grab her in time. And I rushed her into into our back of our restaurant. Duncan Kealoha Mahi, 52, in custody after he was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping 15-year-old Mikella Debina. (Hawai'i Police Department) Mr Hartman was aided by another helpful hero, Kori Takaki, according her her mother. Ms Takaki said she was eating in the restaurant when she noticed the girl wearing ill-fitting mens clothes. She sprung into action just as Mr Hartman was wrestling Mikella away from her abductor. It all just happened so fast, where he was bringing her in, and he said, This is her. This is her. And I was like, Oh my gosh! Ms Takaki told KHON. After Mikella was safely separated and moved to a back room of the restaurant, Ms Takaki stayed with the girl until she could contact the police and her parents. Story continues She seemed really scared, Ms Takaki said. She was shaking. But she seemed I mean, as good as I could imagine. Mikella and Mr Hartman gave witness statements to the police, who used the identifying information to search for suspects. A few hours later local police located a man they believe matched the description they were given, and arrested Mr Mahi. Mr Hartman told police that Mr Mahi was allegedly trying to convince everyone at the restaurant that the girl was his daughter. Minneapolis is expected to announce its new police chief by month's end, more than two years after George Floyds killing. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey interviewed three finalists last weekend following a nationwide search, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Former Chief Medaria Arradondo, a three-decade veteran of the force and the departments first Black police chief, announced his retirement in December 2021 and served his last day in January. Interim Chief Amelia Huffman has been at the helm since as Frey continues to search for Arradondos replacement. In March, the city announced that it hired California-based Public Sector Search & Consulting, along with Dr. Cedric Alexander, to help with the nationwide hunt. The job description sought "a visionary leader, able to communicate the need for and create long-lasting and systemic change within MPD." MINNEAPOLIS RESIDENTS' LAWSUIT DEMANDING REVERSAL OF DEFUND POLICE POLICY EXPEDITED BY SUPREME COURT Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey at a press conference on March 12, 2021, to announce the record $27 million settlement to the family of George Floyd. Stephen Maturen/Getty Images Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo listens during a protest in response to the shooting death of Thurman Blevins on June 24, 2018. Jerry Holt/Star Tribune via Getty Images RaShall Brackney in front of the Charlottesville Police Station on July 28, 2022. She has filed a lawsuit against the city regarding her termination as police chief. Zack Wajsgras for The Washington Post via Getty Images The three contenders for Minneapolis police chief are Elvin Barren, a 21-year veteran of the Detroit Police Department who became Southfield, Michigans police chief in 2019; RaShall Brackney, the since-fired police chief of Charlottesville, Virginia, who went after the citys controversial SWAT team amid the fallout from the deadly 2017 "Unite the Right" rally; and Brian O'Hara, a 20-year police veteran in Newark, New Jersey, currently serving as the citys deputy mayor for strategic initiatives for police services and public safety. Frey's nomination must be submitted to City Council for approval. The new chief will come onto the job as the city is negotiating a legal agreement with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights, which found a decade-long pattern of racial discrimination at the Minneapolis Police Department. Charlie Crist, who is running for governor in 2022, speaks to a crowd in Bradenton following a pro-choice march in October 2021. He promised to uphold the reproductive rights of Florida women. Crist will put Floridians back in charge I lived in another state when Charlie Crist was the governor of Florida, but I followed his achievements and was impressed. He understood the importance of environmental protections and health care reform. He saved teachers jobs and cut taxes for seniors. Hes the type of leader who understands the will of the people and can work with others, regardless of party affiliations, to solve problems and create effective, cost-smart solutions. More: How to send a letter to the editor Now we have the chance again to let Crist lead the state and stop Gov. Ron DeSantis march toward authoritarianism and rule by wealthy, special interest political donors. Crist supports womens rights, and he will pay attention to citizens initiatives and amendments rather than ignore them as DeSantis and the Republican Legislature have done with marijuana and voting issues, making it even harder for citizens to get amendment considerations on the ballot. Kay Blue, Punta Gorda Parental Rights law already working In a Sept. 14 article about House Bill 1557, Details sought as schools carry out controversial law, it was noted that a Palm Beach County history teacher changed her lesson on Sally Ride, our first female astronaut, to omit her identity as a lesbian and avoid running afoul of the new laws. Why is it necessary to identify an historical figure by his or her sexuality? It is private information and has no bearing on Rides accomplishment as the first woman in space. This example alone is why Floridas Parental Rights in Education law is needed. Lorraine Chimento, Venice Park name honors inequity, intolerance I read with interest of the Manatee County Commissions decision to name a park adjacent to Kinnan Elementary School in honor of Gov. Ron DeSantis (Kinnan Park is renamed for Gov. DeSantis, Sept. 14). I cant help but wonder if the parks boundaries will be redrawn to better accommodate the governors political wishes. Story continues Should we assume that access to DeSantis Park will be granted only to those embracing inequity, anti-LGBTQ policies, intolerance and censorship in schools and denial of scientific fact? Arthur Wasserman, Sarasota Living the dream on Siesta Key For 11 years I was a visitor to Sarasota/Siesta Key and, of course, the first time I fell in love with it. Over those 11 years I stayed in 30 rentals. I vowed one day I would be a resident of Siesta Key, even if only for a short time. In April 2021, I decided it was time. My goal was contingent on selling my house, then I would retire (after 24 years teaching English in high school and college) and move to Siesta Key. I sold my house, gave away all my furniture, turned in my resignation, called one of my Siesta contacts and bought a plane ticket. I arrived in June, stayed in a place in Siesta Village for a couple of months and then rented a villa. Yes, I have spent 15 months living year-round in paradise. Absolutely wonderful! My reason for writing this is simply to thank everyone in Sarasota/Siesta Key who made my move possible. We often focus on the negative, rather than highlight the positive. But we have so many good people who deserve recognition. Betty Resor, Siesta Key Candidates seek power at any price The notion of wanting it all wealth and power becomes ever so blatant during the run-up to an election, be it national, state or local. The outrageous sums contracted by candidates for ads that are often misrepresentative of contextual facts, questionably sourced or downright lies is disgraceful. For candidates to believe that they or their families will not be held accountable for future demands is fantasy. If you enjoy the opportunities afforded citizens of this nation of great potential, then we all have a responsibility to step forward and demand better. Our children and grandchildren require better. Read It Can't Happen Here, 1935 dystopian political novel by Sinclair Lewis. Yes, it can happen here! Richard Andrews, Bradenton This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Make Crist governor again, Parental Rights law working TUESDAY, 20 SEPTEMBER 2022, 00:08 The Ukrainian government has regained control over, and conducted mop-up operations in, 118 cities, towns and villages in Kharkiv Oblast that were previously occupied by Russian forces. Mop-up operations in another 12 settlements are currently underway. Source: Yevhen Yenin, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, on the national 24/7 newscast on 19 September; Suspilne Quote: "Over the course of the previous day alone, [the Ukrainian Armed Forces] have retaken 12 settlements and are conducting mop-up operations there. Since the beginning of the [counteroffensive], 118 settlements with a total population of around 50,000 civilian persons have been retaken; mop-up operations have also been conducted there." Details: Yenin said that around 50 bodies of civilians [killed in the course of Russian occupation - ed.] have been found on the liberated territories of Kharkiv Oblast on 18 September. Law enforcement officers have found a total of 168 bodies since the beginning of the counteroffensive. Yenin did not specify where exactly the bodies had been found. Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs said that law enforcement officers have exhumed 52 bodies from 48 graves at the mass burial site in Izium. He confirmed that the bodies bear signs of torture. "We are continuing to find numerous bodies with marks of violent death, including broken ribs and skulls, men with hands tied behind their backs, with broken jaws, with their genitals cut off," Yenin said. He added that the mass grave in Izium is not the only one even in that area. So far, a total of 292 war crimes have been recorded in Kharkiv Oblast alone. The majority of them concern the violation of laws and customs of war. Background: Russian forces withdrew from the city of Izium, in Kharkiv Oblast, on 10 September, leaving behind many pieces of military equipment. On 15 September, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine said that mass burial sites were found in Izium following its liberation. Story continues On 19 September, 146 bodies were exhumed from the mass burial site in Izium, including the bodies of women and children. Russian occupiers tortured civilians in the local police department and at other sites throughout the city. The UN is preparing to send a team of its experts to inspect the mass burial site in Izium. Journalists fight on their own frontline. Become our patron, support our work! (Reuters) - At least 13 people including seven children were killed when army helicopters shot at a school in Myanmar, media reports and residents said, as the military said it opened fire because rebels were using the building to attack its forces. Myanmar has been gripped by violence since the army overthrew an elected government early last year. Opposition movements, some of them armed, have since emerged across the country, which the military has countered with lethal force. Reuters could not independently verify details of the violence that took place on Friday in the village of Let Yet Kone in the central Sagaing region. According to reports in the RFA (Radio Free Asia), Mizzima and Irrawaddy news portals, army helicopters had opened fire on the school housed in a Buddhist monastery in the village. Some people were killed on the spot by the shooting, while others died after troops entered the village, the reports said. Two residents, who declined to be identified due to security worries, said by telephone the bodies were later transported by the military to a township 11 km (7 miles) away and buried. Another resident said about 2,000 people had fled their homes in the area. Images posted on social media showed what appeared to be damage including bullet holes and blood stains at a school building. In a statement, the military said the Kachin Independence Army, a rebel group, and the People's Defence Force (PDF), an umbrella organisation of armed guerrillas that the junta calls "terrorists", had been hiding in the monastery and using the village to transport weapons in the area. Security forces sent by helicopter had conducted "a surprise inspection" and were attacked by PDF and the KIA inside houses and the monastery, it said. It said security forces had responded and said some villagers had been killed in the clash and that the wounded were taken to public hospitals for treatment. The statement accused the armed groups of using villagers as human shields and said that weapons including 16 handmade bombs had later been seized. Story continues In a statement after Friday's violence, Myanmar's pro-democracy shadow government, known as the National Unity Government (NUG), accused the junta of "targeted attacks" on schools. The NUG also called for the release of 20 students and teachers it said had been arrested following the air strikes. Documented violent attacks on schools surged to about 190 in 2021 in Myanmar from 10 the year before, according to Save the Children, a non-governmental organisation. Use of schools as bases by both the military and armed groups also increased across the country, the organisation said in a report this month, disrupting education and endangering children. (Reporting by Reuters staff; Writing by Kanupriya Kapoor; Editing by Ed Davies, William Maclean) The Telegraph Just up the road from the Palace of the same name, Lindsey Buckingham took to the stage at the London Palladium. The last time the versatile American guitarist and singer-songwriter played in the city was in 2015, for an audience of almost half a million over five nights at the O2 Arena. But that was with his former band, Fleetwood Mac. His long overdue return saw him perform for a rather more modest crowd of 2,200. CLEVELAND (AP) Faced with their toughest challenge so far this season, the young Guardians needed to show they could handle themselves in a critical series. The Twins were no match. Josh Naylor and Amed Rosario hit three-run homers, Cal Quantrill kept his home unbeaten streak intact and Cleveland thumped Minnesota 11-4 on Monday, taking four of five from one of their AL Central pursuers. The Guardians followed up a sweep at Minnesota earlier this month by winning a series they had to have and opening a seven-game lead over the Twins, who have been ravaged by injuries down the stretch. Unfortunately, once you get to September some games just matter more, Quantrill said. "These last eight games against the Twins mattered more. We knew it, they knew it and I felt that we showed up and showed what we can do in big moments. "The boys really took this challenge seriously and rose to the occasion. Naylor homered in the first inning off Sonny Gray (8-5) and Rosario connected in the sixth off rookie Ronny Henriquez to make it 7-3 as the first-place Guardians opened a four-game division lead over Chicago. Cleveland begins a three-game series in Chicago on Tuesday against the second-place White Sox, who were idle. Nick Gordon homered off Quantrill (13-5) for the Twins, who came to town hoping to cut into the Guardians' lead but left further behind. Cleveland went 13-6 against Minnesota, winning nine of the last 10. Were not going to look at anyone except ourselves and be real about the way that we played, Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. There were just too many moments in the series that could have swung either way where they got the better of us." Rosario was brutal on Twins pitchers in the series, batting .440 (11 of 25) with two homers and 11 RBIs. Quantrill stuck around until the sixth and improved to 13-0 in 32 starts at Progressive Field. The right-hander is one win shy of matching Vic Raschi's record for dominance in one ballpark. Raschi went 14-0 at Comiskey Park from 1947-55. Story continues I dont know the exact numbers, but I do like pitching at home, Quantrill said. I guess I dont want to jinx anything. Sam Hentges got seven straight outs for his first professional save. The left-hander didn't know he was credited until he got to the clubhouse. Well take that one, he said. Gray left after two innings with tightness in his right hamstring. The right-hander had been pitching with soreness his last couple starts, but it got more severe and Baldelli decided to pull him. Sonny wasn't right and we could see that, Baldelli said. He can't take himself out of the game, that's not the kind of player that he is. Naylor put Gray in an early hole with his 18th homer, a no-doubt shot to right. Rosario reached on a fielder's choice and Jose Ramirez singled before Naylor, who has done some of his best work late in games this season, guessed right and pounded Gray's 2-1 curveball 413 feet. It was another big moment for Naylor, who has had a nice comeback after breaking a leg last year. Naylor also hit a double and let out a loud scream after snagging a line drive and stepping on first for a double play to end the sixth. He brings the energy every day, Quantrill. "Nails obviously went through a pretty tough injury last year and its been awesome seeing him come back from that and really living up to what we all believed he could do. Hes a good teammate and he plays with a lot of passion. It comes out however it comes out, but today was a great day for him. Got us off to a good start, and I think were going to need that energy down the stretch here. TRIPLE THREAT Minnesota's Luis Arraez went 1 for 3 and at .317 is one point ahead of Boston's Xander Bogaerts and New York's Aaron Judge, who is trying to become the first player to win the Triple Crown (homers, RBIs and average) since Detroit's Miguel Cabrera in 2012. How can you not?" Baldelli said when asked if he's pulling for Arraez. You dont want to between Aaron Judge and anything in this world. ... My money is on Luis. TRAINER'S ROOM Twins: Minnesota has been overrun by injuries, and the club has been without some key players for extended periods. OF Byron Buxton has been out since Aug. 23 with a strained right hip. With the team fading from the postseason race, it's possible the Twins won't bring players back this season. I'm not eager to have those discussions right now, said Baldelli. Guardians: The team is hoping to have RHP Zach Plesac (broken right hand) pitch in a simulated game Tuesday for Triple-A Columbus. If the timing isn't right, Plesac may have to pitch in the Clippers' game at Toledo. UP NEXT Twins: Open a three-game series in Kansas City with RHP Dylan Bundy (8-7, 4.68 ERA) facing Royals RHP Zack Greinke (4-9, 4.10). Guardians: RHP Aaron Civale (2-6, 5.40) will be activated to make his first start since Aug. 28 in the series opener against Chicago's Dylan Cease (14-7, 2.16). Civale had been out with elbow inflammation. ___ More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports LAGOS (Reuters) - Hundreds of students blocked the main airport road in Nigeria's commercial capital Lagos on Monday to protest against the disruption to classes caused by a lecturers' strike that has been going on for more than seven months. Strikes over pay by public university lecturers are common in Nigeria and often go on for months. The latest action started in February. Chanting and holding placards, students gathered on Lagos International Airport Road, causing gridlock in a city that already struggles with daily traffic congestion and leaving motorists and air passengers stranded. The National Association of Nigeria Students (NANS) had at the weekend threatened to occupy major airports to send a message that the students were tired of the pay stand-off between lecturers and President Muhammadu Buhari's government. "We are here to ground the economy at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport so that the government, the first class people, can be aware that our students are off campus now (for) seven months," Awoyinfa Opeoluwa, NANS spokesperson for the southwest region told Reuters. Passengers were forced to walk with their luggage in the rain for at least 5 kilometres (3 miles) to and from the airport. Dozens of armed police watched from a distance. Demonstrations often turn deadly in Nigeria. The last major protest was against police brutality two years ago, which ended with some protesters being shot and killed. (Reporting by Seun Sanni, writing by MacDonald Dzirutwe, Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky) Carolyn Matt tells Castanet she has been travelling to the Interior of British Columbia from her home in Vancouver for years now and has developed a special relationship with a pair of nesting osprey near Nakusp. "I go up to visit with my daughter and grandchildren. But between childcare and visiting, I take some time to go to Kaslo to photograph [the osprey] because they're my birds," Matt says. "I have a passion for them, I stay all day long." Matt says she has been into photography for about a decade and one day while camping near Kaslo she spotted the osprey and fell in love. "It's been a wonderful experience. That's for sure. It keeps you going," says Matt. Matt takes her photographs with a Canon 5D Mark IV & L-Series lenses and she says one of the toughest parts of taking great pictures is capturing the birds in flight. "Anybody can take a shot of something on the nest, the beautiful part of it is catching them in flight, whether they have a branch or a fish, that's when they are in their glory," says Matt. Matt says she has been following this particular pair of osprey as they return to the same spot near Kaslo, year after year. This year there was extra drama as the bird's nest was in danger of flooding, but thanks to a concerned citizen, Ministry of Forests wildlife biologists, a retired park ranger and BC Conservation officers, the nest and eggs were successfully moved. Matt says she watched and took photos of the move and she was there when the surviving egg hatched and the young osprey eventually took its first flight. "I mean, the end result was that last picture of the juvenile flying. It's been a wonderful experience. The family shot I sent to you know with the mom, the dad and the baby, that was kind of cool seeing them all together," says Matt. Matt says the young osprey is now learning the skills it will need to make the journey as the birds migrate to South America for the winter and she plans to be there when the mating pair return to the B.C. Interior in the spring. "It's the experience. It's a little bit of everything. You know, when I go out into nature, and I've got my eyes through the eyepiece, any problems you have just disappear, it's really therapeutic." Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the head of the Office of the President As it stands, there is absolutely no point in negotiating with Russia or arranging a summit meeting, said Podolyak. Read also: Putin can only be negotiated with on battlefield, Ukrainian FM says According to him, the Kremlin remains convinced it can achieve some enduring results in its attempted conquest of Ukraine. Read also: Kremlin mood changed after successful Ukrainian liberation of Kharkiv, reports Meduza Any such meeting at this juncture would follow the tradition Russian playbook: establish a status quo, engage in facetious Minsk routine, before launching another escalation; nothing but an operational pause, the adviser said. Read also: Russia has lost the war Podolyak added that Ukraines objectives are to liberate its territory from enemy occupation and ensure Russia is held responsible for its crimes. Once Russian troops withdraw from all of Ukraine, Kyiv would be open to talks with Russia, discussing post-war co-existence, reparations, and the extradition of Russian war criminals. Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine An Army paratrooper stationed at Fort Bragg was shot and killed outside his apartment in Fayetteville, North Carolina, this week. Sgt. Nicholas Bobo, 22, was located by police at his apartment complex suffering from multiple gunshot wounds around 11:00 p.m. on Tuesday, according to WNCN. He was pronounced dead at the scene. INDIANA MAN CHARGED WITH MURDER IN DUTCH SOLDIER'S SHOOTING DEATH, ALLEGEDLY TOLD FRIEND HE JUST SPAZZED Bobo, an automated logistical specialist assigned to the 407th Brigade Support Battalion, leaves behind his wife, daughter, and parents. He joined the Army in 2019 and had been stationed at Fort Bragg since 2019. Investigators do not believe it was a random shooting and said that Bobo's car was stolen, WNCN reports. Army Criminal Investigation Command and the Fayetteville Police Department are investigating the incident. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988. New York City Mayor Eric Adams said on Monday that a migrant at a city shelter died by suicide. The female migrant who Adams categorized as an asylum seeker died by suicide on Sunday. "The thousands of asylum seekers we have seen arrive in our city came to this country seeking a better life," Adams, a Democrat, said in the statement Monday, confirming her death. "Sadly though, yesterday, an asylum seeker in one of our facilities took her own life. Our hearts break for this young woman and any loved ones she may have, and we, as a city, mourn her. This tragedy is a reminder that we have an obligation to do everything in our power to help those in need." "Among other services available at the Asylum Seeker Resource Navigation Center is mental health care," Adams added. "I encourage all asylum seekers who need mental health support to utilize these services, and anyone in our city struggling with anxiety, depression, or mental health challenges of any kind to call 888-NYC-WELL. We are here for you." NYC MAYOR ADAMS CLAIMS TEXAS 'REFUSED TO DO ANY FORM OF COORDINATION' ON MIGRANT BUSING New York City Mayor Eric Adams speaks during The 2022 Concordia Annual Summit - Day 1 at the Sheraton hotel on September 19, 2022, in New York City. Leigh Vogel/Getty Images for Concordia Summit By law, the city is prohibited from sharing further information at this time, the mayors office said. At a press conference, Adams said he could not go into detail about the "mother" who lost her life before placing the blame on Texas Gov. Greg Abbott not city employees. "This is not a failure of those men and women, those city employees who have stayed up late at night, been at the bus station and navigated," Adams said. "They are hardworking civil servants." "The failure was the governors that sent people on a multi-day bus ride without proper food, without medical care, without the basic necessities," Adams said. "That's the failure. And we didn't fail in this city. This city is helping people." "I think the governor of Texas and others are at fault for creating this man-made humanitarian crisis," he added. Story continues Fox News Digital reached out to Abbott's press office for comment. More than a half dozen buses of migrants arrived at the Port Authority bus terminal in Manhattan over the weekend. On two cable news programs on Sunday, Adams said Abbott and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who sent two planes of illegal immigrants to Marthas Vineyard, were using the migrant crisis to distract from their "erosions of basic human rights," citing the Republicans' stances on abortion and guns. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott speaks at a press conference on September 13, 2022, in Houston, Texas, alongside the president of the Houston Police Officers' Union. Brandon Bell/Getty Images In another interview with WCBS-TV, Adams said the city is considering legal action against Texas in response to the migrant buses and is looking at cruise ships for temporary housing. About 11,600 migrants have entered the New York City shelter system since May, with about 8,500 remaining. So far, the city has opened 23 emergency shelters. Despite admitting New York City is at its "breaking point," Adams has defended its sanctuary status. New York City may fight Texas in court over the Lone Star States policy of sending migrants to the Big Apple, Mayor Adams said Sunday. Our legal team is looking at legal challenges we could do with Texas, Adams said Sunday on CBS New York. We believe there are some options we have, because when you involuntarily place someone on a bus, we believe that actually skates the law. He said the U.S. is facing a crisis created by border states whose governors have bused and flown migrants north, singling out Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for rejecting his overtures to date. This is an American crisis that we need to face, the humanitarian crisis that was made by human hands by some of the governors in our southern states, Adams said Sunday on ABCs This Week. Recent weeks have seen the Republican governors of Arizona and Texas send thousands of migrants to New York City, Chicago and Washington, D.C., in protest of President Bidens immigration policies. Championing the same tactic, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis arranged for two flights of migrants from Texas to Marthas Vineyard, Mass., last week. New York City alone has received some 11,000 migrants, according to Adams, who had strong criticism for Abbott and DeSantis. Gov. Abbott and Gov. DeSantis just wanted to use this political ploy instead of understanding these are people, these are families, these are human beings, Adams said. He accused Abbott of stonewalling his office. Weve reached out and stated that, Lets coordinate and work together so we can deal with this crisis together, he said. They refused to do so. They took the call and stated that they would coordinate Im talking about Gov. Abbott, Adams continued. They did not coordinate at all because I dont think it was politically expedient for them to coordinate. It was more to do this basically political gamesmanship that youre seeing now. Abbotts office did not immediately answer a request for comment. Abbott and Ducey launched their policy in the spring to protest President Bidens move to lift restrictions on seeking asylum that were imposed near the start of the COVID pandemic. The rule remains in effect, under a court order. Story continues The Biden-Harris Administration continues ignoring and denying the historic crisis at our southern border, which has endangered and overwhelmed Texas communities for almost two years, Abbott said in a Thursday statement. Adams accused Abbott and DeSantis of treating people in an inhumane manner. In some cases, we had those who were COVID-positive on the buses with individuals who were dehydrated didnt have proper food, the mayor said on CNNs State of the Union. Some were even tagged, like you would tag an animal. Adams and City Council members recently called on the federal government to fast-track work papers for asylum seekers. On Wednesday, the Adams administration said the influx of migrants has contributed to an unprecedented need for [homeless] shelter services. Adams said Sunday that the city may begin using cruise ships as temporary homes for the homeless. Were looking at that as a temporary measure, not a permanent measure, he told CBS New York. A permanent measure is, get people into housing. We have to find temporary measures to address this issue. VALENTYNA ROMANENKO MONDAY, 19 SEPTEMBER 2022, 12:11 According to Ukrainian Intelligence, the Russians are failing at the mobilisation program in the occupied territories of Luhansk Oblast. Source: The Chief Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine Quote by the Chief Intelligence Directorate: "The occupiers are trying to mobilise men in the territories of Luhansk Oblast, which were occupied in 2022. In particular, it was planned to gather 500 men in Sievierodonetsk, who were to replenish the 2nd Army Corps and units of the so-called "people's militia". The mobilisation program has currently completely failed." Details: As the Chief Intelligence Directorate reports, the occupiers are also trying to mobilise men in the captured territories of Kherson Oblast and promise retirees some "tourist trips" [presumably trying to conceal the fact of future mobilisation this way - ed.]. Thus, at a meeting of local residents, which representatives of the occupation administration held in the village of Myrne, Kherson Oblast, with the participation of the Russian military, the issue of recruiting local men to the "people's militia" was discussed. The participants claimed that education, age, physical and moral conditions were not important. Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron! RICHMOND, Ind. (AP) An eastern Indiana police officer who was shot in the head during a traffic stop in August has died more than two weeks after she was removed from life support, authorities said. Richmond Police Department Officer Seara Burton died Sunday night at a Reid Health facility surrounded by her family, the department said in a statement posted to Facebook. We would sincerely like to thank the Richmond community, and those who have supported Seara, her family, and the department from near and far," the statement from several officials said. Burton was critically wounded in the shooting Aug. 10. The 28-year-old officer was moved to hospice care, two days after she was removed from life support on Sept. 1 at a hospital in Dayton, Ohio. Burton's remains were escorted by Richmond police and other agencies from the Dayton area to a Richmond funeral home Monday afternoon, WISH-TV reported. Burton was a four-year veteran of the department in Richmond, about 65 miles (105 kilometers) east of Indianapolis. Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb said he and his wife, Janet, are mourning with Burtons family, colleagues and the Richmond community, saying in a statement that our hearts are heavy." Janet and I send our condolences to Officer Burtons family and loved ones as they search for peace and strength from a power greater than all we can muster, he said. Prosecutors have charged Phillip Matthew Lee, 47, with three counts of attempted murder, three drug possession counts for methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin and possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon. He has pleaded not guilty. A message seeking comment on whether Lee was now expected to face a murder charge was left Monday morning for the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office by The Associated Press. Authorities have said officers stopped Lee and called Burton to assist with her police dog. The dog indicated the possible presence of narcotics. Court documents say that while officers were speaking with the rider, he pulled out a gun and opened fire toward the officers, shooting Burton. Other officers returned fire and he ran away. Lee was apprehended following a brief foot chase. Story continues No other officers were shot. Lee was treated for gunshot wounds, police said. ___ The story has been updated to correct that the statement said Burton died at a Reid Health facility, not a specific location. One person was killed in a shooting at a Sonic Drive-In in Paris Monday, authorities report. The Arkansas State Police reported a person also died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at a nearby location. The names of those involved have not been released. In a social media post Monday, the Logan County Sheriff's office reported, "There was a shooting today at the Sonic in Paris. The victim is deceased. The suspect has been located. The Arkansas State Police Criminal Investigation Division is investigating." A spokesman for the Arkansas State Police reported Monday the first call reported the shooting as a possible suicide. This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Paris, Arkansas shooting leaves one dead One person died in a three-vehicle crash on Interstate 77 in Chester County Sunday morning, according to the South Carolina Highway Patrol. Troopers said around 2 a.m., a Nissan Altima was traveling south on I-77 when it was struck from behind by a Jeep Cherokee near Highway 9. The Nissan was then hit a second time by a BMW while in the roadway. ALSO READ: 1 killed after collision in Chesterfield County, troopers say A passenger in the Nissan died at the scene, troopers said. Their identity is unknown at this time. The drivers of the Nissan and the Jeep were both hurt in the crash and were taken to an area hospital. The Jeeps driver was not seriously hurt, investigators said. It is unknown if the people inside the BMW were hurt. Highway Patrol said they are investigating the cause of the crash. (WATCH BELOW: 1 killed after collision in Chesterfield County, troopers say) Good afternoon, OnPolitics readers! The U.K. and much of the world spent Monday mourning Queen Elizabeth II, who was celebrated at a funeral at Westminster Abbey and brought to her final place of rest, St George's Chapel. With the funeral concluded, and a private burial service was scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. local time, a period of Royal Mourning is set to last for the next seven days, according to the wishes of the new king. President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden top the list of foreign leaders present, which also includes Frances President Emmanuel Macron, Germanys President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Irelands President Michael Higgins. Biden arrived at Westminster Abbey for the queens funeral in his armored limousine, The Beast. He was among the few international diplomats who, for security reasons, did not ride on a fleet of chartered luxury buses provided for other world leaders. During his visit, Biden told media the queen "was the same in person as her image: decent, honorable and all about service." It's Amy with today's top stories out of Washington. Stay in the conversation on politics: Get this newsletter in your inbox Biden says the COVID pandemic is over. Is it? President Joe Bidens seemingly offhand declaration that the COVID-19 pandemic is over could complicate several issues for the administration. Officials are encouraging people to get boosted ahead of a possible fall and winter wave of infections. Theyve asked Congress for $22.4 billion in emergency coronavirus funding. The administration had been expected to renew a public health emergency, which is keeping millions of Americans on Medicaid. And Bidens controversial decision to wipe out student loan debt for millions of Americans rests on the Education Departments ability to ease hardship in a national emergency. White House officials have not commented publicly on Biden's remark since it aired Sunday on CBS. COVID-19 casualties: Nearly 3,000 Americans are still dying from COVID-19 each week. Story continues What happens next: Congress is deciding whether to approve billions of dollars of additional coronavirus funding requested by Biden. Republicans have insisted that unspent money from a previous COVID-19 package be repurposed. The administration has said the money is needed to prepare for future surges. Timeline: The administration has said it would give states 60 days' notice before declaring an end to the COVID-19 public health emergency that has helped millions of Americans get health coverage through Medicaid. The current end date of the emergency is Oct. 15. But that was expected to be extended because states have not been told otherwise. Real quick: stories you'll want to read American abducted in Afghanistan to return : President Biden said that the U.S. has secured the release of Mark Frerichs, an American contractor and Navy veteran abducted more than two years ago. It's one of the most significant prisoner swaps. Do Trump's attacks on DOJ cross a line? Some legal experts say Trump's inflammatory rhetoric present DOJ with a quandary over whether to prosecute a former president if he meets the legal threshold. Biden denies Mar-a-Lago document knowledge : President Joe Biden said in an interview Sunday he has not been briefed on the classified documents federal agents retrieved last month from former President Donald Trump's Florida estate. Read more about Biden's comments here. Graham pushes back 15-week abortion ban bill: Sen. Lindsey Graham defended his abortion ban bill Sunday despite lack of full GOP support. Graham's bill, introduced last week, would prohibit an abortion procedure after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Could DeSantis' migrant tactic backfire politically with a key voting bloc? Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' decision to transport dozens of Venezuelan migrants to the elite Massachusetts enclave of Martha's Vineyard unannounced achieved its unspoken purpose of riling up the left. But the stunt could have unplanned ramifications for DeSantis and the GOP writ large, experts told USA TODAY. What happened at Martha's Vineyard? A group of about 50 Venezuelan migrants were flown from Texas to Marthas Vineyard this week on two charter flights for which DeSantis has taken credit. USA TODAY later learned the migrants were told they would be met with well-paying jobs, free housing and transportation once they got off the planes. Instead, when the migrants arrived, Massachusetts officials were surprised and unprepared, with no such promises in sight. A spokesperson for DeSantis said the migrants relocation was part of the governor's "promise to drop off undocumented migrants in progressive states." The tactic to fly migrants north shows DeSantis is caught between two imperatives, says William LeoGrande, a government professor at American University with expertise in U.S. foreign policy toward Latin America. On one hand, the Florida GOP wants to cultivate the Venezuelan American vote. But on the other hand, DeSantis and the broader GOP see immigration as a "wedge issue." Could it backfire with voters? Need to catch up on all the coverage of Queen Elizabeth II's funeral? USA TODAY was watching every moment as the world paid tribute to the queen. -- Amy This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: President Biden says the COVID-19 pandemic is over. Is it? Photo: Contributed Having a well-diversified portfolio means owning a wide variety of assets with the goal to reduce your overall portfolio risk. Having stocks in just a handful of companies would leave you open to the potential for substantial losses. Stock diversification involves investing in a variety of economic market sectors, asset classes and locations. The idea is to smooth out risk by having the positive performance from some investments offset the negative performance of others. ie. avoid putting all of your eggs in one basket For this to be successful, you need to hold assets that are not highly correlated: in other words, assets that wont move in the same direction, at the same time, as each other. Many Canadian investors believe they can achieve adequate stock diversification by simply buying an index mutual fund or index exchange-traded fund (ETF). These are effectively baskets of shares of many different companies that represent an index, such as the S&P/TSX Index (which contains around 250 of the 1,500-plus companies that are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange). Relying on an S&P/TSX Index fund is problematic, however. Two-thirds of the index is focused on just three sectorsfinancial services, energy and materials. Whenever there is a slowdown in global economic activity, energy and commodities tend to be negatively impacted. This in turn weighs down financial firms, which rely on those struggling resource companies for a large chunk of their business. Given how these highly correlated sectors dominate the S&P/TSX Index, its difficult to offset losses by buying less-correlated Canadian sectors, such as health care, because they are so much smaller. Truly diversifying a stock portfolio for Canadian investors therefore requires looking beyond not only Canadas borders, but also these dominant sectors and even traditional equities. Moving your portfolio away from its natural home bias (where too many of the stocks are Canadian) is a good starting point for greater stock diversification. Here are some examples of other areas Canadians can consider, so that they have far more diversified portfolios: Geography: US, Europe, Asia, other developed economies, emerging markets Sectors: IT, Industrials, Consumer discretionary, health care, consumer staples, telecommunications Company size: Large cap and mega cap stocks (all Canadian stocks are considered small/medium size) Fixed Income Investments need diversification to: Government bonds, corporates, high-yield, investment grade, floating rate loans, etc. One of the most efficient ways of diversifying a stock portfolio is through mutual funds and ETFs. For example, you could buy an emerging markets mutual fund, a U.S. large cap ETF and a global sustainable investing mutual fund. Each fund could contain dozens, or even hundreds, of companies. There are now almost 1,200 ETFs and over 5,000 mutual funds available to Canadian investors. You can get far more specific about the geographical area you want to invest in, the sector and the size of companies youre interested in. Increasingly, financial experts are recommending an allocation to alternative investments when diversifying a stock portfolio. These were previously reserved for institutional investors but have recently become available to individual investors, in the form of liquid alternative funds and ETFs. Many of these alternative investments have little to zero correlation with conventional equities and bonds, so they offer a great way of diversifying a stock portfolio. Some alternative funds include: Real estate investment trusts (pools of properties that deliver rental income) Alternative strategies, such as leveraging, using derivatives and short-selling Private equity (investing in companies not listed on stock exchanges) Private debt (lending to privately owned companies) Year-to-year and day-to-day, markets do go up and down. That roller-coaster ride of volatility can make some investors want to shy away from participating in the markets. However, there is room for even the most risk-averse investors to benefit from the markets. Holding equities in well-diversified portfolios is essential if you want to grow your portfolio more quickly and investing in low-volatility equity products can also help to smooth out the ride. Low-volatility equity funds are appealing if you want returns that are similar to the stock market but with potentially greater stability through market ups and downs. These funds can reduce losses during market dips, which can in turn help to preserve your assets and contribute to your retirement income stream now and in the future. Weve seen how truly diversifying a portfolio is particularly important in Canada especially when so many Canadians have much of their wealth already tied to the domestic economy in their real estate. However, achieving effective diversification is not as simple as buying an emerging markets mutual fund and an S&P 500 Index ETF; its not easy to build truly diversified portfolios by yourself. This is where a professional advisor comes in. A qualified advisor will take into account your risk preference, personal circumstances and financial goals before recommending the right mix of equities, bonds, industries, geographical locations, company sizes and alternative assets and strategies that will build a truly diversified portfolio. This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet. For the most part, people never think twice about the name of our hometown let alone its origin. Most know the capital of Texas is named after Stephen F. Austin, who brought many of the first English-speaking settlers to Texas when it was part of Mexico. But what about those cities and towns with strange and obscure names? Here are the stories of 12 of the most oddly named towns across the Lone Star State. Bigfoot Population: 480 Established: 1865 Origin: The unincorporated community, a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation, was established by Bob Connally and was originally called Connally's Store. When a post office was established in 1883, the name was changed in honor of William Alexander Anderson "Bigfoot" Wallace, a former resident of the community. Chandler Population: 3,275 Established: 1880 Origin: While there is a Ross, Texas, the rest of the cast from "Friends" do not have cities sharing their names. The area, originally inhabited by Caddo Native Americans, was settled in 1859 by Alphonso H. Chandler as a one-store town called Stillwater, 2 miles north of what is now Chandler. A post office was established in April 1873 and was named after Chandler seven years later. Cut and Shoot Population: 1,087 Established: 1912 Origin: Cut and Shoot was named after a 1912 community confrontation that almost led to violence. According to differing versions of the story, the dispute was over either the design of a new steeple for the town's church, the issue of who would be allowed to preach there or the conflicting land claims among church members. Regardless, it was reported a scared young boy said, "I'm going to cutaround the corner and shootthrough the bushes in a minute!" Fortunately, there was no reported violence, but his statement was adopted as the town's name. Hawkins Population: 1,274 Established: 1873 Origin: It is said that close to what is now Hawkins, a Mr. Hawkins carved his initials on a tree as construction crews were building road beds and clearing trees in the area. In 1873, a group of about 250 people applied to Washington for a post office and looked to the name on the tree for the designation. Though the town shares a name with the fictional town from "Stranger Things," no encounters with the "Upside Down" have been reported. Story continues Industry Population: 268 Established: 1831 Origin: German Friedrich Ernst, a recipient of a Mexican land grant, chose the site to establish a home. The Ernst family, along with fellow German Charles Fordtran, built homes a couple of miles apart and began their lives as Texans. An 1832 letter Ernst sent to Germany praised the value of Texas, which inspired more of his fellow countrymen to emigrate. The town got its name from area non-Germans who referred to the place as where the industrious Germans lived. Italy Population: 1,926 Established: 1879 Origin: The name was suggested by the postmaster who had visited Europe and said the sunny climate of Italy was comparable to that of Texas. Miami Population: 539 Established: 1879 Origin: The town supposedly derives its name from a Native American word meaning "sweetheart." Paris Population: 24,476 Established: 1844 Origin: The town was founded by merchant George W. Wright. It was named for Paris, France, by one of his employees, Thomas Poteet. Roanoke Population: 9,665 Established: 1847 Origin: First called the Medlin Settlement in honor of Louis and Charles Medlin, whose families were in the colony, the early community was later designated Garden Valley. In the early 1880s, most of the settlers began moving to the new town and one of the railroad surveyors named the town Roanoke, in honor of his hometown in Virginia. Venus A sign marks the entrance to Venus, Texas, on the outskirts of Dallas. Population: 4,361 Established: 1903 Origin: Originally known as Gossip, then Midway, it became incorporated under the name Venus in 1903. The town was named after the daughter of a local doctor. White Settlement Population: 18,269 Established: 1850s Origin: Amid fighting between Native Americans and white settlers who arrived at the area in the 1850s, the newcomers settled in an area that was referred to as the white settlement." The name eventually became the official town name, and in 1941 it became incorporated. In 2005, the mayor and the chamber of commerce tried to change the name to something that wasnt based on race. However, the town, which was about 85% white at the time, voted against it. Wink Population: 915 Established: 1926 Origin: Wink was founded when oil was discovered in Hendrick oilfield in Winkler County. Wink was originally named Winkler after the county, which was named for Confederate Army Col. Clinton McKamy Winkler. The citizens shortened the name to Wink. RELATED COVERAGE More:Here are the 10 highest-paying jobs in Texas More:Nearly 9,000 Texas personalized license plates were rejected in 2021. Here's why. John Oliva covers entertainment and community news in South Texas. Contact him at john.oliva@caller.com or Twitter @johnpoliva. Consider supporting local journalism with a subscription to the Caller-Times. This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: These 12 Texas cities have strange names. Here's the story behind them An incredibly easy weeknight pasta dish (Getty) My two kids went to sleep-away camp this summer, and while my partner and I did miss them quite a bit (sniff), one of the unexpected benefits of their absence was being able to eat whatever we wanted. There was zero planning of meals catered to their ever-fickle tastes and aversions: no tomatoes for that one, nothing spicy for that one, no seafood ever for both. (I know parenting experts say not to cater to your kids culinary whims, but a peaceful dinner is more important to me than a nutritionally balanced one. I figure their palates will expand when they go to university?) We ate all of the spicy, vegetable-abundant, seafood-heavy meals possible over those two weeks, and it was downright blissful. The recipes below are the kind we enjoyed, and they are all outrageously good, fast options for a weeknight, whether you are temporarily free from the demands of picky eaters or not. Spicy and saucy cherry tomato pasta By: Alexa Weibel In this incredibly easy weeknight pasta, red-pepper flakes, capers and tomato paste turn a simple cherry tomato sauce into something hearty enough for cold weather. Sauteeing tomato paste until it caramelises develops deep flavour, while pan-fried capers add crunch and red-pepper flakes provide heat. For smokier undertones, you can use dried ancho chilli or chilli de arbol, chipotle powder or Aleppo pepper in place of the red-pepper flakes. A dollop of ricotta, freshly grated pecorino or parmesan, or shaved ricotta salata is not necessary, but takes the dish up a notch. Serves: 4 Total time: 25 minutes Ingredients: Salt and black pepper 4 tbsp olive oil 3 tbsp drained jarred capers 3 tbsp tomato paste 3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced 1 to 2 tsp red-pepper flakes (optional) 450g orecchiette or other shaped pasta 680g cherry tomatoes, halved Handful thinly sliced fresh basil, plus small whole leaves, for garnish Fresh ricotta, shaved ricotta salata, or grated pecorino or parmesan, for garnish (optional) Method: 1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Story continues 2. In a large nonstick frying pan, heat 2 tbsp oil over medium-high. Pat the capers dry, then add them to the pan and cook, stirring frequently, until crisp, 3 to 4 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the capers to a paper towel-lined plate. 3. Add the tomato paste to the pan and cook over medium-high, stirring frequently, until tomato paste darkens in colour and deepens in flavour, about 2 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium, add the remaining 2 tbsp oil, the garlic and red-pepper flakes, if using, and cook, stirring frequently, until garlic is softened and fragrant, about 2 minutes. 4. Add the pasta to the boiling water and reduce heat to medium. Cook according to package instructions until al dente. 5. While the pasta cooks, add the cherry tomatoes to the pan, season with salt and pepper and cook over medium-high, stirring, 5 minutes. Add 150ml pasta cooking water from the pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes start to fall apart and the liquid becomes saucy, about 10 minutes. 6. Drain the pasta, and transfer it to the pan with the sauce to combine. (If your pan is too full to accommodate the pasta, you can transfer the cooked pasta back to the pot, then add the sauce to combine.) Stir in half the basil and season to taste with salt and pepper. 7. Divide among plates or bowls and top with capers and remaining basil, plus cheese and whole basil leaves. Serve immediately. Saag paneer Thawed chopped frozen spinach can be used to save time in this dish (Getty/iStock) By: Kay Chun Saag refers to an Indian vegetable dish in which spinach or other dark greens are stewed with ginger, garlic, fresh chillies and spices until meltingly soft. As the name suggests, saag paneer includes paneer, a mild Indian cheese that is firm enough to cook without melting. The heat of the serrano chillies balances the creamy richness, but for a milder dish, remove the seeds before mincing the chillies. The fresh greens are finely chopped before cooking, to help them break down faster into a silky gravy. Thawed chopped frozen spinach can be used to save time, but make sure to drain well and squeeze out the excess liquid first. Finish the dish with a little double cream (or plain yoghurt) to lend body and richness. Serves: 4 Total time: 35 minutes Ingredients: 450g fresh baby spinach 2 tbsp ghee 225g paneer, cut into 2-by-1cm pieces 60g finely chopped yellow onion Salt and black pepper 1 tbsp freshly grated peeled ginger (from a 5cm piece) 2 tsp grated garlic (from about 3 cloves) 1 serrano chilli, stemmed and minced tsp ground coriander tsp ground cumin 120ml double cream Steamed rice and Indian flatbread, for serving Method: 1. In a food processor, working in batches, pulse spinach until minced but not pureed. Do not pack the spinach too tightly or it wont get evenly chopped. 2. Heat 1 tbsp ghee over medium in a large nonstick frying pan. When it shimmers, add paneer and cook, turning occasionally, until golden all over, 5 to 7 minutes. Using tongs or a fish spatula, transfer cheese to a plate, leaving as much ghee as possible in the pan. 3. Reduce heat to medium-low, add the remaining 1 tbsp ghee and the onion, and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened but not browned, about 5 minutes. 4. Add ginger, garlic and chilli, and cook, stirring occasionally, until fragrant and well incorporated, 1 minute. Stir in coriander and cumin until well blended. 5. Add minced spinach and 120ml water, and increase the heat to medium. Season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until spinach is completely soft and most of the liquid is absorbed, about 8 minutes. 6. Stir in double cream and paneer until well incorporated. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to a serving bowl. 7. Divide rice and flatbread among 4 shallow bowls or plates. Pass the saag paneer to spoon on top. Beans and greens alla vodka The formula for pasta all vodka works equally well with beans and greens (Getty/iStock) By: Ali Slagle Pasta alla vodka is a classic because each ingredient works together beautifully: the heat of the red-pepper flakes and vodka, the sweetness of the tomato and the richness of the cream. And that combination works equally well with beans and greens. Use chickpeas or white beans, and kale or any other dark leafy green, like Swiss chard or broccoli raab. The finished dish keeps for up to three days in the fridge. Eat it on its own, with crusty bread for dunking, or over pasta. Serves: 4 Total time: 20 minutes Ingredients: 3 tbsp olive oil 1 yellow onion, finely chopped 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped Salt 1 (170g) tin tomato paste 60ml vodka tsp red-pepper flakes 2 (425g) tins white beans (such as cannellini or Great Northern) or chickpeas, drained but not rinsed 1 bunch kale, ribs removed, leaves torn or coarsely chopped 60ml double cream Grated parmesan, as needed Method: 1. In a large pot or casserole dish, heat the olive oil over medium-high. Add the onion and garlic, season with salt, and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the tomato paste, vodka and red-pepper flakes. Cook, stirring, until the tomato paste is a shade darker and starts to stick to the bottom of the pot, 2 to 3 minutes. 2. Add 470ml water, the beans and the kale, season with salt and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to maintain a simmer, cover, and cook until the liquid is flavourful and the kale is tender, 7 to 10 minutes. 3. Remove from the heat and stir in the double cream. Taste and if it needs more salt, stir in some grated Parmesan. Serve with more parmesan on top. One-pan chicken thighs with brown butter corn By: Melissa Clark This weeknight-friendly recipe pairs sweet corn kernels with sauteed boneless chicken thighs. Easily made in one large frying pan, the chicken is cooked first before the corn kernels are added to saute in the drippings, seasoned with garlic, thyme and plenty of brown butter. Finished with torn basil, lime juice and spring onions, it walks the line between rich and sweet, and tangy and fresh all in under 30 minutes. Serves: 4 Total time: 30 minutes Ingredients: 4 skinless, boneless chicken thighs (about 560g) Salt and freshly ground black pepper 2 garlic cloves, finely grated or minced 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil 3 tbsp unsalted butter 250g fresh or frozen corn kernels (from 1 to 2 ears; see tip below) Handful torn basil leaves Lime wedges, for serving 2 spring onions, thinly sliced, for serving Method: 1. Season chicken all over with salt and pepper. Rub garlic and thyme on chicken, and set aside while preparing the rest of the ingredients. 2. Heat a large frying pan over medium-high. Add oil and 1 tbsp of the butter, letting butter melt. Add chicken and sear, undisturbed, until browned on both sides, about 4 to 6 minutes per side. Transfer chicken to a plate. 3. Over medium heat, add remaining 2 tbsp butter to the pan. Cook, swirling occasionally, until the foam subsides and it smells nutty and toasty, 2 to 3 minutes. (Watch carefully to see that it doesnt burn.) Add corn and a big pinch of salt and black pepper. Saute until tender and golden brown, 2 minutes. 4. Add chicken back to the pan. Cover and cook until chicken is cooked through and corn is caramelized, about 5 to 10 minutes. Remove from heat and taste corn, adding more salt and pepper if needed. Stir in basil and squeeze 2 lime wedges over the top. Serve garnished with sliced spring onions and more lime wedges. Tip: The least messy way to cut the kernels off an ear of corn is to lay the ear flat on a cutting board and slice off the kernels, turning the cob as you go. Keeping it flat helps prevent the kernels from flying all over the kitchen. Saffron salmon kebabs Salmon kebabs: buttery, saffron-stained and gently spiced (Getty/iStock) By: Naz Deravian Buttery, saffron-stained and gently spiced, these Iranian kebabs come together in no time and make for a beautiful, flavourful meal. The warming spice mix of oregano, coriander, black pepper and turmeric balances and lifts the sweet notes from the saffron and salmon. To keep the fish in place when turning the kebabs on the grill, use 1cm-wide flat skewers or two thin, round skewers. You can entertain with these skewers or enjoy them on a quiet weeknight, along with dill rice and a side of fresh herbs, or cucumber, tomato and onion salad. Serves: 4 Total time: 1 hour Ingredients: About 1 tsp saffron threads (0.35g) Pinch of sugar 3 tbsp fresh lime juice, plus lime wedges for serving 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil 2 large garlic cloves, finely grated 1 tsp salt tsp dried oregano, crushed between your fingers tsp ground coriander tsp black pepper tsp ground turmeric 680g skinless salmon (preferably center-cut), cut into 2cm pieces Fresh herbs, such as mint, coriander and basil, for serving Method: 1. Using a mortar and pestle or small bowl and the handle end of a wooden spoon, grind the saffron with a pinch of sugar to a fine powder (about tsp). Transfer to a large bowl. Bring 2 tbsp water to a boil in a saucepan, kettle or using the microwave, then let stand for 2 minutes to allow the water temperature to drop slightly. Add to the ground saffron powder, gently stir, cover and steep for 5 minutes. 2. To the saffron water, add the lime juice, olive oil, garlic, salt, oregano, coriander, pepper and turmeric. Stir to mix, add the salmon pieces and combine until the salmon is well coated. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. 3. As the salmon marinates, prepare a charcoal grill until the coals are ashed over and slightly cooled to medium-hot and or heat a gas grill to medium-high. Skewer the salmon and save any remaining marinade. Grill the skewers, brushing with the remaining marinade and turning every couple of minutes, until tender and buttery, about 10 minutes total. Serve with lime wedges for squeezing over the fish. Enjoy, with bites of fresh herbs between bites of salmon. The New York Times Fifth-grade students in Fairfield Elementary School play during recess on the first day of school Sept. 6 in Eugene, Oregon. Students can now play with different classes during recess, a loosening of COVID protocols. Indiana reported far fewer coronavirus cases in the week ending Sunday, adding 6,026 new cases. That's down 31.3% from the previous week's tally of 8,772 new cases of the virus that causes COVID-19. Indiana ranked 39th among the states where coronavirus was spreading the fastest on a per-person basis, a USA TODAY Network analysis of Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the latest week coronavirus cases in the United States decreased 7.7% from the week before, with 436,694 cases reported. With 2.02% of the country's population, Indiana had 1.38% of the country's cases in the last week. Across the country, 24 states had more cases in the latest week than they did in the week before. Owen County reported 19 cases and zero deaths in the latest week. A week earlier, it had reported 32 cases and two deaths. Throughout the pandemic it has reported 6,552 cases and 131 deaths. Across Indiana, cases fell in 76 counties, with the best declines in Marion County, with 620 cases from 876 a week earlier; in Tippecanoe County, with 178 cases from 383; and in Allen County, with 370 cases from 543. a >> See how your community has fared with recent coronavirus cases Within Indiana, the worst weekly outbreaks on a per-person basis were in Knox County with 295 cases per 100,000 per week; Rush County with 217; and Gibson County with 172. The Centers for Disease Control says high levels of community transmission begin at 100 cases per 100,000 per week. Adding the most new cases overall were Marion County, with 620 cases; Lake County, with 474 cases; and Allen County, with 370. Weekly case counts rose in 11 counties from the previous week. The worst increases from the prior week's pace were in Shelby, Adams and Morgan counties. In Indiana, 56 a people were reported dead of COVID-19 in the week ending Sunday. In the week before that, 66 people were reported dead. A total of 1,914,351 people in Indiana have tested positive for the coronavirus since the pandemic began, and 24,605 people have died from the disease, Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the United States 95,658,236 people have tested positive and 1,053,419 people have died. Story continues >> Track coronavirus cases across the United States Indiana's COVID-19 hospital admissions falling USA TODAY analyzed federal hospital data as of Sunday, Sept. 18. Likely COVID patients admitted in the state: Last week: 881 The week before that: 1,006 Four weeks ago: 1,475 Likely COVID patients admitted in the nation: Last week: 57,618 The week before that: 58,248 Four weeks ago: 66,210 Hospitals in 15 states reported more COVID-19 patients than a week earlier, while hospitals in 14 states had more COVID-19 patients in intensive-care beds. Hospitals in 22 states admitted more COVID-19 patients in the latest week than a week prior, the USA TODAY analysis of U.S. Health and Human Services data shows. The USA TODAY Network is publishing localized versions of this story on its news sites across the country, generated with data from Johns Hopkins University and the Centers for Disease Control. If you have questions about the data or the story, contact Mike Stucka at mstucka@gannett.com. This article originally appeared on Evening World: Owen County reported 19 additional COVID-19 cases this week this week Chris Jordan feels Pakistan fans will be relishing the chance to see England play (Kieran Cleeves/PA) (PA Wire) Chris Jordan predicts cricket fans in Karachi will be overjoyed to welcome England on Tuesday, when they compete on Pakistani soil for the first time in 17 years. International fixtures have gradually returned to the country since the end of a decade-long absence that followed the terror attack on Sri Lankas team bus in 2009, with England finally embarking on their own landmark trip having cancelled a planned visit last year. The 35,000-capacity National Stadium is sure to be teeming with excitement when it hosts the first of seven Twenty20s between the sides and, although a fractured finger means he will be watching from afar, Jordan knows better than most what to expect. When the Pakistan Super League returned to home soil for the first time for the 2017 final, he and Dawid Malan agreed to make the journey with Peshawar Zalmi, while other overseas players including Kevin Pietersen, Luke Wright and current England Test coach Brendon McCullum opted out. He has since been back to play in three more editions of the tournament and believes Englands presence will bring a big sense of occasion. The guys should expect a very warm welcome, the fans there will be overjoyed to see some of the stars theyve only ever seen from a distance, he told the PA news agency. They have been very much looking forward to this day for quite some time in Pakistan. It should be loud and it should be a great atmosphere. The passion for cricket is burning deep over there. Jordan recalls his own decision to participate in the PSL final at Lahore five years ago with pride, stressing the importance of supporting cricket in the region. It was an opportunity to take your self out of it a little bit, think about Pakistan as a nation and how it was starved of international cricket for so long. The itinerary and the security details were laid out really well and I was more than happy to jump on a plane and experience something new. (PA Wire) Its important for the Pakistani players to represent their country at home and its super important to support them. Players should feel responsibility to support their fellow colleagues; were all living as human beings trying to make it in a world that sometimes doesnt always make sense. Story continues Cricket is no different in that respect, any chance you have to go and experience something else that can boost the game of cricket as a whole is important. Jordan is due to join the England squad in Australia and, fitness allowing, is set for a senior role in the pace attack. Im tracking pretty well, its been about four weeks since the injury and the splint comes off in a few days, he said. Then its about getting movement in the joint, releasing the ball well. In the meantime Im just topping up my strength work so Im not too far behind when Im back. Lord Frederick Windsor and actress Sophie Winkleman attends BVLGARI and Save the children STOP. THINK. GIVE. Pre-Oscar Event at Spago on February 17, 2015 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by David Buchan/Getty Images) (Getty Images) Peep Show star Sophie Winkleman has attended the Queens funeral as a member of the royal family. The actor, 42, is married to Lord Frederick Windsor, the son of the Queens cousin Prince Michael of Kent, and appeared alongside him at Westminster Abbey on Monday. She was seen walking into the church wearing a black wide-brimmed hat featuring a matching black bow on the front, before taking her seat alongside other relatives of the late monarch. Winkleman played Big Suze, the love interest of Robert Webbs character Jeremy, in the long-running Channel 4 sitcom, which also starred David Mitchell. Airing between 2003 and 2015, it was written by Jesse Armstrong who has gone on to create the acclaimed HBO drama Succession starring Brian Cox, Jeremy Strong, Kieran Culkin, Matthew Macfadyen, and Sarah Snook. Winkleman has also appeared in shows including police procedural Waking The Dead, American comedy Two And A Half Men and mystery series Death In Paradise. She married Lord Frederick Windsor at Hampton Court Palace in September 2009 and became entitled to be styled as Lady Frederick Windsor but continues to use her own name in her acting career. (PA Wire) She is also the paternal half-sister of Strictly Come Dancing presenter Claudia Winkleman. On Friday evening, Winkleman watched the Queens children during their vigil at her coffin at the lying in state in Westminster Hall. Other famous faces who attended the funeral included adventurer and Chief Scout Bear Grylls and Greys Anatomy actor Sandra Oh, who made up part of the Canadian delegation as a member of the Order of Canada. Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner is fighting back against state legislators who voted last week to hold him in contempt, accusing them of a politically motivated attempt to remove him from office while demanding that he turn over protected documents. The Pennsylvania House overwhelmingly voted against Krasner in a bipartisan fashion for not complying with a subpoena issued as part of a House committee investigation. That probe has gone on as state Republicans are looking to impeach Krasner as they blame his policies for the city's rise in gun violence. On Monday, Krasner accused his political opponents of being disingenuous and using the current state of affairs which he acknowledged is bad for political purposes. "They dont believe that. They know better than that," Krasner said about the idea that the rise in crime is his fault. "This is pure hypocrisy. This is taking advantage of peoples pain, their suffering, their tragedy, their agony this is taking advantage of that for the worst kind of cheap politics." PENNSYLVANIA LAWMAKERS VOTE TO HOLD PHILADELPHIA DA LARRY KRASNER IN CONTEMPT PHILADELPHIA, PA - DECEMBER 30: (L) Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner reacts while being mentioned by Danielle Outlaw at a press conference announcing her as the new Police Commissioner on December 30, 2019 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Mark Makela/Getty Images) The same day, Krasner's office issued a press release with the stated purpose of "correcting the record." It called the actions against Krasner a "politically motivated effort to remove twice elected chief prosecutor Larry Krasner from office despite there being no allegation of crime or official misconduct, unlike several other Pennsylvania DAs." Also on Monday, Krasner's legal team sent a letter to the lawyer for Rep. John Lawrence, Chairman of the Select Committee on Restoring Law and Order that is investigating Krasner, claiming that some of the materials sought in the subpoena they sent include transcripts of grand jury materials, which are secret and cannot be divulged. "Prosecutors are prohibited by law from disclosing grand jury materials and can even go to jail for doing so," the letter said. The letter also accused lawmakers of not giving Krasner due process because he did not have an opportunity to explain his failure to comply with the subpoena before they voted. Story continues REPUBLICANS INTRODUCE ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT AGAINST PHILADELPHIA DA LARRY KRASNER Krasner said the idea that a chief prosecutor should be held responsible for crime is "absurd." He said that while the two-year homicide increase in Philadelphia has been roughly 59%, the highest ever was 60.5% under Republican District Attorney Arlen Specter. "No one ever said he caused it, that is absurd," Krasner said. "They did not impeach him, they made him a U.S. Senator." Krasner also pointed to the three Republicans leading the impeachment effort Reps. Josh Kail, Torren Ecker,and Tim ONeal noting that their counties' homicide increases are much more drastic than Philadelphia's. Kail represents parts of Beaver and Washington counties, which saw increases of 250% and 800%, respectively, according to Krasner. O'Neal is from Washington County and Ecker is from Adams and Cumblerand counties, with Adams having a 300% increase. "It would be absurd to say that their traditional if not conservative prosecutors caused those high increases in homicides," Krasner said. The three lawmakers said in June that impeachment is not something they take lightly and that their decision is "due to the willful refusal by District Attorney Krasner to enforce existing law." Rick Wagge, 59, was identified as the man who was found dead from a gunshot under a Phoenix bridge on Sunday. The Phoenix Police Department released the identity of a man who died from a gunshot wound under a bridge early Sunday morning. Rick Wagge, 59, was found on the 2000 block of East McDowell Road by police at around 2:30 a.m. Sunday with a gunshot wound. Wagge died at the scene from his injuries. Detectives were investigating to develop information about a potential suspect. Phoenix detectives asked anyone with knowledge about the circumstances to contact them or call Silent Witnesses (480-WITNESS or 480-TESTIGO for Spanish speakers) if they wish to remain anonymous. This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Phoenix police identify Rick Wagge as man found dead under bridge Prince William, Prince of Wales and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex walk behind the coffin during the procession for Queen Elizabeth II. Karwai Tang/WireImage Prince Harry and Prince William reunited for Queen Elizabeth II's funeral on Monday. The brothers, who are reportedly estranged, stood side by side for part of the procession. Prince William also stuck close to his children and father, King Charles III. Prince William rode with his father, King Charles III, to the funeral. King Charles III and Prince William arrive at Westminster Abbey ahead of the State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II on September 19, 2022. Alain Jocard - WPA Pool/Getty Images Prince William, who is heir to the British throne, was by his father's side on Monday for much of the Queen's funeral. Photographers captured Prince Harry and Prince William together as they followed the hearse with their grandmother's coffin. Prince Harry and Prince William follow the hearse with the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II moving towards St. George's Chapel on September 19, 2022 in Windsor, England. Jon Super - WPA Pool/Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle reunited with Prince William and Kate Middleton for the first time in years following the Queen's death earlier this month. Many were ecstatic to see the "Fab Four" together again, but royal expert Marlene Koenig told Insider she doesn't believe it's a sign of reconciliation between the two brothers. Prince Harry and Prince William also stood alongside each other before the service at Westminster Abbey. Prince Harry, King Charles III, and Princess Anne during the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey on September 19, 2022, in London, England. Karwai Tang/WireImage Since he is no longer a working royal, Prince Harry was not allowed to wear his military uniform to the funeral. Prince Harry served for 10 years in the Army, which included two tours in Afghanistan. He was only permitted to wear his uniform during a vigil for the Queen on Saturday. A striking photo captured the moment Prince Harry was not permitted to salute his grandmother's coffin. Prince Harry was not allowed to salute the Queen's coffin during the funeral. Karwai Tang/WireImage Prince Harry wasn't able to salute alongside his family because he was stripped of his military titles when he stepped back from royal duties in the spring of 2020, according to Hello! Magazine. Prince William sang alongside his son, Prince George, during the service at Westminster Abbey. Prince William sang alongside his son Prince George during the funeral on Monday. Dominic Lipinski - WPA Pool/Getty Images Prince William, like Kate Middleton, kept close to his children throughout Monday's somber events. And Prince Harry shared a moment with his wife, Meghan Markle. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle exit the Queen's funeral at Westminster Abbey. WPA Pool / Pool / Getty Images Prince Harry was seen briefly touching his wife's hand as they left the funeral. The couple was criticized for holding hands at an earlier service for the Queen, despite other members of the royal family doing the same thing. Story continues Prince William stood behind his father as the Queen's coffin was carried out of Westminster Abbey. King Charles III and Prince William walk as the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II is carried out at Westminster Abbey on September 19, 2022, in London, England. Karwai Tang/WireImage Following the funeral at Westminster Abbey, the procession began to the Queen's final resting place at St. George's Chapel. Prince William later joined King Charles' side before they walked into St. George's Chapel. King Charles III and Prince William join the Procession following the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II on September 19, 2022, in Windsor, England. Glyn Kirk-WPA Pool/Getty Images As the new sovereign, King Charles led the procession and was followed by his siblings and children. Prince Harry also had a moment with his father. King Charles III walks with Prince Harry as they arrive at St. George's Chapel inside Windsor Castle on September 19, 2022. DAVID ROSE/POOL/AFP via Getty Images The pair whose relationship has been strained since Prince Harry stepped down as a senior royal walked alongside each other as they arrived at St. George's Chapel. Prince William was seen speaking to his son Prince George and daughter Princess Charlotte during the procession. Prince William speaks to his children Prince George and Princess Charlotte during the Queen's funeral. Daniel Leal - WPA Pool/Getty Images Prince George and Princess Charlotte are second and third in line for the throne. Prince Harry and Prince William sat next to Prince George and Princess Charlotte in St. George's Chapel. Prince Harry, Princess Charlotte, Kate Middleton, Prince George, and Prince William in St. George's Chapel. Victoria Jones - WPA Pool/Getty Images They watched as the Imperial State Crown and the Sovereign's orb and scepter were removed from Queen Elizabeth II's coffin. Read the original article on Insider Queen Elizabeth's funeral was held on Monday at Westminster Abbey in London. Around 2,000 people attended the historic event, including the royal family and world leaders. The elaborate funeral took 20 years to plan. Mourners lined the streets of London to watch the Queen's casket travel from Westminster Hall to Westminster Abbey. Mourners gather to watch Queen Elizabeth II's funeral procession on September 19, 2022. Dan Kitwood / Staff / Getty Images Thousands stood on the sides of the road after waiting for hours for the Queen's funeral. Queen Elizabeth was the longest reigning monarch in British history, serving over 70 years. She was 96 at the time of her death. Some wore elaborate outfits to honor Queen Elizabeth. Two of the Queen's mourners wore costumes in her honor. LOUISA GOULIAMAKI / Contributor / Getty Images A photographer snapped a shot of two mourners wearing bedazzled outfits that seem to be made specifically to honor the Queen. Many mourners stood near Westminster Abbey. People queue to see Queen Elizabeth II lying-in-state in Westminster Hall, London. Rasid Necati Aslim/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images People stood for hours just to try to get a glimpse of the Queen's casket ahead of her funeral. Some mourners carried signs made for her Majesty. A mourner at Queen Elizabeth II's funeral. LOUISA GOULIAMAKI / Contributor / Getty Images Another mourner stood on the edge of the procession holding a photo of the Queen grinning. She wrote "RIP my Queen" above the picture. Others created art to express their grief. Some mourners brought handmade art to Queen Elizabeth II's funeral. Joe Maher / Stringer / Getty Images One mourner left a painting of Paddington Bear with the caption "R.I.P. your Majesty" at Westminster Abbey on the day of the Queen's funeral. The Queen filmed a skit with the beloved bear to mark her Platinum Jubilee before her death. Thousands crowded the streets of London during the funeral. The streets were packed. Joe Maher / Stringer / Getty Images A young boy climbed up on a lamp post to try to get a better view of the Queen. World leaders gathered at the funeral. President Joe Biden's motorcade approaches Queen Elizabeth II's funeral. WPA Pool / Pool / Getty Images In this photo, President Joe Biden's motorcade makes its way to the funeral. He is just one of many world leaders to gather in the Queen's honor. Members of the royal family processed behind the Queen's casket as it made its way into Westminster Abbey. Prince William and Prince Harry process behind Queen Elizabeth II's casket. WPA Pool / Pool / Getty Images Prince William and Prince Harry looked solemn as they walked behind their grandmother. Princess Anne and King Charles III saluted their mother as she was carried into the abbey. Princess Anne and King Charles III at Queen Elizabeth II's funeral. Chris Jackson / Staff / Getty Images The Queen's two eldest children both spent over 70 years at their mother's side. Story continues Prince Harry and Prince Andrew stood at attention as the rest of the royal family saluted the Queen. The royal family salutes the Queen's casket at her funeral at Westminster Abbey. WPA Pool / Pool / Getty Images Prince Harry and Prince Andrew are not working royals, so they were not permitted to wear their military attire to the funeral. Attendees of the Queen's funeral rose to their feet as her casket was carried into Westminster Abbey. Queen Elizabeth II's casket is carried into her funeral at Westminster Abbey. Gareth Cattermole / Staff / Getty Images 2,000 people attended the funeral. Crowds gathered in Her Majesty's honor throughout the UK. People gather on the long walk outside of Windsor Castle during Queen Elizabeth's funeral. Richard Heathcote / Staff / Getty Images For instance, thousands watched the funeral outside of Windsor Castle on big screens. Others brought flowers to Windsor to honor the Queen. Some went to Windsor Castle. Leon Neal / Staff / Getty Images Photos of Queen Elizabeth were placed inside of windows at Windsor, making it seem as though she was looking down on the well-wishers as they arrived. People gathered all over the United Kingdom to watch the funeral. People gather at Salisbury Cathedral to watch Queen Elizabeth II's funeral in Salisbury, England. Finnbarr Webster / Stringer / Getty Images In this shot, rows and rows of mourners sit in Salisbury Cathedral in Salisbury, England, to watch the funeral. Some mourners watched the funeral at Hyde Park in London. Mourners gathered in Hyde Park to watch the funeral. Louise Delmotte / Stringer / Getty Images Queen Elizabeth's funeral was available to watch on all the major British news channels, and it was also streamed at some movie theaters and at Hyde Park on a big screen. Likewise, people gathered at Holyrood Park in Edinburgh to watch the funeral outdoors. People sit on the lawn at Holyrood Park on September 19, 2022 in Edinburgh, United Kingdom, to watch Queen Elizabeth II's funeral. Euan Cherry / Stringer / Getty Images Hundreds of people sat on the lawn to watch the Queen's funeral. People made trips to Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland to look at flowers left for the Queen on the day of the funeral. Some went to look at flowers laid for the Queen. Liam McBurney - PA Images / Contributor / Getty Images Hundreds of bouquets sat in front of the castle. A memorial was set up for Queen Elizabeth in Kolkata, India. A tribute to the Queen sits in front of Victoria Memorial Hall in Kolkata, India, on September 19, 2022. NurPhoto / Contributor / Getty Images A flower-framed portrait of the Queen was set up in front of Victoria Memorial Hall on the day of the funeral. Mourners gathered to watch the funeral in Sydney, Australia, too. People gather in St. Andrew's Cathedral in Sydney, Australia, to watch the Queen's funeral on September 19, 2022. Lisa Maree Williams / Stringer / Getty Images People watched the funeral on a big screen at St. Andrew's Cathedral in Sydney. Read the original article on Insider Members of the royal family attend the committal service for Queen Elizabeth II at St George's Chapel, at Windsor Castle, Windsor, England. Ben Birchall/Pool via AP The Queen was lowered into the royal vault at St George's Chapel in Windsor after her state funeral. The Queen's coffin will be interred in the King George VI memorial chapel her final resting place. Prince Philip's coffin will be moved a final time from the royal vault to be laid next to the Queen. Queen Elizabeth II's coffin was lowered into the Royal Vault at St George's Chapel, Windsor, after a state funeral on Monday. The Queen's coffin was placed on a marble slab in a section of the chapel known as the Quire, which was then lowered into the vault. The newly-appointed King Charles II and Queen Consort Camilla were among the mourners paying their final respects to the late monarch, who died aged 96 on September 8. In a statement sent to Insider on Thursday, representatives for Buckingham Palace confirmed that the Queen's coffin will be buried in the King George VI memorial chapel, the final resting place of her father, King George VI, who died in 1952. Good Housekeeping reported that the chapel was completed in 1969, after which the remains of its namesake were moved there from the Royal Vault. The Queen's coffin begins to be lowered into the Royal Vault at St. George's Chapel in Windsor. BBC Also resting there are Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, and Princess Margaret, the queen's only sibling, both of whom died in 2002 according to The New York Times. Insider previously reported that Prince Philip, who was laid to rest in the Royal Vault after his funeral in April 2021, will be moved to the chapel to be laid to rest alongside the Queen. An 1884 illustration from the magazine The Graphic depicting the Royal Vault under St George's chapel, Windsor Castle. Illustration from the magazine The Graphic, volume XXIX, n 750, April 12, 1884 via Getty Images. A committal service took place at 4 p.m. BST, or 11 a.m. ET, with around 800 guests and was conducted by Dean of Windsor, David Conner, with a blessing from Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, Buckingham Palace's statement said. The Queen was then lowered into the vault. A close-up of the Queen's coffin being lowered into the Royal Vault at St. George's Chapel in Windsor. BBC The Queen received a state funeral at 11 a.m. BST, or 6 a.m. ET, in Westminster Abbey, which was attended by heads of state, world leaders, prime ministers, and royal family members. Also in attendance were almost 200 people who were recognized in The Queen's birthday honors list earlier this year, the palace statement added. Story continues The state funeral was conducted by the Dean of Westminster. During the service, the UK prime minister and the secretary general of the Commonwealth did readings, while the Archbishop of Canterbury gave a sermon and the commendation. The Dean of Westminster also pronounced a blessing. King Charles III places the Queen's company camp color of the Grenadier Guards on the coffin during the Committal Service for Queen Elizabeth II at St George's Chapel. Ben Birchall/Pool via AP Towards the end of the funeral service, a two-minute silence was observed in Westminster Abbey and across the UK. As outlined in Buckingham Palace's statement, the Queen's coffin traveled from Westminster Abbey to Wellington Arch at Hyde Park Corner, and then on to Windsor for the committal service at St. George's Chapel. King Charles walked behind the coffin with Princess Anne, Prince Andrew, and Prince Edward just behind him at Wellington Arch. They were followed by the Queen's grandsons, Peter Phillips, Prince William, and Prince Harry. Following the stop at Wellington Arch, the coffin was transported to Windsor, Berkshire, where the state hearse traveled in procession to St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle via the Long Walk. Buckingham Palace representatives also told Insider that at 7:30 p.m. BST, or 2:30 p.m. ET, the Queen will be buried with the Duke of Edinburgh in the King George VI Memorial Chapel in Windsor. It will take place in a private service for friends and family, away from the public eye for the first time in her 70-year reign. Read the original article on Insider Photo: The Canadian Press Bank towers are shown from Bay Street in Toronto's financial district on Wednesday, June 16, 2010. Canada is banking on newcomers to help keep the economy humming along, while banks themselves are eying the hundreds of thousands of people coming to the country every year as a key source of client growth. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrien Veczan Canada is banking on newcomers to help keep the economy humming along, while banks themselves are eying the hundreds of thousands of people coming to the country every year as a key source of client growth. Those efforts have been growing along with the number of newcomers, including more efforts to secure people as customers before they even arrive in Canada. We're seeing it as a big focus across all categories of banks, not just the big banks, said Abhishek Sinha, banking transformation leader at EY Canada. Whether you talk to the Big Five or you talk to the next tier after that, or even the credit union segment, newcomers and penetrating that market segment is super important. The efforts come as Canada has been welcoming record numbers of newcomers, with an aim to bring in 432,000 permanent residents this year, rising to 451,000 by 2024, while the first half of the 2010s saw the average number of newcomers sit around 260,000. The segment, which the federal government says accounts for almost all of Canadas labour force growth and roughly three quarters of population growth, has pushed banks to create partnerships like one recently announced between RBC and ICICI Bank, Indias largest. With immigration levels expected to rise to record levels, we've announced a collaboration agreement with ICICI Bank Canada, said RBC chief executive Dave McKay on an analyst call in August. Some student visa classes require students to put down cash deposits, and the program allows those to seamlessly be transferred to an RBC account in Canada. The program is starting with students but RBC wants to later expand the pipeline of account transfers to a wider field. As part of our agreement, ICICI Bank Canada will refer all newcomer clients to RBC over time, making it easier for them to open a bank account upon arrival, said McKay. The program, only the second initiative in another country for RBC after it launched a program with a separate focus on China a few years back, taps into an increasingly large source of newcomers, said Amit Brahme, head of the newcomer and cultural client segment at RBC, in an interview. We know that the international students segment is one of the fastest growing segments within different visa classes. So we're really excited about the fact that we are going to be tapping into a growing segment. Overall, the number of international students coming to Canada more than tripled in the decade leading up to 2019, reaching 638,000. The pandemic then led to a dip in numbers with 2021 drawing about 622,000. And while many students will only be in Canada temporarily, a growing number return as potential long-term clients. Statistics Canada says about three in 10 international students become landed immigrants within 10 years of arrival. Other banks have also been ramping up their efforts, such as Simplii Financial last year rolling out a digital identity verification program that allows clients to open accounts before they even land in the country. Some efforts to secure clients before they come to Canada however, such as Scotiabanks partnerships in China, go back more than a decade. The rise of fintechs has also opened new avenues to solve old challenges for newcomers, such as using more global data and international bank partnerships to solve the challenge of credit histories, said Sinha. We've seen a few fintechs come up who are creating credit models which are based on a more holistic history of the individual than just their history in Canada, and that's starting to get more mainstream traction. Efforts once people arrive in Canada also continue to evolve. Banks, such as CIBC at Toronto Pearson International, have established themselves at airports to be a first point of contact, while banks have also worked to expand and adapt their product offerings, including credit cards without a need for credit history, which is a key stumbling block for many. At VanCity, the credit unions efforts have included supporting financial literary courses to help both immigrants and refugees, while it also looks to help newcomers on the business side, said Gurpreet Jhaj, vice president of marketing. We support them with micro-financing. And we provide that with financing at favorable terms. And we look really beyond just credit history. We consider what their ambition, character determination and things like that. It also provides loans for newcomers to help them write exams to allow their foreign credentials to be recognized, a key barrier for many, and has also been working with the B.C. government to support arriving displaced Ukrainians. Refugees, such as people fleeing the war in Ukraine, are set to make up about 77,000 of the wider permanent residency goals for this year, so its an important segment for banks while for those arriving a bank account is absolutely critical to getting established, said Effat Ghassemi, executive director of the Newcomer Centre of Peel. Its like oxygen, they have to have a bank account. The Duchess of Sussex arrives at Queen Elizabeth's funeral. Christopher Furlong/Getty Images Members of the royal family were photographed arriving for the Queen's funeral. Queen Elizabeth's state funeral is taking place at Westminster Abbey on Monday. The British monarch died on September 8 at the age of 96. The first photos of Queen Elizabeth II's funeral show members of the royal family and other guests arriving at Westminster Abbey on Monday. King Charles, Prince Harry, and Prince William were among the first to arrive at Westminster Hall ahead of the procession. Meanwhile, other members of the royal family and guests including President Joe Biden and Jill Biden have begun to arrive at Westminster Abbey. King Charles III and Anne, Princess Royal, arrive at Westminster Abbey. Chris Jackson/Getty Images The monarch died at the age of 96 on September 8 after having spent 70 years on the British throne. Upon her death, King Charles II automatically ascended the throne and his wife, Camilla, became the Queen Consort. The UK entered into a 10-day period of national mourning, during which time members of the public were invited to pay their respects at her coffin in Edinburgh and in London. Catherine, Princess of Wales, arrives with Prince George of Wales at Westminster Abbey. Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images A procession will take place from the Palace of Westminster to Westminster Abbey, led by the king and the royal household, before the funeral service begins at 11 a.m. BST. James, Viscount Severn, and Lady Louise Windsor arrive at Westminster Abbey. Chris Jackson/Getty Images The coffin is draped with the royal standard, the imperial state crown, and the sovereign's orb and scepter, according to a Buckingham Palace press release sent to Insider. Princess Beatrice and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi at Westminster Abbey ahead of the State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. Chris Jackson/Getty Images Guests include foreign royal families, heads of state, and overseas government representatives, as well as almost 200 people who were recognized in The Queen's birthday honors earlier this year, the press release states. Princess Charlotte of Wales arrives for the State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II Samir Hussein/WireImage After the service, another procession will take place from Westminster Abbey to Wellington Arch, before the Queen's coffin is transported to St George's Chapel in Windsor. She will be buried there, alongside her late husband, Prince Philip. Read the original article on Insider Expert tips for staying ahead of furniture delays Recommendations are independently chosen by Revieweds editors. Purchases you make through our links may earn us a commission. Everyone thought I was crazy for buying a couch that would go in an apartment I had yet to move into. Id been hearing about furniture delays for two years so I thought it was best to order my couch in March for a June delivery. After purchasing I wondered, was I overpreparing? Did I need to order that far in advance? Yup, I certainly did. The June 1 delivery date came and went several times, finally making its way to my home by mid-July. While going couchless was a minor problem, I was struck that even a good planner like myself couldnt avoid the neverending furniture delays that have hit the market since 2020. If you're thinking about ordering new furniture anytime soon, youll need to be prepared. here are some expert tips to help you avoid furniture delays. Theres a lot more where this came from. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get all our reviews, expert advice, deals and more. What would you add to your wardrobe if you had a little extra money? We're giving away two $250 Nordstrom gift cards, so let's find out. Enter to win between now and Sept. 30, 2022. So, whats with all the furniture delays? The current furniture backlog is a direct result of the demand raised during the pandemic. Furniture delays began over two years ago according to Caitlin Smithe, designer and stylist at Walter E. Smithe Furniture and Design. Demand for furniture rose at an unprecedented rate beginning in July of 2020 as consumers realized that COVID wasn't going away anytime soon. During the pandemic, when people were spending time more time than usual at home, many grew weary of their old sectional sofas and coffee tables, using the extra time at home as an opportunity to redecorate. Unfortunately, this coincided with a dwindling supply. When COVID hit, many factories had to close due to safety restrictions. With each COVID surge experienced in countries across the world, especially Vietnam, a hub of furniture production, factories had to limit their production time and time again. This created a backlog of furniture delays that is still being worked through. Story continues Its been difficult to catch up as Smithe says often these factories are working with skeleton crews as labor has been increasingly difficult to find. Additionally comes the problem of sourcing materials. For example, Texas is one of the largest producers of foam, which is essential for stuffing many sofas and armchairs. The ice storms of 2021 devastated the state causing widespread loss of power delaying production of foam factories. While foam production is back to its normal speed, it was just another obstacle that added to the furniture industry backlogs. Additionally, shipping furniture from an international manufacturer to the U.S. also contributed to the slow down. Smithe says that there was a significant bottleneck on shipping containers the past two years, only further condensing the backlog. She says that while shipping is flowing at pre-pandemic rates, however, costs have exponentially increased. In 2022, demand is down for furniture, giving all of the back-ups a chance to catch up, but the impact of the past two years is still slowing down the whole industry. Now rather than waiting over six months for furniture, waits are only three to four months. So whats to be done if youre anticipating these delays? A little planning and knowing what to look for when shopping is key. When ordering for the date you need, plan accordingly and add several weeks With the holidays just around the corner, you may be thinking of getting a bigger dining table or a new bed for the guest room. If theres a date on your calendar you know your guests are arriving, make sure to order ahead as much as you can. When youre shopping for furniture, many retailers offer estimated shipping dates. But we still recommend anticipating a delay in those projections to avoid any potential hang ups with your furniture delivery. Add a couple of weeks to whatever time the company expects your items to arrive. Otherwise, your holiday guests may arrive before their bed does. When you do purchase online, youre leaving a lot up to chance since you wont have confirmation from a sales team. Also, things can get pushed back with very little notice so when ordering online youll want to keep an eye on your email to be notified of delays. To minimize delays when shopping online, look for furniture that is currently in stock. These items should likely ship right away without delay. If possible, visit the store in person While we do live in the digital age of consumerism, speaking to a real representative in-store might be more effective for your delivery. When it comes to buying furniture, talking to a sales associate can be more helpful than seeking out the information on a website. Smithe recommends going to a store that carries multiple brands of furniture. Most furniture stores that operate this way are staffed with skilled designers or salespeople who can direct you to lines that have shorter lead times. Speaking with a salesperson can help inform you of the wait times and provide their expertise on the best time to order pieces for when you need them. Particular expertise that a designer or sales associate can inform you of is the delays on certain materials. For example, a couch you may love might be in stock in one color, but a different fabric may have a long wait time. Once again, starting your shopping well in advance will help you get the items you need. Three months ahead of when you absolutely need an item is a good time frame shopping for what you need because Smithe says it will help you get just the right piece. If you come across the perfect piece of furniture that you just need to have but has a long lead time, my best advice is to get in line, says Smithe. Another perk of shopping in person is that in some cases you can take home items the day of. Ask your furniture store if they have items that can be taken home the day of. Popular brands such as Pottery Barn and West Elm have outlet stores where you can get top-quality items at a discount. While you may have to haul these pieces home yourself, youll save yourself the stress of waiting around for your pieces to come. Get deals and shopping advice delivered straight to your phone. Sign up for text message alerts from the experts at Reviewed. The product experts at Reviewed have all your shopping needs covered. Follow Reviewed on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok or Flipboard for the latest deals, product reviews, and more. Prices were accurate at the time this article was published but may change over time. This article originally appeared on Reviewed: Expert tips for staying ahead of furniture delays By Brendan Pierson (Reuters) - A Planned Parenthood affiliate and other abortion rights groups and providers on Monday urged an Indiana judge to block the state's ban on most abortions, which took effect last Thursday. Kenneth Falk, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana, told Judge Kelsey Hanlon in Indianapolis that the ban ran afoul of privacy and liberty rights Falk said were guaranteed by the state's constitution. The ACLU sued to challenge the law alongside Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, Hawai'i, Alaska, Indiana, Kentucky and others. "The most devastating harm here...is the loss of personal autonomy," Falk said. He argued the ban puts Indiana residents' health at risk and that Hanlon should put it on hold while she considers the case. Indiana's law prohibits all abortions after conception, with limited exceptions for rape, incest, lethal fetal abnormalities or a serious health risk to the mother. Indiana Solicitor General Thomas Fisher said the state constitution did not mention privacy and that abortion was already a crime when it was ratified in 1851, remaining so until the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling recognized a right to abortion nationwide. "That history forecloses any legitimate claim to a right to have an abortion under the Indiana constitution," he said. Fisher argued the state legislature had a legitimate interest in protecting fetal life. Hanlon, a Republican, did not rule at the hearing. Indiana was the first state to pass a new law banning abortion after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe in June, though other states quickly began enforcing older bans, drawing a raft of legal challenges now working their way through state courts. About half of states, led by Republicans, have moved to restrict abortion in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision, or are expected to do so. (Reporting By Brendan Pierson in New York; Editing by Josie Kao) Associated Press Russell M. Nelson, the president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, told members of the faith on Saturday that abuse was a grievous sin that shouldn't be tolerated and would bring down the wrath of God on perpetrators. Let me be perfectly clear: Any kind of abuse of women, children or anyone is an abomination to the Lord, Nelson, who members of the faith believe is a prophet, said in Salt Lake City at a church conference. The AP's investigation found the hotline the church uses for abuse reporting can be misused by its leaders to divert accusations away from law enforcement and toward church attorneys. Police are investigating a suspicious death after a man was found dead Sunday night in Kansas City. Officers responded around 9:30 p.m. to an apartment in the 2900 block of Wabash Avenue, where they were directed inside to find the unresponsive man with unknown injuries, Sgt. Jake Becchina, a spokesman with the Kansas City Police Department, said. Emergency medical crews declared the man dead at the scene, Becchina said. Detectives and crime scene investigators will search for witnesses and evidence to help determine the events leading up to the death. The medical examiner will also work with detectives to determine the cause of death, Becchina said. Police ask anyone with information or who saw anything to call the homicide detectives directly at 816-234-5043 or the anonymous TIPS Hotline at 816-474-8477. CBS-Sacramento The family of the man killed outside of his home in Carmichael is speaking out. 74-year-old James Raleigh was attacked by a homeless man throwing rocks at his home Wednesday evening. When Raleigh went to investigate the noise, 54-year-old Darin Chastain attacked him. Neighbors called the police, and Chastain was arrested soon after. Raleigh was transported to the hospital, where he later died. Phoenix police. A man and a woman were found dead with gunshot wounds by Phoenix police in a home early Sunday. Phoenix police identified the victims as 21-year-old Francisco Martinez Velasquez and 19-year-old Madali Acosta Robles. Phoenix police received a call around 4 a.m. Sunday regarding a shooting in the 2600 block of North 53rd Avenue, authorities said. Officials said that both victims died from their injuries at the scene. The Phoenix Police Department said that detectives are working to establish the course of events that led up to the incident. Phoenix police said that anyone with information is asked to contact the Phoenix Police Department or Silent Witness (480-WITNESS or 480-TESTIGO for Spanish speakers) if they wish to remain anonymous. Reach breaking news reporter Vic Verbalaitis at vverbalaitis@gannett.com or on Twitter @VicVerb. This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: 2 killed in shooting at Phoenix home Associated Press Thousands of people in hundreds of cars took over northern Nevada parking lots and intersections Friday night and into Saturday, performing stunts in souped-up vehicles and leading to crashes and arrests, police said. Police beefed up nighttime staffing after social media posts urged people from San Francisco and Portland, Oregon, to come to the sideshow in Reno, Police Lt. Michael Browett said. The disturbances started late Friday as several hundred cars and their occupants met in the parking lot of a still-open Walmart store. Photo: The Canadian Press UPDATE: 9:35 a.m. The queen who ruled the United Kingdom and served as Canada's head of state for seven decades was carried to her final resting place on Monday after a state funeral watched across the Commonwealth and around the world. Thousands of mourners lining the streets of London stood by in respectful silence as a procession made up of military members and Queen Elizabeth's family carried her coffin past city landmarks at the end of her official state funeral. The queen's son King Charles III, her other children, grandchildren and young great-grandchildren accompanied the coffin from historic Westminster Abbey after her roughly hour-long funeral, following a military procession that bore her to her final resting place at Windsor Castle. A crowd looked on from the sidelines, many of whom had been camped out for days for a chance to catch a glimpse of the crown-topped coffin carrying the country's longest-serving monarch. Members of the RCMP rode horses near the front of the procession that also included uniformed armed forces members from Canada and around the Commonwealth. A handful of the queen's relatives who have served in the military were among those in uniform for the procession, while others were dressed in black, like many of the dignitaries who attended the service. The procession slowly made its way past major landmarks, including Buckingham Palace, where the queen lived throughout her reign. The toll of bells rang out through the streets that were mostly silent aside from the sounds of the ceremonial march. Farther away, outside the barricades, a booming gun salute from Hyde Park echoed in the streets, while the distant sound of a military band drifted down to those trying to find a way in or gathering around screens set up in public squares. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, officially led the Canadian delegation that was ushered into the church in the hours before the funeral got underway. They were seated a few rows behind Gov. Gen. Mary Simon and her husband, the Canadian delegation members sitting closest to the King and other senior royals. A procession of decorated Canadians including the holders of the Victoria Cross, George Cross and Orders of Chivalry walked through the church on the way to their seats. Order of Canada holders actress Sandra Oh, Olympian Mark Tewksbury and performing artist Gregory Charles walked near the front of the procession. Canada's delegation also included former governors general Michaelle Jean and David Johnston, as well as former prime ministers Kim Campbell, Jean Chretien, Paul Martin and Stephen Harper. The United Kingdom's first state funeral since Winston Churchill's was filled with spectacle: 142 Royal Navy sailors drew the gun carriage carrying the late queen's coffin to Westminster Abbey, with the King and his sons, Princes William and Harry, walking behind as bagpipers played. Pallbearers carried the coffin into the abbey, where about 2,000 people ranging from world leaders to health-care workers gathered to mourn her. Ahead of the service, a bell tolled 96 times once a minute for each year of her life. "Here, where Queen Elizabeth was married and crowned, we gather from across the nation, from the Commonwealth, and from the nations of the world, to mourn our loss, to remember her long life of selfless service, and in sure confidence to commit her to the mercy of God our maker and redeemer," the dean of the medieval abbey, David Hoyle, told mourners. In his sermon, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby paid tribute to the queen's "loving service," her religious faith and her ability to touch lives. Near the end, he quoted a song by Vera Lynn and echoed the closing words of the queen's 2020 address to the nation during the COVID-19 pandemic: "We will meet again." Later, the King stood in silence as the congregation, including his wife and family, sang "God Save the King." The state funeral marked the culmination of 10 days of tributes and mourning following the queen's death on Sept. 8 at the age of 96. Dignitaries and everyday mourners alike have poured into London in recent days to pay tribute to the U.K.'s longest-reigning monarch and Canada's most long-standing head of state. The last leg of the queen's final journey saw her transferred to a hearse on the way to Windsor Castle, where she was to be buried at St George's Chapel alongside the late Prince Philip, her husband of almost 74 years. People applauded as the hearse arrived at the castle and passed in a procession through the estate. The procession passed by one of the queen's saddled Fell ponies and two of her pet corgis, in a nod to her well-known love of animals. The queen's death has prompted an outpouring of grief and affection from around the world. In London, an entire park near Buckingham Palace has filled with floral tributes, while people at one point were waiting up to 24 hours in line for a chance to view the queen's casket at her lying-in-state at Westminster Hall. Tim Thompson of Fredericton was among the members of the public who camped out for the procession. He had set up a tent on the flag-lined road leading to Buckingham Palace early Sunday morning to ensure he would get a good view. As a military member with the Cadet Instructors Cadre, he said it was worth spending a night out in the cold in order to pay his respects to Canada's former commander-in-chief and head of state. Thompson, who also lined up for 13 hours to attend the queen's lying in state, said he had mixed emotions about the funeral. While the event is a sad one, he said he was proud and happy to see different nations come together to mourn the queen. "We have a shared grief that we're going through, so it's nice to see that camaraderie between Canadians, Australians and British people," he said in an interview. Evert McLaughlin, a Toronto native living in London, said it felt "surreal" to be part of such an important moment. "I think she still means a lot to a lot of Canadians," he said of the queen outside the park where people were laying flowers. ORIGINAL: 6 a.m. Britain and the world said a final goodbye to Queen Elizabeth II at a state funeral Monday that drew presidents and kings, princes and prime ministers and crowds who massed along the streets of London to honor a monarch whose 70-year reign defined an age. In a country known for pomp and pageantry, the first state funeral since Winston Churchills was filled with spectacle: Ahead of the service, a bell tolled 96 times once a minute for each year of Elizabeth's life. Then, 142 Royal Navy sailors used ropes to draw the gun carriage carrying her flag-draped coffin to Westminster Abbey. Pallbearers finally bore it into the abbey, where around 2,000 people ranging from world leaders to health care workers gathered to mourn her. The trappings of state and monarchy abounded: The coffin was draped with the royal standard and atop it sat the Imperial State Crown, sparkling with almost 3,000 diamonds, and the sovereigns orb and scepter. But the personal was also present: a handwritten note from her son, King Charles III, that read, In loving and devoted memory and was signed Charles R for Rex, or king. Here, where Queen Elizabeth was married and crowned, we gather from across the nation, from the Commonwealth, and from the nations of the world, to mourn our loss, to remember her long life of selfless service, and in sure confidence to commit her to the mercy of God our maker and redeemer, the dean of the medieval abbey, David Hoyle, told the mourners, as the funeral opened. The service drew to a close with two minutes of silence observed across the United Kingdom, after which the attendees sang the national anthem, now titled God Save the King. The day began early when the doors of Parliament's 900-year-old Westminster Hall were closed to mourners after hundreds of thousands had filed in front of her coffin. Many had waited for hours in line, including through cold nights, to attend the lying in state in an outpouring of collective grief and respect. I felt like I had to come and pay my final respects to our majestic queen. She has done so much for us and just a little thank you really from the people, said Tracy Dobson, who was among the last to join the line. Monday was declared a public holiday in honor of Elizabeth, who died Sept. 8 and hundreds of thousands of people descended on central London to partake in the historic moment. They jammed the sidewalks to watch the coffin wend its way through the streets of the capital after the service. As the procession passed Buckingham Palace, the queen's official residence in the city, staff stood outside, some bowing and curtseying. Millions more tuned into the funeral live on television, and crowds flocked to parks and public spaces across the U.K. to watch it on screens. Even the Google doodle turned a respectful black for the day. Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said in his sermon that few leaders receive the outpouring of love we have seen" for Elizabeth. After the passage through central London, the coffin was placed in a hearse and headed for Windsor Castle where Elizabeth spent much of her time. Mourners threw flowers at the convoy as it passed. There will be another procession in Windsor before a committal service in St. Georges Chapel. The queen will be laid to rest with her late husband, Prince Philip, at a private family service. On the evening before the funeral, Charles issued a message of thanks to people in the U.K. and around the world, saying he and his wife Camilla, the queen consort, have been moved beyond measure by the large numbers of people who have turned out to pay their respects to the queen. People across Britain paused for a minute of silence at 8 p.m. Sunday in memory of the only monarch most have ever known. At Westminster Hall, the constant stream of mourners paused for 60 seconds as people observed the minute of reflection in deep silence. In Windsor, rain began to fall as the crowd fell silent for the moment of reflection. Some camped overnight outside the castle in order to reserve the best spots to view the queens coffin. Jilly Fitzgerald, who was in Windsor, said there was a sense of community among the mourners as they prepared to wait hours to see procession carrying the queens coffin. Its good to be with all the people who are all feeling the same. Its like a big family because everyone feels that the queen was part of their family, she said. The Takeaway Japans politicians are taking the lead on Web3 policymaking, a sharp departure from the usual process in the nation. Lawmakers have already published a white paper addressing issues including tax reform and non-fungible tokens (NFT). Crypto bills, including metaverse-related item, are likely to be introduced next year. Japan's political leaders want to take the country into the Web3 era without the bureaucratic slog thats typical for the nations policymakers. So far this year, a handful of politicians have been driving crypto and Web3 policy forward on their own, publishing reports and proposing updates to existing laws and regulations. That rapid push began earlier in the year when Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida designated Web3 a pillar of economic reform. A prime minister who listens Kishida of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) was elected prime minister in November 2021. Web3 aligns with his administrations agenda of economic recovery and revitalizing local communities, and could be a way to attract private investment back to Japan and fulfill his campaign promise of growth and wealth distribution. The crypto market cap had become a size that no government in this world could ignore, Arisa Toyosaki, founder of decentralized finance (DeFi) options market Cega, said. Investors, traders and founders combined could make a fairly significant bump in Japanese economic metrics, she said. Kishidas administration established a policy office dedicated to Web3 under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, or METI, although it is likely other government bodies, including those responsible for finance, tax and justice, will also be involved in forming crypto policies. Politicians in charge In Japan, policies are usually designed by the bureaucracy, but with Web3 the politicians have taken the lead instead. As a result, a policy drafting process that might ordinarily take months has taken weeks. In the case of Web3, Takuya Hirai, a former minister for digital transformation, appointed LDP politician Masaaki Taira to head a NFT (non-fungible token) working group that was established in January. Story continues A veteran lawmaker who has served in office since 2005, Taira has a deep understanding of how LDP policymaking works and has persuaded Kishida to support crypto and Web3 policy. In a Twitter post made shortly after the working group was established, Taira said NFTs and blockchain represent a growth strategy for the country. LDP politician Akihisa Shiozaki, who was elected to Japans House of Representatives last year, has taken the lead on developing Web3 policy recommendations. Within months, the group published a white paper, a kind of technical manifesto, that said the country needed a Web3 minister and a one-stop shop consultation desk so private companies and entrepreneurs would no longer need to contact multiple ministries. Many of its proposals are about clarifying guidelines and standards. The NFT white paper was released in April. It was very unique, Shiozaki told CoinDesk, in that it took only three months and was drafted by politicians and lawyers, not by bureaucrats. If the white paper had followed the bureaucratic route, it would have undergone a long process of 10 or so meetings, each meeting two or three weeks apart, and the government would have called in scholars, formed an advisory board and asked for public comment. By circumventing that process, Shiozaki said he shortened the process by nine months. He also avoided the white paper getting tangled up with interest groups. We wanted to start small and grow it, Shiozaki said. Otherwise, we would get a lot of interference from various interest parties. The group started with NFTs because the digital tokens were attracting a lot of attention at the time. Still, although the paper was titled NFT White Paper, Shiozaki pointed out that the subtitle is Japans NFT strategy for the Web 3.0 era, which he said broadens it a lot. Support from Kishida The paper was delivered to Prime Minister Kishida. On May 5, he gave a speech in London pledging to develop an environment for the promotion of Web3, citing blockchain technology, NFTs and the metaverse. Kishidas commitment made in the speech led to strong political momentum in support of Web3 policies, Shiozaki said. In June, Web3 was mentioned in the honebuto, a document that outlines the governments broad plans for the future. The document said that crypto legislation will be sent to Japans parliament next year. The biggest hurdle is to get everyone to understand what were talking about, Shiozaki said. In August, when he reshuffled his cabinet, Kishida appointed Taro Kono, one of the nations most powerful politicians, as digital minister. Kono, known for his willingness to confront bureaucratic traditions, will be a key figure in pushing policy to develop Web3 in the country. Tax reform One big issue in Japan when it comes to crypto is taxes. Companies that issue digital tokens must pay a tax on unrealized gains for tokens they are holding if those tokens are listed on an active market, like a big crypto exchange. (Its unclear whether a decentralized exchange counts as an active market.) The NFT white paper proposed that tokens held by companies be taxed only when the tokens are sold for a profit or generate income through a transfer. Shiozaki calls the tax reform a litmus test on whether the government is serious about crypto. Tax debates in Japan usually take place from the middle of November to early December, and are formalized in the ruling partys annual tax reform proposal. Weve been repeatedly saying, if we miss this boat we miss it forever, he said. We are going to push very hard to resolve this issue. The Japan Cryptoasset Business Association and Japan Blockchain Association (JBA), have developed proposals for tax reform to the government. Yuzo Kano, co-founder of crypto exchange bitFlyer, will submit proposals to Japans Financial Services Agency (FSA) in his capacity as head of the JBA. He plans to explain these to Web3 proponents in Japans parliament. The JBA wants the government to nix corporate taxes on unrealized capital gains for crypto issued or held by corporations, tax crypto capital gains at the same 20% rate as stocks, allow losses to be carried forward for three years and tax individuals on their crypto only when they convert it to fiat currency, Kano said. Kano said the first proposal on corporate taxes will likely pass, but the others likely wont. In August, Japans Financial Services Agency and METI indicated that they intend to revise corporate tax laws so that companies pay a tax only when they generate a profit from selling tokens. Meanwhile, discussions about other crypto-related issues are still in progress. Masakazu Masujima, a partner at law firm Mori Hamada and Matsumoto and a former official at the Financial Services Agency, argues for simplifying processes like listing tokens, which can involve a 60-page due diligence report for each token. Shiozaki said that he had heard complaints from token-based businesses struggling to get proper accounting and auditing services, because accounting firms dont like dealing with crypto because of the lack of clear accounting rules and precedents. Crypto workers Yet another issue: attracting talented crypto-savvy people to Japan. Sota Watanabe, founder of Astar Network, a platform that supports transactions on multiple blockchains, said that Japan stands at a significant disadvantage at the moment, compared with jurisdictions like Singapore and Dubai, because of its tax laws. In his view, Japan hasnt had many successful crypto projects and is behind on accumulating talent. He said that while tax reform is welcome, the government needs to do more to attract entrepreneurs to Japan. He suggested a crypto visa so that the country could attract top talent from across the globe. Finally, theres the national interest. Masujima said he considers the NFT white paper as a collection of small changes in the legal system, rather than a big strategy. He has communicated with the FSA on how it could be more proactive in engaging major layer 1 blockchains and showing that the government is supportive. This could entail nurturing relationships with high-quality projects and finding ways to reduce risks associated with private wallets, which are used to store crypto anonymously and off centralized platforms like exchanges. At the present time, Masujima said, the FSA is more focused on what the international regulatory community decides than on making homegrown policies. Its time for us to draw a big picture, he said. Corona mask - The End Credit - Getty Images FHM When the first cases of COVID-19 began accumulating around the world, the World Health Organization (WHO) was under pressure to declare the disease a pandemic. That announcement unlocked the keys to additional funding, resources, and emergency actions to control cases. Now, in a 60 Minutes interview, President Biden has said that the pandemic is over. He cited the fact that people are no longer wearing masks, that large public events such as the Detroit Auto Show have resumed in person, and that concerns about COVID-19 no longer dictate our behaviors in the way they did over the past two years. But public health experts are wary about the declaration, concerned it will mean that people have license to abandon the already fragile networks of behaviors that are trying to keep a highly contagious virus from breaking free again to cause another wave of disease. Its also a concerning sentiment to arrive just as health officials in the U.S. launch a booster campaign to reinstate waning protection from vaccines before the fall and winter, when respiratory viruses like SARS-CoV-2 tend to have free reign. The reality is that while Bidens statement that hardly anyone is wearing masks is true, thats largely the result of weariness on the publics part, and because a judge in Florida overturned federal mandates requiring masks in government buildings and on mass transit. Therefore, the disappearance of masks cannot be interpreted entirely as the result of reduced risk from the virus. The Presidents declaration is counterproductive because it reinforces the impression that many people have that we dont have to worry about COVID-19 any more, says Dr. Eric Toner, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security at the Bloomberg School of Public Health. By pandemic, most people mean that people around the world are susceptible to an infectious disease for which people do not have immunity, and therefore could cause serious illness. It is absolutely true that the pandemic is much less severe than it was. But the fact is, we still have 65,000 new reported cases every day, and 450 deaths a day, which annualized is 170,000 deaths a year. So its not over. Story continues Read More: Heres Why Experts Believe the New Omicron Booster Will Work Yes, infections are on the decline, and yes, deaths from COVID-19 are also dramatically lower than they have been since the Omicron wave hit earlier this year. But more than 500 people are dying on average each week from COVID-19, and in a worrying sign, hospitalizations, especially among the elderly, are creeping up as the immunity provided by vaccines declines. Declaring that the pandemic is over will inevitably lead people to a sense of complacency that infectious disease experts believe is premature. Even if were moving toward a reality in which COVID-19 becomes more like the flu, with an annual (or more frequent) shot, COVID-19 still causes far more infections and deaths than flu does on average. The truth is that the Omicron variant, and its latest subvariants, BA.4 and BA.5, are highly contagious. And while they dont seem to be causing more serious disease, heres the thing about viruses: the more infections a virus causes, and the more hosts it infects, the more chances it has to replicate. And every time it makes more copies of itself, it can generate mutations. The more mutations are generated, the more likely it might be that one or a few of those mutations could lead to a more virulent version that does cause more severe illness. The threat from COVID-19 is certainly not the same as it once was, and vaccines and antiviral treatments have changed that. Those have been made available in the U.S. because the government declared COVID-19 a state of public health emergency, which allowed Congress to dedicate funds to provide those shots and therapies for free to the American public. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently renewed that designation until at least the end of October, and the WHO has not yet declared victory over COVID-19 either. Declaring the pandemic over could jeopardize that continued funding, just when it might be needed most, to vaccinate people with the first Omicron booster before the winter. When the administration is trying to get new money from Congress for COVID-19, it just seems like an ill-timed and inaccurate message, says Toner. Already, the HHS has shifted funds from other health services to provide these booster at no cost to the public, according to Secretary Xavier Becerra during a recent briefing. When will COVID-19 be over? There are no strict definitions for what constitutes a pandemic, nor for when it has run its course. The scale of the disease, in terms of its range around the world, is among the primary criteria for declaring a pandemic, and similarly, declines in cases and spread of illness would factor into its completion. But those decisions are as much economic as they are epidemiologicalas a pandemic, COVID-19 will cost the global economy $12.5 trillion by 2024, according to the latest estimates from the International Monetary Fund. And that funding has strained governments around the world, both in the developed and developing world; if COVID-19 is no longer a pandemic, that would mean governments might be less obligated to dedicate significant resources toward things like testing, vaccine programs, and treatments. And with the White House taking the lead in declaring the pandemic over, that might encourage governors of states who are already inclined to limit COVID-19 response measures to eliminate them altogether. That in turn could lead to lower protection as more people who arent boosted gather indoors, unmasked, during the colder weather when viruses spread more easily. Read More: Long COVID Experts and Advocates Say the Government Is Ignoring the Greatest Mass-Disabling Event in Human History This winter will be an important one when it comes to seeing where the pandemic goes from herewith a new, more closely matched booster to the Omicron variant, it could continue to decline, getting closer to behaving like influenza. Or, if people believe that they dont have to worry about COVID-19 any more, Omicron, or even a yet-to-named variant, could lead to another surge in cases. Prince George and Princess Charlotte attended their great-grandmother Queen Elizabeth II's funeral on Monday, Sept. 19. Two of the three children of William and Catherine, the Prince and Princess of Wales, were seen inside a car and later walking inside Westminster Abbey during the service. The State Funeral Of Queen Elizabeth II (Samir Hussein / Samir Hussein/WireImage) William and the former Kate Middleton's other child, Prince Louis, was not in attendance. World leaders from more than a dozen countries also attended Elizabeth's funeral, including President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron, New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Elizabeth, Britain's longest-serving monarch, died on Sept. 8 at her beloved Balmoral Castle in the Scottish Highlands at age 96. The United Kingdom has spent more than 10 days mourning her death, with her coffin spending several days in Scotland before traveling by train to Britain. The State Funeral Of Queen Elizabeth II (Anthony Devlin / Getty Images) Elizabeth's eldest son, Charles, became king after her death. In his first address as monarch, he shared his love for Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and unveiled new titles for William and Kate, who were formerly known as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. William and Harry were among the members of the royal family who received the queen's coffin on Sept. 13 when it arrived at Buckingham Palace. BRITAIN-ROYALS-QUEEN-DEATH-FUNERAL (PHIL NOBLE / POOL/AFP via Getty Images) The pair walked behind the queen's four children, King Charles III, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward, on Sept. 14 as the coffin traveled from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall, where it stayed to lie in state for several days to allow the British public to pay their respects before the funeral. William told a group gathered outside of the royal estate of Sandringham on Sept. 15 that the walk was "challenging" and that it "brought back a few memories." Many were reminded of the two brothers walking side by side during the same walk for the funeral procession for their mother, Princess Diana, 25 years ago. Story continues Kate and Camilla, the queen consort, followed behind the procession in a car, while Meghan and Sophie, Countess of Wessex, traveled in a separate vehicle. Over the weekend, the line to pay respects to the queen meant at least a 24-hour wait, according to the British Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. William and Harry stood vigil before the queen's coffin for 15 minutes, one day after Elizabeth's four children also stood vigil. Both Andrew and Harry were permitted to wear their military uniforms at the vigils despite being nonworking royals and previously not wearing them. Following the funeral, Elizabeth's coffin will go to Wellington Arch in Hyde Park before it heads to Windsor Castle, her final resting place. She will be buried next to her husband, Prince Philip, who died on April 9, 2021. This article was originally published on TODAY.com The immediate royal family marches in Queen Elizabeth IIs funeral procession toward St. Georges Chapel at Windsor Castle. There was a large funeral service for the Queen at Westminster Abbey prior to the smaller service at St. Georges Chapel. St. Georges Chapel will be her final resting place where she will lie with her mother, father, sister, and her late husband, Prince Philip. In the procession, you can see how Prince Harry and Prince Andrew are not wearing their military uniforms. This is because they are not allowed to since they are not working royal members. Prince Harry gave up his royal responsibilities a few years ago when he and his wife, Meghan Markle, decided to take a step back from the royal limelight and move to the United States. Prince Andrews royal status was stripped from him in January of 2022 after he was accused of sexual assault by one of the girls from Jeffrey Epsteins pedophilic sex ring. Princess Anne follows the late Queen's coffin during a procession from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall, Sept. 14, 2022. (REUTERS) Anne, the Princess Royal and the late Queen's only daughter, has always been a force to be reckoned with. But with her stepping up to carry out the duties required in the lead up to the funeral on Monday, including escorting her mother's coffin from Balmoral to Aberdeen and then from Edinburgh to London over four days, the 72-year-old sister to the new King is emerging into the spotlight perhaps more than ever before. While she's always had an air of fulfilling her role as 'princess' her own way, how exactly did she get this reputation of being stoic and devoted? And why is it time she's given the recognition she deserves? 10 reasons Princess Anne deserves your respect Princess Anne looks at flowers outside Balmoral Castle in Ballater, on September 10, 2022. (Getty Images) She's a true arbiter of style. Princess Anne's trendsetting-looks, including straight-leg jeans, cowboy boots and sporty sunglasses are now often worn on the runway. Also known for her vibrant pieces, she's the patron of the UK Fashion and Textile Association. Princess Anne at the Badminton Horse Trials in South Gloucestershire, 25th April, 1971. (Getty Images) She's the hardest-working royal. Thought to be one of the busiest members of the Royal Family, she carried out the most engagements in 2021 at 387, just beating her brother Charles. She won't take any nonsense. Not always trying to fit in to the polite box expected of her, she was dubbed 'Her Royal Rudeness' in earlier years, with her reportedly telling reporters to 'Naff off!'. She had just fallen off her horse, so we'd likely want to say the same too. She's an Olympian. Princess Anne became the first member of the Royal Family to compete in the Olympic Games in 1976 when she rode the late Queen's horse, Goodwill, in the equestrian three-day event in Montreal. Princess Anne riding Goodwill during the cross country section of the Three Day Eventing at the Montreal Olympic Games. (Getty Images) She foiled her own kidnapping attempt. In 1974, her chauffeur-driven Rolls Royce was stopped by a car with the armed Ian Ball, who shot the driver, security officer and a journalist. When told by him to get out of her car, she responded, "Not bloody likely", being saved soon after. She ensured her children led a normal life. When she married first husband Mark Phillips, it is said that he turned down an Earldom. Despite royal titles for children usually inherited through the man, when still given the offer, Princess Anne declined. Story continues Her signature hairstyle takes 10 mins. During Anne: The Princess Royal at 70, she said she read an article on how long it took to do Erin Doherty's hair in The Crown. "And I'm thinking, 'How could you possibly take that long?' I mean, it takes me 10 or 15 minutes," she said. Princess Anne's hair in a bun held with hair clips, a style she has worn for decades. (Getty Images) She was the first royal to remarry after divorce. She divorced from Phillips in 1992 and remarried Timothy Laurence, as the first child of the late Queen to do so. She sidestepped the restrictive laws of the Church of England still in place and instead tied the knot in Scotland. Her sense of humour. On greeting the public (she doesn't often shake hands), she once memorably said, "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." Just one example of her dry and quick wit. She says it how it is. I never liked the idea of the Royal Family film. I always thought it was a rotten idea" and Being pregnant is a very boring six months. I am not particularly maternal. Its an occupational hazard of being a wife," are just two of her most honest quotes. Watch: Applause for Princess Anne as she views tributes in Glasgow Since her death, well wishers have wondered what Queen Elizabeths last words were and what her final moments with the British royal family were like before she passed. Queen Elizabeth II is the first child of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. She became Queen of the United Kingdom as well as the other Commonwealth countries in February 1952 after the death of her father. She was 25 years old at the time. She was married to Philip Mountbatten, a former prince of Greece and Denmark, from November 1947 until Prince Philips death in April 2021. The two had four children together: Charles, Prince of Wales; Anne, Princess Royal; Prince Andrew, Duke of York; and Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex. More from StyleCaster After more than 70 years on the throne, Queen Elizabeth II died on September 8, 2022. She was 96 years old. In a 1957 Christmas Broadcast, the Queen promised the United Kingdom she would give her heart and devotion to the Commonwealth. I cannot lead you into battle, she said at the time. I do not give you laws or administer justice, but I can do something else: I can give my heart and my devotion to these old islands and to all the peoples of our brotherhood of nations. Buy: Elizabeth the Queen by Sally Bedell Smith $7.95+ Click here to read the full article. The Queens death came three months after her Platinum Jubilee event in June 2022, which celebrated her 70 years on the throne. After her Platinum Jubilee, the Queen thanked royal well-wishers for supporting her family. When it comes to how to mark seventy years as your Queen, there is no guidebook to follow. It really is a first. But I have been humbled and deeply touched that so many people have taken to the streets to celebrate my Platinum Jubilee, the Queen said in a statement at the time. She continued, While I may not have attended every event in person, my heart has been with you all; and I remain committed to serving you to the best of my ability, supported by my family. She ended her message by telling her supporters about the joy she felt that weekend. I have been inspired by the kindness, joy and kinship that has been so evident in recent days, and I hope this renewed sense of togetherness will be felt for many years to come. I thank you most sincerely for your good wishes and for the part you have all played in these happy celebrations, she said at the time. Story continues So what were Queen Elizabeths last words? Read on for what we know about Queen Elizabeths last words and her final moments with the British royal family before her death. What were Queen Elizabeths last words? Image: Ben Stansall WPA Pool/Getty Images. What were Queen Elizabeths last words? Queen Elizabeth IIs exact last words arent known, however, her daughter, Princess Anne, revealed in a post on the British royal familys official Instagram account in September 2022 that she was with the Queen in the last 24 hours of her life, which she called an honor and a privilege. I was fortunate to share the last 24 hours of my dearest Mothers life, she wrote at the time. It has been an honour and a privilege to accompany her on her final journeys. Witnessing the love and respect shown by so many on these journeys has been both humbling and uplifting. We will all share unique memories. I offer my thanks to each and every one who share our sense of loss. Princess Anne continued, We may have been reminded how much of her presence and contribution to our national identity we took for granted. I am also so grateful for the support and understanding offered to my dear brother Charles as he accepts the added responsibilities of The Monarch. To my mother, The Queen, thank you. The Queens death was announced at 6:41 p.m. London time on the British royal familys official Twitter account. The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon, Buckingham Palaces statement read. The King and The Queen Consort will remain at Balmoral this evening and will return to London tomorrow. Newsweeks Chief Royal Correspondent Jack Royston told True Royalty TV in September 2022 that Charles only learned of his mothers health shortly before the public. Royston also reported that TODAY host Jenna Bush Hager, told him earlier that week that she had a scheduled si-down interview with Camilla at Dumfries House when when they heard footsteps in the corridor. Charles took a call, everything was silent, and they were asked to be silent. Then the next thing she knew, Charles and Camilla were in a helicopter, Royston said. And that was at 12:30, so that was around exactly the same time that we were told. So they didnt wait, they didnt give Charles an hour or two hours. According to The Washington Post, however, the Queens death was rumored to occur at 3 p.m. London time, with Buckingham Palace notifying Prime Minister Liz Truss of the death at 4:30 p.m. London time. While Queen Elizabeths last words arent known, 7News reported that the Queens final public statement after 70 years of service was a message of condolence she sent to the Canadian public after a stabbing rampage that left 10 people dead and 18 injured in the village of Weldor in Saskatchewan, Canada. I would like to extend my condolences to those who have lost loved ones in the attacks that occurred this past weekend in Saskatchewan. My thoughts and prayers are with those recovering from injuries, and grieving such horrific losses. I mourn with all Canadians at this tragic time, the Queens statement read. The Queens death comes less than two years after the death of her husband, Prince Philip, who died on April 9, 2021. According to Hello, Queen Elizabeths last words to Philip were written in a handwritten card edged in black that she placed with a wreath of white lilies, small white roses, white freesias, white wax flowers, white sweet peas and jasmine on the top of his coffin at his funeral. In loving memory, Elizabeth, the card read. Queen Elizabeth II is also a successor of Queen Elizabeth I, also known as the Virgin Queen, who was Queen of England and Ireland from 1558 until her death in 1603. According to RMG, Queen Elizabeth Is last words were, All my possessions for one moment of time. How did Queen Elizabeth die? Image: Samir Hussein/WireImage. How did Queen Elizabeth die? Queen Elizabeth II died peacefully at her home at Balmoral Castle in Scotland in the afternoon of September 8, 2022. She was 96. Buckingham Palace confirmed her death in a statement. She will be succeeded by her son, Charles, Prince of Wales, who will now become King Charles III. Charles wife, Camila, Duchess of Cornwall, will now become The Queen Sonsort. The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon, Buckingham Palaces statement read. The King and The Queen Consort will remain at Balmoral this evening and will return to London tomorrow. The Queens death came hours after after Buckingham Palace announced that she had been placed under medical supervision due to concerns from her doctors. Following further evaluation this morning, The Queens doctors are concerned for Her Majestys health and have recommended she remain under medical supervision, the Buckingham Palace said at the time. The Queen remains comfortable and at Balmoral. The statement continued, Their Royal Highnesses The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall have traveled to Balmoral. After the Queen passed away, Charlesthe heir apparent to the British royal throne and the Queens eldest son with her late husband, Prince Philiphonored his mother in a statement on the official Royal Family Twitter. The death of my beloved Mother, Her Majesty The Queen, is a moment of the greatest sadness for me and all members of my family, the statement read. We mourn profoundly the passing of a cherished sovereign, and much-loved mother. I know her loss will be deeply felt throughout the country, the Realms and the Commonwealth, and by countless people around the world. During this period of mourning and change, my family and I will be comforted and sustained by our knowledge of the respect and deep affection on which The Queen was so widely held. The Queen was surrounded by British royal family members at the time of her death. Along with Charles and Camila, the Queens second and third sons with PhilipPrince Andrew and Prince Edwardwere seen arriving at Aberdeen Airport in Scotland shortly before her death. Prince Edwards wife, Sophie, Countess of Wessex, was also seen arriving at the airport, as well as the Queens eldest grandson, Prince William. The Queens second eldest grandson, Prince Harry, wasnt seen at Balmoral Castle until hours after her death. He traveled from Germany, where he and his wife, Meghan Markle, were promoting the Invictus Games, to Scotland. Meghan, for her part, didnt join Harry at Balmoral Castle and remained in Germany at the time of the Queens death. Williams wife, Kate Middleton, also wasnt present at Balmoral Castle and stayed in Windsor, England, as September 8 was the first day of school for her and Williams children: Prince George, 9, Princess Charlotte, 7, and Prince Louis, 4. Image: Photo by Victoria Jones WPA Pool/Getty Images. What was Queen Elizabeths cause of death? What was Queen Elizabeths cause of death? Queen Elizabeth IIs cause of death hasnt been confirmed. However, her death came hours after after Buckingham Palace announced that she had been placed under medical supervision due to concerns from her doctors. Following further evaluation this morning, The Queens doctors are concerned for Her Majestys health and have recommended she remain under medical supervision, the Buckingham Palace said at the time. The Queen remains comfortable and at Balmoral. The statement continued, Their Royal Highnesses The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall have traveled to Balmoral. The statement also came a day after the Queen cancelled a scheduled Privy Council meeting so he could rest. After a full day yesterday, Her Majesty has this afternoon accepted doctors advice to rest, Buckingham Palace said in a statement on September 7, 2022. This means that the Privy Council meeting that had been due to take place this evening will be rearranged. Before her death, the Queen had been seen regularly using a cane since October 2021. That month, she cancelled a scheduled trip to Northern Ireland under the advice of her doctors and spent a night in the hospital. The Queen has reluctantly accepted medical advice to rest for the next few days, Buckingham Palace said in a statement at the time. Her Majesty is in good spirits and is disappointed that she will no longer be able to visit Northern Ireland, where she had been due to undertake a series of engagements today and tomorrow. After her hospitalization, Buckingham Palace confirmed in a statement at the time that the Queen remains in good spirits following her overnight stay, where she underwent preliminary investigations. Following medical advice to rest for a few days, the Queen attended hospital on Wednesday afternoon for some preliminary investigations, returning to Windsor Castle at lunchtime today and remains in good spirits, the statement read. The Queens death also came a year after she tested positive for COVID-19 following close contact with Charles, who contracted the virus earlier that month. At the time, celebrity gossip website Hollywood Unlocked, falsely reported that the Queen had died at the age of 95 from COVID-19. The site falsely reported at the time that the Queen was found dead after she was set to attend a wedding. It is with our deepest regret to inform you that Britains Queen Elizabeth has died, Hollywood Unlockeds report read at the time. Sources close to the Royal Kingdom notified us exclusively that Queen Elizabeth has passed away. She was scheduled to attend the wedding of British Vogue editor Edward Enninful, but was found dead. While the site didnt credit any official royal sources, Hollywood Unlocked CEO and founder Jason Lee took to his Twitter at the time to back up the outlets report. We dont post lies and I always stand by my sources, he wrote at the time. Waiting for an official statement from the palace. Lee later reiterated his stance on Instagram, writing, Ive never lied; Ive never been wrong; I trust my sources; and I have yet to see an official statement from the palace saying otherwise, in a numbered list. Despite Lees statement, however, the news of the Queens death at the time was false. After the Queen tested positive for COVID-19 in February 2022, a source told Us Weekly at the time the monarch had been recovering without any fuss despite Hollywood Unlockeds report of her death. Of course, she has a team of doctors to lean on whenever needed and a support staff thats second to none, the insider told the magazine. But thus far Her Majesty has been handling this without any fuss or need to involve too many others in her recovery. After reports the Queen was still alive, Hollywood Unlocked issued a statement on social media apologizing for the incorrect story and blaming the report on an intern journalist who published the draft post by mistake. The site added, Our deepest apologies goes out to the #RoyalFamily and all involved in this embarrassing situation. It was an accident and were working hard to make sure that this mistake never happens again. Image: Courtesy of Random House. Buy: Elizabeth the Queen by Sally Bedell Smith $7.95+ For more about the British royal family, check out Sally Bedell Smiths 2012 biography, Elizabeth the Queen: The Life of a Modern Monarch. The New York Times bestseller, which includes the real story behind several storylines featured in Netflixs The Crown, follows Queen Elizabeth IIs life from her childhood as the heiress presumptive to her father, King George VI; to the moment he et her husband, Prince Philip, when she was 13 years old; to her ascension to the throne at 25 years old in 1952. Elizabeth the Queen, which also includes interviews with Buckingham Palace sources and never-before-revealed documents, provides a deep dive into the Queens legacy as one of the most famous monarchs in recent history. Our mission at STYLECASTER is to bring style to the people, and we only feature products we think youll love as much as we do. Please note that if you purchase something by clicking on a link within this story, we may receive a small commission of the sale. "Watch This Space" - Amazon Prime Video Best of StyleCaster Photo credit: OLI SCARFF - Getty Images Members of the royal family gathered this morning to pay a public farewell to the late Queen Elizabeth II at her official state funeral at Westminster Abbey. Among the mourners, Princess Beatrice arrived with her husband, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, alongside her mother, Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, and her sister, Princess Eugenie. The eldest daughter of Prince Andrew, Beatrice is one the Queen's eight grandchildren. The princess, who is currently ninth in line for the throne, took in the service with the royal family, sitting near her cousin, Prince Harry and just behind her uncle, the new King Charles III. Though some of the next generation of the royal family were in attendance, including Prince William's children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis, Beatrice's baby daughter, Sienna Elizabeth, was not at the service. Photo credit: Samir Hussein - Getty Images In addition to her position as princess (unlike some members of her family Beatrice is not a working royal) she was recently promoted as one of four Counsellors of State following Queen Elizabeth's death. According to the royal family's website, Counsellors of State include the spouse of the sovereign, and the next four people in the line of succession who are over the age of 21. Current Counsellors of State include Prince William, Prince Harry, Prince Andrew, and Andrew's eldest daughter, Princess Beatrice. Per the royal family, "Counsellors of State are authorised to carry out most of the official duties of the Sovereign, for example, attending Privy Council meetings, signing routine documents and receiving the credentials of new ambassadors to the United Kingdom." You Might Also Like Guests have begun arriving at Westminster Abbey for the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. Members of the royal family attending will include the Queens sons, daughters, grandchildren and a select number of great-grandchildren. As the younger daughter of Prince Andrew and Sarah, Duchess of York, Princess Eugenie will also be in attendance. But who is the Princess and what is her relationship with the Queen? Heres everything you need to know. Who is Princess Eugenie? Princess Eugenie and Queen Elizabeth II in April 2019 (Getty Images) Princess Eugenie is the second daughter of the Duke and Duchess of York. She is the niece of King Charles III and the grandaughter of Queen Elizabeth II. At birth, she was 6th in the line of succession to the British throne and is now 11th. Born on 23 March 1990, she is the younger sister of Princess Beatrice. She was the first royal baby to have a public christening and the only one of the Queen's grandchildren not to be baptised in the Lily Font. Her parents, the Duke and Duchess of York, divorced when she was six years old and agreed to have joint custody of their two children. In October 2002, the 12-year-old Eugenie underwent back surgery to correct scoliosis, a procedure that saw two 300-millimetre titanium rods inserted in her back. The operation was a success and she was not required to undergo any further surgeries. Princess Eugenie graduated from Newcastle University in 2012 with a 2:1 degree in English literature and history of art. In 2013, she moved to New York City for one year to work for the online auction firm Paddle8 as a benefit auctions manager. In July 2015, she moved back to London to work for the Hauser & Wirth art gallery as an associate director, and was promoted to director in 2017. Is Princess Eugenie married? Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank on their wedding day in 2018 (Getty Images) Princess Eugenie met her future husband, Jack Brooksbank, a brand ambassador, during a ski trip in 2010. Brooksbank proposed to Eugenie during a holiday in Nicaragua in 2018. The wedding took place at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, on 12 October 2018. Story continues Princess Eugenies wedding dress was designed by the British fashion designers Peter Pilotto and Christopher de Vos of British-based label Peter Pilotto, and was designed to display her surgical scar. Eugenie chose to show her scar to honour those that helped her, and to inspire others with the condition of scoliosis. In 2021, Eugenie gave birth to a son, August Philip Hawke Brooksbank, named after his great-grandfather, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. From November 2020 to May 2022, the couple's main residence was Frogmore Cottage, which was leased to Eugenie's cousin Prince Harry. In May 2022, it was reported they had moved to Portugal, where Brooksbank works for Michael Meldman, and that they would once again stay at Ivy Cottage while in England. Princess Eugenie undertakes occasional public engagements, usually connected with the charities she supports, such as the Teenage Cancer Trust and Children in Crisis. In 2020, Eugenie became patron of the Scoliosis Association UK and in June 2021 became an ambassador for the Blue Marine Foundation. And in June 2022, Eugenie launched the Ocean Advocate Series, which features conversations with ocean advocates and experts on how to preserve the seas and the environment. ALLEGAN A deputy from the Allegan County Sheriff's Office who shot and killed a man during a traffic stop in June will not face charges. More:MSP: Nagle used drugs, was behaving erratically before deputy shot him More:Family pleads for answers two weeks after man shot by deputy Allegan County Prosecutor Myrene Koch determined the deputys actions were justified under the extreme circumstances. Joseph Nagle, 22, of Comstock Park, was shot the night of June 16 after a deputy pulled him over on 26th Street between 134th and 136th Avenues in Monterey Township, northwest of Wayland. There was no dashcam or bodycam video of the stop because the Allegan County Sheriffs Office doesnt have those cameras. Joseph Nagle, 22, of Comstock Park, was shot the night of June 16 after a deputy pulled him over on 26th Street between 134th and 136th Avenues in Monterey Township, northwest of Wayland. The deputy pulled Nagle over on suspicion of impaired driving. In her report, the prosecutor said Nagle stopped when he didnt have a sign, drove below the speed limit and was swerving in and out of his lane. According to the report, Nagle was initially cooperative when the deputy approached him, handing over his license and admitting his tags were expired. The deputy also reported smelling marijuana and seeing that Nagles cellphone was on his lap and playing a video. Nagle denied doing drugs. The deputy told him to get out of the car for sobriety tests, at which point Nagle was acting agitated and moving quickly, and behaving erratically, the prosecutor wrote. He failed the first test, the prosecutor said, and then got more upset. Nagle began raising his voice while grabbing his own head and asking why the deputy was still testing him," the report reads. "He asked in a raised voice why they were still doing the testing and why it was necessary. Nagle repeatedly stated he did not do drugs because he works for a delivery service. Nagle began turning in circles with his hands on his head stating he had bad anxiety. Eventually, the prosecutor said, Nagle tried to get back in his car. The deputy called for backup and told Nagle he was under arrest for failure to comply with instructions. The prosecutor said the deputy grabbed Nagles hands, but Nagle was still moving around. Story continues Kent County Commissioner Robert Womack speaks to the crowd during a vigil for Joey Nagle on Sunday, July 24, 2022, outside the Allegan County Sheriff's Office. "(Nagle) then suddenly turned and faced the deputy," the report reads. "The deputy still maintained control of Nagles hands at this point. When they were face to face, the deputy told Nagle dont do this before he let go of one of Nagles hands to call over the radio there was a fight." The report said Nagle became more agitated and tried to get away, before the deputy said, "Please don't do this," and Nagle replied, "Don't do what? Shoot me? That's your goal, isn't it? To shoot and kill me?" To which the deputy responded, "I don't want to shoot you." The prosecutor said Nagle then punched the deputy and shouted, "Why are you trying to kill me?" before allegedly saying, "I am going to kill you," continuing to punch and head-butting the deputy. The deputy said Nagle, a successful high school wrestler, struck him between 15 and 20 times, causing his vision to blur and his legs to feel weak. He feared he was losing consciousness and said he was afraid for his life. He said he let go of Nagle's wrist, drew his gun and shot Nagle once in the chest. The driver backed up, smiled, and chuckled before falling backwards onto the ground, the prosecutors office wrote. The deputy said he reported shots fired and started CPR, which continued when EMTs arrived. The deputy was taken to the hospital to be treated for head and face injuries. A police report obtained by WOOD TV-8 last week said he suffered a bloody nose, a gouge behind his left ear, scratches on his neck, cuts on both hands and swelling of the face. A memorial is placed where Joseph Nagle was shot by a deputy along 26th Street in Hopkins. An autopsy found evidence that supported the deputys claims that Nagle punched and head-butted him. The autopsy also found cocaine and THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, in Nagles system and police learned he had been acting erratically earlier in the day. People who knew Nagle said he had been in a downward spiral since his dad died a couple of years ago, and that he was known to use drugs. Subscribe:Get all your breaking news and unlimited access to our local coverage The prosecutor said the deputy was too close to Nagle to try to use his Taser. The attorney representing Nagles family, Tom Siver, has asked the Michigan Attorney Generals Office to review the case, he said at a news conference. We will get justice for Joey Nagle, Siver said. He would not provide further comment. Kent County Commissioner Robert S. Womack said he spoke with Nagles mother on the phone before the news conference. He said she is happy the attorneys are bringing the case to the attorney general. Its just a very heart wrenching investigation for the family, to have to see their son, their brother, their uncle, their loved one, their schoolmate, their friend, their coworker villainized so bad in the police investigation, Womack said. Our prayers go out to the mother. And once again, I want to thank these attorneys for continuing to push for justice for Joey Nagle. This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Prosecutor: Deputy justified in shooting man during traffic stop in Allegan County A man was walked out of Donald Trumps rally in Youngstown, Ohio on Saturday after unfurling a banner which blamed the former president for the closure of a major manufacturing center. Chucky Dennison was escorted out of the event just seconds after unfurling the banner, a makeshift picket sign written on a pillowcase for portability. Mr Dennison was seen on video being walked out by a security guard as Mr Trump continued to address the crowd - it wasnt clear if the president or other beyond those in Mr Dennisons vicinity had seen the banner. Trump lost 3,000 Lordstown jobs and the 2020 election, read Mr Dennisons banner. He told The Independent in an interview before the event that a personal connection drove him to the rally on Saturday. Now retired due to a medical condition, Mr Dennison worked at the Lordstown plant that was previously home to General Motors (GM) until its shuttering in 2019. A massive industrial complex that employed thousands of locals with well-paying union jobs, the unallocation of Lordstown in 2019 devastated the northeastern Ohio region where it was an integral part of the state economy for decades. Chucky Dennison holds up his banner before attending Donald Trumps rally in Youngstown, Ohio (John Bowden) Others at the rally were similarly incensed by the plants closure, which led to the end of a massive yet constant infusion of capital in the local economy. Those people had home loans. They had IRAs, Mr Dennison said. Mr Trumps rally attracted several thousand to the border of Ohio and Pennsylvania, but hes far from the first nationally-recognized figure to make the pilgrimage. Throughout the 2008 presidential election season the plant itself was visited by three of the most prominent contenders for the White House - John McCain, Hillary Clinton, and the eventual winner Barack Obama. Watching the queues of all nationalities stretching for miles outside Londons Westminster Palace, where Queen Elizabeth II was lying in state, triggered some of my earliest memories. I remembered holding my mothers hand, queuing outside the butchers shop for a meagre piece of low-cost meat, during times of rationing in Britain that continued from the dark days of World War II up to 1954. I remembered the first time my mother cried in front of me when she heard on the radio that King George VI died in 1952. I remembered listening on that same radio to the 1953 coronation of Queen Elizabeth, and later watching the ceremony on a Pathe' Newsreel film at our local cinema, as we had no television at that time. I remembered how the Queen looked so tiny surrounded by the Archbishop of Canterbury and others in the hierarchy of the Church of England, all dressed in regalia with various jewelled crowns, ornaments and rituals dating back to 1066. I remembered her being anointed monarch and Defender of the Faith, as leader of the Anglican Church, among many other titles. I remembered learning in history class a few years later, how the Church Of England was formed by King Henry VIII in order to get his marriage to his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, annulled. He could then marry his mistress, Anne Boleyn, as the Pope denied the divorce in the Roman Catholic Church. I remembered learning Queen Anne literally lost her head a few years later, but not before giving birth to the future Queen Elizabeth I. I remembered learning how the British landed gentry and titled aristocracy fought bloody wars for centuries, resulting in the various kings, princes, barons, dukes, earls, counts, etc, claiming castles, palaces and huge tracts of real estate that remain in their descendants' possession today. I remembered going to sea at the age of 16, and frequently travelling to countries colonized in the name of the British Crown, where commodities were plundered and nations entire wealth exploited. I remember witnessing so many people living in abject poverty as a result, and making me so aware that my own hard-scrabble youth in post-War Britain was not comparable to their hopeless plight. I remembered learning the Anglican Church was once the largest slave-owner in Barbados, where their slaves were branded with the word Society across their chests meaning Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. I remembered that when the facade of all the pomp and circumstance concerning religions and monarchs is removed, a far different truth is revealed. Bernie Smith, Parksville Russian President Vladimir Putin said Europe's "green agenda" started the bloc's energy crisis. Getty Images Europe is dependent on Russia for natural gas, but Gazprom has turned off the Nord Stream 1 pipeline. Russian President Putin said the EU just has to turn on Nord Stream 2 for more natural gas. The Nord Stream 2 runs parallel to Nord Stream 1, a key gas pipeline linking Russia and Europe. Russian President Vladimir Putin denied Russian responsibility for Europe's energy crisis and said the EU can simply turn on the new Nord Stream 2 pipeline if it wants more natural gas from his country. "The bottom line is, if you have an urge, if it's so hard for you, just lift the sanctions on Nord Stream 2, which is 55 billion cubic metres of gas per year, just push the button and everything will get going," said Putin after the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Uzbekistan on Friday, per Reuters. He also criticized the "green agenda" the EU's renewable energy push which he said started the energy crisis even before the war in Ukraine. The Nord Stream 2 natural-gas pipeline runs in parallel to Nord Stream 1, a key pipeline that delivers fuel from Russia to Europe. The $11 billion Nord Stream 2 pipeline was completed in September, and stands to double Russia's gas flows to Europe. However, Nord Stream 2 has never been operational because Germany shelved the project in February, days before Russia invaded Ukraine. The EU is staring at an energy crisis this coming winter as Russia supplies about 40% of Europe's natural gas, most of which is transported via pipelines. In 2021, Russia exported about 155 billion cubic meters of the fuel to Europe more than one-third of which came from the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, according to Reuters. In early September, Russia state gas giant Gazprom completely turned off supply to Europe via Nord Stream 1. Gazprom and the Kremlin have consistently insisted that the slowing of gas flows was due to technical reasons. European natural-gas prices have more than doubled from a year ago, but have fallen from their record high of 345 euros ($344) in August, lately as countries on the continent met their winter storage targets ahead of schedule. Dutch TTF gas futures, the benchmark, were down just over 7% at 174.25 euros on the ICE index Monday. Read the original article on Business Insider The Queens corgis were spotted waiting for the coffin to arrive at St Georges Chapel in Windsor (REUTERS) The royal corgis have been spotted waiting for the procession carrying the Queens coffin at St Georges Chapel in Windsor. Sandy and Muick were gifted to the late monarch by her son Prince Andrew. The Duke and Duchess of York have now become the new owners of the corgis following the Queens death. The Queen famously loved the breed and owned more than 30 corgis during her lifetime. The Queens coffin has arrived in Windsor and is headed down the Long Walk, which has been lined with hundreds of military personnel and huge crowds waiting to catch a glimpse of the Queens coffin as it passes by. Later this evening, the late monarch will be buried ina private memorial at St Georges Chapel. More follows Queen Elizabeth II, the world's second longest-reigning monarch, and Canada's longest sovereign, was laid to rest in a decorated series of ceremonies that stretched from Westminster Abbey in London, to St. George Chapel in Windsor. LONDON, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 19: Royal Canadian Mounted Police during the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey on September 19, 2022 in London, England. Members of the public are able to pay respects to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for 23 hours a day from 17:00 on September 18, 2022 until 06:30 on September 19, 2022. Queen Elizabeth II died at Balmoral Castle in Scotland on September 8, 2022, and is succeeded by her eldest son, King Charles III. (Photo by Marko Djurica - WPA Pool/Getty Images) Five members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), specifically from the RCMP Musical Ride led the procession. It is a troop of officers that performs drills on horseback to music. The inclusion is representative of Queen Elizabeth's fondness for the RCMP. The Musical Ride gifted eight of their horses to Queen Elizabeth. The first was Burmese from the RCMPs breeding farm in Saskatchewan in 1969. Mary Simon, Governor General of Canada travelled to the U.K. on Sept. 16 to attend the funeral. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was also in attendance, accompanied by Sophie Gregoire Trudeau. Canadian actor Sandra Oh is also at the Queen's funeral, she received Order of Canada appointment as an Officer in June. In Canada, a parade to commemorate the Queen took place in Ottawa followed by a commemorative ceremony. Former prime minister Brian Mulroney and former governor general Adrienne Clarkson were in attendance, in addition to feral NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, and provincial leaders, including Ontario's Doug Ford. A 96-gun salute was conducted during the memorial parade as well. In the words of Canada's leaders Former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney speaks during a memorial service to mark the passing of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II at Christ Church Cathedral in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada September 19, 2022. REUTERS/Blair Gable/Pool Today, our system might appear anachronistic to some, I understand that, but to others, who constitute, in my judgment, the overwhelming majority of Canadians, the role of the monarchy and in particular the irreplaceable role played by Her Majesty for 70 years was absolutely indispensable, in our countrys hugely impressive achievements and contributions to peace, and prosperity and stability, at home and around the world. Her Majestys brilliant service and contributions over seven decades did so much to sustain and elevate the golden concepts of freedom and liberty, and democracy, that have brought such honour to Canada and to all of our people.Brian Mulroney, Former Prime Minister of Canada "In 1982, Queen Elizabeth II came and signed the patriation of our Constitution for which Canadians had worked for decades. We gained our Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Canadians will always remember the Queen for coming to sign over to us what is rightfully ours. Our human rights, our human freedom. It preserves that clearing in the encroaching forest, it provides the light that exposes ignorance and bigotry."Former Gov. Gen. Adrienne Clarkson The federal government has also made Sept. 19 a federal holiday, while Ontario and Quebec opted to make declare the day a provincial holiday, which also prompted discussions about why the decision was made by Canada's government. While many Canadians have expressed their sadness about the Queen's death, other have referenced the British Empire's legacy of colonialism and are questioning the future of the monarchy. See the full recap of events from Canadians coast-to-coast and in London as the day unfolded: Siddharth Patel is the chairman of the Hindu Samaj Swindon People of all faiths have been paying their respects to the late Queen Elizabeth II. The Hindu Samaj Swindon has opened its doors to anyone who wants to pray for Her Majesty. Chairman Siddharth Patel, who came to the UK in 1972 as a Ugandan refugee, said: "Everybody is coming together." Meanwhile, Ishak Mogul of the Swindon Muslim Council hailed the Queen as "an angel", saying for some people "it's like losing a mother figure". At the Hindu Samaj Swindon, Mr Patel said: "It's very important for people of different faiths to remember the Queen - everybody is coming together. "On Sundays between 12:00 BST and 14:00 BST we usually have a service, but after hearing the sad news, we extended it by two hours and dedicated the whole service to Her Majesty. The Hindu Samaj Swindon has dedicated a space to the Queen "The Queen has put in a huge amount of selfless giving, and in Hinduism that is exactly what we believe in." Dinesh Patel, 69, a volunteer at the Swindon Hindu centre, said the Queen's death came as "a huge shock". "After a couple of days of mourning, we realised this is a celebration of her life, she achieved a lot and represented something very unique," he said. Dinesh Patel said the Queen "projected a sincere image" "We are all children of the Commonwealth, I have been in this country for 57 years, this is home." Aparna Pednekar, 51, another volunteer, said: "She's been so selfless, we've all been praying for her, thanking her for what she's done for our country. "It's very important for all the faiths to come together - we all pray for her in different ways." Ms Pednekar (left) acknowledged the Queen's "selfless" contribution At the Swindon Mosque, Mr Mogul, chair of the Swindon Muslim Council that represents six different organisations in Swindon, said: "The Queen was an angel. "For some it's like losing a mother figure, especially for my wife. That's the kind of sentiment across the community." He also praised King Charles III's "warm and inclusive" statement following the death of his mother, where the new King said he would endeavour to serve with "loyalty, respect and love, whatever may be your background or faith". Mr Mogul said Muslims were experiencing "a lot of grief" over Her Majesty's death Follow BBC West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: bristol@bbc.co.uk The full order of service for the Queens state funeral has been revealed. Westminster Abbey will host the ceremony at 11am on Monday, after the late monarchs coffin is transported from Westminster Hall where she has been lying in state. The queue to see the Queens coffin was closed to new entrants at 10.45pm on Sunday evening, with the last mourners filing past at 6.30am. Millions of people across the country are expected to watch the funeral on television, with thousands already camped out to line the route along The Mall. Hundreds of dignitaries are due to attend the service at the Abbey, with presidents, prime ministers among them. Queen Elizabeth will be remembered in a celebration of her life and reign (PA) Here are the details of the funeral service: The service is conducted by The Very Reverend Dr David Hoyle MBE, Dean of Westminster. Hymns will be sung by the Choir of Westminster Abbey and the Choir of the Chapel Royal, St Jamess Palace, (Joseph McHardy, Director of Music) under the direction of James ODonnell, Organist and Master of the Choristers, Westminster Abbey. The State Trumpeters of the Household Cavalry are led by Trumpet Major Julian Sandford. The Fanfare Team of the Household Division Bands is conducted by Lieutenant Colonel David Barringer MBE, Commanding Officer, Household Division Bands. The organ is played by Peter Holder, Sub-Organist, Westminster Abbey. Before the service, the tenor bell is tolled every minute for 96 minutes, reflecting the years of Queen Elizabeth IIs life. Members of Foreign Royal Families, Heads of State, and Overseas Government Representatives are received at the Great West Door by the Dean and Chapter of Westminster and are conducted to their seats in the Lantern. All remain seated. Music before the service: Matthew Jorysz, Assistant Organist, Westminster Abbey, plays Fantasia of four parts Orlando Gibbons (15831625) Organist of Westminster Abbey 162325 Romanza (Symphony no 5 in D) Ralph Vaughan Williams (18721958) arranged by Robert Quinney (b 1976) Reliqui domum meum Peter Maxwell Davies (19342016) Meditation on Brother Jamess Air Harold Darke (18881976) Prelude on Ecce jam noctis Op 157 no 3 Healey Willan (18801968) Psalm Prelude Set 1 no 2 Herbert Howells (18921983) In the Country Op 194 no 2 Charles Villiers Stanford (18521924) Fantasy on O Paradise Malcolm Williamson (19312003) Elegy Op 58 Edward Elgar (18571934) arranged by Matthew Jorysz (b 1992) Story continues The Sub-Organist plays: Andante espressivo (Sonata in G Op 28) Edward Elgar Sospiri Op 70 Edward Elgar arranged by Peter Holder (b 1990) The Procession of Religious Representatives moves to places in the Nave and the Sacrarium. All remain seated. Verger Mrs Marie van der Zyl President, Board of Deputies of British Jews Dr Shirin Fozdar-Faroudi Representative of the Bahai Community Mr Nemu Chandaria OBE Representative of the Jain Community Mr Malcolm Deboo Representative of the Zoroastrian Community The Venerable Bogoda Seelawimala Representative of the Buddhist Community The Lord Singh of Wimbledon CBE Representative of the Sikh Community Mr Rajnish Kashyap General Secretary, Hindu Council UK Mrs Aliya Azam MBE Interfaith Co-ordinator, Al-Khoei Foundation Shaykh Dr Asim Yusuf Muslim Scholar Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis Chief Rabbi of Great Britain and the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth Verger REPRESENTING THE CHURCHES OF WALES The Reverend Simon Walkling President, Free Church Council of Wales The Most Reverend Andrew John Archbishop of Wales The Most Reverend Mark OToole Archbishop of Cardiff REPRESENTING THE CHURCHES OF SCOTLAND The Right Reverend Dr Iain Greenshields Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland The Most Reverend Leo Cushley Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh The Most Reverend Mark Strange Primus, Scottish Episcopal Church REPRESENTING THE CHURCHES OF NORTHERN IRELAND The Reverend David Nixon President Methodist Church in Ireland The Reverend Ian Brown Lead Minister Martyrs Memorial Free Presbyterian Church The Right Reverend Dr John Kirkpatrick Moderator, The Presbyterian Church in Ireland The Most Reverend Dr Eamon Martin Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland The Most Reverend John McDowell Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland and Metropolitan REPRESENTING THE CHURCHES IN ENGLAND Pastor Agu Irukwu Senior Pastor, Jesus House UK Pastor Glyn Barrett National Leader, Assemblies of God The Reverend Canon Helen Cameron Moderator, Free Churches Group Ms Shermara Fletcher Principal Officer for Pentecostal and Charismatic Relations, Churches Together in England The Reverend Canon Graham Thompson President, Methodist Conference His Eminence Archbishop Angaelos The Coptic Church in Great Britain His Eminence Cardinal Vincent Nichols Archbishop of Westminster His Eminence Archbishop Nikitas Archbishop of Thyateira and Great Britain Serjeant of the Vestry The Very Reverend Professor David Fergusson OBE Dean of the Thistle and of the Chapel Royal in Scotland The Reverend Canon Paul Wright Sub-Dean of His Majestys Chapels Royal The Right Reverend and Right Honourable Dame Sarah Mullally DBE Bishop of London and Dean of His Majestys Chapels Royal The Right Reverend David Conner KCVO Dean of Windsor The Right Reverend James Newcome Clerk of the Closet The Right Reverend Dr John Inge Lord High Almoner Members of the Royal Family are received at the Great West Door by the Dean and Chapter of Westminster and are conducted to their seats in the Lantern. All remain seated. The Choir of Westminster Abbey and the Choir of the Chapel Royal, St Jamess Palace, proceed to places in the Nave and in Quire. All remain seated. ORDER OF SERVICE All stand as the Procession of the Coffin enters the Abbey. The Choir of Westminster Abbey sings THE SENTENCES During which the Procession of the Coffin moves through the Abbey: I am the resurrection and the life, saith the Lord: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. John 11: 2526 I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God; whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another. Job 19: 2527 We brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. William Croft (16781727) 1 Timothy 6: 7; Job 1: 21 Organist of Westminster Abbey 170827 The Choir of Westminster Abbey and the Choir of the Chapel Royal, St Jamess Palace, sing Thou knowest, Lord, the secrets of our hearts; shut not thy merciful ears unto our prayer; but spare us, Lord most holy, O God most mighty, O holy and most merciful Saviour, thou most worthy Judge eternal, suffer us not, at our last hour, for any pains of death, to fall from thee. Amen. Henry Purcell (165995) The Book of Common Prayer 1549 Organist of Westminster Abbey 167995 Heard a voice from heaven, saying unto me, Write, From henceforth blessed are I the dead which die in the Lord: even so saith the Spirit; for they rest from their labours. Amen. William Croft Revelation 14: 13 Beadle The Choir of Westminster Abbey Mr James ODonnell Organist and Master of the Choristers Pursuivants and Heralds of Arms of Scotland: March, Falkland Linlithgow, Unicorn Ormond, Carrick Rothesay, Marchmont Pursuivants and Heralds of Arms of England: Portcullis, Bluemantle Rouge Dragon, Wales Norfolk, Maltravers Windsor, York Richmond Kings of Arms: Norroy and Ulster King of Arms Lord Lyon King of Arms Clarenceux King of Arms Lady Usher of the Black Rod Garter Principal King of Arms Household of Queen Elizabeth II: Master of the Horse Lord Steward Director of the Royal Collection Comptroller, Lord Chamberlains Office Master of the Household Keeper of the Privy Purse, Private Secretary The Queens Page, The Queens Page, Palace Steward Verger The Kings Almsmen Verger Primatial Cross of York, Primatial Cross of Canterbury The Most Reverend and Right Honourable Stephen Cottrell Archbishop of York, Primate of England and Metropolitan The Most Reverend and Right Honourable Justin Welby Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate of All England and Metropolitan The Cross of Westminster and Lights The Reverend Robert Latham Minor Canon and Sacrist The Reverend Mark Birch Minor Canon and Precentor Mr Paul Baumann CBE Receiver General Sir Kenneth Olisa OBE High Bailiff of Westminster Verger The Venerable Tricia Hillas Canon Steward and Archdeacon of Westminster The Reverend Dr James Hawkey Canon Theologian and Almoner The Right Reverend Anthony Ball Canon of Westminster and Rector of St Margarets Church The Reverend David Stanton Sub-Dean and Canon Treasurer Deans Verger The Very Reverend Dr David Hoyle MBE Dean of Westminster Pall Bearers, Pall Bearers Lord Chamberlain, Earl Marshal The Queens coffin surmounted by The Imperial State Crown, The Orb and The Sceptre and borne by the Bearer Party: The Queen Consort, The King Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, The Princess Royal The Duke of York The Countess of Wessex and Forfar, The Earl of Wessex and Forfar The Princess of Wales, The Prince of Wales Princess Charlotte of Wales, Prince George of Wales The Duchess of Sussex, The Duke of Sussex The Earl of Snowdon, Mr Peter Phillips The Duke of Gloucester Prince Michael of Kent, The Duke of Kent Household of The former Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall: Private Secretary, Principal Private Secretary Equerry, Master of the Household Household of The Prince and Princess of Wales: Equerry All remain standing. The Very Reverend Dr David Hoyle MBE, Dean of Westminster, gives: THE BIDDING In grief and also in profound thanksgiving we come to this House of God, to a place of prayer, to a church where remembrance and hope are sacred duties. Here, where Queen Elizabeth was married and crowned, we gather from across the nation, from the Commonwealth, and from the nations of the world, to mourn our loss, to remember her long life of selfless service, and in sure confidence to commit her to the mercy of God our maker and redeemer. With gratitude we remember her unswerving commitment to a high calling over so many years as Queen and Head of the Commonwealth. With admiration we recall her life-long sense of duty and dedication to her people. With thanksgiving we praise God for her constant example of Christian faith and devotion. With affection we recall her love for her family and her commitment to the causes she held dear. Now, in silence, let us in our hearts and minds recall our many reasons for thanksgiving, pray for all members of her family, and commend Queen Elizabeth to the care and keeping of almighty God. A brief silence is kept. Merciful God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the resurrection and the life; in whom whosoever believeth shall live, though he die; and whosoever liveth, and believeth in him, shall not die eternally; who hast taught us, by his holy Apostle Saint Paul, not to be sorry, as men without hope, for them that sleep in him: We meekly beseech thee, O Father, to raise us from the death of sin unto the life of righteousness; that, when we shall depart this life, we may rest in him, as our hope is this our sister doth; and that, at the general Resurrection in the last day, we may be found acceptable in thy sight; and receive that blessing, which thy well-beloved Son shall then pronounce to all that love and fear thee, saying, Come, ye blessed children of my Father, receive the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world. Grant this, we beseech thee, O merciful Father, through Jesus Christ, our mediator and redeemer. Amen. All sing THE HYMN The day thou gavest, Lord, is ended, the darkness falls at thy behest; to thee our morning hymns ascended, thy praise shall sanctify our rest. We thank thee that thy Church unsleeping, while earth rolls onward into light, through all the world her watch is keeping, and rests not now by day or night. As oer each continent and island the dawn leads on another day, the voice of prayer is never silent, nor dies the strain of praise away. The sun that bids us rest is waking our brethren neath the western sky, and hour by hour fresh lips are making thy wondrous doings heard on high. So be it, Lord; thy throne shall never, like earths proud empires, pass away; thy kingdom stands, and grows for ever, till all thy creatures own thy sway. St Clement John Ellerton (182693) Clement Scholefield (18391904) arranged by James ODonnell (b 1961) All sit. The Right Honourable the Baroness Scotland of Asthal KC, Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, reads: THE FIRST LESSON Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christs at his coming. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. 1 Corinthians 15: 2026, 53end Thanks be to God. All remain seated. The choir sings: THE PSALM Like as the hart desireth the water-brooks : so longeth my soul after thee, O God. My soul is athirst for God, yea, even for the living God : when shall I come to appear before the presence of God? My tears have been my meat day and night : while they daily say unto me, Where is now thy God? Now when I think thereupon, I pour out my heart by myself : for I went with the multitude, and brought them forth into the house of God; In the voice of praise and thanksgiving : among such as keep holy-day. Why art thou so full of heaviness, O my soul : and why art thou so disquieted within me? Put thy trust in God : for I will yet give him thanks for the help of his countenance. Judith Weir CBE (b 1954) Psalm 42: 17 composed for this Service The Right Honourable Elizabeth Truss MP, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, reads: THE SECOND LESSON Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Fathers house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. John 14: 19a Thanks be to God. All stand to sing: THE HYMN The Lords my shepherd, Ill not want; he makes me down to lie in pastures green; he leadeth me the quiet waters by. My soul he doth restore again, and me to walk doth make within the paths of righteousness, een for his own names sake. The choir sings Yea, though I walk through deaths dark vale, yet will I fear none ill; for thou art with me, and thy rod and staff me comfort still. All sing My table thou hast furnished in presence of my foes; my head thou dost with oil anoint, and my cup overflows. Goodness and mercy all my life shall surely follow me; and in Gods house for evermore my dwelling place shall be. Crimond attributed to Jessie Seymour Irvine (183687) harmony by David Grant (183393) descant by William Baird Ross (18711950) Psalm 23 in Scottish Psalter 1650 THE SERMON The Most Reverend and Right Honourable Justin Welby Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate of All England and Metropolitan All remain seated. The choir sings: THE ANTHEM My soul, there is a country Far beyond the stars, Where stands a winged sentry All skilful in the wars: There above noise, and danger, Sweet Peace sits crowned with smiles, And One born in a manger Commands the beauteous files. He is thy gracious friend, And (O my soul, awake!) Did in pure love descend, To die here for thy sake. If thou canst get but thither, There grows the flower of Peace, The Rose that cannot wither, Thy fortress, and thy ease. Leave then thy foolish ranges, For none can thee secure, But One who never changes, Thy God, thy Life, thy Cure. from Songs of Farewell Hubert Parry (18481918) Henry Vaughan (162195) The Reverend Mark Birch, Minor Canon and Precentor, leads: THE PRAYERS In confidence and trust, let us pray to the Father. All kneel or remain seated. The Reverend Dr Iain Greenshields, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, says: Let us give thanks to God for Queen Elizabeths long life and reign, recalling with gratitude her gifts of wisdom, diligence, and service. O god, from whom cometh everything that is upright and true: accept our thanks for the gifts of heart and mind that thou didst bestow upon thy daughter Elizabeth, and which she showed forth among us in her words and deeds; and grant that we may have grace to live our lives in accordance with thy will, to seek the good of others, and to remain faithful servants unto our lives end; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Ms Shermara Fletcher, Principal Officer for Pentecostal and Charismatic Relations, Churches Together in England, says: Confident in Gods love and compassion, let us pray for all those whose hearts are heavy with grief and sorrow. Almighty God, Father of all mercies and giver of all comfort: deal graciously, we pray thee, with those who mourn, that casting every care on thee, they may know the consolation of thy love; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. The Right Reverend and Right Honourable Dame Sarah Mullally DBE, Bishop of London and Dean of His Majestys Chapels Royal, says: Let us pray for His Majesty The King and all the Royal Family; that they may know the sustaining power of Gods love and the prayerful fellowship of Gods people. Almighty God, the fountain of all goodness, we humbly beseech thee to bless our most gracious Sovereign Lord King Charles, Camilla The Queen Consort, William Prince of Wales, and all the Royal Family: endue them with thy Holy Spirit, enrich them with thy heavenly grace; prosper them with all happiness; and bring them to thine everlasting kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. The Reverend Canon Helen Cameron, Moderator of the Free Churches Group, says: In recognition of Queen Elizabeths service to this United Kingdom, let us rejoice in her unstinting devotion to duty, her compassion for her subjects, and her counsel to her ministers; and we pray for the continued health and prosperity of this Nation. Almighty God, whose will it is that all thy children should serve thee in serving one another: look with love, we pray thee, on this Nation. Grant to its citizens grace to work together with honest and faithful hearts, each caring for the good of all; that, seeking first thy kingdom and its righteousness, they may possess all things needful for their daily sustenance and the common good; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. His Eminence Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster, says: Let us give thanks for Queen Elizabeths commitment to the Commonwealth throughout her reign, for her service and dedication to its peoples, and for the rich bonds of unity and mutual support she sustained. Almighty and everlasting God, hear our prayer for the Commonwealth, and grant it the guidance of thy wisdom. Inspire those in authority, that they may promote justice and the common good; give to all its citizens the spirit of mutual honour and respect; and grant to us all grace to strive for the establishment of righteousness and peace; for the honour of thy name. Amen. The Most Reverend and Right Honourable Stephen Cottrell, Archbishop of York, Primate of England and Metropolitan, says: We give thanks to God for Queen Elizabeths loyalty to the faith she inherited through her baptism and confirmation, and affirmed at her coronation; for her unswerving devotion to the Gospel; and for her steadfast service as Supreme Governor of the Church of England. Lord, we beseech thee to keep thy household the Church in continual godliness; that through thy protection she may be free from all adversities, and devoutly given to serve thee in all good works, to the glory of thy name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. The Precentor says: Let us pray that we may be given grace to live as those who believe in the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, and the resurrection to eternal life. Bring us, O Lord God, at our last awakening into the house and gate of heaven, to enter into that gate and dwell in that house, where there shall be no darkness nor dazzling, but one equal light; no noise nor silence, but one equal music; no fears nor hopes, but one equal possession; no ends nor beginnings, but one equal eternity; in the habitation of thy glory and dominion, world without end. Amen. John Donne (15721631) The choir sings: Taste and see how gracious the Lord is : blest is the man that trusteth in him. Ralph Vaughan composed for the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, 1953 Williams Psalm 34: 8 The Precentor concludes: In confidence and hope, let us pray to the Father in the words our Saviour taught us, Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done; on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen. All stand to sing THE HYMN Love divine, all loves excelling, joy of heaven, to earth come down, fix in us thy humble dwelling, all thy faithful mercies crown. Jesu, thou art all compassion, pure unbounded love thou art; visit us with thy salvation, enter every trembling heart. Come, almighty to deliver, let us all thy life receive; suddenly return, and never, never more thy temples leave. Thee we would be always blessing, serve thee as thy hosts above, pray, and praise thee, without ceasing, glory in thy perfect love. Finish then thy new creation, pure and spotless let us be; let us see thy great salvation, perfectly restored in thee, changed from glory into glory till in heaven we take our place, till we cast our crowns before thee, lost in wonder, love, and praise! Blaenwern Charles Wesley (170788) William Rowlands (18601937) arranged by James ODonnell All remain standing for: THE COMMENDATION The Archbishop of Canterbury says: Let us commend to the mercy of God, our maker and redeemer, the soul of Elizabeth, our late Queen. Heavenly Father, King of kings, Lord and giver of life, who of thy grace in creation didst form mankind in thine own image, and in thy great love offerest us life eternal in Christ Jesus; claiming the promises of thy most blessed Son, we entrust the soul of Elizabeth, our sister here departed, to thy merciful keeping, in sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life, when Christ shall be all in all; who died and rose again to save us, and now liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, in glory for ever. Amen. O forth, O Christian soul, from this world, in the name of God the Father almighty, who created thee; in the name of Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, who suffered for thee; in the name of the Holy Spirit, who was poured out upon thee and anointed thee. In communion with all the blessed saints, and aided by the angels and archangels and all the armies of the heavenly host, may thy portion this day be in peace, and thy dwelling in the heavenly Jerusalem. Amen. All remain standing. The choir sings: THE ANTHEM Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Alleluia! Amen. Sir James MacMillan CBE (b 1959) composed for this Service Romans 8: 35a, 38bend The Dean pronounces: THE BLESSING God grant to the living grace; to the departed rest; to the Church, The King, the Commonwealth, and all people, peace and concord, and to us sinners, life everlasting; and the blessing of God almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be among you and remain with you always. Amen. All remain standing for THE LAST POST Silence is kept. REVEILLE All sing THE NATIONAL ANTHEM God save our gracious King, long live our noble King, God save The King. Send him victorious, happy and glorious, long to reign over us: God save The King. Thy choicest gifts in store on him be pleased to pour, long may he reign. May he defend our laws, and ever give us cause to sing with heart and voice: God save The King! arranged by Gordon Jacob (18951984) All remain standing. The Queens Piper, Warrant Officer Class 1 (Pipe Major) Paul Burns, plays: Sleep, dearie, sleep traditional All remain standing as the Coffin and Processions leave the church. The Sub-Organist plays: Fantasia in C minor BWV 562 Johann Sebastian Bach (16851750) THE PROCESSION OF THE COFFIN Verger Primatial Cross of York Primatial Cross of Canterbury The Most Reverend and Right Honourable Stephen Cottrell Archbishop of York, Primate of England and Metropolitan The Most Reverend and Right Honourable Justin Welby Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate of All England and Metropolitan The Cross of Westminster and Lights The Reverend Robert Latham Minor Canon and Sacrist The Reverend Mark Birch Minor Canon and Precentor Mr Paul Baumann CBE Receiver General Sir Kenneth Olisa OBE High Bailiff of Westminster Verger The Venerable Tricia Hillas Canon Steward and Archdeacon of Westminster The Reverend Dr James Hawkey Canon Theologian and Almoner The Right Reverend Anthony Ball Canon of Westminster and Rector of St Margarets Church The Reverend David Stanton Sub-Dean and Canon Treasurer Deans Verger The Very Reverend Dr David Hoyle MBE Dean of Westminster The Queens coffin The Queen Consort, The King Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, The Princess Royal The Duke of York The Countess of Wessex and Forfar, The Earl of Wessex and Forfar The Princess of Wales, The Prince of Wales Princess Charlotte of Wales, Prince George of Wales The Duchess of Sussex, The Duke of Sussex The Earl of Snowdon, Mr Peter Phillips The Duke of Gloucester Prince Michael of Kent, The Duke of Kent Music after the service: Allegro maestoso (Sonata in G Op 28) Edward Elgar Members of the Congregation are requested to remain in their places until invited to move by the Honorary Stewards. Later in the afternoon, the bells of the Abbey are rung fully-muffled by the Westminster Abbey Company of Ringers in a peal of Stedman Caters, comprising 5096 changes The state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II is expected to be the biggest TV event since Princess Dianas service 25 years ago. The Queens funeral will be held at Westminster Abbey today (Monday 19 September) and will be followed by a national two-minute silence. Some 2,000 people will attend the funeral, including leaders from around the world and the Queens great grandchildren Prince George, nine, and Princess Charlotte, seven, who will walk behind the Queens coffin with their parents, the Prince and Princess of Wales. The funeral of Princess Diana, who died aged 36 after a car crash in Paris in 1997, was watched by 31 million people in the UK. It has been estimated that the global viewership for that service was 2.5 billion. No royal or sporting event since 1997 has been able to match such high ratings. TV analyst at WatchTVAbroad.com, Carolina Beltramo, has claimed that as many as 4.1 billion more than half the worlds population could tune in to the Queens funeral. She pointed to the opening ceremony of the Atlanta Olympics, when 3.6 billion people were estimated to have watched Muhammad Ali light the Olympic torch in 1996, as another huge TV event. Beltramo said that audience figures are likely to eclipse both events, thanks to advances in technology, which mean most of us now carry TVs around in our pockets. Princess Dianas coffin being carried at her funeral in 1997 (PA) Queen Elizabeth IIs lying in state has come to an end after four days, as the UK prepares to bid farewell to its monarch of 70 years. Read about how to watch the Queens funeral here. Follow the latest updates following the death of Queen Elizabeth II here The migrants in Marthas Vineyard mirror Reverse Freedom Riders, Blacks allegedly duped by White segregationists in 1962 as retaliation for the Freedom Rides. For some Black families used as pawns in a political ruse by White segregationists many decades ago, the act of Floridas Republican governor Ron DeSantis sending migrants to Marthas Vineyard brings back memories of a familiar, ugly past. According to The Washington Post, the migrants in Marthas Vineyard were reportedly transported to the same military facility on Cape Cod as the Reverse Freedom Riders, Blacks who were allegedly duped by White segregationists in 1962 as retaliation for the Freedom Rides of the previous summer, when volunteers rode buses through the South in support of desegregation. The plan back then was orchestrated by the white supremacist Citizens Councils in Arkansas, who purchased radio ads and created fliers advertising the opportunity to African Americans. They marketed to men with criminal records and single mothers with a lot of children, assuming White liberals would welcome them the least. Carlos Munoz reaches out to hug Larkin Stallings as the immigrants prepare to leave St. Andrews in Edgartown, Massachusetts, on Friday. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis took the playbook of a fellow Republican, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, to a new level by catching officials flat-footed in Marthas Vineyard, with two planeloads of Venezuelan migrants. On Friday, the migrants were being moved voluntarily to a military base on nearby Cape Cod. (Photo: Ron Schloerb/Cape Cod Times via AP) Alabama mother of eight Eliza Davis, 36, an agricultural laborer who had been promised employment and lodging in exchange for taking a free trip to another state, was among those uprooting their families. In 1962, Davis and her kids were bussed to Hyannis, Massachusetts not far from then-President John F. Kennedys vacation home and left there. Lela Mae Williams, an Arkansas mom also dropped off in Hyannis with her nine youngest children, arrived wearing her best clothes because she was told that Kennedy himself would welcome them. One of Williams daughters told NPRs CodeSwitch in 2020 that the family eventually moved into a Boston housing complex, where they suffered without any relatives nearby and were harassed by racist white neighbors, who disapproved of them attending public schools. President Kennedy dodged the subject, referring to the Reverse Freedom Rides as a fairly cheap exercise. His administration turned down the governor of Massachusetts request for federal assistance. Story continues In a 2004 dissertation on the Reverse Freedom Rides, American history professor Clive Webb of the University of Sussex stated that Southern segregationist organizations blatantly misled Black families using strategies parodying the Freedom Rides. There were recruitment posters that read, President Kennedys brother assures you a grand reception to Massachusetts. Good jobs, housing etc. are promised, The Post reported. The Greater New Orleans Citizens Council advertised in newspapers that it would provide free transportation plus $5 for any Black individual or families looking to migrate to the Nations Capital or any place in the north of their choice. Webb said there were also notices placed in jails offering free transportation to inmates whose sentences were about to end. Some of the Southerners transported to Hyannis found employment as chefs, chambermaids or in candle-making factories. Jobs in Hyannis eventually ended, and all but one relocated family that of volunteer nurse Victoria Bell departed. According to Webb, moderate segregationists were turned off by the manipulation of low-income African Americans, which is part of what led to the Reverse Freedom Rides political failure. The Arkansas Gazette reported that the strategy was never supported by its better thinking folks, and it was criticized by New Orleans radio and television station WDSU as sick sensationalism bordering on the moronic, The Post reported. The buses were paid for in the 1960s by unidentified donors to private segregationist organizations. While DeSantis has not disclosed how the flights he organized to Marthas Vineyard were financed, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott also a Republican utilized state funds and donations for the buses. In the end, in the early 60s, fewer than 200 persons were dispatched up north on Reverse Freedom Rides. Thats a stark contrast to the thousands of migrants who have recently been sent to Massachusetts, New York, Washington, D.C. and other locations. TheGrio is FREE on your TV via Apple TV, Amazon Fire, Roku and Android TV. Also, please download theGrio mobile apps today! The post Racists bused Black mothers with many children to Cape Cod decades ago. Sound familiar? appeared first on TheGrio. NEW ORLEANS (AP) The Grammy-nominated rapper Mystikal pleaded not guilty on Monday to charges accusing him of raping and choking a woman at his home in Louisiana and of possessing several drugs. The 51-year-old performer whose given name is Michael Tyler is innocent of all charges, attorney Joel Pearce said after the arraignment in Ascension Parish court in Gonzales, about 15 miles (24 kilometers) from Baton Rouge. The charges include first-degree rape, which carries an automatic life sentence. Pearce said he has not been able to get copies of the two indictments, but they were read aloud in court. Charges also include simple criminal damage to property, false imprisonment, domestic abuse battery by strangulation, simple robbery, possession of heroin, marijuana, methamphetamine and Xanax, and possession of drug paraphernalia, he said. My client doesnt even do drugs, so he has absolutely no idea what they were talking about, Pearce said in a telephone interview during his 250-mile (402-kilometer) drive from Gonzales to Shreveport. He said bond may be discussed at a hearing Oct. 17. Prosecutors said they plan to bring up Tylers 2003 guilty plea to sexual battery and extortion as evidence of prior crimes, said Pearce. Tyler and two bodyguards had videotaped themselves in sex acts with Tylers hairstylist. The prosecutor in that case, Sue Bernie, said in 2003 that the woman told investigators that Tyler accused her of stealing $80,000 worth of his checks and told her he would not go to police if she did something degrading. The woman denied stealing any money, Bernie said. A letter in court records before Tyler's sentencing stated that he had paid the woman $350,000. He served six years in prison on that conviction, which came the same year that he was nominated for two Grammy awards. He also received a Grammy nomination in 2001. Pearce said he doesn't know what the woman who is now accusing Tyler allegedly was robbed of, but the criminal damage charge accuses him of breaking the band of her Apple watch. Story continues Pearce represented Tyler on rape and kidnapping charges that prosecutors in northwest Louisiana dropped in December 2020. Those charges, brought in 2017, had kept Tyler jailed nearly 18 months before he was released on $3 million bond. People keep saying it's his third time to be charged with rape, Pearce said, but Tyler pleaded guilty to a lesser charge in Baton Rouge. And in Caddo Parish, after a grand jury indicted him, they un-indicted him. Mystikal told The Associated Press in April 2021 that he used to be a nasty lil rapper but now is proud of lyrics he can imagine rapping to God. Photo: The Canadian Press Russian President Vladimir Putin, centre, speaks with Canada's ambassador to Russia Alison LeClaire as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, right, looks on during a ceremony in Kremlin, in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool Russias foreign ministry summoned Canadas ambassador on Monday, saying an unidentified person threw a Molotov cocktail at the countrys embassy in Ottawa. Moscow claims Ottawa police have turned a blind eye to aggressive demonstrators blocking public access to the embassys consular section. In a Russian-language statement Monday afternoon, the ministry says authorities arent doing enough to prevent or detain those committing hostile actions against Russias diplomatic staff. The statement does not specify when these incidents are alleged to have taken place but argues they amount to criminal acts and that Canada is not upholding the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Moscow has summoned Canadian ambassador Alison LeClaire, a move meant to formally register Russias growing ire with Canada. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Sunday that Russias actions since invading Ukraine clearly include war crimes, noting reports of mass graves. Richmond Police Department is warning the public of scams involving a memorial fund for fallen officer Seara Burton. The department posted screenshots of the phony fund which is on the crowdfunding website Plumfund titled In Loving Memory of Seara Burton. >> PHOTOS: Law enforcement procession escorts body of fallen Richmond officer back to Indiana The fund claims to be started by a Julia Burton and said they are Burtons mother. The department said this is not true and is a scam. >> RELATED: Richmond Officer Seara Burton passes away five weeks after being shot during traffic stop At this time we encourage anybody that wishes to donate to check and make sure it is a legitimate fundraising event or account, Richmond PD said on social media. At the time of this reporting, the account has collected more than $3,500 of its $15,000 goal. Comments online show that people are disgusted someone would try to scam people during this time. The Federal Trade Commission provides the following tips for making sure a crowdfunding website is not a scam: Find out whos behind the crowdfunding request. If a friend posted, shared, or liked the request on social media, contact your friend offline. Ask what they know about the post. Do they know the person or group wholl get the money? If not, try finding out who the campaign organizer is and look them up online. Do a reverse image search of the photos used on the crowdfunding campaign page. Search on your web browser how to do a reverse image search and see if the campaign images are associated with other names, or whether the details dont match what the crowdfunding campaign is saying. The royal family is commemorating the late Queen Elizabeth II with one last official portrait. The night before her funeral, a never-before-seen photograph of the beloved and history-making monarch was shared by the official Instagram account of the royal family. The picture shows Queen Elizabeth smiling while wearing her standard pearl necklace and earrings. She also wore a periwinkle dress and stunning blue brooches. The two brooches, worn separately above each other, are made of aquamarine and diamond. According to the Court Jeweller, a blog that tracks the queen's sparkling pieces, the brooches were given to her by her father, George VI, as an 18th birthday present. According to the caption of the sweet photo, the picture was taken just this year to mark the queen's Platinum Jubilee, which honored her 70 years on the throne. The release of the photo is just one of several ways the royal family has honored their matriarch in recent days. Since her death at Balmoral Castle in Scotland on Sept. 8, the family has been in mourning and released several statements honoring the late queen. Earlier this week, the queen's casket was brought from Scotland to London, and a solemn procession followed the coffin as it travelled from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall. It's not just the queen's family members paying tribute: Millions have waited hours in line to pay their respects to the late queen at Westminster Hall. Two seperate vigils one by her children, one by her grandchildren have also been held. The funeral, on Monday, Sept. 19, will be the first state funeral in England since the death of Winston Churchill in 1965. It will include a service attended by 2,000 people, including hundreds of world leaders, and a private burial ceremony at St. George's Chapel, where the queen will be laid to rest beside her husband, parents and sister. Related: This article was originally published on TODAY.com By Estelle Shirbon LONDON (Reuters) -Queen Elizabeth's closest relatives were ashen-faced throughout Monday's solemn funeral rituals in London and Windsor, silently playing their parts in meticulously choreographed processions that nevertheless betrayed the high emotions of the day. Elizabeth's son King Charles and his three younger siblings, Anne, Andrew and Edward, followed the gun carriage pulled by 142 Royal Navy sailors that bore the queen's coffin to Westminster Abbey https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/westminster-abbey-traditional-church-royals-life-death-2022-09-18/ for her state funeral service. Behind them came Charles's sons, Princes William and Harry, their grave faces showing the emotional impact of the moment as they marched to the sound of bagpipes and the tolling of a bell. Charles, Anne, Edward and William, all dressed in ceremonial military uniform, saluted as the coffin was lifted off the gun carriage in front of the abbey. Andrew and Harry, who are no longer working royals, were in morning suits and did not salute, even though both had served in conflict in the past, in the Falklands and in Afghanistan. After 11 days of momentous change and activity since his mother died, Charles looked distraught and exhausted as eight pall bearers carried the coffin through the abbey's Great West Door for the service. Waiting just inside were his wife Camilla, the Queen Consort, as well as William's wife Kate and their children George, 9, and Charlotte, 7, and Harry's wife Meghan. The royals followed the coffin up the aisle, with close-up television shots showing the sorrow on their faces. William and Kate had their children between them as they walked, touching their shoulders at various points. Later during the service, Charlotte could be seen swinging her legs as her feet could not reach the floor from her chair. TEARS Edward, the youngest of the queen's four children, wiped away a tear with a handkerchief at the start of the service, during which the Archbishop of Canterbury spoke of the outpouring of love seen since her death on Sept. 8. Story continues After the service, the royals once again followed the coffin as it was carried out of the abbey and placed back on to the gun carriage. Standing on the front steps of the abbey, Charles, the emotion showing once more on his face, fixed his gaze on his mother's coffin. The royals then joined another solemn procession through the grand avenues of central London. Charles, his siblings and his sons marched behind the gun carriage, while Camilla, Kate, George and Charlotte followed in a car. The presence of William and Harry, walking side-by-side behind their grandmother's coffin, was reminiscent of the day 25 years ago when, as boys, they took part in a similar procession to the funeral of their mother Diana https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/william-harry-walk-together-behind-loved-ones-coffin-again-2022-09-14/, Princess of Wales. The brothers' relationship has been strained since Harry and Meghan stepped away from royal duties and moved to the United States in 2020, but in the aftermath of the queen's death they have appeared united in grief. At Hyde Park Corner, the coffin was placed in a hearse to be driven to Windsor Castle https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/windsor-castle-queen-elizabeths-home-now-final-resting-place-2022-09-18/, the queen's final resting place. As the royals, lined up to the side of the hearse, watched the pall bearers transfer the coffin, Charlotte was photographed crying and rubbing her eyes. After the coffin arrived in Windsor and was slowly driven into the perimeter of the castle, the close relatives marched behind it one last time as it was carried to St George's Chapel for a final service in public. Later, a private family burial service was due to be held with no cameras present. After the coffin was slowly lowered into the royal vault at the end of the Windsor service, Charles held back tears as the congregation sang the national anthem in its updated form, "God Save the King". (Reporting by Estelle Shirbon; Editing by Alex Richardson) UKRAINSKA PRAVDA MONDAY, 19 SEPTEMBER 2022, 13:58 The pro-Russian government of Republic of North Ossetia-Alania announced that by late September, a newly-shaped so-called "volunteer detachment" is to be sent to war against Ukraine. Source: Sergey Meniailo, Head of North Ossetia-Alania, on Telegram Details: According to him, the battalion is now practising at the training ground. Meniailo said that he would personally "organise combat coordination and lead them to the area of combat missions." The first battalion sent to Ukraine was called Alania; it reached the combat zone 7 months ago. The Ossetia battalion was created 3 months ago. The newly created detachment does not yet have a name. Meniailo claims that the "Ossetian volunteer battalions" are equipped with separate artillery divisions and tank companies. Background: In July, Oleksii Danilov, the Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine, said that Russia had started a covert mobilisation, forming so-called "volunteer battalions". After the successful counteroffensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the defeat of Russian troops in Kharkiv Oblast, the Russian authorities have intensified covert mobilisation and recruitment for the war in Ukraine. Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron! LONDON (Reuters) - One of President Vladimir Putin's closest allies sought on Monday to deepen a strategic partnership with China, expanding defence cooperation and strengthening coordination between Moscow and Beijing on major geopolitical issues. Since the invasion of Ukraine, Putin has tilted more strongly towards China as the war and severe Western sanctions torpedoed Russia's relationship with the United States and its European allies. Just before the invasion, Putin and Xi Jinping declared a "no limits" partnership, though at a meeting last week in Uzbekistan Putin said he understood that the Chinese president had concerns and questions about the conflict. Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev, a close Putin ally, met China's top diplomat Yang Jiechi in Nanping to discuss the implementation of agreements Putin and Xi reached at their meeting. "The development of a strategic partnership with China is an unconditional priority of Russian foreign policy," the security council said in a statement. Patrushev and Yang also discussed the Korean peninsular, Taiwan and Ukraine. "The sides agreed on further military cooperation with a focus on joint exercises and patrols, as well as on strengthening contacts between the General Staffs," the security council said. Patrushev, a former Soviet spy who has known Putin since the 1970s, is a hardline ally and seen as one of the few people able to influence the Russian president. The deepening partnership between the rising superpower of China and the natural resources titan of Russia has raised alarm in some Western capitals. In recent years China has participated in a number of Russian war games - joint military exercises designed to simulate how the countries would defend themselves against an attack. Moscow has repeatedly backed Beijing over Taiwan and criticised what it casts as "provocations" by the United States. China has refrained from condemning Russia's military operation against Ukraine or calling it an "invasion". (Reporting by Caleb Davis; Writing by Felix Light and Jake Cordell; editing by Guy Faulconbridge) All missile platforms were removed from battery 500 of the anti-aircraft missile regiment near the village of Kerstovo Read also: More Russian missiles strike hit Kryvyi Rih, damaging critical infrastructure Yle said satellite images of Russian bases reveal that both mobile firing platforms and missiles disappeared during the summer from a base in the Zelenogorsk (Terijoki) area on the Karelian Isthmus, northwest of St. Petersburg, among others. St. Petersburg, Russias second-most important city, has long been surrounded by a protective ring of 14 anti-aircraft missile bases. Now several of them stand empty. Read also: Russia 'running out of Iskander and Kalibr missiles Based on the pictures, four anti-aircraft bases have been emptied of equipment, military expert Maj. (Ret.) Marko Eklund told Yle. A map below shows anti-aircraft missile batteries around St. Petersburg, 170 kilometers from the Finnish border. According to Eklund, the transfer of equipment is unlikely to have significantly weakened St. Petersburgs air defences, because the armament that has been removed is its oldest, so Russia may no longer necessarily need it for defensive purposes. Read also: Russia has fired more than 3,800 missiles at Ukraine, says Zelenskyy It is most likely that the equipment that has been removed is primarily from the old S-300 system, said Eklund. The pair of images below shows that all missile firing platforms have been removed from a missile battery near the village of Kerstovo. In the first picture, a row of 12 of them can be seen in the upper right-hand corner. The first picture is from a year ago and the latest one is from early September. One-and-a-half kilometres to the northeast lies another battery operated by the same regiment. It too has been completely emptied. All that remains is equipment from a radar station using the same base. Thus, only two of the regiments four batteries remain in place. Pictures obtained by Yle show that about 25 missile containers, possibly containing 100 missiles, have been removed from one of the two remaining batteries. Story continues According to Eklund, at a base east of St. Petersburg, close to the shore of Lake Ladoga, missile containers were loaded onto transport platforms in May. The second image shows that not only the missile containers, but also a row of vehicles that have been standing in the open for years, have disappeared. As many as 120 missiles may have been removed from the site in the missile containers. Read also: 90% of Russian unit responsible for Bucha atrocities lost, Ukrainian military says There has also been a significant transfer of equipment from a base southeast of St. Petersburg about 10 firing platforms as well as other vehicles. Eklund believes that the weakening of missile defences on the outskirts of St. Petersburg is due to Russias need for missiles in its war on Ukraine. Even more equipment may have been taken from the St. Petersburg region, but Yle could not obtain usable recent satellite images of all batteries. Help HB continue reporting on the Russian invasion Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine STANISLAV POHORILOV MONDAY, 19 SEPTEMBER 2022, 11:17 Members of the State Investigation Bureau of Ukraine found a reserve command post of Russian occupiers in the liberated city of Balakliia in Kharkiv region. The command post was organised in a house in the outskirts of the city. Source: press-service of the State Investigation Bureau Quote: "Among other things, Ruscists [Russian invaders] stored an entire arsenal at one command post. The ammunition was stored in a carefully disguised cellar". Details: Dozens of crates with ammunition, including projectiles for guns and tanks of different calibres, mines, grenades, and propellant charges have been seized. Apart from that, the State Investigation Bureau found 2 infantry combat vehicles with a payload. Seized ammunition and military equipment was handed over to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Background: According to intercepted calls recorded by Ukrainian Intelligence, the Russian military command didnt warn their troops about the so-called "regrouping" and the retreat from Kharkiv Oblast. Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron! UKRAINSKA PRAVDA MONDAY, 19 SEPTEMBER 2022, 12:54 Russian troops launched a rocket attack on a substation in Zaporizhzhia on the night of 18-19 September. They attacked the Oblast again on the morning of 19 September, wounding one person. Source: Oleksandr Starukh, head of Zaporizhzhia Oblast Military Administration, on Telegram Quote: "The first enemy attack was carried out at around 02:00[,] with [the use of] S-300 missiles. Two projectiles hit a transformer substation near a large residential area in one of the districts of the city of Zaporizhzhia. Part of the district suffered a power outage, medical facilities were also at risk of being cut off [the power grid]." Details: Starukh reported no casualties. Windows were broken in some public facilities. In the morning, the occupiers struck Zaporizhzhia with S-300 missiles. One of the projectiles hit a park on the bank of the Dnipro River, close to a residential area in another district of the city. The second missile hit one of the villages in Zaporizhzhya district; several private homes were destroyed. A 70-year-old woman suffered chest and abdominal injuries as a result of the collapse of a building. She has been hospitalised. Background: Russian forces launched another rocket attack on Zaporizhzhia last night. Eight strikes have been reported. Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron! Russian commanders revert to Stalinist measure to prevent own soldiers retreating Read also: Russia has lost war of attrition in Ukraine, military expert says According to intelligence data, Russian troops tried to conduct a counter-offensive on Ukrainian positions in the Bakhmut area. Artillery and multiple launch rocket units of the 4th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade of the 2nd Russian Army Corps carried out the attack. Read also: Wagner mercenaries forcibly recruiting Russian prisoners for war, reports Russia media SOTA However, enemy units began to withdraw from their firing positions after Ukrainian defense forces returned fire and began to advance. In order to stop their forces retreating, Russian commanders were forced to once again remind their subordinates about the prohibition against voluntary withdrawals from positions, as well as about the possibility that rear blocking units might open fire on them, the intelligence said. Read also: Ukraine targets Wagner Group barracks in Luhansk Oblast At the same time, they (commanders) refer to commanders order No. 222, reads the report. Apparently, it is analogous with (Soviet dictator Josef) Stalins infamous order No. 227 of June 28, 1942, according to which Soviet soldiers were shot at (if they tried) to retreat. Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine An abandoned Russian military tank is being inspected after Russian Forces withdrew from Balakliia on September 15, 2022 in Kharkiv Oblast. Photo by Metin Aktas/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images Kremlin-linked mercenaries are trying to convince prisoners to fight Putin's war in Ukraine. A recent video showed the head of the Wagner Group offer inmates freedom if they take up arms. But many convicted felons are refusing, a senior US defense official told reporters on Monday. As Russian forces continue to struggle on the battlefield in Ukraine, a shadowy Russian mercenary group with ties to the Kremlin has been calling on prisoners to go fight Russian President Vladimir Putin's war, but things may not be going quite according to plan, a US official said. A senior US official told reporters on Monday that the infamous Wagner Group, which has been linked to atrocities in different parts of the world, is trying to recruit over 1,500 felons, but many are refusing to join the group's ranks. "Our information indicates that Wagner has been suffering high losses in Ukraine, especially and unsurprisingly among young and inexperienced fighters," the official said. The official added that Russia's military itself is struggling to find new recruits, as the poor performance of Putin's troops lately has led many Russian volunteers to refuse combat. The official's remarks come after a video recently surfaced showing the head of Wagner a private military company with close ties to the Kremlin make a proposal to a collection to inmates dressed in black and standing in a Russian prison yard. Yevgeny Prigozhin, a close Putin ally, told the inmates they would be granted freedom if they fight in Ukraine, but he also noted that they would be killed if they tried to desert. "Nobody goes back behind bars," Prigozhin said in the video, according to a translation by The Wall Street Journal's Yaroslav Trofimov. "If you serve six months, you are free. If you arrive in Ukraine and decide it's not for you, we execute you." Britain's defense ministry said in an intelligence update last week that Wagner, which has also suffered heavy losses like the Russian military, has been attempting to recruit Russian prisoners to fight in Ukraine for months, adding that the organization has offered cash incentives and commuted sentences. Story continues Wagner's efforts have been recently "reinvigorated" by Prigozhin's pitch asking the Russian prisoners to serve as "fighters for assault units," the ministry said. "The impact of Russia's manpower challenge has become increasingly severe," Britain's defense ministry added, noting Wagner's hunt for troops and shorter training courses at Russian military academies. Throughout the nearly seven-month-long war, Russian forces who failed to capture Ukraine's capital city Kyiv early and who now struggle to defend against a punishing Ukrainian counteroffensive have fought alongside Wagner personnel. Mercenaries from Wagner have been linked to massacres and atrocities in Ukrainian cities like Bucha, and they have also been accused of committing widespread war crimes and other violent criminal activity in a handful of African countries. Read the original article on Business Insider Photo: The Canadian Press Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks with the Canadian media at Canada House, in London on Sunday, September 18, 2022. A video of the prime minister singing in a hotel lobby in London days before Queen Elizabeth II's funeral is circulating on social media. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette A video circulating on social media appears to show Prime Minister Justin Trudeau singing "Bohemian Rhapsody" in London, where he was to attend the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth. The Prime Minister's Office says that after dinner on Saturday, Trudeau and other members of the Canadian delegation gathered after dinner for a sing-along. In a statement, the PMO says renowned Quebec entertainer Gregory Charles was playing the piano in the London hotel lobby, while others including Trudeau joined in. A 14-second video posted on Twitter, which has garnered nearly one million views, appears to depict Trudeau in a T-shirt singing part of the legendary song by the British rock band Queen. The PMO says Trudeau has "taken part in various activities to pay his respects" for the late monarch over the past 10 days, and that the entire Canadian delegation took part in the state funeral today in London. Canada's delegation also included former governors general Michaelle Jean and David Johnston, as well as former prime ministers Kim Campbell, Jean Chretien, Paul Martin and Stephen Harper, but it is unclear which members took part in the musical session. STANISLAV POHORILOV MONDAY, 19 SEPTEMBER 2022, 08:17 Three civilian residents in Donetsk Oblast were killed as a result of Russian attacks on 18 September. Source: Pavlo Kyrylenko, Head of the Donetsk Oblast Military Administration, on Telegram Quote: "The Russians killed three civilians in Donetsk Oblast on 18 September: in Toretsk, Yahidne and Bohorodychne." Details: Kyrylenko said that another eight civilians sustained injuries. He reiterated that it remains impossible to determine the number of casualties and fatalities in Mariupol and Volnovakha. Previously: The Donetsk Oblast Military Administration reported that five people were killed and 18 injured in Donetsk Oblast on 17 September. Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron! Russian sham court sentences OSCE employee to 13 years in prison for treason According to the agency, Shabanov was detained in mid-April in the occupied territory of Luhansk Oblast allegedly for transferring classified information to representatives of foreign special services. He served as a security assistant at the Stakhanov forward patrol mission base. The Russian proxy court claimed the OSCE officer had allegedly been recruited by a U.S. CIA agent in Ukraine who previously worked for Ukraines SBU security service. It said Shabanov had undergone special training in the United States and gathered information on the movement of military equipment and weapons, as well as on the movement of personnel of the LPR units for almost six months. The OSCE has not yet reacted to the sentence. The Special Monitoring Mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe ceased its operations in Ukraine in late April. The organization explained the move by the fact that it was impossible to reach a consensus at the meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council on March 31 regarding the extension of the mandate of the mission. Russia is still a member of the organization. The Kremlin blocked the extension of the missions mandate, and it expired at the end of June. It was reported in late July that Russian proxy forces in the Donbas were holding the OSCE representatives captive. Prior to that, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called for the suspension of Russias mandate in the OSCE amid ongoing territorial grabs and attacks on Ukrainian cities. Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine ALONA MAZURENKO MONDAY, 19 SEPTEMBER 2022, 16:24 Russian units in southern Ukraine are trapped between the Ukrainian army and the right bank of the Dnipro River. Some of the Russian occupiers commanders are trying to get in touch with representatives of the Ukrainian Armed Forces to lay down their arms and surrender. Source: Nataliia Humeniuk, United Coordinating Press Centre of Operational Command Pivden (South), on air during the 24-hour news broadcast; Interfax-Ukraine Quote: "The fire control that we maintain over the crossings and transport arteries across the Dnipro River is making them realise that they are trapped between the Ukrainian Forces and the right bank of the river - namely the units stationed in this part of Kherson Oblast. Therefore, they have been offered a way out in the form of transition under the auspices of international humanitarian law or to return home, but it is necessary to figure out how." Details: Humeniuk says that the Russian soldiers are demoralised and do not see the purpose of their deployment on this front. Quote: "We are receiving information that they [the Russian troops] are really demoralised, they really do not see the point of them being on this front. They see the example of the eastern front, and that is very encouraging for them, because they understand that such a course of events is also possible. They see that it is closer to move forward, laying down their arms, and go over to the POWs exchange fund than to move to the border, because Kherson Oblast is a long way from the border with Russia, unlike Kharkiv Oblast, and there is a significant obstacle in their way - the Dnipro River, which is currently impassable in any way." Humeniuk also reported cases where the command of Russian units has contacted representatives of Ukraines Armed Forces in order to negotiate their surrender: "They are subject to thorough inspection." Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron! The United States and other countries opposed to Russias war in Ukraine will be brought to the table at this weeks United Nations General Assembly with nations that sympathetic to Moscow or have refused to take a side, posing a major test for the U.N. The war will likely be the dominating topic for the U.S. and its allies in the New York discussion, which will put those countries that havent joined in on condemning Russian President Vladimir Putin in the hot seat. While the war itself will be a major point of discussion, so will many of its ripple effects in terms of the global energy supply, economics, human rights, food security and more. I think itll be sort of a sub-theme of the event that many countries are more sympathetic to the Russian perspective, or at least that theyre benefiting from in the case of China lower oil prices, said Michael Allen, special assistant to former President George W. Bush on the National Security Council. Biden will address the General Assembly on Wednesday and is likely to focus on Putins aggression, along with other priorities, including addressing climate change. A core message that I think youre going to hear from leaders across the U.S. government is that respect for the core principles of the international order is needed now more than ever, John Kirby, coordinator for strategic communications at the National Security Council, said Friday. The U.N. was founded in response to the type of land war in Europe that many worried would unfold if Russia captured major Ukrainian cities and opted to move into other nations. While the U.S., Great Britain, France, Germany, Canada and other allies have banded together to impose economic sanctions on Russia and provide military aid to Ukraine, this weeks meetings will underscore both the limits of the United Nations in confronting the Kremlin and the fractured nature of the organization. The U.N. has had limited success in pushing back on Russia, specifically by suspending it from the Human Rights Council. But Russia sits on the powerful U.N. Security Council, giving it veto power over more sweeping proposals, as well as a platform to grandstand. Story continues Russia has also found allies in China, Brazil, India and other nations that have not been willing to go nearly as far in imposing sanctions or even outright condemning Moscows actions. In the lead-up to the General Assembly, Putin has held meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian President Narendra Modi. Daniel Hamilton, a Europe expert at the Brookings Institution, said that U.S. and allies will be tasked this week with trying to convince more countries to oppose the war because it has global ramifications. Theyve been playing catch-up, frankly, in making an argument around the world, to the rest of the world. So, many countries around the world dont really buy the argument or theyre sitting on the fence either because they have contacts to Russia or are the skeptical of the U.S. or European claims, Hamilton said. The meetings in New York also come amid successful counteroffenses from the Ukrainian military. Ukraine has recently regained thousands of miles of territory in the countrys northeast and forced thousands of Kremlin troops to retreat. Biden in his speech is likely to highlight how Kyivs success on the battlefield is due in part to the steady stream of aid provided by the U.S. and its allies. The Biden administration has committed roughly $15 billion in military aid to Ukraine since the invasion began in February, including a fresh $600 million announced days before the meeting in New York. He will also likely use the fight between Kyiv and Moscow to emphasize a long-standing theme of his presidency: that the world is at an inflection point in the struggle between democracies and autocracies, and that it is up to world leaders to band together to ensure democratic values survive and thrive. Hes going to have to try to walk the line between not declaring victory too early, but making the argument for why we need to keep providing that support to Ukraine, said Carrie Filipetti, executive director of the Vandenberg Coalition and a former senior policy adviser to the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has delivered stirring speeches to Congress and other governing bodies around the world to rally support for his country, may appear via video at the General Assembly. But Reuters reported that Russia is seeking to block the message on the grounds that Zelensky should have to attend in person to speak. Putin will not be in New York for the gathering of leaders, but the U.S. approved a visa for Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to attend. Experts also predict that there will be some sanctions coordination meetings between the U.S. and its allies, even on the sidelines of the meetings. Kirby told reporters on Friday that he believed the recent images out of Izyum in Ukraine, where officials have discovered mass graves, should make leaders sympathetic to Russia reconsider their connections to Putin. I think youre starting to see even countries who were not vociferous and strident in opposing him are beginning to question what hes doing in Ukraine and rightly so because its just, its just brutal, he said. Its absolutely depraved and brutal. And I think its becoming more and more obvious to the rest of the international community. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. The Bearer Party, formed of personnel from The Queen's Company, 1st Battalion The Grenadier Guards, accompany the Queen's coffin down a road covered with sand. (Reuters) The Queens funeral has taken place in central London, with hundreds of thousands of people lining the streets to say goodbye to the monarch. Her Majestys coffin made its final journey from Westminster Abbey to Windsor Castle on Monday afternoon after her funeral, when she will be reunited with her late husband the Duke of Edinburgh. Many viewers of the funeral TV coverage noticed sections of the procession route were covered with sand as the longest-serving monarch was transferred by the state gun carriage. Some have speculated it may have been laid down to help the horses maintain grip during the walk. Read more: Britain's last goodbye: Mourners shed tears in final farewell to Queen Social media users said they believed the large amounts of sand where there to help the gun carriages and horses. (PA) The sand on the floor along the funeral procession may also have been in place for the safety of the horses. (Reuters) The State Gun Carriage carries the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II. (Getty) Why is there so much sand on London's streets for the Queen's funeral? The roads have been covered with sand to ensure the state gun carriage taking the Queens coffin can move easily, according to the Guardian. It said Parliament Square had been dusted with sand to ease the passage of the gun carriage taking the coffin". The Queens coffin was draped in the Royal Standard, with the Imperial State Crown, the Sovereign's orb and sceptre, and a wreath of flowers requested by the King. Read more: Queen's funeral - royals from around the world arrive to pay respects Charles and his siblings walked behind the coffin as it left Westminster Abbey following the state funeral, while other royals travelled by car. The coffin headed to Wellington Arch at the corner of Hyde Park, before being transferred into a hearse for the journey to St Georges Chapel at Windsor Castle. A televised committal ceremony will take place in the chapel at 4pm followed by a private interment service attended by senior royals. Watch: Queen's funeral: Elizabeth II's final journey as coffin makes way to resting place About 2,000 people attended the Queens funeral at Westminster Abbey, including members of royal families from across Europe, politicians from all sides of the political spectrum and world leaders, including US president Joe Biden and French president Emmanuel Macron. Story continues Charles and the Queen Consort walked immediately behind the coffin as it entered the church for the service, followed by the Princess Royal and Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, then the Duke of York, followed by the Earl and Countess of Wessex. Later on Monday evening in Windsor, there will be a private interment service with senior members of the royal family, where the Queen will be reunited with her husband Prince Phillip. The Queens final resting place will be the King George VI memorial chapel, an annex to the main chapel where her mother and father were buried, along with the ashes of her sister, Princess Margaret. Philips coffin will move from the royal vault to the memorial chapel to join the Queens. Sangamon County Historical Society logo The first Sangamon County resident to die as a result of combat in the Civil War was a carpenter from Springfield. Heaton Hill, about 28, was shot during the siege of Lexington, Mo., on Sept. 18, 1861. He died a month later. Hill, who had moved to Springfield from Pennsylvania in the early 1850s, was a member of the Yates Dragoons, a cavalry unit formed shortly after the attack on Fort Sumter in April 1861. The unit presumably was named after Illinois Gov. Richard Yates. Most of the dragoons were Springfield residents, although a sizable minority haled from Quincy. Illinois Adjutant General Thomas Mather ordered the Yates Dragoons and several other impromptu companies of cavalry to rendezvous at Alton in July. Mathers order spelled out how units were to be equipped. In particular, every trooper, from the commander down to the blacksmith, was to provide his own horse, in the selection of which care should be taken to procure them of as near a uniformity, in color and size, as possible. The Yates Dragoons were mustered in as Company F of the 1st Illinois Cavalry Regiment on July 17, and the regiment was deployed to central Missouri. Heaton Hill was listed as a corporal. In mid-September, the 1st Illinois and other Union detachments under Col. James Mulligan were surrounded by a much larger Confederate force at Lexington, Mo. Mulligans command held out for about 10 days, in a siege known as the Battle of the Hemp Bales, but finally was forced to surrender. Camilla A. Quinn described the aftermath in her 1991 monograph, Lincolns Springfield in the Civil War. Fortunately, the Springfield prisoners were allowed to return home, but before their captors released them, they were required to stand in rows, raise their right hands, and swear not to serve again during the war. When they returned to Springfield a week later as the first Springfield company to have actually fought the Rebels, they were quite the heroes of the day. The (Illinois State) Journal noted that wherever you see a knot of people gathered on the street listening eagerly to a recital from some rough-looking man you may be certain that a brave soldier is fighting the siege over again to an admiring audience. Story continues Corp. Heaton Hill, however, never made it home. Shot in the thigh Sept. 18, he died in a St. Louis hospital on Oct. 14. Another member of Company F, James Palmer of Quincy, was fatally wounded the same day. Hill and Palmer were the companys only combat deaths. According to his Illinois State Register obituary: Mr. Hill was one of our most estimable citizens, a carpenter by trade, who came here from Pennsylvania, some ten years ago, and during that period earned a high character for probity, industry and business habits. He was among the first to enlist in the countrys cause, and the general voice of his comrades is, that he was a true man and sturdy soldier. Hill is buried at Oak Ridge Cemetery. Excerpted from SangamonLink.org, online encyclopedia of the Sangamon County Historical Society. This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Sangamon County's first Civil War casualty was a 28-year-old carpenter OGUNQUIT, Maine Whiskey, one of nine hunting dogs who fled a rollover, has been found, safe and sound. State Trooper Matthew Williams was traveling on the Maine Turnpike on Saturday night when a couple of quick glints on the side of the road caught his eye. Williams knew what those glints in the darkness were: eyes. Eye reflections along the tree line on the highway are common, Williams said on Sunday. He said he frequently sees the eyes of deer, bears and coyotes as the headlights of passing vehicles reflect off them. Williams has even seen the glint of a bobcat. Maine State Trooper Matthew Williams is seen here with Whiskey, the West Virginia hunting dog who had been missing for days, following a traffic accident on the Maine Turnpike in Ogunquit on Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2022. On Saturday, though, the eyes he spotted belonged to an animal for whom everyone in the area had had their own eyes peeled for days. This time, fortunately, it happened to be Whiskey, Williams said. Whiskey fled near the Mile 14 marker of the turnpike in Ogunquit on Wednesday, Sept. 14. According to Maine State Police, the accident occurred when William Funkhouser, 38, of Baker, West Virginia, was traveling northbound on the turnpike when he fell asleep at the wheel of his 2021 Toyota Tacoma, swerved into the middle lane, swiped a tractor-trailer, and rolled over onto the side of the road at around 9:30 a.m. Previous story: Man seriously injured, dog killed after truck hauling dogs crashes on Maine Turnpike Funkhousers passenger, Jonah Hose, 23, also of Baker, West Virginia, was thrown from the vehicle and was brought to Portsmouth Regional Hospital with serious injuries, according to Shannon Moss, the spokesperson for Maine State Police. Hose was not wearing a seatbelt. Funkhouser and the driver of the tractor-trailer were not injured in the incident, according to Moss. Funkhouser had Whiskey and nine other hunting dogs in the back of his pickup truck at the time of the accident. One of the dogs died. The other nine fled. Eight were found by a search party of town officials and residents and returned to Funkhouser, their owner, by the end of the day. Story continues Whiskey, however, remained at large until Williams spotted him on Saturday. Fortunately, he made himself visible enough for passing traffic to notice him, Williams said in a press release from Maine State Police. More news: Historic Ogunquit antiques shop goes up in flames. Here's how owners are reacting. According to Maine State Police, Williams had been on the lookout for Whiskey, as the Augusta Regional Communications Center had received two calls from motorists who reported seeing what appeared to be a dog, possibly Whiskey, near the Mile 11 marker on the turnpike in York at approximately 8 p.m. Whiskey relaxes in a state police cruiser on Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022, after missing for days, following a traffic accident on the Maine Turnpike. Whiskey then made his way back into the woods, Williams said. The dog had been at the bottom of an embankment, along a guardrail, just shy of the Clay Hill Road overpass at Mile 12, so the chances were slim that anyone would have seen him as they drove by, he added. If I hadnt gotten that fortunate moment of his eye reflection, which then disappeared, I would not have seen him at all, Williams said. Williams pulled his vehicle over, got out, and started after Whiskey. He had had his dinner with him in his car, so he brought a piece of chicken with him to win the canines trust. Anyone who owns a dog knows that worked. Maine Lobster Week: Here is a sneak peek at what local restaurants have planned Whiskey was howling, weak and shaking, and could barely stand when Williams approached him. The chicken gave him just enough energy to make his way along the embankment to Williams car. Whiskey then feasted on the rest of Williams dinner two chicken breasts, a cheese stick, and nearly two liters of water. That trip to Williams car was the last time Whiskey walked that night. I had to carry him after that, Williams said. Hes a survivor. Williams brought Whiskey to the Ogunquit Police Department. The canine has been reunited with his owner, the police confirmed on Monday. Williams said he was glad the four-day search for Whiskey had a happy ending, but he said he also wanted people to remember that Hose was still hospitalized in serious condition. It would be wonderful if prayers and support could keep coming for him, Williams said. On Friday, Ogunquit Fire Chief Russell Osgood said Funkhouser, Hose and the 10 dogs had driven to Maine to do some bear hunting in the northern part of the state. On Sunday, Moss said the dogs had made the trip from West Virginia in a large stainless steel crate, similar to the kind used by animal control officers. The dogs were being transported properly, Moss said. Moss said Funkhouser will not be charged. This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Dog, Whiskey, missing since Ogunquit, Maine crash has been found safe DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) A plane carrying medical supplies to deal with the spread of a deadly cholera outbreak in war-torn Syria landed in the capital of Damascus on Monday, the World Health Organization said, and another one will follow. Ahmed Al-Mandhari, WHO's regional director, told The Associated Press in an interview during a visit to Damascus that Syrian health authorities are coordinating with the international organization to contain the outbreak. It is a threat to Syria, to the region, (to) neighboring countries and to the whole world, he said. Al-Mandhari's comments came days after health officials in Syria reported at least five deaths and about 200 cases in different provinces. It is the first such outbreak since before the conflict began in March 2011. The U.N. and Syrias Health Ministry have said the source of the outbreak is believed to be linked to people drinking unsafe water from the Euphrates River and using contaminated water to irrigate crops, resulting in food contamination. The cases were reported in several provinces, including Aleppo in the north, Latakia on the Mediterranean coast, and Deir el-Zour along the border with Iraq. Al-Mandhari said WHO is working on strengthening surveillance to identify cases and give the sick the proper treatment as well as trace those who are infected and those who were in contact with them. He said an airplane supported by WHO carrying around 30 tons of supplies to support health authorities to deal with the crisis landed in Syria on Monday. Al-Mandhari said the supplies will be equally distributed depending on needs including in areas in the rebel-held northwest and northeast controlled by U.S.-backed Kurdish-led fighters. He said another plane was scheduled to arrive on Wednesday with a similar amount of supplies. The outbreak comes at a time when Syrias medical sector has been badly damaged over the past 11 years in a conflict that killed hundreds of thousands of people, wounded over 1 million more and displaced half the countrys pre-war population. Story continues Al-Mandhari said 55% of health care facilities are not functioning in Syria and about 30% of hospitals sometimes do not function because of a lack of electricity, which pushes them to use generators, which is not sustainable. He added that many Syrian health workers have left the country over the years, leading to a lack of staff to run different services. The health situation in Syria is really very difficult. It is very challenging, Al-Mandhari said. Separately, Al-Mandhari said around 15% of Syria's population has received a single dose of COVID-19 vaccine, or about 2.5 million people. It is really low compared with our targets which is supposed to reach 40% by the end of June and 70% by the end of the year." He said 13% of Syrias residents have received two doses. SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Shanghai reported three new domestically transmitted asymptomatic coronavirus cases for Sept. 18, up from zero a day earlier, while no local symptomatic cases were reported, the same as the previous day, the city government said on Monday. Shanghai recorded no COVID-19-related deaths for Sept. 18, unchanged from a day earlier. (Reporting by Shanghai newsroom; Writing by Bernard Orr; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman) Photo: pixabay Stargazers will have a couple of reasons to cast their eyes toward the heavens this fall in B.C. As the final days of the Perseid meteor shower waned down toward the end of August, but keen sky-watchers will start to see astral activity in the region as another meteor shower commences in late September. The Orionid meteor shower is slated to begin on Sept. 26 and continue through Nov. 22. The medium-strength shower will peak from Oct. 20 to Oct. 21, when the moon is 21 per cent full. The American Meteorological Society (AMS) notes that the shower can sometimes reach "high strength activity," putting it on par with the aforementioned Perseid meteor shower (one of the brightest showers of the year). On average, the Orionids produce roughly 10 to 20 shooting stars but in exceptional years they may produce up to 50 to 75 per hour. The Northern Taurids shower will also begin during this period, with activity showing as early as Oct. 13 and carrying on through to roughly Dec. 2. This is the shower that folks in B.C. will be able to observe locally. In a previous interview, Jennifer MacDonald, an astronomer at the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre, told Vancouver Is Awesome that although the shower's meteors have a slower rate (about five of them appear each hour), they are made of a "heavier material," which "increases the possibility of fireballs a bit." This might also be a big year for the Northern Taurids. The AMS notes that "there seems to be a seven-year periodicity with these fireballs. 2008 and 2015 both produced remarkable fireball activity. 2022 may be the next opportunity." Sadly, the moon will be about 88 per cent full at the shower's peak, which could make it more difficult to observe. What is a fireball? The American Meteorological Society describes a fireball as a "very bright meteor" that is about the same brightness as the "planet Venus in the morning or evening sky." Additionally, some people report seeing vivid colours because the brightness is "great enough to fall well within the range of human colour vision." Some of them even report hearing "sonic booms, and electrophonic sounds," albeit very rarely. In order to view the Taurid shower, sky-watchers should search for the constellation Taurus, said MacDonald. "Look for Orion's belt and then go northeast and look for the bright red star, Aldebaran." The Orionid shower is visible anywhere on Earth and is considered a "medium strength shower." Space.com notes that "If you find the shape of Orion, the hunter, the meteor shower's radiant (or point of origin) will be near Orion's sword, slightly north of his left shoulder (the star Betelgeuse)." That said, the meteors originating in the shower's radiant will have shorter tails and therefore it is best to look slightly away from it. Fall meteor shower 2022 hunting tips in B.C. To fully enjoy the spectacle, here are a few tips for meteor hunting: The California mother has been sentenced to 18 months in prison A California woman who faked her own high-profile kidnapping has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for making false statements to the FBI. Sherri Papini, 39, went missing in November 2016 after going for a run. She appeared three weeks later on Thanksgiving claiming two Hispanic women had kidnapped her, sparking a multi-state manhunt. The FBI later concluded she was staying at an ex-boyfriend's house and had injured herself as part of the scheme. In a US District Court in Sacramento on Monday, Papini apologised, saying she was guilty of lying and "dishonour". "I am so sorry to the many people who have suffered because of me - the people who sacrificed for the broken woman I was, the people who gave willingly to help me in a time that I so desperately needed help," she said, reading from a prepared statement. "I am choosing to humbly accept all responsibility." Under an April deal with prosecutors, Papini pleaded guilty to one count each of lying to a federal officer and mail fraud. In a sentencing memo, Papini's lawyer William Portanova blamed the hoax on her "painful early years [that] twisted and froze her in myriad ways". Mr Portanova had asked for minimal prison time, telling the court the humiliation of her actions would be its own life sentence. In exchange for Papini's guilty plea, prosecutors sought a lighter sentence - between eight and 14 months in custody - far below the 25 year maximum she could have faced. Papini also agreed to pay $300,000 (231,000), part of which will cover the costs of the police investigation. She will also spend three years under supervised custody after her release from jail. News of her disappearance first emerged in November 2016, when her husband reported her missing after she failed to collect their children from daycare. Three weeks later, she was found battered and bruised on the side of the road claiming she was abducted at gunpoint. The FBI concluded this March that the whole affair was staged. Story continues In a criminal complaint, the FBI said she had been staying voluntarily at a former boyfriend's home and had been communicating with him using prepaid "burner phones" as early as December 2015. Her lawyer, Mr Portanova, has previously said she suffered from mental health issues. In the sentencing memo, he referenced her "chameleonic personalities", which he said pathologically "drove her to simultaneously crave family security and the freedom of youth". Princess Charlotte has joined her brother Prince George at the funeral of her great-grandmother the Queen. (Getty Images) Prince George and Princess Charlotte have joined their parents to honour their great-grandmother, the Queen at her funeral. George, nine, and Charlotte, seven, accompanied Kate, William, Meghan and Harry and other Royal Family members to walk behind their great-grandmother's coffin in Westminster Abbey. In one of the biggest moments of their young lives, they also then joined other members of the Royal Family to follow the late monarch's coffin out of the service. The siblings walked behind their parents, the Prince and Princess of Wales, and in front of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, reflecting their place in the line of succession. Four-year-old Prince Louis didn't join the service due to being considered too young. Later today, both children will also be in the congregation at Her Majesty's committal service at St George's Chapel in Windsor. Prince George and Princess Charlotte at the funeral of their great-grandmother the Queen, pictured with their mother, the Princess of Wales and the Duchess of Sussex. (Getty Images) The Prince and Princess of Wales are said to have thought 'very carefully' about whether to include their children in the official proceedings. It was noted that they took them to the Duke of Edinburghs memorial service at the Abbey in March, where they coped well in the spotlight and with the sombre nature of the occasion. The decision as to whether or not the children join the procession at Windsor, following the committal service, will be made after this morning's proceedings. The family were seen arriving at Westminster Abbey to attend the Queen's funeral. (Getty Images) Prince George and Princess Charlotte arrived at Westminster Abbey with their mother, the Princess of Wales. (Getty Images) The children arrived in a car with their mother, the Princess of Wales and Camilla, the Queen Consort. (Getty Images) Should children attend a funeral? Deciding whether or not children should be present at the funeral of a loved one is a tricky dilemma many parents will face following the death of a relative. The presence of children at funerals might have some parents thinking about what is appropriate and beneficial for their own family, if they find themselves in a similar situation. Psychologist and wellbeing specialist, Lee Chambers, says there is no hard and fast rule about bringing children to funerals. "When it comes to making decisions about children attending funerals, the most significant consideration is that there is no one-size-fits-all rule or specific age to apply, but it should be a decision based on the children involved and their needs," he tells Yahoo UK. Story continues Watch: Queen's children and grandchildren walk behind coffin at funeral While some question whether children are mature enough to cope with the sombre nature of funeral proceedings, Chambers says for some young people it can help them with their own grief process. "While children grieve in a different way to adults, having the opportunity to express their feelings, talk about their memories and experiences, and say goodbye can help children process their grief and come to terms with the loss of someone they love," he says. "They can receive support from others going through similar feelings, and have their feelings normalised by seeing others grieve in different ways." Chambers says some children may also feel that they have done something important and "been there", given funerals are usually a one-off ritual. The siblings payed an important role in the Queen's funeral. (Photo by SARAH MEYSSONNIER/POOL/AFP via Getty Images) The Princess of Wales put at guiding hand on her son, Prince George's back after the family arrived at the Queen's funeral. (Getty Images) Dipti Tait, a psychotherapist, grief therapist and author of Planet Grief agrees that there is no wrong or right thing to do when considering whether to allow children to attend a funeral. "It really does depend on the child and the relationship they had with the person who died," she adds. But there are some considerations to think about when making the decision, including the age of the child, their relationship with the person who died and how it might impact your own ability to grieve at the funeral. "In the case of very young children, under 10 years old if they have lost a close family member, it may be a good idea to not have them there as it could be overwhelming for both the child and the people who want to show their grief openly," she explains. "If the child is older above 10 years old it is important to give the child the choice to attend the funeral with the option of leaving if it gets too much for them to handle," she adds. "It is important children feel as if they have been considered in death and not pushed to one side this way they feel safe and loved." How can you tell if children are ready to attend a funeral, like Princess Charlotte and Prince George, pictured with other members of the royal family at the Queen's funeral. (Photo by Peter Byrne/PA Images via Getty Images) How can you tell if a child is ready to attend a funeral? Chambers says it is important to consider how you can prepare your child and support them in making an informed decision about whether to attend. "Helping them to make a choice can be empowering in a time of uncertainty and sadness," he explains. "Informing them of what it will be like, the emotions they might see, and where and who will be there, can give them a feeling of security." When it comes to readiness, Chambers says it is also worth considering how your child handles social situations, how they sit and follow social cues. "Children of different ages have different needs, and if your child is old enough to express a desire to attend, it is likely they will benefit from the experience, as the most important thing isnt that they attend the funeral itself, but they were given a choice," he adds. "For younger children, its very much a decision based on your feelings on their readiness, and the most important thing is to be compassionate to yourself as you will also be grieving. If you decide they shouldn't attend, do ensure that you still find a way for them to pay their respects." Prince George and Princess Charlotte attended a memorial service for Prince Philip last year. (Getty Images) How to prepare a child to attend a funeral If a child has made the decision to attend the funeral of a loved one, there are a number of preparations parents can make to ensure they feel ready for the experience. "It is important to share where it will be taking place, the people they are likely to see there, and how the service will play out," Chambers says. "Context around funerals and some of the symbolic aspects can also be beneficial, and reassuring a child that there is likely to be lots of emotion on show from adults, including sadness, tears and sorrow is essential," he adds. Chambers also suggests trying to find a balance between filling them in on what might happen without going into unnecessary detail. "It's about giving them enough to feel prepared but not so much they become overwhelmed," he explains. What can you do instead if children don't attend? Tait says it is essential children, however old they are, are involved in marking their loss. You need to allow them the time, space and consideration to be able to express their emotions and grieve in their own way. "If children don't attend the funeral of a loved one, it is very important that the child is given the opportunity to express their grief and sadness in alternative ways that are personally tailored for each child," she explains. "Making memory boxes, drawing pictures and sharing stories can help, as well as visiting the memorial site at a later date when its quieter with the child so there is closure for them." NEW YORK (AP) The United Nations will be judged by how it addresses Chinas persecution of ethnic minorities, diplomats and human rights advocates charged Monday on the sidelines of the bodys General Assembly, calling for forceful action after a report raised the specter of crimes against humanity. For years, rights watchdogs and journalists have exposed brutal treatment of Uyghurs and other mostly Muslim ethnic groups in the far western region of Xinjiang, where China is accused of a ruthless campaign of torture, sexual assault and ethnic cleansing. Those accusations have been widely accepted in the West, but were given a new imprimatur with the landmark report released last month by the U.N. human rights office. Inaction is no longer possible, Fernand de Varennes, the United Nations special rapporteur on minority rights said at a forum sponsored by the Atlantic Council and Human Rights Watch as world leaders descend on New York. If we allow this to go unpunished, what kind of message is being propagated? Jeffrey Prescott, a deputy U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, suggested the integrity of the institution was at stake in its response to China. How these atrocities are addressed goes ultimately to the credibility of that system, to the credibility of our international system itself, he said. Its deeply disheartening to see a country that has been so central to the creation of the modern U.N. system, and enjoys its status as a permanent member of the Security Council, so profoundly violating its commitments. The U.N. report on Chinas alleged abuses was released in the final minutes of the last day in office of Michele Bachelet, now the former U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights. Its release was believed to have been long delayed. Bachelet never explained the timing. China responded to its release with fury, calling it a patchwork of false information" and portraying it as a fabrication cooked up by Western nations. It issued a lengthy rebuttal and vowed to stop cooperating with the U.N.s human rights office, and Chinese diplomats are now lobbying others to thwart the possibility of further scrutiny of its campaign in Xinjiang. Story continues Rob Roe, Canadas ambassador to the United Nations, called Chinas reaction unsurprising and said new action was merited. We need to deal with this question. We need to deal with the question of what further sanctions will be required. We need to deal with the question of what further steps could be taken to respond to the extent of this crisis, he said. The U.N.s report was drawn, in part, from interviews from more than two dozen former detainees and others familiar with conditions at eight detention centers who described being beaten, prevented from praying and forced to perform sex acts on guards. It said the evidence could constitute crimes against humanity but made no mention of genocide, which the United States and other countries have accused China of committing. Prince Zeid Raad Al Hussein, the immediate predecessor to Bachelet as U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, said his successor deserved credit for publishing the report, but said it was a shortcoming not to refer to the abuses as genocide. Likewise, he criticized it for not calling for the establishment of a formal U.N. commission of inquiry. To be silent is to be an accomplice, he said. Rayhan Asat, a Uyghur lawyer who works for the Atlantic Council and whose brother is imprisoned in Xinjiang, urged the world to insist that action be taken, not just against China, but companies who profit off its abuses. We should not let the Chinese government off the hook by normalizing what the state did, she said, because at the end of the day, this is state violence. ___ AP National Writer Matt Sedensky can be reached at msedensky@ap.org and https://twitter.com/sedensky. For more AP coverage of the U.N. General Assembly, visit https://apnews.com/hub/united-nations-general-assembly. Snow Peak, the Japanese outdoor brand, will relocate its store in New York from SoHo to Brooklyn in October and nearly triple its size. The company, which has its U.S. headquarters in Portland, Oregon, has had a location on Crosby Street since 2015, but decided to make the jump to better embrace the sense of community and take advantage of the green spaces and river views in the borough. More from WWD The location at 76 North Sixth Street in Williamsburg, will feature 30-foot ceilings and a mezzanine where shoppers can browse the brands assortment of outdoor gear and apparel, according to Hallie Church, retail expansion manager of Snow Peak. At nearly 3,000 square feet, the new location allows the brand to better showcase its line of tents and tarps, which she said will be set up in the store and rotate on a monthly basis to allow shoppers to experience the merchandise in its intended setting. The line of Snow Peak furniture will also be expanded in the new site. Church said the apparel offering, which includes outdoor-inspired tops, pants, outerwear and accessories for men and women, will also be carried in the store, along with the more upscale Yuamai assortment designed by the granddaughter of the founder in Japan. The Crosby store closed on Sept. 18 and the new location will open on Oct. 14. Snow Peak operates two stores in the U.S., in New York and Portland, as well as 20 units in Japan. Church said a camp-themed store will open in Washington State next year that will carry both apparel and gear. Huw Edwards against the backdrop of Westminster Abbey (BBC) Stop all the clocks, WH Auden famously wrote of the enormity of grief, cut off the telephone... Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come. If Auden were writing that poem about the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, the clocks might be replaced with traffic and the telephone with central London. For one day, Britain seems to have ground to a halt. In a television landscape increasingly dominated by on-demand streaming, where live event TV has become limited to the Euros finals and Love Island, today we bore witness to the passing of a seminal moment in our islands story: all the major channels devoted their scheduling to the Queens funeral, in a sombre, striking acknowledgement that an era is ending. And in this wall-to-wall broadcast, the protagonists the new King Charles, his wife Camilla, sons William and Harry, and their wives, Kate and Meghan moved with the enforced dispassion of performers. This was grief meeting history, with the eyes of the world quite literally upon them. I think back to my own grandmothers funeral, and how, as teenagers, my sister and I were caught by giggles at the deacons extraordinarily resonant baritone. On television, the royals do not have such a luxury. They cannot give in to the confused emotions of grief, but instead have to perform a strange stoicism. As Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, observed in his sermon, their grief is something we can all comprehend. What we cannot hope to truly understand is grieving, as the Archbishop puts it, in the brightest spotlight. At times, the most striking thing about the ceremony was its normality. A family dressed in black. Eyes wetted by the eerie quality of a sung psalm. Stifled coughs during the prayer readings. Those moments contrasted for viewers with the gilded spectacle of the occasion. Red-coated pall bearers moved like wind-up toy soldiers, a staccato pomp that reminded you this is no normal funeral (where one pall bearer would be hungover, and another struggling with a recent back injury). Story continues On the BBC, the indefatigable Huw Edwards anchored the coverage with his well-practiced solemnity. At times, the disembodied commentary on the procession of royals, politicians and celebrities felt like the Olympic opening ceremony, or even Eurovision. On ITV, Tom Bradby and Julie Etchingham tried to impose themselves against the reality that Edwards has become the voice of the moment. All the presenters battled for the most reverent (possibly obsequious) tone. At times it entered the realm of the bizarre: the Prince and Princess, George and Charlotte, were described by Edwards as looking immaculate. Weve come to expect nothing less of these two, his co-host, royal biographer Katie Nicholl, observed. The Queens coffin being carried to Westminster Abbey (PA Wire) Live TV is a fickle beast. It doesnt move with the mechanised precision of a pre-record. The camera lingered, at times, uncomfortably long on a set composition: waiting for the coffin to emerge from Westminster Hall or hovering, Gods eye, above congregating masses at the Abbey. The scale of the production and we shouldnt forget that this is a production, with brilliant directors pulling the strings and the seamlessness with which it was executed were unprecedented. In years to come, this will be reduced to montage, those few key images burnt onto the retinas of memory. But, in the moment, there was an odd poignancy to its imperfection. When David Hoyle, Dean of Westminster, began his address only to find a frog inconveniently resident in his throat, a watching world realised they were witnessing real people, doing their real jobs, under the enormous weight of our national narrative. Perhaps the most extraordinary moment came when the choir sang Ralph Vaughan Williamss setting of Psalm 34, composed in 1953 for the Queens coronation. Vaughan Williams died in 1958, ascending to that small clubhouse of great British composers of the 20th century alongside Elgar, Holst and Britten to become part of the great historical firmament. That coronation, 70 years ago, was a landmark moment in British television. It was said that there were 17 viewers per TV set in the UK, and the tape was flown to the US and Canada so that it could be broadcast on the same day. And all the viewers who watched that coronation in 1953 heard this same piece of music, a reminder, simultaneously, of the great proximity and increasing distance of history. Once the coffin was processed out of Westminster Abbey Charles, Anne, Edward and Andrew following in its wake the reins of proceedings were handed back to the commentators. Edwards, Etchingham and co have become extremely accomplished at vamping over the past 10 days, filling the lengthy procession from Westminster Abbey to Wellington Arch with colourless factoids and titbits. The inanity of observations like of some horses a sight that the late Queen wouldve been very touched by, reinforced a dogma that today was about the Queen, not the broadcasters. As the procession passed over to Windsor with David Dimbleby and Kirsty Young presenting grandeur gave way to something more personal. After 96 years, this is it. All the voices on commentary, for the BBC and ITV, were tasked with explaining this moment in history. They neednt have bothered. The blanket of nervous stillness that descended on Britain today for a couple of hours punctuated only by barking dogs, crying babies and teenagers on e-scooters perfectly told the story of a nation gripped by a piece of television history. South Korean prosecutors have refuted Do Kwon's claim from over the weekend that he is not on the run and asked Interpol to issue a red notice against the Terraform Labs' co-founder, escalating the public drama playing following the $40 billion wipeout on his cryptocurrency startup in May this year. The Seoul Southern District Prosecutor's Office said that Kwon was not cooperating with the investigation and had told them (through his lawyer last month) that he had no intention to appear for questioning, according to official statements cited by local media Yonhap. The prosecutors have asked Seoul's foreign ministry to revoke Kwon's passport and said they have "circumstantial evidence" that Kwon is attempting to escape. An Interpol red notice, which is a call to law enforcement worldwide, can prevent individuals from being issued visas, can restrict their cross border travels and can allow law enforcement to "provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender or similar legal action." Over the weekend, Kwon claimed he was not on the run from any government agency that had "shown interest to communication." He added in a tweet: "We are in full cooperation and we don't have anything to hide." Terraform Labs so-called stablecoin UST and cryptocurrency LUNA dramatically imploded in May after investors lost faith in the efficacy of its fundamentals. Major crypto exchanges including Binance and Coinbase delisted the token and discontinued several of its trading pairs. (Many exchanges have since revived limited support for the old token.) Price of revived LUNA token Kwon, with approval from the Terraform community, has revived the crypto project, but this time has avoided operating a so-called algorithmic stablecoin. The depegging of TerraUSD (UST), the firm's previous stablecoin, prompted the crash of LUNA token as they were intertwined. The crash of LUNA token also contributed to the wipeout of Three Arrows Capital, once a high-profile crypto hedge fund. The demise of the fund also severely impacted a number of crypto lenders from whom it had borrowed billions of dollars. Story continues South Korea issued an arrest warrant for Kwon last week, a move that saw many investors sell their positions in revived Luna token. "We are in the process of defending ourselves in multiple jurisdictions -- we have held ourselves to an extremely high bar of integrity, and look forward to clarifying the truth over the next few months," Kwon said in a tweet over the weekend. In an interview with Coinage last month, Kwon said he hadnt been in contact with South Korean authorities. After the two coins -- Luna and TerraUSD -- crashed earlier this year, which wiped out about $40 billion of hundreds of thousands of investors money, the investors in South Korea and the U.S. filed lawsuits against Kwon over illegal fundraising and fraud. South Korean prosecutors have accused Kwon of financial fraud. Terraform Labs and the prosecutors office could not immediately be reached for comment. Queen Elizabeth IIs funeral will take place on Monday 19 September, Buckingham Palace has announced. The Queen died on Thursday 8 September after 70 years on the throne. She was aged 96. Royal protocol outlines that the nation enter into a state of mourning, but there are also several procedures in place surrounding funerals for members of the royal family. Unlike Prince Philip, who had a royal ceremonial funeral, the Queen will have a state funeral, which is usually reserved for the sovereign. But what exactly is a state funeral and who else has had one? Heres everything you need to know. What is a state funeral? A state funeral is usually reserved for monarchs and is a way of honouring the life of the sovereign. It typically begins with the body of the deceased being carried on a gun carriage, which is drawn by sailors from the Royal Navy rather than horses, as part of a military procession, taking them from a private resting chapel to Westminster Hall in the House of Parliament. This is typically followed by another procession to to Westminster Abbey or St Pauls Cathedral, depending on where the service is. Heads of state are then given a 21-gun salute. It is the responsibility of the Earl Marshal to deliver a state funeral with the support of the College of Arms. Who is entitled to a state funeral? The head of state is always entitled to a state funeral. However, other people can be granted a state funeral with the monarchs approval and a vote in parliament, which needs to deem them an exceptionally distinguished person and then votes on money to fund it. Who has had a state funeral in the UK? In the UK, the most recent people to have had state funerals include Sir Winston Churchill (1965) and former prime ministers William Gladstone and Lord Palmerston, who were given state funerals when they died in 1898 and 1865, respectively. The Duke of Wellington was given a state funeral in 1852 and Lord Nelson was given one in 1806 following his death in the battle of Trafalgar. Story continues Monarchs to have had state funerals include Queen Victoria (1901), King Edward VII (1910), King George V (1936) and King George VI (1952). How does a state funeral differ from a royal ceremonial funeral? There arent too many differences between the two types of funerals. For example, both include a gun carriage to bear the coffin and a service attended by domestic and foreign state representatives. Additionally, both can include a lying in state, which is a tradition where the body of the deceased is placed in a state building to enable the public the chance to pay their respects. Slight differences to the two funerals include the coffin being drawn by horses at a royal ceremonial funeral as opposed to sailors from the royal navy. The main difference, though, is who organises the funeral. For example, ceremonial royal funerals are the responsibility of Lord Chamberlain - the most senior official of the Royal Household, while for state funerals it is the responsibility of Earl Marshal. Those to have had royal ceremonial funerals include Princess Diana in 1997 and the Queens mother in 2002. Where are members of the royal family buried? Traditionally, members of the royal family are buried in St Georges Chapel at Windsor Castle. Members of the royal family who are buried there include Queen Victoria, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth I and the Queens mother. The Jewish new year, Rosh Hashana, begins Sunday, kicking off 10 days of prayer and reflection that culminate Oct. 5 with Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Like most Jewish holidays, food is a key component of the celebration, and Chicago restaurants are happy to make hosting friends and family easier by doing the cooking. Rosh Hashana feasts feature ceremonial foods like apples dipped in honey to usher in a sweet new year, and round loaves of challah bread representing the circular cycle of time, plus traditional fare like brisket, kugel and matzo ball soup. For Yom Kippur, restaurants are offering platters of bagels and other breakfast fare to dig into after a day of fasting. Here are 17 restaurants looking to take a bit of the stress out of the High Holidays. Aba Order a Rosh Hashana dinner to go by 5 p.m. Friday and youll get Brussels sprouts and Parmesan latkes, smoky garlic hummus, shawarma-rubbed brisket, zaatar-roasted chicken, roasted beets and honey pie for $65 per person. The meal is available for pickup or delivery from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sept. 25-26. If you want to dine in, you can get the brisket for $29. 302 N. Green St., 773-645-1400, abarestaurants.com Advertisement Beatrix Start your meal with chopped liver, matzo ball soup, gefilte fish and apples and honey before moving on to potato pancakes, slow-braised short rib, candied carrots and olive oil cake. The meal is $55 per person, and orders must be placed by noon Friday. Pick up dinner or get it delivered from 2-7 p.m. Sept. 25-26 through the restaurants River North, Fulton Market or Streeterville locations. Locations vary, beatrixrestaurants.com [ These arent your bubbes kosher wines: 8 bottles perfect for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur ] Advertisement Di Pescara Feast on a Rosh Hashana dinner featuring apples and honey, gefilte fish, matzo ball soup, potato pancakes, brisket and apple crostata at the restaurant, or pick it up to go Sept. 25-26. Pickup orders must be placed by 3 p.m. Friday. 2124 Northbrook Court, Northbrook; 847-498-4321; di-pescara.com Advertisement Ema Put a Mediterranean twist on your holiday meal with avocado hummus, apple and walnut salad, cardamom and cinnamon kugel, and grilled chicken kebab offered for $59 per person for pickup or delivery from 2-7 p.m. Sept. 25-26. Orders must be placed by noon Friday. Rosh Hashana specials including latkes made with kale, leeks and the Greek cheese mizithra, and lamb stew with dates, pearl onions and dried figs are also available for dine in. 74 W. Illinois St., 312-527-5586, emachicago.com Advertisement The Goddess and Grocer Choose from brisket, chicken, salmon or vegetarian Rosh Hashana dinner packages for $40 per person, which comes with chicken matzo ball or roasted fall vegetable soup, challah rolls and honey apple cake. A $25 per person Break the Fast package for Yom Kippur features lox and bagels, veggie frittata and fruit salad. Add-ons include noodle kugel ($35), gefilte fish ($7.50) and sweet potato and zucchini latkes ($21). Pickup and delivery orders must be placed by noon Wednesday for Rosh Hashana and Sept. 30 for Yom Kippur. Locations vary, goddessgrocer.com/roshhashanah Advertisement Helfelds Deli This new Wicker Park spot offers small and large round challah ($11-$14) as part of a Rosh Hashana menu featuring cheese or blueberry blintzes ($2.50), rotisserie chicken ($17) and gefilte fish ($7.95). Orders must be placed by Monday. For Yom Kippur, pick up a hand-cut nova lox tray featuring bagels, plain and chive cream cheese, tomatoes, red onions, cucumbers and capers ($18 per person) or a meat tray with corned beef, pastrami, potato salad, bread, pickles and condiments ($17 per person). 1750 W. North Ave., 773-904-7751, helfeldsdeli.com Advertisement Joes Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab Dine on gefilte fish with red beet horseradish, chopped liver, matzo ball soup, ginger-glazed carrots and potato pancakes and your choice of herb-roasted chicken, brisket with red wine Bordelaise or wild Alaskan halibut, with flourless chocolate cake or key lime pie for dessert. Served from 4-9 p.m. Sept. 25-26, the meal is $65 per person or $30 for kids under age 13. You can also get it for carryout from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. if you place an order by 5 p.m. Thursday. 60 E. Grand Ave., 312-379-5637, joes.net/chicago Advertisement L. Woods Tap & Pine Lodge A family-style feast available for dine-in or pickup includes vegetarian chopped liver, matzo ball soup, rosemary brown butter chicken, potato-crusted Lake Superior whitefish and chocolate cake for $52 per person. Order by 5 p.m. Wednesday to pick up from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sept. 25-26. 7110 N. Lincoln Ave., Lincolnwood; 847-677-3350; lwoodsrestaurant.com [ How Chicago restaurants are raising money for Ukraine, Tigray and local kids with 4 events this month ] Advertisement The Low Line Market Prepare for the holiday at the farmers market from 3-7 p.m. Tuesday with challah from Masa Madre, honey from The Hive Supply, apples from Parra Farms and Greg Kugel Farms, frozen apple cake from Steingolds and other frozen fare including kugel, chicken soup and knish from Schmaltz and Vinegar. Kids can hear a Rosh Hashana story from 5-7 p.m. 3410 N. Southport Ave., 773-472-7171, lakeviewroscoevillage.org/lowlinemarket Advertisement Masa Madre This newish Mexican-Jewish bakery, which operates virtually but has multiple pickup locations and offers Chicago delivery, will feature round challah plain or studded with guava paste and covered in puffed amaranth from Wednesday through Oct. 7. You can also order a gift box including a round challah, mini-churro babka and a jar of locally made honey. Orders must be placed at least a day ahead. 872-202-8307, masamadre.bottle.com Advertisement Mon Ami Gabi Executive chef David Koehn offers a spread ranging from challah with apples and honey to matzo ball soup, to brisket and seared salmon for $60, or $25 for kids under age 13. Dine in or order by 5 p.m. Thursday to carry out. 2300 N. Lincoln Park West, 773-348-8886, monamigabi.com Advertisement Osteria Via Stato Enjoy matzo ball soup, slow-braised short rib and hazelnut panna cotta for $45 per person Sept. 26-27. Reservations and delivery and carryout orders must be placed by 5 p.m. Thursday. 620 N. State St., 312-642-8450, osteriaviastato.com Advertisement Prairie Grass Cafe A $98 Rosh Hashana dinner for two includes barbecue brisket with roasted cauliflower and sticky toffee cake, though you can add on a pint of honey glazed carrots ($12), a quart of chicken noodle soup ($20) or a round challah from Bennisons Bakery ($9). Orders must be placed by Thursday for pickup from 2-7 p.m. Sunday. The restaurant also offers a Yom Kippur menu with a sliced smoked salmon platter ($30-$57), plain bagels with cream cheese ($20 for a dozen) and tuna salad ($14 per pint). Place an order by Oct. 2 to pick up from 2-7 p.m. Oct. 5. 601 Skokie Blvd., Northbrook; 847-205-4433; prairiegrasscafe.com Advertisement Saranellos A four-course dinner for $55 per person includes apples with honey, matzo ball soup, brisket with onion and raspberry rugelach. Dine in Sept. 25-26 or place a carryout order by 3 p.m. Friday. 601 N. Milwaukee Ave., Wheeling; 847-777-6878; saranellos.com Advertisement Steingolds Feed five to six ($240) or 10-12 ($400) people with a Rosh Hashana feast available Sept. 25-26 that includes a whole rotisserie chicken, brisket, round challah, honey-glazed carrot tzimmes and apple honey Bundt cake. A Yom Kippur package offered Oct. 4-5 for $140 or $240 features bagels and cream cheeses with house-cured nova lox, smoked whitefish salad, a veggie platter and housemade pickles. Add on matzo ball soup for four for $31 or a pound of chopped liver for $20. 3737 N. Southport Ave., 773-661-2469, steingoldsdeli.com Advertisement Summer House Make a reservation or place a carryout order by 5 p.m. Thursday for a meal including challah, matzo ball soup, sliced apples and honey, slow-braised beef short rib with mushroom gravy and apple galette with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce for $55 or $25 for kids under age 13. 1954 N. Halsted St., 773-634-4100, summerhouserestaurants.com Advertisement Wildfire The restaurants Glenview and Lincolnshire locations serve braised brisket with noodle kugel ($35), broiled salmon with lemon caper sauce ($33), housemade chopped liver with toast points ($6.95) and apple streusel pie with fresh whipped cream ($8.95) for dinner Sept. 25-26 and offer platters for four to five people to go. 1300 Patriot Blvd., Glenview; 847-657-6363; 235 Parkway Drive, Lincolnshire; 847-279-7900; wildfirerestaurant.com Samantha Nelson is a freelance writer. Big screen or home stream, takeout or dine-in, Tribune writers are here to steer you toward your next great experience. Sign up for your free weekly Eat. Watch. Do. newsletter here. Hector Tejeda was a beloved former college advisor and executive director at Unidos Now. Tejeda passed away on Aug. 28. BRADENTON Family and colleagues are mourning the loss of longtime UnidosNow leader Hector Tejeda, 67, who died in late August because of advanced pancreatic cancer. Tejeda was a well-known figure in the Latino community in the Sarasota-Bradenton area and served as the executive director for UnidosNow for a brief stint from 2014 to 2015 before transitioning to his role as the organization's college advisor, where he served until his retirement in 2020. Take a look: Latino cultural center play puts a humorous spin on immigrant experience Read more: USF Sarasota-Manatee to build first student housing building A native of Guatemala, Tejeda moved to the United States and grew up in New York City, following his educational aspirations in business and finance after completing high school. After being talked out of joining the U.S. Army by a teacher who saw his potential in other areas, friends say, Tejeda decided to attend college and study finance. He earned his bachelors degree from Marist College and later his master's in business from Harvard Business School. Tejeda earned a second MBA in 2013 from the Wharton School of Business in Philadelphia, where he was also employed for three years. In March 2014, Tejeda began a search to find a part-time position at a nonprofit where he could use his business and financial skills and background. Tejeda found an open position at UnidosNow and applied. While reviewing his resume and skills, the organization's leaders talked Tejeda into the full-time executive director position and Tejeda relocated to Sarasota. Eleven months into his leadership position, feeling pulled to do more hands-on work, Tejeda transitioned from executive leader into the role at Unidos that continues to be a key part of the organization todaypreparing Latino students for college and their careers through the Future Leaders Academy. Tejeda, center, assists a parent and student during his time at UnidosNow Colleague and current executive director Luz Corcuera recalled working with Tejeda and seeing his passion for empowering students. Story continues Hector dedicated his life to encouraging others. Every student, every person he came across he helped them to get through college or he helped them to dream big, Corcuera said. "He was brilliant, he was knowledgeable, he was incredible. For years, Tejeda served as a mentor and role model for first-generation Latino students in Sarasota and Bradenton who sought help navigating college. His work designing and implementing processes and resources for the program helped removed barriers for students looking to further their education, and provided a sense of understanding and inclusion for many. However, his belief and encouragement for his community and students went well beyond the organization. His big heart is what colleagues, family, and former students will miss the most, they said. I worked with him, but he was a friend that motivated me, too. I was pushed by him. He paved the way and inspired me. What we (Unidos Now) have accomplished over the years is in large part by Hectors hand, Corcuera said. UnidosNow Board Member Kathy Schersten, Executive Director Luz Corcuera, College Coach Jonathan Bruzon, and UnidosNows cheerleader Hector Tejeda. Isabella Macias met Tejeda at the Future Leaders Academy at Braden River High School in 2018. During her time in the college prep program at Unidos Now, she recalls the support and encouragement she regularly received from Tejeda during her college admissions process. Hector Tejeda worked as a college advisor at UnidosNow. He saw my potential he built up my confidence and he showed me that as long as I invest in myself that I can accomplish my goals and succeed in college, she said. Recalling a campus tour a few years ago, Macias remembers a cheerful Tejeda traveling with her to Tampa for support as she narrowed her college choices. Hector traveled with me to the college, and he was so enthusiastic. He was ecstatic that I was looking at schools. He was a role model and was just always there for me, cheering me on over the years. Tejeda spent much of this time in his role at Unidos helping students like Macias with college applications, essays, financial guidance, and voicing encouragement. When Tejeda wasnt working with local students and parents to help them prepare for college and their careers, he was in the community supporting civic engagement in the Latino community. Tejeda was active in elections and voting campaigns, parent leadership, and empowering students and families through financial literacy resources. UnidosNow hosted a virtual memorial to honor Tejeda's legacy on Sept. 8. The livestream memorial and remembrance ceremony was attended by former students and those that knew Tejeda across the country. Losing him so quickly has been difficult for all of us, Corcuera said. Its been hard to accept. Hector will always be in our hearts. UnidosNow recently launched the Hector Tejeda Scholarship Fund, a new scholarship program created to honor Tejeda's legacy and continue to support local Latino students' educational advancements. Samantha Gholar covers social justice news for the Herald-Tribune and USA TODAY Network. Connect with her at sgholar@gannett.com or on Twitter: @samanthagholar This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Students, collegues and family remember Tejeda's encouragement, brillance Meghan, Duchess of Sussex is seen during The State Funeral Of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey on September 19, 2022 in London, England. Meghan, Duchess of Sussex is seen during The State Funeral Of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey on September 19, 2022 in London, England. Credit - Tim RookeShutterstock Prince Harry and Meghan Markle occupied highly visible spots at the state funeral for Queen Elizabeth II on Mondaydespite their decision to step down from their positions as senior royals. When Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, chose to break from the royal family in March 2021, they relinquished the duties, income, and security protection that comes with being working royals. And while Harry had served in the British military with distinction for a decade, he also gave up his military titles. Despite their visibility at the funeral, there were subtle references to that split in how their appearance was handled. Heres how they took part and what their positions signified. Where did Prince Harry and Meghan Markle sit at the funeral? During Queen Elizabeth IIs funeral at Westminster Abbey, the palace seated Harry and Meghan directly behind Harrys father, King Charles III, and the Queen Consort Camilla. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were among other royal family members, right at the foot of the high altar. Their royal status was the reason they were relegated to the second row, near their cousins Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugeniethe children of the Queens son Prince Andrew. Heir apparent Prince William and Princess Katherine of Wales sat in the front row with their eldest children Prince George, 9, and Princess Charlotte, 7, across a small aisle from the King and Queen. Princess Anne, the Queens only daughter, was next to Camilla in the front row with her husband. Peter Phillips, Annes first son and the Queens eldest grandson, sat further down that first row, near William and Kate. Phillips is currently 17th in the line of succession. His sister Zara Tindall (20th in line) and her husband Mike Tindall sat to Phillips other side. Story continues Prince Harry is the son the king and fifth in linebehind his older brother William and all three of Williams children. Britains Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, stand behind King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort, before the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II during the State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, held at Westminster Abbey, in London England, on Sept. 19, 2022. Dominic LipinskiPool/Getty Images Why wasnt Prince Harry in uniform? In his ten years as a member of the British military, Harry served two tours in Afghanistan and rose to the rank of captain in the British army. Yet he gave up his three official military titles in 2021 as part of a deal with his family when he stopped working for the royal family and moved to California. Many members of the Royal family appeared in uniform, including King Charles III, Prince William, Princess Anne, and Prince Edward. Harry, however, donned a suit and tie for the occasion. Buckingham Palace required him not appear in uniform because he is no longer a working royal. Similarly, Queen Elizabeth IIs second son, Prince Andrewwho was forced to step back from royal duties over his relationship with sex trafficker Jeffrey Epsteinwas also barred from wearing his military uniform. Perhaps ironically, Harry and Andrew are the only members of the Queens closest family to have served in a war zone. While King Charles III and Prince William served in the military, they were never close to combat. Peter Phillips (L), Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex (centre left), Britain's Prince William, Prince of Wales (bottom left), Britain's Earl of Snowdon (C) and Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (R) leave the Abbey at the State Funeral Service for Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, at Westminster Abbey in London on September 19, 2022. Ben StansallPool/AFP/Getty Images Where was Meghan Markle during the funeral procession? In somber processions to and from Westminster Abbey, Prince Harry walked alongside senior members of the Queens household (who were mostly male, with Queen Elizabeth IIs daughter Princess Anne the most notable exception), including King Charles III and Prince William. While Meghan Markle did not follow the Queens coffin on foot, she did have an official position as part of the motorcade. Meghan shared a car with Sophie, the Countess of Wessex, who became a close adviser to the Queen after she married Prince Edward, Elizabeth IIs youngest son. The pair also shared a vehicle earlier this week as they traveled to Queen Elizabeths II lying-in-state. On Monday, they rode behind Queen Consort Camilla and Kate Middleton. Meghan meaningfully wore earrings given to her by queen. The diamonds and pearls are both traditionally favored by members of the royal family for occasions of mourning as the colorless stones have a quiet elegance. Photographers outside of Westminster Abbey after the funeral captured Meghan wiping a tear from her cheek as she stood in a gathering of royal family members. Correction, Sept. 19 The original version of this story misspelled Princess Catherines first name. It is Catherine, not Katherine. OSLO (Reuters) -Sweden's Moderate Party leader, Ulf Kristersson, has been handed a mandate to try and form the country's next government after a recent general election gave the right-wing bloc a majority, the speaker of parliament said on Monday. "It was a quite simple decision," Speaker Anders Norlen said, adding that he had not set a deadline for how long deliberations could last. The Moderates, Sweden Democrats, Christian Democrats and Liberals won 176 seats in the 349-seat parliament, narrowly ahead of the centre-left's 173 seats, according to the Swedish election authority. Kristersson is widely expected to try to form a minority government, leaving one or two right-wing parties out while relying on their support in parliament. The election marks a watershed in Swedish politics with the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats, a party with roots in the white supremacist fringe, on the threshold of gaining influence over government policy. (Reporting by Terje Solsvik, editing by Stine Jacobsen) The simplest way to benefit from a rising market is to buy an index fund. While individual stocks can be big winners, plenty more fail to generate satisfactory returns. For example, the Symbio Holdings Limited (ASX:SYM) share price is down 42% in the last year. That falls noticeably short of the market decline of around 4.4%. Longer term shareholders haven't suffered as badly, since the stock is down a comparatively less painful 23% in three years. Even worse, it's down 8.8% in about a month, which isn't fun at all. We do note, however, that the broader market is down 5.0% in that period, and this may have weighed on the share price. Since shareholders are down over the longer term, lets look at the underlying fundamentals over the that time and see if they've been consistent with returns. Check out our latest analysis for Symbio Holdings While markets are a powerful pricing mechanism, share prices reflect investor sentiment, not just underlying business performance. One imperfect but simple way to consider how the market perception of a company has shifted is to compare the change in the earnings per share (EPS) with the share price movement. Unfortunately Symbio Holdings reported an EPS drop of 52% for the last year. The share price fall of 42% isn't as bad as the reduction in earnings per share. So despite the weak per-share profits, some investors are probably relieved the situation wasn't more difficult. With a P/E ratio of 56.39, it's fair to say the market sees an EPS rebound on the cards. The image below shows how EPS has tracked over time (if you click on the image you can see greater detail). It might be well worthwhile taking a look at our free report on Symbio Holdings' earnings, revenue and cash flow. A Different Perspective We regret to report that Symbio Holdings shareholders are down 41% for the year (even including dividends). Unfortunately, that's worse than the broader market decline of 4.4%. However, it could simply be that the share price has been impacted by broader market jitters. It might be worth keeping an eye on the fundamentals, in case there's a good opportunity. Unfortunately, last year's performance may indicate unresolved challenges, given that it was worse than the annualised loss of 5% over the last half decade. We realise that Baron Rothschild has said investors should "buy when there is blood on the streets", but we caution that investors should first be sure they are buying a high quality business. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Symbio Holdings better, we need to consider many other factors. Consider risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for Symbio Holdings you should know about. Story continues We will like Symbio Holdings better if we see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of growing companies with considerable, recent, insider buying. Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on AU exchanges. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Join A Paid User Research Session Youll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan's export orders likely contracted for a second straight month in August, and at a similar pace from the previous month as global demand cools, a Reuters poll showed on Monday. The median forecast from a poll of 13 economists was for export orders to fall 2% from a year earlier. Forecasts ranged from an expansion of 3.4% to a contraction of 3.7%. The island's export orders, a bellwether of global technology demand, unexpectedly fell in July. Orders shrank 1.9% to $54.26 billion from a year-ago period, taking a larger-than-expected hit from weakening demand for technology and continued economic troubles in its largest market China. The government has predicted last month's orders to be between 0.9% and 3.7% lower than those of August 2021. Taiwan's export orders are a leading indicator of demand for hi-tech gadgets and Asian exports, and typically lead actual exports by two to three months. The island's manufacturers, including the world's largest contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd, are a key part of the global supply chain for technology giants including Apple Inc. The data for August will be released on Tuesday. (Poll compiled by Anant Chandak, Devayani Sathyan and Carol Lee; Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips) WASHINGTON (AP) An American contractor held hostage in Afghanistan for more than two years by the Taliban has been released in exchange for a convicted Taliban drug lord jailed in the United States, according to the man's family and U.S. officials. Mark Frerichs, a Navy veteran who had spent more than a decade in Afghanistan as a civilian contractor, was abducted in January 2020 and was believed to have been held since then by the Taliban-linked Haqqani network. Negotiations for his release had centered on a deal that would also involve the release of Bashir Noorzai, a notorious drug lord and member of the Taliban who told reporters in Kabul on Monday that he had spent 17 years and six months in U.S. captivity before being released. The exchange is one of the most significant prisoner swaps to take place under the Biden administration, coming five months after a separate deal with Russia that resulted in the release of Marine veteran Trevor Reed. It took place despite concerns from his family and other advocates that the U.S. military departure from Afghanistan, and the collapse of the government there, could make it harder to bring him home and could deflect attention away from his imprisonment. President Joe Biden, who is in the United Kingdom to attend Queen Elizabeth IIs funeral, called Frerichss family Monday morning to share the good news that his administration was able to secure his release, according to a senior administration official. The official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity, called the decision to grant Noorzai clemency a difficult decision but necessary to reunite a U.S. citizen with his family. A sister of Frerichs, who is from Lombard, Illinois, thanked U.S. government officials who helped secure her brother's release. I am so happy to hear that my brother is safe and on his way home to us. Our family has prayed for this each day of the more than 31 months he has been a hostage. We never gave up hope that he would survive and come home safely to us," said a statement from the sister, Charlene Cakora. Story continues In Afghanistan, Noorzai, who was arrested in 2005 on federal heroin trafficking charges in the U.S., told reporters at a press conference that he had been released from an unspecified U.S. prison and handed over earlier in the day to the Taliban in Kabul as part of the swap. Frerichs's family and U.S. officials subsequently confirmed that Frerichs was the American who was part of the deal. Noorzai was sentenced in 2009 to life imprisonment after being convicted in federal court in Manhattan, with Justice Department prosecutors accusing him of owning opium fields in Kandahar province and relying on a network of distributors in New York who sold the heroin. At the time of his sentencing, the then-top federal prosecutor in Manhattan said Noorzai's worldwide narcotics network supported a Taliban regime that made Afghanistan a breeding ground for international terrorism." Frerichs, 60, had been working on civil engineering projects at the time of his Jan. 31, 2020 abduction in Kabul. He was last seen in a video posted last spring by The New Yorker i n which he appeared in traditional Afghan clothing and pleaded for his release. The publication said it obtained the clip from an unidentified individual in Afghanistan. Until Monday, U.S. officials across two presidential administrations had tried unsuccessfully to get him home. Even before their takeover of Afghanistan in August last year, the Taliban had demanded the U.S. release Noorzai in exchange for Frerichs. But there had been no public sign of Washington proceeding with any sort of trade or exchange along those lines. Eric Lebson, a former U.S. government national security official who had been advising Frerichs' family, said in a statement that everything about this case has been an uphill fight. He criticized the Trump administration for having given away "our leverage to get Mark home quickly by signing a peace accord with the Taliban without ever having asked them to return Mark first. Marks family then had to navigate two Administrations, where many people viewed Marks safe return as an impediment to their plans for Afghanistan, the statement said. The collapse of the Western-backed Afghan government and takeover by the Taliban in August 2021, raised additional concern that any progress in negotiations could be undone or that Frerichs could be forgotten. But his name surfaced last month when President Joe Biden, who had publicly called for Frerichs' release, was said by his advisers to have pressed officials to consider any risk posed to Frerichs by the drone strike in Afghanistan that killed al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri. The Taliban-appointed foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, also spoke at the Kabul press conference alongside Noorzai and welcomed the exchange, saying it marked the start of a new era" in U.S.-Taliban relations. This can be a new chapter between Afghanistan and the United States, this can open a new door for talks between both countries, Muttaqi said. This act shows us that all problems can be solved through talks and I thank both sides' teams who worked so hard for this to happen, he added. The Taliban also posted a brief video Monday on social media showing Noorzais arrival at the Kabul airport where he was welcomed by top Taliban officials, including Muttaqi. At the press conference, Noorzai expressed thankfulness at seeing his mujahedeen brothers" a reference to the Taliban in Kabul. I pray for more success of the Taliban, he added. I hope this exchange can lead to peace between Afghanistan and America, because an American was released and I am also free now. ___ Faiez reported from Islamabad. Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed to this report. ___ This story has corrected a version earlier in the day that cited Taliban claims that Noorzai was held at Guantanamo Bay; the claim was disproved by U.S. officials. By Mohammad Yunus Yawar and Humeyra Pamuk KABUL/UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Afghanistan's Taliban on Monday freed American engineer Mark Frerichs in exchange for Taliban-linked Afghan tribal leader Bashir Noorzai, after President Joe Biden granted clemency to the convicted drug smuggler who had been detained by the United States since 2005, officials said. Frerichs, an engineer abducted in 2020 while working in Afghanistan, was exchanged at Kabul airport for Noorzai, acting foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi told a news conference. Biden said Frerichs' release was the culmination of work by U.S. officials and other governments. His administration has been under pressure from the families of Americans detained by hostile foreign governments and Biden says he wants to increase efforts for their release. "Bringing the negotiations that led to Marks freedom to a successful resolution required difficult decisions, which I did not take lightly," Biden said in a statement, without confirming the release of Noorzai. A senior U.S. administration official, who declined to be identified, said Biden had granted clemency to Noorzai, who had spent 17 years in U.S. custody. Noorzai was detained on charges of smuggling more than $50 million worth of heroin into the United States and Europe. He was found guilty following a jury trial in New York in September 2008 and sentenced to life in prison in 2009. Noorzai's lawyer had denied that his client was a drug dealer and argued that the charges should be dismissed because U.S. officials duped him into believing he would not be arrested. Frerichs is an engineer and U.S. Navy veteran from Lombard, Illinois, who worked in Afghanistan for a decade on development projects. He was kidnapped in February 2020. Frerichs arrived in Doha on a plane from Kabul at around 1:30 p.m. (6.30 a.m. EST) and is in good health, according to a source familiar with his situation. It was not immediately clear when he would arrive back in the United States. Story continues U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, addressing an event at the United Nations in New York, thanked Qatar for its support in securing Frerichs' release. His family welcomed the news and praised Biden's decision to make the swap. "There were some folks arguing against the deal that brought Mark home, but President Biden did what was right," sister Charlene Cakora said in a statement. HELD BY RUSSIA Washington has opened negotiations with several adversaries over U.S. detainees, including with Moscow to secure the release of basketball star Brittney Griner and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan in exchange for Russian arms trafficker Victor Bout. Officials have also held talks with the Syrian government over journalist Austin Tice and with the government of Venezuela over the detention of Americans there. Some critics said prisoner swaps, which have been conducted by successive U.S. administrations, could encourage hostage taking, although advocates for the families of detainees argue there is no evidence for the claim. A second U.S. official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity, said an executive order Biden signed in July that introduced sanctions specifically for wrongfully detaining U.S. nationals would deter countries from doing so. The time-honoured practice of people being held to achieve political ends was "appalling" but "a fact that we need to grapple with," the official said. TALIBAN 'READY TO SOLVE PROBLEMS' The first administration official said the release of Frerichs had been a "top priority" for Biden even after the hardline Islamist Taliban regained power in Afghanistan in August 2021 as U.S.-led foreign forces were withdrawing. U.S. officials had said his case would influence their view on the legitimacy of a Taliban-led government. No foreign government has formally recognised the Taliban, in part due to the group's restriction of most secondary school-aged girls from education. The second U.S. official said Biden decided in June to allow Noorzai's release if the Taliban were willing to free Frerichs. That was before the July 31 U.S. drone strike that killed Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in Kabul, further straining relations. "We told the Taliban immediately after the strike that we would hold them directly responsible if any harm were to come to Mark and that the best way they might begin to rebuild trust with the United States, with the world, was to immediately release Mark," the official said. U.S. officials acted to make the swap when a "window of opportunity" arrived this month, the official added, without elaborating. Afghanistan's acting foreign minister Muttaqi said on Monday that the Taliban "is ready to solve problems by negotiation with all including the United States." Noorzai briefly addressed the same news conference: "I am proud to be in the capital of my country among my brothers." (Reporting by Mohammad Yunus Yawar in Kabul, Humeyra Pamuk at the United Nations and Steve Holland in Washington; Writing by Charlotte Greenfield and Simon Lewis; Editing by Toby Chopra, Mark Porter and Grant McCool) Navy veteran Mark Frerichs is free after 2 years of captivity in Afghanistan under a prisoner swap personally approved by President Joe Biden, a senior administration official told NBC News on Monday. After months of negotiations with the Taliban, Biden agreed to commute the sentence of an Afghan drug lord, Bashir Noorzai, who spent 17 years in U.S. custody and was convicted in 2008 of running a major operation to smuggle heroin into New York City. The Taliban announced the deal overnight and Noorzai appeared at a news conference in Kabul, the Afghan capital. Mark Frerichs in Iraq. (Twitter via AP) This is a painful decision for any president to make, the administration official said. There is just no symmetry at all between Mark, who did absolutely nothing wrong and Noorzai, who had all the benefits of the U.S. legal system. Early Monday, Biden called Frerichs sister, Charlene Cakora, with the news, the official said. Frerichs, 60, is a civil engineer from Lombard, Illinois, who had been working as a contractor. He is the last U.S. hostage who was on the radar of the Biden White House before U.S. troops left Afghanistan a year ago. There is no allegation on the public record that Noorzai killed Americans, although federal prosecutors said his drug smuggling network did great harm. He once controlled a significant share of the worlds heroin trade and has been described as the Asian counterpart of the Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar. Frerichs landed in Doha, Qatar, sometime after 5:30 a.m. ET, after boarding the same plane that delivered Noorzai, the official said. An initial medical check in Kabul found him to be in good health, the official said. Frerichs was seized on the streets of Kabul by the Haqqani network in 2020, officials have said. In recent years, it has become clear that the Taliban wanted Noorzais freedom as a condition of releasing the American. Biden made the decision to authorize that release in June, the official said. He said the U.S. operation to kill Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in Kabul in August did not seem to complicate the talks. Story continues Noorzai had been producing heroin in Afghanistan for sale in the United States since the 1990s, and he helped the Taliban leader Mullah Omar take power, according to Justice Department records. He lent around 400 of his fighters to the Taliban in 2001 to fight the Northern Alliance, the Justice Department said at the time of his sentencing. He was arrested in New York in 2005 after he came to the U.S. under an arrangement in which he believed he was providing information to the U.S. government, a turn of events his lawyers would later call a betrayal. We are working very hard as a government not just to resolve current cases, but also to punish, and by punishing, deter future cases, the senior administration official said. This article was originally published on NBCNews.com Genevieve Buck entered the newspaper business when it was still a raucous, male-dominated world in which women were considered secondary. But over the next decades Buck would prove to be an influential and internationally admired fashion reporter and editor, business reporter and columnist, and feature story writer. She did so with a memorably deft touch. And she was as stylish in person as in print. Advertisement Columnist Mike Royko, her colleague and friend when both worked for the Chicago Daily News in the late 1960s, once observed, shortly after Buck had exited the elevator in which they and others had been riding, There goes the classiest dame in this whole building. Buck died Sept. 6 in Northwestern Memorial Hospital after a cerebral hemorrhage and more than two decades coping with failing health. She was 89. Advertisement Gen was fashion for the many years I worked at the Tribune, said former Tribune writer Judy Hevrdejs, who worked with Buck. She had a great attention to details in the details of a designer dress, of the trends showing up on the streets of Chicago and beyond, and most importantly in the details of a story she was writing. Genevieve Carol Wisniewski was born Dec. 18, 1932 and raised in Joliet, the daughter of Hattie and Leo Wisniewski and the youngest of their four children. She stayed close to home for school, attending St. Francis Academy and earning a scholarship to College of St. Francis, where she edited the school paper and was a cum laude graduate in 1954. As she would later tell an interviewer, It never occurred to me, when I was majoring in English literature, that I might work for a newspaper. But she joined the public relations department of the American Institute of Laundering and there began to learn and write about fabrics and fashion. That led to a job as a reporter in the Chicago bureau of the national publication Womens Wear Daily. In 1962, she married Robert Buck (they divorced in 1993) and two years later left her job to raise two children, Greg, born in 1964, and Michelle, who arrived two years later. Advertisement In 1967, she was hired by the Daily News as a fashion reporter. In 1971, she was lured away by the Chicago Tribune, where she worked for more than 30 years as fashion writer, fashion editor, features writer, and business reporter and columnist, writing the popular House Hunter column. In disclosure, Buck was a colleague of mine for some years, including when I was editor of the Tribunes Tempo section and she was one of its staff writers. Her fashion duties took her across the country and the world. She got to know such famous designers as Oscar de la Renta, Bill Blass, Ralph Lauren, Karl Lagerfeld the list is long. She formed a close relationship with the late photographer Victor Skrebneski. Many awards came her way, including induction into the Chicago Journalism Hall of Fame. Accepting a prestigious 1991 prize from the Council of Fashion Designers of America, she wrote in the events program: I like the people behind the clothes more than I like the clothes themselves. I am fascinated by creativity, by learning why designers artists really do what they do. Writing about people, their styles, even fads, is a way of keeping a finger on the pulse of the times. And thats invigorating. As a Tempo writer, she once profiled photographer Marc Hauser. She began her story about him with this: Marc Hauser is the first to admit that hes both a great photographer and a great promoter. In fact, hes the best in the city at doing both. Just ask him. She and her family lived on the citys North Side. Son Greg, a senior manager with Tyson Foods, remembers, Despite her long involvement with fashion, the clothes never became an obsession. She certainly had her own style, but what she loved was the story, the people. And what was her definition of a working mom? Coming home early from the fabulous parties in Paris after the spring collections, and helping her kids with homework via trans-Atlantic phone calls. Advertisement Buck retired in 2004, already beset by health problems that would shadow her until the end. My brother and I dont think of that primarily as a negative thing, but it is a major part of her story of strength and resilience and defying the odds, said daughter Michelle, a professor at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Over the years, I said what I thought was a final goodbye many times but she bravely carried on. She had been living for many years at The Clare, the retirement community a few blocks from Northwestern Hospital. She has been my rock and inspiration, and she was a warrior, to the last moment, said Michelle. There was a quotation she cherished, from author Dawna Markova. It was this, I will not die an unlived life. I will not live in fear of falling or catching fire. I choose to inhabit my days, to allow my living to open me to make me more accessible I choose to live. In addition to her children, Buck is survived by daughter-in-law Kim and their children Geoff and Allison; son-in-law Carlos A. Cornier and five nieces. A celebration of life is being planned. rkogan@chicagotribune.com SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Tesla completed a project to expand production capacity at its Shanghai plant on Monday, according to a statement on a Shanghai government platform for companies' environmental information disclosures. Tesla will test the production lines for the upgrade during From Sept. 19 to Nov. 30, the statement added. Reuters previously reported Tesla had been ramping up its output to reach a target of producing around 22,000 units of Model 3 and Model Y cars per week at the Shanghai plant. Tesla did not respond to a Reuters request for comment. The U.S. automaker planned to invest up to 1.2 billion yuan ($170 million) to expand production capacity at its Shanghai factory that would allow it to employ 4,000 more people at the site, state-backed Beijing Daily newspaper reported last November. The project was originally expected to be finished in April, the Chinese media reported then. ($1 = 7.0169 Chinese yuan renminbi) (This story refiles to correct paragraph 3 to say .. 22,000 units ..not.. 2,200 units) (Reporting by Zhang Yan, Brenda Goh; Editing by Toby Chopra) Firefighter Davis Sommer lights a backfire to burn off vegetation while battling the Mosquito Fire in the Volcanoville community of El Dorado County, Calif., on Friday, Sept. 9, 2022. Noah Berger via Associated Press Tesla sent a memo to workers at its Nevada gigafactory regarding the Mosquito Fire, CNBC reports. The California wildfire has led to poor air quality in the factory's neighborhood. Tesla said it has upgraded its HVAC filters and warned staff to wear masks outside, per the memo. Tesla has updated its factory's heating, cooling, and ventilation system and warned employees to wear N95 masks outside as wildfire smoke spreads through nearby towns, according to a recent report from CNBC. The publication said Tesla sent out a memo to workers at its gigafactory in Nevada last week regarding the Mosquito Fire, and work has continued since then. Over the past week, the Mosquito Fire has burned through over 70,000 acres of land in California. As of Monday morning, the fire was about 39% contained. But, smoke has filled Nevada towns, including Sparks, Nevada the location of the Tesla gigafactory that employs thousands of workers. In the memo, which was viewed by CNBC, Tesla said it had updated its HVAC system to "recirculation mode" in order to avoid pulling air from outside the building into the factory. The company also told workers it had upgraded the HVAC filters over the past year to better capture smoke particles and filter them out, and was replacing the filters more frequently, CNBC reported. A spokesperson for Tesla did not respond to a request for comment from Insider. On Thursday and Friday, air quality in the area was rated between "unhealthy" to "very unhealthy." Since, the quality of air in the area has risen to "good" after rains came through the area over the weekend. On Wednesday, public school officials closed several campuses in Reno and Sparks, Nevada over the hazardous air quality. It's not the first time the factory has had to deal with the effects of a wildfire. Last year, California saw a slew of wildfires, several of which contributed to smoke concerns in Nevada. But, Tesla workers at the Nevada gigafactory might not have a choice when it comes to remote work options. Story continues Earlier this year, Tesla CEO Elon Musk told Tesla staff to return to the office full-time or quit. The companywide email came shortly before the billionaire announced his plans to lay off 10% of the electric-car maker's salaried employees. Insider previously reported that Tesla had begun sending automated emails to workers who didn't visit the office enough. Last month, CNBC reported Tesla managers were receiving weekly reports on employees' office attendance. Do you work at Tesla? Reach out to the reporter from a non-work email at gkay@insider.com Read the original article on Business Insider Republican incumbent Texas Governor Greg Abbotts lead over Democratic challenger Beto ORourke has stretched to nine points, according to a new poll. Exactly 50 days before voters across the country cast ballots in the 2022 midterms election, a poll suggests that one of the most closely-watched races is becoming less competitive and that the gap between the candidates is getting bigger. The poll showed Mr Abbott, the 64-year-old hard line conservative who has championed some of the nations most extreme policies in terms of immigration and abortion access, has seen his lead increase from seven points in August, to nine months this month. The poll for the University of Texas at Tyler and The Dallas Morning News, asked voters who they would pick to the Texas governor from a list of Mr Abbott, Mr ORourke, Green Party nominee Delilah Barrios, Libertarian nominee Mark Tippetts, or someone else. The new poll gave Mr Abbott 47 points, with Mr ORourke on 38, and with Ms Barrios and Mr Tippetts on 3 points. The 49-year-old Democrat, who impressed people with a 2018 bid to beat Republican Ted Cruz in 2018 to try and bag a Senate seat, losing by just 2.6 per cent in what was the closest race in Texas history, had hoped to use issues such as the overturn of Roe, as a way to win over voters. While parts of the state are changing from a solid red to a more purple as a result of shifting demographics, it is still favoured territory for Republicans. Donald Trump beat Joe Biden by five points in their 2020 presidential showdown. Mr ORourke, whose own presidential bid that cycle failed to make headway, had hoped he could win a marquee battle for Democrats that would send a message to the country. All of you who have come out here tonight, let me let you in on the big news. We are going to win this election in November, he told supporters in Laredo earlier this month. Were gonna win because were gonna make sure every woman makes her own decisions about her own body, her own future, and her own health care. Story continues He added: We are going to win because were going to put the lives of our kids above the interests of the NRA, or the gun lobby or anything else. Mr Abbott not shied away from the fight and along with his Florida counterpart Ron DeSantis, took measures derided as political stunts by his opponents, such as bussing migrants to Vice President Kamala Harriss DC residence, to fire up the Republican base. Were sending migrants to her backyard to call on the Biden Administration to do its job and secure the border, Mr Abbott tweeted after dispatching the migrants, in an episode widely condemned by Democrats. Authorities in Texas have opened a criminal investigation into Gov. Ron DeSantis operation to fly roughly 50 Venezuelan migrants from Texas to Marthas Vineyard last week. Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar announced at a news conference Monday that his office is investigating whether the migrants were the victims of a crime, saying they were lured under false pretenses. Many migrants said they agreed to fly from San Antonio to the Massachusetts island after being promised jobs. But there was no work waiting. I believe people need to be held accountable for it to the extent possible, Salazar said. At this point, Im not able to definitively say heres the statute that they broke, either federal, state or local, but what I can tell you is its wrong. Just from a human rights perspective, what was done to these folks is wrong. DeSantis took responsibility for the two charter flights last week, saying they were part of a state program to relocate migrants from Florida, although the group of Venezuelans was in San Antonio. Salazar, a Democrat, called the flights political theater. He did not name DeSantis. He also said his office was working with a private attorney for the migrants, as well as advocacy groups, and was preparing to cooperate with federal agencies should the need arise. One potential lead: Salazar said he believed a Venezuelan migrant had been paid a bird dog fee to recruit other migrants in San Antonio for the flights. Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar addresses the media during a Facebook Live in which he announced a criminal investigation into the state of Florida flying roughly 50 migrants from San Antonio to Marthas Vineyard. Courtesy/Facebook In response to a request for comment, Jeremy Redfern, DeSantis deputy press secretary, did not answer with words. Instead, he emailed a screenshot of a news story with the headline: Bexar County Sheriff Salazar says Biden admins handling of immigration isnt working. On Monday night, DeSantis appeared on Sean Hannitys Fox News show and defended the flights. The governor said the program was clearly voluntary and all the other nonsense you are hearing is just not true. But the migrants said they were recruited for the Marthas Vineyard trip with falsehoods. Story continues Several said that a woman known as Perla, who is not believed to be a migrant, approached them outside a migrant resource center in San Antonio and offered them jobs and assistance if they flew to Massachusetts. Those claims of employment and other opportunities turned out to be false as officials on Marthas Vineyard were unprepared for their arrival last Wednesday. In addition, brochures provided to the migrants said they could receive cash assistance and employment services after landing. The brochures included the phone number and website of the Massachusetts Office for Refugees and Immigrants. The office said it did not print the brochures, which were shared with the Herald by Lawyers for Civil Rights, a Boston-based legal group representing some of the migrants. READ MORE: Easy pickings: In Texas town where Marthas Vineyard ordeal began, few options for migrants While Perlas full name and connections have not yet been publicly revealed despite a handbill, distributed by the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), offering $5,000 for information on her identity Salazar suggested the investigation could reach Florida. If somebodys in Florida and they need to be brought here to be brought to justice, thats just paperwork at that point, the sheriff said. He said investigators had obtained the names of persons of interest but declined to release them yet. A brochure provided to Venezuelan migrants in San Antonio promised them help in Massachussetts. Courtesy/Lawyers for Civil Rights The migrants have legal status in the United States, having presented themselves to U.S. authorities after crossing the border in Texas and seeking asylum status. DeSantis has said the flights were financed with Florida taxpayer money meant to remove migrants from Florida. All the migrants boarded in San Antonio, which is in Bexar County, although the planes stopped in Floridas Panhandle to refuel. Transporting migrants from Texas with Florida money appears to conflict with language included in the state budget that authorized the $12 million program. Passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature and supported by most Democrats, the budget instructed the Florida Department of Transportation to spend the funds to facilitate the transport of unauthorized aliens from this state. Migrant Sonia, 30, wipes away tears in Eagle Pass as she remembers how she left her child in Venezuela in hope of providing a better life for them both. Carl Juste/cjuste@miamiherald.com DeSantis has suggested the flights were a way to intercept migrants before they reached Florida. On Sunday, the Herald interviewed migrants who had just crossed the border in Eagle Pass, Texas. None of them told journalists they wanted to go to Florida. Instead, most hoped to travel to New York. They spoke of a dangerous journey to the United States and an uncertain future now that theyre here. None had the money for a $50 bus ticket to San Antonio, the nearest city. Advocates say that makes them easy prey for scammers. Miami Herald staff writers Bianca Padro Ocasio and Ana Ceballos contributed to this report. For the past two years, Covid put the kibosh on holiday travelers. Now those eagerly planning to travel for Thanksgiving and Christmas are in for sticker shock. Airfare prices will be the highest theyve been in five years, and theyll only get more costly the longer you drag your feet on booking. For Thanksgiving travel, domestic airfare will run $350 for an average round-trip, up 22% compared with 2019 and 43% higher than last year, according to a new report by Hopper, a travel app. International airfare will hit $795 on average for a round-trip, up 25% from 2019, and a jump of 41% over 2021. If youre preparing to travel over the Christmas holidays, youll need to up the ante. Domestic airfare will average $463 round-trip, up 31% compared with 2019, and 39% higher than last year. International airfare is likely to be $1,300 on average round-trip, up 26% versus 2019. Factors, including higher jet fuel prices, fewer flights scheduled and limited airline capacity compared to 2019, and two years of pent-up holiday travel demand, are contributing to higher Thanksgiving and Christmas airfares, Hopper Senior Economist Andrew Heritage told Yahoo Money. But few people are blinking at the heftier tab. More than half of Americans intend to travel for the holidays this year, with 70% of travelers planning to visit family and friends, according to Hopper data. They should also be ready for bumpy travel in addition to higher prices. Heres what to know. An airplane sits on the tarmac at John F. Kennedy International Airport on the July 4th weekend in Queens, New York City, U.S., July 2, 2022. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly Delays and cancellations arent going away The main cause for the flight disruptions has been a staff shortage for many of the airlines and that is likely to continue. U.S. airlines have launched aggressive hiring campaigns to meet this demand, Hannah Walden, a spokesperson for the trade association Airlines for America , told Yahoo Money. But the rebound in demand for air travel has been rapidquicker than most industry experts and analysts ever predicted. Flight schedules for September and October have been reduced by 15% compared to pre-pandemic levels. Story continues The lessons from the summer debacle may have sunk in and airlines could be better prepared to handle issues, according to Laurie Garrow, president of AGIFORS , a nonprofit that conducts airline research and a professor in the Civil Engineering department at Georgia Institute of Technology, told Yahoo Money. As we head into the holiday season, I would say we've learned a lot from the summer, Garrow said. We have seen that many airlines have cut back on the number of flights, but really they're holding more planes in reserve in case things go wrong so they have more in backup and if things go wrong in the systems and they encounter delays, they're better able to respond to that. I'm hopeful there will be fewer delays and cancellations, but one of the things that's always challenging is if the weather hits, then all bets are off, Garrow added. How to shop for fares this holiday season Passengers are seen in silhouette at a Delta Sky Club as an airplane parks at a gate in front of them at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport ahead of the Fourth of July holiday in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S., July 1, 2022. REUTERS/Elijah Nouvelage Use a price tracker to monitor prices early, Clint Henderson, managing editor at The Points Guy , told Yahoo Money. Free price tracking tools include Hoppers price prediction, Scotts Cheap Flights , KAYAKs price alerts , and Google Flights . If youre planning holiday travel right now, you should be setting alerts for the routes you want to take, Henderson said. And if you can be flexible with the dates even better, because you're likely to get a better deal. Set up alerts that monitor these flights each day. Savings using the Hopper app, for example, could come to $60 to $80 off domestic flights and $120 off $195 off international flights, according to Heritage. When to book, when to travel Timing your travel is what its all about. For Thanksgiving, flying on Monday, November 21 or Thanksgiving Day will be the cheapest days to depart, Heritage said. Returning the week after Thanksgiving on Tuesday November 29 or Wednesday November 30 should also offer more discounts. Avoid returning Saturday, November 26 or Sunday, November 27. They will be the most expensive days. For Christmas, travelers can save off peak prices by departing the Monday or Tuesday before Christmas, or even departing on Christmas Eve. Avoid flying out Thursday December 22nd or Friday December 23rd those will be the most expensive travel days, Heritage said. Returning the Tuesday or Wednesday after Christmas Day could save you $40 per ticket, according to Heritage. Steer clear of returning on Monday, December 26, New Years Day, or January 2 as those dates will be the highest priced returns, he said. And extending your trip to January 3 can probably save you 20% off domestic airfares. How long can you wait it out? If you don't see a deal by the week of October 10 for both Thanksgiving and Christmas, lock in those prices because they are only going to go higher from there, Henderson said. More expert advice for smooth holiday travel Travelers carry their bags and luggage while queuing at the Orlando International Airport on Thanksgiving Eve. The Transportation Security Administration is expecting a record number of passengers for the Thanksgiving holiday period, surpassing the pre-pandemic records. (Photo by Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images) Download your carriers app Throughout the pandemic, carriers have expedited the rollout of touchless technologies, including enhancements to smartphone applications, Walden said. We strongly encourage all passengers to download their carriers mobile app, which is the best way for carriers to communicate directly with passengers. These apps also serve as a one-stop location to easily access information and updates for your flight gate information, flight status, baggage tracking, automatic rebooking and more. Use points and miles youve been hoarding They're not going to get any more valuable, Henderson said. If you can use them for peak holiday dates, you're going to get maximum value from those points and miles. Check fares to and from alternative airports If you're heading to San Francisco's East Bay area, check the prices at San Francisco airport because usually you're going to pay less to fly into this SFO over the Oakland airport, Henderson said. Also look to see if the smaller regional airport that's still drivable for you is cheaper than the bigger airport or vice versa. Overseas travelers, be patient If youre traveling to Europe over the holidays, then I would be prepared to expect delays and possibly cancellations, Garrow said. Thats because many of the airports including Londons Heathrow, and Pariss Charles De Gaulle, for example, are struggling with airport staffing issues. Theyre telling carriers, this is the max we can bring in often with little notice. Book an early flight Finally, to avoid delays and cancellations it's always recommended to book the first flight out in the morning. Early flights are less likely to take delays or cancellations than flights in the afternoon. And if you have a flight connection and a choice between a one-hour connection and three-hour connection, take the three. Just give yourself some extra room and less stress. Garrow said. Kerry is a Senior Columnist and Senior Reporter at Yahoo Money. Follow her on Twitter @kerryhannon Read the latest personal finance trends and news from Yahoo Money. The Treasury Department is keenly aware that crypto scams and hacks remain serious problems, and it's pressuring the rest of the US government to respond. As The Washington Post notes, the Treasury has issued a report calling on other federal regulators to further crack down on scams and other illegal crypto activity. Officials want agencies to "expand and increase" investigations and enforcement, issue clearer guidance and help crypto users understand both risks and the reporting tools at their disposal. In all cases, the Treasury asked for more coordination between government divisions. The department also asked for greater transparency on illegal activity to help spot trends in scams and other crimes. The tougher stance is necessary given the dangers, according to the report. While proponents argue crypto can democratize financial services by making them more affordable and accessible, the Treasury found that there wasn't much evidence to support the claim. If anything, the department found that low-income households were particularly vulnerable to ripoffs 29 percent of crypto investors had an annual income below $50,000, according to Federal Reserve Board data. It's not clear that the findings will lead to decisive action. The Treasury didn't outline a concrete strategy for battling crypto scams and security breaches, and regulators have their own sometimes-conflicting views of how to govern digital assets. The Securities Exchange Commission sees most crypto tokens as securities it can monitor, while the Commodity Futures Trading Commission unsurprisingly wants to treat tokens as commodities. Although the bureaus might not be fighting, this report doesn't do much to establish common ground. Donald Trump (left) and JD Vance Jeff Swensen/Getty Images Donald Trump says JD Vance, like Kim Jong Un, "fell in love" with him. At his Ohio rally, Trump said Vance had once said "some bad things" about him. Vance changed his mind after getting to know him, Trump said. At a Saturday night rally in Ohio, former President Donald Trump drew a comparison between his relationships with Senate candidate JD Vance and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. While introducing Vance at the Youngstown rally, Trump said Vance has warmed up to him after getting to know him. "This is a very important race. This is a great person, who I've really gotten to know," Trump said of Vance. "Yeah, he said some bad things about me, but that was before he knew me. And then he fell in love," Trump continued, drawing laughter and applause from the crowd. "Remember I said that about Kim Jong Un he fell in love. And they said, 'Oh, Trump is saying he fell in love,'" Trump said. "Actually, he did, if you wanna know the truth." Trump has on multiple occasions boasted about his relationship with the North Korean leader, saying in 2018 that he received "beautiful letters" from Kim. Vance was once known to be anti-Trump, and even suggested to a law school friend in 2016 that Trump could well become "America's Hitler." These days, Vance is a Trump supporter. In April, he told the Intelligencer that he was "wrong about Trump" in the past. And in August, he told Fox News that he had "a change of heart" and "a change of mind" about Trump, who he now thinks "was a great president." Trump, for his part, has acknowledged that Vance used to disapprove of him, but said he has "put that aside." The Washington Post reported in April that Trump ignored the advice of his aides, choosing to endorse Vance, who at the time was viewed as a risky candidate. At the rally on Saturday, however, Trump, made a backhanded comment about Vance's allegiance to him. "JD is kissing my ass, he wants my support so bad," Trump quipped. Vance and a representative for Trump did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Insider. Read the original article on Business Insider Filmmaker Werner Herzog, left, joins Facets founder and artistic director Milos Stehlik for a master class May 11 at Facets on West Fullerton Avenue. (Jasmin Shah / Facets and Comer Family Foundation) The voice is higher now, and fainter. Theres a rasp unfamiliar to those who know it from Milos Stehliks wide-ranging film commentary over the years on the WBEZ-FM public affairs program Worldview. His voice has been pushed into an upper register by illness and fatigue and the effects of chemotherapy. Advertisement First round didnt work, Stehlik says. So. Well see what happens. Mostly its depleted strength, and its hard to tell how much is the chemo and how much is the illness. He pauses. But little by little Im regaining. Advertisement On Sunday I visited the Lincoln Park rowhouse owned by Stehlik, founder and executive director of the long-standing nonprofit arts organization known as Facets, and his wife, Elizabeth Najda. They have known each other for 30 years. We had a very long engagement, she says, smiling. But we knew. In recent days, she says, Milos is sleeping better, eating better. His in-home hospital bed, near the front door, is a few feet from a gorgeous, richly saturated abstract painting by Polish artist Marian Waldemar Kuczma, ripe with Chagall-like blues. I think maybe his body is still fighting for life, Najda says. And that, who knows that may balance the cancer, in a way. Stage 4 lung cancer: Thats the diagnosis Stehlik, now 70, received in January. Five months later he remains sharp, engaged, full of insights and more than the usual amount of long-range philosophy and reflection. Together through thick and thin (or, as the old Mel Brooks line puts it, through thin) Stehlik and Facets have served as Chicagos most valiant champions of international cinema for decades. When he and avant-garde theatrical entrepreneur Nicole Dreiske incorporated as Facets Multimedia in 1975, they began an itinerant, scrambling, fruitfully adventurous existence. (They later married, for a time.) Facets was housed by one Lutheran church (in Lakeview) followed by another (in Lincoln Park). The film projector this was when projectors routinely projected actual 16 or 35 millimeter film was plunked in place up in the choir loft, according to a 1995 Tribune magazine profile by Grant Pick. In 1977, for $40,000, they bought Facets first and lasting home, at 1517 W. Fullerton Avenue. The building formerly housed a German-language publishing house, whose magazines included Die Hausfrau. Stehlik smiles at the memory, noting sardonically that Die Hausfrau had a very big audience in Argentina. Advertisement A year before that, Stehlik says, things were tough, as they often were. That year, 1976, he says the French filmmaker Louis Malle sent Stehlik a note reading, simply: I will do anything for Facets. The era of 16 and 35 mm projection gave way to the videocassette era, followed by the DVD era. Chicago film critic Roger Ebert convinced Stehlik that video was the future, which, for a time, it surely was. Facets bought its first 140 videocassettes from a distributor. Stehlik always credits Ebert as being the technological early adopter he needed to thrive. Ebert died in 2013; publisher, entrepreneur and film champion Chaz Ebert serves on the Facets advisory board. In this 1978 photo, founder Milos Stehlik (right, with champagne) christens the new Facets home at 1517 W. Fullerton Ave. Also pictured: Pam Johnson (in trench coat), Jeremy Turner (with poster) and Bill Johnson (behind Turner), with unidentified Facets volunteers. (Facets) At Eberts memorial service at the Chicago Theatre, Stehlik read an open letter to Roger, via the audience: The embrace of your illness gave us courage. You showed us what movies and life can teach us. In recent generations the constant mutation of film platforms has made life unpredictable and uneasy for film programmers around the world. Just after the turn of the century, Stehlik claims, referring to the early 2000s, Facets did $8 million in revenue from sales and rentals of videos and DVDs. In an age plainly dominated by Blockbuster Video, which never had much use for anything other than Americas multiplex fare, thats a remarkable figure. Each year, in the late 20th century and the early 21st, the arrival of a new Facets video catalog in the mail was literal big news, accompanied by a thwop as the catalog hit the nearest table. Facets members, who rented regularly, included heavy hitters on both coasts: Martin Scorsese, Stephen Sondheim and Cher among them. I never thought it would go so fast, Stehlik says now of the traditional cineaste film culture, embodied by pre-digital film itself. I thought it would happen progressively, but the way Hollywood dumped the old formats and forced digital projection on everyone, that was the turning point. Advertisement And yet Facets persists. Guided by longtime Facets Cinematheque programmer Charles Coleman, the organizations theatrical presentation of all sorts of independent and art house titles continues. In recent years Facets has devoted more and more time and effort toward educational programming and activities, anchored by the annual Chicago International Childrens Film Festival. Just last month, Stehlik hosted two fundraisers: the Screen Gems Benefit at the Arts Club, benefiting Facets educational programs, and a master class, at the venue on Fullerton, taught by visiting filmmaker and longtime Facets champion Werner Herzog. I love what Herzog said that night, Stehlik remembers with a smile. He said: I guarantee youll be a better filmmaker by walking from Chicago to Guatemala than by spending a year in film school. Hes right! Production-oriented film school is not enough. Its why youre making a film thats important. In many ways, he says, were still doing what weve always done, only now its also on our streaming platform: connecting people to films they dont know yet. Plans for a succession are in place, he says. Theres a capital campaign being launched to renovate the facilities and shore up the finances of the organization. It will be known as the Milos Stehlik Legacy Fund. On Sunday I asked him about the first film to lodge in his psyche as a child. Advertisement I havent thought about this since I was a kid, back in Czechoslovakia. The film was King of the Sumava, also known as Smugglers of Death, a 1959 spy thriller from director Karel Kachyna , one of the Czech new wave filmmakers alongside Milos Forman and Jiri Menzel. Set along the Czech border, it deals with illegal border crossings and conflicted nationalistic loyalties. Stehlik remembers it being very polished, very impactful. Not to mention timely. Once he got to Chicago in the early 1960s, his foundation, as he calls it, was the rotating repertory calendar of the downtown Clark Theater. The Clark dazzled Stehlik with Fellini, Bergman, Ozu, Hitchcock and so many more. My foundation, he says. At this stage in their lives together, Najda says, I believe Milos and I have more space for understanding. We know now that you dont always have to come to a conclusion about something. But you do have to have communication. Openness. Thats very important, for your creativity. And for your peace. Later, by email, Stehlik wrote to say more about the future of Facets. For the positive spin and its not spin, really, because its really happening the Facets staff has been in place a long time, and theyre really stepping up in a big way. We are all committed to making this transition a big leap forward. A succession search for a new executive director is underway. Advertisement This, he says, above all is most heartening. To contribute to the Milos Stehlik Legacy Fund, and for more information, go to facets.org or call 773-281-9075, ext. 114. Michael Phillips is a Tribune critic. mjphillips@chicagotribune.com Twitter @phillipstriibune Milos Stehlik, the founder of Facets Multi-Media, poses with bookshelves of videos in 2009. (Anthony Robert La Penna / Chicago Tribune) [ MORE COVERAGE: 'Last Black Man in San Francisco' review, a Sundance hit enjoys an open house ] [ 'Late Night' review: A late-night TV story with Mindy Kaling and Emma Thompson ] TUNIS (Reuters) -The ageing leader of Tunisia's main opposition party was still waiting to be questioned by police more than 10 hours after arriving to answer a summons, his lawyer said on Monday, accusing the authorities of abuse. Rached Ghannouchi, 81, head of the Islamist Ennahda party and speaker of the dissolved parliament, faces investigation over accusations relating to terrorism, which his party denies, calling it a political attack on a foe of President Kais Saied. Ennahda has accused Saied of an anti-democratic coup since he seized most powers last summer, shutting down the parliament and moving to rule by decree, powers he has largely formalised with a new constitution ratified in a July referendum. Dozens of protesters including lawyers and political activists gathered outside the police station to demonstrate against the questioning of Ghannouchi when he arrived there soon after midday. "The police state is finished. We are with you Ghannouchi," some of them chanted. Others chanted: "Freedom". Ghannouchi's lawyers said he and another senior party member, former prime minister Ali Larayedh, would be questioned by police for "sending jihadists to Syria", charges they and the party say are baseless. Police did not start questioning Larayedh until five hours after the men had arrived, the lawyer said. Tunisian authorities have not given any statement on the reason for Ghannouchi's summons. Last month several former security officials and two Ennahda members were arrested on charges connected to Tunisians travelling for jihad. The Ennahda leader has been a key player in Tunisian politics since the 2011 revolution that brought democracy, with his party joining several successive coalition governments. When Saied seized most powers last summer and shut down the parliament, Ghannouchi accused him of an anti-democratic coup, something the president has denied. Speaking to Reuters late on Saturday, Ghannouchi said the summons was "a new attempt to target opponents and a new step towards exclusion". Story continues Security and official sources estimated that around 6,000 Tunisians travelled to Syria and Iraq last decade to join jihadist groups including Islamic State. Many were killed there while others escaped and returned to Tunisia. "I was against this phenomenon and took measures to limit it," Larayedh said, saying the summons had been concocted to distract public attention from high prices. Secular parties have accused Ennahda of being lenient towards Islamist militants, something the party has long denied. (Reporting by Tarek AmaraWriting by Angus McDowallEditing by Mark Potter and Sam Holmes) (Bloomberg) -- Turkeys largest private lender by assets and the local unit of Emirates NBD Bank PJSC stopped using a payment system popular among Russian tourists, following a warning by the US. Most Read from Bloomberg Turkiye Is Bankasi AS, known as Isbank, and Emirates NBDs Denizbank suspended transactions through the Mir system, according to the lenders. Isbank is assessing the US Treasurys recent statement, while Denizbanks spokesman only said late Monday that the bank is currently unable to provide services. The decisions come after the US Treasury Departments Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, last week warned financial institutions against entering new agreements or expanding the existing ones with the Russian operator of Mir cards. Turkey has not implemented sanctions imposed on Russian institutions in response to Moscows invasion of Ukraine. Three other Turkish banks process Mir payments. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said following an Aug. 5 meeting with Russias Vladimir Putin that the system facilitated tourism between the two countries. The two leaders pledged closer ties and agreed to energy payments in local currencies at that meeting in the Black Sea city of Sochi. Balancing Act The rapprochement has left some of Turkeys Western allies worried that Ankara may be getting too close to Moscow, and setting an example for Turkish businesses to follow. The US Treasury already warned Turkish companies that doing business with designated Russian entities and individuals could result in sanctions. Erdogan has had to perform a tricky balancing act since the invasion began in February. Hes presented Turkey as a mediator, and he later helped negotiate a deal to resume grain shipments from Ukraines Black Sea ports. Story continues While helping to arm Kyiv, hes also publicly defended Putin against sanctions and urged nations not to underestimate Russia. Erdogans relations with Ukraine, including the supply of weapons such as drones, have rankled Moscow. But Ankara remains a key partner for Putin as international sanctions imposed over Russias invasion shutter other routes for trade and investment. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2022 Bloomberg L.P. PANAMA CITY Two Bay County men will spend decades in prison after attempting to kill three people in a car chase. According to a press release from the State Attorney's Office of the 14th Judicial Circuit, Jordan Hutchinson and Chase Chavez were sentenced Friday after being convicted last month of attempted second-degree murder with a firearm. Hutchinson, a 22-year-old Panama City resident, received a 25-year sentence, while Chavez, a 21-year-old Panama City resident, received an 18-year sentence. The State Attorney's Office said they were involved in a car-chase shooting in July. While Chavez was found to have carried a gun at that time, Hutchinson was the one who shot into an occupied vehicle. Jordan Hutchinson, 22-year-old Panama City resident, and Chase Chavez, a 21-year-old Panama City resident, stand alongside their attorneys during a trial in August where they were found guilty of attempted second-degree murder with a firearm. "At the end of the day, it doesn't matter which of (them) pulled the trigger each time and which was the driver," prosecutor Frank Sullivan said in the release. "They both participated, and they both wanted this to happen." Panama City man: gets 9 life sentences for sexually assaulting a child, videotaping attacks 6 pounds of meth: land Georgia man 20-year sentence in Bay County case Hutchinson received three concurrent 20-year sentences for three convictions on attempted second-degree murder with a firearm. He also got five additional years for shooting into an occupied vehicle. Chavez received three concurrent 15-year sentences for three convictions on attempted second degree murder with a firearm. He also got three additional years for shooting into an occupied vehicle, though he was found by a jury to have not fired a shot during the incident. "Sullivan and (prosecutor) Jae Hee Kim presented evidence and witnesses, including the three victims and investigators from the Bay County Sheriff's Office, proving (Hutchinson and Chavez) were in a confrontation with the victims and chased them at high speeds while firing shots into the truck in which they were traveling," the release reads. This article originally appeared on The News Herald: Two Bay County men sentenced to decades in prison after car shooting By Josh Smith SEOUL (Reuters) - A U.S. aircraft carrier will visit South Korea this week for joint drills for the first time in about four years, officials of both countries said on Monday, as the allies seek to deploy U.S. nuclear-capable "strategic assets" to deter North Korea. USS Ronald Reagan will arrive at a naval base in the southern port city of Busan on Friday, South Korea's Navy said in a statement. "By conducting combined drills, the Navies of the two countries plan to strengthen their military readiness and demonstrate the firm resolve of the South Korea-U.S. alliance for peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula," the statement said. North Korea has denounced previous U.S. military deployments and joint drills as rehearsals for war and proof of hostile policies by Washington and Seoul. The visit will be the first to South Korea by an American aircraft carrier since 2018. That year the allies scaled back many of their joint military activities amid diplomatic efforts to engage with North Korea. The COVID-19 pandemic further curtailed drills until this year, when South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol resumed many joint exercises and other displays of military power as a warning to North Korea, which earlier this year conducted a record number of missile tests after talks failed to persuade it to end its nuclear weapons and missile development. Observers say Pyongyang also appears to be preparing to resume nuclear testing for the first time since 2017. In April USS Ronald Reagan deployed to the waters between South Korea and Japan for the first time since 2017, and conducted joint drills with Japanese forces. This time the carrier and its strike group will train with South Korean forces. On Friday the United States and South Korea denounced North Korea's first-use nuclear doctrine unveiled this month as "escalatory and destabilizing" and Washington vowed to continue to deploy and exercise strategic assets to deter and respond to Pyongyang. (Reporting by Josh Smith, Editing by William Maclean) The number of migrant arrivals reported along the U.S.-Mexico border in fiscal year 2022 surpassed 2 million in August, an all-time high driven in part by unprecedented levels of migration from Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, according to government data published Monday. Migrant encounters along the U.S. southern border rose slightly to 203,598 last month, reversing a downward trend recorded in the previous two months, the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data show. The number included 181,160 Border Patrol apprehensions of migrants who entered the U.S. illegally, virtually the same level as in July, as well as 22,437 migrants and asylum-seekers processed at official ports of entry, a slight increase from the previous month. With one month left, CBP officials stationed along the Mexican border have processed migrants over 2.1 million times in fiscal year 2022, a tally well above the previous record set in fiscal year 2021, when the agency recorded 1.7 million migrant encounters. One million of the encounters recorded by CBP this fiscal year, however, have resulted in migrants being rapidly expelled to northern Mexico or their home country under Title 42, a coronavirus-era order that blocks access to the U.S. asylum system, the CBP statistics show. The unprecedented encounters tally has also been inflated by a significant number of migrants trying to enter the U.S. multiple times and being counted multiple times after their expulsion to Mexico under Title 42, which does not carry criminal or immigration penalties, unlike traditional deportations. In August, almost a quarter of all migrant encounters involved individuals who had been previously apprehended by U.S. border authorities in the past year, CBP said Monday. Immigrants are processed by the U.S. Border Patrol after crossing the border from Mexico on August 20, 2022 in Yuma, Arizona. / Credit: Qian Weizhong/VCG via Getty Images One of the main factors fueling the high levels of migrant apprehensions over the past year under President Biden is the arrival of tens of thousands of migrants from Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua, who have journeyed to the U.S. border in record number in recent months. Story continues In August, migrants from Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua made up over one-third of all border apprehensions. Their arrival is part of a broader, unprecedented increase in migration from outside Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, whose citizens accounted for the vast majority of migrants processed by U.S. border officials before the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 25,000 Venezuelans entered U.S. border custody in August, a monthly record, making Venezuela the second-largest source of migrants to the southern border, behind Mexico. Nearly 7 million Venezuelans have fled their homeland as part of the largest displacement crisis in the Western Hemisphere, according to the United Nations. While many settled in other South American nations like Colombia, Venezuelans hoping to reach the U.S. have been crossing the Darien Gap, Panama's roadless jungle, in record numbers over the past month, Panamanian government data show. CBP officials along the U.S.-Mexico border also processed more than 19,000 Cubans and nearly 12,000 Nicaraguans in August. Unlike Mexicans and most Central Americans, the U.S. cannot generally deport Venezuelans, Cubans and Nicaraguans to Mexico or their home countries because of limits placed by Mexico and strained diplomatic relations with the authoritarian governments in Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua. Because of this, most migrants from these countries are processed and then released so they can continue their asylum cases inside the U.S. The Biden administration has attributed the mass exodus from Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua to the policies of their leftist regimes and the dire economic circumstances faced by many people there. "Failing communist regimes in Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba are driving a new wave of migration across the Western Hemisphere, including the recent increase in encounters at the southwest U.S. border," CBP Commissioner Chris Magnus said in a statement Monday. This year's unprecedented migration wave has created formidable operational and humanitarian challenges for the Biden administration, which came into office promising to create a more humane immigration system, including through the reversal of several Trump-era hardline border policies. In El Paso, Texas, for example, U.S. border officials have been recently forced to release hundreds of migrants into the city because the holding capacity at its facilities has been exhausted. The record levels of border apprehensions have also become a political liability for the Biden administration, with Republicans in Congress and in governors' mansions across the country accusing it of being too lenient on migrants who enter the country unlawfully. The political showdown over border policy has intensified this month due to efforts by Republican governors in Texas and Florida to transport migrants to certain Democratic-led jurisdictions, including Washington, D.C., New York, Chicago and Martha's Vineyard. A Venezuelan migrant is led onto a bus at St. Andrews Episcopal Church on Friday, Sept. 16, 2022, in Edgartown, Massachusetts, on the island of MarthaAs Vineyard. / Credit: Miami Herald Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Florida Governor Rob DeSantis, both Republicans, have argued that jurisdictions with so-called "sanctuary" policies that limit cooperation with federal deportation agents are better equipped to receive migrants. They've also said the tactic is designed to pressure the administration to enact tougher border policies. But the Biden administration and Democrats have denounced the migrant transportation scheme as inhumane, saying the Republican-led states are dehumanizing asylum-seekers for political gain. One of the reasons that border encounters rose in August was the Biden administration's continued effort to increase processing of asylum-seekers at ports of entry, which experts believe dissuades some migrants from entering the country illegally. In August, U.S. officials at ports of entry along the southern border admitted 15,906 asylum-seekers deemed to be vulnerable under humanitarian exemptions to Title 42, a 37% jump from July, according to government data shared with a federal court. Just over 130,000 of Border Patrol apprehensions in August involved single adult migrants, half of whom were expelled; 39,221 involved parents and children traveling as families, most of whom are released with court notices; and 11,013 involved unaccompanied minors, who are transferred to government shelters, according to CBP data. While migrant apprehensions have reached record levels under Biden, overall illegal border crossings were higher in the early 2000s, when Border Patrol had fewer agents and technology to apprehend individuals, including those seeking to evade detection. Editor's note: An earlier version of this report said CBP has recorded over 2 million arrests along the southern border this fiscal year. CBP has recorded over 2 million "encounters," which include Border Patrol apprehensions, as well as migrants processed at ports of entry. Trump legal team pushes back against Mar-a-Lago special master Hurricane Fiona causes major destruction in Puerto Rico Howard University acquires photos of influential Black photographer WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States wants accountability for the death of an Iranian woman after she was arrested in Tehran last week for wearing an 'improper' hijab, a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council said on Monday. "Mahsa Aminis death after injuries sustained while in police custody for wearing an 'improper' hijab is an appalling and egregious affront to human rights," the official said. "Our thoughts are with Mahsas family and loved ones." "Women in Iran should have the right to wear what they want, free from violence or harassment. Iran must end its use of violence against women for exercising their fundamental freedoms," the official said. "There must be accountability for Mahsas death." (Reporting By Steve Holland; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama) The U.S. is negotiating with Uzbekistan and Tajikistan to trade nearly 50 military aircraft flown across the border as the Afghan government collapsed last summer for help hunting terrorists in Afghanistan, according to two people with knowledge of the talks. The fate of the U.S.-donated aircraft has been in limbo for more than a year, after Afghan air force pilots flew them to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan last August to escape Taliban capture. The Taliban have insisted the aircraft a mixture of light attack planes and helicopters are Afghan property and demanded them back. But Uzbek authorities say they are the property of the United States and will not be returned. Little has been said publicly about the issue, in part because of the sensitivity of Afghan-Uzbek relations and Russias economic and military influence in Central Asia. But behind the scenes, U.S. officials have been quietly working to use the aircraft as leverage to gain a foothold in a region where the U.S. military no longer has a presence on the ground, according to a senior Defense Department official and a congressional aide with direct knowledge of the negotiations, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive talks. The U.S. is planning to conduct an assessment of the aircraft to see if they are flyable, the official said. The goal is to provide a number of aircraft to the Uzbek and Tajik governments in exchange for an informal agreement to deepen our security relationships on border security and counterterrorism, the official said. The deal could include anything from increased intelligence sharing to, in the long-term, basing troops or aircraft in those countries as a regional staging post for keeping an eye on terrorist activity in Afghanistan something the Biden administration tried and failed to arrange before the withdrawal. Both countries border Afghanistan and are much closer than the American bases hundreds of miles away in the Middle East the U.S. military relies on for access to the country. Story continues But for now, its more likely the agreement would involve access to information the Uzbeks and Tajiks have about terrorist networks in Afghanistan. If I give you an airplane, then I call you and say, Hey, can you tell that guy who has a cousin in Afghanistan to go look at something that might be the nature of the relationship. That's a hypothetical, the senior DoD official said. It might not be that I want to fly from there, but it might be, do I have access to networks of people that have access into Afghanistan? The Biden administration touted the U.S. militarys ability to conduct over-the-horizon counterterrorism operations after American troops left Afghanistan last August. The U.S. has since conducted only one counterterrorism strike since then, a drone mission that killed al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in July. As the Taliban overran Kabul last summer, Afghan air force pilots flew about 25 percent of the total usable aircraft 46 total to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, according to a 2022 report assessing the collapse of the Afghan government. The aircraft included C-208 utility aircraft, A-29 Super Tucano light attack aircraft, as well as Mi-17, Mi-25 and UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, according to satellite images analyzed by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Most of the planes had been supplied by Washington to build up the capability of the Afghan air force. Both Central Asian countries are certainly very interested in keeping those aircraft, the senior DoD official said. As for any kind of basing agreement, the issue isn't on the table at the moment, a DoD spokesperson said. DoD is not currently seeking any basing or permanent presence of U.S. military forces in Central Asia for any purpose," spokesperson Lt. Col. Rob Lodewick said. In the short-term, its unlikely either country would allow the U.S. to use their territory for basing given their close ties to Russia. Uzbekistan cooperated more closely with the U.S. after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, leasing the Karshi-Khanabad air base to the Americans from 2001 to 2005 for Afghanistan operations. But that agreement was shut down amid unrest and pressure from the Kremlin. Uzbekistan also has close ties to the Taliban, and Uzbek society views any intervention in the Afghanistan conflict negatively. Further, any U.S.-basing agreement in Uzbekistan would require a change to Uzbek law, which stipulates that the country cannot host any foreign military base on its territory. Tajikistan, too, has a history of working with Washington, including permitting U.S. military planes to refuel at the countrys airports after the 9/11 attacks. But more recently, relations with Washington have been frosty, and the economy is also heavily dependent on both Russia and China. On the military front, Tajikistan is a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a military alliance of selected former Soviet states, and already hosts a Russian military base on its territory. However, of the Central Asian states, Tajikistan is by far the most cooperative on counterterrorism, the congressional aide said, noting that the country collaborates with the U.S. on border security and training. A State Department spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. As Ukraine continues a major counteroffensive against Russias invasion, the U.S. should send another $12 billion in aid for the embattled nation, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Sunday. Ukraine has made significant advances against Russia in the war, the vicious war that Putin has waged against the Ukrainian people, the New York Democrat said at a Midtown press conference, referring to Russias strongman ruler Vladimir Putin. I will be pushing for at least $12 billion in aid for Ukraine in the budget so they can continue to win the war effort, he added. Ukraine is expected to dominate discussion at the United Nations General Assembly starting Monday in Manhattan perfect timing, Schumer said, to reaffirm to the U.S. commitment to beating back Russia. Russia diplomats are going to hear from world leaders what an outlier nation an outlaw nation Russia is, Schumer said. And thats another reason to make sure the Russians know more aid is coming and theyre not going to win this war because the United States will back off or turn its back on the people of Ukraine. Leaders of two of Russias key partners, China and India, recently chided Putin over the invasion. But as Ukrainian forces take back swaths of territory previously conquered by Russia, Putin has threatened to escalate the attacks. Russia is hearing our pressure, Schumer said. Both China and India backed off on supporting Russia. So this $12 billion push is more important than ever. He said new funding should be included in the annual federal budget that Congress must pass by the end of the month. The U.S. has already sent nearly $16 billion in aid to Ukraine, according to the State Department, with the latest installment coming just last week. U.S. officials have credited shipments of weapons like the High-Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, and the High-speed Anti-Radiation Missile, or HARM with shifting the momentum of the war in Ukraines favor, Defense News noted. Schumer echoed that assessment on Sunday. Theres been strong Ukrainian counteroffensives, but its only because of the weapons that we have gotten them, he said. This is a critical time for momentum in Ukraine and Congress and the United States cannot let them down at this point in time. By Diane Bartz WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A big group of U.S. states, led by New York, argued to an appeals court Monday that it should reinstate an antitrust lawsuit against Meta's Facebook because of ongoing harm from the company's actions and because the states had not waited too long to file their complaint. Barbara Underwood, solicitor general of New York which led the group that consists of 46 states, Guam and District of Columbia, said that it was wrong to treat states like a class action and put a limit on when they can sue. States not involved are Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and South Dakota. She said the states' action was more akin to law enforcement so "laches," which forbids an unreasonable delay in filing, would not apply. She said that Facebook's actions harmed the economy and the marketplace. The states are asking the three-judge panel on U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to reinstate a lawsuit filed in 2020, the same time that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission sued the company. Both the FTC and the states had asked the court to order Facebook to sell Instagram, which it bought for $1 billion in 2012, and WhatsApp, which it bought for $19 billion in 2014. The FTC fight with Facebook is going forward. Arguing for Facebook, which had succeeded in getting the state lawsuit thrown out, Aaron Panner argued that the two acquisitions were well-publicized at the same, as was the company's policies regarding third-party apps. Facebook has been accused of punishing apps on its platform that, for example, connect with other social networks. He said that laches should apply because the state lawsuit was more of a class action and less law enforcement, and that the actions described "occurred years ago and did not cause antitrust concern at the time." Judge Raymond Randolph asked who Facebook's competitors were and noted news articles that the company had struggled to keep younger users. Panner pointed to the popularity of TikTok, Twitter and others, adding: "Sometimes facts that are good for an antitrust defense are bad for (a) business." (Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Marguerita Choy) (Bloomberg) -- Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba urged western nations to supply more weapons so his government can press ahead with its counteroffensive against Russian forces. Most Read from Bloomberg Kuleba said in an interview Monday with Bloomberg Television that Ukraine wants to add to its recent territorial gains and deny Russian President Vladimir Putin any strategic advantage gained since his army invaded on Feb. 24. Ukraines counteroffensive is a clear message to everyone that it works, that it makes sense to help Ukraine with weapons because we can defeat President Putin and his army in our territory, Kuleba said in New York, where hes attending the annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly. He said the recent counteroffensive was a thoroughly planned and well-thought military operation. Kuleba said Putin will probably try to block the renewal of a grain export deal that expires in November, but Ukraine would look to Asian and African nations to pressure the Russian leader over extending the agreement. Last week, President Joe Biden said the US would give Ukraine as much as $600 million in weaponry from American stockpiles, adding to the roughly $15 billion in military aid the US has contributed since the war began. With Ukraines recent battlefield successes, calls have also grown for western nations to send heavy weapons such as tanks that theyve declined to supply so far. A US defense official told reporters Monday that theres an increasing focus on Ukraines longer-term need for western weapons as Soviet-era ones, such as tanks, are running out. The official said western tanks are under consideration for the future but Ukraine will need the ability to maintain and sustain them. Story continues Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2022 Bloomberg L.P. Hayden Tschiea, left, shares a joint with Lily Young while relaxing at The Original Cannabis Crown at the Hartford Motor Speedway in Hartford, Michigan, on Aug. 27, 2022. The pair joined hundreds of others at the event, which featured cannabis products, live music, food and vendors. (Andy Lavalley/for the Chicago Tribune) Pure Michigan may evoke visions of beaches and cherry pie to some, but for cannabis consumers, it means clouds of smoke and bargains on weed. The states brand is clear in the online social media site Reddit, which features a page dedicated to Illinois marijuana users who often make longing references to Michigans cannabis scene. Advertisement Why cant Illinois be like Michigan? wrote one commentator. Never shopping in IL again, wrote another. Advertisement Appreciate the hospitality in Michigan. Nothing even close to this good in IL. The two states are the only ones in the Midwest that have legalized recreational or adult use marijuana, at almost the same time Illinois in January 2020, and Michigan the month before that. While Illinois has a social equity plan that Michigan lacks, the Wolverine State has surpassed the Prairie State in many ways. Despite Illinois having a larger population of nearly 13 million, compared with Michigans 10 million, Michigan had slightly higher sales of medical and recreational cannabis combined in 2021, with both states near $1.8 billion. A giant inflated joint dwarfs visitors as they check out items for sale at The Original Cannabis Crown at the Hartford Motor Speedway in Hartford, Michigan, on Aug. 27, 2022. (Andy Lavalley/for the Chicago Tribune) Michigan had more than 1,500 adult-use businesses as of July, while Illinois had only 21 operating growers and 110 retail stores though more are on the way. Illinois required applicants to go through a complicated and drawn-out application process, resulting in numerous lawsuits, though the process has been simplified for the future. In free-market Michigan, if applicants meet the criteria and have local permission, they get licensed, with no limit on the number of businesses. Perhaps the most glaring difference between the states is in price. The much greater competition in Michigan led wholesale cannabis flower prices to collapse nearly 75% since January 2020, with a pound selling for less than $1,000 and ounces going for less than $100. In Illinois, by contrast, $100 might buy one-fourth of an ounce. Indeed, a recent analysis by industry watchdog Grown In found that Illinois has the highest prices among the nations 19 adult-use states. The high prices keep the majority of cannabis sales in Illinois on the illicit market, according to the Anderson Economic Group. The prices also drive some customers on road trips to stock up in Michigan, where they say the product is often better though it remains illegal to take it out of state. Advertisement The differences are unbelievable, said Cole Preston, host of the Chillinois cannabis podcast. People are frustrated. Most cannabis users in Illinois are saying, Go to Michigan for your weed. A marijuana joint is passed along during The Original Cannabis Crown in Hartford, Michigan, on Aug. 27, 2022. (Andy Lavalley/for the Chicago Tribune) In response, Illinois officials pointed out that the state has issued 88 craft grower licenses, 185 dispensary licenses, and many more infuser and transporter licenses that have yet to open. That means that the next year will be one of incredible growth and momentum, Christopher Slaby, spokesman for the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, told the Tribune. He emphasized that under the states controlled release of business licenses, the newest licenses are 100% owned by social equity applicants, with at least 45% majority-owned by people of color. The state generally defines social equity applicants as people with past low-level marijuana charges, or those from areas most harmed by the war on drugs, marked by poverty or high arrest rates for marijuana, which typically designates mostly Black and Latino neighborhoods. But, facing long delays in licensing, rising costs and difficulty in getting funding, none of the new social equity license holders have opened for business yet. Only one African American and four Hispanics had an ownership interest in Illinois dispensaries as of last year. Advertisement In Michigan, regulators dont consider diversity when issuing licenses. The state did recently start a voluntary program to promote diversity in business plans. Illinois regulators note that COVID disrupted the states licensing plan, and say the states limit on licenses offers some protection against drastic price fluctuations and market saturation seen in other states. While cannabis remains illegal under federal law, the differences between the two states are a consequence of how they started. Michigan used voter referendums to legalize medical marijuana in 2008, and recreational pot in 2018. It largely followed the path blazed by other states where voters legalized the plant, such as California, Colorado and Oregon. Those states have issued thousands of licenses, resulting in a booming industry creating many jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenues. But oversupply leads to low prices, consolidation, and some closed businesses. California in particular is wrestling with more product grown and sold illegally. In contrast, Illinois was the first state to open a legal recreational market through legislation. That meant that lawmakers could write the law to promote greater diversity. But the law allowed a few existing medical cannabis companies to dominate the market. They got a nearly three-year head start selling adult-use pot while social equity applicants were delayed. Delton Huffman, of Michigan City, Indiana, takes part in the two-day Original Cannabis Crown event in Hartford, Michigan, on Aug. 27, 2022. (Andy Lavalley/for the Chicago Tribune) Both states let people clear low-level marijuana convictions from their records. But Michigan is more liberal in several other aspects. While Illinois allows residents to possess 30 grams of marijuana about 1 ounce Michigan permits possession of 2.5 ounces. Advertisement Michigan also allows home delivery of cannabis to medical patients. It has one overseeing regulatory agency, rather than several. And it has a special events license to allow public consumption at concerts and other happenings. Michigan also has lower taxes, with just a 16% tax, compared with Illinois taxes that can run as high as 45% in Chicago. While cannabis taxes in Michigan go primarily to roads, schools and local governments, in Illinois, its earmarked for rebuilding communities, to law enforcement and municipalities, and to fight substance abuse. Michigan has not been without problems, as it issued a recall for an estimated $240 million worth of marijuana last year after tests found mold contamination. With an unlimited number of business just as most other industries allow Michigan now faces a huge oversupply of cannabis with the potential supply exceeding sales by more than five times, Michigan cannabis attorney Bob Hendricks said. People who get into this are super risk-tolerant, he said. If you like the adrenaline rush of, Whats it gonna be like today? youre in the right industry. Jeff Remijas, owner of Beachgrass Events, recently organized a concert and weed-friendly gathering at a racetrack in Hartford, Michigan, which had not one but two consumption areas, one primarily for smoking, the other for dabbing, or inhaling concentrated cannabis, with a joint-rolling contest and prize giveaways. Advertisement Beachgrass Events owner Jeff Remijas, left, looks on as Cameron Allen shows the features of his PAC Memories photo booth at the Hartford Motor Speedway in Hartford, Michigan, on Aug. 27, 2022. (Andy Lavalley/for the Chicago Tribune) Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > Remijas sees the event as similar to the beer and wine fests that occur all over Michigan, with cannabis growers providing a personal, artisanal touch, similar to microbreweries. But Michigan had a bumpy start, with some local prosecutors charging and convicting growers with breaking the law. The city of Detroit only recently began its business licensing process, after being held up in court for two years. And from the perspective of licensed business operators in Michigan, attorney Denise Pollicella said, Michigan is an example of how not to create a cannabis industry. The state allows more than 20,000 caregivers to grow up to 72 plants at a time, without lab-testing their product or tracking its sale, as licensed dispensaries must do. Speaking at a Benzinga cannabis investor conference in Chicago last week, Pollicella said Michigan created an almost state-endorsed illicit market. Caregivers made a lot of money without normal business constraints, but so many people got into the industry that the value of the businesses crashed and people are getting out, Pollicella said. Corporate growers have pushed for limits on caregivers. Melissa Wagamon, president of the Great Lakes region for Cresco Labs, who oversees operations in both states, described Illinois as having a sustainable market, and said prices in Illinois have come down about 10% over the past year. Advertisement She said shes excited about new dispensaries opening in the future, saying, Thatll make a huge difference. That will be a catalyst for growth. By Pavel Polityuk KYIV (Reuters) - Russian-installed leaders in occupied areas of four Ukrainian regions on Tuesday set out plans for referendums on joining Russia, a challenge to the West that could sharply escalate the war and sparked condemnation from Ukraine and its allies. "The Russians can do whatever they want. It will not change anything," Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said in response to reporters' questions at the United Nations. In a tweet, he added: "Ukraine has every right to liberate its territories and will keep liberating them whatever Russia has to say." U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Washington rejected any such referendums "unequivocally," and the European Union and Canada condemned the plan. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the bloc and its member states would not recognise the outcome of the referendums and would consider further measures against Russia if the votes went ahead. French President Emmanuel Macron and Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda both used the word "parody" to describe the planned votes. In the apparently coordinated move, pro-Russian figures announced referendums for Sept. 23-27 in Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia provinces, representing around 15% of Ukrainian territory, or an area about the size of Hungary. Russia already considers Luhansk and Donetsk, which together make up the Donbas region Moscow partially occupied in 2014, to be independent states. Ukraine and the West consider all parts of Ukraine held by Russian forces to be illegally occupied. MOSCOW TO ORDER MOBILISATION? Some pro-Kremlin figures framed the referendums as an ultimatum to the West to accept Russian territorial gains or face an all-out war with a nuclear-armed foe. "Encroachment onto Russian territory is a crime which allows you to use all the forces of selfdefence," Dmitry Medvedev, a former Russian president and now hawkish deputy chairman of President Vladimir Putin's Security Council, said on social media. Story continues Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of the pro-Kremlin RT TV station, wrote: "Today a referendum, tomorrow recognition as part of the Russian Federation, the day after tomorrow strikes on Russian territory become a full-fledged war between Ukraine and NATO and Russia, untying Russia's hands in every respect." The United States and NATO allies that have been backing Ukraine with weapons and other support said such plebiscites would be meaningless. If the referendum plan "wasn't so tragic it would be funny," Macron told reporters in New York, where leaders were arriving for a United Nations General Assembly meeting likely to be dominated by the war in Ukraine. A spokesperson for Lithuania's Nauseda quoted him as saying: "These regions are and will be Ukraine, and Russia's sham referendums are illegal. Lithuania will never recognise them." Reframing fighting in occupied territory as an attack on Russia could give Moscow a justification to mobilise its 2 million-strong military reserves. Moscow has so far resisted such a move despite mounting losses in what it calls a limited "special military operation" rather than a war. Sullivan said Washington was aware of reports that Putin might be considering ordering a mobilisation, which Sullivan said would do nothing to undermine Ukraine's ability to push back Russian aggression. 'LOUD AND CLEAR' Russia has declared capturing all of Luhansk and Donetsk provinces to be its main aim since its invasion forces were defeated in March on the outskirts of Kyiv. It now holds about 60% of Donetsk and had captured nearly all of Luhansk by July after slow advances during months of intense fighting. Those gains are now under threat after Russian forces were driven from neighbouring Kharkiv province this month, losing control of their main supply lines for much of the Donetsk and Luhansk front lines. The referendums were announced a day after Ukraine said its troops had recaptured a foothold in Luhansk, the village of Bilohorivka, and were preparing to advance across the province. The general staff of Ukraine's armed forces said on Tuesday evening that its operations in Donetsk near the towns of Bakhmut and Avdiivka caused Russia to suffer "significant losses." But Russia shelled those towns and dozens more in northeastern and southern Ukraine, the general staff said. Reuters could not independently verify those reports. In the south, Russia controls most of Zaporizhzhia but not its regional capital. In Kherson, where the regional capital is the only major city Russia has so far captured intact since the invasion, Ukraine has launched a major counter-offensive. Unverified footage on social media showed Ukrainian forces in Bilohorivka, which lies just 10 km (6 miles) west of the city of Lysychansk that fell to the Russians after weeks of some of the war's most intense fighting in July. "There will be fighting for every centimetre," the Ukrainian governor of Luhansk, Serhiy Gaidai, wrote on Telegram. "The enemy is preparing their defence. So we will not simply march in." Pro-Russian officials have said the referendums could be held electronically. Russia staged a referendum in Crimea eight years ago before declaring the former Ukrainian territory annexed. In a move designed to shore up Russia's military in Ukraine, Russia's parliament on Tuesday approved a bill to toughen punishments for a host of crimes such as desertion, damage to military property and insubordination, if they were committed during military mobilisation or combat situations. (Reporting by Reuters bureaus; Writing by Andrew Osborn, Alex Richardson and Cynthia Osterman; Editing by Angus MacSwan, Peter Graff and Bill Berkrot) Forensic experts have so far exhumed 146 bodies, mostly civilians, at a mass burial site near the town of Izium in eastern Ukraine. Some bodies bear signs of a violent death, the regional governor said on Monday. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said some 450 bodies are believed to have been buried at the site in a forest on the outskirts of Izium, which was recently recaptured by Ukrainian forces during a counter-offensive in the Kharkiv region. Oleh Synehubov, governor of Kharkiv region, said the exhumed bodies included two children. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday rejected Ukraines allegations as a lie. Some of the dead have signs of a violent death. There are bodies with tied hands and traces of torture. The deceased were also found to have explosive, shrapnel and stab wounds, Synehubov wrote on the Telegram messaging app. Thirteen people have been killed in artillery shelling on Monday in the east Ukrainian separatist-held city of Donetsk, the citys Russian-backed mayor, Alexei Kulemzin, said. Key Points Ukraine accuses Russia of nuclear terrorism Kyiv now in control of both banks of key Kharkiv River Russia has likely lost four jets in Ukraine wars last 10 days - British MoD Ground report: Bodies were put in sacks and thrown onto trucks in Izyum Thirteen killed in shelling in Donetsk, citys Russian-backed mayor says 146 bodies exhumed from mass burial site near Izium in eastern Ukraine Sunday 18 September 2022 10:26 , Katy Clifton In an intelligence update, Britains Ministry of Defence today said that Russia has laucnhed several thousand long-range missiles against Ukraine since the start of the invasion, but that these have increased in the past week. In the last seven days Russia has increased its targeting of civilian infrastructure even where it probably perceives no immediate effect, the ministry said in the tweet. The strikes have struck targets including an electricity grid and a dam, it added. Story continues As it faces setbacks on the front lines, Russia has likely extended the locations it is prepared to strike in an attempt to directly undermine the morale of the Ukrainian people and government, the ministry said. Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 18 September 2022 Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/NZPAVSgfAN #StandWithUkraine pic.twitter.com/j7bINlhTKp Ministry of Defence (@DefenceHQ) September 18, 2022 We may never find them: Desperate Ukrainians forced to trawl through dead looking for lost loved ones Sunday 18 September 2022 10:45 , Shweta Sharma All day the Ukrainian women search through photos of corpses posted by Russian soldiers showing off their kills, in the desperate hunt for their missing loved ones. In the crude images of frozen grey faces, blood-smeared torsos and the scraps of remains, they look for a flicker of something recognisable: a scar or a ring. Twenty hours a day I go through these Telegram channels looking for him, said Maria, her face gripped by grief. We are a community of women who are looking for our loved ones. All of us have to trawl through the photos of the dead. We have to see if they are there. The Independents Bel Trew writes. We may never find them: Desperate Ukranains hunt for their loved ones Two dead as Russian tank attacks civilian car Sunday 18 September 2022 11:15 , Furvah Shah Two people have been killed after a Russian tank targeted a civilian car in Kharkiv Oblast, according to Ukrainian media. City governor Oleh Synyehubov said two women were killed after the tank fired at the car in the village of Strilecha, which borders Russia. Governor: Russian tank attacks civilian car in Kharkiv Oblast, killing two. Kharkiv Oblast Governor Oleh Syniehubov said that two women were killed as a Russian tank fired at a civilian car in the village of Strileche, which borders Russia, on Sept. 17. The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) September 18, 2022 EU calls for war crime tribunal over mass graves in Izyum, Ukraine Sunday 18 September 2022 11:45 , Furvah Shah The European Union has called for a war crimes tribunal as Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said evidence of torture has been found in bodies exhumed in Izyum, eastern Ukraine. The town was re-seized by Ukrainian forces to which a mass burial site of around 450 graves was found, with some displaying torture evidence. Jan Lipvasky, foreign minister of the Czech Republic, said on Saturday that Russias attacks against the civilian population are unthinkable and abhorrent. We must not overlook it. We stand for the punishment of all war criminals, he wrote on Twitter. I call for the speedy establishment of a special international tribunal that will prosecute the crime of aggression. Russia left behind mass graves of hundreds of shot and tortured people in the Izyum area. In the 21st century, such attacks against the civilian population are unthinkable and abhorrent. We must not overlook it. We stand for the punishment of all war criminals. #StandwithUkraine Jan Lipavsky (@JanLipavsky) September 17, 2022 Russia 'increases attacks on civilian targets' after military setbacks, UK says Sunday 18 September 2022 12:15 , Furvah Shah Russia has increased its attacks on civilian targets despite it serving no immediate military effect as Vladimir Putins forces face setbacks, according to British intelligence. A statement from the Ministry of Defence on Sunday said Russia has escalated their long-range missile attacks in the last week after reports of forces not having sufficient resources or morale to continue against Ukrainian counterattacks. Strikes were fired on an electricity grid and a river dam in Kryvyi Rih which caused extensive flooding in the central city. Read the full story here. Vladimir Putin 'failing on all of his military objectives', says UK army chief Sunday 18 September 2022 12:45 , Furvah Shah Vladimir Putin is failing on all of his military strategic objectives, says the UK armys chief of the defence. Admiral Sir Tony Radakin said pressure is mounting on the Russian president as the countrys defence weakens and international support grows for Ukraine. He told the BBC: At the very outset, we said that this was a strategic error by President Putin and strategic errors lead to strategic consequences. And in this instance, its strategic failure. Putin is failing on all of his military strategic objectives, he wanted to subjugate Ukraine, thats not going to happen. He wanted to take control of the capital, we saw that that was defeated earlier on. We saw that he wanted to weaken Nato. Nato is now much stronger, and we have Finland and Sweden joining. He wants to break the international resolve. Well, actually that strengthened over this period, and hes under pressure, his problems are mounting. Russian troop death toll at over 50,000 Sunday 18 September 2022 13:30 , Furvah Shah Over 50,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in the ongoing war with Ukraine. Around 54,480 troops have been killed, according to Ukrainian armed forces. Over 3,000 vehicles, 2,000 tanks and 200 planes have also been destroyed as of September 18. These are the indicative estimates of Russias combat losses as of Sept. 18, according to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/Yq9rQtMdQo The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) September 18, 2022 Grave exhumation in Izyum to continue for weeks Sunday 18 September 2022 14:00 , Furvah Shah Grave exhumation in Izyum, Ukraine will continue for at least two more weeks. The city mayor, Valerii Marchenko said that the exhumation works will continue because there are many burials in the recently liberated city in Kharkiv Oblast. Around 450 bodies were found in the mass grave, with some displaying signs of torture according to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenksy. Biden urges Putin against use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine Sunday 18 September 2022 14:45 , Furvah Shah US President Joe Biden has urged Vladimir Putin to not use nuclear or chemical weapons in Ukraine. When asked about the Russian presidents potential use of such methods in an interview to air on Sunday, Biden said: Dont. Dont. Dont. It would change the face of war unlike anything since World War Two. He added that Russia would become more of a pariah in the world than they ever have been. Depending on the extent of what they do will determine what response would occur. Four medics killed in Russian shelling of Kharkiv Sunday 18 September 2022 15:15 , Furvah Shah Four medics have been killed in Russian shelling of Kharkiv Oblast. The citys governor, Oleh Syniehubov, said the doctors were trying to evacuate patients from a psychiatric hospital in the village of Strilecha when Russian forces began a massive shelling of the area. Two patients were also injured in the attack, he said. Russian forces committed over 34,000 war crimes, say Ukraine Sunday 18 September 2022 16:00 , Furvah Shah Russian forces have committed over 34,000 war crimes, say Ukraine. On Saturday, Ukraines Prosecutor Generals Office said it has recorded 34,441 war crimes committed by the Russian military since the beginning of the war in February. The European Union have since called for a war crime tribunal and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksy had branded Russia a terrorist country. Trudeau says mass gravces are evidence of Russian war crimes Sunday 18 September 2022 17:06 , Sam Rkaina Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Sunday that mass graves found in Ukraine were evidence of Russias war crimes and that full accountability for its actions was needed. Trudeau, in London for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth, told reporters he had met with Prime Minister Liz Truss and that the Russian invasion of Ukraine was at the top of their agenda. Obviously the UK and Canada have been two of the strongest countries in standing up in support of Ukraine and pushing back against Russias illegal actions, Trudeau said. Those actions increasingly, clearly include war crimes, include absolutely unacceptable crimes, whether we think of what we found in Bucha or the discovery of mass graves in the reclaimed territories by Ukraine, he said. There needs to be a proper investigation and transparency and Vladimir Putin, his supporters and the Russian military need to be held to account for the atrocities they have and are continuing to commit in Ukraine, Trudeau said. Trudeau, who was due to meet Ukraines Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal on Sunday evening, said Canada strongly supported Ukraine and would continue to provide aid. Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau signs the book of condolence at Lancaster House (David Parry Media Assignments/PA) (PA Wire) Russia boosting targeting of civilian infrastructure, says MoD Sunday 18 September 2022 18:00 , Emily Atkinson Britains Ministry of Defence has warned that over the past week Russia has increased its targeting of civilian infrastructure. The government department warned in a tweet that this was occuring even where it probably perceives no immediate effect. As it faces setbacks on the front lines, Russia has likely extended the locations it is prepared to strike in an attempt to directly undermine the morale of the Ukrainian people and government. Ukraines First Lady Olena Zelenska meets Princess of Wales ahead of Queens funeral Sunday 18 September 2022 19:00 , Emily Atkinson The Princess of Wales has welcomed the First Lady of Ukraine to Buckingham Palace ahead of the State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II on Monday. Kate held an audience with Olena Zelenska at the royal residence on Sunday afternoon, where they were pictured speaking. Images capture the pair sitting side-by-side in front of a fireplace on gingham armchairs with purple orchids on display in the background. Ukraines First Lady Olena Zelenska meets Princess of Wales ahead of Queens funeral UK ambassador to Ukraine expresses gratitude for First Ladys visit Sunday 18 September 2022 20:00 , Emily Atkinson Responding the the visit of Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska to visit the late Queen, the UKs ambassador to the war-torn eastern European nation said she was deeply honoured by the presidents gesture. Grateful to the president for taking the time to do this given all else that is happening in (Ukraine) at this time, Melinda Simmons said. Vladimir Putin 'failing on all of his military objectives', says UK army chief Sunday 18 September 2022 21:00 , Emily Atkinson Vladimir Putin is failing on all of his military strategic objectives, the UKs chief of the defence staff has said. Admiral Sir Tony Radakin said pressure is mounting on the Russian president as his countrys defences weaken in the face of Ukrainian counterattacks. It comes after UK intelligence said it was unclear whether Russias frontline forces have adequate reserves or morale to withstand attacks from Ukrainian forces. Furvah Shah reports: Vladimir Putin failing on all of his military objectives, says UK army chief Putin does not have enough weapons or men to carry out military objectives, says defence chief Sunday 18 September 2022 22:00 , Emily Atkinson Vladimir Putin does not have enough manpower or equipment to carry out his military objectives, especially as Ukrainian forces become stronger, a UK defence chief has warned. Were also seeing a magnificent Ukrainian armed forces who have been courageous, theyre fighting for their country, and theyve embraced the international support that all of us are providing, admiral Sir Tony Radakin, the UKs chief of the defence staff, has said. But he also warned that countries should remain cautious, saying: I think its significant in terms of whats happening on the ground its really significant for Ukrainian morale and significant for the impact it has on Russian forces. But people need to be cautious; the likely result with all of this is that its going to grind on for a long time. US army chief tells troops to maintain high states of readiness, alert after Russias military setbacks Sunday 18 September 2022 23:00 , Emily Atkinson It is still unclear how Russia might react to the latest battlefield setbacks in Ukraine, the top US general has warned. Speaking from Warsaw, US army general Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also called for for vigilance among the countrys troops while he visited a base in Poland aiding Ukraines war effort. The war is not going too well for Russia right now. So its incumbent upon all of us to maintain high states of readiness, alert, he told reporters in Warsaw. Reuters adds: Milley said he was not suggesting US troops in Europe were at any increased threat, but said they had to be ready. In the conduct of war, you just dont know with a high degree of certainty what will happen next. Blankets given to Queens mourners to be donated to Ukraine Monday 19 September 2022 00:00 , Emily Atkinson Blankets handed out by officals to mourners queuing in London to visit the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II will be donated in part as supplies to Ukraine. The blankets were given to members of the public having to sleep out overnight as temperatures dropped. These are now being discarded as people get to the front and The Felix Project will give the half not going to Ukraine to charities supporting the homeless in the UK capital. We may never find them: Desperate Ukrainians forced to trawl through dead looking for lost loved ones 01:00 , Emily Atkinson All day the Ukrainian women search through photos of corpses posted by Russian soldiers showing off their kills, in the desperate hunt for their missing loved ones. In the crude images of frozen grey faces, blood-smeared torsos and the scraps of remains, they look for a flicker of something recognisable: a scar or a ring. Twenty hours a day I go through these Telegram channels looking for him, said Maria, her face gripped by grief. Our international correspondent Bel Trew reports from Ukraine: We may never find them: Desperate Ukranains hunt for their loved ones Trudeau calls for proper investigation into Bucha and Izium 02:00 , Emily Atkinson Canadian president Justin Trudeau has called for a proper invesigation into the alleged atrocities by Russian forces committed in Bucha and the discovery of mass graves in Izium. There needs to be a proper investigation and transparency and Vladimir Putin, his supporters and the Russian military need to be held to account for the atrocities they have and are continuing to commit in Ukraine, Trudeau said. Trudeau, who was due to meet Ukraines Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal on Sunday evening, said Canada strongly supported Ukraine and would continue to provide aid. Zelensky promises to push on with Ukraine counter-offensive 03:00 , Emily Atkinson Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky promised his country there would be no letup in the counteroffensive that has reclaimed towns and cities from Russian troops, as shelling continued Sunday across a wide stretch of Ukraine. Zelensky ran through a list of towns that Ukraine has taken back in its lightning push across the northeast.Maybe now it seems to some of you that after a series of victories we have a certain lull, he said in his nightly video address. But this is not a lull. This is preparation for the next series... Because Ukraine must be free all of it. AP 04:00 , Emily Atkinson Images capture the devastation left beyind in a school which was used by troops as their base in the village of Nova Husarivka, not far from Balakliya, which was recently recaptured by the Ukrainian army following the retreat of Russian troops. (AFP via Getty Images) (AFP via Getty Images) (AFP via Getty Images) Top US general asks American troops to stay under high alert amid Russian war losses 04:23 , Arpan Rai US general Mark Milley cautioned the US troops and pressed for increased vigilance among them during his visit to a military base in Poland amid heavy losses suffered by Russia in Ukraine. The war is not going too well for Russia right now. So its incumbent upon all of us to maintain high states of readiness, alert, said general Milley, who also serves as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He, however, added that he is not suggesting that the US forces deployed in Europe were under increased threat. In the conduct of war, you just dont know with a high degree of certainty what will happen next, he said. Victory for Kyiv means removing Russian soldiers from Ukraine, says Biden 04:46 , Arpan Rai Joe Biden has said that a victory for Ukraine would translate into expulsion of Russian forces from the besieged country. The US president pledged complete support from Washington for as long as it is needed. Winning the war in Ukraine is to get Russia out of Ukraine completely and to recognise the sovereignty. They are defeating Russia, Mr Biden said in an interview with CBSs 60 Minutes broadcast yesterday. Russia is turning out not to be as competent and capable as many people thought they were going to be, he added. He also asked his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to not unleash nuclear weapons in the ongoing war. Dont. Dont. Dont. It would change the face of war unlike anything since World War Two, Mr Biden said. Russian popstar condemns Kremlins war and illusory aims in Ukraine 05:00 , Emily Atkinson Russian pop iconic, Alla Pugacheva, has called on the Russian authorities to declare her a foreign agent, in a show of condemnation against the war in Ukraine Her husband, Maxim Galkin, was labelled a foreign agent on Friday after similarly denouncing Russias invasion of its neighbour. (AP) Posting on social media, Pugacheva described her husband as a true incorruptible Russian patriot, who wants... an end to our lads dying for illusory aims. She said Moscows illusory aims in Ukraine make our country a pariah and the lives of our citizens extremely difficult. Ukraines First Lady meets Princess of Wales ahead of Queens funeral 05:12 , Arpan Rai The Princess of Wales met the First Lady of Ukraine at Buckingham Palace on Sunday afternoon ahead of the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II today. Kate held an audience with Olena Zelenska at the royal residence on Sunday afternoon, where they were pictured speaking. The two were seen sitting side-by-side in front of a fireplace on gingham armchairs with purple orchids on display in the background. Ms Zelenska made the journey to the UK after her husband, Volodymyr Zelensky, set time aside from leading his country against Russias war to sign a book of condolence for the late British monarch, who died last Thursday. Read the full story here: Ukraines First Lady Olena Zelenska meets Princess of Wales ahead of Queens funeral Around 200 Russian soldiers killed in explosion - Official 05:25 , Arpan Rai Nearly 200 Russian soldiers have been killed in an explosion in Russian-held Svatove city in Luhansk oblast, regional governor Serhiy Haidai said yesterday. About 200 Russian occupiers were killed as a result of the earlier explosion in Russian-occupied Svatove, Mr Haidai was quoted as saying by The Kyiv Independent. Russia rains missiles on Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant area 05:58 , Arpan Rai Russian forces have fired eight missiles on the Ukrainian city Zaporizhzhia housing Europes largest nuclear power plant overnight, Ukrainian officials said. At least eight projectiles have been fired targeting infrastructure facilities, Zaporizhzhia oblast governor Oleksandr Starukh, reported The Kyiv Independent. It is not immediately clear if the missiles strikes have caused any casualties. Ukraine now in control of both banks of key Kharkiv River 06:00 , Emily Atkinson Ukrainian forces are now in control of both banks of the Oskil River in the northeastern Kharkiv region after sucessfully crossing it on Sunday, the countrys military has said. The Armed Forces of Ukraine crossed the Oskil river. Since yesterday, Ukraine controls the left bank as well, Ukraines Center for Strategic Communications announced on Telegram. Russia has likely lost four jets in Ukraine wars last 10 days - British MoD 06:51 , Arpan Rai Russia is ailed by continued lack of air superiority which remains one of the most important reasons underpinning the fragility of its operational design in Ukraine, the British defence ministry said today. It added that Russia has highly likely lost at least four combat jets in Ukraine within the last 10 days which takes its attrition to approximately 55 since the start of the invasion in February this year. There is a realistic possibility that this uptick in losses is partially a result of the Russian Air Force accepting greater risk as it attempts to provide close air support to Russian ground forces under pressure from Ukrainian advances, the ministry said in its latest intelligence update. According to the UK, Russian pilots situational awareness is often poor; there is a realistic possibility that some aircraft have strayed over enemy territory and into denser air defence zones as the front lines have moved rapidly. Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 19 September 2022 Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/yCVZk0byX5 #StandWithUkraine pic.twitter.com/264kqpPpTW Ministry of Defence (@DefenceHQ) September 19, 2022 Russia strikes Pivdennoukrainsk nuclear power plant, says Ukraine 07:21 , Rory Sullivan A Russian attack caused a blast just 300 metres from reactors at the Pivdennoukrainsk nuclear power plant, Ukraine has said. Energoatom, the states nuclear energy company, said the reactors at the site in the southern Mykolaiv region were not affected by the strike. They added that a nearby hydroelectric power plant and transmission lines were damaged. Photos of Ukraine war 07:47 , Rory Sullivan Here are some of the latest images to emerge from Ukraine: A destroyed Russian tank in Kharkiv region, northeast Ukraine. (EPA) Destroyed Russian equipment in the village of Husarivka, Kharkiv province. (AFP via Getty Images) A Ukrainian flag flutters above a retaken checkpoint in Shevchenkove, Kharkiv, on 18 September, 2022. (AFP via Getty Images) Putin increasingly relying on irregular volunteers, says ISW 08:05 , Rory Sullivan Vladimir Putins army is increasingly relying on irregular volunteers and proxy forces, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) has said. The American think tanks comment comes as the Ukrainian army claimed Russia was sending hundreds of convicts to fight its war. In total, 400 Russian prisoners from Tambov had been sent to Ukraine, it said. Russian President Vladimir #Putin is increasingly relying on irregular volunteer and proxy forces rather than conventional units and formations of the #Russian Federation Armed Forces.https://t.co/FnqcLd1RQo pic.twitter.com/9mwlzs8RwA ISW (@TheStudyofWar) September 19, 2022 Russia endangers whole world, says Zelensky 08:25 , Rory Sullivan Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has said Russian endangers the whole world, following a reported Russian attack close to the Pivdennoukrainsk nuclear power plant. A blast is said to have occurred several hundred metres from its reactors. Currently, all three power units of the PNPP (Pivdennoukrainsk Nuclear Power Plant) are operating normally. Fortunately, there were no casualties among the station staff, Ukraines nuclear energy company Energoatom said. It released two photographs showing a crater it said was caused by the blast. Russia is yet to repond to Ukraines allegations. Russia and China to deepen cooperation, Moscow claims 08:44 , Rory Sullivan Russia and China are strengthening their defence cooperation, Moscow has said. The sides agreed on further military cooperation with a focus on joint exercises and patrols, as well as on strengthening contacts between the General Staffs, Russias powerful Security Council said on Monday. This comes shortly after Vladimir Putin met his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Uzbekistan. Earlier this year, the pair hailed the no limits partnership between their countries. Russian singer condemns Ukraine war 09:04 , Rory Sullivan Yesterday, the famous Russian singer Alla Pugacheva spoke out publicly against Putins war in Ukraine. Her husband was recently labelled a foreign agent for his opposition to the conflict. Here is the statement she posted on Instagram: Wow: incredibly powerful statement from Alla Pugacheva, one of Russias MOST legendary artists, in response to her husband recently being labeled a foreign agent. Ive translated from her original post in Russian:https://t.co/ETxQfU9BYA pic.twitter.com/Ov9Y9hd246 Bianna Golodryga (@biannagolodryga) September 18, 2022 Ukraine accuses Russia of nuclear terrorism 09:28 , Rory Sullivan Ukraines atomic energy operator has accused Russia of nuclear terrorism after it reportedly hit a facility close to a nuclear power plant. Energoatom said Moscows troops had struck an industrial complex that includes the Pivdennoukrainsk Nuclear Power Plant in the Mykolaiv region. Russia claims it is ready for prisoner exchange talks 10:20 , Katy Clifton Russias foreign ministry has said that it is ready for talks on a prisoner exchange to free US citizens jailed in Russia, but that the American embassy in Moscow was not fulfilling its official duties to maintain dialogue. Foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said: We have stated many times that we are ready for negotiations to resolve the fate of U.S. citizens convicted in Russia and Russian citizens in the U.S. Russia has previously suggested that it is open to a prisoner exchange which could include US Marine Corps veteran Paul Whelan, basketball star Brittney Griner and Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer jailed in the United States. Griner is serving a 9 year jail sentence for possession and smuggling of cannabis, while Whelan is serving a 16 year term for espionage. U.S. President Joe Biden met the families of Whelan and Griner at the White House on Friday, with press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre saying that the administration is committed to working through all available avenues to bring Brittney and Paul home safely. ICYMI 11:00 , Katy Clifton The Princess of Wales welcomed the First Lady of Ukraine to Buckingham Palace ahead of the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II on Monday. Kate held an audience with Olena Zelenska at the royal residence on Sunday afternoon, where they were pictured speaking. Images capture the pair sitting side-by-side in front of a fireplace on gingham armchairs with purple orchids on display in the background. Ukraines First Lady Olena Zelenska meets Princess of Wales ahead of Queens funeral Kremlin rejects war crime claims 11:45 , Katy Clifton The Kremlin has rejected claims Russian forces committed war crimes in Ukraines Kharkiv territory as a lie. It is the same scenario as in Bucha. Its a lie, and of course we will defend the truth in this story, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday, when asked about statements by the Ukrainian president that Russian forces had committed war crimes in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine. Full story: Russia targets another nuclear power plant 12:30 , Katy Clifton Russian forces struck another nuclear power plant in Ukraine early on Monday causing widespread damage in shockwaves but missing the facilitys reactor, officials said. The missile attack on Pivdennoukrainsk nuclear power plant in the besieged countrys southern Mykolaiv region occurred just 300 metres from the reactors, officials from Ukraines state nuclear body Energoatom said, calling the latest missile strike an act of nuclear terrorism by the Russian military. Today at 00:20 am, the Russian army carried out a missile attack on the industrial site of the South Ukraine nuclear power plant [SUNPP], it confirmed. A powerful explosion occurred just 300 m from the SUNPP reactors. The shock wave damaged the NPP buildings as well as over 100 windows were broken, the state agency said in a statement. Russia targets another nuclear power plant in Ukraine Baltic states and Poland close doors to Russian tourists 12:50 , Katy Clifton Four of the five European Union countries bordering Russia began turning away Russian tourists at midnight on Monday, saying they should not travel while their country is at war with Ukraine. Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania imposed new restrictions as Finland decided to remain open, though it has cut back the number of consular appointments available to Russian travellers seeking visas. The move was the latest in a series of sanctions and other steps taken by the European Union or its member states since Moscow invaded Ukraine in what it calls a special military operation. The EU has banned all flights from Russia, leaving only rail and road transport links available, and this month it agreed to limit issuing free travel Schengen zone visas. Germany to sign LNG agreement with UAE as Berlin moves away from Russian gas 13:17 , Rory Sullivan As part of its attempt to wean itself off Russian gas, German chancellor Olaf Scholz is set to sign contracts for liquefied natural gas (LNG) with the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The gas offering is slowly broadening. The government is permanently in talks with many countries, economy minister Robert Habeck said. Berlin is building LNG terminals in a bid to diversify among from Russian energy. Russian forces step up filtration in occupied Mariupol 14:12 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain Russian forces have stepped up filtration in occupied Mariupol, according to the advisor to Mariupol mayor, Petro Andriushchenko. The troops have also been arresting local residents, as reported by Kyiv Independent on Twitter. Official: Russian forces step up filtration in occupied Mariupol, arrest local residents. According to the adviser to Mariupol mayor, Petro Andriushchenko, Russian occupiers have recently increased the number of law enforcement patrolling the city and conducting ID checks. The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) September 19, 2022 Thirteen killed in shelling in Donetsk, citys Russian-backed mayor says 14:25 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain Thirteen people were killed in artillery shelling on Monday in the east Ukrainian separatist-held city of Donetsk, the citys Russian-backed mayor said. In a statement posted on the Telegram messenger app, Donetsks separatist mayor Alexei Kulemzin said that 13 civilians including two children had been killed in the strike on Donetsks Kuybyshevsky district. He said that the number of wounded was being confirmed. Donetsk city has been controlled by the Russian-backed Donetsk Peoples Republic since 2014. The Ukrainian army continues to hold positions on Donetsks outskirts, and the city has come under artillery fire repeatedly in recent months. Reuters is usually unable to confirm battlefield reports. Baltic nations close borders to Russians over Ukraine war 14:56 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania closed their borders Monday to most Russian citizens in response to the wide domestic support in Russia for the war in Ukraine. Under the coordinated travel ban, Russians wishing to travel to the Baltic countries and to Poland as tourists or for business, sports or cultural purposes will not be allowed in even if they hold valid visas for the European Unions checks-free Schengen Area. The prime ministers of the three Baltic nations and of Poland agreed earlier this month to stop admitting Russian citizens, saying the move would protect the security of the European Union member countries neighboring Russia. Russia is an unpredictable and aggressive state. Three-quarters of its citizens support the war. It is unacceptable that people who support the war can freely travel around the world, into Lithuania, the EU, Lithuanian Interior Minister Agne Bilotaite said Monday. Such support for hostilities can pose threats to the security of our country and the EU as a whole, she added. The ban includes exceptions for humanitarian reasons, family members of EU citizens, Russian dissidents, serving diplomats, transportation employees and Russians with residence permits or long-stay national visas from the 26 Schengen countries. There were no indications of new travel restrictions Monday for Russians seeking to enter Poland, even though the country agreed with the Baltic countries to introduce the ban by Sept. 19. Poland, which borders Russias Kaliningrad exclave, still has tight restrictions on Russian travelers remaining in place from the COVID-19 pandemic. Russian proxy court in east Ukraine convicts ex-OSCE staff on treason charges 15:17 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain A Russian proxy court in eastern Ukraine on Monday sentenced two former Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) staff to 13 years in prison on treason charges that the OSCE called inhumane and repugnant. The court in the Russian-backed breakaway Luhansk Peoples Republic (LPR) - one of two self-proclaimed peoples republics in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine - announced the sentences on Dmytro Shabanov and Maxim Petrov in videos aired by state-run media. Separatist authorities said the pair, detained in April, had been recruited by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Ukraines secret services and were passing information about Luhansks military personnel and equipment to Washington. The regional security body, which numbers Russia and Ukraine among its 57 members, said the charges were fabricated and that the men had been punished for performing their official duties. In videos from a makeshift courtroom in the city of Luhansk, Shabanov, an OSCE security assistant, was seen standing in a metal cage, wearing black trousers and a black hooded top. He stood silently as the verdict was read out before men in police uniforms handcuffed him, pushed his head down and took him from the court. Petrov, a translator for the OSCE, stood in a glass cage, kept his hands in his pockets and appeared not to react as he was sentenced. Both had worked for the OSCEs Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM), established in 2014 to monitor the conflict between Russian-backed separatists and Kyivs forces that erupted after Moscow seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. The SMM ceased operating this year after Russia invaded Ukraine. Polish Foreign Minister and OSCE Chairman-in-Office Zbigniew Rau said in a statement: Our Mission members have been held unjustifiably for more than five months in unknown conditions for nothing but pure political theatre. It is inhumane and repugnant. OSCE Secretary-General Helga Maria Schmid said the pair had been performing official duties and called for their immediate and unconditional release. The OSCE also said it was concerned for the fate of a third mission member detained in the LPR. Zelensky says there will be no let-up in Ukraines fight to regain territory 15:32 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed there would be no let-up in Ukraines fight to regain its territory as Kyiv said its troops had crossed the Oskil River, preparing for an assault on Russias occupation forces in the eastern Donbas region. (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved) Meanwhile, Russian forces struck the Pivdennoukrainsk nuclear power plant in Ukraines southern Mykolaiv region but its reactors have not been damaged and are working normally, Ukraines state nuclear company Energoatom said. Elsewhere, 13 people were killed in artillery shelling in the eastern Ukrainian separatist-held city of Donetsk, the citys Russian-backed mayor said. Russia says claims it carried out war crimes in Izyum are a lie 15:50 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain Russia has rejected allegations its forces had committed war crimes in the Ukrainian city of Izyum as a lie. It was the Kremlins first public statement about the allegations. Around 450 bodies most of whom Ukraine says are civilians were found in mass graves near Izyum after Russian troops were this month forced out of the Kharkiv region, much of which they had controlled since the first weeks of their military campaign in Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that investigators at the site have found evidence of torture, including bodies with hands tied, and accused Russian troops of committing war crimes. Our international editor, David Harding, has more: Russia says claims it carried out war crimes in Izyum are a lie Alla Pugacheva: Russian singing superstar slams Ukraine war and asks to be declared foreign agent 16:10 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain Famous Russian artist and singer Alla Pugacheva has spoken out against the war in Ukraine publicly for the first time and urged Moscow to label her a foreign agent. This comes a week after her husband Maxim Galkin was labelled a foreign agent for opposing the war in Ukraine. On her Instagram, where the 73-year-old singer has more than 3 million followers, Ms Pugacheva asked the countrys justice ministry to include me on the foreign agents list of my beloved country. Because I stand in solidarity with my husband, who is an honest and ethical person, a true and incorruptible Russian patriot, who only wishes for prosperity, peace and freedom of expression in his motherland, she added. My colleague Maroosha Muzaffar has more: Famous Russian singer Alla Pugacheva asks to be declared foreign agent Germany military to supply Ukraine with more ammunition 17:05 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain The German military will supply Ukraine with four more Panzer howitzer 2000 tanks together with an additional ammunition package, the German defence ministry said on Monday. Delivery will be possible and follow immediately after discussions take place with industry on the early intake of refurbished ordnance from army maintenance, the ministry said in a statement. Ukraines first lady represents her embattled nation at Queens funeral 17:16 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain Ukraines first lady said it was a great honour to be present at the Queens state funeral, on behalf of all Ukrainians. Olena Zelenska, President Volodymyr Zelenskys wife, was among hundreds of heads of state and dignitaries from around the world gathered in Westminster Abbey for the service on Monday. The first lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska (right), visits Westminster Hall for the Queens lying in state (PA Wire) She represented her war-torn nation at the ceremony on behalf of her husband, as he continues to organise the fightback against Russian invaders. Mrs Zelenska said the Queens attention to Ukraine was an important signal of support. She wished us better times and shared our desire for freedom. We will always remember it with deep gratitude, she wrote on Twitter. Wearing all-black, Mrs Zelenska sat by the aisle, four rows behind French President Emmanuel Macron, in the historic church. 146 bodies exhumed from mass burial site near Izium in eastern Ukraine 17:30 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain Ukrainian forensic experts have so far exhumed 146 bodies, mostly civilians, at a mass burial site near the town of Izium in eastern Ukraine and some bear signs of a violent death, the regional governor said on Monday. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said some 450 bodies are believed to have been buried at the site in a forest on the outskirts of Izium, which was recently recaptured by Ukrainian forces during a counter-offensive in the Kharkiv region. Oleh Synehubov, governor of Kharkiv region, said the exhumed bodies included two children. Some of the dead have signs of a violent death. There are bodies with tied hands and traces of torture. The deceased were also found to have explosive, shrapnel and stab wounds, Synehubov wrote on the Telegram messaging app. The forensic experts, dressed in white protective suits and wearing rubber gloves, have been working methodically for days to exhume and identify the bodies, whose makeshift graves were marked by flimsy wooden crosses. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday rejected Ukraines allegations as a lie. Residents have previously said some of the graves in the forest were of people who died in a Russian airstrike. Vladimir Putin failing on all of his military objectives, says UK army chief 17:50 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain Vladimir Putin is failing on all of his military strategic objectives, the UKs chief of the defence staff has said. Admiral Sir Tony Radakin said pressure is mounting on the Russian president as his countrys defences weaken in the face of Ukrainian counterattacks. It comes after UK intelligence said it was unclear whether Russias frontline forces have adequate reserves or morale to withstand attacks from Ukrainian forces. My colleague Furvah Shah has more: Vladimir Putin failing on all of his military objectives, says UK army chief Russia seeks closer security ties with China as key goal 18:10 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain A top Russian security official declared Monday on a visit to China that the Kremlin considers beefing up ties with Beijing as a top policy goal. Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of the national Security Council chaired by Russian President Vladimir Putin, described the strengthening of comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation with Beijing as an unconditional priority of Russias foreign policy. Patrushev is one of Putins closest associates. Speaking during a meeting with Guo Shengkun, a top official of Chinas Communist Party, he said in the current conditions, our countries must show even greater readiness for mutual support and development of cooperation. Patrushevs office said in a terse statement after the talks in the Chinese city of Nanping that the parties agreed to expand information exchanges on countering extremism and foreign attempts to undermine the constitutional order of both countries in order to derail independent policies of Russia and China serving their national interests. The Chinese and Russian officials also emphasized a need to expand cooperation on cybersecurity and strengthen contacts between their law enforcement agencies on fighting terrorism.The statement didnt offer any further details of prospective cooperation. Russia says claims it carried out war crimes in Izyum are a lie 18:30 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain Russia has rejected allegations its forces had committed war crimes in the Ukrainian city of Izyum as a lie. It was the Kremlins first public statement about the allegations. Around 450 bodies most of whom Ukraine says are civilians were found in mass graves near Izyum after Russian troops were this month forced out of the Kharkiv region, much of which they had controlled since the first weeks of their military campaign in Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that investigators at the site have found evidence of torture, including bodies with hands tied, and accused Russian troops of committing war crimes. Our international editor David Harding has more: Russia says claims it carried out war crimes in Izyum are a lie U.S. adds cargo planes operated by Iranian airlines flying to Russia to export violation list 18:50 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain The U.S. Commerce Department on Monday said it will add 3 Boeing 747 airplanes operated by Iranian airlines providing cargo services to Russia to a list of planes believed to violate U.S. export controls as part of the Biden administrations sanctions over the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Using commercially available data, the Commerce Departments Bureau of Industry and Security identified planes operated by Mahan Air, Qeshm Fars Air, and Iran Air flying and transporting goods, including electronic items, to Russia in apparent violation of the Commerce Departments stringent export controls on Russia. These are the first three Iranian airplanes identified. There are now a total of 183 aircraft identified on the list for apparent violations of U.S. export controls, the department said. The three Iranian airlines identified today are already subject to a variety of restrictions by the U.S. government. Russia war, virus and climate hurting world's poorest 19:10 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain Russias war against Ukraine, the lingering coronavirus pandemic and the damage of climate change are putting intense pressure on the worlds poorest, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development warned Monday. The Paris-based OECD reported that 60 states, territories and locations fell last year into the category of fragile contexts meaning they were exposed to economic, environmental, social and political risks that they didnt have the capacity to absorb. And that was before Russia invaded Ukraine and intensified their burdens.Mondays report designated the most places in such dire straits since the OECD began issuing its States of Fragility report in 2015. The 60 account for 24% of the worlds population, 73% of those living in extreme poverty, 80% of those who died in conflicts and the vast majority of the worlds hunger hotspots. And they are home to 95% of the record 274 million people the United Nations says need humanitarian assistance. We are in an era defined by multiple crises, shocks and uncertainty, the OECD said. Only one in three people in fragile places have received COVID vaccines, compared with three of four in the relatively wealthy 38 OECD countries. The organisation noted that the 60 fragile states account for just 4% of global emissions but are feeling the brunt of climate-related natural disasters. The OECD said the five most fragile countries last year were Somalia, South Sudan, Afghanistan, Yemen and the Central African Republic. And three countries Benin, Timor-Leste and Turkmenistan were newly added to the list of fragile states last year; none were removed. Donbas separatist leader urges referendum on joining Russia 20:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain Denis Pushilin, head of the Russia-backed separatist Donetsk region of Ukraine, called on his fellow separatist leader of Luhansk province on Monday to combine efforts aimed at preparing a referendum on joining Russia. In a video posted on social media, he told Luhansk Peoples Republic leader Leonid Pasechnik in a phone call that our actions should be synchronised. ICYMI - Kremlin says Ukrainian war crimes claims are a lie 21:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain The Kremlin on Monday rejected allegations that Russian forces had committed war crimes in Ukraines Kharkiv province as a lie. Around 450 bodies - most of which Ukraine says are civilians - have been found in mass graves near Izium after Russian troops were this month forced out of the Kharkiv region, much of which they had controlled since the first weeks of their military campaign in Ukraine. Unidentified graves of civilians and Ukrainian soldiers in a cemetery during an exhumation in the recently retaken area of Izium, Ukraine (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said investigators at the site had found evidence of torture, including bodies with hands tied, and accused Russian troops of committing war crimes. Asked on Monday about Zelenskys statements, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters: Its the same scenario as in Bucha. Its a lie, and of course we will defend the truth in this story. Russia previously rejected claims that its troops had committed war crimes in Bucha, outside Kyiv, after evidence of civilians being killed while the town was controlled by Russian troops came to light after Russias withdrawal at the end of March. Ukraine condemns nuclear terrorism after Russian missile hits power plant 21:45 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain A Russian missile has blasted a crater close to a nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, damaging nearby industrial equipment but not hitting its three reactors. Ukrainian authorities denounced the move as an act of nuclear terrorism. The missile struck about 330 yards of the reactors at the South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant, near the city of Yuzhnoukrainsk in Mykolaiv province, leaving a hole 6ft deep and 13ft wide, according to Ukrainian nuclear operator Energoatom. The reactors were operating normally and no employees were injured, it said, but the proximity of the strike renewed fears that Russias nearly seven-month war in Ukraine might produce a radiation disaster. The nuclear power station is Ukraines second-largest after the Zaporizhzhia plant, which has repeatedly come under fire. VALENTYNA ROMANENKO MONDAY, 19 SEPTEMBER 2022, 09:17 Anti-aircraft gunners of Ukraines Air Force have shot down a Russian Su-25 plane in the skies over Kherson Oblast. Source: Press service of the Air Force Command Quote: "On 19 September, at about 08:00, an anti-aircraft missile unit of the Air Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine destroyed a Su-25 attack aircraft belonging to the Russian occupation forces." Background: 251 planes and 217 helicopters belonging to the Russian invaders have been destroyed during the 207 days of the full-scale war Russia started against Ukraine. Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron! Penelope Cruz was all kinds of toned during her recent visit to a film festival awards ceremony in Spain, and she was not shy about strutting her stuff on the red carpet. The actress, 48, isn't often photographed while out and about, but it was hard to miss her strong, sculpted legs in photos from the event. Penelope doesn't share much about her fitness routines, but she would dance for hours when she was growing up. Penelope Cruz was just honored with Spains National Cinematography Prize at the 70th San Sebastian International Film Festival (congrats, Penelope!), and she showed up in a stunning Chanel miniskirt for her big moment. The 48-year-old actress (who is a Chanel ambassador, BTW), accepted her award in a light pink miniskirt and blazer with white accents. She topped the whole look off with some chic heels, black sunglasses, and toned legs for days. She was, in a word, looking fabulous. Photo credit: JB Lacroix - Getty Images Penelope isnt super active on Instagram, but she shares a lot of fashion-forward, red carpet photos that highlight her long, strong, sculpted legs. Exhibit A: Exhibit B: And Exhibit C: Staying so strong takes lots of hard work, and over the years, Penelope has made it a lifestyle. While she hasn't shared a lot about her fitness routines in recent years, this year, she told The New York Times that she studied classical ballet as a child and sometimes practiced for up to four hours a day. The feeling of your toes bleeding but you keep going with a smile, that really shapes you, she said. Penelope shared with People magazine that shes into veggie burgers, noting that when she first met her friend, fellow actor Antonio Banderas, in New York City early on in her career, she regularly made them for him. Oh, and apparently Antonio would also make paella for her fam, too. Story continues I was in a very healthy period," she said. "I was doing these vegetarian burgers that were amazing, and I would buy the ingredients at D'Agostino, my favorite supermarket." But Penelope also told James Corden that she has a weird eating habit: She snacks on salt. Its actually my cardiologist who told me to do that, because my blood pressure is very low, she said. Pass the salt. You Might Also Like A plume of smoke rises Thursday from the Cedar Creek Fire east of Oakridge. Smoke from the wildfire is degrading local air quality. Smoke from the Cedar Creek Fire is blowing into the Eugene-Springfield area, resulting in an unhealthy air quality advisory issued by the Lane Regional Air Protection Agency that will last through Wednesday morning. Winds began blowing west Sunday night due to a storm system in northern California, pushing wildfire smoke into Oakridge, and then Eugene and Springfield, according to LRAPA spokesperson Travis Knudsen. "Air quality is pretty degraded for parts of the Willamette Valley, particularly those in the south of it, while areas to the north are seeing more improved air quality," Knudsen said. The Cedar Creek Fire has grown to more than 113,322 acres as of Monday and is at 11% containment. It has been burning east of Oakridge since it was sparked by lightning at the beginning of August, but rapidly spread west between Sept. 9 and Sept. 10 when winds came in from the east. Fire update:Cedar Creek Fire grows by 17,000 acres, mostly due to burning operations By 11 a.m. Monday, LRAPA reported "unhealthy" Air Quality Index ratings of 158 and 198 in west and south Eugene, respectively, while Springfield has a slightly better "unhealthy for sensitive groups" rating of 141. Oakridge, which is a few miles west of the Cedar Creek Fire, had a more serious "hazardous" rating of 394. Later in the afternoons smoke and haze amounts are expected to improve somewhat, before worsening at night when temperatures cool down and smoke settles near the ground, Knudsen said. Tuesday and Wednesday mornings are expected to have similar levels of poor air quality, before it improves more permanently by Thursday, as the California storms are blown away from the region. The south hills of Eugene are seeing more severe smoke impacts than further north in the Santa Clara areas, Knudsen said. Those in the "unhealthy for sensitive groups" include children, the elderly, anyone with heart or lung disease and pregnant people. LRAPA has advised those groups to avoid spending time outside and especially avoid strenuous outdoor activities. Under the "hazardous" air quality, that warning extends to everyone. Anyone in a "hazardous" air quality area, such as Oakridge, are advised to stay indoors as much as they can, cancel outdoor events and to use a respirator mask if possible when venturing outside. Story continues Poor air quality could return this fall until the Cedar Creek Fire diminishes if winds blow the smoke west into Lane County, Knudsen said. The LRAPA map can be found online at lrapa.org/air-quality-protection/aqi-forecast/, and a nationwide map can be found at fire.airnow.gov. Here is a list of recommendations for when air quality is degraded from LRAPA: Stay inside if possible. Keep windows and doors closed. If its too hot, run air conditioning on recirculate or consider moving to a cooler location. Avoid strenuous outdoor activity. Use high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters in indoor ventilation systems or portable air purifiers. Or create your own air purifying filter by following these instructions. Be aware of smoke in your area and avoid places with the highest levels. When air quality improves to moderate or healthy (yellow or green on the Air Quality Index), open windows and doors to air out homes and businesses. If you have a breathing plan for a medical condition, be sure to follow it and keep any needed medications refilled. Louis Krauss covers breaking news for The Register-Guard. Contact him at lkrauss@registerguard.com, and follow him on Twitter @LouisKraussNews. This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Cedar Creek Fire smoke brings unhealthy air quality to Eugene-Springfield Before noon on a recent Saturday, dozens of families were walking through University of Chicagos science quad, enjoying the institutions first South Side Science Festival. A sea of the baby blue T-shirts with the word scientist on the back, walked among those with yellow tees, indicating those helping with the event. Tents housed everything from 3D printouts of CT scans of Jurassic mammal teeth and jaws, to fun with lasers by way of microwaves to immunology workshops. The number of beats per minute involved with using CPR dummies was also on the quad. But it was the tent that offered liquid nitrogen ice cream with toppings that kept 4 -year-old Kaden Longworth engrossed. We dont venture out of Hyde Park all that often, so the fact that its right here was so convenient, Longworth said. And for 7-year-old Kamari Allen, it was the tent with butterflies she could sit in, that resulted in a squeal of delight. The all-day, all ages event highlighted the importance of STEM education, careers in science and understanding how science impacts daily life. The festival was created to connect South Side community members with science education resources. More than 60 booths with hands-on demonstrations and experiments were on site, as were panel discussions on climate change, health and society, and a career panel where attendees could interact one on one with faculty, research scientists, engineers and medical professionals. About 200 U. of C. student volunteers, many science majors, were on hand to show off why they think science is so cool. One booth had fifth year Tong Lan and third year Shannon Lu showcasing extracting strawberry DNA from the succulent fruit with dish soap, salt, water, and rubbing alcohol. After one student pulled out a long strand of viscous fluid red DNA with an Ewww, Lan and Lus faces light up. Youre not the first person to say that, Lu, a chemistry major, said, laughing while mentioning strawberries have eight copies of each type of chromosome within. Story continues Our lab does a lot of things with DNA, trying to make different engineered proteins, with this demonstration we can show people how you can take the DNA out of fruit so hopefully it will be fun and inspire the children to be a part of this, Lan said. Shaz Rasul, executive director of student civic engagement initiatives and interim director of the University Community Service Center, said the idea of a science fest came from junior UChicago faculty. Encouraged by his office to talk to community stakeholders to get a sense of what people wanted/needed/were interested in, he said the faculty spent the good part of a year listening before starting work on it in the middle of spring. This started during the lockdown in 2020, said Sarah King, Neubauer Family assistant professor at UChicago. Im good friends with Hannes Bernien (assistant professor of molecular engineering) and Maanasa Raghavan (Neubauer Family assistant professor of human genetics), all three of us were talking on Zoom about ways that we can interface more with our local community and get them excited, curious about science, as a way to improve our relationship with the community and also help general science education and science literacy in the general population. Having seen the impact of Europes Long Night of Sciences, as a spring festival where universities and research institutions in Germany open their doors to the public to learn about what academics and researchers are working on, the trio wanted to do something similar. You can go to a science concert, go to a science-based comedy thing, King said. And it is intentionally for all ages ... not just school-aged kids, but also for young adults who are in the formative years of thinking about their relationship with the world, and how science fits into that. And its their parents who are making complicated decisions about something in medicine or what car to buy, or what type of heating system to put on their house, which at the end of the day, those are all questions that are related back to science, and how you think about the world. Those are questions that we as scientists think a lot about, and we want to help people think about those questions. But most importantly, also talk to our community about what are the things youre thinking about? What are your problems? Its a two-way street helping our research be more relevant to people and then having people have a better understanding of science in their daily lives. The South Side Science Festival, co-organized by UChicagos physical science division, the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, and the biological sciences division, also served as an aid in science communication, Rasul said. If we want the sciences to be inclusive, we have to be able to talk about them so that people at all stages in their development can connect, he said. Theres a lot of energy around the sciences right now and a lot of its around new technologies like quantum science and biotech or clean energy. Theres a real hope that if we do things differently, that all of the advancements in these new technologies can be inclusive from the start. And we can involve communities in that whole process. Research says that people want to feel a connection to the sciences they want to meet the scientist, they want to understand how you become a scientist. Its especially important to us that we try to make those invisible pathways really visible because we want more diversity in the sciences. You need to have a connection in order to want to take a chance in it. King hopes the South Side Science Festival becomes an annual event, connecting it to local community colleges and high schools. Shes particularly interested in the 15 to 25 age group, which is where she said people become too cool for science or think that science isnt for them. Understanding the sciences starts with fun and excitement, said Bernien. I think thats what we are here to create. drockett@chicagotribune.com Big screen or home stream, takeout or dine-in, Tribune writers are here to steer you toward your next great experience. Sign up for your free weekly Eat. Watch. Do. newsletter here. The University of Oregon has issued an apology after footage of an explicit anti-Mormon chant during a football game Saturday against Brigham Young University went viral. Oregon faced BYU at Autzen Stadium in Eugene. The clip led to outrage from Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, who condemned the chant in a retweet of the video that claimed: "Religious bigotry alive and celebrated in Oregon." BYU is private university in Utah sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose members are known as Mormons. Religious bigotry alive and celebrated in Oregon. https://t.co/l8BdsSJWu2 Spencer Cox (@SpencerJCox) September 18, 2022 On Sunday, the University of Oregon apologized for the incident, saying the chant went against "everything the university stands for." "The University of Oregon sincerely apologizes for an offensive and disgraceful chant coming from the student section during yesterday's game against Brigham Young University," the university said in a statement on Twitter. "These types of actions go against everything the university stands for, and it goes against the spirit of competition. We can and will do better as a campus community that has no place for hate, bias or bigotry." Oregon Gov. Kate Brown retweeted the University's statement and added that the chant was "unacceptable." "In Oregon, we strive to be a welcoming, inclusive state to all, regardless of race, religion, gender, or background," she tweeted. "Our state and nation have an ugly history of discrimination and bigotry. The chant at yesterday's Oregon-BYU game was unacceptable. We must do better." The Oregon Ducks defeated the BYU Cougars 41-20. Hurricane Fiona brings "catastrophic" flooding, landslides, power outages to Puerto Rico Britain says a final farewell to Queen Elizabeth II Eye Opener: World says goodbye to Queen Elizabeth II U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink Read also: Biden vows grave consequences for Putin in case of use of nukes As a diplomat with 25 years of experience, Im weary of speculating about whats to come; but I dont think this will be a short war, said Brink. When asked whether the United States believes Russia would resort to the use of nuclear weapons in the conflict, Brink referred to a recent statement by U.S. President Joe Biden, who called any talk of nuclear weapons absolutely irresponsible. The United States, along with our partners, is working on what will our response be to such absolutely unacceptable actions, the ambassador said. The president was very clear on this. Read also: Biden greenlights another $600 million in security assistance to Ukraine Brink added that Washington is prepared to continue supporting Ukraine in long haul even if the war doesnt end in 2023. Weve already clearly demonstrated this; parts of our long-term security assistance will have an effect for years to come..., allowing Ukraine to build up a formidable military, capable of defending the country even beyond the current conflict, she said. Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu earlier said Moscow has no intention of using nuclear weapons in Ukraine. Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine A video shared on social media features an interview with an embalmer who claims he has seen an increasing number of bodies with unusual blood clots due to the Covid-19 vaccines. But experts say there is no data connecting the anecdotal observation to the shots, and the vials seen in the clip are not clearly identifiable. "Strange blood clots found in MOST bodies is very disturbing. They were not sure whether it is being caused by COVID, the Vaccine or something else but now they think its caused by the vaccine," says a September 11, 2022 tweet. The post includes a video of an interview with an American embalmer named Richard Hirschman who says clots are found in "50 to 70 percent of bodies." The clip, which shows glass jars purportedly containing removed clots, also circulated on Facebook and Instagram. Similar claims circulated in French and were debunked by AFP Factuel. Screenshot of a tweet taken September 15, 2022 The video also references an article by The Epoch Times, a website that has previously published misinformation and was banned from advertising on Facebook following an NBC News investigation. The article claims to show "the differences between the blood of the unvaccinated and the clot" Hirschman sent to a lab in the US state of Texas. "I am not a doctor or scientist not even a phlebotomy expert," Hirschman, a licensed embalmer in Alabama, told AFP via Facebook Messenger. "But I am very familiar with embalming and I work with blood all the time." Experts, however, said the presence of blood clots in dead bodies could have any number of causes, including obesity, smoking or infection with Covid-19. "There's no data to prove any connection between the Covid vaccine and blood clots," said Jessica Koth, director of public relations for the US National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA), in a September 17 email. While Koth said embalmers have told the association about an uptick in clots, it would be unusual to know someone's vaccination status unless their family disclosed it. And she said such observations remain anecdotal. Story continues "There is absolutely no scientific evidence to prove a correlation," she said. Embalming vs. autopsy The French Association of Thanatopraxy (AFT) emphasized to AFP the difference between samples taken during an autopsy and the care provided by thanatopractors or embalmers. The former is performed by a physician and can be used to determine the cause of death, while the latter is aimed at preserving bodies from natural decomposition. Embalmers are required to perform acts of conservation, such as the sterilization of arteries. But they do not "take samples," AFT said September 14. "Everything that is originally in the bodies goes back into the bodies," the organization said, adding that embalmers only remove "pockets of natural liquids from the person" that are then cremated. The AFT also said embalmers often do not know the causes of death."This is part of the medical file and this section is hidden for us, it is accessible only to forensic scientists for example," the group said. Marie-Antoinette Sevestre-Pietri, president of the French Society of Vascular Medicine, further questioned the tissue shown in the video. "We cannot draw any conclusion from these images. It may be anything," she said. Sevestre-Pietri said removing tissue of the size seen in the video would require opening the vessels widely -- a practice that would be unusual for embalming. A typical incision would be one centimeter, she said. "You do not lacerate the bodies entrusted to you," Sevestre-Pietri said. Covid vaccines and blood clots The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has listed blood clots as a "very rare" side effect of the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccines. Health Canada also lists "blood clots with low platelets" among the "rare reactions that have been reported" following administration of the two viral vector shots. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported four cases of "blood clots in large blood vessels and low platelets" per one million Johnson & Johnson doses administered. But David Smadja, professor of hematology at the George Pompidou Hospital in Paris, said "there is currently no data showing a risk of thrombosis with messenger RNA vaccines" from companies such as Pfizer and Moderna -- the most widely administered Covid-19 shots in Canada and the US. A study published in The Lancet in 2021 concluded that patients with a Covid-19 infection faced a significantly higher risk of developing blood clots than people who received mRNA vaccines. AFP has fact-checked other inaccurate claims about vaccines here. First responders pulled a young boy from Lake Michigans waters at Navy Pier on Monday afternoon, a Fire Department spokesperson said. The Fire Department was called to rescue the boy around 1:25 p.m., said Chicago Fire Department spokesperson Larry Merritt. Advertisement After first responders took him out of the water, paramedics transported the child to Lurie Childrens Hospital in critical condition, he said. The boy is around 3 years old, Merritt said. His pulse had been detected after he was taken out of the water. Advertisement What led to the boy needing to be rescued remains unclear. Navy Pier released a statement Monday evening: We are working very closely with the Chicago Police Department as they investigate the incident. Our hearts are with the child and his loved ones. This is a developing story. Check back for more updates. The US is sending an aircraft carrier to South Korea this week to participate in its first joint training with Seouls warships in five years, in what is perceived to be a show of force against North Korea leader Kim Jong-un. South Korean navy officials said on Monday that the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier and its battle group will join the southeastern South Korean naval base on Friday for a combined training aimed at strengthening the military readiness of both the allies. The military training between Seoul and Washington is also aimed to show the firm resolve by the Korea-US alliance for the sake of peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, the navy said. Officials in the US and South Korea said the upcoming deployment of the Reagan Carrier Strike Group in the region was a clear demonstration of the US security commitment, the joint statement added. This is the first such joint drill with participation from a US aircraft carrier near the Korean peninsula in five years. In 2017, the US sent three aircraft carriers including the Reagan for naval drills with South Korea after North Korea fired missiles in a test launch, the South Korean defence ministry said. The USS Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group was initially supposed to come to Seoul on Thursday, but extreme weather conditions caused by a typhoon delayed its arrival to Friday, the South Korean navy said. This also comes at a time North Korea has demonstrated its willingness to resort to nuclear weapons by clearing a new law which authorises preemptive use of nuclear weapons in certain conditions. Passing the law earlier this month, Mr Kim said the move made North Koreas nuclear status irreversible and barred denuclearisation talks, state media reported. The utmost significance of legislating nuclear weapons policy is to draw an irretrievable line so that there can be no bargaining over our nuclear weapons, state media quoted Mr Kim as telling the assembly. Story continues North Korea will never surrender the weapons even if the country faced 100 years of sanctions, said the hermit kingdoms leader. In response, senior US and South Korean officials held a meeting in Washington last week and said any (North Korean) nuclear attack would be met with an overwhelming and decisive response. The US pointed to its ironclad and unwavering commitment to draw on the full range of its military capabilities, including nuclear (one) to provide extended deterrence to South Korea. Pyongyangs move sparked concern among the international community, with the US reiterating it was willing to initiate talks on denuclearisation and sanctions with North Korea without any hostility or preconditions. Antonio Guterres, the secretary-general of the UN, said he was deeply concerned by the new law and reiterated calls for Pyongyang to return to denuclearisation talks, something experts have said the country will not do anytime soon, as was seen by the passing of the law by its rubber-stamp parliament. A base housing U.S. troops in northeastern Syria was struck by a rocket attack Sept. 18, according to a press release from U.S. Central Command. No U.S. or coalition troops were hurt. The Green Village base was hit by three 107mm rockets around 7:05 p.m. Sunday, local time, with a fourth rocket and rocket tubes found at the suspected launch point approximately 5 kilometers away. The attack failed to strike any U.S. or allied equipment, the press release revealed. Bases housing U.S. troops have been targeted a few times of late, with coalition troops at Al-Tanf Garrison on the Iraq-Syria border surviving an attack on Aug. 15. A one-way aerial drone was shot down earlier that same day as well, officials with Operation Inherent Resolve said in a release, and later that same evening, multiple rounds of indirect fire struck in the vicinity of Green Village. Thankfully on this occasion, there were no casualties and no damage reported, the OIR press release stated. U.S. officials estimated the Aug. 24 and 25 retaliatory strikes killed two or three of the suspected militants responsible for the attacks. Some vehicles and equipment used to launch rockets were also destroyed, according to CENTCOM. CENTCOM officials also revealed that the U.S. responded with another barrage of airstrikes in Deir ez-Zor using AH-64 Apache helicopters, AC-130 gunships and M777 artillery. Four enemy fighters were reportedly killed and seven rocket launchers were destroyed. We will respond appropriately and proportionally to attacks on our service members, CENTCOM boss Army Gen. Michael Kurilla said of the retaliatory strikes. No group will strike at our troops with impunity. We will take all necessary measures to defend our people. Green Village, the base attacked Sunday, was in headlines recently after an Air Force explosive ordnance disposal technician carried out an insider attack in April. Tech. Sgt. David Wayne Dezwaan, Jr., an active duty member of the 775th Civil Engineer Squadron at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, was his squadrons noncommissioned officer in charge of EOD equipment at the time. Before it was known to be an insider threat, CNN reported that, on April 7, a perpetrator had set up military-grade explosives more powerful than a hand grenade near ammunition storage and showers at Green Village. No conflicting details have since been made public. Four U.S. service members suffered blast injuries in the April attack. All have since returned to duty. WASHINGTON Vice President Kamala Harris will visit Milwaukee on Thursday to speak to voters with just under two months before the November midterm elections. Harris plans to "engage with young Americans" and meet with local Latino leaders in Milwaukee during the trip, according to a White House official. Hispanic Heritage Month runs until Oct. 15. The vice president, who served as California's attorney general and the district attorney of San Francisco, will also deliver remarks at the Democratic Attorneys General Association Conference. The White House did not release any additional details about the trip. The visit comes ahead of high-profile elections for governor and a key Senate seat in Wisconsin. More: Tony Evers, Tim Michels agree to a single debate ahead of the Wisconsin governor election. Here's how to watch Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul is one of 11 Democratic attorneys general up for reelection this year. Kaul, who narrowly defeated former Attorney General Brad Schimel in 2018, faces Fond du Lac County District Attorney Eric Toney on Nov. 8. Access to abortion has become a major campaign issue for Democrats nationwide. In Wisconsin, Kaul and Democratic Gov. Tony Evers have filed a lawsuit challenging a 1849 abortion law that went into effect after the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade. In a statement on the vice president's visit, Democratic Attorneys General Association communications director Geoff Burgan said the group is excited to welcome Harris to the Milwaukee policy conference, calling her "a national leader in protecting reproductive rights." "Our Democratic Attorneys General are on the frontlines of the fight to protect public safety, reproductive rights and much more, and were proud to work with the Biden-Harris Administration across the country," Burgan said. More: What to know about Eric Toney, the Republican candidate for Wisconsin attorney general Story continues More: What you need to know about Josh Kaul, the Democratic attorney general running for another term in Wisconsin Harris last visited Wisconsin in January. At the time, she stopped in Milwaukee to tout the Biden administration's $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law and highlight the push to replace lead pipes in Milwaukee and across the country. President Joe Biden visited Milwaukee on Labor Day. In his speech at the city's Laborfest, Biden emphasized his support for unions and continued his offensive against so-called MAGA Republicans. Contact Lawrence Andrea at landrea@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter @lawrencegandrea. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Kamala Harris to visit Milwaukee on Thursday, speaking to Latino voters What struck me in London was the need to be together (PA) I have to admit that Ive never seen anything like the outpouring of affection for Queen Elizabeth II and her family in the 35 years Ive been reporting on royal events. In London, there has been none of the raw grief we had when Diana died. This has been more controlled, more respectful and altogether more fitting to mark the life of a woman who held her own emotions in check, but was passionately committed to the people of this nation and the other countries she was head of state of. Essentially a modest person, she would have been startled by the outpouring of affection over the past few days. Last Tuesday, I was outside RAF Northolt to see her body being driven back to London. I was expecting half a dozen hardy souls to join me by the side of the A40, not the thousand or so gathered in the steady evening drizzle. Traffic on the motorway and side roads ground to a halt. I dumped the car on a grass verge and ran the last half mile. As the royal hearse passed by, with the royal standard glowing under spotlights and giving a splash of colour, there were shouts of God bless the Queen and a growing round of applause. I saw the Princess Royal biting her lip through the rain-spattered windows of her car, clearly surprised by the number of people. From the nearby bridge over the M40, I looked down and saw hundreds of abandoned vehicles, with men and women running through the traffic to catch a glimpse of this history in the making. I was in the capital the following day for the procession to Westminster Hall. As King Charles III drove out of Clarence House to the palace, there were shouts of God save the King, renditions of the national anthem and more applause. It was an echo of a bygone age that had me totally surprised, with modern day cynicism brushed under the carpet at least for this week while we honoured the Queen. As the cortege passed by, there was no shouting or applause from where I was in the Mall outside Clarence House. Instead, there was the rhythmic beat of guardsmens boots, the crunch of the gun carriage wheels and the affecting funeral anthems of Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Chopin. Story continues Behind it came our new King, who has slid as seamlessly into his role, just as the Queen herself did back in 1952, when she was a 25-year-old wife and mother. Princess Anne again looked pained, and William and Harry were clearly lost in thought. Another moving sight was the upright figure of the Queens favourite member of staff, Paul Whybrew, her 62-year-old page, who memorably starred in her James Bond spoof in 2012. Loyal to the end, Tall Paul as she dubbed him, was by her side in her final days at Balmoral. More than staff, he had, in recent years, become a close friend and would even sit and watch TV with her. Hundreds watched the ceremony on TV screens in Hyde Park, as they had for Dianas funeral in 1997. Others headed for Green Park where flowers were being laid not in a vast sea as they had been for the Princess, but in circles of colour around tree after tree. What was surprising was that people of all ages were there, pausing to lay a tribute, to read cards and messages and occasionally shed a tear. Here and there, were Paddington bears and the odd marmalade sandwich which, in her hilarious jubilee video just three months ago, endeared the Queen to her younger fans and to the child in us all. I also made sure I was part of that other, far longer procession, to witness the lying in state. I got off lightly with a mere nine hour wait. It wasnt a mournful experience, but rather a chance to swap memories of the Queen whether wed seen her face to face or, more usually, as a white glove through a car window. To keep up to speed with all the latest opinions and comment, sign up to our free weekly Voices Dispatches newsletter by clicking here The British love a queue and this was a good natured one, with lots of place saving as we nipped off to the loo or grabbed a coffee. I met a family from Australia who loved the Queen and said there is a bit of thing over there about William and Kate, the monarchys golden couple. Inside Westminster Hall, there was a feeling of hushed reverence as we walked down carpeted steps into this ancient building that has witnessed coronation banquets, the trial of Charles I, addresses to parliament by leaders from Nelson Mandela to Barack Obama, and now the lying-in-state of our much-loved Queen. I bowed and said thank you Maam. Others curtsied or crossed themselves. What struck me in London was the need to be together. There was something comforting about being with the crowds. There was such a feeling of affection for the new King and Queen Consort Camilla, who have both had a rocky ride with public affection over the years. There was a feeling of healing when Prince Harry marched in time alongside his brother, and even Prince Andrew was brought back into the royal fold which would have gladdened his mothers heart. How long will this feeling of family and national unity last? No one knows. What matters is that, in this watershed moment in our island history, we are saying the most fitting and loving of farewells to Elizabeth II, who served her people so well for 70 years and whose passing has been marked in the way she surely deserved. Ian Lloyd is the author of The Queen: 70 Chapters in the Life of Elizabeth II Editors note: This story is available as a result of a content partnership between WFTV and the Orlando Business Journal. The Volusia County Council plans to vote on the proposed Sunshine Corridor before the Sept. 22 meeting of SunRails governing board, the Central Florida Commuter Rail Commission. Read: Queen Elizabeth II funeral: Mourners gather as hearse travels to Windsor Castle The council will meet Sept. 20 to determine the countys position on the proposed shared corridor for commuter rail SunRail and intercity rail Brightline that would run from Orlando International Airport to International Drive/Orange County Convention Center. Read: Hurricane Fiona brings life-threatening floods, storm damage to Puerto Rico Meanwhile, the Central Florida Commuter Rail Commission which consists of the city of Orlando as well as Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Volusia counties next week will take its own vote on the expansion of SunRail along the proposed Sunshine Corridor. Click here to read the full story on the Orlando Business Journals website. Participants in the 2019 West Ventura County Walk to End Alzheimers make their way toward the finish line as bystanders applaud. This year's event is scheduled for 9 a.m. on Saturday at The Collection in Oxnard. About 500 to 600 residents from around Ventura County are expected to gather in Oxnard this weekend to raise awareness of Alzheimers disease. The Alzheimers Association California Central Coast Chapter is hosting its annual West Ventura County Walk to End Alzheimers at The Collection on Saturday at 9 a.m. Attendees can walk or run the 1.2-mile loop, which begins in front of Copper Blues Rock Pub & Kitchen and extends through the Riverpark neighborhood. Its a place of healing and honoring the loved ones lost to the disease, said Pedro Chavez, chair of the West Ventura County Walk to End Alzheimers. Participants can register on the organizations website or in person before the start of the event. Another walk is planned for Oct. 22 at the Promenade at Westlake. Related: Bridge players asked to put down laptops, join in-person games Dementia care workers shortage further strains families About 20 booths will be present Saturday to educate the public on Alzheimer's, a disease that targets the individual's memory and mental functions. Theyll also provide information to individuals with the disease and their families about help available in the county. The organization hopes to raise $140,000 during the event. As of Monday, donations exceeded $96,000. About 375 participants raised over $123,000 at last year's walk. More Oxnard news: 15-year-old arrested in connection with fatal shooting of teenager Chavez said 80% of donations will fund programs, such as support groups and educational workshops; 10% will go toward Alzheimer's research; and the remaining 10% will cover administrative costs. Those suffering from Alzheimers and their families are encouraged to call the 24-hour hotline at 800-272-3900 for help and information. The hotline is free and open to English and Spanish speakers. Brian J. Varela covers Oxnard, Port Hueneme and Camarillo. He can be reached at brian.varela@vcstar.com or 805-477-8014. You can also find him on Twitter @BrianVarela805. This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Walk to End Alzheimer's in Ventura County set for Saturday View of Seattle from Queen Anne Hills Kerry Park, near Tim and Susan Viall's first condo-sitting gig. Would you travel more frequently if you received free lodging in beautiful places? How about two weeks free in a lovely condo on Seattle's Queen Anne Hill? Or three weeks just outside Denver to watch a friendly, old cat? How about two weeks, no cost, in a beautiful four-bedroom house in Tucson, Arizona? House-sitting assignments have been great fun for us, and provide free lodging at those destinations. Assignments include watching over plants, a cat or other pets. Other destinations in the last few years include St. George, Utah (near Zion and Bryce Canyon national parks), Albuquerque, New Mexico and Denver (twice). All of the lodging is free, mind you; generally the home is nicer than ours (we check Google Earth to see what the home and neighborhood looks like). When we are contacted, by a New Orleans owner recently, we apply our criteria: is it a noteworthy destination, what are requirements (plants, cats, dogs), does it fit our schedule and do we want to travel that far? Several options we declined were Hayden, Idaho, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Sedona, New Mexico and Southern California. Red Rocks in Snow Canyon State Park, just outside St. George, Utah. The details: These are house-sitting gigs, sometimes with pets to watch or plants to water. In return, you get comfortable lodging and cooking privileges (saving money on dining out). During the day or evening you are free to explore the highlights of the area. We sometimes arrive at these assignments with our small camping trailer, and extend our vacation visiting friends or family along the way. It's one of two major benefits to our seven-year membership in the Affordable Travel Club. The primary benefit is to travel the U.S., Canada or the world, contacting one of several thousand club members in advance and arranging a night or several nights lodging during our travels. Lovely desert home in Tucson, Ariz., on two acres with a pool. Flying for the holidays this year?: Here's the best time to buy your plane ticket Club members will put you up for the night, offer you (usually) a snack and an evening libation and provide breakfast in the morning. You leave them a $20 gratuity ($15 for singles) as you depart ($30 in Canada). Along with the stay, you soak up local insight and make long-term friends with some of your hosts. Big benefits: You gain local knowledge from your hosts and save $100 or more compared to a night at a hotel or motel. Story continues We have stayed overnight with 15 different ATC members, including three in Canada. Without fail, they have been lovely people with nice homes and local knowledge they are eager to share about their city. Conversely, we have now hosted a dozen ATC members passing through our town, including a lovely couple from England who stayed with us three nights (they invited us to lodge in their home southwest of London when we get to Great Britain). Ferry departing Edmunds, Wash., near a house-sitting assignment in Edmunds, Wash. We learned of the club experience when we met a couple from Virginia seven years ago on a European cruise. They raved about their experience and shared their many travels utilizing ATC. About six months later, they invited us to split with them a one-month house-sitting gig in Seattle. We were convinced. The couple has traveled the world using their membership. During a weeks house-sitting stint in Taunton, England, they shared, We are in Taunton in Somerset enjoying pet-sitting with a very sweet springer spaniel whose owners are members of ATC. (The owners) have headed down to Cornwall while we're staying in their beautiful home. We lined up everything by emails and are happy to have this convenient place to stay while we explore places within an hour or two from Taunton. The owners have given us several hints about good places to see in the area as well as tasty restaurants and pubs to try. We take Bracken to a field where he can run and chase a ball; the dog is happy to stay at home alone for six-hour stretches, so we come back in time to give him his supper and we're able to prepare our own dinners here at the owners' house." The couple traveled on to Ireland and Scotland, using Airbnb for economical lodging. More travel must-reads from Tim Viall: ATC offers a club bulletin board for potential house and pet sitters. We post a notice as creative/flexible house-sitters and (post pandemic) are contacted about every other month for potential house-sitting assignments. When we joined, we saw the overnight lodging when traveling club option as the highlight. We now see house-sitting as a second major benefit. Soon, we will explore Vancouver Island, British Columbia with a three-week stay in a lovely home in Nanaimo, just a block from the Salish Sea channel and a short ferry ride across to Vancouver, BC (and a mostly outdoor cat to watch over). If you like meeting people and learning details of waypoints in your travels, an ATC membership makes sense. On the East Coast, the Evergreen Travel Club is very similar, with a larger membership of East Coasters. We also have met fellow travelers who have used housesitting clubs such as Trusted Housesitters, HouseCarers, MindMyHouse and other groups. For more information: Affordable Travel Club, affordabletravelclub.net; Evergreen Club, evergreenclub.com. Contact Tim Viall, tviall@msn.com; happy affordable traveling. This article originally appeared on The Record: Forget Airbnb, Expedia: These travel clubs can score you free lodging UTUADO, Puerto Rico Residents and first responders could only watch helplessly as floodwaters overtook the town's bridge and washed it downstream. Hurricane Fiona whipped the area with 85 mph winds gusting into the 100s and rainfall between 2 and almost 6 inches of rain, according to the National Weather Service. Some areas saw almost 3 feet of rain locally. Puerto Rico is expected to receive several inches of rain through Tuesday, raising concerns about flooding and mudslides. Southern Puerto Rico could see 12-18 inches of rain, with some areas receiving as much as 30 inches of rain. "These rainfall amounts will produce catastrophic, life-threatening flash floods and urban flooding," tweeted the NHC. The National Weather Service in San Juan, Puerto Rico, reported that more than 20 inches of rain had fallen by Monday morning in southeastern parts of the island Officials cautioned that rain is still falling and amounts could be even higher by the time Fiona moves away. HURRICANE FIONA MAKES LANDFALL WITH CATASTROPHIC FLOODING, PLUNGES ENTIRETY OF PUERTO RICO INTO BLACKOUT Watch the video above as the river rises over the roadway and pulls on the bridge. Then listen to the protesting groans of the metal trying desperately to grip the foundation before being torn free by the force. Almost in slow motion, the bridge is overcome by the rushing waters and heads downstream. The power pulls at the guardrail which lets go of the ground supports one by one. As it follows the bridge, the metal takes out street signs. The rail hits the power pole which shudders in response but stays standing. At the end of the video, it is difficult to tell if the sound from the astonished onlookers is laughing or crying. REPORTING WITH HEART: FOX'S GERALDO RIVERA AND NICOLE VALDES ON COVERING THE AFTERMATH OF HURRICANE MARIA They are no strangers to this scene though. Hurricane Maria's floodwaters in 2017 destroyed the original bridge and cut off the mountainous area from civilization, Congressman Roberto Lefranc Fortuno of Puerto Rico told FOX Weather Story continues PUERTO RICO CONTINUES ITS SLOW RECOVERY, FIVE YEARS AFTER HURRICANE MARIA "In 2018, this temporary bridge was installed while the planning and development of the new, tougher bridge was underway," said Fortuno. "We hope to get a recovery of this bridge, maybe a temporary one while we continue planning in the next several months." Regional authorities didn't reach Utuado for 10 days and federal aid took 42 days to arrive, according to PreventionWeb.net, an agency managed by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security delivered food and water to the people of Utuado in 2017 after Hurricane Maria destroyed their bridge. Maria struck on September 20th and the photo above shows the U.S. Department of Homeland Security delivering food and water to the isolated neighborhoods in mid-October. Juan Pablo Espinosa, a lover of arepas, says one of his favorite people to cook the dish for ... is himself. (Photo: Mario Alzate; designed by Quinn Lemmers) Because food connects us all, Yahoo Life is serving up a heaping plateful of table talk with people who are passionate about what's on their menu in Deglazed, a series about food. Colombian actor Juan Pablo Espinosa stars in the limited Netflix series Keep Breathing as well as Apple TV+ comedy series Acapulco. While he may be known for the dynamic characters he plays in his starring roles, what gets the 41-year-old actor really excited is taking time for himself, making arepas in his home kitchen. "A lot of people I know don't like to cook for themselves," Espinosa tells Yahoo Life. "I love cooking for myself because you can go really big on all the flavors that you like." Espinosa's favorite thing to cook? Arepas, corn cakes that originated in South American countries like Colombia and Venezuela. While arepas can be used similarly to tortillas, they can also be stuffed with cheese, meats or black beans. Cheese-stuffed arepas are among Espinosa's favorite things to cook. (Photo: Getty Creative) "I've found myself making a lot of Colombian dishes, such as arepas," says Espinosa. Arepas, explains Espinosa, are "this delicious doughy treat filled with cheese in Colombia." "It's kind of like a corn meal," he explains, "and you prepare it with water and butter and salt so it gets really buttery ... then you just literally fill it with your favorite cheese, which is usually something similar to a mozzarella, and grill it." "It's decadent and delicious," he adds. "Whenever I need a little piece of Colombia in my house, I'll find myself literally going through all the steps just to have a little taste of that. It's so good." For Espinosa, a good arepa is all about the cheese-pull that money shot when the melted cheese holds on in gooey strings once the corn cake is pulled apart by hand. "That's literally what you're aiming for every time and it never fails," he says. But Espinosa's passion for Colombian food doesn't end with the humble arepa. "All my life I've been so passionate about cooking," he says, adding that in his youth, he also tried his hand at baking. Story continues Like anyone learning to bake, Espinosa has experienced his share of kitchen fails. He recalls a time as a young teen when he tried to make a cake for his mom for her 40th birthday. "I started putting all these ingredients together and I thought it would be really cool to throw in some chocolate like bits of pieces of chocolate with this almond cake batter," he says. "I never realized the chocolate was going to change the consistency of the batter." The result? Espinosa's cake batter ended up liquidy and loose. "We had the big reveal, you know, when you turn the mold upside down into this lovely platter," he adds. "Literally, it was like melting lava all over the beautifully-set table." Thankfully, Espinosa has had better luck in the kitchen since those early days. But a lot of his greatest pleasures come from the simple things. "My biggest comfort food is always bread," he says. "My friends make fun of me because every time we go to a restaurant, they know I'm gonna attack the bread basket before anybody." While being a working actor, Espinosa's love of carbs may sound like the antithesis of an on-set diet, but hitting the bread basket or cooking late-night arepas is actually something that works quite well for his current roles. "I've been very lucky in the past few projects that I've had because I've been playing a father figure," he says. "So they're always like, encouraging me like, 'You can have a little belly.'" But regardless of the role, Espinosa says he's not afraid to share his passion for food, especially carbs. "A lot of people find it very very comforting to be like, 'I eat to live,'" he says, "and I feel like I'm the opposite: I live to eat. Like, it's my passion." Wellness, parenting, body image and more: Get to know the who behind the hoo with Yahoo Life's newsletter. Sign up here. As people in the United Kingdom and around the world watched the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II on Sept. 19, many were surprised to see one person in particular taking part in the funeral procession actor Sandra Oh. The Killing Eve star had an official role in the ceremony as a member of the Order of Canada, a civilian honor established by Queen Elizabeth in 1967. Oh, 51, processed into Londons Westminster Abbey alongside fellow members of a Canadian delegation, including Olympian Mark Tewskbury and musician Gregory Charles, according to a release from Buckingham Palace. Oh shared several photos of the day on Instagram, from a group shot with the other members of the delegation to a full-length photo of herself dressed in a black fascinator and what appeared to be the official insignia of her Order pinned to her chest. "Proud to represent w/ my fellow Order of Canada & Valour recipients @gregorycharlesofficiel @marktewks @palmerlp26 at Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II funeral at Westminster Abbey today," the actor wrote. Oh, who was born in Ontario, Canada, and also has American citizenship, was appointed to the Order of Canada in June for her artistic career filled with memorable stage, television and film roles in Canada and abroad. Sandra Oh at Queen Elizabeth II's funeral (@iamsandraohinsta via Instagram) The Emmy nominee processed into the abbey prior to the arrival of the British royal family and queens coffin. Her procession also included holders of the Victoria Cross, The George Cross and the Orders of Chivalry, the palace said. After entering Westminster Abbey, Oh and others in her group took their seats in the abbeys north transept aisle. Many people watching the ceremony from home expressed their surprise at seeing Oh in the procession, with one person tweeting, Sandra Oh attending The Queens funeral, was not on my bingo card for 2022. Oh was one of over 2,000 people who attended Queen Elizabeths state funeral. About 100 presidents and other world leaders attended the ceremony, according to the BBC, including President Joe Biden, British prime minister Liz Truss, Japans Empress Masako and Emperor Naruhito, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Story continues Members of the British royal family also joined King Charles III in mourning the late queen at Westminster Abbey, including the Prince and Princess of Wales and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. The funeral ceremony was followed by a solemn procession of the coffin from Westminster Abbey to Wellington Arch in Londons Hyde Park. Correction, Sept. 19, 2023: An earlier version of this post referred to Justin Trudeau as the president of Canada. He is the prime minister. The post has been updated to reflect this. This article was originally published on TODAY.com Construction has begun at the site of the former United Airlines headquarters in Mount Prospect, with recent demolition at the property clearing the way for the creation of a $2.5 billion data center campus expected to launch in 2024. Officials with CloudHQ, a Washington, D.C.-based global data center provider that specializes in the design, development and operation of hyperscale data center facilities, said the 1.5 million-square-foot campus is expected to create 75 to 100 jobs for each of three planned buildings, including operations, maintenance and security positions. Advertisement The site, which is bordered by Dempster Street and Algonquin and Linneman roads, is anticipated to generate up to 3,000 construction jobs during construction of the three buildings. CloudHQ is building a $2.5 billion data center at the site of the former United Airlines headquarters in Mount Prospect, pictured here in a rendering. Construction recently began at the site, which is bordered by Dempster Street and Algonquin and Linneman roads. (CloudHQ / HANDOUT) Hyperscale data centers typically house hundreds of thousands of computer servers in each building to meet the data storage needs of the worlds largest companies, officials said in a statement. Advertisement Chicago has long been a digital infrastructure hub for our clients, who already have an existing presence in the market, CloudHQ spokesman Brett Burnette said. Burnette declined to name CloudHQs clients who are expected to store their servers at the site, citing strict confidentiality agreements. But he said CloudHQs clients represent some of the largest internet providers in the world. In addition to the companys global headquarters in Washington and European headquarters in London, CloudHQ has offices in Frankfurt, Germany, and Sao Paulo, Brazil, and data center campuses in Northern Virginia. The development is the eighth new data center project to launch in the past year in ComEds service territory, which covers northern Illinois, ComEd officials said in a statement. ComEd will build a new substation at the site to support CloudHQs operations. Companies like CloudHQ continue to look to northern Illinois and our service territory thanks to the unparalleled access to clean, affordable and reliable power that is essential for meeting the demands of todays economy, Gil Quinones, CEO of ComEd, said in a statement. The first phase of the three-building project is anticipated to be completed in 2024, with an additional two buildings completed in the next three to five years based on demand, officials said. Construction recently began at the site, located at Dempster Street and Algonquin and Linneman roads in Mount Prospect, where CloudHQ is building a $2.5 billion data center. (Holder Construction / HANDOUT) Bill Cooney, Mount Prospects director of community development, said the village annexed the 50-acre site in unincorporated Cook County in 2017, about a decade after United Airlines began vacating the property and moving its employees to Chicago, eventually settling in Willis Tower. The village annexed the property so we could have more control over its future, Cooney said. Advertisement Cooney said CloudHQ will receive a 6b tax incentive from Cook County for the project, which reduces the assessment level of the property from 25% to 10% for the first 10 years, 15% for year 11 and 20% in year 12. After year 12, the assessment level returns to the full 25% for the benefiting property, Cooney said. While local taxing districts will benefit from the increased property value, the Class 6b incentive adds up to a tax savings of roughly $2.5 million per year for the company once fully assessed, assuming the estimated $100 million value, Cooney said. Advertisement The company will generate more than $1 million a year to the village in electric utility tax and will donate $2 million to the Mount Prospect Park District for improvements to local parks, he said. The Class 6b program is designed to encourage industrial development by offering a real estate tax incentive for the development of new industrial facilities, rehabilitation of existing industrial structures, and industrial reutilization of abandoned buildings, according to the Cook County assessors office. According to ComEd, 2019 was a turning point for the data center industry in Illinois, following the passage of new state legislation offering a tax incentive to encourage tech giants and other firms to locate their data storage facilities in the state. Advertisement As part of a $45 billion capital construction plan, the incentive exempts qualifying data centers from state and local sales tax on equipment inside the facilities, such as cooling and heating equipment, servers and storage racks. Since the passage of the data center incentive program, ComEd has seen 15 new data center projects, including six projects bringing more than $2 billion in local investment in 2021, the company said. In ComEds service territory across northern Illinois alone, there are now more than 70 operating data centers, with six under construction and another 13 in early design or planning stages, the company said. Advertisement Real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield ranked Chicago fourth, along with Atlanta, in its 2022 list of top cities for data centers, trailing Silicon Valley, Singapore, and the number one ranked location, Northern Virginia. The report cited Chicagos sizable incentives, low cost of land, plenty of development in the pipeline and lower power costs than most large data center markets. Advertisement Burnette with CloudHQ said the data center campus will require few large trucks, and with only a few hundred employees at most, will not ramp up traffic in the neighborhood. We will try to blend in and go about our business, without being a disruption to the community, Burnette said. kcullotta@chicagotribune.com Residents of one Central Florida city said they are tired of dealing with discolored water and that they have been dealing with the problem for weeks. The city of Wildwood held a special meeting on Monday to talk about the water problem and what city plans to do to fix the issue, permanently. During Mondays meeting, the city said the problem was a new water main connecting to a treatment plant that was causing extra pressure in the older pipes downtown, and that was knocking rust into the water that was causing the water to change color. >>> STREAM CHANNEL 9 EYEWITNESS NEWS LIVE <<< City officials maintain that the water has been safe to drink the entire time, but residents told Channel 9 that they wont drink it. If they feel like its safe, each one of them can get a glass and then swallow, then Ill say okay, it is safe, said resident Carolyn Lewis. Lewis and her neighbors told Channel 9 that the water has been discolored for weeks and it is starting to stain sinks and bathtubs. Read: Wildwood leaders say temporary fix in place after yellow, brown water appears Weve definitely offered our sincerest apologies for this happening, said Wildwood Mayor Ed Wolf. Its embarrassing. Were not going to try to dodge it. In Mondays special city council meeting, city leaders voted to give impacted residents 40% off their bill for this past month. Leaders said the problem started with a new water main from the Oxford Water Treatment Plan which put extra pressure on the system changing the flow and knocking rust into the water from old galvanized pipes in the downtown area. Read: Deputies: Georgia man found with enough fentanyl to kill populations of Flagler, Putnam counties So were not going to bring the water from Oxford back down here until we have a better plan in terms of what we can do to rectify this so that this doesnt particularly happen, said Wildwood City Manager Jason McHugh. Over the weekend, the city disconnected that line from downtown and flushed the lines. Story continues City leaders said it seemed to have cleared things up. Read: Serial subject Adnan Syed to be released after judge tosses 2000 conviction Residents told Channel 9 that t did help and that the water is lighter, but still has a yellow tint to it. The city said it will eventually have to change all the old pipes downtown for a more permanent solution, but theyre hoping these new efforts will help for now. Click here to download the free WFTV news and weather apps, click here to download the WFTV Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live. MADISON, Wis. (AP) Republican gubernatorial candidate Tim Michels called Monday on Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers to halt all paroles in the state, even though a governor can't unilaterally order them to stop and some paroles are mandated by law. Michels has been hitting Evers as being soft on crime, accusing the Democrat in a letter Monday of sympathizing with and coddling brutal, convicted criminals. Evers' spokesperson Britt Cudaback said it would be illegal to do as Michels wants and called the request an uninformed stunt to score political points by someone who has no regard or appreciation for the laws of our state. Michels and Evers are knotted in a tight contest in the battleground state that polls show is about even. Michaels, who is endorsed by former President Donald Trump and co-owner of the states largest construction company, has been attacking Evers over his parole policies and his response to violent protests in Kenosha two years ago that followed the shooting of Black man Jacob Blake by a white police officer. Wisconsin's parole commission, which operates independently of the governor, has granted about 460 discretionary paroles not required by law, something that both Republican and Democratic governors before Evers also routinely granted. For example, former Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson's administration granted more than 23,000 discretionary paroles during his 14 years as governor, the majority of which came before the state's truth-in-sentencing law did away with parole as an option in 2000. Thompson has endorsed Michels. Former Republican Gov. Scott Walker granted more than 650 discretionary paroles over eight years, according to the parole commission. A parole allows someone in prison to be released before their sentence is complete. Starting in 2000, Wisconsin inmates were no longer eligible for parole due to a truth-in-sentencing law. Wisconsin passed a truth-in-sentencing law that ended the possibility of parole for prisoners who committed their crimes starting in 2000. Those whose sentences began before 2000 are still eligible for parole. Story continues A parole allows someone who is in prison to be released before their sentence is complete. For those sentenced to life, discretionary paroles are available only to those who committed their crime before Dec. 31, 1999, -- before Wisconsins truth-in-sentencing law took effect and ended the possibility of parole. While the governor decides who is granted a pardon, he does not control paroles. That is done by the four-member parole commission that is given independent authority under state law to determine whether an inmate is eligible after serving a certain portion of their sentence. The governor appoints the chair of the commission, who is subject to confirmation by the state Senate. Michels' campaign spokesperson Anna Kelly said that Evers could effectively halt paroles by rescinding his appointment of Christopher Blythe as chair of the commission, or ask that Blythe stand down for three months. Michels did not make that specific request in his letter. State law established a right to being considered for parole and both state and federal courts have recognized the right of inmates to be paroled. So if paroles were to stop in Wisconsin as Michels wants, it would likely be challenged in court. Paroles are different from pardons, which can be granted to a person convicted of a felony who completed their sentence at least five years ago, has no pending charges and is not on the sex offender registry. A pardon doesnt erase or seal a conviction but it does restore certain rights, like being able to own a gun, and often makes it easier for the person to get a job. Michels, in a letter to Evers, also called on him to stop issuing pardons. Evers has issued more pardons than any Wisconsin governor in modern history. The vast majority of the more than 600 pardons have been granted to people convicted of lower level, nonviolent crimes. In the 2018 governors race, Walker ran a television ad saying that Evers general support for cutting the prison population in half would result in the release of felons whove committed rape, assault, robbery and even kidnapping. Thats a lie. I never said that, Evers said at the time in response. We will not release violent criminals. Michels, in his letter to Evers, said, You were not candid with the people of Wisconsin about limiting your get-out-of-jail-free card to nonviolent offenders." Michels, at a news conference last week in Milwaukee, did not say what the correct number of paroles should be, other than it would be more than zero and less than what Evers has done. Evers started granting pardons after Walker didn't issue a single one during eight years in office. Evers has been under fire from Michels and others about paroles for months. In June, Wisconsin Parole Commission Chairman John Tate resigned, a month after Evers made a hasty appeal to Tate in the midst of Republican criticism over parole plans for a convicted murderer. Michels has promised to make sure there are enough prison space to keep criminals behind bars. The Department of Corrections reported on Sept. 9 that 20,291 inmates were being housed in prisons designed to hold 17,298. An Oxford woman was sentenced for wire fraud from the Kappa Delta sorority at Mississippi State University, according to a release. Betty Jane Cadle, 75, got three years and nine months in prison for wire fraud. She was a volunteer as the Sorority Treasurer and stole $2.9 million from the Kappa Delta Sorority from 2012 through 2019, court documents revealed. According to court records, Cadle issued checks from the Kappa Delta House Corporation banking account to herself and to a business she and her daughter owned in Oxford, Mississippi without authority. Representatives of the sorority said Cadle had bullied the sorority members and maintained an attitude of superiority to avert any questions about the finances of the sorority house. The defendant abused her position of trust and authority by stealing money she was entrusted with for her own personal gain. Said U.S. Attorney Clay Joyner. The Northern District of Mississippis United States Attorneys Office will continue to prosecute those that abuse their positions to steal from others. In announcing the sentence, the judge ordered her to payback $2,940,853.80. Cadle is scheduled to report to prison on October 24. Download the FOX13 Memphis app to receive alerts from breaking news in your neighborhood. CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD Trending stories: A New York bishop who was robbed at gunpoint mid-sermon this past summer was arrested for a separate incident post-sermon after he grabbed a woman he believed was a threat to his seated-nearby family. They lock me up in front of my children, in front of my wife, in front of my church, Lamar Whitehead, 44, told the New York Daily News in an interview after hed been released from a holding cell two hours after the altercation took place on Sunday. They publicly embarrassed me and then they drop all the charges after two hours and apologise to me. While delivering a sermon at Leaders of Tomorrow International Ministry in Canarsie on Sunday, Mr Whitehead told the outlet that he saw two women enter the church and slide into the back rows of the building. The bishop says that his awareness was piqued because the womens demeanour seemed to call back to the same behaviour hed witnessed this past July from a group of men who robbed him at gunpoint while he was preaching. He noted that the pair had entered the same way it happened when my church got robbed. Social media footage of the incident shows the bishop calling the two women up onto the pulpit, asking if they want to come preach before quipping that hes gonna make you famous. Off-camera, one of the women can be heard screaming before the bishop can be heard shouting for someone to move her out of here, the Daily News reported. One of the women then reportedly ran down the middle-aisle at which point he claims to have thought only of his wife and child seated close by to him. She came back storming toward my wife and my 10-month-old baby, he continued. She went toward my wife and thats when I grabbed her. I grabbed her and took her out of my church. Wow Bishop Lamor Whitehead man handles a woman for interrupting Sunday service pic.twitter.com/vC2qwqt6ww Daily Loud (@DailyLoud) September 18, 2022 The incident dredged up all too familiar fears from a robbery that was carried out at the bishops church this past summer. When the woman came charging at him, all he could remember was the guys with the guns who put their gun in my babys face. Story continues In that July incident, Mr Whitehead could be heard in an Instagram live stream saying alright alright, as he was seen putting his hands up and then getting down on the ground as a masked assailant appeared onscreen in the footage, obtained by ABC7. The robbers demanded jewellery from Mr Whitehead and his 38-year-old wife, police said. They ultimately got away with a bundle valued to be worth $400,000, The Daily Beast reported. After Sundays altercation with the two women, detectives from the 69th Precinct arrived at the Brooklyn church and arrested the bishop informing him that he would be charged with assault. There were a lot of little kids in church that are frightened now again. All the little babies in my church saw me get arrested, the ones that look up to me, said Mr Whitehead. After being held for approximately two hours, Mr Whitehead was then released without any charges being pressed against him. They dropped all the charges and let me out, he said, speculating that his release had come from higher ups in the NYPD discovering that he was being held. A spokesperson for the NYPD said in an emailed statement to The Independent that both Mr Whitehead and a 47-year-old woman were removed from the church on Sunday after receiving 911 calls for a disturbance at the place of worship. Without addressing Mr Whiteheads arrest and later release, the spokesperson confirmed that one of the women, the unidentified 47-year-old, had been arrested and charged with trespassing and disrupting a religious service. Mr Whitehead has previously drawn criticism for his lavish jewel collection that he and his wife are known to display, but he has pushed back against the accusation that he is in any way scamming his parishioners. Its not about me being flashy. Its about me purchasing what I want to purchase, he said. Yall not gonna tear me down by your childish thoughts. Im going to stay focused. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin is expected to stump for Arizona governor candidate Kari Lake next month, escalating his midterm campaign efforts ahead of a prospective 2024 presidential bid. Youngkin is embarking on the Arizona trip as part of a broader nationwide campaign tour to bolster Republican candidates for governor. In recent weeks, he has traveled to Nevada an early state on the 2024 GOP nominating calendar and to Michigan, where Republicans are looking to unseat Democratic incumbents. Youngkin is headed to Kansas later this week. But Lake will be the highest-profile, most MAGA-aligned candidate Youngkin has campaigned for to date. She has embraced Trumps false claim the 2020 election was stolen, railed against Covid vaccine mandates and turned the media into a punching bag. Polls have shown her in a tight race with Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, in a state that was narrowly won by President Joe Biden. Youngkin is expected to hold political and fundraising events for Lake. As in other trips, he is likely to focus heavily on education policy an issue he made a centerpiece of his upset 2021 win in Virginias race, where he made inroads with suburban voters who had turned against the Republican Party during former President Donald Trumps administration. In a statement, Youngkin praised Arizonas termed-out chief executive, Doug Ducey, and said the state deserves another Republican governor. While Lake has appealed aggressively to Trumps conservative backers, she has begun to make inroads with more mainstream Republican figures in her state. Arizona GOP mega-donor Jim Click, an automobile dealer who for years has bankrolled top Republicans, played a key role in encouraging Youngkin to back Lake. In an interview, Click said he recently met with Lake in his office along with roughly a dozen other Arizona Republicans, and he said that the group came away thinking highly of her. We were very impressed, said Click, who backed Lakes opponent in the primary. He added: I think shes going to do very well, I think shes going to help us down-ballot. Story continues Click, who was part of former President George W. Bushs fundraising network, lavished praise on Youngkin and said he would be a good candidate, though he added that it was too early to say who he might get behind in 2024. Youngkin has taken a series of steps to bolster his profile in recent months, launching a pair of PACs that can fund his political activities and appearing at conservative events held by the American Enterprise Institute and Susan B. Anthony List, a group that opposes abortion. The Virginia governor has joined another Republican governor, Floridas Ron DeSantis, in drawing speculation about the 2024 presidential race while on the midterm campaign trail. DeSantis is also embarking on a nationwide blitz, including traveling to Arizona last month to campaign for Lake. Swain was given a yellow card for a dangerous clean-out in Thursdays match (Getty Images) New Zealand remain unhappy with Australia lock Darcy Swain after his free shot on Quinn Tupaea in Melbourne last week left the midfielder with a season-ending injury. Swain was given a yellow card for a dangerous clean-out that forced centre Tupaea off the pitch with a serious knee injury during the All Blacks 39-37 win on Thursday. Swain will face a judicial hearing later on Monday and may be slapped with a lengthy ban if found guilty. All Blacks playmaker Beauden Barrett was asked on Monday if his team had a position on the incident. We do, we do, he told reporters at a media conference in Auckland. I feel for Quinn. He basically didnt see it coming, he was a sitting duck. It was a bit of a free shot. We dont like to see these sorts of injuries. All Blacks scrumhalf Aaron Smith agreed with his teammate that Swain was culpable. Injuries happen in rugby but some can be controlled, he said. Swains clean-out triggered outrage in New Zealand but Wallabies coach Dave Rennie defended him after the test, while prop Allan Alaalatoa said Swain was devastated by Tupaeas injury. There was no intention there to injure him the way that he did, Alaalatoa told reporters on Monday. Ive seen some of his close mates (on the team) just throw the arm around him because hes probably copping a fair bit on social media at the moment. With Tupaea having come off the bench to replace David Havili, who was also forced off due to a head knock, Barretts brother Jordie moved from fullback to inside centre. Beauden Barrett, who slotted in at fullback, was impressed with his brothers showing at 12. I thought he went really well. Its a position that isnt too foreign. He played a lot (there) at school for Lincoln and Canterbury and Under-20s. I dont know what it will mean for this week but he has some desire to play there. New Zealands win in Melbourne sealed the Bledisloe Cup, the annual trophy contested by the trans-Tasman nations, for a 20th successive year while putting the defending champions top of the Rugby Championship table, level on 14 points with South Africa. Story continues Victory over Australia at Eden Park in the final round this weekend will be enough for New Zealand to claim back-to-back titles if Argentina can upset South Africa in Durban. Smith said Australia, who have not won at Eden Park since 1986, would look to pick a team to beat up the All Blacks. Its massive. Its a final. To be a part of game like this is very special, he said. An interior view shows a basement of a building, which Ukrainian authorities say was a makeshift Russian prison and torture chamber during Russia's invasion in the village of Kozacha Lopan, in Kharkiv region, Ukraine September 18, 2022. REUTERS/Viktoriia Yakymenko Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said "torture chambers" had been found in the Kharkiv region. The 10 chambers contained "tools for electric torture," Euronews reported Zelenskyy said. In Izium, identification of about 450 bodies found in mass graves has begun, the Kyiv Independent reported. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a Saturday address that "torture chambers" and mass graves had been found in the country's Kharkiv region after Russian troops retreated. The discovery comes as Ukraine's Ambassador to the United States Oksana Markarova said during a Sunday interview with ABC News's "This Week" that "war crimes of massive proportions" are occurring as a result of the Russian invasion that began in February. "More than 10 torture chambers have already been found in the liberated areas of Kharkiv region, in various cities and towns," Zelenskyy said in a video address late Saturday, CNN reported. "As the occupiers fled, they also dropped the torture devices." An interior view shows a basement of a building, which Ukrainian authorities say was a makeshift Russian prison and torture chamber during Russia's invasion in the village of Kozacha Lopan, in Kharkiv region, Ukraine September 18, 2022. REUTERS/Viktoriia Yakymenko Zelenskyy added that rooms designed for killing and "tools for electrical torture" were found at the Kozacha Lopan railway station. Kozacha Lopan, a settlement less just over a mile from the Russian border, was retaken by Ukrainian forces on September 11, AP reported. "There is already clear evidence of torture, humiliating treatment of people," Zelenskyy said in a Friday statement. "Moreover, there is evidence that Russian soldiers, whose positions were not far from this place, shot at the buried just for fun." An interior view shows a basement of a building, which Ukrainian authorities say was a makeshift Russian prison and torture chamber during Russia's invasion in the village of Kozacha Lopan, in Kharkiv region, Ukraine September 18, 2022. REUTERS/Viktoriia Yakymenko In Izium, a city on the Donets River in Kharkiv Oblast province, efforts are underway to identify the bodies of some 450 people, mostly civilians, found in a mass grave, the Kyiv Independent reported. Reuters reported some of the bodies were found with ropes around their necks and their hands tied. Similar graves were found in Bucha in March, when the bodies of 116 people were recovered after the city was liberated from Russian occupation. Read the original article on Business Insider Republican governors have been sending more migrants released at the U.S. border with Mexico to Democratic strongholds, raising questions about their legal status, how they are lured on board buses and planes and the cost to taxpayers. Florida's Ron DeSantis flew about 50 Venezuelans last week to the small, upscale island of Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts. During the weekend, Texas' Greg Abbott bused more migrants to Vice President Kamala Harris' Washington home. Since April, Texas has bused about 8,000 migrants to Washington, 2,200 to New York and 300 to Chicago. Arizona bused more than 1,800 to Washington since May, while the city of El Paso, Texas, bused more than 1,100 to New York since Aug. 23. Here are some questions and answers: Are migrants legally in the United States? Yes, temporarily. Tens of thousands of migrants who cross the border illegally from Mexico are released in the United States each month with notices to appear in immigration court to pursue asylum or on humanitarian parole with requirements to report regularly to immigration authorities. Migrants may seek asylum if they enter the country illegally under U.S. and international law, and U.S. authorities have broad authority to grant parole based on individual circumstances. Migrants must keep a current address with authorities, who schedule appointments in a city with the nearest court or immigration office. They must apply separately for permission to work. Last year, it took an average of nearly four years for asylum cases to be decided in immigration court, according to the Biden administration, leaving migrants in a legal purgatory that shields them from deportation. The backlog in immigration courts has mushroomed to more than 1.9 million cases, according to Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. To avoid massive overcrowding in detention facilities, the administration began releasing many migrants on humanitarian parole. The Border Patrol paroled nearly 250,000 migrants from August through June, including 40,151 in June, the latest figures released. In the previous seven months, it paroled only 11 migrants. Are these migrants kidnapped? Kidnapping is a high legal threshold, but migrants flown to Martha's Vineyard say they were taken there on false pretenses. Migrants sign waivers that the transportation is free and voluntary. DeSantis used a state program in which migrants deemed "unauthorized aliens" can be moved "from Florida," though the governor has acknowledged the flights originated in Texas. They stopped first in Florida, before going to Martha's Vineyard, but DeSantis has not emphasized that. Instead, he maintains that the two flights were a legitimate use of funds because the migrants otherwise would have aimed to go to Florida, though he offered no evidence of that or say how migrants might have been vetted. Migrants who boarded the flights told The Associated Press that a woman who approached them at a San Antonio shelter promised jobs and three months of housing in Washington, New York, Philadelphia and Boston. Doesn't the Biden administration bus and fly migrants around the country? Yes, but under different circumstances. Like earlier administrations, it transports migrants between detention facilities, often on their way to being removed from the country. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had more than 4,800 domestic flights in the last year, including 434 in August, according to Witness at the Border, a group that criticizes U.S. enforcement. The top five destinations from March to August were: Alexandria, Louisiana; Laredo, Texas; Phoenix; and Harlingen and El Paso in Texas. ICE also buses many migrants. The Department of Health and Human Services transports unaccompanied children to "sponsors," who are often family, or child-only detention facilities. Did anyone ask for this? Republican-led states say they are sending migrants to "sanctuary" cities that welcome immigrants. While the definition of a sanctuary city is slippery, a sudden influx of migrants can test attitudes and limits of generosity. Chicago's "Welcoming City Ordinance" prohibits asking people about their immigration status, denying services based on immigration status and disclosing information to federal immigration authorities. New York limits cooperation with U.S. immigration authorities, partly by prohibiting police officers from participating in joint enforcement and or by letting immigration agents work in city jails. In Martha's Vineyard, the six towns that make up the island south of Boston haven't issued any "sanctuary" declarations. The Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for restrictions, keeps an extensive list of "sanctuary" jurisdictions, which, by its definition, limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities. They include Boston and seven other Massachusetts cities. None of the towns in Martha's Vineyard are on the list. Who's paying and how much? Texas has committed billions of dollars to Abbott's "Operation Lone Star," an unprecedented move into border security that includes the bus trips, prosecuting border crossers for trespassing and a massive presence of state troopers and the National Guard. The Florida Legislature allocated $12 million for its program for the current budget year. The city of El Paso, which last week contracted a private bus company at a cost of up to $2 million, plans to seek reimbursement from the federal government. WINDSOR, England Queen Elizabeth IIs coffin has been lowered into the royal vault at St. Georges Chapel, in Windsor Castle, at the conclusion of her committal service. The Lord Chamberlain, the most senior official in the British royal household, broke a rod known as the wand of office as the royal family and hundreds of mourners bid a final farewell to the late monarch. Andrew Parker, who is the former head of Britains domestic secret service MI5, broke the white rod and placed it on the queens coffin. The ritual symbolizes the end of his service to the monarch. Earlier David Conner, the Dean of Windsor, paid tribute to the queen, telling 800 mourners gathered at the chapel about the queen as someone whose uncomplicated yet profound Christian faith bore so much fruit. He said: In the midst of our rapidly changing and frequently troubled world, her calm and dignified presence has given us confidence to face the future, as she did, with courage and with hope. SOUTH BEND, Ind. A prospective patient called a northern Indiana abortion clinic on Sept. 13, hoping to schedule an appointment to terminate her pregnancy. The manager said the health center could provide a pregnancy test but not an abortion. In a matter of hours, terminating a pregnancy would be nearly outlawed across the state of about 6.7 million people. Advertisement On Wednesday night (Sept. 14) at midnight, abortion becomes illegal in Indiana, Stacie Balentine, clinic manager at Whole Womans Health of South Bend, explained to the caller. For that reason, we dont have any more appointments available here at this clinic. There is information I can give you for other places you can contact. The caller asked if she would have to go to neighboring Illinois, where abortion is still legal and highly protected by state law. Advertisement Illinois Chicago is a good choice, Balentine responded. Stacie Balentine, clinic manager of Whole Woman's Health of South Bend, which has ceased providing abortions after an Indiana ban went into effect, is seen Sept. 13, 2022. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune) The clinic opened in June 2019 under highly unusual circumstances: The Indiana Department of Health had refused to issue a license to Whole Womans Health of South Bend, but a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction permitting its health care practitioners to provide medication abortions, even as the clinic remained unlicensed. The legal battle made headlines across the country, in part because the unlicensed abortion clinic was championed by then-Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, South Bends mayor at the time and the current U.S. secretary of transportation. Buttigieg had cited the need for abortion access across the country as well as in South Bend, a college town adjacent to the University of Notre Dame, where conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett had received several distinguished professor of the year awards as a law school faculty member. Whole Womans Health ultimately won its fight for an abortion clinic license when the state health department granted the license in January, after about 2 years of the clinic operating under court order. The framed document decorates the wall near Balentines desk. The license to perform abortions that Whole Woman's Health clinic of South Bend won after a lengthy legal battle. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune) But the clinics victory was short-lived. A few months later, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that legalized terminating a pregnancy nationwide. The watershed decision left the matter of abortion rights to individual states, half of which were expected to either highly restrict or ban terminating a pregnancy. Some of these states had so-called trigger laws or preexisting bans on the procedure, which went into effect after the fall of Roe. Advertisement But in August, Indiana became the first state to pass a near-total abortion ban after Roe was overturned. The measure outlaws abortion except in very narrow circumstances, including cases of rape and incest before 10 weeks post-fertilization; instances that endanger the life and physical health of the pregnant patient; or pregnancies where the fetus has a lethal anomaly. All seven of the states clinics had to cease performing abortions, according to the law. On Aug. 30, the state health department sent a letter to Whole Womans Health of South Bend stating that the law eliminates the state licensure of abortion clinics; from now on, any pregnancy terminations that are permitted must be performed in a hospital. Therefore, effective at 12 a.m. (Eastern Standard Time) on Sept. 15, the abortion clinic license issued by the Indiana Department of Health to Whole Womans Health of South Bend will be rendered void, the letter stated. Several Indiana abortion providers, including Whole Womans Health, sued in August to try and block the states ban from taking place. The lawsuit claims the ban strips away the fundamental rights of people seeking abortion care, violating the Indiana Constitution. The case is expected to be heard Monday, several days after the ban took effect. Advertisement Antonio Marchi, executive director of Right to Life Michiana, hopes the ban perseveres. He lamented that abortion advocates are using stall tactics to block the law. Right to Life Michiana is encouraged by the thought of up to 95% of abortions being eliminated in the state, and we are continuing work to build consensus around the value of human life, he said in an email. Whole Womans Health of South Bend provided its last abortion on Sept. 10, in anticipation of the ban. The abortion clinic plans to remain open, offering non-abortion services like follow-up appointments, ultrasounds, pregnancy tests and other medical needs, according to the staff. After hanging up the phone with the pregnant patient, Balentine appeared despondent. She said shes been receiving around five dozen calls a week for abortion care, evenly divided between in-state and out-of-state residents. Thats the worst part of the job telling people no, we cant help, she said. Thats kind of all thats left at the moment, so its not great. Indiana-to-Illinois pipeline Last year, 8,414 pregnancies were terminated in Indiana. Advertisement The number has increased every year since 2019, according to statistics from the Indiana Department of Health. The vast majority of abortions in 2021 took place at seven clinics across the state, as opposed to a hospital, the data showed. After the state ban went into effect, some Illinois abortion providers predicted many Indiana patients would be traveling here to terminate a pregnancy. To plan for this influx, Planned Parenthood of Illinois announced on Thursday that the agency added space and expanded abortion services at its Champaign Health Center, which is about two hours from Indianapolis and less than an hour from the Indiana border. That clinic will now offer abortion procedures as well as medication abortions. The health center was also renovated to add 5,000 square feet, which includes more procedure rooms, waiting rooms, ultrasound rooms, a recovery room and a lab. We anticipated Indiana residents losing access to abortion care, so we decided to expand our care in Champaign, Jennifer Welch, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Illinois, said in a news release. Indianas draconian abortion ban does not stop people from having abortions, it only makes it more difficult for people to access abortion in a safe and timely manner. Since the end of Roe, Planned Parenthood of Illinois said, the Champaign clinic has seen abortion patients from 11 states besides Illinois, with the largest number of out-of-state patients coming from Indiana. Before Indianas ban went into effect, 11% of patients at the Champaign location were from Indiana, according to the agency. Advertisement This number is expected to increase now that the Indiana abortion ban is in effect, Planned Parenthood of Illinois said in the news release. In 2018, the agency also opened a 12,000-square-foot clinic in south suburban Flossmoor, about 10 miles from the Indiana border. Abortion opponents protested the new clinic, in part because the location would facilitate travel from other states, namely Indiana. Planned Parenthood deliberately chose to place their new abortion center only a few miles from the Indiana border, Pro-Life Action League Executive Director Eric Scheidler had said in a news release. Illinois is fast becoming the abortion dumping ground of the Midwest. Planned Parenthood of Illinois has estimated that 20,000 to 30,000 additional patients will travel here to terminate a pregnancy each year after Roes demise. As almost every other state in the Midwest restricts or outlaws abortion, Illinois has increased access: In 2019, Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed the Reproductive Health Care Act, which ensconced the right to terminate a pregnancy in state law. Nearly 10,000 abortion patients came to Illinois from other states in 2020, and the number has risen every year since 2014, according to the latest Illinois Department of Public Health statistics available. Advertisement Almost 1,900 patients came here from Indiana to terminate a pregnancy in 2020, the data showed. A real choice The property of Whole Womans Health of South Bend was conspicuously quiet on Tuesday. Three years ago, around this time, the public right of way out front was a tumultuous mix of anti-abortion protesters, volunteer clinic escorts and patients driving to and from their appointments. Some of the protesters would pray. Others carried signs reading Abortion takes a human life and Its a child, not a choice. Several clinic escorts in bright pink vests walked alongside the patients as they arrived or exited. Sometimes the escorts would unfurl brightly colored umbrellas and hoist them over their shoulders, creating a barrier between the patient and abortion opponents outside, until the patient drove away. Volunteer abortion clinic escorts wait outside for clients to arrive at Whole Woman's Health of South Bend abortion clinic in South Bend, Indiana, on July 19, 2019. (Camille Fine / Chicago Tribune) More than 1,100 patients have had an abortion at Whole Womans Health of South Bend since the clinic opened in mid-2019, according to the clinics staff. Advertisement In recent weeks, the number of out-of-state patients coming there had increased, as bans and restrictions in other states went into effect. We would see even more patients from other states where it was more restrictive, said Sharon Lau, Midwest advocacy director for Whole Womans Health Alliance. Right after Roe in June, we were getting patients from Ohio, because they had a trigger law. We were having patients coming from Texas. It was one after another, as the different avenues that were available are falling. She believes many of the patients who would have come to the South Bend clinic will now travel to Illinois. The roughly 1,900-square-foot red brick medical building is about 90 miles from downtown Chicago. Sharon Lau, Midwest Advocacy Director for Whole Woman's Health, at the Whole Woman's Health South Bend clinic on Sept. 13, 2022. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune) The clinic expanded its parking lot in the spring to accommodate more cars. Earlier this week, the lot was nearly empty, except for the vehicles driven by a few staff members. In April, the clinic received a provisional license to begin providing surgical abortions. But a few days later, a draft copy of the Supreme Court decision leaked, indicating the high courts plan to overturn Roe. So, the clinic never offered in-clinic procedures, although medication abortions were still available. The space that would have been a recovery room for patients after a procedure holds a few cardboard boxes with packed items. The medical instruments that would have been used to provide aspiration abortions are being sent to other Whole Womans Health clinics in states where terminating a pregnancy is still legal. Advertisement A few years ago, Womens Care Center, an anti-abortion pregnancy center, tried to open next door to the clinic. But a zoning request by the nonprofit was vetoed by then-South Bend Mayor Buttigieg, whose campaign for president included a pro-reproductive rights platform. In a letter to other city leaders, Buttigieg said the area wouldnt benefit from adjacent organizations with deep and opposite commitments on the most divisive social issue of our time. Clinic officials thanked him in a written statement for standing up for what is right and putting women and families of South Bend first. The pregnancy center soon found a different site that didnt require zoning change: a property just across the street from Whole Womans Health. Womens Care Center has 34 locations across the country, including one in west suburban La Grange and another in Peoria, according to its website. Advertisement Our locations are very important to us, Jenny Hunsberger of Womens Care Center had told the Tribune in 2019. So we have opened up next to, across the street, close to abortion clinics. Often if we are next door to an abortion clinic, women come to us not because they are coerced, not because theyre tricked, not because they dont know rather because theyre unsure or they want a second opinion. Hunsberger would not answer any new questions about the Indiana ban or Whole Womans Health of South Bend ceasing abortions, because Womens Care Center is an oasis away from politics. The University of Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture in 2019 recognized Womens Care Center as the recipient of the nations most important lifetime achievement award for heroes of the pro-life movement. Notre Dames president, the Rev. John Jenkins, also serves as a board member of the Womens Care Center Foundation. In a 2018 statement, Jenkins said he was deeply disappointed by Buttigiegs veto. Far from enhancing the harmony of the neighborhood, it divides our community and diminishes opportunities for vulnerable women to have a real choice, he said. Supreme Court Justice Barrett, who was among the majority who voted to overturn Roe, has deep roots in the South Bend area and at Notre Dame, where she graduated from law school and served as a faculty member. Advertisement In 2006, Barrett signed an ad opposing abortion on demand, which was part of a two-page spread in a local newspaper around the anniversary of Roe. Her name was included on another right to life advertisement while she was on the faculty at Notre Dame Law School and a member of the University Faculty for Life group, which sponsored the ad in the student newspaper. This ad was not dated but did mention the 40th anniversary of Roe. We renew our call for the unborn to be protected in law, said that ad, which was signed by dozens of university faculty and staff members. Heartbreaking The property next door to Whole Womans Health that spurred so much controversy a few years ago now has a new owner Right to Life Michiana. The anti-abortion group uses the property adjacent to the clinic for sidewalk advocacy to help women in crisis, connecting them with alternatives and support in the community, Right to Life Michiana said in an email. The clinic is still open, providing follow-up visits, ultrasounds, pregnancy tests and other services. Lau said Whole Womans Health is looking into opening a clinic in Illinois, but thats still in the planning stages. Afternoon Briefing Daily Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox each afternoon. > Staff members can also help patients access medication abortions by mail, but patients must be able to travel for a telehealth visit and use an out-of-state address, either in Illinois or several other states where abortion is legal. Advertisement Whole Womans Health also started a program to assist patients traveling to other states for abortion care, so the staff at the South Bend clinic will help folks access those resources, Lau added. What were going to see in Indiana is people forced to carry a pregnancy against their will that they dont feel ready for or healthy enough for, said Whole Womans Health Alliance President and CEO Amy Hagstrom Miller. Or people are going to have to figure out how to travel to another place to get the abortion that, honestly, they should be able to get in their community. She added that the drive to Illinois or Michigan to terminate a pregnancy is more risky than the abortion itself. Its been a huge fight, but weve had so much support from the community, and weve served a need for that part of Indiana, she said. So that part of it has been heartbreaking. The Associated Press contributed. eleventis@chicagotribune.com HARRISBURG In bone-dry Banner County, clouds of dirt drift into the sky as rumbling tractors till the sun-baked soil. We get very little rain, said Jim Young, standing in a field thats been in his family for 80 years. And we get a lot of wind. Some of the countrys best wind, in fact. Thats why 16 years ago, wind energy companies started courting landowners on County Road 14 north of Kimball on wind speed maps, a deep-purple smear through the Nebraska Panhandle that signifies high-speed, reliable wind. This county of just 625 people stood poised to become home to as many as 300 wind turbines. It would have been the largest wind project in the state, bringing in money for landowners, developers, the county and local schools. But then, a roadblock: The U.S. Air Force. Under the dusty fields are dozens of nuclear missiles housed in silos more than 100 feet underground. For decades, tall structures such as wind turbines needed to be at least a quarter-mile from the missile silos. Earlier this year, the military changed its policy. Now turbines cant be within 2 nautical miles of the silos. The switch ruled out acres of land energy companies had leased and wrested a potential windfall from dozens of farmers. The stalled Banner County project is unique, but its one more way that Nebraska struggles to harness its main renewable energy resource. Nebraska ranks eighth in the country in potential wind energy, according to the federal government. It continues to lag behind neighbors Colorado, Kansas and Iowa, all of whom are national leaders. The Banner County projects would have grown Nebraskas wind capacity by 25%. Its now unclear how many turbines will be possible because of the rule change. This would have been a big deal for a lot of farmers. And it would have been an even bigger deal for every property owner in Banner County, Young said. Its just a killer. Dont know how else to say it. Living with nukes John Jones was driving his tractor when helicopters suddenly whizzed overhead. His tractor had kicked up enough dust to trigger a missile silos motion detectors. Jeeps sped up. Armed men jumped out to inspect the threat. I just kept farming, Jones said. Banner County residents have coexisted with the missile silos since the 1960s. To keep up with Soviet nuclear technology, the U.S. planted hundreds of missiles, positioning them to shoot over the North Pole and into the Soviet Union at a moments notice. Today, 82 missile silos in the Panhandle are still active, manned 24/7 by Air Force crews. The 80,000-pound warheads can fly 15,000 miles per hour and do damage 20 times greater than the nukes dropped in World War II. If we ever get bombed, they say this is the first place theyre going to bomb, because of the silos, said farmer Tom May. Every acre of Mays property sits within the 2 miles of a missile silo, he said. Under the new Air Force rule, he cant put a single wind turbine on his ground. Sixteen years ago, wind turbine developers held a meeting at the school in Harrisburg. Banner County had what developers called world-class wind. Many landowners were eager they could make $15,000 per turbine per year. The turbines would also pump money into the county and school system, said county officials. In Banner County, it would have reduced property taxes to damn near nothing, Young said they were told. Eventually, two companies Invenergy and Orion Renewable Energy Group finalized plans to put up wind turbines. But discussions with the military starting in 2019 brought the projects to a screeching halt. Wind turbines pose a significant flight safety hazard, an Air Force spokesman said in an email. Those turbines didnt exist when the silos were built. Now that they dot the rural landscape, the Air Force said it needed to reevaluate its setback rules. The final number it settled on was 2 nautical miles 2.3 miles on land so helicopters wouldnt crash. In May, military officials traveled from Wyomings F.E. Warren Air Force Base to break the news to landowners. On an overhead projector at Kimballs Sagebrush Restaurant, they showed enlarged photos of what helicopter pilots see when flying near turbines in a snowstorm. For most landowners, the news came as a gut punch. They said they support national security and keeping service members safe. But they wonder: Is eight times as much distance necessary? They dont own that land. But all of a sudden, they have the power to strike the whole thing down, telling us what we can and cant do, Jones said. Young agreed. When you can land a helicopter on top of any hospital in the country, theyre saying that this is too close, he said, pointing to a nearby missile silo and a distant tower less than 2 miles away. Now you know why were pissed, right? Wind energy improving, but still lags Nebraska built its first wind turbines in 1998 two towers west of Springview. Installed by the Nebraska Public Power District, the pair were a test run. Iowa had been promoting wind energy since the early 1980s. By 2010, Nebraska was 25th in the country at producing wind-generated power the bottom of the pack among windy Great Plains states. The reasons fueling the lag were uniquely Nebraskan. Nebraska is the only state served entirely by publicly owned utilities, mandated to deliver the cheapest electricity possible. Federal tax credits for wind farms only applied to the private sector. With a smaller population, already cheap electricity and limited access to transmission lines, Nebraska lacked the market to make wind energy worthwhile. A decade of legislation helped change that calculus. Public utilities were allowed to buy power from private wind developers. A state law diverted taxes back to the county and school district the reason the Banner County wind farms may have shrunk taxes. Now, Nebraska has enough wind turbines to generate 3,216 megawatts, moving to 15th in the nation. Its modest growth, experts said. But with new federal incentives, and the three largest Nebraska public power districts committing to going carbon-neutral, wind energy in the state is expected to accelerate. The biggest obstacle now may be Nebraskans who simply dont want turbines. Turbines are noisy eyesores, some say. Without federal tax credits, they arent necessarily a financially wise way to generate electricity, said Tony Baker, legislative aide for Sen. Tom Brewer. In April, Otoe County Commissioners imposed a one-year moratorium on wind projects. In Gage County, officials passed restrictions that would prevent any future wind development. Since 2015, county commissioners in Nebraska have rejected or restricted wind farms 22 times, according to energy journalist Robert Bryces national database. The first thing we heard out of everyones mouth was how, We dont want those damn wind turbines next to our place, Baker said, describing visits with Brewers Sandhills constituents. Wind energy tears apart the fabric of communities. You have a family that benefits from it, wants it, but everybody that neighbors them doesnt. John Hansen, president of the Nebraska Farmers Union, said pushback comes from a loud minority. Eighty percent of rural Nebraskans thought more should be done to develop wind and solar energy, according to a 2015 University of Nebraska-Lincoln poll. Its that NIMBY problem, Hansen said, using the acronym meaning, Not in My Backyard. Its, Im not against wind energy, I just dont want it in my area. Their goal is to make sure that no project gets built, period. For Nebraska towns facing shrinking populations, wind turbines can mean economic opportunity, Hansen said. In Petersburg, the influx of workers after a wind farm was built led a failing grocery store to instead build a second location, he said. Its the equivalent of a part-time job for farmers who agree to turbines. Its like having an oil well on your land without all the pollution, said Dave Aiken, a UNL ag economics professor. Youd think it would be a no-brainer. The landowners arent sure whats next. Orion said the Air Force decision rules out at least half its planned turbines. It still hopes to have a project running in 2024. Invenergy declined to detail any future plans. This resource is just there, ready to be used, said Brady Jones, John Jones son. How do we walk away from that? At a time when were passing legislation that would vastly increase investment in wind energy in this country? That energys got to come from somewhere. The Flatwater Free Press is Nebraskas first independent, nonprofit newsroom focused on investigations and feature stories that matter. We have used your information to see if you have a subscription with us, but did not find one. Please use the button below to verify an existing account or to purchase a new subscription. Kenya has adopted a new pro-business stance towards Morocco, writes the Kenyan economic newspaper Business Today, in an analysis published on Saturday, following Kenyan President William Rutos decision to rescind recognition of the so-called SADR. The Kenyan newspaper recalls that the newly sworn President vowed to accelerate economic relations with Morocco and that a week ago, President Ruto promised to lower the price of fertilizer from Ksh 6,100 to Ksh 3,600 (Ksh 100 = USD 1). The newspaper reports in this connection that 1.4 million bags of fertilizer will be imported mainly from Morocco, noting that the OCP Group is the worlds leading manufacturer of phosphate fertilizers, and covers a third of the world market. Last Monday, William Ruto, had promised to announce new prices for cornmeal and fertilizers, noting that his realpolitik implies a rapprochement with Morocco in the decisive field of fertilizers, analyzes the author of the article, who recalls that an agreement in the same field between Morocco and Nigeria, signed in 2017, had reduced the price of a bag of fertilizer from 5,000 to 1,700 shillings. Thanks to its South-South policy, the Kingdom of Morocco considers Kenya as an outstanding nation with which it can establish economic cooperation, especially in the fields of agriculture, health and tourism, the newspaper stresses, indicating that, according to experts, in the coming years, Kenyan tea will be very present in Morocco. Another Kenyan newspaper The Easta African also commented on the revocation by Kenyan President William Ruto of the recognition of SADR, recalling that William Ruto, then Deputy President, had pledged in 2021 to support Morocco to achieve a just solution to the Sahara issue. For the paper, this move is likely to bolster cooperation between the two countries and Kenya has everything to gain from the Moroccan tea and coffee markets. In addition, Nairobi can draw inspiration from the Moroccan tourism sector, the publication said. In an interview with the paper, Moroccos ambassador to Nairobi, Abderrazzak Lassel, said that the Kingdom which welcomes the economic model of President Ruto, can provide significant assistance in the field of food security, especially that it is the largest producer of fertilizer in the world. In this regard, the newspaper pointed out that the new president had pledged to ensure cheaper fertilizers, the aim being to improve production and food security in the long term and reduce food prices in the short term. The Moroccan diplomat said that the two countries can have fruitful cooperation in several other areas, including in the social housing sector in which Morocco is willing to share its successful experience. On the other hand, the Kingdom can benefit from Kenyan prowess in ICT, especially in the digitalization of the banking sector, he said. Morocco spends 427 million euros annually in fighting illegal migration, an amount that dwarfs the 500 million euros that the EU plans to offer Morocco in migration aid over five years, head of migration and border control at the interior ministry Khaled Zerouali said. In an interview with Spanish agency EFE, Zerouali said EU aid is incommensurable with the cost Morocco incurs annually to prevent illegal migrants from reaching European shores. We are not monetizing the migration issue. We are a responsible state. With aid or without it, we will continue to do what needs to be done, he said. Morocco has stopped 40,000 people from crossing illegally to Spain and dismantled 124 migrant trafficking network he said. The fact that arrivals from Morocco to Spain dropped so far this year does not mean that pressure has abated in Morocco, he said. France under President Emmanuel Macron seems to be more concerned about fixing its problematic past with its former Algerian colony at the expense of ties with forward-looking Morocco. Last month, President Macron visited Algeria and spoke to its aged military leadership about the need to turn the page on Frances bloody past, which ironically serves as a capital or ideological rent used by the military regime in Algeria to maintain the autocratic status quo and foment animosity to Paris. His visit was seen as an apology for saying that France created current Algeria which did not exist as a nation before and for having described President Tebboune as a hostage to a cruel military regime. During his visit, no significant economic agreement was signed save rhetorical sequences on the need to promote youth entrepreneurship in a country run by an ailing elite deeply hostile to younger voices which rose during the Hirak calling for a clean break with the rule of the army. Macrons most mediatized activity in Algiers was also about the past when he visited Disco Maghreb a music studio which has been closed since the 1990s until French artist featured it in his recent clip. Disco Maghreb has to shut down for good in the 1990s during the civil war which left many artists massacred by extremists. When Macron was in Algiers removing dust from Disco Maghreb, German foreign minister was visiting Rabat and reiterating its strong support for Moroccos autonomy plan for the Sahara, following the US and Spains suit. Moroccos king has made it clear in his most recent speech that the Sahara issue is the benchmark through which Morocco assesses the sincerity of partnerships. France has yet to reaffirm its position on the Sahara issue in a way that leaves no ambiguity and puts it on the track of maintaining Morocco as a genuine pro-Western ally. Worst, France has treated Morocco on an equal footing with Algeria- where the regime subsists on anti-French rhetoric, by cutting the number of visas by over 50% over the issue of non-repatriated migrants. The decision was taken in 2021 and was then commented on by Moroccan diplomacy as non-reflective of the quality of consular cooperation. As ties with the US and Israel grow exponentially to include the strategic dimension of military alliance, ties with France are still limited to the economic sphere. Voices by French intellectuals are rising in France calling for a recalibration of French ties in the region. Le Figaro on September 16 published an article entitled dont trade Rabat for Algiers. In general terms, Morocco feels abandoned and little supported by France, which has proved to be a more ambivalent partner, notably on the key issues of migration flows and the Sahel, said Laurent Gayard on Le Figaro. Frances foreign policy in the Maghreb and its ambiguous positions regarding Morocco only serve the interests of the Algerian military regime which has vassalized Tunisia and lobbies against French and Western interests in the region, Gyayard said. However, Rabat holds an untapped potential which other powers, apart from France, are aware of: political stability, a diversified and dynamic economy in which the services sector plays a key role and an influential diplomacy, he said. By betting too much on Algeria, France runs the risk of prioritizing an alliance of convenience at the expense of its credibility in the region, he said. Meanwhile, Morocco has no choice but to keep diversifying its economic and political partnerships and reduce its dependence on France whose foothold is diminishing in an increasingly multipolar world. UN Chief, Antonio Guterres, Sunday told French media RFI the 46 Ivorian soldiers who have been in custody in Mali since July for allegedly plotting a coup, are not mercenaries as Malian authorities claim. Guterres in an interview with the media also indicated that he will address the issue with Malian authorities on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly this month. Mali arrested 49 Ivorian troops at Bamako airport on the charges that the soldiers were in the country to plot a coup. Abidjan slammed the accusation and indicated that the military personnel was on a UN mission. Early this month Bamako freed 3 of the detained soldiers at Togos mediation. The remaining detainees were set to be released subsequently but Malian authorities introduced one condition: the extradition of some Malian politicians who have taken refuge in Cote dIvoire and who are wanted by the Malian justice. Abidjan slammed the condition and branded it hostage taking and called on regional body ECOWAS to intervene. Guy Nzouba Ndama, an opposition figure and former Speaker of Gabons parliament, has been arrested in capital Libreville with around $2 million (1.19 billion FR CFA) found in his suitcases after he landed at the airport following a short stay in Congo. Ndama, who leads Les Democrates, was chosen by his party in July to run for next year presidential elections. The money, Ecofin news agency reports, is allegedly from sponsors. Ndama was also former Education minister of incumbent President Ali Bongo but both fell out in 2016. He was a candidate for then elections but bowed out in favor of the former opposition leader Jean Ping. Ali Bongo was declared winner of the heated elections that some foreign observers claimed were won by Ping. Morocco has renewed this Monday before the Peace and Security Council (PSC) of the African Union (AU) its strong and constant support to the political transition process in Burkina Faso, Chad, Guinea and Mali. Moroccos Permanent Representative to the AU and the UNECA, Mohamed Arrouchi, who was speaking at a meeting of the PSC devoted to the evolution of the political transition process in Burkina Faso, Chad, Guinea and Mali, stressed the crucial role of the AU Peace & Security Council in identifying the most effective ways and means to accompany and support these friendly and brotherly countries in their political transition process, in order to enable them to restore political stability and social peace. The Moroccan diplomat also reiterated during this meeting held by videoconference the call of Morocco to the entire international community to pay particular attention to the security and humanitarian challenges facing all countries in the Sahel region. Arrouchi who called for increased regional cooperation to address these challenges, advocated an inclusive, collective and multidimensional approach in coping with security, stability and development issues, involving all countries that are directly or indirectly affected by the evils of instability and unconstitutional change of governments. Regarding the integrated strategy for the Sahel, the Moroccan diplomat recalled the commitment of Morocco, linked to this region by age-old and multiform relations, to contribute with the international community to the consolidation of an inclusive governance and the anchoring of an integrated and sustainable development for the benefit of the populations of the regions countries. He stressed, in this regard, that the implementation mechanisms of these strategies should involve all African countries, emphasizing the importance of the relevant sub-regional organizations, namely the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD) and the G5-Sahel in the implementation of strategies aimed at establishing sustainable stability in the Sahel region. Falcon Oil & Gas Ltd. Falcon Oil & Gas Ltd. (Falcon or Company) Origin Energy Announces Divestment of Beetaloo Sub-Basin Interests 19 September 2022 Falcon Oil & Gas Ltd. (TSXV: FO, AIM: FOG) (Falcon or the Company) notes the media release issued today by its c. 98% subsidiary, Falcon Oil & Gas Australia Limiteds joint venture partner, Origin Energy B2 Pty Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Origin Energy Limited (Origin) relating to the divestment of their 77.5% interest in the Beetaloo Sub-basin exploration permits. Under the terms of the Joint Operating Agreement entered into with Origin and announced on 2 May 2014 (as amended), Falcon Australia has a right of first refusal which allows it to notify Origin (within 30 days of any proposed change of control) of Falcons intention to acquire Origins 77.5% interest in the Beetaloo joint venture. The Board is reserving its legal position in respect of those rights. In the event that the Company seeks to exercise its rights under the Joint Operating Agreement, this would be classified as a reverse takeover pursuant to Rule 14 of the AIM Rules for Companies. The Board will now consider the impact of the decision by Origin on Falcon and will then decide what, if any, actions it intends to take. There is no guarantee that the Company will exercise such rights or that any transaction will occur. Further information will be disclosed in due course. Ends. CONTACT DETAILS: Falcon Oil & Gas Ltd. +353 1 676 8702 Philip O'Quigley, CEO +353 87 814 7042 Anne Flynn, CFO +353 1 676 9162 Cenkos Securities plc (NOMAD & Broker) Neil McDonald / Derrick Lee +44 131 220 9771 About Falcon Oil & Gas Ltd. Falcon Oil & Gas Ltd is an international oil & gas company engaged in the exploration and development of unconventional oil and gas assets, with the current portfolio focused in Australia, South Africa and Hungary. Falcon Oil & Gas Ltd is incorporated in British Columbia, Canada and headquartered in Dublin, Ireland with a technical team based in Budapest, Hungary. Story continues Falcon Oil & Gas Australia Limited is a c. 98% subsidiary of Falcon Oil & Gas Ltd. Falcon Oil & Gas Australia Limited and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Origin Energy Limited (ASX: ORG) (Origin) are joint venture partners in respect of the Beetaloo project. For further information on Falcon Oil & Gas Ltd. please visit www.falconoilandgas.com About Origin Origin is a leading Australian integrated energy company. Origin is a leading energy retailer with approximately 4.2 million customer accounts, has approximately 7,500 MW of owner and contracted power generation capacity and is also a large natural gas supplier. Origin is the upstream operator of Australia Pacific LNG, which supplies natural gas to domestic markets and exports LNG under long term contracts. www.originenergy.com.au 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. Certain information in this press release may constitute forward-looking information. This information is based on current expectations that are subject to significant risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. Actual results might differ materially from results suggested in any forward-looking statements. Falcon assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those reflected in the forward looking-statements unless and until required by securities laws applicable to Falcon. Additional information identifying risks and uncertainties is contained in Falcons filings with the Canadian securities regulators, which filings are available at www.sedar.com. (Bloomberg) -- Sign up for our Middle East newsletter and follow us @middleeast for news on the region. Most Read from Bloomberg Germany may secure supplies of liquefied natural gas from the United Arab Emirates in the coming days as part of the countrys push to offset Russias moves to slash supplies. Chancellor Olaf Scholz is likely to sign delivery contracts during a two-day trip to the Middle East, Economy Minister Robert Habeck said on Monday, indicating that talks are well-advanced especially with the UAE. The gas supply is gradually broadening and the government is permanently in talks with many countries, also with nations on the Arabian peninsula, Habeck said. The chancellor is traveling next week to the UAE and will certainly be able to sign some contracts for LNG there. But its not only the UAE, its other countries, African countries, he said during a press conference in Lubmin on Germanys Baltic coast. In that way, well close the hole that the lack of Russian gas has ripped open. Scholz also plans to travel to Saudi Arabia and Qatar on the trip, which starts Saturday. Energy cooperation is high on his agenda, government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said at a regular news conference in Berlin on Monday. A deal with the UAE could be a boost for Scholz as the government struggles to offset Russian deliveries after the Kremlin shut down a key pipeline. Officials have grown increasingly concerned about blackouts and rationing this winter. Germany and Qatar have been in talks about possible LNG shipments since Russia invaded Ukraine in February. There have been no signs of a breakthrough in the negotiations so far. Negotiations with one of the worlds biggest LNG exporters have been especially difficult, according to German government officials. They have described Qatars strategy as playing hardball over the price and duration of potential agreements. Story continues Discussions with gas suppliers in Europe and North America have proven similarly complex, underlining the uphill struggle Scholz and his government face in sealing short-term supplies to help Europes biggest economy avoid shortages this winter. Scholzs first stop on his trip will be to Saudi Arabia, where hell meet with the king as well as Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the countrys de facto ruler. On Sunday, hell be in the UAE and Qatar, before returning to Berlin in the evening. The German leader will be accompanied by a high-ranking business delegation, Hebestreit said, without giving further details. Germanys Economy Ministry said Thursday that a first test delivery of green hydrogen from the UAE had arrived in Hamburg, part of a push to establish a comprehensive hydrogen value chain between Germany and the UAE. The pilot delivery lays an important foundation for medium-term imports of hydrogen, which will then also be green, the ministry said in an emailed statement. While Saudi Arabia isnt an LNG exporter, its investing billions of dollars in blue and green hydrogen. The country has also come under pressure from Europe and the US this year to pump more oil and bring down prices after their surge in the wake of Russias war in Ukraine. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2022 Bloomberg L.P. With attorney Jennifer Cascio, left, breast cancer survivor Sue Kamuda attends a press conference regarding their $363 million lawsuit win over Sterigenics on Sept. 19, 2022. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune) Around the same time Sue Kamuda moved to Willowbrook during the mid-1980s, a Chicago company chose the west suburb as a new site for its rapidly expanding business sterilizing medical instruments, pharmaceutical drugs and spices. Two low-slung buildings, tucked behind retailers and restaurants on Kingery Highway, didnt attract much attention until 2018, when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency revealed that people living nearby faced some of the nations highest cancer risks from toxic air pollution. Advertisement The culprit: ethylene oxide, or EtO, an odorless gas pumped into fumigation chambers inside the sterilization facility and then released into surrounding neighborhoods. Kamuda, a retired school administrator, suspected she finally had discovered why she had been diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007. She had been breathing EtO for years at her home a third of a mile away. Advertisement On Monday, a Cook County jury agreed, finding the facilitys original owner and two corporate successors liable for $363 million in damages for exposing Kamuda to the toxic gas. The verdict is the largest ever for an individual in Illinois. Sterigenics, the most recent owner, should pay $220 million in punitive damages, jurors decided. They also levied sanctions of $100 million against parent company Sotera Health and $5 million against Griffith Foods, the current name of the original owner. Kamuda should be paid an additional $38 million for the past and future loss of a normal life, emotional distress, disfigurement and shortened life expectancy, jurors decided. She is the first of more than 700 people seeking recompense from Oak Brook-based Sterigenics. With attorneys Jennifer Cascio, left, and Patrick A. Salvi II, breast cancer survivor Sue Kamuda, center, attends a news conference regarding their $363 million lawsuit win over Sterigenics on Sept. 19, 2022. Sterigenics, its parent company and a corporate predecessor should pay $363 million in damages for exposing Kamuda, of Willowbrook, and thousands of others to cancer-causing ethylene oxide pollution, a Cook County jury decided Monday. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune) The verdict exceeded the $346 million that her attorney, Patrick Salvi II, had urged the jury to sanction during his closing arguments. I hope that this makes it easier for all of them, Kamuda told reporters afterward, revealing for the first time that one of her sons has been diagnosed with cancer and has filed his own lawsuit against the company. Asked what she took away from a four-year legal battle that led to Mondays jury verdict, Kamuda described it as grueling but ultimately worth it. Corporations arent your friend, she said. Find a good support team to help you because you are going to need it. Advertisement During a trial that lasted more than five weeks, emails and documents highlighted on a courtroom screen showed the companies knew long ago that ethylene oxide is extremely dangerous. But the companies delayed installing pollution-control equipment and attempted to undermine federal regulations that would require costly improvements at sterilization facilities, the documents showed. They did not treat EtO like a carcinogen, they treated it like an ATM, Salvi said. Sterigenics and Sotera said in a statement they might appeal the verdict. We do not believe the jury verdict in this matter reflects the evidence presented in court, the companies statement said. We will continue to vigorously defend against allegations about our ethylene oxide operations and emissions. [ More than half a million Americans exposed to toxic air pollution face cancer risks above EPA guidelines ] Lawyers for the companies argued that Salvi offered no proof that Kamudas breast cancer was caused by exposure to ethylene oxide. They also brought in industry-connected scientists who attempted to persuade the jury the Willowbrook facility never posed a danger to its neighbors. The now-closed sterilization plant was built in 1984 by the company now known as Griffith Foods. In a statement, the company called its inclusion in the lawsuit a case of overreach and said it hasnt been connected to Sterigenics for more than 20 years. Advertisement Sotera Health absorbed Sterigenics after a series of mergers, corporate restructurings and private equity deals, including one brokered by a firm co-founded by former Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner. Officials within the Republican governors administration knew about the high cancer risks at least eight months before the public was told, the Chicago Tribune reported in 2018. He initially downplayed the findings, then joined other elected officials who called for the Willowbrook plant to be closed. Afternoon Briefing Daily Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox each afternoon. > Rauners stake in Sterigenics later became a campaign issue during his bid for reelection, when now-Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a Chicago Democrat, bested him at the polls. Sterigenics closed the plant in 2019 under pressure from community groups, local officials, state lawmakers, members of Congress and Pritzker, who at one point that year banned the company from using ethylene oxide. After monitoring EtO concentrations in and around Willowbrook for several months, the EPA concluded that Sterigenics pollution increased the risk of developing cancer for people living as far as 25 miles away. Other suburbs with the highest risks included Darien, Burr Ridge, Hinsdale, Indian Head Park and Western Springs. Other industrial sources of ethylene oxide across the nation continue to legally operate under federal regulations that havent been updated to reflect the EPAs latest assessment of the toxic gas. That could change if President Joe Bidens administration follows through on promises to adopt more stringent limits on pollution from sterilization facilities, including eight still operated by Sterigenics. Advertisement EPA officials announced this month they will hold public meetings in nearly two dozen communities where breathing ethylene oxide from sterilizers is responsible for more than 1 case of cancer for every 10,000 people exposed during their lifetime. In 2018, the list included neighborhoods surrounding a Medline Industries facility in north suburban Waukegan. Medline has since installed new pollution controls and dramatically reduced ethylene oxide emissions. EPA officials say they no longer consider the companys pollution to pose unacceptable health risks. mhawthorne@chicagotribune.com Julie Wang has built up enough loyalty rewards program points to take her family on a tropical holiday. (Source: Supplied/Getty) Purchasing discounted gift cards to "supercharge" loyalty-program rewards points has helped an Aussie mum save a handy $2,000 per year - and now she's using her points to fly her family to Hamilton Island free. Rewards-scheme devotee and mother of three Julie Wang said she was inspired to embrace the "rewards way of life" at a young age and said people should "always sign up to loyalty programs". "When I was young, my mother received a $10 Myer gift card from her Myer One loyalty program, and she let me buy chocolate from Myer. Free chocolate! I thought it was amazing," Wang recalled. Now a member of no less than 50 loyalty programs, Wang explained to Yahoo Finance Australia that she joined them over a number of years, revealing, "every time I make purchase at a new retailer, I join their loyalty scheme, if they have one". This first rewards-earned trip for Wang was paid partially with Qantas Frequent Flyer (QFF) points and the remainder with American Express (Amex) points. Her QFF points were accumulated by using a range of promotions, and the Amex points via credit card transactions, she explained. Top 5 ways to 'beat the system' With the rising cost of living affecting families across Australia, many like Wang are focusing on rewards programs for extra hip-pocket savings, but not all are making the most of their memberships. According to data from gift card company Blackhawk Network, the average Australian is signed up to four or five loyalty schemes, but only 46 per cent of people actively use them. Ms Wang recommends checking loyalty program and retailer websites for gift card discount notices - as rarely as they occur - because it's an easy way to save. (Source: Getty) Yahoo Finance asked Wang what her advice was for fellow consumers when it came to loyalty programs. 1. Understand the benefits "Have a good understanding of how each retailer's point system works and their conversion from loyalty points to dollar discount. Story continues "For example, 2,000 Everyday Rewards points equals $10, and 2,000 flybuys points equals $10." 2. Join multiple programs "Always sign up to loyalty programs. "There are so many out there now, not just retail but insurance companies and even commercial suppliers. "Few people know this, but they do not call or spam you and most webmail hosts [send] promotional emails to its individual folder, away from your inbox." 3. Keep up to date with promotions "Do read your promotional emails; just the subjects will do. "They'll usually indicate whether there is a gift voucher or discount code inside. "If you think a certain brand has a very beneficial program (for example, birthday gift vouchers, referral vouchers) then get a household member to sign up as well, to take advantage." 4. Buy gift cards at reduced prices "Purchase gift cards that go on sale. "Check supermarket catalogues each week. A lot of physical gift cards earn you bonus points, which can be converted to discounts. "If you are certain you will be purchasing from a particular retailer that has a gift card on discount, purchase the amount that you're likely to make use of." 5. Plan ahead "Plan and think of ways to increase your discount further. "For example, waiting until a special occasion like Easter, end of financial year, Boxing Day etc, where companies are likely to have a promotion. "And [make] use of discounted gift cards combined with loyalty points." Follow Yahoo Finance on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter, and subscribe to the free Fully Briefed daily newsletter. A 2022 Auburn High School graduate has received a top leadership award for his time in the U.S. Marine Corps Recruit Training at Parris Island, South Carolina. Liam Callahan, 18, of Auburn, won the Chesty Puller Award, given to one Marine in each graduating class of 600 recruits. I was pretty shocked, really, Callahan said. I didnt think I was going to win something like that. I was just sitting there one day and then my drill instructor came out and was like, Oh, yeah, you won the honor graduate for the entire company. Callahans father, Jared, said he didnt share his sons surprise. They get honor graduates for each platoon, but theres one graduate that is for the entire company of all the Marines, and thats what he got, he said. We werent shocked that he got it because he works very hard in everything he does, so were very proud. The award is named after Lewis Burwell Chesty Puller, who fought in some of the bloodiest battles of World War II and was the only Marine to receive five Navy Crosses. Callahan received the Chesty Puller Award after showing his potential early during boot camp. He said his drill instructor made him the guide for his platoon during his second week of training, and he continued in that position his entire time at boot camp. The guide leads the platoon everywhere, Callahan said. Hes kind of like the first one in and the last one to do anything. So, I was the guide for the entire time I was there. And thats how I won the award. Callahans recruiter, Sgt. Levi Jordan Tuttle, said the award was much deserved. He was a well-recognized leader, he pushed himself to the fullest, and he helped those fellow recruits kind of push themselves to do more, Tuttle said. Callahan says he was drawn to the Marine Corps because of the challenge that it represented, and because his grandfather was also a Marine. He was the reason why I wanted to join, but it was always, like, how hard it was, Callahan said. He would say it was the hardest one. That was always what attracted me. Callahan joined the Marine Corps Reserve just two weeks after graduating from Auburn High in May. While in the Reserve, Callahan plans to pursue a degree in civil engineering at Auburn University. He plans to go into the Marines full-time as an officer and become a pilot after he graduates from Auburn. He has been flying with Brown Aero out of Alexander City since he was 15. Callahan said he will next go to Marine Combat Training. After that hes headed to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, to do occupational specialty training as an automotive maintenance technician. Ive always wanted to be a Marine, Callahan said. So, its pretty exciting to kind of know that Im actually a Marine now. Im actually kind of starting all this pretty young and pretty early. Callahan turned 18 while still in boot camp at Parris Island. But he says age isnt a deterrent, and Tuttle agrees. Id say hes definitely very bright and I see a lot of good things coming to him in his future, Tuttle said. Hes definitely very physically fit, and Id say I want to see him go far. And I know that he has that drive and that will to do so. oh ffs Reply Thread Link No word on if Marilyn's ghost also cried. via GIPHY Reply Thread Link This press tour is so morbid. "It felt like she was back." Like, how does this come out of your mouth? Reply Thread Link The more she talks, the less I like her Reply Parent Thread Link i still remember this gem from her ben affect press tour i joked then and said the source is her but maybe im right haha "Since Ana has been in Ben's life, being sober has become easier to manage," the source said. "She came into his life and has given him everything he wants and needs in a partner. He's very satisfied with Ana and isn't looking for a coping method. She has a vivacious personality and is a very talented actress." Reply Parent Thread Link How do you not just die of embarrassment Reply Thread Link cause they're hoping for an Oscar nom. Reply Parent Thread Link actors have zero shame Reply Parent Thread Link Judging by social media, there is a lot of people out there lacking even an ounce of shame. Reply Parent Thread Link The Sailor Moon bonnet! Reply Parent Thread Link I bought me and my BFF this bonnet from ohmysenpai.com like last year. I got us the matching robes too! So we send each other this picture all the time as representation of our mood. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I'm sure everyone did cry but not for the reason u think girl Reply Thread Link This PR campaign has made me really not like her and that's bad because I had a positive opinion of her after seeing knives out and I didn't care about the Ben affleck mess either lol Reply Thread Link maybe you just liked the character she played in Knives Out? Reply Parent Thread Link Idk I thought she was nice and pretty! She kinda outed herself as dumb and not very empathetic with this career choice lol Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Same. I had always appreciated how openly thirsty she is to be famous and will always love her for the BenAna era but the way she paints herself as having resurrected Marilyn is so off putting. Reply Parent Thread Link I mean, the complete delusional EGO of: De Armas recalled seeing herself as Monroe for the first time and said she was unable to describe the moment. Everyone in the room started crying, I can tell you that, she said. It was very emotional. It felt like she was back. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Edited at 2022-09-19 05:16 am (UTC) I thoroughly enjoyed her performance in Knives Out and honestly feel like she was the only consistently entertaining part of the latest Bond movie. Not looking forward to seeing her in the future anymore though. She has reached 'Caucasity' levels of gall. Reply Parent Thread Link oh fuck off with this pos movie Reply Thread Link I can tell you a number of shows or movies that are way more explicit with a lot more sexual content than Blonde. But to tell this story it is important to show all these moments in Marilyns life that made her end up the way that she did. It needed to be explained. Everyone [in the cast] knew we had to go to uncomfortable places. I wasnt the only one. Source I think she is confused about this film being a fictionalized re-telling of Marilyn's life. Reply Thread Link this is so awkward for her, I think she thinks it's real Reply Parent Thread Link This is so sad yet funny. Reply Parent Thread Link lol they can't even stay on message....the whole rationalisation for all the gross shit they've done is "its not a real biopic! its fictional! its meta commentary on fame!" but then why your lead actress is out there spouting about how she's basically MM reincarnated, what a mess lmao Reply Parent Thread Link Same energy as Reply Parent Thread Expand Link wait... has anyone told her this isn't a biopic?? Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Also lmfao at her implying she looks so much like Marilyn that it felt like she was back, like girl you wish Reply Thread Link Some true Kat-McPhee-in-Smash vibes. Reply Parent Thread Link god MM's charisma is unmatched Reply Parent Thread Link I feel like shes beautiful but theres not IT factor. Like, I have seen a couple of films with her in it and my eyes dont go directly to her when shes in scene. Marilyn had IT. And from today stars I can say Florence Pugh even if she is not the most beautiful, I couldnt keep my eyes off her in the Black Widow film. That is star quality. You see Zendaya and even if shes not the best actress ever you cant keep your eyes off her. Ana does not have that yet Hollywood wants to make her happen so bad, like a Gwyneth Paltrow. Reply Parent Thread Link And here I thought last years Kristin Stewarts Diana and Will Smiths King Richard Oscar campaigns werent going to be topped in terms of obnoxiousness for quite some timewonder if Austin Butler is gonna ramp back up soon too Reply Thread Link lol Oscars season is a busy time for legends' ghosts. Reply Parent Thread Link she's surprisingly callous about this film. wasn't expecting that. Reply Thread Link She's very stupid Reply Parent Thread Link obviously its stephenie meyer Reply Thread Link just watch it's gonna be jkr again Reply Thread Link oh nooo I want to enjoy Dua Lipa's cinematic debut :( Reply Parent Thread Link Oh no not that charisma vacuum on screen Reply Parent Thread Link Exactly what I came to say lol Reply Parent Thread Link i read a blind item that basically confirmed it was jkr but who knows how accurate it was Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Or worse, Depp Reply Parent Thread Link My pet theory is it's a AJ Finn-style publishing insider, but I have nothing to back that up. Reply Thread Link 90% likely to be a man masquerading as a woman, BUT ALSO... People are guessing that Elly Conway is the novelist from the book (and played by Bryce Dallas Howard in the movie). Especially since on the publisher website only has an Ellie Conway listed, and refuses to answer anything about them. And the book and movie sold at the same time so, like the same week IIRC? And a huge deal for both obviously. Edited at 2022-09-19 12:21 am (UTC) Reply Thread Link That sounds like how the tv show Castle actually released the books that the character of Richard Castle wrote in the show. The entire book pretended to be written by him, even the acknowledgements and intro. Reply Parent Thread Link Its the author of My Immortal. Reply Thread Link the real mystery is who let them do that to Henry Cavill's hair Reply Thread Link vh1 new york goes to work ghost hunter episode tiffany pollard henry you mad? oh lord he mad meme reaction video pic.twitter.com/XSmn7UncHi reaction videos (@memepatissier) September 18, 2022 Reply Parent Thread Link That's a party city Frankenstein wig Reply Parent Thread Link Oof omg Reply Parent Thread Link He looks like max headroom Reply Parent Thread Link is that a mullet? if not, why does it look like one? Crimes against humanity! Reply Parent Thread Link He looks like a beige Herman Munster Reply Parent Thread Link If Will Forte had a baby with Scott Caan & it become a 1980's Russian villain Reply Parent Thread Link pls when will he get that hairline fixed Reply Parent Thread Link when he gets a 6-9 month break from filming anything Reply Parent Thread Link Dakota Fanning is at it again! Reply Thread Link I need to stop mixing up henry cavill and armie hammer Reply Thread Link dula peep? Reply Thread Link The book and the film sold at the same time meanwhile, the author of Handbook for Mortals is still wondering what she did wrong. Reply Thread Link Had to look that up for a refresher Reply Parent Thread Link Its a dude. Its always a dude. Reply Thread Link The most true and depressing comment Reply Parent Thread Link Im thinking it was never a book and always a screenplay and theres no author at all, just the screenwriter whos hiding. Reply Thread Link Its probably Matthew Vaugh Reply Parent Thread Link what an interesting little mystery! speaking of nom de plumes, I read a book by Riley Sager this summer, only to realize it's a dude whose real name is Todd Ritter... but he's got a bunch of "chick lit" novels to his Riley name Reply Thread Link If I ever meet him IRL I will just keep calling him Todd every sentence. "So Todd, how do you feel about wearing a pen name that makes you appear to be a woman cashing in on the dollars of women who assume you are a woman, hmm, Todd? Or Todd, how about ripping off Gillian Flynn, hmm Todd?" Reply Parent Thread Link of course his real name is Todd Reply Parent Thread Link I just finished a book of his the other day (Lock Every Door) and the main character was so stupid. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link which of his books are chick lit? i've read most of his books and they're all thrillers, i wouldn't consider them chick lit at all Reply Parent Thread Link It's pretty obvious he was trying to appeal to the female demographic by appearing as a female thriller author. I find that so fake. Reply Parent Thread Link I absolutely think he sucks at writing women and I'm ready to read his first book that focuses on a guy. Reply Parent Thread Link Dakota Fanning. Reply Thread Link This how I would want to become famous. Write a successful book to two, but no one knows who I am. No social media stress Reply Thread Link the elena ferrante model Reply Parent Thread Link I wonder if this model is possible in the age of social media and writers being expected to be a brand. Hopefully, because I feel like most writers are introverts and not necessarily great at self promo. Reply Parent Thread Link These reviews are what everyone involved in this movie deserve Reply Thread Link margot robbie going out of her way to take a solo pic with david o russell is a choice hope ppl dont forget this when she starts spouting them feminism talking points on the barbie press tour Reply Thread Link She's only a feminist as long as film/comic buffs are fawning over her the most with barely any competition to take shine from her. Reply Parent Thread Link This is his first film in seven years, feels like a lot of built-up discontent is getting aired over this. Reply Thread Link If it wasnt for the DeuxMoi sub, I wouldnt have known Drake was an executive producer on this, so now I hope it bombs Reply Thread Link Even without knowing his past abuse on and off set, I saw his last 3 movies and hated them both. I just don't know how all these actors (couple of them woke) decided to work in this film, with this director and not see the backlash coming. Reminds me of the Woody Allen film with Timberlake and Winslet and the backlash they deservedly received. Yikes @ Robbie doing films with DOR and Brad Pitt (again). Wonder if her people (which I definitely believe) won't allow interviewers and journalists to question about her doing all these movies with abusers. Edited at 2022-09-19 06:28 am (UTC) Reply Thread Link I totally agree. His latest movies have been unwatchable. Reply Parent Thread Link Ive only seen silver linings playbook and it was mid af. Reply Parent Thread Link She was questioned about working with Tarantino after the stuff about him choking Uma and putting her life at risk for stunts came out. Her response: The thought definitely crossed my mind, Robbie said of signing up to work with Tarantino, like, will people view this decision as conflicting with what Im doing on the producing side?...It was my lifelong dream [to work with Tarantino], and I got to do it, and it makes me sad if people might hold that against me despite everything else Im doing, the actress said. Robbie continued, I dont know how to say what I feel about it, because Im so grateful to be in a position of power and to have more creative control [as a producer] when that is embraced and encouraged now. At the same time, I grew up adoring movies that were the result of the previous version of Hollywood, and aspiring to be a part of it, so to have those dreams come true also feels incredibly satisfying. I dont know. Maybe Im having my cake and eating it too. So.............. Reply Parent Thread Link yikesssss Reply Parent Thread Link Maybe Im having my cake and eating it too. yup! Reply Parent Thread Link what do people expect her to say? she admits shes having her cake and eating it too. idt this is a bad response Reply Parent Thread Expand Link lol i think margot gets a lot more grief than her male co-stars for working with shitty people but goddamn if this isn't an incredibly insufferable response Reply Parent Thread Expand Link you dont get to where margot is as a star in hollywood without being self serving and self interested. Reply Parent Thread Link Im going to be very amused if margot once again loses the Oscar shes so thirsty for. Reply Parent Thread Link I just don't know how all these actors (couple of them woke) decided to work in this film, with this director and not see the backlash coming. Reminds me of the Woody Allen film with Timberlake and Winslet and the backlash they deservedly received. Yeah I was feeling like a Woody Allen type backlash was finally coming. DOR has such a long history of abuse and not only of abusing the little people but full on getting physically and verbally abusive with his actors. It doesn't matter how big you are (George Clooney), how prestigious you are (Lily Tomlin) or if you've been on his good side before (Amy Adams). I don't know why any of the people in the movie would sign up for this. None of them are hurting for work and there are so many great directors out there who don't pull this shit. Reply Parent Thread Link As long as you're bringing up Woody Allen, all this applies to KStew as well, and she's never been held accountable for her bullshit. She breezed through Cafe Society promo with her PR rep making sure she was never asked about working with Woody, after the one Variety interview where she said she did it because it would "be fruitful" for her and she lied about discussing the issue with Jesse Eisenberg, who said that discussion never happened. She runs around claiming to be a feminist, yet she's infamous for sleeping with another woman's husband, and last time I checked, that's not how you show sisterhood. But she plays Princess Diana with a whisper mumble accent, PRs her way into an Oscar nom and suddenly everyone has amnesia. Reply Parent Thread Link The film stars an ensemble cast, led by Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, and John David Washington, featuring Chris Rock, Anya Taylor-Joy, Zoe Saldana, Mike Myers, Michael Shannon, Timothy Olyphant, Andrea Riseborough, Taylor Swift, Matthias Schoenaerts, Alessandro Nivola, Rami Malek, and Robert De Niro. Via Wikipedia Reply Thread Link Gross gross gross. Reply Parent Thread Link i know everyone is ragging on taylor swift for this (and she deserves rightful criticism) but margot and zoe disappoint me the most, given how outspoken they've been about feminism in hollywood, and how they were ardent supporters of the times up/me too movement. Reply Parent Thread Link also the men disappoint me but i've known they're trash and spend time hating them every day Reply Parent Thread Link None of these people are hurting for work. Also I continue to be amazed that Christian Bale in particular continues to have such a positive and woman friendly image when he continues to align himself with an abuser and has a history of violence himself. The Baleout outburst and allegedly getting into a physical altercation with his mother and sister, watching Amy Adams get verbally abused by DOR (once again proving that being kind to an abuser won't save YOU because Adams had worked with DOR and had a good relationship with him before) and then Bale goes on to work with him AGAIN. Reply Parent Thread Link a bunch of them have worked with tarantino (post-uma story) and his pals or other known abusers, and/or have shitty reps themselves so im sadly unsurprised disappointed in shannon and olyphant ugh Reply Parent Thread Link wonder what the tswift meme is i also hope more people drag the men for being in this movie. basically all the hate ive seen is only at margot and taylor. and rightfully so to speak up, but the men shouldnt be allowed to walk away without a scratch while the women take all the heat Reply Thread Link doubtful that ontd sweethearts like Michael Shannon and Rami Malek will get smilar treatment as TSwift and Margot Reply Parent Thread Link They wont, that get the urn meme too strong Reply Parent Thread Link And this is Rami's 3rd time working with an abuser. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I saw comments on Twitter saying things like, Thats because Margot and Taylor act as champions for women. So? When you do something worthy of criticism, you do something worthy of criticism regardless of whether or not you were a hypocrite in the process. I dont care if it goes against your brand or not. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I remember when people defended Rami Malek in Bohemian Rhapsody with lines like "it's hard for POC to get a chance for an Oscar" and like... does this excuse starring in a movie that shits on legacy of a man who also happened to be POC, directed by one of the most well known abusers in Hollywood? Reply Parent Thread Link apparently tswift is only in one scene where she meets the main characters and then cries over the dead guy (her dad?) so i think it'll be her crying face lol Reply Parent Thread Link Yeah its pretty wild to me that we have on record that Christian bale was so disturbed by Davids awful treatment of Amy adams on American hustle that he got in to it with him but is now perfectly fine with coming back for another film?? And it cant just be for awards clout because I really dont think Christian Bale would have too much trouble getting cast in prestige thingssomeone really needs to ask him about this in an interview Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Damn, if early reactions are this bad, the actual reviews are gonna be a blood bath, early reactions are always great, even, fucking Batman V Superman had great ones, lmao Reply Thread Link Pretty much mixed reviews so far. Reply Thread Link David O. Russell is a jerk who made Amy Adam cry, he can piss off Reply Thread Link The fact Bale witnessed that and still works for him Reply Parent Thread Link Bale hardly has a leg to stand on about verbally abusing people. Reply Parent Thread Link Bale is a fucking idiot tbh he could be doing anything and working with anyone but- ? Reply Parent Thread Link Bale's just not a good person. He might be an alright actor, but he's an asshole. Reply Parent Thread Link He is just as bad Reply Parent Thread Link He headbutted George Clooney. How he was allowed to work after that is a miracle. Reply Parent Thread Link bryan singer almost killed hugh jackman by being inebriated during a stunt scene and the studio just covered it up and refused to fire him $$$$$$$$$$$ > peoples safety in hollywood, its just that it seems to happen more frequently to women Reply Parent Thread Link I wouldnt be surprised if this was polling poorly because its getting confused with Babylon Reply Thread Link Wait, they're different films?! Margot, chile...these choices. Reply Parent Thread Link I thought they were related to each other but i just realized they were directed by different people lmao Reply Parent Thread Link I keep getting them confused and until you made this comment I had ONCE AGAIN forgotten they were separate movies. Reply Parent Thread Link what I dont get is that his movies arent even good? theyre just wannabe Coen brothers/PTA knock off bullshit. yeah his movie got JLaw that Oscar but it was like flop city every year after that, why the hell would you want to keep working with this guy? bad writer, bad director, horrible and abusive on sets, a genuinely awful person outside of his work. Edited at 2022-09-19 06:17 am (UTC) Reply Thread Link For someone with his name recognition, his films really lack cultural relevance. Reply Parent Thread Link Tbf Harvey Weinstein campaigning/lobbying hard for Silver Lining Playbook is what got her that Oscar. Everyone kept saying that Harvey needed another hit cause his company wasnt doing so good. Makes sense cause nothing about that movie except maybe Bradley was awards worthy. It was a glorified lifetime movie. Even American Hustle was DOR attempting to be Scorsese and flopping hard. Edited at 2022-09-19 05:15 pm (UTC) Reply Parent Thread Link His movies are so boring. That's why he always has these ensemble casts because he has to have the actors carry the film. His writing and direction are shit tbh Edited at 2022-09-19 10:26 am (UTC) Reply Parent Thread Link 100% accurate Reply Parent Thread Link it brings to mind the talking cat movie with (pre-disgrace) kevin spacey and like fuckin' christopher walken that got made because person a was friends with person b who was friends with person c etc. Reply Parent Thread Link People really razzed me for hating I Heart Huckabees in college; I tried American Hustle and couldnt even get through the first hour so I stand by my taste! Reply Parent Thread Expand Link "wannabe Coen brothers" DING DING DING, thank you Reply Parent Thread Link Can't wait for more bad reviews and fan reactions, those are always fun Reply Thread Link at least the reviews appear to be bad so hopefully we wont have to deal with a DOR awards season. Reply Thread Link Thought she was Sophia Vergara in the first few tweets. Reply Thread Link Dorothy Jennett, 12, learns about the principle of conservation of angular momentum with a bicycle wheel gyroscope during the South Side Science Festival at the University of Chicago on Sept. 17, 2022. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune) Before noon on a recent Saturday, dozens of families were walking through University of Chicagos science quad, enjoying the institutions first South Side Science Festival. A sea of the baby blue T-shirts with the word scientist on the back, walked among those with yellow tees, indicating those helping with the event. Tents housed everything from 3D printouts of CT scans of Jurassic mammal teeth and jaws, to fun with lasers by way of microwaves to immunology workshops. The number of beats per minute involved with using CPR dummies was also on the quad. Advertisement But it was the tent that offered liquid nitrogen ice cream with toppings that kept 4 -year-old Kaden Longworth engrossed. We dont venture out of Hyde Park all that often, so the fact that its right here was so convenient, Longworth said. Advertisement And for 7-year-old Kamari Allen, it was the tent with butterflies she could sit in, that resulted in a squeal of delight. Doctoral student Paula Fernandez, center right, teaches children about butterfly ecology inside a butterfly sanctuary at the South Side Science Festival at the University of Chicago on Sept. 17, 2022. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune) The all-day, all ages event highlighted the importance of STEM education, careers in science and understanding how science impacts daily life. The festival was created to connect South Side community members with science education resources. More than 60 booths with hands-on demonstrations and experiments were on site, as were panel discussions on climate change, health and society, and a career panel where attendees could interact one on one with faculty, research scientists, engineers and medical professionals. About 200 U. of C. student volunteers, many science majors, were on hand to show off why they think science is so cool. One booth had fifth year Tong Lan and third year Shannon Lu showcasing extracting strawberry DNA from the succulent fruit with dish soap, salt, water, and rubbing alcohol. After one student pulled out a long strand of viscous fluid red DNA with an Ewww, Lan and Lus faces light up. Youre not the first person to say that, Lu, a chemistry major, said, laughing while mentioning strawberries have eight copies of each type of chromosome within. Our lab does a lot of things with DNA, trying to make different engineered proteins, with this demonstration we can show people how you can take the DNA out of fruit so hopefully it will be fun and inspire the children to be a part of this, Lan said. Shaz Rasul, executive director of student civic engagement initiatives and interim director of the University Community Service Center, said the idea of a science fest came from junior UChicago faculty. Encouraged by his office to talk to community stakeholders to get a sense of what people wanted/needed/were interested in, he said the faculty spent the good part of a year listening before starting work on it in the middle of spring. This started during the lockdown in 2020, said Sarah King, Neubauer Family assistant professor at UChicago. Im good friends with Hannes Bernien (assistant professor of molecular engineering) and Maanasa Raghavan (Neubauer Family assistant professor of human genetics), all three of us were talking on Zoom about ways that we can interface more with our local community and get them excited, curious about science, as a way to improve our relationship with the community and also help general science education and science literacy in the general population. Having seen the impact of Europes Long Night of Sciences, as a spring festival where universities and research institutions in Germany open their doors to the public to learn about what academics and researchers are working on, the trio wanted to do something similar. Advertisement You can go to a science concert, go to a science-based comedy thing, King said. And it is intentionally for all ages ... not just school-aged kids, but also for young adults who are in the formative years of thinking about their relationship with the world, and how science fits into that. And its their parents who are making complicated decisions about something in medicine or what car to buy, or what type of heating system to put on their house, which at the end of the day, those are all questions that are related back to science, and how you think about the world. Those are questions that we as scientists think a lot about, and we want to help people think about those questions. But most importantly, also talk to our community about what are the things youre thinking about? What are your problems? Its a two-way street helping our research be more relevant to people and then having people have a better understanding of science in their daily lives. Students surround a patient simulator while listening to its heartbeat during the South Side Science Festival at the University of Chicago on Sept. 17, 2022. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune) The South Side Science Festival, co-organized by UChicagos physical science division, the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, and the biological sciences division, also served as an aid in science communication, Rasul said. If we want the sciences to be inclusive, we have to be able to talk about them so that people at all stages in their development can connect, he said. Theres a lot of energy around the sciences right now and a lot of its around new technologies like quantum science and biotech or clean energy. Theres a real hope that if we do things differently, that all of the advancements in these new technologies can be inclusive from the start. And we can involve communities in that whole process. Research says that people want to feel a connection to the sciences they want to meet the scientist, they want to understand how you become a scientist. Its especially important to us that we try to make those invisible pathways really visible because we want more diversity in the sciences. You need to have a connection in order to want to take a chance in it. King hopes the South Side Science Festival becomes an annual event, connecting it to local community colleges and high schools. Shes particularly interested in the 15 to 25 age group, which is where she said people become too cool for science or think that science isnt for them. Advertisement Understanding the sciences starts with fun and excitement, said Bernien. I think thats what we are here to create. drockett@chicagotribune.com Big screen or home stream, takeout or dine-in, Tribune writers are here to steer you toward your next great experience. Sign up for your free weekly Eat. Watch. Do. newsletter here. I got myself up for this. If you want to follow along with the order of service here it is: Looking at the order of service is reminding me of my own grandparents funeral because I'm sure the Queen picked out every song she wanted and every verse she wanted. My grandparents did the same. So like idk. The deceased choosing a specific way they want to be remembered just is making me think of them and the experience of those funerals. Hi ONTD fam,I got myself up for this.If you want to follow along with the order of service here it is: https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/22418283/order-of-service-for-state-funeral-at-westminster-abbey.pdf Looking at the order of service is reminding me of my own grandparents funeral because I'm sure the Queen picked out every song she wanted and every verse she wanted. My grandparents did the same. So like idk. The deceased choosing a specific way they want to be remembered just is making me think of them and the experience of those funerals. Reply Thread Link This was right on time! Laughing that trump wasn't invited lol Reply Thread Link Im still laughing at all the people being offended and trying to claim that Trump and the queen were friends. Reply Parent Thread Link Right lmao, trump is totally the type to think that someone likes him when really they can't stand him and are just being polite lol Reply Parent Thread Link Are other former us-presidents there? It would give me great joy to think Trump was specifically not invited, but not sure I give the royals (or whoever decides on the guestlist) that much credit Reply Parent Thread Expand Link QEII best gift was to stay alive until T45 was no longer in office Reply Parent Thread Expand Link This is weird because I read yesterday in some news site that he had been invited. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I hear he was (probably from a Right Wing source), glad it's not true. Reply Parent Thread Link yay finally! Fascinating to watch the PRECISION the 100 of navy ppl pulling her coffin woah The crown and sceptre on the coffin is striking Little Charlotte's hat Reply Thread Link DUDE, when the Royal Navy ppl took those small side steps to close the gap behind the coffin? IMPRESSIVE. Reply Parent Thread Link I spent the entire time watching their feet. And only once did I see someone make a misstep. Reply Parent Thread Link I was glad to see that the procession bit that included the Duke of Kent was only down the aisle at Westminster because when I saw that he was supposed to be part of the procession, I was like "uh... are they going to have a double funeral?" Reply Thread Link Damn those pallbearers had their work cut out for them, that procession was so long. Reply Thread Link when they removed the coffin from the gun carriage and then like shifted which direction they faced, I was like :O The strength! (Also the pressure to not drop her...) Reply Parent Thread Link Damn this makes me wish I had gotten up earlier to watch the whole thing. Im sure there will be a replay though. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link would have def dropped her ass. no lie. I sweat a lot. Reply Parent Thread Link No fan of the monarchy but this is kinda beautiful. Reply Thread Link The crown on top of the coffin gave me chills Reply Parent Thread Link Only the finest for the British tax payers' money. Reply Parent Thread Link So what will happen to the actual crown sitting on top of the coffin? Also I wonder what her final outfit was. Reply Thread Link It'll go back to the Tower of London display of Crown Jewels after all the ceremony. (oh and it'll be used at Charles's coronation and at State Openings of Parliament) Edited at 2022-09-19 10:11 am (UTC) Reply Parent Thread Link Ffs they need to take it apart and give that giant diamond back to India. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Considering its worth upto 5b, I hope someone nicks it and puts it on eBay. Reply Parent Thread Link Apparently the Queen's Jeweller is going to grab it before the coffin goes into the crypt at the last minute Reply Parent Thread Expand Link ALSO can we talk about Princess Anne? She will wear pants and walk with the men and you will like it. Reply Thread Link Was that her beside Charles? Reply Parent Thread Link walking behind the coffin? Yes! Reply Parent Thread Link She seems cool. For a royal Reply Parent Thread Expand Link What causes did she champion tbh?? Her own... Reply Thread Link i had a very silly thought, as in i wondered if one of the pallbearers will be at the big fat quiz of the year... (also the blond one at the front reminded me of Rob Beckett). Reply Thread Link That's who he reminded me of! Reply Parent Thread Link i am really glad someone else sees it, too! Reply Parent Thread Link BTW, the stunningly good looking King an Queen of Bhutan are here but the cameras are not showing them. They were at the heads of state reception last night, looking at gorgeous as always. Reply Thread Link can we talk about how literally every network cut away right as the foreign royals arrived so we could get overhead shots of cars driving for 10 minutes saw an interview with cp pavlos about how his father couldnt attend because of his health. i know constantine hasnt been a reigning monarch in decades but im guessing his will be the next royal funeral we get. Reply Thread Link OMG for real? I didn't wake up until 2:30 so I missed when the foreign royals were arriving. Just gonna have to wait until the royal jewel blogs update later today to find out who all was there and which jewels they were wearing. Reply Parent Thread Link yes lmao we watched everyone else shuffle but right as the coaches carrying the foreign royals arrived, they cut to show the brits in cars driving to the abbey. very annoying because i wanted to see what max and leti showed up in. Reply Parent Thread Link oh I would have liked to see the royals arriving. I wish there were annotations as people were arriving so I knew who everyone was. Reply Parent Thread Link The Holocaust Memorial Garden in Hyde Park has now become a makeshift Queen Memorial Garden pic.twitter.com/1UNG54mXLv Grace Dean (@graceldean) September 18, 2022 wtf is wrong with people Reply Thread Link The level of stupidity is astonishing Reply Parent Thread Link what the actual fuck?!? Reply Parent Thread Link I still cant believe the misogynistic President of Brazil is there. Hes probably glad a female leader has died. Reply Thread Link New: Ezra Millers arrest earlier this year was just one turn in a troubling downward spiral. For the last two years, the actor has been endangering not just their career but also their safetyand allegedly that of othersin increasingly plain sight. https://t.co/9TXFdCQWoN VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) September 18, 2022 [ March 2020, Iceland ] The main source quoted in this section is described as someone Miller became close with three years ago. The source says that Miller was very open about their, ebb and flow relationship with mental health, but noted that Millers issues and partying were exacerbated when the actor wrapped projects and had a free schedule. The source tells VF, the thing is, with Ezra, theres absolutely no plan. Its complete chaos. I didnt even know that we were going to Iceland until they said, Lets go to Iceland. The first choking incident in Reykjavik was dismissed as simply a drunken altercation, but the second incident was filmed and went viral in April 2020. Varietys report on the incident claimed that a woman in a bar joked about fighting Miller and then Miller reacted by putting their hands around the womans neck and pushing her to the ground. The bartender responded by locking Miller out of the bar. Millers rep refutes this claim and says that Miller was baited by a group of teens and that the choking, was not a choking but a spontaneous reaction during which the actor went at her collarbone. Following the incident, the source claims that she overheard Miller on a call with Warner Brothers where Miller was claiming to be the injured party. It was [Warner Bros.] listening and Miller spewing [their] poor-me speech: Im the one who was hated on. So you have this almost 30-year-old who is a partier telling Warner Bros/ that [they were] the victim. In Iceland Miller was accompanied by a 55-year-old North Dakota medicine man, Jasper Young Bear, who Miller hired as a spiritual advisor. A second source claims that Young Bear was, telling Ezra that [they werent] part of a movement, [they were] the movement-that [they were] the next Messiah. Young Bear did not respond to VFs request for comment and Millers rep called the man a dear friend. That second source says Miller grew increasingly narcissistic and picked young people for their audience because they were more malleable. [Theyd] talk about the metaverse and the medicine and how theyre the Messiah and what [their] work is here. They say their spiritual practice is to be among the peoplewhich means party. So, when in Iceland, he was out nonstop. [Their] favorite were raves, where [they'd] go on benders for two or three days at a time. Miller would promise these kids a future career in show business and claimed that they would guide their careers. Nothing ever materialized. Three people who have known Miller for over a decade spoke to VF and all believe that the violent Iceland incidents were partly motivated by the actors parents divorce. In 2019 Millers parents told their children that they were splitting up after decades of marriage and their father quickly remarried. One of the longtime friends says, Ezra didnt start freaking out and losing control of themselves in public until after this happened. Millers spokesperson denies that the divorce had anything to do with Millers behavior but that it was all due to, a combination of complex, stress-related issues. VF attempted to interview Millers father but requests were denied. Millers mother only offered one quote when approached for a comment. She said, the betrayal of the supposed media is stunning. It is your job to separate the false from the truth. [ January 2022, Vermont ] Miller has lived on a farm in Vermont, which they call The Mountain since 2017. The property used to be an alpaca and llama farm, has three barnes and a house and apple and blueberry orchards. Apparently Miller has goats on property and the house itself was kind of a mess. Friends who stayed there before Iceland said Miller was kind and generous, would share weed and cash and even buy plane tickets for friends in need. They did say that staying there meant, abiding by the actors rules, and tolerating the long monologues. This is where Miller included Tokata Iron Eyes into the narrative. Miller met Iron Eyes in 2016 at protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline. Miller would go on to keep tabs on Iron Eyes, a nonbinary Indigenous activist, and when Iron Eyes was 14 Miller flew them out for the London premiere of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Iron Eyes parents allege that Miller attempted to sleep in the same bed with their child when the child was 14. In June 2022 Iron Eyes parents filed an order of protection against Miller. They accused Miller, who first met Iron Eyes in 2016 when Iron Eyes just 12-years-old, of grooming, brainwashing, and emotional abusing the teenager. A rep for Miller claims that the relationship between Miller and Iron Eyes has always been platonic. According to a source, Ezra is Jesus, and Tokatas an apocalyptic Native American spider goddess, and their union is supposed to bring about the apocalypse, and thats the real reason everyone is so opposed to them being together. Iron Eyes mother, Jumping Eagle is quoted in the piece by saying that Miller says, they are some kind of messiah, and theyre going to lead an Indigenous revolution. The article here notes that Miller does not have Native American ancestry but is fixated on native cultures. One Indigenous insider who spoke to the paper says that Miller, professes that [they] walk through this world with an Indigenous humility and spiritual awareness. But, point of fact, [they dont] at all. Because [they dont] care. Its here that the article notes that Miller came out as nonbinary and polyamorous in 2018 and claiming that they had created a polycule for themselves. According to three sources, Millers polycule, is less a democratic society than an every shifting court harem of mostly young women. One of Millers friend tells VF, an openly polyamorous lifestyle-thats not inherently wrong to me, but that Millers situation, is actually a patriarchal dictatorship where Ezra controls all the sex as the man, and plays the women against each other, screams at them, belittles them in front of the others. Another source claims that Millers house in Vermont has an, altar thats home to bullets, weed, sage, and Flash figurines, and that, [Miller] makes the women put their cell phones on the altar when they come in, and other offerings. Apparently Miller freaked out recently and demanded, that Susan Sarandon come pay tribute to [their] altar because she didnt invite Ezra to a dinner party. Millers rep says that Sarandon and Miller are dear friends, Sarandon did not respond to VFs request for a comment. Reports say that Miller is currently in a relationship with a Londoner named Rosie and Iron Eyes. Multiple people describe the actor stranding Rosie and Iron Eyes without transportation or money and humiliating them. An old friend of Millers blames yes men. Even though Ive learned that Ezras such an asshole, I dont think it exonerates the people that were happy to eat off Ezras plate until it didnt suit them anymore. I think they ended up probably accidentally being complicit in real weird abuses in power and celebrity. Other friends and acquaintances tell VF that Miller weaponizes their gender identity in situations. Iron Eyess mother tells VF, if somebody pisses off Ezra, theyre transphobic or a transphobic Nazi. An associate of Miller who is queer tells VF, to me, those are clear instances of manipulation, where its like, are you really queer? Or is that just a fun way to marginalize yourself so you can be even shittier to others? Millers rep refutes both claims and says Miller, stands up for civil rights, gender equality, encourages conversation and discourse, so weaponizing identity runs counter to who they are. Miller is also extremely interested in guns, to the point where it has become another point of concern. Vermont is an open-carry state and is the only state in the US that has never required a concealed carry permit. Miller claimed to need guns for security, but several friends and acquaintances described disturbing scenes involving Miller and firearms to VF. One friend says Miller once picked him up in a car with an assault weapon in the center console. Another source, remembers Miller burning sage out of the barrel of an AR15 and waving it around while singing. Late last year Miller, allegedly embarked on a meandering road trip with a small entourage, weapons, and a Kevlar vest. In January Miller uploaded a video on Instagram where they threatened a North Carolina chapter of the KKK. The article notes here that Millers Flash ring was visible throughout the video. According to four people close to the situation, Millers friends and their mother became so concerned that they locked the firearms in a safe. Most of Millers roommates left the farm after the KKK video. Apparently this left Miller distraught. One friend who checked in on Miller during this time said, we got there, and there was a big bow and arrow cocked on the table, facing the door. Ezra was lying facedown on the floor. The house was empty, there was just nobody there, but Ezra, sort of drunk, alone with a bow and arrow because the other people had taken the guns and locked them away. VF notes here that Millers character in the film We Need to Talk About Kevin used a bow and arrow to murder classmates, and that in a 2018 interview the actor told a reporter they kept the weapon from the film on their property. During this time Miller apparently fired, every single person starting from business people, [their] parents, just every single person, one by one, in front of a small group of people. A person who was present says that Miller would, kind of start giggling after the person would start crying or something. Two longtime friends of Miller visited the farm a week after this incident and convinced their team to give them the passcode to the gun safe and restored weapons. They had a flame thrower and all these huge AK-47s lying around. There were just guns everywhere. Millers rep tells VF that all firearms and ammunition are registered, legal and safely locked away. Two sources tell VF that in February 2022, Miller was persuaded to get a mental health evaluation. Afterward, Miller told them that theyd brought a gun to meet the case worked and, as a result, been escorted by police to a medical facility. Miller boasted that they passed the evaluation with flying colors. [ March 2022, Hawaii ] VF says that when Miller arrived in Hawaii this spring, they were, emaciated and unshowered, subsisting on energy drinks spiked with rum, gas-station snacks, and medicine, which was just a code word for whatever drug Miller decides is medicine this week. Millers rep denies this claim and says, drug use is not the issue - mental health is the issue. Iron Eyes accompanied Miller to Hawaii where the actor repeatedly claimed to be acting as Iron Eyess adopted guardian, though the teen is alleged to have gone without a phone, money, underwear, socks, or even shelter. The two lived like drifters, sometimes sleeping in a polyester tent pitched atop a volcano. A witness tells VF that, there was this intensely controlling behavior of Tokata which, at first, I thought was for Tokatas own good because they were unstable. The witness says that their perspective changed once they saw the petition Iron Eyess parents filed against Miller. People noted that Iron Eyes and Miller were a strange pairing in Hawaii but four people claim that Miller frequently spun the relationship. One person says that Miller told them that Iron Eyes, was fleeing a family background that was intolerant of their sexuality or gender identity. Iron Eyess mother refutes that claim and tells VF, we simply want Tokata to be independent, safe, and happy. We dont want a 30-year-old man or person manipulating and/or taking advantage of her. In late March Miller and Iron Eyes were at the Hilo Farmers Market when they befriended a member of a polygamous family that lived on the east side of the island. They claim that Miller told them that they, wanted to trade their Hollywood career for a simple Hawaiian storefront, and needed merchandise to stock. The family member says that, [Miller] acted like [they were] a righteous man or man of God, and [they're] helping this woman out. The patriarch of the family has four wives, including one named Ana (this will become important later), and four young children. He invited Miller and Iron Eyes to stay on their property, and says that strange things began to happen almost immediately. Miller returned to the house one day after a run-in with cops and complained that they were being unfairly targeted. Miller also came bearing toys for the children and another wife of the man, Kaelyn says Miller, bought Nerf guns for our children and was mansplaining about guns. The actor asked the wives to help chainsaw guava trees in the backyard because they wanted to build a sauna. On another day Miller and the patriarch were just browsing through a strip make when Miller spontaneously bought him a $2,000 diamond and ruby encrusted gold lion ring from Kay Jewelers. Miller, proposed merging families, and according to the patriarch Miller said, we should be partners forever. I want to take you all around the world. The patriarch says he knew what kind of state Miller was in and didnt decline the offer. Kaelyn tells VF that Miller expressed that they had experienced a lot of trauma and weird shit in the Hollywood scene. And we were like, hell yeah, well help you out. Two weeks after they arrived, Miller and Iron Eyes suddenly left the home. Family members allege that Miller also took Ana, one of the wives, and her three children with them. Sources tell VF that before Miller left the island, their divorced parents flew into the state in an attempt to help Miller. Miller later showed friends an intensely awkward video theyd made of the tearful family reunion. Another source says that Miller has bragged about punishing their father in the wake of the divorce. [They were] like, Nobodys ever been treated as badly as Ive treated Bob Miller in the past year. [They were] like, I think its going to make us ultimately much closer in the future. That same source says that the situation with Miller and their parents is similar to what most people who have spent time with Miller have experienced. The way I describe it is, its like youre in a nonconsensual emotional BDSM relationship with Ezra. Another source who spent time with Miller in Hawaii tells VF that, every interaction with Ezra is an altercation. [ July 2022, Vermont ] Ana, a 25 year old woman who Miller had met in Hawaii where she was part of a polygamous family, joined Millers strange caravan and eventually ended up at Millers farm in Vermont. Ana had become the subject of social-media attacks and took to Instagram Live to defend Miller. Ana had previously turned to sex work to make ends meet and was in an abusive situation before Miller saved her life by taking Ana and her three children in. In early August Vermont State Police were sent to Millers farm with an emergency order from the Department for Children and Families. Millers farm was still gun-ridden and unsafe for children. A longtime friend who visited the farm in May tells VF that that last time they visited, I saw more guns than ever, and three little kids running around among them. The youngest girl picked up a bullet and put it in her mouth. The order was issued on August 5, and it demanded that custody of Anas kids be immediately transferred to the state. When police arrived to the farm, Ana and her children were gone. The father tells VF that he has not spoken to his kids since April. After this incident Miller began working with a crisis management PR firm. VF reports that even though Miller had an array of arrests in different states with different precincts, most of Millers legal problems have mostly gone away. VF has seen at least one nondisclosure agreement and heard of a handful of others. Three sources describe this as, a whack-a-mole style legal strategy of paying off alleged victims. No charges were ever pressed against Miller in Iceland and Miller paid a $500 fine in Hawaii. Other allegations that surfaced in Hawaii were dropped, and no one involved those incidents commented for this article. Millers scheduled to appear in Vermont court on September 26 due to a felony burglary charge they caught after allegedly breaking into a house. Millers rep claims that the home that was broken into was that of a close childhood friend and that Miller did not realize that the friend didnt want to be friends anymore. In another, unrelated incident earlier this year, a mother in Massachusetts requested and was granted a restraining order against Miller. The mother claims that Miller showed inappropriate interest in her nonbinary 12-year-old child in the first half of 2022. The restraining order will be enforced through June of 2023. Millers rep once again dismisses the allegation saying, Ezras lack of interest clearly upset a disappointed fan when they would not engage with the fan or her daughter. The local Massachusetts police department confirmed to VF that they had an active case involving Miller and the 12-year-old based on three interactions the child had with Miller in April, May and June of this year. Miller unsurprisingly still has fans online who are battling negative headlines by targeting those who have spoken out against Miller or supported Millers alleged victims. Theyve been attacked and doxxed on Twitter. In early August new Warner Brothers Discovery CEO David Zaslav told investors that they were going forward with a 2023 theatrical release for The Flash. At the same time a story ran in The Hollywood Reporter claiming that WB execs had discussed scrapping the film altogether. Four days later Miller released a statement of apology. Millers rep says, the notion that The Flash was at risk was a wake-up call, and Miller and their CAA agent went to WBs Burbank headquarters to personally apologize for the negative PR and expressed their commitment to the movie. Miller is said to be working with the producers of the movie to shoot additional scenes. At the beginning of the article, sources claimed that Miller, who has referred to themselves as Jesus and the devil, has said that, the Flash is the one who brings the multiverse together just like Jesus. Its quite clear that the character and film are now essential to Millers persona. Some friends tell VF that they have a hard time taking Millers pledge to seek treatment for their mental health seriously, with one friend saying, if [they are] going through therapy, [they're] just acting through it. Director Mary Harron (American Psycho) who worked with Miller on the film Daliland is one named source who tells VF that Miller was professional on set and that news of Miller's behavior was very upsetting, and that she hopes intervention needed to happen. Stephen Chbosky (Perks of Being a Wallflower) tells VF that he has reached out to Ezra in the hopes that the person he knew back when they made the film is still there. Right before the story went to press VF spoke to Millers former fiance, Erin. Miller dated Erin when they first began playing the Flash in 2016 and tells VF, the Ezra I knew wasnt violent or physically abusive toward anyone. To think back is painful because we had a deep love and [they were] good to me. Erin does admit that there was some darkness to their relationship, especially after they broke up. For years [they] convinced me and all our friends that I was abusiveBut looking back, I would be calling out [their] disrespect and [they] wouldnt take responsibility and just call me abusive because of my reaction. I could have handled it better. I didnt know the term gaslight back then. I was emotionally fucked up for years. Erin claims Miller broke up with her after hiring a spiritual advisor who informed Miller that she was a parasite. Erins feelings are more complicated now, saying that she felt a sick relief when news of Millers abusive behavior surfaced this year because it meant that, maybe I wasnt the abusive one after all. The new article, which was published Sunday morning, includes interviews with more than a dozen people who have had significant interactions and relationships with Miller over the past few years. Most sources VF spoke to, described Millers spiral as a conflagration of the mental health issues the actor has acknowledged, along with drugs, guns and outlandish claims, that has raged for more than two years. The article breaks down multiple incidents (the choking video in Iceland, the multiple arrests and harassment claims in Hawaii and Vermont State Police attempting to remove three children from Millers farm), and explains how desperate Miller is to keep playing the Flash. Trigger warning for discussions of grooming, abuse and child endangerment as well as descriptions of violence and firearms. Episode 163 Surprise Inspections: What to Do If OSHA Comes Knocking OSHA inspections are generally unannounced. Listen in as Editor Sydny Shepard discusses the do's and don'ts of a surprise inspection. There is always a possibility that a representative of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration will come, unannounced, to your workplace to conduct an inspection. Since these visits are often a surprise to the company, it is best to know what you can do, and what you should probably avoid doing, if you are ever subject to an inspection. Download or stream this episode today at Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify and more. A special thank you to the National Fire Protection Association. About the Author Sydny Shepard is the Editor of Occupational Health & Safety. NFPA LiNK is the information delivery platform set to revolutionize how you work. Put safety expertise at your fingertips with digital access to NFPA codes and standards, plus exclusive enhanced content. Utilize dynamic search functionality, bookmarking, and the ability to share and collaborate with others to save time and get the job done right. With NFPA LiNK, you can go by the book without the book to get the job done right faster and more efficiently. Learn more at nfpa.org/link President Maduro explained, Venezuela is ready and willing to fulfil its role and supply, in a stable and secure manner, the oil and gas market that the world economy needs. Hopes were high that the United States might lift sanctions on Venezuela, but this has not yet come to fruition. Earlier this year there were high hopes around the U.S. lifting its sanctions on Venezuela in the face of oil shortages and rising prices, due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, allowing black gold to once again flow out of the South American oil giant. But this has not yet come to fruition. While some allowances were made for oil trade, Venezuelas statement to the world is clear it is ready to pump and export huge amounts of its crude whenever given the chance. No matter how many times the U.S. government rejects Venezuelan pleas to end sanctions and fill the supply gap left due to sanctions on Russian energy, the South American oil major will not give up on its bid to boost crude exports. President Madero stated this week that Venezuela is ready to recommence its oil production and export to the rest of the world whenever given the opportunity. At an event held during the OPEC secretary-generals visit to Caracas Maduro said Venezuela is ready and willing to fulfil its role and supply, in a stable and secure manner, the oil and gas market that the world economy needs. The countrys dictator quashed fears that Venezuelas oil industry was far from recovering, after years of low production and underinvestment. Its output currently stands at around 700,000 bpd compared to 2.3 million bpd two decades ago. This comes from U.S. sanctions imposed on the trading of Venezuelan crude, which previously provided around 96 percent of the countrys income. In May, President Biden made some concessions to the sanctions, allowing Venezuela to export oil to Europe for debt. Italian firm Eni and Spanish oil major Repsol were allowed to ship Venezuelan crude to Europe in an oil-for-debt swap, helping to fill the gap in the region. This was not the change Venezuela had hoped for, but it provided greater optimism for more concessions to be made in the coming months. But in August, Maduro decided to suspend oil-for-debt shipments to Europe, stating that he wanted refined fuels from Eni and Repsol in exchange for crude in place of the current deal. Venezuela has had much difficulty in finding refined fuels in recent months, with many of its refineries in a state of disrepair. It has already been trading crude for condensate with Iran to meet its needs, circumventing U.S. sanctions on the two countries. If Venezuela can import more refined oils, it could better support its oil industry recovery, with several operations requiring dilutants to continue. So far, Europe has not agreed to this request, leaving a gap in supply once again. But just how much oil potential does Venezuela have? The South American oil giant has the worlds biggest crude reserves, measured at around 18.2 percent of the worlds barrels of oil in 2016. And while the current output is low due to sanctions, Maduro believes the country could rapidly boost its output by several hundred thousand barrels of oil a day. However, a meaningful long-term increase in production would require large foreign investments in exploration and oil infrastructure. Broken equipment, derelict oil fields, and a lack of talent are just some of the challenges that energy experts highlight as the barriers to achieving long-term production success. This, coupled with political uncertainty, has deterred many oil companies from investing in the region, despite the abundance of reserves. Currently, U.S. oil major Chevron, Italys ENI, and Spains Repsol continue to operate in the country, with others, such as ExxonMobil, having withdrawn following sanctions on the industry. The question of the lesser of two evils has risen in recent months. Many question whether sanctions on Venezuela should be eased to reduce the burden on Europe and North America felt due to the loss of Russian oil supplies. However, Venezuelas close political connection with Cuba, China, and Russia has led many to be more critical of this option. This back and forth has put an ease of sanctions on hold for several months. Yet, some are now questioning whether the sanctions placed on Venezuelan oil have ever functioned. From the very beginning, there was no clear analysis of the anticipated outcome of the sanctions. Ex-assistant secretary of state for western hemisphere affairs Kimberly Breier suggested that the sanctions were enacted with little evaluation of the consequences or the potential impact on Venezuelan citizens. She said, There was absolutely no evidence that the oil sanction would bring about Maduros removal and yet Bolton set the expectation that somehow this was magically going to occur. This has led to a massive economic downturn in the country, a severe fuel shortage, and poor living conditions for Venezuelans. It has not, however, stopped the country from selling its oil, as it continues to foster trade relations with Iran and China. So, with the question of whether sanctions were functional to begin with, a global shortage of supplies, and the willingness of Madero to recommence the countrys oil operations as soon as permitted, the tides could soon change for Venezuela. By Felicity Bradstock for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: China stated two weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine that there is no limit to how far Russian and Chinese friendship may go and signed a slew of huge oil and gas deals shortly afterward that provided an additional layer of insulation to both from any U.S. sanctions in the future. However, signaling perhaps that Beijing did not believe that Russia would necessarily launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine before it did so, only a day after the military conflict spread to Ukraines major cities, Chinese President Xi Jinping held urgent talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and advocated peaceful negotiations between Russia and Ukraine. At the end of last week, just over six months after the invasion and just a week after Ukraines lightning counter-offensive re-took swathes of territory earlier captured by Russia, Putin and Xi met again, with the Russian president wanting to find out where Russia now stands in terms of Chinas priorities. So, what did Xi tell Putin? Before the first of the series of meetings over the weekend between the two presidents, Putin made four comments that together perfectly encapsulate what the central problem for Russia is that he wanted to address with Xi. First, he laid out what he thinks the broad aim of the Russia-China partnership should be, which is to challenge the U.S.s ongoing efforts to create a unipolar world. He added: Attempts to create a unipolar world have recently acquired an absolutely ugly form and are completely unacceptable. Second, while stating that he appreciate[s] the balanced position of our Chinese friends in connection with the Ukrainian crisis, he went on to imply that this balanced position is not what Russia wants from China, as he said: We understand your questions and concern about this [Ukraine, although this was not specified by Putin]. Third, he expressed some exasperation over Chinas unwillingness to not fully support his view of what the Russo-China partnership should be, as outlined in point one, despite previous discussions where he had gone through it all: During todays meeting, we will of course explain in detail our position on this issue [Ukraine], although we have talked about this before. Fourth, he made an offer consistent with his view of what the Russo-China partnership should involve and a signal of what he wants from Xi, in terms of that type of support Russia is willing to give China: For our part, we adhere to the principle of one ChinaWe condemn the provocation of the U.S. and their satellites in the Taiwan Strait. Related: Oil Rig Count Ticks Higher As Gas Rig Count Slips It is apposite to note at this point that this latest meeting between Putin and Xi the thirty-ninth since Xi became Chinas president in 2013 was not a specially convened arrangement between the two men but rather took place on the sidelines of the latest meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Uzbekistan. Founded in 2001, although pre-dated by the Shanghai Five group established in 1996 (comprising China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan), the SCO is the worlds biggest regional organization both in terms of geographic scope and of population. It covers 60 percent of the Eurasian continent (the biggest single landmass on Earth), 40 percent of the worlds population, and more than 20 percent of global gross domestic product (GDP). The operational scope of the SCO ranges from collective security and military cooperation (in the mold of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, NATO) to economic union (in the manner of the European Union EU). In philosophical terms, the SCO can reasonably be said to still believe in the idea and practice of the multi-polar world that was the centerpiece of the declaration signed in 1997 between then-Russian President, Boris Yeltsin, and his then-China counterpart, Jiang Zemin. Since its foundation, though, the internal balance of power has shifted in the SCO away from Russia and towards China, with the former seeing an ongoing decline in its economic and political power since the fall of the USSR in 1991, and the latter set to overtake the U.S. as the worlds biggest economy in terms of GDP within the next 10 years or so. More specifically, Chinas GDP is now ten times the sizes of Russias (US$17.7 trillion in 2021 versus US$1.7 trillion), and its military spend annually is over four times that of Russia (US$293 billion last year compared to US$66 billion). One thing that China still does not have, though, which Russia does, is an abundance of energy resources to fuel its continued growth to attain the number one world economy mantle, with all the superpower status that goes with that. Related: Fears Of Economic Slowdown Cap Crude Prices Another key element to factor into this power equation is Chinas view on where it is in the arc of its relationship to the U.S. Economically, China is not that far behind the U.S. in terms of a straight head-to-head GDP comparison, with the U.S.s economy last year totaling US$22.9 trillion and China around US$5 trillion behind that. However, China knows that the U.S. has been an economic superpower for well over 100 years, which means that Washington has been spending a lot more money on a lot of things military, technology, global political connections - for a lot longer than Beijing. Even now, the U.S.s military spending per annum is more than double that of Chinas, at just over US$800 billion spent last year by Washington, compared to just under US$300 billion spent by Beijing. In short, in a direct non-nuclear confrontation with the U.S., Beijing would lose and would lose quickly, and China knows it must tread carefully until it is in a stronger position to challenge the U.S directly. Given these factors, then, Chinas current balanced position, as Putin exasperatedly called it, can be summed up in one phrase: use everything possible to become the worlds leading economic power in as short a time as possible while ensuring no direct confrontation with the U.S. that would threaten that objective. Happily for Beijing, which is that both of them want oil and gas prices as low as they can go without bankrupting the majority of the worlds suppliers. In a neat twist of serendipity, although Russia clearly would like oil and gas prices to remain high, it is not an existential matter if they are not, as Russia has long had an effective budget breakeven price for oil and gas at around US$40 per barrel of Brent equivalent. All the current crisis in Ukraine means for Russia is that its biggest buyer of hydrocarbons will continue to demand oil and gas at reduced rates going forward, but not at rates low enough to cause it any real economic damage. It is this consideration that Xi focused on during his discussions with Putin on the sidelines of the latest SCO meeting, according to EU energy security sources spoken to exclusively last week by OilPrice.com. Although Russia accounts for only 2.9 percent of Chinas total imports, Moscow resolutely stepped up to the plate in 2021 when China faced an energy crunch. As a result, Russia now accounts for 20.1 percent of Chinas total coal imports, and its share of Chinas imported crude oil has steadily risen to 15.6 percent by end-2021 from 11 percent in 2014. Russias strategic energy importance to China was bolstered with the 30-year contract for Russia to supply gas to China through its new Far Eastern pipeline - following the earlier installation of the Power of Siberia-1 pipeline, which began pumping supplies in 2019. Putin is seeking to boost already-high levels of oil and gas exports to China, possibly with a pipeline (a Power of Siberia 2) to China via Mongolia, and at a meeting with Xi and Putin, Mongolian President, Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh, said that he supported the construction of such oil and gas pipelines. In the meantime, as analyzed in depth in my latest book on the global oil markets, Russia plans to increase crude oil export capacity at the Far Eastern port of Kozmino by over 7 million metric tonnes per year (mtpy) by October to add to the current capacity of 36 million mtpy. This would augment Russias main crude export route to Asia - the East Siberia-Pacific Ocean (ESPO) - that has a spur into China and runs to Kozmino. Russian pipeline operator, Transneft, stated recently that the ESPO hit its full 80 million mtpy (about 1.6 million barrels per day) capacity in the first seven months of this year. Russia is also working on developing new oil and gas export infrastructure at ports along the Northern Sea Route, which runs through Russian maritime territory in the Arctic and has shorter delivery times and lower costs than other available routes. By Simon Watkins for Oilprice.com More Top Reads from Oilprice.com: While Russia may be able to find buyers for roughly half of that supply, it seems inevitable that its exports will fall dramatically. The EU's embargo on crude oil this December and its embargo on oil products in February will displace 2.4 million bpd of oil. Russias oil exports have been resilient since it invaded Ukraine, falling just 400,000 bpd below pre-war levels despite international sanctions. Nearly seven months after Russias invasion of Ukraine, Russian oil exports have been quite resilient and just 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) below pre-war levels. But come December, Russian oil supply could plunge by more than one million bpd after the EU embargo on Russian oil imports by sea enters into force. In February, another one million bpd could then come offline due to the EUs fuel embargo. So far this year, Russia has managed to divert a lot of cargoes previously sent to Europe to buyers in Asia, predominantly China and India. As of December - and two months later when the EU oil product embargo kicks in - Russia will have to find a home for 2.4 million bpd of its oil if it is to keep its oil exports at current levels, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in its Oil Market Report last week. The global oil market will have to prepare itself for a loss of 2.4 million bpd supply when the EU embargo kicks in; an additional 1 million bpd of products and 1.4 million bpd of crude will have to find new homes. This could result in deeper declines in Russian oil exports and production, the IEA said. The Paris-based agency expects oil production in Russia to fall to 9.5 million bpd by February 2023, which would be a plunge of 1.9 million bpd compared to February 2022. Around half of the Russian supply that will have to find new buyers could be diverted to Asia and the Middle East this winter, according to research by energy data firm Kpler cited by Bloomberg. Some 1 million bpd of Russian oil could go to some Middle Eastern countries and Indonesia, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka in Asia, as well as Brazil and South Africa, according to Kplers estimates. If this happens, there would be another major shift in global oil trade flows. Indonesia could replace some of the oil its currently importing from OPEC member Nigeria, while Pakistan could import lower volumes of Arab Light, the flagship crude grade of OPECs top producer and the worlds largest crude oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, the energy research firm says. In the Middle East, The temptation might be to feed Urals into the refineries and let the likes of Arab Light flow freely in Asia, Kpler notes. Currently, Europe imports over 1 million bpd of Russian crude, attempting to fill up before the EU-wide embargo on Russian oil imports by sea comes into effect. Going forward, the EU and the G7 hope to keep Russian oil flows coming with a price cap that would allow maritime transportation services for Russias oil if that oil is sold at or below a certain price. While clever in theory, the price cap plan could lead to much higher oil prices because trade flows will be upended again, tankers are in short supply, and Russian oil exportsstill remarkably resilientwould plunge, analysts say. Yet, Putin can simply make good on his promise to halt all energy supplyincluding crude, fuels, natural gas, and coalto the countries that sign up to cap the price of Russian oil. This would tighten the market and send oil prices surging. Its unclear how and where the storm will land, but it is looming, Rystad Energy said in research last month. EU imports of Russian crude are expected to dwindle to just 600,000 bpd by December 2022a nearly 2.5 million bpd drop from the 3 million bpd before the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the energy research firm said. Yet, Rystad Energy expects that Russia will be able to redirect a significant portion of crude volumeor 75% in a base-case scenarioto Asia and other markets. Regardless of how much crude and products Russia manages to place with non-EU buyers later this year, the next disruption of global oil flows is now looming. By Tsvetana Paraskova More Top Reads from Oilprice.com: The Western sanctions imposed on Russia due to its aggression against Ukraine include a ban on overland cargo transit through Russian territory. This situation has highlighted new promising prospects for Georgia as a transit country (see EDM, April 19, April 20, June 9). Indeed, Georgia has become one of the only land corridors for the European Union to reach Central Asia and China. Without fully employing Georgias transit potential, Europes access to the products and natural resources of Central Asia will continue to be significantly reduced. Moreover, without Georgia, the EUs access to Azerbaijans natural resources will also be limited. As evidenced by the recently signed agreement between Brussels and Baku on doubling gas supplies to the EU through the Trans-Anatolian Natural (TANAP) and Trans Adriatic (TAP) gas pipelines (Kommersant, July 18), everything points to Georgias growing transit role in the region (Radio Tavisupleba, August 12; Interpressnews, August 18). The idea of further activating the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR, or Middle Corridor) that passes through Georgia has been revived, and Tbilisi is doing its best to capitalize on this opportunity. Consecutive visits of Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili to Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, were aimed at discussing these opportunities, among other issues (Caucasus Watch, July 19; Rustavi-2, July 20, 1tv.ge, July 27). On August 18, Georgia, Turkey and Azerbaijan signed an agreement on preliminary data exchange to simplify customs transit procedures, which will contribute to the smooth delivery of international cargo to the Caucasus region and the joint management of the increased cargo flow (Agenda.ge, August 18). On August 23, Tbilisi hosted a high-profile meeting of Georgian Minister of the Economy Levan Davitashvili with the transport ministers of Turkey and Azerbaijan to discuss development and competitive growth for the transport corridors of Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey, especially the TITRs potential. From this point of view, the Turkish participants underlined the importance of existing transport infrastructure, including the BakuTbilisiAkhalkalakiKars railway, an international rail link project launched in 2017. Amid the changing realities in the region, cargo turnover in the Georgian corridor has increased by 1 million tons, including an increase in both land and sea freight, as well as container cargo turnover (BMG.ge, August 23). On September 3, it was announced that, within the framework of the Kazakhstani presidents task, JSC NC KTZ, national operator of Kazakhstani railway transportation, will construct terminal networks in the ports of Iran, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey by 2030 (Forbes.kz, September 3). Kazakhstani state oil company KazTransOil owns the oil terminal in Batumi Seaport. Tengizchevroil, a joint venture led by oil giant Chevron, already began rerouting a small volume of oil by rail to Georgias port of Batumi in April 2022, and plans are underway to book more rail volumes in September and October. Recent reports indicated that Kazakhstan intends to transport 1.5 million tons of oil via Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline (BTC) starting in September to bypass Russia (Reuters, July 18, August 11). However, Kazakhstans Energy Ministry promptly denied these reports (Interfax-Kazakhstan, Forbes.kz, August 12; Azernews, August 13). Apart from purely economic factors (e.g., low-spare capacity of BTC), some political implications are also affecting regional infrastructure development, including Russian influence. It is safe to say that full-scale rerouting of transport corridors to Georgia will take time. Additionally, Georgian transport infrastructure needs significant improvements to be able to cope with increased cargo turnover. Georgian transport infrastructure acutely lacks direct foreign investments, pundits say (Bm.ge, June 4). Here, we should recall the suspended construction of the strategically important port of Anaklia, which largely became the victim of political squabbles and clashes of interests. While Western sanctions have effectively fenced off Russias important international transit corridors, the authorities of Georgias breakaway region, Abkhazia, will most likely try to maximize the territorys own transit potential as a key source of revenue. The working group created by the presidential administration of Abkhazia proposed to unilaterally remove all restrictions on the passage and transit of goods across the administrative border with Georgia along the Inguri River. The ban was introduced in 2008 after the Russo-Georgian War, which led to the actual occupation of Abkhazia by Russia (Radio Tavisupleba, September 1). Some freewheeling Abkhaz analysts argue that, in the process of forming new transit corridors and new logistics hubs, it is highly unreasonable for Abkhazia, which has historically been a transit corridor, to stay inactive and remain captive to established stereotypes. According to the recommendations submitted by the working group, the Abkhaz railway, airport and seaports would profit by increased transit should the existing restrictions be waived. In the first instance, the Abkhaz establishment turns an eye to Turkey as one of the main transport hubs in the region, given the already established informal trade economic relations. The Abkhazians are also considering possible transit deals with Armenia and the Georgian government, according to local sources. However, so far, no consultations regarding the transit agreements have taken place between Tbilisi and Sokhumi. Some Georgian politicians claim that this initiative is part of the joint Russian-Abkhaz scheme aimed at oblique recognition of Abkhazias independence and the attempt to circumvent anti-Russian sanctions by the uncontrolled flow of goods (JAMnews, Ekhokavkaza.com, September 2). The reorientation of transport and energy corridors from Russia to Georgian territory holds significant opportunities in geopolitical and economic terms but also carries certain risks. It is unlikely that Russia will give Georgia free hands to accomplish these plans. Russia occupies about 22 percent of Georgian territory, including more than a 600-meter section of the strategic Baku-Supsa oil pipeline. The danger exists that a greater part of the pipeline will be in the occupation zone, should Russia continue to move the border with breakaway South Ossetia deeper into Georgian territory. Since regaining state independence, Georgia has successfully marketed its strategic value as an indispensable transit partner in the region. However, its transit potential remains vulnerable due to political instability, economic challenges and military threats. The Ukraine wars outcome will no doubt have a major effect on the potential of Georgias new transit perspectives. By The Jamestown Foundation More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Chinese President Xi Jinping has avoided condemning the Russian invasion, but he has urged "restraint. The cooperation will focus on joint exercises as well as strengthening contacts between senior military staff. The Russian Security Council claimed on September 19 that Moscow and Beijing had agreed on "further military cooperation" with a focus on exercises and senior contacts. The statement from Moscow follows a meeting last week where President Vladimir Putin was forced to publicly acknowledge Chinese concerns over his ongoing invasion of Ukraine and its repercussions around the world. There was no immediate confirmation from the Chinese of the Russian Security Council's announcement. "The sides agreed on further military cooperation with a focus on joint exercises and patrols, as well as on strengthening contacts between the [respective] general staffs," the Russian security body said. The Russian Security Council's secretary, Nikolai Patrushev, is currently on a visit to China for consultations. Chinese President Xi Jinping has avoided condemning the Russian invasion of its smaller post-Soviet neighbor, which came within weeks of a meeting at which he and Putin pledged a Sino-Russian friendship with "no limits." But he has urged "restraint" and said at their first meeting since the Ukraine invasion began in late February that Beijing is ready to play a leading role in bringing the world to the stable development path. At the regional security gathering in Uzbekistan on September 15, Putin responded: "We highly value the balanced position of our Chinese friends when it comes to the Ukraine crisis." He added, "We understand your questions and concern about this." With unprecedented international sanctions targeting Russia, Beijing's support is widely seen as essential for Moscow, which needs markets for its energy exports and sources to import high-tech goods. By RFE/RL More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: German energy importers have resumed nominations of gas volumes to be delivered via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline even though no gas is flowing along the pipe right now. According to a Reuters report, this is the first time nominations have been made since Gazprom suspended the flow of gas via the pipeline at the end of August. The data came from the websites of German pipeline operators in charge of the infrastructure that connects Nord Stream 1 to end consumers. The data showed buyers had nominated volumes of 3.65 million kWh per hour for Monday morning, for delivery to eastern Germany via the OPAL pipeline. Another 14.29 million kWh per hour was nominated for the NEL pipeline. Gazprom shut down Nord Stream 1 after it said it had found an oil leak at a compressor station. It also said it was waiting for Siemens Energy to repair compressor station equipment and deliver turbines that the Russian company says are stranded in Germany because of EU sanctions. Siemens Energy, for its part, says an oil leak is an easily fixable problem that should not prevent the operation of the pipeline and that the turbines are ready to be shipped to Russia. There is currently only one turbine remaining at the Portovaya compressor station at Nord Stream 1, which Gazprom says is the reason for reduced flows and more frequent halts for maintenance work. Meanwhile, Russias President Vladimir Putin suggested that Europe needs to lift sanctions on Nord Stream 2 to get more gas from Russia. "The bottom line is, if you have an urge, if it's so hard for you, just lift the sanctions on Nord Stream 2, which is 55 billion cubic meters of gas per year, just push the button and everything will get going," Putin said at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Uzbekistan. By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Gas storage sites in Germany, now nearly 90% full, will be empty after the winter, German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said on Monday. Gas storage capacity in Germany is almost 90% full, although the country no longer purchases gas at any price, the minister was quoted as saying. Gas storage sites in Germany were nearly 90% full as of September 18, higher than the EU average of 85.6% full storage, according to data from Gas Infrastructure Europe. The EU has achieved its 80% gas storage use target two months ahead of November 1, but gas in storage covers only 20%-25% of annual consumption in the bloc, Fitch Ratings said last week as it raised its European TTF and U.S. Henry Hub gas price assumptions in the short and medium term. In Germany, despite faster storage builds than usual, Europe's biggest economy will only have enough natural gas to cover two and a half months of consumption this winter if Russia completely suspends deliveries, Klaus Muller, the president of Germany's Federal Network Agency, Bundesnetzagentur, said in the middle of August. Two weeks later, Russia shut down Nord Stream, the main gas export pipeline to Germany, saying it wouldn't reopen until Western sanctions impeding gas turbine repairs in the West are not lifted. Last week, Muller said that Germany could see severe nationwide gas shortages, which it would not be able to predict more than two weeks in advance. "If we get a very cold winter, we have a problem," Muller said in an interview with German business daily Handelsblatt. Due to the weather forecasts, Germany will not be able to predict gas demand more than two weeks in advance, he added. Signs are mounting that the German economy is slipping into recession, which will deepen as we head into the winter months amid the ongoing energy crisis, Bundesbank, the central bank of Germany, said in its monthly report on Monday. By Michael Kern for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Global oil demand fell by an estimated 1.1 million barrels per day (bpd) in July this year the latest data from the Joint Organizations Data Initiative (JODI) showed on Monday. Historically, global oil demand normally rises rather than falls in July. The demand decline was driven by drops in consumption in China, India, Indonesia, developed European economies, and Saudi Arabia, according to JODI, which compiles self-reported data from many countries. The July fall in demand is in contrast to the five-year average for the month of July, excluding the pandemic years of 2020-2021, which shows demand rising seasonally by an average of 350,000 bpd, the Riyadh-based International Energy Forum (IEF) said. As a result of lower demand in July, global product inventories in July increased by 63 million barrelsmore than three times the average seasonal increase. Crude inventories increased counter-seasonally by 9 million barrels. However, global crude and product inventories were still nearly 438 million barrels below the five-year average, the JODI data showed. In Saudi Arabia, demand fell counter-seasonally by 192,000 bpd in July, which was the first monthly decline since February. Chinese oil demand dropped by 191,000 bpd in July and was 655,000 bpd below year-ago levels. However, Chinese demand was still 135,000 bpd above July 2019 levels, according to the JODI data. Chinese demand was hit by the snap COVID lockdowns which have discouraged travel this summer. China is even expected to see its oil demand fall in 2022 for the first time in more than three decades. Growth in global oil demand continues to decelerate, weighed down by renewed Chinese lockdowns and an ongoing slowdown in the OECD, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in its closely watched Oil Market Report last week. The IEA revised down its growth estimate for 2022 by 110,000 bpd from last months assessment and now expects global oil demand to grow by 2 million bpd this year. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: In an attempt to wrestle back China market share from Russia, Iran is reportedly gearing up to slash the price of its sanctioned crude oil stored offshore Singapore, The Straits Times reports, citing unnamed industry sources. If Iran offers its crude oil to China at a heavy discount, it would likely indicate that optimism for a revival of the 2015 nuclear deal with the West and a reversal of sanctions has faded to zero. According to The Straits Times, Iran is offering the crude in tankers anchored in Malaysia and Indonesian waters at discounts of around US$5 to US$7 to Russian cargoes. Iran is estimated by Kpler to have around 93 million barrels of crude stored off the Persian Gulf and the coast of Singapore, while Vortexa estimates between 60 million and 70 million barrels. In the aftermath of sanctions following Russias invasion of Ukraine earlier this year, the market saw large volumes of Russian oil diverted from Europe to Asia, challenging Irans market share in China. Russia is now ranked as the top supplier of crude oil to China, overtaking Saudi Arabia in the past quarter, but the third-largest supplier to Asia at large, with Saudi Arabia and the UAE retaining the top two slots. According to The Straits Times, Russia sold some 1.74 million barrels per day to China in August, grabbing 20% of Chinas crude oil market share and making it the largest supplier. Chinese refiners are keen to take advantage of heavily discounted Russian crude, and these shipments are expected to see another boost in volume in early December, when a G7 price cap on Russian oil goes into effect. The situation has left Iran on the losing end of the game, and more significantly for oil markets, it indicates that Tehran itself is no longer considering a revival of the nuclear deal. By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Volkwagen is looking to raise up to $9.4 billion from its forthcoming IPO of Porsche, a new report from Bloomberg says. That would make it Europe's largest listing "in more than a decade", the report says. The company said this weekend that, despite havoc in both European capital markets and European auto markets, it was seeking out a valuation of 70 billion to 75 billion euros for its listing, down from an 85 billion figure that was being tossed around prior. As the report notes, other forthcoming IPOs - like Intel's planned IPO for Mobileye - have also scaled back expectations due to market volatility. However, for Porsche, Qatar Investment Authority, Norways sovereign wealth fund, T. Rowe Price and ADQ have all signed on to subscribe to preferred shares totaling as much as 3.7 billion euros. VWs Chief Financial Officer Arno Antlitz told Bloomberg: We are now in the home stretch with the IPO plans for Porsche and welcome the commitment of our cornerstone investors. VW has been pitching the investment opportunity as a way to combine the best of companies like Ferrari and Louis Vuitton. The valuation puts Porsche at 10.2x EBITDA, the report says, well below Ferrari's valuation of 23.1x EBITDA. Porsche's target for the year is for 39 billion euros in revenue. The IPO will also hand over decision-making to the Porsche-Piech family, who lost control of the company more than 10 years ago during a battle with VW, the report says. Investors will be allowed to subscribe to 25% of Porsche preferred shares, which have no voting rights. The Porsche-Piech family will buy 25%+ of the company's common shares with voting rights and has agreed to pay a 7.5% premium on top of the price range. Despite the spin-off, however, some have raised questions about its future independence, since Oliver Blume, Porsches chief executive, is being appointed to head VW. By Zerohedge.com More Top Reads from Oilprice.com: LINCOLN The Nebraska Board of Pardons took less than two minutes Monday to dash the hopes of Earnest Jackson and his family and friends. The three board members Gov. Pete Ricketts, Attorney General Doug Peterson and Secretary of State Bob Evnen voted unanimously to deny Jacksons request for a sentence commutation. The vote was taken without discussion or testimony. Before the vote, Ricketts offered only general comments about the process. He said the board does not take testimony on applications that do not meet the boards guidelines, either because not enough time has passed since completion of the sentence or because of the gravity of the facts of the conviction. He did not say which situation applied to Jackson. The Omaha man, then 17, was convicted in the September 1999 shooting death of Larry Perry, also 17, near 46th Street and Redman Avenue. Jackson, now 40, and his supporters maintain that he is innocent and is being wrongly imprisoned. They point to the confession of a co-defendant, Shalomar Cooperrider, who testified at his own trial that he was the person who shot Perry. He also said Jackson did not participate in the shooting. Neither Cooperrider nor the other co-defendant, Danti Chillous, testified at Jacksons trial. Both were tried after Jackson and were acquitted based on self-defense. The Pardons Board decision left Jacksons supporters stunned and frustrated. Many had filled the State Capitol hearing room, wearing T-shirts and buttons of support, only to file out as the board took up the rest of the days cases. I was hoping they would do something right, said Jason Witmer, a friend of Jacksons and a board member for ACLU of Nebraska. Ive never seen such disrespect. Elizabeth Smith, the mother of Perrys son, said the decision leaves her family without closure. Having Jackson spending years behind bars for a crime she does not believe he committed piles tragedy upon tragedy, she said. Without a pardon and commutation, Jackson is eligible for parole in 2029 and must be released in 2039, at which point he will be 57 years old. It makes me kind of lose a little faith in the justice system, Smith said. Smith and Michael Hatcher, the son she shares with Perry, wrote letters to the Pardons Board in support of Jacksons request for commutation. She said she had always thought Jackson was innocent but became strongly convinced of that position about 10 years ago after spending time talking with neighbors, friends and family members near the shooting scene. At Jacksons trial, a witness identified him as one of the men who pistol-whipped and shot Perry. The jury convicted Jackson of felony murder but did not find him guilty of an accompanying gun charge. Jacksons former attorney, Jeff Pickens, said that led him to believe the jury had convicted Jackson as an accomplice, rather than as the shooter. But the man who confessed to being the shooter ended up being acquitted. We have a man in the prison system for a crime that is legally impossible, said Daniel Gutman, Jacksons current attorney. You cannot be an accomplice to something that is not a crime. Gutman said hes not sure where Jackson and his supporters will go from here but believes something should be done sooner than 2029, when Jackson can seek parole for the first time. Jackson already struck out before the Nebraska Supreme Court, which reviewed the case and upheld the verdict. The court ruled that Cooperriders testimony was not newly discovered, but only newly available and therefore not sufficient to warrant a new trial. State law allows a person to be granted a new trial if there is newly discovered evidence that could not have been produced at the original trial. State Sen. Justin Wayne of Omaha introduced a bill last year that would have allowed Jackson to win a new trial. Legislative Bill 28 would have expanded the definition of newly discovered to include testimony or evidence from a witness who had previously asserted their right not to incriminate themselves. Wayne tried and failed to get his measure amended onto another bill. Sen. Robert Hilkeman of Omaha, the sponsor of the other bill, objected, saying the amendment would draw a gubernatorial veto. LB 28 was opposed by the Nebraska County Attorneys Association and the Attorney Generals Office. Troopers with the Nebraska State Patrol arrested a California woman after finding about 20 pounds of cocaine worth more than $300,000 during a traffic stop near York. Around 12:35 p.m. Saturday, a trooper spotted a Ford Expedition following another vehicle too closely while driving on Interstate 80 near York, officials said in a press release. A search of the SUV uncovered about 20 pounds of cocaine, which officials say has an estimated street value of a little over $300,000. The cocaine was hidden inside the seats of the vehicle, the patrol said. The 34-year-old driver from Los Angeles was arrested and taken to the York County Jail. Officials have identified the person killed in a skydiving accident last week. William Seale, 34, was killed in the accident. Seale is from St. Petersburg, Florida. Romulo Suarez, 56, was injured in the accident. According to witnesses, a pair of skydivers conducted a tandem jump in the late afternoon on Sept. 15, the Crete Police Department said in a press release. The duo exited the aircraft, operated by Skydive Atlas LLC. The parachute functioned properly and fully deployed. It's unknown why the skydivers did not sufficiently slow on their descent approaching the ground. Witnesses notified emergency medical services immediately. Suarez, of rural Crete, was taken to Bryan Medical Center with life-threatening injuries. Suarez was an experienced parachutist, officials said. Seale was taken to Crete Area Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. The Crete Police Department continues to assist the Federal Aviation Administration in investigating the incident. A former staff member of an Omaha middle school has entered a guilty plea in federal court to possession and distribution of child pornography. Brandon Lanza, 40, who entered his plea on Friday in the U.S. District Court for Nebraska, is a former IT specialist at Davis Middle School. When he is sentenced in December, he faces up to 20 years in prison for each charge, with a minimum of five years for distribution of child pornography. According to a federal indictment, between about July 8 and July 28, 2019, Lanza received and distributed visual depictions of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct. According to court documents, he shared the images of a minor under age 12 on two social media accounts. A judge ordered Lanza to be held without bail to ensure his appearance at trial, which was to begin Monday. The decision to keep Lanza in custody, according to court documents, took into account the lengthy sentence he faces, a history of alcohol and substance abuse, lack of stable employment and the seriousness of the danger posed by his release. In an August 2021 email to Davis Middle School staff and families after Lanzas arrest, the school announced the administrations recommendation that the school board terminate his employment. It is our understanding that the investigation does not involve any Davis Middle School students and is not related to the staff members employment with the district, the email said. LINCOLN Nebraska voting rights advocates on Monday kicked off their campaign against a ballot measure that would require people to show valid photographic identification before voting. The measure, Initiative 432, qualified for Novembers general election ballot through a successful petition drive. It is one of two initiatives on the ballot. Monday, representatives from Nebraskans for Free and Fair Elections said the measure would be among the strictest voter ID provisions in the nation without making state elections any more secure. Initiative 432 is an extreme measure that will restrict access to voting for thousands of Nebraskans without reason, said Heather Engdahl with Civic Nebraska. If approved in November, Initiative 432 would amend the Nebraska Constitution to require that future voters provide a valid photo ID before casting their ballot. Supporters of the measure, who include Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts and Secretary of State Bob Evnen, say it is necessary to improve the safety and security of Nebraska elections. But Engdahl said the only type of voter fraud that the measure would address is people attempting to impersonate someone else, a crime that both supporters and opponents of the measure acknowledge has not been seen in Nebraska. Meanwhile, an estimated 54,500 Nebraskans of voting age could be denied the right to vote because they lack a photo ID, she said. The number could be as high as 70,000, depending on what is considered a valid ID. Engdahl said state lawmakers would have to determine the types of identification that would be acceptable by passing follow-up legislation. The ballot measure specifies that ID must be valid and photographic. It also specifies that the requirement to provide ID applies to any election, meaning that it would apply to mail-in ballots as well as those cast in person. Preston Love Jr., a community organizer representing the Black Votes Matter group, said Initiative 432 represents the latest attempt to restrict voting in communities of color and among low-income Nebraskans, who are less likely to have the required IDs. He said such measures are a backlash to rising electoral power of Black voters. Dont put Nebraska on the list of states that is doing these misinformation, nonsense and restrictive measures, he said. Just vote no to this. See it for what it is. Engdahl said the coalition does not have the deep pockets needed for a major radio and television campaign. But members plan to spend the next several weeks reaching out to voters directly, through town hall events and through social media. They will be launching a series of videos this week featuring people who would be affected by a voter ID requirement. Along with Civic Nebraska and Black Votes Matter, the Nebraskans for Free and Fair Elections coalition includes Nebraska Appleseed, the Nebraska Poor Peoples Campaign, ACLU of Nebraska, the League of Women Voters and the Nebraska Civic Engagement Table. The number of COVID-19 cases dropped again in Nebraska last week, hitting the lowest level since late May. The state recorded 1,772 new cases last week, down from 2,121 the previous week and 2,936 the week before, according to state data reported to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nebraskas current case rate is the 15th lowest among the states. In general, cases in both Nebraska and the United States have been falling since mid-July. Case levels in the state also are at half the rate they have averaged for the pandemic and less than 10% of the peak level hit in January. But the unpredictable pandemic has produced such lulls before, only to see cases spike again, particularly in late fall and early winter. Case numbers at this time last year, for instance, were three times higher than they are now. And its widely acknowledged that current case reports are an undercount. Fewer people are getting tested for COVID, and more are using at-home tests that arent recorded in official tallies. While President Joe Biden declared the pandemic over in a 60 Minutes interview Sunday, he noted that COVID is still a problem for the United States. Indeed, despite the fact that cases and hospitalizations in Nebraska and the U.S. are down, the nation last week still recorded a daily average of 392 COVID-related deaths. The toll, while down from past peaks, has averaged more than 400 lives lost a day from June through August. The virus remains among the leading causes of death in the U.S. Health officials continue to urge people to get booster shots when they become eligible. The latest bivalent booster, which is aimed at both original COVID and its omicron offspring, now is available in pharmacies and doctors offices. The Pfizer booster is recommended for people 12 and older and the Moderna shot is recommended for those 18 and older. Its not yet clear how many people will get the boosters. Health officials caution that the vaccines protection, as well as protection from prior infections, wanes over time. Nebraskans uptake of the shots has dwindled with each new dose. More than 1,254,000 people, or 67.7% of all Nebraskans, now are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC, meaning they have gotten their initial two-shot series. But only 53.4% of those fully vaccinated have gotten a first booster and only 35.9% of those 50 and older with a first booster had gotten their second booster. An average of 171 Nebraskans were hospitalized with the virus last week, down 1.9% from the week before. The state added two new COVID deaths last week, bringing the total number of confirmed or probable deaths to 4,490. The state has recorded 535,000 confirmed cases of COVID. Omahas summer 2022 will go out with a last blast of heat to start the week before the weather cools down for the start of the fall season, which begins Thursday. Monday and Tuesday are going to be, by far, our warmest days of the coming week, Dirk Petersen, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Valley, said Sunday. The high (temperature) Monday will be around 90 in Omaha. From the South Dakota to Kansas borders, it will range from the upper 80s to low 90s (in eastern Nebraska). Petersen said the high temperatures forecast for Tuesday in Omaha and Lincoln could threaten records for both cities. Omaha reached a high of 95 in 2018, while Lincoln hit 96 the same year, he said. We are looking at a summertime pattern fairly late in the year, Petersen said. Usually at this time of year in Omaha our typical high is 77. A cool front is expected to roll into eastern Nebraska on Wednesday morning when a mass of cold air drops down from Canada. Temperatures Wednesday are predicted to be in the low 70s, he said. The front that is coming through will cool us off big time, Petersen said. We will see highs in the mid- to low 70s on Wednesday and then (high) temperatures in the 60s on Thursday. The areas high temperatures Friday will bounce between the upper 60s to low 70s, he said. Saturday and Sunday temperatures are expected to remain in the 70s. There will be slight chances for precipitation this week starting Wednesday, Petersen said. A low-level warming pattern will strengthen across the Missouri River valley on Thursday night into Friday, which will support increasing chances for showers. The best chances for precipitation look to be arriving on Friday morning into early afternoon, he said. It will be glancing blows at best, and really the best chance for (rain) action appears to be north and south of our (Omaha) area. The second annual One Community Cultural Festival returned to Stinson Park on Sunday to celebrate diversity and togetherness for Omahans of all cultures. Performers graced the main stage with a steady stream of traditional dances from Cai Wei, a traditional Chinese dance, to hip-hop performances to French cabaret. Vendors filled the park and sold traditional foods, drinks and knickknacks, while sponsoring nonprofits chatted with visitors about their services. Li Li, an organizer of the festival and board member at the Nebraska Chinese Association, saw the event as a huge success especially after it was forced to take a two-year pandemic hiatus and reschedule again after rainy weather last weekend. She said she sees the festival as an opportunity for people to celebrate their heritage while also learning about that of others. You see people here from Africa, from the Philippines, from France its just amazing, she said. Omaha is truly a great city, and we want it to be a true multicultural place where everyone feels invited and celebrated. This year, the festival was dedicated to first responders firefighters, 911 dispatchers, paramedics and the like who were each given a free meal ticket to honor their service. Jacinta Mwita, a finance manager at Kiewit and the owner of Made in Africa, a business that sells African-made products to a U.S. market, smiled as she chatted with visitors at her booth. It was her first time attending the festival to promote her business, and she said she was grateful for the opportunity to see such a display of oneness. Sometimes we can be in our own bubbles within our own cultures, but if we are going to live together and share this community in harmony, we have to understand each other, Mwita said. Theres no better way than through culture and food and conversation and dance, and when it comes together, its really beautiful. More than 20 nonprofits and businesses, including Union Pacific and the Asian Market, sponsored the event. Li is excited to see how the festival will continue to grow and give back to the community. When I came here 28 years ago, it felt like a very small town, Li said. But now weve seen Omaha grow so much, and we really love the city. This festival is something we can do to give back. BOISE, Idaho (AP) Idaho Gov. Brad Little on Monday signed a two-year agreement supporting Idaho wheat sales to Taiwan in a deal that officials say gives wheat producers a reliable buyer and Taiwan a dependable supplier. The Republican governor participated in the ceremonial signing with officials from Taiwan, the Idaho wheat industry and Taiwan Flour Mills Association. Wheat is one of Idahos top crops, and about half is exported to other countries. Taiwan is one of the states top buyers, with trade dating back to the 1970s. Officials said that Mondays agreement solidifies that commitment. They have been a very, very loyal customer, Taiwan has, for a long time, Little said at the signing in the governor's ceremonial office at the Statehouse, noting Taiwan is the second-largest market for everything exported out of Idaho. Our farmers in Idaho, a lot of them have made significant investments in their farms predicated on that consistent good market that we have." Canada is the top importer of Idaho products. The Taiwanese delegation is also visiting Kansas, Oregon and Washington, D.C., as part of a goodwill mission to demonstrate Taiwan's continued willingness to buy U.S. wheat. Overall, Taiwan is looking to buy 66.1 million bushels from the U.S., worth about $576 million, about 80% of its total wheat imports. Officials said Idaho is expected to supply about 5% of the U.S. portion to Taiwan. Specifically, Little and Director General Daniel K.C. Chen of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Seattle served as witness signers to the agreement that was also signed by Idaho Wheat Commission Chairman Clark Hamilton and Taiwan Flour Mills Association Chairman Tony Yi-Chuen Shu. There's a special connection between Taiwan and Idaho whether it is agriculture, commercial or political exchanges that improves significantly the common endeavors contributed by the government and people on both sides, Chen said. The wheat deal comes at a time of uncertainty in the global wheat market with Russia's attack on Ukraine, a significant wheat exporter. Shu said Taiwan imports 99.9% of its wheat but doesn't buy from Ukraine. He said the logistics of buying wheat during a time of uncertainty meant Taiwan appreciated the U.S. being a trustworthy partner. Hamilton, the Idaho Wheat Commission chairman, said he looked forward to continuing the relationship with Taiwan. The Wheat Commission and the farmers in Idaho are committed to maintaining this relationship, he said. Besides wheat, Idaho is also connected to Taiwan through Boise-based memory chipmaker Micron Technology, one of Taiwans largest foreign employers. We have a very fruitful relationship with them, Little said at the signing. Our countries are bound by a common thread of economic freedom (and) entrepreneurial growth. Chen said Little is expected to travel to Taiwan in the near future, possibly this year, to help strengthen the trading partnership. Little's office did not comment on Chen's remarks. Former Idaho Republican Gov. C.L. Butch Otter traveled to Taiwan in 2018, meeting with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen. If Little were to make the trip, it would be the latest in a series of visits by U.S. political leaders that have stirred the ire of China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory and condemns all official contacts between Taipei and foreign governments that recognize Beijing. U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in July, making her the highest-ranking American official to visit in 25 years, prompting China to launch missiles over the island and send ships and planes across the midline of the Taiwan Strait. Republican Gov. Doug Ducey of Arizona and Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb of Indiana both traveled to Taiwan in August and met with Tsai. LONDON (AP) For U.S. President Joe Biden, it was the crumpets. For his wife, first lady Jill Biden, it was the tea. Joe and Jill Biden on Sunday helped honor Queen Elizabeth II by sharing memories of their tea time last year when she invited them to join her at Windsor Castle, near London. The president, who said after that 2021 visit that Elizabeth reminded him of his late mother, recalled Sunday that she kept offering him crumpets. He did not refuse. I kept eating everything she put in front of me, he said. But she was the same in person as ... her image: decent, honorable, and all about service. The queen, who was Britains longest-serving monarch, died earlier this month after a 70-year reign. Biden is among hundreds of heads of state and other dignitaries who are in London to attend her state funeral service Monday at Westminster Abbey. The first lady told The Associated Press in a telephone interview after she and the president attended a reception at Buckingham Palace that what really impressed me about the queen was just how warm and gracious she was. I loved her sense of curiosity. She wanted to know all about American politics and so she asked Joe question after question, Jill Biden said. She said sitting in Elizabeths living room was almost like being, you know, with your grandmother. And she said, Let me pour the tea, and we said, No, no, let us help, and she said Oh, no, no, no, Ill get this. You sit down, Jill Biden said. And it was just a very special moment with a very special woman. The Bidens paid their respects to the queen on Sunday by traveling to Westminster Hall, where she has been lying in state, to stand before the monarchs coffin in the presence of thousands of mourners who had spent hours upon hours waiting to file past. They then signed condolence books at Lancaster House before going to Buckingham Palace for a reception hosted by King Charles III and other royal family members for the world leaders who flew in for the funeral. After signing the book, Biden said his his heart goes out to the royal family because the queen's death has left it with a giant hole. Sometimes you think you'll never, you'll never overcome it, said Biden, who often speaks in very personal terms about loss following the death of his first wife and infant daughter, and later an adult son. But as Ive told the king, shes going to be with him every step of the way every minute, every moment. And thats a reassuring notion. While viewing the coffin on Sunday, the first lady said, she watched a little boy dressed in a Boy Scout uniform come in and give the queen a three-finger salute. I mean, it just gave me a lump in my throat, she said, and showed how much the people really loved their queen, no matter their ages." President Biden wrote in the condolence book that the queen "was admired around the world for her unwavering commitment to service. The first lady signed a separate condolence book for spouses and ambassadors, writing Queen Elizabeth lived her life for the people. She served with wisdom and grace. We will never forget her warmth, kindness and the conversations we shared. In the interview, Jill Biden cautioned that there's a human piece to the queen's death. Speaking of Charles, she said: He is the king, but no one should forget, he lost his mother and, you know, Prince William lost a grandmother. Sometimes we tend to forget the really human piece of this and the sorrow that they ... have to bear and how they have to grieve in public. But they seem to be doing OK," she said. More than 2,000 people were expected at Westminster Abbey for Monday's funeral. Follow AP coverage of Queen Elizabeth II at https://apnews.com/hub/queen-elizabeth-ii Avian flu, which devastated domestic poultry operations this spring, has been discovered again in Nebraska, raising concerns that the fall migration could bring another round of infections. Nebraska Department of Agriculture officials said Monday that they have confirmed an outbreak in a small backyard flock in Dawes County in northwest Nebraska. The infected birds have been euthanized and the state has established a heightened surveillance zone around the farm. This is Nebraskas first confirmed case since April, said Dr. Roger Dudley, Nebraskas state veterinarian. Dudley said the state has dual concerns: that fall migration could fuel fresh infections and that the virus already has been circulating in local waterfowl. This is the first avian flu outbreak since 2015. That version of the virus did not have the staying power that this type seems to have, health officials say. Earlier this year, from mid-March to the end of April, about 4.9 million commercially raised birds were euthanized in Nebraska due to the epidemic. About 220 backyard birds also were euthanized. Nationwide, more than 44 million commercial or domestic birds have been euthanized this year, according to the USDA. During the 2015 epidemic, more than 50 million birds were euthanized. That was considered the worst poultry epidemic in history. No fall resurgence occurred in 2015 because that version of the virus did not circulate as widely in the wild bird population, Dudley said. Producers need to start increasing biosecurity now to protect their flocks, Dudley said. The virus can be carried on the clothing and shoes of people taking care of birds, which is why public health officials encourage strict hygiene practices around flocks. People who suspect an outbreak are asked to call their veterinarian, the Nebraska Department of Agriculture at 402-471-2351 or the USDA at 866-536-7593. Agriculture education supporters learned a youth organization helps students learn about agricultural careers even if their school doesnt offer ag classes. Ebony Webber, CEO of National Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences (MANRRS), discussed the organization and its youth chapters with the Illinois Leadership Council for Agricultural Education (ILCAE) in Chicago. The group toured Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences (CHSAS) and heard from faculty and administrators. Increasing the number of urban students interested in agriculture-related careers is an ongoing goal for ILCAE and others involved with agriculture education. One of the challenges has been expanding the number of schools with agriculture programs, especially given the high demand for agriculture teachers. Two of Junior MANRRS goals are to expose high school students to careers in food, agriculture and natural resources and to dispel myths about ag careers, Webber said. However, a school does not have to teach agriculture classes to host a Junior MANRRS chapter, she noted. For example, a math teacher could serve as a sponsor and help students understand math careers related to agriculture. Everything is connected to agriculture, Webber said. We take what students are interested in doing and help them understand what they can do related to agriculture. Junior MANRRS chapters may be connected to a community organization, Webber noted. Most successful chapters have a community base and the parents (involved), she said. Similar to FFA, Junior MANRRS offers academic and leadership experiences, career exploration and community service. A requirement to offer a full agriculture program, FFA and Supervised Agricultural Experience projects that apply classroom knowledge has stymied some districts from adding ag classes. Seven Illinois districts offer Junior MANRRS chapters and five more around the state are considering it. Illinois schools with Junior MANRRS are CHSAS, Prosser Career Academy and Gary Comer College Prep, both in Chicago; Freeport High School; Carbondale High School; Cahokia High School; and Lovejoy Technology Academy, Brooklyn. Junior MANRRS started through 4-H in a Pennsylvania middle school in 1991 and has grown to 700 members nationwide. MANRRS started on the collegiate level in 1984. In addition to high school and college students, MANRRS also offers professional membership for anyone employed or involved professionally in the industry and not a full-time student. Along with career awareness, Junior MANRRS members receive information about scholarships, applied research and mentorships with local universities. National competitions are held for public speaking, research posters, written essays and photography. We have to educate students and their parents about agriculture, Webber said. They dont think of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) or technology. We have to reframe the conversation. Most of the time, theyre not aware that theyre already connected to agriculture. . NORMAL Alderman Stan Nord is chairman of the committee seeking to change Normal's form of government, according to documentation filed with the Illinois State Board of Elections. A ballot initiative committee was established in September seeking to support district elections in the town of Normal. The committee, named the Citizens for Districting Normal, filed a statement of organization on Sept. 7. Along with Nord as chairman, Carl Wenning, who serves as a GOP precinct committeeman, was listed as the committee's treasurer. A phone call to Nord was not immediately returned Monday. Previously, it was unclear who was leading the grassroots initiative to establish districts. A group calling themselves Citizens for a Better Normal, which has been pushing for a referendum to give voters the chance to weigh in on separate voting districts, did not identify its leadership on its website, and roughly 10 residents who were present for the petition filing last month declined to comment or give their names to a reporter. "We are a diverse group covering the political spectrum who care deeply for Normal," the group said in a statement. "Despite our diversity, we were able to work together toward this joint effort, thus proving that the politically diverse can come together to create positive change." Normal Town Council members currently are elected at large, meaning the candidates who receive the most votes are seated to represent the community as a whole. Close to 2,200 signatures have been collected asking the town of Normal to put the question of districts on November's ballot. However, the request was denied by the Normal electoral board on Aug. 30. Petitioners are seeking an appeal of the decision in court. The Citizens for Districting Normal Committee has reported one contribution exceeding $1,000 between Sept. 6 and 30: a $2,000 contribution from Connie Beard, chair of the McLean County Republican Party. However, this is not the only funding that has been collected. A GoFundMe organized by Nord has collected $925 in support of adding an additional question to November's general election ballot: "Shall the town be divided into 6 districts with one trustee elected from each district?" The page has set a $5,000 goal. According to Nord's GoFundMe page, advocates for districting discovered that Normal's elected trustees currently live in two concentrated pockets of town. Theoretically, all Normal trustees could live on the same property. VA makes vision-enhancing eyewear more available There are 130,000 legally blind veterans and 1 million low-vision veterans in the United States. VA offers a vision-enhancing eyewear device that uses a camera to help some low-vision veterans see better. This device, called eSight 4, uses high-speed cameras to magnify what they capture, clarifying a world for some low-vision people. The technology is a Class I medical device registered with the FDA. While the device has been available through the VA, it used to take months or even years for the eyewear to end up on the veterans face as the company navigated registering with VA hospitals and securing VA contracts. eSight 4 devices have now been added to the United States Department of Veterans Affairs Federal Supply Schedule, which should significantly shorten the time needed for approval. New national contracts with eSight vendors will shorten the time from determination that an eSight 4 device will help the veteran to the time that the device is provided. If you have VA health coverage and are low-vision or legally blind, you may qualify to receive an eSight 4 device paid for by the VA. Contact you VA provider to see if you would benefit from the device. To learn more about eSight, call 855-837-4448 or visit www.eSightEyewear.com. New rules for VA health care eligibility Many veterans since 2003 have been denied access to VA health care due to an Income Means Test that was implemented in January 2003. If a veteran did not enroll in VA health care within one year of separation from the military, the means test would be applied. Any subsequent enrollment effort would result in the veteran being enrolled but classified as a Category 8 enrollee and would be denied access to VA health care if the income level exceeded the means test. The Pact Act and other rule changes over the years, however, have made it easier for some veterans to enroll and have access to VA health care. For instance, all service members who had boots on the ground in Vietnam, blue-water sailors whose ships were within the territorial limits of Vietnam, veterans who served in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Guam, American Samoa, Johnson Atoll and a few other islands near Vietnam are now eligible to enroll in VA health care without having to meet the means test. Additionally, Marines who served at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, for at least three months between 1953 and 1987 are now exempt from the means test. Veterans who served in areas with burn pits and/or oil well fires during Desert Storm may be exempt from the means test. If you have served in any of the aforementioned situations, you should contact your local VA Community-based Outpatient Clinic to verify your eligibility. The Bloomington VA Clinic can be contacted at 309-827-4090; ask for eligibility. Retirement of unserviceable American flags The official flag code of the United States of America is Section 1 of Title 4 of the United States Code (4 U.S.C. section 1). According to the code, When a flag is so tattered that it can no longer serve as a symbol of the United States, it should be destroyed in a dignified manner, preferably by burning. The American Legion, VFW, Boy Scouts of America, Girl Scouts of the USA and other organizations regularly conduct dignified flag-burning ceremonies on Flag Day, June 14. Many patriotic organizations have their own traditional ceremonies when retiring flags, and disagreements over the proper manner to retire the flags exist. However, in accordance with the flag code, as long as the ceremony or method used is done in a dignified manner, there is no improper way to retire a flag. The Government Center in downtown Bloomington on the corner of East and Front streets has a container inside the south doors of its building entrance at Lincoln Street and Morrissey Drive in Bloomington. Russia's imperious president, Vladimir Putin, may have just endured his worst week since the collapse of the Soviet Union, which he says was the greatest tragedy of the 20th century. His vaunted army, including a tank force once considered one of Russia's best, collapsed in the face of a Ukrainian offensive in eastern Ukraine. Some Russian soldiers fled after ditching their uniforms and donning civilian clothes they stole from homes, according to local residents. In southern Ukraine, Russian units defending the strategic city of Kherson struggled to hold their positions against persistent Ukrainian attacks. When Putin ordered his army to invade Ukraine in February, he saw a historic opportunity to reassemble the core of the Soviet Union and appeared to anticipate a rapid victory. That plan failed when Ukraine, bolstered by Western military aid and U.S. intelligence, halted Russia's attempt to seize its capital, Kyiv. Now Putin's Plan B, the conquest of eastern and southern Ukraine, is teetering on the edge of failure as well. Some cheerleaders have hailed Ukraine's victory at Izyum, an important railway junction in the east, as the turning point of the war. That's premature. Russia holds about one-fifth of Ukraine's territory and has more troops it can deploy, although their quality is uncertain. "Despite the euphoria, this ain't over yet," Alexander Vershbow, a former U.S. ambassador to Russia, told me last week. "Putin is obviously furious that his commanders have failed but that doesn't mean he'll give up. He can still escalate in many ways." So what can we expect from Putin now? Vershbow offered a forecast. Putin won't capitulate; that would mean the end of his rule. He likely will intensify the death and destruction Russia has inflicted on Ukraine's civilians. Putin's career has been marked by success in wars waged against weaker opponents. He came to power in 1999 by ordering a midwinter siege of Grozny, capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya, in a savage war to suppress Muslim separatists. In 2008, he sent the army into neighboring Georgia; in 2014, he sent troops into eastern Ukraine and annexed the Crimean peninsula. In those wars, his forces often inflicted casualties on civilians as a deliberate tactic. His approach in Ukraine has fit the same pattern. It just hasn't worked as well against a well-led, well-trained and well-equipped opponent. "We're going to see a further escalation of brutality," Vershbow said. "They've already launched heavy bombing of civilian infrastructure. ... Some (Russian) officials say they want to drive millions of Ukrainians out of the country." Some of Putin's hawkish supporters have demanded a full mobilization, meaning a draft to replenish the army and a formal declaration of war. But Putin aides have said conscription is not being considered. The government has continued to reassure Russians that this is a limited "special military operation" and has even prohibited describing it as a "war." "He's still desperately trying to avoid mass mobilization," Vershbow said. "A draft would send protesters into the streets in Moscow. Even then, it takes months and months to train new troops." "Partial mobilization is possible, but they may be lousy troops," Vershbow said. As for nuclear, chemical or biological weapons, most military and foreign policy experts say Putin is unlikely to use them unless his survival is directly at stake. Putin's other hope is to win the war not on the battlefield but in Western Europe, where Moscow has cut the supply of natural gas to squeeze Germany and other consuming countries that have sent weapons to Ukraine. So far, the energy war has had surprisingly little effect. One recent poll found that 70% of Germans support continued aid to Ukraine, despite climbing gas prices. In the United States, the Gallup Poll found a similar level of support, 76%. On both fronts, Putin hopes that inflicting pain on noncombatants can bring him victory. He believes Russians are better fighters than Ukrainians and more resilient in winter than Europeans or Americans. The challenge for the West is to prove him wrong. Among humankinds many bad ideas, the monarchy was hardly the worst. And it was certainly one of the most inevitable. We humans have an inherent inclination to place our confidence in a dominant strongman, a chief, shaman, pharaoh, czar, rajah, emperor or king or, sometimes, queen. Hierarchy comes more naturally to us than egalitarianism. In fact, democracy has always been the rare exception. The ancient Greek city-states dabbled in democracy, but they confined it to homegrown, property-owning men. Women, slaves and foreigners were out of luck. Our own democracy again, a historical rarity emerged in rebellion to Britains ancient monarchy, and our founders went to some effort to ditch the trappings of the royal throne. They declared all men as created equal and refused to bestow titles on each other. Again, women, slaves and indentured servants were out of luck, but it was a start. Inequality in our nation continues to grow, but we continue to give lip service, at least, to the notion that all citizens are equal. And when a charismatic American leader seems to crave too much power, a judge may put him in his place by reminding him that he is not a king. In fact, thats what Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson did for Donald Trump a couple of years ago, noting in a ruling that presidents are not kings. Our baffling American fascination with the British monarchy is at odds with what we profess to believe about how societies should work. So its worth remembering that the British aristocracy consists of people who are no better and no worse than the rest of us. The difference among us is lineage. Your Excellency? Your Highness? No, theyre just people. And the history of monarchy is as flawed as many of the people who occupied the throne. Monarchy is associated with inbreeding, skullduggery, beheadings, colonialism, scandal, racism, pomposity and, especially in recent years, obscenely extravagant wealth. Now that the widely admired Queen Elizabeth II is dead, and the less-appealing Charles has assumed the throne, maybe our fascination with the monarchy on both sides of the pond will begin to fade, along with other not-so-great ideas. The world is probably better off without it. But I could be wrong. And, at the least, it might be worth distinguishing Queen Elizabeth from the historical defects of the monarchy itself. I happened to be talking about this with the renowned American poet Albert Goldbarth, who is no friend of privilege, royalty, extravagance or putting on airs. Still, he noted the capacity of the monarchy or of this particular queen, at least to serve as a relatively benign focal point around which an otherwise deeply divided nation could rally in friendly adoration. Hes right. After all, Queen Elizabeth appears to have been a decent, dignified, self-effacing woman who did her best to serve with unwavering grace in a job she never asked for. And getting up and going to work every day for 70 years is something to be admired. I dont know how hard queens work, but theyre never off the clock. In her long reign, Queen Elizabeth had a lot to cope with. She did her duty as she saw it, to the best of her ability. Hers was the sort of devotion that builds and nourishes a nations internal structure, that creates a narrative built around common values that most citizens accept and which transcend party lines. Our own nation could benefit from the sort of cohesive national narrative that Queen Elizabeth provided for Britain. In the past weve managed to unite against threats such as World War II or the Cold War. In fact, democracy itself used to provide the focal point around which Republicans and Democrats could rally. Unfortunately, even that narrative is in trouble. On balance, Queen Elizabeth was good for Britain. The Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC) has kicked against the Energy Ministers insistence on keeping the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Limited Company (BOST) margin as part of the petroleum price build-up. The Minister at the annual general meeting of BOST last week indicated that there are no plans of taking off the 9 pesewas BOST margin on petroleum products due to the effective utilization of the proceeds by the company. However, the Executive Secretary of COPEC, Duncan Amoah, said if BOST keeps to its original mandate, there will be no need for maintaining the BOST margin in the petroleum price build-up. I totally disagree with the Minister when he says that the margin will not be taken off bearing in mind the very fact that, the private BDCs also have depots where products are stored, and they do not get any margin but operate leanly. So perhaps this conversation must be had in a broader manner, he stressed. Government has in recent times come under fire to remove the BOST margin, to cushion petroleum consumers against high fuel prices. But sector minister, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh said government has no plans of taking off the margin on petroleum products. He said the BOST margin has come to stay. I can promise that the BOST margin on petroleum products is not being taken off anytime soon. We will use the BOST margin efficiently and effectively to protect the citizens of this country against the vagaries of private sector interest, which has always been about profit. The BOST margin was implemented on the price build-up in 2011 to cover the maintenance and expansion of infrastructure at the state company. In December 2019, it was increased to 6 pesewas from 3, and was later increased again to 9 pesewas in 2021 after several demands by BOST. Back then, stakeholders in the energy sector asked the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) to withdraw the increment. They argued that Ghanaians were already facing difficult times due to high petroleum price build-up and fuel prices. Taxes and levies contribute to almost half of the final ex-pump prices of fuel. Source: dailyguidenetwork.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Former Deputy General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Obiri Boahen, has accused the erstwhile Mahama government of issuing an indefinite resident permit to Chinese galamsey kingpin, Aisha Huang. In an interview with Okay FM on September 16, the former NPP scribe berated the opposition National Democratic Congress over the politicization of prosecution of the Chinese national and the consequent doubt it cast on same. On his substantive accusation, Obiri Boahen said Aisha Huang was granted the resident permit in 2015 even though she had hitherto been trying to acquire one during the tenure of President Kufuor. Would you believe that on 28th March 2015 Aisha Huang was given an indefinite resident permit here in Ghana? Meaning she lives here in perpetuity. This was done during NDCs time. President Mahamas government gave Aisha Huang the permit on 28th March 2015. Meanwhile, she was unsuccessful to get the permit during President Kufuors time, he said. There have been varied accounts on whether or not Aisha Huang left the country in 2018 after the state filed a nolle prosequi in a case involving her. While government has maintained that she left the shores of the country, state prosecutors in her recent case have said that she sneaked out of the country. President Nana Akufo-Addo also in an interview on a Ho-based radio station cast doubts on whether Aisha Huang was deported or she fled the country. The president said: I am not still sure whether she was, in fact, deported or whether she fled the country the first time and has now come back or whatever. There still seems to be some uncertainty about it. The comment by the president has raised several eyebrows with the Minority pushing for a full-blown probe into the circumstances of Aisha Huangs deportation. Meanwhile, Aisha Huang has been denied bail together with her three accomplices. They have been remanded in custody for two weeks. Last Friday, the AG filed four new charges against Ms. Huang, one of which relates to reentering the country illegally. Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Former President John Dramani Mahama has signed a book of condolence opened at the British High Commission in Accra for Queen Elizabeth II, the late British monarch. In a Twitter post on September 19, Mahama eulogized Queen Elizabeth II who reigned for seven decades. He described her as a great woman who fostered unity as well as had a good sense of humor and clarity of thought. Mahama recounted when he and his wife, Lordina, met the British monarch in Buckingham Palace in 2014. He indicated that an encounter with her leaves one struck by her dignity and grace. An era has come to an end. The world salutes a very great woman. She was the commonwealth; such a diplomat, who took it upon herself to bring diverse nations together. Her visits to Ghana in 1961 and 1999 are perfect examples. Fare thee well, Queen Elizabeth I recall my visit to the Buckingham Palace in 2014 with my wife, Lordina, and our interaction. One is struck by her dignity and grace. She had a good sense of humour and clarity of thought. Fare thee well, Queen Elizabeth, Mahama tweeted. Queen Elizabeth II passed away on September 8, 2022 at the age of 96 and has since been succeeded by King Charles III. Source: ghanaweb.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video King Charles III spoke, via telephone, with a number of world leaders in connection to the funeral of his late mother and former monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. Among others, he spoke to political leaders and some royal leaders with close ties with the British monarchy. According to a list shared by Cameron Walker, a Royal Reporter with GB News, King Charles spoke to the King of Ashanti, as well as Presidents of Ghana, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt and Prime Minister of Bangladesh. President Akufo-Addo and First Lady Rebecca Akufo-Addo have been spotted in London along with other world leaders attending the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. A formal invitation to the Asantehene was also formally invited via the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, FCO. A later report indicates that the Asantehene also communicated his inability to attend the funeral. Queen Elizabeth dies The world's longest serving leader, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, was pronounced dead on Thursday, September 8, 2022, via a statement from the royal family. Born on April 21, 1926, the Queen, christened Elizabeth Alexandra Mary, immediately acceded the British throne on February 6, 1952, when her father, King George VI died. She became queen at the age of 25 and remained on the throne for seven decades before her death. Elizabeth II was Queen of the United Kingdom and Head of State for 14 other jurisdictions. Queen Elizabeth's eldest son Charles, 73, has been named succesor and by that becomes king of the United Kingdom and the head of state of 14 other realms including Australia, Canada and New Zealand. His wife Camilla becomes Queen Consort. Source: ghanaweb.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has asked government to give further and better particulars on the Aisha Huang saga. According to him, doing so will lessen the heat the Minority in Parliament will head on them when the House resumes sitting in the next few weeks. He asserted via a social media post dated September 18, that there are lots of questions begging for answers in the running affair - i.e. following the resurfacing of the controversial Chinese illegal miner. In his post, he asked government to give clarity on co-accused persons who were standing trial with Ms. Huang in 2017 when the government decided to discontinue a case against her. "After dodging, ducking and diving for almost 4 years, the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government can no longer be silent on this crucial aspect of the Aisha Huang puzzle, particularly, in the face of the current ignominious spectacle. "If government finally opens up now, and gives transparency a chance, it may help reduce their tribulations in Parliament when the House resumes in a few weeks," he cautioned. Aisha Huang resurfaces - facing total of six charges Huang, known as the illegal small-scale mining, galamsey, queen; is currently facing a total of six charges relating to illegal mining activities and other immigration offences. Until Friday, September 16, Aisha was facing two charges along with three other accomplices, in an Accra Circuit Court, after they were arrested earlier this month. The Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame, had hinted following the re-arrest of Huang that he would reopen a case discontinued in 2018 against her. Four new charges were filed at the Criminal Division of the Accra High Court on Friday September 16, 2022 via a virtual hearing that took place in the court of Justice Lydia Marfo. The new charges, according to a charge sheet sighted by GhanaWeb, are as follows: Count One: Undertaking a mining operation without a licence contrary to section 99(2)(a) of the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006, Act 703 as amended by the Minerals and Mining (Amendment) Act 2019, Act 995. Count Two: Facilitating the participation of persons engaged in a mining operation contrary to section 99 (2)(a) & (3) of the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006, Act 703 as amended by the Minerals and Mining (Amendment) Act 2019, Act 995. Count Three: Illegal employment of foreign nationals contrary to section 24 of the Immigration Act, 2000 (Act 573). Count Four: Entering Ghana while prohibited from re-entry contrary to section 20(4) of the Immigration Act, 2000, Act 573. The two charges she faces in the Circuit Court are: Mining without license and Engaging in the sale and purchase of minerals. The Circuit Court case will be next heard on September 27 whiles the High Court case is due back in court on October 11. Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is in London for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. The president, accompanied by First Lady Rebecca Akufo-Addo, is believed to have left Accra on Sunday to join other world leaders for the event. Even though no official communication of his departure from Accra has been made, GhanaWeb sighted a Reuters video in which Akufo-Addo and the First Lady arrive for a state reception held in honour of the late monarch. It was widely expected that he will travel having been listed as one of the invited leaders of the Commonwealth. Last week, after signing the book of condolence at the British High Commission in Accra, Akufo-Addo announced that he had intentions of travelling to London for the funeral. I intend to go to London for the funeral, I dont know whether you have anything particular to tell me about that? he asked High Commissioner Harriet Thompson. To which she responded: The invitations have been sent, s they will be with your High Commission in London. They were sent over the weekend and well make sure the arrangement works smoothly between your team there and our team here. After signing the condolence book, President Akufo-Addo also sent his well wishes to the new monarch, King Charles II. Let me take the opportunity to also wish the King the best of luck with his tenure. He has been here with us a few occasions, he is a good friend and I am confident that he will do a very good job in her succession, he stressed. Queen Elizabeth dies The world's longest-serving leader, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, was pronounced dead on Thursday, September 8, 2022, via a statement from the royal family. Born on April 21, 1926, the Queen, christened Elizabeth Alexandra Mary, immediately acceded the British throne on February 6, 1952, when her father, King George VI died. She became queen at the age of 25 and remained on the throne for seven decades before her death. Elizabeth II was Queen of the United Kingdom and Head of State for 14 other jurisdictions. Queen Elizabeth's eldest son Charles, 73, has been named successor and by that becomes king of the United Kingdom and the head of state of 14 other realms including Australia, Canada and New Zealand. His wife Camilla becomes Queen Consort. Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Former parliamentary aspirant of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Bernard Oduro Takyi, has criticised President Akufo-Addo for his governments alleged failure to pay the full retirement benefits of former President Mahama. He advised Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to be wary of his treatment of John Dramani Mahama because he will not be president forever. Speaking in an XYZ TV interview monitored by Ghana, Oduro Takyi added that rather than coming out clearly about the former president's benefits, the government and members of the NPP are spreading all kinds of lies. The rod that was used to punish Takyi is the very same one that will be used to strike Baah. What Akufo-Addo is doing to Mahama will be done to him, he will not be in power forever. You reap what you sow. The former president says the government does not pay his rent, electricity bills and so on. Logically if his claims are false, you will confront him with the proof that you have made the said payment, he said in Twi. You dont sow plantain and expect to harvest cassava. It looks as if the NPP architecture has a deficit in common sense, he added. Former President John Dramani Mahama, while responding to claims by NPP chairman for the Bono Region, Kwame Baffoe Abronye, that he (Mahama) has been paid millions in lieu of ex-gratia payments, disclosed that he is not fully benefitting from emoluments he is entitled to as a former Head of State. He said that all he receives from the government currently is his monthly pension and that all other bills the state must cater for have not been attended to since he left office in 2017. In an exclusive interview with TV3, Mahama said he is currently footing a myriad of bills such as his light bills, fuel, office rent and travel bills. They havent given me an office, I rent an office in East Cantonments, I pay the rent myself, I pay for my own fuel, the state doesnt give me fuel. I pay my own domestic staff, I pay my own medical bills. I pay my own air tickets when I travel, he added. The leadership of the NPP, however, has said that the claims of the former president are false. Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Captain Nkrabea Effah-Dartey, lead counsel for illegal mining (galamsey) kingpin, Aisha Huang, has justified his decision to render legal services to the embattled Chinese national. Amidst public criticisms for his provision of legal service to Aisha Huang, Captain Effah-Dartey, who is a member of the ruling New Patriotic Party, says his service to his client is largely for its monetary benefits. "People who are blaming me for defending Aisha Huang don't know what they are saying." I have a wife, children and grandchildren, so I'm only working for my daily bread." "I'm defending Aisha Huang for my daily bread", he is quoted in a report by Oyerepafmonline.com. Asked if he would withdraw his services should the Akufo-Addo-led government appoint him, he said, "If government gives me an appointment to stop defending Aisha Huang, of course, I will stop." He added that "anytime you see me defending Aisha Huang, it means she has paid me fully. As we speak, I've been paid fully." Meanwhile, the lawyer expressed concern about access to his client, saying, "my only worry is that I find it difficult to get access to my client. I feel the state is not treating her fairly." He, however, expressed optimism that his client will be discharged of the charges pressed against her as he believes the state lacks evidence to prove the charges. Background Ms. Huang, in 2017, was charged with undertaking small-scale mining operations contrary to Section 99 (1) of the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703). She was also charged with providing mine support services without valid registration with the Minerals Commission, contrary to Section 59 and 99 (2) of the Minerals and Mining Act; and also charged with illegal employment of foreign nationals (in breach of section 24 of the Immigration Act and regulation 18 of the Immigration Regulations). Her case was, however, discontinued, and she was deported. Her deportation meant the state discontinued the trial against her. She, however, found her way back into the country, leading to her recent arrest. A court last week remanded Aisha Huang and three other Chinese nationals into custody to reappear on charges of illegal gold mining and trading. Her recent arrest is on the same issue of illegal mining. Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and his spouse, Rebecca Akufo-Addo, have made their way into the Westminster Abbey for the final funeral rites of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Despite the presidents travel to London for the funeral not officially being communicated, President Akufo-Addo somewhere hinted at his intent to attend the state funeral of the Queen when he signed her book of condolence last week. I intend to go to London for the funeral; I dont know whether you have anything particular to tell me about that? he asked High Commissioner Harriet Thompson. Ahead of the commencement of the service on Monday, September 19, 2022, several heads of state and dignitaries have been trooping into the London Chapel, where the Queens coffin will be brought for the service. President Akufo-Addo, who is dressed in a black suit and white shirt, was flanked by his wife, who was also adorned in a black dress with a scarf and a handbag to complement. Born on April 21, 1926, the late Queen, christened Elizabeth Alexandra Mary, acceded the British throne at the age of 25 and ruled for 70 years. She died at the age of 96 on Thursday, September 8, 2022. Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video President Joe Biden has declared the pandemic "over" in the US, even as the number of Americans who have died from Covid continues to rise. Mr Biden said that while "we still have a problem", the situation is rapidly improving. Statistics show that over 400 Americans on average are dying from the virus each day. The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said last week that the end of the pandemic is "in sight". In an interview with 60 Minutes on CBS, Mr Biden said that the US is still doing "a lot of work" to control the virus. The interview - aired over the weekend - was partly filmed on the floor of the Detroit Auto Show, where the president gestured towards the crowds. "If you notice, no one's wearing masks," he said. "Everybody seems to be in pretty good shape...I think it's changing." In August, US officials extended the ongoing Covid-19 public health emergency, which has been in place since January 2020, through 13 October. To date, more than one million Americans have died from the pandemic. Data from Johns Hopkins University shows that the seven-day average of deaths currently stands at over 400, with more than 3,000 dead in the last week. In January 2021, by comparison, more than 23,000 people were reported dead from the virus over a single week-long span. About 65% of the total US population is considered fully vaccinated. Some federal vaccine mandates remain in place in the US - including on healthcare workers, military personnel and any non-US citizen entering the country by airplane. Public health officials have expressed cautious optimism in recent weeks that the world is edging towards a pandemic recovery but continue to urge people to remain careful. On Monday, Dr Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, acknowledged the situation has improved. But in comments made at Washington DC think-tank, he added that the current daily death rate is still "unacceptably high". "We are not where we need to be if we're going to be able to 'live with the virus,'" he said. He also cautioned that new Covid-19 variants could still emerge, especially in the coming winter months. The US recently authorised new vaccines that match the version of the Omicron variant currently dominant in the country, with federal health officials asking Americans to keep their jabs up-to-date. Last week, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the world has "never been in a better position to end the pandemic". "We are not there yet," he said. "But the end is in sight." Covid-19 also continues to have a significant impact on the US economy, with the National Bureau of Economic Research reporting last week that Covid-related disease has slashed the US workforce by approximately 500,000 people. Mr Biden said he believes that the pandemic has had a "profound" impact on the psyche of Americans. "That has changed everything...people's attitudes about themselves, their families, about the state of the nation, about the state of their communities," he said. "It's been a very difficult time. Very difficult." More than 6.5 million people have died since the beginning of the pandemic around the world. The US has had the highest death toll, followed by India and Brazil. 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. Featured Video China's average contribution to global economic growth exceeded 30 percent during the 2013-2021 period, ranking first across the world, a recent report showed. In 2021 alone, China's economic aggregate accounted for 18.5 percent of the world's total after currency translation based on average annual exchange rates, the second largest in the world and up 7.2 percentage points from 2012, according to the report released by the National Bureau of Statistics. China's gross domestic product (GDP) expanded at an average annual growth rate of 6.6 percent from 2013 to 2021, higher than the growth pace of 2.6 percent for the global economy and 3.7 percent for developing economies. The country's per capita GDP hit 80,976 yuan (about 11,684 U.S. dollars) last year, surging 69.7 percent from 2012 after deducting the price factor. The report highlighted China's progress in promoting innovation-driven development in the past ten years. The country rose to 12th on the Global Innovation Index 2021, up from 34th in 2012, according to the World Intellectual Property Organization. Over the past decade, China has seen a better economic structure and more coordinated growth, as final consumption expenditure contributed 65.4 percent to the 2021 economic expansion. It is up ten percentage points from 2012, and the added value of the manufacturing sector jumped 74.3 percent during the same period. On the green development front, China's accumulative afforestation area amounted to approximately 59.44 million hectares from 2013 to 2021. The report also showed that the total value of China's goods and services trade reached 6.9 trillion U.S. dollars in 2021, continuing to rank top globally. China has also pursued more inclusive growth, aiming to make achievements that benefit all. From 2013 to 2020, China had lifted 98.99 million rural residents living below the current poverty line out of poverty, it added. Inspector General of Police (IGP), Dr. George Akuffo Dampare, has assured the chiefs and people of the Upper West region that the Ghana Police Service will do everything possible to arrest the perpetrators of the killings and kidnapping in the Wa municipality. The IGP assured the chiefs and residents of Wa that they will improve the security situation in the municipality and called on residents to help the police fight crime in the region. Be assured that we will keep improving on the security situation because we are there for you, IGP assured the residents. The Inspector General of Police (IGP) made this known when his team was led to the Wa township by the Wa Regional Police Commander DCOP Peter Anombugri Ndekugri to interact with residents and to listen to their concerns over the recent killings and kidnappings in the region. Dr. Dampare and his team with the Upper West Regional Police Command paid a courtesy call on the Overlord of the Wa Traditional Area, Wa Naa Seidu Fuseini Pelpuo IV. The Overlord of the Wa Traditional Area indicated that Wa is in a state of mourning due to the recent killing of some persons in the region. He commended the IGP for his swift response to deploy more security personnel to the Upper West region to help manage the situation. The Upper West region which is close to the border should have been provided with adequate security and this incident has exposed our insecurity. Mr. IGP this is a wake-up call, the Upper West needs more men on the ground immediately accompanied by logistical support. Naa Seidu Fuseini Pelpuo IV called on the IGP to ensure that the perpetrators of the killings and kidnapping in the Wa municipality are arrested and prosecuted. Some of the residents who interacted with the IGP expressed their excitement over his visit to the Wa township and lauded his officer for the efforts they are making to ensure that the perpetrators of the recent murders and kidnapping are brought to book. Some of the residents however lamented about the nature of streetlights in the township and called on authorities to fix them to help fight crime in the Wa municipality. Looking at our areas it is dark no streetlights and you can imagine all these things happening how we feel now some of the roads are in a bad state so security can be compromised because criminals hide in the dark places to engage in their activities. The special purpose police intelligence and investigation teams working with members of the community on 18th September 2022 discovered a body in a shallow grave at Bamahu, a suburb of Wa. The body was later identified by family members of the deceased as Seidu Baga who was reported missing on 16th September 2022. The body was subsequently exhumed and conveyed to the Regional Hospital, Wa for autopsy and investigation. According to Police, they are providing clinical psychologists to offer psycho-social support to the family. We wish to assure residents of the Wa Municipality and its environs that the special intelligence and investigation teams will continue to work around the clock with assistance from the affected communities to bring the perpetrators to face justice. Meanwhile, Operations and combat teams have also saturated the area to ensure safety and security. Source: dailyguidenetwork.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video A teacher sorts educational modules in preparation for distance learning in the upcoming opening of classes, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in an elementary school, in Caloocan City, Metro Manila, Philippines, August 24, 2020. (Photo: REUTERS/Eloisa Lopez) Filipino and Nicaraguan teachers are filling the gap left by a teaching shortage at a public school in Minnesota, United States. "I like it because you are going to learn in another culture," said Missi May Flores of Willmar Public Schools, as reported by CBS News. Willmar's human resources director Liz Windingstad expressed hopes that these teachers will be able to adjust as soon as possible in the United States, while helping kindergarteners and third and fourth graders learn critical subjects like Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, and Readings. "When I first started 10 years ago we would have 300 applications for elementary positions. We are lucky if we hit 30 now," said Windingstad. "If they werent here, wed have four more teacher openings right now. Its an option. And so far, its been awesome and successful for us." With a J-1 visa, the teachers can work in the US for up to five years. They are also hoping to bring their children to Willmar by the next school year, and intend to bring back whatever they have learned to the Philippines. "We know that we need this so that we go back to our country, we can help other teachers too, kindergarten teacher Katherin Cusa said. Meanwhile, in the Philippines, a teachers group is warning Department of Education Secretary and Vice President Sara Duterte that authorities should be more concerned about teachers leaving the country. "Parami nang parami sa mga kabaro namin ang nangingibang-bayan na o nag-aaplay ng trabaho sa Vietnam, Thailand, China, Europa at iba pa dahil napakahirap maging guro sa bayan natin," said Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Philippines chairperson Vladimer Quetua. (More and more of our co-teachers are migrating or applying for work in Vietnam, Thailand, China, Europe, and other countries because its extremely hard to be a teacher in our country.) He added, "Iyan ang katotohanan na dapat haraping ng ating gobyerno. (Thats the reality that our government must face.)" Marvin Joseph Ang is a news and creative writer who follows developments on politics, democracy, and popular culture. He advocates for a free press and national democracy. Follow him on Twitter at @marvs30ang for latest news and updates. The views expressed are his own. Newly graduated nurses gesture while having their picture taken by a friend before the oath taking ceremony of the professional nurses inside a mall in Manila September 20, 2010. REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco By Josh Eidelson A staffing agency that serves health-care facilities in New York state was accused in a lawsuit of using hardball legal tactics to stop workers from quitting low-paid jobs. The complaint, filed Friday (Sept 16) by a nurse who immigrated to the US from the Philippines, is the latest to allege that employers are resorting to illegal means to trap foreign workers in assignments that burnt-out American caregivers no longer want. Benzor Shem Vidal alleges that Advanced Care Staffing LLC placed him to work at a facility in brutal and dangerous conditions, including caring for 40 patients at once, and threatened him with serious financial harm if he tried to leave the company. Under Vidals contract, Advanced Care Staffing could sue him in arbitration for damages if he quit within three years of starting work and make him pay the legal costs, according to the complaint in federal court in Brooklyn. The conditions were so onerous that they violate human trafficking laws meant to protect people from being exploited for labor, Vidal said. Mr. Vidal believed it was impossible for him to provide adequate care to patients but was also terrified to resign, his lawyers wrote. He knew that his contract with Advanced Care Staffing purported to allow the company to pursue legal action against him, with potentially ruinous financial consequences, if he decided to terminate his employment. Advanced Care Staffing did not immediately respond to an inquiry. The company has placed thousands of employees at facilities in New York and surrounding states, according to its website. Fridays suit comes among heightened scrutiny of both mandatory arbitration clauses, in which workers sign away their right to pursue cases collectively or in open court, and employer-driven debt arrangements, in which employees are required to compensate bosses for costs like training, or are financially penalized if they quit within a certain amount of time. Story continues Hundreds of health-care employees have been sued by staffing agencies for trying to quit or refusing work, according to US state court dockets reviewed by Bloomberg Businessweek earlier this year. In February, Congress passed a law preventing companies from forcing sexual harassment and assault claims into arbitration. In June, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced an inquiry into employer-driven debt set-ups, which its director said may have the potential to trap employees in place. Vidals attorney David Seligman, who testified before the US Senate Banking committee this week about workplace debt schemes, said his case illustrates how companies use arbitration clauses as well as damages provisions to coerce their staff. Arbitration is not just a shield that employers may use to insulate themselves from legal claims brought by their workers, Seligman, who directs the legal non-profit Towards Justice, said in an interview. Employers use arbitration as a sword as a way to undermine their workers, to make them feel trapped in their jobs and shift onto them additional extraordinary costs and fees, all because they have exercised their fundamental right to leave their job. Employees are less likely to get a fair hearing in arbitration, Seligman said, in part because employers like the staffing agencies are repeat clients. Vidal claims in his suit that the American Arbitration Association, which has been administering his case, chose an arbitrator without his input after hed requested more time to respond, and refused his request to reveal how many other Advanced Care Staffing disputes are currently before it. Last year, a US federal judge ruled that a case could proceed against Health Carousel LLC, another staffing agency accused of violating trafficking law via contracts that coerce foreign nurses not to quit. The company has denied wrongdoing. Like in the Health Carousel case, Vidal said he hopes his suit will help spur broader change in the industry. I felt trapped, he said in an interview. Im hoping that they will try to make it better. The case is Vidal v. Advanced Care Staffing, 22-cv-05535, US District Court, Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn) 2022 Bloomberg L.P. In this photo made available from the twitter account of UAE Vice President and Prime Minister and ruler of Dubai, Emirati officials brief Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum about a possible moon mission, Sept. 29, 2020, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The UAE will launch its first lunar rover in November 2022, the mission manager Hamad Al Marzooqi said Monday. Al Marzooqi told The National, a state-linked newspaper, that the Rashid rover, named for Dubai's ruling family, would be launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida sometime between Nov. 9 and Nov. 15. Credit: Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Twitter account via AP, File The United Arab Emirates will launch its first lunar rover in November, the mission manager said Monday. Hamad Al Marzooqi told The National, a state-linked newspaper, that the "Rashid" rover, named for Dubai's ruling family, would be launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida sometime between Nov. 9 and Nov. 15. The exact date will be announced next month, he said. The rover is to be launched aboard a Falcon 9 SpaceX rocket and deposited on the moon by a Japanese ispace lander sometime in March. "We've finished with the testing of the rover and we are happy with the results," Al Marzooqi was quoted as saying. "The rover has been integrated with the lander and it is ready for launch." The lunar mission is part of the UAE's broader strategy to become a major player in the field of space exploration. If the moon mission succeeds, the UAE and Japan would join the ranks of only the U.S., Russia and China as nations that have put a spacecraft on the lunar surface. Already, an Emirati satellite is orbiting Mars to study the red planet's atmosphere. The UAE partnered with Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to launch that probe, which swung into Mars' orbit in February 2021. The Rashid rover is expected to study the lunar surface, mobility on the moon's surface and how different surfaces interact with lunar particles. The 10-kilogram (22-pound) rover will carry two high-resolution cameras, a microscopic camera, a thermal imagery camera, a probe and other devices. The UAE has plans to develop the Middle East's most advanced commercial satellite to produce high-resolution satellite imagery. It has also set the ambitious goal of building a human colony on Mars by 2117. Explore further UAE to send rover to the Moon in 2022 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Jay Majmudar, a research and development engineer in Ashok Gadgil's lab at UC Berkeley, collects a water sample while the Rev. Dennis Hutson observes. Gadgil's lab is collaborating with Hutson and other Allensworth community leaders to field test a new arsenic treatment system that could help provide safe drinking water to California's rural communities. Credit: Adam Lau According to the Rev. Dennis Hutson, people used to love the taste of Allensworth's water. "People used say things like, 'Wow, this is the best water I've ever tasted!'" said Hutson, who owns a farm in the small Central Valley community. "There were even visitors who took gallon jugs of water home with them because they thought it tasted so good." Now, many residents of this historically Black community know that it is not safe to drink water from the wells in their town. Like many areas throughout California, the groundwater beneath Allensworth is tainted with dangerous levels of arsenic, a highly carcinogenic element that can seep into the water table from deposits in the soil and bedrock. While cities and larger municipalities can afford to remove arsenic from their water, many people living in small and rural communities are forced to choose between drinking contaminated tap water or purchasing bottled waterand those with private wells may not even know that their water is unsafe. In collaboration with Hutson and other Allensworth community leaders, engineers at the University of California, Berkeley, are currently field testing a simple and low-cost new arsenic treatment system that is designed to help small, rural communities like Allensworth access arsenic-safe drinking water. Since early June, the systemhoused within a small gray shed on Hutson's farmhas been drawing groundwater from Hutson's agricultural well and reducing its arsenic levels from an extremely toxic 250 parts per billion (ppb) to well below the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) limit of 10 ppb. If the field test continues to be successful, the team hopes to obtain the funding to launch a pilot plant in the Central Valley. "An estimated 300,000 people in California are exposed to arsenic concentrations higher than 10 ppb in their drinking water," said research team leader Ashok Gadgil, professor of civil and environmental engineering at UC Berkeley and senior faculty scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. "For the first time, we'll be treating groundwater with high levels of arsenic at a price local people can afford and in a way that they can operate." As drought and extreme heat from climate change limit California's supply of surface water, more and more municipalities will be relying on groundwater sources that may be contaminated with arsenicand depletion of these upper groundwater aquifers might require reaching into older, deeper aquifers that might be more contaminated. An affordable arsenic treatment system could provide safe and sustainable sources of water for rural communities, while limiting the greenhouse gas emissions involved in bottling and transporting water from other locations. "A lot of communities where the groundwater is high in arsenic have to resort to other solutions, like taking water from a nearby town and not even viewing local water as an option for drinking water," said Logan Smesrud, a senior research and development engineer in Gadgil's lab. "This project is reframing what we can use for drinking water." For Hutson, creating a safe and reliable drinking source of drinking water will be key to helping Allensworththe first town in California to be established by African Americansgrow into a self-sufficient and flourishing community. "I want to see Allensworth thrive as an agricultural community focusing on sustainable, regenerative, organic agriculture," Hutson said. "We need drinking water to not only survive, but thrive." Building a future for a historic town Sun-baked Allensworth is located about 45 miles north of Bakersfield on the ancestral lands of the Yokuts. The community was first founded in 1908 by Col. Allen Allensworth, an African American who escaped slavery to become a chaplain and the highest-ranking Black officer in the U.S. Army. "Colonel Allensworth and a group of people came and founded this community of Allensworth with the premise of being self-governed," Hutson said. "They wanted safety. They wanted to be self-sufficient. And this town thrived as a result." During the 1910s, the community grew to a bustling town of more than 200 people, with its own school district, voting precinct and a variety of small businesses. But as the century wore on, a series of economic setbacksincluding a lack of sufficient irrigation waterled to its slow decline. By mid-century, the population had dwindled to nearly zero. Since the 1970s, community leaders have fought to keep the legacy of Allensworth alive, and the population has slowly rebounded. Allensworth is now home to about 600 people, the majority of whom identify as Latinx and are employed as farmworkers. Hutson and his brother-in-law Kayode Kadara are both members of the Allensworth Progressive Association (APA), an organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for residents of the community. Kadara said that the APA is working to improve the town's water infrastructure and sewer system, build additional housing and increase the availability of healthy food. But access to safe drinking water remains a central challenge. "Almost any place you go in the region here, if they rely on groundwater for domestic use, arsenic is one of the major contaminants," Kadara said. "In our case here, that's our primary contaminant." The Rev. Dennis Hutson waters plants on his farm in Allensworth, Calif. UC Berkeley engineers are collaborating with Hutson and other Allensworth community leaders to field test a new arsenic treatment system that could help provide safe drinking water to California's rural communities. Credit: Adam Lau To bring Allensworth's tap water into compliance with the EPA's limits on arsenic contamination, Kadara said that the community services district draws water from two wells located three miles east of the city, where arsenic levels are much closer to 10 ppb. By blending water from these two sources, the district can usually bring the arsenic levels below to the EPA limitbut exceedances still occur. Because the wells are located near grazing land, the water also occasionally becomes contaminated with bacteria, and residents are required to boil their tap water before drinking it. As a result, many residents choose to drink bottled water or drive to neighboring towns to fill up jugs at water kiosks. This places an extra financial burden on families who are already struggling to make ends meet. "There are people who will have a five-gallon jug, and they will go to Delano, which is 15 miles away from here, to buy water," Hutson said. The APA was first introduced to Gadgil by Tom Tomich, a Distinguished Professor of Sustainability Science and Policy at the University of California, Davis, who visited Allensworth with a group of other educators and philanthropists in 2017. "My brother-in-law, Kayode Kadara [said], 'There is one thing you can do for usdo you know anyone who can get arsenic out of the water?'" Hutson said. "[Dr. Tomich] contacted us about a month, month and a half later, and Dr. Gadgil was on the phone, and we talked and persuaded him to come to Allensworth and employ his technology. We've had a wonderful relationship ever since." From India to California For more than 15 years, Gadgil and his team have been developing low-cost arsenic treatment systems to provide safe water for rural communities. Since 2016, their first treatment plant, at a high school outside of Kolkata, India, has provided affordable, safe drinking water to 3,000 students and members of the local community. The plant was built with grant funding from the Indo-U.S. Science and Technology Forum, and in collaboration with Jadavpur University and an Indian industrial licensee of Gadgil's technology. The industrial licensee has built and is now operating a second treatment plant in India. "The [technology] that we designed for India, near Bangladesh, is highly effective, but slow, low-cost and relatively labor-intensive; it is well suited for the Indian rural poor," Gadgil said. "There, the arsenic concentration in the groundwater is 250 parts per billion, and we bring it down to 3 parts [per billion], and still they can afford it because it costs them 0.8 cents per liter and also provides local employment." While eastern India and Bangladesh have some of the highest levels of arsenic groundwater contamination in the world, additional hot spots appear around the globe, including in the U.S. Here, larger municipalities can use a process called reverse osmosis to remove arsenic and other contaminants from groundwater. However, this process requires both a costly facility and trained staff to run it, both of which can be a hindrance to rural or poor communities. As an example, Gadgil points to the unincorporated community of Lanare, 60 miles northwest of Allensworth, which used state and government funding to build an arsenic treatment facility in 2007. Six months later, the community was forced to shut the facility down because it could not afford the ongoing maintenance costs. Finally in 2019, the state provided an additional $4 million to drill more borewells so the community could have safe drinking water again. "We need to apply our engineering knowledge and creativity to find solutions that are disruptive, that don't follow this pattern where the costs per person just keep going up the fewer people you have," Gadgil said. In 2014, after spending two years field testing the arsenic treatment system in India, current UC Berkeley postdoctoral researcher Siva Bandaru moved from India to California to help Gadgil determine whether the technology could also help provide clean water to rural Central Valley communities. Equipped with a miniature version of the arsenic treatment system that was mounted on wheels for added portability, Bandaru traveled around the state to test the system on arsenic-tainted California groundwater. "Everywhere that we went, we found that this this technology removes arsenic," said Bandaru, who completed a Ph.D. in Gadgil's lab in 2020 before continuing as a postdoctoral researcher. "But we also identified some major challenges in bringing the technology from India to California." First, because water consumption in the U.S. is much higher than in India, the technology would need to be able to remove arsenic from water at a much faster rate, without any loss of performance. Second, to keep costs low, the technology would also need to be able to operate for long periods of time with very little human intervention. Soon after Bandaru joined Gadgil's lab as a graduate student in 2016, the team came up with an idea that could solve both of these problems and potentially make the treatment system viable in rural California. The problem of green rust Gadgil's original arsenic treatment technology, called Electrochemical Arsenic Remediation (ECAR), is based on the same types of electrochemical reactions that power a battery. Each electrochemical reactor consists of two steel plates, an anode and a cathode, which are immersed in water. Running a current across these steel plates frees iron ions, which react with arsenic and dissolved oxygen to form iron oxidealso known as rustand arsenic (V), an oxidized form of the element that is easier to remove from water. The arsenic (V) sticks to the rust, and both can be easily filtered out. The ECAR system running in India is inexpensive, highly effective and produces only a minimal amount of wasteabout one-third of a cup of sludge per person per year. However, it does have some drawbacks. The process is relatively slow, taking approximately 100 minutes to clean 1,000 liters of water. And when running the system continually, impurities and rust can collect on the surface of each of the 32, 1 meter-by-1 meter steel plates, preventing the necessary iron ions from entering the water. Jay Majmudar (left), a research and development engineer in Ashok Gadgil's lab at UC Berkeley, and Eleanor Chin, a graduate student in development engineering at UC Berkeley, operate a new arsenic water treatment system in Allensworth, Calif. Gadgil's lab is collaborating with the Rev. Dennis Hutson and other Allensworth community leaders to field test a new arsenic treatment system that could help provide safe drinking water to California's rural communities. Credit: Adam Lau "In India right now, we have an operator who cleans the plates at the end of every day," Bandaru said. "We cannot afford to have that in California because the labor costs are high, and we want this technology to be so cheap that small low-income communities can afford it." The team found that running higher currents through the plates can speed up the reaction and prevent the buildup of impurities on the electrodes. However, it can also trigger other problemsparticularly, the problem of green rust. When the number of iron ions in the water starts to exceed the number of dissolved oxygen molecules, the iron ions can start to clump together to form an oxide complex called green rust, whichunlike orange rustcan actually hinder the arsenic removal reaction. Because new oxygen molecules can only enter the water by slowly diffusing in from the atmosphere, pumping higher currents through the ECAR system can quickly create too many iron ions and green rust. Bandaru's breakthrough came in the form of a technology called an air cathode. Air cathodes grab oxygen from the air and reduce it to create and release hydrogen peroxide in the water, which can serve an even more powerful role than dissolved oxygen does in the ECAR arsenic removal reaction. By pairing a steel anode with an air cathode, each iron ion that is produced by the steel anode is instantly matched with a molecule of hydrogen peroxide produced by the air cathode. As a result, the reaction is no longer limited by the sluggish diffusion rate of oxygen. "Now, we are no longer relying on the oxygen diffusing from the atmosphere," Bandaru said. "Even if you operate the system at really high current densities, you create an equal number of hydrogen peroxide molecules as iron ions, so you don't have any issues with excess iron accumulating." The new technology, which the team named Air Cathode Assisted Iron Electrocoagulation (ACAIE), can remove arsenic from water 5,000 times faster than ECAR and can be operated continually with very little maintenance. To ensure electrical safety and limit equipment costs, the current ACAIE field trial in Allensworth is only operating 200 times faster than ECAR. During the summer of 2019, while the ACAIE system was still in development, former UC Berkeley graduate student Sara Glade led the first field trial of the arsenic removal technology in Allensworth. The team operated a miniature, 100-liter version of the ECAR system out of a cramped and sweltering shack on Hutson's farm. During the final week of the trial, the team showed that a modified version of the ECAR system, which used added hydrogen peroxide to drive the reaction, could also remove arsenic from Allensworth's water. In May of this year, after delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the team launched the full field trial of ACAIE on Hutson's farm with the support of funds from the state of California. The researchers are also collaborating with UC Berkeley School of Public Health professor Winston Tseng to develop outreach materials to communicate the dangers of arsenic to the local community. "It's a really exciting process, bringing the technology from the lab to the field and then working with the community and developing a relationship with them," Bandaru said. "It's working really well." A future for California's water supply The new arsenic water treatment system consists of five ACAIE reactors followed by a series of filtration steps to remove the arsenic-laden rust. Since early June, the system has been treating approximately 600 liters per houror 3 gallons a minuteof water from Hutson's well. Every hour, a member of Gadgil's team collects a sample of the treated water and takes it to a neighboring shed, where it is tested for arsenic and other measures of water quality. "I think small, mostly rural communities are where this technology could really shine," Smesrud said. "Even at the scale that it's built right now, our treatment system is producing enough water to supply drinking water for a town that's about the size of Allensworth. But it can be scaled up." The water that emerges contains less than 10 ppb of arsenic and meets drinking water standards for turbidity and clearness. However, because the system is yet not approved by the California Environmental Protection Agency or the California State Water Resources Control Board for drinking water treatment, all the water the system treats must be discarded. In addition, the groundwater from Hutson's well has a high salt content, so an additional desalination step would be needed to make it potable. However, Gadgil said that there are thousands of other wells in California that have good drinking water, except for the arsenic, and where the system could be implemented without this additional treatment step. The field trial has funding to operate through the end of the year, after which Gadgil's team will carefully deconstruct the treatment system and return the land on Hutson's farm to its original state. The next step in the project will be to make the system almost fully automated, with an easy "on/off" mechanism and internal automatic process control that will allow it to be monitored and operated remotely. Ideally, such a system would require only about two hours of labor a week, bringing the cost of producing drinking water below that of bottled water, Gadgil said. If such a system becomes a reality, Kadara envisions that it could be used to remove residual arsenic from the water that is currently pumped in from wells outside the community, ensuring that everyone in Allensworth is exposed to as little arsenic as possible, even as climate change threatens the future of the water supply. "As we deal with drought, we've seen water tables droppingand when you have dropping water tables, you have increases in arsenic. So, if we have a process that allows us to use that water for drinking and other potable water use, it's in our best interest to pursue [that]," Kadara said. "We hope this process ends up being a model for communities like ours here in the state and across the world." Explore further Moss capable of removing arsenic from drinking water discovered Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain New research from the University of Massachusetts Amherst concerning "synanthropic" fliesor the non-biting flies that live with usargues that we need to pay far more attention to them as disease carriers. While epidemiologists have focused their attention on the biting flies that can spread diseases by transferring infected blood from host to host, it turns out that what the non-biting flies regurgitate is a far greater risk to human health. "I've been working on synanthropic flies since I was a graduate student in the 1960s," says John Stoffolano, professor of entomology at UMass Amherst's Stockbridge School of Agriculture and the author of a new paper that appeared recently in the journal Insects. "And synanthropic flies have largely been ignored. Blood-feeding flies have taken the limelight, but we should pay attention to the ones that live among us because they get their nutrients from people and animals that shed pathogens in their tears, feces and wounds." To illustrate the point, consider the common house fly. In the course of its day, buzzing in and out of your house, it may feast on a variety of foods: roadkill, animal dung, rotting garbage and quick trips to the sewer buffet. Each time it feeds, it fills its crop. "The crop is like a gas tank," says Stoffolano, "a place to store food before it makes its way into the digestive tract where it will get turned into energy for the fly." Because the crop is a place for storagenot digestionthere are very few digestive enzymes or antimicrobial peptides, both of which would neutralize most pathogens, at work. And so, inadvertently, the crop also becomes a place to store disease-producing pathogens. As the fly then takes off, crop filled, say, with fresh dog feces left on the sidewalk, it gets rid of excess water in its crop by "bubbling," or regurgitating the water out, misting everything it contacts. Let's say that same fly then comes in through your window and lands on the sandwich you're making. Before helping itself to a bite of your grinder, it regurgitates some of what's left in its crop right onto your bread. Along with the crop contents, up comes whatever illness-causing pathogens that fly happen to ingest earlier. It gets worse. Because a fly's crop is one of the cauldrons where microbes develop antibacterial resistance, what gets spewed out onto your food might not respond well to conventional treatments. And yet, we still don't know many of the basics about these flies, as Stoffolano points out. How robust are the immune systems of different synanthropic flies, for instance? Do the flies incubate and encourage the growth of harmful pathogens in their guts, or are they simply transporting diseases from place to place? Are female or male flies better transmitters of pathogens? How do crop volumes vary by species? "It's the little things that cause the problems," Stoffolano says. "Our health depends on paying closer attention to these flies that live with us." Explore further Study shows a single cover crop can outperform mixtures More information: John G. Stoffolano, Synanthropic FliesA Review Including How They Obtain Nutrients, along with Pathogens, Store Them in the Crop and Mechanisms of Transmission, Insects (2022). John G. Stoffolano, Synanthropic FliesA Review Including How They Obtain Nutrients, along with Pathogens, Store Them in the Crop and Mechanisms of Transmission,(2022). DOI: 10.3390/insects13090776 Credit: CC0 Public Domain Aviation's growing impact on the climate crisis requires radical solutions that may upend the industry, according to a new Nature commentary article from the University of California San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy. Globally, the industry generates roughly 1 billion tons of CO 2 per year, which is comparable to Japan, the world's third largest economy. Moreover, emissions from flights have been rising by about 2.5% each year. Without bold solutions, the industry is on track to, over the next 30 years, produce more CO 2 than that of its whole history. While renewable energy has scaled up to replace fossil fuels in power generation and both supply and demand of electric vehicles continues to increase, no carbon-free replacement technologies exist at adequate scale to address pollution from aircraft. "Most strategies that governments and firms are pursuing today rely on familiar technologies. That approach looks shortsighted because many of these technologies don't work at scale," said coauthor David Victor, professor of innovation and public policy at the UC San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy co-director of the Deep Decarbonization Initiative. "Eliminating aviation's impact on global warming requires major disruptions to how the industry operates today. The longer that reality is evaded, the harder it will be to find effective solutions." The Nature piece comes ahead of assembly of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in Montreal, Canada, from Sept. 27 to Oct. 7, where representatives from 193 nations will try to negotiate an industry-wide target for cutting emissions from the sector. Victor and coauthor Steffen Kallbekken of the Center for International Climate Research outline why the two most commonly proposed solutionscleaner fuels and carbon offsettingthat will likely be discussed at the meeting are grossly inadequate. Carbon offsetting is a reduction or removal of emissions of greenhouse gases (e.g., through land restoration or the planting of trees) that is used to compensate for emissions that occur elsewhere. According to the authors, the track record of reliable accounting in these industries is poor. "Even with oversight, forest projects are often plagued by wild assumptions, for example that trees would disappear from these areas in the absence of those projects," they write. On the other hand, cleaner aviation fuel, which currently comes from conventional biofuel feedstocks such as vegetable oils, may be impossible to produce sustainably in sufficient volumes and at low enough prices to replace all jet fuel. Achieving the levels of clean fuel adoption that many governments and firms aim forand doing so sustainablywill require commercializing new production methods and feedstocks that are still technologically in their infancy. And neither of these solutions are sure to address the climate impacts of contrails, which trap heat radiating from the earth's surface, causing warming in the atmosphere below. Solutions should be designed to disrupt In fact, the warming effects of contrails are still poorly understood by climate scientists and therefore given little attention by industry and governments working on decarbonizing aviation. It's possible that the effects are small and could be largely managed by rerouting aircraft around the weather conditions that generate the worst contrails. But the effects could also be massiveup to half the total climate impact of aviation, according to some studiesand require entirely new aviation technologies and approaches to cutting the impact of aviation on the climate. The study argues that addressing contrails may require profound overhauling of engines, airframes and onboard storagebig, costly and financially risky decisions. The authors urge for more experimentation to test what really could workbacked by government policies and industry collaborations. "Resistance to efforts disruptive to the industry's status quo are understandable because airlines often operate on razor thin margins," Victor added. "A growing number of airlines want to do something about climate but are stuck with few practical options." Victor and Kallbekken recommend three steps for the industry to take to create bold solutions to address a warming planet. First, the industry and government need to do their homework. They must become more aware of the risks associated with the current approach to aviation's role in the climate crisis. Second, small collaborations between the most motivated governments and firms could be formed to take risks on new technologies, which could, in turn, inspire others to follow their lead. For example, a partnership between the Norwegian government and businesses is underway to create test bed for electric airplanes. The authors provide concrete strategies of how other collaborations could be established to potentially ignite other advances. For example, such groups, by sharing costs and risk, could invest in more varied response strategies, including hydrogen, electricity and a cleaner, more scalable version of sustainable aviation fuel. They look to Europe to take the lead since European governments are already highly motivated to take the climate problem seriously. Finally, the authors underscore how essential research is to better understand contrails and chemical interactions in the atmosphere. It could also provide solutions technologically, economically and politically. Explore further Why the aviation industry must look beyond carbon to get serious about climate change More information: Steffen Kallbekken et al, A cleaner future for flightaviation needs a radical redesign, Nature (2022). Journal information: Nature Steffen Kallbekken et al, A cleaner future for flightaviation needs a radical redesign,(2022). DOI: 10.1038/d41586-022-02963-7 Graphical abstract. Credit: Tokyo Tech Perovskite solar cells have been the subject of much research as the next generation of photovoltaic devices. However, many challenges remain to be overcome for the practical application. One of them concerns the hole transport layer (p-type semiconductor) in photovoltaic cells that carries holes generated by light to the electrode. In conventional p-type organic transport semiconductors, hole dopants are chemically reactive and degrade the photovoltaic device. Inorganic p-type semiconductors, which are chemically stable, are promising alternatives, but fabrication of conventional inorganic p-type semiconductors requires high temperature treatment. In this regard, the p-type inorganic semiconductors that can be fabricated at low temperatures and have excellent hole transport ability have been desired. Inorganic p-type copper iodide (CuI) semiconductor is a leading candidate for such hole transport materials in photovoltaic device applications. In this material, native defects give rise to charge imbalance and free charge carriers. However, the overall number of defects is generally too low for satisfactory device performance. Adding impurities with acceptor (positively charged) or donor (negatively charged) properties, known as "impurity doping," is the gold standard method for bolstering the transport properties of semiconductors and the device performance. In conventional methods, ions with lower valency than the constituent atoms have been used as such impurities. However, in Cu(I)-based semiconductors, there is no ion with a valence lower than that of monovalent copper ions (zero valence), and thus a p-type doping in copper compounds has not been established. To propose a new carrier doping design for p-type doping in CuI, researchers from Japan and U.S. recently focused on the alkali impurity effect, which has been empirically used for hole doping in copper monovalent semiconductors, copper oxide (Cu 2 O) and Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 . In a novel approach outlined in a study published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, the team, led by Dr. Kosuke Matsuzaki from Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech), Japan, demonstrated experimentally that p-type doping with alkali ion impurities, which has the same valence as copper but larger size, can improve conductivity in Cu(I)-based semiconductors. The theoretical analyses show that the complex defects, which are composed of alkali ion impurity and vacancies of copper ions, are an origin of hole generation (p-type conductivity). While alkali metal impurities are known to increase the carrier concentration in copper oxide, the underlying mechanism remained a mystery to scientists, until now. This mechanism has now been elucidated, as Dr. Matsuzaki explains, "Using a combination of experimental studies and theoretical analysis, we managed to uncover the effect of the alkali impurities in Cu(I)-based semiconductors. The alkali metal Na impurity interacts with neighboring Cu ions in Cu 2 O to form defect complexes. The complexes, in turn, lead to be a source of holes." As an impurity is added to the crystal structure, electrostatic Coulomb repulsion between the impurity and neighboring Cu ions pushes the Cu atoms from their positions in the structure and leads to the formation of multiple acceptor-type copper vacancies. This, in turn, increases the total p-type carrier concentration and, consequently, p-type conductivity. "Our simulations show that it is critical that the impurity is somewhat larger for vacant spaces in the crystal lattice to invoke electrostatic repulsion. For alkali impurities smaller, for example lithium, the impurity ions fall into the interstitial sites and do not sufficiently deform the crystal lattice," elaborates Dr. Matsuzaki. Based on the p-type doping mechanism to form acceptor-type Cu vacancy defect complex, the team investigated larger alkaline ions, such as potassium, rubidium, and cesium (Cs), as acceptor impurities in -CuI. Among them, the Cs ions could bind even more Cu vacancies, leading to even greater concentration of stable charge carriers (10131019 cm-3) both in single crystals and thin-films prepared from the solution. "This suggests that the method can be used to fine-tune carrier concentrations under low-temperature processing for specific applications and devices. This would allow a whole new range of applications for these p-type materials," concludes Matsuzaki. Indeed, the development could be a major leap forward for copper(I)-based semiconductors, and could soon lead to their practical applications in solar cells and optoelectronic devices. Explore further Transparent electronics research gains momentum More information: Kosuke Matsuzaki et al, Hole-Doping to a Cu(I)-Based Semiconductor with an Isovalent Cation: Utilizing a Complex Defect as a Shallow Acceptor, Journal of the American Chemical Society (2022). Journal information: Journal of the American Chemical Society Kosuke Matsuzaki et al, Hole-Doping to a Cu(I)-Based Semiconductor with an Isovalent Cation: Utilizing a Complex Defect as a Shallow Acceptor,(2022). DOI: 10.1021/jacs.2c06283 Artists depiction of Late Cretaceous oviraptorosaurs, hadrosaurs, and tyrannosaurs living in central China. Credit: IVPP Nearly 66 million years ago, a large asteroid hit Earth and contributed to the global extinction of dinosaurs, leaving birds as their only living descendants. Scientists know that a wide variety of dinosaurs lived around the world at the end of the Cretaceous period just before their extinction. However, scientists have debated whether dinosaurs were at their zenith or already in decline prior to their demise. In other words, did dinosaurs go out with a bang or a whimper? Researchers from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, along with their collaborators, now have an answer. They've found evidence to support the hypothesis that dinosaurs were not very diverse before their extinction and had declined overall during the last part of the Cretaceous. Their findings were published in PNAS on Sept. 19. Most of the scientific data on the last days of the dinosaurs come from North America. Although some published studies suggest that dinosaur populations there were thriving quite well before extinction, other more detailed research has suggested that dinosaurs were instead in decline, which set the stage for their eventual mass extinction. By examining the dinosaur record in China, the Chinese researchers hoped to determine whether this declining trend extended to Asia as well. The researchers studied over 1,000 fossilized dinosaur eggs and eggshells from the Shanyang Basin in central China. These fossils came from rock sequences with a total thickness of ~150 meters. The researchers obtained detailed age estimates of the rock layers by analyzing and applying computer modeling to over 5,500 geological samples. This allowed the scientists to create a timeline of nearly 2 million years at the end of the Cretaceouswith a resolution of 100,000 yearsrepresenting the period right before extinction. This timeline allows direct comparisons with data from around the world. The scientists identified a decline in dinosaur diversity based on the Shanyang Basin data. For example, the 1,000 dinosaur egg fossils collected from the basin represent only three different species: Macroolithus yaotunensis, Elongatoolithus elongatus, and Stromatoolithus pinglingensis. In addition, two of the three dinosaur eggs oospecies are from a group of toothless dinosaurs known as oviraptors, while the other is from the plant-eating hadrosaurid group (also known as duck-billed dinosaurs). A few additional dinosaur bones from the region show that tyrannosaur and sauropod also lived in the area between about 66.4 and 68.2 million years ago. This low diversity of dinosaur species was sustained in central China for the last 2 million years before the mass extinction. The small number of dinosaurs in the Shanyang Basin and central China is far from the world depicted in Jurassic Park. These resultsin concert with data from North Americasuggest that dinosaurs were probably declining globally before their extinction. This worldwide, long-term decline in dinosaur diversity through the end of the Cretaceous Period and sustained low number of dinosaur lineages for the last few million years may have resulted from known global climate fluctuations and massive volcanic eruptions, i.e., from the Deccan Traps in India. These factors may have led to ecosystem-wide instability, thus making non-bird dinosaurs vulnerable to mass extinction coincident with the asteroid impact. Explore further When did dinosaurs go extinct? The theories on how it happened and what survived More information: Low dinosaur biodiversity in central China 2 million years prior to the end-Cretaceous mass extinction, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2022). Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Low dinosaur biodiversity in central China 2 million years prior to the end-Cretaceous mass extinction,(2022). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2211234119 Cilia are highly complex transport hubs. Defects can lead to diseases e.g. cystic kidneys or blindness. Credit: University of Basel, Biozentrum Cilia are small hair-like organelles that extend from cells and perform many functions, including motility and signaling. Researchers have now revealed that cilia have a specialized transport hub at their base, where trains and cargos are assembled for transport throughout the cilia. Since defects in this cilia transport system can lead to conditions such as cystic kidneys or blindness, the results published in Science also provide new insights into the molecular basis for a variety of diseases. Cilia perform numerous functions for the cell: they help cells swim, move fluid, and send messages to each other. Cilia ensure that we can see, they remove substances from the lungs, move fluid in the brain, and enable us to perceive smells and sound. They are also essential for our development and the correct arrangement of our organs. If their function is disturbed, a wide variety of diseases can result, including heart, kidney, and lung diseases, blindness or infertility. The assembly and function of cilia relies on large trains of proteins that carry important cargos out to the ciliary tip and back to the base. Even the smallest mutations in individual components can paralyze the traffic inside cilia. The research team led by Professor Ben Engel at the Biozentrum of the University of Basel together with colleagues at the University of Geneva and the research institute Human Technopole in Milan has now succeeded in examining cilia in their natural environment. Their analysis revealed the native 3D structure of the ciliary base for the first time. Here, they discovered a busy transport hub, with trains being assembled and loaded in preparation for their journey into the cilia. Loading station for cilia transport Cilia are firmly anchored to the cell at their base. "Here is the start station for cilia transport," explains Hugo van den Hoek, first author of the study. "Trains are assembled here, loaded with cargo and placed on the rails." There are a total of nine different rails inside cilia, called microtubules. Each of them consists of two tracks, one for outbound trains and one for inbound. The trains transport proteins such as signaling molecules and building materials to the tip of the cilia. At their destination station, the train is unloaded and disassembled. The team examined the composition of the assembling trains in detail, revealing the order with which the train components are put together at the ciliary base. They also imaged structures at the base that serve as a selective barrier. "This regulates the entry of large trains until they are fully assembled and loaded with the cargo proteins required for the construction and maintenance of the cilia," says van den Hoek. "From fluorescence microscopy, we also know the exact timetable of the trains. Trains leave the start station within nine seconds, and then the whole train assembly process starts again." Organelles in 3D The researchers resolved the structure and composition of the ciliary base with the help of two complementary imaging methods. The research groups of Ben Engel in Basel and Dr. Gaia Pigino in Milan performed cryo-electron tomography, which reveals native cellular structures with exquisite molecular detail. Researchers headed by Dr. Virginie Hamel and Professor Paul Guichard in Geneva added data from Expansion Microscopy, which allowed numerous proteins to be localized and mapped onto the tomography structures. "This powerful combination of technologies has allowed us to reconstruct the first molecular model of the ciliary base and observe how it regulates the assembly and entry of these large protein trains," explains Paul Guichard. "Understanding the transport system and its logistics in detail helps us understand how cilia are built and function, which may also provide new ideas for therapies to cilia diseases," says Ben Engel. In a next step, he and his collaborators would like to examine what happens at the ciliary tip: how this end station is structured and how the return transport is organized. Explore further Insight on molecular regulation of cilium structure and composition More information: Hugo van den Hoek et al, In situ architecture of the ciliary base reveals the stepwise assembly of intraflagellar transport trains, Science (2022). Journal information: Science Hugo van den Hoek et al, In situ architecture of the ciliary base reveals the stepwise assembly of intraflagellar transport trains,(2022). DOI: 10.1126/science.abm6704 Continued efforts over the past decade have steered China's industrial sector toward high-quality and sustainable development as industrial production steadily increased and manufacturing capabilities gradually improved. The following data from the National Bureau of Statistics has provided an overall picture of the remarkable achievements of the industrial sector in the period, which serves as not only a key pillar of the world's second-largest economy but also a vital driver of the global manufacturing industry. Growing industrial prowess Despite challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic, sluggish global economic growth, and the wave of deglobalization, China has sustained sound growth momentum in industrial growth and demonstrated enhanced capability in resisting shocks. The value-added industrial output, an important indicator measuring industrial activities, rose to 37.3 trillion yuan (about 5.38 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2021 from over 20 trillion yuan in 2012, according to a report from the bureau. During the 2013-2021 period, China's value-added industrial output grew at an average annual growth rate of 6.1 percent, much higher than the level of other major economies. Apart from its massive size and rapid growth, China's industrial sector also showed great resilience in the face of unexpected risks. It took the lead globally in rebounding from the COVID-19 fallout as China effectively coordinated COVID-19 response with economic and social development, according to the report. Industrial firms with an annual business turnover of at least 20 million yuan saw their operating revenues in 2021 jump 18 percent from 2020. Their profits logged a sharp increase of 27.2 percent. Advanced manufacturing An underlying logic in China's industrial development over the past 10 years is the country's commitment to upgrading its industrial structure -- to make the sector not only big but also smart and tech-savvy. From 2013 to 2021, the added value of the equipment manufacturing sector and the high-tech manufacturing sector climbed at an average annual growth rate of 9.2 percent and 11.6 percent, respectively, the report said. New types of industrial products constantly pop up thanks to the application of cutting-edge technologies and the digital transformation of industrial firms. China produced 366,000 industrial robots in 2021, a rapid increase of 67.9 percent from the previous year, while the output of optoelectronic devices rose 24.1 percent year on year to 1.2 trillion pieces. Chinese consumers' growing demand for premium goods also brought new opportunities to enterprises. The output of new energy vehicles, a typical example in this regard, skyrocketed 145.6 percent year on year to 3.68 million units last year. Vitality of market entities All types of industrial firms expanded in the past ten years amid the country's efforts to reduce taxes and fees and improve the business environment. In 2021, the total profits of major state-owned enterprises came in at 2.3 trillion yuan, surging 50 percent from 2012, data from the report showed. The private firms also posted a strong performance during the period, with better capacity in gaining profits and offering jobs. The total profits of major private industrial companies jumped 44.4 percent from 2012 to 2.9 trillion yuan last year. These companies employed 35.82 million people in 2021, an increase of 14.7 percent from 2012. Meanwhile, policy support has been given to small businesses to provide an encouraging environment for their development. China had more than 400,000 major small and medium-sized industrial firms in 2021. Their profits amounted to 4.7 trillion yuan, an increase of 26.7 percent from 2012, the data showed. Credit: Jarrad Kowlessar/courtesy of Gumurr Marthakal Indigenous Rangers Climate change is rapidly intensifying. Amid the chaos and damage it wreaks, many precious Indigenous heritage sites in Australia and around the world are being destroyed at an alarming rate. Sea-level rise, flooding, worsening bushfires and other human-caused climate events put many archaeological and heritage sites at risk. Already, culturally significant Indigenous sites have been lost or are gravely threatened. For example, in Northern Australia, rock art tens of thousands of years old has been destroyed by cyclones, bushfires and other extreme weather events. And as we outline below, ancestral remains in the Torres Strait were last year almost washed away by king tides and storm surge. These examples of loss are just the beginning, unless we act. By combining Indigenous Traditional Knowledge with Western scientific approaches, communities can prioritize what heritage to save. Indigenous heritage on the brink Indigenous Australians are one of the longest living cultures on Earth. They have maintained their cultural and sacred sites for millennia. In July, Traditional Owners from across Australia attended a workshop on disaster risk management at Flinders University. The participants, who work on Country as cultural heritage managers and rangers, hailed from as far afield as the Torres Strait Islands and Tasmania. Australias ancient landscapes are a treasure trove of Indigenous heritage. Pictured: Mithaka Country in remote Queensland. Credit: Shawnee Gorringe/courtesy of Mithaka Aboriginal Corporation Here, three of these Traditional Owners describe cultural heritage losses they've witnessed, or fear will occur in the near future. Enid Tom, Kaurareg Elder and a director of Kaurareg Native Title Aboriginal Corporation: Coastal erosion and seawater inundation have long threatened the Torres Strait. But now efforts to deal with the problem have taken on new urgency. In February last year, king tides and a storm surge eroded parts of a beach on Muralug (or Prince of Wales) Island. Aboriginal custodians and archaeologists rushed to one site where a female ancestor was buried. They excavated the skeletal remains and reburied them at a safe location. It was the first time such a site had been excavated at the island. Kaurareg Elders now worry coastal erosion will uncover and potentially destroy more burial sites. Excavations of an ancestral burial eroded by king tides in the Torres Strait. Credit: Michael Westaway, UQ/ courtesy of Kaurareg Native Title Aboriginal Corporation Marcus Lacey, Senior Gumurr Marthakal Indigenous Ranger: The Marthakal Indigenous Protected Area covers remote islands and coastal mainland areas in the Northern Territory's North Eastern Arnhem Land. It has an average elevation of just one meter above sea level, and is highly vulnerable to climate change-related hazards such as severe tropical cyclones and sea level rise. The area is the last remnant of the ancient land bridge joining Australia with Southeast Asia. As such, it can provide valuable information about the first colonization of Australia by First Nations people. It is also an important place for understanding contact history between Aboriginal Australians and the Indonesian Maccassans, dating back some 400 years. What's more, the area provides insights into Australia's colonial history, such as Indigenous rock art depicting the ships of British navigator Matthew Flinders. Sea level rise and king tides mean this valuable piece of Australia's history is now being eroded. Slabs of rock containing ancient Indigenous art have fallen into the sand. Credit: Jarrad Kowlessar, Flinders University/courtesy of Gumurr Marthakal Indigenous Rangers Shawnee Gorringe, operations administrator at Mithaka Aboriginal Corporation: On Mithaka land, in remote Queensland, lie important Indigenous heritage sites such as stone circles, fireplaces and examples of traditional First Nations water management infrastructure. But repeated drought risks destroying these sitesa threat compounded by erosion from over-grazing. To help solve these issues, we desperately need Indigenous leadership and participation in decision-making at local, state and federal levels. This is the only way to achieve a sustainable future for environmental and heritage protection. Mithaka Aboriginal Corporation general manager Joshua Gorringe has been invited to the United Nations' COP27 climate conference in Egypt in November. This is a step in the right direction. So what now? The loss of Indigenous heritage to climate change requires immediate action. This should involve rigorous assessment of threatened sites, prioritizing those most at risk, and taking steps to mitigate damage. Remains of a traditional Indigenous fireplace currently at risk of destruction. Credit: Shawnee Gorringe/courtesy of Mithaka Aboriginal Corporation This work should be undertaken not only by scientists, engineers and heritage workers, but first and foremost by the Indigenous communities themselves, using Traditional Knowledge. Last year's COP26 global climate conference included a climate heritage agenda. This allowed global Indigenous voices to be heard. But unfortunately, Indigenous heritage is often excluded from discussions about climate change. Addressing this requires doing away with the usual "top down" Western, neo-colonial approach which many Indigenous communities see as exclusive and ineffective. Instead, a "bottom up" approach should be adopted through inclusive and long-term initiatives such as Caring for Country. This approach should draw on Indigenous knowledgeoften passed down orallyof how to manage risk. This should be combined with Western climate science, as well as the expertise of governments and other organizations. Incorporating Indigenous knowledge into cultural heritage policies and procedures will not just improve heritage protection. It would empower Indigenous communities in the face of the growing climate emergency. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. A smokestack stands at a coal plant on Wednesday, June 22, 2022, in Delta, Utah. On Monday, Sept. 19, the worlds first public database of fossil fuel production, reserves and emissions launches. It shows that the United States and Russia have enough fossil fuel reserves to exhaust the worlds remaining carbon budget to stay under 1.5 degrees Celsius warming. Credit: AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File A first-of-its-kind database for tracking the world's fossil fuel production, reserves and emissions launched on Monday to coincide with climate talks taking place at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The Global Registry of Fossil Fuels includes data from over 50,000 oil, gas and coal fields in 89 countries, covering 75% of global reserves, production and emissions. The tool is available for public use, a first for a collection this size. There was already private data available for purchase, and analysis of the world's fossil fuel usage and reserves. The International Energy Agency also maintains public data on oil, gas and coal, but it focuses on the demand for those fossil fuels, whereas the new database includes fuels still underground. The registry was developed by Carbon Tracker, a nonprofit think tank that researches the energy transition's effect on financial markets, and Global Energy Monitor, an organization that tracks a variety of energy projects around the globe. It allows anyone with a computer and internet access to look at coal, oil and gas reserves with a resolution that hasn't been possible before. Users can see the carbon dioxide emissions they would generate if burnedat a global, country or field level. Demonstrators from Extinction Rebellion push a cart in the shape of the climate target "1.5" in Berlin, Germany on Oct. 24, 2021. On Monday, Sept. 19, the worlds first public database of fossil fuel production, reserves and emissions launches. It shows that the United States and Russia have enough fossil fuel reserves to exhaust the worlds remaining carbon budget to stay under 1.5 degrees Celsius warming. Credit: Annette Riedl/dpa via AP, File They can get a sense of the role fossil fuel production has played in different economies. They can simulate transitioning away from fossil fuels under four scenarios: continuing current trends, governments keeping pledges they've made, governments following sustainable development goals set by the United Nations, and the world achieving net zero by 2050. "It is a first-ever full transparency, open source, available-to-all kind of tool," said Inger Andersen, executive director of the United Nations Environment Program, in a press briefing about the registry on Monday. "And as you build it out, we from UNEP will be mining it for every bit we can find, so that we, too, can use it." Mark Campanale, founder of Carbon Tracker, said he hopes the registry will empower groups to hold governments accountable, for example, when they issue licenses for fossil fuel extraction. "Civil society groups have got to get more of a focus on what governments are planning to do in terms of license issuance, both for coal and oil and gas, and actually begin to challenge this permitting process," Campanale told The Associated Press. The release of the database and an accompanying analysis of the collected data coincide with two sets of climate talks at the international levelthe U.N. General Assembly in New York that opened Monday, and COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, in November. The Data like what's being released in the registry could arm environmental and climate groups to pressure national leaders to agree to stronger policies that result in less carbon emissions. A flare burns at Venture Global LNG in Cameron, La., on April 21, 2022. On Monday, Sept. 19, the worlds first public database of fossil fuel production, reserves and emissions launches. It shows that the United States and Russia have enough fossil fuel reserves to exhaust the worlds remaining carbon budget to stay under 1.5 degrees Celsius warming. Credit: AP Photo/Martha Irvine, File And we're in dire need of carbon reductions, Campanale said. In their analysis, the developers found that the United States and Russia have enough fossil fuel underground to exhaust the world's remaining carbon budget. That's the carbon the world can afford to emit before a certain amount of warming occurs, in this case 1.5 degrees Celsius. It also shows these reserves would generate 3.5 trillion tons of greenhouse gas emissions, which is more than all of the emissions produced since the Industrial Revolution. "We already have enough extractable fossil fuels to cook the planet. We can't afford to use them allor almost any of them at this point," said Rob Jackson, a Stanford University climate scientist who was not involved with the database. "I like the emphasis on transparency in fossil fuel production and reserves, down to specific projects. That's a unique aspect to the work." Jackson compared the global carbon budget to a bathtub. A man pushes a stroller near the AES power plant in Redondo Beach, Calif., Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2022. On Monday, Sept. 19, the worlds first public database of fossil fuel production, reserves and emissions launches. It shows that the United States and Russia have enough fossil fuel reserves to exhaust the worlds remaining carbon budget to stay under 1.5 degrees Celsius warming. Credit: AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File "You can run water only so long before the tub overflows," he said. When the tub is close to overflowing, he said, governments can turn down the faucet (mitigating greenhouse gas emissions) or open the tub's drain more (removing carbon from the atmosphere). Campanale said the hope is the investment community, "who ultimately own these corporations," will use the data to begin to challenge the investment plans of companies still planning to expand oil, gas and coal projects. "Companies like Shell and Exxon, Chevron and their shareholders can use the analysis to to really begin to try and push the companies to move in a completely different direction." Explore further Stranded assets could exact steep costs on fossil energy producers and investors 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. The thunder had passed but the wind remained, whipping in the darkness through the prairie grass, over the little hills and scattered oak trees to Brian Winter's field blind. The retired ecologist waited for dawn. In the soft light, still muddled by storm clouds, Winter watched the grass of a ridge in front of him. Swans glided in a pond just beyond it. A hawk circled out in the distance over a vast western Minnesota prairie. Winter looked worried. For the first time in decades, for some reasonmaybe the storm or that circling hawkthe prairie chickens were not there. An hour passed. "Never in my 30 years," Winter said. People from all over the country and beyond come to Clay County each spring to watch the prairie chickens and their mating dance. Winter leads them, morning after morning, to the Nature Conservancy's viewing blindsone small tent in between two wood shelters. The birds are so predictable that the blinds were built just 15 feet from where they "boom"perform for each other to prove their virility and attract a hen. For some lifelong birders, greater prairie chickens are near the top of a list of must-see species. For others, the goofy and proud dancing birds are a gateway drug that pulls them deeper into the awe and plight of wildlife and the natural world. The birds arrive every spring, just before and after sunrise to that exact spot, which is mowed each fall to the short shin-high grass they need to see each other. They will get spooked if they see people walking toward them, Winter said. But they always come back. At least, they always used to. The blind began to warm as the sun rose higher. Winter, wearing a cap that read "Our business is booming!" started second-guessing every action he and his group took that morning. With him were a young couple, an amateur photographer, a TV camera crew, two reporters and a handful of bird watchers there to see prairie chickens for the first time. Did they park too close, arrive too late? Winter wondered whether, early that morning before he or anyone else made it to the blinds, a falcon or hawk had attacked and killed one of the birds, sending them back into cover. "They're going to be really spooked for a while if that's what happened," he said. The state's prairie chicken population has dwindled to about 5,000, a tiny fraction of what it was. Prairie chickens were once so common in Minnesota their flocks formed black clouds in the sky, casting shadows on the grasslands. As their name suggests, they were a prized source of food, although they have little else in common with the poultry for which they were named. Historical photos show satisfied hunters, guns at their sides, with dozens of the birds hanging on a string. Winter, 63, with a boyish smile and moppy white hair, helped save the land east of Fargo-Moorhead near the farm town of Glyndon where he now watches for the birds. He spent most of his career as prairie stewardship director with the Nature Conservancy, which restored the 6,500-acre Bluestem Prairie Preserveone of the last and most significant northern tallgrass prairies left in the nation. But look at the preserve on a map today and you'll see a small island of green, a speck of nature amid one of the most altered landscapes on the globe. It is surrounded by an ocean of mono-crop farms, heavily tilled, for soybean and corn. It's one of the only pockets of Minnesota's prairie that hasn't been plowed or paved. With its habitat destroyed, the state's prairie chicken population has dwindled to about 5,000, a tiny fraction of what it was. They are largely cut off from one another, confined to whichever corner of surviving grassland they were born in. The booming grounds, once a gravel pit, were carefully restored by the Nature Conservancy and the birds moved in, liking it better than a field they'd been booming in about a quarter-mile away. On some early mornings, when the sky is clear, Winter can see the lights of Fargo from the blind. It is amazing, he said, to think of all that modern world existing so close to something as natural, ancient and mesmerizing as a prairie chicken boom. "They would never know something like this is happening here," he said. Many attempts have been made to reintroduce the birds, by capturing them from healthy populations and releasing them into restored habitat. But few have led to any long-term success. The best hope is to keep existing populations safe and expand the preserved land around them so they can naturally spread to other enclaves, keeping gene pools diverse. Scientists don't know the magic number needed to survive and boom to keep a population going. They know what can happen, because of another bird whose enormous flocks once blocked out the sky. A man named James Varney went out to hunt prairie chickens on a September morning in 1899 in Babcock, Wis.about 400 miles from the future Bluestem Preserve. Instead he came across a field of turtledoves. A few rested in a tree. Varney raised his shotgun and took down the biggest one he could see, according to a firsthand account from a member of the hunting group. But when held dead in Varney's hand, the hunters saw it wasn't a dove. It was a passenger pigeon. In its desperation the young bird apparently sought the safety of any flock it could find. Passenger pigeons once ruled the flyway, soaring together by the hundreds of millions. Settlers shot them down, and the population collapsed so quickly it became clear the species relied on high numbers and had passed a point of no return. Varney's prey was the last passenger pigeon anyone would see in the Upper Midwest. Fifteen years later, with the death of a passenger pigeon at the Cincinnati Zoo, the animal was declared extinct. Winter, and a host of others involved with the Minnesota Prairie Chicken Society, hope that preserves like Bluestem will keep prairie chickens from a similar fate. There was a roll of thunder and distant lightning. Winter fidgeted in his seat as though he had just been asked to give a report on a book he hadn't read. It had been hours since the sun rose. "This is a first for me in my career," he said. "I do not understand what is going on. This is confusing me right... Oh, there's one! I see him now." Something moved in the tall grass. Up popped a small dark head. Then another, then three. Then they stepped onto the mating grounds. At first it was just a handful, then 15. They fanned out and lined up as if ordered by a drill sergeant. There were no females yet. Relieved but trying to keep quiet, Winter couldn't help but laugh. "I have guaranteed this to so many people," he said. "If they didn't show up I was going to have go down there and drag them out." The birds filled the grounds with their sounda two-note song, almost alienand echoed and repeated the notes like chanting monks. Then they darted at each other, charging with their heads forward, fighting for a puzzle piece of space on the booming grounds. They jumped a foot in the air, cackled, puffed out their orange neck pouches and drummed the ground with their feet, desperate to be seen by a hen. They raised up their long neck feathers, called pinnae, until they stood erect like two pointed victory ears. There was more swooping and cackling. The pecking and fighting serves an underhanded purpose, too, Winter said. Not only are they claiming territory, but if they can mess up the other guy's feathers or wing, or cause him to limp a little when a hen appears, they may ruin his chances to mate and increase their own. A hen arrived. The males went into full-throated fury, jumping higher, booming louder. She sauntered by, as though they were barren stalks of corn swaying in the wind. Three tried harder than most, following her about 50 yards through the field as she meandered. Two more hens showed, with similar results. If a hen is interested, she plops down in the grass next to the male and makes herself available. These hens all wandered away. There would be no mating that day. It was late in the morning then, and Winter needed to start the Minnesota Prairie Chicken Society's annual conference to talk about threats and hopes, successes and failures. He opened the blind door and the birds scattered, disappearing once again into cover. Theyand their human fanswould return the next dawn. As long as there is tallgrass prairie, with small breaks of shin-high grass, they always will. Explore further Greater prairie chickens cannot persist in Illinois without help, researchers report 2022 StarTribune. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Western India was struck by the "Deccan famine" between 1630 and 1632 as crops failed after three consecutive years of Indian monsoon failures. While traveling through the region, Peter Mundy, an English merchant with the East India Company, vividly described the traumatic scenes of starvation, mass mortality, and even cannibalism in his travelog. In fact, such scenes of catastrophic drought-induced famines are widely noted in historical documentary sources suggesting that the Indian subcontinent has frequently experienced multi-year to decade-long severe droughts unlike any observed in the last 150 years when the reliable measurements of monsoon rainfall became available. Nonetheless, the historical accounts are scattered, subjective, and their veracity cannot be always confirmed. Writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, an international team of researchers has developed a new record of the past Indian monsoon drought history that spans much of the past millennium. "Our monsoon drought history is in striking synchrony with the historical evidence of droughts and provides important climatic context against which the key geopolitical and societal changes can now be assessed," noted Dr. Gayatri Kathayat, the lead author of the study and an associate professor at the Xi'an Jiaotong University (XJTU) in China. The team built their monsoon record by analyzing the oxygen isotopes in stalagmites from a remote cave in northeast India. All the analyses were conducted in the Institute of Global Climate Change at XJTU led by Professor Hai Cheng, a leading expert in the radiometric dating of cave formations and a senior author of this study. Hai Cheng said, "This is the first ultra-high-resolution record of its kind from India that allows a direct comparison with the available historical documentary sources of droughts due to its unprecedented dating accuracy." The new study suggests plausible links between the multi-year droughts and significant societal and geopolitical changes in India during the past millennium. The paleoclimate data reveal that the most severe weakening of the Indian monsoon during the past millennium occurred between the 1780s and 1810s, which is strongly corroborated by the available historical accounts from this period that describe at least 11 famines, six of which, including the dreaded Chalisa and Doji Bara or Skull Famines, occurred between ~1782 and 1792 CE with a combined estimated death toll in the excess of 11 million. Another multi-decadal period of frequent droughts from the 1590s to 1630s detected from the stalagmite record coincided with the collapse of the Guge kingdom in western Tibet and the abandonment of Fatehpur Sikri in north Indiaone of the largest cities of its time that briefly served as the capital of the Mughal Empire (c. 1571 to 1585 CE) before it was completely abandoned by 1610 possibly in response to crippling droughts that affected the city's water supply infrastructure. "Our study shows that protracted droughts, that is those lasting at least three years or longer, tend to occur in clusters within decades-long intervals of weaker monsoon rainfall that are separated by centuries-long periods of relatively stable climatic conditionsmuch like the conditions during the last 150 years where such protracted droughts are essentially absent," said Professor Ashish Sinha of California State University Dominguez Hills. The research team cautioned that "the lack of multi-year consecutive monsoon failures during the instrumental era may provide a false sense of comfort that protracted droughts are not intrinsic aspects of Indian monsoon variability." "Unfortunately, this seemingly reassuring, but myopic view currently informs the region's water resource infrastructure policies. If such protracted droughts were to reoccur in the future, they can easily overwhelm the adaptive capabilities of modern societies unless a longer-term and holistic understanding of monsoon variability is incorporated into the region's drought management and mitigation planning," said Dr. Kathayat. Explore further Some droughts during the Indian monsoon are due to unique North Atlantic disturbances More information: Protracted Indian monsoon droughts of the past millennium and their societal impacts, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2022). Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Protracted Indian monsoon droughts of the past millennium and their societal impacts,(2022). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2207487119 Provided by Xi'an Jiaotong University Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Massive layoffs in times of crisis can lead to a surge in crime, according to a study by Diogo Britto, Paolo Pinotti (both at Bocconi Baffi-CAREFIN's CLEAN center), and Breno Sampaio (Federal University of Pernambuco) published in Econometrica. Thus, active labor market policies aimed at speeding up the return of workers to jobs are even more urgently needed. Exploiting individual-level data on the universe of male workers and criminal cases in Brazil over the 20092017 period, the authors observed that losing a job due to a massive layoff leads to a 23% increase in the probability of criminal prosecution. The probability of prosecution immediately spikes at job loss and remains constant for the following years, unless the worker is covered by the national unemployment insurance, that grants 80% of the salary for the three to five months following displacement. Even in this case, though, the mitigating effect vanishes when the insurance expires. The observed effect reflects a rise in both economically motivated crimes (+43%) and violent crimes (+17%) and it is considerably stronger for groups that are more likely to be liquidity constrained upon job loss, namely younger workers and those with low job tenure and low educational attainment. However, the probability of committing crimes significantly increases for all groupsincluding workers with above median income, albeit to a lesser extent. A spillover effect of parental job loss on children's behavior is also observed. In particular, the probability of committing a crime increases on average by 18% for the cohabiting sons of displaced workers. While theory has already posed a link between unemployment and crime, empirical evidence has always been scarce due to the lack of individual data. The rich dataset used by the authors, however, allowed them to compare the behavior of workers displaced by massive layoffs and workers with the same characteristics, who didn't experience displacement. The authors were also able to shed light on the mechanisms that lead from unemployment to crime. "Our results support economic explanations, primarily liquidity constraints over alternative hypotheses," Dr. Britto said. "Furthermore, the increase in all types of crimes, including offenses with no economic motivation, such as car traffic violations, suggests that psychological stress upon job loss also plays an important role." "In an unemployment crisis," Prof. Pinotti concluded, "income support should be accompanied by active labor market policies aimed at speeding up the return of workers to jobs and guaranteeing stable income rather than temporary income assistance. Furthermore, both passive and active policies should be targeted at vulnerable groups, because such groups are at greater risk of poverty upon layoff and consequently are more likely to commit crimes." Explore further Layoffs lead to higher rates of violent offenses and property crimes More information: Diogo G. C. Britto et al, The Effect of Job Loss and Unemployment Insurance on Crime in Brazil, Econometrica (2022). Diogo G. C. Britto et al, The Effect of Job Loss and Unemployment Insurance on Crime in Brazil,(2022). DOI: 10.3982/ECTA18984 Provided by Bocconi University Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain NASA's InSight Mars lander has detected seismic waves from four space rocks that crashed on Mars in 2020 and 2021. Not only do these represent the first impacts detected by the spacecraft's seismometer since InSight touched down on Mars in 2018, but it also marks the first time seismic and acoustic waves from an impact have been detected on the red planet a development providing scientists a new way to study Mars's crust, mantle and core. A new study published in Nature Geoscienceon which Brown University Assistant Professor (research) of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences Ingrid Daubar is a co-authordetails the impacts, which ranged between 53 and 180 miles from InSight's location, a region of Mars called Elysium Planitia. "It was super exciting," Daubar recalled of the impacts. "My favorite images are the ones of the craters themselves. After three years of waiting for an impact, those craters looked beautiful." Of the four confirmed meteoroids, which is the term used for space rocks before they hit the ground, the first one the team found made the most dramatic entrance: It entered Mars' atmosphere on Sept. 5, 2021, exploding into at least three shards that each left craters behind. When NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter flew over the estimated impact site to confirm the location, it used its black-and-white context camera to reveal three darkened spots on the surface. After locating these spots, the orbiter's team used the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera to get a color close-up of the craters. There is also audio of the impacts available. After combing through earlier data, three other impacts were confirmed as occurring on May 27, 2020; Feb. 18, 2021; and Aug. 31, 2021. "Having a really precise location for the source of the impacts calibrates all other data for the mission," Daubar said. "This validates the estimates we've made and will allow us to do this more precisely It also tells us a lot about the impact process itself and the seismic results. We've never actually seen this before." Credit: Brown University Researchers have puzzled over why they haven't detected more meteoroid impacts on Mars. The red planet is next to the solar system's main asteroid belt, which provides an ample supply of space rocks to scar the planet's surface. Because Mars' atmosphere is just 1% as thick as Earth's, more meteoroids pass through it without disintegrating. Moreover, InSight's seismometer has detected more than 1,300 "marsquakes." Provided by France's space agency, the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales, the instrument is so sensitive that it can detect seismic waves from thousands of miles away. But the Sept. 5, 2021, event marks the first time an impact was detected. InSight's team suspects that other impacts may have been obscured by noise from wind or seasonal changes in the atmosphere. Now that the distinctive seismic signature of an impact on Mars has been discovered, scientists expect to find more hiding within InSight's nearly four years of data. Planetary passion For Daubarwho in addition to her role at Brown is a research scientist with the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory leading the Impact Cratering Working Group on the InSight missionshe sees the data's potential for enabling further study of other planets, including Earth. "In a broader sense, the reason we study other planets is to understand our own planet better," she said. Daubar has been an assistant professor of planetary sciences at Brown for three years, but her cosmic curiosity developed much earlier. "I was lucky enough that my public high school in East Lyme, Connecticut, had a planetarium," Daubar said. "It sparked my interest in astronomy and space." In college, she majored in astronomy at Cornell University. She went on to earn a Ph.D. in planetary sciences at the University of Arizona and became a research scientist with JPL. "I love craters," Daubar said. "I think they're one of more exciting planetary processes we can study." Daubar is among several hundred scientists and engineers around the world contributing to the InSight mission, she said. "I'm a visual person and I've worked on cameras a lot," she said, "so to me, having the visual evidence of this physical phenomenon is really exciting. We actually have 'before and after' images. It's so cool to me that surface of this plant is changing right now. It's not some ancient geologic process." Science behind the strikes The data from the meteoroid impacts offer various clues that will help researchers better understand Mars. "We have tons of data, which is really exciting for scientists," Daubar said. "We've explored the planet a lot. There's a lot we knowand a lot we don't know." Most marsquakes are caused by subsurface rocks cracking from heat and pressure. Studying how the resulting seismic waves change as they move through different material provides scientists a way to study Mars's crust, mantle and core. The four impacts confirmed so far produced small quakes with a magnitude of no more than 2.0. That doesn't provide scientists with a glimpse deeper than the Martian crust, whereas seismic signals from larger quakes, like the magnitude 5 temblor that occurred in May 2022, can reveal details of the planet's mantle and core. "These particular impacts are really small and closethey didn't go through mantle and core," Daubar said. "But it allows us to use this knowledge for the whole catalog of events with a new understanding from these data points on location and source." Importantly, the impacts will be critical to refining Mars's timeline. "Impacts are the clocks of the solar system," said Raphael Garcia, of Institut Superieur de l'Aeronautique et de l'Espace in Toulouse, France, who is the study's lead author. "We need to know the impact rate today to estimate the age of different surfaces." Scientists can approximate the age of a planet's surface by counting its impact craters. On Mars, the surface has had more time to accumulate impact craters of various sizes because the planet lacks the tectonic plate movement and active volcanism that constantly renews the surface, as they do on Earth. By calibrating statistical models based on how often they see impacts occurring now, scientists can estimate how many more impacts happened earlier in the solar system's history. "Seismology is one way we can tell what's inside a planet," Daubar explained. "The InSight mission is the first mission to actually study the interior of the planet." InSight's data, in combination with orbital images, can be used to rebuild a meteoroid's trajectory and how big its shock wave was. Every meteoroid creates a shock wave as it hits the atmosphere and an explosion as it hits the ground. These events send sound waves through the atmosphere. The bigger the explosion, the more this sound wave tilts the ground when it reaches InSight. The lander's seismometer is sensitive enough to measure how much the ground tilts from such an event and in what direction. "We're learning more about impact process itself," Garcia said. "We can match different sizes of craters to specific seismic and acoustic waves now." Explore further NASA's InSight records monster quake on Mars More information: Raphael Garcia, Newly formed craters on Mars located using seismic and acoustic wave data from InSight, Nature Geoscience (2022). www.nature.com/articles/s41561-022-01014-0 Journal information: Nature Geoscience Raphael Garcia, Newly formed craters on Mars located using seismic and acoustic wave data from InSight,(2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41561-022-01014-0 Hurricane Fiona knocked out power in Puerto Rico. Hurricane Fiona smashed into Puerto Rico, knocking out the US island territory's power while dumping torrential rain and wreaking catastrophic damage before making landfall in the Dominican Republic on Monday. Landslides, blocked roads, fallen trees and power lines, as well as a collapsed bridge in the town of Utuado in the central mountainous region, were part of the destruction already caused by Fiona, Governor Pedro Pierluisi told an evening press conference. The storm carried maximum sustained winds of 90 miles per hour (144 kilometers per hour) as it hit the Dominican Republic, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said on Twitter. "Life-threatening flash and urban flooding is likely for eastern portions of the Dominican Republic," the NHC said in its latest advisory at 5:00 am local time (0900 GMT). Ahead of Fiona's arrival in the Dominican Republic, President Luis Abinader suspended work on Monday and the island placed 13 of its 32 provinces, located to the north and east, on red alert ahead of the storm making landfall. In Puerto Rico, the entire territory of more than three million people was left without power as the hurricane neared, with Pierluisi saying the electrical system was out of service. On Monday, the island's power company said on its website that it had "reenergized some circuits" but did not have numbers on how many people were receiving electricity. The storm has caused one fatality -- a man who was killed after his house was swept away by flooding in the French overseas department of Guadeloupe. The NHC downgraded Fiona to a tropical storm in Puerto Rico but warned that destructive rain and devastating flash floods could continue to hit the island. Fiona will go down as a "catastrophic event due to the impacts of flooding" in Puerto Rico's central, eastern and southern regions, Pierluisi tweeted, adding that 9-13 inches (23-33 centimeters) of rain had fallen in just five hours. The hurricane has also left around 196,000 people without drinking water as a result of power outages and flooded rivers, officials said. The storm made landfall in Puerto Rico on Sunday afternoon as a Category One hurricane, at the lowest end of the five-tier Saffir-Simpson scale. Fiona is expected to grow stronger, turning into a "major hurricane" before it heads north into the open waters of the Atlantic Ocean, according to the NHC. Puerto Ricans were advised to stay in their homes or seek refuge if they need it. 'Extremely delicate' In the town of Utuado, one family saw the zinc roof of their housealready replaced after 2017's Hurricane Mariatorn off yet again, according to local media. "This is an extremely delicate and sad situation. The damage we are seeing is catastrophic in several areas," Pierluisi told reporters at the Sunday press conference. The storm has caused one fatalitya man who was killed after his house was swept away by flooding in the French overseas department of Guadeloupe, when Fiona was still classified as a tropical storm. Utuado resident Fernando Vera told US broadcaster NPR that his family has never fully recovered from Hurricane Maria. "We still struggle from the consequences of Maria and it's kind of difficult knowing we're going to probably have to start over again," he said. Fiona is seen off the coast of Puerto Rico at 0310 GMT on September 18, 2022. US President Joe Biden declared a state of emergency for Puerto Rico on Sunday, authorizing the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide assistance. The NHC also said tropical storm conditions are expected in the Turks and Caicos Islands and the southeastern Bahamas by late Monday or early Tuesday. 'Stay in their homes' Puerto Ricans have been advised "to stay in their homes or seek refuge if they need it," Pierluisi told reporters. Map showing the projected path of Hurricane Fiona. The islandwhich has suffered from major infrastructure problems for yearswas hit by hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017, devastating its electrical grid. The grid was privatized in June 2021 in an effort to resolve the problem of blackouts, but the issue has persisted, and the entire island lost power earlier this year. The former Spanish colony became a US territory in the late 19th century before gaining the status of associated free state in 1950. After years of financial woes and recession, the island in 2017 declared the largest bankruptcy ever by a local US administration. Later that year, two hurricanes added to the misery and sparked a feud between San Juan and then-president Donald Trump's administration. Explore further Tropical Storm Isaias heads for Hispaniola with heavy rain 2022 AFP uGMRT Band 4 (550-850 MHz) image of the galaxy cluster Abell 2256. Credit: Rajpurohit et al., 2022. Using various radio telescopes, an international team of astronomers has performed deep low-frequency radio observations of a merging galaxy cluster Abell 2256. The observational campaign delivered more insights into the properties of the cluster's radio halo. The findings were detailed in a paper published September 7 on arXiv.org. Radio halos are enormous regions of diffuse radio emission, usually found at the centers of galaxy clusters. However, diffuse emissions generally have very low surface brightness, particularly at GHz frequencies, which makes them hard to detect. Their brightness increases at lower frequencies, unveiling the presence of these regions. With the capability of obtaining deep, high-resolution, high-fidelity and low-frequency radio images, the LOw Frequency ARray (LOFAR) is an excellent tool for studying radio halos at low frequencies with unprecedented detail and sensitivity. Therefore, a group of researchers led by Kamlesh Rajpurohit of the University of Bologna in Italy, has employed LOFAR in order to inspect radio halo in Abell 2256a nearby (at a redshift of 0.058) massive galaxy cluster exhibiting strong emission at all wavelengths. The team also used the upgraded Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (uGMRT) and the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) to observe this halo. "We present the first detailed analysis of the radio halo in the merging galaxy cluster Abell 2256 using the LOw Frequency ARray (LOFAR), the upgraded Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (uGMRT) and the VLA. Radio observations (120 MHz-2 GHz) combined with archival Chandra and XMM-Newton X-ray data allowed us to study the halo emission with unprecedented detail," the researchers wrote in the paper. The astronomers managed first deep, high spatial resolution radio images of Abell 2256's radio halo. The halo emission was detected by them at all frequencies, namely 144 MHz, 350 MHz, 675 MHz and 1.5 GHz. The largest linear size of this halo was measured to be about 2.93 million light years at 144 MHz and 1.63 million light years at 1.5 GHz, which suggests that its outermost region has a steep spectrum. In general, the study found that emission from the halo follows a power-law spectrum between 144 MHz and 1.5 GHz, and has an ultra steep spectrum with an integrated spectral index of 1.63. Moreover, the spatially resolved spectral index maps revealed a spectral steepening with increasing radius. The research found that the morphology of the radio halo is remarkably similar to that in X-rays. In particular, the X-ray peak in the main mass component coincides with the radio peak. Furthermore, the point-to-point comparison between the radio and X-ray surface brightness across the halo indicates a strong sublinear correlation. The observations also revealed a strong anti-correlation between the spectral index and the X-ray surface brightness across the halo. According to the researchers, this is consistent with radial steepening. Summing up the results, the authors of the paper underlined that the properties of radio halo in Abell 2256 make it a very peculiar object, whose further investigation may advance our knowledge about particle acceleration mechanisms on very large scales. Explore further Radio halo detected in a low-mass galaxy cluster More information: K. Rajpurohit et al, Deep low-frequency radio observations of Abell 2256 II: The ultra-steep spectrum radio halo. arXiv:2209.03288v1 [astro-ph.CO], K. Rajpurohit et al, Deep low-frequency radio observations of Abell 2256 II: The ultra-steep spectrum radio halo. arXiv:2209.03288v1 [astro-ph.CO], arxiv.org/abs/2209.03288 2022 Science X Network Credit: Yustinus Tjiuwanda/Unsplash, CC BY Year 12 students around Australia are preparing to sit their final exams. For many young people this is one of the most stressful parts of school, with their future supposedly coming down to one number. This is an outdated way of finishing school and working out what students do in the next phase of their lives. Universities and TAFEs are increasingly using other methodssuch as interviews or portfoliosto offer places to school leavers. In 2021, more than 25,000 NSW students applied for an early offer through the "schools recommendation scheme," to lock in a university place before they sit their exams. This is up from 5,447 in 2014, suggesting year 12 exams may not be as necessary as we once thought. Our research shows you can reliably predict a student's year 12 results by year 11. This also suggests we don't need a battery of stressful exams to work out if a student is suited for tertiary education. This gives us the opportunity to radically rethink how the final years of school are structured. Our research Two years ago, we studied more than 10,000 students in the Catholic Education Diocese of Paramatta, NSW. We have repeated the study and our work now includes 20,000 students across 21 exam areas. We used predictive analytics which links multiple pieces of information about student progression through school. We used 17 variables including year 9 NAPLAN scores, Higher School Certificate subject choices and year 11 attendance. We also use demographic information, such as how long a student has lived in Australia and a school's socioeconomic rating. Across both our studies, we found we could predict year 12 results in year 11, with a 93% accuracy rate. Our purpose here is not to label students, but to change the focus of school and the efforts of students and teachers. What can we do differently in schools? We are already seeing the beginnings of new ways of "doing school" in Australia. Some schools are changing their focus from year 12 exams to students doing internships, creating portfolios of work, doing TAFE or university certificates, or doing an overseas exchange. In British Columbia, Canada, final school assessments include a project that connects "real-world" applications of the curriculum for each student. In Estonia, now among the world leaders in education, traditional "knowledge and understanding" approaches have been replaced with a strong emphasis on critical thinking, problem-solving, entrepreneurship, digital skills and citizenship. These are all qualities that fit with both employers' needs and measures of success in the adult world. Students undertake a cross-disciplinary creative project to graduate from the equivalent of year 10an example might be studying the impact of music on managing the onset of dementia in older people. They then do a research project before finishing high school. Year 12 exams are outdated High school as we've known it has been dominated by high stakes, high-pressure exams that have outlived their usefulness. If we can reliably predict the results, we don't need the tests. We know young people's mental health is already poor, and has suffered further during COVID. We should be looking for ways to improve, rather than exacerbate this. We also know universities are increasingly open to other ways of admitting students. There is an enormous opportunity here to reallocate resources and create a modern, meaningful school experience that excites young people. It can encourage them to seek career-building activities, study overseas, learn languages or follow passion projectsnot just study for stressful exams that tell us what we already know. Explore further We know by Year 11 what mark students will get in Year 12: A stressful exam might no longer be needed This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. In a recent study, Whitney Buser, senior academic professional and associate director of Academic Programs in the School of Economics at Georgia Tech, explores the nature and causes of gender bias in student evaluations of teaching (SETs). Credit: Georgia Institute of Technology Despite earning more than half of all doctoral degrees conferred in the U.S., women are significantly underrepresented in faculty positions at colleges and universities. This is particularly true in tenure-track and tenured positions, with women making up just over a third of all full professors. Women are also less likely to receive tenure or be promoted to full professor, a situation known as the academic "leaky pipeline," where women's representation continues to decline the further they advance in their careers. In male-dominated fields, like economics, the statistics are more drastic: Women represent only 17.5% of economics professors but earn 35% of economics graduate degrees. While various reasons have been suggested as to why women still trail men in academic position and prestige despite increasing levels of educational attainment, one factor may play a surprisingly big role: teaching evaluations. In a recent study, Whitney Buser, senior academic professional and associate director of Academic Programs in the School of Economics at Georgia Tech, explores the nature and causes of gender bias in student evaluations of teaching (SETs). By drawing on social role theory to inform their hypotheses, Buser and her co-authors investigated whether bias exists at the outset of the semester and whether backlash after grading exacerbates it. Their study, "Evaluation of Women in Economics: Evidence of Gender Bias Following Behavioral Role Violations," has been published in the journal Sex Roles. "We know from the literature that female instructors fare worse in student evaluations, but with nearly all research on SETs done from end-of-semester evaluations, it's hard to pinpoint how, when, and why gender bias arises, and how much exists. That was the goal of our study," Buser said. Role expectations and gender According to social role theory, gender inequity arises from cultural beliefs and expectations about women and men. Women are overrepresented in low-status caretaking roles, which shapes beliefs and expectations about them being communalhelpful, kind, and concerned with others. Men, however, are overrepresented in high-status provider roles, which reinforces beliefs and expectations about men being ambitious, authoritative, and competent. Role congruity theory shows that there are negative consequences for individuals who fail to fulfill society's expectations either by role or by behavior, and it often comes in the form of backlash. Buser hypothesized that students would perceive grade feedback from female faculty more harshly than from male faculty due to role congruency expectations of communality in women, and that this backlash would be apparent in their SETs. The experiment and a new survey Universities use different methods for conducting teaching evaluations. To allow for direct comparisons across institutions, the researchers created their own standard survey for the study. Participants included nearly 1,200 undergraduate students, all of whom were enrolled in a Principles of Economics course. The students were taught by seven faculty members at five institutions. The survey comprised criteria used in previous studies to detect gender bias. Students were asked to evaluate their instructors across seven areas using a 5-point scale ranging from "Strongly Disagree" to "Strongly Agree." The first three questions were gender-neutral. Students were asked if they would (1) recommend the course, (2) recommend the instructor, and (3) whether they found their instructor interesting. Next, they were asked if they found their instructor to be (4) knowledgeable and (5) challenging, both of which are widely seen as male-like qualities. The final two criteria asked students to evaluate how (6) approachable and (7) caring their instructors arequalities usually associated with women. The anonymous surveys were conducted twice. The first survey was administered on the second day of class (Time 1) to assess participants' early impressions. The second survey (Time 2) was given the day after students received their grades on the first exam, to see how impressions changed after they were given instructor feedback. Findings On the second day of class (Time 1), female instructors were rated significantly lower than male instructors on all three gender-neutral criteriarecommend course, recommend instructor, and interestingand the male-leaning criteria of challenging. There was no significant difference between male and female instructors observed for the communal qualities of caring and approachable, with women ranking only slightly higher. Their results showed that between Time 1 and Time 2, male instructors improved on every trait. At Time 2, female instructors were still rated significantly lower than male instructors on all three gender-neutral qualities and both male-leaning qualities. Overall, female instructors stayed mostly stagnant between Time 1 and Time 2 but were rated as significantly less interesting at Time 2. At Time 2, students even rated their male instructors as slightly more caring and approachable than their female counterparts, a reversal from Time 1. "The gender discrepancy between Time 1 and Time 2 was really driven by male instructors' evaluations improving over time. This finding indicates that students view male instructors more favorably as time goes on, which was not at all the case for the women," Buser said. "It was clear that exam grades made the evaluations split apart, even though there was no significant difference in exam grades between female and male instructors. As we predicted, this difference indicated a clear backlash against female faculty." Impact In economics, it is usually only the statistically significant differences that are worth writing about. But in this study, there is reason to care about insignificant differences, because they are often used to make crucial decisions in practice. For example, when department chairs and administrators look at teaching evaluations in hiring, they might have two candidates with similar scores separated by only a couple of decimal points. They could choose to interview or hire the candidate with slightly higher teaching scores without knowingly making a gender-biased decision, Buser said. Universities currently have few formal ways of taking SET gender bias into account when it comes to performance evaluation, promotion, and tenure. Addressing the issue could help universities retain female faculty and repair the leaky pipeline. "We hope this work will highlight the presence of gender bias and encourage the development of more objective teaching evaluation tools that take this dynamic into account," Buser said. "Eliminating or reducing gender bias in teaching evaluations could have an enormous impact on women and their ability to thrive in academia." Explore further New study looks at gender, teaching contracts and grade inflation More information: Whitney Buser et al, Evaluation of Women in Economics: Evidence of Gender Bias Following Behavioral Role Violations, Sex Roles (2022). Journal information: Sex Roles Whitney Buser et al, Evaluation of Women in Economics: Evidence of Gender Bias Following Behavioral Role Violations,(2022). DOI: 10.1007/s11199-022-01299-w Business leaders from China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations are looking to further strengthen their cooperation and take the business opportunities brought by the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement. They made the remark in Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, during the ongoing 19th China-ASEAN Expo, which is themed on sharing new opportunities from the RCEP agreement and jointly advancing version 3.0 of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area. The expo, which opened on Friday and runs through Monday, is expected to help reinforce cooperation on the two sides' industrial and supply chains and enhance overall regional competitiveness, they said. China COSCO Shipping Corp, the country's largest shipping company by sales revenue, said that it has seen continuous growth in trade volume with ASEAN since the RCEP agreement took effect on Jan 1. "Shipping is a barometer of trade worldwide. The trade growth between China and ASEAN has been a highlight for us in a time when the global marine supply chain is greatly challenged by the COVID-19 pandemic," said Ge Heyue, deputy general manager of COSCO Shipping Lines Co. "We have invested huge resources in Southeast Asia. We are firmly confident in the trade growth potential between China and ASEAN against the global economic slowdown," he said. China has been ASEAN's largest trading partner for 13 consecutive years, and ASEAN became China's top trading partner in 2020, surpassing the European Union, according to the Ministry of Commerce. From January to August, the trade volume between China and ASEAN reached $627.6 billion, up 13.3 percent year-on-year, while trade between China and other RCEP members grew 7.5 percent on a yearly basis, according to the General Administration of Customs. Li Muyuan, secretary-general of the Beijing-based China Container Industry Association, has participated in the China-ASEAN Expo multiple times. She said that she has a strong feeling this year that delegates from ASEAN member states are exceptionally enthusiastic and confident in the business potential brought by the RCEP. The RCEP comprises 15 Asia-Pacific countries, including 10 ASEAN member states. The pact is expected to eliminate as much as 90 percent of the tariffs on goods traded among its members over the next two decades. ASEAN Secretary-General Dato Lim Jock Hoi said the RCEP could help mitigate supply chain risks while building a conducive business environment for the region to become more resilient against future challenges. Clare Fearnley, New Zealand's ambassador to China, said that as New Zealand recovers from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and seizes new opportunities for exports and investment, the RCEP is a significant step forward for recovery and prosperity. RCEP partners buy over half of New Zealand's total exports and provide more than half of its direct foreign investment, Fearnley said. "The RCEP delivers a single set of rules covering all 15 markets, making trade simpler and reducing compliance costs for exporters, and fostering regional connectivity," Fearnley said. Japan's Mitsubishi Corp said that since the RCEP took effect, it would be promising for Chinese and Japanese companies to continue to explore third-party cooperation. For instance, if it were possible to combine the digital and smart industrial ecology of Chinese companies, Japanese companies' advantage in industrial chain management and the unique local experience of Southeast Asian enterprises, it would create win-win opportunities for the three sides and further promote industrial chain stability in this region, said Nakatsuka Junichiro, East Asia general delegate of Mitsubishi Corp. Credit: CC0 Public Domain Researchers have been concerned that as the makeup of America's families grows more complex, adult children in stepfamilies may not be as willing as those in biological families to care for aging parents. But a research team led by faculty at University of Michigan have found that stepfamilies that share a joint biological child spend similar amounts of time together as biological families in which partners have only joint biological children. The researchers' findings, published in the journal Demography, challenge the view that ties with older parents are always weaker with stepchildren in stepfamilies, and point to an important, though relatively uncommon, exception, says Vicki Freedman, research professor in the Survey Research Center at U-M's Institute for Social Research and one of the study's authors. Previous studies have found that stepfamilies have weaker ties than biological families, and that the ties between a stepparent and stepchild are weaker than between a biological parent and biological child. But, with few exceptions, these studies only compared stepfamilies to biological families without considering whether the partners in stepfamilies had a biological child together. For the current study, U-M researchers hypothesized that the strength of family ties depends on both the structure of the family and the nature of the relationships between parents and adult children within those family structures. The researchers compared biological families to stepfamilies in which the married or cohabiting parents each have biological children from previous unions; stepfamilies in which just one parent has children from a previous union; and stepfamilies who have children from previous unions as well as at least one joint biological child. They also compared different types of parent-child ties within the various family types. They found that an older parent's tie with a joint child is stronger in stepfamilies than in biological families. Within stepfamilies, ties are only stronger between a parent and biological childcompared to a stepchildin "Brady Bunch"-like families, in which each partner has at least one biological child from previous relationships and there are no joint children. "Why ties are similar in stepfamilies that include a joint child and biological families is puzzling. Stepfamilies with joint children are more likely to live together than biological families, but whether they live together because their ties are stronger or vice versa is not clear," said Freedman, also director of the Michigan Center on the Demography of Aging. "We need to understand more about the implications of the complexities of America's families especially in light of the aging of the population." To assess the strength of familial bonds, the researchers used a previously untapped indicator: time spent together yesterday, measured by time diaries. These time diaries were collected as a supplemental interview administered to a subset of older participants in the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, a national longitudinal survey that began in 1968 with about 18,000 participants in 5,000 households. The study collects information such as employment, income, wealth, expenditures, health, marriage, education and childbearing, among many other topics. In 2013, detailed information on biological and step relationships within families was collected. The researchers analyzed more than 2,000 daily time diaries, which detailed the time older parents spent with their adult children on the previous day, as well as information in the main interview about biological and step relationships in the family. They found that about 35% of parents in biological families reported spending time with adult children on the previous day, a figure higher than that for stepfamily configurations with no joint children. Nearly half of parents47%with both joint and stepchildren reported spending time with their children. Interestingly, the amount of time spent together was similar for biological families and stepfamilies with both joint and stepchildrenabout 4 to 5 hours on average on days when family time occurred. In contrast, stepfamilies with no joint children spent about 2.5 to 3 hours on average on days when time together took place. The researchers say there is an important caveat: Stepfamilies with joint biological children are not especially common. About 65% of older parents have biological families, whereas only 7% of older parents have stepfamilies that include a joint biological child. The remaining 28% of older parents have stepfamilies with weaker ties, as evidenced by being less likely to spend time together. Stronger intergenerational ties within families can benefit individuals and society through care provided to aging parents, child care given by grandparents and other forms of support. "It is possible that norms regarding such support may shift as stepfamilies become more common," said co-author Judith Seltzer, research professor at UCLA's California Center for Population Research. "Whether these types of stepfamilies with stronger ties will become more or less common over time is an important outstanding question for family demographers." More information: Robert F. Schoeni et al, The Strength of ParentAdult Child Ties in Biological Families and Stepfamilies: Evidence From Time Diaries From Older Adults, Demography (2022). Journal information: Demography Robert F. Schoeni et al, The Strength of ParentAdult Child Ties in Biological Families and Stepfamilies: Evidence From Time Diaries From Older Adults,(2022). DOI: 10.1215/00703370-10177468 Pedestrians walk past wheat ears art installation on the edge of the Red Square in central Moscow on August 27, 2022. Russia's invasion of Ukraine may cause long-term grain prices to rise seven percent, according to a study on Monday showing how expanded production elsewhere to compensate would lead to higher greenhouse gas emissions. Russia and Ukraine are global breadbaskets, together exporting about 28 percent of the world's wheat supply. Russia's blockade of Black Sea ports and sanctions on Moscow have caused short-term price surges and triggered fears of an acute hunger crisis. Researchers in the United States and Uruguay modeled the likely impact of the conflict on wheat and maize prices over the coming 12 months, looking at a variety of scenarios. One model found that if Russian grain exports were halved and Ukrainian exports significantly reduced during that time, maize would be 4.6 percent more expensive and wheat 7.2 percent more expensiveeven assuming that other exporters could step in and fill the shortfall. They said the price increase would persist as long as exports remained restricted. To close the supply gap, the study found that other major producers would need to expand their grain growing areas significantly. Were all grain exports from Ukraine to cease, Australia would need to expand its wheat area by 1 percent, China by 1.5 percent, the European Union by 1.9 percent and India by 1.2 percent, according to the model. This land-use change would lead to just over a billion tons of additional carbon dioxide equivalent added to the atmosphere, according to the study published in Nature Food. "The cropland expansion resulting from the war in Ukraine is occurring at the expense of more carbon emissions," said lead author Jerome Dumortier, a researcher at the O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs in Indianapolis, US. United Nations chief Antonio Guterres warned in July that Russia's invasion of Ukraine had combined with the lingering trade impacts of COVID-19 to create an "unprecedented global hunger crisis". Figures from the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization show food prices are currently more than 10 percent higher than they were a year ago. Although Moscow and Kyiv reached an agreement in July to resume some grain exports, there are fears that the conflict could lead to years of elevated food prices. Dumortier said that it was not currently clear whether other grain producers were able to meet global demand, meaning prices could rise even further than predicted in the models. "There are drought conditions in South America, Europe, and China, and export restrictions from various countries," he told AFP. "Given those hinderances to full adjustment, commodity prices may be higher than what is estimated in the paper." More information: Jerome Dumortier, Trade scenarios compensating for halted wheat and maize exports from Russia and Ukraine increase carbon emissions without easing food insecurity, Nature Food (2022). www.nature.com/articles/s43016-022-00600-0 Journal information: Nature Food Jerome Dumortier, Trade scenarios compensating for halted wheat and maize exports from Russia and Ukraine increase carbon emissions without easing food insecurity,(2022). DOI: 10.1038/s43016-022-00600-0 2022 AFP Isopod burrow. Credit: Tali Aronsky Desert isopods might not make top of the list of most-endearing animals, but these small (up to two centimeters-long) creatures, with their segmented bodies and seven pairs of legs, are actually fascinating animals and ideal to study when looking at mating preferences. They mate only once in their lifetime and spend the rest of their yearlong life with their chosen mate and their family (of 60-70 offspring) in a single permanent burrow. The isopod females initially dig the burrow and the males fight to win a particular female and a particular habitat. Both parents take care of the brood, and all family membersyoung and oldcontinue to excavate and clean the burrow together. Choosing where to establish a home is the responsibility of the female woodlouse ("desert isopod") and under normal conditions, the largest males usually win the largest females. However, what happens when there is a predator, such as an Israeli gold scorpion, living nearby? A study of this scenario was carried out in the Negev Desert, in southern Israel, by a Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU) research team led by Professor Dror Hawlena and Dr. Viraj Torsekar. They observed the mating behavior of male desert isopods in two locationsone close to the burrow of an Israeli gold scorpion (a risky area), and one further away (a safe area). Their findings, recently published in Ecology, demonstrated the preference of large males for larger females in safe areas but less so for large females in risky areas. "Using this manipulative field experiment, we found that desert isopods under risk of scorpion predation maintained 'size assortative mating', but that males that chose and fought over females were on average smaller for a given female size," Torsekar explained. Additionally, while bigger males stayed longer near safe burrows and won more male-male contests, fewer pairs were formed in risky sites. The researchers also showed that the smaller males had often accepted second best and moved in with smaller females close to the lurking scorpion. Medium sized males chose between smaller females in safe places and larger female in risky placesdemonstrating an equal fitness choice. "This supported our novel hypothesis that the males anticipated the future risk of predation," noted Torsekar. The males seemed to incorporate information on the proximity of a predator when choosing a mate. They no longer made their selection based solely on the size of the female, although larger females do have larger broods. It is hard work for the females to dig into the dry compacted soil of the desert, so they are always on the lookout for holes that can make life a little easier. The HU researchers dug holes in two groups, one near the burrow of an Israeli gold scorpion and one further away. Female isopods readily adopted the holes and excavated full-size burrows. However, the study showed that fewer isopod pairs took up residence in burrows near predators, despite it being virtually free real estate. It should be noted that the predatory behavior of scorpions is localized to the immediate vicinity around their burrows. They don't go wandering off to look for prey but emerge only to attack prey that is detected by the vibrations isopods cause as they walk across the burrow roof. However, it is known that the odor of the scorpion does alert isopods when they are near to its lair. In courtship, once the females adopt a burrow, they are ready to admit a male. Peeping out from the top of the burrow, male and female encounter each other face-to-faceprobably using the separation between the eyes of their prospective mate to assess size. Males compete furiously over the larger females, in hopes of producing a large brood. "This information is crucial in predicting how the fear of a predator may affect prey population dynamics and evolutionary processes in the creation of new species," concluded Torsekar. Explore further Male banana fiddler crabs may coerce mating by trapping females in tight burrows More information: Viraj R. Torsekar et al, Predation risk regulates prey assortative mating by reducing the expected reproductive value of mates, Ecology (2022). Viraj R. Torsekar et al, Predation risk regulates prey assortative mating by reducing the expected reproductive value of mates,(2022). DOI: 10.1002/ecy.3869 Data: doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.20412015.v1 Journal information: Ecology QUEENSBURY The SUNY Adirondack board of trustees approved a bargaining unit contract during its last meeting on Sept. 12. The five-year contract is between the Faculty Association of Adirondack Community College and the college. Ann Marie Scheidegger, vice president for administrative services and treasurer for the college, said the contract has to be considered by the boards of supervisors for both Warren and Washington counties, as the counties sponsor the college. Both county boards approved the bargaining unit contract during their meetings Friday. As sponsors of the college, it is a standard process that they consider and approve all bargaining unit contracts, Scheidegger said in an email on Thursday. The contents of the contract will not become public information until it is approved by both sponsor counties and fully executed by the college and the faculty association, Scheidegger said. Warren County news A resolution was brought to the table of the Warren County Board of Supervisors meeting Friday that came from the boards Legislative Rules and Government Operations Committee. Queensbury Town Supervisor John Strough introduced the two-fold resolution that would have changed the Board of Supervisors rules. The resolution, which was voted down, proposed to eliminate language requiring the board to meet twice a month, as well as eliminate language requiring a two-thirds majority vote for the creation of new positions. Glens Falls Third Ward Supervisor Claudia Braymer said that the language for the majority vote was initially put into place due to the financial hardships felt from the 2008 recession. I would like to hear from somebody why were proposing to eliminate the supermajority requirement when were still undergoing the same financial hardships, Braymer said. If we cant get a two-thirds vote to create a new position, then maybe we shouldnt be creating these positions in the first place, Queensbury at-large Supervisor Rachel Seeber said. The U.S. Coast Guard staged a medical evacuation of a man off Atlantic City on Sunday. The Reely, a 31-foot pleasure craft, alerted the watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Delaware Bay about noon that a man aboard the vessel had fallen and injured his back. The man was 60 and the Reely was 104 miles east of Atlantic City, according to a Coast Guard news release. The Coast Guard launched an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew from Air Station Atlantic City and an HC-130 Hercules airplane crew from Air Station Elizabeth City in North Carolina. They also diverted the cutter Tahoma to the scene to assist. The Tahoma crew launched a small boat crew, with a health-service technician aboard, to provided medical care. A rescue swimmer lowered to the scene by the helicopter crew helped the health-service technician hoist the man for medical evacuation. The helicopter then took the man to a hospital for further care. The Coast Guard Mid-Atlantic indicated on its Facebook page that, in a separate operation this weekend, it had hoisted and evacuated a crewmember from the Misty Dawn fishing boat via Air Station Atlantic City. Coast Guard spokesperson Jonathan Lally said that operation occurred in the hours between late Saturday night and early Sunday morning. GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP They are working to uphold the pledge to never forget. Stockton University launched its Holocaust Survivors of South Jersey digital archive Sunday. The archive documents the names and stories of 1,503 survivors of the Holocaust who settled in Atlantic, Cape May and Cumberland counties. Scores of attendees, including the children and grandchildren of survivors and a handful of survivors themselves, gathered in a conference room at the Campus Center for a luncheon and ceremony to celebrate the launch. Stockton associate professor of history Michael Hayse is the director of the project and led the efforts to create the archive. He said it was a critical resource to tell the stories of Holocaust survivors and the impact they left on the state. We as a society and as people, were all very interested in what the Holocaust survivors have to tell about their experiences during the war, Hayse said. I also want to place a really strong emphasis on their stories as immigrants and residents, here, of New Jersey. The archive is a project of the Sara & Sam Schoffer Holocaust Resource Center at Stockton. It includes ancestry history and information from memoirs and other documents that survivors and their families can access. An associated website includes the names and profiles of dozens of survivors, with more to be added as profiles are completed. Stockton, Galloway to enter into compensation deal GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP Stockton University has agreed to make direct payments and in-kind contr Work on the archive began in 2019. Its work was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but they persevered, holding interviews and meetings via videoconference. Hundreds of students have worked with faculty on the project. Together, they scoured oral testimonies, primary sources and other research items to record stories of survival and preserve them for the next generation. Holocaust center Director Gail Rosenthal said the project would be a resource for people around the world who are interested in learning more about survivors. We know that people are looking, not only in the United States, but internationally, Rosenthal said. Leo Schoffer, a member of the Stockton Board of Trustees whose parents are the namesake of the Schoffer center, was the moderator for the ceremony. He reflected on the importance of the project in light of the experiences of his parents, who also are Holocaust survivors. It means a lot to me, because this center has always been at the forefront of Holocaust and genocide education, Schoffer said. And this is another project that I dont believe anybody else has done. Stockton to host Holocaust remembrance service in Egg Harbor Township Stockton University will honor Holocaust survivors and their families during a service at 11 Stockton President Harvey Kesselman said he was making an unwavering and long-term commitment to keep the university at the forefront of Holocaust research. John Berkowicz said his father and mother were married during the war and both survived Nazi concentration camps. He said his parents story was emblematic of a peoples resilience. The Jewish people survived, Berkowicz said, adding learning about the Holocaust could prepare one to take part in the broader fight against intolerance. The story of Berkowiczs parents is documented in the book Love with No Tomorrow: Tales of Romance during the Holocaust. Its author, Mindelle Pierce was also in attendance. People must speak out, Pierce said. Michael Berenbaum, a Holocaust scholar who spoke during the program, said the new archives completed the Holocaust story, exploring the lives of survivors after they settled in their new homes. Noting that the Ken Burns documentary The U.S. and the Holocaust was set to premiere later Sunday, he said the archives pick up where that documentary ends with how they contributed to the communities in which they settled. NJEA officials gather in support of Pleasantville diverse-curriculum leader PLEASANTVILLE The states largest teachers union is rallying on behalf of the leader of an They shaped the world, and the world was shaped by them, Berenbaum said. Berenbaum said preserving the memory of survivors was all too vital a task. He cited the proliferation of antisemitism in recent years and the atrocities that still take place as people around the world confront the threat of authoritarianism and intolerance. Reflecting on the state of politics in the United States, Berenbaum said Americans must seek to understand what the nations responsibility is to oppressed people throughout the world. The PBS film he mentioned is about how the United States failed to take in more Jewish refugees from Europe during the Holocaust. The tragedy of the world in which we live is that the Holocaust has become more relevant over time, Berenbaum said. We live in a world which is still struggling with the question Are our gates open, or are our gates closed? The Schoffer center is set to release a digital exhibition in fall 2023 that will provide a comprehensive overview of the Holocaust, issues facing refugees and the contributions Holocaust survivors have made to South Jersey. Toward the end of the ceremony, Lisa Roth, whose grandmother Elizabeth Roth was a survivor, listed 10 lessons people should take from the archive. At the top of the list were never forget and never again. After the ceremony, Elizabeth Roth said she was proud of her granddaughter. Her children and her grandchildren will remember, Elizabeth Roth said. As generations go on. MAYS LANDING U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew will not participate in Tuesday nights Atlantic County League of Women Voters debate at Oakcrest High School, his campaign manager Ron Filan said Monday, calling the groups debate organizers biased against Republicans. Lets be clear, this allegedly non-partisan debate was organized by an active member of our opponents campaign team who is all over social media recruiting Democrat volunteers, soliciting contributions for his campaign, and organizing protests at our campaign events, all while spewing vile hate-filled rhetoric equating Republicans with terrorists, Filan said in a statement Monday. Filan also said the League scheduled the debate for a time when they knew Van Drew could not attend, because he is in Washington, D.C., for voting sessions. Filan attached screen shots of League debate organizer Victoria Drudings Facebook posts, which make fun of Republicans, promote fundraisers for his Democratic opponent Tim Alexander, and encourage people to attend protests against Van Drew at various events. He also cited League Chair Ro Goldbergs listing on the Atlantic County Democratic Committees website as holding fundraisers last year for a Democratic candidate in Galloway. Reached late afternoon Monday, Druding said the League is nonpartisan, but its members are allowed to have political affiliations as individuals. That has never gotten in the way of fairness, she said, and Van Drew should know that. We cant even have a moderator from CD2. Instead someone from Gloucester County will moderate, Druding said. We would never do anything to any candidate to disparage them or ... to not treat them well. There are no zingers or hard balls. The League doesnt roll like that. While she and other Atlantic County League members write the questions, some will also come from high school students, Druding said. She also said she has sent three certified letters to Van Drews office and spoken to his staff, but never received an answer about whether he would participate or not. Alexanders Campaign Manager Zacharia Hartman responded to Filans statement with one of his own. The League of Women Voters has been hosting debates between candidates at all levels of office in a fair, non-partisan manner since the 70s, Hartman said. The claim by Van Drews team that the integrity of that process is suspect due to the activities of two cherry-picked members in their private lives is laughable. In the Nov. 8 general election, Van Drew is facing Alexander, a civil rights attorney and former police officer from Galloway Township, as well as Libertarian Mike Gallo, of Villas in Lower Township. Alexander and Gallo have accepted the Leagues invitation, according to an email Sunday from Druding. Also on the ballot is perennial independent candidate Anthony Parisi Sanchez, who has refused letters from the League and will not participate. Parisi has been arrested in the past for threatening Van Drew. Van Drew changed parties from Democratic to Republican in December 2019, after refusing to vote to impeach Trump. He was reelected as a Republican in 2020. Van Drew will participate, however, in an Oct. 19 debate sponsored by the William J. Hughes Center for Public Policy at Stockton University and the Press of Atlantic City, Filan said. It really is sad to see how Atlantic County Democratic operatives have hijacked a once well-respected organization like the League of Women Voters and absolutely destroyed its credibility, Filan said. Druding said Van Drew should have told them he couldnt make that date, and the League would have rescheduled for him if he would participate. We are going to have some disappointed children and participants, Druding said. Its so obnoxious its funny, but not funny for democracy. The League debate will be held 7 p.m. Tuesday at Oakcrest High School. The Debate will promote the Leagues New Jersey initiative Energizing Young Voters, Druding said in the Sunday email. Students from Oakcrest, Absegami and Cedar Creek high schools submitted questions that the League will use along with League questions. The Oakcrest ROTC Color Guard will present the national anthem and students will shadow League members that evening to be part of the process, Druding said in the email. Rapid City police are seeking the public's help in identifying a suspect in a Sunday afternoon robbery. According to a news release, police were dispatched to a casino in the 2700 block of west Main Street for a robbery that had just occurred at approximately 4 p.m. Sunday. An employee of the casino told officers they were working inside when an unknown male entered, brandished a firearm and demanded cash. The suspect got away with an undisclosed amount of cash by fleeing out the rear entrance of the casino. The employee said the suspect fled on foot using northbound Whitewood Street. Police were able to acquire video from the casino. The suspect is described as a male wearing red shoes, khaki pants, a gray hoodie and a dark colored bandana. Anyone with information about the robbery or suspect should contact Det. Brittany Vogel at 605-394-4134. Anonymous tips can also be sent via text messaging by texting the letters "RCPD" and the information to 847411. A Rapid City woman who was shot multiple times by a Rapid City police officer on May 31 pleaded not guilty Monday to five charges, including a grand jury indictment of felony aggravated eluding. Shania Watkins, 32, appeared before Pennington County Circuit Judge Joshua Hendrickson to face two felony charges of aggravated eluding, one felony count of aggravated assault against a law enforcement officer, a felony count of unauthorized ingestion of a controlled substance and a misdemeanor count of ingesting an intoxicant other than alcohol. The assault against a law enforcement officer is a class 2 felony, punishable by up to 25 years in prison and a $50,000 fine. Hendrickson allowed Watkins to remain on a personal recognizance bond with continued participation in the 24/7 program. However, Hendrickson noted Watkins had a previous violation of the 24/7 program in August, when she allegedly tested positive for methamphetamine and THC. Watkins is confined to a wheelchair after being shot May 31 by Rapid City police. She said in court Monday that she has no use of the lower half of her body because of the injuries sustained. As such, her monitoring through the 24/7 program is via a patch. Hendrickson said if the patch shows another positive result, he would have to consider alternatives. The judge warned Watkins that if she has another violation, her bond would be revoked and she would be sent to the Pennington County Jail. According to an affidavit filed by South Dakota Department of Criminal Investigation Special Agent Adam Eggers, RCPD Officer Ekaras Jackson attempted to pull Watkins over in her vehicle at about 4:04 a.m. May 31 at the intersection of North Lacrosse Street and East Waterloo Street for not having a light illuminating her license plate. The affidavit states Watkins continued driving her vehicle, a white 2002 Mitsubishi Galant, at "a slow pace westbound on East Waterloo Street," before coming to a brief stop. An unidentified person exited the vehicle, and the Galant continued, turning eastbound onto East Van Buren Street, traveling approximately 46 mph before turning onto North Lacrosse Street and heading south. The Galant then traveled southeast through Rapid City by way of East New York Street, North Cherry Avenue, East Chicago Street, North Campbell Street, East Highway 44, Cambell Street, and Saint Patrick Street where RCPD Officer Josh Hoefler, who shot Watkins, attempted a Tactical Vehicle Intervention (TVI). According to the affidavit, a TVI is intended to spin a vehicle 180 degrees to stop it, but Hoefler's TVI spun the Galant 360 degrees, and it continued east on Saint Patrick Street. After the failed TVI, the Galant turned southbound on South Valley Drive, traveling approximately 45 to 60 mph before turning onto Terra Street, a gravel drive in Terra Mobile Home Estates, where Watkins later said a family member lives. The vehicle made a sharp right turn within Terra Street and stopped. Hoefler pulled his patrol vehicle near the front passenger side of the Galant and stopped as well. He got out of his patrol vehicle and stood between his open door and doorframe, according to the DCI investigation summary that found Hoefler justified in the shooting. The affidavit states Hoefler told the driver, Watkins, to get out of the car. The summary states the Galant moved "simultaneously" to the commands, and struck Hoefler's vehicle. He then fired seven rounds through the passenger side door and window, striking Watkins multiple times. Hoefler told investigators he believed the direction of the Galant's travel would collide with his door, and he would be pinned between his door and door frame. A third officer, Nick Friedman, pulled his patrol vehicle parallel to Hoefler's and behind the Galant at "approximately the same time that the Galant started backing up," according to the DCI report. The Galant ultimately stopped after colliding with Friedman's vehicle. The DCI summary states the Galant was still running with the transmission placed in reverse with backup lights activated when agents arrived to investigate. Watkins said she stopped the car, placed it in park or neutral and put the keys in her pocket, according to the report. She also said she complied with the officer's commands to show her hands, and then Hoefler opened fire while she complied. The DCI report states Watkins had THC and methamphetamine in her system at the time. The arrest affidavit also alleges the white 2002 Galant's license plate belonged to a Silver 2006 Mitsubishi Galant, and advised Watkins be arrested for a class one misdemeanor for the illegitimate plates. That misdemeanor is not listed on the arrest warrant or court records. Watkins' next court date is set for 3:15 p.m. Oct. 24. Vietnam works with Cambodia to repatriate fleeing workers The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Monday that they were coordinating with the Vietnamese Embassy in Cambodia, border guards, and Cambodian authorities to bring home 67 workers who fled a casino in the country. 60 Vietnamese workers flee a casino in Cambodia on September 17 "We've directed the Vietnamese Embassy in Cambodia to ensure the workers have sufficiently good living conditions while they wait to return home," the ministry said. According to the ministry, 60 workers fled a casino in Bavet City in Cambodia on the afternoon of September 17 and attempted to return to Vietnam. They went towards the Bavet Border Gate to find a way to the Moc Bai Border Gate in Vietnam's Tay Ninh Province. However, four were caught by the casino guards. Cambodian police held 56 others for investigation. By late afternoon the same day, Cambodian police demanded the casino to hand over 11 more Vietnamese citizens, bringing the total number of people involved in the case to 67. The group is now being protected by Cambodian police. "Weve contacted the Cambodian authorities for information, to verify the peoples identities, and carry out procedures to repatriate our citizens," the ministry said. Vietnamese nationals who need assistance can contact the Vietnamese Embassy in Cambodia at +855-23726274; the Consulate General in Sihanoukville at +855-34934039 or the Citizen Protection hotline at +84-981 84 84 84. You are here: Business The seventh China-Eurasia Expo, slated for Sept. 19-22 in Urumqi, capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has attracted 3,600 enterprises to attend its online events. Nearly 17,000 exhibits of these enterprises from 32 countries and regions are to be shown online. The expo will be held both online and offline. Covering an exhibition area of 40,000 square meters, the expo has set up three zones featuring themes including investment cooperation and commodity trade. This year, Virginia reached a milestone for its veteran workforce program as Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced that the commonwealth has helped over 100,000 former military personnel reenter the workforce. The 100,000th hire was made by V3 certified employer Paramount Builders in Virginia Beach. In recognition of this achievement, Youngkin presented the 100K Hires Award to the companys vice president of operations, Bob Shackford, at the Greater Richmond Convention Center on Wednesday. This is the beginning, Youngkin said. We know there is more work to do, taking care of our veterans and veterans families, taking care of our active-duty heroes and their families, the governor said. Making sure they want to stay here. The commonwealths veterans employment program commonly known as V3, or Virginia Values Veterans, has helped veterans and military families since its 2012 launch. More than 2,100 employers have committed to be a part of V3 as the agency is recognized as a crucial pipeline for people like Williamsburg resident Gerardo Ramirez, who traveled to Richmond on Wednesday to witness the governors announcement. Ramirez joined the U.S. Navy in 1987 and retired in 2017. Coming out of the military, Ramirez said he struggled answering the same question many veterans ask themselves: What do I do now? I was only 45 when I retired with a wife and family, Ramirez said. The only thing I was thinking back then was what am I going to do ... coming into the civilian sector, you want to have a job or a purpose, and theres a lot of veterans that go through the same feelings. Working with the Department of Veterans Services, Ramirez was one of the first to be admitted to the Military Medics and Corpsmen (MMAC) program. This program helps people forge new career paths in Virginias health care system. Ramirez said hes also committed to working with V3 and helping others like him find a job. Sometimes just knowing that theres someone there to help you can kind of set you at ease, he said. Now at age 50, Ramirez said being able to work and provide for his family has given him that sense of purpose. Hes helping to pass that feeling along to others. V3s Hire Vets Now Fellowship provides job training and skill certifications for people about to leave military service, and allows them to experience different industries and career paths once they have ceased active duty. V3 offers programs designed to enhance the skill sets many veterans and military families already possess. For instance, in the Navy, Ramirez served as a medical assistant as a corpsman officer and transitioned to working in health care. V3 has also gone above and beyond its steps to recruit, train and reimagine the veteran workforce by providing a number of incentives for retiring military veterans. Were being innovative with our programs that we offer, said V3s program manager, Jasmine Gore. Gore spoke about V3s commitment to adding employers large and small to its ranks while implementing comprehensive plans to help hire veterans now. For instance, V3 operates a grant and certification process that awards companies $1,000 for each eligible veteran hired. The grant awards employers up to $10,000. We are committed to helping veterans thrive and to get them into careers that are meaningful, said Daniel Gade, commissioner of the state Department of Veterans Services. Gade who is a retired disabled veteran himself said working as the head of V3 has reignited his belief that Virginia wants to see veterans succeed. Our focus is on helping Virginias 730,000-plus veterans have lives that they can be proud of, Gade said. Our agency is trying to fulfill the governors campaign promise to make Virginia the best place for veterans to live, work and raise a family. On September 12, more than a dozen golfers associated with the Virginia State Golf Association took to a Hanover golf course to play 100 holes in a day to help more golf more accessible for kids. From 8@4 presented by Massey Cancer Center from the Virginai Wayside Furniture studio. A former sales associate for Virginia ABC has pleaded guilty to felony computer trespass and embezzling the authoritys inventory list of high-demand and limited-availability bourbons that was allegedly sold to online bourbon hunting groups. In front of Hanover County Circuit Court Judge John Overton Harris on Monday, Edgar Smith Garcia, 28, of Manassas pleaded guilty to computer trespass. He was sentenced to two years in prison, which were suspended for five years on the condition of good behavior, according to Virginia ABC. Garcia must pay a $600 fine and is banned from all Virginia ABC property. Three other charges for embezzlement, conspiracy to embezzle and conspiracy computer trespass were dropped as part of the plea agreement. Earlier this year, conspiracy theories about an employee selling insider information was flying among whiskey enthusiasts, and Virginia ABC pulled allocated bourbon from its shelves. In April, Virginia ABC rolled out a new randomized way to purchase in-demand allocated bourbon. Garcia was a lead sales associate from Feb. 14, 2020, through March 25, 2022. The charges were based on allegations that Garcia, as an ABC employee, had access to an internal list of the agencys allocated liquor products that was not available to the public. Garcia then provided the information to Robert William Adams, 45, of Newport News, who had a private Facebook page, and Adams would release the information to his subscribers who would pay him $300 each for access. ABCs Bureau of Law Enforcement initiated a criminal investigation in partnership with other enforcement entities, which led to the two men being charged. Adams is scheduled to appear in Hanover Circuit Court on Dec. 12. The cases are being tried in Hanover because thats where Virginia ABC recently moved its new headquarters and distribution center from Hermitage Road in Richmond. Earlier this year, ABC conducted an extensive internal review of its limited availability products distribution following complaints of unfair sales activity. The investigation focused on various labels of high-demand, limited-availability bourbons allocated by the government-run liquor monopoly. The agency has compiled a list of more than 100 products that are not readily available to meet public demand, but occasionally offered for sale at randomly selected ABC stores at one bottle per customer per day. Some of the sought-after bourbons include Buffalo Trace, Bookers Bourbon and Blantons Single Barrel. In the spring, the agency rolled out a new randomized program of selling allocated bourbon and other spirits that Virginia ABC CEO Travis Hill said at the time was designed to give all interested parties an equal shot at buying the liquors. The goal was to make the products as accessible as possible and correct a system where bourbon hunters or whiskey enthusiasts were camping outside Virginia ABC stores when they thought or caught wind that a shipment of allocated whiskey was coming in. Now, Virginia ABC announces on its Spirited Virginia Facebook or Instagram page that certain stores will have the allocated bourbon for purchase. That system has been in place since April. During the investigation, ABC worked with the Virginia State Police Criminal Investigation Division, which assisted with serving search warrants and analyzing electronic evidence. Evidence uncovered during the investigation led to the charges against Garcia and Adams. Stephen Hollowell has seen the different sides of safety from working in the United Kingdoms Metropolitan Police to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. These days, hes returned to a familiar trade, as as security director for Sentara Healthcare. But some things have changed since he worked in health care security in New York. The general increase in violence nationally is spilling over to hospitals and has been exacerbated by the pandemic, according to Hollowell. In response, area hospitals are revamping security measures to protect their patients and staff. Clinical staff especially bear the brunt of it and thats why youre seeing reports all this year of violence against clinical staff he said. Hospitals throughout the country, not just this country, but other countries as well, have had to now start ramping up their security even more so than there was before. Even before the pandemic, almost seven out of 10 doctors in emergency departments said violence was increasing, according to an August 2018 poll of 3,500 emergency department workers across the nation. Between 2009 and 2010, the number of assaults on health care staff jumped 13%, to 11,370, with the caveat that many such assaults go unreported, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. By 2019, the workplace violence injury rate at private private hospitals and home health services had more than doubled since 2009, according to an May 2021 AFL-CIO report on worker safety. Between April and June this year, roughly 57 nurses a day were assaulted across 483 medical facilities, according to an analysis by Press Ganney, a health care database company. Hollowell said the security concerns at a hospital are different from those of a corporate office or a port because of the nature of the visitors. People are coming to to visit sick loved ones or undergo various procedures or life-saving care. That can create a tense environment where those worried for a family member or themselves can lash out at those around them, he said. Early Sept. 4, Sentara Norfolk General went on lockdown as victims of the Killam Avenue and Monarch Way shootings were transported to the hospital along with other trauma victims from across the city, according to Patti Montes, director of system emergency management. The point of the lockdown is to keep everyone safe as multiple patients from one or multiple incidents flow into the facility over a short period, she said. During that time, the hospital wants to make sure that those in the emergency department have a legitimate reason to be there, according to Montes. We have to do this for everyones safety, Montes said. Additionally, while in a mass casualty alert, more staff and resources are allocated to make sure proper treatment is given even as a large number of patients arrive at the emergency department, according to Montes. Hollowell said hospitals are on guard around the clock for potential bad actors who want to commit crime or violence and try to take advantage of a busy situation. We want an open, welcoming environment, but at the same time, we have to provide security and safety, so its a real balancing act, Hollowell said. You dont want to turn a hospital into Fort Knox, but at the same time you want to make sure youre providing a level of safety for the community. After a nurse at Riverside Medical Center in Newport News was stabbed repeatedly last year, the hospital rolled out more training for its growing security staff, improved surveillance inside and outside the facilities and expanded the information it collects for visitors to better know who is coming in. It has also partnered more with law enforcement for support if needed, according to a statement from Kim Brighton, protection and emergency management director. Bon Secours has been taking similar steps, such as evaluating and reviewing its security measures, strengthening partnerships with law enforcement and undergoing violence prevention training, according to Emma Swann, a spokesperson for the health system. Sentara has special units across its hospitals that analyze incidents to determine root causes and provide recommendations on how to avoid similar situations, while also going to victims of the violence to support them and find out if they want to press charges, Hollowell said. Though almost seven out of 10 of the over 3,500 polled medical workers in the national August 2018 survey said their facility reported the assault, fewer than 3% of those assaulted pressed charges, according to the survey results. One of the challenges at Sentara is hiring more security personnel who are up to the task, according Hollowell. The skill set that is required for a security person in health care is at a much higher level than corporate (security) and I worked in corporate, so I think I know what Im talking about, Hollowell said. He said Sentara is looking for qualified candidates who can keep places safe by listening to potentially violent visitors or patients, offering understanding and ultimately defusing situations so that minimum or no force becomes necessary. De-escalation is one of the best ways to prevent workplace violence, Hollowell said. However, that same type of employee is also in demand from other groups, such as police departments, which are also struggling with hiring the right candidates, he said. A self-described big believer in continuous education, Hollowell said there is always room to learn how to mitigate assaults and violence in the health care setting. The essence of education at the kindergarten through high school graduation level is the classroom teacher. Teachers typically spend more quality time with students in this age group than their parents, guardians, and other caregivers. The COVID-19 pandemic gave us clear and definite proof of the value of the classroom teacher working with students in a live, physical classroom. Only in that setting can a teacher communicate with a student face-to-face and read their body language and facial expressions to determine if the student gets it. Classroom teachers know that each student is an unique individual who has skills, aptitudes, strengths, challenges, and often special needs. These characteristics may be physical, mental, social, or emotional. Social media has exacerbated these issues because anyone can put awful comments on the internet that can travel instantly to many people in locations world-wide. There are no editors to check for accuracy or appropriateness; the only determinant of the posting is the sender. Students in K-12 levels are especially vulnerable to this type of cruelty. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 44% of high school students experienced persistent feelings of sadness and hopelessness during the pandemic caused by long periods of isolation from their friends and teachers. The American School Counselors Association recommends that there should be a ratio of one school counselor for every 250 students; Virginias ratio is 1:348. Only New Hampshire and Vermont meet the 1:250 ratio. Much has been written about the so-called achievement gap and the comparisons of academic success among groupings of students. The Virginia Department of Education places students in ten subgroups; among them are students with disabilities, economically disadvantaged, and English learners (formerly English as a Second Language). If there are differences among these groups in the Standards of Learning (SOL) scores, then differences are highlighted. The real issue is that differences in test scores of these subgroups are often characterized as achievement gaps that need to be narrowed. The real achievement gap is the difference in students potential compared with their academic successes. We should not compare subgroups of students, rather we should compare what a student accomplished versus that students potential as assessed by classroom teachers using various testing and assessment mechanisms. Classroom teachers work in concert with school experts trained in further assessing student aptitudes and challenges and work to overcome these unique individual challenges. The classroom teacher is the main leader in student learning with support from school psychologists, social workers, special education teachers, curriculum specialists, principals and assistant principals. It is truly a team effort of the highest order. It is unfortunate and unfair that public K-12 schools in Virginia and other states are judged solely on standardized test scores and do not recognize the tremendous effort and success that comes from classroom teachers and their colleagues working together to maximize student achievement. The true measure of a schools success is its ability to determine where the student is upon arrival, what that student is capable of going, and creating academic, emotional, and social successes for that student. That is the true measure of the term achievement gap. Sustainable, thoughtful and high-quality are the watchwords of a new shop that just opened in Roanoke. Yard Bull Meats, an idea born of a duo with backgrounds in cooking and butcher work, aims to revive an old world style of butcher shop stocked with meats that are carefully hand-cut from whole animals raised by local farms. Everythings sustainably sourced, said co-owner Tyler Thomas. ... We know where it comes from. We know the farmers, and thats something were really proud of. The butcher shop located in South Roanoke between The River and Rail Restaurant, where Thomas is also executive chef, and Crystal Spring Grocery Co. is dry aging its beef in-house to ensure its quality, Thomas said. Its also making its own deli meats, sausages and other goods, said co-owner Elliott Orwick, who has more than a decade of experience as a butcher. The business partners, whove been working toward opening the brick-and-mortar shop since 2019, said they were inspired by a desire to make good, sustainable food more widely available. Roanoke has no other full-fledged local butcher shop. We saw the need for it, and wanted to make it happen, said Thomas, adding that in addition to selling its wares, the team also hopes to share its knowledge. Customers are encouraged to ask questions, and talk with them about the items that line the stores shelves. One of their favorite refrains is: know your butcher. Building that relationship can deepen ones understanding of food and cooking at a time when people increasingly want to know more about where their food came from and how it was produced. We want everybody to come into the shop, and get to know us, Thomas said. To let us help them get the best meat possible. Yard Bull Meats plans to stock a wide selection of beef, pork, chicken and seafood. Its working with over a dozen local farms, including Smoke In Chimneys, which is supplying it with trout. Some items, such as fresh bluefin tuna that is now in season, come from purveyors outside the region, but all suppliers have been carefully vetted, officials said. The butcher shops lineup also includes dips, caviar, broths, spices and rubs. It will also offer a weekly, grab-and-go sandwich special made with Yard Bull products. Specialty items, including quail, offal, chicken hearts and chicken feet, are available as well. In addition to Thomas and Orwick, the shop is staffed by a full-time manager, Jordan Case, whos an experienced butcher, as well as two to three part-time clerks. The shop debuted this month after undertaking an extensive revamp of its 1,000-square-foot space on Crystal Spring Avenue. The storefront, once a bank, was last occupied by Goldsmith Jeweler and underwent a top-to-bottom renovation to prepare for the butcher shop. Yard Bull Meats, located at 2203 Crystal Spring Ave. S.W., is now open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesdays to Saturdays and from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays. Mill Mountain Theatre will present one of historys most important stories when The Diary of Anne Frank opens Wednesday at the Trinkle Mainstage. Its been 60 years since MMT last put on the show. It had been set for 2020, but COVID-19 lockdowns forced the theater to cancel that season. Mill Mountain Theatre reintroduced The Diary of Anne Frank to our 2022 season due to its significance and importance, said Producing Artistic Director Ginger Poole in a news release. This show is incredibly powerful and [its] crucial that we tell it on our stage. Many know the outlines of Anne Franks story: A 13-year-old Jewish girl, forced into hiding by the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands during World War II, chronicled her experiences in a diary. This record miraculously survived her eventual arrest and deportation to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where she died in 1945. What many may not know is that young Anne had literary ambitions, and was aware that her writings could help inform future generations about a dark period in human history which is exactly what happened. Dutch officials recovered her diary and presented it to her father, Otto (the familys only known Holocaust survivor), after the war. The diary, first published in 1947, inspired a play in 1955 and a movie in 1959, and has been widely regarded as required reading in academic circles. The cast for the show will feature Broadway talent, in addition to local performers. In this transcendently powerful new adaptation by Wendy Kesselman, Anne Frank emerges from the pages of history as a living, lyrical, and intensely gifted young girl, the news release states. An impassioned drama about the lives of eight people hiding from the Nazis in a concealed storage attic, The Diary of Anne Frank captures the claustrophobic realities of their daily existence their fear, their laughter, their grief, and their hope. This adaptation breathes new life into this iconic tale. The Roanoke Times CHRISTIANSBURG Montgomery County leaders made more progress last week in discussions about eliminating a business inventory tax that has been unpopular with a number of local employers. The countys board of supervisors, on a 6-1 vote Monday, scheduled an Oct. 11 public hearing for an ordinance to eliminate the merchant capital tax as of Jan. 1. Although the scheduling of the public hearing was almost a unanimous decision, the issue has divided the board along partisan lines over a number of concerns with the tax and the impact that could come from its elimination. The four Republicans on the board have raised concerns over the taxs fairness due, in part, to the fact that only a handful of local employers provide a significant chunk of the revenue generated by the tax. They also have lamented that some local mom and pop shops can end up paying more than some national brands that have locations in the area. Some of the supervisors have voiced fears over the tax causing hesitancy among some employers considering moves to the county and similar worries over existing businesses looking to move elsewhere due the tax. We want to be pro-business, and be more pro-business here in Montgomery County, said board Chairwoman Sherri Blevins, a Republican, who voiced concerns about the tax prompting some existing businesses in the county to look elsewhere. Thats a consideration for them. Think of the hundreds of jobs we may lose. The three Democrats on the board have shown more resistance to the proposal due to concerns about eliminating a revenue source of around $1.5 million which some of them said could come in handy at certain times, particularly for a county that has seen consistent growth over the years and consequently an increased need for municipal services. I have a small business, personally; I have to pay this tax, too. I think its pretty ridiculous, but I also understand that $1.5 million a year is a lot of money in revenue, said Supervisor Sara Bohn, a Democrat. Bohn cast the lone vote against the upcoming public hearing and offered some pushback to Blevins comment about some businesses potentially leaving the county over the tax. I just want to be a little more thoughtful as we try to figure out how to right size this merchants tax, instead of completely eliminating it, Bohn said. Although the other two Democrats on the board voted in favor of scheduling the public hearing, they clarified they did so to invite further public discussion on the matter and not because they support the debated proposal itself. The tax in question is imposed on merchants capital, which is defined as the inventory of stock on hand, daily rental passenger cars as defined by a section of Virginia code, daily rental property and all other personal property except personal property that is not for sale as merchandise and is taxed under another category, according to a description provided on yesmontgomeryva.org. The tax is assessed at 20% of an items purchase price and the rate is $3.05 per $100 of assessed value. That means, for example, that the first years tax owed on merchants capital on hand that was bought for $100 would be 61 cents, according to yesmontgomeryva.org. The top five payers of Montgomery Countys merchant capital tax are backcountry.com, the Shelor Motor Mile group, the Duncan Automotive Network, Walmart and Lowes. They altogether pay about $805,000, according to figures recently provided by the county. Backcountry.com, Shelor and Duncan each, respectively, pay $337,103, $265,338 and $134,692, and they are by far the biggest contributors in the top five. Walmart and Lowes, respectively, pay $34,992 and $32,678. A representative of backcountry.com and the owners of Shelor and Duncan each turned out to speak out against the tax when supervisors discussed the issue last month. Shelor and Duncan returned this past week and were joined by others, some of whom said the issue is even more unfair when taking into account the rise of internet sales and the fact there are companies that effectively have some kind of presence in the county but dont pay the tax. The county put the matter up for discussion again in the recent meeting to go over more points. One area covered was the issue of when the tax should be eliminated. County staff said an elimination of the tax before the end of the current calendar year would pose a challenge as it would require amending the current budget. County Administrator Craig Meadows said hes not aware of a time in his tenure when theyve taken out a revenue source during the midst of a fiscal year. If supervisors eliminate the tax in January, the impact could be worked into the countys drawing up of the next fiscal years proposed budget, staff said. That choice would provide additional time to prepare fiscally sound options for making up the reduction, according to a document staff provided this past week. Bohn, who pushed for more time on the matter, asked about the possibility of making a decision about a month or two after Jan. 1. Deputy County Administrator Angie Hill said it would be preferred for a decision to be made sooner rather than later to ease the budget preparation. In response to the concerns over the loss of funding, Blevins pointed to the annual savings, new growth in undesignated revenues money that comes from sources such as real estate taxes and the upcoming county reassessment of properties that is anticipated to effectively lead to more revenue from real estate taxes. I do believe there are ways, she said. I do believe we need to move forward to eliminate this tax now. Britain and the world said farewell to Queen Elizabeth II with pomp and pageantry. Crowds massed in the streets of London and at Windsor Castle to honor a monarch whose 70-year reign defined an era. The first state funeral since Winston Churchills drew world leaders and other royalty. Before the service, a bell tolled 96 times for each year of Elizabeths life. Royal Navy sailors pulled a gun carriage carrying her flag-draped coffin to Westminster Abbey before pallbearers bore it inside. Atop the coffin sat a handwritten note from King Charles III. After a committal service at a chapel in Windsor Castle, the coffin was lowered into the royal vault. In movie theatres and pubs, on giant screens and smartphones, people watched and pundits droned on as the funeral in London flooded the airwaves live across time zones and continents. An American contractor held hostage in Afghanistan for more than two years by the Taliban has been released. The White House and family members of Mark Frerichs said Monday his release came in an exchange for a convicted Taliban drug lord jailed in the United States. A Northern California woman has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for faking her own kidnapping so she could go back to a former boyfriend, which led to an three-week, multi-state search. Forty-year-old Sherri Papini pleaded guilty last spring under a plea bargain. The number of people killed on U.S. roadways fell slightly from April through June. But the government says traffic fatalities are still at a crisis level. Estimates from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration show that 20,175 people died in crashes from January through June, an increase of 0.5% over the same period last year. The United Arab Emirates will launch its first lunar rover in November. The rover would be launched from the Kennedy Space Center aboard a Falcon 9 SpaceX rocket and deposited on the moon by a Japanese ispace lander sometime in March. A Russian missile has blasted a crater close to a nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, damaging nearby industrial equipment but not hitting its three reactors. Ukrainian authorities denounced Monday's attack as an act of nuclear terrorism." In this week's religion roundup, pastors offer a mixed response to Republican transports of migrants to Democratic-run jurisdictions, while a faith-led group seeks missing migrants in the US-Mexico desert. And Pope Francis calls for peace in Ukraine. National News ICYMI: Today's top US news Here's a look at the latest news and most interesting developments today. As someone who has been incarcerated for over 40 years, I was dismayed to learn that in the first two weeks Gov. Glenn Youngkins first parole board was in place it denied all 177 parole requests it considered, according to the Richmond-Times Dispatch. After the Democrats rejected all of these board appointments except that of the chairman, Chadwick Dotson, new parole board members were appointed on April 6 by the Governor. These new appointees will be serving as an interim parole board until the General Assembly considers appointments during the 2023 regular session. This group of new members, although not yet confirmed by the General Assembly, has been deciding the fate of all parole eligible offenders reviewed by parole examiners. I note that its chairman is a retired circuit court judge and a former top prosecutor for Wise County and the city of Norton, and all of the new appointees have backgrounds in prosecution and law enforcement, as follows: Samuel L. Boone Jr., vice chairman, is a recruiter and master trooper for the Virginia State Police. Steven Buck has served as an assistant commonwealths attorney in Richmond and Henrico as well as a deputy commonwealths attorney in Albermarle, where he worked closely with law enforcement officers and crime victims to prosecute criminal offenses. Michelle Dermyer is the widow of Virginia State Trooper Chad Phillip Dermyer who was killed in the line of duty on March 31, 2016. Upon Trooper Dermyers death Michelle became a fierce advocate and supporter for law enforcement, specifically legislation that impacts survivors and their families, using her voice and advocacy to pass policies and legislation that extends survivor benefits and sentencing guidelines for those convicted of capital murder of law enforcement officers. Toby Vick is an experienced litigator with an extensive resume as a prosecutor but has also served as a defense attorney. Under this board, the rate of parole grants has dropped to the absolute lowest since January 1995. According to the Boards website there have been only 43 combined parole grants from January through July 2022, out of over 800 parole review considerations during this time. This raises questions of concern by parole eligible offenders and their families as to how these numbers of continuous parole denials are acceptable in a state that has a recidivism rate of only 22.6%, among the top ten percentile of states with the lowest recidivism. Parole eligible offenders currently make up fewer than ten percent of the entire prison population housed in the Virginia Department of Corrections, around 1,900 in number, mostly individuals who were incarcerated prior to the abolishment of parole in Virginia in January of 1995. They have all served 25 to 40 plus years, and many have exceptional prison records and are capable of transitioning back into society as productive law-abiding citizens as determined in part by VDOCs own risk assessment scores showing that their release is compatible with public safety and that they will pose virtually no risk to the community. Some also have medical conditions that are also a factor in their release. In spite of this, in the past seven months hundreds of parole eligible offenders who have proven themselves rehabilitated (corrected by a Department of Corrections) have been denied parole. I was incarcerated at the age of 22 and am now 63 and eligible for both discretionary and geriatric parole. I have demonstrated remorse and victim empathy and have taken full responsibility for my past actions. My positive academic and vocational accomplishments include earning a college bachelors degree, completing all correctional treatment programs, demonstrating proactive rehabilitation participation, maintaining a positive community support network, having a low risk assessment if released to the community, being infraction free throughout the duration of incarceration, having a supportive and stable home release plan, and having a reentry vocational training plan established pending release. Yet I have been denied parole 21 times in the past 25 years of being eligible, and I have served over 40 years of a multiple life sentence in spite of being a first-time offender with an exceptionally good record of prison citizenship. My question to Chairman Dotson and the interim Parole Board is simply, What standards of suitability for parole are not being applied in the consideration of my case, and many others like me, as compared to the 43 who have been granted parole? What must we do to qualify to be released on parole in the commonwealth other than growing older, doing more time or being diagnosed with a serious medical condition? China's public security authorities have intensified cooperation with counterparts abroad in combating telecom and online fraud and have become a useful reference in the struggle against the crime, according to the Ministry of Public Security. Telecom fraud is a common transnational form of organized crime that has become a global public hazard, with scammers often targeting citizens from a different country, seriously infringing on their rights and interests and the security of their property. To curb the crime, China's police have strengthened international cooperation and achieved remarkable results. Police from a number of countries have also sought international cooperation on multiple occasions in the hopes that Chinese police can share their experience of fighting telecom fraud, said the ministry. For example, under the Interpol framework, Chinese police worked with police from 76 countries to combat fraud between March and June this year, leading to the discovery of 1,770 hideouts located in various countries, the apprehension of over 2,000 suspects and the interception of more than $50 million in illicit funds. Telecom fraud has become specialized, industrialized, collectivized and internationalized as a result of the rapid development of global information technology. It is a major challenge for police worldwide and a difficult problem facing governments, said an official with the ministry. "It is the common responsibility of police from all countries as well as the broad consensus of the international community to cooperate on combating transnational telecom and online fraud," he said. China's public security organs have established an efficient system with the participation of multiple departments, and have carried out a series of special operations to curtail the occurrence of online fraud. In addition, China's top legislative body recently approved a new law on telecom and online fraud, which will come into effect on Dec 1 to strengthen the fight against fraud and those aiding fraudsters, through the application of harsher punishment. According to the ministry, the number of telecom and online fraud cases had decreased month-on-month since June last year, with about 80 percent of cases filed committed abroad. As many Chinese citizens who engage in fraud overseas were either tempted to do so through the promise of great rewards or encouraged to leave the country on false pretenses, with some even kidnapped, detained, beaten, or even killed by fraudsters, Chinese authorities have actively worked with their counterparts abroad to rescue citizens or persuade them to return to China. Authorities are also doing their best to offer assistance and job placements to those who do choose to return. Between April 2021 and July 2022, police nationwide resolved about 594,000 telecom and online fraud cases, and 230,000 people involved were re-educated or persuaded to return from overseas, significantly reducing the number of Chinese nationals going abroad to commit crimes against Chinese citizens, according to the ministry. Immigration departments have also taken measures to restrict the exit of those previously convicted of telecom fraud in accordance with the Exit and Entry Administration Law. In August, the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate and the ministry issued a circular urging the leaders and main players in telecom and online fraud to surrender by offering lighter punishment to those who voluntarily surrender and confess their crimes before Sept 30. New discovery on the causes of PAP lung disease can also offer solutions for treating obesity and heart disease. The research group of Associate Professor Alexander Mildner at the University of Turku, Finland, identified a genetic defect that causes the accumulation of lipids in the pulmonary alveoli. Pulmonary alveoli are tiny bubble-like air sacs at the end of bronchial tubes. They are vital for survival as they exchange oxygen for carbon dioxide. The alveoli are covered by a thin fluid film called surfactant which consists mainly of lipids. Surfactant does not only protect the lungs against airborne pathogens and dust, but also facilitates proper respiration by reducing the alveolar surface tension. Surfactant lipids are constantly produced and cleared from the alveoli. Alveolar macrophages, the immune scavenger cells of the lungs, degrade and recycle surfactant lipids. Defects in the development and function of alveolar macrophages lead to a disturbed surfactant balance and a pathological accumulation of surfactant lipids which ultimately clogs the alveolar space. The accumulated lipids make the macrophages bloated and foamy. "We can observe this phenomenon in patients with pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (PAP). They suffer from shortness of breath, an impaired respiratory function and an increased risk of lung infections. It is a relatively rare disease," says Associate Professor Alexander Mildner from the InFLAMES Flagship Programme at the University of Turku, Finland, who was leading the research in cooperation with Prof. Achim Leutz group at the Max-Delbruck Center in Berlin, Germany. Macrophages Lack Essential Cellular Tools A disturbance in gene regulation causes the defect in the macrophages. One of these disturbances has already been identified, but Mildner and his group discovered that the lack of a second regulator makes the macrophages unable to clear the lipids in the surfactant. "This regulatory gene is the transcription factor C/EBPb. We observed that C/EBPb-deficient macrophages lacked the cellular tools required for the clearance of lipids," Mildner explains. The significance of the new discovery is not just limited to the PAP disease. Bloated, foamy macrophages are also found in people with obesity or atherosclerosis. "Maybe we can learn from alveolar macrophages in the lungs and translate our findings to other macrophages and help them to digest lipids more effectively. In the future, it could be possible to pharmacologically activate the macrophage C/EBPb-Pparg2 network in patients with obesity, PAP or atherosclerosis and promote lipid digestion in these cells. This could provide new strategies to treat these patients," says Mildner. Alexander Mildner's research article "C/EBP regulates lipid metabolism and Pparg isoform 2 expression in alveolar macrophages" was published in the esteemed Science Immunology journal. More information: Dorothea Dorr et al, C/EBP regulates lipid metabolism and Pparg isoform 2 expression in alveolar macrophages, Science Immunology (2022). DOI: 10.1126/sciimmunol.abj0140 Provided by University of Turku Comfort women is the term used for the systematic sexual exploitation of women and girls that took place under the Japanese Empire 19321945. It has been estimated that the system comprised anything from 20 000 to 400 000 women at some 2 000 different "comfort stations" and this is described today as either slavery or prostitution. 80 years later, the women who were sexually exploited by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II are still waiting for legal recognition. Anna-Karin Eriksson describes the issue as being stuck in a deadlock. In her dissertation, she points out how important it is to view historical events from a larger perspectivealso current events like the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The system with comfort women for the Imperial Japanese Army came into being due to three main reasons, says Anna-Karin Eriksson who recently defended her doctoral thesis on this topic within the subject of political science at Linnaeus University. "They wanted to reduce the number of rapes that took place where the Japanese Empire advanced. They also wanted to reduce the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, by controlling the women. It was also seen as a sort of relaxation after warfare, as recreation." Awaits rectification Despite the fact that close to 80 years have passed since the end of World War II, the comfort women who are still alive are still waiting for rectification for their suffering in the form of legal recognition. The primary reason that this has not happened, according to Eriksson, is that the transformation that the occupying power enforced on Japan, which transformed the empire into a nation state, is spurring anti-feminist backlash that occurs at the survivors' expense. "In order to be able to implement this and have the support of the people, the emperor was kept in place, even though he had the ultimate formal responsibility for the war. The emperor became sort of a victim of the war machinery as well as the person who was to unite the nation. Thus, what was done was to relieve the new nation state of responsibility for the war and say 'you are all victims'. In this way, it became impossible to point out individual victims who suffered more than others", Eriksson explains. Read more More information: Identifiers URN: urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-115764 ISBN: 9789189709249 (print) ISBN: 9789189709256 (electronic) OAI: oai:DiVA.org:lnu-115764 DiVA, id: diva2:1687528 Contact Anna-Karin Eriksson, doctoral student, +46 73-718 95 55, anna-karin.eriksson@lnu.se Ulrika Bergstrom, Senior Press Officer, +46 70-259 36 29, ulrika.bergstrom@lnu.se Provided by Linnaeus University Ibrahim Abe Baggili and Aisha Ali-Gombe join LSU's faculty. Credit: LSU Cybersecurity jobs are among the fastest growing careers nationwide. To meet this critical demand across every industry, having the top cybersecurity experts to train the next generation of information security analysts and cyber professionals is a priority at LSU. In recognition and support of this priority, the state granted $5 million this past legislative session for LSU's cybersecurity and defense programs in Baton Rouge and Shreveport. LSU Alexandria also has announced its Technovation Center for cyber and defense with support from Louisiana Economic Development. The state's investment has made the expansion of LSU's cybersecurity research resources and faculty possible. As a result of this prioritization, two of the nation's top cybersecurity experts have joined LSU's faculty. "Our Pentagon and Scholarship First strategy prioritizes attracting accomplished scholars to Louisiana, and we welcome two exceptional colleagues to LSU's faculty ranks. This cluster hire enhances our standing in cybersecurity and military studies, while supporting an academic area that protects and secures Louisiana's economic assets, advances discovery and improves workforce development in the state," said William F. Tate IV, LSU President. Ibrahim "Abe" Baggili has joined LSU's faculty as an LSU Department of Computer Science & Cybersecurity Professor in the LSU College of Engineering and Center for Computation & Technology. He was the former director of the Connecticut Institute of Technology and the Elder Family Endowed Chair at the University of New Haven, where he secured over $7 million in research funding, helped more than double enrollment in computing programs and led the university to become one of only 21 in the nation to be designated by the National Security Agency as a Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Operations, or CAE-CO. Baggili leads an extensive cybersecurity and forensics research and outreach agenda and has received multiple national and international awards. He received all of his higher education degrees, including his Ph.D. in technology, from Purdue University. He is a first-generation college graduate and is originally from Jordan and is fluent in Arabic. "President Tate's bold vision for defense and cybersecurity is critical to compete in this fast-paced and evolving field. LSU's cyber vision synchronizes well with my own aspirations. I joined because I could see limitless potential at LSU. I have no doubts in my mind that with the right leadership support and accomplished faculty and students, we are on our way towards becoming the preeminent cybersecurity program both nationally and internationally. I am here to be part of this vision and to make it a reality," Baggili said. Aisha Ali-Gombe has joined LSU's faculty as an associate professor in the LSU Department of Computer Science & Engineering and the Center for Computation & Technology. She was an assistant professor at Towson University in Maryland. She received her Ph.D. in computer science with a concentration in information assurance from the University of New Orleans. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in computer science from the University of Abuja in Nigeria and her master's degree in business administration specializing in entrepreneurship and venture creation from Bayero University Kano in Nigeria. She is one of the few Black female cybersecurity researchers with a Ph.D. at a Carnegie-designated research-intensive university. "I've always had a close relationship with LSUas a postdoc and a visiting research scientist. But with President Tate's unveiling of the APECS initiative in March, I knew it's time. It's time to give back to the community that made me. Having been a critical backbone of another top CAE-CO school and my wealth of experience in system security pedagogy and research, I am confident we can actualize the president's vision of making Louisiana a national leader in cyber workforce development, industry collaboration and scholarship," Ali-Gombe said. For more information on LSU's defense/cybersecurity priority, please visit https://lsu.edu/president/priorities/defense.php. Provided by Louisiana State University FLORENCE, S.C. Florence County Democratic candidates said freedom is on the line in the Nov. 8 general election and emphasized the significance of the election to voters at a Democratic stump event held at Mount Zion A.M.E. Church. The South Carolina chairman of the Democratic Party, Trav Robertson, set a tone of aggressive opposition to the Republican Party and said the Democrats are fighting back to bring forward a South Carolina that has equal opportunity for all in the arena of education, health care, and overall livelihood. The Republican Party stands for taking away your freedom, Robertson said. For privatizing the school system. Theyre creating a government that only works for one half of our population. Community members from all parts of Florence County gathered Saturday night to hear local and state candidates on their plans for the direction of the city and state. On the local level, Chandra R. Graham will face incumbent Jesse Cartrette Jr. for Florence County probate judge, Vincent Coe will face incumbent Jay Jordan for House of Representatives District 63, and LaShonda NeSmith-Jackson will face Republican candidate Joey McMillan for Florence City Council District 1. Graham, who was one of several speakers at the Democratic stump event, said she is qualified for the position. I have been working in probate court for eight years, Graham said. My platform is to serve the people of Florence County with the spirit of excellence and to provide stability, excellence, accountability, and service to the people of Florence County. Graham said her eight years of experience in the probate court has allowed her to understand the intricacies of probate court and she believes her most important quality for the position is her compassion to assist people during such a vulnerable and transitional time. I want to be able to assist people and make sure their probate process is able to be as smooth as possible. I also want them to get through the process within the time frame that has been provided by the state, Graham said. The probate court has jurisdiction over marriage licenses, estates of deceased persons, guardianships, conservatorships of incapacitated persons, settlements for minors, wrongful deaths, involuntary commitments of mentally ill or chemically dependent persons. Graham said she wanted to emphasize that you do not have to have a law degree to be a probate judge in South Carolina and it is the only judgeship that is elected by the people. The probate judge serves all of Florence County: Florence, Lake City, Johnsonville, Scranton, Coward, Quinby, Pamplico, and Timmonsville. Robertson said Graham was more than fit to represent the people of Florence County as probate judge. Most people dont realize that a probate judge will judge every persons life in this county, Robertson said. The fact is when you have someone who has passed away, if you dont have a competent, but most importantly, a caring probate judge it will be one of the most horrible experiences of your life. Vincent Coe said his desire to serve came from his love of people, which he said is a driving force for his campaign. Whether it be seniors or those who are disabled, Coe said. I want to help them. Helping the seniors and those who are disabled was actually one of my first jobs in the Lieutenant Governors office in Columbia. Coe said after his first job, it was a no-brainer that he would continue to use his efforts to help people unable to help themselves. Coe said he is looking to be a voice of reason in the house of representatives and wants to bring unity. There are a lot of us against them, Coe said. I would love to bring people together. No one has all of the answers. Coe stands for increasing teacher pay, advancing small businesses, eliminating state income tax, creating more jobs, making South Carolina a more competitive state, eliminating the drug pandemic, and helping the homeless population. District 63 covers the center of Florence. It covers Downtown Florence,5 points intersection, Magnolia Mall, Hoffmeyer Road, Cherokee Road, and covers everything to the Florence YMCA. Coe said there is no better candidate than him to represent the heart of the city because of his voice of unity. Coe has been to work in Columbia, New York, Cleveland, Ohio, but has found that there is no place like home and wants to put everything he has learned towards making Florence a better place to live and grow the next generation. I have been to great places, Coe said. But there is no place like home. My family is here and this is the place where I have grown up.I want to come back and make it better for the next generation. LaShonda NeSmith-Jackson said it was time for the Democratic Party to make a change and said it is time to make sure their rights are represented. Its time for the city of Florence to work together, Jackson said. It is time to create space for all of us to work together. Jackson said there should be no separation between the county, city, or state, and said all should work together to move the city forward and effectively address the issues that are plaguing the community. It is time for men to stop making decisions about womens bodies, Jackson said. Its time to stand up and use our vote. Jackson said to District 1 that she hears their needs and that she will not stop until their needs are fulfilled. She said it is time that the District takes part in the growth that is happening in Florence and she will get it done. Its time to create some standard of living, Jackson said. It is time to have a better quality of life and it is time to feel safe in your own homes. It is time to take back our communities and I will not give up until I get there. On the state level, Lt. Col. Tally Parham Casey was one of the speakers of the event. She is Joe Cunninghams running mate for lieutenant governor. Krystle Matthews will face incumbent Tim Scott for U.S. Senate, Lisa Ellis will face Ellen Weaver for superintendent of education and Rosemounda Peggy Butler will face incumbent Mark Hammond for secretary of state. Matthews is still in the race for the U.S. Senate, despite much controversy and calls on her to quit. Matthews said nothing will stop her from running and creating solutions for working families in South Carolina. Matthews has been in a lot of controversy due to a leaked phone call by a conservative activist group called Project Veritas, where she made derogatory comments about white people. Dont focus on the distractions, Matthews said. If I were not a threat, they would not be coming for me. My lifes work and the evidence of what I have done so far speaks against every accusation that they have put on me. Matthews said it was an attempt to discredit her, but she has made a choice to stand with the people and make sure that working families and those who wouldnt typically get into politics have a seat at the table. I have a wealth of experience as a worker, Matthews said. As a mother, As a daughter and as someone who lives in this state and understands the everyday struggles. Lisa Burgess who is running for South Carolina superintendent of education, said she plans to work hard to transform education in South Carolina and plans to work for four years and return back to the classroom which is where she said is her heart. Burgess is still working in the classroom as she campaigns. Robertson urged the party to get behind her and said if the party didnt, her opponent, Ellen Weaver, who does not meet the qualifications of the position will get into office and will privatize South Carolinas educational system. We have some serious choices on the ballot here, Robertson said. We have a superintendent of education and if we dont get behind her, I promise you that a woman who doesnt meet the constitutional requirements will privatize the school system and the people who will hurt the most will be people of color. Florence Democratic Chairman Isaac Wilson said the Democratic Party is back and an event like the stump has not happened in six years. Were coming back and were ready to move, Wilson said. Its time to bring the Democrats out. We are a new and improved Democratic Party. Notable developments as defense rests in capital trial of Parkland school shooter | Main | "Whats Dangerous Is Americas Lack of Crime Data" As noted in this post last week, the Drug Enforcement and Policy Center at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law has this great panel discussion scheduled for tomorrow to discuss various aspects of the Supreme Court's work last term in Ruan v. United States. (Folks can and should register here for this event.) Coincidently, CBS News has this lengthy new piece discussing the case's impact under the headline "Doctors rush to use Supreme Court ruling to escape opioid charges." Here are excerpts: Dr. Nelson Onaro conceded last summer that he'd written illegal prescriptions, although he said he was thinking only of his patients. From a tiny, brick clinic in Oklahoma, he doled out hundreds of opioid pills and dozens of fentanyl patches with no legitimate medical purpose. "Those medications were prescribed to help my patients, from my own point of view," Onaro said in court, as he reluctantly pleaded guilty to six counts of drug dealing. Because he confessed, the doctor was likely to get a reduced sentence of three years or less in prison. But Onaro changed his mind in July. In the days before his sentencing, he asked a federal judge to throw out his plea deal, sending his case toward a trial. For a chance at exoneration, he'd face four times the charges and the possibility of a harsher sentence. Why take the risk? A Supreme Court ruling has raised the bar to convict in a case like Onaro's. In a June decision, the court said prosecutors must not only prove a prescription was not medically justified possibly because it was too large or dangerous, or simply unnecessary but also that the prescriber knew as much. Suddenly, Onaro's state of mind carries more weight in court. Prosecutors have not opposed the doctor withdrawing his plea to most of his charges, conceding in a court filing that he faces "a different legal calculus" after the Supreme Court decision. The court's unanimous ruling complicates the Department of Justice's ongoing efforts to hold irresponsible prescribers criminally liable for fueling the opioid crisis. Previously, lower courts had not considered a prescriber's intention. Until now, doctors on trial largely could not defend themselves by arguing they were acting in good faith when they wrote bad prescriptions. Now they can, attorneys say, although it is not necessarily a get-out-of-jail-free card. "Essentially, the doctors were handcuffed," said Zach Enlow, Onaro's attorney. "Now they can take off their handcuffs. But it doesn't mean they are going to win the fight." The Supreme Court's decision in Ruan v. United States, issued June 27, was overshadowed by the nation-shaking controversy ignited three days earlier, when the court erased federal abortion rights. But the lesser-known ruling is now quietly percolating through federal courthouses, where it has emboldened defendants in overprescribing cases and may have a chilling effect on future prosecutions of doctors under the Controlled Substances Act. In the three months since it was issued, the Ruan decision has been invoked in at least 15 ongoing prosecutions across 10 states, according to a KHN review of federal court records. Doctors cited the decision in post-conviction appeals, motions for acquittals, new trials, plea reversals, and a failed attempt to exclude the testimony of a prescribing expert, arguing their opinion was now irrelevant. Other defendants have successfully petitioned to delay their cases so the Ruan decision could be folded into their arguments at upcoming trials or sentencing hearings. David Rivera, a former Obama-era U.S. attorney who once led overprescribing prosecutions in Middle Tennessee, said he believes doctors have a "great chance" of overturning convictions if they were prohibited from arguing a good faith defense or a jury was instructed to ignore one. Rivera said defendants who ran true pill mills would still be convicted, even if a second trial was ultimately required. But the Supreme Court has extended a "lifeline" to a narrow group of defendants who "dispensed with their heart, not their mind," he said. "What the Supreme Court is trying to do is divide between a bad doctor and a person who might have a license to practice medicine but is not acting as a doctor at all and is a drug dealer," Rivera said. "A doctor who is acting under a sincerely held belief that he is doing the right thing, even if he may be horrible at his job and should not be trusted with human lives that's still not criminal."... To defense attorneys, the unanimous ruling sent an unambiguous message. "This is a hyperpolarized time in America, and particularly on the court," Enlow said. "And yet this was a 9-0 ruling saying that the mens rea or the mental state of the doctor it matters." Get your Halloween Horror Nights staycation combo on Klook Singapore. (Photo: Klook SG) Halloween Horror Nights is finally returning to Universal Studios Singapore after a two-year hiatus. The 10th edition will start from 30 September and run till 5 November on selected nights. This year, the event will feature three haunted houses (Killustrator: The Final Chapter, Operation: Dead Force, and Hospitality of Horror); two sinister scare zones (The Dark Zodiac, and The Hunt for Pontianak); three special events (laser tag, a spooky behind-the-scenes experience, and a horror-themed meal, Die-ning with the Dead); and a live show, The Silenced Auction. While you can get the individual admission ticket and add on the express pass, enjoy the full experience with the R.I.P Tour package, or jio your kakis with the Frights for Four bundle, did you know Klook Singapore also has HHN10 staycation combos? This combo deal is best for people whod rather head back to a hotel to wind down and calm your nerves after a long, scary day. Besides, some staycation packages come with breakfast, so you can leisurely enjoy a good meal before checking out. Sofitel Singapore Sentosa Resort & Spa staycation package with breakfast From S$541.42 per night Sofitel Singapore Sentosa Resort & Spa staycation package with breakfast. (Photo: Klook SG) Villa Samadhi Singapore scare package S$503 S$652 at Klook Villa Samadhi Singapore scare package. (Photo: Klook SG) Sofitel Singapore City Centre luxury room package for two adults S$627.10 S$673 at Klook Sofitel Singapore City Centre luxury room package for two adults. (Photo: Klook SG) Dao by Dorsett AMTD Singapore basic scare bundle with Halloween Horror tickets for two and Ryde vouchers S$635 S$732 at Klook Dao by Dorsett AMTD Singapore basic scare bundle with Halloween Horror tickets for two and Ryde vouchers. (Photo: Klook SG) CHEROKEE, Iowa A former Cherokee police officer has been placed on probation for failing to stop his pickup truck after striking a 6-year-old girl at a street intersection. Michael McGee, 53, of Cherokee, pleaded guilty Friday in Cherokee County District Court to failure to stop at the scene of an accident, a serious misdemeanor, and failure to yield, a traffic violation. McGee faced up to a year in jail for the misdemeanor, and in his plea agreement the sentencing decision was left up to the judge. District Associate Judge Andrew Smith deferred judgment on the failure to stop charge and placed McGee on one year probation. McGee also must pay a $430 civil penalty, plus a $135 fine for the traffic ticket. McGee struck the girl on May 20 with his Dodge Ram pickup at the intersection of North Roosevelt and East Indian streets. Off duty at the time, McGee was carrying several children's swimming pools stacked in the back of his pickup and 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 driving north. He went to the city garage and placed the pools and other potentially identifying items into a garbage bin and told investigators that when he heard an ambulance was dispatched to the intersection, he panicked and returned home. McGee and his pickup were identified by witnesses, and he was located and charged. The girl, who is from Cherokee, suffered a concussion and other non life-threatening injuries. McGee is no longer with the police department. 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. SIOUX FALLS -- The bookkeeper of a Lesterville, South Dakota, church has pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $320,000 from two church parishes. Steven Bares, 53, of Tabor, South Dakota, pleaded guilty Sept. 13 in U.S. District Court in Sioux Falls to wire fraud. Sentencing was scheduled for Dec. 12. From January 2013 to March 2020, while serving as the bookkeeper for St. John the Baptist parish in Lesterville and St. Wenceslaus parish in Tabor, Bares embezzled $324,001 from the two parishes. In May 2021, the Sioux Falls Catholic Diocese hired an accounting firm to perform a forensic audit at the request of the parishes. Auditors discovered numerous checks made out to companies belonging to Bares that didn't correspond to any service or equipment purchased from them. The checks were deposited into accounts held by Bares. SIOUX CITY The Sioux City Community School District has paid $12,500 in settlements to parents who filed two separate lawsuits after their children were injured in middle school buildings. The district paid $7,500 to Chad and Mandy Sorensen and $5,000 to Jennifer Pottorff. The settlements were paid by the district's insurance carrier. Both lawsuits, filed in Woodbury County District Court, have been dismissed. District communications director Leslie Heying said the district does not comment on litigation or legal matters. The Sorensens sued the district in January, saying their son was attacked and cut at East Middle School in December 2020 during a confrontation with two female students. The boy, who was 12, received a minor laceration on the back of his head from an "X-acto" style cutting tool used for crafts and hobbies that one of the girls had in her possession. The girl was referred to Juvenile Court Services on a charge of willful injury. The Sorensens said their son's injury was the result of negligence by the school's staff to adequately supervise students in hallways and to allow weapons in the school. The girl's mother also had been named in the lawsuit, and the settlement included her dismissal. Pottorff sued the district for negligence in March 2021 for injuries her then-sixth-grade daughter sustained in February 2020, when, she said, two girls pressured her daughter into a "Skull Breaker Challenge" during a physical education class at West Middle School. Pottorff also sued the PE teacher, saying he was sitting at a table focusing on his cell phone during the prank in which the girls grabbed the top of her daughter's hoodie, told her to jump, then let go of her and kicked her feet out from under her while she was in the air, causing her to fall and break her arm and elbow. Both settlement agreements say the payments are not an admission of liability by the district. Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday sent a congratulatory letter to the International Forum on Resilient and Stable Industrial and Supply Chains. The forum opened on the same day in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang Province. In his letter, Xi noted that maintaining the resilience and stability of the global industrial and supply chains is a vital guarantee for promoting the development of the world economy and serves the common interests of people globally. China will unswervingly ensure that the industrial and supply chains are public goods in nature, safeguard the security and stability of its industrial and supply chains, take concrete actions to deepen international cooperation on industrial and supply chains, and make sure that people of all countries share the fruits of development, Xi said. He stressed that China is willing to work with other countries to seize the new opportunities presented by the latest scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation and build a global industrial and supply chain system that is secure, stable, smooth, efficient, open, inclusive, and mutually beneficial. The forum is co-hosted by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Transport, the Development Research Center of the State Council, and the People's Government of Zhejiang Province. SIOUX CITY A Sioux City teenager awaiting sentencing for murder was sentenced last week to five years in prison for possession of marijuana. Dwight Evans, 18, on Wednesday entered a written plea of guilty to possession with the intent to deliver marijuana. Senior Judge Jeffrey Poulson ordered the prison term to be served concurrently, or at the same time, with his pending sentence for murder. A Woodbury County jury on Aug. 4 found Evans guilty of first-degree murder and going armed with intent for the May 1, 2021, shooting death of Martez Harrison outside Uncle Dave's Bar in Sioux City. Evans faces life in prison for murder and five years for going armed with intent. Because Evans was 17 and a juvenile at the time of the shooting, Poulson must decide if and/or when he could be eligible for parole. Had Evans been an adult, he would automatically have been ineligible for parole. A Nov. 18 hearing is scheduled to hear evidence and arguments on whether Evans will be eligible for parole. Sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 16. Evans approached Harrison, who was fighting with Lawrence Canady, outside the bar at 1427 W. Third St. and shot him in the left flank and chest, apparently as revenge for Harrison striking a friend's girlfriend days earlier. Harrison, 22, died a short time later at MercyOne Siouxland Medical Center. Evans' attorneys didn't deny Evans pulled the trigger, but tried to convince jurors he was intoxicated at the time and was defending himself and others. Evans was arrested three hours later near Canady's house and was charged with possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance and failure to affix a drug tax stamp after police found marijuana and a scale in his room during a search of his home while investigating the shooting. Prior to Evans' murder trial, Poulson ordered a separate trial on the drug charges. As part of Evans' guilty plea, the drug tax stamp charge was dismissed. Canady, 22, of Sioux City, is serving a 16-year prison sentence after a jury in December found him guilty of voluntary manslaughter, willful injury causing bodily injury and serious assault. SIOUX CITY A Sioux City woman has pleaded not guilty of playing a role in the gunpoint robbery of a woman outside a convenience store. Shalee Parker, 25, entered her written plea Friday in Woodbury County District Court to charges of first-degree robbery, prohibited transfer of ownership of a pistol or revolver and felon in possession of a firearm. Parker is accused of driving Asa Starr to and from the June 27 robbery of a woman who was filling her car with gas at Select-Mart, 4103 Floyd Blvd. According to court documents, Parker pulled into the Select-Mart, where Starr exited the vehicle, approached the woman and demanded her belongings while displaying a gun. The woman grappled with Starr before complying with his demands for not only her debit card, but a bag inside her vehicle. Starr got back into the car, and Parker drove away from the scene. The two later were spotted in Plymouth County, where, according to court documents, Starr fired the gun at another person after discarding some of the stolen items at the person's property. Starr was seen burying what was believed to be a pistol in a dirt pile at a third location, and police retrieved a .25-caliber handgun from the site. Parker gave Asa Starr the gun for letting her live with him at his mother's house, court documents said. She was prohibited from possessing firearms because of a prior felony conviction. Starr, 18, was arrested in July and has pleaded not guilty of first-degree robbery, going armed with intent, assault while participating in a felony and felon in possession of a firearm. He is scheduled to stand trial in October. LE MARS, Iowa The Iowa State Fire Marshal's office has issued an open burning ban for Plymouth County. The ban takes effect at noon Tuesday. It will be in effect until further notice. Le Mars Fire-Rescue Chief Dave Schipper requested the ban Monday on behalf of all fire departments in the county because of the continued dry conditions in the area. The Fire Marshal's Office approved the request, ruling that open burning would present a danger to life and property. Anyone violating the burning ban could be charged with a simple misdemeanor. SIOUX CENTER, Iowa A Rock Valley man was killed early Sunday in a one-vehicle crash near Sioux Center. According to the Iowa State Patrol, Reyes Felipe Lopez-Lopez was westbound in a Mercury Mariner SUV on Sioux County Road B40 at 6:22 a.m., when he left the road for an unknown reason near the intersection with Garfield Avenue. The vehicle entered the north ditch, vaulted a culvert and struck an embankment. Lopez-Lopez, 25, was pronounced dead at the scene. Two passengers, Marco Vincio Lopez-Lopez, 32, and a 3-year-old girl, both of Rock Valley, were transported to the hospital in Sioux Center and later flown to a Sioux Falls hospital for treatment of their injuries. Alcohol is suspected to be a contributing factor to the crash, according to the State Patrol accident report. Fiona dumps more rain on Puerto Rico; troops rescue hundreds SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) Hurricane Fiona is dumping more rain on Puerto Rico. The deluge comes a day after the storm knocked out power and water to most of the island. National Guard troops have rescued hundreds of people who got stranded. The governor warned that it could take days to get the lights back on. The blow from Fiona was made more devastating because Puerto Rico has yet to recover from Hurricane Maria, which killed nearly 3,000 people and destroyed the power grid in 2017. Five years later, more than 3,000 homes on the island are still covered by blue tarps. Queen Elizabeth II mourned by Britain and world at funeral LONDON (AP) Britain and the world said farewell to Queen Elizabeth II with pomp and pageantry. Crowds massed in the streets of London and at Windsor Castle to honor a monarch whose 70-year reign defined an era. The first state funeral since Winston Churchills drew world leaders and other royalty. Before the service, a bell tolled 96 times for each year of Elizabeths life. Royal Navy sailors pulled a gun carriage carrying her flag-draped coffin to Westminster Abbey before pallbearers carried it inside. Atop the coffin was a handwritten note from King Charles III. After a committal service at a chapel in Windsor Castle, the coffin was lowered into the royal vault. Serial case: Adnan Syed released, conviction tossed BALTIMORE (AP) A Baltimore judge has ordered the release of Adnan Syed after overturning Syeds conviction for a 1999 murder that was chronicled in the hit podcast Serial. Circuit Court Judge Melissa Phinn on Monday ordered that Syeds conviction be vacated and she approved the release of the now-41-year-old who has spent more than two decades behind bars. Syed has always maintained that he never killed his ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee. The case received widespread attention in 2014 when Serial focused on Lees killing and raised doubts about some of the evidence prosecutors had used. Last week, prosecutors filed a motion saying a lengthy investigation had uncovered new evidence that could undermine Syed's conviction. Ukraine warns of 'nuclear terrorism' after strike near plant KYIV, Ukraine (AP) A Russian missile has blasted a crater close to a nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, damaging nearby industrial equipment but not hitting its three reactors. Ukrainian authorities denounced Monday's attack as an act of nuclear terrorism." Ukraine's nuclear operator said the missile struck within 300 meters (328 yards) of reactors at South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant. The strike followed warnings from Russian President Vladimir Putin of possible stepped-up attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure after his forces suffered humiliating battlefield setbacks. It also renewed fears of a possible radioactive disaster in the near seven-month war. One Western analyst said the Russian military was apparently trying to knock Ukrainian nuclear plants offline before winter sets in. On sidelines of UN, a push for China's abuses to be punished NEW YORK (AP) Diplomats and human rights advocates speaking on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly are calling for forceful action on China's alleged persecution of ethnic minorities. Abuses in the far western region of Xinjiang have been exposed for years by watchdogs and journalists, but were given a new imprimatur with a report released by the U.N.'s human rights office last month detailing a ruthless campaign of torture and ethnic cleansing. Fernand de Varennes, the United Nations special rapporteur on minority rights, said Monday that inaction is no longer possible and if we allow this to go unpunished what kind of message is being propagated? China has called the report a patchwork of false information." Strong earthquake shakes Mexicos Pacific coast; 1 killed MEXICO CITY (AP) A magnitude 7.6 earthquake has shaken Mexicos central Pacific coast, killing at least one person and setting off an earthquake alarm in the capital. The quake hit at 1:05 p.m. local time, according to the U.S. Geologic Survey. And it caused at least some damage near the epicenter Alarms for the new quake came less than an hour after a quake alarms warbled in a nationwide earthquake simulation marking major quakes that struck on the same date in 1985 and 2017. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said the secretary of the navy told him one person was killed in the port city of Manzanillo, Colima. US contractor freed by Taliban in swap for drug trafficker WASHINGTON (AP) An American contractor held hostage in Afghanistan for more than two years by the Taliban has been released. The White House and family members said Monday his release came in an exchange for a convicted Taliban drug lord jailed in the United States. Mark Frerichs, a Navy veteran who spent more than a decade in Afghanistan as a civilian contractor, was abducted in January 2020 and is believed to have been held since then by the Taliban-linked Haqqani network. Negotiations for his release centered on a deal that also included the release of Bashir Noorzai, a notorious drug lord and member of the Taliban. Witnesses: Myanmar air attack kills 13, including 7 children BANGKOK (AP) A school administrator says government helicopters have attacked a school and village in Myanmar, killing at least 13 people including seven children. The number of children killed in the government attack last Friday in Sagaing region appears to be the highest since the army seized power in February 2021. The armys takeover triggered mass nonviolent protests nationwide. The military and police responded with deadly force, resulting in the spread of armed resistance in the cities and countryside. The fighting has been especially fierce in Sagaing, where several military offensives have displaced more than half a million people, according to UNICEF. 'Out of control' STD situation prompts call for changes NEW YORK (AP) Sharply rising cases of some sexually transmitted diseases are prompting U.S. health officials to call for new prevention and treatment efforts. Infections rates for some STDs, including gonorrhea and syphilis, have been rising for years. But recently released statistics show that that last year the rate of infectious syphilis cases reached its highest since 1991 and the total number of cases rose 26% to hit its highest since 1948. Experts are calling for reducing stigma, broadening screening and treatment services, and supporting the development and accessibility of at-home testing Diggs scores 3 TDs for Bills in 41-7 rout of Titans ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) Josh Allen threw four touchdown passes, including three to Stefon Diggs, and the Buffalo Bills rolled past Derrick Henry and the Tennessee Titans 41-7 in their home opener. The Bills followed a season-opening 31-10 rout of the Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams by throttling an opponent that has been their nemesis in each of the past two seasons. Fullback Reggie Gilliam and linebacker Matt Milano, with a 43-yard interception return, also scored touchdowns for Buffalo. Buffalo's defense limited Tennessee to 182 yards of offense and 12 first downs, while registering two sacks and forcing four turnovers. The Titans fell to 0-2 for the first time since 2012. WASHINGTON (AP) An American contractor held hostage in Afghanistan for more than two years has been released in exchange for a convicted Taliban drug lord jailed in the United States, the White House said Monday, announcing a rare success in U.S.-Taliban talks since the militant group took power a little more than a year ago Mark Frerichs, a Navy veteran who had spent more than a decade in Afghanistan as a civilian contractor, was abducted in January 2020 and is believed to have been held since then by the Taliban-linked Haqqani network. He was traded for Bashir Noorzai, a Taliban associate convicted in a heroin trafficking conspiracy who had spent 17 years behind bars before his release Monday. The exchange is one of the most significant prisoner swaps to take place under the Biden administration, coming five months after a deal with Russia that brought home Marine veteran Trevor Reed. Though his case has received less public attention than those of some other Americans held abroad, including WNBA star Brittney Griner and corporate security executive Paul Whelan who are both held in Russia and whose relatives met with President Joe Biden on Friday U.S. officials said the deal for Frerichs was the result of months of quiet negotiations. Those discussions gained new momentum in June when Biden agreed to grant Noorzai relief from his life sentence, setting the stage for what one administration official described as a very narrow window of opportunity this month" to complete the deal. Biden said in a statement released by the White House, Bringing the negotiations that led to Marks freedom to a successful resolution required difficult decisions, which I did not take lightly." Frerichs, 60, had been working on civil engineering projects at the time of his Jan. 31, 2020 abduction in Kabul. Hes believed to have been lured into a meeting to discuss a new project and then transported to Khost, a stronghold of the Taliban-linked Haqqani network near the Pakistan border. He was last seen in a video posted last spring by The New Yorker in which he appeared in traditional Afghan clothing and pleaded for his release. He was accompanied Monday by the administrations special presidential envoy for hostage affairs and was in stable health, a U.S. official said. His ultimate destination was not immediately clear, though a Qatari Foreign Ministry official said Frerichs would soon head from Doha to the U.S. A sister of Frerichs, who is from Lombard, Illinois, thanked U.S. officials who helped secure her brother's release. I am so happy to hear that my brother is safe and on his way home to us. Our family has prayed for this each day of the more than 31 months he has been a hostage. We never gave up hope that he would survive and come home safely to us," said a statement from the sister, Charlene Cakora. Noorzai, at the time of his 2005 arrest, hardly seemed an ideal recipient for presidential clemency. He'd been designated on a list reserved for some of the world's most prolific drug traffickers, and was prosecuted in Manhattan's federal court on charges that accused him of owning opium fields in Kandahar province and relying on a network of distributors who sold the heroin in New York. When he was sentenced to life imprisonment, the then-top federal prosecutor in Manhattan said Noorzai's "worldwide narcotics network supported a Taliban regime that made Afghanistan a breeding ground for international terrorism." Monday's deal underscored the two sides to the Talibans approach to illegal drugs. In April, they announced a ban on harvesting the poppies that produce opium for making heroin -- an order that also outlawed the manufacture and transportation of narcotics. However, during the years-long Taliban insurgency, they reportedly made millions of dollars taxing farmers and middle men who moved their drugs outside Afghanistan. A senior administration official who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the administration said the U.S. government now determined that Noorzai's release would not materially change any risk to Americans or fundamentally alter the contours of the drug trade there." Officials also took into account that Noorzai had spent 17 years in prison. They said it became clear from negotiations that releasing him would be necessary to get Frerichs home. At a press conference Monday, Noorzai expressed gratitude at seeing his mujahedeen brothers a reference to the Taliban in Kabul. I pray for more success of the Taliban, he added. I hope this exchange can lead to peace between Afghanistan and America, because an American was released and I am also free now. Even before their takeover of Afghanistan in August last year, the Taliban had demanded the U.S. release Noorzai in exchange for Frerichs. But there had been little public indication of Washington proceeding along those lines. Eric Lebson, a former U.S. government national security official who had been advising Frerichs' family, said in a statement that everything about this case has been an uphill fight. He criticized the Trump administration for having given away "our leverage to get Mark home quickly by signing a peace accord with the Taliban without ever having asked them to return Mark first.'' Marks family then had to navigate two administrations, where many people viewed Marks safe return as an impediment to their plans for Afghanistan, the statement said. The collapse of the Western-backed Afghan government and takeover by the Taliban in August 2021 raised additional concern that progress in negotiations could be undone or that Frerichs could be forgotten. But his name was invoked last month when Biden was said by his advisers to have pressed officials to consider any risk posed to Frerichs by the drone strike in Afghanistan that killed al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri. The Taliban-appointed foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, hailed the exchange Monday as the start of a new era" in U.S.-Taliban relations and the opening of a new door for talks. U.S. officials were more circumspect. Though it does not recognize the Taliban government, the U.S. does have interests at stake in Afghanistan and will continue to engage with the Taliban in addressing the hunger and humanitarian crisis gripping the country, administration officials said Monday. But officials say they remain concerned about whether the Taliban are committed to fighting terrorism and by the exclusion of girls from high schools there, an issue that drew a United Nations reprimand on Sunday. Faiez reported from Islamabad. Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed to this report. The first big New York art show this season, at the David Zwirner gallery in Chelsea, is Cataclysm, an exhibit of Diane Arbus photographsa recreation of the Museum of Modern Arts wildly controversial retrospective of her works in 1972, put on just a year after she killed herself at age 48. I entered the Zwirner gallerys revival, which runs through Oct. 22, wondering whether the picturesmany of them featuring circus sideshow freaks, female impersonators, nudists, and other eccentrics, and outcasts, some full frontal and close upwould zap the same jolt that they did 50 years ago. They didnt deliver on that front; weve since seen too many photos of naked transgressors, many taken by artists inspired by Arbus, to be shocked by their subject matter. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But what is striking, to a surprising degree, is the emotional wallop, the strange mix of sensationsapprehension, discomfort, fixation, and wonderthat many of these pictures still deliver. Clearly, they are period pieces, but they resonate as much with our own time as with any. Arbus was one of several young photographers in her day who rebelled against The Family of Man, a hugely successful show at MoMA featuring pictures snapped by artists all over the world, touting the greeting-card themewelcome to many during the Cold Warthat people everywhere are basically the same. Some of the rebels, like Robert Frank, focused their lenses on social illspoverty, racism, conformity, despair. Others delved deep into the distinctiveness of individuals. Arbus was in this latter camp. In 1967, MoMA put on a show called New Documents, featuring her, Lee Friedlander, and Garry Winogrand (who were also little known at the time). Its curator, John Szarkowski, wrote in the shows catalogue, Their aim has been not to reform life, but to know it. Advertisement Advertisement Among the three, Arbus approach was the most radical. Friedlander and Winogrand, like Frank, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and other modern photographers, captured decisive moments in fleeting street scenes. Arbus often worked more like a Renaissance portrait artist, her subjects posing, looking straight at the camera. She got to know her subjectssometimes she would go up to them on the street, follow them into their houses, spend time with them. She visited and occasionally snapped pictures of Eddie Carmel, a Ringling Brothers freak for nearly a decade before taking her 1970 masterpiece, A Jewish Giant at Home with His Parents in the Bronx. She knew Lauro Morales, another circus performer for longer than that before she snapped the utterly beguiling Mexican Dwarf in His Hotel Room, NYC, in the same year. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Its this hard-won intimacy that makes Arbus photos so compelling, if at times disorienting. She robs viewers of their customary distance; we are drawn into the subjects liveswe are complicit in the relationship between the subjects and Arbuswhether we like it or not. Advertisement Advertisement Some of those who didnt like Arbus work really didnt like it. MoMA first showed three of Arbus portraits in 1965, as part of a Recent Acquisitions show. Two of the photos were of female impersonators, one was of a nudist family. An assistant in the museums photo department told Patricia Bosworth, a biographer of Arbus, that he had to come in early every morning to wipe the spit that viewers had sprayed on her pictures the day before. Advertisement Advertisement Some critics wereand a few still arebothered, by Arbus obsession with the physically disfigured. They point to one of her more jarring remarksthat photographing freaks had a terrific kind of excitement for me. What the critics overlook is that Arbus was excited by every new experience. She once said, All the time Im photographing, Im having a terrific time. In 1969, she wrote in a letter, Nearly everything delights me. In the summer of 1971, not long before she died, she said, My favorite thing is to go where Ive never been. She saw this not only as a personal adventure but as a mission. I really believe, she also wrote, there are things nobody would see unless I photographed them. Advertisement Advertisement Her fascination with unbeaten pathsthe paths that most of us avoidstemmed from a broader personal rebellion. She grew up on Central Park West, the daughter of a furrier, and wasnt comfortable with her privileges. One of the things I suffered from as a kid, she later said, was I never felt adversity. I felt confirmed in a sense of unreality, which I could feel as unreality, and the sense of being immune was, ludicrous as it seems, a painful one. Once she was old enough to go around the city on her own, she sought out the taboo. Or, as she later told some students, I was born way up the ladder of middle-class respectability, and Ive been clambering down as far as I could ever since. Advertisement Advertisement When she first became intrigued with circus freaks, she called Joseph Mitchell, the great New Yorker essayist, whod written a few profiles of that scene. As he later told Boswell, I urged Diane not to romanticize freaks. I told her that freaks can be boring and ordinary as so-called normal people. I told her what I found interesting about Olga, the bearded lady, was that she yearned to be a stenographer and kept geraniums on her window sill. Arbus magicespecially striking, seeing so many of her pictures assembled in one placeis that she found some way to transfer Mitchells lesson to so many black-and-white still images. She didnt try to normalize what was at the time considered abnormal, but she recognizedshe dramatized on filmthat normal people werent so normal themselves. There was no family of man. There was only the distinctiveness of each individual. As another biographer Arthur Lubow wrote, She was fascinated by people who were visibly creating their own identitiesand by those who were trapped in a uniform that no longer provided any security or comfort. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Some critics at the time understood this. Others did not. Susan Sontag was among the latter. In an essay about MoMAs 1972 retrospective, she wrote: Advertisement A large part of the mystery of Arbus photographs lies in what they suggest about how her subjects felt after consenting to be photographed. Do they see themselves, the viewer wonders, like that? Do they know how grotesque they are? It seems as if they dont [Most of them] dont know (or dont appear to know) that they are ugly In most Arbus pictures, the subjects are looking straight into the camera. This makes them look even sadder, almost derangedeven freakier. This may be one of the shallowest essays ever written by any otherwise brilliant critic, not so much because its offensive (though Sontag is far more callous toward Arbus subjects than she accuses Arbus of being), but more because it is so blindly wrong. The remarkableand, in some ways, the disturbingthing about Arbus photographs of freaks is they dont look freakish, or no more so than many of her portraits of normal people. At first glance, her intensely close-up photo, A Very Young Baby, NYC, 1968 (see above), looks ghoulish, almost like a death mask; and yet, after a longer view, its clearly a very normal baby. (It is, in fact, the very young Anderson Cooper, whose mother, Gloria Vanderbilt, knew Arbus.) Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The pointArbus pointis that all of us are freakish in some way, from birth to death, whether deep down or straight up, and in that sense we, even those of us called freaks, are all normal. Theres your real Family of Man. Thats what is unsettling about a Diane Arbus show. It was also what some of her more famous subjects found unsettling about being a Diane Arbus subject, especially since shed made them so comfortable during the photo shoot. Norman Mailer, spreading his legs and crowing a cocky expression in a picture she took for a New York Times profile, later said, Giving a camera to Diane Arbus is like giving a hand grenade to a baby. Yet the great photographer Walker Evans, who knew both Arbus and Mailer, marveled after seeing the picture, You actually get a sense of what its like to be Norman. Advertisement Then theres the case of Colin Wood, who, at age 7, posed for Child with a Toy Hand Grenade in Central Park, NYC, 1962. The boy looks hyperactive, a bit deranged. The contact sheets (reproduced in a book called Diane Arbus Documents, published by Zwirner gallery on the occasion of its exhibition) show several shots where hes just merrily jumping around; Arbus chose the most disturbing shot. It bothered the boy for a while, but when a Washington Post reporter tracked him down on the occasion of an Arbus retrospective in 2005, Woodthen a 50-year-old insurance salesmanunderstood, and even lauded, what she had done: Advertisement Advertisement She catches me in a moment of exasperation. Its true, I was exasperated. My parents had divorced, and there was a general feeling of loneliness I was just exploding. She saw that and its like commiseration. She captured the loneliness of everyone. Its all people who want to connect but dont know how to connect. And I think thats how she felt about herself. She felt damaged and she hoped that by wallowing in that feeling, through photography, she could transcend herself. Advertisement Advertisement Arbus life was a sad one, and she used her camera as a means of transcendenceand a shieldin her own explorations. Throughout her life she suffered periodically from depression, which was exacerbated by her divorce and by two bouts of hepatitis. She was sexually promiscuous, by any eras standards, reportedly with some of her subjects and at times with total strangers. She told her psychiatristwhose notes are quoted in Lubows biographythat she had an incestuous relationship with her brother, the renown poet, Howard Nemerov, from the time they were children till well into adulthood. (Nemerov died in 1991, well before Lebows book was published.) We dont know why Arbus committed suicide when she did. Besides depression, she was in constant financial straits. It is sad to read, in Diane Arbus Documents, her back-and-forth letters with a museum director, haggling over whether she should get paid $600 or $750 for 20 of her prints. The prints on display at the Zwirner gallery now are priced from $10,000 to $175,000 each for those printed posthumouslyfrom $40,000 to just under $1 million for those printed by Arbus herself. Advertisement Arbus became famous only afterand, in large part, because ofher suicide. A mystique quickly grew up around her, similar to the mystique surrounding those other artistic suicides, Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, and Virginia Woolf. A few months before Arbus died, she produced a collectors portfolio called A Box of 10 Photographs. She intended to print an edition of 50. Just four were sold. (Jasper Johns, who didnt know her, bought one; Richard Avedon, who was a friend of hers, bought two and gave one to Mike Nichols.) A year and a few months after she died, tens of thousands of people lined around the block to see MoMAs retrospective of her work; it was, at the time, the most highly attended show of a solo artist in the museums history; the shows catalogue, published by Aperture (MoMA didnt want to publish it) and still in print, has sold more than 400,000 copies. This is what makes the Zwirner gallerys revival of the show so valuable. It reaffirms, long after the sensationalism has faded, that Diane Arbus was one of the most significant cultural figures of the mid 20th century and nowa truly great and humane artist. This Election Day marks 10 years since voters in Colorado and Washington state legalized weed. More states soon followed, and today, 19 have legalized the still federally illegal drug, while another 20 or so allow medical use. Legal weed is here to stay. Most people like it. A November 2021 Gallup poll found 68 percent of the public supports nationwide legalization. More than 80 percent of Democrats favor it, and Republicans are evenly split. In 2020, five states of varying hues voted on medical or recreational useArizona, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey, and South Dakotaand all of them passed it. It outperformed Joe Biden in every case. Advertisement Legalization illustrates the power of voting more than any other issue in living memory, Sam DArcangelo, director of the Cannabis Voter Project at Headcount, a non-profit that registers voters at concerts, festivals and other events, said. Its a way government has improved lives. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Thus far, however, legalization has played only a marginal role in national electoral politics. There are three related reasons: You dont get elected taking away the peoples weed, and pot-skeptical pols have learned to evolve or keep quiet. Second, they can get away with that silence because many legalization supporters running for office arent comfortable making it a centerpiece of their campaigns anyway. Third, the importance of state ballot initiatives in advancing legalization further distances the issue from the campaigns of individual politicians. The result is often that both sides major candidates ignore, and therefore neutralize, the weed vote. Advertisement Advertisement But this year is different, and it could set the tone for several election cycles to come. Federal legalization is on Congress agenda for the first time since the Carter administration. Almost all observers expect it to happen this decade. More immediately, legalization differentiates the candidates in at least four of Novembers marquee races: Texas governor, Pennsylvania Senate, and Floridas gubernatorial and Senate races. Though legalization is among the least partisan issues out there, each contest pits a pro-legalization Democrat against a Republican who opposes it. The rule of pot politics, as recently put by legalization supporter Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon, is that, No one has paid a political price ever for supporting cannabis. In this years races, well see if anyone pays a price for opposing it. Advertisement Advertisement Sixteen percent of Americansmore than 50 million peoplesay they smoke marijuana. The key untested question is how much their use decides their vote, or convinces them to vote, in a way that decides elections. Its not a question that many political forecasters and pundits emphasize. Weed is something that many people dont take seriously. That could be a mistake. The stigma against pot is powerful enough that in 2020 neither presidential candidate endorsed legalization, despite likely knowing that the decision was costing him votes. (Perhaps no other issue has this distinction.) Support for legalization has become the default Democratic position. But during the 2020 campaign, Biden only promised to decriminalize it nationwide and expunge federal cannabis-use convictions. He hasnt done either, angering cannabis voters, even as Brittney Griners imprisonment in Russia has outraged the world and cast a harsh light on the thousands of Americans incarcerated for pot offenses. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Bidens calculus may be that he is aiming to avoid alienating the centrist and swing voters whom he credits with his electoral victory. But in reality, many of those voters support legalization. I suspect that he and Trump, who as young men in the 1960s had nothing to do with the 60s, have an inchoate sense that legal marijuana is a bad idea and didnt want to associate themselves with it. Advertisement Advertisement Either way, they underestimated the weed vote. Legalization supporter Rep. Earl Blumenauer argues that Arizonas 2020 cannabis ballot initiative won Biden the election. With 60 percent support for legalization, the initiative won by more than 600,000 votes, compared to Bidens margin of about 10,500. The states voting to legalize medical or recreational this November, include Maryland, Missouri, South Dakota, North Dakota and possibly Oklahoma and Arkansas arent also hosting key Senate races. Advertisement But the weed vote is not merely a matter of delivering more Democrat-leaning voters to the polls. There is a population of single-issue voters who would have switched their 2020 vote from Biden to Trump, or vice versa, if either supported legalization. No one knows how many people feel this way. There may be more than youd think: For many cannabis users, the plant isnt just a way to relax, or even their medicine, its also a social-justice movement and an industry that now employs roughly 450,000 Americans. There are votes and campaign donations waiting for whomever assumes the mantle of tokers rights. Even in legal states, cannabis users still face an array of challenges. California, for example, recently enacted laws that bar doctors from discriminating against cannabis usersdenying them organ transplants, for exampleand prohibit employers from punishing most workers for off-the-clock use. Another new law in the state requires cannabis use to be considered like alcohol, rather than other federally illegal drugs, in determining child-custody cases. Cannabis users generally cant buy guns. These are just a few ways that show how there are votes and campaign donations waiting for whomever assumes the mantle of tokers rights. Advertisement Advertisement The candidate who comes closest is probably Pennsylvanias earthy lieutenant governor and Democratic Senate candidate, John Fetterman, who has weed leaves on his campaign merch. Fettermans longstanding support for legalization fits his everyman persona and hes even hectored Biden on the issue, which polled at 60 percent in Pennsylvania last year. Fettermans opponent, Dr. Mehmet Oz, responded by releasing a weird ad in which a bong emerges from Fettermans animatronic head. Its not often that candidates mock industries employing 25,000 of their would-be constituents. Legalization is another reason not to bet against Fetterman, whos already the favorite in his race. But for weed to emerge as a major campaign issue in 2024, it probably needs to figure in an upset. In Texas, the medical industry is very limited, but full legalization has 55 percent support. Next-door Oklahoma has a freewheeling medical weed industry with at least one 24-hour dispensary on the states border. If Democrat candidate and former Rep. Beto ORourke wins, or even outperforms his races polling, support for weed will be a reason why. Advertisement The odds for weed delivering a clear electoral payoff might be best in Florida, home to the countrys largest medical-only weed market. Stalwart legalization opponent Sen. Marco Rubio, has a narrow lead against Rep. Val Demmings, who has voted several times for legalization and other reforms. In the governors race, sure-to-be future presidential candidate Ron DeSantis has expressed his distaste for the plants putrid smell. But for a politician whos built his reputation as a right-wing culture warrior, DeSantis hasnt picked this fight. Brady Cobb, the politically savvy CEO of Florida-based Sunburn Cannabis, told me DeSantis has quietly streamlined the regulation process and taken other steps that benefit the industry. Cobb doesnt expect DeSantis to get in the way when Floridians vote on full legalization, likely in 2024. East Carroll Parish, in Louisiana, is a small rural place, mostly agricultural, built on land that was once used for cotton plantations. About 7,200 people live there now. More than one-third of them below the poverty line, and more than half the households lack broadband internet access. This summer, a group called Delta Interfaith had what looked like a major victory in the internet turf wars: They found a rural company, Connexon Connect, willing to provide fast internet to East Carroll Parish. Louisianas governor announced money to help. Residents were thrilled. But then, at the last minute, a billion-dollar internet service provider, Sparklight, threw a wrench in the deal. Now, the East Carroll Parish community are locked in a David and Goliath fight to get fast internet. On Fridays episode of What Next: TBD, I spoke with Issie Lapowsky, chief correspondent at Protocol, about why a giant company is standing in the way of a small community getting online, and how that playbook is being repeated across the country. Our conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity. Lizzie OLeary: Part of the process of allowing a new internet provider to come into an area is a period of time when an existing provider can lodge a protest, basically saying, Hey, we already provide adequate service here. On the last day of the protest window, Sparklight protested the grant with the states broadband authority, saying the money shouldnt go to East Carroll and Connexon. Why can an ISP file a protest? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Issie Lapowsky: This is money thats set aside for the most un-served or underserved areas of Louisiana. The protest policy exists so that you dont have a bunch of people trying to get this money to serve a place that already has a thousand options to choose from, which is a rarity in the United States where we have a lot of telecom monopolies. But thats the sort of best-case scenario. The cynic would say that these protest periods exist because telecom companies have lobbied for them. Telecom companies have swooped in and said, Youre not going to give us a whole bunch of competition in our area. At least give us a chance to have our say when youre going to give this kind of money out. Advertisement Advertisement I want to back up a little bit and explain the protest process and what a company like Sparklight gets out of that. If they file a protest, are they saying, No, no, we can come in and we should get this grant money? Theyre not actually competing for the grant. Theyre saying, We already serve or could serve this area. So theyre not even having to say, We already serve all 900 of these homes. Theyre saying that, If those 900 homes wanted our service, we could provide it to them. Advertisement And yet residents in your story clearly have said that the internet options that they have are substandard. What are their options? They have the option of Sparklight. They have the option of AT&T. And when COVID hit, this is how desperate the community was, they went out searching for another provider because these providers were not adequate for the needs that people had to be logged onto Zoom and doing virtual school. Because they cost so much? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Because they cost so much, or because in some cases, its old, slow. One former school teacher in the area told me, some folks are being asked to paid $140 for dial-up. So its just not really feasible. Those people were almost utterly at the mercy of large ISPs, like Sparklight, and whether the companies wanted to provide workable service to the area. What is the relationship between these communities and ISPs? These companies have a lot of power, at least more power than a small, poor rural community is going to have. These are the companies that are lobbying state houses across the country, not only for more preferable protest laws, but for a whole bunch of things. And so they have relationships, they have sway, they have incumbency status. Luckily, there are some really smart people in East Carroll Parish who have known what to do. They sent out these digital navigators to all of these homes in the area to conduct speed tests, to say, Look, we actually are not getting the service we need. We have the proof right here. And they submit it with Connexons application. But not every community knows to do that. Not every community has the resources to do that. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Sparklight rejected multiple bids to improve internet service in the parish, and yet it doesnt want another company to come in and provide adequate internet. Can you make sense of that? Its just corporate incentives. If a company doesnt have to provide better service, if it doesnt have to build out in an area and if it doesnt see how that would necessarily serve their business or drive their profits, then why would they? Campaigns like Sparklights may soon play out across the country. Congress set aside $42.5 billion dollars in last years bipartisan infrastructure law to bring broadband to un-served and underserved areas like East Carroll Parish, which means state regulators could help millions of under-connected Americans get onlineunless these internet turf wars stop them. Some states have been proactive fending off last minute protests. How have they done that? Advertisement Advertisement Some experts I spoke to talked about other states that have implemented policies where, for instance, there is no such thing as protesting a grant after its been awarded. There are other states where if you are trying to challenge somebodys application and you are successful, you dont get to just rest on your laurels: You actually have to provide service at the same price and speed that the applicant was applying for. There are other states that punish challengers if they successfully defeat an application and then turns out they dont provide service there. They wont be able to challenge again for another couple grant cycles. Is this something big ISPs do a lot? Advertisement Advertisement Yes. What Ive heard is that this is very common, its happening everywhere. But the reason I wrote about this situation in East Carroll was really, first of all, the sort of inspiring story of the grassroots movement there, and also the peculiar nature of the 11th-hour protest. These protests are very common, but they are happening over the course of months. Theyre happening shortly after applications go out. Having this protest come on the seventh day was such a peculiar circumstance, such a letdown for the community and evidence of these stalling tactics. Were talking about $4 million here in East Carroll, but theres about to be $42 billion on the table for states to invest in broadband infrastructure. So yes, this is happening all the time, but its going to get a lot worse. Its going to get a lot more ferocious. And its really time for states to start thinking about the possibility that this is in the playbook and writing rules to defend against it. Advertisement There are a lot of East Carrolls across America. According to the Agriculture Department, 22 percent of rural Americans and almost 28 percent of Americans living in tribal lands dont have fast broadband. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Then you have to think about not just rural areas that need better broadband, but urban areas that also dont have access to maybe the affordable options that they need, or are just as a function of redlining, have never been offered the competitive pricing or speeds that wealthier areas are. A narrative that is sometimes put forward when we think about the digital divide is, Its just a thing that happened. And whoops, this is how it is. But when I read your reporting, it seems very much like something that is planned, or is at least a predictable consequence of large company actions. How would you describe why these broadband deserts exist? Advertisement If you are a telecom company, its very capital-intensive upfront. And then, if you have a really sparsely populated area or a really poor customer base, how do you get your money back? If youre having to offer low-cost internet to affordable housing complexes, or if youre having to offer affordable internet to vast farmland where only a few homes live, or maybe theres one business, its really hard to get your money back. So I think it is about the profit incentives. Advertisement How important is the outcome of the Sparklight protest? If the state broadband authority in Louisiana rules in favor of Sparklight, what does that mean for these other rural areas across the state or the country who are trying to get their reliable internet access? Advertisement For the people of East Carroll, for the 851 locations that are supposed to be served by this grant, it makes a huge difference in their lives. They say, If we dont get the money from the state, this $4 million, well keep fighting, well try to find it anywhere. But what does this mean for other areas? I think this is a really interesting test case. If the state, which is led by a Democratic governor who has already come to town and promised this to these people, cant approve this money going to the provider that wants to give service to those people, that isnt very encouraging for what happens in other rural states. Advertisement Advertisement I had always had the somewhat naive assumption that more money put toward connecting unconnected communities would immediately solve the problem. But now it seems so much more complicated than that, and theres a whole political and lobbying apparatus that exists behind this. Do you see this as a simple equation, or something more complex? Advertisement Advertisement Everybody cheers and plans the parade when President Biden signs into law this thing that says $42 billion in funding is going toward closing the digital divide. And that is a huge accomplishment, but its a whole nother thing to see that money actually get out the door and to see it actually get spent in the places where its supposed to get spent. Sparklight would say, Were mounting this protesting in good faith. And we want to see this money spent in an area where its really needed. There are plenty of areas of need in Louisiana, East Carroll Parish is not one of them. The people who live there beg to differ. But what is often the subject of our attention and our celebration is just crossing that finish line to get the money. Then, all of these negotiations and protests that stand in the way of this money actually being spent, happen quietly. And in a lot of places, its really hard to track, and yet its no less important because thats how the money is actually making a difference. Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society. ARCHIVED - A settled week with occasional rain: Spain weather outlook September 19-22 The week promises to be mostly overcast throughout Spain with scattered showers After a decidedly autumnal weekend, the coming week is expected to be largely settled with no further thunder storms forecast along the Mediterranean coast. An anticyclone sweeping across the north of Spain will ramp up daytime temperatures considerably while a lack of cloud cover at night will send the thermometers plummeting. Some instability will remain in the south of Spain throughout the week, bringing lower temperatures and some rain. Monday September 19 The worst of the storms on Monday will be confined to Extremadura and the southern half of Castilla y Leon, with the rest of the country beginning rather cloudy. It will become more overcast in inland areas as the day goes on and there is a chance of light, isolated showers in most areas. Daytime temperatures are on the rise in the east and will drop in the southwest, while a northeastern wind will bring an evening chill to Galicia, Cantabria and the southern half of the Mediterranean coast. There is a yellow weather warning in place for heavy rain and storms in Castilla y Leon, Extremadura and Madrid. Minimum and maximum temperatures on Monday Alicante: 20C; 29C Almeria: 22C; 31C Malaga: 21C; 28C Murcia: 21C; 30C Tuesday September 20 There are no weather alerts set for Tuesday but Aemet has warned of the chance of locally strong storms in Extremadura and northwest Andalucia . The day will begin clear enough but the clouds will spread to most of the country in the afternoon, becoming more overcast in the south. Very little change to daytime temperatures although a slight dip could be felt in the south, while night-time temperatures will drop throughout Spain. Minimum and maximum temperatures on Tuesday Alicante: 19C; 29C Almeria: 20C; 29C Malaga: 20C; 27C Murcia: 19C; 30C Wednesday September 21 Dry and stable weather is expected in the northern part of the country, with a predominance of slightly cloudy skies. However, in the centre and south, an incoming low front will bring abundant clouds and the possibility of afternoon showers and storms. These are more likely inland and will be strongest once more in Extremadura and northern Andalucia, while the extreme southeast will miss the worst. The rain pattern will move from west to east as the day goes on, so showers are expected by the evening in the Balearic Islands and along the Gulf of Valencia Maximum temperatures will take another slight drop across Spain, most noticeable in the southwest, while a northerly wind should bring the night-time temperatures down another notch. Minimum and maximum temperatures on Wednesday Alicante: 19C; 29C Almeria: 20C; 29C Malaga: 20C; 27C Murcia: 19C; 30C Thursday September 22 The outlook becomes a bit more unstable on Thursday, with locally strong showers and storms forecast again in the western Balearic Islands and around the Gulf of Valencia. The east of the country will remain mostly dry with scattered showers and the day will be primarily overcast in most areas. It will be foggy start to the day along the Andalucian Mediterranean coast with the thermometers on the rise in eastern Cantabria. The mercury will fall in a large part of the east but remain mostly unchanged in the rest of the country. Minimum and maximum temperatures on Thursday Alicante: 19C; 26C Almeria: 19C; 27C Malaga: 19C; 26C Murcia: 19C; 28C >>> Join our Facebook group for regular weather insights: Spain Weather Watch <<< Image: Aemet When she visited Slovakia in 2008, she was served the same wine that was served at her own wedding. A letter of thanks from the chamberlain of today's King Charles III for wine from the Vinesa winery. (Source: Sme archive) Font size: A - | A + Comments disabled In 2008, the British royal family wanted to develop relations with the fast-growing countries of the former Soviet bloc. They chose Slovakia and Slovenia for a royal visit. In October 2008, Queen Elizabeth II. paid her first and only official visit to Slovakia. She was hosted here by the then president Ivan Gasparovic. Her visit showed that Slovakia had not yet grown into its role as a country to host such an event. At that time, the state had no more suitable accommodation for her than the government hotel Borik, and Robert Fico from Smer, the prime minister at the time, did not come to the banquet despite being invited. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement There was one more interesting name at the Queen's visit, which was unknown to the public at the time. During the banquet, wine was served from Pivnica Radosina. One year before the Queen's visit, the now infamous Norbert Bodor became the proprietor of the company. He is currently being prosecuted for being part of what the police describe as a criminal group that illegally controlled the police. The President's Office selected the wine together with the catering company Sharkam, which prepared the dinner for the banquet in Reduta, recalls Marek Trubac, the president's spokesman at the time, himself a trained winemaker. "We recommended it with regard to its history, as it was also served at the Queen's wedding in 1947. This is how the wine was introduced to Queen Elizabeth herself," said Trubac. Yet, questions still surround the story about Slovak wine at the royal wedding. Different versions of the story Mayor of east Slovak village threatened with death. The cemetery of of the Russian Tsarist Army soldiers in 2018. (Source: TASR) Font size: A - | A + Comments disabled Today is a rare moment when you can watch the ongoing intelligence operation of the Russian Federation aimed at citizens of the Slovak Republic live, the police reported on social media on last Friday morning. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Just a day before, the Russian Embassy in Slovakia published a post on Facebook claiming that the mayor of Ladomirova, a municipality in the eastern-Slovak Presov Region, had had graves of the Russian Tsarist Army soldiers levelled. According to the police, the claims are false. The Ladomirova mayor strongly objected to the allegations as well and stressed that the graves are still in their place. Related article Related article True or false? Half of Slovakia's teenagers cannot tell Read more Meanwhile, General Prosecutor Maros Zilinka adopted the Russian Embassy's claims and said he will have them investigated. Embassy: Graves were levelled On Thursday last week, the Russian Embassy published a Facebook post that the police called propaganda. Visitors can enjoy various stories. Font size: A - | A + Comments disabled Almost 170,000 foreigners lived in Slovakia by the end of the year 2021. The number has grown after the war in Ukraine started and refugees crossed the borders. The festival [fjuzn] bring stories of foreigners living in Slovakia closer to visitors. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement After two years of the pandemic, the 17th edition of the festival takes place in cinemas, theatres and community spaces scattered across Bratislava. The festival opens its gates to visitors between September 19 to September 25. Visitors can enjoy the program on Festival [fjuzn] both in Slovak and in English. Overcoming differences The Milan Simecka Foundation that is behind the festival, aims to educate people on identity, critical thinking or other cultures with fighting discrimination and prejudice against foreigners in Slovakia. Given that not many Slovaks have a personal experience with people from different cultures, [fjuzn] tries to find a common ground. All that through discussions, theatre, visual arts, music and many more. Our latest research has shown that most Slovaks have stand-offish or dismissive opinion towards people from foreign countries. And that applies even towards people from Ukraine that are similar to us [Slovaks] with culture, language and physical features, explains Veronika Fishbone Vlckova, the head of the Milan Simecka Foundation. Furthermore, the research shows that personal experience and mutual learning about each other helps to overcome the prejudice. Finding a common ground makes it easier to understand that foreigners are part of Slovak society, since they are neighbors, friends, colleagues and in some cases, family members. Building trusting relationships This year, relationships are [fjuzn]s leitmotif. The festival explores not just an identity of a foreigner living in Slovakia, but also their ways of creating friendships and relationships on trust. Visitors can enjoy this gander in an event Humans of [fjuzn], created by Alzbeta Vrzgula that will take place Slovak National Theatre. The event also marks the launch of [fjuzn]. In Humans of [fjuzn] couples, families and friends allow visitors to take a peek into their personal lives. As visitors step into the intimacy of lives of others, they learn how exhausting and difficult it is to form a proper relationship with or without social media. Many of us struggle to establish deeper connections with other people. And honestly, I dont know whether social media help this or not, comments one face of [fjuzn] and part of an event, Samanta Lima a Brazilian living with her sister and a father in Slovakia for a couple of years. What to look forward to Learning about other cultures comes in various options. Whether that is exploring foreign cuisine, basking in the lights of a cinema projection, enjoying stories or bopping to music from across the world, festival [fjuzn] gives you the opportunity to choose your own path. Hungry visitors can taste foreign meals and snacks in the [fjuzn] zone in Dobry trh in Bratislava, which offers meals from many cultures. While waiting in line for a tasty treat, visitors can entertain themselves and their children in workshops, exhibitions, music and last but not least, meeting foreigners and talking with them. Another stop to swing by if you crave more food is Pistoriho Palac in Bratislava, which closes the festival on its last day. Artists explore humanity Events, for example, reveal the aesthetics of current modern art portraying positive lookouts for future. An international team of twelve artists believe that togetherness matters. An optimistic commentary on what would strong communities, public dialogue, trust and cooperation bring to society can be seen in the exhibition STILL HERE, to be found in the Zichy Gallery. The festival also brings out the good in a time of hardship the Ludstvo (Humanity) exhibition dedicated to the theme of war in Ukraine and volunteers helping the refugees who have crossed Slovak borders. The exhibition questions how long the wave of solidarity towards the refugees can last. It makes an inquiry into changing aggression, hateful opinions, prejudice and rejection towards minorities. Visitors can look for an answer on how hate manipulates politics and vice versa. Extremism has grown stronger, festival challenges prejudices against foreigners. Learn more in today's digest. Font size: A - | A + Comments disabled Good evening. Here is the Thursday, September 19 edition of Today in Slovakia - the main news of the day in less than five minutes. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Russian Embassy caught lying The cemetery of the Russian Tsarist Army soldiers in 2018. (Source: TASR) The police call it a rare moment, as right now people can watch the information operation of the Russian Federation unfolding right before them. Last week, the Russian Embassy in Slovakia published a post on Facebook claiming that the mayor of Ladomirova, a village in the Presov Region, eastern Slovakia, had levelled graves of the Russian Tsarist Army soldiers. According to the police, the claims are false. The mayor of Ladomirova strongly objected to the claims as well. Meanwhile, General Prosecutor Maros Zilinka adopted the Russian Embassy's claims and said he will have them investigated. Read more about Russian propaganda in Slovakia: More stories on Spectator.sk If you like what we are doing and want to support good journalism, buy our online subscription. Thank you. Feature story for today European leaders did not take Anna Politkovskayas warnings seriously for a long time. In her 2004 book, the assassinated journalist criticised leaders for the reckless consumption of Russian commodities. In December 2019 the European Union still did not reject Russian gas. Instead, it described the country as a reliable supplier. But Russias war in Ukraine, funded through its raw materials exports to Europe and elsewhere, along with an unfolding energy crisis, have changed this view. We have to get rid of this dependency [on Russian energy] all over Europe, said the European Commissions President Ursula von der Leyen. Slovakia approves of Von der Leyen's agenda set in her address Read more Picture of the day On Monday, the new academic year of 2022/2023 began at several Slovak universities. The Slovak Rectors' Conference took the opportunity to draw attention not only to the unfolding energy crisis, but also to the insufficient financing of universities in Slovakia. The picture depicts a ceremony at Comenius University in Bratislava. (Source: TASR) In other news Slovak President Zuzana Caputova and her partner Juraj Rizman attended the State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II that took place at Westminster Abbey. the State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II that took place at Westminster Abbey. After two months, the Jan Kuciak murder case continued at the Specialised Criminal Court . Former journalist and spy Peter Toth was brought before the court senate, because he had refused to testify previously. On Monday, he refused again, saying that his accusation is "politically motivated". Find out what happened last time during the court hearings. . Former journalist and spy Peter Toth was brought before the court senate, because he had refused to testify previously. On Monday, he refused again, saying that his accusation is "politically motivated". Find out what happened last time during the court hearings. For her help and support of Ukraine and its culture, Slovak Culture Minister Natalia Milanova of OLaNO was bestowed the Order of Princess Olga by President Volodymyr Zelensky. The award was given to Milanova for personal merits in strengthening cooperation, the support of sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, and contribution in spreading awareness of the country. by President Volodymyr Zelensky. The award was given to Milanova for personal merits in strengthening cooperation, the support of sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, and contribution in spreading awareness of the country. The city of Bratislava is continuing renovation of the iconic Druzba fountain on Namestie Slobody Square. So far, the underground engine room has been repaired and new pumps will be installed. The originals ones were left there as a memory of the past. A method of cleaning the central sculpture of the linden flower has been chosen as well, reported Mayor Matus Vallo on social media. The municipal Waste Collection and Disposal Company (OLO) in Bratislava is to substantially rise the capital's energy self-sufficiency. This heating season the OLO will conclude connecting its facility for the energetic use of waste with the heat supply network. According to the company, this will restrict the expected increase of prices for households. Find out how you can save money by reducing energy consumption. If you have suggestions on how this news overview can be improved, you can reach us at editorial@spectator.sk. https://sputniknews.com/20220918/russian-airstrike-in-syrias-idlib-province-kills-45-nusra-front-fighters-military-says-1100937971.html Russian Airstrike in Syria's Idlib Province Kills 45 Nusra Front Fighters, Military Says Russian Airstrike in Syria's Idlib Province Kills 45 Nusra Front Fighters, Military Says MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Forty-five fighters of the Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist group* have been killed in a Russian airstrike in Syria's Idlib province, Maj. Gen... 18.09.2022, Sputnik International 2022-09-18T22:11+0000 2022-09-18T22:11+0000 2022-09-18T22:08+0000 military russia military & intelligence military operation jihadist militants war on terror syria syrian crisis war in syria syrian war /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e6/09/12/1100938067_0:0:1525:858_1920x0_80_0_0_d8d43d5d491908921733ff413e86f7b5.jpg "On September 17, the Russian Aerospace Forces conducted a group air strike on the base of Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist organization in the Sheikh Youssef area in Idlib province. The strike destroyed an arms depot, two materiel depots, and killed more than 45 militants, including field commanders Bilal Sayyid and Abu Dujana al-Diri," Egorov told a briefing.The terrorists killed in the strike were directly involved in attacks on Syrian soldiers and civilians, as well as preparing sabotage and terrorist activities in Idlib, Egorov said.Moreover, the militants of the terrorist group carried out five artillery attacks in the Idlib de-escalation zone in Syria in a day, Egorov noted. He added that in the Aleppo province there were three recorded shellings, while in the province of Latakia two shellings were documented.*terrorist organization banned in Russia and many other countries. russia Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2022 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International russia, military & intelligence, military operation, jihadist militants, war on terror, syria, syrian crisis, war in syria, syrian war, al-nusra front, jabhat al nusra https://sputniknews.com/20220919/archeologists-find-untouched-burial-cave-dating-to-pharaoh-ramesses-ii-era-over-3300-years-ago-1100940142.html Archeologists Find Untouched Burial Cave Dating to Pharaoh Ramesses II Era, Over 3,300 Years Ago Archeologists Find Untouched Burial Cave Dating to Pharaoh Ramesses II Era, Over 3,300 Years Ago The discoveries are related to the time of ancient Egypt's pharaoh Ramesses II, of 19th Dynasty of Egypt at the end of the Bronze Age, who ruled over Canaan... 19.09.2022, Sputnik International 2022-09-19T03:10+0000 2022-09-19T03:10+0000 2022-09-19T03:07+0000 viral israel egypt ancient egypt pharaonic era pharaoh ramses the great cave archeologists archeology /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e6/09/13/1100940627_0:93:3073:1821_1920x0_80_0_0_a3bf28ab2257d86c6217d5da072109b8.jpg A group of Israeli archaeologists recently discovered an approximately 3,300-year-old burial cave since-described as a "once-in-a-lifetime" find, national media reported on Sunday.The team discovered ceramic fragments and bronze artifacts on Tuesday that belonged to the times of the ancient Egyptian king who died in 1213 BC, according to a statement released by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA).The team discovered the unexplored 3,300-year-old cave in the Palmachim National Park, just south of Tel Aviv. The vast majority of objects that have been found date to the Late Bronze Age, either just after or during the rule of Ramesses II, who is well-known in the Bible. When a rock moved during construction works, shedding light on an entire burial assembly about 2.5 meters below, the cave was discovered. Inspectors from the IAA were called to the spot, and a video in Hebrew of an initial investigation of a location where no one had set foot in more than three thousand years captures their delight.The cave also included footed chalices, cooking pots, storage jars, lanterns, and bronze arrowheads or spearheads and bowls, some of which were painted red and contained bones. The items were funeral offerings meant to accompany the departed on their final trip to the afterlife.The finding of perhaps several skeletons in the corner of the square-shaped cave at the video's conclusion brings the suspense to a crescendo.According to Yannai, the importation of vessels from Lebanon, Syria, and Cyprus was typical for burial assemblages at the time. Numerous pottery vessels of all sizes and shapes were discovered, including cooking pots, jugs, deep and shallow bowls. Other biological materials, such as a probable quiver that contained a variety of the metal arrowheads or spearheads discovered in the cave, may have decomposed over the millennia.These are not the area's first archaeological discoveries; there are also remnants of settlements from the Muslim era at the well-known beach park. The park is home to an authorized archaeology trail that honors, among other buildings, an old stronghold that guarded the shore about 3,500 years ago when it was populated by Canaanites, vassals of the governing Egyptians. Archaeologists have intermittently excavated at the location since 1992, and earlier work there revealed a quarry that was active at the time the newly discovered cave was built.Eli Eskozido, the head of IAA, lamented that certain objects were stolen before the resealing was finished."Shortly before the cave was sealed, and despite guarding it, a number of archaeological items were stolen from the cave, and the matter is under investigation, he said. https://sputniknews.com/20191130/ancient-egyptian-bombshell-its-now-known-who-made-almighty-king-ramses-tomb-survive-until-now-1077444695.html https://sputniknews.com/20211012/fine-wine-archaeologists-discover-worlds-biggest-byzantine-winery---photos-videos-1089850744.html egypt Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2022 Kirill Kurevlev Kirill Kurevlev News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Kirill Kurevlev israel, egypt, ancient egypt, pharaonic era, pharaoh, ramses the great, cave, archeologists, archeology https://sputniknews.com/20220919/biden-says-frerichs-swap-shows-us-commitment-to-free-detained-americans-across-world-1100976455.html Biden Says Frerichs Swap Shows US Commitment to Free Detained Americans Across World Biden Says Frerichs Swap Shows US Commitment to Free Detained Americans Across World WASHINGTON (Sputnik) The exchange of a powerful Afghan drug lord for American contractor Mark Frerichs, who was held by the Taliban* since January 2020... 19.09.2022, Sputnik International 2022-09-19T16:02+0000 2022-09-19T16:02+0000 2022-09-19T16:07+0000 americas us afghanistan taliban prisoner swap /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e6/07/15/1097666917_0:0:3023:1700_1920x0_80_0_0_dce7ccd1da41ecaaab2429e31a212ca3.jpg Biden added that he shared the news with Frerichs sister on Monday and his priority now was to ensure the US Navy veterans "healthy and safe return."US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Frerichs release was "the result of intense engagement with the Taliban." He also thanked the United States' "partners in Qatar."Earlier in the day, Afghan officials said the United States released a powerful Afghan drug lord after two decades of imprisonment at Guantanamo Bay detention camp in return for Frerichs.*under UN sanctions over terrorist activities americas afghanistan Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2022 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International us, afghanistan, taliban, prisoner swap https://sputniknews.com/20220919/bidens-taiwan-defense-vows-how-us-using-salami-slicing-strategy-to-dilute-one-china-principle-1100977719.html Biden's Taiwan Defense Vows: How US Using Salami Slicing Strategy to Dilute 'One-China' Principle Biden's Taiwan Defense Vows: How US Using Salami Slicing Strategy to Dilute 'One-China' Principle US President Joe Biden told CBS 60 Minutes on Sunday that US troops would defend the island of Taiwan "if in fact there was an unprecedented attack." However... 19.09.2022, Sputnik International 2022-09-19T17:02+0000 2022-09-19T17:02+0000 2022-09-19T17:02+0000 opinion & analysis us asia & pacific taiwan one china policy xi jinping joe biden russia confrontation strategy /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e6/08/05/1098137177_0:226:3030:1931_1920x0_80_0_0_fa28765e62895efad66c028b472476fa.jpg "If the US does intervene directly with its own military in a Taiwan Strait war scenario, that would no doubt mean a US war with China," explained Dr. Zhang Baohui, director of the Centre for Asian Pacific Studies at Lingnan University in Hong Kong.This is not the first time that Biden has pledged to defend the island which is considered as an inalienable part of the People's Republic of China by Beijing. On May 23, the US president promised a military response should China attempt to "take Taiwan by force"during a press conference in Tokyo alongside Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. However, the White House intervened and played down Biden's comments.According to CNN, Biden's May remark was at least the third time that he has said that the US would be willing to intervene militarily and "defend" Taiwan. Still, each time the White House has walked back the remarks, and each time Beijing has strongly criticized Biden's stance.Beijings One-China policy stipulates that Taiwan is part of mainland China. Washington acknowledges China's position that Taiwan is part of the People's Republic, but has never officially recognized Beijing's claim to the island. Previously, Taiwan and the US were joint participants of the Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty between 1955 and 1979, with Washington continuing to back the island's Kuomintang-led leadership despite establishing diplomatic relations with Beijing and recognizing it as the sole legitimate government of China on January 1, 1979.US Deliberately Diluting One-China PrincipleMeanwhile, even though Beijing does not think that Washington wants to profoundly change its Taiwan policy, it suspects that the US leadership is deliberately blurring the lines of the One-China concept, according to Ba Dianjun, deputy director of the Center for Northeast Asian Studies of Jilin University.Ba believes that US policy towards Taiwan is becoming "clearer," while the much-discussed "strategic ambiguity" approach is getting the backseat. "Biden's repeated statements, in fact, give us a signal that we need to be on our guard," the Chinese scholar insists.The so-called Taiwan Policy Act of 2022, proposed by Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and Democrat Bob Menendez, promotes Taiwan's sovereign rights in international agreements and organizations, including through the Indo-Pacific Economic Agreement (IPEF). The legislation stipulates that the US federal government should interact with what it calls a "democratic government of Taiwan" as a legitimate representative of the interests of the people of the island.In August, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, third in the line after the president and vice president of the US, visited Taiwan despite Beijing's strong opposition and warnings. Following the incident, Beijing launched large-scale military exercises in the Taiwan Strait.What Risks is Taiwan Standoff Fraught With?The US provocative actions over the island of Taiwan are fraught with a number of serious risks, according to Ba.The Chinese scholar does not rule out that the US wants to "replicate the Ukrainian model in Taiwan" by pitting the Chinese people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait against each other. He assumes that the Taiwan Policy Act of 2022, which encourages Taipei to join international organizations, is aimed at ramping up further tensions which could undermine regional security."The key for starting a cross-strait conflict is held by Taipei," said Dr. Chang Ching, research fellow of the Taiwan-based Society for Strategic Studies and a lead military expert on Chinas People's Liberation Army and regional security in Taiwan. "Without any reckless and impulsive political adventurism such as declaring independence, the possibility of an imminent and full scale armed conflict is literally unlikely. Nonetheless, the magnitude and coverage of such a cross-strait conflict will be decided by Washington. US involvement will certainly intensify the level of violence and engagement with Beijing in various battle spaces. Eventually, how long the conflict could last, would be decided by Beijing. Taiwan is a stake that no Chinese leadership dares to give up. It will be a test of political will."The impact of any potential conflict over the island would "inevitably be global since both Washington and Beijing are the major actors of the international society," noted the researcher, adding that every party involved in this conflict would be a "loser.""However, the essential is not what Washington says but what it may actually do in the future," Dr. Chang underscored, stressing that this is probable that having convinced everyone that it would protect Taiwan, Washington would fail to fulfill its promise.US Ramping Up Tensions With China and RussiaWashington's bellicose rhetoric towards China coincides with its no less bellicose statements with regard to its support to Kiev amid Russia's special operation to demilitarize and de-Nazify Ukraine. However, the US does not seem concerned about ramping up tensions on two fronts, according to Dr. Chang. The crux of the matter is that the US has suffered less than European states in the Ukraine conflict, he explained."Washington has persuaded European nations to take numerous measures towards Moscow," the researcher clarified. "And European states are encountering severe damages from Russian retaliations. This is exactly the reason why President Biden has less care about the developments in the Ukraine battlefield."For his part, Dr. Victor Teo believes that cooler heads will prevail in both the US and China when it comes to Taiwan.As of yet, the White House has signaled that it is not willing to change the established status quo, so one should take a wait and see approach, according to the academic."No matter what is actually said or the real intention held by President Biden, it will not worsen the US economic relations with China. It cannot be even worse," concluded Dr. Chang. https://sputniknews.com/20220804/pelosis-taiwan-trip-how-china-could-wreak-vengeance-on-taipei--washington-1098124195.html https://sputniknews.com/20220728/us-military-expansion-in-indo-pacific-is-part-of-plan-to-take-on-russo-china-tandem-scholar-says-1097895738.html https://sputniknews.com/20220919/china-warns-against-separating-taiwan-after-us-vows-to-protect-island-from-unprecedented-attack-1100953021.html russia Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2022 Ekaterina Blinova Ekaterina Blinova News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Ekaterina Blinova us, asia & pacific, taiwan, one china policy, xi jinping, joe biden, russia, confrontation, strategy https://sputniknews.com/20220919/blinken-says-vital-to-sustain-black-sea-grain-agreement-through-end-of-ukraine-conflict-1100978345.html Blinken Says Vital to Sustain Black Sea Grain Agreement Through End of Ukraine Conflict Blinken Says Vital to Sustain Black Sea Grain Agreement Through End of Ukraine Conflict WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - It is vital that the United Nations- and Turkey-brokered agreement to secure grain exports from Russia and Ukraine via the Black Sea be... 19.09.2022, Sputnik International 2022-09-19T17:28+0000 2022-09-19T17:28+0000 2022-09-19T17:28+0000 istanbul grain deal us antony blinken /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e6/09/13/1100978196_0:126:3193:1922_1920x0_80_0_0_0204b72d439c20f62426d9a4bc996387.jpg "One of the things that we are spending a lot of focus and time on here this week [at the UN General Assembly] is the challenge of food insecurity," Blinken said. "But one of the positive elements that weve seen with the agreement to allow the export of grains and food from Odessa in Ukraine has been improvement in food reaching people, including one of the ships in the Black Sea going to Yemen. So, its vital that we sustain this agreement that the ships keep flowing, even as we work, of course, to end Russian aggression."In late July, the United Nations and Turkey signed an agreement with Russia and Ukraine to ensure a Black Sea maritime corridor for the shipment of grain and fertilizer. The agreement removed various restrictions on the export of Russian agricultural products to global markets and set guidelines for the export of Ukrainian goods from three Black Sea ports.On Monday, six grain ships left Ukrainian ports as per the agreement, according to the Turkish Defense Ministry.Russia has claimed that the first stipulation of the agreement has yet to be implemented. The United Nations is working hard to remove obstacles to Russian food and fertilizer exports through engagement with EU leaders, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in an interview with RIA Novosti. https://sputniknews.com/20220916/which-countries-have-received-food-from-ukraine-under-un-mediated-grain-deal-1100875279.html Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2022 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International us, antony blinken https://sputniknews.com/20220919/dpr-civic-chamber-urges-for-immediate-referendum-to-become-part-of-russia-1100974866.html DPR Civic Chamber Urges for Immediate Referendum to Become Part of Russia DPR Civic Chamber Urges for Immediate Referendum to Become Part of Russia Earlier in the day, the Civil Chamber of another Donbass republic, the Lugansk People's Republic (LPR), urged the local government to hold a referendum to join... 19.09.2022, Sputnik International 2022-09-19T16:03+0000 2022-09-19T16:03+0000 2022-09-20T10:39+0000 russia donetsk people's republic donetsk referendum donbass, kherson & zaporozhye referendums to join russia /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e6/09/13/1100977414_48:0:1120:603_1920x0_80_0_0_14824a417fce39dd906dab4cd26a84fd.jpg Head of the Civil Chamber of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) Alexander Kofman has urged the republic's authorities to hold a referendum to join Russia "immediately".The head of the Civil Chamber said that the DPR's people want a Russian border to separate them from Ukraine. The latter has been shelling the republic's territory for eight years since it declared its independence due to a nationalist coup in Kiev in 2014.Russia recognized the DPR in February 2022 and signed a friendship treaty with the republic. Two days later, Moscow responded to a request from the DPR and its fellow Donbass republic Lugansk People's Republic (LPR) to defend them against Ukrainian attacks, thus starting the special military operation.The LPR's Civil Chamber too expressed desire earlier today that authorities hold a referendum to join Russia. The head of the chamber later noted that holding a referendum is a matter of more than one day, but expressed hope that it will be held soon. https://sputniknews.com/20220919/lpr-civic-chamber-calls-to-immediately-hold-referendum-to-make-lugansk-part-of-russia-1100970813.html russia donetsk Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2022 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International russia, donetsk people's republic, donetsk, referendum https://sputniknews.com/20220919/israel-appoints-ambassador-to-turkey-after-thaw-in-relations-reports-say-1100975977.html Israel Appoints Ambassador to Turkey After Thaw in Relations, Reports Say Israel Appoints Ambassador to Turkey After Thaw in Relations, Reports Say MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Israel has appointed its charge d'affaires in Ankara as new ambassador to Turkey after the two countries fully restored diplomatic ties last... 19.09.2022, Sputnik International 2022-09-19T15:52+0000 2022-09-19T15:52+0000 2022-09-19T15:52+0000 turkey israel middle east /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/104091/69/1040916966_0:245:3462:2192_1920x0_80_0_0_807ff621fa258ab4c5d2b428a00773bc.jpg The Israeli Foreign Ministry approved the appointment of Irit Lilian on Monday, according to i24NEWS. The diplomat has been heading the Israeli mission in Ankara for the past two years.Ties between the two nations soured over an Israeli assault on a Turkish ship near the Palestinian exclave of Gaza in 2010. After a short period of reconciliation, the diplomatic relations degraded again after 2018, when the US moved its embassy from Tel Aviv to disputed Jerusalem, prompting deadly clashes.In another sign of rapprochement, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will meet on Tuesday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. turkey Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2022 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International turkey, israel, middle east Erdogan: Putin Seeks to End Crisis in Ukraine As Soon As Possible Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told PBS as reported by the Yeni Safak newspaper that Russian President Vladimir Putin seeks to end the crisis in Ukraine as soon as possible. The Turkish leader recalled that he had a meeting with Putin in Uzbekistan. Erdogan also said Ukraine must be in the same understanding with Russia, adding that he does not lose hope to organize a meeting between the Russian leader and Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky. https://sputniknews.com/20220919/minor-dalit-girl-succumbs-to-injuries-days-after-being-gang-raped--set-ablaze-in-india-1100958015.html Minor Dalit Girl Succumbs to Injuries Days After Being Gang-Raped & Set Ablaze in India Minor Dalit Girl Succumbs to Injuries Days After Being Gang-Raped & Set Ablaze in India Rape cases are just one of the major issues India's state of Uttar Pradesh has faced in the past few months, including inflation, unemployment and the overall... 19.09.2022, Sputnik International 2022-09-19T13:36+0000 2022-09-19T13:36+0000 2022-09-19T13:36+0000 india uttar pradesh rape rape rape rape rape rape victim gang rape gang rape /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e6/09/13/1100969221_0:0:3073:1728_1920x0_80_0_0_d207c9f31219dad7bbec8bfc196b83c3.jpg Having struggled for life for 12 days, a teenage gang-rape victim in India's most populous state of Uttar Pradesh succumbed to her burn injuries on Monday. The victim's father said that his daughter was alone at home when the incident took place. The crime came to light days after when another two teenage Dalit sisters were found hanging from a tree in the Lakhimpur district of the state in what is believed to be a set-up suicide.Another former state chief of Uttar Pradesh and Bahujan Samaj Party head Mayawati said that criminals and goons have no fear because the state government's "priorities are wrong". uttar pradesh Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2022 Deexa Khanduri https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e4/0c/1e/1081607388_0:0:961:960_100x100_80_0_0_e9e931b8c1e18fb41f3074e2145d7a3a.jpg Deexa Khanduri https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e4/0c/1e/1081607388_0:0:961:960_100x100_80_0_0_e9e931b8c1e18fb41f3074e2145d7a3a.jpg News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Deexa Khanduri https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e4/0c/1e/1081607388_0:0:961:960_100x100_80_0_0_e9e931b8c1e18fb41f3074e2145d7a3a.jpg uttar pradesh, rape, rape, rape, rape, rape, rape victim, gang rape, gang rape https://sputniknews.com/20220919/mirotvorets-kill-list-west-left-its-own-people-to-mercy-of-ukraines-gestapo-website-journo-says-1100976609.html Mirotvorets Kill List: West Left Its Own People to Mercy of Ukraine's Gestapo Website, Journo Says Mirotvorets Kill List: West Left Its Own People to Mercy of Ukraine's Gestapo Website, Journo Says Nearly a month has passed since the hideous murder of Russian journalist Darya Dugina, who was immediately marked as "liquidated" on Ukraine's Mirotvorets hit... 19.09.2022, Sputnik International 2022-09-19T16:07+0000 2022-09-19T16:07+0000 2022-09-19T16:07+0000 russia's special operation in ukraine us russia opinion mirotvorets ukraine coup neo-nazism azov battalion donbass /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/105893/88/1058938839_0:0:1200:675_1920x0_80_0_0_3dd2aa9f6704e4cd56826108a4fc52c5.jpg "I was put on the Mirotvorets, so-called 'Peacekeeper', list in May 2022, after I came back from Kherson and attended a conference in Moscow about biological weapons laboratories in Ukraine," said van den Ende. "I was aware of it, but didnt think too much of it until the terrible murder of Darya Dugina! I suppose my colleagues, foreign journalists, who are on the list as well, felt like me, very terrible about it."Russian journalist Darya Dugina, daughter of Russian philosopher Alexander Dugin, was killed on the evening of August 20 in a car explosion on the Mozhaisk highway in Moscow's Odintsovo district. Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said that the Ukrainian intelligence services were behind the attack and revealed the identities of two members of Ukraine's sabotage group, Natalia Vovk and Bogdan Tsyganenko.Prior to the bombing attack, Dugina was placed on Ukraine's Mirotvorets nationalist website, which publishes the personal data of journalists, politicians, opposition figures, bloggers, and even children, whom it unilaterally declares "enemies of Ukraine." Some of these individuals voiced opinions contradicting Kiev's official agenda; others covered Kiev's eight-year long war in Donbass or got accreditation in the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics. Following the murder, Dugina's entry was marked as "liquidated" on the notorious website.Every time an individual on the list is killed, a "liquidated" inscription appears on his or her photograph on the website. Those murdered include Ukrainian publicist Oles Buzina and legislator Oleg Kalashnikov, Russian journalists Zemfira Suleimanova, Igor Kornelyuk and Anton Voloshin, Russian photojournalist Andrey Stenin, and Italian freelance photojournalist Andrea Rocchelli, to name but a few.West is Well-Aware of What Mirotvorets DoEven though the western mainstream press and politicians are currently mute about the Mirotvorets, they have long been aware of the controversy surrounding the website, according to the Dutch journalist. The website was founded in December 2014 following the February coup in Ukraine and allegedly had links to the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs and other law enforcement agencies.On January 26, 2022, British tabloid newspaper The Mirror called the Mirotvorets database "Orwellian": "Whether proven to be guilty or not, the online blacklist denounces those included as pro-Russian collaborators - with some then winding up dead," the newspaper noted, commenting on the addition of Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters to the list. Waters was listed by Mirotvorets as a "threat" to Ukraine for saying that Russia had more rights to Crimea than Kiev.Moreover, in February 2021, the European Parliament urged Kiev to shut the Mirotvorets website down, van den Ende highlighted. At that time, European MEPs lambasted the website for illegally using personal data of hundreds of people, including journalists, politicians and members of minority groups. The MEP's resolution specifically accused Mirotvorets of extremism and inciting hate.She noted that this phenomenon is strikingly similar to the mainstream coverage of Ukraine's neo-Nazis. Not long ago, European and US press openly chastised ultra-right nationalism and neo-Nazism in Ukraine, with Reuters reporting in March 2018 about a growing threat of "[Ukrainian] far-right vigilantes who are willing to use intimidation and even violence to advance their agendas, and who often do so with the tacit approval of law enforcement agencies." However, after the beginning of Moscow's special operation, far-right elements and outright neo-Nazis including the infamous Azov* and Aidar battalions have been whitewashed as defenders of Ukraine while being used as western military proxies against Russia and the people of Donbass, the Dutch journalist argued.UN, UNICEF: See No Evil, Hear No Evil?Western and international institutions, including the UN, UNICEF, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International are doing virtually nothing about the Mirotvorets website, despite knowing that it places children on its kill list, van den Ende highlighted. She refers to 13-year-old Lugansk writer Faina Savenkova, who was blacklisted by Mirotvorets.On June 1, 2021, Savenkova made a video appeal to the UN Security Council with a request to stop the war and help children in Donbass, for which the nationalist website published her personal data and her home address, social networks and relatives passport details. Since, Savenkova sent numerous open letters to international entities and world leaders as well as to Ukrainian President Zelensky, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, UNICEF and Amnesty International, asking them to bring a halt to Mirotvorets' violations and intimidation, but to no avail.Guterres and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) have avoided references in public and did not change their behavior toward the neo-Nazi Ukrainian website targeting children, stated Russian Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Dmitry Polyanskiy earlier this week.Nonetheless, the agency claimed that it had duly addressed this situation and met Faina, according to Polyanskiy. The Russian representative bemoaned the fact that even though Moscows mission in the UN immediately exposed the sham and shared the relevant information with Guterres and UNICEF, it received no reaction. In July, the Russian mission informed Guterres that 327 children have been listed on the Mirotvorets website so far as "enemies of Ukraine."On September 15, UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell told a press briefing that UNICEF is aware about Ukraines extremist website Mirotvorets with its "enemies of Ukraine" list and is happy to provide more information on its position. According to Russell, the entity had concerns about all that is happening in Ukraine as a result of the current conflict.Meanwhile, the Foundation to Battle Injustice notes that the analysis of the network protocol of the domain of the site Myrotvorets indicates that the resource uses the services of a technology company from California. "Thus, the United States has every opportunity to block an extremist website," the foundation explained, adding that despite the website violating human rights of journalists, children and opposition figures by exposing their data and location to potential assailants, "the United States does not take any measures to restrict its working."The Dutch journalist noted that she is no longer feels safe after being placed on Ukraine's "Gestapo hit list". While western governments remain indifferent to the sufferings of Russians and Ukrainians placed on the website, they similarly ignore the fact that US, Canadian and European journalists working in Donbass have also been targeted by Mirotvorets and Ukraine's hit squads.*Azov Battalion is a terrorist organization banned in Russia. https://sputniknews.com/20220914/un-chief-unicef-avoid-references-about-ukraine-site-targeting-children---russian-diplomat-1100788212.html https://sputniknews.com/20191023/us-cyber-company-protection-of-ukraines-mirotvorets-website-outrageous---antonov-1077132195.html russia donbass Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2022 Ekaterina Blinova Ekaterina Blinova News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Ekaterina Blinova us, russia, opinion, mirotvorets, ukraine, coup, neo-nazism, azov battalion, donbass, special operation, unicef, un, violation, human rights, children, journalists, intimidation https://sputniknews.com/20220919/nigerien-protesters-demand-that-french-soldiers-get-out-of-their-country-1100942583.html Nigerien Protesters Demand that French Soldiers Get Out Of Their Country Nigerien Protesters Demand that French Soldiers Get Out Of Their Country Thousands of French troops are being stationed in Africa's Sahel region on the pretext of fighting terrorism. However, over the past years, the French presence... 19.09.2022, Sputnik International 2022-09-19T10:43+0000 2022-09-19T10:43+0000 2022-09-26T04:00+0000 africa africa nigeria protests french troops /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e6/09/13/1100958541_0:62:3423:1987_1920x0_80_0_0_cde5a0ecaf6b3a1cbb1b1dc5a44d8dd8.jpg On September 18, Nigeriens filled the streets of the country's capital city Niamey, protesting against French troops deployed in their country. The protesters reportedly marched from Toumo Square to the National Assembly. They were organized by the M62 movement, a group of NGOs which reportedly describes itself as "peaceful" and committed to "the dignity and sovereignty of the Nigerien people."Some of the protesters were carrying Russian flags, while others held banners saying criminal French army - get out and The colonial army of Barkhane must go".Another participant of the protests, Anawar Abdoulaye, tells Sputnik that Nigerians no longer believe that the French military is best for the country's security interests. Abdoulaye noted that Paris' troops failed to resolve the country's security issues and that's why it, like other African countries, must seek help from Russia.For 9 years French troops have been located in Mali for the implementation of so called Operation Barkhane, which is aimed, according to French officials, at fighting terrorism in the Sahel. In August French troops left the country, wrapping up the withdrawal process they started in December 2021.At the same time, the end of the operation in Mali was accompanied by Mali's accusation of France supporting terrorists inside the African country.On August 15, Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop in a letter to the United Nations Security Council stated that the French had repeatedly invaded Malian airspace, using drones, Casa C-295 and Airbus A400M cargo aircraft, Mirage 2000 strike aircraft and Chinook transport helicopters."The government of Mali has several pieces of evidence that these flagrant violations of Malian airspace were used by France to collect intelligence for the benefit of terrorist groups operating in the Sahel and to drop arms and ammunition on them, the letter says.In recent months, several anti-French demonstrations have taken place in the Sahel. On May 14, 2022, young natives of Mali demonstrated in support of their country's army whose leaders were said to be adopting a strategy that contradicted French interests. The next day, students in Chad protested against the presence of French troops in the country, accusing French of stealing its natural resources, and reportedly chanting Chad is Free and France is out.In November 2021 protestors in Burkina Faso and Niger blocked and stoned a large French military supply convoy travelling from Ivory Coast to Mali.After pulling its last soldiers out of Mali, French Minister of the Armed Forces Sebastien Lecornu said that despite the withdraw of its forces from Mali, France's presence in the Sahel and "reinforced cooperation with the countries of the area, e.g., Niger" will continue.In April, Nigerien MPs voted overwhelmingly in favor of a text authorizing the deployment of foreign forces on the territory, in particular French, to "fight terrorists."Hassoumi Massoudou, Niger's Minister of Foreign Affairs, stated that his country wanted "an increase in the intervention of our partners," because "with the departure of French forces from northern Mali, we expect greater pressure from terrorists on our country."On their part, Nigerien NGOs describe the presence of foreign soldiers as "occupying forces", "a threat to the country's sovereignty" and accused them of an "active support" for "jihadists who spread terrorism from Mali," AFP reports. https://sputniknews.com/20220818/petition-against-french-troops-presence-in-niger-launched-after-protest-rally-banned-in-capital-1099731629.html https://sputniknews.com/20220218/european-troops-to-be-relocated-from-mali-to-nigers-border-region-president-says-1093135280.html africa nigeria Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2022 Olga Borodkina Olga Borodkina News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Olga Borodkina africa, nigeria, protests, french troops https://sputniknews.com/20220919/putin-zelensky-meeting-far-from-possible-but-un-ready-to-help-facilitate-guterres-says-1100939551.html Putin-Zelensky Meeting Far From Possible But UN Ready to Help Facilitate, Guterres Says Putin-Zelensky Meeting Far From Possible But UN Ready to Help Facilitate, Guterres Says UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) - The potential for a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is far from possible... 19.09.2022, Sputnik International 2022-09-19T01:56+0000 2022-09-19T01:56+0000 2022-09-19T03:10+0000 russia's special operation in ukraine ukraine ukraine crisis un antonio guterres russia volodymyr zelensky vladimir putin meeting /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e6/09/13/1100939683_0:0:3072:1728_1920x0_80_0_0_151d8779a90147e550de55e77b96eb90.jpg "Realistically, I think we are still far from that possibility. Probably it will be still difficult to have direct meeting between the two presidents, but that, of course, depends on them," Guterres said.Guterres added that the UN is ready to facilitate such negotiations, and that it would be "important" to create conditions for achieving peace in accordance with the UN Charter, with international law, but the holding of this meeting depends on the wishes of Putin and Zelensky.In his opinion, the chances of concluding a peace agreement between Kiev and Moscow at the moment are minimal. Mainly, because both sides "are still committed" to the goals in the current crisis. Guterres added that the organization "heard" Putin committing to go on with the special military operation until its targets are reached, and Zelensky to "liberate" parts of Ukraine that are under Russian control. Guterres Hopes Russia, Ukraine Reach Broad Agreement on PrisonersFurthermore, Guterres told Spuntik that he hopes Russia and Ukraine will reach a broad agreement to resolve issues concerning prisoners of war.Asked if the UN is ready to facilitate such an exchange, Guterres said that normally the UN does not participate in the exchange of prisoners of war, as this is the responsibility of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine will not help facilitate exports of Russian ammonia if Moscow does not release Ukrainian prisoners of war.Earlier this month, Russian President Vladimir Putin in a conversation with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz pointed out that Russia grants the ICRC access to Ukrainian prisoners of war, while Kiev is not doing the same.Far Away MeetingRegarding the possibility of a face-to-face meeting with the Russian leader, in an earlier interview with CNN, Zelensky said he was not ready to negotiate with Putin and considered diplomacy possible after the withdrawal of Russian forces from the territories they are currently deployed in. In the first months of the military operation, however, Zelensky repeatedly urged Putin to meet with him in person to talk to him as a "neighbor."Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier that Russia is ready and wants to resolve the situation in Ukraine through diplomacy on its own terms, the subject of Moscows conversation with Kiev may be how exactly Russias conditions will be met. At the same time, Peskov noted that Moscow's conditions remain the same. The ultimate goal of the special operation, according to Putin, is "the liberation of Donbass and the creation of conditions that would guarantee the security of Russia itself."Meanwhile, on June 9, Zelensky signed a decree enacting the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine on the application of personal sanctions against Putin.The sanctions, imposed indefinitely, include blocking of assets, ban on export-import operations, and the prevention of the withdrawal of capital from Ukraine.The sanctions also affected Peskov, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, deputy prime ministers, ministers, and other officials.Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine on February 24. https://sputniknews.com/20220916/putin-russia-doing-everything-to-end-ukraine-crisis-but-kiev-seeks-to-reach-goals-by-means-of-war-1100867379.html https://sputniknews.com/20220906/putin-has-done-very-good-job-of-deterring-us-on-ukraine---ex-nato-supreme-commander-1100462111.html russia Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2022 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International ukraine, ukraine crisis, un, antonio guterres, russia, volodymyr zelensky, vladimir putin, meeting https://sputniknews.com/20220919/senate-republicans-ask-special-counsel-authority-for-prosecutor-probing-hunter-biden-1100956526.html Senate Republicans Ask Special Counsel Authority for Prosecutor Probing Hunter Biden Senate Republicans Ask Special Counsel Authority for Prosecutor Probing Hunter Biden The president's son admitted last year that the FBI was onto him for alleged misconduct, but never specified what it was and insisted on being innocent. Media... 19.09.2022, Sputnik International 2022-09-19T12:39+0000 2022-09-19T12:39+0000 2022-09-19T12:39+0000 us americas hunter biden us senate probe /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e6/07/1a/1097820677_0:0:3073:1728_1920x0_80_0_0_d6e83251d762fed82cbdf8292125caa4.jpg Over 30 GOP Senators have signed an open letter calling for the Department of Justice (DoJ) to grant special counsel status to David Weiss, the Delaware US Attorney who is probing Hunter Biden over alleged misconduct.The senators warn of potential interference in the high-profile case against the US president's son despite the administration trying to avoid such allegations by letting Weiss, a Donald Trump appointee, keep his post after January 2021 and carry on with the investigation. One of the senators noted that a whistleblower had notified the lawmakers of the conspiracy within the FBI to disrupt the probe.The senators further accuse Garland of the DoJ's "politicization" and argue that it endangers Weiss' investigation hence the request for the special counsel authority, which will grant the US Attorney the protection he needs. The lawmakers argue in the letter that this step would "go a long way to restoring faith in [US] governmental institutions."The letter, co-signed by Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, slammed Garland for banning FBI and DoJ employees from speaking to lawmakers and congressional staff without prior coordination with the department's Office of Legislative Affairs.As the US attorney general gave testimony in Senate earlier this year, he defended his department's record with regards to the probe into Hunter Biden by recalling the decision to allow David Weiss keep his post. Garland, however, declined to comment on the idea of giving the attorney special counsel status, calling it a matter of "internal decision-making in the department."The Senate Republicans drafted the letter two months after media reports about the Hunter Biden probe reaching a "critical stage." The Fox News report in July namely suggested that officials were considering pressing charges against the president's son at the time. Hunter Biden, however, has since not been indicted on alleged tax violations and possible illegal foreign lobbying, as the media outlet suggested he would be.Biden previously admitted to being investigated by the FBI, but never confirmed reports about the probe being related to his business affairs abroad in Ukraine and in China. The latter appeared to look shady and involve his father, US President Joe Biden, according to a trove of emails and documents extracted from the hard drive of MacBook that supposedly belonged to him.The laptop's contents, which have been gradually published since September 2020, were handed over to media by the owner of a repair shop in Delaware, where Biden had allegedly abandoned his device and never recovered. The owner says the FBI was the first to recover its contents, but he kept a copy, which he sent to then-Donald Trump's attorney Rudi Giuliani, who then shared it with several media outlets. https://sputniknews.com/20220918/hunter-biden-allegedly-asked-maryland-criminal-to-mail-him-drugs-1100925098.html americas Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2022 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International us, hunter biden, us senate, probe https://sputniknews.com/20220919/sputniks-chief-editor-lpr-referendum-will-turn-ukrainian-strikes-into-attacks-against-russia-1100973154.html Sputnik's Chief Editor: LPR Referendum Will Turn Ukrainian Strikes Into Attacks Against Russia Sputnik's Chief Editor: LPR Referendum Will Turn Ukrainian Strikes Into Attacks Against Russia The Civic Chamber of the Lugansk People's Republic announced earlier in the day that it urges the republic's authorities to hold a referendum to make the LPR a... 19.09.2022, Sputnik International 2022-09-19T14:31+0000 2022-09-19T14:31+0000 2022-09-20T10:41+0000 russia margarita simonyan lpr referendum crimean referendum donbass, kherson & zaporozhye referendums to join russia /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/101321/61/1013216170_0:141:1500:985_1920x0_80_0_0_00deea58abdc703afc6a4f6b5d7f0b00.jpg Sputnik's Chief Editor Margarita Simonyan has commented on the Lugansk People's Republic (LPR) Civic Chamber's call to hold a referendum to join Russia, calling it an "all-in move" and a Crimean scenario. She noted that should the republic vote affirmatively, it will drastically change the nature of the conflict in Ukraine.Simonyan expressed the opinion that the LPR might soon be not the only ones to announce referendums to join Russia.The head of the LPR Civic Chamber commented in the wake of the address to the republic's authorities that the referendum on joining Russia is a "matter of more than one day". He, however, expressed hope that the answer will be given soon.The LPR declared its independence in 2014 in response to the West-backed coup in Kiev that brought nationalist politicians to power. Russia agreed to recognize the LPR's statehood in February 2022, signing a treaty of friendship with the republic. Soon after, Moscow answered the call of LPR authorities to protect it against the attacks of the Ukrainian military, which have been going on with varying intensity over the past eight years. https://sputniknews.com/20220919/lpr-civic-chamber-calls-to-immediately-hold-referendum-to-make-lugansk-part-of-russia-1100970813.html russia Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2022 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International russia, margarita simonyan, lpr, referendum, crimean referendum https://sputniknews.com/20220919/un-chief-says-visa-restrictions-against-russians-in-europe-is-not-good-idea-1100947179.html UN Chief Says Visa Restrictions Against Russians in Europe is Not Good Idea UN Chief Says Visa Restrictions Against Russians in Europe is Not Good Idea UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) - United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed the hope that issues pertaining to the European Union's decision to... 19.09.2022, Sputnik International 2022-09-19T07:36+0000 2022-09-19T07:36+0000 2022-09-19T07:36+0000 un united nations russia europe antonio guterres /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e6/08/11/1099700245_0:56:1920:1136_1920x0_80_0_0_05968e33aafb516b5581779080d6ae0e.jpg He also referred to the visa troubles that Russian diplomats face when they attempt to visit UN headquarters in New York, noting that using arbitrage to strong arm the United States into granting visas quicker could make matters worse.THe UN head also noted that he does not think it is a realistic idea to relocate UN headquarters outside of the United States.Earlier in September, the European Union adopted a proposal to fully suspend its visa facilitation agreement with Moscow, which resulted in a higher fee and extended issuance procedure. Moscow warned that the country will retaliate for restricting the travel of Russian citizens. united nations russia Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2022 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International un, united nations, russia, europe, antonio guterres Flash Nikolai Patrushev, Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, will travel to China for the 17th round of China-Russia strategic security consultation and the 7th meeting of the China-Russia law-enforcement and security cooperation mechanism from September 18 to 19, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning announced on Sunday. Patrushev's visit is at the invitation of Yang Jiechi, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, and Guo Shengkun, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee and Secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, Mao said. Wanting to make the playground fully inclusive so that all of the students at Rocky River Elementary School could enjoy the equipment spurred a change at the school. And that change was celebrated Thursday with a grand opening and ribbon-cutting of the schools new rubber surface on all of the playgrounds, thus making all the school campus fully inclusive for the students. This project began last year with a discussion about the various problems with the mulch which was on the playgrounds, noted Monica Donaldson, who has served as the project manager and PIT Crew (Parent Involvement Team) PTO co-treasurer at the school, located in Mooresville at 483 Rocky River Road. One such issue, she shared, centered on access for some of the students who have disabilities. With the mulch, they had a raised wall around it to keep it contained and therefore allowing only one way to enter for those needing wheelchairs or the use of braces. Maneuvering on the mulch was difficult, especially in the wheelchair, Donaldson said. Thus they began to research the project and found out that rubber surfaces are safer and more inclusive for everybody involved. Then came the price tag, which was expensive, she said, but this didnt stop them. They just figured it would take them several years of fundraising through the school. Through the efforts of the students and staff, half the funds were raised as a result of their Booster-thon event last spring but, as the principal, Dr. Chuck LaRusso, shared, we still werent there yet, so we reached out to some partners. We were on a mission to find the funds to get it done this year, Donaldson said. With a team effort of the PIT Crew and Kaylor Kaemba, who was at that time interim assistant principal and is now an assistant principal at the high school, they shared their vision with others in the community. Secretary Katie Pettigrew wrote up a grant proposal, which was submitted to Lowes, and the school became a recipient of a Lowes Home Town grant. In addition to the help from Lowes, local construction company Pedulla Excavation came onboard, did the excavation work and provided new sidewalks, thus allowing easy access to the schools three playgrounds which includes the main one, the pre-K and the third grade playgrounds. They also placed a new 16x20 pad for children to do sidewalk chalk art. Jake Rollings, store manager for the Troutman Lowes, along with Adam Bauernschub, assistant manager of the store, were there for the celebration. Rollings reflected on the occasion by sharing that the Lowes Home Town Project is all about home town for Lowes. Last year we celebrated out 100 year anniversary, he said. So we started selecting 100 home towns that we would decide to give back every year. It was so successful last year, we said we are going to do it again every year now. Having grown up in Mooresville, literally just around the corner from Rocky River Elementary, just off Shearers and Pandora roads, Rollings said, it was really cool when they asked me to do it, and they didnt know I grew up right there, right around the corner from Rocky River. So its a really cool opportunity to support, connect with the folks at the school and give back to the community, the kids. Mickey and Terri Pedulla likewise shared the importance of supporting and giving back to help the schools and the children and donating as much as they can. Noting that they have 10 grandchildren, three of whom are at the school, Mickey said that everybodys got to help everybody to make it work. And thats basically what its all about, helping everybody. Once the finances were secured, the actual work of pouring the rubber surfaces, which was done by a Denver company, took about 2-1/2 weeks, Donaldson said, thus providing a safe, inclusive place for all of the little Rocky Racers. While not a sponsor of the playground, Lineberger Orthodontics wanted to come and help make the event even more festive by providing free popcorn and cotton candy, Donaldson said, and we more than welcomed them. Music filled the air, courtesy of DJ Scott Vaughn, as the children played on the playground before the official ribbon-cutting, thus making it even more of a celebratory occasion. Dr. Jason Gardner, Mooresville Graded School District superintendent, commented that this was an exciting day, a lot of collaboration with our Parent Teacher Organization, the school system, and local businesses with Lowes to make this happen. And were just excited to provide something that our kids will enjoy for years to come. Roger Hyatt, chair of the MGSD Board of Education, said he would echo what Gardner said and noted the old saying, it takes a village to raise a child. It in fact does. What you see today is physical evidence of that, he said. And you can also see how excited the children are to have this opportunity. Its designed for fun, physical activity and safety, which we always look at, safety. And you can tell by the turnout of moms and dads that its an exciting time for them too. As for LaRusso, when asked what it meant to have this area where all the children can be out there, he said, I think we always think about schools being a place where kids come and they learn their academics, but the playground is the place that they learn how to cooperate, how to play, how to get along, how to share, and so our playground is kind of our classroom, so to speak, for those skills. So its invaluable. Its worth every investment that we make. I think thats why everybody is so interested in contributing. As they prepared to cut the ribbon at the ceremony, Donaldson again thanked everyone for their part in getting them to this point including the parents, school staff and all of the PIT Crew. LaRusso echoed his thanks to the PIT Crews from last year and the incoming board who, as he said were integral to make this happen, along with Lowes and the Pedulla family. Following the shout of One, two, three, LaRusso and Assistant Principal Lani Earnhardt cut the ribbon as confetti filled the air, along with cheers and the excited squeals of the many children as they waved their racing flags thus officially opening up the playgrounds. PORTLAND The Oregon Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal from 13 counties in a long-running $1 billion lawsuit over timber revenue and what constitutes the greatest permanent value when it comes to forest management. The denial ends a six-year legal battle over logging practices on 700,000 acres and is a victory for the state Department of Forestry and environmental groups. The decision leaves in place a lower court ruling saying that Oregon can manage forests for a range of values that include recreation, water quality and wildlife habitat not just logging revenue. Its the end of the road for what has been a false narrative for far too long that its the public forestlands obligation to provide the bulk of the revenues for local communities, Ralph Bloemers, who represented fishing and conservation groups in the case, told Oregon Public Broadcasting. The counties gave forestland to the state decades ago and Oregon manages the land and funnels timber revenue to the counties. But 13 counties took Oregon to court, alleging the state was not maximizing logging on the forests. A Linn County jury found in the counties favor in 2019 and awarded more than $1 billion in damages, but an appeals court struck down the verdict earlier this year. A representative for the counties called the high courts inaction disappointing. The underlying issue of forest practices on public lands is left unresolved, Linn County Commissioner Roger Nyquist said in a statement. Linn is one of several Oregon counties and special taxing districts that receive a cut of logging profits from forestland they gave to the state in the 1930s and 1940s. Oregon agreed to manage those lands, which were mostly burned and logged over at the time of donation, so as to secure the greatest permanent value of those lands to the state. Oregon has sent millions of dollars to the counties over the years, bolstering local budgets. But 13 counties took the state to court, saying greatest permanent value meant managing forests for maximum timber revenue. The Oregon Department of Justice, which represented the state government in the case, issued a written statement Friday calling the Supreme Courts decision a victory for Oregons environment and for sound forest management in general. Our forests serve a range of environmental, recreational, and economic purposes, the statement reads. By allowing what we argued was the correct decision of the Court of Appeals to stand, we have a swifter resolution and finality after a 6-year dispute. Apple just proved analyst wrong! iPhone 14 has already sold out around the world, leaving Apple struggling to meet the demand for its latest flagship series. Apple has shocked its fans and proved manay analyst wrong when they said it would find it tough to sell the iPhone 14 in these tough economic times. It seems like the current economic crisis has not hit the Apple fans as its newest flagship, the iPhone 14 has already sold out within days of release. The tech giant had launched four new iPhone models iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max. While the other 3 models are upgrades on their counterparts from last year, the iPhone 14 Plus has been launched as a replacement for the outgoing iPhone 13 Mini. Apple announced that the pre-orders of the iPhone 14 series would start globally on September 9 with store availability starting September 16. However, it seems like Apple has hit a stumbling block as pre-order dates slipped from September to late October for many. In effect, Apple is facing a huge demand it is not in a position to supply at the moment. According to the Sun UK, customers in the UK cannot make walk-in purchases of Apple's new flagship at the Apple store as the country deals with iPhone 14 shortages as well as restrictions due to a period of national mourning after the passing of HM Queen Elizabeth II. Customers in the UK vented their frustrations on various social media platforms as they were unable to place orders. The situation is not any better in India either as customers face lengthy delivery delays. We checked the delivery date for each of the new four iPhones in the iPhone 14 lineup. The standard iPhone 14 has been the least affected with delivery dates sometime between September 29 to October 3 followed by iPhone 14 Plus whose delivery is expected around October 7, if purchased today. The iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max have been affected the most with delivery dates ranging from October 15 to October 29. Earlier it was reported that the production of the new iPhone 14 Plus is taking a hit due to shortage of display panels, with Apple's suppliers struggling to meet the demand, according to 9to5Mac. NASA is planning to conduct a cryogenic demonstration test by loading cold liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen into the Space Launch System (SLS) ahead of launch. NASA is preparing to launch Artemis 1 on September 27. However, the US space agency will conduct a cryogenic test of Artemis 1 ahead of the launch to confirm that the fuel leak has been resolved. The fuel test of its Artemis 1 moon rocket will be conducted on Wednesday Sept. 21. Teams will test adding super-cooled fuel to the #Artemis I rocket on Sept. 21 to confirm repairs to an interface for this flight test around the Moon. @NASAArtemis leaders will preview the test in a teleconference on Sept. 19 at 11:30am ET (15:30 UTC): https://go.nasa.gov/3eQf3fL, tweeted NASA. The US space agency had to terminate the mission, owing to the leak of liquid hydrogen during the fuelling of the tanks of the rocket engine. As shared by Space.com, Technicians replaced two seals at the quick disconnect earlier this month, potentially solving the problem. and now NASA Artemis 1 team will load supercold propellant liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen into the SLS on Launch Pad 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to conduct the test. Earlier, Eric Berger of Ars Technica explained that the US space agency has a tolerance for a small amount of hydrogen leakage and anything above a 4 percent concentration of hydrogen near the 'quick disconnect' is considered a flammability hazard. According to the report, the NASA Artemis spacecraft has an 8-inch diameter line carrying liquid hydrogen into the rocket that sprung a persistent leak at the inlet, known as a quick-disconnect, leading on board the vehicle". Nasa's Artemis moon program, will use a Space Launch System (SLS) megarocket to send an Orion capsule to explore lunar orbit. Initially, it was aimed to launch Artemis 1 on Aug. 29, but the planned liftoff was cancelled twice by technical fault. Flash Iran renews readiness for prisoners' exchange with the United States, said Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanaani. "We have already announced our readiness to exchange prisoners, and we still have this readiness," Kanaani was quoted by the Iranian Student News Agency (ISNA) on Sunday. "Negotiations have been conducted in different ways and both sides have made necessary agreements, and now it is the decision of the American government to implement this agreement or not," he said. Kanaani also said that the issue of prisoners' exchange has nothing to do with the conclusion of the talks aiming at the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The Iranian Foreign Ministry has said that the exchange of prisoners with the United States had been discussed on the sidelines of nuclear talks in Vienna. Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain When Ashley Storino wants a new pair of black boots or book recommendations, she knows what gets resultsand it isn't Google. No blue links for this 22-year-old digital marketer. Rather than wade through pages of search results, she opens TikTok instead, quickly scans video after video and checks the comments to make sure she can trust the content. Only when she knows precisely what she's looking for does she turn to Google first. "Let's say I want to find the best mascara. Before I used to look it up on Google and those results would feature articles and blogs with top 10 lists or top lists. As someone who has worked in marketing and PR, I know a lot of these lists are often, if not always, influenced by outside parties or brands trying to get products in an article," Storino said. "Now I turn to TikTok to get honest reviews from real people. I can look up a brand of mascara or 'best mascara' and there are all of these people who have done reviews and can speak to the product. It's much more relatable and you know who's telling you the information. And then you can go into the comments section and see if the same information is reinforced." Is Tiktok becoming the new Google? A growing number of young people are using the short-form video app better known for dance moves and viral hijinks the way others use Google, to find a new lunch spot or a film to watch, plan a weekend getaway or update their wardrobe. They also rely on TikTok for questions that used to be Google's bread-and-butter such as health tips or a skin care regimen. "Consumers are switching to social media, specifically TikTok, because it feels more authentic," said Jenna Drenten, associate professor of marketing at Loyola University Chicago. "Google feels incredibly overwhelming in today's internet economy. It's just inundated with content." TikTok is taking on Google as a search engine A Google commissioned study of U.S. users ages 18 to 24 found that nearly 40% use TikTok or Instagram to search online. "We keep learning, over and over again, that new internet users don't have the expectations and the mindset that we have become accustomed to," Prabhakar Raghavan, who runs Google's knowledge and information organization, said in July at Fortune's Brainstorm Tech conference. Google, under heavy antitrust scrutiny in the United States and Europe, has incentive to point out rising competition. "You know, none of us were talking about TikTok three years ago," Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google parent Alphabet, said at Vox Media's Code conference earlier this month. Google has more than 90% market share and isn't likely to get toppled. Whereas TikTok can be an inspirational place to find a Halloween costume or ideas for your fall wardrobe, Google is the fastest way to look up a news article or get directions to the post office. Google spokesperson Mallory De Leon said the company's research "did not find that they are using TikTok instead of Google, but often in addition to." Teens and young adults prefer TikTok because it's more visual and authentic These changing habits among teens and young adults signal a generational sea change, says Natalie Pennington, an assistant professor of communication at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. With many videos less than a minute long, "I can consume that information and move on quickly," Pennington said. "There's a very visual component to it," she added. Pennington turned to TikTok when she was searching for a travel bag that would fit Spirit Airlines' personal item dimensions. "It was fantastic," she said. "(I could) see it and see people load the bag versus a Google search where someone would be like, 'this is the best bag.'" Social media apps like TikTok and Instagram also give users the ability to interact with content creators with comments, questions and likes. "It's a pretty social process, which people can gain a lot of gratification," said Yini Zhang, an assistant professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo's Department of Communication. Karishma Jashani relies on the internet for all sorts of questions: Where should she go for date night? How will a certain makeup brand look on her skin tone? What's a good salad recipe? But instead of typing her queries into a traditional search engine, Jashani turns to social media. The 26-year-old content creator said she goes to Google for less than 30% of her searches now, reserving it for "serious" matters like maps and news. For most everything else, she opens TikTok. "It's so much more effective," said Jashani, who is based in Singapore. "It's just faster to get information rather than navigating through multiple sources" on Google. Unlike Google, TikTok has a feeling of immediacy, Jashani says. "It's so bite-sized," she told U.S. TODAY. "With Google, it's more static where you just have to scroll through a bunch of text." But should you trust TikTok? Zhang noted that apps like TikTok and Instagram have an advantage by sourcing from dozens of users"average people from all corners of society"instead of a few large websites or media outlets. While that can help broadcast more diverse voices, it can also lead to lower quality results. Zhang warned that turning to social media for information could be a hotbed for misinformation and disinformation. TikTok increasingly markets itself as a place for people to learn. TikTok last month began testing a new feature that highlights key words in the comment section that bring users to search results for the term. Earlier this year it launched an ad campaign, #TikTokTaughtMe, that launched the slogan "there is no limit to the knowledge that can be discovered on TikTok." Yet users, mostly teens and young adults, routinely encounter false or misleading claims when they search for information on TikTok, according to a NewsGuard study. Almost 20% of searches Newsguard sampled on news topics such as COVID vaccines and the Russian invasion of Ukraine contained misinformation, NewsGuard found. "TikTokwhose library of user-generated videos can be easily searched by typing in keywords in its search barrepeatedly delivered videos containing false claims in the first 20 results, often within the first five," the NewsGuard report said. "Google, by comparison, provided higher-quality and less-polarizing results, with far less misinformation." Viral TikToks can be dangerous. The Food and Drug Administration warned consumers that a hack to keep avocados fresh longer by putting them in an airtight container filled with water inside the refrigerator could make people seriously ill. "I do see a lot of downsides related to this trend, particularly with TikTok, which is such an algorithmically driven platform," Zhang said. "It's difficult for people to spot misinformation and disinformation." While many internet users have been trained on how to spot trusted sources on googlewebsites with a .edu or .gov tag, for examplethe same rules don't apply to social media. "I think it's more entertaining than informative," Zhang said. Explore further TikTok search results rife with misinformation: report (c)2022 U.S. Today Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. The new trailer provides more space for the UAS team to work on perfecting aircrafts for flight. Credit: Idaho National Laboratory Ever since the Wright brothers innovated in the back of their bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio, aviation has beenat hearta nuts-and-bolts endeavor. For all the sophisticated equipment Idaho National Laboratory's Unmanned Aerial Systems team has at its disposal for testing high-tech cameras, radios and sensors, there is still a lot of gearhead ingenuity involved. Here, a $500,000 high-tech surveillance camera is kept aloft on an aircraft powered by a 1/2-horsepower gasoline engine adapted from a Honda pressure washer. The launching catapult for the plane is basically an oversized potato gun. The group operates both in Idaho Falls and at the INL Site from a base that includes a 1,000-foot paved runway, a control trailer and a newly built 1,500-square-foot hangar. 'Workhorses' The Department of Energy complex has noted INL's strength in testing unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs (better known as drones). Over 20 years, the lab has developed capabilities to test new platforms and evaluate technology not only for DOE but also the Department of Defense and private industry. With 890 square miles of open high-altitude desert, a secure border, and a sophisticated wireless test bed, the INL Site has proven to be a great place for testing unmanned aerial vehicles against real-world conditions like severe weather, temperature swings and day/night operations. The first UAV work at INL involved infrared imagery and sensors to monitor remediation work, and in the case of wildfires, to collect GPS information to better coordinate ground efforts. When the runway was installed in 2010, it allowed for the use of fixed-wing aircraft. Since then, INL has spent more than $4 million to train personnel, procure aircraft and establish support facilities. Overall, INL supports more than 40 types of unmanned aircraft using mobile control stations that incorporate power, communication, monitoring and data acquisition capabilities. The flagship of the INL fleet is a modified Arcturus T-20, a medium-range, fully composite aircraft. Eight feet long and 18 feet wide from wingtip to wingtip, it weighs 175 pounds fully fueled and can stay aloft for 10 to 12 hours. "They're workhorses. They're mules. They're anything we want them to be," said Matthew Balderree, who came to INL in 2014 from the U.S. Air Force. Managing a fleet Once a drone is aloft, one of the biggest tasks is not flying it from the command trailer, but rather keeping tabs on the computer to make sure nothing goes wrong. "More and more, our job is making sure it's doing what needs to be done as opposed to telling it what to do," Balderree said. Properly equipped and programmed, a system equipped with artificial intelligence (AI) should be able to inspect a complex of wind turbines or a solar farm and automatically downlink data to computers on the ground for processing. It can support nuclear and other industrial plant operations by lowering inspection costs and increasing efficiency. Likewise, AI could make agriculture more efficient, automatically inspecting sprinkler lines or looking for crop damage from insects. "Drones are going to have a really good return on investment when it gets to that point," he said. INL offers engineering and integration capabilities to test advanced sensor, electronics and communication packages. The team can design, manufacture and integrate custom boards, chip sets and electronics at its shop. The team operates over almost the entire radio frequency spectrum, which is administered and maintained by INL's Wireless Test Bed and its frequency spectrum managers. Additionally, INL has accumulated numerous Certificates of Waiver or Authorization from the Federal Aviation Administration. Issued to public operators for specific unmanned aerial activities, these certificates allow the lab to operate in the administration's approved airspace, ranging from Mud Lake northeast of the INL Site to Carey, ID in the southwest. This makes it easier to conduct a wide range of tests in one place, Balderree said. "We're probably one of the few locations with that quality of assets." One of the greatest satisfactions in Balderree's job comes from the crew's flexibility to independently conduct rapid prototyping of radios and sensors. "We don't have a dog in the fight," he said. "We're trying to find out if these products are going to meet the needs of the guys in the field. We want to know that a piece of equipment is going to power up and work every time. We provide integration, testing and validation from an unbiased partner." Explore further A drone that can avoid obstacles helped win a sweeping new approval for aerial inspections of power facilities A 26-year-old man and a police officer were injured in an officer involved shooting in the 5100 block of Bellerive Bend Drive in College Station Monday, according to College Station Police Chief Billy Couch. Police received a 9-1-1 call at 5:49 a.m. from the residence where the incident occurred. The caller asked for an ambulance and then disconnected, Couch said. Dispatchers were able to reconnect with the caller and learned a member of their household was having hallucinations and was being violent, Couch said. A second person in the residence called 9-1-1 a short time later, advising they needed police and an ambulance and noted they were locked into a bedroom, according to Couch. Couch said the first officer who responded made contact with a man who came from the front of the house and was armed with a hatchet. Couch said the officer made repeated commands for the man to put the hatchet down as the man walked through the yard toward the road where the officer was located. Couch noted the man made it to the roadway and then began running at the officer. The officer retreated, but later engaged with the man and struck him twice in the upper torso, according to Couch. He said the man threw the hatchet and struck the officer in the lower leg. The man was taken to a local hospital and is in stable condition, Couch said. He noted the officer was also taken to a hospital, was treated and has been released. This is a difficult situation for our officer, for his co-workers, and for his family and we will do our very best to support them through this, Couch said. We also understand these are difficult situations for our community and I can assure you we take our responsibility serious as we strive to minimize the impact as we are forced to have to handle these difficult situations. No other people in the house were injured, Couch said. The man was a resident of the house, Couch noted. He said it is too early to tell if the man was under the influence of a substance or if he will be arrested once he is released from the hospital. The incident occurred in the Pebble Creek neighborhood, and Couch said some residents were impacted. Its a larger neighborhood, so there are a lot of people moving about in the morning hours, so we did secure the roadway, Couch said. The incident did occur in the roadway, so there was some impact upon the residents and those coming in and out of the neighborhood. The Texas Rangers have taken the lead in the investigation, by request, according to Couch. 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United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe Organizations and security teams work to protect themselves from any vulnerability, and often don't realize that risk is also brought on by configurations in their SaaS apps that have not been hardened. The newly published GIFShell attack method, which occurs through Microsoft Teams, is a perfect example of how threat actors can exploit legitimate features and configurations that haven't been correctly set. This article takes a look at what the method entails and the steps needed to combat it. The GifShell Attack Method Discovered by Bobby Rauch, the GIFShell attack technique enables bad actors to exploit several Microsoft Teams features to act as a C&C for malware, and exfiltrate data using GIFs without being detected by EDR and other network monitoring tools. This attack method requires a device or user that is already compromised. Learn how an SSPM can assess, monitor and remediate SaaS misconfigurations and Device-to-SaaS user risk. The main component of this attack allows an attacker to create a reverse shell that delivers malicious commands via base64 encoded GIFs in Teams, and exfiltrates the output through GIFs retrieved by Microsoft's own infrastructure. How does it work? To create this reverse shell, an attacker must first compromise a computer to plant the malware which means the bad actor needs to convince the user to install a malicious stager, like with phishing, that executes commands and uploads command output via a GIF url to a Microsoft Teams web hook. Once the stager is in place, the threat actor creates their own Microsoft Teams tenant and contacts other Microsoft Teams users outside of the organization. The threat actor can then use a GIFShell Python script to send a message to a Microsoft Teams user that contains a specially crafted GIF. This legitimate GIF image has been modified to include commands to execute on a target's machine. When the target receives the message, the message and the GIF will be stored in Microsoft Team's logs. Important to note: Microsoft Teams runs as a background process, so the GIF does not even need to be opened by the user to receive the attacker's commands to execute. The stager monitors the Teams logs and when it finds a GIF, it extracts and runs the commands. Microsoft's servers will connect back to the attacker's server URL to retrieve the GIF, which is named using the base64 encoded output of the executed command. The GIFShell server running on the attacker's server will receive this request and automatically decode the data allowing the attackers to see the output of the command run on the victim's device. Microsoft's response As reported by Lawrence Abrams in BleepingComputer, Microsoft agrees that this attack method is a problem, however, it "does not meet the bar for an urgent security fix." They "may take action in a future release to help mitigate this technique." Microsoft is acknowledging this research but asserting that no security boundaries have been bypassed. While Rauch claims that indeed "two additional vulnerabilities discovered in Microsoft Teams, a lack of permission enforcement and attachment spoofing", Microsoft argues, "For this case these all are post exploitation and rely on a target already being compromised." Microsoft is asserting that this technique is using legitimate features from the Teams platform and not something they can mitigate currently. In accordance with Microsoft's assertions, indeed this is the challenge many organizations face there are configurations and features that threat actors can exploit if not hardened. A few changes to your tenant's configurations can prevent these inbound attacks from unknown Teams tenants. How to Protect Against the GIFShell Attack There are security configurations within Microsoft that, if hardened, can help to prevent this type of attack. 1 Disable External Access: Microsoft Teams, by default, allows for all external senders to send messages to users within that tenant. Many organization admins likely are not even aware that their organization allows for External Teams collaboration. You can harden these configurations: Figure 1: Microsoft Teams External Access Configurations Disable external domain access Prevent people in your organization from finding, calling, chatting, and setting up meetings with people external to your organization in any domain. While not as seamless of a process as through Teams, this better protects the organization and is worth the extra effort. Disable unmanaged external teams start conversation Block Teams users in your organization from communicating with external Teams users whose accounts are not managed by an organization. 2 Gain Device Inventory Insight: You can ensure your entire organization's devices are fully compliant and secure by using your XDR / EDR / Vulnerability Management solution, like Crowdstrike or Tenable. Endpoint security tools are your first line of defense against suspicious activity such as accessing the device's local teams log folder which is used for data exfiltration in GIFShell. You can even go a step further and integrate an SSPM (SaaS Security Posture Management) solution, like Adaptive Shield, with your endpoint security tools to gain visibility and context to easily see and manage the risks that stem from these types of configurations, your SaaS users, and their associated devices. How to Automate Protection Against These Attacks There are two methods to combat misconfigurations and harden security settings: manual detection and remediation or an automated SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM) solution. With the multitudes of configurations, users, devices, and new threats, the manual method is an unsustainable drain on resources, leaving security teams overwhelmed. However, an SSPM solution, such as Adaptive Shield, enables security teams to gain complete control over their SaaS apps and configurations. The right SSPM automates and streamlines the process of monitoring, detection and remediation for SaaS misconfigurations, SaaS-to-SaaS access, SaaS related IAM, and Device-to-SaaS user risk in compliance with both industry and company standards. In cases such as the GifShell attack method, Adaptive Shield's misconfiguration management features enables security teams to continuously assess, monitor, identify and alert for when there is a misconfiguration (see figure 1). Then they can quickly remediate through the system or use a ticketing system of choice to send the pertinent details for fast remediation. Figure 2. Landscape View of SaaS App Hygiene Similarly, Adaptive Shield's Device Inventory feature (seen in figure 2) can monitor devices being used company-wide and flag any Device-to-SaaS risk while correlating that information with the user roles and permissions and the SaaS apps in use. This enables security teams to gain a holistic view of user-device posture to protect and secure high-risk devices that can serve as a critical threat in their SaaS environment. Figure 3. Device Inventory Learn more about how the Adaptive Shield SSPM can protect your SaaS app ecosystem. KEARNEY The Grand Island Central Catholic marching band took first place in Class C during the 63rd annual UNK Band Day Parade and competition on Saturday in Kearney. Kearney High School was the big winner: the Bearcats won the sweepstakes trophy awarded to the best overall band for the sixth-straight year. They also took first place in the Class AA division and received the trophies for outstanding drum line and color guard. Other first-place honors went to Holdrege in Class B, Kenesaw in Class D and the Kearney eighth grade band in the middle school division. Twenty-eight middle and high school marching bands joined the University of Nebraska at Kearney for Saturdays event in downtown Kearney. A staple of the fall marching season, UNK Band Day is a celebration of music that showcases programs from across Nebraska and serves as preparation for the Oct. 1 Harvest of Harmony Parade and Field Competition in Grand Island. In Class AA, North Platte place second, and Columbus was third. Kearney Catholic placed second and Broken Bow place third in Class B. Ord took second in Class C, with Amherst placing third. Parkview Christian took second in Class D with Shelton coming in third. In the middle school division, Ogallala placed second and Faith Christian place third. Grand Islands Multicultural Coalition honored those people who have become citizens in the last three years with a special New Americans celebration held Sunday at Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer. The day included a picnic, with people bringing their cultural dishes, and plenty of games on the Stuhr grounds, amid many ducks and geese We just wanted to celebrate and honor our New Americans with a picnic, said Lina Sutton, MCC operations specialist. A token was given to each new citizen: a small Statue of Liberty. This is to celebrate their sacrifice, their challenge to become a citizen in this country, said Gleibis Rodriguez, MCC program specialist. Some of them became citizens two, three years ago, but with COVID we couldnt celebrate, so its our first celebration with them. Joining the day were many of those new citizens helped by the Multicultural Coalition over the last three years, since the start of the pandemic. Hilaria Solache, originally of Michoacan, Mexico, became a citizen in February 2020. Its great, because I can vote in the last elections, she said. Everything is almost the same, because I can go to my job I had before, but a change in my life is I can vote. Herson Hernandez became a citizen this year, about five months ago. He was joined at Sundays event by his 10-year-old son, Malakai. Being a citizen has been good, said Hernandez. I dont have to worry about if being a resident is going to expire. Right now, I dont need to worry about all that stuff, he said. Like my friends say, now I can vote. A resident cant, but now that Im a citizen, I can vote. He added, I feel good and I feel happy. Oliva Montanez, originally from Zacatecas, Mexico, became a citizen last year. She enjoys being a part of both the Grand Island community and the great American community. I feel more safe, more comfortable in this city, in this country, she said. This was my first city in the United States, and I feel very good to be in this city and to become a citizen. Becoming a citizen can take a long time, said Sutton. From the time you submit your application until you have your interview right now is averaging 16 months, she said. Theres a cost and you have to study, you have to have a proficient level in reading and writing in English. Theres a lot of work that goes into becoming a citizen. She added, Theyve worked really hard, so we want to acknowledge their accomplishment. Since January, MCC has helped 24 clients to become citizens. Grand Island boasts citizens who have come from many places, including Somalia, Sudan, Cuba, El Salvador, Honduras and Mexico. They are here sometimes and they dont know the importance of becoming a citizen in this country, said Rodriguez. When they learn the meaning of that, they feel more integrated in this community. For MCC to help so many people is an honor, said Sutton To see them become more integrated in the community and feel more at home here, and have the right to vote, is exciting, she said. The day was an exciting one, said MCC Executive Director Audrey Lutz. We are excited to celebrate the incredible achievement of new Americans and all that they contribute to Central Nebraska, she said. Citizenship shows a commitment to your community, to your civic duty to vote and serve on a jury, and were really thrilled that people want to be a part of that process, of being an American citizen. For more information about Multicultural Coalition services, visit www.mcofgi.org. YORK A man caught with an extremely large amount of methamphetamine in York County has pleaded not guilty to two felonies. Arraignment proceedings for Juan Sacramento, 33, of Lemoore, California, were held in York County District Court this week. Sacramento was arrested by a deputy with the York County Sheriffs Department following a traffic stop on Interstate 80. According to court documents, Sacramento was the driver. The deputy says in the affidavit that Sacramento could speak no English, but he did provide him with a Mexico Consular identification card. The deputy said the passenger spoke English and provided him with the required vehicle documents. A check of the two showed Sacramento had no drivers license in any state and the womans license was suspended. Due to suspicions of criminal activity, the deputy asked for consent to search and was denied. A canine with the sheriffs department alerted to the presence of narcotics and a search was conducted of the vehicle. During that search, deputies noticed several of the push pins that secure the carpeted lining to the quarter panels were damaged and missing. A deputy pulled away the carpeted lining and saw several vacuum-sealed packages of methamphetamine within the quarter panels of the vehicle. The woman, identified as Angelica Ramos-Torres Villa, allegedly told the deputy they had just been in Kansas City where they were supposed to drop off some methamphetamine, but no one was answering their calls. So they were delivering the remaining seven packages to Grand Island. The methamphetamine seized from the vehicle weighed 15.65 pounds. Sacramento has been charged with possession of more than 140 pounds of methamphetamine, a Class 1B felony, which carries a possible maximum sentence of 20 years to life in prison. He is also charged with having no drug tax stamp, a Class 4 felony, which carries a possible maximum sentence of two years in prison with 12 months of post-release supervision. Upon his not guilty plea, a jury trial was set for December. You are here: World Flash Newly-appointed Senegalese Prime Minister Amadou Ba formed a 38-member government team Saturday evening, according to a statement read out Saturday night to the press by Minister Abdou Latif Coulibaly with the General Secretariat of the Government. Ba, who was appointed to the position of Prime Minister Saturday morning, explained in a statement made on the occasion that his government was "a mission team" to fulfill the vision of the Head of State, Macky Sall, which centers on the realization of the Senegalese Emerging Plan (PSE), a ten-year strategy launched in 2014 to speed up the country's development. The previous government consisted of 33 ministers and four deputy ministers. According to a decree of the presidency released early Saturday, Amadou Ba was appointed the prime minister, a position abolished in 2019 and reinstated last year. The new prime minister, 61, previously served as minister of Economy and Finance and minister of Foreign Affairs. YORK A man caught with cocaine in his possession in York has pleaded not guilty. Arraignment proceedings for Houston Ousley were held this past week in York County District Court. The 29-year-old from East Chicago, Ill., is charged with possession of a controlled substance, following contact with an officer with the York Police Department. In the middle of the night, the officer was dispatched to a convenience store at the York interchange on the report of a man acting strangely and appearing to be under the influence of drugs. When the officer spoke with the man, who was identified as Michael D. Smith Jr., he learned he had a warrant out of Ohio and he was traveling with his work partner Ousley from Chicago to California. Ousley came inside the store and told the officer he was the owner of the pickup truck they were driving. Ousley gave consent for a search, according to court documents. It is alleged two used syringes were found and he said it was for a drug to help with his drug addiction although the officers knew that particular drug is not typically prescribed as an injectable drug. Inside the vehicle, the officers found plastic bags containing heroin and another with cocaine inside. They also found soda cans and used syringes with burn marks and residue, as well as several packages of Narcan which is used in case of an opioid overdose. Both men were arrested. Now that Ousley has pleaded not guilty, a jury trial has been scheduled for mid-December. If found guilty, he could be facing a possible maximum sentence of two years in prison with 12 months of post-release supervision, as the charge is a Class 4 felony. Expert Viewpoint 3 Ways CTE and Industry-Recognized Certifications Have Given This District's Students a Leg Up In the last year, research is finding that students are increasingly choosing a nontraditional or nonlinear path or no path at all to continuing their education after high school graduation. In fact, according to Americas Promise Alliance, in 2021: 24% of students planned to attend a two-year institution instead of a four-year. 16% of students said they planned to attend college later. 7% of students reported that they were no longer planning to attend college. Add to these statistics the fact that 36% of jobs in 2020 didnt require a college degree. This should prompt us to ask: "Is college for all always the best way to prepare young people? Or is there another way? The answer lies within career technical education programs and the opportunity to earn industry-recognized CTE certifications. These certifications offer proof of valuable skill sets needed by today's workforce and are an important part of the solution for economic competitiveness. CTE programs help students prepare for future careers with specific skill requirements, which employers can find difficult to fill. In todays economy, job security is more important than ever. Industry-recognized certifications give students proof that they have the skills and knowledge needed for the job. Certifications also help students stand out from the competition, as well as providing other benefits. Following are three reasons why these CTE programs and certifications matter for students. CTE Programs Give Students Firsthand Experience CTE programs and industry-recognized certifications give students firsthand experience in their chosen field and can give them a leg up in college by letting them skip and gain credit for entry-level classes. CTE programs provide students with opportunities for hands-on exploration of career pathways that interest them. They can feel empowered to take the future into their own hands when they can explore career pathways while obtaining industry-recognized certifications that provide validation of their skills. They also provide them with the experience and skills needed to head directly into a job or career. At Provo High School, each year hundreds of students complete CTE programs and go on to earn Precision Exams certifications through YouScience. Heres one example: A 2022 Provo High School graduate, Jessica, took a series of CTE courses during her time at Provo High. Putting some of her news skills gained to the test, she built a new podium for our auditorium as her senior project. Jessica also used her experience with CTE to compete in the States Sterling Scholar Program, where she earned a spot as a Wasatch Region finalist in the category of Skilled and Technical Education. These skills courses have played a big role in shaping who she is, Jessica says: Without a doubt, the CTE courses I took in high school were a huge factor in both choosing my college and degree. The CTE courses I took through my high school really opened my eyes to some amazing career paths that I didn't know could be within my reach. I am currently planning on becoming a chemical engineer, where I hope to one day synthesize human organs to reduce the organ waiting list. My CTE biotechnology class opened my eyes to this possibility, and it changed my life. After being made aware of this career path and developing basic skills to get me there through this class, I have felt a drive and sense of purpose that I believe no other class can give you. CTE classes will always hold a special place in my heart since they have completely prepared me for a successful, enjoyable future. CTE Programs Enable Students to Verify Knowledge and Skills Todays job market is very competitive, despite low unemployment and a large number of individuals leaving their jobs. Employers often look for candidates with the right skills and knowledge, so that they can be immediately productive on the job without extensive training. Having industry-recognized certifications shows potential employers that a student has the skills that are needed for the job. Our 2022 graduate Jessica, when asked about her experiences with CTE, said: I actually received five CTE certificates at the end of my courses, which has been phenomenally helpful in the years since then. I have presented these certifications in both college and job applications, which has certainly helped me stand out as a candidate for these positions. The fact that your skills can be endorsed by the state is a big deal to anyone reading your resume. I highly recommend seeking out these industry-recognized certification opportunities to make you both more employable and prepared for a career that uses those same skills. Students who successfully complete a certification exam receive a certificate that includes a list of the relevant and valuable skills theyve learned. These skills can then be included on a resume or college or career application to showcase experience and expertise. CTE Programs Demonstrate Commitment and Help Students Understand Their Why Any advantage that a student can give themself is crucial in todays job environment, and industry-recognized certifications are one of the best ways to demonstrate commitment and valuable experience. Certifications take time, effort, and commitment which is why potential employers often see them as a valuable indication of abilities and interest. By taking the time to earn a certification, students send a strong signal to potential employers that they are serious about their career and that they have the skills and knowledge to back it up. Weve seen this firsthand through another recent graduate. This particular student completed a series of computer courses between his 9th and 12th grade years, including a CTE internship, in which he worked with the school districts IT department. Through this internship, he was able to gain full-time employment after high school with this same district department. This student gained the skills needed while in high school to be able to jump into his career pathway and the district gained a much-needed skilled employee. Certifications also help students understand why they are learning something in the classroom. According to Gallup research, by high school, more than 50% of students are "not engaged" or "actively disengaged in school. This matters since engaged students are 2.5 times more likely to get excellent grades and do well in school, and they are 4.5 times more likely to be hopeful about the future than their actively disengaged peers. While there is not a one-size-fits-all approach to college and career success for students, gaining industry-recognized certifications is one way for students to show potential employers that they are ready for the job. Marketing & Communications Solutions Website and Communications Provider Edlio Acquires App-Maker SchoolInfo, Expands K-12 Product Suite K12 CMS website, digital payments, and communications provider Edlio has acquired SchoolInfo, which makes mobile app solutions for schools and districts, the companies announced in a news release. SchoolInfo, based in Ruston, Louisiana, has created mobile apps for more than 2,500 schools, districts, and other education organizations, according to its website. Edlio, with offices in California, Texas, and Virginia, as well as Mexico City and Vancouver, did not disclose terms of the deal. Edlio, whose solutions are used by more than K12 16,000 schools across North America, said it is launching a new product called Edlio Access that allows K12 schools to host their own branded app with two-way communication, security features such as Hall Pass and Wellness Screener, and direct access to school information and updates. Schools using Edlio solutions will now be able to consolidate their digital communications, payments, and website tools under one vendor, the company said. Existing SchoolInfo customers have immediate access to Edlios support solutions, including dedicated client success specialists, unlimited access to technical support, and self-paced learning resources for each of Edlios tech products, the companies said. President Joe Biden has decided to ban Russian oil imports, toughening the toll on Russia's economy in retaliation for its invasion of Ukraine. The United States generally imports about 100,000 barrels a day from Russia, only about 5% of Russia's crude oil exports, according to Rystad Energy. Last year, roughly 8% of U.S. imports of oil and petroleum products came from Russia. Gas prices have been rising for weeks due to the conflict and in anticipation of potential sanctions on the Russian energy sector. The U.S. national average for a gallon of gasoline soared 45 cents a gallon in the past week and topped $4.06 on Monday, according to auto club AAA. Should the US ban Russian oil imports over Ukraine war? You voted: A 39-year-old Orangeburg woman pleaded guilty to attempted murder during a recent term of court at the Orangeburg County Courthouse. Sopheia Cheri Garvin, of 176 Gold Drive, entered her guilty plea before Circuit Judge Ed Dickson, according to the Orangeburg County Public Index online. Dickson sentenced her to three years in prison, suspended to one year of probation. He gave her credit for having already served 465 days at the Orangeburg County Detention Center. In other guilty pleas: Richard Lee Ferguson, 29, of Middleton Street, Orangeburg, pleaded guilty to first-offense third-degree burglary. Dickson sentenced him to prison for 30 months. Ferguson must also pay restitution. Dickson gave Ferguson credit for having already served 103 days in jail. Edremolina Govan, 49, of 115 Carla Lane, Norway, pleaded guilty to third or subsequent offense trafficking in 28 grams but less than 100 grams of cocaine. Dickson sentenced him to prison for three years and gave him credit for having already served 303 days in jail. Prosecutors dismissed Govans charge of trafficking in more than 200 grams but less than 400 grams of cocaine. Dante Lucretius Harley, 21, of 3066 Drag Strip Road, North, pleaded guilty to first-degree assault and battery. Dickson sentenced him under the Youthful Offender Act not to exceed three years and gave him credit for having already served 656 days in jail. Prosecutors dismissed his charge of possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime. Rodney B. Haynes, 54, of 881 Jennifer Street, Orangeburg, pleaded guilty to first-offense DUI less than .10 blood alcohol concentration, first-offense possession of cocaine base and transporting alcohol with a broken seal. Haynes was originally charged with DUI .16 or higher blood alcohol concentration and first-offense distribution of cocaine base, but he pleaded guilty to first-offense DUI less than .10 blood alcohol concentration and first-offense possession of cocaine base instead. Dickson sentenced him to prison for three years, suspended to probation for three years. He gave Haynes credit for having already served one day in jail. Calvin Quintin Davinca Heatley, 36, of 145 Franklin Street, Orangeburg, pleaded guilty to possession of a stolen vehicle valued more than $2,000 but less than $10,000. He was originally charged with possession of a stolen vehicle valued at $10,000 or more, but he pleaded guilty to possession of a stolen vehicle valued more than $2,000 but less than $10,000 instead. Dickson sentenced him to three years in prison, suspended to 18 months of probation. He gave Heatley credit for having already served 14 days in jail. Wendy Tutherow Hutchins, 48, of 1603 Calks Ferry Road, Lexington, pleaded guilty to hit-and-run resulting in property damage. Dickson sentenced her to jail for 90 days or a $150 fine. Kentrell Jones, 30, of 160 Quick Street, Orangeburg, pleaded guilty to second-degree domestic violence and possession of a firearm by a person convicted of a violent felony. Dickson sentenced him to 15 months in prison and gave him credit for having already served 138 days in jail. Devante D. Liburd, 29, of 218 Boo Circle, Santee, pleaded guilty to first-offense manufacturing/distributing cocaine base and first-offense failure to stop for blue lights. Dickson sentenced him to five years in prison, suspended to two years of probation. While on probation, Liburd is also required to complete inpatient drug treatment. U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris will address South Carolina State University students and faculty at the universitys Fall Convocation on Tuesday, Sept. 20, at 1 p.m. Harris will help the university officially welcome SC States largest freshman class in 15 years to campus for the academic year in Smith-Hammond-Middleton Memorial Center. South Carolina State University is honored to welcome Vice President Harris back to our campus, SC State President Alexander Conyers said. Her visit is a golden opportunity for our students to hear directly from the highest-ranking woman in this nations history. Her achievements are motivational for all of us at SC State, especially for our young minority women. Coming on the heels of President Joe Bidens address to graduates at our Commencement last December, Vice President Harris visit is another milestone in SC States rich history. This is truly a special time to be a Bulldog, Conyers said. Because of necessary security measures and capacity limitations, attendance will be restricted to the SC State campus community and a limited number invited guests. Freshmen students are required to attend. The administration expects faculty members to attend, as well. Other students and employees are invited. Students and employees should expect changes in available entrances to campus on Tuesday, as well as parking restrictions. All attendees should arrive at SHM no later than 10 a.m. for security screening. No bags will be allowed inside the venue. Harris, who last visited SC State on the campaign trail in 2019, will be accompanied in Orangeburg by U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. Cardona and Harris will meet with college students to highlight the importance of National Voter Registration Day and hold a conversation about mental health and issues important to young Americans. About the vice president Kamala D. Harris is the vice president of the United States. She was elected vice president after a lifetime of public service, having been elected district attorney of San Francisco, California attorney general and United States senator. Harris was born in Oakland, California, to parents who emigrated from India and Jamaica. She graduated from Howard University and the University of California, Hastings College of Law. Flash The death toll of Lassa fever in Nigeria this year has risen to 171, despite measures by the government to reduce infections across the country, the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) said Sunday. In its latest Lassa fever situation report, the NCDC said there have been a total of 917 confirmed cases, with 6,660 suspected cases recorded since the beginning of the year. In the week from Sept. 5 to 11 alone, eight new confirmed cases and one death were recorded. So far, 25 states have recorded at least one confirmed case across 102 out of the 774 local government areas in the most populous African country, the public health agency said. With the death toll rising to 171, the NCDC said the case fatality rate was 18.6 percent, lower than that for the same period last year, which was 23.3 percent. The disease control center said the predominant age group affected is 21-30 years, with the male-to-female ratio for confirmed cases being 1:0.8. According to the World Health Organization, Lassa fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic illness caused by the Lassa virus, a member of the arenavirus family of viruses. Humans usually become infected with the Lassa virus through exposure to food or household items contaminated with urine or feces of infected Mastomys rats. The disease is endemic in the rodent population in parts of West Africa. In some cases, Lassa fever has similar symptoms to malaria, appearing between one and three weeks after exposure to the virus. In mild cases, the disease causes fever, fatigue, weakness, and headache. The NCDC said it remained committed to supporting state public health teams to achieve the goal of reducing the Lassa fever case fatality rate to a single digit. The disease control agency said it is currently distributing medical response commodities to states and treatment centers as part of measures to control the spread of the disease. After primary schools launched the new academic year last Thursday, it is now time for the country's secondary pupils to return to school. A little over 45,000 pupils are officially registered across Luxembourg's public and private secondary schools for this academic year. 5,265 teachers will educate them. Lycee Technique du Centre, located in Limpertsberg and Kirchberg, is the largest institution with 2,056 registrations. Close second is Lycee Mathias Adam in Petange with 2,050 students. As of this year, the Ecole de Commerce et de Gestion in Geesseknappchen will offer a new specialised course on entrepreneurship. Reports of Gilles Feith's imminent departure as Luxair CEO surfaced on Monday morning. On Monday, MPs Gilles Roth and Serge Wilmes from the Christian Social People's Party (CSV) filed an urgent parliamentary enquiry concerned with reports that after two years at the helm of Luxair, Gilles Feith is about to step down as CEO of the airline. Newspaper Wort broke the news earlier today and further alleges that Feith is bound to take over as CEO of Lux Airport following the departure of Rene Steinhaus. A final decision on Feith's future is expected to be made during the upcoming aviation tripartite meeting, set to take place a week from today. Both CSV MPs thus addressed an urgent enquiry at Minister for Mobility and Public Works Francois Bausch to determine whether the reports are true. If true, they wanted to know how the decision to award the new leadership position to Feith was made and if an official call for applications had been launched beforehand. In conversation with our colleagues at RTL, Minister Bausch labelled the reports "baseless rumours". Although Luxair has recently experienced turbulent times with reports of mismanagement and unhealthy work conditions, the Greens Minister stressed that negotiations at the upcoming aviation tripartite meeting will not affect Luxair's management. On Monday, Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa participated in the state funeral of the late British monarch. The state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II took place in London on Monday 19 September. Around 2,000 heads of state from all around the world have travelled to the English capital to take part in the formal ceremony, including Luxembourg's Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa. The Grand Duke & the Grand Duchess bade a last farewell to Queen Elizabeth II during a highly emotional state funeral in @wabbey today. Hundreds of Heads of State, members of royal families & world leaders gathered to honor her exceptional life devoted to service & duty. pic.twitter.com/dLq58YRXp2 Cour Grand-Ducale (@CourGrandDucale) September 19, 2022 The Grand Ducal couple first visited Westminster Hall on Sunday to pay their personal respects to the late queen. The picture below shows the couple standing on the balcony of Westminster Hall, where thousands of mourners had queued over the past four days to bid farewell to the longest-reigning British monarch. JOHN SIBLEY / POOL / AFP JOHN SIBLEY / POOL / AFP JOHN SIBLEY / POOL / AFP JOHN SIBLEY / POOL / AFP JOHN SIBLEY / POOL / AFP The photos published on this site are subject to copyright and may not be copied, modified, or sold without the prior permission of the owner of the site in question. During the funeral, the Grand Ducal couple was seated in the second row, which underlines the close relationship between the Luxembourgish and British royal families. The late Grand Duke Jean, who passed away in 2019, had a particularly strong bond with the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, all being members of the war generation. In 1942, Grand Duke Jean volunteered to join the Irish Guards (IG), a regiment of the British Army in which he further served as Colonel-in-chief from 1984 to 2000. According to reports, Grand Duke Jean and Queen Elizabeth were close enough for her to once great him with the words "Hi Johnny, how are you?". In 1972, he was also made a Stranger Knight of the Garter, the most senior order of knighthood in the British honours system. Four years later, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip travelled to Luxembourg for a state visit of the Grand Duchy. To honour the late British monarch, flags across Luxembourg are flying at half-mast on Monday. Queen Elizabeth II passed away at the age of 96 at Balmoral Castle in Scotland on Thursday 8 September. On Monday, the Ettelbruck municipal council was informed that Alderman Paul Solvi from the Christian Social People's Party (CSV) had resigned, effective immediately, due to personal reasons. After Solvi's departure, CSV colleague Pascal Nicolay will take over the position of second alderman in the municipality of Ettelbruck. Solvi first ran in the 2017 municipal elections, in which he received the second-most votes of the CSV candidates. Three years later, he became a member of the aldermen council. During his time in office, Solvi focused on issues relating to the environment, mobility, and traffic. Following Solvi's resignation, Luc Rasqui is poised to become the latest member of Ettelbruck's municipal council, which has 13 members. The town is currently run by a coalition between the CSV and the Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party (LSAP). The Wyoming Legislatures Joint Judiciary Committee will not sponsor legislation to make some kinds of drug use while pregnant a felony. The bill was modeled after failed legislation from the 2022 session that classifies methamphetamine or certain narcotic drug use by a pregnant woman as child endangerment. The original bill was intended to ensure both the safety of the parent and the fetus, according to committee member Rep. Ember Oakley, R-Riverton, who sponsored the bill last session. However, most of those who spoke at Mondays committee meeting opposed the bill, arguing that such a punitive approach will only discourage prenatal care. Criminalizing these moms has been shown to not make babies safer, but rather it harms babies, Dr. Louisa Mook with Indian Health Services told lawmakers. The research backing this up is so strong that every medical society with expertise in maternal child health explicitly recommends against any policy that criminalizes moms for substance use. Others said better data is needed to find an effective solution. Wyoming is among the small number of states that does not require hospitals to report when infants are exposed to controlled substances, so no comprehensive data is available. That data gap concerned lawmakers during the 2022 session and contributed to the measures failure in the Senate. It continued to plague lawmakers at Mondays committee meeting. Despite most of the committee voting in favor of sponsoring the bill 7-5 with two excused it failed due to the joint rules of the House and Senate. In order for a joint standing committee to sponsor legislation, the bill must be supported by a majority of each chambers committee members. All but three of the committees House members Reps. Karlee Provenza, D-Laramie, Mike Yin, D-Jackson, and Dan Zwonitzer, R-Cheyenne, supported it. However, only one of the committees five senators voted in favor. Sens. John Cooper, R-Ten Sleep, and R.J. Kost, R-Powell, voted against it, while Sens. Tim French, R-Powell, and Tara Nethercott, R-Cheyenne, were excused. French was absent from the entire meeting and Nethercott was not present for the vote. While the bill will not have the support of the committee during the upcoming session, an individual or a group of lawmakers could still introduce it. Committee-sponsored bills historically have higher chances of passage. Oakley works as a prosecutor in the Fremont County Attorneys office and said a 2005 case from her jurisdiction inspired the original bill. In that case a district court judge dismissed charges against a woman whose newborn child had tested positive for methamphetamine because the states child endangerment laws do not apply to a fetus. The bill would change that by creating a new child endangerment felony and would be the only of its kind in the country. Tennessee passed a similar law in 2014, but the state allowed it to sunset two years later when it was proven to cause significant harm to families, according to Lauren Wranosky with the National Advocates for Pregnant Women, who testified remotely at the committee meeting. Wranosky pointed lawmakers to one study that found the Tennessee law resulted in an additional 20 fetal deaths and 60 infant deaths during the year following its enactment, partly because it discouraged prenatal care. Without a statutory requirement to report in Wyoming, it is up to hospitals and doctors to decide whether to report exposed or addicted infants, according to Korin Schmidt, director of the Wyoming Department of Family Services. When such a report is made, removal authority lies with law enforcement or medical professionals, who may consult with DFS. In 2021, there were 113 known cases involving 115 infants being born in Wyoming with some degree of exposure to controlled substances, according to Schmidt. Of those, 57% involved marijuana, 47% involved meth and 8% involved opioids. Thirty-seven of those cases resulted in children being placed in foster care. The bill considered only concerns methamphetamine and narcotic use while pregnant, but Dr. Mook told the committee heavy alcohol use is a bigger concern. Mook is a pediatrician at Indian Health Services in Ft. Washakie and also sees patients at SageWest Lander Hospital. Most of her hospital work is newborn nursery care, which involves high risk deliveries and stabilizing sick infants. I worry most about my alcohol-exposed patients. Alcohol impacts or pickles the entire brain, she said. There are decades of research supporting this and even a medical diagnosis called fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. The long term impact of opiate and methamphetamine exposure in utero is less clear, she added. While Mook opposed the bill, she told lawmakers she would support mandatory reporting that would involve notifying DFS in the case of a known exposure. Currently, another option available after a report is made is a plan of safe care, which is a written post-discharge plan meant to ensure the safety of the infant by addressing the health and substance use treatment needs of both the infant and its parent or caregiver. A 2016 federal mandate requires the state to establish policies and procedures for identifying infants with prenatal substance exposure on a local level, according to Schmidt. The mandate also requires the state to develop plans of safe care and to report infants with prenatal substance exposure data. The pandemic delayed that work, according to Stefan Johansson, director of the Wyoming Department of Health, but theres been a renewed conversation. Im committed to making sure that the Department of Health, Public Health Nursing is at the table. I know my folks in those offices want to do this work. It does come down to some capacity issues and some policy decisions on my part of how to operationalize it, Johansson said. The Joint Labor, Health and Social Services Committee is also considering how to address substance abuse among parents. In August, that committee moved forward with a bill to extend postpartum medicaid coverage from approximately 60 days to a year, which advocates say could ensure new mothers receive substance use treatment. WHILE many central banks around the world have increased their key interest rates to dampen PRIME MINISTER, Dr Keith Rowley came out swinging on Friday night addressing a captive audience at the Mt Hope/Mt Lambert community centre as he responded to the Oppositions, bad news and bile, critique of the 2022-2023 budget. You have permission to edit this article. Edit Close Trico Electric Co-op: Trico Electric Cooperative has awarded a total of $35,000 to nine nonprofit organizations providing critical services in Southern Arizona. The grants are part of Tricos POWER Grants program and are awarded twice a year. Receiving a grant of $5,200 was Arivaca Coordinating Council-Arivaca Human Resource Group, Inc. Receiving grants of $5,000 each were Arivaca Fire District Auxiliary; Ayuda Smiles, Inc. doing business as Smiles for Veterans; Sister Jose Womens Center; and Marana Unified School District Food and Clothing Bank. Angel Heart Pajama Project received a $3,000 grant. Receiving grants of $2,500 each were Friends in Deed, Inc.; and Youth On Their Own. Receiving a grant of $1,800 was the Mt. Lemmon Firefighters Foundation. Bayer Marana Greenhouse also partnered with Trico. Bayer donated $500 to the Trico Electric Foundation, requesting that the money be given to the MUSD Food and Clothing Bank. TJ Vandiver Construction and Francis Howe: After a major hail storm pummeled Green Valley in mid-July, the owner of TJ Vandiver Construction was busy replacing damaged skylight domes. He called in his buddy, Green Valley resident Francis Howe, to help him cut down skylights too big to fit in the replacement area. Vandiver noticed Howe, 87, was collecting the aluminum shavings. He learned Howe was selling the leftover aluminum to a scrapyard and giving the money to the Valle Verde Rotary Club to donate to local schools and childrens projects around town. Vandiver offered all of the leftover frames from the replacements to do the same. Howe ended up with 130 frames, which translated to nearly $600 to benefit area youngsters. Vandiver said he now plans on donating the aluminum regularly. Authorities were searching Sunday for a gunman who shot and wounded two people at a party early Sunday morning near the University of Arizona campus. Officers responded about 2:30 a.m. to reports of gunfire at a Tucson apartment complex in the 1000 block of North Tyndall Avenue, south of East Speedway. The injuries to the two wounded people are not life-threatening. Anyone with information is asked to call 88-CRIME. Six candidates vying for two open seats on the Tucson Unified School District governing board will participate in a forum to discuss their plans if elected to serve the largest school district in Pima County. The candidate forum will take place on Thursday, Sept. 22 from 6-8 p.m. at the YMCA Southern Arizona, 525 N. Bonita Ave. Doors will open at 5:30 p.m. The six candidates who will participate in the forum, and whose names will appear on the November ballots, are Brieanna Chillious, Jennifer Eckstrom, Luis A. Gonzales, Val Romero, William R. Soland and Rebecca Zapien. The forum, co-sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Greater Tucson and the YMCA of Southern Arizona, is open to the public and registration is not required to attend. For more information, email candidateforums@lwvtucson.com. Mariachi Aztlan raising money Mariachi Aztlan of Pueblo High School has kicked off a couple of fundraising efforts after the group was chosen to represent Arizona at next years Fourth of July parade in Washington, D.C. The efforts are an attempt to fund the flight tickets, lodging and meals for 25 students and five chaperones to go on the trip, says a GoFundMe page that a parent created. Aside from the GoFundMe, Mariachi Aztlan will be hosting the 2nd Annual Brother Johns Cars, Trucks and Motorcycles Show. The event will take place at Brother Johns Barbecue, 1807 N. Stone Ave, on Oct. 22. Cars can begin rolling in at 9 a.m. and the show will be from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. For more information on how to participate in the car show, contact David Gallardo at (520) 704-3316 or Hector Lopez at (520) 488-9413. To learn more about the groups trip or to donate, visit https://bit.ly/3qH8TBs. Literacy Champions nominations The United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizonas Women United are accepting nominations for Early Childhood Literacy Champions through Oct. 9. The award honors two teachers in preschool through third grade who have shown their commitment to improving literacy in the community. We are excited, once again, to have this opportunity to honor two outstanding educators in our community who have gone above and beyond to serve our children, their families and therefore our community, said Tony Penn, president and CEO of United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona. Winners will be recognized at the 18th annual Business Breakfast on Feb. 16, 2023 and will receive a $250 cash prize. Nomination forms can be found by visiting https://bit.ly/3RTvu9G. Can Tho joins WWFs global campaign for green growth A seminar took place in Can Tho on September 19 to launch the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)s We Love Cities campaign in the Mekong Delta city for a greener future. (Source: WWF) The global campaign, running from September 19 to October 31, aims to create a forum for cities pursuing sustainable development. Can Tho is the only representative of Vietnam among the 280 participating cities worldwide. Addressing the event, Nguyen Van Thang, head of the Vietnam Institute of Meteorology, Hydrology and Climate Change, lauded Can Thos active response to climate change, particularly its issuance of many policies on cutting greenhouse emissions and promoting energy efficiency. Vice Chairman of the municipal Peoples Committee Duong Tan Hien said Can Tho always considers climate change response and environmental protection a key task of its entire political system. At the seminar, the city called for support and cooperation from governments, localities, communities, businesses, and organisations in Vietnam and overseas in overcoming climate change-induced challenges toward forming a carbon neutral economy and helping Vietnam implement outcomes of the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26). A World Banks study showed that Vietnam is among the top five nations most affected by climate change. In addition, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has recognised three deltas, including the Mekong Delta, as critically endangered due to climate change. On the official website of the campaign, Can Tho is introduced as having taken innovative steps towards green and renewable energy by promoting the development of solar energy and waste-to-energy incineration and exploring wind and biomass power sources. The citys goal is that their renewable energy supply will reach 4% in 2025, said the site. Hurricane Fiona is bearing down on the Dominican Republic after knocking out the power grid and unleashing floods and landslides in Puerto Rico, where the governor said the damage was catastrophic. No deaths have been reported, but authorities in the U.S. territory said it was too early to estimate the damage from a storm that was still forecast to unleash torrential rain across Puerto Rico on Monday. Up to 30 inches was forecast for the islands eastern and southern regions. Ernesto Morales, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in San Juan, said: Its important people understand that this is not over. He said flooding has reached historic levels." SAN DIEGO (AP) More than a half dozen former crewmembers of the USS Bonhomme Richard gave testimony on the first day of the arson trial of a young sailor Monday, describing a harrowing, chaotic scene as they confronted an inferno on the Navy warship with shoddy equipment. With the thick black smoke quickly enveloping the ship, many said it was difficult to know what was going on. Now more than a year later, several of them who testified at the court martial of 21-year-old Ryan Sawyer Mays said that they are struggling to recall details from that July 12, 2020 morning, posing a challenge to the prosecution. The prosecution has presented no physical evidence proving the 21-year-old sailor set the USS Bonhomme Richard on fire, something the defense has highlighted. Key witnesses also have changed their stories or their testimonies have contradicted each other, including on Monday. According to prosecutors, Mays was an arrogant sailor angry about being assigned to deck duty after failing to become a Navy SEAL and he made the Navy pay in a big way. Your honor, it was a mischievous act of defiance gone wrong, Cmdr. Leah OBrien told the judge during opening statements for the prosecution at Naval Base San Diego. Mays military defense counsel, Lt. Tayler Haggerty, countered in her opening remarks that its the Navy who is wrong. Haggerty said investigators concluded Mays did it before the probe was complete and then ignored evidence and witness accounts that didnt fit into that narrative so they could find a scapegoat for the loss of a billion-dollar ship that was mismanaged by senior officers. Once investigators pinned the blame on Mays, who was known for being sarcastic and flippant, nothing else mattered, Haggerty said. Just because the government eliminates, ignores pieces of evidence, it doesnt mean the court should, she told the court. Haggerty told the judge by the end of the trial, which is supposed to last two weeks, you will exonerate this sailor and find him not guilty of both charges. Mays is charged with aggravated arson and the willful hazarding of a vessel. He has denied any wrongdoing. He waived his right to a jury and has put his fate in the hands of the Navy judge, Capt. Derek Butler. The July 2020 blaze burned for nearly five days and sent an acrid smoke over San Diego, damaging the amphibious assault ship so badly that it had to be scuttled. It marked one of the worst noncombat warship disasters in recent memory. About 115 sailors were on board, and nearly 60 were treated for heat exhaustion, smoke inhalation and minor injuries. The Navy warships former fire marshal became emotional Monday when asked by the prosecution to recall what he did that day. He took a moment before responding. Im still trying to work through this in therapy myself, Petty Officer Jeffrey Garvin told the court at Naval Base San Diego. I apologize. Later, he repeated, I cant remember a lot. Defense lawyers say investigators brushed aside the fact that lithium batteries were stored next to highly combustible material such as cardboard boxes, in violation of ship protocol. The investigators also failed to report details that pointed to another sailor, who was later fired from the Navy. Several former crewmembers testified Monday that the lower vehicle storage area where the fire started was filled with bottles, tools, generators, tractors and other equipment while the ship was undergoing a two-year, $250 million upgrade pier-side in San Diego. Navy leaders disciplined more than 20 senior officers and sailors in connection with what it described as widespread leadership failures that contributed to the disaster. The Navy spread blame across a wide range of ranks and responsibilities and directly faulted the ships three top officers. While investigators said Mays set the fire, a Navy report last year concluded that the inferno was preventable and unacceptable, and that there were lapses in training, coordination, communications, fire preparedness, equipment maintenance and overall command and control. The failure to extinguish or contain the fire led to temperatures exceeding 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit in some areas, melting sections of the ship into molten metal that flowed into other parts of the ship. Retired Navy Capt. Lawrence B. Brennan, an adjunct professor at Admiralty and International Maritime Law Fordham Law School, said the prosecution has its work cut out for it. There are questions about identification of the people in the vicinity of the fire and possible causes other than arson," he said in an email to The Associated Press. Moreover, the conflagration and firefighting efforts damaged, if not destroyed, the crime scene and crucial evidence." PLATTEVILLE, Colo. (AP) A 20-year-old road rage suspect was seriously injured when the parked police patrol vehicle she was detained in was struck by a freight train in northern Colorado. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation says multiple law enforcement agencies responded to a report of a road rage incident involving a firearm in Fort Lupton on Friday evening. A Platteville police officer stopped the woman's car just past a set of railroad tracks and parked the patrol vehicle on the crossing. The Greeley woman was placed in the back of the police vehicle, which was hit by the train as officers were searching her car. The suspect name and details of her injuries have not been released. The Fort Lupton Police Department is investigating the road rage report, while the Colorado State Patrol is investigating the crash. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation is looking into the woman's injury while she was in police custody. No other information was released. In honor of 2022 World Cleanup Day, Milos Tea Company hosted a riverside cleanup event. World Cleanup Day, Saturday, Sept. 17, was an international movement to inspire people from all walks of life to clean up and beautify their local environments. The Milos team picked up trash and debris along the Arkansas River shoreline to celebrate the big day. At Milos, we believe that it is our responsibility to ensure the prosperity of people and to protect our planet now, Director of Corporate Responsibility Taylor Clark said. As a multi-generational family business, we are making decisions within our operations that serve future generations. Our T.R.U.E. Zero Waste certification demonstrates that commitment, diverting more than 95% of our waste from landfills, and events like this empower our team and the Tulsa community with the principles of stewardship. In September 2020, Milos and area economic development representatives celebrated the companys formal opening of its $60 million production and distribution facility in the Cherokee Extension Industrial Park, north of Tulsa and west of Owasso. Through Milos Makes a Difference pledge, the business donates 1% of profits to its communities, provides associates with paid time off in exchange for volunteer hours, and is the first manufacturing facility to receive T.R.U.E. Zero Waste platinum certification in the state of Oklahoma. Shauna McVay will be leaving Comanche Park Apartments, her home for most of her 44 years, soon. But shell be back. The people that are still left out here, they have been here for years like 40 years, 30 years, 25 years, McVay said Monday outside her small apartment. We are all going to come back. Theyll need to move out first, though. Its all part of the Tulsa Housing Authoritys ambitious plan to help revitalize one of the most economically distressed areas along the 36th Street North corridor. THA took a big step forward in that effort Monday when it won a $50 million Choice Neighborhoods Initiative grant from the federal government to help fund the estimated $190 million Envision Comanche project. It is the second time in five years the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has awarded a Choice Neighborhoods Initiative grant to THA. In 2018, the authority received $30 million to revitalize the Eugene Field neighborhood in west Tulsa. The Choice Neighborhoods grant will help fund the construction of a mixed-use, mixed-income and commercial development in and around the apartment complex at 3608 N. Quaker Ave. Comanche Park comprises 271 federally subsidized units. The Envision Comanche master plan calls for demolishing the complex and building 545 affordable and market-rate units. Comanche Park residents like McVay will have the first right to return to replacement apartments as they become available and she cant wait. You walk outside and you see something horrible every day, thats how youre going to be, McVay said. But if you go out and see a new vision it changes you. The redevelopment plan also calls for constructing a grocery store, planting an urban farm and developing the Flat Rock Creek Urban Wilderness Area. These are all amenities McVays friend and neighbor Dasersha Boyd, 32, is excited about for the neighborhood. It would be a blessing to see (new) businesses, get a new apartment, find more jobs, employ more people, because there are some people who want to work, Boyd said. Choice Neighborhoods grants are intended to be used to leverage public and private dollars to support locally driven strategies to address struggling neighborhoods. Aaron Darden, president and CEO of THA, described the redevelopment project as a bold, innovative catalyst for an area that has been historically underserved. North Tulsa deserves this level of investment, and we cant wait to get started with the Envision Comanche project plan that we know will transform the community, Darden said in a press release. We are endlessly grateful to HUD and to our many community partners for making this dream a reality. The city of Tulsa partnered with THA on the grant application. This past year, Tulsa has shown that it can compete with any city and any project when we work together toward common goals that ultimately increase opportunity across our city, said Mayor G.T. Bynum. I want to thank the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for believing in the impact this project will make in the lives of Tulsans. To assist in the relocation process, HUD will provide residents with housing vouchers and THA will pay for moving costs. Residents will be given at least 90 days notice before they are required to leave their apartments. The Comanche Park redevelopment, like the Eugene Field reimagining, will be done in phases over multiple years. The Eugene Field project, known as River West, includes more than 400 subsidized and market-rate units. Construction is about halfway done, with phase four of six expected to begin within the next two months. Four Tulsa nonprofits are providing funding to help make the project possible: the George Kaiser Family Foundation, the Anne and Henry Zarrow Foundation, the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, and the Ascension St. John Foundation. The Oklahoma Housing Finance Agency is also providing funding. McVay described growing up in Comanche Park Apartments as the best time of her life. But long gone are the drill teams and basketball games of her youth. Now everyones moved out and the place has fewer residents. Things are always changing, though, so as she looked out on an empty parking lot Monday afternoon, she chose to believe Comanche Park has better days ahead. I think when they rebuild them, she said of the apartments, its going to bring lots of people here. Featured podcast: Blue Whale turns 50 With an increase in book challenges nationwide, Banned Books Week is hitting some people a little differently this year. Its our role to provide everything, Tulsa City-County Library Senior Director of Customer Experience Sue Anderson said. All sides. It really is, and were better off for it. Banning books is un-American, and its really not what were about as a democracy. An informed populace is the best thing in a democracy, so having unpopular things, we need to have everything so we can provide that. Observed annually in September, Banned Books Week highlights current and historical attempts to censor books in schools and libraries. It was launched in 1982 in light of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling barring school officials from banning books from campuses simply because of their content. Banned Books Week is organized nationally by a coalition of 14 organizations, including the American Library Association, the American Booksellers Association, the National Coalition Against Censorship, the Comic Book Defense Fund and the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. The 2022 edition runs through Saturday. In advance of Banned Books Week, the American Library Association released preliminary information Friday about the number of documented attempts to ban or limit book access across the country. Through Aug. 31, 681 challenges have been filed nationwide to ban or restrict library resources in 2022 alone, targeting 1,651 individual titles. More than 70% of those challenges sought to restrict access or completely remove multiple titles. That figure includes both of the challenges filed earlier this year with Bixby Public Schools over the high school librarys inclusion of 13 Reasons Why and Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, as well as Tulsa Public Schools for having copies of Gender Queer and Flamer available at some of its secondary campuses. By comparison, 729 challenges were filed nationwide in all of 2021, targeting 1,597 library, school and university books the most since the ALA started actively tracking book challenges in 2001. In 2020, just 156 challenges were filed nationwide, targeting 273 books. Lessa Kananiopua Pelayo-Lozada, the ALAs 2022-23 president, said a disproportionate number of the titles being challenged nationwide in 2021 were either written by authors who are Black, Indigenous or LGBTQ or focus primarily on characters who identify with at least one of those minorities. What we are trained to do as librarians is to provide information and access for everyone in the community, she said. We are also trained to respect and help parents make the right choices for their families. Parents have every right to make the choice for themselves, but they do not have the right to make that choice for other peoples families. What we know is that having access to information simply having that access does not change ones ideology or ones mind. What it does do is allow those who need it to be able to access it. Facilitating that access has been critical for Anderson and her colleagues at the Tulsa City-County Library. Although neither Anderson nor Chief Operating Officer Kiley Roberson could speak to specific titles, such as the four at the center of the challenges at Bixby and Tulsa public schools, both said it is not uncommon for that to yield a spike in interest among patrons. As of the close of business Friday, two copies of Flamer were available for checkout through the TCCL system, with additional copies on order. The other three titles subjected to challenges in Tulsa or Bixby each had a waiting list. Any time a specific title or genre is called out in the media or by an elected official or on social media, we do see an uptick in hold requests or check-outs for those materials, she said. However, despite the challenges filed with the two area school districts, the Tulsa City-County Library has not had an increase in requests to review or remove items from its collection. TCCL does have a process for reviewing titles inclusion in its collection, including a form that asks complaining patrons to specifically list what they find objectionable about a book, what page number the objectionable material is on and whether they have actually read the title in question. We dont choose books because of specific pieces of them or because of specific authors, Roberson said. We also dont exclude them because of specific pieces or authors. It has to be a look at the work as a whole. Thats how we make the decision. If theres one word in it that is not acceptable to some audiences, that does not exclude that book from our collection because of that one word. College Board kudos: Bartlesville High School and Tulsa Honor Academy announced that several of their students have received academic awards from the College Board. Bartlesville High Schools Jeffrey Engleman, Reid Foust, Dayton McCall, Tymber McCall, Jarrett Moore and Gage Swanson were all selected for the National Rural and Small Town Recognition Award, while Regan Patzkowski received the National Hispanic Recognition Award. Foust and Swanson also received the National Indigenous Recognition Award. Tulsa Honor Academy students Victor Cruz, Nathalia Mireles-Moto, Ismael Ponce and Leslie Trejo all received the National Hispanic Recognition Award from the College Board. To be eligible for consideration, sophomores and juniors must have a GPA of 3.5 or higher and have either excelled on the PSAT/NMSQT or earned a score of 3 or higher on at least two Advanced Placement exams. Student accolades: Tulsa Honor Academy announced Wednesday that eighth-grade student Melanie Mireles was named one of 50 Jack Kent Cooke scholars nationwide. The five-year program provides intensive academic and college counseling for students with demonstrated financial need. COVID-19 by the numbers: Six area school districts and one charter school had published updated COVID-19 case counts by the close of business Friday. Bartlesville Public Schools reported one case among employees and three among students last week. All four were at Bartlesville High School. Berryhill reported zero cases districtwide. Collinsville Public Schools reported zero cases among staff and eight cases among students. Glenpool Public Schools reported zero cases among its employees and students. Tulsa Public Schools reported five cases among its employees and 24 among its students. Tulsa School of Arts and Sciences reported zero cases among its employees and 11 among its students. Bixby, Broken Arrow, Catoosa, Jenks, Owasso, Sand Springs, Sapulpa, Sperry and Union are not publishing updated case counts at this time. School board calendar: The boards of education for Bartlesville, Catoosa, Owasso and Tulsa are all scheduled to meet on Monday. The State Board of Education is scheduled to meet Thursday in Oklahoma City. Lenzy Krehbiel-Burton, Tulsa World Tickets and sponsorships are available for a Saturday banquet seeking to save Tulsa children from lives of poverty and crime. The Christian Ministers Alliances 15th annual Saving Our Kids-Legends banquet will be held at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 24, at the Doubletree Downtown Tulsa hotel, 616 W. Seventh St. Scott Gesell, CEO of Gateway Mortgage, will be the guest speaker, and the Fayetteville High School Choir will provide music for the night, said the Rev. W.R. Casey Jr., president of the CMA. Dinner is included. Honorees include current or former Tulsa-area municipal leaders, business executives and media personalities. The CMA is a 55-year-old Tulsa organization dedicated to serving the north Tulsa community. The nonprofit regularly hosts holiday food and toy drives, school supply drives and monthly food giveaways, and it works with a number of schools to coordinate college scholarships for students. The banquets title comes from the nonprofits goal to construct a youth center at Apache Street and Lewis Avenue. Its an estimated $7.5 million dream Casey has been working toward for at least the past eight years, but theres no sign of his hope faltering. When you look at the families, you see the need for programs to help them, Casey said. My heart is to help those who are less fortunate than others. Thats the heart of the Christian Ministers Alliance, and thats Jesus heart. In a fundraising letter, Casey wrote that the underlying causes of juvenile delinquency are no secret: poverty, drugs, single-parent homes, gang involvement and a lack of good role models. Kids with nothing to do and nowhere to go after school and weekends and in the summer makes them particularly vulnerable to falling in with a bad crowd and becoming one of Tulsas statistics, Casey wrote. They need a place to go be involved with healthy and productive activities and be around adults who care. A youth center centrally located in north Tulsa would be a place for kids to get off the streets and out of harms way, a place where our kids can become the best versions of themselves. CMA has acquired 4 acres of land at the intersection, but Casey said he needs three more acres currently occupied by one vacant home and one occupied home, a tire shop and a half-acre empty lot. The extra space would allow for a gym, playground, swimming pool, classroom, computer lab, kitchen, dining room and child care facility. The nonprofit has received $242,000 in donations so far, Casey said, not including in-kind donations, and he shared a list of donors with the Tulsa World that reached six pages long of prominent area businesses, organizations, foundations and individuals. This is what the Lord gave me, and with God all things are possible, Casey said of the vision. I think were on the verge of it happening, we just need help. In his time in ministry, Casey said hes visited Tulsa homes with no food and no running water. He said Tulsans need to be moved to action so that they dont fall into the role of the priest or Levite in the Bible parable of the good Samaritan, where each passed by a man in desperate need. If you have had all your life and youve never had to want anything, then you wouldnt understand people who dont have, Casey said. We need to reach those who have the deep pockets so they can see the need for those who dont and help us help them. Individual tickets are $100, and tables for 10 are available for $1,000. Booth spaces are available for $250. Corporate sponsorships range from $1,500 to $100,000. To purchase tickets, a corporate sponsorship or arrange a donation, call Casey at 918-951-7407 or 918-902-1374. Checks should be written to CMA Inc. Building Fund and mailed to P.O. Box 2095, Tulsa, OK, 74101. Tulsa County residents will be under a burn ban for at least another week as dry conditions continue across the area and state. The Tulsa County commissioners approved an extension of the burn ban through Sept. 26 after area fire officials determined that conditions in the weather forecast were appropriate under guidelines for extreme fire dangers. The burn ban could be extended again if the dry conditions continue. Forecasters at the National Weather Service in Tulsa predicted near-record heat Monday, with no relief until Sunday brings a 20% chance of showers. Weve only had 47% of our average rainfall for the year, Tulsa Area Emergency Management Agency Director Joseph Kralicek said in a statement. The heat index is expected to top 100 degrees this week, and no rain is on the horizon. We ask citizens to please be vigilant, as a single spark can ignite dry vegetation very quickly. Outdoor burning including controlled burns, bonfires, fire pits and chimineas is prohibited under the ban, but grilling and welding over a nonflammable surface are permitted. Enforcement of the resolution can be carried out by any law enforcement officer in Oklahoma, and violators can receive up to a $500 fine, a prison sentence not to exceed a year, or both. Fines may be higher in municipalities. According to the Oklahoma Mesonet, Augusts heat was well above normal and contributed to Oklahomas hottest summer on record since 2011. At least 18 people have been stabbed three fatally in one private prison in southeastern Oklahoma this year, emergency records show. A deadly July 31 attack on corrections officer Alan Jay Hershberger is part of a dramatic increase in stabbings at Davis Correctional Facility, which incarcerates high-risk, violent offenders. Stabbings at the Holdenville prison through July more than tripled since 2021, according to Hughes County emergency medical services call data obtained by Oklahoma Watch through an open records request. The data includes stabbings where the victim was taken to a hospital by prison or EMS staff. The victims include a 29-year-old prisoner who was fatally stabbed in the neck on March 24 and a 35-year-old prisoner who died after being stabbed in the abdomen on May 31. Hershberger, 61, was attacked from behind by a prisoner using a homemade weapon, according to a news release. He was the first state correctional officer killed on duty since 2000. The 1,600-bed prison is owned by the worlds largest private prison company, CoreCivic, which operates more than 100 prisons in the United States. CoreCivic is paid $50 to $63 daily per prisoner depending on security classification, according to its state contract, which is up for renewal next July. Davis can incarcerate up to 1,314 medium- and 360 maximum-security prisoners. Oklahoma prisons have been plagued by staffing shortages and operational inefficiencies, according to a June report by a state legislative oversight committee. State prisons are regularly staffed below 50% of the recommended level, the Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency reported in its operational assessment, which did not include private prisons. Davis currently lists 20 staff vacancies, including openings for case managers, corrections officers, unit managers and assistant shift supervisors. The private prisons persistent staffing shortages and resulting prisoner lockdowns are evident in weekly reports, said Bobby Cleveland, a former state legislator who represents corrections employees. Every week I look at it, it says Davis (locked down) not enough staff, said Cleveland, executive director of Oklahoma Corrections Professionals. Theyre (locking) down constantly because they dont have enough staff. Former Davis correctional officer Jamie Sasnett said weekend staffing shortages regularly kept prisoners in their cells during his three years on the job. On weekdays they might be able to get out if a unit manager, counselor or case manager comes in, said Sasnett, who added that he often guarded 120 prisoners by himself and up to 240 on occasion. It sends a shiver down your spine knowing that you are now the only thing between 120 inmates and that door. And the only thing that you have to protect yourself is a can of spray and a radio, he added. CoreCivic is working to raise staffing levels, boost incentives and retain quality staff, said company spokesman Matthew Davio. Neither CoreCivic nor state corrections officials offered explanations for the increase in stabbings at Davis. The Department of Corrections conducts regular audits of CoreCivic and is awaiting the results of an investigation into Hershbergers death before taking action, a DOC spokesman wrote in a statement emailed to Oklahoma Watch. Sasnett said superiors twice ignored his warnings that inmates were making weapons. The first time, he noticed windows covered and a strange noise coming from inside a cell. This is an inmate that is known for on more than one occasion making, having and supplying weapons, he said. Sasnett, 37, of Lexington, said he resigned in the middle of a shift last fall after making a similar report. Weve never, ever had this many stabbings before, and with different types of shanks. Weve been told theres been plastic shanks and metal shanks, serrated and smooth, said Christopher Miller, who supervises Hughes County emergency medical services. One was almost 12 inches long. How are you walking around with a 12-inch shank and not getting caught? Unless you just dont have enough staff to be looking for that? How do you break something that much and nobody notices? Identifying the weapon is critical to providing stabbing victims with emergency care, Miller said. Kendra Kregel, a 49-year-old paralegal from Tulsa, said her fiance is a prisoner at Davis, having been transferred there three months ago. He has faced violence ever since, she said, changing cells three times for safety reasons and having a knife pulled on him at least once. I fear for his safety every single day. Its a big stress in my life. The stabbings at Davis are very concerning, Kregel said. They need to get staffing up to par, because theyre severely understaffed. <&rule> 2020 video: Oklahoma Gov. Stitt talks about hazard pay for Department of Corrections workers The global supply chain shifts during the post-pandemic period and shifting global relations have opened up great opportunities for Vietnam and its enterprises to take part in global supply chains, experts, delegates, and enterprises representatives said at a seminar held in Binh Duong Province on Thursday last week. In his opening remarks at the seminar The shift of supply chains opportunities for Vietnamese enterprises jointly held by Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper, the Industry Agency under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and the Binh Duong Peoples Committee, Le The Chu, editor-in-chief of Tuoi Tre, affirmed that opportunities for Vietnamese businesses to participate in global supply chains are marvelous, reflected through real stories. In particular, a world-class bank visited a factory of a Vietnamese supporting industry firm and spoke highly of its modern and automated production line. In addition, during a visit to a mechanics and supporting industry factory of THACO Industries early last month, a delegation of a large Australian firm was surprised at the Vietnamese firms plants and offices, which are operated as professionally as Australian ones. The editor-in-chief of Tuoi Tre speaks at the seminar. Photo: Huu Hanh / Tuoi Tre Recently, many multinational groups have enhanced their investment in Vietnam. As a case in point, Apple shifted 11 factories of the Taiwanese companies which are part of its supply chain to Vietnam. Moreover, Denmarks Lego Group launched a US$1-billion factory in Binh Duong Province. Multinational group Techtronic Industries, which specializes in electrical devices and household appliances with 12 factories worldwide and 76 percent of its products being supplied to the U.S. and Northern Europe, started an investment project worth $650 million at the Saigon Hi-Tech Park in Ho Chi Minh City. Many other foreign direct investment firms, such as Foxconn, Luxshare, Pegatron, and Wistron, have also expanded their operations in Vietnam. Additionally, Japanese enterprises expressed their keen interest in expanding production in Vietnam, even during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, most Vietnamese industrial businesses are small- and medium-sized with weak competitiveness in quality, stability, and prices. Vietnam currently has around 2,000 enterprises producing spare parts and accessories, with 300 of them involved in supply chains. From stories shared at the forum Building Independent Industries 2022,' executors found that many factors are needed, including wise policies, solid steps in investment and production, enterprises quick grasp of opportunities, and the support of experts and laborers, so that supporting industries will become a driving force for economic development, Chu stressed. According to chairman of the Binh Duong Peoples Committee Vo Van Minh, in order to back supporting industry enterprises and embrace the shift of global supply chains, the province will develop scientific and technological industrial parks and policies to encourage innovations through a smart city project. Vo Van Minh, chairman of the Binh Duong Peoples Committee, says the province is going ahead with many plans to brace for supply chain shifts in supporting industries. Photo: Huu Hanh / Tuoi Tre Binh Duong has strengthened the attraction of investment, prioritizing hi-tech projects, Minh said, adding that the province has attracted many large projects of both domestic and foreign investors, contributing significantly to the provinces socio-economic development. However, sharing the countrys situation, enterprises in the province still depend on imported materials. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the global situation worsened the material shortage in many sectors. Binh Duong is currently home to about 2,300 enterprises operating in supporting industries, but they only meet part of the demand. Sharing the same view about the global supply chain shifts, Phil Kyun Choi, director of South Korean business development in Vietnam, said that supply chains are shifting from China to other countries, such as Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam. For example, Samsung has a parts factory in Vietnam, which manufactures 60 percent of its globally-sold products. Foreign-invested companies in China did not take the relocation to other countries into their consideration even during the U.S.-China trade war, but they have sought an alternative solution since the launch of the zero-COVID policy and the lockdown in Shanghai. Vietnam is a choice. Nevertheless, these businesses are weighing many aspects before shifting their business from China to other countries, Phil said. Vietnams manpower is competitive in terms of quality but less competitive in quantity. Phil Kyun Choi, director of South Korean business development in Vietnam. Photo: Huu Hanh / Tuoi Tre In other words, Vietnams population of nearly 100 million people is much smaller than the 1.4 billion people each in China and India and 280 million people in Indonesia. Moreover, Vietnams supporting industries and logistics costs are not competitive, the South Korean expert added. The seminar is part of the forum Building Independent Industries 2022 initiated by Tuoi Tre in July 2022, following the Vietnam Supporting Industry Forum 2019 jointly held by the newspaper and the Industry Agency. The forum Building Independent Industries 2022 focuses on seeking solutions to remove obstacles in a bid to develop the mechanical engineering sector and supporting industries, as well as connecting enterprises, regions and industrial clusters, contributing to developing Vietnams self-reliant industry. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Vietnams Geleximco Group is planning to build an US$800 million automobile manufacturing and assembling factory in northern Thai Binh Province, whose first phase is expected to be put into operation in 2024. Geleximco recently signed an agreement to lease a 50-hectare land plot at Tien Hai Industrial Park in Thai Binh Province to prepare for the construction of the automobile manufacturing and assembling plant. The factory is expected to cost about $800 million, and its construction and operation will be divided into two stages. During the first phase, the construction will cost approximately $300 million and start in the first quarter of 2023. The factory is expected to be put into operation in the third quarter of 2024 with the assembly output of about 50,000 cars per year. About 1,200 workers will be recruited. In the second phase, Geleximco will splash out another $500 million to expand the scale of the plant. By 2030, the facility will have been able to produce and assemble about 100,000 cars each year and will have created jobs for 2,500-3,000 people. According to Geleximcos plan, the factory uses advanced European technology to ensure the creation of high-quality and eco-friendly products. The facility will aim to produce fuel-friendly automobiles such as electric cars and fuel cell vehicles as well as auto parts and accessories to supply to automobile manufacturers and assemblers. If approved, the project will be the largest investment in Thai Binh Province so far, said Nguyen Khac Than, chairman of the provincial Peoples Committee. Chairman Than suggested that Geleximco finish its proposal in an expeditious manner and submit it to the provincial administration for approval. The group should select competent partners to implement the project and make sure that the operation of the factory is safe and environmentally friendly, the official added. Geleximco is a leading private economic group in Vietnam, focusing on four main fields including industrial production, finance and banking, real estate, and trade and services, according to its website. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son will represent Vietnam at Queen Elizabeth IIs funeral in London on Monday, under the authorization of State President Nguyen Xuan Phuc, the ministry announced. The state funeral of the Queen is scheduled to take place at the Palace of Westminster in London at 11:00 am on September 19 (local time, or 5:00 pm in Vietnam time on the same day), according to the announcement of the British Royal Family. The funeral rituals are expected to last for an hour with the participation of more than 2,000 guests, including many foreign leaders and officials. Earlier on September 10, Minister Son visited the residence of UK Ambassador to Vietnam Gareth Ward in Hanoi to write in the Book of Condolences over the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. Besides expressing his regret and condolences over the Queens death, Son also emphasized his respect for her support for UK-Vietnam cooperative relations. The minister extended his deepest condolences to the Royal Family, the UK government, and the entire British people. One day before, President Phuc and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh sent their respective condolences to King Charles III and Prime Minister Liz Truss, while National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue conveyed the same to the President of the UK Senate John McFall and the Speaker of the House of Commons Lindsay Hoyle. The Queen's coffin has been at the Palace of Westminster in London since September 14 and people from across the UK and around the world have flocked to London to bid her farewell, with many even lining up overnight. About 1,000 volunteers and police officers have been mobilized to facilitate peoples visits while many emergency stations have been set up for urgent cases. The visitation is slated to last until 6:30 am on September 19, local time. Queen Elizabeth II passed away on September 8, at the age of 96, after more than 70 years of reign since 1952, the longest-serving monarch in British history. Vietnam and the UK are looking forward to celebrating their 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations in 2023. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Read what is in the news today: Society -- A South Korean tourist was slightly hit by a train while trying to take pictures at the famous trackside cafe street in Ba Dinh District, Hanoi around noon on Sunday. She still could get up and flee the scene immediately whereas the train suspended its trip for a while, causing congestion on nearby streets. -- Fifty-two people, including staff members and security guards, tested positive for drugs at a club in southern Dong Nai Province on Saturday night, local police said on Sunday. -- Police officers in the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak announced on Sunday the discovery of more than 60 cubic meters of illegally-exploited rare timber at a warehouse in Buon Ma Thuot City. Health -- The Ministry of Health added 1,891 new cases of COVID-19 to the national caseload on Sunday. Education -- A lecturer of the University of Economics under the University of Da Nang in the namesake central city recently admitted to having a student illicitly attend and pass a professional pedagogy exam on her behalf last year. Business -- Only 177 apartments were sold in Ho Chi Minh City in August, the lowest number in three years, according to property consultancy DKRA Vietnam. -- Vietnam welcomed more than 1.44 million international arrivals in the first eight months of 2022, a 14-fold rise from a year earlier, according to the General Statistics Office. Sports -- Vietnam lost 2-3 to hosts Indonesia in their qualifying match on Sunday but won a slot in the 2023 AFC U20 Asian Cup as one of the best five second-placed teams from the 10 groups. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! A two-kilometer street in Thu Duc City under Ho Chi Minh City is filled with hundreds of big and small potholes, posing difficulties for commuters and a high risk of traffic accidents. Lo Lu Street in Truong Thanh Ward, Thu Duc City is seriously degraded and lined with countless potholes, some of which measure up to a meter wide, according to the observation of Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper reporters. This route is a nightmare for local residents as it can be extremely dusty on a sunny day and flooded during rainy weather. Motorcyclists travel on Lo Lu Street in Thu Duc City under Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Chau Tuan / Tuoi Tre In addition, the street is usually congested during rush hours. The potholes are oftentimes filled with water even when it is not raining. Lo Lu Street has been damaged for quite a long time, but the situation has been exacerbated after an increasing number of tractor-trailers traveled on this road in the past two months, said Huyen Linh, a local resident. A traffic jam during rush hours on Lo Lu Street in Thu Duc City under Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Chau Tuan / Tuoi Tre People, especially the elderly, fall off their motorbikes and bicycles due to the potholes on a daily basis, Linh continued. I myself tripped and fell a few times while walking on this street. Linh also blamed the damaged road for a drop in customers to her family-run business. A large pothole is filled with water on Lo Lu Street in Thu Duc City under Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Chau Tuan / Tuoi Tre We tried to fill the potholes every once in a while but things were back to how they were a few days later, Linh said. The resident expressed her hope that local authorities will soon renovate the street. In July, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport requested authorities in Thu Duc City to examine and fix the road, but the problem has not been solved. A car travels on Lo Lu Street in Thu Duc City under Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Chau Tuan / Tuoi Tre Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! The domestic tourism market in Vietnam remains bustling following the peak summer season with autumn-winter tours to popular mountainous destinations in the northwest and northeast regions. As many autumn-winter tours to foreign countries are not yet favorable following the COVID-19 pandemic, travelers in Vietnam have decided to visit the countrys northwest and northeast provinces to admire the beauty of nature. Some of the popular choices include Mu Cang Chai District in Yen Bai Province, home to magnificent terraced rice fields, and Moc Chau District in Son La Province, famous for the beautiful buckwheat blossom. The number of bookings for tours to mountainous localities in northern Vietnam has been increasing, according to local travel agents. A representative of Vietravel said that more than 6,500 visitors have booked the companys tours to such destinations. At Saigontourist has also sold their tours to about 6,000 customers, meeting 60 percent of its target for this travel season. To meet this demand, travel companies have focused on tailoring new products for the autumn-winter season, which include high-quality services and new experiences for visitors. According to a representative of TST tourist, the firms clients often seek tours to South Korea, Japan, or the United States during this time of the year. As overseas travel is not yet convenient in the current context, domestic tourism continues to be the choice of local travelers. To seize this opportunity, travel agencies across the country should form close cooperation to introduce their services to a wider range of tourists, said Lai Minh Duy, general director of TST tourist. Pham Ngoc Thuy, director of the Department of Tourism in northern Quang Ninh Province, stated that the province is focusing on preparing for the autumn-winter tourism after the peak summer season. In addition to popular destinations such as Yen Tu and Ha Long Bay, the locality is promoting new places like Dong Trieu, known as the original homeland of the Tran Dynasty, Binh Lieu, Mong Cai, and Uong Bi, Thuy elaborated. The autumn-winter travel season often runs from September to October. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Castle Wardens observe the national minutes silence in memory of the Queen at Windsor Castle (Victoria Jones/PA) (PA Wire) Britons have held a minutes silence to mourn the Queens death ahead of the state funeral. At 8pm on Sunday, the country observed the silence to remember the late monarch, with people marking the occasion privately at their homes and at community events and vigils. Liz Truss stood outside 10 Downing Street with her head bowed during the national moment of reflection, with people across the country following suit. However, Big Ben did not strike before and after the silence as originally planned due to a technical issue. Big Ben did not strike before and after the silence (Ben Stansall/PA) (PA Wire) A UK Parliament spokesperson said: We have investigated this as a matter of urgency and have identified a minor technical issue that has now been resolved. We will be testing the bell again later tonight and are confident that it will not affect the tolling tomorrow during the state funeral procession. Mourners could be heard applauding and cheering after the silence ended. Prime Minister Liz Truss and her husband Hugh OLeary observe the national minutes silence in memory of the Queen (PA) (PA Wire) It came as presidents, prime ministers and royalty from across the globe arrived at Buckingham Palace for a reception hosted by the King. Approximately 500 guests attended the event, among them the Prime Minister, US President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden and Frances President Emmanuel Macron, who was joined by his wife, first lady Brigitte. The Prince and Princess of Wales and other working members of the royal family including the Earl and Countess of Wessex, the Princess Royal and Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, and the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester joined Charles and the Queen Consort in mingling with guests. Dozens of leaders of Commonwealth countries and members of foreign royal families also attended the reception. Kate earlier held an audience with the first lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska at the palace. Speaking about the Queen at Lancaster House, Mr Biden said: To all the people of England, all the people of the United Kingdom, our hearts go out to you. You were fortunate to have had her for 70 years, we all were. The world is better for her. Story continues The US president and his wife also visited Westminster Hall for the Queens lying in state. Joe Biden visited Westminster Hall (Joe Giddens/PA) (PA Wire) Security was tight and road crossings were closed ahead of his visit to pay his respects, as rumours spread through the crowd about the imminent arrival of Mr Biden and his entourage. Members of the public continued joining the queue for the final day on Sunday evening, with the late monarchs coffin to remain until 6.30am on Monday. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport said the estimated wait was at least eight hours, down from 14 hours earlier in the day. People had earlier been warned not to set off from their homes to join the queue as it is due to close later on. People continued to join the queue at 7pm on Sunday evening (Danny Lawson/PA) (PA Wire) It came after Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle said the Chinese ambassador and accredited officials remain barred from the House of Commons. Asked about reports he had been leant on to allow people from a Chinese delegation into Westminster Hall, he told the BBCs Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg: Nobody has been leaning on me at all. Far from it. My view remains the same, that we would not welcome (a) reception in Parliament. And thats when I stopped the ambassador and accredited Chinese from coming into the House of Commons. So lets be clear, to hold a reception in the House of Commons when MPs and a peer has been sanctioned is not acceptable. My view remains the same and nothing has changed. The sanction against those accredited officials remains in place and will remain so. There is a very easy answer. Lift the sanction, we can also then look to see whether we should have reception in Parliament, but this is not going to happen at the moment. However, a Chinese delegation attended Westminster Hall after the comments, standing on a platform to observe the coffin. The Chinese delegation view the coffin of the Queen (Joe Giddens/PA) (PA Wire) Neither the Foreign Office nor the UK Parliament were able to confirm the names of the attendees. Meanwhile, Camilla paid a televised tribute to the late monarch, recalling her wonderful blue eyes, saying: I will always remember her smile. The Queen Consort also shared a personal memory of the Queen who saw the funny side of a shoe mishap on her wedding day. Speaking about the occasion on April 9 2005, Camilla said: I remember coming from here, Clarence House, (to) go to Windsor the day I got married when I probably wasnt firing on all cylinders, quite nervous and, for some unknown reason, I put on a pair of shoes and one had an inch heel and one had a two-inch heel. So, I mean talk about hop-a-long and theres nothing I could do. I was halfway down in the car before I realised and you know, she she could see and laughed about it and said, look Im terribly sorry and she did, you know, she had a good sense of humour. It came after the Prime Minister kicked off her meetings with world leaders on Saturday, speaking to her counterparts from New Zealand and Australia. At 10am on Sunday, Irish premier Micheal Martin entered Downing Street for a warm meeting with Ms Truss to discuss many issues in the context of the British-Irish relationship, before leaving just under an hour later. Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau also met with the Prime Minister a few hours later. (Bloomberg) -- Pakistan State Oil Co., the nations largest fuel importer and retailer, is planning to build a $500 million LNG terminal as part of its strategy to diversify into multiple businesses. The import terminal will be located near Karachi and would take four years to complete, Chief Executive officer Syed Muhammad Taha said in an interview. The company has an understanding with a few large customers and has begun preliminary preparations for the project that will include Pakistans first LNG storage facility, he said. The South Asian nation has been one of fastest-growing markets for liquefied natural gas, which it mainly uses to generate electricity, after a decline in local production over the last decade. But surging prices, spurred in part by Russias war in Ukraine, have seen it struggle to afford the fuel this year, resulting in frequent blackouts. As long as theres a geopolitical crisis in place, prices will remain elevated, but eventually it will come down, Taha said in Karachi on Friday. As soon as the prices are conducive well go ahead. Europes Plan to Quit Russian Fuel Pushes Pakistan Into Darkness Pakistan State Oil, which owns a network of 3,500 service stations and is the countrys largest company by revenue, may look for a partner for the project, Taha said. He didnt offer exact details on the size of the project, whether it would be onshore or floating, or when it might be in operation by. The country currently has two floating LNG import terminals, both near Karachi. Qatar and Mitsubishi Corp. have also said they plan to invest in terminals in Pakistan. The country has been hit hard by the surge in fuel prices this year, and is now also dealing with catastrophic floods that have been worsened by climate change. It secured a bailout from the International Monetary Fund late last month, but had to agree to increase domestic fuel prices to get the funding. Pakistan State Oil expects demand for gasoline and diesel to fall 5% to 7% in the year started July, and doesnt plan to buy any more fuel oil over the period, Taha said. The government is in discussions with Middle Eastern countries on long-term deals that will satisfy about 80% of its imported gasoline requirements, he said. Pakistan already has these types of arrangement for LNG and diesel. Story continues The fuel retailer is also planning to apply for a license to become a mobile wallet operator, and eventually start a digital bank, Taha said, adding that its allocating 1 billion rupees ($17.4 million) to set up a venture capital fund. So going forward our objective is very clear. We want to venture into different areas. (Updates with details in 8th paragraph.) More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com 2022 Bloomberg L.P. STRANGER THINGS. Paul Reiser as Dr. Owens in STRANGER THINGS. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix 2022 Netflix Will Dr. Owens return to our screens in the final season of Stranger Things? Even Paul Reiser doesn't know the answer. In an interview with E! News, Reiser, 66, said he has no idea if his character will return to Hawkins, Indiana. "The Stranger Things writers' room tweeted out, 'Hey, everybody, send us your thoughts for next season. What would you like to see?' And I wrote in, 'Can Dr. Owens live? Would that be possible?'" While he waits to find out the fate of his character, who swooped in to help Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) escape the Nina Project, he says that the waiting isn't entirely unexpected. He recalled asking about his character at his first meeting with the show's creators, the Duffer brothers, years ago. "When I first met them four years ago, I said, 'Am I a good guy or a bad guy?' They go, 'We don't know.' And I went, 'You don't know or you just don't want to tell me?' They go, 'No, we don't know.' And so they don't tell me." Ok. For example what if, Dr. Owens lives? (writing for a friend.) https://t.co/FOOhO9mVbV Paul Reiser (@PaulReiser) September 13, 2022 RELATED: Mariah Carey Teams Up with Millie Bobby Brown for a TikTok Post to Recreate Her Iconic 'Honey' Video Dr. Owens was first introduced in the Stranger Things story in season 2 as the replacement for Dr. Brenner (Matthew Modine) as Director of Operations at Hawkins Lab following the strange events in the town. While he oversaw the lab, he was unable to stop the incoming Upside Down, nor was he able to save Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) from being possessed by the Mind Flayer. He also helped arrange the adoption of Eleven by Jim Hopper (David Harbour). Dr. Owens was last seen being locked away by Dr. Brenner after helping Eleven escape. It's unclear how the Nina Project's final face-off affected Reiser's character, though it (maybe?) brought the end of Dr. Brenner. Story continues As far as what Reiser hopes for his character, the sitcom star is optimistic. "I'd appreciate it if Dr. Owens comes in, in like a superhero cape, and saves the day." Following the destructive events of both volumes of the fourth season, a superhero entrance would certainly be welcomed. While he waits to find out his fate as everyones else does the Aliens star has a new comedy series on Hulu premiering this month, Reboot. RELATED: Stranger Things Will Likely 'Do a Time Jump' in Fifth and Final Season STRANGER THINGS. Paul Reiser as Dr. Owens in STRANGER THINGS. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix 2022 Netflix The show's fifth season will be its last, as the Duffer brothers shared in an Instagram post announcing the fourth season in February. "Seven years ago, we planned out the complete story arc for Stranger Things. At the time, we predicted the story would last four to five seasons," they wrote. "It proved too large to tell in four, but as you'll soon see for yourselves we are now hurling toward our finale." The fourth season, which was released in two volumes between May and July and caused technical difficulties due to watchers' demand at its release, was full of risk and loss, as viewers have come to expect. Ukraines first lady says it was great honour to attend Queens funeral Ukraines first lady said it was a great honour to be present at the Queens state funeral, on behalf of all Ukrainians. Olena Zelenska, President Volodymyr Zelenskys wife, was among hundreds of heads of state and dignitaries from around the world gathered in Westminster Abbey for the service on Monday. She represented her war-torn nation at the ceremony on behalf of her husband, as he continues to organise the fightback against Russian invaders. A great honor for me to be present at the farewell to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on behalf of all Ukrainians. Her attention to was an important signal of support. She wished us better times and shared our desire for freedom. We will always remember it with deep gratitude. pic.twitter.com/4DJqhLbIUn (@ZelenskaUA) September 19, 2022 Mrs Zelenska said the Queens attention to Ukraine was an important signal of support. She wished us better times and shared our desire for freedom. We will always remember it with deep gratitude, she wrote on Twitter. Wearing all-black, Mrs Zelenska sat by the aisle, four rows behind French President Emmanuel Macron, in the historic church. Olena Zelenska sits four rows behind French President Emmanuel Macron (left) in Westminster Abbey (Dominic Lipinski/PA) (PA Wire) On Sunday, Mrs Zelenska visited Westminster Hall for the Queens lying in state to pay her respects to the Queen. She was pictured bowing her head as she stood alongside Ukrainian prime minister Denys Shmyhal and Ukraines ambassador to the UK Vadym Prystaiko. Earlier she met the Princess of Wales at Buckingham Palace, where the women where pictured sitting together. Olena Zelenska (second right) views the Queens coffin in Westminster Hall (Joe Giddens/PA) (PA Wire) Mrs Zelenska travelled to the UK after her husband last week signed a book of condolence for the Queen. The UKs ambassador in Kyiv, Melinda Simmons, said she was deeply honoured by the presidents gesture. Grateful to the president for taking the time to do this given all else that is happening in (Ukraine) at this time, she said. Ukrainian troops have been taking part in a major counter-offensive against Russias forces. Mr Zelensky appeared to be a fan of the Queen, having been given a biography of the Queen by Boris Johnson during the then-prime ministers visit to Kyiv in June. (Getty Images for Sotheby's) Helen of Troy had nothing on Elizabeth II. A thousand ships is a paltry effort compared to the billions of letters, postcards, parcels, birthday greetings and notes of condolence that the face of the Queen, in the form of stamps, has sent on their way over the course of her 70 year reign. Not to mention the stuff weve bought, from penny sweets to slap-up dinners, her image endlessly passing from hand to hand on coins and notes. The point is, her face has loomed over our collective consciousness since she was born; since she appeared in Marcus Adamss very sweet 1926 picture as a tiny, wide-eyed baby in the arms of her anxious-looking parents (George VI, then the Duke of York, and Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon), now in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery. And one way, consistently throughout her reign, is through art. Art and royalty are intrinsically linked, the former used by the latter for generations as a tool to enhance its power, to portray itself in such a way that would, as necessary, subdue its enemies, awe its objectors, and reassure its people. Elizabeth II, whose funeral takes place today, submitted to scrutiny (according to the American photographer Annie Leibovitz, who photographed her twice, the Queen saw it as her duty and part of her job) by a long list of varyingly eminent artists over the course of her life - while others independently found inspiration in her image for their work (Jamie Reids LP cover for the Sex Pistols God Save the Queen springs to mind). Queen Elizabeth II greets photographer Annie Leibovitz during a reception at Buckingham Palace for Americans in the UK (PA) It was fairly clear immediately on the unexpected (and somewhat reluctant) accession of her father to the throne that Princess Elizabeth would someday become queen. By the time she was being photographed by Cecil Beaton on the occasion of her 18th birthday in 1943, it was certain that the girl whose poise he captured would eventually sit on the throne (Beaton, according to his biographer Hugo Vickers, was a little disappointed to find that neither she nor Margaret seemed to have had their hair freshly washed for the occasion). Story continues Beaton was a longstanding favourite of the firm, noting in his diary as early as 1926 that luckily it seems that the Royal Family have only to get a glimpse of me for them to be convulsed with giggles. Long may that amusement continue for it helps enormously to keep the activities alive. It was almost certainly this warm relationship that got him possibly the best-known image of Queen Elizabeth II, resplendent at her coronation. He didnt dare show her some of the outtakes, which show her laughing, like a young girl dressed up in costume for a play. And royalty is a play, in its way. Though he never met her, Andy Warhol understood that more deeply than most; the idea of a constitutional monarch, an unknowable but familiar national figurehead who needs to be seen to be believed in, sat very comfortably within his exploration of celebrity, social hierarchy and the power of the image. A visitor views silkscreen prints of Queen Elizabeth II from Reigning Queens by artist Andy Warhol at the Ulster Museum in Belfast on January 14, 2012 (AFP via Getty Images) His Reigning Queens portfolio was created in 1985, and featured 16 images of four reigning queens of the day - Elizabeth II, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and Queen Ntombi Twala of Swaziland - taken from official or media photographs. That hers, based on Peter Grugeons 1977 photograph of her taken for the Silver Jubilee, remains the most valuable of the four prints in the portfolio speaks to her personal popularity across the globe. When the images were exhibited at Leo Castelli Gallery in New York that same year, Warhol complained in his diaries I just hate [the Dutch art dealer] George Mulder for showing here in America. They were supposed to be only for Europe nobody here cares about royalty, and itll be another bad review. Apparently even Warhol underestimated the fascination that the British royal family still commands across the pond. Leibovitz, for her part, was honoured when she was asked in 2007 to become the first American photographer to shoot the Queen. It was ok for me to be reverent, she told Vogue. The British are conflicted about what they think of the monarch. If a British portraitist is reverent hes perceived to be doting. I could do something traditional. The artists republican sensibility did slightly get in the way on that occasion though, when she suggested the Queen remove her crown. Itll look better, less dressy, she said. Less dressy? the Queen - sitting in a grand room in Buckingham Palace in a gold dress chosen by Leibovitz herself - laughed. What do you think this is? (Peter Macdiarmid/Shutterstock) Leibovitz took Beatons early photographs of the queen at the Palace as inspiration, but when she mentioned this to her subject, she was told, You have to find your own way. Though she had no more than 25 minutes, the setting seems to have been a gift - the images are vintage Leibovitz, reflecting her penchant for pensive lone figures in insanely opulent settings and gloriously outlandish clothes, with moody lighting. To me, they highlight the strangeness of the monarchs existence - surrounded by glamour and clamour, but always, ultimately, alone. She was probably the most photographed person in the world and we talked about photography, Leibovitz remembered soon after the news broke of the Queens death. I brought up [the society photographer] Dorothy Wilding and she said Wilding didnt even come to the famous shoot [in 1952]. Wilding had her assistant take the photograph. The pair also chatted about the great English photographer Jane Bown, who was about the queens age and took her 80th birthday portrait. Bown came to the palace alone, carrying two bags full of equipment. Yes, she came all the way by herself! the queen said. I helped her move the furniture. She remembered all these things, Leibovitz marvelled. Leibovitzs memories of the shoot reveal a rarely seen side to the unknowable monarch, always the necessarily more staid figure next to her flamboyant, fashionable younger sister. I think Princess Margaret would have been a much better subject, the Queen told the photographer. Celebrated glamourpuss Margaret had died five years earlier, and might well have adored being shot for Vogue by one of the pre-eminent fashion photographers of the era. We saw all sides to her that day, Leibovitz said. Less universally acclaimed but equally memorable was Lucian Freuds famous close-up rendering of the Queen, completed in 2001. The painting had come about through conversations that took place during portrait sittings with Freud and the Queens secretary Robert Fellowes two years previously. Freud was unsure hed be able to do it, but eventually did 20 sittings with the monarch, in St. Jamess Palace, in a room that was very discreet, remembered Freuds long-time assistant David Dawson. The Queen could come through Clarence House. We could turn up at the palace, jump out of the car wed go in, no one knew. There would always be a courtier in the room, he says, because the Queen cant be left in a room on her own. According to Dawson, the Queen seemed to rather enjoy Freuds company. They were of the same age, so they did know people in common. They loved horses, so they had a lot of horse talk, discussing trainers and jockeys. For his part, Lucian was very impressed with her, Dawson said. According to Freuds biography William Feaver, in a masterly display of non-commital good manners (which meant an awful lot to the painter, Dawson noted), she told him it was very nice of you to do this. Ive very much enjoyed watching you mix your colours. The critics and commentators were less impressed - one newspaper called it a travesty and another writer, dismayed, memorably said it made her look like a corgi that had suffered a stroke. Yet the combination of an adored monarch and one of the countrys most revered painters has made this intimate little scumbly portrait, seen through the eye of someone who looked the same way at cabbages as he did at kings, one of the most fascinating of her reign. Its sure to be a highlight of the National Gallerys forthcoming Freud exhibition, opening next month. But though I loved the Nigerian artist Oluwole Omofemis pop art-ish depiction of Elizabeth I created for the cover of Tatlers Platinum Jubilee issue (he based his image on a 1950s photograph of the Queen holding a fan, but dressed her in a bold floral print and gave her a rich black halo of what looks like afro hair), and Andrew Festings portrait of her for the Royal Hospital in Chelsea is rather a good likeness, were not in a golden era of royal painted portraiture. Queen Elizabeth I never found her Holbein, who created the abiding image of a powerful Henry VIII, or her Van Dyck (not that he did Charles I much good in the long run). Nigerian artist Oluwole Omofemis pop art-ish depiction of Elizabeth I created for the cover of Tatlers Platinum Jubilee issue (Oluwole Omofemi) It was always the camera that captured her best, and I think one of my favourites - though it took me a while to love it - is the most famous image from Chris Levines session with the Queen from 2004. Oddly enough it isnt the official portrait, a large-format holographic stereogram which was commissioned in 2004 to commemorate 800 years of Jerseys allegiance to the Crown (previously it had been loyal to France), but one of the outtakes from the shoot, in which the Queen rests with her eyes closed. I was concerned that it was uncomfortable between passes and suggested to Maam that she rested between shots, Levine later said. She closed her eyes and we captured the moment. Some years later, I was reviewing the outtakes from the sittings and came across the shot and was blown away. I immediately put a filter on it and the piece was made. The only tweak I made to it was to the colour of the lipstick and I gave it a contemporary spin. With its closed eyes, it somehow takes the viewer into a spiritual realm and from there it touches people, Levine said. It goes beyond the physical and conveys a sense of lightness, of being. For me, it speaks to all the complexity of our relationship with the Queen. On one level, its a picture of an elderly lady, resting her eyes on a busy day. On another, its a light-filled image of an icon, unknowable, draped in the trappings of ancient ceremony. Either way, its unforgettable. And if death is forgetting, is there anyone else who has existed in our lifetime more likely to live forever? PHOENIX (AP) Juan Soto homered for the first time in three weeks and Yu Darvish pitched six scoreless innings, helping the San Diego Padres beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 6-1 on Sunday. Soto had three hits and two RBIs in San Diegos third straight win. He walked and scored on Manny Machados 29th homer in the first. He connected for a solo drive in the fifth, singled in the eighth and doubled in the ninth. If he heats up, which we all expect him to, this is going to be a much more difficult lineup to navigate, San Diego manager Bob Melvin said. Soto, who was acquired in a blockbuster trade with Washington on Aug. 2, hit just .089 (5 for 56) in his previous 17 games. It was the second time Soto and Machado homered in the same game as teammates. Im trusting these guys, Soto said. When you come to a good team and you dont perform and the team is winning, there is no pressure at all. I wasnt feeling well at the plate. I started getting to it. Im feeling better. Im seeing the ball better. San Diego (81-66) moved a half-game ahead of Philadelphia for the second NL wild card. The Phillies lost 5-2 to Atlanta on Sunday. The Padres outscored the Diamondbacks 20-4 to win the last three games of the series after dropping the opener. Early in the games, we looked active, Melvin said. Weve had a tough time early in the game for a while now, and you see guys out here early now. There is a little more sense of urgency from the first pitch on. Darvish (15-7) allowed one hit, struck out eight and walked one in his fifth straight win. He improved to 4-0 against the Diamondbacks this season. The fastball felt good, so why not use it, right?" Darvish said through a translator. "Thats why I went with it. Ketel Marte hit a sacrifice fly in the ninth to account for Arizonas only run. The Diamondbacks finished with four hits. Arizona right-hander Ryne Nelson (1-1) allowed four runs, three earned, and three hits in 5 1/3 innings. He struck out three and walked four. Story continues The 24-year-old Nelson, a second-round pick in the 2019 amateur draft, pitched 13 scoreless innings over his first two big league starts. Darvish retired his first 13 hitters before losing a perfect game and a no-hitter on consecutive batters in the fifth. Marte walked with one out before Corbin Carroll dropped a single into short left field. Darvish misplayed a routine roller back to the mound for an error that loaded the bases with two outs, but he struck out Geraldo Perdomo looking on a slider to end the inning. Machado and Soto previously homered in the same game Aug. 9 in a 7-4 victory over San Francisco. Sotos homer in the fifth against Arizona was his first since Aug. 28 at Kansas City and No. 25 overall on the year. DRURY BACK ON TRACK San Diegos Brandon Drury was 5 for 14 with two homers and four RBIs in the series. He was activated Thursday after clearing the concussion protocol. Drury is 7 for 26 with four homers and eight RBIs in seven games at Chase Field this season, three with Cincinnati and four after being acquired by San Diego at the trade deadline. Its good to feel wanted, Drury said. Its been a tough road, for sure. I had three really bad years, and a lot of teams definitely gave up on me. To have one offer by the time spring had started hurt. But it was a good reality check. You have to keep going. You have to produce. MIXING IT UP Darvish used five different pitches to record his eight strikeouts. He got three on four-seam fastballs, two on split-finger fastballs and one each on a two-seam fastball, a cut fastball and a slider. The slider that caught Perdomo looking to end the fifth was Darvishs third slider of the game. TRAINERS ROOM Diamondbacks: Nelson was removed after being struck on his right arm on a line drive by Drury that caromed to second baseman Marte, who threw to first for the first out in the sixth. ... RHP Keynan Middleton (sprained toe) was placed on the 15-day injured list. RHP Luis Frias was recalled from Triple-A Reno. UP NEXT Padres: Right-hander Mike Clevinger (5-7, 4.47 ERA) opposes St. Louis right-hander Adam Wainwright (11-9, 3.39 ERA) in the opener of a three-game home series Tuesday. Diamondbacks: RHP Merrill Kelly (12-6, 3.01 ERA) faces Dodgers LHP Tyler Anderson (15-3, 2.62 ERA) on Monday night in the first of an extended five-game series that includes one game that was postponed from the first week. Arizona is 3-11 against the Dodgers this season. ___ More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports The Queen's funeral took place at Westminster Abbey on Monday 19 September and while most members of the royal family were in attendance and joined the state funeral procession, young Prince Louis did not join his family. RELATED: Where was Prince Louis during the Queen's funeral? The four-year-old, who delighted the public with his playful antics on the Buckingham Palace balcony during the Queen's Jubilee, was likely to be considered too young to attend the ceremony. WATCH: Prince William greets well-wishers in the queue to see the Queen lying-in-state His older siblings, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, joined the procession at Westminster Abbey. However, while the pair will travel to Windsor for the committal service in St George's Chapel in Windsor afterwards, they will not be in the final procession. charlotte-george-state-funeral Princess Charlotte and Prince George arrived at Westminster with their mother In the Abbey, the two young royals, who are nine and seven, followed their parents, the Prince and Princess of Wales, walking side-by-side behind the late monarch's coffin as it is carried by the military bearer party. They were followed by their uncle and aunt, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. The King with the Queen Consort processed immediately behind the coffin, followed by Princess Anne and Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, then the Duke of York, followed by the Earl and Countess of Wessex, and then William and Kate. SEE: The Queen's funeral as it happened: Prince George & Princess Charlotte's bravery & most moving royal moments VIDEO: Meghan Markle's comforting smile at niece Princess Charlotte The Queen's funeral took place on Bank Holiday Monday following four days of Her Majesty's coffin lying in state at Westminster Hall. prince-george-princess-charlotte-louis-platinum-party Prince Louis did not join his siblings at the Queen's funeral service The service was conducted by David Hoyle, the Dean of Westminster, with Prime Minister Liz Truss and Patricia Scotland, the secretary-general of the Commonwealth, reading Lessons. Story continues DISCOVER: Who are Princess Anne's husband, children and grandchildren? SEE: Prince George comforted by great aunt Sophie Wessex during Queen's funeral Prayers were read by the current Archbishop of York, the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland and the Free Churches Moderator. Several hymns including The Lord's My Shepherd, I'll Not Want, which was also included at the Queen's wedding, when she married the Duke of Edinburgh in 1947 were sung during the service. cambridge-children-memorial Prince George and Princess Charlotte also joined their parents Prince Philip's memorial service At the end of the service, following The Last Post, a two minutes' silence, the Reveille, and the national anthem, the Queen's Piper, Paul Burns, played the traditional lament Sleep, Dearie, Sleep. The coffin then travelled in procession from Westminster Abbey to Wellington Arch before moving to Windsor. Make sure you never miss a ROYAL story! Sign up to our newsletter to get all of our celebrity and royal news delivered directly to your inbox. Catherine, Princess of Wales, wore pearl earrings and the Queen's pearl necklace for the late monarch's funeral. (Reuters) Kate wore a long black coat dress for the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II today. Catherine, Princess of Wales, attended the Queens funeral today with her husband, William, Prince of Wales wearing a black midi dress. Also in attendance were Kate and Williams two eldest children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte. As is obligatory during mourning periods, Kate, 40, wore an all-black outfit for the sombre occasion, held at Westminster Abbey with over 2,000 guests. Her Alexander McQueen coat dress is in the same style as a white one worn during the G7 Summit with Camilla, Queen Consort, and Queen Elizabeth. The British designer has long been a go-to for the Princess of Wales, with her 2011 wedding dress designed by the brand. She also wore a wide-brimmed hat with a netted veil at the front. The Princess of Wales wore a wide-brimmed hat with a veil, as is traditional. (Getty Images) Kate's pearl necklace has a special significance. (Getty Images) Meghan, Camilla, Kate, Sophie along with George and Charlotte outside Westminster Abbey following the service. (Getty Images) It is traditional for veils to be worn at the funeral of a monarch, says Bethan Holt, royal fashion expert and author of The Queen: 70 years of Majestic Style. So it makes sense that the Princess of Wales and Duchess of Sussex would make a nod to the custom, even if they dont fully cover their faces. Watch: Queen's children and grandchildren walk behind coffin at funeral Kates pearl necklace stood out against her V-neck coat dress, in her signature fit-and-flare style. The Queens four-string pearl and diamond choker that was also previously worn by her late mother-in-law, Princess Diana has been on long-term loan to Catherine, Princess of Wales for some time. The then Duchess of Cambridge also wore the pearl and diamond choker to the funeral of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh in 2021. (Getty Images) Kate previously borrowed the choker to wear to the Queen and Prince Philip's 70th anniversary celebration in 2017, and later to the Princes funeral in 2021. Given the sentimental backstory behind the necklace, it's no wonder she wore it again to honour the late monarch. Featuring four strands of pearls and a diamond clasp, the choker was originally gifted to the Queen from Japan in the 1970s and she often wore it herself, including on a state visit to Bangladesh in 1983. The Queen frequently wore the four-strand diamond and pearl choker herself for state visits. (Getty Images) The Queen also lent the pearl necklace to Diana, Princess of Wales, seen here beneath a pink ruffled collar to greet Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands in 1982. (Getty Images) Lady Diana Spencer also borrowed the valuable piece of jewellery for several public appearances during her time as Princess of Wales, including a state visit to the Netherlands in 1982. Kate also wore the Queen's Bahrain pearl earrings for the monarch's funeral. Created from pearls gifted to the Queen on her wedding to Philip in 1947, the elaborate drop earrings feature a large, round brilliant-cut diamond with a smaller diamond below it; three baguette diamonds and three further small diamonds leading to the large drop pearl underneath. The Princess of Wales has worn the sentimental earrings on several occasions in the past, including the funeral for Prince Philip in 2021 and the Remembrance Day service in 2016. King Charles III has thanked the public for their support ahead of his mother Queen Elizabeth II's funeral on Monday. The monarch issued a statement on Sunday evening to reflect on the outpouring of support he and his wife, Camilla, Queen Consort, have received during their visits to Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and around London, following The Queen's death on 8 September. "Over the last 10 days, my wife and I have been so deeply touched by the many messages of condolence and support we have received from this country and across the world," he began. "In London, Edinburgh, Hillsborough, and Cardiff we were moved beyond measure by everyone who took the trouble to come and pay their respects to the lifelong service of my dear mother, The late Queen. "As we all prepare to say our last farewell, I wanted simply to take this opportunity to say thank you to all those countless people who have been such a support and comfort to my family and myself in this time of grief." King Charles and Camilla completed their U.K. tour in Wales on Friday. In London, they greeted well-wishers who gathered outside their royal residences and queued to pay respects to The Queen as her coffin was laid in state at Westminster Hall. On the eve of the funeral, the royal family also released a new photograph of The Queen showing her smiling while wearing a lilac dress. The picture was taken to mark her Platinum Jubilee earlier this year. The state funeral will take place at 11 am local time at Westminster Abbey in London. The service will be followed by a committal at St. George's Chapel in Windsor Castle, where Her Majesty's parents, sister Princess Margaret, and husband Prince Philip are laid to rest. Lorraine Kelly praised the pallbearers at the Queen's funeral. (ITV) Lorraine Kelly has praised the pallbearers who carried the Queen's coffin during her funeral procession. Posting an image on social media of the pallbearers walking the coffin into Westminster Abbey, she also praised the soldiers for their conduct during the ceremony. The TV broadcaster wrote: "These lads were faultless - such a difficult duty carried out impeccably." Read more: Richard Osman says Queen was 'very competitive and funny' when she played 'Pointless' Pallbearers carrying the Queen's coffin. (Getty Images) The pallbearers were also praised by journalist and broadcaster Dawn Neesom, who wrote on Twiter: "The pallbearers, Naval ratings pulling the gun carriage and military musicians did themselves proud. That was not an easy ask." Radio presenter Cole Moreton was also complimentary: "Somebody buy those lads a beer, they've put in a hell of a shift." These lads were faultless - such a difficult duty carried out impeccably pic.twitter.com/Aef1bo5gZL Lorraine (@reallorraine) September 19, 2022 Bestselling author of Me Before You, Jojo Moyes, was also in awe of the pallbearers, commenting: "The extraordinary choreography of it all, the drumbeat, the strangeness of so many watching over one tiny totemic female body, the pallbearers faces pressed against the coffin, Princess Charlottes swinging legs." Jamie East tweeted: "BAFTA for the DoP, big hug to the pallbearers especially the poor lad sweating his arse off. Whens he going to pick up that bit of paper tho." Pallbearers carry the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II. (AFP via Getty Images) The coffin bearers for the Queen's funeral were from Queen's Company, 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards of which the Queen was the company commander. The Queen's Company will retain its name up until the monarch is laid to rest, and will later change to reflect the new King. When the Queen died, the unit were deployed on active duty in Iraq but were called back to the UK for the funeral. Story continues According to Ben Tubana, who is one of the pallbearers, each of the soliders were selected "solely on performance" and were asked to volunteer for the role. Watch below: Lorraine Kelly defends King Charles over leaky pen video. PM Jacinda Ardern says republicanism will prevail in New Zealand THE Prime Minister of New Zealand has reiterated her belief that her country will slough off the monarchy and become a republic within her lifetime. Jacinda Ardern predicted there would be an evolution in our relationship that saw King Charles or his successor replaced as head of state. I dont believe it will be quick or soon, but over the course of my lifetime, she said. One of hundreds of leaders in London for the Queens funeral at Westminster Abbey tomorrow, Ms Ardern was speaking on the BBCs Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg show. The King is currently head of state for 13 Commonwealth countries besides New Zealand. However the monarchys role is being actively questioned in several of them. The prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Gaston Browne, who met the King today, said after the Queens death that he would call for a referendum on the country becoming a republic within three years. Jamaica is expected to follow Barbados, which became a republic in November 2021, although it remains within the Commonwealth. Australian PM Anthony Albanese also supports a republic, although he has said now is not a time to discuss his country making the change. Ms Ardern said she did not have any intention of instigating the shift away from a monarchical system, and nor did predict a solid timescale for it. Bonds would always remain between Commonwealth nations and the UK, she added. Reflecting on the change in sovereign, Ms Ardern said King Charles shared many passions and interests that New Zealanders do and already had a relationship with the country. She said: Its a transition, but its not a jarring transition for New Zealand. Asked about her country becoming a republic in her lifetime, she said: I think even the Queen herself has observed and acknowledged the evolution over time in our relationships. My observation is that there will continue to be an evolution in our relationship. I dont believe it will be quick or soon, but over the course of my lifetime. Story continues Pressed on how and when it might happen, she said: We have complex arrangements, the Treaty of Waitangi a very important founding document for Aotearoa, New Zealand, signed between Maori and the Crown. This is why its not a process I have any intent of instigating, but if and when it does occur, it will take time, and it will need to be very carefully worked through. Ms Ardern also revealed the Queen told her to just get on with it when asked for advice about being both a leader and a new mother. Ms Ardern was only the second elected head of government to give birth in office after the former Prime Minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto a generation earlier. Ms Arderns daughter Neve Te Aroha was born in June 2018. Referring to conversation while she was pregnant, Ms Ardern said: One of the things on my mind alongside being a new prime minister was being a prime minister and a mum. I said to her: How did you manage? And I remember she just said: Well, you just get on with it. And that was actually probably the best and most, I think, factual advice I could have. You do, you just take every day as it comes. And she did. But I have such respect for her because I see now what it takes to be a mum and a leader and she did it more times over than I. Sheikh Hasina, the prime minister of Bangladesh, told the programme the Queen has great value to us as a Commonwealth country. She was not only a Queen, but a very affectionate motherly personality, she said. Mr Albanese, who met Liz Truss on Saturday alongside Ms Ardern, said he extended his personal condolences and those of the Australian people to King Charles during a meeting at Buckingham Palace. He also visited the Queens coffin lying in state in Westminster Hall, calling it a moment he will never forget and incredibly moving. On BBC Radio 4, he batted away questions about a republican future for his country, which voted against the idea 55-45 in a referendum in 1999. I dont think nows the time to discuss those issues, and I have made that clear, he said. This is a time in which we should acknowledge the life of service of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth. He said the late monarch had a close affinity to Australia, always standing with its people at times of difficulty. Mr Albanese also said he would be very comfortable with the King expressing views on the importance of climate change within the constitutional boundaries. He said: We know that in Australia the impacts of bushfires, floods, natural disasters, are doing exactly what the science told us would happen, which is that there have always been natural disasters in Australia, but theyre more frequent, and theyre more intense. And thats why this issue shouldnt be a partisan political issue. It should be an issue which the world needs to confront. The other countries with the King as head of state are Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu. Liz Truss is set to meet three more world leaders, including her Irish counterpart, as hundreds of dignitaries from across the globe descend on London to pay their respects to the Queen. The talks may be casual, portrayed by No 10 as chats rather than formal bilateral sessions, but the Prime Ministers meeting with Taoiseach Micheal Martin comes against a backdrop of political tensions over post-Brexit trading arrangements. She had been due to meet US president Joe Biden, a milestone of her early premiership, but the talks were cancelled on Saturday, with a full bilateral meeting scheduled instead for Wednesday, when they are set to be in New York for the UN General Assembly. In addition to Mr Martin, Ms Truss will meet Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau and Polish president Andrzej Duda in Downing Street on Sunday. Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau signs the book of condolence at Lancaster House (David Parry Media Assignments/PA) The weekends talks with world leaders are being framed by No 10 as chats to offer condolences over the Queens death, during which politics is likely to come up. Mr Martin has met Ms Truss in person briefly since she became Prime Minister earlier this month. They were seated next to one another during a memorial service for the Queen at St Annes Cathedral in Belfast on Tuesday. The meeting with Mr Martin comes as Britain is expected to push ahead with legislation to give ministers the power to scrap parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol, which was jointly agreed by the UK and EU in order to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland. Both the EU and Ireland claim Britains move to unilaterally revise the post-Brexit treaty would breach international law. Irish Taoiseach Micheal Martin (Liam McBurney/PA) The issue is expected to ramp up ahead of a deadline at the end of October to form a new Northern Ireland Executive, which the DUP has so far blocked in protest over the protocol. The PM kicked off her meetings with world leaders on Saturday, speaking to her counterparts from New Zealand and Australia. The talks were held at the Governments Chevening country residence, rather than Chequers, which is said to be undergoing routine maintenance work after Boris Johnsons exit. Story continues Ms Truss will also have an audience with the King at Buckingham Palace on Sunday, before attending his reception for visiting heads of state. At 8pm, she will observe a minutes silence with the country to mourn the Queens death and reflect on her life and legacy. People have been invited to mark the occasion privately at home, on their doorstep or street, or at community events and vigils. Photo credit: Samir Hussein - Getty Images Princess Charlotte today paid subtle tribute to her great-grandmother the Queen at Her Majesty's state funeral. The seven-year-old daughter of Prince William and Kate Middleton, the newly appointed Prince and Princess of Wales, offset her black mourning clothes with a diamond brooch in the shape of a horseshoe. Her choice of accessory was a nod to Her Majesty's love of horses. The Queen was known for her love of horses and horse racing and owns over 100 horses. She reportedly had her first riding lesson at three and at just four years old, the Queen was gifted a Shetland pony. Famously, when she was young, the late Queen was asked by a reporter what she'd like to be when she grew up, and she replied, without hesitation: 'I should like to be a horse.' Photo credit: Samir Hussein - Getty Images The Queen also owned myriad winning horses and footage recently resurfaced of her running to the on-course balcony to see a horse she had bet on, winning the time-honoured Epsom Derby. Princess Charlotte and her brother Prince George, nine, joined their parents to walk behind the Queen's coffin today ahead of Her Majesty's funeral service. Photo credit: WPA Pool - Getty Images As for Princess Charlotte and the Queen's bond, royal fans have continually said they resemble each other, and they have previously been seen sharing a twinning moment. During the Platinum Jubilee, which celebrated the Queen's 70-year-reign, Her Majesty made a surprise appearance at the Jubilee pageant - the event concluding the four-day celebration. After the Queen greeted the crowd gathered below with a signature regal wave, the only daughter of the Prince and Princess of Wales quickly joined the 96-year-old in a royal wave. Princess Charlotte appeared to take initiative after years of observing her great-grandmother at royal appearances. The special moment happened after the Queen, who'd been absent from festivities since June 2, greeted the crowd from a Buckingham Palace balcony, along with her eldest son, now King Charles III, and his wife Camilla, the newly appointed Queen Consort. Story continues Prince Charlotte's mother Kate Middleton also paid tribute to the Queen at the state funeral today with her choice of jewellery. Photo credit: Chris Jackson - Getty Images The new Princess of Wales wore two pieces once belonging to her grandmother-in-law. She wore Bahrain pearl drop earrings and a four strand pearl choker with a centre diamond clasp from the Queen's personal jewellery collection. Her Majesty wore the choker for a state banquet in Bangladesh in 1983, and the Bahrain pearl drop earrings were a gift to the Queen for her wedding to Prince Philip in 1947. You Might Also Like Photo credit: Joe Maher - Getty Images Catherine, Princess of Wales, wore a necklace of significance gifted to her by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II to the late monarchs funeral on Monday 19 September. Princess Catherine paid a subtle tribute to Her Majesty by wearing a pearl choker from the Queen's personal jewellery collection along with a set of pearl drop earrings which also belonged to The Queen. The Four Row Japanese Pearl Choker includes four rows of pearls with a curved, diamond clasp. Each side of the choker features three rows of diamonds that join at the top and bottom with marquise diamonds. Photo credit: Samir Hussein - Getty Images The piece, which was first loaned to Princess Catherine in 2017, carries additional meaning in that it was also worn by the Prince of Wales's mother, Princess Diana, in November 1982. The late princess wore the choker during a state visit from Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands. Catherine's Bahrain Pearl Drop Earrings worn to the funeral were once part of Queen Elizabeth IIs royal collection. They feature round diamond studs, with baguette-cut diamonds and hanging pearls. Catherines choice of jewellery is particularly poignant because of the gems themselves: pearls are traditionally worn during mourning. At a ceremonial procession on Wednesday 14 September to transport the coffin of Her Majesty, The Queen from Buckingham Palace to Westminster, Princess Catherine wore another piece gifted to her by the Queen: a diamond and pearl leaf brooch, which featured a trio of pearls at the centre of a silver pave-set leaf. Alongside with the pearl brooch, Catherine wore a pair of diamond-and-pearl drop earrings that were worn by Princess Diana many times during her life. A number of other guests chose to wear historically or personally significant jewellery to honour the Queen at the funeral on Monday. Photo credit: Jeff Spicer - Getty Images Photo credit: Chris Jackson - Getty Images Camilla, the Queen Consort, is often seen wearing pearls in public, but on the day of the Queens funeral she wore a diamond brooch which once belonged to Queen Victoria. The unique brooch was worn by the monarch for her Diamond Jubilee. Story continues With diamonds it also contains three sapphires and is set in the shape of a heart. Inside is the number 60, signifying the number of years in a Diamond Jubilee reign. The item was gifted to Queen Victoria by her grandchildren to mark the historic occasion. A week earlier, Camilla was seen wearing another jewellery tribute to Queen Elizabeth. At a service of thanksgiving on Monday 13 September, the Queen Consort wore a diamond thistle brooch in a nod to Scotland's national flower. It was believed to be a tribute to the country where Queen Elizabeth is said to have felt most at home, and where she spent her final days. Photo credit: Chris Jackson - Getty Images Photo credit: Chris Jackson - Getty Images There was some touching personal tributes among younger members of the royal family, too: Lady Louise Windsor, who is the eldest child of Prince Edward, wore a simple silver necklace with a horse pendant to the funeral. The choice of pendant is believed to symbolise Lady Louises shared love of horses with her late grandmother, the Queen. Meanwhile, Princess Charlotte wore a a brooch in the shape of a horseshoe, in another sweet nod to her great-grand mother love of horses. You Might Also Like HA NOI Vietravel Airlines has signed a cooperation agreement on investing and developing air cargo services with Asean Cargo Gateway. To diversify products and complete the ecosystem of Vietravel Corporation, Vietravel Airlines and Asean Cargo Gateway (ACG) officially announced the cooperation with an investment contribution ratio of 51 per cent to 49 per cent. Vietravel Airlines and ACG wish to promote cargo business, air cargo exploitation, and cargo agency for airlines in the region. Vu uc Bien, President & CEO of Vietravel Airlines, said: "The aviation cargo market still has a lot of potential and has not been fully exploited. As a result, the supply chain is broken. At the same time, the commodity market in Viet Nam and China, is considered the fastest growing region with the highest annual GDP in the world and the highest proportion of the working-age population in the world. Hence, production bases will gradually move to this area next to China - world's largest factory ". Viet Nam is considered a bright and potential candidate for the production shift through the assessment. This will be an opportunity for the logistics industry in general and air freight, in particular, to take off shortly. For that reason, Bien said this was the right time to build and promote the first Air Cargo segment in Viet Nam, combining ACG's experience in logistics and Vietravel Airlines' air transportation. ACG representative said: "To meet and promote the domestic and international logistics industry, especially with great potential markets, brings firms in Viet Nam closer to the global market. Besides, signing a cooperation agreement with Vietravel Airlines is a memorable milestone, bringing the dream of becoming Cargo Airlines in Viet Nam soon to come true." The airline will focus on transporting goods between Viet Nam and large factories in Asia such as China, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand on a fleet of dedicated B737-800F aircraft for cargo, with two to four units in the first year, which is expected to double in the next year. It is the effort of Vietravel Airlines and ACG to improve air transport logistics, becoming the first Cargo Airlines in Viet Nam, a bridge for Viet Nam's exports to reach the global market. This cooperation contributes to improving the competitiveness of international connectivity for exports, especially agricultural products. VNS HA NOI Customs procedures for two containers of Vietnamese durians exported to China were completed on Monday morning at Huu Nghi International Border Gate in the northern province of Lang Son. This is the first of the 100 tonnes of durians harvested from Krong Pak in the Central Highlands Province of ak Lak that are to be exported to China via an official channel, thanks to the phytosanitary protocols for Vietnamese fruits exported to China that have been signed between Viet Nams Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and Chinas General Administration of Customs. The official export of durian will help Vietnamese businesses gain access to this large market, and at the same time help businesses and farmers earn higher profits from this speciality fruit. To achieve this milestone, durian growing areas and packing companies conducted serious preparations and underwent many stages of inspection by specialised agencies of the two countries to meet the requirements on the control of harmful organisms, food safety and hygiene, guaranteeing no residues of pesticides exceeding the permitted level, as well as strict compliance with packaging regulations and ensuring accurate traceability. ak Lak Province currently has more than 15,000 hectares of durian, making it the second largest area in the country after Tien Giang Province in the Mekong Delta. Chinas customs have approved and granted codes for four packaging facilities and 23 durian planting areas in ak Lak (accounting for 45 per cent of the total codes granted for Viet Nam), with a total area of about 1,500ha. ak Laks durian output in 2022 is estimated at 170,000 tonnes and could reach over 300,000 tonnes by 2025. VNS HA NOI Various valuable national treasures and antiques unearthed at the world heritage site Baekje, as well as images of Jeju Island, are on display at an exhibition in Ha Noi. Titled "Baekje & Jeju: from Korean Heritage to World Heritage", the event features the Baekje Heritage Site, symbolising Baekje's splendid culture 1,400 years ago, and Jeju Volcanic Island and Lava Cave, which show geological characteristics and the development process. The two localities were listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2015 and 2007, respectively. Nguyen Van oan, director of the Viet Nam National Museum of History, said that Viet Nam and South Korea has a fairly similar culture and history; especially feudal dynasties in the two countries had a long-term relationship before Christ Era. "The exhibition will help people in the two countries understand each other more, to go along side by side for the sustainable development and the prosperity of the two countries in the world culture community," he said. Gwiyoung Lee, director of Baekje World Heritage Centre, said Jeju Island bears the most significant development of geology and the forming of the earth's crust, while the Baekje culture relic complex hosts the flourishing culture of Baekje Reign 1,400 years ago. "Vietnamese audience can see photos, videos of the sites and experience virtual visit to the sites at the exhibition," he said. "Visitors can also try on traditional South Korean costumes, make lanterns, and taste Korean food and delicacies from Baekje," he said. The exhibition includes four parts, namely the Space Life (Royal Citadel); Space of Faith (Buddhist Temples); Space of Afterlife (Royal Tombs) and Jeju Volcanic Island and Lava Tubes. Three replica antiques are highlights of the exhibition, namely a golden decoration detail on King Muryeong's crown found in the king's coffin in an excavation in 1971; a gold gilded copper incense burner found at Neungsanri Pagoda in Baekje and a sarira pot found in a stone tower at Mireuk Pagoda. The event, jointly organised by the museum, Baekje World Heritage Centre, South Korea Culture Centre and Jeju authorities, aims to celebrate the 30th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries. The exhibition will run till October 16 at the museum, 1 Trang Tien Street, Hoan Kiem District, Ha Noi. Lantern making activity will take place on September 17 and 24, and October 1, 8 and 15. The culinary experience will be available on September 24 and October 1. Film screenings will be available on September 18 and 25, and on October 2, 9 and 16. Baekje (18 BC to 660 AD) was an ancient kingdom that lasted for about 700 years, mainly in the central and southwest parts of the Korean Peninsula. Baekje is divided into Hanseong (today's Seoul, 18 BC - 475) to Ungjin (today's Gongju, 475-538), and Sabi (today's Buyeo, 538-660) according to the location of the capital. The Baekje Heritage Site, inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2015, includes archaeological sites from Ungjin and Sabi periods. The sites consist of royal palaces, temples, royal tombs, and an outer city wall. The Baekje Historic Area is valuable in that it is a representative heritage that shows the essence of Baekje culture and a place where you can vividly confirm the status of Baekje, which contributed to the exchange and formation of East Asian civilisation. VNS HA NOI President Nguyen Xuan Phuc on Monday hosted separate receptions in Ha Noi for Ambassadors of the Netherlands, Hungary, Australia and Luxembourg as they came to present their credentials. Receiving Dutch Ambassador Kees Van Baar, President Phuc thanked the Netherlands for providing Viet Nam with one million COVID-19 vaccine doses. On the back of the bilateral comprehensive partnership, he asked the European nation to invest big in Viet Nams hi-tech and seaport sectors towards raising two-way trade to US$30 billion during the ambassadors tenure. He thanked the Netherlands for its support for Viet Nams candidacy for the United Nations Human Rights Council for the 2023-25 tenure and noted that Viet Nam would back the Netherlands' bid for a seat at the council for the 2024-26 term. On the occasion, he suggested the Netherlands and the European Union back Viet Nam and ASEANs stance on protecting law abidance at seas and oceans; maintaining peace, stability, freedom, safety and security of aviation and navigation in the South China Sea; and peacefully settling disputes in line with international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Kees Van Baar, for his part, said water management and climate change response should be one of the priorities in their bilateral ties. He also wished to enhance bilateral trade and investment and encourage Dutch firms to operate effectively in Viet Nam. As 2023 marks the 50th founding anniversary of diplomatic ties, he said Dutch firms would work with Viet Nam to hold seminars and conferences to share experience in climate change response. The Netherlands would also push for the EUs lifting of a yellow card warning on Vietnamese seafood, he added. Meeting with Hungarian Ambassador Baloghdi Tibor, President Phuc agreed with the diplomats proposal to facilitate all-level visits, thus expanding all-around ties after Hungary became the first comprehensive partner of Viet Nam in Central and Eastern Europe in 2018. The President also hoped that Hungary would provide more scholarships for Vietnamese students and continue partnering with Viet Nam in the supply of official development assistance. Tibor, for his part, wished to promote high-level visits and people-to-people exchanges, including completing and screening a film on the bilateral friendship as well as boosting trade and investment cooperation. With nearly 900 Vietnamese students now studying in Hungary, he believed that they would follow the steps of the previous generations to cultivate the long-standing ties. In the meeting with Australian Ambassador Andrew John Lech Goledznowski, the President expressed his delight at the debut of the Viet Nam-Australia Centre in Viet Nam. He suggested Australia create favourable conditions for its Vietnamese community and simplify procedures for Vietnamese students to return to the country, while reinforcing people-to-people exchanges, cooperation in climate change response, energy transition, digital economy and hi-tech agriculture. President Phuc also wished that during his tenure, the ambassador would intensify bilateral collaboration in trade, investment, national defence-security, agriculture and labour, among others. The State leader took this occasion to thank Australia for providing Viet Nam with 22.2 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, becoming the second biggest donor of COVID-19 vaccines for the Southeast Asian country. The ambassador said Australia wanted to upgrade bilateral ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership, and further deepen ties in healthcare. On the occasion, he conveyed the Australian Governor-General's invitation to President Phuc to visit the country. At the reception for Ambassador of Luxembourg Patrick Hemmer, President Phuc stressed Viet Nam's priority given to its friendship and cooperation with Luxembourg in its overall ties with the European Union. Viet Nam would like to cooperate with Luxembourg in various fields such as green development, education-training and hi-tech, he said. The President also proposed the European nation back Viet Nam's bid for a seat in the UN Human Rights Council for the 2023-25 tenure and work closely with Viet Nam to celebrate the 50th founding anniversary of diplomatic ties next year. Hemmer agreed with the Presidents proposal to lift two-way trade and investment ties, especially in green economy. Having thanked Viet Nam for its support for Luxembourg's candidacy for the UN Human Rights Council in the 2022-24 term, the ambassador said his country would back Viet Nam at multilateral forums and its bid for a seat in the council for the 2023-25 tenure. VNS HA NOI A South Korean tourist suffered minor injuries after he was struck by a train on Ha Nois train street on Sunday. The man reportedly ignored the sirens and barriers as the train was passing on the section running through Tran Phu - Ly Nam e streets in ien Bien Ward, Ba inh District. He suffered very minor injuries and left the area before receiving medical treatment. After the accident, the train was brought to a halt causing traffic congestion. Police from Ba inh and Hoan Kiem districts were called to the site to collect information and find the identity of this tourist. The authorities warned local people and tourists not to gather in crowds on the train street to ensure the safety of themselves and the community. Last week Hoan Kiem District People's Committee ordered the closure of coffee shops along the railway line and is withdrawing the shops business licences over safety concerns due to the large number of tourists, including many from overseas, crowding the sites to take photos of the trains running close to the houses on either side of the rail track. VNS Boeing Commercial Airplanes has outlined a series of policies that will be needed to embrace net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Thomas Sanderson, the company's product marketing director, made the comments at a media briefing on September 15 on the sidelines of the Vietnam International Aviation Expo VIAE 2022. He said the future of flight would require airlines to simultaneously pursue every pathway to achieve the net zero target. "There are four main actions to be taken by the commercial aviation industry between now and 2050. They are fleet renewal, improved operational efficiency, renewable energy and advanced technology," he said. Boeings media briefing on September 15 "We typically assume 20 to 25 years of economic life for commercial aircraft. So by 2050, we would expect every aircraft to have been replaced. In Southeast Asia, we anticipate needing 4,255 aircraft for renewal in the next 20 years, and Vietnam will be integral to that growth," Sanderson said. We have seen most success when the government, airframers and airlines are aligned, and government policy supports early investment and growth in sustainable technologies until they reach the scale where they become economically competitive. Boeings latest Commercial Market Outlook estimates a 20 per cent improvement in carbon emissions per passenger with the newest generation aircraft. And that 49 per cent of the aircraft delivered in the next 20 years will be replacements removing less efficient aircraft from the fleet. Thomas Sanderson, product marketing director, Boeing Commercial Airplanes Renewable energy represents the largest single method to improve the industry's carbon footprint, and the primary step in this direction is sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Industry insiders anticipate that to meet industry demands, SAF production between 700 and 1,000 times the current capacity will be needed by 2050. As a result, government policy support and partnership with energy companies in SAF production are key. Moreover, the future of flight will incorporate the latest digital design, test and production tools, propulsion and systems technology, and different power and energy solutions applied to different market segments and aircraft sizes. Boeing plans to introduce new aircraft to meet those requirements. For example, the 737 MAX family leverages advanced aerodynamic design and highly efficient engines to reduce fuel use and emissions by 20 per cent and noise footprint by 50 per cent compared to current aircraft. This means that every year a 737-10 will reduce CO2 emissions by 1.7 million pounds compared to the competition and by 12.5 million pounds compared to the aircraft it replaces. In terms of operational efficiency, the company will develop services to leverage data for fuel efficiency, help customers optimise flight planning, and provide pilots with real-time weather and traffic information. As part of this approach, Boeing will continue to advance the safety and viability of other renewable energy sources and their use on aircraft. Boeing eyes supply chain expansion in Vietnam Boeing is planning to seek more suppliers in Vietnam to expand its supply chain network and tap into growing demands. New planes and routes as aviation picks up With a promising outlook in the post-pandemic era, international aircraft manufacturers are seeking to expand their partnerships in Vietnams burgeoning aviation market to tap into its growing demand for aircraft and related tech, as well as to expand their supply chain. Phnom Penh Heads of ASEAN member economies have agreed to create a mechanism to promote competition, create an environment conductive for regional SMEs to enter ASEAN amid economic recovery from COVID-19 crisis. Cambodian Ministry of Commerce's Undersecretary of State and Spokesman Penn Sovicheat (Photo: Internet) Together with green, digital economy and synchronous development, the development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) was under major discussions at the 54th ASEAN Economic Ministers' Meeting (AEM-54), said Cambodian Ministry of Commerce's Undersecretary of State and Spokesman Penn Sovicheat at a press conference on September 18. Ministers shared the view that the effective performance of competition law will accelerate the process of carrying out digital economic policy, contributing to developing digital market and helping ASEAN SMEs operate in a transparent and healthy competition environment. On the occasion, they decided to strengthen the implementation of joint action plan on competition till 2025 to expand competition space of innovation market and promote the dynamic development of ASEAN member economies, said Penn Sovicheat. The AEM-54 and related meetings with diverse agenda took place on September 11-18 in Siam Reap tourism city of Cambodia, host of ASEAN 2022. ASEAN++ Bridge forum seeks sustainable development The ASEAN++ Bridge forum, themed Connecting for Sustainable Development, took place in Ho Chi Minh City on September 9. ASEAN on track for sustainable recovery post-COVID Almost three years into the pandemic, ASEAN governments and businesses are mapping out a blueprint for a resilient and sustainable recovery that leaves no one behind. Hanoi - Lawmakers are gathering comments on a draft amending the Law on E-Transactions, and insiders comment that the draft needs revisions to be more practical. An electronic version of a birth certificate. (Photo thegioididong.com) Nguyen Quoc Hung, General Secretary of the Vietnam Banks Association, believes that Article 27, which said e-signatures require public approval to be legitimate, is ill-conceived. He suggests a set of legitimacy criteria for e-signatures whereby firms could conduct legitimacy reviews by themselves and inform the authorities of their reviews. The self-assessment would save firms the bother of e-signature registration and requests for public approval. The general secretary also believes that Article 50 should be revised to exempt credit institutions and branches of foreign banks from connecting to surveillance systems since the connection would cause additional costs and risks to the organisations. "Interference in banks' data systems is out of the question as it would disrupt banking operations. In fact, even the Law on Credit Institutions does not go so far as to allow such interference," he said. He also underscores Article 52 on the reliability of e-transaction platforms as an article ill-suited to regulating banks' digital platforms. He says the article, if passed, would pose great risks to the banking system. Lastly, the general secretary mentions nine other issues that are making the draft unfit for legal passage. The issues involve the scope of the draft, e-authentication, e-contract, e-identification and dispute settlement. Pham Tien Dung, Deputy Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam, asserts that some articles of the draft would add complexity to administrative procedures and create more regulatory burdens on banks. He calls for a more detailed definition of the relations between credit institutions and the authorities to prevent the abuse of authority during approval-granting processes. He also urges lawmakers to keep the draft in line with the Law on Enterprises, Law on Archives and some other relevant laws to ensure legal consistency. Nguyen Thi Thu Trang, Director of the Centre for WTO and International Trade, Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, calls for a revision to improve the draft's compatibility with international agreements of which Vietnam is a member. "Many FTA-related commitments have yet to be incorporated into the draft," she said. The director also calls for a more detailed definition of e-authentication in the draft, and the abolishment of the regulation that requires the submission of genuine papers for electronic verification. She also believes that individuals should be allowed to use e-documents in administrative procedures should they find the practice more convenient. The Law on E-Transactions was issued in 2005 and over 141 legal documents related to the law remain in effect so far, comprising 26 laws, 29 decrees, 57 circulars, 29 decisions and nine international agreements. An e-transaction law for the digital age The Law on E-Transactions from 2006 requires an upgrade. Nguyen Hung Quang and Tu Thi Phuong Uyen from NHQuang & Associates look at the detail of a draft amendment in the works to closing current legislative gaps. Hanoi (VNA) - Insurers should promote digital transformation rapidly as, compared to other financial industries, the insurance industry is considered to have slow digital transformation with limited economic efficiency. A customer looks at insurance products on a mobile device. The insurance revenue through digitised channels of the life insurance segment accounts for less than 5% of the total premium revenue of the market. Photo tinnhanhchungkhoan.vn Despite efforts being made, the digital transformation of insurance companies is lagging, as most life insurance buyers still want to hold paper contracts instead of keeping them online and seeing them on mobile devices. Pham Thu Phuong, deputy director of the Ministry of Finances Insurance Supervision Authority (ISA), said the biggest challenge for insurance companies is an effective digital transformation strategy, as many companies, even foreign-invested ones, have not performed digitisation synchronously but only in some stages. According to Phuong, the economic efficiency of digital transformation of the insurance industry remains very limited. ISAs statistics showed at present, the insurance revenue through digitised channels of the life insurance segment accounts for less than 5% of the total premium revenue of the market. The number of the non-life insurance segment is even lower at less than 1%. The digital transformation costs are not small while the insurance business relies on the majority and statistics in order to have correct premium calculation, therefore the more rapid, comprehensive and effective the digital transformation is, the more insurance companies gain. Thus, insurance companies need to develop strategies and calculate reasonable investment costs to promote digitisation effectively, Phuong noted. According to insurance companies, changing the habit of using technology in insurance activities is difficult, but the boom of digital transformation in life as well as the increasing number of young insurance customers are making it easier for users. Naren Baliga, Business Unit manager at Manulife Vietnam, told tinnhanhchungkhoan.vn that at first, when Manulifes eClaims digitiser was first launched, many customers were not used to submitting documents online, but now, 95% of the insurance claims of Manulife Vietnam have been sent through this tool. For customers who are still using paper contracts, access to the benefits of electronic contracts as well as other paperless services is only a matter of time, Baliga said. In an era where digital interactions are applied to almost everything in daily life, harnessing the power of digitalisation is important for life insurance companies to promote interaction with customers, Baliga said, adding that to become a leader in the insurance industry, competing with other insurers is not enough. The biggest challenge for all insurers is to provide a convenient and enjoyable insurance digitisation experience for customers like those of other financial industries. Digitisation is not only simply a driver for the growth of the life insurance industry alone, but also a contributor to transforming the entire value chain of the insurance industry. If insurance companies do not go digital soon, they will quickly lag behind, Baliga said. Bancassurance the catalyst for insurers to deepen footprint Banks have managed to navigate their way through the chaos of the last few years by diversifying their non-interest income thanks to bancassurance services. Insurers show off digital-led products To simplify the purchasing process, insurance companies are in a race to launch new digital products while cooperating with the banking industry and e-commerce platforms. Dang Manh Trung, head of the Standing Office of the Central Propaganda Department in Ho Chi Minh City, awarded the certificate to Dam Nhan Duc, head of Research and Development of MB On September 15, the Vietnam Association of Financial Executives, Finance and Life electronic journal, and the Vietstock website co-organised an IR Awards 2022 ceremony to honour the listed companies with the best investor relations activities in 2022 in Ho Chi Minh City. The programme aims to raise awareness of the importance of Investor Relations (IR), improve information transparency in the stock market, and increase the quality of information disclosure and investor confidence. This year, businesses were honoured in two IR voting systems: an online vote for public investors and an internal vote for financial institutions. MB was honoured in both systems: Top 3 listed companies most loved by investors, and Top 4 listed companies most appreciated by financial institutions. With 4.5 billion shares listed on the HSX, MB currently boasts a market capitalisation of over $4 billion and is in the Top 15 largest-cap stocks on the Vietnamese stock market. Le Nhi Nang, director and head of the representative agency of the State Securities Commission in Ho Chi Minh City, emphasised the significance of IR for the stock market, calling it "a crucial connection between businesses and investors" that clarifies a company's worth to potential backers. Understanding that the development of the stock market comes from the maturity of listed companies and is demonstrated through IR activities, MB always fulfils its obligations to disclose information in accordance with regulations, with analyst meetings held quarterly. MB is currently one of the top commercial banks in terms of scale and profit in Vietnam. In the first six months of 2022, the bank achieved $966,000 in revenue and $503,000 in its pre-tax profit, up 26 per cent and 49 per cent on-year, respectively. Profit before tax in H1 exceeded nearly 60 per cent compared to plan. Return-on-Equity reached 24 per cent, while Return-on-Assets was 2.5 per cent. The bank's bad debt ratio was controlled at 0.82 per cent, while maintaining the bad debt coverage ratio at a high level, with the bank's own coverage reaching 300 per cent. Entering the new strategic period from 2022-2026, MB has established a vision to "Become a leading digital enterprise and financial group" to be in the "Top 3 markets in terms of efficiency, aiming to lead in Asia." The bank aims to serve 20 million customers by 2026, said an MB representative. We will continue strengthening our digital journey by deploying digital factories, building a comprehensive digital ecosystem, developing banking services and improving technology capabilities. In 2022, MB restructured to expand its growth. In addition, MB is always looking for new opportunities to collaborate with leading global businesses and consultancies like IBM, Prophet, and McKinsey to enhance governance in key areas like risk management and financial management. Before the IR Awards 2022, the organising committee conducted a comprehensive survey of information disclosure activities of 736 listed companies over 12 months. At the same time, IR activities were evaluated through a scoring system from 31 leading financial institutions, with the cooperation of the investor community to vote for listed companies with the best IR activities in 2022. MB maintains its position as the market leader in Vietnam Military Commercial Joint Stock Bank (MB) was awarded a prestigious award, the Best Financial Derivatives Provider in Vietnam, on July 22 at an online conference organised by The Asian Banker. MB builds future workforce by attracting overseas Vietnamese talents from the US MB Bank and the Association of Vietnamese Youth and Students in the United States (AVSPUS) have established a collaboration in the recruiting and connecting of Vietnamese talents in the United States. The two parties inked a cooperation agreement in Washington, D.C., in the presence of a representative from the Vietnamese Embassy in the US last week. Sugarcane groups meet supply snag Soc Trang Sugar Corporation (SOSUCO) is worried about preparing sugarcane for the 2022-2023 season after several agreements fell through this season. According to general director Tran Ngoc Hieu, SOSUCO signed agreements with households in the Mekong Delta province of Soc Trang to collect sugarcane for 2021-2022, covering an area of nearly 2,000 hectares. The agreement regulated that the farmers had to commit to selling their entire sugarcane output to the company. But when other traders came calling and offered higher prices, the households broke the agreement, Hieu said. The company offered purchase prices for the 2021-2022 crop at VND1.1 million ($48) per tonne of clean sugarcane. The company was also in charge of paying fees for gathering sugarcane from fields and transporting it to the factory. The VSSA has asked the General Department of Vietnam Customs to keep a closer watch on the sugar trade and clamp down on smuggling. In addition, if the households complied with the agreement, the company would pay additional support of around $1.30-2.15 per tonne of clean sugarcane. But this was not enough to stop the farmers from selling to other traders, who mostly wanted to resell to sugar factories in nearby Tay Ninh province. These traders would come and buy an average of 500-600 tonnes of sugarcane daily from the households, breaking the agreements signed with the company, Hieu said. It was a difficult time because the company did not have enough material to maintain operations, and simultaneously we suffered damage due to failure to recoup the investment capital for the area. A similar situation occurred in many other sugarcane factories, such as the An Khe factory in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai. The company invested $8.69 million to develop its material area, including combining with households. However, in the 2021-2022 season, many traders bought sugarcane from households for factories in Kon Tum, Ayun Pa, and Phu Yen. Vietcombank Securities statistics show the sugar demand in the domestic market is approximately two million tonnes per year. The raw cane area supply just meets one-third of the domestic production demand, while the rest must be imported. The total raw material area in the 2020-2021 season decreased by 16.27 per cent compared to the previous season. As a result, sugarcane factories across the country collected just 6.74 million tonnes of material, lower than the initial expectation of 7.49 million, the lowest sugarcane production reported in the last 20 years. According to the Vietnam Sugarcane and Sugar Association (VSSA), only 25 sugar factories are still operating, and around 15 recently shut down. In some localities this year, people have even left sugarcane farming altogether or have not farmed as efficiently as before, leading to a decrease in yield and quality. Bui Ngoc Truc Anh, head of communications of Thanh Thanh Cong Bien Hoa JSC (TTC Sugar), told VIR, It is a sure thing that sugarcane producers want to build the domestic area to be proactive. However, the domestic supply source is extremely scarce and demand is high, so they are forced to increase import products to meet market demand. To deal with the shortage of material, TTC Sugar had to expand the sugarcane plantation area and simultaneously increase cooperation with farmers. The company wants to develop the material area overseas, such as in Laos, Cambodia, India, and Australia, Anh said. TTC Sugar is currently the largest sugar producer in Vietnam, with a market share of 46 per cent. The companys material areas in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia cover an area of 66,000ha, and the company plans to expand areas in Laos and Australia to 20,000ha each by 2025. Along with the difficulties relating to material shortage, sugarcane producers also suffer pressure from Thai sugar dumping, smuggling, and trade fraud. In July, the VSSA submitted a document to report on the damage caused by smuggled sugar. During the past year, the volume of sugar exported to Vietnam from Laos increased 60-fold since the country imposed an anti-dumping tax on Thai sugar in June last year. Sugar groups evaded tax by transferring sugar from Thailand to ASEAN countries such as Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Myanmar. As a result, among the 25 factories in operation, 17 are suffering losses. Over 3,300 people have lost their jobs, and more than 100,000 households had to cultivate other crops, the document said. Hanoi - A South Korean tourist suffered minor injuries after he was struck by a train on Hanois train street on Sunday. A section of Tran Phu - Ly Nam De streets is congested after the collision.- Photo suckhoedoisong.vn The man reportedly ignored the sirens and barriers as the train was passing on the section running through Tran Phu - Ly Nam De streets in Dien Bien Ward, Ba Dinh District. He suffered very minor injuries and left the area before receiving medical treatment. After the accident, the train was brought to a halt causing traffic congestion. Police from Ba Dinh and Hoan Kiem districts were called to the site to collect information and find the identity of this tourist. The authorities warned local people and tourists not to gather in crowds on the train street to ensure the safety of themselves and the community. Last week Hoan Kiem District People's Committee ordered the closure of coffee shops along the railway line and is withdrawing the shops business licences over safety concerns due to the large number of tourists, including many from overseas, crowding the sites to take photos of the trains running close to the houses on either side of the rail track. According to Tra Vinh Department of Planning and Investment, in the year to date, the province has lured in four investment projects from local investors in wind power, education, petroleum, and green hydrogen production fields worth $511 million in total registered capital. Tra Vinh province bolsters investment Cumulatively, as of now, Tra Vinh is home to 379 valid projects, including 37 foreign and 342 domestic ones valued at $3.06 billion and $5.86 billion in total investment value, respectively. The province has been expediting a wide range of investment attraction activities into sizable projects in industrial production and seafood areas, along with executing flexible incentive policies to support the investors. Investment attraction has been carried out in an innovative manner to enhance efficiency. Tra Vinh has also formed a specific task force to attend all the meetings and online symposia on investment promotion which are hosted by diverse ministries and central management agencies. The events include a workshop to strengthen investment cooperation between Vietnam and the Middle East, a workshop on exchanging practical experiences for production and business rebound between Vietnamese and Indian business post-pandemic, and a meeting on promoting investment and trade relations with Bangladesh, among others. Along with that, due regard has been paid to ensuring transparent information disclosure involving projects calling for investment into Dinh An Economic Zone, local seaports, and diverse industrial zones across the province including Long Duc, Co Chien, Cau Quan, and Ngu Lac. Businesses and investors wishing to set up shop in the province would receive diverse incentives, such as capital support for making compensation and site clearance, funding for technical infrastructure investment and labour training, among others. Tra Vinh scales up support to resume key operations The Steering Committee on Administrative Reform and Strengthening the Provincial Competitiveness Index, known as PCI, of the Mekong Delta province of Tra Vinh has reviewed activities relating to the provincial PCI ranking in the third quarter, and discussed several measures and solutions to enhance efficiency towards the end of 2021. Tra Vinh province stepping up robust support for production rebound efforts Tra Vinh province in Vietnams Mekong Delta is sparing no efforts to support people and firms to reboot production and business amid a safe adaption to the new normal. Tra Vinh: Dong Hai I wind power plant inaugurated Trung Nam Tra Vinh 1 Wind Power JSC, a member of Trungnam Group, has inaugurated the Dong Hai I Wind Power Plant in Dong Hai commune, Duyen Hai district, the Mekong Delta province of Tra Vinh. Tra Vinh economy showing positive developmental signs Tra Vinh has made sustained efforts to boost its economic recovery by wooing investment, disbursing capital resources, and implementing infrastructure projects, which in turn are creating business opportunities. Tra Vinh nurtures private sector to kickstart economy Tra Vinhs economy has flourished in recent years, with various encouraging indicators of recovery and the Mekong Delta provinces emphasis on boosting the private sector is one of the primary reasons. Vice State President Vo Thi Anh Xuan and leaders of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour had photos taken with the 166 students Vice State President Vo Thi Anh Xuan attended the ceremony and presented prizes to the 166 best students on September 18 in Hanoi. Ngo Duy Hieu, vice chairman of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour, said he appreciated the student results: "The students' good outcomes have enabled their parents to spend all their efforts working for the country's development." Nguyen Dinh Khang, chairman of the confederation, said that being studious was a long-standing tradition of the Vietnamese nation. "The children have studied well and gained very good achievements. Despite being young, they have a passion for research, creativity, and understanding of social and scientific issues, contributing to the country's development," Khang said. Vu Ha Anh, a representative of all the students, spoke at the ceremony Vu Ha Anh from Reigate Grammar School Vietnam, winner of the Speak To Inspire Vietnam debate, said that she and all the students were well aware that they were only beginning their successes on a journey to conquer knowledge and science. "It is necessary to promote what has been achieved to reach the peaks of intellect, update skills, and further train ourselves to become useful citizens in the future. I always try my best to find effective learning methods. I feel joy in learning and enjoy pride in getting good results," she said. Previously, she received many prizes in speaking, debating, and English. Vice State President Vo Thi Anh Xuan and Ngo Duy Hieu, vice chairman of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour, presented certificates and flowers to Do Ngoc Bao Linh At the ceremony, the students who won the first prizes and gold medals at national and international competitions in the 2021-2022 school year were awarded letters of commendation, laurel wreaths, commendation logos, and bonuses. Do Ngoc Bao Linh from Hoang Mai Primary School, who won a gold medal at the Thailand International Mathematic Olympiad 2022's national finals, was happy to receive the highest prize. "The examinations are quite hard, but I tried to learn my best. Thanks to the experience last year, when I got the bronze medal, I gained a better result this year," said Linh. Ngo Duy Hieu, vice chairman of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour and chairman of the Vietnam Public Sector Union, handed over certificates and flowers to Le Minh Quy. Le Minh Quy from Newton Grammar School said, "I love English and Maths, so I always look for contests related to these subjects to try and improve myself and enhance my confidence. I feel so happy without any stress about joining the contests. In the future, I would like to focus on IT to create more technologies and values for life." Quy won the gold medal at the Singapore International Math Contests Centre, one of the largest academic contest organisers in Asia. His passions are examinations and Maths and English contests. Student Luong Huong Giang receiving presents from the leader of the State and leader of Vietnam General Confederation of Labour Luong Huong Giang from Hanoi Amsterdam High School, who won gold in the Internet Olympiads of English at the national level, was happy and proud of the prize. "Studying is my favourite thing, and I often set targets for myself. Although the prize is modest, my efforts have been recognised, and I am satisfied. I will find some more contests to reach new peaks and improve myself," said Giang. A total of 17 students, whose parents are state officials of the Ministry of Planning and Investment, were honoured. VIR supports students in difficulties amid pandemic Almost $4,000 from VIRs Swing for the Kids Fund have been handed over to students at Hanois universities, who are currently coping with the challenges that the global health crisis has brought during the last months. Hanoi The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) has been told to finalise the National Power Development Plan VIII (PDP VIII) for 2021-2030 with a vision to 2045, focusing on reducing coal power plants. An offshore wind power project in Tra Vinh province. (Photo: VNA) According to the Government Office Notice No 277/TB-VPCP on the conclusion of the Government relating to PDP VIII, the MoIT was asked to review the feasibility of thermal power projects using domestic gas while reducing the capacity of power plants using imported LNG gas by 2030 and increase wind power projects on reasonable and feasible scale. The ministry should continue to work with investors on the implementation of coal-fired power projects which are facing obstacles in terms of capital to decide whether continuing coal power projects under current conditions or adopting other options. In addition, it is necessary to carefully calculate the amount of electricity imports from neighboring countries, especially from Laos, to expand the scale of biomass and hydrogen power sources. Solar power planning for 2030 should be reviewed to ensure efficiency, and avoid economic damage, especially the unreasonable calculation of electricity prices. Previously, the MoIT had submitted a report to the cabinet on issues relating to PDP VIII. The ministry proposed that the Government allow the deployment of solar power projects that have been planned and approved but have not yet been put into operation with a total capacity of about 2,428 MW because a delay could encounter legal risk and compensation for investors. All violations will be strictly handled in line with State regulations, it added. Latest draft of national Power Development Plan VIII up for comments The Ministry of Industry and Trade has just released the latest draft of the national Power Development Plan VIII for comments from relevant agencies, with the goal of submitting the document to the government within September. National Power Development Plan VIII paves way for renewable energy The National Power Development Plan for the 2021 - 2030 period, with a vision towards 2045 (PDP VIII) has taken into account the replacement of coal-fired power projects and those that are still pending, heard a meeting of the State Appraisal Council. The Mars Wrigley plant in Waco makes colorful products such as Starburst, Skittles and Snickers, but green has become a favorite there. Its latest nod to conservation and treating the Earth and its resources kindly is a $15 million on-site water treatment plant designed to reduce the facilitys greenhouse gas emissions while cutting water use and generating energy. A short jaunt from the plants main entrance, across the manicured campus, a hulking cooling tower is flanked by a building where anaerobic wastewater processing now occurs. Mars Wrigley swapped the aerobic water treatment system in place since 1976, when the plant opened, for one more efficient and less smelly. Engineering manager Grant Vowels, gesturing toward school buildings nearby, said the distinction is important considering Midway High Schools proximity to the plant at Mars Drive and Central Texas Parkway. Site director Chris Sgobbo said the new system will reduce water use by 37 million gallons a year, and energy consumption by 62%. He estimated the anaerobic system will produce a biogas meeting about 15% of the plants energy needs. Vowels said Mars Wrigley for years has enjoyed a mutually beneficial relationship with the city of Waco, and he expects that to continue. He said the plant pre-treats wastewater it pours into the citys treatment system, and years ago agreed to fuel boilers using methane from Wacos landfill. The collaboration met with mixed results, as impurities in the methane fouled up the boilers over time, and Mars Wrigley had to make repairs and stop using the gas. Now, the company is interested in using methane from the landfill again, but would use a scrubber if that effort moves forward. By next year, the Mars Wrigley plant in Waco will produce 200,000 tons of food, more than any other Mars facility in North America, Sgobbo said. A plant in the Netherlands is Mars largest food producer systemwide, he said. Mars in Waco turns out 80% of Snickers and Skittles products consumed in North America, and all of the continents Starburst. It now roasts peanuts in Waco, the bulk shipped from Georgia, and the process requires a heavy dose of water, a fact that makes conservation even more of a priority, Sgobbo said. He said demand for Mars candy products, even during the pandemic, remained stout. Mars Wrigley is hiring locally. It employs 775 in Waco, but temps and contractors constantly on the premises push employment totals to 1,000 to 1,200 at any given time, Sgobbo said. A new class arrives this week, he said, referencing new hires learning the ropes before joining the team. Mars offers an apprenticeship program targeting people in skilled trades. Sgobbo said experience in supply chain operations, maintenance and lean manufacturing gives applicants an advantage. I like people with an eye for quality, he said. I meet every new associate. Everyone, regardless of job title, is a quality assurance staffer. He said Mars Wrigley has its own way of doing things. The Waco plant has a cafeteria, and would prefer employees not leave for lunch. It is a 24-7 operation, and sometimes runs three shifts, but not always. Public access to the plants inner workings, where candy is made and packaged, is restricted. And, yes, the Mars family that founded the company remains heavily involved, Sgobbo said. Family members have been known to visit sites. Sgobbo said Mars Wrigley has a good working relationship with Texas State Technical College. He welcomes news that TSTC, Waco and McLennan County have announced plans to build a multimillion-dollar industrial training center in Wacos industrial park that TSTC would own and operate. Officials have said they are relying on private businesses to get involved, possibly by donating tools and machinery or underwriting their cost. Starting pay at Mars Wrigley varies with experience, expertise and position, but $18 to $19 an hour is in the ballpark, Sgobbo said. Conservation efforts at Mars Wrigley in Waco mesh with a companywide goal to cut water use in half by 2025, Sgobbo said. Willow Alexander, a 15-year-old high school freshman and Scout with Troop 308G, loves reading and writing two skills that have not always been easy for her. As a person with dyslexia, Willow said she wants her upcoming Eagle Scout Service Project to educate teachers, parents and kids about the condition, and shes doing it in a big way. Im dyslexic and Ive known for a while, but there are people who dont know or they find out later in life and their parents dont know how to get information or they panic, Willow said. Thats why I decided to do the convention. Willow organized the Dyslexia Awareness Conference, which will take place from 1 to 2:30 p.m. Oct. 1 at St. Pauls Episcopal Church, 515 Columbus Ave. She scheduled the event for October since advocates recognize it as Dyslexia Awareness Month. Although the genetic condition affects about one out of every five people, many cases go undetected until adulthood. When Willow was preparing to tackle her Eagle Project, a Scout-organized service projectrequired to advance from the organizations second-highest rank to its highest, she knew she wanted to lead an effort that would raise awareness for dyslexia. From the initial concept, her efforts have morphed into the upcoming conference, which will feature five guest speakers. The panel is made up of dyslexia therapists, a wellness counselor and a reading specialist separated into three content areas, representing the early warning signs, what exactly dyslexia is, and where to find resources. There also will be opportunities for kids with dyslexia to mingle and hopefully make connections with other kids and adults with dyslexia, Willow said. Its nice when youre dyslexic and you find someone else whos dyslexic and the two of you can talk, she said. Its just for kids to connect. Raising money is a significant part of most Eagle Projects, and Willow has already raised almost $400 through donations. Proceeds from the conference will go toward buying books about dyslexia for St. Pauls Episcopal Church and the Waco-McLennan County Library. Flip Alexander, Willows mother, said her family was fortunate to catch the issue early, recognizing delayed speech and delayed reading as early warning signs. The Alexanders got connected with resources and therapists when Willow was just starting school. The Speech and Language Clinic at Baylor University was integral in getting affordable help, Flip Alexander said. The therapists give them tools, and as they grow up they try to apply those tools to different situations, and thats kind of a neat thing for us to see, she said. Willow said there are different forms of dyslexia, including dysgraphia, which affects writing, and dyscalculia, which causes difficulties with math. Willow said her dyslexia manifests in a few different ways in her everyday life, like skipping over words when she reads, misspelling large words and sometimes mispronouncing them. She said she also has a harder time doing conversions in math. I have trouble doing mental math, so I usually have to draw a picture or write down, or I use my fingers a little more, Willow said. I guess whenever I tell people it they dont really say much about it, but they usually think its just reading. Alongside therapists and parents, schools also play an integral part in helping children with dyslexia, first through detection and then through learning accommodations. Certified academic language therapist Jennifer Cates, who has worked with Willow for many years and will speak at the convention, said kids with dyslexia tend to recognize as early as kindergarten that there is something wrong, and it is important for adults to pay attention and respond when learning gaps occur. Even if theyre in there just practicing their ABCs or very simple words, if all their little friends around them seem to be getting it easier than they do, they know something is different, Cates said. And until they get that adult who recognizes whats going on, its really hard for them and it comes along with a lot of self-esteem baggage from a very early age. Cates said a student may know an answer on a school exam or assignment, but they may be unable to translate what they know onto a piece of paper. She said accommodations, like giving class notes ahead of time or extra time on tests, do not give dyslexic students an advantage, but they level the playing field. The definition of dyslexia is not an IQ issue. It has only to do with written words, Cates said. Their brains process the written word differently for reading and spelling, but the IQ, the knowledge, the understanding of everything is still there. Willows case is unique in that her parents sought help, her therapists were able to intervene early and assist her while at school and her teachers allow accommodations, but many children are not able to reach the same resources. Without proper help, kids with dyslexia can have worse outcomes than their peers, developing habits of avoidance and possibly destructive behaviors stemming from mental health problems caused by perceived underperformance. Cates said the strong work ethic and drive Willow exudes evidenced by the progress she has made with her conference is a side effect of the hard work dyslexic kids have to do to function day to day. With the right support, this hard work turns into resilience rather than resentment. Everything that is written down for our kids, they have to struggle and figure it out, puzzle all those pieces together from kindergarten on up, Cates said. So theyre used to struggling, figuring things out, doing a little better, and it really goes to their personality, I think. Despite the complications it may bring, Willow said she does not think of dyslexia as a disease or a disability. A lot of people think its more like an illness. Its not, Willow said. Its just something with how the brain works and Ive heard different analogies like dyslexia is a country road while regular minds are a freeway. So people with dyslexia, it just takes them longer. CEDAR FALLS Aaron Schurman began developing his first game with a childhood buddy at Lantern Square Apartments while attending the University of Northern Iowa shortly before the turn of the century. That was only the beginning for the 1990 Janesville High School graduate, who went on to cofound Phantom EFX with Danny Stokes. Most games in that era were sold as a disc in a package the size of cereal boxes. More than two decades later, the company now known as SciPlay is a leading publisher of digital casino, casual and bingo games on mobile and web platforms. Its portfolio of games includes the ever-popular Jackpot Party Casino, which has come to be associated with well-known brands and icons like actress Sofia Vergara and the James Bond 007 series. Schurman, at 50, is entering a new stage of life as he takes on a reduced role within the company. The founder and chief gamer at SciPlay envisions an evolution his version of retirement. It means less involvement in the day-to-day operations. Theres always an emergency. Youre always recruiting. Theres always a speech. Theres designing a game, said Schurman. Theres always something going on. So you dont get as much time with the family, he noted. That was probably the driving emotion. UNI Interpreters Theatre opening fall season with "Roses Are Red" CEDAR FALLS The University of Northern Iowa Interpreters Theatre is opening its fall seaso While still planning to play a role in developing games and by serving as a company consultant, he said the shift in responsibilities will leave time for other endeavors. He is also one of the founding members of Red Cedar, a local startup catalyst, and a partner in the group that owns Paramount Barco. That company is in the midst of growing its portfolio of restaurants and bars which includes Cedar Falls Main Street favorites The Stuffed Olive, Roxxy and Double Tap into other markets. I cant sit still because Im an entrepreneur. I want to grow some of my other businesses into national brands like we did with Phantom, Schurman said. SciPlay is so large and important in so many markets and to so many investors. I want to nurture that, but grow other companies as well. And I want to help new entrepreneurs. Phantoms first headquarters was in the River Plaza Building in Waterloo and later in Cedar Falls before the building was wiped out by the flood of 2008. Since then, it has been in the Cedar Falls Technology Park. After being acquired twice, Phantom EFX spun out, rebranded as SciPlay, went public in 2019 and now has close to 700 employees in places like Chicago and Austin, Texas but also in countries like Israel, Turkey, and Finland. Millions of people play their games and the company generates millions of dollars each year in revenue. Man arrested in Taco John's burglary CEDAR FALLS A Cedar Falls man has been arrested for allegedly breaking into a fast food re Schurman said the companys success came from understanding the importance of partnering with recognizable brands. Its also been forward thinking and was ahead of the curve in realizing the future importance of building a presence in the various app stores. We were on iPhone the day the app store opened, which was fascinating because Apple wasnt even 100% sure the App store was going to work, Schurman said. But, looking back over the years, he is most proud of the people hes been around and the culture hes cultivated amidst all the transitions and company growth. I love people. Its one of my core strengths, he said. Im an activator of things that make them great. If I get a chance to meet somebody, thats fantastic. I love encouraging them to do something thats in their wheelhouse and helping them grow. Schurmans love of electronic games stretches back to when he was 16, growing up on a farm north of the Waterloo Regional Airport. Thats when his mother, Sherry, bought him his ColecoVision gaming system. After high school, in the 1990s, Schurman ended up serving in the military, including time in the U.S. Space Command during the Iraq War, helping to knock out Iraqi scud missiles. He credits that time of his life with what got him interested in software development. He got his management information systems degree from UNI in 1998, and was thinking about returning to the military, but instead the company took off once the first game, Reel Deal Slots and Video Poker, landed on retailers shelves. He spent a lot of time in Denver, Colorado, near where Space Command is headquartered. Once Phantom EFX had been founded, though, he decided that the Cedar Valley was where his family and company should grow. I love the big city life, but its hard to make those deep, deep connections with people, Schurman said. And he says the decision to base the company in Cedar Falls is one of the areas best kept secrets. I grew up around here and I fell in love with the area, he said. You dont see a lot of high-tech companies here. Especially when we started it 25 years ago, there was a great void of it, and a lot of people in the industry thought I was crazy to develop in Iowa. But I think Cedar Falls has honestly been one of our secret weapons because weve gotten great talent here, retentions high, the costs are a little bit low, and its been fantastic. DES MOINES Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate presented the Carrie Chapman Catt Award to multiple Northeast Iowa schools during assemblies last week. The award goes to any school that registers at least 90% of eligible students to vote. On Tuesday, it was given to Gladbrook-Reinbeck High School. Waterloo Christian, Valley Lutheran, Denver and Tripoli high schools received it on Wednesday, according to a news release. The Carrie Chapman Catt Award is named after the famous Iowan who was instrumental in securing passage of the 19th Amendment, granting women access to the ballot box over 100 years ago. FRANKLIN COUNTY, Ala. (AP) A school bus driver in Alabama faces charges of driving under the influence and reckless endangerment after being spotted driving erratically with 40 children aboard. WAFF-TV reports that Franklin County Sheriff Shannon Oliver said deputies received a call about the bus Friday afternoon. AL.com reported that one motorist had video of the bus swerving from shoulder to shoulder. A motorist pulled in front of the bus to bring it to a stop, then boarded the bus, thinking the driver was having a medical emergency. However, investigators said the driver failed a field sobriety test. Nobody was injured. The driver was arrested and charged with driving under the influence and 40 counts of reckless endangerment, one count for each of the students on the bus. Des Moines Register. September 18, 2022. Editorial: School security spending makes sense, but more guns at school doesnt Research casts doubt on the idea that what a school gains in deterrence and response times will exceed what it loses in increased risk of accidents or other problems. Iowa is investing in the physical safety of people inside school buildings, dedicating $100 million of federal money toward assessing and improving building security. Its not a comprehensive approach to all aspects of physical safety and health no commitment to widespread investment in ventilation upgrades and nurse staffing, no separate work to make it more difficult for people to obtain dangerous weapons. This step apparently required the confluence of the second American elementary school shooting massacre in a decade and the availability of billions of dollars appropriated for coronavirus-related responses in education. But its something. Expert reviews of building vulnerabilities, dedicated money for improvements, a state agency devoting its time to researching and promoting best practices all those aspects of the new Governors School Safety Bureau are welcomed. Still, Americans have painfully realized over the past 30 years that they cannot make schools impregnable. Every security measure and technological advance represents an attempt to improve the odds of heading off or mitigating a catastrophe. It makes sense that, as an attempt to find any further morsel of preparedness, some schools have reacted by introducing more weapons to buildings, handled by either law enforcement officers or school staff members. In Florida, its the law for every building to have someone armed, a policy put in place after 17 people died in a shooting at a high school in Parkland. Some Republican politicians started floating the idea of giving guns to more U.S. teachers after this springs slaughter of 19 young children and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas. And in Iowa, the school board in Spirit Lake has adopted a policy to train up to 10 people none of them teachers to carry weapons at school buildings. This impulse is understandable, and comments from school board members and administrators in Spirit Lake reveal that the idea was developed thoughtfully. If such a policy is going to be implemented, its wise to exclude classroom teachers and to require extensive training for the staff members who will be armed, as the Spirit Lake board has done. The Dickinson County News reported school board member Scott Trautman as saying he was as far from saying yes to this as I could possibly imagine when the proposal first came up. Hes now voted for the policy twice. My love for kids far outweighs what I dont like about guns, he told the newspaper. But research about adults guns at schools specifically, and about what happens in any place where guns are kept generally casts doubt on the idea that what a school gains in deterrence and response times will exceed what it loses in increased risk of accidents or other problems. The Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence has documented nearly 100 incidents nationwide, over five years, in which adults firearms were mishandled in schools. Any such case could have a tragic outcome. We see this already with poorly secured weapons at homes. And at least two studies have found no benefit in reducing mass shootings from having armed officers on school campuses. Anecdotally, and infamously, armed officers including from the school districts own force responded quickly to Robb Elementary School in Uvalde and then did nothing. Four years ago, when President Donald Trump idly suggested that guns were a complete answer to school safety, this editorial board came up with 26 questions that any such plan would need answers for. Administrators and directors in Spirit Lake and other places pondering arming staff would do well to spell out for their constituents their responses to some of them, such as Will racial sensitivity courses be required? and Will a (staff member) be liable if students take a gun and shoot themselves or others? In the absence of restrictions on acquiring firearms, especially the most dangerous weapons with semi-automatic firing, the work of the Iowa Governors School Safety Bureau is the more promising response. While the bureau is still ramping up its work, its chief, Department of Public Safety Special Agent in Charge Don Schnitker, told Axios as the school year began that dozens of districts had already signed up to have buildings evaluated for vulnerabilities. They can then receive up to $50,000 per building for improvements. Schools also can get emergency radios and sign up for training programs. Iowans should encourage their local schools to take full advantage of these resources and advocate to keep firearms out of schools. END When former Republican Gov. Terry Branstad signed executive order number 85 on March 24, 2014, he stated transparency provides Iowans the necessary access to information to hold our government accountable and our Open Records Act is essential of ensuring openness our administration has maintained a steadfast commitment to a transparent government. Iowans are proud Branstad held weekly press briefings and being honest with his constituents; bravo. However, when Gov. Kim Reynolds and her GOP-driven Senate and House legislators took control of Iowas Capitol a few years ago, transparency went out the window and with the baby. Easy access to government data has gone to hell in a handbasket. Transparency is part of Iowa law, whereby any official of any organization that receives taxpayer funds must make it easy for the public to know the decision-making process and/or make data easily accessible when requested. Ease and easily are the key words; not burdensome not in secrecy and not hidden. The lack of transparency examples by Reynolds, GOP legislators and agencies under Reynolds leadership seem to be unending. Gov. Reynolds has not revealed the reasoning behind her $55 million private school scholarship program (SF 2369) that only affects 2% of Iowas children and would drain $79 million per year from the coffers of Iowas public school districts (Fiscal Services Division). Is her pro-voucher decision politically motivated to appease her Evangelical Christian base of voters (private schools already receive $100M/year) or does she have irrefutable evidence that private school educational outcomes exceed those provided by public schools? Why the secrecy? In May of 2021, after the Iowa Workforce Development declined to answer questions from Iowa Capital Dispatch about claims that Director Beth Townsend made related to unemployment fraud, requests for information were filed. It was later determined the Iowa Workforce Development violated the Open Records Law. Iowas Open Records Law was enacted in 1967. Journalists Laura Belin, Clark Kauffman and Randy Evans were plaintiffs who sued Gov. Kim Reynolds and some of her staff in Dec. of 2021 for ignoring five requests for open records information. A Polk County District Court rejected the states (and Gov. Reynolds) motion to dismiss the lawsuit. I remain perplexed whenever Reynolds or any of her agencies try to hide legally accessible information from journalists. Such action also keeps Iowas 3.15 million citizens in the dark, a far cry from Reynolds, et al, oath of office to serve and protect. During the past six legislative sessions controlled by Republicans, the Iowa Senate and House Government Oversight committees have rarely examined executive branch practices or questioned Gov. Kim Reynolds appointees. Here are other examples of the GOP-controlled oversight committees negligence. No meetings were held: related to Iowas handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, to inquire Iowa Department of Public Health officials on why they rejected federal offers to help test workers (COVID-19) at food processing facilities, to ask the Iowa Workforce Development leaders why many qualifying Iowans had to wait months for pandemic-related unemployment benefits or why hundreds of unemployed Iowans were asked to repay benefits they received, to discuss the 45% salary raise Dr. Caitlin Pedata, Iowas State Medical Director, received (a clear violation of state policy), to question why $448,449 in federal CARES Act funds was used to compensate 21 of Gov. Reynolds staffers, to scrutinize the no-bid contract to a Utah firm for COVID-19 testing, to inquire why Reynolds sent $95 million of COVID-19 testing funding back to the federal government instead of giving Iowas schools the option to use the money for COVID-19 testing protocols and to find out why a no-bid contract worth $50 million to purchase the Workday computer system for the entire state government at a time when Iowa State University had switched to Workday and were having a host of accounting problems with the new system. The GOP-controlled Government Oversight committees should be retitled Dont Ask Why nor Probe Committee. Kathie Obradovich, Editor-in-Chief, Iowa Capital Dispatch news service and a journalist for over 30 years said what I think best sums up Reynolds administration: In my years as a journalist in Iowa, Ive covered five gubernatorial administrations. I can say without hesitation that Gov. Kim Reynolds administration has been the absolute worst in terms of secrecy and outright denial of public access to information (Iowa Capital Dispatch, Aug. 9, 2021). On Tue., Nov. 8, will Iowans give Reynolds and her GOP peers a pass on their violation of Iowas open records law and transparency transgressions or will they hold her and them accountable for their gross dereliction of duty? It is well known that past actions are the best predictor of future behavior. If Reynolds, et al, are re-elected, secrecy and non-disclosure will continue to endure into 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026. We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! Go to form WireImage / Getty Images En espanol Gwyneth Paltrow does not miss acting at all, she told Sunday Today in July 2021. OK for her, but we miss Paltrow, who hasnt appeared on the big screen in a feature film since Avengers: Endgame in 2019. With hits such as Emma and Sliding Doors, she could have been a contender for rom-com queen and Americas (and Britains) sweetheart status, but the Oscar-winning A-lister had an admirable one for them, one for me ethic as she alternated commercial fare with more challenging films such as Two Lovers and Sylvia. Since 2008, Paltrow has been immersed primarily in the universes of Marvel movies and Goop, her $250 million lifestyle brand. Paltrow turns 50 on Sept. 27, an ideal occasion to look back on 10 of her most indelible films and performances. Distribution of company announcements to the professional platforms, finance portals and syndication of important corporate news to a wide variety of news aggregators and financial news systems. Name: Robert Moss Political Party: Republican Occupation: Businessman and attorney City of Residence: Albuquerque Education: B.A., J.D., LLM in taxation Campaign Website: moss4nm.com 1. New Mexico is highly reliant on the oil and natural gas industries to generate revenue to fund state programs, as evidenced by recent oil boom and bust cycles. What steps should the Legislature take to diversify the states economy and revenue base? Diversification is the key to a stable New Mexico economy. We need legislation that lowers the cost of doing business, reduces laws that deter job creation and employment, and fosters our broken education system. 2. During the last regular legislative session, there was an unsuccessful push to make it easier to keep certain defendants behind bars until trial. Should New Mexico law be changed to make it easier to hold individuals charged with violent offenses such as murder and first-degree child abuse behind bars until trial? Yes. The state must vigorously prosecute violent crimes. This shouldnt be an option; it should be the standard. Public safety is the core function of government. 3. What steps should the Legislature take to address crime and public safety as New Mexico faces one of the highest violent crime rates in the nation? We must reestablish respect for officers. The hyperbole perpetrated on those protecting us is dangerous to them and facilitates a general deterioration of law and order. Additionally, we must be tougher on violent criminals, restore the concept of victims rights, and ascertain alternative methods to reform offenders when appropriate. 4. Given the U.S. Supreme Courts recent decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, do you support or oppose codifying abortion protections in state law? And do you support or oppose enacting any restrictions on abortion in New Mexico? I agree with the almost 80% of Americans who are against late-term abortion. 5. New Mexico has already implemented several gun control laws in recent years. Would you support or oppose legislation that banned or restricted the sale of AR-15-style semi-automatic weapons, such as raising the age limit for purchasing such weapons? And what about legislation making it a crime to fail to safely secure firearms around children? I would oppose banning or restricting any style of a semi-automatic firearm. It is every individuals right and duty to defend their person and their family. Families should have the tools necessary to effectuate this protection, especially since current leadership fails to find solutions to New Mexicos violent crime wave. 6. The state agency tasked with keeping New Mexico children safe has faced recent scrutiny over transparency issues and its handling of high-profile child abuse cases. What changes would you support to improve the operations of the Children, Youth and Families Department? CYFD is a broken bureaucratic system, and the state has failed to hold it accountable, which isnt surprising since we are failing our children across the board. CYFD only works if it puts children first and is held responsible for failing to do so. 7. What changes, if any, should New Mexico make to its gross receipts tax code? Get rid of it. The current structure is burdensome to businesses, assists in the current medical provider shortage facing New Mexico, and is wrought with patron loopholes. This tax pyramiding scheme ultimately hurts the citizens of New Mexico and should be replaced. 8. New Mexico is currently the only state that does not pay its legislators a salary, though lawmakers do get per diem payments and can qualify for a legislative pension. Do you support or oppose a salaried Legislature and, if so, how much should lawmakers be paid? I would not vote for a salaried Legislature. I understand the contention that the current law may limit prospective candidates. However, I wouldnt feel right voting on legislation using hardworking folks tax dollars to pay me when I ran, knowing it was a volunteer position. 9. What more, if anything, should the Legislature do to address a court ruling that found New Mexico is failing to provide a sufficient education to all students, especially Native Americans and those who dont speak English as a first language? I believe the New Mexico Constitution is clear: every child in grades K-12 has a right to quality education. The fix is simple fund the student, not the system. 10. In recent years, New Mexico has steadily increased spending on early childhood programs, such as home visiting, prekindergarten and child care assistance, and created a new early childhood trust fund. Do you support or oppose the proposed constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would withdraw more money from the states permanent school fund to increase funding for early childhood services and K-12 education? The citizens of New Mexico do a great job of providing financial support to the children. The problem is that the state fails to hold fiscally irresponsible programs accountable and allows districts to inflate their administrative ranks. I am in favor of legislation that allows money to follow the student. 11. In order to address climate change and air quality issues, do you support or oppose legislation limiting greenhouse gas emissions and requiring the state achieve net-zero emissions by 2050? Of course, we must take care of the world in which we live. However, pathological altruistic legislation such as that proposed is deceptive. Alternative energys reliance on petrochemicals and our limitation in controlling other countries make it impractical, especially if we fail to take modular nuclear seriously. 12. Do you believe changes should be made to the emergency powers held by a governor during a pandemic or other time of crisis. If so, do you believe such powers should be expanded or reduced and in what specific ways? No one person should have the expansive power wielded by the current governor. As a legislator, I would support legislation reducing this power. 13. Would you support a merit-based evaluation system to determine how the state spends its capital outlay funding? Although I believe performance should dictate, the devil is in the details. Furthermore, I have difficulty trusting the government to choose capital projects in a fair and transparent manner. 14. Do you believe former President Donald Trumps claim that he was the legitimate winner of the 2020 presidential election? (Yes or No answer only, please) Respondent did not limit answer to yes or no as requested. 15. What changes, if any, would you support to New Mexicos election laws? I will support legislation that strengthens confidence in our beautiful democracy. Personal background 1. Have you or your business, if you are a business owner, ever been the subject of any state or federal tax liens? No. 2. Have you ever been involved in a personal or business bankruptcy proceeding? No. 3. Have you ever been arrested for, charged with, or convicted of drunken driving, any misdemeanor or any felony in New Mexico or any other state? If so, explain. I was arrested and pled guilty to operating a vehicle while intoxicated just after my 21st birthday. I was guilty and assumed complete responsibility during my pretrial/trial. I am lucky that no one was hurt by my actions, and I have learned a great deal from my mistake. I was also arrested for DWI in New Mexico in 2010, but the case was dismissed. I was not driving a car, I was on campus moving a scooter I used to go back and forth to class, and I was not over the legal limit. NAME: Charlotte Little POLITICAL PARTY: Democratic OCCUPATION: Deputy director, Naeva CITY OF RESIDENCE: Albuquerque RELEVANT EXPERIENCE: For 15 years, I have owned my own small business; served as a tribal administrator; and worked as an administrative officer for the United States Department of Health and Human Services. I have served New Mexicans through my work as vice-chair of New Mexico Voices for Children, president of Emerge New Mexico, and chair of the San Felipe Pueblo Health Board. EDUCATION: B.A., University of New Mexico, Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society CAMPAIGN WEBSITE: charlottelittleHD68.com 1. New Mexico is highly reliant on the oil and natural gas industries to generate revenue to fund state programs, as evidenced by recent oil boom and bust cycles. What steps should the Legislature take to diversify the states economy and revenue base? Our state is on the right track to diversify our economy, with film, tourism, cannabis, and renewable energy. We can create new revenue by also repealing the tax cut for the wealthiest New Mexicans and repealing the capital gains tax cut. 2. During the last regular legislative session, there was an unsuccessful push to make it easier to keep certain defendants behind bars until trial. Should New Mexico law be changed to make it easier to hold individuals charged with violent offenses such as murder and first-degree child abuse behind bars until trial? Our country is still based on the premise that one is innocent until proven guilty. I trust our current system, where judges maintain discretion to assess each defendant on their merits and relevant history. 3. What steps should the Legislature take to address crime and public safety as New Mexico faces one of the highest violent crime rates in the nation? Some of the biggest root causes of crime are poverty, mental illness and addiction. We need more children in early childhood education programs like Pre-K, more treatment beds and programs for mental health and addiction, and more positive engagement by parents and family members in the home. 4. Given the U.S. Supreme Courts recent decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, do you support or oppose codifying abortion protections in state law? And do you support or oppose enacting any restrictions on abortion in New Mexico? I strongly support codifying abortion protections in state law and strongly oppose any restrictions on abortion in New Mexico, both for women from here and for women traveling here from other states for health care. 5. New Mexico has already implemented several gun control laws in recent years. Would you support or oppose legislation that banned or restricted the sale of AR-15-style semi-automatic weapons, such as raising the age limit for purchasing such weapons? And what about legislation making it a crime to fail to safely secure firearms around children? I strongly support a ban on assault weapons and making it a crime not to safely secure firearms around children. I also support sensible measures like red flag laws, a ban on ghost guns, and preventing domestic abusers from owning a gun. 6. The state agency tasked with keeping New Mexico children safe has faced recent scrutiny over transparency issues and its handling of high-profile child abuse cases. What changes would you support to improve the operations of the Children, Youth and Families Department? Most state departments, which were dramatically cut during the Martinez era, need increased staffing. This shortage is especially dire for agencies like CYFD that address such grave matters as child abuse that involve child welfare, family dynamics, complex legal rules, and myriad social service agencies. 7. What changes, if any, should New Mexico make to its gross receipts tax code? The gross receipts tax is perhaps New Mexicos most regressive tax. I would support reducing the gross receipts tax, eliminating loopholes and exemptions to it, and then make up the lost revenue by repealing the tax cut on the wealthy and the capital gains tax cut. 8. New Mexico is currently the only state that does not pay its legislators a salary, though lawmakers do get per diem payments and can qualify for a legislative pension. Do you support or oppose a salaried Legislature and, if so, how much should lawmakers be paid? I absolutely support a paid Legislature, which would make the legislative body more representative of the diversity of our state. I support the notion of creating a commission to determine a salary that makes sense for our states range of wages. 9. What more, if anything, should the Legislature do to address a court ruling that found New Mexico is failing to provide a sufficient education to all students, especially Native Americans and those who dont speak English as a first language? As a member of San Felipe Pueblo, I have worked hard on this issue. The Legislature has made dramatic improvements in educator salaries and funding for schools, from Pre-K to college. We now need to address the teacher shortage and continue to promote first language learning, especially for tribal students. 10. In recent years, New Mexico has steadily increased spending on early childhood programs, such as home visiting, prekindergarten and child care assistance, and created a new early childhood trust fund. Do you support or oppose the proposed constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would withdraw more money from the states permanent school fund to increase funding for early childhood services and K-12 education? I strongly support the constitutional amendment and urge voters to vote yes. 11. In order to address climate change and air quality issues, do you support or oppose legislation limiting greenhouse gas emissions and requiring the state achieve net-zero emissions by 2050? I strongly support this measure. We must act with great urgency to reduce the impacts of climate change. 12. Do you believe changes should be made to the emergency powers held by a governor during a pandemic or other time of crisis. If so, do you believe such powers should be expanded or reduced and in what specific ways? I believe the current system strikes the right balance between executive and legislative power. 13. Would you support a merit-based evaluation system to determine how the state spends its capital outlay funding? I strongly support making capital outlay fully transparent. I do not think a merit-based system would be workable however. Lawmakers know the needs of their own community the best and should be able to make decisions on capital outlay that are responsive to those needs. 14. Do you believe former President Donald Trumps claim that he was the legitimate winner of the 2020 presidential election? (Yes or No answer only, please) No. 15. What changes, if any, would you support to New Mexicos election laws? The most important changes we can make right now are to secure the safety of election workers, who face more and more harassment for helping to make our democracy work. I also support efforts to make it easier for New Mexicans to vote early, absentee, or on election day. Personal background 1. Have you or your business, if you are a business owner, ever been the subject of any state or federal tax liens? When my husband and I started our small business 26 years ago, we were new business owners and did not understand our tax obligations. We paid off the taxes we owed, took full responsibility for our mistake, and have had a clean bill of financial health since taking action. 2. Have you ever been involved in a personal or business bankruptcy proceeding? No. 3. Have you ever been arrested for, charged with, or convicted of drunken driving, any misdemeanor or any felony in New Mexico or any other state? If so, explain. No. Sadly, I lost one brother to a drunk driver over a decade ago. NAME: Andrew G. Kennedy POLITICAL PARTY: Libertarian OCCUPATION: Lease operator/rancher CITY OF RESIDENCE: Loco Hills RELEVANT EXPERIENCE: Current elected Central Valley Soil and Water Conservation Board Supervisor, 10 years experience in business admin/operations (primarily agriculture and some oilfield) EDUCATION: Some college criminal justice major, Lamar University, Beaumont, Texas 1. New Mexico is highly reliant on the oil and natural gas industries to generate revenue to fund state programs, as evidenced by recent oil boom and bust cycles. What steps should the Legislature take to diversify the states economy and revenue base? Repealing many of the business licenses/registrations that the state requires would fast track many new business start-ups by New Mexicans and therefore increase the scope of the economy. 2. During the last regular legislative session, there was an unsuccessful push to make it easier to keep certain defendants behind bars until trial. Should New Mexico law be changed to make it easier to hold individuals charged with violent offenses such as murder and first-degree child abuse behind bars until trial? Yes, but only pertaining to objectively violent offenders who pose a clear threat to the community. Not to anyone else. 3. What steps should the Legislature take to address crime and public safety as New Mexico faces one of the highest violent crime rates in the nation? New Mexicos law enforcement resources should be dedicated to going after violent and property crime, not victimless crimes. If theres even a single unsolved murder, missing child, or untested rape kit, all law enforcement resources should be allocated to solving those crimes rather than enforcing something such as cannabis grow/sales regulations. 4. Given the U.S. Supreme Courts recent decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, do you support or oppose codifying abortion protections in state law? And do you support or oppose enacting any restrictions on abortion in New Mexico? Prohibition doesnt work, it never has and never will no matter what its targeting. We dont need to stretch law enforcement even more thin than it already is. However, no taxpayer funds should be spent on abortions under any circumstances. 5. New Mexico has already implemented several gun control laws in recent years. Would you support or oppose legislation that banned or restricted the sale of AR-15-style semi-automatic weapons, such as raising the age limit for purchasing such weapons? And what about legislation making it a crime to fail to safely secure firearms around children? I support the full repeal of all gun control laws and the nullification of federal gun control laws in New Mexico. The highest law in the land, the Constitution, has already made clear that all gun control laws are unlawful and our state government should follow that. Again, prohibition doesnt work. 6. The state agency tasked with keeping New Mexico children safe has faced recent scrutiny over transparency issues and its handling of high-profile child abuse cases. What changes would you support to improve the operations of the Children, Youth and Families Department? Child abuse is a violent crime that every government official should be focused on preventing. We should increase both transparency and community involvement in efforts to prevent this horrific crime. 7. What changes, if any, should New Mexico make to its gross receipts tax code? I would support the full repeal of the gross receipts tax and I would oppose replacing it with anything else, including a sales tax. 8. New Mexico is currently the only state that does not pay its legislators a salary, though lawmakers do get per diem payments and can qualify for a legislative pension. Do you support or oppose a salaried Legislature and, if so, how much should lawmakers be paid? I oppose even the per diem, I currently do not take the per diem offered by my Soil and Water Conservation Board supervisor office. All government positions should be completely volunteer, holding an office should be about making the world a better place rather than drawing a paycheck. 9. What more, if anything, should the Legislature do to address a court ruling that found New Mexico is failing to provide a sufficient education to all students, especially Native Americans and those who dont speak English as a first language? Expanding school choice is a potential solution to this, if the funds allocated for education of a student were able to be directed by the student and their parents they would better be able to choose an education that fits them than the state government could. 10. In recent years, New Mexico has steadily increased spending on early childhood programs, such as home visiting, prekindergarten and child care assistance, and created a new early childhood trust fund. Do you support or oppose the proposed constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would withdraw more money from the states permanent school fund to increase funding for early childhood services and K-12 education? I oppose this. The land grant fund should be used for New Mexicos lands, habitats, and pastures, it should not be a slush fund for other programs. We should reallocate funds from other areas of the budget for this. 11. In order to address climate change and air quality issues, do you support or oppose legislation limiting greenhouse gas emissions and requiring the state achieve net-zero emissions by 2050? I would oppose. We should be concerned about both the carbon footprint and habitats/pastures of the state. The proposed plans for 2050 I have seen would create mandates/subsidies for solar/wind which over their lifetime cause more habitat destruction and have a higher end carbon footprint than oil/nuclear power. 12. Do you believe changes should be made to the emergency powers held by a governor during a pandemic or other time of crisis. If so, do you believe such powers should be expanded or reduced and in what specific ways? The governors office should hold no emergency powers whatsoever. If theres an emergency, thats what a special session of the Legislature is for. 13. Would you support a merit-based evaluation system to determine how the state spends its capital outlay funding? Yes, we need to end the pork-barrel and other unnecessary spending that occurs all too frequently at the state level. 14. Do you believe former President Donald Trumps claim that he was the legitimate winner of the 2020 presidential election? (Yes or No answer only, please) No. 15. What changes, if any, would you support to New Mexicos election laws? I would support a repeal of petition requirements for candidates. As well as a change in Legislature districts, every county should receive two state House representatives and one state senator to allow rural New Mexico a voice. Personal background 1. Have you or your business, if you are a business owner, ever been the subject of any state or federal tax liens? No. 2. Have you ever been involved in a personal or business bankruptcy proceeding? No. 3. Have you ever been arrested for, charged with, or convicted of drunken driving, any misdemeanor or any felony in New Mexico or any other state? If so, explain. No. NAME: Jason C. Harper POLITICAL PARTY: Republican OCCUPATION: Research engineer at Sandia National Labs, Albuquerque CITY OF RESIDENCE: Rio Rancho RELEVANT EXPERIENCE: State representative 2013-present; volunteer campaign worker in municipal elections EDUCATION: Ph.D. (University of New Mexico), Master of Science (Purdue University), and Bachelor of Science (New Mexico Tech); all degrees in chemical engineering CAMPAIGN WEBSITE: HarperNM.com 1. New Mexico is highly reliant on the oil and natural gas industries to generate revenue to fund state programs, as evidenced by recent oil boom and bust cycles. What steps should the Legislature take to diversify the states economy and revenue base? Our states largest economic sectors are government (a whopping 25%), health care, and oil and gas. Small business, however, is our true economic backbone. But New Mexico gross receipts tax strangles small business. We must reform our gross receipts tax to end tax pyramiding and give small businesses a fair shake. 2. During the last regular legislative session, there was an unsuccessful push to make it easier to keep certain defendants behind bars until trial. Should New Mexico law be changed to make it easier to hold individuals charged with violent offenses such as murder and first-degree child abuse behind bars until trial? Yes. This is a no-brainer, and Im extremely disappointed that this effort did not pass. But the sad truth is the Democratic Party majority in Santa Fe prioritizes criminal perpetrators above victims. Its that simple. And this will not change until the people of New Mexico elect a new, conservative majority. 3. What steps should the Legislature take to address crime and public safety as New Mexico faces one of the highest violent crime rates in the nation? Catch and release is for fish, not criminals. We must change bail guidelines to keep dangerous criminals from being repeatedly released. We must also treat a root cause of crime drug addiction seriously. Lets stop giving addicts pseudo-help, like free needles. Instead, lets give them real, meaningful, life-changing help. 4. Given the U.S. Supreme Courts recent decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, do you support or oppose codifying abortion protections in state law? And do you support or oppose enacting any restrictions on abortion in New Mexico? Whether its from a scientific perspective of unique DNA being created that will never exist again, or from a spiritual perspective, I believe that innocent human life should be protected. I also personally support crisis pregnancy centers that provide medical, material, and emotional support to women in need. 5. New Mexico has already implemented several gun control laws in recent years. Would you support or oppose legislation that banned or restricted the sale of AR-15-style semi-automatic weapons, such as raising the age limit for purchasing such weapons? And what about legislation making it a crime to fail to safely secure firearms around children? Data shows that New Mexico gun laws have not prevented violent gun crime. Lets address the root cause mental health. I proposed legislation requiring mental health treatment for violent youth, and the creation of Community Engagement Teams to de-escalate violent situations. Sadly, the Democratic Party majority in Santa Fe nixed it. 6. The state agency tasked with keeping New Mexico children safe has faced recent scrutiny over transparency issues and its handling of high-profile child abuse cases. What changes would you support to improve the operations of the Children, Youth and Families Department? The front-line workers at CYFD, with their back-breaking caseloads, the heart-breaking situations they try to help with every day, and their low pay, are true angels. The biggest help to CYFD would be to stop politicizing it, and provide greater staffing, improved training, and higher salaries. 7. What changes, if any, should New Mexico make to its gross receipts tax code? Ive spearheaded genuine reform to our gross receipts tax, and weve made many positive changes recently. But the most meaningful change is still missing. This tax code is like Swiss cheese too many holes! Lets melt it down, close the loopholes, then broaden the base and lower the tax rate. 8. New Mexico is currently the only state that does not pay its legislators a salary, though lawmakers do get per diem payments and can qualify for a legislative pension. Do you support or oppose a salaried Legislature and, if so, how much should lawmakers be paid? Its a double-edged sword. Many good people cant take months off from work, in order to serve. However, it keeps public service not money as the focus. My decision? Not paid. With New Mexico at the bottom of so many ratings, the legislative majority party has done little to deserve it. 9. What more, if anything, should the Legislature do to address a court ruling that found New Mexico is failing to provide a sufficient education to all students, especially Native Americans and those who dont speak English as a first language? New Mexico per-student funding actually falls within the national average. Funding is not the root problem unequal distribution is. Rio Rancho receives only $10,700/student, while Albuquerque gets $13,100/student, and Bernalillo gets $15,500/student. The State Equalization Guarantee is anything but. Lets fix this broken funding formula and make things right. 10. In recent years, New Mexico has steadily increased spending on early childhood programs, such as home visiting, prekindergarten and child care assistance, and created a new early childhood trust fund. Do you support or oppose the proposed constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would withdraw more money from the states permanent school fund to increase funding for early childhood services and K-12 education? Weve already significantly increased early childhood funding to supplement the funds nearly $1 billion+ a year in payouts. Raiding the fund will not help kids, but will instead hurt their families, as this fund saves each family $1,000 a year in taxes. Dont kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. 11. In order to address climate change and air quality issues, do you support or oppose legislation limiting greenhouse gas emissions and requiring the state achieve net-zero emissions by 2050? As an award-winning Ph.D. chemical engineer, I believe in the spirit of ingenuity. One day, clean, low-cost fusion will power our world. Brilliant minds are making significant, but gradual progress. Forcing zero emissions prematurely will merely make energy more expensive and less reliable, which especially hurts the poor. 12. Do you believe changes should be made to the emergency powers held by a governor during a pandemic or other time of crisis. If so, do you believe such powers should be expanded or reduced and in what specific ways? I supported measures to prevent overwhelming our hospitals. However, Im very concerned about gubernatorial abuse of power: she sent a staffer to retrieve a jewelry purchase, but she closed all other nonessential stores. Rules for thee, but not for me. Lets keep families safe, without forfeiting our constitutional rights. 13. Would you support a merit-based evaluation system to determine how the state spends its capital outlay funding? My concerns about a merit-based evaluation system are: who decides what merit is, and if a project has this elusive merit? The majority political party? The governor? We state reps know whats needed in our own districts, not bureaucrats in Santa Fe. Were the ones who answer to our neighbors. 14. Do you believe former President Donald Trumps claim that he was the legitimate winner of the 2020 presidential election? (Yes or No answer only, please) Respondent did not limit answer to yes or no as requested. 15. What changes, if any, would you support to New Mexicos election laws? Independents make up 22% of New Mexicos voters, and their choice to be independent should be respected, not punished. Allowing open primaries will help end the intense division and partisan stalemate of the major parties, move politicians closer to the center, and help them govern together, working for our common good. Personal background 1. Have you or your business, if you are a business owner, ever been the subject of any state or federal tax liens? No. 2. Have you ever been involved in a personal or business bankruptcy proceeding? No. 3. Have you ever been arrested for, charged with, or convicted of drunken driving, any misdemeanor or any felony in New Mexico or any other state? If so, explain. Nothing besides a minor traffic violation, which was dismissed. NAME: Elaine Allen POLITICAL PARTY: Independent OCCUPATION: County commissioner of Lincoln County District 5 CITY OF RESIDENCE: Lincoln RELEVANT EXPERIENCE: 8 years as a Lincoln County commissioner, chair of Friends of Historic Lincoln Boards: represent the county as member of GREENTREE SOLID WASTE, serve as member of Juvenile Justice Board; represent the County of Lincoln as: South Eastern New Mexico Economic Development District. EDUCATION: High school CAMPAIGN WEBSITE: Elaineallenfornm.com 1. New Mexico is highly reliant on the oil and natural gas industries to generate revenue to fund state programs, as evidenced by recent oil boom and bust cycles. What steps should the Legislature take to diversify the states economy and revenue base? Why diversify? We have a $13 billion budget because of oil and gas. If anything we need to expand this resource while making it possible for small businesses to thrive. We can achieve this with a deep revision of our tax code this would make New Mexico competitive with any state. 2. During the last regular legislative session, there was an unsuccessful push to make it easier to keep certain defendants behind bars until trial. Should New Mexico law be changed to make it easier to hold individuals charged with violent offenses such as murder and first-degree child abuse behind bars until trial? Absolutely. Retired Supreme Court Justice Charles Daniels pushed catch and release and sold the idea that this policy would reduce crime. It has been an absolute failure. My priority is to protect the public, not the criminal. 3. What steps should the Legislature take to address crime and public safety as New Mexico faces one of the highest violent crime rates in the nation? We must end catch and release. We also need to elect conservative judges and elect more conservatives to pass tougher crime laws. Criminals have no deterrent in New Mexico and thats why crime is out of control. 4. Given the U.S. Supreme Courts recent decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, do you support or oppose codifying abortion protections in state law? And do you support or oppose enacting any restrictions on abortion in New Mexico? I am pro-life. It is troubling that one of our fastest growing industries is abortion. We must put in place policies that support women in these tough situations to carry the baby to full-term. 5. New Mexico has already implemented several gun control laws in recent years. Would you support or oppose legislation that banned or restricted the sale of AR-15-style semi-automatic weapons, such as raising the age limit for purchasing such weapons? And what about legislation making it a crime to fail to safely secure firearms around children? I will not support any infringement of our Second Amendment. The Constitution as written is what I support word-for-word. More gun control has not reduced crime, it has only disarmed law abiding citizens. 6. The state agency tasked with keeping New Mexico children safe has faced recent scrutiny over transparency issues and its handling of high-profile child abuse cases. What changes would you support to improve the operations of the Children, Youth and Families Department? We need better oversight because right now you have the fox guarding the henhouse with corruption and the deaths of several children. We need to build this department back up from the bottom and bring common sense back. 7. What changes, if any, should New Mexico make to its gross receipts tax code? Get rid of GRT now. It is confusing for small businesses and time consuming. Our neighbors do not have it and are doing much better than us and are more business friendly. If we dont do this, we will not move forward. We also need to cut ridiculous regulations with oil and gas that hurt the small producers. 8. New Mexico is currently the only state that does not pay its legislators a salary, though lawmakers do get per diem payments and can qualify for a legislative pension. Do you support or oppose a salaried Legislature and, if so, how much should lawmakers be paid? Absolutely not. I support a part-time Legislature that is citizen focused. However, we do need term limits to get rid of the professional politicians and the corruption. 9. What more, if anything, should the Legislature do to address a court ruling that found New Mexico is failing to provide a sufficient education to all students, especially Native Americans and those who dont speak English as a first language? It is time we provide parents a choice where they want their children to go. Moreover, we also need a constitutional amendment to give local school boards the same standing as the Public Education Department. More local involvement means better education. 10. In recent years, New Mexico has steadily increased spending on early childhood programs, such as home visiting, prekindergarten and child care assistance, and created a new early childhood trust fund. Do you support or oppose the proposed constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would withdraw more money from the states permanent school fund to increase funding for early childhood services and K-12 education? No. We are already losing more students in public schools because they are a failure and more and more money to pay for more failure is not the answer. 11. In order to address climate change and air quality issues, do you support or oppose legislation limiting greenhouse gas emissions and requiring the state achieve net-zero emissions by 2050? No. New Mexico has not put out any scientific study how that will affect global climate change. Government needs to get out of our business. Having more regulations does not solve climate issues. 12. Do you believe changes should be made to the emergency powers held by a governor during a pandemic or other time of crisis. If so, do you believe such powers should be expanded or reduced and in what specific ways? Absolutely. The governor has single-handedly destroyed this state with unchecked power. A bill should be sponsored to immediately check any governors power. All emergency power should belong to the legislative body not one person. 13. Would you support a merit-based evaluation system to determine how the state spends its capital outlay funding? Yes. We need to make sure money for projects gets to where it needs to be. There is so much wasteful spending of our money with the current system. This is one reason we need term limits. 14. Do you believe former President Donald Trumps claim that he was the legitimate winner of the 2020 presidential election? (Yes or No answer only, please) Yes. 15. What changes, if any, would you support to New Mexicos election laws? We need voter ID, end mail-in ballots, verify signatures, cut down on the early voting time, people have lost faith in Dominion, clean the voter rolls, and get rid of drop boxes. This should be a partisan issue, with over 75% of Americans saying they are concerned with the safety of our election. Personal background 1. Have you or your business, if you are a business owner, ever been the subject of any state or federal tax liens? No. 2. Have you ever been involved in a personal or business bankruptcy proceeding? No. 3. Have you ever been arrested for, charged with, or convicted of drunken driving, any misdemeanor or any felony in New Mexico or any other state? If so, explain. No. NAME: Doreen Gallegos POLITICAL PARTY: Democratic OCCUPATION: Executive director, Mesilla Valley CASA CITY OF RESIDENCE: Las Cruces RELEVANT EXPERIENCE: I have represented District 52 since 2014 and am the only Dona Ana County New Mexico Representative in House leadership. I serve as the executive director of Mesilla Valley Court Appointed Special Advocates. We advocate for abused and neglected children who are in foster care. EDUCATION: B.A. and masters in social work, NMSU CAMPAIGN WEBSITE: doreengallegos.com 1. New Mexico is highly reliant on the oil and natural gas industries to generate revenue to fund state programs, as evidenced by recent oil boom and bust cycles. What steps should the Legislature take to diversify the states economy and revenue base? Renewable energy has already begun to diversify our economy, especially in our rural areas. We need to boost tourism, hotels and restaurants, and continue to expand the film industry through local crews and infrastructure. The Santa Teresa area can be the economic driver for the next decade and deserves support. 2. During the last regular legislative session, there was an unsuccessful push to make it easier to keep certain defendants behind bars until trial. Should New Mexico law be changed to make it easier to hold individuals charged with violent offenses such as murder and first-degree child abuse behind bars until trial? I opposed recent changes to bail statutes. It is important that judges have all the tools available to protect public safety. I do not think a one-size-fits-all approach to pretrial detention is workable. Judges need options. 3. What steps should the Legislature take to address crime and public safety as New Mexico faces one of the highest violent crime rates in the nation? Much of the crime in Las Cruces has its roots in addiction and mental health we need more funding for services and facilities. Additionally, jobs and early childhood education deter crime. Lastly, police need the tools to be safe and protect us. 4. Given the U.S. Supreme Courts recent decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, do you support or oppose codifying abortion protections in state law? And do you support or oppose enacting any restrictions on abortion in New Mexico? I am a strong supporter of codifying abortion protections in state law. We must protect access to abortion in our state, and I will oppose any attempts to restrict the rights of women to make decisions for themselves. 5. New Mexico has already implemented several gun control laws in recent years. Would you support or oppose legislation that banned or restricted the sale of AR-15-style semi-automatic weapons, such as raising the age limit for purchasing such weapons? And what about legislation making it a crime to fail to safely secure firearms around children? I do not support weapons of war for public purchase. I support raising the age of purchasing some firearms. These laws, along with red flag laws, a ban on ghost guns, and preventing domestic abusers from owning a gun are common sense reforms that will make our community safer. 6. The state agency tasked with keeping New Mexico children safe has faced recent scrutiny over transparency issues and its handling of high-profile child abuse cases. What changes would you support to improve the operations of the Children, Youth and Families Department? As one who works with children and families and worked at CYFD, I know how important and difficult this work is. CYFD is woefully understaffed. Nearly every cabinet secretary has tried to change the culture there. Its time the Legislature steps in with oversight capabilities and forces change. 7. What changes, if any, should New Mexico make to its gross receipts tax code? We must make changes to our gross receipts tax that promote businesses and especially small businesses in New Mexico, while keeping an eye on revenue. There are some loopholes that can be closed. I support further reductions to the gross receipts tax if we can make those reductions revenue neutral. 8. New Mexico is currently the only state that does not pay its legislators a salary, though lawmakers do get per diem payments and can qualify for a legislative pension. Do you support or oppose a salaried Legislature and, if so, how much should lawmakers be paid? There is a proposal currently to develop a commission to conduct research and recommend a salary level that would be appropriate for New Mexico. I support that type of study to modernize our Legislature. 9. What more, if anything, should the Legislature do to address a court ruling that found New Mexico is failing to provide a sufficient education to all students, especially Native Americans and those who dont speak English as a first language? Weve worked hard to prioritize education in recent state budgets. We invested in our teachers to ensure their wages outperform neighboring states. We must make the money weve invested work by recruiting Native language and Spanish speaking educators while ensuring that the classroom experience is culturally and linguistically relevant. 10. In recent years, New Mexico has steadily increased spending on early childhood programs, such as home visiting, prekindergarten and child care assistance, and created a new early childhood trust fund. Do you support or oppose the proposed constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would withdraw more money from the states permanent school fund to increase funding for early childhood services and K-12 education? I sponsored the Early Childhood Trust Fund, which is estimated to grow to $4 billion by 2025 derived by surpluses in revenues. My legislation ensures that all New Mexico kids are trust fund babies. I have supported this amendment in the past. 11. In order to address climate change and air quality issues, do you support or oppose legislation limiting greenhouse gas emissions and requiring the state achieve net-zero emissions by 2050? I support limiting greenhouse gas emissions and reaching net-zero emissions by 2050, if not sooner. Reducing the impact of climate change is critical for all of us and especially for those in agriculture. 12. Do you believe changes should be made to the emergency powers held by a governor during a pandemic or other time of crisis. If so, do you believe such powers should be expanded or reduced and in what specific ways? The current statute is old. I am not opposed to examining the statute for possible modifications. 13. Would you support a merit-based evaluation system to determine how the state spends its capital outlay funding? I believe capital outlay decisions are best left to the elected representatives of the voters. These representatives know their own community the best. I would not want lawmakers from other parts of the state dictating to small communities like Anthony, Berino and Mesquite what their needs are. 14. Do you believe former President Donald Trumps claim that he was the legitimate winner of the 2020 presidential election? (Yes or No answer only, please) No. 15. What changes, if any, would you support to New Mexicos election laws? I support legislation which provides for ballot security and strengthened protection for election workers who face increasing harassment and intimidation. These individuals must be allowed to implement elections for our democracy. I also support efforts making it easier to vote early or absentee. Personal background 1. Have you or your business, if you are a business owner, ever been the subject of any state or federal tax liens? No. 2. Have you ever been involved in a personal or business bankruptcy proceeding? No. 3. Have you ever been arrested for, charged with, or convicted of drunken driving, any misdemeanor or any felony in New Mexico or any other state? If so, explain. No. NAME: Kathleen M. Cates POLITICAL PARTY: Democratic OCCUPATION: Realtor CITY OF RESIDENCE: Rio Rancho RELEVANT EXPERIENCE: Advocating for individuals with disabilities to legislators and elected officials regarding accessibility, funding and employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities. Successfully owned or operated nonprofits (with as many as 190 employees) and small businesses; mother of two, leader in my community through civic organizations, nonprofit CEO, booster parent and engaged citizen. EDUCATION: Bachelors degree, completed all course work for Master of Public Administration with a budget/finance concentration. CAMPAIGN WEBSITE: VoteforKathleen.com 1. New Mexico is highly reliant on the oil and natural gas industries to generate revenue to fund state programs, as evidenced by recent oil boom and bust cycles. What steps should the Legislature take to diversify the states economy and revenue base? A principle of business is to diversify the revenue stream. New Mexico remains vulnerable because we only rely on oil, gas and timber. New Mexico can be the innovators and model for wind and solar farms. We can capitalize on our diverse landscapes to be used in the film and hospitality industries. 2. During the last regular legislative session, there was an unsuccessful push to make it easier to keep certain defendants behind bars until trial. Should New Mexico law be changed to make it easier to hold individuals charged with violent offenses such as murder and first-degree child abuse behind bars until trial? Judges already have the authority to detain defendants without bail and/or to impose high bail levels. We need to elect judges who will consider the people before the defendants. 3. What steps should the Legislature take to address crime and public safety as New Mexico faces one of the highest violent crime rates in the nation? Community policing models are needed in New Mexico but especially in urban areas. The community policing model is not just about police officers but should include dispatchers, prosecutors, judges, paramedics, trauma experts and mental health experts. The Legislature should provide funding for team training methods and retention for law enforcement officers. 4. Given the U.S. Supreme Courts recent decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, do you support or oppose codifying abortion protections in state law? And do you support or oppose enacting any restrictions on abortion in New Mexico? I trust women. Their health care needs and lifelong decision to become or not become a parent is their decision alone. I support codification. We cannot rely on the political whims of different governors and must provide a certainty for women. I do not see the need for any restrictions. 5. New Mexico has already implemented several gun control laws in recent years. Would you support or oppose legislation that banned or restricted the sale of AR-15-style semi-automatic weapons, such as raising the age limit for purchasing such weapons? And what about legislation making it a crime to fail to safely secure firearms around children? Banning war weapons needs to be done on the federal level. It should be a crime if adults do not properly secure firearms. 6. The state agency tasked with keeping New Mexico children safe has faced recent scrutiny over transparency issues and its handling of high-profile child abuse cases. What changes would you support to improve the operations of the Children, Youth and Families Department? A quality control process is needed to create documented accountable processes. There are several programs that can be used but they will require a quality control department that does not report directly to CYFD. 7. What changes, if any, should New Mexico make to its gross receipts tax code? No longer tax baby diapers. We already stopped taxing adult diapers. Removing the tax will help address this very difficult challenge. There are too many corporate exemptions. 8. New Mexico is currently the only state that does not pay its legislators a salary, though lawmakers do get per diem payments and can qualify for a legislative pension. Do you support or oppose a salaried Legislature and, if so, how much should lawmakers be paid? I support a salaried Legislature. Currently, the governor and lobbyists have too much power since legislators have limited resources. As to an amount, we need to look at funding staff for legislators, as well as a legislators salary. The numbers need to be derived by a comprehensive study. 9. What more, if anything, should the Legislature do to address a court ruling that found New Mexico is failing to provide a sufficient education to all students, especially Native Americans and those who dont speak English as a first language? It is important that individuals and educators from all rural areas and tribal lands must be at the table to make these plans and decisions. Making decisions at the Roundhouse without consulting the people they affect is ineffective and inefficient. 10. In recent years, New Mexico has steadily increased spending on early childhood programs, such as home visiting, prekindergarten and child care assistance, and created a new early childhood trust fund. Do you support or oppose the proposed constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would withdraw more money from the states permanent school fund to increase funding for early childhood services and K-12 education? Support proudly. 11. In order to address climate change and air quality issues, do you support or oppose legislation limiting greenhouse gas emissions and requiring the state achieve net-zero emissions by 2050? I would have to review all specific legislation before committing my support but climate change is real. We can grow our economy and protect our environment. Climate change is scientifically proven, and we must act quickly if we are to keep our planet in a life sustaining condition. 12. Do you believe changes should be made to the emergency powers held by a governor during a pandemic or other time of crisis. If so, do you believe such powers should be expanded or reduced and in what specific ways? No. New Mexico needs to be able to take quick and decisive actions when we are in a crisis. 13. Would you support a merit-based evaluation system to determine how the state spends its capital outlay funding? If it was created like most grant processes, of being measurable and with a time table. This would also require an audit or review of documented completion. It cannot be a subjective merit. 14. Do you believe former President Donald Trumps claim that he was the legitimate winner of the 2020 presidential election? (Yes or No answer only, please) No. 15. What changes, if any, would you support to New Mexicos election laws? Voting should be easier for New Mexico. We have a wonderful richly diverse state that needs to be represented. That means absentee voting, drop boxes and clearly communicated voting locations are a must to bring all of New Mexicos voices to our Roundhouse. Personal background 1. Have you or your business, if you are a business owner, ever been the subject of any state or federal tax liens? No. 2. Have you ever been involved in a personal or business bankruptcy proceeding? No. 3. Have you ever been arrested for, charged with, or convicted of drunken driving, any misdemeanor or any felony in New Mexico or any other state? If so, explain. No. NAME: Jane Powdrell-Culbert POLITICAL PARTY: Republican OCCUPATION: Consultant CITY OF RESIDENCE: Corrales RELEVANT EXPERIENCE: Served as a New Mexico legislator in District 44 EDUCATION: B.A. Plus, University of New Mexico CAMPAIGN WEBSITE: 1. New Mexico is highly reliant on the oil and natural gas industries to generate revenue to fund state programs, as evidenced by recent oil boom and bust cycles. What steps should the Legislature take to diversify the states economy and revenue base? It is time to stop biting the hand that feeds us. New Mexico has every natural resource more than the surrounding states. The Legislature needs to provide more business friendly legislation in New Mexico and let businesses to do what they do best. Working together can make that happen. 2. During the last regular legislative session, there was an unsuccessful push to make it easier to keep certain defendants behind bars until trial. Should New Mexico law be changed to make it easier to hold individuals charged with violent offenses such as murder and first-degree child abuse behind bars until trial? Yes. 3. What steps should the Legislature take to address crime and public safety as New Mexico faces one of the highest violent crime rates in the nation? New Mexico judges must have the willpower to implement current laws by sentencing criminals accordingly. 4. Given the U.S. Supreme Courts recent decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, do you support or oppose codifying abortion protections in state law? And do you support or oppose enacting any restrictions on abortion in New Mexico? Support. Support. 5. New Mexico has already implemented several gun control laws in recent years. Would you support or oppose legislation that banned or restricted the sale of AR-15-style semi-automatic weapons, such as raising the age limit for purchasing such weapons? And what about legislation making it a crime to fail to safely secure firearms around children? No. There is no way to enforce such a law. Especially when most guns of this type are purchased illegally. 6. The state agency tasked with keeping New Mexico children safe has faced recent scrutiny over transparency issues and its handling of high-profile child abuse cases. What changes would you support to improve the operations of the Children, Youth and Families Department? Transparency. 7. What changes, if any, should New Mexico make to its gross receipts tax code? Eliminate it. 8. New Mexico is currently the only state that does not pay its legislators a salary, though lawmakers do get per-diem payments and can qualify for a legislative pension. Do you support or oppose a salaried Legislature and, if so, how much should lawmakers be paid? Yes, New Mexico should pay its legislators. The Legislature should propose the annual amount and then allow New Mexican voters to vote on it. 9. What more, if anything, should the Legislature do to address a court ruling that found New Mexico is failing to provide a sufficient education to all students, especially Native Americans and those who dont speak English as a first language? English is the language of the land and should be offered in every school to improve speaking skills. 10. In recent years, New Mexico has steadily increased spending on early childhood programs, such as home visiting, pre-kindergarten and child care assistance, and created a new early childhood trust fund. Do you support or oppose the proposed constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would withdraw more money from the states permanent school fund to increase funding for early childhood services and K-12 education? Oppose. Withdrawing more money from the permanent fund will not improve New Mexicos low ranking in education. Parents should be more involved and be more responsible in their childs education and behavior in the classroom. 11. In order to address climate change and air quality issues, do you support or oppose legislation limiting greenhouse gas emissions and requiring the state achieve net-zero emissions by 2050? Support. Laudable goal but challenging. 12. Do you believe changes should be made to the emergency powers held by a governor during a pandemic or other time of crisis? If so, do you believe such powers should be expanded or reduced and in what specific ways? I totally believe that the governors emergency powers should be reduced. As a sitting legislator, I believe that an emergency session should be called to address the emergency/crisis. Legislators live in the district and constituents should have the opportunity to weigh in on the event. 13. Would you support a merit-based evaluation system to determine how the state spends its Capital Outlay funding? Yes. In District 44, I have provided constituents who requested copies of the capital outlay dollars for the past 19 years. 14. Do you believe former President Donald Trumps claim that he was the legitimate winner of the 2020 presidential election? (Yes or No answer only, please) No. 15. What changes if any, would you support to New Mexicos election laws? Support voter ID. Eliminate late arrival boxes. Oppose state primary elections. New election processes for absentee voting. Personal background 1. Have you or your business, if you are a business owner, ever been the subject of any state or federal tax liens? No. 2. Have you ever been involved in a personal or business bankruptcy proceeding? No. 3. Have you ever been arrested for, charged with, or convicted of drunken driving, any misdemeanor or any felony in New Mexico or any other state? If so, explain. No. NAME: Joseph L. Sanchez POLITICAL PARTY: Democratic OCCUPATION: Electrical engineer CITY OF RESIDENCE: Alcalde RELEVANT EXPERIENCE: Former state representative District 40, former vice-chair House Appropriations and Finance Committee EDUCATION: Bachelors and Masters degrees in electrical engineering from the University of New Mexico, and Masters degree in Business Administration from New Mexico State University CAMPAIGN WEBSITE: josephsanchezfornm.com 1. New Mexico is highly reliant on the oil and natural gas industries to generate revenue to fund state programs, as evidenced by recent oil boom and bust cycles. What steps should the Legislature take to diversify the states economy and revenue base? We need to eliminate the barriers to doing business in New Mexico by simplifying everywhere we can. In addition, we should expand our economy by becoming a hydrogen hub while working to make renewable energy a bigger piece of the economic picture. 2. During the last regular legislative session, there was an unsuccessful push to make it easier to keep certain defendants behind bars until trial. Should New Mexico law be changed to make it easier to hold individuals charged with violent offenses such as murder and first-degree child abuse behind bars until trial? Crime is out of control. We need to change our laws to keep criminals behind bars while putting in place programs that reduce the recidivism rate. In addition, we need to hold our judges accountable for the actions they take. 3. What steps should the Legislature take to address crime and public safety as New Mexico faces one of the highest violent crime rates in the nation? Many crime problems can be solved by improving our economy and education system while providing opportunities for our children. In the short term we need more police and need to hold criminals accountable. We need to review actions such as the constitutional amendment that allows for catch and release of criminals. 4. Given the U.S. Supreme Courts recent decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, do you support or oppose codifying abortion protections in state law? And do you support or oppose enacting any restrictions on abortion in New Mexico? I oppose late-term abortion with medical exceptions. I do not support taxpayer dollars funding abortions. 5. New Mexico has already implemented several gun control laws in recent years. Would you support or oppose legislation that banned or restricted the sale of AR-15-style semi-automatic weapons, such as raising the age limit for purchasing such weapons? And what about legislation making it a crime to fail to safely secure firearms around children? Im a supporter of the 2nd Amendment as well as educating those who own firearms so they secure and store them in a proper way. 6. The state agency tasked with keeping New Mexico children safe has faced recent scrutiny over transparency issues and its handling of high-profile child abuse cases. What changes would you support to improve the operations of the Children, Youth and Families Department? We must retain our current caseworkers, incentivizing them with better pay. In addition, we need to add caseworkers so we can reduce the case load for each worker. I believe we must tap into the current workforce to see how we can make positive changes at CYFD this means talking to management as well as the hands-on workforce. 7. What changes, if any, should New Mexico make to its gross receipts tax code? Tax pyramiding under the GRT needs to end. In addition, we should end many of the exemptions and deductions under our current system to expand the tax base. Ultimately ending the gross receipts tax by finding consensus on the best replacement is necessary. 8. New Mexico is currently the only state that does not pay its legislators a salary, though lawmakers do get per diem payments and can qualify for a legislative pension. Do you support or oppose a salaried Legislature and, if so, how much should lawmakers be paid? We need to put this issue to a vote of the citizens to determine if legislators will be paid and what they will be paid. Having a salary in place for legislators may attract more people to run for office knowing they will be compensated for their time. 9. What more, if anything, should the Legislature do to address a court ruling that found New Mexico is failing to provide a sufficient education to all students, especially Native Americans and those who dont speak English as a first language? Schools must receive adequate funding while students learn in facilities that are conducive to quality education. This is especially true for schools that serve Native American and ESL populations. These students deserve to have a quality education and to stop being overlooked by the adults running the system. 10. In recent years, New Mexico has steadily increased spending on early childhood programs, such as home visiting, prekindergarten and child care assistance, and created a new early childhood trust fund. Do you support or oppose the proposed constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would withdraw more money from the states permanent school fund to increase funding for early childhood services and K-12 education? I support early childhood programs because they are important to the development of our children. The withdrawals come with protections to ensure the fund does not ever go away while providing a system to give our children the best possible start to their education. 11. In order to address climate change and air quality issues, do you support or oppose legislation limiting greenhouse gas emissions and requiring the state achieve net-zero emissions by 2050? I support well thought out legislation arrived at through a collaborative process, done responsibly, that will not raise rates on New Mexicans, a majority of whom are some of the poorest in the country. We can protect the climate while taking care of our family, friends and neighbors. 12. Do you believe changes should be made to the emergency powers held by a governor during a pandemic or other time of crisis. If so, do you believe such powers should be expanded or reduced and in what specific ways? We are two coequal branches of government and no one branch should have more power than the other. Emergency powers that are granted by law should face careful scrutiny by the Legislature to see if they are effective, too broad reaching, and are detrimental to our way of life. 13. Would you support a merit-based evaluation system to determine how the state spends its capital outlay funding? Our capital outlay system is broken. This type of proposal needs to be looked into closely. My concern is that big cities such as Albuquerque and Santa Fe will benefit more than rural areas if this is not done correctly. 14. Do you believe former President Donald Trumps claim that he was the legitimate winner of the 2020 presidential election? (Yes or No answer only, please) No. 15. What changes, if any, would you support to New Mexicos election laws? We should have an open primary system so everyone can vote without so many people being left out of the process. Personal background 1. Have you or your business, if you are a business owner, ever been the subject of any state or federal tax liens? No. 2. Have you ever been involved in a personal or business bankruptcy proceeding? No. 3. Have you ever been arrested for, charged with, or convicted of drunken driving, any misdemeanor or any felony in New Mexico or any other state? If so, explain. Approximately 12 years ago, I failed to appear in connection with a routine traffic citation in Santa Fe. I was subsequently charged with failing to appear. After appearing on this charge, the matter was resolved, and charges dismissed. NAME: Rodolpho Rudy Martinez POLITICAL PARTY: Democratic OCCUPATION: Retired CITY OF RESIDENCE: Silver City RELEVANT EXPERIENCE: Air Force veteran and served in Vietnam, worked at the Chino Mines for over 30 years, was an International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers electrician. Former Town Council and mayor of Bayard, former Grant County commissioner, former HD39 representative EDUCATION: Bachelor of Science from Western New Mexico University and Cobre High School in Bayard CAMPAIGN WEBSITE: rudymartineznm.com 1. New Mexico is highly reliant on the oil and natural gas industries to generate revenue to fund state programs, as evidenced by recent oil boom and bust cycles. What steps should the Legislature take to diversify the states economy and revenue base? Breaking from boom and bust cycles will take investments and incentives in renewable energy sectors that can help us diversify our energy portfolio. Not only will this help break boom and bust cycles, or mitigate their impacts, but it will also create good-paying jobs in rural New Mexico. 2. During the last regular legislative session, there was an unsuccessful push to make it easier to keep certain defendants behind bars until trial. Should New Mexico law be changed to make it easier to hold individuals charged with violent offenses such as murder and first-degree child abuse behind bars until trial? Violent offenders pose risks to our communities and it is important that we make sure victims in cases of alleged violence are able to keep a peace of mind that they wont be harmed again, and communities should not be subject to more instances of violence from an accused individual. 3. What steps should the Legislature take to address crime and public safety as New Mexico faces one of the highest violent crime rates in the nation? While rural New Mexico has not seen record high violent crime rates like the more urban areas of New Mexico, its something we must take seriously. Addressing these issues requires looking at a broken criminal justice system that should improve our recidivism rate so we reduce instances of repeat offenders. 4. Given the U.S. Supreme Courts recent decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, do you support or oppose codifying abortion protections in state law? And do you support or oppose enacting any restrictions on abortion in New Mexico? I do support codifying abortion protections in state law. It is important that the people of New Mexico know that the government will not go between them and their medical professional when they make health care decisions. I oppose any restrictions on abortion in New Mexico. 5. New Mexico has already implemented several gun control laws in recent years. Would you support or oppose legislation that banned or restricted the sale of AR-15-style semi-automatic weapons, such as raising the age limit for purchasing such weapons? And what about legislation making it a crime to fail to safely secure firearms around children? The first priority should be to prevent guns from falling into the hands of mass shooters and violent criminals. I would support an age limit raise to purchase such weapons and supporting regulations to safely secure firearms around children, which many responsible gun owners are already doing. 6. The state agency tasked with keeping New Mexico children safe has faced recent scrutiny over transparency issues and its handling of high-profile child abuse cases. What changes would you support to improve the operations of the Children, Youth and Families Department? Improve the lack of transparency that is preventing families and the public from accessing necessary information that is needed to hold the department accountable. We cant keep kids safe if we dont know what the department is doing. 7. What changes, if any, should New Mexico make to its gross receipts tax code? There arent any changes that I would make. The GRT is necessary to help pay for the services our government owes to the public. 8. New Mexico is currently the only state that does not pay its legislators a salary, though lawmakers do get per diem payments and can qualify for a legislative pension. Do you support or oppose a salaried Legislature and, if so, how much should lawmakers be paid? While I could personally serve without a salary, a salary could bring new voices to the table that havent been able to sacrifice their job to serve. Ensuring diverse voices at the table is important to address everyday problems. I dont have enough information about how much. 9. What more, if anything, should the Legislature do to address a court ruling that found New Mexico is failing to provide a sufficient education to all students, especially Native Americans and those who dont speak English as a first language? The Legislature needs to do more to attract teachers who can fulfill these unique roles to provide individualized instruction to very-specific needs of previously underserved students. Additionally, improving access to broadband internet is going to be essential to improving lives for students in Native American reservations. 10. In recent years, New Mexico has steadily increased spending on early childhood programs, such as home visiting, prekindergarten and child care assistance, and created a new early childhood trust fund. Do you support or oppose the proposed constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would withdraw more money from the states permanent school fund to increase funding for early childhood services and K-12 education? I do and while I was serving in this seat, I dedicated a lot of time to improving access to early childhood education, especially in rural communities that are disproportionately impacted by lack of accessibility. 11. In order to address climate change and air quality issues, do you support or oppose legislation limiting greenhouse gas emissions and requiring the state achieve net-zero emissions by 2050? Invest and incentivize renewable energy production. An important part of reaching net-zero requires a diversified energy portfolio that doesnt heavily rely on fossil fuels. While I think it may be too late to get on track by 2050, making reachable goals to get on track is something I am open to and support. 12. Do you believe changes should be made to the emergency powers held by a governor during a pandemic or other time of crisis. If so, do you believe such powers should be expanded or reduced and in what specific ways? Unprecedented times gave way to an unprecedented response when Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham used the emergency powers held by her office. I think there is room for improvement for communities to make independent decisions on their own but they should be held to a base standard that doesnt drastically increase transmissibility. 13. Would you support a merit-based evaluation system to determine how the state spends its capital outlay funding? I think this is something that should be examined, but Im hesitant to change the general structure of how capital outlay funding requests are made. 14. Do you believe former President Donald Trumps claim that he was the legitimate winner of the 2020 presidential election? (Yes or No answer only, please) No. 15. What changes, if any, would you support to New Mexicos election laws? Increased early voting opportunities, particularly in the weekend leading up to Election Day. Additionally, states like Colorado have adopted automatic mail-ballot voting, without experiencing voter fraud. I think a system like this would help increase any voters ability to vote in elections, regardless of their party. Personal background 1. Have you or your business, if you are a business owner, ever been the subject of any state or federal tax liens? No. 2. Have you ever been involved in a personal or business bankruptcy proceeding? No. 3. Have you ever been arrested for, charged with, or convicted of drunken driving, any misdemeanor or any felony in New Mexico or any other state? If so, explain. No. NAME: Tara Jaramillo POLITICAL PARTY: Democratic OCCUPATION: Speech language pathologist, CEO of Positive Outcomes, Inc. (Founded in 1999) CITY OF RESIDENCE: Socorro RELEVANT EXPERIENCE: CEO, Positive Outcomes, LLC, 1999-current; Socorro Consolidated School Board member, 2021-current; chair, Socorro Democratic Party, 2018-2020; chair, New Mexico Next Generation Council 2020-Present; EDUCATION: New Mexico State University, B.A. in special education, 1993; New Mexico State University, Masters in speech language pathology, 1995 CAMPAIGN WEBSITE: tarajaramillofornm.com 1. New Mexico is highly reliant on the oil and natural gas industries to generate revenue to fund state programs, as evidenced by recent oil boom and bust cycles. What steps should the Legislature take to diversify the states economy and revenue base? As with all good business practices, New Mexico must diversify by building on our strengths like film, cannabis, renewable energy, outdoor recreation, tourism, local food production and support for local businesses. I support repealing tax cuts on the wealthiest and exempting income tax on military retirement. 2. During the last regular legislative session, there was an unsuccessful push to make it easier to keep certain defendants behind bars until trial. Should New Mexico law be changed to make it easier to hold individuals charged with violent offenses such as murder and first-degree child abuse behind bars until trial? As a family and child advocate, I believe that our focus must be on childrens safety and welfare. I believe judges should have discretion, based on the facts before them, when determining whether to keep dangerous individuals in jail until trial so that victims and our community are protected. 3. What steps should the Legislature take to address crime and public safety as New Mexico faces one of the highest violent crime rates in the nation? First, local law enforcement departments must be fully funded and staffed. Second, violent criminals must face swift and certain punishment. Third, to reduce drug-related crime we need to add more behavioral health and drug treatment centers in rural communities and small towns. 4. Given the U.S. Supreme Courts recent decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, do you support or oppose codifying abortion protections in state law? And do you support or oppose enacting any restrictions on abortion in New Mexico? I believe that reproductive rights are freedoms that should be protected and these very personal decisions women make must remain with her, her family, and her doctor, without government interference or restrictions. 5. New Mexico has already implemented several gun control laws in recent years. Would you support or oppose legislation that banned or restricted the sale of AR-15-style semi-automatic weapons, such as raising the age limit for purchasing such weapons? And what about legislation making it a crime to fail to safely secure firearms around children? I believe owning a firearm is a right, but it also comes with responsibilities. These responsibilities are to ensure that they are used and secured safely and sold to responsible individuals. 6. The state agency tasked with keeping New Mexico children safe has faced recent scrutiny over transparency issues and its handling of high-profile child abuse cases. What changes would you support to improve the operations of the Children, Youth and Families Department? We must increase prevention and intervention for parental drug abuse as well as mental health support for families. Increased transparency and collaboration with community partners such as schools, income support programs, and juvenile justice delinquency prevention providers must exist so that all involved advocate for the childs needs. 7. What changes, if any, should New Mexico make to its gross receipts tax code? We need to lower the gross receipts tax, get rid of loopholes, and replace that revenue by repealing the tax cut that the wealthiest New Mexicans have benefited from for over a decade. I support exempting income tax on military retirement. 8. New Mexico is currently the only state that does not pay its legislators a salary, though lawmakers do get per diem payments and can qualify for a legislative pension. Do you support or oppose a salaried Legislature and, if so, how much should lawmakers be paid? Support. When our leaders look more like the community they represent, the better we will be. Right now only retired or well-to-do people can afford to serve in the Legislature. We need working class people involved in government who understand what New Mexico families need. 9. What more, if anything, should the Legislature do to address a court ruling that found New Mexico is failing to provide a sufficient education to all students, especially Native Americans and those who dont speak English as a first language? Although we have made great strides to increase educator salaries and early childhood education funding, more must be done. The Martinez-Yazzie lawsuit established priorities that all students regardless of geography or race should have access to the best education. These agreements must be enforced, timelines maintained, and results reported to the public. 10. In recent years, New Mexico has steadily increased spending on early childhood programs, such as home visiting, prekindergarten and child care assistance, and created a new early childhood trust fund. Do you support or oppose the proposed constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would withdraw more money from the states permanent school fund to increase funding for early childhood services and K-12 education? I strongly support this constitutional amendment to increase funding for early childhood programs while also holding the institutions to a high evidence based standard of education. 11. In order to address climate change and air quality issues, do you support or oppose legislation limiting greenhouse gas emissions and requiring the state achieve net-zero emissions by 2050? Support. 12. Do you believe changes should be made to the emergency powers held by a governor during a pandemic or other time of crisis. If so, do you believe such powers should be expanded or reduced and in what specific ways? The current system is working well. 13. Would you support a merit-based evaluation system to determine how the state spends its capital outlay funding? I strongly support capital outlay becoming fully transparent. Although a merit based system seems equitable, the unique infrastructure needs of rural communities and small towns often dont get the attention and funding they deserve. 14. Do you believe former President Donald Trumps claim that he was the legitimate winner of the 2020 presidential election? (Yes or No answer only, please) No. 15. What changes, if any, would you support to New Mexicos election laws? New Mexico must do more to make voting more accessible. A focus on safe, secure, and varied voting options should exist, including drop boxes in each county and more early voting options in rural and tribal lands. Personal background 1. Have you or your business, if you are a business owner, ever been the subject of any state or federal tax liens? No. 2. Have you ever been involved in a personal or business bankruptcy proceeding? No. 3. Have you ever been arrested for, charged with, or convicted of drunken driving, any misdemeanor or any felony in New Mexico or any other state? If so, explain. No. NAME: Athena Ann Christodoulou POLITICAL PARTY: Democratic OCCUPATION: Tech entrepreneur in carbon-free energy CITY OF RESIDENCE: Albuquerque RELEVANT EXPERIENCE: Navy veteran (commander, retired); environmental and energy engineer EDUCATION: B.S., civil engineering, North Carolina State; MS, environmental engineering, University of Central Florida; MS, nanosystems and microsystems/business, University of New Mexico CAMPAIGN WEBSITE: athenaforNM.org 1. New Mexico is highly reliant on the oil and natural gas industries to generate revenue to fund state programs, as evidenced by recent oil boom and bust cycles. What steps should the Legislature take to diversify the states economy and revenue base? Discontinue any subsidies to new fossil fuel infrastructure projects. Continue to promote and nurture the film, space, bioscience, tech transfer, outdoor tourism, manufacturing and renewable energy industries while ensuring they pay fair taxes. No corporate welfare. Less taxes on the hard working middle class and more on the ultra wealthy. 2. During the last regular legislative session, there was an unsuccessful push to make it easier to keep certain defendants behind bars until trial. Should New Mexico law be changed to make it easier to hold individuals charged with violent offenses such as murder and first-degree child abuse behind bars until trial? It is up to judges to make that constitutional determination. Good record keeping and proper communication between law enforcement and the judicial system is key for good decision making. Any legislation should bolster that aspect of our criminal system. New Mexico needs also to ensure speedy trials. 3. What steps should the Legislature take to address crime and public safety as New Mexico faces one of the highest violent crime rates in the nation? One of our states jobs is to keep you safe from crime. Our state, counties and municipalities must collaborate in diverting the nonviolent and youth from future crimes, changing police procedures that lead authorities to wrong suspects, and using the best technology to protect the innocent while identifying the guilty. 4. Given the U.S. Supreme Courts recent decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, do you support or oppose codifying abortion protections in state law? And do you support or oppose enacting any restrictions on abortion in New Mexico? Choosing when and whether to become a parent is deeply personal and private. No one likes abortion, and it is a complex issue for the individuals involved. Politicians should stay out of this very personal and private decision between a woman, her physician and God. 5. New Mexico has already implemented several gun control laws in recent years. Would you support or oppose legislation that banned or restricted the sale of AR-15-style semi-automatic weapons, such as raising the age limit for purchasing such weapons? And what about legislation making it a crime to fail to safely secure firearms around children? Our community cant be safe with military-style guns being sold. These guns should only be in the hands of military-trained personnel for combat. Veterans, though, need a firearm security law in the civilian world for suicide prevention. And its needed to protect curious kids from harming themselves or others. 6. The state agency tasked with keeping New Mexico children safe has faced recent scrutiny over transparency issues and its handling of high-profile child abuse cases. What changes would you support to improve the operations of the Children, Youth and Families Department? Our children are our future and are the most vulnerable in our society. Major decisions by CYFD need to incorporate a process for public input. Respect for the agency and its effectiveness will benefit from greater transparency, better screening and training of new hires, and lower case loads. 7. What changes, if any, should New Mexico make to its gross receipts tax code? The Tax Changes bill (HB6 2019) addressed online and out-of-state entities. We should consider more excise tax on dangerous products and long haul interstate trucking, and lowering GRT for startups, new doctors and other professionals we want to attract. Also, loopholes for some industries mean other industries carry the burden. 8. New Mexico is currently the only state that does not pay its legislators a salary, though lawmakers do get per diem payments and can qualify for a legislative pension. Do you support or oppose a salaried Legislature and, if so, how much should lawmakers be paid? Having a professional Legislature would certainly open it to becoming a more economically diverse body with younger participation and less vulnerable to lobbying influence. Just as important, though, is having paid, year-round staff again reducing reliance on lobbyists and corporate influence. Legislator salary? Base it on teacher salaries? 9. What more, if anything, should the Legislature do to address a court ruling that found New Mexico is failing to provide a sufficient education to all students, especially Native Americans and those who dont speak English as a first language? Our public schools need to provide each child the opportunity to achieve their fullest potential in life. Lets make sure we fund any effort properly, train our educators, and involve a professional society like the National Education Association to determine missing pieces to our education picture. 10. In recent years, New Mexico has steadily increased spending on early childhood programs, such as home visiting, prekindergarten and child care assistance, and created a new early childhood trust fund. Do you support or oppose the proposed constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would withdraw more money from the states permanent school fund to increase funding for early childhood services and K-12 education? New Mexico recently raised teacher salaries, established the early childhood department, and committed to broadband for remote learning. Taking a larger percent of the profits from our $26 billion fund is a wise investment in our future. Please do your part and vote yes on the constitutional amendment for early education. 11. In order to address climate change and air quality issues, do you support or oppose legislation limiting greenhouse gas emissions and requiring the state achieve net-zero emissions by 2050? For too long, we have lost our right to life to corporate interests. We need clean air, water and land to live. Quickly transitioning to renewables with clean storage, electrification and avoiding fracked or mined hydrogen will take us to carbon zero and offer my granddaughters a livable earth. 12. Do you believe changes should be made to the emergency powers held by a governor during a pandemic or other time of crisis. If so, do you believe such powers should be expanded or reduced and in what specific ways? My 93-year-old mother is still alive because our governor set mandates with public health and welfare in mind, not money. Her stepping up to the plate to protect us benefited everyone. Our government is by, with and for the people. I value people and the planet over profit. 13. Would you support a merit-based evaluation system to determine how the state spends its capital outlay funding? Our capital outlay system lacks planning, is rife with quid pro quo, and needs changes. I would like to investigate alternative processes. 14. Do you believe former President Donald Trumps claim that he was the legitimate winner of the 2020 presidential election? (Yes or No answer only, please) No . 15. What changes, if any, would you support to New Mexicos election laws? New Mexico currently has excellent election laws. Our system is working. We might consider allowing 17-year-olds to vote in local elections as training to be a more engaged citizen while still at home. Personal background 1. Have you or your business, if you are a business owner, ever been the subject of any state or federal tax liens? No. 2. Have you ever been involved in a personal or business bankruptcy proceeding? No. 3. Have you ever been arrested for, charged with, or convicted of drunken driving, any misdemeanor or any felony in New Mexico or any other state? If so, explain. No. NAME: Pamelya Herndon POLITICAL PARTY: Democratic OCCUPATION: Nonprofit executive, attorney CITY OF RESIDENCE: Albuquerque RELEVANT EXPERIENCE: Currently serving in the New Mexico House of Representative representing House District 28 in Albuquerques Northeast Heights. Served as a senior trial attorney with the Department of Treasury, Internal Revenue Service; served as assistant attorney general for the state of New Mexico; served as general counsel and as a deputy cabinet secretary in New Mexico state government; currently president/CEO of a nonprofit law center; certified public accountant and licensed to practice law in the states of Colorado, New Mexico, and before the United States Supreme Court. EDUCATION: Howard University, B.S. business administration; University of Texas Law School, Juris Doctor CAMPAIGN WEBSITE: pamelyaherndon.com 1. New Mexico is highly reliant on the oil and natural gas industries to generate revenue to fund state programs, as evidenced by recent oil boom and bust cycles. What steps should the Legislature take to diversify the states economy and revenue base? To diversify the economy and be less reliant on fuel revenue, lets grow what already works in our state like aerospace, film and television, and green energy. Lets also address misalignment between higher education and industry. Finally repeal income tax cuts that have not produced additional jobs or economic stability. 2. During the last regular legislative session, there was an unsuccessful push to make it easier to keep certain defendants behind bars until trial. Should New Mexico law be changed to make it easier to hold individuals charged with violent offenses such as murder and first-degree child abuse behind bars until trial? Although the pretrial system was created by New Mexico voters in a constitutional amendment that passed with 87% of the vote, judges make the final decision on release pending trial. We need to process cases faster by fully funding our court system and retool the broken Public Safety Assessment algorithm. 3. What steps should the Legislature take to address crime and public safety as New Mexico faces one of the highest violent crime rates in the nation? The 2022 legislature began taking steps to address crime and public safety with enactment of HB 68 by: (1) sentence enhancement when firearms are used in the commission of serious violent crimes; (2) increasing the statute of limitations for second-degree murder; and (3) creating the law enforcement retention fund. 4. Given the U.S. Supreme Courts recent decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, do you support or oppose codifying abortion protections in state law? And do you support or oppose enacting any restrictions on abortion in New Mexico? I support codifying abortion protections in state law. I oppose enacting restrictions on abortion in New Mexico. I support giving women the right to make decisions for themselves about their bodies. These are private, personal decisions between a woman, her family and her doctor, made without governmental interference. 5. New Mexico has already implemented several gun control laws in recent years. Would you support or oppose legislation that banned or restricted the sale of AR15-style semi-automatic weapons, such as raising the age limit for purchasing such weapons? And what about legislation making it a crime to fail to safely secure firearms around children? I support legislation that will ban or restrict the sale of AR-15 style semi-automatic weapons. I strongly support legislation making it a crime, and imposing penalties against adults who fail to safely secure firearms, so they are out of the reach of minors. 6. The state agency tasked with keeping New Mexico children safe has faced recent scrutiny over transparency issues and its handling of high-profile child abuse cases. What changes would you support to improve the operations of the Children, Youth and Families Department? As an agency, CYFD is severely understaffed. I support more funding for CYFD to increase staff. The increased funding will also be used to provide salaries for CYFD employees that is more aligned with the stress and demands of the job. 7. What changes, if any, should New Mexico make to its gross receipts tax code? New Mexicos gross receipts tax is a complex system. We should eliminate destination gross receipts tax, increase transparency and usability of the system, and make it simpler for small and mid-sized businesses to understand. 8. New Mexico is currently the only state that does not pay its legislators a salary, though lawmakers do get per diem payments and can qualify for a legislative pension. Do you support or oppose a salaried Legislature and, if so, how much should lawmakers be paid? I support a salaried Legislature, together with a minimum of two paid staff members. Legislators should be paid a minimum of $35,000/year. 9. What more, if anything, should the Legislature do to address a court ruling that found New Mexico is failing to provide a sufficient education to all students, especially Native Americans and those who dont speak English as a first language? I generally support the draft action plan with an emphasis on the need to retain the current teachers; recruit more teachers to join the ranks; develop a pipeline of home-grown teachers, encouraging them to live in the communities where they teach; and respecting home languages by implementing culturally responsive instruction. 10. In recent years, New Mexico has steadily increased spending on early childhood programs, such as home visiting, prekindergarten, and childcare assistance, and created a new early childhood trust fund. Do you support or oppose the proposed constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would withdraw more money from the states permanent school fund to increase funding for early childhood services and K-12 education? I support the proposed constitutional amendment on the November ballot that will allow more money to be withdrawn from the states permanent school fund to increase funding for early childhood services and K-12 education. 11. In order to address climate change and air quality issues, do you support or oppose legislation limiting greenhouse gas emissions and requiring the state achieve net-zero emissions by 2050? I support both initiatives. 12. Do you believe changes should be made to the emergency powers held by a governor during a pandemic or other time of crisis. If so, do you believe such powers should be expanded or reduced and in what specific ways? Emergency powers of the governor should be allowed to remain in place for 30 days in the time of crisis, with the Legislature allowed to grant continuance of emergency powers for an unlimited number of 30-day extensions. This allows for checks and balances on the use of power. 13. Would you support a merit-based evaluation system to determine how the state spends its capital outlay funding? Yes. 14. Do you believe former President Donald Trumps claim that he was the legitimate winner of the 2020 presidential election? (Yes or No answer only, please) No. 15. What changes, if any, would you support to New Mexicos election laws? Voting should be straightforward, convenient and fair. First implement automatic voter registration; second, establish a permanent absentee voter list, giving voters the option of signing up once to receive absentee ballots; third, pass legislation to make Election Day a state holiday. Personal background 1. Have you or your business, if you are a business owner, ever been the subject of any state or federal tax liens? No. 2. Have you ever been involved in a personal or business bankruptcy proceeding? No. 3. Have you ever been arrested for, charged with, or convicted of drunken driving, any misdemeanor or any felony in New Mexico or any other state? If so, explain. No. NAME: Stefani Lord POLITICAL PARTY: Republican OCCUPATION: Retired CITY OF RESIDENCE: Sandia Park RELEVANT EXPERIENCE: Current elected representative EDUCATION: Bachelors in psychology CAMPAIGN WEBSITE: Lord22.com 1. New Mexico is highly reliant on the oil and natural gas industries to generate revenue to fund state programs, as evidenced by recent oil boom and bust cycles. What steps should the Legislature take to diversify the states economy and revenue base? Diversification requires dramatic changes. Few entrepreneurs want to do business in our beautiful state with an unfriendly business climate and the worst education in America. I recently met with a group of Hispanic business owners, expressing frustration about crime and the lack of action to fix these other issues. 2. During the last regular legislative session, there was an unsuccessful push to make it easier to keep certain defendants behind bars until trial. Should New Mexico law be changed to make it easier to hold individuals charged with violent offenses such as murder and first-degree child abuse behind bars until trial? In the last session, I co-signed onto a bill to do just that; if there is sufficient evidence, we should hold the worst of the worst behind bars, so they are not roaming the streets and repeat offending. Sadly, Democratic leadership decided never to hear HB 27. 3. What steps should the Legislature take to address crime and public safety as New Mexico faces one of the highest violent crime rates in the nation? I have talked to law enforcement officers with on-the-ground experience and listened to the public about their crime concerns. We then presented common sense crime bills to provide additional penalties for violent felons and bring back bail, only to have them stopped in committees by Democrats. 4. Given the U.S. Supreme Courts recent decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, do you support or oppose codifying abortion protections in state law? And do you support or oppose enacting any restrictions on abortion in New Mexico? New Mexico has no restrictions on abortion; we are known as the late-term abortion capital of the nation. Ending the life of a baby that can live and breathe on its own is barbaric. I support alternatives to empower women and men to choose life for unborn children and to end taxpayer-funded abortions. 5. New Mexico has already implemented several gun control laws in recent years. Would you support or oppose legislation that banned or restricted the sale of AR-15-style semi-automatic weapons, such as raising the age limit for purchasing such weapons? And what about legislation making it a crime to fail to safely secure firearms around children? An estimated 20 million people own AR-15 rifles, and 99.9% use them lawfully. Chicago has strict gun control laws, including AR-15 bans, yet Chicago has murders involving guns every weekend. Bans didnt solve their problem. We need to look at the deeper issues in our culture. 6. The state agency tasked with keeping New Mexico children safe has faced recent scrutiny over transparency issues and its handling of high-profile child abuse cases. What changes would you support to improve the operations of the Children, Youth and Families Department? I introduced HB 188 (amending the Abuse and Neglect Act) in 2022 to amend the CYFD confidentiality clause to disclose more; we cannot fix problems we dont know exist. I support an independent and autonomous outside office to review CYFD issues, concerns and cases. 7. What changes, if any, should New Mexico make to its gross receipts tax code? New Mexicos gross receipts tax, paid for by consumers, is overdue for reform and impacts our economic growth. GRT pyramiding is nonconforming with traditional sales tax and is unattractive to new businesses. We must eliminate GRT on business services and exempt companies that earn less than 100k per year. 8. New Mexico is currently the only state that does not pay its legislators a salary, though lawmakers do get per diem payments and can qualify for a legislative pension. Do you support or oppose a salaried Legislature and, if so, how much should lawmakers be paid? I support a slight increase in per diem, primarily due to the expense of lodging in Santa Fe. Offering group health insurance and full-time assistants would be far more beneficial than paying us a yearly salary. Full-time politicians would ruin the state by passing incessant bills all year. 9. What more, if anything, should the Legislature do to address a court ruling that found New Mexico is failing to provide sufficient education to all students, especially Native Americans and those who dont speak English as a first language? Abolish PED, empower our teachers, and allow parents to choose whats best for their children. Provide public funding to parents for home, private, or religious-based schools, including virtual schools. Stop the PED social studies program that teaches gender studies in kindergarten and Destruction of Americas by Spaniards to young children. 10. In recent years, New Mexico has steadily increased spending on early childhood programs, such as home visiting, prekindergarten, and child care assistance, and created a new early childhood trust fund. Do you support or oppose the proposed constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would withdraw more money from the states permanent school fund to increase funding for early childhood services and K-12 education? Investments in education can positively impact the economy, crime prevention, and achievement. However, the money for the permanent school fund comes from leases and royalties on nonrenewable natural resources, such as oil and gas, things Democrats want to ban. Any amendment involving education needs to include school choice. 11. In order to address climate change and air quality issues, do you support or oppose legislation limiting greenhouse gas emissions and requiring the state to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050? I support improvements in energy technology. Unfortunately, there is no technology available to replace carbon-based energy. The laws Democrats have passed in New Mexico will eradicate the energy that powers our way of life, with no replacement in sight. We are seeing the beginning of the consequences now. 12. Do you believe changes should be made to the emergency powers held by a governor during a pandemic or other time of crisis. If so, do you believe such powers should be expanded or reduced, and in what specific ways? No Democrat or Republican should have unlimited, unchecked powers in a representative government. In multiple sessions, I co-signed onto a bipartisan bill to terminate the Emergency Response Act after 90 days and force the governor to call us into a special session to address the need for an extension. 13. Would you support a merit-based evaluation system to determine how the state spends its capital outlay funding? Placing a merit-based system on capital outlay means that we as legislators no longer have the discretion of putting money where its needed. Instead, some outside source decides what is or isnt essential in our districts. 14. Do you believe former President Donald Trumps claim that he was the legitimate winner of the 2020 presidential election? (Yes or No answer only, please) Respondent did not limit answer to yes or no as requested. 15. What changes, if any, would you support to New Mexicos election laws? From my experience of knocking on doors in my district, we need to clean up our voter rolls and remove people who have moved or passed away. Ballot drop-off boxes should be removed, and we must pass laws requiring government-issued IDs to vote. Personal background 1. Have you or your business, if you are a business owner, ever been the subject of any state or federal tax liens? No. 2. Have you ever been involved in a personal or business bankruptcy proceeding? No. 3. Have you ever been arrested for, charged with, or convicted of drunken driving, any misdemeanor, or any felony in New Mexico or any other state? If so, explain. Misdemeanor 1983 NAME: Janelle Anyanonu POLITICAL PARTY: Democratic OCCUPATION: Office manager CITY OF RESIDENCE: Albuquerque RELEVANT EXPERIENCE: I am a graduate of Emerge New Mexico (2020), a member of the New Mexico Black Central Organizing Committee, and I have twice served on the State Central Committee for the Democratic Party EDUCATION: Bachelors degree CAMPAIGN WEBSITE: janellefornewmexico.com 1. New Mexico is highly reliant on the oil and natural gas industries to generate revenue to fund state programs, as evidenced by recent oil boom and bust cycles. What steps should the Legislature take to diversify the states economy and revenue base? First, we must put a greater percentage of oil and gas royalties in reserve to help alleviate our dependence on fossil fuels. Second, we must diversify our economy with an emphasis on industries like film, eco-tourism, and cannabis to avoid the boom-bust cycle of oil and gas. 2. During the last regular legislative session, there was an unsuccessful push to make it easier to keep certain defendants behind bars until trial. Should New Mexico law be changed to make it easier to hold individuals charged with violent offenses such as murder and first-degree child abuse behind bars until trial? I support all constitutionally-sound, data-driven public safety legislation, especially legislation that would keep people who are a danger or a flight risk behind bars. 3. What steps should the Legislature take to address crime and public safety as New Mexico faces one of the highest violent crime rates in the nation? Our police forces are spread paper-thin. We cannot expect our officers to be police, therapists and mediators. I support the creation and expansion of programs beyond our police and first responders to handle urgent but nonviolent calls especially where behavioral health and addiction are concerned. 4. Given the U.S. Supreme Courts recent decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, do you support or oppose codifying abortion protections in state law? And do you support or oppose enacting any restrictions on abortion in New Mexico? I believe the decision about abortion is between a woman and her doctor. Fortunately, even after the Supreme Court overturned Roe, New Mexicans are still free to make their own choices about abortion without government interference. If elected I will fight to expand access to reproductive health care. 5. New Mexico has already implemented several gun control laws in recent years. Would you support or oppose legislation that banned or restricted the sale of AR-15-style semi-automatic weapons, such as raising the age limit for purchasing such weapons? And what about legislation making it a crime to fail to safely secure firearms around children? The Supreme Court recently hamstrung gun laws. New Mexico is therefore limited in what can be regulated. Nevertheless, we must act. Gun violence is literally killing us. Domestic abusers and dangerous people must not have access to guns. Minimum age should be 21, safe storage mandated and waiting periods implemented. 6. The state agency tasked with keeping New Mexico children safe has faced recent scrutiny over transparency issues and its handling of high-profile child abuse cases. What changes would you support to improve the operations of the Children, Youth and Families Department? New Mexicos children continue to suffer as a result of the failures of CYFD. It is our responsibility as a society to protect our children. I support the improvements underway at CYFD, but I also support increased transparency and legislation to hold the department accountable if it fails our children. 7. What changes, if any, should New Mexico make to its gross receipts tax code? The gross receipts tax code should be simplified and streamlined. We need to make compliance with all of our tax laws easy for small businesses. I also support shifting some of our budgetary reliance away from GRT to a more progressive income tax. 8. New Mexico is currently the only state that does not pay its legislators a salary, though lawmakers do get per diem payments and can qualify for a legislative pension. Do you support or oppose a salaried Legislature and, if so, how much should lawmakers be paid? I support a salaried Legislature. Otherwise, we restrict the pool of people who could ever run for office. Working people deserve the opportunity to serve in the Legislature too. Like all New Mexicans, legislators should make a living wage. An appropriate salary should be set by voters, and not legislators. 9. What more, if anything, should the Legislature do to address a court ruling that found New Mexico is failing to provide a sufficient education to all students, especially Native Americans and those who dont speak English as a first language? The amendment to increase funding for early childhood education is a good start. However, the state is still failing its students. New Mexico needs to meet our children where they are. This means ease of access to early childhood programs for non-English speaking families. 10. In recent years, New Mexico has steadily increased spending on early childhood programs, such as home visiting, prekindergarten and child care assistance, and created a new early childhood trust fund. Do you support or oppose the proposed constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would withdraw more money from the states permanent school fund to increase funding for early childhood services and K-12 education? I support the amendment to allocate money from the Land Grant Permanent Fund to funding early childhood development. However, funding cannot only go to schools and government run childcare programs. It must include in-home facilities. Programs must be multicultural and multilingual for all New Mexicos children to benefit. 11. In order to address climate change and air quality issues, do you support or oppose legislation limiting greenhouse gas emissions and requiring the state achieve net-zero emissions by 2050? I strongly support legislation that works to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. 12. Do you believe changes should be made to the emergency powers held by a governor during a pandemic or other time of crisis. If so, do you believe such powers should be expanded or reduced and in what specific ways? I am proud of the hard decisions that our governor made to help keep New Mexicans safe during a pandemic. I believe that current law allows the governor the latitude needed to make important decisions even if those decisions are unpopular. 13. Would you support a merit-based evaluation system to determine how the state spends its capital outlay funding? I am willing to consider legislation to make sure that capital outlay funding is managed in a fiscally-sound manner. I would support a merit-based system to determine how capital outlay is spent if real data supports a merit-based system. 14. Do you believe former President Donald Trumps claim that he was the legitimate winner of the 2020 presidential election? (Yes or No answer only, please) No. 15. What changes, if any, would you support to New Mexicos election laws? I support the introduction of same day registration on Election Day. Our democracy works best when everyone has a voice. Personal background 1. Have you or your business, if you are a business owner, ever been the subject of any state or federal tax liens? No. 2. Have you ever been involved in a personal or business bankruptcy proceeding? No. 3. Have you ever been arrested for, charged with, or convicted of drunken driving, any misdemeanor or any felony in New Mexico or any other state? If so, explain. No. NAME: Ellis McMath POLITICAL PARTY: Republican OCCUPATION: Concealed carry firearms instructor CITY OF RESIDENCE: Albuquerque RELEVANT EXPERIENCE: FAA air traffic controller (retired after 22 years); Albuquerque reserve police officer; New Mexico State University commercial pilot; founder and director of a nonprofit organization; decorated Navy veteran Vietnam EDUCATION: Eastern New Mexico University; Seven Bar Flight School; Navy Whidbey Island Flight School; FAA Air Traffic Controller Academy. Albuquerque Bible College; Albuquerque Police Academy; Rio Grande High School CAMPAIGN WEBSITE: EllisMcMath.com 1. New Mexico is highly reliant on the oil and natural gas industries to generate revenue to fund state programs, as evidenced by recent oil boom and bust cycles. What steps should the Legislature take to diversify the states economy and revenue base? We need to emphasize our tourism industry. For our states economy to thrive we need a happy, healthy workforce. As a legislator, I will support changes that foster a business-friendly atmosphere. This would include passing right-to-work laws, reducing personal income tax and reforming our bizarre gross receipts tax code. 2. During the last regular legislative session, there was an unsuccessful push to make it easier to keep certain defendants behind bars until trial. Should New Mexico law be changed to make it easier to hold individuals charged with violent offenses such as murder and first-degree child abuse behind bars until trial? Yes. Our law enforcement officers are our true modern-day heroes. Without them our Land of Enchantment would spiral into chaos. Our streets and freeways have become unsafe. Law enforcement officials are frustrated having to continually rearrest violent offenders. 3. What steps should the Legislature take to address crime and public safety amid a rise in violent crime rates? My experience as an Albuquerque police reserve officer has given me insight and first-hand experience to address crime at the legislative level. I will assist in drafting and presenting legislation to mandate sentence lengths and create systemic reforms to the judicial election process. 4. Given the U.S. Supreme Courts recent decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, do you support or oppose codifying abortion protections in state law? And do you support or oppose enacting any restrictions on abortion in New Mexico? Shockingly, our Land of Enchantment is becoming known as the Late Term Abortion Capital. This is an unregulated, dangerous industry, and I cannot support late-term abortions. 5. New Mexico has already implemented several gun control laws in recent years. Would you support or oppose legislation that banned or restricted the sale of AR-15-style semi-automatic weapons, such as raising the age limit for purchasing such weapons? And what about legislation making it a crime to fail to safely secure firearms around children? I oppose gun registration. Gun registration leads to gun confiscations; i.e., Nazi Germany, Mexico (1917 Article 10) and now Australia. Does anyone think criminals will register their guns? I oppose any law that criminalizes law-abiding citizens. Responsible citizens should have the right to possess and carry firearms for protection. 6. The state agency tasked with keeping New Mexico children safe has faced recent scrutiny over transparency issues and its handling of high-profile child abuse cases. What changes would you support to improve the operations of the Children, Youth and Families Department? As an Albuquerque reserve police officer, I have responded to calls-for-service related to welfare checks on possibly neglected children. I have worked with CYFD personnel on individual cases. I believe these experiences uniquely qualify me to study existing policy with a view toward improving operations, transparency and accountability within the department. 7. What changes, if any, should New Mexico make to its gross receipts tax code? First, eliminate exemptions for special interests. Second, lower the rate. Next, eliminate tax on business services. It is not right that an in-state bookkeeper is forced to charge clients 7.875% when an out-of-state business can provide the service without charging gross receipts tax. 8. New Mexico is currently the only state that does not pay its legislators a salary, though lawmakers do get per diem payments and can qualify for a legislative pension. Do you support or oppose a salaried Legislature and, if so, how much should lawmakers be paid? Our Legislature needs modernization. There can be conflicts of interest when volunteer legislators craft legislation that affects their livelihoods. Many qualified lawmakers resign or do not run for office because they simply cannot afford it. If a salary is implemented, I will donate my 2023 income to a nonprofit. 9. What more, if anything, should the Legislature do to address a court ruling that found New Mexico is failing to provide a sufficient education to all students, especially Native Americans and those who dont speak English as a first language? Reforming how we spend education dollars will go a long way in requiring school accountability and improve the quality of education. Parents should have freedom to send their child to a school of their choice, private or public. Money should be attached to the student, not buildings or bloated administrations. 10. In recent years, New Mexico has steadily increased spending on early childhood programs, such as home visiting, prekindergarten and child care assistance, and created a new early childhood trust fund. Do you support or oppose the proposed constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would withdraw more money from the states permanent school fund to increase funding for early childhood services and K-12 education? Research shows the best place for very young children is in their own home. If that isnt possible, I would support targeted programs for children who need it most. I oppose implementing a universal program. Government-run pre-K programs can lead to indoctrination tactics. The permanent fund should remain permanent. 11. In order to address climate change and air quality issues, do you support or oppose legislation limiting greenhouse gas emissions and requiring the state achieve net-zero emissions by 2050? Electric cars and solar and wind power are exciting, new technologies; however, they have their own environmental impacts. CO2 emissions can be reduced by producing affordable electricity using nuclear power and natural gas. Trying to achieve net-zero emissions prior to developing sufficient sources to replace fossil fuels could spell calamity. 12. Do you believe changes should be made to the emergency powers held by a governor during a pandemic or other time of crisis. If so, do you believe such powers should be expanded or reduced and in what specific ways? The term emergency must be defined clearly in the law. The governors emergency powers should be limited to 30 days, unless extended by the Legislature. Our New Mexico and U.S. Constitutions mandate certain freedoms that should not be taken away. 13. Would you support a merit-based evaluation system to determine how the state spends its capital outlay funding? I do not support such a system. 14. Do you believe former President Donald Trumps claim that he was the legitimate winner of the 2020 presidential election? (Yes or No answer only, please) Respondent did not limit answer to yes or no as requested. 15. What changes, if any, would you support to New Mexicos election laws? I agree with the Journal editorial published August 3. State legislators should revisit our voter data online accessibility law and debate privacy vs. transparency. Citizens should have confidence in election integrity. I support a requirement that voters must present a valid government photo ID when they vote. Personal background 1. Have you or your business, if you are a business owner, ever been the subject of any state or federal tax liens? No. 2. Have you ever been involved in a personal or business bankruptcy proceeding? No. 3. Have you ever been arrested for, charged with, or convicted of drunken driving, any misdemeanor or any felony in New Mexico or any other state? If so, explain. No. Vietnam elevates its role in UN after 45 years of membership 45 years ago on September 20 Vietnam joined the United Nations, opening a new chapter in its relations with the world and creating conditions for the country to garner international support for its development and increasingly participate and contribute more deeply to global affairs. President Nguyen Xuan Phuc delivers his statement at the general debate of the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, the US, on September 22. (Photo: VNA) The country was admitted to the UN five months after it achieved national reunification following victory in the historic Ho Chi Minh campaign on April 30, 1975. The UN shortly issued a resolution, calling for international support and assistance to be given to the countrys post-war reconstruction and poverty reduction. From 1977 until the end of the 1980s when Vietnam faced an embargo imposed by the United States, the UN provided the most assistance to the Southeast Asian nation, ranging from overcoming war consequences to reducing poverty and boosting development. In the 1990s, the UN represented one of the leading organisations helping Vietnam to design policies and action programmes on economic and legal reforms, as well as supporting its further development and international integration. In response, the country gradually joined and increasingly promoted its role as part of UN agencies. Since the second half of the 1990s it has participated in a number of leading bodies of the UN, such as the UN Development Programme (UNDP), UN Childrens Fund (UNICEF), the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and the Human Rights Council. It has been twice elected as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council in both the 2008 - 2009 and 2020 - 2021 periods. Along with its various achievements in the Doi Moi (Renewal) process and international integration, Vietnam has accompanied and contributed effectively to the common work of the UN and the wider world. It is noteworthy that it engaged in the planning and implementation of the UNs Millennium Development Goals and Sustainable Development Goals to 2030, becoming an exemplary role model in implementing various programmes. Furthermore, Vietnam actively participates in UN co-operation programmes on climate change response, disease prevention and control, hunger eradication and poverty reduction, and assistance to disadvantaged people. It also co-ordinates with the UN in carrying out trilateral co-operation initiatives to help African countries in agriculture, food, education, health, and poverty reduction. When joining the UN Security Council, the country launched a range of important initiatives such as upholding the UN Charter and multilateralism, removing landmines, protecting women and children, as well as essential civilian facilities in war, a move which received strong support and consensus among UN members. It sent a total of 493 military officers and soldiers to UN peacekeeping forces and deployed four level-2 field hospitals in South Sudan and Abyei from 2017 to 2021. Moreover, Vietnam actively promotes co-operation between the UN and ASEAN, in areas ranging from peace - security and development to responding to global challenges such as environmental protection, climate change, and pandemics. With regard to the East Sea, it continues to emphasise respect for international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), in order to ensure peace, stability, security, safety, freedom of navigation, as well as the legitimate rights and interests of coastal countries, while simultaneously promoting the peaceful settlement of disputes without further complicating the situation. Over the past 45 years, the country has significantly contributed to the common work of the UN with a high sense of responsibility by engaging in planning international agendas based on national interests and the principles of international law, in order to create a level playing field for both large and small countries, for the cause of peace, security, and development. A changing world requires Vietnam to continue to bring into full play its consistent foreign policy to garner greater international support and assistance for its development goals up to 2030 and 2045. This should be done whilst further promoting its proactive role in the common affairs of the world, for peace, security, development co-operation, and in addressing global challenges. Moving forward, it is expected to contribute more to the noble goals of the UN, i.e. to resolve conflicts, maintain peace, and enjoy stability for the sake of all people around the world. PHNOM PENH, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- China's GX Foundation signed here on Monday a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to help eliminate cataract blindness in Cambodia's southeastern Prey Veng province, according to a press statement from Cambodia's health ministry. Under the MoU, the GX Foundation will provide two mobile eye treatment centers and a 35-seat bus as well as send Chinese doctors to work with their Cambodian counterparts to offer free cataract surgery to patients in Prey Veng province, the statement said. Cambodian Health Minister Mam Bunheng said the project was initiated under the frameworks of the Belt and Road Initiative and the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between Cambodia and China. "I would like to thank the government and people of China for having provided a great amount of aid to Cambodia for the development of health infrastructure and human resources," Bunheng said in the statement. GX Foundation is a Chinese non-profit and non-governmental organization registered in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region with the aim of providing humanitarian aid in the public health sector. It was established in 2018 for realizing people-to-people connectivity under the Belt and Road Initiative. NAME: Kimberly A. Kaehr-MacMillan POLITICAL PARTY: Republican OCCUPATION: Office manager CITY OF RESIDENCE: Los Ranchos de Albuquerque RELEVANT EXPERIENCE: Citizen of New Mexico EDUCATION: B.S. special education CAMPAIGN WEBSITE: abetternewmexico.com 1. New Mexico is highly reliant on the oil and natural gas industries to generate revenue to fund state programs, as evidenced by recent oil boom and bust cycles. What steps should the Legislature take to diversify the states economy and revenue base? The Land Grant Permanent Fund should be protected by not overspending. New Mexico is blessed with oil and natural gas deposits. We must use these resources to benefit New Mexico. 2. During the last regular legislative session, there was an unsuccessful push to make it easier to keep certain defendants behind bars until trial. Should New Mexico law be changed to make it easier to hold individuals charged with violent offenses such as murder and first-degree child abuse behind bars until trial? Yes, we must do everything in our power to protect the citizens of New Mexico. 3. What steps should the Legislature take to address crime and public safety as New Mexico faces one of the highest violent crime rates in the nation? We must protect our law-abiding citizens and families. We must overhaul our educational approach. The state must force prosecutors to enforce the laws and we must establish mandatory sentencing guidelines to ensure across the board fairness. 4. Given the U.S. Supreme Courts recent decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, do you support or oppose codifying abortion protections in state law? And do you support or oppose enacting any restrictions on abortion in New Mexico? New Mexico already has state laws on the books protecting all abortions in New Mexico. 5. New Mexico has already implemented several gun control laws in recent years. Would you support or oppose legislation that banned or restricted the sale of AR-15-style semi-automatic weapons, such as raising the age limit for purchasing such weapons? And what about legislation making it a crime to fail to safely secure firearms around children? I do not support the banning of any semi-automatic rifle. There are many ways we need to address the crime issue across New Mexico. First by overhauling our broken education system, enforcing laws and sentencing guidelines, and minimum sentences where a gun, of any type, is used to commit a crime. 6. The state agency tasked with keeping New Mexico children safe has faced recent scrutiny over transparency issues and its handling of high-profile child abuse cases. What changes would you support to improve the operations of the Children, Youth and Families Department? New Mexico is number 49 in the nation for child welfare. Our state is failing our most precious resources, our children. CYFD needs a complete overhaul and there should be complete transparency and accountability. The needs and safety of the children should be top priority. 7. What changes, if any, should New Mexico make to its gross receipts tax code? The New Mexico GRT should be abolished, and the necessary amount should be added to the sales tax. Its time people knew with transparency what they are being taxed. 8. New Mexico is currently the only state that does not pay its legislators a salary, though lawmakers do get per diem payments and can qualify for a legislative pension. Do you support or oppose a salaried Legislature and, if so, how much should lawmakers be paid? Yes, given the surrounding states and the need for a representative Legislature not just for the rich and entitled to be representatives, I would say $30,000 per year. 9. What more, if anything, should the Legislature do to address a court ruling that found New Mexico is failing to provide a sufficient education to all students, especially Native Americans and those who dont speak English as a first language? New Mexico is 50th in the country for education. We spend half of our state budget, $4.8 billion to fail all of New Mexicos children. We must completely overhaul our educational approach. Albert Einstein said, We cant solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them. 10. In recent years, New Mexico has steadily increased spending on early childhood programs, such as home visiting, prekindergarten and child care assistance, and created a new early childhood trust fund. Do you support or oppose the proposed constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would withdraw more money from the states permanent school fund to increase funding for early childhood services and K-12 education? Our state spends $4.8 billion this year to be last in the country for education. Our educational system is broken. All the pre-K money in the world wont keep a 10th grader in high school. I will not support $350 million more for undefined programs on a legislative spending spree. I support real education not day care. 11. In order to address climate change and air quality issues, do you support or oppose legislation limiting greenhouse gas emissions and requiring the state achieve net-zero emissions by 2050? I oppose this legislation. Our state should be on par with other states and have a pro-business environment. Greenhouse gasses should be nationally regulated, not 50 states with a patchwork of different emissions laws. 12. Do you believe changes should be made to the emergency powers held by a governor during a pandemic or other time of crisis. If so, do you believe such powers should be expanded or reduced and in what specific ways? All emergency powers that the governor has should not extend beyond 30 days without legislative approval. 13. Would you support a merit-based evaluation system to determine how the state spends its capital outlay funding? No. 14. Do you believe former President Donald Trumps claim that he was the legitimate winner of the 2020 presidential election? (Yes or No answer only, please) Did not respond. 15. What changes, if any, would you support to New Mexicos election laws? I believe that any acceptable state ID should be required to vote. ID is required to buy cigarettes, liquor, or to board a plane. It seems good to make sure the right voter is casting a vote. Personal background 1. Have you or your business, if you are a business owner, ever been the subject of any state or federal tax liens? No. 2. Have you ever been involved in a personal or business bankruptcy proceeding? No. 3. Have you ever been arrested for, charged with, or convicted of drunken driving, any misdemeanor or any felony in New Mexico or any other state? If so, explain. No. If youve been stalked by tiny striped mosquitoes this summer, youre not alone. These bold black-and-white bugs, aka Aedes aegypti, are aggressive biters and a little bit sneakier than other mosquitoes, said Nick Pederson, Urban Biology Division manager with Albuquerques Environmental Health Department. Found in Albuquerque and points south, the Aedes aegypti mosquito has spread rapidly across the state in recent years as a result of climate change. They may be just a nuisance now, but these mosquitoes are the primary route of transmission of four critical mosquito-borne viruses: Zika, Chikungunya, dengue fever and yellow fever. None of these diseases have been transmitted in New Mexico, Pederson said, but the Aedes aegyptis uniquely effective adaptations to its hosts humans means it poses a particular danger. Aedes aegypti can cause truly explosive epidemics, said Kathryn Hanley, a regents professor of biology at New Mexico State University with expertise in emerging mosquito-borne viruses. These mosquitoes are human-focused, Hanley explained: Theyre not interested in biting other animals. Unlike the West Nile virus, transmitted from birds to humans, humans are the reservoir for these four viruses. So one Aedes aegypti mosquito can spread a virus rapidly from person to person. Aedes aegypti die if exposed to low temperatures. But climate change brings milder winters that makes it easier for them to overwinter, Hanley said. The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report published this year warns climate change is projected to impact the distribution, abundance and infection rates of mosquitoes in North America. The report projects an increasing risk of mosquito-borne diseases, including dengue, endemic in Mexico, which is predicted to spread north across the border. In 2017, after the Zika outbreak in Latin America, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention modeled Aedes aegyptis potential spread across the U.S. At the time, the species arrival in Albuquerque was labeled unlikely. But, Pederson said, We now have Aedes egypti well established in Albuquerque, and it does not appear to be going anywhere. Native to Africa, the species arrived in the Americas during colonial times and became established in the southern U.S. They were discovered in Dona Ana County in 2016, and first documented in Albuquerque in 2018. Pederson has observed the local impacts of climate change in Albuquerque. Mosquito season used to start around Memorial Day and wrap up by the Balloon Fiesta, he said, but now weve seen an extension of the mosquito season by often weeks on either side of that time frame. Aedes aegyptis lifestyle is another key factor in their growing range. They live inside or in close proximity to homes, where theyre insulated from cold weather. That makes it hard to control their populations, Hanley said. Standard methods like spraying for adult mosquitoes may not be a viable option within or close to homes. Since these mosquitos need to live near humans, theyre only found in areas with dense human populations, not in farmlands or wetlands, Hanley said. She predicts they will continue to move north through New Mexico, leapfrogging between cities. But high-elevation cities like Santa Fe with cold winters may be inhospitable to them for now. Pederson emphasizes theres no quick fix for Aedes aegypti. Its not something that the city or county is going to come in and spray away, he said. Every neighborhood needs to have management plans to help lessen their numbers. Aedes aegypti make a big impact in urban areas in part because theyre more widespread than other mosquitoes. Pederson surveys numerous sites throughout Albuquerque and Bernalillo County, and has found Aedes aegypti everywhere west of the Sandias. Unlike other mosquito species that need bigger areas of standing water, Aedes aegypti breed in small containers, like rainwater collected in a childrens toy or a dish under a potted plant. These mosquitoes do quite well in just a typical city of Albuquerque backyard, Pederson said. In the last two years, hes received many calls from longtime residents complaining theyve never had mosquitoes at their homes until now. Pederson has several tips for minimizing these pests, including dumping out containers of water and scrubbing the containers, since their eggs can withstand drying and hatch after getting soaked again. Pederson noted Aedes aegypti are active during the daytime, mostly a couple of hours after dawn and a couple of hours before dusk. Wearing repellent when outside will deter them. He recommends a DEET-based repellent or one with lemon-eucalyptus oil. Yet the big picture for mosquito control across the state is critical. Hanley said New Mexico isnt prepared to address a new mosquito-borne disease. My concern is predominantly that we dont have uniform surveillance for mosquitoes and mosquito-borne diseases in the state. She cited Albuquerques program as an example of good surveillance. But she called the rest of the states surveillance spotty and said mosquito control programs at the county or district level are very fragmented. The New Mexico Department of Health did not provide a representative for an interview for this article. In a written statement, spokesperson David Morgan said, The Department of Health recognizes insect population surveillance to be among the many funding opportunities important in our ongoing effort to rebuild public health infrastructure. Morgan also noted the departments vacancy for a state entomologist. Hanley said the problem isnt lack of expertise across the state. Its lack of funding. She calls for an increased budget via a legislative line item. Without adequate resources, she said, we will mostly be blind to whats happening in the state. Taos Pueblos educational director, Bettina Sandoval, started her job in August 2018, the month after a judge in the Yazzie-Martinez consolidated lawsuit found that New Mexico wasnt providing a sufficient education to Indigenous students. In that time, a lot of progress has been made even if at a snails pace in education in the pueblo, she said, including advances in hiring Native language teachers, getting the ball rolling on a tribal library and implementing culturally relevant curriculum in nearby schools. But theres still a long way to go in all those areas, Sandoval said, and the pueblo needs more help to improve the education of its students. There just needs to be support for tribal education departments to grow how they need to grow, she told the Journal in an interview. It cant be directed by the state to say this is what a tribal education department should look like. It needs to be based on the community. It needs to be driven by us. The issues Sandoval highlighted are among those tribal leaders across New Mexico have long deemed as priorities through the tribal remedy framework, a set of educational and funding recommendations jointly developed and approved by the vast majority of the sovereign nations in New Mexico. But Rep. Derrick Lente, D-Sandia Pueblo, said theres still hesitation from state lawmakers and education leaders to fully accept the framework, which responded to the findings in the lawsuit. There has been a lot of apprehension (in) wanting to embrace that tribal remedy framework that has been their brainchild, their gift to trying to change education for their own students, he said. Education Secretary Kurt Steinhaus has said the state has had several productive meetings with tribal leaders, and that New Mexico shares their priorities to preserve Native languages and cultures. He added that the state will make sure to include the wishes of tribal leaders in its response to the findings in the lawsuit, and that state leaders are still willing to sit down with them on anything thats been left out. Theyre sovereign nations. And a part of, in my humble opinion sovereignty means respecting their knowledge and wisdom to implement education programs that are best for Native American children, Steinhaus said during an interview in late July. In a presentation to the Legislative Education Study Committee Sept. 8, state Public Education Department leaders indicated the department is approaching a finish line in its action plan responding to the findings in the lawsuit. This month, the PED will rewrite the action plan based on feedback it received for an earlier draft released in May. The department will present the updated draft to stakeholders and the governor at the end of the month and release it in October or November. Conroy Chino, a member of the Tribal Education Alliance, which contributed to the 94 total responses the PED received on its initial draft, said the plan needed to be more focused on strategies much like the programs and services laid out in the tribal remedy framework. While it lists all the funding and appropriations that have been received by the PED, there doesnt appear to be any real connection to goals or to strategies, he said of the draft plan. Id like for the state to recognize that theres validity in this tribal remedy framework, that its not just another outside group that has produced a set of strategies instead of solutions, but has truly come from within. Building capacity There are three main pillars to the framework, former Cochiti Pueblo governor Regis Pecos said: building capacity in tribal communities, which includes staffing, educational programs and physical infrastructure; implementing culturally-relevant curriculum for Indigenous students; and investing in higher education to improve the staffing pipeline, like Native language teachers. The framework has been embraced by state legislation in several ways, Lente acknowledged, like when lawmakers in 2019 passed a bill that strengthened the 2003 Indian Education Act by requiring school districts with significant populations of Indigenous students to assess and prioritize their needs. Earlier this year, the state Legislature also approved $12 million to be used for planning and designing tribal libraries, according to the PEDs current draft action plan. Taos Pueblo recently applied for roughly $140,000 to design a library, Sandoval said, adding she hasnt gotten an award letter yet. But oftentimes, money set aside for tribal education departments ends up getting reverted because of the bureaucracy involved in spending it, Lente said. Thats part of why he and other advocates are proposing a $200 million to $250 million tribal education trust fund that Lente said could be made up in part by money thats reverted to the general public education reform fund or the Land Grant Permanent Fund, which has seen explosive growth in previous years. The proposed trust fund, Lente has explained to lawmakers, would essentially be a pot of money set aside for local initiatives from which money would be distributed every year. It creates a revolving fund that tribes can rely on to build capacity to build programming within their own community that is not driven by paternalistic measures of We know whats best for you, Native Americans, or we know how to teach you best,' he told the Journal. A trust fund would also help solve a larger problem of initiatives, programs and funding that help some students, but arent focused enough to do so for those who are Indigenous, Lente said. One example of that, he said, is extended learning time which alongside K-5 Plus programs has seen a collective $400 million in state funds passed up by schools, Legislative Finance Committee analysts have said. Extended student services are a great thing for students that live in urbanized centers that have access to a school thats maybe blocks away from where they live, Lente said. But for that student that lives an hour bus ride away it doesnt work that way. Thats the case for many Indigenous students. The majority of them, Pecos said, are bused to school an hour or more away from their communities. That means that when theyre taken back home at the end of the day, theyre far from the nearest educational amenities. Lente said those can include internet access. For example, of Taos Pueblos roughly 275 kindergarten through 12th graders, only about 70 in total go to school in the pueblo, Sandoval said. The rest do so in the town of Taos. While the town isnt all that far, she said, it can be dangerous for students to walk there, making the public library, for example, hard to access. Thats why educational infrastructure needs to be built on their home turf, Pecos said. That is a significant part of building new systems and institutions that are totally absent today, he said. Identity While Taos Pueblo has covered a lot of ground in making its language accessible in education, Sandoval, who also runs the pueblo education divisions language program, said she needs more support than shes getting. Over the past four years, she said the pueblo has hired three new Native language instructors to help teach Tiwa, the pueblos native language. Thats been a big lift, she said, because oftentimes instructors are fluent in Tiwa, but theyre not educators. But the pueblo still needs more instructors, she said. And on top of that, she added, is the struggle to develop curricula for language instruction since Tiwa is not a written language. According to PED grant data, the pueblo was awarded $50,000 this year for Tiwa language curriculum. But Sandoval said she needs that funding to happen consistently to be enough. We need that on a regular basis 50,000 isnt much, she said. Anja Rudiger, another member of the Tribal Education Alliance and an analyst of the tribal remedy framework, said the Indian Education Act is primarily aimed at ensuring an equitable and culturally relevant education for Indigenous students. But the act, passed nearly two decades ago, has had meager appropriations to the fund attached to it until just recently, she said. She added that the PED is often only able to give out one-off, short-term grants. It hasnt been an appropriate way to fund Indian education, which doesnt receive any targeted funding through any other sources, she said. This year, the Legislature approved $15 million for the Indian Education Fund, according to the PEDs current draft action plan triple the amount it received the previous fiscal year. In order for our children to be civic ready they also have to be fluent in their languages, they also have to be knowledgeable about their history, he said. When language dies, and culture diminishes, our children will not be able to sustain Indigenous governance systems and a way of life. Thats what were fighting literally, for cultural survival, he added. Copyright 2022 Albuquerque Journal The arts in New Mexico remain a driving economic factor. New Mexicos eight state-run museums and seven historic sites brought in $2.8 million in revenue in fiscal 2022, close to the $3 million brought in during pre-pandemic 2019. We are pleased to see a rapid rise in attendance and revenue across the agency this past year, said Debra Garcia y Griego, Cabinet secretary of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs. In fiscal year 2022, 636,177 people visited the state-run attractions more than four times what it was in fiscal 2021, when the pandemic closed the museums for eight months. The visitor numbers totaled only 149,316 that year. The number was 617,407 in 2020, when the sites were closed for four months. Attendance has yet to reach the pre-pandemic levels a total of 992,574 visited the states cultural sites in fiscal year 2019. But attendance is returning, said Daniel Zillmann, Cultural Affairs spokesman. And Garcia y Griego noted Cultural Affairs employees provided innovative programs for New Mexicans during the pandemic. Serving the people of New Mexico through the stewardship of our states cultural resources is at the center of our mission, she said. Our staff are proven innovators of programs that reach across the state through exhibits, engaging educational activities, virtual programming and the distribution of hands-on activity kits and books. She also noted that the social media and engagement numbers have also increased. During the pandemic, as the museums and sites were closed to the public, each museum took to social media to create engagement in and outside of the state. According to the fiscal year 2022 data, theres been a 7.4% increase across all of the department with 398,271 impressions. As for visitors, the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science remains the states most visited museum with 198,347 visitors during the last fiscal year. That is down from the pre-pandemic fiscal year 2019, when 293,817 people visited the museum. The Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe is the second most visited museum with 71,595, and Alamogordos New Mexico Museum of Space History comes in third with 69,472 visitors. The National Hispanic Cultural Center was No. 7 on the list compared to being the second most visited museum in fiscal year 2019. In fiscal year 2022, it had 36,433 visitors. The NHCC, like some other state-run entities, has seen a change in its leadership during that time. It is our hope that every New Mexican will find an opportunity to visit our museums and historic sites for inspiration, for recreation, and for learning, said Garcia y Griego. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico Hurricane Fiona unleashed more rain on Puerto Rico on Monday, a day after the storm knocked out power and water to most of the island, and National Guard troops rescued hundreds of people who got stranded. The governor warned that it could take days to get the lights back on. The blow from Fiona was made more devastating because Puerto Rico has yet to recover from Hurricane Maria, which killed nearly 3,000 people and destroyed the power grid in 2017. Five years later, more than 3,000 homes on the island are still covered by blue tarps. The storm stripped pavement from roads, tore off roofs and sent torrents pouring into homes. It also took out a bridge and flooded two airports. Authorities reported two deaths from the hurricane a Puerto Rican man who was swept away by a flooded river and a person in the Dominican Republic who was hit by a falling tree. The storm was still expected to dump up to 15 inches (38 centimeters) of rain in some places as it spun away from the U.S. territory that is home to 3.2 million people. Forecasts called for the storm to grow into a major hurricane of Category 3 or greater. It was on a path to pass close to the Turks and Caicos islands on Tuesday and was not expected to threaten the U.S. mainland. One death in Puerto Rico was associated with the blackout a 70-year-old man who was burned to death after he tried to fill his generator with gasoline while it was running, officials said. Gov. Pedro Pierluisi declined to say how long it would take to fully restore electricity, but he said for most customers it would be a question of days. Since the start of the storm, National Guard troops have rescued more than 900 people, Gen. Jose Reyes told a news conference. Meanwhile in the Dominican Republic, authorities closed ports and beaches and told most people to stay home from work. Nearly 800 people were evacuated to safer locations, and more than 700 were in shelters, officials said. The hurricane left several highways blocked, and a tourist pier in the town of Miches was badly damaged by high waves. At least four international airports were closed, officials said. The Dominican president, Luis Abinader, said authorities would need several days to assess the storms effects. Back in Puerto Rico, the National Weather Service office said flash flooding was occurring in south-central parts of the island and tweeted, MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND IMMEDIATELY! Up to 22 inches (56 centimeters) of rain fell in some areas of Puerto Rico, and forecasters said another 4 to 8 inches could fall as the storm moves away, with even more possible in some places. Its important people understand that this is not over, said Ernesto Morales, a weather service meteorologist in San Juan. He said flooding reached historic levels, with authorities evacuating or rescuing hundreds of people across Puerto Rico. The damages that we are seeing are catastrophic, Pierluisi said. Water service was cut to more than 837,000 customers two thirds of the total on the island because of turbid water at filtration plants or lack of power, officials said. Before dawn Monday, authorities in a boat navigated the flooded streets of the north coast town of Catano and used a megaphone to alert people that the pumps had collapsed, urging them to evacuate as soon as possible. Authorities said at least 1,300 people spent the night in shelters across the island. Brown water poured into streets and homes and closed airports in Ponce and Mayaguez. The system also ripped asphalt from roads and washed away a bridge in the central mountain town of Utuado that police said was installed by the National Guard after Maria hit as a Category 4 storm. Fiona also tore the roofs off homes, including that of Nelson Cirino in the northern coastal town of Loiza. I was sleeping and saw when the corrugated metal flew off, he said as he watched rain drench his belongings and wind whip his colorful curtains into the air. After roaring over the Dominican Republic, Fiona moved into the open Atlantic, where it was projected to strengthen, according to the National Hurricane Center. On Monday evening, it was centered about 130 miles (205 kilometers) southeast of Grand Turk Island and heading northwest at 10 mph (17 kph), with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph (165 kph). Tropical storm-force winds extended for 140 miles (220 kilometers) from the center. U.S. President Joe Biden declared a state of emergency as the eye of the storm approached the islands southwest corner. Fiona previously battered the eastern Caribbean, killing one man in the French territory of Guadeloupe when floodwaters washed his home away, officials said. The system hit Puerto Rico on the anniversary of Hurricane Hugo, which slammed into the island in 1989 as a Category 3 storm. ___ Coto reported from Havana. WASHINGTON An American contractor held hostage in Afghanistan for more than two years has been released in exchange for a convicted Taliban drug lord jailed in the United States, the White House said Monday, announcing a rare success in U.S.-Taliban talks since the militant group took power a little more than a year ago Mark Frerichs, a Navy veteran who had spent more than a decade in Afghanistan as a civilian contractor, was abducted in January 2020 and is believed to have been held since then by the Taliban-linked Haqqani network. He was traded for Bashir Noorzai, a Taliban associate convicted in a heroin trafficking conspiracy who had spent 17 years behind bars before his release Monday. The exchange is one of the most significant prisoner swaps to take place under the Biden administration, coming five months after a deal with Russia that brought home Marine veteran Trevor Reed. Though his case has received less public attention than those of some other Americans held abroad, including WNBA star Brittney Griner and corporate security executive Paul Whelan who are both held in Russia and whose relatives met with President Joe Biden on Friday U.S. officials said the deal for Frerichs was the result of months of quiet negotiations. Those discussions gained new momentum in June when Biden agreed to grant Noorzai relief from his life sentence, setting the stage for what one administration official described as a very narrow window of opportunity this month to complete the deal. Biden said in a statement released by the White House, Bringing the negotiations that led to Marks freedom to a successful resolution required difficult decisions, which I did not take lightly. Frerichs, 60, had been working on civil engineering projects at the time of his Jan. 31, 2020 abduction in Kabul. Hes believed to have been lured into a meeting to discuss a new project and then transported to Khost, a stronghold of the Taliban-linked Haqqani network near the Pakistan border. He was last seen in a video posted last spring by The New Yorker in which he appeared in traditional Afghan clothing and pleaded for his release. He was accompanied Monday by the administrations special presidential envoy for hostage affairs and was in stable health, a U.S. official said. His ultimate destination was not immediately clear, though a Qatari Foreign Ministry official said Frerichs would soon head from Doha to the U.S. A sister of Frerichs, who is from Lombard, Illinois, thanked U.S. officials who helped secure her brothers release. I am so happy to hear that my brother is safe and on his way home to us. Our family has prayed for this each day of the more than 31 months he has been a hostage. We never gave up hope that he would survive and come home safely to us, said a statement from the sister, Charlene Cakora. Noorzai, at the time of his 2005 arrest, hardly seemed an ideal recipient for presidential clemency. Hed been designated on a list reserved for some of the worlds most prolific drug traffickers, and was prosecuted in Manhattans federal court on charges that accused him of owning opium fields in Kandahar province and relying on a network of distributors who sold the heroin in New York. When he was sentenced to life imprisonment, the then-top federal prosecutor in Manhattan said Noorzais worldwide narcotics network supported a Taliban regime that made Afghanistan a breeding ground for international terrorism. Mondays deal underscored the two sides to the Talibans approach to illegal drugs. In April, they announced a ban on harvesting the poppies that produce opium for making heroin an order that also outlawed the manufacture and transportation of narcotics. However, during the years-long Taliban insurgency, they reportedly made millions of dollars taxing farmers and middle men who moved their drugs outside Afghanistan. A senior administration official who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the administration said the U.S. government now determined that Noorzais release would not materially change any risk to Americans or fundamentally alter the contours of the drug trade there. Officials also took into account that Noorzai had spent 17 years in prison. They said it became clear from negotiations that releasing him would be necessary to get Frerichs home. At a press conference Monday, Noorzai expressed gratitude at seeing his mujahedeen brothers a reference to the Taliban in Kabul. I pray for more success of the Taliban, he added. I hope this exchange can lead to peace between Afghanistan and America, because an American was released and I am also free now. Even before their takeover of Afghanistan in August last year, the Taliban had demanded the U.S. release Noorzai in exchange for Frerichs. But there had been little public indication of Washington proceeding along those lines. Eric Lebson, a former U.S. government national security official who had been advising Frerichs family, said in a statement that everything about this case has been an uphill fight. He criticized the Trump administration for having given away our leverage to get Mark home quickly by signing a peace accord with the Taliban without ever having asked them to return Mark first. Marks family then had to navigate two administrations, where many people viewed Marks safe return as an impediment to their plans for Afghanistan, the statement said. The collapse of the Western-backed Afghan government and takeover by the Taliban in August 2021 raised additional concern that progress in negotiations could be undone or that Frerichs could be forgotten. But his name was invoked last month when Biden was said by his advisers to have pressed officials to consider any risk posed to Frerichs by the drone strike in Afghanistan that killed al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri. The Taliban-appointed foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, hailed the exchange Monday as the start of a new era in U.S.-Taliban relations and the opening of a new door for talks. U.S. officials were more circumspect. Though it does not recognize the Taliban government, the U.S. does have interests at stake in Afghanistan and will continue to engage with the Taliban in addressing the hunger and humanitarian crisis gripping the country, administration officials said Monday. But officials say they remain concerned about whether the Taliban are committed to fighting terrorism and by the exclusion of girls from high schools there, an issue that drew a United Nations reprimand on Sunday. ___ Faiez reported from Islamabad. Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed to this report. ___ This story has corrected a version earlier in the day that cited Taliban claims that Noorzai was held at Guantanamo Bay; the claim was disproved by U.S. officials. CAVE CREEK, Ariz. A womans body found in a suitcase in a desert area north of Phoenix has been identified, authorities said Monday. According to Phoenix police, the victim was 39-year-old Jennifer Beede. They said the cause and manner of death will be determined by the Maricopa County medical examiners office. Police were called to the scene near Cave Creek Road and the Carefree Highway around 6:45 a.m. Saturday after a bicyclist reported seeing adult human remains in a container on a trail. Police said the container was a suitcase and a body was inside it, but they didnt immediately release any other details. Phoenix TV station KPHO reported that someone saw a head and knee sticking out of a suitcase. Police said detectives are trying to determine what led to the womans death and locate any possible suspects in the case. MEXICO CITY A magnitude 7.6 earthquake shook Mexicos central Pacific coast on Monday, killing at least one person and setting off a seismic alarm in the rattled capital on the anniversary of two earlier devastating quakes. There were at least some early reports of damage to buildings from the quake, which hit at 1:05 p.m. local time, according to the U.S. Geologic Survey, which had initially put the magnitude at 7.5. It said the quake was centered 37 kilometers (23 miles) southeast of Aquila near the boundary of Colima and Michoacan states and at a depth of 15.1 kilometers (9.4 miles). President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said via Twitter that the secretary of the navy told him one person was killed in the port city of Manzanillo, Colima when a wall at a mall collapsed. In Coalcoman, Michoacan, near the quakes epicenter, buildings were damaged, but there were not immediate reports of injuries. It started slowly and then was really strong and continued and continued until it started to relent, said 16-year-old Carla Cardenas, a resident of Coalcoman. Cardenas ran out of her familys hotel and waited with neighbors. She said the hotel and some homes along the street displayed cracks in walls and segments of facades and roofs had broken off. In the hotel, the roof of the parking area boomed and fell to the ground, and there are cracks in the walls on the second floor, Cardenas said. She said the towns hospital was seriously damaged, but she had so far not heard of anyone injured. Mexicos National Civil Defense agency said that based on historic data of tsunamis in Mexico, variations of as much as 32 inches (82 cm) were possible in coastal water levels near the epicenter. The U.S. Tsunami Warning Center said that hazardous tsunami waves were possible for coasts within 186 miles (300 kilometers) of the epicenter. Irlanda Villa, of coastal Coahuayana, Michoacan near the border with Colima, said some walls had fallen, but the big fear was that a tsunami would follow. We were afraid the sea would go out, but in the end everything is fine. Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum tweeted that there were no reports of damage in the capital Alarms for the new quake came less than an hour after a quake alarms warbled in a nationwide earthquake simulation marking major quakes that struck on the same date in 1985 and 2017. The magnitude 8.0 quake centered near the coast of Guerrero state in 1985 killed at least 9,500 people. More than 360 people died in the magnitude 7.1 quake that struck in 2017. This is a coincidence, that this is the third Sept. 19 earthquake, said U.S. Geological Survey seismologist Paul Earle. Theres no physical reason or statistical bias toward earthquakes in any given month in Mexico. Nor is there a season or month for big earthquakes anywhere on the globe, Earle said. But there is a predictable thing: People seek and sometimes find coincidences that look like patterns. We knew wed get this question as soon as it happened, Earle said. Sometimes there are just coincidences. The quake was not related to or caused by the drill an hour or so earlier, nor was it connected to a damaging temblor in Taiwan the day before, Earle said. Humberto Garza stood outside a restaurant in Mexico Citys Roma neighborhood holding his 3-year son. Like many milling about outside after the earthquake, Garza said the earthquake alarm sounded so soon after the annual simulation that he was not sure it was real. I heard the alarm, but it sounded really far away, he said. Outside the citys environmental ombudsmans office, dozens of employees waited. Some appeared visibly shaken. Power was out in parts of the city, including stoplights, snarling the capitals already notorious traffic. __ AP writers Christopher Sherman in Mexico City and Seth Borenstein in Washington contributed to this report. TEHRAN, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Aerospace Force of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said Sunday night one of its Sukhoi Su-22 warplanes had an accident earlier in the day in the southern province of Hormuzgan, but no human casualty was sustained. The fighter jet had a technical defect during a mission, the IRGC's official news outlet Sepah News quoted an IRGC statement as saying. Before ejecting, the pilot managed to steer the aircraft to a non-residential area, the statement noted, adding the pilot landed safely after activating the ejection seat system. A similar accident involving the same fighter jet occurred in the southern province of Fars in August. JERUSALEM, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Israeli troops on Monday crossed into Syrian territory to stop four Syrian men who allegedly attempted to smuggle explosives into Israel, the Israeli military said. One Syrian was hit by a bullet to his lower body and was in serious condition when evacuated by a helicopter to a hospital in Israel, while the other three fled without being shot, the military said in a statement. In the incident, Israeli observation soldiers noticed four suspects "hurling objects along the border fence with Syria toward Israeli territory," the statement read, adding "soldiers crossed the border and operated to stop the suspects by firing toward one of the suspects' legs." The incident came two days after Israel carried out an airstrike on the Damascus International Airport and other sites south of the Syrian capital, according to a statement issued by the Syrian Defense Ministry. Five soldiers were killed in the attack and material damage was caused. Astral Pipes, one of India's leading brands in the piping category announced its first TV ad campaign with the Pushpa ICON STAR, Allu Arjun for the Southern Markets. The 360-degree marketing campaign will focus on the brands equity in the southern markets and provide the brand a stronger recall value to its expanded customer base. The Telugu heart-throb Allu Arjun will be playing a macho protagonist who represents the strength, durability and resistance of Astral Pipes. The campaign emphasizes on the USPs of Astral Pipes and the importance it plays in every household. With the launch of this TVC, Astral aims to achieve an exceptional mindshare among distributors and its end customers. Commenting on the TVC Actor Allu Arjun said: It has been a pleasure to associate with a marquee brand like Astral which exemplifies the expertise in its field of piping solutions. With the brand levelling up its presence in the southern India landscape, I am happy to align the love and appreciation that my audience has provided me over a long period of time. With Astrals entry in this market, I am certain that customers and partners will offer the same kind of affection that they have showered towards me. On the campaign launch, Mr. Kairav Engineer, Astral Limited, said ''We have been fortunate and cognizant enough of the fact about how crucial are piping systems for every household. India marks as a large ground of varied climate conditions and architectural preferences. However, as an Indian brand, we have always strived to provide specialized solutions with our diverse yet customized offerings to varied geographies of India. Our association with Mr. Arjun marks a significant effort to understand and communicate with the southern market of India. This campaign is a structured way of communicating to the audience in the southern market about making the right choices in their journey of creating a perfect home which has the strongest backbone; i.e; the piping system. South-India marks a huge market for Astral Limited. It will mark as a milestone for Astral as a leader brand since Allu Arjun is renowned for his distinctive acting and style while having an immense influence in the region. The regional connect with trade and consumer will be more effective and will help the brand to expand and create robust footholds Please find below the press release and TVC link for your perusal. Scenario No. 1 Some two weeks ago, Jason M Allen of Pueblo West won first prize in the digital category at the Colorado State Fair for his art work named work TheatreDopera Spatial. It was no ordinary art work. Allen used Midjourney, an artificial intelligence (AI) programme, for creating the artwork by converting text into hyper-realistic graphics. The art world remained divided over the ethics of such an AI-generated art, with some purists expressing indignation at the way technology is taking dominance over human artistry and originality. Do purists have a point? Will we see machines overtaking humans in every sphere, including the sublime realm of art? Scenario No. 2 Killer robots are no longer a filmy construct! In Ukraine, Russia apparently used an AI-powered Kalashnikov ZALA Aero KUB-BLA loitering munitions (drones). Though an official confirmation is difficult to come by, especially from a regime like Russia, unmanned AI-backed robotic weapons have become an unpalatable reality. In fact, there is a global race in amassing patents in Artificial Intelligence and military robotics. Between 2005 and 2015, the US topped the list (26%), followed by China and Russia, according to a research by PaxFor Peace. Since 2016, China has overtaken the US in gathering patents in this regard. Such autonomous weapons (LAWS), which are capable of independently spotting and killing human targets, do exist even though they contravene the Geneva Convention. Will we see AI-powered arms replacing humans? Scenario No. 3 Earlier this year, a Deepfake video of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky surfaced on social media, where he was seen exhorting his army men to surrender during the countrys conflict with Russia. (Deepfakes are artificially made videos of real people saying something which they did not say in reality.) It was a fake video, made with Deepfake, a blend of AI and machine learning. Such Deepfake videos have already become ubiquitous, attaining notoriety for its potent lethal effects on society. Darker uses While something as innocuous as an AI-generated digital art may not pose a serious threat, the darker uses of AI are bound to pose enormous challenges for the world at large. Despite the benefits and opportunities thrown up by Artificial Intelligence, nefarious elements use it for darker uses. Some of these are disinformation, deepfakes, autonomous weapons systems capable of using lethal force minus human intervention, etc. How can the world ensure the ethical and fair use of the AI? Is it even possible, given the democratisation and ubiquity of AI tools with each passing day? Does the world need an AI ethics code? In this two-part Indepth report, Adgully attempts to answer these questions with insights from a cross-section of industry experts. Artificial Intelligence has the potential to bring a lot of positive impact to our lives; but it has the other side of the coin, too, where its unethical use has become a big challenge, agrees Codvo.ai Managing Partner Amit Verma. Thanks to the infamous Cambridge Analytica scandal or others, he says, big and small companies are working on identifying how to prevent the unethical usage of AI. According to him, ethical AI practices have only three principles: It has to protect individual rights and privacy. It has to be non-discriminatory. It has to be non-manipulative. Legally and regulatory-wise, we are not that strong yet against the unethical uses of AI. Hence, it is the responsibility of organisations that develop and provide AI tools to follow ethical AI principles. It means we should set best practices and guidelines for the users, set up social scoring, and continuously monitor its usage for non-violation. All kinds of technologies have the potential to be misused and abused, says Devang Mundhra, Chief Technology & Product Officer at KredX. Despite the extraordinary advances that the world is noticing in Artificial Intelligence, there is a growing concern regarding the ethics and the extent to which algorithms can be imbued with moral values. The primary reason for the misuse of this technology is the lack of transparency, poor accountability, and bias that creeps into these automated tools, he adds. Mundhra feels that awareness creation is of paramount importance. According to him, to intercept these challenges, it is crucial to create awareness about the technology and how it can be misused. Organisations need to be transparent (both internally and externally) about how theyre using AI. It is important for firms to undertake necessary measures to ensure that AI ethics are taken seriously. For example, hiring ethicists who work with corporate decision-makers, developing a code of AI ethics, developing AI audit trails, etc. It is also crucial that firms ensure that the data they're using is not biased. Creating better data and algorithms is not just an opportunity to use AI ethically, its also a way to try to address biases (racial and gender for example) in the world on a larger scale, explains Mundhra. Most importantly, he asserts, organisations need to focus on the development of explainable AIs and understand how the AI makes decisions and be able to explain those systems. Moreover, firms need to adhere to regulations. Given an increase in the misuse of AI, it is suggested that firms create a body that can evaluate the ethical concerns. Siddharth Bhansali, Founder of Noesis.Tech and CTO at XP&D Land and Metaform, is a proponent of strong regulations in this regard. He says, As much as I'm a proponent of technology companies being able to regulate themselves and develop products keeping in mind social values and social safety and designing to prevent the misuse of their products, AI or otherwise, I unfortunately believe that we're going to need very strong and tight regulations on AI to create products. Primarily because unlike existing products that are out there in the market like Facebook or Instagram, the scope of what AI does is quite limited. And we've already seen how damaging that is in its ability of creating echo chambers and promoting particular points of views and getting people to believe that a piece of information is commonly accepted a fact while it may not be so. He advocates transparent and good public and private partnerships in this regard. Even though AI is quite limited in its implication with products, we have tried to let companies regulate themselves on how they can design their products to be good for society and prevent the use of those products from misuse. When AI starts taking over more aspects of the product especially when AI is the product itself and not just a picture of it, you're going to need government or global regulatory authorities to ensure that it can only be used in the right ways, in the right manner, or that its development biases have been controlled and have been taken care. So, I think the only way to ensure the use of AI is through very transparent and good public and private partnerships, where the regulation is not looked at as limiting to innovation but as more safeguards for safe innovation in artificial intelligence, as this technology spreads, Bhansali adds. AI is a tool which can be used for both great benefit as well as great harm, remarks DaveAI CTO & Co-founder Dr Ananth. We need to take this up in two ways. One, of the research-work is being able to create an AI to differentiate between AI based artifacts versus human created artifacts. Another way is to make sure that data sources to train AI are ethically sourced. The Solutions? What can be done at the industrial/ governmental and societal level in this regard? What will be the challenges in such an endeavour? What is the role of the government and policy makers? Policy always plays catch-up to technology innovation and the race is getting harder and harder for users and regulators alike. Like any other technology, AI is also value-neutral, says Munavar Attari, Managing Director, Fleishman Hillard India, a consultancy firm that advises corporates with their internal and external stakeholder communication strategies, which is continuously impacted by rapidly changing technologies. The culture and society attaches morals and dogma to its usage. Governments need to urge technology provides to self-regulate, learn from over three decades of experience in creating mainstream technology products. Corporates need to start integrating AI exposure and usage into their code of ethics for employees and avoid being laggards as many were to social media usage. According to Attari, what is genuinely missing is mass public awareness and communication campaigns from governments, civic-tech bodies or civil society about the AI deluge that is already upon us in so many ways. Attari is raising some deep issues and pertinent questions with regard to the AI. More than social media, AI creates the fundamental need in societies to define what is good, what is to be protected or what is virtuous in other words, societies have to redefine or relook at their objective moral frameworks and rediscover themselves and their collective consciousness. When AI nudges employers about whom to hire or fire or how individuals are profiled on the basis of characteristics, features, etc., it can be perceived as racist, misogynist and discriminatory in one society rather than the other. Therefore, a public debate on societal ethics and its reflection in AI-powered products will be critical. Will each society or culture have its own version of truth or what is allows or disallows? If yes, how? These are the deep fundamental questions that need to be asked before tactical issues related to implementation and usages are discussed, he explains. Amit Verma feels that we need a broadly accepted AI governance model. As the interaction of AI technologies with our socio-political and economic environment is increasing, we cannot estimate its consequences quantifiably, Verma says. It means we don't know what we are getting into, which is the biggest challenge as I see it. We are at a very nascent stage in both the private and public sectors with setting governance standards in the development and the use of AI. We need a broadly accepted AI governance model, which is sector/ technology/ algorithm agnostic with data governance best practices. Several countries have started implementing national data governance bodies, which usually have representatives from corporations, public entities, and NGOs. Organisations must become early adopters of such frameworks and share feedback to improve the governance model over time. The government should also develop a risk assessment and prediction framework to gauge the psychological impact of various AI tools on human beings, he explains. Devang Mundhra feels that it is important for firms, educational institutions, and governments to create awareness about the technology and the downsides associated with the unethical and unfair use of the technology. According to Mundhra, governments need to bring in regulation against discrimination into the AI and build an ethics framework that ensures privacy and data protection. These regulations need to focus on the ethical considerations that come with AI technology. Policymakers need to strike the right balance within their policies to tackle ethical issues such as bias, privacy, and discrimination. They cannot view regulation as presenting a choice instead; they should strive to craft regulations that accomplish both goals of promoting innovation and fostering ethical use. Collectively, we need to ensure that the development of the AI systems is diverse and inclusive. Siddharth Bhansali also proposes a public-private partnership. We really do need a tight integration of public and private sponsorship and partnership on developing AI for consumer-grade products and services. What this means is that governments are going to have to be able to create the same routes within which companies can operate. But at the same time, governments will have to, in their own way, enforce the way AI is developed and streamed, and that it is done through a representative set of data, that it's not just trained from a particular perspective, and that minorities especially and their perspectives, and their needs are addressed as part of those training sets as well. So we have to look at developing AI in an inclusive manner. Unlike any other technology that has come before, you know, think about societal inclusivity when you develop cars, for example. Now you do when you think about accessibility, but when you first develop them, it really wasn't something that was top of mind for anyone, Bhansali says. He feels that a global perspective is essential. Even if we're developing something as simple as a ballpoint pen, whether you develop it for America or for India, for Japan or for China, it's the same ballpoint pen, theres not much that needs to change. But AI is going to be global; AI is going to be influencing things on a global landscape. So, you have to be able to have a global perspective on when you're building these things, and that should not just come down to the data you are using, and making sure that the data is representative of the globe at that point of time. I truly believe that we must enforce diversity in the leadership teams of AI companies, because that's the only way we can really ensure that all perspectives are going to be considered. So I think that's what needs to happen from our government and society level. It's got to be inclusive, it's got to be diverse, it's got to include people from various walks of life. If we truly look at AI for its strengths, which is that it can push humanity forward, but it can equally marginalise certain sections of humanity, if it's not done correctly, explains Bhansali. The private sector How do we ensure the private sector develops the AI technology ethically? What is the role of the sector in formulating a code of ethics for the AI? Private sector is more market-driven, so if investors and consumers demand ethical AI, the sector will follow, feels Devang Mundhra. Similar to how market responses forced the use of biodegradable containers, or ethically sourced raw ingredients.Having said that, the private sector can establish bodies that recognize the potential uses and misuses of AI, and take steps to avoid the predictable misuse of AI by committing to a code of ethics. Enterprises should incorporate value-based principles for internal AI activities to guide their conduct and these initiatives should be binding and involve voluntary compliance by companies using the technology, he adds. Attari maintains that there is no silver bullet, but citizens trust and ecosystem credibility is critical and everyone has a role to play. According to him, the answer has been same for all previous technologies and that is trial and error. The only issue is that the stakes are exponentially higher now and the ecosystem has so far fallen short of communicating the pros and cons to the layperson on the street. For instance, how will AI-users (companies) explain to end-users how and why they were (automatically) categorised as high-risk for an insurance cover or a some other mortgage? The communication, public acceptance, and the adoption of the technology will be far more challenging than actually creating it, he says. The first place to start is to have the right objective, says Amit Verma. While setting up goals for your AI/ML-based solution, your teams should align on zero negative impact on society. Some ethical AI technology objectives could be identifying fake news, fashion designs, diagnosing rare diseases, inventing a new vaccine, etc. The second step is to check for data biases. AI models can be a great tool in aiding decision-making and are not inherently biased. However, by inputting inappropriate data, inherent biases can emerge, leading to flawed guidance. For example, when datasets reflect adequate social representations, the AI model can have results similar to historical human biases. Identifying biases in the system and training the models on more diverse data to include all types of race/ region/ gender or other attributes can largely avoid any negative impact of AI solutions, he explains. Siddharth Bhansali feels that the private sector needs to be backed by the public sector. Its going to come down to not limiting regulation, but enabling regulation, he says. Regulation that enables the creation of AI technologies are not going to have biases baked in, but I'm not going to have a marginal perspective on what it's trying to do. So the private sector needs to be inspired and supported by the public sector, in both being enabled as well as being tested. One of the largest challenges that AI companies face today and will continue facing is knowing whether or not whatever they have been, is yielding the outcomes they were designing for. And in a small enclosed group of testing, you might say given these parameters, the AI is doing what we expected to do. But when its something as large as this, it's not going to happen. So that's the plan over there, the project needs to be enabled by the public sector for this, says Bhansali. (Tomorrow: Artificial Intelligence and social biases) Fujifilm India Pvt Ltd, a pioneer in diagnostic imaging and information systems for healthcare facilities, has launched the second phase of its campaign on TB NEVER STOP: SCREENING TO REDUCE DIAGNOSTIC DELAYS. The second phase of this campaign aims to increasing awareness on TB as a curable disease and promote screening and early diagnosis among tea sector workers, difficult to reach population in rural and urban areas including tribal population in selected districts of Gujarat, Kerala and Assam. Under the campaign, Fujifilm India will support three mobile hand held X-ray machines and implementation of project in community settings Fujifilm aims to reach to more than 5 million people and screen around 30,000 of them by using the handheld X-ray machines. The project will also facilitate TB testing of identified presumptive cases. In association with International Union Against TB and Lung Disease (The Union), the project aims to demonstrate a model on promoting early diagnosis for TB by utilizing newer solutions in community settings. Through the campaign, Fujifilm will be offering door-to-door awareness on TB and provide mobile digital X-ray services along with Qure.ais computed aided radiology software application designed with deep-learning for the intervention. The proposed districts in this phase are Sonitpur, Golaghat, Jorhat, Sivasagar, Dibrugarh, Tinsukia, in Assam, Wayanad in Kerala, and Kutch district in Gujarat starting September 2022 and conclude by August 2023. In the first phase, Fujifilm India screened over one million people and shared around 8,000 X-ray reports. Through the intervention, 117 new TB patients were identified across 27 cities including Delhi, Dadri, Dehradun, Haridwar, Haldwani, Rudrapur, Patna, Jaipur, Indore, Kolkata, Raipur, Pata, etc. Speaking about the success of the campaign, Mr. Koji Wada, Managing Director, Fujifilm India Pvt Ltd, said, We at Fujifilm have always been dedicated to offering the best medical innovations and technologies to improve the quality of life around the globe. Following the success of the first phase of our NEVER STOP: SCREENING TO REDUCE DIAGNOSTIC DELAYS campaign, we are extremely happy to complement government program in selected districts by reaching the underserved sections of society. As a diamond member of Corporate TB Pledge initiative, were closely working with the National Program to make India a TB-free country and will continue to support this endeavor in the coming months. We are determined to Never Stop innovating and making the world a healthier place. Fujifilm is a diamond member of Corporate TB Pledge (CTP), which is being implemented by International Union Against TB and Lung Disease (The Union) as part of USAID supported iDEFEAT TB project. Corporate TB Pledge initiative was jointly launched in 2019 by Government of India and USAID to galvanize corporate support in the fight against TB. More than 230 corporate partners have joined the Corporate TB Pledge initiative. In line with the Governments call to achieve the SDG targets related to TB by 2025, five years ahead of global targets, Fujifilm India aims to raise awareness about tuberculosis as a curable disease among hard-to-reach groups and facilitate early diagnosis of TB ultimately improving people's quality of life. While tuberculosis is a serious disease, it is completely curable if diagnosed in time and the treatment is completed. Authored by Ms. Richa Singh, CEO & Co-founder, Blogchatter. The words influencers and Instagram have become ubiquitous, so much so that when we think of digital brand campaigns, we think of influencers. But have you ever paused to think what an influencer brings to the table? They bring their network yes, and you get access to that network for the 1 post, reel, story or video that they post. What is their shelf life? 24 hours at max - isn't it? Now think of a consumer and the journey that they take from coming to know about a brand and being convinced enough to buy a product. An influencer may spark this journey but there are a whole lot more steps between awareness and purchase. A blogger bridges the gap between awareness and purchase. I have a favourite line that all bloggers are influencers but not all influencers are bloggers. Ill tell you why that is. With an influencer, you get access to 1 social media channel and 1 content piece. With a blogger, you get access to multiple social media channels and multiple content pieces. A blogger, much like a consumer, emulates the journey where they are on boarded to a brand campaign, they build a relationship with the brand, talk about their experience through long form content, social media posts, etc. and thus turn into digital advocates for said brand. There are key levers and advantages that bloggers bring to the table for a digital brand campaign. Own website that affects SEO and Google search results Multiple social media platforms where not only their own content is shared but others content is cross promoted as well Their shelf life is a whole lot longer and their life cycle with the brand does not end once they have posted their content. It continues for the duration of the campaign They become voices for the brand wherein if someone from their network has queries, they can reach out to the blogger and the blogger can assist them with their queries, sharing their own experience with the brand As digital advocates, they become stakeholders in the campaign and start to own the space, adding their own unique flavour to the content they create Over the course of 6 years that we have sketched brand campaigns, two of the major pain points that brand managers have highlighted to us are: most influencer campaigns are a blip and miss, and they fail to generate conversations around the campaign or messaging. With the help of bloggers, were changing the way influencing is looked at in the marketing world. Bloggers dont just bring in their assets and networks, but also their body of work and we work with them to build a communication plan that works for them. If you look at a typical consumer journey today, it usually starts with a question or a recommendation by someone they follow. That question is usually typed on Google, and the answers that come up are usually blog posts. Once the consumer's questions start to get answered, they look for a means to join the conversation. At every juncture of a consumer journey, be it search, social media or conversation, a content piece from a blogger is present. And that is the biggest USP that a blogger brings in marketing for brands. DISCLAIMER: The views expressed are solely of the author and Adgully.com does not necessarily subscribe to it. NANNING, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- In the memory of Chen Jiqing, a fruit trader in the border city of Dongxing, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, his first impression of ASEAN fruits was rambutan, mango, and coconut brought by multinational traders near the border trade market when he was a child. "There were only a few varieties and quantities of fruits from ASEAN countries at that time. Most of these fruits had to be sold out that day or they wouldn't be fresh," Chen said. At that time, due to backward logistics and fresh-keeping technology, fruits from ASEAN countries were generally only sold in border areas. Nowadays, cross-border fruit trade supported by express lines and cold chain logistics has already replaced small-scale fruit trade around the border areas. Chen's company is already one of the largest fruit trading enterprises in Dongxing. In the peak season of durian production, it can ship more than 40 containers of fresh durian to the inland provinces of China in one month. According to statistics, in 2004, China imported 300 million U.S. dollars of fruits from ASEAN countries. In 2001, China imported 15.22 billion dollars of dried and fresh fruits and nuts, of which five ASEAN countries (Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, Cambodia, and Malaysia) accounted for more than 60 percent. Thanks to the vigorous development of economic and trade relations between China and ASEAN, Chongzuo City in Guangxi, on the border of China and Vietnam, has become the largest city for import and export of border trade fruits in China, and its imported tropical fruits account for more than half of the whole country. In Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Nanning, and other cities in China, snacks, cakes, drinks, and other products made with durian, dragon fruit, mango, longan, and other fruits from ASEAN countries as raw materials, have become popular in recent years, enriching the table of Chinese consumers. Some food enterprises also take a fancy to the business opportunities, which helps extend the industry chain of fruits from ASEAN countries. In Nanning City, capital of Guangxi, Xuanma, a bakery food brand ranked among the top-selling brands on e-commerce platforms, also sees the opportunity brought by the booming fruit trade between China and ASEAN countries. It produces durian cakes made from imported durian. Tang Chunlong, deputy general manager of Guangxi Xuanma Food Co., Ltd., said the durian cakes retain the fresh smell of durian, and could be produced and shipped to the customers on the same day after receiving orders from e-commerce platforms. These durian cakes are now sold across the country. The product gained popularity in the market as soon as it was launched in 2019, and the annual sales increased rapidly from 800,000 yuan (about 115,280 U.S. dollars) at the beginning to more than 10 million yuan in 2021. Inspired by the popularity of durian cakes, the company plans to develop more baked goods with imported fruits from ASEAN countries as raw materials. Thanks to the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor -- a trade and logistics passage, with Chongqing being the key operation center, fruits from ASEAN countries could be transported to the western part as well as more inland provinces of China. "In the past, via traditional logistics routes, ASEAN goods had to be transferred to local ports first, then to eastern cities of China by sea, before being transported to the western region of China via domestic trunk logistics. It took a long time," said Mai Liang with China (Guangxi) Pilot Free Trade Zone Qinzhou Port Area Development and Investment Group Co., Ltd. "The problem was that shipping costs were high and it took too much time, making it difficult for fresh ASEAN fruits to reach the dining table of Chinese consumers quickly." Today, the logistics network of the new land-sea corridor in western China has been rapidly expanded, forming three main lines in the east, the middle, and the west; and different logistics forms, including rail-sea transport. The destinations of the corridor have been expanded to 319 ports in 107 countries and regions. At the 19th China-ASEAN Expo, scheduled from Sept. 16 to 19 in Nanning, the fruit trade also plays a very important role. A number of tropical fruits from ASEAN countries are being presented and sold at the expo. Indias wealth management and investment landscape has witnessed remarkable growth in the past few years. a special summit series on the wealth industry trends - HSBC India Investment Summit, in association with CNBCTV18.com, explored the investment landscape both from a macro and micro perspective. The three-part summit was recently held in Mumbai, Bengaluru and Delhi. The International Wealth Management Ecosystem The summit started in Mumbai, with Hitendra Dave, CEO, HSBC India, setting the tone by focusing on the potential of the global wealth management industry. In his keynote speech, he highlighted that optimism, good balance sheets (household, corporate, bank, and sovereign), and flow of credit into industries, businesses, and individuals will be fueling the next round of growth in India. The summit then flowed into focused panel discussions on topics like Road to the US $5 Tn Economy: Impact on Wealth Creation and Finding Alpha through Alternate Investment Strategies. Road to the US $5 Tn Economy: Impact on Wealth Creation India's race to reach the $5 trillion economy target and the fast-growth segments that offer new potential, were analyzed by prominent panelists, includingTushar Pradhan, CIO, HSBC AMC Indiaand Nilesh Shah, Managing Director, Kotak Mahindra AMC. This topic was also deliberated in Bengaluru with industry experts like Taher Badshah, President & Chief Investment Officer, Invesco, Mutual Fund; Kalpen Parekh, Managing Director & CEO, DSP Mutual Fund; and Kailash Kulkarni, CEO, L&T Mutual Fund as speakers. Taher Badshah, President & Chief Investment Officer, Invesco, Mutual Fund stated, the last couple of years have set a new paradigm, which is quite dramatic. We have also seen a lot of new launches as you mentioned, it even preceded the pandemic as well but the only thing is that it got into little more momentum during the phase of the pandemic. I think all of it probably is here to stay for sure. The concluding edition of the summit in Delhi further delved into the topic, involving renowned panellists Ravi Menon, CEO, HSBC Asset Management, India; Swarup Mohanty, CEO, Mirae Asset Investment Managers (India) and Anuj Mathur, MD & CEO, Canara HSBC Life Insurance Company. Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) for Wealth Creation The second panel session in Mumbai Finding The Alpha Through Alternate Investment Strategies had industry stalwarts like Ashish Somaiya, CEO, White Oak Capital; Navin Agarwal, CEO, Motilal Oswal AMC; and Anand Shah, Head of Portfolio Management Services (PMS) & Alternative Investment Funds (AIF), ICICI Prudential, who deliberated on how alternative investment products have become a lucrative option for growth, especially in Asia and other emerging economies. Seasoned wealth experts like Aashish Somaiya, CEO, White Oak Capital; Anshul Saigal, Head and Portfolio Manager, Kotak Portfolio Management Services and Shahzad Madon, Head, Nippon India Alternate Investments discussed why AIFs are gaining popularity and the growing need for innovative offerings, which acts as a differentiator and a boutique style of managing risk and reward. Anshul Saigal, Head and Portfolio Manager, Kotak Portfolio Management Services stated, The alternative investment funds are providing innovation to the customers. If the customer wants diversification and asset allocation, then the vehicle to go to is AIF and PMS. IndiasGrowthPotential The final edition in Delhi featured a keynote address by Pranjul Bhandari, Chief India Economist at HSBC Securities and Capital Markets, who focused on Indias macro-economic outlook. She said, The new economy is very exciting and is leading growth, old economy is weaker and this is the story of growth right now. Indias likely growth at the eve of the pandemic was 6%, if we only bank on this new economy- start-ups and high-skill exports, then our GDP growth can rise from 6 to 6.5% in the next couple of years. She further highlighted, If we can have a way in which new economy spills over old economy, you know old school manufacturing, old school infrastructure, then we can actually raise growth quite a lot. Assessing Indias standpoint, Tushar Pradhan, CIO, HSBC AMC said, The US $5 Tn figure, in my opinion, should put us at least somewhat at ease, when we take into account the growth potential of our economy, the extreme under-penetration of all goods and services within the economy thus far, and just the demographic story in terms of how it will hold up, if everything goes well. Smriti Mehra, CEO- Business News, CNBC-TV18,said, There has been a striking change in the global wealth and investment sector in the last decade. Assisted by the global market, India is set to lead the worldwide growth of ultra-high net worth individuals. Keeping an eye on this rapid rise, this summit aims to focus on this new wave of wealth creators. Huhtamaki India Limited, a leading provider of primary consumer packaging and labelling solutions in India and part of Huhtamaki, a key global provider of sustainable packaging solutions based in Finland, has announced the appointment of Dhananjay Salunkhe as the Managing Director of Huhtamaki India. Dhananjay is a seasoned business leader with a track record of growing and building businesses in India. In his previous stint, Dhananjay has worked as the CEO of Packaging and Printing Business at ITC Limited (a large diversified conglomerate in India), where he led the packaging business and supervised four manufacturing plants producing cartons, flexible packaging and rigid boxes. Commenting on the announcement Marco Hilty, President, Flexible Packaging at Huhtamaki, said, We are pleased to welcome Dhananjay to the Huhtamaki India team. He comes with extensive leadership experience from the packaging and printing business and holds great records in driving businesses towards significant growth. We are certain that his rich experience and knowledge will play a vital role for the India market as we continue to grow and accomplish our goals towards becoming the first choice in sustainable packaging solutions. Talking about his new role, Dhananjay Salunkhe, Managing Director, Huhtamaki India, said, I am impressed with Huhtamakis principle and high-performance culture that focuses on the core values of Care Dare Deliver. I am excited and looking forward to developing the company further by harvesting new opportunities, accelerating growth with a vision to deliver on its 2030 ambitions. Prior to ITC, Dhananjay spent nine years with 3M, starting as Plant Head for their Pimpri manufacturing unit. As a Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt holder, Dhananjay has been instrumental in driving significant process improvements and was recognized with the Transformational Leader Award in 2015. Dhananjay started his career as a Graduate Engineer Trainee at PMP Auto, followed by stints at Sulzer India, a Swiss pumps & compressors company, and GKN Sinter Metals. Network18 has appointed senior broadcast journalist and editor Palki Sharma in Managing Editor rank. Sharma will launch a new multi-platform video project for the group. This will be her second innings at Network18, where she has earlier worked in different capacities. Commenting on her appointment, Sharma said, I am excited to join hands with Network18, Indias largest news network, to launch a futuristic project with a global footprint, that will transform the news experience and make India proud. It will be a content innovation lab that challenges traditional news formats and experiments with the latest technology and interactive tools to make news stories intelligent, interesting, and accessible for the global audience. The video project to be built and lead by Sharma will straddle all formats of news reporting and presentation. The news product will aim to capture a new generation of audiences for the group. Palki is a distinctive journalist and editor, thanks to her persona, voice, and audience connect, said Smriti Mehra, CEO, Business News, Network18 group. The news product she will lead will cater to audiences across platforms. It will help the network expand its footprints, along with imagining new formats of showcasing news content, she added. Sharma, who joins Network18 from WION News channel, has over 21 years of experience across several media, including the ITV Network, Network18, Doordarshan News and The Hindustan Times. She was the host of Gravitas, a popular prime-time English news programme, as well as the highly regarded digital programme Gravitas Plus on WION. Additionally, she conceptualised and oversaw the WION Global Summit, a channel event held annually in Dubai. In her career spanning over two decades, Palki has interviewed several national and international heads of state. She has also covered important stories and events on the ground, including the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, the Quad Summits in Tokyo and Washington DC, and many others. With 39 million YouTube views, News18 Rajasthan has now overtaken all other news brands to claim the top spot in the digital media landscape, as per Crowdtangle, Tubebuddy and SocialBlade. The fact that market share is consistently growing across segments is evident of how well News18 Rajasthan's offering of news, insights, and analysis has connected with viewers. The channel has helped establish new benchmarks in the news broadcasting industry, and the channel's most recent achievement demonstrates how the audience prefers NEWS18 Rajasthan for information on key subjects, without any bias and ensuring coverage of all points of views. News18 Rajasthan has experienced exceptional growth online as a consequence of its smart programming and real-time delivery of current events. The reason for this achievement is that News18 Rajasthan has developed by realising the value of digital reach and the viewing habits of the audience. The largest media company in the nation, Network18, has been leading on the digital front with 200 million digital unique viewers per month. In India, 2 out of every 5 internet users access Network18's digital platforms for original programming. The reason for this achievement has been the viewers' consumption habits. One97 Communications Limited that owns the brand Paytm, India's leading digital payments and financial services company and the pioneer of QR and mobile payments, has announced the Travel Festival Sale from 15th-17th September. Ahead of the festive season, the company is offering discounts on domestic and international flights booking, and cashback on bus ticketing. With this, users can avail up to 18% discount on domestic and up to 12% discount on international flights on bookings through Paytm. The offer is available on all major flights GoFirst, Vistara and Spicejet. This offer is exclusively for ICICI Bank (credit card, credit card EMI, net banking), Citibank (credit card, debit card, credit card EMI), RBL Bank (credit card, debit card, credit card EMI), and HSBC Bank (credit card, credit card EMI) users. The company also has special fares for Armed Forces, Senior Citizens and Students with additional discounts. With a seamless booking experience, Paytm provides flexibility of payments including Paytm UPI, Paytm Wallet, Paytm Postpaid (Buy Now, Pay Later), in addition to payments from all major UPI apps and debit cards, credit cards and prepaid cards. For further convenience, users will be charged zero convenience fee on ticket booking. During the sale, the company is also offering up to 25% cashback on bus bookings with an additional 10% discount on specific operators. Users will be given 100% refund if they cancel their tickets under no questions asked cancellation protection. Paytm has ensured its users a Best Price Guaranteed across more than 2,500 operators. For train tickets booking, the company is offering a zero payment gateway charge on UPI payments. Paytm app provides live train status, tatkal bookings and 24X7 customer support for all the train travel queries. Users can also check the PNR status of their bookings on Paytm app. Paytm is one of the most preferred online platforms for travel bookings due to its partnership with all major airlines, bus operators and IRCTC. The company is an International Air Transport Association (IATA) accredited travel agent. Paytm app provides a quick and easy ticket experience with enhanced inventories and additions, free cancellation and refunds, and travel insurance. Paytm also offers the best deals and discounts for ticket booking due to a wide spectrum of bank partnerships. YouTube Shorts plans to go the TikTok way by adding direct monetization option for Shorts, which would give a more clear pathway to short-form content creators to make money purely for their clips. The Google-owned company plans to pay creators 45% of the ad money from Shorts, The New York Times report says. Creators on YouTube have generally received 55% of the income from the ads that play before and during videos on the platform. Amjad Hanif, the vice president of product management and creator products, said that the payments will really help creators understand why YouTube is the place to start their Shorts career. Hanif also said that the company will allow creators to use popular music in videos and make money from the content. Revenue previously went to the copyright holders of the music. YouTube plans to make itself a suitable and appealing stage for short-form video creators seeking to get stable monetization for their content. It's important that TikTok makers and YouTubers have long scrutinized the application's monetization options, noting that payments are low and inconsistent. In spite of the fact that YouTube has a maker store for Shorts users, the cut of promotion income will give creators access to stable, rather than one-offs payments. YouTube launched its $100-million creator fund for Shorts a year ago. As a component of the programme, YouTube welcomes a huge number of qualified makers to guarantee payment ranging from $100 to $10,000 based on viewership and engagement with their Shorts videos. Indias largest home-grown video streaming platform, announced the World Digital Premiere of its latest Punja bi offering, Sohreyan Da Pind Aa Gaya. Produced by Ankit Vijan, Navdeep Narula and Gurjit Singh, the comedy drama stars actors Sargun Mehta & Gurnam Bhullar in lead roles and will premiere on ZEE5 on 23rd September. Directed by Ksshitij Chaudhary and written by Amberdeep Singh, the romantic comedy takes its title from a popular Punjabi folk song and revolves around the love between Bhullar and Mehta, who hope to get married to each other. However, an unexpected twist in the tale leads to Mehta getting married to someone else. This leads to problems between the two lovers who then engage in a game of one-upmanship. Bhullar decides to spoil the fun of getting married for Mehta and is determined to tie the knot with a girl from her village so that she cannot ignore him. The battle between the two enraged ex-lovers that starts from hereon is hysterical and the USP of the film. Sohreyan Da Pind Aa Gaya is an out and out entertainer with situational comedy, a sizzling chemistry and an unusual love story with a mix of romance and revenge. The movie also stars Jass Bajwa, Jasmin Bajwa, Shivika Diwan, Hardip Gill and Mintu Kapa in key roles and will premiere on ZEE5 on 23rd September. Actor Gurnam Bhullar said, It was a fun ride shooting for this film as the story is so unique and exciting. Love stories usually end with a happy ending but in this one, it starts with romance and ends with an attempt to seek revenge from an ex-lover. Now that the film belongs to the fans, I am excited for them to sample the film on ZEE5 and shower their love. I hope that the World Digital Premiere is a success. In the present times, many south Indian films have received recognition across the nation. Do you think that Punjabi cinema deserves the same national recognition but is not getting it yet? Punjabi films may not be well known, but at least the entire country of India grooves on Punjabi beats more. South Indian films use more VFX in addition to the story of the film. How was it reuniting with Sargun after Surkhi Bindi? Tell us about your equation with her. Oh! That was fun, we both are mischievous and fun-loving, our chemistry is thankfully really good and I look forward to it. How would you react in real life if someone you love was getting married to someone else? I get attached too soon, so it would be difficult for me to adapt the reality. We're used to being told that autism has no treatments or cures. We've taken beatings for decades regarding therapies and medical interventions, and guess what? Despite these beatings, our morale ALWAYS improves, because we never give up and rarely listen to so called "experts" like the nudniks at the American Speech Language and Hearing Association (ASHA.) Experts in the case of "evidence based" science are often folks who have hit the jackpot known as Insurance Reimbursements for offering the therapies that universities have been paid to study and rubber stamp by industry. My daughters had school based speech therapy from age 3 through 22. Their therapists were lovely women ( we did not have a single male speech therapist in 57 cumulative school years.) They meant well. They imparted what they were taught. They were kind. They tried. They made ZERO headway. I mean zero. Nothing the school SLPs did boosted my girls' ability to communicate or to make their needs known. Not even the exalted iPad - with the $300 apps one friend described as dropping 100 flashcards on the floor and expecting a sentence. Even worse with school based Occupational Therapy. Or as I call it, "The Pencil Holding Guild." Not until we had a private therapist using reflex integration did we see benefits from OT. Work she could NOT do in a school based setting. JB Handley will tell you more about how the ASHA which is the organization that is supposed to champion communication, shuts it down. His book, cowritten with his son Jamie, is our AofA Book Club book of the day. We're featuring books on our Instagram, and in our sidebar, which nobody sees any longer because we all read on mobile devices. ### Excerpted from JB's blog, click to read the full post with video and much more ASHA tells 50 million nonspeakers, you arent capable. September 17, 2022 PORTLAND, OregonWere finishing up the filming for our new documentary, SPELLERS, a movie inspired by the book my son Jamie and I wrote in 2021 titled Underestimated: an Autism Miracle. Briefly, it's the story of the miraculous discovery my family made that our 17-year-old son Jamie was cognitively brilliant but trapped inside his own body. What freed him from this self-described silent prison? A communication method known as Spelling 2 Communicate, heretofore referred to as S2C. Heres a great video primer on S2C: Today, the miracle with Jamie continues unabated. Jamie no longer needs anyone to hold the keyboard for him. As you can see in the picture at the top of this post, Jamie is able to spell his thoughts and feelings independently, even with two cameramen filming his every move (well, you cant actually see it yet, but trust me you will soon, that scene is in the movie!). At home, without the Hollywood klieg lights on, it gets even better: Jamie is now typing with two hands on a flat keyboard, communicating the way most of us do. Im guessing half the people reading this article dont know what the ASHA acronym stands for (thanks for sticking with me!) so here you go: American Speech Language Hearing Association. Basically, its a trade group that represents more than 200,000 speech language pathologists, is based in Rockville, MD, and is run by a woman named Vicki Deal-Williams. For those of you not in the autism world, Speech Language Pathologists (we call them SLPs) are a big deal. They work with our kids. They try to help them talk. Some of them are great, amazing people. And, those who call themselves SLPs only do so for one reason: they have received the accreditation of ASHA. These credentials allow them to refer to themselves as SLPs, and these hard-earned credentials are everything to them. Therefore, what ASHA says carries huge weight with them, and they sure dont want their credential pulled by not marching to their tune. And, in 2018, ASHA did something with their weight that has had a giant impact on the roughly 50 million nonspeakers in the world: they issued a proclamation stating that what my son was doing on a keyboard was a magic trick, was not coming from him, and that SLPs should run, not walk, away from ever using a letterboard and should actively discourage parents from trying S2C, too.... Read more here. JERUSALEM, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Israel will host an international conference on food production technologies from the sea and the desert, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said Monday. The summit, initiated by the Israeli ministry, will take place in the southernmost Red Sea city of Eilat between Oct. 18 and 20, according to a ministry statement. It will be attended by ministers of agriculture, scientists and leading entrepreneurs from around the world, as well as delegates from Bahrain, Malta, Morocco, Jordan, and Cyprus, the statement said. The conference aims at promoting knowledge and technologies in the field of marine and desert agriculture, and strengthening research and business collaborations in the field, it added. It will thus promote international and regional cooperation with countries across the Middle East in the face of the acute climate crisis and growing global food insecurity. The conference follows the Israeli government's decision to launch a multi-year plan to develop Eilat and the southern Eilot region as a national and international center for the production of food from the sea and the desert. Bidens rhetoric is driving families apart across our nation as his policies devastate families. Part of Bidens schtick as a politician is that he is a concerned grandfather for the nation. This is just a show. While our dear leader freely lets us know how deeply concerned he is about his own family, it is apparent that he doesnt really care what his words and policies do to other families. Have you ever heard Biden mention the fentanyl crisis that has devastated so many American families? No. In fact, we have no idea whether Biden and his administration are even aware that over 100,000 Americans died of fentanyl poisoning last year. Biden and his representatives keep stating that the southern border of the USA is secure. The administration turns a blind eye to the truth that Bidens wide-open southern border allows the cartels to ship millions across, who bring fentanyl with them. This has devastated many families. The Washington Times reported on a Republican Study Committee conference that focused on this tragic problem. More than a dozen parents attended this conference, and many testified about losing their children. The Times reported that one mom, Lori Ashenfelder of North Carolina, whose son died of fentanyl poisoning in 2021 said, I dont want to hear that anybody else I know and love has died over this. I dont want any more moms to go to bed at night crying because theyve lost their kid. Another crisis that is directly related to the rhetoric of Biden and other Democrats is families growing apart and an epidemic of adult children cancelling parents. These adult children just drop out of their families lives and keep grandchildren from grandparents. As a wife and mother in one of these families, I have struggled to understand, but recently an epiphany came to me: Our own government under the Democrats turned our kids against my husband and me and caused them to cancel us, and they have done the same to many other Americans. The process of families growing apart because of the rhetoric of leaders in government did not start in the last two years. Democrat politicians have been slandering their political opposition for over a decade, before they even thought of slandering President Trump. They and mainstream media have been characterizing American families as lame and stupid all that time with young people as their audience. Biden has always been willing to partake in slandering Americans if they do not vote for him. In 2015, Michael Goodwin of the New York Post wrote about how VP Joe Biden called Tea Party patriots terrorists. This is not a typical Biden gaffe that can be laughed off. The vice president of the United States has outrageously compared American citizens to violent enemies of our nation for daring to exercise their democratic rights to dissent, wrote Goodwin. What were so many American children to think when the vice president called their parents terrorists? Democrat politicians, including Biden, started calling Americans racist in 2009 and then ratcheted that up to white supremacist in 2020. Most peoples children once knew that their parents were not racist but got confused because no one else seemed to know that. As adults in the leftist world how could they keep being in relationship with such parents? If the parents were Christian or Jewish, that was even worse. Remember Obamas words: "They get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations." Young people were listening. Then there was the initiative to get students to challenge their parents. In November 2013, Obamas deputies at Organizing for Action (OFA) gatecrashed family Thanksgivings all across the USA to get young people to push ObamaCare. The OFA created an online script that included a short video. Harmless, right? Not exactly. The Daily Caller reported that in the video ...two drab parents urge their friendless young son to buy health-insurance, while they eat Obamacare-compliant small portions of drab food. In other words, they stereotyped parents in a negative way in materials meant for their children. Not cool, but who took that seriously as a threat against the family? Not us. We were happy to talk about politics at Thanksgiving and, in the end, to agree to disagree about things. However, the Daily Caller noted something we overlooked. The progressives determination to gatecrash iconic family events reflects self-confidence in their own expertise, their long-held pity and contempt for ordinary Americans and for the institution of family, plus their ability to attract young people to their cause. Things went along this way as the Tea Party rose in opposition to the policies of the Obama administration and Democrat leaders slandered the Americans in that peaceful movement. Like many Americans, we became involved with the Tea Party. We attended rallies and held signs, but we did not carry nor see any swastikas, and we were real grassroots, working people who had never been involved politically before. We kept talking with our kids and we all were good with that until one last blow our family and many other families. The pandemic presented an opportunity for Biden and the Democrats to break American families. Leftists became focused solely on the virus. Fighting it was everything. But this was a chance -- never let a good crisis go to waste -- to end agree-to-disagree as a way to get along in families. Biden and the bureaucrats and technocrats pushed the idea that you must cancel those who disagree with Biden and the leftists agendas. As a result, many parents have been canceled and they are unable to see their grandchildren. How could children who loved their parents do something like this to them? Some believe a kind of group hypnosis called "mass formation psychosis," was created during the pandemic, according to psychology professor Mattias Desmet. He writes in his book The Psychology of Totalitarianism that the leaders of this totalitarianism are bureaucrats and technocrats and they experience formation ...including an exaggerated willingness of individuals to sacrifice their own personal interests out of solidarity with the collective (i.e., the masses), a profound intolerance of dissident voices, and pronounced susceptibility to pseudo-scientific indoctrination and propaganda. Biden, with his politicians rhetoric and his lousy policies, has devastated families across the USA. As we approach the midterm election we must tell the truth about this. Then we must take power away from Biden, Democrats, and mainstream media by voting Republican. C.S. Boddie writes for Meadowlark Press. Image: LBJ Library photo by Jay Godwin Who knew that residents of woke and progressive Marthas Vineyard were racist, white supremacist, xenophobes? Former President Barack Obama owns a $12 million estate on this racist island off the coast of Massachusetts. Are the Obamas racists? Other liberal celebrities either live or frequent Marthas Vineyard, including Oprah Winfrey, Larry David, Bill Murray, John Kerry, and the Clintons. Perhaps they are all racists, too, as the island has become anti-immigration. As NBC News confidently asserts, there is racism behind anti-immigration rhetoric, rhetoric which we are now hearing from Marthas Vineyard. Democrats and the left do not believe in a sovereign national border, instead encouraging illegal immigration and amnesty for those making their way from anywhere to the United States. Democrats have voted to defend sanctuary cities and block mandatory jail time for repeat illegals. This would include, Garcia Zarate, a repeat felon from Mexico, had been deported multiple times prior to the shooting and murder of Kate Steinle. Democrats are not in the least bothered over such incidents. During the Obama administration, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi argued that the surge of illegal immigrant children and families crossing into the U.S. is more of an opportunity than a crisis. It wasnt such a great opportunity for Ms. Steinle, although it was for Mrs. Pelosi remaining House Speaker. Then why are Democrats and progressives outraged when unvetted, potentially criminal illegal immigrants wind up in their tony neighborhoods? As Fox News reported, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis followed through on his promise to drop off illegal immigrants in progressive states, sending two planes full of migrants to Marthas Vineyard. YouTube screen grab Imagine wealthy, virtue-signaling leftists being outraged when, as those whom Speaker Pelosi characterized as Gods children move a little too close for comfort. DeSantis challenged progressives to walk the walk, rather than just talk the talk. And now they are tripping over their self-proclaimed virtue. Local Democrat elected officials are not pleased: History does not look kindly on leaders who treat human beings like cargo, loading them up and sending them a thousand miles away without telling them their destination," Democratic Massachusetts Congressman William Keating said on Twitter. Keating represents Martha's Vineyard. But its O.K. to send such cargo to Denver or Seattle, also thousands of miles away from their homes under the guise of tolerance and diversity? The local NBC News affiliate reported that lawmakers from the Bay State condemned the move, saying it's "manipulating people who are in very dire circumstances for political gain." That describes Democrat policies to open the borders, exploiting vulnerable populations simply for electoral gain. Marthas Vineyard County Commissioner Keith Chatinover pulled out the leftist standard, calling Gov. DeSantis a fascist. He previously said he would love for the affluent island to become a haven for migrants but not that he is getting his wish, he calls DeSantis inhumane for not giving the Democrat-run enclave advanced warning. How much warning do border states receive when not 50, but 50,000, migrants show up in their states? Despite caterwauling over a mere 50 migrants, Breitbart Business Digest calculates that the island has room for six million refugees. Who knew that the wealthy progressive islanders could be so cheap and racist? Or as the Federalist reported, Here are 12 beautiful estates on the island with plenty of room for the local community to benevolently offer to their newest residents. Despite virtue-signaling their tolerance, it seems Democrat and white Marthas Vineyard residents dont like brown people in their neighborhood. Unless they are cleaning their mansions or mowing their lawns. Texas Governor Greg Abbott, observing his Florida counterpart, said hold my beer as he bussed more than 100 illegal immigrants to the vice presidential residence in Washington, D.C. This was after Vice President Kamala Harris noted a week earlier during a T.V. interview that we have a secure border despite illegal immigration hitting record highs. The brilliant White House Press Secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, who thought Senator Ted Cruz was the governor of Texas, doubled down on Harriss secure border nonsense. She also had the audacity to blame former President Donald Trump for the flood of illegals into America, forgetting that Trump was one of very few Republicans who made this an issue, and despite bipartisan opposition, began building a secure border between the U.S. and Mexico. Fortunately, these two Republican governors had the cojones to take on illegal immigration and serve a dose of Alinskys Rules for Radicals to the Democrats: Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules. If the virtual-signaling left is in favor of illegal immigration and sanctuary cities, then by all means let them prove it. New York City and Washington, D.C., both proudly self-proclaimed sanctuary cities, are now complaining over illegal immigrants from Texas and Arizona arriving in their cities. This is about inclusion, allowing northern cities and states to experience the delights of being a border state, including them in the problems that most of the federal government and many elected Republicans choose to ignore. Wealthy liberals are famous for telling their inferiors what to do, but loudly proclaiming not in my backyard over what they want in everyone elses backyard. A famous example was a plan 15 years ago to build 130 windmills off the Massachusetts coast. Windmills are a progressive's wet dream, along with solar panels. But only as long as not in their yards or neighborhoods. Ted Kennedy and William Koch, of the infamous and evil Koch Brothers, helped kill the project. The Cape Wind Project in 2007, Would also have spoiled the view from the Kennedy familys estate and that of the Democratic family's billionaire neighbor, William Koch, owner of a nearby 26-acre estate. Imagine if Gov. DeSantis sent a few busloads of illegal immigrants to Hyannisport and dropped them off in front of the Kennedy and Koch estates. Sen. Kennedy pushed through the 1965 Immigration Reform Act and subsequent legislation which gave us chain migration, refugee programs, blanket amnesty, an immigration lottery, and H-1B visas. But he didnt want these immigrants anywhere near him. Just like with unsightly windmills, Sen. Kennedy would have not allowed unsightly illegal immigrants to camp out in front of his gated estate. He would smugly tell America, walls for me, but not for thee. Leftist outrage is quite selective. From a few months ago: Biden administration resumes after-dark migrant flights to airport outside NYC. Was there any liberal or Twitter meltdown over this? Funny how the left reacts when forced to live under their own rules. This is what pushback looks like. Republican governors should have been doing this as soon as President Trump met resistance to his wall building plans. Busloads of immigrants could have been dropped off in front of Paul Ryan, Nancy Pelosi, and Mitch McConnells homes. As well as in other sanctuary city enclaves like Boulder, Ithaca, Berkeley, Ann Arbor, Westchester County, and Cambridge. If blue states want to be sanctuaries, red states should send them all of their illegal immigrants. Fortunately, a few Republican leaders are now waking up and learning to fight. Too bad most Republicans sit on their hands, preferring campaign checks from the pro unfettered immigration Chamber of Commerce rather than fighting to enforce the nations laws and keep their constituents safe. Thankfully Donald Trump brought this issue front and center after his 2015 escalator ride at Trump Tower. What a perfect opportunity for the few Republicans brave and smart enough to make this an issue in the upcoming midterm elections. Im hoping Republican hopefuls in my state of Colorado make this a campaign issue as Denver morphs into San Francisco. It was a winner for Trump and would be for any Republicans with the sense to take this issue to the people. Brian C. Joondeph, M.D., is a physician and writer. Follow me on Twitter @retinaldoctor, on Truth Social @BrianJoondeph, and LinkedIn @Brian Joondeph. There are 331 million people in America. For the past few years, the blue, wokie, greenie, pro-regressive libsiders have been pushing hard on a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion narrative. Most rational Americans view this as nothing more than a Divisive, Exclusive, and Inequitable means of making sure they and theirs get the most they can from everyone else's pockets. But let's play along for a minute. Since Biden took office (away from Trump), there have been just about 4 million "encounters" at the border between DHS and illegal migrants. For the sake of ease of this conversation, let's presume that the number sent back or deported roughly equals the number who made it across without an "encounter" or who came legally, converted to illegal aliens, and have not been deported yet. They are a very diverse group with representatives from most developing countries on Earth so that's good. And not a White American male in the lot! Image: Illegal aliens. YouTube screen grab. While a presidential candidate, Biden stated, What I would do as president is several more things, because things have changed. I would, in fact, make sure that there is, we immediately surge to the border all those people are seeking asylum, they deserve to be heard. That's who we are. We're a nation who says, if you want to flee, and you're fleeing oppression, you should come. After all those years in government, he should know that refugees are processed outside the United States. Therefore, it appears that his call for asylum-seekers those who apply for refuge from within the borders of the country was deliberate...and very inclusive. He singled out no group as unwelcome not cartel members, drug-traffickers, rapists, child-molesters, or the previously deported. If you feel oppressed, come on in. The water's fine, and potable except in a few Democrat-controlled cities. New illegal aliens during Biden's term make up 1.2% of the population. Equity demands, therefore, that they make up 1.2% of specific populations. And where best to start but those states and cities that have declaimed that they stand with and support criminal illegal aliens and will not turn them over to the evil DHS. The same DHS that processes them in like Capitol Police holding open the door for...never mind. So what do we have, then? California (with 11.9% of America's population), Colorado (1.7%), Connecticut (1.1%), Illinois (3.8%), Massachusetts (2.1%), New Jersey (2.7%), New Mexico (0.6%), New York (5.9%), Oregon (1.3%), Vermont (0.2%), and Washington (2.3%) are all self-declared sanctuary states. That's 33.6%. Besides that, including several municipalities in these states, Iowa City, New Orleans, Baltimore, Lansing, Jackson, Philadelphia, and Providence are bleeding-hearted sanctuary cities. Whole counties in Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Virginia jumped on the "Look at me! Look at me!" virtue-signaling bandwagon. As well as the District of Columbia, Governors Abbott and DeSantis have plenty of destinations to choose from to spread the wealth, er, the cost of Biden's asylum policy. "We've already got plenty," they will say. Really? But isn't that the goal of the Environmental, Social, Governance agenda to advance the U.N.'s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals by concentrating both the demand for and provision of resources and infrastructure within larger cities? "We've already taken in our fair share," they may protest. Perhaps so. Blue-enclave governors should call on DHS to state clearly how many illegal border-crossers they've distributed around the country in the past 20 months, including the destinations, demographic breakdown, and cost to the American taxpayer. Then we'll know for sure. "This is a crisis for our population," some cry. I beg to differ. The cult of gender fluidity has been working hard to take over, make invisible, or just plain erase our country's natural-born girls and women, their accomplishments, their lifestyles, and their opportunities. Most of these new entrants are young men; they'll actually hasten the process along if we let them. "You're treating these migrants like slaves," they complain. No, if Texas and Florida were treating them like slaves, they would keep them close, by any means necessary. Democrats should know that it's their history after all. Actually, keeping them in cramped, poor, dusty small border towns rather than sending them to rich, vibrant cities would be the height of you-name-it-phobia. Or so say our Critical Race Theory proponents, who call for vast resources to boost the fortunes of the various sex, race, religion, body shape, and abled classes. Who would deny such resources to these seekers of a world free from oppression? It's high time we take the acronymic peoples at their word and let DEI, ESG, GF, and CRT define our asylum policy for now. We can always change it back. Just takes a pen, gonads, and vertebrae. Anony Mee is the nom de blog of a retired public servant. Bill Maher is a leftist (and proud of it), but he's neither a fool nor a fantasist. Of late, he's been one of the more prominent leftists pointing out that his side of the political aisle has gone too far and is destroying itself. Maher's latest effort hit home with me because I was a college history major and have always understood that the past is a different place from the present. Rather like medieval man himself, the left doesn't get that, and Maher at least made the effort to remedy that situation. Why do I say leftists are like medievalists? It's because, if you're at all familiar with medieval art, you know that Jesus and those around him are always portrayed as fair-skinned Europeans wearing up-to-date medieval European garb. Here, for example, is the Virgin Mary from Jan van Eyck's exquisite 15th-century Ghent Altarpiece: It would have shocked van Eyck were he told that the actual Virgin Mary would have been a dark-complected woman in shabby desert garb. For the average medieval man, the past wasn't just a prologue to the present; it was exactly like the present. Leftists have a similar myopic view of history. For them, though, the past isn't exactly like the present it is, instead, a failed version of the present, filled with people who are insufficiently woke and must therefore be denigrated and forgotten. Take James Madison. That he came up with one of the most brilliant political systems in the world is irrelevant because he had slaves (just as humans have had since the dawn of mankind). Madison is a bad person by modern standards, so his timeless and humanist ideas must be jettisoned. Image: Bill Maher. YouTube screen grab. In August, Steven Hayward wrote about an essay by the president of the American Historical Association, James H. Sweet, calling out what's been termed "presentism" that is, applying present standards to history and, on that basis, dismissing history entirely. Hayward predicted an imminent apology, and he was correct. Sweet was gentle and polite, but that wasn't good enough. The left attacked hard, and Sweet issued what the World Socialist Web Site calls a "groveling apology." (The true socialists, by the way, are on the side of history, not presentism.) Somehow word of this debacle got to Bill Maher, and he worked up a monologue about the idiocy of applying present standards to the past. His thesis is that human development parallels each person's development. Both individual humans and humankind as a whole move from immaturity (characterized by bad decisions) to wiser maturity. If Maher had read Steven Pinker's The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined, Maher would also know that, barring massive convulsions (such as the rise of leftism in the 20th century), modern people are, on average, less violent than their forebears. But even without Pinker's book, Maher's monologue is pretty good. The audience seemed enthusiastic, although you could hear a collective breath-holding when Maher touched upon the realities of slavery, something that was the human norm, with our anti-slavery Western civilization being the exception. It would have been even better if Maher could have added that one of the things that ended slavery was fossil fuels, which provided a more reliable and less troublesome source of energy than slaves. Heck, even the Arab camel-racers stopped using child slaves as the riders not for moral reasons, but because they were shamed out of it and they discovered that robots were better at the job. The only historical error in the monologue is when Maher castigates the presentist crowd because the mindset is "just a way to congratulate yourself about being better than George Washington because you have a gay friend and he didn't." Au contraire, Mr. Maher. Yes, Washington did have a gay friend. Friedrich Wilhelm August Heinrich Ferdinand von Steuben, AKA Baron von Steuben, was one of Washington's most important generals, for it was he who turned the Continental Army into a disciplined fighting force. Von Steuben was also suspected of being homosexual. Washington didn't care. He cared only that von Steuben was turning his men into fighters. Some things are more preposterous than others. Ghoulish, too. Take, for example, the fact that California governor Gavin Newsom (D) recently announced that his re-election campaign has paid for numerous billboards (in seven other states) promoting abortion tourism. That's right, Gruesome Newsom has taken it upon himself to protest those states' conservative policies restricting abortion by asking them to come to the formerly Golden State to kill their babies. Possibly more repulsive yet, some of the billboards sport a passage from the New Testament: "Love your neighbor as yourself" (Mark 12:31). Huh? I mean, WTH?! Newsom has made abortion a primary focus of his campaign and is attempting to expand his message to a nationwide audience by touting California as a destination for those denied abortions elsewhere. Newsom announced the billboards on Twitter thusly: NEW: Just launched billboards in 7 of the most restrictive anti-abortion states that explain how women can access care no matter where they live. To any woman seeking an abortion in these anti-freedom states: CA will defend your right to make decisions about your own health. California will defend women's rights to make decisions about their own health?! How dare he say that or label any other state as "anti-freedom"? How. Dare. He. Women in California weren't able to opt out of getting injected multiple times by an experimental mRNA "vaccine" that neither protects them from getting nor transmitting COVID-19. (However, the vaccine might wreak havoc on women's menstrual cycles and terminate their pregnancies, so that part makes sense.) And many women were not allowed out of their houses during the pandemic (Nancy Pelosi was a notable exception), giving California something in common with certain Middle Eastern nations. Of course, when women in many urban areas of Newsom's state do go outside, they are fairly likely to step in human excrement...or be assaulted, robbed, or shot. And they may not be allowed to use electricity at certain times. Or buy a gasoline-powered vehicle. If the leftist whackos have their way, soon they may not be able to eat a cheeseburger. Abortion tourism?! Really? We are in the final stages of decay. "Come to California to exterminate your baby at our famous abortion mills! Oh, and while you're here, you may want to visit Hollywood, the Golden Gate Bridge, and Yosemite National Park." The governor of the erstwhile Land of Milk and Honey is trying to bring money to his rapidly deteriorating state by marketing the mass death of babies. And, sickeningly, I bet he sleeps like one. California: the Land of Clamps and Forceps. Image: Free image from Pixabay, no attribution required. Remember when President Trump was running the show, and the U.S. had a real "red line" in the sand, and he sent tier-one military units to track down Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who promptly detonated a suicide vest, killing himself and several of his own children? And then The Washington Post referred to the dead terrorist as an "austere religious scholar"? Well, the History Channel has taken it up a notch. In the left-wing media's latest display of perverse obsession with figures of mass slaughter, Che Guevara is once again painted as a chic and charming hero. In Dec. 1951, Ernesto Rafael Guevara de la Serna hopped on the back of his friend Alberto Granados motorcycle. The trip made an impact on the young Che by exposing him to social injustice, economic inequality, capitalist exploitation and political repression. HISTORY (@HISTORY) September 16, 2022 The tweet highlighted a recycled article, which described Guevara's rise to murderous dictator as a "coming-of-age" tale. It recalled his early life as an ambitious and dedicated medical student, with "intellectual curiosity" and a "hunger for adventure[.]" But then get this: the author quotes historian Paulo Drinot, a professor at the University College London, who said Guevara possessed the virtue of "social consciousness." I'm sorry, what? Doesn't "social consciousness" imply that a person is attuned to the plight of suffering people? In what world would that describe Che Guevara? When discussing the absurdity of this piece, one of my American Thinker colleagues relayed to me two stories about Guevara, both of which I was previously unaware of. During Guevara's reign of terror, a distressed mother arrived at the secret police headquarters, looking for her son. Guevara directed the mother to where the boy was, and "ordered the son shot" right in front of her. He had a large picture window installed in his office so he could watch the executions without missing an administrative beat. A true voyeur of death. Then the reader is treated to a gross attempt to humanize the monster, lamenting the fact that poor Guevara "had a rough start" to his well known motorcycle ride. Poor respiratory health led to him contracting the flu (aw, let's all pity the despot) before he had to "nurse" a broken heart after a break-up. The rest is quite typical of the media drivel to which we're unfortunately all so well accustomed. The article ends by announcing Guevara's graduation from medical school and touts his undying loyalty...and completely fails to mention his despicable track record of violating unalienable human rights. This repurposed content exhibits a seriously dangerous trend in the historical discipline (although I'm not so sure many people really consider the History Channel an academic authority). Nonetheless, the general tendency of historical academicians like the referenced professor as well as the author of the article is to run cover for Marxism. The failed doctrine cannot stand on its own merit as a legitimate and prosperous political philosophy, for obvious reasons. What other ideology has a body count that numbers in the hundreds of millions? No others are even close. The author of the piece, Christopher Klein, appears to be an accomplished writer and describes himself as a "total history geek." Yet he's clearly flouting all convention, and abandoning the most sacred principle of historical writing, which is the noble pursuit of objectivity. Throughout his piece, there is a heavy emphasis on the economic and social suffering of the people, many of whom were treated like "second-class citizens." And of course, the only ideological outlet to combat exploitation is Marxism! It was Guevara's burgeoning desire to care for the less fortunate that led him towards unsullied and altruistic communism. What. A. Joke. Image: Rene Burri (19332014), public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Recently, the Arizona Mirror revealed that the Republican Party in Arizona is urging Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell to financially support U.S. Senate candidate Blake Masters. Masters, who secured a coveted endorsement from President Trump, triumphed in the primaries based on that seal of approval. In the beginning, Masters was trailing his Democrat rival, incumbent Sen. Mark Kelly, by a significant margin of 12 points. But matters have recently swung in Masters's favor, and a recent Emerson College poll has Kelly leading Masters by just two percentage points. Since the margin of error is around two points, this could be regarded as a tie. This is a monumental achievement because Masters is lagging significantly behind Kelly in terms of fundraising. So how has McConnell reacted? The Senate Leadership Fund, a super-PAC associated with McConnell, reduced its advertising budget in Arizona by around $8 million in August. It was reported that McConnell was in talks with billionaire entrepreneur Peter Thiel, who spent more than $13 million on behalf of Masters through the Saving Arizona PAC in the primary, to provide financial support for Masters for the general election as well. According to The Washington Post, those talks failed. Despite that, Thiel, who is Masters's friend and longtime employer, has resumed spending in the Arizona Senate race. In addition, Thiel's Saving Arizona PAC announced it will be spending specifically to promote Masters. The Sentinel Action Fund, a super-PAC associated with the conservative-issues group Heritage Action for America, has pledged to spend at least $5 million to boost Masters. Some $3.5 million from its fund will be dedicated to television ads, while $1.5 million will fund voter outreach. So what is the score on the fundraising? By the end of June 2022, the Kelly campaign had raised around $55 million, while the Masters campaign reported raising around $5 million, according to the Associated Press. This has enabled Kelly to conduct a prolonged smear campaign against Masters, reaching every inch of Arizona digitally and geographically. Kelly is pushing the narrative that Masters is a dangerous conservative fringe candidate. This seems to be congruent with Biden's recent utterances, where he baselessly and viciously attacked MAGA Republicans as semi-fascists and extremists. Masters fired back and questioned Kelly's description of himself as a moderate since he often toes the Democratic Party line. According to a FiveThirtyEight tracker that monitors the voting records of congressional members, Kelly has voted in line with Joe Biden's position an astounding 94.4 percent of the time, with Conservative Review giving the Arizona Democrat an "F" grade for consistently voting for Biden's leftist agenda. How does the advertisement budget compare overall? So far in Arizona, Democrats have purchased $39 million's worth of ads between now and Election Day, compared to $14 million from Republicans. Should Masters emerge victorious in Arizona, it would not only put the GOP one step closer to retaking the Senate, but also rid the legislative body of one of its most radical members in Mark Kelly. Yet McConnell seems indifferent. McConnell's motives for not supporting Masters are possibly personal. During the heated primary campaign, Masters said the minority leader needs to be replaced and that McConnell is not exactly adept at legislating. Since his triumph at the GOP Arizona primary, Masters expressed hope for McConnell's support while conceding that he's "not Mitch McConnell's favorite candidate." Masters isn't the only candidate receiving a cold shoulder from McConnell. Senate Republican nominees such as J.D. Vance (Ohio), Mehmet Oz (Pennsylvania), Adam Laxalt (Nevada), and Herschel Walker (Georgia), all of whom were endorsed and backed by President Donald Trump during their states' respective GOP primaries, haven't exactly received much financial support, either. This financial support is vital because it enables campaigns to counter Democrat smear campaigns and reach out to independent or ignorant voters. In August, McConnell questioned the caliber of some of the Republican candidates for the U.S. Senate. McConnell said the following regarding the midterms: "I think there's probably a greater likelihood the House flips than the Senate. Senate races are just different they're statewide, candidate quality has a lot to do with the outcome." This is shocking and unprecedented. In politics, every candidate and his party leader always display optimism and confidence about their chances in electoral races, even for the candidate who is doing poorly. But McConnell is spreading negativity about his own party. What could the reason be? Perhaps because he knows that if the GOP wins with a significant number of MAGA candidates in the Senate, he will lose his leadership position. McConnell, hence, would prefer a GOP loss if it means him retaining his status as leader rather than the GOP winning a majority in the Senate but him being relegated to the back benches. McConnell is also an old guard of the Washington establishment who is more comfortable working with Democrats than MAGA Republicans. He is probably relieved that Trump is no longer in the White House. For him, working with Biden is much more convenient. He gives Biden what Biden demands. The GOP votes to send billions of taxpayer dollars to Ukraine, devoid of tracking or accountability mechanisms. McConnell reportedly told Biden that he wanted to blunt President Trump's influence by conveying to allies in Eastern Europe that "Republicans believe NATO is important" and to "push back against the isolationist sentiment in my own party." Mitch McConnell also voted for a "gun safety" bill. Among the provisions in this bill is a "red flag" law that empowers a judge to order the seizure of firearms merely based on someone's suspicion about his intentions. McConnell remains mum about the January 6 Select Committee that exists to persecute Trump and the MAGA Republicans and which pushes the narrative that MAGA Republicans are dangerous extremists. The committee doesn't even allow Trump's representatives the right to cross-examine witnesses. In exchange, the D.C. establishment overlooks McConnell's conflicts of interest and potential corruption. McConnell's wife, Elaine Lan Chao, through her family, has extensive business interests in China and close ties with the establishment in China. Chao was the secretary of transportation in the Trump administration. It was said that Chao used her office to promote her family's shipping business, even trying to include family members in high-level meetings with Chinese government officials. There were allegations that Chao boosted her husband's political fortunes by showering attention and grant money on McConnell's constituents and prominent Kentucky supporters. If MAGA Republicans win during the midterms, they could begin working against the establishment. There may be sanctions or restrictions against China, which could affect McConnell personally and financially. Hence, it seems to be a combination of self-interest and loyalty to the establishment that is dictating McConnell's reluctance to support MAGA candidates. So what happens now? Obviously, McConnell has to be stripped of his leadership position in the Senate and be replaced by Sen. Rand Paul, Sen. Josh Hawley, Sen. Ted Cruz, or someone like that. What can the donors do? The donations, irrespective of the amount, must be made to specific campaigns and not to the overall GOP or PACs. In the end, that could be a good way to boost the MAGA movement. Image: DonkeyHotey via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0. Ever since Obama crept into national politics, we've seen the inner workings of the left, the progressive, for what they are: socialist and communist, which is ultimately control by a government so that elites can rule. Obama and Biden are overt; all the other progressives, from Woodrow Wilson to FDR to Lyndon Johnson, were clandestine, hidden in plain sight. The left's useful minions, the Democrat voter, is propelled by a "holier than thou" lie. They believe that because their party supports the poor, they too share in the glory of helping the downtrodden. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The left's answer to poverty is unworkable; it is pathetic in its ignorance of cause and effect. The left takes money and property from the hardworking, the successful, and hands it out to the unmotivated: welfare, entitlements, bureaucracy. In fact, leftist programs keep the victim down. The left's solution leads to dependence, inferiority, and continual poverty. At the same time, this progressive government-centric ideology helps another pillar of communism: it destroys private business and individual initiative, and eventually, individual freedom. After decades of crying in the wilderness, more Americans woke up to the fact that the left and its Democrat party do want to destroy our essential freedom. Call this enlightenment. The true solution to poverty takes hard work but is proven effective. It requires no government subsidy; in fact, government intervention destroys the one system that can propel any willing citizen out of poverty. It is called variously capitalism, the free enterprise system, and the private economy. These are different terms all meaning one thing: freedom and responsibility for the individual to decide what is in his best interest. And it is in our individual best interest to work together to stop the left's invasion. Thomas Jefferson summed up the essence of our Declaration and Constitution. He codified the sanctity of the individual. I know no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education. This is the true corrective of abuses of constitutional power. As we peel away the masks that hid leftist intent, and as we move to restore our individual rights, responsibility, and freedom, the left will become even more unhinged. Note Biden's recent MAGA speech. He is not at all different in his intent from Hitler, his Brown Shirts, and Kristallnacht. Biden and the left must marginalize a vast number of American citizens so he can rally his minions by obscuring truth. That he uses emotion, and lies, speaks strongly to the vacuity of the left's principles. The antidote is rational thinking and principle based on truth. As Edmund Burke said, "Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little." Stay the course. Truth will prevail. Image via Pxhere. BEIJING, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Monday talked over phone with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on bilateral ties. In the phone call, Li said China and Vietnam are friendly neighbors linked by mountains and rivers. General Secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee Xi Jinping and General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trong communicate frequently, strongly promoting the development of bilateral relations. He said the Chinese side is willing to strengthen exchanges at all levels with the Vietnamese side and deepen pragmatic cooperation in various fields. This will not only benefit peoples of the two countries, but also be conducive to maintaining regional peace and stability, to boosting common development and prosperity. Li said that at present, the world economic recovery is sluggish, and various uncertainties and complex factors are intertwined. Affected by unexpected factors, the Chinese economy is withstanding downward pressure, making efforts to stabilize employment and prices and keeping major economic indicators within an appropriate range and showing an overall recovery trend. Li said that China is glad to see the steady growth of Vietnam's economy, which is conducive to the stability of the industrial and supply chains in East Asia. He added that China is ready to work with Vietnam to give full play to the complementary advantages of their industries, expand economic and trade cooperation, ensure smooth customs clearance at border crossings, import more marketable high-quality agricultural products from Vietnam, welcome Vietnamese students who are willing to go back to China on the premise of good epidemic prevention and increase direct flights between the two countries. Li stressed that peace and stability in the South China Sea are in the common interests of all parties. The Chinese side, Li said, is ready to work with ASEAN countries to take the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea as an opportunity to strive for an early agreement on the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea by giving full play to the wisdom of all parties, focusing on the overall interests, promoting cooperation and managing differences, so as to build the South China Sea into a sea of peace, friendship and cooperation. For his part, the Vietnamese prime minister said that consolidating and developing the Vietnam-China comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership is a top priority in Vietnam's foreign policy. The Vietnamese side stands ready to maintain regular high-level exchanges with the Chinese side, strengthen strategic coordination, properly handle differences, and continuously deepen biliteral cooperation in such key fields as investment and trade, customs clearance, culture and people-to-people exchanges, so as to bring more positive results to biliteral relations, he said. Chinese State Councilor and Secretary-General of the State Council Xiao Jie attended the event. Last week, Monica Showalter wrote about her suspicion that Venezuela is taking a page out of Cuba's book and emptying its prisons, with instructions to the departing prisoners to head for America. On Sunday, Sara Carter published a post confirming that a DHS intelligence report has been warning the Border Patrol to be on the lookout for violent criminals in Venezuela's caravans (although how they're supposed to identify them must remain a mystery). On Thursday, Monica wrote: The Venezuelans as a migrant group seem to have many criminals in their ranks, which appears to be a reflection of the massive crime in their own country. While some Venezuelans indeed may qualify for asylum, these people should not even been allowed in the country under Biden's catch-and-release policy. Releasing the slums of Caracas onto the people of Florida is a crime in itself. The violence seen coming from this group is striking it reminds me of the Marielito criminal onslaught that plagued Florida when Cuban dictator Fidel Castro emptied out his prisons and mental asylums in 1980, and a huge wave of criminals were foisted onto the U.S. Monica explained that the government eventually put all the Cubans into detention centers to separate honest wheat from criminal chaff. "The Venezuelans," she wrote, "face no such brakes under the Biden administration, and Biden himself is exerting no pressure on Venezuela to take the criminals among them back, which is what past presidents have done when Castro acted out." Image: Venezuelan criminals (AKA your new neighbors). YouTube screen grab. It turns out that Monica's instincts were spot-on. Carter states as fact, not speculation, that Venezuela is unloading its prison population onto America: An internal DHS intelligence report reveals that the Department of Homeland Security has information warning Border Patrol agents to be on the lookout for violent criminals entering the United States illegally from Venezuela among the illegal migrant caravans, according information first obtained by Breitbart news and sources interviewed by SaraACarter.com. These violent inmates were allegedly released from prison early, pushed to join caravans heading to the United States, according to DHS sources that spoke to SaraACarter.com. Carter, like Monica, was not surprised to learn that Venezuela is shunting its violent prison population to America: It is no surprise that this is happening. On my recent trip to Central America, a number of senior level officials, to include Guatemalan President Alejandro Eduardo Giammattei, warned that among the migrants fleeing to the United States were many criminals and possible prisoners that appeared to have been released early from nations like Venezuela. This Reason video gives you some insight into the kinds of prisoners heading our way thanks to Biden's open border: In 2015, Donald Trump already understood that, for many Latin American countries, America was a perfect safety valve, not just for impoverished people who could be relied upon to remit their earnings to their home country (that is, not benefiting the American economy in which they worked), but also for criminals. As he said: The U.S. has become a dumping ground for everybody else's problems. Thank you. It's true, and these are the best and the finest. When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best. They're not sending you. They're not sending you. They're sending people that have lots of problems, and they're bringing those problems with us. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people. But I speak to border guards and they tell us what we're getting. And it only makes common sense. It only makes common sense. They're sending us not the right people. It's coming from more than Mexico. It's coming from all over South and Latin America, and it's coming probably probably from the Middle East. But we don't know. Because we have no protection and we have no competence, we don't know what's happening. And it's got to stop and it's got to stop fast. Trump tried valiantly to stop the flow of illegal aliens, but, from the moment he walked into the White House, the Deep State (including GOP quislings) worked hard to stop him. Now criminals are pouring into our country faster than ever before even as the Democrats continue to demonize law enforcement. Venezuela itself provides an example of how quickly a country can go from prosperity to eating rats. Maybe the good people among the Venezuelan horde freely crossing our borders thanks to Biden's lawless regime have brought with them some tasty recipes for rats and zoo animals. It looks as though we'll need them. Jim Browns syndicated column appears each week in numerous newspapers throughout the nation and on websites worldwide. You can read all his past columns and see continuing updates at http://www.jimbrownusa.com. You can also look over a list of books he has published at www.thelisburnpress.com. Amazon is facing an antitrust lawsuit in California. The state attorney general has accused the company of anti-competitive behaviors, The New York Times reports. Amazon is currently the biggest online retailer in the United States, and its market dominance narrows the field for other competitors. Thats why the company constantly faces antitrust lawsuits in the country and also abroad. This time, the California attorney general has filed an antitrust lawsuit against the company. According to the report, Amazon is somehow dictating prices to sellers and buyers. For example, the company removes buttons like Buy Now and Add to Cart from a product listing page when it notices a product is listed cheaper on a competitors website. Advertisement Amazon is abusing the market and competition by dictating prices to sellers Californias attorney general Rob Bonta says Amazon is costing Californians more for just about everything, and the collective magnitude of harm here is very far-reaching. The state officials say Amazon has over 25 million customers there. Removing the purchase buttons from the product pages is a way for Amazon to punish sellers for listing products at lower prices on other websites. It can also hurt the sellers revenues. What Amazon does force sellers to increase their prices on Amazons rival websites, and in the end, customers have to pay higher prices for what they want to buy. As per the complaint, Without basic price competition, without different online sites trying to outdo each other with lower prices, prices artificially stabilize at levels higher than would be the case in a competitive market. Advertisement A similar case was previously filed against Amazon in D.C, and the court rejected it. Amazon hopes the court will also reject the California complaint too. A company spokesperson Alex Haurek said, Sellers set their own prices for the products they offer in our store. He added that Amazon is proud to offer lower prices across the broadest selection, and like any store we reserve the right not to highlight offers to customers that are not priced competitively. The amount of fine Amazon would pay in case of conviction is still unclear. However, the company should pray that the fine would not be as hefty as the fine Google has to pay to the European Union. BEIRUT, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Lebanese Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi said on Monday that the country's security agencies will be alert to any attempts that may threaten the security of Lebanon and its brotherly countries. Mawlawi's remarks came one day after the Lebanese authorities thwarted an attempt to smuggle one million Captagon pills to Kuwait via Sudan. "Lebanon will not be a source of harm to the security of the Kuwaiti society," Mawlawi said during a phone conversation with Sheikh Talal Khaled Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, Kuwait's deputy prime minister and defense minister. While praising the strong cooperation between the interior ministries in Lebanon and Kuwait, Mawlawi stressed the need to intensify efforts to "combat any method of exporting harm to all Arab societies." In recent months, Lebanese security forces launched dozens of operations to crack down on drug smuggling crimes. (ANSA) - ROME, SEP 19 - Matteo Salvini's League is aiming to match its showing at the 2018 general election by capturing 17% of the vote on September 25, League Lower House whip Riccardo Molinari told an ANSA Forum on Monday. The centre-right coalition that the League belongs to is expected to win Sunday's election, spearheaded by Giorgio Meloni's right-wig Brothers of Italy (FdI), which was polling at around 24% before a pre-vote survey blackout kicked in. FdI is the only major party that did not back outgoing Premier Mario Draghi's national unity government. "In a general election the best result in out history is 17%," Molinari said. "That is our benchmark, our reference point, one that is on the high side. "FdI clearly benefits from its position in the opposition. "Those who have been in government, addressing emergencies such as the COVID and energy-bills ones, are always going to pay an electoral price". (ANSA). Simest: subsidized loans for companies from tomorrow Business penalised by war in Ukraine eligible (ANSA) - BELGRADE, SEP 19 - Companies that have suffered as a result of the war in Ukraine can apply for subsidized loans beginning tomorrow, according to Simest, a CDP group company, in a press release. SMEs and Mid-Cap companies that imported materials from Kiev, Russia, or Belarus can submit applications beginning September 20. (ANSA). Copyright ANSA - All rights reserved Kosovo: Vucic, for Serbia unacceptable Pristina at UN President rejects a proposal put forward by EU envoy. (ANSA) - BELGRADE, SEP 19 - Kosovo's admission to the UN is unacceptable for Serbia, said Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. In statements to private Pink TV station from New York, where he is attending the UN General Assembly, Vucic added that he rejected a document with a proposal for how to solve the Kosovo issue shown to him by the EU envoy Miroslav Lajcak. That document, the media reported, would speak, among other things, of Pristina's early admission to the UN, with Serbia recognizing Kosovo within ten years. (ANSA). Copyright ANSA - All rights reserved BELGRADE - Russia "will respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Serbia", and on the issue of Kosovo, in its role as permanent member of the United Nation's Security Council, it will support all solutions that correspond to Serbia's national interests. This is the statement made by the Russian Ambassador in Belgrade, Aleksandr Bocan-Kharcenko. "We believe that the autonomous province of Kosovo to be part of Serbia. Therefore we are committed to resolving the Kosovo issue within the remit of international law, through dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, based on UN resolution 1244 of the United Nation's Security Council, without the imposition of external conditions or models", he stated as reported by the daily Belgrade newspaper Vecernje Novosti. Extreme right wing denounces PM for Europride parade in Belgrade PM charged for going against administrative tribunal decision (ANSAmed) - BELGRADE, 19 SET - The ultra right-wing movement in Serbia called 'Dveri' today presented a formal penal complaint against prime minister Aba Brnabic. The charges hold her responsible for authorizing the Europride parade, last Saturday in Belgrade. This, according to the charge, is a violation of the court order issued by the administrative tribunal. The vice-president of the 'Dveri' party, Radmila Vesic, states that the prime minister violated "the Constitution, the laws, the decisions of national institutions, the will of the majority of the population and the position of the Serbian orthodox church", thereby becoming culpable of abuse of office. In the context of an extremely confused and uncertain situation, last Saturday prime minister Brnabic - a declared lesbian - despite the ban issued by the minister of Interior, Aleksandar Vulin, and of the negative response of the administrative tribunal to the appeal presented by the organizers, authorized the Europride parade. The parade took place with massive police present along the shortened and modified parade path when compared to the one originally proposed by the organization. Speaking to journalists, Vasic said that it was 'a capitulation of the state' under the pressure of foreign authorities and ambassadors. It was the case, she affirmed, of an unacceptable foreign interference in internal Serbian affairs, thereby the behavior of EU diplomatic representatives and the US ambassador to Belgrade, Christopher Hill reflected such interference. The last assessment provided by the minister of Interior Vulin on the clashes that took place during the Europride is of 13 wounded police and 87 persons apprehended. "The decision not to to allow the parade was applied, they only marched for approximately 150 meters, from the Constitutional court up to Tasmajdan park", stated the minister. (ANSAmed). On Kosovo Moscow says 'it will respect Serbian sovereignty' Will respect "solution in accordance with international law" (ANSAmed) - BELGRADO, 19 SET - Russia "will respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Serbia", and on the issue of Kosovo, in its role as permanent member of the United Nation's Security Council, it will support all solutions that correspond to Serbia's national interests. This is the statement made by the Russian Ambassador in Belgrade, Aleksandr Bocan-Kharcenko. "We believe that the autonomous province of Kosovo to be part of Serbia. Therefore we are committed to resolving the Kosovo issue within the remit of international law, through dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, based on UN resolution 1244 of the United Nation's Security Council, without the imposition of external conditions or models", he stated as reported by the daily Belgrade newspaper Vecernje Novosti. (ANSAmed). KUWAIT CITY, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Kuwait hosts on Monday a regional workshop to enhance expertise and exchange information in combating terrorist financing with virtual currencies. The two-day workshop convenes experts from the member states of the Terrorist Financing Targeting Center (TFTC), a multilateral network among the United States and six Gulf countries including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar. During his speech, Kuwaiti Assistant Foreign Minister for Development Affairs and International Cooperation Hamad Al-Mashaan said that the workshop will shed light on issues related to virtual currencies and the affiliate hazards they pose in financing terrorism. "There is no doubt that the entire world suffers from terrorist threats and financing operations, which are trying to destabilize the region, damage the political and economic systems and threaten the international peace and security," he said. He also mentioned the effective role of Kuwait in the field of combating terrorism and its financing, whether in joint international efforts or through regional meetings. Liz Trusss premiership will swing into action this week after a political pause to mark the Queens death, with a packed schedule of policy and diplomacy to follow the state funeral. Normal activity in Parliament has been put on ice since the late monarch died, with business in both Houses halted for a period of mourning. All eyes will be on Westminster Abbey for the service on Monday as the Prime Minister joins hundreds of dignitaries from across the globe saying a final farewell to the Queen. Ms Truss is expected to fly to New York for the United Nations General Assembly following the funeral, where she has a key bilateral meeting lined up with US President Joe Biden. Liz Truss will hold a full bilateral meeting with Joe Biden on Wednesday (Jonathan Hordle Media Assignments/PA) Back in the UK, MPs will return to Westminster on Wednesday, where those who wish to do so can take a new oath or affirmation to the King. The PA news agency understands that Business Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg will also set out further details of the Governments plans to help firms through the energy crisis. Heath Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister Therese Coffey is expected to outline her vision to see the NHS through the winter months on Thursday. Mr Kwartengs mini-budget, focused on tackling the cost-of-living crisis and boosting growth, will then be delivered on Friday. It is expected to confirm Ms Trusss plans to reverse the national insurance hike and cancel the planned rise in corporation tax. She is also considering slashing personal taxes in addition to business levies in her proposed investment zones, dubbed full fat freeports. Kwasi Kwarteng will set out his mini-budget on Friday (Kirsty OConnor/PA) It has been suggested the Chancellor will pursue a move to scrap the cap on bankers bonuses, although PA understands no final decisions have been made. With the so-called fiscal event dominating the political agenda on Friday, there will be little room to draw breath before it is Labours turn in the spotlight, as the party heads to Liverpool for its annual conference. MPs had been due to break for recess on Thursday, but will now be asked to sit a day longer to make time for the Chancellors mini-budget. Ms Trusss tax-cutting proposals were a cornerstone of her campaign for the Tory leadership which saw her topple rival Rishi Sunak with 57% of the vote. But the plan to undo the national insurance increase has come under criticism from some quarters as it directly benefits higher earners. Economic analysis suggests the countrys poorest three million households will be as little as 63p better off per month thanks to the move, while the richest will keep an extra 150, according to The Times. When MPs file back into the Commons this week, having taken time away from political business following the Queens death, Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle said he hopes we can be slightly better to each other. When the House needs to, it comes together, and it is by far at its best, he told BBC Radio 4s Westminster Hour. And I think it was wonderful to be a Speaker where the House is united as one. I dont believe Ill ever see the House that good and that great again. I would like to believe so. I hope from now we can be slightly better to each other, we can show a little more tolerance and certainly a lot more respect to each other. And I would like to think that will be the way that we will go forward. That will be a wonderful legacy to the late Queen, and to the new King going forward. Sir Elton John has recalled the joyous and humbling experiences of meeting the Queen, as he joined fellow celebrities and other public figures in bidding farewell to her. The musical megastar said he would fondly remember moments out of the public eye and praised the Queen for serving with grace and dedication. Famous British faces posted from around the world, after following the Queens state funeral on Monday. Today Ill be joining the rest of the world in remembering Her Majesty The Queen, Sir Elton wrote, sharing a black and white photograph of them. My own memories of her are filled with joy and admiration. The Queen honoured me with a CBE, a knighthood and the Companion of Honour. I was lucky enough to perform at three of her Jubilees. They were always joyous and humbling experiences. But it was the moments out of the public eye that I will most fondly remember her for; dancing together to Rock Around the Clock at Windsor Castle or experiencing her great wit, warmth and humour first hand. She served with grace and dedication, and she will be sorely missed. Sir Elton also paid tribute to the Queen following the announcement of her death, and dedicated part of his concert in Toronto to her. Stephen Fry praised the ritual, ceremony and symbol of the funeral, as he said he had tuned in to the service from a hotel room in New York from 3am local time. Watching the #queensfuneral from 3am onwards in a New York hotel room somehow brings me closer to it all than if I were back home. Words cant compete with such ritual, ceremony and symbol. Think how many jigsaw puzzles will come from this Stephen Fry (@stephenfry) September 19, 2022 He said on Twitter: Watching the #queensfuneral from 3am onwards in a New York hotel room somehow brings me closer to it all than if I were back home. Words cant compete with such ritual, ceremony and symbol. Think how many jigsaw puzzles will come from this Today we join the world as we mourn and commemorate Her Majesty The Queen. The very definition of an inspiration, who touched the lives of us all. Rest in peace your Majesty, your legacy and love will live on in our hearts forever. Gordon pic.twitter.com/P7N89qGaSi Gordon Ramsay (@GordonRamsay) September 19, 2022 Gordon Ramsay shared a photo of the Queen in a bright pink outfit and wished her farewell. The celebrity chef, 55, said: Today we join the world as we mourn and commemorate Her Majesty The Queen. The very definition of an inspiration, who touched the lives of us all. Rest in peace your Majesty, your legacy and love will live on in our hearts forever. Former This Morning presenter Fern Britton said the Queens work was done and there would never be another in her own tribute. We grieve and yet her warmth remains, she wrote. The lights dim but the air shimmers with her presence. Her work is done. Her rest deserved. There will never be another. The Queen has left the building. Another tribute came from British Hollywood star Kate Beckinsale, who shared a photo of the Queen waving goodbye, on Instagram. The 49-year-old, best known for starring in the Underworld film series, wrote: Fly safe, Maam. Goodnight and god bless xxx ITV host Lorraine Kelly, 62, simply reshared the last official photo of the Queen, taken by photographer Ranald Mackechnie, which was released on Sunday ahead of the funeral. TV star Amanda Holden, 51, shared a black and white photo from the Queens coronation in 1953, writing: Rest in Peace your Majesty before adding a black love heart emoji. Incredibly proud of our armed forces, security services and Police that managed to pull off and manage such a huge security event and dignified funeral cortegeGreat to see troops from all around the commonwealth tooExtraordinary spectacle with the world watching Nick Knowles (@MrNickKnowles) September 19, 2022 DIY SOS presenter Nick Knowles said he was incredibly proud of the armed forces, security services and police who managed to pull off and manage such a huge security event and dignified funeral cortege. Knowles, 59, added: Great to see troops from all around the commonwealth too. Extraordinary spectacle with the world watching. Socialite Tamara Ecclestone, 38, also bid farewell, writing on Instagram: I dont know what I expected, I suppose I expected our Queen to be immortal. Waking up today my heart hurts it feels so real so final. Thinking of her family who havent really had a chance to mourn privately instead they have been so gracious and inclusive of us all. Monday saw VIPs, dignitaries and mourners gather in the capital to say a final farewell to the Queen, who died at Balmoral in Scotland on September 8 aged 96. The service at Westminster Abbey and subsequent procession marked the climax of a week of ceremony. Staff and students at the Kings former school have come together to mark the Queens state funeral. Gordonstoun school, in Morayshire, suspended lessons on Monday to allow boarding houses to gather and watch the funeral broadcast. The houses were silent as the Queens coffin made its way to Westminster Abbey, with some staff and students admitting they felt some emotion towards the occasion. Later in the afternoon, each of the schools houses took part in a walk to the nearby coastguard watchtower which the Duke of Edinburgh opened in 1955 to lay flowers in tribute to the Queen. Students then gathered in the school chapel for a memorial service. A lone piper started the service with Amazing Grace, followed by hymns and prayers. Proceedings came to an end with a rendition of Highland Cathedral by a pipe band. The Queen had a close connection to Gordonstoun, with her husband, the late Prince Philip, studying there in his youth. Their three sons, Charles, Andrew and Edward followed in his footsteps an education that Charles said instilled in him self-discipline and a sense of responsibility. The Princess Royals two children, Zara and Peter, were also students at the independent school. Lisa Kerr, the schools principal, said it was a remarkable day for the Gordonstoun community in so many ways. She told the PA news agency: Most importantly, it is our opportunity with the rest of the country to pay our respects to a much-loved and respected monarch. But of course, the Queen wasnt just the Queen at Gordonstoun she was also a Gordonstoun mum and a Gordonstoun grandmother, so it does feel like the passing of a member of the family. Children and teachers from Gordonstoun School marked the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II by walking to the Coastguard watchtower and laying flowers (Paul Campbell/PA) Ms Kerr added that the whole school feels a tremendous sense of pride and honour to have a former student as the new monarch. Fatima, a student in year 12, watched the funeral from the house Charles stayed in as a student an experience she described as special. I was in his room the house captains room for the funeral, and I think that made me feel quite in touch with the royal family, she told PA. This is a very historic moment in time, and I feel so lucky to be a part of it. Year 13 Valentin said it was amazing to see the school come together to watch the broadcast. He told PA: It was quite amazing to see the whole house be seated there in immaculate uniform, paying their respects, being quiet for the whole duration of the funeral. Ruby, who is in year 10, told PA it was a shock to see the Queens coffin being carried into Westminster Abbey. It was just very emotional and you could see everyone quite cloudy in the eyes, she added. The guardsmen who carried the Queens coffin have been praised for their professionalism and composure at the state funeral. Soldiers from the Queens Company, 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, carried the coffin draped in the Royal Standard as millions of people around the world watched the ceremony. The unit had a close connection with the Queen as the serving monarch she held the position of company commander and made a personal review of the company every decade. The work of the eight pallbearers was highlighted by people watching the events as they took place in Westminster and Windsor. Amidst the pageantry and occasion 8 young men silently went about their duty. The weight of the world on their shoulders, the glare of the world on them, but they were flawless. They did themselves, their families and our country proud. Thank you. pic.twitter.com/YNCoboxWy6 Carla Lockhart MP (@carlalockhart) September 19, 2022 Carla Lockhart, Upper Banns DUP MP, said: Amidst the pageantry and occasion, eight young men silently went about their duty. The weight of the world on their shoulders, the glare of the world on them, but they were flawless. They did themselves, their families and our country proud. Thank you. Bearer Party, to the pub quick march. Bearer Party, lift tankard. Bearer party, down beer. Youve earned it. Stephen Fry (@stephenfry) September 19, 2022 Broadcaster Stephen Fry was more succinct: Bearer Party, to the pub quick march. Bearer Party, lift tankard. Bearer party, down beer. Youve earned it. As the bearer party returned to duty for the committal service at Windsor, he added: Oops. I hope they didnt take my advice. A final session to complete first. The guardsmen had to carry the coffin up the steps to the West Door of St Georges Chapel with viewers again holding their breath. Bearers carry the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II into St Georges Chapel in Windsor Castle (Ben Birchall/PA) Tory former minister Eddie Hughes said: I held my breath for every step These lads are amazing. I cant imagine how hard and emotionally challenging it must have been to have carried Her Late Majestys coffin just once. Theyve done it time and time again this week. With billions watching. Theyve done Her Late Majesty and the country proud. https://t.co/yV87SAjryK Tom Hunt MP (@tomhunt1988) September 19, 2022 Fellow Tory MP Tom Hunt said: I cant imagine how hard and emotionally challenging it must have been to have carried Her Late Majestys coffin just once. Theyve done it time and time again this week. With billions watching. Theyve done Her Late Majesty and the country proud. The Queens Company will retain its name up until the monarch is laid to rest, and will later change to reflect the new King. The Queens coffin is carried at the state funeral at Westminster Abbey, London (Pete Byrne/PA) Former British Army soldier Major Adrian Weale told the PA news agency: They became the Queens Company immediately after the death of George VI and the Queen has been commander ever since. Its their role to protect her body, both in life and in death, remaining the Queens Company until King Charles decides otherwise. Their duties will then be transitioned to the next monarch. On the day the Queen died, the unit was deployed on operations in Iraq but returned to take part in the ceremonial events. Filmmaker Woody Allen currently has no intention of retiring and is not writing another novel, his spokesman has said. The American director, 86, is presently shooting a new film in Paris, which will be his 50th, and has rubbished claims it will be his last. Recent reports cited quotes from an interview with a Spanish newspaper in which he was alleged to have said that his current project, Wasp 22, would be his last. (Left to right) Lucy Punch, Naomi Watts, Woody Allen, Gemma Jones and Josh Brolin arrive for the premiere of You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger, at the 63rd Cannes Film Festival, France. A spokesman for Allen said on Monday: Woody Allen never said he was retiring, nor did he say he was writing another novel. He said he was thinking about not making films, as making films that go straight or very quickly to streaming platforms is not so enjoyable for him, as he is a great lover of the cinema experience. Currently, he has no intention of retiring and is very excited to be in Paris shooting his new movie, which will be the 50th. Allen is a four-time Academy Award winner, including the best director Oscar for 1977s Annie Hall. His other films include 1979s Manhattan, 1986s Hannah and Her Sisters and 1989s Crimes And Misdemeanors. In 2020, Allen hit back at Hollywood stars who denounce him, saying it is like everybody suddenly eating kale. Stars like Mira Sorvino, Greta Gerwig, Colin Firth and Rebecca Hall, are among the names who distanced themselves from the director having previously worked with him. They did so after the #MeToo movement brought a renewed focus on allegations that the Oscar-winning film-maker sexually assaulted his adoptive daughter, Dylan Farrow, which he vehemently denies. The prime minister of Australia has said now is not the time for constitutional questions, as his counterpart in New Zealand made clear she had no intention of steering away from a monarchical system. The leaders were both asked about the potential for their countries to become republics as they visited the UK for the Queens funeral. Jacinda Ardern suggested she still believes New Zealand is likely to make the transition in in her lifetime, but said bonds will remain between Commonwealth nations even as relationships with the UK evolve over the years. Meanwhile, Anthony Albanese batted away questions over Australias constitution in the wake of the Queens death, arguing now is not the right time to discuss these issues. Reflecting on the change in sovereign, Ms Ardern said the move from Queen to King will not be jarring for New Zealand as Charles is well known in the country. She told the BBCs Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg show: He shares many passions and interests that New Zealanders do. And I think that means that that relationship already exists. Its a transition, but its not a jarring transition for New Zealand. New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern reflected on her first meeting with the Queen (Jeff Overs/BBC/PA) Asked why she has said in the past that she believes the country will become a republic in her lifetime, she said: I think even the Queen herself has observed and acknowledged the evolution over time in our relationships. My observation is that there will continue to be an evolution in our relationship. I dont believe it will be quick or soon, but over the course of my lifetime. Pressed on how and when this might happen, she said: We have complex arrangements, the Treaty of Waitangi a very important founding document for Aotearoa, New Zealand, signed between Maori and the Crown. This is why its not a process I have any intent of instigating, but if and when it does occur, it will take time, and it will need to be very carefully worked through. Mr Albanese said now is not the right time to discuss whether his country may become a republic. The King speaks with the prime minister of Australia Anthony Albanese (Stefan Rousseau/PA) He was asked in a separate BBC interview when the question might arise again, with Australians having voted against the move in a referendum just before the turn of the century. I dont think nows the time to discuss those issues, and I have made that clear, he said. This is a time in which we should acknowledge the life of service of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth. He said the late monarch had a close affinity to Australia, always standing with its people at times of difficulty. In addition to the UK, New Zealand and Australia, the King is head of state for 12 Commonwealth realms. The King with the prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda Gaston Browne (Kirsty OConnor/PA) These are Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu. But the monarchys future role in some of the countries appears less certain with the start of a new reign. The prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Gaston Browne, said after the Queens death that he would call for a referendum on the country becoming a republic within three years. Jamaica is expected to follow Barbados, which became a republic in November 2021, although it remains within the Commonwealth. Ms Ardern also reflected on her first meeting with the Queen, during which she asked how the late monarch managed being both a mother and a leader. The New Zealand prime minister, who was pregnant at the time of the exchange, said: I asked her, for instance, of course what was one of the things on my mind alongside being a new prime minister was being a prime minister and a mum. I said to her: How did you manage? And I remember she just said: Well, you just get on with it. And that was actually probably the best and most, I think, factual advice I could have. You do, you just take every day as it comes. And she did. But I have such respect for her because I see now what it takes to be a mum and a leader and she did it more times over than I. Mr Albanese also said in his BBC interview that he would be very comfortable with the King expressing views on the importance of climate change. We know that in Australia the impacts of bushfires, floods, natural disasters, are doing exactly what the science told us would happen, which is that there have always been natural disasters in Australia, but theyre more frequent, and theyre more intense, he said. And thats why this issue shouldnt be a partisan political issue. It should be an issue which the world needs to confront. An expensive tribute. Queen Elizabeth IIs funeral was an event unlike anything the United Kingdom has ever seen and the cost reflected that fact. Read article The British government hasnt confirmed the exact cost of the event, but a former royal security officer told the New York Post that he believes the security alone will cost more than $7.5 million. This is the biggest policing operation that United Kingdom policing has ever undertaken, Simon Morgan told the outlet on Thursday, September 15, noting that the total cost is likely greater than the price of security for the 2012 Olympics held in London. Security for Prince Williams 2011 wedding to Princess Kate cost an estimated $7 million, according to The Washington Post. As the newspaper noted, however, the queens Monday, September 19, funeral was attended by a larger number of world leaders, meaning that security costs were likely much higher. In addition to British Prime Minister Liz Truss, guests at the funeral included President Joe Biden, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, French President Emmanuel Macron, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Spains King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia and Belgiums Queen Mathilde and King Philippe. Read article Elizabeths funeral is the first state funeral to take place in the U.K. since Winston Churchills ceremony in 1965. The queens father, King George VI, was also honored with a state funeral in 1952. Chris Jackson/AP/Shutterstock Princess Diana and the Queen Mother received ceremonial funerals in 1997 and 2002, respectively, but Mondays event likely cost far more than either of those. According to a House of Commons report, the Queen Mothers funeral was estimated to have cost $954,000 for the period she was lying in state, while the security cost $5 million. King Charles III also declared Monday a bank holiday in the U.K., meaning that many businesses across the country are closed. Financial analyst Danni Hewson told Fox Business that the nations Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport estimated that the day could cost the U.K.s economy $2.6 billion, though increased tourism could somewhat decrease that number. Mondays ceremony capped off a week of tributes to the queen, who died at age 96 on September 8. There have been multiple processions over the past several days as her coffin was moved to various locations throughout England and Scotland. On September 11, her casket was moved from Balmoral Castle, where she died, to the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh. Read article From there, the queens coffin was moved to St Giles Cathedral before making the journey to London via plane. On September 14, the royal family participated in a procession that took the coffin from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall, where the coffin remained lying in state until Monday. During the funeral, the queen was taken to Westminster Abbey for the ceremony, which was attended by all of her children and grandchildren. The family then followed the coffin to Wellington Arch, where it was loaded into a hearse and driven to Windsor Castle. The queen will be laid to rest in the estates King George VI Memorial Chapel on Monday evening alongside her late husband, Prince Philip, who died at age 99 in April 2021. The final two mourners to see the Queen lying in state have said they think they will be friends forever after meeting in the queue. Chrissy Heerey, a member of the Royal Air Force, and Sima Mansouri, 55, were the two last people into Westminster Hall on Monday morning. The public viewing ended shortly before 6.30am as the pair became the last of the hundreds of thousands of people who have waited for hours to pay their respects. Ms Mansouri told Sky News: We shared this together and thats what makes it special, and I think were going to be friends forever, and the Queen brought us together. Ms Heerey, who was the final person to file past the Queen, said it was her second time in the queue, having already passed the coffin earlier during the night. Chrissy Heerey who serves in the Royal Air Force and is from High Wycombe was the last person to view the lying in state (Andrew Quinn/PA) She told the PA news agency: I was the last person to pay my respects to the Queen and it felt like a real privilege to do that. She added: Id already been round once, I went in at 1.15am this morning. Its one of the highlights of my life and I feel very privileged to be here. Mourner Sima Mansouri said the Queen inspired many women (Andrew Quinn/PA) The penultimate person to see the Queen lying in state was Ms Mansouri, 55, originally from Iran, who lives in South Croydon, London. Her love for the Queen dates back to the 1970s, when her cousin was a flower girl for a royal visit in Tehran. Ms Mansouri told PA: It was a boiling hot day and my poor cousin has got very fair skin, blonde hair and blue eyes. The Queen came out of her plane and was more concerned with my cousin burning in the sun than being a royal. (PA Graphics) She said: Can someone please get this little girl out of the sun? Then she kissed her and grabbed the flowers. I thought it was amazing. She told Sky News how the Queen had made her feel welcome in the UK where she has lived for the past 25 years. She said: I call this place home and she made me feel like I was at home here and safe. I always looked up to her. The Queen inspired many women, she said, adding that shell always be in my heart, forever. At 06.28am on the day of her funeral the final members of the public pay their respects (Yui Mok/PA) Since 5pm on Wednesday, hundreds of thousands of members of the public have filed past the coffin until, early on Monday morning, the final people who had queued through the night left the cavernous medieval hall. The process has seen a river of people snaking along the Thames around the clock, with members of the public mixing with celebrities and foreign dignitaries beneath Westminster Halls hammer-beam roof. Some bowed, some curtsied, others made the sign of the cross as they paused beside the coffin which was draped in the Royal Standard with the jewels in the Imperial State Crown, sceptre and orb, placed on top. Members of parliamentary staff and Black Rod Sarah Clarke were the last people to pay their respects after the those who had queued had been through Westminster Hall. Ahead of Her Majesty The Queens State Funeral, a new photograph has been released. The photo was taken to mark Her Majestys Platinum Jubilee the first British Monarch to reach this milestone. Tomorrow, millions will come together to commemorate her remarkable life. pic.twitter.com/UyVfjVvJgw The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) September 18, 2022 For the Queen, it was the final duty in Parliament, an institution which she visited frequently during her 70-year reign. She delivered her first Queens Speech at the State Opening of Parliament on November 4 1952. During her reign she missed only three state openings in 1959 and 1963 when she was pregnant with Andrew, the future Duke of York, and Edward, who would become Earl of Wessex, and then in May this year as her health faltered. On that occasion the then-Prince of Wales opened Parliament, a role which will be his by right from now on as King. Members of the public secure their positions on The Mall in London, ahead of the Queens funeral (David Davies/PA) By the end, the flow of mourners passing into Westminster Hall had slowed to a trickle as those at the back of the queue finally reached their destination. Some were smartly dressed in sombre black coats, while others wore brightly coloured outdoor gear which served as protection against the chilly autumnal night. They passed through the hall in silence, with some pausing for one final tribute to the only monarch many of them have ever known before exiting into the dawn. The silence was interrupted only by the changing of the guard every 20 minutes, the sound of military boots on the stone floor echoing off the walls. There was some anger among people who had failed to make it into Westminster Hall. Members of the public queue on the South Bank in London, as they wait to view the Queen lying in state ahead of the funeral (Danny Lawson/PA) They complained that they were given false hope they would be able to attend after queuing through the night without the necessary wristbands. Access to the official queue had ended on Sunday night, in order to meet the 6.30am closure of the lying-in-state period. But Pauline Pearce, who queued in central London for seven hours, said constant misinformation was given to those in the queue. Ms Pearce, who was dubbed the Hackney heroine after she was filmed confronting rioters in 2011, said: All of us have felt angry today. We were sent from one point to another and living off the false hope that they might let us in. At one point they said they were going to open the gates, then suddenly they didnt. There was no empathy at all from the organisers. Fiona Harper, 60, said organisation of the last night of queuing was characterised by ineptitude, with confusion about where wristbands were to be handed out. Ms Harper said: The problem was that we were all led to believe that you picked up your wristband at the end of the queue. So, we were queueing for an hour and a half before they told us there were no more wristbands. BEIRUT, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Lebanese President Michel Aoun said on Monday that negotiations to demarcate the southern maritime borders with Israel have reached the "final stages" and the deal will guarantee Lebanon's rights to oil and gas exploration. "Communication is ongoing with U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein on some technical details related to the demarcation process," a statement released by Lebanon's Presidency quoted Aoun as saying. Aoun made the remarks during a meeting with UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Joanna Wronecka at Baabda Palace, during which they discussed border demarcation issues and topics related to peacekeeping forces in southern Lebanon. Aoun reiterated Lebanon's commitment to international resolutions and the importance of preserving strong coordination between the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and the Lebanese army to ensure the mission's success in maintaining security and peace on the borders. For her part, Wronecka briefed Aoun about the deliberations that accompanied the extension of the UN Security Council for the UNIFIL mandate last month and the support that will be provided to the Lebanese army. The Princess of Wales and the Duchess of Sussex paid tribute to the Queen with the jewellery they wore to the funeral. Kate opted for the same necklace and earring combination that she wore just over a year ago for the Duke of Edinburghs funeral. The pieces of jewellery were also previously worn by her husbands late mother, Diana, and are thought to have been loaned to Kate for the first time by the Queen in 2017. The Princess of Wales in the Ceremonial Procession following the state funeral of the Queen (Tim Goode/PA) Described as a Japanese choker with four rows of pearls and a curved central diamond clasp, this was accompanied with a pair of Bahrain drop pearl earrings. The Queen was pictured wearing the set during an engagement in Bangladesh in 1983, having loaned the set a year earlier to Diana to wear during a state visit from Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands. Kate was also seen wearing the necklace to the Queen and the Duke of Edinburghs 70th wedding anniversary dinner in 2017. The necklace is said to have been commissioned by the Queen using pearls which were a gift from the Japanese government after her first state visit to the nation in 1975. The earrings were made using two from a collection of pearls given to the Queen as a wedding gift from the Hakim in Bahrain in 1947. The Duchess of Sussex (Geoff Pugh/Daily Telegraph/PA) By contrast, the Duchess of Sussex opted for pared back jewellery with a pair of pearl and diamond stud earrings which were given to her by the Queen as a gift when she joined the Royal Family. Meghan wore the earrings on her first joint engagement alongside the Queen in June 2018, when they marked the opening of a new bridge in Cheshire. Pearls are often referred to as mourning jewellery, a tradition said to date back to Queen Victorias era. Camilla, the Queen Consort, wore Queen Victorias Hesse Diamond Jubilee Brooch diamonds in the shape of an open heart, with two sapphire pendants. This was accompanied by a pair of oval stud earrings featuring a sapphire stone encircled with diamonds and a gold pendant necklace. In a nod to the Queens lifelong love of horses, Princess Charlotte wore a small diamond horseshoe brooch which was a gift from her late great-grandmother. Princess Charlotte (L), wore a brooch in the shape of a horseshoe a nod to her great-grandmother (R) who loved horses. (Getty Images) Princess Charlotte attended the Queen's funeral today wearing a diamond brooch in the shape of a horseshoe. The piece of jewellery the first the seven-year-old royal, who is now third in line to the throne, has ever been seeing wearing in public was undoubtedly a nod to her late great-grandmother, who she and her siblings affectionally called 'Gan Gan'. She wore it pinned on the left side of her black coat dress, which she paired with a wide-brimmed hat the first hat she's ever been pictured wearing. Princess Charlotte arrives for the State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey on September 19, 2022 in London. (Getty Images) Queen Elizabeth II's love of horses was well-known and the late monarch was often seen looking happiest when watching equestrian events. The Queen was also a huge fan of brooches and wore them at almost every public engagement. She was known for lending them to other female family members, along with other items from the royal collection. Watch: Queen's children and grandchildren walk behind the coffin at funeral Charlotte attended the state funeral with her older brother, George, nine, and their parents. Their younger brother Louis, four, stayed home. The siblings took part in the funeral procession, walking behind their great-grandmother's coffin with their extended family members. Queen Elizabeth II reviews the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery during their 70th anniversary parade in Hyde Park in 2017 in London. (Getty Images) Liz Truss will meet Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron in New York against the backdrop of Brexit tensions and questions over whether she regards the French leader a friend or foe. In her first foreign trip as Prime Minister, Ms Truss was flying overnight to the States for the annual United Nations General Assembly (Unga). The visit will contain a series of meetings, including with the EUs Ursula von der Leyen, and a speech to world leaders. It comes as political action resumes after the period of national mourning for the Queen. Ms Truss hopes the focus will be largely on energy security and combating Russias war in Ukraine, but clashes over the Northern Ireland Protocol are bound to feature. Mr Biden, the US President with proud Irish heritage, has raised concerns about Brexits threat to the peace process and has downplayed the chances of striking a free-trade deal. His French counterpart, Mr Macron, has long been a critic of Brexit and has been firm in pressing the UK to keep to commitments on Northern Ireland and fishing rights. Ms Truss sparked a diplomatic row during the Tory leadership contest when she declined to give a clear answer when asked if the president of the allied nation was a friend or foe. Instead, the then-foreign secretary said last month that the jurys out. Ahead of the visit the Prime Ministers spokesman described France as a longstanding ally and insisted relations between London and Paris, as well as with the EU, are good. Asked if the meeting with Mr Macron will be uncomfortable, the spokesman said: No, the Prime Minister wants to build a constructive relationship with President Macron. But the spokesman maintained the position on the controversial Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, which the EU and others say will break international law. Ms Truss will meet Mr Macron and Ms von der Leyen on Tuesday, before seeing Mr Biden on Wednesday. She had been set to talk to the US President in Britain over the weekend as he visited for the Queens funeral, but the meeting was postponed. French President Emmanuel Macron will meet Ms Truss for what could be a tricky meeting (Phil Noble/PA) She is not scheduled to receive the White House visit that Boris Johnson was treated to during his visit to Unga last year. Meetings with Turkeys Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Spains Pedro Sanchez and Israels Yair Lapid are also scheduled, and Ms Truss will warn that now is not the time to take our foot off the gas in opposing Vladimir Putins invasion of Ukraine. We will continue to act to restore sovereignty and self-determination to Ukraine because this isnt just Ukraines fight, the whole world suffers when a regime like Putins is allowed to bully and blackmail its neighbours, her spokesman said. She will seek to use the visit to spur further international action to end energy dependence on Russia making sure the world is never in this position again. In the short term that means increasing the supply of gas and other sources of energy and in the long term it means democracies tapping into our shared resources, natural, technological and entrepreneurial to develop alternative sources of energy. Before leaving the States on Wednesday evening, Ms Truss will use her summit speech to say the UK under her leadership will be an active defender of our democratic values and will work to counter authoritarianism with allies. The trip kicks off a frantic few days of political action in Ms Trusss fledgling premiership, with details on how businesses will be helped through the energy crisis and a major announcement on the NHS billed. Ms Truss, who was being joined by Foreign Secretary James Cleverly in the US, will then return ahead of Chancellor Kwasi Kwartengs mini-budget on Friday. Labour urged the Prime Minister to use the trip to start rebuilding our countrys diplomatic influence. Shadow foreign secretary David Lammy, who was also attending Unga, said: Twelve years of Conservative governments making diplomatic gaffes, announcing plans to break international law, failing to live up to promises on climate action and cutting international aid have damaged relations with the US and left Britain isolated on the global stage. After being snubbed by the Biden administration within her first weeks in office, Liz Truss urgently needs to wake up to the damage her reckless approach to foreign policy is doing to the UKs national interest. The Prime Minister must use the UN General Assembly to bring the UK back in from the cold and begin rebuilding our countrys diplomatic influence. Mr Cleverly will call for action on Russian barbarity in Ukraine in a series of meetings with his counterparts, including US secretary of state Antony Blinken and Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba. He will take part in a foreign minister-level UN Security Council meeting focused on the Russian invasion on Thursday. Gov. Hochul said Monday that New York would send drones to the Dominican Republic and more than 100 state troopers to Puerto Rico as Hurricane Fionas driving winds and rains crushed the Caribbean. Hochul said the support commitments came after Puerto Ricos Gov. Pedro Pierluisi asked for Spanish-speaking cops to help citizens navigate the destruction. The storm left most of the island without power. Well have over 100 troopers from the New York State Police Department on their way to Puerto Rico over this next week, Hochul said at a news conference in Midtown Manhattan. As the need continues to arise, well be ready to offer other resources and support. New York Governor Kathy Hochul speaks during a press conference regarding New York State response to help the islands of Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic after hurricane Fiona caused havoc after landfall. New York Governor Kathy Hochul speaks during a press conference regarding New York State response to help the islands of Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic after hurricane Fiona caused havoc after landfall. (Luiz C. Ribeiro/) The Category 1 hurricane turned its wrath to the Dominican Republic on Monday, drenching the nation one day after sapping the power of more than 1 million customers in Puerto Rico. The storm was expected to continue to lash the Dominican Republic into Monday night. Hochul said New Yorks drones would help the country conduct damage surveys, but did not specify how many drones the state would provide. The White House said more than 300 federal first responders had reached Puerto Rico by Monday evening. President Biden told Pierluisi in a phone call on Monday that a significant surge in reinforcements would arrive in the coming days, according to a White House statement. Mayor Adams said that New York Citys emergency response teams were monitoring the situation and that an initial group would visit Tuesday to assess the damage. We call Puerto Rico our sixth borough, and as Hurricane Fiona leaves behind a path of destruction, our administration stands ready to provide all of the support and aid our brothers and sisters need, Adams said in a statement. Fionas center was over the northern coast of the Dominican Republic around 11 a.m. on Monday, according to the National Hurricane Center, but the hurricane had begun its drift over the Atlantic Ocean by mid-afternoon. Disastrous flooding was ongoing in Puerto Rico, the weather service said. Devastating mudslides and landslides were feared both in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. Forecasts predicted that the storm would curl to the northeast after departing the Dominican Republic, strengthening on its way toward Turks and Caicos and the southeastern Bahamas. A home is submerged in floodwaters caused by Hurricane Fiona in Cayey, Puerto Rico, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022. A home is submerged in floodwaters caused by Hurricane Fiona in Cayey, Puerto Rico, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022. (Stephanie Rojas/) The storm is not expected to reach New York. But Hochul promised that her state would support Puerto Rico for the long-term recovery. We have experience with our own hurricanes now. I hate to say it, the governor said, referencing devastating downpours from Hurricane Ida that left 18 dead in New York last year. We are more experienced in hurricanes than we ever thought wed be. Hochul said she spoke to both Pierluisi of Puerto Rico and President Luis Abinader of the Dominican Republic on Sunday. In the Monday news conference, Jackie Bray, New Yorks commissioner of homeland security and emergency services, said Puerto Rico was still in the middle of doing a damage assessment. She said that Puerto Rico requested two rounds of 100 troopers available for two-week stretches each, and that the New Jersey State Police would also send troopers to the island. A road is blocked by a mudslide caused by Hurricane Fiona in Cayey, Puerto Rico, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022. A road is blocked by a mudslide caused by Hurricane Fiona in Cayey, Puerto Rico, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022. (Stephanie Rojas/) Bray and Hochul both emphasized New Yorks willingness to enhance its contributions if requested. No one works harder at helping others than New Yorkers, Hochul said. So Im really proud that we can be there to assist not just Puerto Rico but the Dominican Republic. New York State is home to about 490,000 people born in the Dominican Republic and around 245,000 people born in Puerto Rico, according to census data. I know people want to hear about the well-being of their friends and family, Hochul said. New York State will do everything in our power to help them. The Queens state funeral has begun with the grieving royal family, world leaders and representatives of the nation among those witnessing history. A single toll from Big Ben signalled the start of the service at Westminster Abbey, where kings and queens have been crowned since 1066, and where the new monarch was sitting surrounded by the royal family he now leads. The King, Princess Royal, the Duke of York and the Earl of Wessex as the coffin of the Queen leaves Westminster Hall for the state funeral at Westminster Abbey (Yui Mok/PA) King Charles III and his siblings the Princess Royal, Duke of York and Earl of Wessex had marched behind their mothers coffin as it travelled the short distance from Westminster Hall, where the Queen had been lying in state for four days, to the ancient Abbey. Tens of thousands have filled the capital to pay their last respects just a few hours after the last person had filed past the Queens coffin, bringing to a close the symbolic ritual. Presidents and prime ministers from across the globe filled the Abbey, with US President Joe Biden among the mourners alongside Frances President Emmanuel Macron, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, her counterpart from Canada Justin Trudeau, and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. Remembering Our Queen. Today people from across the UK, Commonwealth and around the world will pay tribute to the extraordinary life and reign of Her Majesty The Queen. pic.twitter.com/yuFxoo6Gdu The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) September 19, 2022 Two of the Queens great-grandchildren, future king Prince George, aged nine, and his seven-year-old sister Princess Charlotte, joined their parents the Prince and Princess of Wales at the state funeral, after reaching an age where they can participate in the national event. William had walked behind his grandmothers coffin with his brother the Duke of Sussex and his cousin Peter Phillips, following in the footsteps of Charles and his siblings. Westminster Abbey was the venue for the Queen and Duke of Edinburghs 1947 wedding and now this ancient place of worship was the fitting venue for her funeral. Among the congregation were all six living former prime ministers Sir John Major, Sir Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Theresa May, David Cameron and Boris Johnson with members of the Cabinet led by the current premier, Liz Truss. A large number of minor royals were invited including the Queens granddaughter Zara Tindall and her husband former England rugby star Mike Tindall, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie and their spouses, and Sarah, Duchess of York. Other attendees included a group of Chelsea Pensioners in their red tunics and Knights of the Garter in their velvet cloaks. A number of people recognised in the Queens Birthday Honours for their efforts during the Covid-19 pandemic were also invited. Turkish demonstrators chant slogans while holding Turkish flags and banners that read, " Say stop to the non gendered society project", " The family is our civilization's foundation, protecting family is a national security issue" and " Protect your family and generation from global fan", during a anti LGBTI+ protest, in Fatih district of Istanbul, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra) ISTANBUL (AP) An anti-LGBTQ group marched Sunday in Istanbul, demanding that LGBTQ associations be shuttered and their activities banned, in the largest demonstration of its kind in Turkey. Several thousand people joined the demonstration dubbed The Big Family Gathering. Kursat Mican, a speaker for the organizers, said they had gathered more than 150,000 signatures to demand a new law from Turkeys parliament that would ban what they called LGBTQ propaganda, which they say pervades Netflix, social media, arts and sports. Hatice Muge, who works as a nanny, came to the gathering from Bursa province. People are here despite the rain for their children, for future generations, she said, urging the Turkish government to take action. They should save the family, they should save the children from this filth." The group held banners that read: Protecting the family is a national security issue. LGBTQ parades have not been allowed in Turkey since 2015. Ahead of Sundays demonstration, the organizers circulated a video using images from past LGBTQ Pride marches in Turkey. The video was included in the public service announcement list of Turkeys media watchdog. Related video: Supreme Court to decide if businesses can refuse LGBTQ+ customers The video and the demonstration prompted an outcry from LGBTQ associations and other rights groups. The organizers of Istanbul Pride called on the governors office to ban the event and authorities to take down the video, arguing both were hateful. ILGA Europe, which works for LGBTQ equality, tweeted it was extremely concerned about the risks of violence. The Turkish state needs to uphold its constitutional obligation to protect all its citizens against hate and violence, it said. Amnesty Internationals Turkey office said public service announcements listing the event violated Turkeys equality and non-discrimination principles. Top Turkish officials have called LGBTQ people perverts who aim to hurt traditional family values. President Biden in a new interview said he has not been briefed on the sensitive documents former President Trump was keeping at his Mar-a-Lago estate, but called his predecessors behavior totally irresponsible. Biden told 60 Minutes in an interview that aired Sunday that he has sought to keep himself out of the ongoing investigation and has not spoken to anyone about whether important national security secrets were revealed because Trump took dozens of confidential documents with him upon leaving office. I have not personally spoken to anyone on that. Im sure my administration is aware of all of that, and so is the National Security Council, but I have not, Biden said. Biden also reiterated that he was not given advance notice of the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago in August. The president was asked specifically about a photo released by the Justice Department in a court filing late last month that showed documents marked secret and top secret splayed out on the carpeted floor of Mar-a-Lago next to a box containing a framed copy of Time magazine. When you saw the photograph of the top-secret documents laid out on the floor at Mar-a-Lago, what did you think to yourself? Looking at that image, Scott Pelley asked. How that could possibly happen. How one anyone could be that irresponsible, Biden responded. And I thought, What data was in there that may compromise sources and methods? By that I mean names of people who helped. And it just totally irresponsible. I have not asked for the specifics of those documents because I dont want to get myself in the middle of whether or not the Justice Department should move or not move on certain actions they could take, Biden added. The FBI searched the former presidents estate on Aug. 8 after obtaining a warrant. The search was related to Trumps retention of classified documents that he took with him to Florida after leaving the White House more than a year ago. The August search came after authorities recovered 15 boxes from Mar-a-Lago in January that contained 184 classified documents, including 25 that were marked top secret, according to a heavily redacted affidavit that was used to justify the search in August. Trump and his allies have attacked the FBI and Justice Department in response, accusing the agencies of being weaponized for political purposes. Trump has also claimed he declassified the documents at his estate, but his lawyers have not made that argument in court filings. The White House has steadfastly declined to comment on the investigation, saying it does not want to wade into an ongoing probe at the Justice Department. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. LONDON (AP) Britain and the world are laying Queen Elizabeth II to rest on Monday at a state funeral that will draw presidents and kings, princes and prime ministers and up to a million people lining the streets of London to say a final goodbye to a monarch whose 70-year reign defined an age. A day packed with funeral events in London and Windsor began early when the doors of 900-year-old Westminster Hall were closed to mourners after hundreds of thousands had filed in front of her coffin since Sept 14. Many of them had spent cold nights outdoors to pay their respects around the queens flag-draped coffin in a moving outpouring of national grief and respect. Later, a bell at Westminster Abbey began to toll, and it will ring once a minute for 96 minutes to honor each year of Elizabeths life. The closing of the hall marked the end of more than four days of the coffin lying in state and the start of the U.K.s first state funeral since the one held in 1965 for Winston Churchill, the first of 15 prime ministers during Elizabeth's reign. Two days before her Sept. 8 death at her Balmoral summer retreat, the queen appointed her last prime minister, Liz Truss. Police officers take positions ahead of the Queen Elizabeth II funeral in central London, Monday, Sept. 19, 2022. The Queen, who died aged 96 on Sept. 8, will be buried at Windsor alongside her late husband, Prince Philip, who died last year. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda, Pool) Among the last mourners to join the line to see the coffin was Tracy Dobson from Hertfordshire, just north of London. "I felt like I had to come and pay my final respects to our majestic queen, she has done so much for us and just a little thank you really from the people, she said. Monday has been declared a public holiday in honor of Elizabeth, who died Sept. 8 at 96. Her funeral will be broadcast live to more than 200 countries and territories worldwide and screened to crowds in parks and public spaces across the U.K. Police officers from around the country will be on duty as part of the biggest one-day policing operation in Londons history. On the evening before the funeral, King Charles III issued a message of thanks to people in the U.K. and around the world, saying he and his wife Camilla, the queen consort, have been moved beyond measure by the large numbers of people who have turned out to pay their respects to the queen. As we all prepare to say our last farewell, I wanted simply to take this opportunity to say thank you to all those countless people who have been such a support and comfort to my family and myself in this time of grief, he said. For the funeral, Elizabeth's coffin will be taken from Westminster Hall, across the road to Westminster Abbey, on a royal gun carriage drawn by 142 Royal Navy sailors. The same carriage was used to carry the coffins of late kings Edward VII, George V and George VI, and of Churchill. The final members of the public pay their respects at the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard with the Imperial State Crown and the Sovereign's orb and sceptre, lying in state on the catafalque in Westminster Hall at the Palace of Westminster in London early Monday, Sept. 19, 2022. (Yui Mok/Pool Photo via AP) The service, in the Gothic medieval abbey where Elizabeth was married in 1947 and crowned in 1953, will be attended by 2,000 people ranging from world leaders to health care workers and volunteers. Mourners started arriving to take their seats shortly after 8 a.m. (0700 GMT; 3 a.m. EDT). Dignitaries were arriving later, with many heads of state gathering at a nearby hospital to be driven by bus to the abbey. Hours before the service was set to begin, London authorities said all viewing areas along route of the funeral procession were full. The funeral will end with two minutes of silence followed by the national anthem and a pipers lament, before the queens coffin is taken in a procession ringed by units of the armed forces in dress uniforms, with the queen's children walking behind, to Wellington Arch near Hyde Park. There, it will be placed in a hearse to be driven to Windsor for another procession along the Long Walk, a three-mile (five-kilometer) avenue leading to the towns castle, before a committal service in St. Georges Chapel. She will then be laid to rest with her late husband, Prince Philip, at a private family service. Central London was already packed before dawn Monday with people seeking out a prime viewing spot, and authorities warned that it would be extremely busy. U.S. President Joe Biden was among leaders to pay their respects at the queen's coffin on Sunday as thousands of police, hundreds of British troops and an army of officials made final preparations for the funeral a spectacular display of national mourning that will also be the biggest gathering of world leaders for years. Biden called Queen Elizabeth II decent and honorable and all about service as he signed the condolence book, saying his heart went out to the royal family. This photo issued by Buckingham Palace on Sunday Sept. 18, 2022, shows Britain's Queen Elizabeth II photographed at Windsor Castle, Windsor, England, in May 2022. (Ranald Mackechnie/Buckingham Palace via AP) People across Britain paused for a minute of silence at 8 p.m. Sunday in memory of the only monarch most have ever known. At Westminster Hall, the constant stream of mourners paused for 60 seconds as people observed the minute of reflection in deep silence. In Windsor, rain began to fall as the crowd fell silent for the moment of reflection. Some set up small camps and chairs outside Windsor Castle, spending the night there to reserve the best spots to view the queens coffin when it arrives. It will all be worth it by 4 oclock this afternoon, said Sally McCloud, a business manager from nearby Maidenhead. "Were all here for one reason, whether it be raining or not raining. So Im quite happy to be here and got a little bit of sleep. Ive had a nice cup of coffee this morning and well just wait, wait in the rain. Fred Sweeney, 52, who kitted out his spot with two Union flags on large flagpoles, said its just one night and day of our lives. Elizabeth gave us you know 70 years. One no-show for Monday's funeral will be Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, whose invitation drew criticism from human rights groups because of the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018. Saudi Arabia is expected to be represented by another royal, Prince Turki bin Mohammed. The journey to Marthas Vineyard began in Eagle Pass. This tiny Texas town, located 2.5 hours of sweltering highway southwest of San Antonio, has become a common point of entry for asylum seekers from Central and South America. Among them: the 48 migrants who were unwittingly sent to the posh Massachusetts island by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis last week after many said a mysterious woman who identified herself as Perla promised them jobs on the other end of the trip. On Sunday, a family from Venezuela turned themselves in to U.S. authorities in Eagle Pass, after wading through the mostly shallow water of the Rio Grande that runs under one of the bridges connecting the border town to Piedras Negras, Mexico. The family of four had been traveling for over a month, the mother, who identified herself as Carolina, told the Miami Herald. Her youngest child, just over a year old, gave fist bumps to a member of the National Guard offering migrants water and words of encouragement. Theres nothing else for Carolina and others like her in Eagle Pass. Migrants who cross here are vulnerable to scammers and political opportunists, said Domingo Garcia, president of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), an advocacy group. These people have no money or resources, Garcia said in an interview in Eagle Pass. Theyre totally vulnerable to any offer of free transportation since they dont have any resources of their own. If youre a young mother without any resources, youre easy pickings for people who are going to use you as political pawns. Garcia and other volunteers came to the border to inform migrants of the pitfalls of trusting offers like the one that ended with migrants finding themselves on a Massachusetts island that was unprepared for them. Instead, they packed the bus carrying volunteers with nearly 30 migrants from Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba, who Garcia said crossed the border with children the youngest one month old and no resources at all. The price for a bus ticket from Eagle Pass to San Antonio is roughly $50. None of them could afford that and they might have been stranded had LULAC not offered them seats. We depended on the charity of others, said one migrant, Ricardo, who had traveled from Venezuela with his family, including two young children. They had started with nothing but hoped the United States would provide a better life. Upon completing the arduous journey from Venezuela to the U.S.- Mexico border outpost Eagle Pass, a woman who gave her name as Carolina waits for Border agents on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022. To get out of Texas, the migrants need to reach San Antonio, which offers a resource center for people whove just arrived in the United States. Thats where the previous group of 48 who Garcia said were mostly Venezuelan received the offer for free flights. DeSantis has said he used taxpayer money to fly those 48 migrants from San Antonio to Marthas Vineyard to prevent them from ending up in Florida. Weve had people in Texas for months, trying to figure out how are these people getting into Florida? Whats the movement? DeSantis said at a Friday news conference. And the reality is, 40% of them say they want to go to Florida. But most of the people on the LULAC bus said they wanted to go to New York. Venezuelan migrants wait for the arrival of U.S. Border Patrol after crossing the Rio Grande. DeSantis office did not respond to a request for comment late Sunday that asked who the states people on the ground were or how theyd arrived at the 40% figure the governor cited. DeSantis operation to move migrants from Texas to Massachusetts has generated national headlines and controversy. Several of those on the state-financed charter flights to Marthas Vineyard told news outlets that a woman named Perla approached them outside the migrant aid center in San Antonio last week. She promised them that they would have work papers waiting for them in Boston and gave some of them food and hotel rooms, according to various outlets. She then arranged for the migrants to board two flights that landed in Marthas Vineyard on Wednesday. Fleeing Venezuela The migrants who got on the flights were fleeing Venezuela, where the economy has collapsed under the regime of Nicolas Maduro, a left-wing, populist indicted by the United States in connection with narco-terrorism and corruption. The number of Venezuelans entering the United States has steadily climbed this year. In July, U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported encounters with more than 17,000 Venezuelan nationals triple the figure in May and the highest number since January. Many are traveling through Panamas treacherous Darien Gap jungle region, where they face harsh conditions, disease and violence from criminal groups, according to the Washington Office on Latin America, a research and advocacy group. CPBs Del Rio Sector, which includes Eagle Pass, has seen a huge jump in migrant crossings over the last fiscal year, with the number of encounters doubling, federal border statistics show. Once theyve reached the border, many migrants seek political asylum. After passing a credible fear screening where refugees must demonstrate to U.S. authorities that they face a significant possibility of persecution in their homelands most are released. That means they can live and possibly work freely in the United States while awaiting an asylum hearing. Randolph McGrorty, executive director of Catholic Legal Services for the Archdiocese of Miami, said people traveling from Venezuela have strong political asylum claims due to the crisis in their homeland. Because of the fractured U.S. relations with Venezuela, it is difficult for the United States to deport people back there, he said. A similar situation exists with deportations to Nicaragua, said Maureen Porras, legal director at the nonprofit Church World Service. Cuba has also rejected deportation flights. More people from all three nations are coming to the United States as the situations there deteriorate, according federal statistics. A busload of migrants from Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba prepares to be shuttled from Eagle Pass, on the Texas border, to San Antonio by a group of volunteers from the League of United Latin American Citizens. The trip took place on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022 All migrants must give Immigration and Customs Enforcement addresses where they plan to stay in the United States, so that the federal government can contact them. Flying migrants to Marthas Vineyard or busing them to Washington D.C. or Chicago, as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has done, can complicate their ability to keep up with their cases and make court dates, said Angel Leal, a Miami immigration attorney. When the states interfere with that and start transporting these immigrants to random states, Leal said, its going to cause problems. Still, those problems pale in comparison with the perils of the journey to the United States. Wilmary Munoz traveled to Eagle Pass from Venezuela, on foot, through the jungle between Colombia and Panama with her 7-year-old son. Nobody saves you. You can stay, dying there, nobody is there to help you. Everyone is there for themselves, said Munoz, who boarded the LULAC bus with her son. I had to give it everything I had, for him and for me. Miami Herald Staff Writers Syra Ortiz Blanes and Bianca Padro Ocasio contributed to this report. Eight days after Haiti was on the verge of anarchy with violent protests and looting following an announced government hike in the price of gas, diesel and propane at the pump, the countrys prime minister appealed for calm Sunday as it braces for torrential downpours from Hurricane Fiona. Ariel Henry, who delayed a trip to New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly this week, condemned the violent acts that blocked roads and targeted schools, foreign embassies, banks and money transfer houses. Not even a United Nations World Food Program warehouse in the northern city of Gonaives was spared nor were the private homes of government supporters and members of the business community. I am launching an appeal for calm, Henry said in a national address. I am telling everyone that I understand your frustrations. Henrys speech was the first time in a week he had spoken out about the civil unrest that was bringing Haiti to its knees and forced foreign embassies to announce the temporary shuttering of their doors, along with banks and others businesses. With the exception of the Dominican Republic and eventually the United Nations Secretary-General, foreign governments had not made any public statements about the ensuing chaos. On Saturday, the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince finally broke its silence by issuing a statement condemning the violence. The right to gather and protest is fundamental in any democracy. However, the United States strongly condemns the acts of violence, looting, and destruction that have recently occurred in Haiti and those who instigated these events for their own ends, the embassy said. We call on Haitians to express their views in a peaceful manner that respects humanitarian actors and law enforcement and allows unfettered access to Haitians in need in order to provide food, water, and medical care. Since December, international partners and organizations have mobilized more than $294 million in new commitments for Haiti; however, additional support is urgently needed, including contributions to a recently established UN Security Basket Fund. The U.S. said it was continuing to encourage Haitian interlocutors to reach agreement on an inclusive political agreement that will allow elections to take place as soon as conditions permit. Haitians throughout the country and across the social spectrum need to create the conditions that will allow a democratically elected government to take office as soon as possible, the embassy said. Henry, who hasnt had it easy since becoming prime minister after the July 7, 2021, assassination of President Jovenel Moise, said he was saddened by the loss of businesses, and the private property that had been looted, burned and attacked. He strongly condemns, he said, all of the violent acts that unfolded in different parts of Haiti. A hurricane named Fiona was approaching the country, he said, and experts warn that it can bring a lot of rain and flooding to the northern regions of the country. Unfortunately there are people who went and looted the warehouse where they had pre-positioned products and materials for civil protection, and [nongovernmental organizations] that can help the population, Henry said. It is urgent that all the roads are unblocked as of today if we want to be prepared to bring relief, food, water, medicine, gas, to the affected areas. There is no politics in this, he added. Those who would like to take charge of the country, show the population that you have a conscience. A week ago Sunday, Henry announced that the government could no longer support keeping fuel prices low at the pumps. It was costing Haitian coffers $400 million a year, and it fueled a lucrative black market, he argued. Last month, for example, fuel was selling on the streets in some parts of Port-au-Prince for anywhere between $15 and $25 a gallon after two suppliers stopped ordering, exacerbating an already chronic fuel shortage. In response, Haitians took to the streets in a mission to lock down the capital, and secondary cities. They erected barricades with burning tires, and blocked roads with whatever they could find: aluminum sheeting, concrete light polls, tree branches. With residents unable to leave homes, banks, money transfer houses even charitable warehouses were attacked and looted. Beachfront homes of the wealthy, some of whom had called on the government authorities to crack down on corruption and tax dodgers, were pillaged and even partially burned. There is nothing that can justify the amount of damage... we saw over these past days, Henry said in his national address, listing sectors that had been on the end of the vicious attacks. No one can say it was because of [fuel prices] that they pillaged peoples businesses; they destroyed the homes of political figures; they attacked the homes of government officials. No one can say it was because of gas that they sent people to violently attack schools, universities, hospitals; to steal the seed stocks in the Artibonite and the stocks of vaccine that were for 118 communes. Everyone understands that it was not because of gas that they looted the warehouse of an international organization that had food for school canteens and to help people during the hurricane season, he said, referring to WFP. Everyone could see that it was men with big guns who were at the head of a lot of the protests. Henry said the attacks were the works of those who opposed the governments recent reform efforts, to control contraband and the entry of illegal weapons and ammunition at its ports, and to stamp out the flourishing black market on fuel that provides tens of millions of dollars in ill-gained revenue to those involved. The savings from the reforms, he said, are going to go into the purchase of seeds and fertilizers for farmers, job creation in 571 communities across the country and an expansion of social programs like community kitchens. Also school children will receive one hot meal. If Henry and others were hoping his speech would calm the streets, it appeared to have an opposite effect as barricades began going back up in some areas, to once more block roads. In the past week, more than 100 groups in the U.S. have called on President Biden, who has been receiving daily briefings of the civil unrest in Haiti, to drop support for Henry. Additionally, a civil society-led coalition in Haiti, the Montana Accord, condemned the fuel increase, saying it was yet proof that Henry wanted to remain in power. Others also called for his resignation. While not addressing his critics directly, Henry said he remains open for dialogue and committed to staging proper elections for us to hand over the leadership of the country to the person the Haitian people elect freely. I still believe we can do politics differently, he added. TEHRAN, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- An economic delegation from Russia made up of more than 60 public and private enterprises will visit Tehran this week, the spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry announced on Monday. Representatives from the Russian enterprises will arrive in Iran on Monday and will hold dozens of meetings with their Iranian counterparts in the coming days, Iran's official news agency IRNA quoted Nasser Kanaani as saying. The Russian companies are from a variety of industries, including food production, agricultural products and machinery, aquatic animals, construction materials, auto spare parts, medical devices, telecommunication systems as well as transit and communications, Kanaani told a weekly press conference. The visit is an outcome of joint efforts by the two countries over the past 12 months to expand bilateral economic relations and cooperation, the spokesman said, adding Iran maintains that improving such ties will safeguard the two sides' interests. Iran welcomes any positive developments in its relations with the neighboring countries based on common interests, he said. Iran police call woman's death 'unfortunate' as protests persist Newspapers with Amini, a victim of country's "morality police", are seen in Tehran DUBAI (Reuters) -Iranian police said on Monday the death of a young woman in custody was an "unfortunate incident", a semi-official news agency reported, and denied accusations of mistreatment that fuelled a third day of protests against the authorities. Mahsa Amini, 22, fell into a coma and died following her arrest in Tehran last week by the morality police, sparking demonstrations in Tehran and the Kurdistan province from which she came. Her death has been condemned nationwide, with the Persian hashtag #MahsaAmini reaching nearly 2 million Twitter mentions. The most intense demonstrations have been in Iranian Kurdistan, where authorities have previously put down unrest among minority Kurds. On Monday, protesters threw rocks at security forces in the town of Divandarreh in the Kurdish region, a video posted on Twitter by Kurdish rights group Hengaw showed. A widely-followed Iranian Twitter account that focuses on protests in Iran said shopkeepers had gone on strike in Kurdish cities. Reuters could not verify the authenticity of the video. The police have said Amini fell ill as she waited with other women being held by the morality police, who enforce strict rules imposed since Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution requiring women to cover their hair and wear loose fitting clothes in public. But her father told pro-reform Emtedad news website on Sunday that his daughter had no health problems, adding that she had suffered bruises to her legs and that he held the police responsible for her death. Greater Tehran Police Commander Hossein Rahimi said "cowardly accusations" had been made against Iranian police, that Amini suffered no physical harm, and the police had "done everything" to keep her alive. "This incident was unfortunate for us and we wish to never witness such incidents," Rahimi said in the statement reported by the Fars news agency. The police screened a video showing a woman identified as Amini walking into a room and sitting down alongside others. It then fast-forwards to show her on her feet talking to someone who was inspecting part of her clothing. The woman then raised her hands to her head and collapsed. Rahimi said paramedics arrived within one minute and that he could not comment on the cause of death because this was a medical issue. Offenders against Iran's sharia, or Islamic law, face public rebuke, fines or arrest. But activists have recently urged women to remove veils despite the hardline rulers' crackdown on "immoral behaviour". An official organisation that promotes Islamic morals urged reform to the way Iran implements rules on hijab wearing, calling for less policing and more encouragement for women to abide by the rules. "CLERICS, GET LOST" Protests erupted on Saturday during Amini's funeral in her hometown of Saqez, with social media videos showing demonstrators chanting against Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and women taking off headscarves. Her death could ramp up tension between the establishment and a Kurdish minority numbering 8 to 10 million. Irans elite Revolutionary Guards have put down unrest in the countrys Kurdish areas for decades and many Kurdish activists have been sentenced to long jail terms or death. Videos shared on Twitter on Sunday showed protesters demonstrating in Sanandaj, capital of Kurdistan province. A video posted by Hengaw showed security forces in riot gear running down a street there, at least one of them firing what appeared to be a gun. Masoud Barzani, former president of Iraq's Kurdish region, sent condolences to Amini's family on Sunday, his Facebook page said. The widely-followed Iranian protest Twitter account posted footage showing what it said was a protest at a Tehran university against the Basij, a paramilitary militia force. "I will kill the one who killed my sister ... By cannon, tank or firecracker, clerics get lost," protesters chanted. Reuters could not independently verify the videos. (Reporting by Dubai Newsroom; Writing by Tom Perry, Editing by Toby Chopra and Ed Osmond) FILE - Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi reviews an honor guard during his official departure ceremony as he leaves Tehran's Mehrabad airport to New York to attend annual UN General Assembly meeting, early Monday, Sept. 19, 2022. Raisi's comment that there are some signs that the Holocaust happened but that the issue required more research sparked an outcry on Monday from Israeli officials, who denounced the remarks as antisemitic Holocaust denial. Raisi made the comment during an interview with CBS 60 Minutes on the eve of his visit to New York for the U.N. General Assembly. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File) (ASSOCIATED PRESS) JERUSALEM (AP) The Iranian president's comment that there are some signs that the Holocaust happened but that the issue required more research sparked an outcry on Monday from Israeli officials, who denounced the remarks as antisemitic Holocaust denial. Hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi made the comment during an interview with CBS 60 Minutes on the eve of his visit to New York for the U.N. General Assembly. When asked whether he believed the Holocaust happened, Raisi said there are some signs that it happened. He added: If so, they should allow it to be investigated and researched. Soon after the interview aired, outrage spread in Israel, a country home to tens of thousands of Holocaust survivors. The chairman of Israels official Holocaust memorial center, Yad Vashem, rebuked Raisi as a despicable anti-Semite. Even casting doubts on the occurrence of the Holocaust is one of the most abhorrent forms of anti-Semitism, said Dani Dayan. Israels Prime Minister Yair Lapid, whose late father survived the Holocaust, posted a series of graphic photographs from the genocide on Twitter with the caption: Some signs. Israels U.N. Ambassador Gilad Erdan also decried Raisi's comments as shocking," calling on U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres to deny him a world stage to spread antisemitism and hatred. Raisi will be speaking at the 77th session of the U.N. General Assembly later this week, his first appearance at the annual gathering of world leaders. Raisi, an ultraconservative cleric known for his hostility to the West, became president last year. Israel considers Iran its greatest enemy and threat. Iran has long backed armed groups committed to Israels destruction. Its leaders have called for Israel to be wiped off the map and previously made statements that distort the history of the genocide that killed 6 million Jews or deny its existence. MINNEAPOLIS (AP) A federal grand jury has indicted a Minnesota man accused of threatening to kill a U.S. senator. Brendon Daugherty is being held in the Sherburne County Jail, in Elk River, Minnesota, on charges of threatening to murder a U.S. official and interstate transmission of a threat. He is due in court Tuesday. It was not clear if he had retained an attorney to speak on his behalf. Court records do not identify the senator other than to say they do not represent Minnesota. According to the indictment, Daugherty left two threatening voicemail messages at the senator's field office in June. Field office staff contacted U.S. Capitol Police. FBI agents spoke with Daugherty at his Coon Rapids home Sept. 2. He told the agents he made the calls because the senator was doing a bunch of stupid (expletive) with gun control, and that he wants politicians to feel a little bit pressured, the Star Tribune reported. According to court records, the 35-year-old Daugherty was convicted in October 2018 of two felony counts for threatening to burn down a Pearl Vision store in Maple Grove and harm the employees. Daugherty was angry that he owed $80 for replacement glasses, according to charges. LONDON Queen Elizabeth IIs state funeral took place at Londons Westminster Abbey on Monday following 10 official days of national mourning. Attending were the late monarchs closest family members as well as some 500 world leaders and foreign dignitaries. In total, 2,000 guests bid farewell to Britains longest-reigning monarch. Hundreds of thousands of mourners flooded the streets and parks of the capital city while millions tuned in online to watch Queen Elizabeth make her final journey back to Windsor Castle, where she is to be buried alongside her late husband, Prince Philip. Here are some of the key takeaways from Mondays events. President Biden's arrival President Biden exits a car outside Westminster Abbey before the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. (Hannah McKay/WPA Pool/Getty Images) President Biden, attending with first lady Jill Biden, was the only world leader allowed to arrive at the queens funeral in a private vehicle. After flying to the U.K. on Saturday, the Bidens made their way to the funeral in the presidential limousine, the "Beast, as part of a motorcade. Other world leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern traveled to the funeral by bus. According to the Wall Street Journal, Biden was given special permission to travel to the event in his own car. Shortly after the ceremony concluded, he headed back to Washington, D.C. King Charles's goodbye note The queens coffin was draped with the royal standard a flag that represents all nations in the U.K.: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Colorful wreaths were also placed on the coffin along with a goodbye note from the queens eldest son and heir, King Charles III. The card read: In loving and devoted memory, Charles R. The R in Charless signature stands for rex, the Latin word for king. Harry and Meghan relegated in seating arrangements King Charles III and Queen Consort Camilla and other members of the royal family follow behind the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II with the imperial state crown resting on top of it as it departs Westminster Abbey on Monday. (Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images) Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, were seated in the second row of the funeral, while Harrys father, King Charles III, Queen Consort Camilla, Prince William and Kate Middleton were seated in the front row alongside their children. Also in the first row was the queens son Prince Andrew, who was stripped of his royal titles earlier this year due to his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex who stepped back from their royal duties in 2020 and moved to California sat next to Harrys cousins, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie. Harry was barred from wearing his military uniform at the funeral despite having served the greatest amount of time in the army, rising to the rank of captain and serving two tours in Afghanistan. Kate and Meghan's sentimental jewelry From left: Meghan, Duchess of Sussex; Camilla, queen consort; Prince George of Wales, Catherine, Princess of Wales; and Princess Charlotte of Wales. (Samir Hussein/WireImage via Getty Images) There was significant meaning behind the jewelry that Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales, and Meghan wore to the queens funeral. Kate wore a four-string pearl and diamond choker necklace that was owned by the queen. The necklace had previously been worn by her late mother-in-law, Princess Diana. The piece dates back to the 1970s, when it was presented to the queen as a gift from Japan. Kate previously wore the choker for the queen and Prince Philips 70th wedding anniversary in 2017, and again for the princes funeral last year. Paired with the choker, Kate wore pearl drop earrings that were a gift to the queen from the ruler of Bahrain for her wedding in 1947. Meghan also wore a pair of meaningful earrings that featured diamonds and pearls. A gift from the queen, Meghan wore them on her first solo outing with her grandmother-in-law in 2018. Moment of silence across the U.K. The queen's funeral cortege borne on the state gun carriage of the Royal Navy travels along the Mall. (Chip Somodevilla/AFP via Getty Images) A two-minute silence was observed across the U.K. to mark the end of the queens funeral. Crowds watching the funeral on screens in Hyde Park and other royal parks stood in silence to honor the queen. Inside Westminster Abbey, the end of the silence was followed by the singing of God Save the King. Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, gestures while speaking to Chinese President Xi Jinping during the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, Friday, Sept. 16, 2022. (Sergei Bobylev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP) MOSCOW (AP) A top Russian security official declared Monday on a visit to China that the Kremlin considers beefing up ties with Beijing as a top policy goal. Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of the national Security Council chaired by Russian President Vladimir Putin, described the strengthening of comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation with Beijing as an unconditional priority of Russias foreign policy. Patrushev is one of Putins closest associates. Speaking during a meeting with Guo Shengkun, a top official of China's Communist Party, he said in the current conditions, our countries must show even greater readiness for mutual support and development of cooperation. Patrushevs office said in a terse statement after the talks in the Chinese city of Nanping that the parties agreed to expand information exchanges on countering extremism and foreign attempts to undermine the constitutional order of both countries in order to derail independent policies of Russia and China serving their national interests." The Chinese and Russian officials also emphasized a need to expand cooperation on cybersecurity and strengthen contacts between their law enforcement agencies on fighting terrorism. The statement didn't offer any further details of prospective cooperation. 'Strong support' for Russias 'core interests' Putin met with Chinese President Xi Jinping last week in Uzbekistan, their first encounter since the Russian leader sent troops into Ukraine in late February. A Chinese government statement issued after the meeting didnt specifically mention Ukraine but said Xi promised strong support for Russias core interests. Beijing uses core interests to describe issues such as national sovereignty and the ruling Communist Partys claim to Taiwan, over which it is willing to go to war. Xis government, which said it had a no-limits friendship with Moscow before the Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, has refused to criticize Russias military actions. China and India both have increased their imports of Russian oil and gas, helping Moscow offset Western sanctions imposed over its actions in Ukraine. During his meeting with Xi on Thursday, Putin praised China's president for maintaining a balanced approach to the Ukrainian crisis and said he was ready to discuss Beijing's concerns about Ukraine. Putins rare mention of Chinese worries came as the impact of volatile oil prices and economic uncertainty due to almost seven months of fighting in Ukraine has caused anxiety in China. Xi and Putin met on the sidelines of the eight-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a security alliance created as a counterweight to U.S. influence that also includes India, Pakistan and four ex-Soviet nations in Central Asia. Puerto Rico was without power as nightfall approached Sunday amid catastrophic flooding, hurricane-force winds and the destruction of at least one bridge, five years nearly to the day after Hurricane Maria devastated the island. Hurricane Fiona made landfall at 3:20 p.m. and quickly caused upheaval, with government officials saying they were prepared to evacuate residents of hard-hit areas. Gov. Pedro Pierluisi said at a news conference Sunday that the tropical cyclone came directly for the island. Later, in a statement, he said that the eye of the storm was headed away but that the storm's impacts would continue through at least Monday. Nearly 1.5 million utility customers were left without power, thanks to winds estimated at 85 mph, well above minimum hurricane force. The National Hurricane Center said Puerto Rico could get 12 to 18 inches of rain, with 30 inches possible in some areas. Pierluisi said the storm dumped 9 to 13 inches of rain in five hours. These rains will produce life-threatening and catastrophic flash and urban flooding across Puerto Rico and the eastern Dominican Republic, along with mudslides and landslides in areas of higher terrain, the hurricane center said in an early evening advisory. Earlier, Pierluisi tried to reassure Puerto Ricans that the government was prepared for the worst, saying in a statement that the necessary protocols were in place. Nelson Cirino secures the windows of his home as the winds of Hurricane Fiona blow in Loiza, Puerto Rico, on Sept. 18, 2022. (Alejandro Granadillo / AP) First responders were answering calls to emergencies in which peoples lives were in danger, he said. The number of customers without power was 1,468,223, according to poweroutage.us. That includes businesses, households and other accounts with multiple people who receive electricity. Island utility LUMA Energy said in its own statement that it might need several days to restore power, given the dangerous conditions on the island Sunday night and the widespread nature of the outage. It said the energy grid suffered multiple outages along transmission lines, which contributed to the islandwide blackout. Later Sunday night, LUMA said it was already responding to outages and attempting to restore service where it can. In a statement, the utility cited restoration work in the mountain town of Ciales, where lines were taken out by downed trees and branches. The struggle for electricity recalled the bitter memory of one of the worst storms to ever hit Puerto Rico, Hurricane Maria, the deadliest natural disaster on U.S. territory in 100 years. The storm, which was blamed for 2,975 deaths, struck Sept. 20, 2017, and quickly exposed the island's grid as deteriorating. The resulting blackout, which lasted nearly 11 months, became the world's second longest. Maria was preceded by Irma, which struck the Florida Keys on Sept. 10 as a category 3 hurricane. It was eventually blamed for 10 fatalities. FEMA on Sunday said it felt Puerto Ricans' pain as another tropical cyclone threatened to upend daily life. "We understand many are reliving the trauma of Hurricane Maria & Irma, 5 years later," the agency tweeted. "They have our full support now & for as long as it takes to recover." Fiona continued to press relentless rain and whipping gusts into island communities Sunday night. In the coastal city of Ponce a roof made in part of asphalt was peeled from a structure and blown into a number of parked vehicles, according to an independent news crew and video reviewed by NBC News. There were reports of gusts surpassing 100 mph in the area. What appeared to be a vehicle bridge in the town of Utuado, in the mountainous Cordillera Central region, was washed away by storm water, according to multiple videos obtained by NBC News. Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf said Sunday that two members of Pennsylvania Task Force 1 Urban Search & Rescue were expected to travel to Puerto Rico with a federal incident support team. He said the first responders were prepared to be in Puerto Rico for as long as two weeks. Earlier, President Joe Biden declared a federal emergency for the island. That freed federal emergency response efforts to assist local rescuers, and it makes Federal Emergency Management Agency cash and assistance available for Puerto Ricans affected by Fiona. Biden was briefed on the situation in Puerto Rico during his trip abroad, a senior administration official said. The official added that FEMA will have 1,000 staffers on the ground once 300 additional workers are deployed specifically for Fiona. Forecasters called for much of the same wind and rain for nearly two days. A hurricane warning was in effect for Puerto Rico and the eastern coast of the Dominican Republic, from Cabo Caucedo to Cabo Frances Viejo, the National Hurricane Center said earlier Sunday. It means residents could expect hurricane conditions, with sustained surface winds of at least 74 mph, in the next 24 hours, the center said. Preparations to protect life and property should be rushed to completion, it said. A 48-hour hurricane watch was in effect for the northern coast of the Dominican Republic, from Cabo Frances Viejo to Puerto Plata. Fiona "jogged westward" for a few hours Sunday evening, the Hurricane Center said in a late-night public advisory. The move was unexpected, but forecasters say the tropical cyclone will most likely return to its expected track and head northeast, where it is likely to strike the eastern Dominican Republic. The system's 85-mph, hurricane-force winds, which could be felt as far as 30 miles away from the eye, would remain as a factor overnight, the center said. The storm was expected to move near or to the east of Turks and Caicos Islands on Tuesday. Firefighters work to remove a fallen tree from the road in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, on Sept. 18, 2022. (Fire Dept. Bureau of Puerto Rico via AFP - Getty Images) Winds could get even stronger over the next two days, according to the National Hurricane Center, which added that the hurricane was also expected to bring torrential rains, flash flooding and mudslides to the Dominican Republic. The British and U.S. Virgin Islands, the Turks and Caicos and the northeastern coast of the Dominican Republic could get 3 to 8 inches of rain as the storm approached. Pierluisi announced Sunday on Twitter that classes in the island's public schools will be canceled Monday, as will work in government agencies, other than first responders and essential personnel. The governor also said on Twitter on Sunday that people in flood-prone areas should evacuate, and that 118 shelters are open. Pierluisi said $550 million in emergency funds were available to deal with the hurricanes aftermath, along with enough food to feed 200,000 people for 20 days three times a day. Nelson Cirino sees his bedroom after the winds of hurricane Fiona tore the roof off his house in Loiza, Puerto Rico, on Sept. 18, 2022. (Alejandro Granadillo / AP) The governor previously said the expected heavy rains are dangerous because the islands soil is already saturated. One hurricane-related death was reported in the French territory of Guadeloupe, where more than 20 people were rescued in heavy wind and rain that left 13,000 customers without power. Regional prefect Alexandre Rochatte told reporters Saturday that the body was found on the side of a road after floods washed away a home in the capital, Basse-Terre. After a Florida judge asked Justice Department prosecutors and Donald Trumps lawyers to agree on an arbiter to review the former presidents Mar-a-Lago papers, the two sides found common ground in the form of a semiretired judge from Brooklyn Federal Court. Judge Raymond Dearie, 78, a widely respected Long Island-born jurist, has taken on local mobsters and once oversaw a court battle in a New York City mayoral race. Judge Raymond J. Dearie signs the last steel beam that will go up in the construction of the federal courthouse in downtown Brooklyn in 2001. Judge Raymond J. Dearie signs the last steel beam that will go up in the construction of the federal courthouse in downtown Brooklyn in 2001. (Edwine Seymour/) Now the low-key local judge, who served as a prosecutor in the 1970s and 1980s and entered semiretirement a decade ago, is taking on his highest-profile assignment in the twilight of his career. Judge in Trump papers case picks special master, keeps inquiry freeze As the special master in the Trump case, Dearie is tasked with looking through more than 10,000 documents seized by FBI agents last month at Trumps Palm Beach, Fla., home, to see if any should be shielded by attorney-client privilege or executive privilege. In the highly politicized case, he will bring an old-school, by-the-books style, according to those who have seen him work. I dont think hes guided by ideology, said Alexander Coleman, a labor lawyer who has had several cases in front of Dearie. I just think hes guided by what the law requires. Sal Albanese, who unsuccessfully sought to persuade Dearie to secure a spot for him on a New York City mayoral debate stage in 2017, still found positive words for the judge. Obviously, I wasnt happy with the decision, said Albanese, a Democrat who ran on a third-party line for mayor after losing in the 2017 mayoral primary. The fact is that hes very, very thoughtful. Hes professional. Hes the quintessential veteran judge. Gina Parlovecchio, a former prosecutor in the U.S. attorneys office for the Eastern District of New York, echoed the praise. Hes very thoughtful, fair-minded, she said of Dearie. The Justice Department opposed the creation of the special master role, warning that the insertion of an outside arbiter into the case would infringe on national security interests. But a Trump-appointed Florida judge, Aileen Cannon, acceded to the former presidents request for the review. Cannon asked both sides to work together to propose special master candidates. Instead, the government and Trumps attorneys floated their own selections. Trumps lawyers suggested Dearie. The Justice Department ultimately also gave a nod to Dearie, who was born in Rockville Centre, L.I., studied at St. Johns University School of Law in Queens and was nominated to the federal bench in 1986 by President Ronald Reagan. (At the time, New Yorks Republican senator, Al DAmato, urged his appointment to the bench.) Dearie has been given a Nov. 30 deadline to finish his work in the Trump case. Former President Donald Trump arrives at a rally, Aug. 5, 2022, in Waukesha, Wis. Former President Donald Trump arrives at a rally, Aug. 5, 2022, in Waukesha, Wis. (Morry Gash/) His status as a Republican appointee surely helped him secure the support of Trumps lawyers. Dearie is also known to work slowly, which perhaps appealed to a Trump team hopeful for delays in the prosecutors probe. But the judge, who spent a spell on the shadowy Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, appears immensely qualified for the case. And his much-admired style may have sold the Justice Department. Hes kind of what you imagine a great seasoned judge to be, said Sean Hecker, a New York trial lawyer who has had multiple cases before Dearie. The royal family has bid farewell to their beloved matriarch and the nations longest-reigning monarch in a place which has been the setting for both joy and sorrow for the Queen. Mourners at the committal service in St Georges Chapel at Windsor Castle included the late Queens nearest and dearest, her household staff past and present, and foreign royals. UK Prime Minister Liz Truss, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern were among leaders arriving through the West Door before 3.30pm ahead of the service at 4pm. The Duchess of Sussex, the Duke of Sussex, Princess Charlotte, the Princess of Wales, Prince George and the Prince of Wales (Victoria Jones/PA) At 3.28pm, the Queens granddaughter Zara Tindall arrived with her husband Mike, soon followed by Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice, and their mother Sarah, Duchess of York. By 4pm the organ music began to swell, but within a few minutes the sound of the pipers and drummers outside was overwhelming the music inside the chapel. For those facing the aisle with the West Door to their left, the sound of the organ could be heard coming towards them from the right while the outside bands music was making its way in on the left. At 4.09pm, the Queen Consort, the Princess of Wales, Countess of Wessex and Duchess of Sussex made their way to the side of the West Door in preparation for joining the procession. Prince Georges fair hair could be seen just over Camillas shoulder as the royals watched the procession enter. The Imperal State Crown, Orb and Sceptre are carried to the Dean of Windsor (not seen) to be placed on the high altar (Victoria Jones/PA) At 4.12pm the coffin was carried in, and briefly paused at the door. The Imperial State Crown, Orb and Sceptre all twinkled as the lights inside the chapel danced off the dazzling jewels. Then the procession continued up the aisle as the waiting royals joined. Outside, bunches of flowers created a floral carpet, while a rainbow of colours came from bouquets of red roses, pink lilies, potted plants and wreaths. Inside one of the main entrances a decadent floral arrangement of white blossoms sat in full bloom. Among the flowers inside the chapel were lilies, dahlias, roses and greenery including eucalyptus picked from Home Park. A wreath from Number 10, signed by Prime Minister Ms Truss, was placed close to the door of the chapel, and said: For a lifetime of devotion and duty we offer our deep and sincere gratitude. King Charles III, the Princess Royal and the Duke of York arrive at St Georges Chapel (Owen Humphreys/PA) As the 800 mourners sat and waited for the state hearse to arrive, daylight streamed in through the West Door and through the many windows around the nave. Bright lights rigged up along the sides shone upon the congregation towards the aisle. Waiting for the service to begin, the congregation may have reflected on the fact that in this gothic chapel, steeped in history, the Queen experienced some of lifes happiest and saddest moments. And the castle, just a short walk up the hill, is where she spent most of her time in her later years. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the Queen was ensconced in the ancient royal fortress with her late husband, her strength and stay, the Duke of Edinburgh. Philips funeral was held when coronavirus restrictions were in place in April 2021 with the numbers strictly limited and the final farewell taking place entirely within the confines of the castle. The image of the Queen sitting alone in St Georges Chapel, socially distanced from her family as she mourned, became one of the defining images of the pandemic. Savannah Phillips and Zara Tindall (back) and Ilsa Phillips, Mia Tindall and Mike Tindall arrive at St Georges Chapel in Windsor Castle (Victoria Jones/PA) Funerals such as those of Princess Margaret and Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, have also taken place in the chapel which is situated in the lower ward of Windsor Castles precincts and is already the resting place of 10 monarchs. The funeral of the Queens father, King George VI, took place in St Georges Chapel on February 15, 1952. But there have been joyful times too. In May 2018, Prince Harry married Meghan Markle now the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in a glittering ceremony. Later that year, in October, the Queens granddaughter Princess Eugenie married Jack Brooksbank in another royal wedding showstopper. Before the turn of the century, the Earl and Countess of Wessex tied the knot in St Georges in June 1999. A few years later, in 2005, a service of dedication and prayer was held in the Chapel following the marriage of the King and the Queen Consort. It was where Harry was baptised and where his brother William, now the Prince of Wales, was confirmed. But on this third Monday of September 2022, it was time for the Queens family to say goodbye to a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. Before 4.15pm, the coffin proceeded through the nave, passing over the vaults of Henry VIII and Charles I. Tradition ran through the service, with perhaps the Queens reputation for constancy and consistency prevailing until the very end. The Lord Chamberlain ceremonially breaks his Wand of Office on the coffin at the Committal Service (Jonathan Brady/PA) The service was discussed with the Queen over a number of years and all the prayers and hymns were chosen by her apart from one. She left one hymn to be chosen at the time, and after a discussion between the King and the Dean of Windsor David Conner, the hymn chosen was Westminster Abbey adapted from the Alleluyas in Purcells O God, Thou art my God. Much of the service had a feel of looking back, repeating what has gone before, and of coming full circle. Prior to the final hymn, the Imperial State Crown, the Orb and the Sceptre were removed from the coffin by the Crown Jeweller and, with the Bargemaster and Serjeants-at-Arms, were passed to the Dean who placed them on the altar. The removal of the crown from the coffin to the altar was a poignant moment, because in 1953 the crown was taken from the altar in Westminster Abbey and placed on the Queens head at her coronation, marking the start of a 70-year reign. At the end of the final hymn, the King placed the Queens Company Camp Colour of the Grenadier Guards on the coffin. At the same time, The Lord Chamberlain broke his Wand of Office and placed it on the coffin. This was to create a symmetry with the three Instruments of State that had been removed. The coffin, which was placed on a catafalque draped in purple velvet, was slowly lowered down into the royal vault as the Dean of Windsor said: Go forth upon thy journey from this world, O Christian soul. King Charles III places the the Queens Company Camp Colour of the Grenadier Guards on the coffin (Jonathan Brady/PA) The chapel was completely silent as the Sovereigns Piper played a lament, A Salute To The Royal Fendersmith, from the doorway between the chapel and the Deans Cloister. As he played, he walked slowly towards the Deanery in the Cloister and the sound of the music gradually faded away. During the service, the King sat in the seat which was occupied by the Queen on the occasions when she came to the chapel, positioned closest to the altar. Tradition ran through the service in its music too as it featured several pieces that were also heard at Philips funeral and other major royal events. JS Bachs Schmucke Dich, O Liebe Seele Adorn Yourself, O Dear Soul (BWV 654) a piece for organ, was played as the mourners waited for the service to begin. (PA Graphics) Another was Vaughan Williams Rhosymedre, a firm favourite with the royal family with the music being performed at the wedding of Charles and Diana, and at Philips funeral. Nimrod by Sir Edward Elgar was heard at the Queens coronation in 1953 and was also played before the committal began. The service ended with Bachs Prelude And Fugue In C Minor (BWV 546) played after the national anthem, which was also heard at the end of Philips funeral. Prayers were said by the Rector of Sandringham, the Minister of Crathie Kirk and the Chaplain of Windsor Great Park, and by the Dean of Windsor. The Choir of St Georges Chapel made up of 11 men, one woman and 13 boys was conducted by James Vivian, director of music, and the organ was played by Luke Bond, assistant director of music. Much of the music at the service was composed by Sir William Harris, who served as the organist at St Georges Chapel between 1933 and 1961, taking in much of the Queens childhood. The young Princess Elizabeth would often visit the organ loft to watch Sir William play, and it is believed he taught her to play the piano. The Dean of Windsors bidding, which was written after the Queens death, included the words: Here, in St Georges Chapel, where she so often worshipped, we are bound to call to mind someone whose uncomplicated yet profound Christian faith bore so much fruit. Fruit, in a life of unstinting service to the nation, the Commonwealth and the wider world, but also (and especially to be remembered in this place) in kindness, concern and reassuring care for her family and friends and neighbours. King Charles III, the Queen Consort, the Princess Royal, Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, the Duke of York, Princess Beatrice, the Earl of Wessex, the Countess of Wessex and Lady Louise Windsor (Jonathan Brady/PA) In the midst of our rapidly changing and frequently troubled world, her calm and dignified presence has given us confidence to face the future, as she did, with courage and with hope. The Queen will be buried with her late husband Philip in the King George VI Memorial Chapel an annex to the main chapel where her mother and father were buried, along with the ashes of Princess Margaret. A private burial service, attended by the King and other members of the royal family, will take place on Monday evening. Philips coffin will move from the royal vault to the memorial chapel to join the Queens. CORRECTS THAT BASHIR NOORZAI WAS RELEASED FROM AN AMERICAN PRISON NOT GUANTANAMO BAY - Bashir Noorzai, prison, speaks during his release ceremony, at the Intercontinental Hotel, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, Sept. 19, 2022. Noorzai, a notorious drug lord and member of the Taliban, told reporters in Kabul on Monday that he spent 17 years and six months in a U.S. prison. Taliban-appointed Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said Monday that a released American, in what appears to have been part of a swap, was Mark Frerichs, a Navy veteran and civilian contractor kidnapped in Afghanistan in 2020. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi) WASHINGTON (AP) An American contractor held hostage in Afghanistan for more than two years by the Taliban has been released, his family said Monday, as a Taliban drug lord jailed by the United States was also freed and returned to Kabul. Mark Frerichs, a Navy veteran who had spent more than a decade in Afghanistan as a civilian contractor, was abducted in January 2020 and was believed to have been held since then by the Taliban-linked Haqqani network. Negotiations for his release had centered on a deal that would also involve the release of Bashir Noorzai, a notorious drug lord and member of the Taliban who told reporters in Kabul on Monday that he had spent 17 years and six months in U.S. captivity before being released. The exchange is one of the most significant prisoner swaps to take place under the Biden administration, coming five months after a separate deal with Russia that resulted in the release of Marine veteran Trevor Reed. It took place despite concerns from his family and other advocates that the U.S. military departure from Afghanistan, and the collapse of the government there, could make it harder to bring him home and could deflect attention away from his imprisonment. President Joe Biden, who is in the U.K. to attend Queen Elizabeth IIs funeral, called Frerichss family on Monday morning to share the good news that his administration was able to secure his release, according to a senior administration official. A U.S. official also confirmed the swap. Though the Biden administration did not immediately offer details about the exchange, a sister of Frerichs, who is from Lombard, Illinois, thanked U.S. government officials who helped secure her brother's release. I am so happy to hear that my brother is safe and on his way home to us. Our family has prayed for this each day of the more than 31 months he has been a hostage. We never gave up hope that he would survive and come home safely to us," said a statement from the sister, Charlene Cakora. In Afghanistan, Noorzai told reporters at a press conference that he had been released from an unspecified U.S. prison and handed over earlier in the day to the Taliban in Kabul, in exchange for an American prisoner held in Afghanistan whom he did not identify. Frerichs' family subsequently confirmed that it was him. Other Taliban officials claimed Noorzai was held at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay but did not offer any support for that claim and a U.S. official said that this was not the case. Noorzai was prosecuted by the Justice Department, which does not send its defendants to the military prison at Cuba, and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2009 on drug trafficking charges. Frerichs, 60, had been working on civil engineering projects at the time of his Jan. 31, 2020 abduction in Kabul. He was last seen in a video posted last spring by The New Yorker i n which he appeared in traditional Afghan clothing and pleaded for his release. The publication said it obtained the clip from an unidentified individual in Afghanistan. Until Monday, U.S. officials across two presidential administrations had tried unsuccessfully to get him home. Even before their takeover of Afghanistan in August last year, the Taliban had demanded the U.S. release Noorzai in exchange for Frerichs. But there had been no public sign of Washington proceeding with any sort of trade or exchange along those lines. Eric Lebson, a former U.S. government national security official who had been advising Frerichs' family, said in a statement that everything about this case has been an uphill fight. He criticized the Trump administration for having given away "our leverage to get Mark home quickly by signing a peace accord with the Taliban without ever having asked them to return Mark first. Marks family then had to navigate two Administrations, where many people viewed Marks safe return as an impediment to their plans for Afghanistan, the statement said. The collapse of the Western-backed Afghan government and takeover by the Taliban in August 2021, raised additional concern that any progress in negotiations could be undone or that Frerichs could be forgotten. But his name surfaced last month when President Joe Biden, who had publicly called for Frerichs' release, was said by his advisers to have pressed officials to consider any risk posed to Frerichs by the drone strike in Afghanistan that killed al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri. The Taliban-appointed foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, also spoke at the Kabul press conference alongside Noorzai and welcomed the exchange, saying it marked the start of a new era" in U.S.-Taliban relations. This can be a new chapter between Afghanistan and the United States, this can open a new door for talks between both countries, Muttaqi said at the presser. This act shows us that all problems can be solved through talks and I thank both sides' teams who worked so hard for this to happen, he added. The Taliban also posted a brief video Monday on social media showing Noorzais arrival at the Kabul airport where he was welcomed by top Taliban officials, including Muttaqi. At the press conference, Noorzai expressed thankfulness at seeing his mujahedeen brothers" a reference to the Taliban in Kabul. I pray for more success of the Taliban, he added. I hope this exchange can lead to peace between Afghanistan and America, because an American was released and I am also free now. ___ Faiez reported from Islamabad. Yen Bai officials at the signing ceremony in the Japanese city included Do Duc Duy, member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the provincial Party Committee, and head of the National Assembly deputies delegation of Yen Bai; and Vice Chairman of the provincial Peoples Committee Ngo Hanh Phuc. Mayor Hagiwara Seiji was among the Mimasaka officials at the event. Welcoming the Yen Bai delegation, Mayor Hagiwara Seiji said the province is one of the first friendship partners of Mimasaka, and that the two sides will promote common activities on the basis of the signed agreement. He also expressed his hope to visit Vietnam soon while pledging to contribute to the development of the two localities as well as the Vietnam - Japan extensive strategic partnership. Leaders of Yen Bai province and Mimasaka city sign the framework agreement on cooperation implementation. Secretary Duy noted Yen Bai and Mimasaka signed a cooperation deal to set up friendship and cooperative ties in 2019. Since then, they have frequently discussed cooperation issues and boosted mutual assistance, especially in COVID-19 prevention and control. He held that the signing of the framework agreement for cooperation implementation for 2022 - 2025 will generate practical benefits for their development and also help intensify the Vietnam - Japan extensive strategic partnership. Basing on the agreement, the two sides will continue working together to carry out cooperation activities, the official added. The deal took effect upon the signing date and will expire on December 31, 2025. So far, Yen Bai and Mimasaka have moved to step up collaboration in culture - tourism, agriculture, labour, education, investment, and delegation exchanges. BEIJING, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping has just wrapped up his two-nation trip to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan and attendance at the 22nd meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), during which he delivered a keynote speech. His words summarized the successful experience of SCO's growth, emphasized upholding the Shanghai Spirit, strengthening solidarity and cooperation, and promoting the building of a closer SCO community with a shared future. To translate such proposals as the Global Development Initiative and the Global Security Initiative into real actions, China announced at the summit a series of tangible measures, which are set to meet the needs of various countries. China will establish a China-SCO base for training counter-terrorism personnel, host an industrial and supply chains forum, and set up a China-SCO Big Data Cooperation Center and provide developing countries in need with emergency humanitarian assistance of grain and other supplies worth 1.5 billion RMB yuan (about 214 million U.S. dollars). Meanwhile, the new and the largest round of SCO expansion at the summit also demonstrates the vitality, cohesion and attraction of the Shanghai Spirit, featuring mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for diversity of civilizations and pursuit of common development. Since its inception more than two decades ago, the SCO has upheld its bedrock Shanghai Spirit and gradually found a path for the growth and expansion of a new type of international organization. Practice has shown that the Shanghai Spirit has always been the source of strength for the development of the SCO and the fundamental guide that the SCO must continue to follow in the years to come. The world today is undergoing accelerating changes unseen in a century, and has entered a new phase of uncertainty and transformation. Human society has reached a crossroads and faces unprecedented challenges. Under these new conditions, the SCO, as an important constructive force in international and regional affairs, should keep itself well-positioned in the face of changing international dynamics and better assume its historical mission. Countries should enhance mutual support and work together to cope with complex changes in the external environment. In today's world, conflicts are looming large between unity and division, cooperation and confrontation. The SCO is under great test in maintaining regional peace and security, and its member states face severe challenges in maintaining their own security and stability. Only by strengthening high-level exchanges and strategic communication, deepening mutual understanding and political trust, guarding against attempts by external forces to instigate "color revolution" and jointly opposing interference in other countries' internal affairs under any pretext, can countries safeguard their security and development interests and hold their future firmly in their own hands. Countries should expand security cooperation and jointly uphold long-term peace and stability in the region. Over the years, with an eye on common security, the SCO member states have carried out practical and efficient security cooperation, which has ensured the overall security and stability in the region. Amid a complex and volatile regional security landscape, it is all the more important to stay true to the vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security and build a balanced, effective and sustainable security architecture, constantly upgrade the level of law enforcement and security cooperation within the SCO, and strictly prevent terrorist and extremist forces from destabilizing regional security. Countries need to deepen practical cooperation to materialize a shared vision of development and rejuvenation. Common development is real development, and sustainable development is good development. All SCO countries are at a crucial stage of development. They should leverage their unique strengths of geographical proximity and intertwined interests. They should uphold the vision of innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared growth to achieve integrated regional economic development, energize growth vitality and deliver a better life to their people. Countries should enhance people-to-people and cultural exchanges to consolidate public support for the long-term development of the SCO. The most solid foundation for SCO's development lies in mutual learning among civilizations and the most profound strength lies in people-to-people ties. They need to promote exchanges, dialogue and harmonious co-existence among different civilizations, deepen cooperation in such areas as education, science and technology, culture, health, media, radio and television, and build bridges of mutual understanding and amity between the peoples. Countries should uphold multilateralism and work together to make the international order more just and equitable. As a Chinese saying goes, "power may win for the time being, but justice will prevail for the long run." Faced with power politics, bullying and hegemonic practices, the SCO should assume its due international responsibility by safeguarding the UN-centered international system and the international order based on international law, promoting the common values of humanity, expanding SCO's exchanges with other international and regional organizations such as the UN, and improving global governance, so as to make greater contributions to world peace and development. Over the years, with its own development, China has propelled the development of countries in the region, brought more benefits to people around the world, and continuously injected vigorous impetus into the SCO development. China-proposed initiatives, such as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and a community with a shared future for mankind, have been included in the outcome documents of the SCO mechanism. Its proposals, such as the Global Development Initiative and the Global Security Initiative, have also been highly praised by leaders of various parties within the SCO. At the summit, China called for continued efforts to achieve the complementarity of the BRI with national development strategies and regional cooperation initiatives. This call has received active response from relevant parties, who agreed that the BRI is an important engine for building a community with a shared future for mankind. Building on past achievements, countries should continue to act in the Shanghai Spirit, work for the steady development of the SCO, and jointly build the region into a peaceful, stable, prosperous and beautiful home. BJP dubs Delhi chief minister's allegations 'drama before polls' Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia during the 'Rashtriya Jan Pratinidhi Sammelan', at Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022. (PTI Photo/Shahbaz Khan) New Delhi: Attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday accused them of trying to "crush" the Aam Aadmi Party in the name of fighting corruption. Mr Kejriwal claimed that the BJP feared a defeat in the Gujarat Assembly polls. Addressing the first-ever national conclave of his party's elected representatives, Mr Kejriwal alleged that the Modi government has been trying to frame his party ministers and leaders in false corruption cases as the BJP is "not able to digest the growing popularity of the AAP in Gujarat". The Delhi chief minister defended his deputy Manish Sisodia, jailed minister Satyendar Jain and MLA Amanatullah Khan, who are facing corruption charges, alleging that the Modi government has put the CBI, the ED and other agencies after his leaders to frame them in "false cases". "It's a conspiracy to crush AAP, not a fight against corruption. They just want to stop AAP," he charged. Retorting to the AAPs allegations, the BJP said that the AAP is resorting to the "old drama" it does before every election and dubbed Mr Kejriwal a "megalomaniac". BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra accused the AAP chief of "glorifying" corruption and said he has a history of defending his "tainted" colleagues before they are forced to quit because of irrefutable evidence. Besides 92 AAP MLAs from Punjab, 62 MLAs from Delhi and two MLAs from Goa, more than 1,400 elected representatives of urban local bodies and panchayats from across 20 states participate in the party's "Rashtriya Janpratinidhi Sammelan". Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann, who is in Germany, participated through videoconferencing. Speaking at the partys national conclave, Mr Kejriwal said the AAP is being discussed all over Gujarat, despite the mainstream media "being threatened against giving any coverage to the party" as social media has provided people with access to information. "The AAP is just a 10-year-old party. It is fighting with powerful forces and killing many devils like corruption and price rise, just the way Kanha (Lord Krishna) killed many devils when he was young," he said. The Delhi chief minister said the BJP is rattled by his party's growing popularity in Gujarat. "We are going to form our government in Gujarat," he asserted. Mr Kejriwal alleged the BJP has "purchased" 285 MLAs all over the country so far to topple other parties' governments under "Operation Lotus" and "spent `7,000-8,000 crores" on it. "You are committing corruption by buying MLAs openly with looted money. Yet, you have the audacity to say from the ramparts of the Red Fort that you are fighting against corruption," he charged in a veiled attack on the Prime Minister. Mr Kejriwal also targeted the Prime Minister and the BJP over their pitch against "freebies", saying they are against it as they are not able to figure out how to fund free facilities for people. "They are neither able to swallow the revadi' nor throw it out," he said. The Delhi chief minister said free facilities can be given to people and there would be no dearth of money to fund them if the governments are honest. "Only a dishonest (person), a corrupt and a traitor will say freebies are not good for the country. If any politician says freebies will ruin the country's economy, consider his intentions are wrong and he wants to loot people and waive loans of his friends," he added. Mr Kejriwal claimed that the AAP leaders are being implicated in "false corruption cases" as the BJP is not able to digest its "honest politics, freebies, and work in the education and health sectors". The Delhi chief minister said more AAP leaders will be arrested in the coming days and asked the party leaders to be ready to go to jail "for three months". "After three months, they won't be able to do any harm to you," he said. The BJP is so rattled by the AAP's growing influence ahead of the Gujarat assembly elections that "the prime minister's media advisor Hiren Joshi has warned several (television) channels' owners and their editors not to give coverage to the AAP in Gujarat, threatening them with dire consequences," the party's national convener alleged. Mr Kejriwal, however, did not give any evidence to back his allegation. No immediate reaction to the AAP chief's charges was made from the PMO or Mr Joshi. As Mr Kejriwal made big claims about his party's prospects and his government's work in Delhi, Mr Patra said the AAP chief is all about "doing little and making a lot of noise". Making light of Mr Kejriwal's claims, the BJP spokesperson said Gujarat has been on a development path for decades under the BJP rule and will remain so. "We are surprised that he did not say that US president Joe Biden is also afraid of the AAP," Mr Patra said in a swipe at Mr Kejriwal. It seems Mr Kejriwal's certificate on honesty and dishonesty is more important than that of the judiciary, he added. We have not opened ourselves to each other and returned to the sort of geography and economy that we had before 1947 We like to think India is in some way different from the rest of South Asia, but were really not. On the meaningful indicators, theres little to separate Indians from Bangladeshis or Pakistanis. For instance, our per capita income is quite similar. In 2021, the three nations had an income per person of $2,503 for Bangladesh, $2,277 for India and $1,537 for Pakistan. For comparison, Kenya was at $2,006 and South Africa was at $6,900. Now look at China ($12,556), South Korea ($34,757) and Japan ($39,285). They are clearly in a different league while we in South Asia are clubbed together. Lets take human development indicators. The United Nations describes its Human Development Index as a summary measure of average achievement in key dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, being knowledgeable and have a decent standard of living. The health dimension is assessed by life expectancy at birth, the education dimension by the years of schooling for adults aged 25 years and above and expected years of schooling for children of school entering age. The standard of living dimension is measured by gross national income per capita. In 1990, just 32 years ago, Bangladeshs life expectancy at birth was 56 years and mean years of schooling 3.3 years. Pakistans was 60 years and 2.3 years, while Indias was 58 years and 2.8 years. In 2021, this has become 72 years and 7.4 years for Bangladesh, 67 years and 6.7 years of schooling for India and 66 years and 4.5 years for Pakistan. Nepal at 68 years and 5.1 years, and Sri Lanka 76 years and 10.8 years can be seen for comparison. The world average was 72 years of life expectancy at birth and 8.6 years of schooling, meaning that with the exception of Sri Lanka, all South Asian nations are below the world average. In 1990, Chinas was 68 years and 4.1 years of schooling. Today it is 78 years and 7.6 years, and its the average income that takes China over the world average for its HDI. To the outsider looking at such things, it wont seem India is different from Pakistan or Bangladesh. Confronted with the hard data, we would have to agree with them, even if we may have some philosophical idea of difference. If we accept that we are similar, if not the same, we must turn to why it is that we havent been able to grow faster and make lives better for our people since 1947. Is it, as often assumed, the system that is the problem? Again, here if we examine the history of South Asia, we find that in the 75 years we have experimented with every possible type of system but we remain poor and clubbed together. We have dabbled in parliamentary democracy that has been dominated by one party (India under Congress and under BJP since 2014), that has been comprised of various factions (1979, then 1989, 1998 and under Atal Behari Vajpayee), and that has derailed itself with authoritarianism (1975-77). We have tried military dictatorships (Pakistan in the 1960s, 1980s, 2000s; and Bangladesh in the 1970s and 80s). We have tried dynastic democracy (Gandhis, Bhuttos, Mujib-Hasina, Zia-Khaleda), we have tried merit democratic leaders (Morarji, Shastri, Vajpayee, Sharif, Modi, Gujral, Gowda). We have tried managing the economy through central planning (India in 1950s and 60s), through licence raj, through liberalisation. We have returned to the same things we were doing before (import substitution in India in the 1970s and today). We have created sectors where we are leaders (India 30 years ago in IT/BPO, and Bangladesh today in garments). We have developed nuclear weapons and we have spent large sums on our militaries. Pakistan uses 17 per cent of its government spending on the Army, India and Bangladesh use nine per cent. Weve tried to be strong and weve tried to be defiant. We have joined Western alliances (Pakistan in the 1960s), we have remained non-aligned (India in 1950s) and we have tried a patchwork of things in between. But the end result is the numbers we see at the top of this column. There must be something we are missing. What is it? The World Bank says that intraregional trade between Bangladesh, India and Pakistan accounts for five per cent of our total trade, compared to Southeast Asia, where the number is five times higher. Trade here is $23 billion, though it could be five times more. The problem is purely man-made. The World Bank says border challenges mean it is about 20 per cent cheaper for a company in India to trade with Brazil instead of a neighbouring South Asian country and that the main problem is a broad trust deficit throughout the region. This is the one thing that we havent tried. We have not opened ourselves to each other and returned to the sort of geography and economy that we had before 1947. Is it possible that we can do that, and what are the effects it can have on our societies? I do not know if by doing this we can repeat what China, Japan and South Korea did, but I do know it removes the one restraint we have put on ourselves and can remove ourselves. The fact that it is not even discussed widely today in the region, despite all three states being democracies, tells us something about how blind we have become to our condition. And how satisfied our political parties are with the way that things continue to remain all across South Asia as we enter the second quarter of the twenty-first century. Perhaps, never again in the history of mankind will so many gather to bid farewell to just one person. At least not in the UK The national mourning in the UK has brought out the best in everyone suddenly differences have been buried, and the nation is united in grief. But everything has a pall of unreality to it. Even though she was 96, and we should have known this could happen anytime we are still unprepared. The nation is struggling to move forward while attention shifts inexorably to the funeral this coming week. Only after that will the world start functioning again. Since the last time a funeral of this grand nature took place was much before the age of television, many are not aware of the intricacies of it. To make it real, Londoners and others from all over the country are heading for Westminster Hall. Londoners, especially, have reserves of infinite patience as they stand in queues. This time, it is in a sombre cause. The queues outside Westminster Hall at the south east corner of the Palace of Westminster are literally miles long. They snake around the river from Westminster Bridge all the way beyond London Bridge. Given the occasion, people are sad but very patient. They have come to pay their final respects to a most beloved monarch. We had just celebrated her Platinum Jubilee a month or so ago, and in sharp contrast to this, London was then on just a happy holiday. But after her death, which involved saying goodbye to one monarch and greeting another, the well oiled, tried and tested machinery has got into faultless action. The Queen is Dead; Long Live the King is pronounced with such panache that you may think they had just rehearsed it last night. The difference is, it is all being televised fully for the first time. The Queen, who has just gone, pioneered TV appearances of the royalty in the mid-seventies of the last century. She was a real professional. She went on to deploy zoom to connect during the pandemic and kept in touch with the world. Now her departure is being shown on the TV minute by minute. So in that sense her funeral is being attended by many other people than ever before, some only through television. Westminster Hall where her coffin is lying in state is the oldest structure in the parliamentary complex. It was standing in its current spot before William the Conqueror arrived in 1066. It has a classic hammer beam roof and has enough room to sit members of both Houses of Parliament all 1,500 of them. It has seen some historic events such as the trial of Warren Hastings (acquitted) as well as Thomas Moor who was sanctified later. It was the place where Churchill lay in state after his death and so did most of the royalty. The very high ceiling is exceeded only by the Big Ben. Literally a million may pass by as they say their own brief farewell to their Queen. It is such a rare event (as no other previous royal or statesman has received this much affection) that professors of psychology have mounted a special study of queuing behaviour. Perhaps, never again in the history of mankind will so many gather to bid farewell to just one person. At least not in the UK. Yet soon the body will move across the road to the Westminster Abbey. London then will come into its special powerful role. Around 500 heads of state monarchs from Asia and Europe, heads of state with their spouses plus other worthies will descend on London for the funeral. (Many of them will return for the coronation of King Charles III but that is later). Given London traffic even on normal working days, the authorities have decided that they will all ride in a bus to their destination. No presidential car for Joe Biden or a horse carriage for the emperor of Japan they, including the President of India, will have to get on the bus (even though it is a special one, and not the red double-decker that we all ride) from their hotels or houses and come to the Abbey. Luckily the Abbey, also another vast old structure, will be able to contain them all. Attention has already turned to how the new monarch is getting on. King Charles III was never known for patience or a calm demeanour. People knew that, but while the media was quick to critique, many took their cue from the Queen who did not comment publicly on anything her children did or did not do. The erstwhile Prince of Wales has had his share of criticism in the past and he is unlikely to escape the scrutiny now either, as he is being watched live on TV. His tantrum when his pen was leaking is now doing the rounds globally and will be a good lesson of how not to behave in public. Not a very smooth opening, but Londoners would be sorely disappointed if he suddenly behaved impeccably. So, probably, we will all learn to adjust to his eccentricities. Meanwhile, it is farewell, beloved Queen. AMMAN, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Jordan has resumed crude oil imports from Iraq after the Iraqi side fixed the logistical problems that suspended the supply for weeks, said Jordan's Energy Ministry on Monday. Trucks have started loading the crude oil from the oil fields in Kirkuk governorate in northern Iraq, Jordan's Minister of Energy Saleh Kharabsheh said in a statement. The ministry said that Jordan imported about 2.525 million barrels of oil from Iraq between September 2021 and July 2022. Under a memorandum of understanding signed in 2021, Jordan imports around 10,000 barrels per day from Iraq, based on the monthly average price of Brent crude oil minus 16 U.S. dollars per barrel to cover the difference in quality and transportation costs. The 10,000 barrels cover around 7 percent of Jordan's daily needs, according to the ministry. Troops desecrated a Catholic church and airstrikes hit an elementary school at a Buddhist monastery, killing 11 children. State media blame casualties on resistance groups, saying they use civilians as human shields. In fact, soldiers cremated the bodies to hide yet another crime. Yangon (AsiaNews/Agencies) Myanmar troops have desecrated a Catholic church using it as a kitchen for their own use. The Church of the Mother of God is located in the city of Mobye, Diocese of Pekhon, in southern Shan State. Before they left it, soldiers laid mines around it, local sources told UCANews. In another incident two days ago, planes hit a monastic elementary school killing 11 children. In an attempt to hide the crime, soldiers cremated the bodies. Since it took over in February 2021, ousting the civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmars ruling military junta has been responsible for appalling violence against civilians. Its forces have repeatedly targeted religious buildings, not only Christian, where civilians have sought refuge from the fighting. Fighting in Mobye between regular troops and anti-coup forces began two weeks ago. Because soldiers who left the aforementioned church after a week laid mines, the anti-coup resistance warned parishioners from going near the building. A video by the anti-coup resistance posted on social media shows the uniforms and kitchen supplies left by the troops. Damage to the church which is a holy place of God is a result of being attacked by the devil, an exiled Myanmar priest said on Facebook. More than 5,000 civilians have fled Mobye after at least 100 homes were destroyed by airstrikes. In the city, a monastery was also recently hit. Several people were killed, including two girls aged seven and 12 who were hiding in it. The Diocese of Pekhon is one of the areas most affected by the attacks of Myanmars regular army, along with the nearby city of Loikaw, Kayah State. Six parishes have suffered repeated attacks and are now completely deserted, while at least 150,000 Christians fled Kayah and Shan taking refuge in neighbouring states. On Saturday, two Mi-35 helicopters struck a monastic school in Let Yet Kone, a village in Sagaing region. Seven children died right away, while four more died later from their wounds, with 17 people injured, including teachers and pupils. According to locals, soldiers forced the local population to cooperate, then cremated the bodies in Ye-U, a village that has a military outpost. There were pools of blood inside the school. Pieces of flesh were scattered all over the place, on fans, on the walls and on the ceiling, said a villager who went to see the school after the attack. The parents of two children came to search for their children, but all that was left were the clothes, the villager added, so parents could not hold funerals. By contrast, Myanmar state media claimed that that resistance groups, i.e. the Kachin Independence Army and the People's Defence Forces, were using the school and the village to hide and that civilians died because they were used as human shields. For residents, the attack by the military regime was unwarranted. Email Newsletters Get the best of The Aspen Daily News in your inbox. Our newsletters are free, and you can unsubscribe at any time. Share This: A Ford roof class action lawsuit alleges 1999-2016 Super Duty roofs are defective in about 5 million F-250, F-350, F-450 and F-550 trucks. According to the lawsuit, the Ford Super Duty roofs are too weak to handle rollover crashes, leading to crushed roofs that injure or kill occupants. The Ford roof class action lawsuit follows a $1.7 billion verdict against Ford in a wrongful death lawsuit alleging a Georgia couple were killed due to a defective 2002 Ford F-250 roof. Included in the class action lawsuit are "all persons or entities who purchased or leased model year 1999-2016 Ford SuperDuty vehicle, including the F-250, F-350, F-450 and F-550." The Ford roof class action lawsuit was filed by California plaintiff Steven Beck, who purchased a new Ford F-350 Super Duty truck in June 2015. The plaintiff doesn't allege his truck suffered any roof problems, but he said he is "concerned about driving the Roof-Crush Defect Vehicle because he no longer feels safe in it for fear of what could happen if the vehicle were to be involved in a rollover accident." "Plaintiff would not have purchased a Roof-Crush Defect Vehicle if he had been aware of the Roof-Crush Defect," the Ford roof lawsuit reads. The plaintiff asserted Ford knew about the roofs when the trucks were first sold but failed to warn customers about the alleged defects. According to the class action lawsuit, 1999-2016 Ford Super Duty trucks share the PHN-131 design platform, but Ford allegedly reduced the strength of the roofs to save money during production. Based on court documents in the Hill v. Ford case, there have been... In other words, they are stuck with an older release, and unless they are willing to mess with APK files, they have no other option than to wait for Google to come up with a fix.Several users confirmed in this discussion thread on Googles forums that their devices are stuck with Android Auto 7.8 (dated June 2022). Removing and reinstalling the app on their smartphones doesnt produce any improvement, as the version thats downloaded from the Google Play Store is still 7.8.With Android Auto already reaching version 8.1 in the stable channel, its pretty clear that sticking with an older build can be rather frustrating, especially if these users are struggling with bugs that should normally be fixed in newer releases.But worth knowing is that the latest Android Auto updates dont come with big changes anyway.And probably the most disappointing news is that Coolwalk , the highly anticipated overhaul, isnt yet live despite Google promising to roll it out during the summer.At this point, however, its not yet known when and if Google plans to begin the release to users, especially as Coolwalk hasnt even been enabled in the beta channel. In theory, the summer comes to an end in just a few days, but its pretty clear the search giant is going to miss the deadline anyway.Right now, the only way to get a taste of Coolwalk is by rooting your phone and manually enabling it on your device, but it goes without saying this isnt exactly the most convenient thing to do for a beginner.As for the bug that gets Android Auto stuck on an old version, the only way to deal with it is to manually download the APK file for the latest build. You can find them all on this page HARARE, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC), an independent commission created to combat corruption and crime, said it was handling more than 1,000 cases as it intensifies its war against corruption. ZACC Chairperson Loice Matanda-Moyo told Xinhua that more than 300 cases had been handed over for prosecution between 2019 and 2021, and the commission has come up with various strategies aimed not only at prosecuting offenders, but also ensuring that corruption did not take place. "When we were constituted as a commission in 2019, corruption was so endemic in Zimbabwe that it had become a culture, almost a way of life for all Zimbabweans and institutionalized," she said. Matanda-Moyo said corruption cut across different classes of society, from ordinary bus drivers to shop-floor workers and top government and company officials. "From the statistics of cases reported to the commission in 2021, 711 cases were reported against public officials, representing 59 percent of the total complaints received..." she said. Transparency International Zimbabwe, the local chapter of international corruption watchdog Transparency International (TI), convened an anti-corruption conference in May 2022 which found that bribery was rampant in the country and existed within most public institutions. It said corruption had permeated both public and private spheres affecting economic performance of the country and limiting the full enjoyment of human rights by citizens. According to TI's Corruption Perception Index, Zimbabwe scored a lowly 23 out of 100 against the regional average of 34 out of 100. She added that ZACC had worked out a five-year plan involving three strategic programs: investigations for prosecution; investigations for asset recovery; and prevention of corruption. "Under prevention of corruption, the commission conducts compliance checks and systems reviews in both public and private sectors to ensure that systems and controls that ensure good corporate practices are put in the organizations." ZACC was also ensuring the implementation of policies which enhanced transparency, honesty, integrity, and financial discipline and that recommendations from the Auditor-General's Office were implemented. "ZACC is also encouraging the introduction of technology to limit human interface, ultimately minimizing the solicitation of bribes," she said. The third strategy was public education, which made the public aware of the dangers of corruption and how to resist and report the crime. In terms of its collaboration strategy, ZACC is a member of the Globe Network and SADC Anti-Corruption Committee and other similar bodies where they collaborate in terms of information sharing and capacity building. ZACC has also received training in cyber security training under the SADC pilot training program and has signed memoranda of understanding with other agencies in the region in a bid to improve its capacity to conduct complex investigations. It is important to note that the accusations refer to the period between July 2013 and October 2016, when Bernie was still in charge of Formula 1 . At the time, British tax officials had carried out a worldwide investigation into his finances.Not only was he the boss of F1, but Bernie has been a controversial figure for the last three decades or so. Ecclestone has controlled Formula 1 since the 1970s, up until 2017, so there are few people in the world who could consider him a nouveau riche.The accusations that Bernie Ecclestone face involve failing to declare an involvement in a Singapore-based trust when he was inquired by the Revenue and Customs bureaus officers.The accusations claim that the trust had been established in favor of his daughters , while allegedly claiming that he is not the settlor or beneficiary of any trust in or outside the UK, while intending to make a gain, namely not stated, for yourself.The said trust was allegedly in control of an account in a Singapore bank that had approximately $650 million in it. Those are more zeroes than regular folk are used to seeing on their balance statements, but even a billionaire must keep tabs on his hundreds of millions, or else he ceases to be a billionaire, right? We are just guessing on this one, as we are not millionaires or billionaires, but we are sure we could become the former if we became the latter.A month ago, Bernie Ecclestone was granted unconditional bail, and he left court without addressing the members of the press who were waiting outside the Southwark Crown Court. As Euronews notes, Bernie was previously arrested in Brazil this May for carrying a gun in his luggage while boarding an airplane. That was not the first time when Bernie had issues with the law. Dont be fooled by its somewhat romantic name Ramble on Rose is a sophisticated vessel packed with all modern amenities. After all, it was the pleasure craft of a hospitality industry tycoon until now. This majestic 196-foot (60 meters) yacht built by the acclaimed CRN shipyard allegedly belonged to Anthony Pritzker, known for being the heir of the Hyatt empire. Part of one of the richest families in the U.S., Pritzker is a billionaire himself, one who is probably ready to move on to an even bigger yacht.Meanwhile, Ramble on Rose is starting a new life under the name of Aifer. Its now owned by a young Turkish businessman, who also bought a luxury Pershing boat as a chase boat for his new toy. Although launched in 2011, this is still a stunning vessel. Although its seven staterooms can only accommodate 12 guests, theres enough space on board for lavish 80-people parties. The master suite is the most impressive, of course, boasting a spa-like en-suite bathroom, a generous office, and access to a private terrace.In line with its considerable size, the former Ramble on Rose boasts a bright and luminous interior in a turquoise and white palette. Laura Sessa created this relaxed atmosphere that makes the yacht seem more like a resort on water. The generous beach club, well-equipped gym, and wide selection of water toys make it even more fun.Until the hospitality billionaire shows off his future yacht, Aifer will continue its adventures with its new owner after just three months of being on the market. The final price wasnt disclosed, but the last known asking price added up to $37 million not too much for an eager new owner. EV Every carmaker drools over Teslas Supercharge network. Still, traditional car companies have preferred relying on third-party providers for the charging infrastructure. Stellantis strays off the beaten path (obviously) with its Jeep brand, which will build an off-grid charging network for its young range of electric off-roaders. The stations, installed on the most famous off-road trails, would be powered by solar energy. This was confirmed during Detroit Auto Show by Jeep boss Christian Meunier.According to Australian media outlet Drive , Jeep has already installed four solar-powered stations out of a batch of 18 on popular trails in North America. Now, Jeep wants to extend the network in the Australian bush and beyond, allowing off-road enthusiasts to charge their brand-new electric off-roaders where no one thought possible.We will have 18 trails in the US which are badge of honor trails, which you get a badge when you make it, said Christian Meunier. You can stick it on your car. And all these trails will be equipped with charging stations. Im pushing the other regions, including Australia, to do the same.Jeep's boss also announced plans to trail-rate its electric off-roaders the way it does with existing vehicles. For instance, the recently announced Jeep Recon will get a level-six rating, which puts it below the Wrangler in this regard, but still shows impressive capabilities.The trail rating is going to stay, and its going to be even more stringent, said Mr. Meunier. Were going to push the limit of what you can do, and the Recon is going to be trail-rated six, which make the Rubicon Trail. The Wrangler is 10, so the king remains the king for now and forever.There were no details about the solar-powered charging stations that Jeep deploys on the trails. Still, we suspect they would have, besides solar panels, a sizeable storage battery. This approach differs from Rivians, which offers remote charging services for customers with a flat battery. Hopefully, Jeeps take will be followed by other carmakers, helping accelerateadoption. For his first official visit to Buckingham Palace in his new role, King Charles III went for a Rolls-Royce Phantom VI , also known as the Silver Jubilee Car. After that, he used it on several other occasions.But on Monday, September 19, for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeths funeral, King Charles III and his eldest son, Prince William, arrived together at Westminster Abbey, in London, UK, in the Bentley State Limousine.Her Majesty had two rare Bentley limousines worth $13.5 million (10 million) each , which she and late Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, personally customized. The two luxury cars were a gift for her Golden Jubilee in 2002, which marked 50 years of reign. Prior to receiving these luxurious state cars, she used to travel in the Rolls-Royce Phantom VI for official business.The interior of the Bentley State Limousine has high-end lambswool cloth and other luxury features. But safety was primordial for a Leader of State. The bodywork and glass are armored, they are blast-resistant and the interior of this limo is air-tight to protect the Royals from gas attacks. The automobile also comes with Kevlar-reinforced tires.The rest of His Majesty King Charles III's convoy included a Range Rover from the current generation carrying Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, a 2012 Jaguar XJ Semi-State Limousine, and a Rolls-Royce Cullinan.Among the world leaders attending the funeral are U.S. President Joe Biden and his wife, First Lady Jill Biden, who took the armored Beast limo with them. Biden is the only state head allowed to ride in his own limousine in London today.French President Emmanuel Macron, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Italian President Sergio Mattarella, and Irish Taoiseach Micheal Martin is also in attendance.Some Commonwealth state leaders are present at the event, including Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, and New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.When it comes to the Royal Family, Queen Elizabeth's children, King Charles III, Princess Anne, Princes Andrew, and Edward are at the ceremony. Queen Consort, Prince Harry, and his wife, Meghan Markle, are there, as well as Catherine, Princess of Wales, and her and Prince William's children, plus the rest of the queen's grandchildren. On Monday, September 19, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeths funeral was underway at Westminster Abbey in London, UK. She passed away on September 8 at the age of 96. Besides the Royal Family, other Heads of State attended the service, including U.S. President Joe Biden.Since King Charles III and Prince William, his eldest son and next in line to the throne, rode together in the Bentley State Limousine , their wives also arrived at the service together. And their ride of choice was the previous State Limousine, the Rolls-Royce Phantom VI, which was a gift from the British Motor Industry to Queen Elizabeth for her Silver Jubilee, celebrating her 25th anniversary on the throne.Besides the Princess of Wales and Queen Consort, in the same car were Prince George, 9, and Princess Catherine, 7, who are next in line after their father, Prince William. Their youngest, Prince Louis, did not attend the funeral.The vehicle also known as the Silver Jubilee Car, was produced by H.J. Mulliner and it has the luxury automakers 6.2-liter V8 engine under the hood, which was available for the Phantom VI, built between 1968 and 1978. Besides this Silver Jubilee Car, Queen Elizabeth also owned a 1986 Rolls-Royce Phantom VI.The regular hood ornament, the Spirit of Ecstasy, was replaced by a mascot of St George slaying the dragon whenever Queen Elizabeth was on board.The Rolls-Royce Phantom VI Silver Jubilee Car seems to be a top choice for King Charles III, too. He rode in it for the first time in his new role on his way to Buckingham Palace for his first speech on September 9, alongside Camilla, Queen Consort.This isnt Princess Catherines first ride in this car, either, as she used it on her way to Westminster Abbey to marry Prince William back in 2011.Their convoy also included a Range Rover, the other Bentley State Limousine, and a Mercedes-Benz V-Class. Meanwhile King Charles III and Prince William were followed by another Range Rover, a Jaguar XJ Semi-State Limousine, and a Rolls-Royce Cullinan.After the service, Princess Catherine, Camilla, Queen Consort, and the two children returned to the car to follow Queen Elizabeth's casket on the final journey from Westminster Abbey to Windsor Castle. Following them in one of the Bentley State Cars will be Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, and Sophie, Countess of Wessex. Trucks are the blood of the economy, carrying the needed goods across the vast network of roads and highways. The economy is equally vast and comprises goods of all kinds, from benign groceries to dangerous products like chemicals and fuels. But among those are also bizarre products that need to reach their customers on time, and if possible, without attracting unnecessary attention. The latter condition was certainly not met in the case of the Oklahoma crash.The situation became literally quite slippery on Wednesday morning when a semi-tractor trailer collided with a box truck on I-40 near Mustang on the western fringes of the Oklahoma City metro. The rollover crash caused the semi cargo to spread across the Interstate, with tons of what appeared to be sex toys and lubricant covering the road surface. As youd expect, new reporters were quick at the scene, and listening to their description of the cargo was hilarious.The helicopter footage attached below shows chopper pilot Jim Gardner talking about the crash during the morning show. Asked about the cargo the truck was carrying, Gardner stuttered his way around the question while the cameraman zoomed in on the crash scene. The only thing intelligible was that theres a lot of stuff to clean up and that the drivers not injured, which is always a good thing to know.Well, the good thing is that an image is worth a thousand words, and the dildo picture on the boxes in the video doesnt need any description. This is, clearly, a weirder cargo than the tomatoes that turned into ketchup on I-80 near Vacaville in California at the end of August. With an extensive background of more than 20 years in residential construction and the remodeling business, Movable Roots founders have found their calling: to craft some of the most gorgeous tiny homes on the market, built to meet the specific needs of their customers.The company is based in Arizona and has a rich portfolio of custom builds, succeeding every time in turning into reality all the clients visions of how their dream home should look like. Movable Roots tiny houses are created in close collaboration with the buyer, right from the first sketch and up until the handing of the key.Prices for Movable Roots tiny houses start at $100,000 for its 24 ft (7.3 m) homes and go up depending on what kind of finishes the client opts for.This blue beauty you see in the images is called Wave and was ordered by a family who ditched their foundation home in Minnesota to move into the tiny home all the way to sunny Florida, somewhere near the water. The house is the manufacturers latest build.If youre wondering why Movable Roots went with this color scheme, you should know it was a requirement of the customer, who asked for a coastal-themed tiny home. And the Arizona-based building company delivered just as asked, coming up with a house that has a custom metal inspired wave on the exterior tied in with some coastal themed cedar shake siding, as explained on its official website.On the outside, the Wave comes with a 20 ft (6 m) wed retractable awning and a storage area for the owners two kayaks.The interior layout and design of the tiny house are just as beautiful and cleverly conceived. The Wave comes with large windows and several skylights to offer a close connection with the environment. It has a loft accessible by a floating staircase, a large kitchen that was basically built around a huge fridge (as requested by the owners), and a bathroom that Movable Roots boasts of being larger than those in most apartments. The bathroom comes with a shower, custom tile, a stackable washer and dryer, and a sink that is in tune with the houses coastal theme.As for the master bedroom, it features a queen bed with custom cabinetry above it and plenty of closet space. Theres also a lighted glass door cabinet.Movable Roots says the Wave custom tiny home starts at $155,000, but this particular version of it was $185,000. Feast your eyes on the Wave in the presentation video below. Thank you for reading! Please purchase a subscription to read our premium content. If you have a subscription, please log in or sign up for an account on our website to continue. Pelosi said that she and three other U.S. lawmakers met with Papikian late on Sunday to convey Americas support for Armenia's security. On behalf of the United States Congress, we condemned Azerbaijans attacks [on Armenia] and spoke about the need for peace and security, she wrote on Twitter. Pelosi similarly accused Azerbaijan of launching illegal and deadly attacks on the Armenian territory when she commented on last weeks large-scale fighting on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border at a news conference held in Yerevan on Sunday morning. The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry rejected her remarks as baseless and unjust and said they will add to lingering tensions in the conflict zone. By contrast, Papikian praised Pelosi for condemning the military aggression against Armenia. He also thanked her for quickly reacting to the situation and visiting Armenia just days after the hostilities that left more than 200 soldiers from both sides dead. In a statement, the Armenian Defense Ministry said that Papikian also discussed with the U.S. congressional delegation a number of issues relating to defense cooperation between the two countries. It did not give details. Speaking at her news conference, Pelosi would not say whether the United States is ready to provide military assistance to Armenia. She said only that she and the pro-Armenian lawmakers accompanying her are now listening to what the needs are. The U.S. State Department also appears to have also held Baku responsible for the fighting that broke out late on September 12. In a September 13 phone call, Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to cease hostilities and voiced serious concern over reported strikes against settlements and civilian infrastructure inside Armenia. Blinken again spoke with Aliyev by phone Sunday. According to State Department spokesman Ned Price, he urged Aliyev to adhere to the ceasefire, disengage military forces, and work to resolve all outstanding issues between Armenia and Azerbaijan through peaceful negotiations. Pelosis trip to Armenia drew skepticism from Russia, which has long been the South Caucasus nations main ally. Commenting on the House speakers statements made in Yerevan, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: Everything that can contribute to the normalization of relations, the stabilization of the situation on the border not in words but in deeds, not in a loud and populist but quiet and businesslike way can be welcomed. Can such loud actions and statements really contribute to this normalization? Well see, in time everything will become clear, Peskov told journalists. In recent days, Armenian leaders have criticized Russia for what they see as a lack of Russian military and political support provided to Armenia. Azerbaijani forces reportedly launched large-scale attacks at several sections of the long border on the night from September 12-13, seizing some of the Armenian army posts there. Armenias Office of the Human Rights Defender, said on Monday that it identified 16 Armenian prisoners of war (POWs) in amateur videos of the fighting that appeared on Azerbaijani social media accounts. One of those soldiers, Davit Gishian, was recognized by his father, who immediately alerted an Armenian government body dealing international protection of POWs and missing persons. It was quick to ask the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to issue an interim measure ordering Azerbaijani to guarantee his life and proper treatment. It emerged afterwards that Gishians dead body is among the remains of 32 Armenian soldiers handed over by the Azerbaijani military to the Armenian side on Saturday. It became clear last night that Davit Gishian was killed in captivity, Hasmik Samvelian, a spokeswoman for the government, told RFE/RLs Armenian Service on Monday. Obviously, Azerbaijan bore responsibility for protecting his life, said Artak Zeynalian, one of the lawyers representing Armenia in the ECHR. We have a video showing that [Gishian] was alive under Azerbaijani control. They insulted him and he seemed to have a penetrating wound on his chest. Armenias top army general, Eduard Asrian, said on Friday that another, female Armenian soldier was brutally murdered after being captured by Azerbaijani troops. Asrian cited a social media video of her mutilated body circulated by Azerbaijani users. The video has already been sent to relevant commissions of the United Nations and the Council of Europe after undergoing a medical expert analysis, Kristine Grigorian, Armenias human rights ombudswoman, said on Monday. They targeted the female soldier not only because she was a service member and Armenian but also because she was a woman, Grigorian told RFE/RLs Armenian Service. That instance of exceptional brutality has been properly presented to competent [international] bodies. LAGOS, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Nigeria's anti-drug agency said on Monday it has arrested four drug barons in Lagos, the country's economic hub, and made a record seizure of 1,855 kilograms of cocaine over the weekend. In a press statement on Monday, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) said its operatives raided on Sunday a warehouse in the Ikorodu area of Lagos and seized 1,855 kilograms of cocaine worth more than 278 million U.S. dollars in street value. The statement described the seizure as "the biggest singular cocaine seizure" in the history of the NDLEA, noting the class-A drugs, stored in 10 travel bags and 13 drums, were meant for buyers in Europe, Asia and other parts of the world. Four drug barons and the warehouse manager were arrested in the coordinated and intelligence-led operation in Lagos, said the NDLEA, adding that they are all members of an international drug syndicate that the agency has been trailing since 2018. The U.S. Congress had banned all kinds of direct assistance to Baku through Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act passed in 1992. But a decade later it allowed U.S. administrations to waive the ban to help Azerbaijans military and security agencies cope with terrorist threats. Just like his predecessors, President Joe Biden waived Section 907 in April 2021 over the strong objections of the Armenian community in the U.S. Armenian American leaders renewed their calls for the Biden administration to freeze military aid to Baku after the outbreak of the large-scale border clashes between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces on late on September 12. Lawmakers representing Armenias two main opposition groups echoed those appeals when they met with Pelosi late on Sunday at the end of her visit to Yerevan. They sounded upbeat on that score after the meeting. I got an overall sense that there is a [U.S.] resolve to stop military aid to Azerbaijan in the next fiscal year, said Anna Grigorian of the Hayastan alliance. We basically got that message. In my personal view, this will be done in the near future, said Hayk Mamijanian of the Pativ Unem bloc. I think that there will be bipartisan consensus [in Congress] on this issue because the facts are obvious and America has acknowledged that the Azerbaijani side is the aggressor. Pelosi did not comment on the possibility of such a measure when she spoke at a news conference earlier on Sunday. But she did accuse Azerbaijan of launching illegal and deadly attacks on the Armenian territory. She indicated that the House of Representatives will also condemn Baku soon in a resolution already drafted by some of its pro-Armenian members. The U.S. must halt all assistance to Azerbaijan - immediately and permanently, one of those lawmakers, Adam Schiff, tweeted on September 13. The House of Representatives already voted in July 2021 to block any aid that can be provided under Washingtons Foreign Military Financing and International Military Education and Training programs. But it did not bar the U.S. Department of Defense from continuing to transfer military equipment to Azerbaijan. The administration of former President Donald Trump significantly increased the security aid to Baku, reportedly providing over $100 million worth of equipment and other assistance to Azerbaijans State Border Guard Service in 2018-2019 alone. Azerbaijani border guards participated in the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh. Many of them are now deployed along Azerbaijans border with Armenia. Videos Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos. Thank you for reading! Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading. DHAKA, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Bangladeshi government will recruit 6,000 new social workers, bringing the workforce from 3,000 to 9,000, to better protect children in communities. The ground-breaking commitment to children comes after a comprehensive national household survey revealed that 45 million Bangladeshi children under the age of 15 -- a shocking 89 percent -- are regularly subjected to physical and psychological violence at home. The announcement to strengthen child protection services and increase the number of social workers by 200 percent was made at the first-ever "National Symposium on Child Protection in Bangladesh", which was held Monday in capital Dhaka. Jointly organized by the UNICEF and the European Union, the symposium was opened by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina virtually. In a video message, she emphasized the importance of making child protection services available at the community level. "The aim of our government is to build a professional social services workforce that enhances efficient delivery of child protection services such as Child Helpline 1098, Child Protection Allowances, and community-based outreach services involving volunteers, adolescent children, and community people so that no child is left behind," Hasina was quoted as saying in a statement by UNICEF on Monday. In Bangladesh, "over three million children are trapped in child labour of which 1.3 million are in hazardous forms of child labour. One in five children do not complete primary school. Nearly half of children do not have a birth registration. Over 100,000 children are in institutional care and lack family support," the statement said. Sheldon Yett, UNICEF representative to Bangladesh, said "Social workers reach deep into communities where children need them the most. I congratulate the Government of Bangladesh for this dramatic increase in the number of social workers to help more children to benefit from critical professional care." Provided by VisitJordan.com Jordan is a Near East country that borders Syria, Israel, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia, which was part of Canaan in ancient times. Its named after the Jordan River, which flows between Israel and modern-day Jordan, whose name means flow downwards or to descend. The region has an extended history as a trade center for every significant empire from ancient times to the present day. Numerous sites in the country are mentioned throughout the Bible. Besides Israel, no other country has as many biblical associations and locations as Jordan. Theres Lots Cave, Mount Nebo, Bethany, and Madaba. Jordan is also the land of the ancient kingdoms of Moab, Ammon, Edom, and many others. The most significant part of Jordans biblical significance is the Jordan River, which the Bible mentions over 185 times. Heres a deeper look into some of Jordans biblical locations, highlighting Jordans biblical significance. The Jordan River The Jordan River is 156 miles long, flowing from north to south from the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea. It sits on present-day Israels eastern border and Jordan and Syrias western border. Because of its length and location, the Bible mentions it over 185 times. Genesis 13 indirectly references the Jordan River, where Abraham and Lot divide the land where God led them. Abraham let Lot choose his stake first, and he chose the Jordan Valley due to its lusciousness, specifically in verse 10. This moment was critical because it established Lot as a selfish person and led him to the city of Sodom, which God destroyed in Genesis 18-19. Years later, as the Israelites fled from slavery in Egypt to the land God pledged to them, The Jordan River served as a pathway and an obstruction. The people roamed the wilderness for 40 years as a penalty for not trusting in the Lords care when He brought them to Canaan. Even Moses was denied access to the Holy Land and could only see it from a mountaintop across the Jordan River after he died. The next generation of Israelites stood on the banks of the Jordan, ready to enter Canaan at last. The Jordan River was their last hindrance, and it was flooded. At Gods order, Joshua, the peoples new leader, told the priests wearing the Ark of the Covenant to stand in the river. They did so, and the river stopped flowing to make way for the people to cross on dry ground, as detailed in Joshua 3:15-17. Mount Nebo In the Bible, Mount Nebo is a mountain in Moab where Moses saw the Holy Land before he died. Mount Nebo sits 4,000 feet above the Dead Sea on the east side of the Jordan River, parallel to Jericho. In the last stage of the Israelites trek to the Holy Land, they stayed in Moab near Mount Nebo. Before Moses died, God told him to go to the top of Mount Nebo, as detailed in yDeuteronomy 32:48-52. God told Moses he would die overlooking Canaan on Mount Nebo. God answered Moses prayer to see the Holy Land, but he couldnt enter because of what happened when he hit the rock at Meribah Kadesh. Moses and his brother Aaron disappointed God that day due to their pride, disobedience, anger, and lack of trust. After seeing the Holy Land from Mount Nebo, Moses died and was buried close by. In present-day, Mount Nebo still has broad views of the Jordan River, the Dead Sea, Jericho, and even Jerusalem on clear days. Lots Cave Lot was Abrahams nephew who had selfish tendencies. After the obliteration of Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot was scared to stay in Zoar, so he stayed in the mountains with his daughters. He lost everything in Sodoms destruction, so he and his family lived in a cave. In this cave, Lots daughters developed a plan to keep the family line going: they would get Lot drunk and sleep with him. The eldest daughter slept with him first; the youngest daughter slept with him the next night. Both got pregnant and named their sons Ben-Ammi and Moab. These boys became the fathers of the Ammonites and Moabites. Years later, the Lord ordered His people to save the Moabites and the Ammonites for Lot when the Israelites journeyed to the Holy Land. The site of Jesus baptism. Perhaps the most significant event that occurred in Jordan was Jesus baptism. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John say His baptism took place on the banks of the Jordan River by John the Baptist. John 1:19-28 introduces us to John the Baptist, a rugged and rough prophet who spread the news that Israels Messiah was coming. Religious leaders started questioning him; the Pharisees insisted on knowing who gave John the authority to perform baptisms. John said that God sent him to prepare the way for the Lord. John 1:29-34 tells us that Jesus came to John on the east of the Jordan to get baptized. When thinking about a tour of Jordan, most people know that Jordan is biblically significant. Still, few understand how much this land exists in Christian and Hebrew scriptures. These locations are only the tip of the iceberg regarding Jordans biblical significance. You could also visit Petra, the land of the Edomites. Many movie lovers know about the treasury building of Petra due to its feature in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade in 1989. From the site of Jesus baptism to the Jordan River, Jordan is filled with biblical sites and pieces of information. Imagine yourself visiting the site of Jesus baptism and how that would uplift and strengthen your faith. Picture yourself placing your feet in the Jordan River, the same place where the Israelites fled the terrors of Egypt. Outside of Israel, no other country has more biblical significance than Jordan. If youre considering taking a trip to Jordan, take some time to visit these biblical sites and immerse yourself in this beautiful land. Take the opportunity to travel back in time and feel Jesus presence around you. For more information on the Holy Sites of Jordan and planning your trip, please visit www.holyjordan.com CANBERRA, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Australian government on Monday extended funding for coronavirus testing and protocols in high-risk settings. Health and Aged Care Minister Mark Butler said the federal government would spend an additional 1.4 billion Australian dollars (941 million U.S. dollars) over the next three months on preventing the spread of COVID-19 in aged and disability care and hospitals. Federal funding for coronavirus testing and protocols was due to end on Sept. 30, but Butler said the extension would ensure vulnerable Australians remain protected. "This action will provide Australians with effective testing, medical care and treatments to protect themselves and those most vulnerable in the community," he said. "These investments also provide ongoing support and protection for our frontline health and aged care workers, and people living in residential aged care homes, as well as those people supporting the most vulnerable to severe illness from COVID-19." According to the Department of Health of the Australian government, average COVID-19 infections in Australia are still running at more than 7,000 each day. The majority of the additional funding - 840 million AUD (565 million U.S. dollars) - will go towards the Aged Care Support Program, including 35 million AUD (23.5 million U.S. dollars) on onsite polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing at aged care facilities. A further 235 million AUD (158 million USD) will boost the National Medical Stockpile to guarantee supply of personal protection equipment (PPE) and testing equipment for aged care, primary care, disability care and First Nations health services and frontline healthcare workers. More than 100 million AUD (67.2 million USD) will be spent on rapid antigen tests (RATs) for workers and care recipients over the next three months. U.S. President Joe Biden walks from the Rose Garden at the White House, in Washington, Sept. 15, 2022. Taiwan once again expressed its sincere gratitude after U.S. President Joe Biden said during an interview that the American military would defend Taiwan if China invaded the island. Biden made the remarks during an exclusive interview with 60 Minutes, the CBS News show, that was recorded on Thursday but broadcast on Sunday night (U.S. Eastern Time). During the interview, CBS correspondent Scott Pelley asked the president if the United States would defend Taiwan, to which Biden replied: Yes, if in fact there was an unprecedented attack. Pelley then asked Biden to clarify whether U.S. forces, U.S. men and women, would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion. Yes, the president replied. Bidens reply was his most explicit statement so far as president regarding military support for the democratic island, which Beijing considers an inalienable part of China, and one that drew an angry response from the Asian superpower. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a press briefing on Monday that Beijing had lodged stern representations with Washington. She warned the U.S. not to send the wrong signals to those wanting Taiwanese independence, news agencies reported. A White House official was quick to add after the CBS interview that the U.S. policy on Taiwan had not changed. Washington officially abides by the One-China Policy and maintains a strategic ambiguity towards Taipei. Yet, according to the Taiwan Relations Act, the U.S. is obligated to help the island with means to defend itself. Earlier this month the U.S. State Department announced a U.S. $1.1 billion sale of military equipment to Taiwan despite strong protests from Beijing. Rock solid In Taipei, the Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday expressed its sincere gratitude to President Biden for reaffirming the American government's rock solid security commitment to Taiwan. Since U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made an official visit to Taiwan in August, China has escalated military provocations in the Taiwan Strait, the ministry noted in a statement. The Biden administration has repeatedly supported Taiwan with public speeches and specific actions, it said. Last week the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed the Taiwan Policy Act of 2022, which would increase military aid to the island. In the face of Chinas military expansion and provocative actions, the Taiwanese government will continue to strengthen its self defense capabilities, firmly resist authoritarian expansion and aggression, deepen the close security partnership between Taiwan and the United States, and strengthen cooperation with all other like-minded countries to jointly and resolutely safeguard the Taiwan Strait, the foreign ministry said. China has yet to officially react to the news but Beijing has long protested against what it calls U.S. interference in Chinas internal affairs. Political analysts found themselves arguing over President Bidens statement in his interview with 60 Minutes. While replying last October to a similar question about defending Taiwan, Biden said the U.S. had a commitment to do that," prompting a White House spokesperson to quickly clarify that there was no change in the U.S. policy on Taiwan. Time to stop describing these comments as gaffes, Taylor Fravel, a China defense analyst at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, wrote on Twitter, referring to Bidens statement. The president appears to believe that the TRA (Taiwan Relations Act) contains a commitment to defend Taiwan, which is why he keeps saying we have a commitment to do that and the White House keeps saying that U.S. policy remains unchanged, wrote Bonnie Glaser, an Asia specialist at the German Marshall Fund of the United States. Grant Newsham, a retired U.S. Marine colonel turned political analyst, said that in his opinion, it is not a good thing if reporters, pundits, and analysts have to struggle to figure out what President Biden actually means. Weve seen similar statements by President Biden walked back by his staff ... effectively saying the President didnt really mean what he said, Newsham told Radio Free Asia (RFA), an online news service affiliated with BenarNews. All in all, this latest statement just gives an impression of an administration that is confused and doesn't have a clear policy, said the analyst who spent months studying Taiwans defense in detail. Since taking office in January 2021, Biden has made similar remarks regarding Taiwan on at least four occasions. Tensions have risen in the Taiwan Strait in recent months after China announced large-scale military drills around Taiwan in response to Nancy Pelosis trip. Residents of Datu Abdullah Sangki town cast their vote in a referendum in Maguindanao, southern Philippines, Sept. 17, 2022 The mainly Muslim province of Maguindanao in the southern Philippines split into two after a plebiscite this past weekend, a move that solidifies ruling families bases in a region with a history of violence between rival political clans, analysts said. The division of Maguindanao into separate provinces is ostensibly a push for better governance, but critics pointed to another reason for the provinces division: Political accommodation. Almost all who voted in the plebiscite held on Saturday 706,558, or just over 99 percent agreed to divide the province into Maguindanao del Sur and Maguindanao del Norte, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said. A total of 5,209 voters, or less than 1 percent, voted against it. With Maguindanaos division, the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) will now have six provinces, instead of four. Naguib Sinarimbo, BARMM interior and local government minister, said the split would result in better representation for the people. We look forward to seeing the promise of good governance, peace and development, which our people from the two provinces truly deserve, Sinarimbo said in a radio interview on Saturday. In May 2021, then-President Rodrigo Duterte signed Republic Act 11550, the law dividing the province, but a plebiscite was required to make it official. Esmael Mangudadatu, a former Congressman from the region and one of the laws proponents in the previous Congress, had said the division would lead to more efficient resource management and accessible public service. Maguindanao is among the poorest provinces in the country, while BARMM remains the poorest region, according to 2021 data of the Philippine Statistics Authority. Yet, the province and the region are home to some of the Philippines wealthiest and most powerful political dynasties with rival clans fighting it out with private armed groups. Ramon Beleno III, a political science professor at the Ateneo De Davao University, told BenarNews that the plebiscite was an example of gerrymandering to avoid clashes between ruling clans. We give them the benefit of the doubt. The purpose was to have a better representation and for self-determination, Beleno told BenarNews. But its also a political accommodation for power sharing to avoid political violence. The creation of two provinces for Maguindinao effectively draws a line between the two ruling families of the Mangudadatus and Sinsuats, allowing them to solidify their bases, he said. Under the law, current Maguindanao Gov. Mariam Mangudadatu would serve as the transitional leader of Maguindanao del Sur, while current Vice Gov. Ainee Sinsuat would serve as the governor of Maguindanao del Norte. Both Mangudadatu and Sinsuat come from political families whose power extends beyond the province. Mangudadatus husband, Suharto, was a former governor of Sultan Kudarat. Her son, Pax Ali, currently serves as its governor, and her cousin, Esmael Mangudadatu, was a former governor and member of Congress. Meanwhile, Sinsuats husband, Lester, was a former Maguindanao vice governor and is currently the mayor of Datu Odin Sinsuat, the new capital of Maguindanao del Norte. On Nov. 23, 2009, 58 people, including journalists and Mangudadatu family members, were massacred by members of the rival Ampatuan political clan, over politics. Ampatuan clan members, backed by their supporters, stopped the convoy and gunned down the rivals before using a backhoe to try to bury the bodies in shallow pits. More than a 100 people were charged for the killings, including the clan patriarch Andal Ampatuan Sr., who died in prison before the trial concluded. The case dragged on for a decade, until December 2019 when a regional trial court in Manila convicted dozens of the accused, mostly clan members. More than 50 others, including dozens of police officers loyal to the Ampatuans, were acquitted and ordered free. If you'd like to leave a comment (or a tip or a question) about this story with the editors, please email us We also welcome letters to the editor for publication; you can do that by filling out our letters form and submitting it to the newsroom. KABUL, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- The last Afghan prisoner released from the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camp was handed over to Afghanistan's Taliban-run caretaker administration on Monday, the state-run Bakhtar news agency reported. "Hajji Bashir Noorzai, the last Afghan in Guantanamo Bay, was released and was handed over to the authorities of the IEA (Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan) at Kabul airport today," the report said. The report said that Noorzai was among the last Afghans held for 17 years at the Guantanamo prison, which is located in the U.S. Guantanamo Bay naval base on the island of Cuba. After the U.S.-led military invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, the occupying troops had arrested hundreds of Afghans on charge of cooperation with terrorist networks and held them for years in the notorious Guantanamo Bay detention camp. Greg Sukiennik has worked at all three Vermont News & Media newspapers and was their managing editor from 2017-19. He previously worked for ESPN.com, for the AP in Boston, and at The Berkshire Eagle in Pittsfield, Mass. 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. Business writer Tony Dobrowolski's main focus is on business reporting. He came to The Eagle in 1992 after previously working for newspapers in Connecticut and Montreal. He can be reached at tdobrowolski@berkshireeagle.com or 413-496-6224. Lenox native James Brooke has traveled to about 100 countries reporting for The New York Times, Bloomberg and Voice of America. He reported from Russia for eight years and from Ukraine for six years, coming home one year ago. ISLAMABAD, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Nine people were injured on Monday from a blast in a house in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi, the rescue service reported. According to the reports, the accident took place early in the morning due to the gas inside the water tank of the house. Following the incident, the rescue workers immediately reached the site and shifted the victims to a local hospital, a rescue worker told Xinhua. The injured included a five-year-old girl and a two-year-old girl, according to the rescue worker. For driving excellence in cancer care through knowledge exchange and enhancement of skills The Tata Memorial Centre (TMC), Mumbai, and Vedanta Medical Research Foundations flagship initiative, BALCO Medical Centre (BMC), Raipur, Chhattisgarh, have entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to drive excellence in cancer care in the country. The MoU was signed between Dr RA Badwe, Director of Tata Memorial Centre, and Dr Bhawna Sirohi, Medical Director of BALCO Medical Centre, at Tata Memorial Hospital, Parel, in the presence of Jyoti Agarwal, Chairperson, BALCO Medical Centre. As per the MoU, the BALCO Medical Centre and Tata Memorial Centre will join forces for the exchange of knowledge, and enhancement of skills, capabilities and core practices. BMC will leverage TMCs expertise and decades of experience in cancer treatment for developing best-in-class technical and medical guidelines. With this association, TMC will also empanel BMC as a referral centre for patients from Chhattisgarh and neighbouring states. Both cancer hospitals have mutually agreed to: It's a long-standing Kenyan tradition to offer congratulations in paid print and TV messages to an incoming president. Source Jacek Sopotnicki 123rf Nairobi, Kenya's captial city The bulk of these messages are put out by government agencies and county governments in recent years but also private commercial corporations. This year, however, the newly elected president William Ruto would have none of this. A day before his swearing-in, Ruto made it known that he did not wish to see national or county government money spent on these messages. The Ministry of Devolution said they were expensive and risk creating financial burden to the counties involved. Counties were urged to use cheaper platforms such as social media.It is convenient, perhaps even understandable, to look at this decision through the lens of austerity. Kenyas post-election periods have seen monumental spending of public money on congratulatory messages to incoming presidents. This is a ritual often enacted to show allegiance to new administrations, usually with a view to currying favour with them. But there may be more to this directive, particularly in view of the widespread criticism of Kenyas mainstream media by the new presidents Kenya Kwanza Coalition during the countrys recent election campaigns.In July this year, one of Rutos well-known policy front men chillingly warned media houses that should we win be advised not to book govt ad revenue going forward. Government ad spend in local media has shrunk in recent years. Still, it stood at nearly 30% of total media revenue less than five years ago.The warning from Rutos camp seemed ominous enough in July. By the end of the election campaign it was clear that Kenya Kwanza coalition was convinced the local mainstream media were biased against it. Financial throttling may thus be retribution. It could also be a sign of how the new government will engage with the media. Rutos media strategy Rutos opponent Raila Odinga enjoyed the support of key business and media players. These included the owner of the giant Royal Media Services, who openly campaigned for Odingas Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya coalition. Unable to get such endorsement in 2022 from any mainstream media, Rutos coalition used a different strategy. It invested heavily in alternative communication platforms, most notably social media. It framed mainstream media as pro-establishment and as purveyors of fake news. Though constrained by factors such as connectivity challenges and variable levels of digital literacy in Kenya, social media still animates political conversations in and beyond digital platforms. In Kenya, social media has become an important beat for the mainstream press, routinely influencing the editorial agenda.Kenya Kwanza coalitions negative framing of mainstream media thus not only undermined Odingas coverage, but also invested alternative public communication platforms with a new kind of unaccountable political power. Ruto adopted a highly populist but relatable political slogan, the hustler narrative. Like Donald Trump, to borrow the words of Khadijah White, assistant professor of journalism at Rutgers University, Ruto cultivated support around his brand. As long as he remained true to his brand, accuracy wasnt important. Dependence on government Like most private media around the world, Kenyas mainstream media remain financially exposed due to their increasingly fragile business model. The reliance on advertising revenue and benevolence from wealthy owners subjects most local media to significant structural and operational constraints and weaknesses. Governments and big business often closely linked to the state remain some of the biggest advertisers in the media market. For this reason they are a powerful influence in determining the news agenda directly, through proxies, or through advertising. Withdrawing state and regional government advertising from mainstream media, as Kenya Kwanza appears intent on doing, will therefore hit it hard.Yet this goes beyond simple political retribution. It is arguable that the incentive to weaken the countrys press is firmly embedded in Kenya Kwanzas approach to public communication. The Ruto political machine has demonstrated its capacity to use social media to manufacture political legitimacy by circumventing the more traditional communication infrastructures of accountability. Of course, it is usually in the interest of any government to control or influence public communication. Such control helps governments determine, shape, or push through their political, legislative, and policy agendas and narratives. This potentially enables them to govern without distraction. It also helps create political legitimacy when thats flagging or lacking. One can therefore see the new governments attraction to a weakened press. Dangerous gamble Kenyas mainstream media have an appreciable capacity to hold government to account, notwithstanding their own flaws. They have managed to balance the powerful interests of the state, media owners, big business and the public, most of which do not always align. For this reason, the country continues to have a relatively well-regarded and robust media sector. Ruto presents a new challenge for Kenyas media. In a country where the establishment has always determined or influenced who becomes president, Ruto tore up the political rule book, winning against significant odds. Will his Kenya Kwanza proceed to weaken Kenyas media as a form of retributive justice for its perceived lack of support? That would be a brazen affront to constitutionalism. Ruto is a maverick in many ways. But governance without accountability or through social media is a dangerous gamble. Though the Kenyan media may be nimble enough to adapt to this new reality, it can only do so as a smaller niche media, potentially retreating from its public interest remit. If it does, it is the countrys democracy that will be poorer. George Ogola, Reader in Journalism, University of Central LancashireThis article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Recognised for making positive 'waves' in the Industry, dentsu South Africa (SA) celebrates Clare Trafankowska , managing director of iProspect SA for being awarded the highly regarded 'Media Agency Rising Star' at the prestigious Most Awards 2022. Clare Trafankowska, managing director of iProspect SA Awarded to an individual who is considered a game changer in the industry and someone to watch, the influential rising star is also open minded, innovative, confident, outspoken and decisive. An individual who takes the lead, involves themselves within the industry and has excellent relationship skills. Commenting on her win, Trafankowska said: My earlier journey in media saw me as part of the event co-ordination team that curated the inaugural Most Awards event in 2009. Thirteen years later, as the recipient of the Media Agency Rising Star award, having been acknowledged by our industry and essentially my community, is both humbling and honorific. Anyone who knows me will know just how much I adore our industry and my deep passion for our people and their development this award is testament to me having been able to infuse that emotion and energy into all my relationships. I am a pebble, but in a much greater pond than I ever gave myself credit for. Dawn Rowlands, CEO for dentsu Africa said: Clare is a respectful, considered and innovative leader. Her ability to lead people and manage tricky situations with professionalism and humour is her biggest asset. Clare does not shy away from a challenge and is always there to support her colleagues. I have a great admiration for Clares current achievements and look forward to seeing her rise further of which I have absolutely no doubt at all. The South African Editors' Forum (Sanef) has announced the Nat Nakasa Award for courageous journalism. Former New Frame journalists, Cebelihle Mbuyisa and Magnificent Mndebele, were honoured with the top prize at an event held in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal on Sunday. New Frame is now defunct. Picture Supplied. The awards, sponsored by Sanlam, are now in their sixth iteration since the sponsorship started in 2017. Brave journalism The duos work at New Frame kept the story of the uprising in eSwatini alive for South African audiences, said one of the judges, veteran journalist, Chrystal Orderson. She serves on the panel with two other journalists, former The Star editor-in-chief, Peter Sullivan, and former Press Ombudsman, Joe Thloloe. The awards were addressed by retired Judge, Dr Navi Pillay, who serves on the International Commission on Information and Democracy, which affirms the principles of media freedom, the safety of journalists and media sustainability. Pillay said all governments, including South Africa, must take action to promote a free and independent press which is instrumental to combat disinformation, building public trust and advancing the promotion and protection of human rights. I would say that such action must also protect media sources and whistle-blowers, she said. She said the world honours courageous journalists and that Sanefs Nat Nakasa Awards fall into the spirit of celebration of brave journalists and expresses public gratitude for their work. This is what counts. The appreciation of the constituency to whom you are accountable. The silencing of journalists is a loss to society, honouring them is a gain, Pillay said. Pillar of democracy The Nat Nakasa Award for Community Media went to Shiraaz Mohammed for his body of work, which included spending time with health care workers during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. Judges noted that Mohammed was working on his own and producing his work without the backup of a big media corporation and putting his own life at risk. As part of the awards, Sanefs members get to nominate a fellow member for the Stephen Wrottesley Award, dedicated to honouring members whose commitment to the journalism field goes beyond the call of duty. This year it was awarded to media freedom activist, former editor, and former Sanefs management committee member, Angela Quintal. She is now in charge of the Africa programme at the Committee to Protect Journalists, based in New York. Pearl Majola spoke on behalf of Sydney Mbhele, group executive: brand saying Sanlam considered these awards to be more than a celebration but an endorsement of media freedom. They were about integrity and the exceptional bravery of journalists who will stand for the truth even at the risk of threats to their very being. We believe in and support robust journalism as one of the strongest pillars of our democracy and so we continue to commit our support for these awards, said Majola. Finding the Forgotten Graduate: a revolutionary storytelling campaign. Howard Audio is proud to be a significant part of a project to track down and honour the very first South African of colour to get a degree. The project an online interactive experience informed by nine months of intense historical research shines a much-needed light on some of South Africas pioneering intellectuals whose contributions, either in full or in part, have never before featured in the countrys history books. As a mutual company, PPS a financial services provider catering exclusively to graduate professionals is built on the ethos of success being better shared. In creating their most recent brand campaign, they remind us that our history is filled with graduates who were never able to share their success. Finding the Forgotten Graduate is a visceral journey back in time to find South Africas very first graduate of colour, and finally share his success over a century later via the worlds only Posthumous Life Policy. Howard Audio composed, sound-designed and final-mixed the audio for the entire online experience which consists of two videos that top and tail a total of ten audio stories along a visually-striking interactive timeline. Featuring bespoke solo piano music for every single piece of storytelling, Adam Howard was in his element over this project. "It was a brief like wed never had before," he says. "It was almost like composing a whole movie, made up of different scenes reflecting a series of graduates of colour who had deliberately been sidelined from the mainstream South African history narrative. Working hand in glove with the Promise team, and Tebza Malope of Star Films, we crafted the ten narrative tales that take place over a more than one-hundred-year period. I composed and arranged around forty minutes of music. Unconstrained by the usual 30-second or even two-minute format, I could set my musical imagination free. When the story required, I included African percussive and vocal moments to highlight the narrative." Once the story narration was crafted and the visuals laid, Adam played a thematic piano theme over each one to weave between the words. The film pieces, shot by Tebza Malope of Star films, reflect the mood and tone of the stories. The musical landscape binds these elements of tone, voice and visual into an emotional gestalt where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The full storytelling experience can be viewed at TheForgottenGraduate.co.za. A courageous strategy that allowed the budget to be invested into a storytelling campaign so moving, so telling, that the content is set to make a lasting contribution to the South African history books. To learn more about the new Howard Audio and to stay up to date with our latest work be sure to check out our new website at www.howardaudio.co.za. Now in its second year, Futurewear is a dedicated platform that aims to cultivate the new guard of South African creatives by affording them the opportunity to launch their businesses with an exclusive collection at Pick n Pay Clothing. Image supplied. Julia Buchanan with Hazel Pillay from Pick n Pay Clothing and Gavin Rajah The initiative between Pick n Pay Clothing and Atelier Gavin Rajah provides practical experience to up-and-coming designers and helps create job opportunities for entrepreneurs to grow their businesses. Covid-19 undoubtedly hurt South Africas clothing industry, with many people having to close their doors, and Futurewear will give the industry the boost it needs, says Hazel Pillay, general manager of Pick n Pay Clothing. Real growth to come According to research company Fitch, the clothing industry is set for real growth between 2022 and 2026 helped by increases in disposable income for consumers and a young, urban base. This is why we are targeting young people to enter our programme as they design for their peers, says Rajah. The need for practical experience and application in the industry is key, continues Rajah. For South Africa to be a leader in the creative industries and to foster growth in the local clothing industry, we need to nurture and develop talent who can think innovatively in a commercial environment, he says. Success stories Julia Buchanan, the first entrepreneur to be selected for the Futurewear programme, started Julia, a swimwear brand, in early 2014 while still studying. She has now launched her third limited edition collection with Pick n Pay Clothing. Since appearing on the racks at the retailer, she has expanded her brand into apparel and accessories and has showcased her garments on the runway for the first time. Another member of the cohort, Sipho Mbuto, did so well that he went on to show a successful collection in Milan last year, and recently completed an accelerator programme with the Ethical Fashion Initiative. The programme Designers will receive mentorship to help them understand the complexities of garment production, sourcing, sustainability and the need to drive a circular economy. When we started this programme, no one was looking at print origination and the possibility of including those with no experience in the clothing industry in an immersive programme such as this, says Rajah. Futurewear is about creating opportunities for individuals who are well equipped with the skills to work in a complex and ever-changing South African market. Entrepreneurs who can be innovative, forward-thinking can ultimately contribute to the economy. Besides equipping individuals for their future careers, creating beautiful, accessible clothing that adds to the overall brand allure of Pick n Pay Clothing lies at the core of Futurewear, adds Rajah. Among the challenges, the mentorship hopes to tackle include start-ups not having practical experience or the relevant skills to be successful in a commercial environment. Their focus is generally creative with little focus on commercial aspects and brand-building. They dont have access to programmes that foster networks they can turn to for advice or direction. There is also no official industry body, so there is little support for their development, says Rajah. Mentorship helps our future designers develop a knowledge base to make informed decisions and develop a career trajectory. Its imperative for individuals at the beginning of their careers it is as important during their career path. It provides a professional infrastructure to rely on and is integral to the emotional support individuals need, he adds. Sumbit your profile Local designers and creatives over the age of 18 are encouraged to submit their profiles for consideration to join the mentorship programme which will culminate in a limited edition collection that will retail at Pick n Pay Clothing stores nationwide. Applicants must send a one-page essay (no more than 700 words) that defines their aesthetics, personality and future ambitions. In addition, they must send a mini-look book of work done which is no longer than three pages. Everything should be sent in a single document in PDF format to futurewear@gavinrajah.com. The closing date for applications is 30 September 2022. September is the International Month for Deaf People but how much do you know about the deaf community in South Africa? We have created a series of short videos to introduce you to the deaf community and culture in South Africa and even teach you some basic sign language! In the first video, Candice Morgan, facilitator at the Language School at Wits Plus, explains what Deaf Awareness Month is about. In the second video, Candice shares information about the deaf community in South Africa, including how South African Sign Language is used. In the third video, some dos and donts when interacting with deaf people are outlined, and in the final video Candice demonstrates the Deaf alphabet and shows us how to introduce ourselves! Be sure to keep watching for more informative content during September! Developing Sign Language South African Sign Language (SASL) is a first language for the deaf community, but many hearing people also communicate through sign language with children, friends and family who are deaf. SASL plays several roles for the deaf community. Deaf people use this language to interact with others and pass on cultural knowledge like any other. The language has been developed over time by several groups of deaf people and with the influence of various formal institutions. Its development is linked to churches, schools for the deaf, the effects of the apartheid system, and influences beyond South Africas borders. Click here to view a brief timeline of the major developments of SASL. You can learn SASL as well! The Language School at Wits Plus offers a number of SASL courses. These courses have trained facilitators, who are first language proficient and have also been trained to teach both hearing and non-hearing students. SASL courses are offered part-time and run over 10 weeks. Contact us for more information: az.ca.stiw@slw | 011 717 4208. American Christians Gather in Solidarity to MARCH FOR THE MARTYRS as Global Persecution Intensifies 3rd Annual MARCH FOR THE MARTYRS event in Washington, D.C. will unite Christians around a call for global religious freedom NEWS PROVIDED BY Icon Media Group Sept. 19, 2022 WASHINGTON, Sept. 19, 2022 /Christian Newswire/ -- Christians from across America will unite on September 24, 2022, at the National Mall in Washington D.C., for the third annual MARCH FOR THE MARTYRS. The movement, which was founded by the organization For the Martyrs, aims to raise awareness of Christian persecution while giving believers an opportunity to stand in solidarity with those suffering for their faith. According to persecution watchdog Open Doors' World Watch List, one in seven Christians around the world360 millionface high levels of persecution for their faith. That number has grown by 20 million believers in the last year as the situation for Christians in countries like Afghanistan, North Korea and Nigeria continues to deteriorate. Attendees will gather on the National Mall on September 24th, at 3:00 p.m. EST for the opening rally, immediately followed by the march at 4:00 p.m. A Night of Prayer for the Persecuted will take place at 5 p.m. at the Museum of the Bible. "We are on a mission to combat silence in the media and within the Church that has turned a blind eye to persecuted Christians who are suffering for the faith," said Gia Chacon, founder of For the Martyrs. "As members of the body of Christ, persecuted Christians deserve our prayers and need our voice. There is an unabashed increase in the violence toward Christians and as long as they are in danger or suffering for their faith, we will be present raising awareness and advocating for them." Human rights activist and former NBA-player Enes Kanter Freedom will headline the list of speakers at the event along with David Curry, CEO of Open Doors USA, Esther Zang, a survivor of persecution in China, and Andrew Brunson, a pastor who spent two years as a political prisoner in Turkey. "Millions of our brothers and sisters around the world face harassment, physical harm and even death for their faith in Jesus," said David Curry, Open Doors USA CEO. "We're excited to partner with Gia and MARCH FOR THE MARTYRS, to pray for, and speak out on behalf of those who are suffering for Christ." MARCH FOR THE MARTYRS is the first movement of its kind in solidarity with the persecuted Church that draws together powerful voices who give testimony, education, prayer and witness for persecuted Christians around the world. The march is organized by For the Martyrs, a non-profit organization that seeks to raise awareness about the crisis of Christian Persecution, advocate for Religious Freedom, and provide aid to suffering Christians around the world. Visit www.forthemartyrs.com for more information and to register for the event. Please direct media inquiries to: opendoors@iconmediagroup.com. About Open Doors USA For over 65 years, Open Doors has worked in the world's most oppressive regions, empowering, and equipping persecuted Christians in more than 60 countries by providing Bibles, training, and programs to help those who have been marginalized for their faith. Open Doors publishes the World Watch List, an annual report on the 50 countries where it is most difficult to live as a Christian. About FOR THE MARTYRS FOR THE MARTYRS is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded by Gia Chacon that seeks to raise awareness about the crisis of Christian Persecution, advocate for Religious Freedom, and provide aid to suffering Christians around the world. The work of FOR THE MARTYRS and the annual MARCH FOR THE MARTYRS Martyrs has been featured in various media outlets including: Fox News, CBN News, The Daily Caller, The Epoch Times, The Christian Post, EWTN, Catholic News Agency, and more. SOURCE Open Doors USA CONTACT: OpenDoors@iconmediagroup.com Share Tweet The Department of Finance and Tax at the University of Cape Town (UCT) recently hosted a celebratory event to mark its 10-year anniversary. Source: Je'nine May. Professor Suki Goodman, the dean of the Faculty of Commerce at UCT The department came about as the result of the merger in 2012 of several other units in the Faculty of Commerce. The original sections of the department were situated, among others, in the University of Accounting, School of Economics and School of Management Studies. Speaking at the celebratory event, the head of the department, Dr Lucian Pitt, identified three themes for the anniversary: celebration, transformation and collaboration. Pitt is a UCT graduate, having studied in the Faculty of Commerce as an undergraduate student during the 1980s when the faculty was a very different place. He was appointed as the head of department in January 2022. We do not celebrate as we should. Going forward, I would like us to be a little more serious about celebrating our successes, Pitt said. Other speakers included professor Suki Goodman, the dean of the Faculty of Commerce; Tracy Johnson, the head of the tax section; associate professor David Taylor, the director of the African institute of financial markets and risk management (AIFMRM); and associate professor Chun-Sung Huang, the head of postgraduate studies. Dr Ezelda Swanepoel acted as programme director for the evening. Celebrating successes Despite its small size, the department has rapidly built international connections and has been involved in multiple funded research projects. It was involved in the research project called Sustainable Tax Governance in Developing Countries through Global Tax Transparency, which was funded by the Research Council of Norway. The department also participated in the Marie Curie international staff-exchange scheme, funded by the European Union. This led to the completion of numerous research publications. Professor Goodman took the opportunity to congratulate emeritus professor, Jennifer Roeleveld on her appointment as professor-in-residence at the International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation. She is only the 11th person to be elevated to this position since its inception. Associate professor, Ryan Kruger was also acknowledged for his Distinguished Teacher award, which he received in 2016. In addition, members of staff have published in highly regarded journals and have attained National Research Foundation ratings. Collaboration, partnerships and achievements Barely one year into the departments existence, the International Tax masters programme was launched. This later became an interdisciplinary programme in co-operation with the Faculty of Law in 2015. In 2014, the Tax Unit for Fiscal Research was launched. This unit sought to enhance research that was already in progress in various departments at UCT and is a collaboration with the Department of Commercial Law in the Faculty of Law. Later that year, the department hosted a research conference to mark 100 years of income tax in South Africa. This collaboration led to the publication of a peer-reviewed book, Income Tax in South Africa: The first 100 years 19142014. The department has also concluded a co-operation agreement with the International Bureau for Fiscal Documentation, which has resulted in substantial benefits to tax researchers and students at the university. AIFMRM was launched in 2014 and was incorporated into the department in 2020.The aim of the institute is to create opportunities for masters students to enter the financial-services industry. It has produced more than 250 masters graduates over the last six years, as well as six PhD graduates. The institute has published 68 journal articles over a period of eight years since 2014. AIFMRM has also been organising the annual Financial Mathematics Team Challenge in partnership with University College London since 2014. This has resulted in the creation of research and exchange partnerships with leading universities from around the world. Top-performing students UCTs Tax honours programme has been accredited by the South African Institute of Taxation (Sait), which is the controlling body for tax professionals. Over the last few years, many members of the department have served as examiners for the Sait board exams, and Johnson has been appointed as a moderator and educational advisor by Sait. We are very proud of the fact that our Tax honours students are always among the top-performing students in the Sait board exams, said Johnson, with a pass rate of 100% or close thereto in every year. As the only African participant in the GTTC Universities Project Competition, the UCT team of students won the competition in 2017 and 2020. The tax section will host the international Tillinghast conference in April 2023. Members of the tax section will also form part of the organising committee of the 2024 International Fiscal Association (IFA) Congress, which will be hosted in Cape Town (the first time on the African continent). Associate professor Huang said that every year the department enters groups of fourth-year finance students into the prestigious Chartered Financial Analyst Institute Research Challenge, which is an annual global competition that provides university students with hands-on mentoring and intensive training in financial analysis and professional ethics. Our teams from the department have won eight out of the 13 local competitions to represent South Africa at the Europe, Middle East and Africa region and once made it into the global final, which means that they were one of the top four teams globally. World-class graduates The department has also seen success in its supervision of postgraduate students, which has led to many research projects being published in top-ranked academic journals. Our postgraduate and undergraduate finance degrees are sought after. With constant review of our programmes, we aim to ensure that they remain relevant, said Pitt. These degrees have opened doors locally and internationally for our students. We are proud of the contributions that our graduates make to the growth of their companies and to society. Goodman added: The first decade has been about building. The department is perfectly positioned to grow from strength to strength. This article was republished from UCT News. There is a common story in the streets and among social circles whereby one person tells another or others that they are still married because their spouse refuses to sign divorce papers and 'release them' or 'let them go'. The sole purpose of this opinion is to debunk this story. Lesego Mothowamodimo, founder of Mothowamodimo Attorneys Consider the following scenario, which I will use to debunk the story that says, I am still married because my spouse refuses to sign divorce papers: Lets say a man (John) and a woman (Mary) are in a relationship. For arguments sake, lets say that, despite John being in a relationship with Mary, he is also married to a spouse called Jane. As the relationship between John and Mary progresses, John indicates to Mary that he cannot leave Jane as she refuses to sign the divorce papers. In every ending relationship, such as a marriage coming to an end, there is a person who proposes to end things. In legal terms, the person who proposes to end the marriage and institutes a divorce is the 'plaintiff', while the other party is the 'defendant'. The plaintiff is obliged to start the divorce process through a document called the summons. In simple terms and for this context, the summons is a legal document wherein the plaintiff gives formal notice of the intention to get a divorce to the defendant, further proposing the terms of the divorce in the summons. In South Africa, there are two (2) kinds of ways to end a marriage through a divorce, and this is through getting an: uncontested divorce (this means an unopposed divorce) OR a contested divorce (this means an opposed divorce). What is an uncontested/unopposed divorce? An uncontested divorce comes about when both spouses agree to get a divorce and agree to the terms of the divorce. In an uncontested divorce, the parties must agree on the division of their joint property (if any), the care, access, maintenance and contact arrangements in respect of the minors, dependent children, or any spousal maintenance obligations. Generally, in an uncontested divorce, the parties will enter into a settlement agreement to address the division of their property. They will also enter into a parenting rights and responsibilities agreement (commonly known as the parenting plan) to deal with the care, access, maintenance and contact arrangements in respect of the minor or dependent children (if applicable). All agreements reached between the parties in an uncontested divorce must be consensual and voluntary. Very rarely can the parties discuss the divorce, agree to get a divorce, and agree to the terms of their divorce before the divorce process starts. When this rare thing occurs, one of the parties will be the plaintiff in the divorce and is obliged to begin the divorce process through the summons as explained above. However, in practice, typically, there is no discussion or even agreement between parties about getting a divorce once the plaintiff has given formal notice of the intention to divorce the defendant, further proposing the divorce terms in the summons and response. After the defendant has received the summons, the parties can either agree or disagree to the divorce terms. A divorce proceeds uncontested when agreements on all terms of the divorce have been reached. If there is a partial agreement/no agreement about the terms of the divorce, then the divorce proceeds as a contested divorce, as explained below. What is a contested divorce? When the parties getting a divorce cannot agree to the terms of the divorce, the divorce is called a contested divorce. A contested divorce is more complicated, drawn-out, and costly than an uncontested divorce. In most contested divorces, both parties will have attorneys and even advocates to assist them with the legal paperwork. Even when the divorce gets contested, attorneys often arrange a roundtable meeting for settlement discussions. When the parties involved reach a settlement, the divorce course changes and the divorce that started out as contested now becomes uncontested. Should settlement not be reached after the pleadings and discovery stages of the divorce (this is where all the parties have complied with the disclosure of all documents to each other) are complete, the plaintiffs attorney will apply for a court date. If the parties cannot reach a settlement, pre-trials conferences and the final trial will follow. It is important to note that even though some divorces can start off by being contested, they can eventually get settled as uncontested (unopposed). So effectively, the door to settlement remains open for the parties to explore right until the end, and often what starts as a long and drawn-out fight in a contested divorce can end up being settled amicably if the parties can find each other and agree. Now let us revisit the story that says, I cant divorce because my spouse refuses to sign the divorce papers. John divorcing Jane is not dependent on Jane signing the divorce papers. Should John have instituted a divorce and Jane be unwilling to get divorced from John on an uncontested basis, the divorce can proceed on a contested basis. From the explanations above, it is clear that there is no legal requirement that forces any party to sign papers for a divorce to take place. You can divorce by consensual agreement through an uncontested divorce or a fight called a contested divorce. The only place where a signature would be required would be in the uncontested divorce through the settlement agreement and/or parenting rights and responsibilities agreement, if applicable. So effectively, if your spouse doesnt agree to get an uncontested divorce, you can proceed with a contested divorce. In conclusion, a divorce is not dependent on another spouse signing divorce papers; effectively, the story that I cant get a divorce because my spouse refuses to sign divorce papers is untrue. If a traveler's phone, tablet or computer ever gets searched at an airport, American border authorities could add data from their device to a massive database that can be accessed by thousands of government officials. US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) leaders have admitted to lawmakers in a briefing that its officials are adding information to a database from as many as 10,000 devices every year, The Washington Post reports. Further, 2,700 CBP officers can access the database without a warrant and without having to record the purpose of their search. These details were revealed in a letter Senator Ron Wyden wrote to CBP Commissioner Chris Magnus, where the lawmaker also said that CBP keeps any information it takes from people's devices for 15 years. In the letter, Wyden urged the commissioner to update CBP's practices so that device searches at borders are focused on suspected criminals and security threats instead of allowing "indiscriminate rifling through Americans' private records without suspicion of a crime." Wyden said CBP takes sensitive information from people's devices, including text messages, call logs, contact lists and even photos and other private information in some cases. While law enforcement agencies are typically required to secure a warrant if they want to access the contents of a phone or any other electronic device, border authorities are exempted from having to do the same. Wyden also pointed out that travelers searched at airports, seaports and border crossings aren't informed of their rights before their devices are searched. And if they refuse to unlock their electronics, authorities could confiscate and keep them for five days. Rwanda and Ugandas M23 militia have returned to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), once again slaughtering Congolese people to plunder their resources. To understand this, we have to return to March 2013, after M23 had been terrorizing DRCs North Kivu Province for a year. The UN Group of Experts on the Democratic Republic of the Congo reported that Rwanda and Uganda, but most of all Rwanda, were commanding and supplying M23. The UN Security Council then created a Combat Force Intervention Brigade within the UN peacekeeping operation to drive them out. Usually, the UN Peacekeepers task is simply to protect civilians, but the Combat Intervention Brigade had an unprecedented combat mandateto work with the Congolese army to root out M23. They succeeded, under the heroic leadership of Congolese Colonel Mamadou N'Dala Moustapha, but the international community then engineered a negotiated peace that handed the victory to Rwanda, Uganda, and their M23, and Colonel Mamadou was tragically assassinated. I asked Maurice Carney, Executive Director of Friends of the Congo about how that happened. Ann Garrison: The triumph of the Combat Intervention Brigade in driving M23 out of DRC, followed by the negotiated victory of M23, was among the most cynical operations Ive ever seen. Congolese, South African, and Tanzanian troops died fighting for the Congolese people, only to have their victory snatched away by the so-called international community, but the media moved on, excepting myself frankly. They believed what theyd been toldthat M23 had been defeated and dispensed with. What does that tell you about the international press covering DRC? Maurice Carney: Well, international press covering DRC has been fleeting, and deficient to say the least. And not just in DRC, not just the Congo, but Africa in general. And especially when covering conflicts where Africans, presented as savages who've always fought each other and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. That's the framework in which the coverage is usually presented. And attention is given to these issues when they become public, when a public official in the US gets engaged, even though the US military and the US intelligence apparatus remains engaged at all times. The press turn their attention to DRC when theres involvement by the President or Secretary of StateJohn Kerry in the case of M23 back in 2013or with the call President Obama finally made to Rwandan President Paul Kagame at the time. Then the press gets interested. However, there are structural issues that remain in place. When it comes to why we see this perpetual war of aggression on the part of Rwanda, most structural issues include three items really. One is impunity. The second is lack of accountability. And the third is lack of justice. And the United States government and its foreign policy plays a clear determinative role in maintaining these three obstacles, which contribute to perpetuating a conflict in the region. The reason why M23 could disband, as they reportedly did in 2013, but none of the major culprits or those who have backed them were brought to book, is because the United States wants it that way. There's no holding back, for example, when the US wants the government of Gambia, or any other government it doesnt like, held accountable. The US, since the International Criminal Tribunal on Rwanda, has prevented any kind of evidence or accountability being brought against Kagame in any kind of trial. So that's a major part of the reason why we see not only Kagame skirting justice, but also the entities that he backs such as the M23 or, before that, the CNDP, the same group of Rwandans and Ugandans but with a different name. Before that there was the Alliance for AFDL. It's been a rinse and repeat since 1996. But the core issues are those two agents of US Empire, President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, and President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda. They have been able to pretty much have their way in the Congo, the Great Lakes Region of Africa and East Africa, and the Horn of Africa for that matter, for the past quarter century. And the United States blocks any attempt to hold them to account or to bring them to justice. AG: This time the UN Group of Experts came to the same conclusion they came to in 2013 and 2014, in a report released on August 4thand the international press reported that story pretty accurately for a few days. Since then theyve been a bit more to the point than usual, generating headlines like, Rwanda Wants the World to Look Away from Ties to M23, but that report goes on to repeat a lot of lies about both DRC and Rwanda, and too many reports still say that Rwanda and Uganda are alleged or believed to be behind M23. The UN investigators conclusions never seem to make any difference. M23 returns, and the slaughter and plunder go on and on. Why are the UN investigators very precise conclusions ignored as well? MC: That's been the case for over two decades. The UN, since the 2010 DRC: Mapping Report on Human Rights Abuse, 1993-2003, has had a database of the perpetrators of the crimes against humanity and war crimes. And that report says that if these crimes were brought in front of a competent court, they might constitute crimes of genocide. So the UN has all of that. That hasn't changed in terms of the veracity. There is an abundance of evidence. But when you have an empire that's behind you, that can run interference, it doesn't matter how much evidence there is; it doesn't matter if that evidence accumulates over decades. If the US does not want Paul Kagame brought to account, he wont be. I remember the publication of the UN Mapping Report in 2010. Even the French were complaining that then US Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice was blocking any action on that report and basically covering for Paul Kagame. So when youre on the side of the empire, and this is a thing that folks really need to understand, you get covered, you get political cover, you get diplomatic cover, and you get a free hand to commit mass international crimes with impunity. And that's the benefit that Kagame and Museveni have as agents of the empire. AG: And where is Congolese President Tshisekedi in this picture now? He claims to be accusing Rwanda and trying to fight Rwanda and demanding that the rest of the world condemn Rwanda. MC: Yes, he does, and that's his pedigree coming out of the opposition. He had been saying that before he got into the presidency. But when he first got in, he was lovey-dovey with the Rwandan government, going to Kigali to visit the genocide memorial, holding hands with Kagame and smiling. But, you know, he has to also respond to domestic pressure. And when your own population is making it clear that they're victims of an aggressor nation, you have to respond to that. So I see his statements now as responding to that domestic pressure. But even in the policies that hes trying to present to the Congolese peoplethat being a part of the East African Community is somehow a path to bring about peace and stability in the Congoits so preposterous; anyone could have told him that that's not going to deliver whatever it is that he thought he was looking for. That East African Community Plan is pretty much in alignment with the plan of Nicolas Sarkozy, the former French leader, and Herman Cohen, the former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, who are now lobbyists. Their proposal is that Congo be part of the East African Community, economically integrated with Rwanda, Uganda and others in the East. But when you have the East African Community that's made up of two of the aggressive nations against the Congolese people, how can you expect some kind of solution to come from that direction? It's not plausible at all. It's not viable. So thats just a head scratcher for me. But in any case, I see him responding to domestic pressure, of course, from the Congolese people. And in particular to Dr. Denis Mukwege, the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, who has been very vocal, very clear about the Mapping Report and how its prescriptions need to be implemented. And the prescriptions call for holding Rwanda and Uganda, but Rwanda in particular, accountable for the crimes that they've committed in the Congo. AG: Is there a solution? I know it would be a long process to get from the miserable condition DRC is in now to a solution, but what direction do you think the Congolese people need to go in? MC: The Congolese people need to organize themselves in a way that they control and determine their own affairs, where they are able to choose their own leaders, where the United States and other Western powers are not the difference makers. What we've seen throughout the independence of the Congo, from 1960 to the present, is that, ultimately, it's the so-called great powers, the former colonial powers, that ultimately determine who leads the Congo. So Congolese people have to organize themselves to the point where they alone determine the fate of the Congo. They did that successfully in 1960. It didn't last long, the months when the Congolese national movement elected Patrice Lumumba and he served as Prime Minister. He was quickly dispensed with, and so was the apparatus that put him in place. Since that time, the Congolese really haven't regained any kind of control over their electoral affairs or over the country, the affairs of the country itself. So that's really the big challenge, to organize themselves in a way where they can control and determine their own affairs and where they can put in place leaders who truly represent their interests. AG: The solution is of course in the hands of the Congolese people, but is there anything we in the West can do to help? MC: Absolutely, like what you're doing, and telling the truth, shining light on what underlies the instability, the conflict, the plunder that we see in the Congo. That's vital for we who are in the empire and have access to resources to put the truth out there. Not just put the truth out there so its in the air, but so that we can organize, educate and mobilize US citizens to put pressure on the US government for its foreign policy, not only around the Congo, in the Great Lakes Region and in Africa, but its foreign policy overall. This is a policy that seeks full spectrum dominance, a war-first policy, where it sponsors and supports the most despicable leaders that you can find on the planet, Museveni and Kagame among them. So this is a part of the weaving of a cloth where United States foreign policy is anti-democratic in support of authoritarian figures militarized in support of the plunder of natural resources of other nations. This story of the Congo fits into that narrative. US citizens need to know that US foreign policy is not only destructive in Latin America, Europe and Asia, but also in the heart of the African continent. Maurice Carney is the Executive Director of Friends of the Congo. Ann Garrison is a Black Agenda Report Contributing Editor based in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2014, she received the Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza Democracy and Peace Prize for her reporting on conflict in the African Great Lakes region. She can be reached at ann(at)anngarrison.com. Cade Thompson- Lost Without You | Merge PR 16 September 2022 - Nashville, TN - The latest song from Red Street Records artist Cade Thompson drops today. Titled "Lost Without You," the new release is now available on all DSPs following his previous single, "Arms Of Jesus." Click HERE to listen. Thompson co-wrote "Lost Without You" with Jess Cates, Matt Armstrong, and Micah Kuiper, who also produced the song. A music video is also slated to release next Friday. This is a very personal song," Thompson shares. "I was raised in the church, though I quickly found out that the struggles of growing up are universal. Through touring with music, I was given the opportunities to speak into my peers lives at a young age, giving me a window into such a variety of struggles, not the mention my own! As I get older, I reflect often on how lost I would be without Jesus kindness, goodness, and provision over the years. Cade Thompson has a continued desire to create music that reaches people of all ages and strives to bridge the gap for people to bring their struggles to Jesus, that it is in His arms alone that peace can be found. Following his 2021 album Bigger Story, he will continue to release more new music leading up to a new album slated for 2023. He will also be wrapping up his Bigger Story tour this weekend before embarking on a fall run with Building 429. Be sure to find out the latest dates HERE. Red Street Records artist Cade Thompson is an energetic and soulful contemporary Christian music artist with a sound that appeals to believers and mainstream pop audiences alike. His effortless style promotes his personal musical influences, which draw heavily from the church. Cade has an admirable ability to transform his thoughts and faith into a powerful collection of melodies and lyrics that inspire people of all ages to step into all that God has for them. Thompson has had an affinity with music since his toddler days when even a preschool teacher noticed him frequently harmonizing early on, and eventually progressed through piano, guitar, and drum lessons. After joining the youth worship team in 6th grade, a music mentor came into his life who emphasized the importance of seeking God through the Bible outside of a worship setting. This understanding placed Thompson on a deeper course of encountering the love of the Father and seeking His presence more intently. In these early teen years, he knew God was calling him into music ministry and giving him opportunities to grow in that calling. God has continued to reveal Thompsons heart, the outpouring has resulted in a strong connection to his generation sonically and lyrically. Shortly after finishing high school, he moved to Nashville, Tennessee. Following his move, he signed a record deal with Red Street Records, an independent Christian label founded by Rascal Flatts member, Jay DeMarcus. In February of 2020, Thompson made waves across the Christian music community with the release of his debut single, Provider. In August of 2020, he earned his first Top 20 Billboard charting single, with the release of his second radio single, Every Step of the Way. He has shared the stage with artists such as Michael W. Smith, TobyMac, Newsboys, Crowder, We The Kingdom, among many others, and has also seen huge success online, where his music has earned over thirty-five million streams to date. Thompson hit the ground running in 2021 with a lineup of shows across the nation opening for some of CCMs biggest names. Thompsons debut album, Bigger Story, was released in September 2021. On June 17, 2022, he releases his first single "Arms of Jesus" which is followed by "Lost Without You," both of which will be featured off his next project expected in 2023.For more information, visit CadeThompsonMusic.com and his social links below. Long COVID-19 a problem for U.S. workforce 14:45, September 18, 2022 By Matthew Rusling ( Xinhua WASHINGTON, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Charles Gill, 41, a teacher in Pennsylvania, had COVID-19 a few months back. While many of his friends only had symptoms for a few days, his have lingered a few months. "I recovered but I'm still tired a lot," he told Xinhua, adding that he hopes the situation will resolve. Indeed, long COVID-19, with symptoms lasting three or more months, is an issue faced by millions of Americans, and it's creating problems for both businesses and employees. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, around 16 million working-age Americans have long COVID-19. Of those, 2-4 million are out of work due to long COVID-19, noted Katie Bach, a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. Lost wages amount to around 170 billion U.S. dollars a year, and "these impacts stand to worsen over time if the United States does not take the necessary policy actions," Bach wrote in an analysis. A study by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis found that 24 percent of people who have contracted COVID-19 experienced symptoms for three months or more. Ashish Jha, the White House COVID-19 response coordinator, said in a recent briefing that according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, around 70 percent of Americans have contracted COVID-19. If 24 percent of those have long COVID-19, that means 34 million working age Americans have had long COVID-19 at some point, Bach argued. The Fed study found that 50 percent of respondents had recovered from long COVID-19, which Bach said means 17 million people may currently have long COVID-19. What does that mean for the workforce? The Fed study also found that nearly 26 percent of those with long COVID-19 have had an impact on their work -- either rendering them unemployed or reducing their hours. Britain's Trades Union Congress, meanwhile, found that 20 percent of people with long COVID-19 were not working, and an additional 16 percent were working reduced hours, Bach noted. A study from the medical journal The Lancet also found that 22 percent of people with long COVID-19 were not able to work, and 45 percent had to cut their working hours. Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Darrell West told Xinhua that long COVID-19 will have an impact on the labor force "because it will push some people into long-term care issues and keep them out of the workforce." "Employers will have to figure out how to handle those cases and ways to pay for their long-term medical needs. The pandemic isn't over, but will continue to resonate for months to come," West said. David Cutler, an economics professor at Harvard University, recently estimated that the total cost of long COVID-19 is 3.7 trillion dollars. Nearly 60 percent of the cost, or 2.2 trillion dollars are lost quality of life; the remainder is reduced earnings (one trillion dollars) and greater medical spending (528 billion dollars). The post-pandemic labor force participation rate, the rate at which people are in the workforce, remains low, and long COVID-19 may be a contributing factor, Barry Bosworth, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, told Xinhua. The August employment report showed that the labor force participation rate increased 0.3 percentage point over the month to 62.4 percent, still 1.0 percentage point below its pre-pandemic level. Bach argued what is needed is more accessible prevention and treatment options, among other things. But even with more options, individuals will continue to get infected, and some will acquire long COVID-19. She also listed several other critical government interventions that can reduce the economic burden of long COVID-19: expanded paid sick leave, improved workplace accommodations, wider access to disability insurance, and enhanced data collection on long COVID-19's economic effects. Recently, the White House released its National Research Action Plan on Long COVID-19, while Congress appropriated 1.15 billion U.S. dollars for funding to the National Institutes of Health, for the organization to study long COVID-19. The plan builds on ongoing research supported or conducted by the U.S. government and aims to accelerate and expand it, in addition to calling for enhanced action by the private sector, according to covid. gov, a U.S. government website. (Web editor: Peng Yukai, Bianji) Origin Energys decision to sell its interest in the contentious Beetaloo Basin project and exit other gas permits is not only a nod to the transition to cleaner renewable energy, but also a recognition of the commercial risks associated with long-term capital investments in developing new supplies of gas. This announcement feels more symbolic given it represents no meaningful or bold move towards transition away from fossil fuels in the short to medium term. Its incremental progress on the green spectrum even though Origin boss Frank Calabria said the money diverted from the gas projects will be go towards growing cleaner energy. It is also a savvy and pragmatic commercial decision by Origins board, which is attempting to ratchet up its decarbonisation bona fides, while it sacrifices very little, and reduces risk by redirecting capital. Origin investors should be pleased by the move. Origin Energy CEO Frank Calabria Credit:Louie Douvis Origin holds a 27.5 per cent interest in and is the operator of the $27.4 billion Australia Pacific LNG - an investment that gave the company a record cash distribution of $1.6 billion in 2022, thanks to the booming oil and spot LNG prices. This project has a lifespan of at least 30 years and Origin is a committed investor. Channel 7 executives are chuffed with themselves after the networks coverage of Saturday nights barn-burner AFL preliminary final between Sydney and Collingwood smoked the opposition pulling in nearly 1.1 million metro viewers. The Swans win over Collingwood attracted a bumper audience for Channel 7. Credit:Getty Images Seven will be feeling good too for Saturdays grand final as will Rupert Murdochs Foxtel which attracted more than 450,000 of its paying punters for its coverage of the Swans and the Pies with finals fever going some way toward calming any jitters over the behemoth $4.5 billion that Foxtel and Seven have agreed to pay for seven years of footy broadcast rights. And while the Geelong and Sydney team sheets for the big game are far from finalised, CBDs informants tell us that Sevens commentary team for Saturday is settled, with basically the networks Friday night callers all getting a guernsey. So thats Brian BT Taylor and James Brayshaw for the main call, Daisy Pearce shrugging off attempts to cancel her for her refreshing straight talk on royal memorialising at the footy will be on special comments with Luke Hodge, while Richmond legend Matthew Richardson will be riding the boundary. Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size Salvatore Ferragamo made his first two pairs of shoes when he was nine. Two of his sisters didnt have proper shoes to wear to their first communions; he saved the day. At 10, he battled his humble familys objections to go and work for the local shoemaker, a job considered too lowly even for them. A year later he went to work in a Naples fashion store to learn the business. By the age of 13, he was running a company making handmade shoes, employing workers many years older than he was. A few years later, he was swept up in a new industry of which he became an integral part: Hollywood. Ferragamo told his own remarkable story in his 1957 autobiography Shoemaker of Dreams, published just three years before he died. Luca Guadagnino, whose films include A Bigger Splash, Call Me By Your Name and this years succes de scandale, Bones and All a film about cannibals that just won him the prize as Best Director at the Venice Film Festival was gripped when he read it. It struck me very much - its incredible, vibrant, feverish, maverick outsider point of view on creation and the entrepreneurial aspect of his life. Luca Guadagnino with the Silver Lion for Best Director at the Venice International Film Festival. Credit:Getty Images Guadagnino is a designer himself, alongside his celebrated career as a filmmaker. Studio Luca Guadagnino creates interiors for retail, hospitality and private spaces, including one-off pieces of furniture. It is not a mystery that I am someone who has a very strong connection with the fashion world, he says. He already knew the Ferragamo family, which still controls and runs the company now an expanded luxury goods firm with shops around the world after having directed some of their advertisements. So I asked them if I could sneak into their archives. And once I discovered this trove of treasure that was so wonderful, I told them I was very game for bringing the book to life. Salvatore Ferragamo at work. Credit:Alinari. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams took three years to assemble. Guadagnino burrowed into the archives of other museums to research Italian emigration in the early 20th century, the history of fashion and the history of Hollywood. His list of interviewees is exhaustive and illuminating. Martin Scorsese talks about early Hollywood and the opportunity it offered for reinvention of the self. He not only reinvented himself, says Guadagnino, but also participated in creating an industry. Advertisement Manolo Blahnik and Christian Louboutin talk about the shoes themselves. We hear from Ferragamos middle-aged great-grandchildren and from fashion editors who assess his influence. Costume designer and academic Deborah Nadoolman Landis takes a close look at Ferragamos understanding of costume as a tool in character creation. In between, Guadagnino gives us Ferragamos illustrated life story, from its hardscrabble beginnings to its triumphant, if premature, end, with a narration by fashion historian Dana Thomas. There are even fragments of the masters voice, mostly taken from interviews he gave to Australian radio when he visited in 1958. It comes as a surprise to see the director known for lush excess in films such as I Am Love and Call Me By Your Name, and whose new film features Timothee Chalamet eating dead bodies, venturing into documentary and playing it so very straight. Not at all, says Guadagnino; he always holds that less is more. We shouldnt confound the excesses of what the characters do in Bones and All with the excesses of the filmmaker. I feel Bones and All is really quite restrained; I like the idea of always being restrained in what I do. A word I like very much these days is modesty. Loading But there is no doubt in Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams where Guadagninos heart lies: with a world where modesty rarely raises its head. The most vibrant section of the film, following the details of the genius artisans extraordinary childhood, is the account of the 13 years Ferragamo spent in America as Hollywoods cobbler. The film industry was in the process of inventing itself in 1915 when Ferragamo, having thrilled to the vastness of the country he crossed to get there, settled in its first home base, Santa Barbara. The move to Hollywood came a few years later. There were no stars in the early days; actors were virtually interchangeable. Films were short, with an emphasis on action. Ferragamo started out by making a lot of cowboy boots; later he could let his formidable imagination rip coming up with fanciful slippers for The Thief of Baghdad and elaborate sandals for The Ten Commandments. He was there for the silent era; he saw then the rising of the stars, which I feel he also contributed to with his idea of the image of the star being so polished and so perfect, and then he was there when the new stars came, says Guadagnino. Some of Ferragamos shoe shapes for his VIP clients. Credit: Alinari. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics Personal clients included Mary Pickford, Gloria Swanson and Rudolph Valentino. Meanwhile, he went to university night classes to study anatomy. He was fascinated by feet. There are no bad feet, he was to say later. There were only bad shoes. Back in Italy, he would make shoes for Audrey Hepburn, Sophia Loren and Marilyn Monroe. The film shows a Monroe shoe being made: the leather cut and glued to the frame balanced as exactly as a bridge, the vertiginous heel he devised for her made of wood and steel, the red sparkles added, the finished product a fantasy itself. Advertisement The states most senior public servant has terminated the employment of department boss Amy Brown in response to the bruising trade job saga in which she appointed John Barilaro to a plum post in New York. In a statement on Monday, Michael Coutts-Trotter said he made the decision following a review that examined Browns conduct, and stressed the level of accountability that must come with senior leadership in the public service. Former Investment NSW chief Amy Brown has announced her departure from the state government. Credit:Kate Geraghty Its a privilege to hold a role as a senior leader in the NSW public service. With this, rightly, comes a high degree of accountability, said Coutts-Trotter, the secretary of the Department of Premier and Cabinet for Premier Dominic Perrottet. Coutts-Trotters statement came after a social media post by Brown early on Monday morning, in which she said she was working her final day. An inquest is examining whether a cloth baby sling contributed to the unexpected and shocking death of a NSW infant discovered unresponsive when his mother unwrapped him during a medical appointment. Three-week-old Harvey McGlinn had been taken by his mother Tattika Dunn to an appointment at Long Jetty community health centre on the Central Coast on April 8, 2019. It was a regular check-up as he was born slightly early and underweight. Harvey McGlinn, pictured with his mother in 2019, died suddenly. Credit:GoFundMe Dunn had arranged for a friend to look after her young twins before she loaded Harvey into a Boba Wrap baby sling, a long piece of fabric which is tied around the parents body before the baby is placed inside. On the short walk to the clinic, she stopped at a bakery, where Harvey was heard making noises and kicking. By the time they arrived at the clinic, Harvey had slipped down in the sling and was in a low position on his mothers stomach, lying horizontally. When a nurse met the pair in the waiting room at about 9.05am, she assumed the baby was sleeping. The former principal of Castle Hill High School has been placed on a not to be employed list by the Education Department and the deputy principal was demoted after a positive asbestos sample found at the school went undisclosed for six years, a parliamentary inquiry has heard. A current teacher at the school gave evidence to the inquiry on Monday that he believed the now-retired principal Vicki Brewer may have failed to act out of a desire to avoid disruption at the school and maintain strong HSC results. Castle Hill High School teachers John Connell and Shane Stubbs spoke out about the asbestos saga at a parliamentary inquiry on Monday. Credit: Dominic Lorrimer Parents say they have been left in the dark through the years-long saga and are still concerned for their childrens safety after potentially being exposed to asbestos fibres, a substance which can cause asbestosis and certain cancers. The Education Department acknowledged at the hearing that proper process was not followed by senior school staff, and that the government was not aware of the positive result until April this year, but said there is no evidence of a deliberate cover-up. Queensland police will stop using controversial spit hoods after human rights concerns and an internal review, sparking reiterated calls for the government to ban them outright. The decision, made on Friday but announced late on Monday, comes after estimates revelations last month that the hoods had been used on 20 young people in police watchhouses between 2015 and the end of last year. This image of Dylan Voller in a spit hood and mechanical restraint chair at the Don Dale Youth Detention Centre triggered a royal commission. Credit:ABC We recognise there are community concerns around the application of safety hoods in police watchhouses and we undertook an extensive review of the issue before formally discontinuing their use, Queensland Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll said in a statement released just before 5pm. While safety hoods served a purpose to protect staff, they were very rarely used in our watchhouses. A desperate search for a missing light plane that disappeared during a flight over Victorias north-east at the weekend has ended in tragedy after authorities located the body of the pilot in dense bushland. Air wing officers found the plane wreckage west of Lucyvale shortly after 10am on Monday, police said. The body of the pilot, 42, was also found. Police believe he was the only person in the plane, travelling to New South Wales. Police located the wreckage on Monday morning. Credit:Luis Enrique Ascui Police have been in contact with the male pilots family after it has been confirmed a body has been found at the site, a spokeswoman said. The terrain is vastly inaccessible by ground units, so police are working with the police search and rescue squad and helicopter emergency medical services to access the site. Aboriginal Victorians have accused Premier Daniel Andrews of attempting to erase Indigenous culture over an election promise to rename a hospital in Melbournes east in honour of the late Queen. The states peak body for Aboriginal health, the Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (VACCHO), said the move was deeply insulting and brought into question the governments commitment to First Nations people. Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation chief executive Jill Gallagher said the proposed name change was deeply hurtful. Credit:Joe Armao Greens senator Lidia Thorpe, a DjabWurrung Gunnai Gunditjmara woman, also slammed the plans, writing on Twitter: This is not what Treaty looks like, Dan ... What an insult to now colonise us, again. Andrews pledged $1 billion to rebuild and rename Maroondah Hospital in Ringwood East on Sunday, a day after the opposition promised $400 million towards improving the facility. The European Union is ready to sign up to a free trade deal with Australia as soon as February now the federal governments climate laws meet the blocs exacting environmental standards. One of the unions top trade negotiators says that now progress has been made on environmental policy a stumbling block in previous talks there is room to negotiate on key concerns such as naming rights for cheeses and wines. Bernd Lange, chair of the EU parliament committee on international trade, says Europe wants a deal by early next year. Credit:AAP The EU is shopping for stable trading partners in critical minerals such as lithium as the war in Ukraine continues and subsequent sanctions on Russia take effect, while Australia wants to secure broader access for beef and dairy exports. Bernd Lange, the German chair of the European parliaments committee on international trade, said the EU was keen to seal the deal before the parliaments term ended. Bakhmut, Ukraine: In battlefields in the rolling hills of the Donbas in eastern Ukraine, and near the Black Sea in the south, Ukrainian troops have stubbornly tried to inch forward without losing control of territory, facing an opponent whose forces have been bolstered by inmates-turned-fighters and by Iranian drones. Perhaps it seems to someone now that after a series of victories we have a certain lull, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address on Sunday local time. But this is not a lull. This is preparation for the next sequence. Maria Tiutiunnykova, 81, cleans up glass after a rocket blew out windows in her building in Bakhmut. Credit:Photo for The Washington Post by Heidi Levine At the weekend, Ukraines army built up the pressure in the countrys south, with forces striking Russian military strongholds and targeting sites used by local officials loyal to the Kremlin. They are also continuing to hit the supply lines for thousands of Russian soldiers on the western bank of the Dnieper River. Ukraines strikes in the important Russian-held city of Kherson seemed to rattle security, with firefights and broad disorder reported. But farther north and to the east, in the city of Bakhmut in the Donbas region, advancing Russian forces made their presence known as the sound of artillery rang out on Sunday, highlighting an important location where Ukrainian control may become tenuous as Russian forces press from the east and southeast in an attempt to cut off the countrys supplies. First, the Ukrainians are competent. This is a gross understatement. No military this century has had to fight across all the domains of war concurrently, and do so against a larger and better-armed adversary. The Ukrainians clearly spent years preparing. The most important preparation was not physical but intellectual. They re-trained their troops away from Soviet centralised command methods to adopt more decentralised command and control. This has been a clear difference between the two belligerents and has given the less well-armed Ukrainians a significant battlefield advantage. During this offensive, I had the opportunity to visit Ukraine and to speak with high-level military and government officials. I even had the privilege of meeting with President Zelensky. In person, he is an even larger presence than his social media suggests. Hes slight of stature but enormously engaging, funny and charismatic; one only has to be in his presence for a short time to see why his leadership has been central to Ukraines efforts in this war. The past two weeks have answered a central question of the Russo-Ukraine War; can the Ukrainians undertake the offensives required to liberate their people and reoccupy their territory? They have answered this question emphatically with their very successful and ongoing Kharkiv offensive . Beyond this, the Ukrainians have adopted what I have described elsewhere as a strategy of corrosion. They have attacked the Russians at their weak points constantly, destroyed their logistics, and slowly killed as many Russian battlefield leaders as possible. At the strategic level, their global influence campaign has set a new benchmark for effectiveness. Zelensky was emphatic in our talks about ensuring that he and the Ukrainian government talk the truth in getting its message across to other nations. This Ukrainian competence has resulted in a military institution that is now without peer in the art and science of 21st-century warfare. Loading Second, the Ukrainians are proud of their national effort military, civil, diplomatic and informational to defend their nation against the depredations of the murderous, yet bungling, Russian Army. It is not a pride that features flag waving and empty patriotic gestures. Indeed, in travelling around Kyiv, one might miss that there was a vicious war being fought. It is a quiet, humble pride that one finds in the alert posture of every soldier, and confident step of the officials and soldiers with whom I met. The Ukrainians are deeply proud of their battlefield achievements. The Russian Army has not been humiliated and destroyed like this since the Second World War. But Ukrainian pride extends to how their nation appears to have found a level of unity that is more overt than before the war. Finally, the Ukrainians are confident. They know they can win this war. Zelensky stated that we dont believe there is compromise when it comes to Russia. There are only conditions, especially the departure of Russia from Ukraine. Partially, this is a result of their achievements in the Battles of Kyiv, Kharkiv and elsewhere. The Ukrainians have seized the strategic initiative in this war, and are seizing back huge swathes of their territory from the Russians. But there is another more vital source of their confidence: the Ukrainians know exactly what they are fighting for. They fight for their people and their country. And they believe strongly that they are fighting for the larger idea that democracies matter, regardless of their form or geography. It is this profound sense of purpose that underpins Ukrainian confidence and steels the hearts of everyone from the most junior soldier to the president. Tehran, Iran: Iranian police fired tear gas to disperse a protest in the western, mainly Kurdish city of Sanandaj, where hundreds rallied to decry the death of a young woman while in police custody in Tehran last week, reports said. The case of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was detained last Tuesday after Irans so-called morality police found fault with her headscarf, or hijab, has set off a public outcry in the country, mainly on social media. Police said she died of a heart attack and have denied any allegations of torture or abuse. Iranian woman Mahsa Amini died on Friday in detention in Iran. Credit:Twitter On Monday Iranian police called the death of Amini an unfortunate incident that they do not want to see repeated, the semi-official Fars news agency reported. He said Amini suffered no mistreatment, denying claims aired on social media against the morality police, who enforce strict rules requiring women to cover their hair and wear loose fitting clothes. Limited has commissioned a 325-megawatt wind energy plant in Dhar district of . With the commissioning of this plant, its operational generation capacity has increased to 6.1 gigawatt (GW), Limited (AGEL) said in a statement on Monday. "Adani Wind Energy MP One Private Ltd (AWEMP1PL), a subsidiary of AGEL, has commissioned a 324.4 MW wind power plant in Dhar, Madhya Pradesh," it said. The plant has two 25-year Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) with (SECI), one for 274.4 MW energy and another for 50 MW power, at a tariff of Rs 2.83 per kwh (kilowatt hour). The newly commissioned plant will be managed by the Adani Group's 'Energy Network Operation Centre' platform, which provides technological assistance. In the statement, the company did not disclose any financial details of the project. According to industry estimates, to set up every 1 MW of solar capacity, an investment of over Rs 4.5 crore is required. AGEL has a total of 20.4 GW of renewable energy portfolio which includes the operational ones, under-construction, awarded and assets under acquisition catering to investment-grade counterparties. (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.) Increase in efficiency and reduction in logistics with the newly-launched National Logistics Policy will benefit by making products available at lower cost, e-commerce company said on Monday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday unveiled the National Logistics Policy that seeks to address challenges facing the transport sector and bring down the logistics cost of businesses from 13-14 per cent to a single digit. At a grand launch event, he had said the policy aims to expedite the last-mile delivery, helping businesses save time and money. "The National Logistics Policy is a welcome move and this along with PM Gati Shakti plan will help build a more resilient logistics ecosystem in the country. Along with improving efficiency across the value chain, it will also result in a considerable reduction in logistics costs from their present level, thereby benefiting the end customer with lower costs," Group Chief Corporate Affairs Officer Rajneesh Kumar said in a statement. He said that the policy will also strengthen the demand for modern warehousing in the country, fast tracking India's journey to become a global logistics hub with enhanced economic activity post-pandemic and achieve global benchmarks by 2030 by removing hurdles within the logistics sector and organising it. "E-commerce have passionately gone about using technology to strengthen the logistics sector and also launching warehouses and sortation centres through the length and breadth of the country, getting a fair price to landowners while boosting demand for ancillary services like packaging, security and canteen as well as truckers," Kumar said. Kushal Nahata, CEO and co-founder of e-commerce-focussed Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) provider FarEye said that to make India as competitive as China, the US, and Europe, the government must bring down the logistics costs, which currently hovers around 13-14 per cent to nearly 8 per cent in the next 5 years. "The Unified Logistics Interface Platform (ULIP) not only promises to bring all the stakeholders on one platform but will also harness the power of data analytics to facilitate the seamless movement of cargo within the country. ULIP will bring in more visibility and transparency to the logistics sector and help become more cost-efficient," Nahata said. Om Logistics Chairman and Managing Director Ajay Singhal said that the mindset of youth will change towards logistics sector which was considered as an unorganised sector. "The coming together of seven trade ministries will directly benefit key sectors like manufacturing, transportation, warehousing, shipping and exports. With LEADS (Logistics Ease Across Different States) and Ease of Logistics (E-Logs), the movement of goods will be faster and all industries will get commercial benefits. Now, all logistics associations having E-Logs will now share their business issues with concerned ministries directly," Singhal 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.) According to locals in Vizhinjam, 16 km south-west of Keralas capital city Thiruvananthapuram, the concept of a trans-shipment port in the area was floated way back in the 1990s. Since then, it took more than 15 years for work on the project to begin in 2015. Now, almost seven years later, construction work at the Adani Groups Rs 7,500-crore project is stalled due to protests from the fisher community led by the powerful Latin Catholic Archdiocese of Thiruvananthapuram. Five police personnel sustained injuries after they were attacked by suspected liquor smugglers in the Mandrapali village of Bihar's Siwan district on Sunday, officials said. As per official reports, the police had arrived to arrest Satyendra Yadav alias Chotan Yadav, an infamous history-sheeter when they came under attack. The officials also informed that Yadav's family initiated the attack as soon as officials reached the spot. The police personnel were pelted with bricks and stones. The women of the family were also involved in the heinous attack, the officials said. "Yadav and his family members attacked the police with sticks, bricks and stones. Five policemen were injured in the incident. The police vehicle (jeep) was also damaged in the attack. We had reached to arrest Satyendra Yadav, who is involved in three cases," said SHO Dadan Singh. As per reports, it's not the first attack on the police, the area is infamously known for its liquor mafia. is a dry state which has banned liquor. SHO Dadan Singh, constable Sanjeev Kumar, Havildar Sunil Kumar, and driver Krishna Paswan are among those injured and are undergoing treatment in a local hospital. Earlier on September 7, some miscreants opened fire on a police patrolling team in Siwan which resulted in the death of a constable and left one villager injured. Constable Balmiki Yadav was taken to a nearby hospital where he was declared dead. Rajesh Kumar, Sub Inspector, Siwan told ANI that the incident took place when a police party was returning after conducting a raid. Three to four people were sitting at a turn on a road and they opened fire when the policemen enquired about their wherabouts. Sub Inspector Kumar told ANI. In the shootout, a villager was also shot, and has been admitted to the Siwan Sadar Hospital and is undergoing treatment. Patrolling team of Siswan police station was coming back from patrolling when they were allegedly shot by four unidentified persons. The identity of the fourth accused is still being investigated. (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 suspected operative, who was arrested from in July, used channels to provoke gullible youths to wage jihad in Kashmir, the Investigation Agency said, after it took over the probe from police, reported The Economic Times on Monday. Akhtar Hussain Lashkar, who hails from Assam, and Abdul Alim Mondal, a resident of West Bengal who was arrested from Tamil Nadu's Salem in July, are the kingpin of the module, the NIA said, reported ET. Lashkar and Mondal were reportedly involved in activities relating to radicalisation of youth through social media, NIA investigations revealed. "In their groups, the duo was trying to incite communal violence by projecting that Indian forces were committing atrocities against Muslims in Kashmir. They allegedly provoked youths to indulge in treason against India," a senior official told ET. According to NIA, Lashkar, who worked as a food delivery agent, was affiliated with foreign militant groups and his handlers were operating from Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia. The group planned to send radicalised youths from Jammu and Kashmir to Afghanistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Lashkar also had plans to travel to Kashmir, reported ET. "Lashkar is involved in provoking youths to wage war against India by projecting that Indian forces are committing atrocities on Muslims in Kashmir," reported ET, quoting the FIR. Mondal, the second suspect who was arrested from Bengal, kept his online identity as Md Juba. The NIA said it has seized a laptop that contained propaganda material, sim cards, mobile phone, and bank account details from Juba's possession, reported ET. "He was in contact with terror outfits and was trying to recruit more youth from Tamil Nadu," another official told ET. The NTA has invoked the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act UAPA against the two accused, based on the order from the Ministry of Home Affairs. KP, a 18-year old boy, gets bitten in the remote village of Gumte in Arunachal Pradesh in the evening while returning home through the jungle. He complains of severe pain on the bitten hand which starts swelling in no time. His mother rushes him to the nearby primary health centre, where there are no health staff available. His mother takes him to a traditional healer nearby who incises the wound with a used blade in spite of the excruciating pain the boy is in and then applies a stone, which the healer believes sucks the venom out of the body. The boy slowly starts becoming unresponsive showing signs of respiratory distress and is then hurried to the community health centre at Pakke Kessang at a distance of 30 km, but reaches there unresponsive and is declared dead on arrival. Snakebite envenoming (SBE) was added to the list of Neglected Tropical Diseases in 2017 by the World Health Organisation (WHO), which also estimates that there are 4.5-5.4 million snakebites worldwide resulting in 1.8-2.7 million envenoming, 81,000-138,000 deaths, and permanent disabilities in 400,000 annually. International World Snakebite Awareness Day is observed on September 19 every year. India has the dubious distinction of accounting for half the number of bites, approximately two million and 58,000 deaths annually. Over 70 per cent of SBE occurs in males, typically in the productive ages of between 20 and 60 years and therefore having a tremendous socio-economic impact especially in case of death of the sole earning member of the family. Doctors say the reasons for the neglect are many, including general lack of awareness with regards to snakebite among healthcare workers, community, etc.; the available polyvalent anti- venom not having the neutralising effect against species of the northeast of India; victims in remote villages depending on traditional healers for treatment; and absence of a national protocol for treatment. All these factors alongside the general apathy shown towards SBE by health policy makers, pharmaceutical industry, funding agencies and the health system in general, in spite of the considerable social ramifications is contributory. The issues highlighted are more pronounced in the northeast as snake species here differ considerably from the rest of India and the effect of anti-snake venom against the common envenoming species like naja kaouthia (monocellate cobra) and pit viper species is doubtful. In order to be able to prevent death and complications awareness need be created in the community about snakebite, how it could be prevented, the first-aid measures and the value of anti-snake venom as the only available treatment for envenoming. The awareness campaign need percolate down into the community through schoolchildren, ASHA workers, etc. Doctors need be trained on the immediate first-aid measures, signs and symptoms of envenoming, dosage of anti-snake venom and the pre-medications and complications. In order to address this neglect and inequity, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) constituted a national task force for the study of incidence, morbidity, mortality and the socio-economic burden of snakebite in India. The task force comprises Jaideep C. Menon, a cardiologist with the Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences in Kochi, Omesh K. Bharti, State Epidemiological Officer with Himachal Pradesh government and Santanu K. Sharma, Scientist G with Regional Medical Research Centre at Dibrugarh. They are currently conducting a field trip for situational analysis in the four northeastern states of Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura. --IANS vg/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.) The (ED) on Monday summoned senior Aam Adami Party (AAP) leader and Rajinder Nagar MLA Durgesh Pathak in the Delhi excise policy case. Taking to Twitter, Deputy CM said, "What does our MCD incharge has to do with Delhi govt's liquor policy? Is their target liquor policy or MCD elections?" Notably, Pathak is the party's in-charge of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) polls. Notably, the central agencies are probing the Delhi excise policy case on the recommendation of Governor VK Saxena, following which the CBI raided Manish Sisodia's house earlier in August. Saxena had claimed that Sisodia also extended financial favours to the liquor licensees much after the tenders had been awarded and thus caused huge losses to the exchequer. Sisodia was among 15 others booked in an FIR filed by the CBI. Excise officials, liquor company executives, dealers, some unknown public servants and private persons have been booked in the case. It was alleged that irregularities were committed including modifications in the excise policy and undue favours were extended to the license holders including waiver or reduction in licence fee, an extension of L-1 license without approval etc. The excise policy was passed in Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi Cabinet in the middle of the deadly Covid-19 pandemic in 2021. However, the Delhi government's version is that the policy was formulated to ensure the generation of optimum revenue, and eradicate the sale of spurious liquor or non-duty paid liquor in Delhi, besides improving user experience. A report on July 8 by Delhi's Chief Secretary established prima facie violations of GNCTD Act 1991, Transaction of Business Rules (ToBR) 1993, Delhi Excise Act 2009 and Delhi Excise Rules 2010. The Chief Secretary's report indicated substantively financial quid pro quo at the top political level and that the Delhi excise policy was implemented with the sole aim of benefitting private liquor barons for financial benefits to individuals at the highest rungs of the government leading up to . In the latest development in the case, ED on Friday conducted raids at Robin Distilleries. Earlier on September 6, raids were conducted in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Telangana, and Maharashtra. (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 Delhi Police's Economic Offences Wing is likely to question Bollywood actor Fernandez on Monday in connection with an extortion case linked to alleged conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar. This is the second time that she has been summoned for questioning by for her alleged role in the case, officials said. A senior police officer said Fernandez has been asked to join the probe at 11 am at the office of Economic Offences Wing on Mandir Marg. "We need to scrutinise certain documents and also question her further in connection with the case," he said. Last Wednesday, Fernandez was quizzed for over eight hours along with Pinki Irani, who allegedly introduced the actor to Chandrashekhar. Investigation had revealed that Chandrashekhar had offered a motorcycle to Fernandez's agent Prashant on his birthday but he declined to take it. However, Chandrashekhar left the two-wheeler and its keys at Prashant's place, police had said earlier, adding the vehicle was seized. Chandrashekhar, who is currently in jail, is accused of cheating many people, including high-profile individuals such as former Fortis Healthcare promoter Shivinder Mohan Singh's wife Aditi Singh. On August 17, the Enforcement Directorate filed a chargesheet naming Fernandez as an accused in a multi-crore money laundering case linked to Chandrashekhar. According to the ED, Fernandez and another Bollywood actor Nora Fatehi received luxury cars and other expensive gifts from him. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) is witnessing a spike in the number of infections. Last week, about 100 people were diagnosed with the vector-borne disease, which has taken the tally of infections in the national capital to nearly 400. According to a report released by the civic body on Monday, 152 cases of were recorded in September alone in the first 17 days. On September 9, reported 295 cases, becoming a cause of concern for the authorities and citizens. Out of the total 396 in the national capital till September 17, 75 were reported in August. However, no death has been recorded so far in due to the disease. The cases are reported usually between July and November and sometimes stretching till mid-December. However, officials said the cases were recorded earlier this year due to the weather conditions. On the other hand, Mumbai also reported a spike in dengue cases, and according to reports, a substantial increase was witnessed in the number of cases in August. Other states reporting high cases of dengue are Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Karnataka, and Maharashtra, among others. Uttarakhand also breached the 500-mark on Monday, with its capital Dehradun reporting the maximum number of cases. A total of 37 infections were reported from Uttarakhand in a single day. By September 17, West Bengal logged 566 new dengue cases, with most of the cases reported in Kolkata, North 24 Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly, Murshidabad, South 24 Parganas and Darjeeling districts. According to the National Center for Vector Borne Disease Control data, as of August 30, India has logged 30,627 total and 12 deaths. In 2021, the total number of cases was 193,245, with 36 deaths reported. Delhi logged 13,089 cases and 23 deaths in 2021, the maximum since 2016. A team of the held a series of meetings with director general of police, chief secretary and other senior officials during its three-day visit to review the situation in the state for the Assembly polls. Elections in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled are due later this year. A team of nine senior officials appointed by the ECI visited Ahmedabad between Friday and Sunday and reviewed preparations for the state elections, a government release said. On Saturday and Sunday, the ECI team held a review meeting with Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) P Bharathi on poll preparedness in the presence of district election officers, commissioners and superintendents of police. They discussed in detail various topics related to voters' roll and special summary revision, electronic voting machine (EVM/VVPAT), minimum facilities at polling stations, manpower, transportation, law and order, security, training and capacity building, the release said. Detailed discussions were held with nodal officers and representatives of various enforcement agencies such as the Income Tax, Excise, Reserve Bank of India, Department of Revenue Intelligence and Narcotics Control Bureau, it said. "A meeting was also held with secretaries of various state government departments, including home, school education, electricity, telecommunication, road and transport, health and family welfare, excise and revenue," it said. Later, a meeting was also held with the state chief secretary and the director general of police to discuss various issues related to the upcoming elections as well as the feedback received from the CEO, state police nodal officer, other senior officials and enforcement agencies for smooth conduct of the elections, the release 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.) A Governor can withhold the bills passed by a state Assembly, but it cannot be for an indefinite period nor can he reject them, the government said on Monday. State Law Minister P Rajeeve, speaking to reporters here, said under the Constitution the Governor has the power to give assent to bills, withhold them or send them to the President of India. "The Governor does not have the power to reject the bills," he said. His remarks come in the wake of Governor Arif Mohammed Khan last week saying that will not allow the University Laws Amendment Bill recently passed by the state Assembly as it allegedly seeks to legalise illegalities and pave the way for appointment of "unqualified relatives" of the staff of the Chief Minister and his cabinet colleagues. Recently, a row broke out over the attempt to appoint the wife of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's personal secretary in the Malayalam department in Kannur University though she had the lowest research score but highest in the interview round and was declared first in the selection process. Insisting that he cannot be used as a rubber stamp, Khan also indicated he was against the Lok Ayukta Amendment Bill, also passed by the Assembly recently, saying no one can be a judge in his own cause. The state Law Minister said that the Constitution and various judicial orders have made it clear that the Governor has to, as early as possible, take a decision on the bills passed by the legislature and placed before him for approval. "The Constitution provides that he can bring any discrepancies in the legislation to the attention of the state Assembly by returning the bill. "Thereafter, it was up to the state Assembly to accept his recommendations or not. Subsequently, when it is placed before him the second time round, he has to approve it," Rajeeve said. He said that the Governor, therefore, has to act as per the Constitution. The Minister also said that the public was watching what was going on in the state and they would evaluate and decide whether people in Constitutional posts were acting in accordance with their position or not. Despite stiff opposition from UDF members and their subsequent boycott, the Assembly on August 30 and September 1 passed the controversial Lok Ayukta (Amendment) and University Laws Amendment Bills respectively. The two controversial bills were introduced and passed in the Assembly by the Left government amidst a stand-off with the Governor after several ordinances, including those related to these two bills, lapsed for want of his signature approving their repromulgation. (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 initiated the process of privatising 2 subsidiaries AIASL and AIESL of erstwhile carrier Air India, an official said. The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) has initiated investor meetings and roadshows to gauge interest in AIASL and AIESL. We will soon invite EoIs from interested bidders, the official said. A debt-laden was sold to Tata Group in October last year for Rs 18,000 crore. The actual handover to Tatas happened on January 27, 2022. However, four subsidiaries -- Airport Services Ltd (AIASL), Air India Engineering Services Ltd (AIESL), Alliance Air Aviation Ltd (AAAL), and Hotel Corporation of India Ltd (HCI) -- and other non-core assets, painting and artefacts, besides, non-operational assets were not part of the deal. These subsidiaries and non-core assets valued at about Rs 15,000 crore have been transferred to an SPV Air India Assets Holding Ltd (AIAHL). The government had then said these subsidiaries and non-core assets of the carrier would eventually be sold off. Towards that goal, DIPAM has initiated the exercise of investor meetings for privatisation of AIASL and AIESL. As of August last year, Air India had a total debt of Rs 61,562 crore. Of this, the Tata Group took over Rs 15,300 crore liabilities and the rest 75 per cent or around Rs 46,000 crore was transferred to AIAHL. The government has squared off with Air India debtors its share of pending dues. The government, in current fiscal year, has budgeted to raise Rs 65,000 crore from CPSE disinvestment. So far, it has raised about Rs 25,000 crore. (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 28-year-old Indian student has succumbed to the injuries sustained during a shooting rampage in Canada's Ontario province that also claimed two other lives, including that of a police constable, police said. Satwinder Singh, who was injured in the shooting last Monday in Milton, died at the Hamilton General Hospital with his family and friends by his side, the Halton Regional Police Service (HRPS) said in a statement on Saturday. Singh was an international student from India who was working part-time at MK Auto Repairs at the time of the shooting, the statement said on Saturday. "The HRPS would like to express heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of the victim, and the communities impacted by this horrible tragedy," it said. Monday's shooting resulted in the deaths of Toronto Police Constable Andrew Hong, 48, and Shakeel Ashraf, 38, a mechanic who owned MK Auto Repairs. The gunman was identified as 40-year-old Sean Petrie. He was later shot dead by police in Hamilton. At the Oakville home of a relative, Singh's grieving father was surrounded by relatives and friends after giving staff at the Hamilton General Hospital permission to pull his son off life support Saturday afternoon, said Sarabjot Kaur, a cousin who grew up with Singh told Toronto Star newspaper. The father, who had not seen his son since before the pandemic, had just arrived earlier from Dubai, where he works as a truck driver, Kaur said. Tanner had previously confirmed that Petrie had worked briefly at MK Auto Repairs. According to an online GoFundMe page honouring Singh, the former international student had been on life support and had been declared brain-dead. He is described in the post as a loving son, brother and grandson who will be missed daily. He had a passion for reading and writing poetry. Singh, who obtained an MBA in marketing in India, was a student at Conestoga College. He had been working part-time at MK Collision Centre in Milton. The violence erupted in Mississauga shortly after 2 pm, when Constable Hong, who was in the city for a training session and on his lunch break at a Tim Hortons, was shot and killed at close range. Investigators believe the killing was unprovoked and that the suspect was on the lookout for an officer, The Globe and Mail newspaper reported. As of Sunday afternoon, the GoFundMe had raised more than 35,000 dollars to help support Singh's family and return his body to India. He will leave us with a dent in our hearts for a lifetime, the post said. It is a tough time for our family, and we need prayers from all of you. (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.) Governor Arif Mohammed Khan is likely to meet the media on Monday at the Raj Bhavan where he is expected to release some documents and video clippings. Khan had a day ago invited the media to the Raj Bhavan here amidst an ongoing war of words between him and Kerala's LDF government over several issues connected to the functioning of varsities in the state. The Governor, on Sunday, had said he would release to the media letters written by Chief Minister to him assuring that there will be no interference from the government in the affairs of the universities in the state. He had also said he would put out some video clips, which are probably of the heckling incident he faced at Kannur University in December 2019 when he went there to inaugurate the Indian History Congress. According to Khan, the heckling he faced there was part of a conspiracy to frighten him into not speaking in public and Vijayan had allegedly told the police not to lodge a case in connection with that incident. (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 cub aged eight to nine months was found dead inside the Film City in on Sunday morning, but the officials ruled out any poaching attempt as all body parts of the animal were intact. The necropsy report later revealed that respiratory complications and head trauma with bleeding were the primary causes of the death, a forest official said. "On Sunday morning, the control room of the received a call from the Film City located in suburban Goregaon, informing that a cub was found dead near a film set. The rescue team of the reached the spot and recovered the carcass," he said. The body parts of the animal were found intact, and hence the possibility of poaching was ruled out in the initial investigation, he added. The Sanjay Gandhi Park (SGNP), which is home to a number of leopards, is located nearby. "The carcass of the cub was sent to SGNP for necropsy to determine the cause of the death," said Pawan Sharma, founder of (Resqink Association for Wildlife Welfare (RAWW) and honorary wildlife warden with the state forest department. "The necropsy report revealed that the primary cause of the death is respiratory complications and head trauma with bleeding," he said. The viscera samples of the animal were collected and sent for analysis, the forest official said, adding that a detailed investigation is being conducted by the forest department. Leopards are protected under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act and are among the top protected species. Sharma said that is home to more than 45 leopards and many of them are identified with their unique rosette patterns. "They are constantly monitored using camera traps by the forest department, scientists and volunteers. The carcass of the cub will be disposed of as per the guidelines under the Wild Life (Protection) Act," 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.) Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has directed state officials to provide an assistance of Rs one crore to the family of Border Security Force soldier Girjesh Kumar Udde killed in a terror attack in Tripura last month. Chouhan and Union minister Faggan Singh Kulaste met Udde's family members at the latter's native village Chargaon in MP's Mandla district on Sunday and described them as true patriots, a state government official said on Monday. Udde was part of the BSF's 145th battalion's patrolling party that was attacked by terrorists on August 19, causing grievous injuries to him. He was later taken in a chopper to Agartala where he died, the official said. On Sunday, CM Chouhan met the soldier's family members including his wife Radha Devi. The chief minister assured that one of the family members will be given a government job. He directed Mandla Collector Harshika Singh to start the process of giving an assistance of Rs one crore to the martyred soldier's family, the official said. The CM said a government excellence school at Bijadandi in Mandla will be named after the soldier. Udde's statue will be installed in Chargaon and CM Chouhan also performed its foundation stone laying ceremony, the official 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.) Chief Minister on Sunday directed the administration to be on alert, following the increase in the water level of the Kuano river at Chandradeep Ghat. Yogi instructed the officials of Gonda, Basti, Ambedkar Nagar, Sant Kabir Nagar, Gorakhpur, Azamgarh, Deoria, Mau, Ballia, and Ayodhya to be on alert in view of the possible threat of . Notably, the river at Chandradeep Ghat has crossed the danger mark. Instructions have been given to the District Magistrates and Senior Superintendents of Police (SSP), and Superintendents of Police (SP) of these districts to make systematic arrangements for the safety, rescue and relief of people in villages and cities. Earlier on Friday also, in view of heavy rainfall and waterlogging in various parts of Lucknow, the administration issued an advisory for the residents of the city, advising them to not leave the house until it is indispensable. The necessary guidelines were issued for the safety and well-being of the residents of Lucknow as there is an alert for more rainfall till September 17. In the advisory, the administration has advised the residents of the city not to leave the house until it is indispensable and to beware of old dilapidated buildings and to avoid going to crowded and traffic jam areas. Residents are also advised to take care of their health and only drink boiled water and use bleaching powder and chlorine tablets from the nearest health centre. The advisory also mentioned staying away from open sewers, electric wires and poles and contacting Municipal Corporation Control Room for any civic problem like water logging, tree fall etc. Helpline number 1912 for electrical breakdown etc. In case of any medical emergency, contact the Chief Medical Officer, Lucknow Control Room at 0522-2622080. Also, an integrated Control Command Center number for any other problem was also listed in the advisory--Register a problem on 0522- 4523000. Government hospitals, Public and community health centres (PHCs) and (CHCs) are advised to stay on high alert. Also ensuring arrangements for treatment of trauma management, snakebite, electric shock and water-borne diseases at your hospitals. Officers and employees posted in emergency services were also advised to be present on duty. Arrangement of medicines, patient vehicles etc, should also be ensured. The Head of Office /Competent Officer of private offices is advised to take appropriate decision regarding declaring a holiday from his level. The advisory was released after nine people died and as many as two were injured after a wall collapsed in Lucknow due to heavy rainfall in the area in the last 24 hours. Meanwhile, all injured in the accident were rushed to Civil Hospital for treatment, where doctors informed them that their condition is stable. After the incident, Chief Minister took cognizance of the accident and expressed his condolences to the bereaved families. CM Yogi has also instructed to release a relief amount of Rs 4 lakh to the families of the deceased. He also instructed for proper treatment of all the injured. Instructions were given to give relief amounts to all the kin of the dead from the disaster relief fund. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) On Monday, actor Fernandez appeared before the Delhi Police's Economic Offences Wing for questioning in connection with Rs 200 crore for the second time. The case is linked to alleged conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar. Chandrasekhar, reportedly aged in his 30s, is a conman and a native of Bengaluru. According to police officials, he wanted to lead a luxurious life and started duping people at 17. After starting the forgery from his home turf, he moved to Chennai and, in no time, began duping people in other metro cities. Currently lodged in Delhi's in alleged criminal cases, Chandrasekhar has 15 FIRs registered against him. He is accused of cheating many people, including high-profile individuals such as former Fortis Healthcare promoter Shivinder Mohan Singh's wife, Aditi Singh and Malvinder's wife Japna Singh, worth over several crores of rupees. The women claimed that they paid crores of rupees to the conman to secure bail for their husbands and ensure their safety from Chandrasekar, who impersonated an officer from the Union Law Ministry. In August 2021, the (ED) had seized a luxurious sea-facing bungalow in Chennai, over a dozen luxury cars, and Rs 82.5 lakh cash in a money laundering case. He has also duped people on the pretext of promising them jobs. Chandrasekhar also posed as the relative of a politician and reportedly duped over 100 people to the tune of Rs 75 crore. According to a report published in The Indian Express, Chandrasekhar conned people along with his partner, Leena Maria Paul. He has been in and out of jail since 2017 when he was arrested for allegedly taking money from AIADMK rebel leader TTV Dinakaran to bribe an official. From the son of a CBI official to former CMs, Chandrasekhar exploited every opportunity to fulfil his dream of living a lavish life. According to the report, his fascination for fancy and extravagant cars dates back to his school days. He also cheated a textile group based in Cochin, duping them Rs 20 lakh in return for bringing actor for a promotional programme. Despite being in jail, Chandrashekhar "did not stop conning" people, the ED said. "He (with a cellphone procured illegally in prison) with the help of technology, made spoofed calls to dupe people as the numbers displayed on the called party's phone number belonged to senior government officers. "While speaking (from prison) to these persons, he claimed to be a government officer offering to help people for a price," the ED had claimed. The central government is considering offering sops to farmers to adopt natural ways of farming, which will be part of a soon-to-be-launched national mission, reported The Economic Times (ET) on Monday. The Centre is considering incentives, including monetary support for farmers to buy good quality seeds and natural manure as well as for marketing support for products, the report stated. A final call on the same will be taken soon, a senior government official told ET. The mission will lay out a roadmap for the adoption of sustainable and cost-effective natural techniques, the official told the newspaper. Natural is a chemical-free alias traditional method. It is considered an agroecology-based diversified farming system that integrates crops, trees, and livestock with functional biodiversity, according to . Currently in India, natural farming is promoted as Bharatiya Prakritik Krishi Paddhati Programme (BPKP) under the centrally sponsored scheme Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY). The Centre's proposed plan also aims to open up export avenues of naturally produced agricultural commodities. The mission could also include other support measures, such as marketing, the official told ET. "The government is looking at giving fiscal incentives to farmers to take up natural farming while facilitating backward linkages for them with gaushalas (cowsheds) for procurement of traditional manure," the official said. The and the agriculture ministry have held several rounds of discussions on natural farming practices with global experts. Earlier this year, Finance Minister in her Budget speech announced the government's resolve on a natural farming initiative. She had said, "Chemical-free natural farming will be promoted throughout the country, with a focus on farmers' lands in 5-km wide corridors along river Ganga, at the first stage." The Centre has covered 650,000 hectares of farmland under natural farming under the pilot project. The mission seeks to expand the area to 2 million hectares in the next five years. The government is working on a comprehensive indirect tax regime for crypto assets, which will check revenue loss to the exchequer due to the uncertain nature of these assets, reported Livemint on Monday. Nirmala Sitharam-led is planning to define the characteristics of cryptocurrencies, their use, and how they fit into the existing legal framework, people aware of the development told Livemint. The ministry, after deciding its legal nature, will fix the GST rate for cryptocurrencies, as it could be in a new GST slab rate, between 18 per cent and 28 per cent, reported Livemint, quoting its sources. We are still discussing the applicability of in case of crypto assetsright now, it is levied on services so we need to see if crypto assets are declared as a good or service. We can have a special rate for it. It may not necessarily be 18 per cent or 28 per cent. Maybe somewhere between that. We have had a few discussions on it and will arrive at a decision soon," one of the two people told Livemint. Also Read: FAQ on taxation of cryptocurrencies, virtual digital assets in works A better understanding of how cryptocurrencies fit into our legal system is the pre-requisite for the decision on the rate," the second person told the newspaper. This comes amid heated debates on crypto assets in India as the has said they are a threat to the nation's financial stability. On the other hand, the is in touch with multilateral agencies and the Bank for International Settlements to develop a consensus on regulating such assets, reported Livemint. The will only be applicable on the margin or service fees, and not on the entire value of the asset, government is also examining the treatment of certain transactions like mining or airdropped crypto tokens. The Centre has earlier announced a 30 per cent tax on income from crypto assets with effect from April 1, 2022, and 1 per cent on payment of virtual assets more than Rs 10,000 in a year and taxation of such gifts in the hands of recipients from July 1. India's crude oil imports fell more than 13% in August month-on-month, government data showed on Monday, as monsoon rains restricted activity and slowed consumption in the world's third-biggest oil consumer. Crude oil imports last month fell to 17.55 million tonnes from July, data from the website of the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell showed. But, imports in August were up 0.9%, compared with the corresponding period last year. Demand for industrial fuel such as typically dips during because of factors including less mobility, and a decline in consumption in the irrigation sector, said Prashant Vasisht, vice president and co-head, corporate ratings at ICRA. India received 3.4% more rainfall than average in August, especially in the central and southern parts of the country. On a month-on-month basis, imports dropped more than 94% last month to 0.01 million tonnes, while data showed earlier this month that sales in August had dropped to their lowest this year. "However, demand should revive going forward because of the festival and marriage season. That requires more transportation of goods," Vasisht added. On a yearly basis, oil product imports rose 13.7% to 3.63 million tonnes in August, while climbed about 9%. Of the 5.23 million tonnes of in August, diesel accounted for 2.36 million tonnes. Additionally, the expected seasonal decline in industrial output has also resulted in a gradual inventory build-up of crude oil with refiners over the last couple of months and led to a sharp decline in crude imports in August, said Hetal Gandhi, Director, CRISIL Research. "With the crude oil production base primarily made of old declining fields, domestic crude oil production is expected to remain range-bound or decline marginally for the full year, thus resulting in a continued reliance on crude oil imports to meet demand," Gandhi added. India, Asia's third-biggest economy, holds surplus refining capacity and refined fuels as well. Meanwhile, separate data showed Saudi Arabia emerged as the second-biggest oil supplier to India after a three-month gap in August, overtaking Russia by a thin margin. NOTE: The data for imports and exports is preliminary because private refiners share numbers at their discretion. All figures are in millions of tonnes: 2022 2022 2022 2021 2021 2021 CRUDE OIL August July June August July June IMPORTS 17.55 20.34 19.11 17.39 15.02 15.91 Imports: 2022 2022 2022 2021 2021 2021 PRODUCTS August July June August July June LPG 1.58 1.43 1.31 1.70 1.42 1.39 Petrol 0.00 0.06 0.13 0.00 0.00 0.00 Naphtha 0.16 0.13 0.10 0.01 0.10 0.14 Kerosene 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Diesel 0.01 0.19 0.12 0.01 0.00 0.00 Fuel Oil 0.69 0.76 0.59 0.70 0.95 0.56 All 3.63 3.69 3.37 3.19 3.54 2.98 Exports: 2022 2022 2022 2021 2021 2021 PRODUCTS August July June August July June Petrol 1.01 1.11 1.16 0.90 1.00 1.15 Naphtha 0.41 0.36 0.82 0.64 0.48 0.61 Diesel 2.36 2.18 2.45 2.60 2.26 2.83 Fuel Oil 0.22 0.19 0.13 0.16 0.30 0.20 Jet Fuel 0.75 0.58 0.59 0.32 0.34 0.49 All 5.23 4.68 5.50 4.80 4.70 5.51 NOTES: Totals may not tally because all items are not included in the table and numbers are rounded up or down. The numbers for previous months have been revised. (Reporting by Arundhati Sarkar and Brijesh Patel in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu, Uttaresh.V, 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.) Dear Reader, Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance. We, however, have a request. As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed. Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard. Digital Editor The on September 18 invited domestic defence firms to offer critical equipment for emergency procurement. The army has sought offers from these firms for guns, missiles, drones, counter-drone, loiter munition, communication and optical systems, specialist vehicles, engineering equipment and alternative energy resources. In keeping with its commitment to fight the future wars with Indigenous Solutions, #IndianArmy invites Indian Defence Industry to offer critical defence equipment for Emergency Procurement. #IndianArmy #InStrideWithTheFuture pic.twitter.com/eAHYEM3cp7 ADG PI - (@adgpi) September 18, 2022 " invites to offer critical defence equipment for emergency procurement. Proposals fielded for guns, missiles, drones, counter-drone, loiter munition, communication & optical systems, specialist Vehicles, engg equipment & alt energy resources," the Army said. Also Read | Decoded: What is National Logistics Policy and how will it get implemented? In addition to this the Army conveyed that the process of procurement will follow compressed timelines. The procurement window will be open to Indian firms for 6 months and they would be expected to deliver equipment within a year of signing the contract and the procurement cases will be based on Open Tender Enquiry. This development follows the June clearence from the for capital acquisition proposals of the Armed Forces amounting to Rs 76,390 crore to Buy (Indian), Buy & Make (Indian) and Buy (Indian-IDDM) categories. The has been working towards including more indigenous system in the Indian forces. "Government is committed to create a robust, secure, speedy and 'Aatmanirbhar' logistics system to effectively deal with future security challenges and take the country to greater heights," said the Defence Minister a few days ago in a seminar Logistics and further discussed ways to make the system self-reliant. While speaking at the seminar, Singh spoke of the synergy needed between civil and military stakeholders, and asserted that presence of representatives from different sectors of the two sides showed the "commitment" to achieve the goal as India stood on the threshold of an 'Amrit Kaal'. According to industry experts, the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) can now apply with the (RBI) for a license as a payment aggregator, BusinessLine reported. recently secured an approval from the Registrar of Companies, NCT, Delhi and Haryana to alter the Main Objects Clause of the Memorandum of Association and insert a new clause to act as a payment aggregator. The Railway PSU is all set to take entry into the payments sector and is thus eyeing a payment aggregator license. Also Read | IRCTC causing loss to exchequer by not issuing invoice: Tax consultant Currently, all Non-Bank Payment Aggregators require authorisation from under Payment and Settlement System Act, 2007, and the Memorandum of Association (MoA) of the applicant entity must cover the proposed activity of operating as a payment aggregator. The application process and approval from the may take some time. At present, already has I-PAY, its in-house payment gateway. I-PAY enables payments for booking tickets of rail, bus and air travel, and tour packages on the website and mobile app. This means that IRCTC already has an established user base, which may be interested in using its payment gateway. Potential tie-ups with merchants can further expand scope for the raliway PSU. According to the IRCTC's annual general meeting notice, as a payment aggregator it will provide, promote, develop, design and carry on the business of all types of electronic and virtual payment systems services, payment gateway and aggregator services, prepaid and post-paid payment instruments, payment systems including open, closed, semi closed systems of payment instruments, in India and abroad. The IRCTC gateway will also function as a bill payment gateway to provide bill payment services for utility bills, fees and municipal taxes under the (BBPS) guidelines. Overseas companies without a permanent establishment in India are wary of increased compliance burden this financial year, as they have to file forms electronically to claim benefits under double avoidance agreements (DTAA). The National Policy 2020 announced by the Centre lays great emphasis on and Indian knowledge systems, Union Minister said on Sunday. The policy is "rooted in Indianness and emphasises on learning in the mother tongue", Pradhan said at the 36th convocation of SASTRA Deemed University here. "NEP 2020 lays great emphasis on and Indian Knowledge Systems. An icon like, Saint Thiruvalluvar is no less than any other literary figure, scholar or philosopher. It is our duty to take Thiruvalluvar's philosophy and Indian Knowledge Systems to the globe," he tweeted. National Policy is rooted in Indianness and emphasises on learning in mother tongue. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has time and again reinforced that all including Tamil are national languages, Pradhan said. Pradhan appealed to the university that it should also become a 'torchbearer' of the rollout of the National Education Policy. "The policy with its futuristic outlook and rootedness in Indian ethos and with its emphasis on Indian languages is a philosophical document to create global citizens," he said. Paying rich tributes to Tamil Nadu's art and culture, the minister said the state has been a society that has created wonders in the field of art, architecture, music, learning and other fields since ancient times. "Tamil Nadu, just like Odisha, is an epitome of architectural excellence and grandeur. Prime Minister Modi has a lot of respect and affinity towards Tamil culture and people," he said. To promote the rich Tamil culture, Modi also established a chair in the honour of Tamil poet Subrahmanya Bharati at the Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, he said. "This is a step towards furthering Ek Bharat, Shrestha Bharat", Pradhan said. He noted that critical thinking and analytical skills can be effectively developed through mother tongue. "Due to a long period of colonisation, we have neglected Indian languages and rich linguistic traditions. We have to decolonise our minds, get rid of our servile attitude and create our own path to achieve greater heights" 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.) The Centre is pushing for bilateral trade with and its settlement in as a part of its strategy to internationalise the domestic . A delegation from Cuba, including officials from its central bank, met Indian government officials and banks last month to discuss bilateral trade and settlement using the Reserve Bank of Indias (RBIs) payment mechanism in rupee, said people aware of the matter. Since the Cuban nation has opened up its economy and is looking to implement reforms to attract investments from India, Cuban banks have evinced interest in opening special vostro accounts (SRVAs) with Indian banks. The move is an effort by the Centre to lay the groundwork for the central banks new framework for trade settlement in rupee, pushing for the local currencys internationalisation. The meeting was held on the directions of the Department of under the Ministry of Finance, said an official. In July, the had unveiled a mechanism to settle international transactions in to promote the growth of global trade, with emphasis on exports from India. More importantly, the move is a recognition of the as an international . According to the mechanism finalised by the RBI, banks of partner countries can approach authorised dealer (AD) banks in India for opening SRVAs. The AD bank will then have to seek approval from the central bank with details of such an arrangement. The official cited earlier said that the Cuban delegation that had visited India last month had informed India that the country has implemented several reforms that could be explored by Indian companies as well as banks to give trade ties and the bilateral payment mechanism a leg-up. Although Indias relations with the Caribbean nation have traditionally been warm and friendly, the bilateral trade between the two nations has been limited. The total trade between both countries stood at $27.57 million, which is negligible compared to Indias total trade of over $1 trillion during 2021-22. India exported goods worth $26.57 million during the last fiscal year, while imports were to the tune of $1 million only. The main items of Indian export to are (pharma) products, organic chemicals, plastic products, medical equipment, textiles, metals, and mineral oil products. On the other hand, India imported mainly and tobacco products. Trade experts said one of the reasons for being interested in rupee trade could be a shortage of foreign exchange. Therefore, dealing in local could be a good way to push trade. Besides, the country is set to host an international fair in November to attract investment. While the rupee trade mechanism is yet to be implemented on the ground by banks, public sector banks like State Bank of India, among others, have already started working to make the RBIs latest mechanism operational. Earlier this month, the Centre, along with the RBI, prepared an action plan for facilitation of special rupee accounts for trade settlements, which included nudging banks and the Indian Banks Association to reach out to foreign banks for opening such vostro accounts. Banks have also been asked to process over 115 proposals at the earliest. is going to ban and Pubg applications in within the next 3 months times, media reports said citing an announcement by the Taliban-led telecommunication department. announced the ban in a meeting with the representatives of the security sector and a representative from the Sharia law enforcement administration who has decided to ban both and Pubg applications in within a 90 days period of time, reported Khaama Press. and Pubg will be banned within a month and within the next 90 days respectively, as per the decision, reported Khaama Press. Afghanistan's telecommunication and internet service providers have shared the information regards the ban and have been asked to follow the guidelines within the stipulated time. Earlier, the interim government of led by the blocked more than 23 million websites for displaying what it considers immoral content over the year since the Taliban took power in the country, Najibullah Haqqani, the minister of communications in the Taliban administration. "We have blocked 23.4 million websites. They are changing their pages every time. So, when you block one website another one will be active," TOLOnews quoted acting Minister Najibullah Haqqani as saying at a conference. Speaking at the same conference, the deputy communications minister in the interim government, Ahmad Masoud Latif Rai, also criticized Facebook for its reluctance to cooperate with the Taliban authorities on content moderation. After the collapse of the US-backed government and the withdrawal of US troops from the country, an interim Afghan government led by the Taliban came to power on August 15 last year. The Taliban takeover triggered an economic crisis and food shortages that have pushed the country to the brink of a humanitarian crisis. Thousands of Afghans have fled the country fearful of the Taliban, widespread violation of human rights, and the deprivation of women and girls of their freedoms. Since the Taliban took over Afghanistan in mid-August last year, it rolled back the rights of Afghan media outlets and their functioning. According to UNAMA, there have been significant changes in the country's media landscape, including the closure of more than half of the free media, a ban on several channels and websites and rising work restrictions, violence, and threats against journalists. Earlier in May, while reporting a women's demonstration, journalist Roman Karimi and his driver were detained and tortured by the Taliban. Over 45 per cent of journalists have quit since the Taliban assumed power. The ever-increasing restrictions against media in Afghanistan have also drawn widespread criticism globally with the United Nations (UN) and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) decrying the arrests, demanding the terror outfit stop harassing local journalists and stifling freedom of speech through continued detentions and threats. The Taliban had promised women's rights, media freedom, and amnesty for government officials in the group's first news conference after the takeover in August. However, activists, former government employees, and journalists among continue to face retribution. (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 says the discovery of top-secret documents at former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate raised concerns that sensitive data was compromised and called it irresponsible. Biden, who rarely does interviews, spoke to CBS' 60 Minutes in a segment that aired Sunday. He said that when he heard about classified documents taken from the White House, he wondered how anyone could be that irresponsible. Biden added: And I thought, what data was in there that may compromise sources and methods? The president said he did not get a heads-up before the Trump estate was searched, and he has not asked for any specifics because I don't want to get myself in the middle of whether or not the Justice Department should move or not move on certain actions they could take. The FBI says it took about 11,000 documents, including roughly 100 with classification markings found in a storage room and an office, while serving a court-authorized search warrant at the home on Aug. 8. Weeks after the search, Trump lawyers asked a judge to appoint a special master to conduct an independent review of the records. The warrant says federal agents were investigating potential violations of three different federal laws, including one that governs gathering, transmitting or losing defense information under the Espionage Act. Biden told 60 Minutes that when he heard about classified documents being taken from the White House, he wondered how anyone could be that irresponsible." "And I thought what data was in there that may compromise sources and methods? In the wide-ranging interview, the president wouldn't commit to running for reelection in 2024, though he's said in the past that he planned to. My intention, as I said to begin with, is that I would run again," he said. "But it's just an intention. But is it a firm decision that I run again? That remains to be seen. Biden was asked about growing concerns that Russia's efforts to seize Ukraine could inspire China's leader Xi Jinping to attack Taiwan. The island has been recognized by the U.S. as part of China but has its own democratic government. Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin met last week. Biden again said the US forces would respond if in fact there was an unprecedented attack. White House officials later said the official U.S. policy had not changed, and would not say whether American forces would be called to defend Taiwan. Biden has made the claim before, but the statements come at an increasingly tense time for U.S.-China relations, particularly after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's trip there last month. Beijing sees official American contact with Taiwan as encouragement to make the island's decades-old de facto independence permanent, a step Biden and other U.S. leaders say they don't support. The president said the US commitment to Ukraine was ironclad and would remain so as long as it takes. Ukrainian troops are engaged in a counteroffensive that has reclaimed towns and cities from Russian troops. But the toll the war has taken is vast, and fresh atrocities are being revealed, including torture chambers and mass graves. Since January 2021, the US has given more than USD 13.5 billion in security assistance to Ukraine. In the same hour, 60 Minutes also aired an interview with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who will be speaking to the U.N. General Assembly in New York this coming week. Raisi echoed standard Iranian lines about the status of currently stalled nuclear talks with world powers. He said the United States is not trustworthy and demanded guarantees that the U.S. would not withdraw from a deal as President did in 2018. Raisi said he had no plans to meet with Biden on the sidelines of the UN event as it would serve no purpose, although he reiterated that Iran is willing to discuss prisoner exchanges with the United States. He also defended his country's anti-Israel stance and said Tehran was committed to pursuing justice for the Trump administration's assassination of a top Iranian military commander. (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 be laid to rest following a state funeral at Westminster Abbey in on Monday, attended by world leaders, royals and community champions and watched on screens by millions lining the streets and around the world. The final farewell to Britain's longest-serving monarch began as the long queue of people who had been lining up since early last week to file past the late monarch's coffin Lying-in-State at Westminster Hall came to a close early on Monday morning and preparations began for the coffin to be conveyed in procession to the Abbey. President Droupadi Murmu, representing India at the state funeral, joined foreign dignitaries as they took their seats for the funeral service. The service will pay tribute to the Queen's remarkable reign and lifetime of service as head of state, nation and Commonwealth, Buckingham Palace said. The funeral, being broadcast live to over 200 countries and territories worldwide and shown on big screens to crowds in parks and public spaces across the UK, marks one of the biggest events in history at this grand scale since the state funeral of former Prime Minister Winston Churchill in 1965. Police officers from around the country have been deputed for the gigantic security operation and the queue of people who have turned out day in and day out has been dubbed a momentous pilgrimage. As we all prepare to say our last farewell, I wanted simply to take this opportunity to say thank you to all those countless people who have been such a support and comfort to my family and myself in this time of grief," King Charles said in a thank you message on the eve of the funeral, as he once again paid tribute to his dear mother. Charles and Queen Consort Camilla hosted a special reception on Sunday evening for all the visiting world leaders at Buckingham Palace, attended by President Murmu, which was another historic diplomatic gathering of so many heads of state and government under one roof. Just before the service begins, Abbey's Tenor Bell will be tolled once a minute for 96 minutes, one toll for each year of the late monarch's life, who died on September 8 at Balmoral Castle in Scotland. Holders of the high military honours of the George Cross, Victoria Cross, and Representatives of the Orders of Chivalry will process through the Abbey, followed by a procession of representatives from faith communities across the UK including Rajnish Kashyap of Hindu Council UK, and Lord Indrajit Singh of the Network of Sikh Organisations (NSO) alongside representatives from the Jain, Buddhist, Bahai, Jewish, Muslim and Zoroastrian faiths. The procession will involve a total of around 6,000 representatives from all three UK armed forces, with 98 Royal Navy sailors towing the 123-year-old gun carriage which will carry the Queen's coffin to Westminster Abbey. Prince George, 9, and Princess Charlotte, 7, will be among the youngest of the 2,000 guests at the funeral in Westminster Abbey as the two older children of Prince William and Kate form part of the royal family members to follow the Queen's coffin as it enters the church for the funeral service conducted by the Dean of Westminster. Lessons will be read by the Commonwealth Secretary-General Baroness Patricia Scotland and British Prime Minister Liz Truss, which will be followed by the hymn The Lord's My Shepherd' also sung at the wedding of the Queen and Prince Philip at the Abbey in 1947. Towards the end of the service, two minutes of silence will be observed across the UK before the congregation sings the National Anthem, God Save The King'. At the conclusion of the state funeral, the coffin is to be borne in procession to Windsor where a Committal Service at St. George's Chapel will mark the conclusion of the public-facing aspect of the funeral as the coffin is lowered to the Royal Vault. Senior royals will gather in private as the Queen is laid to rest with her late husband in an enclave of the chapel named King George VI Memorial Chapel. The instruments of state the Imperial State Crown, the Orb and the Sceptre which have been lying on the coffin will be removed at this final stage. (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.) Fiona made landfall in the on Monday and braced for another day of heavy rainfall and life-threatening flooding, a U.S. government agency said, one day after the island was hit by a widespread power outage. The is being battered with "extremely heavy rainfall" and winds as strong as 90 miles per hour, Eric Blake of the U.S. National Center said, as storm conditions in begin to subside. Fiona made landfall in on Sunday afternoon, five years after the U.S. Caribbean territory was ravaged by Hurricane Maria. "Tomorrow will be dryer than today, but it will be a long day today," said Blake, acting branch chief of the NHC's hurricane specialist unit, referring to Puerto Rico. "The strongest winds are already dying down and it's already over the ." Puerto Rico's power grid remains fragile despite emergency repairs after Hurricane Maria in September 2017 caused the largest blackout in U.S. history, according to the Puerto Rican think tank Center for a New Economy. In that Category 5 storm, which killed more than 3,000 people, 1.5 million customers lost electricity with 80% of power lines knocked out. Thousands of Puerto Ricans still live under makeshift tarpaulin roofs. The eye of Fiona made landfall in the Dominican Republic near Boca Yuma at 3:30 a.m. local time, the NHC said. It is the first hurricane to score a direct hit on the country since Jeanne left severe damage in the east of the country in September 2018. The Dominican Republic shares the Caribbean island of Hispanola with Haiti. Fiona brought down trees, power lines and advertisements in the towns of Punta Cana, La Romana and El Seibo in the eastern part of the Dominican Republic during the early hours of Monday. Relief groups said there were no immediate reports of injuries. Juan Salas, director of the country's Office of Civil Defense, indicated that about 800 people were evacuated from high-risk areas and near rivers and ravines in rural communities in the east. Juan Manuel MAndez, director of the Dominican Emergency Operations Center, warned that rains may persist for two days, even as the eye of the hurricane moves away from Dominican territory later Monday. Nearly 90% of Puerto Rico remained without power on Monday, according to Poweroutage.us. Officials said it would take days to reconnect the whole island of 3.3 million people. Rainbands could follow the storm system on the east side of Puerto Rico for hundreds of miles, NHC's Blake said. The National Weather Service lifted its hurricane warning for the U.S. territory on Monday morning. Even so, authorities advised residents, particularly in the southern and western parts of the island, to seek higher ground as some areas could experience as much as 10 inches of rainfall. U.S. President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration for Puerto Rico on Sunday, authorizing the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate disaster relief and provide emergency protective measures. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India and Saudi Arabia have discussed the feasibility of institutionalising Rupee-Riyal trade, as well as the introduction of the instant payments systemUnited Payments Interface (UPI)and Rupay cards in the kingdom, the commerce and industry ministry said in a statement on Monday. Both countries have re-affirmed continued cooperation in joint projects including the West coast refinery, LNG infrastructure investment and development of strategic petroleum storage facilities in India.These three issues discussed were priority areas of cooperation during the two day visit of commerce and industry minister to Riyadh from September 18 to 19, the statement said. During the visit, Goyal met his counterpart Majid bin Abdullah Al-Kassabi and held wide ranging discussions on bilateral trade, commerce and investments linkages. These discussions assume significance as the oil minister Hardeep Singh Puri had last week hinted at reviving the stalled mega West Coast refinery project in Maharashtra. The project was put on the back burner due to opposition from locals. The world's largest oil company Saudi Arabias Aramco and UAE's Adnoc were keen to pick up considerable minority stakes in the project that was jointly floated by the Indian Oil, BPCL and HPCL. Agreement to undertake implementation of the priority projects in a time bound manner. Priority areas of cooperation include: Collaboration in the digital fintech sector through operationalization of UPI and Rupay Card in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the statement said. Diversification and expansion of trade and commerce, removal of trade barriers, including the outstanding issues related to sanitary and phytosanitary measures and trade remedies, automatic registration and marketing authoriza-tion of Indian pharma products in Saudi Arabia, were some of the other key points of discussion the Saudi Arabias commerce minister. The ministerial meeting also endorsed the 41 areas of cooperation identified by the technical teams under the four broad domains of agriculture and food security, energy, technology and IT, and industry and infrastructure. Goyal attended the ministerial meeting of the Strategic Partnership Council. Goyal and Saudi Minister for Energy Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al-Saud co-chaired the ministerial meeting of the Committee on and Investments of the council. Saudi Arabia is Indias fourth largest trading partner. India is largely dependent on the nation to meet its oil requirements . During April-July, the country was Indias second largest import partner of crude oil, after Iraq. Iranian police fired tear gas to disperse a in the western, mainly Kurdish city of Sanandaj, where hundreds rallied to decry the death of a young woman while in police custody in last week, reports said. The case of the 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was detained last Tuesday after Iran's so-called morality police found fault with her headscarf, or hijab, has set off a public outcry in the country, mainly on social media. Police said she died of a heart attack and have denied any allegations of torture or abuse. The semiofficial Fars news agency reported late Sunday that police also arrested several people from about 500 protesters who had gathered on Sunday at Azadi Square in Sanandaj, the capital of Iran's Kurdistan province. Fars said the protesters smashed car windows and set fire to street garbage cans. The agency's website carried a brief video showing scores of men and women protesting, claiming the police's explanation about Amini's death was not reasonable." Amini, who was Kurdish, was buried on Saturday in her home city of Saqez, also in western . Protests erupted there after her funeral and police also then fired tear gas to disperse the demonstrators. After Amini's death, police last week also released closed circuit footage from the police station, which they say shows the moment Amini collapsed. A relative has said she had no history of heart disease. Iran's judiciary has launched an investigation into the case. The headscarf has been compulsory for women in since after the 1979 Islamic Revolution and members of the morality police enforce the strict dress code. The force has been criticized in recent years over its treatment of people, especially young women. Since 2017, after dozens of women publicly took off their headscarves in a wave of protests, authorities have adopted tougher measures. (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.) New York [US], September 19 (ANI): External Affairs Minister arrived here Sunday for the high-level meeting of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and is likely to meet United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and several heads of state later this week. India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj and Consul General (New York) Randhir Jaiswal received Jaishankar on Sunday afternoon on his arrival here. Over the course of the week, Jaishankar is scheduled to have more than 50 official engagements including bilateral, plurilateral and multilateral meetings The Indian minister is scheduled to deliver on Saturday India's address at UNGA, which is meeting on the theme, "A Watershed Moment: Transformative Solutions to Interlocking Challenges". Security Council reforms will be the top item on Jaishankar's agenda as he meets dozens of world leaders during the week packed with the Assembly session and several events on the sidelines. Council reform is expected to get a boost during the session as US President Joe Biden is to present ideas for its reform and consult with other leaders, according to US Permanent Representative Linda Thomas-Greenburgh. The former diplomat is also scheduled to host a meeting of the Foreign Ministers of G4, the group made up of India, Brazil, Germany and Japan that advocate for expanding the Council and mutually support each other's claim for a permanent seat. During his 11-day visit to the US beginning today, Jaishankar will also participate in meetings of Quad made up of India, Australia, Japan and the US, BRICS and several other key groupings. Commemorating the nation's 75th anniversary of Independence, the highlight of Jaishankar's visit will be an event on Saturday, "India@75: Showcasing India UN Partnership in Action", on New Delhi's cooperation with the UN and its march towards the Sustainable Development Goals set by the UN. The Assembly's high-level meeting returns to a complete in-person format after two years of the Covid pandemic with 153 heads of state or government, three Deputy Prime Ministers and 34 foreign ministers expected to participate. Jaishankar will be in New York from September 18 to 24, while he will visit Washington DC from September 25 to 28, according to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). After concluding his visit to New York on Saturday, he is scheduled to visit Washington for three days starting Sunday for what the External Affairs Ministry said for "a high-level review of the multifaceted bilateral agenda and strengthen cooperation on regional and global issues to further consolidate the India-US strategic partnership". In Washington, Jaishsnkar is expected to meet Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other senior officials of the Biden Administration. A round table focused on science and technology is also on the agenda for Washington. (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.) Facing a complex set of challenges that try humanity as never before, world leaders convene at the this week under the shadow of Europe's first major war since World War II a conflict that has unleashed a global food crisis and divided major powers in a way not seen since the Cold War. The many facets of the Ukraine war are expected to dominate the annual meeting, which convenes as many countries and peoples confront growing inequality, an escalating climate crisis, the threat of multiple famines and an internet-fuelled tide of misinformation and hate speech all atop a coronavirus pandemic that is halfway through its third year. For the first time since the was founded atop the ashes of World War II, European nations are witnessing war in their midst waged by nuclear-armed neighbouring Russia. Its Feb 24 invasion not only threatens Ukraine's survival as an independent democratic nation but has leaders in many countries worrying about trying to preserve regional and peace and prevent a wider war. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the strategic divides with the West on one side and Russia and increasingly China on the other are "paralysing the global response to the dramatic challenges we face. He pointed not only to the devastation in Ukraine from nearly seven months of fighting but the war's impact on the global economy. Escalating food and energy prices are hitting the world's poorest people hardest, and nations are being devoured by the acids of nationalism and self-interest instead of working together and resolving disputes peacefully, two principles that lie at the heart of the UN Charter and underpin everything the tries to do. The General Assembly is meeting at a time of great peril, the UN chief said last week. For the first time in three years, leaders will be delivering their speeches in person in the vast General Assembly hall. There will be no more COVID-caused prerecorded addresses or hybrid meetings, with one exception: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Over objections from Russia and a few allies, the 193-member assembly voted overwhelmingly Friday to allow the Ukrainian leader to pre-record his speech because of reasons beyond his control the ongoing foreign invasion and military hostilities that require him to carry out his national defence and security duties. The death of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and her funeral in London on Monday, which many world leaders plan to attend, have created last-minute headaches for the high-level meeting. Diplomats and UN staff are scrambling to deal with changes in travel plans, the timing of some events and the logistically intricate speaking schedule for world leaders. Guterres is skipping the funeral to preside over Monday's Transforming Education Summit that he called to create action on a UN goal to ensure quality education for all children by 2030 that lost significant ground during the pandemic. The actual gathering of world leaders, known as the General Debate, begins Tuesday morning with the UN chief's state of the world speech to the 77th session of the General Assembly which began on Sept 12. Brazil has spoken first for over seven decades because at the early General Assembly sessions it volunteered to speak first when no other country did. The US president, representing the host country for the UN, is traditionally the second speaker. But President Joe Biden is attending the queen's funeral, and his speech has been delayed until Wednesday morning. Senegalese President Macky Sall is expected to take Biden's slot. Nearly 150 presidents, prime ministers and monarchs are on the latest speakers list. In addition to Zelenskyy, Biden and Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro, other heads of state coming to the UN include the presidents of Turkey, Iran, France, Colombia, South Korea, South Africa, Egypt and Venezuela. Heads of government on the list include Britain's new Prime Minister Liz Truss, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also making a first appearance, and the prime ministers of Japan, Israel, Iraq and Pakistan. Russia and China are sending their foreign ministers. For many years, foreign ministers of the five veto-wielding permanent members of the UN Security Council the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France have met on the sidelines for lunch or dinner. Diplomats said no meeting is planned this year. During typical high-level weeks, thousands of people are in the UN complex for speeches and hundreds of side events. But because of the continuing pandemic, this year only the few events organised by the secretary-general and the General Assembly president are being held at UN headquarters. Dozens of side events will take place elsewhere in the city. A highlight will be the UN Security Council ministerial meeting on Sept 22 focusing on the fight against impunity in the war in Ukraine a topic decided by France which holds the council presidency this month. The meeting could put foreign ministers of the five permanent council nations in the same room with Ukraine's foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, who has been invited. Secretary-General Guterres, who just visited Pakistan, said, My message to world leaders gathering here is clear: Lower the temperature now, he said. "Don't flood the world today; don't drown it tomorrow. (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.) Iran's president headed on Monday to New York, where he will be speaking to the later this week, saying that he has no plans to meet with President on the sidelines of the U.N. event. President Ebrahim Raisi spoke at the Tehran airport before his departure as talks to revive Iran's tattered nuclear deal with world powers remain stalled. There is no plan for a meeting or negotiations with US leaders," Raisi said. We have no plans whatsoever for meeting them. The Iranian president called his appearance at the United Nations an opportunity to explain to the world about alleged malice that unspecified nations and world powers have toward . He did not elaborate. Raisi, who is accompanied by Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian and nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani, is to address both the General Assembly and a UNESCO meeting on religions. Talks between and world powers over reviving a 2015 nuclear deal remained stalled though Tehran and Washington have traded written responses in recent months on the finer points of the roadmap, which would see sanctions lifted against in exchange for it restricting its rapidly advancing nuclear program. Iran and the US have had no diplomatic relations since the 1979 US Embassy takeover by militant students in Tehran. On Sunday, CBS' 60 Minutes aired an interview with Raisi, who said the United States is not trustworthy and demanded guarantees that Washington would not withdraw again from a nuclear deal as President Donald Trump did in 2018. Raisi also told CBS that Iran is willing to discuss prisoner exchanges with the US, defended his country's anti-Israel stance and said Tehran was committed to pursuing justice for the killing of a top Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander, Gen. Qassem Soleimani, in a US airstrike in Baghdad in January 2020. (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.) More than 2,000 guests will gather in London's Westminster Abbey on Monday for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, who passed away on September 8 at the age of 96. Before the service commences at 11 a.m. (about 4 p.m. IST), a bell will toll for 96 consecutive minutes, marking the length of the Queen's life, reports the BBC. Towards the end of the service, the Last Post will be played, followed by a two-minute silence and a lament from the Queen's piper. With world leaders and dignitaries gathered in the 13th Century church for the service, King Charles III and the Queen Consort will lead the procession behind the Queen's coffin. The Prince and Princess of Wales will walk ahead of their nine-year-old son George and seven-year-old daughter Charlotte, followed by their uncle and aunt, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, and other members of the Royal Family. George and Charlotte's younger brother Louis, four, is not expected to attend. After the funeral ends, a committal service will follow in the evening at St George's Chapel in Windsor, the BBC reported. The bells of Westminster Abbey will later be rung, but muffled, as is tradition following the funeral of a sovereign. Some of the European royal families who will attend Monday's funeral are Belgium's King Philippe and Queen Mathilde; King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands and his wife, Queen Maxima, along with his mother, former Dutch queen Princess Beatrix; and King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain. Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako of Japan will also attend the service, as well as the King of Bhutan Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuk. Other expected guests include Sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah; Jordan's King Abdullah; Crown Prince of Kuwait, Sheikh Meshal al-Ahmad al-Sabah; King of Lesotho, Letsie III; and Hereditary Prince Alois of Liechtenstein. Royal leaders from Luxembourg, Malaysia, Monaco, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, and Tonga are expected. Leaders from across the Commonwealth, of which the Queen served as head for the entirety of her reign, will also attend. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has arrived in the UK, as have New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Indian President Droupadi Murmu have also reached London and will attend the funeral. The other world leaders to be in attendance are US President and First Lady Joe and Jill Biden; Irish Taoiseach Micheal Martin and President Michael Higgins; German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier; Italian President Sergio Mattarella; and French President Emmanuel Macron. --IANS ksk/ (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.) Nicosia [Cyprus], September 19 (ANI): The surprising and blistering advance of Ukrainian forces into Russian-held territory in Ukraine this month has most probably led several countries, which a few months ago were seriously studying a possible re-alignment towards Russia, to re-examine the whole question and try to improve their relations with the United States. Ukraine's military this month has managed to recapture more than 3,000 square miles of land in the country's northeast and south, causing a big strategic loss for Kremlin and driving Russian forces into a chaotic retreat. This retreat shows the dismal shortcomings of Russia's military planning, coordination and execution of military operations. The Russian Defense Ministry described the retreat as a decision "to regroup" its troops, even though a day earlier it had said that it was moving to reinforce its defensive positions in the region. It is really a far cry from the boasts made at the start of the invasion that "Kyiv will be conquered within 72 hours" and "a Russian puppet-government will be installed in Ukraine in days." What was almost unthinkable 7 months ago, at the start of the invasion, is that the war in Ukraine, instead of being a war ending in a few days- as Russian President Vladimir Putin planned- would evolve into a war of attrition. It showed the world that the vaunted and "mighty Russian Army" is not the formidable fighting machine almost everybody believed a few months ago, but an unorganised army facing a lot of problems. The change in the military situation in Ukraine must have made decision-makers in the and especially in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates as well as Egypt, re-examine their perceptions about the "powerful Russia" and the important role it plays in the Middle East, as well as about the US as an unreliable ally who is withdrawing from the region. In the last 20 years, Moscow turned its attention to the Middle East, providing economic and military aid and supporting diplomatically various governments in the region. In September 2015 Russia send its troops to Syria to support the regime of President Bashar al Assad and has since launched numerous air and missile strikes against the ISIL, the Free Syrian Army and the Al-Nustra Front, who were trying to topple the Syrian regime. It should be mentioned that Russia has its only naval facility in the Mediterranean region in the Syrian port of Tartus, which is widely believed to be a chief motivating factor for Russia's support of the Assad regime. Following the nuclear deal (JCPOA) signed by the US and other western powers with Iran - the arch-rival of the Gulf States and Israel - which placed significant restrictions on Tehran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief - as well as the humiliating US retreat from Afghanistan, the impression was given in the that the US was not so much interested in the region and its attention was focused on China and the Pacific islands. They now saw the US as an unreliable ally and started viewing Russia, as the dominant superpower, which could provide protection from Iran and its proxies. So, they started getting closer to Russia, closing deals and buying weapons from Moscow, which unlike Washington did not link arms sales to respect for human rights. In Egypt, the Russian state atomic energy corporation Rosatom last July began construction of the country's first nuclear power plant, with four 1200MW reactors, at an expected cost of 25 billion euros. It will be Moscow's largest project in Egypt since the Aswan Dam was completed in 1970. Saudi Arabia, which is the world's top arms importer and accounted for about 24 per cent of US arms exports, on 24 August announced that Deputy Defence Minister Khalid bin Salman signed an agreement with Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin "aimed at developing joint military cooperation between the two countries." Salman also met with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, who said that Russia had many new weapons systems that have "proven themselves well in Syria." The fact that Gulf countries and particularly Saudi Arabia and the UAE chose to sit on the fence and refrained from strongly condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine and just called for "a political settlement" is quite telling. The Saudis and the Emiratis are angry with the US Administration and President Biden in particular because they feel that Washington had not really supported them when Iranian-backed Houthis launched missile strikes against targets in the two Gulf states. They are also angry because the US is trying to revive the Iran nuclear deal, ignoring Saudi and Emirati objections. Moreover, as Russia drastically cut its gas supplies to Europe, Gulf States did nothing to cover the energy shortfall. The OPEC + countries, including the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, have refused to increase their production and decided to stick to a deal previously agreed upon between member states. To this day, all these countries together with Egypt, Turkey and Israel refuse to apply Western sanctions on Moscow. However, all this may change, due to the poor performance of the Russian military and Russian weapons in Ukraine that have exploded the myth of Russia being an invincible superpower and may make them look to Washington once again for their defence and also consider the alternative offered by Beijing. As Herb Keinon, points out in an article in Jerusalem Post: "Egypt and the Gulf states, which still feel threatened by Iran and had recently looked to Russia for arms, now will look elsewhere, as the Russian war machine fumbles in Ukraine. This will lead to a possible realignment, with nations casting their eyes toward Beijing and Washington... A badly weakened Russia will create enhanced dependence on the US by regional countries, which is bad for Iran. (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 slaughter some 7,000 pigs to try to stem the spread of African swine fever (ASF) following a new outbreak at a local farm, the agriculture ministry said on Monday. The animal disease broke out at a pig farm in Chuncheon, 85 km northeast of Seoul, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said, adding some 7,000 pigs at the farm will be culled as a preventive measure. The government also issued a 24-hour standstill order on pig farms and related facilities in Gangwon Province through 2 a.m. Tuesday and plans to carry out an in-depth inspection into 43 adjacent farms, Yonhap news agency reported. It also plans to conduct clinical tests on all of around 200 pig farms in the province, the ministry added. It marked this year's third ASF case, with the previous case having taken place in August in the eastern county of Yanggu. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo instructed officials to fully implement quarantine steps in close cooperation with local governments to contain the spread of the virus, according to his office. ASF does not affect humans but is deadly to pigs. There is currently no vaccine or cure for the disease. The ministry said that the current ASF situation is not likely to affect the country's pork supply, as the number of pigs to be culled this time accounts for about 0.06 percent of the total pigs currently being raised in the country. --IANS int/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.) An anti- group marched Sunday in Istanbul, demanding that associations be shuttered and their activities banned, in the largest demonstration of its kind in . Several thousand people joined the demonstration dubbed The Big Family Gathering. Kursat Mican, a speaker for the organisers, said they had gathered more than 150,000 signatures to demand a new law from Turkey's parliament that would ban what they called propaganda, which they say pervades Netflix, social media, arts and sports. Hatice Muge, who works as a nanny, came to the gathering from Bursa province. People are here despite the rain for their children, for future generations, she said, urging the Turkish government to take action. They should save the family, they should save the children from this filth." The group held banners that read: Protecting the family is a national security issue. LGBTQ parades have not been allowed in since 2015. Ahead of Sunday's demonstration, the organisers circulated a video using images from past LGBTQ Pride marches in . The video was included in the public service announcement list of Turkey's media watchdog. The video and the demonstration prompted an outcry from LGBTQ associations and other rights groups. The organisers of Pride called on the governor's office to ban the event and authorities to take down the video, arguing both were hateful. ILGA Europe, which works for LGBTQ equality, tweeted it was extremely concerned about the risks of violence. The Turkish state needs to uphold its constitutional obligation to protect all its citizens against hate and violence, it said. Amnesty International's Turkey office said public service announcements listing the event violated Turkey's equality and non-discrimination principles. Top Turkish officials have called LGBTQ people perverts who aim to hurt traditional family values. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US President said US forces would defend in the event of a Chinese invasion, his most explicit statement on the issue, drawing an angry response from China that said it sent the wrong signal to those seeking an independent . Asked in a CBS 60 Minutes interview broadcast whether US forces would defend the democratically governed island claimed by China, he replied: Yes, if in fact, there was an unprecedented attack. Asked to clarify if he meant that unlike in Ukraine, US forces American men and women would defend in the event of a Chinese invasion, Biden replied: Yes. The CBS interview was just the latest time that Biden has appeared to go beyond long-standing stated US policy on Taiwan, but his statement was clearer than previous ones about committing US troops to the defend the island. The has long stuck to a policy of strategic ambiguity and not making clear whether it would respond militarily to an attack on Taiwan. Asked to comment, a White House spokesperson said US policy towards Taiwan had not changed. The president has said this before, including in Tokyo earlier this year. He also made clear then that our Taiwan policy hasn't changed. That remains true, the spokesperson said. Taiwans foreign ministry expressed its thanks to Biden for his reaffirming of the US governments rock-solid security commitment to Taiwan. Taiwan will continue to strengthen its self-defense capabilities and deepen the close security partnership between Taiwan and the US, the Taiwan ministry said in a statement. The CBS interview with Biden was conducted last week. Chinese President has vowed to bring Taiwan under Beijings control and has not ruled out the use of force. Will not tolerate activities aimed to split us: China China on Monday made it clear to Washington that it will not tolerate any activities aimed at splitting the country and will take necessary measures to protect its sovereignty, hours after President again said the US military would defend the democratic and self-ruled island if Beijing tries to invade it. Reacting to Biden's interview with CBS News, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said the remarks seriously violated the one China policy and three joint communiques related to Taiwan. Bidens remarks seriously breached the US commitment of not supporting Taiwans independence, Mao said. China deplores and firmly opposes that and we have launched several representations, to the US, she said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) President says US forces would defend Taiwan if tries to invade the self-ruled island claimed by Beijing as part of its territory, adding to displays of official American support for the island democracy. Asked during an interview broadcast on Sunday on CBS News's 60 Minutes program whether US forces, US men and women, would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion, Biden said, Yes. CBS News reported the White House said after the interview that US policy hasn't changed. That policy says Washington wants to see Taiwan's status resolved peacefully but doesn't say whether US forces might be sent in response to a Chinese attack. Biden's comments come amid rising tension over Taiwan following efforts by Chinese President Xi Jinping's government to intimidate the island by firing missiles into the sea and flying fighter jets nearby and visits to Taipei by political figures including US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Washington is obligated by federal law to see that Taiwan has the means to defend itself but doesn't say whether US forces would be sent. The United States has no formal relations with the island but maintains informal diplomatic ties. Taiwan and split in 1949 after a civil war that ended with the Communist Party in control of the mainland. The two governments say they are one country but dispute which is entitled to be the national leader. Beijing criticizes official foreign contact with Taiwan's elected government as encouragement to make its de facto independence permanent, a step the mainland says would lead to war. Washington says it doesn't support formal independence for Taiwan, a stance Biden repeated in the interview broadcast Sunday. Taiwan makes their own judgments about their independence, the president said. We're not encouraging their being independent. In May, Biden said yes when asked at a news conference in Tokyo whether he was willing to get involved militarily to defend Taiwan if invaded. (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.) has thrown back in prison the brother of the country's former oil czar as part of an ongoing investigation into a multi-billion dollar embezzlement scheme at the state-run oil company. Fidel Ramirez was arrested last Wednesday after failing to appear in court as required by the terms of his bail, Venezuela's Attorney General Tarek William Saab said in a brief interview Sunday with The Associated Press. Ramirez was originally arrested in early 2018 for his alleged involvement in a decade-old scheme to siphon to a bank account in the tiny European country of Andorra USD 2 billion from state-run oil giant PDVSA. At the time of the alleged crimes, PDVSA was under the direction of his brother, former Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez, a harsh critic of the socialist government he once served. Specifically, Fidel Ramirez is accused of amassing 250,000 euros at an account at Banca Privada d'Andorra, or BPA, stemming from allegedly fraudulent medical services he billed PDVSA through two companies under other individuals' names. Banking authorities in Andorra, a mountainous country wedged between France and Spain, intervened BPA in 2015 amid allegations from the U.S. Treasury Department that it had become a central spoke for money laundering from government-connected elites in Venezuela, Russia and China. Rafael Ramirez did not immediately respond to a request for comment and has been mostly silent in recent days on social media, where he takes frequent jabs at Nicols Maduro's government and its repeated efforts to link him to at PDVSA. The latest attempt came earlier this month when Saab, acting in response to complaints from the current oil chief, Tareck El Aissami, accused Ramirez of involvement in a $5 billion currency scheme i nvolving fake loans to PDVSA from government insiders. Ramirez was for years one of former President Hugo Chavez's most trusted aides, charged with managing the world's largest petroleum reserves at a time of soaring oil prices. But when the late socialist icon fell ill, eventually dying of cancer, he saw his influence inside the Bolivarian revolution fade as his rival Maduro tightened his grip on power. He has called the accusations against him in a witch hunt taken in retaliation for his decision to break with Maduro, who he tried to unseat as president. Italy, where Ramirez fled after resigning in 2017 as Venezuela's ambassador to the United Nations, last year rejected Venezuela's extradition request, finding that he would face political persecution if he was sent bank. But Ramirez has also been on the radar of prosecutors in the U.S., having been named but not charged in an indictment partially unsealed in 2018 in Houston against five former PDVSA officials The indictment alleges two of the charged individuals told businessmen that proceeds from bribes made in exchange for quick payments and contracts would be shared with a senior Venezuelan official. That official was identified in the unsealed portion of the indictment only as Official B. The unidentified Venezuelan politician is Ramirez, a US official told The Associated Press. has long been rampant in Venezuela, which sits atop the world's largest petroleum reserves, but officials are rarely held accountable a major irritant to citizens, the majority of whom live on USD 1.90 a day, the benchmark of extreme poverty. (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.) Filmmaker Vinay Shukla's documentary "While We Watched", featuring news anchor Ravish Kumar, has bagged an award at the 2022 Toronto Film Festival (TIFF). The film, titled "Namaskar! Main Ravish Kumar" in Hindi, won the Amplify Voices Award at the recently concluded film gala, the press release from the makers stated. Other winners of the Amplify Voices Award included Nisha Pahuja's "To Kill a Tiger" for best Canadian feature and Martika Ramirez Escobar's "Leonore Will Never Die". "While We Watched" is described as a turbulent newsroom drama that intimately chronicles the working days of broadcast journalist Kumar as he navigates a spiralling world of truth and disinformation. "Through the lens of its protagonist - a man clinging onto integrity even as everything falls apart - While We Watched' urges the viewer to consider their own responsibility and culpability as news and media come under greater scrutiny than ever before, Vinay's upcoming film delivers the promise of a bold, timely, and globally relevant documentary," the official description read. Shukla's debut feature "An Insignificant Man", chronicling the rise of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), was also screened at the prestigious film festival in 2016. The filmmaker said journalists are the "foremost storytellers of our time". "I spent two years in Ravish's newsroom, watching him build his daily broadcast. Ravish and his team would get some stories right, some stories just about. Watching him, I realized that for every report that we see on the news, the journalist behind the report pays a cost - an emotional, financial, ethical and mental cost. "No story is easy, every story is personal. This film is about that personal cost that journalists pay to do their job right. My film would apply to any journalist who has stood their ground and chosen to file a story which was true to their beliefs. This film is my love letter to journalism," Shukla said in a statement. "While We Watched" is a UK production and is produced by LONO Studio and BRITDOC . (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Shares of rallied 10 per cent to hit a new high of Rs 568 on the BSE in Mondays intra-day trade following Adani Group's plans to infuse Rs 20,000 crore more in the company. The stock surpassed its previous high of Rs 550.15 touched on Friday. On September 15, 2022, Ambuja Cements new board approved an infusion of Rs 20,000 crore in the company by way of preferential allotment of 477.5 million convertible warrants at a price of Rs 419 to Harmonia Trade and Investment (promoter entity) on a preferential basis. The company said issuance of warrants can be exercised and converted into equity shares in one or more tranches within 18 months. The new promoters have categorically stated that they want to double the groups cement capacity in next five years and become largest and most efficient cement company by 2030. The management believes that the groups exposure into energy and logistics will help them to improve cost dynamics and gain supply chain efficiencies. "This signals promoters intent for growth and commitment for further investments into the cement business. Upon conversion of these warrants, promoters shareholding will increase to 70.3 per cent v/s 63.2 per cent at present, according to Motilal Oswal Financial Services. The commitment of Promoters for growing cement business has strengthened after their announcement of fund infusion in this business. We have assumed capacity of and ACC to be 88mtpa and 50mtpa, respectively in CY26E. The group has environmental clearance/plans for 25mtpa+ clinker capacities and the fundraising will help to pursue inorganic growth opportunities too, the brokerage firm said in company update. Meanwhile, soon after closure of the $6.4 billion transaction to buy Swiss major Holcims stake in by the Adani group, the boards of Ambuja Cements and its subsidiary, ACC, were reconstituted on Friday. took over as chairman of Ambuja Cements board, while his elder son Karan was appointed chairman and non-executive director at ACC. Karan will also be a non-executive director at Ambuja Cements. CLICK HERE FOR FULL REPORT Technical View Bias: Positive Support: Rs 552; Rs 510 Ambuja Cements has witnessed a runaway rally in the recent past, gaining nearly 29 per cent in the preceding three weeks prior to today. Including today's gain, the stock has soared as much as 38 per cent so far this month. Resistance: Rs 578; Rs 622Ambuja Cements has witnessed a runaway rally in the recent past, gaining nearly 29 per cent in the preceding three weeks prior to today. Including today's gain, the stock has soared as much as 38 per cent so far this month. Further, the stock has constantly managed to hold above the higher end of the Bollinger Band on the weekly chart during the last three weeks, and is seen trading in an unchartered territory. Despite the overbought conditions, the bias for the stock is likely to remain positive as long as Ambuja Cements trades above Rs 552-level, i.e. the higher-end of the Bollinger Band on the daily chart. As per the yearly Fibonacci chart, the stock seems headed towards Rs 578, above which the next target would be Rs 622. (With inputs from Rex Cano) Today: The key benchmark indices are likely to start trade on a quiet note following Fridays steep fall. The will be keenly following developments in the global and the all-important Fed meet outcome on Wednesday for further direction. As of 07:10 AM, the SGX Nifty futures quoted at 17,580, indicating a mild gap-up of around 40-odd points on the NSE benchmark. Meanwhile, following are the stocks that are likely to some action in trades on Monday. Transport & Logistics: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched the National Logistics Policy with an aim to promote seamless movement of goods and enhancing the competitiveness of the industry. The PM stressed on reduction in logistics cost as a crucial variable. READ MORE ACC, Ambuja Cements: Shares of cement firms are likely to be in focus on hopes of further consolidation in the industry. Meanwhile, soon after closure of the $6.4 billion transaction to buy Swiss major Holcims stake in by the Adani group, the boards of and its subsidiary, ACC, were reconstituted on Friday. Gautam Adani took over as chairman of Ambuja Cements board, while his elder son Karan was appointed chairman and non-executive director at . Karan will also be a non-executive director at . The plans to infuse Rs 20,000 crore more in Ambuja Cements. READ MORE Adani Power: The company has withdrawn its proposed delisting offer as it failed to receive an in-principle approval from the exchanges. The company had submitted the proposal in January 2021. ONGC: The domestic oil producer wants the government to scrap windfall profit tax levied on domestically produced crude oil and instead use the dividend route to tap into bumper earnings resulting from surge in global energy prices. Last week, the government slashed windfall tax on domestically produced crude oil to Rs 10,500 per tone, and export duty on diesel was brought down to Rs 10 a litre. Initially on July 01, the government had introduced a windfall tax of Rs 23,250 per tone on domestic crude production. READ MORE Amara Raja: The auto component maker expects its turnover to touch Rs 3,000 crore by 2025. The $1.3-billion group will be investing around Rs 7,000 crore on lithium-ion, while continuing its focus on traditional lead acid batteries. READ MORE Indus Towers: MD and CEO Bimal Dayal has submitted his resignation. In the interim, COO Tejinder Kalra and CFO Vikas Poddar will be jointly responsible for the functioning of the company. Granules India: The companys Rs 250 crore share buyback offer shall start on September 27 and end on October 11. The buyback price is fixed at Rs 400 per share. JMC Projects: The company's board is scheduled to meet on September 21 to consider a proposal for raising funds by way of issuance of non-convertible debentures on private placement basis. Bharat Wire Ropes: The companys board will meet on September 23 to consider a proposal for raising funds by way of preferential allotment. PC Jeweller: The company informed BSE, that the Supreme Court has dismissed SEBI's petition for review of its earlier judgement dated April 19, 2022 in the matter of insider trading in the stock. Zomato: The food-delivery aggregator unveiled a new Healthy section with filters such as High Protein, Low Calorie, Low Carbs, Low Fat, High Fibre, etc in a bid to offer customers more healthy food options in 10 cities. Hero MotoCorp: The country's largest two-wheeler maker is all set to foray into the electric segment next month with the launch of its first model in the domestic market under its Vida brand on October 7, 2022. Mafatlal Industries: The companys board has approved stock-split in the ratio of 1:5. Stocks in F&O ban: Indiabulls Housing Finance, India Cements, PVR and RBL Bank were the only stock in F&O ban period on Monday. Natco Pharma today received Order from Hon'ble High Court of Delhi stating that NATCO is allowed to launch Chlorantraniliprole (CTPR) and its formulations, through its non-infringing process. NATCO is the 1st Company in India to have received its registration approval given by Central Insecticide Board & Registration Committee (CIB&RC) recorded in its Minutes of the 425th Meeting held on 25 January 2021, for indigenous manufacture of Chlorantraniliprole (CTPR) Technical 93.00% w/w min. under Section 9(3). CTPR technical is formulated into broad spectrum insecticides used across wide range of crops for pest management. NATCO estimates the current market size of CTPR containing products in India to be over Rs 2000 crore. The Company plans to launch its products very shortly. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India's foreign exchange (forex) reserves dropped by $2.234 billion to $550.871 billion for the week ended September 9, the lowest level in two years, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data showed. India's forex reserves have dropped by almost $80 billion since this escalation of the Russia-Ukraine tensions into war earlier this year. This depletion, compared to the past 10 years, is likely the steepest India has ever witnessed. As per the Reserve Bank of India's weekly statistical supplement, foreign currency assets, which are the biggest component of the forex reserves, dipped by $2.519 billion to $489.598 billion during the week ended September 9. The value of gold reserves rose by $340 million to $38.644 billion during the week ended September 9. The value of India's Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) with the International Monetary Fund declined by $63 million to $17.719 billion during the week under review, the RBI data showed. India's reserve position in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) increased by $8 million to $4.910 billion during the week ended September 9, as per the RBI Weekly Statistical Supplement. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) With effect from 19 September 2022 Dish TV India announced that Jawahar Lal Goel (DIN : 00076462), Director of the Company, vide his letter dated 19 September 2022, has tendered his resignation from the Board of Directors of the Company and committee(s) thereof with effect from the close of business hours of 19 September 2022. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Shree Renuka Sugars advanced 1.62% to Rs 50.25 after the company informed that the expanded capacity for ethanol production, from 720 KLPD to 1250 KLPD, is expected to go on stream by December 2022. In February 2021, the board of directors of Shree Renuka Sugars had approved capacity expansion of ethanol production from 720 kilo litre per day (KLPD) to 970 KLPD. The said capex plan required an investment of Rs 204 crore, funded entirely via borrowings. Considering the huge untapped demand for ethanol due to the policies of Government of India on ethanol blending, the board of the company, at its meeting held on 25 June 2021, approved further capacity expansion for ethanol production from 970 KLPD to 1400 KLPD. The further addition to capacity was done at a cost of Rs 450 crore and the investment was financed by borrowings. The capacity utilization levels, as per the company's exchange filing, was 80%, subject to raw material availability. Offering the rationale, for its capex plans, Shree Renuka Sugars said that the Government of India has mandated 20% ethanol blending in fuel by 2025 against a current blending of 7.79%. Considering this, the company sees a huge untapped demand for ethanol for the ethanol blending program of the Government of India which can be of benefit to the company in the future. Shree Renuka Sugars is one of the largest sugar and green energy (ethanol and renewable power) producers in India. The company is a leader in branded sugar segment in the country and the largest sugar refiner in India. The company reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 113.30 crore in the quarter ended June 2022 as against net loss of Rs 240.40 crore during the previous quarter ended June 2021. Sales rose 134.90% to Rs 1953 crore in Q1 FY23 over Q1 FY22. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The first edit says New Delhi will have to establish a coherent connection between the broad economic and security aims of the G20 with the narrower concerns of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. The second edit is of the view that much is to be gained from lower logistics costs. We are on the threshold of a third globalisation, says Ajay Shah, discussing all its aspects Tamal Bandyopadhyay: Government borrowing will not be a cakewalk in the second half of the year Surinder Sud describes the sterling job being done by start-ups in the rural sector Unlock 30+ premium stories daily hand-picked by our editors, across devices on browser and app. Full access to our intuitive epaper - clip, save, share articles from any device; newspaper archives from 2006. Curated newsletters on markets, personal finance, policy & politics, start-ups, technology, and more. Pick your 5 favourite companies, get a daily email with all news updates on them. 26 years of website archives. The Janata Dal-United (JDU) unit of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and on Sunday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Delhi in the presence of party chief JP Nadda and the National General Secretary BL Santhosh. 16 members of the unit joined the which including ex-state president of . The development comes after the stitched alliance with RJD and others to form the 'Mahagathbandhan' (Grand Alliance) government in Bihar. "Members of JDU of and the entire unit of state JDU joined the today against Nitish Kumar's decision to leave the which had given impetus to development in Bihar and to choose the 'Bahubali', corrupt and a dynastic party," BJP said in a tweet earlier last week. Nitish Kumar is meeting the leaders of various parties across the country these days to create an atmosphere against the BJP for the 2024 general elections. However, Nitish Kumar denied speculation on his Prime Ministerial candidature, saying that "I am not even a claimant, I don't even desire it." Earlier in the first week of September, five out of six Janata Dal (United) MLAs in Manipur had joined the BJP. After Manipur JDU MLAs joined BJP, BJP Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Modi took a dig at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, saying that states like Manipur and Arunachal have become JDU-free. Notably, a few days ago, a bulk of JDU MLAs in Arunachal Pradesh joined the saffron party and very recently 5 out of 7 MLAs from Manipur embraced the BJP. On 25 August 2022, the lone JDU MLA from Arunachal Pradesh joined the saffron party in the presence of national president JP Nadda and Arunachal CM Pema Khandu.BJP stands at 49 out of 60 Assembly seats (MLA) with the merger of lone JDU MLA Techi Kaso with BJP. Out of 9 Corporators of JDU, 8 have joined BJP; now a total number of BJP corporators is 18 out of 20.Further17 out of 18 Zilla Parishad Members (ZPM) of JDU joined BJP. Now out of 241 ZPM, BJP is with 206 ZPM.In addition, out of 119 Gram Panchayat Members (GPM) of JDU, more than 100 joined BJP and with this BJP GPM are around 6,530 out of 8,332 GPM. Notably, In the first week of August, Nitish Kumar's party had severed its ties with the BJP in Bihar and walked out of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) alliance. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Chief Minister arrived in Delhi along with the eight newly inducted MLAs, who defected to the BJP from the Congress, late at night on Sunday. Sawant along with the new BJP joiners would meet Prime Minister on Monday. CM Sawant said, "We have come to Delhi to meet Prime Minister ." Earlier on September 14, all the eight MLAs; Digambar Kamat, Michael Lobo, Delilah Lobo, Rajesh Phaldesai, Kedar Naik, Sankalp Amonkar, Aleixo Sequeira and Rudolf Fernandes joined BJP after meeting Chief Minister at the Assembly complex. "I went to a temple, asked Gods and Goddesses that this (joining BJP) is in my mind, what should I do... God said, you go ahead, don't worry," said former Congress MLA Digambar Kamat. "We have merged with BJP with a majority of 2/3rd to strengthen the hands of PM Modi and CM ... Congress Chhodo, BJP ko Jodo," said former Congress MLA Michael Lobo. Meanwhile, CM Sawant also took a jibe at Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra and said, "Congress Chhodo Yatra will begin from now" while welcoming the leaders. The BJP already holds a majority of 25 in the House of 40 of which there are its own 20 MLAs with two others from the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party and three independent leaders. After joining eight Congress MLAs, its count will rise to 33. The development came amid Congress leader Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra to combat the BJP-led Centre and awaken the country's people to the dangers of economic inequalities, social polarisation, and political centralization. The Yatra includes Padayatras, rallies, and public meetings which will be attended by the senior Congress leaders including Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. (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 day-long conclave of the (AAP) on Sunday condemned the BJP's alleged "Operation Lotus" and passed a resolution, demanding that those involved in it be booked for sedition and handed down life imprisonment. The elected representatives of the AAP also took a pledge to make India the number one country in the world and take every possible effort to unite its 130 crore people for its success. Moving the resolution on "Operation Lotus", AAP MP Sanjay Singh dubbed it as the "biggest attack" ever on the sanctity of Independent India and said it poses a "greater threat" than any foreign invasion to the country. "Operation Lotus is placing illegal governments on the heads of the people by toppling elected governments in different parts of the country. It is the biggest scam in India," Singh read out the resolution. "Those responsible for the Operation Lotus are traitors. They should be charged with sedition and sentenced to life imprisonment," it demanded. In the second session of the conclave, Delhi Environment Minister and senior AAP leader Gopal Rai moved a resolution seeking support and commitment of the party leaders for the AAP convenor's "Make India No 1 initiative." "For this, we will have to ensure these five things in the country - good and free education and healthcare facilities to all, employment to every youth, respect and safety for every woman and full price to farmers for their crops. The country's 130 crore people will have to join this mission," Rai said reading out the resolution. The party said Rai's motion was seconded by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and was "unanimously passed by all the elected representatives," who attended the Rashtriya Janpratinidhi Sammelan here. (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.) Former chief minister Amarinder Singh joined the BJP here on Monday in the presence of senior party leaders Narinder Singh Tomar and Kiren Rijiju, and merged his Lok Congress (PLC) with the saffron party. He lauded the BJP for its commitment to national security and said this was one of the reasons of joining the ruling party at the Centre. Singh's son Raninder Singh and daughter Jai Inder Kaur also joined the BJP. Singh (80) had floated the PLC last year after quitting the Congress following his unceremonious exit as chief minister, but his party failed to win any seat in the state assembly polls. He himself lost from his home turf of Patiala Urban. Along with Singh, former deputy speaker of Assembly Ajaib Singh Bhatti, former MP Amrik Singh Aliwal, former legislators Harchand Kaur, Harinder Singh Thekedar, Prem Mittal and labour leader Kewal Singh also joined the BJP with scores of his supporters. The former adviser to Amarinder Singh, BIS Chahal, also joined the saffron party. Later, Singh said that prior to his spine surgery abroad, he held discussions with his colleagues in Punjab Lok Congress, who told him that "if we want to see a future in Punjab, we need to join the BJP". "Now is the time to do something for the country. We have seen the Congress, now it is time to go to the party that has been doing so much for the country and its security. It is a pleasure being here," Singh told reporters. Asked whether his wife Preneet Kaur would also join the BJP, he said "is it necessary for the wife to do what the husband is doing", leaving everyone in laughter. To a question on whether he supported the completion of the Satluj Yamuna Link (SYL) canal, he said, "My job is to fight for Punjab and I will continue to do that." "Our ideology is the same," he said, adding that Punjab faces threats from across the border in Pakistan. "We are hemmed in by two borders, two hostile nations and it is our duty to protect our country, our home state. If we don't do it, then we are not doing our duty towards the nation," he said. Singh alleged that during (former defence minister) A K Antony's time not even one type of weapon was purchased by the Army, Navy or Air Force. "Weaponry is coming in and that is necessary for us if we have to secure our nation," he said, adding that the BJP was doing a lot to strengthen the nation's security. The former chief minister also thanked the prime minister and the home minister for extending support to him. "We are a border state and I have been in for 52 years. I have seen over a period of time that our relationship with Pakistan deteriorated. The animosity that they have put forward, we have noted that with growing dismay. We have had three wars in 1961, 1965, and 1971, and since then this animosity has grown," he noted. Singh also said that he has been bringing the drone issue to the notice of the prime minister and the home minister, saying, "drones are coming in from across the border". He said earlier they were coming in till 7 kms, now they are coming up to 42 kms, and they bring weapons, narcotics, and counterfeit currency with them. "The objective is to create complete chaos in the border state," he noted. Singh, the two-time former chief minister, is the scion of the erstwhile Patiala royal family. Before his joining, Singh met BJP president J P Nadda and will be meeting Home Minister Amit Shah soon. Earlier, welcoming Singh and his party members into the BJP fold, Union minister Narinder Singh Tomar said Capt Amarinder Singh has always considered the nation first and has kept the nation above everything. "I welcome Amarinder Singh and his party into the BJP fold," he said. He also noted that Punjab is a border state and it is important for the security of the nation that peace is maintained in the state. "Capt sahib's thought has been similar to that of the BJP, as BJP is the lone political party which considers the nation first and the party after that. Amarinder Singh has also maintained this view all his life. Capt Amarinder coming with the BJP means that he wants peace and security in Punjab. The BJP will be strengthened in Punjab with his joining. This will be a historic step," Tomar said. Union minister Kiren Rijiju said Punjab is a state which needs to be handled with care and asserted that they have seen Capt Amarinder Singh and his functioning. "I would like to offer a hearty welcome to Amarinder Singh ji.We all are extremely excited. This is a important milestone in India's political history," he said. Punjab BJP chief Ashwani Sharma was also present on the occasion. (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.) Former chief minister and Punjab Lok Congress chief Amarinder Singh is likely to join the here on Monday in presence of its senior leaders. The 80-year-old Singh will also merge his newly formed Punjab Lok Congress (PLC) with the . Singh had floated the PLC last year after quitting the Congress following his unceremonious exit as chief minister. The PLC contested the elections in alliance with the and the Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa-led Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyuk). However, none of its candidates could register a win, with Singh himself losing from his home turf of Patiala Urban. Singh will join the BJP in the presence of its senior leaders in Delhi on Monday, PLC spokesperson Pritpal Singh Baliawal had said. The former Punjab chief minister recently returned from London following a spinal surgery, and met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah. After his meeting with Shah on September 12, Singh said he held a very productive discussion on various issues related to security, rising cases of narco-terrorism in Punjab and the future roadmap for the state's overall holistic development. The two-time former chief minister is the scion of the erstwhile Patiala royal family. (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.) Escalating his offensive against the Left front government, Governor Arif Mohammed Khan on Monday accused the State of silencing voices of dissent, including that of the Raj Bhavan. Khan launched an allout attack against the ruling LDF over issues including his alleged heckling at a varsity in 2019, functioning of the universities in the State and the State's revenue generation largely dependent on lottery and liquor sales. At a news conference here, Khan shared with the media video-clippings of him being allegedly heckled at the Kannur University event in 2019 and some correspondence with the government over the functioning of varsities. Khan, whose outburst came in the wake of the Assembly recently passing a Bill apparently aimed at curtailing his powers as Chancellor of universities, charged the State with silencing differing voices and claimed the Raj Bhavan was not spared as well. He alleged that certain ideologies which originated from outside India, in an apparent reference to the ruling Left front's Communist ideology, believes in use of force "to silence dissent, difference of opinion and liquidate those who they consider their class enemies." He claimed that the pressure tactics of the State government were aimed at forcing him to sign the University Laws and Lok Ayukta Amendment Bills and as soon as gives his assent, the "relations will be normalised immediately." "So you can apply pressure tactics and I cannot take a stand on them? Please don't play these games with me. I have seen enough. If I sign the Bills, they will commit illegalities and then ask me to endorse the same. I cannot allow that. If they pass a Bill to take over the powers of the Chancellor, I will sign that. But while I am Chancellor, I cannot sign the illegalities they commit," he said. He alleged that he has noticed that the personal secretaries of the Ministers were running the affairs of the government. The Governor, however, said that despite the pressure tactics against him by the State government there was no Constitutional crisis in . He was responding to a question on whether he has any plan to invoke Article 356 (President's rule) in the State in the prevailing situation. Khan, sharing videos of the incident on two wide screens set up at the Raj Bhavan auditorium, said a senior functionary who is now in the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) can be seen in the visuals preventing the police from discharging their duties. He was referring to K K Ragesh, private secretary to the Chief Minister, and also hit out at historian Irfan Habib in the context of the 2019 incident. "In a State where people are arrested for wearing black shirts, these things happen. The police personnel tried to control the situation and stopped the people from reaching me," he said. A senior functionary, who is in the Chief Minister's Office, can be seen in the video preventing police from discharging their functions," he said. "Ragesh stopped the police from doing their duty. Possibly that is why he has been rewarded," the Governor added. Ragesh was a Rajya Sabha member then. Khan also asked if the protest at Kannur University was spontaneous, why did some of them come prepared with placards. He further alleged that the government tried to interfere in the functioning of the Raj Bhavan by questioning appointments to his staff and therefore, he took action against the same. They had to eat humble pie. I knew the man (government official who wrote a letter questioning the appointment) was innocent. But I wanted to send a message that these pressure tactics will not work on me. Even that has not opened their eyes. "The pressure tactics are continuing even now. That and other reasons prompted me to raise the issue now," the Governor said. Khan said the State government cannot curtail his powers as it was he who administered the oath of office to them and not the other way round. In his vehement attack on the government, Khan said it was a shame the sources of revenue of the State were primarily based on lottery and alcohol sales. "Lottery and alcohol are our main sources of revenue. What a shame. Instead of doing anything for the people, like developing infrastructure, building roads or improving our tourism, their attention is focused on silencing those who differ with them. They are not even ready to spare the Raj Bhavan," Khan said. He raked up the alleged political killings in Kannur, Chief Minister Vijayan's home turf, to target the CPI(M)-led LDF government. He said the number of political killings in the State are an indication of such an ideology which permits use of force against opponents. It was also evident from the conduct of an LDF convener who is barred from flying on an airliner for attacking two persons on a plane, from the "thrashing of the Constitution by a now former minister" and from the language of Pakistan used by another former minister, Khan said. "Irfan Habib is the icon of the ideology which believes in use of force against those holding a different view. If they can attack people inside a plane, what is so surprising if they try to attack me on the stage," Khan said. "Being elected representatives of the people means you have to uphold the law and not break it, he said and alleged that every rule was bent to appoint the wife of the personal secretary of Vijayan as an associate professor in the Malayalam department of Kannur University as she did not have the requisite teaching experience," 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.) In a bid to counter the rally of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the leaders have decided to organise four rallies in the Seemanchal region of . Shah is scheduled to arrive in on September 23 and he has two rallies in the Muslim dominated Purnea and Kishanganj districts. Keeping this in view, the JD(U) and RJD think tanks have decided to counter every move of the saffron parties like they did in the 2015 Assembly election. Lalan Singh, the national president of JD(U) claims that the four rallies of will be held in four districts with an aim to keep intact the communal harmony and brotherhood between the communities in the region. Lalan Singh, however, did not announce the venues of the rallies, but it is being said that they will be held in Kishanganj, Purnea, Araria and Katihar districts to give a strong reply to and the . Singh said that the top leaders of the RJD also agreed to the rallies. The actual date and place of the rallies are not decided yet. Besides Seemanchal, JD(U) is likely to organise a massive rally in Varanasi in November or December this year to challenge Prime Minister Narendra Modi. There is also a buzz that Nitish Kumar may contest the 2024 Lok Sabha election from Phulpur, Ambedkar Nagar or Jaunpur. These Lok Sabha constituencies have a good number of Kurmi and Muslim voters. The JD(U) is also looking for an alliance with the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh. --IANS ajk/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 Opposition on Monday targeted Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, alleging that he was deplaned from a Delhi-bound flight at the Frankfurt airport as he was drunk, a charge denied by the ruling as baseless. (SAD) chief alleged that Mann was deplaned from flight because of being in an inebriated state. Disturbing media reports quoting co-passengers say Pb CM @BhagwantMann was deplaned from flight as he was too drunk to walk. And it led to a 4-hour flight delay. He missed AAP's national convention. These reports have embarrassed & shamed Punjabis all over the globe, he tweeted. However, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief spokesperson Malvinder Singh Kang called the allegations baseless and bogus, and accused the rival parties of indulging in a negative propaganda to defame the chief minister. The allegations are baseless, bogus and false, Kang said and alleged that the opposition parties were spreading canards against the chief minister as they cannot digest the fact that he was working hard to get investments into the state. Mann returned from his eight-day trip from Germany on Monday where he had gone to attract investments. Badal, in another tweet, also expressed shock that the state government is silent over the issue. Shockingly, Pb govt is mum over these reports involving their CM @BhagwantMann @ArvindKejriwal needs to come clean on this issue. Govt of India must step in as this involves Punjabi & national pride. If he was deplaned, GoI must raise the issue with its German counterpart, he said. Congress leader and Leader of Opposition of Punjab Assembly, Partap Singh Badal sought an inquiry into the matter. He said if the reports about deplaning of Mann were right, it would be an embarrassment for the whole nation. (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.) Congress leader on Monday interacted with at Vadackal beach in Kerala's Alappuzha and discussed the challenges faced by them ahead of starting the 12th day of his party's Bharat Jodo Yatra. The Wayanad MP held discussions about the rising fuel costs, reduced subsidies, dwindling fish stock, inadequate educational opportunities and environmental destruction among other issues. "At 6 am, interacted with fisherfolk at Vadackal beach in Alappuzha on their challenges--rising fuel costs, reduced subsidies, dwindling fish stock, lack of social welfare & pensions, inadequate educational opportunities, and environmental destruction," Congress leader Jairam Ramesh informed in a tweet. The Yatra is in its leg and would traverse through the state for the next 12 days. The 3,500-km march from Kanyakumari to Kashmir will be completed in 150 days and cover as many as 12 states. From Kerala, the Yatra will traverse through the state for the next 18 days, reaching Karnataka on September 30. It will be in Karnataka for 21 days before moving north. The Padyatra (march) will cover a distance of 25 km every day. Meanwhile, the Yatra was mired in controversy after a video surfaced of local Congress leaders allegedly extorting donations from a vegetable vendor in Kollam, . A vegetable shopkeeper was allegedly threatened by Congress workers in Kollam for not contributing Rs 2,000 towards the collection of funds for the Bharat Jodo Yatra. According to Congress, the Bharat Jodo Yatra is being held to combat the divisive of the BJP-led Centre and to awaken the people of the country to the dangers of economic inequalities, social polarisation, and political centralization. said that the spirit of the Bharat Jodo Yatra is to bring Indians together irrespective of religion, community and remind them that this is one country and it will be successful if we stand together and are respectful towards each other. The Yatra includes Padayatras, rallies, and public meetings which will be later attended by the senior Congress leaders including Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. The Congress suffered a debacle in the assembly polls held earlier this year and the Yatra is seen as an attempt to rally the party rank and file for the upcoming electoral battles. (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 Uddhav Thackeray-led faction of the on Monday asserted there was no other option but to hold its annual rally at the Shivaji Park in next month and said it will approach court if permission to use the iconic venue was denied to them. Talking to reporters, a spokesperson and former mayor Kishori Pednekar accused the Eknath Shinde-led government in Maharashtra of trying to corner the Thackeray faction over its rally, one of the most important events in the Shiv Sena's annual calendar. Pednekar claimed efforts are being made to ensure the Thackeray faction was not able to hold its annual rally on Dussehra, which will be celebrated on October 5. If you are trying to corner us by displaying arrogance of power, by pressuring officials (to deny nod for using the venue), then we will do what (Sena president) Uddhav ji decides. You will see what happens. The party chief (Uddhav Thackeray) will decide (on the future course of action) and if need arises, we will go to court. We are trying to ensure that there is no law and order problem which is why we are asking for permission. But the attempts are being made to thwart our annual rally," she alleged. The rival Sena factions had staked claim to hold their respective rallies at the iconic Shivaji Park in Dadar in central Mumbai, a venue closely associated with the formation and growth of the saffron outfit. Both sides had also alternately applied for permission to use the BKC (Bandra Kurla Complex for their rallies. The Sena faction headed by Chief Minister has received a nod to hold its rally at the BKC, a business district in suburban . But, no decision has been taken by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), currently under the control of a state government-appointed administrator, for allowing the Shivaji Park ground to be used for the high-profile event. Arvind Sawant, Lok Sabha MP and a spokesperson of the Thackeray faction, said it will be easier for them to get permission for their rally at the Shivaji Park now that the Shinde camp has got the nod to hold a rally in BKC. Sawant told PTI that the 'first-come-first-serve' principle was applied while giving permission to the Shinde group to hold a rally at the MMRDA ground in BKC, which is a stone's throw away from 'Matoshree', the private residence of former CM . There can be no other option for the Thackeray faction other than 'Shivtirth (the term the party uses for Shivaji Park) to hold its rally, Sawant said. Asked what if the party is denied permission to hold its rally at the Shivaji Park, Sawant said his faction will "see what can be done" after that, hinting at taking legal recourse to bag the nod. He said the BMC is yet to deny permission to hold the rally. "Now it will be easier for us (to get nod for Shivaji Park). They (Shinde group) got permission on a first-come-first-serve basis. So, the same principle applies to us as well for the Shivaji Park, the Lok Sabha member said. Attacking the Bharatiya Janata Party, a constituent of the Shinde government, Sawant alleged the BJP's game plan was to pit the two factions of the against each other. Shinde revolted against the Sena leadership and walked away with 39 other MLAs of the party in June this year, bringing down the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government. The Dussehra rally at the Shivaji Park is an annual gathering of the Shiv Sena since its inception. It is here that Shiv Sena chiefs - earlier founder Bal Thackeray and then his son and successor - mostly spelt their agenda and targeted rivals. This year's rally assumes significance as both and CM Shinde claim their respective factions to be the original Shiv Sena. Meanwhile, Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar backed the Uddhav Thackeray-led faction and said his group is the "real" Shiv Sena to hold the annual congregation at the Shivaji Park. "I have been seeing this for 30-40 years. When one says Shivaji Park, then it is the Shiv Sena, the one led by Balasaheb Thackeray. And that Shiv Sena is Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena. So, their demand for the Dussehra rally is not wrong," Pawar told reporters. "(CM) Shinde also has the right to hold a Dussehra rally. They (the Shinde faction) had sought the BKC ground and got it. Once their problem is resolved, then there is no issue of opposing others. I am not saying they have not done it, but it is important to grant permission, he said. The NCP, the Shiv Sena and the Congress were alliance partners in the previous MVA government led by Uddhav Thackeray. (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.) leader has courted controversy by claiming that those involved in violence and attacks on police during BJP's recent march to the secretariat can be "taught a lesson in just 10 minutes". Mitra, however, added that the Trinamool Congress is not in favour of such an action in retaliation to BJP's "disruptive policies". The former state minister's comments come close on the heels of general secretary and MP Abhishek Banerjee's remark that if I was there, I would have shot the violent protesters in the head. Mitra, speaking at a public meeting in Kamarhati constituency on Sunday, said, "If there is an instruction from the party, it won't take more than 10 minutes to thrash those who were involved in hooliganism and vandalism (during BJP's Nabanna Abhijan' on September 14). We can retaliate with double the force than the attackers. The maverick MLA also said has emphasised it wants development not violence. It speaks the language of love and compassion, not vandalism. Senior leader Rahul Sinha hit back, saying TMC leaders are increasingly making dangerous comments, and they have lost the support of people. Over 20 people have been arrested in specific cases of assault on police officers, and destruction of government property in Kolkata and Howrah during the rally. The saffron camp has maintained that none of their workers were involved in violence at the march. (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.) is reportedly using modem and its own technology to provide satellite communications Emergency SOS feature on new iPhone 14 series. The Emergency SOS feature in iPhone 14 series uses multiple components utilising X65 modem processor, reports AppleInsider. Qualcomm's X65 modem also provides 5G for regular cellular networks. and in 2019 announced an agreement to dismiss all ongoing litigations, including with Apple's contract manufacturers, between the two companies worldwide. The companies reached a global patent license agreement and a chipset supply agreement. and Qualcomm have fought over patent licensing practices since 2017. The Emergency SOS via satellite combines custom components deeply integrated with software to allow antennas to connect directly to a satellite, enabling messaging with emergency services when outside of cellular or Wi-Fi coverage. This breakthrough technology also allows users to manually share their location over satellite with Find My when there is no cellular or Wi-Fi connection, providing a sense of security when hiking or camping off the grid. According to Apple, Emergency SOS via satellite will be available to users in the US and Canada in November, and the service will be free for two years. --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.) Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], September 19 (ANI/BusinessWire India): Social impact start-up and integrated workspace solutions provider, Mikro Grafeio has announced the launch of its new (https://berighthere.com) centres across Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu adding to its inventory approximately 12000 sq feet more earlier today. With these new centres, Mikro Grafeio has now expanded its presence to 15 cities, 25 centres with over 125,000 sq feet of workspace. Mysuru, Karnataka saw the first of these launches, supporting Karnataka Digital Economy Missions ambitious 'Beyond Bengaluru' initiative. With this centre at Mysuru, Mikro Grafeio hopes to bring about a necessary change in outlook for commercial spaces in cities beyond Bengaluru for the right social and economic impact to make its mark. Mikro Grafeio also looks forward to empower organisations and help them set up their centres of excellence through end-to-end workplace solutions and is working with KDEM to realise the Karnataka State Government's vision for growth and development of Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities and pass on incentives to startups and corporates moving into these locations. Inaugurating the new facility at Mysuru, Sudheer Shankar, Head - KDEM Mysuru cluster said, "KDEM is committed towards bringing digital economic opportunity to Beyond Bengaluru clusters and creating more job opportunities for people in the region. We are happy to see that our partners in progress Mikro Grafeio, taking an active role and being the catalyst to help realise the 'Beyond Bengaluru' initiative by setting up these unique workspaces to promote work clusters in other cities, aiding sustainable, inclusive growth." Similarly, Dr Rajaram Venkataraman, Convener and Head, FICCI Technology Panel at the inauguration in Chennai observed that these workspaces are a compelling offering at a critical point of time. He also acknowledged the benefits to corporates availing Mikro Grafeio's services highlighting business readiness over and above infrastructure support, that includes recruitment of local talent and upskilling if required, as value-added benefits. The weeks ahead will see more centres being added, including unique solutions comprising collaborative workspaces such as a boutique satellite office within a four star hotel, and workspaces in hospitality hubs like cafe's and micro-breweries. The centres in Kochi were inaugurated by Mohan V Mathew, Co-Founder- Mikro Grafeio. He spoke about his vision to help setup mikro-offices across India especially in smaller towns to help people find a workspace closer to home. With the launch of these new centres in Kochi at MG Road & Kakkanad, he confirmed that the future plans are to keep this momentum going. The centres gearing up for a launch next are in Hubballi, Mangaluru, Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode and Bengaluru. This expansion comes at a time when companies are still coping with the post-pandemic work culture and employee expectations, high on the heels of the recently seen floods in certain cities. CEO, Mikro Grafeio, Santosh Mahalingam also shared his views "As a social impact start-up, our aim is to create an ecosystem that synergises the local economy leading to direct and indirect employment. Our efforts are directed to support economic recovery and shape a new era of growth through sustainability, building healthy and equitable societies in the process. Companies too get to reinvent themselves, meet their ESG goals and improve their work culture by offering their employees a workspace closer to home or a hybrid model through our solutions." This story has been provided by BusinessWire India. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content in this article. (ANI/BusinessWire India) DISCLAIMER (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) China contributes over 30 pct to world economic growth in 2013-2021 Xinhua) 08:34, September 19, 2022 Aerial photo taken on July 29, 2022 shows container ships at the Qianwan Container Terminal in Qingdao Port, east China's Shandong Province. (Xinhua/Li Ziheng) BEIJING, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- China's average contribution to global economic growth exceeded 30 percent during the 2013-2021 period, ranking first across the world, a recent report showed. In 2021 alone, China's economic aggregate accounted for 18.5 percent of the world's total after currency translation based on average annual exchange rates, the second largest in the world and up 7.2 percentage points from 2012, according to the report released by the National Bureau of Statistics. China's gross domestic product (GDP) expanded at an average annual growth rate of 6.6 percent from 2013 to 2021, higher than the growth pace of 2.6 percent for the global economy and 3.7 percent for developing economies. The country's per capita GDP hit 80,976 yuan (about 11,684 U.S. dollars) last year, surging 69.7 percent from 2012 after deducting the price factor. The report highlighted China's progress in promoting innovation-driven development in the past ten years. The country rose to 12th on the Global Innovation Index 2021, up from 34th in 2012, according to the World Intellectual Property Organization. Over the past decade, China has seen a better economic structure and more coordinated growth, as final consumption expenditure contributed 65.4 percent to the 2021 economic expansion. It is up ten percentage points from 2012, and the added value of the manufacturing sector jumped 74.3 percent during the same period. On the green development front, China's accumulative afforestation area amounted to approximately 59.44 million hectares from 2013 to 2021. The report also showed that the total value of China's goods and services trade reached 6.9 trillion U.S. dollars in 2021, continuing to rank top globally. China has also pursued more inclusive growth, aiming to make achievements that benefit all. From 2013 to 2020, China had lifted 98.99 million rural residents living below the current poverty line out of poverty, it added. (Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun) Sometimes its good to be reminded of just how good a car is by giving it go once more. In the case of the Mitsubishi Xpander, its the smal... CEMEX sees Alicante quarry expansion approved ICR Newsroom By 19 September 2022 Spains Ministry of Economy has extended CEMEXs licence to expand the Serreta Larga quarry in Alicante, Spain. The quarry supplies limestone and marl to the San Vicente del Raspeig cement plant and will now be able to operate for a further 30 years. The approval marks the end of a 12-year licence application process. The delimited perimeter of the quarry has approximately 15.5Mt of reserves with a planned extraction rate of 520,000t per year. CEMEX will have to provide guarantees of more than EUR2.5m to subsequently restore the open pit mine. On land already exploited in the area CEMEX has carried out a citrus cultivation project. Published under The energetic industrialist Sam Winchester was among the Roane Iron Company executives who made their homes on the East Terrace of Cameron Hill. Winchester was born Feb. 25, 1825, in Chautauga, N.Y. He married Emeline Wyman at Chautauga. He made his way to Chattanooga in 1872 and had one of the earliest mansions at the top of the hill. It was at 41 (later 941) East Terrace "between Gillespie and James." The home was between the Xenophon Wheeler and D.P. Montague showplaces. The home, set back above a sprawling lawn, was a type of the English country manor. There was a circle drive just in front of the house leading to a wide entryway. Banks of windows were on either side to take advantage of the extraordinary view. Above were small balconies on each side. Winchester soon switched to the lumber business, joining with his son-in-law J. Edgar Line in a plant at the foot of Market Street. The Lines at one time lived at Winchester's spacious home on Cameron Hill. The firm was known as S.M. Winchester & Co. with operations behind the Alabama & Chattanooga Railroad depot. Later, Winchester headed the Southern Lumber Company. Winchester in 1886 erected the Winchester Block at the corner of Seventh and Market. This was later superceded by the Richardson Block, which was destroyed by fire. Then the Miller's Building was erected there. Sam Winchester died April 23, 1903, at the age of 78. He left a widow and one daughter. The funeral was conducted at the East Terrace residence. His widow stayed on for a couple of years at the Cameron Hill home. Then it was sold to the R.A. Cliffords. Clifford was an Englishman who had married Louise Chamberlain, daughter of H.S. Chamberlain. He was born at Oxfordshire, England, in 1865. His parents died when he was at a young age and he was raised by his grandfather. Following the death of his grandfather, R.A. Clifford decided to come to the United States. He had joined the Chattanooga Wagon Company upon his arrival in Chattanooga. Clifford later went to Owensboro, Ky., as an official of the Owensboro Wagon Company. The Winchester home then went to T.L. Montague. After the Cliffords later returned to Chattanooga, they lived in the old J.F. Loomis home at 1121 East Terrace for many years. The last use of the Sam Winchester home was for the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Mental Health Association. Hazel Montague donated it to the group. Frank L. Winchester, who was apparently a kinsman of Sam Winchester, was also a Cameron Hill resident. He lived in a two-story frame house across from the distiller J.O. Martin at 309 Cedar Street. It was next door to a ravine that caused Third Street to end at Cedar. Frank L. Winchester was an official of Loomis and Hart sawmill and furniture dealer. The recent emergency declaration by New York Governor Kathy Hochul after finding Poliovirus in sewage samples has underscored the need for Rotarys eradication efforts to continue. Rotarians began the PolioPlus Program in 1985 to provide immunizations to children around the world. Internationally, club members have provided more than $2 billion which has immunized over 3 billion children in 122 countries. Former Rotary Club International President John Germ noted, Weve been diligent in the work to eradicate Polio around the world; however, the news from New York state shows that there is work to be done in our own country as well. As Rotarians, we step up to meet needs wherever they are and will be encouraging our members to do even more to promote immunizations. Even though the State of Tennessee notes that over 85 percent of children have been vaccinated, there has been an approximate drop of nearly 3 percent in immunizations against the disease since last year. The Chattanooga Rotary Club has been focused on eradicating the disease for many years, providing $132,694 to support the effort over the last five years alone. Rotary Club President Virginia Anne Sharber said, Each year, Rotarians provide funds that go directly toward the eradication of Polio. Last year our club members donated $34,764 toward the effort and with the recent finding of the virus re-emerging in our country, its important to emphasize the importance and the ease of immunizations. For over 40 years, Rotarians have never wavered in fulfilling their commitment to children around the world. Today, the infrastructure Rotary was instrumental in building to fight Polio has also been used to help prevent the spread of COVID by supporting preparedness and response activities around the world, said officials. The Plus in PolioPlus has never been more important than it is today, said Ms. Sharber. Our legacy to global health is one we take very seriously and it is our hope that parents throughout the region will make sure their babies receive immunizations that can set them on a very healthy course for the future. Point Park, atop Lookout Mountain, part of Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, is waiving the entrance fee this Saturday to celebrate National Public Lands Day. Officials said, "National Public Lands Day, organized by the National Environmental Education Foundation, celebrates the connection between people and green space in their community, inspires environmental stewardship and encourages use of open space for education, recreation and health benefits. "Celebrate with us by visiting Point Park on this fee free day to indulge in the views and scenery of the Chattanooga Valley from 2,100 feet above, hike the natural and wildlife-abounding Lookout Mountain Battlefield 30-miles of trails, while learning the historical significance of this area during Americas Civil War in what became known as, 'The Battle Above the Clouds.'" During the day, park rangers will provide programs at 11 a.m., 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., and will also be available at the Lookout Mountain Battlefield Visitor Center from the hours of 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. to answer questions and provide information about the park and the Battles for Chattanooga. For more information about programs at Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, contact the Chickamauga Battlefield Visitor Center at 706-866-9241, the Lookout Mountain Battlefield Visitor Center at 423-821-7786, or visit the park website at www.nps.gov/chch. Queen Elizabeth II was the longest-serving monarch in British royal history. She sat on the throne for 70 years but she never took for granted those who would come after her. She was determined that her oldest son, Charles, would succeed her. And it was imperative that he continued her promise of lifelong duty and service to the crown. Heres how Queen Elizabeth prepared Charles to be king. Then Prince Charles with his mother Queen Elizabeth II in 2019 | Paul Edwards Then Prince Charles with his mother Queen Elizabeth II in 2019 | Paul Edwards WPA Pool/Getty Images Queen Elizabeth made a personal request that Charles succeed her on the throne The role of the monarch in the United Kingdom is not hereditary, but King Charles has lived almost his entire life as the heir. Queen Elizabeth made her wishes clear of who should succeed her back in 2018 when she made a personal request at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. It is my sincere wish that the Commonwealth will continue to offer stability and continuity for future generations and will decide that one day the Prince of Wales will carry on the important work started by my father in 1949, the queen said in her statement. Just before Her Majesty spoke, Charles told the group that represented 53 nations that the Commonwealth has been a fundamental feature of my life for as long as I can remember. At the time, the queen was 91 and starting to have mobility and health issues. She proceeded to appoint Charles as her successor, with support from various heads of government in the Commonwealth then reduced her own public appearances. King Charles spent decades preparing for his new role as monarch Charles has been the heir to the throne since he was three years old, and hes been preparing to be king ever since. Now at age 73, Charles is the oldest monarch to ascend to the throne in British history. King Charles is now the head of the Commonwealth, a postcolonial group formed after the end of the British Empire that features 54 independent countries and 2.4 billion people. He is also the head of state in 15 of those nations, including Canada and Australia. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace into a world of immense wealth and privilege. Royal expert Sally Bedell Smith says that right away he officially became public property, per CNBC. He didnt have an easy childhood, according to royal historians, because his parents were rarely present. Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip missed Charles first two Christmases and his third birthday because they were touring the Commonwealth. Because he was a very sensitive and emotional young man, his alpha male father sent him to Gordonstoun a rough, spartan boarding school in Scotland so he could toughen up. Royal biographer Tina Brown says that this was absolutely the story of his life. Charles family was constantly trying to shove him into this mold because he was the future king that he just didnt fit. Charles later described his education as a prison sentence. Queen Elizabeth gave her oldest son the freedom to forge his own path At the age of 21, Charles admitted to a BBC radio program that realizing he would one day be king was something that dawns on you with the most ghastly, inexorable sense. That was in 1969 when he was invested as Prince of Wales and formally began his public duties. For the past five decades, Charles has had full-time royal duties going on royal tours all over the world, opening hospitals and museums, making speeches about climate change, and creating the largest charitable network in Britain. During Queen Elizabeths later years, King Charles started representing his mother more and more both at home and overseas. Just weeks before the queens death, Charles opened Parliament on her behalf for the very first time. Now, King Charles is preparing his oldest son Prince William and his grandson Prince George for their future role as king. RELATED: Prince Charles Will Reportedly Follow In Queen Elizabeths Footsteps In 1 Major Way When He Becomes King Ringo Starrs First Band Scored Better Beds in Hamburg Than The Beatles Because of Their Pink Suits Ringo Starr helped change The Beatles fortunes by bringing his impressive drumming skills to the Fab Four. Liverpools finest cut their teeth playing live in Hamburg, Germany, grew into sensations in England thanks to their non-stop touring, and became international stars after a lucky run-in with Ed Sullivan. Before any of that happened, though, Ringos first band scored better accommodations than the Beatles when they played in Hamburg because of their pink suits. Ringo Starr (second from right) with Rory Storm and the Hurricanes | Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images Ringo Starr crossed paths with the Beatles while playing with Rory Storm and the Hurricanes The Beatles famously played several residencies in Hamburg, Germany, but they werent the only band from Liverpool making money in Deutschland. Before he joined the Fab Four, Ringo drummed for Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, a band that earned a positive reputation in Liverpool and Germany. The Beatles knew Ringo and his Hurricanes bandmates from England, but they rubbed elbows playing some of the same clubs in Germany in the early 1960s. The Beatles shared hotel rooms for years, even after they made it big. That was an upgrade after sharing dingy storage closets as they cut their teeth playing live in Hamburg. Yet Ringo and his Rory Storm bandmates scored better accommodations thanks to some fancy suits. Ringos first band scored a room upgrade in Hamburg because of their fancy suits Performing nightly in Germany helped the Beatles form their identity. George Harrison once said the band had no clue about playing live because their only experience doing so before their Hamburg residencies was limited to a few parties and other small gigs. Before joining @thebeatles, @ringostarrmusic was touring with Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. But then he received a fateful call. Watch Ringos full interview now: https://t.co/nPAFVSVDdv pic.twitter.com/Iu2FoozXsO Stern Show (@sternshow) December 21, 2018 RELATED: The Beatles: 1 Person Kept John Lennon From Going off the Rails During The Bands Early Days The Beatles didnt receive the best accommodations in Hamburg, but Ringos first band got an upgrade. The drummer once told British TV host Jonathan Ross (via YouTube) that Rory Storm and the Hurricanes fancy pink suits helped the band score better lodging in Hamburg. You know how useful those suits were? When we went to Germany to play Hamburg, they tried to make us all sleep in a real pit of a room backstage. And we said, We cant sleep there. Weve got suits! So we all moved to the German seamannsmission and shared a room. We have suits! It was like our big claim. Ringo Starr on how his first band got better rooms in Hamburg, Germany, thanks to their suits The rooms at the seamannsmission which is currently something of a hostel for merchant marines, according to its website likely werent world-class. Still, for a fledgling band playing a litany of gigs hundreds of miles from home in a foreign country, moving from a cramped space backstage to something resembling a real room probably felt like going from a roadside motel to the Ritz. Ringo paid homage to his first band on his solo albums RELATED: Ringo Starr Was the Most Approachable of The Beatles Since He Didnt Have Any Pretense Like John and Paul, 1 Musician Once Said Ringo embarked on a solo career like the rest of the Beatles did after the band broke up. Many of his best solo songs (and some of the most successful) landed on early albums such as Ringo and Goodnight Vienna. But Ringos first band never strayed from his mind. On the title track from 2008s Liverpool 8, Ringo sings about how he Played Butlins Camp with my friend, Rory. Thats a reference to the Welsh holiday camp where Rory Storm and the Hurricanes played a residency in 1960. Ringo honored his first band even more on 2015s Postcards From Paradise. The lead track, Rory and the Hurricanes, is a seemingly autobiographical look at the bands earliest days together. He hit it big with the Beatles and embarked on a successful solo career, but Ringos first band (and their pink suits) never left his mind. For more on the entertainment world and exclusive interviews, subscribe to Showbiz Cheat Sheets YouTube channel. RELATED: The Living Beatle Ringo Starr or Paul McCartney With the Higher Net Worth In the September 18 episode of Sister Wives, Kody Brown says his older children are part of a clique. His fourth wife, Robyn Brown, says that her children arent part of that group. Is there a separation between Robyns children and the rest of the wives kids? David, Ariella, Robyn, Kody, Solomon, Breanna, and Aurora Brown, Sister Wives | TLC Kody says there is a clique with his older children In the second episode of Sister Wives Season 17, Kody describes Meri, Christine, and Janelles older children being a club. He explains, The older kids are like this club. Youre either in with them, or youre out with them. Its a clique. Kody feels like hes on the outside of that clique since the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic split the family in two. Kody believes that his older sons, Garrison, and Gabriel, are gossiping with other older kids, Hunter and Maddison, about him, causing a clear distinction between certain wives and their children. Its sorry of how the family runs, I guess, is everybody gossiping about each other, Kody concludes. Robyn thinks her children are being excluded Janelle agrees that there is a clear separation within the family. It seems to be that the line is becoming more and more intense. Choose this side, which is Kody, Meri, Robyn, and Robyns kids, or choose the side that includes all of my children, Janelle says. David, Solomon, Aurora, Ariella, and Breanna Brown, Sister Wives | TLC In 2010, Robyn and her three children from her previous marriage, David, Aurora, and Breanna, were welcomed into the family. Kody married Robyn legally to adopt the three children. Later, Kody and Robyn had two of their own children, Soloman and Ariella. Robyn feels like her children are not welcome in the older childrens clique, as Kody called it. My kids arent part of that group. I dont know. Its a ganging-up, defense mechanism. So, yeah, I dont know. Its weird, Robyn tells the cameras. Why is there a separation between Robyns kids and the other Brown children? Before Robyn was added to the family in 2010, it had just been Kody, Meri, Janelle, and Christine and their combined 13 children living under one roof in Lehi, Utah. Then, when they moved to Las Vegas, they all lived in separate homes. The Brown Family, Sister Wives Season 17 | TLC Janelle, Christine, and Meris children never got a chance to live under the same roof as Robyn and her kids. So naturally, the sibling bond is different. Also, as Robyn joined the family, some older children left for college. This means they didnt have the same opportunities to build strong relationships with Robyns children. The coronavirus pandemic ultimately revealed the cracks within the family. And now its showing a clear distinction between the wives and their children. New episodes of Sister Wives Season 17 air Sundays at 10 p.m. EST on TLC. RELATED: Sister Wives: Kody Worried About His Reputation and Being Labeled Bad Person After Divorce From Christine Queen Elizabeth II died on September 8, 2022. If you watched the funeral services, one thing you likely noticed is that the queens casket was closed. Heres why the matriarch of the royal family did not have an open casket. Queen Elizabeths coffin Queen Elizabeth II | Eddie Mulholland WPA Pool/Getty Images Queen Elizabeths coffin, made more than 30 years ago, is lined with lead. Royal family members are usually buried in lead-lined coffins so that the body can be better preserved. Lead helps prevent moisture from entering the casket, reports iNews. Consequently, this slows down the decomposition of the body. The queens coffin matches the one made for her late husband, Prince Philip, who died last year. Why Queen Elizabeth IIs casket is closed Queen Elizabeths casket is closed during the ceremonies to prevent the body from decaying too quickly. Lining the casket with lead and keeping it closed slow down decomposition. Most people are buried underground, says Matthew Lymn Rose, managing director of A.W. Lymn, The Family Funeral Service (via iNews). If you have a coffin vault or a family chamber in a church then that coffin remains above ground and open to the elements. A sealed coffin is very important. Queen Elizabeths funeral The United Kingdom observed a 10-day mourning period for Queen Elizabeth II. This period of mourning ended with her funeral on September 19, 2022. The queen had a state funeral with processions in Edinburgh, London, and Windsor. Her funeral was held at St. Georges Chapel at Windsor Castle. The funeral was not open to the public, but mourners were able to pay their last respects during the period of mourning. The flowers on the queens coffin held special significance A wreath of colorful flowers was displayed on top of the queens coffin. One touching detail was that myrtle grown from her 1947 wedding bouquet was included in the floral arrangement. Myrtle symbolizes a happy marriage. The arrangement also included rosemary, which is a symbol of remembrance, and English oak, a symbol of strength and love. The royal familys social media account shared the significance of the flowers. At The Kings request, the wreath contains foliage of rosemary, English oak and myrtle (cut from a plant grown from myrtle in the queens wedding bouquet) and flowers, in shades of gold, pink and deep burgundy, with touches of white, cut from the gardens of Royal Residences, said the statement. King Charles III left a note on Queen Elizabeth IIs coffin Queen Elizabeths son, King Charles III, left a note on top of his late mothers coffin. The note, which was placed inside the wreath of flowers, said, In loving and devoted memory, reports ABC News. The note was signed Charles R The r stands for Rex, which is the Latin word for king, according to the publication. Queen Elizabeth often signed notes with Elizabeth R. In this case, the r stands for Regina or queen. Follow Sheiresa Ngo on Twitter. RELATED: Jill Biden Remembers Queen Elizabeth Pouring Tea for Her and Joe Biden For much of my life, I treated the Book of Revelation like foul-tasting medicine. I knew it was probably good for me, but if you gave me the chance, Id avoid it. That had a lot to do with the way I was taught to read Revelation. As a teenager, my youth group watched a movie that graphically pictured the horrors of being left behind on earth after true Christians escaped to heaven. It scared me. Later, I explored prophecy books that tried to connect the dots between current events in the Middle East and the Bibles script for the end times. They confused me. So I gave up trying to understand Revelation. In effect, it became the appendix in the body of my Bible. Generally, I could happily ignore it; but if it caused too much trouble, I could live without it. Even after training for Christian ministry, I lacked the confidence to preach or teach on Revelation. It was too mystifying, too violent, too weird. Its fantasy-like visions seemed to have little to say to the practical issues of daily Christian living. At most, they warned, Youd better be ready, because the end could happen at any time! I wasnt alone. Over the years, Ive heard only small smatterings of preaching on Revelation, except occasionally on the safer parts, like Christs messages to the churches in chapters 2 and 3. Largely, Revelations life-giving message remains on mute for the church. Correcting our lens Like someone trying to wear the wrong glasses, I had a lens problem. My default setting involved reading Revelation through a prediction lens. Like many Christians, I viewed the Apocalypse primarily as a book of forecasts about what was going to happen in the future. Johns visions ... 1 You have reached the end of this Article Preview You have reached the end of this Article Preview To continue reading, subscribe now. Subscribers have full digital access. Have something to add about this? See something we missed? Share your feedback here. 48% of Evangelical leaders report being blacklisted over beliefs, guilt by association Nearly half of Evangelical leaders said in a new survey that they have been disinvited, blacklisted or excluded because of their point of view or guilt by association, according to the National Association of Evangelicals. The NAE's July/August Evangelical Leaders Survey revealed that 48% of Evangelical leaders said they have been canceled by others as a way of expressing their disapproval for the leader or the leaders point of view. The findings are part of a monthly poll of the NAEs Board of Directors, which includes the CEOs of denominations and representatives of diverse Evangelical organizations, such as missions, universities, publishers and churches. Cancel culture is the practice of excluding any person, organization or work as a way of expressing disapproval, NAE President Walter Kim explained. While it is important to be clear about unacceptable behavior and unorthodox positions, this phenomenon makes it difficult to have meaningful, vulnerable and open dialogue about the real challenges that we face, he said. Some leaders said the Evangelical leadership should expect to be canceled because it has become commonplace. However, the reality of cancel culture can make leaders wary of communicating their positions on complex issues for fear of retribution, the association fears. Last month, Pastor Ed Young of Fellowship Church in Grapevine, Texas, said Facebook removed a paid ad for his sermon Woke or Awake. Well, I got canceled this week, Young said, according to Church Leaders. Our friends at Facebook just canceled me. Our incredible media team put together these ads, and we showed these ads. And, for some reason, Mark Zuckerberg and his friends didn't dig them. Many Evangelical leaders think being open and willing for respectful conversations could be the way to engage. I have made it a policy to welcome comments and open the door to discussion. People have disagreed with statements that I have made and contacted me to share their concerns, Ron Hamilton, conference minister at Conservative Congregational Christian Conference, was quoted as saying. Those who said they had not been canceled also noted that they might have been unknowingly rejected or not invited due to their beliefs or engagement. Not to my knowledge! I have no idea whether my views were the reason I was not invited to speak in the first place, Rich Nathan, founding pastor of Vineyard Columbus, was quoted as saying. Some leaders said guilt by association was also a basis for cancellation. I served as the primary speaker for an annual event (for about nine years) at a major Christian university. Although my ministry remained consistent and my views had not changed at all my relationship with people outside their doctrinal distinctives caused me to be disinvited, Daniel Henderson, president of Strategic Renewal, was quoted as saying. Kim said while individuals and organizations need to be held accountable for their actions, people should not be punished for holding beliefs that may be different. We need to encourage conversations across differences. Let us open our doors and ask those with differences to pull up a seat at the table. After all, that was the way of Jesus, he concluded. Evangelical group to spend about $40M mobilizing Christian vote ahead of midterms With less than two months until the midterm elections, a prominent Evangelical political advocacy nonprofit looks to spend upwards of $40 million to mobilize the Christian vote as Democrats and Republicans vie to take control of both houses of Congress this November. Timothy Head, executive director of the Faith & Freedom Coalition, a social conservative national grassroots organization headed by longtime Christian activist Ralph Reed, estimates that his organization will spend between $36 million and $42 million on a nationwide effort to target Christian voters. The organization will reach voters from a precleared list using direct mail, phone messages and home visits. "We are engaged in 24 different states on the grassroots level," Head told The Christian Post in an interview. "For this election cycle, we'll actually hit 8.2 million doors in those 24 different states." The Nov. 8 midterm elections will determine which party controls both chambers of Congress for the final two years of President Joe Biden's first term. All 435 U.S. House of Representatives seats will be on the ballot and 35 U.S. Senate seats. Also up for grabs are 36 governorships and more than 80% of state legislative seats. Some states Faith & Freedom Coalition is focusing much attention on are Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa, Texas, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, California and Colorado. Of the aforementioned states, all but North Carolina have a gubernatorial election this year and all but Texas have a U.S. Senate race. Of those Senate races, Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin have Senate races classified by Real Clear Politics' senate election tracker to be toss-ups. "Those U.S. Senate races and then several of the coinciding governorships are our main focuses," Head said. The FiveThirtyEight Deluxe Model, which predicts the outcome of elections "based on polls, fundraising, past voting patterns" and the opinions of political experts, gives Republicans a 72% chance of taking control of the House of Representatives while giving Democrats a 71% chance of maintaining control of the U.S. Senate as of Sunday night. Republican control of one or both chambers would impact the ability of the Biden administration to enact its desired agenda into law for the next two years. The Faith & Freedom Coalition executive director predicted that the "U.S. House is probably looking at between a 30 and 40 seat pickup ... for Republicans." "Republicans will end up with between 28 and 30 governorships when this cycle is over," Head predicted. He categorized the battle for the U.S. Senate as a "jump ball at this point" that will come down to four races in Nevada, Arizona, Georgia and Pennsylvania. Jason Yates, CEO of My Faith Votes, a nonpartisan group that "motivates, equips and activates Christians in America to vote in every election," told CP that they are budgeting over $3.5 million to spend on this election cycle. My Faith Votes has a nine-state focus where they want "to see Christians engage," Yates said. Those states largely overlap with the states where the Faith & Freedom Coalition is focusing most of its efforts. Specifically, My Faith Votes is investing the most in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. "We've got a budget of $3.5 million that we're spending," Yates said. My Faith Votes held its fourth annual National Voter Registration Sunday on Sunday, two days before the annual National Voter Registration Day. "When I learned about National Voter Registration Day, I said, 'Well, that's great, but let's create National Voter Registration Sunday,'" Yates recalled. Although My Faith Votes is concentrating its efforts in certain states, National Voter Registration Sunday is a national effort. Yates said National Voter Registration Sunday is an opportunity to lead churches across the United States in "encouraging their congregations, their bodies of believers, to be involved and to be voting." My Faith Votes compiled a toolkit to assist churches that want to hold voter registration drives. "There's about 15 million Christians in the United States that aren't registered to vote," Yates said. Yates thinks some Christians may not be registered to vote because they believe that the separation of church and state means that they "shouldn't be involved" in the political process. He believes Christians failing to vote has negative consequences, such as "a "federal deficit above $30 trillion" and higher abortion and divorce rates. "Those are symptoms of a government that isn't prioritizing biblical values, and so I think there's an incredible amount of opportunity," he said. "When we vacate the public square, when we leave that, what we're doing is we're abdicating that to people who don't share our values. So in a sense the regulations, the policies, the laws that are established aren't representing biblical values. We're not talking about becoming a theocracy in America, but we do know that our values are good." Yates believes that the U.S. Supreme Court's June ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which overruled the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide, is "absolutely motivating a lot of people who want to see continued access to abortion happen." "What we're seeing right now from a voter registration perspective is voter registrations for Democrats have really skyrocketed while Republican voter registration has not, and a large portion of the registrations for Democrats have been females in their 20s and 30s," Yates said. "I think Christians, especially those who are pro-life, need to recognize that they have a voice and that if that's a primary issue for them, then Dobbs wasn't a decision to sit back on our laurels if you will and do nothing or feel satisfied that the battle is over." Yates urged pro-life Christians to "show up." "If they want to know that their biblical values are being represented, they've got to vote this year," Yates concluded, adding "there's a lot of energy on both sides" of the abortion debate. Head of Faith and Freedom Coalition assessed the current political climate as having "fairly high" enthusiasm among Christian voters. Both Head and Yates cited concerns about crime as a prominent issue for Christian voters their organizations have spoken with. "By a small but significant margin, it's actually public safety and crime is the No. 1 issue so far in our phone and our door-to-door program," Head relayed. Head cited "significant upticks" in the concern Faith and Freedom Coalition is hearing in urban centers "about violent crime." He said the "violent crime uptick" becomes "a prevailing issue pretty quickly" in suburban areas due to the intensive media coverage. "So in suburban areas, for instance, crime has not risen. It's only in heavily urban areas, but suburban areas are obviously close to urban areas, and they're very aware of and frankly concerned about crime kind of diffusing into those suburban areas," Head said. "It's not uncommon actually to see when there's kind of a crime uptick in eight or 10 or 12 urban areas that the suburban areas across the country immediately become very aware and very concerned about that." Although homicides and rapes have decreased in some urban areas across the U.S. compared to 2021, a survey of 70 responding law enforcement agencies by the Major Cities Chiefs Association finds that violent crime has increased by 4.4%. The survey finds that the rate of violent offenses has greatly increased since before the pandemic began in 2020. Just under 237,000 violent crimes were reported in those cities during the first half of 2022, an increase of about 44,000 violent crimes from the first half of 2019. Yates agreed that "security, whether it's in our streets and just rising crime or if it's at the border," has emerged as a top concern for Christian voters. He also characterized the economy and abortion as key issues concerning Christian voters. In addition to National Voter Registration Sunday, My Faith Votes launched a "Write Now Campaign" to write "letters to other Christians in these battleground states encouraging them to vote." "Right now, we have about 500,000 letters committed as we've identified Christians in these states who are not voting consistently, and we're just sending them nonpartisan messages encouraging them to be involved and to vote," Yates said. My Faith Votes also has a "Because I Care" campaign to reach students at Christian colleges and universities. The initiative is a collaboration to help educational institutions encourage students to vote, many of whom would be first-time voters. Yates indicated that My Faith Votes will have a heavy footprint in media leading up to the election. "[W]e're going to be on radio. We're going to be on TV providing [public service announcements] encouraging the body of Christ to be voting," he said. The My Faith Votes website offers a resource called "My Voter Hub," which Yates described as "the most comprehensive set of resources for the Christian voter." The resource allows Christian voters to check their registration status, register to vote and access a "personalized online voter guide that covers every ZIP code in the United States from federal down to local elections." Sudanese judge dismisses apostasy charges against 4 Christians: No longer a crime in Sudan JUBA, South Sudan A court in Sudan dismissed apostasy charges against four Christians who were threatened with the death penalty unless they recanted, sources said. Judge Ibrahim Hamza dismissed the apostasy charges against the Christians in Central Darfur state, stating in the Sept. 8 ruling that apostasy is no longer a crime in Sudan, their attorney said. Initially arrested on June 24 in Zalingei, Central Darfur, the four converts from Islam had been subjected to degrading treatment while questioned, according to Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW). They were released that day but re-arrested on June 28. On July 3 the men were brought before the prosecutor, who told them they would face the death penalty if they did not renounce their Christian faith and agree not to pray, share their faith or participate in any activities that would identify them as Christians, CSW stated. The men refused and were charged with apostasy. Bader el Dean Haroon Abdel Jabaar, his brother Mohammad Haroon Abdel Jabaar, Tariq Adam Abdalla and Morthada Ismail were arrested from their church in Zalingei and held until their release on bail in early July, according to local sources. They were arrested on apostasy charges under Article 126 of Sudans 1991 criminal code, which was nullified in 2020. In July 2020 the transitional government that took effect in September 2019 decriminalized apostasy, which had been punishable by death. Sudans 2020 Fundamental Rights and Freedoms Act prohibits the labeling of any group as infidels (takfir), according to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). The church the four Christians had formed was authorized by Sudans Ministry of Guidance and Religious Endowments during the transitional period, but it has closed due to threats and attacks by area Muslim extremists, according to CSW. Three other churches have closed in Zalingei this year due to an increase in threats and violence, the group reported. Since the military coup of Oct. 25, 2021, officials have threatened church leaders living in camps for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), telling them they would be charged with apostasy if they continued to meet for prayer, CSW reported. When the leaders protested, citing the legal changes made under the transitional administration, they were informed that the coup had changed the legal situation, CSW stated. The 2020 Act also repealed other Islamic-based articles of the 1991 criminal code, including public flogging as a punishment and prohibitions against drinking alcohol. Although Sudan has taken some steps to reform laws that violate religious rights, most current statutes are still based on Islamic law, Christian leaders say. Following two years of advances in religious freedom in Sudan after the end of the Islamist dictatorship under Omar al-Bashir in 2019, the specter of state-sponsored persecution returned with the military coup of Oct. 25, 2021. After Bashir was ousted from 30 years of power in April 2019, the transitional civilian-military government had managed to undo some Sharia (Islamic law) provisions. It outlawed the labeling of any religious group infidels and thus effectively rescinded apostasy laws that made leaving Islam punishable by death. With the Oct. 25 coup, Christians in Sudan fear the return of the most repressive and harsh aspects of Islamic law. Abdalla Hamdok, who had led a transitional government as prime minister starting in September 2019, was detained under house arrest for nearly a month before he was released and reinstated in a tenuous power-sharing agreement in November 2021. Hamdock had been faced with rooting out longstanding corruption and an Islamist deep state from Bashirs regime the same deep state that is suspected of rooting out the transitional government in the Oct. 25 coup. Persecution of Christians by non-state actors continued before and after the coup. In Open Doors 2022 World Watch List of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian, Sudan remained at No. 13, where it ranked the previous year, as attacks by non-state actors continued and religious freedom reforms at the national level were not enacted locally. Sudan had dropped out of the top 10 for the first time in six years when it first ranked No. 13 in the 2021 World Watch List. The U.S. State Departments International Religious Freedom Report states that conditions have improved somewhat with the decriminalization of apostasy and a halt to demolition of churches, but that conservative Islam still dominates society; Christians face discrimination, including problems in obtaining licenses for constructing church buildings. The U.S. State Department in 2019 removed Sudan from the list of Countries of Particular Concern (CPC) that engage in or tolerate systematic, ongoing and egregious violations of religious freedom and upgraded it to a watch list. The State Department removed Sudan from the Special Watch List in December 2020. Sudan had previously been designated as a CPC from 1999 to 2018. The Christian population of Sudan is estimated at 2 million, or 4.5% of the total population of more than 43 million. Jewish university suspends all student clubs after court orders approval of LGBT group An Orthodox Jewish university has suspended all student club activities following the U.S. Supreme Court's reversal of a temporary order sparing the institution from having to approve the establishment of an on-campus LGBT organization while its case is adjudicated. Yeshiva University told students in an email Friday that it would "hold off on all undergraduate club activities while it immediately takes steps to follow the roadmap provided by the U.S. Supreme Court to protect YU's religious freedom." A spokesperson for Yeshiva University told The Christian Post in a Monday statement that the institution filed briefs on Friday, as instructed by the Supreme Court. "We anticipate a quick conclusion in the courts and the start of clubs soon," the spokesperson wrote. Katie Rosenfeld, the attorney representing YU Pride Alliance, called the university's suspension of all club activities a "shameful tactic" in a statement published by CNN. The attorney argued that the Pride Alliance only seeks a "safe space" on campus. "The YU administration's announcement today that it will cancel all student club activities rather than accept one LGBTQ peer support group on campus is a throwback to 50 years ago when the city of Jackson, Mississippi closed all public swimming pools rather than comply with court orders to desegregate," she said. Last week, the Supreme Court left in place a New York state court ruling in a 5-4 vote, lifting Justice Sonia Sotomayor's temporary order preventing Yeshiva University from having to give the Pride Alliance group the same privileges as other student organizations under the New York City Human Rights Law. The law includes sexual orientation and gender identity among classes protected from discrimination in places of public accommodation. The nation's high court determined it was too early to take up the university's case and that it must go through the lower courts first. The court ruled that Yeshiva could return if lower courts did not offer a quick resolution. The opinion was unsigned, but the justices who sided with the majority were Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Brett Kavanaugh and Ketanji Brown Jackson. "The application for stay pending appeal of a permanent injunction entered by the New York trial court, presented to JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR and by her referred to the Court, is denied without prejudice to applicants again seeking relief from this Court if, upon properly seeking expedited review and interim relief from the New York courts, applicants receive neither," the order states. Justice Samuel Alito wrote the dissent opinion, joined by Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett. They contend that Yeshiva University's right to religious freedom should exempt them from having to recognize the LGBT group. "The First Amendment guarantees the right to the free exercise of religion, and if that provision means anything, it prohibits a State from enforcing its own preferred interpretation of Holy Scripture," Alito wrote. The conservative justice wrote that New York denied the school this right, calling it "disappointing that a majority of this Court refuses to provide relief." The case began last year after Pride Alliance filed a lawsuit against the school. In June, the New York State Supreme Court ruled that Yeshiva University must recognize YU Pride Alliance as a formal student organization. New York Supreme Court First Judicial District Judge Lynn Kotler wrote that the school serves more as an "educational corporation" than a "religious corporation." The judge's order "permanently" restrains university leaders "from continuing their refusal to officially recognize the YU Pride Alliance as a student organization because of the members' sexual orientation or gender and/or YU Pride Alliance's status, mission, and/or activities on behalf of LGBTQ students." Property rights come from God; collectivism is evil Pursuit of happiness includes both labor and property The pursuit of Happiness is manifested in each individuals sovereignty of his body (labor), mind (ideas and beliefs), and property. These are endowed to him by his Creator and are of his own sovereignty; individual rights. That means only God has the authority over each individual in regards to these three features articulated in the Declaration of Independence. The founders, of course, did not understand property simply to mean ones possessions. Property was understood to include the fruit of ones labor; it included a mans conscience the things he believed and thought, and the ideals he held dear (Joseph C. Phillips, July 5, 2010, Independence and the Right to Private Property.). Since only God has authority to give, take, or alter ones property, government has no domain in this regard, and is bound to the Laws of Nature or Natures God; therefore, the establishment of a limited government, which is obligated to protect ones property in all forms. James Madison wrote in a very Lockean comportment in March 1792, in the National Gazette, articulating this sovereignty of ones property very concisely in an essay he scribed while a congressman in the Virginia legislature. Madison wrote: This term in its particular application means that dominion which one man claims and exercises over the external things of the world, in exclusion of every other individual. In its larger and juster meaning, it embraces every thing to which a man may attach value and have a right; and which leaves to every one else the like advantage. [Of ones property:] In the former sense, a mans land, or merchandize, or money is called his property. [Of ones mind:] In the latter sense, a man has a property in his opinion and the free communication of them. [Of ones beliefs:] He has a property of peculiar value in his religious opinions, and in the profession and practice dictated by them. He has a property very dear to him in the safety and liberty of his person. [Of ones body:] He has an equal property in the free use of his faculties and free choice of the object on which to employ them. In a word, as a man is said to have a right to his property, he may be equally said to have a property in his rights (James Madison, March 27, 1792, Property, in William T. Hutchinson et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison). Madison continues warning against the oppression of all property rights of large government and articulating the reasoning of a limited government: Where an excess of power prevails, property of no sort is duly respected. No man is safe in his opinions, his person, his faculties, or his possessionsGovernment is instituted to protect property of every sort; as well that which lies in the various rights of individuals, as that which the term particularly expresses. This being the end of government, that alone is a just government, which impartially secures to every man, whatever is his own (James Madison, March 27, 1792, Property, in William T. Hutchinson et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison). James Madison also declares that even allowing government into a position of guarding our right to our own property must be sparingly bestowed on a government. He also proclaimed that Conscience is the most sacred of all propertybeing a natural and unalienable right (James Madison, March 27, 1792, Property, in William T. Hutchinson et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison). It was Claude Frederic Bastiat writing in his treatise, The Law, who declared, When does plunder cease, then? When it becomes more burdensome and more dangerous than labor (Claude Frederic Bastiat, 1848, The Law.). Bastiats enlightened truth illustrates that the establishment and upholding of law (under Natural Law, not arbitrary law), creates an environment in which the execution of labor becomes, not only less dangerous, but, in fact, a prosperous motive. The Great Experiment of the United States became the first civilization to establish this at a very significant level. (This statement is not withstanding historical circumstances. A variety of civilizations, like the British Empire, ancient Greeks, and the Romans all had some level of this circumstance which allows a level of prosperity. Even the United States had changes that needed to take place to move this circumstance forward abolishment of slavery and changes in civil rights. But the historical and Biblical establishment of property rights and freedom of will and thought allowed America to propel prosperity very rapidly to a level unforeseen in the history of the world.) Madisons reasoning, like Thomas Jeffersons, comes from and aligns with John Locke. Locke also establishes the right of inheritance of property, which is an economic continuation of family and is based on scripture. Locke wrote: Every man is born with a double right: First, A right of freedom to his person, which no other man has a power over, but the free disposal of it lies in himself. Secondly, A right, before any other man, to inherit, with his brethren, his fathers goodsretain a right to the possession of their ancestors, though they consent not freely to the government, whose hard conditions were by force imposed on the possessors of that country (John Locke, 1690, Second Treatise of Government.). In essence Locke defined that no other person or no government has any right whatsoever to property passed through inheritance. Tragically, America has forgotten and relinquished this sovereign right of property. But according to Locke, descendants have the right to restore their property and throw off unlawful laws imposed upon their inherited property. Perhaps one of the most eloquent articulations on ones liberty was written in 1903 by Englishman James Allen in his stirring pamphlet, As a Man Thinketh. Allen contrasts ones mind as either free or enslaved by ones own thoughts. It is a spiritual battle between oneself; freedom and life or slavery and death. Such a man does not understand the simplest rudiments of those principles which are the basis of true prosperity, opined the eloquent Englishman, and is not only totally unfitted to rise out of his wretchedness, but is actually attracting to himself a still deeper wretchedness by dwelling in, and acting out, indolent, deceptive, and unmanly thought (James Allen, 1903, As a Man Thinketh.). This wretchedness mind is exactly where the collective progressives work so diligently to move mankind. It is pure evil and strips one of their God-given freedom which begins in their own thoughts; and why universities have and are working to poison our youths minds. Allen noted this stating, Such a man is altogether unfitted for prosperity, and when he finds himself bankrupt, both as regards reputation and riches, he blames circumstances, not knowing that he is the sole author of his condition (James Allen, 1903, As a Man Thinketh.). You hear this from any liberal political candidate; it is the antithesis of America and Gods plan for us. But it is the liberal (collective progressive) heart, as it creates a mentality for them to enslave citizens; therefore, it is pure evil. Anne Graham Lotz cites Isaiah 5:8 as warning for America having 'turned away' from God The daughter of the late Evangelist Billy Graham, Anne Graham Lotz, told a gathering of Christian conservatives Thursday about the importance of looking to God and remembering He is the ultimate authority, even in what she perceives to be a "crisis" in our nation. The AnGeL Ministries founder and author was a featured speaker during the Family Research Council's Pray Vote Stand Summit held at First Baptist Atlanta. The summit took place from Wednesday to Friday, with the theme based around standing for life after the U.S. Supreme Court overturnedRoe v. Wade in June, the 1973 decision that legalized abortion nationwide. During her speech, the 74-year-old seemingly compared the United States to the nation of Judah in the Bible, a nation that, despite its decades of prosperity, neglected to thank God for its blessings. This prompted the Lord to uplift the prophet Isaiah, who condemned the members of the nation for its sins, as seen in Isaiah 5:8. She told a story about a gift from her mother, Ruth Graham, that she had thrown away because she didn't like how it was wrapped, relating this to what she fears is happening in the U.S. today. Later, Lotz learned that the tissue paper contained a gold ring that was part of the pavement of the palace where Queen Esther lived. "I had thrown away a priceless treasure because I didn't like the way it was wrapped," she said. "Are we in danger of concentrating on the wrapping and the brown paper packages that show up and missing the treasure that's on the inside?" she asked, remarking that nationwide, "we are under attack." "Has there ever been a time like this where there is a brown package showing up at every level, every angle, every place? It's stunning what is going on in this state, in our nation, in our world, and I expect, in your own life," she added. Lotz believes the sins Isaiah listed are still relevant to today's society, which she stated condones actions such as abortion, premarital sex and rejects traditional marriage. "A nation that, in a way, like Judah, we're a covenant nation dedicated to the glory of God by President George Washington when he was first inaugurated, and we've rejected God. We've turned away from Him," she said. "And we've had more than 52 years of relative peace and prosperity, but instead of using that time to draw near to Him, to live out our national life in gratitude for His blessings, acknowledging that all blessings come from Him, we've turned away from Him." She believes the nation is in "crisis." Sharing the message of Isaiah 6, Lotz stated that the most appropriate response in such situations is to follow the prophet's example by looking up to God and asking what He wants. "And I believe we need, as a Church, people who call ourselves by God's name; we need a fresh vision of Jesus," she said. She said that in Isaiah's vision of the Lord, the prophet saw Him seated on a throne. Lotz asked the audience what has caused them to doubt that God is in control, noting the testimonies given by other speakers on issues including life and family values. "Are you personally doubting that Jesus is in control when your child comes home from school and says he has transitioned into a different gender?" she asked. "Do you say, 'Jesus, really? Are you on the throne?'" In an election year like 2022, Lotz says many people are vying for public office. But regardless of whether a politician holds a state-level position or lives in the White House, "Jesus is higher than all." "When we pray, we need to remember that we are appealing to the highest authority that there is in the universe," she said. "One who is in charge, one who gives us His attention. And not only was He high, He was exalted." Lotz concluded with a prayer, calling for a "revival" in everyone's lives and in the nation. "Please, God, it's the only answer, other than your return," she said. "So we do pray, even so, come, Lord Jesus, and it's in your name and in your glory that we pray, Amen." This is not Lotz's first time speaking at a Family Research Council event. While speaking at Family Research Council's 2016 Watchmen on the Wall conference, she asserted that America must repent for its embrace of sexual immorality. Lotz's speech focused on an "urgency to reach the lost." "When we refuse to repent of our sin and turn to God, then in [Romans] verse 26, God gives us over to sexual depravity. Which is what we see all around us today," she said at the time. "Then, we refuse to repent of our sin and turn to God." Citing Romans 1:28, Lotz argued that America has entered the "last stage of this downward spiral into the abyss of God's judgment." "The last step, 'furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to a reprobate mind,'" Lotz recited. "He gives us over to ourselves, and I believe America is in the last stage of this downward spiral into the abyss of God's judgment." Lotz said it was not too late for America to repent, pointing to verse John 3:16 to remind the audience of God's love and promise of eternal life for those who believe in Jesus. "There are people all around us who are perishing. You are born into the human race as a sinner. All are sinners, and if we don't do anything about it and we step into eternity still in our sin, we come under the judgment, the whole wrath of God. We are separated from Him forever, and that is Hell." "That is not something I am telling you, don't misunderstand me; that is just the Gospel," she added. "That's why God sent Jesus." California launches $1M website informing minors, out-of-state women how to get abortions California launched a $1 million website last week as part of the state's efforts to strengthen abortion access through a $200 million budget package funded by taxpayers, part of Gov. Gavin Newsom's vow for the state to serve as a sanctuary for women seeking abortions. The website offers residents and non-residents information about abortion facility locations, how to access abortion pills, financial help and assistance with traveling for an abortion. It also instructs minors that California law allows them to "independently consent to their own abortion care" despite any objections from their parents. The website links to another website called TeenHealthRights.org, which tells minors they "do not need your parents' or caregivers' permission to get an abortion if you are under 18" and that it is their "choice whether to tell your parents about it if you do get an abortion." The state's website also informs undocumented migrants seeking an abortion that they may be able to obtain California Medicaid coverage for the procedure. "Abortion is legal, safe and accessible here in California whether or not you live here, know that we have your back," Newsom said in a statement. "As Republican states continue rolling back fundamental civil rights and even try to prevent people from accessing information online or crossing state lines for care, you're welcome here in California and we'll continue to fight like hell for you." The site explains the different types of abortions and contains a map of 166 facilities in the state. It tells people outside of California who may be unable to visit a clinic that they may be able to obtain the pills for a chemical abortion by mail. Women who undergo a chemical abortion are typically given two drugs, mifepristone (RU-486) and misoprostol. The first pill blocks the effects of the natural hormone progesterone while the second induces contractions and expels the unborn from the woman's body. Last year, the Food and Drug Administration lifted in-person dispensing requirements for the abortion pill, enabling women to obtain it by mail without seeing a doctor. The FDA had previously suspended in-person requirements during the coronavirus pandemic but made the decision permanent last year. Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, allowing states to once again restrict abortion, California has been working to increase access to the procedure. Earlier this month, the state passed over a dozen bills dubbed "historic" by the national media as California furthered its efforts to become a "reproductive freedom" state. Newsom is expected to sign the bills into law. While abortion advocates praised the passage of the bills, opponents argue that the bills go too far, claiming that they will "erase" the notion of an illegal abortion. Mary Rose Short, director of outreach for the pro-life advocacy group California Right to Life, told The Christian Post earlier this month that she believes the California legislature is "too far gone at this point." She pointed to how the organization has tried to reach the public through social media, emails and online articles. Short outlined one bill, in particular, AB 2223, which removes the requirement for a state coroner to investigate deaths related to self-induced or criminal abortions. It also prevents charges or civil actions from being brought against those involved in the abortion based on statements made by the coroner in the fetal death certificate. "AB-2223 erases the idea of an illegal abortion," Short contends. "It means that if the mother consents or desires her baby to be dead, she should be completely, illegally immune. And anyone who assists her in reaching that outcome of a dead baby, there's no legal repercussion there." Short also stated that the bill's language grants legal immunity regardless of the type of abortion method used or the child's age at the time the pregnancy was terminated. Another bill included in the package is SB 1375, which makes additions to existing law to allow nurse practitioners to commit first-trimester abortions without the supervision of an experienced physician or surgeon. Under the law, practitioners will be allowed to do abortions after completing board-recognized training. Christian group demands Turkish authorities answer question about alleged plot to kill pastors The U.K.-based group Christian Solidarity Worldwide has called on the government of Turkey to investigate a claim that the countrys security officials offered to pay an ultranationalist whatever he wanted in return for assassinating church leaders. Last month, an ultranationalist man, identified only as Tolgahan A., confessed to Vedat Serin, a leader of the Salvation Church in the eastern city of Malatya, that members of Turkeys Gendarmerie Intelligence and Anti-Terror Unit offered him whatever he wanted if he killed Serin and two other Christian leaders former pastor Tim Stone and Pastor Ihsan Ozbek, the chair of Kurtulus Churches Association, CSW said in a statement. The man, allegedly connected to the Nationalist Movement Party, was given the addresses and photos of Serin and the others, Ahval News reported, adding that he was also given a gun and sent to the church with a friend. But when they saw a little boy playing with a computer inside, they left. A separate murder attempt was called off following the murder of Russian Ambassador Andrey Karlov in the capital, Ankara, in December 2016. In April 2007, two Turkish converts from Islam and a German citizen from Serins church were attacked, tortured and murdered in a publishing house by five ultranationalists assailants. Tolgahan A. had reportedly praised the murder on social media at the time. Although the would-be assassin had been ordered to assassinate the Christian leaders around 2015-'16, only recently was a complaint filed at the Malatya Chief Public Prosecutors Office after Tolgahan A. confessed to the alleged plot. Whilst we are relieved that plans to assassinate these church leaders ultimately ended in failure, the allegation that they were orchestrated by elements within Turkeys security apparatus is deeply concerning, CSWs CEO Scot Bower said. Even though several years have passed since these assassination attempts, it is essential that the Turkish government acts on the disturbing information which has come to light and conducts a full and swift investigation into these claims, with particular attention paid to identifying and holding to account any members of JITEM who are identified as having been involved, Bower added. Turkey has a long history of Christian persecution, and its government still refuses to admit that the Ottoman Turks committed genocide of Christian Armenians in 1915. Turkey is 99% Muslim, according to its own statistics. Although its constitution provides for freedom of religion, the government uses regulations that demand the registration of religious groups to make it more difficult to practice non-Islamic faiths. Hatred toward Christians and Jews in the country often leads to discrimination, stigmatization and attacks. In July 2020, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan turned the Hagia Sophia, an ancient Christian cathedral, from a museum into a mosque, undoing its transformation in 1934 from a mosque to a cathedral. Japan asks 8 million to flee their homes as Typhoon Nanmadol makes landfall Typhoon Nanmadol made landfall in Japan late Sunday, hours after authorities asked 8 million people in southern and western parts of the country to evacuate. The storm brought ferocious winds and record rainfall that killed at least two people, injured dozens and left hundreds of thousands without electricity early Monday. One of the most significant storms to hit the country in years, Typhoon Nanmadol made landfall near Kagoshima city before slamming the western island of Kyushu and then moving onto the main island of Honshu Monday morning, Reuters reported. The storm packed gusts of up to 145 mph and had already dumped up to 19 inches of rain in less than 24 hours on parts of southwestern Kyushu, Taipei Times relayed. More than 8 million people in southern and western Japan were ordered to evacuate before Typhoon Nanmadol made landfall, according to the state broadcaster NHK World-Japan. The outlet reports that nearly 8 million people, from about 3.7 million households, were affected by a Level 4 alert in parts of the Kyushu, Shikoku and Chugoku regions. A man was killed after his car was caught in a flooded river, and 82 people had been injured, NHK added. According to Japan Times, the person in the car was one of the two people who died in the storm. About 9 million people had been told to evacuate their homes as Nanmadol has been categorized as a super typhoon by the U.S. Joint Typhoon Warning Centre, which is applied to storms with sustained wind speeds of 150 mph or more. At least 20,000 people spent the night in shelters in Kyushus Kagoshima and Miyazaki prefectures, where the authorities had issued a rare special warning. About 340,000 households, mostly in Kyushu, were without electricity early Monday. Train services, ferries and about 800 flights have been canceled. The storm is forecast to dump heavy rain on large parts of Honshu on Tuesday and may lead to floods and landslides, the countrys Meteorological Agency said, issuing a flooding advisory for Tokyo and adjacent Kanagawa Prefecture, according to Japan Times. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who is scheduled to deliver a speech at the United Nations General Assembly, has delayed his travel until Tuesday to monitor the impact of the storm, according to Reuters. Nanmadol is the third blow from a tropical cyclone in less than a month for Japan, AccuWeather reports, explaining that Super Typhoon Hinnamnor slammed Okinawa late last month into early September and Typhoon Muifa made landfall over Ishigaki Island last week. Ukraine: Mass graves discovery leads to calls for war crime tribunal The discovery of mass graves in a Ukrainian city formerly occupied by Russian forces has prompted the European Union presidency to call for the creation of a war crimes tribunal after some of the exhumed bodies showed signs of possible torture. The bodies were discovered Thursday, days after Ukrainian forces liberated the city of Izyum from Russian troops. According to Euractiv, officials found 450 graves in a pine forest, many of which were marked by wooden crosses. Oleg Synegubov, the head of the Kharkiv administration, a northeast city in Ukraine, wrote on his Facebook page Friday that 99% of the bodies show signs of a violent death. Synegubov stated that many bodies were found with their hands tied behind their backs, and one person was buried with a rope around their neck. The Kharkiv administration official wrote that 200 law enforcement officials were investigating the site where the bodies were found. The bodies will be sent for forensic examination to accurately determine the cause of death, he wrote. Once the bodies of the deceased have been identified, they will all be buried with proper honor. Every death will be investigated and become proof of Russia's military crimes in international courts. Jan Lipvasky, foreign minister of the Czech Republic, which holds the rotating presidency of the EU, expressed disgust in a Saturday tweet at the idea that such attacks would take place against a civilian population in the 21st century, calling it unthinkable and abhorrent. We must not overlook it, he said. We stand for the punishment of all war criminals. I call for the speedy establishment of a special international tribunal that will prosecute the crime of aggression. As the BBC reported Friday, while it's not clear what happened to the victims, some early accounts suggest they might have died from shelling or lack of proper healthcare. Ihor Klymenko, the head of Ukraine's national police service, told the BBC that most of the bodies belonged to civilians. He added that while soldiers are believed to be buried there, so far, there has been no confirmation of this fact. A senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Mykhailo Podolyak, also said in a statement to the BBC that the liberation of some areas in the country has led to the discovery of other mass burials. "We saw many places where people were tortured," Podolyak said. "We saw wildly frightened people who were kept without light, without food, without water, and without the right to justice. Because there was no authority there, there were only people with weapons." The United Nations is considering send a team to Izyum, according to the BBC. This is not the first time that mass graves have been discovered in Ukraine since Russias invasion of the country began in February. In April, satellite imagery showed a possible mass grave outside the port city of Mariupol in eastern Ukraine, which was believed to have contained as many as 9,000 bodies. The Mariupol City Council posted the images of the mass grave site located just about 12 miles from the city on Telegram. "The biggest war crime of the 21st century was committed in Mariupol. This is the new Babyn Yar. Then Hitler killed Jews, Roma and Slavs. And now Putin is destroying Ukrainians. He has already killed tens of thousands of civilians in Mariupol. And this requires a strong reaction from the entire civilized world. Anything needs to stop the genocide," Mayor Vadym Boychenko said on Telegram. The mayor said Russian troops collected corpses from Mariupols streets before transporting them on trucks to the nearby village of Manhush, where they threw them in a mass grave in a field near the settlements old cemetery. The invaders are concealing evidence of their crimes. The cemetery is located near a petrol station to the left side of a circular road. The Russians have dug huge trenches 30 meters wide. They chuck people in, he said. Women disrupt Bishop Lamor Whitehead's sermon months after jewelry heist at pulpit It was another wild episode for Brooklyn Bishop Lamor Whitehead at his Leaders of Tomorrow International Churches on Sunday when he was forced to remove a woman who disrupted his sermon and allegedly threatened his family two months after being robbed at gunpoint at his pulpit of least $400,000 worth of jewelry. The incident, which occurred at around 11:30 a.m., resulted in the arrest of 47-year-old Tarsha Howard, the NYPD told The New York Post. Whitehead was brief detained as police sorted out what happened during the tense confrontation between the flashy bishop, Howard and another woman who disrupted the church service. At one point during the encounter captured on video, Whitehead began praying for the women in tongues before yanking Howard by her neck and forcing her out of the church. Whitehead and Howard were initially taken into custody and brought to the 69th Precinct after the clash. But in the end, police released the pastor without any charge. Howard, who police say was "restrained" by Whitehead, was charged with trespassing and disrupting a religious service. The second woman, who was involved with the disruption, fled, Whitehead said. Whitehead has taken to social media to accuse online personalities Larry Reid, whose "Larry Reid Live" show has a following of more than 200,000 people on Facebook alone, and De'Mario Jives of the "King Jives Show" of sending the women to disrupt his church. Earlier this month, Whitehead filed $20 million defamation lawsuits against Reid and Jives, claiming he lost church members and income after they allegedly painted him as a scammer and drug dealer on their platforms. Whitehead claimed the disruption at his church on Sunday was retaliation for the lawsuits. "I have lawsuits out, and when retaliation, that's retaliation, that's what it is, so these gentlemen, and we have proof, these gentlemen sent these two women in my church to disrupt my church. And they came in videoing, and it was a whole setup," Whitehead said in a video posted to his social media. "I allowed the lady to talk, speak her piece, curse me out and do whatever she wanted to do, but then she started to throw threats at my wife and started to charge at my wife. My wife had my baby in her hand. We're not going to have another rendition of my wife being in harm's way or my daughter being in harm's way," the Brooklyn preacher said, recalling the gunpoint robbery in July. "That's when I took action, and I grabbed the lady and escorted her out." Reid denied any involvement with the women who disrupted Whitehead's church service when contacted by The Christian Post on Monday. He noted that he has still not yet been served with any lawsuit by Whitehead. "I have YET to be served, so I really don't know if the lawsuit is real or not," he said Monday. "I tend not to believe stuff is real until it is in hand." Whitehead further lamented his treatment by the NYPD for simply trying to protect his church and admitted that he did not willingly go to the precinct with officers on Sunday. "They lock me up in front of my children, in front of my wife, in front of my church. They publicly embarrassed me, and then they drop all the charges after two hours and apologize to me," Whitehead told The New York Daily News. He told the New York Post that he felt the way he was treated was because of his race. "They would have never [done] it to a rabbi. They would have never [done] it to a priest," Whitehead said. "But because of the color of my skin, they arrested me. Not only did they arrest me, but when they put me into a police car, they injured my wrist." Most states have inadequate religious liberty protections, but this state is the worst A new report reveals that most U.S. states have inadequate religious liberty protections as advocates raise concerns about what they view as the federal governments hostility toward religious liberty. Religious Liberty in the States, a project of First Liberty Institutes Center for Religion, Culture and Democracy, has ranked every state based on its safeguards for religious liberty. Its report unveiled Wednesday outlined each state's rankings based on the number of religious liberty safeguards present there. The state-level safeguards that Religious Liberty in the States examined include the opportunity forabsentee voting to allow religious people to participate in elections on religious holidays, exemptions from childhood immunization requirements and the existence of a Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The rankings also reflected the ability of healthcare providers to refuse to provide services that contradict their religious beliefs, specifically focusing on abortions, sterilizations and contraception. Additionally, the rankings reflect whether or not a state has an exemption for employers who do not want to abide by a mandate requiring them to cover contraceptives in their employer-sponsored health insurance plans and whether or not religious officials, public officials and/or businesses can refrain from participating in a same-sex wedding if doing so violates their religious beliefs. The scores that determined the rankings reflect the percentage of safeguards a particular state has in place. Mississippi received the highest religious liberty score, as it contains 82% of safeguards. On the other hand, New York had the lowest religious liberty score, containing 16% of safeguards. In Mississippis case, the state includes nine of the 11 safeguards classified as essential for religious liberty, only lacking absentee voting and religious exemptions for vaccination requirements. By contrast, New York only has two of the 11 safeguards: protections for religious healthcare workers who do not want to perform abortions and religious officials who do not want to perform same-sex marriages. West Virginia and California join New York in the bottom three states for religious liberty, while Illinois ranks slightly behind Mississippi. Only nine states had a score of 50% or higher. In addition to Mississippi and Illinois, New Mexico, Florida, Washington, Utah, Tennessee, Maryland, Idaho and Kansas had 50% or more of the religious liberty safeguards in place. The religious liberty safeguard present in most states is a religious exemption to childhood vaccination requirements, which only five states do not have: Mississippi, Maine, California, West Virginia and New York. Forty out of 50 states allow absentee voting for religious reasons, while 33 of the 50 states have religious exemptions to the health insurance mandate requiring employers to cover their employees contraceptives in healthcare plans. Additionally, 23 states have some form of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act on the books, while the remaining 27 do not. Mississippi has the maximum number of religious exemptions for healthcare workers in place, while New Hampshire and Vermont have no such protections in place. Mississippi also has the maximum number of exemptions in place for religious officials, public officials and businesses that do not want to participate in same-sex weddings. By contrast, 30 states have no protections for those who object to participating in same-sex weddings for religious reasons. Only Mississippi, Illinois, Florida, Washington, Utah, Maryland, Connecticut, Maine, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Minnesota, Delaware, Texas, Hawaii, North Carolina, Nevada, New Hampshire, Vermont, California and New York provide some level of protection for those who see participation in a same-sex wedding as contrary to their religious beliefs. The publication of the Religious Liberty in the States report comes at a time when several Americans have found themselves in court for refusing to participate in same-sex weddings. Notable examples of conscientious objectors include Colorado baker Jack Phillips and Washington state florist Barronelle Stutzman, both of whom have faced years of litigation for refusing to provide their services for same-sex marriages. Earlier this year, the Biden administration released a proposed rule that would characterize a refusal to perform a pregnancy termination as a form of discrimination based on sex. If enacted, this rule would force doctors to perform abortions even if doing so would contradict their sincerely held religious beliefs. At the federal level, Democratic lawmakers are working to secure the passage of the Equality Act, which would codify nondiscrimination protections for the LGBT community into federal law by formally extending the definition of discrimination based on sex to include sexual orientation and gender identity. Critics of the measure worry about its implications for religious liberty, specifically the ability of faith-based organizations to hire only those who live in accordance with their religious beliefs. While the bill has passed the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives, it has stalled in the evenly divided Senate. Religious liberty advocates and faith-based organizations have offered similar warnings about the Respect for Marriage Act, legislation introduced to codify a right to same-sex marriage into law. The bill passed the House with support from 47 Republicans but is still awaiting action in the Senate. Bible museum opens unprecedented Samaritans exhibit with ancient inscription loaned by Israeli president WASHINGTON The Museum of the Bible has opened what curators say is one of the first exhibits to its scale illuminating the history of the Samaritan people group, which features an ancient stone inscription loaned by Israel President Isaac Herzog. The new exhibition, "The Samaritans: A Biblical People," opened Thursday in partnership with the Yeshiva University Center For Israel Studies under the direction of Steven Fine, the Dean Pinkhos Churgin Chair in Jewish History. The exhibition will run through Jan. 1, 2023. The museum highlights how the Samaritans are not just a people group mentioned in biblical and rabbinic texts but still exist as a micro community numbering roughly 850 people in the modern world. "The exhibition is an exploration of a centuries-old community that dates right from the Bible and explores biblical people the Samaritans, understanding their culture, their traditions, and different encounters between different religious groups," said Christy Wallover, the developer who worked with the curators, designers and others to make the exhibit possible. A large stone inscription originally from the medieval Samaritan synagogue in Kefar Kalil was loaned for the exhibition by the Israeli presidential residence and the Israel Antiquities Authority. According to the museum, the Samaritan Hebrew inscription was published by Itzhak Ben-Zvi, a scholar of Samaritan history and the second president of Israel. "This is a story that reflects the many voices that make up our social tapestry and the many textured layers of history that contribute to our collective human story here in the Holy Land," Herzog said of the exhibition. "I'm grateful to the Museum of the Bible, to Yeshiva University Center for Israel Studies, and to the many able minds and hands that have come together to bring this exhibition to life and the story of this special community, the Samaritan community, to a broad public." The inscription is among six objects on loan from Israel. According to the museum texts, the Samaritans as a people group once comprised 1 million members who endured great persecution. Wallover told The Christian Post that the museum hopes to give visitors an understanding of the traditions still remaining among the Samaritans today. "I think the new exhibition will really help our audience understand the Samaritans as not only people that show up in the Bible, in the New Testament, but as people within their own culture, within their own history and really grounded in the context of how this ancient community is also a modern contemporary community that thrives today," Wallover said. David Selis, the assistant curator from Yeshiva University Center For Israel Studies, worked alongside Fine and Jesse Abelman, curator of Hebraica and Judaica at the Museum of the Bible. "For me, the most exciting part about the museum opening was all the stories that nobody really knew about that we basically dug up," Selis said. "The purpose of this exhibit is, firstly, no one's ever done this. There have been very few Samaritan exhibits. No one's done something on this scale." "We get to now tell this complex story of the Samaritans in this scale of complexity and to tell how they were perceived and how they interacted with Muslims, Jews and Christians," he continued. "So, a big part of this is just telling a story that's never been told in this way before." Wallover believes visitors will walk away with a better understanding of history surrounding the Biblical depiction of the Samaritans. Wallover helped with the interpretive design, organizing of the themes, writing and editing of the texts seen throughout the exhibition. She also helped create the different pathways through the exhibit. The exhibition is set up as an "open concept," allowing people to choose their own paths as they explore the different sections comprised of differing narratives that all pass through the same people and places, according to Selis. He said the exhibition gives patrons "a full picture of the rich history of Samaritans who were presented as a partly-Jewish group in biblical texts." "I think this museum will challenge the way people view Samaritans. I think for Jews especially, we read about Samaritans as 'those annoying people who mess with our calendar in the rabbinic texts' and as those people who 'don't believe what we do and they're wrong.' And hearing them go, 'You people, you've got the wrong mountain.' And let's make it worse, 'the wrong Torah and the wrong priest.' These are things Jews are used to," Selis said. "We read our texts, and our sectarians don't talk back to us. So having the people that we read about as the second temple sectarians suddenly being a group that I can go visit in Tel Aviv completely changes them from being these 'bad people' to people who are alive today and part of Israeli society. And it makes them much more complicated and much more interesting, I think, from the Jewish perspective for Christians and for Muslims." Wallover said she is excited for visitors to come across the massive mosaic in the middle of the floor and the immersive sukkah, a temporary structure typically used during the week-long Jewish festival of Sukkot. "I'm also excited for people to see interesting objects which take Samaritan Hebrew and translate it into Jewish Hebrew. It's one of a kind. It's unique. I'm really excited for people to viscerally take in all these things and pieces of content and really learn about the history of the Samaritans." The exhibition is accessible not only to the general public but also to those with disabilities. "Not only did we want to make sure that there were big enough font sizes and that wheelchairs can get through, but we also wanted to make sure that the text is understandable and that people can get these concepts that are sometimes very complex and complicated," she said. "We really worked hard to make the exhibit accessible for all people." Abelman told CP that while "the Samaritan story is such a complex and unknown story by much of the world," "everyone is connected to them through the Bible and through their lives across the centuries and millennia." "Christians, Jews and everybody has been in touch with them in different ways and at different times," Abelman said. "One thing we have talked about in the context of this exhibit is Samaritans can sometimes function as a mirror for us. Jews in an obvious way as a sort of Israelites who have a very different way of practicing and understanding the Torah and all of those things. But also Christians in the way that they're trying to hold onto the connection to the Bible and to the world in the face of modernity, which can sometimes be a struggle." Abelman hopes visitors will see the depiction of Samaritans and their struggles and triumphs and be able to see their own struggles and triumphs. He also hopes it will spark "intriguing dialogue that will shape generations for years to come." "I look forward to people seeing the exhibit and talking about it. I can talk about all the pieces forever: a stone with the Ten Commandments from an ancient synagogue on the one hand, and on the other hand, you have announcements from the contemporary Samaritan synagogue," Abelman described. "And so, you can see both the antiquity, the ancient heritage and elements from the Bible and also the ongoing life that they continue to live. I'm excited for people to see things like this and learn about these people and begin to have conversations with each other." Moses Alafi, a Jerusalem-based documentary film creator, created all the documentary film clips shown on screens throughout the exhibit. Alafi said the clips demonstrate that "the Samaritan people are truly a living legacy." "The Samaritan people are real, living and breathing people today. The exhibition, the books, and the films all bring the entire story of the Samaritans to life. Behind the scenes, it's not just to tell a historical story. It's not just to promote the Samaritans," Alafi said. "When I am doing a documentary film, it's for us. It's for the people who watch it, to see, to learn and to ask ourselves questions as Jewish, as Christian, as people who share the same five books and to think what we can learn from them." The entire feature film titled "The Samaritans: A Biblical People" will be shown during a screening on Friday. Alafi said his goal was to show the "community's struggle and to share how to deliver their traditions to the next generation." "As an Orthodox religious Jew, I think that any religious community all over the world, ... we are struggling with how to deliver our traditions because we have to fight with the internet and with social media. And in this society, we cannot ignore that," Alafi stated. "As a father and grandfather, I want my children and grandchildren to follow my faith. So when we watch the story about the Samaritan community, we are trying to find different ways to overcome struggle and to win in the struggle, and we can then learn about ourselves in the process." Maternal instinct a 'myth'?: NYT essay claims Eve, Mary are examples of 'perpetual servitude' Is maternal instinct merely a religious and social construct from a bygone era? That's the inference in an opinion essay by journalist and author Chelsea Conaboy, whose headline in The New York Times, "Maternal Instinct Is a Myth That Men Created," plainly spells out her thesis. In the essay adapted from her forthcoming book, Mother Brain: How Neuroscience Is Rewriting the Story of Parenthood, Conaboy writes that the notion of mothers being uniquely and biologically equipped to provide the "selflessness and tenderness babies require" is not only unscientific but a "relatively modern and pernicious" idea. "It was constructed over decades by men selling an image of what a mother should be, diverting our attention from what she actually is and calling it science," Conaboy writes. Calling maternal instinct a "myth" that "places a primacy on biological mothers," Conaboy warns using such terminology "sustains outdated ideas about masculinity that teaches fathers that they are secondary" and "undermines the rights and recognition of same-sex couples and transgender and nonbinary parents, whose ability to care for their children is often questioned." She asks: "Where did the idea that motherhood is hard-wired for women come from?" Conaboy first points readers to the Bible and two of its most renowned women, Eve and Mary, the mother of Jesus. Calling both figures the source of "modern Christian archetypes of motherhood," Conaboy deconstructs the stories of Eve and Mary whom Conaboy refers to as the "Virgin Mary" as embodying the virtues of "unattainable goodness" and "perpetual servitude" to establish "a moral model for motherhood that has proved, for many, stifling and unforgiving." "There was Eve, who ate the forbidden fruit and in doing so caused the suffering of every human to come. And there was the Virgin Mary, the vessel for a great miracle, who became the most virtue-laden symbol of motherhood there is, her identity entirely eclipsed by the glory of her maternal love" she writes. "Mary's story, combined with Eve's unattainable goodness, perpetual servitude created a moral model for motherhood that has proved, for many, stifling and unforgiving." Tracing the history of motherhood from home through the Industrial Revolution, Conaboy points to Charles Darwin's theory of evolution in the 19th century, which she believes "codified biblical notions of the inferiority of women and reaffirmed the idea that their primary function is to bear and care for children." In response to Darwin's observations of the mother bird in 1871's The Descent of Man, Conaboy takes exception to what she described as the evolutionist's male-centric views. "Observant as he was, Darwin apparently ignored the hunger of the mother bird and the angst of having mouths to feed and predators to fend off. He didn't notice her wasting where wing meets body, from her own unending stillness," wrote Conaboy. Conaboy then points to the widely-held "belief in maternal instinct and the deterministic value of mother love" as the primary factor behind the "pro-family conservative" movement over the last three decades. Using phrases like the "sacredness of home" in quotation marks to refer to traditional notions of motherhood, the editorial called out messaging from the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, the public policy arm of the Southern Baptist Convention. She describes the ERLC as a "Christian anti-abortion policy group" and cited a 2019 ERLC article stating a mom's maternal instinct "will often overpower any other instinct to terminate her pregnancy" upon having an ultrasound done. She called the prenatal procedure "the pro-life movement's strongest asset in recent years." "Why, then, should the law consider the impact of pregnancy on the life of a person who has the full force of an instinct stronger than 'even fear itself' to gird her in the task?" Conaboy asks. Conaboy declined The Christian Post's request for comment, referring to her book for any additional context. The essay has drawn criticism from some scientists and Christian scholars, including author and researcher John Horvat II. Horvat told CP that the opinion essay was anti-Christian and "an insult to all Christians because the author reduces the two figures to myths and archetypes and not to human beings." "It is not by coincidence that she attacks motherhood by attacking the best of all mothers the mother of Jesus Christ," added Horvat. "By attacking the best mother, she attacks all." Horvat said despite the rise in feminist ideology beyond academia into fields of science and medicine, many psychiatrists and child development experts emphasize the link between mother and child as crucial. Horvat said there remains an abundance of research into bonding and nurture between mother and child. The most egregious part of the essay, Harvat said, is the "Marxist dialectics of pitting one class against the other." "By attacking the maternal instinct and using it as a tool against the patriarchy, the author shows that nothing is sacred," he added. "Everything can be distorted and manipulated to further this forlorn cause." Jenet Jacob Erickson, a fellow of the Wheatley Institution at Brigham Young University, wrote an op-ed in Deseret News responding to Conaboy's assertion that "maternal instinct is not a myth." "Conaboy reduces the profound biological, psychological and moral capacities of mothers to little more than a cultural construct designed to diminish them," Erickson wrote. "Women deserve more than that. And we can acknowledge and celebrate the unique capacity that women have in motherhood, while spurning the cultural distortions that limit and warp that power and influence." "But if our efforts to increase shared responsibility for the work of home means we eliminate the reality of the unique and profound capacities of women and men, we have diminished the strength of both," she added. "The biological, psychological and moral capacities of mothers as well as fathers cannot be easily dismissed." Erickson says researchers have explored maternal influence on children's development for over a century, and "unparalleled developments in the field of neuroscience have confirmed what we could only theorize about before." "From the moment an infant leaves the womb, she has one primary task to establish a bond of emotional communication with a caregiver she experiences as consistently responsive," she wrote. "Infants across the whole animal world look for a particular caregiver: their mother, whose heartbeat and smell, tone of voice and touch they know and for whom they immediately show a preference." Jerry A. Coyne, the emeritus professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Chicago, called Conaboy's essay a "dismissal of biological facts" and said that across the animal kingdom, females tend to be the ones tending to the young. "It bespeaks a lack of judgment on the part of the author who ignores biology because of her ideology as well as on the part of the newspaper, which failed to hold the author's feet to the scientific fire," he wrote in a rebuttal. "It is the female lion who takes care of the cubs (and hunts for them) while the males are indolent; most often it is the female bird who not only incubates the eggs but feeds the offspring; it is the mother elephant who tends to her young; it is the female primate who holds, cares for, and nurtures her offspring. This difference alone, caused by the constraints of different reproductive roles, will, over time, select for mothers to be more attentive to offspring than are the fathers, more worried about them, and more attached to them." Planned Parenthood cant hide its problem with adoption A woman facing an unexpected pregnancy may experience complex and conflicting emotions surrounding the best path forward for both her unborn child and herself. When mothers hear messages about placing their child for adoption that deliberately paint the process in a negative light, it becomes more difficult for them to believe that choosing adoption when necessary is an act of love. Given that the abortion industry thrives on manipulating women into rejecting both parenthood and adoption, it is little wonder that Planned Parenthood is ill-inclined to educate mothers about all their options. In its latest annual report, Planned Parenthood revealed that in 2020-2021, it referred only 1,940 mothers for adoption a steep drop from the previous years 2,667 referrals and 2018s 4,279 referrals. Make no mistake, it is a good thing that 1,940 women who went to Planned Parenthood may have chosen adoption over abortion for their child but this number who hopefully survived their mothers Planned Parenthood visit is dwarfed by the 383,460 abortion procedures that the group committed in the same year. For an organization whose mission is supposedly to help people live full, healthy lives, the path to adoption as a method of achieving this goal for both mother and baby is conspicuously closed. It is not only that Planned Parenthoods annual report reveals how little they emphasize that adoption is an option. The organizations website also features condemning and misleading language that would make any birth mother think twice about whether adoption is a humanitarian choice. On the brief page of information that Planned Parenthood provides about adoption, a central focus is encouraging mothers facing an unexpected pregnancy to decide if adoption is right for them based on questions such as: Do I believe my child will be treated well by the adoptive parent(s)? Is someone pressuring me to choose adoption? Am I ready to go through pregnancy and childbirth? Am I prepared to cope with the feelings of loss I may have? Will I feel okay if I visit my child and their family 2 or 3 times a year, or possibly never see them again? If the information presented about adoption on Planned Parenthoods website is any indication of the conversations that occur when women ask about adoption at an in-person facility, then it is no surprise that their number of adoption referrals is so low. There is no denying the shockingly negative tone that the questions provided convey regarding the adoption process. Every woman facing an unexpected pregnancy must wrestle with difficult questions surrounding the pathway forward but it is unethical and misleading to misrepresent these questions in a way that makes abortion seem like the only viable option. It is also interesting to note that, when dissuading a woman from choosing adoption, Planned Parenthood is comfortable humanizing the child but in every other instance, they deliberately dehumanize the child as a mere product of pregnancy. In reality, adoption is the ultimate tool of empowering mothers who are facing such difficult circumstances that they are unable to parent their child. Birth mothers have complete control over the adoption process, from hand-picking the adoptive family to determining whether the adoption will be open or closed. After delivery, the birth mother even retains the ability to change her mind about choosing to parent the child herself. If Planned Parenthood were the advocates for womens choice that they claimed to be, they would be the greatest champions for adoption out there. The simple fact is that they are not not because adoption is not empowering for mothers, but because it is less profitable than selling them an abortion procedure. This is not to say that adoption is easy; relinquishing a child, even if it is the best choice for both mother and baby, can be an incredibly painful and traumatizing decision for a mother to make. However, the abortion industry would have women believe that they can avoid this pain and trauma by making the easy decision to simply kill their unborn child. Even the most painful adoption cannot compare to the tragedy of ending an unborn childs life by dismembering or starving them to death in their mothers womb. The abortion industry refuses to acknowledge the unimaginable grief, trauma, depression, and suicidal thoughts that mothers suffer after choosing abortion. Choosing adoption, or even parenting, after receiving news of an unexpected pregnancy can be difficult but something can be difficult while simultaneously being joyful, redemptive, hopeful, and characterized by love. If you are a birth mother looking to place a child for adoption, or a married couple looking to adopt, see Lifeline Childrens Services. Explore this resource for information about healing after an abortion. Originally published at The Washington Stand. College cancels Christian groups Wilberforce Academy over its beliefs on marriage A college at Cambridge University has canceled an event for young Christian professionals, saying that the values of the organizers, who do not support same-sex marriage, are not compatible with the values of the college, the groups lawyers told the High Court this week. Cambridge Universitys Fitzwilliam College has acted unlawfully and breached its duty under the Education Act 1986, argued lawyers of the U.K.-based group Christian Concern, which has run the Wilberforce Academy for over a decade. The one-week conference is for university students and young professionals to help them apply their Christian faith in the current culture, and more specifically within their chosen vocations, including in law, politics, education, media, arts and business, Christian Concern said. The case was heard Thursday before High Court Judge Sir. Ross Cranston in London, The Telegraph reported, adding that the judge concluded there was an issue to be tried but by a lower-ranking county court judge. A senior member of staff at the college told the group that its booking had been canceled on the grounds that the group was not inclusive, did not believe in gay marriage, and that Christian Concerns general beliefs were not compatible with the values of the college. The group said the university has gone against its own commitment to free speech. In exercising their right to freedom of expression, the university expects its staff, students and visitors to be tolerant of the differing opinions of others, in line with the universitys core value of freedom of expression, the university says on its website. It added, The university also expects its staff, students, and visitors to be tolerant of the diverse identities of others, in line with the universitys core value of freedom from discrimination. While debate and discussion may be robust and challenging, all speakers have a right to be heard when exercising their right to free speech within the law. Christian Concerns legal claim rests on the basis that: The belief in marriage as a union between one man and one woman, and opposition to same-sex unions, is a religious or philosophical belief protected by both the European Convention on Human Rights and the Equality Act 2010. We are now living in a society where orthodox Christian beliefs appear to be fair game for secular activists who have a grip on what is acceptable and what isnt at the heart of our universities, Christian Concerns Chief Executive Andrea Williams said. The event was canceled casually and abruptly as though Christian beliefs on marriage are illegal and therefore discrimination of this nature is an acceptable norm. For senior members of a world-renowned college to show such brazen discrimination of Christian beliefs should concern anyone who cares about Christian freedoms and free speech. We are concerned how students at Fitzwilliam College who hold orthodox Christian beliefs might be being intimidated into silence on campus, Williams added. Whatever happens, we will continue to speak of Jesus Christ who was himself an outsider and by his words and actions demonstrated his commitment to reaching the marginalized, excluded and vulnerable so that they could discover true hope and everlasting love through him, even sacrificing his own life to do so. In June, Worcester College at the University of Oxford said it misled students after canceling the Wilberforce Academy for similar reasons last September, The Telegraph noted, adding that Worcester was forced to apologize to students for hosting a Christian Concern eventbefore canceling a second booking after a few students complained. Another Indian state passes anti-conversion bill targeting Christians While Indias Christian minority continues to fear for its safety amid rising attacks, another state, Karnataka, has passed a controversial anti-conversion bill, which has routinely been used as a pretext for anti-Christian violence in several other states. The southern Karnataka states upper house this week passed the Karnataka Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Bill, alleging that forced religious conversions had become widespread in the state and were leading to mistrust among people, NDTV reported. After the governors assent, the bill will immediately become law, although a separate anti-conversion ordinance issued in May has already been in effect. The bill was passed days after the country's Supreme Court issued a directive to eight states, including Karnataka, to verify the claims of Christian groups that filed a petition for protection after around 200 attacks were reported within the first five months of 2022. The court said verification was needed because the federal government had maintained that claims of Christian persecution in India are based on half-baked and self-serving facts and self-serving articles and reports based upon mere conjecture. Last month, the federal interior ministry response to a petition from Christian groups by saying: There appears to be some hidden oblique agenda in filing such deceptive petitions, creating unrest throughout the country and perhaps for getting assistance from outside the country to meddle with internal affairs of our nation. While Christians comprise only 2.3% of Indias population and Hindus account for about 80%, nearly a dozen states in the country have enacted anti-conversion laws, claiming that Christians force or give money to Hindus to persuade them to convert to Christianity. Anti-conversion laws typically state that no one can use the threat of divine displeasure, which means Christians cant talk about Heaven or Hell since it would be seen as luring someone to convert. Some of these laws have been in place for decades in some states. Radical Hindu nationalist groups frequently use these anti-conversion laws to make false charges against Christians and launch attacks under the pretext of an alleged forced conversion. The persecution of Christians in India is intensifying as Hindu extremists aim to cleanse the country of their presence and influence, a fact sheet from watchdog group Open Doors USA states. The driving force behind this is Hindutva, an ideology that disregards Indian Christians and other religious minorities as true Indians because they have allegiances that lie outside India, and asserts the country should be purified of their presence. This is leading to a systemic, and often violent and carefully orchestrated, targeting of Christians and other religious minorities, including use of social media to spread disinformation and stir up hatred. The United Christian Forum reported at least 486 violent incidents of Christian persecution in 2021, calling it the most violent year in the countrys history. UCF attributed the high incidence of Christian persecution to impunity, enabling mobs to criminally threaten, physically assault people in prayer, before handing them over to the police on allegations of forcible conversions. The summers final Live on the Waterfront concert was held Wednesday evening at Prince Arthurs Landing. The popular series in Thunder Bay has completed nine weekly shows that began on July 13. Wednesdays concert was unique as it was held one hour later in the evening to mesh with the 10 p. How to Immigrate to Canada from Nigeria Over 42,000 Canadians of Nigerian descent call Canada home, and this number continues to grow. How to Immigrate to Canada from Nigeria Over 42,000 Canadians of Nigerian descent call Canada home, and this number continues to grow. How to Immigrate to Canada from Nigeria Over 42,000 Canadians of Nigerian descent call Canada home, and this number continues to grow. Julia Hornstein Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif Sans Font Size A A Nigerians are Canadas fourth largest source country of immigrants. In 2021, over 15,000 Nigerians were granted permanent residency in Canada. Discover if You Are Eligible for Canadian Immigration Canada is a popular destination choice for Nigerians because of the various economic opportunities and sectors the country offers to Nigerian professionals, such as the oil and gas sector, the informational and communication technology sector, the health sector and other science and engineering related fields. Therefore, it is not surprising to learn that most Nigerians come to Canada as skilled workers under the economic class. Nigerians are usually well qualified for Canadian immigration programs due to reasons such as high English proficiency, education level and work experience. Two popular options for Nigerians to immigrate to Canada are the Federal Skilled Worker Program and the Provincial Nominee Program. Federal Skilled Worker Program The Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) may be a good option for you if you are an overseas Nigerian immigration candidate. The FSWP allows candidates with work experience and no connection to Canada or job offer to apply for permanent residence. In order to be eligible for the FSWP, candidates must be able to use their foreign work experience, education, language skills and other human capital factors to become established in Canada. In particular, candidates must meet the following requirements: One year of continuous full-time or equivalent paid work experience in the past 10 years in a skilled occupation classified under the National Occupational Classification (NOC) skill level 0, A or B; Validated language ability equivalent to Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) 7 in English or French across all abilities (reading, writing, listening, and speaking); and Canadian educational credential (certificate, diploma, or degree) or foreign credential and Educational Credential Assessment (ECA) report. Score at least 67 points on IRCCs six immigration selection factors. Prove that you have enough money for you and your family to settle in Canada. The FSWP is one of three programs managed under Express Entry, which is the Canadian governments application management system. Once you know you are eligible for the FSWP, you may upload your Express Entry Profile onto Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canadas (IRCC) website. Candidates will then receive a Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score based on factors such as age, education, work experience, language ability and more. Every two weeks, IRCC sends out invitations to apply for permanent residency for the highest scoring candidates in the pool. By 2024, the target is to admit 110,000 permanent residents through Express Entry. Therefore, Express Entry may be the most attractive and fastest option for economic class candidates to be granted Canadian permanent residency. Provincial Nominee Program The Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) is another great option for Nigerian immigration candidates. The majority of the Canadian provinces and territories administer the PNP, which allows each province and territory to design their own immigration pathways based on their own economic and demographic needs. Through the PNP, provinces and territories nominate skilled worker candidates for immigration to their respective jurisdictions. Nigerian immigration candidates may be able to apply to come to Canada directly through a PNP, provided they meet the eligibility criteria. They may also enter the Express Entry pool and be invited to apply for nomination by a province that will select candidates from the federal pool. If they are nominated through Express Entry, they will receive an additional 600 CRS points, which means they are effectively guaranteed to receive an invitation to apply for permanent residence in an upcoming Express Entry draw. Discover if You Are Eligible for Canadian Immigration CIC News All Rights Reserved. Visit CanadaVisa.com to discover your Canadian immigration options. Digital transformation has reached a critical juncture within the railway industry. As rail operators embrace new trends in intelligence, sustainability and service, aging telecommunications architecture of more than 20 years ago is unable to meet current and future requirements. The existing GSM-R train-to-ground communication system can no longer provide sufficient capacity for modern railway stations. Instead, operators are turning to the Future Railway Mobile Communication System (FRMCS) with broad bandwidth and a new decoupling architecture based on LTE and the latest technology to improve performance. Digital transformation is a long journey and rail operators need to dream big. Currently, the most pressing challenge for rail operators is to identify both the pain points and benefits and address them with cost-effective digital solutionsto act small, said Xiang Xi, Vice President, Aviation & Rail BU, Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. As an industry-leading ICT solution provider, Huawei can help with these transformation efforts in three aspects: by reshaping connectivity, reconstructing the platform, and enabling intelligence. At the upcoming InnoTrans exhibition, Huawei will outline the framework for digitalisation of the railway business and best practices for innovation and showcase smart railway related Solution. Reshape connectivity With digitalisation, demand for new services such as train automation, smart maintenance, and others is growing. Current narrowband network has insufficient bandwidth to meet complex network requirements to support these services. Innovative solutions such as FRMCS, Wi-Fi 6 and all-optical networks will enable a more digitalised rail infrastructure. Huawei FRMCS solution enables wireless communications systems for high throughput, low latency, and reliable connectivity. This solution can support new railway services such as multimedia dispatching communications, trackside IoT, and predictive maintenance. Reliability in connectivity also requires zero interruptions for real-time service. Wi-Fi 6 Train-to-Ground communication, Railway All-Optical Network using native hard pipeline (NHP) and Urban Rail Cloud-Optical Network based on OTN technology with ultra-low latency, enables no-disruption connectivity to operators assets, services, operations and maintenance. Reconstruct platform Traditional urban rail lines and service systems, including ATS, AFC, and PIS, are relatively independent. The silo construction of IT resources leads to high construction costs, low resource utilization, and isolation of multiple information systems. The unified construction mode of the urban rail cloud changes these issues. Huaweis Urban Rail Cloud Platform solution empowers rail operators to maximise IT resources and improve security and efficiency of operations. Enable intelligence As rail operations increase in complexity, rail operators need to gain a better situational awareness in order to manage their assets better and expedite incident response time. The challenges becomes even greater as operators look for ways to improve low-carbon development and other parts of their operations to address sustainability objectives. Huaweis Urban Rail Intelligent Operation Center (IOC) solution connects digital environments with physical spaces for improved and integrated situational awareness leading to better decision-making and an efficient and collaborative command. Next-generation communications technologies will play a critical role in addressing the unique challenges of the rail industry. Cutting-edge solutions such as FRMCS, Wi-Fi 6, and all-optical networks are addressing those challenges to empower the rail industry to modernize for improved safety and reliability of rail lines, while opening new opportunities for innovation. Register now to find out Huaweis global experience in the rail industry at the 9th Huawei Global Rail Summit on 22nd September at the Grand Hyatt Berlin in Germany. In July, cloud-based subscription management platform provider Zuora hosted events in Melbourne and Sydney attended by leading executives from global and Australian recurring revenue businesses. Discussions covered a multitude of topics, but one that participants returned to time and time again was complexity as it related to technology. Digitisation of industry has created remarkable opportunities and allowed for efficiency of a kind previously unimaginable. This shift has brought about radical simplification. What was once strictly manual can now be automated; a process that yesterday might have taken a week might now take a day tomorrow it may take just hours. This all-encompassing disentanglement has led to rapid growth, entirely new client and consumer expectations, and ultimately, perhaps ironically, to an ecosystem of (mostly) cloud services with a complexity all its own. Responding to customer needs Scott Westbrook is the Vice President of Data & Technology for Deputy, a shift worker management software provider based in Sydney. At the Zuora event he said that client feedback isnt just taken seriously at the company; its treated like a precious metal. When a Deputy user tells us about a problem theyre having or a function they require, that message is immediately sent around the company. Its on the Slack channel for multiple teams. The CEO is looking at that sentiment as closely as anyone. But this dedication to serving clients and adapting to shifting or novel requirements a hallmark of strong subscription companies brings with it evermore elaborate protocols, processes and software solutions. In other words, in the quest to demonstrate continued value to clients, and as the company grows into new regions with different taxation laws and regulations, avoiding complexity is impossible. From the outside, you look at what we do and you think Thats really easy but its actually incredibly complicated. We have more than 40,000 customers, Westbrook said. For Carbar, the vehicle subscription startup founded in Melbourne in 2016, the challenge of complexity is related to growth, as well, but also to major changes in company strategy. Kieron Wogan, Cheif Marketing Officer, Carbar Zuora Chief Marketing Officer, Kieron Wogan, said at the event that an average Carbar customer subscribes to the service for more than two years. After that period, many churn not because they find the service unsatisfactory but, on the contrary, because they decide they want to own the car they enjoyed using through Carbar. We realised we could be involved in both the subscription side of car use, but also in the next step. So weve partnered with CarClarity to help customers in this situation to convert their subscription into a loan. The genius of this proposition is the and. Rather than subscribe or buy. We now offer customers the opportunity to subscribe and then buy. The aim is to create a simpler, more seamless service for the customer, understanding that this naturally leads to what Wogan describes as more moving parts at an operational level. If it doesnt plug straight in, well look elsewhere At the centre of all this complexity is often a very simple question: Will all the digital platforms talk to each other? Message Media is a good example of just how critical this question is in the subscription economy. Founded in 2000, the B2B company helps businesses send messages to their customers. Success led to growth and the opportunity to expand both organically and through acquisition. It also led to global industry attention, and in 2021 Swedish software-as-a-service giant Sinch acquired the Melbourne-based company. Igor Zevaka Director, Product Delivery, Nearmap Zuora Whats followed is a need to integrate and migrate platforms, making certain that, for example, a Zuora product (Message Media uses Zuora Billing), harmonises with platforms like Salesforce and Zendesk used by the subsidiary or parent company. This connection, which must be immediate and involve minimum friction, is important for all except the most steadfastly analogue companies, but essential for those who offer cloud services. As Igor Zevaka, Director of Product Delivery at aerial imagery company Nearmap, put it: How does it all fit together? Can I plug in a platform and expect it to work in my system straight away? If I cant, we might have to look elsewhere. Wholl serve the service providers? With all this being the case, a company like Zuora, offering the kind of billing, revenue and collection software that is imperative for any subscription company, the complexity of client businesses leads to complexity for their own. Nick Cherrier, Zuora APAC Chair, Subscribed Institute Zuora Nick Cherrier is the APAC Chair of Zuoras Subscribed Institute and says that Zuora has responded to this multiplicity with a significant transformation. Zuora has greatly accelerated the pace of its product releases in the last few years. We realised we needed to be more agile and get these products, or features, into the hands of customers as soon as possible. Theyre stable, but theres room for iteration. We want to evolve them while theyre in use rather than letting the perfect be the enemy of the good. Our Revenue product is a good example of that change in mindset. It was and remains an excellent product, but as a product we obtained through acquisition, there were some initial challenges integrating with our existing suite. We changed that and today we see that customers with the top Net Promoter Scores are those that use the complete chain of Zuora Billing, Collect and Revenue. That lines up with a joint study we conducted with McKinsey recently, which demonstrated subscription businesses with optimised quote-to-cash processes grew four times faster than their peers. Whats the right approach to complexity? None of the executives at the Zuora events spoke of complexity as a hurdle to step around. For them, it was a challenge to be overcome, a puzzle to be solved, an inevitability to be welcomed. At the moment, much of what we do is done on a monthly basis. We work on MRR [Monthly Recurring Revenue], so that metric makes sense to a degree. But as were predominantly usage based, it also means you need to make predictions based on what happened last month, which can be very complicated, Westbrook said, referring to Deputys approach to forecasting revenue. I want to move to doing things on a daily basis. When youre seeing data come through in real time you dont need to make those complicated assumptions anymore. It opens up a whole world of different options. Cherrier says that embracing multiplicity, as long as its supported by seamless software integration and judicious management, can become a competitive advantage. Complexity is not something companies should shy away from. As a company matures, it will add products, price models, expand into new territories and segments, add payment methods, even acquire or merge with other solutions. The key to success is to ensure you find the right balance in your design choices between complexity and simplicity. It has a material impact. 35915 FedNor confers funding to award-winning Canadian cloud solution provider ThinkOn for the establishment of a Global Security Event Operations Centre (SOC), the creation of a Digital Evidence Management (DEM) Archive and the launching of a new Digital Public Safety (DPS) research and development (R&D) team for video storage and analytics in North Bay North Bay, Ontario, Canada, ThinkOn Inc., a Canadian-based cloud solution provider with a global footprint, is the gracious recipient of over $1 million in repayable funding from FedNor, the Government of Canadas economic development organization for Northern Ontario. The funding, announced today by the Honourable Anthony Rota, Member of Parliament for NipissingTimiskaming and Chair of the Board of Internal Economy, will help ThinkOn establish a Global Security Event Operations Centre (SOC), create a Digital Evidence Management (DEM) archive, and launch a new Digital Public Safety (DPS) research and development (R&D) team for video storage and analyticsone of the fastest growing global data markets. The DEM archive will provide secure hosting of vendor-neutral digital evidence content management and long-term digital evidence storage for public safety organizations across Canada. The ThinkOn Global Command Centre in North Bay, Ontario, Canada, promises 20-30 high-tech jobs and 20 co-op student placements within the next three years for Canadore College cybersecurity students. The highly secure site will act as ThinkOns hub for incident response and operational management, supporting its data centres located across the United States, the Caribbean region, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada. The FedNor funding allows ThinkOn to meet its growing business needs, establishing the North Bay location as our primary 24/7 security and incident management centre to be run by an elite incident response team, says Craig McLellan, Founder and CEO of ThinkOn. The investment also enables us to invest in growing our own, allowing ThinkOn to offer practicum opportunities to Canadian cybersecurity studentsopportunities that will directly contribute to the future of the Canadian technology industry. While growth in Canadas technology sector outpaces the overall economy, it is facing a talent shortfall as an industry. By partnering with North Bays Canadore College, ThinkOn fosters a meaningful connection between the industry and the talent pipeline. The FedNor funding will also factor into building and strengthening ties with the local Indigenous population. Canadore College, where ThinkOns SOC will be located, is situated on the traditional territory of the Nbisiing Anishinaabeg People of the Nipissing First Nation. ThinkOn has entered a partnership with The First Peoples Circle on Education, a not-for-profit organization that supports and empowers Indigenous people to independently deliver services and address socio-economic conditions in their communities, ensuring Indigenous learners can study at the post-secondary level. Working with The First Peoples Centre, ThinkOn aspires to create jobs for Indigenous job seekers and establish bursaries for Indigenous students who want to enter into cybersecurity programs. Our evolving and growing relationship with the innovative and progressive Team at ThinkOn is providing significant job and experiential learning opportunities for Canadore learners and graduates, shared Shawn Chorney, Vice President, Strategic Infrastructure, Indigenous & Learner Services, Canadore College. With our specific shared goals of increasing opportunities for Indigenous People in the tech sector, we are working on a number of exciting initiatives to provide technical training and financial support for learners to train and consider joining the ThinkOn Team. ThinkOn is a 100% Canadian-owned technology company, serving both domestic and international subscribers. ThinkOn is the only Canadian supplier with the contractual capability to sell cloud-based data management services to support both Federal Government Sensitive (PBMM) workloads as well as workloads from all other levels of public sector entities in Canada. The company has received numerous accolades, including recently being named to Deloittes Technology Fast 500, a ranking of the 500 fastest growing technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences, fintech, and energy tech companies in North America, and to its Technology Fast 50 list for its rapid revenue growth, entrepreneurial spirit, and bold innovation. Sorry, no valid subscriptions were found for this Publication. Please select from an option below to start a subscription. SUBSCRIBE TODAY! 24 Hour Access Primeste notificari pe email Nota bene: Adresele email cu extensia .ru nu sunt acceptate. Contractare si Achizitie Bunuri Anunturi de Angajare Granturi - Finantari Burse de studiu Stagii Profesionale Oportunitati de voluntariat Toate Articolele Personally I think the idea that fake news on Facebook, of which its a very small amount of the content, influenced the election in any way, I think is a pretty crazy idea. Mark Zuckerberg, November 10, 2016 If the presidential election of 2016 revealed one thing more surprising to the mainstream press than the popularity of Donald Trump, it was just how profoundly dysfunctional their publishing environment was. Suddenly, it became clear that social media news feeds were populated with all manner of propaganda, falsehoods, and political advertisingthere was a crisis of misinformation in a privately owned public sphere. After not too long, governments and technology platforms responded by embracing the power of fact-checking. As many parts of the journalism world shrank, fact-checking grew. According to the 2019 Duke University Reporters Lab census, 44 fact-checking organizations existed five years ago; there are 195 now. Angie Drobnic Holan, the editor of PolitiFact, has two explanations. Firstly, the internet made it practical from a time point of view, she says. And, secondly, the increasing sophistication of political messaging made it necessary. The checking these organizations do is not the internal prepublication review found at well-resourced magazines, but an independent business of verification, debunking, and correction of untruths that have already been publishedand spread widely on the Web. The new age of fact-checking may therefore be interpreted as journalism adapting to the needs of its digital environment. But it might also be seen as a dismantling of journalisms traditional role and a reconstruction of its workflow, flexing to suit the priorities and the ideologies of the tech companies now paying checkers salaries. At the beginning of the fact-checking boom, a handful of independent newsrooms pioneered the practice as an internet-focused discipline. Among the first were Snopes.com, in 1994, with a focus on urban myths and oddities; Spinsanity (now defunct); and then, in 2003, the more seriously political FactCheck.org. These ventures took advantage of the internet to publish instant rebuttals and corrections; FactCheck.org in particular sought to go beyond the he said, she said of stodgy campaign reporting. Both FactCheck.org and PolitiFactwhich started inside the newsroom of the St. Petersburg Times (now the Tampa Bay Times), in 2007were founded by journalists motivated to ditch stenographic political reporting and instead evaluate politicians with a neutral cool. There is now a sector of fact-checking philanthropy, fueled by Google, Facebook, and nonprofit foundations. Holan remembers reading the first birther emails suggesting that Barack Obama was not born in the United States. With hindsight, I do now wonder if that was a foreign influence campaign, she says. I remember thinking, Who has the time to do this? Well, now we know exactly the type of operations that produce these things. It wasnt until later, when Facebook added a share button, that social media virality became possible and the number of unfounded claims took off. The share button first appeared in 2006 and went mobile in 2012. By the start of the 2016 presidential race, coordinated propaganda campaigns, legitimate political advertising, and even for-profit troll farms were working their way through an increasingly opaque, algorithmically driven social media ecosystem. Since then, newsrooms like BuzzFeed have successfully turned investigating misinformation on social platforms into a potent media beat. New techniques and technologies employed by enterprising investigative journalists everywhere from the New York Times to Bellingcat, an independent site, have challenged conflicting reports on subjects as diverse as the shooting down of Malaysian airliner MH17 and the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi journalist. People like Glenn Kessler, at the Washington Post, and Linda Qiu, at the Times, function as dedicated checkers on stories their colleagues are simultaneously reporting. Sign up for CJR 's daily email Outside newsrooms, money is pouring in to set up new types of organizations to combat misinformation. There is now a sector of fact-checking philanthropy, fueled by Google, Facebook, and nonprofit foundations. As a result, the Duke count noted, last year forty-one out of forty-seven fact-checking organizations were part of, or affiliated with, a media company; this year, the figure is thirty-nine out of sixty. In other words, the number of fact-checking organizations is growing, but their association with traditional journalism outlets is weakening. After Donald Trump won the presidency and stories were reportedmany of them by Craig Silverman, of BuzzFeedabout fake news having potentially influenced the election, a group of fact-checking organizations knocked on Facebooks door. Facebook executives agreed to work with what is now known as the International Fact Checking Network (IFCN), a nonprofit housed at the Poynter Institute, to recruit and manage an army of fact checkers who would flag misinformation in Facebook posts. Checkers would either review stories fed through a Facebook dashboardwhich appear at a rate of more than two thousand a day, with many duplicates dressed in different URLsor they would choose their own method. There are now more than fifty-five member groups involved. Facebook doesnt disclose how much it pays them, but Snopes, which stopped working with the company in February, has reported earning $100,000 from Facebook in 2017 and $406,000 in 2018. FactCheck.org has said that it received $188,881 from Facebook in 2018 and $242,400 this year. Automated checking relies on the availability of verifiable sourcessomething that is complicated and human. In the projects initial phase, fact-checking partners were frustrated by a lack of transparency in their relationship with Facebook. Professor Mike Ananny, of the University of Southern California, produced a Tow Center report highlighting one of the early concerns: An almost unassailable, opaque, and proprietarily guarded collective ability to create and circulate news, and to signal to audiences what can be believedthis kind of power cannot live within any single set of self-selected, self-regulating organizations that escapes robust public scrutiny. In addition, an emphasis on nonpartisanship opened the door to partners such as Check Your Fact, which is funded by the Daily Caller, a right-wing site that is itself adrift from truth. The Weekly Standard was welcomed in, too; last September, when it fact checked a story by ThinkProgress about Roe v. Wade, Judd Legum, the founder and former editor in chief of ThinkProgress, described Facebooks fact-checking initiative as a farce. And this September, Facebook announced that it will not fact check material posted by politicians, even when it violates the companys rules. Baybars Orsek, director of the IFCN, credits Facebook for paying fact-checking organizations more consistently than anyone else does. But have the efforts been successful? Its certainly not too early to tell if this work is having an impact, he says. But we would like to be able to prove it is working. We still lack the data and the detailed picture to really prove the impact of the Facebook project. The chance might not come soon. Fact-checking is appealing to a company like Facebook because it addresses an immediate problem on their platform, Ananny tells me. But it also fits with a worldview which is common in technology companies that says: you have two contesting claims and you investigate them and then the one you deem correct wins. That shrinks other aspects of journalism that go beyond right and wrongthings like empathy and context. There are almost as many different types of fact checker as there are kinds of misinformation. For Professor Lucas Graves, of the University of Wisconsin and the author of Deciding Whats True (2016), thats a reason for skepticism. There is at least a potential gap between fact-checking organizations and what they say their mission is, such as combating political rhetoric, and the reality that they are fighting all kinds of misinformation, he tells me. That concern is complicated by their sources of funding. It is undeniable that governments and technology platforms interest in this has been pushing the field to focus on misinformation, Graves says. It raises a lot of questions around both mission and methods. The development of automated fact-checking, for instance, made possible by natural language processing, presents a test case for how well algorithms can vet informationa task some journalists have been uneasy about handing over. Full Fact, based in the United Kingdom, has entered that arena. We have seen three distinct waves of fact-checking, Tom Phillips, the editor of Full Fact, explains. The first was about claim review and just making the process of fact-checking transparent. The next phase was for fact-checking seeking accountability and actively pursuing corrections and retractions. The third wave is to make that work at internet scale, which means really being a force multiplier for human expertise. As information-sharing moves from public platforms like Twitter to closed networks like WhatsApp, fact-checking will become more and more difficult. Bill Adair, founder of PolitiFact and a Duke University professor of journalism and public policy, is similarly bullish about the need to close the time and space gap through automation. In doing so, he argues, checking will be more effective at reaching an audience; he is also working on ways of representing the results visually. It is a whole area of uncharted territory in terms of what users respond to, he says. Do we use facts? Or do we use symbols? We need to do much more work on this. Still, automated checking relies on the availability of verifiable sourcessomething that is complicated and human; checkers at those well-resourced magazines work long hours to parse and interpret information. And then theres the matter of speed: in an ideal Silicon Valley process, data would be ubiquitously available and checkers would be equipped with tools to interrogate, sort, and rebroadcast in response to the breaking-news cycle. The reality is far messier. There are people trying to clear the brush. After Silverman reported on the influence of fake news in 2016, he was joined by a reporter named Jane Lytvynenko. I really spent my first few weeks in the job just compiling a massive database of partisan sites, which meant not only visiting every one of their websites, but every one of their Facebook pages and each of their social media accounts, Lytvynenko recalls. I fell quite far down the rabbit hole, and at the end of the hole there is often really quite unpleasant things. Aspects of her work, Lytvynenko says, can often be boring and slow, but shes good at it. Along with Silverman, she is starting to track potential disinformation campaigns ahead of the 2020 election. Sometimes she tweets out requests for help finding misinformation about major news events, and shes been pleased to find that awareness of fact-checking seems to be paying dividends with the public. When people send me pictures after a storm or hurricane now, they might say I reverse-image-searched this, which is certainly new behavior, she tells me. So the debunking process really can work as media literacy, too. The coming challenge for Lytvynenkoand everyoneis the migration of fake news from public platforms like Facebook and Twitter to messenger groups on phone apps like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and Signal. The new frontier involves targeted, ephemeral, closed sources of misinformation, and too few people understand how that works or where to look. Newsrooms can hardly afford to hire more employees; Lytvynenkos own newsroom has been slashed by layoffs. We have great training networks doing good work, she says. But if you asked if every news organization had one or two people who could take on that rolethen I honestly dont think you would have the numbers. Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today Emily Bell is a frequent CJR contributor and the director of Columbias Tow Center for Digital Journalism. Previously, she oversaw digital publishing at The Guardian. How do you address the fears that the government is going to take away those assault rifles? a reporter asked Beto ORourke on the Saturday morning before Labor Day, outside a campaign stop in Charlottesville, Virginia. ORourke was fielding questions about guns, which, after a mass shooting in his hometown of El Paso, had become central to his presidential bid. Thats exactly what were going to do, he replied. That afternoon, back in West Texas, another gunman with another assault rifle embarked on a shooting spree, killing seven people and wounding twenty-five. Soon after the mans name was reported, a suspicious-looking Twitter account added dramatic details to the emerging narrative: The Odessa Shooters name is Seth Ator, a Democratic Socialist who had a Beto sticker on his truck. Law enforcement officials quickly told reporters that there was no such sticker, and journalists discovered that Ator had been registered in Texas as an unaffiliated voter. Yet by early Sunday afternoon, the unsourced rumor about Ator was already in full flight online; one Facebook account that had been quick to latch on boasted 34,000 shares after repeating the storydespite its usual fare (Trump memes) typically receiving likes and shares in the single digits. The original postby an account purportedly belonging to a seventy-two-year-old woman from Mesa, Arizona, with fewer than six hundred followersracked up more than 15,000 likes and 11,000 retweets. It was lent credibility by people such as Anthony Shaffer, a former Defense Intelligence Agency officer and member of President Trumps 2020 campaign advisory board. Shaffer found a moral to the story: This supports my belief that Progressives should be prohibited from owning or having access to weapons, he tweeted. They clearly cannot be trusted with the responsibility. Given the Russians astonishing success in helping to boost Trump to the presidency, it was only a matter of time before there would be domestic imitators. Later on Sunday, visual evidence of Ators allegiances was posted on Facebook and fanned across platforms, shared by thousands: a picture of a white truck with a BETO 2020 decal in the back window. The image, it turned out, had been plucked from a campaign-decal store on Etsy. (The vehicle actually used in the shootings was a hijacked US Postal Service truck.) By Monday morning, when a tracker at the Democratic National Committees new unit combating disinformation alerted the ORourke campaign to the hoax, it was far too late to quell it. Lauren Hitt, who was ORourkes rapid-response director, recalls that the campaign notified Facebook and Twitter, identifying the account that had launched the rumor. We did not hear from themeven once it was reported on, Hitt says. Twitter left the original post up. Facebook notified the people who shared the post that it was false. But the likely thousands of other people who saw the post but didnt share it got no notification. The ORourke campaign confronted a hard reality that several still-active 2020 candidates have also faced, says Simon Rosenberg, a former Obama administration adviser who led a pilot effort to counter disinformation for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) during the 2018 midterms. These things are brush fires, he tells me. Once those fraudulent accounts light the fire, and regular people start sharing and amplifying it, how do you combat that? Sign up for CJR 's daily email Every presidential candidate who has garnered significant support in the 2020 polls has been targeted by disinformation attacks. Last December, when Senator Elizabeth Warren became the first major figure to announce her candidacy, Storyful, a social media intelligence firm, registered spikes in spam or bot-like manner on Twitter and found a host of messages on 4chan and 8chan, a pair of right-wing chat sites, full of advice on how to target her campaign with false claims. A few days after Warren cracked open a beer and hosted a New Years Eve Q&A from her kitchen, a post on Reddit showed her in front of a cabinet full of tchotchkes, side by side with what appeared to be a close-up of one of the items: a figurine of a grinning Black boy eating watermelon. Tomi Lahren, a Fox News contributor, tweeted out the images, asking, Am I seeing this correctly? She was not. The Warren campaign hustled out a tweet with two photos of the kitchen cabinet, showing that the figurine was actually a vase bearing no racist imagery. By then, however, the blackface meme was all over Instagram and Facebook, in part courtesy of the New York City Republican Party, which added the comment: Racist much? By late April it was Pete Buttigiegs turn. Shortly after Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, had neared double digits in national polls, someone purporting to be a young Republican college student in Michigan posted a story on Medium with a shocker of a headline: Pete Buttigieg Sexually Assaulted Me. As soon as the post went up, Big League Politics, a far-right site, took it to Twitter: Uh oh: BREAKING: Media Darling Buttigieg Accused of Sexual Assault. The story was a hoax, engineered by a pair of right-wing trolls, Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman, who had previously announced explosive (and just as fabricated) evidence of sexual misconduct by Special Counsel Robert Mueller and this fall trotted out an absurdly fake contention that Warren had had an affair with a twentysomething bodybuilder. The same day as the Buttigieg attack, Joe Biden, the former vice president, was endorsed by the International Association of Fire Fighters. On Twitter, @realDonaldTrump fumed to his sixty-five million followers about the Dues Sucking firefighters leadership backing Biden even though the membership wants me. Two days later, the president went on a tear, retweeting almost sixty responses to a post by Dan Bongino, a former Secret Service agent and Fox News commentator, in which he claimed, NONE of the Firemen I know are supporting Joe Biden for President. Trumps retweet-storm was widely reported, yet only a couple of outlets pointed out that some of the accounts he promoted, if not most, were fake. I looked at the first twenty-five accounts he sent out, Rosenberg says, and none of them looked real. Not one. Darren Linvill, an associate professor at Clemson University who analyzes social media disinformation, also found fakes among the tweets endorsed by Trump. It was yet another sign, Linvill told ABC News, that disinformation in the 2020 campaign was sure to be orders of magnitude worse than it was in 2016. Given the Russians astonishing success in helping to boost Trump to the presidency, it was only a matter of time before there would be domestic imitators. In 2017, the first major American cyberpropaganda efforts were launched by Democratic operatives and tech firms targeting Roy Moore, a Republican running for Senate in a special election in Alabama. In a secret effort dubbed Project Birmingham, they set up a Facebook page with fake conservatives expressing their worries about Moore, encouraging Republicans to write in other candidates and running a false-flag operation to start a rumorpicked up on by mainstream media outletsthat Moores campaign was being promoted by Russian bots. A separate stealth effort created a Dry Alabama Facebook page, designed to fool voters into thinking that Moore wanted to Re-Enact Prohibition. And a pro-Democratic firm, Tovo Labs, experimented with what it called ethical applications of Russian tacticsdriving conservative Alabamians to real articles critical of Moore, for instanceto lower Republican turnout. The results exceeded expectations: Moore lost in a stunning upset to a first-time Democratic candidate, former US attorney Doug Jones. The margin was just 21,924 votes, out of more than 1.3 million cast. Tovo Labs boasted on Medium that it was proud to have perhaps played a role in the outcome, claiming that its efforts had helped drive down moderate-Republican turnout by 2.5 percent, compared to the 2014 midterms in Alabama, and suppressed conservative turnout by 4.4 percent. Whatever role the cyber ops actually played, the systematic exploitation of lax regulations on social media platforms had now not only helped win Trump the White House, but also helped send a Democrat to the Senate from Alabama. In the midterms, the race to a new bottom in American elections would be on. Republicans had the most notable successes with disinformation campaigns in 2018, adopting practically every tactic in the Russian playbook and cooking up a few more to elude social media platforms half-hearted efforts to avoid a repeat of 2016all with timely boosts from Trump and his already up-and-running 2020 reelection campaign, led by Brad Parscale, his former digital media director. As in 2016, both the beleaguered Democratic campaigns and the press were largely left flat-footed, trying to fend off a dizzying array of social media attacks. Strong, rapid-response denials from campaigns and thorough fact-checking of wild claims by media outlets were no match for the volume and velocity of disinformation that dominated the midterms. The chief targets, not surprisingly, were progressive Democrats running in closely contested races for the House, Senate, and statewide office. None came under more sustained fire than the gubernatorial candidates Stacey Abrams, in Georgia, and Andrew Gillum, in Florida. False stories, automated and fake accounts, hoaxes, and conspiracy theories were used to paint experienced center-left officeholders as militant Black radicals with virulent socialist agendas. And this time around, it wasnt just shadowy operators doing the dirty work. In late October, just a couple of weeks out from the election, as Gillum took part in a debate with his GOP rival, a right-wing troll named Amy Mek broadcast to her 250,000 Twitter followers: Gillum is supported by Communist Donors, Militant Socialists, Muslim Brotherhood & PLO terrorists trying to incite a revolution in America & destroy Trump. The same month, Wackalou Lehmann, an obscure Facebook account that has some 680 followers, posted a poorly photoshopped image of Abrams, also indicating ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, that received some 24,000 shares. The latter was easy to produce and effective: studies have shown that visual disinformation lingers long in peoples minds even if they realize the image came from an unreliable source; researchers call this the sleeper effect, because those exposed to an image tend ultimately to forget that it ever struck them as dubious. In 2020, the most malicious and effective cyberattacks will be homegrown. Toward the end of the 2018 cycle, Democratic candidates supposed efforts to turn out undocumented voters represented a common theme of cyber-fearmongeringone that is likely to recur in 2020. According to a study published in April by Bully Pulpit Interactive, a communications agency, 54 percent of the thousands of Facebook ads purchased early on by the Trump reelection campaign have focused on immigration. The presidents relentless hyping of the migrant caravan that set out from Honduras, inflamed by right-wing trolls sharing misleading images lifted from stock-photo archives, merged with older false claims of widespread voter fraud to inflict last-minute damage on several candidates in tight races. None was hit harder than ORourke, in his unexpectedly competitive challenge to Republican senator Ted Cruz, in Texas. As Election Day approached, text messages appearing to have come from the ORourke campaign popped up on his supporters phones, asking for volunteers to drive undocumented immigrants to the polls. The texts had been sent by a Republican activist who had joined ORourkes campaign and gained access to its texting software. On social media, rumors spread about the caravan being paid to vote for ORourke by the busload. One of the most viral of these messages was issued by Larry Schweikart, a historian and coauthor of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution (2017), who told his fifty thousand Twitter followers that illegals had been caught at the Texas border, cash in hand, on their way to vote. When BuzzFeed News reached Schweikart to ask about the provenance of this allegation, he claimed it came from FreeRepublic.com, a right-wing website, which turned out to be untrue. Was he worried about spreading disinformation? the reporter asked. Well, its just a report, Schweikart said. Hey, fake news, right? Im just countering what goes on on the other side. No biggie. Four years ago, fake-news meddling in Americas presidential race was primarily an external threat, with the Russians Internet Research Agency leading the way and the Trump campaign eagerly tagging along. That wont be the case in 2020, when the most malicious and effective disinformation will be homegrownplanted and artificially amplified by for-profit troll farms, freelance cyberwarriors swapping notes in chat rooms, political parties and PACs, and campaigns up and down the ballot. As Siva Vaidhyanathan, a media studies professor at the University of Virginia, wrote in The Guardian this summer, We wont need Russia in 2020. We will hijack our democracy ourselves. The press and elected officials have the tools to decrease the effect of mass disinformation. If only they applied the lessons they should have learned. For those who care about fair elections, healthy democratic discourse, or objective facts, hand-wringing despair is the most natural response to what were going to see. There is a consensus among cyber-experts when it comes to predictions for this election cycle, and theyre all ugly: Americans will be mass-bewildered by new forms of disinformation, including deepfakes far more convincing than that of Nancy Pelosi, House Speaker, on a faux bender. Partisans on both sides, foreign and domestic, will find slicker and harder-to-detect methods for proliferating rumors, distortions, smears, and junk newsand better ways to reach their target audiences for particular messages. Dark-money Facebook ads, aiming to direct people to propaganda sites, will multiply. The big platforms will sniff out some fake and foreign accounts and announce their actions with self-congratulatory press releases while millions more sneak through. And Trumps campaign, already investing more in social media buys than the entire Democratic field combined, will cook up new models of creative deception, distraction, and division. It is telling that Parscale is now leading the entire Trump reelection effort, as campaign manager. Both the press and elected officials have the tools to decrease the scope and effect of mass disinformation. Theres no magic-wand, Harry Potter solution, says Rosenberg, who has advised large media organizations and campaigns looking for effective countermeasures. But were not powerless. Both parties are building on a Democratic social media monitoring experiment Rosenberg led in 2018 that persuaded Twitter to remove some ten thousand accounts posing as those of progressives. (The phony accounts staged a campaign to persuade liberal men to sit out the election and make womens votes count more.) The 2020 campaigns will now be doing the same. Theyre going to have to have staff monitoring social media 24-7 in order to shut down accounts and do takedowns, Rosenberg says. If you respond to stuff two or three days after it starts to spread, youre going to lose the fight the way ORourke lost it. Still, neither the Democratic National Committee nor its Republican counterpart has forsworn the use of dark cyber arts. The central takeaway from two cycles of disinformation is that debunking lies once theyve spread might be necessarybut can also serve to spread them further. Identifying the sources of malicious attacks and reporting them to social platforms (in the case of campaigns) or to the public (in the case of the press) is far more effective. Popular Information, a subscription newsletter launched last year by Judd Legum, the founder and former editor of ThinkProgress, reported in September that a popular Facebook page, I Love Americafull of inauthentic and manipulative right-wing, pro-Trump, and patriotic memeswas being run and managed by a Ukrainian network. After Legum broke the story, Facebook shut the page down. A couple months earlier, Popular Information had uncovered the truth behind one of the Trump campaigns own deceptions: a series of video ads purporting to feature testimonials from American millennials. I could not ask for a better president of the United States, says a typical one, starring Tracey from Florida, who is seen walking along a beach. The young Americans, Legum found, were actually stock-video models for Turkish, Brazilian, and French companies. The voice-overs are fake; so are the images of small businesses in the ads. The debunking went viral, and the videos were removed from the internet. The summer brought another successful takedown, too: the second largest single buyer of pro-Trump Facebook ads (after the Trump campaign), the Epoch Times, a conspiracy-promoting paper of the Falun Gong movement, was banned after Legum and NBC News reported on its violations of Facebook rules. And in June, the New York Times reported that JoeBiden.info, an anonymously run page that was drawing more traffic than Bidens official campaign site, was the brainchild of Patrick Mauldin, a Trump digital staffer whod boasted on Reddit that he wanted to red pill as many Democrats as possible. The site remains up, but its traffic took a dive after the flood of reports that followed in the Times wake. There are, then, some encouraging signs that both campaigns and journalists have begun, three years after Russia exploited the unregulated internet to such devastating effect, to develop defense mechanisms. Cyberpropaganda thrives in the dark, obscuring both its origins and its intentions. Bringing its sources and methods into the light is the bestreally, the onlydisinfectant that our democracy can muster, as long as social media platforms continue to put profits ahead of the public interest. Theres no question that disinformation will get smarter in 2020. But so can the rest of us. Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today Bob Moser is the former editor of the Texas Observer and executive editor of The American Prospect. Hes the author of Blue Dixie: Awakening the Souths Democratic Majority and is writing a book about misogyny in the alt-right. Last September, Youkyung Lee, a Korean reporter working for Bloombergs Seoul office, published a story about Moon Jae-in, South Koreas president, pegged to the annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly. It was an upbeat moment in inter-Korean relations: Moon and an entourage of politicians and business chiefs had just returned from Pyongyang, for the third North-South summit in a matter of months. Yet sanctions imposed by the UN constrained the two Koreas vision of economic exchange, Moon told his counterparts. Lees article gave a brief summary of the situation (word count: 666), in the evaluative style of news analysis. Its headline called Moon the top spokesman for Kim Jong-un. The story was quickly scooped up, in partial translation, by The Chosun Ilbo, a conservative newspaper openly critical of Moon and his Democratic Party. Chosun emphasized how embarrassing it was for a foreign outletan American one, at thatto call Moon a de facto representative for the North and describe him as singing [Kim Jong-uns] praises. News, fake and real, travels with incomparable speed in South Korea, a country whose density, small size, and superlative internet connection provide the ideal conditions for an echo chamber. Top spokesman became a convenient slur employed by members of the opposition Liberty Korea Party, and soon began to circulate in less established but equally influential online quarters, including in right-wing YouTube videos and on Ilbe, an extremist mens-rights bulletin board that traffics in political lulz and misogynistic GIFs. South Korea is the worlds fastest-aging developed country, and its seniors are particularly susceptible to influence campaigns, owing to their isolation and preference for smartphone videos over hard-to-read print. Lees story became rhetorical fodder for the Taegukgi brigadeactivists, mostly senior citizens, known to wear military costumes, chant authoritarian slogans, and wave the South Korean flag (for which the group is named), along with the Stars and Stripes and the Israeli flag, in central Seoul. Throughout the fall and winter, the top spokesman line continued to reverberate, though it was little more than an annoyance for Moons Democrats. South Korean liberals have long pursued a conciliatory Sunshine Policy with Pyongyang, and had been smeared before. But just after the Lunar New Year, Lees article made an unexpected, stentorian return. On March 12, Na Kyung-won, the sharp-tongued floor leader of the Liberty Korea Party, rose to the dais of the National Assembly. Air pollution levels, which Koreans track religiously and blame on Chinese industry, had reached a throat-choking high; the youth unemployment rate in South Korea remained above 9 percent (aspirational by Spanish and Greek standards, but a source of Korean woe); less than two weeks earlier, the USNorth Korea summit in Hanoi had ended without an agreement. Na started out by apologizing to the public for the terrible smog. The Democrats, she said, had sold out to China and refused to take responsibility; the country was crashing down on itself under the neglect of the ruling party. She became increasingly agitated and then, 14 minutes in, hurled what she knew would be a grenade: The bottomless, endless defense and ventriloquism of North Korea is an embarrassment, she said. I can no longer tolerate having a president who warrants the shameful label of top spokesman for Kim Jong-un. The Democrats in the assembly (which is mostly male) jeered with an indignant theatricality that I typically associate with British Parliament. Some stood and gestured accusingly, others stomped toward the front, and several left the chamber altogether. Na was forced to pause her speech. The next day, the Democratic Party issued a statement condemning Naas well as Bloombergs Lee, calling her article borderline traitorous. Lee previously worked for a Korean news outlet, the statement said, but had now donned the cover of an American media organization to insult the country. This singling out of a journalist, and questioning of her loyalty as an ethnic Korean, shocked the media world in Seoul. It also fueled extreme conservatives: on YouTube and Facebook, Moons opponents amplified their portrayal of him as an authoritarian leftist and commended Na for speaking the truth. Sign up for CJR 's daily email A few days later, the Seoul Foreign Correspondents Club issued a press release in support of Lee, noting that she faced serious threats to her personal safety and calling the Democrats statement journalistically chilling. The Club added that it was crucial for politicians on all sides to respect the right to freedom of expression, given South Koreas long struggle to achieve full democracy. The Asian American Journalists Association and its Seoul subchapter, to which Lee belongs, wrote in their own statement: an important share of reporting by international media outlets is done not just by foreign correspondents but by reporters from the country they are reporting on who are fluent in the countrys language and culture. A press secretary for President Moon responded with a blandly written blurb: The current Korean government has fully guaranteed the freedom of press. Moons office later told me, by email, If she is in fact being threatened, we would consider it very serious and take appropriate measures. The Democratic Party eventually scrubbed Lees name from its statement. Moons supporters, millions of whom took part in protests to unseat his predecessor, tend to be loyal. Zealous fans continued to attack Lee on Twitter, calling her a Yankee and a black-haired turncoat, sometimes appending sexist turns of phrase. NoCut News, a left-leaning outlet, suggested that Lee, Chosun Ilbo, and the Liberty Korea Party operate as a three-way cartel, and blamed the diplomatic failure in Hanoi on biased articles like the one published by Bloomberg. But Lees piece was hardly unique in its provocative tone; the intensity of its political afterlife was unforeseeable. I spoke with a foreign correspondent based in Seoul, who said of Lee and her article, She was maybe a month on the job. I wouldnt imagine that the hook or angle came from her. I imagine some editor thought it up. In terms of why or what there is within Bloombergs editorial stance that leads to that, they do seem hawkish. (Bloomberg denied my request for an interview with Lee or her supervisor in Seoul, saying only, We stand by our reporting and our reporter. According to a source close to the situation, an editor based in the US assigned the story to Lee and wrote the headline.) Its true that, to the frustration of Korean liberals, American coverage of the peninsula tends to be reactionary, informed by a Cold Warera view of power relations. But supporters of President Moon, a former pro-democracy activist and human rights attorney, were not uniformly aligned against Lee. Lim Jawoon, a lawyer and labor advocate, wrote in the Korean edition of HuffPost that it was racially discriminatory for the Democratic Party to go after Lee as aggressively as it did. For me, to be honest, Lim added, that was more shocking than what Na said in her speech. Koreas Democrats treated Lee less as a journalist than as a trolla foreign one at that. By responding this way to coverage, they have, ironically, undercut the Moon administrations authority to regulate disinformation, which flies across Korea just as rapidly as real news, spreading harm. Last October, Lee Nak-yeon, the prime minister, joined an expanding roster of world leaders vowing to prosecute the creators of purposefully malicious disinformation and fake news that threatens national security. It was a well-intended but vague declaration of war, a test balloon for a disconcertingly broad policy. What sorts of reporting might be deemed a threat to governance? Would insults to officials be criminally prosecuted as articles that disseminate lies about women or ethnic minorities go unpunished? Civil rights groups in Korea and abroad expressed concern about freedom of speechit was bad enough that the National Security Act, an anti-Communist holdover from 1948 used to censor dissidents, was still in place. The Liberty Korea Party cynically agreed, accusing the administration of stifling political discourse. Yet the public had not forgotten Liberty Koreas long tradition of abusing the National Security Act, nor the fact that Park Geun-hye, the partys candidate in the 2012 presidential election, had been carried into office with the help of 1.2 million propagandistic tweets produced by Koreas version of the CIA. The Park administration aggressively censored and harassed reporters; after Moon succeeded her, South Koreas ranking in the World Press Freedom Index went from 70th place to 43rd. Though Prime Minister Lees pledge was ostensibly about defending truth, it was also unmistakably political. Lee had been the target of disinformation just a few weeks earlier: in late September, conservative bloggers and social-media users reported falsely that he had paid tribute to Kim Il-sung, North Koreas Communist founder, while attending the funeral of Vietnamese president Tran ai Quang. The fabrication was intended to paint Lee as disloyal. News, fake and real, travels with incomparable speed in South Korea, which has the ideal conditions for an echo chamber. In his push for more aggressive regulation, Lee characterized fake news as a threat to Korean democracy and invoked other countries recent legislative efforts, in particular Germanys, as precedent. But the new German criminal law requiring digital platforms to delete illegal content, such as hate speech, has suffered from imprecision and a penumbra of authoritarianism. A new, hastily passed Singaporean law prohibiting online falsehoods and manipulation that are against the public interest has been criticized for its vagueness and breadth, and for applying not only to news websites and social media but also to encrypted-messaging systems like WhatsApp. Statutes meant to stem fake news in electioneering have similarly been denounced in places as disparate as Brazil, Croatia, Italy, and France. The situation is dire in Egypt, which has used a law prohibiting the broadcast of false news with the aim of spreading chaos to imprison Mahmoud Hussein, a reporter with Al Jazeera. Moreover, as David Kaye, the United Nations special rapporteur on free expression, notes in his new book, Speech Police: The Global Struggle to Govern the Internet, no regulatory program can work without the cooperation of Facebook (including WhatsApp), Google (including YouTube), and Twitter; the challenge is to protect individual rights without paradoxically increasing corporate powerAmerican corporate powerto be in charge of vast swaths of global public forums. For now, the fallout from Lee Nak-yeons policy announcement and Youkyung Lees article for Bloomberg seems to have deferred any changes to media oversight in South Korea. And thats for the best, says Park Kyung-sin, a law professor at Korea University, in Seoul. Though its unclear what would come of Lee Nak-yeons promised reforms, Park opposes any increase in civil or criminal penalties, and tells me that the countrys existing mechanisms to control speecha muscular analogue to the Federal Communications Commission, potent laws against defamation and invasion of privacy, and limits on coverage during electionsare already excessive. Last year, a man was prosecuted for creating pro-Moon bots that commented on news stories; the primary charge, to which Park objects, was interfering with the business of Naver, Koreas leading search engine and homepage. To Park, that sort of intervention smacks of censorship, and could undermine the ability of journalists to doand sharetheir work. According to Courtney Radsch, advocacy director at the Committee to Protect Journalists, most attempts to regulate content are both ineffective and dangerous. How do you combat disinformation? You should look at it from a behavioral standpoint, rather than focusing on content, she says. Its not the one-off sharing of articles. Its campaigns by state and nonstate actors. Kaye agrees, calling on internet companies to employ democratic principles in patrolling the boundaries of speech, and on governments to hold these businesses accountable. Consider South Koreas most resilient genre of disinformation, the North Korean conspiracy theory, which is having a moment on the national stage. The latest episode draws on old material: in May of 1980, military forces lethally suppressed a pro-democracy commune in the southern city of Gwangju, acting under direct orders from Chun Doo-hwan, who controlled the government at the time, and with the knowledge of the United States. It took years for the story to rise past censors, but almost as soon as it did, the South Korean right wing, nostalgic for postwar authoritarianism, blamed the massacre on invading North Koreans. In 2017, Chun, who was pardoned for his crimes and lives in a magnificent home in Seoul, wrote a memoir discrediting the witnesses of the Gwangju massacre and asserting North Korean involvement. Chun is now on trial for defamation. His wife, Lee Soon-ja, makes media appearances in his defense. In a recent propaganda interview with News Town TV, a YouTube channel, she looks up from her script to ask her interlocutor, Why are we being punished? Chuns allies in the Liberty Korea Party, meanwhile, have tried to legitimate the theory of North Korean involvement; between December 2018 and February 2019, Koreas Communications Standards Commission received about 200 complaints of false information related to the Gwangju massacre. In early February, three Liberty Korea representatives in the National Assembly invited Jee Man-won, a former politician and Alex Jonesstyle YouTube fabulist, to give formal testimony about Gwangju, and parroted his claims that the 1980 democracy protesters were, and still are, Communist agents. Gwangju denialism is the ultimate in fake news, yet more than 55,000 people subscribe to Jees channel. (YouTube would not agree to an interview, but Tutu Nguyen, the companys head of publicity for the Asia Pacific region, emailed a list of background points, including the fact that, since December 2018, in South Korea, YouTube has used information panels, linking to third-party sources around widely accepted events, in order to better surface credible news sources.) The right wing has started to make very good use of the internet, Korea Universitys Park tells me. But fake news, he says, cannot be eradicated through government regulation, and limitations on coverage will inevitably hobble journalism and public discourse. No matter how false the information, he argues, we have to be able to talk and debate in order for the truth to emerge, step by step. The three National Assembly members who so brazenly engaged in Gwangju denialism have since faced repercussions. One was expelled from the Liberty Korea Party, another was suspended for three months, and the third received a reprimand. The party had come under international pressure to respond: Martha Huntley and Barbara Peterson, American missionaries who were present in Gwangju at the time of the massacre, implored the government to discipline or remove the legislators from office. Our husbands took the photographs used in Chuns trial, Huntley and Peterson wrote in an open letter, referring to images of a helicopter firing at civilians and of casualties being brought to a local hospital. Democracy must be based upon truth, and people need to trust their lawmakers. Still, the fact that Gwangju conspiracy theories have leaped from fringe chat rooms to parliament, and that the Democratic Party would react so intemperately to Na Kyung-wons use of the Bloomberg article, shows that South Korean democracy is very vulnerable, says Kap Su Seol, a cotranslator of Gwangju Diary, a key first-person account of the events. In terms of institutions, Moon and Moons party are weak, he explains. Na couldnt have spoken this way two years ago, when there was a revolution to impeach Park Geun-hye. Now she can say anything freely. She has incorporated the Taegukgi brigades agenda. The other day, I spent a few hours surfing right-wing Korean YouTube. There I found slick, well-produced takes on North Korean spies in Gwangju; anti-Chinese propaganda; and Islamophobic tirades against Yemeni refugees. I watched shaky footage of Taegukgi brigade rallies, at which elderly conservatives were joined by a striking number of angry young men. I felt myself enter a kind of temporal loop. It was on YouTube that many Koreans had been radicalized, and now they had returned, stars of their own making. An estimated 84 percent of Koreans obtain their news online; in a recent survey, 78 percent of respondents said that they had watched a Web video in the past week. Many of the clips I encountered were built not just of opinions, but lies. Alarmed, I wondered what Ior the government, or a social-media companycould do. YouTube offers nine categories as the basis for a complaintfrom captions issue to harmful dangerous acts. There is no button for deception. Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today E. Tammy Kim is a freelance reporter and essayist whose writing has appeared in The New Yorker, the New York Review of Books, the New York Times, and many other publications. She coedited 2016s Punk Ethnography. Yesterday, the New York Times and the Washington Post ran more or less the same story about the upcoming midterms. The Post asked the Democratic and Republican nominees in nineteen gubernatorial or US Senate races whether they will accept the result in November; all but one of the Democrats (the one did not respond) said yes, whereas only seven Republicans did likewise, with the other twelve either refusing to commit or not responding at all. Not to be one-upped, the Times asked both parties nominees in twenty gubernatorial or Senate races the same question; all the Democrats said yes, whereas six of the Republicans declined to commit and a further six either ignored or batted away the question. And several of the candidates who said they would accept the results have previously cast doubt on the outcome of the 2020 electionnot least Adam Laxalt, the GOP Senate nominee in Nevada. Of course hell accept Nevadas certified election results, a spokesperson for Laxalt told the Times, even if your failing publication wont. The Times story was paired on the papers homepage yesterday with a much bigger read: a six-thousand-word essay by David Leonhardt, who typically (and sometimes controversially) anchors the papers flagship morning newsletter, describing twin threats to US democracy. The first, which Leonhardt described as acute, essentially echoed his colleagues new reporting on GOP candidates: a growing movement inside one of the countrys two major partiesthe Republican Partyto refuse to accept defeat in an election. ICYMI: Obi Anyadike on East African drought and covering climate in the Global South The second threat (or set of threats), which Leonhardt described as chronic but also growing, is subtlerthe idea that the power to set government policy is becoming increasingly disconnected from public opinionand Leonhardt devoted much of his essay to laying it out. The chronic threats generally spring from enduring features of American government, some written into the Constitution, Leonhardt wrote, but did not conflict with majority opinion to the same degree in past decades. More populous states, already representationally disadvantaged by the mechanics of the Senate and the Electoral College, have grown disproportionately, further diluting their per-capita political voice. At the same time, those states have become more liberal while less populous states have become more conservativea process of geographic sorting, as Leonhardt put it, that has layered partisan correlation on top of a system that was already antidemocratic. The less populous states that enjoy outsize power are also disproportionately white. Whereas, before 2000, only three presidents won the Electoral College after losing the popular vote, twoboth Republicanshave since done so. The same dynamics have helped bring about disproportionate Republican representation in the Senate, where minority power was already reinforced by the filibuster. Together, presidents and senators set the direction of the Supreme Court, whose recent influence need not be restated. Meanwhile, in the House, gerrymandering and geographic sorting have disproportionately hurt Democrats. Similar trends have been observed in many state legislatures, with Republicans then using their control to implement voting restrictions. In sum, the political scientist Steven Levitsky told Leonhardt, the US is far and away the most countermajoritarian democracy in the world. Leonhardt ended his essay with a warning about the intersection of the twin threats. If the only challenges to democracy involved these chronic, long-developing forces, many experts would be less concerned than they are. American democracy has always been flawed, after all, he wrote. But the slow-building ways in which majority rule is being undermined are happening at the same time that the country faces an immediate threat that has little precedent. Add the two together, and American democracy has never faced a threat quite like the current one. Like other critics, I found aspects of Leonhardts essay to indulge questionable historical framing or contemporary bothsidesism, especially in his analysis of the first, acute threat. In some cases, [Republicans claims that they are merely trying to protect American values] rely on falsehoodsabout election fraud, Mr. Bidens supposed socialism, Barack Obamas birthplace, and more, Leonhardt wrote, in the essays weakest passage. In others, they are rooted in anxiety over real developments, including illegal immigration and cancel culture. Other passages, though, were much more clear-eyed about the acute threat and who is responsible for it; I particularly appreciated the mention of Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin and his winking references to Trumps election lies, a departure from much credulous punditry that has cast Youngkin as a savvy, post-Trump moderate. In the end, the greatest value of Leonhardts essay came not in its line-by-line framing but in its core concept: its presentation of threats to democracy as a function not only of election subversion, but of unresponsiveness in Americas governing institutions, including those that, far from being subverted, are working as intended. Sign up for CJR 's daily email This sort of analysis is far from new, of course, and we should, as ever, be wary of acknowledging a strain of thought only after it has appeared on the front page of the Times (as Leonhardts essay did in print yesterday, above the fold and below a four-column illustration of a fraying US flag). A great many journalists, academics, and commentators have pointed out the unfitness of Americas institutional settlement, and the close links between that and what Leonhardt refers to as the acute crisis of American democracy. Some have done so in the pages of the Times; in one particularly impressive example, Jamelle Bouie, a columnist at the paper, has recently laid out provocative and imaginative suggestions for radical reforms of the Supreme Court, the Senate, and the House, starting a dialogue with his readers in the process. Still, something struck me about Leonhardts essay, and it lies, I think, in my sense that major news organizations have not to this point done as much as they collectively could have to convene broad debates about routine institutional dysfunction and how it might be fixed, given how many big current stories are downstream of that dysfunction. Dissecting the basic failures of democratic institutions and imagining more representative alternatives should not just be a matter for the op-ed pages, or chin-strokey podcast discussions, or academic symposia, or Sunday-morning long reads (though it is good fodder for all of these). It should also inflect day-to-day coverage of American politics. Sometimes it does; coverage of the Supreme Court, for instance, often notes that big recent decisions do not reflect majority sentiment in the country. And yet so much day-to-day political journalism seems mired in either complacency or cynicism; the sense that everything is just fine or the sense that, even if it isnt, nothing can be done about it anywayat least not at an institutional level. (We dont lack for behavioral calls for more bipartisanship.) Reforming some institutions, of course, would require changing the Constitution, which is very hard to do. (Though not impossible: two Brennan Center staffers wrote for Politico last year that, if history is any guide, were due a rush of constitutional amendments right around now, and that prior rushes were themselves preceded by media pessimism about the impossibility of reform. The Post in 1904: Our fundamental law is practically unamendable by peaceful and regular methods.) Still, the press devoting more expansive space, more consistently, to the story of democratic dysfunction and reform has value whether or not prospects for reform are realistic. It should, simply, be the job of the media to facilitate big debates about things in society that dont work. The institutional architecture underpinning everything else isnt too big a thing to be debated. At a time when basic election rules are at risk of collapse, devoting airtime and column inches to discussions around, say, radically changing the proportionality mechanics of those rules (as Bouie and others have suggested, and Alaska has recently done) might seem indulgent. But, as Leonhardt and others have shown, the two discussions are linked. As Ive written before, saving democracy requires more of the press than guarding against the most explicit immediate threats to it; it requires scrutiny of how a whole political system is performing what should be its basic functions. And the latter, we should remember, is an evergreen demand. Sometimes, journalists and commentators frame explicit threats to overturn elections as a question of probabilitythe likelihood or not of the worst coming to pass, a legitimate yet limiting prism that can easily slide into either complacency or cynicism, depending on your assessment. Functionality offers a second, universal reason for the press to stay focused on democracy. To borrow the old saw about climate change, whatever the actual extent of the threat, a cleaner environment benefits everyone. Again, this isnt to say that the media should dilute its focus on the acute threat to coming electionsmedia critics, myself included, want the urgency around that ratcheted up, not down. Its to say, rather, that while American democracy might die if a coming election gets overturned, avoiding such a fate wont represent a clean bill of health and thus an excuse for the political press to move away from a democracy focus. The Times and Posts weekend stories asking candidates whether theyll accept their results were a useful starting point for democracy coveragethey got (at least some of) the candidates intentions on the record, and exposed a chasm between the Democrats and the GOP without any more effort than sending both parties the same very basic questionnaire. But this sort of exercise is also limited. Thats true in a narrow, methodological sense: respondents may have lied, of course; confusingly, J.D. Vance, the Republican Senate nominee in Ohio, is recorded as having committed to accept his result to the Post, but declined to do so to the Times. Its also limited in a much broader sense. Below, more on democracy: Unconventional: Earlier this month, Carl Hulse, of the Times, reported on a push by some leading Republicans to have Congress call a fresh Constitutional Conventiona gambit that would rest on the successful application of an arcane constitutional provision suggesting that two-thirds of state legislatures can petition Congress to call one, and that would seek to amend the Constitution to place constraints on federal fiscal powers (and perhaps not stop there). Russ Feingold, a former Democratic senator and president of the American Constitution Society, told Hulse that the likelihood of this happening isnt as far-fetched as skeptics might think, and warned that it could pose a huge threat to democracy. Still, Feingold and Peter Prindiville, a constitutional scholar, reckon that the time has come to begin a serious national conversation regarding the future of the Constitution in American public life, and for Americans to work toward an amendment procedure fit for a modern, democratic society. Earlier this month, Carl Hulse, of the Times, reported on a push by some leading Republicans to have Congress call a fresh Constitutional Conventiona gambit that would rest on the successful application of an arcane constitutional provision suggesting that two-thirds of state legislatures can petition Congress to call one, and that would seek to amend the Constitution to place constraints on federal fiscal powers (and perhaps not stop there). Russ Feingold, a former Democratic senator and president of the American Constitution Society, told Hulse that the likelihood of this happening isnt as far-fetched as skeptics might think, and warned that it could pose a huge threat to democracy. Still, Feingold and Peter Prindiville, a constitutional scholar, reckon that the time has come to begin a serious national conversation regarding the future of the Constitution in American public life, and for Americans to work toward an amendment procedure fit for a modern, democratic society. At a Beschloss: Politicos Michael Schaffer spoke with Michael Beschloss, the straitlaced presidential historian and pundit, about what Schaffer calls Beschlosss radicalization in light of present threats to democracy. Until roughly 2017, I was not inclined to take public positions on current events. And that is because I did not feel that democracy was under immediate and serious threat, Beschloss told Schaffer. But if you and I had talked earlier, and we had been told that in the near future, democracy was going to be in danger and a President might be eager to tear apart just about every major institution of democracy that you care about, including free and fair elections as well as the rule of lawwould you speak out? I would have said yes, I certainly would. Politicos Michael Schaffer spoke with Michael Beschloss, the straitlaced presidential historian and pundit, about what Schaffer calls Beschlosss radicalization in light of present threats to democracy. Until roughly 2017, I was not inclined to take public positions on current events. And that is because I did not feel that democracy was under immediate and serious threat, Beschloss told Schaffer. But if you and I had talked earlier, and we had been told that in the near future, democracy was going to be in danger and a President might be eager to tear apart just about every major institution of democracy that you care about, including free and fair elections as well as the rule of lawwould you speak out? I would have said yes, I certainly would. A poll: Last week, polling from The 19th* found that while a strong majority of Americans agree that the media is still a critical component of democracy, many feel that its coverage doesnt represent people like them, with the latter finding much sharper among Republican respondents than Democrats. An increasingly diverse country does not see itself reflected in the media, Errin Haines wrote in an analysis of the numbers. Communities of color, LGBTQ+ people and marginalized groups are still underrepresented in both who covers the news and what news is covered. Some White Americans view the countrys diversity and its reflection in the media as a threat to their representation. Audiences are skeptical that we can cover their concerns or communities fully. That concern was seized on, sometimes with violent language, by Trump. Last week, polling from The 19th* found that while a strong majority of Americans agree that the media is still a critical component of democracy, many feel that its coverage doesnt represent people like them, with the latter finding much sharper among Republican respondents than Democrats. An increasingly diverse country does not see itself reflected in the media, Errin Haines wrote in an analysis of the numbers. Communities of color, LGBTQ+ people and marginalized groups are still underrepresented in both who covers the news and what news is covered. Some White Americans view the countrys diversity and its reflection in the media as a threat to their representation. Audiences are skeptical that we can cover their concerns or communities fully. That concern was seized on, sometimes with violent language, by Trump. Queenly concern: The Philadelphia Inquirers Will Bunch argues that US networks over-the-top recent coverage of the queens death is a troubling sign at a time of rising autocracy. This celebration of soft autocracy is offering cover for the steady rise of the more dangerous kind, here in America and around the globe, he writes. Great Britain is about to coronate a new king right as America is losing sight of the values that caused us to fight so valiantly to reject monarchical tyranny all those years ago. We really need to be talking about this, and not hypnotizing democracy to death by watching a royal hearse roll for hours on end. (ICYMI, I wrote about OTT Queen Coverage on Friday.) Other notable stories: ICYMI: Cancel culture, queues, and the queen Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today 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. This article was featured in the Tow Center for Digital Journalisms weekly newsletter. Subscribe here to stay up to date on our latest events and publications. The term disinformation, and riffs on tackling, stemming, or combating it, have become battle cries from political figures including former president Barack Obama ahead of consequential elections in Brazil and the United States. What exactly are we talking about when we discuss disinformation? Its often defined as deliberately false information, compared to the accidentally false sharing of misinformation. But are these helpful lenses to study the information environment? What about propaganda, which can be true or false, and where does power fit into the equation? Disinformation is a threat to our democracy, and will continue to be unless we work together to address it. Tune in as I share some thoughts on what we can all do now. https://t.co/6R6n3MOPPR Barack Obama (@BarackObama) April 21, 2022 We spoke to Courtney Radsch, who prefers the term information operations. Radsch is a fellow at UCLAs Institute for Technology, Law, and Policy and a senior fellow at the Center for International Governance Innovation. Sign up for CJR 's daily email You can read Radschs full recent paper, Artificial intelligence and disinformationstate-aligned information operations and the distortion of the public sphere, published by the OSCE, here. This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity. JB: How would you explain the term information operations to those who might not have heard of it? CR: Information operations refers to the manipulation of social media platforms, of our internet infrastructure, in order to promote particular types of information. Theyre called operations because theyre coordinated and typically require some funding or resources to make them happen, to distinguish them from, say, organic movements and other types of engagement. There are a lot of different terms that have been used in the past several years, ranging from disinformation and misinformation, malinformation, computational propaganda, a whole range of terms. For me, I find information operations a helpful term because it doesnt really get into the truth or falsity of the informationbecause that doesnt change the dynamics of the fact that it is an information operation. Also, a lot of the current research into disinformation often doesnt really look at the long history of propaganda, so I wanted to use the term information operations to refer back to and acknowledge this long tradition of studying and examining how propaganda is used. Again, propaganda can be true or false, or somewhere in between. JB: And trying to distort the public sphere is a crucial part, right? CR: Exactly. The idea is that in the public sphere, everyone is theoretically supposed to be equally able to have a voice and have their perspective heard. We know from long critiques of public sphere theory that thats imperfect, but nonetheless the distortion comes from the fact that now it is such a pay-to-play system. Many of the platforms that intermediate the public sphere are driven by engagement algorithms and other forms of artificial intelligence that are subject to manipulation by actors. They can either pay for information or pay for public relations firms to manipulate the results, to play to the design of the platforms, and to create information that does well based on the logic of a given platform. JB: To bring that into concrete terms, what are some specific examples of algorithms being gamed around the world, and how has that steered public opinion? CR: The goal of distorting the public sphere has become a driving objective for political actors around the world. According to research from the Oxford Internet Institute, at least seventy countries around the world have seen computational propagandaessentially information operationsweaponized to promote a certain point of view or agenda. The way this works is it influences framing and agenda setting, which are crucial roles that typically the news media and other institutional actors have played, or even social movements. We know, for example, that elections all over the world are targets for information operations. Were seeing that right now in Brazil, where disinformation has become a major challenge. Weve seen Facebook and Google roll out new efforts to deal with that [which have been criticized]. You can see information operations in the US elections, in the midterms as well as in the 2016 elections. In Myanmar, there were information operations being promoted by the military junta that were implicated in genocide, according to the United Nations. President Duterte says its okay for his friends, allies to violate the law. Yet, journalists who commit no crime except hold power to account get arrested and get our rights taken away. What do you call that? At Rappler studio speaking with @camanpour & @CineDiaz #CourageON pic.twitter.com/iV6bBSVTWW Maria Ressa (@mariaressa) January 5, 2021 Then there are less broad-scale, whole-society information operations, where theyre often targeted at specific issues. You could see this in the AzerbaijanArmenia Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in terms of trying to shape the narrative. You can see this with Maria Ressa in the Philippines, the Nobel Prizewinning journalist, and the efforts to eradicate her independent outlet, reframe the drug warwhich has led to thousands of deaths, according to independent observersand the trumped-up charges against her. Thats made it more difficult for the public to have a rational debate by [the state] controlling information. The government has tamped down alternative perspectives, like the order to shut down Rappler, and at the same time created armies of supporters online to create content and engagement that reframe the public sphere and impact opinion. JB: Can you unpack how a social media algorithm might be gamed? CR: We see a lot of cross-platform manipulation. One way is to create signals that algorithms will pick up as indicating organic popularity or engagement, because that will then lead recommendation algorithms to feature that content higher. That can be done, depending on the platform, by many people linking to it or sharing it, sometimes coordinated in closed groups. We saw this in Malta, for example, where an investigation by The Shift showed that in advance of Daphne Caruana Galizias murder there were secret Facebook groups that would coordinate the messaging targeting her for the day, seeking to undermine her credibility as a journalist. Currently, there is awareness among the platforms about cross-platform coordination. But theres not yet a way to really track or identify that algorithmically. Its really tough when that coordination is being done in private or encrypted spaces. JB: Youve touched on how reporters have been the target of (sometimes state-aligned) coordinated harassment. Maybe you could elaborate on what tactics have been used to delegitimize journalists seeking to hold power to account. CR: Yeah, there are a range of tactics that are being used. Information operations, coordinated disinformation that seeks to target and delegitimize journalists, online harassment, which is a kind of general catchall term for a wide range of threats and attacks on journalistsincluding sharing of personal information, delegitimizing them as journalists, equating them with spies, and other types of smearing impinging on credibility, which is of course the lifeblood of journalism. Sometimes using manipulated images, audio, or textswhat we often call deepfakesbut honestly, a lot of times theyre pretty shallow fakes. Because its not necessarily about tricking people, its about getting people to share and meme something out. JB: And obviously theres a huge element of people from marginalized groupswomen, people of color, nonbinary peoplebeing targeted more frequently and attempts to block them out of public life. Can you say more about how thats been weaponized? CR: Yeah, so marginalized communities in different contextswhether its Muslims in India, secularists in Bangladesh, womenare often targeted by these campaigns. You see, in the independent media, the people who are trying to speak truth to power and do independent reporting, they often are women or come from marginalized groups and are then targeted by information operations. They typically include online harassment with a variety of tactics. For example, smearing and constant denigration which draws on nationalistic tropes or cultural stereotypes, such as womans appropriate role in society. That has several functions. One, it delegitimizes them in the public sphere. Two, it refocuses the chatter, talk, and engagement to these negative interactions, and diverts attention away from the original investigation or reporting. And three, by distorting the public conversation, it makes it harder to hold governments accountable. JB: Youve written how this rise in state-aligned information operations has coincided with a decline in independent media over the past couple of decades. Can you elaborate on why that is particularly worrying? CR: The basic fundamentals of our information ecosystem are made up of various data points. So content is a really important part of the basis for these AI systems. If you have a decline in independent journalism, you have a decline in independent information unaffiliated with a political party or viewpoint. Meanwhile, you have a rise in the production and creation of propaganda and weaponized information. Thats creating an imbalance in the very content that is used to train and fuel the machine learning that is at the basis of these systems. Thats on top of the more obvious dangers of a decline in reportingless beat reporting, less investigative reporting, fewer members of the public who have ever met a journalist, and all the negative repercussions about accountability and an independent check on power. JB: One tactic youve looked at is news washing, which the Tow Center studies, as a way of spreading particular messages disguised as neutral news reporting. Maybe you could talk a bit more about that method. CR: Essentially, it is creating information that looks like news, but its more likely affiliated with a particular political viewpoint or party. News washing is increasingly prevalent. Because there are also protections for news on some platforms and in legislation. Its a real challenge. Youll see this progression from the obscure corners of the internet into obscure news-identifying outlets, and then that picked up by partisan journalists or news outlets or others in the public sphere. By making it look like information came originally from a news site, it gets a veneer of legitimacy that enables other news sites to cover it and politicians to refer to it, when in fact it may have been planted in the first place. JB: Turning to social media companies, do you think Facebook and others understand the scale to which their platforms are open to manipulation? CR: Oh yes, theres no question in anyones mind about how open to manipulation these platforms are. Especially in languages other than English. [Facebook whistleblower] Frances Haugen revealed 87 percent of Facebooks global budget for time spent on classifying misinformation goes to the US. Thats really problematic. There are over seven thousand languages in the world. In Ethiopia, a huge country, most of the languages are not supported by the platforms, but are also critical parts of the public sphere. The same in India. Thats one of the biggest issues, and the companies know there is a huge problem. But the resources to address it cant just come after the fact. It needs to come at a more fundamental level. For example, what type of data are they doing machine learning or training on? The corpus of data and languages used to train models impacts how effective they are algorithmically. JB: So if the platforms understand the scale of the problem, what could they do to get a grip on it? CR: Well, first there are many different types of platforms. So like Facebook, Googlethe social media content-focused platformsdo have content moderation resources. However, smaller platformspotential competitors or others like domain name registrars or ISPstypically do not have content moderation resources. Second, it cant just be about moderation. Paid advertising and amplification should be much more open to analysis. Because we know Trumps campaign had tens of thousands of different versions of a Facebook ad that it was testing, and you have these so-called black PR firms or moderation mercenaries who are out to manipulate platforms to promote their information. There needs to be much more transparency. Separately, the wealthy platforms, who dominate the content-based public sphere, need to devote more resources to basic research and creating the corpus of data needed to function in multiple languages. Similarly, platforms need to do more, particularly in non-Western contexts, to make sure that there are reliable signals of trustworthy information. So its not just about getting rid of the bad information, but how do you then elevate better information? JB: Finally, as we head toward the midterms, what are you expecting? CR: Im expecting that its going to be another example of where the social media public sphere becomes a place of disinformation, hate, and fear. I dont think that really much has been done. And so much of the United States content moderation debate has become politicized that its really difficult for the platforms to act. In part because of the broader political dynamic: you have this inaccurate perception that Republican or right-wing content is more likely to be actioned than left-wing content. Thats not truesome of the most popular sites are right-wingbut that perception continues, and the platforms have not successfully debunked that. Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today Jem Bartholomew is a Reporting Fellow at the Tow Center for Digital Journalism. Jems work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Guardian, Economist, TIME, New York Magazine and others. In 2019, he was awarded Best Newcomer in the State Street press awards. More information and background on partisan news networks and how they function can be found here. Executive Summary and Key Findings The Tow Center for Digital Journalism started researching the phenomenon of political actors co-opting the appearance of local news outlets in 2019. Building on landmark reporting by the Lansing State Journal in October of that year, Tow Center research has shined a light on the emergence, expansion, and operating practices of Metric Media, a vast network of more than twelve hundred websites that purports to fill the growing void in local and community news after years of steady disinvestment in local reporting by legacy media. Previous Tow Center research has examined the networks creation of partisan outlets masquerading as local news organizations. The New York Times said the operation is rooted in deception, eschewing hallmarks of news reporting like fairness and transparency, while heavy reliance on low-cost, automated story generation has resulted in the sites being labeled pink slime journalism. NewsGuard summarizes Metric Media as a network of websites that falsely present themselves as locally based news sites. The sites do not disclose their conservative agenda, and much of the content is created by algorithms. It advises readers to proceed with caution, as the network severely violates basic journalistic standards. Such coverage often alludes to news consumers experiences with these sites. For example, the Lansing State Journal story that first uncovered the Metric Media network said the sites present a challenge for readers navigating a digital media environment that has unlimited space for publishing stories that are hard to distinguish as journalism, advocacy or political messaging. To date, however, little attention has been paid to understanding how local news audiences negotiate and interpret these sites. In an effort to address this, we conducted a six-day audience study with ninety participants based in thirty-five US states and the District of Columbia. Participants were assigned a local news website operating on Metric Medias technology stack and asked to complete a three-part exercise: an initial survey about their local news consumption habits and needs, and an assessment of their first impressions of their assigned website; a daily diary exercise in which they detailed their experience of using their assigned website and other local news outlets over five consecutive days; and a final reflection about their assigned websites, addressing issues such as how, if at all, they improved their understanding of local issues, and how trustworthy they perceived the sites to be. Sign up for CJR 's daily email Finally, participants were asked to seek information about who owned and operated their assigned site and reflect on the process of establishing provenance. We found: A sizable minority of participantsmore than a thirdformed positive initial impressions of their assigned sites, highlighting the operators success at mimicking the appearance of traditional news websites. These positive impressions were typically based on superficial aspects such as design (clean, professional), lack of paywalls, mobile responsiveness, or similarities to established news sites. However, other participants immediately highlighted aspects they found concerning, such as a lack of bylines on articles or obvious giveaways that sites lacked basic familiarity with the areas they purported to cover (e.g., outlet names with uncommon references to local geography). While a majority of participants had formed negative impressions of their sites by the end of the study, it was notable that their most commonly cited drawbacks resulted from repeat visits, such as frustration at the lack of updates to the homepage, the predominance of uncontextualized automated stories, and a failure to cover newsworthy local stories or events. Despite numerous misgivings, a majority of participants reported at the end of the study period that political information had been valuably covered by their assigned sites. Perceptions of trustworthiness and bias Despite the overwhelmingly negative final impressions of the websites, perceptions around the sites trustworthiness and bias were much more mixed. While a majority of participants rated the outlets as untrustworthythough by a much smaller margin than with overall assessments on qualitya very narrow majority rated coverage as fair and balanced. By the end of the study, roughly a third of participants claimed there was conservative bias in their assigned outlets editorial coverage, and a smaller number suspected that a partisan organization was responsible. These perceptions of bias grew over the course of the study; only approximately a dozen participants observed it at the beginning. The networks heavy reliance on low-cost automated articles drawing upon public data setsquintessential examples of so-called pink slime journalismproduced a surprising range of opinions in relation to audience perceptions of trustworthiness and bias. (Participants were not explicitly prompted to view or comment on these articles, but almost all did, such is their prominence across the networks sites.) At one end of the spectrum, some participants opined that the reliance on automation and/or the lack of human bylines created a sense of fakeness or robot content. At the other end, however, some participants pointed to these articles as evidence that their sites appeared trustworthy, fair, and/or ideologically neutral. These participants typically interpreted the extensive use of quantitative data to mean output was inherently trustworthy and/or free of bias. The high volume of automated stories was also seen by some as evidence their site was well resourced and/or producing particularly hyperlocal and/or comprehensive coverage. Some participants took surprisingand potentially concerningcues when forming opinions about integrity, uncritically accepting a sites own claims about impartiality at face value, or immediately interpreting nonprofit status as evidence of neutrality and/or virtuous intentions. Attitudes toward (a lack of) transparency Despite the growing emphasis on media literacy in recent years, basic skills and knowledge, such as the importance of identifying who owns and operates a given news source to ascertain trust, were found to be lacking in some quarters. A sizable majority of participantsincluding many with misgivings about their assigned sitesdid not attempt to seek information about ownership until prompted. Some admitted it did notand typically would notcross their mind to do so when encountering an unfamiliar news source. Of those who researched ownership of their assigned sites when prompted, a significant portion were unable to find any information. Most were only able to find a name (e.g., Metric Media or LGIS) but no other information about the group, pointing to a significant lack of transparency around the networks ownership and operations. On discovering limited, vague, or missing ownership information (e.g., about pages for at least four sites from the Record network were broken at the time of the study), participants attitudes varied considerably, ranging from indifference to mild annoyance to severe alarm. Some expressed no strong opinion or gave no indication that this lack of information affected their view of the sites integrity. Among participants who said they found their assigned sites to be trustworthy, fair, and without bias, none indicated that their subsequent findings about the lack of transparency around ownership affected their assessment. Notably, the minority of participants who had researched ownership of their assigned sites of their own volition tended to articulate the strongest feelings, describing the lack of transparency using terms such as shocking, unsettling, odd, and worrying. Introduction For more than a decade, researchers and journalists have documented the economic crisis in the local news industry. In recent years, entire fields of research and new methodologies have emerged to track and quantify the effects of this crisis on newsrooms and local communities. Concurrently, efforts have been made to explore and identify potential solutions and develop promising case studies. Some of the most high-profile examples have included the founding of new nonprofit media organizations by wealthy benefactors and philanthropic groups. But in the past few years, a new crop of organizations has been accused of co-opting the rhetoric of these initiatives, and exploiting higher levels of trust in local news, to promote partisan causes. While groups on both sides of the political aisle have engaged in related practices, the most sprawling networks, which are the subject of this study, have ties to conservative organizations and causes, according to reports. Building on the initial reporting by the Lansing State Journal in October 2019, the Tow Center for Digital Journalisms research has tracked the nebulous connections among networks such as Metric Media, Locality Labs, Franklin Archer, the Record Inc., and Local Government Information Services (LGIS), as well as their dramatic growth in the lead-up to the 2020 presidential election. In December 2018, Tow research identified 450 sites across these networks, 189 of which had only been set up in the previous year by Metric Media. By August 2020, that total number of outlets had increased threefold, to more than 1,200 sites. In September 2020, Metric Media owner Brian Timpone told the Deseret News that he planned to establish another 15,000 websites within the next year. With generic names and simple layouts, the Metric Media sites mimic the appearance of traditional local news outlets. Boilerplate about us pages say the sites provide objective, data-driven information without political bias. But Tows most recent research has revealed Metric Medias undisclosed financial ties to conservative groups and donors, and the ways in which it uses an online tool, Community Newsmaker, to allow its clients to pitch stories with a political agenda. Similarly, a 2020 New York Times investigation based on internal emails and interviews with employees of the outlets found many of the stories are directed by political groups and corporate PR firms to promote a Republican candidate or a company, or to smear their rivals. While the sites generally do not post information that is outright false, the Times reported, the operation is rooted in deception, eschewing hallmarks of news reporting like fairness and transparency. According to the Deseret News, Timpone disputes these claims and said that his websites had been misrepresented and have no political leaning. While the extent of these pay for play networks and the lack of transparency around their political motivations and funding has been well documented, less attention has been paid to the ways in which news consumers interpret these sites. The majority of content published by the best-documented networks are algorithmically generated articles based on publicly available data and slotted into identical design templates. This low-cost process has been dubbed pink slime journalism, a twenty-first-century take on the sensationalized yellow journalism of the nineteenth century. The websites also feature a smaller number of stories that appear with bylines. Research by Asa Royal and Philip M. Napoli found that over the course of a 78-day observation period, nearly two-thirds of [Metric Media] outlets did not publish a single human-written article. 97% of Metric Medias content is autogenerated. After running comparisons between the articles in various strains of uniform story templates, the researchers found that most auto-generated stories within a strain varied by at most a few words. Automated content can co-opt the language, design and structure of news organizations[and] can be used to build credibility, Tow researcher Priyanjana Bengani noted in one report. It can also make a news organization look far more prolific than it is. Metric Medias sites tend to have a minimal social media presence, and the size of their readership is unknown. But some of the earlier-created sites perform well in Google search results, appearing just below government pages, potentially adding to [their] credibility, according to Bengani. The utility of the sites to their backers, she wrote, may be in focusing attention on issues such as voter fraud and energy pricing, providing the appearance of neutrality for partisan issues, or to gather data from users that can then be used for political targeting. Davey Alba and Jack Nicas, in their investigation for the Times, noted that the sites may have a modest reach in the national conversation. But with the focus on small towns, less readership is needed to make an impact. In a Poynter article about philanthropic support for nonprofit local news organizations, Jennifer Preston, the former head of journalism funding for the Knight Foundation, said that she was deeply concerned about websites masquerading as local news. They have an impact on highly uninformed [but] highly engaged [news consumers]. Many journalism experts and critics have warned that the sites lack of transparency and skirting of basic journalism conventions like mastheads and bylines make it challenging for readers to fairly assess them or to distinguish if what they are reading is journalism, advocacy or political messaging, according to the Lansing State Journal. The question is not about biasits about journalistic standards, Josh Pasek, a communications professor at the University of Michigan, told the student newspaper, the Michigan Daily, in an article about the networks. Its okay to have outlets that have varying different views out there, but theres a certain point at which [that]oversteps how journalism is supposed to operate. And once that occurs, now there becomes a substantive question as to whether what youre observing is in fact news, or is instead a disinformation campaign. In an article for The Atlantic about the disinformation campaigns surrounding the 2020 election, McKay Coppins agreed, writing that readers are given no indication that these sites have political agendaswhich is precisely what makes them valuable. These characterizations of the sites political intentions, utility, and obfuscation have thus far gone untested with readers. How do news consumers navigate and respond to these problematic local news websites? Considering the void in community news after years of decline in local reporting by legacy media, as Metric Media writes in the sites about pages, do local news audiences feel these sites meet their information needs and deepen their understanding of local issues? Existing research has documented the connections between some of these sites and conservative groups and donors, but do news audiences infer any bias in the reportingand how do they formulate perceptions of trustworthiness? Do they suspect any political motivations behind the sites ownershipand what views, if any, do they have about their levels of transparency? These are among the questions explored in this study. The findings are based on the responses of 90 participants assigned to assess one of 73 sites from, or with links to, Metric Media and associated networks over the course of six days. As the first study to incorporate the publics perception of these sites, this research aims to further the emerging scholarship around this still poorly understood localized phenomenon. Methodology This audience research study used dscout, a qualitative research platform through which scouts (participants) complete researcher-assigned missions. Over the course of six days in June 2021, participants recorded their local news habits, daily reviews of an assigned local news website, and final reflections on their experiences using their assigned sites. Participants were told at the outset of the study that the purpose of the project was to deepen our understanding of US news audiences attitudes toward emerging local news websites, but were not informed that the websites had been accused of being partisan and/or inauthentic. At the conclusion of the study, participants were given a disclosure form that explained Tows previous research on these networks, the real purpose of the project, and the necessity for deception in order to gain their unbiased assessments. They were given the option to withdraw their participation at that point; none did. How the study was conducted After an initial screening process, participants were selected based on their interest in local news and with the aim of having the final group be as demographically and geographically diverse as possible. As qualitative research, the sample is not representative of any broader populations, and we make no claims to generalizability. A total of 106 participants were selected, of whom 90 completed the study. They were drawn from 35 states plus the District of Columbia. Each participant was assigned a site from Tows database of outlets using Metric Medias technology stack. Prior to commencement of the study, a significant challenge to the daily-diary design was discovered: the publication frequency of each site had declined dramatically between the 2020 election and the inauguration of President Biden. The pages showing in RSS feeds for each site were nowhere to be found on the corresponding homepages. Using both manual and computational methods, any outlet that had not published new content within one week of the start of the study was removed from the list. During this process it was discovered that outlets from several of the networksLocality Labs, Florida News Network, and American Catholic Tribune Media Networkhad gone dormant and in some cases no longer had active websites. Using Google Maps to determine the outlet whose stated geographic coverage area was closest to their location, each participant was assigned a site from the list of remaining outlets. Tow researchers identified sites in Texas and Illinois that appeared to publish content to their homepages more frequently than the majority of other sites. To compensate for the anticipated lack of fresh content, a disproportionate number of participants in those two states (roughly a third of all participants) were selected and assigned four sites that received regular updates. In total, 73 sites were assigned. Participants were then instructed to complete a three-part mission over the course of six days: (1) an initial survey about their local news consumption habits and needs, as well as their first impressions of their assigned website; (2) a daily diary exercise in which they discussed their engagement with their assigned website and other local news outlets over five consecutive days; and (3) a final reflection about their assigned websites, addressing issues such as how, if at all, they improved their understanding of local issues; and how trustworthy they perceived the sites to be. Finally, participants were asked to seek information about who owned and operated their assigned site. At the conclusion of the study, participants received a disclosure form about the intended purpose of the project. Findings In this section, we present findings drawn from our participants interpretations of their assigned website. This discussion is broken down into three parts. We begin with an overview of participants general observations about these sites, paying particular attention to their all-important first impressions. This is followed by a discussion of how participants formulated assessments of trustworthiness and bias. Finally, we delve into perceptions of transparency. 4a. General Observations None of the participants had encountered their assigned website before the study. By the end of the study, more than two-thirds of them had formed a negative impression of their assigned website. The remaining participants were divided almost evenly between those who had a positive impression of their site and those whose opinion was mixed. Of those who had recorded a positive impression at the beginning of the study, half still had a positive impression at its conclusion. The majority of participants said their assigned website compared unfavorably with other local news sites they already use. The most common reason for negative reviews was the lack of updated, relevant content. Some readers cited misgivings about perceived political bias and the lack of transparency around ownership. These factors are discussed in more detail below, but the overarching conclusion from the vast majority of the participants was that, despite the need and opportunity for news sources to fill increasing local news vacuums, the sites did not succeed in deepening their understanding of their local areas. In the words of Bob, a thirty-seven-year-old from Seattle (participants names have been changed), There was no new content published throughout the entirety of the mission, and even looking back through older articles there were no fresh perspectives or unique insights that I was able to gather from my assigned site. With the mix of local news content I already consume there are certainly opportunities that could be filled. But this site did not do anything to address those. Initial impressions More than a third of participants initially formed a positive or somewhat positive opinion of their assigned website. While this proportion had decreased considerably by the end of the study, these initial responses are noteworthy. Crucially, too, they contextualize the extent to which the broadly negative reactions detailed later in this report resulted from repeat visits. In many cases, participants formed first impressions based on aspects such as design or the volume of published contentthe feel and look of their website, as one participant put it. These responses, while often based on surface-level factors, offer insights into how readers might assess these unfamiliar sites if they were stumbled upon organically via social media or a search engine result. Many of these positive first impressions were in response to the sites design and layout, which most participants agreed was intuitive and visually appealing. For several participants, the sites layout was similar to local news sources they already used, which is nice, said Caroline, a twenty-seven-year-old from Chicago, because a standardized website is easy to follow. For others, their design was actually superior. Most local sites are very frustrating to navigate between ads and paywalls, said Jane, a twenty-eight-year-old from Houston. This was so easy to use. Suman, a thirty-three-year-old in Gainesville, Florida, thought his website, the NC Florida News, definitely looks a lot more sophisticated and elegant than some of the other local news websites that Ive seen. Beyond providing a good user experience, these design elements more importantly conferred a degree of legitimacy for previously unfamiliar sites. Miranda, a twenty-seven-year-old in Harrisonburg, Virginia, who had praised the Shenandoah Valley News for being mobile-friendly and responsive, said, At first glance, it kind of looks legitimate. Besides website design, the elements that first stood out to participants were the same ones that would echo throughout the rest of the study and are explored in more depth later in this report: the appearance of outdated content and the abundance of articles based on data sets. These automated articles, which slot information scraped from a wide range of publicly available data sets into identical design templates, are hallmarks of what has been dubbed pink slime journalism. For many participants, this unusual content struck them as weird, generic, or irrelevanta sentiment that grew over the course of the study. For other participants, however, the sites vast output gave the initial impression of being well resourced. The NC Florida News comes across as better resourced and organized than other local news websites, Suman said. Besides being abundant, the novelty of the data articles, many of which are divided by zip code, initially suggested a unique, hyperlocal, and in-depth level of coverage that can be lacking in under-resourced local news outlets. Ludvig, a thirty-year-old in Irvine, California, said the Central OC Times goes more in depth than other sites. It is more detail-oriented. John, a forty-three-year-old in Whiting, Indiana, was also impressed by these data-heavy articles, saying that the Region News has stories that many of the major newspapers dont have. It also has news that is very local to me. In many cases, theto quote one participantbizarre nature of these articles, as well as their lack of adherence to journalistic norms like bylines, immediately raised alarms about the trustworthiness of the websites. It really concerns me that there is no information about who is writing these articles, said Alice, a thirty-seven-year-old in Houston, of her website. I have no reason to believe this is a legitimate source of unbiased news. Karen, a thirty-six-year-old in Plano, Texas, said in her first impressions she was confused by the content on her website, Dallas City Wire. It doesnt seem trustworthy. I dont understand where the news is coming from. Under business I would expect to see actual business news, not boring irrelevant info about licenses expiring. This does not look like a legit news site. Cora, a twenty-five-year-old in Traverse City, Michigan, also noted on the first day of the study that everything about this website screams extremely fishy and sketchy to me. In her final reflections, she wrote that there was a dead giveaway that this is propaganda in the name of the news outlet [North Michigan News]. No one in Michigan refers to this region as North Michigan. Only northern Michigan or Up North Michigan. Moreover, she wrote, everything seems to be slanted towards hating our governor [Democrat Gretchen Whitmer]. Cora was one of roughly a dozen participants who immediately observed a conservative bent in the assigned websites coverage, a trend that would grow over the course of the study. But for some participants, a central aspect of the automated articlesthat they reproduce public data sets without any context or analysiscreated a perception of ideological neutrality and lack of editorial bias. Its just the facts, isnt it? said Hannah, a forty-five-year-old in Buffalo. She found the Buffalo Ledger to be boring but trustworthy: Its neutral[and] unbiased and lacking opinions. Jason, a fifty-nine-year-old in Chicago, said of the Cook County Record, The website definitely seems fair and trustworthy. It seems to report the facts without opinion, and I dont think it leans one way or the other politically. Tom, a fifty-four-year-old in Boone, Iowa, agreed that Ames Today present[s] a fairly even-handed approach, so I think they do seem fair and trustworthy. The following sections delve into these issues and the participants other perceptions of their sites as they became more familiar with their contentan experience that, in many cases, led to changes in their initial assessments. But the immediate impact of surface-level factors like ease of navigation and a plethora of data-heavy content may prove to offer some of the most revealing insights into how news consumers interpret these sites. Lack of new content The most common response from participants throughout the five-day diary exercise was frustration at the lack of new content and the prominence of outdated content on the homepage. To illustrate this challenge, consider the homepage for Metric Medias Denver City Wire on September 14, 2021. The datelines for the articles shown at the top of the sites homepage range from October 7, 2020 (Colorado Gov. Jared Polis gets C grade for fiscal management), to February 25, 2021, for the top featured article (Dominion Voting Systems sues Lindell over statements made about Nov. 3 election). The article on potential top marginal tax rates under the Biden plan, shown in the sidebar, was featured as the leading article across most of the homepages assigned to our participants for the study in June 2021. Its dateline is October 22, 2020. Scrolling below these featured articles on the homepage is a sidebar titled Latest News and a section called Data Points. The articles featured under Latest News, however, were among the oldest on the homepage. DENVER PUBLIC LIBRARY: Virtual Toddler Storytime to be held on January 5, 2021 is a press release submission from January 4, 2021. The Data Points section had the sites freshest content and has been updated on a seemingly weekly basis. (Catherine Culshaw donates $2,800 to Jason Crows campaign in 2020 has a dateline of September 10, 2021.) The section, which consists of algorithmically generated articles based on publicly available data slotted into identical design templates, is a mainstay of all Metric Media properties. It was these articles that suggested a far more active publication schedule. This design proved to be confounding for many of the studys participants. In the first days of the diary exercise, our inbox was flooded with messages from confused participants unsure of how to review a site with months-old content and a homepage that remained static. We asked them to explore the website and look for updated content beyond the homepage. If they were still unable to find any new content, they were instructed to reflect on the sites overall utility and design. At least one participant dropped out of the study in frustration at this point. The others continued, but expressed growing disbelief and irritation with the websites and their assigned task. Brenda, a thirty-four-year-old in Palmdale, California, said during the daily exercise that she was baffled by her assigned site, Antelope Valley Today. The same story has been sitting here [on the homepage] for a week, she said. Nothing updates. So I dont know how you can call yourself a news [site] or Antelope Valley Today. There is nothing from today. Tom was similarly dismayed to see the same 2020 political articles day after day on Ames Today. These are things I would like to read and I would like to discuss, he said. I like local news. I love politics. But none of this is current or relevant. The next day, after seeing the same articles, he confessed, Im really frustrated with this. Its a neat idea for a mission, I was looking forward to it, but I just feel like I got a bum site. Besides frustration, other participants noted potential dangers in leaving up outdated content in a quickly changing news cycle. Mary, a fifty-six-year-old in Wilmington, was alarmed to see a months-old Delaware Division of Public Health press release about covid-19 dated April 10, 2020, on her site, the North New Castle News. So many things are wrong with this story, she said. Its from a press release. It wasnt written by a journalist[and its] dealing with the coronavirus. Oh, my God. This could be giving wrong information, because pandemic information changes by the second. You cant have outdated information out there. As of March 2022, it was still the leading story on the sites homepage. Tony, a twenty-four-year-old in Portland, Oregon, also noted a weirdness to some of the articles remaining on prominent display. Referencing an article at the top of the Portland Courants homepage about a local resident going to a March for Trump rally in DC, he said in his video recording, This was obviously back in January and did not end in the best of situations. In fact, the article was even older than he realized, dating from November 16, 2020, predating the events of January 6, 2021. But its position on the homepage was even more puzzling and disorienting in light of the later event. As of March 2022, it was still on the Portland Courants homepage. These observations by our participants can be further contextualized by findings from Asa Royal and Philip M. Napolis report, which was published a month after the audience research phase of our study was completed. Royal and Napoli found that over the course of their 78-day observation period, the median age of front-page stories in the network rose by 70 days. After the 2020 election contestation period ended, the study found that overall story production by Metric Media outlets declined by an average of >80% in [the three most narrowly won] states. Compared to Metric Media outlets in a control group of states, the amount of fraud coverage and the story production decline among outlets in the battleground states were much more extreme. The researchers also found that only 1.31% of all autogenerated stories were placed on the front page of any of the networks outlets. The rest either sat in outlets RSS feeds before being cycled out a few days later or were stowed below the viewport on the front page. A deluge of data A majority of participants said that besides their websites being out of date, they found their content to be mostly irrelevant to their daily lives and communities. They noted the odd, weird, and bizarre content in the Data Points section: listings of small political contributions, expiring local business licenses, FDA inspection dates for local businesses, salaries for low-level bureaucrats, and Mass times for local Catholic churches (which, puzzlingly, appeared under a section titled Ethics and included no similar listings for any other religions, as several participants noted). While some participants had been intrigued by this content at the beginning of the study, after repeated visits, most came to find the content strange, or boring and non-newsworthy. I just dont care who gave fifteen dollars to Cori Bushs campaign in the second quarter of 2020, said Chiara, a thirty-eight-year-old in St. Louis. Karen in Plano agreed, asking in her video recording, Why is it news that someones electrical license expired? Keith, a thirty-six-year-old in Lorain, Ohio, also questioned how listing small political contributions qualified as a news story for Medina Today: Im not sure how much this is serving the local community. Other participants highlighted the lack of contextual analysis in the data-heavy articles. Theres a lot of data points on this news website [the South Bay Leader], but not a lot of stories, said Caitlyn, a fifty-one-year-old in Manhattan Beach, California. Every single person who gave any money to any candidate is not news. Its political data points. Its statistics. Its not a story. According to Jamelia, a thirty-two-year-old in San Francisco, the main weakness of her site, the San Francisco Sun, was that they rely too much on giving their audience these numbers without any context. Why is this data important, and has that data changed from when it was last published? Sam, a twenty-nine-year-old in Gunter, Texas, was worried about how the North Texas Newss reporting on an expiring cosmetology license, for example, might affect local members of the community. Many of the articles seem to paint a bad light on people, he said. Statistics need context around them. While most participants were confused or annoyed by automated content, a small number of participants did find utility in the collected data around actionable information like low gas prices, store holiday closings, Catholic Mass listings, and new regulations. I just thought it was nicethat kind of a personal touch, Donald, a sixty-one-year-old in Salt Lake City, said of the Mass listings in the SLC Times. It was something that you might not normally see. It was kind of a little bit refreshing. Irrelevant content Alongside automated, data-filled stories, the assigned websites feature a smaller number of articles with reporter bylines. In many cases, participants found these stories to be irrelevant as well, disconnected from themselves and their communities in subject matter or geography. They dont have a lot of stories that are based in San Francisco, said Jamelia of the San Francisco Sun. Reading a headline about vaccination policies in the cities of Santa Monica and Burbank, nearly four hundred miles south of San Francisco, she said, Thats great. But I dont live anywhere near Santa Monica or Burbank. Rahim, a thirty-five-year-old in Laguna Beach, California, was initially intrigued by his assigned site, the Southern California Record, due to its focus on legal issues. But after reading a headline about a case in the central city of Fresno, more than two hundred and fifty miles north, he said, These arent really local. You know, to me, something that happens in Fresno isnt really a local news story. In his final reflections, Rahim wrote that his site essentially lumped in stories from all over the state. If the focus was strictly on legal proceedings and government rulings within So Cal [Southern California], that could have been a promising premise, but that simply was not the case. Alice in Houston said she was surprised to see an article in a Texas paper about Rudy Giuliani losing his license to practice law. Theres no Texas link here, she said. And from what I read in the About section of the website, it seemed like this was supposed to be super focused on Houston and Texas. At the same time, she noticed, another major national story with a clear local angle was missing: I was really surprised not to see anything about Vice President Harriss visit to the state the previous week to speak about the immigration crisis on the border. Alice was one of many participants disappointed by the lack of coverage of other issues on the sitesboth specific stories as well as broader topics. On the day former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was sentenced for the murder of George Floyd, two participants were shocked to find no mention of the news on their assigned sites. Its called MinnesotaStateWire.com and they dont even have the biggest story from the state of Minnesota today on their Web page about the sentencing of Derek Chauvin, said Donna, a forty-two-year-old in New Germany, Minnesota. Mona, a thirty-eight-year-old in Apopka, Florida, was similarly surprised to find nothing about the collapse of the condominium that killed nearly a hundred people in Surfside, Florida, on her assigned site, the North Lake Times. Abigail, a thirty-seven-year-old from Homer Glen, Illinois, was concerned that her assigned site, the Prairie State Wire, wasnt covering a salmonella outbreak in shrimp sold in the state. Frank, a thirty-six-year-old in River Forest, Illinois, said that it was very serious that his assigned site, West Cook News, had no new content despite a tornado warning issued in his area. This isnt a news site. I dont even know what this is, he said. Several participants noticed the heavy focus on local politics and government at the expense of other beats. Everything on this page is politics! said Chiara of the St. Louis Reporter. Of the eight critical information needs defined in a study for the Federal Communications Commission, the only topic that the majority of participants identified as having been valuably covered by their outlet was political information. Meanwhile, despite the pandemic and other ongoing crises, a majority of participants said the outlets provided no valuable information related to emergencies and public safety, and half said they provided no valuable information related to health. Several participants observed a lack of information about covid restrictions, which, as Dory, a twenty-five-year-old in Miami, noted while reviewing the Miami Courant, is something really important to put on a news site. Others noted the absence of other staples of local news coverage, such as local events and holiday celebrations. I dont see anything about sports in the North Birmingham Times, said Ken, a forty-three-year-old in Arab, Alabama, which is kind of weird, because Alabama loves its sports. Mary in Delaware, assessing the North New Castle News, asked, Where is my weather report? My traffic report? Whats happening in my community today? Activities I can take my family to this weekend? None of that is here. In her final reflections, she expanded upon these critiques. It was not what I consider a news website. It was simply a website mocked up to look like a news website. This is a website with an ulterior motive that is using the words news website. 4b. Formulating perceptions of trustworthiness and bias Mary was not alone in doubting the legitimacy of her siteand a significant number of participants also questioned whether their outlets had, to reuse her phrase, ulterior motives. Yet despite their overwhelmingly negative final impressions, perceptions around the sites trustworthiness and potential bias in their coverage were much more mixed, and in some cases, almost evenly divided. While a majority of participants found the outlets to be untrustworthy (though by a much smaller margin than with overall assessments on quality), a very narrow majority nonetheless assessed their coverage to be fair and balanced. The split between these related but subtly distinct questions is revealing in terms of some of the wider takeaways about how these sites are interpreted: specifically, the distinct ways in which participants responded to the algorithmically generated articles that are core components of pink slime journalism. Making sense of algorithmically generated news When assessing the trustworthiness of their assigned websites, nearly all participants mentioned the Data Points articles that are prevalent among Metric Media sites and, as low-cost, algorithmically generated output, typify quintessential pink slime journalism. Participants reactions, however, differed significantly in ways that have implications for the broader effect of the outlets on local markets. Sam in Texas observed at the beginning of the study that the section appeared to consist of AI that has grabbed a bunch of statistic pages and is just regurgitating statisticsit just comes across as so fake, and its also surface-level, he said in a video recording. It just definitely does not seem like a real person is putting this together, but rather a computer program. For the few bylined articles, he noted that he could not find any information about the author. Miranda in Virginia had a similar reaction, saying that the Shenandoah Valley News site doesnt really feel realthe content really looks to me like its all generated by AI or something like thatit just feels off. She also noted the lack of bylines on most articles and a resulting failure to establish credibility. She was one of a few participants who took an extra step to review her sites social media pages and was surprised to find that its Facebook page had zero followers and no content. In her final reflection, she wrote, After several days I still dont really know anything about the website or its purpose. Ellen, a forty-year-old in Potsdam, New York, concluded that her assigned site, Empire State Today, did not seem trustworthy because the authors [often] arent clearly identified, the source/company responsible doesnt seem to be authoritative or genuine, the site gives off a spammy feel to it and makes me think that some of the content is auto-generated. Cora in Michigan categorized her site as an auto-generated robot website. Martin, a thirty-seven-year-old in Indianapolis, also concluded in his first day reviewing his site that the Indy Standard is very much driven by probably just pulling from a database or some spreadsheet somewhere and taking some numbers from it and basically generating articles based off of it. After noting that the bylines didnt appear to belong to an actual reporter, he said, The content doesnt really feel like news at all. It feels more so like, Here are just some numbers that we can pull about your general area, and were going to build a website that sort of tries to represent it as news, even if it doesnt really function in the traditional sense of news. Despite these observations, in his final reflections at the end of the study Martin wrote, Because almost all the stories were number-focused, they felt fairly trustworthyvery few of the pieces I read included anything involving opinion. While he wrote that he would like to know more concerning the source of the data for these articles, he concluded that as a result [of the focus on numbers and lack of opinions], they seem to be free of bias. Thus, despite reservations about a lack of transparency around authorship and sourcing, the reliance on data proved effective in creating a perception of neutrality and, to some extent, trustworthiness. And while the automated articles and lack of new content left participants such as Martin feeling the sites were sketchy and not entirely normal, that didnt mean they thought the coverage was politically skewed one way or another. The automated articles use of unvarnished numbers and a straightforward editorial tone were repeatedly cited among the roughly half of participants who found their website to be trustworthy, fair and balanced, or both. Rahim in California, who had been disappointed by his site, the Southern California Record, nonetheless wrote in his final reflections: I didnt find any of the content to be strongly skewed toward either left or right ideology and viewpoints. I would say my initial impression of the website was that it was cautiously worthy of my trust. But I think some of that has to do with the fact that the stories themselves were rather bland and apropos of a legal journal, so perhaps I was bored into trusting the content. [I] didnt run into any strong opinion pieces (and it definitely wasnt slanted in the vein of something like Fox News). But again, when the majority of your articles are simply providing banal reporting on legal matters and regulatory issues without any form of opinion interjected, theres little room for impropriety. Shonda, a twenty-three-year-old in Heath, Texas, who had found the NE Dallas Newss content un-newsworthy and irrelevant, also concluded that the site did seem fair. There was nothing on the site that was condescending to a specific community or one-sided. All of the articles presented a factual statement and point of view that was elaborated on with research and data. There were no opinion pieces or anything I would have considered to be slander. Jordan, a forty-two-year-old in Midlothian, Illinois, agreed that the South Cook News felt trustworthy because he didnt think the articles felt like they were approached with any sense of bias, or had intent to distract/cause chaos. It didnt feel politically divisive. The writing and the tone of the writing feel honest. I didnt read anything or see any headlines that made me question fairness in any way. Ludvig in California, one of the few participants with an overall positive final impression of his website, the Central OC Times, wrote that the site seemed trustworthy and without bias because the nature of reporting concerning campaign donations and statistics concerning schools were not motivated by a point of view. I did not find any sensationalistic or partisan reports in this paper. Moreover, the site seems more fair and balanced than some of my local papers such as the Voice of OC, which can skew at times to the far left. The LA Times skews to the far left on certain occasions as well. Julie, a thirty-six-year-old in Houston, wrote that only the facts were addressed or quoted on her site and the articles seemed as if they were written from the perspective of a neutral person. Edward, a thirty-one-year-old in Richmond, Kentucky, found his site, the Bluegrass Times, untrustworthy. Yet he still wrote in his final reflections that the content seemed balanced because the articles were short and simple without a lot of commentary. The articles did not seem to have a political bias one way or the other. The authors did not express their opinions. Caroline in Chicago wrote that she found her site, the Cook County Record, to be factually trustworthy. She had recorded positive impressions of the websites design and layout, and how its focus on legal issues exposed her to topics she normally would not see. However, she noted, its bias is evident in the types of information it presentslike the way it highlights the conservative perspective on partisan legal issues, or only includes statements from the conservative side on articles about a Supreme Court decision and a local environmental lawsuit. The site, she concluded, had a pretty conservative slant, and many of the articles made me kind of angry. Not a legit news site Caroline was among the approximately one-third of participants who perceived a specifically conservative slant to their assigned websites coverage. Erica, a forty-four-year-old in Collingswood, New Jersey, noted that while the data-heavy articles at Gloucester Today had no overt statement of bias[the content] was arbitrary and looked like right-wing selective data. Selective reporting of facts has its own implicit biases. In her final reflections, she concluded that the site seemed like a fake news churning site and/or just something thrown together by some random people using Gloucester County and other counties as a way to get agendas across. But it absolutely did not have actual relevant local news. Jocelyn, a thirty-eight-year-old in Florence, South Carolina, was incensed while reading articles in the Palmetto State News about Republican senator Lindsey Graham, critical race theory, and conservative activist organizations. This paper is so right-wing biased that it is, like, insane, she said in a diary entry. It just feels like this is where fake news comes from. As a social studies teacher who taught my kids about analyzing sources, this kind of thing makes me really angry and really quite sad for the country. Several participants accused their sites of using the pretext of local news to push a conservative or Republican political agenda. Morris, a thirty-nine-year-old in Chicago, wrote that the Chicago City Wire seemed to be heavily focused on a conservative viewpoint. All of the stories seem closer to conservative talking points or propaganda rather than fair and balanced stories. There wasnt really much news content, just writing to steer the reader towards the conservative perspective. When asked in the final reflection section if her assigned site had deepened her understanding of her local area, Judy, a fifty-nine-year-old in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, answered, Sadly it deepened my understanding of the extremely Republican biased websites that are out theremy website was written only from the perspective of a rabid Republican and seems to be obsessed with showing [political] donations. Karen in Texas noted in her initial response that the Dallas City Wire does not look like a legit news site. My gut says something is off. In one of her later diary entries, Karen questioned a June 18, 2021, article titled Bennett: the media is chock full of bullies. Its author, Monty J. Bennett, accused local Dallas magazine D of presenting sponsored content as journalism. This is really interesting to me. It feels like some content I might want to share, she said. But she was dismayed by the lack of information on the site about its author. Who is Monty J. Bennett? I have no idea. Is this someone who works for Dallas City Wire? Is he a guest [writer]? Whats his expertise? Thats something I would like to know. In fact, Bennetts ties to Metric Media have come up multiple times. The Texan CEO of a hospitality and real estate company, Ashford Inc., Bennett is also the publisher of the Dallas Express, a news website he launched in early 2021. (A press release from late 2021 stated that the ownership of Dallas Express had changed, but an April 2022 op-ed was attributed to Monty Bennett | Publisher.) Prior to founding the Dallas Express, Bennett ordered the Metro Business Network, another part of the Metric Mediarelated networks, to publish articles that would support a stimulus bill to help his company and to attack his creditors, according to a New York Times investigation. (Bennett has strenuously denied the allegations, but a Tow Center investigation also found that Ashford Inc. is a client of Metric Medias parent company.) According to D magazine, Bennetts Dallas City Wire piece attacking the magazine as bullies came after it published an article discussing the Times investigation into his alleged practices. Several weeks after Karens observations, the link to the article no longer worked and the story had seemingly vanished from the Dallas City Wire website, according to our review of the site. As of June 2022 it still appears to be missing. In her final reflections she reiterated her impression that her site was not trustworthymy gut from the start was that this site is not legitimate. Of the roughly one-third of participants who perceived conservative bias in their websites content, approximately half suspected an actual partisan organization of being behind the site. Sandra, a fifty-eight-year-old in Winterville, Georgia, said reading the Athens Reporters coverage of voting issues made her feel like there are people within my community who are not happy with the previous presidential election. I think that it is a politically motivated news publication put out by the Republican Party. Noah, a thirty-seven-year-old in Kansas City, Missouri, said the KC Reporters lack of original local content made me suspect this publication as a front for some sort of ideologically motivated group. Miles, a thirty-year-old in Washington, DC, was suspicious of a December 2020 article in the DC Business Daily about the dire economic situation for the hotel industry. I think this really represents the talking points of the AHLA, he said, referring to the American Hotel and Lodging Association, a lobbying organization for the industry. Im beginning to feel like its a little bit more propaganda. That there is definitely someone that is funding this, thats pushing their agenda. (As investigations by both the New York Times and the Tow Center have found, the Metric Media network had ties to the hotel industry, and the publications reflected the talking points of the hospitality industry through the pandemic lockdowns.) Several of the participants cried foul when reading their sites boilerplate about pages and their stated mission, in the case of Metric Media, to provide objective, data-driven information without political bias. Judy in Pennsylvania responded with Ha ha ha when she read the Lower Bucks Today about page. Total garbageits strengths are to push the Republican agenda, she said. Denver City Wires page says nothing about being a conservative organization, said Lara, a thirty-six-year-old in Denver. They make it sound like theyre unbiased and neutral, which is completely false. Russ, a fifty-seven-year-old from Doylestown, Pennsylvania, said he was quickly getting a sense from Lower Bucks Today that this whole thing is pretty biased in a right-wing Republican way. It looks like it would like to be a source of local information, but my sense is that its a political outlook [that] is slanted and misleading. He later said, I dont have much experience with local news websites other than my own newspaper, but I believe there is a trend of politically motivated sites pretending to be local news. In his final reflections he wrote, This website did not deepen my understanding of my local news, but did make me think more about political polarization, and a concern about biased sites pretending to be neutral news. Despite his suspicions, Russ had not researched the ownership of his assigned site before being prompted to in the final reflections section. This decision, or lack thereof, was not uncommon, even among the dozens of participants who were suspicious of their assigned sites intentions. Transparency and Ownership A key area of interest in this study was to examine the extent to which participants actively sought to establish the provenance of their assigned websites, and the process through which they sought this information. The New York Times observed that Metric Media sites typically lack mastheads, local addresses and clear disclosure of their ownership or revenue sources, adding that voters could easily become confused about the origins of information from these seemingly innocuous local-sounding outlets. NewsGuard assigned a red nutrition label to sites in the Metric Media networkmeaning they generally failto meet basic standards of credibility and transparencyand determined that the networks sites do not meet the standard for disclosing information about ownership and financing. None of our participants had encountered their assigned websites before. Yet despite many raising concerns or highlighting issues over the course of the study, only a small number looked into the ownership of their assigned sites of their own volition. Of those who did, comparatively few engaged in what education researchers have referred to as lateral readingthe practice of seeking out other sources to evaluate a sites credibility. Lack of research around ownership A sizable majority of participantsroughly two-thirdsdid not attempt to research who owned or operated their assigned site before they were prompted to do so in the final reflection section. Most of these participants said it had never occurred to them. Some participants, however, indicated they were embarrassed by their lack of initiative, suggesting at least some familiarity with this aspect of media literacy. Ruth, a fifty-six-year-old in Richmond, Texas, was apologetic and surprised when asked whether she had previously researched who owned and operated her assigned site, the SE Houston News. Oh, my gosh, so sorry! I never looked or thought about who ran the website at all. I wonder where would I find that? Caroline in Chicago said she was kind of surprised that she hadnt thought to investigate who was behind her site. Of the roughly one-third who had attempted to identify a sites ownership before being prompted to do so, only a small number researched the outlet beyond the scant information available on the website. A significant portion of participantsboth those who had conducted research of their own accord and those who waited until they were promptedwere unable to find any relevant information on their outlets websites. Many found the parent companys name (e.g., Metric Media or LGIS) but no other information. The about pages of at least five sites, all of which belonged to the Record network, displayed error messages that read This page isnt working. (The link remained broken for several months after the completion of the study, but has since been fixed.) These findings were indicative of the networks overarching lack of transparency. Participants reactions to the general lack of information around ownership, however, varied significantly, from mild annoyance to severe alarm. At one end of the spectrum, participants commented on the lack of transparency but did not express strong opinions or indicate that this affected their view of the sites integrity. Speaking of his attempts to find who owned the Cook County Record, Ivan, a forty-three-year-old in Chicago, said he had so much trouble. After discovering the about page didnt work, he tried all these different options to find it. I looked on Facebook, Twitter, still couldnt find anything. So, yeah, this site doesnt make it too easy to find out who owns the site. Julie in Houston also found the ownership information available on her site to be lacking. She read aloud from its about page, which describes the site as a daily online news source founded to change the local news focus from celebrities, gossip, and partisan political issues to matters of greater interest to all Houstonians. We focus on fact-based reporting and do not allow opinionated journalism in our news stories. Responding to this description, she said, I mean, I see that. But it still doesnt tell me who actually is writing this. Kate, a fifty-year-old in Dallas, likewise said she could not find anything on her assigned site that shows who runs the site. Im not seeing anything other than them talking about their principles and stuff, she explained. I dont see who owns it or anything. I went to the contact info. Didnt really seem to be anything there. So I have no idea who owns it. Ludvig in California was among the few participants to have a positive overall impression of his assigned site, the Central OC Times. Nonetheless, after being prompted to search for ownership information, he noted his sites lack of transparency. I searched for the owners, managers, investors, or anyone behind it. I went to the hamburger menu and then I clicked on People and under Directory and it says No results, he said. I also scrolled to the bottom of the website and I didnt find anything beyond a privacy policy and terms of service. It does not say who the owners are, unfortunately. Notably, all these participants had previously said that they found their sites to be trustworthy, fair, and without bias. None of them indicated in their reflections that this lack of transparency had altered that assessment. In further indicators of possible media literacy and trust vulnerabilities, these participants uncritically accepted the claims of objectivity in these sites nebulous about pages or interpreted nonprofit status as further confirmation of virtuous intentions. Adrianne, a twenty-seven-year-old in Dallas, said, I didnt realize this until just now, but they dont have a side to their stories. They just provide facts, after reading the outlets stated mission to report dispassionately [and] place emphasis on facts over all else. News reportsshould never be spun or carry editorial opinions to suit the political persuasions of our reporters or editors. Adrianne said she believed this principle was really important, because sometimes you look at certain news websites and they are very one-sided. So its good that its just reporting the facts, which not a lot of people do recently. Suman in Florida noted that Metric Media was a 501(c)(3) nonprofit news content provider, so it tells me that it doesnt have a political agenda, or its not backed by any biased thing, which is great. However, this assumption is incorrect. While there are IRS codes that dont allow 501(c)(3) organizations to partake in political campaigns on behalf of or against a candidate (directly or indirectly), nonprofit organizations can partake in issue advocacy. Suman was among the few participants who had a final positive impression of his assigned site, the NC Florida News. In his final reflections he praised the sites trustworthiness: It definitely feels like a more balanced and unbiased news outlet to report relevant community-related news. Vivek, a thirty-three-year-old from Rolling Meadows, Illinois, was another of the few participants who recorded a final positive impression of his site, the Cook County Record. However, he was the lone participant who seemed to question that perception after attempting to research its ownership. I was a little worried when I clicked on About and it didnt take me anywhere but here, he said, indicating the error message on its website. Maybe its perfectly innocent, he said, but maybe not. Prior research, lack of transparency, and distrust Viveks unease at discovering his websites lack of transparency was echoed by other participants. Significantly, concern and distrust were far more acute among participants who had previously researched their sites ownership of their own volition. Some of them did not elaborate on what had motivated them to conduct this research unprompted. But for those who did, most said it was out of habit upon encountering an unfamiliar news source, or pure curiosity. Alice in Houston explained her process of trying to determine who operated her assigned site on the first day of the study: One of the first things that I look for when I discover a new news source, be that a website, a news site, a blog, a YouTube video, whatever, is to look at who the source is, who is doing the publishing. So Im looking at the About page here. Theres zero information as to who the publishers are, who the editors are, what kind of editorial oversight there is for this, what kind of fact checking. They do mention that they focus on fact-based reporting and do not allow opinionated journalism in their news stories and make mention of basic publishing standards. But there is no information about who thats coming from. The other thing that really concerns me about this website is that there is no information about who is writing these articles. Several days later, in her final reflection, Alice wrote that the site compared unfavorably with other local news sources because it had no transparency about reporting or editorial standards [and] no credentials for reporters. Monica, a forty-five-year-old from Maurepas, Louisiana, also expressed an immediate interest in the ownership of her site, the Shenandoah Valley News. On the first day of the study she wrote: I was curious about the organization itself. I found myself wanting to know more history on the websiteand [its] backing. Just to see if its got a slant that I need to be aware of when reading the content to make sure that Im developing well-rounded and thoroughly informed opinions about things. Its the type of site where I would at this point seek more information on the articles that intrigued me in order to make sure it wasnt unfairly biased. By the end of the study, Monica had formed an unfavorable view of her site. She had also attempted to thoroughly research it, and was one of a handful of participants who had looked beyond the information available on its website. After attempting to figure out who owns and runs it and never being able to get the link to work, she said, she turned to other tactics. I didnt find any information when I Googled it. I didnt find any information on Facebook, Twitter, anywhere. Compared with other local news outlets, the site is shockingly less transparent. Miranda in Virginia also investigated her sites social media presence. She said she found the corresponding Facebook page very unsettling because its not really a page. It does not have a single follower. That was definitely worrying to me. The sites about page feels very artificialI felt like it really didnt give much information at all. There are no real people taking accountability for anything on this website. And thats very odd to me. Alice and Monica had no idea who was behind their respective sites, but other participants offered theories based on the tenor of the coverage. Sharon, a twenty-three-year-old in Elmhurst, Illinois, suspected the Dupage Policy Journal was owned by Republican politicians, or at least given a lot of money from Republican politicians. But unable to find any information on the website, she was unable to confirm her suspicion: I think thats who owns it, or at least has an interest in it. But I dont honestly know how I would find that information. Fewer than a dozen participants discovered information about the pay for play networks and accusations against them while researching their outlets. Lara in Denver was one of the participants who had been suspicious of her site since the beginning of the exercise. Frustrated by the lack of available ownership information, she had to do a deep dive online when I first looked at this website. Michael, a fifty-year-old from Las Vegas, was another of the small group of participants who researched their websites at the outset of the study and discovered information about their provenance. On the first day of the exercise he wrote of his site, the Las Vegas Record (which has subsequently been rebranded as Las Vegas City Wire): I just looked up information about the publisher and its owned by an American conservative businessman. It looks like the owner creates many sites like this across the country that look similar but are just in different areas. It also looks like a small amount of the stories are unique and many others are automated. Its pay for play publishing. It looks more manufactured and fake than other local news websites. It doesnt look like a serious publication. It looks like noise. In his final reflections, Michael wrote that he had been compelled to do this research because I was very curious about why there was so much right-wing stuff on his site. Peter, a thirty-five-year-old from Philadelphia assigned to read the Pennsylvania Record, and Jason in Chicago were also both interested in their sites ownership from the outset of the study and were alarmed when they discovered the Record networks broken about page. (The link remained broken for several months after the completion of the study but has since been fixed.) After using online tools to research their websites domain registration information, they were even more surprised to discover the sites owner was the US Chamber Institute for Legal Reform, an affiliate of the Chamber of Commerce, the countrys largest lobbying organization. (The Florida Record, the only assigned Record site whose about page worked, said the outlet was owned by the US Chamber Institute for Legal Reform but did not mention the connection to the Chamber of Commerce.) I dont appreciate that not being up front on the website, Peter said. It makes me very suspicious, and it makes more sense why the articles are written the way they are. The lack of a mission statement and disclosure of who runs the sitemakes me trust the site even less to give me a full view of business and civil litigation in Pennsylvania. Such a disclosure, he wrote in his final reflections, would give a reader some orientation and a framework with which to more clearly understand the scope, philosophy, purpose, and angle of the site. Otherwise the site is very confusing. From the beginning of the study, Jason said, he assumed his site was operated by sort of a pro-business, probably relatively conservative group. After researching his site, that assumption was verifiedthe big problem was that I couldnt get [that information] from the about page. Miles in DC didnt research the DC Business Daily until shortly before being prompted to at the end of the study. After discovering his site was owned by Franklin Archer, he began researching the network, and discovered the Tow Centers earlier reports on the networks. This site disguises who operates it fairly well, he said. Conclusion Recent research and reporting have revealed the extent to which vast online media networks with partisan intentions and/or oblique financial ties have spread across the country, exploiting public trust in local news outlets and information voids left by news deserts. To better understand this emerging threat to the information ecosystem, this study sought to examine how news consumers interpret these sites and the processes through which they formulate opinions around issues like trust, fairness, and bias. While several trends emerged in participants responses, their reactions were far from monolithic and represented a range of interpretations across a continuum. Among the most significant findings was the evolution between participants initial impressions of their sites and their final takeaways. After nearly a week of repeat visits, most participants had grown at minimum frustrated, and in many cases distrustful, of the sites peculiar algorithmically generated articles and lack of fresh content. But initial impressions were mostly formed by surface-level qualities such as the feel and look of the sites, with participants giving the websites high marks for design and ease of navigation. The sites professional design and layout conferred a degree of legitimacy at first glance or first click: a valuable quality for websites potentially more likely to be discovered by algorithmic chance than word of mouth. The use of audience research to study these networks does not reveal the overall intention of the publishing methodology of these outlets. But these networks appear to be designed for a very different kind of audience and relationship than the ones most often promoted by efforts to improve financial sustainability for local news outlets, in which the cultivation of habitual repeat users and the subscription/membership model are encouraged. For Metric Media, algorithmic discovery related to a specific political issue, like voter fraud for example, may be more important than consistent readership. The participants first impressions and other reactions also highlighted some striking gaps in media literacy, which, in turn, affected the overall interpretations of the sites. In the 2019 Lansing State Journal article that first identified the emergence of these networks, Rachel Davis Mersey, executive director of the Media Leadership Center at Northwestern Universitys Medill School of Journalism, was quoted discussing how the onus of determining the difference between news and political messaging falls on the reader. This responsibility, Davis Mersey said, is a challenge when stories are delivered via social media feedsand [she] suggested reading as close to the original source of news as possible. The findings of this study, however, suggest that even when news consumers are intentionally reading a specific news source as opposed to scrolling through a social media feed, that difference may still be far from evident. Notably, the study found a surprising disconnect between perceptions of the sites quality of reporting and trustworthiness and bias. Despite participants overwhelming frustration with the content, the websites use of a neutral editorial tone and reliance on data-heavy articles led many participants to find the sites ideologically neutral, without bias and trustworthy. The study also uncovered some other surprising indicators of trust, such as nonprofit status, and a willingness to take claims of objectivity and nonpartisan status at face value. As nonprofit local news models proliferate across the country, this presents a disturbing new opportunity for misrepresentation and disinformation. Similarly, despite the growing emphasis on media literacy in recent years, basic skills and knowledge, such as the importance of identifying who owns and operates a given news source, were found to be lacking in some quarters. The participants who were most alarmed by the websites vague about pages were those who had already thought to research the lack of transparency. For the rest of the participants, who looked up ownership information only after being prompted, the discovery of this lack of transparency did not necessarily affect their perceptions of the sites integrity. Researchers and journalists sounded the alarm about the expansion of these networks in the lead-up to the highly divisive 2020 presidential election. But despite increased attention to fake news and misinformation tactics on social media, these ersatz local news websites and their partisan connections are still poorly understood among the greater public. And while the audience research employed for this study is useful for its findings about trust, engagement, and credibility surrounding these sites, these methods do notindeed cannotshed light on the intentions of these networks or their desired goal. In the months approaching the no less contentious 2022 midterm elections, the need for greater public awareness and further research about their reach and impact is no less urgent. Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today Sara Rafsky is a former senior research fellow at Columbia Journalism Schools Tow Center for Digital Journalism. She is a writer and researcher who has worked at the intersection of journalism, press freedom, human rights, and documentary film in the US and Latin America. A staffer for Indiana U.S. Rep. Jackie Walorski was trying to pass a flat-bed truck on a northern Indiana highway last month when the SUV they were in crashed into an oncoming car, killing Walorski and three other people, police said Friday. A witness traveling behind the SUV told investigators it sped up, crossed the centerline of the two-lane highway as it neared the truck and pulled into the path of the other car when the crash happened about 12:30 p.m. on Aug. 3, according to the Elkhart County Sheriffs Office. Airbag control module data from the SUV driven by Zachery Potts, 27, who was Walorskis district director, showed it was going 77 mph at the time of the crash on a rural stretch of Indiana 19 near the town of Wakarusa, the office said. All of the evidence and information gathered is consistent with someone attempting to pass another vehicle on a two-lane roadway, the office said in a statement. Walorski, 58, was a Republican who had first been elected to represent northern Indianas 2nd Congressional District in 2012 and was seeking reelection this year to a sixth term. The sheriffs office released statements from the county coroner ruling the deaths of Walorski and the others as accidental from injuries suffered in the crash. Investigators blamed the crash on Potts for driving left of center with a contributing factor of excessive speed. Also killed in the crash were Emma Thomson, 28, who was Walorskis communications director, and Edith Schmucker, 56, of Nappanee, Indiana, who was driving the other vehicle. The sheriffs office said investigators found no signs of mechanical failures with either vehicle or any evidence of cellphone use by anyone in the vehicles when crash happened. Republican officials selected Rudy Yakym, an executive with Elkhart distribution company Kem Krest and a longtime political ally of Walorski, to replace her on the November election ballot in the heavily GOP district. The districts congressional seat will remain vacant until a special election on the November ballot to complete Walorskis term through rest of this year. Yakym will face Democrat Paul Steury, a science teacher from Goshen, and Libertarian William Henry. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. The ride-hailing service Uber said Friday that all its services were operational following what security professionals are calling a major data breach, claiming there was no evidence the hacker got access to sensitive user data. But the breach, apparently by a lone hacker, put the spotlight on an increasingly effective break-in routine involving social engineering: The hacker apparently gained access posing as a colleague, tricking an Uber employee into surrendering their credentials. They were then able to locate passwords on the network that got them the level of privileged access reserved for system administrators. The potential damage was serious: Screenshots the hacker shared with security researchers indicate they obtained full access to the cloud-based systems where Uber stores sensitive customer and financial data. It is not known how much data the hacker stole or how long they were inside Ubers network. Two researchers who communicated directly with the person who self-identified as an 18-year-old to one of them said they appeared interested in publicity. There was no indication they destroyed data. But files shared with the researchers and posted widely on Twitter and other social media indicated the hacker was able to access Ubers most crucial internal systems. It was really bad the access he had. Its awful, said Corben Leo, one of the researchers who chatted with the hacker online. The cybersecurity communitys online reaction Uber also suffered a serious 2016 breach was harsh. The hack wasnt sophisticated or complicated and clearly hinged on multiple big systemic security culture and engineering failures, tweeted Lesley Carhart, incident response director of Dragos Inc., which specializes in an industrial-control systems. Leo said screenshots the hacker shared showed the intruder got access to systems stored on Amazon and Google cloud-based servers where Uber keeps source code, financial data and customer data such as drivers licenses. If he had keys to the kingdom he could start stopping services. He could delete stuff. He could download customer data, change peoples passwords said Leo, a researcher and head of business development at the security company Zellic. Screenshots the hacker shared many of which found their way online showed sensitive financial data and internal databases accessed. Also widely circulating online: The hacker announcing the breach Thursday on Ubers internal Slack collaboration system. Leo, along with Sam Curry, an engineer with Yuga Labs who also communicated with the hacker, said there was no indication that the hacker had done any damage or was interested in anything more than publicity. Its pretty clear hes a young hacker because he wants what 99 percent of what young hackers want, which is fame, Leo said. Curry said he spoke to several Uber employees Thursday who said they were working to lock down everything internally to restrict the hackers access. That included the San Francisco companys Slack network, he said. In a statement posted online Friday, Uber said internal software tools that we took down as a precaution yesterday are coming back online. It said all its services including Uber Eats and Uber Freight were operational and that it had notified law enforcement. The FBI said via email that it is aware of the cyber incident involving Uber, and our assistance to the company is ongoing. Uber said there was no evidence that the intruder accessed sensitive user data such as trip history but did not respond to questions from The Associated Press including about whether data was stored encrypted. Curry and Leo said the hacker did not indicate how much data was copied. Uber did not recommend any specific actions for its users, such as changing passwords. The hacker alerted the researchers to the intrusion Thursday by using an internal Uber account on the companys network used to post vulnerabilities identified through its bug-bounty program, which pays ethical hackers to ferret out network weaknesses. After commenting on those posts, the hacker provided a Telegram account address. Curry and other researchers then engaged them in a separate conversation, where the intruder provided the screenshots as proof. The AP attempted to contact the hacker at the Telegram account, but received no response. Screenshots posted online appeared to confirm what the researchers said the hacker claimed: That they obtained privileged access to Ubers most critical systems through social engineering. The apparent scenario: The hacker first obtained the password of an Uber employee, likely through phishing. The hacker then bombarded the employee with push notifications asking they confirm a remote log-in to their account. When the employee did not respond, the hacker reached out via WhatsApp, posing as a fellow worker from the IT department and expressing urgency. Ultimately, the employee caved and confirmed with a mouse click. Social engineering is a popular hacking strategy, as humans tend to be the weakest link in any network. Teenagers used it in 2020 to hack Twitter and it has more recently been used in hacks of the tech companies Twilio and Cloudflare, said Rachel Tobac, CEO of SocialProof Security, which specializes in training workers not to fall victim to social engineering. The hard truth is that most orgs in the world could be hacked in the exact way Uber was just hacked, Tobac tweeted. In an interview, she said even super tech savvy people fall for social engineering methods every day. Attackers are getting better at by-passing or hi-jacking MFA (multi-factor authentication), said Ryan Sherstobitoff, a senior threat analyst at SecurityScorecard. Thats why many security professionals advocate the use of so-called FIDO physical security keys for user authentication. Adoption of such hardware has been spotty among tech companies, however. The hack also highlighted the need for real-time monitoring in cloud-based systems to better detect intruders, said Tom Kellermann of Contrast Security. Much more attention must be paid to protecting clouds from within because a single master key can typically unlock all their doors. Some experts questioned how much cybersecurity has improved at Uber since it was hacked in 2016. Its former chief security officer, Joseph Sullivan, is currently on trial for allegedly arranging to pay hackers $100,000 to cover up that high-tech heist, when the personal information of about 57 million customers and drivers was stolen. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Louisiana families and businesses in Tangipahoa Parish are a step closer to getting paid for flood damages in 1983 caused by the construction of Interstate 12. A $95 million payment was approved Friday by the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget, The Advocate reported. The committees action allows the money to be moved to an escrow account, and eventually to the 1,246 victims, 400 families and 96 businesses harmed. This is the single final payment that resolves the entirety of the lawsuit, Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne said. When those payments will be made is unclear. The state earlier put $6 million into an account for the plaintiffs, which means the total settlement is $101 million, the newspaper reported. Dardenne said he is confident a district judge will approve the payment, which will then allow a special master to decide how much individuals and businesses are owed. Rains on April 6, 1983, flooded about 6,000 homes in the Baton Rouge area. In Tangipahoa Parish, east of Baton Rouge, the newly opened I-12 acted like a large levee, and resulted in water from the Tangipahoa River being diverted into homes and businesses. In 1999, a jury decided that the I-12 bridge over the river did not change elevation crossing the river as it should have and awarded plaintiffs in $92 million. However, nothing happened for years while the state Department of Transportation and Development appealed and the Legislature declined to approve the award. The final amount was agreed to by lawmakers after negotiations by Gov. John Bel Edwards administration. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Antibiotics are effective only against bacterial infections while most infections among children during monsoon are viral, opine many doctors. (Photo: Representational/Pixabay) Hyderabad: Doctors have raised concerns about children being given antibiotics by their parents without even consulting doctors. Antibiotics are effective only against bacterial infections while most infections among children during monsoon are viral, opine many doctors. They lamented the general habit among up to 80 per cent of parents of giving their children antibiotics whenever they fall sick. This self-medication could be detrimental to the health of children, they said. Paediatrician Dr. Shivaranjani Santosh says currently, viral infections like herpangina, hand foot and mouth disease, dengue, flu, Covid, viral diarrhoea and vomiting account for more than 90 per cent of infections among children, while bacterial infections are at 10 per cent. For throat pain, they give their kids Azithral and Oflomac for loose motions. This can cause side effects like diarrhoea and vomiting and can even kill useful gut bacteria, she said. Dr. Santosh said that specific antiviral medicines are meant only for certain infections like severe flu and chickenpox. Consultant paediatrician at Apollo Cradle, Kondapur, Dr. Avash Pani too has been getting many cases where parents have administered antibiotics for viral infections without consulting a doctor. This is a very serious problem and its scale is rising. In fact, when I dont prescribe antibiotics, parents request me to do so, he said. Dr Pani said that India has been grappling with people developing resistance to antibodies due to their indiscriminate use. Some other common medicines which parents are administering to their kids without consultations are Azee, Zifi, Taxim, Augmentin, Clampkid, Clavam, Copedem, Monocef and Oflox OZ. They have advised all parents to consult a doctor for the sake of their children. A decade of progress in China's thriving industrial sector Xinhua) 08:35, September 19, 2022 Smart robots work at a monocrystalline silicon solar cell factory of LONGi Green Energy Technology Co., Ltd. in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, March 25, 2022. (Xinhua/Shao Rui) BEIJING, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- Continued efforts over the past decade have steered China's industrial sector toward high-quality and sustainable development as industrial production steadily increased and manufacturing capabilities gradually improved. The following data from the National Bureau of Statistics has provided an overall picture of the remarkable achievements of the industrial sector in the period, which serves as not only a key pillar of the world's second-largest economy but also a vital driver of the global manufacturing industry. GROWING INDUSTRIAL PROWESS Despite challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic, sluggish global economic growth, and the wave of deglobalization, China has sustained sound growth momentum in industrial growth and demonstrated enhanced capability in resisting shocks. The value-added industrial output, an important indicator measuring industrial activities, rose to 37.3 trillion yuan (about 5.38 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2021 from over 20 trillion yuan in 2012, according to a report from the bureau. During the 2013-2021 period, China's value-added industrial output grew at an average annual growth rate of 6.1 percent, much higher than the level of other major economies. Apart from its massive size and rapid growth, China's industrial sector also showed great resilience in the face of unexpected risks. It took the lead globally in rebounding from the COVID-19 fallout as China effectively coordinated COVID-19 response with economic and social development, according to the report. Industrial firms with an annual business turnover of at least 20 million yuan saw their operating revenues in 2021 jump 18 percent from 2020. Their profits logged a sharp increase of 27.2 percent. ADVANCED MANUFACTURING An underlying logic in China's industrial development over the past 10 years is the country's commitment to upgrading its industrial structure -- to make the sector not only big but also smart and tech-savvy. From 2013 to 2021, the added value of the equipment manufacturing sector and the high-tech manufacturing sector climbed at an average annual growth rate of 9.2 percent and 11.6 percent, respectively, the report said. New types of industrial products constantly pop up thanks to the application of cutting-edge technologies and the digital transformation of industrial firms. China produced 366,000 industrial robots in 2021, a rapid increase of 67.9 percent from the previous year, while the output of optoelectronic devices rose 24.1 percent year on year to 1.2 trillion pieces. Chinese consumers' growing demand for premium goods also brought new opportunities to enterprises. The output of new energy vehicles, a typical example in this regard, skyrocketed 145.6 percent year on year to 3.68 million units last year. VITALITY OF MARKET ENTITIES All types of industrial firms expanded in the past ten years amid the country's efforts to reduce taxes and fees and improve the business environment. In 2021, the total profits of major state-owned enterprises came in at 2.3 trillion yuan, surging 50 percent from 2012, data from the report showed. The private firms also posted a strong performance during the period, with better capacity in gaining profits and offering jobs. The total profits of major private industrial companies jumped 44.4 percent from 2012 to 2.9 trillion yuan last year. These companies employed 35.82 million people in 2021, an increase of 14.7 percent from 2012. Meanwhile, policy support has been given to small businesses to provide an encouraging environment for their development. China had more than 400,000 major small and medium-sized industrial firms in 2021. Their profits amounted to 4.7 trillion yuan, an increase of 26.7 percent from 2012, the data showed. (Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun) ED officials, who arrived from Delhi, conducted raids on the Banjara Hills residence of Vennamaneni Srinivas Rao, director of Pavitra Pies Private Limited at Jeedimetla, and seized documents. (Representational image: PTI) Hyderabad: Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials conducted raids in several locations in the city on Monday and detained a realtor for questioning as part of their intensified search operations in connection with the Delhi liquor scam and alleged illegal transactions. ED officials, who arrived from Delhi, conducted raids on the Banjara Hills residence of Vennamaneni Srinivas Rao, director of Pavitra Pies Private Limited at Jeedimetla, and seized documents. Incidentally, Gorantla Buchi Babu is the auditor for Srinivas Rao's businesses. The ED sleuths conducted raids at various locations in Madhapur, Banjara Hills, and Uppal on the basis of information reportedly provided by auditor Buchibabu. After searching Srinivas Rao's residence for several hours, the ED investigators picked him up and took him to the Basheerbagh ED office, where they interrogated him. Rao is suspected by the ED of engaging in unlawful financial activities by making investments in a number of local firms and allegedly played a crucial role in the Delhi liquor scam case. The businessman was questioned by the central investigating agency on the establishment of Information Technology (IT) and IT-Enabled services companies in Uppal. The ED investigators conducted searches at a travel agency in Madhapur and inquired about the company's operations and its investors. According to reports, the investigation team found information about Srinivas Rao's shady dealings in these businesses. After receiving documents from auditor Buchi Babu, ED personnel double-checked the information by grilling Srinivas Rao at ED office in the city. In the past few days, the ED carried out raids at 40 different locations in connection with the Delhi liquor scam, seizing records, files, and documents pertaining to business dealings and financial transactions. BENGALURU: Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has told his Kerala counterpart that development works cannot be taken up in ecologically sensitive areas and wildlife sanctuaries. Bommai was speaking to reporters after meeting Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in Bengaluru on Sunday. The Kerala CM has come here to hold bilateral talks as decided in the Southern Region Council meeting. The Government of Kerala sought co-operation for its various railway projects including Kanhangad-Kaniyur Rail Line route, and other highway projects, the CM said. The proposed Kanhangad-Kaniyur rail line project has a 40 km route in Kerala and 31 km in Karnataka. But this project is not very beneficial for Karnataka. Also, the route proposes to pass through the rich bio-diversity and ecologically sensitive areas of the Western Ghats. So, the Kerala CM was told that Karnataka couldn't extend cooperation for this project, he added. Bommai said Pinarayi Vijayan also discussed the Tellicherry-Mysuru railway line. We told him that the permission cannot be granted for the project as the proposed rail route will traverse through Bandipur-Nagarhole National Parks and will cause great damage to flora and fauna, the CM said. The Karnataka government also rejected the Kerala CMs proposal for the construction of an underground rail route as it would damage the environment during the construction activities. At present two buses are operating between Kerala and Karnataka during the night via Bandipur National Highway. Though the Kerala CM sought permission to allow four buses, we have rejected that, Bommai added. Weather Alert ...FROST ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 1 AM TO 9 AM EDT MONDAY... * WHAT...Temperatures in the lower to mid 30s will result in frost formation. * WHERE...The Champlain Valley of New York and Vermont. * WHEN...From 1 AM to 9 AM EDT Monday. * IMPACTS...Frost could kill sensitive outdoor vegetation if left uncovered. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Take steps now to protect tender plants from the cold. && As Colorado approaches its 150th anniversary in 2026, the state is asking residents to help design an anniversary license plate. The Colorado Division of Motor Vehicles launched its Historic Colorado Contest on Monday, a design contest for a commemorative license plate aimed to honor the states sesquicentennial. Submissions will be accepted now through Nov. 30. This is a great kickoff to create an exciting way to celebrate 150 years of Colorado history and showcase Colorados talented artists, Gov. Jared Polis said. In Colorado, creativity and inspiration are all around us, and we are excited to see the great designs Coloradans share. Polis said this is the first of many events and programs the state will hold to celebrate its 150th anniversary, which celebrates Aug. 1, 1876, when then-President Ulysses S. Grant signed a proclamation admitting Colorado as the 38th state in the Union. The Historic Colorado Contest is free to enter and open to anyone who lives or studies in Colorado. The contest will have two divisions for those under 13 and for 13 and older. A committee will choose up to 10 finalists per division, then a final public vote will select the top three designs in early 2023. The winning artists will each receive a $1,000 grant, a commemorative license plate with their design and will be featured in statewide media releases. Coloradans are proud of the state we call home, said DMV Senior Director Electra Bustle. Our state has a rich history and we want to honor the legacy of those Coloradans who laid the foundation for our success, and with the Historic Colorado Contest, we will. Participants can submit up to three entries each. For complete entry information, visit DMV.Colorado.gov/HistoricColorado. Designs and entry forms should be sent to dor_HistoricColorado@state.co.us. BJP state president Bandi Sanjay Kumar said that Telangana state would be freed from the dictatorial rule of TRS in the next six months. (DC) HYDERABAD: BJP state president Bandi Sanjay Kumar said that Telangana state would be freed from the dictatorial rule of TRS in the next six months. The TRS government has been harassing BJP activists for the last few months. We will face the situation with patience for the next six months, he said. As part of Praja Sangrama Yatra, Sanjays padayatra touched the Malkajgiri Assembly constituency on Sunday and addressed the people at roadside meetings. He accused Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao of cheating tribals over reservations since assuming office. Sanjay wondered why the CM had not implemented reservations for the ST community in the last eight years. Sanjay wanted to know who had prevented Rao from distributing Podu lands to tribals. Sanjay said that by blaming the Union government, the CM had been cheating tribals in the name of reservation; the reference was to Rao saying he would by means of a government order after having waited for five years for the Union government to approve a state legislation on the matter. We will not spare him if he tries to escape from the responsibility by issuing a GO, the BJP leader said. TRS, Congress, MIM and the Communists would not be able to prevent the BJP wave in Telangana, he said, adding that voting for non-BJP parties would only benefit the TRS. Sanjay said that the Centre had sanctioned Rs 600 crore for the MMTS service but the state government had failed to release its share of Rs 430 crore. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had sanctioned funds for housing for the poor but the TRS government had done nothing on that front, he said. Around 4,500 people sacrificed their lives while fighting against the Nizam but Rao was working under the influence of MIM president Asaduddin Owaisi, he alleged. He called upon people to bring the BJP to power in the state as only it could extend policies and schemes for the poor and ensure that they reach the beneficiaries. Once upon a time, Microsoft Office ruled the business world. By the late 90s and early 2000s, Microsofts office suite had brushed aside rivals such as WordPerfect Office and Lotus SmartSuite, and there was no competition on the horizon. Then in 2006 Google came along with Google Docs & Spreadsheets, a collaborative online word processing and spreadsheet duo that was combined with other business services to form the Google Apps suite, later rebranded as G Suite, and now as Google Workspace. Although Googles productivity suite didnt immediately take the business world by storm, over time it has gained both in features and in popularity, boasting 6 million paying customers, according to Googles most recent public stats in March 2020. Microsoft, meanwhile, has shifted its emphasis away from its traditional licensed Office software to Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365), a subscription-based version thats treated more like a service, with frequent updates and new features. Microsoft 365 is what weve focused on in this story. Nowadays, choosing an office suite isnt as simple as it once was. Were here to help. Google Workspace vs. Microsoft 365 Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 have much in common. Both are subscription-based, charging businesses per-person fees every month, in varying tiers, depending on the capabilities their customers are looking for. Although Google Workspace is web-based, it has the capability to work offline as well. And while Microsoft 365 is based on installed desktop software, it also provides (less powerful) web-based versions of its applications. Both suites work well with a range of devices. Because its web-based, Google Workspace works in most browsers on any operating system, and Google also offers mobile apps for Android and iOS. Microsoft provides Office client apps for Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android, and its web-based apps work across browsers. The suites also offer the same basic core applications. Each has word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, email, calendar, and contacts programs, along with videoconferencing, messaging, and note-taking software. Each has cloud storage associated with it. But those individual applications are quite different from one suite to the other, as are the management tools for taking care of them in a business environment. And both suites offer scads of additional tools as well. So it can be exceedingly difficult to decide which suite is better for your business. Thats where this piece comes in. We offer a detailed look at every aspect of the office suites, from an application-by-application comparison to how well each suite handles collaboration, how well their apps integrate, pricing, support, and more. Our focus here is on how the suites work for businesses, rather than individual use. Pricing: Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 subscriptions compared Follow the money is the hallowed refrain of investigators everywhere, and when youre starting to decide which office suite is better for you, its a good place to start as well. Individuals can use several of the online apps from both suites including Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides as well as Microsoft Word Online, Excel Online, and PowerPoint Online for free, but businesses should look to the paid Workspace and Microsoft 365 subscriptions for necessary security and management features. Check out the following tables, first for Google Workspace, and then for Microsoft 365, to compare plans and pricing. Google Workspace pricing options for business Google Workspace comes in four commercial versions: Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, and Enterprise. Business Starter, at $6 per user per month, comes with the full suite of applications and 30GB of storage per user. At $12 per user per month, the Business Standard plan includes all that, plus 2TB of storage per user as well as archiving, enterprise search capabilities, and additional administrative tools. Business Plus at $18 per user per month includes everything the Business Standard version offers, plus even more administrative controls and business tools. Enterprise has everything that Business Plus does, as well as more administrative controls and a low-code application builder. Youll have to contact Google for pricing details for Enterprise. Google Workspace business plans Business Starter Business Standard Business Plus Enterprise Price $6/user/mo. $12/user/mo. $18/user/mo. Contact Google sales for pricing Create documents, spreadsheets, presentations Yes Yes Yes Yes Mobile versions1 of Docs, Sheets, Slides, Gmail Yes Yes Yes Yes Email, custom domains, shared calendars, videoconferencing, team messaging Yes Yes Yes Yes Drive file storage 30GB per user 2TB per user; shared drives for teams; search across all company content in Google Workspace 5TB per user; shared drives for teams; search across all company content in Google Workspace Unlimited; shared drives for teams; search across all company content in Google Workspace Additional business tools Forms, Sites, Keep, Smart Fill, Smart Cleanup, Answers Forms, Sites, Keep, Smart Fill, Smart Cleanup, Answers Forms, Sites, Keep, Smart Fill, Smart Cleanup, Answers Forms, Sites, Keep, Smart Fill, Smart Cleanup, Answers, AppSheet Security and management tools Basic tools including endpoint management and group policy based controls Everything in Basic plus more powerful tools including Google Workspace Migration Tool Everything in Business Standard plus more powerful tools including secure LDAP, advanced endpoint management, and Vault for retaining, archiving and searching data Everything in Business Plus and more powerful tools including enterprise-level endpoint management, data loss prevention, S/MIME encryption, more For more detailed information, check out Googles page comparing pricing plans. Also note that some features available in higher-level Google Workspace plans are available for purchase as standalone services. Additionally, Google offers specialized versions of Workspace Enterprise for healthcare and life sciences, retail, manufacturing, and government organizations, and there are a range of free and paid Workspace versions for nonprofits and educational institutions. Microsoft 365 pricing options for business Microsoft 365 business subscriptions are more complicated and range from $5 per user per month for Microsoft 365 Business Essentials, the most basic version for small businesses, to $35 per user per month for Microsoft 365 E5, the most feature-packed version for enterprises. Confusingly, Microsoft renamed all of its small business plans from Office 365 to Microsoft 365, but at the enterprise level, it offers both Office 365 and Microsoft 365 plans. The tables below outline what you get with each version. The three plans in the first table are for small businesses with up to 300 employees; the ones in the second table are meant for larger organizations. Microsoft 365 small business plans Microsoft 365 Business Basic Microsoft 365 Apps for Business Microsoft 365 Business Standard Microsoft 365 Business Premium Pricing $6/user/mo. $8.25/user/mo. $12.50/user/mo. $22/user/mo. User limit 300 300 300 300 Create documents, spreadsheets, presentations Yes Yes Yes Yes Desktop1 / mobile2 versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook No / Yes Yes / Yes Yes / Yes Yes / Yes Exchange email hosting, custom domains, shared calendars Yes No Yes Yes Microsoft Teams and SharePoint Yes No Yes Yes OneDrive file storage 1TB per user 1TB per user 1TB per user 1TB per user Additional business tools OneNote, Outlook, Microsoft Forms, Visio, Microsoft Lists, Microsoft Bookings Access3, Publisher3, OneNote, Visio Teams, OneNote, Outlook, Microsoft Forms, Visio, Microsoft Lists, Microsoft Bookings Teams OneNote, Outlook, Microsoft Forms, Visio, Microsoft Lists, Microsoft Bookings Security and management tools Basic tools including threat management, archiving, and auditing Only basic tools, not including archiving and auditing Everything in Business Basic plus email protection Everything in Business Standard plus advanced threat protection, Azure information protection, and Intune mobile device management Office 365 and Microsoft 365 enterprise plans Scroll right to see all plans. Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise Office 365 E1 Office 365 E3 Office 365 E5 Microsoft 365 E3 Microsoft 365 E5 Pricing $12/user/mo. $10/user/mo. $23/user/mo. $38/user/mo $36/user/mo. $57/user/mo. User limit No limit No limit No limit No limit No limit No limit Create documents, spreadsheets, presentations Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Desktop1 / mobile2 versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook Yes / Yes No / Yes Yes / Yes Yes / Yes Yes / Yes Yes / Yes Exchange email hosting, custom domains, shared calendars No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Microsoft Teams / SharePoint Yes / No Yes / Yes Yes / Yes Yes / Yes Yes / Yes Yes / Yes OneDrive file storage 1TB per user 1TB per user 5TB per user; more available on request (if fewer than 5 subscriptions, 1TB per user) 5TB per user; more available on request (if fewer than 5 subscriptions, 1TB per user) 5TB per user; more available on request (if fewer than 5 subscriptions, 1TB per user) 5TB per user; more available on request (if fewer than 5 subscriptions, 1TB per user) Windows No No No No Yes Yes Additional business tools Delve, Sway, OneNote, Publisher3, Access3, Forms Everything in M365 Apps/Enterprise plus Stream, Visio for the web, Planner, To Do, Microsoft Whiteboard, Yammer, Viva Insights, Viva Connections, Power Apps, Power Automate, more Everything in O365 E1 plus Outlook desktop client, Dataverse for Teams, more Everything in O365 E3 plus phone and audio conferencing and Power BI Pro Everything in O365 E3 Everything in O365 E5 Security and management tools Identity and access mgmt, device and app mgmt, Group Policy support, Microsoft Graph API, shared computer activation, Active Directory sync for SSO Identity and access mgmt, device and app mgmt, basic legal compliance, Active Directory sync for SSO Everything in O365 E1 plus Group Policy support, shared computer activations, information protection, basic eDiscovery and auditing Everything in O365 E3 plus advanced compliance, threat protection, Office 365 Cloud App Security and Threat Protection Everything in O365 E5 plus advanced endpoint and app mgmt, threat analytics, Microsoft Defender, Microsoft Intune Everything in M365 E3 plus advanced information protection, threat protection, identity and access mgmt, compliance Find out more about Microsoft 365 small business plans, as well as the Office 365 enterprise plans and Microsoft 365 enterprise plans. Microsoft also offers an array of Microsoft 365 plans for educational, government, nonprofit, and other institutions. In addition, many Office apps and services are available on an a la carte basis. Some companies prefer to pay for a lower-level plan and then pay for one or two of these items as add-ons rather than paying for a higher-level comprehensive plan. Google Workspace vs. Microsoft 365: App by app Every business has different needs, and yours may place greater value on certain apps than others. For some companies, word processing and email might be the most important apps in an office suite, while others might need a powerful spreadsheet program above everything else. To help, weve compared the major office apps in Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 so you can zero in on the apps that are most important to your business and let their strengths and weaknesses guide your overall decision. Weve included only the highlights below; if you want more details about each app, weve linked to Computerworld articles that offer in-depth comparisons. Word processing: Google Docs vs. Microsoft Word Deciding on whether your business would be better off with Google Docs or Microsoft Word is fairly straightforward. Which is more important to your users: easy-to-use collaboration or the greatest range of document creation and editing features? For collaboration, Google Docs is better. For as fully featured a word processor as youll find anywhere, youll want Word. By saying Word has superior features, I dont mean a bunch of tools that your business may never use. I mean great capabilities that make your workflow easier and more productive. For example, if youre creating a report, brochure, resume, or almost any other kind of document, Word offers an excellent set of pre-built templates so you can get writing fast, knowing that your document will have a solid, useful design. Word has 300 different business templates alone, while Google Docs only has 55 total templates of all kinds, including personal, business, and educational ones. (Microsoft claims Word has thousands of templates, but we couldnt count them all.) Word also offers more chart types and styles for embedding into documents. IDG Microsoft Word has far more powerful features than Google Docs, including many pre-built templates from which to choose when creating a new document. (Click image to enlarge it.) But Google Docs outshines Word when it comes to live collaboration. Collaborating is seamless and has been built into the app from the ground up, while in Word its more difficult to use, not as comprehensive, and feels tacked-on rather than an integral part of the program. IDG When it comes to document sharing and live collaboration, Google Docs outshines Microsoft Word by a wide margin. (Click image to enlarge it.) For non-live collaboration editing and marking up documents for review by others Word has always been the gold standard, but Google Docs has come a long way and now is nearly as good as Word. Words editing tools have slightly finer-grained controls, but apart from that, theyre about even. For a more in-depth comparison, head to Google Docs vs. Microsoft Word: Which works better for business? Spreadsheets: Google Sheets vs. Microsoft Excel Do users in your company mostly work alone on spreadsheets, or do they frequently collaborate with others? The answer to that will determine whether Excel or Google Sheets is better for your business. For those who primarily work by themselves, Excel is the clear winner. As with Word, its wide selection of templates offers an embarrassment of riches. For example, there are more than 80 templates just for different types of budgets. Whether its a business budget or a special-purpose budget, such as for a marketing event, youll likely find one that fits your needs and that can be easily edited. By contrast, Google Sheets has only three different budget templates. Excel also offers far more chart types than Google Sheets 19 in all including popular ones such as column, line, pie, bar, and area; more complex ones such as radar, surface, and histogram; and some that are known mainly to data professionals, like box & whisker. And many chart types have multiple subtypes for example, among the bar charts you'll find clustered bar, stacked bar, and so on, and each of those has two variations. Google Sheets has only seven main types of charts and a handful of individual charts that cant be categorized. Its also simpler to create charts with Excel than it is in Google Sheets. IDG Excel has far more sophisticated features than Google Sheets, including many more chart types. (Click image to enlarge it.) Google Sheets far outpaces Excel in real-time collaboration, though. As with Docs, collaboration is baked directly into Sheets. Not only does it have more powerful tools, but theyre naturally integrated and easy to access. The same holds true for editing and commenting on spreadsheets. IDG Google Sheets collaboration tools are powerful and easy to use. (Click image to enlarge it.) For a more in-depth comparison, see Google Sheets vs. Microsoft Excel: Which works better for business? Presentations: Google Slides vs. Microsoft PowerPoint As with word processing and spreadsheet apps, whether Google Slides or PowerPoint is best for your business comes down to a single point: Do you prize collaboration or powerful features in a presentation program? If collaboration is king in your company, Google Slides is better. For every other reason, PowerPoint is. For example, PowerPoints QuickStarter feature makes quick work of starting a presentation. Choose the topic of your presentation, and QuickStarter walks you through creating an outline, starter slides, templates, and themes. Although Google Slides does offer an Explore tool that suggests layouts as well as images and other content related to your slideshow topic, it is in no way equivalent to QuickStarter. IDG PowerPoint has numerous features Google Slides cant match, including QuickStarter, which walks you through creating an outline, starter slides, templates, and themes. (Click image to enlarge it.) Similarly, with PowerPoint, its easier to add graphics, transitions, animations, and multimedia. It has more chart and table types as well. And it offers sophisticated options when it comes to giving the presentation itself, with innovative capabilities such as Rehearse Timings, which times how long you take on each individual slide as you rehearse a presentation. That way, you wont get bogged down on any individual slide, and you can practice giving each slide its just due. Google Slides has nothing like it. However, Google Slides rules when it comes to collaboration, with far outstrips the kludgy and awkward capabilities built into PowerPoint. And because Slides offers fewer capabilities than Excel, its slightly easier to create slides in it, because it doesnt pack as many features into the interface. IDG Slides isnt as powerful as PowerPoint, but its interface is less cluttered and confusing. (Click image to enlarge it.) For a more in-depth comparison, see PowerPoint vs. Google Slides: Which works better for business? India, Singapore unveil roadmap to boost economic ties India and Singapore will launch a new mechanism headed by their ministers of foreign affairs, finance and trade to enhance economic cooperation and to identify new areas for collaboration during Singapore deputy prime minister Lawrence Wongs visit to the country beginning Saturday. A delegation that includes Singapores foreign minister Vivian Balakrishnan, trade and industry minister Gan Kim Yong and minister-in-charge of trade relations S Iswaran accompanied Wong for his five-day visit to India. Photo courtesy: Twitter/@VivianBala Wong, who also holds the finance portfolio, was in June named by Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong as his new deputy, paving the way for him to become the city states next leader. However, there is still no clear time frame for a change in leadership in the ruling Peoples Action Party. A delegation that includes Singapores foreign minister Vivian Balakrishnan, trade and industry minister Gan Kim Yong and minister-in-charge of trade relations S Iswaran accompanied Wong for his five-day visit to India. This will be Wongs first official visit to India in his capacity as deputy prime minister. Wong and the other ministers joined external affairs minister S Jaishankar, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal and finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman for the maiden India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable (ISMR) on Saturday. The ISMR is a new ministerial platform between the two countries that seeks to deepen existing cooperation and identify opportunities for mutually beneficial collaboration in new and emerging areas, according to a statement from the Singapore Prime Ministers Office. Read more Singapore News and India News here Bandi Sanjay and BJYM members hold the campaign poster during the launch on Sunday. (DC) HYDERABAD: Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) initiated a campaign titled KCR enslaves BJP liberates during the Praja Sangrama Yatra of BJP state president Bandi Sanjay Kumar. The poster of the campaign shows Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao purportedly shackling the people and the BJP setting them free, and features two activists in handcuffs. To inaugurate the campaign, Sanjay symbolically unshackled the activists during his padayatra at Malkajgiri. BJYM national treasurer P.M. Sai Prasad initiated the programme, the party said. BJYM leaders alleged that during the TRS during its eight years in power and snatched the liberty of the people. The state was in the clutches of dictatorial rule of Chandrasekhar Rao, they alleged. No section of people was able to raise its voice, they added. BJYM leaders said that only the BJP government will bring freedom to the people of Telangana. The world commemorated the 25th death anniversary of Mother Teresa on September 5. Whatever her flaws, she rendered service to humanity in regions almost untranscended, resembling the relentless spirit of the waves of an ocean. Irrespective of community or religion, she offered her service. Even those not drawn by sainthood revere the role of Mother Teresa. For 68 years, she had worked selflessly and tirelessly in India and elsewhere in the world, taught the destitute, healed the sick, fed and clothed the poor, cared for abandoned children, housed lepers and those afflicted with HIV/AIDS and offered dignity in death to desolate persons abandoned by family and society. Mother Teresa was born in Skopje in 1910 to an Albanian family as Anjeze Gonxhe Bojaxhiu. She became wedded to religious vows at an early age and moved to India to join the missionary work of the Catholic Church. Heartshaken by the misery faced by the Indian masses, in 1950 she set up her own Missionaries of Charity, and began giving medical treatment to the dying poor of Calcutta. It could be interpreted that Mother Teresas philosophy, which asked the poor to passively accept their fate, paved the way for the rich and the powerful to enslave the oppressed. Quoting Teresa, theres something beautiful in seeing the poor accept their lot, to suffer it like Christs Passion, left people bewildered: did she trivialise poverty? She once comforted a sufferer, with the line: You are suffering, that means Jesus is kissing you. The infuriated man screamed, Then tell your Jesus to stop kissing me. Yet as a Christian in a Hindu majority country, such Teresa words left people mesmerised. Today the Hindu right-wing forces have launched a vendetta against Mother Teresa and Christian missionaries, resorting to persecution at times. Secular people oppose conversion but that does not mean that the social contribution of nuns towards the poor should not be recognised. True, Mother Teresa befriended some of the worlds most savage dictators and received lavish donations from all sorts of gangsters and oligarchs. In 1981 she travelled to Haiti to be awarded the Legion dHonneur by the corrupt, brutal dictator Jean-Claude Baby Doc Duvalier. During her visit, Teresa remarked that she had never seen poor people being so familiar with their head of state. This head of state, so familiar with his people, would be overthrown five years later in a popular insurrection. She also received donations, titles, and ovations from the likes of Ronald Reagan, who was colluding in the murder of socialist Catholic priests in El Salvador at the time, or the Guatemalan military junta. When Teresa visited Guatemala in 1979, the dictatorship was conducting a savage counterinsurgency campaign against the communist guerrillas and genocide against the indigenous population. When asked about her visit, her only comment was, Everything looked peaceful in the places we went to. I dont get myself involved in that type of politics. Teresa also received enormous donations from gangsters and crooks like arch-conservative financier and Nixon advisor Charles Keating, involved in a major fraud scandal. Many questioned how she could ethically take money from the worlds most obnoxious dictators. Why was she silent about unjust wars and oppression? Prestigious medical journals such as "The Lancet" have reported that, despite the generous funding of Teresas foundation, these centres were (and are) known for negligence of basic standards of hygiene, by overcrowding, by the disregard for modern medical protocols, and by an under qualified staff. She was a campaigner against womens rights, as well as opposing birth control and abortion. Such criticism is valid. However, on balance, thousands of Indians lives improved because of the work of Mother Teresas Missionaries of Charity as compared with how they would have fared in the absence of their work. Her good outweighed whatever harm she might have created. Such drawbacks cannot deny her rendering selfless service to mankind. Mother Teresa resurrected the spirit of a Tolstoy or a Gandhi. Her work was manifestation of the teachings of Christ Mother Teresa didnt deserve the unscathing attack of Marxist intellectuals like Cristopher Hitchens or of Marxist groups. Her work lit a spark to turn serving humanity or spirit of compassion into prairie fire. Mother Teresa resurrected the spirit of a Tolstoy or a Gandhi, and her work was manifestation of the teachings of Christ. Progressives should deny miracles but should not deny Mother Teresas role in touching the inner spirit. Even atheists, rationalists and Marxists cannot deny her relentless dedication to serve the poor, on the lines of a social reformer. Marxists should recall the similarities of teachings of Christianity in serving the poor. Even in the colonial days we have striking examples of selfless work by missionaries. Although she staunchly remained a Catholic, her brand of religion was not exclusive. Convinced that each person was a manifestation of Christ in suffering, she reached out to people of every faith. Her's was not the 19th-century brand of imperial evangelism. Unlike most in the Church, she understood the environment in which she lived and worked. Jyoti Basu, that indomitable chief minister of West Bengal, on being asked what he, as a Communist and atheist, could possibly have in common with Mother Teresa, for whom God was everything, with a smile replied, We both share a love for the poor. When asked how she and her mission could care for hundreds of thousands of destitute persons, and what made this possible, she explained simply but meaningfully: You can, at best, look after a few loved ones in your family. My sisters and I can look after everyone, because for us they are all God. So, the leprosy-affected man bounded by his brothers in a hut, the infant left under a truck and saved just in time from prowling dogs, the woman dumped on a rubbish heap by her own son and left to die because he had now secured her property, were manifestations of her God in suffering. Perhaps the most succinct summing up of Mother Teresas life and work was made by the chairman of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee, John Sannes. In his speech at the Nobel prize ceremony in Oslo in 1979, he said: The hallmark of her work has been respect for the individual and the individuals worth and dignity. The loneliest and the most wretched, the dying destitute, the abandoned lepers have all been received by her and her sisters with warm compassion, devoid of condescension, based on her reverence for Christ in man.This is the life of Mother Teresa and her sisters a life of strict poverty and long days and nights of toil, a life that affords little room for other joys but the most precious. It is also useful to recall what arch-atheist Karl Marx had to say about religion: "Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions." --- *Freelance journalist who has covered mass movements around India and researched on social liberation Cancer cases were spiking, there were instances of sudden death of infants and vaccination enhanced disease Dr Gautam Das said vaccination represented the single-largest invasive medical intervention in living memory. There is no control group, and deaths and adverse events are not being systematically recorded, so studying the condition in India post-vaccination is hard. He said those who asserted that the vaccines were safe and effective and encouraged healthy people to get vaccinated should now be held accountable. Doctors from 36 countries had earlier released a petition calling for the halt to vaccination and describing the crisis caused by vaccination as unprecedented. We are currently witnessing an excess in mortality in those countries where the majority of the population has received the so-called Covid-19 vaccines. To date, this excess mortality has neither been sufficiently investigated nor studied by national and international health institutions. The large number of sudden deaths in previously healthy young people who were inoculated with these vaccines is particularly worrying, as is the high incidence of miscarriages and perinatal deaths which have not been investigated, the statement said, terming it an --- *Freelance journalist based in Kerala Pediatrician Dr Megha Consul said she was seeing early onset sepsis and brain clots, which was not seen in babies earlier. Earlier, the womb was considered sacred and vaccines were given last to pregnant women, after proper testing. This current drive of Covid-19 vaccination has obliterated the sanctity of the womb and the introduction of untested materials she refused to call it a vaccine was criminal.Doctors from 36 countries had earlier released a petition calling for the halt to vaccination and describing the crisis caused by vaccination as unprecedented. We are currently witnessing an excess in mortality in those countries where the majority of the population has received the so-called Covid-19 vaccines. To date, this excess mortality has neither been sufficiently investigated nor studied by national and international health institutions. The large number of sudden deaths in previously healthy young people who were inoculated with these vaccines is particularly worrying, as is the high incidence of miscarriages and perinatal deaths which have not been investigated, the statement said, terming it an unprecedented international medical crisis . A group of Spanish doctors first got together to call for a halt to the Covid-19 vaccinations, and doctors from other countries too later joined them there are now over 12,000 doctors from India, Portugal, Canada, Hungary, South Africa, Israel and a host of other nations who have issued a call to halt vaccinations.On September 10, a group of Indian doctors came together to address the press over a webinar to explain why they thought the vaccination drive should end forthwith. Dr Amitav Banerjee, who after a career as an epidemiologist in the Indian Army now teaches at a private medical college in Pune, said there was no longer a medical emergency. Children are at low risk of infection, and there is good reason to halt vaccination and conduct proper research, given the high number of adverse events. There is a sudden and poorly explained spike in the number of young and healthy people dying. While it may be impossible to attribute deaths entirely to the vaccination drive alone, there is reason to heed this red flag of the spike in the deaths of the previously healthy and investigate the safety of the vaccines.Other doctors who attended the press conference pointed to rising incidence of cancer and instances of whistleblowers in the US and elsewhere exposing malpractice in the manufacture of vaccines.The doctors pointed out that there was no precedent in medical history of a product causing so many adverse events. A Harvard University study (pre-print) shows the vaccine is more dangerous than the virus . On September 13, Denmark announced that it would not vaccinate those less than 50 years old.Dr Praveen Saxena said he would rarely see cases of auto-immune disease in the 1990s; these days, there are many such cases. Cancer cases were spiking, there were instances of sudden death of infants and vaccination enhanced disease. There are no proper follow-up studies of the vaccinated, and these problems are poorly understood. Automotive STMicro's lowlight image sensor saves one LED in driver monitoring system Date: 19-09-22 AI based human physical behaviour monitoring solution provider Smart Eye has used STMicroelectronics' devices in developing 1-LED Driver Monitoring System (DMS) for automotives. Smart Eye has applied its people monitoring AI algorithms and used STMicro's lowlight supporting highly sensitive automotive-grade global-shutter VB56G4A image sensor in developing this new DMS with lower power consumption and lesser cost by using only one single illumination LED lamp, saving two or more LEDs which are used in present DMS systems. This DMS requires a very simple low-power, non-visible near infrared LED emitter to provide adequate illumination for the sensor. Since it is near infrared which is outside visible spectrum, makes DMS work well during both day or night driving and in bright or overcast conditions, to take care safetly problems arising from potential driver-fatigue/slipping to sleep while on wheels. The excellent performance and high sensitivity of STs automotive-grade global-shutter imaging sensor is an excellent match for Smart Eyes industry-proven driver-monitoring algorithms, said Eric Aussedat, Executive Vice President, Imaging Sub-Group General Manager, STMicroelectronics. In developing a sensor with 2.6m pixel size and double the quantum efficiency of previous-generation sensors, weve simplified DMS development, reduced its power consumption, and lowered costs without compromising performance. Building on our two decades of automotive experience proven by nearly 100 design wins from leading car manufacturers, weve worked with ST to combine our technology with STs advanced image sensor to eliminate at least half of the expensive LEDs/lenses, said Martin Krantz, CEO and Founder of Smart Eye. Even with this smaller and more economical design, weve created an exceptional no-compromise DMS demonstrator that shows how automakers can significantly improve road safety with reduced cost of ownership. We are happy to support our partners and customers with our HW and SW reference design and expertise for flawless product integration. This solution is demonstrated at the ST stand at recently held AutoSens on September 12-14 at the Autoworld Museum in Brussels and in the same location at InCabin on September 15. VG56G4A is manufactured using advanced 3D-stacked back-side illuminated (BSI-3D) process making it more sensitive to near-infrared light, and small in size, and more reliable compared to front-side illuminated (FSI) sensors normally used in first-generation DMSs. VG56G4A offers high Quantum Efficiency (QE), reaching 24% at 940nm near-infrared (NIR) wavelength, with linear dynamic range up to 60dB. Another interesting feature of this sensor is it uses global-shutter approach instead of rolling-shutter imagers, where it simultaneously exposes all pixels to the scene, allowing simple synchronization with NIR illumination. This feature to save power consumption further. ST says "Combining a pixel size of just 2.6m with the high QE and global shutter helps optimize total power consumption and camera size. In addition, integrated automatic exposure control eases use and simplifies the application-software design by minimizing system interaction with the sensor." Other interesting feature of this sensor is it offers flexible operating modes, programmable sequences of 4-frame contexts, illumination control outputs synchronized with sensor integration periods, and an input for an external frame-start signal. Also features such as automatic dark calibration, dynamic defective-pixel correction, image cropping, and a mirror/flip-image readout, makes it a good choice for DMS systems. It has eight programmable general-purpose I/O (GPIO) pins and a dual-lane MIPI CSI-2 transmitter interface operating up to 1.5 Gbps per lane. It can capture 88 frames per second (fps) at full resolution. The typical power consumption is 145mW at 60 fps. Smart Eye driver monitoring systems gaining popularity in automotive safety market, where Smart Eye reported more than 1 million cars are installed with Smart Eye's driver monitoring system software. It has 14 automotive OEM customers, among which six have already started series production of car models having Smart Eye technology to monitor the driver. BMW is one of the top customer of Smart Eye. Though it did not name the other customers but stated "one of US largest automakers, two of Chinas largest automakers, a Japanese-European multinational car alliance and a South Korean multination automobile manufacturer" as its other OEM customers. Here is another quote from Martin Krantz, CEO and Founder of Smart Eye: For the past 20 years we have worked towards this important milestone, but I see this as only the beginning. In most of these first million cars, DMS has been an optional feature. Thanks to regulation and safety requirements, almost all the remaining car models we have won will have mandatory DMS in every single vehicle. To put things in perspective: if all 94 car models we have won so far were to reach peak production at the same time, we could be looking at a yearly volume of as much as five million cars produced with our technology every year. News Details UK-based VLSI design Co. Sondrel opens new office in Hyderabad, India Date: 19-09-22 UK-based chip design services company Sondrel announces opening of its new office in the city of Hyderabad, India. Sondrel opened its first office in India at Cyberpearl in 2018. Sondrel sees India's Centre has become a core strategic element. With this second office Sondrel to increase its capacity of its Indian team and expand its turnkey ASIC VLSI semiconductor design services. The new office to have people from engineering, innovation, and architecture, along with important back-office operations like talent acquisition and human resources. As a better alternative to work from home for its employees, the new office supports staff strength of 60 employees. Satish Sunkari, Sondrel's Regional Head for Engineering, says, We want the culture of all of our offices to be consistent and for everyone to look forward to going to work each day and working with their colleagues. Since we spend a lot of time at work, great care has been taken to match the new office's amenities with those in Sondrel locations around the world. COO, Lee Thomas of Sondrel said We have seen the team in Hyderabad expand from a small team of Physical Design engineers to having skill sets covering all the major engineering disciplines. Our lease at Cyberpearl ended during Covid and with continual waves we could not predict when life was going to get back to normal. This gave us the opportunity to look for a larger, higher specification building to support our projected growth plans. We are finally there with India, like our other Sondrel locations, navigating the path to living with Covid and Hybrid working. We know the benefits that having an office bring to team working and career development so are extremely excited that we will be opening our new facilities in September. The leadership at Sondrel, both locally and internationally, are looking forward to welcoming the team back." Company says in its release "We are already making use of the office space by hosting a networking event on the 20th of September organised by Prudhvi Reddy and our management team who hope to connect like-minded engineers in Hyderabad and share what work we're currently doing at Sondrel. Over the next few years, our India team is anticipated to expand even further as we hire for a range of positions, including DFT, Design, Verification, and Physical Design engineers. The fresh opportunities this site will offer to our team and new talent really excites us. You can visit our current vacancies here: Hyderabad Vacancies" News Details Vedanta selects Gujarat to build its semiconductor and display fab units Date: 19-09-22 Vedanta, an oil and gas and metal company forays into semiconductor high-tech manufacturing by signing memory of understanding with government of Gujarat to set up semiconductor and display fab units. Below is the release shared by the company: In a major step towards making India self-sufficient in the critical area of semiconductors and displays in line with Hon. Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modis bold vision to make India aatmanirbhar in key futuristic technologies, Vedanta today signed two Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) with the Government of Gujarat to set up a semiconductor fab unit, a display fab unit, and a semiconductor assembling and testing unit in Ahmedabad district of the state. The MoU signing ceremony was attended by Union Minister Shri Ashwini Vaishnav, Gujarat Chief Minister Shri Bhupendrabhai Patel, Principal Secretary Shri Sanjay Prasad, Vedanta Group Chairman Anil Agarwal, Vedantas Global Managing Director, Display and Semiconductors, Akarsh Hebbar and a host of other dignitaries. The project will attract electronics ecosystem players across the value chain entailing manufacturers of highly sophisticated and sensitive equipment, materials (high purity Gases, chemicals, wafers, photomasks), equipment service providers etc., and will put the state of Gujarat on the global silicon map. The project envisages total investment of Rs 1,54,000 crore, and it will provide employment to around 1 lakh people. The proposed semiconductor manufacturing fab unit will operate on the 28nm technology nodes and the display manufacturing unit will produce Generation 8 displays catering to small, medium and large applications. Vedanta will hold 60% of the equity in the JV while Foxconn will own 40%. The JV will look at setting up a semiconductor manufacturing plant in the next two years. Speaking on the occasion, Gujarat CM Shri Bhupendrabhai Patel said, We are extremely proud and happy that the Vedanta-Foxconn JV has selected the industrial state of Gujarat for their semiconductor plant. This is a huge investment coming on the day when we complete 1 year in office which is also a testimony to the policy stability and policy support coupled with good governance & excellent infrastructure facilities existing in Gujarat. We will provide all help to the joint venture so that the plant can start its operations soon. We are determined to make our country more self-sufficient in tech and curb our reliance on imports from other countries. We sincerely hope that the hub will be the beginning of a bright future and attract investment from other multinational companies down the line. He added that the Gujarat Government has created a world-class industrial zone, with excellent infrastructure facilities to help strategic investments such as the semiconductor plant, to mitigate the gestation period of project timelines. The project will be met with red carpet in Gujarat instead of any red tapism, he remarked. On this occasion, Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Shri Ashwini Vaishnav, said: The project is in line with Hon. Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modis vision for achieving self-reliance in the field of semiconductor manufacturing. I congratulate Vedanta and Foxconn for taking this initiative and bringing the semiconductor plant to India. The Gujarat plant will go a long way in helping build $1 trillion digital national economy. Semiconductors and displays are critical to establishing India as an electronics hub and will help attract suppliers and device assemblers to setup base in India. The Indian semiconductor market was valued at $27.2 billion in 2021 and is expected to grow at a healthy CAGR of nearly 19% to reach $64 billion in 2026. Speaking on the signing of the MoUs, Vedanta Chairman Mr. Anil Agarwal, said: We are delighted to announce that Gujarat will be the location for our display and semiconductor fab ventures. The state is well known globally for being a manufacturing hub and I hope that India's upcoming, cutting-edge electronics ecosystem will thrive, with every state benefitting to develop their electronic manufacturing hubs. We are privileged to take one step further in supporting Prime Minister Modi's vision of aatm nirbhar Bharat in this strategic sector. The decision to set up the project in Gujarat comes after Vedanta and Foxconn announced in February that they will form a joint venture company in India. Vedanta has a presence in electronics and technology business through group companies Avanstrate Inc. and Sterlite Technologies. Hon Hai Technology Group ("Foxconn") (TWSE:2317) is the world's largest electronics manufacturer. Hon Hai is also the leading technology solution provider, and it continuously leverages its expertise in software and hardware to integrate its unique manufacturing systems with emerging technologies. Mr. Brian Ho, VP, Foxconn Semiconductor Group, also present at the event,said, I am delighted that the semiconductor plant will come up in the industrial state of Gujarat. We applaud the efforts made by the Government of Gujarat, home of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to attract semiconductor development and upgrade government efficiency. Located in the western part of India, Gujarat has been recognized for its industrial development, green energy, and smart cities. The improving infrastructure and the government's active and strong support increases confidence in setting up a semiconductor factory. We look forward to working with our partners and the Gujarat leadership to further enhance the infrastructure required to cater to the ambitious semiconductor project. The broad plans for a semiconductor unit in India were announced after the COVID-19 pandemic upended global supplies of crucial electronic components used in everything from smartphones to cars. India has vowed to spend $30 billion to overhaul its tech industry and build local chip supply chains to avoid being dependent on foreign producers. In May, a monkeypox outbreak hit the United States, which is still reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic. With 21 cases, Lane County has the second highest number of cases out of Oregons counties as of Sept. 7. People with the disease often experience a painful rash and flu-like symptoms. The illness can last up to a month. The outbreak has sparked concerns over stigmas associated with the disease, similar to those present during the AIDS epidemic. Some scientists and officials have been calling for the virus to be referred to by an acronym, MPX, and believe the name monkeypox is a misnomer that perpetuates racism, stigma and misinformation about the outbreaks origin. Although the outbreak has largely affected men who have sex with men, officials warn against thinking of MPX as a disease that only occurs among this population. There's nothing about the virus where it's looking at someone's demographics and choosing between people and targeting folks. It has to do with the habits and behaviors of the first case, Lane County Public Health Public Information Officer Jason Davis said. So yes, we have seen many of our initial cases with men who have sex with men, but only by virtue of the fact that some of the initial cases were individuals who are men who have sex with men. That's the only reason. It's 2022, and we have no reason to believe that this won't spread to the general population, or if it already has it probably has. We probably have cases in every sexual preference and in every ethnicity and every demographic category. Davis said people cannot dismiss MPX as a problem that only occurs between men who have sex with men. We can't get into this rut that we got into in the 80s and 90s of trying to say a disease is one people's problem and not a different group of people's problem. This is a Lane County problem; it is all of our problems. And it's all of our responsibility to help solve by preventing transmission, Davis said. How it spreads MPX is spread through close skin-to-skin contact with a rash or body fluids from a person infected with the virus, according to Dr. Anna Hejinian, medical director for University Health Services.. Thats the kind of contact we have through kissing, hugging and cuddling, massaging and sexual activity, not through incidental contact, Hejinian said. A second but much less common mode of transmission is handling with bare hands objects recently used by a person with the virus like sheets, clothing, towels or sex toys, she said. The likelihood that someone can spread MPX before they have developed sores on their skin is low compared to someone that has them, she said. The virus can also spread through respiratory droplets in the air, but its highly unlikely and occurs in confined spaces with exposure for over three hours, according to Davis. As a result, much of the messaging and discussions about the virus has focused on skin-to-skin contact transmission. Some people are conflating MPX with a sexually transmitted infection or disease due to skin-to-skin contact being guaranteed in most sexual situations, Davis said. But it's not the the act of sex that is the isolated incident here that's transmitting the disease; it's actually just the skin-to-skin contact, Davis said. So I think that's really important for folks to know, first of all, just for a correct view of the illness. Also to make sure that we're correctly typing it to not assume that only sexual intercourse is going to transmit this. It's absolutely not true. You can get it just from that skin-to-skin contact. For sexually active individuals or individuals with prolonged exposure to someone elses skin, the best way to prevent transmission is to limit skin-to-skin contact with other people, Davis said. If someone does have that skin-to-skin contact with someone, they should evaluate themselves and the other person for sores or other symptoms of the disease. This should be done with any form of physical contact someone has, Davis said. People should evaluate the risk of going to certain events such as parties and consider how much skin-to-skin contact there will be, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Events where attendees are fully clothed are less likely to spread MPX. People should regularly wash their hands, especially before eating or after using the bathroom, to avoid the virus. Anyone who experiences symptoms should self-isolate and call a medical professional, Hejinian said. Students experiencing symptoms should call the University Health Services. We would want to see the student and evaluate them, test them if its felt like that was needed and coordinate their care from there, she said. Hejinian said people must isolate during the entire time they are infectious, which often lasts from the beginning viral symptoms like fever, sore throat and swollen lymph nodes, all the way through until the rash is crusted over and a new fresh layer of skin is developing underneath. According to the CDC, the illness typically lasts 2-4 weeks. UHS has already helped some students determine whether they have MPX; none of which have been positive so far, Hejinian said. Even one student with a preventable infection would be one too many in my book, she said. Also this isnt COVID-19. It does not spread nearly as efficiently because of its mode of transmission. And so my hope is if we all do our part we can contain it, box it in so to speak, and reduce the outbreak. In a statement to the Daily Emerald, UO spokesperson Kay Jarvis said the university is preparing for fall term and university provider and clinical teams are closely monitoring the CDC and other medical resources to stay up to date on developments in the prevention, testing, diagnosis and treatment of MPX. The virus does not spread without close contact and the risk to the broader campus community is low, she said. In an effort to reduce spread as students and staff return to campus, we will provide guidance on how to protect against the virus and ensure our healthcare providers have appropriate training. Vaccination Vaccines can help prevent the virus. However, there are limited vaccines available right now, so only certain people are eligible. Information about eligibility can be found through the CDC. Certain individuals may be candidates for vaccination even without a known viral exposure this is called PEP+ or expanded PEP, Hejinian said. According to the Oregon Health Authority case tracker, this primarily includes men who have sex with men who have had more than one sexual partner in the last 14 days as of early September. For those with an exposure to MPX, vaccination is still an option. Its most effective if given within four days post-exposure. The vaccination can also be given four to 14 days post-exposure, but this may not prevent infection but may reduce symptoms and risks for complications, Hejinian said. People who have been exposed to MPX can reach out to public health officials or their primary care provider to talk about testing and vaccination. As more vaccines become available in Lane County, people who are not included in the eligible groups can be vaccinated, according to Hejinian. Founded in 1994 to provide resources to people living with HIV and AIDS, HIV Alliance has been helping people to get information about MPX. The organization has developed a strong relationship with the LGBTQ community, Executive Director Renee Yandel said. After distributing the COVID-19 vaccine, HIV Alliances county partners and OHA reached out to the organization to help distribute vaccines for MPX. Initially, it was very much smaller amounts, Yandel said. And that has gone up over the last few weeks. Many of the initial vaccines came from the Strategic National Stockpile, which holds a supply of vaccines in case of an outbreak in the U.S. Davis said vaccines from the stockpile are becoming needed more. But its difficult to prevent a disease with the vaccines only being distributed at an at-need basis rather than going over that need to prevent more cases, he said. Yandel said many high-risk people called HIV Alliance, wanting to get vaccinated, but they did not have the specific behaviors and timelines needed to be eligible. And that's confusing to everybody, too, because they want to do their part to get vaccinated to protect themselves and their partners, and then they're told, no, you didn't meet this criteria, Yandel said. In the past, public health would often bear much of the burden of responding to a communicable disease outbreak, Yandel said. In some ways, it's easier because part of what the pandemic did was help make partnerships with community based organizations stronger, Davis said. Distributing the vaccines has been easier in some ways because the pandemic helped make partnerships with community organizations stronger. Davis said MPX has created a template for future disease outbreaks and an opportunity for improvement. Because we're talking about equity. We're talking about sensitivity. We're talking about things that can alienate whole groups of people unnecessarily, he said. So I hope that we take some of the lessons that we've already learned from the things that we're actively learning about MPX, and we see how they affect the outcomes; and we make the adjustments needed, especially when it comes to how we talk about these things and how we label them, just referring back to the fact that this is not a men who have sex with men problem. S&P 500, Federal Reserve - Talking Points S&P 500 stages rally but fails at key 3900 area Traders continue to ponder potential of 100 bps Equities remain in negative territory after a strong morning push, as the S&P 500 failed to reclaim the key 3900 area. Stocks opened lower as overnight markets were cautious ahead of this weeks slate of central bank meetings. Wednesday takes centerstage with the FOMC policy meeting, followed by the Bank of England and Bank of Japan later this week. Traders have been pushing to price in the possibility of a 100 basis point hike from the Fed this week following the hot August CPI print. While that certainly would represent a surprise given current market pricing, it cannot be ruled out. Geopolitical tensions also remain in focus, as President Biden indicated in an interview Sunday evening that the US would come to Taiwans defense during any hostile invasion. While these comments have since been walked back by the White House, hostilities between China, Russia, and the West remain in focus. Ahead of the Fed, traders should remain wary of being long risk in the current environment. As was the mantra on the way up, the saying dont fight the Fed holds true on the downside as the central bank embarks on its aggressive QT campaign. While markets may occasionally squeeze higher as a result of positioning, it appears we remain far away from an environment where investors can safely buy the dip. There will come a time where market participants will move away from the focus on tighter monetary policy, and instead traders will look to the lasting impacts of that policy on global growth. As FedEx hinted at last week, growth concerns need to be top of mind for investors and traders alike. S&P 500 Futures 1 Hour Chart Chart created with TradingView As mentioned earlier, S&P 500 futures (ES) put in a robust rally off the premarket lows but failed to reclaim the key 3900 area. 3902 represents the 0.382 fib retracement of the advance off the June lows, and was a key downside target in my previous notes when we traded north of 4000. As prior support has now become stiff resistance, I would look to continue selling rallies into this area ahead of FOMC. I believe many will wait before putting positions of size on this week, which may lead us to ping-pong between the 3854 and 3900 area. If bulls are able to make a push above current resistance, I would look to trendline resistance around 3950-60 as an initial topside scalp. ES appears finely poised for what has the making of a crucial week for risk assets. As always, be nimble. S&P 500 Futures Daily Chart Chart created with TradingView Resources for Forex Traders Whether you are a new or experienced trader, we have several resources available to help you; indicator for trackingtrader sentiment, quarterlytrading forecasts, analytical and educationalwebinarsheld daily,trading guidesto help you improve trading performance, and one specifically for those who arenew to forex. --- Written by Brendan Fagan To contact Brendan, use the comments section below or@BrendanFaganFXon Twitter I suppose that I had more or less taken leave of my senses as I set out for Bermondsey on Saturday afternoon to queue for the Queen's lying-in-state. The decision was a mixture of bravado, instinct and careful plotting. Hoping to evade various bans and restrictions, I had turned my old waxed jacket into an item of luggage, its huge pockets stuffed with books, in case of boredom, and weighed down with a phone bank and a wriggling mass of wires, because my mobile would certainly go flat on me during the long night. Before setting off, I wolfed a bacon cheeseburger in the (correct) belief that I would then not feel hungry for hours. Thirst would be a different problem. Why was I doing this? As a monarchist, I am cool to the point of chilliness, with no special love for the actual Windsor family. I have never owned a Coronation mug. It is more or less pure reason, combined with the joyful duty of defeating republicans in argument, which causes me to rally to Crown and Sceptre. But I was damned if I was going to miss this and so spend the rest of my life wishing I had been there. I suppose that I had more or less taken leave of my senses as I set out for Bermondsey on Saturday afternoon to queue for the Queen's lying-in-state, says PETER HITCHENS I have been at some odd events from the Grosvenor Square rally against the Vietnam War in 1968, to several mighty convulsions in the famous and beautiful cities of Eastern Europe, as Communism fell. But I had envied, for almost 60 years, those who had been in person to see the mighty ceremonies of farewell to Sir Winston Churchill, the funeral of the British Empire and until now the greatest such event to take place in my life. And here I was, with the chance of passing through Westminster Hall and seeing the coffin of the Queen guarded with the last splendours of our ancient, troubled kingdom. It was not just that I might never see such a thing again while I live. It was that nobody might ever see it again at all, as the pestilent modernisers and reformers prowl round, seeking which remaining parts of our tradition they may devour and destroy. Goodness, Westminster Hall is perhaps the most astonishing room in England. I have scurried through it many times on workful missions, feeling that I was too insignificant to be allowed in. I had never yet seen anything happen there that even began to equal or deserve the sheer power of its ancient architecture, or the lingering echoes of our nation's long and often bloody struggle to be sovereign and free echoes that are to be found there on quiet days and especially late at night. But the death of a monarch, and the solemn commemoration of it, that might measure up. Before setting off, I wolfed a bacon cheeseburger in the (correct) belief that I would then not feel hungry for hours Anyway, there I was in Southwark Park at 2pm, crazily putting myself at the mercy of whatever fiendish mind devised the system of queueing for the lying-in-state. By great good luck, there was no queue for the queue when I arrived, yet I and hundreds of others were, even so, compelled to take part in a sort of Alice-in-Wonderland lunatics' quadrille. It is hard to describe, but we were forced by rows of fences to walk at speed back and forth more than 20 times over a piece of ground we could have crossed in 30 seconds. This is officially known as 'zig-zagging' but it is not. Zig-zagging would have been much more sensible, as it would at least have involved some serious forward motion. As it was, the system, having begun by making us walk even further away from Westminster than we already were, now compelled us to get there as if we were crustaceans, or some other creature which enjoys going sideways. Every time we appeared to be making good progress, we would be urged into another of these peculiar corrals, trudging up and down past each other, in opposite directions, seeing the same faces over and over again. (Who was the woman with silver stars painted on her face? I must have passed her at least 60 times. But too fast to start a conversation.) Whether they were trying to waste our time or to exhaust us into weary submission, I have no idea, but at least it helped to bond me with the small group of companion pilgrims with whom I was destined to spend the next 11 hours. But I had envied, for almost 60 years, those who had been in person to see the mighty ceremonies of farewell to Sir Winston Churchill, the funeral of the British Empire and until now the greatest such event to take place in my life Thank heavens for them, a delightful reminder of how many sensible, funny, knowledgeable, helpful people we have in this country; the sort who somehow never seem to get near the seats of power. The pleasure of their company made the long hours of marching, trudging and simply standing about pass far more quickly than I could have imagined. I hardly found time to read the books I had brought with me. We laughed a lot, as British people do, at ourselves and each other and at the absurdity of life. We gave each other food, bought coffee and tea for each other, sniggered as we were yet again barked at by some fluorescent patrolman or patrolwoman to 'keep to the right', as if it even mattered slightly. We would all have got there quite easily without any of this bossiness, and much quicker, too. I can say now it is all over that the wristband I was compelled to wear supposedly the key to getting into the Houses of Parliament was never once properly examined by any of the 'security' staff. At one point, as we were being force-marched between fences yet again, I said to my companions that I had completely forgotten what I had come there for, and they agreed. Soon afterwards, I wondered if I had in fact died and gone to Hell, which I have always thought was the origin of all bureaucracy, queueing and jobsworthery. Surely a modern Hell is far more likely to involve being in a queue where your destination never gets any closer, than a place of medieval demons and unquenchable fire? And yet it was a day of great beauty, with the tide at full flood and the Thames looking as lovely as I have seen it in my life, in the heartbreaking light of late September that conjures up memory more than any other sort of weather. We laughed a lot, as British people do, at ourselves and each other and at the absurdity of life And every so often we would all pause and consider our object; remember why we had come. Mainly it was because we knew we would not afterwards be able to bear it if we had not done so. Whether it was pilgrimage, demonstration or mourning I am not sure, but it was a privilege to be part of it. And then at last, at around 12.40 am, all 'security' was at an end. There were no more barking officials, just the silent courtesy of Westminster's own frock-coated guardians, guiding us gently and without a word into the final splendour. Did I see, or much care about, the crown, the orb and sceptre? Could I follow the elaborate steel ballet of the changing of the guard around the catafalque which I was privileged to see? Not really. I saw instead the glory of nations and their passing, the majesty of death and its inevitability, the distillation of 1,000 years of kingship, still astonishingly alive in an age that neither understands nor much likes it. And I held my breath, bowed my head, crossed myself and walked out into the peaceful night with one backward glance. If you want to comment on Peter Hitchens click here United we grieved. The New York Times may have tried to present the UK to the world as some sort of simmering republican hellscape, divided by the cost of the biggest state funeral of all time. CNN and MSNBC might have tried to damage the legacy of Queen Elizabeth the Great with ancient history from the British Empire, ignoring her role as the monarchy's great moderniser, and shame the new King Charles with demands to deliver reparations. LBC's conspiratorial anti-British mouthpiece James O'Brien even claimed the queue to end all queues the great Elizabeth line that brought the public together in unexpectedly magical ways to pay tribute to the Queen lying in state was some form of confected establishment plot to portray mass grief (yes, really). But it made not a jot of difference to the national display of reverence, unity and, yes, very real grief we have collectively felt these past 12 days, culminating in today's spine tingling state funeral. DAN WOOTTON: United we grieved. The New York Times may have tried to present the UK to the world as some sort of simmering republican hellscape, divided by the cost of the biggest state funeral of all time DAN WOOTTON: CNN and MSNBC might have tried to damage the legacy of Queen Elizabeth the Great with ancient history from the British Empire, ignoring her role as the monarchy's great moderniser, and shame the new King Charles with demands to deliver reparations Who else could literally stop a nation, with every McDonald's shut and virtually all TV stations broadcasting a funeral service in synchronicity, sparking barely a ripple of discontent? Who else could see virtually every country in the world represented, with usually haughty heads of states happy to pack onto a transit bus in order to witness history? Who else could encourage hundreds of thousands of Britons of all backgrounds, all ethnicities and all ages to line up for 14-hours through the night simply to see their coffin? For a long time, I worried the death of Queen Elizabeth II could leave Britain even more divided. But after the official mourning period put a halt to six solid years of national acrimony, there is reason to hope we could enter the post-Elizabethan era in surprising unity. DAN WOOTTON: Indeed, what's become clear to me is that her late Majesty has provided the new king and his heir with the biggest stage and the best ever opportunity to protect the monarchy for another century I mean, if you wondered why Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was looking a little peaky in the pews of Westminster Abbey this morning, it's probably because support for Scottish independence has plummeted by seven points since the Queen's death. My thoughts too at this sad time must go to Australia's avowed republican new Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, whose stony face could probably be explained by new polling showing support for the monarchy remains overwhelming Down Under, rising by five per cent in the past decade. Indeed, what's become clear to me is that her late Majesty has provided the new king and his heir with the biggest stage and the best ever opportunity to protect the monarchy for another century. In death, she has unified us behind her warring family for one final time and now it's over to them. King Charles has, since his mother died, provided the living embodiment of the phrase 'cometh the hour, cometh the man', putting at ease so many of us who struggled to imagine him as monarch with his pledge to be apolitical and an up close and personal approach to his first week in the world's biggest job. The Queen Consort Camilla has endeared herself to a public that has long been suspicious of her, thanks to her role in the breakdown of her husband's marriage with Princess Diana. And Princess Anne, Prince Edward and Sophie Wessex have proven Charles should not exclude this hardworking trio from his vision of a slimmed down monarchy. DAN WOOTTON: King Charles has, since his mother died, provided the living embodiment of the phrase 'cometh the hour, cometh the man', putting at ease so many of us who struggled to imagine him as monarch with his pledge to be apolitical and an up close and personal approach to his first week in the world's biggest job But it's the new heir to the throne and Prince of Wales whose young family now shoulders the biggest burden. The selfless decision by William and Kate today to bring Prince George, nine, and Princess Charlotte, seven, to the funeral service provided a glimpse of how the monarchy will try to regenerate into the 22nd century. The couple will rightly do their utmost to protect their children from the glare of the royal spotlight, but it was correct in this instance to make an exception. Many decades in the future, there is no doubt George will want to tell his subjects how he was able to pay tribute to his great-grandmother, the greatest monarch in history, on the day of her funeral. Of course, while the late Queen has given him the best possible launchpad, the challenges facing King Charles are immense. The disgraced Prince Andrew and self-exiled Prince Harry who both marched in procession in morning suit today, despite having served in the Falklands and Afghanistan respectively provide the biggest imminent threat. As for Harry and Meghan, the media briefing campaign launched during the mourning period suggests they will certainly not be going quietly Charles will have to convince his younger brother to slip away into obscurity without a fuss, something the Duke of York is unlikely to want to do. As for Harry and Meghan, the media briefing campaign launched during the mourning period suggests they will certainly not be going quietly. Even Charles' magnanimous decision to allow Harry to wear his military uniform was met with vicious briefing from friends of the Duke to The Sunday Times over the fact the Queen's initials had been removed in line with protocol. Harry, it was reported by the newspaper, came close to ditching the military garb and wearing his morning suit instead, in a sign of just how fragile relations remain. But those ongoing issues will have to be dealt with as the reign of King Charles III goes on. What's important to remember on this day is the way the British public repaid the commitment that Queen Elizabeth the Great made to us at the start of her 70-year historic reign, when she promised: 'I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service.' We know that such unwavering public duty will never be repeated and that's why we have honoured her in the best way we can: With an outpouring of love, not just for the woman, but for the institution she represents. Was it only three months ago that we saw Prince George and Princess Charlotte giggling, convulsed by surprise and glee, as they watched their beloved 'Gan-Gan' taking tea with Paddington Bear? William and Kate's two eldest children shared in the spectacle of rejoicing at the Platinum Jubilee in June, just as yesterday they shared the solemn ritual of mourning at the funeral of their great-grandmother, the longest-serving monarch in British history. What deep emotions for young hearts to handle. What a change for young minds to understand. They will surely never forget either occasion. And we will always remember that poignant moment when a nine-year-old boy and a seven-year-old girl walked the awe-inspiring length of Westminster Abbey behind their Gan-Gan's coffin, looking so small compared to the scale of the pomp around them. What deep emotions for young hearts to handle, what a change for young minds to understand George bit his lip, Charlotte ducked her head in that 'big girl's hat' and their loving parents shielded them on each side, yet at the same time demonstrated exactly how you behave when the eyes of the world are upon you. That is something royal children must learn. It is easy to imagine just how much discussion the Prince and Princess of Wales had over whether George and Charlotte should play a role in the funeral procession. Without doubt, this will also have involved telling the children what they would have to do and asking them what they felt. William and Harry have both said they found walking behind their mother's coffin traumatic, so no doubt some people will have questioned the wisdom of William and Kate choosing to have their children at the funeral at all. Was it the right call? I have no doubt whatsoever that it was. William and Kate (advised surely by the King) showed wisdom and sensitivity as parents and an awareness of their little family's vital duty towards the institution. George and Charlotte, but not four-year-old Louis, were allowed publicly to take their places within a family mourning a much-loved matriarch the mother, grandmother and great-grandmother who was intimately involved with all their lives. And we will always remember that poignant moment when a nine-year-old boy and a seven-year-old girl walked the awe-inspiring length of Westminster Abbey behind their Gan-Gan's coffin Yet that person was also the Queen of our nation and Head of the Commonwealth, and so the presence of two of her great-grandchildren at her funeral sent out a powerful message to the watching world. We cannot mourn the late Queen without reflecting on the continuity of the Crown; therefore it was wonderful for the public to have that image of the line of succession an image of security in an unpredictable world. It was also a testament to George and Charlotte's maturity and emotional intelligence. All families have to face death and grief at some stage, and how we explain it to our children can profoundly affect their later lives. In February 2021, the two eldest of my four grandchildren were just eight when given a choice whether to attend the cremation service for my father. One chose to sit beside her mother (and stroke her back when she cried); the other thought it might be too much for him. This spring, when we gathered for my mother's funeral, both nine-year-olds chose to be present and I was so glad. This was their beloved great-grandmother, a powerful presence in their lives. Why should they not help us all say the final goodbye? All families have to face death and grief at some stage, and how we explain it to our children can profoundly affect their later lives There is a danger that if a family is over-protective and attempts to deny the shocking reality of death to a child, that young person will feel shut out. The distinguished psychotherapist Julia Samuel, an expert on families and bereavement and founder of the charity Child Bereavement UK, was a close friend of Diana, Princess of Wales, and is godmother to Prince George. Her brilliant book, Grief Works, has this to say about children at funerals: 'Even if very young children go to the funeral and have no memory of it when they're older, they may still be glad to know they were included; I've never known a child who regretted having gone.' She goes on to explain that if children's feelings about death are suppressed, there can be 'an increased risk of developing psychiatric symptoms' later. Watching George and Charlotte in Westminster Abbey was so touching. Like all children, they fiddled about with their 'programmes' the imposing Orders of Service. William and Kate (advised surely by the King) showed wisdom and sensitivity as parents and an awareness of their little family's vital duty towards the institution Charlotte's little feet didn't reach the floor; George glanced toward the choir as their voices rose to the glorious fan-vaulted roof of the Abbey; their parents looked down from time to time. After the lengthy procession, as well as the astonishing sight of thousands of people along the route, and then the moving ordeal of the service at Windsor, both children will have felt exhausted. Grief takes time to process, but the whole ceremonial business of mourning (yes, even the ordinary rituals the rest of us share) allows bewilderment and sadness to wash through you, as you realise life must go on. But the beloved dead will never be forgotten. Especially Gan-Gan. The two-and-a-half pound crown is part of the Crown Jewels and represents the sovereignty of the monarchy Advertisement The Imperial State Crown adorned the coffin of Her Majesty The Queen as she was conveyed to Westminster Hall to lie in state. The late monarch will remain in the Hall from Wednesday until Monday morning, the day of her funeral. The Imperial State Crown is one of the Crown Jewels and represents the sovereignty of the monarch. It will remain on the Queen's coffin on top of the Royal Standard and beside the Sovereign's orb and sceptre. Queen Elizabeth II wore the crown after her 1953 coronation and was worn once every year by the monarch to and from the State Opening of Parliament. It was adjusted for Her Majesty's head and its arches lowered by an inch to give it a more feminine appearance. Traditionally worn by the Queen to and from the State Opening of Parliament, this headpiece has been passed down to her through the generations, after it was originally made for King George IVs coronation (pictured in 2002) The crown has 2,868 diamonds in silver mounts as well as 269 pearls, 17 sapphires and 11 emeralds on it. It is part of the Crown Jewels Queen Elizabeth II, dressed in royal regalia, posed for this special Jubilee picture in the Throne Room of Buckingham Palace, after she had delivered the traditional Queen's speech at the 1976 official State Opening of Parliament. She wears the Imperial State Crown and the Robe of State, also known as the Parliamentary Robe. Around her neck is the Jubilee Necklace of diamonds and pearls and the chain is the Collar of the Order of the Garter, Britain's premier order of Knighthood. Her gown is of white silk with bands of gold and silver embroidery At her Coronation, the Queen wore a crown glittering with jewels and wielded a sceptre boasting the world's largest white diamond. But a royal expert has predicted that Her Majesty will be buried with just two pieces of jewellery. Above: The Queen wears the Imperial State Crown as she returns to Buckingham Palace whilst holding the Orb and Sceptre after he coronation in 1953 The coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, adorned with a Royal Standard and the Imperial State Crown and pulled by a Gun Carriage of The King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery, during the procession from Buckingham Palace to the Palace of Westminster on Wednesday King Charles III, Anne, Princess Royal, Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, Prince William, Prince of Wales, Prince Andrew, Duke of York, Camilla, Queen Consort, Sir Timothy Laurence, Mr Peter Phillips, Sophie, Countess of Wessex, Catherine, Princess of Wales, Princess Beatrice and Prince Edward, Duke of Kent are seen inside the Palace of Westminster as the First Watch begins their duty during the Lying-in State of Queen Elizabeth II The Queen's coffin is be draped with the Royal Standard, as it was in Edinburgh. The standard will be accompanied by the Imperial State Crown, which was worn once a year by the Queen at the State Opening of Parliament. The Sovereign's Orb and Sceptre will also be on the coffin. The diamond on the sceptre - the Cullinan 1 - was cut from the largest rough diamond ever found. It was discovered in a mine in South Africa in 1905 The headpiece has been passed down to her through the generations, after it was originally made for King George IVs coronation. Designed by Norman Hartnell, the gown features the emblems of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth in gold and silver thread. Designs for the crown were based on one designed for Queen Victoria in 1838. The crown features 2,868 diamonds in silver mounts, 269 pearls, 17 sapphires and 11 emeralds. The crown weighs two and a half pounds. It includes the 317 carat Cullinan II diamond, which is the second largest clear-cut diamond in the world and also known as the Second Star of Africa. It was found by Frederick G S Wells in 1905 at the Premier Mine, around 20 miles from Pretoria in South Africa. 2.22pm: The gun carriage bearing the coffin of the late Queen Elizabeth II departs Buckingham Palace, transferring the coffin to The Palace of Westminster 2.22pm: The gun carriage bearing the coffin of the late Queen Elizabeth II departed Buckingham Palace, transferring the coffin to The Palace of Westminster The extraordinary scene as the procession leaves Buckingham Palace - the Queen's home for most of her 96-year life There were huge crowds again to see the Queen on her final journey before her coffin is handed to the nation The Queen's coffin was adorned with the glittering, priceless Imperial State Crown on a purple velvet cushion The Queen's funeral cortege makes its way along The Mall from Buckingham Palace during the procession for the Lying-in State of Queen Elizabeth II followed by her bereft family The Life Guards march before the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II as it is taken to the Palace Of Westminster The Queen's funeral cortege makes its way along The Mall from Buckingham Palace Huge crowds turned out to witness history with viewing areas full before the procession began The Queen leaves Buckingham Palace in her coffin - with her crown on top - followed her family this afternoon Members of the Coldstream Guards leave Wellington Barracks in London today ahead of the ceremonial procession The stone is named after Thomas Cullinan, the Chairman of the Premier (Transvaal) Diamond Mining Company and was given to Edward VII on his birthday of November 9, 1907, after the Boer War, as a symbolic act of goodwill. At the back of the band there is a large oval sapphire known as the 'Stuart Sapphire', which is around 104 carats. The two stones are linked by an openwork frieze with eight step-cut emeralds and eight sapphires, between two rows of pearls. It has a regal purple velvet cap and ermine band. The crown also has the Black Prince's Ruby. Although it was thought to be a ruby for hundreds of years, it is actually a spinel, which is another red gemstone. In her last few years the crown eventually became too heavy for the Queen and in 2019 she did not wear her Imperial Crown during the State of Opening of Parliament in a break with tradition. Instead, the crown was carried in and placed on a table next to her. Earlier this year when the then-Prince Charles attended the state opening of parliament instead of Her Majesty, the Imperial State Crown was placed on the throne next to him. Advertisement Royal families from around the world will today turn out in force for the Queen's funeral. The Kings and Queens of the Netherlands, Spain and Norway will be among the 2,000 mourners at Westminster Abbey, alongside representatives from Lichtenstein, Bhutan and Monaco. They will come together to pay tribute to the Queen, who was the world's longest-reigning monarch at the time of her death aged 96. Thanks to family ties that date back generations, many European royals have a particularly close relationship to the Queen. Spain's reigning King Felipe even knew her as his 'dear Aunt Lilibet'. Among the most anticipated attendees is the Emperor of Japan, who rarely makes overseas visits. King Jigme & Queen Jetsun of Bhutan and the Sultan of Brunei will also attend. Here, ahead of the funeral, FEMAIL reveals the royal and imperial families that will be represented, and explains how the European houses are related to the Queen... Revealed: How the monarchies of Belgium, Spain, the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Luxembourg are related to the Queen. All the major royal houses of Europe will be represented at the Queen's funeral at Westminster Abbey today King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of Belgium King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of Belgium, pictured in 2020, were among the first royal families to confirm their attendance The monarchs share several common ancestors, including Franz, the Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, who was the grandfather of Queen Victoria and the father of King Leopold I of the Belgians The Queen's distant cousin King Philippe of Belgium will attend the funeral with his wife, Queen Mathilde. The monarchs share several common ancestors, including Franz, the Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, who was the grandfather of Queen Victoria and the father of King Leopold I of the Belgians. They are also related via King Christian IX of Denmark, known as the 'grandfather of Europe' due to his far-reaching family tree. The Queen is King Christian IX's great-great granddaughter. Philippe is his great-great-great-grandson. King Philippe and Queen Mathilde will attend the service without their four children. Their daughter Princess Elisabeth, who will one day ascend the throne, last week represented her parents when she signed a book of condolence to the Queen in Brussels. In a statement released shortly after the Queen's death, the couple said: '[The Queen] was an extraordinary personality. We will always keep fond memories of this great Lady who throughout her reign showed dignity, courage and dedication. 'Each of our meetings will remain forever etched in our memories. We extend our deepest condolences to the Royal Family and the British people. Rest in peace, Your Majesty, with your beloved husband.' King Willem-Alexander, Queen Maxima and Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands were among the first to RSVP for the monarch's final farewell Willem-Alexander's mother Princess Beatrix, the country's former Sovereign, will also be in attendance (pictured in August) King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, who was the first to RSVP to the Queen's funeral, is the Queen's fifth cousin once removed thanks to an ancient connection in their family tree. Willem-Alexander is a descendant of Princess Carolina of Orange-Nassau, who was the daughter of William IV, Prince of Orange, and his wife Anne, the eldest daughter of King George II of Great Britain and his consort Caroline of Ansbach. The Queen is descendant from Princess Carolina through her paternal grandmother Queen Mary, wife of King George V. King Willem-Alexander will attend with his wife, Maxima, and his mother, Princess Beatrix, who abdicated in 2013. The Dutch royals were also among the first to pay tribute to Her Majesty. The official account for the Dutch Royal Family posted photos of the Queen, the new King Charles III and the new Queen Consort Camilla hosting Willem-Alexander and Maxima at Buckingham Palace on a state visit in October 2018. The statement read: 'We remember Queen Elizabeth II with deep respect and great affection. 'Steadfast and wise, she dedicated her long life to serving the British people. We feel a strong bond with the United Kingdom and its royal family, and we share their sorrow at this time. 'We are very grateful for our countries' close friendship, to which Queen Elizabeth made such an unforgettable contribution.' King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia, and Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia of Spain King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain, pictured leaving the Spanish Embassy in London today, were amongst the first to send their sympathies to King Charles III Former Spanish King Juan Carlos (pictured arriving at Buckingham Palace today) and his wife Queen Sofia will also attend the ceremony with Felipe and Letizia The Spanish King, who ascended the throne in 2014, will also be among the mourners at Westminster Abbey on Monday. He will be joined by his wife Queen Letizia. He is related to the Queen on both sides of his family and referred to the monarch as 'aunt Lilibet'. His mother, Queen Sofia, was a third cousin of the Queen and a first cousin once removed of the Duke of Edinburgh. Felipe's father, Juan Carlos, is a descendant of Queen Victoria. His grandmother, Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg, was the daughter of Queen Victorias youngest daughter, Princess Beatrice. Juan Carlos, 83, who abdicated in 2014 in favour of his son Felipe VI, 53, has been living in Abu Dhabi since summer 2020 after becoming the target of several probes in Spain over his financial dealings. There were questions over whether he would attend the funeral but he looks set to be among the mourners at Westminster Abbey. He will be in attendance at the funeral with his wife Queen Sofia. Queen Margrethe of Denmark and Crown Prince Frederik Following Elizabeth II's death, Margrethe II of Denmark has become the only living Queen in the world. She is pictured paying respect to the Queen yesterday Queen Margrethe II of Denmark (right) and Crown Prince Frederik (left) arrive to pay their respects at the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, Lying in State inside Westminster Hal The Queen of Denmark celebrated her Golden Jubilee at the weekend, but modified the event's proceedings after the death of the Queen was announced. Following Elizabeth II's death, Margrethe II of Denmark has become the only living Queen in the world. The 82-year-old is also now the second longest reigning monarch in the world, second only to Hassanal Bolkiah, the Sultan of Brunei. She is also the world's longest serving current head of state. While the Sultan of Brunei has been a monarch since 1967, he only became head of state in 1984 - when Brunei gained independence from the UK. Game of thrones! How Queen Victoria sat at the centre of a spider's web of European royal connections With nine children of her own and 42 grandchildren, Queen Victoria sat at the centre of a spider's web of royal connections across Europe. Her husband Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha had dreamt of a Europe held together by family connections, and Victoria was determined to carry out his wishes. They married their offspring into royal and noble families across the continent, earning Victoria the nickname 'the grandmother of Europe'. Eight of their children married into royal houses, starting with Vicky, who wed the Crown Prince of Prussia. But after Albert's death in 1861, Victoria retreated from public appearances and became known for wearing black and living in mourning. Advertisement Both Queens are great-great granddaughters of Queen Victoria - making them third cousins - with Margrethe often looking up to Elizabeth like a big sister. In May, Margrethe told the UK's ITV news that Elizabeth, 14 years her senior, was a 'huge inspiration' to her as the only other living Queen. '[Queen Elizabeth] was 26 when she became Queen. When I was growing up, I hoped I wouldn't be as young as that when my father died. It made an enormous impression on me. The fact that she was dedicating her life. I understood what that meant. This is for life. That is the whole point of my life. And I know she sees that too,' she said. 'When I was growing up, my mother and father said to me, "look at what they do in England" and I could see that it could be done and it was worthwhile and you could live a very full life with it, even with a heavy schedule and demanding job.' She is also the first cousin of Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf through Victoria's granddaughter, Princess Margaret of Connaught. Margaret of Connaught was the daughter of Queen Victoria's third son, Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught. She was also Queen Margrethe' and Carl Gustav's great-aunt. In a statement she wished the new King Charles and Queen Consort Camilla her 'deepest thoughts and prayers' after Elizabeth II passed away peacefully at Balmoral. Speaking on behalf of the Danish family she was 'deeply moved' by the sad news of her 'beloved mother's death'. 'I send you and Camilla my warmest thoughts and prayers,' she said. 'She was a towering figure among the European monarchs and a great inspiration to us all. We shall miss her terribly. 'Her 70 years of reign and service to the people of the United Kingdom, the Realms and the Commonwealth are an unprecedented and remarkable achievement. 'We shall always remember her important contributions to their development and prosperity.' Queen Margrethe will be joined by her son and heir Crown Prince Frederik. It was initially believed his wife Australian-born Princess Mary would be joining, but local media in Denmark has since reported she is no longer attending due to a UK Foreign Office error meaning only two royals from each state can attend. King Carl Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden Carl XVI Gustav of Sweden and Queen Sonja, left, will also both be present for the ceremony Monday Carl paid his condolences to his 'dear relative' following the Queen's death. 'The Queen served Her countries and the Commonwealth with an outstanding devotion and sense of duty' At the age of 75 Carl is the longest reigning monarch in Swedish history, having took to the throne in 1973. He and his wife Queen Silvia, 77, a German-Brazilian former flight attendant will be in attendance. King Carl XVI Gustav of Sweden is one of the European royals with the closest ties to the Queen. He is a great-great-grandson of Queen Victoria and was a third cousin of the late Monarch. That is because the Swedish King is the great-grandson of Queen Victoria's son Prince Arthur, and is also related, on her mother's side to Victoria's eighth son, Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany. Carl paid his condolences to his 'dear relative' following the Queen's death. 'The Queen served Her countries and the Commonwealth with an outstanding devotion and sense of duty. She has been a constant presence, not only in British society but internationally. In addition, she has always been a good friend to my family and a link to our shared family history,' he said in a statement. King Harald & Queen Sonja of Norway The Queen's second cousin, King Harald V of Norway and Queen Sonja, pictured paying his respects, also made the journey to London Harald V and the Queen shared the same great-grandparents, King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra. The Queen's grandfather King George V was the brother of Harald's grandmother Princess Maude, who married King Haakon VII King Harald of Norway is a second cousin of Queen Elizabeth and 78th in line to the British throne. Harald V has ruled the Scandinavian country since January 1991, succeeding his father, Olav V. He will likely be in attendance alongside his wife Queen Sonja. Harald V and the Queen shared the same great-grandparents, King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra. The Queen's grandfather King George V was the brother of Harald's grandmother Princess Maude, who married King Haakon VII. Paying tribute to Her Majesty, the King said: 'Our thoughts are with His Majesty The King and the members of the Royal Family on the loss of Queen Elizabeth. 'For nearly a century, Her Majesty devoted her life to the service of the Commonwealth, following the British people through good days and bad, in times of happiness and sorrow. We also send our condolences to the British people.' Grand Duke Henri & Grand Duchess Maria Teresa of Luxembourg The Grand Duke of Luxembourg and his wife Maria Teresa will also attend today's ceremony. Henri, who came to power in 2000, is a relative of the Monarch via Leopold I, Prince Albert's uncle The Grand Duke of Luxembourg and his wife Maria Teresa will also attend today's ceremony. They are pictured paying their respects last night Posting on Twitter after Her Majesty's death, the Luxembourg royal family wrote: 'Their Royal Highnesses are deeply moved and saddened by the news of the death of HM Queen Elizabeth II, a monarch deeply attached to the friendship between our two countries.' The Grand Duke of Luxembourg and his wife Maria Teresa will also attend today's ceremony. Henri, who came to power in 2000, is a relative of the Monarch via Leopold I, Prince Albert's uncle. Posting on Twitter after Her Majesty's death, the Luxembourg royal family wrote: 'Their Royal Highnesses are deeply moved and saddened by the news of the death of HM Queen Elizabeth II, a monarch deeply attached to the friendship between our two countries. 'HRH the Grand Duke will send a message of condolence on behalf of the people of Luxembourg to the British Royal Family.' Hereditary Prince Alois & Hereditary Princess Sophie of Liechtenstein The Hereditary Prince Alois of Liechtenstein and his wife, Hereditary Princess Sophie will also attend Alois, the Hereditary Prince of Liechtenstein was the last European royal to confirm he would attend the Monarch's ceremony. Aged 54, he has been regent of his country since 2004 ands has been raising his four children with his wife, Hereditary Princess Sophie, who will also be in attendance. His father, Hans-Adam II, is the reigning Prince of Liechtenstein and an eighth cousin of Queen Elizabeth - making them one of the most distantly related royals in Europe. They are both descendants of Ludwig, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel. Prince Albert & Princess Charlene of Monaco Prince Albert and Princess Charlene of Monaco, pictured in July, who attended a memorial service for the Queen over the weekend, will also attend Albert is married to Charlene, a South-African Olympic swimmer, but their marriage has been plagued by controversy over the past year with Albert admitting to two illegitimate children and Charlene spending a significant amount of time outside of Monaco Prince Albert of Monaco - who competed in bobsledding at the Winter Olympics five times from 1988 to 2002 -ascended to the Monaco throne after the death of his father, Prince Rainier III, on 6th April 2005. He is married to Charlene, a South-African Olympic swimmer, but their marriage has been plagued by controversy over the past year with Albert admitting to two illegitimate children and Charlene spending a significant amount of time outside of Monaco. The pair share seven-year-old twins Jacques, Hereditary Prince of Monaco and Princess Gabriella, Countess of Carlades. Albert, who is the son of Grace Kelly, and Charlene will no doubt put on a united front to pay tribute to Her Majesty at the service. Through his father, Prince Rainer, Albert is 7th cousin twice removed of Queen Elizabeth II. Their common ancestor is Johann Wilhelm Friso, Prince of Orange-Nassau. ASIAN ROYAL FAMILIES Sultan Hassanal of Brunei The Sultan of Brunei, who met the Queen several times throughout his reign, hsa also confirmed he will attend her funeral (pictured in 2019) The Sultan of Brunei, who met the Queen several times throughout his reign, has also confirmed he will attend her funeral. He has travelled to the UK many a time and has met with both Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Prime Minister David Cameron. Aged 74, he has been ruling over Brunei since since 1967, making him the longest running monarch in the world. In addition to being the country's Sultan and absolute monarch, 76-year-old Hassanal Bolkiah ibni Omar Ali Saifuddien III has also been the Prime Minister of Brunei since the country gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1984. His reign has also been mired in controversy. He has faced criticism of his country's human rights record, and questions have been raised over business dealings. Despite this, Bolkiah has appeared to have enjoyed a close relationship with The Queen. Like his father before him, he was knighted by Her Majesty, and the pair met on several occasions during their reigns - in both London and Bandar Seri Begawan. King Jigme & Queen Jetsun of Bhutan The Bhutanese Monarchs will also travel to London for the Sovereign's funeral, but will leave their sons. They are pictured paying their respect to the Queen King Jigme has been in power in Bhutan since 2011, and married his wife Jetsun Pema that same year. They are pictured yesterday in London The Bhutanese Monarchs will also travel to London for the Sovereign's funeral. King Jigme has been in power in Bhutan since 2011, and married his wife Jetsun Pema that same year. They share two sons, Jigme Namgyel Wangchuck and Jigme Ugyen Wangchuck, who will not travel to London with them. Their oldest son, Prince Jigme Namgyel Wangchuck, is the heir to the Bhutanese throne. King Jigme, the hugely popular fifth Druk Gyalpo, studied in the UK and the US and ascended the throne in 2006, aged just 26 after his own father abdicated. Unlike his son, who plans to have a monogamous marriage, the former King, who introduced democracy to Bhutan during his reign, has four wives, all sisters who he married on the same day. But despite his own upbringing, the current monarch has made clear that he only plans to have one wife, whom he married on October 13, 2011, when she was still an international relations student at Regent's College in London. Emperor Naruhito & Empress Masako of Japan Nahurito, 62, became Emperor of Japan after succeeding to his father Emperor Akihito in 2019 and he will also travel to London on Monday, with his wife Masako The couple, pictured paying their respects to the Queen, flew first class into London before swapping their luxury digs for a shuttle bus alongside other world dignitaries to get to the Queen's funeral Nahurito, 62, became Emperor of Japan after succeeding to his father Emperor Akihito in 2019. His wife Empress Masako, will attend the ceremony with him, but their daughter Princess Mako will stay in Japan. The couple flew first class into London before swapping their luxury digs for a shuttle bus alongside other world dignitaries to get to the Queen's funeral. Leaked Government documents revealed plans for world leaders to travel en masse in a bus to Westminster Abbey for Monday's service, rather than using private cars. One of the newer world monarch's he formally proclaimed his ascendancy to the throne in 2019 in a centuries-old ceremony attended by dignitaries from more than 180 countries, pledging to fulfil his duty as a symbol of the state. 'I swear that I will act according to the constitution and fulfil my responsibility as the symbol of the state and of the unity of the people,' he declared, his voice slightly hoarse, in front of about 2,000 guests, including Britain's Prince Charles. Sultan Haitham of Oman At 66, Haitham of Oman has been reigning since 2020, where he was named as successor by Sultan Qaboos before his death. He met the Queen in 2021 At 66, Haitham of Oman has been reigning since 2020, where he was named as successor by Sultan Qaboos before his death. Before becoming Sultan, Haitham served in Qaboos cabinet and was Minister of Heritage and Culture from 2002 to 2020. The Sultan met the Queen during his visit to the UK in 2021. The Middle Eastern ruler was joined by his wife, Her Highness The Honourable Lady Sayyida Ahad Bint Abdullah Bin Hamad Al Busaidiyah during the visit. Sultan Haitham bin Tariq, a former culture and heritage minister who studied at Oxford, came to power after the death of his cousin Sultan Qaboos - the Arab world's longest-serving ruler - last year. Yang di-Pertuan Agong Abdullah & Raja Permaisuri Agong Tunku of Malaysia Yang di-Pertuan Agong Abdullah, 63, became the King of Malaysia in 2019. He will attend the ceremony with his wife, Raja Permaisury Agong Tunky, right Yang di-Pertuan Agong Abdullah, 63, became the King of Malaysia in 2019. As a young man, he completed his military training in the UK at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. He will attend the ceremony with his wife, Raja Permaisury Agong Tunky. Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah was crowned monarch after Sultan Muhammad V stepped down after the last his reported marriage to a Russian ex-beauty queen, Oksana Voevodina. The ceremony was televised nationally and attended by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and hundreds of guests decked out in Islamic finery. Before being sworn in at the palace, the 63-year-old, who is also the ceremonial ruler of central Pahang state, was given a welcome at the national parliament and inspected a guard of honour. His predecessor, Sultan Muhammad V stepped aside following just two years on the throne after he went on medical leave. Reports then surfaced he had married a former Miss Moscow in November. OTHERS King Tupou of Tonga At 63, King Tupou has been the Monarch of Tonga since 2012, and met with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex during their tour of Australia and New Zealand in 2018. It was not confirmed that his wife, Nanasipauu Tukuaho, will attend Monday's ceremony with him At 63, King Tupou has been the Monarch of Tonga since 2012, and met with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex during their tour of Australia and New Zealand in 2018. He is married, however, it was not confirmed that his wife, Nanasipauu Tukuaho, will attend Monday's ceremony with him. His brother, Oxford-educated King George Tupou V passed away in a Hong Kong Hospital at the age of 63 in 2012, the cause of death believed to be linked to kidney problems. FORMER MONARCHIES Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece Prince Pavlos is the eldest son and second child of Constantine II, the last King of Greece from 1964 to 1973 and his wife, Anne-Marie of Denmark. He is pictured paying respect to the Queen lat night In a statement last week he thanked The Queen 'for the kindness HM gave to my parents and family in times of need.' Prince Pavlos is the eldest son and second child of Constantine II, the last King of Greece from 1964 to 1973 and his wife, Anne-Marie of Denmark. He is married to Marie-Chantal, Crown Princess of Greece. In a statement last week he thanked The Queen 'for the kindness HM gave to my parents and family in times of need.' Crown Princess Marie Chantal also said: 'A sad day today on hearing that Her Majesty the Queen passed. May she Rest In Peace and I am sure the heavens have a special place for her. She taught us duty, honor, love and above all else courage. She ruled immaculately and was so loved. Thank you for your service and for showing my in-laws such kindness and love during their darkest days.' Prince Emanuele of Savoy (Italy) Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy, 47, has also confirmed he will attend the Queen's funeral on Monday (pictured in 2018) Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy, 47, who is known as the 'Pasta Prince', due to his career running food trucks in LA, announced his plans to run for political office last year. The defunct Italian throne runs a catering business called Prince of Venice and has lead a colourful life in the public eye, claiming to have dated Kate Moss and starring on Italy's version of Strictly Come Dancing. He is the grandson of Umberto II, the last reigning king of Italy, who was deposed in 1946 when the country became a republic. Crown Prince Alexander of Serbia Alexander was born in exile at Londons Claridges hotel, temporarily declared Yugoslavia for a day in 1945. Pictured last night Alexander was born in exile at Londons Claridges hotel, which was temporarily declared Yugoslavia for a day in 1945 to get around succession laws requiring future kings to be born on home territory. But in 2001, after the Yugoslav wars, he moved home. Alexander was born in exile at Londons Claridges hotel, which was temporarily declared Yugoslavia for a day in 1945 to get around succession laws requiring future kings to be born on home territory. But in 2001, after the Yugoslav wars, he moved home. He is a close friend of King Charles who has previously backed his attempts to get palaces from the Serbian government. Charles has visited his school chum and posed for photos at the Royal Palace. Margareta & Prince Radu of Romania Margareta & Prince Radu of Romania attended Prince Philip's memorial service in March and will attend the Queen's funeral today Margareta, who was educated at a boarding school in Hampshire, is the eldest daughter of King Michael I of Romania and his wife Queen Anne. She and her husband Prince Radu, a former actor, will attend the Queen's funeral together. Charles recently joined distant relative Margareta, head of the Romanian royal family, in Bucharest to visit Ukrainian refugees. Tsar Simeon of Bulgaria As a boy, he was His Majesty Tsar Simeon II of the Bulgarians for three years before being deposed by the Soviets in 1946. Half a century later, he ended up serving as prime minister of Bulgaria from 2001 to 2005 As a boy, he was His Majesty Tsar Simeon II of the Bulgarians for three years before being deposed by the Soviets in 1946. Half a century later, he ended up serving as prime minister of Bulgaria from 2001 to 2005. Prince Philipp and Princess Saskia of Hohenlohe-Langenburg Charles III (R), Prince Philipp of Hohenlohe-Langenburg and Philipp's wife Saaskia drive in an Alvis car in Langenburg, Germany, 28 May 2013 Prince Philipp, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg and his wife Saskia Binder, a former banker, are also set to attend. The couple also attended Prince Philip's Service of Thanksgiving earlier this year. Hereditary Prince Bernhard & Hereditary Princess Stephanie of Baden and The Margravine of Baden Prince Bernhard of Baden, who was born in Germany, and is the eldest son of Maximilian, Margrave of Baden, was Prince Philips great nephew. He will attended with his wife Princess Stephanie (pictured in 2011) Prince Bernhard of Baden, who was born in Germany, and is the eldest son of Maximilian, Margrave of Baden, was Prince Philips great nephew. He will attended with his wife Princess Stephanie. Maximilian, Margrave of Baden, is the elder son of Berthold, Margrave of Baden and Princess Theodora of Greece and Denmark. At the age of 89, he is the eldest living nephew of the late Elizabeth II and the late Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and is first cousin to King Charles. The Queen's chimney sweeps have revealed how the monarch would make them feel 'important' when they worked in her homes including Buckingham Palace. Kevin Giddings, 61, and his team from Milborrow Chimney Sweeps have looked after the chimneys and fires at royal homes including Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, St James' Palace and Kensington Palace since 2002. Speaking to The Argus, his wife Katie recalled how the 'knowledgeable' late monarch spoke to her husband about his work and made everyone around her 'feel important'. Kevin Giddings (pictured) has looked after chimneys at royal homes including Buckingham Palace for more than 20 years Mr Giddings was given a royal warrant in 2002 by Her Majesty The Queen, who passed away peacefully at Balmoral Castle in Scotland aged 96, on September 8 The chimney sweep was presented to the Queen six times and also met the then-Prince Charles and the late Duke of Edinburgh. He also bumped into Her Majesty when he was cleaning her palaces and his wife Katie revealed the Queen made him feel important through a series of small gestures. 'On one occasion there was a function, we were at at Buckingham Palace and the Queen indicated to my husband and said, "It's my chimney sweep",' she told The Argus. 'She was an incredibly knowledgeable lady who even spoke to the chimney sweep about his work and made him feel very important.' The Giddings family thinks King Charles III will be an excellent monarch and wished him all the best. Pictured: Charles III in the 1844 Room at Buckingham Palace today She added that her husband was 'honoured and thrilled' that the late monarch recognised him. Buckingham Palace has around 300 chimneys and although they are not all used, cleaning is needed to ensure proper ventilation. Hampton Court Palace's kitchen chimney is one of the toughest to sweep because of its sheer size, which means sweeps have to climb up the inside the shaft. The chimney at the former residence of Henry VIII is often exceptionally sooty, and is 48 feet high and more than 20 across. In 2002, the business was given a royal warrant by the Queen. Whether or not Mr Giddings and his team retain the warrant will be up to King Charles III. Katie added the family thinks King Charles III will be an excellent monarch and wished him all the best for his reign. Skincare-wise, all of us have our thing. After anything with a high SPF the ultimate essential for me and most dermatologists I love an oil. As summer gives way to autumn, theres nothing I relish more than layering face oil under my sunscreen or slathering my aching features in an aromatherapeutic slick come evening. If I open my desk-drawer-cumdressing table actually, I cant, because its crammed with glass bottles full of golden shimmer 30ml of oil lasts a long time. My latest joy is Augustinus Bader The Face Oil (68 for 10ml, augustinusbader.com). The original cult cream made me break out in tiny pimples a reaction to a preservative. As summer gives way to autumn Hannah Betts will be using face oil under SPF. UK-based beauty expert currently adores Augustinus Bader The Face Oil However, Professor Baders (slightly Sunday-roast-scented) oil is heaven on my complexion, imparting instant gleam thanks to TFC8, or Trigger Factor Complex. This patented tech comprises more than 40 ingredients and was created following 30 years of research and clinical study. My other daytime favourites are simpler: Willowberry Nutrient Boost Face Oil (26.99 for 30ml, willowberry.co.uk), designed for hydration past 40; Trilogy Aromatic Certified Organic Rosehip Oil (36.50, trilogyproducts.co.uk), that globally loved classic; and Charlotte Tilbury Collagen Superfusion Face Oil (25 for 8ml, charlottetilbury.com), which is scented with soothing lavender. By night, I favour Neoms sleep-inducing Perfect Nights Sleep Face Oil (43, neomorganics.com); Votarys best-selling Intense Night Oil: Rosehip & Retinoid (135, votary.co.uk); and my If everything else vanished, Id be extremely happy with just this obsession Dr Michael Pragers Night Oil With Retinol (90, pragerskincare.com). When I put it on, by morning all is glorious. At this point, I should disclose that legions of professionals detest face oils, seeing them as superficial, at best, and positively damaging, at worst. A Skinceuticals facialist was appalled the other day when I confessed my love of using oils for cleansing and moisturising. Dermatologists frequently warn against them. Dr Anita Sturnham is a GP specialising in dermatology, who has a brand called Decree and a clinic on Londons Wimpole Street. Her position is clear: Most skins do not benefit from oilbased products. They feel great I love their sensorial properties but I do not love their impact. Hannah (pictured) admits that many skincare professionals detest the use of facial oils, seeing them as superficial, at best, and positively damaging, at worst Oils tend not to have any benefits, and can lead to dehydration, inflammation, pore congestion and bacterial overgrowth. When she tells me that my face appears in good nick, she notes: Perhaps you use other products that counteract the negative impact of oils good fighting evil and keeping the skin neutral. Id need to assess your hidden dermal layers to see whether your regimen is leading to issues that may present themselves in the future. But Arabella Preston, the co-founder of Votary, is in the pro camp: You know your skin better than anyone else, she cautions. As you age, maintaining a healthy and resilient skin barrier should be your number-one goal. Our skin is full of natural lipids (oils). As we age, just like all the other good stuff collagen, elastin etc. our oil levels decrease. Skin is dryer and therefore more prone to sensitivity. Thats why you need to up your hydration. Plant oils are a really good way of doing this. Dr Prager agrees: Anti-oil propaganda shows how much false information is dispensed by the beauty industry. Theres no science behind any of these arguments. The free fatty acid chains in an oil work like an antioxidant, aiding repair and stabilising cell membranes. Theres a reason why natural oils have been used for thousands of years. Theyre a highly effective way of protecting skin far more so than designer moisturisers. Brands add ceramides and peptides into synthetic moisturisers, but they are already part of natural oils. All this is down to the quality of the oil. To oil, or not to oil? All I can tell you is that they work beautifully on me, and many other midlifers. So pay your money and make your choice. RACE YOU TO IT Philip Kingsley Bond Builder Restorative Oil Lipid Shield Philip Kingsley Bond Builder Restorative Oil Lipid Shield (26, philipkingsley.co.uk) hit the shelves at the start of this month and is already adored. The lightweight hair treatment replenishes lipids lost from heat styling and chemical processing. Customers say that after one use, hair feels stronger, shinier, softer and more buoyant. philipkingsley.co.uk Shop MY ICON OF THE WEEK PRINCESS ANNE The Princess Royal, 72, (pictured) is an icon. Princess Anne refused to take a hair stylist or make-up artist on her Australian tour this year, preferring to do it herself The Princess Royal, 72, is an icon: straight-backed, tireless and doing her late mother proud. Princess Anne refused to take a hair stylist or make-up artist on her Australian tour this year, preferring to do it herself. And recreating her up-do for Netflix series The Crown took two hours, whereas it takes the Princess ten or 15 minutes to style her hair. GOLDEN GLAMOUR OPV Beauty Illuminator in Rays Of Light This can be mixed in with moisturiser or foundation for a gleaming complexion. opvbeauty.com Shop Morphe 35U Gilded Desert Artistry Palette Make the most of the late summer rays with these 35 shades to take you from sunkissed days to bronzy nights. boots.com Shop Sisley Ombre Eclat Liquide The glinting, gold-flecked eyeshadow comes in six luminous hues and lasts for up to eight hours. sisley-paris.com Shop Hourglass Ambient Lighting Edit Unlocked in Tiger This limited-edition blush, highlighter, bronzer and finishing powder palette promises golden glamour. hourglasscosmetics.co.uk Shop COSMETIC CRAVING Advertisement Princess Anne's eldest grandchildren have joined the royal family at Windsor to say goodbye to the Queen. Zara Tindall's oldest daughter Mia, eight, joined her first cousins Savannah, 11, and Isla, 10, - the daughters of Peter Philips - to mourn their 'Gan Gan' who died aged 96 last week. The trio, who live together on Princess Anne's Gatecombe estate in Gloucestershire, are the Queen's oldest great grandchildren along with Prince George, nine, and Princess Charlotte, seven. As the Queen's coffin arrived at St George's Chapel for the Committal Service today, Zara and her husband Mike could be seen walking into the church hand-in-hand with Mia, as well as Savannah and Isla. It is believed the two girls were accompanied by Zara and Mike because their own father Peter was taking part in the funeral procession. Their mother Autumn Philips, from whom Peter recently divorced, did not attend the service today. Princess Anne's eldest grandchildren Savannah, 11, and Isla Philips, 10, and Mia Tindall, 8, have joined the royal family at Windsor to say goodbye to the Queen The trio, who live together on Princess Anne's Gatecombe estate in Gloucestershire, are the Queen's oldest great grandchildren The girls, who are cousins and have grown up together on Princess Anne's Gatcombe Estate, stayed close to ne another as they walked into the service today. All three were dressed in mourning black, with black headbands sweeping their hair from their faces. Meanwhile their long blonde hair was pleated back into neat plates. Prince George and Princess Charlotte, the children of the Prince and Princess of Wales, were also in attendance joining the funeral procession. After the service, Mike and Zara could be seen walking away from St George's Chapel on either side of their eldest daughter Mia (pictured) The trio were holding hands as they left St George's Chapel today, with Zara and Mike each holding a hand of their eight-year-old daughter During the service, the children could be seen sitting in the front row, just in front of the Queen's coffin, alongside their parents Mike and Zara Tindall, and Peter Philips Members of the royal family were sitting in the front row of St George's Chapel today, alongside some of the Queen's great grandchildren like Mia, Savannah and Isla Princess Anne's daughter Zara walked into the church today holding hands with her daughter Mia, and standing close to her niece, Isla Mia's younger siblings, Lena, four, and Lucas, one, were not in attendance. Mia's parents Zara and Mike Tindall, were also in attendance. Savannah and Isla are the daughter's of the Queen's oldest grandchild Peter Philips. Their mother is Autumn Kelly. Peter joined the funeral procession earlier today, lead by his uncle King Charles III, alongside Earl Snowdon, the late Queen's nephew. Mia and Lena were at Westminster Hall on Friday for her lying-in-state. They were in the gallery with their parents Zara and Mike as their grandmother took her place alongside her three brothers for a silent vigil beside the Queens coffin. Mia is the eldest of Zara and former rugby star Mike Tindall's children and is now 22nd in the line of succession. Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, his wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau and other guests arrive at St George's Chapel Princess Beatrice, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, Sarah, Duchess of York, Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank at the Committal Service for Queen Elizabeth II Queen Sofia of Spain (bottom), King Felipe of Spain (second bottom), King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands (third from top) and King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden (standing) at the Committal Service The Queen's coffin head along The Long Walk to Windsor Castle ahead of her burialFlowers and bouquets cover the royal hearse as the Queen arrives in Windsor The Queen heads towards Windsor Castle where she will be reunited with Prince Philip Flowers and bouquets cover the royal hearse as the Queen arrives in Windsor Like her cousin Savannah Phillips, Mia is known for a mischievous streak and can often be found running around with her father and cousins at various horse competitions. During the Queen's Trooping the Colour in June, Mia and her cousins Princess Charlotte and Savannah and Isla Phillips, as well as her sister Lena Tindall, adorably poked her head out of the window to peer down at the parade. The cousins are all close, with Mike Tindall previously revealing he heard about the birth of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's son, Archie, via a message on the royal cousins' WhatsApp group. Speaking to The Telegraph, he said: '[Harry will] be a great dad. We'll just let him ease into it himself, find out his own way. The thing is, we're so lucky with ours; ours have always slept so hopefully they'll get that as well. Sophie Wessex, 57, comforted heir-to-the-throne Prince George with a hand on his shoulder during the Queens funeral today Prince George and Princess Charlotte joined senior royals at the Queen's funeral today, bypassing thousands of mourners on the streets of London as they travelled to Westminster Abbey with the Queen Consort and the Princess of Wales Sophie (right) looked serious as the family stood outside Westminster Abbey as the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II concluded. Pictured L-R: Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, Queen Consort Camilla, Prince George, Kate, Princess of Wales, Princess Charlotte, Sophie, Countess of Wessex Sophie Wessex wipes a tear from her eye as she watches the Bearer Party transferring the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard, form the State Gun Carriage of the Royal Navy into the State Hearse at Wellington Arch 'Obviously, he's godfather to Lena, but we've got a great group of young ones in the family now. Lena and obviously Louis are similar ages and Mia's sort of in between Charlotte and George, and then you've got Peter's children Savannah and Isla who are just a little bit older. 'James (Viscount Severn, Prince Edward's son) is, well not exactly the ring leader, but he's the oldest. So, yeah, it's going to be a good little group. And Harry, he's busy, but he loves playing with them all and he'll be a good dad.' Zara has not spoken publicly since her grandmother's death, but her husband Mike has shared many tributes to her on his public Instagram page. The former England rugby pro, shared his mother-in-law Princess Anne's touching statement about the Queen's death alongside a heart emoji. The Countess of Wessex (front and right) looked down and crossed her hands in front of her body as she stood with other members of the Royal Family in front of the Queen's coffin. Pictured in the front row L-R: King Charles III, Queen Consort Camilla, Princess Anne, Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, Prince Andrew, Prince Edward, Sophie Wessex A guiding hand, the young royals pictured arriving at Westminster Abbey ahead of the funeral Prince George, seated beside the Prince of Wales holds onto his order of service during the funeral for his great grandmother The Princess Royal, the late monarch's only daughter, told how she was 'fortunate to share the last 24 hours of my dearest mother's life' in a statement posted on the Royal Family's Instagram. She said the love and respect shown to the Queen on her journey from Balmoral to Edinburgh and onto London had been 'both humbling and uplifting'. It followed another tribute Mike posted, which showed an illustration of a corgi weeping into a crown. He also shared a picture of Sydney Opera House lit up with the Queen's image. Touchingly, he met Zara in Sydney in 2003. Mike has previously said he thought the monarch was 'unbelievable' and people believed she was 'invincible.' The Queen has returned to Windsor - and will be reunited for eternity with her beloved husband Prince Philip - and was greeted with a carpet of flowers as mourners arrived at St George's Chapel for the Queen's Committal service. Tens of thousands of people lined The Long Walk and applauded as the flower-covered hearse carrying the late sovereign's coffin slowly processed towards her Berkshire castle, where she spent most of her final years before her death at Balmoral 11 days ago. A smile for 'Gan-Gan': Princess Charlotte shyly smiles as she stands with her brother and senior royals at Westminster Abbey (Pictured from left: Meghan Markle, Sophie Wessex, Princess Charlotte, Prince George, Kate Middleton) Responsibility: Heads bowed, Prince Charlotte and Prince George walk inbetween the Prince and Princess of Wales as they follow the Queen's coffin into the church Sombre: George and Charlotte sing hymns during the funeral service, each seated beside their mother, the Princess of Wales The Queen's great grandchildren, clearly aware of the enormity of the day, stand quietly by their mother's side before as they await the arrival of their father. To their right, the Duchess of Sussex stands next to them Left: Prince George, 9, looks nervous as he makes his way to his seat inside Westminster Abbey with his mother and sister. Right: Princess Charlotte is seen adjusting her hat. The youngster wore a horseshoe brooch on her mourning coat, which was a gift from her great-grandmother the Queen A family in grief: From left: The Duchess of Sussex, Queen Consort, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, Catherine, Princess of Wales, and Sophie, Countess of Wessex stand outside Westminster Abbey after the state funeral Prince George and his sister Princess Charlotte are shepherded to their seats by their mother the Princess of Wales But mourners in Windsor were asked not to throw flowers at the hearse carrying the Queen's coffin and have instead been told to leave their bouquets by the 'grass moat' near Windsor castle. Security officials and event organisers have said that the flowers may spook horses, raise safety concerns, become a tripping hazard and be difficult clean up if they're pressed into the ground. After the final public element of her funeral, Her Majesty will be buried with her late husband Prince Philip in the King George VI Memorial Chapel. A private burial service, attended by the King and other members of the royal family, will take place this evening. This afternoon the royal family will bid farewell to their beloved matriarch in the gothic chapel on the grounds of Windsor Castle in a service attended by around 800 people. Silence fell among crowds of mourners as the state hearse carrying the Queen's coffin turned into the Long Walk in the final stretch of her journey. The crowds, made up of people of all ages, who flanked the Long Walk, fell quiet as the sound of drummers in the procession grew louder. Children were lifted on adults' shoulders and camera phones were raised in the air as people struggled to get a glimpse of the scene. Prince William has told mourners that today is 'going to be horrible for all of us' ahead of the Queen's funeral. Speaking to well-wishers at Sandringham on Thursday, the Prince of Wales, 40, said: 'Monday's going to be horrible for all of us. Then we'll process what's actually happened next week. 'It all feels a bit unreal,' admitted William, who looked at floral tributes and chatted to mourners at the Norfolk estate alongside his wife, The Princess of Wales. He added that it had been a 'busy week, lots going on' when talking to those who had turned out to pay their respects to Her Majesty. Scroll down for video Prince William (pictured) has told mourners that today is 'going to be horrible for all of us' ahead of the Queen's funeral Speaking to well-wishers at Sandringham on Thursday, the Prince of Wales (pictured with Kate), 40, said: 'Monday's going to be horrible for all of us. Then we'll process what's actually happened next week 'It all feels a bit unreal,' admitted William, who looked at floral tributes and chatted to mourners at the Norfolk estate alongside his wife, The Princess of Wales Meanwhile, Kate praised mourners for being 'jolly brave' and added that there had been an 'extraordinary outpouring of love for Her Majesty and the support my family has received'. It comes after the Princess of Wales revealed how her sons are coping with the death of their great-grandmother the Queen. Speaking to Australia's Governor-General at a reception held for Commonwealth dignitaries ahead of the Queen's funeral today, Kate explained four-year-old Louis is asking questions and struggling to understand. David Hurley recalled his conversation with Kate, saying she revealed her eldest son Prince George, nine, is 'sort of now realising how important his great-grandmother was and what is going on'. But four-year-old Louis has been asking whether the family's summertime visit to Balmoral Castle will still be as he remembers them. 'The younger one is now asking questions like, "do you think we can still play these games when we go to Balmoral" and things like that, because she's not going to be there?"' Mr Hurley said. Meanwhile, the Princess of Wales spoke to David Hurley at Buckingham Palace on Saturday about how her three children Prince George, nine, Princess Charlotte, seven, and Prince Louis, four, were handling the sudden loss of their great-grandmother Four-year-old Louis (pictured with the Queen in June) has been asking whether the family's summertime visit to Balmoral Castle will still be as he remembers them 'The younger one is now asking questions like, "do you think we can still play these games when we go to Balmoral and things like that, cause she's not going to be there?"' Mr Hurley said Speaking to well-wishers last week, the Princess of Wales revealed Prince George 'understands the loss' of his great-grandmother - while his younger siblings Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis 'less so'. 'My daughter asked her how the children were doing, and Kate thanked her and said yes, they were doing well and they were being looked after at school, so that was a nice exchange,' one well-wisher shared of her conversation. Prince George and Princess Charlotte will make a surprise appearance at their great-grandmothers funeral today, walking behind her coffin into Westminster Abbey. The Daily Mail understands that the Prince and Princess of Wales thought long and hard about whether their two eldest children, aged nine and seven, should join them. But after George and Charlotte attended their great-grandfathers memorial in March, William and Kate decided they could cope with the solemnity of the occasion. Louis, the couples youngest, is just four and will not be joining. 6.02am: The final members of the public pay their respects at the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Hall today 5.17am: The final members of the public pay their respects at the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Hall today 5.16am: The final members of the public pay their respects at the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Hall today 4.51am: The final members of the public pay their respects at the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Hall today As parents they have, of course, thought long and hard about whether their children should accompany them, a source said. Of course little Louis is too young, but they think George and Charlotte are up to it. It is understood the children will also be in the congregation for the committal service at St Georges Chapel at Windsor this afternoon. A decision is to be taken about whether they feel up to taking part in the procession there, too. George and Charlotte will travel by car to the Abbey with Kate and Camilla, before joining the foot procession as it enters. Before todays state funeral service at 11am, a bell will toll 96 times, reflecting the years of Queen Elizabeths life. The service will, Buckingham Palace said last night, pay tribute to the Queens remarkable reign and lifetime of service as head of state, nation and Commonwealth. It will be conducted by The Very Reverend Dr David Hoyle, Dean of Westminster, with hymns including The Lords My Shepherd and Love Divine. Lessons feature 1 Corinthians 15 20-26, 53-end and John 14 1-9a, with all aspects personally chosen by the Queen. The Queen's grandchildren, including Prince William and Prince Harry, took part in a vigil in Westminster Abbey on Saturday night, pictured A specially commissioned choral piece, Like As The Hart, composed by the Master of The Kings Music, Judith Weir, will be sung by the Choir of Westminster Abbey. The choir will also sing a short anthem, O Taste And See, which was composed by Ralph Vaughan Williams for the Queens Coronation in 1953. The Archbishop of Canterbury will give a reading, while Prime Minister Liz Truss will read the second lesson, with prayers from leading clerics including the Bishop of London and Archbishop of York. Tears are sure to flow at The Last Post and Reveille, as well as the first major public rendition of the National Anthem. A rendition of Sleep, Dearie, Sleep played by the Queens piper will have huge significance to her family. After the service, the bells of Westminster Abbey will be rung, fully muffled, as is the tradition following the sovereigns funeral. The coffin will then continue its last journey through London and out to Windsor. The committal service at St Georges Chapel at 4pm will be smaller and far more personal. And with no cameras present, the Royal Family will gather for a private interment at 7.30pm. Kate Middleton has thanked the public for their 'extraordinary support' following the Queen's death, praising mourners for being 'jolly brave' and 'uniting around the values Her Majesty stood for'. The new Princess of Wales, 40, spoke to well-wishers at Sandringham on Friday ahead of the monarch's funeral today. While shaking hands with royal supporters, she said that 'everyone is being jolly brave' a video shared to TikTok shows. Kate Middleton has thanked the public for their 'extraordinary support' following the Queen's death, praising mourners for being 'jolly brave' and 'uniting around the values Her Majesty stood for' The new Princess of Wales joined her husband Prince William to meet well-wishers at Sandringham last week 'Well done to everybody,' she said. 'Everyone is processing it in different ways. Everyone is being jolly brave'. She added that there's been an 'extraordinary outpouring of love for Her Majesty' adding it's been 'extraordinary' to see support my family has received. 'Everyone is uniting around the values she stood for. The uniting part is so important. 'Hopefully together in remembrance, we can support each other,' she went on. While shaking hands with royal supporters, she said that 'everyone is being jolly brave' a video shared to TikTok shows. The Prince and Princess of Wales look at floral tributes left at Sandringham House for Her Majesty, who died last Thursday at Balmoral, aged 96 The Prince and Princess of Wales were introduced to residents by His Majestys Lord-Lieutenant of Norfolk at a private audience at Sandringham House yesterday. The royal couple were at the residence to view floral tributes left for the Queen and meet with wellwishers ahead of Her Majesty's funeral on Monday. During the visit, Norfolk's Lord-Lieutenant, Lady Dannatt, introduced Kate and Prince William, 40, to people from the area. The Princess of Wales could be seen receiving bouquets of flowers as she greeted royal fans while taking part in the event yesterday Floral tributes were placed at Norwich Gates at Sandringham Estate by members of the public, in memory of late the Queen Today, Kate will join her husband and children George and Charlotte at the funeral for the monarch. 2,000 royals, world leaders, VIPs and hundreds of members of the public will be in the Abbey as millions around the world will watch Her Majesty's state funeral. The first members of the congregation for the Queen's state funeral have arrived at Westminster Abbey. Kate added that there's been an 'extraordinary outpouring of love for Her Majesty' adding it's been 'extraordinary' to see support my family has received The grand oak doors of the UK's most important church - where Her Majesty married Prince Philip and had her coronation - opened at 8am, three hours before the service starts. Amid concerns that London will be 'full' today - and a lack of hotel rooms - scores of people began bedding in to line The Mall in central London over the weekend, despite rules seemingly loosely enforced preventing people from setting up camp. This morning, before dawn, stewards told campers to take down their tents. Huge crowds have also formed in Windsor, where the Queen will be buried this evening. Several who slept in central London overnight said friends and family told them they were mad to carry out the overnight vigil, but insisted they would not miss the occasion. Advertisement Lady Gabriella Windsor cut a solemn figure as she attended a final goodbye to the Queen today. The 41-year-old daughter of Prince Michael of Kent joined thousands of mourners to pay her respects to the late royal, alongside her parents and husband, Thomas Kingston. Dressed in all black, while wearing a knee-length dress and a matching ornate headpiece, the 55th-in-line to the throne teamed the ensemble with a a clutch and formal gloves, opting for minimal jewellery with a pair of pearl earrings. Her father Prince Michael is the Queen's first cousin and a grandson of King George V and Queen Mary. Lady Gabriella Kingston and Thomas Kingston at the Committal Service for Queen Elizabeth II held in St George's Chapel (L-R top row) The Earl of St Andrews, the Countess of St Andrews, Lady Davina Windsor, Senna Kowhai, Thomas Kingston, Lady Gabriella Kingston and Lady Rose Gilman at the Committal Service for Queen Elizabeth II held at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle The coffin of Queen Elizabeth II draped in the Royal Standard with the Imperial State Crown and the Sovereign's orb and sceptre The Queen's cousin (pictured with her husband Thomas) made a solemn appearance as she attended the late monarch's funeral at Westminster Abbey today Lady Gabriella and her husband Thomas Kingston pictured leaving the late Queen's funeral at Westminster Abbey earlier today Lady Gabriella joined thousands of mourners to pay her respects to the late royal, alongside her parents and husband, Thomas Kingston Her father Prince Michael is the Queen's first cousin and a grandson of King George V and Queen Mary. Lady Gabriella is pictured here with her husband The royal appeared to collapse as the Queen's coffin arrived at Westminster Hall ahead of a service last week, but appeared in better stead today. The socialite was seen standing in line with other members of the Royal Family at the intimate service as Her Majesty's coffin was brought inside. However moments later there was a slight commotion and it appears as though Lady Gabriella Windsor might have fainted, according to Hello. Video shows a member of staff rushing over to assist and Mr Kingston turning around to help his wife. Photos taken later in the service show Lady Gabriella missing from the line-up, although she was able to leave the Hall arm-in-arm with her husband. Dressed in all black, while wearing a knee-length dress and a matching ornate headpiece, the 55th-in-line to the throne teamed the ensemble with a a clutch and formal gloves, opting for minimal jewellery with a pair of pearl earrings Lady Gabriella (pictured at the funeral today) was known to have a close relationship with the monarch, who attended her wedding to Thomas in October 2019 The Queen is leaving London after passing Buckingham Palace for the final time followed by her mourning family. Pictured, Lady Gabriella and her husband at the funeral today The Duke of Kent, Prince Edward and Prince Michael of Kent pictured as they arrived at Westminster Abbey ahead of the Queen's funeral today The daughter of Prince Michael of Kent (who is pictured left next to Prince Edward of Kent) paid her respects, joined by her parents and husband, Thomas Kingston The Queen's state funeral today will end with a two-minute national silence in a 'fitting tribute to an extraordinary reign' before she is laid to rest beside her late husband It appeared a member of staff rushed to assist Lady Gabriella, and could be seen apparently moving quickly to get a chair for her to sit on. Despite Lady Gabriella fainting, the service continued without further incident. She wasn't seen again during the service, however she was later photographed leaving hand-in-hand with her husband Thomas. Lady Gabriella was known to have a close relationship with the monarch, who attended her wedding to Thomas in October 2019. King Charles III, Camilla, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward walk behind the Queen's coffin as it is carried out of Westminster Abbey The late monarch's coffin was carried out of the Abbey. At 12.15pm, the procession set off for Wellington Arch at Hyde Park Corner At the time, a photograph of the bride leaning down to chat to the Queen, who was beaming with joy, went viral on social media. The Queen is leaving London after passing Buckingham Palace for the final time followed by her mourning family as her coffin was carried from Westminster Abbey through London after her state funeral on her longest and saddest journey today. Her Majesty will be laid to rest in Windsor next to her beloved husband Prince Philip and her parents after being driven 20 miles from Hyde Park Corner later this afternoon on a day of pomp and poignant symbolism to mark the passing of Britain's longest-reigning monarch. Lady Gabriella later left arm in arm with her husband, pictured, suggesting she was able to quickly recover despite her ordeal inside Westminster Hall last week Thomas Kingston, Gabriella Windsor, Lady Sarah Chatto, Lord Frederick Windsor and Sophie Winkleman left after the service last week Grief had been etched on the faces of King Charles, his siblings and children as well as the huge crowds who swamped The Mall, Whitehall and Parliament Square to bade farewell to the beloved monarch. And applause and a spontaneous three cheers broke out as the Queen's coffin passed the Albert Memorial in Kensington in its way to Windsor. As the hearse drove off flowers were thrown into the road by members of the public watching from behind a fence. Others waved Union flags as the fleet of vehicles drove past. Following the departure of the coffin and the royal family, the bells at Westminster Abbey began to ring out. The muffled peal will continue throughout the afternoon, which only occurs after the funeral of a sovereign. The Queen leaves London for the final time amid moving scenes at Wellington Arch next to Hyde Park Corner In extraordinary and moving scenes, the Queen left London as flowers were thrown at the hearse as she made her way to Windsor The poignant scenes followed an extraordinary and emotional state funeral attended by 2,000 VIPs, royals, prime ministers and several hundred ordinary Britons chosen by the Queen. Outside on the streets and estimated 2million people were there to mourn her passing 11 days ago. After the service, where King Charles appeared to be tearful, her coffin slowly passed through the crowded but silent streets until the cheers began. Members of the Royal Family, including the King, marched poignantly behind, while others including the Princess of Wales and her children George and Charlotte and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, looked on at the crowds as they passed them in vehicles. The King salutes as his mother is taken from a gun carriage and into a hearse The Royal Family lined up in two rows at Wellington Arch - Charles and Camilla at the front with William, Harry and Meghan behind The crowds would later break into applause and cheers after the Queen's coffin passed them and also when Her Majesty circled round the Queen Victoria Memorial outside Buckingham Palace as Big Ben chimed 96 times - one for each year of her life - a mile away. Once the coffin reached the Queen's London home, members of staff at the palace bowed and curtsied both at the coffin and members of the royal family as they made their way past. She was then carried to Wellington Arch, where her hearse was waiting to take her to Windsor and reunite her with her husband to rest in eternal peace. Members of the Royal Family watched on as the bearer party lifted the coffin from the State Gun Carriage and loaded it into the back of the vehicle. Much of the procession party lined up in formation on the green next to the monument and stood in silence during the moving of the coffin. The national anthem then played as the hearse moved away. Wellington Arch - the old entrance to Buckingham Palace - was chosen for the Queen's farewell The coffin of Queen Elizabeth II with the Imperial State Crown resting on top, borne on the State Gun Carriage of the Royal Navy followed by members of the royal family proceeds past Buckingham Palace The funeral procession and coffin proceed along the Mall to Buckingham Palace The funeral procession marches down The Mall following the service at Westminster Abbey, on the day of the state funeral and burial of Britain's Queen Elizabeth. Her children and grandchildren followed with other royals in their cars King Charles, William, Prince of Wales and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, look towards Her Majesty's coffin The Queen is marched towards Buckingham Palace for the last time The funeral procession marches down The Mall following the service at Westminster Abbey The royal family watched on in two rows, with the King, the Queen Consort, the Princess Royal, the Duke of York and the Earl and the Countess of Wessex in the first row. Behind them were the Princess and the Prince of Wales, with Prince Charlotte and Prince George between them and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. The King and the male royals saluted the coffin, except for the Duke of York and the Duke of Sussex, who were not in uniform, while some of the female royals curtseyed. The Queen's coffin, followed by the King, the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Sussex, Duke of York and the Princess Royal, began its procession towards Wellington Arch after it was placed back onto the State Gun Carriage at just after midday. Minute Guns were fired in Hyde Park by The King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery, as Big Ben tolled throughout the duration of the solemn procession through her city. As the Queen's funeral procession moved past the Cenotaph in London, the King, the Prince of Wales, the Princess Royal and the Earl of Wessex saluted the memorial to Britain and the Commonwealth soldiers killed in the First and Second World Wars. Prince Andrew and Prince Harry did not. The State Gun Carriage carries the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard with the Imperial State Crown and the Sovereign's orb and sceptre, in the Ceremonial Procession following her State Funeral The Queen leaves Westminster Abbey for the last time after her state funeral this morning The State Gun Carriage carries the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard with the Imperial State Crown and the Sovereign's orb and sceptre, in the Ceremonial Procession following her State Funeral King Charles III follows the State Gun Carriage carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard with the Imperial State Crown and the Sovereign's orb and sceptre Britain's King Charles, Britain's Anne, Princess Royal, Britain's Prince Andrew, Britain's Prince Edward, Britain's William, Prince of Wales and Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex following the funeral procession outside Westminster Abbey as the Queen heads to Windsor Meghan appeared to wipe away a tear as she left the funeral The Duchess of Sussex, Camilla, the Queen Consort, the Princess of Wales, the Countess of Wessex leave the Abbey. Prince George bites his nails next to his sister Charlotte Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, follows by car the Procession behind the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, Britain's Prince George of Wales looks from a car window in the Procession next to her sister Charlotte The state hearse will join the procession, which will have been formed up and in position, at Shaw Farm Gate before travelling to St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle. The procession will follow the route of Albert Road, Long Walk, Cambridge Gate, Cambridge Drive, George IV Gate, Quadrangle (south and west sides), Engine Court, Norman Arch, Chapel Hill, Parade Ground and Horseshoe Cloister Arch. Just before 4pm, the procession will halt at the bottom of the West Steps of St George's Chapel in Horseshoe Cloister. Here, the bearer party will carry the coffin in procession up the steps into the chapel. The Queen will be interred during a private burial at King George VI Memorial Chapel in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle at 7.30pm. Alongside his sister Lady Louise, the Queen's grandson, 14, has largely grown up away from the limelight Advertisement The Queen's youngest grandson James, Viscount Severn was comforted by Mike Tindall outside Westminster Abbey today as he said farewell to his 'Granny'. The 14-year-old son of the Earl and Countess of Wessex looked sombre as he attending the funeral alongside his family - including his sister Lady Louise, 18. Mike and his cousin-in-law James entered the church for the Queen's state funeral with the rest of Her Majesty's grandchildren, including Princesses Beatrice and her sister Eugenie. Sophie Wessex and Prince Edward's children have shown a maturity far beyond their years as they joined their older cousins in mourning since the Queen died at Balmoral on September 8, aged 96. The Queen 's youngest grandson James, Viscount Severn was comforted by Mike Tindall outside Westminster Abbey today as he said farewell to his 'Granny' The 14-year-old son of the Earl and Countess of Wessex looked sombre as he attending the funeral alongside his family - including his sister Lady Louise, 18 On Saturday, all Queen Elizabeth's grandchildren visited Westminster Hall, where they held a first-of-its-kind vigil to pay tribute to the late monarch. As members of the public filed past Her Majesty's casket to pay their respects, the young royal was seen with his head bowed throughout the service, which lasted for around 10 minutes. The Wessex siblings were able to see a lot more of their grandparents growing up than their older cousins, as they have always lived just 11 miles from Windsor at Bagshot Park. James' parents wanted to give their daughter and son a 'normal' childhood with schoolfriends and extra-curricular activities - and so, they were largely kept out of the limelight throughout their childhood. Mike Tindall comforts his cousin-in-law James and showed his support as they enter the Queen's state funeral together today Lady Louise looked elegant in a respectful black dress and matching headband as she left Westminster Abbey with her brother James after the service The royal siblings later arrived at the Committal Service for the Queen which was held at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle, Berkshire James and his sister Louise looked emotional as they paid their respects to their grandmother during her state funeral on Monday Jack Brooksbank, Princess Eugenie, Princess Beatrice, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, James and Lady Louise Windsor arrived at Westminster Abbey together Walking into the Abbey alongside his sister the siblings pay their respects to Her Majesty the Queen during her state funeral service The 14-year-old son of the Earl and Countess of Wessex opted for a traditional suit when attending the funeral alongside his family The Queen's youngest grandson James, Viscount Severn cut a sombre figure as he said farewell to his 'Granny' at Westminster Abbey today alongside his sister Lady Louise and his cousin Princess Beatrice and Edoardo Mapelli Mozz The Duke of York, the Earl of Wessex, the Countess of Wessex sit in front of their children James and Lady Louise during the State Funeral The siblings take their seats at Westminster Abbey next to their cousin Princess Beatrice and her husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi Members of the royal family (left to right, from front) Arthur Chatto and Daniel Chatto, Mike Tindall and Zara Tindall, Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank , Princess Beatrice and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, Lady Louise Windsor and James, Viscount Severn arriving at the State Funeral of her majesty Members of the royal family looked sombre as they arrived for the funeral service of Her Majesty at Westminster Abbey in London The coffin of Her Majesty, was draped in the Royal Standard with the Imperial State Crown and the Sovereign's Orb and Sceptre, was carried by the Bearer Party the royal family look on James is thought to be a much-loved addition to the party when attending the royal family's annual summer holiday in Balmoral, where he joins in enthusiastically with outdoor activities. But while he's clearly an important member of the Queen's family in private, he's rarely seen on any official engagements with his parents, and wasn't styled as a prince at birth in order 'to avoid some of the burdens of royal titles'. Upon the Earl and Countess of Wessex's marriage in 1999, Buckingham Palace announced that their children would be styled as the offspring of an earl, rather than as a prince of princess. 'It is thought this decision was made to avoid some of the burdens of royal titles,' according to the BBC. Princess Beatrice and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi sat beside Lady Louise Windsor and James for the emotional service for their grandmother The Queen was carried to Westminster Abbey - the scene of her coronation and wedding - for her state funeral on Monday The coffin of Her Majesty, with the Imperial State Crown resting on top, was carried by the Bearer Party into Westminster Abbey past the grave of the Unknown Soldier Kate, Princess of Wales, rested a caring arm on Prince George and his sister Princess Charlotte as they arrived at the Abbey today Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, stands next to King Charles, Anne, Princess Royal, and William, Prince of Wales, as they saluted during the state funeral The Princess of Wales arrived at the Queen's funeral at Westminster Abbey today by car with Prince George, Princess Charlotte and the Queen's Consort Prince Andrew was fighting tears during his mothers state funeral and was pictured very emotional as the Duke of Sussex followed him also looking distressed An emotional Prince Charles arrived in the Abbey after the Queen's coffin was placed by the altar for her state funeral in front of the worlds media The coffin of Queen Elizabeth II with the Imperial State Crown resting on top is carried by the Bearer Party into Westminster Abbey past the grave of the Unknown Soldier His styling as Viscount Severn (one of his fathers subsidiary titles) is believed to have been chosen to acknowledge Sophies Welsh heritage because the name is taken from the River Severn in Wales. The Countess told the Sunday Times in 2020: 'We try to bring them up with the understanding that they are very likely to have to work for a living 'Hence we made the decision not to use HRH titles. They have them and can decide to use them from 18, but its highly unlikely.' She also spoke in 2016 about her attempts to keep her son and daughter out of the public spotlight while they are children. Sophie told the BBC: 'Certainly when they were very young we tried to keep them out of it. Only because for their sakes, to grow up as normally as possible we felt was quite important. 'And theyre going to have to go out and get a job and earn a living later on in life and if theyve had a normal a start in life they possibly can get, then hopefully that will stand them in good stead.' Yet the lack of HRH title hasn't stopped James from being honoured - and a Canadian lake has already been named after him. His father Prince Edward was presented with a pair of framed notices naming two Northwestern Manitoba lakes after his two children during his visit to the Canadian province of Manitoba in 2008, reported the Vancouver Sun. On Saturday, all Queen Elizabeth's grandchildren visited Westminster Hall, where they held a first-of-its-kind vigil to pay tribute to the late monarch (front to back Prince William, Prince of Wales, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Princess Eugenie of York, Princess Beatrice of York, Peter Phillips, Zara Tindall, Lady Louise Windsor, James, Viscount Severn) Prince Harry, Princess Eugenie of York and James held a vigil in honour of Queen Elizabeth at Westminster Hall were her coffin is lying in state James, full name James Alexander Philip Theo, was born at Frimley Park Hospital on 17 December 2007. Prince Edward described his newborn son at the time as 'like most babies, rather small, very cute and very cuddly', reported the BBC. James is currently - following the birth of Princess Beatrice's baby last year - 15th in the line of succession to the British throne. He was eighth in line at the time of his birth, ahead of his older sister Lady Louise. The Succession of the Crown Act made it so that no male offspring now takes precedence over females in the Royal Family. However, the Act was passed in 2013, and only applies to those born after October 28, 2011. As such, James's place in the order of succession remains ahead of Louise and was unchanged following the birth of Zara Tindall's third baby Lucas, last year. This is because while Zara's mother Princess Anne is older than Edward, she was also born before the Act came into force. (L-R, from front) Members of the royal family Arthur Chatto and Samuel Chatto, Mike Tindall and Zara Tindall, Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank, Princess Beatrice and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, Lady Louise Windsor and James, Viscount Severn attend the State Funeral of Her Majesty The royal family look on as the Queen's coffin is carried by the Bearer Party (front row) King Charles III, the Queen Consort, the Princess Royal, Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, the Duke of York, the Earl of Wessex, the Countess of Wessex, the Prince of Wales, Prince George, the Princess of Wales, Princess Charlotte, Peter Phillips, (second row) the Duke of Sussex, the Duchess of Sussex, Princess Beatrice, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi and Lady Louise Windsor, James, Viscount Severn, Jack Brooksbank, Princess Eugenie, Sarah, Duchess of York, the Earl of Snowdon James and Lady Louise walk behind their cousins as they enter Westminster Abbey and walk to their seats behind their parents James spends his summers at the Queens Scottish estate with other members of the royal family and is rather good at flipping burgers and liked to get fully involved whenever there was a family barbecue at Balmoral, claimed a source. The insider also told The Sun in 2019: His enthusiasm for fly fishing delighted Her Majesty because its a sport beloved of Jamess great-granny, the late Queen Mother. James was in the Dee as often as possible, waders up to his armpits. His mother Sophie, who is a keen fisherwoman herself, liked to stand with him. The Balmoral ghillies [gamekeepers] were impressed with both of them. James has also previously been spotted driving a Land Rover in the grounds of Windsor Castle with his mother in the passenger seat. Flowers and bouquets cover the royal hearse as the Queen arrived in Windsor for her burial which will be next to her husband Prince Philip Huge crowds gathered along the streets to pay their respects to the Queen for the final time and throw flowers in her path King Charles looked emotional as he left in a car after the coffin of Queen Elizabeth was transferred to the hearse at Wellington Arch In extraordinary and moving scenes, an estimated 2million well-wishers lined the streets to say farewell to Britain's longest reigning monarch, Elizabeth, with showers of bouquets greeting her hearse as it drove from West London to Berkshire The Queen's coffin left London for the final time to head to Windsor amid moving scenes at Wellington Arch next to Hyde Park Corner King Charles III led his family members - including Princes William and Harry - walking behind the Queen's coffin as it was moved Westminster Hall to Westminster Abbey for the funeral service. Hundreds of thousands of Brits have queued to see the Queen lying in state this week, as the official period of mourning ends today. Well-wishers waited for up to thirty hours to pay tribute as people from around the world sent their condolences to the longest running head of state. Dignitaries from the commonwealth including Australia, New Zealand and Canada joined the Firm in mourning today, as well as monarchs from across Europe and the world. Police have also been granted a no-fly zone order over London on today, which will follow 10 days of mourning. As well as thousands of uniformed Metropolitan Police bobbies drafted into action, plain-clothes officers will also mingle among crowds to monitor any threats. It is expected that other forces will be asked to provide officers under 'mutual aid'. The Queen's Coffin was today carried from Westminster Hall to the State Gun Carriage, and then positioned outside the building's North Door. The procession then went from New Palace Yard through Parliament Square, Broad Sanctuary and the Sanctuary before arriving at Westminster Abbey just before 11am. Advertisement The Queen's granddaughters were supported by their husbands Mike Tindall, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi and Jack Brooksbank as they attended Her Majesty's funeral at Westminster Abbey today. Zara Tindall, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie put on sombre displays as they joined senior royals at the solemn service on Monday. By their sides were their husbands, who have been a constant source of support throughout the mourning period. All three men joined their wives and the senior royals for the service following the procession last week. They also paid a visit to Westminster Hall while the Queen was lying-in-state, joining royals as the Queen's four children stood vigil. The Queen's granddaughters were supported by their husbands Mike Tindall, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi and Jack Brooksbank as they attended Her Majesty's funeral at Westminster Abbey today Zara Tindall (pictured with her husband Mike Tindall), Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie put on sombre displays as they joined senior royals at the solemn service on Monday By their sides were their husbands, who have been a constant source of support throughout the mourning period. All three men joined their wives and the senior royals for the service following the procession last week. Pictured, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, Jack Brooksbank, Lady Louise Windsor, Mike Tindall and Zara Tindall Members of the royal family, from left, from front, Arthur Chatto, Mike Tindall and Zara Tindall, Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank, Princess Beatrice and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, Lady Louise Windsor and James, Viscount Severn Edoardo also released a moving statement in tribute to the Queen, describing how fortunate he felt that his children were able to spend time with their great-grandmother. Edo wrote that he and his wife Beatrice were 'brokenhearted' by the news, adding: 'Incredibly hard to process the last 24 hours. What an incredible woman and extraordinary mark shes left on the entire world. She was the rock on which modern Britain was built. 'Feeling very lucky that our little ones got to spend time with her this summer. Rest in Peace Your Majesty. We will miss you so much.' Mike Tindall, who enjoyed a good relationship with his wife's grandmother, chose to let a picture speak for him, sharing a drawing of a corgi crying over a crown. On Saturday, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie paid a personal tribute to the Queen, saying: 'Goodbye dear Grannie, it has been the honour of our lives to have been your granddaughters and we're so very proud of you.' According to the royal sisters - who posted the tribute on Instagram alongside a sweet photograph of their younger selves with their grandmother - they have 'not been able to put much into words' since the monarch died at Balmoral on September 8, aged 96. Sarah, Duchess of York, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi and Jack Brooksbank at the Queen's funeral today at Westminster Abbey Mike Tindall (pictured with his wife on Monday), who enjoyed a good relationship with his wife's grandmother, chose to let a picture speak for him, sharing a drawing of a corgi crying over a crown Edoardo (pictured with Princess Beatrice) also released a moving statement in tribute to the Queen, describing how fortunate he felt that his children were able to spend time with their great-grandmother The Duke of York's daughters, who are both thought to have shared a close relationship with their grandmother, thanked Her Majesty, saying she would 'never know' the impact she'd had on their lives. They also paid tribute to King Charles, their uncle, writing that they know he 'will continue to lead in your example as he too has dedicated his life to service'. In the statement, Beatrice and Eugenie said: 'Dearest Grannie, We've not been able to put much into words since you left us all. There have been tears and laughter, silences and chatter, hugs and loneliness, and a collective loss for you, our beloved Queen and our beloved Grannie. 'We, like many, thought you'd be here forever. And we all miss you terribly. You were our matriarch, our guide, our loving hand on our backs leading us through this world. You taught us so much and we will cherish those lessons and memories forever. 'For now dear Grannie, all we want to say is thank you. Thank you for making us laugh, for including us, for picking heather and raspberries, for marching soldiers, for our teas, for comfort, for joy. You, being you, will never know the impact you have had on our family and so many people around the world. On Saturday, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie paid a personal tribute to the Queen , saying: 'Goodbye dear Grannie, it has been the honour of our lives to have been your granddaughters and we're so very proud of you.' Pictured left to right: Princess Eugenie, Jack Brooksbank, Mike Tindall and Zara Tindall According to the royal sisters - who posted the tribute on Instagram alongside a sweet photograph of their younger selves with their grandmother - they have 'not been able to put much into words' since the monarch died at Balmoral on September 8, aged 96. Pictured, Zara Tindall and Mike Tindall Jack Brooksbank, Princess Eugenie, Princess Beatrice, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, James, Viscount Severn and Lady Louise Windsor arrive at Westminster Abbey for the State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II Zara Tindall (right), Mike Tindall (centre), Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi (left) and Jack Brooksbank walking behind them 'The world mourns you and the tributes would really make you smile. They are all too true of the remarkable leader you are. 'We're so happy you're back with Grandpa. Goodbye dear Grannie, it has been the honour of our lives to have been your granddaughters and we're so very proud of you. 'We know that dear Uncle Charles, the King, will continue to lead in your example as he too has dedicated his life to service. 'God save the King. With our love, Beatrice and Eugenie.' The two sisters have been seen looking emotional as they've attended public engagements in the wake of Queen Elizabeth's death. Crowds threw roses in front of the Queen's coffin and cheered her for the last time today as she was returned to Windsor Castle to be reunited with her beloved Prince Philip and her parents in the medieval splendor of St George's Chapel. Mike Tindall stands with James, Viscount Severn, 14, and Lady Louise Windsor, 18, ahead of the Queen's funeral service Members of the royal family (left to right, from front) Mike Tindall and Zara Tindall, Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank , Princess Beatrice and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, arriving at the State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II Mike Tindall and Zara Tindall chat with one another while seated in the Westminster Abbey before the Queen's funeral service An estimated 2million people are on the streets of London to say farewell to Britain's longest reigning monarch, Elizabeth II, with very few gaps along the route. King Charles had appeared tearful at his mother's Westminster Abbey state funeral that ended with two minutes of silence, the Last Post and the national anthem. The monarch also looked emotional as he saluted when his mother left Wellington Arch in a hearse this afternoon. On a day of pomp and poignant symbolism, grief was etched on the faces of Charles, his siblings and children as well as the huge crowds who swamped The Mall, Whitehall and Parliament Square to bade farewell to the beloved monarch as her coffin was carried from the Abbey on a gun carriage. Members of the Royal Family, including the King, marched poignantly behind, while others including the Princess of Wales, her children George and Charlotte, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, all looked on at the crowds as they passed them in vehicles. The Queen leaves London for the final time amid moving scenes at Wellington Arch next to Hyde Park Corner The Royal Hearse carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II at Wellington Arch The coffin of Queen Elizabeth II with the Imperial State Crown resting on top, borne on the State Gun Carriage of the Royal Navy followed by members of the royal family proceeds past Buckingham Palace The funeral procession and coffin proceed along the Mall to Buckingham Palace King Charles, William, Prince of Wales and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, look towards Her Majesty's coffin Britain's King Charles, Britain's Anne, Princess Royal, Britain's Prince Andrew, Britain's Prince Edward, Britain's William, Prince of Wales and Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex following the funeral procession outside Westminster Abbey as the Queen heads to Windsor Meghan appeared to wipe away a tear as she left the funeral The Duchess of Sussex, Camilla, the Queen Consort, the Princess of Wales, the Countess of Wessex leave the Abbey. Prince George bites his nails next to his sister Charlotte Kate, George, Charlotte and Sophie Wessex watch as the Queen's coffin leaves the Abbey The poignant scenes followed an extraordinary and emotional state funeral attended by 2,000 VIPs, royals, prime ministers and several hundred ordinary Britons chosen by the Queen, who died 11 days ago. The Archbishop of Canterbury described the Queen as having touched 'a multitude of lives' and having been a 'joyful' figure for many. She was head of state but also a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother and in a personal touch, the wreath adorning her coffin had a handwritten note from the King. The message said: 'In loving and devoted memory.' After the funeral the coffin was borne on a gun carriage in a spectacle not seen for many generations, as hundreds of soldiers, sailors and airmen marched to solemn funeral pieces or lined the route. Behind her coffin were Charles and his siblings - the Princess Royal, Duke of York and Earl of Wessex - who were followed by the monarch's three grandsons, Peter Phillips, Duke of Sussex and Prince of Wales. In a moving gesture, staff from Buckingham Palace stood outside the gates of the royal residence and watched as the late monarch was taken past for the last time. Advertisement Sophie Wessex comforted future king Prince George during the Queens funeral today. The nine-year-old went to the funeral of Her Majesty The Queen alongside his family and walked in front of his sister Charlotte, seven, during the procession to Westminster Abbey. The Countess of Wessex, 57, was spotted putting a hand on Georges shoulder as the youngster watched over proceedings today. Prince Edward's wife, who had an exceptionally close relationship with her mother-in-law, opted for traditional mourning dress as she entered Westminster Abbey today. Sophie and Edward's two children Lady Louise Windsor, 18, and James, Viscount Severn, 14 were also in attendance. Sophie Wessex, 57, comforted heir-to-the-throne Prince George with a hand on his shoulder during the Queens funeral today Prince George and Princess Charlotte joined senior royals at the Queen's funeral today, bypassing thousands of mourners on the streets of London as they travelled to Westminster Abbey with the Queen Consort and the Princess of Wales Sophie (right) looked serious as the family stood outside Westminster Abbey as the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II concluded. Pictured L-R: Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, Queen Consort Camilla, Prince George, Kate, Princess of Wales, Princess Charlotte, Sophie, Countess of Wessex Sophie, Countess of Wessex was seen on The Mall ahead of The State Funeral for Queen Elizabeth II Sophie Wessex wipes a tear from her eye as she watches the Bearer Party transferring the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard, form the State Gun Carriage of the Royal Navy into the State Hearse at Wellington Arch The Countess of Wessex was standing beside her husband Prince Edward, 58, the late Queen's youngest child The Countess of Wessex (front and right) looked down and crossed her hands in front of her body as she stood with other members of the Royal Family in front of the Queen's coffin. Pictured in the front row L-R: King Charles III, Queen Consort Camilla, Princess Anne, Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, Prince Andrew, Prince Edward, Sophie Wessex A guiding hand, the young royals pictured arriving at Westminster Abbey ahead of the funeral Prince George, seated beside the Prince of Wales holds onto his order of service during the funeral for his great grandmother A day in history: Prince George, nine, left, and Princess Charlotte, seven, are pictured travelling by car with the Queen Consort, who waved to crowds, and their mother, the Princess of Wales, to the Queen's funeral at Westminster Abbey today Prince George and Princess Charlotte joined senior royals at the Queen's funeral today, bypassing thousands of mourners on the streets of London as they travelled to Westminster Abbey with the Queen Consort and the Princess of Wales. George, heir-to-the-throne, nine, and his younger sister, seven, who wore a smart black hat with a bow and a horseshoe brooch given to her by the late Queen, first travelled in a royal car with their parents, the Prince and Princess of Wales, before later transferring to a procession car with Kate Middleton and Camilla - with both children appearing to grasp the enormity of the day in spite of their tender years. The Queen's great grandchildren, without their youngest sibling, Louis, four, who did not attend the service, cut solemn figures as they were driven to Westminster Abbey ahead of the Queen's state funeral. Around 2,000 dignitaries, foreign royals and politicians poured into the historic London abbey. A smile for 'Gan-Gan': Princess Charlotte shyly smiles as she stands with her brother and senior royals at Westminster Abbey (Pictured from left: Meghan Markle, Sophie Wessex, Princess Charlotte, Prince George, Kate Middleton) Responsibility: Heads bowed, Prince Charlotte and Prince George walk inbetween the Prince and Princess of Wales as they follow the Queen's coffin into the church Sombre: George and Charlotte sing hymns during the funeral service, each seated beside their mother, the Princess of Wales The Queen's great grandchildren, clearly aware of the enormity of the day, stand quietly by their mother's side before as they await the arrival of their father. To their right, the Duchess of Sussex stands next to them Left: Prince George, 9, looks nervous as he makes his way to his seat inside Westminster Abbey with his mother and sister. Right: Princess Charlotte is seen adjusting her hat. The youngster wore a horseshoe brooch on her mourning coat, which was a gift from her great-grandmother the Queen A family in grief: From left: The Duchess of Sussex, Queen Consort, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, Catherine, Princess of Wales, and Sophie, Countess of Wessex stand outside Westminster Abbey after the state funeral Prince George and his sister Princess Charlotte are shepherded to their seats by their mother the Princess of Wales Her Majesty made her final and saddest journey from Westminster Hall as Britain mourned its longest-serving monarch and the royals bade goodbye to a beloved mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. For George and Charlotte, the Princess of Wales, 40, provided a reassuring presence throughout, tightly holding onto her daughter's hand at the family arrived at Westminster Abbey. Princess Charlotte wore a black mourning coat with velour collar and matching wide-brimmed hat, while George was dressed in a navy blue suit with a black tie. Pictured from above: The Princess of Wales is seen guiding her two children into the Abbey; while Kate Middleton and Princess Charlotte wore traditional black mourning dress, Prince George opted for a navy blue suit with a black tie Prince George and Princess Charlotte were the youngest members of the royal family to accompany the coffin down through the Abbey, (The Prince and Princess of Wales pictured four rows from the back of the central aisle) The Queen's great grandchildren sat in front of their mother, the Princess of Wales and the Queen Consort as they made their way to Westminster Abbey in the claret royal car Prince George casts a glance at the crowds who've turned out to mourn his great grandmother The young heir to the throne en route to a final farewell to his beloved 'Gan-Gan', with his mother and the Queen Consort seated behind him The Princess of Wales cut a pensive figure as she joined her mother-in-law and two of her three children for the short journey - while the King and Prince of Wales marched behind the Queen's coffin Solemnity: The family sat in hushed silence as the car drove past crowds of mourners gathered on London's streets The Princess of Wales is seen walking hand-in-hand with her daughter as the family arrived at Westminster Abbey's hallowed doors ahead of the 11am service Prince George looked mature beyond his years as he accompanied his mother through the gates of the Abbey Prince George is introduced to the clergy leading the Queen's state funeral service; it's thought officials at Buckingham Palace made the decision that the nine-year-old should attend his late great-grandmother's funeral The coffin of Queen Elizabeth II with the Imperial State Crown resting on top is carried by the Bearer Party into Westminster Abbey past the grave of the Unknown Soldier The coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in a Royal Standard and adorned with the Imperial State Crown and the Sovereign's orb and sceptre arrives during the State Funeral Service Once inside, George strode slightly ahead of the Princess of Wales as the family joined Prince William in their pews Earlier, the two children - younger brother Prince Louis, four, was not in attendance today - were seen with their parents, the Prince and Princess of Wales ahead of the Westminster Abbey service The Earl and Countess of Wessex, quietly cried as they bid the Queen farewell during her State Funeral at Westminster Abbey today The late Queen's daughter-in-law struggled to contain her emotions and was seen wiping her tears as she drove away from the funeral service The Countess was seen wiping tears off of her face as she exited Westminster Abbey with the Queen Consort, the Princess of Wales, the Duchess of Sussex and Prince George and Princess Charlotte The couple was visibly distraught during the ceremony and were both seen wiping their tears with handkerchiefs during the difficult moment The countess of Wessex arrived for today's service with Meghan Markle, whose husband Prince Harry travelled with his cousin Peter Phillips Sophie, Countess of Wessex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, were pictured together in the back of a car as they left Westminster Abbey following the state funeral of Her late Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II Queen Consort Camilla led Prince George, Princess Charlotte, Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle and Sophie Wessex out of the gates of Westminster Abbey. Sophie (right) appeared visibly moved The Countess (pictured back right) looked as though she was struggling to contain her emotions as she walked behind other senior members of the Royal Family following the state funeral of Her late Majesty Sophie, Countess of Wessex, looked solemn as she stood outside Westminster Abbey as the Queen's coffin was carried out in front of them following the funeral service. Pictured: Sophie Wessex (right) standing next to the Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton, with Prince George and Princess Charlotte of Wales in front Sophie Wessex (right) bowed her head as the Queen's coffin laid in front of her while Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and Kate, Princess of Wales, looked towards the ground. Meanwhile Queen Consort Camilla remained serious as she looked straight ahead Senior women in the royal family including the Duchess of Sussex, Kate Middleton, Queen Consort Camilla and Sophie Wessex stood outside Westminster Abbey while keeping a watchful eye over the young prince and princess, George and Charlotte Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, Queen Consort Camilla and Sophie, Countess of Wessex stood solemn and serious after they left Westminster Abbey following the state funeral of Her late Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II Sophie Wessex (right) appeared to be keeping a watchful eye over the young Prince George and Princess Charlotte, who looked emotional as they stood outside Westminster Abbey. Pictured L-R: Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, Queen Consort Camilla, Prince George, Kate Middleton, Princess of Wales, Princess Charlotte, Sophie Wessex Sophie Wessex stood outside Westminster Abbey as she looked on at the Queen's coffin. Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie (left) looked on from the steps as Eugenie appeared emotional Sophie and her husband Prince Edward (left) walked ahead of their family members the Prince and Princess of Wales and their children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex as they left Westminster Abbey Sophie looked grave as she stood next to an emotional Earl of Wessex during the ceremony as the royal family sang hymns for the late Queen The somber-looking Countess of Wessex appeared teary-eyed during the ceremony as she looked towards the rest of the congregation Prince George appeared mature beyond his years, appreciating the history of the moment, and waiting patiently as his father Prince William arrived into the Abbey after walking behind the Queen's coffin. The Princess of Wales continued with a series of supportive gestures to her daughter, including guiding her into the Abbey with a gentle hand as the family walked through the oak doors. Earlier, the two children looked on from their claret royal car as Prince William, King Charles and other senior royals marched behind the coffin as it arrived at Westminster Abbey. After they arrived at the iron Abbey gates, senior royals were greeted by members of the clergy leading the state funeral. The Wales are believed to have brought the second-in-line to the throne to the historic event after senior palace advisers them to consider letting him attend the state funeral because of the powerful symbolic message it sends. The moment came after an emotional State Funeral for the Queen in Westminster Abbey this morning Kate Middleton also joined the group alongside her children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte today Queen Consort stood shoulder to shoulder with Countess of Wessex and Meghan Markle outside the Abbey Advertisement The Queen Consort, Princess of Wales, Countess of Wessex and Duchess of Sussex put on a united front outside Westminster Abbey today after the Queen's State Funeral. Camilla, 73, appeared emotional as she stood outside the abbey this afternoon following her late mother-in-law's service, where she was joined by her sister-in-law Sophie, who was openly crying. Meanwhile Kate Middleton stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Camilla, as well as her sister-in-law Meghan Markle, who also appeared to be openly weeping and using her gloved hand to brush tears away. Relationships between the group haven't always been easy - but it appeared today they stood united while watching the Queen's coffin being moved onto a gun carriage, and driven away from the Abbey. It comes after the royal family gathered for a highly emotional service today, packed with 2,000 VIPs including prime ministers, presidents and the Royal Family, which was serene aside from the sound of hymns and prayers in a funeral service Her Majesty had curated herself before she died. Camilla, 73, appeared emotional as she stood outside the abbey this afternoon following her late mother-in-law's service, where she was joined by her sister-in-law Sophie, who was openly crying The Queen Consort, Princess of Wales, Countess of Wessex and Duchess of Sussex put on a united front outside Westminster Abbey today after the Queen's State Funeral Sophie Wessex, Princess Charlotte, Prince George, the Duchess of Cambridge, the Queen consort and the Duchess of Sussex curtsy and bow as the Queen's coffin leaves Westminster Abbey After the service, Camilla lead the women outside the abbey, where they stood on the steps to watch the coffin depart from the service. The Duchess of Sussex stood a little distance behind the Queen Consort, and appeared highly emotional. After the service Meghan stood with other members of the Royal Family as they watched the Queen's coffin being taken away from Westminster Abbey on a gun carriage. At one moment, she appeared to wipe away a tear. It marked the first time the Duchess has shown the extent of her grief for her husband's grandmother in public. Meanwhile Kate gathered her children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, together on the steps of the Abbey, where they watched the coffin leave. The Princess of Wales appeared to fight back tears, with her eyes growing glassy at one point. Next to Kate, the Countess of Wessex was also highly emotional as she wept outside the abbey. The Duchess of Sussex was openly weeping during the state funeral and burial of her husband's grandmother in London today After the service Meghan stood with other members of the Royal Family as they watched the Queen's coffin being taken away from Westminster Abbey on a gun carriage. At one moment, she appeared to wipe away a tear Queen Consort Camilla led Prince George, Princess Charlotte, Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle and Sophie Wessex out of the gates of Westminster Abbey. Sophie (right) appeared visibly moved Sophie, Countess of Wessex, looked solemn as she stood outside Westminster Abbey as the Queen's coffin was carried out in front of them following the funeral service. Pictured: Sophie Wessex (right) standing next to the Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton, with Prince George and Princess Charlotte of Wales in front Sophie (right) looked serious as the family stood outside Westminster Abbey as the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II concluded. Pictured L-R: Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, Queen Consort Camilla, Prince George, Kate, Princess of Wales, Princess Charlotte, Sophie, Countess of Wessex Sophie Wessex (right) bowed her head as the Queen's coffin laid in front of her while Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and Kate, Princess of Wales, looked towards the ground. Meanwhile Queen Consort Camilla remained serious as she looked straight ahead An aerial shot of the royals standing outside Westminster Abbey shows Sophie, Countess of Wessex, comforting Prince George, nine, who became emotional at the funeral of his great-grandmother Senior women in the royal family including the Duchess of Sussex, Kate Middleton, Queen Consort Camilla and Sophie Wessex stood outside Westminster Abbey while keeping a watchful eye over the young prince and princess, George and Charlotte But she managed to put her own feelings and grief to one side, as she comforted Prince George, nine, who became emotional at the funeral of his great-grandmother. The Countess of Wessex has been a constant presence since the death of the Queen, making a number of appearances to thank well-wishers across the country. It has been reported that Sophie will also inherit a number of patronages held by Her Majesty. She is also likely to become the Duchess of Edinburgh - a title previously held by the Queen - when her husband inherits his father's title as Duke of Edinburgh. She will also inherit a number of patronages held by Her Majesty. She is also likely to become the Duchess of Edinburgh - a title previously held by the Queen - when her husband inherits his father's title as Duke of Edinburgh. It will be seen as a reflection of both the close relationship the two women shared, and of the increasingly senior role she holds within the Royal Family. Sophie, who has been described as 'the royal peacemaker' shared a car with Meghan, travelling behind members of the royal family walking on foot. Yesterday, The Princess of Wales was the picture of compassion as she chatted with sorrowful dignitaries from the Commonwealth during a special lunch at Buckingham Palace, with the help of the new King, Queen Consort, Prince of Wales, Earl of Wessex and Princess Royal. Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, Queen Consort Camilla and Sophie, Countess of Wessex stood solemn and serious after they left Westminster Abbey following the state funeral of Her late Majesty, Queen Elizabeth The Royal women: Sophie Wessex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, crossed their hands in front of their bodies as they stood outside Westminster Abbey Sophie Wessex (right) appeared to be keeping a watchful eye over the young Prince George and Princess Charlotte, who looked emotional as they stood outside Westminster Abbey. Pictured L-R: Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, Queen Consort Camilla, Prince George, Kate Middleton, Princess of Wales, Princess Charlotte, Sophie Wessex Sophie Wessex stood outside Westminster Abbey as she looked on at the Queen's coffin. Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie (left) looked on from the steps as Eugenie appeared emotional Kate, who donned a black ankle-length dress and wore her hair down, was pictured smiling at Camilla, who was holding a drink with a slice of lemon in it, as the pair chatted. But todays appearance from the group marks one of the first time the senior royals have been united with Meghan since Megxit in 2020. Harry and Meghan sensationally quit frontline duties two years ago to strike out on their own in California and then levied a series of bombshell allegations against The Firm. And yesterday, a friend of the couple claimed the decision to exclude Prince Harry and Meghan from last night's 'reception of the century' at Buckingham Palace is 'beyond bonkers'. A friend of the couple claims that the Sussexes will feel 'excluded' after they were apparently 'uninvited' to a state event for 1,000 world leaders and foreign royals attending the Queen's funeral tomorrow. Meghan and Harry are sitting on the second row, directly behind King Charles III, the Queen Consort and Princess Anne Meghan and Harry singing during today's funeral service. Next to them were Princess Beatrice and her husband, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi Britain's King Charles III, Britain's Camilla, Queen Consort, Britain's Princess Anne, Princess Royal, Vice Admiral Timothy Laurence, Britain's Prince Andrew, Duke of York, Britain's Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, Britain's Sophie, Countess of Wessex, Britain's Prince William, Prince of Wales, Britain's Catherine, Princess of Wales, Peter Phillips, Zara Tindall and her husband Mike Tindall It is thought Prince Harry and his wife Meghan received an invitation to the event, hosted by King Charles and the Queen Consort. But it is believed the couple didn't attend after officials at Buckingham Palace insisted the reception was for working royals only. A friend of the Sussexes told The Sunday Times: 'It is beyond bonkers if they're not there. Everyone is coming in from around the world to pay their respects to the Queen.' The confusion over Harry and Meghan's invitation points to issues with communication between the Californian-based couple and the Royal Family, according to the Daily Telegraph. It follows an apparent U-turn over Harry's right to wear military uniform despite being a non-working royal. Prince Harry has reportedly been left 'devastated' and after the Queen's 'ER' initials were removed from the shoulder of his military uniform as he held vigil by her coffin last night - after Prince Andrew was allowed to keep the royal cypher. The source said today that the flip-flopping over uniform and the Buckingham Palace reception could make him feel as if 'the majority of the operation is against you. It's hard nobody likes to feel like they're being excluded.' Meghan walking down the nave of Westminster Abbey during a royal procession behind the Queen's coffin this morning Meghan stood alongside the three Cambridges for several moments before taking a seat at the funeral next to Prince Harry Prince George, the Duchess of Cambridge, Princess Charlotte and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, in Westminster Abbey today King Charles III and members of the royal family follow behind the coffin The coffin is placed near the altar inside Westminster Abbey, next to her grieving family The Duke of York, the Earl of Wessex, the Countess of Wessex James, Viscount Severn and Lady Louise Windsor George, Kate and Charlotte sing hymns in the Queen's memory Prince of Wales (C) attends with Britain's Catherine, Princess of Wales (R) and Britain's Sophie, Countess of Wessex The Prince of Wales and Prince George sat alongside one another at the funeral The Queen's final journey down the aisle of Westminster Abbey Mourners were surprised today by an extraordinarily tall man in the procession ahead of the Queen's coffin. Royal watchers were quick to spot Matthew Magee, who is 7"2 and was private secretary to Her Majesty for four years. Well-wishers online even dubbed the Northern Irish aide the 'Royal Slenderman' as cameras panned to Mr Magee who would have dwarfed the monarch who was only 5ft 3in. It also means the Queen's page 'Tall Paul' Whybrew, who is 6"4, has been beaten in terms of height by another member of Royal staff. People were surprised at the height of Matthew Magee, who is 7"2 and was private secretary to Her Majesty for four years Mr Magee joined the Queen's team after Samantha Cohen left as assistant private secretary in 2018 Social media users dubbed him the 'royal Slenderman'. Slenderman is a horror video game character (pictured) who is tall with thin arms and legs (File image) One person said: 'Who is this insanely tall man? Is this the royal Slenderman?' Slenderman is a horror video game character who is tall with thin arms and legs. Another person on social media added: 'Anyone know who the exceedingly tall man is?' A third added: 'I can't stop paying attention to the incredibly tall man walking in front of the vehicle carrying the queens coffin. He was previously Prince Edward, the Duke of Kent's private secretary but was reportedly picked to work for Her Majesty as he has a 'brilliant brain' and is a 'smashing guy with a great sense of humour' The Queen has had a number of tall aides, with Paul Whybrew, her page nicknamed Tall Paul, also notable for his 6"4 height (pictured during the procession of the coffin of the Queen from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall last week) Tall Paul appeared alongside Her Majesty and Daniel Craig's 007 in a James Bond skit for the 2012 Olympics 'Did they bring in the tallest man in the world for the occasion?' Mr Magee joined the Queen's team after Samantha Cohen left as assistant private secretary in 2018. He was previously Prince Edward, the Duke of Kent's private secretary but was reportedly picked to work for Her Majesty because he has a 'brilliant brain' and is a 'smashing guy with a great sense of humour'. Social media users were quick to point out he had been pipped as tallest man to work for the Queen.Even TV personality Richard Osman had his say. He Tweeted: 'If ever I'm trending it's because another tall man with glasses is on TV somewhere' The Queen has had a number of tall aides, with Paul Whybrew, her page nicknamed Tall Paul, also notable for his 6"4 height. Mr Whybrew was alongside Her Majesty during her last few days after she suffered from mobility issues. Social media users were quick to point out he had been pipped as tallest man to work for the Queen. Twitter user John Moriarty said Massive Matthew Tall Paul 'look titch', while another user joked Mr Magee should be known as 'Mahoosive Matthew'. Even TV personality Richard Osman had his say. He Tweeted: 'If ever I'm trending it's because another tall man with glasses is on TV somewhere.' Advertisement The Duke of Sussex and Princess Charlotte were seen sharing a sweet moment during the Queen's committal service at St George's Chapel in Windsor this afternoon. Her Majesty returned home to Windsor to be reunited for eternity with her husband, father, mother and sister in the crypt at St George's Chapel at the end of a short service, which followed her funeral at Westminster Abbey earlier today. During the committal service, which ended with Her Majesty's coffin being lowered into the chapel's vault, the Dean of Windsor gave a bidding. While he spoke, Princess Charlotte, seven, who was seated between her mother the Princess of Wales, 40, and her uncle the Duke of Sussex, 37, was seen adjusting her hat. After rearranging her headgear, she looked over at her uncle, who briefly looked up and caught her eye, before smiling at her. Prince Harry, 37, who was seated next to his niece Princess Charlotte, seven, caught the young royal's eye at one point during the committal service (pictured) The pair caught each other's eye after the younger royal, Princess Charlotte (pictured, centre left) moved to adjust her hat Princess Charlotte (centre) was seated between her mother, the Princess of Wales, and her uncle, the Duke of Sussex during the committal service today Meanwhile, her brother Prince George (right) was seated next to his father, the Prince of Wales, (far right) with whom he shared a glance during the short service The royals took to George's Chapel for the committal service (pictured) which followed the Queen's funeral at Westminster Abbey earlier today At the end of the service, the Royal Family stood as the Queen was slowly lowered down into the royal vault while the Dean of Windsor said: 'Go forth upon thy journey from this world, O Christian soul.' He also offered the commendation - a prayer in which the deceased is entrusted to God's mercy. Moments earlier the Dean had placed her crown and other crown jewels on the altar before the Queen's staff of office was snapped - signifying the severing of the Queen from her service in death. The Garter King of Arms then pronounced the styles and titles of the Queen as all power moved to her son, the King. Charles looked deeply moved as the coffin was lowered - on a day where he appeared tearful on a number of occasions as he said goodbye to his mother, the 12th British monarch to be buried at Windsor. Her Majesty's long journey to her final resting place - and to be reunited with the Duke of Edinburgh - began in Balmoral on the day of her death 11 days ago and will end with her private interment at the castle's St George's Chapel this evening where the King will scatter earth on his mother's coffin at 7.30pm at a private family service. Britain's longest reigning monarch had been carried into the historic church followed by Charles III, her children and grandchildren including Prince Harry and Prince William. St George's was where the Queen had sat alone during the funeral of Prince Philip last year - in one of the most poignant images of the pandemic - and it was where she had loved to worship for so many years when at Windsor. The Queen is laid to rest for eternity in St George's Chapel as her coffin is lowered into the royal vault following her state funeral at Westminster Abbey The Crown Jewels were poignantly removed from the casket to show that the Queen's reign was at an end The King looks moved as her mother is finally laid to rest during the service of committal The Sussexes and the Wales' sing as Her Majesty the Queen had her symbols of monarchy removed along with her titles The coffin of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II rests in George's Chapel, Windsor The Crown Jeweller, left, removes the Imperial State Crown from the coffin of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II as she enters the royal crypt as a 'simple Christian soul' The Lord Chamberlain breaks his Wand of Office in a symbolic moment when power transferred from the Queen The Royal Family and European royals watch as the coffin is carried towards the altar The coffin of Queen Elizabeth II is carried into St George's Chapel along the centre aisle of the nave to the catafalque Lena Tindall, Zara Tindall, Mia Tindall, the Duchess of Sussex, the Duke of Sussex, Princess Charlotte, the Princess of Wales, Prince George, and the Prince of Wales, stand for the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard with the Imperial State Crown and the Sovereign's orb and sceptre Princess Charlotte, the Princess of Wales, Prince George, and the Prince of Wales as they say goodbye to the Queen Charles, Camilla, Princess Anne and Prince Edward sat together in the service King Charles takes his seat with his family after following the coffin Prince Charles arrives at St George's Chapel with the Queen Consort as he prepares to lay his mother to rest William, Kate, George and Charlotte stand aside and direct Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, to their seats Queen Elizabeth II body is carried as her family including Charles III and Prince William (left) watch on Pall bearers carry the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II into St. George's Chapel The choir sings solemnly as the Queen makes her final and saddest journey today The Queen arrives at St George's Chapel, Windsor, where she will be laid to rest Prince Harry and Prince William, left, follow the hearse with the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II moving towards St. George's Chapel King Charles III, Anne, Princess Royal, Prince William, Prince of Wales, Prince Andrew, Duke of York, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex arrive at St. George's Chapel for the Committal Service behind the Queen's coffin The Princess of Wales, Prince George and Princess Charlotte arrive at the Committal Service Members of the Royal Family gradually left St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle following the committal service for the Queen. The Prince and Princess of Wales left the chapel by car with their children Prince George and Princess Charlotte. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex departed separately shortly after. The Dean of Windsor, the Rev David Conner, gave a reading from Revelation 21.1-7 during the service. The same passage was read at the funerals of the Queen's father King George VI in 1952 and her grandparents, King George V in 1936, and Queen Mary in 1953. The reading ends with: 'I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.' In a touching gesture the late Queen's two faithful friends, her corgis Muick and Sandy, were waiting for her when the flower-covered hearse arrived. The King, the Princess Royal, the Duke of York, the Earl of Wessex, the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Sussex were among those who met the coffin as it arrived at the castle after a procession along Windsor's packed Long Walk. Minute Guns were fired by The King's Troop to signal the monarch is home as the hearse approached the West Steps of St George's Chapel. The Castle's Sebastopol bell rang - something that only happens when a British monarch dies - as the State Hearse ended its journey to the sound of bagpipes. Mourners watch the State Hearse of Queen Elizabeth II as it drives along the Long Walk ahead of the Committal Service for Queen Elizabeth II The Queen's coffin head along The Long Walk to Windsor Castle ahead of her burial Tens of thousands of people lined The Long Walk and applauded as the flower-covered hearse carrying the late sovereign's coffin slowly processed towards her Berkshire castle, where she spent most of her final years before her death - including lockdown with Prince Philip. Giving the Bidding, the Dean of Windsor, said: 'We have come together to commit into the hands of God the soul of his servant Queen Elizabeth. 'Here, in St George's Chapel, where she so often worshipped, we are bound to call to mind someone whose uncomplicated yet profound Christian Faith bore so much fruit. Fruit, in a life of unstinting service to the Nation, the Commonwealth and the wider world, but also (and especially to be remembered in this place) in kindness, concern and reassuring care for her family and friends and neighbours.' Referring to a 'rapidly changing and frequently troubled world', the Dean praised the late Queen's 'calm and dignified presence'. He said the monarch's disposition 'has given us confidence to face the future, as she did, with courage and with hope'. Concluding the Bidding, he said: 'As, with grateful hearts, we reflect on these and all the many other ways in which her long life has been a blessing to us, we pray that God will give us grace to honour her memory by following her example, and that, with our sister Elizabeth, at the last, we shall know the joys of life eternal.' Thousands of people fell silent, held their phones aloft and waved flags as the Queen's coffin passed along the Long Walk towards St George's Chapel. The crowd was so dense that those at the back could only view the procession through their phones held high on selfie sticks. Children sat on their parents' shoulders and some clapped as the procession passed by. Members of the congregation include the late monarch's nearest and dearest, her household staff past and present, and foreign royal families. The Queen heads towards Windsor Castle where she will be reunited with Prince Philip Flowers and bouquets cover the royal hearse as the Queen arrives in Windsor A wreath from Number 10, signed by Prime Minister Liz Truss, sits close to the door of the chapel, and says: 'For a lifetime of devotion and duty we offer our deep and sincere gratitude.' Flowers of all kinds cover the area around the chapel, from bouquets of red roses to pink lilies to potted plants to wreaths from foreign royals. Inside one of the main entrances to the chapel, a floral arrangement of white blossoms sits in full bloom. Among the flowers in the chapel were lilies, dahlias, roses, and greenery including Eucalyptus and other greenery picked from Home Park. The service, with a strong thread of tradition running throughout, was discussed with the Queen over a number of years and all the prayers and hymns were chosen by her - apart from one. The Queen left one hymn to be chosen at the time, and after a discussion between the King and the Dean of Windsor David Conner, the hymn chosen was Westminster Abbey adapted from the Alleluyas in Purcell's O God, Thou art my God. Earlier mourners in Windsor were asked not to throw flowers at the hearse carrying the Queen's coffin and have instead been told to leave their bouquets by the 'grass moat' near Windsor castle. Security officials and event organisers have said that the flowers may spook horses, raise safety concerns, become a tripping hazard and be difficult clean up if they're pressed into the ground. After the final public element of her funeral, Her Majesty will be buried with her late husband Prince Philip in the King George VI Memorial Chapel. A private burial service, attended by the King and other members of the royal family, will take place this evening. This afternoon the royal family will bid farewell to their beloved matriarch in the gothic chapel on the grounds of Windsor Castle in a service attended by around 800 people. Silence fell among crowds of mourners as the state hearse carrying the Queen's coffin turned into the Long Walk in the final stretch of her journey. The crowds, made up of people of all ages, who flanked the Long Walk, fell quiet as the sound of drummers in the procession grew louder. Children were lifted on adults' shoulders and camera phones were raised in the air as people struggled to get a glimpse of the scene. The Queen's beloved corgis Muick and Sandy and one of her favourite ever horses made a special poignant appearance at Windsor during the procession. The young dogs - one on a red lead and one on a blue lead - were brought out into the quadrangle by two pages in red tailcoats for the arrival of the Queen's coffin. Emma, the Queen's Fell Pony, had greeted the procession, standing on grass in a gap in the floral tributes along the Long Walk in honour of her late owner. The hearse makes its way to Windsor Castle, on the day of the state funeral and burial of Britain's Queen Elizabeth The Ceremonial Procession of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II travels down the Long Walk The Ceremonial Procession of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II travels down the Long Walk as it arrives at Windsor Castle Soldiers bow as the Queen approaches in her hearse Brass bands from the Household Cavalry and pipers played on the Queen's final, saddest journey Extraordinary scenes in Windsor today as the Queen arrives to be laid to rest The Queen will be buried with her late husband Prince Philip in the King George VI Memorial Chapel, where they will rest together for eternity The Queen's favourite horse - Emma - waits for the monarch to arrive rincess Beatrice, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, Sarah, Duchess of York, Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank at the Committal Service for Queen Elizabeth II Savannah Phillips and Zara Tindall (back) and Ilsa Phillips, Lena Tindall and Mike Tindall arrive at the Committal Service for Queen Elizabeth II held at St George's Chapel Queen Sofia of Spain (bottom), King Felipe of Spain (second bottom), King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands (third from top) and King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden (standing) at the Committal Service Sarah, Duchess of York arrives at St. George's Chapel Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, his wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau and other guests arrive at St George's Chapel Queen Elizabeth II's body arrives at her beloved Windsor 800 guests including most of Europe's royals arrive at St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle The royal corgis await the cortege of their owner on the day of the state funeral and burial of Britain's Queen Elizabeth The Queen's funeral procession passing through Runnymede with the streets lined with people watching the procession and throwing flowers Huge crowds cheer the Queen and throw flowers in her path In extraordinary and moving scenes, an estimated 2million well-wishers lined the streets to say farewell to Britain's longest reigning monarch, Elizabeth II, with showers of bouquets greeting her hearse as it drove from West London to Berkshire In extraordinary and moving scenes, the Queen left London as flowers were thrown at the hearse as she made her way to Windsor People watch as Britain's Queen Elizabeth's coffin passes through west London A person holds a rose to throw, as Britain's Queen Elizabeth's coffin is transported, on the day of her state funeral and burial Queen Elizabeth II journey from Wellington Arch in London to Windsor was lined by thousands of people King Charles III leaves in a car after the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II was transferred to the hearse at Wellington Arch Much of the service will have a feel of looking back, repeating what has gone before, a feeling of coming full circle, with perhaps a sense of the consistency and constancy which the Queen will forever be remembered for. Prior to the final hymn, the Imperial State Crown, the Orb and the Sceptre will be removed from the coffin by the Crown Jeweller and, with the Bargemaster and Serjeants-at-Arms, will be passed to the Dean who will place them on the altar. The removal of the crown from the coffin to the altar is poignant, because in 1953 the crown was taken from the altar in Westminster Abbey and placed on the Queen's head, marking the start of a 70-year reign. At the end of the final hymn, the King will place The Queen's Company Camp Colour of the Grenadier Guards on the coffin. At the same time, The Lord Chamberlain will 'break' his Wand of Office and place it on the coffin. This is to create a symmetry with the three Instruments of State that have been removed. The coffin, which will be placed on a catafalque draped in purple velvet will be slowly lowered down into the royal vault as the Dean of Windsor says: 'Go forth upon thy journey from this world, O Christian soul.' The Sovereign's Piper will play a lament, A Salute to the Royal Fendersmith, from the doorway between the Chapel and the Dean's Cloister during which he will walk slowly towards the Deanery in the Cloister so that the music inside the Chapel gradually fades. During the service, the King will sit in the seat which was occupied by the Queen when she came to the chapel, positioned closest to the altar. Tradition will run through the service in its music as it will feature several pieces that were also heard at the Duke of Edinburgh's funeral and other major royal events. JS Bach's Schmucke Dich, O Liebe Seele - Adorn Yourself, O Dear Soul - (BWV 654) a piece for organ, will be played with a number of others as the mourners wait for the service to begin. Another will be Vaughan Williams' Rhosymedre, a firm favourite with the royal family with the music being performed at the wedding of Diana, Princess of Wales and Charles, and at Philip's funeral. Nimrod by Sir Edward Elgar was heard at the Queen's coronation in 1953 and will also be played before the committal begins. Lord Sentamu, the former Archbishop of York, was reportedly part of the team which helped devise the original order of service for the Queen's state funeral. The cleric told BBC News the Queen knew the psalms by heart and Psalm 121 - also featured at the Queen Mother's Funeral in 2002 - will be sung at her committal. The service will end with Bach's Prelude and Fugue in C Minor (BWV 546) played after the national anthem, which was also heard at the end of Philip's funeral. Prayers will be said by the Rector of Sandringham, the Minister of Crathie Kirk and the Chaplain of Windsor Great Park, and by the Dean of Windsor. The Choir of St George's Chapel - made up of 11 men, one woman and 13 boys - will sing during the service and will be conducted by James Vivian, director of music, and the organ will be played by Luke Bond, assistant director of music. Much of the music at the service has been composed by Sir William Harris, who served as the organist at St George's Chapel between 1933 and 1961, taking in much of the Queen's childhood. The young Princess Elizabeth would often visit the organ loft to watch Sir William play, and it is believed he taught her to play the piano. The Dean of Windsor's bidding, which was written after the Queen's death, includes the words: 'Here, in St George's Chapel, where she so often worshipped, we are bound to call to mind someone whose uncomplicated yet profound Christian faith bore so much fruit. 'Fruit, in a life of unstinting service to the Nation, the Commonwealth and the wider world, but also (and especially to be remembered in this place) in kindness, concern and reassuring care for her family and friends and neighbours. 'In the midst of our rapidly changing and frequently troubled world, her calm and dignified presence has given us confidence to face the future, as she did, with courage and with hope.' The Queen leaves London for the final time amid moving scenes at Wellington Arch next to Hyde Park Corner The Royal Hearse carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II at Wellington Arch The King salutes as his mother is taken from a gun carriage and into a hearse The Royal Family lined up in two rows at Wellington Arch - Charles and Camilla at the front with William, Harry and Meghan behind Wellington Arch - the old entrance to Buckingham Palace - was chosen for the Queen's farewell Crowds threw roses in front of the Queen's coffin and cheered her for the last time today as she was returned to Windsor Castle to be reunited with her beloved Prince Philip and her parents in the medieval splendour of St George's Chapel. In extraordinary and moving scenes, an estimated 2million well-wishers lined the streets to say farewell to Britain's longest reigning monarch, Elizabeth II, with showers of bouquets greeting her hearse as it drove from West London to Berkshire. King Charles had appeared tearful at his mother's Westminster Abbey state funeral that ended with two minutes of silence, the Last Post and the national anthem. The monarch also looked emotional as he saluted when his mother left Wellington Arch in a hearse this afternoon. On a day of pomp and poignant symbolism, grief was etched on the faces of Charles, his siblings and children as well as the huge crowds who swamped The Mall, Whitehall and Parliament Square to bade farewell to the beloved monarch as her coffin was carried from the Abbey on a gun carriage. Members of the Royal Family, including the King, marched poignantly behind, while others including the Princess of Wales, her children George and Charlotte, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, all looked on at the crowds as they passed them in vehicles. The poignant scenes followed an extraordinary and emotional state funeral attended by 2,000 VIPs, royals, prime ministers and several hundred ordinary Britons chosen by the Queen, who died 11 days ago. The Archbishop of Canterbury described the Queen as having touched 'a multitude of lives' and having been a 'joyful' figure for many. She was head of state but also a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother and in a personal touch, the wreath adorning her coffin had a handwritten note from the King. The message said: 'In loving and devoted memory.' Advertisement Kate Middleton allowed her children Prince George and Princess Charlotte to have a last-minute extra role in the funeral of their beloved 'Gan Gan' as they walked behind her coffin. After the children attended Her late Majesty's funeral at Westminster Abbey in London, they travelled with their mother Kate Middleton, Princess of Wales, to St George's Chapel in Windsor for a Committal Service, where the Queen was laid to rest. Many royal fans expected Prince George, nine, and Princess Charlotte, seven, not to have a role in the Committal Service, however they were pictured walking into the Chapel behind Her Majesty's coffin. Prince George (right) and Princess Charlotte (centre) seen at Wellington Arch where the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II was transferred into the hearse before a final trip to Windsor The children stand between Kate Middleton and Queen Consort Camilla as the coffin of the late Queen arrives at Wellington Arch The young royals, seven and nine, followed the procession behind the Queen's coffin as it entered St George's Chapel in what appeared to be an unplanned change to the order of service The children's inclusion in the service appears to be a last-minute decision from their parents Kate Middleton and Prince William, The Mirror reports. It was difficult to spot the miniature royals as they walked behind the adult members of the Royal Family before the Committal Service, but the young Prince and Princess dutifully followed their great-grandmother's coffin as it was led into the chapel. Earlier today Prince George and Princess Charlotte of Wales stood in the front row at Westminster Abbey as they sang hymns while standing with their parents at the state funeral of Her late Majesty. The Princess of Wales, 40, provided a reassuring presence throughout, tightly holding onto her daughter's hand at the family arrived at Westminster Abbey - and offering a pat on the knee to her eldest son as the family were seated ahead of the service. At one stage, Prince William offered to offer Prince George a comforting look during the service this afternoon in Windsor The Wales family were sitting alongside the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, as well as Peter Philips and Zara Tindall) today in St George's Chapel Sibling unity: The young royals were inseparable throughout the day and were barely seen away from each other's sides. Pictured here at Wellington Arch following the funeral service at Westminster Abbey Princess Charlotte and Prince George were sitting alongside their parents the Prince and Princess of Wales, as well as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex this afternoon The Princess of Wales, Prince George and Princess Charlotte arrive at the Committal Service for the Queen held at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle, Berkshire Sibling love: The pair were seen walking side by side into Windsor Castle, the final resting place of their precious great-grandmother Prince George and Charlotte joined their mother Kate as they left the vehicles to enter St George's Chapel for the service this afternoon Riding together: The children were accompanied in their car by their mother, the Princess of Wales, and Camilla, the Queen Consort The children could be seen looking out the window as they were driven from London to Windsor this afternoon between the two services Princess Charlotte wore a black mourning coat with velour collar and matching wide-brimmed hat, while George was dressed in a navy blue suit with a black tie. On Charlotte's coat was a sweet tribute to her Gan-Gan, as she wore a horseshoe brooch that had been given to her by the late Queen. Prince George appeared to become emotional as he was pictured wiping his eyes outside Westminster Abbey, while his younger sister put on a brave face. Princess Charlotte was often seen holding her mother's hand, with Princess George watching on at his beloved 'Gan-Gan's' funeral Charlotte of Wales - her new title - stands next to Prince George of Wales at Wellington Arch after the State Funeral of the Queen - their beloved great-grandmother The foursome travelled in the car at several points throughout the long day, which began at 11am with the Queen's funeral service in Westminster Abbey The foursome travelled in the car at several points throughout the long day, which began at 11am with the Queen's funeral service in Westminster Abbey A day in history: Prince George, nine, left, and Princess Charlotte, seven, are pictured travelling by car with the Queen Consort, who waved to crowds, and their mother, the Princess of Wales, to the Queen's funeral at Westminster Abbey today The brother and sister look out across London's historic streets, with the Queen Consort seated behind them, as thousands of mourners line the streets The Queen's great grandchildren, clearly aware of the enormity of the day, stand quietly by their mother's side before as they await the arrival of their father. To their right, the Duchess of Sussex stands next to them The Princess of Wales is seen walking hand-in-hand with her daughter as the family arrived at Westminster Abbey's hallowed doors ahead of the 11am service Prince George and his sister Princess Charlotte are shepherded to their seats by their mother the Princess of Wales Arrival: The new Princess of Wales and her daughter exit the royal car at Westminster Abbey; the senior royal gently guides the seven-year-old in the right direction A smile for 'Gan-Gan': Princess Charlotte shyly smiles as she stands with her brother and senior royals at Westminster Abbey (Pictured from left: Meghan Markle, Sophie Wessex, Princess Charlotte, Prince George, Kate Middleton) A guiding hand, the young royals pictured arriving at Westminster Abbey ahead of the funeral Princess Charlotte stares out of the window from the royal car that carried herself and her older brother to Westminster Abbey Prince George, seated beside the Prince of Wales holds onto his order of service during the funeral for his great grandmother Prince George, seated beside the Prince of Wales holds onto his order of service during the funeral for his great grandmother Three generations: Prince George walks next to his father, as Prince Harry and Prince Edward walk ahead and behind Responsibility: Heads bowed, Prince Charlotte and Prince George walk inbetween the Prince and Princess of Wales as they follow the Queen's coffin into the church Sombre: George and Charlotte sing hymns during the funeral service, each seated beside their mother, the Princess of Wales A family in grief: From left: The Duchess of Sussex, Queen Consort, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, Catherine, Princess of Wales, and Sophie, Countess of Wessex stand outside Westminster Abbey after the state funeral Princess Charlotte is seen adjusting her hat; the youngster wore a horseshoe brooch on her mourning coat, which was a gift from her great-grandmother the Queen. Right: Princess Charlotte is seen adjusting her hat; the youngster wore a horseshoe brooch on her mourning coat, which was a gift from her great-grandmother the Queen Pictured from above: The Princess of Wales is seen guiding her two children into the Abbey; while Kate Middleton and Princess Charlotte wore traditional black mourning dress, Prince George opted for a navy blue suit with a black tie Prince George and Princess Charlotte were the youngest members of the royal family to accompany the coffin down through the Abbey, (The Prince and Princess of Wales pictured four rows from the back of the central aisle) The Queen's great grandchildren sat in front of their mother, the Princess of Wales and the Queen Consort as they made their way to Westminster Abbey in the claret royal car Prince George casts a glance at the crowds who've turned out to mourn his great grandmother The young heir to the throne en route to a final farewell to his beloved 'Gan-Gan', with his mother and the Queen Consort seated behind him The Princess of Wales cut a pensive figure as she joined her mother-in-law and two of her three children for the short journey - while the King and Prince of Wales marched behind the Queen's coffin Solemnity: The family sat in hushed silence as the car drove past crowds of mourners gathered on London's streets The family pictured walking into the Abbey, bypassing royal guards in traditional uniform, ahead of the state funeral A supportive hand: Kate Middleton touches her daughter's shoulder as the family make their way to their seats A supportive hand: Kate Middleton touches her daughter's shoulder as the family make their way to their seats Kate Middleton speaks to a member of the clergy welcoming the royal family to the Abbey, while holding Princess Charlotte's hand With her mother close by, Princess Charlotte walked into the Abbey today; the princess wore a mourning coat with velour collar and a matching wide-brimmed hat Prince George is introduced to the clergy leading the Queen's state funeral service; it's thought officials at Buckingham Palace made the decision that the nine-year-old should attend his late great-grandmother's funeral The silouhette of the Princess of Wales and her eldest son walking across the stone floor of Westminster Abbey Once inside, George strode slightly ahead of the Princess of Wales as the family joined Prince William in their pews Earlier, the two children - younger brother Prince Louis, four, was not in attendance today - were seen with their parents, the Prince and Princess of Wales ahead of the Westminster Abbey service Father and daughter appeared to chat during the short journey by car to the start of the funeral procession The car carrying the Queen Consort, the Princess of Wales, Prince George and Princess Charlotte of Wales pictured on Monday morning The Daily Mail understands that the Prince and Princess of Wales thought long and hard about whether their two eldest children, aged nine and seven, should join them. But after George and Charlotte attended their great-grandfathers memorial in March, William and Kate decided they could cope with the solemnity of the occasion. As parents they have, of course, thought long and hard about whether their children should accompany them, a source said. Of course little Louis is too young, but they think George and Charlotte are up to it. Aged just nine, and having just overcome the daunting prospect of starting a new school, George is now the second in line to the throne. With this in mind, aides have suggested it would be good for the public to see the young Prince who affectionately called the Queen Gan Gan and is the future of the Monarchy. It was the first time any of the Wales children have been seen in public since the Queen's death on September 8th. Advertisement The monarch's beloved Corgis paid the Queen a final farewell ahead of her Committal Service this afternoon. Her two pets, led by two aides, were visited by Prince Andrew, 62, as he arrived at Windsor Castle ahead of this afternoon's ceremony, which saw the Queen's coffin being lowered into St George's Chapel's vault. Muick and Sandy, who were entrusted to the Duke of York after the Queen died on Thursday 8, were seen on the steps of Windsor Castle, flanked by two aides. The dogs were a gift to the Queen from Prince Andrew and his daughters Princess Beatrice, 34 and Princess Eugenie, 32, to help her cope with the death of Prince Philip last year. The Monarch's last two Corgis, escorted by two royal aides walking them on a leash, could be seen quietly standing on the side of Windsor Castle. The pets, who were beloved by the Queen, turned up to show their respects during the procession to Windsor Castle this afternoon The royal aides looking after the late Queen's beloved Corgis were seen given them a sympathetic stroke as the Monarch's committal service went underway Prince Andrew was seen speaking to the aides and giving the Corgis a sympathetic pet as he drew a breath before returning to today's solemn proceedings. It was confirmed by the BBC that Andrew and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson would be looking after the Corgis at Royal Lodge, in Windsor, where they live together. The pets were a gift to the Queen from Andrew and his daughters Princess Beatrice and Eugenie following the death of the Duke of Edinburgh. The Queen has returned to Windsor - and will be reunited for eternity with her beloved husband Prince Philip - and was greeted with a carpet of flowers as mourners arrived at St George's Chapel for the Queen's Committal service. Two of the Queens Corgis were watching today's sad procession from the side of Windsor Castle, accompanied by two trusted aides Prince Andrew, 62, visited the Queen's Corgis as he arrived at Windsor Castle ahead of this afternoon's ceremony, which will see the Queen's coffin being buried, surrounded by her close family Looking grave, the Queen's second son, who was very emotional at the state funeral this morning, was seen speaking to the aides, as the two Corgis quietly trotted around them The royal aides looking after the late Queen's beloved Corgis were seen given them a sympathetic stroke as the Monarch's committal service went underway The two aides waited respectfully by St George's Chapel as the royal mourners gathered for the Queen's committal service this afternoon The two royal aides, in their uniforms, were seen chatting with Prince Andrew, who is visibly taking caring for the late Queen's corgis very seriously Prince Andrew was seen speaking to the aides and giving the Corgis a sympathetic pet as he drew a breath before returning to today's solemn proceedings The Duke of York quietly spoke to the two aides who were looking after the late Monarch's beloved pets before he headed to the committal ceremony The two pets were waiting to pay the Queen their last goodbyes in Windsor this afternoon. They will keep on living in Windsor, staying at Royal Lodge with Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson The two aides were seen waiting for the Duke of York in the courtyard of Windsor Castle with the Queen's last Corgis ahead of the ceremony The Corgis were a gift to the Queen from Prince Andrew and his daughters to help her cope with the death of the Duke of Edinburgh in 2021 Tens of thousands of people lined The Long Walk and applauded as the flower-covered hearse carrying the late sovereign's coffin slowly processed towards her Berkshire castle, where she spent most of her final years before her death at Balmoral 11 days ago. But mourners in Windsor were asked not to throw flowers at the hearse carrying the Queen's coffin and have instead been told to leave their bouquets by the 'grass moat' near Windsor castle. Security officials and event organisers have said that the flowers may spook horses, raise safety concerns, become a tripping hazard and be difficult clean up if they're pressed into the ground. After the final public element of her funeral, Her Majesty will be buried with her late husband Prince Philip in the King George VI Memorial Chapel. A private burial service, attended by the King and other members of the royal family, will take place this evening. The Sussexes and the Wales' sing as Her Majesty the Queen had her symbols of monarchy removed along with her titles As the crown jewels were removed, Princess Charlotte pointed and spoke to her mother as Harry and Meghan looked on The Duke and Duchess of Sussex look at the Queen's coffin as the Royal Family mourns her loss The overwhelmed monarch then turned away as he said goodbye to his mother and her power and titles moved to him King Charles III places the the Queen's Company Camp Colour of the Grenadier Guards on the coffin as she was about to be lowered into the crypt This afternoon the royal family will bid farewell to their beloved matriarch in the gothic chapel on the grounds of Windsor Castle in a service attended by around 800 people. Silence fell among crowds of mourners as the state hearse carrying the Queen's coffin turned into the Long Walk in the final stretch of her journey. The crowds, made up of people of all ages, who flanked the Long Walk, fell quiet as the sound of drummers in the procession grew louder. Children were lifted on adults' shoulders and camera phones were raised in the air as people struggled to get a glimpse of the scene. Members of the congregation are expected to include the late monarch's nearest and dearest, her household staff past and present, and foreign royal families. The Corgis and the aides were quietly waiting for the Queen in the central court of Windsor Castle ahead of the Committal ceremony Princess Beatrice and her sister Eugenie pictured alongside other Royal Family members as they attend the Committal Service for Queen Elizabeth II An emotional Prince Andrew sat next to Sir Timothy Lawrence during his mother's committal Service at Windsor Castle this afternoon Princess Beatrice, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, Sarah, Duchess of York, Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank pictured at the Committal Service for the Queen, held at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle, Berkshire Princess Beatrice sat next to her father Prince Andrew as the royal family bid the Queen's farewell during her committal ceremony Royal fans gathered in Windsor as the Queen's hearse, surrounded by royal guards, arrived for her Committal Service this afternoon A wreath from Number 10, signed by Prime Minister Liz Truss, sits close to the door of the chapel, and says: 'For a lifetime of devotion and duty we offer our deep and sincere gratitude.' Flowers of all kinds cover the area around the chapel, from bouquets of red roses to pink lilies to potted plants to wreaths from foreign royals. Inside one of the main entrances to the chapel, a floral arrangement of white blossoms sits in full bloom. Among the flowers in the chapel were lilies, dahlias, roses, and greenery including Eucalyptus and other greenery picked from Home Park. The Queen's unwavering love for her Corgis Throughout an historic reign that spanned decades, one constant in the Queen's life has always been her unwavering love for her Corgis, so much so the pets have become a symbol of British royalty around the world. It was announced yesterday that the Queen, Britain's longest-reigning monarch, had died at the age of 96. She will be remembered as a dutiful monarch who put the country before her own needs and rarely showed her softer side. However, that side was never more on display that when the sovereign was in the company of her Corgis. Indeed, her lifelong commitment to her beloved pets helped her show a more candid side to the world, even writing 'wickedly funny' letters from her corgis to Jack Russells belonging to her former equerry Sir Blair Stewart-Wilson. The world has come to associate the Queen with Corgis, and the pet, and it appears that the Monarch herself was in on the joke. The Queen's love of Corgis stretches back to her childhood, when her father King George VI bought Princess Elizabeth and her younger sister Princess Margaret a Pembrokeshire Welsh Corgi when she was seven. King George brought one named Dookie home for her and Princess Margaret, after they played and fell in love with Viscount Weymouth's own Corgi. The King and Queen Mother tried to breed Dookie, and a few years later he had two puppies with another mate, who were named Crackers and Carol. Susan arrived in 1944 for the Queen's 18th birthday, and they quickly became inseparable. The Queen loved Susan so much that she joined the Monarch and Prince Philip on honeymoon in 1947. When the Queen gave birth to Prince Charles, newspaper columns were full of advice on how she could prevent Susan from becoming jealous of the infant prince, Kay claimed. Susan soon began her won Corgi dynasty, with Sugar, who was Prince Charles' and Honey, who went to the Queen Mother. The Queen's love of the breed quickly became one of the things she was most known for around the world. Her Majesty owned more than 30 dogs throughout the years. Her latest, which were acquired in 2021, are believed to have been gifts. Throughout her reign, she was photographed with the animals wherever she went. The faithful pets would come with her on her royal tours, with royal aides attending to their every need and carrying them in and out of aeroplanes. Her love of Corgis was so well-known even the Royal Collection began to sell Corgi-shaped Christmas ornaments, acknowledging her fondness for the breed. Queen Elizabeth II also owned several Dorgis throughout her life, which are a cross between a Dachshund and a Corgi. Her beloved pet Vulcan, who died in 2020, was a Dorgi. In March 2021, she was gifted two new Corgis, however, one of the pups named Fergus died months later in May, which left the Monarch distraught. In June, she got a new Dorgi pup to cheer her up, which was gifted to her by Prince Andrew and his two daughters, Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice. The Monarch's beloved Corgis lived a life of luxury that few pets can pretend knowing. When at Buckingham Palace, the dogs slept in raised wicker baskets in a special boot room near the royal apartments, where they wander freely. Royal biographer Brian Hoey claimed in 2013 that the dogs ate at 5pm sharp every day at Buckingham Palace, in his book Pets by Royal Appointment. It was reported that the pups were fed a luxury diet of fillet steak and chicken breast cooked by a chef. The carefully prepared meals were then delivered by a footman and covered with gravy which was poured by the monarch herself. The dogs never ate tinned food and were even given homeopathic remedies when they were ill, Hoey said. Mr Hoey said The Queen had a very hands-on approach in all aspects of her dogs' lives. As a child she and Princess Margaret would feed their pet Corgi by hand from a bowl, he said. She had also apparently joked that when breeding the dogs with Dachshunds she gave them a hand by 'putting them on a brick' as they have shorter legs. The Royal family is well known for a fondness for dogs, but Mr Hoey claimed the Duke of Edinburgh 'loathed' Corgis 'because they yap too much'. He preferred Labradors. In 2018, Richard Kay revealed that each of the Queen's Corgis were buried on her royal estate. The actual burial was performed by Her Majesty's head gardener, while she oversaw the sad moment. Each of her beloved pups also received a headstone to commemorate their life as a loyal royal companion. 'On it are engraved the dog's dates of birth and death along with the moving epitaph: 'For almost 15 years the faithful companion of the Queen,' Kay said. He added that the pups were all buried on the estate where they died, and their final resting places were quiet spots that were special to the Queen. After filming the ITV documentary The Queen and her Cousins to mark the Queen's 95th birthday last year, TV presenter Alexander Armstrong revealed the Queen wrote 'wickedly funny' letters from her corgis to former equerry Sir Blair Stewart-Wilson. Armstrong told the Telegraph at the time: 'He would write these letters from their Jack Russell to the Corgis and the Queen would write these letters back.' He said he saw one of the framed letters hung at the house of Sir Blair Stewart-Wilson and was left 'howling with laughter.' The Pointless presenter said he could not remember the exact contents of the letters, but said it showed the Monarch had a great sense of humour. Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Blair Stewart-Wilson was equerry to the Queen and Deputy Master of the Household in the Royal Household from 1976 to 1994. Kay said Sandringham was the largest animal cemetery and was started by Queen Victoria for her Collie Noble, who died in 1887, and is where Susan was buried more than 70 years later. One of the final photographs released of the Queen, which saw her celebrating her Jubilee in February, showcased her ongoing love for her dogs. In the snaps, she can be seen beaming as she views cards from well-wishers, before leaning down to stroke her pet dog Candy. Candy, a Dorgi, made a lap of the room, inspecting a small group of media representatives capturing the viewing. The Queen said: 'And where did you come from? I know what you want,' which was likely referencing a treat. Then she called Candy over to make a fuss of her. When she celebrated her Platinum Jubilee in June, the Corgis were front and centre of the entertainment, with commemorative merchandise and decorations around Buckingham Palace shared like her four-legged pets. Soft toy versions of the breed, which originated from Pembrokeshire, and Corgi-shaped Christmas decorations have also been sold by the Royal Collection shop. Advertisement The service, with a strong thread of tradition running throughout, was discussed with the Queen over a number of years and all the prayers and hymns were chosen by her - apart from one. The Queen left one hymn to be chosen at the time, and after a discussion between the King and the Dean of Windsor David Conner, the hymn chosen was Westminster Abbey adapted from the Alleluyas in Purcell's O God, Thou art my God. Much of the service will have a feel of looking back, repeating what has gone before, a feeling of coming full circle, with perhaps a sense of the consistency and constancy which the Queen will forever be remembered for. Prior to the final hymn, the Imperial State Crown, the Orb and the Sceptre will be removed from the coffin by the Crown Jeweller and, with the Bargemaster and Serjeants-at-Arms, will be passed to the Dean who will place them on the altar. The removal of the crown from the coffin to the altar is poignant, because in 1953 the crown was taken from the altar in Westminster Abbey and placed on the Queen's head, marking the start of a 70-year reign. At the end of the final hymn, the King will place The Queen's Company Camp Colour of the Grenadier Guards on the coffin. Amid the family's mourning, she shared a sweet moment with the Princess, seven, who attended the funeral The Duchess of Sussex looked warmly at her seven-year-old niece who looked at the people behind her Advertisement Meghan Markle shared a sweet moment after the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal Family gathered outside Wellington Arch. The Duchess of Sussex, 41, appeared to flash a subtle yet warm smile at her seven-year-old niece after the Queen's state funeral at Westminster Abbey. Throughout the day Meghan cut a solemn figure and even shed a tear as she joined with other members of the Royal Family to pay their respects and say a final farewell to Her late Majesty the Queen. The Duchess of Sussex was pictured with Princess Charlotte, Prince George, Kate Middleton, Queen Consort Camilla, and Princess Beatrice at Wellington Arch Princess Charlotte put on a brave face today throughout the funeral and committal service for the Queen But the Duchess of Sussex put on a smile for the children, who played key roles in the solemn occasion. A video clip showed Princess Charlotte, seven, standing next to her mother Kate Middleton and grandmother, Queen Consort Camilla. As she stood at Wellington Arch, the young Princess turned around to see what was happening, before catching the eye of her aunt, Meghan. Meghan, who had looked solemn until catching her niece's eye, smiled as Charlotte turned back around. Later in the afternoon during the committal service at St George's Chapel in Westminster, the young Princess also shared a sweet moment with her uncle, Prince Harry. As the Dean of Windsor gave a bidding at the end of the service before Her late Majesty was committed to the crypt, Charlotte was seen adjusting her hat. The Duchess of Sussex appeared deep in thought as she supportively sat next to Prince Harry during the difficult service this afternoon Sibling unity: The young royals were inseparable throughout the day and were barely seen away from each other's sides. Pictured here at Wellington Arch following the funeral service at Westminster Abbey Meghan and the Duke of Sussex appeared deeply emotional as they left following the long and difficult day of the Queen's funeral Once inside the service, Meghan stood alongside the Princess of Wales and her children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte (pictured) Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex follow the bearer party with the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II as it is taken from Westminster Abbey An emotional Meghan Markle joined other senior members of the royal family in St George's Chapel today as she arrived for the Queen's Committal Service this afternoon During the State Funeral in London this afternoon, the Duchess of Sussex was openly weeping, and brushing tears away from her cheeks (pictured) A long and memorable day: Kate Middleton accompanied her children to into the second service of the day held at Windsor Castle Sibling love: The pair were seen walking side by side into Windsor Castle, the final resting place of their precious great-grandmother The Princess of Wales, Prince George and Princess Charlotte arrive at the Committal Service for the Queen held at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle, Berkshire Riding together: The children were accompanied in their car by their mother, the Princess of Wales, and Camilla, the Queen Consort Charlotte of Wales - her new title - stands next to Prince George of Wales at Wellington Arch after the State Funeral of the Queen - their beloved great-grandmother Princess Charlotte was often seen holding her mother's hand, with Princess George watching on at his beloved 'Gan-Gan's' funeral A day in history: Prince George, nine, left, and Princess Charlotte, seven, are pictured travelling by car with the Queen Consort, who waved to crowds, and their mother, the Princess of Wales, to the Queen's funeral at Westminster Abbey today Meghan leaves the funeral in a car alongside Sophie, the Countess of Wessex Meghan walking down the nave of Westminster Abbey during a royal procession behind the Queen's coffin this morning After rearranging her headgear, she looked over at her uncle, who briefly looked up and caught her eye, before smiling at her. Princess Charlotte put on a brave face herself today as she attended the funeral of her beloved 'Gan Gan' the Queen. While her older brother Prince George, nine, appeared to become emotional and was seen wiping his eyes, his younger sister remained stoic as a support for her family. She also appeared to advise her older brother as the Queen's coffin passed the young royals at Westminster Abbey. Princess Charlotte appeared to tell Prince George: 'You need to bow. Charlotte wore a black mourning coat with velour collar and matching wide-brimmed hat, while George was dressed in a navy blue suit with a black tie. On Charlotte's coat was a sweet tribute to her Gan-Gan, as she wore a horseshoe brooch that had been given to her by the late Queen. The Daily Mail understands that the Prince and Princess of Wales thought long and hard about whether their two eldest children, aged nine and seven, should join them. The Duchess of Sussex, 41, walked into the historic church in a sombre procession behind the Queen's coffin. In front of her was Kate, the two eldest Cambridge children, and Prince Edward and his wife, the Duchess of Wessex Meanwhile the royal mother-of-two was carrying her black gloves as she arrived at the service earlier this morning A guiding hand, the young royals pictured arriving at Westminster Abbey ahead of the funeral Princess Charlotte stares out of the window from the royal car that carried herself and her older brother to Westminster Abbey Britain's Sophie, Countess of Wessex, and Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, walking outside Westminster Abbey, on the day of the state funeral and burial of Britain's Queen Elizabeth Meghan Markle cut a solemn figure as she arrived for the funeral of the Queen at Westminster Abbey alongside her husband Prince Harry today Kate Middleton speaks to a member of the clergy welcoming the royal family to the Abbey, while holding Princess Charlotte's hand With her mother close by, Princess Charlotte walked into the Abbey today; the princess wore a mourning coat with velour collar and a matching wide-brimmed hat Prince George is introduced to the clergy leading the Queen's state funeral service; it's thought officials at Buckingham Palace made the decision that the nine-year-old should attend his late great-grandmother's funeral Father and daughter appeared to chat during the short journey by car to the start of the funeral procession But after George and Charlotte attended their great-grandfathers memorial in March, William and Kate decided they could cope with the solemnity of the occasion. As parents they have, of course, thought long and hard about whether their children should accompany them, a source said. Of course little Louis is too young, but they think George and Charlotte are up to it. Aged just nine, and having just overcome the daunting prospect of starting a new school, George is now the second in line to the throne. With this in mind, aides have suggested it would be good for the public to see the young Prince who affectionately called the Queen Gan Gan and is the future of the Monarchy. It was the first time any of the Wales children have been seen in public since the Queen's death on September 8th. Advertisement The Royal Family has shared a 1947 throwback photo of a 21-year-old Queen Elizabeth with her beloved parents, sister, and late husband on Twitter. Her Majesty, whose life was celebrated during her public Westminster Abbey funeral and Windsor committal today, was reunited with her family tonight during a private burial service. The late monarch, who died peacefully at Balmoral on September 8, aged 96, was laid to rest in the royal crypt at St George's Chapel as her 70-year reign came to an end this evening. Sharing the black and white photo on Twitter, the Royal Family account captioned it: 'This evening a Private Burial will take place in The King George VI Memorial Chapel at Windsor. 'The Queen will be Laid to Rest with her late husband The Duke of Edinburgh, alongside her father King George VI, mother Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and sister Princess Margaret.' The Royal Family's Twitter account shared a poignant image this evening, featuring the late Queen Elizabeth alongside her husband Prince Philip, parents, and sister, as she was reunited with her loved ones in death, as she was buried in the family vault in Windsor (pictured L-R: Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, George VI, and Princess Margaret) Her Majesty's coffin during the Committal Service at St George's Chapel in Windsor, as the Imperial State Crown is removed, signifying the severing of the Queen from her public service in death During the committal service this evening, the Royal Family stood as the Queen was slowly lowered into the vault while the Dean of Windsor said: 'Go forth upon thy journey from this world, O Christian soul.' He also offered the commendation - a prayer in which the deceased is entrusted to God's mercy. Moments earlier the Dean had placed her crown and other crown jewels on the altar before the Lord Chamberlain snapped his staff of office - signifying the severing of the Queen from her public service in death. The Garter King of Arms then pronounced the styles and titles of the Queen as all power moved to her son, the King, before the coffin was lowered to the lament of a lone piper and Britain and the world said a tender farewell to the late monarch following 70 years of service to the nation. The Queen is laid to rest for eternity in St George's Chapel in Windsor as her coffin is lowered into the royal vault following her state funeral at Westminster Abbey this morning The Crown Jewels were poignantly removed from the casket to show that the Queen's reign was at an end before it went down to the royal crypt The Lord Chamberlain, Lord Parker of Minsmere, breaks his Wand of Office in a symbolic moment when power is transferred from the Queen The Queen will be buried alongside her beloved Prince Philip and next to her parents George VI and Elizabeth (pictured: The grave inside the George VI Memorial Chapel), the Queen Mother, and her sister, Margaret at the George VI Memorial Chapel inside St George's Chapel The Crown Jeweller, left, removes the Imperial State Crown from the coffin of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II as she enters the royal crypt as a 'simple Christian soul' The King looks moved as her mother is finally laid to rest during the service of committal King Charles III places the the Queen's Company Camp Colour of the Grenadier Guards on the coffin at the Committal Service King Charles III places the the Queen's Company Camp Colour of the Grenadier Guards on the coffin as she was about to be lowered into the crypt The overwhelmed monarch then turned away as he said goodbye to his mother and her power and titles moved to him Charles looked deeply moved as the Queen's oak coffin descended to the crypt on a day where he appeared tearful on a number of occasions as he said goodbye to his 'Mama', the 12th British monarch to be buried at Windsor. Her Majesty's long journey to her final resting place - and to be reunited with the Duke of Edinburgh - began in Balmoral on the day of her death 11 days ago and ended with her private interment next to her 'strength and stay' Philip this evening where the King scattered earth on his mother's coffin at a private family service. She then travelled to England, where she spent a night at Buckingham Palace, before lying in state in Westminster Hall. This morning, she was taken to Westminster Abbey, before leaving London for the final time, to go to her final resting place, in St George's Chapel in Windsor. St George's was where the Queen had sat alone during the funeral of Prince Philip last year - in one of the most poignant images of the pandemic - and it was where she had loved to worship for so many years when at Windsor. Prince Harry puffs his cheeks as he and his wife Meghan leave the service The Prince and Princess of Wales and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex (front row top) sit with other members of the royal family at the Committal Service The Queen's Company Camp Colour of the Grenadier Guards banner lies on the Queen's coffin after the crown jewels were removed The Imperial State Crown rests on the high altar after being removed from the coffin of Britain's Queen Elizabeth Members of the royal family (front row, left to right) the Earl of Wessex, the Countess of Wessex, Lady Louise Windsor, James, Viscount Severn, the Duke of Gloucester, the Duchess of Gloucester, Princess Alexandra, Princess Michael of Kent, (middle row, left to right) King Charles III, the Queen Consort, the Princess Royal, Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, the Duke of York, during the Committal Service for Queen Elizabeth II at St George's Chapel King Charles III and the Queen Consort arrive at the Committal Service It came on a day where up to 2million people crowded into central London to see the coffin after the state funeral at Westminster Abbey attended by 2,000 royals, heads of state and 200 members of the public. Mourners covered the royal hearse in flowers as it travelled to Windsor from Wellington Arch this afternoon after the Queen was carried past Buckingham Palace for a final time. Tens of thousands of people lined The Long Walk and applauded as the flower-covered hearse carrying the late sovereign's coffin slowly processed towards her Berkshire castle, where she spent most of her final years before her death - including lockdown with Prince Philip. Giving the Bidding, the Dean of Windsor, said: 'We have come together to commit into the hands of God the soul of his servant Queen Elizabeth. The pallbearers expertly carry the Queen into the chapel where she will be laid to rest The coffin of Queen Elizabeth II is carried from the hearse Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth's funeral procession makes its way through Windsor Castle Mourners watch the State Hearse of Queen Elizabeth II as it drives along the Long Walk ahead of the Committal Service for Queen Elizabeth II The Queen's coffin head along The Long Walk to Windsor Castle ahead of her burial The Queen heads towards Windsor Castle where she will be reunited with Prince Philip 'Here, in St George's Chapel, where she so often worshipped, we are bound to call to mind someone whose uncomplicated yet profound Christian Faith bore so much fruit. Fruit, in a life of unstinting service to the Nation, the Commonwealth and the wider world, but also (and especially to be remembered in this place) in kindness, concern and reassuring care for her family and friends and neighbours.' Referring to a 'rapidly changing and frequently troubled world', the Dean praised the late Queen's 'calm and dignified presence'. He said the monarch's disposition 'has given us confidence to face the future, as she did, with courage and with hope'. Concluding the Bidding, he said: 'As, with grateful hearts, we reflect on these and all the many other ways in which her long life has been a blessing to us, we pray that God will give us grace to honour her memory by following her example, and that, with our sister Elizabeth, at the last, we shall know the joys of life eternal.' This morning the last of the 400,000 people to see the Queen lying in state paid their respects before she was carried on a gun carriage from Westminster Hall to the church where she married and was crowned as an estimated 4billion people watched on TV worldwide. The Ceremonial Procession of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II travels down the Long Walk The Ceremonial Procession of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II travels down the Long Walk as it arrives at Windsor Castle Soldiers bow as the Queen approaches in her hearse Brass bands from the Household Cavalry and pipers played on the Queen's final, saddest journey Extraordinary scenes in Windsor today as the Queen arrives to be laid to rest The Queen will be buried with her late husband Prince Philip in the King George VI Memorial Chapel, where they will rest together for eternity Queen Sofia of Spain (bottom), King Felipe of Spain (second bottom), King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands (third from top) and King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden (standing) at the Committal Service Sarah, Duchess of York arrives at St. George's Chapel Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, his wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau and other guests arrive at St George's Chapel Queen Elizabeth II's body arrives at her beloved Windsor 800 guests including most of Europe's royals arrive at St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle The royal corgis await the cortege of their owner on the day of the state funeral and burial of Britain's Queen Elizabeth The Queen's funeral procession passing through Runnymede with the streets lined with people watching the procession and throwing flowers Huge crowds cheer the Queen and throw flowers in her path In extraordinary and moving scenes, an estimated 2million well-wishers lined the streets to say farewell to Britain's longest reigning monarch, Elizabeth II, with showers of bouquets greeting her hearse as it drove from West London to Berkshire In extraordinary and moving scenes, the Queen left London as flowers were thrown at the hearse as she made her way to Windsor People watch as Britain's Queen Elizabeth's coffin passes through west London A person holds a rose to throw, as Britain's Queen Elizabeth's coffin is transported, on the day of her state funeral and burial Queen Elizabeth II journey from Wellington Arch in London to Windsor was lined by thousands of people King Charles III leaves in a car after the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II was transferred to the hearse at Wellington Arch Thousands of people fell silent, held their phones aloft and waved flags as the Queen's coffin passed along the Long Walk towards St George's Chapel. The crowds, made up of people of all ages, who flanked the Long Walk, fell quiet as the sound of drummers in the procession grew louder. Children were lifted on adults' shoulders and camera phones were raised in the air as people struggled to get a glimpse of the scene. The Queen's beloved corgis Muick and Sandy and one of her favourite ever horses made a special poignant appearance at Windsor during the procession. The young dogs - one on a red lead and one on a blue lead - were brought out into the quadrangle by two pages in red tailcoats for the arrival of the Queen's coffin. And Emma, the Queen's Fell Pony, had greeted the procession, standing on grass in a gap in the floral tributes along the Long Walk in honour of her late owner. Emma and Terry were seen respectfully standing by the side of the Cortege around the Queen's hearse as she arrived in Windsor this afternoon Emma was wearing a black riding blanket adorned with the Monarch's cipher as she and Terry waiting respectfully by the side of the road Terry Pendry respectfully bowed his head as the Queen's body arrived in Windsor for her Committal Service, while Emma stood quietly by his side The pets, who were beloved by the Queen, turned up to show their respects during the procession to Windsor Castle this afternoon Advertisement Senior royals have shared touching social media tributes to Her Majesty who was finally laid to rest today in a private burial in Windsor following her state funeral at Westminster Abbey. Queen Elizabeth died peacefully at Balmoral on September 8, aged 96. Since then, people from around the world have paid their respects to the monarch, who had become a figure of consistency and dedication to service over her unprecedented 70-year reign. Tonight, touching tributes came in from closer to home, with senior royals sharing sweet messages with the public via social media. King Charles and his wife Camilla, the Queen Consort, shared a touching picture of the late monarch with her parents, sister, and Prince Philip, as well as an image of the Queen in her beloved Balmoral. Meanwhile the Prince and Princess of Wales shared a moving black and white photo of pallbearers carrying the Queen's coffin into St George's Chapel, Windsor, for the committal service this afternoon. The Royal Family's Twitter account shared a poignant image this evening, featuring the late Queen Elizabeth alongside her husband Prince Philip, parents, and sister, as she was reunited with her loved ones in death, as she was buried in the family vault in Windsor (pictured L-R: Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, George VI, and Princess Margaret) The Prince and Princess of Wales posted a heartfelt goodbye to their beloved grandmother on their official Twitter account Another Tweet shared by the Royal Family's Twitter account featured an image of the Queen in her beloved Balmoral, as she climbed a hill alone The tributes came amid official confirmation from the Royal Family, via its website, that Her Majesty had been finally laid to rest, was laid to rest in the royal crypt at St George's Chapel, some 11 days after her death in Scotland. The Twitter post shared by the Royal Family Twitter account, representing King Charles and the Queen Consort, harked back to the past. It featured a 1947 photo of the Queen with her parents the Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, and George VI, as well as her sister Princess Margaret, and her late husband Prince Philip. It was captioned: 'This evening a Private Burial will take place in The King George VI Memorial Chapel at Windsor. 'The Queen will be Laid to Rest with her late husband The Duke of Edinburgh, alongside her father King George VI, mother Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and sister Princess Margaret.' Also shared by the Royal Family account was a photo of the Queen while in Scotland. The photo shows Her Majesty climbing up a hill, she is alone in the frame. The caption quoted a line from Shakespeare's Hamlet, which King Charles cited during his first address to the nation on September 9, the day after his mother died. It said: 'May flights of Angels sing thee to thy rest.' The caption went on to say: 'In loving memory of Her Majesty The Queen. 1926 - 2022.' The Queen is laid to rest for eternity in St George's Chapel in Windsor as her coffin is lowered into the royal vault following her state funeral at Westminster Abbey this morning The Lord Chamberlain, Lord Parker of Minsmere, breaks his Wand of Office in a symbolic moment when power is transferred from the Queen The Queen has been buried alongside her beloved Prince Philip and next to her parents George VI and Elizabeth (pictured: The grave inside the George VI Memorial Chapel), the Queen Mother, and her sister, Margaret at the George VI Memorial Chapel inside St George's Chapel The Crown Jeweller, left, removes the Imperial State Crown from the coffin of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II as she enters the royal crypt as a 'simple Christian soul' The King looks moved as her mother is finally laid to rest during the service of committal King Charles III places the the Queen's Company Camp Colour of the Grenadier Guards on the coffin at the Committal Service Meanwhile, the Prince and Princess of Wales's touching Twitter post signalled a final goodbye. Alongside the photo they shared, they wrote a moving caption, in which they outlined the Queen's duties, both in her professional capacity as the monarch, and her personal capacity as the matriarch of the family. The caption read: 'Goodbye to a Queen, a mother, a grandmother and a great-grandmother.' The Committal Service was conducted by the Dean of Windsor and, as well as her family, featured a congregation of friends and mourners from her household past and present, including her personal staff from across her private estates. At the end of the final hymn, the King placed the Grenadier Guards' Queen's Company Colour - the royal standard of the regiment - on the coffin. Baron Parker, the Lord Chamberlain and the most senior official in the late Queen's royal household, then 'broke' his Wand of Office and placed it on the Coffin. As the coffin was lowered into the royal vault, the Garter King of Arms pronounced the styles and titles of the Queen and the Sovereign's Piper played a lament before walking slowly away to allow the music to fade. During this evening's private burial service, the Dean of Windsor will again conduct proceedings. At present, a black stone slab is set into the floor of the King George VI Memorial Chapel. It features the names of George VI and his wife Elizabeth - who died in 2002 - in gold lettering, above the dates of their births and deaths. Near there is a slab of black-and-white diamond-shaped stones which is taken away for funerals to gain access to a lift. Princess Margaret died just weeks before her mother and was subsequently cremated. Her ashes were initially kept in the royal vault and were then moved to the chapel to be with her parents. King Charles III places the the Queen's Company Camp Colour of the Grenadier Guards on the coffin as she was about to be lowered into the crypt The overwhelmed monarch then turned away as he said goodbye to his mother and her power and titles moved to him The Orb and Sceptre are removed from the coffin at the Committal Service The Sussexes and the Wales' sing as Her Majesty the Queen had her symbols of monarchy removed along with her titles The coffin of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II rests in George's Chapel, Windsor The Royal Family and European royals watch as the coffin is carried towards the altar The coffin of Queen Elizabeth II is carried into St George's Chapel along the centre aisle of the nave to the catafalque Lena Tindall, Zara Tindall, Mia Tindall, the Duchess of Sussex, the Duke of Sussex, Princess Charlotte, the Princess of Wales, Prince George, and the Prince of Wales, stand for the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard with the Imperial State Crown and the Sovereign's orb and sceptre Princess Charlotte, the Princess of Wales, Prince George, and the Prince of Wales as they say goodbye to the Queen Charles, Camilla, Princess Anne and Prince Edward sat together in the service The choir sings solemnly as the Queen makes her final and saddest journey today King Charles takes his seat with his family after following the coffin William, Kate, George and Charlotte stand aside and direct Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, to their seats The memorial chapel was added to the north side of St George's, behind two of the buttresses holding up the building's north wall. The ceremony to transfer King George's body there was private, as was the dedication of the chapel the following week. St George's Chapel itself was ordered by King Edward IV, with construction beginning in 1475 and finishing in 1528 under the reign of King Henry VIII. Henry is among the monarchs to be buried there. The others include George III, George IV, George V and William IV. Other royals who are buried there include Queen Victoria's father Prince Edward, George III's wife Queen Charlotte and Queen Mary's grandfather Prince Adolphus. As well as burials, successive royal weddings have been held in the chapel, including Queen Victoria's to Prince Albert and Prince Harry's to Meghan Markle in 2018. Last April, moving images showed the Queen having to sit alone due to coronavirus regulations during Prince Philip's funeral inside the chapel. The Princess of Wales has made a heartbreaking admission to Australia's Governor-General after the pair met alongside other dignitaries before the Queen's funeral. Kate spoke to David Hurley at Buckingham Palace on Saturday about how her three children Prince George, nine, Princess Charlotte, seven, and Prince Louis, four, were handling the sudden loss of their great-grandmother. Mr Hurley recalled his conversation with Kate and how her eldest son Prince George was 'sort of now realising how important his great-grandmother was and what is going on'. But four-year-old Louis has been asking whether the family's summertime visit to Balmoral Castle will still be as he remembers them. 'The younger one is now asking questions like, "do you think we can still play these games when we go to Balmoral and things like that, cause she's not going to be there?"' Mr Hurley said. Queen Elizabeth II died in Balmoral, her beloved castle in Scotland, on September 8 at the age of 96. Her funeral is scheduled for September 19, where Prince George and Princess Charlotte will be in attendance. Scroll down for video Kate spoke to David Hurley at Buckingham Palace on Saturday about how her three children Prince George, nine, Princess Charlotte, seven, and Prince Louis, four, were handling the sudden loss of their great-grandmother But four-year-old Louis has been asking whether the family's summertime visit to Balmoral Castle will still be as he remembers them Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Louis during Trooping the Colour on June 2, 2022 in London, England Last week an Australian expert revealed the best way to speak to your children about the death of the Queen, revealing parents should 'be honest' and 'show their own emotion' when breaking the news. Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, Margaret Rice, curator of Good Grief website, said that it was 'normal' for children to 'have a lot of questions' about the royal's passing and it's best for parents to be as 'simple and honest as possible' when explaining what's happened. 'Children experience grief and loss from a very young age,' she explained. Queen Elizabeth II, Prince George of Cambridge, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, Princess Charlotte of Cambridge, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Louis of Cambridge on the balcony of Buckingham Palace during the Platinum Jubilee Pageant on June 5 'They will want to talk about it quite a bit, and they might repeat questions, you might think you've answered the questions about it, but it comes back again in another way, and that's normal. 'If they're very little, they don't completely understand the finite nature of death, they don't process it the way adults do,' she added. Sydney-based Margaret also said that it's common of a small child to 'ask a lot of questions' if their own great grandparent or grandparent dies - but that every child will act differently. The world was plunged into mourning after Her Majesty passed away aged 96 on Thursday, with many parents revealing their children have asked many questions about the historic event. Her Majesty is pictured meeting children in Melbourne in 2011 'Another child the same age in the same family might react completely differently,' she said. 'They're all different, if your child keeps wanting to talk about it, meet them where they are, be patient as they ask the questions'. She added that things will 'gradually change' as children get older, but that curiosity is normal at any age. 'If you yourself are sad about it, don't feel you've got to pretend you're not sad,' she added. 'Likewise, don't pretend you're sad if you're not. Sydney-based Margaret (pictured) also said that it's common if a small child to 'ask a lot of questions' if they're great grandparent or grandparent dies - but that every child will act differently 'Many people across the world, will feel like there've lost a grandmother that lives overseas. 'It's important to be honest about your emotions with your children, whatever the age the child is. 'The simplest way is to say 'she died', make sure to use the the word death and dying and be direct. Margaret added that the monarch's death is an 'important opportunity' to 'introduce children to the idea of death' especially if they've not experienced the loss of anyone in their family already. 'Use very simple descriptions, say 'the person has stopped breathing,'' she said. 'If you're religious, you might want to bring concepts of an after life as you see fit. You can say they retuned to God. 'But questions about heaven might confuse children more. Children might think heaven is very crowded and have nightmares about all these dead bodies in heaven.' Margaret added if you do introduce the idea of heaven, you still need to explain what death is 'in a technical sense'. 'You don't have to labour the point and make it ugly. You can draw parallels to when pets die. 'Our understanding of what children understand with things like death, changes all the time, but in general, the smaller they are the less they're able to understand' 'If they're young, you can use picture books and story books to help explain.' During the 40-minute walkabout at Windsor Castle with the Fab Four shortly after the Queen's death a 'tearful' Kate shared Prince Louis's sweet tribute to his great-grandmother with the public. 'The younger one is now asking questions like, 'do you think we can still play these games when we go to Balmoral and things like that, cause she's not going to be there?'' Mr Hurley said The family are coming to terms with the loss of Queen Elizabeth II, who will be laid to rest on Monday Among the crowd on the Long Walk, Banita Ranow, 28, said she heard Kate tell children next to her about what her youngest son Louis had said about the Queen's death. She said Kate told the children: 'Louis said at least Grannie is with great grandpa now.' Ms Ranow said Kate was 'welling up' as she spoke to the children. The well-wisher from west London also spoke of her surprise at seeing the two brothers and their wives together, adding: 'It was really nice.' Prince William and Harry, along with their wives Kate and Meghan Markle, went on a 40-minute walkabout at Windsor Castle inspecting the sea of floral tributes The Princess of Wales meeting members of the public at Windsor Castle in Berkshire Her mother Baljinder Ranow, 64, said it was 'fabulous', adding: 'It was so beautiful to see.' She said: 'I felt so emotional and I felt the Queen would have loved it. I just hope in the future they remain like that and that the brothers come together, and the families.' The prince delighted royal fans by stealing the show on the balcony during the Platinum Jubilee after Trooping the Colour. He let out a howl and covered his ears during the flypast, and his 'Gan Gan' the Queen sweetly interacted with her great-grandson, leaning down to chat to him and point out the planes. The Princess of Wales has revealed how her sons are coping with the death of their great-grandmother the Queen. Speaking to Australia's Governor-General at a reception held for Commonwealth dignitaries ahead of the Queen's funeral today, Kate explained four-year-old Louis is asking questions and struggling to understand. David Hurley recalled his conversation with Kate, saying she revealed her eldest son Prince George, nine, is 'sort of now realising how important his great-grandmother was and what is going on'. But four-year-old Louis has been asking whether the family's summertime visit to Balmoral Castle will still be as he remembers them. 'The younger one is now asking questions like, "do you think we can still play these games when we go to Balmoral" and things like that, because she's not going to be there?"' Mr Hurley said. Scroll down for video Kate spoke to David Hurley at Buckingham Palace on Saturday about how her three children Prince George, nine, Princess Charlotte, seven, and Prince Louis, four, were handling the sudden loss of their great-grandmother But four-year-old Louis has been asking whether the family's summertime visit to Balmoral Castle will still be as he remembers them Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Louis during Trooping the Colour on June 2, 2022 in London, England 'The younger one is now asking questions like, "do you think we can still play these games when we go to Balmoral and things like that, cause she's not going to be there?"' Mr Hurley said Speaking to well-wishers last week, the Princess of Wales revealed Prince George 'understands the loss' of his great-grandmother - while his younger siblings Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis 'less so'. 'My daughter asked her how the children were doing, and Kate thanked her and said yes, they were doing well and they were being looked after at school, so that was a nice exchange,' one well-wisher shared of her conversation. Prince George and Princess Charlotte will make a surprise appearance at their great-grandmothers funeral today, walking behind her coffin into Westminster Abbey. The Daily Mail understands that the Prince and Princess of Wales thought long and hard about whether their two eldest children, aged nine and seven, should join them. But after George and Charlotte attended their great-grandfathers memorial in March, William and Kate decided they could cope with the solemnity of the occasion. Louis, the couples youngest, is just four and will not be joining. As parents they have, of course, thought long and hard about whether their children should accompany them, a source said. Of course little Louis is too young, but they think George and Charlotte are up to it. It is understood the children will also be in the congregation for the committal service at St Georges Chapel at Windsor this afternoon. A decision is to be taken about whether they feel up to taking part in the procession there, too. George and Charlotte will travel by car to the Abbey with Kate and Camilla, before joining the foot procession as it enters. 6.02am: The final members of the public pay their respects at the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Hall today 5.17am: The final members of the public pay their respects at the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Hall today 5.16am: The final members of the public pay their respects at the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Hall today 4.51am: The final members of the public pay their respects at the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Hall today Before todays state funeral service at 11am, a bell will toll 96 times, reflecting the years of Queen Elizabeths life. The service will, Buckingham Palace said last night, pay tribute to the Queens remarkable reign and lifetime of service as head of state, nation and Commonwealth. It will be conducted by The Very Reverend Dr David Hoyle, Dean of Westminster, with hymns including The Lords My Shepherd and Love Divine. Lessons feature 1 Corinthians 15 20-26, 53-end and John 14 1-9a, with all aspects personally chosen by the Queen. A specially commissioned choral piece, Like As The Hart, composed by the Master of The Kings Music, Judith Weir, will be sung by the Choir of Westminster Abbey. The choir will also sing a short anthem, O Taste And See, which was composed by Ralph Vaughan Williams for the Queens Coronation in 1953. The Queen's grandchildren, including Prince William and Prince Harry, took part in a vigil in Westminster Abbey on Saturday night, pictured The Archbishop of Canterbury will give a reading, while Prime Minister Liz Truss will read the second lesson, with prayers from leading clerics including the Bishop of London and Archbishop of York. Tears are sure to flow at The Last Post and Reveille, as well as the first major public rendition of the National Anthem. A rendition of Sleep, Dearie, Sleep played by the Queens piper will have huge significance to her family. After the service, the bells of Westminster Abbey will be rung, fully muffled, as is the tradition following the sovereigns funeral. The coffin will then continue its last journey through London and out to Windsor. The committal service at St Georges Chapel at 4pm will be smaller and far more personal. And with no cameras present, the Royal Family will gather for a private interment at 7.30pm. A man has been charged after a 'deeply loved' 47-year-old mother was found dead in Scotland. Jill Barclay's body was found on Stoneywood Road near her home in Dyce, Aberdeen, at around 3.30am on Saturday. Police said a 22-year-old man has been arrested and charged in connection with the death. A man has been charged after 'deeply loved' mother Jill Barclay (pictured), 47, was found dead in Scotland In a statement issued through police, the family of Ms Barclay said: 'Jill was a deeply loved life partner, mother and daughter. 'We would now appreciate being left in peace to grieve privately.' Her body was found near a roundabout, where police set up a cordon and closed the road during forensic investigations. Officers are appealing for information. Detective Superintendent Andrew Patrick, of Police Scotland's Major Investigation Team, paid tribute to the mother. Her body was found near a home on Stoneywood Road (pictured) in the Dyce area of Aberdeen at around 3.30am on Saturday He said: 'Our thoughts are very much with Jill's family and friends at what is a very difficult time for them. 'We have a dedicated team of officers in the area working on this investigation and I would like to reassure the community that they can speak to them if they have any concerns. 'I am appealing to anyone who saw anything suspicious in the area who has not already spoken to officers to get in touch.' Anyone with information is asked to call police on 101, quoting incident number 0518 of Saturday, September 17, 2022 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 where anonymity can be maintained. Canada in context (Part Four) By Mark Wegierski web posted September 19, 2022 Political, constitutional, juridical, and socio-cultural aspects of the origins and development of the Canadian State In the October 1993 election the Progressive Conservatives were reduced to only two seats (including the defeat of Prime Minister Campbell in her own riding) -- although they had about 16% of the countrywide vote. The Liberal Party under Jean Chretien was able to win a commanding majority (177 of 295 seats) (with 41% of the countrywide vote). However, the Bloc Quebecois, led by Lucien Bouchard (a former associate of Mulroneys) won 54 seats in Quebec (with 13.5% of the popular vote) which gave them the status of Official Opposition the second-largest party in the House of Commons. One ex-Tory running as an independent was also elected in Quebec, along with 19 Liberals, including Jean Chretien, although most of their support came from ridings with substantial non-French-speaking minorities. The Reform Party won 52 seats (with 19% of the countrywide vote). All but one of the seats were from Western Canada. The one Reform seat was in Ontario where the Liberals obtained 98 of 99 seats. The Reform Party existed solely at the federal level but was eventually able to work with some of the provincial Progressive Conservative parties, notably in Alberta and Ontario although the Progressive Conservative party at the federal level persisted in opposing a possible merger. The New Democratic Party was reduced from 43 to 9 seats (with 7% of the countrywide vote) apparently many of their earlier supporters went to the Liberals. In 1995, the Parti Quebecois, who had won the provincial election in Quebec in 1994 with a two-thirds majority in the provincial parliament (although with only a slightly greater share of the popular vote than the provincial Liberals owing to the operation of first-past-the-post) launched a referendum to get public approval to begin negotiations for Quebec sovereignty. The referendum failed by an unbelievably thin margin. When an angry Quebec Premier Jacques Parizeau publicly blamed the loss of the referendum on money and the ethnic vote he was almost immediately forced to resign as this was seen as representing a very dark side of Quebecois nationalism. In the federal election of 1997, the Liberals won a working majority of 155 out of 301 seats (with 38% of the country-wide vote); Reform won 60 seats (with 19% of the vote) although without a single seat outside of Western Canada; the Bloc Quebecois won 44 seats (with 11% of the vote); the NDP won 21 seats (with 11% of the vote); the Progressive Conservatives won 20 seats (with 19% of the vote); and there was one independent candidate elected. The apparent discrepancies between popular vote and seats won in the federal Parliament in these elections occurred not only as a result of the usual operation of the first-past-the-post system, but also because of the obvious vote splitting between Reform and the Progressive Conservatives. In 1995, Mike Harris was elected Premier of Ontario. The provincial Progressive Conservatives were decidedly more right-leaning than the federal wing of the party, partly because of the reaction to the five years of NDP government in Ontario. The NDP had won the provincial election in 1990, after three years of a left-leaning Liberal government (1987-1990), and two years of a Liberal-NDP coalition (1985-1987). Before that, Ontario had elected Progressive Conservative governments since the 1940s. However, the Progressive Conservatives under Premier Bill Davis (in 1971-1985) had been largely hostile to any manifestations of social and cultural conservatism they were pragmatic managers in a period of massive social upheaval and transformation. Frank Miller, Bill Davis successor, was only briefly Premier, and was characterized by the media, the opposition parties, and by even some members of his own party, as a political dinosaur. However, a decade later, the unpopularity of the NDP brought in Mike Harris and his so-called Common Sense Revolution. Mike Harris won a majority government in 1995 as well as 1999. However, he resigned in 2002. Although Harris claimed to resign for personal reasons -- the controversy over Walkerton, where a number of people died from an infected water-supply and for which the main blame was firmly placed in many peoples minds on Harriss privatization policies certainly was a factor. The Progressive Conservative party leadership race between Ernie Eves and Jim Flaherty brought the decidedly more moderate Eves to the Premiership. However, in the October 2, 2003 provincial election, the Liberals, under Dalton McGuinty, won 72 seats (with 46.5% of the popular vote), the Progressive Conservatives, under Ernie Eves, 24 seats (with 34.6% of the vote), and the NDP (under Howard Hampton), 7 seats (with 14.7% of the vote). To be continued. Partially based on an English-language text that appeared in Polish translation under the title Kanada eksperyment wielokulturowosci. (Canada: an experiment in multiculturalism) trans. Olaf Swolkien. Miedzynarodowy Przeglad Polityczny (International Political Review) (Warsaw, Poland: Fundacja Srodkowoeuropejska The Foundation for Central European) no 5 (no 10) (December 2004-January 2005), pp. 221-231. Mark Wegierski is a Toronto-based, Canadian writer and historical researcher. Home Eunuch is a legitimate gender identity, a prominent pro-trans advocacy group has recommended. The controversial World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) updated its 'standards of care' guidelines over the weekend. The 260-page document includes a new chapter on caring for 'eunuchs'. It even advocates that medical professionals should consider castrating people who identify as such. The authors of the new standards, which include NHS medics and heads of UK trans charities, argue that castration could help some eunuchs better align with their 'gender identity'. A eunuch is a man who has been castrated. Historically, they would be servants or slaves who had their sex organs removed against their will. They served religious roles and, in some cultures, engaged in espionage and clandestine work. Famously, the actor Conleth Hill played the eunuch spy master Lord Varys in the television series Game of Thrones. His character was forcibly castrated as a child. While the body's recommendations are in no way binding, WPATH is influential. New stands from the world's leading body on care for transgender people state being a eunuch is a gender identity Famously the actor Conleth Hill played the eunuch spy master Lord Varys in the television series Game of Thrones. His character was forcibly castrated as a child What is a eunuch? In the simplest definition of the term, eunuchs are men who have been castrated. The first recorded practice of castration to intentionally produce eunuchs dates as far back as 2,000BC - more than 4,000 years ago - in the ancient city of Lagash - located in what would now be modern day Iraq. Eunuchs would usually be servants or slaves who had been castrated to make them less threatening servants. But they have also served religious roles and in some cultures engaged in espionage and clandestine work. Famously the actor Conleth Hill played the eunuch spy master Lord Varys in the television series Game of Thrones. His character was forcibly castrated as a child. In Roman times, emperors were surrounded by eunuchs for such functions as bathing, haircutting, dressing and in the Byzantium empire there were groups of eunuchs who held official functions in the city of Constantinople - now Istanbul. In China, castration was also considered one of the five great punishments, and a means of gaining employment in the Imperial service. Like in the Byzantium empire, eunuchs, due to their closeness to those in power, occasionally gained great influence, including the eunuch Zheng He during the Ming dynasty - who was said to have than high ranking officials. Though castration began to phase out in many parts of the world through the Medieval period, it was still practised officially in the Ottoman empire, even up until the 20th century. Eunuchs, in a modern sense, can include those who have been castrasted for health reasons, such as to treat cancer. But there has been a growing number of people choosing to be castrated. The Nullo movement has grown in popularity in recent years. There are extreme cases where people are castrated for cannibalistic or sexual desires - but the majority remove their genitals because they don't identify as male or female. Many opt for a 'smoothie' - a procedure that leaves them with a fully smooth groin. More than half of those people use amateur 'cutters' - often doctors or vets - or do it themselves. There are an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 voluntary 'Nullos' worldwide, though the true number is unknown. Two thirds never tell anyone they have no genitalia, including their families, a 2014 academic study found. Advertisement It counts almost 100 UK members from across the length and breadth of the UK, some in the NHS, and over 3,000 in the US. Some British members work in the controversial NHS gender clinic for children Tavistock, which is due to close next year, whilst another heads the charity Mermaids. Published in the International Journal of Transgender Health, the WPATH's new standards argue eunuch is a gender identity, and furthermore one that can require 'affirming treatment'. 'As with other gender diverse individuals, eunuchs may also seek castration to better align their bodies with their gender identity,' they said. 'Like other transgender and gender diverse individuals, eunuchs require access to affirming care to gain comfort with their gendered self.' This gender-affirming care could include both chemical and surgical castration and should be considered where there is a risk the individual will attempt these acts themselves if not provided, the authors argue. 'There is no doubt when members of this population are denied access to quality medical treatment, they will take actions that may cause them great harm, such as bleeding and infection that may require hospital admission,' they said. However, the authors stop short of recommending any treatment for children who 'identify' as eunuchs. 'Due to the lack of research into the treatment of children who may identify as eunuchs, we refrain from making specific suggestions,' they said. It is not the first time WPATH and its advocacy for eunuch as a gender identity has caused controversy. In June, an NHS Scotland website published documents saying that eunuchs should be recognised as a formal gender identity. These documents were reportedly from WPATH and discussed how 'eunuch-identified people' should be recognised as a formal gender identity which predate the new official standards from the body. The publication promoted alarm from women's rights group with Susan Smith, of For Women Scotland, condemning it endorsing a 'barbaric' practise. 'We are disgusted that NHS Scotland thinks that it is appropriate to align with any organisation pushing "eunuch identity", let alone host a paper about it on their website,' she said. 'This is a barbaric practice which, for centuries, was used to demean and abuse young men and boys.' The Scottish Government issued an apology, claiming the document had been published by mistake, and that an investigation was underway by the NHS. Some prominent members of WPATH include Professor Jon Arcelus, an expert in mental and transgender health at the University of Nottingham, who was one of the senior WPATH members involved in the creation of the new standards. Head of controversial trans charity Mermaids, Sue Green is also listed as an author. From 'chestfeeding' to 'human milk' and 'birthing PARENTS': How NHS language is going woke - with women quietly being scrubbed out of 'inclusive' advice pages 'Chestfeeding' instead of breastfeeding and asking men if they are pregnant before getting a scan are just two ways NHS language has gone woke recently. NHS chiefs have repeatedly defended the changes, saying they want to be 'inclusive, respectful and relevant'. But health experts have warned de-gendering medical advice could be dangerous as it over-complicates and obscures vital health messaging. Here, we detail some of the ways the woke language storm has engulfed the health service. Period page avoids 'women' and 'girls', instead uses 'people who bleed' MailOnline revealed the terms 'women' and 'girls' had been omitted from NHS backed guidance about periods. A website funded by the Welsh Government to give advice about menstruation omitted the words 'women' and 'girls' from its information. Instead the website, Bloody Brilliant, which cost the taxpayer 84,000, used the terms 'people who bleed' and 'half of the population'. Medics and campaigners described the language as 'infuriating' and 'confusing', warning it would complicate much needed health messaging for vulnerable girls. The website was set up in 2021 with the aim of 'breaking the taboo around periods by encouraging conversation on one of the most normal, natural topics'. MailOnline's exposure of the issue last month led to the branch of NHS Wales responsible for the advice stating language will now be changed to include 'women' and 'girls'. Bloody Brilliant, an NHS commissioned website on periods was heavily criticised for refusing to mention 'women' and 'girls', instead referring to 'people who bleed' NHS removes the word 'women' from its MENOPAUSE page MailOnline revealed the NHS's online guidance about the menopause had the terms 'women' and 'woman' removed. The webpage used to describe the condition as 'when a woman stops having periods and is no longer able to get pregnant naturally'. But a new, gender-neutral description made in May, says: 'Menopause is when your periods stop due to lower hormone levels'. The old advice also highlighted menopause usually occurs in women between the ages of 45 and 55, but about one in 100 women experience it before 40. But none of this information is included in the overview section of the updated webpage. In total six mentions of 'women' and 'woman' have been scrubbed from the page. Justifying the change, NHS Digital said they wanted language to be 'inclusive and respectful'. Experts warned that de-sexing the menopause page meant women with low English or health literacy could miss out and not read further. The NHS has quietly omitted the terms 'women' and 'woman' from its webpage on menopause. Pictured here is the older version of the menopause overview page (May 16) which mentioned women six times But the new version omits women from the overview entirely. Experts have warned women could be disadvantaged by de-gendered medical advice confusing health messaging NHS midwives told that sex is 'ASSIGNED' at birth Midwives denounced claims they 'assign' the sex of children at birth in a row on woke language. The wording came from the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) and Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in an 'inclusivity' statement. Their document said: 'We recognise maternity and gynaecological services will be accessed by women, gender diverse individuals and people whose gender identity does not align with the sex they were assigned at birth.' But some midwives hit back at the colleges, arguing that they merely 'observe' the reality of a baby's sex at birth as opposed to deciding it themselves. Jo Gould, a midwife in Sussex, said she was 'ashamed' of her representative body and that the statement was 'nonsense' and 'offensive'. But the RCM said the phrase sex assigned at birth was used correctly arguing it is the UK governments Office for National Statistics legal terminology for the sex observed at birth and then recorded on the birth certificate. A statement on inclusivity from the Royal College of Midwives and Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists has provoked outrage from some midwives on social media for using the term 'sex assigned at birth' NHS pregnancy advice refers to 'chestfeeding' and refuses to mention breasts The NHS was criticised over 'ideological' new advice for trans parents that failed to mention the word 'breast'. A page titled 'chestfeeding if you're trans or non-binary' makes no mention of breasts and refers to breast reduction operations as 'top surgery'. It was also accused of 'normalising' a potentially dangerous chest-binding technique. The guidance also encourages people to keep taking hormone transitioning drugs when they 'chestfeed', despite admitting 'it is unclear what effect this could have on your baby'. The advice was written a year prior to publication but was only issued online after nearly 12 months of internal NHS wrangling. It provoked concern among nurses and maternity experts, who said the advice fails to warn people about health risks of such practices to both parents and babies. The term chestfeeding is used throughout the page with the term 'breast' omitted. Breastmilk likewise has been replaced with 'milk from the chest' The page also says testosterone can pass through breast milk to babies but adds it is 'unclear' what affect passing the hormone on to a baby could have Critics of the page have said it normalises a potentially dangerous 'binding' technique used to make breasts smaller using fabric and which can cause a variety of health problems NHS bosses removed term 'WOMEN' on ovarian and womb cancer advice pages Official NHS advice pages about ovarian, womb, vaginal and cervix cancers were found to have quietly scrubbed the word 'women' from their webpages earlier this year. The term was missing from the landing pages of three sections explaining the cancers, which are only found in biological women. For example, the original version of the ovarian NHS cancer page featured the line: 'Ovarian cancer, or cancer of the ovaries, is one of the most common types of cancer in women.' Another line read: 'Ovarian cancer mainly affects women who have been through the menopause (usually over the age of 50), but it can sometimes affect younger women.' However, in an update sneaked out in January these were removed with the page now saying: 'Anyone with ovaries can get ovarian cancer, but it mostly affects those over 50.' The changes were made late in 2021 and early 2022 but only came to light in May. The old version of the NHS ovarian cancer page as of December 30 2021 (left) mentions women specifically twice, whereas the new version (right) omits them NHS reinstates the word women in its miscarriage advice In June, the health service added the word 'women' back to its miscarriage page following backlash. The health service replaced 'women who know they're pregnant' with 'people who know they are pregnant'. Another line on the page was also criticised for saying miscarriage 'only affects about one in 100 people' instead of women. Despite amending one of the sentences to state that having three consecutive miscarriages 'only affects about one in 100 women', other pages in the NHS guidance make no mention of women at all. A section called 'aftermath' refers to 'people' seven times but not once to women, including in its sub-paragraph about the emotional impact of a miscarriage. Another section titled 'causes' does mention women several times when attributing their age as a factor on their pregnancy, with one in ten expectant women under 30 having a miscarriage compared to five in ten over 45. NHS Digital has now partially amended the webpage to include the word 'women' once at the end NHS-backed guidance states transwomen can breastfeed Experts warned newborn babies could be harmed by woke NHS-backed guidance stating biologically born men can breastfeed. Guidance from the La Leche's charity linked to on the NHS's controversial 'chestfeeding' advice page states biological men who swap sex can stimulate milk supply using the Newman-Goldfarb protocol. But the procedure, which involves taking a powerful drug called domperidone, has been mired in controversy and is effectively banned in the US because of its side effects. NHS bosses only recommend it to women struggling to produce milk in some cases because domperidone carries a risk of giving a baby an irregular heartbeat. Experts told MailOnline how scientists have 'no idea about the implications', of breastfeeding in men and that the NHS should focus on improving access to breastfeeding rates for women. An NHS England spokesperson said the link to La Leche's advice on the chestfeeding guidance page was to an 'independent, non-profit support site' and added does not reflect NHS policy. Hospitals asking men if they are pregnant before scans In March, it was revealed that men were being asked if they are or could be pregnant before given radiotherapy by some NHS trusts. Male cancer patients, as well as those having X-rays and MRI scans, were asked if they were expecting a baby, because the word 'female' was replaced by 'individuals' for medical procedures. For example, the Walton Centre NHS in Liverpool now asks 'all patients under the age of 60, regardless of how you may identify your gender' whether they could be having a baby. The dangers that radiotherapy, diagnostic imaging and nuclear medicine pose to an unborn child mean medics must find out if biologically female patients are pregnant before carrying out the procedures. But campaigners warned the move could spark the beginning of a 'clinically dangerous' move to record only gender, and not sex, on medical records. Patients and their families have also complained of 'unnecessary confusion and agitation' for vulnerable patients. Student midwives being taught how to help biological MEN give birth In May this year, it was revealed that midwifery students at Edinburgh Napier University were being taught biological men could get pregnant and trans men could give birth even if they have a penis. In a coursebook that has since been revised, trainee midwives were given detailed instructions on how to treat a male-to-female trans person during childbirth. The book's introduction stated: 'You may be caring for a pregnant or birthing person who is transitioning from male to female and may still have external male genitalia.' Another section with photo demonstrations detailed how to fit a catheter in a person with a penis and scrotum during labour. The book also included special instructions for people with prostate glands which are exclusive to biological men who may feel particular 'discomfort'. Several experts criticised the university, describing the woke material as 'remarkably ignorant about basic biology, sex and anatomy'. Bosses at the university have now changed the wording to say, 'people transitioning from female to male' rather than 'male to female', following the uproar. NHS told to use inclusive birth terms to avoid offending transgender people NHS services were told to use 'inclusive' terms like 'chestfeeding' so trans pregnant people aren't offended by a Government-funded report published in April. Produced by charity the LGBT Foundation other suggestions of language change was avoiding terms like 'vaginal birth', recommending 'frontal' or 'lower birth' instead. The charity also says some trans and non-binary people would benefit from having a private space in hospitals to give birth, so that they are not made uncomfortable by seeing women. It detailed the experience of one trans person, who said: 'I didnt have to go to a ward full of women after giving birth, I was actually provided with a private room for me and baby which was very helpful and accommodating for me and my gender identity.' The report was based on a survey 121 trans Britons on their experience of pregnancy. It was commissioned by the Health & Wellbeing Alliance, a partnership between charities and the NHS, which is managed jointly by the Department of Health and Social Care and Office for Health Improvement and Disparities. NHS hospital tells staff to say 'birthing parents' and 'human milk' In February last year Brighton and Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust unveiled 'gender inclusive' phrases it wanted its staff to use. These included terms like 'birthing parents' and 'human milk' rather than 'mothers' and 'breast milk' to avoid offending transgender people. The Trust said using 'gender inclusive' phrases was part of a drive to stamp out 'mainstream transphobia'. Other changes include replacing the use of the word 'woman' with the phrase 'woman or person', and the term 'father' with 'parent', 'co-parent' or 'second biological parent', depending on the circumstances. The new terms will be used for documents, protocols and Trust-wide communication. The move was welcomed by inclusivity campaigners at the time, with the group TransActual tweeted: 'This is fantastic, well done. Let's hope many more trusts follow suit. Everybody deserves to be treated with dignity and respect.' An iconic American hospital is under extreme financial pressure, reporting a loss of nearly $1 billion in only a three month period - a signal of how dire a situation many hospitals are in coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mass General Hospital (MGH) in Boston, Massachusetts, which posted $949 million in losses in the third quarter of the 2022 fiscal year - ending in June. The hospital points to surging labor costs and staffing shortages for the unprecedented losses. Hospitals across the United States are hemorrhaging funds and many are sounding the alarm that they may not be able to continue operations unless rocketing costs and labor shortages are resolved in the coming months. A report published last week by the American Hospital Association (AHA) and KaufmanHall last week projects that up to 70 percent of hospitals in America may end 2022 having lost money. Increasing costs of labor are the main contributor. Many have also had trouble bringing in revenue, as shortages in labor have reduced their capacity to provide services. American hospitals have struggled throughout the pandemic. Many operations were deferred as a result of lockdowns and Covid restrictions. The pandemic also led to an exodus of medical staff, specifically in nursing, leading to many relying on more expensive contract labor to fill roles. As a result, even more nurses left their full-time roles for contract roles, exacerbating the situation. More than half of hospitals are projected to lose money in 2022, with worst case scenarios showing nearly 70% losing money throughout the year Mass General Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, posted quarterly losses of nearly $1 billion in Q3 of the 2022 fiscal year 'Hospitals stand to lose billions of dollars in 2022,' Dr Therese Fitzpatrick, senior vice president at KaufmanHall, said during a press call. 'It will be the worst year since the start of the pandemic.' The report, published Thursday, found that the profit margins on health care have fallen heavily since 2019 - the last year before the pandemic, and shown little signs of recovery. The first half of 2022 saw margins drop 102 percent from pre-pandemic levels, meaning that hospitals were starting to lose money on care provided. One of the biggest victims of this phenomena was MGH. The iconic U.S. hospital posted a loss of nearly $1 billion between April to June of 2022. The hospital blamed increasing staffing costs, and shortages in many positions for driving up its costs and wiping out its profit margins. 'As these challenges are unlikely to subside in the near term, we must continue and even accelerate our efforts to improve efficiency, deliver care in the most appropriate and convenient settings, and integrate payer and provider capabilities to improve affordability for individuals and employers,' Niyum Gandhi, CFO of the hospital, said in a press release. The hospital performs around 20,000 surgeries each year, serving much of the greater-Boston area. It is also a leading research institution, often partnering with nearby Harvard University and Brigham and Women's Hospital for groundbreaking studies. The hospital is now facing pressure from regulators to fix its finances, and was forced to file a plan with the state on how to improve its situation. In the worst case projections, margins across American hospitals will be down 133 percent across the entire year, though, This means that hospitals will lose a third of the money they spend of care in the U.S. 'It doesn't take a mathematician to know that we're hurtingin fact, we are bleeding red,' Peggy Abbot, CEO of Ouachita County Medical Center in Camden, Arkansas, told Fierce HealthCare. Across the first half of the year, 52 percent of U.S. hospitals were operating in the red, Kauffman found. That number is expected to stay consistent across the second half of the year, but the most pessimistic projections have 68 percent. The main source of these financial issues is the rapidly expanding costs of labor. The Kauffman report finds that hospitals are spending $86 billion more on staffing in 2022 than they were in 2021. Nearly $30 billion of that figure is among contracted labor. These temporary staff members are often hired to fill shortages when they arise. They cost significantly more per head, though. During Covid, many health care workers abandoned their full-time roles to seek out more lucrative contract roles. As a result of full-time staff leaving, many hospitals were forced to spend even more on contract labor. The AHA warns that smaller, rural, hospitals will be struck hardest by these surging costs and slashes to margins. Even before Covid, many who live in rural areas have faced transportation barriers to care as many live hours away from the nearest full-service hospital. Even transport to an emergency room or urgent care could take long periods of time. The remaining rural hospitals are less likely to have the cash to burn that a major institution like MGH does, and could be forced to close as a result of these negative margins. This would extend already long transportation times for care, and likely lead to preventable deaths, the AHA warns. Waitrose is bracing for an uptick in sales of its Duchy Originals range which was started by King Charles in 1990. The upmarket grocer said that sales of the line, which includes vine tomatoes, green beans and blueberries, were likely to receive a boost. Waitrose executive director James Bailey said: People are in a more reflective mood. You will probably see an upswell of support for those Duchy Organics products in the medium or long term. Organic: King Charles founded the Duchy Originals brand in 1990 when he was the Prince of Wales to sell produce from Home Farm at his country house Highgrove Charles founded the brand in 1990 when he was the Prince of Wales to sell produce from Home Farm at his country house Highgrove. He has been an advocate of organic farming since transforming Home Farm to become organic in 1985. Duchy struck a partnership with Waitrose in 2010 and has since grown into the UKs largest organic food and drink brand. The first product was the Duchy Originals oaten biscuit. The range now spans 300 products. In 2020 Charles gave up control of the farm. It remained organic and maintained its partnership with Waitrose. The Queen's stylist, hairdresser and aide Angela Kelly - a docker's daughter from Liverpool - has been allowed to stay at her grace-and-favour home near Windsor Castle after the monarch's death. Angela Kelly, 64, was a trusted confidante and took on a lady-in-waiting-style role towards the Queen as she worked her way up from Assistant Dresser to becoming indispensable part of the household. Queen Elizabeth ensured that her loyal friend would be allowed to stay on in her grace-and-favour home after her death. Staff would typically only have one month's notice before being moved to another Royal household or being told to look for alternative employment after the death of a King or Queen. But now it seems that the Queen had given her authority for Ms Kelly to stay near Windsor Castle after her death. Angela Kelly, a close confidante of the Queen, is set to be allowed to stay on in her grace-and-favour home at Windsor thanks to the Queen herself. Pictured receiving her RVO in 2012 So favoured was she by the late Monarch that Ms Kelly was also granted extraordinary permission to secure a three-book deal. Two of those memoirs have been published and another is set to be released. An insider said: 'The Queen was very clear that she was close to Angela and wanted to look after her people.' Ms Kelly who is said to want to spend some time in America now the Queen has died, was originally hired for her fashion expertise. But she soon developed a close bond with the Monarch. As the Queen's mobility failed, Palace sources say that Ms Kelly could often be found sitting with the Queen, making her laugh and filling Her Majesty in on the latest plot twists of television soap operas. Latterly, as the Queen's number of public appearances decreased in line with her ability to move around in comfort, it was Ms Kelly who sat with the Queen at Windsor. One source says: 'The Prince of Wales came in one day to see his mother and was surprised that Angela had her own rooms there where she would watch the television rather loudly.' As time went on, Ms Kelly took on more of a lady-in-waiting role, sources say. She would fetch and carry and even advise. The influence of the down-to-earth Liverpudlian could even be seen in some of the Queen's public appearances far beyond what the Monarch chose to wear. It was Ms Kelly who encouraged the Queen to visit the set of Coronation Street in Manchester when the ITV studio marked its 60th anniversary in July last year. And what did the Queen choose to wear? An Angela Kelly outfit in a bold teal with a matching hat. The anecdote was revealed in Ms Kelly's second memoir, The Other Side Of The Coin. The trip went ahead with Ms Kelly recalling: 'She doesn't watch Coronation Street, but I filled her in.' She adds: 'I was thrilled that the Queen chose my outfit and my hat to wear for the event.' As the Queen's mobility failed, Palace sources say that Ms Kelly could often be found sitting with the Queen, making her laugh and filling Her Majesty in on the latest plot twists of television soap operas. Left to right is Caroline Rush, the Queen, Anna Wintour and Angela Kelly in 2018 When she was chosen to accompany the Queen on the day, Ms Kelly recalled: 'I was so giddy you'd think I was walking on hot sand.' The book also tells of how, during lockdown, Ms Kelly and a team of staff formed HMS Bubble a Covid-free ring around the Queen designed to keep her safe while continuing to look after her comfort. While the courtiers sacrificed time with their families to avoid catching the virus and passing it on to the Queen, there was also fun to be had during lockdown. Ms Kelly, who started working in the Royal Household in 1994, reveals that the staff took part in the 'Bubble Olympics', a series of activities including a rounders tournament, sprint relay and a game with balloons filled with water. To the astonishment of staff, Ms Kelly said the Queen herself emerged one day. After watching out of sight, she came from behind the bushes to award the winners with trophies. Ms Kelly also shared her insight into the difficult period when the Queen returned to Windsor Castle after Prince Philip's funeral. 'I helped her off with her coat and hat and no words were spoken. The Queen then walked to her sitting room, closed the door behind her, and she was alone with her own thoughts,' Kelly writes of the moments after the funeral in an extract published by Hello! magazine. Writing on the day the Duke of Edinburgh died, Kelly said the atmosphere among staff staying in Windsor was 'sombre,' and that only a few members of staff were told the news, after the members of the royal family were told first. Ms Kelly also shared her insight into the difficult period when the Queen returned to Windsor Castle after Prince Philip's funeral On the day of the Duke of Edinburgh's funeral in Windsor, members of staff were allowed to stand outside the Augusta Tower door, opposite St George's Hall. 'The Queen's dressers, pages, chefs, housemaids, footmen and Castle attendants all stood to attention as The Duke of Edinburgh's coffin was carefully placed onto the Land Rover that he had specially designed for the day,' Angela recalls. She added that staff members were visibly grief-stricken and that there thoughts must have been with the Queen as she said goodbye to her husband of 73 years. Ms Kelly also added that fellow members of staff felt the pain of the valet walking behind the Duke's coffin during the funeral procession, because it was 'it was hard to watch our own friends saying goodbye to their amazing boss.' When the Queen's health failed, her loyal servant remained by her side. In lockdown she opened 'Kelly's Salon' making herself indispensable as the Queen's hairdresser as well as her dresser and aide. The reward for such loyalty will now be the promise of a comfortable retirement. Advertisement The Queen's death at Balmoral Castle on September 8 triggered a series of changes to the titles of senior royals - including for both the Cambridges and the Sussexes. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex's son, Archie Mountbatten-Windsor, will become a prince following the death of the Queen - a title which Meghan controversially claimed was previously denied to him because of his race. His younger sister, Lilibet 'Lili' Mountbatten-Windsor, will also be a princess following the death of the Queen and with her grandfather, the Prince of Wales, becoming King. The rules set out by King George V in 1917 would normally mean Archie and Lili - as the children of a son of a sovereign - would have an HRH style if they choose to use it. But a royal expert said they may not be granted HRH titles because they will not be working royals. Meanwhile the Cambridges also saw big changes. Charles has officially made William and Kate the Prince and Princess of Wales - as the couple also inherited the Duchy of Cornwall after he was made King. The Duke and Duchess of Sussexs son Archie Mountbatten-Windsor is now technically a prince due to rules set out by King George V in 1917. The family are pictured for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's Christmas card in 2021 When William becomes the Prince of Wales Kate will become the Princess of Wales (pictured on June 23) last used by Williams mother, Diana, when she was married to Charles William and Kates children have become Prince George of Cornwall and Cambridge, Princess Charlotte of Cornwall and Cambridge, and Prince Louis of Cornwall and Cambridge (pictured together on September 7). They will eventually become of Wales when William is the Prince of Wales The Queen granted King Charles the title Prince of Wales in 1958. The title was last used by Williams mother, Diana, when she was married to Charles. Camilla was also technically the Princess of Wales but never used the title because of its association with Diana. Kate also holds the title the Countess of Chester, after William became the Earl of Chester. She is also now the Duchess of Rothesay in Scotland previously Camillas title. William and Kates children Prince George, Princess Charlotte of Cornwall and Prince Louis have also become of Wales as William became the Prince of Wales. Similarly, Harry and Meghan's children will now, for the first time, become Prince and Princess. During the couple's explosive Oprah Winfrey interview, Meghan Markle described her 'pain' as she claimed officials had denied Archie the title of prince and accused Buckingham Palace of failing to protect him by denying him 24/7 security. When asked if it was 'important' for Meghan that Archie be called a prince, she said she doesn't have any attachment to the 'grandeur' of official titles. But she said it was about 'the idea of our son not being safe, and also the idea of the first member of colour in this family not being titled in the same way that other grandchildren would be.' In 2021, it was suggested Charles - in a bid to limit the number of key royals - intended, when he became monarch, to prevent Archie becoming a prince. To do so, he will have to issue a Letters Patent amending Archie's right to be a prince and Lili's right to be a princess. Until that potentially happens or if it does not, Archie and Lili remain a prince and princess, whether their parents choose to use the titles or not. Meghan argued in the Sussexes' bombshell interview with US talk show host Oprah Winfrey that Archie was not given the title of prince because of his race. When Archie was born he was too far down the line of succession for such a title according to George Vs restrictions, but now, as the son of a son of a sovereign, he can be an HRH and a prince During the explosive Oprah Winfrey interview, Meghan Markle described her 'pain' that officials had denied Archie the title of prince and accused Buckingham Palace of failing to protect him by denying him 24/7 security However, when Archie was born seventh in line to the throne in May 2019, he was too far down the line of succession. What is the George V convention? In 1917, the Queen's grandfather issued new letters patent that limited the number of royal family members with an HRH title. These stated that 'the children of any Sovereign of these Realms and the children of the sons of any such Sovereign and the eldest living son of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales shall have and at all times hold and enjoy the style, title or attribute of Royal Highness with their titular dignity of Prince or Princess prefixed to their respective Christian names or with their other titles of honour'. In 1917, the Queen's grandfather issued new letters patent that limited the number of royal family members with an HRH title This means that when Prince Charles became King, his grandchildren - including Archie - automatically became princes or princesses. It was also decreed that 'grandchildren of the sons of any such Sovereign in the direct male line ... shall have and enjoy in all occasions the style and title enjoyed by the children of Dukes of these Our Realms' (i.e., Lord or Lady before their Christian name).' In addition the letters stated 'save as aforesaid the style title or attribute of Royal Highness, Highness or Serene Highness and the titular dignity of Prince or Princess shall not henceforth be assumed or borne by any descendant of any Sovereign of these Realms. Advertisement Although he was a great-grandchild of the monarch, he was not a first-born son of a future king, so was not automatically a prince. He could have previously used the courtesy title Earl of Dumbarton, or been Lord Archie Mountbatten-Windsor. But Buckingham Palace said the duke and duchess made a personal decision that he should be plain Master Archie Mountbatten-Windsor instead. A royal source said following Archie's arrival that the couple had chosen not to give him a courtesy title 'at this time'. Meghan told Oprah that, when she was pregnant with Archie, an unnamed member of the royal family had raised 'concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he's born'. The Sussexes stopped using their own HRH styles after stepping down as senior working royals for a life in Los Angeles, and there were later calls for their duke and duchess titles to be removed. Harry has always spoken about the burden of having a title. He repeatedly stressed the importance of wanting to be seen as normal and confessed in 2017 that he once 'wanted out' of the royal family - a wish that became a reality in 2020. The former soldier said the time he spent in the Army, when he was 'just Harry', was 'the best escape I've ever had' and he had considered giving up his title. Royal author Penny Junor said: 'He would have dearly liked to have been a normal boy growing up, and found his title very difficult.' The duke is close to his cousins, Zara Tindall and Peter Phillips, and may have taken their experiences on board. Junor added: 'He looked at Zara and Peter and it was so much easier for them than for him. 'He was constantly the centre of attention. His friends were targeted whenever he did anything wrong or misbehaved in any way. 'We knew nothing about Zara or Peter when they were growing up because they were ordinary children going to ordinary schools and were not being treated in any special way.' Zara, who grew up as Miss Zara Phillips, was not entitled to be an HRH because she was born in the female line as the offspring of the daughter of a sovereign. She has spoken of how not having a title was a blessing. 'I've been very lucky. My parents didn't give us titles, so we've been able to have a slightly more normal upbringing. As soon as you've got a title, it's very difficult to shed it,' she said. Affectionately called 'Granny' and 'Gan-Gan', the monarch enjoyed a close bond with the younger generation of royals. Pictured this snap, taken at Balmoral Castle in 2018 by the Duchess of Cambridge, shows the Queen and the late Duke of Edinburgh sitting alongside seven of their great-grandchildren left-right: Prince George, Prince Louis, Princess Charlotte, Savannah Phillips (behind), Isla Phillips holding Lena Tindall and Mia Tindall The Queen, pictured on September 6 meeting Liz Truss at Balmoral, died two days later at the age of 96 The Earl and Countess of Wessex's daughter, Lady Louise Windsor, and son, Viscount Severn, as the children of the son of a monarch, were allowed to be known as princess and prince. But Edward and Sophie, with the Queen's permission, decided to use the courtesy titles of an earl instead. Meghan said she and Harry wanted Archie to be a prince so he would have security and be protected. But being a prince or princess does not automatically mean royals have police bodyguards paid for by the taxpayer, and the Sussexes have chosen to live in the US. Archie is technically history's first Prince of Sussex and Lili the first Princess of Sussex. The previous 19th century Duke of Sussex - an eccentric son of King George III - had both his marriages deemed illegal. Charles, who was the Prince of Wales, is now King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Camilla is, as the wife of the King, the Queen (Consort) (pictured together attending Thanksgiving on June 3) The Queen and her grandson Prince William watch the annual Braemar Gathering in Scotland in September 2005 Prince George looking at his great grandmother Queen Elizabeth II from the balcony of Buckingham Palace at the end of the Platinum Pageant in London Charlotte joined her parents and the Queen on a number of royal occasions during the Queen's Platinum Jubilee, including Trooping the Colour (pictured) His mistress, Lady Augusta Murray, was not the Duchess of Sussex and his illegitimate son was plain Master Augustus Frederick d'Este. Lady Augusta did, however, continually refer to herself as a duchess and a princess, and staff called her son Prince Augustus and her daughter Princess Augusta. Eventually Archie will be entitled to succeed Harry as the Duke of Sussex. Meanwhile, Charles, who was the Prince of Wales, is now King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. He is also King of Commonwealth realms. His style is His Majesty rather than His Royal Highness. Charles is also Defender of the Faith and Supreme Governor of the Church of England. He is now the Duke of Lancaster. Camilla is, as the wife of the King, the Queen. Her style is Her Majesty rather than Her Royal Highness. She is a Queen Consort, as was the Queen Mother, rather than a Queen Regnant who rules in her own right, such as Elizabeth II. Pillar boxes, cash, stamps, police helmets, passports. So much will be different under King Charles III... and even QCs will become KCs By David Wilkes for the Daily Mail After 70 years on the throne, we have all become accustomed to seeing the Queen's image on everyday items such as bank notes, coins and stamps. But following her death, they will have to be changed to feature portraits of the new King, Charles III. British currency won't be replaced overnight, however. It could take years, as new coins and notes are created with the face of the King and the older ones are gradually removed from circulation. Another change will be that while the Queen's image faces to the right on coins, new ones will show the King facing left. This is due to a tradition dating from the 17th century to alternate the way successive monarchs are facing. The Queen's coins did not appear until 1953 the year after her accession. The new coins and notes will need to be designed and minted, or printed. Then The Royal Mint advisory committee must send recommendations for new coins to the Chancellor and obtain royal approval. Designs are then chosen and the final choices approved by the Chancellor and then the King. British currency won't be replaced overnight. It could take years, as new coins and notes are created with the face of the King and the older ones are gradually removed from circulation Another change will be that while the Queen's image faces to the right on coins, new ones will show the King facing left Australian coins and the $5 banknote are set to be updated to feature King Charles following the death of the Queen at age 96 (pictured is a mocked-up version of the 20 cent coin) UK passports will be issued in the new King's name and their wording changed at some point. Her Majesty's Passport Office will become His Majesty's Passport Office A change in matters of law is that barristers and solicitors appointed by the monarch will see their title switch from Queen's Counsel (QC) to King's Counsel (KC) Stamps also depict an image of the Queen and new ones will have to be created featuring the face of the King, again with the current ones phased out gradually. Charles may have already sat for such sculptures or portraits, and he will again have to approve the designs. Royal Mail postboxes bearing the Queen's ER cypher (for 'Elizabeth Regina', the Latin for Queen) are unlikely to be removed in fact, some emblazoned with the Queen's father King George VI's GR ('George Rex', Latin for King) cypher can still be seen today. But any new postboxes could feature the new King's emblem. And in criminal court cases, the R to denote the Crown now stands for Rex rather than Regina. Another change in matters of law is that barristers and solicitors appointed by the monarch will see their title switch from Queen's Counsel (QC) to King's Counsel (KC). Meanwhile, the words to the National Anthem now change to 'God save our gracious King'. Military medals featuring the Queen's effigy will need to be altered, while police and military uniforms bearing the Queen's cypher are likely to be updated over time with the new King's cypher the monogram impressed on royal and state documents. The Queen's ERII features on traditional police helmets. UK passports will be issued in the new King's name and their wording changed at some point. Her Majesty's Passport Office will become His Majesty's Passport Office, as is the case with HM Armed Forces and HM Prison Service. Police and military uniforms bearing the Queen's cypher are likely to be updated over time with the new King's cypher the monogram impressed on royal and state documents. The Queen's ERII features on traditional police helmets Stamps also depict an image of the Queen and new ones will have to be created featuring the face of the King, again with the current ones phased out gradually Royal Mail postboxes bearing the Queen's ER cypher (for 'Elizabeth Regina', the Latin for Queen) are unlikely to be removed in fact, some emblazoned with the Queen's father King George VI's GR ('George Rex', Latin for King) cypher can still be seen today. But any new postboxes could feature the new King's emblem Pictured: The death of The Queen was announced at 6.30pm today via the Royal Family's official Twitter account accompanied by this photo Her Majesty the Queen - Britain's longest-reigning monarch - has died peacefully at Balmoral aged 96. Her son Charles, is now king, and his face will gradually replace that of his mother's on coins, notes, stamps, Charles's signature will also change. Before, it was simply 'Charles', but now it will be followed by an additional R for Rex at the end. As King, he will also need a new personal flag. In 1960, the Queen adopted a personal flag a gold E with the royal crown surrounded by a chaplet of roses on a blue background to be flown on any building, ship, car or aircraft in which she was staying or travelling. It was often used when she visited Commonwealth countries. While the Royal Standard represents the Sovereign and the United Kingdom, the Queen's own flag was personal to her alone. Meanwhile, the royal coat of arms, adopted at the start of Queen Victoria's reign in 1837, will remain the same. But just as when the Queen became monarch, it is likely that new artwork will be issued early in Charles's reign by the College of Arms for use by public service bodies such as the civil service and the armed forces. The 'very light rebranding' will be hard to spot, but it signifies the opportunity to replace old images, which have been in use for many decades, with newer differently stylised ones. And the Duke of Cambridge will be given an updated coat of arms when he is made the Prince of Wales a title which he does not inherit automatically. Adnan Syed could be released from prison today. A court hearing has been set for Monday afternoon in Baltimore to consider a request from prosecutors to vacate the 2000 murder conviction of Syed, whose case was chronicled in the hit podcast 'Serial.' Baltimore Circuit Judge Melissa Phinn scheduled the hearing for 2 p.m. The development comes after Baltimore prosecutors filed a motion Wednesday saying a lengthy investigation conducted with the defense had uncovered new evidence that could undermine the conviction of Syed. Syed has served more than 20 years in prison for the strangling of his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee, who was 18 when she was killed in 1999. Her body was found buried in a Baltimore park. According to a motion filed in the case, Maryland law says prosecutors generally have 30 days after a conviction is vacated to decide whether to drop the charges or to retry the case. A court hearing has been set for Monday afternoon in Baltimore to consider a request from prosecutors to vacate the 2000 murder conviction of Syed State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby said of the motion: 'We do not have confidence in results of the first trial' Should prosecutors bring new charges, Syed would be arraigned again and would need to enter a new plea. Syed, 42, has maintained his innocence for decades and captured the attention of millions in 2014 when the debut season of the 'Serial' podcast focused on the case and raised doubts about some of the evidence, including cellphone tower data. Prosecutors said in their motion that they werent asserting that Syed is innocent but they lacked confidence 'in the integrity of the conviction' and recommended he be released on his own recognizance or bail. 'We believe that keeping Mr. Syed detained as we continue to investigate the case with everything that we know now, when we do not have confidence in results of the first trial, would be unjust,' States Attorney Marilyn Mosby said. Mosby also said: 'In the interest of fairness and justice, he is entitled to a new trial.' In an interview with ABC News Mosby said of the murder of Hae Min Lee: 'One of the suspects were improperly cleared by investigators based on faulty polygraph tests.' Though he was 17 at the time of the murder, Syed was tried as an adult. He has perpetually maintained his innocence Prosecutors in Baltimore are asking for Adnan Syed (above) to be re-tried for the 1999 murder of Hae Min Lee Adnan Syed has served more than 20 years in prison for the strangling of his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee Rabia Chaudry (right), an attorney and friend of Syeds family, celebrated the news of the motion being filed Syed's brother, Yusuf, told WJZ following Monday's developments: 'The policy, they didn't do their job. They were just fixated on Adnan, so they wanted to point everyone towards him.' Following the publicity generated for the case after the release of Serial, Lee's family said in a statement: 'It remains hard to see so many run to defend someone who committed a horrible crime, who destroyed our family, who refuses to accept responsibility, when so few are willing to speak up for Hae.' It went on: 'She stood up for what was right, regardless of popular opinion.' Ronald Lee Moore was put forward as a potential suspect in the Serial podcast Prosecutors have now reportedly turned their attentions to two alternative suspects. Though it's unclear who the alternate suspects are, one named floated by the Serial podcast was Ronald Lee Moore, who had left prison days before Lee's death and committed other crimes similar to her killing. Moore committed suicide in 2008 while jailed for unrelated crimes, and police said he was a suspect in a series of burglaries, unsolved sexual assaults and homicide cases in Maryland in 1999. The filing also says that prosecutors at trial failed to hand over key information to the defense team as required, in what is known as a Brady violation. Syed is serving a life sentence after he was convicted of strangling Lee (with him above at prom). The two were high school classmates who had dated The withheld information included a witness statement about threats against Lee uttered by one of the other suspects, including the threat to kill her. Prosecutors also called into doubt the validity of cell phone records and data that were presented in the original trial as key evidence for the state. 'Given the stunning lack of reliable evidence implicating Mr. Syed, coupled with increasing evidence pointing to other suspects, this unjust conviction cannot stand,' said Syed's attorney Erica Suter in a statement. 'Mr. Syed is grateful that this information has finally seen the light of day and looks forward to his day in court,' added Suter, who is also Director of the Innocence Project Clinic. Sarah Koenig, producer and host of the podcast Serial, is seen in 2015 In its debut 2014 season, the 'Serial' podcast broke podcast-streaming records and shined a spotlight on the case that led to renewed court proceedings. In March of this year, a judge order that evidence from the case, including the victim's rape kit, be tested for DNA using technology that was not available at the time of the murder. It's unclear whether the results of that testing played into the motion filed on Wednesday. It follows a series of legal twists and turns in the case. Two courts previously rejected Syed's requests for a new trial based on claims of ineffective counsel. His lawyer during his first trial, Cristina Gutierrez, failed to contact an alibi witness, Asia McClain, who said she saw Syed at a library at the time prosecutors say he strangled Lee in 1999. Gutierrez has since died. But in 2018, the Maryland Court of Appeals denied Syed a new trial in a 4-3 ruling, even though it agreed his trial lawyer's work was lacking. The state high court said there was little chance the outcome would have been different had Gutierrez done what she should have. Then in 2019, the US Supreme Court rejected Syed's bid for a new trial. Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh in a statement at the time said the evidence against Syed 'was overwhelming.' 'We remain confident in the verdict that was delivered by the jury and are pleased that justice for Hae Min Lee has been done,' he said. America's top general Mark Milley has warned that vigilance is needed amid fears that Russia may lash out. After visiting a military base in Poland he said: 'The war is not going too well for Russia right now. So it's incumbent upon all of us to maintain high states of readiness, alert.' The remarks were a reminder of the risks of the conflict intensifying as the US and NATO allies aid Ukraine from a distance and the counter-offensive by Kyiv's forces continues to be successful. Milley said that he was not suggesting US troops in Europe were under any increased threat but that they had to be ready. He added: 'In the conduct of war, you just don't know with a high degree of certainty what will happen next.' The general said that the war was in a new phase in which Ukrainian forces have seized the strategic initiative but did not speculate on Putin's next steps. He said: 'Because of that, we have to very closely watch what Russia's reactions to that will be.' After visiting a military base in Poland, Mark Milley said: 'The war is not going too well for Russia right now. So it's incumbent upon all of us to maintain high states of readiness, alert.' Pictured: Mark Milley during the inauguration of the Liberty Road project at the Warsaw Rising Museum The remarks were a reminder of the risks of the conflict intensifying as the US and NATO allies aid Ukraine from a distance and the counter-offensive by Kyiv's forces continues to be successful. Pictured: US Ambassador to Poland Mark Brzezinski and Mark Milley during the inauguration of the Liberty Road project at the Warsaw Rising Museum Milley had reviewed the air defenses at the base, which include Patriot missile batteries that would be a last line of protection if Russia decide to attack it. This would risk war with the US-led NATO military alliance. At the base, Milley was also briefed on the support being provided to Ukraine by US forces, including remote maintenance assistance via secure teleconferencing for the billions of dollars in weaponry provided by America. Reporters were shown images of damaged US-provided arms by a 50-member repair team, which included M777 howitzers. In the West, these would have been considered beyond salvageable- but not in Ukraine. One soldier said: 'They're not willing to scrap it,' speaking of artillery with shrapnel damage and sometimes worn out from firing endless rounds against Russian troops. However, due to assistance from US forces and Kyiv's manufacturing prowess reverse-engineering spare parts, the weapons are able to be used in battle again. At the base, Milley was also briefed on the support being provided to Ukraine by US forces, including remote maintenance assistance via secure teleconferencing for the billions of dollars in weaponry provided by America. Pictured: Milley, centre, in Israel on September 15 More than a dozen teleconference channels have been set up with 100 Ukrainian contacts since the programme began in June. But priority support is being given to the M777s and to the high mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS), which have been central to Ukraine's counter-offensive nearly seven months since Russian forces invaded. The soldier said: 'Combat power for Ukraine is staying at the level it is because of America's investment in the sustainment.' The rout of Russian President Vladimir Putin's forces in northeastern Ukraine's Kharkiv region a week ago has prompted unusually strong public criticism from Russian military commentators. The counter-offensive launched by Kyiv has been brushed off by Putin but he said on Friday that he would respond more forcefully if troops were put under further pressure. His repeated threats have elevated concerns that Putin could turn to small nuclear weapons, chemical warfare or mobilize Russia's reserves, a number of around 2 million men with military service within the past five years. But Russian government officials have dismissed Western suggestions that Moscow would use tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine. Daniel Andrews' plan to change the name of a hospital to honour The Queen has backfired with some of his biggest fans. The Victorian Premier announced he would rebuild Moorandah Hospital in Melbourne's east in a $1 billion tribute to Her Majesty, if reelected in November. 'The new Queen Elizabeth II Hospital will rebuild and refurbish the Maroondah Hospital from the ground up,' he said. Mr Andrews said the change was 'a mark of respect to her unwavering commitment to healthcare and our community'. However, the announcement was met with sharp criticism from Aboriginal activists and left-leaning voters because the hospital's current name is an indigenous word. Victorian Premier Dan Andrews (pictured) wants to rename a Melbourne Hospital in honour of The Queen Lidia Thorpe took aim at Mr Andrews saying to rename the hospital would be an 'insult' to First Nations people 'Maroondah' means 'throwing leaves' in the local Aboriginal dialect and is the name of the local council in which the hospital sits. Indigenous author Claire G Coleman gave Mr Andrews the benefit of the doubt and offered to explain the problem with renaming the hospital to him. 'Hi Daniel, you don't know me but I would like to offer to speak to you in person regarding why changing the name of a hospital from an Aboriginal word to the name of a dead colonising monarch is a really bad idea. Get your people to contact my people,' she wrote on Twitter. Controversial indigenous senator Lidia Thorpe also weighed in to tell the premier 'this is not what treaty looks like'. 'Maroondah is a Woiwurrung word meaning leaf, which symbolises Maroondah's green environment. What an insult to now colonise us, again,' she wrote. Mr Andrews is a strong proponent of a treaty between indigenous Australians and the government and is further along in negotiating one than other states. Some of those opposing the move have setup a petition claiming it would 'hinder building meaningful goodwill for genuine reconciliation with First Nations people'. The announcement sparked a wave of backlash because the current name is derived from an Aboriginal word The Labor government pledged to spend up to $1.05 billion on the new hospital. This would include a new emergency department, operating theatres, day-procedure facilities, specialist care spaces and two six-storey inpatient towers, adding 200 extra beds to accommodate an extra 9000 inpatients per year. Construction would start in 2025 and create 2500 extra jobs. 'The Queen was a longstanding supporter of Victoria's healthcare system,' Mr Andrews said of his decision to name it after Her Majesty. 'As the patron of the Royal Melbourne and the Royal Children's hospitals, she demonstrated her devotion to patients and their care whenever she visited their bedsides.' Mr Andrews at the 2018 election promised to upgrade the emergency department at the same hospital but the project has been stalled for four years. Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II already has hospitals named in her honour in Brisbane and Adelaide, along with a medical centre in Perth. The announcement comes a day after Victoria's opposition promised a $400 million upgrade to Maroondah Hospital, if it wins the election in November. Queen Elizabeth II is Britain longest serving Monarch who reigned for 70 years and she has two Australian hospitals already named after her Controversial indigenous senator Lidia Thorpe also weighed in to tell the premier 'this is not what treaty looks like' Opposition Leader Matthew Guy slammed the government for its announcement, stating he didn't believe the hospital would be built. 'If he really wanted to put $1 billion into Maroondah Hospital, he's had eight years to do it,' Mr Guy told reporters. 'I bet if he's elected he'll never build it.' Mr Guy, on Sunday, also announced $108 million towards a new clinical medical research centre at Box Hill Hospital, which, like Maroondah Hospital, is part of the Eastern Health network. The funding will include an 800-space low-cost car park to accommodate patients and staff - with at least 400 spaces dedicated to the latter. The opposition previously stated it would scrap part of the Suburban Rail Loop and redirect $35 billion earmarked for the project into the health system. The 'tentative' deal Joe Biden brokered between US freight rail firms and unions in the hopes of avoiding a massive economic disruption is at risk of collapsing. Though the deal agreed to raise rail employees' salaries by 24 percent over five years and gave up to $11,000 in bonuses, union leaders said it remains 'intentionally' vague about sick leave and other days off. Organizer for Railroad Workers United, Ron Kaminkow, said the average rail worker felt 'a lot of anger, confusion and hostility' towards the deal. The average rail worker put it more bluntly: 'Workers are pissed off and this time we actually have a lot of leverage,' said one locomotive engineer, according to The Hill, 'I know I'm not going to accept anything less than what we deserve.' Rail workers are scheduled to vote on the deal this Thursday, but if just one of the 12 railroad unions votes against the deal thousands of workers could go on strike and bring commerce to a halt across North America. Last week's deal only addressed terms put forth by the industry's two largest union groups - the Brotherhood Of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen and SMART - and did not meet all of the demands made of other groups. One of those unrepresented groups is the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, of which 5,000 members voted against another White House proposed deal last month. The 'tentative' deal President Joe Biden brokered between US freight rail companies and unions in the hopes of avoiding a massive economic disruption is at risk of collapsing, spelling trouble for the embattled president on the eve of the midterm elections Organizer for Railroad Workers United, Ron Kaminkow, said the average rail worker felt 'a lot of anger, confusion and hostility' towards the deal Vote counting will last until mid-October, creating a recipe for disaster for Democrats should workers vote against the deal and begin striking. It has been estimated a railroad strike could cost about $2billion per day in economic by halting the flow of goods, and disrupting passenger rail service, which typically utilizes freight lines. Professor of labor and employment relations at the University of Illinois, Robert Bruno, said he thought the vote would pass, but many workers would remain unsatisfied. 'I would be surprised if the bargaining committee misread what the rank and file would support. That doesn't mean that it will pass with supermajorities,' he said. 'That will signal a level of continuing grievance on the part of the membership. It wouldn't surprise me if a fairly substantial number of members voted 'no' in part because of how genuinely abused they feel.' In the first half of 2022, there have been 180 strikes involving 78,000 workers, about triple the amount in the same time last year In 2021, the US saw a total of 265 strikes, with about 62,000 workers involved No matter what happens with the railroad vote, many experts have argued Biden's deal will only serve to embolden unions in the future, at a time when workers' strikes have tripled 'This is a very, very contentious time,' Michael Lotito, co-chairman of the Workplace Policy Institute at Littler, told the Wall Street Journal. 'I think that is going to embolden unions to ask for more.' The prediction comes as Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR) reported that the number of strikers in the US has tripled to 78,000 in the first-half of 2022 compared to the same period last year. According to the ILR, there were roughly 180 strikes in the first-half of 2022 compared to 102 in the same time last year, which saw only 26,500 workers join stoppages. By the end of 2021, the US saw a total of 265 strikes, with about 62,000 workers involved. So far this year, there have been a total of 271 strikes, with a majority taking place in California, Washington and Pennsylvania. Experts have cited the pandemic as the primary cause of the rampant strikes. Lotito told the WSJ that two years of COVID made the jobs of many harder and more dangerous, leaving many to feel that they don't get the pay and respect they deserve from their employers. The average annual salary for locomotive engineers is currently about $73,000, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics On Thursday, Biden called his deal 'a win for tens of thousands of rail workers who worked tirelessly through the pandemic to ensure that America's families and communities got deliveries of what have kept us going during these difficult years.' As negotiations between the rail companies and the unions came down to the wire, the White House and Biden's Labor Secretary Martin J. Walsh had stepped in to help broker an agreement. The tentative agreement was reached with multiple unions that represent about 60,000 employees of the nation's private freight railroad companies, meaning the $11,000 lump sum bonus payment alone will cost the companies some $660 million. The average annual salary for locomotive engineers is currently about $73,000, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Other vital rail workers covered by the deal include signalmen and various other jobs. Australians are planning to drink heavily in honour of The Queen on the national day of mourning public holiday. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called the countrywide day off for Thursday to give Australians time to reflect on Her Majesty's life and legacy. The holiday will give millions of people a four-day weekend, and many plan to make the most of it in the great Australian tradition of heavy drinking. Australians are planning to drink heavily in honour of The Queen on the national day of mourning public holiday Such alcohol-infused mourning plans were discussed widely online, and considered a fitting tribute to Her Majesty from her most rowdy former colony. 'Apart from mourning her royal majesty, it looks like it will be a rainy one, so what is everyone planning on doing?' one asked on social media. One response went straight to the point: 'Get f**king plastered. 'It's what she (the Queen) would have wanted... Also then take Friday off as a sickie,' they added. Another also suggested: 'It's what she would've wanted'. A third added: 'Boss says having a Thursday off is stupid so if we want use one day annual leave for the Friday coz its pretty obvious everyone's gonna be out getting amongst it.' The holiday will give millions of people a four-day weekend, and many plan to make the most of it in the great Australian tradition of heavy drinking 'Boss says having a Thursday off is stupid so if we want use one day annual leave for the Friday coz its pretty obvious everyone's gonna be out getting amongst it,' another user said (pictured, Sydneysiders out and about) 'Should have just made it on the following Monday and made it worthwhile,' a fourth wrote. One unlucky user responded: 'Working... someone has to sell alcohol to you guys having the day off'. It should be noted that other solemn public holidays, like Anzac Day, are also occasions for heavy drinking - even by veterans themselves. Thursday's public holiday will follow The Queen's funeral on Monday at Westminster Abbey in London, after she died aged 96 on September 9. The UK called its public holiday for Monday so Britons would be able to watch the funeral, but as it begins at 8pm in Australia there was no need for it to be the same day Down Under. RTHK: Britain holds minute's silence to honour queen Britain held a minute's silence on Sunday in a final tribute to Queen Elizabeth before her grand state funeral, after her son King Charles welcomed world leaders at Buckingham Palace. US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron were among the stream of dignitaries who paid tribute at the late monarch's coffin, Biden crossing himself and touching his heart as he stood on a gallery in London's historic Westminster Hall. The US president then attended a reception hosted by King Charles and the royal family for around 500 visiting dignitaries. They included Japan's Emperor Naruhito, King Felipe VI of Spain, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, King Abdullah II of Jordan and Queen Margrethe II of Denmark. The minute of silence was held at 8:00 pm (1900 GMT) to honour the late queen's life of service. Prime Minister Liz Truss stood in a black dress outside her 10 Downing Street official residence for the "national moment of reflection" before the eyes of the world focus on the British capital for the queen's send-off. (AFP) This story has been published on: 2022-09-19. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Learn lessons from history: Chinese mark 9.18 incident, alert to Japan's reviving militarism By Zhang Han (Global Times) 08:49, September 19, 2022 In Beijing, at the Museum of the War of Chinese People's Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, staff members and volunteers mourned the martyrs in the anti-aggression war and presented flowers on September 18, 2022. Photo: Li Hao/GT Air raid sirens were sounded in Chinese cities, newly discovered documents were exhibited in museums, martyrs' cemeteries were visited and heroic stories were recalled on Sunday, the 91st anniversary of the September 18 (9.18) incident, which marked the start of Chinese people's 14-year arduous, courageous and unswerving fight toward the final victory in the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1931-45). The war has ended, but memories remain vivid in China, which reminded Chinese people as well as those in other victim countries that suffered Japanese invasion and colonization to be alert to Japan's rebounding militarism and recent efforts to disturb regional peace and security as a US proxy. In Beijing, at the Museum of the War of Chinese People's Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, staff members and volunteers mourned the martyrs in the anti-aggression war and presented flowers. They also sang songs dedicated to that era of history. The activities were held jointly with the 9.18 History Museum in Shenyang, Northeast China's Liaoning Province, where the incident took place 91 years ago. In Shenyang, the warning bell was sounded 14 times on Sunday morning to urge people to remember the 14 years of hardships to win the war. Air raid sirens were sounded at 9:18 am to remind people not to forget the humiliation in the past that China bore. An unspecified brigade of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) on Sunday recommitted its oath to join the army and reviewed stories of its predecessors in fighting the anti-aggression war. Another PLA brigade stationed in Rizhao, East China's Shandong Province presented wreaths at a local martyrs' cemetery among a series of activities to "remind us to remember the history of fighting and bloodshed, practicing skills and being prepared for battle," said the brigade's instructor Zhang Rong. The Global Times learned from the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions that the federation led a demonstration in front of the Japanese consulate in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) , urging the Japanese government to learn from history and uphold a path of peaceful development, restraining its domestic right-wing forces and preventing militarism from reviving again. Christine Choi Yuk-lin, secretary for education in the HKSAR, said on Sunday that to rethink the past Japanese aggression against China, the scourge of the war to China, and Chinese people's solidarity against the hardships of the Japanese invasion and the patriotic spirit, the education bureau issued learning and teaching resources on the 9.18 incident, including materials for presentations, drama activities and online courses, in a bid to support schools and teachers in organizing activities about learning history and promoting national education. Lu Chao, a research fellow at the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences, recalled that large-scale commemorations of the 9.18 incident used to be held mainly in Northeast China, but such activities have been held across China in diverse forms in recent years. It is important to carry out nationwide commemoration activities as national defense and patriotic education for all, especially for youth, Lu said. Such commemorations are aimed not at Japanese people, but Japan's long absence of deep reflection on its militarist crimes. The activities serve as a channel to express people's emotions against Japan's constant anti-China actions. Japan has been acting as vanguard in coordinating with the US-led anti-China geopolitical strategy - it is a key pillar and major lobbyist in the Quad mechanism that also includes India and Australia. It also actively embraces and engages Asia-Pacific countries on the US' behalf in the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework in attempt to marginalize China in the supply chain, and the "Chip 4" alliance to strangle China's high tech sector. According to Lu, Japan always felt that the post-war international order was a constraint and dreamed of getting rid of it, including trying amending the pacifist constitution and upgrading its self-guard forces into a true military. Observers warned that indulging Japan to continue on a militaristic path, expand its troops and increase its military budgets is dangerous, not only for Northeast Asia and Asia-Pacific but also the world. When Japanese right-wing politicians make irresponsible remarks on the most sensitive Taiwan question, they do not consider the possible consequences to the hard-won peace, stability and development opportunities that are crucial to the entire Asia-Pacific, they said. A militaristic Japan is not only harmful in the political and security sense, but also a big troublemaker for regional economic recovery and prosperity when Asia should be an engine in fueling the post-pandemic global economy, Lu said. Zhu Haoning contributed to the story (Web editor: Liang Jun, Bianji) Here is the order of service for the Queen's state funeral, which will take place at 11am at Westminster Abbey on Monday, September 19, in full: The service is conducted by The Very Reverend Dr David Hoyle MBE, Dean of Westminster. The service is sung by the Choir of Westminster Abbey and the Choir of the Chapel Royal, St James's Palace, (Joseph McHardy, Director of Music) under the direction of James O'Donnell, Organist and Master of the Choristers, Westminster Abbey. The State Trumpeters of the Household Cavalry are led by Trumpet Major Julian Sandford. The Fanfare Team of the Household Division Bands is conducted by Lieutenant Colonel David Barringer MBE, Commanding Officer, Household Division Bands. The organ is played by Peter Holder, Sub-Organist, Westminster Abbey. Before the service, the tenor bell is tolled every minute for 96 minutes, reflecting the years of Queen Elizabeth II's life. Members of Foreign Royal Families, Heads of State, and Overseas Government Representatives are received at the Great West Door by the Dean and Chapter of Westminster and are conducted to their seats in the Lantern. All remain seated. Music before the service: Matthew Jorysz, Assistant Organist, Westminster Abbey, plays Fantasia of four parts Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625) Organist of Westminster Abbey 1623-25 Romanza (Symphony no 5 in D) Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) arranged by Robert Quinney (b 1976) Reliqui domum meum Peter Maxwell Davies (1934-2016) Meditation on 'Brother James's Air' Harold Darke (1888-1976) Prelude on 'Ecce jam noctis' Op 157 no 3 Healey Willan (1880-1968) Psalm Prelude Set 1 no 2 Herbert Howells (1892-1983) In the Country Op 194 no 2 Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924) Fantasy on 'O Paradise' Malcolm Williamson (1931-2003) Elegy Op 58 Edward Elgar (1857-1934) arranged by Matthew Jorysz (b 1992) The Sub-Organist plays Andante espressivo (Sonata in G Op 28) Edward Elgar Sospiri Op 70 Edward Elgar arranged by Peter Holder (b 1990) The Procession of Religious Representatives moves to places in the Nave and the Sacrarium. All remain seated. Verger Mrs Marie van der Zyl President, Board of Deputies of British Jews Dr Shirin Fozdar-Faroudi Representative of the Baha'i Community Mr Nemu Chandaria OBE Representative of the Jain Community Mr Malcolm Deboo Representative of the Zoroastrian Community The Venerable Bogoda Seelawimala Representative of the Buddhist Community The Lord Singh of Wimbledon CBE Representative of the Sikh Community Mr Rajnish Kashyap General Secretary, Hindu Council UK Mrs Aliya Azam MBE Interfaith Co-ordinator, Al-Khoei Foundation Shaykh Dr Asim Yusuf Muslim Scholar Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis Chief Rabbi of Great Britain and the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth Verger REPRESENTING THE CHURCHES OF WALES The Reverend Simon Walkling President, Free Church Council of Wales The Most Reverend Andrew John Archbishop of Wales The Most Reverend Mark O'Toole Archbishop of Cardiff REPRESENTING THE CHURCHES OF SCOTLAND The Right Reverend Dr Iain Greenshields Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland The Most Reverend Leo Cushley Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh The Most Reverend Mark Strange Primus, Scottish Episcopal Church REPRESENTING THE CHURCHES OF NORTHERN IRELAND The Reverend David Nixon President Methodist Church in Ireland The Reverend Ian Brown Lead Minister Martyrs Memorial Free Presbyterian Church The Right Reverend Dr John Kirkpatrick Moderator, The Presbyterian Church in Ireland The Most Reverend Dr Eamon Martin Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland The Most Reverend John McDowell Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland and Metropolitan REPRESENTING THE CHURCHES IN ENGLAND Pastor Agu Irukwu Senior Pastor, Jesus House UK Pastor Glyn Barrett National Leader, Assemblies of God The Reverend Canon Helen Cameron Moderator, Free Churches Group Ms Shermara Fletcher Principal Officer for Pentecostal and Charismatic Relations, Churches Together in England The Reverend Canon Graham Thompson President, Methodist Conference His Eminence Archbishop Angaelos The Coptic Church in Great Britain His Eminence Cardinal Vincent Nichols Archbishop of Westminster His Eminence Archbishop Nikitas Archbishop of Thyateira and Great Britain Serjeant of the Vestry The Very Reverend Professor David Fergusson OBE Dean of the Thistle and of the Chapel Royal in Scotland The Reverend Canon Paul Wright Sub-Dean of His Majesty's Chapels Royal The Right Reverend and Right Honourable Dame Sarah Mullally DBE Bishop of London and Dean of His Majesty's Chapels Royal The Right Reverend David Conner KCVO Dean of Windsor The Right Reverend James Newcome Clerk of the Closet The Right Reverend Dr John Inge Lord High Almoner Members of the Royal Family are received at the Great West Door by the Dean and Chapter of Westminster and are conducted to their seats in the Lantern. All remain seated. The Choir of Westminster Abbey and the Choir of the Chapel Royal, St James's Palace, proceed to places in the Nave and in Quire. All remain seated. ORDER OF SERVICE All stand as the Procession of the Coffin enters the Abbey. The Choir of Westminster Abbey sings THE SENTENCES during which the Procession of the Coffin moves through the Abbey I AM the resurrection and the life, saith the Lord: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. John 11: 25-26 I KNOW that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God; whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another. Job 19: 25-27 WE brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. William Croft (1678-1727) 1 Timothy 6: 7; Job 1: 21 Organist of Westminster Abbey 1708-27 The Choir of Westminster Abbey and the Choir of the Chapel Royal, St James's Palace, sing THOU knowest, Lord, the secrets of our hearts; shut not thy merciful ears unto our prayer; but spare us, Lord most holy, O God most mighty, O holy and most merciful Saviour, thou most worthy Judge eternal, suffer us not, at our last hour, for any pains of death, to fall from thee. Amen. Henry Purcell (1659-95) The Book of Common Prayer 1549 Organist of Westminster Abbey 1679-95 HEARD a voice from heaven, saying unto me, Write, From henceforth blessed are I the dead which die in the Lord: even so saith the Spirit; for they rest from their labours. Amen. William Croft Revelation 14: 13 Beadle The Choir of Westminster Abbey Mr James O'Donnell Organist and Master of the Choristers Pursuivants and Heralds of Arms of Scotland: March, Falkland Linlithgow, Unicorn Ormond, Carrick Rothesay, Marchmont Pursuivants and Heralds of Arms of England: Portcullis, Bluemantle Rouge Dragon, Wales Norfolk, Maltravers Windsor, York Richmond Kings of Arms: Norroy and Ulster King of Arms Lord Lyon King of Arms Clarenceux King of Arms Lady Usher of the Black Rod Garter Principal King of Arms Household of Queen Elizabeth II: Master of the Horse Lord Steward Director of the Royal Collection Comptroller, Lord Chamberlain's Office Master of the Household Keeper of the Privy Purse, Private Secretary The Queen's Page, The Queen's Page, Palace Steward Verger The King's Almsmen Verger Primatial Cross of York, Primatial Cross of Canterbury The Most Reverend and Right Honourable Stephen Cottrell Archbishop of York, Primate of England and Metropolitan The Most Reverend and Right Honourable Justin Welby Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate of All England and Metropolitan The Cross of Westminster and Lights The Reverend Robert Latham Minor Canon and Sacrist The Reverend Mark Birch Minor Canon and Precentor Mr Paul Baumann CBE Receiver General Sir Kenneth Olisa OBE High Bailiff of Westminster Verger The Venerable Tricia Hillas Canon Steward and Archdeacon of Westminster The Reverend Dr James Hawkey Canon Theologian and Almoner The Right Reverend Anthony Ball Canon of Westminster and Rector of St Margaret's Church The Reverend David Stanton Sub-Dean and Canon Treasurer Dean's Verger The Very Reverend Dr David Hoyle MBE Dean of Westminster Pall Bearers, Pall Bearers Lord Chamberlain, Earl Marshal HER MAJESTY'S COFFIN surmounted by The Imperial State Crown, The Orb and The Sceptre and borne by the Bearer Party The Queen Consort, THE KING Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, The Princess Royal The Duke of York The Countess of Wessex and Forfar, The Earl of Wessex and Forfar The Princess of Wales, The Prince of Wales Princess Charlotte of Wales, Prince George of Wales The Duchess of Sussex, The Duke of Sussex The Earl of Snowdon, Mr Peter Phillips The Duke of Gloucester Prince Michael of Kent, The Duke of Kent Household of The former Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall: Private Secretary, Principal Private Secretary Equerry, Master of the Household Household of The Prince and Princess of Wales: Equerry All remain standing. The Very Reverend Dr David Hoyle MBE, Dean of Westminster, gives THE BIDDING IN grief and also in profound thanksgiving we come to this House of God, to a place of prayer, to a church where remembrance and hope are sacred duties. Here, where Queen Elizabeth was married and crowned, we gather from across the nation, from the Commonwealth, and from the nations of the world, to mourn our loss, to remember her long life of selfless service, and in sure confidence to commit her to the mercy of God our maker and redeemer. With gratitude we remember her unswerving commitment to a high calling over so many years as Queen and Head of the Commonwealth. With admiration we recall her life-long sense of duty and dedication to her people. With thanksgiving we praise God for her constant example of Christian faith and devotion. With affection we recall her love for her family and her commitment to the causes she held dear. Now, in silence, let us in our hearts and minds recall our many reasons for thanksgiving, pray for all members of her family, and commend Queen Elizabeth to the care and keeping of almighty God. A brief silence is kept. MERCIFUL God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the resurrection and the life; in whom whosoever believeth shall live, though he die; and whosoever liveth, and believeth in him, shall not die eternally; who hast taught us, by his holy Apostle Saint Paul, not to be sorry, as men without hope, for them that sleep in him: We meekly beseech thee, O Father, to raise us from the death of sin unto the life of righteousness; that, when we shall depart this life, we may rest in him, as our hope is this our sister doth; and that, at the general Resurrection in the last day, we may be found acceptable in thy sight; and receive that blessing, which thy well-beloved Son shall then pronounce to all that love and fear thee, saying, Come, ye blessed children of my Father, receive the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world. Grant this, we beseech thee, O merciful Father, through Jesus Christ, our mediator and redeemer. Amen. All sing THE HYMN THE day thou gavest, Lord, is ended, the darkness falls at thy behest; to thee our morning hymns ascended, thy praise shall sanctify our rest. We thank thee that thy Church unsleeping, while earth rolls onward into light, through all the world her watch is keeping, and rests not now by day or night. As o'er each continent and island the dawn leads on another day, the voice of prayer is never silent, nor dies the strain of praise away. The sun that bids us rest is waking our brethren 'neath the western sky, and hour by hour fresh lips are making thy wondrous doings heard on high. So be it, Lord; thy throne shall never, like earth's proud empires, pass away; thy kingdom stands, and grows for ever, till all thy creatures own thy sway. St Clement John Ellerton (1826-93) Clement Scholefield (1839-1904) arranged by James O'Donnell (b 1961) All sit. The Right Honourable the Baroness Scotland of Asthal KC, Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, reads THE FIRST LESSON NOW is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. 1 Corinthians 15: 20-26, 53-end Thanks be to God. All remain seated. The choir sings THE PSALM LIKE as the hart desireth the water-brooks : so longeth my soul after thee, O God. My soul is athirst for God, yea, even for the living God : when shall I come to appear before the presence of God? My tears have been my meat day and night : while they daily say unto me, Where is now thy God? Now when I think thereupon, I pour out my heart by myself : for I went with the multitude, and brought them forth into the house of God; In the voice of praise and thanksgiving : among such as keep holy-day. Why art thou so full of heaviness, O my soul : and why art thou so disquieted within me? Put thy trust in God : for I will yet give him thanks for the help of his countenance. Judith Weir CBE (b 1954) Psalm 42: 1-7 composed for this Service The Right Honourable Elizabeth Truss MP, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, reads THE SECOND LESSON LET not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. John 14: 1-9a Thanks be to God. All stand to sing THE HYMN THE Lord's my shepherd, I'll not want; he makes me down to lie in pastures green; he leadeth me the quiet waters by. My soul he doth restore again, and me to walk doth make within the paths of righteousness, e'en for his own name's sake. The choir sings Yea, though I walk through death's dark vale, yet will I fear none ill; for thou art with me, and thy rod and staff me comfort still. All sing My table thou hast furnished in presence of my foes; my head thou dost with oil anoint, and my cup overflows. Goodness and mercy all my life shall surely follow me; and in God's house for evermore my dwelling place shall be. Crimond attributed to Jessie Seymour Irvine (1836-87) harmony by David Grant (1833-93) descant by William Baird Ross (1871-1950) Psalm 23 in Scottish Psalter 1650 THE SERMON The Most Reverend and Right Honourable Justin Welby Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate of All England and Metropolitan All remain seated. The choir sings THE ANTHEM MY soul, there is a country Far beyond the stars, Where stands a winged sentry All skilful in the wars: There above noise, and danger, Sweet Peace sits crowned with smiles, And One born in a manger Commands the beauteous files. He is thy gracious friend, And (O my soul, awake!) Did in pure love descend, To die here for thy sake. If thou canst get but thither, There grows the flower of Peace, The Rose that cannot wither, Thy fortress, and thy ease. Leave then thy foolish ranges, For none can thee secure, But One who never changes, Thy God, thy Life, thy Cure. from Songs of Farewell Hubert Parry (1848-1918) Henry Vaughan (1621-95) The Reverend Mark Birch, Minor Canon and Precentor, leads THE PRAYERS In confidence and trust, let us pray to the Father. All kneel or remain seated. The Reverend Dr Iain Greenshields, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, says Let us give thanks to God for Queen Elizabeth's long life and reign, recalling with gratitude her gifts of wisdom, diligence, and service. O GOD, from whom cometh everything that is upright and true: accept our thanks for the gifts of heart and mind that thou didst bestow upon thy daughter Elizabeth, and which she showed forth among us in her words and deeds; and grant that we may have grace to live our lives in accordance with thy will, to seek the good of others, and to remain faithful servants unto our lives' end; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Ms Shermara Fletcher, Principal Officer for Pentecostal and Charismatic Relations, Churches Together in England, says Confident in God's love and compassion, let us pray for all those whose hearts are heavy with grief and sorrow. ALMIGHTY God, Father of all mercies and giver of all comfort: deal graciously, we pray thee, with those who mourn, that casting every care on thee, they may know the consolation of thy love; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. The Right Reverend and Right Honourable Dame Sarah Mullally DBE, Bishop of London and Dean of His Majesty's Chapels Royal, says Let us pray for His Majesty The King and all the Royal Family; that they may know the sustaining power of God's love and the prayerful fellowship of God's people. ALMIGHTY God, the fountain of all goodness, we humbly beseech thee to bless our most gracious Sovereign Lord King Charles, Camilla The Queen Consort, William Prince of Wales, and all the Royal Family: endue them with thy Holy Spirit, enrich them with thy heavenly grace; prosper them with all happiness; and bring them to thine everlasting kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. The Reverend Canon Helen Cameron, Moderator of the Free Churches Group, says In recognition of Queen Elizabeth's service to this United Kingdom, let us rejoice in her unstinting devotion to duty, her compassion for her subjects, and her counsel to her ministers; and we pray for the continued health and prosperity of this Nation. ALMIGHTY God, whose will it is that all thy children should serve thee in serving one another: look with love, we pray thee, on this Nation. Grant to its citizens grace to work together with honest and faithful hearts, each caring for the good of all; that, seeking first thy kingdom and its righteousness, they may possess all things needful for their daily sustenance and the common good; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. His Eminence Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster, says Let us give thanks for Queen Elizabeth's commitment to the Commonwealth throughout her reign, for her service and dedication to its peoples, and for the rich bonds of unity and mutual support she sustained. ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, hear our prayer for the Commonwealth, and grant it the guidance of thy wisdom. Inspire those in authority, that they may promote justice and the common good; give to all its citizens the spirit of mutual honour and respect; and grant to us all grace to strive for the establishment of righteousness and peace; for the honour of thy name. Amen. The Most Reverend and Right Honourable Stephen Cottrell, Archbishop of York, Primate of England and Metropolitan, says We give thanks to God for Queen Elizabeth's loyalty to the faith she inherited through her baptism and confirmation, and affirmed at her coronation; for her unswerving devotion to the Gospel; and for her steadfast service as Supreme Governor of the Church of England. ORD, we beseech thee to keep thy household the Church in continual godliness; that through thy protection she may be free from all adversities, and devoutly given to serve thee in all good works, to the glory of thy name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. The Precentor says Let us pray that we may be given grace to live as those who believe in the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, and the resurrection to eternal life. BRING us, O Lord God, at our last awakening into the house and gate of heaven, to enter into that gate and dwell in that house, where there shall be no darkness nor dazzling, but one equal light; no noise nor silence, but one equal music; no fears nor hopes, but one equal possession; no ends nor beginnings, but one equal eternity; in the habitation of thy glory and dominion, world without end. Amen. John Donne (1572-1631) The choir sings TASTE and see how gracious the Lord is : blest is the man that trusteth in him. Ralph Vaughan composed for the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, 1953 Williams Psalm 34: 8 The Precentor concludes In confidence and hope, let us pray to the Father in the words our Saviour taught us, OUR Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done; on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen. All stand to sing THE HYMN LOVE divine, all loves excelling, joy of heaven, to earth come down, fix in us thy humble dwelling, all thy faithful mercies crown. Jesu, thou art all compassion, pure unbounded love thou art; visit us with thy salvation, enter every trembling heart. Come, almighty to deliver, let us all thy life receive; suddenly return, and never, never more thy temples leave. Thee we would be always blessing, serve thee as thy hosts above, pray, and praise thee, without ceasing, glory in thy perfect love. Finish then thy new creation, pure and spotless let us be; let us see thy great salvation, perfectly restored in thee, changed from glory into glory till in heaven we take our place, till we cast our crowns before thee, lost in wonder, love, and praise! Blaenwern Charles Wesley (1707-88) William Rowlands (1860-1937) arranged by James O'Donnell All remain standing for THE COMMENDATION The Archbishop of Canterbury says Let us commend to the mercy of God, our maker and redeemer, the soul of Elizabeth, our late Queen. HEAVENLY Father, King of kings, Lord and giver of life, who of thy grace in creation didst form mankind in thine own image, and in thy great love offerest us life eternal in Christ Jesus; claiming the promises of thy most blessed Son, we entrust the soul of Elizabeth, our sister here departed, to thy merciful keeping, in sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life, when Christ shall be all in all; who died and rose again to save us, and now liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, in glory for ever. Amen. O forth, O Christian soul, from this world, in the name of God the Father almighty, who created thee; in the name of Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, who suffered for thee; in the name of the Holy Spirit, who was poured out upon thee and anointed thee. In communion with all the blessed saints, and aided by the angels and archangels and all the armies of the heavenly host, may thy portion this day be in peace, and thy dwelling in the heavenly Jerusalem. Amen. All remain standing. The choir sings THE ANTHEM WHO shall separate us from the love of Christ? Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Alleluia! Amen. Sir James MacMillan CBE (b 1959) composed for this Service Romans 8: 35a, 38b-end The Dean pronounces THE BLESSING GOD grant to the living grace; to the departed rest; to the Church, The King, the Commonwealth, and all people, peace and concord, and to us sinners, life everlasting; and the blessing of God almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be among you and remain with you always. Amen. All remain standing for THE LAST POST Silence is kept. REVEILLE All sing THE NATIONAL ANTHEM GOD save our gracious King, long live our noble King, God save The King. Send him victorious, happy and glorious, long to reign over us: God save The King. Thy choicest gifts in store on him be pleased to pour, long may he reign. May he defend our laws, and ever give us cause to sing with heart and voice: God save The King! arranged by Gordon Jacob (1895-1984) All remain standing. The Queen's Piper, Warrant Officer Class 1 (Pipe Major) Paul Burns, plays Sleep, dearie, sleep traditional All remain standing as the Coffin and Processions leave the church. The Sub-Organist plays Fantasia in C minor BWV 562 Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) THE PROCESSION OF THE COFFIN Verger Primatial Cross of York Primatial Cross of Canterbury The Most Reverend and Right Honourable Stephen Cottrell Archbishop of York, Primate of England and Metropolitan The Most Reverend and Right Honourable Justin Welby Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate of All England and Metropolitan The Cross of Westminster and Lights The Reverend Robert Latham Minor Canon and Sacrist The Reverend Mark Birch Minor Canon and Precentor Mr Paul Baumann CBE Receiver General Sir Kenneth Olisa OBE High Bailiff of Westminster Verger The Venerable Tricia Hillas Canon Steward and Archdeacon of Westminster The Reverend Dr James Hawkey Canon Theologian and Almoner The Right Reverend Anthony Ball Canon of Westminster and Rector of St Margaret's Church The Reverend David Stanton Sub-Dean and Canon Treasurer Dean's Verger The Very Reverend Dr David Hoyle MBE Dean of Westminster HER MAJESTY'S COFFIN The Queen Consort, THE KING Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, The Princess Royal The Duke of York The Countess of Wessex and Forfar, The Earl of Wessex and Forfar The Princess of Wales, The Prince of Wales Princess Charlotte of Wales, Prince George of Wales The Duchess of Sussex, The Duke of Sussex The Earl of Snowdon, Mr Peter Phillips The Duke of Gloucester Prince Michael of Kent, The Duke of Kent Music after the service: Allegro maestoso (Sonata in G Op 28) Edward Elgar Members of the Congregation are requested to remain in their places until invited to move by the Honorary Stewards. Later in the afternoon, the bells of the Abbey are rung fully-muffled by the Westminster Abbey Company of Ringers in a peal of Stedman Caters, comprising 5096 changes Two young boys found an unexploded hand grenade left behind from a World War II military base in Australia's desert. The boys were stunned when they found the grenade three weeks ago near a creek in Noonkanbah Station, 380km east of Broome in northern Western Australia. A photo from Ngaarda Media shows them standing with the deadly wartime weapon that was hidden for more than 70 years. Two WA boys discovered a WWII hand grenade (above) near Noonkanbah Station, an old military base The unexploded hand grenade (above) is believed to be more than 70 years old and was found near a former WWII military base Noonkanbah Station acted as a base for the Royal Australian Air Force and Dutch army during WWII. Aussies applauded the boys for reporting the grenade and called for the government to properly clear the area of explosives. 'What an amazing find and very glad to hear no one got hurt,' one person wrote. Noonkanbah Station (above) was used as a Royal Australian Airforce and Dutch military base in WWII 'Pity the military hasn't gone in and cleaned up properly. The govt says nothing out there to see or destroy,' another wrote. 'Clever boys to know it is dangerous, thank god it's all safe,' another said. Other locals such as Irene Jimbidie, who grew up in the area, have occasionally reported finding remnants of the station's history. Locals have reported finding explosives in the Noonkanbah Station since it was used military base in WWII (above) She said an unexploded bomb was discovered in the 1980s. 'The bomb was found at one of the stockyards,' Ms Jimbidie told Ngaarda Media. 'After they'd done mustering, the horses would have soften the top soil, and this old bomb was sticking out, just the top part.' The Queen told Jacinda Ardern you just get on with it when she was asked for advice on how to juggle being a mother and leader. The New Zealand prime minister was pregnant with her only child when she met the Queen in 2018. She became only the second elected head of government to give birth, to daughter Neve, while in office a few months later. Speaking on the BBCs Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg show yesterday, Miss Ardern, 42, said she asked the Queen how she managed being both a mother and a leader during their first meeting. She said: One of the things on my mind alongside being a new prime minister was being a prime minister and a mum. The Queen told Jacinda Ardern you just get on with it when she was asked for advice on how to juggle being a mother and leader. Pictured: Ms Ardern meets the Queen while pregnant in 2018 Jacinda Ardern became only the second elected head of government to give birth, to daughter Neve, while in office a few months later. Pictured: The Queen greeting Ms Arden who was pregnant at the time I said to her, How did you manage? And I remember she said, Well, you just get on with it. And that was actually probably the best and most factual advice I could have. She added: You do, you just take every day as it comes. And [the Queen] did. But I have such respect for her because I see now what it takes to be a mum and a leader and she did it more times over than I. The Queen had two children, Charles and Anne, before she acceded to the throne in 1952, before giving birth to Andrew and Edward in the 1960s as a reigning monarch. The only other elected leader to give birth in office was former Pakistani PM, Benazir Bhutto. Follow MailOnline's LIVEBLOG for updates as state funeral is held for Queen Elizabeth II in London today Historian Dan Snow said the day would celebrate what binds Britons together Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith is to rally cross-party support for idea Calls are growing for an annual bank holiday to celebrate the memory of Queen Elizabeth II. Campaigners, historians and MPs have added their support alongside a 140,000-strong petition. Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith has lobbied Downing Street, declaring it a 'brilliant idea', and plans to rally cross-party support when Parliament resumes this week. Historian and broadcaster Dan Snow backed the campaign, saying: 'We haven't always been great as a country at celebrating what binds us together. 'This is a moment to change that and create a day that will represent the principles of togetherness and service that Her Majesty personified.' Calls are growing for an annual bank holiday to celebrate the memory of Queen Elizabeth II. Pictured: Manchester on the Jubilee bank holiday in June Tobias Ellwood, chairman of the Commons defence committee, who successfully campaigned for the tower which houses Big Ben to be named the Elizabeth Tower to mark her Diamond Jubilee, said: 'The day would be a permanent reminder of our gratitude for an incredible reign and dedicated life of service.' Labour MP Khalid Mahmood said: 'We should continue to pay tribute to the Queen, our longest-reigning monarch, and ensure her selflessness and commitment to service remains an inspiration. 'An annual day of love and celebration is the least she deserves and I would fully support it.' Rother Valley Conservative Alexander Stafford said that a dedicated day would be a time that 'we can all use to reflect on her amazing reign'. Campaigner Brendan Cox, whose wife Labour MP Jo Cox was murdered, said: 'The Queen brought our country together throughout her life. A petition signed by nearly 140,000 people is also urging the government to introduce a bank holiday to honour 'the world's most popular ever monarch' 'There can be no more fitting tribute than to create a day in her honour that continues her legacy of connecting us all and reminding us of what we have in common.' A petition signed by nearly 140,000 people is also urging the government to introduce a bank holiday to honour 'the world's most popular ever monarch'. Organiser John Harris wrote: 'Britain has fewer bank holidays than most European countries; France has 11 compared with our 8, Spain has 14. 'I believe we need a new public bank holiday to mark our greatest Sovereign's lifetime; a Queen Elizabeth Day. 'A day for our Nation to come together and celebrate both the life of the Queen, and our gratitude for the institution of our Royal Family.' He suggested the woman was planted there by two YouTubers he is suing for $40 million after they claimed he stole from his congregation In a follow-up video on Facebook Live, Whitehead said the woman was charging at his wife and daughter before he intervened He then appeared to shove her out of frame before resuming his sermon as if nothing had happened He asked the woman if she wanted to give the sermon instead, but when she appeared on screen walking past the pulpit, Whitehead grabbed her by the neck Bishop Lamar Whitehead, 44, was caught on video giving his sermon on Sunday when a woman in the congregation interrupted him This is the shocking moment a controversial Brooklyn pastor grabbed a female congregant and shoved her off the pulpit during Sunday services. Bishop Lamar Whitehead, 44, was caught on his church's livestream giving his sermon at the Leaders of Tomorrow International Ministries in Canarsie when a woman in the congregation interrupted him. He asked the woman to give the sermon instead, but when she appeared on screen walking past the pulpit, Whitehead could be seen grabbing her by the neck as he shoves her out of frame. The flashy bishop apparently dressed in a Dior suit then resumed his sermon as if nothing happened, only to later release a response on Facebook in which he suggested the altercation came in retaliation to lawsuits he filed against two YouTubers who accused him of stealing from his congregation. Their allegations were made after a shocking video emerged showing Whitehead being targeted by armed thugs who stole $400,000 worth of swag. Video posted to YouTube shows the moment Bishop Lamar Whitehead apparently shoved a woman after she interrupted his sermon Sunday The video from Sunday's service, which was posted to YouTube shortly after the incident, begins with Whitehead giving a sermon about Leah before discussing the allegations against him. 'All we hear is Bishop Whitehead is a liar, all we hear is Apostle Chief, Apostle Bishop Whitehead is a scammer. All we hear is that Leaders of Tomorrow is going to fall,' he tells his congregation. Whitehead then suggests that the people who are making these allegations are 'snapshotting and shooting right now, they screen recording right now.' The 44-year-old bishop is known for his flashy lifestyle, and recently sued two YouTubers who accused him of stealing from his congregation. He is pictured here sporting a Gucci blazer at the Billionaires Row and Dingers Squad VIP dinner in July At that point, he seems to get interrupted as he abruptly stops his sermon to listen to someone in the crowd. 'Let 'em record, let 'em record,' he tells his congregation, before deciding to take a 'pause' as a woman could be heard screaming at him. 'You want to come preach?' the bishop asks her. 'You want to come preach, come up here. I'm gonna make you famous, yes Lord.' He then starts asking the congregation to praise Jesus, while speaking in tongues, only to end his prayer by saying: 'Now remove her out of here, move her out of here.' Whitehead then seems to want to move on from the situation, telling his congregation: 'Let's give Jesus a round of applause, y'all.' He continues to repeat the message 'while they take the pictures. 'Take the pictures, take the pictures,' he eggs them on. That is when a woman in a brown and pink floral top enters from the left side of the screen as Whitehead gets increasingly close to her. He could then be seen lifting his hands at her head as he pushes her out of frame. 'Go over here, go over here,' he tells the woman. 'Grab her out.' He could later be heard telling her off-screen: 'Press whatever charges you want, you're not going to come in my space. I feel threatened.' When he comes back to the altar a few moments later, he simply says: 'Let' get back to the word of God.' The altercation on Sunday came as Whitehead was giving his sermon at the Leaders of Tomorrow International Ministries in Canarsie, Brooklyn and was interrupted by a woman in the congregation He asked security at one point to escort the woman out of the church As she approached the altar, he got increasingly close to the woman before he grabbed her DailyMail.com has reached out to the New York Police Department for comment. But according to TMZ, the pastor and the unidentified woman were brought to a local precinct for questioning following the altercation. He has reportedly not been charged with any wrongdoing for the incident. In a follow-up video on Facebook Live, Whitehead could be seen driving home in his Rolls Royce with his Dior suit next to him as he tried to clarify what happened suggesting the woman was threatening his family. 'I know that everyone's building a narrative, but it is what it is,' he said, explaining: 'We had some visitor in the church, and they were sent by two nobodies two bloggers who are nobodies. 'And they were sent into my church to disrupt my church,' he alleged. Whitehead then explained that he has 'lawsuits out, and when retaliation is retaliation, this is what it is. 'They came in videoing, and it was a whole set-up,' he alleged, before claiming that the woman in the video was charging at his wife and baby. 'That's when I took action and I grabbed the young woman and I escorted her out,' he said. The bishop went on to claim that he has more video and audio to prove that and claimed: 'I am a gentleman, I am pro-woman.' He said he simply did 'what any man and any pastor would do' in that situation, denying that he 'choked her.' 'All they want is followers,' he said about the bloggers who allegedly orchestrated the incident. 'When people are irrelevant, they now have to create content.' 'It's an attack on who I am,' he continued. 'I am not a person who would try to hurt anyone.' Still, he warned: 'You're not going to threaten or jeopardize any of my members. 'Nobody's going to put a hand on my family. I'm going to protect my family.' In a follow-up livestream on Facebook, Whitehead could be seen driving home in his Rolls Royce with his Dior suit next to him as he tried to clarify what happened The flashy bishop claims the woman was charging after his wife and daughter before he intervened and grabbed her Whitehead had filed twin lawsuits seeking $40 million in damages against YouTubers DeMario Jives and Larry Reid in New York earlier this month, after they accused him of stealing from his congregation. Jives allegedly told his 80,000 followers the pastor has been wearing the same jewelry taken from the pulpit and said: 'This n---a is out here drug dealing.' Reid was also accused in one of the suits of saying the bishop scams people out of money and claimed Whitehead would soon be 'locked up'. The new lawsuits allege the two men have cost Whitehead 'business deals, church members, and income'. One reads: 'As a result of (the defendants') conduct, Plaintiff lost business deals, church members and income.' It adds: '(Defendants) are liable to Plaintiff for defamation, libel per se and slander per se.' His attorney said there will be 'many more' similar lawsuits coming to 'aggressively' prosecute people making 'defamatory statements' about Whitehead. The lawsuit aimed at Jives alleges he said on his YouTube channel that the bishop 'is wearing the same jewelry that (he) got robbed in'. The other accuses Reid of claiming that the pastor 'scammed people out of money' and 'will be locked up in about three months'. DeMario Jives, who has 80,000 YouTube subscribers, is being sued for $20 million by Whitehead for telling his audience the bishop was 'drug dealing' Larry Reid, who Whitehead is also suing for $20 million, allegedly told his online audience that the blingy bishop scams people out of money and will soon be behind bars Their allegation came after a wild video showed Whitehead being robbed at his church on July 24 while preaching to his congregation wearing a maroon suit, long gold chain and a large ring on each finger. He was videoed telling his congregants: 'How many of you have lost your faith because you saw somebody else die?' He is then seen going down on his knees when the robbers approach and can be heard saying: 'All right, all right.' The men were then seen circling around the stage as they robbed the bishop, his wife and the congregation. He later said on Instagram that the robbers aimed a gun at his back while they took his bishops cross and the jewelry he was wearing from on top of and under his shirt. Bishop Whitehead said: 'I told everyone to get down. I didn't know if they wanted to shoot the church up or were coming for a robbery. 'They took all my wife's jewelry and all my jewelry.' The churchman also said he ran after the robbers and saw them take off their masks and get away in a white Mercedes. Police confirmed that the robbery stole $400,000-worth of jewelry in Canarsie around 11.15am. Whitehead later said he may have been targeted due to the help he provided accused murdered Andrew Abdullah. The 25-year-old allegedly killed a Goldman Sachs employee on the subway earlier this year by shooting him at point blank range. The pastor turned up with his $350,000 Rolls-Royce and wearing a Fendi blazer to negotiate the surrender of the thug. Whitehead wore a Fendi blazer as he spoke to the press outside the 5th Precinct where Andrew Abdullah was brought in for questioning. He is a close ally of NYC mayor Eric Adams The $350,000 Rolls Royce that the minister arrived in at the Fifth Precinct in Manhattan. Whitehead is also believed to have been seen in Brooklyn in a Bentley and Maserati Whitehead was also accused of stealing the lifesavings of one of his congregants, according to a separate Brooklyn lawsuit detailed by the NY Post. Pauline Anderson, 56, accused Whitehead of talking her into handing over her lifesavings of $90,000 on the understand that he would then buy and renovate a home for her. The Bishop also reportedly said he would pay the woman $100 a month because the savings had been her sole source of income. But the monthly allowance was paid just once and Whitehead eventually stopped responding to inquiries from Anderson about the status of her house. He later allegedly told the woman that he had invested her money into his company and was not obligated to return it to her. The spiritual leader previously spent five years behind bars for charges of identity fraud and grand larceny. But a prison sentence and public robbery haven't stopped him from becoming close with NYC Mayor Eric Adams and generally carrying on with his extravagant lifestyle. A man tragically killed in a remote part of the Northern Territory after crashing his buggy was just weeks away from becoming a dad for the first time. Matthew Hall, 34, was travelling with another man, 35, near Nhulunbuy, about 100km south of Gove in East Arnhem, when the side-by-side all-terrain vehicle rolled just after 11 pm on Thursday. The men alerted authorities via a personal location device, and a CareFlight rescue helicopter was deployed to the area. Mr Hall died at the scene while the 35-year-old was flown to Gove Hospital with serious injuries. Mr Hall was just about to welcome a baby boy with his partner Sally Fischer, who is 20 weeks pregnant. Matthew Hall (pictured with his partner Sally Fischer) was tragically killed in remote Northern Territory on Thursday Ms Fischer is pictured on a hunting expedition with the couple's dogs and green buggy Mr Hall and another man, 35, were travelling in East Arnhem (pictured) on Thursday night when the buggy rolled Ms Fischer's sister Sarah said he was an 'amazing man' and she would never forget how much he 'loved and adored' her sister. WHAT IS A BUGGY? A buggy is a lightweight automobile with off road capabilities and sparse bodywork They typically have four wheels and an open roof There are various types of buggies for use in different off-road environments These include swamp buggies, golf buggies, dune buggies, and sandrails, with the latter two designed for use on sand. Advertisement 'You never ceased to make her and everyone around you smile,' she wrote on Facebook. 'I am so grateful to you for all of the wonderful moments and adventures you were able to share with my beautiful sister, the love of your life. 'Although you had only just begun the biggest adventure of all, we know you will always be there watching over Sal and your beautiful baby boy.' Sarah described Mr Hall as an avid fisherman, hunter, and adventure seeker who who 'lived life to the fullest and embraced every moment'. 'Thank you for being such a funny, witty, loving, kind and down right beautiful human being,' she said. 'You will be forever loved and missed.' Heartbroken friends have flocked online to pay tribute to the avid outdoorsman, who has been remembered as a 'true Aussie bloke' who was 'kind' and 'down to earth'. 'Such devastating news,' Katie Harding wrote. 'Matthew Hall has always been one of the kindest, and most down-to-earth person, anyone, would ever come across. He always loved an adventure and a good laugh. Will be truly missed by all. 'Rest In Peace mate, will always cherish our memories.' Friend Zoe Shepherd said Mr Hall 'lived his life to the absolute fullest and always had a 'new adventure on the horizon'. 'Everyone who knew him would agree that he was a great mate, one that would give the shirt off his back if it had to,' she said. Ms Fischer is 20 weeks pregnant with the couple's first child, a baby boy Mr Hall and Ms Fischer are pictured together on a boat during a fishing trip 'A true Aussie bloke, with a sense of humour to get any crowd laughing. Ms Shepherd said Mr Hall was a 'Territory legend in the hunting community' who was admired by both adults and kids. 'Matt is so loved and so sadly missed by many people, he would be so thankful to each and every person for helping Sally in this time of pure grief,' she said. Pictured: A side-by-side all terrain vehicle 'Everyone who knew him, whether near or far, will be feeling this loss tremendously.' Friend Renee Connelly has set up a GoFundMe to help Ms Fischer as she braces to become a mother without her partner by her side. Ms Connelly said the fundraiser, which has so far garnered $28,200, would go towards funeral costs and upcoming bills the family will be faced with in coming weeks. 'Matt has left a hole in so many people's lives but mainly his partner Sally, who is 20 weeks pregnant,' Ms Connelly wrote on the page. 'Please help me to give some financial Support for Sally, their baby and Matt's family by donating any amount you can.' The crash site has been declared a crime scene as police continue to investigate the incident. Cloaked in an enormous blanket and dutifully ready to remove his Cubs cap, eight-year-old Mickey Bran earned a minor place in royal history as the last person in the queue to see King George VI lying in state. Now, 70 years on, Mr Bran remembers the occasion with a heavy heart. It was daunting, the 78-year-old military veteran said from his home in Gosport, Hampshire, after being tracked down by the Daily Mail. I walked into Westminster Hall and had never seen anything like it before in my life. And I never thought Id see it again. But now weve seen it on a TV and it brings back memories. Mr Bran said he was in the queue on February 15, 1952, with his father Bernard to pay his respects when he was approached by the Press. The Press came up and they wanted somebody to go through last and make a story of it, so that was me. Eight-year-old Mickey Bran (pictured walking into Westminster Hall) was the last person to see King George VI lying in state in 1952 after spending around two hours waiting The press approached Mr Bran, who is now 78, and asked to picture him. 70 years on, he remembers the occasion with a heavy heart Military veteran Mr Bran had several brushes with royalty during his 12 years in the Royal Navy and 19 years working for the London Fire Brigade, including meeting the Queen in 1977 (pictured at front of line) Mr Bran, who grew up in Colliers Wood, south London, said he spent around two hours waiting before he filed silently in to see the coffin. It was all different in those days there were a couple of policemen, nobody was armed, there wasnt all this security. Mr Bran wanted to see the Queen's coffin but has had recent major knee surgery Mr Bran said he and his wife Brenda would have loved to have joined the queue again to see the Queen lying in state, but he could not because of a long-standing knee injury which required major surgery at the weekend. And I would have been up there for the funeral, but I just cant do it, he said. Mr Bran had several brushes with royalty during his 12 years in the Royal Navy and 19 years working for the London Fire Brigade, including meeting the Queen in 1977. Mr Bran, inset, who has two daughters, two grandsons and two step-granddaughters, said: When I joined the Navy, I pledged my allegiance to the Queen and the country. And even when I served in the fire service, we met the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh then. It means a lot to me, the Royal Family. Seeing the coffin in the hall again, it really gets to you. It is not widely known, but all Australian citizens are entitled to get a free portrait of the Queen from their federal MP, and requests have been pouring in. It is part of the 'nationhood material' funded by the federal government, but those wanting one had better ask for it soon - MP's offices are fast running out. Several offices have already posted out the last of their stock of the highly sought after portraits, including that of Dr Sophie Scamps, the MP for Mackellar on Sydney's northern beaches. Dr Scamps' office said it had 'many, many requests' for portraits of the Queen since her death was announced 10 days ago, but as of Monday, they have run out of them. Time is running out to claim your free portrait of Queen Elizabeth II (pictured) from your local MP Pictured is politician Andrew Hastie with his own portrait of the Queen The office is taking people's details and trying to get more stock in, but it may be that the replacement portraits will be of King Charles rather than his mother. MP's offices are getting far fewer requests for portraits of the new King than of Queen Elizabeth II. The Department of Finance, which allocates funding for the handouts, said pictures of King Charles will be available as soon as they're sent to the government. 'Updates to the items available as nationhood material are considered each time Royal portraits are updated,' a department spokesperson said. 'The Australian Government is awaiting the release of an official Portrait of His Majesty King Charles III.' Under the 'constituents' request program' all Australian citizens are eligible for selected nationhood material which, apart from portraits of the monarch, includes Australian flags and CD recordings of the Australian national anthem. The program has proved to be controversial in the past, however. On March 22, 2012, the then leader of the Greens, Bob Brown, criticised the policy and opposed a motion about it in the Senate. MP's offices are getting far fewer requests for portraits of King Charles (pictured) than of Queen Elizabeth II 'Motion 729 calls for unspecified amounts of public money to be spent on distributing portraits of Her Majesty to unspecified members of the public through members and senators,' he said. 'It is my view that there is a very adequate electorate allowance to cover that matter.' He was then interrupted by Liberal senator Michael Ronaldson, who accused Mr Brown of not getting 'his facts right'. But the Greens leader was undeterred and continued, saying The reality is that this is uncosted. The late Queen Elizabeth II was hugely popular in Australia. Here she is pictured with her late husband Prince Philip in Busselton in WA's south-west in 2000 'If there is extra money available,' it should go to helping Indigenous people to preserve their languages, said Mr Brown. 'I think that might have priority. However, if there are members opposite who cannot find a picture of Her Majesty, I would be happy to provide them with one.' If you want a portrait of the Queen, don't delay, contact you local federal member today. The full list of contact details for MPs and senators can be found here. The teenage driver of a ute that smashed into a tree, killing five of his friends, is on suicide watch in prison as his lawyers urge for his application for his release from jail to be expedited. Tyrell Edwards, 18, was behind the wheel when his Nissan ute smashed into a tree in Buxton, in Sydney's southwest, just before 8pm on September 6 - the accident killing three girls and two boys from Picton High School aged between 14 and 16. The P-plater was charged with five counts of dangerous driving causing death and was initially refused bail at Picton Local Court on September 8. Lawyers for Edwards told the NSW Supreme Court on Monday that the teenager had been on suicide watch inside Silverwater's Metropolitan Remand and Reception prison since September 8, and that a jail psychologists' report was due by the end of the week. Registrar George Galanis was urged to set down the bail application 'at the earliest possible date' and has now listed it to be heard on October 14, saying 'I am conscious of the nature of the matter and its seriousness'. The application came as the last of the funerals, for Summer Williams, 14, and Antonio Desisto, 16, were due to be held, following emotional farewells at the end of last week for Tyrese Bechard, 15, Lily van de Putte, 15, and Gabriella McLennan, 14. Driver Tyrell Edwards, 18, was the sole survivor of the crash and has been charged with five counts of dangerous driving occasioning death Edwards was behind the wheel when his Nissan ute smashed into a tree in Buxton, in Sydney 's southwest, killing five friends from Picton High School Remnants of a green P-plate could be seen at the site where the five teens died in a car crash During his initial bail application, the court heard that Edwards had prior speeding offences which led to his licence being suspended on two separate occasions Police will allege officers obtained footage of the teens inside the car in the hour before the crash which claimed the lives of the five teenagers, four of whom were Picton High School pupils. Antonio Desisto had graduated from Picton High School to start an apprenticeship as a carpenter, whereas Edwards had left the school more than a year previously. Edwards' local court hearing last week heard that earlier on the same evening, about an hour before the fatal crash, he had been filmed aggressively turning the wheel of the vehicle and swerving at 90km/hour. Court documents claim that during the phone video, one of the alleged victims can be heard saying from the back seat, 'we're going to spin out, cuz'. In an interview with officers, Edwards allegedly told police his steering wheel began 'shaking' and that he lost control of the vehicle. Tyrell Edwards has been on suicide watch in Silverwater prison (above) since September 8, and a psych report is due, the court heard Friends of the five students killed on September 6 visited the site of the crash a day after the multiple fatalities Tyrell Edwards' parents attended their son's first court appearance in Picton, in Sydney's south-west, where he was refused bail on five charges of driving dangerously occasioning death Edwards appeared expressionless in court via video link from police cells, and sat with his hands clasped together while wearing a black hoodie. Magistrate Mark Douglass said the decision to deny bail was 'not made easily' but he had taken into account Edwards' driving history. 'Given the egregious breach of trust, given the blatant breach of road rules that police allege occurred, this court has no confidence that this particular person would comply, given the history I've explained, with any bail conditions the court set at this particular point in time,' Mr Douglass said. Edwards, who worked as a labourer, has a history of anxiety and was left 'traumatised' by the incident, the court heard. Edwards, who has no previous criminal history, was taken to Silverwater Correctional Complex where he will receive mental health support while in custody. For confidential crisis support contact Lifeline on 13 11 14, lifeline.org.au Gabriella McLennan is pictured left with her best friend, Lily van de Putte. They died together in the car crash Antonio Desisto (pictured right) and Summer Williams (left) also died in the car accident on September 6 Palace aides reacted angrily to claims last night that Prince Harry had been given just five minutes' notice of his grandmother's death before it was made public. A newspaper report said the devastated royal had been the last to know about her passing and was even told after Prime Minister Liz Truss. The Daily Telegraph suggested this was a further example of the rift between the prince and his family. But there was clear irritation at Buckingham Palace that such claims had emerged on the eve of the Queen's funeral, which was considered hugely disrespectful. Palace aides reacted angrily to claims last night that Prince Harry (pictured walking behind Queen Elizabeth's coffin on Wednesday) had been given just five minutes' notice of his grandmother's death before it was made public In a rare statement on such a private matter, a spokesman for the King stressed: 'The public was only informed after every family member had been informed.' The Mail understands that while it is true that Harry was told shortly before the news became public, the reason for this was because he was on a flight to Scotland and therefore not contactable. Last night, the original story had been taken down from The Telegraph website. An amended one was then published claiming that Harry was not treated differently to other family members. It comes as a friend of the Sussex yesterday described the decision to exclude Prince Harry and Meghan Markle from last night's 'reception of the century' at Buckingham Palace as 'beyond bonkers'. The friend claimed that the Sussexes will feel 'excluded' after they were apparently 'uninvited' to a state event for 1,000 world leaders and foreign royals attending the Queen's funeral. It is thought Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle received an invitation to the event, hosted by King Charles and the Queen Consort. But officials at Buckingham Palace later insisted the reception was for working royals only, it is understood. A friend of the Sussexes told The Sunday Times: 'It is beyond bonkers if they're not there. Everyone is coming in from around the world to pay their respects to the Queen.' The confusion over Harry and Meghan's invitation points to issues with communication between the Californian-based couple and the Royal Family, according to the Daily Telegraph. It follows an apparent U-turn over Harry's right to wear military uniform despite being a non-working royal. Prince Harry was reportedly left 'devastated' after the Queen's 'ER' initials were removed from the shoulder of his military uniform as he held vigil by her coffin last night - after Prince Andrew was allowed to keep the royal cypher. The source said yesterday that the flip-flopping over uniform and the Buckingham Palace reception could make him feel as if 'the majority of the operation is against you. It's hard nobody likes to feel like they're being excluded.' Prince William (left) wore the ER initials on the shoulder of his military uniform last night, but the cypher was removed from that of Prince Harry's Prince Andrew, who is also no longer a working royal, retained the initials on his vice-admirals uniform as the Queen's children held vigil on Friday Prince Harry pictured with the ER initials on the shoulder of his military uniform as he attended the Founder's Day Parade at the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, in June 2019 William and Harry stood either end of the Queen's coffin as her grandchildren held vigil last night, while mourners continued to file past Harry's despair is understood to largely centre around Prince Andrew, who is also no longer a working royal, having retained the initials on his vice-admirals uniform as the Queen's children held a vigil on Friday night. The Duke of Sussex was a Personal Aide de Camp of the Queen and, as a result, had previously worn the cypher. But it was among the posts he resigned when he stepped down from royal duties and moved to California. The 'ER' initials are traditionally only worn by those 'in service' of the monarch, and so the absence of the cypher is thought to be down to dress regulations as opposed to a direct snub of the prince. But such was his despair, Harry is said to have considered wearing a morning suit as they were leaving in order to avoid the embarrassment last night. A friend told the newspaper: 'He is heartbroken. To remove his grandmothers initials feels very intentional.' It comes amid hopes of reconciliation between the brother's following the Queen's death, with the princes standing side by side as they walked behind her coffin as it was moved to lie in state at the Palace of Westminster on Wednesday. It was a poignant moment that drew comparisons to walking behind the coffin of their mother Princess Diana at her funeral in 1997. That came after William and Harry put on an an unexpected united front with their respective wives Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle during a walkabout outside Windsor Castle on Saturday. But sources close to the brothers are understood to have said there has been 'no meaningful rapprochement' as of yet. They joined other royals for dinner at Buckingham Palace as they received the Queen's coffin at Buckingham Palace this week. However, conversations between the two are still largely via aides than direct contact, despite the close proximity of their Windsor homes. As Harry was driving with Meghan as he celebrated his 38th birthday on Thursday, they had a chance encounter with William as the Prince of Wales was returning home after collecting his three children from school. The brothers initially drove past each other, before stopping, reversing and winding down their windows for a chat. The eight sombre grandchildren pictured arriving at Westminster Hall last night, led to the coffin by the Prince of Wales and Duke of Sussex Mourners watched as the vigil was held for the Queen in Westminster Hall by her eight grandchildren on Saturday evening But while William understands the interest in the relationship with his brother, he is 'solely focused' on honouring the Queen. Harry closely followed his brother as they led the Queen's grandchildren to hold the vigil by the Queen's coffin last night. Prince William was wearing the Blues and Royals, No.1 Uniform, The Garter Sash, The Garter Star, Golden, Diamond and Platinum Jubilee medals and RAF Pilot Wings. Harry, meanwhile, was wearing the Blues and Royals, No.1 Uniform, KCVO Neck Order and Star, Afghanistan Operational Service Medal, Golden, Diamond and Platinum Jubilee medals and Army Pilot Wings. Meanwhile, a source close to Harry said being back in his brother's company again had at times been 'uncomfortable' and 'difficult' this week. And reconciliation is said to remain difficult while Harry's memoir and the Sussexes Netflix documentary linger over the Royal Family. The FLIT-TEJAS, despite the Korean claims that the Malaysian Air Force is settled on the FA-50, is not final yet. The sale of 18 jets, which are light combat trainer aircraft, is a component of the deal, but Seoul claims to have secured it. Asian Manufacturers Compete According to a Korean Aerospace Industries official referenced by SBS News on September 13, discussions for the sale of 18 FA-50 aircraft to Malaysia, valued at 1 trillion won, seem to be about to start, reported Indian Defense News. SBS noted that the cumulative export volume of FA-50s to Poland and Malaysia, including T-50 training aircraft of the same type, is greater than the total export volume of FA-50s in the past. Poland chose to buy 48 FA-50 from KAI. The news source adds that KAI is collaborating to update the FA-50's air-to-air armament and implement the cutting-edge AESA radar for the Korean supersonic combatant KF-21. The Malaysian Air Force did not endorse a claim made by the KAI official, and Indian officials characterized it as based on conjecture. It said that the contract is expected to be completed if the current administration wins the upcoming elections. In Malaysia, early general elections are predicted to be held even before the current Parliament's term is up in July 2023. Korea's Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) disputed the reports, but even so. TheFLIT-TEJAS deal As a portion of the FLIT-TEJAS (Lead In Trainer-Light Combat Aircraft) program, the Malaysian Air Force has decided to release an RFP for 18 jets. Read Also: Mark Zuckerberg Net Worth 2022: How Did Facebook Founder Lose $30 Billion in 1 Day? Based on the Capability Development 2055 policy of the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF), Malaysia's TEJAS project aims to purchase 18 light combat aircraft now and an additional 18 jets in 2025, noted the Financial Express. Korea and KAI agreed to receive up to 50% of the compensation in palm oil and related items should they be chosen for the light fighter tender approximately four months ago. Korea initially opposed the idea but was forced to alter its mind after India, Pakistan, and Russia-the other bidders to the Malaysian precondition. By now, three of these nations trade palm oil from Malaysia. In other words, because FA-50 did not accept the payment option for palm oil, it was probable that this would be withdrawn. Another concern is that the FA-50 lacks a devoted 300-gallon conformal tank. The FA-50 does not have a receptive conformal tank or an aerial refueling device. As previously stated, the FA-50 will not be fitted with an AESA or a Beyond Visual Range missile. HAL, on the other hand, is already working on integrating the Indian Uttam AESA radar into the TEJAS. Moreover, TEJAS is the world's only airplane that has been evaluated with defense systems from several countries. The final assembly lines will be built in Malaysia by KAI and HAL. In this regard, HAL has an advantage over KAI because it can service Malaysian Air Force Su-30 aircraft of Russian origin. The FLIT-TEJAS for the Malaysian Air Force has advantages over the FA-50; in many sectors, the HAL LCA is a good platform. Related Article: Indian Air Force Sets 2027 as Deadline for the Complete Flight Testing of Tejas-Mk2 @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. President Joe Biden shot down criticisms that he is too old and mentally unfit to be president as he announced he still intends to run for re-election. In a rare interview with 60 Minutes that aired on Sunday, America's oldest president denied that he is unfit to hold office after a series of public gaffes including a series of videos showing him falling up the stairs to Air Force One and forgetting he already shook Senator Chuck Schumer's hand. 'Some people think you are unfit for the job,' CBS correspondent Scott Pelley began, 'and when you hear that, I wonder what you think.' 'Watch me,' the president replied. 'Honest to God that's all I think. 'If you think I don't have the energy level or the mental acuity, then you know, that's one thing,' he said. 'It's another thing, you know, just watch and, you know, keep my schedule. Do what I'm doing.' He continued: 'I respect the fact that people would say, you know, 'You're old.' 'But I think it relates to how much energy you have and whether or not the job you're doing is one consistent with what any person of any age would be able to do.' Despite his comments, Biden would not commit to running for re-election in 2024, though he told Pelley that was the plan currently. 'My intention, as I said to begin with, is that I would run again,' he said. 'But its just an intention. But is it a firm decision that I run again? That remains to be seen.' President Joe Biden said in a rare 60 Minutes interview that aired on Sunday that he does intend to run for re-election as he shot down criticisms that he is too old The president has previously been ridiculed for tripping up the stairs to Air Force One He also apparently forgot that he shook Sen Chuck Schumer's hand and waited for another one He is the oldest person Ive ever seen in my life Bob Scrillen (@BobScrillen) September 19, 2022 'I'm a great respecter of fate. And so, what I'm doing is I'm doing my job. I'm gonna do that job,' he continued. 'And within the timeframe that makes sense after this next election cycle here, going into next year, make a judgment on what to do.' The president has been benefitting from a recent bump in the polls after he pushed through the climate nd prescription drug bill. In a poll last month, Biden saw his approval rating leap 9 percent following a slump to around 36 percent in July. The bump comes from Democrats showing renewed enthusiasm for Biden, with 78 percent of party members now approving of the job Biden is doing. My intention, as I said to begin with, is that I would run again. But its just an intention. But is it a firm decision that I run again? That remains to be seen, President Biden tells Scott Pelley on whether he will run in 2024. https://t.co/yxmSENk4KK pic.twitter.com/mcTIRtkUBi 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) September 19, 2022 Biden's boost came from Democrats looking at the president with renewed enthusiasm. In July 65 percent of Democrats approved of the president - a number that now stands at 78 percent The president also used his interview with 60 Minutes to slam his predecessor for keeping classified documents in his Mar a Lago home. Biden said that when he heard about classified documents being taken from the White House, he wondered how 'anyone could be that irresponsible.' 'And I thought what data was in there that may compromise sources and methods?' President Biden spoke about the classified documents the FBI found in former President Trumps home. When Mr. Biden saw the FBI image of the documents he says he thought to himself, How anyone could be that irresponsible? https://t.co/7SixTE3OMT pic.twitter.com/sgQraMMOl5 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) September 19, 2022 The president said he did not get a heads-up before the Trump estate was searched, and he has not asked for any specifics 'because I don't want to get myself in the middle of whether or not the Justice Department should move or not move on certain actions they could take.' The Federal Bureau of Investigation, meanwhile, says it took about 11,000 documents, including roughly 100 with classification markings found in a storage room and an office, while serving a court-authorized search warrant at the home on August 8. The warrant says federal agents were investigating potential violations of three different federal laws, including one that governs gathering, transmitting or losing defense information under the Espionage Act. The president also slammed his predecessor, pictured here with JD Vance at a rally in Youngstown, Ohio on Saturday, for keeping classified documents at his Mar a Lago home The Department of Justice (DOJ) has requested the classified documents found in the Mar-A-Lago raid be withheld from the special master's review ahead of the preliminary meeting. It requested the Appeals Court allow it to have it's own investigator review the classified documents In the aftermath, Trump hired Chris Kise to serve as his attorney in the investigation into the Mar-a-Lago search and the classified documents found there. Kise, who had been a partner at Foley and Lardner LLP, has won four cases before the US Supreme Court and is well-versed in the Florida legal system. But before the experienced lawyer accepted the high-profile and challenging case, he insisted he was paid in advance, Politico reported on Thursday. The money came from Trump's campaign group, Save America PAC, to which his supporters are frequently asked to donate. The agreement between Kise and Trump stipulated that if the case drags on, Kise can bill for more. He could also eventually deal with of the issues surrounding a separate probe into Trump's actions around the Capitol Riot, The Wall Street Journal said. Chris Kise has been hired to represent former President Donald Trump in the investigation into the documents found at Mar-a-Lago Weeks after the search, Trump lawyers asked a judge to appoint a special master to conduct an independent review of the records. But the Department of Justice has since requested that the classified documents be withheld from the special master's review ahead of a preliminary meeting. Judge Raymond Dearie (pictured) has been appointed to be the special master and has until November 30 to complete his review of the 11,000 documents The DOJ requested the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals to allow its own criminal investigators to review the classified information and to exclude it from Special Master Judge Raymond Dearie's review. The Department sought the intervention after US District Judge Aileen Cannon - a Trump appointee - declined the DOJ's request to lift the temporary prohibition of the usage of the 100 classified documents found in the raid. The DOJ's investigation is being stalled due to the special master's review. The department told the 11th Circuit in Atlanta that the judge's hold was impeding the 'government's efforts to protect the nation's security' and interfering with its investigation into the presence of top-secret information at Mar-a-Lago. It said the hold needed to be lifted immediately so work could resume. 'The government and the public would suffer irreparable harm absent a stay,' Department lawyers wrote in their brief to the appeals court. The Justice Department argues that the documents could, in no way, be Trump's personal property, as the former president is trying to claim. 'None of those rationales applies to the records bearing classification markings: The markings establish on the face of the documents that they are not [Trump]'s personal property,' the DOJ said. The request also comes as the Department of Justice and Trump's lawyers have been called to a New York City court for a 'preliminary conference' by the special master who will review the 11,000 documents taken from the Mar-A-Lago raid. Dearie has asked the two parties to attend the conference on September 20 at the Brooklyn Federal Courthouse. Both parties have until September 19 to submit 'proposed agenda items' for discussion at the meeting, according to Fox News. So which is it, Joe? Biden vows US troops WILL defend Taiwan if China invades - but White House maintains official policy of 'strategic ambiguity' still stands as president sits for first TV interview in seven months Joe Biden has vowed the US military will defend Taiwan if China launches an invasion as he ramped up the rhetoric with Beijing over the tiny island nation. The President suggested he would deploy troops to the region if Xi Jinping's forces initiated an 'unprecedented attack'. But his explosive comments were quickly torpedoed by the White House, which said official policy had not changed. An official rushed to stress the US remains 'strategic ambiguity' to the threat to Taiwan - as set out in the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act. Biden's comments mark the furthest the president has gone towards embroiling America in another global war amid rising tensions in the Far East. It comes after he announced a $1.1billion arms package for the island and vowed to keep boosting its defense as the prospect of invasion looms. President Joe Biden vowed in an explosive 60 minutes interview on Sunday that the United States would use its own force to defend Taiwan if China invaded the island Taiwanese soldiers man an anti-aircraft gun on August 18, weeks before the US sold the island $1.1billion in military equipment Chinese President Xi Jinping on September 16. In the 60 Minutes interview Biden said he would use military force to defend Taiwan should China invade the island Appearing on 60 Minutes on Sunday night, Biden was asked: 'Would U.S. forces defend the island?' He replied: 'Yes, if in fact there was an unprecedented attack.' Journalist Scott Pelley said: 'So unlike Ukraine, to be clear, sir. US forces, US men and women would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion?' 'Yes,' Biden said. Despite the president's black and white comments, after the interview a White House official said the US official policy towards the defense of Taiwan - the 'strategic ambiguity' outlined in the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act - remained unchanged. 'The President has said this before, including in Tokyo earlier this year,' the official said. 'He also made clear then that our Taiwan policy hasn't changed. That remains true.' The president also seemed to reference the Taiwan Relations Act in the interview, saying the policy the US had maintained towards Taiwan for years remained in place. 'We agree with what we signed onto a long time ago,' Biden said in the interview. 'And that there's one China policy, and Taiwan makes their own judgments about their independence. We are not moving - we're not encouraging their being independent. We're not - that - that's their decision.' The Taiwan Relations Act requires that the US provide Taiwan with munitions to defend itself should it be needed. Adherence to that stipulation resulted in the State Department's sale of $1.1 billion in military equipment to Taiwan just this month. 'This package was in the works for some time precisely because we expected it would be needed as China increased its pressure on Taiwan,' a State Department spokesperson said on September 6. 'We have and we will continue to be responsible, steady, and resolute and keep our lines of communication open with Beijing, but also continue to support Taiwan in consistent - in ways that are consistent with our policy.' Ordnance crew members shoulder a AIM-9 Sidewinder missile on board the USS Abraham Lincoln Taiwan spent some $355 million to buy 60 Harpoon Block II missiles which can track and sink incoming vessels if China launches an assault by water A US-made 155mm howitzer firing during a drill at Penghu islands in Taiwan in August After the sale, China called Taiwan an 'inalienable' part of its territory, said the United States to should 'immediately revoke' the arms sales. 'It sends wrong signals to 'Taiwan independence' separatist forces and severely jeopardizes China-US relations and peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,' said Liu Pengyu, spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington. 'China will resolutely take legitimate and necessary counter-measures in light of the development of the situation,' he said. The sale came a month after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi defiantly visited the self-governing democracy, prompting mainland China to launch a show of force that could be a trial run for a future invasion. The package - the largest for Taiwan approved under President Joe Biden's administration - includes $665 million for contractor support to maintain and upgrade a Raytheon early radar warning system in operation since 2013 that would warn Taiwan about an incoming attack. Taiwan spent some $355 million to buy 60 Harpoon Block II missiles which can track and sink incoming vessels if China launches an assault by water. The arms also include $85.6 million for more than 100 Sidewinder missiles, a mainstay of Western militaries for their air-to-air firepower. Pelosi, center, walks with Taiwan's Foreign Minister Joseph Wu, left, as she arrives in Taipei, Taiwan, Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2022 Pelosi defended the trip that has provoked Chinese ire and a slew of threats and military drills: 'Our purpose in going to Taiwan was to say that we have this strong relationship built on the status quo, which we support' A spokesperson for the State Department, which approved the sale, said the package was 'essential for Taiwan's security' and stressed that the United States still recognized only Beijing and not Taipei. 'We urge Beijing to cease its military, diplomatic and economic pressure against Taiwan and instead engage in meaningful dialogue with Taiwan,' the spokesperson said. '[The sales] are routine cases to support Taiwan's continuing efforts to modernize its armed forces and to maintain a credible defensive capability,' the spokesperson said on condition of anonymity in line with protocol. 'The United States will continue to support a peaceful resolution of cross-Strait issues, consistent with the wishes and best interests of the people on Taiwan,' he said. China's nationalists set up a rival government in Taiwan in 1949 after losing the mainland's civil war although the island has since blossomed into a vibrant democracy and major technological hub. Since then, China has considered Taiwan a province awaiting reunification, by force if necessary. Russia's invasion of Ukraine raised growing questions on whether China may follow suit in Taiwan and whether the island was equipped to defend itself. In a July, CIA chief Bill Burns said that Chinese President Xi Jinping was still determined to assert control over Taiwan but that Russia's woes in Ukraine may have prompted Beijing to wait and make sure it can have an overwhelming military advantage. Joe Biden says he'll gain 'control' over inflation and vows to tackle the cost of living crisis crippling US - as he declares COVID pandemic 'over' despite HUNDREDS still dying daily Joe Biden has said he does not believe the economy is as bad as people think, despite inflation being at a 40-year high. The President, who rarely does television interviews, made the assertions during an interview with CBS 60 Minutes on Sunday. His optimistic view on the US's finances came after stocks fell sharply last week when a key August inflation report came in hotter than expected, hurting investor optimism for cooling prices and a less aggressive Federal Reserve. The August consumer price index report showed a higher-than-expected reading for inflation. Headline inflation rose 0.1% month over month, even with falling gas prices. The wide-ranging interview also saw Biden declare that the economically crippling pandemic was 'over' - despite hundreds of people still dying daily across America. Meanwhile he hit back at Russia over its brutal war in Ukraine and tried to assure Americans the country was better set than most to deal with the global economic repercussions. President Biden has promised to take 'control' of inflation, currently at 8.3% Despite the record rate of inflation, Biden appeared to downplay the news by noting how the rate had barely budged since July. 'Let's put this in perspective. Inflation rate month to month was just an inch, hardly at all,' Biden began. Core inflation rose 0.6 percent month over month - but on a year-over-year basis, inflation is at 8.3 percent. 'We're in a position where, for the last several months, it hasn't spiked. It has been basically even. 'And in the meantime, we created all these jobs and prices have gone up, but they've come down for energy,' the president said. 'The fact is that we've created 10 million new jobs. We're in a situation where the the unemployment rate is about 3.7 percent one of the lowest in history. 'We're in a situation where manufacturing is coming back to the United States in a big way. 'And look down the road, we have massive investments being made in computer chips and- and employment. This is a process.' Biden made the assertions that he would get inflation under control and that the pandemic was finally over during an interview with CBS 60 Minutes on Sunday When asked by reporter Scott Pelley if the economy was going to get worse before it gets better, the president gave a rambling answer with little detail. 'We hope we can have what they say, 'a soft landing,' a transition to a place where we don't lose the gains that I ran to make in the first place for middle-class folks, being able to generate good-paying jobs and expansion. And at the same time make sure we are able to continue to grow. Biden did make one promise to Americans - that he would get inflation 'under control' and start to bring down costs. 'Their prescription drug prices are gonna be a hell of a lotta lower. Their health care costs are gonna be a lot lower. Their basic costs for everybody, their energy prices are gonna be lower. They're gonna be in a situation where they begin to gain control again. I'm more optimistic than I've been in a long time.' Biden said that the economy was still continuing to grow and that he believes 'the introduction of 685,000 manufacturing jobs' since he became president' will 'continue to put people in a position to be able to make a decent living and grow.' Biden declared the pandemic to be over while walking around the Detroit Auto Show last week - an event which drew thousands of visitors The discussion quickly turned to the pandemic which Biden declared to be 'over', even though the country continues to grapple with coronavirus infections that kill hundreds of Americans daily. 'The pandemic is over. We still have a problem with COVID. We're still doing a lot of work on it, but the pandemic is over. If you notice, no one's wearing masks. Everybody seems to be in pretty good shape and so I think it's changing. And I think this is a perfect example of it,' Biden said while walking around the Detroit Auto Show last week - an event which drew thousands of visitors. The toll of the COVID-19 pandemic has diminished significantly since early in Biden's term when more than 3,000 Americans per day were dying, as enhanced care, medications and vaccinations have become more widely available. But nearly 400 people a day continue to die from COVID-19 in the United States, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nearly 400 people a day continue to die from COVID-19 in the United States, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention but Biden says the pandemic is now 'over' Biden spent more than two weeks isolated in the White House after two bouts with COVID-19, starting in July. His wife Jill contracted the virus in August. Biden has said the mild cases were a testament to the improvements in care during his presidency. Biden has asked Congress for $22.4 billion more in funding to prepare for a potential fall case surge. During the wide-ranging interview, discussion turned to Ukraine. Biden said that his decision to release a million barrels of oil a day from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve has helped bring the price of gasoline down about 26% from the $5 high experienced this past June. Prices spiked at the start of the summer in part because Russia cut fuel supplies in its war on Ukraine and Vladimir Putin began throttling energy supplies. Biden does not see it as a problem going forward. 'We, the United States, are in much better shape than anyone else is, and relative to Russia particularly.' The president said the U.S. commitment to Ukraine was 'ironclad' and would remain so 'as long as it takes.' Ukrainian troops are engaged in a counteroffensive that has reclaimed towns and cities from Russian troops. Last week Ukrainian forces recaptured about 3,000 square miles from the Russian invasion. But the toll the war has taken is vast, and fresh atrocities are being revealed, including torture chambers and mass graves. Since January 2021, the U.S. has given more than $13.5 billion in security assistance to Ukraine but Biden feel's the cost to be justified. 'It has been barbaric, what he's done. His attacks on everything from civilian hospitals to old-age homes, to neighborhoods where just ordinary people live to schools, it's just outrageous. And so the price Ukrainian people are paying for this war is extremely high. But we're gonna stay with 'em as long as they need our help. The toll the war in Ukraine has taken is vast, and fresh atrocities are being revealed, including torture chambers and mass graves. Pictured, Ukrainian authorities exhume bodies of people killed as a result of war at the Izium city after Russian Forces withdrew Asked what Biden would say to Russia's President Putin if he were to be considering using chemical or tactical nuclear weapons to secure victory, he had a clear message. 'Don't. Don't. Don't. You will change the face of war unlike anything since World War II', Biden urged 'Ukraine, through the significant help we and our allies are giving them and the incredible bravery and the incredible determination of the Ukrainian people, are not losing a war, and they're making gains in certain areas. 'Winning the war in Ukraine is to get Russia out of Ukraine completely and recognizing the sovereignty,' Biden said. 'They're defeating Russia. Russia's turning out not to be as competent and capable as many people thought they were gonna be. But winning the war? The damage it's doing, and the citizens, and the innocent people are being killed, it's awful hard to count that as winning.' Asked what Biden would say to Russia's President Putin if he were to be considering using chemical or tactical nuclear weapons to secure victory, he had a clear message. 'Don't. Don't. Don't. You will change the face of war unlike anything since World War II', Biden urged. 'They'll become more of a pariah in the world than they ever have been. And depending on the extent of what they do will determine what response would occur.' Joe Biden has vowed the US military will defend Taiwan if China launches an invasion as he ramped up the rhetoric with Beijing over the tiny island nation. The President suggested he would deploy troops to the region if Xi Jinping's forces initiated an 'unprecedented attack'. But his explosive comments were quickly torpedoed by the White House, which said official policy had not changed. An official rushed to stress the US remains 'strategic ambiguity' to the threat to Taiwan - as set out in the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act. Biden's comments mark the furthest the president has gone towards embroiling America in another global war amid rising tensions in the Far East. It comes after he announced a $1.1billion arms package for the island and vowed to keep boosting its defense as the prospect of invasion looms. President Joe Biden vowed in an explosive 60 minutes interview on Sunday that the United States would use its own force to defend Taiwan if China invaded the island Taiwanese soldiers man an anti-aircraft gun on August 18, weeks before the US sold the island $1.1billion in military equiptment Chinese President Xi Jinping on September 16. In the 60 Minutes interview Biden said he would use military force to defend Taiwan should China invade the island Appearing on 60 Minutes on Sunday night - his first TV interview in over seven months - Biden was asked: 'Would U.S. forces defend the island?' He replied: 'Yes, if in fact there was an unprecedented attack.' Journalist Scott Pelley said: 'So unlike Ukraine, to be clear, sir. US forces, US men and women would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion?' 'Yes,' Biden said. Despite the president's black and white comments, after the interview a White House official said the US official policy towards the defense of Taiwan - the 'strategic ambiguity' outlined in the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act - remained unchanged. 'The President has said this before, including in Tokyo earlier this year,' the official said. 'He also made clear then that our Taiwan policy hasn't changed. That remains true.' The president also seemed to reference the Taiwan Relations Act in the interview, saying the policy the US had maintained towards Taiwan for years remained in place. 'We agree with what we signed onto a long time ago,' Biden said in the interview. 'And that there's one China policy, and Taiwan makes their own judgments about their independence. We are not moving - we're not encouraging their being independent. We're not - that - that's their decision.' The Taiwan Relations Act requires that the US provide Taiwan with munitions to defend itself should it be needed. Adherence to that stipulation resulted in the State Department's sale of $1.1 billion in military equipment to Taiwan just this month. 'This package was in the works for some time precisely because we expected it would be needed as China increased its pressure on Taiwan,' a State Department spokesperson said on September 6. 'We have and we will continue to be responsible, steady, and resolute and keep our lines of communication open with Beijing, but also continue to support Taiwan in consistent - in ways that are consistent with our policy.' Ordnance crew members shoulder a AIM-9 Sidewinder missile on board the USS Abraham Lincoln Taiwan spent some $355 million to buy 60 Harpoon Block II missiles which can track and sink incoming vessels if China launches an assault by water A US-made 155mm howitzer firing during a drill at Penghu islands in Taiwan in August After the sale, China called Taiwan an 'inalienable' part of its territory, said the United States to should 'immediately revoke' the arms sales. 'It sends wrong signals to 'Taiwan independence' separatist forces and severely jeopardizes China-US relations and peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,' said Liu Pengyu, spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington. 'China will resolutely take legitimate and necessary counter-measures in light of the development of the situation,' he said. The sale came a month after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi defiantly visited the self-governing democracy, prompting mainland China to launch a show of force that could be a trial run for a future invasion. The package - the largest for Taiwan approved under President Joe Biden's administration - includes $665 million for contractor support to maintain and upgrade a Raytheon early radar warning system in operation since 2013 that would warn Taiwan about an incoming attack. Taiwan spent some $355 million to buy 60 Harpoon Block II missiles which can track and sink incoming vessels if China launches an assault by water. The arms also include $85.6 million for more than 100 Sidewinder missiles, a mainstay of Western militaries for their air-to-air firepower. Pelosi, center, walks with Taiwan's Foreign Minister Joseph Wu, left, as she arrives in Taipei, Taiwan, Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2022 Pelosi defended the trip that has provoked Chinese ire and a slew of threats and military drills: 'Our purpose in going to Taiwan was to say that we have this strong relationship built on the status quo, which we support' A spokesperson for the State Department, which approved the sale, said the package was 'essential for Taiwan's security' and stressed that the United States still recognized only Beijing and not Taipei. 'We urge Beijing to cease its military, diplomatic and economic pressure against Taiwan and instead engage in meaningful dialogue with Taiwan,' the spokesperson said. '[The sales] are routine cases to support Taiwan's continuing efforts to modernize its armed forces and to maintain a credible defensive capability,' the spokesperson said on condition of anonymity in line with protocol. 'The United States will continue to support a peaceful resolution of cross-Strait issues, consistent with the wishes and best interests of the people on Taiwan,' he said. China's nationalists set up a rival government in Taiwan in 1949 after losing the mainland's civil war although the island has since blossomed into a vibrant democracy and major technological hub. Since then, China has considered Taiwan a province awaiting reunification, by force if necessary. Russia's invasion of Ukraine raised growing questions on whether China may follow suit in Taiwan and whether the island was equipped to defend itself. In a July, CIA chief Bill Burns said that Chinese President Xi Jinping was still determined to assert control over Taiwan but that Russia's woes in Ukraine may have prompted Beijing to wait and make sure it can have an overwhelming military advantage. Joe Biden says it 'remains to be seen' if he'll run in 2024 as he hasn't made a 'firm decision': President blasts 'irresponsible' Donald Trump for keeping classified files at Mar-a-Lago President Joe Biden said it 'remains to be seen' whether he will run for a second-term in 2024 as he blasted former President Donald Trump as 'irresponsible' for keeping classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago home. In a rare interview with 60 Minutes that aired on Sunday the president would not commit to running for re-election in 2024 but said that is the plan currently. 'My intention, as I said to begin with, is that I would run again,' he said. 'But its just an intention. But is it a firm decision that I run again? That remains to be seen.' 'I'm a great respecter of fate. And so, what I'm doing is I'm doing my job. I'm gonna do that job,' he continued. 'And within the timeframe that makes sense after this next election cycle here, going into next year, make a judgment on what to do.' The president has been benefitting from a recent bump in the polls after he pushed through the climate nd prescription drug bill. In a poll last month, Biden saw his approval rating leap 9 percent following a slump t around 36 percent in July. The bump comes from Democrats showing renewed enthusiasm for Biden, with 78 percent of party members now approving of the job Biden is doing. President Joe Biden said in a rare 60 Minutes interview that aired on Sunday that he does intend to run for re-election My intention, as I said to begin with, is that I would run again. But its just an intention. But is it a firm decision that I run again? That remains to be seen, President Biden tells Scott Pelley on whether he will run in 2024. https://t.co/yxmSENk4KK pic.twitter.com/mcTIRtkUBi 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) September 19, 2022 The president also used his interview with 60 Minutes to slam his predecessor for keeping classified documents in his Mar a Lago home. Biden said that when he heard about classified documents being taken from the White House, he wondered how 'anyone could be that irresponsible.' 'And I thought what data was in there that may compromise sources and methods?' President Biden spoke about the classified documents the FBI found in former President Trumps home. When Mr. Biden saw the FBI image of the documents he says he thought to himself, How anyone could be that irresponsible? https://t.co/7SixTE3OMT pic.twitter.com/sgQraMMOl5 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) September 19, 2022 The president said he did not get a heads-up before the Trump estate was searched, and he has not asked for any specifics 'because I don't want to get myself in the middle of whether or not the Justice Department should move or not move on certain actions they could take.' The Federal Bureau of Investigation, meanwhile, says it took about 11,000 documents, including roughly 100 with classification markings found in a storage room and an office, while serving a court-authorized search warrant at the home on August 8. The warrant says federal agents were investigating potential violations of three different federal laws, including one that governs gathering, transmitting or losing defense information under the Espionage Act. The president also slammed his predecessor, pictured here with JD Vance at a rally in Youngstown, Ohio on Saturday, for keeping classified documents at his Mar a Lago home The Department of Justice (DOJ) has requested the classified documents found in the Mar-A-Lago raid be withheld from the special master's review ahead of the preliminary meeting. It requested the Appeals Court allow it to have it's own investigator review the classified documents In the aftermath, Trump hired Chris Kise to serve as his attorney in the investigation into the Mar-a-Lago search and the classified documents found there. Kise, who had been a partner at Foley and Lardner LLP, has won four cases before the US Supreme Court and is well-versed in the Florida legal system. But before the experienced lawyer accepted the high-profile and challenging case, he insisted he was paid in advance, Politico reported on Thursday. The money came from Trump's campaign group, Save America PAC, to which his supporters are frequently asked to donate. The agreement between Kise and Trump stipulated that if the case drags on, Kise can bill for more. He could also eventually deal with of the issues surrounding a separate probe into Trump's actions around the Capitol Riot, The Wall Street Journal said. Chris Kise has been hired to represent former President Donald Trump in the investigation into the documents found at Mar-a-Lago Weeks after the search, Trump lawyers asked a judge to appoint a special master to conduct an independent review of the records. But the Department of Justice has since requested that the classified documents be withheld from the special master's review ahead of a preliminary meeting. Judge Raymond Dearie (pictured) has been appointed to be the special master and has until November 30 to complete his review of the 11,000 documents The DOJ requested the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals to allow its own criminal investigators to review the classified information and to exclude it from Special Master Judge Raymond Dearie's review. The Department sought the intervention after US District Judge Aileen Cannon - a Trump appointee - declined the DOJ's request to lift the temporary prohibition of the usage of the 100 classified documents found in the raid. The DOJ's investigation is being stalled due to the special master's review. The department told the 11th Circuit in Atlanta that the judge's hold was impeding the 'government's efforts to protect the nation's security' and interfering with its investigation into the presence of top-secret information at Mar-a-Lago. It said the hold needed to be lifted immediately so work could resume. 'The government and the public would suffer irreparable harm absent a stay,' Department lawyers wrote in their brief to the appeals court. The Justice Department argues that the documents could, in no way, be Trump's personal property, as the former president is trying to claim. 'None of those rationales applies to the records bearing classification markings: The markings establish on the face of the documents that they are not [Trump]'s personal property,' the DOJ said. The request also comes as the Department of Justice and Trump's lawyers have been called to a New York City court for a 'preliminary conference' by the special master who will review the 11,000 documents taken from the Mar-A-Lago raid. Dearie has asked the two parties to attend the conference on September 20 at the Brooklyn Federal Courthouse. Both parties have until September 19 to submit 'proposed agenda items' for discussion at the meeting, according to Fox News. Joe Biden says he'll gain 'control' over inflation and vows to tackle the cost of living crisis crippling US - as he declares COVID pandemic 'over' despite HUNDREDS still dying daily Joe Biden has said he does not believe the economy is as bad as people think, despite inflation being at a 40-year high. The President, who rarely does television interviews, made the assertions during an interview with CBS 60 Minutes on Sunday. His optimistic view on the US's finances came after stocks fell sharply last week when a key August inflation report came in hotter than expected, hurting investor optimism for cooling prices and a less aggressive Federal Reserve. The August consumer price index report showed a higher-than-expected reading for inflation. Headline inflation rose 0.1% month over month, even with falling gas prices. The wide-ranging interview also saw Biden declare that the economically crippling pandemic was 'over' - despite hundreds of people still dying daily across America. Meanwhile he hit back at Russia over its brutal war in Ukraine and tried to assure Americans the country was better set than most to deal with the global economic repercussions. President Biden has promised to take 'control' of inflation, currently at 8.3% Despite the record rate of inflation, Biden appeared to downplay the news by noting how the rate had barely budged since July. 'Let's put this in perspective. Inflation rate month to month was just an inch, hardly at all,' Biden began. Core inflation rose 0.6 percent month over month - but on a year-over-year basis, inflation is at 8.3 percent. 'We're in a position where, for the last several months, it hasn't spiked. It has been basically even. 'And in the meantime, we created all these jobs and prices have gone up, but they've come down for energy,' the president said. 'The fact is that we've created 10 million new jobs. We're in a situation where the the unemployment rate is about 3.7 percent one of the lowest in history. 'We're in a situation where manufacturing is coming back to the United States in a big way. 'And look down the road, we have massive investments being made in computer chips and- and employment. This is a process.' Biden made the assertions that he would get inflation under control and that the pandemic was finally over during an interview with CBS 60 Minutes on Sunday When asked by reporter Scott Pelley if the economy was going to get worse before it gets better, the president gave a rambling answer with little detail. 'We hope we can have what they say, 'a soft landing,' a transition to a place where we don't lose the gains that I ran to make in the first place for middle-class folks, being able to generate good-paying jobs and expansion. And at the same time make sure we are able to continue to grow. Biden did make one promise to Americans - that he would get inflation 'under control' and start to bring down costs. 'Their prescription drug prices are gonna be a hell of a lotta lower. Their health care costs are gonna be a lot lower. Their basic costs for everybody, their energy prices are gonna be lower. They're gonna be in a situation where they begin to gain control again. I'm more optimistic than I've been in a long time.' Biden said that the economy was still continuing to grow and that he believes 'the introduction of 685,000 manufacturing jobs' since he became president' will 'continue to put people in a position to be able to make a decent living and grow.' Biden declared the pandemic to be over while walking around the Detroit Auto Show last week - an event which drew thousands of visitors The discussion quickly turned to the pandemic which Biden declared to be 'over', even though the country continues to grapple with coronavirus infections that kill hundreds of Americans daily. 'The pandemic is over. We still have a problem with COVID. We're still doing a lot of work on it, but the pandemic is over. If you notice, no one's wearing masks. Everybody seems to be in pretty good shape and so I think it's changing. And I think this is a perfect example of it,' Biden said while walking around the Detroit Auto Show last week - an event which drew thousands of visitors. The toll of the COVID-19 pandemic has diminished significantly since early in Biden's term when more than 3,000 Americans per day were dying, as enhanced care, medications and vaccinations have become more widely available. But nearly 400 people a day continue to die from COVID-19 in the United States, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nearly 400 people a day continue to die from COVID-19 in the United States, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention but Biden says the pandemic is now 'over' Biden spent more than two weeks isolated in the White House after two bouts with COVID-19, starting in July. His wife Jill contracted the virus in August. Biden has said the mild cases were a testament to the improvements in care during his presidency. Biden has asked Congress for $22.4 billion more in funding to prepare for a potential fall case surge. During the wide-ranging interview, discussion turned to Ukraine. Biden said that his decision to release a million barrels of oil a day from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve has helped bring the price of gasoline down about 26% from the $5 high experienced this past June. Prices spiked at the start of the summer in part because Russia cut fuel supplies in its war on Ukraine and Vladimir Putin began throttling energy supplies. Biden does not see it as a problem going forward. 'We, the United States, are in much better shape than anyone else is, and relative to Russia particularly.' The president said the U.S. commitment to Ukraine was 'ironclad' and would remain so 'as long as it takes.' Ukrainian troops are engaged in a counteroffensive that has reclaimed towns and cities from Russian troops. Last week Ukrainian forces recaptured about 3,000 square miles from the Russian invasion. But the toll the war has taken is vast, and fresh atrocities are being revealed, including torture chambers and mass graves. Since January 2021, the U.S. has given more than $13.5 billion in security assistance to Ukraine but Biden feel's the cost to be justified. 'It has been barbaric, what he's done. His attacks on everything from civilian hospitals to old-age homes, to neighborhoods where just ordinary people live to schools, it's just outrageous. And so the price Ukrainian people are paying for this war is extremely high. But we're gonna stay with 'em as long as they need our help. The toll the war in Ukraine has taken is vast, and fresh atrocities are being revealed, including torture chambers and mass graves. Pictured, Ukrainian authorities exhume bodies of people killed as a result of war at the Izium city after Russian Forces withdrew Asked what Biden would say to Russia's President Putin if he were to be considering using chemical or tactical nuclear weapons to secure victory, he had a clear message. 'Don't. Don't. Don't. You will change the face of war unlike anything since World War II', Biden urged 'Ukraine, through the significant help we and our allies are giving them and the incredible bravery and the incredible determination of the Ukrainian people, are not losing a war, and they're making gains in certain areas. 'Winning the war in Ukraine is to get Russia out of Ukraine completely and recognizing the sovereignty,' Biden said. 'They're defeating Russia. Russia's turning out not to be as competent and capable as many people thought they were gonna be. But winning the war? The damage it's doing, and the citizens, and the innocent people are being killed, it's awful hard to count that as winning.' Asked what Biden would say to Russia's President Putin if he were to be considering using chemical or tactical nuclear weapons to secure victory, he had a clear message. 'Don't. Don't. Don't. You will change the face of war unlike anything since World War II', Biden urged. 'They'll become more of a pariah in the world than they ever have been. And depending on the extent of what they do will determine what response would occur.' Seating more than 500 foreign dignitaries at todays funeral without causing a diplomatic row could be one of the biggest challenges for government officials. With many world leaders invited to Westminster Abbey, the seating plan which could only start being drafted on Thursday when RSVPs closed could be crucial to avoid inflaming existing tensions between certain nations. Careful thought will have gone into the placement of South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol and the North Korean ambassador. Seating more than 500 foreign dignitaries at todays funeral without causing a diplomatic row could be one of the biggest challenges for government officials Also attending will be the Iranian ambassador and Isaac Herzog, the president of Israel. Mr Herzog recently suggested that Iran is behind global dark forces of hate. Another flash point for planners could be Pakistan and Indias decades-long rivalry. Pakistans prime minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif and Indias president Droupadi Murmu are due to attend. Tensions also exist between Greece and Turkey over recent clashes in the Aegean Sea. And Saudi Arabia and Qatar are locked in a battle for influence in the Middle East. With many world leaders invited to Westminster Abbey, the seating plan which could only start being drafted on Thursday when RSVPs closed could be crucial to avoid inflaming existing tensions between certain nations Such logistical nightmares are not uncommon when nations host significant events with multiple representatives attending. Jeremy Bernard, who served as former president Barack Obamas social secretary, made sure every G7 leaders cabin was of the same standard during one retreat in Camp David. He told the Sunday Times: The seating is always a challenge. You have to make sure none feel more welcome than others. It mustnt seem theres any favouritism. Liz Truss will tell world leaders this week that economic growth is key to facing down Russian aggression. In a speech to the UN General Assembly, the Prime Minister will urge allies to end their reliance on imports of energy and other products from so-called malign actors. She will say the West must learn lessons from Vladimir Putins invasion of Ukraine by boosting economic security and defence. A source told the Sunday Times: She will draw a clear link between geopolitics and the domestic economy (in particular energy prices), and why reducing the free worlds dependence on malign actors has a direct impact on the cost of living and success of our economy here at home. In a speech to the UN General Assembly, the Prime Minister will urge allies to end their reliance on imports of energy and other products from so-called malign actors In her address, she will also rally Western countries to help Ukraine in its pushback against Russian invaders. Miss Truss is expected to fly to the summit in New York this evening, after attending the Queens funeral. It will be her first overseas visit and major summit since she took office. Some 150 world leaders will attend. UN secretary general Antonio Guterres called for solutions to the worlds divisions, which he said were the widest they have been since at least the Cold War. Miss Truss will also urge US President Joe Biden to stand firm against Chinas threat to freedom and democracy around the world. A source told The Mail on Sunday: Russia has demonstrated its an acute, active threat to Western stability and prosperity, but Liz believes China represents the most serious long-term threat to our values and way of life. A bizarre post about streetlights has shown just how deluded some of Australia's anti-vaxxers have become as the pandemic reaches its end. A group of anti-vaxxers took to the streets in Sydney on Sunday as part of 'Worldwide Freedom Rally'. They were protesting lockdowns and mandates, despite the majority of restrictions being lifted. Protesters also marched in other capital cities across Australia including Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. An anti-vaxxer who attended the Sydney rally shared photos of the city's streetlights to an anti-vaccine Facebook group and asked what they were. 'OK I would like some clarification on what these things are . they were switched on at the rally today in Sydney,' she said. An anti-vaxxer who attended Sunday's 'Worldwide Freedom Rally' in Sydney made a baffling post where she shared photos of the city's streetlights and asked what they were The woman's baffling social media post was quickly deleted but not before it was leaked across the internet and found it's way to Reddit. One user shared the anti-vaxxer's post in a forum with the title: 'antivaxxer mad at *checks notes* streetlights.' It prompted other users on the platform to write sarcastic suggestions about what the streetlights could be interpreted as to an anti-vaxxer group. '(They're) brain control devices that make you see things that aren't usually visible in low light conditions,' said one. Another commented: 'They are 5G amplifiers , If they are lit up it means they are sending signals to the nanobots in your blood from the vaccine.. duh.' 'They are 5G scanners that double as vaccination spray when you pass under them. Its such a fine mist you cant see it. Special government operations,' added a third. But one user responded: 'Wrong, they simply scan people's vaccination chips and place an invisible mark on unvaccinated people using lasers, so that they can be easily identified.' Protesters took to the streets on Sunday to rally against lockdowns, mask mandates, vaccine mandates and vaccine passports Protesters at the Worldwide Freedom Rally's across the country rallied against lockdowns, mask mandates, vaccine mandates and vaccine passports. Most restrictions have been lifted since the beginning of the pandemic. Some 96.4 per cent of Australia's population has been double vaccinated against Covid-19. Covid-19 can cause illness, ongoing health problems and even death. The vaccines being rolled out in Australia are designed to protect you against serious illness, 'long Covid' or death from Covid-19. They slow the spread of the virus and keep hospitalisation rates low. A no-fly zone has been put in place over London, with security forces deploying cutting edge technology to stop drones flying near the Queen's funeral. In what is set to be one of the biggest security operations in British history, Scotland Yard is pulling out all the stops to ensure today's service and procession go off without at hitch. At least 10,000 police officers, including 2,000 from around the UK, will be guarding central London and the 23-mile route to Windsor Castle today. On the ground many roads and bridges will be shut to traffic, and 23 miles of barriers have been put up to control crowds that are expected to reach into tens of thousands. In the skies no chances are being taken, with the Civil Aviation Authority putting a no-fly zone in place over the capital - this will include the prohibition of drones. To help enforce this security forces have set up top secret anti-drone devices in central London ahead of the service today, it is being reported. A no-fly zone has been put in place over central London and in Windsor ahead of the Queen's funeral today A police officer stands on the roof of a building in Westminster yesterday. It is reported security forces have set up anti-drone devices on the rooftops of London to stop drones These machines, which work by blocking signals between drones and their pilots, have been set up on the rooftops around Westminster, the Telegraph reports. It comes amid concerns that terrorists or people looking to disrupt the event, either by targetting the crowd or the procession itself, could do so from the air. The first step in making sure this doesn't happen was setting up a no-fly zone which will be in force until after the funeral on today. Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stuart Cundy has asked people who see any unauthorised drones to contact the police. 'My request to members of the public if they are in London on Monday and they do have concerns or they think someones flying a drone, please speak to one of the many police officers that are out so that we can deal with it straight away,' he said. There have already been 34 arrests in the lead up to the event, while as of last week 11 people have been spoken to for flying drones when they shouldn't have been. It comes as security forces look to maintain the safety of the numerous heads of state, world leaders, royalty and foreign dignitaries who are attending the funeral, as well as the thousands of members of the public who will come out and see it. DAC Cundy, who is the man in charge of the operation, said the force would use 'all tools and tactics available'. The senior officer told reporters the 'hugely complex' policing operation is the biggest in the force's history, surpassing the London 2012 Olympics which saw up to 10,000 police officers on duty per day. Rank-and-file will line the streets supported by armed officers on the ground and snipers on rooftops. Helicopters and CCTV will help commanders watch crowds from the sky. Around 10,000 police officers have been drafted in to secure Westminster and the 23-mile procession route to Windsor Mr Cundy said: 'This will be the largest single policing event that the Met Police has ever undertaken. As a single event this is larger than the 2012 Olympics, it is larger than the Platinum Jubilee weekend. The range of officers, police staff and all those supporting the operation is truly immense.' Drones are known to be used in major operations while facial recognition software has been used in London. DAC Cundy declined to rule out using them, citing operational reasons, but added they would use 'all tactics and tools' they needed to protect the capital. Motorbike escort riders, the Met's horse-mounted branch, dog teams and the marine unit will be in place. The force will also use more than 22 miles of barriers in central London alone to control crowds and keep key areas secure. And specialist units from the SAS are expected to be on hand to assist in the event of an attack. An armed police officer stands guard as people leave a Service of Prayer and Reflection for Queen Elizabeth II at St Paul's Cathedral in London last Friday, September 9 A police officer looks through the sight of a sniper rifle from the roof of St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh on Tuesday, where Queen Elizabeth II is lying at rest Former head of royalty protection Dai Davies said: 'The SAS and those trained in anti-terror quick reaction will also be involved. 'They will be strategically placed in military barracks and around the capital and will be there as the ultimate line of defence should there be an attack. 'The biggest risk will be the lone wolf or knife attacks from individuals, which are harder to predict. There is always the risk of a car attack too, though there will be barriers that make this more difficult.' Tomorrow morning the King's Guard will begin their final vigil over the Queen's coffin at 6am, with Westminster Hall set to close at 8.30am. The doors of Westminster Abbey, just over the road, will open at 8am. At 9am Big Ben will strike clearly before the bell's hammer is covered with a thick leather pad to muffle it's strikes for the rest of the day. At 10.35am the coffin will be moved onto a state carriage and taken to Westminster Abbey, arriving at 10.52am. Before the service, a bell will toll 96 times, reflecting the years of Queen Elizabeths life. The service will, Buckingham Palace says, pay tribute to the Queens remarkable reign and lifetime of service as head of state, nation and Commonwealth. The televised funeral service will begin at 11am, led by the Dean of Westminster and the Archbishop of Canterbury. After being taken by gun carriage from Westminster Abbey to Wellington Arch, the State Hearse will carry the Queen's coffin west along the south edge of Hyde Park in central London, before passing through Queens Gate and heading down Cromwell Road. It will then head down Talgarth Road via the Hammersmith Flyover, Great West Road (A4) and Great South West Road (A30). It will continue on the A30 and will then take the A308 to make the final part of the journey to Shaw Farm Gate outside Windsor Castle, where it will be met by the procession that will take it up the Long Walk to St George's Chapel The service, which will be shown live on the BBC and ITV, as well as 150 cinemas in the UK, is expected to be seen by as many as 4.1billion people worldwide. At 11.55am the nation will observe a two minute silence followed by a rendition of the Last Post. The funeral will officially end at midday. Following the service, the Queen's coffin will be placed on the back of the state gun carriage at 12.15pm. A funeral procession will then move through Parliament Square, Whitehall, Constitution Hill and the Mall to arrive at Wellington Arch at 1pm. The coffin will then travel to St George's Chapel in Windsor, arriving at 3.15pm to allow the public to pay their respects. At 4pm there will be a televised committal service conducted by the Dean of Windsor, during which the Imperial State Crown, sceptre and orb will be removed from the coffin by the crown jeweller. A lone piper will then play a lament as Her Majesty is lowered into the Royal Vault. At 7.30pm King Charles and the Queen's relatives will return to St George's Chapel for a private family burial service, where the new monarch will scatter earth on her coffin. An Australian soldier preparing to march in the Queen's funeral has shed light on plans for 39 of his comrades to be involved. Her Majesty's funeral will begin at 8pm AEST on Monday at Westminster Abbey in London. Australian Army Brigadier Mick Garraway said preparations began straight away for the 39 personnel who were selected to take part. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth's funeral will begin at 8pm (AEST) on Monday at Westminster Abbey in London 'It's a tremendous opportunity, it's a great privilege for us to be involved in this, such an historic event,' he told the Today show 'All of our contingent here have been aware for some time, that we would be required to be deployed over here to London in the event of the Queen's death... so we were on a list essentially.' Brigadier Garraway said they were all watching the news for updates on the Queen's deteriorating condition over recent months. 'It was a surprise in the end but of course things happen pretty quickly,' he said. 'Most of us got the word last Friday and gathered in Sydney then flew through Sunday and Monday over here to London. Australian Army Brigadier Mick Garraway said: 'It's a tremendous opportunity, it's a great privilege for us to be involved in this, such an historic event' 'The troops have been working hard really to prepare themselves for a style of drill and a style of marching that we do not normally do in Australia,' Brigadier Garraway said 'There has been a lot of rehearsals, essentially we have been rehearsing the parade itself after hours here in London because of the requirement closed streets.' The army held rehearsals on the nearby Army Training Centre in Pirbright, which is about 48km west of London. 'The troops have been working hard really to prepare themselves for a style of drill and a style of marching that we do not normally do in Australia,' he said. 'They are looking forward to representing their country in this historic event. 'Everyone is happy to work together is this environment... we are often away with the Brits, the Canadians and the Kiwis, so it's great to get together in that Commonwealth team and be part of such a historic event.' A local council has been criticised for taking down a portrait of The Queen from the wall during a meeting. Inner West Sydney councillor Tim Stephens removed the portrait and handed it to the general manager, who then discussed it with Mayor Darcy Byrne. 'It's redundant now it's not like you're giving away an asset,' Mayor Byrne said. Footage of the meeting shows some of those in the gallery laughing but at least one woman can be heard saying it was 'disrespectful'. Inner West Councilor Tim Stephens (standing on left) removed the portrait at last Tuesday's meeting Independent councilor John Stomolis agreed, later criticising taking down the portrait in the middle of a meeting as 'highly insensitive'. 'Flippancy like this from the leader of the Inner West community is appalling,' he told The Daily Telegraph. He said Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, also from Sydney's inner-west, was supportive of Australia ditching the monarchy but was displaying a lot more tact since the Queen's death. 'We have a PM who is running a republican debate but at the same time he is being very respectful, going to the funeral and declaring a public holiday,' he said. But Cr Stephens and Mayor Byrne both said they did not intend any disrespect. Cr Stephens gave the portrait to councils general manager who discussed it with mayor Darcy Byrne who joked he should take it home (pictured) Charles has been proclaimed King of the British empire after the Queen's passing (pictured in 2013 in British Parliament in London) Mayor Byrne said his 'asset' comment was in response to the council's general manager joking that his wife would like the portrait to put up in their own house. Cr Stephens said he only removed the portrait because he assumed it was protocol after Charles III was proclaimed King. 'I thought it appropriate and respectful in a period of official mourning that The Queen's portrait be removed from display in the Council Chamber,' he said. The portrait is understood to have been put back on the wall after the meeting and Inner West Council is seeking official advice on the correct protocol for updating the portrait to King Charles. The senior NSW bureaucrat who appointed former deputy premier John Barilaro to a plum $500,000 trade job has penned a LinkedIn post saying she is 'exploring new opportunities'. But Amy Brown neglected to mention she had been sacked. Ms Brown was dragged into the scandal over Mr Barilaro's appointment after she appointed the former NSW deputy premier for a trade envoy post in New York - despite there being a range of other well-credentialed candidates. Ms Brown announced that she is now 'exploring new opportunities' in a post to the professional services website. Department of Premier and Cabinet secretary Michael Coutts-Trotter said after careful review of Ms Brown's conduct he had decided she would not remain as head of the Department of Enterprise, Investment and Trade. Senior NSW bureaucrat Amy Brown (pictured), who appointed former deputy premier John Barilaro to a plum $500,000 trade job in New York, has been sacked from her job 'It's a privilege to hold a role as a senior leader in the NSW public service,' he said in a statement on Monday. 'With this, rightly, comes a high degree of accountability.' In a social media post on Sunday, Ms Brown did not mention she had been fired but instead said she was proud of her time in government. 'After close to a decade working for the NSW Government, my tenure has come to an end,' she said. 'I am exploring new opportunities in the private sector and hope to make an announcement about that soon.' An independent review into the appointment of Mr Barilaro to a $500,000-a-year, taxpayer-funded US trade job found Ms Brown had been indirectly influenced by then-trade minister Stuart Ayres's preference for who should get the role. Mr Ayres resigned as minister last month after a draft excerpt from the review raised questions about whether he breached the ministerial code of conduct with his involvement in the appointment process. The review found Mr Barilaro's appointment was not kept at arm's length from government. NSW bureaucrat Amy Brown said in a social media post that she is 'exploring new opportunities' but neglected to say this was due to her having been fired Former NSW deputy Premier John Barilaro (pictured) gives evidence during the inquiry into his appointment as Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner to the Americas at NSW Parliament House in Sydney, Monday, August 8, 2022 Premier Dominic Perrottet said the appointment process was 'flawed from the outset' and ordered an independent legal review to establish if Mr Ayres had breached the ministerial code. The review, carried out by former ICAC inspector Bruce McClintock SC and released last week, found Mr Ayres had not breached the code, but he remains on the backbench. Ms Brown stood aside from her role as head of Investment NSW in August, saying at the time she wanted to focus on her position as departmental secretary. Mr Barilaro relinquished the trade job in June, just weeks after his appointment was announced, saying the role was untenable and had become a distraction. The appointment plunged the Perrottet government into months of turmoil as the merits of the process were scrutinised. A Resolve Political Monitor survey last month revealed how damaging the affair had been for the NSW government. Amy Brown (pictured) was a witness at the inquiry into John Barilaro's appointment to a plum $500,000 job in New York It found that even 49 per cent of Coalition voters thought giving the job to Mr Barilaro meant he was 'unfairly awarded'. Elizabeth Mildwater will step in for Ms Brown from Tuesday. She is the current chief executive of the Greater Cities Commission and former deputy secretary of Transport for NSW. Mr Perrottet has been contacted for comment. Joe Biden for the first time gave an expansive reaction to Donald Trump's handling of classified documents, branding his predecessor as 'totally irresponsible' after top-secret documents were found at his Mar-a-Lago estate during a FBI raid. The wide-range interview with 60 Minutes host Scott Pelley was Biden's first in more than 200 days and aired while the president and first lady Jill Biden were in London for Queen Elizabeth II's funeral. His condemnation of Trump's handling of classified documents amounted to more than the mere scoff he gave when asked about the incident in August. Seeing the classified documents turn up following an August 8 FBI search of Trump's Florida residence at Mar-a-Lago caused Biden to wonder 'how anyone can be that irresponsible.' 'I thought, what data was in there that may compromise sources and methods? And by that, I mean, names of people who help etc., and it's just totally irresponsible,' he added. Biden's one-on-one with the CBS program was the first '60 Minutes' interview he did as president and his first sit-down interview since February with Lester Holt. The interview was conducted in Detroit last week when Biden was there touring the auto show. The remarks about the probe into his predecessor broke with Biden's pattern of avoiding commenting on the Justice Department's criminal investigation into Trump taking sensitive material to his Florida residence after his term ended in January 2021. President Joe Biden has branded his predecessor Donald Trump's handling of classified documents as 'totally irresponsible' after top-secret documents were found at his Mar-a-Lago estate during a FBI raid Seeing the classified documents turned up by an August 8 FBI search of Trump's Florida residence at Mar-a-Lago caused Biden to wonder 'how anyone can be that irresponsible,' Biden said in an interview on CBS' '60 Minutes' program President Biden spoke about the classified documents the FBI found in former President Trumps home. When Mr. Biden saw the FBI image of the documents he says he thought to himself, How anyone could be that irresponsible? https://t.co/7SixTE3OMT pic.twitter.com/sgQraMMOl5 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) September 19, 2022 Biden defeated Republican Trump in the 2020 presidential election. Trump, who has weighed another run for office, has described the court-approved search as politically motivated. Biden said he had not received a classified briefing on the contents of those documents. 'I have not asked for the specifics of those documents because I don't want to get myself in the middle of whether or not the Justice Department should move or not move on certain actions they can take,' Biden said. 'I agreed I would not tell them what to do and not, in fact, engage in telling them how to prosecute or not.' The Justice Department has said it was investigating Trump for removing White House records because it believed he illegally held documents including some involving intelligence-gathering and clandestine human sources - among America's most closely held secrets. The FBI says it took about 11,000 documents, including roughly 100 with classification markings found in a storage room and an office, while serving a court-authorized search warrant at the home on August 8. The vast majority of the documents and materials seized in the raid did not have any classification markings on them, according to an inventory list released earlier this month. Weeks after the search, Trump lawyers asked a judge to appoint a special master to conduct an independent review of the records, which was granted. The FBI says it took about 11,000 documents, including roughly 100 with classification markings found in a storage room and an office, while serving a court-authorized search warrant at the home on August 8 The warrant says federal agents were investigating potential violations of three different federal laws, including one that governs gathering, transmitting or losing defense information under the Espionage Act. Biden's intelligence chief is also investigating whether the disclosure of information in those documents presented national security risks. In the interview ranging several topics, the president wouldn't commit to running for reelection in 2024, though he's said in the past that he intends to do so. 'My intention, as I said to begin with, is that I would run again,' he said. 'But it's just an intention. But is it a firm decision that I run again? That remains to be seen.' Biden was asked about growing concerns that Russia's efforts to seize Ukraine could inspire China's leader Xi Jinping to attack Taiwan. The island has been recognized by the U.S. as part of China but has its own democratic government. Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin met last week. He said the U.S. forces would respond 'if in fact there was an unprecedented attack.' White House officials later said the official U.S. policy had not changed, and would not say whether American forces would be called to defend Taiwan. Biden has made the claim before, but the statements come at an increasingly tense time for U.S.-China relations, particularly after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's trip there last month. Biden said he had not received a classified briefing on the contents of those documents found at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate Beijing sees official American contact with Taiwan as encouragement to make the island's decades-old de facto independence permanent, a step Biden and other U.S. leaders say they don't support. The president said the U.S. commitment to Ukraine was 'ironclad' and would remain so 'as long as it takes.' Ukrainian troops are engaged in a counteroffensive that has reclaimed towns and cities from Russian troops. But the toll the war has taken is vast, and fresh atrocities are being revealed, including torture chambers and mass graves. Since January 2021, the U.S. has given more than $13.5 billion in security assistance to Ukraine. In the same hour, '60 Minutes' also aired an interview with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who will be speaking to the U.N. General Assembly in New York this coming week. Raisi echoed standard Iranian lines about the status of currently stalled nuclear talks with world powers. He said the United States is not trustworthy and demanded guarantees that the U.S. would not withdraw from a deal as President Donald Trump did in 2018. Raisi said he had no plans to meet with Biden on the sidelines of the U.N. event as it would serve no purpose, although he reiterated that Iran is willing to discuss prisoner exchanges with the United States. He also defended his country's anti-Israel stance and said Tehran was committed to pursuing 'justice' for the Trump administration's assassination of a top Iranian military commander. Claims that US anti-radiation missile hit their targets is inaccurate, said a Russian outlet. According to Russia, these anti-radar missiles were shot down in the air on Saturday. High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missiles of the US Around the middle of August, the United States delivered AGM-88 HARM missile systems to Ukraine. According to open sources, the missiles are mounted on Ukrainian MiG-29 and Su-27 aircraft, reported EurAsian Times. As stated by the source, the anti-radar missiles had no consequence on the Ukrainian battlefield. Many were knocked down by air defense batteries or were nullified by digital air defense system protection. Kyiv's claims are mistaken, and some HARM missiles were spoofed so much that they missed the target. An explanation for the exaggerated claims of the US is how efficient the HARM is countered by the pathetic maximum speed of the missile, with its bleak trajectory seen on the way in. A source added that Ukrainian planes are afraid of getting shot down by Russian anti-air missiles by releasing them too far. This poor strategy only gives time for systems to lock on and detect air defense batteries, then take them down, which does not mention, noted Pipa News. One of the issues with anti-Radar missiles is that they are released in a timed salvo, which causes problems because missile batteries are constantly identifying the main threat. Ukrainian forces have failed to destroy any Russian air defense radar systems, including illumination and engagement radars, where forces are armed with HARM missiles. AGM-88 HARM Missiles Were Shot Down The United States Air Force first used these US anti-radiation missiles in 1983, with a maximum air speed of 2,280 kilometers per second. If launched at a high altitude, its full launch range is 100 kilometers. Read Also: Mark Zuckerberg Net Worth 2022: How Did Facebook Founder Lose $30 Billion in 1 Day? But based on the specifications of the Russian AS-17 Krypton and AS-11 Kilter anti-radar missiles, their maximum speeds are more than 1,000 and 1,100 meters per second, with a max distance of more than 200 kilometers. Krypton and Kilter are far better than the HARM, which is older and has a poor specifications, but Kyiv touts it far better. According to Politico, Ukrainian officials want the Biden administration to give a Patriot air defense system, including old F-16 Fighting Falcons; there are moves to drop Kyiv, but Biden does not want to. A report published on Friday, citing the Ukrainian government, Pentagon officials, and defensive systems industry executives, Washington and Kyiv are trying to discuss what armaments the United States might make available to Ukrainians as Russian forces demolish the HIMARS units sent there. Based on the info, advisers to the Ukrainian lead have begun a move to lessen the request for modern weapons. The White House told them to deal with their offensive first. There is some doubt that ranting Ukraine will be given any of the scarce Patriot systems, let alone keep the F-16s flying; overall, there is no certainty that Ukraine will be able to handle either system. But some officials are considering the outrageous request of President Zelensky despite the reality of Ukraine's capability. Weapons are on the way with the $15.8 billion in security assistance to Ukraine, with HIMARS included with another modern armament. The US anti-radiation missiles weren't as effective as claimed and never hit their targets, probably due to being an older weapon susceptible to spoofing by electronic jamming. Related Article: Russian MiG-31 Fighter That Launched Hypersonic Missiles in Ukraine Executed High-Altitude Atmospheric Drills @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The woke founders of Ben & Jerry's yesterday claimed that Unilever is violating a 22-year-old merger deal by selling ice cream to an Israeli license holder after the ice cream giant lost its bid to stop selling its product in West Bank settlements. In a televised interview with MSNBC, Ben Cohen said: 'That agreement gave authority over the social mission to the independent board of Ben & Jerry's. Unilever has usurped their authority and reversed the decision that was made and we can't allow that to happen, we can't sit idly by.' Cohen's business partner Jerry Greenfield said that the agreement is legally binding and must be adhered to. But Unilever has said that it retains the right to make operational decisions for Ben & Jerry's and that the sale cannot be undone as it has irrevocably closed. The woke founders of Ben & Jerry's yesterday claimed that Unilever is violating a 22-year-old merger deal by selling ice cream to an Israeli license holder and have said: 'We can't sit idly by.' Pictured: Ben & Jerry's founders Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield It comes after Ben & Jerry's lost its bid in August to stop Unilever from selling its ice cream in West Bank settlements. The company took the unusual step of seeking an injunction after Unilever announced it had sold its interest in the ice cream to an Israeli license-holder. But a US federal judge ruled the ice cream company had 'failed to demonstrate' the move to sell the goods in the areas caused it 'irreparable harm.' After the ruling, Ben & Jerry's earlier this month said that it plans to amend its lawsuit challenging Unilever's sale of the Israeli business in Federal court in Manhattan. Unilever has until November 1 to respond. Ben & Jerry's had decided to end sales in Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories in July 2021 Ben & Jerry's had decided to end sales in Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories in July 2021. They said it was 'inconsistent' with the progressive values and social mission it retained the right to promote. Their decision prompted a backlash against Unilever which included divestments by pension funds from the consumer goods company and accusations of anti-Semitism by some Jewish groups. Despite the move, their Israeli license-holder Avi Zinger had continued to produce the ice cream in Tel Aviv and distribute it to Israeli settlements, against the wishes of the Ben & Jerry's founders. Hundreds of thousands of Jewish settlers live in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem, in communities widely regarded as illegal under international law. Israelis visit the Ben & Jerry's ice-cream factory in the Be'er Tuvia Industrial area in July 2021 On July 5, Ben & Jerry's asked that any agreement allowing distribution or sale of its products in the West Bank be dissolved and that any further such transaction go before its board of directors to be given a green light. Unilever's decision was 'made without the consent of Ben & Jerry's Independent Board,' and goes against the merger agreement that gave the board the ability to protect the founder's values and reputation, the complaint said. However, US District Court Judge Andrew Carter Jr in Manhattan said the idea the company's messaging could be marred or customers could become confused about its core values was 'too speculative.' Founded in the United States in 1978, Ben & Jerry's is known for championing progressive causes, including protecting the environment and promoting human rights, and has frequently released special ice cream flavors to support causes or in protest. Prominent politician Mark Latham has announced he has separated from his wife Janine Lacy 'in rather unique circumstances' after 22 years of marriage. In a statement on social media, the One Nation leader in NSW said: 'In 2000 I married Janine and I thank her for the happy and loving years we shared together. 'But now it has ended (in rather unique circumstances). My priority now is my love for and dedication to the best interests of my children,' he said. Mr Latham, 61, said he wanted to move on with his life and to continue in public service, 'particularly the forthcoming NSW election'. He added that he wished Janine, with whom he has two sons and a daughter, well. Mark Latham (centre) is pictured with his wife Janine Lacy (left) and his mother Lorraine Latham in Brisbane, September 29, 2004. Mr Latham was leader of the Labor Party at the time Mr Latham later thanked his supporters 'for the kind messages sent through in response to my post. 'It's really nice that people care this way. Please don't worry, I'm fine and heading into Macquarie Street for the parliamentary week ahead. 'You have a good week too,' he said. One commenter said: 'Circumstances happen for a reason which may not be clear at this moment in your life. 'Stay strong, focused and amicable through this tough time.' Fellow MP, Victorian Bernie Finn, kept things simple, saying 'All the best, Mark. Been there, done that. It's not easy.' Another supporter said they were 'sending you and your wife best wishes as you begin a new stage in your lives. One Nation MP Mark Latham issued a personal statement (pictured) on social media, announcing he had split from his wife Janine 'Children are most important when a relationship breaks down, I know you and your wife will always have their best interest at heart. 'May your years ahead be happy and same for your wife. Thank you for letting your followers know about this personal matter.' Ms Lacy was Mr Latham's second wife. He married his first wife, Gabrielle Gwyther, in 1991. They separated in 1997 and divorced in 1999. Mark Latham (right) gives his wife Janine Lacey a kiss in Perth on September 18, 2004 He married Ms Lacy the following year. When they met, Mr Latham was a Labor MP and Ms Lacy was a Liberal staffer. When he became Labor leader in December 2003, he said: 'I want to thank Janine, my wife, for her love and support. 'I've been happy in the home, happy in our relationship; it gives me the strength to do this job properly.' Daily Mail Australia has contacted Mr Latham for comment. One of the four men arrested over the fatal stabbing of a Comanchero associate allegedly believed they would be accepted into a bikie club for carrying out the attack. Levi Maurice Johnson, 23, was stabbed and left to bleed to death outside a Goodlife gym in Mansfield, Brisbane, about 1pm last Monday. Four members of the 13 Kings gang allegedly cornered him while he was leaving the carpark before fleeing. One was arrested shortly afterwards before the other three were taken into custody following a weeklong manhunt that involved 200 officers and 60 detectives. Thomas Friedrich Myler, 35, Stuart Galloway, Luke Thomas Moore, both 34, and Kyle Martin, 24, have all been charged with murder. Detective Superintendent Andrew Massingham said police will allege one of the men helped carried out the attack so they could patch over to a bikie gang. Levi Maurice Johnson, 23, was stabbed and left to bleed to death outside a Goodlife gym in Mansfield, Brisbane, about 1pm last Monday Four member of a the 13 Kings gang allegedly cornered him while he was leaving the carpark before fleeing 'At this stage there will be some matters put before the court, with respect to motive. I can't go into that in detail (as) we are in the sub judice period,' he said. 'But certainly some thought processes around the commission of this offence may go to inclusion on the mind of at least one of these accused, of getting into a motorcycle group upon the commission of this crime.' Martin was the last person to be arrested by police after officers surrounded a house on Albion Street at Warwick at 9.45pm on Saturday. Superintendent Massingham said police will allege Martin stabbed Johnson six times during the attack. 'It will also be alleged, that even after that time, one member of the four that has already been charged continued to assault the deceased,' he said. Police managed to track down Martin after following his girlfriend who went for a short drive to get takeaway from Hungry Jacks. Kyle Martin, 24 (pictured), was arrested with his 24-year-old girlfriend after police surrounded a property on Albion Street at Warwick at 9:45pm on Saturday Thomas Friedrich Myler, 35 (pictured), Stuart Galloway and Luke Thomas Moore, both 34, are the other three people who have been arrested over the attack 'That food was sufficient for two people and was paid in cash,' Supt Massingham said. 'It was at that time I was confident we had our wanted person.' Martin is believed to have made plans to leave the state and head for Western Australia. He will appear at Ipswich Magistrates Court on Monday while his 24-year-old girlfriend has assisted police with their inquiries. She has not been charged/accused of any wrongdoing. Martin's arrest was a day after Myler was taken into custody following a police raid at a home on Skinner Avenue at Wellington point on Friday. Brisbane regional crime coordinator Detective Superintendent Andrew Massingham said police would allege he buried guns at another property just before the arrest. Up to 200 police and 60 detectives had been working around the clock over the last week to find the men allegedly responsible for the attack (pictured, blue tarp at Mansfield carpark on Monday) 'We were able to get assistance from PolAir and a short time after that a vehicle, a Mazda 323, left this (Wellington Point) address,' he said. 'That vehicle has been taken to an address in Chandler, where we believe the wanted person... buried a number of firearms on a property.' Myler is understood to have had a falling out and split up with Martin following the stabbing. 'It would appear from some words that were spoken tonight by this man (Myler) that that relationship is somewhat fractured and that's obviously something we will be looking at in the coming days,' Superintendent Massingham said. Standing at a flagpole at school waiting for their mother, Samantha Fraser's three children were initially confused when she didn't arrive to pick them up. That confusion gave way to unimaginable trauma, grief and anger when they realised she would never be there again because their father, who should have loved them, destroyed their lives by ending hers. A psychologist, Ms Fraser was full of ideas for helping young people deal with trauma. Samantha Fraser (pictured) was murdered by her husband Adrian James Basham at their Melbourne home in 2018 Adrian James Basham (pictured) murdered his wife Samantha Fraser and tried to make it look like a suicide Adrian James Basham created that trauma for his three children, then aged five, seven and nine, when he killed their mother. Ms Fraser's eldest daughter, now a teen, read a heartbreaking statement to the Victorian Supreme Court on Monday, revealing it was nauseating knowing that despite the limitless love her mum had for others, she was still killed. 'I have spent the past four months writing and crossing out words that will never compare to the damage this man, Adrian James Basham, has done to our lives, my life,' she said. 'He murdered my mum. He took Sammy's life and in doing so destroyed so many others.' Ms Fraser (pictured) was a loving mother to three children who were left traumatised following the shock incident and claim that their father destroyed their lives She spoke of the cruel comments from classmates including a child who asked 'What if (she) goes psycho just like her dad and kills us?'. She said she wanted to speak in court to get justice for her mother, for her friends and family and for herself. 'I am here today to show people that I am a fighter and we will get justice for mum,' she said. Ms Fraser's youngest daughter, now only nine, said Basham had taken the best part of her heart away. '(Mum) will always be the angel that lights up my sky,' she said. Ms Fraser's mother Janine told the court on Monday she didn't want to give Basham the satisfaction of seeing how he had hurt the family irreparably, as he had promised to do before, but the heartbreak they felt was profound and unrelenting. She said her daughter read about a domestic homicide in a newspaper and told her mum that would be her. 'Make sure you don't let him get away with it,' she said Ms Fraser told her. Basham was found guilty in April of murdering Ms Fraser in her home on July 23, 2018. He had been charged months earlier with raping his estranged wife. The home (pictured) where Ms Fraser was murdered back in 2018. Basham assaulted her in the garage, before putting a rope around her neck and arranging the scene to look like a suicide Basham (pictured) makes his getaway after murdering the mother of his children Prosecutors said evidence showed Basham lay in wait before assaulting Ms Fraser in her garage, before putting a rope around her neck and arranging the scene to look like a suicide. The murder was not pre-meditated, his barrister Ashley Halphen argued in a pre-sentence hearing in the Victorian Supreme Court on Monday. But Justice Lesley Taylor challenged the submission finding he at least intended to assault her. 'Ms Fraser had taken so many steps to ensure complete separation from Mr Basham and on the evidence she was petrified of him,' she said. 'And he knew that.' 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) Lifeline 13 11 14 High temperatures have scorched parts of Australia while river banks have burst and floodwaters cut off farmers in another state. On Monday, a mini heatwave moving through regional Queensland raised the mercury to a blistering 40C at Doomadgee and Julia Creek and 35C at Camooweal. The conditions have been much cooler further south, with floodwaters inundating rural towns prompting several rescues by emergency services in northwest NSW. High temperatures have scorched parts of Australia while river banks have burst and floodwaters cut off farmers in another state (stock image) The conditions have been much cooler further south with floodwaters inundating rural towns prompting several rescues by emergency services in northwest NSW (pictured, Gunnedah after Naomi River flooded) Forecaster Steven Hadley said the high temperatures would be mostly in northwest Queensland with the mercury reaching 5C to 6C above the September average. A slow-moving trough will ease the conditions with severe thunderstorms forecast for the Charters Towers, Central Highlands, Rockhampton and Bundaberg regions. Northwest NSW farmers have been warned to prepare to be cut off by rising waters after the Namoi River broke its banks. The Bureau of Meteorology has issued flood warnings for the river, including major flooding at Wee Waa and Gunnedah after the river peaked early on Sunday. State Emergency Service spokesman David Rankine said five low-lying houses in Gunnedah were flooded, while a levee was expected to keep water at bay in the town of Wee Waa. Farmers in the Wee Waa region will likely be cut off due to the state of wet, unsealed roads, and have been advised to move their livestock and machinery to higher ground. Northwest NSW farmers have been warned to prepare to be cut off by rising waters after the Namoi River broke its banks (pictured, closed roads at Gunnedah) A mini heatwave moving through regional Queensland raised the mercury to a blistering 40C at Doomadgee and Julia Creek and 35C at Camooweal on Monday Emergency services are on call to deliver supplies to farming families who become isolated. He said there were about 20 rescues across the New England region on the weekend, mostly involving people who drove through flood water. 'That was a bit disappointing, people not being responsible behind the wheel,' Mr Rankine told ABC news on Monday. 'That takes a lot of the effort away from our volunteers to help community members when we're fishing people out of their cars.' Parts of the central west have also flooded, with the Macquarie-Wambuul River peaking at Wellington, Dubbo, and Narromine. Forecaster Steven Hadley said the high temperatures would be mostly in northwest Queensland with the mercury reaching 5C to 6C above the September average (stock image) Mr Rankine said the Dubbo Caravan Park was briefly under an evacuation order on Friday afternoon. Major flooding is expected at Warren on Monday, though a levee should prevent water inundating the town. Burrendong Dam, near Wellington, is sitting at 133 per cent, having dropped to below four per cent at the height of the drought. 'The transformation these communities have seen with all this rain is fantastic,' Mr Rankine said. 'Most farmers will tell you mud is money. We hope as we come into harvest the rain does abate in and around October, November, December.' Revellers dressed up in colourful outfits and celebrated marijuana culture It was the 30th anniversary of the annual event focused on cannabis legalisation The Mardi Grass festival was held over the weekend at Nimbin in northern NSW Thousands have flocked to Australia's weed capital wearing eccentric outfits and body paint to celebrate the Mardi Grass festival. Mardi Grass is an annual cannabis law reform protest in Nimbin, northern New South Wales. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the famous cannabis festival. Thousands have attended last weekend's annual Mardi Grass festival in Nimbin, northern New South Wales Revellers were dressed up in eccentric outfits, with many wearing bright green colours with emblazoned marijuana leaf motifs This year marks the 30th anniversary of the annual event that is held as a cannabis law reform protest Attendees at the festival celebrate cannabis culture, smoke and party Attendees showed off their bright costumes as they marched and danced though Nimbin's main street. One group of revellers was seen holding up a giant inflatable cannabis joint. Market stalls were also set up selling cannabis smoking paraphernalia and merchandise. Those at the festival showed off their colourful outfits as they marched through Australia's weed capital Attendees marched through Nimbin on Sunday protesting for marijuana legalisation along with other various social and political issues One group of revellers was pictured holding up a giant inflatable cannabis joint It was all smiles on the weekend for those at Mardi Grass Nimbin Hemp Embassy president, Michael Balderstone, said the protesters are hoping to change cannabis legislation in Australia. 'The two core issues we are protesting about, is to be allowed to grow our own medicine instead of having to buy it expensively from big corporations via a doctor.' 'And the drug driving rules must change to an impairment test. It's appalling that medical cannabis users are losing their licences just for having a tiny old residue of cannabis in their saliva which is not affecting their driving ability at all,' he said. A range of market stalls were also set up selling drug paraphernalia, while speakers at the forefront of the fight to legalise weed gave talks Highlights at the festival included the 'Great Green Cabaret', the 'Kombi Konvoy', the 'Hemp Olympix', 'Pot Art' and 'Pot Poetry' The Mardi Grass festival has been held in Nimbin annually since 1993. This year marks it's 30th anniversary The Mardi Grass festival has been held in Nimbin every year since 1993. It is the height of the area's 'weed tourism' calendar and an annual boost to the small village's economy. This year's festival was meant to be held on the weekend of April 29 to March 1 but was postponed due to the NSW floods. Ron DeSantis received a standing ovation during a speech in Kansas City after mentioning the stunt where he sent two plane-loads of migrants to Martha's Vineyard. The Florida governor was roundly applauded on Sunday for sending 50 people up to the island off Massachusetts last week. He also branded the influx of migrants into the US a 'crisis' but said it was 'now getting a little bit more attention'. DeSantis flew 50 migrants up to the luxury island on Wednesday before they were carted off by officials to a military base on Cape Cod. Furious locals blasted the move and said they were relieved the were not staying because there was not the facilities to look after them. It comes as the Florida governor set a record-breaking fundraising total for his gubernatorial campaign. He raked in a staggering $177.4million as of September 9, according to a report from Open Secrets. DeSantis is up for reelection this fall, after a term which saw him barely win the governorship in 2018 to becoming one of the GOP's most prominent stars. DeSantis received the ovation while speaking at rally for Wisconsin gubernatorial nominee Tim Michels in Olathe, Kansas Florida governor Ron DeSantis received a standing ovation during a speech in Kansas City after mentioning his stunt where he sent two plane-loads of migrants to Martha's Vineyard One of the fifty migrants (left) Ron DeSantis had flown to Martha's Vineyard as a part of a political stunt 'This is a crisis. It's now getting a little bit more attention,' DeSantis said during the speech on Sunday, while talking about how he felt the move had succeeded in generating the type of attention he hoped it would. 'This border is now an issue in these elections,' he said. 'And I think it's something that our candidates need to take.' As the crowd rose to their feet to applaud the Republican governor it became clear the move did far more than force border security front and center, but that it also secured DeSantis' position as a potential candidate to rival Donald Trump for the 2024 GOP presidential ticket. DeSantis received the ovation while speaking at rally for Wisconsin gubernatorial nominee Tim Michels in Olathe, Kansas. DeSantis defended his actions and claimed that the migrants knew exactly where they were going and voluntarily signed up for the trip Pictured: A group of 50 migrants enjoyed Venezuelan dishes at the military base after Martha's Vineyard declared an emergency over the group's arrival About 150 National Guard members were called in to transport the migrants from the island to the Cape Cod Military base 32 miles away The crowd took to their feet as DeSantis talked about how the sending of just 50 migrants to the wealthy island enclave of Martha's Vineyard demonstrated the hypocrisy of liberals and sanctuary city rhetoric. 'You're talking about 50 people. Did they get them employed? Did they get them set up? No,' he said. 'They called out the National Guard and they deported those people off the island the very next day.' He talked about how the migrants were 'given basically a lottery ticket to get to the wealthiest sanctuary jurisdiction in the country,' while talking about how the summer island had ample job listings and hotels to house the migrants in. 'Now we see that's just self-congratulatory virtue signaling,' said DeSantis. Despite the Martha's Vineyard move's popularity in Kansas, liberals criticized DeSantis for pulling what they characterized as a cruel stunt which used human lives as pawns in a political game. Among the critics was President Biden, who said DeSantis was 'playing politics with human beings.' Many called the situation a humanitarian emergency, while Massachusetts governor Charlie Baker said that Martha's Vineyard - with a population of 15,000 - is 'not equipped to provide sustainable accommodation' to the migrants. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre also took aim at DeSantis during a press conference, urging other Republicans who do not agree with his 'blueprint' to 'speak up'. Migrants who were relocated from Martha's Vineyard to the Joint Base Cape Cod received a warm meal. Pictured: A mom carrying her kids to be bussed off to the base The migrants are momentarily settling down after days of confusion that began when they were brought to a Florida airport to be shipped off to Massachusetts She said: 'This is an issue and we have been clear about this, this is an issue that is inhumane it is abhorrent and we should not be using people, migrants, who are fleeing communism as a political pawn.' The Florida governor sent the group of 50 migrants to Martha's Vineyard, where officials immediately bemoaned the situation, calling in the National Guard to relocate the group because the city allegedly had no shelters available. The migrants were removed from the island within 48 hours, and relocated by ferry to a military base on Cape Cod. A spokesperson for DeSantis said in a statement that the trip was part of the state's 'relocation program to transport illegal immigrants to sanctuary destinations.' DeSantis had been following the cue of his Texas and Arizona counterparts, who are busing scores of migrants who crossed into the US illegally to New York, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. Texas' Republican Gov. Greg Abbott sent two busloads of migrants to Harris' doorstep on Thursday after the vice president claimed the border was 'secure.' 'VP Harris claims our border is 'secure' & denies the crisis,' Abbott tweeted, claiming responsibility for the move. 'We're sending migrants to her backyard to call on the Biden Administration to do its job & secure the border.' Authorities say power is out across the island and unlikely to be restored for several days Officials say rains and floods are life-threatening rains as residents shutter their homes and prepare for worst The tropical storm was upgraded to hurricane status and hit Puerto Rico hard on Sunday afternoon Fiona is moving towards the eastern portion of Dominican Republic and likely to make landfall early Monday Hurricane Fiona is approaching the Dominican Republic having triggered life-threatening floods and mudslides in Puerto Rico throughout Sunday after making landfall during the afternoon Advertisement Hurricane Fiona bore down on the Dominican Republic on Monday after knocking out the power grid and unleashing floods and landslides in Puerto Rico, where the governor said the damage was 'catastrophic'. Fiona was forecast to swipe the Dominican Republic early Monday and then northern Haiti and the Turks and Caicos Islands with the threat of heavy rain. It could threaten the far southern end of the Bahamas on Tuesday. Hurricane warnings were posted for the Dominican Republic's eastern coast from Cabo Caucedo to Cabo Frances Viejo, and for the Turks and Caicos. No deaths in Puerto Rico have been reported where vast amounts of damage is said to have been caused across the island on Sunday afternoon. It no day for the beach on Sunday as storm clouds drew ever-nearer and the winds began to whip up the waves A man with his son is seen on the beach in Nagua, Dominican Republic, on Sunday as Hurricane Fiona heads ever closer A man walks on the beach in Nagua, Dominican Republic, hours before Hurricane Fiona was due to strike People are seen at the beach in Nagua, Dominican Republic. The government of the Dominican Republic suspended the working day on Monday due to the upcoming arrival of Hurricane Fiona Conditions were fast deteriorating on Sunday night as Hurricane Fiona drew ever-closer Authorities on the Dominican Republic issues a map showing eastern parts of the island to be most at risk from Fiona A man plays on the water at the beach in Nagua, Dominican Republic hours before the hurricane was due to strike People are seen at the beach in Nagua, Dominican Republic knowing their island is due to be struck by torrential wind and rain One man is seen on the side of a jetty and flood defenses in the hours before Hurricane Fiona was due to hit Two people are seen fishing on the beach, in Nagua, Dominican Republic before Hurricane Fiona hits in the next few hours A man uses a walker to walk along the shore of the beach, in Nagua, Dominican Republic. The effects of Fiona are expected to begin to be felt as of early Monday morning Authorities in the U.S. territory said it was too early to estimate the damage from a storm that was still forecast to unleash torrential rain across Puerto Rico on Monday. Up to 30 inches was forecast for Puerto Rico's eastern and southern regions. 'It's important people understand that this is not over,' said Ernesto Morales, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in San Juan. He said flooding has reached 'historic levels,' with authorities evacuating or rescuing hundreds of people across the island. 'The damages that we are seeing are catastrophic,' said Gov. Pedro Pierluisi. This was a brand new metal bridge installed after Hurricane Maria in the town of Utuado, Puerto Rico Such was the strength of the water, the entire contsruction was simply washed away down river The massive metal bridge could be seen floating downstream as floods lifted it from its foundations on Sunday afternoon Residents couldn't believe their eyes as the bridge simply floated away One Twitter user captured this raging torrent of water sweeping through Pueblo de Naranjito A home is submerged in floodwaters caused by Hurricane Fiona in Cayey, Puerto Rico Brown water rushed through streets, into homes and even consumed a runway airport in southern Puerto Rico. Roads were turned into raging torrents as Fiona also ripped up asphalt from roads and washed away a bridge in the central mountain town of Utuado that police say was installed by the National Guard after Hurricane Maria hit in 2017 as a Category 5 storm. The storm also ripped off the roofs of several homes, including that of Nelson Cirino in the northern coastal town of Loiza. 'I was sleeping and saw when the corrugated metal flew off,' he said as he observed how the rain drenched his belonging. Ada Vivian Roman, a 21-year-old photography student, said the storm knocked down trees and fences in her hometown of Toa Alta. 'Im actually very anxious because it's a really slow-moving hurricane,' she said. She said she is also worried about whether the public transportation she relies on to get to her job at a public relations agency will be operating by the time she has to go back to the office. The water was seen flowing along at quite a rate of speed. Forecasters are predicting up to 30 inches of rain to fall in total People look at a flooded road during the passing of Hurricane Fiona through Cayey, Puerto Rico on Sunday A road is flooded by the rains of Hurricane Fiona in Cayey, Puerto Rico with landslides still a huge risk to life People clean debris from a road after a mudslide was caused by Hurricane Fiona in Cayey, Puerto Rico, on Sunday A road blocked is blocked by a mudslide caused by Hurricane Fiona in Cayey, Puerto Rico on Sunday A river swollen with rain caused by Hurricane Fiona speeds through Cayey, Puerto Rico on Sunday Several people were tripped inside this house which now stands in what looks to be the middle of a raging river 'But I know that I'm privileged compared with other families who are practically losing their homes because they are under water,' she said. Fiona was centered 50 miles southeast of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic with maximum sustained winds of 85mph on Sunday night, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center. It was moving to the northwest at 9 mph. It hit on the anniversary of Hurricane Hugo, which slammed into the island in 1989 as a Category 3 storm. As authorities continue to assess the damage from Fiona, many wondered when power would be restored. 'That's probably the worst damage there is,' said Tomas Rivera, who co-owns a hotel in the southwest coastal town of El Combate. Rivera said his employees brought bedridden family members to the hotel, where he has stocked up on diesel, gasoline, food, water and ice, given how slowly the government responded after Hurricane Maria. President Joe Biden declared a state of emergency in the U.S. territory as the eye of the storm approached the island's southwest corner. Puerto Rico's ports have been closed and flights out of the main airport canceled. People clean a house flooded by the rains of Hurricane Fiona in Cayey, Puerto Rico on Sunday Flooding in the town of Maunabo, Puerto Rico as a result of Hurricane Fiona People shelter underneath an overpass as Hurricane Fiona made landfall in Ponce, Puerto Rico A member of the Emergency Operations Committee (COE) monitors the trajectory of Hurricane Fiona in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic on Sunday The Mamey river flooded houses in Patillas, Puerto Rico as Hurricane Fiona came ashore People shelter underneath an overpass as Hurricane Fiona made landfall in Ponce, Puerto Rico on Sunday afternoon Strong river current destroyed a brand new metal bridge installed post Hurracane Maria in Salto Alto, in the town of Utuado A worker cuts an electricity pole that was downed by Hurricane Fiona as it blocks a road in Cayey, Puerto Rico on Sunday A man jumps into an all terrain vehicle as Hurricane Fiona made landfall in Ponce, Puerto Rico bringing torrential rain Roads were turned into rivers. There is no sign of a metal bridge that once stood at this point Three people inside a house await rescue from the floods caused by Hurricane Fiona in Cayey, Puerto Rico A man walks on a road flooded by Hurricane Fiona in Cayey, Puerto Rico, on Sunday A man walk past an electricity pole that was damaged by Hurricane Fiona in Yauco, Puerto Rico on Sunday Asi se ve el paso del huracan Fiona por la provincia La Altagracia, Higuey. Se reportan varios rios desbordados y destruccion de puentes y edificaciones. Que opinas ? Dejenos sus comentario #huracan #fiona #higuey #laaltagracia #rd #republicadominicana pic.twitter.com/R5R8LjDf1n El Quinto Elemento TV (@el5elementotv) September 19, 2022 The emergency declaration authorizes Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to coordinate disaster relief efforts and provide emergency protective measures, the White House explained. US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said agency officials deployed to Puerto Rico will assist with restoration efforts 'as it becomes safe to do so.' Fiona was at hurricane strength as torrential rains deluged the Caribbean. The blackout that Hurricane Maria caused was blamed for the deaths of nearly 3,000 people in the storms sweltering aftermath, with power in some neighborhoods not restored until a year later. Maria was a devastating Category 5 storm that struck on September 20, 2017. The entire island is once again without electricity plunging the island's population of about 3.2 million people into a total blackout overnight. The ferocious wind ripped roofs from homes whilst the heavy rain also caused landslides. Fiona hit about 15 miles south-southeast of Mayaguez with maximum sustained winds of 85mph, according to the US National Hurricane Centre. It was moving to the north-west at 9mph. Luma, the company that operates power transmission and distribution, said bad weather, including winds of 80 mph, had disrupted transmission lines on Sunday, leading to 'a blackout on all the island.' Health centers were running on generators - and some of those had failed. Health Secretary Carlos Mellado said crews rushed to repair generators at the Comprehensive Cancer Center, where several patients had to be evacuated. More than 3,000 homes still have only a blue tarp as a roof, and infrastructure remains weak, including the power grid. Outages remain common, and reconstruction started only recently. A gas station sign damaged by Hurricane Fiona lies on the ground in Yauco, Puerto Rico A car sits in flood waters after Hurricane Fiona affected the area in Yauco, Puerto Rico People clear a road from a fallen tree after Hurricane Fiona affected the area in Yauco, Puerto Rico The storm's clouds covered the entire island and tropical storm-force winds extended as far as 140 miles from Fiona's centre. Gov. Pedro Pierluisi tweeted at about 2pm on Sundaythat 'the electrical system is currently out of service. Protocols have been activated according to plans established to address this situation.' Pierluisi also announced on Sunday that public schools and government agencies would remain closed on Monday. 'The damages that we are seeing are catastrophic,' he said. Luma, the company that operates power transmission and distribution, said bad weather, including winds of 80 mph, had disrupted transmission lines, leading to 'a blackout on all the island'. 'Current weather conditions are extremely dangerous and are hindering our capacity to evaluate the complete situation,' it said, adding that it could take several days to fully restore power. At a press conference in the capital San Juan on Sunday night, LUMA spokesman Abner Gomez said the entire electrical system had first been shut down to protect its infrastructure. Some power was being restored with priority being given to hospitals and other critical community services, he said. 'This has been catastrophic,' Pierluisi said at the news conference. 'We are responding to the emergency as weather conditions permit. Health centers were running on generators and some of those had failed. Health Secretary Carlos Mellado said crews were working to repair generators as soon as possible at the Comprehensive Cancer Centre. The metal crash barrier at the side of the road was simply stripped away like spaghetti, such was the strength of the storm A worker of the Loiza municipality calls on residents to evacuate due to imminent flooding due to the rains of Hurricane Fiona A flooded road is seen during the passing of hurricane Fiona in Villa Blanca, Puerto Rico A man stands near a flooded road during the passing of Hurricane Fiona in Villa Blanca, Puerto Rico. Fiona touched Puerto Rico at 3:20pm local time according to the United States National Hurricane Center Nelson Cirino sees his bedroom after the winds of hurricane Fiona tore the roof off his house in Loiza, Puerto Rico, Sunday A woman and her dog take refuge in a shelter from Hurricane Fiona in Loiza, Puerto Rico, Sunday Nelson Cirino's home stands with its roof torn off by the winds of Hurricane Fiona in Loiza, Puerto Rico A person takes refuge in a school due to the passage of Hurricane Fiona, in San Juan, Puerto Rico 'I think all of us Puerto Ricans who lived through Maria have that post-traumatic stress of, `What is going to happen, how long is it going to last and what needs might we face?' said Danny Hernandez, who works in the capital of San Juan but planned to weather the storm with his parents and family in the western town of Mayaguez. He said the atmosphere was gloomy at the supermarket as he and others stocked up before the storm hit. 'After Maria, we all experienced scarcity to some extent,' he said. The storm pummeled cities and towns along Puerto Ricos southern coast that have not yet fully recovered from a string of strong earthquakes starting in late 2019. More than 1,000 people with some 80 pets had sought shelter across the island by Sunday night, the majority of them in the southern coast. A woman salvages her belongings from her flooded house during the passage of hurricane Fiona in Villa Blanca, Puerto Rico The Atlantic ocean from La Perla is seen during the passage of Hurricane Fiona, in San Juan Signs were almost completely blown from their foundations as the wind blew at speeds of up to 85mph Huge waves could be seen washing ashore in San Juan on Sunday afternoon Puerto Rico Fire Department attends a landslide in the residential area of Guaynabo One landslide saw an entire home collapse and fall down a hillside in Guaynabo Joeni Rodriguez meets with her neighbors at the door of her house, after losing power due to the hurricane People who were evacuated from their homes are seen in a class room of a public school turned shelter as the storm reached the island Firefighters work to remove a fallen tree from the road in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico as strong winds threaten to rip apart the island A satellite shows Hurricane Fiona in the Caribbean on Sunday .The eye of newly formed Hurricane Fiona is near the coast of Puerto Rico - and it has already sparked an island-wide blackout and threatens to dump 'historic' levels of rain Te entire of Puerto Rico island appears engulfed by the hurricane on Sunday afternoon Photos showed damaged buildings and flooded cars in Ponce, about 34 miles east of where Fiona made landfall. 'These rains will produce life-threatening flash flooding and urban flooding across Puerto Rico and the eastern Dominican Republic, along with mudslides and landslides in areas of higher terrain,' the Nation Hurricane Center said. 'I urge people to stay in their homes,' said William Miranda Torres, mayor of the northern town of Caguas, where at least one large landslide was reported, with water rushing down a big slab of broken asphalt and into a gully. Authorities have opened about 80 shelters and closed beaches and casinos, and residents were urged to seek shelter. The storm was forecast to pummel cities and towns along Puerto Ricos southern coast that are still recovering from a string of strong earthquakes that hit the region starting in late 2019, with several schools still shuttered and debris to be removed. Jetsabel Osorio stands in her house damaged five years ago by Hurricane Maria before the arrival of Hurricane Fiona Officials also reported several road closures across the island as trees and small landslides blocked access. Ahead of the hurricane's arrival, people boarded up windows and stocked up on food and water. Fiona hit just two days before the anniversary of Hurricane Maria, a devastating Category 5 storm that struck on September 20, 2017, destroying the island's power grid and causing nearly 3,000 deaths. More than 3,000 homes still have only a blue tarp as a roof, and infrastructure remains weak. 'What weve done is prepared ourselves to depend as little as possible on the central government,' he said. It's a sentiment shared by 70-year-old Ana Cordova, who arrived Saturday at a shelter in the north coastal town of Loiza after buying loads of food and water. 'I don't trust them,' she said, referring to the government. 'I lost trust after what happened after Hurricane Maria.' Denise Rios, who lives in the southwestern town of Hormigueros, said she was left without power following a strong gust of wind and rain that began around noon on Sunday. 'Since then it hasn't stopped,' she said. 'It is raining heavily and the wind is blowing hard. I'm calm, but alert.' Nelson Cirino secures the windows of his home as the winds of Hurricane Fiona blow in Loiza, Puerto Rico Fiona was forecast to swipe past the Dominican Republic on Monday and then northern Haiti and the Turks and Caicos Islands with the threat of heavy rain. It could threaten the far southern end of the Bahamas on Tuesday. A hurricane warning was posted for the Dominican Republic's eastern coast from Cabo Caucedo to Cabo Frances Viejo. Fiona previously battered the eastern Caribbean, killing one man in the French territory of Guadeloupe when floods washed his home away in the Basse-Terre district, officials said. France will recognize a state of natural disaster for Guadeloupe, President Emmanuel Macron said on Twitter on Sunday. The storm also damaged roads, uprooted trees and destroyed at least one bridge. Roads were flooded on Guadeloupe and there appeared to be some damage to vegetation A September 17 photo shows the aftermath of the Fiona storm in Capesterre-Belle-Eau, on the French island of Guadeloupe Students at a Sydney high school have been 'put in jeopardy' due to what a parliamentary inquiry has been told was an asbestos cover-up at the campus. The NSW upper house inquiry on Monday probed the presence of asbestos at Castle Hill High School, with members of the school community including teachers, parents, and students invited to provide submissions. The inquiry into the north-west Sydney school is taking place six years after the potentially lethal material was reportedly found on the grounds. It comes after Castle Hill MP Ray Williams earlier this year told parliament that in 2016 the school community was told an asbestos test was negative when it was in fact positive - a hidden outcome that had put thousands of people at risk. A NSW upper house parliamentary inquiry has probed the presence of asbestos at Castle Hill High School (pictured) with students, parents and teachers invited to make submissions In his evidence at the inquiry, Mr Williams said he hoped the inquiry 'ensured the future health safety and wellbeing of all students is not placed in jeopardy as I think it has been at one of my schools, that being Castle Hill High School'. But he defended former principal Vicki Brewer, saying he knew her for over a decade and viewed her as 'outstanding' and respected by teachers and students. 'The academic achievements of that particular school speak volumes on behalf of her ability as a principal,' he told the inquiry. Earlier, teachers Shane Stubbs and John Connell spoke of their experience at the school, with Mr Connell testifying that classes continued despite asbestos being found in ceilings. Mr Connell said unlike a previous asbestos incident at Beverley Hills Girls High School in 1993, which caused that school to be closed, a decision was made to remediate the situation at Castle Hill 'and allow the school to keep running'. 'There's nowhere to send the kids at Castle Hill High anymore, all the other surrounding schools are also full,' he said. Mr Connell testified 'a whole bunch of directors were told about' the issue and said he 'never thought of the concept that they'd actually done a test and it had come back positive, and then told us it was negative'. Pauline Hanson's One Nation MP Mark Latham questioned why the former principal had remained in charge 'and how was the school still open'. The potentially lethal material was reportedly found on the schools grounds l six years ago (pictured, stock image of fibers of the mineral chrysotile asbestos in a pair of tweezers) Labor's Anthony D'Adam pointed to 'systemic failures' and 'fundamental cultural problems' at the school. '(It's) around principals being incentivised to keep a wrap on issues that are brewing in schools,' he said, calling schools a 'black box' and principals the 'choke point' on information flows. Labor MP Courtney Houssos described the teachers' evidence as 'shocking'. 'I think that the scale of the cover up has been deeply, deeply disturbing and I thank you for your frank testimony,' she said. NSW Department of Education deputy secretary Leanne Nixon, in her evidence, said asbestos levels on site were now safe and stood by the actions of the department official tasked with investigating asbestos issues there. 'I just would go back to ... the accountable officer for a site around workplace health and safety is the principal,' Ms Nixon said. When Bruce Saunders was found in a woodchipper, only his legs were remaining. But Mr Saunders was dead before his body was fed into the machine after unwittingly becoming embroiled in a 'love quadrangle', the Brisbane Supreme Court has been told. Gregory Lee Roser, 63, and Sharon Graham, 61, are on trial after being charged with the murder of 'good natured' Mr Saunders. Bruce Saunders (pictured), 54, was allegedly murdered and fed through a woodchipper with only his legs remaining, on a rural property, north of Brisbane in 2017 Gregory Lee Roser (middle), 63, and Sharon Graham (right), 61, are on trial after being charged with the murder of 'good natured' Mr Saunders. Peter Koenig (left) pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact to murder in June, 2022, the jury was told Police initially believed Mr Saunders, 54, died in an industrial accident while clearing a friend's rural property near Gympie north of Brisbane in November 2017. When emergency crews responded to a call they found Mr Saunders in the woodchipper at the Goomboorian property. 'All that was left of the body was the legs from about just above the knees down,' crown prosecutor David Meredith told the jury on Monday in his opening address. 'It is not the prosecution's case that he was killed by...the chipper. He was killed and put into the chipper to hide the fact that it was murder.' Police initially believed Mr Saunders, 54, died in an industrial accident while clearing a friend's rural property near Gympie, north of Brisbane in November, 2017. When emergency crews responded to a call they found Mr Saunders in the woodchipper at the Goomboorian property (pictured) Roser and Graham had been planning Mr Saunders' murder for up to six months, the prosecutor said. He said Graham was in a de facto relationship with Mr Saunders after they had met online, purchasing a house together. But Mr Saunders was 'worth a great deal more to her dead than alive', he said. He had made out a will and taken out a life policy in favour of Graham that was originally for $500,000 but increased to $750,000 a week before his death, the court heard. Mr Meredith said the court was expected to hear a police recording of Graham calling the insurance company days after Mr Saunders' death inquiring about collecting the insurance, telling them that police had decided it was an industrial accident. Roser and Graham (pictured) had been planning Mr Saunders' murder for up to six months, the prosecutor said 'The prosecution says Sharon Graham had a powerful motive for wanting Bruce Saunders dead,' Mr Meredith said. Graham had asked Roser to help kill Mr Saunders in a plan that evolved over time, the prosecutor said. First they planned for Roser to break into Mr Saunders' Nambour house and kill him. Another plan involved Roser shooting Mr Saunders at his workplace. Finally they decided to kill him and make it look like an accident, bringing in another man Peter Koenig. Koenig pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact to murder in June 2022, the jury was told. He is expected to give evidence during the four-week trial, saying Graham asked him and Roser to murder Mr Saunders, Mr Meredith said. The prosecutor said Roser was eventually the one who killed Mr Saunders (pictured) by hitting his head with an iron bar before the body was fed into the chipper He said Roser was eventually the one who killed Mr Saunders by hitting his head with an iron bar before the body was fed into the chipper. Graham was living with Mr Saunders but at the time was in a relationship with Roser and may have also had 'intimate relations' with Koenig. 'This is a love quadrangle because Peter Koenig, Greg Roser and Bruce Saunders were all in love it seems at least at some stage with Sharon Graham,' Mr Meredith said. On Sunday, a number of well-known Democrats denounced recent efforts by Republican governors to transport migrants from the southern border to liberal strongholds in the north in protest of what they saw as insufficient federal efforts to secure the southern border. The current migrant issue, according to Adams, was humanitarian calamity generated by human hands and calls for all hands on deck collaboration on the part of the US. Democrats Brand GOP's Migrant Action as Political Stunts Texas border district Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar urged the Biden administration to uphold Obama-era immigration regulations that sent individuals back to their native nations. He said, "We need solutions and not theater," as he slammed Republican governors for transferring migrants to other cities. The Democrats' comments come after Republican Governors Greg Abbott of Texas and Ron DeSantis of Florida sent migrants from their states to Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts and outside Vice President Kamala Harris' home in Washington, DC. Last week, according to an estimate from Abbott's administration, over 2,500 migrants had been transported by bus from Texas to New York. Adams, for his part, claimed Abbott and DeSantis were handling individuals in an awful manner and went on to outline some of the circumstances in which migrants were discovered when they landed in New York from border states, as per CNN. In opposition to President Joe Biden's efforts to repeal Title 42, a Trump-era regulation that prevented migrants from applying for asylum during the pandemic, DeSantis, Abbott, and Arizona Governor Doug Ducey have been sending migrants to northern, Democratic-run cities like New York City, Washington, DC, and Chicago, according to The Hill. Read Also: South African President Tells Washington Not To Force Itself on Pretoria With Its Bill Republicans Call Democrats Hypocrites Republicans in Congress and other government officials are charging Democrats with hypocrisy after the left attacked the governors of Texas and Florida for sending immigrants to leftist strongholds despite doing the same thing themselves. Rep. Michael Waltz of Florida likened the uproar in Texas and Florida to the comparatively subdued reaction to the Biden administration's ghost flights of primarily unaccompanied minor migrants that were transported in the middle of the night. It follows the Biden administration's decision to resume charter flights carrying unaccompanied minors from the border with Mexico to Westchester, New York, in April. Republicans criticized the amount of flights that arrived in the middle of the night without being widely publicized, even if these flights also operated during the day. It's important to note that the Department of Homeland Security, which oversaw the flights, has different powers than governors. Several sources have also indicated that DeSantis' buses may have been used to trick at least some migrants into boarding. Waltz, however, said that the Republicans' initiatives were the only ones that differed from theirs in that they happened during the day. On Sunday morning, after the Florida governor transported migrants to the affluent, liberal island of Martha's Vineyard, Texas Senator Ted Cruz also intervened to defend DeSantis. On Twitter on Saturday, Cruz took aim at Vice President Joe Biden, referring to him as the worst human trafficker on the face of the world. It comes amid news that El Paso's Democrat-led city government has been transporting migrants to sanctuary towns for weeks and is requesting funding from the Biden administration despite the White House's rage at GOP governors for doing so. According to a report this week by KFOX-TV, the Texas border city has sent at least 28 charter buses full of migrants to New York City since August 23 under the direction of Democratic Mayor Oscar Leeser, at a cost of more than $600,000. In accordance with a quarterly compensation procedure for emergency food and lodging for migrants, city officials expect the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to pay for the buses. The White House accused Abbott in Texas and DeSantis in Florida of treating immigrants like chattel and political pawns, but the buses provided by El Paso have dodged the harsh criticism thrown on them. Republican leaders claim they are eager to inform liberal sanctuary cities of the burden that unchecked illegal immigration is placing on border communities. Radio personality Bruce Hooley tweeted: "Another example of, 'When Democrats do it, it's absolutely acceptable.'" Conservatives were eager to call attention to the apparent double standard, Daily Mail reported. Related Article: Biden Urges Enforcement in Crypto, Digital Asset Rules as Administration Warns These Markets Pose Threat to Financial Stability @YouTube @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The last person to pay their respects to Queen Elizabeth II as she was lying-in-state at Westminster Abbey said it was an 'honour' to serve Her Majesty. Christina Heerey, who currently serves in the Royal Air Force, was the last mourner to say farewell to the Queen before the gates shut at the cathedral early Monday morning. Ms Heerey, of High Wycombe, said she was 'very proud' to be given the 'privilege' to pay her respects to the woman she 'swore my allegiance to'. The servicewoman went through the queue - which saw an estimated 400,000 mourners over the past five days - twice after she 'didn't feel as though I'd done it justice.' Ms Heerey says she will be staying in London throughout the day to mark Her Majesty's funeral which begins at 11am. Up to two million mourners are expected to flock to London, Windsor and royal sites around the UK on the national bank holiday for the historic funeral, with the service set to draw an estimated 4.1billion TV viewers across the globe. Christina Heerey, who currently serves in the Royal Air Force, was the last mourner to say farewell to the Queen before the gates shut at Westminster Hall early Monday morning The Royal Air Force servicewoman said she was 'very proud' to be given the 'privilege' to pay her respects to the woman she 'swore my allegiance to' 'It is honour,' Ms Heerey told Sky News as after she was walked out of Westminster Hall, followed by parliamentary staff, around 6.30am Monday. 'I currently serve in the Royal Air Force so to be able to do that on behalf of the Royal Air Force and a female to an amazing lady that will never be replaced, it was an honour. 'Obviously, I swore my allegiance to her and I just feel very proud being in the Air Force and being one of her subjects for her.' Ms Heerey initially joined the queue Sunday around 5pm and walked past the coffin around 1.15am on Monday. She said she felt compelled to walk through again. 'Walking into the hall the first time...I felt that I needed to go through again, so I just obviously came through last of all then,' she said. 'It's so quick and it's so momentous. I didn't feel as though I'd done it justice.' She told Good Morning Britain that after walking through the first time, she joined the queue, but remained at the end to make sure that other mourners got an opportunity to say their goodbyes. I joined the end of the queue and I remained at the end of the queue because I certainly didnt want to take the spot of somebody else wanting to go in before me, if they closed it early,' she said. 'I had already experienced it so I wasnt going to let anyone else miss out that opportunity. So I stayed not realising this was all going to follow afterwards.' 6.02am: The final members of the public pay their respects at the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Hall today At 6.29am on the day of her funeral the final members of the public pay their respects at the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Hall, at the Palace of Westminster, London. Ms Heerey and second-to-last mourner Sima Mansouri are pictured on left, leaving the church 6.31am: Christina Heerey, the last mourner to pay her respects to the Queen, leaves Westminster Hall in London this morning Ms Heerey, who travelled into the capital from nearby High Wycombe, said she was in the queue for about 14 hours but it was a '14 hours well worth spent.' She said: 'There were a lot of people (inside Westminster Hall) but everybody was very solemn, everybody was very respectful. 'Everybody gave each other room so they could have that final moment.' 'I just felt very proud that I was there and just very honoured, very honoured that I was given the privilege to go through again and obviously be the last person. I didnt realise it was going to be like this.' The servicewoman said it was 'amazing' to witness history and that she plans to 'stay for the rest of the day to see as much of the funeral as I can.' 'It will be a long day but well worth it,' Ms Heerey explained. 'Im never going to do this again in my lifetime.' She was also seemingly impressed by the turnout, noting how it shows just how loved the Queen was. 'Obviously you can see by the way everybody has come, everybodys queued for hours and hours. I had a friend that queued the other day for 18 hours and 45 minutes just to pay her respects It just shows you what a popular, lovely person she was,' Ms Heerey added. Ms Heerey told Good Morning Britain after her second time through how she joined the queue for a second time, but remained at the end to make sure that other mourners got an opportunity to say their goodbyes: 'I certainly didnt want to take the spot of somebody else wanting to go in before me, if they closed it early' Members of the public secure their positions on The Mall in London, ahead of the funeral The second last person to see the Queen lying in state was Sima Mansouri, 55, originally from Iran, who lives in South Croydon, South London. Her love for the Queen dates back to the 1970s, when her cousin was a flower girl for a royal visit in Tehran. Ms Mansouri said: 'It was a boiling hot day and my poor cousin has got very fair skin, blonde hair and blue eyes. The Queen came out of her plane and was more concerned with my cousin burning in the sun than being a royal. The second last person to see the Queen lying in state was Sima Mansouri, 55, (pictured) originally from Iran, who lives in South Croydon, South London 'She said, 'Can someone please get this little girl out of the sun?' Then she kissed her and grabbed the flowers. I thought it was amazing.' Ms Mansouri added: 'She stood for freedom, human rights and womens rights.' She also said that she and Ms Heerey would be 'friends forever' after bonding in the queue. 'Everybody just wanted to come together and be happy and peaceful and talk about memories,' Ms Mansouri explained. 'With Chrissy (Heerey) it was amazing. It felt like we knew each other forever. 'She was a little nervous, being the last person, but I said, 'Don't worry. I've got your back. I'm here'. 'It was just nice to be there and meet someone new and I think we're going to be friends forever. 'She's a lovely lady and I'm proud to know her.' The last stretch of a days-long queue passes along the South Bank early Monday morning Members of the public are seen waiting in the queue to view the Queen's coffin at Westminster Hall early Monday morning Christine Rogers (left) and her daughter Sarah (right) were the last people to join the queue to see the Queen lying in state before it was closed on Sunday night Crowds clapped as the mother and daughter were ushered by stewards into the queue after being given the final wristbands War veteran, 96 - who saw the Queens grandfather lying in state in 1936 among the last mourners to join the accessible queue before it permanently closed A war veteran of 96 who saw the Queens grandfather lying in state in 1936 was one of the last mourners to join the accessible queue before it permanently closed. Frank Wells was born six days before the Queen in April 1926 and travelled from his home in Worthing, West Sussex, to pay his respects. He told The Mail on Sunday: It feels like we grew up together, so I was determined to get here. Wheelchair user Frank Wells, 96, travelled from his home in Worthing, West Sussex and was one of the last mourners to join the accessible queue before it permanently closed yesterday Frank, who uses a wheelchair, arrived in Westminster with his close friend Nick Beadnell an hour before the queue reached full capacity at 4.30pm. Officials told us that we would be waiting six hours and I was ready to turn around, but Frank was not giving up, said Nick, 66. Frank, who is partially sighted, said he planned to use memories of George Vs lying-in-state to help him make sense of the outlines inside Westminster Hall. I was nine when I saw the Queens grandfather lying in state. I remember queuing for hours and as a young boy it felt like an extremely long time. 'This queue feels very similar. People are very friendly, and it just shows how quickly you make friends. Advertisement Since Thursday, hundreds of thousands of members of the public have filed past the coffin until, early on Monday morning, the final people who had queued through the night left the cavernous medieval hall. The process has seen a river of people snaking along the Thames around the clock, members of the public mixing with celebrities and foreign dignitaries beneath Westminster Halls hammer-beam roof. By the end, the flow of mourners passing into Westminster Hall had slowed to a trickle as those at the back of the queue finally reached their destination. Some were smartly dressed in sombre black coats, while others wore brightly coloured outdoor gear which served as protection against the chilly autumnal night. Some bowed, some curtsied, others made the sign of the cross as they paused beside the coffin which was draped in the Royal Standard with the jewels in the Imperial State Crown, sceptre and orb, placed on top. They passed through the hall in silence, with some pausing for one final look at the only monarch many of them have ever known before exiting into the dawn. The silence was interrupted only by the changing of the guard every 20 minutes, the sound of military boots on the stone floor echoing off the walls. The final people were admitted to the line to see the Queen's coffin around 10.30pm on Sunday, which gave them time to make it through before the closure at 6.30am. Christine Rogers, 62, and her daughter Sarah, 29, were handed the final two wristbands to see the Queen lying-in-state at around 10.40pm. Ms Rogers, who travelled nearly 100 miles from Ipswich to London, told The Sun that she 'wouldn't of dreamt' of being given the final wristband to access Westminster Hall. Her daughter Sarah added: 'It means a lot to get through the queue and pay our respects. 'She's been a constant in my life and in my mum's life so we felt like we needed to come and say goodbye.' The pair had nearly missed out on the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to say their final goodbye to the Queen, having gone the wrong way before they eventually found the queue. Citizens from every part of British society - including celebrities like David Beckham, who waited 14 hours from 2am in the morning to join it, and a war veteran of 96 who saw the Queens grandfather lying in state in 1936, - and the Commonwealth, embraced the long, slow, progress across central London to enter the solemn hall amid freezing temperatures. Those who managed to get into the official queue - where you were given a wristband to keep your place - spoke almost universally about how much the Queen had meant to them personally and had uplifted the nation throughout its most recent crisis, Covid, and its early years where Britain had to contend with a country recovering from a world war. It also will become part of history as it echoes the Queens grandfather, George V, lying in state in 1936, King George VI's five days in 1952 and Winston Churchill's lying in state over three days in 1965. Members of parliamentary staff and, finally, Black Rod Sarah Clarke were the final people to pay their respects early Monday morning after the last of those who had queued had been through Westminster Hall. Advertisement William and Kate decided George and Charlotte were 'up to' going to the Queen's funeral but Louis was 'too young' - with the two great-grandchildren set to travel to the service in a car with their mother and Camilla. The two young siblings, who are second and third in line to the throne, will take part in today's procession with the likes of King Charles and Prince Harry, as the eyes of the world look towards central London. It was confirmed last night that the Prince and Princess of Wales will bring George, nine, and Charlotte, seven, would take part, with sources calling it a 'collective family decision' to make them what is thought to be the youngest ever to take a central role in such a momentous occasion. 'As parents they have, of course, thought long and hard about whether their children should accompany them,' a source said. 'Of course little Louis is too young, but they think George and Charlotte are up to it.' It comes after they appeared at the funeral of Prince Philip, their great-grandfather last year, and will give them a chance to say goodbye to Her Majesty, who they affectionately called 'Gan Gan'. It is understood the pair will accompany their mother, Kate, and the Queen consort, Camilla, in a car to Westminster Abbey, rather than walk the entire length of the procession route. They will then join the procession when it arrives, and will accompany their parents and other members of the royal family in walking behind their great-grandmother's coffin into the abbey. Millions of people in the UK and billions around the world are set to watch Queen Elizabeth II's funeral later, with the service itself set to play host to many of the most powerful men and women on the planet in the form of presidents, prime ministers and royalty. Tens of thousands of people will line the procession route between Westminster and Windsor, where Her Majesty will be laid to rest this evening. Police forces from across the country have sent officers to London to help with security, while transport warnings have been issued warning people about road closures in the capital and potential standing room-only on trains to and from the city. Last night officials stopped mourners from joining the miles-long queue of people wishing to pay their respects to the Queen, as they prepare to empty Westminster Hall before the funeral service starts. It came on the same evening that King Charles thanked the public for their support following his mother's death, while Buckingham Palace released a new portrait showing Her Majesty. The new monarch said he and the Queen Consort have been 'deeply touched' as he prepares the country for a 'last farewell' to his mother on the eve of her funeral. Prince George and Princess Charlotte are expected to attend their great-grandmother's funeral at Westminster Abbey tomorrow. Pictured: The Queen stands on the balcony at Buckingham Palace with the Prince and Princess of Wales, along with their children Prince George (left), Princess Charlotte (centre) and Prince Louis (right) Buckingham Palace has released a new portrait of Queen Elizabeth II on the eve of her funeral at Westminster Abbey Officers walk in formation down The Mall ahead of the State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II this morning Mourners wrapped in blankets wait on Horse Guards Parade after arriving early to get a good spot for today's funera. Members of the public file past the Queen's coffin at Westminster Hall on Sunday, September 18. Tens of thousands of people have paid their respects to Her Majesty over the last few days The King and Queen Consort will lead other senior members of the Royal Family in the funeral procession into Westminster Abbey later today While the King and Queen Consort will be leading the royal family behind Her Majesty's coffin tomorrow, a lot of observers will be watching the youngest members of the procession. The children will not walk the full length of the procession, which will see William, Harry and their cousin Peter Phillips walk alongside each other towards Westminster Abbey. However, when they reach the church the Prince and Princess of Wales' two eldest children will join their parents in following the Queen's coffin inside. The Daily Mail understands that William and Kate thought 'long and hard' about whether their two eldest children should join them. But after George and Charlotte attended their great-grandfather's memorial in March, William and Kate decided they could cope with the solemnity of the occasion. Louis, the couple's youngest, is just four and will not be joining. It is understood the children will also be in the congregation for the committal service at St George's Chapel at Windsor this afternoon. A decision is to be taken about whether they feel up to taking part in the procession there, too. The procession is set to see King Charles and his wife Camilla lead the most senior members of the Royal Family. They will be followed by Princess Anne, the Queen's second eldest child, and her husband Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence. Behind them will be Prince Andrew, the Queen's third child, and following him will be Prince Edward, the youngest of the siblings, and his wife Sophie, the Countess of Wessex. The Prince and Princess of Wales, along with their two eldest children, will come behind, and they will be followed by Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex. After this will come the Earl of Snowden, son of the Queen's late sister, Prince Margaret, and Peter Phillips - the son of Princess Anne. Behind them will be Prince Richard, the Duke of Gloucester, as well as Prince Michael of Kent and the Duke of Kent. King Charles and the Queen Consort Camilla view floral tributes in Hillsborough Castle last week. The King has visited all four nations since the death of his mother last week The King will lead the nation in mourning the passing of his mother tomorrow, with her funeral expected to be watched by billions around the world. Pictured: The King speaks after receiving a message of condolence in the Northern Ireland Assembly Members of the public queue through Shad Thames near Tower Bridge yesterday as they wait for up to 12 hours to pay their respects to the Queen People in Windsor come out to Long Walk tonight to observe the national minute's silence in honour of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II King Charles III has thanked the public for its support following the death of his mother. Pictured: The King looks on during a reception for local charities at Cardiff Castle in Wales on Friday, September 16 US President Joe Biden touched his hand to his heart and appeared to snap off a quick salute to the late monarch in a gesture of respect at Westminster Hall earlier today Charles will lead the nation in mourning for its longest reigning monarch, while two thousand world leaders, royals and foreign dignitaries crowd into the gothic church in the centre of London. In a heartfelt message put out by Buckingham Palace last night, the King said he was moved by the response of the public and the support they had given him since his mother's death on Thursday, September 8. King Charles thanked the public for their well-wishes following his mother's death, saying he wanted, 'as we all prepare to say our last farewell', to offer his gratitude to 'all those countless people who have been such a support and comfort to my Family and myself in this time of grief'. The King said, in the written message issued by Buckingham Palace: 'Over the last ten days, my wife and I have been so deeply touched by the many messages of condolence and support we have received from this country and across the world. 'In London, Edinburgh, Hillsborough and Cardiff we were moved beyond measure by everyone who took the trouble to come and pay their respects to the lifelong service of my dear mother, the late Queen. 'As we all prepare to say our last farewell, I wanted simply to take this opportunity to say thank you to all those countless people who have been such a support and comfort to my Family and myself in this time of grief.' He made the statement on the eve of Queen Elizabeth II's funeral at Westminster Abbey. Pictured: A King's Body Guard of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms guards Her Majesty's coffin at Westminster Hall today Tens of thousands of people have spent hours queuing to see Her Majesty in Westminster Hall in recent days. Pictured: The queue to get in stretches past Tower Bridge There have been suggestions that Prince George (bottom left) could play some role in the Queen's funeral service. Here he is pictured with his parents, the Prince and Princess of Wales, along with his siblings Princess Charlotte (bottom centre) and Prince Louis (bottom right) on the balcony of Buckingham Palace in June this year Royal guards stand by Queen Elizabeth II's flag-draped coffin lying in state on the catafalque at Westminster Hall on September 18, 2022 in London, England Since Wednesday tens of thousands of people have patiently stood in line as they wait to pay their respects to the Queen as she lies in state at Westminster Hall. The queue has snaked its way through central London for more than four miles, taking mourners past numerous landmarks including the Tate Modern, the London Eye and Tower Bridge. Those inside the hall were joined by multiple foreign heads of state yesterday, as world leaders arriving in London for Her Majesty's funeral took the chance to pay their respects in the palace. The likes of US President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron and Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan were all seen in Westminster Hall. Later tonight officials will stop more people from joining the queue as they look to clear the line before the Queen's coffin is moved in tomorrow's funeral procession to Westminster Abbey, where her funeral is being held tomorrow morning. Two of the late Queen's other great-grandchildren, Mia and Lena Tindall, were at Westminster Hall on Friday for her lying-in-state. They were in the gallery with their parents Zara and Mike Tindall as their grandmother, Princess Anne, took her place alongside her three brothers for a silent vigil beside the Queen's coffin. There was no sign of George, Charlotte or Louis at a vigil by the Queen's grandchildren and the Prince of Wales might have good reason to consider whether courtiers' suggestions to involve a nine-year-old in tomorrow's funeral are wise. How the stunning state funeral for Queen Elizabeth II will unfold Ahead of the service on Monday morning, the tenor bell will be tolled every minute for 96 minutes, reflecting the years of Queen Elizabeth's incredible life. At 10.44am sharp, the late monarch's coffin will be moved the short distance to Westminster Abbey in time for the funeral service to start at 11am sharp. The Queen's most senior guardsmen, the Grenadier Guards, will form the bearer party carrying the coffin from the catafalque at Westminster Hall through the North Door to the waiting 123-year-old state gun carriage, which will be drawn by 142 Royal Naval ratings along the route to the Abbey. Led by 200 musicians, the procession will go through Parliament Square, where it will be saluted by a guard of honour. From here, the King, his siblings and children, as well as loyal members of Her Majesty's household, will march behind the coffin. Princess Charlotte and Prince George will be driven to the Abbey with the Princess of Wales and the Queen Consort, to join the family party outside. Inside, the gothic splendour of the cathedral will be packed with more than 2,000 VIPs, including world leaders and foreign royals. Among them will be 'everyday people' who have served the country, including NHS heroes who worked tirelessly through the pandemic and Armed Forces veterans. The hour-long service will conclude with the Last Post, followed by a two-minute silence observed across the nation and the national anthem in which Abbey mourners will hail our new King. A haunting lament played by the Queen's Piper, Sleep, Dearie, Sleep, has been included at her personal request. Afterwards the coffin will embark on the last stage of its journey, travelling 25 miles to her beloved Windsor, where she will finally be laid to rest. The committal service will be smaller and far more personal with the Instruments of State the Imperial Crown, Orb and Sceptre removed from the coffin and placed on the high altar, symbolically ending the Elizabethan reign. The Lord Chamberlain, who is the most senior official of the Royal Household, will then symbolically 'break' his wand of office and place it on the coffin to signify him officially losing office. The Queen's coffin will be lowered into the Royal Vault, ready to be privately reunited later this evening with her beloved Philip, her parents and her sister in their family chapel. 'Us four' as King George VI famously referred to his family will become 'us five' in the afterlife. Advertisement William spoke movingly last week about how walking behind his grandmother's coffin as it left Buckingham Palace for the last time on Wednesday had evoked poignant memories of his mother Princess Diana's funeral 25 years ago. William and Harry, then 15 and 12, found their grief thrust into the public gaze when they followed Diana's coffin along the same route down the Mall and Whitehall. It became one of the defining images of the day and left a lasting impact. William has previously said it was 'one of the hardest things I've ever done', while Harry said: 'I don't think any child should be asked to do that, under any circumstances.' Tomorrow morning the King's Guard will begin their final vigil over the Queen's coffin at 6am, with Westminster Hall set to close at 8.30am. The doors of Westminster Abbey, just over the road, will open at 8am. At 9am Big Ben will strike clearly before the bell's hammer is covered with a thick leather pad to muffle it's strikes for the rest of the day. At 10.35am the coffin will be moved onto a state carriage and taken to Westminster Abbey, arriving at 10.52am. Before the service, a bell will toll 96 times, reflecting the years of Queen Elizabeth's life. The service will, Buckingham Palace says, pay tribute to the Queen's remarkable reign and lifetime of service as head of state, nation and Commonwealth. The televised funeral service will begin at 11am, led by the Dean of Westminster and the Archbishop of Canterbury. Hymns including The Lord's My Shepherd and Love Divine will be sung. Lessons feature 1 Corinthians 15 20-26, 53-end and John 14 1-9a, with all aspects personally chosen by the Queen. A specially commissioned choral piece, Like As The Hart, composed by the Master of The King's Music, Judith Weir, will be sung by the Choir of Westminster Abbey. The choir will also sing a short anthem, O Taste And See, which was composed by Ralph Vaughan Williams for the Queen's coronation in 1953. The Archbishop of Canterbury will give a reading, while Prime Minister Liz Truss will read the second lesson, with prayers from leading clerics including the Bishop of London and Archbishop of York. Tears are sure to flow at The Last Post and Reveille, as well as the first major public rendition of the National Anthem. A rendition of Sleep, Dearie, Sleep played by the Queen's piper will have huge significance to her family. The service, which will be shown live on the BBC and ITV, as well as 150 cinemas in the UK, is expected to be seen by as many as 4.1billion people worldwide. At 11.55am the nation will observe a two minute silence followed by a rendition of the Last Post. The funeral will officially end at midday. Following the service, the Queen's coffin will be placed on the back of the state gun carriage at 12.15pm. A funeral procession will then move through Parliament Square, Whitehall, Constitution Hill and the Mall to arrive at Wellington Arch at 1pm. The coffin will then travel to St George's Chapel in Windsor, arriving at 3.15pm to allow the public to pay their respects. At 4pm there will be a televised committal service conducted by the Dean of Windsor, during which the Imperial State Crown, sceptre and orb will be removed from the coffin by the crown jeweller. A lone piper will then play a lament as Her Majesty is lowered into the Royal Vault. At 7.30pm King Charles and the Queen's relatives will return to St George's Chapel for a private family burial service, where the new monarch will scatter earth on her coffin. After being taken by gun carriage from Westminster Abbey to Wellington Arch, the State Hearse will carry the Queen's coffin west along the south edge of Hyde Park in central London, before passing through Queens Gate and heading down Cromwell Road. It will then head down Talgarth Road via the Hammersmith Flyover, Great West Road (A4) and Great South West Road (A30). It will continue on the A30 and will then take the A308 to make the final part of the journey to Shaw Farm Gate outside Windsor Castle, where it will be met by the procession that will take it up the Long Walk to St George's Chapel The Lord's My Shepherd, The Last Post, and a poignant National Anthem: Read the Order of Service for the Queen's funeral Westminster Abbey, 11am, Monday, September 19 Before the service, the tenor bell is tolled every minute for 96 minutes, reflecting each year of Queen Elizabeth II's life. MUSIC BEFORE THE SERVICE Fantasia of Four Parts Orlando Gibbons (15831625) Romanza (Symphony No 5 in D) Ralph Vaughan Williams (18721958) Reliqui Domum Meum Peter Maxwell Davies (19342016) Meditation on 'Brother James's Air' Harold Darke (18881976) Prelude on 'Ecce Jam Noctis', Op 157 No 3 Healey Willan (18801968) Psalm Prelude Set 1 no 2 Herbert Howells (18921983) In The Country, Op 194 no 2 Charles Villiers Stanford (18521924) Fantasy on 'O Paradise' Malcolm Williamson (19312003) Elegy, Op 58 Sir Edward Elgar (18571934) Andante espressivo (Sonata in G, Op 28) Elgar Sospiri, Op 70 Elgar The Procession of Religious Representatives (from the Churches in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and the leaders of Jewish, Hindu, Muslim and other faiths) moves to places in the Nave and the Sacrarium. All remain seated. ORDER OF SERVICE All stand. Her Majesty's coffin enters the Abbey, surmounted by the Imperial State Crown and the Orb and Sceptre, borne by the bearer party including: The King, The Queen Consort, Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, The Princess Royal, The Duke of York, Countess of Wessex, Earl of Wessex, Princess of Wales, Prince of Wales, Princess Charlotte, Prince George, Duchess of Sussex, Duke of Sussex, Earl Snowdon, Peter Phillips; Duke of Gloucester, Prince Michael of Kent, Duke of Kent. The choir sings: THE SENTENCES John 11: 2526; Job 19: 2527; 1 Timothy 6: 7; Job 1: 21 The Choir of Westminster Abbey and the Choir of the Chapel Royal, St James's Palace, sing: Thou knowest, Lord, the secrets of our hearts; shut not thy merciful ears unto our prayer; but spare us, Lord most holy, O God most mighty, O holy and most merciful Saviour, thou most worthy Judge eternal, suffer us not, at our last hour, for any pains of death, to fall from thee. Amen. The Book of Common Prayer, 1549 Heard a voice from heaven, saying unto me, Write, From henceforth blessed are the dead which die in the Lord: even so saith the Spirit; for they rest from their labours. Amen. Revelation 14:13 THE BIDDING By Dr David Hoyle MBE, Dean of Westminster (extract): In grief and also in profound thanksgiving we come to this House of God, to a place of prayer, to a church where remembrance and hope are sacred duties. Here, where Queen Elizabeth was married and crowned, we gather from across the nation, from the Commonwealth, and from the nations of the world, to mourn our loss, to remember her long life of selfless service, and in sure confidence to commit her to the mercy of God our maker and redeemer. With gratitude we remember her unswerving commitment to a high calling over so many years as Queen and Head of the Commonwealth. With admiration we recall her life-long sense of duty and dedication to her people. With thanksgiving we praise God for her constant example of Christian faith and devotion. With affection we recall her love for her family and her commitment to the causes she held dear. Now, in silence, let us in our hearts and minds recall our many reasons for thanksgiving, pray for all members of her family, and commend Queen Elizabeth to the care and keeping of almighty God. A brief silence is kept. All sing: THE DAY THOU GAVEST The day thou gavest, Lord, is ended, the darkness falls at thy behest; to thee our morning hymns ascended, thy praise shall sanctify our rest. We thank thee that thy Church unsleeping, while Earth rolls onward into light, through all the world her watch is keeping, and rests not now by day or night. As o'er each continent and island the dawn leads on another day, the voice of prayer is never silent, nor dies the strain of praise away. The sun that bids us rest is waking our brethren 'neath the western sky, and hour by hour fresh lips are making thy wondrous doings heard on high. So be it, Lord! thy throne shall never, like Earth's proud empires, pass away; thy kingdom stands, and grows for ever, till all thy creatures own thy sway. John Ellerton (182693); St. Clement Scholefield (18391904) THE FIRST LESSON 1 Corinthians 15: 2026, 53end, read by Baroness Scotland, Secretary-General of the Commonwealth All remain seated as the choir sings: THE PSALM Psalm 42: 17, composed for this service by Judith Weir CBE Like as the hart desireth the water-brooks: so longeth my soul after thee, O God. My soul is athirst for God, yea, even for the living God: when shall I come to appear before the presence of God? My tears have been my meat day and night: while they daily say unto me, Where is now thy God? Now when I think thereupon, I pour out my heart by myself: for I went with the multitude, and brought them forth into the house of God; In the voice of praise and thanksgiving: among such as keep holy-day. Why art thou so full of heaviness, O my soul: and why art thou so disquieted within me? Put thy trust in God: for I will yet give him thanks for the help of his countenance. The Queen's funeral will take place at Westminster Abbey at 11am on Monday September 19, 2022 THE SECOND LESSON John 14: 19a, read by Prime Minister Elizabeth Truss All stand to sing: THE LORD'S MY SHEPHERD The Lord's my shepherd, I'll not want; he makes me down to lie in pastures green; he leadeth me the quiet waters by. My soul he doth restore again, and me to walk doth make within the paths of righteousness, e'en for his own name's sake. The choir sings: Yea, though I walk through death's dark vale, yet will I fear none ill; for thou art with me, and thy rod and staff me comfort still. All sing: My table thou hast furnished in presence of my foes; my head thou dost with oil anoint, and my cup overflows. Goodness and mercy all my life shall surely follow me; and in God's house for evermore my dwelling place shall be. Psalm 23 in Scottish Psalter 1650 Crimond attributed to Jessie Seymour Irvine (183687), harmony by David Grant (183393), descant by William Baird Ross (18711950) THE SERMON By the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby All remain seated as the choir sings: Queen Elizabeth waves from the balcony of Buckingham Palace during the Platinum Jubilee in June THE ANTHEM My soul, there is a country Far beyond the stars, Where stands a winged sentry All skilful in the wars: There above noise, and danger, Sweet Peace sits crowned with smiles, And One born in a manger Commands the beauteous files. He is thy gracious friend, And (O my soul, awake!) Did in pure love descend, To die here for thy sake. If thou canst get but thither, There grows the flower of Peace, The Rose that cannot wither, Thy fortress, and thy ease. Leave then thy foolish ranges, For none can thee secure, But One who never changes, Thy God, thy Life, thy Cure. Henry Vaughan (162195); from Songs of Farewell Hubert Parry (18481918) THE PRAYERS Led by Mark Birch, Minor Canon and Precentor, the Prayers are read by: Dr Iain Greenshields, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland; Shermara Fletcher, Principal Officer for Pentecostal and Charismatic Relations, Churches Together in England; Dame Sarah Mullally, Bishop of London and Dean of His Majesty's Chapels Royal; Canon Helen Cameron, Moderator of the Free Churches Group; Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster; Stephen Cottrell, Archbishop of York The choir sings Psalm 34:8 as composed for the Queen's Coronation in 1953 by Ralph Vaughan Williams: O taste and see how gracious the Lord is, blest is the man that trusteth in him. The Queen pictured with her son the new monarch King Charles during the Platinum Jubilee THE LORD'S PRAYER All stand to sing: LOVE DIVINE, ALL LOVES EXCELLING Love divine, all loves excelling, joy of heaven, to earth come down, fix in us thy humble dwelling, all thy faithful mercies crown. Jesu, thou art all compassion, pure unbounded love thou art; visit us with thy salvation, enter every trembling heart. Come, almighty to deliver, let us all thy life receive; suddenly return, and never, never more thy temples leave. Thee we would be always blessing, serve thee as thy hosts above, pray, and praise thee, without ceasing, glory in thy perfect love. Finish then thy new creation, pure and spotless let us be; let us see thy great salvation, perfectly restored in thee, changed from glory into glory till in heaven we take our place, till we cast our crowns before thee, lost in wonder, love, and praise! Charles Wesley (170788) All remain standing for: THE COMMENDATION The Archbishop of Canterbury says: Let us commend to the mercy of God, our maker and redeemer, the soul of Elizabeth, our late Queen. Heavenly Father, King of kings, Lord and giver of life, who of thy grace in creation didst form mankind in thine own image, and in thy great love offerest us life eternal in Christ Jesus; claiming the promises of thy most blessed Son, we entrust the soul of Elizabeth, our sister here departed, to thy merciful keeping, in sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life, when Christ shall be all in all; who died and rose again to save us, and now liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, in glory for ever. Amen. O forth, O Christian soul, from this world, in the name of God the Father almighty, who created thee; in the name of Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, who suffered for thee; in the name of the Holy Spirit, who was poured out upon thee and anointed thee. In communion with all the blessed saints, and aided by the angels and archangels and all the armies of the heavenly host, may thy portion this day be in peace, and thy dwelling in the heavenly Jerusalem. Amen. All remain standing as the choir sings: THE ANTHEM Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Alleluia! Amen. Romans 8:35a, 38bend, composed for this service by Sir James MacMillan THE BLESSING God grant to the living grace; to the departed rest; to the Church, The King, the Commonwealth, and all people, peace and concord, and to us sinners, life everlasting; and the blessing of God almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be among you and remain with you always. Amen. All remain standing for: THE LAST POST REVEILLE All sing: THE NATIONAL ANTHEM The Queen's Piper, Pipe Major Paul Burns, plays Sleep, dearie, Sleep. All remain standing as the coffin leaves the church while sub-organist plays Fantasia in C minor MUSIC AFTER THE SERVICE Allegro maestoso (Sonata in G, Op 28) Sir Edward Elgar ST GEORGE'S CHAPEL, WINDSOR CASTLE, MONDAY SEPTEMBER 19, 2022, 4PM Organ music before service includes works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Dame Ethel Smyth, Herbert Howells and Sir Edward Elgar. 4pm, coffin enters. Bearer party includes senior royals as earlier, but not including William's children. Includes senior courtiers from both Queen's and Charles's households. PSALM 121 All then sit as the Choir sings: THE RUSSIAN CONTAKION OF THE DEPARTED THE BIDDING By the Dean of Windsor Extract: We pray that God will give us grace to honour her memory by following her example, and that, with our sister Elizabeth, at the last, we shall know the joys of life eternal. All remain standing. ALL MY HOPE ON GOD IS FOUNDED All my Hope on God is Founded, by Robert Bridges, based on the German of Joachim Neander (165080) THE READING Revelation 21.17, Read by the Dean of Windsor Extract: I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. THE PRAYERS Read by the Rector of Sandringham, the Minister of Crathie Kirk and the Chaplain of the Royal Chapel, Windsor Great Park. All say together: THE LORD'S PRAYER All sit as the Choir sings: THE MOTET By John Donne (15721631) to music by Sir William Henry Harris, KCVO (18831973), sometime Organist, St George's Chapel All stand for the presentation, in silence, of the Instruments of State, to be received by the Dean of Windsor, from the Queen's Bargemaster and a Serjeant of Arms, who places them on the High Altar. CHRIST IS MADE THE SURE FOUNDATION Christ is Made the Sure Foundation, from Latin 7th century translated by John M. Neale (1818-66) At the end of the hymn, The Queen's Company Camp Colour is placed on the coffin by The King having received it from the Regimental Lieutenant Colonel Grenadier Guards. The Lord Chamberlain breaks his wand which is placed upon the coffin. Queen Elizabeth II will be buried at St George's Chapel (pictured) in the grounds of Windsor Castle THE COMMITTAL As the coffin is lowered, the Dean of Windsor says: THE PSALM Psalm 103, 1317 Garter King of Arms proclaims: THE STYLES AND TITLES OF QUEEN ELIZABETH II THUS it hath pleased Almighty God to take out of this transitory life unto His Divine Mercy the late Most High, Most Mighty, and Most Excellent Monarch, Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith, and Sovereign of the Most Noble Order of the Garter. The Queen's Piper plays a lament THE BLESSING Pronounced by the Archbishop of Canterbury THE NATIONAL ANTHEM All remain standing. THE VOLUNTARY Prelude and Fugue in C Minor Johann Sebastian Bach An Australian Liberal senator has unleashed a brutal attack on Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, saying she's sick of the pair and labelling them 'awful, revolting people.' Hollie Hughes didn't hold back as she weighed in on ongoing tensions between the royals following the death of Queen Elizabeth II 10 days ago, aged 96. As billions around the world prepare for the Queen's funeral within hours, all eyes will be on the royals after it was revealed Prince Harry and Meghan were 'uninvited' to a state reception for world leaders held at Buckingham Palace on Sunday. The couple were reportedly 'baffled' by the decision to exclude the pair from the event only for 'working royals. But Sky News host Chris Smith believes Harry and Meghan shouldn't be baffled as they had put themselves in that situation, prompting Senator Hughes to launch into an extraordinary tirade. She blamed Meghan for the couple's estrangement from the royal family and believes Prince Harry will live to regret it one day. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle (pictured at Windsor Castle following his grandmother's death) have been branded 'awful, revolting, revolting people' by an Australian senator 'I think he's made an awful error and I think she's had a terrible influence over him,' she said on Monday afternoon. 'She's just a horrible human. 'It's absolutely disgraceful. 'I don't know what's happening with the book he done. 'Her podcasts apparently they're going through them now trying to take out parts where she said not particularly kind things about the Queen. 'They're awful, revolting, revolting people and I absolutely think they shouldn't be invited to this and I hope they're not invited to a lot of other things.' Senator Hughes believes Prince Harry will one day regret the 'awful mistake' of marrying Meghan Markle and cutting off ties with the crown. Federal senator Hollie Hughes (pictured) made it very clear in her rant she's no fan of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle 'I'm sick of both of them,' Senator Hughes said. 'I sort of long for the day I hope Harry rolls over and takes one look and thinks 'what have I done' and comes to his senses and moves back across the pond.' Senator Hughes is surprised at the amount of invites Duke and Duchess of Sussex have got to official events in the wake of the Queen's death. 'They wanted a private life, they no longer wanted to be part of the royal family in the sense they were,' she said. 'They've moved themselves across to the US and taken every opportunity they can to take a swipe at the Queen but also the entire monarch and the royal family and the role it plays.' 'They wanted a lower profile, they didn't want this sort of life for their children. They seem upset their children might not get the HRH, which is a little bit strange to me.' Commentator Caroline di Russo agreed. The senator believes Prince Harry, pictured with Meghan Markle (left) and the late Queen (right) will one day regret some of the decisions he's made in recent years. 'When they decided they didn't want to be senior royals, they wanted their privacy and they wanted their independence, well there are consequences,' she said. 'We've been hearing this sniping of them not getting exactly what they want, well you didn't want the duty, you didn't want the responsibility, well you don't get the other stuff that comes with it.' Senator Hughes is no stranger to controversy. She was previously subjected to a vile slur in Parliament when Greens Senator Lidia Thorpe yelled at her across the chamber, 'at least I keep my legs shut'. Advertisement Are you stuck unable to reach Paddington? Email: tips@dailymail.com Advertisement Rail bosses have pleaded with mourners to head for a beer or a coffee after the Queen's funeral today in a bid to avoid more travel chaos after electrical faults this morning meant all trains into the capital from the west were disrupted. Mourners heading to London and Windsor for the State funeral faced severe delays as a damaged overhead wire meant all trains into London from Slough disrupted for the rest of the day. Great Western Railway (GWR) said all railway lines between Slough and Paddington were blocked due to damage to overhead electric wires. This is disrupting journeys for mourners who were attempting to travel to London for the Queen's funeral from Reading or Heathrow Airport. Services run by GWR, Heathrow Express and the Elizabeth line are affected. The lines between Reading and Newbury were also closed due to a person being hit by a train. This is causing GWR trains to be diverted, delaying journeys to the capital. Hundreds of GWR passengers on five early morning trains into Paddington station had to be walked down the track to safety after the electric power lines went down. A GWR spokesman told MailOnline that the trains were evacuated and passengers taken to safety at the nearest station. The spokesman added: 'There will be no services in and out of Paddington station for the rest of the day.' The problem at Hayes and Harlington station was reported at around 6.45am. Passengers on a severely delayed Paddington-bound train were told by a member of staff on the public address system: 'My sincerest apologies for the delays on such an important day for the country.' The issue means many mourners hoping to secure a position to see the funeral procession could now arrive too late. All public viewing areas for the Queen's funeral procession are full, London's City Hall said. Meanwhile, at Waterloo Station, hundreds of security guards are on duty ready for the influx of mourners expected to travel to the capital for the funeral. Authorities in the capital have already warned mourners that central London is extremely busy. A statement issued at 7.30am said: 'The areas in and around Buckingham Palace, Westminster, Whitehall, St James' Park and Green Park are extremely busy. 'If you are in the vicinity or arriving to watch Her Majesty The Queen's State Funeral and procession, please be patient and follow the advice of stewards and police.' Mourners intending to travel to the capital are advised to use South Western Railway services from Reading to Waterloo. The Queen's funeral begins at 11am at Westminster Abbey, but central London viewing areas for the procession are closing before then to avoid overcrowding. National Rail has encouraged mourners to go to pubs and cafes after the state funeral to ease the pressure on the rail network. A post on the network's Twitter account read: 'Cafes, pubs and other hospitality providers around London are expected to be open this afternoon, so please don't rush home immediately following the state funeral and final procession so you can continue marking this historic day and help ease pressure on the rail network.' All railway lines between Slough and Paddington are blocked due to damage to overhead electric wires. Pictured: Paddington City Hall said on Monday morning that all procession viewing areas are now full and there will be no entry to any new arrivals A GWR customer assistant claimed trains arriving into Paddington station would be disrupted for the next four hours. What are the problems affecting mourners heading to the funeral? Thousands of mourners could miss being part of the historic events in London and Windsor today due to severe disruption on rail and roads. Up to two million people will reportedly travel to the capital today to witness the Queen's funeral before she is laid to rest at King George VI Memorial Chapel in Windsor but thousands could miss out due to the chaos across the region's transport network. All lines between Paddington in west London and Reading in Berkshire are blocked because of damage to overhead electric wires Electrical fault has also affected services run by GWR, Heathrow Express and the Elizabeth line Rail lines between Reading and Newbury are also closed due to a person being hit by a train The M4 in Greater London is also closed eastbound between J3 and J1 Advertisement She said: 'we don't know how long it will be until the power is fixed. 'But we're not expected any trains to arrive for the next four hours.' At Paddington passengers were being redirected to alternative routes including via Marylebone and Waterloo. Station staff offered those waiting free tea and coffee with disruption expected until 10am. Matilda Spiers was travelling from Cholsey to London Paddington in hope of watching the funeral from Hyde Park. She told MailOnline they were stuck on the train for two hours after passengers saw a huge spark outside. She said: 'We thought it was lightning at first and then they said it was an electrical fault. The poor driver didn't have any information so everyone had to find out what was going on on social media. 'We were told it would be about 90 minutes but we ended up being stuck for about two hours with very little information, no food, water or heating so it wasn't the best start to the day.' Ms Spiers is heading to Hyde Park to watch the funeral from there. She is just one of millions of people who are travelling to the capital to witness the Queen's historic state funeral today, resulting in one of the UK's biggest transport operations as mourners descend on London and Windsor. Up to two million mourners are expected to flock to London, Windsor and royal sites around the UK on the national bank holiday, with the service set to draw an estimated 4.1billion TV viewers across the globe. A GWR train company assistant told MailOnline: 'There are no trains coming into Paddington and nothing going out. 'The electrical power lines have cone down at Maidenhead. All the trains are electric and they cannot move without the power lines. Pictured: People in McCooleys bar in Liverpool watch the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II Police in position at a road closure near Chelsea Hospital, where VIPs and world leaders will take buses to Westminster Abbey Police in position at a road closure near Chelsea Hospital, where VIPs and world leaders will take buses to Westminster Abbey Police closed roads in London this morning as a 12-mile-wide ring of steel descends on London Police at Chelsea Hospital where VIPs and world leaders will take buses to Westminster A police officer surveys the crowd this morning amid major road closures across Westminster 'It's really bad. I have no idea how long it will take to fix it. We are advising customers to try to use alternative routes via Waterloo.' Travelers have since abandoned Paddington station today after the fallen power wires halted all trains in to and out of the major London station. Tourists heading to London's Heathrow Airport struggled to reach Britain's international gateway via the tube. The arrivals board for trains coming into the capital from Oxford, Banbury and Cheltenham read: 'Delayed, Delayed, Delayed.' As well as members of the Royal Family, the Government and foreign dignitaries from around the world, nearly 200 key workers and volunteers recognised in the Queen's Birthday Honours list were invited to attend the funeral by Downing Street. Among them was Mr Boffy, a former British Transport Police officer from Bristol who also missed the funeral after his train was stopped due to the electrical failures this morning. Hundreds of mourners were held up by travel disruption this morning. Pictured: A lady who arrived late for the state funeral and burial of Queen Elizabeth, sits outside Westminster Abbey Witnesses said the unknown woman was about 15 minutes late for the funeral this morning As well as world leaders and politicians, nearly 200 people who were honoured in the Queen's Birthday Honours list were also invited to her state funeral at Westminster Abbey this morning Mr Boffy told the BBC his train was stopped near Slough after the overhead wires were damaged shortly after 6am this morning. The former head of inclusion and diversity said once he made it to London, he was turned away by Met police officers who said there was no way he would make it in time. Mr Boffy told the broadcaster: 'Events conspired against me and I wasn't able to make it in time. 'We had pulled into Langley, and they [train operators] opened the doors and basically said 'make your own way'. 'It was about an hour away by car and thankfully the kindness of strangers recognised I needed to get into London as soon as possible and offered me a lift with them. 'But with all the traffic and road closures, by the time I got pretty close to where I needed to be, Met Police told me there is no point you're not going to make it in time. Former British Transport Police officer Barry Boffy (pictured above) told the BBC his train was stopped near Slough after the overhead wires were damaged shortly after 6am this morning 'Ultimately there isn't anything I can do about it, to change the circumstances, it is still a huge honour and privilege, just to have been invited, so I will treasure that, the memory of the opportunity to have been there.' Other visitors heading to the Cotswolds and Wales were urged to get the coach. Amy Wilder, 52, from Baltimore, USA, said: 'We're meant to be going hiking in the Cotswolds but it looks like we're not going to get there today. All the trains are screwed.' Another person wrote on Twitter: 'I'm stuck on the train for two hours. Got up at 4am to get to Windsor early for the viewing. Absolutely horrible service. 'Barely even caught this train because nobody at Paddington knew which one it was. Sure didn't expect this dismal service.' Some passengers trying to travel into London from the West Country faced delays of more than two hours in their journey, meaning they would miss the start of the funeral. Several said they would watch the service on their phones while en route. Pictured: Passengers get off the tube at Embankment, which is likely to be busy all morning Bev Palfreman said she was 'absolutely gutted' train disruption meant she would miss the start of the funeral. The 61-year-old from Oakhampton in Devon had been travelling from her home to Paddington station but when the service was cancelled at Reading she had to board a train to Waterloo instead. She said: 'The Queen has just been there throughout the whole of my life. This was the only thing I wanted to do.' Although she will miss the service, Ms Palfreman is still hoping to meet friends and find a space to watch part of the procession afterwards. A train which departed Paddington at 6.25am has been stuck outside the station for more than two-and-a-half hours with passengers on board. GWR told concerned customers that the train is 'due to be evacuated'. Disruption is expected to continue for the rest of the day. GWR has directed people to use London Waterloo if they wish to travel to Windsor for the events today while anyone heading in from the west has been advised they can change at Reading and then at Staines if they are hoping to get to Windsor to London today. National Rail Enquiries is showing that all services to and from the station are 'delayed'. Heathrow Airport had previously urged airline passengers to use rail or Tube services on Monday due to road closures in the Windsor area. Pictured above: Authorities in the capital have already warned mourners that central London is extremely busy LONDON ROAD CLOSURES: The Metropolitan Police has released a map of road closures from 5am today (marked in purple) WESTMINSTER CITY COUNCIL: Major disruption is expected on roads in much of the Westminster area throughout today HAMMERSMITH AND FULHAM: The A4 (Great West Road/Talgarth Road/West Cromwell Road) will shut to traffic from 10am HOUNSLOW: The funeral procession for Queen Elizabeth II will travel along the stretch of the A4 from Hogarth Roundabout in Chiswick, West London, to Henly's Roundabout, where it will then pass along the A30 (Great South-West Road) People looking to find other means of travelling into the capital may have difficulty as preparations are also well underway on the road and transport networks. Police have closed roads in London as a 12-mile-wide ring of steel descends on the capital ahead of the funeral. The A4 and A30 in West London towards Windsor have begun to shut, with full closures in both directions after 10am, which are not likely to be lifted until the evening. Multiple closures on local roads along the A4 will also be in place. People looking to drive around central, West and South West London were advised to check before they travel, allow extra time and expect long delays. The M4 in Greater London is also closed eastbound between J3 and J1 to assist the Metropolitan Police for the state funeral. Bus routes will also be severely affected with many routes diverted or stopping short of their destinations. Roads were eerily silent and almost empty of traffic in streets around a mile from the Abbey shortly before the funeral got underway. Eaton Square in particular seemed particularly quiet with the silence only being broken by passing emergency vehicles. The lack of traffic and pedestrians suggested that many people were choosing to watch the funeral from home or had left earlier for vantage points to watch the procession. In sharp contrast, the areas closer to the Abbey and procession route were thronged with crowds. Several gates into Hyde Park were closed and roads were cordoned off by police, forcing people to walk around a one way system to get access. But crowds already thronging Hyde Park by mid-morning meant it was impossible for any late arrivals to find a spot to view the end of the procession at Wellington Arch. Major shops in nearby Knightsbridge including Harvey Nichols and Harrods remained closed as a mark of respect. The Tattersalls Tavern in Knightsbridge Green stayed open, showing the funeral on its two television screens. Around 50 people in the wood-panelled pub watched in silence with some wiping away tears during the service Between one and two million people were expected to visit the capital for the funeral which began at 11am. There are fears the transport network will be overwhelmed this afternoon if too many people visiting the capital travel home immediately after the funeral procession leaves Westminster shortly after noon. TfL boss Andy Byford said: 'We're ready for probably one of the busiest days Transport for London has ever faced. 'It's hard to say exactly how many additional people (will travel), but we're preparing for potentially a million people just within the footprint of the royal palaces and Hyde Park.' People hoping to get to London took to Twitter to express frustration about the delays Mr Byford said TfL is 'leaving nothing to chance', with non-essential meetings postponed and people from across the organisation working to ensure visitors can 'get around the city'. Network Rail chairman Sir Peter Hendy warned that trains will be 'extremely busy'. He said: 'This is the biggest public transport operation since the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, and we're working closely with all train operators to run extra trains through the day and into the night. 'To help us provide the best possible experience and avoid lengthy queues at stations we're asking people not to rush home after the funeral and the processions, but to take their time and experience London on this memorable day.' At Waterloo station, hundreds of security guards were on standby to deal with an influx of mourners but ended up sitting around as fewer people than expected had arrived by 8am. Station staff said the concourse at the major train hub was less busy than a usual Monday morning when commuters pour into the station from the London suburbs and west of England. A one way system had been put in place for people arriving and departing at the station with staff expecting the station to be near deserted by the time the funeral service begins later this morning. Among those arriving at the station were four friends from Guildford, Surrey. Passengers get off the tube at Embankment, which is likely to be busy all morning with a number of station closures in place Members of the armed forces are deployed to Waterloo Station London as over a million mourners are expected to arrive Pictured: A general view of mourners along The Mall ahead of The State Funeral Of Queen Elizabeth II earlier today Pictured: Mourners arrive at Windsor to watch the funeral procession as it makes its way along the Long Walk, in Windsor Pictured: People gather near The Long Walk on the day of the state funeral and burial of Queen Elizabeth II, in Windsor Mourners wait along the route that the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II will be pulled on a gun carriage ahead of the State Funeral James Langden, Alan Wexley, David Johns and Richard Soper said they had been moved by seeing the hundreds of thousands of mourners queuing to see the Queen lying in state at Westminster Hall. James,38, a painter and decorator, said he had never considered himself a fan of the Monarchy but had been deeply affected by the scenes that have unfolded during the last 10 days. 'Like a lot of people, the Queen has always been there, and it will feel strange that she is no longer around. 'I'm not working today so I guess I wanted to be in London to pay my respects. It is also something to look back on and say 'I was there'. His friend Alan,41, a computer programmer added:' As sad as it is, this is one day that everyone will remember where they were. 'There will be nothing like this again, When you read that four billion people around the world will be watching on TV it's just mind blowing. 'It also makes me proud to be British, that we can stage such a big occasion.' Julie Almay,53, said the only previous royal event she had attended was to lay flowers at Kensington Palace after the death of Princess Diana. 'I think the whole nation was in shock then, but now with the Queen passing it is more sadness. I think we all knew this was going to happen as she was 96, but that doesn't make it any easier. 'I wanted to see the procession in person rather than watch it on television as there will be a great camaraderie among all the crowd.' Late comers hurried through Waterloo station as they made their way to the funeral procession route. Evelyn Armstrong and her husband James said their train from Salisbury in Wiltshire had been delayed by 30 minutes. The couple rushed out of the station over Waterloo Bridge and headed along the deserted Strand towards Parliament Square in the hope of getting a good vantage point. Evelyn,54, said: 'We thought we had plenty of time left, but the delay has been so annoying, but at least we are here. It is experience something that I will never see in my lifetime.' With less than 30 minutes until the Queen's coffin was to begin its final journey to Westminster Abbey and then to its internment at Windsor Castle the concourse at Waterloo began to empty. British Transport police, stewards in high viz jackets and station staff stood around looking at the dwindling numbers. Police on duty said they had expected the station to be much busier in the morning rush but predicted numbers would swell considerably once the funeral service had concluded. Transport for London chiefs have advised mourners to stagger their journeys home rather than all rush to the nearest tube of mainline station to avoid long queues. Are you stuck on a train and unable to reach Paddington station? Get in touch by emailing tips@dailymail.com Advertisement The first members of the congregation for the Queen's state funeral have arrived at Westminster Abbey. The grand oak doors of the UK's most important church - where Her Majesty married Prince Philip and had her coronation - opened at 8am, three hours before the service starts. 2,000 royals, world leaders, VIPs and hundreds of members of the public will be in the Abbey as billions around the world will watch Her Majesty's state funeral. And outside hardy royal fans defied no-camping rules, as people of all ages set up tents, deck chairs and even a makeshift minibar to grab premium seats for the spectacle that will see 2million flood into the capital. And amid concerns that London will be 'full' today - and a lack of hotel rooms - scores of people began bedding in to line The Mall in central London over the weekend, despite rules seemingly loosely enforced preventing people from setting up camp. This morning, before dawn, stewards told campers to take down their tents. Huge crowds have also formed in Windsor, where the Queen will be buried this evening. Several who slept in central London overnight said friends and family told them they were mad to carry out the overnight vigil, but insisted they would not miss the occasion. British minister Nadhim Zahawi was among one of the first guests to arrive at the Abbey 2,000 people will attend Her Majesty's state funeral A group, wrapped in Union Flags, camped out on chairs overnight to be in London for the funeral Crowds camping out at night in Whitehall and Parliament Square to await the funeral Tents on Whitehall this morning in the shadow of the Women of World War II memorial Mourners wrapped in blankets wait with others at Horse Guards ahead of the State Funeral Of Queen Elizabeth II. Many have camped People slept on the floor and on chairs wrapped in blankets ahead of the first state funeral for almost 60 years Members of the public camped out over night on The Mall near Buckingham Palace, ahead of a State Funeral The line of people sleeping in London was several deep and stretched towards Green Park and St James' Park A Pearly King and Queen line the Procession Route in London Among them were school friends Christine Manning, 75, and Dianne Donohue, 73, from Leek in Staffordshire, who slept in a pop-up tent. Mrs Donohoe, a retired housewife and grandmother-of-three, said: Yes, the advice was not to camp but we disobeyed. Weve had a good catch-up, weve enjoyed it. We were sleeping in the tent and at 4.30am I woke up and asked Chris if she was awake, she was, so we had a whisky and lemonade and a pork pie. A couple more hours sleep, then onto the prosecco. We had to take our tent down at 7am because the police told us to, but we couldnt do it, so we had to get some lad to help us. Were out of pork pies sadly but weve got sausage rolls, and weve got some gin now the whiskys run out were chipper. Miss Manning, a retired waitress, added: My kids said we were mad. Well, mental is the word they used. They said we were idiots for doing this. I said it had to be done. Mourners camped out close to Parliament Square this morning The street is cleaned in advance of the State Funeral Procession of Queen Elizabeth II amid already huge crowds The Mall was a frenzy of activity yesterday, as people arrived to lay flowers nearby, get a glimpse of Buckingham Palace and Horse Guards Parade, and bag their vantage points for the funeral procession as it makes its way from Westminster to Windsor. Tim Thompson, 35, from New Brunswick in Canada, and Charlie Shirley, 36, from north London, also slept in a tent on the Mall. The pair became friends after being sat next to each other for William and Kates wedding in 2011, and resumed their same spot together on Saturday. Miss Shirley said: We do all the royal events together, its like were a family. I saw Tim at the Queens Jubilee and we said that the next time we see each other would probably be at the Queens funeral we didnt expect it to be three months later. Mr Thompson said: I keep four days holiday a year for royal events, so I had to be here. American businesswoman Nicole Alford, 40, paid around 1,300 for a last-minute flight to London on Thursday, and said she would camp out until after the funeral. She said: You dont come all this way and then watch it on the TV. I want a front-seat of history. My mom said: I cant believe youre doing that. I said: I cant believe you didnt think I would do that. Everybody thinks Im crazy, but I managed five-and-a-half hours uninterrupted sleep on my first night camping out here, so Im fine. Semi-retired teacher Ian Rhodes, 66, and his wife Sue, 58, from Alton in Staffordshire, arrived at the Mall at 11am yesterday (SUN) to claim their spot although they said they would sleep in deckchairs rather than pitch a tent. Mr Rhodes said: The only other time Ive queued overnight for anything was when Stoke City got to Wembley for the cup final in 1972, and I waited overnight at the club shop with my friends to get tickets. People have said were mad, but sanity is relative. Mrs Rhodes said the couples two adult sons were a bit concerned about their parents roughing it overnight in London, but said: I told them we were going to do it anyway when has their mother ever done what she was told? Paulette Galley, from Boston in Lincolnshire, said she was determined to stay on The Mall overnight. The 54-year-old kitchen assistant, originally from south London, said: I might not get any sleep but I dont care. She was my Queen, and I want to pay my respects to her. There is no way I wouldnt be here. Advertisement A Brit abroad in Portugal has shared a picture of a cloud formation which he said resembles a profile of Queen Elizabeth II wearing a tiara. Holiday-maker Ian Mclaren was driving north yesterday evening when he looked up into the sky and saw the clouds forming in the shape of the Queen wearing her crown while looking downwards. When he took the photo he said that it was travelling in the right direction 'for such a cloud to reach the UK for the funeral'. The goodbye skies? Have you seen any 'magical moments' of the Queen? Send your picture to matt.powell@mailonline.co.uk Advertisement Meanwhile in the UK, the Knoll Residents Association in Orpington, south east London, gathered together yesterday to pay their respects to the late Monarch by creating a huge profile of her majesty out of 250 candles. Each resident placed down one candle each to form a huge outline of the Queen, together they made a twinkling profile similar to one seen on a postage stamp. Video footage from a drone shows the collective efforts of the community and the impressive scale of the tribute. An outline of the Queen's profile was laid down on the floor and then residents came up to pay their respects and place their electric tealights down. 'We really wanted to organise something that people of all backgrounds and faiths, those who are young and old, could come along to and enjoy and something that people can be actively involved in,' said Stephen Sangster, 40, chairman of the association. 'By using candles, we were able to create something that was really quite special, and people came out in their hundreds on what was a drizzly, cold evening to pay their respects.' He said making sure the image was made in the likeness of the 'classic postage stamp silhouette of the Queen' was a 'technical' task. He added that seeing the tribute take shape was 'really quite special' and that the depiction of the Queen on postage stamps and banknotes was chosen because it is a 'powerful, iconic' image of her. 'It's instantly recognisable and I flew a drone up to 400 feet and you could still recognise the image there as well,' he said. Yesterday rainbows appeared above Westminster and Windsor, on the eve of the Queen's funeral amid Londoners revelling at a stunning red sky over Big Ben. A rainbow was seen over Windsor Castle in Berkshire, where the Queen spent most of her time during her long reign and was known to be fond of. A British holidaymaker in Portugal spotted a cloud formation which looks like the Queen wearing a tiara yesterday evening, he said it was travelling in the right direction to arrive for the funeral A community group of residents in Orpington, south east London, gathered to pay their respects to the late Monarch by creating a huge profile of her majesty out of 250 candles A picture from a drone shows the impressive scale of the candle tribute to the Queen and the residents surrounding it A rainbow is seen over Windsor Castle in Berkshire, where the Queen spent most of her time during her long reign and was known to be fond of Nature's own memorial: A rainbow appeared yesterday over Westminster Abbey and Parliament while Londoners revel at a stunning red sky over Big Ben The skies seemed to say a last goodbye to the Monarch yesterday who has been a central figurehead of the country for over 70 years, and Britain's longest reigning monarch. Elizabeth II was synonymous with Windsor Castle, where rainbows appeared, and where she spent much of her time especially after the death of her beloved husband, Prince Philip, in April last year. Her Majesty also gave her name to the tower which holds the bell of Big Ben, which has was renamed the Elizabeth Tower in 2012 to mark her Diamond Jubilee. And the rainbows were seen also overhead the Queue, which saw countless mourners lining up overnight to see the Queen lying in state. It comes as rainbows were also spotted outside Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle on the day of Her Majesty's death, on Thursday, September 8. An artist paid his respects to the Queen in a less traditional way - with an incredible 70 square foot mural drawn on the sand of a Cornish beach. Father-of-two Harry Maddox, 63, creates all kinds of land art - and his latest project was in memory of Queen Elizabeth II. Harry, who lives in Bodmin, Cornwall, visited Tregirls Beach in Padstow on September 15 to create a 70ft x 70ft drawing on the sand. Taking four-and-a-half hours, it read '1926-2022 Elizabeth. Thank you Ma'am..' Harry, a sign maker by trade, said: 'This particular one was one I always wanted to do. 'I actually wanted to do it for the Jubilee back in March, but at the time, the sand was too dry. 'This time, it needed to be done. It's a personal tribute.' Harry explained that the work would only have remained visible for a few hours until the tide came in. But he said the non-permanence of his work is part of why he does it - it makes it an experience.' Artist Harry Maddox paid respects to the Queen with incredible 70 square foot mural drawn on sand of a Cornish beach Shannon Reeves created a tribute to the Queen out of coins hundreds of coins and several bank notes A rainbow also appeared when people gathered outside Buckingham Palace on the day the Queen died, aged 96, in Balmoral on Thursday, September 8 The Union flag is pictured being lowered on Windsor Castle as a rainbow covers the sky on September 08, when the Queen died last week A rainbow is seen in a semi circle over Westminster Hall yesterday evening as people continue to join the queue to see the Queen lying in state A rainbow is seen over the Big Ben on the eve of the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, Britain's longest-reigning monarch and a rock of stability across much of a turbulent century A British woman shared an image of a cloud formation resembling Queen Elizabeth floating over an English town, captured just an hour after the monarch passed away. Leanne Bethell, who lives in Telford in England's west Midlands, shared the photo on Facebook, pointing out that it looked remarkably similar to the Queen wearing her signature hat. 'Driving home and Lacey starts shouting OMG! I panicked. Then she pointed this image out in the clouds,' Ms Bethell said on Facebook. Brits weighed in on the oddly shaped cloud formation. 'You only see it if you look for it. Maybe it is a sign or maybe we are just looking for a sign from above, who really knows,' one wrote. 'All I do know is this lady devoted her life to us so with the utmost respect. R.I.P Queen Elizabeth II,' one user commented. 'My girly Liz always watching over us,' wrote another. Leanne Bethell, who lives in Telford in England's west Midlands, shared a photo to Facebook of a cloud formation resembling Queen Elizabeth just an hour after her death A Buckingham Palace spokesman released a statement on September 8 confirming her passing, saying: 'The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon. The King and The Queen Consort will remain at Balmoral this evening and will return to London tomorrow' The stunning picture, taken by Becky Luetchford, of the Queen's profile in glowing clouds was taken hours after the Queen passed away Another mourning member of the public shared a picture of a cloud which appears to show the monarch's side profile A picture shared with MailOnline of a cloud which looks like a silhouette of the Queen wearing one of her famous hats Russia has struck a nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, damaging power plant buildings in an act of 'nuclear terrorism', Kyiv's energy operator said. Kremlin troops hit the Pivdennoukrainsk plant in Mykolaiv region, with a 'powerful explosion' taking place just 300 yards away from the reactors, breaking more than 100 windows in the complex. The attack damaged power plant buildings, a nearby hydroelectric power plant and transmission lines. Footage shows the site erupting into a huge fireball after the strike, illuminating the night's sky in a blast of white light. Russia has struck a nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, damaging power plant buildings Kremlin troops hit the Pivdennoukrainsk plant in Mykolaiv region, with a 'powerful explosion' taking place just 300 yards away from the reactors A production facility damaged by a Russian military strike is seen at a compound of the Pivdennoukrainsk Nuclear Power Plant today A police officer stands on a bottom of a shell crater left by this morning's Russian military strike The three reactors at the Pivdennoukrainsk plant were not damaged and are working normally, Ukraine's state nuclear company Energoatom said. The Pivdennoukrainsk plant, also known as the South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant, sits along the Southern Bug River and is about 190 miles south of the capital, Kyiv. It is Ukraine's second-largest nuclear power plant. 'Currently, all three power units of the PNPP (Pivdennoukrainsk Nuclear Power Plant) are operating normally. Fortunately, there were no casualties among the station staff,' Energoatom said. It published two photographs showing a crater it said was caused by the blast. In one of the pictures a man stood in the crater to give a sense of its size. Commenting on the strike on the Telegram messaging app, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said: 'The invaders wanted to shoot again, but they forgot what a nuclear power plant is. Russia endangers the whole world. We have to stop it before it's too late.' The attack damaged power plant buildings, a nearby hydroelectric power plant and transmission lines The three reactors at the Pivdennoukrainsk plant were not damaged and are working normally The Pivdennoukrainsk plant, also known as the South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant, sits along the Southern Bug River There was no immediate Russian reaction to Ukraine's accusations. The Mykolaiv region has been under constant rocket attack by Russian forces in recent weeks. Another Ukrainian nuclear power plant at Zaporizhzhia - which is Europe's largest and lies about 155 miles east of the Mykolaiv site - was shut down earlier this month due to Russian shelling, prompting concerns about a possible nuclear disaster. Russia and Ukraine have blamed each other for shelling at the Zaporizhzhia plant, which is held by Russian forces but operated by Ukrainian staff. The shelling has damaged buildings and disrupted power lines. The U.N. nuclear watchdog said this weekend one of the four main power lines at the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear facility had been repaired and was once again supplying the plant with electricity from the Ukrainian grid. Some military analysts have said Russia might stage a nuclear incident at Zaporizhzhia, which is held by Russia but run by Ukrainian staff, in response to Ukraine's sudden counter-surge which has repelled Putin's men. A view of an abandoned military position not far from city of Balakliya, Kharkiv region A soldier stands at retaken checkpoint in Shevchenkove, Kharkiv region, amid Ukraine's counter-offensive Within the last 10 days, Russia has highly likely lost at least four combat jets, taking its attrition to about 55 since the beginning of its invasion, the British military said today. There is a realistic possibility that the uptick in losses was partially a result of the Russian Air Force accepting greater risk in a move to provide close air support to Russian ground forces under pressure from Ukrainian advances, the Defence Ministry said in its daily intelligence on Twitter. Russian pilots' situational awareness is often poor, it said. 'There is a realistic possibility that some aircraft have strayed over enemy territory and into denser air defence zones as the front lines have moved rapidly.' U.S. Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called for vigilance on Sunday after visiting a base in Poland aiding Ukraine's war effort. 'The war is not going too well for Russia right now so it's incumbent upon all of us to maintain high states of readiness, alert,' he said after his trip to the base, which reporters travelling with him were asked not to identify. With its battlefield losses mounting, the Russian army is seeking contract soldiers for what it calls the 'special military operation' in Ukraine, and is offering nearly $3,000 a month as an incentive. It comes as Zelensky vowed there would be no let-up in fighting to regain territory lost to Russia as Kyiv said its troops had advanced to the eastern bank of the Oskil River, threatening Russian occupation forces in the Donbas. Crossing the Oskil is another important milestone in Ukraine's counter-offensive in the northeastern Kharkiv region as it flows south to the Siversky Donets River, which goes right through Luhansk, one of two provinces in the Donbas region. Donbas is Ukraine's traditional industrial heartland made up of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Ukrainian troops 'have pushed across the Oskil. From yesterday, Ukraine controls the east bank,' the Ukrainian Armed Forces wrote on Telegram late Sunday. People cross a damaged bridge in Kharkiv region, northeastern Ukraine, as Russian troops are pushed back Serhiy Gaidai, governor of Luhansk region, wrote on Telegram: 'Luhansk region is right next door. Decoccupation is not far away.' Zelensky vowed to keep up the pressure on Moscow after Ukraine's rapid gains in Kharkiv this month. 'Perhaps it seems to some of you that after a series of victories we now have a lull of sorts,' he said in his regular nightly address on Sunday. 'But there will be no lull. There is preparation for the next series ... For Ukraine must be free. All of it.' Russian artillery pounded towns and villages across the frontlines in the east and south on Sunday, including civilian infrastructure in Zaporizhzhia city, Ukrainian officials said. Britain said Russian forces had widened strikes on civilian infrastructure following battlefield setbacks and were likely to expand their targets further. 'As it faces setbacks on the front lines, Russia has likely extended the locations it is prepared to strike in an attempt to directly undermine the morale of the Ukrainian people and government,' Britain's defence ministry said. Forensic technicians dig a grave in a forest on the outskirts of Izyum, eastern Ukraine on September 16, 2022 Ukrainian officials have uncovered 450 new graves at just one burial site near Izyum after recapturing the eastern city from the Russians last weekend Ukraine's southern command on Monday said strikes were also launched on a radar station near Kherson and on a pontoon crossing near Nova Kakhovka east of Kherson, where a Ukrainian counter-offensive has focused on taking out bridges across the Dnipro and Inhulets Rivers. Separately, Ukraine general defence staff said its forces have repelled Russian attacks in the areas of Mykolaivka Druga, Vesela Dolyna and Bakhmut settlements in the Donetsk region. Kyiv also hit 'enemy targets' including air defence and ammunition dumps in multiple strikes, it added. On Saturday, Zelensky said authorities had found a mass grave containing the bodies of 17 soldiers in Izium, some of which he said bore signs of torture. Izium residents have been searching for dead relatives at a forest grave site where workers began exhuming bodies last week. Flimsy wooden crosses are seen at a burial site in a forest on the outskirts of Izyum, on September 17, 2022 This photograph taken on September 14, 2022 shows a destroyed Russian tank and armoured personnel carriers on the outskirts of Izyum, Kharkiv Region, eastern Ukraine Ukrainian officials said last week they had found 440 bodies in woods near Izium. They said most of the dead were civilians and the causes of death had not been established. The Kremlin has not commented on the discovery of the graves, but in the past Moscow has repeatedly denied deliberately attacking civilians or committing atrocities. In Kozacha Lopan, a village some 30 miles north of Kharkiv and close to the Russian border, a Reuters reporter was taken to a squalid cellar with rooms fitted with iron bars which officials said had served as a makeshift prison during the occupation. District Mayor Vyacheslav Zadorenko said the rooms had been used as a 'torture cellar' to detain civilians. Reuters was unable to verify those accounts. Advertisement The 'biggest security operation in British history' is underway today, with at least 10,000 police officers and 1,500 soldiers forming a six-mile wide ring of steel around central London for Queen Elizabeth II's funeral. Many roads and bridges have been shut to traffic and 23-miles of barriers put up to control crowds and keep key areas secure, with police with sniffer dogs on duty to check people passing by. Around Westminster Abbey, specialist firearms officers have been drafted in while spotters with binoculars took up positions on the rooftops of government buildings. There is particularly heavy security around the Royal Hospital Chelsea, with an outer cordon of concrete blocks set up by police at 6am, blocking off all roads up to 600 yards away. Two rows of bollards were stretched across the road, along with a line of portable anti-terror barricades designed to be capable of stopping a bomb-laden truck. This morning there was a minor embarrassment when the official state car for Qatar was stopped for more than 30 minutes at the barricade after an apparent mix-up. Meanwhile, by Windsor Castle, police spotters scanned the crowds from temporary towers set up along the Long Walk. More than 20 police officers formed one cordon halfway down Lower Sloane Street near to the Royal Hospital Chelsea There is particularly heavy security around the Royal Hospital Chelsea, with an outer cordon of concrete blocks set up by police at 6am, blocking off all roads up to 600 yards away Lorries parked behind a cordon around the Royal Hospital Chelsea, which is being used as a gathering point for world leaders Security is also tight at Windsor Castle, where these police spotters are seen in a temporary tower over the Long Walk Armed officers patrol the Long Walk by Windsor Castle, where thousands of mourners have gathered A police officer was seen with a dog outside the hospital, which is home to hundreds of retired soldiers Police officers take positions ahead of the Queen Elizabeth II funeral in central London. It's been called the biggest security operation in UK history At least 10,000 police officers are helping to guard the funeral, with some drafted in from other areas of the UK Officers are wearing their full traditional dress uniform for today's historic occasion, which will be witnessed by millions Today is expected to be the biggest one-day security operation in the 200-year history of the Met Police, although it will also involve officers from other forces The Met's DAC Stuart Cundy, the man in charge of the operation in the capital, said the force would use 'all tools and tactics available' to protect the Queen's coffin, the Royal Family, hundreds of VIPs and world leaders and the 1million people expected to head to the capital to mourn. The senior officer told reporters the 'hugely complex' policing operation is the biggest in the force's history, surpassing the London 2012 Olympics which saw up to 10,000 police officers on duty per day. Rank-and-file will line the streets supported by armed officers on the ground and snipers on rooftops. Helicopters and CCTV will help commanders watch crowds from the sky. Mr Cundy said: 'This will be the largest single policing event that the Met Police has ever undertaken. As a single event this is larger than the 2012 Olympics, it is larger than the Platinum Jubilee weekend. The range of officers, police staff and all those supporting the operation is truly immense.' Awkward! Qatar state car is held up at Royal Hospital security cordon after 'mix up' By Andrew Young for MailOnline The official state car for Qatar was refused admission through the cordon set up around the Royal Hospital Chelsea this morning in an apparent security mix-up. The car flying Qatars flag from its bonnet arrived at the cordon at 9.13am to drop off State representatives in the grounds of the Hospital so they could be bussed into the Abbey. But the luxury Audi A8L with the number plate QTR 1 was ordered by police to wait at barriers while other cars carrying dignitaries were waived through. The car flying Qatars flag from its bonnet arrived at the cordon at 9.13am to drop off State representatives in the grounds of the Hospital so they could be bussed into the Abbey But the luxury Audi A8L was ordered by police to wait at barriers while other cars carrying dignitaries were waived through. In what would have been an embarrassment for the desert state hosting this years World Cup, the car was left stationary while other cars steered around it. An official carrying a clipboard with an official list of those who could be admitted could be seen talking to the occupants of the vehicle. An official car carrying Singapores prime minister Lee Hsien Loong which was immediately behind the Qatar car was waived through straight away. The Qatar car was finally moved from the spot where it was partially blocking the road at 9.36am, and ordered to wait at the end of nearby Sloane Street East A succession of other cars also passed around it including the car carrying Belgiums King Phillipe and Queen Mathilde, another carrying Jordans King Abdullah II, Belizes official car and another carrying Spains Queen Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano. The Qatar car was finally moved from the spot where it was partially blocking the road at 9.36am, and ordered to wait at the end of nearby Sloane Street East. It then remained at the spot for another nine minutes until 9.45am until it was finally allowed to continue its journey to the hospital after a delay of 32 minutes. Police officers at the scene remained tightlipped about the reasons for the Qatar car being delayed. Advertisement He added that 34 people have been arrested as part of the policing operation in the lead up to the Queen's funeral. The senior officer called the number recorded by Friday morning 'relatively few', and said none were for protesting. Drones are known to be used in major operations while facial recognition software has been used in London. DAC Cundy declined to rule out using them, citing operational reasons, but added they would use 'all tactics and tools' they needed to protect the capital. He said that he wanted the crowds to keep an eye out for drones because there is a no-fly zone over the funeral and London procession. Motorbike escort riders, the Met's horse-mounted branch, dog teams and the marine unit will be in place. The force will also use more than 22 miles of barriers in central London alone to control crowds and keep key areas secure. It came as Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley described the policing operation for the funeral as 'enormous', adding that his officers are being supported by 'pretty much every force across the country' who are all 'relishing the opportunity'. After the stabbing of two police officers in the West End yesterday, DAC Cundy said that while it was not related to terrorism or the Queen's death - it reinforced that the Met must be prepared for a major incident such as a terror attack, a crowd crush or protesters disrupting the event. He said: 'Who knows what might occur over the coming days. If anyone sees anything, hears anything, or thinks that something is out of the ordinary please speak to one of the hundreds if not thousands of officers that they'll see so we can respond accordingly'. Anyone coming to Windsor to see the Queen's coffin arrive on Monday afternoon will be subject to searches and scanning through weapons arches before they arrive at the castle. He said that there had been 34 arrests in London linked to the Queen's death and events but DAC Cundy insisted none were protesters. During the 2012 Olympic Games in London up to 10,000 police officers were on duty per day. Stuart Cundy said that, following the death of the Queen, in mutual aid alone - officers who are drafted in from outside forces to help - there will be 20,000 officer shifts throughout the week and 2,000 officers in a single day at the peak. It will also be the largest global protection operation that the force has dealt with, as hundreds of VIPs are expected to attend the funeral on Monday. Outside the Royal Hospital Chelsea, local residents had to show identification proving where they lived before being allowed through the cordon. At around 7.30am, two luxury Mercedes cars, believed to be official diplomatic vehicles from Sudan were allowed through the cordon after brief security checks. US President Joe Biden, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Australian premier Anthony Albanese are among the foreign dignitaries attending the funeral. A car registered to the German embassy was seen arriving at the security cordon - with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier understood to be attending the Queens funeral. Police dog handlers were also seen patrolling the area inside the cordon around the Royal Hospital Chelsea. As the morning progressed, several members of the public who wanted to cross through the cordoned area to reach homes on the other side expressed dismay when told that roads were closed, with joggers on their early morning runs also left bemused when told that they could not run along their usual routes. A series of small convoys of official diplomatic cars began to bring their respective countrys representatives to the meeting place at the Royal Hospital Chelsea where heads of state are due to board buses to the service. Most of the luxury cars including BMW, Mercedes and Audi motors had darkened rear windows meaning it was impossible to see who was being carried in the back. One car without darkened windows was seen carrying Irelands silver-haired president Michael D Higgins just after 8am as it paused for security checks before passing through the barriers in Lower Soane Street. Almost all the official cars were accompanied by security details in four by four vehicles, most of them appearing to be unmarked Metropolitan Police cars with blue flashing lights. Others had additional escorts of up to four police motorcyclists as they arrived at the scene. Other delegations to have arrived recently include Slovenia, Croatia, Nigeria and Malawi. A car registered to the Irish embassy was also among a group of diplomatic cars to arrive in Chelsea with a police motorbike escort. A car passing through the barriers that have been set up around the Royal Hospital Chelsea this morning A group of soldiers march into position on the day of the state funeral for Queen Elizabeth in London today A sniper was seen overlooking the hospital on Sunday as preparations got underway to protect the dignitaries Over 100 world leaders, heads of state and diplomats are expected to have been invited to the service - the first full State Funeral that Britain has hosted since Winston Churchill died in 1965. Leaked Government documents revealed plans for world leaders to travel en masse in a bus to Westminster Abbey for Monday's service, rather than using private cars. There has been disquiet from some world leaders after Mr Biden was told by British authorities that he could make his own travel and security arrangements, while they were told they would have to board buses to the funeral. The US President is understood to have been granted an exemption to travel in the presidential armoured vehicle dubbed 'The Beast' while in the capital. Among those catching the bus will be Japanese Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako. According to Politico, the 62-year-old and other visiting royals will be bussed to the service under strict Foreign Office guidance. The website reported Belgium's King Philippe and Queen Mathilde, Spain's King Felipe and Queen Letizia, Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia and the Netherlands' King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima would also be put on a shuttle bus. Their decision to attend the Queens funeral underscores the importance and the deep bond between the royal families. Traditionally, a Japanese emperor stays away from funerals except for those of his own parents because of a cultural belief based in the Shinto religion that considers death to be impure. The Queen's lying in state officially finished at 6.30am on Monday - with an estimated 400,000 mourners thought to have passed through Westminster Hall over the past five days. Among those catching the bus from the Royal Hospital Chelsea will be Japanese Emperor Naruhito (pictured in Westminster Hall) and Empress Masako Irish president Michael Higgins arrives in a car at the Royal Hospital Chelsea, from which world leaders will travel by bus Advertisement Thousands of mourners fell silent before claps and applause rippled through the crowds as the Queen's coffin made its way along the Long Walk at Windsor Castle as it reached her final resting place. The royal hearse, covered in flowers thrown by well-wishers on the 90-minute journey from London, arrived at Windsor Castle just before 4pm as the procession swept up the Long Walk in a military procession, to tolling bells and ceremonial gunfire. Shortly before, tens of thousands of people sang the national anthem as they watched the state funeral while awaiting the arrival of the Queen's coffin. Upon arriving, the state hearse was led along the Long Walk by the Dismounted Detachment of the Household Cavalry Regiment, the 1st Division of the Sovereign's Escort and massed pipes and drums. The procession approached the Castle to the applause of members of the public lining the route, ahead of a final committal service at St George's Chapel. Earlier in the day, the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead closed the Long Walk as it said 'it would not be safe to allow access to any more visitors'. 'If you are just arriving now, you will be redirected to Home Park Public viewing screen,' they added. The scenes of well-wishers weeping as they lined the Long Walk mirrored those seen just hours earlier in central London, where many were moved to tears by the Queen's poignant funeral service which paid tribute to Britain's longest-reigning monarch. Up to two million people are thought to have lined the funeral procession route on the national Bank Holiday, created especially for the public to be able to say a final farewell to Queen Elizabeth II, who died on September 8, aged 96. Westminster Abbey filled up with world leaders, foreign royals and several hundred ordinary Britons chosen by the Queen, as the 2,000-strong congregation began arriving up to three hours before the service. Tens of thousands of well-wishers line the path to pay their respects to the late monarch, as the Queen's coffin was led down the Long Walk at Windsor Castle A woman holding a Union Jack flag wipes away tears as the royal hearse carrying the Queen's coffin passes along the Long Walk at Windsor Castle on Monday afternoon A woman wiped away a tear as she watched the royal funeral procession to the Queen's final resting place at Windsor Castle A woman appears upset as she stood to watch the Queen's coffin travelling to her final rest place at Windsor Castle The royal hearse was covered in flowers which had been thrown by well-wishers on the 90-minute journey from central London An aerial picture of the Long Walk shows the large crowds that had lined the funeral procession route as the Queen's coffin made the last leg of the journey towards Her Majesty's final resting place The hearse carrying the Queen's coffin is escorted along the Long Walk towards Windsor Castle as tens of thousands of well-wishers line the path to pay their respects to the late monarch In a touching gesture the late Queen's two corgis, Muick and Sandy, were part of the day and made an appearance at Windsor Castle The crowds fell silent as the state hearse carrying the Queen's coffin entered the Long Walk in Windsor, then broke out into applause as the end of the funeral procession passed by. In a touching gesture the late Queen's two faithful friends, her corgis Muick and Sandy, were part of the day and made an appearance. Among those at the top of the Long Walk were Windsor Castle warden Shannon Carroll, 27, and her pals Samantha Geraghty, 24, and Heidi, 26, who declined to give her surname. Shannon told MailOnline they had arrived at 6am after getting up at 4am to walk from nearby Maidenhead where they all live. She added: 'I'm here to pay my respects to an incredible woman who also happens to be my boss. I've worked at the Castle for five years and it's the least I can do. 'The Queen was a great employer and an inspirational leader. I don't think we will ever see anyone like her again.' Shannon said: 'I queued up for 12 hours overnight Friday into Saturday and that was a very poignant and sombre experience. 'It was incredibly quiet and still but it was at the same time very respectful and I wouldn't have missed it for anything.' Heidi said: 'We are prepared for the day with snacks and drinks and it looks like it will stay dry. We will have a great view of the procession as it comes up the Long Walk and goes into the castle. 'When we go here there were quite a few people here already but up the front where we are was surprisingly empty. I think we have the best spot to see history in the making.' Samantha said: 'It was an early start but well worth it. We will have a great view but we will have to watch the funeral service itself on our phones as we can't see the big screens.' Members of the crowd who gathered at The Mall were visibly upset as they listened to the State Funeral Mourners gathered together for Queen Elizabeth's II funeral felt the solemnity of the occasion A woman wipes a tear from her eye as she gets emotional listening to the State Funeral of the Queen A woman who had travelled to the capital shed tears during the Queen's state funeral on Monday Also among those at Windsor were David and Maureen Goodhead who had travelled down from Burton-on-Trent to see the procession along the Long Walk and spoke to MailOnline. Window salesman David, 72, said after the Westminster Abbey service: 'That was so emotional, so touching and so well done. 'It was history and I'm glad we came down for it. We wouldn't have missed it for anything. It's history isn't it. I can just about remember the Coronation so to see this is is very emotional.' Retired bar worker Maureen said: 'We came down on Saturday and stayed with friends in London and had a look at all the flowers in Hyde Park and they were wonderful. 'It's been amazing to watch the service here on the screens but when the hearse passes by later with her coffin it will really sink home she has gone and we won't see her again.' Maureen, who knew both verses of the National Anthem, said: 'I learned it off by heart in the Girl Guides and it brought a lump to my throat. ' We were here in Windsor for when Prince Philip and we took flowers to Althorp for Diana. We won't be moving from this spot until it's all over. We have a good view and we are here for the long run.' Retired teacher Susan Luppetti, 72, who came from her home in Somerset for the funeral, said: 'I did not expect it to be so emotional when it went past. It is the ending an era. 'What surprised me is how everyone went silent. It felt very personal and it did not feel like a state funeral at all. 'The silence was wonderful and to see that level of respect was quite amazing.' Her daughter Janine Boyce 44, a housewife of Maidenhead, said: 'I felt very nervous when you could hear the soldiers and the sound of the horses coming nearer. It was all a very historic moment but it was also a very personal moment.' Another person who travelled to Windsor to pay his respects to the Queen was Malcolm Caudren, who served for 22 years in the RF Regiment. Mr Caudren, 57, from Buckinghamshire, left the forces as a Corporal and recalled seeing her during the Guard of Honour ceremony in the 1980s. A woman sheds a tear with her two children as the Queen's coffin is carried down the Long Walk at Windsor Castle on Monday afternoon Many who had gathered to see the coffin pass were visibly upset during the State Funeral A woman sat atop a fence at The Mall reacts on the day of the State Funeral for Queen Elizabeth II A woman wearing a Union Jack hat appears emotional as the funeral procession makes it way up the Long Walk in Windsor Earlier in the day, the Long Walk was closed to visitors as authorities said it would not be safe to allow access to any more visitors The Long Walk: Thousands line the route up to Windsor Castle to pay their final respects to the late monarch who died on September 8 Crowds gather to watch as the hearse carrying the Queen's coffin is escorted along the Long Walk towards Windsor Castle Crowds at Windsor Castle after the Queen's coffin is driven by state hearse to her final resting place on Monday afternoon Speaking at the Long Walk ahead of the late monarch's final arrival to Windsor Castle, he said: 'It's an honour to serve. She was ultimately our boss that we loved and respected, which is why lots of guys around here have their medals on.' Mr Caudren added that this was a 'special' occasion to be reunited with other service personnel and that it was an important day for his family as his eldest son was working on security in London and his son's girlfriend was part of those parading during the event at Windsor. He said the past couple of weeks had been 'emotional' for them all, adding: 'It is almost like losing a member of your family as when you're in the forces you are in the family. 'The Queen and all the royal family make us feel as part of that as well. Kirsty Jones, 44, said that watching the final part of the Queen's coffin procession from the Long Walk in Windsor 'really felt final' while her husband David, 50, said it marked 'the end of an era'. Clad with union flags and a toy Paddington bear, the couple had stayed overnight in a nearby hotel with their children, Amelia, 11, Hadley, nine, and Hattie, seven, after paying their respects in their home town of Sandringham, Norfolk. Ms Jones, a former nurse, said: 'It was very moving, it made it real. 'You do see more when you watch it on the television from home, but I wanted the children to actually be part of it and feel the sadness and the grief that everyone is feeling.' When asked whether it was particularly poignant being present for the final leg of the procession, she said: 'I really, really felt that. It really felt final.' Mr Jones added: 'It's about making memories - somebody said on the television this morning that it marks the end of the post-war era - and it does feel like the end of an era.' A woman dressed in black with a rose headdress and holding a tea cup was moved to tears during the funeral, which was shown at Hyde Park in central London Crowds watch as the state gun carriage carries the Queen's coffin along Whitehall following her funeral at Westminster Abbey Crowds on The Mall stand for a two minutes silence during the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II People react as the State Gun Carriage carrying the Queen's coffin pass by during the Ceremonial Procession Spectators comfort each other as they stand to watch the State Funeral of the Queen Members of the public in the crowd at The Mall get tearful ahead of the funeral In London, many had spent a cold night outdoors as they camped in order to reserve prime viewing spots for the late monarch's funeral procession, while many more got up at dawn to journey into the capital. Anyone arriving after 9.10am was re-directed to Hyde Park after public viewing areas were declared full. At least 215,000 people watched the Queen's funeral in central London's ceremonial viewing areas, according to City Hall figures. Hyde Park was packed as Her Majesty's funeral began at 11am, with people congregating in the central London park to watch the momentous event on four big screens installed especially for the occasion. Ahead of the service, well-wishers lining the Mall clapped in support of King Charles, and his sons Princes William and Harry, as they made their way from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey. Emotions were running high as the funeral got underway, with some mourners in Whitehall and Parliament Square moved to tears while others could be seen hugging and consoling each other at a time of national grief. As the crowds listened to the funeral, with the proceedings from Westminster Abbey relayed by speakers above the street, some sang quietly along with the hymns. When the time came for the two-minute silence, not a sound could be heard the length of Whitehall as many in the crowd bowed their head or closed their eyes for a period of silent reflection. Even as the two-minutes elapsed, many remained hushed and quiet as many bowed their heads to remember the late head of state. It was not until the time came, a few moments later, to sing the national anthem that the crowd roused itself, applause breaking out across the length of Whitehall when it came to a close. Not far away, tears streamed down the faces of mourners among the crowds on Constitution Hill as the service drew to a close, ending with two minutes of silence, the Last Post and the national anthem. Others began putting away iPads and tablets, which they streamed the service on and held up to allow those further back to watch, in anticipation for the passing of the cortege. The street was lined with a half-company from the Royal Air Force (RAF) standing alongside police officers. People wrapped in Union Jack flags stand as they watch the Queen's state funeral from Hyde Park on Monday A woman standing in quiet reflection in Hyde Park, where thousands gathered to watch the Queen's state funeral A little girl holds a love-heart shaped balloon with a picture of the Queen emblazoned on it in Hyde Park on Monday afternoon People stood to watch the royal funeral procession make its way through the streets of Whitehall on Monday afternoon A woman holding a bouquet of flowers and flag with a picture of the Queen was among spectators in Hyde Park on Monday A little girl waves a Union Jack flag as she watches the Queen's state funeral from Hyde Park in central London on Monday A woman is consoled by a man after becoming emotional during the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II People bow their heads in quiet contemplation as they gather to remember the life of Queen Elizabeth II in London on Monday Two women draped in Union Jack flags looked visibly upset as they stood outside Buckingham Palace for the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II A woman could be seen wiping away a tear as she listened to the funeral service of Queen Elizabeth II, which took place at Westminster Abbey A woman removed her sunglasses to wipe away a tear as she gathered to remember the late monarch, who died at her Balmoral estate on September 8 Two women hugged each other and appeared visibly upset as they gathered to watch the Queen's state funeral on Monday A member of the public wipes away a tear as she stands along The Mall for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II on Monday A woman removed her glasses to wipe away a tear as she watched the funeral proceedings from Hyde Park in central London People cried in Hyde Park and bowed their heads as they stood to remember Queen Elizabeth II during her state funeral on Monday Two women showed an outpouring of grief as they joined thousands of people to watch the funeral service from Hyde Park in central London A well-wisher held a portrait of the late monarch as she waited along the funeral procession route on Monday morning In Windsor, a woman tears up on the day of Queen Elizabeth II's funeral Among those at Windsor were David and Maureen Goodhead who had travelled down from Burton-on-Trent to see the procession along the Long Walk and spoke to MailOnline. Window salesman David, 72, said after the Westminster Abbey service:'That was so emotional, so touching and so well done. 'It was history and I'm glad we came down for it. We wouldn't have missed it for anything. It's history isn't it. I can just about remember the Coronation so to see this is is very emotional.' Retired bar worker Maureen said:'We came down on Saturday and stayed with friends in London and had a look at all the flowers in Hyde Park and they were wonderful. 'It's been amazing to watch the service here on the screens but when the hearse passes by later with her coffin it will really sink home she has gone and we won't see her again.' Maureen, who knew both verses of the National Anthem, said:'I learned it off by heart in the Girl Guides and it brought a lump to my throat. ' We were here in Windsor for when Prince Philip and we took flowers to Althorp for Diana. We won't be moving from this spot until it's all over. We have a good view and we are here for the long run.' As the national anthem was sung after the service, the clouds parted and the sun shone through the trees in Green Park. What will happen today as the Queen is laid to rest? The Queen's state funeral will take place today, which was dubbed D-Day+10 or D+10 in the Operation London Bridge plan for events following the monarch's death. Here is a timeline of events expected to take place over the next 24 hours. - Lying in state The lying in state ended at 6.30am today, before the Queen's coffin is taken to Westminster Abbey for the funeral service. - Funeral service at Westminster Abbey At 8am, the congregation will begin to take their seats in the abbey. Heads of state and overseas government representatives, including foreign royal families, governors-general and realm prime ministers will first gather at the Royal Hospital in Chelsea before travelling to Westminster. Just after 10.35am, a bearer party from The Queen's Company, 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, will lift the coffin from a wooden frame and carry it to the Royal Navy's State Gun Carriage by the North Door of Westminster Hall. The carriage will depart at 10.44am, drawn by 142 Royal Naval personnel. It will be followed by the King, other members of the royal family, the King's Household and the Household of the Prince of Wales. The procession will arrive at the West Gate of Westminster Abbey at 10.52am and the coffin will be lifted off the carriage by the bearer party and carried inside. Before the service, the tenor bell will toll every minute for 96 minutes, reflecting the years of the Queen's life. The funeral will begin at 11am. At 11.55am, The Last Post will mark the beginning of a national two-minute silence. The Queen's Piper will then play Reveille, the national anthem and a lament to bring the service to a close at around 12pm. - The procession and onwards to Windsor The Queen's coffin will be carried back to the gun carriage before the procession steps off from Westminster Abbey at 12.15pm. The procession will move through Broad Sanctuary Parliament Square (south and east sides), Parliament Street, Whitehall, Horse Guards including Horse Guards Arch, Horse Guards Road, The Mall, Queen's Gardens (south and west sides), Constitution Hill and Apsley Way, before arriving at Wellington Arch at 1pm. The coffin will be lifted off the gun carriage and placed in the state hearse, which will depart for Windsor as the parade gives a royal salute and the national anthem is played. The King and the Queen Consort, the Prince and Princess of Wales and other members of the royal family will depart for Windsor by car. The hearse will approach Shaw Farm Gate in Albert Road, Windsor, and join the procession, which will have been formed up and in position to step off at 3.10pm. - The committal service The service will mark the end of public ceremonial arrangements, and will begin at 4pm. The door of St George's Chapel will open for the congregation at 3.20pm, with members of the royal family not in the procession arriving for the service at 3.25pm. The hearse will process along Albert Road, Long Walk, Cambridge Gate, Cambridge Drive, George IV Gate, Quadrangle (south and west sides), Engine Court, Norman Arch, Chapel Hill and the Parade Ground. The procession, which will have been joined by the King and other family members on the north side of the quadrangle as it passes into Engine Court, will arrive at the West Steps of the chapel in Horseshoe Cloister at 3.53pm. The bearer party will lift the coffin from the hearse and it will be carried in procession up the steps into St George's Chapel before the committal service. It is not known how long the service will last. The King and members of the royal family will depart from the Galilee Porch for Windsor Castle once the service concludes. - The private burial service The Dean of Windsor will conduct a burial service attended by the King and members of the royal family at 7.30pm. The Queen will be buried with the Duke of Edinburgh at King George VI Memorial Chapel. Advertisement There was a hush from the crowd in Whitehall, as the funeral procession moved past the Cabinet War Rooms, the Cenotaph and Downing Street on its final journey to Windsor Catle. Some emerged to watch the pomp and pageantry from balconies and windows, clad in black, while those on the street craned their necks and clutched cameras as they awaited the chance to say goodbye. Throughout the duration of the procession, Minute Guns were fired in Hyde Park by The King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery, as Big Ben tolled. Ex-Service Association standard bearers, mustered by the Royal British Legion, flanked the Cenotaph on Whitehall and saluted as the Queen's coffin moved past, while thousands lined South Carriage Drive to be the first to see the hearse as it carried the Queen's coffin to Windsor. In some places the crowds were 30 people deep. Mourners were seen waving Union Jack flags and carrying flowers. In a moving gesture, staff from Buckingham Palace stood outside the gates of the royal residence and watched as the late monarch was taken past for the last time on its way to Wellington Arch, where her hearse to Windsor was waiting Well-wishers told of their pride at being in the crowd to watch Her Majesty's final journey today. Paul Griffiths, 48, and wife Brenda, 46, from Newport, South Wales stayed at his brother David's home in Surrey last night. Paul, a driving instructor, said: 'I'm so proud to have been here in the flesh. It was marvellous to see the procession and gear the bands 'It brought a lump in my throat. 'We had a bit of a journey and had an early start this morning. 'But I will never forget being here today. I was a really spectacular performance.' Brenda added: 'I always admired the Queen. Ever since I was s little girl I have wanted to meet her. And somehow I felt close to her being here today, 'She was a wonderful figure and an inspiration to us all.' Ends Fahey, 44, who had travelled from Ennislkillen for the funeral, said the trip was well worth it. 'She meant so much to so many people in Northern Ireland and I had to come and pay my respects to her. 'The planning has been meticulous and we're very impressed so far. We're a bit worried about getting out of London and the trip home but we're so pleased we came.' John Ridley, 36, of South Shields travelled down for funeral last night and was pleased he came. 'I stayed at a friend's house and came early this morning and got a good spot to watch the proceedings. I wish the service had been broadcast live to crowds outside but I believe something went wrong with the system.' He said: 'In the end it has been a very good trip. It seems like we were all here to say goodbye to an era and welcome in a new one.' Luke Barnes, 21, and his mum Jane, 47, travelled to London from Kettering to watch the funeral. Luke, a student, said: 'We've always followed the Royal family and it was great to be here today. 'It was very moving. I'm not embarrassed to say that it brought me to tears seeing the coffin. Mum cried too.' Jane added: 'it was really good. Everyone was really professional and respectful. 'I couldn't really see Prince Garry and Meghan but I'm sure they were very dignified, King Charles and Prince William have been really good.' Suzanne Dinnadge , 52, and Amanda Johnson, 48, from Eltham, south-east London, had camped out in Whitehall last night with a group of five other family members. As she was 'kettled' by police outside Westminster Tube station, Suzanne told MailOnline: 'It was an amazing day - once in a lifetime, but standing here has taken the edge off it - it's very frustrating as the procession is long past now.' Amanda added: 'It was very emotional and I'm glad we all came - she was our Queen all my life and more and I really wanted to be here. 'I cried a few times, especially when the soldiers were all marching past in step. 'I guess we'll never see an event like this again.' After the funeral service concluded with the sounding of the Last Post, the two-minute silence which followed was impeccably observed by those lining the streets. The national anthem boomed out from the Abbey on loudspeakers and applause erupted from the crowd after some joined in singing 'God Save the King'. Mourners stood silently as a BBC radio commentary was played over the loudspeakers as the bearer party carried the Queen's coffin to the gun carriage. Shortly afterwards, the hour-long procession past Buckingham Palace to Wellington Arch began. King Charles III led the solemn procession with Princes William and Harry following behind. As the crowd of mourners stood 10 deep, hundreds of mobile phones were raised in the air to capture images as the procession went by. Many others in the crowd had no hope of even getting a glimpse of the state gun carriage or members of the Royal Family as they solemnly followed behind. But they didn't mind. One member of the crowd said: 'We came overnight and slept on the pavement but we still weren't able to get anywhere near the front. 'The most important thing is just to be here. People are sharing a moment and it has been incredibly moving just to do that. 'You get a better overview watching it all on TV at home but unless you are here you can only imagine the atmosphere and what it is really like.' A woman wipes away tears as crowds gathered to watch the State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II A woman holding a bunch of flowers bowed her head as she commemorated the life of Queen Elizabeth II People all over the UK to watch the State Funeral of the Queen and many were visibly upset Emotional mourners were seen wiping away tears and consoling each other as Queen Elizabeth II's funeral got underway on Monday morning Hyde Park was packed with members of the public who had gathered at the central London park to watch the Queen's state funeral from big TV screens set up there Emotional mourners were seen wiping away tears and consoling each other as Queen Elizabeth II's funeral got underway on Monday morning Emotional mourners were seen wiping away tears and consoling each other as Queen Elizabeth II's funeral got underway on Monday morning Best friends Ruben Roads, 11, and Roman Hutchings, 12, woke up at 5.30am to travel into London from their home in Westerham, Kent, with Roman's dad. Ruben, 11, said: 'We wanted to come here. It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience. 'The Queen reigned for 70 years. We will never see another day like this in history. It is important to so many people. It is the end of one chapter but the start of a new one.' Roman, 12, added: 'We wanted to pay our respects and pay tribute to the Queen. She pretty much was queen of the world. 'It is the end of the Elizabethan era. She has done so much for Britain and now that she's gone everything is going to change. It's so sad. I just hope Charles will be a very good king but we will have to wait and see.' In Windsor, crowds along the Long Walk fell silent to observe the two minutes' silence in respect of the Queen. The atmosphere grew eerily quiet, still and sombre as the sound of The Last Post sounded from large screens broadcasting the state funeral at Westminster Abbey. Members of the largely black-clad crowd could be seen bowing their heads. Among those at Windsor were David and Maureen Goodhead who had travelled down from Burton-on-Trent to see the procession along the Long Walk. Window salesman David, 72, said after the Westminster Abbey service: 'That was so emotional, so touching and so well done. 'It was history and I'm glad we came down for it. We wouldn't have missed it for anything. It's history isn't it. I can just about remember the Coronation so to see this is is very emotional.' Retired bar worker Maureen said: 'We came down on Saturday and stayed with friends in London and had a look at all the flowers in Hyde Park and they were wonderful. 'It's been amazing to watch the service here on the screens but when the hearse passes by later with her coffin it will really sink home she has gone and we won't see her again.' Maureen, who knew both verses of the national anthem, said: 'I learned it off by heart in the Girl Guides and it brought a lump to my throat. 'We were here in Windsor for when Prince Philip and we took flowers to Althorp for Diana. We won't be moving from this spot until it's all over. We have a good view and we are here for the long run.' Mourners looked emotional as they paid farewell to Her Majesty during her state funeral on Monday People had brought camping chairs to watch the Queen's funeral service from a large television screen outside Windsor Castle, where she will be laid to rest alongside her late husband Prince Philip Windsor Castle was packed with people paying their respects to the late monarch during her state funeral in London on Monday A group of women watched the funeral proceedings from a mobile phone as they lined the streets of central London on Monday One mourner was seen covering her face as she lined the streets to say a final goodbye to Queen Elizabeth II Crowds listened to the service on Horse Guards Avenue during the Queen's state funeral at Westminster Abbey on Monday Crowds lined Horse Guards Avenue in central London ahead of Queen Elizabeth II's state funeral Two women hugged each other as they mourned the death of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster on Monday A woman wiped tears from her face as she joined the crowds of people paying their respects to the late monarch on Monday Earlier that morning, mourners had taken up their positions along the funeral procession route in central London, where Her Majesty would begin her last journey on a two-and-a-half ton gun carriage pulled by 98 Royal Navy sailors Every available view of Westminster Abbey had been occupied before dawn - with City Hall declaring all public viewing spots full by just after 9.10am. Overnight, Parliament Square and Whitehall transformed into a giant campsite as thousands claimed their spots and sat behind barriers in neat rows. Shortly after 5am, cheers greeted the arrival of the historic gun carriage first used at the funeral of Queen Victoria in 1901. It was brought in on the back of a low loader before being hauled into position by a team of waiting Royal Navy ratings. Police officers taking part in ceremonial duties were applauded as they marched in file along Whitehall in the darkness towards the Abbey. 'PLEASE go for a beer!': Network Rail pleads with mourners to 'go to a pub or cafe' rather than all rush home at same time after Queen's funeral... Rail bosses have pleaded with mourners to head for a beer or a coffee after the Queen's funeral today in a bid to avoid more travel chaos after electrical faults this morning meant all trains into the capital from the west were disrupted. Mourners heading to London and Windsor for the State funeral faced severe delays as a damaged overhead wire meant all trains into London from Slough disrupted for the rest of the day. Great Western Railway (GWR) said all railway lines between Slough and Paddington were blocked due to damage to overhead electric wires. All railway lines between Slough and Paddington are blocked due to damage to overhead electric wires. Pictured: Paddington This is disrupting journeys for mourners who were attempting to travel to London for the Queen's funeral from Reading or Heathrow Airport. Services run by GWR, Heathrow Express and the Elizabeth line are affected. The lines between Reading and Newbury were also closed due to a person being hit by a train. This is causing GWR trains to be diverted, delaying journeys to the capital. Hundreds of GWR passengers on five early morning trains into Paddington station had to be walked down the track to safety after the electric power lines went down. A GWR spokesman told MailOnline that the trains were evacuated and passengers taken to safety at the nearest station. The spokesman added: 'There will be no services in and out of Paddington station for the rest of the day.' The problem at Hayes and Harlington station was reported at around 6.45am. Passengers on a severely delayed Paddington-bound train were told by a member of staff on the public address system: 'My sincerest apologies for the delays on such an important day for the country.' Advertisement Some well-wishers' journeys began at 2am as they travelled to the capital to watch the Queen's state funeral. Christine Birch, 61, her husband Stephen Birch, 58, and friend Margaret Frost, 68, left Bakewell, Derbyshire, in the early hours of Monday to pay their respects to the late monarch from Constitution Hill. An emotional Mrs Birch said: 'It's strange to come down to London for something so sad, because normally we come to all the celebrations. 'It's going to be very emotional for everyone. 'I think it's very important that the whole country has come together for this. 'The least we could all do is to make an effort to pay our respects. 'She's given her entire life for all of us.' Many of those who had travelled to London insisted they believed it was their duty to be there to help the nation pay a fitting tribute to the Queen's remarkable 70-year reign. Grandmothers Christine Whitby and Shirin Thorpe, both, 61, were the first mourners to arrive for the funeral - setting up camp in Westminster at 8am on Thursday morning. The pair from Sevenoaks, Kent, were moved three times by police before finding a spot on the edge of Parliament Square. They hung two Union Flags from metal barriers in front of them and brought tents, inflatable mattresses, sleeping bags and winter coats to endure four cold nights on the streets. Shirin, a retired vintage clothing seller, said: 'There's going to be millions of people here and we didn't want to miss out. 'I did feel like it was my duty to be here and I feel a part of it. 'To me it would have been like not going to your mother's funeral. 'I wanted to pay my condolences to the family, do my bit and grieve with them. 'As far as I'm concerned the Queen put the Great in Britain and I'm not sure what life will be without her. 'She has been in my life as far back as I can remember. 'It sounds really stupid but it feels like she is part of the family.' 'I take a lot from her strengths. She was a mechanic during the war, raised kids and worked up until the day she died. She did so much for women.' As she spoke she burst into tears saying: 'I'm sorry. The enormity of it all is finally hitting home. 'I lost my mother five years ago aged 95 so I feel that too.' Christine said: 'Our families thought we were crazy. They told me I wouldn't even make one night but that made me even more determined to see it through. 'I wanted to be here. She's been my Queen my entire life. I wanted to pay my respects and until the day I die, along with the births of my son and grandson, this will be my everlasting memory.' Stephen Garner, 53, from Canterbury, Kent, said: 'The Queen was part of the fabric of our lives - she was always there and now she's gone. 'There's never going to be another monarch like her, certainly not in any of our lifetimes and there will never be another day like to day.' Meanwhile, sisters Patty and Cindy caught a flight from Dulles, Virginia in the US on Friday especially to attend the funeral. The pair then queued outside Westminster Hall before taking their place in the crowd at Parliament Square at 4am this morning. Patty said: 'I'm a huge admirer of how the Queen has lived her life. My sister, who lives in Ohio, and I just had to come over for this. 'This is history in the making and we'll probably never see someone like the Queen again. To rule without blemish like she has for 70 years if a huge, huge thing.' Patty, who lives in Ashburn in Loudoun County, said: 'Where I live, it's like a mini version of London. We are both huge admirers of the Royals and what they do but my sister is the real fan.' One new mother told of her decision to travel to London from Portsmouth and brave the crowds while carrying her 11-month-old baby daughter in a sling. Laura Rand had previously been to other Royal events before having kids and felt she couldn't miss this 'moment in history' - even if it meant bringing a baby along. The nurse had brought plenty of snacks and drinks - and a dress that meant she could breastfeed without taking Sophia out of the sling. The mum-of-two said: 'The more I saw what was happening over the past 10 days the more I felt I wanted to go - and I couldn't leave my husband with both kids! 'Sophia has slept all the way here and is chilled so hopefully that will last. 'It will be busy but we will get to the procession when we get there and leave when we can leave, we will just be chilled and go with the flow. 'I know there are quite a lot of people bringing their young children - shout out to all the other mums who have brough their babies!' But she joked: 'There was no why I'd have brought my three-year-old too, I'm not completely bonkers.' People have gathered in Hyde Park to watch Queen Elizabeth II's state funeral on Monday A family watched television coverage on a mobile phone on Monday as they gathered in London to watch the Queen's funeral A little girl being held up by her dad in Westminster ahead of Queen Elizabeth II's state funeral on Monday morning. Crowds have gathered to say one final farewell to the late monarch, who died on September 8, aged 96 Crowds outside Parliament Square in Westminster ahead of Queen Elizabeth II's state funeral on Monday, September 19 Mourners have lined the Mall ahead of the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey this morning Mourners arrived early to line the funeral procession route of Queen Elizabeth II on Monday morning. Viewing areas have now reached capacity and people are being sent to Hyde Park to watch the historic event from there Mourners arrived early to line the funeral procession route of Queen Elizabeth II on Monday morning. Viewing areas have now reached capacity and people are being sent to Hyde Park to watch the historic event from there Mourners arrived early to line the funeral procession route of Queen Elizabeth II on Monday morning. Viewing areas have now reached capacity and people are being sent to Hyde Park to watch the historic event from there Hyde Park was packed with members of the public who had gathered at the central London park to watch the Queen's state funeral from big TV screens set up there Britain grinds to a halt: Roads and motorways are empty during Monday morning rush hour Britain's roads and motorways were eerily quiet on Monday morning as commuters stayed at home or camped out over night to watch the Queen's funeral. London's highways were near-deserted after a slew of road closures, while those looking to drive around the capital being advised to check before they travel. Junction, A1M / A14 was very bare on Monday morning The M62 connecting Manchester to Liverpool was deserted Earlier this morning buses appeared to have been transporting military officers in ceremonial dress which were spotted in and around Parliament Square and Birdcage Walk. Meanwhile in the North the M62 connecting Manchester and Liverpool was almost deserted while a usually packed contraflow system on Birmingham's Aston Expressway was almost void of vehicles. The M1, one of England's largest motorways, which cuts through some of the country's major cities, was also very quiet during the late monarch's service. Advertisement While some royal fans camped out days prior to the funeral, others arrived on Monday morning and were left concerned that they may not be able to watch from the procession route. One pearly king and queen said they would be heartbroken if they cannot watch the Queen's funeral after the public viewing areas in central London filled up. Jimmy Jukes, 67, pearly king of the London boroughs of Camberwell and Bermondsey, said: 'I'll be totally devastated. 'It means a lot to us and it'll break our hearts if we can't see it.' Mr Jukes, who was given an MBE for charity work by the Queen in 2015, added: 'We just wanted to pay our final respects to her.' Michelle Thorpe, 55, pearly queen of Southwark, said: 'Considering the queen loved the pearlies, it's especially tough. I'm nearly in tears already.' People heading to the capital spoke of their mixed emotions as they prepared to say a final farewell to the Queen. A couple from Lewisham got up before dawn so they could get a 'last look' at Her Majesty the Queen and 'say goodbye' at the state funeral today. Yan Lung, 36, and Lulu Lee, 30, had brought fold up chairs, a blanket, food and drink to sustain them through their wait. Yan, a wholesaler, said: 'We got up early because we want to get a good spot so we can get a last look at the Queen and say goodbye. 'This is a big international event and we want to be there. It's a part of history.' The couple, who are originally from China, have lived in the UK for 15 years and grown to love the Queen. Lulu explained: 'The Queen is a very kind person. She has always been here caring for the people. So we want to say goodbye.' Another couple told how they had travelled to London from Edinburgh to 'pay their respects' after they were unable to honour Her Majesty in Scotland. Becky Knight, 32, a doctor, and Michael Rutherford, an IT worker, stayed overnight at a friend's house in Lewisham. Ms Knight explained: 'I was there last Sunday when the Queen came to Edinburgh from Balmoral. 'But I wasn't able to get to the procession or pay my respects when she lay in rest because I was at work. 'So we decided to come to London and be here at the funeral. I have great admiration for the Queen. 'She stands for integrity, respect, devotion to duty and our country. She will be sorely missed.' Mr Rutherford added: 'she was a wonderful lady and I want to pay my respects.' Mourners have lined the Mall ahead of the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey this morning Mourners have lined the Mall ahead of the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey this morning Hyde Park was packed with members of the public who had gathered at the central London park to watch the Queen's state funeral from big TV screens set up there Crowds outside the Treasury across Parliament Square from Westminster Abbey on Monday morning Metropolitan Police officers were seen walking in formation down The Mall on Monday morning ahead of the Queen's state funeral City Hall said on Monday morning that all procession viewing areas are now full and there will be no entry to any new arrivals While many expressed their sadness at attending the state funeral, they also said they were privileged to be attending a once-in-a-lifetime event. Among them was Brian McBride, the President of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), who will be among the 2,000 in the congregation at Westminster Abbey. He said he was proud to be representing British business at the service. 'When you look at what has been going on in the last week and you cannot help but be proud,' he said. 'I am very honoured to be attending the service and will be there as a representative of British industry. I have been so impressed by everything that has taken place.' Mr McBride travelled from his home in Camberley, Surrey, to Richmond station in southwest London to board a 6.18am train to Waterloo. He was among more than two dozen people who arrived at the station in darkness to make sure they were in London and secure their place with up to two million other expected on the funeral procession route. Mourners start to start on the Long Walk in Windsor ahead of Queen Elizabeth II's state funeral in London on Monday morning Police officers patrolled the Long Walk in Windsor as mourners begin to line the procession route where Queen Elizabeth's II coffin will be led Crowds begin to line the Long Walk at Windsor Castle. Queen Elizabeth II will be buried inside the King George VI Memorial Chapel within St George's Chapel alongside her late husband the Duke of Edinburgh, who died last April Mourners are gathering in Windsor ahead of Queen Elizabeth II's state funeral in London on Monday morning Mourners start to start on the Long Walk in Windsor ahead of Queen Elizabeth II's state funeral in London on Monday morning Mourners are gathering in Windsor ahead of Queen Elizabeth II's state funeral in London on Monday morning Friends Victoria Ingram and Jenna Anderson said they were attending their third royal event together. Ms Anderson, 37, had travelled to Richmond from her home in Royal Leamington Spa and stayed overnight at her friend's home in Royal Ascot. Ms Ingram, 37, said:' We go to royal events together and were at Kate and Wills wedding. We also went to the Diamond Jubilee celebrations but were unable to get tickets for the most recent Platinum celebrations. 'It is incredibly sad, but to see all the pomp and ceremony that has been going on in the last 10 days has been so inspiring.' 'We just wanted to be part of something that will probably never happen again in my lifetime,' Ms Anderson added. Both women had dressed in black and Jenna clutched a foldaway chair. They had decided to get one of the first underground trains from Richmond to guarantee a front row position. Paul and Jo McKenna drove from their home in Basingstoke, Hampshire and parked at Richmond station. They caught the 6.03 district line train to Embankment and were hoping to get a place on The Mall to view the funeral procession. Mr McKenna, 61, said: 'We wanted to be part of something and also to say farewell to someone who has served this country with such distinction.' Mourners have lined the Mall ahead of the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey this morning Mourners have lined the Mall ahead of the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey this morning Mourners have lined the Mall ahead of the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey this morning Military veterans said they felt compelled to attend the funeral as they had sworn an oath to serve the Queen. 'I would not have missed this for the world, said David Wood, 51, who had travelled from his home in Bournemouth in Hampshire to meet with friends at Waterloo station. 'When I joined the Royal Artillery, I swore an oath to serve the Queen and that stays until she has gone. 'There will be a lot of veterans here and all of them very proud to have served in the military and to know they were serving the Queen.' Mr Wood, who served for nine years in the Royal Artillery, now runs a charity helping homeless veterans. Another veteran making his way from Waterloo station to watch the funeral procession was Joseph Todd who served for 28 years in the Royal Navy. The former chief medic on the aircraft carrier Ark Royal said he had met the Queen on several occasions during his military career, including a reception at St James's Palace. 'I knew I had to be here and it is going to be very emotional,' he said. 'I think all of us who served in the military and took an oath to serve the Queen will find it hard to say goodbye. It is an end of an era.' Joseph had travelled to London from his home in Portsmouth, Hampshire, with his partner Debbie Langley. A beefeater is seen walking past the crowds which have gathered outside Parliament Square in Westminster ahead of Queen Elizabeth II's state funeral on Monday, September 19 Mourners have lined the Mall ahead of the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey this morning Mourners have lined the Mall ahead of the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey this morning Mourners arrived early to line the funeral procession route of Queen Elizabeth II on Monday morning. Viewing areas have now reached capacity and people are being sent to Hyde Park to watch the historic event from there Another ex-miltary vet Ken Blaydon had travelled from his home in Salisbury. A former member of the RAF Regiment, he said that during his 12 years of service he had always been proud to serve the Queen. 'She gave 70 years of service to our country and I don't think there is a single person who was in the military past and present who does not admire her. 'She was the stalwart of our country and a reassuring presence. I know King Charles will be a resounding success and he will have the support of the nation.' One Metropolitan Police officer came straight from a shift that included a duty at the Queen's lying in state to be on the funeral procession route with his family. Darren O'Brien, 53, part of the Met's parliamentary diplomatic and protection group, said it was 'surreal' to be at Westminster Hall between 1.30 and 2am on Monday. 'You're overcome by what you see,' he said, adding that people 'pass you and the next minute they are crying'. Mr O'Brien, from Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, who served in the Army for over five years and participated in 18 Trooping the Colour events, said being at the hall gave him a 'much closer attachment' to the funeral. Speaking at Constitution Hill, he added that it was 'the right thing to come down and pay my respects'. One woman who has camped on Horseguards Road for two days is celebrating her 59th birthday today. Marion King, and her sister Carol Argent, both from Ashford in Kent, set up camp on Saturday night. Ms King said: 'We've been here since Saturday evening at 9pm to find the spot and for the atmosphere. 'We've been doing this since the age of 10. I used to be a girl guide. We brought a gas stove, tea, coffee and three bottles of wine which have already run out. 'But there's a Tesco over the road so we'll go there soon!' 'We've met loads of nice people: Kiwis, South Africans and Canadians. 'We have all made a WhatsApp group and will meet again for the coronation. First our group was just from the UK, now we have the whole commonwealth around us.' Crowds have been told that all public viewing areas for the Queen's funeral procession are full, according to City Hall, and are being sent to Hyde Park where they can watch the Queen's state funeral on four big screens installed for the occasion Mourners are lining the route that Queen Elizabeth II's coffin will be pulled along on a gun carriage following her state funeral service at Westminster Abbey this morning Mourners have lined the Mall ahead of the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey this morning The group sang happy birthday to Ms King at 9:30am on Monday morning. Ms King has laid flowers for the Queen, attended the vigil and went to Westminster Hall for the lying in state since Her Majesty's death. Sean Hamer, 57, who was a gunner in the Royal Artillery attended on behalf of his regiment after travelling down from Cumbria. He said: 'A lot of my ex-gunner friends couldn't make it today, so I'm just happy I can be here for them. 'It means a great deal to me to be here for the Queen.' Mr Hamer had ankle surgery last week, which he said 'was terrible timing for today.' Meanwhile people are being allowed into St James's Park and are forming a line along the Mall but a handful became frustrated that they could not get out. Robert Costello, 34, came with a veteran friend from the Armed Forces Scooter Club. They parked their bikes in Battersea and walked but were stuck in the park as the crowds swelled. 'The bill told me to get out down there but they won't let me through,' he said. 'It's ridiculous.' As he became frustrated a police office told him: 'There is no exit at the moment, it's just a loop.' A respectful hush fell over the 20-deep crowds around Parliament Square from the moment Big Ben began its mournful tolling and the Queen's coffin was loaded onto the gun carriage. Compared to the hours before when people had been chatting happily as they waited for hours and even days to see the funeral, the atmosphere suddenly changed. 'It all feels very real now,' said one woman waiting in Great George Street, straining to see the procession above a forest of outheld arms with phones held aloft. As the Naval Ratings slowly with their precious cargo snaked their way across the square and into Westminster Abbey, the crowds began to slowly disperse in order to watch the procession after the service. Mourners have lined the Mall ahead of the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey this morning Mourners arrived early to line the funeral procession route of Queen Elizabeth II on Monday morning. Viewing areas have now reached capacity and people are being sent to Hyde Park to watch the historic event from there Mourners arrived early to line the funeral procession route of Queen Elizabeth II on Monday morning. Viewing areas have now reached capacity and people are being sent to Hyde Park to watch the historic event from there Thousands of mourners streamed through Windsor and Eton Riverside station as they made their way towards Windsor Castle ahead of the Queen's final journey. The central station of the town is experiencing disruption due to a fault with overhead wiring meaning there are no trains running between Paddington and Reading, affecting those travelling to Windsor from the west of the country. A spokesperson for National Rail advised passengers heading from London to Windsor to travel from Waterloo instead of Paddington at this time. They added they are working on imminently adding diesel trains to their services rather than electric to and from Paddington to improve the situation. Great Western Railway (GWR) said all lines between the west London station and Slough, Berkshire, are blocked due to damage to overhead electric wires. The problem is affecting journeys for passengers travelling from Reading and Heathrow Airport. Services run by GWR, Heathrow Express and the Elizabeth line are disrupted. The lines between Reading and Newbury are also closed due to a person being hit by a train. This is causing GWR trains to be diverted, delaying journeys to the capital. The issues come during one of the UK's biggest transport operations as mourners descend on London and Windsor. One passenger said they were stranded on a train which was stationary outside Paddington for 30 minutes. Heathrow Airport had previously urged airline passengers to use rail or Tube services on Monday due to road closures in the Windsor area. Meanwhile, at Waterloo Station, hundreds of security guards are on duty ready for the influx of mourners expected to travel to the capital for the funeral. Authorities in the capital have already warned mourners that central London is extremely busy, with Transport for London (TfL) expecting 'one of the busiest days [it] has ever faced'. National Rail has encouraged mourners to go to pubs and cafes after the state funeral to ease the pressure on the rail network. A post on the network's Twitter account read: 'Cafes, pubs and other hospitality providers around London are expected to be open this afternoon, so please don't rush home immediately following the state funeral and final procession so you can continue marking this historic day and help ease pressure on the rail network.' Crowds have gathered along the Long Walk in Windsor to watch the Queen's state funeral and pay their respects to the late monarch Crowds have gathered along the Long Walk in Windsor to watch the Queen's state funeral and pay their respects to the late monarch Crowds have gathered along the Long Walk in Windsor to watch the Queen's state funeral and pay their respects to the late monarch The M25, usually packed on a Monday morning , was eerily quiet with barely any vehicles. Ring of steel forms around London for Queen's funeral: 10,000 police officers and 1,500 soldiers set up six mile-wide grid as snipers keep look out for danger in biggest security operation in UK history The 'biggest security operation in British history' is underway today, with at least 10,000 police officers and 1,500 soldiers forming a six-mile wide ring of steel around central London for Queen Elizabeth II's funeral. Many roads and bridges have been shut to traffic and 23-miles of barriers put up to control crowds and keep key areas secure, with police with sniffer dogs on duty to check people passing by. Around Westminster Abbey, specialist firearms officers have been drafted in while spotters with binoculars took up positions on the rooftops of government buildings. There is particularly heavy security around the Royal Hospital Chelsea, with an outer cordon of concrete blocks set up by police at 6am, blocking off all roads up to 600 yards away. Two rows of bollards were stretched across the road, along with a line of portable anti-terror barricades designed to be capable of stopping a bomb-laden truck. This morning there was a minor embarrassment when the official state car for Qatar was stopped for more than 30 minutes at the barricade after an apparent mix-up. Meanwhile, by Windsor Castle, police spotters scanned the crowds from temporary towers set up along the Long Walk. There is particularly heavy security around the Royal Hospital Chelsea, with an outer cordon of concrete blocks set up by police at 6am, blocking off all roads up to 600 yards away Advertisement At Staines-upon-Thames, which has a through rail service to Windsor, the car park was full by 7am with marshals on hand to guide people to trains. Once in Windsor later this afternoon, the funeral procession will travel up The Long Walk and through the Castle grounds to St George's Chapel, where Her Majesty will be buried alongside her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh. There is capacity for 96,000 within the public viewing areas alongside The Long Walk, but the town is preparing for 150,000 visitors on Monday. The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Council said they have no idea how many will turn up. There will be over-spill areas where mourners can watch on large screens just off the main viewing areas. Refreshment vans and dozens of portaloos have been installed along the Long Walk and flowers that were laid over the last few days by mourners at the Castle's Cambridge Gate entrance have been cleared away. They will be placed on the ground lining the edge of the road as the hearse makes its way to St George's Chapel while cellophane on flowers has been removed for recycling and the thousands of cards gathered up ready to be presented to the Royal Family. Council Leader Andrew Johnson said: 'It will eclipse all that has gone before and rightly so. We are expecting a huge turnout of people in the town, which does of course present us with challenges. 'We want people to be safe and to be secure but also to take part in a dignified and respectful service as well. 'It is really is a once in a lifetime moment not only for the country, but also for the town as well. 'It's an event that has been in preparation for a long time, but like any event what happens on Monday I'm sure will be driven as much by the people here and how they want to remember and pay their respects to their Queen.' The car park at Windsor and Eton Riverside station has been closed and barriers put up to zig zag thousands of mourners back to trains after the funeral which are expected to be picked. Shops and businesses in Windsor were shut with the only ones open being newsagents, cafes and convenience stores but even these planned to close during the funeral. The Council is asking for members of the public not to pitch up tents, to come early and to use public transport where possible. People were sent to Hyde Park in central London to watch the Queen's funeral on one of four big TV screens installed for the occasion, after procession viewing areas reached capacity just after 9am. But during the service, the screens went down for roughly three minutes in an apparent technical glitch. Up to 100,000 people are expected to watch the late monarch's funeral from the royal park, with a site supervisor saying the number of spectators could 'easily' surpass the 62,000 that showed to watch Harry and Meghan's wedding in 2018. Speaking ahead of the Queen's funeral, the SES Group site manager said last week: 'Put it this way, you know all that green grass? You're not going to see a blade of it on Monday'. Food vans started setting up last week in preparation for the influx of mourners, while portaloos have been installed for those watching from the park. The Queen's funeral will be broadcast live to more than 200 countries and territories worldwide - with projected viewing figures of up to 4.1 billion people meaning it could be the most-watched broadcast of all time - and screened to crowds in parks and public spaces across the UK. Crowds have gathered along the Long Walk in Windsor to watch the Queen's state funeral and pay their respects to the late monarch Crowds have gathered along the Long Walk in Windsor to watch the Queen's state funeral and pay their respects to the late monarch Crowds have gathered along the Long Walk in Windsor to watch the Queen's state funeral and pay their respects to the late monarch Hyde Park has begun to fill up as members of the public gather at the central London park to watch the Queen's state funeral from big TV screens set up there People begin to gather in Hyde Park in central London to watch Queen Elizabeth II's state funeral on big screens People begin to gather in Hyde Park in central London to watch Queen Elizabeth II's state funeral on big screens People begin to gather in Hyde Park in central London to watch Queen Elizabeth II's state funeral on big scree Mourners are lining the route that Queen Elizabeth II's coffin will be pulled along on a gun carriage following her state funeral service at Westminster Abbey this morning This is the dramatic moment a British tourist was arrested for allegedly running a child sex abuse website in the Philippines. John Crotty, 64, from Cardiff, Wales, was jailed in the UK for nine years in 2013 but moved to the impoverished Southeast Asian country in February this year shortly after his release from prison. He allegedly launched a website and social media accounts which he used to distribute obscene photos and broadcast live shows of underage Filipino girls exposing themselves. Crotty would allegedly befriend women over social media before offering them money for them to let their children be abused while he watched John Crotty, 64, from Cardiff, Wales, pictured in March 2013 when he was jailed in the UK for nine years for child sex abuse crimes, but moved to the impoverished Southeast Asian country in February this year shortly after his release from prison Police detained Crotty when they raided his rented bungalow in Tangub City, Misamis Occidental province on September 15. Footage shows staff from the Philippine Immigration Department's Fugitive Search Unit confronting the bewildered Briton in his shabby home and asking him to gather his travel documents before escorting him to their office. Ansari Maca-ayan, a regional director of the Bureau of Immigration's intelligence division, said: 'The suspect is facing charges for arranging and facilitating Filipino children to commit sexual prostitution online.' The investigator claimed that the suspect preyed on his alleged victims' poverty by promising large sums of money to their parents in exchange for assisting with the abuse of their children. He allegedly launched a website and social media accounts which he used to distribute obscene photos and broadcast live shows of underage Filipino girls exposing themselves The investigator claimed that the suspect preyed on his alleged victims' poverty by promising large sums of money to their parents in exchange for assisting with the abuse of their children Crotty would allegedly befriend women over social media before offering them money for them to let their children be abused while he watched. The British Embassy said the UK's National Crime Agency reported Crotty's arrival to the Philippines on February 6. He had been living with his girlfriend in Tangub City, but they have since separated. The tourist is being currently detained by the Bureau of Immigration and has not spoken publicly about his arrest. He is scheduled to be extradited to the United Kingdom, where he is on the sex offenders register, to face the charges. Ansari added: 'This is a clear warning that our country is not a safe haven for foreign offenders. The Philippine law enforcement is always vigilant watching criminals who are here in this country to take advantage of our hospitality.' Police detained Crotty when they raided his rented bungalow in Tangub City, Misamis Occidental province on September 15 Crotty was jailed at Cardiff Crown Court in March 2013 for 'arranging child prostitution in the Philippines'. The pervert, then 54, had been living in the Rhymney Valley, talking online with Filipino mums and asking to see lewd photos of their daughters. Chat records obtained by police allegedly showed that Crotty had solicited the women for pictures of their kids in the shower or naked in bed. Some of the mums had blocked him, calling him 'abnormal' and a 'maniac,' but others who were desperate for cash obliged his twisted requests. In court, Crotty insisted on his innocence and claimed his friends had used his computer while he was asleep. However, the jury learned that he had actually been up all night on his desktop, contrary to his alibis. He was sentenced to nine years in jail for child prostitution, possessing indecent photos of children, and commissioning child sex offences. He was released in 2021. At least one person died after a magnitude 6.9 earthquake hit the self-governing island of Taiwan on Sunday that also resulted in the destruction of buildings, derailing of train carriages, and trapping hundreds of residents on mountain roads. The region's weather bureau said that the epicenter of the massive quake was in Taitung county and followed a magnitude 6.4 earthquake on Saturday evening in the same area. Fortunately, there were no reported fatalities in the first incident. Magnitude 6.9 Earthquake The U.S. Geological Survey measured the tremor on Sunday and found it was of magnitude 7.2 at a depth of 10 kilometers. In a statement, Taiwan's fire department said that four people, who were stranded, were rescued from a building housing a convenience store that collapsed in Yuli. authorities added that three people whose vehicle fell off a damaged bridge were rescued and taken to a local hospital for treatment. On the other hand, the Taiwan Railways Administration said that six carriages came off the rails at Gondli station in eastern Taiwan after part of the platform canopy collapsed due to the quake. The fire department said that there were no reported injuries during that particular incident, as per Reuters. The tremor caused more than 600 people to become trapped in the scenic Chike and Liushishi mountain areas due to blocked roads. There were no reports of injuries and rescue efforts were underway to reopen the roads in the area. Read Also: More than 400 Flights Across Europe Canceled as French Air Traffic Controllers Go on Strike A warning was issued by the U.S. Pacific Tsunami Warning Center for Taiwan after the tremor but later lifted the alert. Likewise, Japan's weather agency lifted a tsunami warning for part of Okinawa prefecture. According to CNN, photographs of the aftermath of the massive quake showed collapsed buildings in southern Taiwan. Officials were also able to evacuate roughly 20 passengers after a train derailed in the area. Weekend Tremors Rock Taiwan A former presidential spokeswoman, Kolas Yotaka, who is running for elections in Hualien county, said that the damages were also reported at a local school. Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen activated the self-governing island's Central Emergency Operation Center following the earthquake. Residents in the region have been urged to stay alert to avoid potential aftershocks caused by the massive tremor. Authorities deployed roughly 110 soldiers in Hualien county to assist with disaster relief efforts, said Taiwanese defense ministry spokesman Sun Li-fang. The recent earthquake was the largest of more than 75 that rattled the island's south-eastern coast between Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon. The majority of the tremors' damage appeared to be north of the epicenter in the town of Chishang, in northern Taitung county, at a relatively shallow depth of six kilometers. Central News Agency, Taiwan's state media, said that a man with the surname Huang lost his life at a factory in Hualien when a piece of machinery fell on top of him. The 70-year-old owner of the three-story building that collapsed in Yuli was rescued first along with his wife. However, it took longer to rescue the remaining two stranded people, a 39-year-old woman, and her five-year-old daughter, The Guardian reported. Related Article: South African President Tells Washington Not To Force Itself on Pretoria With Its Bill @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. A hospital doctor has been suspended after she was caught stealing jeans and sunglasses from luxury department store Harvey Nichols and a handbag from Harrods. Dr Sunita Sharma was arrested after security staff at Harvey Nichols in London's Knightbridge found she had used scissors to cut security tags from the items in a changing room before trying to walk out with them. She failed to inform the General Medical Council of the incidents - which took place in 2008 - leading to the 12-month suspension. A medical disciplinary hearing was told she failed to report her criminal record - with it only being uncovered after she was later convicted of theft following a separate incident at a Lakeland store in Handforth, Cheshire. The later incident occurred as she was working as a junior clinical fellow at Manchester Royal Infirmary in September 2018. Dr Sharma was hauled into court for stealing a number of items from the store - including a microwave jug and travel bags. Although she pleaded not guilty, she was convicted of theft at Stockport Magistrates Court in May 2019, fined 286 and ordered to reimburse Lakeland for the cost of the items which was 104.18. When she did report this matter to the General Medical Council, they discovered the previous incidents - which she received a police caution for - in 2008. Security staff at Harvey Nichols in London's Knightsbridge found she had used scissors to cut security tags from the items in a changing room before trying to walk out with them The disciplinary hearing was told: 'Information was obtained regarding the Metropolitan Police incident which occurred in June 2008. 'Dr Sharma had used a pair of scissors to assist with removing tags from the items she had stolen, which was the substance of the 'going equipped for theft' allegation. 'Dr Sharma was seen by security staff at Harvey Nichols in Knightsbridge, London, at around 4pm exiting a changing room within the store. 'Security officers checked the cubicle and found a number of security electronic tags inside a pair of jeans that had been left in the cubicle which were the same as those the store used. 'There were also a number of ticket price labels on the floor and a number of other items found discarded in the same pair of jeans, including a pair of sunglasses.' The tribunal ruled that failing to report the police caution to the GMC, as she was obliged to do, amounted to misconduct. Discussing the thefts, the tribunal noted: 'These were not spur of the moment and these acts needed some planning. 'In relation to the incident in 2008, Dr Sharma had taken scissors and used them to remove tags, in 2018 she had with her a large bag to secrete those items to be taken from the shop. The Tribunal found that these were serious matters.' A hospital doctor has been suspended after she was caught stealing a handbag from Harrods (pictured) Dr Sharma, who qualified in Rajasthan, India, before coming to Britain at the age of 30 told the hearing she had been under personal pressure. She said she had come from a very 'well to do' family in India and that her relatives were educated to PhD level and were highly successful in their careers. She told the tribunal of the high expectations they had for her to achieve something 'big' in life and that she had made 'massive' sacrifices to become a doctor. The tribunal noted: 'Dr Sharma has demonstrated acceptance and responsibility for her offending. She has also expressed an apology, regret, remorse and shame for her offending and that she understands the gravity of it.' Suspending her for 12 months, the tribunal ruled: 'After carefully balancing all the factors, the Tribunal was satisfied that a period of suspension was the appropriate and proportionate sanction in this case.' It added that Dr Sharma's actions, 'whilst serious, were not fundamentally incompatible with continued registration'. Advertisement World leaders including Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron have arrived at Westminster Abbey as Britain and the world prepares to say goodbye to Queen Elizabeth II at her state funeral today. The UK's most important church began filling up from 8am as the congregation arrived up to three hours early - including Kate Middleton's parents - as huge crowds of mourners packed the procession route outside and tens of thousands more went to Windsor, where Her Majesty will be buried later. Michael and Carole Middleton were among hundreds of VIPs who arrived at the UK's most important church - where Her Majesty married Prince Philip and had her coronation. 2,000 royals, world leaders and hundreds of members of the public have began filing into the Abbey as billions around the world will watch Her Majesty's state funeral. Most of the VIPs arrived by coach, meeting at the Royal Hospital Chelsea before being put on a bus into Central London. Britain's ministers - past and present - were among the first arrivals including Nadham Zahawi, Ben Wallace and Jacob Rees-Mogg. But US President Jo Biden went to the Abbey in The Beast - his bomb-proof limousine. Michael and Carole Middleton, the parents of Kate, the Princess of Wales, arrived two hours early for the service, followed by Tom Parker Bowles, the son of Queen Consort, Camilla. They were also on a bus together - despite their close links to the Royal Family. Celebrities at the funeral include TV personality Bear Grylls. Funeral flowers in the abbey featured myrtle - which was used in the Queen's wedding bouquet as is royal tradition. The huge white and green displays of blooms included asiatic lilies, gladioli, alstroemeria, eustoma and foliage of English oak, weeping birch and the sprigs of myrtle. Around the coffin will stand the four tall yellow candles which usually rest around the grave of the unknown warrior at the entrance to the historic church. And outside hardy royal fans defied no-camping rules, as people of all ages set up tents, deck chairs and even a makeshift minibar to grab premium seats for the spectacle that will see 2million flood into the capital. By 8.30am member of the public were told that the procession route was full and began diverting people to Hyde Park to watch on the big screens. U.S. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden arrive, on the day of the state funeral and burial of Britain's Queen Elizabeth A long line of mourners walk into the UK's most important church The congregation were in place several hours before the Queen's coffin arrived Prime Minister Liz Truss arrives at Westminster Abbey for the service this morning Former prime minister Boris Johnson and his wife Carrie Johnson arrive at Westminster Abbey this morning Former prime minister Theresa May and her husband Philip May arrive at Westminster Abbey for the service this morning Former prime minister David Cameron and his wife Samantha outside Westminster Abbey this morning Former prime ministers Gordon Brown (left) and Tony Blair (right) arrive at Westminster Abbey this morning Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon arrives for the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey today Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy arrives at Westminster Abbey ahead of the state funeral this morning Penelope Knatchbull, Countess Mountbatten of Burma - who was friends with the Queen and Prince Philip - at the Abbey U.S. President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden arrive for the State Funeral The Macrons arrived from Paris yesterday - when they went to see the Queen lying in state French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte file into the Abbey today as world leaders gathered to say farewell President of Ireland Michael D Higgins spoke to clergy as he arrived at the funeral Michael and Carole Middleton - the parents of the Princess of Wales, Kate, arrived two hours early for the state funeral Tom Parker-Bowles, the son of Queen Consort, Camilla, is among the 2,000 people invited today Queen Letizia of Spain and the King of Spain King Felipe VI head for Westminster Abbey Israel's President Isaac Herzog arrives at Westminster Abbey in London for the Queen's state funeral Tom Parker Bowles arrives at Westminster Abbey ahead of the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II this morning King Charles III's goddaughter India Hicks arrives at Westminster Abbey this morning for the Queen's funeral. Lady Pamela Mountbatten appears to be in a wheelchair. The 93 year old is a first cousin of Prince Philip and a bridesmaid when Elizabeth wed Philip at the Abbey in 1947 Jacob Rees-Mogg walks into Westminster Abbey as Britain and the world mourns the Queen British minister Nadhim Zahawi was among one of the first guests to arrive at the Abbey followed shortly afterwards by Defence Secretary Ben Wallace Secretary of State for Education, Kit Malthouse arrives at Westminster Abbey Bear Grylls waves on the day of the state funeral and burial of Queen Elizabeth II outside Westminster Abbey this morning First Lady of Gabon, Sylvia Bongo Ondimba, arrives at Westminster Abbey ahead of the state funeral this morning The Abbey fills ahead of the Queen's funeral today Commons leader Penny Mordaunt arrives at Westminster Abbey this morning ahead of the state funeral for Queen Elizabeth II Business Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg and Education Secretary Kit Malthouse arrive at Westminster Abbey this morning British Labour Party leader Keir Starmer at Westminster Abbey, on the day of state funeral and burial of Britain's Queen Elizabeth Former Conservative leader William Hague walks into the Abbey Christopher Geidt, the Prime Minister's Independent Adviser on Ministers' Interests, and Emma Charlotte Angela Neill arrive at Westminster Abbey Chief Medical Officer, Chris Whitty, takes his seat in the Abbey Foreign Secretary James Cleverly and Chris Heaton-Harris, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, arrived with VIPs on a coach Former MP turned Facebook executive Sir Nick Clegg followed Lib Dem leader Ed Davey Cop26 president Alok Sharma arrives at Westminster Abbey this morning ahead of the state funeral for Queen Elizabeth II Two guests greet one another with a hug and a kiss on a sad day for the world SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford arrives for the State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II The congregations queues patiently to enter the Abbey at 8am this morning David Morgan-Hewitt, aka 'Mr David', from the Goring Hotel in Belgravia, centre right, would always greet the Queen when she arrived and was at today's funeral Representatives of the British military at Westminster Abbey today, on the day of the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II The doors of Westminster Abbey opened at 8am, ahead of the arrival of the first mourners for the funeral of the Queen. The King's Guards trooped through the gates of Abbey, with two soldiers stationed at the metal gates awaiting the start of proceedings. Amid concerns that London will be 'full' today - and a lack of hotel rooms - scores of people began bedding in to line The Mall in central London over the weekend, despite rules seemingly loosely enforced preventing people from setting up camp. This morning, before dawn, stewards told campers to take down their tents. Huge crowds have also formed in Windsor, where the Queen will be buried this evening. Several who slept in central London overnight said friends and family told them they were mad to carry out the overnight vigil, but insisted they would not miss the occasion. Among them were school friends Christine Manning, 75, and Dianne Donohue, 73, from Leek in Staffordshire, who slept in a pop-up tent. : A general view inside Westminster Abbey ahead of The State Funeral Of Queen Elizabeth II on September 19 Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan and his wife, Saadiya Khan, arrive at the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II this morning Two Cardinals of the Vatican delegation arrive on the day of the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II this morning Guests arrive at Westminster Abbey this morning for the state funeral for Queen Elizabeth II Defence Secretary Ben Wallace and Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng arrive for the funeral service of Queen Elizabeth II today Father-of-two Pranav Bhanot, from Chigwell in Essex, who was honoured for his work supporting people throughout the pandemic, helping to deliver 1,200 free meals and Nancy O'Neill, arriving at the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II today Former Tory leader William Hague attends the state funeral of Her Majesty the Queen at Westminster Abbey this morning People take selfies as they wait for the State Funeral Procession of Queen Elizabeth II on Whitehall Mrs Donohoe, a retired housewife and grandmother-of-three, said: Yes, the advice was not to camp but we disobeyed. Weve had a good catch-up, weve enjoyed it. We were sleeping in the tent and at 4.30am I woke up and asked Chris if she was awake, she was, so we had a whisky and lemonade and a pork pie. A couple more hours sleep, then onto the prosecco. We had to take our tent down at 7am because the police told us to, but we couldnt do it, so we had to get some lad to help us. Were out of pork pies sadly but weve got sausage rolls, and weve got some gin now the whiskys run out were chipper. Miss Manning, a retired waitress, added: My kids said we were mad. Well, mental is the word they used. They said we were idiots for doing this. I said it had to be done. Among those at the top of the Long Walk were Windsor Castle warden Shannon Carroll, 27, and her pals Samantha Geraghty, 24, and Heidi, 26, who declined to give her surname. Shannon told MailOnline they had arrived at 6am after getting up at 4am to walk from nearby Maidenhead where they all live. She added:Im here to pay my respects to an incredible woman who also happens to be my boss. Ive worked at the Castle for five years and its the least I can do. The Queen was a great employer and an inspirational leader. I dont think we will ever see anyone like her again. A group, wrapped in Union Flags, camped out on chairs overnight to be in London for the funeral Crowds camping out at night in Whitehall and Parliament Square to await the funeral Tents on Whitehall this morning in the shadow of the Women of World War II memorial Mourners wrapped in blankets wait with others at Horse Guards ahead of the State Funeral Of Queen Elizabeth II. Many have camped People slept on the floor and on chairs wrapped in blankets ahead of the first state funeral for almost 60 years Members of the public camped out over night on The Mall near Buckingham Palace, ahead of a State Funeral The line of people sleeping in London was several deep and stretched towards Green Park and St James' Park A Pearly King and Queen line the Procession Route in London Shannon said:I queued up for 12 hours overnight Friday into Saturday and that was a very poignant and sombre experience. It was incredibly quiet and still but it was at the same time very respectful and I wouldnt have missed it for anything. Heidi said:We are prepared for the day with snacks and drinks and it looks like it will stay dry. We will have a great view of the procession as it comes up the Long Walk and goes into the castle. When we go here there were quite a few people here already but up the front where we are was surprisingly empty. I think we have the best spot to see history in the making. Samantha said: 'It was an early start but well worth it. We will have a great view but we will have to watch the funeral service itself on our phones as we can't see the big screens.' Mourners camped out close to Parliament Square this morning The street is cleaned in advance of the State Funeral Procession of Queen Elizabeth II amid already huge crowds The Mall was a frenzy of activity yesterday, as people arrived to lay flowers nearby, get a glimpse of Buckingham Palace and Horse Guards Parade, and bag their vantage points for the funeral procession as it makes its way from Westminster to Windsor. Tim Thompson, 35, from New Brunswick in Canada, and Charlie Shirley, 36, from north London, also slept in a tent on the Mall. The pair became friends after being sat next to each other for William and Kates wedding in 2011, and resumed their same spot together on Saturday. Miss Shirley said: We do all the royal events together, its like were a family. I saw Tim at the Queens Jubilee and we said that the next time we see each other would probably be at the Queens funeral we didnt expect it to be three months later. Mr Thompson said: I keep four days holiday a year for royal events, so I had to be here. American businesswoman Nicole Alford, 40, paid around 1,300 for a last-minute flight to London on Thursday, and said she would camp out until after the funeral. She said: You dont come all this way and then watch it on the TV. I want a front-seat of history. My mom said: I cant believe youre doing that. I said: I cant believe you didnt think I would do that. Everybody thinks Im crazy, but I managed five-and-a-half hours uninterrupted sleep on my first night camping out here, so Im fine. Semi-retired teacher Ian Rhodes, 66, and his wife Sue, 58, from Alton in Staffordshire, arrived at the Mall at 11am yesterday (SUN) to claim their spot although they said they would sleep in deckchairs rather than pitch a tent. Mr Rhodes said: The only other time Ive queued overnight for anything was when Stoke City got to Wembley for the cup final in 1972, and I waited overnight at the club shop with my friends to get tickets. People have said were mad, but sanity is relative. Mrs Rhodes said the couples two adult sons were a bit concerned about their parents roughing it overnight in London, but said: I told them we were going to do it anyway when has their mother ever done what she was told? Paulette Galley, from Boston in Lincolnshire, said she was determined to stay on The Mall overnight. The 54-year-old kitchen assistant, originally from south London, said: I might not get any sleep but I dont care. She was my Queen, and I want to pay my respects to her. There is no way I wouldnt be here. Tories have voiced fury after a Chinese delegation viewed the Queen lying in state in Westminster Hall. Following an apparent U-turn by the parliamentary authorities, vice-premier Wang Qishan was pictured in the historic hall last night ahead of the state funeral. Senior MPs complained that Beijing was being 'appeased' despite a slew of British politicians being sanctioned for criticising human rights abuses. However, Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle has denied being 'leant' on to allow the officials access. Following an apparent U-turn by the parliamentary authorities, vice-premier Wang Qishan (pictured centre) was in Westminster Hall last night ahead of the state funeral World leaders have been paying respects to the Queen in the historic hall Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle (pictured) has denied being 'leant' on to allow the Chinese officials access There had initially been an expectation that Chinese officials would be barred from Westminster while seven UK MPs and peers remain sanctioned by Beijing. Last September, Sir Lindsay and his counterpart in the upper chamber, Lord McFall, blocked the Chinese ambassador to the UK, Zheng Zeguang, from visiting Parliament. The Commons Speaker argued at the time that it would not be 'appropriate' for the ambassador to meet at the Commons while seven British parliamentarians were sanctioned. However, Sir Lindsay has clarified that the block was only on attending 'receptions' in Parliament. He told the BBC's Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg show: 'Nobody has been leaning on me at all. Far from it. 'My view remains the same, that we would not welcome (a) reception in Parliament. And that's when I stopped the ambassador and accredited Chinese from coming into the House of Commons. 'So let's be clear: to hold a reception in the House of Commons when MPs and a peer has been sanctioned is not acceptable. My view remains the same and nothing has changed. 'The sanction against those accredited officials remains in place and will remain so.' According to Erskine May known as the 'bible' of parliamentary procedure Westminster Hall is under the joint control of the Lord Great Chamberlain and the speakers of the Commons and the Lords. Chinese President Xi Jinping has sent his deputy Wang to attend the funeral today. Senior Tory MP Sir Iain Duncan Smith reacted with fury to the news that Chinese representatives were being allowed to attend the Queen's lying-in-state Senior Tory MPs Sir Iain Duncan Smith and Tim Loughton had raised concerns about a delegation's possible attendance, arguing it was 'extraordinary' that one had received an invitation. Sir Iain told the Telegraph: 'It's clear and obvious that the Establishment leant on the Speakers to give way. 'The people that win at the end of the day, are the Chinese Communist party which is a brutal, dictatorial and anti-human rights organisation and all we've done is given them another victory. 'It looks like appeasement is back, alive and well in the British Establishment.' Advertisement The world's eyes were fixed on Britain today as the funeral for Queen Elizabeth took place, with media around the globe captivated by the unmatched scale, pomp and ceremony of the occasion. 'Few leaders receive such an outpouring of love', Norway's public broadcaster NRK said on its front page while Germany's Tagesspiegel lamented that 'we will never see anything like it again.' Some 500 leaders from around the world crammed into Westminster Abbey for a service which was likened to a 'global who's who' while 2million packed the streets and an estimated 4billion tuned in from home for what was dubbed the 'most-followed event in history'. Charles's tears for his mother as the national anthem played caught the attention of headline-writers, as did the simple handwritten card he had placed atop Elizabeth's coffin as it was paraded through the streets. Here, MailOnline rounds up how the funeral has been portrayed across the globe... Norway: NRK, the country's state broadcaster, carried perhaps the most-fitting tribute to Queen Elizabeth on its front page, noting that few leaders would inspire such an outpouring of emotion Germany: Blid, the country's largest tabloid newspaper, dubbed the funeral 'the greatest goodbye ever', and focused on George and Charlotte's role in the ceremony Italy: News wire service Ansa honoured the Queen's 'dedication to serving the nation' in its headline, alongside a picture of her coffin being paraded through the streets Germany: Berlin's largest newspaper noticed Charlies holding back tears as the national anthem played, while noting that 'we'll never see anything like it again' (bottom right) Germany: Magazine Der Spiegel hailed what it called 'the Queen's final journey' as her coffin made its way to Windsor Austria: 'Huge attendance' was the headline in on of the country's main newspapers, lamenting that 'an era in Great Britain ends' with the death of Her Majesty Italy: La Repubblica called the funeral 'the most-followed event in history' as millions thronged the streets of the UK Belgium: The country's biggest tabloid paid close attention the the position of British and foreign royals during the funeral Italy: Corriere della Serra was one of a number of papers to note Charles's emotions during the funeral today Germany: 'The world bids farewell' was the headline on Die Welt, underlining Elizabeth's standing as a global figurehead Australia: The Sydney Morning Herald harkened back to the Queen's Covid message, in which she vowed that 'we will meet again' - a lyric from Vera Lynn's wartime song Germany: Newspaper Seddeutsche Zeitung carried a moving picture of the national two minute silence on its front page France: 500 leaders from around the world - including Macron of France - was how Le Monde chose to carry the story Spain: El Mundo also headlined on the attendance of hundreds of leaders of state at the Queen's funeral Netherlands: Charles's emotion and Elizabeth's live of service made headlines for the Dutch national broadcaster Finland: #A spectacle for hours' is how one of Finland's largest newspapers summed up the Queen's funeral France: Le Parisien, the largest newspaper in the French capital, called it a 'grand funeral followed by a huge crowd' Sweden: Charles's emotion and the position of Swedish royalty in the abbey were highlighted by newspaper Expressen France: Le Figaro, one of the country's largest newspapers, broadcast a live feed of the funeral at the top of its hompage Spain: Barcelona's largest newspaper noted 4billion saw the 'massive' funeral - 'a solemn act' attended by foreign leaders Canada: The world watches the funeral of Queen Elizabeth, is how the Canadian broadcasting corporation summed it up France: Newspaper Liberation said the nation was at a standstill as businesses closed, placed tributes in their windows, or changed the colour of their logos as a mark of respect to Her Majesty New Zealand Germany: Die Zeit, the country's newspaper of record, says the Queen's funeral - accompanied by a huge police operation - shows the power of the Crown and emphatically demonstrates that republicanism in the UK is dead Pakistan India Ireland: Despite a fraught history with England and the monarchy, Irish newspapers also carried the funeral prominently - perhaps a mark of respect for the Queen's role in helping bring about peace America America Australia Argentina America America Israel Ireland: The Irish Times uses a photo of Helen Mirren playing the Queen on its front page to commemorate her life in film, whilst also reporting on events in London which it says will be seen in-person by 2million 2,000 mourners from around the world bid farewell to Britain's longest reigning monarch The first couple the left London for the United States just two hours after the service finished Biden sat behind the President of Poland Andrzej Duda, while Jill sat next to president of Switzerland President Joe Biden and first lady Jill sat 14 rows back in Westminster Abbey during the Queen's funeral Advertisement President Joe Biden and first lady Jill sat 14 rows back in Westminster Abbey, behind the president of Poland, for Queen Elizabeth's funeral on Monday, after arriving for the memorial service in his motorcade while other world leaders took the bus. The leader of the free world flew back to the United States on Air Force One straight after the ceremony - before the Queen's committal and burial - after he was given an aisle seat among the 2,000 mourners from around the world at Westminster Abbey. But he didn't rank ahead of other royals: the Emperor and Empress of Japan were seated in the 6th row, behind European royals and the King of Jordan. The Bidens arrived at the state funeral via their presidential car The Beast in a private motorcade while other world leaders rode together in buses. American security protocols for the president are strict and require him to travel in the armored car with security vehicles surrounding him. During the hour-long memorial service, the president sat directly behind Andrzej Duda, the Polish leader, and directly in front of Petr Fiala, the prime minister of the Czech Republic. Jill Biden sat next to Ignazio Cassis, the president of Switzerland. The Bidens were seated in the south transept section of Westminster Abbey, in an area of the church reserved for world leaders. The south transept contains the poet corner were prominent British authors like Geoffrey Chaucer are buried. The first couple left for Washington D.C. after the memorial service while Commonwealth leaders like Justin Trudeau of Canada and members of European royalty, like King Felipe IV of Spain, went to Windsor for the burial service, which took place two hours after the memorial ceremony at Westminster. Funeral seating has a strict protocol for the heads of state, prime ministers and presidents, members of European royal families and other guests among the 2,000 mourners gathered at the abbey. Guests were seated to the left, right and in front of the platform that held the Queen's casket. King Charles and members of the royal family made up the first few rows. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill sat 14 rows back in Westminster Abbey, above in the red circle, for Queen Elizabeth's funeral. They joined 2,000 mourners from around the world to bid farewell to the UK's longest reigning monarch Joe and Jill Biden arrive at London Stansted Airport to board Air Force One for the journey back to Washington D.C. just two hours after the service finished The president and first lady wave as they as board the presidential plane; the Bidens left after the Queen's memorial service President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden are seen sitting in their seats in the abbey President Joe Biden sat directly behind Andrzej Duda, the Polish leader, and directly in front of Petr Fiala, the prime minister of the Czech Republic during the funeral service while Jill Biden sat next to Ignazio Cassis, the president of Switzerland The Bidens were seated behind other royals, including King Abdullah II and Queen Rania Al-Abdullah of Jordan President Joe Biden and Jill Biden near the back of Westminster Abbey for the Queen's funeral President Joe Biden takes his seat along the aisle at Westminster Abbey, 14 rows back from the front The Bidens held hands when they arrived at the abbey on Monday morning for the hour-long funeral service. The president wore a black suit and tie. Jill Biden wore a black dress by Schiaparelli. Westminster Abbey began filling up from 8am as the congregation arrived up to three hours early, with Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron among the world leaders who paid their respects to the late monarch. The Foreign Office handled the questions of who would sit where and by whom. Queen Margrethe of Denmark, who is Europes longest-serving living monarch, sat at the front of the foreign section. Gulf royals were behind them, many of whom attended without their wives. But all had something in common - they rode to the funeral on a large motorcoach. The King and Queen of Bhutan, the Emperor and Empress of Japan, and King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain all came to the service via bus. World leaders like Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern also arrived via a fleet of buses. The Bidens arrived for the memorial service in the presidential vehicle known as the Beast Other world leaders rode together on buses for the Queen's funeral Foreign royals and dignitaries at the funeral President Biden exits the Beast at Westminster Abbey Biden was allowed to ride in The Beast. More than 100 world leaders attended and concerns about traffic in London led to the majority of being put on buses for the movements to and from the funeral. Biden was given an exemption to take his presidential limo. Lord Renwick, who served as British ambassador to the United States in the early 1990s, told the Times that he felt sorry for Buckingham Palace's protocol office as it worked out the complicated seating chart. 'You can pretend it's alphabetical order but it's not,' Renwick said. 'Biden isn't very ego-driven but he's going to be near the front. Macron [the president of France] would have hysterics if he wasn't given a place of honour. Olaf Scholz [the chancellor of Germany] wouldn't care. You've got to say to yourself: 'Who is going to have a hissy fit?' He noted it was standard for the American president to receive exemptions that other world leaders would not receive. 'We dont permit huge swarms of protectors to be around them, although you have to rein off for the president of the United States. He is always surrounded by Secret Service agents wherever he goes,' he noted. President Biden shakes hands with Switzerland's President Ignazio Cassis - Biden's chair shows his reserved spot in the church with its 'United States of America' label President Joe Biden and his wife Jill arrive at Westminster Abbey for Queen Elizabeth's funeral Biden, wearing a black suit and tie, was seen holding Jill's hand as they walked through the famous church to pay their respects to the monarch President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden arrive at Westminster Abbey in London on Monday for the Queen's funeral President Joe Biden and his wife Jill have arrived at Westminster Abbey for Queen Elizabeth's funeral Joe Biden and Jill shared a tender moment as they held hands as they walked into Westminster Abbey in London Joe Biden and Jill Biden arrive at The State Funeral of Her Majesty The Queen, in Westminster Abbey on Monday The coffin of Queen Elizabeth II enters Westminster Abbey during her state funeral on Monday Britain's King Charles, Britain's Anne, Princess Royal, Prince Andrew, Prince Harry and Peter Phillips attend the state funeral and burial of Britain's Queen Elizabeth, at Parliament Square in London on Monday Catherine, Princess of Wales, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, Prince George and Princess Charlotte attend the Queen's funeral Biden sat 14 rows back on the south transept behind the Polish leader and in front of the Czech Republic. The First Lady was next to Switzerland's representative Earlier Monday morning, huge crowds gathered in near silence to watch as the queen's flag-draped coffin, topped with the Imperial State Crown, her orb and sceptre, was carried slowly to a gun carriage from parliament's Westminster Hall where it had lain in state since Wednesday. To the tune of pipes and drums, the gun carriage - used at every state funeral since Queen Victoria's in 1901 - was then drawn by 142 junior enlisted sailors in the Royal Navy to Westminster Abbey. The thousand-year-old church's tenor bell tolled 96 times at one-minute intervals - one for every year of her life - stopping a minute before the service began at 11am. The longest-serving monarch in British history died at Balmoral, her Scottish Highland retreat, on September 8 after a year of declining health. Her eldest son and successor, King Charles III, dressed in ceremonial military uniform, followed the solemn procession, alongside his three siblings. Charles's eldest son Prince William accompanied them alongside William's brother, Prince Harry, and other senior royals. William's two eldest children, George and Charlotte, who are next in line to the throne, also walked behind the coffin inside the abbey. Meanwhile, Biden and his wife arrived in London late Saturday and paid respects to the queen on Sunday, viewing her coffin at Westminster Hall, signing condolence books at Lancaster House and attending a Buckingham Palace reception for funeral guests hosted by King Charles III. On Monday morning, the President and First Lady left Winfield House, the official residents of the US Ambassador to the UK, at 9.45am before arriving at Westminster Abbey at 10.07am. Biden's public appearances in London have been limited and controlled, part of the choreography around the elaborate farewell to the only monarch most Britons have ever known. He spoke only for just a few minutes Sunday about the queen, as he recalled how the woman he said reminded him of his mother kept feeding him crumpets when they had tea together last year at Windsor Castle. One senior U.S. official said Biden's lower profile was less about protocol and more about the fact that 'it's not our show. It's the Brits' show.' The U.S. has to be sensitive to that, said the official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity. The Dean of Westminster David Hoyle greets US President Joe Biden and Jill Biden ahead of the State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, outside the Westminster Abbey US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden arrive at the State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey The view in Westminster Abbey above the Queen - where she married and was crowned more than 70 years ago King Charles III, Camilla, the Queen Consort, Princess Anne, and her husband Vice Admiral Tim Laurence, Prince Andrew, Prince Edward, and his wife Sophie, Countess of Wessex, Prince William, and Kate, Princess of Wales with their children Princess Charlotte of Wales, Prince George of Wales, Britain's Prince Harry, and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, David Armstrong-Jones, Earl of Snowden, Peter Phillips, The Duke of Gloucester, Prince Michael of Kent and the Duke of Kent follow the coffin The motorcade carrying U.S. President Joe Biden is seen leaving the residence of the U.S Ambassador in Regent's Park, as it makes its way to the State Funeral for Queen Elizabeth II Biden is seen inside 'The Beast' as the President makes his way to the Queen's funeral on Monday morning Members of Biden's security team are seen driving with the President's motorcade as they travel to Westminster Abbey Guests arrive ahead of the State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey on Monday morning A long line of mourners walk into the UK's most important church, Westminster Abbey, for the Queen's funeral President Joe Biden accompanied by First Lady Jill Biden arrive at Buckingham Palace for a State Reception For Heads Of State on Sunday On Monday up to a million people are lined the streets of London to say a final farewell to the Queen, while leaders and royalty from across the world will attend her state funeral. Road closures are in place across the city ahead of the Queen's funeral - a 12-mile ring of steel has been imposed in the heart of the capital along with the route the late monarch's coffin will take to Windsor later today, where she will ultimately be laid to rest. Despite the widespread closures, huge crowds flocked into central London this morning for the funeral service. A day packed with funeral events in London and Windsor began early when the doors of 900-year-old Westminster Hall were closed to mourners after hundreds of thousands had filed in front of her coffin since September 14. Many of them had spent cold nights outdoors to pay their respects around the queen's flag-draped coffin in a moving outpouring of national grief and respect. The closing of the hall marked the end of more than four days of the coffin lying in state and the start of the U.K.'s first state funeral since the one held in 1965 for Winston Churchill, the first of 15 prime ministers during Elizabeth's reign. For the funeral, Elizabeth's coffin will be taken from Westminster Hall, across the road to Westminster Abbey, on a royal gun carriage drawn by 142 Royal Navy sailors. The same carriage was used to carry the coffins of late kings Edward VII, George V and George VI, and of Churchill. The service, in the Gothic medieval abbey where Elizabeth was married in 1947 and crowned in 1953, will be attended by 2,000 people ranging from world leaders to health care workers and volunteers. It will end with two minutes of silence followed by the national anthem and a piper's lament, before the queen's coffin is taken in a procession ringed by units of the armed forces in dress uniforms, with the queen's children walking behind, to Wellington Arch near Hyde Park. There, it will be placed in a hearse to be driven to Windsor for another procession along the Long Walk, a three-mile avenue leading to the town's castle, before a committal service in St. George's Chapel. She will then be laid to rest with her late husband, Prince Philip, at a private family service. Biden and other world leaders, as well as top foreign dignitaries, spent yesterday evening at Buckingham Palace to pay their respects to King Charles ahead of the Queen's funeral today - in what was described by some as the 'reception of the century'. Biden's armoured limousine, known as the Beast, got snarled up en route outside a Pret a Manger coffee shop in central London last night as he made his way to the banquet. Video shows members of the public waving and taking pictures of the President as Met Police officers stood guard. A member of the Met Police Special Escort Group was seen racing past the Beast on a motorbike. Biden and other world leaders, as well as top foreign dignitaries, spent yesterday evening at Buckingham Palace to pay their respects to King Charles ahead of the Queen's funeral today His Majesty King Charles III, his wife Camilla, Prince William and his wife Kate greet Joe and Jill Biden during a reception at Buckingham Palace on Sunday night US President Joe Biden (right) accompanied by First Lady Jill Biden (middle) are welcomed by Master of the Household Sir Tony Johnstone-Burt (left) as they arrive at Buckingham Palace for a State Reception in honour of the late Queen US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden wave to the crowd from 'The Beast' as they leave Westminster Hall after paying their respects to Queen Elizabeth II on Sunday Biden's armoured limousine, known as the Beast, got snarled up en route outside a Pret a Manger coffee shop in central London last night as he made his way to the banquet. Biden paid his respects with Jill at the Queen's coffin on Sunday and he described the monarch as 'decent' and 'honorable' and 'all about service' as he signed the condolence book, saying his heart went out to the royal family During one of the largest gatherings of world leaders seen in recent years the newly crowned Monarch and his wife, Queen Consort Camilla, greeted Biden and Jill as well as French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte, for the glittering but sombre event. Such a reception involving world leaders and British royals has not seen since the death of Queen Elizabeth II's father George VI in 1952, more than 70 years ago. President of Ireland Michael D Higgins was seen being dropped off from a coach along with the former King and Queen Consort of Spain, Juan Carlos and Sofia and Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, before the British royal couple met hundreds of dignitaries, including New Zealand's prime minister Jacinda Ardern and Canadian premier Justin Trudeau. The Prince and Princess of Wales and other working members of the royal family including the Earl and Countess of Wessex, the Princess Royal and Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, and the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester joined Charles and the Queen Consort in mingling with guests including Japan's Emperor Naruhito and the Kings and Queens from Holland, Norway and Sweden. Biden and other world leaders, as well as top foreign dignitaries, spent yesterday evening at Buckingham Palace to pay their respects to King Charles ahead of the Queen's funeral today Queen Letizia of Spain joins her husband King Felipe VI as they arrive separately to former King and Queen Consort of Spain, Juan Carlos and Sofia President Emmanuel Macron (right) and his wife Brigitte (left) arrive for the glittering state reception which will take place in the picture gallery and state apartments and include drinks and canapes Meanwhile, Biden paid his respects with Jill at the Queen's coffin on Sunday before recalling how the late monarch reminded him of his own mother. The President and First Lady were seen standing on a VIP balcony looking down at the Queen's coffin on Sunday afternoon which was under constant guard and draped in flags. Biden touched his hand to his heart and appeared to snap off a quick salute to the late monarch in a gesture of respect, before continuing on through the hall. He later travelled to Lancaster House where he signed the book of condolence, and told reporters that he would remember how the Queen treated everyone with 'dignity' and her 70 years of service. After paying their respects to the late monarch, Biden joined King Charles and scores of other world leaders and royals for a reception at Buckingham Palace. Biden touched his hand to his heart and appeared to snap off a quick salute to the late monarch in a gesture of respect, before continuing on through the hall on Sunday afternoon US President Joe Biden and US First Lady Jill Biden attend the Lying-in-State of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II at the Palace of Westminster in London on Sunday afternoon The president said the Queen treated people with 'dignity', adding: 'I talk about my mother and father, [they] thought that everyone, no matter who they were, no matter what their station, no matter where they're from, deserved to be treated with dignity. 'And that's exactly what she [Her Majesty] communicated, just the way she walked by her staff, just the way she acted. And I think what she gave is a sense of, maybe above all, the notion of service. 'We all owe something, there's something in our capacity to do, that can make things, not just the world, but your neighbourhood better, your household better, your workplace better. 'And that's what she communicated to me anyway and it was an honour to meet her.' Plans to reverse April's National Insurance increase will save Britain's poorest just 63p a month, Liz Truss was warned today. The Government is expected to axe the 1.25 percentage point rise after just six months on Friday in a move designed to help ease the cost-of-living crisis. But the respected think tank the Institute for Fiscal Studies today said the move to be confirmed by Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng will be of most help to the well-off. People earning more than 100,000 a year will benefit the most, saving around 150 a month, the IFS's senior research economist Tom Waters told the Times. He also warned that other moves expected to be unveiled, including bringing forward a 1p cut to income tax, would also benefit middle earners the most. Instead he said it would be more 'progressive' to raise the tax threshold so the poorest pay nothing. The Government is expected to axe the 1.25 percentage point rise after just six months on Friday in a move designed to help ease the cost-of-living crisis. But the respected think tank the Institute for Fiscal Studies today said the move to be confirmed by Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng will be of most help to the well-off. 'Reversing the recent NICs [national insurance contributions] rise would tend to benefit richer households more than poorer ones, even as a share of their income,' Mr Waters said. 'The richest tenth, for example, would gain about 1,800 per year, or 1.7 per cent of their income, and the poorest tenth about 7 per year, less than 0.1 per cent of their income.' Mr Kwarteng is planning to announce a tax-cutting bonanza in this weeks emergency mini-Budget, which may include fast-tracking a planned 1p reduction in income tax. Whitehall sources said that Mr Kwarteng is drawing up a really punchy 30 billion package of measures which will reflect Prime Minister Liz Trusss desire to make a dash for growth in time for the next General Election, which is expected to be held by autumn 2024. In addition to Ms Trusss promises to reverse former Chancellor Rishi Sunaks recent increase in National Insurance and to freeze corporation tax, Mr Kwarteng is also considering bringing forward Mr Sunaks plan for a 1p cut in the basic rate of income tax from 20p to 19p in the pound. Mr Sunak said in March this would take effect in two years time. The sources said that Mr Kwarteng was also planning a knock-out surprise measure described as a proper rabbit out of the hat moment which has been the subject of extensive, secretive discussions between Ms Truss and her Chancellor. In addition, according to the Sun on Sunday, Ms Truss's and Mr Kwarteng's fiscal stimulus will see the announcement of new 'investment zones'. The newspaper reported these ultra low tax and low regulation parts of Britain could also see personal taxes - such as National Insurance or income tax - cut for those who live and work in these areas. Number 10 is said to be considering the plans with those Cabinet ministers in favour of the proposals believing it would kickstart growth in deprived areas, create jobs and help the Tories in their 'levelling up' mission. Businesses that move to and invest in the new zones - likened to Mr Sunak's 'freeports' agenda but with 'rocket boosters' - are set to have their taxes slashed and be freed from red tape, such as planning restrictions and environmental regulations. It is hoped this could accelerate house building and infrastructure projects. Friday's mini-Budget will come at the end of a week in which Ms Truss will strive to relaunch her premiership. She had only been PM for little more than 48 hours before the Queen's death plunged the country into a period of national mourning. After Her Majesty's funeral this morning, Ms Truss is set to head to New York for the United Nations General Assembly where she will hold a string of meetings with fellow world leaders, such as US President Joe Biden. Her Government is then due to announce action on energy costs for businesses on Wednesday, outline action to tackle the NHS backlogs on Thursday, and launch their fiscal stimulus on Friday. MPs will then head away from Westminster for the Labour and Tory party conferences. The wife of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has arrived at Westminster Abbey to attend the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. Olena Zelenska is representing Ukraine at the ceremonies on behalf of her husband as he continues to lead his nation in its battle against Russian invaders. Clad in all black mourning attire, Zelenska and a handful of Ukrainian delegates filed into the grand 753-year-old Abbey where senior members of The Firm, key figures from British politics and 1,000 VIPs from around the world will pay their final respects during the ceremony. The Ukrainian First Lady is seated next to the aisle in the gothic building, four rows behind French President Emmanuel Macron, who attends the funeral with his wife Brigitte. Zelenska was one of hundreds of world leaders and foreign delegates who attended the 'reception of the century' hosted by new king Charles last night at Buckingham Palace. Speaking to BBC yesterday, Zelenska said she was paying respects on behalf of all Ukrainians. 'They know the Queen shared the values that Ukraine stands for today: freedom, the right to one's own home, language, culture and country,' she said. 'We have repeatedly heard words of support from her. It is very important for us to know that such a world leader of an epoch, a leader with an impeccable reputation and morals, was with us.' First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska (right) is pictured sitting alongside Ukrainian delegates in Westminster Abbey, seated four rows behind French President Emmanuel Macron (bottom left) Ms Zelenska was spotted yesterday entering Westminster Hall, where the late monarch is currently lying in state King Charles greets foreign dignitaries including First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska (centre) She appeared alongside other members of the Ukrainian delegation to the UK and bowed her head as she surveyed the Queen lying-in-state First Lady Olena Zelenska (pictured with members of the Ukrainian delegation, right) appeared pensive as she attended the lying in state of Her Majesty at Westminster Hall Earlier on Sunday the First Lady also paid her respects to Her Majesty during a visit to see her lying in state at Westminster hall with a small contingent of Ukrainian delegates. Dressed in all black, she wore a gold pin inspired by a rushnyk, a piece of fabric embroidered with traditional Ukrainian symbols, on her blazer. As she contemplated the solemn occasion, her expression was sombre and she bowed her head in respect, staying in the hall for several minutes as members of the British public filed past below. Her arrival in the UK had been hotly anticipated after it was confirmed that her husband Volodymyr would be remaining at home to lead the war effort. After viewing the Queen's casket at Westminster Hall, Ms Zelenska had an audience with the Princess of Wales at Buckingham Palace ahead of the evening reception. The pair, both wearing long black dresses, sat either side of a fireplace on gingham armchairs with pink orchids on display in the background. Dressed in all black, she wore a gold pin inspired by a rushnyk, a piece of fabric embroidered with traditional Ukrainian symbols, on her blazer The wife of Ukraine's President Zelensky, Olena Zelenska, bows her head as she pays tribute to the late Queen Elizabeth II Ms Zelenska was seen on Sunday entering Westminster Hall, where the late monarch was lying in state The wife of Ukraine's President Zelensky, Olena Zelenska (R), is pictured speaking with the Princess of Wales yesterday at Buckingham Palace Kate spoke with Zelenska at the Palace ahead of the evening reception (pictured L-R: Princess of Wales, First Lady of Ukraine) The First Lady (left) is in the UK representing her husband President Zelensky (right), who is remaining at home to lead the war effort A host of foreign dignitaries entered Westminster Hall yesterday to pay respects, including French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte, and US president Joe Biden and his wife Jill, ahead of the evening reception. Dubbed 'the reception of the century', the Buckingham Palace event was attended by 1,000 VIPs. Many international dignitaries attended the mammoth occasion, including US President Joe Biden, New Zealand's prime minister Jacinda Ardern, Canadian premier Justin Trudeau and many senior members of The Firm. Other guests included President of Ireland, Michael D Higgins, Irish Taoiseach Micheal Martin, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed and Colombia's First Lady Veronica Alcocer Gargia and Foreign Minister Alvaro Leyva. Foreign royals also took part in the event, with King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain, and King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden on the guest list among others. King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain looked dignified as they viewed the Queen's coffin lying-in-state on Sunday evening King Phillipe and Queen Mathilde of Belgiun look solemn as they pay their respects to Her late Majesty as she lies in state at WEstminster Hall King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden also arrived to pay their respects at Westminster Hall ahead of the funeral Wueen Silvia of Sweden arrived at Buckingham Palace with King Carl XVI Gustav to be hosted by King Charles III, after paying their respects to Her late Majesty in Westminster Hall earlier today The royal couple were among the first monarchs to view the monarch lying-in-state at Westminster Hall. Putin, who has previously had an audience with the Queen, has not been invited, despite offering his condolences to the Royal Family last week. However, the guest list did feature a string of controversial strongmen, including Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who was filmed today giving a thunderous speech from the windows of the Brazilian Embassy in London to a cheering crowd waving the national flag. China vice-president, Wang Qishan, will attend the funeral but was barred by parliamentary leaders from the lying-in-state. Due to strained ties, the UK opted to invite ambassadors, not heads of state, from Iran, Nicaragua and North Korea. Meanwhile, Russia and Belarus are among a small group of nations excluded altogether following Putin's invasion of Ukraine. The disgraced former King Juan Carlos of Spain has arrived at Westminster Abbey despite a row over his attendance at the Queen's funeral. The former monarch, 84, who currently lives in self-imposed exile in Abu Dhabi, was reportedly asked not to attend today's state funeral by Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez. But the royal, who abdicated in 2014 amid multiple legal issues, has been seen this morning alongside the world's leaders and royals. Yesterday, he was also seen being ushered into Buckingham Palace by Queen Sofia while clutching the hand of an official for support at King Charles III's reception. The disgraced former King Juan Carlos of Spain has arrived at Westminster Abbey despite a row over his attendance at the Queen's funeral The royal, who abdicated in 2014 amid multiple legal issues, has been seen this morning alongside the world's leaders and royals, pictured alongside his wife, Sofia The former monarch, 84, who currently lives in self-imposed exile in Abu Dhabi, was reportedly asked not to attend today's state funeral Queen Letizia of Spain and the King of Spain King Felipe VI head for Westminster Abbey King Juan Carlos I, 84, was pictured arriving at the 'reception of the century' at Buckingham Palace with Queen Sofia last night The Spanish government had reportedly made it clear they wished for King Felipe VI, Carlos's son, to be their representative at the state funeral. El Debate reported the ex-monarch, the late Queen's distant cousin, was privately contacted by Spanish government officials a few days ago to ask him not to attend the service. But Juan Carlos made the trip to London despite still awaiting trial in the UK for a harassment case involving an ex-partner. The Royal Family extended Carlos an invitation, but it makes his first appearance at a royal event since his abdication. Some fear it undermines the position of his successor King Felipe VI, who is also at the service today. King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain looked dignified as they viewed the Queen's coffin lying-in-state on Sunday evening Carlos stepped down after nearly 40 years on the throne in 2014 after becoming embroiled in a scandal over alleged embezzlement and a controversial elephant hunting trip. The former king is also awaiting trial in the UK after the country's High Court ruled he does not have the right to Sovereign Immunity in a case involving the alleged harassment of his ex-lover Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein. She accused him of using Spain's national intelligence agency to harass and threaten her in London after they broke up. Carlos had a series of affairs during his time on the Spanish throne. Spanish investigators are also looking into a missing 600,000 (520,000) allegedly taken by a close Mexican friend of Juan Carlos I. Despite once counting himself among the world's most popular monarchs, polling showed that approximately two-thirds of Spain wanted the king to abdicate when he stepped down. Juan Carlos returned to Spain for a brief visit in 2022 but has spent the past two years living in exile in Abu Dhabi. All the trips of Don Juan Carlos makes abroad are carefully observed by Spanish officials, according to El Mundo, with the government keenly aware of the history the monarchy has played in shaping the state. King Juan Carlos I, a cousin of Queen Elizabeth II, was invited to the late monarch's funeral by Buckingham Palace, but the Spanish government has reportedly asked him not to attend 'Currently the head of state is Felipe VI and that, like his father, he also represents the existing family ties between the two royal houses,' said foreign minister Jose Manuel Albares in an interview last weekend, pushing back on the idea that there was any issue with the previous monarch coming to London. Hundreds of foreign royals and heads of state are also in attendance at what is one of the biggest diplomatic gatherings in decades. Westminster Abbey has space for about 2,000 people. Around 500 heads of state and foreign dignitaries along with their partners are expected, according to BBC and Sky News . A host of royals from Europe and further afield have confirmed their attendance at the funeral for Britain's longest-serving monarch. Japan's Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako will attend - their first overseas trip since assuming the throne in 2019. The visit marks a departure from Japanese tradition, which rarely sees the emperor attend funerals. Europe's royal families are closely related after centuries of mingling their bloodlines, so it will be no surprise to see several monarchs from the continent. King Harald V of Norway, Prince Albert II of Monaco, Dutch King Willem-Alexander, Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf and Philippe, King of the Belgians will all attend. Denmark's Queen Margrethe II, who scrapped a series of events marking her 50th jubilee following the death of her third cousin, Queen Elizabeth, is also coming. Although Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia and its de facto ruler, had been invited, it emerged late on Sunday that he would not be attending. There has been international outrage at the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey by Saudi agents. Advertisement Students have been making the most of the unexpected bank holiday as Freshers Week gets underway in towns and cities across the UK. Freshers enjoyed an unusually wild Sunday night ahead of a national holiday today and cancelled lectures at some universities. The bank holiday was announced by King Charles III just nine days ago to allow the nation to mourn the death of Queen Elizabeth II, whose funeral is being held today. Crowds of revellers gathered in Leeds and Newcastle to enjoy some of their first nights out at uni. The hoards of newcomers partied hard and struck poses for the cameras on the streets of both cities. Dolled-up revellers posed for the cameras in Leeds as Freshers Week got underway in the city Groups of mates hug and smile for the cameras on a night out together as the new university term gets underway One reveller sips booze from a plastic bottle as she takes part in a Freshers event Smiling for the camera: The student donned sunglasses as she enjoyed a night out in Leeds Crowds of revellers out in Newcastle city centre last night. A group of lads poses for the cameras during their night out Universities hosted wild welcome parties for the incoming students, who refused to hold back on their first night out with new house and course mates. Leeds has six universities, including the University of Leeds and Leeds Beckett University. Leeds Beckett Uni put on a 'Super Sunday' event last night which featured 'some of the UKs biggest TikTok stars'. It was headlined by DJ Majestic, whose remix of Boney M's Rasputin brought the 1979 track back into the charts this year. A pair of partygoers share a laugh as they go between venues in Leeds last night Crowds of wild partygoers gathered in Newcastle last night ahead of today's bank holiday A big group of friends clearly enjoying their night out smile and pose for the cameras in Leeds There is more fun in store for freshers throughout the week, with Pryzm and other city centre clubs hosting more big nights, with many buying whole-week passes. Voodoo events, which sells a wristband offering week-long access to Freshers events, promises revellers 'the best week of your life' with 5,000 other students. Stewards and paramedics were on hand in town and city centres to help students who were in need of assistance last night. Freshers Week events kicked off at many universities this past weekend, with more expected over the coming days. Groups of students looked thrilled to be out and enjoying the recently-announced bank holiday Stewards and paramedics were on hand to help students who were in need of assistance Some revellers touched up their makeup while they waited in long nightclub queues Students looked thrilled to be out, with many donning their best outfits as they hit the town. Some kicked off their heels after a long night on the dancefloor, while others chose more practical footwear. Newcastle and Northumbria freshers wore white t-shirts to distinguish themselves from the crowds. Revellers in Newcastle took part in a 9-hour long bar crawl starting a popular club, Digital Nightclub. The event's organiser, Loosecrawl, aniticpated 10,000 freshers taking part this week. Glammed up partygoers braved the plummeting temperatures in Leeds last night A woman supports her friend as they share a laugh walking through the street in Leeds last night It promised Freshers 'one night you'll never forget', which appeared true for many out on Newcastle's streets last night. Despite the Autumnal feel in the weather overnight, partygoers braved the plummeting temperatures, with few wearing jackets or coats. Dolled-up revellers posed for the cameras, with some touching up their glamorous looks while they waited in long nightclub queues. Later on in the night, some looked a bit worse for wear as they emerged from bars and clubs. Revellers in Leeds take a break from their big night out as they have a chat in the street Groups of partygoers gathered in the streets of Newcastle city centre last night as they took part in a bar crawl event Some of the boozier revellers looked quite unwell as they looked for respite from the busy clubs after a long night. Partygoers who are not at university also took advantage of the day off work that people around the UK are being given today by going out to pubs, bars and clubs. There will certainly be some sore heads this morning, with some pictured drinking out of plastic bottles as they wandered to and from their nightclub of choice. Footage shows the appalling moment when a 26-year-old trapeze artist fell into the circus ring during a new act in front of hundreds of children and their parents. Tatyana Zolotukhina was performing with her husband Sergey Zolotukhin, 34, when she failed to catch his hand and plunged 16ft crashing on the ground during a show in Russia. There were screams and then silence in the Omsk circus as her husband rushed to her aid and checked her condition before carrying her from the arena with other worried staff. Tatyana Zolotukhina was performing with her husband Sergey Zolotukhin, 34, when she failed to catch his hand and plunged 16ft crashing on the ground during a show in Russia The audience applauded as she was carried from the ring. The high wire star appeared conscious after the fall, and was later rushed to hospital where she underwent an MRI. She broke a wrist and there were fears of a fractured spine. The wounded artist is a member of the travelling Filatov circus, run by a dynasty going back 180 years and reputed to be the oldest in Russia. Tatyana - who describes herself as a 'ballet artist' - and her husband were performing an act called 'Flame' in the 'Belts' style with no safety netting. Edgard Zapashny, general director of the Great Moscow State Circus, said Tatyana 'fell from the height of five metres while performing a complicated and dangerous trick' The Filatov circus said: 'The health of the performer is now not in danger and she will soon return to the arena.' The Filatov circus said: 'The health of the performer is now not in danger and she will soon return to the arena' Eight weeks ago, she had posted about the new high-risk act saying it was in preparation for two years and she had suffered 'scars, bruises, fear and much more behind the scenes' during its preparation. She posted: 'I worked, I tried. I was on my way to my goal, and now I'm flying. I made it.' Edgard Zapashny, general director of the Great Moscow State Circus, said Tatyana 'fell from the height of five metres while performing a complicated and dangerous trick'. He said: 'She has a wrist fracture, and possibly a compression fracture of the spine.'The circus director is at the hospital with her.'The artist is conscious and is moving around independently.' The Filatov circus said: 'The health of the performer is now not in danger and she will soon return to the arena.' Tatyana is the mother of a young son. The Iranian leader, President Ebrahim Raisi, categorically stated that no meeting with US President Joe Biden would happen on the sidelines of the UN general assembly. He continued, saying that neither the current nor the previous president had changed. Raisi Believes Talking With Biden Won't Benefit Iran While in New York for the UNGA, the Iranian president believes a face-to-face conversation with the current US head of state would be a complete waste of resources but wouldn't revive the 2015 nuclear deal, reported RT. President Raisi doubts anything will pan out talking to Joe Biden while attending the United Nations General Assembly in New York, nor will it accomplish anything to revive the landmark 2015 nuclear deal. He spoke to Lesley Stahl in a 60 Minutes interview on CBS News, which aired on Sunday. In the interview, he said that nothing would pan out, but both leaders will make an address at the United Nations General Assembly. No official meeting is scheduled on the itinerary. The answer to whether there are any differences between US President Joe Biden and Donald Trump is that Tehran does not see any. Both were identical because they both adhered to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), noted Riff Note. Iranian leader Raisi added ironically that the new administration in the US claims that they are different from Trump's administration, but we haven't witnessed any real changes. Read Also: Kim Jong-un Net Worth 2022: How Wealthy Is North Korea's Leader? Iran agreed to certain constraints on its nuclear industry as part of the first nuclear deal, which was approved in 2015 by the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Russia, China, and the European Union. This was done in return for loosening economic sanctions and other benefits. End of the Nuclear Deal With Iran This agreement was terminated in 2018 when Donald Trump, who was in office then, decided to renounce the Obama nuclear pact. One criticism of the agreement is that it had too many flaws, which led to Tehran receiving new sanctions and gradually walking away from the deal. Despite his assurances that the nuclear pact would be reinstated, Joe Biden has made little progress. A proposal of the new tentative arrangement, which was disclosed last month as a part of efforts to revive the accord, highlighted a four-stage procedure that would start with the prompt removal of sanctions on innumerable Iranian banks and other economic organizations. In turn, it would quickly tone down its nuclear activities. Recently, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken alleged that Iran had stepped back in deliberations, rendering a quick settlement to the problem improbable. He was referring to the recent version of the suggestion made by the EU in August. The two involved countries have reacted several times. Others Not Interested To Meet the US Leader PM Liz Truss decided to pass off meeting Joe Biden but kept other heads of state in her planned itinerary, essentially snubbing the 80-year-old US leader, mentioned Hi India. She plans to meet with Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman before Queen Elizabeth's funeral on Monday. The Iranian leader President Ebrahim Raisi is convinced nothing will come out of conversing with US President Joe Biden at the UN general assembly, just like the UK PM Liz Truss. Related Article: Tehran Achieves Full Membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization After Observer Status in the Bloc @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. America has released an Afghan war lord held since 2005 for heroin smuggling in a prisoner swap with the Taliban for US navy veteran Mark Frerichs. Bashir Noorzai was exchanged with Frerichs at the airport in Kabul, a news conference was today told by acting foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi. The US had sentenced Noorzai to life imprisonment for smuggling more than $50 million worth of heroin into the United States and Europe and he served 17 years in an American jail. Engineer and U.S. Navy veteran Frerichs, from Lombard, Illinois, worked in Afghanistan for a decade on development projects. He was abducted in February 2020. Noorzai's return to Kabul was celebrated with a hero's fanfare by the government of the new Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA), the name the Taliban have given the nation since seizing power last August. Photographs and video show that he was greeted by masked Taliban fighters bearing floral garlands. He was embraced as the garlands were placed around his neck and his hand was kissed by one of the fighters. Referring to the Taliban at the news conference, Muttaqi said: 'The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is ready to solve problems by negotiation with all including the United States.' The news conference were briefly addressed by Noorzai, alongside Muttaqi and the Taliban's acting deputy prime ministers. He said: 'I am proud to be in the capital of my country among my brothers.' Engineer and U.S. Navy veteran Mark Frerichs, from Lombard, Illinois, worked in Afghanistan for a decade on development projects. He was abducted in February 2020. Pictured: Frerichs in April Photographs and video show that Bashir Noorzai was greeted by masked Taliban fighters bearing floral garlands The Taliban fighters who greeted him embraced him, with one kissing his hand Noorzai said at the news conference: 'If the IEA had not shown its strong determination, I would not have been here today.' He had longstanding ties to the Taliban and was an early supporter of the regime. His lawyer denied that he was a drug dealer and argued that the charges should be dismissed because U.S. government officials duped him into believing he would not be arrested. Frerichs was exchanged at the airport in Kabul, with Bashir Noorzai, a news conference was today told by acting foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi. Pictured: Bashir Noorzai, center, a senior Taliban detainee held at Guantanamo attends his release ceremony, at the Intercontinental Hotel The news conference were briefly addressed by Noorzai, alongside Muttaqi and the Taliban's acting deputy prime ministers. He said: 'I am proud to be in the capital of my country among my brothers.' Pictured: Muttaqi addresses the news conference in Kabul, Afghanistan Pictured: Noorzai speaks during his release ceremony, at the Intercontinental Hotel, in Kabul, Afghanistan Afghanistan's Deputy Prime Minister Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, acting Defence Minister Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid and Afghan tribal leader Bashir Noorzai sit during the news conference While Noorzai held no official position, he had 'provided strong support including weapons' for the Taliban in the 1990s, government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said. From 1979 to 1989 he fought the Soviet forces that occupied Afghanistan. Noorzai was left in charge of Kandahar when Mullah Omar went into hiding. Before his arrest, Noorzai worked as an undercover agent on behalf of the US government. Although he was among America's most wanted drug traffickers, he was lured to the US in 2005 for talks and arrested 11 days later. Previously, the US had pushed for the release of Frerichs, pictured, including after the Taliban took over Afghanistan in August 2021, as U.S-led foreign forces were withdrawing Previously, the US had pushed for the release of Frerichs, including after the Taliban took over Afghanistan in August 2021, as U.S-led foreign forces were withdrawing. America's state department had described the veteran's release as one of the government's 'core, non-negotiable priorities'. Joe Biden said in a statement in January: 'The Taliban must immediately release Mark before it can expect any consideration of its aspirations for legitimacy. This is not negotiable.' Officials in the US have said that Frerich's case would influence their view on the legitimacy of a Taliban-led government. The Taliban has not been formally recognised by any foreign government, partially due to the group's restriction of most girls from education. It seized power in Afghanistan a little over a year ago and renamed the area the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) after the United States and their NATO allies withdrew from the country in a move which shocked the world. America's state department had described the veteran's release as one of the government's 'core, non-negotiable priorities'. Pictured: Undated photo of Frerichs Advertisement Buckingham Palace released the full Order of Service for Her Majesty The Queen's Committal Service at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle. The royal family gathered at Windsor Castle for the service this afternoon after the nation said farewell to the late monarch at the funeral ceremony in Westminster Abbey this morning. Her Majesty's coffin was lifted from the state hearse and carried into St George's Chapel, with the procession led inside by members of the Queen's royal household. The service began with the choir singing Psalm 121, set to music by Sir Henry Walford Davies, who previously served as an organist of the chapel. Following the psalm, which includes the line 'the Lord shall preserve thee from all evil', the choristers moved on to sing 'The Russian Contakion of the Departed', which was also performed at the Duke of Edinburgh's funeral in April last year. During the Service the Choir of St George's Chapel was conducted by James Vivian, Director of Music and the organ played by Luke Bond, Assistant Director of Music. The Service was led by The Right Reverend David Conner, KCVO, Dean of Windsor. The Blessing was pronounced by The Most Reverend and The Right Honourable Justin Welby, Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate of All England and Metropolitan. Over a number of years, the Queen was involved in discussions about the order of service for her funeral, to approve the choice of prayers, hymns and other accompanying music. Members of the royal family follow the coffin during the Committal Service for the Queen in a packed St George's chapel Prince William with George, Kate, Charlotte and other members of the royal family singing hymns in the Windsor chapel Crowds lined the streets of Windsor up to the castle to pay their respects to the Queen as her hearse was carried in The Royal Family released the Order of Service for the Committal Service which took place at St George's Chapel, Windsor Once again the King entered the Committal Service following behind the coffin, accompanied by the Queen Consort, with the Princess Royal and Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence behind, then the Duke of York and the Earl and Countess of Wessex. Like the processions held earlier in the day they were followed by the monarch's three grandsons Peter Phillips, Duke of Sussex and Prince of Wales. Among those invited to the committal service were prime ministers from countries where the Queen was head of state, and former British prime ministers Sir John Major and Sir Tony Blair, who are Garter Knights and the current PM Liz Truss. A large number of the Queen's staff who worked closely with the late monarch were also invited. Some 800 guests attended the Committal Service. The service concluded with the crown, orb and sceptre - symbols of the Monarch's power and governance - being removed from the coffin and placed on the altar. The Lord Chamberlain, the most senior official in the royal household, then broke his 'Wand of Office', signifying the end of his service to the sovereign, and placed it on the casket. Her Majesty The Queen's Committal Service at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, began at 4pm this afternoon - around 800 guests are in attendance Members of the royal family during the Committal Service at St George's Chapel in Windsor which began at 4pm this afternoon King Charles III places the Queen's Company Camp Colour of the Grenadier Guards on the coffin at the Committal Service The service concluded with the crown, orb and sceptre - symbols of the Monarch's power and governance - being removed from the coffin and placed on the altar The order of service for the Queen's state funeral was earlier revealed in full with the entire list of hymns available before mourners arrived at Westminster Abbey. Members of the royal family and world leaders are among 2,000 people who have attended the ceremony today as the nation mourns the death of the Monarch. Buckingham Palace released an official image for the funeral with the order of service including all the details of readings, hymns and music selected. 'Much of the music at today's State Funeral was selected for its special significance to HM Queen Elizabeth II, and many of the choices also have a long association with Westminster Abbey,' the abbey posted on Twitter. The service was conducted by The Very Reverend Dr David Hoyle MBE, Dean of Westminster and sung by the Choir of Westminster Abbey and the Choir of the Chapel Royal, St James's Palace, (Joseph McHardy, Director of Music) under the direction of James O'Donnell, Organist and Master of the Choristers, Westminster Abbey. The State Trumpeters of the Household Cavalry were led by Trumpet Major Julian Sandford. The Fanfare Team of the Household Division Bands was conducted by Lieutenant Colonel David Barringer MBE, Commanding Officer, Household Division Bands. The organ was played by Peter Holder, Sub-Organist, Westminster Abbey. Buckingham Palace released the full Order of Service for Her Majesty the Queen's funeral ahead of the service on Monday morning Westminster Abbey, 11am, Monday, September 19 Before the service, the tenor bell tolled every minute for 96 minutes, reflecting each year of Queen Elizabeth II's life. MUSIC BEFORE THE SERVICE Fantasia of Four Parts Orlando Gibbons (15831625) Romanza (Symphony No 5 in D) Ralph Vaughan Williams (18721958) Reliqui Domum Meum Peter Maxwell Davies (19342016) Meditation on 'Brother James's Air' Harold Darke (18881976) Prelude on 'Ecce Jam Noctis', Op 157 No 3 Healey Willan (18801968) Psalm Prelude Set 1 no 2 Herbert Howells (18921983) In The Country, Op 194 no 2 Charles Villiers Stanford (18521924) Fantasy on 'O Paradise' Malcolm Williamson (19312003) Elegy, Op 58 Sir Edward Elgar (18571934) Andante espressivo (Sonata in G, Op 28) Elgar Sospiri, Op 70 Elgar The Procession of Religious Representatives (from the Churches in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and the leaders of Jewish, Hindu, Muslim and other faiths) moves to places in the Nave and the Sacrarium. All remain seated. ORDER OF SERVICE All stand. Her Majesty's coffin enters the Abbey, surmounted by the Imperial State Crown and the Orb and Sceptre, borne by the bearer party including: The King, The Queen Consort, Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, The Princess Royal, The Duke of York, Countess of Wessex, Earl of Wessex, Princess of Wales, Prince of Wales, Princess Charlotte, Prince George, Duchess of Sussex, Duke of Sussex, Earl Snowdon, Peter Phillips; Duke of Gloucester, Prince Michael of Kent, Duke of Kent. The choir sings: THE SENTENCES John 11: 2526; Job 19: 2527; 1 Timothy 6: 7; Job 1: 21 The Choir of Westminster Abbey and the Choir of the Chapel Royal, St James's Palace, sing: Thou knowest, Lord, the secrets of our hearts; shut not thy merciful ears unto our prayer; but spare us, Lord most holy, O God most mighty, O holy and most merciful Saviour, thou most worthy Judge eternal, suffer us not, at our last hour, for any pains of death, to fall from thee. Amen. The Book of Common Prayer, 1549 Heard a voice from heaven, saying unto me, Write, From henceforth blessed are the dead which die in the Lord: even so saith the Spirit; for they rest from their labours. Amen. Revelation 14:13 Poignant meaning behind hymns and music chosen for Queen's funeral 'Much of the music at today's State Funeral was selected for its special significance to HM Queen Elizabeth II, and many of the choices also have a long association with Westminster Abbey,' the abbey posted on Twitter. Among the hymns are The Lord's My Shepherd, featuring lyrics from Psalm 23, which was sung at the wedding of The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh at the historic venue in 1947 and was said to be a favourite of the Queen's. Another, Love Divine, All Loves Excelling, is sung in an arrangement first heard at the wedding of the Prince and Princess of Wales in 2011. The choir also will sing The Russian Kontakion of the Departed, which was also sung for the funeral of the Duke of Edinburgh, at Windsor Castle. A specially commissioned choral piece, composed by the Master of The King's Music, Judith Weir, 'Like as the hart', will be sung by the choir. 'The piece, inspired by Her Majesty's unwavering Christian faith, is a setting of Psalm 42 to music and will be sung unaccompanied,' the Palace said. The anthem 'Who shall separate us?', which draws on words from Romans 8, by Sir James MacMillan, was also composed especially for today's service. The choir will also sing the Anthem, 'My soul, there is a country', set by Hubert Parry; 'an Anthem of great hope.' Advertisement THE BIDDING By Dr David Hoyle MBE, Dean of Westminster (extract): In grief and also in profound thanksgiving we come to this House of God, to a place of prayer, to a church where remembrance and hope are sacred duties. Here, where Queen Elizabeth was married and crowned, we gather from across the nation, from the Commonwealth, and from the nations of the world, to mourn our loss, to remember her long life of selfless service, and in sure confidence to commit her to the mercy of God our maker and redeemer. With gratitude we remember her unswerving commitment to a high calling over so many years as Queen and Head of the Commonwealth. With admiration we recall her life-long sense of duty and dedication to her people. With thanksgiving we praise God for her constant example of Christian faith and devotion. With affection we recall her love for her family and her commitment to the causes she held dear. Now, in silence, let us in our hearts and minds recall our many reasons for thanksgiving, pray for all members of her family, and commend Queen Elizabeth to the care and keeping of almighty God. A brief silence is kept. All sing: THE DAY THOU GAVEST The day thou gavest, Lord, is ended, the darkness falls at thy behest; to thee our morning hymns ascended, thy praise shall sanctify our rest. We thank thee that thy Church unsleeping, while Earth rolls onward into light, through all the world her watch is keeping, and rests not now by day or night. As o'er each continent and island the dawn leads on another day, the voice of prayer is never silent, nor dies the strain of praise away. The sun that bids us rest is waking our brethren 'neath the western sky, and hour by hour fresh lips are making thy wondrous doings heard on high. So be it, Lord! thy throne shall never, like Earth's proud empires, pass away; thy kingdom stands, and grows for ever, till all thy creatures own thy sway. John Ellerton (182693); St. Clement Scholefield (18391904) THE FIRST LESSON 1 Corinthians 15: 2026, 53end, read by Baroness Scotland, Secretary-General of the Commonwealth All remain seated as the choir sings: THE PSALM Psalm 42: 17, composed for this service by Judith Weir CBE Like as the hart desireth the water-brooks: so longeth my soul after thee, O God. My soul is athirst for God, yea, even for the living God: when shall I come to appear before the presence of God? My tears have been my meat day and night: while they daily say unto me, Where is now thy God? Now when I think thereupon, I pour out my heart by myself: for I went with the multitude, and brought them forth into the house of God; In the voice of praise and thanksgiving: among such as keep holy-day. Why art thou so full of heaviness, O my soul: and why art thou so disquieted within me? Put thy trust in God: for I will yet give him thanks for the help of his countenance. THE SECOND LESSON John 14: 19a, read by Prime Minister Elizabeth Truss All stand to sing: THE LORD'S MY SHEPHERD The Lord's my shepherd, I'll not want; he makes me down to lie in pastures green; he leadeth me the quiet waters by. My soul he doth restore again, and me to walk doth make within the paths of righteousness, e'en for his own name's sake. The choir sings: Yea, though I walk through death's dark vale, yet will I fear none ill; for thou art with me, and thy rod and staff me comfort still. All sing: My table thou hast furnished in presence of my foes; my head thou dost with oil anoint, and my cup overflows. Goodness and mercy all my life shall surely follow me; and in God's house for evermore my dwelling place shall be. Psalm 23 in Scottish Psalter 1650 Crimond attributed to Jessie Seymour Irvine (183687), harmony by David Grant (183393), descant by William Baird Ross (18711950) THE SERMON By the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby All remain seated as the choir sings: THE ANTHEM My soul, there is a country Far beyond the stars, Where stands a winged sentry All skilful in the wars: There above noise, and danger, Sweet Peace sits crowned with smiles, And One born in a manger Commands the beauteous files. He is thy gracious friend, And (O my soul, awake!) Did in pure love descend, To die here for thy sake. If thou canst get but thither, There grows the flower of Peace, The Rose that cannot wither, Thy fortress, and thy ease. Leave then thy foolish ranges, For none can thee secure, But One who never changes, Thy God, thy Life, thy Cure. Henry Vaughan (162195); from Songs of Farewell Hubert Parry (18481918) THE PRAYERS Led by Mark Birch, Minor Canon and Precentor, the Prayers are read by: Dr Iain Greenshields, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland; Shermara Fletcher, Principal Officer for Pentecostal and Charismatic Relations, Churches Together in England; Dame Sarah Mullally, Bishop of London and Dean of His Majesty's Chapels Royal; Canon Helen Cameron, Moderator of the Free Churches Group; Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster; Stephen Cottrell, Archbishop of York The choir sings Psalm 34:8 as composed for the Queen's Coronation in 1953 by Ralph Vaughan Williams: O taste and see how gracious the Lord is, blest is the man that trusteth in him. The Queen pictured with her son the new monarch King Charles during the Platinum Jubilee earlier this year THE LORD'S PRAYER All stand to sing: LOVE DIVINE, ALL LOVES EXCELLING Love divine, all loves excelling, joy of heaven, to earth come down, fix in us thy humble dwelling, all thy faithful mercies crown. Jesu, thou art all compassion, pure unbounded love thou art; visit us with thy salvation, enter every trembling heart. Come, almighty to deliver, let us all thy life receive; suddenly return, and never, never more thy temples leave. Thee we would be always blessing, serve thee as thy hosts above, pray, and praise thee, without ceasing, glory in thy perfect love. Finish then thy new creation, pure and spotless let us be; let us see thy great salvation, perfectly restored in thee, changed from glory into glory till in heaven we take our place, till we cast our crowns before thee, lost in wonder, love, and praise! Charles Wesley (170788) All remain standing for: THE COMMENDATION The Archbishop of Canterbury says: Let us commend to the mercy of God, our maker and redeemer, the soul of Elizabeth, our late Queen. Heavenly Father, King of kings, Lord and giver of life, who of thy grace in creation didst form mankind in thine own image, and in thy great love offerest us life eternal in Christ Jesus; claiming the promises of thy most blessed Son, we entrust the soul of Elizabeth, our sister here departed, to thy merciful keeping, in sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life, when Christ shall be all in all; who died and rose again to save us, and now liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, in glory for ever. Amen. O forth, O Christian soul, from this world, in the name of God the Father almighty, who created thee; in the name of Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, who suffered for thee; in the name of the Holy Spirit, who was poured out upon thee and anointed thee. In communion with all the blessed saints, and aided by the angels and archangels and all the armies of the heavenly host, may thy portion this day be in peace, and thy dwelling in the heavenly Jerusalem. Amen. All remain standing as the choir sings: THE ANTHEM Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Alleluia! Amen. Romans 8:35a, 38bend, composed for this service by Sir James MacMillan THE BLESSING God grant to the living grace; to the departed rest; to the Church, The King, the Commonwealth, and all people, peace and concord, and to us sinners, life everlasting; and the blessing of God almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be among you and remain with you always. Amen. All remain standing for: THE LAST POST REVEILLE All sing: THE NATIONAL ANTHEM The Queen's Piper, Pipe Major Paul Burns, plays Sleep, dearie, Sleep. All remain standing as the coffin leaves the church while sub-organist plays Fantasia in C minor MUSIC AFTER THE SERVICE Allegro maestoso (Sonata in G, Op 28) Sir Edward Elgar ST GEORGE'S CHAPEL, WINDSOR CASTLE, MONDAY SEPTEMBER 19, 2022, 4PM Organ music before service includes works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Dame Ethel Smyth, Herbert Howells and Sir Edward Elgar. 4pm, coffin enters. Bearer party includes senior royals as earlier, but not including William's children. Includes senior courtiers from both Queen's and Charles's households. PSALM 121 All then sit as the Choir sings: THE RUSSIAN CONTAKION OF THE DEPARTED THE BIDDING By the Dean of Windsor Extract: We pray that God will give us grace to honour her memory by following her example, and that, with our sister Elizabeth, at the last, we shall know the joys of life eternal. All remain standing. ALL MY HOPE ON GOD IS FOUNDED All my Hope on God is Founded, by Robert Bridges, based on the German of Joachim Neander (165080) THE READING Revelation 21.17, Read by the Dean of Windsor Extract: I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. THE PRAYERS Read by the Rector of Sandringham, the Minister of Crathie Kirk and the Chaplain of the Royal Chapel, Windsor Great Park. All say together: THE LORD'S PRAYER All sit as the Choir sings: THE MOTET By John Donne (15721631) to music by Sir William Henry Harris, KCVO (18831973), sometime Organist, St George's Chapel All stand for the presentation, in silence, of the Instruments of State, to be received by the Dean of Windsor, from the Queen's Bargemaster and a Serjeant of Arms, who places them on the High Altar. CHRIST IS MADE THE SURE FOUNDATION Christ is Made the Sure Foundation, from Latin 7th century translated by John M. Neale (1818-66) At the end of the hymn, The Queen's Company Camp Colour is placed on the coffin by The King having received it from the Regimental Lieutenant Colonel Grenadier Guards. The Lord Chamberlain breaks his wand which is placed upon the coffin. Queen Elizabeth II will be buried at St George's Chapel (pictured) in the grounds of Windsor Castle THE COMMITTAL As the coffin is lowered, the Dean of Windsor says: THE PSALM Psalm 103, 1317 Garter King of Arms proclaims: THE STYLES AND TITLES OF QUEEN ELIZABETH II THUS it hath pleased Almighty God to take out of this transitory life unto His Divine Mercy the late Most High, Most Mighty, and Most Excellent Monarch, Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith, and Sovereign of the Most Noble Order of the Garter. The Queen's Piper plays a lament THE BLESSING Pronounced by the Archbishop of Canterbury THE NATIONAL ANTHEM All remain standing. THE VOLUNTARY Prelude and Fugue in C Minor Johann Sebastian Bach. Brazil's authoritarian president Jair Bolsonaro is among the cast of controversial world leaders in Westminster Abbey today paying their respects to the Queen. The far-right ruler, who has been accused of homophobia and misogyny and downplayed Covid as 'a bit of a cold', has joined multiple figures who preside over countries with dubious human rights records in London today. While a number of countries were excluded from the service due to strained diplomatic relations with the UK, representatives from Saudi Arabia, China, Brunei, Bahrain and Kuwait were spotted in the congregation. Saudi Arabia's Mohammed bin Salman, China's Xi Jinping and Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan were invited but each decided to send dignitaries on their behalf, amid a potential backlash at their attendance. Prince Turki bin Mohammed al Saud is instead representing Saudi Arabia, a country which advocates stoning and oversaw the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, after bin Salman delegated his invitation. Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro and his wife Michelle arrive at Westminster Abbey in London today Wang Qishan, China's vice president arrives at Westminster Abbey in place of Xi Jinping today Saudi Prince Turki bin Mohammed al Saud, who went in place of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, is pictured at the funeral A source said the change had been made by Saudi Arabia, Reuters reported. This comes after Human Rights groups criticised the decision to invite the Crown Prince. Hatice Cengiz, the fiancee of Mr Khashoggi, had also condemned the controversial invitation. She said his presence at Her Majesty's state funeral would 'stain her memory' - a sentiment echoed by activists who say allowing Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, known as MBS, to attend is trying to 'whitewash' his human rights record. China's vice-premier Wang Qishan attended the funeral, hours after sparking fury among Conservative MPs for viewing the Queen lying in state. The representative wore a Chinese branded face mask throughout the service. Senior MPs had complained that Beijing was being 'appeased' by allowing him to visit and view the Queen lying in state despite a slew of British politicians being sanctioned for criticising human rights abuses. However, Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle has denied being 'leant' on to allow the officials access. Representatives from countries with criticised human rights records including Brunei, Kuwait and Bahrain were at the funeral today China's vice-premier Wang Qishan attended the funeral, hours after sparking fury among Conservative MPs for viewing the Queen lying in state There had initially been an expectation that Chinese officials would be barred from Westminster while seven UK MPs and peers remain sanctioned by Beijing. The ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, who was embroiled in a bitter legal row in the UK with his ex-wife Princess Haya whom he was ordered to pay a record 500million settlement, was also present today. The Sheikh was accused of abducting his two daughters Shamsa and Latifa, who was missing for months amid claims she was being held against her will. His former brother-in-law, King Abdullah of Jordan, is also among the huge throng of mourners, leading to a potentially awkward reunion today. Due to strained ties, the United Kingdom has opted to invite ambassadors, not heads of state, from several countries including Iran, Nicaragua and North Korea. Russia and Belarus are among a small group of nations excluded altogether following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. Dozens of world leaders, dignitaries and diplomats take their seats inside Westminster Abbey as the Queen's funeral begins Russian President Vladimir Putin - under a travel ban to the UK due to sanctions - had already said he would not attend. But not inviting any Russian representative to the queen's funeral was 'particularly blasphemous towards Elizabeth II's memory' and 'deeply immoral', the foreign ministry spokeswoman in Moscow said Thursday. Russia and Belarus have embassies in London and their presidents sent King Charles III messages of condolences. Other countries with no invitations are Myanmar, Syria, Venezuela and Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. Yesterday, Bolsonaro was criticised by opposition leaders for turning his trip to London into an election campaign event. His attendance comes just two weeks before the first-round election vote, in which he trails in opinion polls to his leftist rival, former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. In an address to his yellow-and-green-clad supporters from the balcony of the Brazilian embassy, far-right former army captain Bolsonaro touched briefly on the queen's legacy, before accusing the opposition of trying to implant communism in South America's largest country. 'We're a country that doesn't want drug liberalization, that doesn't want to talk about legalizing abortion and that doesn't accept 'gender ideology',' Bolsonaro said. Reuters reported this week that Bolsonaro's campaign hoped to use his trip to project the image of a respectable statesman with international support. The president has been largely shunned by Western leaders for his lackluster stewardship of the Amazon rainforest and his proximity with Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. Catholics are predicted to be the biggest faith group in Northern Ireland for the first time when census results are released later this week. The new data is expected to show Catholics outnumbering Protestants when results of 2021 census are published on Thursday. Calls for a debate over Irish unification have already intensified this year after Sinn Fein won historic elections in Northern Ireland in May. They became the first Irish nationalist party to become the largest at Stormont. But, ahead of this week's census results, non-sectarian parties have warned the debate over Irish unification should not be 'based solely on demographics'. The last census in 2011 showed Northern Ireland's population to be 48 per cent Protestant and 45 per cent Catholic, while seven per cent said they belonged to another religion or none. Prior to that, the 2001 census revealed 53 per cent were Protestant and 44 per cent were Catholic; while the 1991 census revealed 58 per cent were Protestant and 42 per cent were Catholic. The new data is expected to show Catholics outnumbering Protestants when results of 2021 census are published on Thursday Calculations over the relative size of the Protestant and Catholic populations have historically been complicated by the fact many respondents declined to state any religious affiliation. Immigration data will also alter statistics on religion, including the movement of people from majority-Catholic Poland to Northern Ireland in recent years. Gerry Carroll, the member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for West Belfast, acknowledged that new census results showing Catholics to be the largest religious group would be 'an important moment'. But the politician, who represents the non-sectarian People Before Profit party, warned against thinking a debate over Irish unification would now 'automatically' be won by nationalists. 'If the majority of people here are no longer Protestant it is obviously an important moment and one that will bring increased calls for the changing of the constitutional arrangement on the island,' he told The Times. 'But I think it would be a mistake to say that, based solely on demographics, the conversation around reunification can be automatically won, because not everybody whos classed as a Catholic, or from a "nationalist" community would automatically vote for a united Ireland.' The statistics from the 2021 census had been planned for release tomorrow, but this has been delayed until Thursday following the death of the Queen. The data being release this week will include figures on ethnic group, national identity, language and religion. Peter Sheridan, chief executive of the peace-building organisation Co-operation Ireland, said: 'For the first time there is a substantial number of people in the middle, who, whatever day a border poll happens, will make decisions based on good health, good education and good job prospects. 'The last 100 years required a Protestant majority to secure the union. 'If the census is as it is expected to be, for it to be secured another 100 years a much wider majority will be required.' There were 39 people from the Australian military who were selected to attend Anthony Albanese and his partner Jodie Haydon appeared solemn and emotional as they stood alongside a host of world leaders at the Queen's funeral, as Australia's military joined the procession through London. The Australian Prime Minister stood behind Canadian leader Justin Trudeau and his wife, Sophie, during the service at Westminster Abbey on Monday. Other heads of state included New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron. Following the service, the Queen's coffin began its procession from the abbey towards Wellington Arch after it was placed back onto the State Gun Carriage at just after midday, local time. Joining scores of soldiers from other Commonwealth countries marching alongside the casket were 39 members of the Australian military. The Australian Prime Minister appeared solemn as he stood behind Canadian leader Justin Trudeau and his wife, Sophie, during the service at Westminster Abbey on Monday (pictured) Jodie Haydon and her partner Australian Prime Minister arrived at Westminster Abbey around 10.30am London time looking sombre Earlier on Monday, Australian Army Brigadier Mick Garraway said preparations began straight away for the army personnel who were selected to take part in the procession. 'It's a tremendous opportunity, it's a great privilege for us to be involved in this, such an historic event,' he told the Today show. 'All of our contingent here have been aware for some time, that we would be required to be deployed over here to London in the event of the Queen's death... so we were on a list essentially.' Brigadier Garraway said they were all watching the news for updates on the Queen's deteriorating condition over recent months. 'It was a surprise in the end but of course things happen pretty quickly,' he said. 'Most of us got the word last Friday and gathered in Sydney then flew through Sunday and Monday over here to London.' Pictured: Military personnel from Australia att he Queen's funeral on Monday in London Catherine Princess of Wales could be seen at the Queen's funeral on Monday, speaking with Australian, Canadian and New Zealand soldiers Mounties of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police lead the procession followed immediately by representatives of the George Cross foundations from Malta, and the former Royal Ulster Constabulary. The route was lined by the armed forces from Westminster Abbey to the top of Constitution Hill at the Commonwealth Memorial Gates. Her coffin was placed close to the altar with her crown, orb and scepter on its top surrounded by flowers chosen by the King from gardens she loved. A card in the flowers on top of the coffin read simply: 'In loving and devoted memory. Charles R.' Two hours before the funeral, Mr Albanese shared a photo clutching the hand of his partner Ms Haydon as they headed to Westminster together. Governor-General of Australia, David Hurley and Linda Hurley arrive at The Committal Service for Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle on September 19, 2022 in Windsor General of Australia David Hurley and wife Linda Hurley walk hand-in-hand at the moving service 'I will attend the state funeral for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Audiences around the world watch the procession, he tweeted. He has met with dozens Australians on the streets of London ahead of the funeral since arriving on Saturday. 'It's been quite extraordinary. But wherever you go, there are huge numbers of people on the street around Buckingham Palace,' Mr Albanese told 2GB last Monday night. 'Last night, there were tens of thousands of people, as far as you could see, just essentially watching buses going to the entrance of Buckingham Palace.' Mr Albanese was the first world leader to set off for the Queen's funeral from Sydney last Thursday night and arrived early Saturday morning London time. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was accompanied by fiance Clarke Gayford as she arrived for the Queen's funeral NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern (pictured arriving with her fiance) wore a classic black tailored dress from Kiwi designer Juliette Hogan He was joined by 'everyday Australians' that were extended an invitation, including Australian of the Year Dylan Alcott and horse trainer Gai Waterhouse. Senior Australian of the Years Valmai Dempsy and Dr Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr Baumann, Local Heroes Shanna Whan, Saba Abraham, and Kim Smith, Young Australian of the Year Trudy Lin, Western Australian of the Year Helen Milroy, and i4give founder Danny Abdallah were also invited. Other Australians attending the funeral include Governor-General Sir David Hurley and his wife Linda, along with Victoria Cross recipients Ben Roberts Smith, Mark Donaldson and Daniel Keighran. The Queen was patron of the Victoria Cross association since it began in 1956, and asked before her death that all living members be invited to her funeral. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (pictured arriving at the Queen funeral with his partner) is among 2,000 dignitaries in attendance Anthony Albanese arrives at Westminster Abbey in London for the Queen's state funeral King Charles III and his grief-stricken family surrounded the Queen's coffin in a moving and majestic farewell to the late monarch. The Archbishop of Canterbury hailed the Queen's 'abundant life and loving service' as he delivered the sermon at her state funeral, adding: 'She was joyful, present to so many, touching a multitude of lives.' Prince Charles looked tearful while his sister looked at him with concern and care before fixing her own stare on her mother's coffin and crown. The UK's most important church, packed with 2,000 VIPs including prime ministers, presidents and the Queen's family, was serene aside from the sound of hymns and prayers in a funeral service Her Majesty has curated herself before she died. Australian Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts-Smith is also among the attendees The coffin of Queen Elizabeth II is carried into Westminster Abbey for her funeral On an highly emotional occasion for Britain and the world, the Queen was carried in her oak coffin to the gun carriage used by her parents and was followed through Parliament Square by her son, the King, and her relatives including the Prince of Wales and Duke of Sussex. Andrew, the Duke of York, appeared to be crying. Outside the Abbey an estimated 2million people are in central London along procession routes and watching on big screens. The State Gun Carriage carrying the Queen's coffin began its funeral procession from the Palace of Westminster to Westminster Abbey at around 10.45am, arriving just before 11am. A single toll from Big Ben signalled the start of the service at Westminster Abbey, where kings and queens have been crowned and buried since 1066. Her Majesty will be laid to rest at Windsor next to her beloved husband Prince Philip and her parents, George VI and the Queen Mother. Despite the huge crowds, there was absolute silence as around 200 pipers and drummers of Scottish and Irish Regiments, the Brigade of Gurkhas and RAF played as the procession went through Parliament Square. The Queen's own piper played a lament that echoed through the heart of London. Walking behind the carriage were the King and his siblings, followed by the Prince of Wales, Duke of Sussex and Peter Phillips. The State Gun Carriage has also been previously used for the funerals of King Edward VII, King George V, King George VI, Winston Churchill, and Lord Mountbatten. Nine-year-old Prince George and his sister Princess Charlotte arrive at Westminster Abbey for their great-grandmother's funeral There was complete silence from the crowd close to Parliament Square, as the State Gun Carriage carrying the Queen's coffin slowly moved past. The crowd, momentarily still and with phones held aloft to capture the moment, was around 10-people thick in places, as tens of thousands thronged the streets to say goodbye to the monarch and witness a moment of history. Prince George and Princess Charlotte travelled to Westminster Abbey in the same car as the Queen Consort, with the Princess of Wales arriving with them. They arrived at the church shortly after some of the Queen's grandchildren including Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie. World leaders including Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron arrived at Westminster Abbey around an hour before the service began. The congregation of 2,000 sat in solemn silence as Her Majesty arrived. Advertisement Prince William today directed his estranged brother Prince Harry and sister-in-law Meghan Markle to their seats at St George's Chapel just before the committal service for their late grandmother the Queen got underway. The brothers have put aside their feud for a united front to remember the monarch, and again showed that they could at least be on speaking terms as they interacted with each other in the chapel at Windsor Castle. William was seen walking to the end of the pew while holding back his son Prince George next to wife Kate Middleton and daughter Princess Charlotte, as he beckoned for Harry and Meghan to walk past them. Harry and Meghan then took their seats, with the Duke of Sussex sitting next to Charlotte. Kate was sat in between Charlotte and George, with the nine-year-old prince next to William who was on the end of the pew. The royals had followed behind the Queen's coffin into the chapel after it was lifted from the state hearse and carried in ahead of the service at 4pm. The procession was led in by members of the Queen's royal household. Once again King Charles III followed behind the coffin, with Queen Consort Camilla, as well as Princess Anne and Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence behind, then Prince Andrew, Prince Edward and Sophie, Countess of Wessex. Earlier today, William and Harry also walked together behind the Queen's coffin in London in emotional scenes this morning before it was carried into Westminster Abbey by the military bearer party for her state funeral. Today marks the fourth day in just over a week that Harry and William have carried out engagements together, with royal observers hoping they are making first steps to put their troubled relationship behind them. The brothers also followed behind the Queen's coffin for a procession to Westminster Hall last Wednesday; a vigil over the coffin on Saturday; and a walkabout with Kate and Meghan outside Windsor Castle on September 10. While William and Harry have put aside their disagreements for royal events in recent days, fears over the content of Harry's upcoming memoir continue to cast a cloud over their relationship - especially following the bombshell interview he and Meghan gave to Oprah Winfrey in March 2021 when they accused an unnamed royal of racism. Rumours of a rift between the brothers first emerged in 2019 when they divided their households following various disagreements about Harry's role, but their feud deepened amid the fallout from the Megxit saga in 2020. But the death of the Queen has seen the rivals shelve their differences, with William and Kate joined in recent days by Harry and Meghan for the first occasions in more than two years since Commonwealth Day in March 2020. Prince William directs Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to their seats at St George's Chapel for the committal service today Prince William lets Harry and Meghan into the pew before his family at St George's Chapel in Windsor this afternoon William was seen walking to the end of the pew while holding back his son Prince George next to wife Kate Middleton and daughter Princess Charlotte, as he beckoned for Harry and Meghan to walk past them ahead of the service this afternoon The Duke of Sussex next to Princess Charlotte as they stand during the committal service at St George's Chapel today (Top to bottom) The Prince of Wales, Prince George, the Princess of Wales, Princess Charlotte, the Duke of Sussex and Duchess of Sussex at the committal service for Queen Elizabeth II held at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle today The coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, followed by (left to right, from front) King Charles III, the Queen Consort, the Princess Royal, Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, the Duke of York, the Earl of Wessex, the Countess of Wessex, the Prince of Wales, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, the Princess of Wales, the Duke of Sussex, the Duchess of Sussex, Peter Phillips, the Earl of Snowdon, the Duke of Gloucester, the Duke of Kent, and Prince Michael of Kent, at the committal service in Windsor today The Prince and Princess of Wales and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex (front row top) at the service in Windsor today Prince Harry, Princess Anne and Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence ahead of the committal service at Windsor today Prince William and Prince Harry join the procession following the state hearse carrying the coffin at Windsor today King Charles III, Princess Anne, Prince William, Prince Andrew, Prince Edward and Prince Harry at Windsor Castle today The Duke of Sussex, King Charles III and the Princess Royal follow the State Hearse carrying the coffin in Windsor today Today, the royal family were among the 2,000 people gathered for the funeral, before a committal service at Windsor Castle. The service follows the Queen's lying in state period at Westminster Hall, which ended at 6.30am. The day marks the climax of the biggest security operation the UK has ever seen, surpassing the operation for the Platinum Jubilee weekend and the London 2012 Olympics, which saw up to 10,000 police officers on duty per day. Uniforms and medals worn by senior royals The King wore his Royal Navy uniform and his son and heir dressed in RAF colours at the funeral of the Queen in nods to the branches of the armed forces in which they both served. Both the Duke of Sussex and Duke of York, who also served in the military, were dressed in formal mourning clothes for the state funeral because they are no longer working members of the royal family. The King The King wore the Royal Navy No 1 tailcoat with sword, the collar of the Order of the Garter, Order of the Thistle Sash, Order of Merit neck order, Garter Star and Thistle Star. He also wore full-size medals including the Queen's Service Order (New Zealand), Coronation Medal, Silver Jubilee Medal, Golden Jubilee Medal, Diamond Jubilee Medal, Platinum Jubilee Medal and a Naval Long Service Good Conduct (LSGC) (three x Additional Service Bars). Other medals included Canadian Forces Decoration (three x Additional Service Bars), The New Zealand Commemorative Medal, and The New Zealand Armed Forces Award. Charles had a six-year military career, mainly flying for the Royal Navy. Earl of Wessex The Earl of Wessex wore the Blues Uniform with the rank of Honorary Royal Colonel of the Royal Wessex Yeomanry, with the Garter Star and Sash and the Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO) star. He also wore Silver, Gold, Diamond and Platinum Jubilee Medals, the New Zealand Medal and the Canadian Forces Medal. Prince Edward did not serve in the military but spent a short time as a Royal Marines officer cadet after leaving university in the 1980s. The Prince of Wales The Prince of Wales wore the RAF No 1 uniform with the Garter Sash with RAF Pilot Wings and the Garter Star Chest Order. He also wore the Gold, Diamond and Platinum Jubilee Medals. William spent seven years in the military, including more than three years as a search and rescue pilot. The Princess Royal The Princess Royal wore a Royal Navy full ceremonial uniform in the rank of Admiral. She wore full-size medals including the Queen's Service Order, Coronation Medal, the Silver, Gold, Diamond and Platinum Jubilee medals, Long Service and Good Conduct Medal (Royal Navy), Canadian Forces Decoration, Order of St John Service Medal and New Zealand 1990 Medal. Anne wore a decoration of a thistle sash and thistle star, as well as the Most Noble Order of the Garter (Garter Star), the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle (Star), and the Royal Victorian Order (Knight Grand Cross). She did not serve in the military but holds a number of honours and titles. Advertisement Prince Andrew and Prince Harry were both again banned from saluting during the procession to Westminster Abbey today while other royals including King Charles III, Prince William and Princess Anne all performed the gesture. Members of the Royal Family saluted when the Queen's coffin was taken into the Abbey. But Andrew and Harry simply stood still because they were not allowed to wear military uniform, as neither are now working royals. It comes after Harry and Andrew were also prohibited from saluting at the funeral procession to Westminster Hall last Wednesday. Andrew did also not salute at the vigil last Monday in Edinburgh for the same reason. The decision to ban Harry and Andrew from wearing military uniforms in most events following the Queen's death at Balmoral 11 days ago is a reminder of how both now have limited involvement in the Royal Family. Prince Harry spent ten years in the Army, but he was stripped of his honorary military titles in 2020 after he and his wife Meghan Markle announced they were stepping down as senior working royals and moving abroad. His uncle the Duke of York, who was forced to stand down from public life in 2019 over the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, is the only other royal banned from wearing military uniform at the ceremonial events and funeral. It comes after an extraordinary row over the decision to remove the Queen's initials from the shoulder of Prince Harry's military uniform laid bare the depth of his rift with the Royal Family. The prince was said to have been left 'devastated' after receiving his ceremonial dress of the Blues and Royals from Buckingham Palace without the distinctive EIIR cipher on the shoulder. He wore the uniform to Saturday night's vigil over the Queen's coffin alongside the monarch's seven other grandchildren. Such was his despair, Harry is even said to have considered wearing a morning suit as they were leaving in order to avoid the 'embarrassment'. William and Harry, both dressed in military uniform, stood at either end of the coffin on Saturday night. They were joined by cousins Zara Tindall and Peter Phillips, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, and Lady Louise Windsor and her brother Viscount Severn. Harry, who saw action on the front line during two tours of duty in Afghanistan, had previously been told he would have to wear a morning suit as he is no longer a working royal and has been stripped of any honorary military appointments. However, his father, King Charles, granted permission for his son to wear his old uniform at the vigil inside the Palace of Westminster as a show of respect and unity to the late Queen. It is understood that no personal slight was intended, and The cipher was removed simply because Harry is no longer an aide-de-camp (ADC) to the Queen after quitting royal duties and handing back his military appointments. A Personal Aide-de-Camp is an appointment bestowed only on members of the Royal Family holding military rank, including the Prince of Wales. Nowadays, it is an honorary role with few duties or responsibilities, although historically it would have signified close proximity to the monarch. Harry was awarded the honour in 2018 and it was seen as a sign of his growing responsibility within the monarchy. But following his acrimonious decision in 2020 to quit as a working royal and seek his fortune in the US, the Queen insisted he withdraw from all responsibilities and appointments. It means he is simply no longer entitled to wear the insignia of an ADC on his uniform. Much has been made of the fact that the shamed Duke of York was seen in his ADC insignia at Friday night's vigil by the Queen's children. Andrew was permitted to wear it because, unlike Harry, he did not give the honour back when he relinquished his military associations in January. A spokesman said it was a personal appointment by the Queen. Questions will undoubtedly be raised, however, as to why Harry was forced to hand the honour back, when his uncle was not. On Saturday, Prince William was wearing the Blues and Royals, No.1 Uniform, the Garter Sash, the Garter Star, Golden, Diamond and Platinum Jubilee medals and RAF Pilot Wings. Harry was wearing the Blues and Royals, No.1 Uniform, KCVO Neck Order and Star, Afghanistan Operational Service Medal, Golden, Diamond and Platinum Jubilee medals and Army Pilot Wings. Harry, however, wore civilian dress for today's funeral. Andrew stepped down from public life after the furore over his friendship with paedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein. He went on to pay millions, with no admission as to liability, to settle a civil sexual assault case to a woman he claimed never to have met. King Charles III walks to to Westminster Abbey in front of Prince William and Prince Harry at Westminster Abbey this morning Prince Harry stands while other members of the Royal Family salute ahead of the state funeral of the Queen this morning Britain's William, Prince of Wales, Catherine, Princess of Wales, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, Prince George and Princess Charlotte at the day of the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey today Prince Harry and Prince Andrew stand while other members of the royal family salute towards the coffin in London today Prince Harry, Prince Andrew and other members of the Royal Family walk to Westminster Abbey this morning Members of the Royal Family watch as the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II is placed on a gun carriage this morning Prince William and Prince Harry next to Peter Phillips as they arrive at Westminster Abbey in London this morning Members of the Royal Family march ahead of the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey today The Prince of Wales and Duke of Sussex walk to Westminster Abbey this morning on the day of the state funeral The coffin of Queen Elizabeth II is carried into Westminster Abbey, followed by King Charles III and other royals today King Charles III looks at his mother's coffin, while Prince Harry stands behind his father at Westminster Abbey this morning Prince William and Prince Harry next to Peter Phillips as they arrive at Westminster Abbey in London this morning Prince William and Prince Harry stand next to each other on the day of the state funeral for the Queen this morning Princes William and Harry walk side-by-side behind the Queen's coffin in the procession towards Westminster Abbey today Members of the Royal Family walk behind the Queen's coffin in the procession towards Westminster Abbey today Prince Andrew, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward walk behind the Queen's coffin in Westminster today In January, ahead of his legal settlement, the Queen stripped him of all of his honorary military roles, including Colonel of the Grenadier Guards, and he gave up his HRH style. Andrew, a former Royal Navy officer who served in the Falklands War, retained his rank as a Vice Admiral, and is expected to wear the coinciding uniform. Virginia Giuffre, formerly known as Virginia Roberts, sued him for allegedly sexually assaulting her when she was 17 after she was trafficked by Epstein. Andrew denied the claims. At the Duke of Edinburgh's funeral in April 2021, the dress issue was dealt with by the Queen who decided that no members of the royal family should wear uniform. The Daily Mail revealed that Andrew had demanded to be allowed to wear his uniform as an honorary vice-admiral of the British royal navy. Around the time of the Philip's funeral, Andrew even went to his mother to ask her to back him in the uniform row as she prepared to say goodbye to her beloved husband. After the Mail's story broke, it was announced that senior royals would wear morning suits in order to deflect the row. It was a break with tradition but seen as the most eloquent solution to the problem. Andrew was due to be promoted to Admiral in 2020 to mark his 60th birthday, but this did not go ahead following the fallout from his disastrous Newsnight appearance. Today, the Queen's coffin was taken in a grand military procession from the Palace of Westminster to Westminster Abbey for the funeral at 11am. The Prince of Wales and the Duke of Sussex ahead of the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey today Members of the royal family march ahead of the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey today King Charles III and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex attend the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in London today Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex take part in the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II today Members of the royal family march ahead of the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey today King Charles III and other senior royals ahead of the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey today Members of the royal family march ahead of the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey today King Charles III and other senior royals ahead of the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey today Before the service, conducted by the Very Rev David Hoyle, Dean of Westminster, the tenor bell was tolled every minute for 96 minutes, reflecting the years of the Queen's life. Heads of state, prime ministers and presidents, members of European royal families and key figures from public life gathered at the abbey. But invitations were not sent to Russia and Belarus due to the invasion of Ukraine, while Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, Myanmar's military junta and Syria's Bashar Assad were also excluded. The Queen's Piper, Warrant Officer Class 1 (Pipe Major) Paul Burns, played the traditional lament Sleep, Dearie, Sleep after The Last Post, two minutes' silence, Reveille and the national anthem. During the service the King and the Queen Consort sat in the ornate Canada Club chairs, with Camilla next to the Princess Royal, then Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, then the Duke of York and then the Earl and Countess of Wessex in the front row of the south lantern. Across the aisle was the Prince of Wales, the Princess of Wales, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, and then Peter Phillips and Zara and Mike Tindall. Directly behind the King was the Duke of Sussex with the Duchess of Sussex behind Camilla. Meghan was sitting next to Princess Beatrice. US President Joe Biden will be 14 rows back on the south transept behind the Polish leader and in front of the Czech Republic. The First Lady will be next to Switzerland's representative. Other heads of state including French President Emmanuel Macron were also in the abbey, while senior British politicians including Prime Minister Liz Truss, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and former prime ministers Boris Johnson, David Cameron and Theresa May were among those taking their seats. The funeral was broadcast live at around 125 cinemas and several cathedrals in the UK, and on a big screen in Holyrood Park in front of the Palace of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh. Prince William and Prince Harry, behind King Charles III outside Westminster Hall for the state funeral this morning Prince William and Prince Harry, behind King Charles III outside Westminster Hall for the state funeral this morning Prince William and Prince Harry, behind King Charles III outside Westminster Hall for the state funeral this morning Kate Middleton arrives with Prince George and Princess Charlotte at Westminster Abbey for the state funeral this morning Kate Middleton arrives with Prince George and Princess Charlotte at Westminster Abbey for the state funeral this morning The Princess of Wales arrives ahead of the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey this morning Catherine, Princess of Wales, Princess Charlotte of Wales and Prince George of Wales arrive at Westminster Abbey today Meghan, Duchess of Sussex arrives at Westminster Abbey for the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II this morning Meghan, Duchess of Sussex walks outside the Westminster Abbey on the day of Queen Elizabeth II's funeral today Meghan, Duchess of Sussex arrives at Westminster Abbey for the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II this morning At 12.15pm, the coffin will be taken in procession from Westminster Abbey to Wellington Arch and then travel to Windsor. The hearse will then travel in procession to St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle via the Long Walk, after which a televised committal service will take place in St George's Chapel at 4pm. The Dean of Windsor will conduct the service, with prayers said by the Rector of Sandringham, the Minister of Crathie Kirk and the Chaplain of Windsor Great Park. The chapel's choir will sing and after the penultimate hymn, the imperial state crown, the orb and the sceptre will be moved from the Queen's coffin to the altar. After the final hymn, the King will place the Queen's Company Camp Colour of the Grenadier Guards on the coffin, while the Lord Chamberlain breaks his Wand of Office and places it on the coffin. The Dean of Windsor will say a psalm and the Commendation while the Queen's coffin is lowered into the royal vault. SATURDAY -- Prince William and Prince Harry with Queen Elizabeth II's other grandchildren for a a vigil at Westminster Hall LAST WEDNESDAY - Members of the Royal Family follow behind the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II through Westminster SEPTEMBER 8 -- The Prince and Princess of Wales and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex on the Long Walk at Windsor Castle After this, the Sovereign's Piper will play a lament and the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby will pronounce the blessing, before the congregation sings the national anthem. Ahead of the service, Mr Welby said: 'We come together to give thanks for a long life, lived in service to her people and her saviour, Jesus Christ.' Later in the evening, there will be a private interment service with senior members of the royal family, where the Queen will be reunited with her beloved husband the Duke of Edinburgh. The Queen's final resting place will be the King George VI memorial chapel, an annex to the main chapel where her mother and father were buried, along with the ashes of her sister, Princess Margaret. Philip's coffin will move from the royal vault to the memorial chapel to join the Queen's. Viewers have joked that Huw Edwards 'needs a holiday' as he continues to lead the BBC's coverage of the Queen's funeral. The presenter, 61, has anchored the BBC's coverage since Queen Elizabeth II's death on Thursday 8 September. He is also presenting on BBC News this morning alongside Fergal Keane, also 61, throughout the Queen's funeral at Westminster Abbey. Taking to Twitter, many social media users expressed their hopes that the presenter treats himself to a well-deserved break. Viewers have joked that Huw Edwards 'needs a holiday' as he continues to lead the BBC's coverage of the Queen's funeral The presenter, 61, has fronted the BBC's coverage since Queen Elizabeth II's death on Thursday 8 September Taking to Twitter, many social media users expressed their hopes that the presenter treats himself to a well-deserved break One user wrote: '@thehuwedwards you've done an amazing job since making the announcement of her majesty's death. I hope the BBC allows you a well deserved holiday!' Another added: 'Huw Edwards deserves a 6 month holiday after today. How he's managed to talk and interview people for 10 days straight about this I'll never know.' One joked: 'Can someone give #huwedwards a pillow and blanket, followed by a long holiday, please?' 'Can we all club together on GoFundMe and buy Huw Edwards a holiday once all this is done? The man's been broadcasting seemlessly for 12 days solid now,' another joked. 'Has anyone worked harder than these couple of weeks? Crazy pressure to be the person to say "this is the BBC from London" day of. Give this man a holiday,' one Twitter use quipped. Edwards has presented much of the BBC's coverage since Queen Elizabeth II's death was announced on 8 September. BBC One viewers expressed concerns last week over the news presenter's sore-looking right eye The public service broadcaster had a total of 9.83million people tuned into BBC One at 6.30pm when the death of Queen Elizabeth II (pictured just two days before she died) was officially announced Viewers have praised the presenter's 'amazing' coverage, with one calling him 'absolutely stupendous.' 'Huw Edwards absolutely stupendous again today,' they wrote. 'He's a b***dy amazing broadcaster. Completely on the ball, composed, pragmatic but sensitive.' Another added: 'All presenters, particularly on BBC have been tremendous, however, has been absolutely outstanding. 'Always the right tone, isn't rude when he has to stops guests to go to live feeds, just amazing thank you.' Viewers voiced their concerns fore Huw, with some suggesting he didn't get much rest after covering the news of the Queen's death this weekend 'What an extraordinary broadcaster is. He has an amazing ability to hold hours of live tv together with the informative and comprehensive professionalism that it deserves,' one Twitter user said. Last week, BBC News viewers voiced concerns for Edwards' health after the presenter was seen with a bloodshot right eye. The broadcaster sparked concern on social media while covering the procession that saw the late Monarch's coffin being moved from Holyroodhouse Palace to St Giles Cathedral. Viewers spotted the presenter's blood-shot eye, saying they hoped he would get it treated and surmising he must be 'shattered'. Edwards was also the presenter who broke the news of the Queen's death to the nation on Thursday 8 September. Advertisement A visibly emotional Prince Andrew today wore his morning suit as he followed the Queen's coffin through the streets of London for her state funeral. The mourning royal was banned from wearing his military uniform at the ceremony after being stripped of his titles. The Queens coffin left Westminster Hall - where she has been lying-in-state - at 10.44am and arrived at Westminster Abbey at 10.52am. The Duke of York, who on Wednesday marched behind Her Majesty's coffin in the Royal procession - was in the same position behind his mother's coffin today. His siblings King Charles, Prince Edward and Princess Anne, are all in their military uniforms. And as the trio raised a crisp salute to their late mother outside Westminster Abbey, a grieving Prince Andrew - positioned between the Princess Royal and Earl of Wessex - slowly bowed his head in tribute. Princes Harry and Andrew both both their heads as other senior royals, including King Charles, Princess Anne and Prince Edward salute the Queen outside of Westminster Abbey on Monday morning Prince Andrew strikes a solitary figure in his black morning suit as he walks inside the grounds of Windsor Castle ahead of his mother's emotional send-off Her Majesty the Queen is carried out of Westminster Abbey followed by her family as she made her final journey through the streets of London on Monday afternoon Grieving Prince Harry walks with his hands by his side next to his brother, Prince William, as the Royal Family follows the Queen's coffin through London Prince Andrew looked solemn as he marched behind his mother today in his black morning suit. The 62-year-old royal was banned from wearing his military uniform to the Queen's send-off As other members of the royal family, in military attire, saluted the Queen outside Westminster Abbey, Prince Andrew bowed his head in tribute to his beloved mother King Charles was joined by his siblings, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward during the procession through Westminster About 4billion people across the globe are expected to tune in to watch the Queen's state funeral, with a million people lining the streets through London He was joined by Prince Harry, who is also not donning military dress and bowed his head instead of saluting the late monarch. The Duke of Sussex was also barred from wearing his military uniform after departing from royal duties. The Prince, accompanied by his wife, Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, looked sombre as he followed behind his grandmother's coffin, wearing military medals on his chest. The decision to ban Harry and Andrew from wearing military uniforms in events following the Queen's death at Balmoral last Thursday is a reminder of how both now have limited involvement in the Royal Family. Prince Harry spent 10 years in the Army, but he was stripped of his honorary military titles in 2020 after he and his wife Meghan Markle announced they were stepping down as senior working royals and moving abroad. His uncle the Duke of York, who was forced to stand down from public life in 2019 over the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, is the only other royal banned from wearing military uniform at the ceremonial events and funeral. Andrew (pictured) joined his siblings at a ceremonial vigil that replicated that of the Vigil of Princes last week Prince Andrews has been visible throughout the events laid on to commemorate Her Majesty, having also been seen reading floral tributes at Balmoral with his daughters after The Queen died. Previously, the Duke of York was allowed to wear his military uniform as he joined his siblings for a 'final vigil' around his late mother's coffin as she lies in state at Westminster Hall. The Duke of York, 62, was pictured arriving at the vigil in London with his younger brother, Prince Edward, in his full uniform after King Charles lifted a ban on him wearing the outfit. On Monday, the Queen's children took part in a similar Vigil of Princes ceremony at St Giles' Cathedral, Edinburgh, where they stood around their mother's coffin. During that ceremony Prince Andrew was not wearing his military uniform as he is no longer a working royal. As the Queen's children, along with Prince William and Prince Harry, followed the Queen's coffin from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall on Tuesday, neither the Duke of York nor the Duke of Sussex were wearing their uniforms - instead dressed in suits. However as Andrew replicated the ceremonial act with his siblings this evening, in which they 'took guard' and surrounded their mother's coffin, the Falklands War veteran was allowed to wear his military uniform. It is thought King Charles lifted the ban on Andrew's dress as a 'mark of respect for his mother'. This evening the King, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward stood guard over their mother's coffin in silence for 10 minutes while members of the public filed past. Meanwhile other members of the Royal family including Prince Edward's wife Sophie Wessex, Princess Anne's daughter Zara Tindall and her husband Mike, and Prince Andrew's daughters, Beatrice and Eugenie, watched on in the stands. Crowds burst into applause as the royal procession made its way towards Buckingham Palace, with thousands of military personnel and police lining the route from Westminster Abbey Prince George and his younger sister Princess Charlotte put on brave faces as they attended the funeral of the Queen on Monday - who they affectionately called 'Gan Gan' Prince Edward and Sophie Wessex share a moment of heartbreaking grief as they watched the funeral inside Westminster Abbey of Her Majesty The new Queen Consort Camilla was also present in the stands as the family paid their respects to the late monarch. Princess Beatrice's husband, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, appeared visibly moved as he put his hands to his face while watching the ceremonial vigil. As King Charles lifted the ban on both Andrew and Harry wearing their military uniforms, it is also expected the Duke of Sussex will be allowed to wear it at a separate vigil for the Queen tomorrow night, in what was labelled a victory for 'common sense'. The Prince of Wales and the Duke of Sussex will reportedly join the Queen's six other grandchildren in a special 15 minute vigil at Westminster Hall. It is believed the eight grandchildren will pay respects to the Queen by standing in silence beside Her Majesty's coffin - in a scene which will mirror the Vigil of the Princes. Afghan war veteran Ben Roberts-Smith is among the crowd attending the Queen's funeral in London after he flew commercial rather than accompanying Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on his VIP jet. The 43-year-old won the Victoria Cross for storming a fortified enemy machine gun position in Afghanistan and killing three insurgents when his unit was pinned down. He is also awaiting the outcome of his epic defamation 'trial of the century' against two newspaper publishers over allegations of war crimes. Ben Robert Smith, 43, is seen at the Queen's funeral on Monday in London The soldier, by virtue of his military honour, has joined officials at the funeral - including Mr Albanese and the Governor-General David Hurley and a handful of celebrated Australian civilians at the service. At the service at Westminster Abbey on Monday, Mr Roberts-Smith could be seen dressed in a suit adorned with his war medals. On Thursday, Australia's most decorated soldier left Brisbane for London by himself because he was invited separately to Mr Albanese and a number of other invited guests. Mr Roberts-Smith last publicly welcomed his invitation to the service by speaking about the honour of meeting the Queen in 2011. The decorated digger said it was a 'surreal' experience and that he was 'taken aback' by her 'kindness' and 'intelligence'. Last week, Ben Roberts-Smith has opened up about his invitation to attend the Queen's funeral (pictured together in 2011) He recalled to the West Australian that 'she sort of dropped her handbag on the double-seated couch and pointed for me to sit down, and I assumed that she would sit opposite me, but she sat right next to me and grabbed my arm and started talking to me about just having just flown back from the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting at that time.' Mr Roberts-Smith described the late Monarch as 'magnificent', adding that she was 'stoic leader' and 'a lovely lady'. 'I have a very deep respect for Her Majesty and everything that she has sacrificed in her life and what she has achieved.' Last week, Mr Roberts-Smith publicly welcomed his invitation to the service by speaking publicly about the occasion he met the Queen in 2011 Mr Roberts-Smith launched his defamation action against the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and the Canberra Times newspapers for publishing accusations he committed war crimes. The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald are published by Fairfax media, which is under the Nine network, while the Canberra Times is published by Australian Community Media. The sensational case, which ran for months over the span of 100 days in court, concluded in late July but a verdict is not expected for months. Russia has today accused Ukraine of making up reports mass graves had been found in the formerly Russian-controlled city of Izyum. 'These are lies,' Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday, adding Moscow 'will stand up for the truth in this story'. Some 450 graves were discovered in forests outside Izyum after the strategic city was recaptured from the Russians by Ukrainian troops last week. Russia said it was 'the same scenario as in Bucha', where dozens of bodies were found after Russian troops left They have so far exhumed more than 60 bodies of both soldiers and civilians from a burial site thought to contain at least 450 graves in a forest Kharkiv and surrounding areas have been the target of heavy shelling since February 2022, when Russian troops entered Ukraine starting a conflict that has provoked destruction and a humanitarian crisis Some bodies showed signs of torture, with their hands tied behind their backs and ropes around their necks, it was claimed Ukrainian war crimes prosecutors have released images and details of a Russian 'torture chamber' they found in a newly liberated village For Peskov it was 'the same scenario as in Bucha', a town outside the capital Kyiv where dozens of bodies in civilian clothing were found in the streets after Russian troops left. Ukrainian officials said 99 percent of the exhumed bodies showed signs of violent death. Ukrainian war crimes prosecutors have released images and details of a Russian 'torture chamber' they found in a newly liberated village. Officials said the grim basement in Kozacha Lopan, in Ukraine's Kharkiv region, was where Russian forces tormented military and civilian prisoners. The identities of some of the bodies exhumed from the mass burial site discovered in Izium were identified, deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Sunday. Some relatives of missing people who have provided their DNA have been informed that their loved ones were among the dead in Izium, according to Vereshchuk. 'We are seeing a terrifying number of people, graves (and) mass graves of tortured civilians,' Vereshchuk said, according to the Kyiv Independent. Izium Mayor Valerii Marchenko said the exhumation works would continue for nearly two more weeks 'because there are many burials' in the city. One image showed a Soviet-era military telephone which they claimed was used as the power source for a yellow wire which was connected to metal clips to electrocute prisoners during interrogation. In recent days, testimonies have emerged from Ukrainians saying they were electrocuted, burned and beaten by Russian soldiers demanding the names and addresses of senior military figures in the region. The Kremlin troops who were occupying Kharkiv, in the north-east of the country, have dropped their weapons and fled in the last couple of weeks after Ukraine's counter-offensive. The attack has rapidly retaken over 3,000 square miles of territory that was lost to Vladimir Putin's forces earlier this year. But the Ukrainian soldiers' joy quickly turned to grief as they uncovered evidence of Russian war crimes. Prosecutors have documented the atrocities, which included torture chambers as well as mass graves. They have so far exhumed more than 60 bodies of both soldiers and civilians from a burial site thought to contain at least 450 graves in a forest on the edge of Izyum in Kharkiv. Some bodies showed signs of torture, with their hands tied behind their backs and ropes around their necks, it was claimed. Others revealed injuries consistent with rocket or shelling attacks. They have so far exhumed more than 60 bodies of both soldiers and civilians from a burial site thought to contain at least 450 graves in a forest Ukrainian officials said 99 percent of the exhumed bodies showed signs of violent death 'These are lies,' Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday, adding Moscow 'will stand up for the truth in this story' The EU has called for an international war crimes tribunal to be set up to probe Russia's actions during its seven-month invasion. Following its hasty retreat on the battlefield, Russia has escalated its shelling of Ukrainian towns and cities from within its own borders President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of genocide in his TV address on Saturday Some bodies revealed injuries consistent with rocket or shelling attacks President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of genocide in his TV address on Saturday and said it will answer for its crimes 'both on the battlefield and in the courtroom'. He added: 'More than ten torture chambers have already been found in the liberated areas in Kharkiv.' And a resident of nearby Kupyansk gave a horrifying account of the torture methods allegedly used on him. He said he was electrocuted for 40 minutes, adding: 'They shot me either with a pneumatic gun or a gas gun, I don't know I was in a bag. [People] were beaten with bats or iron pipes.' The EU has called for an international war crimes tribunal to be set up to probe Russia's actions during its seven-month invasion. Following its hasty retreat on the battlefield, Russia has escalated its shelling of Ukrainian towns and cities from within its own borders. Several deaths, including those of four doctors and a nine-year-old girl, were reported in the Kharkiv region. The UK's Ministry of Defence yesterday said Russia was 'prepared to strike in an attempt to undermine the morale of the Ukrainian people and government'. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin's administration on the weekend, sharply restricted the rights of transgender students in the states, sending schools into turmoil and drawing widespread criticism from Democratic legislators and some educators. The Republican, however, received applause from GOP members and parents' rights advocates. The guidelines that were released on Friday place Virginia at the heart of a national battle over how transgender children should be treated at school, as well as how much parents should be told about gender transitions that begin there. Virginia Law on Transgender Students The new "model policies," which a version of it must be adopted by all of the state's 133 school districts next month, will require transgender students to access school facilities and programs matching the gender they were assigned at birth. Furthermore, the policies also make it onerous for students to change their name and gender at school. Youngkin's new guidelines are the latest example of the Virginia governor's top-down approach to governance. They are also likely to draw swift challenges in court, said experts. At least one Democratic official is already challenging the guidelines, alleging that they violate the state's Virginia Human Rights Act, which protects individuals in public settings, including schools, from discrimination on the basis of gender identity, as per the Washington Post. Furthermore, Youngkin's new guidelines fortify his commitment to "preserving parental rights and upholding the dignity and respect of all public school students," said the governor's spokeswoman Macaulay Porter. She added that it was not under a school's or the government's purview to impose a set of particular ideological beliefs on all students. Read Also: November Mid-Terms Could Be Affected by the January 6 Committee's Release of Preliminary Investigation Report The Virginia Department of Education, under the policy, is mandating that families submit legal documentation to earn their children the right to change their name and gender on official school records. The policies add that teachers and other school personnel can refer to a student by a different name or pronoun only if parents request the switch in writing. According to the New York Times, a Democratic member of the state House of Delegates, Mike Mullin, said in a Twitter post on Friday that kids deserve to learn and thrive in an environment free of bullying, intimidation, and fear. Reversal of Predecessor's Policies The official argued that that meant being addressed as who they are and supported for who they will become in the future, especially by their teachers and their administrators. The move comes as a wave of legislation in several states over the last two years limiting the rights and protections of transgender children at school. However, Youngkin's Friday policies stood out in part because they overturned policies instituted just last year by the governor's predecessor Democrat Ralph Northam. The latter instructed Virginia schools to allow transgender students to use the facilities, pronouns, and names that match their gender identity instead of the sex they were assigned at birth. Now, the rewritten rules will go into effect after a 30-day public comment period. Critics immediately slammed Youngkin's new guidelines with Mullin saying that the new rule "calls for the misgendering and outing of children in schools where they're supposed to be safe. Absolutely shameful," the New York Post reported. Related Article: West Virginia: Abortion Ban Law Passed, But There Are Exceptions @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The gruelling job of guarding the Queen's funeral procession faced by thousands of police officers and military personnel took its toll today with a number collapsing on duty. Three military personnel had to be assisted by colleagues after appearing to get into difficulty by Wellington Arch shortly before 2pm. One appeared to collapse to the ground after the Royal Family had left, while two others were also seen being helped away before and after the transfer of the Queen's coffin to the state hearse by the monument. At Hyde Park Barracks another member of military personnel stumbled and was taken away by a colleague. On Horse Guards Road, a member of the Gurkha regiment collapsed, and two soldiers brought over a stretcher, but the man was able to continue after drinking a bottle of water. The crowd cheered as he finished drinking and the stretcher was taken away. Meanwhile in Windsor, two RAF musicians from the band lined up to play as the cortege entered Cambridge Gate were pictured being treated by paramedics. Earlier in the day, a police officer on duty just off Parliament Square was photographed being carried away on a stretcher by Naval personnel after collapsing. Then, a member of Buckingham Palace staff was also pictured on the ground during the procession through the heart of the capital. Officers from the Metropolitan Police and a number of outside forces that have sent officers to help have had all leave cancelled and many have been working shifts of 12 hours or longer since the Queen's death. St John Ambulance gave support to hundreds of members of the public who joined the crowds to say goodbye to the Queen. It said that up to 3.30pm on Monday it, along with the London Ambulance Service, had treated 357 patients, of whom 45 had been taken to hospital. It comes just days after a guard fainted off the podium while holding vigil next to the Queen's Coffin in the Palace of Westminster. A guardsman helps a fallen comrade at Wellington Arch in London during the Queen's funeral A police officer was carried away on a stretcher during the Queen's funeral today after collapsing while on duty The officer was pictured laying on the ground, being attended to by colleagues following the incident earlier this morning A member of Buckingham Palace staff was also pictured on the ground during the procession through the heart of the capital Meanwhile in Windsor, an RAF musician from the band lined up to play as the cortege entered Cambridge Gate also collapsed, and was pictured being treated by paramedics Onlookers who had queued for hours to pay their final respects to the monarch were aghast when a guard began swaying on his feet moments before he collapsed. The man had moments earlier briefly stepped off the podium before retaking his place as other servicemen joined him for a changeover. But seconds later he blacked out and fell forwards, landing sprawled on the stone floor to loud gasps from bystanders queueing to pay their respects. The live stream also cut out for several minutes as police rushed to the man's aid. Today's funeral service has been described as the 'biggest security operation in British history', with at least 10,000 police officers and 1,500 soldiers forming a six-mile wide ring of steel around central London. Many roads and bridges have been shut to traffic and 23-miles of barriers put up to control crowds and keep key areas secure, with police with sniffer dogs on duty to check people passing by. Around Westminster Abbey, specialist firearms officers have been drafted in while spotters with binoculars took up positions on the rooftops of government buildings. There is particularly heavy security around the Royal Hospital Chelsea, with an outer cordon of concrete blocks set up by police at 6am, blocking off all roads up to 600 yards away. Two rows of bollards were stretched across the road, along with a line of portable anti-terror barricades designed to be capable of stopping a bomb-laden truck. This morning there was a minor embarrassment when the official state car for Qatar was stopped for more than 30 minutes at the barricade after an apparent mix-up. The moment the guard fell forward onto the stone floor as police officers quickly rush to his aid this evening Two police officers quickly rushed to help the man as the remaining guards continued to hold vigil next to the coffin Meanwhile, by Windsor Castle, police spotters scanned the crowds from temporary towers set up along the Long Walk. The Met's DAC Stuart Cundy, the man in charge of the operation in the capital, said the force would use 'all tools and tactics available' to protect the Queen's coffin, the Royal Family, hundreds of VIPs and world leaders and the 1million people expected to head to the capital to mourn. The senior officer told reporters the 'hugely complex' policing operation is the biggest in the force's history, surpassing the London 2012 Olympics which saw up to 10,000 police officers on duty per day. New York City's Mayor has now declared a 'humanitarian crisis' in his city after 2,500 migrants were bussed into the Big Apple and floods of people pour into Texas every day. Eric Adams revealed that migrants arriving in New York could be housed on Norwegian cruise ships while he considers taking legal action against Governor Greg Abbott amid the country's spiraling migrant issue. He is also looking into lodging a lawsuit against the Lone Star State's governor as immigrants in the thousands continue to be shipped across the country - in many cases, without prior warning. Republican governors have now upped the escalating immigration war again in Democrat-run areas by threatening to fly illegal migrants to President Joe Bidens home state of Delaware. Busses and planes full of illegal immigrants have so far arrived in New York, Chicago, Washington, DC, and Massachusetts from the southern borders. During a series of scathing interviews, Adams said that the dire humanitarian crisis being faced was to some extent caused by 'the governors in the southern states.' At least six busses of asylum seekers arrived in New York from Texas on Sunday - while shelters in the city reached the 'breaking point.' In total, over 11,000 migrants have arrived in the city since May - 2,500 of which were sent on busses by Governor Abbott. New York's Eric Adams told CBS2: 'Our legal team is looking at legal challenges we could do with Texas. NYC Mayor Eric Adams said that his administration are considering housing migrants on cruise ships in a bid to tackle the influx Migrants are loaded onto MTA buses in Manhattan after arriving by bus from Texas to Port Authority Bus Terminal this morning A group of migrants arrive in New York City are being sent on busses from Texas. The Big Apple has faced an influx of migrants in recent months as southern state governors continue to up the escalating immigration war again in Democrat-run areas Texas Governor Greg Abbott (pictured) has been slammed for his scheme to ship migrants across the country. Eric Adams, mayor of NYC, has now said that his team are looking into lodging legal action against him A cruise ship is seen in the Hudson River in New York City. It's unclear if Eric Adams has drawn up any plans to house migrants on ships such as this, however he mentioned that it may be an option to deal with the mounting crisis 'We believe there are some options we have, because when you involuntarily place someone on a bus, we believe that actually skates the law We're not leaving any stones unturned to make sure that New Yorkers are [not] being treated in an unfair way. 'We're looking at that as a temporary measure, not a permanent measure. A permanent measure is get people into housing. 'We have to find temporary measures to address this issue.' And Eric Adams revealed to WCBS that his team is looking into potentially housing the thousands of people bussed into the Big Apple on cruise ships. He added: 'We examined everything from the legality of using any type of cruise ship for temporary housing.' It comes after Florida's Governor Ron DeSantis sensationally flew 50 Venezuelan migrants to Marthas Vineyard in an unannounced attempt to relocate the asylum seekers on the Massachusetts' exclusive island. The immigrants were then carted off by officials to a military base on Cape Cod. According to the Democrat Mayor, New York's facilities for housing migrants have been pushed to the brink in recent months - with the city having already opened 23 emergency shelters. Adams said that 38 more shelters are set to be created to deal with the mounting issue. Cruise ships were considered a form of housing for migrants and homeless people during Mike Bloomberg's administration. However, the plan was never followed through. Migrants, including young children, are welcomed to New York after being bussed from Texas. Many called the situation a humanitarian emergency People are greeted in New York on Monday morning It's unclear if any details for cruise ship housing have been drawn up by Adams' administration yet. Speaking on ABC on Sunday, Adams added: 'This is an American crisis that we need to face a humanitarian crisis that was made by human hands, by some of the governors in the southern states.' This comes as Republicans have stepped up their attacks on the Biden administration as they try to make immigration the theme of November's midterm elections. Despite the Martha's Vineyard move being praised in Republican circles, liberals criticized DeSantis for pulling what they characterized as a cruel stunt that used human lives as pawns in a political game. Among the critics was President Biden, who said DeSantis was 'playing politics with human beings.' Children are bussed from Texas to New York City on Monday morning Martha's Vineyard declared an emergency over the migrants and called in the National Guard, prompting the immigrants to be moved 32 miles away to Cape Cod Pictured: A group of 50 migrants enjoyed Venezuelan dishes at the military base after Martha's Vineyard declared an emergency over the group's arrival Many called the situation a humanitarian emergency, while Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker said that Martha's Vineyard - with a population of 15,000 - is 'not equipped to provide sustainable accommodation' to the migrants. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre also took aim at DeSantis during a press conference, urging other Republicans who do not agree with his 'blueprint' to 'speak up'. She said: 'This is an issue and we have been clear about this, this is an issue that is inhumane it is abhorrent and we should not be using people, migrants, who are fleeing communism as a political pawn.' Defending his scheme to bus migrants across the county, Governor Abbott's office said in a statement on Friday: 'The busing mission is providing much-needed relief to our overwhelmed border communities.' Fears that Big Ben would fall silent for the Queen's funeral proved unfounded today after the bells rang out as planned during the final procession through central London. Officials at the Houses of Parliament launched an 'urgent' investigation into the famous bell - which is housed in the Elizabeth Tower, named after Her Majesty in 2012 during her Diamond Jubilee - after it failed to strike at the start of last night's minute's silence. But Big Ben did chime 96 times - to mark the former sovereign's age - this afternoon as the coffin was taken on a gun carriage from Westminster Abbey. Fears were mounting after last night's hiccup, with one royal writer questioning whether someone shouting 'bong' to simulate Big Ben ringing constituted a 'contingency plan'. Hundreds of thousands of people have lined the route from Westminster Abbey after the state funeral, which left King Charles III in tears. The Queen's coffin, followed by the King, the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Sussex, Duke of York and the Princess Royal, began its procession towards Wellington Arch after it was placed back onto the State Gun Carriage at just after midday. Minute Guns were fired in Hyde Park by The King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery, as Big Ben tolled throughout the duration of the solemn procession through her city. As the Queen's funeral procession moved past the Cenotaph in London, the King, the Prince of Wales, the Princess Royal and the Earl of Wessex saluted the memorial to Britain and the Commonwealth soldiers killed in the First and Second World Wars. Prince Andrew and Prince Harry did not. Her Majesty's coffin passed Buckingham Palace for the final time on its way to Wellington Arch where her hearse to Windsor was waiting. Members of staff at the palace bowed and curtsied both at the coffin and members of the royal family as they made their way past. Fears that Big Ben would fall silent for the Queen's funeral proved unfounded today after the bells rang out as planned during the final procession through central London Officials at the Houses of Parliament launched an 'urgent' investigation into the famous bell - which is housed in the Elizabeth Tower, named after Her Majesty in 2012 during her Diamond Jubilee - after it failed to strike at the start of last night's minute's silence But Big Ben did chime 96 times - to mark the former sovereign's age - this afternoon as the coffin was taken on a gun carriage from Westminster Abbey There was a hush from the crowd in Whitehall, as the funeral procession moved past the Cabinet War Rooms, the Cenotaph and Downing Street. Some emerged from balconies and windows, clad in black, while those on the street craned their necks and clutched cameras as they awaited the chance to say goodbye to the monarch. Mounties of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police lead the procession followed immediately by representatives of the George Cross foundations from Malta, the former Royal Ulster Constabulary, and four representatives from the NHS. The route is being lined by the armed forces from Westminster Abbey to the top of Constitution Hill at the Commonwealth Memorial Gates. The emotional King Charles III and his grief-stricken family had surrounded the Queen's coffin at her state funeral in Westminster Abbey in a moving and majestic farewell to the late monarch today in an extraordinary service followed by a national two minute's silence and the Last Post. A Parliament spokesperson told MailOnline on Sunday: 'Big Ben failed to strike at 8pm as planned. 'We have investigated this as a matter of urgency and have identified a minor technical issue that has now been resolved. 'We will be testing the bell again later tonight and are confident that it will not affect the tolling tomorrow during the State Funeral procession.' This was as Britain stood silent for the Queen during the National Moment of Reflection to remember the late Monarch, with the queue to see her lying-in-state halted and Prime Minister Liz Truss bowing her head outside Number 10. Big Ben was meant to toll to mark the beginning of the National Moment of Reflection at 8pm last night, and once more at 8.01pm to mark its end. Social media users took to Twitter to claim that perhaps the Bell, which has become twinned with the Monarch and Parliament since the 19th Century was marking Elizabeth II's death at 96. Replying to Chris Ship, ITV's Royal Editor who noticed the issue, Ghanem Nuseibeh wrote on Twitter: 'Perhaps the failure to ring is in itself a sign of mourning, unplanned like the rainbow.' Rainbows also appeared last night at royal spots and across London as the Queen lies in state for the last day. Charlie Proctor, the editor of a royal news site, said he 'hopes' that it will ring but questions whether the 'contingency plan' could be someone shouting 'bong' to simulate Big Ben ringing Members of the public observed the silence this evening, holding candles in Her Majesty's honour Fans at Emirates Arena, Glasgow, standing quiet for the National Moment of Reflection for Queen Elizabeth II People in the queue to see Queen Elizabeth II lying-in-state, which was halted for 60 seconds, observing the silence In Berkshire, Castle Wardens were seen standing together to observe the silence at Windsor Castle Natures own memorial: A rainbow appeared yesterday over Westminster Abbey and Parliament while Londoners revel at a stunning red sky over Big Ben Replying to Chris Ship, ITV's Royal Editor who noticed the issue, Ghanem Nuseibeh wrote on Twitter: 'Perhaps the failure to ring is in itself a sign of mourning, unplanned like the rainbow' Another social media user wrote: 'Even Big Ben fell silent. [And then a crying face].' Play was stopped at the Emirates Stadium in Scotland for the Davis Cup so fans could observe the one-minute silence. Prime Minister Liz Truss and her husband Hugh O'Leary observed the minute's silence outside Number 10 Downing Street. In Westminster Hall, where the Queen was lying in state, the line of mourners halted for 60 seconds. The government had encouraged people to spend a minute in reflection, either at home, with neighbours or in locally organised ceremonies. Images were seen of police officers and members of the public taking part in the silence at Waterloo Station as well as firefighters at North Kensington Fire Station in Notting Hill. A small crowd of people in the queue for the Queen's lying in state stopped near London Bridge and bowed their heads to observe the national minute's silence. They applauded to mark the end of the silence at 8.01pm. Dozens of Metropolitan Police officers also assembled in silence beside mourners and later sang the national anthem. Donald Trump complained that FBI agents didn't remove their shoes when conducting a search of his Mar-a-Lago estate and said his Florida residence will 'never be the same'. The former president revealed shortly after the raid on August 8 that agents 'rummaged' through his wife Melania's closet and said earlier this month that they also did 'a deep and ugly search' of his 16-year-old son Barron's bedroom. Coming back to his Florida home Sunday evening, Trump said the changes were noticeable from nearly two months prior when it was searched by approximately 30 FBI agents. 'Arrived in Florida last night and had a long and detailed chance to check out the scene of yet another government 'crime,' the FBI's Raid and Break-In of my home, Mar-a-Lago,' Trump posted to his social media site Truth Social. 'I guess they don't think there is a Fourth Amendment anymore, and to them, there isn't.' 'In any event, after what they have done, the place will never be the same,' he lamented. 'It was 'ransacked,' and in far different condition than the way I left it.' 'Many Agents - And they didn't even take off their shoes in my bedroom. Nice!!!' The post came after President Joe Biden for the first time gave an expansive reaction to Trump's handling of classified documents in a wide-range 60 Minutes interview that aired Sunday. Biden branded his predecessor as 'totally irresponsible' after top-secret documents were found at his Mar-a-Lago estate during the FBI raid. Donald Trump complained that FBI agents didn't take their shoes off when they searched his bedroom during the raid of his Mar-a-Lago home on August 8 President Joe Biden said in an interview that aired Sunday that he had not received a classified briefing on the contents of those documents found at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate Trump posted to Truth Social on Monday morning that after he 'had a long and detailed chance to check out the scene' of the raid, he felt 'the place will never be the same. It was 'ransacked,' and in far different condition than the way I left it' The sit-down with Scott Pelley was the first interview in more than 200 days and aired while the president and first lady Jill Biden were in London for Queen Elizabeth II's funeral. His condemnation of Trump's handling of classified documents amounted to more than the mere scoff he gave when asked about the incident in August. Seeing the classified documents turn up following an August 8 FBI search of Trump's Florida residence at Mar-a-Lago caused Biden to wonder 'how anyone can be that irresponsible.' 'I thought, what data was in there that may compromise sources and methods? And by that, I mean, names of people who help etc., and it's just totally irresponsible,' he added. Biden's one-on-one with the CBS program was the first '60 Minutes' interview he did as president and his first sit-down interview since February with Lester Holt. The interview was conducted in Detroit last week when Biden was there touring the auto show. The remarks about the probe into his predecessor broke with Biden's pattern of avoiding commenting on the Justice Department's criminal investigation into Trump taking sensitive material to his Florida residence after his term ended in January 2021. Biden branded his predecessor's handling of classified documents as 'totally irresponsible' after top-secret documents were found at his Mar-a-Lago estate during a FBI raid President Biden spoke about the classified documents the FBI found in former President Trumps home. When Mr. Biden saw the FBI image of the documents he says he thought to himself, How anyone could be that irresponsible? https://t.co/7SixTE3OMT pic.twitter.com/sgQraMMOl5 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) September 19, 2022 Biden defeated Republican Trump in the 2020 presidential election. Trump, who has weighed another run for office, has described the court-approved search as politically motivated. Biden said he had not received a classified briefing on the contents of those documents. 'I have not asked for the specifics of those documents because I don't want to get myself in the middle of whether or not the Justice Department should move or not move on certain actions they can take,' Biden said. 'I agreed I would not tell them what to do and not, in fact, engage in telling them how to prosecute or not.' The Justice Department has said it was investigating Trump for removing White House records because it believed he illegally held documents including some involving intelligence-gathering and clandestine human sources - among America's most closely held secrets. The FBI says it took about 11,000 documents, including roughly 100 with classification markings found in a storage room and an office, while serving a court-authorized search warrant at the home on August 8. The vast majority of the documents and materials seized in the raid did not have any classification markings on them, according to an inventory list released earlier this month. Weeks after the search, Trump lawyers asked a judge to appoint a special master to conduct an independent review of the records, which was granted. The warrant says federal agents were investigating potential violations of three different federal laws, including one that governs gathering, transmitting or losing defense information under the Espionage Act. Biden's intelligence chief is also investigating whether the disclosure of information in those documents presented national security risks. The FBI says it took about 11,000 documents, including roughly 100 with classification markings found in a storage room and an office, while serving a court-authorized search warrant at the home on August 8 In the interview ranging several topics, the president wouldn't commit to running for reelection in 2024, though he's said in the past that he intends to do so. 'My intention, as I said to begin with, is that I would run again,' he said. 'But it's just an intention. But is it a firm decision that I run again? That remains to be seen.' Biden was asked about growing concerns that Russia's efforts to seize Ukraine could inspire China's leader Xi Jinping to attack Taiwan. The island has been recognized by the U.S. as part of China but has its own democratic government. Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin met last week. He said the U.S. forces would respond 'if in fact there was an unprecedented attack.' White House officials later said the official U.S. policy had not changed, and would not say whether American forces would be called to defend Taiwan. Biden has made the claim before, but the statements come at an increasingly tense time for U.S.-China relations, particularly after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's trip there last month. Beijing sees official American contact with Taiwan as encouragement to make the island's decades-old de facto independence permanent, a step Biden and other U.S. leaders say they don't support. The president said the U.S. commitment to Ukraine was 'ironclad' and would remain so 'as long as it takes.' Ukrainian troops are engaged in a counteroffensive that has reclaimed towns and cities from Russian troops. But the toll the war has taken is vast, and fresh atrocities are being revealed, including torture chambers and mass graves. Since January 2021, the U.S. has given more than $13.5 billion in security assistance to Ukraine. President Joe Biden defended his scandal-plagued adult son Hunter and praised him for overcoming drug addiction in an interview that aired Sunday night. The president insisted to '60 Minutes' correspondent Scott Pelley that his son's foreign business dealings did not cause any conflicts with Biden's prior position as vice president under Barack Obama. Hunter Biden's foreign business ties were the subject of a federal tax fraud probe that had been heating up earlier this year. 'I love my son, number one,' Biden said when asked about whether Hunter Biden's work or past struggle with drugs could be a liability on the 2024 campaign trail. The president continued, 'He fought an addiction problem and he overcame it, he wrote about it.' 'And no, there is not a single thing that I've observed, at all, that would affect me or the United States relative to my son Hunter.' Hunter Biden had previously acknowledged the federal investigation into his taxes, which CNN reported in July was heating up. President Joe Biden was asked about whether his son Hunter Biden could be a political liability if the president hits the 2024 campaign trail during a lengthy interview on 60 Minutes Theres not a single thing that Ive observed at all that would affect me or the United States relative to my son Hunter, President Biden tells 60 Minutes about his son Hunter Biden. https://t.co/7SixTElqbt pic.twitter.com/6E6FlxhzYp 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) September 19, 2022 Sources told the outlet that prosecutors were weighing whether charges should be levied but were also wary of Department of Justice guidelines that advise against bringing potentially politically charged cases to the forefront so close to an election. Senate Republicans on Monday sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland asking him to grant U.S. Attorney David Weiss, who is overseeing the Hunter probe, special counsel protections. 'Given that the investigation involves the Presidents son, we believe it is important to provide U.S. Attorney Weiss with special counsel authorities and protections to allow him to investigate an appropriate scope of potentially criminal conduct, avoid the appearance of impropriety, and provide additional assurances to the American people that the Hunter Biden investigation is free from political influence,' the letter states. It's being led by Texas Republican Senator John Cornyn and Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell, as well as 30 of their colleagues. No charges appear to have have been filed against Hunter Biden or anyone else in the investigation at the moment. Hunter Biden acknowledged previously that his finances are under investigation by the federal government A separate probe by Congressional Republicans in 2020 looked specifically into Hunter Biden's work on the board of a Ukrainian energy company while his father was helping lead policy initiatives between Washington and Kyiv as vice president. That probe found no wrongdoing on the president's part but did suggest his son tried to leverage his father's stature for further professional success. Hunter Biden had the potential to make a seismic impact on the 2020 election when the New York Post first reported on the contents of laptop hard drive that appear to have belonged to the 52-year-old. Aside from lewd images depicting sex acts and drug use, the laptop also revealed a tranche of emails that appear to show Hunter Biden attempting to coordinate meetings with his father and his business associates - though it's not clear how many of those came to fruition. But the reporting never caught on with mainstream media outlets at the time, many of which cited the dubious origins of the explosive information. Some large outlets claimed they were not being given independent access to the hard drive. This is among the images supposedly recovered from Hunter Biden's laptop hard drive Advertisement Four 'resplendent and spectacular' horses of the Royal Canadian Mountain Police led Queen Elizabeth II's funeral procession today, marking the culmination of a 53-year love affair between the late Monarch and the 'Mounties'. Ridden by Canadian officers wearing the famous red tunics and stetsons, the four horses marched through the streets of London from Westminster Abbey to Wellington Arch. The procession marked a proud moment for Canadians, with some tweeting that it is a 'tremendous honor' for Canada. Fittingly, one of the quartet who rode in the procession is named Elizabeth, in honor of the Queen Mother, and was given to the Queen as a gift to mark her Diamond Jubilee in 2012. Elizabeth, aged 17, paraded alongside George, a 22-year-old horse that has been ridden by King Charles at Trooping The Colour ceremonies since 2009, and Sir John, a 14-year-old charger currently ridden by Princess Anne. The final member of the foursome, aged 16, is called Darby and has toured the world with the Musical Ride a spectacular display team consisting of 32 horses bearing riders with 7ft lances, performing intricate manoeuvres. The horses were ridden at the procession by RCMP officers Superintendent Kevin Fahey, Sergeant Major Scott Williamson, Corporal Justine Rogawski and Constable Katy Loisel. The Mounties led the procession and were followed immediately by representatives of the George Cross foundations from Malta, the former Royal Ulster Constabulary, and four representatives from the NHS. Four 'resplendent and spectacular' horses of the Royal Canadian Mountain Police led Queen Elizabeth II's funeral procession today, marking the culmination of a 53-year love affair between the late Monarch and the 'Mounties' Ridden by Canadian officers wearing the famous red tunics and stetsons, the four horses marched through the streets of London from Westminster Abbey to Wellington Arch Fittingly, one of the quartet who rode in the procession is named Elizabeth, in honor of the Queen Mother, and was given to the Queen as a gift to mark her Diamond Jubilee in 2012 The Mounties led the procession and were followed immediately by representatives of the George Cross foundations from Malta, the former Royal Ulster Constabulary, and four representatives from the NHS A general view of Mounties of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police along The Mall on Monday The procession marked a proud moment for Canadians, with some tweeting that it is a 'tremendous honor' for Canada One Brit tweeted: 'Not just Brits who do the pomp and circumstance so well. Canadian Mounties look positively resplendent' The procession marked a proud moment for Canadians, with some tweeting that it is a 'tremendous honor' for Canada Queen Elizabeth II riding her beloved horse Burmese, which was a gift from the RCMP, in 1969 at the Trooping of the Colour The Queen, who visited Canada 22 times during her 70-year reign, was honorary commissioner of the Mounties and the four horses that led her funeral procession are in a long line of horses that were given to the monarch by Canada. The Mounties of the RCMP were hailed today as 'ravishing' by those who watched the Queen's funeral procession, with some Canadians saying it was a 'proud moment' for them. One Canadian tweeted: 'As a Canadian, if you don't feel some kind of pride watching the Mounties lead the Commonwealth section of the procession, I don't know what to tell yah!' Another Canadian said: 'Thank you, your Majesty, for selecting the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to lead your procession. A tremendous honour. Canada mourns your passing.' One Brit tweeted: 'Not just Brits who do the pomp and circumstance so well. Canadian Mounties look positively resplendent. Another Twitter user tweeted: 'I really didn't expect the Mounties. Those ravishing horses. I was going to keep quiet today, out of respect (my mother's voice in my head), but the Mounties! I could not let them pass.' Another wrote: 'I thought the Canadian Mounties looked spectacular!' Sgt Major Williamson, who rode Darby today, said it was 'incredibly humbling' to be given the honour of leading the funeral procession. 'The relationship that we have with Her Majesty is very special and it's fair to say it's even become quite personal. 'It's hard to describe everything that I am feeling right now. I have the personal emotions of sadness and grief. Obviously there is a lot of pressure right now. 'We are in what we would call a 'no fail mission' right now, and that is to represent the force and the great people of this country during this ceremony.' The Queen's deep affection for the RCMP began when the Mounties presented her with a horse called Burmese as a gift in 1969. The stunning black mare quickly became one of Queen Elizabeth's favourite horses, which she rode at Trooping The Colour for 18 years between 1969 and 1986. Royal Canadian Mounted Police during the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey on Monday The horses were ridden at the procession by RCMP officers Superintendent Kevin Fahey, Sergeant Major Scott Williamson, Corporal Justine Rogawski and Constable Katy Loisel Burmese came to public prominence in 1981, when a teenager at the ceremony fired six blanks from a gun. Although Burmese initially shied and cantered forward, the Queen, an accomplished rider, quickly regained control, to cheers from the crowd. The following year, Queen Elizabeth was pictured on Burmese during a ride with US President Ronald Reagan in Windsor. When her beloved horse retired in 1986, the Queen declined to ride a replacement and opted to take part in the parade from a carriage. Burmese, meanwhile, enjoyed a pampered retirement at Windsor Castle and was put out to pasture in fields where the Queen could see her on her visits. Burmese died in 1990 aged 28 and was buried in the grounds of Windsor. 'She rode Burmese for 18 Trooping The Colour and that was the beginning of a special relationship that we created with Her Majesty,' Sgt Major Williamson added. At 16 hands tall and with a calm temperament, the mare Elizabeth appeared to have captured the Queen's heart in recent years in the way Burmese once did. After receiving the horse as a gift, Her Majesty pledged to return the RCMP's generosity by breeding it and returning them its first foal. Queen Elizabeth II inspects a detachment of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Windsor An initial attempt with a stallion called High Spirits was unsuccessful, so the Queen sent the mare to Germany, where success was found with a stallion named Viscount. The subsequent foal, called Victoria, made history in 2016 when it was the first non-thoroughbred bloodstock to be born at the Queen's Sandringham Estate. The Queen kept her promise to the Mounties and presented Victoria as a gift to mark the country's 150th anniversary. The mare Elizabeth had a second foal, which was named Venus by the Queen's granddaughter, Lady Louise Windsor. The Pentagon announced it has launched a probe into one of its 'diversity' officers over the weekend, after it became aware of past posts disparaging white people on her social media. The tweets by Kelisa Wing, an Army veteran and the current chief 'diversity, equity and inclusion' officer at the Department of Defense's Education Activity office, were first reported last week, and have since come under federal scrutiny. Fox News resurfaced the old posts, which use well-worn slang terms to mock white people include 'Karen' and 'CAUdacity' - a play on the word Caucasian - and were reportedly set to private after the outlet reached out for comment. The account, along with the longtime DOD staffer's LinkedIn profile, has since been deleted, now that the federal official's tweets, posted over the course of several years, have become a subject of national concern. Perhaps most troubling, though, is the fact that Wing, who was promoted to head of the Education office during the pandemic, oversees the education of Pentagon staffers' children - including those of active duty service members. The Pentagon announced it has launched a probe into one of its 'diversity' officers over the weekend, after it was revealed she post a series of scathing posts disparaging white people to her social media 'I'm exhausted with these white folx in these [professional development] sessions,' Wing wrote on July 23, 2020, disparaging an unnamed woman at a federal meeting 'I'm exhausted with these white folx in these [professional development] sessions,' Wing wrote on July 23, 2020, disparaging an unnamed woman at a federal meeting. '[T]his lady actually had the CAUdacity to say that black people can be racist too,' the post continues. 'I had to stop the session and give Karen the BUSINESS.' Wing, who is African-American, then adds, 'We are not the majority, we don't have power.' Wing has worked at the DoD for 16 years and was promoted to DEI chief in December 2021. Her office oversees schooling for children of Pentagon employees as well as those deployed overseas in the military. The slew of anti-white posts present in Wing's social media seem to cut out around the time of her promotion, but the posts penned before she landed the role remained, and were reported by Fox News early last week. A spokesperson at DoD has since revealed that the agency is now aware of the posts, and is now 'reviewing' the matter. 'We are aware of news reports concerning an official at DoDEA,' Cmdr. Nicole Schwegman said in a statement Friday, confirming that the internal investigation was already underway. Wing, an outspoken supporter of the Black Lives Matter and Defund the Police movements, is also an author, and has penned several progressive books in a series called 'Racial Justice In America' The probe is being carried out by office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, and will determine if the self-described 'woke' chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer's comments go against federal guidelines prohibiting racism from officials - especially those whom deal with children. 'Diversity, Equity and Inclusion efforts in [DoDEA] are an important part of building and sustaining an organizational culture where all students, educators, and staff are valued and respected,' the spokesperson said. 'Our focus remains on ensuring military-connected students, their families, and our employees have equitable access to opportunities and resources that support student achievement and readiness for college and careers.' Wing, an outspoken supporter of the Black Lives Matter and Defund the Police movements, is also an author, and has penned several progressive books in a series called 'Racial Justice In America.' Disturbingly, the books are geared toward children. Covering a range of radical subject echoing the beliefs exhibited on her Twitter, the boobs boast titles such as 'What Is White Privilege,' and 'What Does it Mean To Defund the Police?' The former has lines such as: 'If you are White you might feel bad about hurting others or you might feel afraid to lose this privilege,' and asks white children to consider if they will 'really feel good at the end of the race when you look back and see others fighting obstacles that you didn't even have?' Another children's book penned by Wing, 'What is Anti-Racism?,' meanwhile, contains some misleading claims concerning race - if not outright falsehoods. In one instance, the book claims the word 'race' comes from Italian or Hebrew. However, in actuality, there is no word in Biblical Hebrew for race. The word would not be invented for centuries in modern Hebrew, according to Aish, a nonprofit organization with expertise on Judaism. The book also said 'the modern idea of "race" was introduced by the National Party in Germany.' Aside from the fact that Wing erroneously omits the 'socialist' part of the Nazi party name, the claim is also dubious. The idea of race was utilized in a pseudoscience called eugenics year before the Nazis in Germany rose to power, and the Nazis even included those debunked eugenic views within their own ideology. Then, in an apparently contradictory claim, the book claims that 'race' was born on American soil. In 'What Does it Mean To Defund the Police?', Wing explains to her young audience the differences between abolishing, defunding, disbanding, and reforming police - with what she called 'anti-racist' policies. She boasted about being 'woke' on Twitter in posts that were uncovered by Fox News last week However, despite these being published works geared toward children from a federal employee responsible for educating kids, the controversy lies chiefly with Wing's now-deleted Twitter account. '[B]eing antiracist means being active against racism you will NEVER arrive stop centering this on whiteness,' Wing said. On another occasion, Wing responded to a user who said, 'I am exhausted by 99% of the white men in education and 95% of the white women. Where can I get a break from white nonsense for a while?' Wing responded, 'If another Karen tells me about her feelings I might lose it...' In another post, Wing responded to another user who criticized an article she penned that claimed 'racism is ingrained in the very fabric of our country,' and called on teachers to dismantle 'racial oppression.' 'Bye Karen,' Wing sniped in a dismissive post. Karen is an online slang term that refers to a white, often entitled, middle-aged woman. In other posts, she referred to Donald Trump as the 'whole boy version of a Karen' - and his Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos, as 'the queen of Karens.' She responded to one user's complaint about 'white nonsense' in education by tweeting: 'If another Karen tells me about her feelings I might lose it...' Wing has also proudly touted herself as 'woke' on multiple occasions, including a post with a photo of herself in a Jay-Z shirt. DailyMail.com has reached out to the Department of Defense Education Activity for comment regarding the investigation, and the current status of of her employment as an educator. Before joining the Defense Department, Wing had been a teacher and served in the US Army. During her military service Wing rose to the level of Staff Sergeant, according to a biography on her website. When Wing became chief of the DoD Education Activity, Director Thomas Brady touted the promotion, which saw the agency create the diversity and inclusion position solely for their longtime staffer. 'Kelisa Wing is exactly the right person to lead our efforts in building on the foundational work done to support meaningful change in our organization,' Brady said at the time. 'This new position will take a holistic approach to identifying and improving how we integrate the practice of diversity, equity and inclusion in every aspect of DoDEA, from curriculum and assessment to hiring and professional development.' The department's investigation into Wing's remarks is ongoing. A Fort Bragg paratrooper was found dead with multiple gunshot wounds outside his Fayetteville, North Carolina, apartment. Sgt. Nicholas Bobo, 22, was pronounced dead on the scene on September 13 after one neighbor attempted to perform first aid. He is survived by his wife, a daughter and his parents. Another neighbor, Gabriel Gage, watched as first aid was performed on Bobo, he told CBS 17. 'As he was trying to do first aid and he called 911, they told him to get on his back,' Gage said. 'He was trying to do everything that he could, but it didn't work.' Bobo joined the Army in 2018 and had been stationed at Fort Bragg since 2019. He was an automated logistical specialist for the 407th Brigade Support Battalion. Sgt. Nicholas Bobo, 22, was found outside his Fayetteville, North Carolina, apartment with multiple gunshot wounds. He was pronounced dead at the scene Bobo had been stationed at the nearby Fort Bragg since 2019, having joined the Army in 2018 One neighbor witnessed the shooting and attempted to perform first aid on Bobo before calling 911 Bobo's residence at the 900 Enclave Drive apartment complex was an eight-mile drive to Fort Bragg Police responded to the neighbor's 911 call outside Bobo's apartment at the 900 block of Enclave Drive. During an ensuing investigation of the scene, Bobo was pronounced dead around 11pm. Officials say Bobo's death was not a 'random shooting' and that the paratrooper's car had been stolen. Originally from Cordova, Tennessee, Bobo had received numerous decorations and awards during his four year-stint in the Army. Bobo, originally from Cordova, Tennessee, was an automated logistical specialist for the 407th Brigade Support Battalion The former sergeant received numerous awards during his service, including the Army Good Conduct Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and the Army Parachutist Badge Among his awards include: the Army Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Army Service Service Ribbon, the Army Parachutist Badge and the Driver Mechanic Badge. Gage said they are afraid to live in their neighborhood following the shooting. 'We're thinking about moving,' he said. 'It's very scary because it happened 50 feet away from where I live, and I have a wife who's pregnant.' Army Criminal Investigation Command has joined the Fayetteville Police Department in investigating Bobo's death. After causing a 'humanitarian crisis' and being shipped from the elite enclave of Martha's Vineyard to Joint Base Cape Cod, the 50 mostly-Venezuelan migrants who made headlines last week after arriving at the Massachusetts island are comfortably bunking dorm-style at the nearby army base. Following the media and community uproar that was the result of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis's (R) move to transport 50 illegal migrants from Texas to the coastal vacation destination, Martha's Vineyard and the greater Massachusetts political class has been scrambling to figure out what to do with the migrants. Now the group has been taken to Joint Base Cape Cod, where 125 members of the state's National Guard have been dispatched and the state's Emergency Management Agency has been activated to help the men, women and children who have become national emblems for the illegal immigration issue facing the US. Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker (R) said that his 'administration has been working across state government to develop a plan to ensure these individuals will have access to the services they need going forward, and Joint Base Cape Cod is well equipped to serve these needs.' The migrants reportedly have access to beds fitted with sheets, towels, bathrooms, and a cafeteria facility. The college dorm-like digs at Joint Base Cape Cod, where the group of 50 illegal migrants were relocated after making waves on Martha's Vineyard The group has access to common areas and a cafeteria in addition to beds and bathroom facilities Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker dispatched 125 members of his state's National Guard to help assist the group Martha's Vineyard locals helped feed and take care of the illegal Venezuelan migrants during their short stay on the popular vacation isle Some of the group spent their time browsing the island, perusing local malls and attempting to sort out their next steps DeSantis had been following the cue of his Texas and Arizona counterparts, who are busing scores of migrants who crossed into the US illegally to New York, Chicago, and Washington, DC. The Florida governor sent the group of 50 migrants to Martha's Vineyard, where officials immediately bemoaned the situation, calling in the National Guard to relocate the group because the city allegedly had no shelters available. He said: 'The minute even a small fraction of what those border towns deal with every day is brought to their front door, they go berserk, and they're so upset that this is happening. A communications director for the DeSantis administration said of the move, 'States like Massachusetts, New York and California will better facilitate the care of these individuals who they have invited into our country by incentivizing illegal immigration through their designation as sanctuary states.'' DeSantis's move arrives after Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) sent 101 of illegal migrants to the Vice Presidential residence of Kamala Harris in Washington DC just days after she declared that the border was secure.' Abbott in particular has long been dealing with the realities of governing a state that witnesses the havoc wrought by mass illegal immigration at the border. Martha's Vineyard declared a 'humanitarian crisis' after just 50 migrants arrived unexpectedly, while some Texas border towns, which also lack the capacity or desire to stomach buses of illegal immigrants arriving at their doors, are forced to deal with the issue in much higher numbers on a daily basis and with much less fanfare from the media elite. Pictured: A group of 50 migrants enjoyed Venezuelan dishes at the military base after Martha's Vineyard declared an emergency over the group's arrival A local restaurant owner dropped off some traditional Venezuelan dishes at the joint base Members of the group rejoiced to see traditional Venezuelan foods like arepas, black beans and plantains Martha's Vineyard declared an emergency over the migrants and called in the National Guard, prompting the immigrants to be moved 32 miles away to Cape Cod Aerial shot of Joint Base Cape Cod, where the migrants will stay until a more permanent solution is agreed upon Some lawmakers on the opposite side of the aisle to DeSantis and Abbott were so deeply displeased by the arrival of the migrants that they are asking the Justice Department to open an investigation into whether the Florida governor trafficked the migrants to the seaside vacation town. 'We are asking the Department of Justice open an investigation to hold DeSantis & others accountable for these inhumane acts. Not only is it morally criminal, there are legal implications around fraud, kidnapping, deprivation of liberty, and human trafficking,' wrote state Rep. Dylan Fernandes (D-Wood Hole). In the last 10 months, US Customs & Border Protection encountered more than 150% the number of Venezuelan migrants than it encountered or apprehended in the entire prior year. Bill Clinton has fired a subtle dig at his old nemesis Ken Starr, the former independent counsel whose sprawling investigations led to the then-president's impeachment in 1998. In an interview with CNN on Sunday, Clinton was asked for his reaction to the death of Starr, who passed away last week in a Houston hospital at age 76 following complications from surgery. 'I read the obituary, and I realized that his family loved him, and I think that's something to be grateful for. And when your life is over, that's all there is to say,' responded Clinton. 'But I was taught not to talk about people that, you know -- I have nothing to say, except that I'm glad he died with the love of his family,' Clinton added. Bill Clinton reacted to Ken Starr's death, saying: 'I was taught not to talk about people that, you know -- I have nothing to say, except that I'm glad he died with the love of his family' Starr died last week in a Houston hospital at age 76 following complications from surgery. He is best remembered for his dogged investigation of Bill Clinton in the late 90s Starr, a prominent attorney and former federal appellate judge, was best known for his dogged probe of Clinton in the 1990s, an investigation of the Whitewater real estate controversy that eventually came to focus on the president's Oval Office affair with Monica Lewinsky. Lewinsky once wrote that Starr had made her life a 'living hell' but reacted with similar restrained tact to the news of his death. 'As I'm sure many can understand, my thoughts about ken starr bring up complicated feelings,' she tweeted last week. 'But of more importance, is that i imagine its a painful loss for those who love him.' Lewinsky was a White House intern in the mid-1990s, in her early 20s, when she began a relationship with Clinton, one that Starr would document in exhaustive, explicit detail. Clinton's impeachment charges stemmed from his false denial of the relationship in his 1998 grand jury testimony, and in a deposition in a sexual harassment case filed against him by Paula Jones of Arkansas where Clinton had been governor. Though the House voted to impeach, he was acquitted in the Senate and served out his second term in office. Monica Lewinsky once wrote that Starr had made her life a 'living hell' but reacted with similar restrained tact to the news of his death Starr had initially been retained to look into an Arkansas real estate deal Bill and Hillary Clinton were involved in, but his investigation shifted after he learned of allegations about the president's private behavior. Lewinsky denied their affair in a sworn affidavit, but did not know that her former colleague, Linda Tripp, had been taping their phone conversations about Bill Clinton and would turn them over to Starr. Lewinsky would recall with horror being interrogated for hours in 1998 by Starr's prosecutors - but not Starr himself - and threatened with prison if she didn't cooperate with their investigation, a demand she initially refused. Months later, she agreed to testify about the affair, and turned over to prosecutors a dress stained with the president's semen, in return for immunity. Lewinsky later wrote that she was diagnosed with 'post-traumatic stress disorder, mainly from the ordeal of having been publicly outed and ostracized,' and was for years subjected to crude jokes. But starting with a Vanity Fair essay in 2014 and a TED talk she gave in 2015 on 'The Price of Shame,' she has become a widely respected anti-bullying activist. Starr's investigation eventually came to focus on the president's Oval Office affair with Monica Lewinsky, then a White House intern in her 20s Starr enjoys applause after completing his testimony at a United States House Judiciary Committee hearing on pending Articles of Impeachment against Clinton in 1998 David Letterman and John Oliver are among those who have apologized for once mocking her. Writing in Vanity Fair in 2018, Lewinsky remembered finally encountering Starr in person, at a Greenwich Village restaurant the previous Christmas Eve. Starr stepped forward with a 'warm, incongruous smile,' and introduced himself to Lewinsky, who was dining with her family. 'Ken Starr asked me several times if I was `doing O.K. A stranger might have surmised from his tone that he had actually worried about me over the years. His demeanor, almost pastoral, was somewhere between avuncular and creepy. He kept touching my arm and elbow, which made me uncomfortable,' she wrote. 'I turned and introduced him to my family. Bizarre as it may sound, I felt determined, then and there, to remind him that, 20 years before, he and his team of prosecutors hadn't hounded and terrorized just me but also my family - threatening to prosecute my mom (if she didn't disclose the private confidences I had shared with her), hinting that they would investigate my dads medical practice, and even deposing my aunt, with whom I was eating dinner that night.' Starr would also write about Lewinsky in his 2018 memoir 'Contempt,' describing how 'Monica screamed, she cried, she pouted, and complained bitterly about her scheming, no-good, so-called friend (Tripp).' In 1998, Ken Starr departs the White House in Washington, DC, after questioning Bill Clinton in person for more than five hours regarding Clinton's involvement with Lewinsky But their threats, and the urging of Lewinsky's mother to accept the prosecutors' terms, did not change her mind. 'Monica overruled her mother. She would fall on her sword rather than implicate the president of the United States,' Starr wrote. 'It was becoming increasingly clear: in thinking she was a naive, starstruck young woman in love who would quickly cooperate, we underestimated her.' 'In her determination to protect the president, Monica kept a team of experienced FBI agents and career prosecutors twiddling their thumbs for much of the day.' In his later years, Starr became a member of former president Donald Trump's defense team during his second impeachment trial in the Senate, where Trump was acquitted. Prior to his involvement in the controversial special counsel investigation, Starr's impressive reputation seemed to place him on a path to becoming a Supreme Court justice. At age 37, he became the youngest person to serve on the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, where chief Justice John Roberts and justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia also had served. From 1989 to 1993, Starr was the solicitor general in the administration of president George H.W. Bush, arguing 25 cases before the Supreme Court. In the early hours of Friday in downtown Baton Rouge, a senior at Louisiana State University was discovered shot to death inside of her vehicle. According to WAFB-TV, Allison Rice, 21, was shot and killed on Government Street close to a set of train lines. This information was provided by the Baton Rouge Police Department. According to police, at least five or six rounds were fired into Rice's vehicle. LSU Student Found Shot Dead Authorities reported that Allison Rice was out with her pals in Baton Rouge's Mid City neighborhood just before the shooting. Around 2:20 AM, she was halted at a railroad crossing. He attempted a U-turn when the shots began to fly, witnesses reported 4WWL. Police have not yet identified a suspect or a motive as of Saturday morning. Mayor-President of Baton Rouge Sharon Weston Broome issued a statement saying, "This senseless violence is utterly reprehensible and Baton Rouge Police officers are diligently investigating to bring the culprit to justice." Sharon Weston Broome, the mayor-president of Baton Rouge, sent a statement on Twitter denouncing the assault. In order to discuss safety for all college students in Baton Rouge, Broome said she is organizing a meeting with a number of local university leaders, the student government, and law enforcement. Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana tweeted his sympathy. Allison Rice, a senior at LSU, was killed in an act of senseless violence, Kennedy wrote in the post. Allison Rice was killed in a horrific act of violence. "Becky and I are horrified to learn about it. We are extending our prayers and sincerest sympathies to her family and the LSU community," as reported by CNN. Russ Turner, a local businessman, claimed he wasn't made aware of the incident until later that morning, when he opened his store. Broken glass was all that was left, but he wasn't shocked that another person had been shot. In a statement, Rice's alma mater, LSU, said: "The LSU community is devastated to hear of senior Allison Rice being slain overnight." Rice was a marketing major. Read Also: Ohio Woman's Search For Missing Dog Leads To Discovery of Remains of Woman Disappeared Mysteriously For 5 Years LSU Students Face Crimes The 21-year-old, who had previously worked at The Shed BBQ in Baton Rouge with her two brothers, was getting ready for an internship. She was one of our first employees, according to The Shed's owner Luke Forstmann. She was cheerful, upbeat, and perky all the time. She was always around. Rice's passing marks the 74th death in the East Baton Rouge Parish this year. The senior's passing also follows a spate of crimes that LSU students have recently been involved in. Another student was shot on August 19 during an attempted heist. Two distinct kidnapping incidents occurred on campus a few days later. The FBI reports that Baton Rouge has one of Louisiana's highest homicide rates. Number one is now held by New Orleans. In fact, an examination of homicide data from 2022 places New Orleans ahead of St. Louis, Missouri, as the US's murder capital. New Orleans recorded 41 murders per 100,000 residents in the first half of 2022. In the midst of a morale problem among officers, the city is battling with its lowest police staffing level in modern history. However, the police budget actually saw a large increase in 2022, going from $178 million to $215 million. With a cost of about $570 per citizen, it is close to New York, the city with the highest per-capita expenditure on law enforcement $653 per resident, Daily Mail reported. Related Article: Anne Heche's Ex-Husband, Son Battle Against Control Over Actress' Estate; Memoir Written Before She Died Details Relationship with Ellen DeGeneres @Youtube @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. A Swiss woman was given a nine-year jail term on Monday for knifing two people in the name of ISIS - but her sentence was suspended so she can undergo psychiatric treatment. The court found the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, guilty of attempted murder and of terrorism-linked charges. She had 'no respect for human life', court president Fiorenza Bergomi said as she read out the verdict. She had 'acted in cold blood, had planned her actions and decided what weapon to use, and where to buy it', Bergomi continued. The 29-year-old woman's mental state was at the heart of the trial at Switzerland's Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona, in the southern Italian-speaking Ticino region where the attack occurred. The attack, which did not result in fatalities, took place on November 24, 2020 in the plush Manor department store in Lugano, near Bellinzona. The woman had suddenly lunged at two random women shopping at the store, attempting to slit their throats. According to the Office of the Attorney General's indictment, the accused 'acted wilfully and with particular ruthlessness', shouted 'Allahu akbar' (God is greatest) several times and 'I will avenge the Prophet Mohammed', and declared 'I am here for IS', the Islamic State jihadist group. One of the two victims suffered a serious neck injury, while the second sustained wounds on one hand and managed, with others, to control the assailant until the police arrived. The attack, which did not result in fatalities, took place on November 24, 2020 in the plush Manor department store (pictured) in Lugano, near Bellinzona During the trial, the court heard that the woman has been in contact with psychologists and psychiatrists since childhood, with two experts testifying that she suffers from a range of psychological disorders. Her lawyers argue the accused's psychological disorders mean the attack could not be considered a 'terrorist act' because the woman lived in a fantasy world. When questioned during the trial, the woman showed no remorse, telling the court: 'If I could go back, I would do it better.' On Monday, she was found guilty of 'repeated murder attempts' and of violating the Swiss laws against association with Al-Qaeda, IS and related Islamist groups. She was also found guilty of repeated unlawful prostitution between 2017 and 2020. The accused was ordered to pay the woman who suffered the most serious injuries, and who was a civil party in the case, 41,000 Swiss francs ($42,000) to cover her legal costs and as compensation for the 'moral wrong'. The court president pointed to studies indicating that terror suspects could suffer from stress and psychiatric problems. 'We must not forget that there are... people with psychiatric problems who do not belong to terrorist organisations, but who are considered lone wolves,' she said. The 29-year-old woman's mental state was at the heart of the trial at Switzerland's Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona (pictured), in the southern Italian-speaking Ticino region where the attack occurred Monday's verdict was in line with the prosecution's request, but her sentence was shorter than the 14-year-term it had asked for. The prosecutors, who had also suggested her sentence be suspended and that she be committed to a closed treatment facility for as long as she was deemed a threat, said Monday that they 'took note' of the verdict, but did not indicate whether they would appeal. The daughter of a Swiss father and a Serbian mother, her adolescence was marked by anorexia and she did not attend secondary school. Aged 19, she married a man of Afghan origin and converted to Islam. The pair divorced last year. After falling in love over social media in 2017 with a jihadist in Syria, she attempted to travel to meet him, but was stopped by Turkish authorities at the Syrian border and sent back to Switzerland where she was admitted to a psychiatric clinic, police said. JK Rowling has praised Iranian women protesting against compulsory hijab after a young woman died in morality police custody in Tehran. 'What true bravery looks like,' Rowling wrote on Twitter with a clip showing Iranian women burning headscarves and cutting their hair during protests over the death of Mahsa Amini. Amini, 22, died on Friday after she was violently arrested and reportedly beaten by Iran's notorious morality police for not wearing a hijab. 'What true bravery looks like,' Rowling wrote on Twitter with a clip showing Iranian women burning headscarves and cutting their hair Iranian women protesting against compulsory hijab after a young woman died in morality police's custody in Tehran 'Death to the dictator' -a reference to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, chanted the crowd, while some women took off their headscarves Amini, 22, died on Friday after she was violently arrested and reportedly beaten by Iran's notorious morality police for not wearing a hijab But her father told local media that other girls who were arrested with his daughter called him and confirmed that the police had beaten Mahsa. Videos posted on social media showed protesters shouting anti-government slogans after gathering in Saqqez, hometown of Amini Iranian police said on Monday the death of the young woman in custody was an 'unfortunate incident' they do not want to see repeated, a semi-official news agency reported, denying accusations of mistreatment. But her father told local media that other girls who were arrested with his daughter called him and confirmed that the police had beaten Mahsa. State television on Friday broadcast a short surveillance video that showed a woman identified as Amini collapsing in the police station after an argument with a policewoman. 'They showed us a clip but believe me all of it is wrong. I do not accept that. It took 45 minutes to take her to the hospital and they were just walking around her for that period of time,' Amjad Amini told Emtedad 'They did not know what to do. If they had taken her to a hospital earlier, she would be alive now. Doctors told me that if they had taken her to them only 10 minutes earlier, she would have been saved,' he added. front pages of Iranian newspapers featuring articles and photographs of Mahsa Amini Security forces on Sunday arrested several of about 500 demonstrators in Sanandaj, northwestern Kurdistan province, local media reported nterior Minister Ahmad Vahidi said he had received reports that the emergency service had 'immediately' arrived at the scene 'Lots of girls who were in custody with her phoned me and said they had beaten Mahsa. I am sure about it. They told us we should bury her at night. But I did not allow them to do that ... My daughter had no problem. They killed her,' Amini said. 'I swear to God that they killed my daughter,' he said. President Ebrahim Raisi on Sunday made a phone call to the family and told them he considered their daughter and 'all Iranian girls' as his own children and had ordered a thorough investigation of the incident. Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi said he had received reports that the emergency service had 'immediately' arrived at the scene. 'Mahsa apparently had previous physical problems and we have reports that she had undergone brain surgery at the age of five,' Vahidi said. In the capital Tehran, dozens of students marched inside Tehran University and chanted 'Iran is bleeding, from Kurdistan to Tehran. Some of the students carried placards with 'Women, Life, Freedom' and. 'I Don't Want to Die' written on them Her father however 'insists that his daughter had no history of illness and was in perfect health,' Anti government protest broke out over in western Iran over the weekend at the funeral of Amini as security forces used tear gas to disperse demonstrators. Videos posted on social media showed protesters shouting anti-government slogans after gathering in Saqqez, hometown of Amini, from nearby cities in Iran's Kurdistan province as they mourned the 22-year-old who died in a hospital in the capital Tehran on Friday. 'Death to the dictator' -a reference to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, chanted the crowd, while some women took off their headscarves. Police were seen firing tear gas and one man was shown on a video with an injury to the head that someone could be heard saying was caused by birdshot. People also took to the streets in central Alvand Province and in Mahabad, a city of around 170,000 in West Azarbaijan Province, with a majority Kurdish population. According to Hengaw Human Rights Organization, a Kurdish rights group, security forces shot at protesters in Sanandaj, wounding at least nine people including two women. President Ebrahim Raisi, an ultra-conservative former judiciary chief who came to power last year, has ordered an inquiry into Amini's death In the capital Tehran, dozens of students marched inside Tehran University and chanted 'Iran is bleeding, from Kurdistan to Tehran. Some of the students carried placards with 'Women, Life, Freedom' and. 'I Don't Want to Die' written on them. Security forces on Sunday arrested several of about 500 demonstrators in Sanandaj, northwestern Kurdistan province, local media reported, without specifying how many. About 500 people gathered in Sanandaj, capital of Kurdistan province, and shouted slogans against the country's leaders,' semi official news agencies reported. The death has reignited calls to rein in morality police actions against women suspected of violating the dress code, in effect since the 1979 Islamic revolution. Filmmakers, artists, athletes and political and religious figures have taken to social media to express their anger over the death, both inside and outside the country. Iranian women walk past next to a cleric in a street, in Tehran, Iran, 19 September 2022 Filmmakers, artists, athletes and political and religious figures have taken to social media to express their anger over the death, both inside and outside the country The death has reignited calls to rein in morality police actions against women suspected of violating the dress code, in effect since the 1979 Islamic revolution President Ebrahim Raisi, an ultra-conservative former judiciary chief who came to power last year, has ordered an inquiry into Amini's death. Iranian ultraconservatives have called for harsh punishment and even lashes for women who disobey the hijab law, arguing that allowing women to show their hair leads to moral decay and the disintegration of families. Irans morality police has been criticized in recent years over its treatment of people, especially young women, and videos uploaded on social media have shown officers forcing women into police vehicles. Irans supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has supported a softer attitude toward women who do not comply with the official dress code. But hard-liners have called for harsh punishment and even lashes, arguing that allowing women to show their hair leads to moral decay and the disintegration of families. The judiciary has in recent years urged people to inform on women who do not wear the hijab. Since 2017, after dozens of women publicly took off their headscarves in a wave of protests, the authorities adopted tougher measures. Earlier in the evening, the pair labelled UK PM Liz Truss as a 'minor royal' Overton then reminded Australians that the royal family are 'normal people' Tracy Grimshaw made a bizarre suggestion that King Charles, 73, must have been so 'exhausted' following the Queen's funeral that he may have had a 'nap in the car' while on route to his mother's burial. The veteran journalist was co-hosting Nine's coverage of Queen Elizabeth II's funeral with Peter Overton at Westminster Abbey in London on Monday when she began wondering aloud about the new monarch's physical welfare. Her musings came at the conclusion of the lengthy funeral procession, which ran 40 minutes overtime, during which Her Majesty's first-born appeared almost completely overcome by grief. As the royal family began climbing into cars to go to Windsor, the Nine presenters purported that King Charles - who has 'the weight of the world on his shoulders' - has been 'worryingly busy' at royal events over the past few days. 'He had a state reception last night for a lot of the world leaders and dignitaries who were coming to the funeral today, and now I wonder what the conversation is like in the car,' Grimshaw said. 'It's probably silent. They're probably just absolutely exhausted and maybe they'll have a little nap in the car.' Tracy Grimshaw was co-hosting Nine's coverage of Queen Elizabeth II's funeral with Peter Overton (pictured together) at Westminster Abbey in London on Monday King Charles was almost completely overcome with emotion at his mother's funeral on Monday (pictured with his wife, Camilla) Overton chimed in with a few guesses as to what the royal family might be discussing while rolling towards the burial: 'How are you going? Are you OK?' he suggested. He reminded viewers the royal family are 'normal people', and recalled similar remarks made by UK royal expert Dickie Arbiter. '[Dickie] said they are a family, and we've got them, perhaps, in a different place and think they react and act differently around each other, but I'm sure they have very similar conversations that we all do after moments like this.' 'This is just a moment that's a lot bigger and grander than anything we'll ever experience.' The bizarre exchange marked the second awkward moment during Nine's coverage of the Queen's funeral. Grimshaw began wondering what the royal were talking about in the car (pictured: Catherine princess of Wales, with her children, George and Charlotte) Prince Charles looks tearful while an emotional Prince Harry looked away from the Queen's coffin at the end of the funeral Earlier in the evening, the pair failed to recognise UK Prime Minister Liz Truss as she got out of the car prior to the service - labelling her instead as a 'minor royal'. 'So, this is a significant motorcade, we are being told now,' Overton said, watching Ms Truss step out of the car prior to the service. 'Come with us as we try and identify who is getting out of the car. This is under police escort of course. I would suggest this might be royalty, Tracy. 'Hard to identify. Maybe minor royals, members of the I can't identify them at this point ' Viewers at home took to social media to call them out on the blunder. 'Good job Peter Overton. Didn't know the new PM,' one person tweeted. Another wrote: 'Peter Overton and Tracy Grimshaw having no idea who Liz Truss - the new British Prime Minister - is during the live coverage of the Queens funeral was so *awks*.' Another Twitter user posted a photo of Ms Truss and jokingly asked if she was the mayor of Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland, or a 'minor royal'. 'Hi Tracy Grimshaw, can you help me out who this is? Is it the Local Mayor of Reykjavik or is it a minor Royal?' Moments later, Overton issued a correction. Ms Truss (pictured before the funeral on Monday) was the last world leader to be pictured with the Queen in her final official duty, just 48 hours before she died The Queen left Westminster Abbey for the last time after her state funeral on Monday King Charles had appeared tearful at his mother's Westminster Abbey state funeral that ended with two minutes of silence, the Last Post and the national anthem. The monarch also looked emotional as he saluted when his mother left Wellington Arch in a hearse this afternoon. On a day of pomp and poignant symbolism, grief was etched on the faces of Charles, his siblings and children as well as the huge crowds who swamped The Mall, Whitehall and Parliament Square to bade farewell to the beloved monarch as her coffin was carried from the Abbey on a gun carriage. Members of the Royal Family, including the King, marched poignantly behind, while others including the Princess of Wales, her children George and Charlotte, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, all looked on at the crowds as they passed them in vehicles. The poignant scenes followed an extraordinary and emotional state funeral attended by 2,000 VIPs, royals, prime ministers and several hundred ordinary Britons chosen by the Queen, who died 11 days ago. The Queen left London for the final time amid moving scenes at Wellington Arch next to Hyde Park Corner After the funeral the coffin was borne on a gun carriage in a spectacle not seen for many generations, as hundreds of soldiers, sailors and airmen marched to solemn funeral pieces or lined the route. Behind her coffin were Charles and his siblings - the Princess Royal, Duke of York and Earl of Wessex - who were followed by the monarch's three grandsons, Peter Phillips, Duke of Sussex and Prince of Wales. In a moving gesture, staff from Buckingham Palace stood outside the gates of the royal residence and watched as the late monarch was taken past for the last time. Following the departure of the coffin and the royal family, the bells at Westminster Abbey began to ring out. The muffled peal will continue throughout the afternoon, which only occurs after the funeral of a sovereign. And applause and a spontaneous three cheers broke out as the Queen's coffin passed the Albert Memorial in Kensington in its way to Windsor. As the hearse drove off flowers were thrown into the road by members of the public watching from behind a fence. Others waved Union flags as the fleet of vehicles drove past. Efforts to ban books gathered pace rapidly this past year, with hundreds of titles cut across thousands of schools often those tackling culture wars issues like gender, sexuality and race, a study shows. There were 2,532 instances of individual book bans affecting 1,648 titles at some 5,000 schools with 4 million students in the 2021-2022 school year, the anti-censorship group PEN America said in a report on Monday. The group described a push by politicians and newly-formed parents' organizations to pull texts from school libraries that it compares to the anti-communist McCarthy era and 'Moral Majority' purges of the early 1980s. Frequently banned titles include Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe and The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, which was inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement and was turned into a 2018 movie. This rapidly accelerating movement has resulted in more and more students losing access to literature that equips them to meet the challenges and complexities of democratic citizenship, said report author Jonathan Friedman. The banned books were often young adult fiction texts, often those dealing with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer themes or with queer protagonists, as well as those that tackle race and identity. The anti-censorship group PEN America says censors have been busy in Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, South Carolina, Wisconsin, and Georgia PEN America, a non-profit writers' group, says books dealing with LGBTQ and racial issues are most frequently targeted Books banned in schools include Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe and The Hate U Give, by Angie Thomas Americas 5 most banned titles: Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe was banned by 41 school districts. The illustrated text charts the authors journey of self-identity and what it means to be nonbinary and asexual, according to promotional material. All Boys Arent Blue, a series of personal essays by George M. Johnson, was banned in 29 districts. The memoir-manifesto narrates the childhood, adolescence, and college years of its black, queer author Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Perez is a novel about teen love between a Mexican-American girl and a black boy in Texas in the 1930s. It was banned in 24 districts. The Bluest Eye was banned in 22 districts. The first novel by celebrated author Toni Morrison tells the story of a black girl growing up in the 1940s, and her sense of inferiority due to her skin color. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas was banned in 17 districts. It was inspired by the Black Lives Matter protest movement, deals with the police violence against minorities, and was turned into a 2018 movie. Advertisement Texas accounted for the most bans, with 801 across 22 districts. Campaigners have also been busy in Florida, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, South Carolina, Wisconsin, and Georgia, says the study. The most frequently banned book was Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe, which was cut by 41 school districts. It charts the authors journey of self-identity and what it means to be nonbinary and asexual. It was followed by All Boys Arent Blue by George M. Johnson, which was banned in 29 school districts, and Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Perez, banned in 24 districts, researchers said. Other frequently-banned books include The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini and two titles, The Bluest Eye and Beloved, by Toni Morrison, a Nobel laureate whose works largely deal with race. PEN America highlighted some 50 groups active in pushing for book bans, including Moms for Liberty, US Parents Involved in Education, and No Left Turn in Education. Most of the groups have formed since 2021. The group's CEO Suzanne Nossel said the widespread banning was no longer an effort by individual concerned citizens but rather a coordinated campaign by sophisticated, ideological and well-resourced advocacy organizations. The banned books were often young adult novels dealing with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer themes or featuring queer protagonists Novels by Nobel laureate Toni Morrison dealing with race have been banned, as was The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Campaigners protest against a book ban in late 2021 by the Central York school board in southern Pennsylvania school, which blacklisted a children's book about Rosa Parks and Malala Yousafzai's autobiography Their efforts are often linked to Republican politicians, such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who tried to ban classroom discussions about gender and sexual identify, and Texas representative Matt Krause, who launched a probe into school libraries. This censorious movement is turning our public schools into political battlegrounds, driving wedges within communities, forcing teachers and librarians from their jobs, and casting a chill over the spirit of open inquiry, said Nossel. Those in favor of cutting texts from school curriculums say they are fighting wokery in education, standing up for parents' rights and removing books that are too sexual or confuse teens about their gender. They often target texts they say promote critical race theory, which contends that generations of slavery, segregation and Jim Crow laws have baked racial bias into present day U.S. laws and institutions. Tina Descovich and Tiffany Justice, the co-founders of Moms for Liberty, told DailyMail.com they were standing up for the rights of parents to have a say in children's education. 'It is time to end the stronghold teacher unions have on public education,' they said in a statement. They called for candidates in the upcoming midterms to 'stand with parents and expose those who choose instead to protect special interest groups over the best interests of children'. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican, has pushed for limits on how race, gender and sexual identity are taught in schools Police dash cam shows the ute creating a cloud of tire smoke before haring off A drunk ute driver in a quiet suburban street stunned police officers when he performed a tyre-shredding burnout just meters away from their squad car. Dashcam footage shows the Toyota ute pulling out in front of the marked police vehicle on the otherwise deserted street in the southern Canberra suburb of Gilmore last Friday. The ute then slowly inches forward before the driver, 31, hits the accelerator and drops the clutch sending a huge cloud of white smoke into the air. A ute in Canberra started doing a burnout directly in front of a marked police car on Friday The vehicle managed to create a huge cloud of tyre smoke before it charged off down the street Police initially reverse to a safe distance but then pursue the vehicle through the heavy smoke to an intersection where it turns right. As officers activate their lights and sirens the ute eventually pulls over and comes to a stop in a side street. Police alleged the driver was returned a blood-alcohol reading of 0.151 - more than three times the legal 0.05 limit. Officers say the 31-year-old male driver breath-tested at three times over the legal DUI limit The Canberra resident's drivers' licence was immediately suspended and his vehicle seized. He will face court at a later date on charges of drink driving and improper use of a motor vehicle. Police said they would like to remind the community that 'this type of behaviour will not be tolerated'. A missing mother sent her daughter a chilling final message, telling her 'they are not going to let me go' before she was found dead - as investigators believe it hints that she may have been kidnapped. Debbie Collier's tragic body was found in a small, steep-sided ravine on September 11 near a wooded area in Tallulah Falls, Georgia, after being reported missing the day before. Cops launched a homicide probe after frantically searching nearby woods with a K-9 unit and finding a red tote bag and partially-burned blue tarp. They then discovered the 59-year-old's body nearby. However, investigators at Habersham County Sheriffs Office revealed the eerie final message the mother sent her daughter before she was found dead, alluding that she was held against her will. Collier, who lived in Athens, Georgia, sent her daughter Amanda Bearden a total of $2,385 on Venmo with the harrowing message: 'They are not going to let me go, love you.' Debbie Collier, 59, was tragically found dead on September 11 in a wooded area in Tallulah Falls, Georgia, after being reported missing the day before The mother sent her daughter a chilling final message before she was reported missing Daughter Amanda Bearden, 36, (pictured) revealed that she received a sum of money from her mother alongside an eerie final message - prompting her to call the police and file her as a missing person Habersham County Deputy Coroner Ken Franklin talks with Collier's husband, Steven, seen here holding an umbrella, on September 11, 2022 Bearden, 36, then tried to call her mother after receiving the cryptic text, however, she didn't answer the cell phone. It was then that the daughter reported her mother as missing to Athens Clarke County Police. Cops have said that the disturbing statement Collier sent to her daughter may suggest that there was a violent kidnapping involved before she was found dead. They are treating the case as a homicide, rather than a suicide, reports 11 Alive. Habersham County Sheriffs Office Col. Murray Kogod said: 'Further search resulted in locating the body of a female subject down an embankment close to where the bag and tarp were located.' During the investigation, cops found that Collier had rented an SUV on September 10 and left her home with just her debit card and driver's license. They were able to track the location of the car because of its SiriusXM satellite radio - leading them 60 miles north of her home in Athens, Georgia. Collier's body was then tragically found in a nearby ravine off of the highway where the vehicle was discovered on US 441 near Victory Home Lane. The mother's devastated family was informed as authorities started investigating the cause of death. Images show investigators combing the scene where her body was found, reports Now Habersham. An autopsy will be undertaken by a medical examiner. Debbie, who married her husband Steve in 2013, worked as the front office manager at Carriage House Realty in Athens for many years. Steve said he last saw his wife at 9pm the night before she vanished on September 9. Cops have said that the disturbing statement Collier sent to her daughter may suggest that there was a violent kidnapping involved before she was found dead Investigators and police cars seen at the scene near to where the body was discovered on September 11 Advertisement Pallbearers from the British Army who weeks ago were serving in Iraq have today been celebrated for their role in carrying the Queen's coffin - with admirers across Britain declaring: 'They have done our nation and Her Majesty proud.' The world held its breath as the eight soldiers from the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards inched their way meticulously up the steep steps of St George's Chapel, in Windsor, this afternoon carrying the 96-year-old's monarch on their shoulders. Earlier the soldiers, marshalled by two officers, had seamlessly transferred the Queen's coffin from Westminster Hall and on to a gun carriage, which carried the late Monarch to the state funeral at Westminster Abbey. On a busy day for the team from the exemplary-as-ever Grenadier Guards, the soldiers sprang into action once again to carry the coffin up the aisle of Westminster Abbey for the service. Without a hint of a slip-up, the eight men, led throughout by Company Sergeant Major Dean Jones, then transferred the coffin out of the Abbey and back on to the carriage, where it was moved in procession up The Mall and Constitution Hill to Wellington Arch. With their enormous task not yet completed, the soldiers returned again to move the coffin into a hearse to be driven to Windsor, where they took on perhaps their most difficult task of the day - carrying the 500lb lead-lined coffin up the steps to the more than 500-year-old St George's Chapel. Of the team of guards taking part in the historic spectacle, five are understood to have been flown back from a deployment in Iraq in the hours after it was announced the Queen had died, on Thursday, September 8. And with the eyes of an estimated 4.1billion people from across the globe on them, the unnamed soldiers performed faultlessly, garnering the admiration of people across social media, including celebrities, who praised their professionalism. King Charles, Camilla, Queen Consort, Anne, Princess Royal, Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, Prince Andrew, Duke of York, Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, Sophie, Countess of Wessex follow behind the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II with the Imperial State Crown resting on top of it carried by pallbearers as it departs Westminster Abbey The pallbearing team of eight Grenadier Guards inched their way up the steps of St George's Chapel in Windsor and were followed by members of the Royal family Members of the Grenadier Guards carrying the coffin of the Queen up the steps of St George VI Chapel at Windsor Castle Arm in arm, the pallbearers made their way tentatively up the steps of St George's Chapel as the world held its breath The Grenadier Guards seamlessly transferred the Queen's coffin today, moving it safely to each point in the funeral and procession The coffin of Queen Elizabeth II being carried by pallbearers leaving the State Funeral held at Westminster Abbey Of the team of guards taking part in the historic spectacle, five are understood to have been flown back from a deployment in Iraq in the hours after it was announced the Queen had died, on Thursday, September 8 The herculean effort to lift Her Majesty's casket and transport it so gracefully throughout the day - without fault - left people on social media stunned. Pictured: The coffin of Queen Elizabeth II is carried towards Saint George's chapel for her funeral at Windsor castle, Britain The pallbearer party were all of The Queen's Company 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards. The unit had a close connection with the Queen - as the serving monarch she held the position of company commander and made a personal review of the company every decade With the eyes of an estimated 4.1billion people from across the globe on them, the unnamed soldiers performed faultlessly, garnering the admiration of people across social media, including celebrities, who praised their professionalism. Pictured: The coffin of Britain's Queen Elizabeth arrives outside St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle It's thought the 96-year-old monarch's specially crafted, lead-lined oak casket weighs more than 500lb. The guards are understood to have been given specially-built rubber boots to help stop them slipping on the smooth stone steps of the chapel, which is more than 500 years old The choir sang as the pallbearers from the Grenadier Guards carried the coffin into St George's Chapel in Windsor for the Queen's committal service The Royal Family and European royals watch as the coffin is carried towards the altar The coffin of Queen Elizabeth II is carried into St George's Chapel along the centre aisle of the nave to the catafalque Pallbearers carry the coffin of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II in to St George's Chapel for a committal service at Windsor Castle The Royal Family official Twitter account shared this poignant image of the final service to honour the Queen at St George's Chapel, in Windsor One of Queen's pallbearers is 19-year-old Grenadier Guard from Jersey with a 'passion' for serving in the Armed Forces One of the Grenadier Guards chosen to be a pallbearer for the Queen's coffin is a teenager from the island of Jersey. Fletcher Cox was part of a group from the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards. The former Grainville student was part of his local Army Cadet Force, where he was awarded the Lieutenant-Governor's medal in 2018 - the highest honour a Jersey cadet can be given. Speaking to ITV, Laura Therin, a staff sergeant with Jersey's Army Cadet Force, said of Cox: 'We were all quite astounded - seeing him wasn't something any of us were expecting, but we're all so incredibly proud of Fletcher and his achievements. 'I've known Fletcher since he first started with the Cadets. He always was a very organised young man who lived and breathed Cadets. 'He always knew he wanted to go into that line of work - it always was his passion, and it's so great to see that paying off.' Advertisement It's thought the 96-year-old monarch's specially crafted, lead-lined oak casket weighs more than 500lb. The guards are understood to have been given specially-built rubber boots to help stop them slipping on the smooth stone steps of the chapel, which is more than 500 years old. The herculean effort to lift Her Majesty's casket and transport it so gracefully throughout the day - without fault - left people on social media stunned. One person described the young soldiers as the 'top tier, creme de la creme' of pallbearers. While another person tweeted: 'I am in awe of the pallbearers. The Queen's casket weighs between 550 & 700lbs. They have carried & walked with her carefully & without fault throughout the day. Anyone else hold their breath up those steps?' Another impressed by the guards' actions added: 'Those 8 pallbearers today deserve a medal. The anxiety I've had just watching - especially on the steps... they've done themselves and everyone watching proud.' The guard's first action involved tentatively lifting the Queen's coffin onto the ceremonial gun carriage, which would pull her the short distance from Westminster Hall to Westminster Abbey, where her funeral service took place place. Under the glare of the world's press, the eight soldiers worked as a team, walking slowly through the Abbey followed closely by King Charles and Queen Consort Camilla. Hundreds of people - from world leaders and global royalty to the great and the good of the UK - watched as the pallbearers marched through the centre historic building, which is more than 1.000 years old. Among those who were part of the team carrying the Queen included 19-year-old Guardsman Fletcher Cox, from Jersey. The former Army Cadet left his home at 16 to begin his training with the military. Positioned at the rear of the pallbearing team, his role at the Queen's funeral left his former Army Cadet instructor, Laura Therin bursting with pride. Pallbearers carry the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard with the Imperial State Crown and the Sovereign's orb and sceptre, into her State Funeral at Westminster Abbey The pallbearers of the Grenadier Guards carry the Queen's coffin into Westminster Abbey, followed by members of the royal family Senior church figures lead the procession into Westminster Abbey followed by members of the Royal Household, then the coffin, being carried by the pallbearers from the Grenadier Guards and later senior royals Pallbearers carry the Queen's coffin up the aisle of Westminster Abbey, followed by members of the royal family, ahead of her funeral today Pallbearers transfer the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard, from the State Gun Carriage of the Royal Navy into the State Hearse at Wellington Arch in London Pallbearers carry the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard with the Imperial State Crown in the Ceremonial Procession following her State Funeral at Westminster Abbey Pallbearers were followed by members of the Royal Family, including King Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew, Prince Edward and Princes William and Harry Pallbearers carry the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard with the Imperial State Crown during the Ceremonial Procession following her State Funeral at Westminster Abbey More than 3,000 personnel from all three wings of Britain's military took part in the procession to Buckingham Palace Pallbearers transfer the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard, from the State Gun Carriage of the Royal Navy into the State Hearse at Wellington Arch in London Pallbearers transfer the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard, from the State Gun Carriage of the Royal Navy into the State Hearse at Wellington Arch Pallbearers transfer the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard, into the State Hearse at Wellington Arch in London 'We were all quite astounded - seeing him wasn't something any of us were expecting, but we're all so incredibly proud of Fletcher and his achievements,' she told ITV Jersey. 'I've known Fletcher since he first started with the Cadets. He always was a very organised young man who lived and breathed Cadets.' The Grenadier Guards: An elite army unit with more than 350 years of history - famed for their battlefield skills and their central role in parades The pallbearer party were all of The Queen's Company 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards. The Grenadier Guards are an elite British Army infantry regiment who are world famous for their red tunics and bearskins, and they can often be seen guarding the Royal Residences. It can trace its lineage back to 1656 when it was raised in Bruges to protect a then exiled George II. The unit has been involved in a number of conflicts, including the Napoleonic Wars and both World Wars and most recently Iraq and Afghanistan. Recruits take part in a grueling 30-week training course - two weeks longer than standard infantry units. It close connection with the Queen - as the serving monarch she held the position of company commander and made a personal review of the company every decade. The Duke of Edinburgh was also a Colonel of the Grenadier Guards from 1975 and visited the Battalion on many occasions, including UK based exercises and on operations. The unit has always historically provided pallbearers for the Monarchs. Advertisement The pallbearers' composure also attracted attention from celebrities and politicians. Carla Lockhart, Upper Bann's DUP MP, said: 'Amidst the pageantry and occasion, eight young men silently went about their duty. 'The weight of the world on their shoulders, the glare of the world on them, but they were flawless. They did themselves, their families and our country proud. Thank you.' Broadcaster Stephen Fry was more succinct: 'Bearer Party, to the pub - quick march. Bearer Party, lift tankard. Bearer party, down beer. You've earned it.' Later, the team again carried the late sovereign's casket back out and onto the gun carriage, which was pulled to Buckingham Palace amid unprecedented scenes of support from the British public. More than one million people are predicted to have lined the streets to witness to the historic spectacle, which involved some 3,000 military personnel. It was the first State Funeral since that of Sir Winston Churchill, on January 30, 1965. The pallbearer party were all of The Queen's Company 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards. The unit had a close connection with the Queen - as the serving monarch she held the position of company commander and made a personal review of the company every decade. It's understood the Queen's Company deployed to Iraq in July to enhance 'the training of the Iraqi security forces', according to the squad's official Twitter account. The Queen's Company will retain its name up until the monarch is laid to rest, and will later change to reflect the new King. Former British Army soldier Major Adrian Weale told the PA news agency: 'They became the Queen's Company immediately after the death of George VI and the Queen has been commander ever since. 'It's their role to protect her body, both in life and in death, remaining the Queen's Company until King Charles decides otherwise. 'Their duties will then be transitioned to the next monarch.' The Grenadier Guards is the most senior regular Army regiment and dates back to 1656. Members of the Grenadier Guards previously were pallbearers for the Queen's coffin moving the casket into Westminster Hall for her lying in state Members of the unit were also pallbearers for the Queen's coffin on Wednesday when it was transferred from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall They transferred the coffin, with the royal crown on top, into the famous hall where the Queen was left to lie in state for four days Queen Elizabeth II will lie in state in Westminster Hall inside the Palace of Westminster, from Wednesday until a few hours before her funeral on Monday, Pallbearers from The Queen's Company, 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards carry the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II into Westminster Hall The Grenadier Guards moved the Queen's coffin into Westminster Hall following a procession from Buckingham Palace The pallbearers carried the coffin through the hall to the centre, where the Queen was left to lie in state for four days before her funeral today Pallbearers from The Queen's Company, 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards place the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II on a Catafalque in Westminster Hall on Wednesday In total, about 4,000 military personnel were involved in the funeral parade. This includes Commonwealth personnel but not logistics or support staff. In central London, more than 3,000 members of the military took part in the ceremonies. About 1,500 UK service personnel joined the processions while 175 Commonwealth service personnel took part in the parade to Wellington Arch Some 1,000 military personnel lined the London procession routes with 380 troops providing guards of honour and static bands In Windsor, more than 1,000 forces personnel joined the ceremonial activity. Queen Elizabeth II's reign symbolically comes to an end with ceremonial 'breaking of the wand': St George's Chapel sings 'God Save the King' as Charles III departs memorial and family head to private service By Rory Tingle for MailOnline An ancient tradition known as the 'breaking of the wand' took place today to symbolically mark the end of the Queen's reign as St George's Chapel burst into a rendition of 'God Save the Queen'. In a moving ceremony, the Lord Chamberlain - who oversees much of the royal household - snapped his Wand of Office, before placing it to the Queen's coffin before it was lowered into the Royal Vault. The breaking of the staff, which was traditionally used to discipline noisy courtiers, signifies the end of his service to the Queen. Andrew David Parker, who served as director general of MI5 from 2013 to 2020, had served from April last year. King Charles III will now appoint his own Lord Chamberlain to run the role under his new duties as monarch. The ceremonial gesture, which took place at the Queen's committal, was last performed more than 70 years ago at George VI's funeral but this was the first time it has ever been televised. Shortly afterwards, the Queen was laid to rest with her beloved husband Prince Philip after her crown, orb and sceptre were removed from her coffin so she could descend into her grave 'as a simple Christian soul'. This was the moment that The Lord Chamberlain, Andrew David Parker, broke his Wand of Office in a symbolic moment when power transferred from the Queen The Lord Chamberlain breaks his Wand of Office before the Queen's coffin is lowered as King Charles III watches on intently behind him The breaking of this staff signifies the end of his service to the Queen. King Charles III will now appoint his own Lord Chamberlain to run the role under his new duties as monarch The ceremonial gesture, which took place at the Queen's committal, was last performed more than 70 years ago at George VI's funeral but this was the first time it has ever been televised The Lord Chamberlain placed the broken staff on the Queen's coffin, symbolising the end of his service to her. The coffin was then lowered into the Royal Vault Baron Parker of Minsmere, who served as director general of MI5 from 2013 to 2020, took over the position in April last year The Royal Family stood at the end of the short service as the Queen was slowly lowered down into the royal vault while the Dean of Windsor said: 'Go forth upon thy journey from this world, O Christian soul.' He also offered the commendation - a prayer in which the deceased is entrusted to God's mercy. Moments earlier the Dean had placed her crown and other crown jewels on the altar before the Queen's staff of office was snapped - signifying the severing of the Queen from her service in death. The Garter King of Arms then pronounced the styles and titles of the Queen as all power moved to her son, the King. Charles looked deeply moved as the coffin was lowered - on a day where he appeared tearful on a number of occasions as he said goodbye to his mother, the 12th British monarch to be buried at Windsor. Her Majesty's long journey to her final resting place - and to be reunited with the Duke of Edinburgh - began in Balmoral on the day of her death 11 days ago and will end with her private interment at the castle's St George's Chapel this evening where the King will scatter earth on his mother's coffin at 7.30pm at a private family service. Britain's longest reigning monarch had been carried into the historic church followed by Charles III, her children and grandchildren including Prince Harry and Prince William. St George's was where the Queen had sat alone during the funeral of Prince Philip last year - in one of the most poignant images of the pandemic - and it was where she had loved to worship for so many years when at Windsor. The Queen is laid to rest for eternity in St George's Chapel as her coffin is lowered into the royal vault following her state funeral at Westminster Abbey The Crown Jewels were poignantly removed from the casket to show that the Queen's reign was at an end The King looks moved as her mother is finally laid to rest during the service of committal The overwhelmed monarch then turned away as he said goodbye to his mother and her power and titles moved to him The Duke and Duchess of Sussex look at the Queen's coffin as the Royal Family mourns her loss As the crown jewels were removed, Princess Charlotte pointed and spoke to her mother as Harry and Meghan looked on The Sussexes and the Wales' sing as Her Majesty the Queen had her symbols of monarchy removed along with her titles The coffin of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II rests in George's Chapel, Windsor The royal family were united in their loss, with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex briefly back with the family they left, but as the Queen's son the Earl of Wessex said in tribute, in death, as in life, they were sharing their 'beloved mama' with others. Hundreds of thousands lined the Queen's funeral procession that carried the monarch from lying in state at Westminster Hall to her state funeral and on to Windsor Castle for the committal service. Her state hearse arrived at the royal fortress strewn with flowers after the sight of the Queen had been cheered and applauded by mourners along the route. When the Queen was lying in state, a river of people flowed past her coffin, paying their respects over four days. At the end there were touching moments, with the Queen's fell pony Emma, held by her stud groom and manager, standing a few feet from the coffin as the procession entered the grounds of Windsor Castle. Lena Tindall, Zara Tindall, Mia Tindall, the Duchess of Sussex, the Duke of Sussex, Princess Charlotte, the Princess of Wales, Prince George, and the Prince of Wales, stand for the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard with the Imperial State Crown and the Sovereign's orb and sceptre Princess Charlotte, the Princess of Wales, Prince George, and the Prince of Wales as they say goodbye to the Queen Charles, Camilla, Princess Anne and Prince Edward sat together in the service Waiting in the royal residence's quadrangle were her two corgis Muick and Sandy - gifts from her son the Duke of York - as the funeral procession passed. The Queen was head of state but also a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother and, in a personal touch, the wreath adorning her coffin had a handwritten note from the King. The message said: 'In loving and devoted memory. Charles R'. Charles had requested the floral tribute, which replaced a wreath of Balmoral flowers, with foliage and blooms cut from the gardens of Buckingham Palace, Clarence House and Highgrove. A former police officer who missed the Queen's funeral has said that 'events conspired against me' after his train to London was delayed for hours before he was turned away and told he would not make it in time. Barry Boffy MBE along with thousands of mourners were impacted by transport and traffic chaos this morning after electrical faults and road closures meant travel was severely disrupted. As well as members of the Royal Family, the Government and foreign dignitaries from around the world, nearly 200 key workers and volunteers recognised in the Queen's Birthday Honours list were invited to attend the funeral by Downing Street. Among them was Mr Boffy, a former British Transport Police officer from Bristol who also missed the funeral after his train was stopped due to the electrical failures this morning. Former British Transport Police officer Barry Boffy (pictured above) told the BBC his train was stopped near Slough after the overhead wires were damaged shortly after 6am this morning As well as world leaders and politicians, nearly 200 people who were honoured in the Queen's Birthday Honours list were also invited to her state funeral at Westminster Abbey this morning Mr Boffy told the BBC his train was stopped near Slough after the overhead wires were damaged shortly after 6am this morning. The former head of inclusion and diversity said once he made it to London, he was turned away by Met police officers who said there was no way he would make it in time. Mr Boffy told the broadcaster: 'Events conspired against me and I wasn't able to make it in time. 'We had pulled into Langley, and they [train operators] opened the doors and basically said 'make your own way'. 'It was about an hour away by car and thankfully the kindness of strangers recognised I needed to get into London as soon as possible and offered me a lift with them. 'But with all the traffic and road closures, by the time I got pretty close to where I needed to be, Met Police told me there is no point you're not going to make it in time. 'Ultimately there isn't anything I can do about it, to change the circumstances, it is still a huge honour and privilege, just to have been invited, so I will treasure that, the memory of the opportunity to have been there.' In total, about 2,000 people including world leaders and former UK prime ministers attended the funeral which began at 11am following a procession from Westminster Hall. The disruption began shortly after 6am with Great Western Railway (GWR) informing passengers all railway lines between Slough and Paddington were blocked due to damage to overhead electric wires. This disrupted journeys for mourners who were attempting to travel to London for the Queen's funeral from Reading or Heathrow Airport. Services run by GWR, Heathrow Express and the Elizabeth line also continue to be affected. The lines between Reading and Newbury were also closed due to a person being hit by a train. The former head of inclusion and diversity Mr Boffy (pictured) said once he made it to London, he was turned away by Met police officers who said there was no way he would make it in time This is causing GWR trains to be diverted, delaying journeys to the capital. Hundreds of GWR passengers on five early morning trains into Paddington station had to be walked down the track to safety after the electric power lines went down. A GWR spokesman told MailOnline that the trains were evacuated and passengers taken to safety at the nearest station. The spokesman added: 'There will be no services in and out of Paddington station for the rest of the day.' The problem at Hayes and Harlington station was reported at around 6.45am. Passengers on a severely delayed Paddington-bound train were told by a member of staff on the public address system: 'My sincerest apologies for the delays on such an important day for the country.' The issue meant many mourners hoping to secure a position to see the funeral procession could now arrive too late. All public viewing areas for the Queen's funeral procession are full, London's City Hall said. All railway lines between Slough and Paddington are blocked due to damage to overhead wires Meanwhile, at Waterloo Station, hundreds of security guards are on duty ready for the influx of mourners expected to travel to the capital for the funeral. Authorities in the capital have already warned mourners that central London is extremely busy. A statement issued at 7.30am said: 'The areas in and around Buckingham Palace, Westminster, Whitehall, St James' Park and Green Park are extremely busy. Many affected passengers planned to be in London for the start of the day's events but were delayed for several hours. The sound of the choir at Westminster Abbey echoed through the carriages of delayed trains as mourners watched the service on their smartphones. Bev Palfreman said she was 'absolutely gutted' about missing the start of the funeral. The 61-year-old from Oakhampton, Devon, said: 'The Queen has just been there throughout the whole of my life. This was the only thing I wanted to do.' Gaby Thomas, 29, who travelled from Castle Cary, Somerset, with her father, said: 'My dad is a former naval officer and he wanted to see the procession and the military involved. 'It's just about being there. We were meant to arrive in Paddington at about 8.30am. We are still hoping to catch the end of the procession. 'It's a typical British thing to happen.' A Network Rail spokesman said: 'We are very sorry for the disruption which we expect to continue throughout the day. 'We are working hard to get services running as soon as possible and passengers are strongly advised to check before they travel. 'We will continue to update passengers as the situation develops.' Select McDonald's restaurants will reopen in Kyiv from tomorrow, the company's head of corporate communications in Ukraine confirmed, in the latest symbol of Ukrainian success in repelling the Russian invasion. Three restaurants in the Ukrainian capital will open for delivery only from September 20, followed by several more venues in Kyiv and across the country further west one week later. Restaurants will then resume their typical operations in October, according to head of communications Alesya Mudzhyri, with evacuation plans in place in the event that air raid sirens are triggered by an incoming threat. Meanwhile in Russia, former McDonalds restaurants have been shut down and rebranded after the American fast food giant became one of thousands of western companies to pull out of the country amid the war in Ukraine. Three restaurants in the Ukrainian capital will open for delivery only from September 20, followed by several more venues in Kyiv and across the country further west one week late (A man walks past a closed McDonald's restaurant in central Kyiv, Ukraine, the day after Russian tanks rolled across the border) McDonald's head of communications in Ukraine Alesya Mudzhyri (left) said restaurants will be delivery only for some weeks before restaurants resume normal operations in October (delivery only sign pictured right) Mudzhyri announced the restaurants on Bazhana Avenue, Gagarin Avenue and Hryshka street would be the first McDonald's to reopen in the capital from September 20, with seven others following in short order. 'The newly opened restaurants will operate according to the same high standards of food quality, cleanliness and speed of service as before,' the comms chief announced in a social media post. Mudzhyri added that restaurants will remain open from 9am-9pm and will close 'when air raid sirens are triggered to allow employees and patrons to evacuate to the nearest shelter' - but not before the team 'quickly issue any orders already paid for',. McDonald's will provide its McDelivery service in partnership with Spanish quick-commerce company Glovo until it is ready to reopen all stores full time. In Russia, former McDonald's restaurants were rebranded following the fast food giant's decision to suspend its operations following Putin's war in Ukraine. The new chain 'Vkusno i tochka' - translated as 'Tasty, and that's it' or 'Delicious, full stop' - popped up after McDonald's sold its franchises to a Russian businessman in June. Vkusno i tochka reopened on June 12 with a rebranded menu, new shop fronting and smart staff uniforms, but consumers were less than thrilled with the quality of the food on offer. Less than a month after the chain opened for the first time, executives made a statement to Russian news agency Tass explaining that a poor potato harvest in 2021 meant several restaurants were unable to serve fries. The McDonald's replacement fast food chain in Russia, 'Vkusno i tochka', is running low on the basic staple of French fries and was forced to temporarily stop serving them Customers have complained of mould on the buns of their burgers in several outlets Vkusno i tockha's uniforms are almost identical to McDonald's worker outfits and the old equipment stayed behind as part of the exit deal However, the Russian agriculture ministry issued a combative statement on Telegram amusing titled: 'There are potatoes - and that's it,' disputing Vkusno i tochka's account that it could not source domestic potatoes. 'The Russian market is fully supplied with potatoes, including processed ones. In addition, crops from the new harvest are already arriving, which rules out the possibility of a shortage,' the ministry said. The contradictory statement came just days after the chain was caught serving mouldy burgers to fed-up customers, suggesting that it was struggling to source fresh burger buns too. Eaters have complained of mould on the buns of their burgers in several outlets, according to Ksenia Sobchak, a popular TV celebrity and the Russian opposition's most prominent female politician. Russia's re-branded McDonald's restaurants have been caught serving mouldy burgers to fed-up customers after the US chain left the country over its invasion of Ukraine The first McDonald's in Russia opened in the middle of Moscow more than three decades ago, shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall. It was a powerful symbol of the easing of Cold War tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union. McDonald's was the first American fast-food restaurant to open in the Soviet Union, which collapsed in 1991. It's decision to leave came as other American food and beverage giants including Coca-Cola, Pepsi and Starbucks paused or closed operations in Russia in the face of western sanctions. Russian businessman Alexander Govor, who ran 25 McDonald's branches in Siberia, bought all 847 sites off the company in May to introduce Vkusno i tochka. Mr Govor is also a part owner of Neftekhimservis, a construction company which runs an oil refinery. McDonald's operations in Russia were worth around 9 per cent of its annual revenue, equivalent to roughly $2 billion (1.48 billion). Former home secretary Priti Patel was spotted filling in as a volunteer marshal for those queuing to pay their respects to the Queen. Several photos posted on social media showed Mrs Patel in a blue high-vis jacket alongside fellow Conservative MP Andrew Stephenson on the final day of the monarch's lying in state. Many stopped to take photos with the politician as they queued along the Thames near Blackfriars Bridge in central London on Sunday afternoon. Among them was consultant Dan Barker, who was walking beside the queue with his wife when he spotted the pair near the Oxo Tower. Several photos posted on social media showed Mrs Patel in a blue high-vis jacket alongside fellow Conservative MP Andrew Stephenson on the final day of the monarch's lying in state. Ms Patel has already paid her own respects to the monarch in Westminster Hall last week Among those who saw them was consultant Dan Barker, who was walking beside the queue with his wife when he spotted the pair near the Oxo Tower 'I realised I recognised a couple of the marshals up ahead - one was Conservative MP Andrew Stephenson; the other was Priti Patel, both dressed in the same blue tunics worn by the many marshals along the route. 'At that point nobody else seemed to have recognised them,' he added. Queues to see the Queen's coffin at the Palace of Westminster reached up to 24 hours at some points, with the line stretching five miles to Southwark Park. It was closed to the public on Monday morning ahead of her state funeral at Westminster Abbey. Mrs Patel was home secretary from July 2019 until earlier this month, when she was replaced by Suella Braverman as part of PM Liz Truss' first cabinet. The Queen today left London for the final time today. Her Majesty will be laid to rest in Windsor next to her beloved husband Prince Philip and her parents after being driven 20 miles from Hyde Park Corner later this afternoon on a day of pomp and poignant symbolism to mark the passing of Britain's longest-reigning monarch. Grief had been etched on the faces of King Charles, his siblings and children as well as the huge crowds who swamped The Mall, Whitehall and Parliament Square to bade farewell to the beloved monarch. And applause and a spontaneous three cheers broke out as the Queen's coffin passed the Albert Memorial in Kensington in its way to Windsor. As the hearse drove off flowers were thrown into the road by members of the public watching from behind a fence. Others waved Union flags as the fleet of vehicles drove past. Following the departure of the coffin and the royal family, the bells at Westminster Abbey began to ring out. The muffled peal will continue throughout the afternoon, which only occurs after the funeral of a sovereign. The poignant scenes followed an extraordinary and emotional state funeral attended by 2,000 VIPs, royals, prime ministers and several hundred ordinary Britons chosen by the Queen. Outside on the streets and estimated 2million people were there to mourn her passing 11 days ago. After the service, where King Charles appeared to be tearful, her coffin slowly passed through the crowded but silent streets until the cheers began. Members of the Royal Family, including the King, marched poignantly behind, while others including the Princess of Wales and her children George and Charlotte and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, looked on at the crowds as they passed them in vehicles. The crowds would later break into applause and cheers after the Queen's coffin passed them and also when Her Majesty circled round the Queen Victoria Memorial outside Buckingham Palace as Big Ben chimed 96 times - one for each year of her life - a mile away. Once the coffin reached the Queen's London home, members of staff at the palace bowed and curtsied both at the coffin and members of the royal family as they made their way past. She was then carried to Wellington Arch, where her hearse was waiting to take her to Windsor and reunite her with her husband to rest in eternal peace. Members of the Royal Family watched on as the bearer party lifted the coffin from the State Gun Carriage and loaded it into the back of the vehicle. Much of the procession party lined up in formation on the green next to the monument and stood in silence during the moving of the coffin. The national anthem then played as the hearse moved away. Japanese authorities issued a "special warning" as one of the biggest typhoons ever to strike the Asian nation makes landfall on the southern island of Kyushu. The violent typhoon, named Nanmadol, has brought winds of at least 180 km/h and officials said some areas could experience up to 500mm of rainfall over Sunday and Monday. Authorities have urged at least four million residents to evacuate their homes for their safety. Violent Typhoon Nanmadol Officials said that extensive flooding and landslides were expected to be a result of the typhoon while bullet train services, ferries, and hundreds of flights have already been canceled. Nanmadol made landfall near the city of Kagoshima, located on the southern tip of Kyushu, on Sunday morning. The region is the southernmost of the four islands that make up the main body of the Asian nation and has a population of more than 13 million people. Japanese authorities issued the special alert for the island, the first ever put in place outside the Okinawa Prefecture, which consists of the smaller, remote Japanese islands in the East China Sea, as per BBC. In a statement, Japan's Meteorological Agency said that the violent typhoon would bring torrential rain, storm surges along the coast, and winds powerful enough to threaten the collapse of homes. An Izumi city official said that conditions on Sunday afternoon were deteriorating rapidly. The official added that the wind had become extremely powerful and that the rain was pouring hard as well. They said that the outside was a total white-out, bringing visibility down to almost zero. Read Also: COVID-19 Update: Deadly Virus Could Have Originated from Lab Leak and Bioengineered, But More Study Needed According to NHK World-Japan, authorities continued to urge residents in southwestern Japan to be on high alert as Nanmadol continued to move north. Authorities also issued an emergency warning for the southern prefecture of Miyazaki due to the risk of large-scale disasters seen only once every few decades. Calls for Evacuations The typhoon is heading north in Fukuoka prefecture, after ripping through Kyushu, with violent winds that affected parts of the Chugoku and Shikoku regions. The nation's Meteorological Agency advised residents in Miyazaki Prefecture to move to high ground or stay inside sturdy buildings to protect themselves. Officials reported that heavy rain was falling over a wide area as nearly 900mm have been recorded in Misato Town since Saturday. That amount was more than the average for the entire month of September. Authorities said that the violent typhoon is expected to change its course and move eastward after passing through Kyushu on Monday morning. It is then unlikely to move northeast near the main island of Honshu through Tuesday. Local officials reported that several people were injured amid the violent weather phenomenon. In Kushima city, in the southern Miyazaki Prefecture, a woman was slightly injured by shards of glass when powerful winds broke windows at a gymnasium. National TV broadcaster NHK reported that 15 individuals had been injured. There were at least 20,000 people who spent the night in shelters in Kyushu's Kagoshima and Miyazaki prefectures. The evacuation warnings are not mandatory but authorities have, at times, struggled to persuade people to move to shelters before extreme weather, The Guardian reported. Related Article: At Least 1 Dead After 6.9 Magnitude Earthquake Hits Taiwan, Prompting Rescue Efforts @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Veteran broadcaster David Dimbleby has come out of retirement to take over the BBC commentary of the Queen's committal service. Dimbleby, 83, takes over from Huw Edwards, 61, who has anchored much of the BBC's coverage since Queen Elizabeth II's death on Thursday 8 September, through to Her Majesty's funeral at Westminster Abbey this morning. Dimbleby will take over the BBC commentary alongside Kirsty Young, the former presenter of Desert Island Discs. This comes 69 years after Dimbleby's father, Richard Dimbleby, provided the commentary for the Queen's Coronation in 1953. Several people have taken to Twitter to applaud the BBC's choice of anchors, with one calling them the 'hard hitters.' Veteran broadcaster David Dimbleby has come out of retirement to take over BBC commentary of the Queen's committal service David Dimbleby's father, Richard Dimbleby, in the commentator box in the Triforium from which he gave his commentary in the Abbey at the Coronation of HM Queen Elizabeth II on June 2nd 1953. This photo was taken during a rehearsal Journalist Scott Bryan pointed out that David's father, Richard Dimbleby, provided the commentary for The Queen's Coronation back in 1953 'David Dimbleby and Kirsty Young, the hard hitters are out. We are in the safest of hands,' they tweeted. Another wrote: 'Huw Edwards, Kirsty Young and David Dimbleby. The BBC have pulled out all the tier one today.' Many users were delighted to see Kirsty Young - who famously presented Desert Island Discs from 2006 to 2018 - back on their screens. 'Hearing Kirsty Young on the BBC makes me miss her so much,' one user wrote. 'Her voice is so calming. I'm half expecting her to ask each guest which record they are taking on the Desert Island!' Kirsty is joined by veteran broadcaster David Dimbleby, the former host of Question Time, who retired from the show in 2018. Huw Edwards has handed over the BBC coverage of the Queen's funeral to Kirsty Young and David Dimbleby Journalist Scott Bryan pointed out that David's father, Richard Dimbleby, provided the commentary for The Queen's Coronation back in 1953. 'The Coronation brought the nation together, as 10.4 million people watched in the homes of friends and neighbours, and 1.5 million watched in public places like pubs and cinemas,' the BBC states on its website. 'The BBC coverage of the event included cameras installed inside Westminster Abbey for the first time, to show the Coronation Service. 'The Queen gave her permission for this departure, against official advice - revealing the monarchy's willingness to move with the times. Viewers joked that Huw Edwards 'needs a holiday' as he led the BBC's coverage of the Queen's funeral this morning Taking to Twitter, many social media users expressed their hopes that the presenter treats himself to a well-deserved break 'Television commentary in the Abbey was provided by Richard Dimbleby, with 7 other commentators including Bernard Braden and Brian Johnston providing coverage along the processional route.' The handover to Young and Dimbleby will come as a relief for many people, who were calling for Edwards to take a break. One user wrote: '@thehuwedwards you've done an amazing job since making the announcement of her majesty's death. I hope the BBC allows you a well deserved holiday!' Another added: 'Huw Edwards deserves a 6 month holiday after today. How he's managed to talk and interview people for 10 days straight about this I'll never know.' One joked: 'Can someone give #huwedwards a pillow and blanket, followed by a long holiday, please?' 'Can we all club together on GoFundMe and buy Huw Edwards a holiday once all this is done? The man's been broadcasting seemlessly for 12 days solid now,' another joked. 'Has anyone worked harder than these couple of weeks? Crazy pressure to be the person to say "this is the BBC from London" day of. Give this man a holiday,' one Twitter use quipped. Edwards has presented much of the BBC's coverage since Queen Elizabeth II's death was announced on 8 September. BBC One viewers expressed concerns last week over the news presenter's sore-looking right eye The public service broadcaster had a total of 9.83million people tuned into BBC One at 6.30pm when the death of Queen Elizabeth II (pictured just two days before she died) was officially announced Viewers have praised the presenter's 'amazing' coverage, with one calling him 'absolutely stupendous.' 'Huw Edwards absolutely stupendous again today,' they wrote. 'He's a b***dy amazing broadcaster. Completely on the ball, composed, pragmatic but sensitive.' Another added: 'All presenters, particularly on BBC have been tremendous, however, has been absolutely outstanding. 'Always the right tone, isn't rude when he has to stops guests to go to live feeds, just amazing thank you.' Viewers voiced their concerns fore Huw, with some suggesting he didn't get much rest after covering the news of the Queen's death this weekend 'What an extraordinary broadcaster is. He has an amazing ability to hold hours of live tv together with the informative and comprehensive professionalism that it deserves,' one Twitter user said. Last week, BBC News viewers voiced concerns for Edwards' health after the presenter was seen with a bloodshot right eye. The broadcaster sparked concern on social media while covering the procession that saw the late Monarch's coffin being moved from Holyroodhouse Palace to St Giles Cathedral. Viewers spotted the presenter's blood-shot eye, saying they hoped he would get it treated and surmising he must be 'shattered'. Edwards was also the presenter who broke the news of the Queen's death to the nation on Thursday 8 September. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi spoke out during his first interview with a Western reporter Sunday, telling 60 Minutes that Israel is a 'malignant cancerous tumor' and claiming the 'Holocaust probably happened' but it needs to 'be investigated and researched.' President Ebrahim Raisi, whose full name is Ebrahim Rais al-Sadati, 60, was elected to the presidency in August 2021 and became the country's eighth president. The 60-year-old leader, who descends from the Prophet Muhammed and considers Ayatollah Ali Khamenei his mentor, was the former head of Iran's judiciary before he became president. President Ebrahim Raisi, full name Ebrahim Rais al-Sadati, 60, was elected to the presidency in August 2021 and became the country's eight president. The 60-year-old leader, who considers Ayatollah Ali Khamenei his mentor, was the former head of Iran's judiciary before he became president The interview aired on Sunday on 60 Minutes by veteran reporter Lesley Stahl held at the presidential compound in Tehran. Before meeting the Iranian ruler, Stahl was given a list of requirements she needed to fulfill before the interview The interview that aired at 7.30pm Sunday on 60 Minutes was conducted by veteran reporter Lesley Stahl at the presidential compound in Tehran. Before meeting the Iranian ruler, Stahl was given a list of requirements she needed to fulfill before the interview. 'I was told how to dress, not to sit before he did, and not to interrupt him. We were given one hour for the interview,' Stahl said. Covered from head to toe, and wearing the traditional head covering, Stahl opened up the interview starting with negotiations on the nuclear deal, Raisi's grievance with former US President Donald Trump, calling the sanctions a 'tyranny against the people of Iran.' His distrust of Americans, and the execution of 5,000 political dissidents (something he denied... asking Stahl, 'What kind of proof? These are allegations and claims from a terrorist group,' he said). Raisi spoke through a translator and, at times, he appeared agitated. But one of the most shocking portions of the hour-long segment was when Stahl asked Raisi if he believes 'the Holocaust happened... that 6 million Jews were slaughtered?' and his response was one of indifference. 'Look,' he said, 'Historical events should be investigated by researchers and historians. There are some signs that it happened. If so, they should allow it to be investigated and researched.' A picture taken just after the liberation by the Soviet army in January 1945, shows a group of children wearing concentration camp uniforms at the time behind barbed wire fencing in the Oswiecim (Auschwitz) Nazi concentration camp. Germany has agreed to provide more than a half billion euros to aid Holocaust survivors struggling under the burdens of the coronavirus pandemic, the organization that negotiates compensation with the German government said Wednesday April 1945: Starving internees at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp waiting at the cook house gate for their rations of potato soup On June 3, 2018, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei tweeted his stance against Israel stating that it is the 'same stance we have always taken' calling 'Israel a malignant cancerous tumor in the West Asian region that has to be removed and eradicated,' Stahl then asked him about Israel and its right to exist and calls Israel a 'false regimen.' 'You see the people of Palestine are the reality ... this is the right of the people of Palestine who are forced to leave their houses and motherland,' he lamented. 'The Americans are supporting this false regime there to take root and be established there.' Ayatollah Ali Khamenei tweeted his stance against Israel stating that is the 'same stance we have always taken,' that he posted June 3, 2018, '#Israel is a 'malignant cancerous tumor in the West Asian region that has to be removed and eradicated: it is possible and it will happen. 7/31/91 #GreatReturnMarch.' When Stahl asked Raisi: 'You know that Morocco, Bahrain, Sudan, and the United Arab Emirates have all recognized Israel and have relations with Israel, Saudi Arabia is talking directly with Israel.' Raisi shot back: 'If a state shakes hand with a Zionist regime then they are also an accomplice to their crimes and they are stabbing the idea of Palestine in the back.' Stahl then asked: 'You have vowed revenge on the U.S. government for the killing of your General Soleimani.' General Qassem Soleimani, a revered military hero in Iran, was killed by US forces in a drone strike near Baghdad airport in January 2020. He was killed along with nine others. Soleimani was seen as one of the most powerful figures in Iran, and the architect behind a number of deadly attacks on American forces throughout the region for years. Iran's supreme leader has called for retaliation. Stahl then asked: Are you intending to retaliate by assassinating officials from the Trump administration? Raisi's response: 'What the then American government did, by the direct order of Trump himself, to assassinate Mr. Qassem Soleimani, this was a heinous crime. We want justice to be served. We are not going to forget about this.' Stahl also asked Raisi: 'You have vowed revenge on the U.S. government for the killing of your General Soleimani. The U.S. killed General Qassem Soleimani in a drone strike, more than two years ago. Soleimani was a revered military hero in Iran and was the architect behind the brutal and deadly attacks on American forces throughout the region for years. The supreme leader has called for retaliation Stahl then asked: Are you intending to retaliate by assassinating officials from the Trump administration? Raisi's response: 'What the then American government did, by the direct order of Trump himself, to assassinate Mr. Qassem Soleimani, this was a heinous crime. We want justice to be served. We are not going to forget about this' Additional portions of the Sunday interviews showed footage of Iran, described as one of the most Westernized countries in the Middle East. Stahl showed the traffic along the streets, she said, is 'as congested as NY,' the bustling commerce, and footage of the bazaars teeming with shoppers. In one clip, she shared a shopping mall complete with an ice-skating rink, and a food court that served hot dogs, and hamburgers. In one clip, sexy window displays at a mall were shown despite a decree enacted by the Iranian ruler that if a woman doe not dress modestly they will be subject to arrest. Stahl highlighted the beating of a young woman, who died after the mortality police beat her to death, because she violated the country's stringent rules of head coverings. At the close of the interview when Stahl was about to say her goodbyes, a member of Raisi's team blocked one of the cameramen from shooting the footage, which Stahl said she was 'surprised' by. She also said that another of their cameramen had their cell phone taken away for about two and a half hours by a member of the president's security team. A college student who was shot at more than ten times while waiting at a train crossing in Louisiana was eating fries when she died. Allison Rice, 21, had been on her way home from a night out with friends and was shot dead at around 2.30am on Friday near railroad tracks. Detectives are at a loss as to the motive behind the brutal slaying of the student, from Geismar, who has been described as bright and bubbly by friends. The Louisiana State University Senior was found in her bullet-riddled car in Baton Rouge after partying with friends at a bar on Government Street less than five minutes from where she was killed. It is thought that she had been trying to turn around at the tracks when she was shot multiple times through her windshield. Friends and family have laid floral tributes to her, as well as her favorite snacks, on the street where she was shot, and also put-up a cross with her face on a telephone pole. Allison Rice, 21, had been studying marketing at Louisiana State University and had been preparing for an internship before her tragic murder Police rushed to the scene after witnesses reported hearing multiple gunshots at around 2.30am on Friday Friends and family have laid floral tributes to her, as well as her favourite snacks, on the street where she was shot Rice's aunt Susie Rice Granier described the young woman as a 'free spirit' and said she loved to sing and dance A cross with Allie's face in the centre has been nailed into a telephone pole close to where the student was killed Officers have not yet identified a suspect in the killing and are yet to identify the reason behind the attack according to Unfiltered with Kiran. Rice had been waiting for a train to finish crossing when she was shot and suffered wounds to her arm and chest. Authorities discovered several shell casings close to her vehicle, as well as fast food in her lap, but nothing was taken from her car. It does not appear as though it is a case of mistaken identity, with officers at a loss for the motive behind the killing. Baton Rouge Police are investigating the shooting, with Chief Murphy Paul saying after the incident: I just left the scene prior to coming here. Our detectives are out there canvassing the area. A lot of the investigative efforts that are going on behind the scenes. Very sad. Very sad. Her father Paul told WBRZ: It should've never happened, this should not have happened, it should not have happened. She's a beautiful child. She had one year left to graduate LSU, she had her whole future ahead of her. When you hear the words from the police man saying, "she's with the coroner now, she didn't make it." It's the most devastating words you can ever hear. Her family is pleading for answers from the police, and is begging anyone with information to come forwards. The student had been out with friends prior to the shooting and got stuck behind a train only a few miles away from campus when she was killed Authorities discovered several shell casings close to her vehicle, as well as fast food in her lap, but nothing was taken from her car Rice had been working as a bartender at The Shed BBQ in Baton Rouge, where she worked with her two brothers (pictured together) Her parents are pleading for anyone with information to come forwards to help police with their inquiries Police responded to the scene around 2.30am and all that was left later that morning was a pile of broken glass after her car was removed Sgt. L'Jean McKneely with Baton Rouge Police added: Chief Paul has been working hard with getting the camera surveillance systems up, we have that downtown, were trying to push it and make it happen down to major corridors for Baton Rouge. Florida Street, Government Street. East Baton Rouge Parish Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome added: 'My heart goes out to the family, loved ones, and classmates of Allison Rice, a young LSU student who had her entire life ahead of her. 'This senseless violence is completely unacceptable and Baton Rouge Police officers are thoroughly investigating to bring the perpetrator to justice. 'Our university community is an essential part of the fabric of Baton Rouge. It is of the utmost importance as we welcome students from across our state and the nation that we create a safe environment.' Rice's death is the 74th this year in the East Baton Rouge Parish, and comes after a string of crimes against LSU students. On August 19, another student was shot during an attempted robbery, and just days later two separate kidnapping cases happened on campus. According to the FBI, Baton Rouge has one of the highest homicide rates in Louisiana. Anyone having information on this shooting is urged to contact the Violent Crimes Unit at (225) 389-4869 or Crime Stoppers at (225) 344-7867. A man has appeared in court charged with attempted murder and causing grievous bodily harm with intent after two police officers were stabbed in London's West End last Friday. Mohammed Rahman, 24, is facing seven charges, including attempted murder, after a male officer was stabbed in the neck and chest in Leicester Square on September 16. Rahman was also charged with causing grievous bodily harm with intent after a female officer was stabbed in the arm in the area of Haymarket and Coventry Street just after 6am. Appearing at Wimbledon Magistrates Court on Monday, the defendant spoke only to confirm his name, date of birth and address during a short hearing. Wearing a prison-issued grey sweatshirt, Rahman was flanked by two officers in the dock. He was not required to enter any pleas to the charges. The male officer was named in court as Pc Gerrard while the female officer was named as Pc Mulhall. Police officers at the scene in the West End following the stabbings last Friday District judge Simon Heptonstall remanded Rahman in custody ahead of a preliminary hearing at the Old Bailey on October 14. Rahman, of Westbourne Park Road, Paddington, is charged with attempted murder and grievous bodily harm with intent. He is further charged with assault causing actual bodily harm, two counts of threatening a person in a public place with a bladed article in relation to three other officers. Police officers at the scene of the stabbings near London's Leicester Square on September 16 In addition, Rahman is charged with robbery and possession of a bladed article. The officers, who were taken to hospital, were attached to the Mets Central West Command Unit responsible for policing Westminster, carrying out routine duties at the time. They were not part of the wider policing operation in place following the death of Queen Elizabeth II. On Saturday, the Metropolitan Police said the female officer who suffered a stab wound to the arm had been discharged from hospital while the male officer remained under medical supervision. Advertisement The Queen's four children showed off their array of service medals for their late mother's funeral in Westminster Abbey today. The quartet displayed medals that demonstrated their commitment to public service, others that showed individual military achievements and more commemorating the Queen's 70-year reign. King Charles III was pictured flanked by his siblings, Anne, the Princess Royal, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward as he walked out of the historic church and the Queen's funeral procession made its way to Wellington Arch. The Queen's oak coffin was then put into the state hearse and driven along A-roads to Windsor for the final funeral service at St George's Chapel. Whilst Charles, Anne and Edward wear in full military uniform - as has been the case with every ceremonial appearance since their mother's death, Andrew - a Falklands War veteran - was once again wearing only a morning suit following his exile from public life amid the fallout from his role in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. An exception for the disgraced prince was made when he took part in the final vigil around the Queen's coffin when it lay in state in Westminster Hall. The Queen's four children showed off their array of service medals as they followed their late mother's coffin into and out of Westminster Abbey in London following their mother's state funeral today. The quartet displayed medals that demonstrated their commitment to public service, others that showed individual military achievements and more commemorating the Queen's 70-year reign The King, who donned a full day ceremonial uniform with the rank of Field Marshal, wore 10 medals as he poignantly led his family behind the Queen's coffin into Westminster Abbey and then outside once again after the service. Amongst his medals, Charles wore a Queen's Service Order medal, a Coronation medal, Silver, Golden, Diamond and Platinum medals and a Naval Long Service Good Conduct medal. The new monarch also wore a New Zealand Commemorative medal, a New Zealand Armed Forces Award and a Canadian Forces Decoration. The Duke of York's medals included a South Atlantic Medal, Silver, Golden, Diamond and Platinum Jubilee medals and Royal Navy Long Service Medals with bars. He also wore a Canadian Forces Decoration with bar and a New Zealand Commemoration medal. King Charles' medals from L-R: 1) Queen's Service Order 2) Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal 3) Silver Jubilee Medal 4) Gold Jubilee Medal 5) Diamond Jubilee Medal 6) Platinum Jubilee Medal 7) Long Service and Good Conduct medal 8) Canadian Forces Decoration 9) New Zealand Commemorative medal 10) New Zealand Armed Forces Award The service medals worn by the Queen's four children today King Charles III The King, who donned a full day ceremonial uniform with the rank of Field Marshal, wore 10 medals as he poignantly led the procession into St Giles' Cathedral on Edinburgh's historic Royal Mile on Monday afternoon. Charles wore a Queen's Service Order; Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal; Silver Jubilee Medal; Gold Jubilee Medal; Diamond Jubilee Medal; Platinum Jubilee Medal; Long Service and Good Conduct medal; Canadian Forces Decoration; New Zealand Commemorative medal; New Zealand Armed Forces Award Prince Andrew The Duke of York, a Falklands War veteran, donned a South Atlantic Medal; Silver Jubilee Medal; Gold Jubilee Medal; Diamond Jubilee Medal; Platinum Jubilee Medal; Royal Navy Long Service Medal; Canadian Forces Decoration and New Zealand Medal Princess Anne Princess Anne's medals included a Queen's Service Order; Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal; Silver Jubilee Medal; Gold Jubilee Medal; Diamond Jubilee Medal; Platinum Jubilee Medal; Long Service and Good Conduct medal; Canadian Forces Decoration; Order of St John Service medal and New Zealand Medal 1990 Prince Edward Edward wore a Silver Jubilee Medal; Gold Jubilee Medal; Diamond Jubilee Medal; Platinum Jubilee Medal; Canadian Forces Decoration and New Zealand medal Advertisement The Earl of Wessex also donned all four Jubilee medals, alongside a New Zealand medal and a Canadian Forces medal. Alongside her Jubilee medals, the Princess Royal wore a Queen's Service Order, a Coronation medal, a Long Service and Good Conduct medal, a Canadian Forces Decoration, an Order of St John Service medal and a New Zealand 1990 medal. Anne also displayed three decorations - the Most Notable Order of the Garter, the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle and the Royal Victorian Order. King Charles was left close to tears during the service at Westminster Abbey, where the Archbishop of Canterbury described the Queen as having touched 'a multitude of lives' and been a 'joyful' figure for many. The Queen was head of state but also a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother and in a personal touch, the wreath adorning her coffin had a handwritten note penned by the King. The message said: 'In loving and devoted memory.' Mourners filled the streets of the capital to cheer, applaud and throw flowers in the path of her state hearse following the funeral attended by world leaders, foreign royalty and leading figures from the fight against Covid-19 among more than 2,000 guests. Tens of thousands watched the ceremonial procession from the Abbey to Wellington Arch - a rare spectacle of thousands of sailors, soldiers and airmen accompanying the former head of the Armed Forces or lining the route. For the coffin's journey to the outskirts of Windsor - a town the Queen knew well - the public's appreciation of the late monarch mirrored the scenes in the capital. The hearse was strewn with flowers across its roof and windscreen and at the outskirts of Windsor a procession was formed featuring soldiers on foot from the Household Cavalry's Blues and Royals and Life Guards with mounted members of the Household Cavalry regiment. The Long Walk was filled with mourners eager to pay their respects to their Queen who was a staple of Windsor and was in turn loved and respected by the town. As the state hearse carrying the Queen's coffin turned on to the famous thoroughfare, which gives unrivalled views across the Berkshire countryside, there were cheers from public. The Duke of York's medals included a South Atlantic Medal, Silver, Golden, Diamond and Platinum Jubilee medals and Royal Navy Long Service Medals with bars. A Falklands War veteran, Prince Andrew donned (L-R): 1) South Atlantic Medal, 2) Silver Jubilee Medal 3) Gold Jubilee Medal 4) Diamond Jubilee Medal 5) Platinum Jubilee Medal 6) Royal Navy Long Service Medal 7) Canadian Forces Decoration 8) New Zealand Medal Princess Anne's medals from L-R: 1) Queen's Service Order 2) Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal 3) Silver Jubilee Medal 4) Gold Jubilee Medal 5) Diamond Jubilee Medal 6) Platinum Jubilee Medal 7) Long Service and Good Conduct medal 8) Canadian Forces Decoration 9) Order of St John Service medal 10) New Zealand Medal 1990 Prince Edward wore the following medals from left-right: 1) Silver Jubilee Medal 2) Gold Jubilee Medal 3) Diamond Jubilee Medal 4) Platinum Jubilee Medal 5) Canadian Forces Decoration 6) New Zealand medal Among those invited to the committal service were prime ministers from countries where the Queen was head of state, and former British prime ministers Sir John Major and Sir Tony Blair, who are Garter Knights and the current premier Liz Truss. A large number of the Queen's staff who worked closely with the late monarch were also invited to the service. For the last time Charles and his siblings - the Princess Royal, Duke of York and Earl of Wessex - performed the duty and honour of walking behind their mother's coffin, joining the procession when it entered the castle's quadrangle. Like the processions held earlier in the day they were followed by the monarch's three grandsons Peter Phillips, Duke of Sussex and Prince of Wales. In Windsor, crowds sang the national anthem as they watched the funeral. Thousands of mourners poured through Windsor and Eton to line the Long Walk up to Windsor Castle, where the Queen's coffin will arrive for a Committal Service at St George's Chapel. People watched the state funeral and procession in London from big screens positioned along the road. The largely black-clad crowd fell silent and the atmosphere grew sombre as the Last Post sounded and a two-minute silence followed. Many then began to sing the national anthem when it played from the speakers afterwards. The lyrics 'God save our gracious King' rang out across Windsor while people bowed their heads and wiped tears from their eyes. Later, marching bands proceeded from the castle down the Long Walk to Shaw Farm Gate, followed by cheers and applause from the crowds. Elsewhere, hundreds of colourful bouquets brightened the base of Windsor Castle ahead of the procession of the Queen's coffin through the Berkshire town. Several mourners prayed and quietly shed a tear as they laid flowers for the Queen. Princess Anne, Prince Andrew, Prince Harry, Peter Phillips and Timothy Laurence walk after a service at Westminster Abbey on the day of the state funeral and burial of Britain's Queen Elizabeth King Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward are seen lined up outside Westminster Abbey ahead of Prince William, Prince Harry and Peter Phillips at today's funeral service King Charles looks tearful while an emotional Prince Harry looked away from the Queen's coffin at the end of the funeral King Charles III, Queen Consort, Camilla and the Princess Royal at the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey Charles, the Queen Consort and Princess Margaret at this morning's service in Westminster Abbey Jennifer Bryant said she wanted to come to the Long Walk in Windsor to say goodbye to the Queen, as the last time she had seen her in person was there 42 years ago. Ms Bryant, 73, from Reading, recalled the 'amazing experience' of seeing the Queen leaving for Royal Ascot in 1980, and how the Queen had waved to her and her three-year-old daughter. She said that she felt emotional as the thousands of mourners in Windsor went quiet for the two-minute silence. Ms Bryant added that for her, the Queen represented 'stability and reliability' and she felt she had 'kept our country stable' by always being there. Anne Cooper described the atmosphere at the Long Walk in Windsor as 'calm' as thousands came together to pay their respects. Ms Cooper, from Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, was draped in a Union flag as she watched the funeral on the big screens. 'She's been the Queen all my life. I was a Brownie and a Guide so we would make a promise to serve the Queen, so she's just a really big part of the country,' she said. A lawsuit has been filed against Pfizer alleging the company has illegally excluded white and Asian-American applicants from its minority fellowship program. Do No Harm, an organization comprised of medical professionals advocating against 'radical, divisive and discriminatory ideology' in healthcare, says Pfizer's 'Breakthrough Fellowship Program' violates federal law. 'Pfizer's open exclusion of white and Asian-American applicants is illegal,' court documents read. 'Pfizer is blatantly discriminating against white and Asian-American applications, blocking the creation of contractual relationships solely based on race.' Because the pharmaceutical company receives federal funding, it is violating a federal law which prohibits employers from racially discriminating candidates. The 'Breakthrough Fellowship Program' is a 'nine-year commitment' to 'work to advance students and early career colleagues of black/African-American, latino/hispanic and Native American descent,' according to its website. The program provides fellows with two years of full-time jobs after applicants graduate from college, including a fully funded master's degree and employment at Pfizer after completing the program. Pfizer is facing a lawsuit which claims the pharmaceutical company has racially discriminated against applicants for hit 'Breakthrough Fellowship Program' The lawsuit was filed by Do No Harm, an organization which seeks to 'remove identity politics' from healthcare, as it says it has two members which could not apply to the program The 'Breakthrough Fellowship Program' is designed 'to advance students and early career colleagues of black/African-American, latino/hispanic and Native American descent,' according to its website Pfizer says it hopes to develop at least 100 fellows by 2025. The program provides applicants with two years of full-time jobs, a paid-for master's degree and employment at the company after the program is completed In a response to Fierce Pharma, Do No Harm said it is an equal opportunity employer 'proud of its commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.' The organization is seeking a temporary restraining order against Pfizer, a preliminary injunction barring the pharmaceutical giant from choosing its next fellowship class based on race and from posting 'racially discriminatory' advertisements. It also seeks $1 in nominal damages in addition to Pfizer being required to 'formulate new eligibility' requirements that are 'race-neutral.' In its filing, Do No Harm said it was contacted by two students inside its organization who are ineligible for the fellowship because of their race. The two students are named as 'Member A' and 'Member B' in the filing. It added that it has 'at least' one other organization member 'who is ready and able to apply to the fellowship next year if Pfizer stops discriminating.' Court filings submitted by Do No Harm say 'racial discrimination demeans us' while Pfizer's 'open exclusion of white and Asian-American applicants is illegal' The organization, which is comprised of medical professionals advocating against 'radical, divisive and discriminatory ideology' in healthcare, alleges Pfizer is telling white and Asian-American applicants to not apply In a statement, Pfizer said it has 'every confidence' that its fellowship program complies with all federal employment laws The fellowship program is joined by a separate financial-assistance program available to all applicants, it said, which reimburses employees up to $10,000 annually in tuition assistance Pfizer told Reuters it has 'every confidence' that the fellowship program complies with all federal employment laws. 'We will continue to strive to create more opportunity, including through specific programs designed to cast a wide net for talent,' it said. CEO Albert Bourla said in a statement on Pfizer's website that the program helps 'lead to parity at all levels to create a vibrant culture where every colleague has the opportunity to succeed.' The program plans to add 'a generation of 100 new leaders at Pfizer from underrepresented groups,' the program's website says. Pfizer has a separate education assistance program which reimburses employees up to $10,000 annually in tuition payments and 'other eligible expenses' for other approved courses and degrees. This second program is available to all applicants and pushes the company's desire to create more opportunities 'regardless of protected characteristics,' it told Fierce Pharma. Australians and British expats have packed out churches, pubs and outdoor plazas across the country to pay an emotional tribute to the late Queen Elizabeth II. Billions around the world tuned into live television coverage of Her Majesty's funeral held in London Monday night Australian time. Hundreds flocked to St Andrew's Cathedral in the Sydney CBD, which was visited by the Queen on her first Australian tour in 1954. The cathedral held solemn choral hymns for 90 minutes as mourners signed condolence books before taking their seats to watch the funeral service which projected on a large screen. Thousands at home watched the church's livestream of the service. Hundreds of others gathered at pubs across the city to toast the Queen and watch the funeral held at Westminster Abbey, including Lord Dudley Hotel at Woollahra, one of Sydney's oldest English pubs. Sydney's St. Andrew's Cathedral was packed with mourners on Monday night who gathered to watch the Queen's funeral Hundreds gathered in Melbourne's Federation Square to watch the live broadcast of Queen Elizabeth II's funeral Across the road from Federation Square, hundreds of Melburnians packed out Young and Jacksons to watch the television coverage of the Queen's funeral Public commemorations stretched from the city to the west, where screens were installed in Blacktown's Warrick Lane precinct for locals to watch the funeral. The screens will remain for the national memorial service in Canberra on Thursday. Elsewhere across the nation, crowds also gathered at Government House in Canberra. The official residence of the Governor General was the scene of many official ceremonies during the Queen's 14 visits to Canberra during her 70-year reign. Government House was also where she stayed during her visits to the nation's capital. Its walls were lit up in purple in honour of the Queen along with images of her through the decades. In Melbourne, crowds gathered at Federation Square and packed out the nearby Young and Jacksons, the city's most iconic pub where patrons joined in the singing of hymns played at the funeral. Melbourne's landmarks will remain lit until Thursday's national memorial service while over in the west, bagpipes rang out in Perth in the late monarch's honour. One of Sydney's oldest English pubs, Lord Dudley Hotel at Woollahra was packed with Sydneysiders and British expats who gathered to watch the funeral Melburnians took time out from their usual Monday evening schedules to watch the Queen's funeral at Federation Square Patrons sing a hymn during Queen Elizabeth II funeral being telecast at the Young & Jacksons Pub in Melbourne Mourners who attended the St Andrew's Cathedral service in Sydney said it was a fitting place to farewell the Queen, who died on September 8 aged 96. 'My mother is English, so I guess we're part of a royalist family, with that allegiance,' Matt Palmer told AAP. After watching many royal weddings at home, Mr Palmer said he wanted to farewell the Queen at St Andrew's as a way of paying tribute to her faith. 'I've been crying for the last 10 days, and I'll cry tonight as well,' mourner Simon Perdriau said. 'As Elizabeth herself said, grief is the price that we pay for love.' Mourner Michelle Raft added: 'I like the idea that she's been here and that we'll honour her together,' Ms Raft said. Many mourners will return to St Andrew's Cathedral on Wednesday morning for a memorial service, which will be attended by NSW Governor Margaret Beazley and other dignitaries. On the other side of the world, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was among 2000 dignitaries invited to attend the funeral in London, along with the governor-general and a small delegation of Australians. Mr Albanese wore a suit by M.J. Bale, while his partner Jodie Haydon wore a dress by Karen Gee and a hat by Jane Lambert. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern also attended with her fiance, television presenter Clarke Gayford. Mourners gathered at St Andrew's Cathedral in Sydney on Monday to watch the broadcast of the Queen's funeral. The Queen visited the cathedral in 1954 Mourners at St. Andrew's Cathedral in Sydney on Monday stand during the funeral service for Queen Elizabeth II Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (pictured with partner Jodie Haydon was among the dignitaries at the Queen's funeral service at Westminster Abbey A portrait of Queen Elizabeth II was proudly on display at Sydney's Lord Dudley Hotel during a live stream of her state funeral Mr Albanese was among the estimated crowd of 750,000 people who viewed Queen Elizabeth's coffin in Westminster Hall ahead of her state funeral. On the weekend, he also met King Charles III at Buckingham Palace along with his counterparts from the 14 Commonwealth realms. The prime minister described his meeting with the King as warm and friendly, saying it provided him a moment to personally offer his condolences. 'It's a very personal bereavement that he's feeling,' Mr Albanese told the BBC. Australians will continue to pay their respects on Thursday, declared as a national public holiday. A memorial service will be held at Parliament House in Canberra, which will be broadcast across the nation. All state and territory leaders and justices of the High Court will attend the national memorial, where Mr Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton will offer tributes to the late monarch. King Charles III is pictured on a screen as people gather to watch a broadcast of the funeral of Queen Elizabeth at an English pub in Sydney, A long queue of mourners lined up at Sydney's St. Andrew's Cathedral on Monday night to sign condolence books for the late Queen Former President Obama remembered Queen Elizabeth II as a 'kind' but 'no-nonsense' figure in a touching tribute to the late monarch, shared on the same day of her state funeral. Likening the late matriarch to his own grandmother, Obama offered some heartfelt words about his time spent with the Queen during his presidency, during which he and his family visited Buckingham Palace three times. Those visits, Obama said, saw Elizabeth leave a lasting impression on the family - and helped forge a special bond between the pair not seen prior. Elizabeth, Britains longest-reigning monarch, died on September 8 at age 96, putting an end to the royal's historic 70-year reign. Her funeral, held at Westminster Abbey in London this morning, saw hundreds bid a final farewell to the ruler as her casket was ceremoniously lowered into the royal tomb. A further, American procession is set for Wednesday - which Obama is set to attend. In the exclusive interview with the BBC - which aired last week but was not shared by Obama until Monday - the ex-head of state recalled some of 'extraordinary generosity' shown by the late Queen to his family, remembering how she allowed his daughters to take her own personal carriage for a ride through Buckingham Palace. Scroll down for video: Former President Obama remembered Queen Elizabeth II as a 'kind' but 'no-nonsense' figure in a touching tribute to the late monarch, shared on the same day of the monarch's state funeral Elizabeth's funeral, held at Westminster Abbey in London this morning, saw hundreds bid a final farewell to the ruler as her casket was ceremoniously lowered into the royal tomb. A further, American procession is set for Wednesday - which Obama is set to attend First, however, Obama, 61, recalled meeting Elizabeth in 2009 during his inaugural year in office - an encounter that saw the pair form a mutual friendship based on the monarch's surprising fondness for the American, and Obama's subsequent respect. 'The first time that I met the Queen I was visiting London,' the ex-president said in the three-minute video tribute. 'She reminded me very much of my grandmother which surprised me.' He went on: 'Not just in appearance but also in manner. Very gracious, but also no nonsense.' The president added that despite Elizabeth's stately presence, she possessed a 'wry sense of humor,' adding that 'she could not have been more kind or thoughtful to me and Michelle.' The meet went so well, that Royal author Tom Quinn wrote in his book 'Kensington Palace: An Intimate Memoir from Queen Mary to Meghan Markle,' how the Queen 'fell in love' with Obama, and prior to her death 'frequently asked her courtiers if they could arrange for him to come to Britain now he is no longer president.' Shortly after his and then-first lady Michelle's highly publicized stay at Buckingham Palace, Obama said his wife later that year returned to England with the couples two then pre-teen daughters, Sasha and Malia. Obama recalled how the Queen apparently had requested his return, visibly emotional in the prerecorded clip. 'Buckingham Palace reached out to me, and Her Majesty had invited Michelle and the two girls to tea,' Obama explained. Obama offered some heartfelt words about his time spent with the Queen during his presidency, during which he and his family visited Buckingham Palace three times. Pictured is the ex-president with The Queen, First Lady Michelle, and Prince Philip during a visit in 2011 He went on to reveal that Elizabeth, upon meeting the kids, graciously offered them the unprecedented privilege of taking her personal carriage, commissioned more than 260 years ago for King George III. The stately wagon - gilded with 18th century gold - is worth millions of dollars, and is one of the UK's most important relics relating to the royal family. 'She then offered the girls to drive in her golden carriage around the grounds of Buckingham Palace,' Obama said. 'It was the sort of generosity and consideration that left a mark in my daughters lives thats still there.' Obama went on to add that 'the Queen was an excellent listener' and possessed 'a genuine curiosity' - while jokingly adding that 'she was impatient to get to the point.' Obama also smiled as he reflected on his third presidential visit to see the royal, during a 2011 state dinner at Buckingham Palace. Upon arriving at the dinner, the ex-commander-in-chief recalled how he had gifted the queen a piece of jewelry - a 'modest broach of nominal value' that the First Lady had picked out. Self-conscious that the gift was not fitting of a queen, Obama revealed that the next night she put his fears to bed, when she donned the broach at a dinner at the American embassy. Obama, 61, recalled meeting Elizabeth in 2009 during his inaugural year in office - an encounter that saw the pair form a mutual friendship based on the monarch's surprising fondness for the American, and Obama's subsequent respect for the ruler Obama praised the thoughtful gesture, which he said was indicative of Elizabeth, in the heartfelt interview. 'The one thing we immediately notice, is that shes wearing the brooch that Michelle had given. And it was an example of the subtle thoughtfulness that she consistently displayed not just to us but to everybody who she interacted with,' Obama said. It was an example of the subtle thoughtfulness that she consistently displayed not just to us, but to everybody who she interacted with, he said. 'The combination of a sense of duty and a clear understanding of her role as a symbol for a nation and as the carrier of a certain set of values combined with a very human quality of kindness and consideration, I think thats what made her so beloved not just in Great Britain but around the world.' In addition to praising Elizabeth for her 'very human quality of kindness and consideration,' Obama also touted how sharp-eyed the monarch had been, citing how kept a close track of time. 'She was very mindful of guests at Buckingham Palace not overstaying their welcome. She was looking at her watch at some points and said, "Well OK, its time to go,"' Obama laughed. Royal author Tom Quinn wrote in his book 'Kensington Palace: An Intimate Memoir from Queen Mary to Meghan Markle,' how the Queen 'fell in love' with Obama, and prior to her death ' frequently asked her courtiers if they could arrange for him to come to Britain now he is no longer president.' Pictured are the pair meeting in 2016, after his presidency As a guest, he went on, 'the same was true. She wasnt interested in overstaying her welcome. 'She looked at her at watch at a certain point and said, "Alright, I think we need to wrap this up."' The ex-commander in chief was not among the attendees at Elizabeths funeral Monday, with the White House revealing last week that President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden received an invitation that was for 'only' the first couple. Former presidents, meanwhile, including Obama, were reportedly kept off the guest list due to space limitations. The president and first lady were among some 2,000 people attending the funeral at Westminster Abbey. The pair arrived for the funeral, waiting in the back as a procession moved past, before taking their seats among hundreds of mourners. The ex-commander in chief was not among the attendees at Elizabeths funeral Monday, with the White House revealing last week that President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden received an invitation that was for 'only' the first couple They arrived in London late Saturday and paid respects to the queen on Sunday, viewing her coffin at Westminster Hall, signing condolence books at Lancaster House and attending a Buckingham Palace reception for funeral guests hosted by King Charles III. Obama and other former US presidents including Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, George Bush, and Jimmy Carter, are expected to attend a planned memorial service in Washington, DC, for Elizabeth, which will be held in collaboration with the British Embassy at the Washington National Cathedral. Gavin Newsom will run for president in 2024 if Joe Biden bows out a possibility seeming more likely after the president cast doubt on his candidacy in his first sit-down interview in more than 200 days. The California governor is 'undeniably, unequivocally' planning to enter the race for the White House if the incumbent isn't in the running for a second term, two individuals with knowledge of his plans told The Wrap. 'After this midterm election is over, he absolutely is going to announce that he is running for the presidency once Biden announces that he is not running,' a California fundraiser with ties to the Newsom family said. 'No ifs, ands or buts. He will run if Biden does not,' they added. A Los Angeles-based philanthropist connected to the Democratic Party and fundraising for its candidates confirmed Newsom's strong intentions to run. While defending his fitness for office, Biden refused to say if he would seek another term. 'My intention, as I said to begin with, is that I would run again,' Biden told 60 Minutes host Scott Pelley. 'But it's just an intention.' 'Is it a firm decision that I run again? That remains to be seen,' the president added. California Governor Gavin Newsom will 'undeniably, unequivocally' run for president if Joe Biden does not seek a second term in 2024, a new report reveals This is the first time Biden has really cast doubt on the potential of running for reelection in 2024 with his previous comments pointing to every intention of vying for a two-term presidency. If Biden doesn't run, there are also reports and speculation that Vice President Kamala Harris, once a senator from California, could wade into the presidential race waters. She has insisted repeatedly that she intends to run as Biden's No. 2 for a second term in 2024. America's oldest president shot down criticisms that he is too old and mentally unfit to be president during his first sit-down interview with the press in more than 200 days. Biden cast doubt on the prospects of a second term bid in a 60 Minutes interview over the weekend. 'Is it a firm decision that I run again? That remains to be seen,' the president said A series of public gaffes including videos showing him falling up the stairs to Air Force One and forgetting he already shook Senator Chuck Schumer's hand have cast doubt on his ability to continue for another four years after a first term. 'Some people think you are unfit for the job,' CBS correspondent Scott Pelley began, 'and when you hear that, I wonder what you think.' 'Watch me,' the president replied. 'Honest to God that's all I think. 'If you think I don't have the energy level or the mental acuity, then you know, that's one thing,' he said. 'It's another thing, you know, just watch and, you know, keep my schedule. Do what I'm doing.' He continued: 'I respect the fact that people would say, you know, 'You're old.' 'But I think it relates to how much energy you have and whether or not the job you're doing is one consistent with what any person of any age would be able to do.' If Biden were not to run for office and Newsom put his name in the hat the California Democrat would have his own set of hurdles to overcome. In 2021, he faced a recall election after a petition earned more than the signatures required to launch a special election that could have resulted in Newsom being prematurely removed from his office. The 2,117,730 signatures led to a special recall election in California on September 14, 2021, but yielded a major vote of confidence for Newsom. A big part of the recall had to do with Newsom's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Golden State including claims of hypocrisy as he partied while enforcing strict regulations for gatherings during the public health emergency. In November 2020, Newsom attended a big birthday party gathering with lobbyists and business executives at a fancy restaurant in the Napa Valley, despite his own administration's guidelines that people not be with members of more than three households in the same location. Further fueling speculation of White House ambitions is Newsom recently taking on Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who has quickly emerged as a favorite to make a bid if Donald Trump does not, and challenging him to a debate. 'Hey @GovRonDeSantis, clearly you're struggling, distracted, and busy playing politics with people's lives,' Newsom tweeted when news broke of DeSantis flying migrants from his state to the luxury island Martha's Vineyard off the coast of Massachusetts. 'Since you have only one overriding need -- attention --let's take this up & debate,' the California governor added. 'I'll bring my hair gel. You bring your hairspray. Name the time before Election Day.' The first big clue that Newsom's political plans extend beyond the Golden State happened in a July ad he ran in Florida and Ohio. The ad spot criticized the GOP's right-ward shift on issues like abortion. President Joe Biden declared the covid-19 pandemic is 'over' in a statement that took officials in his administration by surprise and led to questions about why the government continues to enforce federal mandates and seek more funding to fight the disease. Biden's statement, made during an interview with CBS' 60 Minutes that aired on Sunday night, came as a surprise to administration officials, two senior health officials told The Washington Post. And his seemly off-the-cuff comment may have torpedoed his request to Congress for $22.4 billion in funds to fight the pandemic. Republicans were already wary about supporting the funding and Biden's declaration didn't win him any support. 'The pandemic is over,' Biden told CBS News. 'We still have a problem with COVID. We're still doing a lot of work on it. But the pandemic is over. If you notice, no one's wearing masks. Everybody seems to be in pretty good shape, and so I think it's changing.' Earlier this summer, the U.S. renewed its order designating covid a national emergency. The designation was set to expire in October. It gives the administration flexibility to combat the pandemic, including rapidly authorizing treatments and keeping many Americans covered by Medicaid. President Joe Biden declared the covid-19 pandemic is 'over' in an interview with CBS News The World Health Organization also says covid remains a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. And Ashish Jha, the White House coronavirus coordinator, said earlier this month that covid was still out there. 'We have a virus out there that's still circulating, still killing hundreds of Americans every day,' Jha said at a Sept. 9 press briefing. 'I think we all as Americans have to pull together to try to protect Americans and do what we can to get our health-care system through what might be a difficult fall and winter ahead.' There were about 65,000 new covid cases reported each day over the past two weeks, Johns Hopkins University said. And about 400 people are dying every day in the United States from the disease. Biden, in the interview, acknowledged it remains a 'difficult time.' 'I think you'd agree that the impact on the psyche of the American people as a consequence of the pandemic is profound. Think of how that has changed everything. You know, people's attitudes about themselves, their families, about the state of the nation, about the state of their communities. And so there's a lot of uncertainty out there, a great deal of uncertainty,' he said. 'It's been a very difficult time. Very difficult,' he noted. Republicans jumped on his comments to push back against the White House's request for the $22.4 billion to combat the coronavirus pandemic with vaccines, testing, and treatments. With everyday life rapidly returning to normal, the funding request already was a tough sell. 'Joe Biden asked Congress to pass $22 billion in new pandemic funding THIS WEEK because he said the pandemic was NOT over! Now that Biden says the pandemic is over, he should END the military COVID vax mandate and STOP making young children wear masks in Head Start!,' Republican Congresswoman Mary Miller of Illinois wrote on Twitter. And Republican Rep. Andy Biggs said Biden should end federal mandates, writing 'Biden must immediately cease his draconian mask and vaccine mandates for Americans.' Biden's statement led to questions about why federal mandates remain in place such as the requirement members of the military get vaccinated There also remains a vaccine requirements for staff at health care facilities that participate in Medicare and Medicaid The White House argues covid cases could go up this fall and, without the additional funding, easy access to testing, vaccines and boosters may not be available. As of Sept. 2, Americans could no longer order free at-home rapid tests from the federal government. There also remains the question of the federal mandates that Biden ordered and if they will remain in place. The White House didn't respond to DailyMail.com's inquiry on the mandates. Federal mandates in place include: Vaccine requirements for staff at health care facilities that participate in Medicare and Medicaid Biden also signed a vaccine mandate for federal workers but that is on hold pending a September hearing on his order The mandate for masks on public transportation - including flights and subways - was struck down by the courts but the Justice Department is appealing it The Pentagon requires all members of the military to be vaccinated Travelers to the United States have to show proof of vaccination before entry into the country Additionally, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has eased up on covid restrictions in the las few months, such as shortening the quarantine period from 10 days to five. The CDC also put less emphasis on social distancing. The new guidance released in August dropped the 'six foot' standard. It's unclear how Biden's comment will affect state and local guidelines in areas like New York, where city officials have fired teachers for not meeting vaccine requirements. A New York university suspended all of its undergraduate clubs days after the Supreme Court denied a bid to block an order that required the school to recognize an LGBTQ campus group. In an email on late Friday, the Yeshiva University told students that it would "hold off on all undergraduate club activities while it immediately takes steps to follow the roadmap provided by the U.S. Supreme Court to protect YU's religious freedom." Suspending University Clubs The decision came only two days after the Supreme Court's order to the school that required it to comply with a lower court order to recognize the LGBTQ group, at least while it exhausts its appeal on the state level. The university, which is Orthodox Jewish, has several campuses in New York City and has waged a years-long battle against a peer support group for LGBTQ students. School officials argued that recognizing the club violates the university's religious freedom. Meanwhile, members of the LGBTQ group, YU Pride Alliance, said that the university is breaking the city's human rights law by prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation. An attorney for the student group, Katherine Rosenfield, said in a statement that the college was allegedly adopting tactics of racist institutions that refused segregation orders, as per the Gothamist. Rosenfield said that the decision "is a throwback to 50 years ago when the city of Jackson, Miss. closed all public swimming pools rather than comply with court orders to desegregate." She said that by shutting down all club activities, the YU administration was trying to divide the student body and pit students against their LGBTQ peers. Read Also: Louisiana College Student Found Dead with Multiple Gun Shots in Bullet-Riddled Car; Motive, Suspect Remain Unidentified The university did not respond to inquiries seeking further clarification about the policy following the Supreme Court's order. The legal battle has emerged as a major test of religious freedom under the conservative Supreme Court and is being closely watched by conservative groups. According to the New York Post, the university used the word Chagim, which is the Hebrew word referring to Jewish high holidays. These begin with Rosh Hashana on the evening of Sept. 25 and continue through Simchat Torah on Oct. 18. The email did not say that clubs would necessarily be reinstated right after this time. Recognizing LGBTQ Student Group Yeshiva University said that since it is a religious institution, it cannot be forced to recognize something at odds with its religious mission. However, the New York judge found that the school is primarily an educational institution and cannot rely on a religious liberty claim in order to block the club. The Supreme Court said that the school has "at least two further avenues for expedited or interim state court relief." a former YU student and plaintiff in the case against the university, Tai Miller, reacted to the suspension of the clubs, saying the Pride Alliance seeks a safe space on campus, nothing more. YU President Rabbi Dr. Ari Berman said that every faith-based university in the United States has the right to work with its students, including its LGBTQ students, to establish the clubs, places, and spaces that fit within its faith tradition, CNN reported. Related Article: Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin Reverses State Protections of Transgender Students, Prompting Widespread Criticism @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Advertisement Justin Trudeau faced intense criticism after he was recorded singing a rendition of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody following an evening dinner just two days before Queen Elizabeth II's state funeral. The Prime Minister of Canada belted out the 1975 hit at an impromptu session in London's swanky Corinthia Hotel - where suites go for at least $5,000 - while the UK and Commonwealth were in their official period of mourning. Trudeau, 50, was one of the many world leaders who traveled to the United Kingdom to meet his new monarch, King Charles III, and pay their respects to the Queen at the monumental funeral Monday morning. Wearing a casual maroon t-shirt, Trudeau was seen standing over a piano during an ad lib singalong with other members of his formal Canadian delegation in the lobby of the central London hotel. It's understood that Gregory Charles, a renowned gospel musician from Quebec, was playing the keys while other guests and members of Trudeau's entourage joined in on Saturday night. Trudeau, who has become known for his woke virtue signaling politics, seemed oblivious to the solemn reason for his visit to London as he sang along with the lyrics: 'Easy come, easy go. Little high, little low.' 'TONE DEAF': Canada's Prime Minister has been slammed for singing Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody with a pianist in the lobby of a central London hotel just two days before the Queen's formal state funeral TRUDEAU AT THE QUEEN'S FUNERAL: Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife Sophie Trudeau leave Westminster Abbey after the State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II on September 19, 2022 Queen Elizabeth II receives Canada's Prime Minister Trudeau during an audience at Windsor Castle, on Monday March 7, 2022 But Trudeau's haughty harmonizing with the pianist on Saturday quickly went viral online. It was filmed after the delegation - attended a dinner on Saturday night ahead of Britain's most solemn day in living memory. This is just one of a litany of gaffs by the woke world leader - who has admitted to dressing in blackface on a number of occasions as a younger man and spouting woke nonsense such as admonishing anyone saying 'mankind' and correcting them with the gender-neutral 'peoplekind'. The unearthed video has evoked fury across the world - as many slammed the premier for indulging in partying less than 48 hours before the Queen's funeral at Westminster Abbey. She served as Canada's head of state for 70 years. The beloved monarch died at the age of 96 on Thursday, September 8, 2022, at Balmoral Castle in Scotland. Trudeau previously heralded her as 'one of my favorite people in the world' after being pictured clutching her hands just six months ago during a heartfelt audience at Windsor Castle. Upon watching Trudeau's amateur dramatics, one furious person wrote online: 'Curious as to how you can qualify this as paying tribute to the life and service of Her Majesty? Because they were singing music from Queen? That's rather crass!' Another fuming onlooker added: 'Paying tribute? How tone-deaf do you have to be to think this is somehow a tribute? This is an embarrassment.' A third said of the former drama teacher: 'Singing drunkenly is a 'tribute'? What an embarrassment.' There is no indication that the Prime Minister had been drinking before singing at the piano on Saturday night. PICTURED TODAY: Trudeau and his wife Sophie, just two days after the premier was recorded singing at the hotel lobby Queen Elizabeth greets Justin Trudeau in a receiving line for the Queen's Dinner for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting at Buckingham Palace on April 19, 2018 Trudeau signs a book of condolence at Lancaster House, in London in London on September 17, 2022, following the death of Her Majesty King Charles III sits with Justin Trudeau, as he receives realm prime ministers in the 1844 Room at Buckingham Palace on September 17, 2022 in London, England Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrives for a meeting at 10 Downing Street in central London on September 18, 2022 Another blasted the Prime Minister for his actions, considering the circumstances of his trip: 'Its an unbecoming, undignified display and completely inappropriate given the circumstances and his position.' A fifth said: 'Trudeau sure seems to have a heavy heart as he fools around at a bar last night. I thought he was in mourning?' But other commentators saw no offense in Trudeau's actions - believing that after over a week of mourning it was normal for those grieving to let off some steam. One sympathetic person said: 'I see no issue,' while another added: 'We are reaching here. I don't see the big deal.' Coming to his defense, another said: 'Youre only annoyed of this because you dont like Trudeau to begin with. 'There is nothing wrong with him singing and being a normal person during the evening in a non-official event and setting. Hes the Prime Minister, but hes not a robot.' The Prime Minister's spokesperson said: 'After dinner on Saturday, Prime Minister joined a small gathering with members of the Canadian delegation, who have come together to pay tribute to the life and service of Her Majesty. 'Gregory Charles, a renowned musician from Quebec and Order of Canada recipient, played piano in the hotel lobby which resulted in some members of the delegation including the prime minister joining. 'Over the past 10 days, the Prime Minister has taken part in various activities to pay his respects to the Queen and today, the entire delegation is taking part in the State Funeral.' Trudeau and his wife pictured outside Westminster Abbey following the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II Canadian Trudeau shaking hands with the late monarch during a private audience at Buckingham Palace on April 16, 2018 Some people slammed Trudeau for his actions - but others pointed out that he has been a dedicated PM to Canada's former head of state, Queen Elizabeth II. Pictured, the pair in 2015 King Charles III pictured with Trudeau on September 17, 2022 - just hours before he was filmed singing songs in the London hotel lobby with his delegation Trudeau, who has held office in Canada since 2015, has been at the center of multiple scandals - including when images of him in blackface were uncovered. He made a series of apologies after the 2001 photograph of him emerged in brownface at an Arabian Nights party when he was a teacher. He also apologized for a high school incident where he dressed up as Harry Belafonte to sing the Jamaican song Day-O. A video of him as a young man in blackface also emerged during the 2019 election. It shows him with a blackface and raising his arms and sticking his tongue out while dressed in a white t-shirt and jeans. At the time, he said: 'I should have known better then but I didn't, and I am deeply sorry for it. 'I shouldn't have done that. I take responsibility for it. It was a dumb thing to do.' And in 2018, a report emerged that Trudeau, who was 28 at the time, had groped a female reporter while at the Kokanee Summit in Creston, B.C in 2000. The woman, speaking in 2018 after the story resurfaced, said: 'The incident referred to in the editorial did occur, as reported. Mr. Trudeau did apologize the next day. I did not pursue the incident at the time and will not be pursuing the incident further. I have had no subsequent contact with Mr. Trudeau, before or after he became Prime Minister.' And in the aftermath, Trudeau said in a statement: 'Over the past weeks, since this news resurfaced, Ive been reflecting, weve all been reflecting, on past behaviors. 'And as Ive said, Im confident I didnt act inappropriately, but I think the essence of this is people can experience interactions differently and part of the lesson we need to learn in this moment of collective awakening people in many cases, women, experience interactions in professional contexts and other contexts differently than men.' Trudeau also found himself in hot water in June 2020. The Canadian government announced the WE Charity would run a new grant program for students hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. It later emerged that Trudeau had personal connections to WE and was involved in the decision-making process, without recusing himself. Initially, WE denied allegations they paid Trudeau's mother, Margaret, his wife, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, or his brother, Alexandre. It was later discovered Margaret had been paid $250,000 for speaking at 28 events, and Alexandre received $32,000 for speaking at eight events. Mexico's foreign minister is facing a wave of backlash after he shared a selfie of himself and his wife prior to Queen Elizabeth II's funeral. Marcelo Ebrard posed alongside his wife, Rosalinda Bueso, as the couple smiled before he uploaded the picture to his Twitter account Monday. 'At the State Funeral of HM (Her Majesty) Queen Elizabeth II,' wrote Ebrard before he joined other world leaders at St. George's Chapel in Windsor, England. His tweet was labeled as tasteless and a lack of respect towards the Queen, who died September 8 after 70 years as the head of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms. 'I find it disrespectful to take selfies at a funeral,' one person tweeted. Mexico's Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard was criticized Monday for taking a selfie with his wife, Rosalinda Bueso, and posting it on Twitter before attending Queen Elizabeth II's state funeral Monday Members of the public file past Queen Elizabeth II's flag-draped casket lying in state on the catafalque as they enter Westminster Hall in the middle of the night Saturday The majority of the tweets in response to a selfie posted by Mexico's foreign minister and his wife prior to the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II were met with a wave of criticism The foreign minister of Mexico, Mauricio Ebrard, was at the receiving end of non stop backlash after he uploaded a selfie of himself and his wife before the couple joined other world leaders at the state funeral for Queen Elizabeth II on Monday Another user on the platform lashed out at Ebrard for not showing decency. 'I find it disrespectful to take selfies at a funeral,' the person wrote. 'You're not at a birthday party to be taking selfies, Marcelo. Act accordingly. You are representing Mexico.' One follower equated Ebrard's tweet to the behavior that some vacationers tend to display when visiting The Tower of London. 'Marcelo is the typical tourist who goes to bother the Beefeaters and the royal guards to see if they move,' the user wrote. 'He is the typical tourist who goes and wants to touch the Mona Lisa. He is the typical tourist who puts the name of Mexico in the sewer. Thank you, I am honored by your visit.' Marcelo Ebrard, the foreign minister of Mexico, signs a book of condolence for Queen Elizabeth II Mexico's Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard (right) and his wife, Rosalinda Bueso (second to the right) attend a service for the late Queen Elizabeth II on Sunday One of over 3,000 replies that blasted Mexico's Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard for uploading a selfie of himself and his wife before the couple attended Queen Elizabeth II's state funeral The state funeral for Queen Elizabeth II is the first since Winston Churchill's was filled with spectacle. Ahead of the service, a bell tolled 96 times - once a minute for each year of Queen Elizabeth II's life. Then, 142 Royal Navy sailors used ropes to draw the gun carriage carrying her flag-draped coffin to Westminster Abbey before pallbearers bore it inside the church. The trappings of state and monarchy abounded: The coffin was draped with the Royal Standard and atop it sat the Imperial State Crown, sparkling with almost 3,000 diamonds, and the sovereign's orb and scepter. There were also personal touches. The coffin was followed into the church by generations of Queen Elizabeth II's descendants, including King Charles III, heir to the throne Prince William and nine-year-old George, who is second in line. On a wreath atop the coffin, a handwritten note read, 'In loving and devoted memory,' and was signed Charles R - for Rex, or king. 'Here, where Queen Elizabeth was married and crowned, we gather from across the nation, from the Commonwealth, and from the nations of the world, to mourn our loss, to remember her long life of selfless service, and in sure confidence to commit her to the mercy of God our maker and redeemer,' the dean of the medieval abbey, David Hoyle, told the mourners, as the funeral opened. The service drew to a close with two minutes of silence observed across the United Kingdom, after which the attendees sang the national anthem, now titled 'God Save the King.' Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said in his sermon at the funeral that 'few leaders receive the outpouring of love we have seen' for Elizabeth. Later, during the committal ceremony in St. George's Chapel on the grounds of Windsor Castle, the Imperial State Crown and the sovereign's orb and scepter were removed from the coffin and placed on the altar - separating the queen from her crown for the last time. Her coffin was then lowered into the royal vault through an opening in the chapel's floor. She will later be laid to rest with her husband, Prince Philip, at a private family service. Former Defense Sec. Mark Esper issued a warning about the U.S. military's dismal recruitment numbers, writing that only a small fraction of the U.S. is fit to serve anymore since many are either overweight, on drugs or have a criminal past. 'The U.S. military's all-volunteer force (AVF) is slowly dying,' Esper wrote in an op-ed for Fox News. 'The armed services are struggling to meet their recruiting goals like rarely before.' Esper, former secretary of the Army, noted that branch will be most affected - falling short by up to 15,000 soldiers this year. 'The fact is the pool of Americans aged 17-24 who are qualified and interested in serving continues to shrink,' he said. In 2018, only 29 percent of young people met the military's entry requirements, the other 71 percent being likely ineligible due mostly to 'obesity, drug use, physical and mental health problems, and criminal misconduct,' Esper wrote. Today, that number is only 23 percent, one-tenth of whom do not meet academic standards for service. Esper issued a warning about the U.S. military's dismal recruitment numbers, writing that only a small fraction of the U.S. is fit to serve anymore since many are either overweight, on drugs or have a criminal past 'Worse, of the 3.5 million young Americans remaining, only 9% (~320,000) have a proclivity to serve. A nation of 332 million people should do better than that,' Esper wrote. The former secretary also decried a 'knowledge gap' due to civilians' 'lack of interaction with those in uniform and said the White House and Congress must act together to 'eliminate misconceptions' about life in uniform. He called for the creation of a commission to look at ways to improve American youth's health and fitness and to find new ways for civilians and service members to interact, including ensuring recruiters have 'unfettered access to high schools across America.' 'The Pentagon must steer away from lowering standards, reducing the size of the military, or creating hollow combat formations,' he added. 'With the threats from China and elsewhere growing, we cannot risk our future by ignoring these issues,' the former secretary concluded. Lt. Gen Xavier Brunson, the commander of Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington, expressed a similar theory as to why the Army was expected to fall so far short of its recruitment targets this year. Esper, former secretary of the Army, noted that branch will be most affected - falling short by up to 15,000 soldiers this year 'Worse, of the 3.5 million young Americans remaining, only 9% (~320,000) have a proclivity to serve. A nation of 332 million people should do better than that,' Esper wrote 'Some of the challenges we have are obesity, we have pre-existing medical conditions, we have behavioral health problems, we have criminality, people with felonies, and we have drug use,' Brunson told Spokesman Review. Over 22 percent of 12-to-19-year olds was obese between 2017 and 2020, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). For adults, that figure rose to 42 percent. To increase recruitment numbers, the Army plans to 'lower the gates' and find new ways to appeal to the armed services to youth, especially amid the lowest deficit since after the Vietnam War, according to the New York Times. A survey conducted in June by the Army found youth knew little about Army benefits, including home-buying, early retirement and educational benefits. More than half also thought soldiers have poor work-life balance. The Army plans on shifting its recruitment focus by deploying 'influencers.' The service branch plans to maintain its standards, focus on quality, and invest in youth. Educators will be a key component in reaching potential recruits by teaching the various opportunities the army offers, Brunson said. Monetary efforts to increase recruits are also being deployed with enlistment bonuses offered up to $50,000, and bonuses up to $35,000 for soldiers who ship out within 45 days, according to General James McConville, US Army Chief of Staff. 'I think we just want to show people that the military is a viable option,' Sgt. Jesse Wallace from a Spokane recruitment office told Spokesman Review. 'We don't want it to be seen as a last resort.' Advertisement An ancient tradition known as the 'breaking of the wand' took place today to symbolically mark the end of the Queen's reign as St George's Chapel burst into a rendition of 'God Save the Queen'. In a moving ceremony, the Lord Chamberlain - who oversees much of the royal household - snapped his Wand of Office, before placing it to the Queen's coffin before it was lowered into the Royal Vault. The breaking of the staff, which was traditionally used to discipline noisy courtiers, signifies the end of his service to the Queen. Andrew David Parker, who served as director general of MI5 from 2013 to 2020, had served from April last year. King Charles III will now appoint his own Lord Chamberlain to run the role under his new duties as monarch. The ceremonial gesture, which took place at the Queen's committal, was last performed more than 70 years ago at George VI's funeral but this was the first time it has ever been televised. Shortly afterwards, the Queen was laid to rest with her beloved husband Prince Philip after her crown, orb and sceptre were removed from her coffin so she could descend into her grave 'as a simple Christian soul'. This was the moment that The Lord Chamberlain, Andrew David Parker, broke his Wand of Office in a symbolic moment when power transferred from the Queen The Lord Chamberlain breaks his Wand of Office before the Queen's coffin is lowered as King Charles III watches on intently behind him The breaking of this staff signifies the end of his service to the Queen. King Charles III will now appoint his own Lord Chamberlain to run the role under his new duties as monarch The ceremonial gesture, which took place at the Queen's committal, was last performed more than 70 years ago at George VI's funeral but this was the first time it has ever been televised The Lord Chamberlain placed the broken staff on the Queen's coffin, symbolising the end of his service to her. The coffin was then lowered into the Royal Vault Baron Parker of Minsmere, who served as director general of MI5 from 2013 to 2020, took over the position in April last year The Royal Family stood at the end of the short service as the Queen was slowly lowered down into the royal vault while the Dean of Windsor said: 'Go forth upon thy journey from this world, O Christian soul.' He also offered the commendation - a prayer in which the deceased is entrusted to God's mercy. Moments earlier the Dean had placed her crown and other crown jewels on the altar before the Queen's staff of office was snapped - signifying the severing of the Queen from her service in death. The Garter King of Arms then pronounced the styles and titles of the Queen as all power moved to her son, the King. Charles looked deeply moved as the coffin was lowered - on a day where he appeared tearful on a number of occasions as he said goodbye to his mother, the 12th British monarch to be buried at Windsor. Her Majesty's long journey to her final resting place - and to be reunited with the Duke of Edinburgh - began in Balmoral on the day of her death 11 days ago and will end with her private interment at the castle's St George's Chapel this evening where the King will scatter earth on his mother's coffin at 7.30pm at a private family service. Britain's longest reigning monarch had been carried into the historic church followed by Charles III, her children and grandchildren including Prince Harry and Prince William. St George's was where the Queen had sat alone during the funeral of Prince Philip last year - in one of the most poignant images of the pandemic - and it was where she had loved to worship for so many years when at Windsor. The Queen is laid to rest for eternity in St George's Chapel as her coffin is lowered into the royal vault following her state funeral at Westminster Abbey The Crown Jewels were poignantly removed from the casket to show that the Queen's reign was at an end The King looks moved as her mother is finally laid to rest during the service of committal The overwhelmed monarch then turned away as he said goodbye to his mother and her power and titles moved to him The Duke and Duchess of Sussex look at the Queen's coffin as the Royal Family mourns her loss As the crown jewels were removed, Princess Charlotte pointed and spoke to her mother as Harry and Meghan looked on The Sussexes and the Wales' sing as Her Majesty the Queen had her symbols of monarchy removed along with her titles The coffin of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II rests in George's Chapel, Windsor The royal family were united in their loss, with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex briefly back with the family they left, but as the Queen's son the Earl of Wessex said in tribute, in death, as in life, they were sharing their "beloved mama" with others. Hundreds of thousands lined the Queen's funeral procession that carried the monarch from lying in state at Westminster Hall to her state funeral and on to Windsor Castle for the committal service. Her state hearse arrived at the royal fortress strewn with flowers after the sight of the Queen had been cheered and applauded by mourners along the route. When the Queen was lying in state, a river of people flowed past her coffin, paying their respects over four days. At the end there were touching moments, with the Queen's fell pony Emma, held by her stud groom and manager, standing a few feet from the coffin as the procession entered the grounds of Windsor Castle. The Royal Family and European royals watch as the coffin is carried towards the altar The coffin of Queen Elizabeth II is carried into St George's Chapel along the centre aisle of the nave to the catafalque Lena Tindall, Zara Tindall, Mia Tindall, the Duchess of Sussex, the Duke of Sussex, Princess Charlotte, the Princess of Wales, Prince George, and the Prince of Wales, stand for the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard with the Imperial State Crown and the Sovereign's orb and sceptre Princess Charlotte, the Princess of Wales, Prince George, and the Prince of Wales as they say goodbye to the Queen Charles, Camilla, Princess Anne and Prince Edward sat together in the service The choir sings solemnly as the Queen makes her final and saddest journey today Waiting in the royal residence's quadrangle were her two corgis Muick and Sandy - gifts from her son the Duke of York - as the funeral procession passed. The Queen was head of state but also a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother and, in a personal touch, the wreath adorning her coffin had a handwritten note from the King. The message said: "In loving and devoted memory. Charles R". Charles had requested the floral tribute, which replaced a wreath of Balmoral flowers, with foliage and blooms cut from the gardens of Buckingham Palace, Clarence House and Highgrove. King Charles takes his seat with his family after following the coffin Prince Charles arrives at St George's Chapel with the Queen Consort as he prepares to lay his mother to rest William, Kate, George and Charlotte stand aside and direct Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, to their seats Queen Elizabeth II body is carried as her family including Charles III and Prince William (left) watch on Advertisement Puerto Ricans emerged to deal with catastrophic flooding and devastation after Hurricane Fiona left the tropical island on its knees once again as the death toll rises to two. Horrific photos showed the island sinking into the muddy water as levels rise above the homes and cars. Residents were seen attempting to pick up the pieces and revive their homes after the worst of the storm passed into the Dominican Republic on Monday. Puerto Ricans are still left without power as the storm moves away from the island with the death toll rising. 'We are confirming these at this time because the institute of forensic sciences has a job to do,' Gov. Pedro Pierluisi said, according to CNN. 'Whatever death, whatever it is related directly or indirectly to this event, will be reported.' One deceased person was identified as 72-year-old Isidro Quinones. He was hit by a falling tree, according to local reports. There have been no missing person reports. Puerto Rico will continue to experience heavy rainfall and some life-threatening flooding as the storm begins to subside. More than 1,000 people have been rescued from flood waters on the island. 'The damages that we are seeing are catastrophic,' said Pierluisi. 'What we don't want is loss of life.' Meanwhile, the Dominican Republic will be battered with 'extremely heavy rainfall' today, in addition to winds as high as 90 mph, according to Eric Blake of the U.S. National Hurricane Center. Hurricane warnings are in effect for most of the eastern part of the DR. President Joe Biden issued a message Monday to Puerto Rico: 'We stand with you and we will get through this together.' The president previously approved an emergency declaration in PR on Sunday. About 90% of Puerto Rico (1.3 million people) remains without power currently, though 75% of the country's cellular infrastructure is operational and hospitals in San Juan's medical complex have power and patients are safe, according to a statement from the country's Health Secretary. Most of the island will likely not have power back for several days, according to authorities. The ports are closed and flights out of the main airport have been canceled. Public schools and government agencies were also closed Monday. Nearly five years ago, Hurricane Maria devastated the same communities in Puerto Rico. Puerto Ricans emerged to deal with catastrophic flooding and devastation after Hurricane Fiona left the tropical island on it's knees once again Horrific aerial footage showed the island many inches under water after the hurricane swept through the area Many homes are left devastated after flooding consumed a majority of the island The death toll has raised to two as of Monday evening. No missing persons have been reported Hurricane Fiona knocked out power across all of Puerto Rico, causing catastrophic damage, the governor said. https://t.co/DZX02CdcwN pic.twitter.com/HXQU4xvg2Y CBS News (@CBSNews) September 19, 2022 Employees remove water from a hardware store after Hurricane Fiona passed through Puerto Rico Some people made their way through the flooded streets of the Island on Monday National Guards were seen rescuing a woman stranded in her house. Some residents were moved through the help of bulldozers A National Guard member was seen walking through the streets searching for survivors in need. The water was up to his knees The National Guard flocked to the streets to help those in need as the hurricane passed People were seen wandering in the streets after the hurricane passed on September 19 Residents rested in a shelter after the hurricane passed Residents affected by Hurricane Fiona rest at a storm shelter in Salinas, Puerto Rico, Monday, Sept. 19, 2022 A parking area is seen flooded outside the Roberto Clemente Stadium after the passage of hurricane Fiona in Salinas, Puerto Rico, on September 19, 2022. Children played in a flooded street in the aftermath of Hurricane Fiona in Salinas, Puerto Rico September 19, 2022 A map representing the winds speeds of Hurricane Fiona. The eye of the storm, which hit both Puerto Rico and Dominican Republican contained winds with top speeds of more than 90 mph Puerto Rico's power grid remains extremely fragile after Hurricane Maria, which plunged the island into darkness nearly five years ago. That category 5 storm killed close to 3,000 people and left 1.5 million people without power. New York, New Jersey and California have dispatched first responders to Puerto Rico to aide with the initial post-storm care effort. 'These rains will continue to produce life-threatening and catastrophic flooding along with mudslides and landslides across Puerto Rico,' said the National Hurricane Center on Monday. Fiona, currently a category 1 storm, made landfall in the Dominican Republic at 3.30am and is expected to weaken considerably as it makes its way through Hispaniola, the island split between the DR and Haiti. No immediate reports of injuries have emerged from DR, but the storm brought down a number of power lines and billboards in the towns of Punta Cana, La Romana and El Seibo. About 800 people have been evacuated from high risk areas near rivers on the eastern part of the island. The eastern part of DR is expecting as much as 15 inches of rain. Puerto Rico got nearly 30. Citizens in both places have largely been urged to remain in their homes, or if they are flooding, to seek higher ground. Of now, Turks and Caicos is under a hurricane warning and the Bahamas could experience tropical storm conditions as soon as Tuesday, but the storm is, for now, projected to steer clear of Florida. In the United States, the National Weather Service is warning anyone visiting the East Coast to be aware of potentially dangerous tide conditions caused by Fiona. 'If you plan on visiting the beaches then pay attention to flags and follow the guidance of lifeguards and other local beach officials,' said NWS in a tweet. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is predicting an above-average hurricane season. Asi se ve el paso del huracan Fiona por la provincia La Altagracia, Higuey. Se reportan varios rios desbordados y destruccion de puentes y edificaciones. Que opinas ? Dejenos sus comentario #huracan #fiona #higuey #laaltagracia #rd #republicadominicana pic.twitter.com/R5R8LjDf1n El Quinto Elemento TV (@el5elementotv) September 19, 2022 Fiona wrought 'catastrophic' damage to Puerto Rico Sunday, which continues to experience heavy rainfall on Monday. A home is submerged in floodwaters caused by Hurricane Fiona in Cayey, Puerto Rico A woman waded through a flooded street in Nagua, Dominican Republic, on September 19, 2022, after the passage of Hurricane Fiona Two women retrieve scattered items from around their damaged home in the low-income neighborhood of Kosovo in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic A man used a walker on the beach as he braced for Hurricane Fiona to make landfall in Dominican Republic on September 18, 2022 Two young men walk with difficulty due to strong winds during the passage of Hurricane Fiona, in Nagua, Dominican Republic, 19 September 2022 A man waded through a flooded street in Nagua, Dominican Republic, on September 19, 2022 A man in Wheelchair looks at a flooded road after the passage of hurricane Fiona in Salinas, Puerto Rico, on September 19, 2022 Beach-goers caught the beginning of aggressive hurricane winds that whipped the island, causing significant damage A man walked on a road flooded by Hurricane Fiona in Cayey, Puerto Rico, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022 Satellite Image of Hurricane Fiona as it traverses the Caribbean Sea Road damage in Puerto Rico brought about by Hurricane Fiona, which hit the island on Sunday A road is blocked by a mudslide caused by Hurricane Fiona in Cayey, Puerto Rico on Sunday A family removed mud from their water-logged home in Cayey, Puerto Rico one day after Hurricane Fiona pounded the island People rest inside a shelter after the passage of hurricane Fiona in Salinas, Puerto Rico, on September 19, 2022 A man walks pass by a Puerto Rican flag painted on a door in the aftermath of Hurricane Fiona in Penuelas, Puerto Rico September 19, 2022 A flooded road is seen during the passing of hurricane Fiona in Villa Blanca, Puerto Rico, on September 18, 2022 A home in Cayey, PR is submerged as the island is whipped by Fiona While residents are beginning to clean up as of Monday, Puerto Ricans have an immense amount of damage to clean up. On Sunday, roads were turned into raging torrents while even newly constructed bridges following Hurricane Maria in 2017 were washed away. The storm also washed away a bridge in the central mountain town of Utuado that police say was installed by the National Guard after Hurricane Maria hit in 2017. Hurricane season runs from mid-August into early October with September, on average, the busiest month of the season. So far half of all named storms this season have developed in September. This was a brand new metal bridge installed after Hurricane Maria in the town of Utuado, Puerto Rico This is the moment a passenger flying from Pakistan to Dubai took out his frustration on an aeroplane window, kicking it while they were in the air. Police arrested and deported the man upon arrival after the Pakistan International Airlines flight PK-283 landed in Dubai from Peshawar on Wednesday. Video footage showed flight attendants trying to calm the passenger down after he began punching and kicking the seats, alarming the passengers. #Watch: In a shocking incident, a passenger on a #Pakistan International Airlines (#PIA) #Peshawar to #Dubai flight created chaos midflight when he started kicking the aircraft's window, punching seats, and indulging in a brawl with the flight staff. @odysseuslahori @BushraGohar pic.twitter.com/sW1ILpUz5f Mahar Naaz (@naaz_mahar) September 19, 2022 Apassenger flying from Pakistan to Dubai was shown kicking an aeroplane window while en route. Video footage showed flight attendants trying to calm the passenger down after he began attacking the seats, alarming the passengers The passenger started acting erratically after takeoff, asking to be returned to Peshawar Security arrested the man when he arrived and deported him back to Pakistan They shouted at him to stop after he damaged a window shutter in his rage, saying: 'Don't do this'. He started acting erratically after takeoff, according to sources quoted in Dawn, asking to be returned to Pakistan. But the flight had already departed, and the passenger only become more anxious during the journey. The passenger started praying in the missile of the isle while he was supposed to be seated, prompting curious looks from the other passengers. One video shows the cabin crew returning the man to his seat, removing him from the aisle. The man was bare-foot in both videos. He had a vest underneath his shirt, which he took off later during the flight along with his Taqiyah (skullcap). After he became more aggressive, the captain of the flight contacted the air traffic controller of Dubai to arrange security to meet them upon landing. The passenger started praying in the missile of the isle while he was supposed to be seated, prompting curious looks from the other passengers The security detail detained the passenger upon his arrival in Dubai on September 14. PIA management reportedly sent a two-member team from Islamabad to bring the passenger back after the crew got in touch to tell them about the incident. The man has been blacklisted after his arrest. Sunken, unfinished graves at a cemetery in Eagle Pass, Texas allegedly hold more than a dozen unidentified migrants who died in the dangerous journey trying to cross illegally from Mexico into the U.S. Maverick County Cemetery has marked the makeshift graves with crosses constructed from PVC pipes and the temporary identification cards at the base of the crosses read 'John Doe'. A TikTok video of the scene with nearly 200,000 views claims that the migrants buried are those who drowned while crossing the Rio Grande River into Texas. People living near the cemetery claim that the burials began in mid-August, and of the more than one dozen bodies buried, at least one was a baby, Eagle Pass' local station KSAT 12 reported. The video's caption claims that the Webb County Medical Examiner's Office is at capacity, and the funeral homes in Maverick County and Eagle Pass Texas are also unable to take any more bodies. A TikTok video shows at least a dozen sunken burial plots where undocumented migrants were buried at graves marked with PVC pipe 'crosses' near the popular crossing spot in Eagle Pass, Texas The graves include temporary markers with 'John Doe' along with a death date and identification number Temporary markers on the graves show the logo of Memorial Funeral Chapel, which is associated with Valdez and Sons. The business plays a role in retrieving and burying bodies of deceased undocumented immigrants The number of migrants who have died crossing the border reached a record-high this year in part due to the deadly June incident where dozens of migrants died in a tractor trailer due to sweltering conditions as they were smuggled into the U.S. The brutal Texas heat and deadly conditions faced by 100 migrants left 53 dead inside and many in dire conditions inside a tractor-trailer outside of San Antonio, Texas. In September alone, 30 migrants have died along the border adding to the total toll of 782 deaths in Fiscal Year 2022, with 11 days left in the year. That figure surpassed the previous record reached in Fiscal Year 2021 when more than 557 deaths were reported. The TikTok account that posted the video claimed that they bodies were buried there because the Webb County Medical Examiner's Office is at capacity, and the funeral homes in Maverick County and Eagle Pass Texas are also unable to take any more bodies Employees with the cemetery say that there are plans for the PVC 'crosses' to be replaced with metal ones and Maverick County Judge David Saucedo said that the commissioner's court accepted a contribution from a local individual to create the more permanent crosses. 'I believe it's a humanitarian thing,' he said. Tori Rogers, who goes by the handle middlegafemalefirearms on TikTok, posted a video on September 4, which has accumulated nearly 18,000 likes and more than 1,000 comments with outrage over the burial of migrants without their identities being confirmed. The images shown in the video exhibit a muddy area with some graves sinking into the ground where unidentified migrants were buried. Some areas are flooding and none of the graves appear to have grass grown on them. In areas where there was grass on the burial sites, it appeared overgrown and untamed. The cemetery is located near Eagle Pass, Texas, which is one of the busiest spots where migrants attempt to illegally wade the waters of the Rio Grande River into the U.S. and claim asylum. A record number of migrants have died making the dangerous journey across the U.S.-Mexico border with many of the 782 deaths in Fiscal Year 2022 resulting from drowning in the Rio Grande River. Pictured: Asylum-seekers cross the border from Mexico to turn themselves into Border Patrol in El Paso, Texas on September 17, 2022 Temporary markers on the graves show the logo of Memorial Funeral Chapel, which is associated with Valdez and Sons. Rito Valdez III is tied to the business operations, but refused to answer questions related to the migrant graves. Judge Saucedo confirmed Valdez's business does play a role in retrieving and burying bodies of deceased undocumented immigrants. 'The agreement that the county has is with all of the funeral homes in Maverick County,' Saucedo said. 'Right now, Memorial Funeral Chapel is the only one that is picking them up.' Saucedo is concerned that space in the cemetery will also soon reach capacity. Images emerge nearly daily of migrants making the dangerous attempt to cross the Rio Grande River with many getting swept up in the strong current. California Governor Gavin Newsom has been accused of hypocrisy for harshly criticizing migrant transports from Texas and Florida, despite previously running his own initiative to bus homeless people away from San Francisco. Newsom, a Democrat, engaged in a public war of words with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis after last week's high-profile flights carrying Venezuelan migrants to Martha's Vineyard. In a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, Newsom demanded a criminal probe into Florida's airlift, calling it a 'morally reprehensible' and possibly illegal attempt to 'humiliate and dehumanize' the group of about 50 migrants. DeSantis fired back at a press conference, saying Newsom's 'hair gel is interfering with his brain function'. Both governors are considered likely contenders for their respective parties' presidential nominations in the coming cycles. Meanwhile, some of Newsom's critics have pointed out when he was mayor of San Francisco more than a decade ago, he spearheaded a program that offered free one-way Greyhound tickets. The initiative, dubbed 'Homeward Bound', was described as Newsom's 'brainchild' in 2006 NPR report, which quoted him as praising the program for helping people 'turn their lives around.' California Governor Gavin Newsom (left) has been engaged in a public war of words with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (right) after last week's high-profile flights carrying Venezuelan migrants to Martha's Vineyard In a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, Newsom demanded a criminal probe into Florida's airlift, calling it 'morally reprehensible' and possibly illegal The contrast led some critics to accuse Newsom of double standards, with conservative commentator Rusty Weiss writing in a column: 'if shipping people out of state to try and give them a better life amounts to "kidnapping," Newsom has some explaining to do.' In a statement to DailyMail.com, Newsom's spokesperson Erin Mellon slammed the accusation, writing: 'There is no comparison between the two. SF helped people get home to their families. GOP Republicans kidnapped people for a political stunt.' 'The Republican stunt lied to people about what they would receive and where they were going, and provided no support, instead dumping them on the street as political pawns,' added Mellon. According to multiple reports, many of the migrants on the flights to Martha's Vineyard were told that they were going to Boston, and promised free housing and jobs. Mellon continued: 'Homeward Bound was completely voluntary and participants signed up to get home to family. While they waited, they were provided shelter, they were given financial support for food along the trip and there was follow through to make sure people got home.' 'Republican Governors are using vulnerable migrants, including families with children as political props. Their behavior is monstrous,' she added. Homeless tents are seen near the City Hall of San Francisco on August 29, 2022 'This is a stunt by these governors to curry favor with their campaign donors. Its not only morally reprehensible, but it may be unlawful as well.' Newsom in 2019 claimed that most of San Francisco's homeless population was from Texas, a claim that PolitiFact rated as untrue. On Saturday, Newsom also reached out on Twitter to challenge DeSantis to a debate ahead of the midterm elections. 'Hey @GovRonDeSantis, clearly you're struggling, distracted, and busy playing politics with people's lives,' Newsom tweeted on Friday. 'Since you have only one overriding need - attention - let's take this up & debate,' Newsom said in response to a tweet from Dan Rather asking CNN to set up a debate between the two governors. 'I'll bring my hair gel. You bring your hairspray,' he added, referring to DeSantis' quip earlier that day that Newsom's 'hair gel is interfering with his brain function' when the California governor criticized his actions. DeSantis defended his actions and claimed that the migrants knew exactly where they were going and voluntarily signed up for the trip Pictured: A group of 50 migrants enjoyed Venezuelan dishes at the military base after Martha's Vineyard declared an emergency over the group's arrival Newsom's challenge comes as DeSantis continued to defend flying the migrants over to Martha's Vineyard and said his state has a $12 million budget ready to relocate more immigrants up north, CNN reported. 'These are just the beginning efforts,' DeSantis said in a news conference on Friday. 'We've got an infrastructure in place now. There's going to be a lot more that's happening.' The Florida governor said he may even collaborate with Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who since April has been busing migrants to so-called sanctuary cities including New York and Washington DC. DeSantis accused critics of his move as 'virtue signaling,' and said their concern for the welfare of the migrants was a 'fraud.' He said: 'The minute even a small fraction of what those border towns deal with every day is brought to their front door, they go berserk, and they're so upset that this is happening.' The Republican also disputed claims that the migrants didn't know where they were being sent, saying his office made them sign a waiver and provided maps of Martha's Vineyard. 'It's obvious that's where they were going,' he said. 'It's all voluntary.' Mr Yatsunyk, a British Army reserve for four years, 'showed bravery to the end' A British father-of-two who 'would help anyone' has been killed by a landmine as he attempted to rescue injured soldiers he was fighting alongside in Ukraine. Viktor Yatsunyk, 44, who was born in Ukraine, returned to his native country to fight against Putin's army but was killed as he raced to the frontline with fellow soldiers in an attempt to rescue his comrades near the recently reclaimed city of Izyum. Mr Yatsunyk was killed when one landmine exploded, triggering a second to detonate in a blast so powerful that it killed one and wounded three others who were stood ten metres away. His loved ones told The Sun of the bravery that he had shown to the very end. His 'close friend' Roman, 45, who met Mr Yatsunyk on a Ukrainian ex-pats trip in Scotland more than 20 years ago in 1998, said that the 'he was like my brother'. The pair, who quickly became friends, often went on fishing trips and remained close throughout the years. 'We were very close friends,' he said about his friend. 'He was like my brother.' Just weeks before Mr Yatsunyk was killed, Roman revealed that the Ukrainian-born soldier was lucky to have survived a missile hitting his camp, killing one of his comrades just metres away. British father-of-two Viktor Yatsunyk (pictured) was killed by a landmine as he attempted to rescue injured soldiers he was fighting alongside in Ukraine Mr Yatsunyk, who was once awarded a medal for bravery by the Ukrainian military, is believed to have spent four years as a British Army reserve before he returned to his native country, leaving from his home in rural Oxfordshire. During Putin's 2014 attack on Ukraine, he had collected money and equipment to send back to soldiers at home. And the 'patriot' felt compelled to defend his country when Putin launched another invasion on Ukraine. 'He told me, "If we don't fight, who will fight for us?" He was an honest person who would help anyone, he had a good heart,' Roman added. Roman, who saw Mr Yatsunyk the day before he flew to Poland in March, recalled the soldier asking him to collect a bulletproof vest from a London home. He remembered speaking to Mr Yatsunyk who was fighting in Ukraine as a commander of a unit tasked with rescuing injured soldiers. In his final message to his good friend Roman, his focus was still on defending his nation as he asked for help in ordering parts for military drones. 'That was his last message to me,' Roman said. The Ukrainian-born fighter along with fellow soldiers raced to the frontline in an attempt to evacuate his comrades near the recently reclaimed city of Izyum Mr Yatsunyk's wife has flown to Ukraine despite the ongoing conflict to collect her husband's body with a funeral expected later this week. In recent weeks, the Ukrainian counter-offensive has seen President Zelensky's men make advances and reclaim Russian-occupied settlements. In fact, head of the Armed Forces Admiral Sir Tony Radakin has claimed that Putin is 'failing on all o fhis military strategic objectives' as he claimed the Russian attempt to seize control of Ukraine 'is not going to happen'. But just last month, a British volunteer medic Craig Stanley Mackintosh was killed in Kharkiv - one of now four British nationals known to have died since the war began in Ukraine. Jordan Gatley, 24, and 36-year-old Scott Silbey were the first two Britons to be killed while fighting in Ukraine. Attorneys for Nikolas Cruz have requested the presiding judge be removed from his death penalty case after the judge labeled a decision made by the defense as 'unprofessional.' Defense attorney Melisa McNeil abruptly rested the defense after notifying both Broward County Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer and the prosecution that the defense would be calling 80 witnesses. Scherer called the decision to not warn her or the prosecution, which was not prepared to begin its rebuttal case, 'the most uncalled-for, unprofessional way to try a case.' 'We're not playing chess,' Scherer said. 'You all knew about this and even if you didn't make your decision until this morning, to have 22, plus all the staff and every attorney march into court, be waiting as if it's some kind of game - now I have to send them home.' McNeil and Cruz's defense team are now asking for a mistrial and for Scherer to recuse herself from the case. Cruz said in an affidavit that he believes the Florida judge's comments have caused him 'to reasonably fear that the court is biased against my attorneys and me and I will not receive a fair and impartial trial.' Broward County Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer called a decision by the defense to rest as 'the most uncalled-for, unprofessional way to try the case' Defense attorney Melisa McNeil and the accompanying defense team had notified both Scherer and the prosecution that it planned to call on 80 witnesses, and had already called on 25 The judge said she believed the defense's decision was an insult to all the staff that made themselves present that morning in addition to the prosecution In a direct response to McNeil's announcement, lead prosecutor Michael Satz said he 'was ready for 40 more witnesses.' 'The defense last told us they would be taking witnesses,' prosecutor Jeff Marcus added. The defense's motion cites a Florida judicial rule that a judge should disqualify himself or herself if the judge's impartiality is reasonably questioned. McNeil attempted to respond to Scherer's initial statement, indicating that the judge had reprimanded her in front of her client and damaged her reputation, but was cut off. 'You have been insulting me the entire trial, so blatantly,' Scherer said. 'Taking your headphones off. Arguing with me. Storming out. Coming late intentionally if you don't like my rulings, so, quite frankly, this has been long overdue.' Assistant state attorney Carolyn McCann said while Scherer made 'critical or hostile' comments, they were not grounds for a mistrial, according to FOX News. Nikolas Cruz, convicted school shooter in 17 deaths at Stoneman Douglas High School, said Scherer's response made him believe she was biased against him and his attorneys McNeil said Scherer has held 'animosity' toward her that has 'infected this entire trial,' citing a previous heated argument between the two in 2019 Lead prosecutor Michael Katz said he believes Scherer has been respectful to both sides of the case 'The defense had absolutely not legal obligation to advise the state or court in advance of its intention to rest,' McNeil said. Members of the prosecution responded to the defense's motion, adding that Scherer had previously been respectful to both sides. The prosecution said it will take a week to prepare its rebuttal case, as the trial will continue September 27 and conclude during the week of October 10. Scherer and McNeil last had a heated exchange in 2019 during Cruz's pre-trial hearing, which later led to his conviction on 17 counts of premeditated, first-degree murder, and 17 counts of 17 attempted first-degree murder. McNeil requested the prosecution hand over body cam footage within 10 days of the pre-trial hearing. 'This court has put us under a schedule, and we are not able to comply with that schedule because we are not receiving the information that we need to prepare this case for trial,' McNeil said, according to WPLG-TV. Scherer responded that she had already asked McNeil if she needed to re-depose a witness to get the footage, and that McNeil had said no. Assistant state attorney Carolyn McCann said while Scherer made 'critical or hostile' comments, they were not grounds for a mistrial 'The defense had absolutely not legal obligation to advise the state or court in advance of its intention to rest,' McNeil wrote in a response to the incident Following the defense's decision to rest, the prosecution will begin its rebuttal case on September 27. The case is expected to conclude during the week of October 10 'No, I did not say that,' McNeil shot back. 'I said, judge, let's finish with the other arguments and then we can address whether or not I want to re-depose. There are several issues ' 'Ms. McNeil, let me talk, please,' Scherer interrupted. 'Well, you're misquoting me, judge,' McNeil told her. 'Ms. McNeil, I said, 'Are you asking this court to re-depose the witness?' And then you said, 'Not at this time,' Scherer said. 'But then I said, 'Is there anything else on defense (motion No.) 49?' And both sides said no. And I said, 'Let's move on.'' 'Then we need to readdress 49,' McNeil blasted back. 'OK, you need to take it down a notch,' Scherer warned. 'Judge, you are putting words into my mouth,' McNeil remonstrated. 'You are being disrespectful,' Scherer told her. McNeil clapped back: 'Judge, I have to repeat myself for you so you can understand what I'm saying.' The judge then interrupted and called for a five-minute recess so McNeil could compose herself. 'You're being disrespectful and I'm not going to be talked to in this way,' Scherer told the lawyer. Scherer, who is presiding over her first death penalty case, has not released a statement in response to the defense's motion. China's first Mars exploration mission achieves rich scientific results Xinhua) 08:51, September 19, 2022 Photo released on Jan. 1, 2022 by the China National Space Administration (CNSA) shows the group photo of the orbiter and Mars. (CNSA/Handout via Xinhua) BEIJING, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- China's first Mars exploration mission has achieved rich scientific results, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) said Sunday. As of Thursday, the Tianwen-1 orbiter has been operating normally for over 780 days, and the rover Zhurong has traveled 1,921 meters on the surface of Mars, the CNSA said. The orbiter and rover of China's Tianwen-1 probe have completed the targeted scientific exploration missions and have acquired 1,480 gigabytes of raw scientific data. The Tianwen-1 probe consists of an orbiter, a lander, and a rover. On May 15, 2021, it touched down at its pre-selected landing area in Utopia Planitia, a vast Martian plain, marking the first time China has landed a probe on the planet. Chinese researchers have conducted a comprehensive study of typical landforms at the landing area, including concave cones, impact craters, and grooves, and revealed a significant link between the formation of ridges and water activity. Through camera images and spectral data, researchers found water-bearing minerals in plate-like hard crust rocks near the landing area, which proved that there had been a lot of liquid water activities in the landing area since 1 billion years ago. Combining camera images with the rover moving rutting and other information, the researchers also found that the soil in the landing area has massive bearing strength and low friction parameters. These new results reveal the impact of wind and water activities on the geological evolution and environmental changes on Mars. It strongly supports the hypothesis that there was once an ocean on Mars' Utopia Planitia. It also enriches human scientific understanding of the geological evolution and environmental changes on Mars. In addition, researchers also used the Tianwen-1 exploration data to obtain several outstanding scientific achievements, including the relationship between rock density on the surface of Mars and surface erosion degrees, the distribution of ions and neutral particles in the near-Mars space environment, and the gravity field of Mars. (Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun) At a rally in Ohio on Saturday night, Donald Trump bragged about his popularity and said that contenders were "kissing [his] a**" to win his support. Throughout addition, he attacked opponents on all sides of the political spectrum, including Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell and Democratic candidates for Congress, in his speech. Trump Hints Agains To Run for 2024 Election The former president further enraged the crowd by promising supporters that we're going to take back the White House in a further indication that he plans to run for office again in 2024. The former president also seemed to be considering allegations that the GOP establishment was becoming more worried about the viability of some of Trump's more extreme midterm contenders. He attacked claims that JD Vance, a contender for the Ohio Senate, is attempting to separate himself from Donald Trump in order to come out as more moderate. He defeated President Joe Biden in the key state by an eight-point margin. Near the close of his hour-and-forty-minute speech, when Donald Trump was opining on the state of the nation and promising a better future, a cinematic composition began to play, putting Trump's flair for theatrics on full show. Donald Trump has often called for McConnell to be removed from the leadership position he has had for a long time, but several Senate candidates who have received support from the former president have hinted that they are willing to turn against the Kentucky senator. He also spared Democrats' wrath by making fun of New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Green Cortez's New Deal initiative. Trump grabbed the stage soon before 8 o'clock on Saturday night and claimed that his fellow New Yorker was a bad student in college and didn't take courses in the environment. The former president's speech saw him flit between complaints about political rivals and Democrats running for Congress in November. Just before the former president was scheduled to take the stage, the crowd, which had been conspicuously sparse for the majority of the evening, grew. Four candidates for the House of Representatives, along with House Representatives Bill Johnson and Jim Jordan, spoke before Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, as per Daily Mail. Read Also: Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin Reverses State Protections of Transgender Students, Prompting Widespread Criticism JD Vance Was Previously Anti-Trump In the meantime, Ohio's Senate race is close, with Democratic candidate Rep. Tim Ryan leading by just 0.5 percentage points: 44.7 percent of voters support Ryan, while 44.1 percent support Vance, according to the most recent average polling results from FiveThirtyEight. At the event on Saturday, Trump added that Vance had previously criticized him before he "fallen in love." Vance declared he was a Never Trump supporter and called Trump an idiot in 2016. Moreover, according to his former college roommate, he was concerned that Trump would turn out to be America's Hitler. Donald Trump Jr. and Eric, are huge admirers of Vance, according to News Week. Recently, it was discovered that if Donald Trump were to run for office again in 2024, Mike Pence would not be his choice for running partner. According to numerous sources, there was a breach between Pence and Trump in the last weeks of his presidency that peaked during the disturbance in the Capitol. Pence turned down Trump's desire to get involved in the process in January 2020, and he later claimed that Trump was mistaken to claim that the vice president had the authority to void a presidential election. Donald Trump, who erroneously claims that proposed modifications to the Electoral Count Act granted Pence the ability, expressed fury at Pence's words despite the fact that the two are no longer friendly, Business Insider India via MSN reported. Related Article: Migrant Crisis: NYC Mayor Eric Adams, Other Democrats Slam Greg Abbott, Ron DeSantis Over Horrible Political Stunt @YouTube @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Advertisement California mother Sherri Papini, who mimicked the plot of Gone Girl, has been sentenced to 18 months in prison. Papini, 39, must also pay $300,000 in restitution, according to senior U.S. District Judge William B. Shubb. The prosecution were only seeking an eight month prison term and three years supervised release for Papini. During sentencing, Shubb speculated that Papini would still be telling lies today had she not gotten caught. The mother of two must turn herself in by November 8. In addition to her prison sentence, Papini will undergo 36 months of probation. She had pleaded guilty to faking her own kidnapping and lying to the FBI. Papini could have faced five years for lying to the feds and 20 years for faking her own kidnapping, with constitutes mail fraud. Papini disappeared from her Redding, California, neighborhood while out for a jog. The married mom of two returned weeks later almost hundreds of miles away 'dazed, battered and bruised,' and insisted she was held captive for 22 days by two Latina women. Investigators began to uncover Papini's past leading up to her disappearance, including the involvement of her ex-lover prosecutors said she convinced to help her amid domestic abuse allegations against her husband. Papini arrives at the federal courthouse for sentencing accompanied by her attorney, William Portanova, in Sacramento Papini pictured as he leaves the court after being sentenced to 18 months in prison During a sentencing hearing, prosecutors said that it was vital that Papini serve out her full sentence in prison Keith - with whom she shares children Tyler, 8, and Violet, 10 - filed for divorce on Wednesday - two days after she pleaded guilty During a sentencing hearing, prosecutors said that it was vital that Papini serve out her full sentence in prison. In court filings they wrote: 'There needs to be just punishment for her conduct.' While her lawyers argued that a house arrest would be more appropriate, in addition to one month behind bars. The fine is for the losses incurred by the California Victim Compensation Board, the Social Security Administration, the Shasta County Sheriff's Office and the FBI. Leaving the court alongside his client, lawyer William Portanova, told the media: 'The court did not miss the mark. He knew her heart by the time he sentenced her. He's trusting her with what we consider to be a fair sentence even though it's longer than we wished.' He went on: 'We know that under the next several years of supervised release, Sherri will continue to demonstrate to the court that he's made the right bet.' When Papini arrived back home, she told the hoax of her disappearance and convinced the world of her story before she was formally charged earlier this year. Investigators began to uncover Papini's past leading up to her disappearance, including the involvement of her ex-lover prosecutors said she convinced to help her amid domestic abuse allegations against her husband. The mother of two was arrested in March after fooling the whole world about her disappearance. Her husband reported her disappearance in November 2016 when she failed to pick their children up from school. Her cell phone and earbuds were later found on the running track she used. Weeks later she was found tortured and starved by her captors, whose faces she never saw, before being dumped by the side of the road on Thanksgiving. Police and the world were on the lookout for Sherri when she went missing in 2016. When Papini arrived back in 2022 she told the hoax of her disappearance and convinced the world of her story before she was formally charged earlier this year Sherri Papini of Redding is pictured leaving the federal courthouse accompanied by her attorney, William Portanova, right, in Sacramento, Calif., on April 13. Papini pleaded guilty to her crimes and is scheduled to be sentenced on September 19 Tap the "How to Watch" banner at https://t.co/YAt0Z23l6C to find HLN on your cable, satellite or streaming TV provider. Or use your TV remote to search for "Runaway Mom" and hit record so you don't miss this all-new special report tomorrow on HLN. Here's a sneak peek pic.twitter.com/ieyB3DIfwF HLN (@HLNTV) September 17, 2022 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 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. Her signature blonde hair had been cut. Papini's antics were eerily similar to those of the main character in Gillian Flynn's smash-hit thriller novel Gone Girl, which was later turned into a thriller starring Rosamund Pike as a vanishing wife. Police said she made up the whole story to get attention and was staying with her ex-boyfriend for the 22 days she went missing. The mother of two convinced James Reyes, her ex-boyfriend, to pick her up and drive her to his Southern California apartment after telling him her husband Keith was 'abusing' her. Reyes, 37, previously confessed to the plot after being identified by DNA found on Sherri's clothes through a familial match. He told police how he and Sherri dated in 2006 and 'loved' each other. She randomly got in touch with him in 2016 again, he said, and told him that her husband was abusing her. Papini and Reyes then spoke on pre-paid cell phones, arranging for her to run away for months before November 2, when he collected her from Redding and the alleged hoax started. The ex-boyfriend admitted to investigators that he thought their relationship would become romantic once they were back at his apartment in Costa Mesa, but that it never did. Instead, Sherri took over his bedroom and he slept on the couch. She locked herself away in the room, starved herself and cut off her hair then started inflicting injuries on herself. Reyes said how she convinced him to brand her with a hot tool, then asked him to drive her seven hours north, back to her home in Redding, on November 24. He also said Papini caused her self-inflicted injuries while staying with him. He was unaware of the media storm that had brewed over the three weeks because he did not have a TV, he said. Keith said he was duped by his wife and later filed for divorce in April - two days after she pleaded guilty to faking her own kidnapping. The couple married in 2009 and share two children, Tyler, 8, and Violet, 10. Sherri with her husband Keith on their wedding day. The mother of two told her ex-lover she had to run away because Keith was abusing her In a statement earlier this year, Papini apologized for the pain she caused her family and friends. 'I am deeply ashamed of myself for my behavior and so very sorry for the pain I've caused my family, my friends, 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,' Papini said in the statement, as reported by ABC10. Papini had received 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. She is ordered to repay $128,00 in disability payments, and a GoFundMe campaign that raised more than $49,000 to help the family. In their criminal complaint, police detail how Papini and her husband spent money donated to them by strangers on her therapy and on improving their home. Roman Catholic Deacon and news anchor Mike Mangas revealed in the upcoming HLN investigation documentary, Runaway Mom: The Sherri Papini Story, that investigators found a new marking on the supermom's shoulder when she returned from her 'abduction.' 'The sheriff asked me, because I'm a deacon in my church, asked me about a certain Bible verse,' Mangas said in an exclusive clip of the documentary obtained by DailyMail.com. 'And so I told him it's Exodus 21:16, and it says something to the effect of "if anyone has kidnapped someone, they should be put to death." That was branded onto Sherri's shoulder. Advertisement The world of television has never seen anything like it. And it is unlikely the four billion viewers watching worldwide ever will again. What a spectacle. What pageantry. What a celebration of the longest serving and greatest monarch the world has ever seen. And, as CNN said, the most closely watched TV event ever. As the Queens coffin, accompanied by crown, scepter and orb made its way to Westminster Abbey, the TV networks could not hide their awe not only of a wonderful Queen, but an extraordinary woman who, at a time in history when women were barely acknowledged, let alone risen to positions of authority or power, took on the crown with a solemn promise: that she would do her duty. That she did, as the extraordinary scenes in London bore witness. The Mall, where they stood 40 people deep. Hyde Park, where there was not a blade of grass in sight. Buckingham Palace, and on to the final journey to St Georges Chapel in Windsor no matter which channel you turned to, they were all in agreement about the magnificence before us and its significance on the world stage, past, present and future. On CNN, Anderson Cooper was aghast: Extraordinary the history of what were looking at. ABCs T. J. Holmes was similarly awestruck: You cant help but get wrapped up in the Monarchy she represented a whole lot of history. NBCs Wilfred Frost saw a woman who was respected by all, while Foxs royal expert Jonathan Sacerdoti said what we were witnessing was mourning for the entire world. The world of television has never seen anything like Queen Elizabeth II's. And it is unlikely the four billion viewers watching worldwide ever will again. For once, all four major US networks - including ABC - were on the same side Foxs royal expert Jonathan Sacerdoti said what we were witnessing was mourning for the entire world. Bizarrely, he later stated that it was also a good day for a criminal outside of London because of the immense police presence in the capital CNN began broadcasting its funeral coverage at the crack of dawn, beginning in the very early hours of the morning, but by 5.30am ET, when all networks were live, it really didnt matter which station was your one of preference For NBC, Queen Elizabeth IIs funeral was a symbol of how this country has totally unified For NBC, Queen Elizabeth IIs funeral was a symbol of how this country has totally unified. Speaking about and from the UK, contributor Wilfred was keen to stress the collective experience. As a preamble before going live at 5.30am ET, he praised the Queen for having been apolitical and respected by all. Like NBC, ABC were late joining the broadcasting party, with Fox News and CNN already on air at the crack of dawn. They, like NBC, went down the Were all in this together route and, as the day went on, you could sense, in the divisive world we currently live in, that we really were all in this as one. Britt Clennett, live from Hyde Park for ABC, declared that it was a chance for families to get together. Children, in the arms of adults or by their sides, looked rapt in the vision before them. Just as my mother shared details about the Queens coronation with me (she married my dad in the same year), so these young people would remember this day. ABC took the most personable approach, with commentators and contributors appearing on camera something that rarely happened with the other three that relied largely on voiceovers. It was also encouraging that their strap read Celebrating Queen Elizabeth II on a day that had more than its fair share of somber undertones and overtones, come to that. It was inevitable, of course it was a somber and serious occasion but NBCs coverage felt more inviting to the viewer. They even managed a nod to the Queen and fashion, saying that although she was apolitical, she used fashion in a very diplomatic way. We also learned from ABC that at 3pm ET yesterday, Big Ben was supposed to strike to herald the two-minute silence in which the UK would come to a standstill as a mark of respect. It failed to do so. They said it had been suggested that the clock, too, had gone silent as a mark of respect. They were overly fond of these signs. They also informed us that there had been another rainbow in London, just as there had been on the day the Queens death was announced. So enamored was ABC by another colorful sign, you almost expected Kermit the Frog to pipe up singing Rainbow Connection in the background. By 5.30am ET, when all networks were live, it really didnt matter which station was your one of preference, as there was very little different to deliver visually. There were outstanding images, though, most notably of Catherine, Princess of Wales and future Queen, in a diamond and pearl choker once worn by the Queen. With every passing month, Catherine grows ever more beautiful and regal, and the impeccable behavior from adorable Prince George (his perfect hair and side parting always break my heart) and Princess Charlotte make this adorable pair such a credit to their fine parents. Meghan Markle was also looking incredible, wiping away a genuine tear in what was clearly an emotional day for her, for so many reasons, given the conflict between Harry and his family. All four of the major networks sent teams to London in order to cover the funeral, with Fox News featuring a number of its usual hosts, including Martha MacCallum, as well as contributors, like Piers Morgan The Today show on NBC had anchors Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb broadcasting live from the UK capital, where they were joined by Wilfred Frost and Lester Holt How wonderful of the Queen to have asked for the Canadian Mounties to lead the procession, an acknowledgement of her respect for the Commonwealth. How inspiring to see the massed ranks of military performing an operation that has been planned for decades and carrying it out with sublime precision I lost it when the congregation at the Abbey sang God Save the King never having heard that in my lifetime. I remember Charless Investiture as Prince of Wales in 1969 (I was 10) and my mother coming over all tearful at his blushing cheeks as he knelt before his mother at Caernarvon Castle in Wales. I felt for all four of the Queens children who, first and foremost, have lost their beloved mother. As the cortege made its way down the Mall, the flowers mainly roses - being thrown were a reminder of the funeral of Princess Diana in 1997. Of the million plus people who attended London today, it was important to each and every one of them that they played their part. Even the Queens beloved corgis, Muick and Sandy, and her horse, Emma, who were seen waiting by the cortege. There were questions, too, though. Why were President Joe Biden and his wife Jill seated 14 rows back, behind even the King of Poland? Well, come on, there were a lot of hours to fill during the trips between buildings. With little different to deliver visually, the airwaves became a linguistic battlefield for attention. They had no choice. Everyone had the same pictures and the same camera angles. What else was there to do but talk their way over the competition and just try to come up with something different from everyone else. CNN wins the prize for informing us that the beautiful weather in London that had made the day so special was bucolic. CNN also promised us that there would not be a long, boring service, as per the Queens wishes. Fox stressed the same, with the added incentive, should we be tempted to go back to bed, that it would be short and vibrant. Foxs Jonathan Sacerdoti, while celebrating the mass experience, bizarrely said that it was also a good day for a criminal outside of London. He was referring to the huge police presence in the capital, so lets hope petty thieves elsewhere didnt take this as a heads up. Fox went big on the Queens faith and her duty to her children and her God. Yes, there were a lot of God checks all day, apart from on CNN, where, as on the day the Queen died, they went big on historical significance. Tradition and honor were at the forefront of CNNs commentary and analysis. Kate Williams acknowledged the pageantry and the symbolism a weighty historical moment the biggest moment as a historian I will ever see. There were outstanding images, though, most notably of Catherine, Princess of Wales, in a diamond and pearl choker once worn by Her Majesty (left), while Meghan Markle was seen wiping away a tear on what was clearly an emotional day for her I felt for all four of the Queens children who, first and foremost, have lost their beloved mother I lost it when the congregation at the Abbey sang God Save the King never having heard that in my lifetime The network is blessed with anchor and Royal Correspondent Max Foster, to whom anchor Anderson Cooper defers when there are aspects of British tradition and history with which he is unfamiliar. However, there were several moments when silence would have been more golden than the incessant commentary. At one moment, when Max started to wax lyrical about the flowers on the coffin rosemary, myrtle and Anderson wanted to cut to the bagpipes, and Max was silenced. Maybe Anderson gagged him. There were questions, too, though. Why were President Joe Biden and his wife Jill seated 14 rows back, behind even the King of Poland? Well, come on, there were a lot of hours to fill during the trips between buildings But Max wasnt going to let his horticulture knowledge be stifled. What happens next? asked Anderson, when the service at Westminster Abbey came to an end. Max was right back on the subject of those flowers like a hungry, pollen-seeking bee. The same happened later in the day when the coffin arrived at St Georges Chapel in Windsor. You could almost hear Anderson silently saying, Shut it, mate! Where Fox was over-melodramatic, and the first network to say the word unprecedented someone has to do it - along with other cliches, CNN was its usual considered, calm, analytical self. Anderson remembered William and Harry walking behind their mother Dianas coffin in 1997 and has seemed genuinely moved these past few days. He lost his own mother just three years ago. His son Wyatt is a little over two, and there has been a sense throughout all his reporting that Anderson is coming at this huge story not just as a professional broadcaster but as a son and father, too. Each network made it a time for reflection, mourning, celebration and remembrance. All four did a fine job in relaying the spirit of what the Queen had specifically requested in her final wishes. Irrespective of ones views about the monarchy, we were witnessing an aspect of history. As ABCs Robert Jobson said, Were never going to see this again. When the national anthem struck up at the end of the service in the Abbey, it was an extraordinary moment and a moving acknowledgement that life goes on. King Charles will be pleased that the first ten days have gone well, said NBCs Wilfred. He will. Just the rest of the reign to go now. God Save the King. Thirty Republican senators have written to Attorney General Merrick Garland and asked him to appoint a special counsel to look into Hunter Biden's business dealings. The letter points to Garland's request to keep politics out of the Justice Department and cites reports from Senator Chuck Grassley, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, that '"highly credible" whistleblowers have come forward to detail a "widespread effort within the FBI to downplay or discredit negative information" about Hunter Biden.' The senators, which includes Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell, urge Garland to give U.S. Attorney David Weiss, who has been investigating President Joe Biden's only living son, the powers that come with the special counsel appointment. The senators argue the desigation would allow Weiss to 'allow him to investigate an appropriate scope of potentially criminal conduct, avoid the appearance of improperity, and provide additional reassurances to the American people that the Hunter Biden investigation is free from political influence.' 'This is one important action that you can take that will go a long way to restoring faith in our governmental institutions,' the senators write. Thirty Republican senators have written to Attorney General Merrick Garland and asked him to appoint a special counsel to look into Hunter Biden's business dealings: the letter was lead by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (left), Senator John Cornyn of Texas (center) and Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa (right) Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden, has admitted to being investigated for his taxes but denied any wrong doing; no charges have been filed against him; above the two men in August 2022 after going to mass together during a Biden family vacation in South Carolina Weiss was named as the lead investigator into Hunter Biden's business dealings during the Donald Trump administration. He stayed on and continued his work after Joe Biden was elected president. Hunter Biden has admitted he's being investigated for his taxes but denies any guilt. He has not faced any federal charges thus far. The senators charge Hunter thrived financially off a 'pay to play' culture that saw him benefit from his father serving as vice president under Barack Obama. They claim the president's son is being investigated for ' tax fraud, money laundering, and foreign-lobbying violations.' The letter was led by McConnell, Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas and Grassley. Under federal law, the attorney general can appoint a special counsel when an investigation or prosecution of a person by a U.S. Attorneys office or the Department of Justice 'would present a conflict of interest for the Department or other extraordinary circumstances.' Special counsel status would give Democrats and Republicans in Congress more oversight into the Hunter Biden probe. It would also force Garland to explain to Congress any disagreement he had with Weiss or any arguments he had with him on recommendations, up to and including a recommendation that Hunter Biden be charged with federal crimes. Hunter Bidens criminal defense lawyer Christopher Clark did not respond to CNBC when it requested comment. Nor did spokesmen for Garland and Weiss. Meanwhile, President Biden defended his son during an intervew with 60 Minutes that aired on Sunday night. He said his son's foreign business dealings did not cause any conflicts with Biden's prior position as vice president under Barack Obama. 'I love my son, number one,' Biden said. 'He fought an addiction problem and he overcame it, he wrote about it.' 'And no, there is not a single thing that I've observed, at all, that would affect me or the United States relative to my son Hunter.' Republican Senators are urging Attorney General Merrick Garland (left) to give U.S. Attorney David Weiss (right) special counsel powers President Joe Biden was asked about whether his son Hunter Biden could be a political liability if the president hits the 2024 campaign trail during a lengthy interview on 60 Minutes Theres not a single thing that Ive observed at all that would affect me or the United States relative to my son Hunter, President Biden tells 60 Minutes about his son Hunter Biden. https://t.co/7SixTElqbt pic.twitter.com/6E6FlxhzYp 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) September 19, 2022 The case against Hunter Biden is said to be heating up. Sources told the CNN that prosecutors were weighing whether charges should be levied but were also wary of Department of Justice guidelines that advise against bringing potentially politically charged cases to the forefront so close to an election. Grassley, a Republican senator from Iowa, has taken the lead on holding Hunter Biden's feet to the fire for the GOP. President Biden's son was political catnip during the 2020 presidential election and a frequent target of taunts from Donald Trump on the campaign trail. 'Where's Hunter,' the then president would ask to roars of approval from his MAGA followers. In July, Grassly held the FBI and Justice Department's feet to the fire on Hunter Biden, demanding the agencies answer claims from a whistleblower they downplayed negative information on the president's son in the lead up to the 2020 election. Grassley, at the time, revealed that 'highly credible' whistleblowers have come forward alleging a widespread effort within the FBI to discredit negative information about Hunter Biden. 'The information provided to my office involves concerns about the FBI's receipt and use of derogatory information relating to Hunter Biden, and the FBI's false portrayal of acquired evidence as disinformation,' Grassley wrote FBI Director Christopher Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland. 'The volume and consistency of these allegations substantiate their credibility and necessitate this letter,' he noted. Grassley, the ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee which oversees the agencies, says the whistleblower alleges that was a 'scheme' among some FBI officials to 'undermine derogatory information connected to Hunter' by falsely flagging it as disinformation. And, he claims, this all happened in the lead up to the 2020 presidential election. In October 2020, one month before the election, 'an avenue of derogatory Hunter Biden reporting was ordered closed' by a senior FBI agent at the bureau's Washington Field office, Grassley claims. '[T]he allegations provided to my office appear to indicate that there was a scheme in place among certain FBI officials to undermine derogatory information connected to Hunter Biden by falsely suggesting it was disinformation,' Grassley wrote. His letter came after revelations that the federal investigation into Hunter Biden reached a 'critical juncture' and investigators are weighing whether to charge the president's son. The Department of Justice probe in Delaware has intensified in recent weeks over whether to bring charges on tax violations or making false statements on purchasing a gun, sources told CNN. Hunter would have been prohibited from buying a gun at the time because of his well-documented struggles with drug addiction. President Biden has denied any knowledge of his son's business dealings and the White House has said they will stay out of any Justice Department investigations involving Hunter. Republicans are expected to probe Hunter's business deals if they retake control of Congress in the November midterm election. The FBI and IRS' criminal division are among the agencies who have been involved in moving the investigations, and there have also been discussions over whether his past drug abuse could weaken their case, CNN reported. Hunter could argue that he wasn't aware of his actions because he was high on drugs. The probe is a political hot potato for Garland. The Justice Department has an unwritten rule to avoid bringing politically sensitive cases within 60 days of an election, officials have noted. But Garland would faces charges of Democratic favoritism if he holds back on Hunter with some officials arguing that rule doesn't apply since Joe Biden's name isn't on the midterm ballot, which determines which party controls Congress. Earlier this summer, DailyMail.com revealed a 2018 voicemail recording from the junior Biden's hard drive stating the president did know about the dealings. Joe Biden called Hunter on December 12, 2018, saying that he wanted to talk to him after reading a New York Times story about Hunter's dealings with the Chinese oil giant CEFC. There are reports the federal investigation into Hunter Biden is heating up Investigators were reportedly looking into allegations that Hunter (left) used his father, President Joe Biden (right), to secure business deals and lobby overseas During a July 5 White House press briefing, Biden's spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre refused to comment on the voicemail to reporters. 'From this podium, I am not going to talk about alleged materials from the laptop,' Jean-Pierre repeatedly shot back when asked. When further pushed on the contents of voicemail and if the administration is being open with the American people, she said, 'I cannot comment on any materials from the laptop.' Files on Hunter's abandoned laptop previously disclosed and verified by DailyMail.com show that he struck a deal with the Chinese company worth millions of dollars after touting his family connections. The Times' 2018 story pointed out CEFC chairman Ye Jianming had been arrested in China and his top lieutenant, Patrick Ho, had been convicted in the US for bribing African officials to help Iran evade oil sanctions. It revealed that Ye had met with Hunter at a Miami hotel in 2017 to discuss 'a partnership to invest in American infrastructure and energy deals.' The Times reported that when Ho was arrested, he called Joe's brother Jim Biden who told the newspaper that he believed the call was meant for Hunter. The newspaper said it was 'unclear whether Hunter Biden struck any business deals with CEFC', not knowing at the time the depths of his connections with his Chinese business partners. After seeing the story online, Joe called Hunter and left a voicemail. 'Hey pal, it's Dad. It's 8:15 on Wednesday night. If you get a chance just give me a call. Nothing urgent. I just wanted to talk to you,' he said. 'I thought the article released online, it's going to be printed tomorrow in the Times, was good. I think you're clear. And anyway if you get a chance give me a call, I love you.' Heartbroken friends of a happy and positive college student who was shot at more than ten times while waiting at a train crossing have revealed they are shocked that police have made no arrests. Allison Rice, 21, had been on her way home from a night out with friends and was shot dead at around 2.30am on Friday near railroad tracks in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Friends and family have also been left shocked that police have so far been left baffled as to the motive behind the shooting and have not identified a suspect. Her childhood friend Kaylin Mason, 21, has paid tribute to her wonderful friend, saying her energy was very contagious and she was a friend to everyone. Kaylin told DailyMail.com: She was a friend to everybody, she made a point to be friends with people who didnt really have many friends. Allie was just a person who loved everyone and she held me accountable to be a good person, she was wonderful. The amount of people who feel this way about her is a long list, and I believe wholeheartedly that her reach was so vast, she filled everyones lives with joy. The situation so shocking, you never expect it to happen to you or someone you care about. The crime in this area has just gotten out of control. Childhood friend Kaylin Mason, 21, (left) has paid tribute to her wonderful friend, saying her energy was very contagious and she was a friend to everyone' Allison Rice, 21, had been studying marketing at Louisiana State University and had been preparing for an internship before her tragic murder Friends and family have also been left shocked that police have so far been left baffled as to the motive behind the shooting and have not identified a suspect Friends and family have laid floral tributes to her, as well as her favorite snacks, on the street where she was shot People are calling for change but its very evident and very clear that it has become outrageous. 'But when it happens to somebody like Allie it really opens your eyes that this is just not acceptable anymore. The fact that the police dont know what is going on, the motive, its shocking. Allie was just driving, she didnt have an enemy in sight or mind. I cant comprehend how or why this happened. She wasnt in with the wrong crowd, she wasnt that kind of person. The Louisiana State University Senior was found in her bullet-riddled car in Baton Rouge after partying with friends at a bar on Government Street less than five minutes from where she was killed. It is thought that she had been trying to turn around at the tracks when she was shot multiple times through her windshield. Kaylin, who has known Allison for the past ten years, added that young women who live in Baton Rouge are too scared to go out at night alone. She added: Its outrageous and its painful and devastating and incomparable more than anything. Both Allie and I grew up in a suburb just outside of the city and even then its the kind of place that you dont go to Walmart after dark alone. I moved to a safer area for college, so when I go home its almost a kind of culture shock. 'I had to remember that I couldnt go to the store at 8pm for a notebook without someone to go with me. Rice's aunt Susie Rice Granier described the young woman as a 'free spirit' and said she loved to sing and dance Kaylin, who is from the same area as Rice, said her death is 'shocking' and told DailyMail.com the crime in Baton Rouge has 'gotten out of control' The student had been out with friends prior to the shooting and got stuck behind a train only a few miles away from campus when she was killed Authorities discovered several shell casings close to her vehicle, as well as fast food in her lap, but nothing was taken from her car Or I would have to take my pepper spray with me. Everyone back home is also surprised that the police dont have any surveillance footage. Government Street is a busy street, we expected and anticipated that they would have something but they dont. We also thought it would be a day and they would arrest someone or at least have a suspect, its very surprising that they have no footage or anything like that. It crazy to me they have no suspect identified either. You would think that the police wouldnt be scratching their heads, which they are from what theyve told us. Other witnesses said that they were not surprised by the fatal shooting adding every other night somebody is shooting. Rice had been waiting for a train to finish crossing when she was shot and suffered wounds to her arm and chest. Authorities discovered several shell casings close to her vehicle, as well as fast food in her lap, but nothing was taken from her car. It does not appear as though it is a case of mistaken identity, with officers at a loss for the motive behind the killing. A cross with Allie's face in the center has been nailed into a telephone pole close to where the student was killed, but has since been stolen Kaylin says that is is too dangerous for young women to go to Walmart past 8pm in the area alone, without carrying pepper spray Police rushed to the scene after witnesses reported hearing multiple gunshots at around 2.30am on Friday A Baton Rouge Police spokesman said: Rice was shot multiple times while sitting in the driver seat of her vehicle. Rice died at the scene. The motive and suspect(s) are unknown at this time. Currently, there has been no update from the police about the investigation, and they did not immediately reply to a request for comment from DailyMail.com. Vandals have also stolen the ornate cross which was put up close to the impromptu memorial for the college student where she was killed on Friday morning. Family members were horrified after visiting the site on Sunday to find that the metal cross had been taken down. Friends and family have laid floral tributes to her, as well as her favorite snacks, aside cards, and balloons. Her father Paul told WBRZ: It should've never happened, this should not have happened, it should not have happened. She's a beautiful child. She had one year left to graduate LSU, she had her whole future ahead of her. Her parents are pleading for anyone with information to come forwards to help police with their inquiries Rice had been working as a bartender at The Shed BBQ in Baton Rouge, where she worked with her two brothers (pictured together) Kaylin believes that her friend may have stopped for food with friends before her death, which is why she was found with fast food in her lap Police responded to the scene around 2.30am and all that was left later that morning was a pile of broken glass after her car was removed When you hear the words from the policeman saying, "she's with the coroner now, she didn't make it." It's the most devastating words you can ever hear. Her family is pleading for answers from the police and is begging anyone with information to come forwards. East Baton Rouge Parish Mayor President Sharon Weston Broome added: 'My heart goes out to the family, loved ones, and classmates of Allison Rice, a young LSU student who had her entire life ahead of her. 'This senseless violence is completely unacceptable and Baton Rouge Police officers are thoroughly investigating to bring the perpetrator to justice. 'Our university community is an essential part of the fabric of Baton Rouge. It is of the utmost importance as we welcome students from across our state and the nation that we create a safe environment.' Rice's death is the 74th this year in the East Baton Rouge Parish and comes after a string of crimes against LSU students. On August 19, another student was shot during an attempted robbery, and just days later two separate kidnapping cases happened on campus. According to the FBI, Baton Rouge has one of the highest homicide rates in Louisiana. Anyone having information on this shooting is urged to contact the Violent Crimes Unit at (225) 389-4869 or Crime Stoppers at (225) 344-7867. An Indiana police officer dies more than a month after being shot in the head during a traffic stop in August. Officer Seara Burton, 28, died on Sunday evening at Reid Health while surrounded by her family, according to the Richmond Police Department. 'Our hearts are heavy as we grieve alongside Officer Seara Burton's family, colleagues, loved ones and the Richmond community she so nobly served,' Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb wrote in a statement. 'Officer Burton dedicated four years and her life to the Richmond Police Department and lived the oath she took to serve and protect to the fullest.' Burton was shot in the head by Phillip Lee, 47, during a drug-related traffic stop on the evening of August 10. She was set to be married nine days after to Sierra Neal. The police department led a procession outside of the hospital on Monday with multiple cop cars preceding before and after Burton's Hearse. Locals, hospital staff, and officers lined up on the sidewalk to salute Burton during her final ride as her remains were returned to Dayton. Officer Seara Burton, 28, died more than a month after being shot in the head during a traffic stop, according to Richmond Police Department The police department led a procession outside of the hospital on Monday with multiple cop cars preceding before and after Burton's Hearse The public was invited for Barton's last ride that occurred at 1 pm on Monday Locals, officers, and hospital staff lined up outside of the hospital while Burton's remains were transported to Dayton The procession was led from I-75 North from Dayton and onto the I-70 West Escort for Officer Seara Burton WATCH: Law enforcement from around the region escort the body of Police Officer Seara Burton from Dayton back to Richmond, Indiana. STORY: https://bit.ly/3dmYzeX Posted by Dayton 24/7 Now on Monday, September 19, 2022 Barton was set to be married to Sierra Neal on August 19 - only nine days after she was shot The late police officer was called out to the 200 block of North 12th Street in August after Richmond Police Narcotics Unit saw Lee stop at a garage where they speculated a drug deal may be taking place. Phillip Lee, 47, was stopped by the Richmond Narcotics Unit on August 10 when Brev did an open-air sniff test and Lee pulled out a gun and fired several times, striking Burton in the head. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges Burton and her K9 Brev conducted an open-air sniff test of Lee and his vehicle. The K9 indicated narcotics were present, which prompted Lee to take out his gun and fire multiple times at Burton. Lee then fled before being shot by officers. He was charged with attempted murder, felony possession of a firearm, and possession of methamphetamine. He is being held on a $1.5 million bond. The police officer was airlifted to Miami Valley Hospital but was taken off life support on September 1 after her injuries were 'determined to be unrecoverable,' according to the Richmond Police Department. Hospital staff and officers gathered for an honor walk as Burton was rolled out of her room with a flag placed over her body. Burton's K9 led the procession as others lined up against the wall to pay their respects. She was then transferred to a different facility where her organs were donated. Hospital staff and officers gathered outside of Burton's room in early September when she was taken off of life support. The procession was led by Burton's K9 Burton was rolled out of her room with a flag placed over her body as she prepared to be taken to another facility to donate her organs Burton's loved ones followed behind her while wearing shirts that said 'Burton Strong' Richmond Police Officer Seara Burton was taken off life support on Thursday. This was her honor walk, before she donates her organs. As of Friday morning, the chief says she is still alive. Her wife, family and friends are by her side. Officer Burton was shot in the line of duty 3 weeks ago. MORE-> https://www.whas11.com/article/news/local/indiana/richmond-police-officer-seara-burton-to-be-taken-off-life-support/531-32b1205f-19ec-494f-990d-002daf6de1e5 Posted by Shay McAlister on Friday, September 2, 2022 Burton was shot multiple times and was deemed 'unrecoverable' by hospital staff Neal, Burton's fiance, posted a past video of the officer on Sunday while holding her hand. The pair were set to be married on August 19 - but never made it down the isle as they imagined. Instead, Neal dressed in her lacy wedding gown on August 20 and walked 'down the isle' - through the hospital hallway - and to Burton's room. The song 'Something in the Orange' by Zach Brown played in the background. 'This walk was supposed to look a lot different, but I will always be thankful we still got to celebrate,' Neal wrote in the caption of a tear-jerking video. 'Even if it is not legal on paper, you are my wife.' The pair had been dating since August 2021, according to Neal's Facebook. Burton was supposed to get married to Sierra Neal (pictured in the wedding dress) on August 19. Neal walked through the hospital that day in her wedding dress to see Burton with an unidentified companion They were only nine days from their wedding when Burton was shot About 310 motorcyclists and 75 Jeeps gathered on Sunday to honor Burton's life in Indianapolis, Indiana. 'It's hard to not be emotional, it's hard to not be moved,' Peter George wrote on Facebook along with a video of the motorcyclist that included children passengers. 'This is Richmond, this is Indiana, this is small town USA, where we say yes sir and yes maam - where we take care of each other, and where we stand with our first responders and thin blue line. We will never stop believing in them, or Seara. We will always support, encourage, honor, and defend our local heroes.' The travelers rode out of American Legion Post 65 down to Fort Harrison. Wayne and Union County law enforcement along with Richmond Police Department, help coordinate the journey. Today I watched everyday people from all walks of life, join together, come together, and ride together for ONE cause. To honor and defend the life of our fallen Officer, Seara Burton last count I heard was 310 bikes, and 70-75 Jeeps they rode out of American Legion Post 65 down to Fort Harrison, and then returned home. With full escort courtesy of Wayne and Union County law enforcement, including Richmond Police Department. Its hard to not be emotional, its hard to not be moved. This is Richmond, this is Indiana, this is small town USA, where we say yes sir and yes maam. Where we take care of each other, and where we stand with our first responders and thin blue line. We will never stop believing in them, or Seara. We will always support, encourage, honor and defend our local heroes. Posted by Ryan George on Sunday, September 18, 2022 At least one person has died and two buildings have been damaged after a 7.5-magnitude earthquake hit Mexico. Workers were evacuated in downtown Mexico City - just moments after people gathered to commemorate the anniversary of two other deadly quakes. The horrifying murmurs come exactly five years to the day after a deadly tremor killed 370 people in the same region. There were no immediate reports of damage from the quake that hit at 1.05pm local time, according to the U.S. Geologic Survey. Groups of locals hugged and comforted one another in the streets following the mighty tremor - as some had spent the morning attending memorials for those who had died in previous seismic events. Devastated people gather outside after a magnitude 7.5 earthquake was felt in Mexico City on Monday Two women cry and comfort one another following the earthquake - which struck on the same day as two others in the region A paramedic gives medical assistance following the quake. There have been no major injuries reported as of yet People react during a 7.5 magnitude quake in Mexico City as buildings were evacuated People rush on to the street after an earthquake in Mexico City on September 19, 2022 Rescuers, known as 'moles,' attend the solar clock in the Tlatelolco housing unit for the mass in memory of those who died in the 1985 and 2017 earthquakes in Mexico An hour before the 7.5 earthquake today, quake alarms rang out in a nationwide simulation - marking major quakes that struck on the same date in 1985 and 2017. Today's earthquake hit 29 miles south-southeast of La Placita de Morelos in the state of Michoacan and was at a depth of 6.2 miles, USGS said. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration confirmed that there is currently a tsunami threat for the coast of Mexico. Horrific footage recorded by people caught up in the quake showed fans on ceilings rocking in the tremors as closet doors slammed open and shut. Clips revealed traffic signals and signposts swaying in the middle of the streets, while tower blocks shuddered just after 1pm local time. Michoacan's Public Security department said there were no immediate reports of significant damage in that state beyond some cracks in buildings in the town of Coalcoman. Friends comfort one another following the scary quake in Mexico on Monday Paramedics and volunteers stretcher a person away after the 7.5 magnitude quake struck the region Women comfort each other after an earthquake in Mexico City on September 19, 2022 Horrific footage recorded by people caught up in the quake showed fans on ceilings rocking amid the tremors as closet doors slammed open and shut People caught up in the quake recorded their surroundings as buildings shook in the tremor Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum also tweeted that there were no reports of damage in the capital. It's unclear if there were any serious injuries but people were seen being treated by paramedics on the streets of Mexico City. This comes after Hurricane Fiona made landfall on Puerto Rico on Sunday, wiping out power and plunging the island into darkness. The U.S. territory was hit with life-threatening flash floods and mudslides as it was announced yesterday that the storm strengthened into hurricane status. The deadly weather front, which has already been blamed for one death, was about 50 miles south of the city of Ponce with maximum sustained winds near 80 miles per hour, clearing the threshold for hurricane strength, the NHC said. Torrential rains and mudslides were also forecast for the Dominican Republic as the storm progresses northwestward. People gather outside and receive medical attention after a 7.5 magnitude quake that struck the west coast in Guerrero State, was felt in Mexico City right after a drill to commemorate two prior earthquakes that took place on this same date in 1985 and 2017 A woman cries after the seismic alert was activated in Mexico City, Mexico Princess Haya bint Hussein has made a rare public appearance to attend a committal service for the Queen in Windsor. The princess came to pay her respects to the late monarch with her brother Prince Hassan bin Talal of Jordan before this afternoon's service at St George's Chapel. It came a day after her ex-husband, Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum, paid a visit to Buckingham Palace to meet King Charles at a reception on the eve of the Queen's funeral. There had been concerns the Sheikh Mohammed could come into contact with Prince Hassan at yesterday's reception, a potentially awkward encounter after Princess Haya's divorce from the Sheikh. The sheikh, a horse race-loving friend of the Royal Family and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, has been accused by one of his own daughters of keeping her hostage against her will, the High Court heard. He has consistently denied the allegations. Last year the High Court in London granted the princess full custody of the two children she had with Sheikh Mohammed after a lengthy divorce battle. She was also awarded 554million - the biggest ever divorce settlement in the UK - which will mainly be spent on security for her two children Jalila, 14, and Zayed, nine. Since then she has laid down roots in the English countryside and was a friend of the Queen, with the pair sharing a love of horses and equestrian. She was one of many close friends of Her Majesty to attend the committal service at St George's Chapel in Windsor this afternoon, where the Queen was finally laid to rest after more than a week of national mourning. Princess Haya bint Al Hussein (right) and her brother Prince Hassan bin Talal of Jordan (second right) were seen attending a committal service for the Queen in Windsor this afternoon It marks a rare public appearance for Princess Haya, who was last year awarded more than 500million in her divorce with the ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum was pictured arriving at a reception at Buckingham Palace on the eve of the Queen's funeral Princess Haya did not attend the Queen's funeral at Westminster Abbey, with her half-brother King Abdullah II representing the nation of Jordan, along with his wife Queen Rania While the princess did attend the committal service, she did not go to the Queen's funeral at Westminster Abbey earlier in the day, with her half-brother King Abdullah II representing Jordan with his wife Queen Rania. Earlier this week Princess Haya moving spoke of how she had been comforted by the Queen after her mother died in a helicopter crash in 1977, and following the death of her father King Hussein in 1999. Speaking to Reuters outside her country home a few days ago, Princess Haya said: 'I think well never, ever see a queen like that (again) and we never have before.' 'I remember after my late father died, and my late mother died, Her Majesty was kind enough to have special words for my younger brother and I and to make sure that we were alright. 'She's been for me, as everyone else, a constant thread in nearly every aspect of our lives. I think there was not a decision made or a time when I didn't think "what would Her Majesty do?" or "What would Her Majesty say?". 'She was, I think, to all walks of society and to so many people around the world... an example and an inspiration to look up to. And I did so like so many others.' The princess, who was educated in England and went to Oxford University when she was younger, filed for divorce from Sheikh Mohammed in 2019. Princess Haya fled Dubai to Britain in 2019 fearing for her safety, and successfully argued in court that her children would be at risk from being kidnapped by their father after claiming in court that he forcibly returned Princesses Latifa and Shamsa when they attempted to flee the UAE. These claims have been denied by her now ex-husband. Princess Latifa was abducted from a yacht off the coast of India in 2017 and Princess Shamsa was abducted while in Cambridge and returned to Dubai in 2000. Before the Queen's funeral yesterday the best friend of Princess Latifa said Sheikh Mohammed should not have been invited. Tiina Jauhiainen told MailOnline that the ruler of Dubai must be snubbed by Buckingham Palace and the British Government along with Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud. Ms Jauhiainen told MailOnline: 'I don't think a person with his reputation should be invited to the Queen's funeral. 'I hope we are not going to be seeing MBS [what the Crown Prince is colloquially known as] either.' Sheikh Mohammed and Princess Haya divorced in 2019 after her affair with one of her bodyguards. Pictured: The princess and sheikh at Royal Ascot in June 2008 In their divorce proceedings, the court ordered Sheikh Mohammed to pay 554million to his ex-wife, including a lump sum payment of 251million. The prince must also provide a 290m HSBC bank guarantee for his children underpinning an 11m annual maintenance payment, as well as ongoing security costs for them as adults, 3m to cover their education and 9.6m in maintenance arrears. Lawyers for the princess had argued tight security was needed to keep her and the children safe from her ex-husband. Mr Justice Moor declared in a 73 page judgement that there was a 'clear and ever-present risk' to the princess and her two young children and that Sheikh Mohammed was the 'main threat to her'. The judgement revealed how Princess Haya alleged that she had paid out 7million to 'blackmailers' on her security staff to keep secret her affair with her British bodyguard, Russell Flowers, which led to the breakdown of her marriage. The billionaire Dubai ruler has previously been found on the balance of probabilities to have abducted two of his adult daughters, Shamsa (left) and Latifa (right) While the award allows the princess to continue to live in the life of luxury she enjoyed as the sheikh's sixth wife, it is 900m less than what her lawyers had originally demanded. Mr Justice Moor wrote in his judgment: 'There will remain a clear and present risk to HRH for the remainder of her life, whether it be from HH (her ex) or just the normal terrorist and other threats faced by the princess in her position.' Sheikh Mohammed was also found to have had his agents 'hack' the phones of his ex-wife and her lawyers, including Baroness Fiona Shackleton. Advertisement Stunning satellite images have captured the huge scale of the Queen's funeral procession through the streets of London with hundreds of thousands lining the roads to say their final farewells after spots filled up to see the solemn procession at 9am this morning. Up to 2million people crowded into central London to see the coffin after the state funeral at Westminster Abbey attended by 2,000 royals, heads of state and 200 members of the public. And these stunning moments from Westminster Abbey to the Mall, and through the Albert Memorial have been captured from above showing the sheer scale of the crowds who lined central London's streets to catch a glimpse of the casket and tens of thousands were squeezed into Hyde Park to watch the momentous event on screens along with 4billion people who watched the funeral on TV. Mourners covered the royal hearse in flowers as it travelled to Windsor from Wellington Arch this afternoon after the Queen was carried past Buckingham Palace for a final time. The crowd was so dense that those at the back could only view the procession through their phones held high on selfie sticks while children sat on their parents' shoulders and some clapped as the procession passed by. Thousands of people also fell silent, held their phones aloft and waved flags as the Queen's coffin passed along the Long Walk towards St George's Chapel. This morning the last of the 400,000 people to see the Queen lying in state paid their respects before she was carried on a gun carriage from Westminster Hall to the church where she married and was crowned as an estimated 4billion people watched on TV worldwide. The Queen is tonight going to be laid to rest to be with her beloved Prince Philip after her crown, orb and sceptre were removed from her coffin so she could descend into her grave 'as a simple Christian soul'. A satellite image shows the procession for late Queen Elizabeth and crowds at horse guards parade, in London earlier today as thousands of people fell silent, held their phones aloft and waved flags as the Queen's coffin passed by Huge crowds are pictured gathering at Hyde Park, in London on Monday as they watched the Monarch's funeral from big screens in the park. It is also one of the other official areas to lay flowers for the Queen A satellite image shows a closer view of the funeral procession for late Queen Elizabeth leaving Westminster Abbey After being taken by gun carriage from Westminster Abbey to Wellington Arch, the State Hearse carried the Queen's coffin west along the south edge of Hyde Park in central London, before passing through Queens Gate and heading down Cromwell Road Her Majesty returned home to Windsor to be reunited for eternity with her husband, father, mother and sister in the royal crypt at St George's Chapel as her 70-year reign came to an end this evening. The Royal Family stood at the end of the short committal service as the Queen was slowly lowered while the Dean of Windsor said: 'Go forth upon thy journey from this world, O Christian soul.' He also offered the commendation - a prayer in which the deceased is entrusted to God's mercy. Moments earlier the Dean had placed her crown and other crown jewels on the altar before the Lord Chamberlain snapped his staff of office - signifying the severing of the Queen from her public service in death. The Garter King of Arms then pronounced the styles and titles of the Queen as all power moved to her son, the King, before the coffin was lowered to the lament of a lone piper and Britain and the world said a tender farewell to the late monarch following 70 years of service to the nation. Charles looked deeply moved as the Queen's oak coffin descended to the crypt on a day where he appeared tearful on a number of occasions as he said goodbye to his 'Mama', the 12th British monarch to be buried at Windsor. Her Majesty's long journey to her final resting place - and to be reunited with the Duke of Edinburgh - began in Balmoral on the day of her death 11 days ago and will end with her private interment next to her 'strength and stay' Philip this evening where the King will scatter earth on his mother's coffin at a private family service. A satellite image shows an overview of the funeral procession for late Queen Elizabeth leaving Westminster Abbey The crowds at the Mall to catch a glimpse of the Horse Guards Parade and Buckingham Palace as the coffin and royals make their journey from Westminster to Windsor for the Queen's final rest The Victoria Memorial can be seen in the middle of this image as the crowds surround line up on the sides near Buckingham Palace It is estimated that over a million people flocked to royal sites as thousands, pictured here, could be seen watching the funeral procession route, near Hyde Park The funeral procession route then passes the Albert Memorial, in London as those lucky to get a spot, which was full by 9am, arrived to see the Queen make her last journey to Windsor A satellite image shows a closer view of the funeral procession for late Queen Elizabeth leaving Westminster Abbey That private service, which is due to start at 7.30pm, is believed to be taking place at the moment. Britain's longest reigning monarch had been carried into the historic church followed by Charles III, her children and grandchildren including Prince Harry and Prince William. St George's was where the Queen had sat alone during the funeral of Prince Philip last year - in one of the most poignant images of the pandemic - and it was where she had loved to worship for so many years when at Windsor. Members of the congregation include the late monarch's nearest and dearest, her household staff past and present, and foreign royal families. A wreath from Number 10, signed by Prime Minister Liz Truss, sits close to the door of the chapel, and says: 'For a lifetime of devotion and duty we offer our deep and sincere gratitude.' Flowers of all kinds cover the area around the chapel, from bouquets of red roses to pink lilies to potted plants to wreaths from foreign royals. Inside one of the main entrances to the chapel, a floral arrangement of white blossoms sits in full bloom. Among the flowers in the chapel were lilies, dahlias, roses, and greenery including Eucalyptus and other greenery picked from Home Park. People take selfies as they wait for the State Funeral Procession of Queen Elizabeth II on Whitehall Mourners wrapped in blankets wait with others at Horse Guards ahead of the State Funeral Of Queen Elizabeth II after camped People slept on the floor and on chairs wrapped in blankets ahead of the first state funeral for almost 60 years US President Joe Biden is seen standing next to his seat as French President Emmanuel Macron looks pensive in a nearby aisle King Charles III, Camilla, the Queen Consort, Princess Anne, and her husband Vice Admiral Tim Laurence, Prince Andrew, Prince Edward, and his wife Sophie, Countess of Wessex, Prince William, and Kate, Princess of Wales with their children Princess Charlotte of Wales, Prince George of Wales, Britain's Prince Harry, and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, David Armstrong-Jones, Earl of Snowden, Peter Phillips, The Duke of Gloucester, Prince Michael of Kent and the Duke of Kent follow the coffin The service, with a strong thread of tradition running throughout, was discussed with the Queen over a number of years and all the prayers and hymns were chosen by her - apart from one. The Queen left one hymn to be chosen at the time, and after a discussion between the King and the Dean of Windsor David Conner, the hymn chosen was Westminster Abbey adapted from the Alleluyas in Purcell's O God, Thou art my God. The Mall was a frenzy of activity yesterday, as people arrived to lay flowers nearby, get a glimpse of Buckingham Palace and Horse Guards Parade, and bag their vantage points for the funeral procession as it makes its way from Westminster to Windsor. Tim Thompson, 35, from New Brunswick in Canada, and Charlie Shirley, 36, from north London, also slept in a tent on the Mall. The pair became friends after being sat next to each other for William and Kate's wedding in 2011, and resumed their same spot together on Saturday. Miss Shirley said: 'We do all the royal events together, it's like we're a family. 'I saw Tim at the Queen's Jubilee and we said that the next time we see each other would probably be at the Queen's funeral we didn't expect it to be three months later.' Mr Thompson said: 'I keep four days' holiday a year for royal events, so I had to be here.' American businesswoman Nicole Alford, 40, paid around 1,300 for a last-minute flight to London on Thursday, and said she would camp out until after the funeral. The Abbey, where the Queen was crowned in 1953, was the church where her state funeral was held in an extraordinary event attended by 2,000 VIPs, royals and heads of state The Queen's coffin crosses Horse Guards Parade this afternoon The funeral procession marches down The Mall following the service at Westminster Abbey, on the day of the state funeral and burial of Britain's Queen Elizabeth. Her children and grandchildren followed with other royals in their cars In extraordinary and moving scenes, the Queen left London as flowers were thrown at the hearse as she made her way to Windsor In extraordinary and moving scenes, an estimated 2million well-wishers lined the streets to say farewell to Britain's longest reigning monarch, Elizabeth II, with showers of bouquets greeting her hearse as it drove from West London to Berkshire The Queen heads towards Windsor Castle where she will be reunited with Prince Philip Huge crowds cheer the Queen and throw flowers in her path The Queen's coffin head along The Long Walk to Windsor Castle ahead of her burial Mourners watch the State Hearse of Queen Elizabeth II as it drives along the Long Walk ahead of the Committal Service for Queen Elizabeth II The King looks moved as her mother is finally laid to rest during the service of committal The Queen is laid to rest for eternity in St George's Chapel in Windsor as her coffin is lowered into the royal vault following her state funeral at Westminster Abbey this morning She said: 'You don't come all this way and then watch it on the TV. I want a front-seat of history. 'My mom said: 'I can't believe you're doing that.' 'I said: 'I can't believe you didn't think I would do that.' 'Everybody thinks I'm crazy, but I managed five-and-a-half hours' uninterrupted sleep on my first night camping out here, so I'm fine.' Semi-retired teacher Ian Rhodes, 66, and his wife Sue, 58, from Alton in Staffordshire, arrived at the Mall at 11am yesterday to claim their spot although they said they would sleep in deckchairs rather than pitch a tent. Mr Rhodes said: 'The only other time I've queued overnight for anything was when Stoke City got to Wembley for the cup final in 1972, and I waited overnight at the club shop with my friends to get tickets. 'People have said we're mad, but sanity is relative.' Mrs Rhodes said the couple's two adult sons were a bit concerned about their parents 'roughing it' overnight in London, but said: 'I told them we were going to do it anyway when has their mother ever done what she was told?' Paulette Galley, from Boston in Lincolnshire, said she was determined to stay on The Mall overnight. The 54-year-old kitchen assistant, originally from south London, said: 'I might not get any sleep but I don't care. She was my Queen, and I want to pay my respects to her. 'There is no way I wouldn't be here.' Advertisement More than four billion people were expected to tune in to watch the Queen's funeral today, with mourners across the globe watching on smartphones, on big screens, at pubs and in churches. People from around the Commonwealth and the world lit candles, waved flags and lay flowers as they watched the longest reigning British monarch being laid to rest. Many of those who spoke at the late Queen Elizabeth II's funeral service at Westminster Abbey this morning acknowledged that this would be a momentous day not just for Britons. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, told mourners: 'The grief of this day, felt not only by the late Queen's family but all round the nation, Commonwealth and world, arises from her abundant life and loving service, now gone from us. 'She was joyful, present to so many, touching a multitude of lives.' In some of the 14 other countries where the Queen was the head of state, memorial services and parades were held to commemorate her 70 years of service. In Kolkata, India, women threw flower petals on to a picture of the late Queen Elizabeth II in front of the Victoria Memorial Hall Buddhist monks held a prayer session to mark the funeral of Britain's longest serving monarch in Kathmandu, Nepal Members of the armed forces in Antigua and Barbuda took part in a parade for the late Queen, who remained head of state to the tiny nation after its independence in 1981, in the capital St John's The funeral was broadcast on big screens and in pubs and churches around the world. Pictured: a screening at St Andrew's Cathedral in Sydney Locals and British expatriates gathered to watch the service on a big screen at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town, South Africa Members of the armed forces in Antigua and Barbuda took part in a parade for the late Queen, who remained head of state to the tiny nation after its independence in 1981, in the capital St John's. Beforehand, dignitaries, politicians and the military had attended a memorial service in the Cathedral of St John the Divine. In Ottawa, Canada dignitaries gathered at Christ Church Cathedral for a solemn send-off to Queen Elizabeth, with former prime minister Brian Mulroney speaking of her 'very deep love for Canada - its diversity, its geography and its history'. In the Commonwealth country of Malta, where the then Princess Elizabeth lived briefly with her husband before she became Queen, a 21-gun salute was fired in the capital Valletta. People also gathered to watch the service at The Phoenicia hotel, where Elizabeth and Philip regularly attended dances between 1949 and 1951. In the Commonwealth country of Malta, where the then Princess Elizabeth lived briefly with her husband before she became Queen, a 21-gun salute was fired in the capital Valletta Members of the Antigua and Barbuda armed forces participated in a parade for Queen Elizabeth II in Saint John's In Ottawa, Canada dignitaries gathered at Christ Church Cathedral for a solemn send-off to Queen Elizabeth, with former prime minister Brian Mulroney speaking of her 'very deep love for Canada - its diversity, its geography and its history' People gathered to watch the service at The Phoenicia hotel, where Elizabeth and Philip regularly attended dances between 1949 and 1951 Mourners left floral tributes and held a candle-lit vigil as they watched the service outside the British Consulate in Hong Kong While some gathered to watch the service in churches and pubs, others managed to catch a glimpse of the elaborate ceremony on their phones. Big screens were also erected in Cape Town, Hong Kong and elsewhere to allow locals and British expatriates to come together and pay their respects. Mourners held a candle-lit vigil as they watched the service outside the British Consulate in Hong Kong, Buddhist monks hosted a prayer session at Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling Monastery in Kathmandu, Nepal and women threw flowers on a picture of the late Queen in front of Victoria Memorial Hall in Kolkata, India. In many Commonwealth countries national landmarks were lit up to pay tribute, with the sails of the Sydney Opera House once again being illuminated by a portrait of Queen Elizabeth. While some watched the service on big screens, others tuned in on their mobile phones, such as this mourner in Nairobi, Kenya In the Commonwealth country of Malta, a portrait of Queen Elizabeth with British and Maltese flags adorned a balcony in Sliema A woman held a Union Flag and a candle as she attended a live broadcast of the state funeral outside the British Consulate in Hong Kong And in some places public landmarks were renamed to honour historic day. Paris's George V Metro station under the Champs-Elysees, which was named after the late Queen's grandfather, was renamed Elizabeth II for the day of the funeral. The world's media also demonstrated the remarkable impact Queen Elizabeth managed to have on people across the globe. 'Few leaders receive such an outpouring of love', Norway's public broadcaster NRK said on its front page while Germany's Tagesspiegel lamented that 'we will never see anything like it again.' Some 500 leaders from around the world crammed into Westminster Abbey for a service which was likened to a 'global who's who' while two million packed the streets and an estimated 4billion tuned in from home for what was dubbed the 'most-followed event in history'. Paris's George V Metro station under the Champs-Elysees, which was named after the late Queen's grandfather, was renamed Elizabeth II for the day of the funeral In Antigua and Barbuda dignitaries, politicians and the military had attended a memorial service in the Cathedral of St John the Divine Wyoming GOP Rep. Liz Cheney has introduced her own version of legislation to reform the Electoral Count Act that she says would prevent future attempts by former President Trump or others to try to 'steal' a presidential election. The legislation, which follows a separate effort in the Senate, comes after experts identified ambiguities in the 1887, which sets out the procedures for certifying and counting the electoral votes for president. Trump leaned in imprecise language in his repeated demands that former Vice President Mike Pence refuse to accept votes that were counted and certified by states. The overturn effort featured in Trump's second impeachment, as well as probes by the House Jan. 6th Committee. There is a Justice Department investigation of the 'fake' electors scheme. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., introduced legislation to reform the 1887 Electoral Count Act, which governs how Congress proceeds with the the Electoral College vote in presidential elections 'Our proposal is intended to preserve the rule of law for all future presidential elections by ensuring that self-interested politicians cannot steal from the people the guarantee that our government derives its power from the consent of the governed,' wrote Cheney and Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), who serves with her on the Jan. 6 panel and was a House impeachment manager. The lawmakers point to former President Trump's 'intentionally false election-fraud allegations' as well as the primary wins at the national, state and local level of candidates who 'also embrace those lies and other groundless conspiracy theories.' 'This raises the prospect of another effort to steal a presidential election, perhaps with another attempt to corrupt Congresss proceeding to tally electoral votes,' they write. The legislation appears to be on a fast-track. The House Rules Committee is set to meet on it Tuesday, with a House vote scheduled for Wednesday. The bill reaffirms that the vice president 'has no authority or discretion to reject official state electoral slates, to delay the count in any material way, or to issue procedural rulings that have such an effect,' the two lawmakers write in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. The bill points to the 12th Amendment to the Constitution, which states: 'The President of the Senate [the vice president] shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted. The person having the greatest number of votes for President, shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed. The bill is on a fast track, with a House vote expected this week Ceremonial: The bill clarifies the 'ceremonial' role of the Vice President, who presides over the Senate and a joint session for counting the electoral votes Cheney cites 'prospect of another effort to steal a presidential election' The bill states that On January 6, 2021, a mob professing 25 support for then-President Trump violently attacked the United States Capitol in an effort to prevent a Joint Session of Congress from certifying the electoral college votes designating Joseph R. Biden the 46th President of the United States' Former President Trump tried to overturn the election and 'knew that scheme would violate both the U.S. Constitution and the Electoral Count Act of 1887,' write Cheney and Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) The bill also says a candidate must have a 'good-faith basis for the factual or legal contentions asserted.' Cheney writes that Trump continues to make 'intentionally false election-fraud allegations.' His allies, including Rudy Giuliani and lawyer Disney Powell, made numerous election claims that were thrown out of court The bill points to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol states that it is intended 'to prevent other future unlawful efforts to overturn Presidential elections and to ensure future peaceful transfers of Presidential power. The bill spells out the 'limited extension of time' for submitting electors amid an effort by Trump allies to have Pence send back electors to states beyond the Jan. 6 statutory deadline to provide more time for challenges, despite dozens of prior defeats in court. The 12th Amendment's role for the vice president 'The President of the Senate [the vice president] shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted. The person having the greatest number of votes for President, shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed. - 12th Amendment to the Constitution Advertisement The exceptions would be for a ''catastrophic event' in the state that has 'prevented a substantial portion of the States electorate from casting a ballot on such day, or caused a substantial portion of ballots already cast to be destroyed.' The numbers impacted must be 'sufficient in number to potentially affect the ability of that candidate to win the election with respect to one or more presidential electors.' It also builds in some financial incentives, in the wake of a series of efforts to try to stall or invalidate votes in states that went for Joe Biden. 'If a court finds that someone filing to delay proceedings didn't have a 'good-faith basis for the factual or legal contentions asserted in the action,' they could face three times both sides' attorneys' fees in the action.,' according to the bill. It would also require states to conduct elections under rules in place before Election Day. A Senate committee is set to vote Sept. 27 on its version of the bill. Cheney lost her primary this summer and was stripped of her post as chair of the GOP Conference after leading the effort to impeach Trump after the Capitol riot. When it was reported last night that Prince Harry had just been informed of his grandmother's passing five minutes before it was made public, palace staff members reacted violently. The saddened prince was reportedly the last person to learn of the queen's passing and even received the news after Prime Minister Liz Truss. The Daily Telegraph claims that this is simply another example of the tension between the prince and his family. Prince Harry Allegedly Last To Inform About Queen Elizabeth II's Death However, the fact that such reports had surfaced on the night of the Queen's funeral, which was viewed as extremely disrespectful, clearly infuriated Buckingham Palace. A spokeswoman for the King emphasized in an uncommon remark on such a private affair that the public was only told after every family member had been informed. Although Prince Harry was indeed informed just before the news went public, this was because he was en route to Scotland and so unreachable. The original story was removed from the Telegraph website last night. Then, a revised version was made public, indicating that Prince Harry had had the same treatment as the rest of the family. It happens at the same time as a friend of the Sussex family yesterday called the choice to keep Prince Harry and Meghan Markle out of last night's reception of the century at Buckingham Palace beyond insane. After being allegedly uninvited from a state ceremony for 1,000 world leaders and foreign royals attending the Queen's burial, the friend stated that the Sussexes will feel excluded and unwelcome. It is believed that King Charles and the Queen Consort invited Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle to attend the occasion. However, it is understood that later, Buckingham Palace authorities emphasized that the reception was strictly for working royals. A friend of the Sussexes said, "It is beyond nuts if they aren't there." Everyone is traveling here from all over the world to honor the Queen. There are communication problems between the California-based couple and the Royal Family, as evidenced by the misunderstanding surrounding Harry and Meghan's invitation. It comes after an apparent about-face about Harry's eligibility to don a military uniform despite not being a working royal. After Prince Andrew was permitted to preserve the royal cipher, Prince Harry was reportedly left devastated when the Queen's initials, "ER," were taken from the shoulder of his military uniform as he stood vigil beside her coffin last night. The insider claimed yesterday that the uniform controversy and the welcome at Buckingham Palace might have given him the impression that the majority of the operation is against you. Nobody loves to feel left out, so it can be challenging, as per Daily Mail. Read Also: Anne Heche's Ex-Husband, Son Battle Against Control Over Actress' Estate; Memoir Written Before She Died Details Relationship with Ellen DeGeneres King Charles III Might Strip Off Prince Harry's Remaining Royal Title King Charles is currently working on a new strategy that could further alienate Prince Harry from the royal family. The King is reportedly considering changing the requirements for filling in for him. Currently, if the monarch is ill or away from home and unable to perform their duties, two counselors of state are appointed to fill in for them. They are chosen from the spouse of the monarch and the following four adults in line for the throne. As a result, Princess Beatrice, Camilla, Prince William, Prince Harry, and Prince Andrew serve as King Charles' current ministers of state. Prince Harry, Prince Andrew, and Prince Beatrice would be demoted if King Charles changed the laws to allow only working royals to serve as counselors of state. To thin down the Royal Family, the next sovereign may appoint Princess Anne and Prince Edward to the position of counselor of state. King Charles would need the UK parliament to revise the 1937 Regency Act to implement the reforms. In addition, if King Charles wishes Kate Middleton, who is not a member of the royal family, to serve as one of the council members, the statute may need to be completely revised, NEWS reported. Related Article: [Report] Meghan Markle Plans To Return to UK with Prince Harry, Children as Duchess Tries To Repair Strained Ties with Royal Family @YouTube @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. A former Cleveland-area mechanic has completed his lifelong goal of becoming a medical physician nearly 32 years after opening his auto shop. Carl Allamby, 51, started his job in an emergency room as an attending physician at Cleveland Clinic's Hillcrest Hospital in Mayfield Heights, Ohio, 16 years after deciding he wanted to return to school. He enrolled at Ursuline College in Pepper Pike, Ohio, in 2016 at age 34 to attain a business degree, after having been a small business owner for 15 years. After taking an introductory biology course, Allamby was reminded of 'childhood ambitions' to become a doctor. He then enrolled in pre-med classes at Cleveland's Cuyahoga Community College in 2010. 'After my decision to pursue medicine, I started volunteering at a hospital in the Cleveland area,' Allamby told FOX News. 'Every exposure I had in medicine further solidified my choice to pursue a medical career.' Carl Allamby, 51, decided to pursue a career in medicine after returning to school at age 36 Allamby attributes his decision to attend pre-med classes to an introductory biology course he took while completing a business degree The former Cleveland-based mechanic, who opened his first auto shop at age 19, was accepted to Northeast Ohio Medical University in 2015 Allamby juggled his career as a mechanic with collegiate courses and volunteering at local hospitals for nine years 'In my previous life as a master technician, I worked on almost every make and model and fixed everything from brakes to major engine and transmission rebuilds,' Allamby said, adding that his career as a mechanic led to his success in medicine Once he was accepted to a program at Cleveland State University to prepare for medical school, Allamby continued to maintain his auto repair business while also taking classes. 'Over the course of five years or better, I attended weekend, evening or early morning classes in pre-medicine and other college studies while managing my business, lifestyle and household in order to transition my career,' he said. 'My exit from business could not be abrupt. I had too many people counting on me and too many bills to maintain.' Allamby then started medical school at Northeast Ohio Medical University in 2015, adding that he would not let his age - then 45 - get in his way as he studied with younger students. 'I worked very hard to stay ahead. but I think all of my responsibilities kept me focused on what needed to get done,' he said. 'That helped me to consume the large quantities of information that must be understood to succeed in medicine.' He graduated from medical school at 47 and started an emergency medicine residency at Cleveland Clinic Akron in 2019. Allamby said his decision to start his small business at 19 was 'mostly out of desperation and necessity' because of financial restraints The former mechanic attributes his time working on cars to his success as a practicing physician. 'In my previous life as a master technician, I worked on almost every make and model and fixed everything from brakes to major engine and transmission rebuilds,' he said. 'I had a lot of customers break down in tears or who were visibly shaken when I explained the diagnosis and eventual fate of their vehicle.' 'Interestingly, as I have gotten older, the human connection and thought of empathy and caring for others have been equally important.' Allamby said he had 'childhood ambitions' of pursuing a career in medicine before he became more involved at a local car parts shop Allamby remembers first moving to an East Cleveland in the mid '70s because it was the only area his father, a door-to-door salesman, and his mother could afford a home. 'We faced economic hardships throughout my upbringing and were on welfare for what seemed to be my entire childhood,' he said. He added that while he appreciated the efforts of his early teachers, he was more focused on his quality of life at home. 'I remember having a desire at a young age to become a doctor but my life circumstances led me to a much different place,' he continued. 'From my own experience, it is very difficult to focus on your education when your mind is filled with challenges outside the walls of the school. Food insecurity, safely making it to and from school, affording decent clothing and or just trying to fit in took precedent over studying and getting good grades.' Allamby got a job at a car parts store while in high school and worked side jobs performing various repairs and maintenance opportunities. At 19, he opened Allamby's Auto Service 'mostly out of desperation and necessity.' His growing desire that led him to return to school came after challenges of becoming a small business owner became apparent in the mid-2000s. Now, 32 years after opening his auto shop, Allamby has made his childhood dream of working in medicine come true. Conservative radio host Larry Elder is considering running for president in 2024 - and he won't be deterred by another run from Donald Trump. Elder, who last year took on California Gov. Gavin Newsom in the state's gubernatorial recall election, claimed he does not 'feel' like he would be opposing Trump by running in the 2024 primary, but rather taking on President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. 'I don't feel I'm running against him,' Elder told the Des Moines Register. 'I'm running for president. And I'm not running against anybody on the Republican side. I'm running against Joe Biden if he runs, or Kamala Harris if she runs.' Trump has not formally announced another campaign for office but regularly makes comments suggesting he wants to get back to the White House. Elder, 70, left his longtime syndicated talk show 'The Larry Elder Show' in April 2021 after hosting it since the 90s. Ultimately Newsom successfully staved off a recall, but Elder was at the top of the field of candidates to replace him and was a frontrunner in the recall effort. The radio host's insouciant attitude toward primarying a former president is curious given his longtime support of Trump. Soon after Trump announced his candidacy in 2016 - and long before many other conservative heavyweights lended their support- Elder was urging his audience: 'We ought to get behind him.' Conservative radio host Larry Elder is considering running for president in 2024 - and he won't be deterred by another run from Donald Trump Elder claimed he does not 'feel' like he would be opposing Trump by running in the 2024 primary, but rather taking on President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris 'The election of Donald Trump in 2016, in my opinion, was divine intervention,' Elder told an audience of California conservatives in 2019. 'It was a miracle. He is almost God-sent.' But during his race for governor Elder told CNN he was 'indifferent' about receiving an endorsement from the former president. As recent races have shown, Trump's support can make or break a Republican in a primary. Soon after he entered the governor's race last year he confirmed he would keep the former president at arm's length by refuting his election fraud claims, saying: 'I do believe Joe Biden won the election fairly and squarely.' Elder was in Des Moines to give a speech to the Faith and Freedom Coalition, where several hundred Republican donors listened to him emphasize the importance of the nuclear family. 'We know that our welfare state incentivizes women to marry the government, and incentivizes men to abandon financial and moral responsibility,' Elder said. Saturday was not Elder's first visit to Iowa, the first-in-the-nation state to caucus - in August he was there for the Iowa State Fair. In January he launched a PAC to support Republican candidates in federal and local races. Advertisement For a moment the squabbles over uniform seemed unworthy, the saga over insignia an irrelevance. In Westminster Abbey, which has borne witness to truly momentous chapters in Britain's history, the vanity of Prince Andrew and Prince Harry was reduced to mere petty detail. In the days since the Queen's death, there has been a sense of hostilities suspended and grief shared. Equally, in the great church where monarchs are crowned and mourned, there was a powerful reminder that family unity is as important as public affection in binding the monarchy to the nation. Yesterday was not just about bringing the curtain down on the Elizabethan era, it was also the day when the baton of royal symbolism was passed from a mother to a son. King Charles has an in-tray bursting with challenging demands, from shoring up a Commonwealth to holding together a fractious United Kingdom. But his first test, and one which may define his reign, is to resolve a family crisis that caused his mother so much heartache in her last years. No wonder at times yesterday his face seemed so bleak that not even the consoling presence of his beloved wife the Queen Consort could ease his sorrowing. He knows that his role as head of state does not confer upon him an automatic right to be the most popular member of the Royal Family; he knows that affection has to be earned. Barred from uniform and saluting: Both Prince Harry (on left) and Prince Andrew (on right) who are no longer working royals appeared in morning suits and appear lost in thought as King Charles and Princess Anne salute in their Royal Navy uniforms at Westminster Abbey Companion: Duke pets one of his mother's beloved dogs (left), the corgis, Sandy and Muick. He is due to look after the dogs after it was announced shortly after Queen Elizabeth II died. Prince Andrew looks like he is full of emotion (on right) during the procession of his mother's coffin near Westminster Abbey as Prince Harry (pictured on right, behind the Duke) also appears to be looking hurt just behind his uncle as they attend the funeral of the late Monarch, 96 Prince Harry stands while other members of the Royal Family salute ahead of the state funeral of the Queen this morning Prince Harry and Prince Andrew stand while other members of the royal family salute towards the coffin in London today King Charles II with his head as the Queen Consort sits beside him at this morning's service in Westminster Abbey But he understands, too, that the synthetic fame represented by California-based Prince Harry and Meghan, with their huge social media following, is corrosive to the long-term well-being of the monarchy. It seems to be built on a misplaced sense of victimhood. Charles's hope is that, having been so much part of the spectacular events of the past week and a half, his son finally realises that the qualities of duty and service celebrated in the national outpouring of heartfelt affection for the Queen are the true measure of popularity. It may be a forlorn hope. Allowing it to be made known that having the Queen's initials removed from his Army uniform when he stood vigil on Saturday night over his grandmother's coffin has left him devastated, suggests that Harry has not learnt this lesson. It would seem he has still not grasped the consequences of quitting royal life. His decision to abandon it is why, at the funeral and other key events, he was not permitted to wear the military attire that means so much to him. At both Windsor and in the Abbey, his face was rigidly fixed on some distant point, a picture of concentration. Yet if he needed any reminder of the life he has surrendered and the part he could have in it, it was all around. The coffin of Queen Elizabeth II is carried into Westminster Abbey, followed by King Charles III and other royals today Prince William and Prince Harry stand next to each other on the day of the state funeral for the Queen this morning The Duke of Sussex - who put aside his feud with his brother, Prince William, to walk alongside him behind the Queen's coffin - was wearing a civilian suit rather than uniform due to no longer being a senior royal The Duchess of Sussex, 41, walked into the historic church in a sombre procession behind the Queen's coffin. In front of her was Kate, the two eldest Cambridge children, and Prince Edward and his wife, the Duchess of Wessex He cannot have failed to have been moved by the pageantry, both solemn and poignant. Nor how each brought the royal traditions of the past into the present day and gave them resonance and meaning. Harry yesterday was not just mourning the loss of a grandmother she was also the figure to whom in his anguish he turned as his royal life unravelled. There is no doubt that grandson and monarch had a close bond. The Queen's staff have told me how, in the early days of Harry's exile in America, the Queen would excitedly take his phone calls. Over time this changed and she later became perplexed by Harry's complaints. His route-one approach infuriated other senior royals but he wasn't the only one to adopt such a strategy. Prince Andrew placed his salvation too in his mother's hands. Stripped of his military links and patronages and forced to step down from royal duties, he continued to remain close to the Queen, including escorting her in to the Abbey in March for the memorial service to Prince Philip. There is no doubt that there was some public sympathy for both Andrew and Harry, the only two close members of the Queen's family to have seen active service in wartime. Both men had unquestionably demonstrated considerable bravery, Harry on two occasions in Afghanistan and Andrew as a helicopter pilot in the Falklands War. But while their courage has never been in doubt, their judgment and common sense have been. Meghan and Harry are sitting on the second row, directly behind King Charles III, the Queen Consort and Princess Anne Meghan and Harry singing during today's funeral service. Next to them were Princess Beatrice and her husband, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi Britain's King Charles III, Britain's Camilla, Queen Consort, Britain's Princess Anne, Princess Royal, Vice Admiral Timothy Laurence, Britain's Prince Andrew, Duke of York, Britain's Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, Britain's Sophie, Countess of Wessex, Britain's Prince William, Prince of Wales, Britain's Catherine, Princess of Wales, Peter Phillips, Zara Tindall and her husband Mike Tindall King Charles looks tearful while an emotional Prince Harry looked away from the Queen's coffin at the end of the funeral King Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward are seen lined up outside Westminster Abbey ahead of Prince William, Prince Harry and Peter Phillips at today's funeral service Princess Anne, Prince Andrew, Prince Harry, Peter Phillips and Timothy Laurence walk after a service at Westminster Abbey on the day of the state funeral and burial of Britain's Queen Elizabeth From Charles, who has had to manage the fallout, there has been both anger and sadness. Andrew's decision to speak to the BBC over the Jeffrey Epstein affair, in which he failed to acknowledge any fault or offer any apology, was viewed by Charles as a monumental act of folly and self-harm. Harry's on-going habit of giving interviews as well as his planned memoir has been more personally hurtful. Charles had welcomed Meghan into the family famously walking her up the aisle at the royal wedding when her own father was unable to attend. But their complaints about racism within the family, as well as attacks on the integrity of members of the Royal Household, have wounded him. When the Royal Family next gathers on such a ceremonial scale as we have witnessed over these days, it will be for King Charles's Coronation. Where then, and how, will Harry and Meghan feature? And can Andrew expect anything other than a role as a spectator? For Harry the breathtaking events of the Queen's obsequies can have left him in no doubt that unless he is prepared to accept the olive branch extended so generously by his father, he is in danger of being written out of the royal story. He must surely be reflecting, too, on how his brother William has offered reconciliation, standing or marching at his side for all the important events, from the lying-in-state to the funeral. He could so easily be restored to the heart of the family. An emotional Prince Harry in Westminster Abbey for today's funeral alongside his wife, the Duchess of Sussex The Queen's four children showed off their array of service medals as they followed their late mother's coffin into and out of Westminster Abbey in London following their mother's state funeral today. The quartet displayed medals that demonstrated their commitment to public service, others that showed individual military achievements and more commemorating the Queen's 70-year reign The Lord Chamberlain breaks his Wand of Office before the Queen's coffin is lowered as King Charles III watches on intently behind him at St George's Chapel There has been awakened in the British people in the past few days a sense, once more, not simply of the past, but of continuity in their country and their way of life. It has been refreshing for many of us to find a way of taking pride in our country. Yesterday's events, with their deep echoes of ancient religion, heraldry and tradition, were not just about the continuity of the royal house. They were about the continuity of a nation and its people. Charles is undoubtedly the focus of those feelings but Harry could certainly have a role, should he wish it, in that continuity. It is just possible that everything he has seen has opened his eyes to what his future could be. As for Prince Andrew who has clung on to every royal privilege in contrast to his mother's lack of grandeur and her dignity and modesty there cannot be a royal future. But he need not be banished from his brother's kingdom. Some years ago Charles ruefully said of his brother, then in the middle of some other mishap, that what Andrew really wanted was 'to be me'. He suggested to his mother that perhaps the younger prince, who for many years had been heir in line to the throne, should work for him. In Charles's patronage as King, might there not be such a role, in which a dutiful Andrew could make amends for mistakes? He would certainly earn his brother's undying gratitude if he took it. Moment of truce and reconciliation? William silently shows Harry and Meghan to their seats beside wife Kate as warring brothers say final farewell to their grandmother in St George's Chapel at Windsor By Mark Duell for MailOnline Prince William today directed his estranged brother Prince Harry and sister-in-law Meghan Markle to their seats at St George's Chapel just before the committal service for their late grandmother the Queen got underway. The brothers have put aside their feud for a united front to remember the monarch, and again showed that they could at least be on speaking terms as they interacted with each other in the chapel at Windsor Castle. William was seen walking to the end of the pew while holding back his son Prince George next to wife Kate Middleton and daughter Princess Charlotte, as he beckoned for Harry and Meghan to walk past them. Harry and Meghan then took their seats, with the Duke of Sussex sitting next to Charlotte. Kate was sat in between Charlotte and George, with the nine-year-old prince next to William who was on the end of the pew. The royals had followed behind the Queen's coffin into the chapel after it was lifted from the state hearse and carried in ahead of the service at 4pm. The procession was led in by members of the Queen's royal household. Once again King Charles III followed behind the coffin, with Queen Consort Camilla, as well as Princess Anne and Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence behind, then Prince Andrew, Prince Edward and Sophie, Countess of Wessex. Earlier today, William and Harry also walked together behind the Queen's coffin in London in emotional scenes this morning before it was carried into Westminster Abbey by the military bearer party for her state funeral. Today marks the fourth day in just over a week that Harry and William have carried out engagements together, with royal observers hoping they are making first steps to put their troubled relationship behind them. The brothers also followed behind the Queen's coffin for a procession to Westminster Hall last Wednesday; a vigil over the coffin on Saturday; and a walkabout with Kate and Meghan outside Windsor Castle on September 10. While William and Harry have put aside their disagreements for royal events in recent days, fears over the content of Harry's upcoming memoir continue to cast a cloud over their relationship - especially following the bombshell interview he and Meghan gave to Oprah Winfrey in March 2021 when they accused an unnamed royal of racism. Rumours of a rift between the brothers first emerged in 2019 when they divided their households following various disagreements about Harry's role, but their feud deepened amid the fallout from the Megxit saga in 2020. But the death of the Queen has seen the rivals shelve their differences, with William and Kate joined in recent days by Harry and Meghan for the first occasions in more than two years since Commonwealth Day in March 2020. Prince William directs Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to their seats at St George's Chapel for the committal service today Prince William lets Harry and Meghan into the pew before his family at St George's Chapel in Windsor this afternoon William was seen walking to the end of the pew while holding back his son Prince George next to wife Kate Middleton and daughter Princess Charlotte, as he beckoned for Harry and Meghan to walk past them ahead of the service this afternoon The Duke of Sussex next to Princess Charlotte as they stand during the committal service at St George's Chapel today (Top to bottom) The Prince of Wales, Prince George, the Princess of Wales, Princess Charlotte, the Duke of Sussex and Duchess of Sussex at the committal service for Queen Elizabeth II held at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle today The coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, followed by (left to right, from front) King Charles III, the Queen Consort, the Princess Royal, Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, the Duke of York, the Earl of Wessex, the Countess of Wessex, the Prince of Wales, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, the Princess of Wales, the Duke of Sussex, the Duchess of Sussex, Peter Phillips, the Earl of Snowdon, the Duke of Gloucester, the Duke of Kent, and Prince Michael of Kent, at the committal service in Windsor today The Prince and Princess of Wales and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex (front row top) at the service in Windsor today Prince Harry, Princess Anne and Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence ahead of the committal service at Windsor today Prince William and Prince Harry join the procession following the state hearse carrying the coffin at Windsor today King Charles III, Princess Anne, Prince William, Prince Andrew, Prince Edward and Prince Harry at Windsor Castle today The Duke of Sussex, King Charles III and the Princess Royal follow the State Hearse carrying the coffin in Windsor today Today, the royal family were among the 2,000 people gathered for the funeral, before a committal service at Windsor Castle. The service follows the Queen's lying in state period at Westminster Hall, which ended at 6.30am. The day marks the climax of the biggest security operation the UK has ever seen, surpassing the operation for the Platinum Jubilee weekend and the London 2012 Olympics, which saw up to 10,000 police officers on duty per day. Uniforms and medals worn by senior royals The King wore his Royal Navy uniform and his son and heir dressed in RAF colours at the funeral of the Queen in nods to the branches of the armed forces in which they both served. Both the Duke of Sussex and Duke of York, who also served in the military, were dressed in formal mourning clothes for the state funeral because they are no longer working members of the royal family. The King The King wore the Royal Navy No 1 tailcoat with sword, the collar of the Order of the Garter, Order of the Thistle Sash, Order of Merit neck order, Garter Star and Thistle Star. He also wore full-size medals including the Queen's Service Order (New Zealand), Coronation Medal, Silver Jubilee Medal, Golden Jubilee Medal, Diamond Jubilee Medal, Platinum Jubilee Medal and a Naval Long Service Good Conduct (LSGC) (three x Additional Service Bars). Other medals included Canadian Forces Decoration (three x Additional Service Bars), The New Zealand Commemorative Medal, and The New Zealand Armed Forces Award. Charles had a six-year military career, mainly flying for the Royal Navy. Earl of Wessex The Earl of Wessex wore the Blues Uniform with the rank of Honorary Royal Colonel of the Royal Wessex Yeomanry, with the Garter Star and Sash and the Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO) star. He also wore Silver, Gold, Diamond and Platinum Jubilee Medals, the New Zealand Medal and the Canadian Forces Medal. Prince Edward did not serve in the military but spent a short time as a Royal Marines officer cadet after leaving university in the 1980s. The Prince of Wales The Prince of Wales wore the RAF No 1 uniform with the Garter Sash with RAF Pilot Wings and the Garter Star Chest Order. He also wore the Gold, Diamond and Platinum Jubilee Medals. William spent seven years in the military, including more than three years as a search and rescue pilot. The Princess Royal The Princess Royal wore a Royal Navy full ceremonial uniform in the rank of Admiral. She wore full-size medals including the Queen's Service Order, Coronation Medal, the Silver, Gold, Diamond and Platinum Jubilee medals, Long Service and Good Conduct Medal (Royal Navy), Canadian Forces Decoration, Order of St John Service Medal and New Zealand 1990 Medal. Anne wore a decoration of a thistle sash and thistle star, as well as the Most Noble Order of the Garter (Garter Star), the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle (Star), and the Royal Victorian Order (Knight Grand Cross). She did not serve in the military but holds a number of honours and titles. Advertisement Prince Andrew and Prince Harry were both again banned from saluting during the procession to Westminster Abbey today while other royals including King Charles III, Prince William and Princess Anne all performed the gesture. Members of the Royal Family saluted when the Queen's coffin was taken into the Abbey. But Andrew and Harry simply stood still because they were not allowed to wear military uniform, as neither are now working royals. It comes after Harry and Andrew were also prohibited from saluting at the funeral procession to Westminster Hall last Wednesday. Andrew did also not salute at the vigil last Monday in Edinburgh for the same reason. The decision to ban Harry and Andrew from wearing military uniforms in most events following the Queen's death at Balmoral 11 days ago is a reminder of how both now have limited involvement in the Royal Family. Prince Harry spent ten years in the Army, but he was stripped of his honorary military titles in 2020 after he and his wife Meghan Markle announced they were stepping down as senior working royals and moving abroad. His uncle the Duke of York, who was forced to stand down from public life in 2019 over the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, is the only other royal banned from wearing military uniform at the ceremonial events and funeral. It comes after an extraordinary row over the decision to remove the Queen's initials from the shoulder of Prince Harry's military uniform laid bare the depth of his rift with the Royal Family. The prince was said to have been left 'devastated' after receiving his ceremonial dress of the Blues and Royals from Buckingham Palace without the distinctive EIIR cipher on the shoulder. He wore the uniform to Saturday night's vigil over the Queen's coffin alongside the monarch's seven other grandchildren. Such was his despair, Harry is even said to have considered wearing a morning suit as they were leaving in order to avoid the 'embarrassment'. William and Harry, both dressed in military uniform, stood at either end of the coffin on Saturday night. They were joined by cousins Zara Tindall and Peter Phillips, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, and Lady Louise Windsor and her brother Viscount Severn. Harry, who saw action on the front line during two tours of duty in Afghanistan, had previously been told he would have to wear a morning suit as he is no longer a working royal and has been stripped of any honorary military appointments. However, his father, King Charles, granted permission for his son to wear his old uniform at the vigil inside the Palace of Westminster as a show of respect and unity to the late Queen. It is understood that no personal slight was intended, and The cipher was removed simply because Harry is no longer an aide-de-camp (ADC) to the Queen after quitting royal duties and handing back his military appointments. A Personal Aide-de-Camp is an appointment bestowed only on members of the Royal Family holding military rank, including the Prince of Wales. Nowadays, it is an honorary role with few duties or responsibilities, although historically it would have signified close proximity to the monarch. Harry was awarded the honour in 2018 and it was seen as a sign of his growing responsibility within the monarchy. But following his acrimonious decision in 2020 to quit as a working royal and seek his fortune in the US, the Queen insisted he withdraw from all responsibilities and appointments. It means he is simply no longer entitled to wear the insignia of an ADC on his uniform. Much has been made of the fact that the shamed Duke of York was seen in his ADC insignia at Friday night's vigil by the Queen's children. Andrew was permitted to wear it because, unlike Harry, he did not give the honour back when he relinquished his military associations in January. A spokesman said it was a personal appointment by the Queen. Questions will undoubtedly be raised, however, as to why Harry was forced to hand the honour back, when his uncle was not. On Saturday, Prince William was wearing the Blues and Royals, No.1 Uniform, the Garter Sash, the Garter Star, Golden, Diamond and Platinum Jubilee medals and RAF Pilot Wings. Harry was wearing the Blues and Royals, No.1 Uniform, KCVO Neck Order and Star, Afghanistan Operational Service Medal, Golden, Diamond and Platinum Jubilee medals and Army Pilot Wings. Harry, however, wore civilian dress for today's funeral. Andrew stepped down from public life after the furore over his friendship with paedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein. He went on to pay millions, with no admission as to liability, to settle a civil sexual assault case to a woman he claimed never to have met. Britain's William, Prince of Wales, Catherine, Princess of Wales, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, Prince George and Princess Charlotte at the day of the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey today Prince Harry, Prince Andrew and other members of the Royal Family walk to Westminster Abbey this morning Members of the Royal Family watch as the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II is placed on a gun carriage this morning Prince William and Prince Harry next to Peter Phillips as they arrive at Westminster Abbey in London this morning Members of the Royal Family march ahead of the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey today The Prince of Wales and Duke of Sussex walk to Westminster Abbey this morning on the day of the state funeral The coffin of Queen Elizabeth II is carried into Westminster Abbey, followed by King Charles III and other royals today King Charles III looks at his mother's coffin, while Prince Harry stands behind his father at Westminster Abbey this morning Prince William and Prince Harry next to Peter Phillips as they arrive at Westminster Abbey in London this morning Prince William and Prince Harry stand next to each other on the day of the state funeral for the Queen this morning Princes William and Harry walk side-by-side behind the Queen's coffin in the procession towards Westminster Abbey today Members of the Royal Family walk behind the Queen's coffin in the procession towards Westminster Abbey today Prince Andrew, Princess Anne and Prince Edward walk behind the Queen's coffin in Westminster today In January, ahead of his legal settlement, the Queen stripped him of all of his honorary military roles, including Colonel of the Grenadier Guards, and he gave up his HRH style. Andrew, a former Royal Navy officer who served in the Falklands War, retained his rank as a Vice Admiral, and is expected to wear the coinciding uniform. Virginia Giuffre, formerly known as Virginia Roberts, sued him for allegedly sexually assaulting her when she was 17 after she was trafficked by Epstein. Andrew denied the claims. At the Duke of Edinburgh's funeral in April 2021, the dress issue was dealt with by the Queen who decided that no members of the royal family should wear uniform. The Daily Mail revealed that Andrew had demanded to be allowed to wear his uniform as an honorary vice-admiral of the British royal navy. Around the time of the Philip's funeral, Andrew even went to his mother to ask her to back him in the uniform row as she prepared to say goodbye to her beloved husband. After the Mail's story broke, it was announced that senior royals would wear morning suits in order to deflect the row. It was a break with tradition but seen as the most eloquent solution to the problem. Andrew was due to be promoted to Admiral in 2020 to mark his 60th birthday, but this did not go ahead following the fallout from his disastrous Newsnight appearance. Today, the Queen's coffin was taken in a grand military procession from the Palace of Westminster to Westminster Abbey for the funeral at 11am. The Prince of Wales and the Duke of Sussex ahead of the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey today Members of the royal family march ahead of the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey today King Charles III and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex attend the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in London today Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex take part in the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II today Members of the royal family march ahead of the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey today King Charles III and other senior royals ahead of the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey today Members of the royal family march ahead of the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey today King Charles III and other senior royals ahead of the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey today Before the service, conducted by the Very Rev David Hoyle, Dean of Westminster, the tenor bell was tolled every minute for 96 minutes, reflecting the years of the Queen's life. Heads of state, prime ministers and presidents, members of European royal families and key figures from public life gathered at the abbey. But invitations were not sent to Russia and Belarus due to the invasion of Ukraine, while Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, Myanmar's military junta and Syria's Bashar Assad were also excluded. The Queen's Piper, Warrant Officer Class 1 (Pipe Major) Paul Burns, played the traditional lament Sleep, Dearie, Sleep after The Last Post, two minutes' silence, Reveille and the national anthem. During the service the King and the Queen Consort sat in the ornate Canada Club chairs, with Camilla next to the Princess Royal, then Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, then the Duke of York and then the Earl and Countess of Wessex in the front row of the south lantern. Across the aisle was the Prince of Wales, the Princess of Wales, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, and then Peter Phillips and Zara and Mike Tindall. Directly behind the King was the Duke of Sussex with the Duchess of Sussex behind Camilla. Meghan was sitting next to Princess Beatrice. US President Joe Biden will be 14 rows back on the south transept behind the Polish leader and in front of the Czech Republic. The First Lady will be next to Switzerland's representative. Other heads of state including French President Emmanuel Macron were also in the abbey, while senior British politicians including Prime Minister Liz Truss, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and former prime ministers Boris Johnson, David Cameron and Theresa May were among those taking their seats. The funeral was broadcast live at around 125 cinemas and several cathedrals in the UK, and on a big screen in Holyrood Park in front of the Palace of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh. Prince William and Prince Harry, behind King Charles III outside Westminster Hall for the state funeral this morning Kate Middleton arrives with Prince George and Princess Charlotte at Westminster Abbey for the state funeral this morning Kate Middleton arrives with Prince George and Princess Charlotte at Westminster Abbey for the state funeral this morning The Princess of Wales arrives ahead of the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey this morning Catherine, Princess of Wales, Princess Charlotte of Wales and Prince George of Wales arrive at Westminster Abbey today Meghan, Duchess of Sussex arrives at Westminster Abbey for the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II this morning Meghan, Duchess of Sussex walks outside the Westminster Abbey on the day of Queen Elizabeth II's funeral today Meghan, Duchess of Sussex arrives at Westminster Abbey for the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II this morning At 12.15pm, the coffin will be taken in procession from Westminster Abbey to Wellington Arch and then travel to Windsor. The hearse will then travel in procession to St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle via the Long Walk, after which a televised committal service will take place in St George's Chapel at 4pm. The Dean of Windsor will conduct the service, with prayers said by the Rector of Sandringham, the Minister of Crathie Kirk and the Chaplain of Windsor Great Park. The chapel's choir will sing and after the penultimate hymn, the imperial state crown, the orb and the sceptre will be moved from the Queen's coffin to the altar. After the final hymn, the King will place the Queen's Company Camp Colour of the Grenadier Guards on the coffin, while the Lord Chamberlain breaks his Wand of Office and places it on the coffin. The Dean of Windsor will say a psalm and the Commendation while the Queen's coffin is lowered into the royal vault. SATURDAY -- Prince William and Prince Harry with Queen Elizabeth II's other grandchildren for a a vigil at Westminster Hall LAST WEDNESDAY - Members of the Royal Family follow behind the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II through Westminster SEPTEMBER 8 -- The Prince and Princess of Wales and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex on the Long Walk at Windsor Castle After this, the Sovereign's Piper will play a lament and the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby will pronounce the blessing, before the congregation sings the national anthem. Ahead of the service, Mr Welby said: 'We come together to give thanks for a long life, lived in service to her people and her saviour, Jesus Christ.' Later in the evening, there will be a private interment service with senior members of the royal family, where the Queen will be reunited with her beloved husband the Duke of Edinburgh. The Queen's final resting place will be the King George VI memorial chapel, an annex to the main chapel where her mother and father were buried, along with the ashes of her sister, Princess Margaret. Philip's coffin will move from the royal vault to the memorial chapel to join the Queen's. Advertisement Adnan Syed, the man whose legal saga resulted in the the hit podcast Serial, has been filmed going through the leftovers in the fridge of one of his relatives for the first time in 23 years as he enjoys his first night of freedom. The 41-year-old was serving a life sentence plus 40 years after he was convicted in 2000 of strangling Hae Min Lee and burying her body in a shallow grave in Baltimore's Leakin Park. Syed and Lee were high-school classmates who had dated. Though he was 17 at the time of the murder, Syed was tried as an adult. He has maintained his innocence. On Monday evening, dressed smartly in a white shirt and blue tie - the same clothes he had been wearing as he walked free from jail earlier - Syed could be seen perusing the contents of the family fridge. In what was clearly a marked change from prison food, Syed was more than content eating some cold dumplings out of a plastic box and held a container of samosas in his hands as his excited relatives informed him fresh supplies were on the way. Serial Productions, which is now owned by the New York Times, said that a new episode of the podcast will be released Tuesday. Adnan Syed, the man whose legal saga resulted in the the hit podcast Serial was filmed going through the leftovers in the fridge of one of his relatives for the first time in 23 years as he enjoys his first night of freedom Family members showed off the delights of the fridge including leftover samosas and some dumplings too 'These are samosas', one family member states, before another excitedly states 'We've got fresh ones coming!' Syed then opens another box of homemade leftovers asking what they are. 'These are dumplings we got yesterday!' he is told, before taking a bite, in his first taste of homemade food since he was a teenager. Earlier on Monday, Syed's lawyer revealed her client said 'he couldn't believe it's real' after his conviction for the 1999 murder of Lee was vacated after more than two decades behind bars. Syed's lawyer, Erica Suter, shared his reaction with the media outside the Baltimore courtroom on Monday. Following an hours long hearing in Baltimore's Circuit Court, the judge ordered a new trial. Syed, meanwhile, has been released to home detention. Circuit Court Judge Melissa M. Phinn said that her decision was 'in the interest of justice.' As the judge's ruling was read out, the courtroom erupted in applause. Syed will now face a new trial in the case. At the time of writing, the trial date has not been set. After the judge's ruling was read out, Syed sat smiling at the trial table with his attorney, Erica Suter, who was crying, according to the Baltimore Banner's Justin Fenton. As he stepped out of Baltimore's Circuit Court, he was met with more applause. He did not make a statement. Syed wore a shirt and tie along with a knit hat and clutched a blue Georgetown University folder as he made his exit to freedom. State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby told the media that her office were not yet declaring Syed an 'innocent man.' She did reiterate the need for a new trial in which Syed has proper legal representation. Mosby stopped short of saying that her office will drop the charges against Syed. According to Maryland law, her office has 30 days in which to charge him again with the murder of Hae Min Lee. Syed is greeted by supporters outside of the courtroom, according to authorities he will face a new trial in the case Syed was convicted of strangling Lee (with him above at prom). The two were high school classmates who had dated Syed's lawyer, Erica Suter, shared his reaction with the media outside the Baltimore courtroom on Monday saying Syed said that he 'couldn't believe it!' Adnan Syed, seen here flanked by his brother Yusuf, leaves the court room after Circuit Court Judge Melissa M. Phinn vacated his murder conviction As he stepped out of Baltimore's Circuit Court, Syed was met with applause but he did not make a statement Syed was serving a life sentence plus 40 years after he was convicted in 2000 of strangling Lee and burying her body in a shallow grave in Baltimore's Leakin Park After the judge's ruling was read out, Syed sat smiling at the trial table with his attorney, Erica Suter State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby addressing the media following the judge's ruling Prosecutors in Baltimore wereasking for Adnan Syed, pictured here in 2016, to be re-tried for the 1999 murder of Hae Min Lee Prior to the decision to vacate the murder conviction, a lawyer representing Lee's family, Steven Kelly, launched a blistering attack on State's Attorney's office, calling the hastily arranged hearing 'outrageous.' Kelly said that the family did not have an appropriate amount of time to prepare for the hearing. Among the reasons for the outrage was the fact Lee's brother, Young, wanted to attend the hearing but couldn't due to work. Young did address the court saying: 'My heart is kind of pounding right now... I personally wanted to be there in person. I've been living with this for like 20 plus years. Everyday when I think it's over... or it's ended, it always comes back. It's killing me. It's really tough.' He also spoke about how difficult it is to know that despite always thinking the right person was in prison for his sister's murder, now there are other suspects who are roaming free. Young Lee added: 'This is not a podcast. This is real life. This is a 20 plus year nightmare.' Syed appeared in court wearing a shirt and tie, he had his handcuffs removed prior to his appearance in the courtroom. Attorney Chris Flohr cries as he embraces podcaster Sarah Koenig after Adnan Syed, Flohr represented Syed in his initial trial in 2000 Rabia Chaudry, a childhood friend of Adnan Syed, arrives in court for Monday's hearing A Facebook post from the Free Adnan Syed Facebook group that was posted seconds after the judge's ruling was made Mickey Tait, clad in a shirt featuring Britain's Queen Elizabeth, sits next to Catina Carter, wearing a T-shirt with the name Adnan Syed whose case was chronicled in the hit podcast 'Serial,' as they wait outside the courthouse for developments in the hearing today One of the speakers in the courtroom was Becky Feldman, chief of the State's Attorney's Office's Sentencing Review Unit. Feldman has been investigating Syed's case since June 2022. Among her findings was that another possible suspect had previously threatened to murder Lee, despite prosecutors knowing about this, the information was never passed on Syed's defense. One of the alternative suspects had a history of violence against women including a conviction for several rapes. Feldman made reference to AT&T publicly stating that the cellphone data that was used to put Syed at Lee's burial site around the time of the murder was not reliable. She went on take aim at the state's witness in the Syed case, his former friend Jay Wilds who testified against him. Feldman said: 'He gave two different accounts to police about where saw the victim's body.' In a report on her findings, Feldman said: 'It is in the interests of justice and fairness that these convictions be vacated and that the defendant, at a minimum, be afforded a new trial.' Syed's lawyer, Erica Suter, began her remarks by saying: 'My client is innocent.' She added: 'Mr. Syed's conviction was built on a flawed investigation.' The office of State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby (above) also recommended in the motion that Syed be released without bond pending retrial The motion to vacate Syed's conviction came on Wednesday, the state's attorney for Baltimore City said that new evidence cast doubt on Syed's conviction, asking for his guilty verdict to be vacated and a new trial date set. The office of State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby also recommended in the motion that Syed, who is currently serving life behind bars, be released without bond pending retrial. The motion says that prosecutors are not asserting that Syed is innocent in the case, but that 'the State no longer has confidence in the integrity of the conviction'. Monday was supposed to see the start of Mosby's federal trial on perjury and mortgage fraud charges. That trial will now not start until March 2023. The delay is not related to the Syed case. If follows a year-long investigation by prosecutors and defenders that uncovered new information concerning the possible involvement of two alternative suspects. Prosecutors said that the two suspects were known to the initial investigators in 1999, but were not properly ruled out. Ronald Lee Moore was put forward as a potential suspect in the Serial podcast The motion, which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, did not name the two alternative suspects, citing the integrity of the investigation. Though it's unclear who the alternate suspects are, one named floated by the Serial podcast was Ronald Lee Moore, who had left prison days before Lee's death and committed other crimes similar to her killing. Moore committed suicide in 2008 while jailed for unrelated crimes, and police said he was a suspect in a series of burglaries, unsolved sexual assaults and homicide cases in Maryland in 1999. The filing also says that prosecutors at trial failed to hand over key information to the defense team as required, in what is known as a Brady violation. The withheld information included a witness statement about threats against Lee uttered by one of the other suspects, including the threat to kill her. Prosecutors also called into doubt the validity of cell phone records and data that were presented in the original trial as key evidence for the state. Adnan Syed enters Courthouse East in Baltimore prior to a 2016 hearing. Two courts previously rejected Syed's requests for a new trial Though he was 17 at the time of the murder, Syed was tried as an adult. He has perpetually maintained his innocence 'Given the stunning lack of reliable evidence implicating Mr. Syed, coupled with increasing evidence pointing to other suspects, this unjust conviction cannot stand,' said Syed's attorney Erica Suter, of the public offender's office, in a statement. 'Mr. Syed is grateful that this information has finally seen the light of day and looks forward to his day in court,' added Suter, who is also Director of the Innocence Project Clinic. In its debut 2014 season, the 'Serial' podcast broke podcast-streaming records and shined a spotlight on the case that led to renewed court proceedings. Lee's family, who believe Syed is guilty of her murder, have slammed the podcast saying it compelled them to 'relive a nightmare we thought was behind us.' In March of this year, a judge order that evidence from the case, including the victim's rape kit, be tested for DNA using technology that was not available at the time of the murder. It's unclear whether the results of that testing played into the motion filed on Wednesday. It follows a series of legal twists and turns in the case. Syed, now 40, is serving a life sentence plus 40 years after he was convicted in 2000 of strangling Lee and burying her body in a shallow grave Sarah Koenig, producer and host of the podcast Serial, is seen in 2015 Two courts previously rejected Syed's requests for a new trial based on claims of ineffective counsel. His lawyer during his first trial, Cristina Gutierrez, failed to contact an alibi witness, Asia McClain, who said she saw Syed at a library at the time prosecutors say he strangled Lee in 1999. Gutierrez has since died. But in 2018, the Maryland Court of Appeals denied Syed a new trial in a 4-3 ruling, even though it agreed his trial lawyer's work was lacking. The state high court said there was little chance the outcome would have been different had Gutierrez done what she should have. Then in 2019, the US Supreme Court rejected Syed's bid for a new trial. Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh in a statement at the time said the evidence against Syed 'was overwhelming.' 'We remain confident in the verdict that was delivered by the jury and are pleased that justice for Hae Min Lee has been done,' he said. Karl Stefanovic has been left impressed by Princess Charlotte's knowledge of royal protocol, after she was seen firmly telling her older brother he needed to bow at the Queen's funeral. The Prince and Princess of Wales' two eldest children, George, heir-to-the-throne, nine, and his younger sister, seven, joined senior royals at the London service on Monday. After the service, Her Majesty's coffin left Westminster Abbey to start its final journey out of London to Windsor, where the late monarch will be interred during a private burial at King George VI Memorial Chapel in St George's Chapel. As the casket passed the young royals, Princess Charlotte was seen telling her brother 'you need to bow', before Prince George lowered his head. Today Show hosts Karl Stefanovic and Ally Langdon were left impressed by Princess Charlotte's knowledge of royal protocol Prince George bowed his head as the Queen's casket went past - after being told to do so by his younger sister Princess Charlotte The Today Show host admitted he couldn't stop watching the touching interaction between the youngsters. 'I cannot get enough of those shots of little Charlotte just giving it to her brother,' he said and he and co-host Ally Langdon giggled at the exchange. 'Just laying it out heavy! 'Look at it, ''Now I told you to do that and you didn't do it and you're in big trouble with mum'',' Stefanovic joked as footage of the young royals played. Langdon added Princess Charlotte was clearly 'across royal protocol'. The royal children appeared to appreciate the solemnity of the occasion today, despite their tender years During the service, the Queen's great grandchildren - without their youngest sibling, Louis, four, who did not attend the funeral - cut solemn figures, both appearing to grasp the enormity of the day in spite of their young years. Her Majesty made her final and saddest journey from Westminster Hall as Britain mourned its longest-serving monarch and the royals bade goodbye to a beloved mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. For George and Charlotte, the Princess of Wales, 40, provided a reassuring presence throughout, tightly holding onto her daughter's hand at the family arrived at Westminster Abbey. Princess Charlotte wore a black mourning coat with velour collar and matching wide-brimmed hat, while George was dressed in a navy blue suit with a black tie. Longtime Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak is being branded a Nazi by the radical left after being pictured alongside two prominent conservatives - days after hinting he may soon retire from the famed program. The undated photo, which was apparently captured earlier this month, shows the 75-year-old daytime TV stalwart flanked by the Georgia GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Right Side Broadcasting Network (RSBN) reporter Bryan Glenn. RSBN is known for promoting right-wing views, and Greene, among other things, has been criticized for similar conservative sentiments, being famously outspoken on issues relating to the second and first amendments, among other things. Sajak, meanwhile - who splits his time at his homes in Maryland and Los Angeles - is a Republican, but is decidedly more moderate, being a self-professed skeptic of climate change and serving on the board of a conservative publishing company that released works from the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Anne Coulter. Despite these divisive views, Sajak - who has presided over Wheel of Fortune for more than four decades and is an outspoken conservative - has remained largely apolitical, focusing on his hosting duties in his waning years. The Wheel of Fortune host has come under fire for the undated photo, which was captured earlier this month, and shows the 75-year-old daytime TV stalwart with Georgia GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (right) and Right Side Broadcasting Network reporter Bryan Glenn (left) However, once the aforementioned photo began circulating over the weekend, showing a grinning Sajak with Greene and the reporter at his side, a slew of triggered liberals emerged from the figurative woodwork to express their disdain toward the aging icon. Eliciting a series of severe reactions such as accusations that Sajak is keeping company with Nazis and is a 'MAGA fascist', the photo has sparked an unmistakable furor, despite it showing no more than Sajak alongside two relatively famous fans. Sajak has yet to address the slew of claims stemming from the photo, which was shared by Patriot Takes, an anonymous social media account that professes to monitor and expose 'right-wing extremism and other threats to democracy.' The barrage of accusations - and at times, insults - came members of academia, the media, and even a former political candidate, with most pointing to Greene's beliefs when branding Sajak an enemy of American democracy. 'First Chuck Woolery. Now Pat Sajak. Are all game show hosts trash?' Temple University Professor Marc Lamont Hill tweeted Sunday shortly after the photo surfaced, referring to Wheel of Fortune's original host, who came under fire in 2020 for comments making light of the dangers of COVID-19. Diana Gonzalez, the Director Of Media Relations at the University of Miami's Miller School of Medicine, wrote that she won't be watching 'Wheel of Fortune' anymore because of the photo. She tweeted, 'The company you keep is quite unfortunate @patsajak. (Sic) Will be changing the channel when you spin the wheel.' none of the detractors explicitly stated their qualms with Georgia rep Greene, a self-professed 'Christian nationalist' who has been outspoken in her support of protecting Americans' right to bear arms and against pandemic related lockdowns and restrictions Sajak has yet to address the slew of claims stemming from the photo, which was shared by Patriot Takes, an anonymous social media account that professes to monitor and expose 'right-wing extremism and other threats to democracy' Former US House of Representatives candidate Johnny Akzam, meanwhile, wrote that he was not surprised by the supposed revelation offered by the snapshot, claiming that the fact that the talk show host is a 'raging conservatives' is public knowledge. 'This isn't news. It's well known Pat Sajak is a raving conservative. Watch the show, don't watch the show, but he's about to retire and y'all are late by over half my life,' Akzam, an outspoken Democrat, wrote. Filmmaker Jeremy Newberger, meanwhile, a Jewish filmmaker who has made movies in support of the Zionist Israel movement, slammed Greene - and subsequently, Sajak - as Nazis, writing, 'It's time to stop normalizing Nazi Trash.' Liberal fake news website Palmer Report - notorious for making unsubstantiated or false claims concerning topics such as Donald Trump and Russia - called for Sajak to 'explain why he took a picture with Marjorie Taylor Greene.' 'If she came up to him in a restaurant and asked for a picture and he was being polite, that's one thing,' a tweet from the org's social media account read. 'But if he actually supports the objectively evil Greene, he has to be fired,' it went on to add. With that said, none of the detractors explicitly stated their qualms with Greene, a self-professed 'Christian nationalist' who has been outspoken in her support of protecting Americans' right to bear arms and against pandemic related lockdowns and restrictions - hence the Nazi comparisons. Sajak, meanwhile, has made no secret of his somewhat conservative beliefs, being an open Republican and a believer in American - and family - values. He has two adult children, aged 27 and 31, and has been married to his wife Lesly Brown for more than 30 years. Earlier this month, Sajak and longtime colleague Vanna White, 65, extended their hosting contract through 2024 - with Sajak saying earlier this week that it may be his last run. Wheel of Fortune, a game in which blonde bombshell White turns letters after contestants spin a wheel and guess letters to words or phrases, airs weekdays at 7 pm ET. So many moments; so many memories. The haunting, spine-tingling lament of the late Queen's faithful piper, Paul Burns, high above the Westminster Abbey congregation as the ceremony drew to a close. The men and women of the Royal Navy, shoulder to shoulder as they pulled her late Majesty's gun carriage. The expressions of the late Queen's children, stoical and set. The most powerful of the international guests, U.S. President Joe Biden, forced to wait at the entrance to the Abbey behind a procession of the holders of the Victoria and George Crosses. The Mounties at the head of the procession. The awe-inspiring stillness as the Last Post rang out. The colours of the uniforms. The faces in the crowds. The blasts of the guns. The tolling of the bell. And perhaps above all, the beat of the drum: unchanging, unwavering, hypnotic in its solemnity. Of all the great spectacles that have unfolded in our nation's capital over the past 70 years, there has never been one like the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. It was at once Britain's saddest day and our greatest, utterly magnificent and yet unbearably moving. Of all the great spectacles that have unfolded in our nation's capital over the past 70 years, there has never been one like the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II Even amid the pomp and beauty, it was impossible to forget that this was a farewell to an individual human being, a wife and mother who had dreams and fears we may never know. And as I watched her children and grandchildren, so obviously fighting to control their emotions, I was reminded of countless humbler funerals, very far from the eyes of the world. Yet, of course, this was not just a private occasion. Such is the burden of monarchy. For a Queen, even in death, there can be precious little division between the personal and the public. In every detail, from first to last, this was an event steeped in history. Even the venue, Westminster Abbey, is the very embodiment of Britain's past: the resting place of kings and queens, warriors and poets, as well as the place where Elizabeth was married in 1947 and crowned in 1953. When her pallbearers, eight Grenadier Guardsmen, bore her into the Abbey, they stepped over the great marble memorial stone to her first Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill. It was Churchill who had stood on the tarmac to welcome her back from Kenya after the death of her father in 1952, and Churchill, with tears glistening in his eyes, who proclaimed the dawn of the New Elizabethan Age. 'All around,' Churchill told the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association before Elizabeth's coronation a year later, 'we see the proofs of the unifying sentiment which makes the Crown the central link in all our modern changing life, and the one which above all others claims our allegiance to the death.' Even amid the pomp and beauty, it was impossible to forget that this was a farewell to an individual human being, a wife and mother who had dreams and fears we may never know Almost 70 years later, Churchill's words perfectly describe the scene at her funeral. Every detail was impeccably judged to capture the same blend of the unchanging and the innovative, the timeless and the modern, united in allegiance to the Crown. The First Lesson, for example, was read by Baroness Scotland, Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, born to Dominican and Antiguan parents, who came to Britain when she was two. The first black woman to be appointed a Queen's Counsel, she was also the first woman to serve as Attorney General a post first created in the mid-13th century, during the reign of the Plantagenet King Henry III. The music, too, had the same blend of old and new. One of the Queen's chosen hymns, for instance, was Charles Wesley's exquisitely beautiful Love Divine, All Loves Excelling, first written in 1747. Yet Wesley was actually reworking an earlier song, Fairest Isle, from John Dryden and Henry Purcell's opera King Arthur, which was written in the early 1680s to mark the 25th anniversary of the Restoration of Charles II. In the original, King Arthur is basically a disguised version of the Merry Monarch himself. So, probably unknown to most people who sang it yesterday, Wesley's hymn contains layer upon layer of history, harking back to the 18th century, then the 17th, and then beyond them the mists and mysteries of Britain after the fall of the Roman Empire. Almost 70 years later, Churchill's words perfectly describe the scene at her funeral. Every detail was impeccably judged to capture the same blend of the unchanging and the innovative, the timeless and the modern, united in allegiance to the Crown Tradition, then. But also change. For a few moments later we heard a new anthem by the Scottish composer Sir James MacMillan, Who Shall Separate Us From The Love Of Christ? And there was also a haunting unaccompanied setting of Psalm 42, Like As The Hart, written especially for the occasion by Judith Weir, the first woman to become Master of the King's Music. That blend of old and new was, of course, supremely fitting. The poet Philip Larkin once wrote that what made Elizabeth II so remarkable was that, amid so much social and cultural turbulence, 'she did not change'. In some ways, though, Larkin was wrong. The Queen did adapt: cautiously, gently, to match her people's mood. She ruled a country that had in some ways changed utterly over her 70-year reign, as reflected by the greater diversity of the crowds, as well as the prominence of so many powerful professional women among them the other reader at the Abbey yesterday, her final Prime Minister, Liz Truss. When we tell the story of Britain since 1952, though, perhaps it's too tempting to concentrate on what changed. Distracted by the froth of fashion, we notice everything that has altered, not everything that has stayed the same. The Queen's quiet flexibility, for example, would have meant nothing had it not been anchored in her profound conservatism. She knew, as anybody who loves our country knows, that our history is a source of unmatched pride a story with sombre chapters, yet also one with glories unrivalled by any other nation in the world. When we tell the story of Britain since 1952, though, perhaps it's too tempting to concentrate on what changed Indeed, if you wanted to teach a child about the breathtaking sweep of our national narrative, you could do worse than start with the details of yesterday's funeral. The eight young Guardsmen who bore her coffin belong to a regiment that began as Charles II's bodyguard during his years in exile, before earning honours in the War of the Spanish Succession, the Peninsular War, the Battle of Waterloo and the campaigns in the Crimea and the Sudan. Similarly, the men and women of the Royal Navy who escorted her coffin belong to a service that liberated Europe from the tyranny of Napoleon Bonaparte, led the fight to stamp out the slave trade and braved unspeakable perils to win the Battle of the Atlantic against Hitler's U-boats. Even the Abbey itself, built by Edward the Confessor in the decade before the Battle of Hastings in 1066, is a hall of heroes with few rivals anywhere in the world. A few yards inside the doors, for example, lies the grave of the Unknown Warrior an unidentified World War I serviceman, who gave his life, as the inscription reads, 'for God, for King and Country, for loved ones, home and Empire, for the sacred cause of justice and the freedom of the world'. Walk down the nave, following the route of the late Queen's coffin, and you see more memorials. The scientists Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Ernest Rutherford and Stephen Hawking; the great Labour politicians Clement Attlee and Ernest Bevin, who stood at Churchill's side in World War II and were instrumental in founding Nato; the playwright Ben Jonson, the missionary David Livingstone. The haunting, spine-tingling lament of the late Queen's faithful piper, Paul Burns, high above the Westminster Abbey congregation as the ceremony drew to a close In the North Transept you see the graves of William Pitt the Younger, who masterminded the victory over Napoleon; William Wilberforce, who spearheaded the movement to abolish slavery; and William Gladstone, the great reformer who led Britain to its Victorian zenith. In the South, you find Poets' Corner, with the graves of Geoffrey Chaucer and Charles Dickens, Samuel Johnson and Rudyard Kipling. And so on, and so on; names after names, glories upon glories, the record of an island people who have never been perfect, but who have nevertheless done more to raise humanity from ignorance, poverty and misery than any other country on the face of the earth. For a tiny, pitiful minority, I know, our history is a source of shame. They have spent the past few years whingeing that Britain is finished, and spent the last week scoffing and sneering at every opportunity. Is Britain really finished, though? Tell that to anybody who watched yesterday's dazzling spectacle, a triumph not merely of discipline and devotion to duty, but of extraordinary organisational detail, every element fitting perfectly with the next like the components of the world's most sophisticated clock. Tell that to the colossal crowds who lined the streets of London and Windsor or indeed Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast to bid farewell to our longest-serving monarch. Tell that to all those who marvelled at the sheer sweep and grandeur of the past few days; tell that to everybody who felt a lump in their throat at God Save The King. They have spent the past few years whingeing that Britain is finished, and spent the last week scoffing and sneering at every opportunity And yes, it was all an exercise in political theatre. But that's what monarchy is, isn't it? Theatre in the deepest, truest sense, like the first plays of the Ancient Greeks. At once political, historical and spiritual: a vast, solemn ritual spanning the centuries and binding the generations together. It was theatre, because so much of life itself is theatre. Even the humblest funeral is a spectacle, a ritual, an epilogue that brings one story to an end and allows the mourners to embark on new chapters of their own. The late Queen, of all people, surely knew that better than anybody. From the moment she came into the world in 1926, she was an actor in a drama, watched by millions upon millions of spectators for whom this was the greatest and most meaningful story of all. Yet not even she could have imagined that her time on the stage would have such an overpoweringly moving conclusion, so rich in music and beauty, so heady in its sense of history, so intensely charged with the emotions of a nation and a Commonwealth united in mourning. My abiding impression of yesterday's dazzling spectacle, though, was not the sense of sadness, as marked as that was. It was something altogether more unexpected: the enormous, unchecked, entirely unironic sense of national pride. The late Queen, of all people, surely knew that better than anybody. From the moment she came into the world in 1926, she was an actor in a drama, watched by millions upon millions of spectators for whom this was the greatest and most meaningful story of all We have had few opportunities in recent years to feel proud of our country, not least because so many supposedly clever people seem determined to run us down. Yet among the threads running through the past few days, perhaps the most vivid has been the intense patriotism of millions of ordinary people, who loved their Queen, love our monarchy and love our country. And that, more than anything else, is what I will remember: the deep, unshakeable faith in everything that Britain has always stood for our monarchy, traditions, flag and history. It was there in the Guardsmen carrying the coffin and the sailors pulling the gun carriage, in the lament of the piper and the voices singing the National Anthem, in the ranks of the soldiers and the faces in the crowds. And it was embodied above all, by the one person who was not there yesterday, yet whose presence overshadowed all else: her late Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II. She believed in Britain, and we loved her for it. But now, at last, her part is over, and the curtain has fallen. As she takes her place among the greatest men and women Britain has ever produced, it is up to us to write the next chapter in our magnificent national story. New York's governor has questioned why the Manhattan district attorney released without bail a man who terrorized McDonald's patrons with an ax. Michael Palacios, a 31-year-old bike messenger, lunged wildly at the crowds inside a Lower East Side branch of the fast food chain at 2:30am on Friday. He admitted he had been drinking, and said he was angry that people inside the restaurant laughed at him when a woman spurned his advances. On Monday Kathy Hochul, the governor of New York, questioned why Alvin Bragg did not order he be held pending trial. Palacios was released on Friday afternoon, having been arraigned on charges of criminal mischief and criminal possession of a weapon. Neither of the charges against him was eligible for bail under the state's controversial bail reform laws. Kathy Hochul (left), the governor of New York, asked why Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan DA (right) did not press tougher charges, which would have seen Palacios needing to pay bail before being released Michael Palacios appeared extremely angry as he threw his ax down hard onto the furniture at a McDonald's in Manhattan in the early hours of Friday Hochul said there were 'many players in a criminal justice system, starting with the arresting officers who determine which charge to bring, as well as the district attorney, who will decide whether or not to stay with that course or have an up-charge from what is recommended. 'We're actually asking what the thought process was and the decisions that were just made because we have a question about it. 'Because they have the discretion to charge in a different way that would make them bail-eligible.' Palacios flew into a rage when a woman inside the Delancy Street restaurant rejected his advances - and others inside laughed at him. On Monday, he told ABC News that he never intended to hurt anyone, and just wanted to teach them a lesson about mocking him. 'My intentions were not to hurt anyone,' he said. 'My intentions were not to put anyone in the hospital or dice anybody up. 'The reason why I pulled out the hatchet was, 'Ok, I'm gonna get back at these guys. I'm gonna make sure that they don't jump me again.' He insisted he was a 'normal guy' and was not mentally ill. The incident at the Lower East Side eatery on Delancey Street in Manhattan saw 31-year-old Bronx man Michael Palacios (pictured here during the Friday incident) arrested and charged with criminal mischief and criminal possession of a weapon In the footage of the incident, a young woman who appeared to be a part of the customers' group, tried to stop the argument Palacios could be seen approaching those he was fighting with and threatening them with the ax The suspect also punched other people, knocking one man off his chair as other patrons looked on Palacios can be seen smashing up the furniture of the McDonald's - including a glass panel Palacios also turned his attention to other diners in the McDonald's He said he kept an ax in his backpack because, as a bike messenger, he sometimes needed to chop down trees blocking his way. 'I wanted to intimidate them,' he said, when asked why he hurled his ax at furniture inside McDonald's. 'Also, I wanted to show them that the ax was real. Like, it's not a toy.' Asked why he carried it, he said: 'I enjoy camping. And also I got jumped once in Chicago. 'The average person doesn't train. I drink enough water, and do enough push ups. 'I could fend off three young adults.' He added: 'I'm just a regular guy, dude. No military training. I'm not unhinged, I'm not psychotic. 'I'm just doing what anyone would do when they are being pummeled.' Palacios was freed thanks to a new rule brought in by Bragg, who took over on January 1. He decreed that only those arrested for homicide and other serious crimes would be bailed. Lee Zeldin, Hochul's Republican rival in the November election, said Bragg was incapable of doing the job. 'I believe that the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, should be fired,' he said, speaking outside the McDonald's on Monday. 'Kathy Hochul says, 'He just got there, cut him some slack. He's doing his job.' 'Let's debate it.' Zeldin added: 'You could see the fear in the eyes of other people who are here at this McDonald's just a few days ago. 'The individual who ends up arrested is instantly released back out on the street because the crimes he was charged with are not eligible. 'This is exactly why judges should have discretion to weigh dangerousness. 'Right now there should be a special session in Albany. They could do this tomorrow. This is not a Republican vs. Democrat issue.' Commentators on the BBC struggled to recognise Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as he filed into Westminster Abbey for the Queen's funeral. Mr Albanese and partner Jodie Haydon were among hundreds of world leaders who attended the historic service on Monday, but the UK's public broadcaster evidently missed the memo when it came to the new Aussie leader. The BBC's commentators mentioned Queen Elizabeth II's impact on Commonwealth partners as New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern and Canadian PM Justin Trudeau entered the hall, but fell silent when Mr Albanese joined the mourners. This lead many to believe the BBCs presenters had no clue who he was. The BBC appeared to not recognise Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as he filed into Westminster Abbey for the Queen's funeral The BBC commentators recognised Canadian PM Justin Trudeau but not his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese Social commentator Jane Caro was quick to pounce on the mistake. 'BBC focuses on Albo entering the church - its clear the commentators have no idea who he is,' she wrote. 'BBC commentary not recognizing Albo was pretty great,' another woman said. 'Obviously no one at the BBC knows what Albo looks like,' another said on Twitter. It wasn't the only embarrassing moment for broadcasters, with Australia's Channel Nine contingent not knowing the Prime Minister of the country they were filming from. Senior journalists Peter Overton and Tracy Grimshaw were unable to identify Britain's new leader as they provided commentary on the Queen's funeral from outside the church on Monday. As Prime Minister Liz Truss climbed out of her car to attend the ceremony at Westminster Abbey, Overton and Grimshaw were left scratching their heads as to who she was. 'So, this is a significant motorcade, we are being told now,' Overton said. Overton and Grimshaw stumbled trying to identify Liz Truss and thought she might be 'minor royalty' 'Come with us as we try and identify who is getting out of the car. This is under police escort of course. I would suggest this might be royalty, Tracy. 'Hard to identify. Maybe minor royals, members of the I can't identify them at this point ' Viewers at home took to social media to call them out on the blunder. 'Good job Peter Overton. Didn't know the new PM,' one person tweeted. Another wrote: 'Happened to be passing by the living room in my house where my family are watching the Queen's funeral. Tracy Grimshaw: 'And we're not sure who this is who has arrived'.' ''Unfortunately we can't identify everyone, they look like local dignitaries.' It was Liz Truss. I howled.' Britain's prime minister Liz Truss, pictured left, has proven to be a mystery to Nine newsreaders Peter Overton and Tracy Grimshaw Someone else said: 'Peter Overton and Tracy Grimshaw having no idea who Liz Truss - the new British Prime Minister - is during the live coverage of the Queens funeral was so *awks*.' Another Twitter user posted a photo of Ms Truss and jokingly asked if she was the mayor of Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland, or a 'minor royal'. 'Hi Tracy Grimshaw, can you help me out who this is? Is it the Local Mayor of Reykjavik or is it a minor Royal?' Moments later, Overton issued a correction. 'I'm told that was Liz Truss the new Prime Minister in the distance, she could see hopping out of the car. Thank you very much for that information,' he told viewers. He then conceded to Nine co-stars Karl Stefanovic, Ally Langdon and UK royal expert Dickie Arbiter that their British guest might be better at spotting local famous faces. 'Karl and Ally, and Dickie, Dickie particularly, you'll be spotting these faces and recognising them better than us, I think,' Overton said. Ms Truss was the last world leader to be pictured with the Queen in her final official duty, just 48 hours before she died. Steve Bannon has taken to the stage to promote a wild theory in which the human race is replaced with 'Human 2.0'. The idea of the 'great replacement theory' was floated during the Turning Point USA conference held in Tampa last week. It saw Bannon suggesting Joe Biden's Cancer Moonshot actually more a cover to genetically engineer the human race rather than curing the disease. The Moonshot hopes to cut the death rate from cancer by at least 50% over the next 25 years. But Bannon appears to have other theories about the initiative believing it to be a cover for something far more sinister. Steve Bannon, the onetime top strategist to former U.S. President Donald Trump has taken to the stage to promote a wild theory n which the human race is replaced with 'Human 2.0' Bannon is suggesting President Biden's Cancer Moonshot is actually more of cover to genetically engineer the human race rather than curing the disease 'This is the biggest inflection point in human history,' Bannon explained. 'In the lived experience of half of this room, or maybe more, we're going to get to a point where you're going to have Human 2.0. Right? They're telling you that. They're funding that. This is not science fiction, this is fact,' told Turning Point attendees. Turning Point, is a right-wing American conservative nonprofit organization that advocates to identify, educate, train, and organize students to 'promote the principles of freedom, free markets, and limited government.' Bannon said 'they' want to be 'immortal' and might be working on this covert 'Human 2.0' all under the guise of doing good. 'They talk about they're going to save kids, and they're going to do this that's all crap. They want to be immortal. Right? And they also say there's too many people, the carrying capacity of this planet there's too many people,' Bannon pointed out. 'You know, they're all over Tucker [Carlson] and the great replacement theory and about the thing. Hey, the great replacement theory is Homo sapiens. That's what they're trying to replace,' Bannon said. He suggested that the 'replacement theory' initiative may well be happening under the Cancer Moonshot program to cure the disease. Great Replacement Theory has gone mainstream thanks to rightwing Republicans like Tucker Carlson who have mentioned this theory hundreds of times on the most-watched news network in the country Tucker Carlson has repeatedly taken aim at the Democratic Party, accusing them of relaxing immigration policies and sidelining white Americans in order to gain votes in the polls. Bannon went on: 'Of course you haven't heard about it. They don't want to talk about it. They're just going to do it. And they're going to call it the Cancer Moonshot. This is what we have to stop.' The 'great replacement theory,' is a white nationalist far-right conspiracy theory that claims non-white individuals are being brought into the United States to 'replace' white voters to achieve a political agenda. The once-fringe racist idea became a popular refrain among media figures like Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham of Fox News. Some Republicans have been accused of espousing ideas similar to it. Following the Buffalo supermarket shootings earlier this year, Biden called it 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. 'That's the word, 'Replaced,' by the other. By people who don't look like them, and you are therefore, in their perverse ideology, that they are being fed and possessed, lesser beings,' Biden said in May. '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 said. 'That's what it is. We have now seen too many times the deadly and destructive violence this ideology and unleashes.' Whites are indeed heading toward minority status in the United States. In 2018, U.S. Census estimates showed for the first time that whites dropped to below 50% of the under-15 population. That change is largely due to migration of Latinos and Asian Americans. Latinos are the largest-growing group, while Asian Americans are the fastest growing. Despite the wild nature of Bannon's promotion of 'replacement theory', a poll conducted earlier this year shows that 73 percent of Trump voters believe that Democrats are trying to replace white Americans with immigrants and people of color to shore up more votes. The YouGov poll from June asked voters: 'Do you personally believe that in the U.S., Democrats are trying to replace white Americans with immigrants and people of color who share Democrats' views?' Seventy-three percent of Trump voters replied 'yes,' while 8 percent of Biden voters said the same. Overall 61 percent of Republicans, 10 percent of Democrats and 33 percent of Independents replied yes to the question. In terms of the Cancer Moonshot, Biden himself brought up the initiative while speaking at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston, Massachusetts. 'Cancer does not discriminate red and blue; it doesn't care if you're a Republican or a Democrat. Beating cancer is something we can do together,' the president said. Earlier this month Bannon appeared in a New York courtroom in handcuffs after handing himself over to state authorities to face fraud charges over his 'We Build the Wall' scheme As he entered the courtroom in handcuffs, Bannon grumbled: ''They will never shut me up, they'll have to kill me first' Bannon, meanwhile, has other pressing matters to deal with. Earlier this month he appeared in a New York courtroom in handcuffs after handing himself over to state authorities to face fraud charges over his 'We Build the Wall' not-for-profit scheme. The shackled Bannon grumbled as he was dragged into the courtroom: 'They will never shut me up, they'll have to kill me first.' Bannon was released on no cash bail. He faces criminal charges for his role in the group that raised $15 million to build a wall along the southern border and allegedly pocketed around $1 million. Bannon is charged with two counts of money laundering, three counts of conspiracy, and one count of scheming to defraud, according to New York Attorney General Letitia James' office, to which he has pleaded not guilty. 'Bannon took advantage of his donors' political views to secure millions of dollars which he then misappropriated. Mr. Bannon lied to his donors to enrich himself and his friends,' James said in a statement. Bannon already pleaded not guilty to separate federal charges of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and money laundering for his role in the fundraiser. He was pardoned by former President Trump before a trial was held. On the same day that the European Union's leader asked for a new war crimes investigation into the Kremlin, disturbing photographs of purported torture rooms used by Russian soldiers against Ukrainians emerged. According to Ukrainian officials, at least some of the distressing photographs were taken in a dark cinder-block cellar serving as a temporary prison for Russian soldiers below a store in the freshly freed hamlet of Kozach Lopan in Ukraine's Kharkiv area. Russian Chambers Contain Tools For Electric Torture In some of the rooms with bars, dirty bedding can be seen lying on the moist concrete floor beside shattered bits of Styrofoam. There are also two black buckets in a corner that appear to have been used as toilets, as well as cigarette butts and empty pumpkin-seed shells scattered on the floor. In his nighttime speech on Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that more than ten torture chambers have already been discovered in the freed parts of the Kharkiv region, in various cities and villages. He further stated that a torture chamber and implements for electric torture were discovered near a railroad station in Kozach Lopan. The purported discovery come as the European Union's leader has asked for a war crimes investigation into the recently found mass grave site in the freed Ukrainian town of Izyum, which includes the death of women and children. According to Ukrainian police, several of the victims were tortured before dying. Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky, whose nation now holds the EU chair, said that the hundreds of bodies discovered in Izyum might be unthinkable and disgusting war crimes, New York Post reported. The Kremlin forces who were seizing Kharkiv in the country's north-east have down their guns and departed in the last several weeks following Ukraine's counter-offensive. The offensive quickly reclaimed almost 3,000 square kilometers of land lost earlier this year to Vladimir Putin's soldiers. But as they discovered proof of Russian war crimes, the Ukrainian soldiers' delight rapidly turned to sadness. The horrors, which included torture rooms and mass graves, have been recorded by prosecutors. Read Also: US Report Claims Chinese Military Lack of Cross-Training Could be a Major Weakness Zelensky Accuses Russia of Genocide So far, they have excavated more than 60 dead, including soldiers and civilians, from a burial location expected to contain at least 450 graves in woodland on the outskirts of Izyum in Kharkiv. Zelensky condemned Russia for genocide in his TV speech on Saturday and said it will account for its crimes both on the battlefield and in the courtroom. Several fatalities, including those of four physicians and a nine-year-old child, were recorded in the Kharkiv area, as per Daily Mail. The first victim discovered had a rope around its neck and appeared to have died in a violent death. Regional prosecutor Olexander Ilyenkov stated unequivocally that war crimes had occurred. Around 100 Ukrainian rescue personnel are digging up the temporary graves in an attempt to determine the cause of death for hundreds of victims buried in the forest on the outskirts of the city. The pro-Russian administration that fled the area's capital accused Ukrainians of fabricating the killings, according to Mirror. Related Article: Ukraine War: Volodymyr Zelensky Slams Russia Over Devastation in Cities, Promises To Lead Nation to Victory @YouTube @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. An 'erratic' man carrying a sign saying 'shoot me' has been arrested after he allegedly wheeled a trolley full of petrol cans and 'hazardous materials' into a Melbourne CBD office building. Victoria Police barricaded several streets in Melbourne's court district early on Tuesday morning in response to reports the man had entered the CGU Insurance building on William St. The building is home to insurance companies, law firms, the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions and Court Services Victoria. An 'erratic' man with a trolley (above) was arrested on Tuesday morning after entering a building in Melbourne's CBD court district Witnesses said the man's trolley was 'full of chemicals or explosives' with police alleging he was carrying cans of petrol and 'hazardous material' (pictured, the man's trolley and bright orange sign that read 'shoot me' in the William Street building) The man was arrested at about 7.45am and taken to hospital, where he is under police guard. Photos show the man hung up a sign that read 'shoot me' once he entered the building and unloaded empty bottles and a helium tank onto a foyer table. Witnesses Sam Di Palma and Daniel Safstrom said they were getting a coffee when they saw a man in the building with a trolley and officers trying to talk to him. 'A bloke (was) behind a counter with a trolley full of chemicals or explosives,' Mr Di Palma told Australian Associated Press. The police response to the 'erratic' man saw several major CBD streets barricaded by police cars (pictured, police in Melbourne's court district on Tuesday morning) Police and fire crews said the scene is now safe with the man arrested and flammable materials removed (pictured, emergency services in Melbourne's CBD on Tuesday) Mr Safstrom said the police 'sent one of their guys in to sit down and negotiate, so they both grabbed a chair'. 'I'm a bit shocked to be honest. It's something different,' he said. 'The scene has since been declared safe and there is no ongoing threat to the community,' a Victoria Police spokesperson said. Another witness, Abraham Elosman, said the incident gave him flashbacks to the Bourke Street Mall attack in January 2017. 'I thought maybe they were doing an exercise or something. I didn't think there was gonna be this big issue,' he said 'But when I saw the shields and the fire brigade come in, I was a bit worried. I thought 'I hope it will be OK'.' Traffic on Williams Street, between Bourke Street and Lonsdale Street, was blocked in both directions as police arrested the 'erratic man' (pictured, police barricading roads in Melbourne's CBD) Delays are expected to continue in the CBD through the morning as emergency services work to clear the scene (above) Fire Rescue Victoria said the incident was under control by 8.15am after firefighters determined there was no fire risk. Traffic on Williams Street, between Bourke Street and Lonsdale Street, was blocked in both directions but reopened at 9.40am. Tram services were also diverted. Delays are expected to continue in the CBD through the morning as emergency services work to clear the scene. Photos show police and firefighting crews working in the area while helicopters fly overhead. It was Britain's saddest day and yet perhaps the most uplifting spectacle of modern times. The Queen was borne in magnificent style by thousands of her troops, her family, her most loyal subjects and the love of well-wishers. On a grey day, sunshine burst through the clouds as Her Majesty took her final poignant journey through London. The sunlight glinted off the Imperial State Crown and Orb atop her coffin on the State Gun Carriage, which glided through the streets pulled by 142 Royal Navy ratings. For the billions watching in person and around the world, it was quite simply breathtaking as the mighty procession snaked along Whitehall, across Horse Guards Parade and then past Buckingham Palace for last time The capital was transformed into a majestic display of pageantry as some 3,000 servicemen and women marched with military precision. For the billions watching in person and around the world, it was quite simply breathtaking as the mighty procession snaked along Whitehall, across Horse Guards Parade and then past Buckingham Palace for last time. The King was close to tears as he escorted his revered mother's coffin, marching behind flanked by his siblings and his sons. And for the thousands thronging the streets to bid their own farewells, the emotion was palpable. Sometimes it was almost as if the nervous crowds did not know whether to clap or cry and after the tears flowed, many burst into grateful applause once the cortege had passed by. The weight of the occasion got to everyone. At 10.30am, a white-gloved policeman collapsed and was carted off on a metal green military stretcher. A sailor fainted at 12.14pm and was helped away by a guardsman. WESTMINSTER HALL After years in the planning and countless rehearsals, the Queen's loyal soldiers, sailors and airmen began their sad task at 10.35am. Her Majesty's coffin was carried from Westminster Hall, where it had been lying in state, by her most senior guardsmen, eight pallbearers from the Queen's Company, 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards. Outside, the King and senior royals and courtiers awaited. The capital despite bulging with the presence of millions of mourners, world leaders, military, police and media was eerily quiet. Even the skies were silent, with no aeroplanes allowed to fly overhead to interrupt the ceremonies. With deep concentration on their faces, the young guardsmen chosen for the honour inched the coffin out of the 900-year-old hall into Westminster Palace Yard and on to the State Gun Carriage. The gun carriage has been in the care of the Royal Navy since it was borrowed from active service in 1901 for the funeral of Queen Victoria. It also carried Edward VII in 1910, George V in 1936, George VI in 1952, Sir Winston Churchill in 1965, and Lord Mountbatten in 1979. Her Majesty's coffin was carried from Westminster Hall, where it had been lying in state, by her most senior guardsmen, eight pallbearers from the Queen's Company, 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards And then, with awesome precision, 142 Royal Navy ratings many in the first few months of their service simultaneously sidestepped into position at front and rear. Each held a white rope attached to the historic gun carriage. Between them, they pulled the 2.8-ton carriage with apparent effortlessness, gracefully guiding Her Majesty's coffin around Parliament Square and to the door of Westminster Abbey. On top of the coffin was a stunning wreath of flowers and foliage from Clarence House and Highgrove, including rosemary for remembrance and myrtle for her happy marriage to Prince Philip. And a handwritten card, 'In loving and devoted memory', from her son and heir. Wearing the sombre expression that never left his face yesterday, the King walked behind the Navy ratings with the Princess Royal to his left, followed by the Duke of York and then the youngest sibling the Earl of Wessex. Behind them marched William, Prince of Wales, and his brother the Duke of Sussex. PARLIAMENT SQUARE After delivering the late monarch to Westminster Abbey for the service, the bearer party carried her out in equally grand style. Then the Abbey's tenor bell heralded the start of the magnificent procession. It set off in the sunshine to the mournful beat of the music of no fewer than seven military bands, one each for the seven sections of the procession. Led by Armed Forces from the Commonwealth countries, it was spearheaded by the Mounties of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. In 1936 Mounties had ridden at the coronation of the Queen's father, George VI. They turned into Parliament Square, under the steady gaze of the statue of Sir Winston Churchill the Queen's first Prime Minister and on to Whitehall The second section was the RAF, the next two were the Army, then came the Royal Navy and Royal Marines, followed by the gun carriage, and finally representatives of the George Cross foundations from Malta, the former Royal Ulster Constabulary, and four representatives from the NHS. The coffin itself was flanked by The King's Body Guards of The Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms, The Yeomen of the Guard and the Royal Company of Archers with their eagle feathers in their caps. Loyal members of the Queen's household past and present who devoted their lives to her service also marched with her coffin, from senior courtiers such as private secretaries and the Master of the Household, to pages and stewards. They turned into Parliament Square, under the steady gaze of the statue of Sir Winston Churchill the Queen's first Prime Minister and on to Whitehall. WHITEHALL There was a hush from the 30-deep crowd in Whitehall as the funeral procession moved past the Cabinet War Rooms, the Cenotaph and Downing Street. Some emerged from balconies and windows, clad in black, while those on the street craned their necks and clutched cameras as they awaited the chance to say goodbye to the late monarch. As they passed the Cenotaph, where the Queen had laid countless wreaths to the nation's fallen servicemen, she was honoured by contingents from the Royal British Legion, the King George's Fund for Sailors, the RAF Benevolent Fund and the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association. As they passed the Cenotaph, where the Queen had laid countless wreaths to the nation's fallen servicemen, she was honoured by contingents from the Royal British Legion, the King George's Fund for Sailors, the RAF Benevolent Fund and the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association Standards were lowered in salute by the old soldiers, who bowed their heads as the coffin went by. The King, the Prince of Wales, the Princess Royal and the Earl of Wessex, all wearing their military uniforms, executed a smart salute in the direction of the memorial to British and Commonwealth soldiers killed in war. Prince Harry and Prince Andrew, who were not permitted to wear their military uniforms after stepping back as working royals, bowed their heads. Minute Guns were fired in Hyde Park by The King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery, and Big Ben tolled throughout the duration of the solemn procession. The crowd in Whitehall broke into a chorus of 'hip, hip, hooray' and a round of applause as the procession passed. HORSE GUARDS The procession turned left through Horse Guards, the extraordinary stream of servicemen and women squeezing through the arches six abreast in perfect harmony. They marched across Horse Guards Parade, where for decades the Queen marked her official birthday every June at Trooping the Colour, usually on horseback herself. The late monarch was devoted to the event, thoroughly enjoyed the music and knew the ceremony better than anybody. By now, the mesmerising procession was one-and-a-quarter miles long and the sun was shining brightly on the colourful pageant. THE MALL In a magnificent sight that will long live in the memories of those who witnessed it, rounding the corner on to The Mall were the heads of the Armed Forces, the pursuivants and heralds of arms of England, Scotland and Wales, and a dizzying array of courtiers. They included the Vice Chamberlain of the Household, the Comptroller of the Household, Treasurer of the Household and two of the Queen's Gurkha Orderly Officers came first. In a magnificent sight that will long live in the memories of those who witnessed it, rounding the corner on to The Mall were the heads of the Armed Forces, the pursuivants and heralds of arms of England, Scotland and Wales, and a dizzying array of courtiers The Master of the Household, Keeper of the Privy Purse, private secretary to the Queen and Master of the Horse came next, followed by two of Her Majesty's pages and Her Majesty's palace steward. Also there was the Earl Marshal, the Duke of Norfolk, who held the formidable task of arranging the whole event. And then there was Apollo the drum horse, known as a 'gentle giant'. Ridden by Lance Corporal Chris Diggle from the Band of the Household Cavalry, the nine-year-old horse stands at over 17 hands and weighs in at some three-quarters of a ton. Carrying ceremonial sliver drums, the horse bears the rank of major, and as such is senior to all other animals of rank in the Army. BUCKINGHAM PALACE As the Queen was borne past Buckingham Palace, her main residence, for the final time, the staff lined up to bid her farewell. There was a ripple of bowing and curtseying as a great line of chefs, butlers and police officers stood in silence and respect. Up Constitution Hill the procession continued. By now, the emotion of the occasion was showing on the faces of the King and Queen Consort who was following in a car behind with the Princess of Wales, Prince George, nine, and Princess Charlotte, seven. Behind them, the Duchess of Sussex and the Countess of Wessex shared another car. Following them, Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice waved and smiled from a third car. The Queen's coffin, surrounded by the State Gun Carriage and members of the Royal Family proceed past Buckingham Palace Mourners lined the barriers all the way, waving and sometimes throwing red and white roses as the gun carriage passed. All the way from Westminster Abbey, the route was lined by the Armed Forces, who bowed or saluted. WELLINGTON ARCH The King appeared close to tears after a moving end to the procession at Wellington Arch. The mass of military bands and personnel slowly marched into the green space around the imposing monument. The arch was an original entrance to Buckingham Palace, later becoming a victory arch commemorating the Duke of Wellington's defeat of Napoleon. The final act of pomp and pageantry involved the transfer of Her Majesty from the State Gun Carriage to the State Hearse in a 12-minute ceremony. After nearly 1,700 troops filed into position next to the landmark at Hyde Park Corner, the coffin was pulled its final few yards through the arch by the Royal Navy ratings. Looking on were senior royals led by the King and Queen Consort, who lined up on the right-hand side of the coffin. George and Charlotte, the youngest members of the family present, both looked emotional at times. The Queen's coffin was transferred from the gun carriage to the state hearse, at the Wellington Arch, on Hyde Park Corner, watched by King Charles III and other members of the Royal Family Charlotte, wearing a horseshoe brooch given to her as a gift by the late Queen, could be seen wiping her eye after climbing out of the car which had brought her to the arch with her brother and the Princess of Wales. She and her brother stood with heads bowed and were comforted by their parents, who appeared to give words of reassurance. The Grenadier Guards bearer party gently lifted the coffin on to their shoulders, as sailors pulled away the gun carriage. With impeccable precision, two members of the bearer party then marched to the front of the vehicle, turned and reached inside to adjust the Queen's standard draped over the coffin. The national anthem was played twice, at the beginning and then at the end of the ceremony London's final piece of pageantry of the sad occasion. More than one million people are thought to have flocked to London from across Britain and around the world to mourn the death of the Queen Then royals and troops alike saluted as the hearse drove slowly away. Cheers could be heard as it entered Hyde Park, where the public were gathered in their thousands. The public along the entire route had come from all backgrounds and all corners of the globe, united in their respect and love for the late monarch. More than one million people are thought to have flocked to London from across Britain and around the world to mourn the death of the Queen. With almost military planning, some were armed with tents and food spent nights on the street to ensure they would be able to catch a glimpse of Her Majesty making her final journey. For them, the decision to leave nothing to chance was fully vindicated, with viewing areas full shortly after breakfast time as mourners waited solemnly and respectfully for that all important sighting of the coffin. Their determination to witness first hand a momentous day in British history was exemplified by Maureen Leanaghan, 83, who uses a wheelchair after knee and ankle replacement surgery. She travelled from her home in Belfast with her daughter Catherine, 59, and granddaughters Marissa McKinley, 31, and Katrina Montgomery, 29, and slept out over the weekend. Mounted detachment of the Royal Artillery standing guard as the Royal Hearse carrying the Queen's coffin left Wellington Arch yesterday They had arrived in London on Saturday and spent that night on The Mall without a tent or sleeping bags. Mrs Leanaghan said: 'It was cold in the night but the St John Ambulance people gave us gold aluminium sheets to keep us warm. We bought a tent and sleeping bags on Sunday. 'We came because we have so much respect for the Queen. Also, my husband died two weeks ago and I still haven't got my head round that so my daughter suggested going to the Queen's funeral may be of help to me.' A self-confessed royal super fan travelled thousands of miles to pay her respects. Bernadette Christie, 68, from Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada, came to London last week and said she spent 'about my fifth' night sleeping outdoors on The Mall on Sunday. A veteran of several similar trips to England, including for William and Kate's wedding, the Diamond Jubilee and the Platinum Jubilee, Mrs Christie, who was born in Wimbledon, south-west London, and emigrated to Canada as a child in 1957 with her parents, said: 'The Queen was honour, the Queen was grace, she had a good faith and a great commitment to the country. 'She didn't ask for the job, but she took it on gracefully. She was an example to all women and to all leaders.' The state hearse was covered in flower stems thrown by members of the public Tens of thousands of mourners lined the 25-mile route from London to Windsor Some 17 months after she was widowed, the Queen's final journey was to her resting place at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle, to lie with her beloved husband Philip. But she was not alone as her coffin made the journey from London in the state hearse, with tens of thousands of mourners lining the 25-mile route from Wellington Arch to Berkshire to pay their last respects to the late monarch. As the Queen's hearse drove off, flowers were thrown into the road by members of the public watching from behind barriers something which continued almost all the way to Windsor. When the hearse arrived, it was covered in stems. The images brought back memories of Princess Diana's funeral 25 years ago. The vehicle transporting her coffin from London to her resting place at Althorp, Northamptonshire, also arrived covered in flowers. Yesterday, mourners stood on bollards, railings and camping chairs and sat on each other's shoulders to see the hearse go past. Slide me As the Queen's hearse drove off, flowers were thrown into the road by members of the public watching from behind barriers. When the hearse arrived, it was covered in stems (right). The images brought back memories of Princess Diana's funeral 25 years ago (left) Enid Read, 80, and her daughter Ellen Read, 43, who live in Morecambe, Lancashire, waited patiently to see the Queen's coffin. Mrs Read, who was alive throughout the Queen's reign, first saw her when she was six as the-then Princess Elizabeth rode towards Horse Guards Parade in London. 'The crowd pushed me through to the front as I was only little so I got a good look at her. I saw her again when I was 15 at St Auburn's Cathedral and again in Aberdeen in 1997,' she added. 'She was so lovely and such a good example because she represented kindness and empathy and it would make us proud to know she was representing the country.' Accountant Adam Djibo, 46, travelled from Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, with his wife, NHS worker Aicha, 42, and their three children early yesterday morning and were standing opposite the Household Mounted Cavalry Regiment building by Hyde Park at 8am. Mr Djibo said: 'The Queen has been a constant presence in our lives and a real role model to look up to. I am 46 and even for my parents she has been always there as the figurehead for Britain, representing many different generations and communities.' Retired intensive care nurses Bobbi Moth, 57, and Paula Reynolds, 55, travelled from Portsmouth on Sunday night to pay their respects near Hyde Park Corner. Tens of thousands of mourners watched as the Queen's coffin travelled 25 miles from Wellington Arch in London to Windsor Castle, where the monarch was buried beside her beloved husband Mrs Moth spent 21 years in the Navy and served in Afghanistan in 2006, while Mrs Reynolds served for 14 years in the Army, including a tour of Iraq in 1991. Mrs Moth said: 'We both served for a long time so felt this connection and that it was only right we came to pay our respects. 'I'm only small so it's been a bit of a challenge finding somewhere I'll be able to see I've perched myself on this kerb for a couple of extra inches.' The gruelling job of guarding the funeral procession faced by thousands of police officers and military personnel took its toll, with several collapsing on duty. Three military personnel had to be assisted by colleagues near Wellington Arch shortly before 2pm. Farmers formed a touching guard of honour to pay tribute to the Queen as she journeyed to her final resting place. More than 30 tractors some adorned with flowers lined up on the A308 where the coffin travelled past the Magna Carta memorial in Runnymede. Mourners stood on bollards, railings and camping chairs and sat on each other's shoulders to see the hearse go past Former Windsor mayor Colin Rayner said they were inspired to make the gesture after Scottish farmers formed a similar guard as the Queen left Balmoral Castle last week. Mr Rayner, 64, said: 'We are local farmers saying goodbye to another local farmer and very good neighbour who just so happens to be Her Majesty the Queen.' Instead of taking the motorway to Windsor Castle, the hearse followed A-roads, allowing tens of thousands of well-wishers to choose a spot along the route. Thousands of mourners poured through Windsor and Eton to line the Long Walk up to Windsor Castle. Anne Cooper, from Aylesbury, described the atmosphere as 'calm'. Miss Cooper said: 'She's been the Queen all my life. She's just a really big part of the country.' A mother-of-four accused of murdering two men, including her boyfriend who was allegedly found with his penis severed, claims she was not responsible for her actions at the time. Melbourne woman Jasmine Eveleigh pleaded not guilty by way of mental impairment to the stabbing murder of her boyfriend Samir Esbeck, 59, and his friend Sarkis Abboud, 61, at an apartment in inner-city Brunswick at 5:20am on May 5. Mr Esbeck, 59, died at the scene with his penis allegedly removed while Mr Abboud, 61, passed away of stab wounds on his way to hospital. Eveleigh, 44, was found at a Carlton tram stop later that morning with a substantial amount of blood on her. Mother-of-four Jasmine Eveleigh is accused of murdering her boyfriend Samir Esbeck, 59, and Sarkis Abboud, 61, at a Brunswick apartment in Melbourne at 5.20am on May 5th Eveleigh appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates' Court via videolink for the brief hearing. Dressed in blue prison garb, the alleged killer will remain behind bars until her next Supreme Court of Victoria hearing in October. It remains unclear if prosecutors will contest Eveleigh's mental impairment claims, which would likely result in a separate trial to determine it. In May, the court heard Eveleigh had been seeking treatment for an array of mental health issues culminating in a 'severe breakdown' in June 2021. It's understood Eveleigh had been in a relationship with Mr Esbeck for 10 years before she allegedly turned on him in a frenzied knife attack. Sarkis Abboud died on his way to hospital after being found with stab wounds. Picture: 7 News On Facebook, the doting mother proudly boasted about her eldest son's kindness and strength in the face of adversity and shared sweet snaps with her youngest three. 'I am truly blessed to be the mum of such a kind, remarkable, true gentleman,' Eveleigh said. She often shared sweet tributes to motherhood and family, including one which read: 'I'm not perfect at everything, but I do make some adorable babies.' CCTV footage allegedly showed her wandering the streets of Melbourne in a bra with blood on her feet. Samir Esbeck was in a relationship with Ms Eveleigh at the time of his death and the pair were living together. Picture: 7 News The footage captured Eveleigh allegedly with her shirt wrapped around her left hand moments after the alleged attack. She was seen running across numerous streets and down dark alleys in shoes that were allegedly covered in blood. Police allege Eveleigh left behind a 1.5km trail of blood with droplets found along several roads and a children's playground. The case returns to court at a later date. Jemima Fraser, aged just 13, fronted court to read her victim impact statement The killer's three children have remained in the care of Ms Fraser's parents The teenage daughter of slain Melbourne mum Samantha Fraser has confronted her killer father in court. Adrian Basham, 44, murdered his estranged wife in the garage of her parents' Phillip Island home on July 23, 2018 then made it look like a suicide. On Monday, his 13-year old daughter Jemima stood before him in the Supreme Court of Victoria to tell him that his actions would not break her. 'I'm here to tell you I'm a fighter,' she told Basham, who proceeded to complain throughout his Supreme Court of Victoria pre-sentence hearing. Samantha Fraser was a loving mum who would never have taken her own life, a court heard It was Ms Fraser's devotion to her children that immediately cast doubt on her supposed suicide. Her battered body had been found hanging from the garage door of her parents' fortified Seagrove Way home on Phillip Island - south east of Melbourne. Basham had struck while her parents had been away on a trip to the United States. Police alleged he snuck into the garage as Ms Fraser returned home after meeting with friends. Adrian Basham was found guilty of murdering his estranged wife Samantha Fraser DNA evidence showed that Basham's biological material was found under both fingernails of Ms Fraser's hands. Basham had long denied murdering Ms Fraser but in the end it took the jury a little over a day to find him guilty of the calculated murder. Jemima then aged 9, had been left waiting for her mum at the school flag pole with her little sister April, 7, and brother Rex, 5 on the day their mother was murdered. The children now live with their elderly grandparents, who also provided powerful victim impact statements to their daughter's killer. Jemima told her father she had made the trip into court to ensure her mother received justice. Repeating the words 'I have struggled' three times before finishing her sentence, the teenager fought back tears to condemn her father's murderous actions. 'I have struggled with anxiety and even suicidal thoughts, but I am here today to show people that I am a fighter and we will get justice for my mum,' she told Basham. Samantha Fraser fought hard for her life, but could not overpower the hulking beast who murdered her Adrian Basham is accused of killing Samantha Fraser (pictured) inside her Phillip Island home in 2018 Jemima described to her father the cruel taunts she had received from her classmates in the years since he murdered her mum. 'I bet her mum didn't even die and she's just doing it to get attention,' one kid told her. Jemima outlined the three reasons that motivated her to face her remorseless father. 'To get justice for the life mum deserved. For my friends and family ... For me. I have struggled ... in the years since mum was taken. And even with the support it is so unimaginably hard,' she said. Jemima told Basham she had spent four long months putting together the words she wanted him to know. 'He murdered my mum. He took Sammy's life and in doing so destroyed so many others. Just the thought that even with the limitless amount of love my mum had from everyone in her life, she could be taken away in minutes is nauseating,' Jemima said. 'And to be here in court because it's true is something else. I had my whole life ripped away. I lost my mum, a dad, my social life and a chance at a normal future.' Adrian Basham bashed and murdered his wife before attempting to make it look like a suicide Basham makes his getaway after murdering the mother of his children and making it look like she had suicided The Cowes home where Samantha Fraser was allegedly murdered in 2018 The court heard Jemima's younger siblings had endured similar torment, with little Rex so afraid of his dad that he made a fortress in his bed during his father's trial. 'To keep the monsters out,' his grandmother told the court. Leading up to Father's Day, the court heard Rex's classmates hit him with disgusting remarks. 'Rex came home from school really upset because a boy asked him what he would write in his Father's Day card and suggested he could say "Thanks dad for murdering mum", Samantha's mother Janine Fraser told the court. April, now aged 9, told the court her father had 'taken the best part of her heart away'. But in a slap in the face to his children, the court heard Basham was still trying to make excuses for killing his wife. In an extraordinary claim, not put before the jury that found him guilty, the court heard Basham maintained it had been his wife who asked him around on the day he would kill her. Further, his barrister Ashley Halphen claimed Basham had acted 'spontaneously' when he bashed, murdered and hanged his estranged wife from the garage door of her parents' home. 'It is logical, it is reasonable that he attended the residence with a non violent purpose,' Mr Halphen said. A GoFundMe page has been established in the hope of helping the Frasers provide everything the children would have enjoyed financially if their mother was still alive. The plea hearing needed to be halted after Basham refused to pipe down from the prison dock. It will return to court last next month. HOW ADRIAN BASHAM KILLED SAMANTHA FRASER Samantha Fraser's battered body had been found hanging from the garage door of her parents' fortified Seagrove Way home on Phillip Island - south east of Melbourne. Basham had struck while her parents had been away on a trip to the United States. Police alleged he snuck into the garage as Ms Fraser returned home after meeting with friends. DNA evidence showed that Basham's biological material was found under both fingernails of Ms Fraser's hands. Basham had long denied murdering Ms Fraser but in the end it took the jury a little over a day to find him guilty of the calculated murder. Basham had faced multiple charges of raping Ms Fraser both in 2014 and 2016. Ms Fraser had alleged Basham had first raped her in 2014 while she was grabbing food out of their pantry. Basham would allegedly rape her again that very same year, this time while she slept. The third rape allegedly took place in 2016, also while Ms Fraser was fast asleep. The jury heard Ms Fraser had been terrified of how Basham would react to her fronting him at court about the upcoming rape case. It was his prime motive for killing her. The jury heard Basham had repeatedly threatened harm against his ex-wife, telling Ms Fraser 'If I can't have you no one will'. Ms Fraser was certain Basham had been tracking her phone. Although Basham had an active intervention order out on him, she feared it would not stop him from doing her harm. The court heard Ms Fraser weighed just 57kgs and was considerably smaller in height than Basham. She had fought bravely for her life, but was no match for the cowardly brute. Advertisement The young children of slain Melbourne mum Samantha Fraser were savagely bullied by cruel classmates over their loss, a court has heard. Adrian Basham, 44, murdered his estranged wife in the garage of her parents' Phillip Island home on July 23, 2018 then made it look like a suicide. On Monday, his 13-year old daughter Jemima bravely stood before him in the Supreme Court of Victoria to tell him how he would not break her. 'I'm here to tell you I'm a fighter,' she told Basham, who proceeded to complain throughout his Supreme Court of Victoria pre-sentence hearing. Samantha Fraser was a loving mum who would never have taken her own life, a court heard Samantha Fraser was attacked by her husband, murdered and strung up inside her parents' Phillip Island home. Jemima then aged 9, had been left waiting for her mum at the school flag pole with her little sister April, 7, and brother Rex, 5 on the day their mother was murdered. The children now live with their elderly grandparents, who also provided powerful victim impact statements to their daughter's killer. Leading up to Father's Day, the court heard Rex's classmates bullied him with disgusting remarks. Adrian Basham was found guilty of murdering his estranged wife Samantha Fraser 'Rex came home from school really upset because a boy asked him what he would write in his Father's Day card and suggested he could say "Thanks dad for murdering mum", Samantha's mother Janine Fraser told the court. The court heard that one point one child told Jemima: 'I bet her mum didn't even die and she's just doing it to get attention' - before going on at length. Despite the family's pain, Jemima told her 'monster' father that his actions would not break her. It was Ms Fraser's devotion to her children that immediately cast doubt on her supposed suicide. Her battered body had been found hanging from the garage door of her parents' fortified Seagrove Way home on Phillip Island - south east of Melbourne. Basham had struck while her parents had been away on a trip to the United States. Police alleged he snuck into the garage as Ms Fraser returned home after meeting with friends. DNA evidence showed that Basham's biological material was found under both fingernails of Ms Fraser's hands. Samantha Fraser fought hard for her life, but could not overpower the hulking beast who murdered her Adrian Basham is accused of killing Samantha Fraser (pictured) inside her Phillip Island home in 2018 Basham had long denied murdering Ms Fraser but in the end it took the jury a little over a day to find him guilty of the calculated murder. Jemima told her father she had made the trip into court to ensure her mother received justice. Repeating the words 'I have struggled' three times before finishing her sentence, the teenager fought back tears to condemn her father's murderous actions. 'I have struggled with anxiety and even suicidal thoughts, but I am here today to show people that I am a fighter and we will get justice for my mum,' she told Basham. Jemima outlined the three reasons that motivated her to face her remorseless father. 'To get justice for the life mum deserved. For my friends and family ... For me. I have struggled ... in the years since mum was taken. And even with the support it is so unimaginably hard,' she said. Jemima told Basham she had spent four long months putting together the words she wanted him to know. 'He murdered my mum. He took Sammy's life and in doing so destroyed so many others. Just the thought that even with the limitless amount of love my mum had from everyone in her life, she could be taken away in minutes is nauseating,' Jemima said. 'And to be here in court because it's true is something else. I had my whole life ripped away. I lost my mum, a dad, my social life and a chance at a normal future.' Adrian Basham bashed and murdered his wife before attempting to make it look like a suicide Basham makes his getaway after murdering the mother of his children and making it look like she had suicided The Cowes home where Samantha Fraser was allegedly murdered in 2018 The court heard Jemima's younger siblings had endured similar torment, with little Rex so afraid of his dad that he made a fortress in his bed during his father's trial. 'To keep the monsters out,' his grandmother told the court on his behalf. April, now aged 9, told the court her father had 'taken the best part of her heart away'. But in a slap in the face to his children, the court heard Basham was still trying to make excuses for killing his wife. In an extraordinary claim, not put before the jury that found him guilty, the court heard Basham maintained it had been his wife who asked him around on the day he would kill her. Further, his barrister Ashley Halphen claimed Basham had acted 'spontaneously' when he bashed, murdered and hanged his estranged wife from the garage door of her parents' home. 'It is logical, it is reasonable that he attended the residence with a non violent purpose,' Mr Halphen said. A GoFundMe page has been established in the hope of helping the Frasers provide everything the children would have enjoyed financially if their mother was still alive. The plea hearing needed to be halted after Basham refused to pipe down from the prison dock. It will return to court next month. For confidential support, call Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800. See https://kidshelpline.com.au/ for details. If humankind is to one day colonise Mars, we will need to learn how to produce most of the food and equipment we need to survive on the Red Planet itself. This is because taking materials into space is prohibitively expensive. For example, it costs about $54,000 (47,000) for the NASA space shuttle to put just 1kg (2.2 pounds) of payload into Earth orbit. Anything that can be made on-planet will therefore save weight and money - not to mention that fact that, if something breaks, astronauts will need a way to repair it on-site. Now researchers from Washington State University (WSU) have found a way to 3D-print tools and rocket parts using dust on Mars's surface. The breakthrough could make future space travel cheaper and more practical, the researchers claim. Researchers from Washington State University (WSU) have found a way to 3D-print tools and rocket parts using dust on Mars's surface Thy made the tools using between five per cent and 100 per cent Martian regolith, a black powdery substance intended to imitate the rocky, inorganic material on Mars' surface that could be collected by a robotic arm or rover Taking materials out to Mars would be also hugely expensive, so anything that can be made on-planet would save weight and money Lunar soil could be used to convert CO2 into oxygen and ROCKET FUEL to power future missions to Mars Lunar soil could potentially be converted into rocket fuel to power future missions to Mars, a new study has found. Analysis of dirt granules brought back by China's Chang'e 5 spacecraft found that regolith on the moon contains compounds that convert carbon dioxide into oxygen. The soil is rich in iron and titanium, which work as catalysts under sunlight and could turn carbon dioxide and water released by astronauts' bodies into oxygen, hydrogen and other useful by-products like methane to power a lunar base. As liquified oxygen and hydrogen make rocket fuel, it also opens the door for a cost-cutting interplanetary gas station on the moon for trips to the Red Planet and beyond. Advertisement 'In space, 3D printing is something that has to happen if we want to think of a manned mission because we really cannot carry everything from here,' said Professor Amit Bandyopadhyay from WSUs School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering. 'And if we forgot something, we cannot come back to get it.' Along with graduate students Ali Afrouzian and Kellen Traxel, Prof Bandyopadhyay used a powder-based 3D printer to mix simulated Martian rock dust (known as regolith) with a titanium alloy. Titanium is often used in space exploration due to its strength and heat-resistant properties. A high-powered laser then heated the materials to over 2,000C (3,632F) to melt them. The melted mixture was then poured onto a moving platform, allowing the researchers to create different sizes and shapes. After the material cooled down, the researchers tested it for strength and durability. They discovered that small amounts of simulated crushed Martian rock mixed with titanium alloy made a strong, high-performance material that could be used to make tools and rocket parts on the Red Planet. They made tools using between five per cent and 100 per cent Martian regolith, a black powdery substance intended to imitate the rocky, inorganic material on Mars' surface that could be collected by a robotic arm or rover. The parts made using five per cent regolith exhibited better properties than the titanium alloy alone, which meant it could be used to make lighter weight pieces that could still bear heavy loads 'It gives you a better, higher strength and hardness material, so that can perform significantly better in some applications,' said Bandyopadhyay. Researchers discovered that small amounts of simulated crushed Martian rock mixed with titanium alloy made a strong, high-performance material 3D printing could be an important tool if humans hope to colonise the Red Planet The parts made using 100 per cent regolith were brittle and cracked easily, but Bandyopadhyay claims the material could still be used as coatings for radiation shields. Bandyopadhyay said the study, published in the International Journal of Applied Ceramic Technology, is just a start, and future research may yield better composites using different metals or 3Dprinting techniques. 'This establishes that it is possible, and maybe we should think in this direction,' he said. 'Because it's not just making plastic parts which are weak but metal-ceramic composite parts which are strong and can be used for any kind of structural parts.' Prof Bandyopadhyay has previously worked on similar experiments, using 3Dprinting to manufacture parts from simulated crushed moon rock - or lunar regolith - for NASA in 2011. Since then, space agencies have worked more and more with 3D printing, and the International Space Station now has its own devices to manufacture the materials they need on site and for experiments. Advertisement A flying motorbike that can travel at 62 miles per hour for up to 40 minutes made its U.S. debut this week at the North American Auto Show in Detroit. The hoverbike is the work of Aerwins, a Delaware-based company that makes drones and unmanned vehicles. Although it conjures up futuristic Jetsons visions of s oaring high above New York City's notoriously clogged streets, you probably won't be riding the hoverbike out to John F. Kennedy Airport anytime soon. The Xturismo currently costs $777,000, although Aerwins says it will develop a smaller model next year, as well as an all-electric model in 2025 to sell for about $50,000. 'I feel like I'm literally 15-years-old and I just got out of Star Wars and I jumped on their bike,' Thad Scott, co-chair of the auto show, told Reuters. 'I'm so excited' A hoverbike that can travel at 62 miles per hour for up to 40 minutes made its U.S. debut this week at the North American Auto Show in Detroit (above) Although it conjures up futuristic Jetsons visions of soaring high above New York City's notoriously clogged streets, you probably won't be riding the hoverbike out to John F. Kennedy Airport anytime soon Thad Scott, the co-chair of the auto show, took the hoverbike for a spin recently. 'I feel like I'm literally 15-years-old and I just got out of Star Wars and I jumped on their bike,' he told Reuters. 'I'm so excited.' 'It's awesome. It was exhilarating. It's not vicious, it's comfortable taking off and landing. There's no jerky-jerk, it's literally very, very smooth and I can't wait for the future.' Not suprisingly, Aerwins CEO Shuhei Komatsu loved Star Wars movies as a kid. The flying bike is the work of Aerwins, a Delaware-based company that makes drones and unmanned vehicles The Xturismo currently costs $777,000, although Aerwins says it will develop a smaller model next year, as well as an all-electric version in 2025 The hoverbike has been on sale in Japan - which does not classify it as an aircraft and therefore doesn't require a license to pilot it - since last fall 'I wanted to make something from the movie real,' Komatsu told the Detroit News . 'It's a land speeder for the Dark Side' 'I wanted to make something from the movie real,' Komatsu told the Detroit News. 'It's a land speeder for the Dark Side.' The hoverbike has been on sale in Japan - which does not classify it as an aircraft and therefore doesn't require a license to pilot it - since last fall. However, due to strict regulations for such machines in Japan, the XTurismo is still only allowed to fly, or hover, on race tracks. In January, the company said it was only planning to produce 200 units. Currently, the hoverbike two large central rotors that move thanks to a 228-hp gas-powered Kawasaki motorcycle engine. Four smaller electric support rotors are located on its outer edges as well. When resting on the ground, the hoverbike rests on two landing skids similar to those that might be seen on a conventional helicopter. The Xturismo, which has been in development for the last two years, weighs 660 pounds and is about 12 feet long. The hoverbike's debut comes at a time when major companies are placing bets that the public will eventually embrace robotic air taxis. Earlier this month, United Airlines announced it was putting $15 million into an order for 200 electric air taxis from Eve Air Mobility - with an option to snap up 200 more. The airline believes that in the coming years, many residents of traffic-clogged cities will fork over $100 to $150 for a one-way ride to the airport inside a four-seat air taxi thats powered by electricity. United Airlines expects to receive the first taxis from Eve as soon as 2026. However, the electric aircraft have yet to receive approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to fly passengers. Meanwhile, Komatsu said he believes consumers will buy his company's hoverbikes for recreation and that governments could purchase them for law enforcement or inspecting infrastructure. 'I hope that in the future, people will use it for every day,' he told the Detroit News. Advertisement The James Webb Space Telescope has released its first images of Mars - providing a unique and more detailed look at the Red Planet's atmosphere. The giant telescope, which sits almost a million miles away from Earth, is giving scientists and the public a glimpse of Mars' observable disk - that is, the part of the planet's sunlit side facing it. Webbs first pictures of Mars were captured by its Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam). They depict a region of the planets eastern hemisphere at two different wavelengths, or colors of infrared light. The Red Planet is one of the brightest objects in the night sky because of its relative proximity to Earth, but this poses challenges to the JWST - which was built to detect the most faint light from faraway galaxies in the universe. The James Webb Space Telescope has released its first images of Mars. The first image shows a surface reference map from NASA and the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) on the left, with the two Webb NIRCam instrument field of views overlaid. The two near-infrared images from Webb are on the right The first image shows a surface reference map from NASA and the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) on the left, with the two Webb NIRCam instrument field of views overlaid. The two near-infrared images from Webb are on the right. The NIRCam shorter-wavelength image is dominated by reflected sunlight, and thus reveals surface details similar to those apparent in visible-light images. The rings of the Huygens Crater (the planet's fifth-largest impact crater named after astronomer Christiaan Huygens), the dark volcanic rock of Syrtis Major (a well known dark spot), and brightening in the Hellas Basin are all apparent in this image. The basin is the largest well-preserved impact structure on Mars, spanning more than 1,200 miles, the space agency notes. As light emitted by the planet passes through Mars atmosphere, some gets absorbed by carbon dioxide (CO2) molecules, which causes the Hellas Basin to appear darker than the surroundings because of this effect. The Red Planet is one of the brightest objects in the night sky because of its relative proximity to Earth, but this poses challenges to the JWST - which was built to detect the most faint light from faraway galaxies in the universe The rings of the Huygens Crater, the dark volcanic rock of Syrtis Major, and brightening in the Hellas Basin are all apparent in this image. The basin is the largest well-preserved impact structure on Mars, spanning more than 1,200 miles, the space agency notes 'This is actually not a thermal effect at Hellas,' explains the principal investigator, Geronimo Villanueva of NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center, who designed these Webb observations. 'The Hellas Basin is a lower altitude, and thus experiences higher air pressure. That higher pressure leads to a suppression of the thermal emission at this particular wavelength range due to an effect called pressure broadening. It will be very interesting to tease apart these competing effects in these data.' Villanueva and his team also released Webb's first near-infrared spectrum of Mars, which shows minute variations in brightness between hundreds of different wavelengths. 'This is actually not a thermal effect at Hellas,' explains the principal investigator, Geronimo Villanueva of NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center, who designed these Webb observations 'The Hellas Basin is a lower altitude, and thus experiences higher air pressure. That higher pressure leads to a suppression of the thermal emission at this particular wavelength range due to an effect called pressure broadening. It will be very interesting to tease apart these competing effects in these data' 'Preliminary analysis of the spectrum shows a rich set of spectral features that contain information about dust, icy clouds, what kind of rocks are on the planets surface, and the composition of the atmosphere,' NASA says. 'The spectral signatures including deep valleys known as absorption features of water, carbon dioxide, and carbon monoxide are easily detected with Webb.' The U.S. space agency also noted that Webb's instruments are so sensitive that they require special techniques to avoid something called 'detector saturation' due to the bright infrared light from Mars. Astronomers are able to adjust for this by using short exposures to measure only a portion of the light hitting the detectors, and applying 'special data analysis techniques.' 'Preliminary analysis of the spectrum shows a rich set of spectral features that contain information about dust, icy clouds, what kind of rocks are on the planets surface, and the composition of the atmosphere,' NASA says NASA explained the telescope's perspective in a statement: 'Webb can capture images and spectra with the spectral resolution needed to study short-term phenomena like dust storms, weather patterns, seasonal changes, and, in a single observation, processes that occur at different times (daytime, sunset, and nighttime) of a Martian day.' The new images harness data from Webb science that's still in progress and has not yet been peer reviewed. Last week, the Webb captured a stunning image of the Orion Nebula that formed 4.5 billion years ago. That image showed an open cluster of young massive stars that shape the cloud of dust and gas with its intense radiation and dense filaments that may play a key role in birthing new stars. The nebula was previously photographed by the Hubble Telescope in 2004, but this device uses visible light and its view was obscured by the large amounts of stardust. JWST, however, detects the infrared light of the cosmos, allowing observers to see through these layers of dust and peer into its cosmic center - a region that has just now been seen by human eyes. Last week, the Webb captured a stunning image of the Orion Nebula that formed 4.5 billion years ago (above) Archaeologists have found an intact burial cave containing dozens of artifacts that dates to the time of the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramesses II. The discovery of the space, described by officials as being 'frozen in time,' was made by accident when a mechanical digger hit the roof of the structure at a beach spot in Palmahim National Park. The burial site contains dozens of pieces of intact pottery and bronze vessels, jars and bowls of various types, cooking vessels and oil lamps. There were also very small vessels that had held tiny amounts of precious substances. Archaeologists have found an intact burial cave containing dozens of artifacts that dates back to the time of the Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses II The discovery of the space, described by officials as being 'frozen in time,' was made by accident when a mechanical digger hit the roof of the cave structure at a beach spot in Palmahim National Park Archaeologists also unearthed some tools of war, such arrowheads and spear tips made of bronze. Eli Yannai, an expert on the Bronze Age at the Israel Antiquities Authority, confirmed that the site contained a host of different items that were meant to serve the dead in the afterlife. 'This is a once-in-a-lifetime find,' Yannai told the Jerusalem Post. 'It's not every day that you see an "Indiana Jones" set - a cave with vessels on the floor that haven't been touched in 3,300 years. We are talking about the Late Bronze Age. These are precisely the days of the famous king, Ramses II - the one some identify with the story of the Exodus.' 'The fact that these people were buried along with weapons, including entire arrows, shows that these people might have been warriors, perhaps they were guards on ships which may have been the reason they were able to obtain vessels from all around the area,' archaeologist David Gelman told DW.com. The burial site contains intact pottery and bronze vessels, jars and bowls of various types, cooking vessels and oil lamps 'This is a once-in-a-lifetime find,' Yannai told the Jerusalem Post . 'It's not every day that you see an "Indiana Jones" set - a cave with vessels on the floor that haven't been touched in 3,300 years The burial chamber was carved into the bedrock in the form of a square, with a pillar supporting its ceiling. Authorities believe this burial site may have served a family or clan. However, not much more about the bodies can be said. In contrast to the grave site artifacts, the bodies' preservation was poor - meaning that DNA extraction and analysis is not going to happen. Some of the bodies had been laid on their back, while some seem to have supplanted other bodies, he told Haaretz. Researchers don't know what settlement they may have been associated with. 'It may have been lost to the sea over time,' Yannai said. We can all agree that our healthcare is broken. The care delivery is fragmented and expensive. It's cheaper to pay cash than use your insurance for healthcare and medications. Healthcare professionals in the United States are required to operate within long-standing systems of care, meaning they are always privy to the shortcomings that exist within the industry. It's been widely reported in recent years that the US is set to face a projected shortage of between 37,800 and 124,000 doctors within the next 12 years. As a result, the demands on medical professionals have never been greater, while patients are increasingly struggling to secure facetime with doctors. Physicians will be the first people to feel this squeeze, but this means they will have the insight to offer alternative solutions, providing fertile ground for innovation and change from within. Doctor Kishlay Anand is one of the medical professionals who found himself in a unique position to propose alternatives to current shortcomings through his own digital health solutions. Knowing that he had more to offer than just his medical training, Anand now operates as both an MD and the owner of two entrepreneurial medical ventures. Get to Know Dr. Kishlay Anand Dr. Kishlay Anand is a board-certified cardiologist and electrophysiologist. He graduated from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS) in New Delhi, India, and went on to complete his master's degree in epidemiology at Columbia University, New York. He would then complete an internal medicine residency and cardiology fellowship at Creighton University in Nebraska, followed by a cardiac electrophysiology fellowship at the University of California in San Diego. Dr. Anand is partner at Peak Heart and Vascular, a large integrated cardiovascular group in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Anand has also expanded his medical training to various entrepreneurial pursuits, which included being chairman and a founding partner of Prayatna, a voluntary organization that promotes health awareness and patient welfare. Anand's humanitarian efforts also saw him organize an emergency medical relief team and raise funds for victims when Gujarat was hit by a massive earthquake in 2002. Now, he's turned his efforts to his own entrepreneurial pursuits, having experienced the demand for similar services first-hand. Akos Medical Care The first of Anand's medical ventures, Akos, aims to put healthcare in the palm of patients' hands. Virtual care usage is now 38 times higher than before the pandemic, as people have realized that there is no need to revert to in-person visits again when telehealth offers many of the key services that people need. It also offers unique benefits like shorter wait times, accessibility, affordable care, and improved patient-doctor relationships. With Akos, patients simply download the app, enter their medical history and current symptoms, and can then be connected with a care coordinator who best meets their needs. Crucially, patients can speak with medical providers 24/7, 365 days a year. The idea is to be able to offer remedies in real-time, when a visit to the doctor might not be possible - whether it's a tight chest or painful cough keeping you up at night, or an ankle sprain that doesn't seem to be getting better. It also offers telepsychiatry for behavioral health conditions like anxiety and depression, which continues to be a difficult first step for many mental health ailments. From the perspective of providers, Akos also allows physicians to set their own flexible schedules, triaged by a care coordinator to optimize consultation time. This allows physicians to generate extra revenue with no overhead. AkosMD has specialized programs for employers to help offer their employees concierge care and manage their medical and workers compensation spend. Liton Rx Anand's second entrepreneurial endeavor aims to complete the lifecycle of a medical experience. LitonRx is a digital pharmacy solution for your prescriptions, serving as a virtual pharmacy that focuses on saving patients money on medication, providing both price transparency and improved access. In a similar format to Akos, LitonRx pharmacists are available 24/7, always a text or call away from a prescription query. It not only offers competitive pricing, accepting most insurance plans - as well as Medicare and Medicaid - but it also ensures free same-day delivery throughout the state of Arizona. They also emphasize on education and empowerment of patients. The intention of the online platform is to keep up with the new era of digital health which redefines the pharmacy experience, promising to be a "game-changer" for both patients and providers regarding access to medication. In other words, no more smoke and mirrors for vulnerable patients when it comes to the accessibility and pricing of vital medication. They say necessity is the mother of invention, and those who are in the eye of the storm can usually spot an imminent crisis before it strikes. The US medical industry certainly has its flaws, but the solutions might just lie with those who know it better than anyone, and are willing to dive into the world of entrepreneurship to propose a better future. Find out more information about Akos and LitonRx. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. From leggy frocks to plunging necklines, Australia's footy WAGs certainly dared to bare at the Brownlow Medal count on Sunday night. But it was Port Adelaide player Sam Powell-Pepper's girlfriend Brya Waghorn who stole the show thanks to a wild detail in her eye-popping corset dress. The blonde courted attention in a black lace corset gown that barely covered her chest, revealing a generous glimpse of exposed underboob. Footy WAG Brya Waghorn dared to bare at the Brownlow Medal on Sunday as she arrived at Crown Melbourne in a sheer corset dress that exposed a generous glimpse of underboob The gown, by Love and Lemons and worth $570, featured a structured bodice that was designed to contain the wearer's bust - but failed to do so on this occasion. Brya's frock also had a tiered mesh skirt with a dramatic thigh split. The risque look is something rarely seen on Brownlow red carpets, as WAGs traditionally opt for more classic silhouettes. The gown, designed by Love and Lemons and worth $570, featured a structured bodice that was designed to contain the wearer's bust - but failed to do so on this occasion It follows reports the Brownlow Medal had succumbed to political correctness after banning a very simple question from red carpet interviews. This year's red carpet hosts Emma Freedman and Dale Thomas confirmed to the Herald Sun they wouldn't be asking anyone about their clothing. 'We have been told no questions about what you are wearing, who you are wearing, why you are wearing,' Freedman confirmed. Brya's frock also featured a tiered mesh skirt with a dramatic thigh split. (She is pictured with her boyfriend, Port Adelaide player Sam Powell-Pepper) 'We are going to focus on the fun and have a little giggle on the red carpet instead of asking that question,' she added. The move could be considered political correctness gone mad after the Brownlow red carpet made huge stars out of glamorous WAGs. Asking celebrities who they are wearing has long been a fixture of red carpet coverage across the world, with reporters often using the question to quickly engage female celebrities in conversation. Lara Stone honoured Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II by dressing in black as she attended the Christopher Kane show during London Fashion Week on Sunday. The Dutch model, 38, looked gorgeous as she joined her husband David Grievson at the star-studded Camden Roundhouse event. Lara's slipped into a chic dress boasted a high neck and short sleeves and was adorned with a sheer sequinned overlay. Lovebirds: Lara Stone and husband David Greivson honoured Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II by dressing in black as she attended the Christopher Kane show during London Fashion Week on Sunday The ensemble hugged every inch of her incredible figure as she completed the look with a pair of strappy black heels. Lara, who wed the property developer in 2020, opted for a bronzed makeup palette which accentuated her natural features, while styling her golden locks straight. Meanwhile David, 41, cut a casual figure while still honouring the late monarch on the eve of her funeral. Gorgeous: Lara's slipped into a chic dress boasted a high neck and short sleeves and was adorned with a sheer sequinned overlay He wore a simple black t-shirt which he layered with a jacket and completed the look with dark jeans. The couple put on a loved-up display as they rubbed shoulders at the swanky event before taking their seats in the front row. The luxury brand was launched by it's name sake, Scottish designer Christopher, alongside his sister Tammy Kane back in 2008. Pose: Lara, who wed the property developer in 2020, opted for a bronzed makeup palette which accentuated her natural features, while styling her golden locks straight Famous friends: The couple put on a loved-up display as they rubbed shoulders at the swanky event before taking their seats in the front row (pictured with Bridgerton actress Nicola Coughlan) His show stopping designs have been worn by the likes of First Lady Michelle Obama, the Duchess of Cambridge, Cate Blanchett and Anne Hathaway. It comes after Lara's ex-husband David Walliams has revealed why he wants to keep his son Alfred, nine, out of the spotlight. Although David and Lara both have high-profile careers, they came to the decision they want their son to be able to grow up just like other kids. Speaking to HELLO! Magazine, David said: 'I knew what I was getting into, this is what I signed up to. Making a television programme, being in the spotlight is unavoidable and if you're a kid, it must be quite hard.' He was married to supermodel Lara from 2010-2015 and the pair, who now co-parent Alfred, have always been extremely private when it comes to Alfred and only post pictures with his face covered on social media. David explained the reason behind it: 'You don't know what they going to want to do with their lives. They might choose to do something completely private, in which case, there doesn't seem to be any advantage to being in the spotlight.' Ex: It comes after Lara's ex-husband David Walliams has revealed why he wants to keep his son Alfred, nine, out of the spotlight (pictured together in 2012) David admitted he is trying to take tips from his Britain's Got Talent co-star Alesha Dixon and praised her for being a good mother. He said: 'She's very engaged with the kids. When you see her around her children you understand why they adore her so much. 'We were recently in Australia doing 'Australia's Got Talent' and her whole family were there' her sister, her partner's brother and everything. She's a very family-oriented person and she obviously adores her kids.' Kate Ritchie is staying at Nova FM - despite reports of her possible departure following a drink-driving incident - and will return to the studio on Monday afternoon with co-hosts Tim Blackwell and Joel Creasey. The 44-year-old, one third of the popular Kate, Tim & Joel drive show, posted a photo to Instagram on Saturday of the three presenters in the back of a car on their way to work. 'Back with the gang on set today...' she wrote in the caption. Kate Ritchie (centre) is staying at Nova FM and will return to the studio on Monday afternoon with co-hosts Tim Blackwell (left) and Joel Creasey (right) following her drink-driving incident Joel, 32, commented below the post: 'She's back, baby! Love you and can't wait to bants with you.' He also posted on his Instagram Stories: 'Our captain returns tomorrow.' Despite industry murmurs Kate could be replaced by Ricki-Lee Coulter following her drink-driving charge, a network spokesperson confirmed this was not the case. The 44-year-old, one third of the popular Kate, Tim & Joel drive show, posted this photo to Instagram on Saturday of the three presenters in the back of a car on their way to work They assured they 'have no plans for any changes to the Kate, Tim & Joel drive show or Kate's role within the show', calling her a 'talented broadcaster and respected member' of the team. Kate blew over the limit after she was stopped by police in her blue Subaru station wagon for a random breath test on August 22. She was immediately arrested and taken to Maroubra Police Station, where she underwent a secondary breath analysis which returned a positive reading of 0.06, just a shade over the legal limit of 0.05. Despite industry murmurs Kate could be replaced with Ricki-Lee Coulter following her drink-driving charge, a network spokesperson confirmed this was not the case Kate was fined $600 on the spot and suspended from driving for three months. She has since apologised for her actions and said she made a 'poor decision'. 'Recently I undertook a random breath test. Although it was low level, the test came back positive,' she wrote on Instagram. Kate blew over the limit after she was stopped by police in her blue Subaru station wagon for a random breath test on August 22 'I made a poor decision and there is no doubt I understand the seriousness of my actions. I am truly sorry.' The former child star on Home and Away was stopped by police for a random breath test at 2.45pm on Heffron Rd in Pagewood on the day of the incident. A police spokesman told Daily Mail Australia: 'She was issued with an infringement notice for the offence of Drive with Low Range Prescribed Concentration of Alcohol and issued a Licence Suspension Notice.' Today co-hosts Karl Stefanovic and Allison Langdon have condemned the Australian Republic Movement for igniting a debate about the monarchy before Queen Elizabeth II has even been buried. In an astonishing spray on Saturday morning, Stefanovic said it was inappropriate to engage in such a conversation during a period of mourning, before taking aim at ARM chair Peter FitzSimons and founding member Malcolm Turnbull. He remarked that having 'pasty white guys' as the figureheads for the movement would guarantee its failure. Karl Stefanovic (left) and Allison Langdon (right) have condemned the Australian Republic Movement for igniting a debate about the monarchy before the Queen has even been buried 'There's still people out there doing it. I just think it's so rude,' he said. 'Let me tell you, it is not going to happen while you've got pasty white guys like Peter FitzSimons and Malcolm Turnbull fronting up in Australia,' Stefanovic added. Langdon agreed, saying: 'I did tell Peter if he was at the front of the movement, I would always vote for a monarchy.' In an astonishing spray on Saturday morning, Stefanovic said it was inappropriate to engage in such a conversation during a period of mourning, before taking aim at ARM leader Peter FitzSimons (pictured) and founding member Malcolm Turnbull While the Australian Republic Movement has temporarily suspended its push for a republic until after the Queen's burial, its leader FitzSimons has long campaigned for the British Royal Family to be eradicated from Australian political life. FitzSimons has previously made statements criticising King Charles III, formerly the Prince of Wales, telling Daily Mail Australia in June he expected republican sentiment to 'get a surge once Australia leans in close and looks at' the new king. He also drew the ire of monarchists earlier this month by issuing a statement about the Queen's death before Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had a chance to. 'Let me tell you, it is not going to happen while you've got pasty white guys like Peter FitzSimons and Malcolm Turnbull fronting up in Australia,' Stefanovic added FitzSimons is married to Stefanovic's former Today co-anchor Lisa Wilkinson, who is fronting Channel 10 and The Project's coverage of Her Majesty's funeral in London. The 'irony' of her role was apparently not lost on many industry figures, reports The Australian's Media Diary. However, sources at Channel 10 said there were no misgivings about sending Wilkinson, who has impeccable knowledge of royal matters from her decades as a magazine editor. Langdon agreed, saying: 'I did tell Peter if he was at the front of the movement, I would always vote for a monarchy' The Queen's funeral is also a 'logical' assignment for the veteran broadcaster, a network insider told Media Diary, as she covered the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle for The Project in 2018. Before that, she spearheaded Nine's coverage of Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding in 2011 when she co-hosted Today with Stefanovic. Christopher Bendall, The Project's executive producer, claimed to not know whether Wilkinson was a monarchist or a republican, like her husband. While the Australian Republic Movement (ARM) has temporarily suspended its push for a republic until after the Queen's burial, its leader FitzSimons has long campaigned for the British Royal Family to be eradicated from Australian political life Australia last held a referendum on becoming a republic in 1999, with the country deciding to remain a constitutional monarchy. Britain, world leaders and royalty from across the globe will on Monday bid a final farewell to Queen Elizabeth, the last towering figure of her era, at a state funeral of inimitable pageantry. At 5:30am GMT, an official lying-in-state period ends after four days in which hundreds of thousands have queued to file past the casket of Britain's longest-reigning monarch at London's historic Westminster Hall. FitzSimons is married to Stefanovic's former Today co-anchor Lisa Wilkinson (left), who is fronting Channel 10 and The Project's coverage of Her Majesty's funeral in London They, like many across the globe including U.S. President Joe Biden, had wanted to pay tribute to the 96-year-old who had spent seven decades on the British throne. 'You were fortunate to have had her for 70 years,' Biden said. 'We all were.' Shortly before 11am GMT, the oak coffin, covered in the Royal Standard flag with the Imperial State Crown on top, will be placed on a gun carriage and pulled by naval personnel to Westminster Abbey for her funeral. The 'irony' of Wilkinson's (left) arrival in London to front Channel 10 and The Project's coverage of Her Majesty's funeral was apparently not lost on many industry figures Among the 2,000 in the congregation will be some 500 world leaders, including Biden, Emperor Naruhito of Japan, Wang Qishan, the Vice President of China, and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. The Queen's great-grandchildren, Prince George, nine, and Princess Charlotte, seven, the two eldest children of now heir to the throne Prince William, will also be attending. 'Over the last 10 days, my wife and I have been so deeply touched by the many messages of condolence and support we have received from this country and across the world,' Charles, Elizabeth's son and the new king, said in a statement. Australia last held a referendum on becoming a republic in 1999, with the country deciding to remain a constitutional monarchy. (The Queen, who died on September 8, is pictured in 2018) 'As we all prepare to say our last farewell, I wanted simply to take this opportunity to say thank you to all those countless people who have been such a support and comfort to my family and myself in this time of grief.' Elizabeth died aged 96 on September 8 at her Scottish summer home, Balmoral Castle. Her health had been in decline, and for months the monarch who had carried out hundreds of official engagements well into her nineties had withdrawn from public life, although just two days before her death she had appointed Liz Truss her 15th and final prime minister. Britain, world leaders and royalty from across the globe will on Monday bid a final farewell to Queen Elizabeth, the last towering figure of her era, at a state funeral of inimitable pageantry. (Pictured: U.S. President Joe Biden, right, accompanied by First Lady Jill Biden, centre, are welcomed by Master of the Household Sir Tony Johnstone-Burt, left, as they arrive at Buckingham Palace for a State Reception in honour of the late Queen on Sunday) Margot Robbie put on a stylish display on Sunday as she stepped out in New York City, just days after being pictured looking distraught outside the home of her troubled friend Cara Delevingne. The I, Tonya actress appeared to be in much better spirits as she strolled around the trendy Tribeca neighbourhood in lower Manhattan. Margot, 32, teamed tailored blue-grey pants with a matching vest for the outing, holding a coordinating blazer to complete her look. Margot Robbie put on a stylish display on Sunday as she stepped out in NYC, just days after being pictured looking distraught outside the home of her troubled friend Cara Delevingne The Australian Oscar nominee wore her blonde hair down and opted for a glossy makeup palette, including dark eye makeup. She completed her chic outfit with pointed black heels and a small designer bag. Margot was flanked by security and fans as she made her way to an engagement in the city. The I, Tonya actress appeared to be in much better spirits as she strolled around the trendy Tribeca neighbourhood in lower Manhattan The sighting comes after Margot was spotted at model Cara Delevingne's home looking very upset last Monday. She could be seen holding her hand up to her face, and appeared to be emotional. The British supermodel continues to spark health concerns with a series of dishevelled public appearances. Margot, 32, teamed tailored blue-grey pants with a matching vest for the outing, holding a coordinating blazer to complete her look Further details of what happened inside the property have not emerged. Margot is in New York City with her film producer husband Tom Ackerley. The couple were seen going for dinner in NYC's SoHo neighborhood. The sighting comes after Margot was spotted at model Cara Delevingne's home looking very upset last Monday The couple first met while working on the film Suite Francaise in 2013. Margot and Tom subsequently moved in with a group of friends the following year, when they began their relationship. They wed in Byron Bay, Australia, in 2016. Juliette Binoche was the epitome of elegance as she took to the stage to accept an award at the 70th San Sebastian International Film Festival in Spain on Sunday. The actress, 58, slipped into a silky black jumpsuit for the occasion, showcasing her fantastically trim figure. The Chocolat star completed the look with a bright lavender cape which boasted a canary yellow lining and dramatic fringe detailing. Glamour: Juliette Binoche, 58, was the epitome of elegance as she took to the stage to accept an award at the 70th San Sebastian International Film Festival in Spain on Sunday The Donostia Award is an honorary award created in 1986 which is given every year to a number of actors and movie makers. And Juliette was celebrated at Sunday's event alongside The Fly director David Cronenberg. Strutting her stuff in towering black platform heels the Oscar winner accessorised the ensemble with a selection of gold jewellery. Winner: The actress slipped into a silky black jumpsuit for the occasion, showcasing her fantastically trim figure Stylish: The Chocolat star completed the look with a bright lavender cape which boasted a canary yellow lining and dramatic fringe detailing Wowza: The statuesque star looked fantastic as she sauntered down the red carpet Juliette accentuated her age defying features with a natural palette of make-up as she slicked her dark tresses back into a chignon. She beamed as she made her way on stage to a rapturous applause and proudly held the award high. Since its creation in 1953 the film festival has hosted several international premiere's including Vertigo by Alfred Hitchcock and Star Wars. An Honour: Spanish filmmaker Isabel Coixet (left) presented the actress with her award Gorgeous: Juliette accentuated her age defying features with a natural palette of make-up as she slicked her dark tresses back into a chignon Speech: The actress had tears in her eyes as she read her thank you speech to the audience Winners: Juliette was celebrated at Sunday's event alongside The Fly director David Cronenberg (pictured earlier this year) Other winners of the Donostia Award include Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz, Meryl Streep, Francis Ford Coppola and Bette Davis. It comes after the actress revealed that she had turned down three opportunities to work with Stephen Spielberg. Speaking to Variety the star discussed turning the well-known filmmaker down, she compared him to another one in Martin Scorsese, 79, as she labelled them 'men's directors.' Pride: She beamed as she made her way on stage to a rapturous applause and held the award high in victory Emotional: the French beauty appeared emotional as she took to the stage during the lavish ceremony She was asked if she really turned Spielberg down three times as she replied: 'I dont remember very well but Steven reminded me! The first time was for Indiana Jones 3, because I was doing The Lovers On The Bridge with Leos Carax. 'The second time, for Schindlers List, I was pregnant, and then for the dinosaurs (Jurassic Park), I had already committed to Three Colors: Blue (Krzysztof Kieslowskis film). 'It would have been amusing to do Jurassic Park to see how (Spielberg) makes the film, but at the same time, Spielberg is more of a mens director, like Scorsese actually.' She was asked if she would still work with Spielberg or Scorsese in the future. The actress remained honest as she replied: 'Of course I would! Even if I find their approach to cinema to be very commercial, they have a fabulous technique which they own completely, and therere storytellers. But their films lack women.' Bella Hadid looked fashionable in a tiny backless gown while hanging out with friends on Sunday. The 25-year-old model wore the gown with a light gray top and a tiny gray bottom that ended in the middle of her thighs. She accessorized with a black leather handbag and dark sunglasses. Tiny gown: Bella Hadid looked fashionable in a tiny backless gown while hanging out with friends on Sunday The Washington, D.C. native tied her hair back in tight bun while she stood on top of a hotel bellman's cart. She stood on a pair of tall black boots which stopped just above her shins, and she added small silver earrings to her look as well. Hadid took a few photos with her friends, including one where she and one of her friends each drank a bright red drink. Lots of gray: The 25-year-old model wore the gown with a light gray top and tiny gray bottoms that ended in the middle of her thighs Accessories: She accessorized with a black leather handbag and dark sunglasses Tied back: The Washington, D.C. native tied her hair back in tight bun while she stood on top of a hotel bellman's cart Night out: Hadid took a few photos with her friends during their evening out She laid her head on fellow model Mariacarla Boscono's shoulder at a crowded outdoor venue. Hadid captioned her photoset with a few emojis, two water droplet emojis and one pink heart with an arrow through it. Her appearance out came as rumors about a romantic relationship between her sister Gigi and Leonardo DiCaprio continue to swirl. Having a drink: One shot showed Bella and one her friends each having a bright red drink Snuggling up: She laid her head on fellow model Mariacarla Boscono's shoulder at a crowded outdoor venue Romantic rumors: Her appearance out came as rumors about a romantic relationship between her sister Gigi and Leonardo DiCaprio continue to swirl New romance: Her appearance out came as rumors about a romantic relationship between her sister Gigi and Leonardo DiCaprio continue to swirl (pictured 2016) According to Page Six, a source said that the couple have been out together just the two of them as well as hanging out in groups with the pair not calling themselves 'exclusive' yet. The person added: '[DiCaprio] is not someone who is in-and-out of relationships. He doesn't jump around hooking up. They are taking it slow.' Bella was most recently seen out with Gigi on Wednesday, September 14, as they marched down the catwalk at the Tom Ford spring 2023 fashion show for New York Fashion Week. The event appeared to have a 1970s theme, and both Hadid sister sparkled in sequined dresses that would have looked right at home in Studio 54 during its heyday. They were joined by other models on the runway including Joan Smalls and models in the front row including Kate Moss' daughter Lila Grace Moss. Christian Bale rocked a rather stylish look while hitting the red carpet with his wife of 22 years, Sibi, at the world premiere of his new film Amsterdam. The 48-year-old actor was all smiles with Sibi at the premiere, held at Alice Tully Hall in New York City on Sunday. The Oscar-winning actor reunites with The Fighter and American Hustle director David O. Russell for Amsterdam, which hits theaters October 7. Red carpet ready: Christian Bale rocked a rather stylish look while hitting the red carpet with his wife of 22 years, Sibi, at the world premiere of his new film Amsterdam Bale stepped out with a black dress shirt under a charcoal suit coat for his red carpet appearance. He donned matching charcoal grey pants and black dress shoes for the premiere on Sunday night. He also sported a scruffy salt-and-pepper beard while hitting the red carpet with Sibi, who he tied the knot with in 2000. Christian's look: Bale stepped out with a black dress shirt under a charcoal suit coat for his red carpet appearance Sibi was wearing a lacy black bra that was seek peeking out from a buttoned black velvet suit coat. She also wore an elegant gold necklace that was dangling around her neck at the red carpet event. Sibi completed her look with a pair of matching black pants and a pair of red pumps. Sibi's look: Sibi was wearing a lacy black bra that was seek peeking out from a buttoned black velvet suit coat The happy couple were also joined by their eldest child, 17-year-old daughter Luka. She stepped out with a black rose print dress with a gold necklace while holding a bright red clutch. Their daughter completed her red carpet look with black heeled boots. Daughter: The happy couple were also joined by their eldest child, 17-year-old daughter Luka Amsterdam hails from writer-director David O. Russell, a period piece set in the 1930s. The story follows three friends (Bale, Margot Robbie, John David Washington) who witness a murder and end up becoming murder suspects. While they try to clear their name, they end up uncovering one of the most bizarre plots in American history. Period piece: Amsterdam hails from writer-director David O. Russell, a period piece set in the 1930s Suspects: The story follows three friends (Bale, Margot Robbie, John David Washington) who witness a murder and end up becoming murder suspects Jodi Gordon appeared happy and healthy on Sunday, as she continues her road to recovery after completing a 30-day alcohol program. The former Home and Away and Neighbours star, 37, spent some quality time with her eight-year-old daughter Aleeia as they went for a stroll in Sydney. The model and actress looked radiant in a black-on-black outfit comprising slacks, a low-cut shirt and a chunky knit cardigan with the sleeves pushed up. Jodi Gordon (pictured with her eight-year-old daughter Aleeia) appeared happy and healthy on Sunday, as she continues her road to recovery after completing a 30-day alcohol program She accessorised with black slides and white drop earrings as she smiled at her lookalike little girl. Jodi swept her brunette hair into a low bun at the nape of her neck and opted for natural-look makeup. Aleeia, eight, showcased her own fledgling sense of style as she threw on a white jumper with a pink logo over a pair of black cargo pants with hot-pink pockets. The former Home and Away and Neighbours star, 37, spent some quality time with her daughter Aleeia as they went for a stroll in Sydney She finished off her look with white and pink Nike sneakers and a silver gym bag. Just like her famous mother, Aleeia slicked her brown hair back into a low ponytail, and matched her black fingernail polish to Jodi's toenails. Jodi spent 30 days in rehab for alcohol addiction earlier this year, and is now on the path to redemption after embracing a healthier lifestyle, banning booze and staying single. The model and actress looked radiant in a black-on-black outfit comprising slacks, a low-cut shirt and a chunky knit cardigan with the sleeves pushed up 'Life isn't always perfect; you go through your ups and downs,' she told Daily Mail Australia at the launch of Life Botanics' new vitamin range in Sydney in July. 'I've made some big changes this year. So it's been a journey of getting my life to a place where I'm making changes, really taking time to invest in myself.' Jodi, who is an ambassador for Life Botanics, said she'd been making positive changes in recent months, including following an exercise regimen, practising meditation and focusing on nutrition. Jodi spent 30 days in rehab for alcohol addiction earlier this year, and is now on the path to redemption after embracing a healthier lifestyle, banning booze and staying single The mother of one underwent 'immersion therapy' at an exclusive clinic called The Sydney Retreat in Stanmore, where clients are offered a '30-day recovery program' for $8,800. Jodi checked herself into rehab following her acrimonious split from investment banker Sebastian Blackler. The exes are subject to court-ordered AVOs prohibiting them from contacting each other until April 2024. Channel Nine received complaints from royalists after Today show host Allison Langdon went on air in a dark green outfit instead of black last Monday. The network's news presenters had been observing a strict all-black dress code since the death of Queen Elizabeth II, but an attempt to revert to standard dress was met with pushback from some viewers. Langdon, 43, was co-hosting the program from Buckingham Palace with reporter Charles Croucher, who wore a dark blue suit and red tie during the broadcast. Royalists complained to Channel Nine after Today show hosts Allison Langdon (right) and Charles Croucher (left) stopped wearing black during live coverage from Buckingham Palace Nine received calls from viewers who criticised the presenters for breaking with the tradition of all-black mourning dress, reports The Australian. All of the major networks have imposed strict dress codes on their news divisions in the lead-up to the Queen's funeral on Monday. Channel Seven has asked its on-air talent to wear black - even reporters covering local news events unrelated to the late monarch's death. Nine management has decided its on-air talent should wear 'muted colours', but not necessarily all black. Nine's news presenters had been observing a strict all-black dress-code since the death of the Queen, but an attempt to revert to standard dress was met with pushback from some viewers. (Pictured: Today hosts Karl Stefanovic and Allison Langdon) However, the all-black rule does still apply to Nine reporters covering stories related to the Royal Family. Langdon was scolded by her Today co-host Karl Stefanovic on Thursday after she flirted with a royal protection officer outside Buckingham Palace. She burst into fits of giggles when Stefanovic urged her to 'be more respectful' after Langdon described the royal official, named Simon, as 'handsome'. Channel Seven has asked its on-air talent to wear black - even reporters covering local news events unrelated to the late monarch's death. (Pictured: Sunrise co-hosts Natalie Barr and David Koch) The Channel Nine breakfast show has been reporting live from London following the death of the Queen of Australia. Following the Queen's death, the Today hosts anchored seven-and-a-half hours of live coverage on Friday, September 9, which began with them breaking the news at 4.30am. They didn't hand over to Today Extra presenters Sylvia Jeffreys and David Campbell until midday. Jeffreys and Campbell usually start broadcasting at 9am. Tesla Texas Gigafactory has achieved another milestone. The Tesla Texas Gigafactory has recorded another milestone as the automaker made an announcement that it has produced its 10,000th Model Y SUV, as per Engadget. Tesla Texas Gigafactory Could Produce the Cybertruck Next Tesla is expected to deliver the completed Model Y electric vehicle soon. These will then be available to buyers. The completion of Model Y 10,000th unit only shows that the automaker managed to ramp up its EV production. According to a report by TechTimes, the production of the 10,000th Model Y "gives a good sign for future releases including the Cybertruck." Engadget mentioned in its report that Tesla plans to build the Cybertruck production mainly in Texas Gigafactory. Therefore, the 10,000th Model Y record is a significant sign that the said factory is ready for its future ventures. While, Tesla is not yet issuing any statement regarding its preparation for the production of the Cybertruck, the recent milestone of the automaker is a good sign that the company is ready for its future endeavors. The volume production of the Cybertruck was initially expected to start in 2021. However, Tesla moved it to 2022, and moved it again to 2023. According to TechTimes, the production of the Cybertruck depends on a casting machine that will make it "unibody" shell. It is expected to come "from the 9,000-ton casting machine from the IDRA Group." The said casting machine expected to be "in place" for Gigafactory Texas, the factory where the Cybertruck of Tesla will be manufactured and produced. Using the casting machine, it is expected that Gigafatory Texas will soon be the primary location where the Cybertruck will be produced. It is also expected that the availability of the casting machine will speed up the process of Cybertruck manufacturing. The recent milestone achieved by Gigafactory Texas for the Model Y is a good sign that the said factory is ready to handle the future ventures of the automaker company including the production of the Cybertruck. Read Also: Tesla Phone Rumored Specs, Price, and Release Date Leaks Tesla Produces Over One Thousand Vehicles Per Week According to Electrek, Tesla did not reveal the automaker's current production rate of the Model Y but based on the news site's speculation, it's probably over one thousand vehicles per week. Based on Electrek's report last June, Tesla managed to increase the production of its vehicles at the factory. However, it was also around the same time that Tesla started to create Model Y vehicles using 2170 cells, or the old battery architecture. Meanwhile, Engadget mentioned that the "bottleneck" related to Tesla's next generation 4680 battery cells is partly the reason why Tesla's next EV hasn't arrived yet. The automaker's CEO Elon Musk boasted the 4680 battery cells technology in 2020, saying it would make EV cost less. However, Tesla and battery partner Panasonic "had yet to produce the cells at scale." Tesla started offering a new variant of Model Y featuring 4680 battery cells in April this year. The vehicle can travel 279 miles on a single charge, with the price starting at $59,990. Related Article: Tesla Recalls 130,000 Vehicles With Overheating AMD Ryzen CPUs Vic Mensa made a $10,000 donation to fuel 200 cars with gas at a station on Chicago's Southside earlier this month in a promotion for 93 Boyz, his new cannabis company. The 29-year-old rapper also distributed pre-rolled marijuana cigarettes at the promotional event in Chicago, TMZ reported, for the company which he says is the first Black-owned establishment of its kind in the Windy City. A woman who benefited from Mensa's generosity wept as she told him how she was grateful for the relief at the pump. The latest: Vic Mensa, 29, made a $10,000 donation to fuel 200 cars with gas at a station on Chicago's Southside earlier this month in a promotion for 93 Boyz. He was snapped last year in NYC 'I dont know how I'm gonna get no gas to take you to work,' the woman said. 'We have $5 on the car then you all came. Aint nothing but God and blessings. I just want to say thank you, thats all, okay.' Mensa told her, 'God bless you. We appreciate you. 93 Boyz got you.' The Chicago native told the outlet he felt fulfilled giving back to the community amid a stretch of inflated gas prices. Mensa told the outlet he was hoping to help his fellow Chicagoans as part of his initiatives with his cannabis company, he would frequently take part in acts of philanthropy aimed at the community. Mensa was seen late last year at an event in Miami Beach Mensa helped fuel 200 cars with gas in the promotional event Mensa said the brand's core mission is 'reinvesting in the communities and individuals that have been historically and disproportionately affected by outdated laws, prejudices, and assumptions regarding cannabis consumption' Speaking with the Chicago Tribune last month, Mensa said that after unsuccessfully seeking a license to grow and sell marijuana in Illinois, he began growing and selling via a cultivator who holds a license. He said of his product: 'Weed is a unifier. Its a connector. A lot of great relationships are built on it. You rarely see people in a smoking session break into a fist fight. Thats not the energy of weed.' In a statement on its site, Mensa said the brand's core mission is 'reinvesting in the communities and individuals that have been historically and disproportionately affected by outdated laws, prejudices, and assumptions regarding cannabis consumption.' He noted that the brand has partnered with 'SaveMoneySaveLife, a Chicago-based, Native and Black led nonprofit advocating for sustainable change,' and is focused on sponsoring 'initiatives aimed at prison reform and equity in the cannabis space.' Samantha Armytage will be used to heavily promote Sydney's spring racing carnival, according to a report in The Australian. The Australian's social diary claims it was told NSW racing boss Peter V'landys wants Seven, the Sydney racing rights holder, to raise the carnival's profile. Seven insiders say Sam will be used to promote the $10 million Golden Eagle Stakes on Seven, to compete against Ten's coverage of The Melbourne Cup. Ex-Sunrise star Sam Armytage (pictured) is set to promote Sydney spring racing take on the Melbourne Cup, according to The Australian this week That race will be held on October 29, just days before Melbourne Cup. It comes after talk Sam would replace Tracey Grimshaw as the anchor on A Current Affair. However Seven quickly quashed those rumours. The Australian's social diary claims it was told NSW racing star Peter V'landys wants Seven, the Sydney racing rights holder, to raise the carnival's profile. Pictured: Sam Armytage A Seven spokesperson clarified Armytage remains under contract at Seven for the next 18 months. Sam is currently appearing as a guest on reality dating show, Farmer Wants A Wife, to help singles find love. Sam recently gave insight into her life in the Southern Highlands, after stepping away from the spotlight. Seven insiders say Sam will be used to promote the $10 million Golden Eagle Stakes to compete against Ten's coverage of The Melbourne Cup. The race is in October 'We have horses and there's always something going on,' Sam, 46, told TV Week recently. 'I'm happy to use the chainsaw and I drive the bobcat and the tractor. But not the bulldozer it's too big and scary.' Sam says that she and Richard, 60, fell in love at first sight - but he had never seen her on Sunrise, which she hosted at the time. Samantha gave a rare insight to her quiet life in the country with husband Richard Lavender recently to TV Week. Both pictured 'I instantly knew Rich was grounded and an earthy type. I liked that he had no idea who I was, and I liked his blue eyes,' she said. Sam added that her role as a matchmaker on Farmer Wants a Wife is perfect as it mirrors her own experience. 'The show is basically my life, moving to the country for love,' she said. 'I was thrilled to be asked'. Davide Sanclimenti worked up a sweat as Ekin-Su Culculoglu perched on top of the leg press while her man performed some resistance training exercises in the gym this weekend. In an amusing clip shared on his Instagram Stories, Davide, 27, could be seen laying back with his legs in the air as he pushed the weights up and down. Adding some extra weight to help him bulk up his already muscular limbs, Ekin-Su could be seen sat on top of the equipment while wearing some bright blue exercise gear. Couple goals: Davide Sanclimenti worked up a sweat as Ekin-Su Culculoglu perched on top of the leg press while her man performed some resistance training exercises in the gym The actress, 28, smiled as she moved up and down while Davide worked out on the equipment. He captioned his post: 'Ekin press.' It comes after Davide proved Ekin-Su was totally irresistible as he tucked into a cake baked to resemble her on Thursday. Entertaining: In an amusing clip shared on his Instagram Stories, Davide, 27, could be seen laying back with his legs in the air as he pushed the weights up and down Taking to TikTok the Italian hunk nibbled on the breast of the lavishly baked treat, which had been presented to his love to celebrate her new range with fashion brand Oh Polly. In the fun clip David cheekily smiled at the camera before leaning in and taking an enormous bite of the impressive cake. The dessert was baked into the curvaceous shape of budding actress Ekin-Su dressed in a bright orange co-ord from her new range. Working it out: Adding some extra weight to help him bulk up his already muscular limbs, Ekin-Su could be seen sat on top of the equipment while wearing some bright blue exercise gear Just for laughs: The actress, 28, smiled as she moved up and down while Davide worked out on the equipment New invention: Davide captioned his post: 'Ekin press,' as he posted the clip on social media for his fans Davide cut a casual figure in the footage donning a dark hoodie and jeans as well as a pair of circular specs. Beaming for the camera he wrote: 'When you have good taste'. Taking to her own social media Ekin-Su posed next to her doppelganger before playfully telling off her beau as he fondled the cake's ample assets. Cheeky: Davide proved his girlfriend Ekin-Su Culculoglu, 28, was totally irresistible as he tucked into a cake baked to resemble her on Thursday The stunner looked chic in an all black ensemble and shielded her eyes behind oversized shades. Ekin-Su showed fans the moment she was first surprised with the cake leaving her speechless and overcome with emotion. Ekin-Su signed a 1million deal with Oh Polly last month making it the biggest partnership in Love Island history. And she told MailOnline she is 'living the dream' after departing the Majorcan Villa to a flurry of exciting opportunities whilst she posed in her latest photoshoot for the brand. Alan Alda and Mike Farrell teamed up to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the war dark comedy M*A*S*H that premiered on CBS on September 17, 1972. The 86-year-old actor who portrayed Captain Benjamin 'Hawkeye' Pierce on the critically acclaimed show shared a photo on Twitter on Saturday showing him with Farrell, 83, who played Captain B.J. Hunnicutt. 'Mike Farrell and I today toasting the 50th anniversary of the show that changed our lives - and our brilliant pals who made it what it was. MASH was a great gift to us,' Alda wrote as a caption for his roughly 324,000 followers. Fiftieth anniversary: Alan Alda and Mike Farrell teamed up on Saturday to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the war dark comedy M*A*S*H that premiered on CBS on September 17, 1972 Alda and Farrell in the photo beamed while standing next to each other holding stemmed glasses filled with red wine. The ensemble cast originally featured Alda and the late Wayne Rogers, who died in 2015 at age 82, as surgeons Hawkeye and 'Trapper' John McIntyre at the '4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital' in Uijeongbu, South Korea, during the Korean War. Rogers was written out of the after the third season along with the late McLean Stevenson, who died in 1996 at age 68, who portrayed Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake. Farrell replaced Rogers with Hunnicutt becoming bunkmate and straight-man to Hawkeye's antics. TV stars: The 86-year-old actor who portrayed Captain Benjamin 'Hawkeye' Pierce on the critically acclaimed show shared a photo on Twitter on Saturday showing him with Farrell, 83, who played Captain B.J. Hunnicutt, shown in a still from 1975 Fan favorites: Farrell, shown in November 2019, and Alda, shown in January 2020, played bunkmates and surgeons in the Korean War on the CBS series M*A*S*H was adapted from the 1970 feature film of the same name and aired 11 seasons on CBS from September 1972 until February 28, 1983. The series is one of the highest-rated shows in US television history and its final episode was the most-watched television broadcast in American history from 1983 until 2010. The finale titled 'Goodbye, Farewell and Amen' remains the most-watched finale of an TV series and the most-watched episode of a scripted series. Original ensemble: Alda is shown with fellow original ensemble cast members Larry Linville as Major Frank Burns and Wayne Rogers as Captain 'Trapper' John McIntyre in a 1972 still The show was honored in 1975 with a Peabody Award. Alda in 2018 revealed that he has Parkinson's disease. In addition to portraying Hawkeye, Alda also played a senator who ran for president on The West Wing and he also hosted Scientific American Frontiers on PBS. She's known for her commitment to exercise and holistic wellness. And Rachael Finch looked fit as a fiddle as she hit Sydney's Coogee Beach with her family on Sunday. The former Miss Universe Australia stunned in a tiny taupe bikini as she soaked up the sun with her dancer husband Michael Miziner and their two children, son Dominic, four, and daughter Violet, eight, Rachael Finch displays her sensational physique in a taupe strapless bikini as she hit Coogee Beach in Sydney on Sunday Rachael's barely-there swimwear featured a strapless, bandeau-style top with a ring detail in the centre, and high-cut bottoms. She completed her look with a straw sunhat and a set of aviator sunglasses. At times, the bronzed brunette covered up beneath a chic knitted kaftan. The former Miss Universe Australia was joined by her dancer husband Michael Miziner (left) and their two children, son Dominic, four, (centre) and daughter Violet, eight for the family outing Rachael's barely-there swimwear featured a strapless, bandeau-style top with a ring detail in the centre, and high-cut bottoms Michael meanwhile went shirtless in a pair of brown swim trunks that perfectly matched his wife's bikini. The stylish pair were seen strolling barefoot on the sand enjoying a lively conversation while keeping a keen eye on their children. Rachael and Michael met and fell in love while competing on Dancing With The Stars in 2010, and went on to marry in 2013. Michael meanwhile went shirtless in a pair of brown swim trunks that perfectly matched his wife's bikini Rachael spent time documenting the outing by taking photos on her phone The sighting comes after Rachael spoke to Body + Soul magazine in April about her breast implant removal surgery last year. 'I no longer need to be defined by the size of my breasts,' the 33-year-old told the publication. 'I have very small boobies now and they fit my body perfectly. I'm grateful that even with the implants, I was still able to breastfeed my children, but my body now is what it's meant to be'. The stylish pair were seen strolling barefoot on the sand enjoying a lively conversation while keeping a keen eye on their children She completed her look with a straw sunhat and a set of aviator sunglasses The sighting comes after Rachael spoke to Body + Soul magazine in April about her breast implant removal surgery last year The model got breast implants when she was just 17 after feeling pressure from the pageant circuit and modelling industry. 'I made a decision at such a young age to change a part of me that then became who I was for so long,' she said. 'When I was younger, I was very wrapped up in my appearance, and as I've become older and matured, had children and become a woman, I've realised that my appearance doesn't define me in any way, shape or form'. The beauty added: 'I feel the most content, comfortable and happy that I've felt in my whole life. 'I feel like I'm truly myself. I'm not in any other skin than my own, and that's a really empowering sensation.' Advertisement King Viserys Targaryen (Paddy Considine) tries to form a royal alliance with a royal wedding... as his health continues to fail in Episode 5 of HBO's House of the Dragon. Viserys announces his plans to marry off his daughter Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock) to Laenor Velaryon (Theo Nate), the son of Corlys Verlaryon (Steve Toussaint) and Rhaenys Targaryen (Eve Best). The trailer teased some tension and an all-out brawl at the wedding, while the former Hand of the King, Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) tells his daughter, Queen Alicent (Emily Carey) that there will be war if Rhaenyra takes the Iron Throne. Alliance: King Viserys Targaryen (Paddy Considine) tries to form a royal alliance with a royal wedding... as his health continues to fail in Episode 5 of HBO's House of the Dragon Daughter: Viserys announces his plans to marry off his daughter Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock) to Laenor Velaryon (Theo Nate), the son of Corlys Verlaryon (Steve Toussaint) and Rhaenys Targaryen (Eve Best) The episode begins with two new characters meeting on horseback, Lady Rhea Royce (Rachel Redford) and Ser Gerald with the lady saying she'd rather ride alone. She rides off on her white steed and leaves the man behind when she finds her husband Daemon (Matt Smith). She asks what he's doing here and ask if he wants to consummate the marriage finally, as she reveals she heard he called her uglier than a sheep. Lady Rhea: The episode begins with two new characters meeting on horseback, Lady Rhea Royce (Rachel Redford) and Ser Gerald with the lady saying she'd rather ride alone. Husband: She rides off on her white steed and leaves the man behind when she finds her husband Daemon (Matt Smith) Uglier: She asks what he's doing here and ask if he wants to consummate the marriage finally, as she reveals she heard he called her uglier than a sheep He scares off her horse, throwing his wife to the ground as he stands over her but walks away. 'I knew you couldn't finish' she screams, before Daemon picks up a large rock and walks back to her. The episode cuts to the sea, where the King is sailing with his new Hand of the King, Lord Lyonel Stokes, as the King throws up over the side of the ship. Thrown: He scares off her horse, throwing his wife to the ground as he stands over her but walks away Finish: 'I knew you couldn't finish' she screams, before Daemon picks up a large rock and walks back to her Throw up: The episode cuts to the sea, where the King is sailing with his new Hand of the King, Lord Lyonel Stokes, as the King throws up over the side of the ship Back in King's Landing, Otto confronts his daughter Alicent, saying she's sorry Viserys removed him as Hand. 'The time is come, Alicent. Either you prepare Aegon to rule or you cleave to Rhaenyra and you beg for her mercy,' Otto says before embracing his daughter and leaving on horseback. King Viserys and Rhaenyra are now riding in a carriage to Driftmark, as the new Hand Lyonel is angered that Corlys hasn't greeted the King himself, but Viserys wants to, 'just get on with it.' Otto and Alicent: Back in King's Landing, Otto confronts his daughter Alicent, saying she's sorry Viserys removed him as Hand Prepare: 'The time is come, Alicent. Either you prepare Aegon to rule or you cleave to Rhaenyra and you beg for her mercy,' Otto says before embracing his daughter and leaving on horseback Carriage: King Viserys and Rhaenyra are now riding in a carriage to Driftmark, as the new Hand is angered that Corlys hasn't greeted the King himself, but Viserys wants to, 'just get on with it' Back in King's Landing, Alicent strikes up a conversation with Larys Strong (Matthew Needham), the son of the new Hand of the King, Lyonel Strong. He is seen clutching a cane, saying she might be in need of an ally, when Alicent asks him to state his purpose. He wonders if Rhaenyra can be trusted because she is not well, though he says he may be mistaken. Larys: Back in King's Landing, Alicent strikes up a conversation with Larys Strong (Matthew Needham), the son of the new Hand of the King, Lyonel Strong Ally: He is seen clutching a cane, saying she might be in need of an ally, when Alicent asks him to state his purpose Trusted: He wonders if Rhaenyra can be trusted because she is not well, though he says he may be mistaken He tells her that the Grand Maester brought her a tea, at the direction of the King, which clearly troubles Alicent. She tells him that Rhaenyra set sail with King Viserys to Driftmark, and he reveals that he is happy to have been wrong about Rhaenyra being ill... but Alicent is clearly still troubled by this news. Back at Driftmark, Viserys and Corlys finally meet, as Corlys bends the knee for him... and the King lets out a few coughs. Tea: He tells her that the Grand Maester brought her a tea, at the direction of the King, which clearly troubles Alicent Set sail: She tells him that Rhaenyra set sail with King Viserys to Driftmark, and he reveals that he is happy to have been wrong about Rhaenyra being ill... but Alicent is clearly still troubled by this news Corlys: Back at Driftmark, Viserys and Corlys finally meet, as Corlys bends the knee for him... and the King lets out a few coughs Rhaenys (Eve Best) arrives as Corlys congratulates Lyonel with being named the new Hand of the King. Corlys tells Viserys that Lady Rhea has died, as they reveal it was a 'hunting accident' and she was thrown from her horse. Viserys changes the subject, proposing a marriage between his daughter Rhaenyra and his son Laenor. Congrats: Rhaenys (Eve Best) arrives as Corlys congratulates Lyonel with being named the new Hand of the King Died: Corlys tells Viserys that Lady Rhea has died, as they reveal it was a 'hunting accident' and she was thrown from her horse Honor: Viserys changes the subject, proposing a marriage between his daughter Rhaenyra and his son Laenor Corlys wants to know how the succession will be handled, and Viserys insists that Rhaenyra will ascend to the Iron Throne. 'She and Ser Laenor's firstborn child, regardless of gender, will inherit the Iron Throne from her,' Viserys says. 'Can I presume that, in keeping with Westerosi tradition... Their children would take their father's name? That they would be born Velaryons?' Corlys asks. Ascend: Corlys wants to know how the succession will be handled, and Viserys insists that Rhaenyra will ascend to the Iron Throne Inherit: 'She and Ser Laenor's firstborn child, regardless of gender, will inherit the Iron Throne from her,' Viserys says Born: 'Can I presume that, in keeping with Westerosi tradition... Their children would take their father's name? That they would be born Velaryons?' Corlys asks 'Surely, Lord Corlys, you are not proposing the Targaryen dynasty end with my daughter simply because she is a woman?' Viserys asks. 'Upon their birth, Ser Laenor and Rhaenyra's children shall take their father's name, Velaryon... In keeping with our traditions,' Viserys begins. 'However, at such time when their firstborn ascends the Iron Throne, he or she will do so bearing the name Targaryen. Dragons will rule the Seven Kingdoms for the next hundred years, just as they did the last,' Viserys says, as Corlys finds it an 'equitable compromise.' End: 'Surely, Lord Corlys, you are not proposing the Targaryen dynasty end with my daughter simply because she is a woman?' Viserys asks Birth: 'Upon their birth, Ser Laenor and Rhaenyra's children shall take their father's name, Velaryon... In keeping with our traditions,' Viserys begins Compromise: 'However, at such time when their firstborn ascends the Iron Throne, he or she will do so bearing the name Targaryen. Dragons will rule the Seven Kingdoms for the next hundred years, just as they did the last,' Viserys says, as Corlys finds it an 'equitable compromise' The episode cuts to Rhaenyra walking along the beach with her future husband Laenor, telling him, 'In truth, if it had to be someone, I'm glad it is you. I know this union is not what you would choose.' 'I hold nothing against you, cousin. No, I-- rather... Dare I say it is a matter of taste?' he says. She tells him that she prefers roast duck to goose and she finds goose too greasy for her taste. Rhaenyra and Laenor: The episode cuts to Rhaenyra walking along the beach with her future husband Laenor, telling him, 'In truth, if it had to be someone, I'm glad it is you. I know this union is not what you would choose' Taste: 'I hold nothing against you, cousin. No, I-- rather... Dare I say it is a matter of taste?' he says Greasy: She tells him that she prefers roast duck to goose and she finds goose too greasy for her taste 'I know that whatever agreement being struck up there will not change your appetites, nor will it change mine,' she said. He asks what she proposes and she says, 'That we perform our duty to our fathers and to the realm and when it's done... Each of us dines as we see fit,' which causes Laenor to smile. Corlys and Rhaenys talk in their chambers and he wants to give her the Iron Throne, what was rightfully hers. No change: 'I know that whatever agreement being struck up there will not change your appetites, nor will it change mine,' she said Duty: He asks what she proposes and she says, 'That we perform our duty to our fathers and to the realm and when it's done... Each of us dines as we see fit,' which causes Laenor to smile Corlys: Corlys and Rhaenys talk in their chambers and he wants to give her the Iron Throne, what was rightfully hers 'I never wore the crown because the realm would not have it so,' she tells him as Corlys insists he would 'remedy that.' She says she has put it all behind her as we go back to Laenor... who is seen with his homosexual lover Ser Joffrey Lonmouth (Solly McLeod). Joffrey says he will be her 'king consort' as they start messing around, as Joffrey says he will need a 'sworn protector.' Never: 'I never wore the crown because the realm would not have it so,' she tells him as Corlys insists he would 'remedy that' Lovers: She says she has put it all behind her as we go back to Laenor... who is seen with his homosexual lover Ser Joffrey Lonmouth (Solly McLeod) Sworn protector: Joffrey says he will be her 'king consort' as they start messing around, as Joffrey says he will need a 'sworn protector' Laenor says this couldn't have worked out better because she has a paramour of her own as they wonder who it is. Rhaenyra is back at the boat talking with Criston (Fabien Frankel), who asks him to run away with him and see the world together. She insists that she must marry since it is her duty but she wants to continue seeing Criston, but he thinks he'll just be her 'w***e.' Paramour: Laenor says this couldn't have worked out better because she has a paramour of her own as they wonder who it is Rhaenyra and Criston: Rhaenyra is back at the boat talking with Criston (Fabien Frankel), who asks him to run away with him and see the world together Duty: She insists that she must marry since it is her duty but she wants to continue seeing Criston, but he thinks he'll just be her 'w****e' Criston freaks out since he broke his chastity vow but he thinks if they married he might be able to restore his name. They return to King's Landing and Criston is told he's been summoned by the Queen, who sends her maids away when Criston enters. She says she has concerns about Princess Rhaenyra, telling him there has been a rumor, but she doesn't say the rumor is about Rhaenyra and Daemon... and Criston assumes it's about him bedding Rhaenyra. Vow: Criston freaks out since he broke his chastity vow but he thinks if they married he might be able to restore his name Summoned: They return to King's Landing and Criston is told he's been summoned by the Queen, who sends her maids away when Criston enters Concerns: She says she has concerns about Princess Rhaenyra, telling him there has been a rumor, but she doesn't say the rumor is about Rhaenyra and Daemon... and Criston assumes it's about him bedding Rhaenyra He tells her, 'It happened, your Grace. The sin you allude to. I committed it,' telling her he broke his chastity vow. 'My oath has been broken. I have dishonored myself. I deserve no consideration. But if... As a clement Queen, you are inclined to pity... I would ask only this... That rather than gelding me and having me tortured... You would sentence me mercifully to death,' he tells her. 'Thank you for your honesty, Ser Criston. You may go,' Alicent says, as Criston takes his sword and leaves without another word, leaving Alicent very confused. Happened: He tells her, 'It happened, your Grace. The sin you allude to. I committed it,' telling her he broke his chastity vow Thanks: 'Thank you for your honesty, Ser Criston. You may go,' Alicent says, as Criston takes his sword and leaves without another word, leaving Alicent very confused The Grand Maester tells the King to rest and he will bring the leeches as another maester gives him something to help him sleep. 'Will I be remembered as a good king, Lyonel? What will they say about me when the history is written?' Viserys asks. He says he hasn't fought or conquered as Lyonel says some might consider that good fortune. Rest: The Grand Maester tells the King to rest and he will bring the leeches as another maester gives him something to help him sleep Good fortune: He says he hasn't fought or conquered as Lyonel says some might consider that good fortune 'Is it not better to live in peace than to have songs sung after you are dead?' Lyonel asks. 'Perhaps. But there is a part of me wishes I'd been tested. I often think that in the crucible, I may have been forged a different man. Many that are tested, only wish to have been spared it,' Viserys says before drifting off to sleep. The episode cuts to the outside of King's Landing, as ships arrive for the great wedding festivities, including Jason Lannister (Jefferson Hall). Tested: 'Perhaps. But there is a part of me wishes I'd been tested. I often think that in the crucible, I may have been forged a different man. Many that are tested, only wish to have been spared it,' Viserys says before drifting off to sleep Jason: The episode cuts to the outside of King's Landing, as ships arrive for the great wedding festivities, including Jason Lannister (Jefferson Hall He congratulates the King on finding a perfect match for Rhaenyra, as they are greeted by Ser Gerald, as they offer condolences for Rhea's death. The Velaryon family enters and is applauded by all, as Laenor kisses Rhaenyra's hand, while Criston looks on awkwardly. Prince Daemon arrives on his own, as Viserys stands to greet him, ordering another chair be brought to the table. Congratulates: He congratulates the King on finding a perfect match for Rhaenyra, as they are greeted by Ser Gerald, as they offer condolences for Rhea's death Daemon: Prince Daemon arrives on his own, as Viserys stands to greet him, ordering another chair be brought to the table 'Be welcome, as we join together in celebration. Tonight is only its beginning. We honor the crown's oldest and fiercest ally, House Velaryon. Reaching back to the days of Old Valyria and the Age of Dragons,' Viserys begins. 'With House Targaryen and H--' Viserys begins, but stops when Queen Alicent arrives. Two men comment on the Queen's late arrival, and her green dress, which they say is the color it glows when Oldtown calls its banners to war. Welcome: 'Be welcome, as we join together in celebration. Tonight is only its beginning. We honor the crown's oldest and fiercest ally, House Velaryon. Reaching back to the days of Old Valyria and the Age of Dragons,' Viserys begin Arrive: 'With House Targaryen and H--' Viserys begins, but stops when Queen Alicent arrives The King continues his speech, stating he wants to usher in a second age of dragons, adding there will be seven days of tournaments and feasting, ending with the royal wedding. Rhaenyra and Laenor perform a traditional dance, as Rhaenyra tells him she was never much of dancer, though they finish the dance to applause. Surprisingly, Alicent gets up and walks away from the table, going to speak to her uncle Lord Horbert Hightower (Steffan Rhodri), telling her Oldtown stands with her. Second age: The King continues his speech, stating he wants to usher in a second age of dragons, adding there will be seven days of tournaments and feasting, ending with the royal wedding Dance: Rhaenyra and Laenor perform a traditional dance, as Rhaenyra tells him she was never much of dancer, though they finish the dance to applause Uncle: Surprisingly, Alicent gets up and walks away from the table, going to speak to her uncle Lord Horbert Hightower (Steffan Rhodri), telling her Oldtown stands with her. Gerald approaches Daemon, saying men answer for their crimes, even Targaryen men. He tells her he is the cousin to his late lady wife, accusing him of killing his wife. He tells Gerald they had no heirs and whatever was due her now goes to him, adding she was set to inherit all of Runestone. Answer: Gerald approaches Daemon, saying men answer for their crimes, even Targaryen men Cousin: He tells her he is the cousin to his late lady wife, accusing him of killing his wife 'After my niece's wedding, I plan to fly to the Eyrie and petition Lady Jeyne myself. Perhaps I'll see you there, Ser Gerald,' he tells Gerald, who is clearly troubled. Laenor meets with his lover, who says Criston is Rhaenyra's paramour, while Daemon chats up with the Velaryon eldest daughter. Joffrey says Rhaenyra knows Laenor's secret and now he knows hers. After: 'After my niece's wedding, I plan to fly to the Eyrie and petition Lady Jeyne myself. Perhaps I'll see you there, Ser Gerald,' he tells Gerald, who is clearly troubled Paramour: Laenor meets with his lover, who says Criston is Rhaenyra's paramour, while Daemon chats up with the Velaryon eldest daughter Joffrey goes to chat with Criston, telling him they are both 'deeply invested' in this union. 'Ser Laenor is quite dear to me. As I know... The Princess is to you. We should swear to each other to guard them, and their secrets, because if those are kept safe... then so are we all,' Joffrey tells Criston. Daemon takes Rhaenyra's hand and asks if this is what she wants, saying Laenor will bore her senseless. Invested: Joffrey goes to chat with Criston, telling him they are both 'deeply invested' in this union She asks if that was his plan, to kill his wife so he could marry her... when a commotion is started in the hall - a fight between Joffrey and Criston. The King starts feeling weak as Criston keeps beating Joffrey to a bloody pulp while Rhaenyra is taken from the hall. Laenor sees his lover unconscious on the floor and starts crying while others start leaving as Viserys is clearly quite weak. Plan: She asks if that was his plan, to kill his wife so he could marry her... when a commotion is started in the hall - a fight between Joffrey and Criston Criston: The King starts feeling weak as Criston keeps beating Joffrey to a bloody pulp while Rhaenyra is taken from the hall Criston leaves the hall and lays his sword down while Rhaenyra and Laenor are married quietly in a private ceremony. Criston pulls a dagger and is about to plunge it into his belly, when Alicent finds him. As the ceremony ends, the King collapses... as a rat arrives to sip from the blood of Joffrey as the episode comes to an end. The preview for next week's episode teases a huge time jump of over a decade, as the King still managed to survive his illness while Olivia Cooke and Emma D'Arcy take over as the older Queen Alicent and Princess Rhaenyra. Married: Criston leaves the hall and lays his sword down while Rhaenyra and Laenor are married quietly in a private ceremony Daemon: Instead, he decided to marry Alicent Hightower, a decision which caused Corlys to join forces with the King's estranged brother Daemon (Matt Smith) as they fought in the Stepstones Swore: Rhaenyra swore to both her father and her best friend, Queen Alicent, that nothing happened with Daemon... despite a witness account from one of Otto's spies Bloodlands Rating: Frozen Planet II Rating: Goodbye Botox, and forget skin peels. As Jimmy Nesbitt whipped off his balaclava, looking 25 years younger, we entered the age of the electronic facelift. Nesbitt, playing dirty Belfast copper DCI Tom Brannick in Bloodlands (BBC1), flaunted a taut jawline, unlined forehead and coal-black hair. A caption flashed up: it was February 1998. Jimmy should have been filming the first series of Cold Feet, with sideburns, and Helen Baxendale as his girlfriend, Rachel remember when they tried to get frisky in a charity shop window? Yet here he was, on a dark night in Northern Ireland, killing a couple of bank robbers in cold blood to steal their loot. Jimmy Nesbitt plays dirty Belfast copper DCI Tom Brannick in Bloodlands This shot of him, looking half his real age, lasted only a few seconds. But it gave us a glimpse at the future of television. Celebrities have long been doctoring their selfies with computer software. Now telly is catching up. Soon, every actor and presenter will have the option of digital rejuvenation. Some will be subtle, knocking just a few years off their appearance. Others will want to revert to their teens. No doubt we'll hear a lot of spurious justifications, with stars claiming the technology allows them to 'act their inner age' and 'reveal their true self'. The magic didn't last long for Jimmy. Flashback over, we returned to 2022, where his hair is frosty grey and the bags under his eyes are more like suitcases. Bloodlands is a swaggering thriller, with an orchestral soundtrack that evokes spaghetti Westerns and a storyline to match, about stolen guns and gold. It's apparently inspired by the Northern Bank heist in 2004, when IRA terrorists escaped with more than 26 million much of which has never been recovered. In this fictional retelling, 11 million has been snatched from the Irish Savings Bank and an accountant suspected of laundering the money has turned up dead. DCI Brannick's first instinct, after discovering the body, was to dash to a disused oil tank next to a shed. He prised it open and was horrified to find nothing inside. Meanwhile, the dead accountant's wife (Victoria Smurfit) was also in a hurry, heading for her hubby's storage unit. Inside, once again, was nothing. If I wanted to hide 11 million in gold bullion, I wouldn't use a rusty old tank or a lock-up with a flimsy padlock. There was a nasty moment when Brannick quizzed an informant in an empty nightclub. Traumatised by Adrian Dunbar's singing detective act over on ITV, in Ridley, I was afraid Nesbitt might start crooning some melancholy ballad. But he didn't, and Bloodlands is worth an extra star for that alone. Frozen Planet II (BBC1) deserves a week's supply of extra stars for its endlessly stupendous photography. Among the exceptional sequences was film of 30 beluga whales, trapped in a lagoon in the Arctic ice. A drone looked down on them, circling like minnows in a pond, then the picture dived under-water and followed them as they made a break for freedom through the splintering floes. Other astonishing images included walruses rolling down a beach into the sea, like children playing on a hillside, and orcas killing a juvenile bowhead whale ramming it to break its ribs, then leaving it to drown. Nature is cruel, but orcas (also called killer whales) appear to actively enjoy the cruelty. Perhaps what's most remarkable is the ability of the film crews to be in the right place to capture spontaneous behaviour such as an impromptu ballet by two young polar bears sliding across ice. Wonderful! On Saturday, Grammy winner Britney Spears shared two video montages of magazine covers she shot both before and during her 13-year conservatorship, which ended on November 12. The 40-year-old mother-of-two - who regularly posts nearly naked snaps of herself - clearly preferred the more scantily-clad covers she shot for magazines like FHM and Rolling Stone. Britney was far less enthused about the way she appeared on the more conservative covers she shot for Marie Claire and Lucky Magazine while under the strict control of her estranged father Jamie Spears. Proof of her oppression: On Saturday, Grammy winner Britney Spears shared two video montages of magazine covers she shot both before and during her 13-year conservatorship, which ended on November 12 (pictured Friday) Spears - who boasts 155.9M social media followers - sarcastically captioned the video: 'Those [13] years of safety were so good for my confidence y'all! They made me feel so PURTY!' The Hold Me Closer hitmaker also wrote 'Can my a** Murica' on the conservative video, which might have been her way of attempting to write: 'Kiss my a** America!' Britney might have technically won her independence back from the 70-year-old former building contractor, but they are still currently embroiled in a conservator abuse case. A week ago, Spears wrote that she 'won't probably perform again' in a post, which ended with her telling Jamie to 'kiss my goddamn motherf***ing a**, you f**king bas***d.' Early 2000s heyday: The 40-year-old mother-of-two - who regularly posts nearly naked snaps of herself - clearly preferred the more scantily-clad covers she shot for magazines like Rolling Stone and FHM 2010s era: Britney was far less enthused about the way she appeared on the more conservative covers she shot for Marie Claire and Lucky Magazine while under the strict control of her estranged father Jamie Spears Spears - who boasts 155.9M social media followers - sarcastically captioned the video: 'Those [13] years of safety were so good for my confidence y'all! They made me feel so PURTY!' Legal war: The Hold Me Closer hitmaker might have technically won her independence back from the 70-year-old former building contractor (pictured in 2012), but they are still currently embroiled in a conservator abuse case A week ago, Britney wrote that she 'won't probably perform again' in a post, which ended with her telling Jamie to 'kiss my goddamn motherf***ing a**, you f**king bas***d' The Mississippi-born beauty wrote on Saturday that she was vacationing in Maui, yet again, and posted a video of herself dancing solo to her 2007 song Get Naked as well as to Justin Bieber and Indila. Joining Britney in Hawaii was her third husband Sam Asghari, whom she wed on June 9 after meeting on the set of her Slumber Party music video back in 2016. The Iranian 28-year-old Instastoried a shirtless sauna video on Sunday, in which he revealed he's been working out to 'get ready for something really cool at the end of this month.' Expressing herself: Spears wrote on Saturday that she was vacationing in Maui, yet again, and posted a video of herself dancing solo to her 2007 song Get Naked as well as to Justin Bieber and Indila Newlyweds! Joining Britney in Hawaii was her third husband Sam Asghari (L, pictured Saturday), whom she wed on June 9 after meeting on the set of her Slumber Party music video back in 2016 Bulging bicep: The Iranian 28-year-old Instastoried a shirtless sauna video on Sunday, in which he revealed he's been working out to 'get ready for something really cool at the end of this month' This year, Sam has had acting gigs in James Cullen Bressack's thriller Hot Seat with Mel Gibson, Mike Whitmire's YouTube comedy series PBC, and Hulu's Dollface. Meanwhile, Spears will next play a mystery role in Sam Levinson, Reza Fahim, and The Weeknd's six-episode drama The Idol, which premieres in November on HBO. The former Mouseketeer also signed a $15M deal with Simon & Schuster in February to publish her 2023 tell-all memoir, which was completed in July. The Kid Laroi has shared an emotional message to his fans after the end of his first major international tour. The 18-year-old rapper from Sydney whose real name is Charlton Kenneth Jeffrey Howard, told followers he is 'nothing' without them. Posting to his Instagram stories on Sunday, Laroi said he would miss seeing his fans every night. The Kid Laroi has shared an emotional message to his fans after the end of his first major international tour. The 18-year-old rapper from Sydney whose real name is Charlton Kenneth Jeffrey Howard, told followers he is 'nothing' without them 'I cannot begin to describe the impact you've all had on my life,' the US-based pop star gushed in the lengthy post. 'This tour reminded my why I do what I do and why I love doing it so much.' Thanking his crew, Laroi added that he will now return to the studio to complete his next album. 'I'm more inspired than ever...thank you you for being so patient. I love you endlessly.' Posting to his Instagram stories on Sunday, Laroi said he would miss seeing his fans every night He signed off the message with a love-heart emoji. It has been three years since Laroi left Australia and moved to LA to follow his dreams of becoming a chart-topping rapper. The provocative star began his End of the World tour in the US before playing a series of sell-out shows in Australia and in the UK. It has been three years since Laroi left Australia and moved to LA to follow his dreams of becoming a chart-topping rapper. Pictured: Laroi performing in Texas in August, 2022 The Down Under leg of the tour saw the star play his first home town shows since he opened for his late mentor Juice WRLD in 2019. Laroi has enjoyed huge success and has already hit several major career milestones. Stay and Laroi's F**k Love mixtape reached No. 1 on the global Billboard charts in early August, making him the youngest Australian artist to achieve this accolade. He is also the youngest artist to top the Australian ARIA album charts in February 2020 with his mixtape. A former Married At First Sight star was given a reality check this week after being called out for an embarrassing stunt on the streets of Adelaide. Retired footy player Seb Guilhaus thought it would be a good idea to stage a photo shoot on Hindley Street with a scantily clad model and a miniature pony. Footage of the bizarre moment was posted to the S**t Adelaide Instagram page, which documents lame and wacky incidents in South Australia's capital. Former Married At First Sight star Seb Guilhaus (left) was given a reality check this week after being called out for an embarrassing stunt on the streets of Adelaide The bystander who filmed the odd scenes on the busy main street said: 'If I haven't seen anything like this on Hindley Street, today is the day. S**t.' People flocked to the comments section to mock Seb, whose shirt was unbuttoned to show off his muscled torso, as well as the model, who wore a very skimpy two-piece and platform heels. 'Where did they escape from?' one person wrote, while another added: 'Brownlow red carpet?' 'Hindley Street, home to many a horse!' a baffled Adelaidean wrote. The retired footy player thought it would be a good idea to stage a photo shoot on Hindley Street with a scantily clad model and a miniature pony Footage of the bizarre moment was posted to the S**t Adelaide Instagram page, which documents lame and wacky incidents in South Australia's capital It comes just days after Seb, a fitness influencer and OnlyFans model, announced his split from girlfriend Ania Kilic after 10 months of dating. He revealed on Instagram the couple had decided to 'take a break' because their 'happiness [had] been suffering for quite some time'. 'In all honesty, I haven't been well. My mental health has rapidly declined over the last year,' he told his 104,000 followers. People flocked to the comments to mock Seb, whose shirt was unbuttoned to show off his muscled torso, as well as the model, who wore a very skimpy two-piece and platform heels 'Ania and I are taking a break. I won't go into too much detail but our happiness has been suffering for quite some time. 'The best parts have been great but the toxic parts have been debilitating. 'I need time to gain clarity and to repair myself. Thanks heaps for all your support.' It comes just days after Seb, a fitness influencer and OnlyFans model, announced his split from girlfriend Ania Kilic (left) after 10 months of dating Back in July, Seb admitted the feedback the couple had received since joining OnlyFans wasn't always 100 per cent positive. The personal trainer rose to fame on Married At First Sight in 2020 when he was partnered with fan-favourite bride Elizabeth Sobinoff. The pair called it quits 12 months later, and Seb subsequently began dating Ania, a longtime friend he'd had a crush on years earlier. The war is lost, at home and abroad. On the domestic front, we doubled the rate of Muslim immigration to the west and began assimilating ourselves with Islam's strictures on freedom of expression and the like. The decade-and-a-half since the Danish Mohammed cartoons has been one long remorseless surrender on core western liberties. When a school teacher gets beheaded in the street, there is no outrage at the act, just a mild regret that he should have been foolish enough to provoke his own fate. Even the milder jests from the immediate post-9/11 era - the cartoon of the woman trying on new burqas in the changing room and wondering, 'Does my bomb look big in this?' - would not be published today: In the broader society, our rulers quickly determined that it was easier to punish us than our enemies. The post-9/11 security state surely helped soften up western populations for the ChiCom-19 lockdowns, in which entire nations have been reduced to TSA-administered airports. As for the war overseas, it ended with a military that can do everything except win handing the keys to Afghanistan back to the guys who pulled off 9/11 - and apologizing for the two-decade inconvenience by gifting the mullahs with some of the most expensive infrastructure on the planet plus an air force, approximately five assault rifles for every Taliban fighter, and express check-in for the forty-seven per cent of the Afghan population that apparently served as US translators. include_once "/home/jwreview/public_html/$theme/includes/sidebar.php"; ?> We no longer observe the 9/11 anniversary, for reasons I outlined last year: include_once "/home/jwreview/public_html/templates/double_ads.asp"; ?> I thought I could not despise the men who brought us to this pretty pass any more than I do. But here ya go: CBS News has confirmed military prosecutors and defense attorneys are negotiating potential plea deals that could take the death penalty off the table for the five defendants accused in the 9/11 attacks. That would be the hairy-backed mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his four marginally less hirsute co-conspirators. So, after two decades of leisurely legal jousting back and forth through, this is how it ends. Don't worry, the plea deals are premised on the quintet being given "substantial sentences" - which one assumes means something less than life without the possibility of parole, else why not say so? In addition, the men will receive "treatment for alleged torture they experienced while in CIA custody". Oh, really? How about financial compensation? Gotta hand it to KSM: He fought the law, and he won. He was captured in Rawalpindi on March 1st 2003, which is nineteen-and-a-half years ago - or twice as long as the First and Second World Wars combined. ~If you were about to roll your eyes and sneer "Is there nothing this sclerotic pseudo-republic can do?", hey, not so fast. Per MSNBC's finest: September 11 was a terrorist attack. January 6 was a terrorist attack... Both were attacks on America. And we must seek justice for the latter as we did for the former. Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here. Er, are you sure you got that the right way round? In the time it takes KSM's lawyers to file a motion of reconsideration of their motion to continue the scheduling conference to schedule the reconsideration of their previous motion to continue, the January 6th "terrorists" have been banged up in solitary, railroaded into copping a plea, and led off to the Big House. It would no longer surprise me if the men who plotted the murder of the 2,977 good souls lost that day were out and strolling the boulevards of Jalalabad long before the 1/6 "insurrectionists" are freed. ~That's the number by the way, the combined dead of the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and Flight 93: 2,977. So a lot of Americans were surprised when one of their citizen-representatives, Pramila Jayapal (Democrat of Washington State) tweeted out: Today we remember the 2,996 people who were killed on 9/11 and all those who lost their lives while serving our country in the forever wars that followed. How do you get to 2,996? Well, you take 2,977 and you add in the nineteen hijackers. Boy, you should have heard the right-wing commentariat pile on to that disgusting moral equivalist Ms Jayapal. Fortunately, we have rock-ribbed colossus Kevin McCarthy, Republican House leader, to set the record straight: We can never forget - not just the 2,996 souls we lost on 9/11 - but also the first responders who ran into the buildings... ~There's been so much talk about the imminent "Red Wave" that it's easy to forget Mr McCarthy is not yet Speaker but merely Speaker-Designate. As for that incoming GOP tsunami, Democrats now purport to be spooked by all the polls showing them ahead: Even as Democrats spent a week or more spinning a 'there's no red wave coming' message to try and tout their strength and popularity among voters, the party of President Biden is quietly fretting that their candidates are...in the lead? Those worries are, evidently, based on polls showing Democrat midterm candidates up over GOP opponents in place where polls showed Hillary Clinton leading against Trump in 2016 and we all know how that turned out as well as in places surveys incorrectly showed Biden running up leads in places he wasn't actually winning. So what do you think this is? 2016, when Trump won against the odds and the polls? Or another 2020, with Dems and their allies arranging the landscape plausible? (COMMENT, BELOW) Mark Steyn is an international bestselling author, a Top 41 recording artist, and a leading Canadian human rights activist. Among his books is "The Undocumented Mark Steyn: Don't Say You Weren't Warned". (Buy it at a 49% discount by clicking here or order in KINDLE edition at a 67% discount by clicking here. Sales help fund JWR) Steve Martin has amended past remarks he made on his retirement plans. The 77-year-old actor initially told The Hollywood Reporter last month that he had did not have any immediate career plans beyond his current stint on the Hulu show Only Murders in the Building, in which he plays Charles-Haden Savage. 'When this television show is done, Im not going to seek others,' said Martin, who appears on the series with longtime confidante Martin Short and Selena Gomez. 'Im not going to seek other movies. I dont want to do cameos. This is, weirdly, it.' The latest: Steve Martin, 77, has amended past remarks he made on his retirement plans, after he said in a recent interview that he had did not have any immediate career plans beyond his stint on the Hulu show Only Murders in the Building. He was pictured at the Emmys last week Martin this past week said that the message inherent was 'a little overstated,' as he meant he was happy with his current slate of projects. 'They asked me, "Do you think about retirement?" the Parenthood actor told E! News correspondent Laverne Cox on the red carpet at the Emmys, alongside Short. 'I said, "Well this is it. Im doing a television show, Ive got a book coming out and Im touring with [Martin Short]. That kind of is my retirement - thats what its going to look like.' Short referenced their multiple collaborations, adding, 'I cant imagine him ever retiring, I hope not, because then you know what happens to me.' In his interview with THR, Martin said that he has 'a family life thats really fun,' and limits his schedule. Martin told E! News that he has a number of projects in the works, also including a book and live comedy shows with frequent collaborator Martin Short. He was pictured in LA in June Martin plays Charles-Haden Savage on the Hulu show Only Murders in the Building 'To film a movie now, to go someplace else to live, Im not willing to do that anymore,' he said. 'I cant disappear for three months.' The Planes, Trains & Automobiles star noted how his wife, Anne Stringfield, 'keeps saying, "You always say you're going to retire and then you always come up with something."' Martin added: 'I'm really not interested in retiring. I'm not. But I would just work a little less. Maybe.' Her flair for red-carpet style has earned her the nickname 'The Minister of Fashion'. And Julie Bishop oozed glamour and sophistication on Friday as she attended a cocktail party at Nobu restaurant at Crown Sydney in Barangaroo. The exclusive soiree was hosted by the award-winning Japanese chef and restaurateur Nobu Matsuhisa, who was visiting his Sydney venue, which opened its doors on level two of Crown in 2020, for the first time. Julie Bishop (centre) oozed glamour and sophistication on Friday as she attended a cocktail party at Nobu restaurant at Crown Sydney in Barangaroo Ms Bishop, who served as Australia's foreign minister from 2013 to 2018, was the epitome of elegance in a knee-length black dress that highlighted her slender figure. She accessorised with sparkly heels, statement earrings and a pearl belt by Chanel, and completed her look with a bedazzled clutch and wristwatch. The retired politician was flanked by Sydney's social elite at the party, as well as Mr Matsuhisa himself, who is known for his trendy fusion cuisine blending traditional Japanese dishes with Peruvian ingredients. The exclusive soiree was hosted by the award-winning Japanese chef and restaurateur Nobu Matsuhisa (centre right), who was visiting his Sydney venue, which opened its doors on level two of Crown in 2020, for the first time The retired politician was flanked by Sydney's social elite at the party Conspicuous by his absence was Ms Bishop's ex-lover David Panton, who used to be her 'handbag' at every celebrity party or red carpet event she would attend. The pair dated from 2014 until July this year, when Mr Panton, a property developer, abruptly broke up with Ms Bishop over dinner at a restaurant in Circular Quay. The jet-setting couple had attended a private engagement with Prince Charles, now King Charles III, in London just a week earlier. The former deputy leader of the Liberal Party was reportedly blindsided by the split, and Mr Panton was later romantically linked to a woman from the Northern Beaches. Mr Matsuhisa (pictured with former Miss Universe Australia Francesca Hung) is known for his trendy fusion cuisine blending traditional Japanese dishes with Peruvian ingredients Ms Bishop, who served as Australia's foreign minister from 2013 to 2018, was the epitome of elegance in a knee-length black dress that highlighted her slender figure She accessorised with statement earrings and a pearl belt by Chanel Mr Panton was sometimes described as Ms Bishop's 'handbag' during their eight years together as he was regularly photographed smiling by her side at sparkling social gatherings, while barely saying a word in public. He was largely unknown when he first appeared with Ms Bishop at the 2014 Melbourne Cup, a year after the prime minister Tony Abbott appointed her minister for foreign affairs. They had been introduced by Ms Bishop's close friend and retired Liberal politician Bruce Baird and shared an interest in fitness and health. A seemingly never-ending round of glamorous outings followed - including repeated invitations to marquees at Flemington Racecourse, opening nights, film premieres and fashion shows. Conspicuous by his absence was Ms Bishop's ex-lover David Panton, who used to be her 'handbag' at every celebrity party or red carpet event she would attend. The pair (pictured with James Packer in December 2015) dated from 2014 until July this year Mr Panton, a property developer, abruptly broke up with Ms Bishop over dinner at a restaurant in Circular Quay. The jet-setting couple had attended a private engagement with Prince Charles (left), now King Charles III, in London just a week earlier Australian of the Year Dylan Alcott says he is planning on saying 'G'day' to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at the Queen's funeral on Monday. The 2022 Australian of the Year was of one ten 'ordinary Australians' who were invited to be part of the official proceedings to farewell the Her Majesty at London's Westminster Abbey. Alcott had nothing but praise for the Royals when he made the surprising revelation during his regular ListenABLE podcast while chatting to co-host Angus O'Loughlin. Australian of the Year Dylan Alcott (pictured) says he plans to say 'G'day' to Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, at the Queen's funeral on Monday 'I always feel when I read articles about them, because of my own personal experiences, they're very giving,' he said. The Paralympic gold medallist first met Prince Harry at the Invictus Games in Sydney in 2018. During the podcast, which was recorded last week, ahead of his flight to London, Alcott spoke up for the controversial Duke and Duchess of Sussex. The Paralympic gold medallist first met Prince Harry at the Invictus Games in Sydney in 2018 Pictured: Prince Harry (left) and Dylan Alcott (right) Sounding genuinely moved, the star athlete said: 'If I was able to see Harry, I'd ask if he's going alright to be honest. I hope he is doing alright' 'What I will say is that what Harry has done for disability via the Invictus Games I really respect,' he said, 'and that was my actual first connection with the Palace.' Sounding genuinely moved, the star athlete then added: 'If I was able to see Harry, I'd ask if he's going alright to be honest. I hope he is doing alright.' Alcott said that he was 'unsure what to expect' from the funeral. Last May, Mr Alcott was one of the last Australians to speak with the Queen in a video call that went viral for one great moment. Alcott said that he was 'unsure what to expect' from the funeral. Pictured: Dylan Alcott and ListenABLE co-host Angus O'Loughlin 'I made Her Majesty laugh. I had too many bad jokes. Not sure if they're sympathy laughs or legit,' he said from London. 'I think I said something like... she asked me why I retired and I said I got sick and tired of beating people from England at Wimbledon. 'She had a giggle. And she was just... she really listened. She was present. Imagine who she talks to, every day, all day for her whole life,' he told the Today show. 'What I will say is that what Harry has done for disability via the Invictus Games I really respect,' he said, 'and that was my actual first connection with the Palace.' Pictured: Chantelle Otten and Dylan Alcott on the red carpet in march, 2022 Mr Alcott said he was delighted to have had the opportunity to speak with the Queen. 'In that moment, yeah, we had a really good chat and that was something that was very special for me, my family.' Also in attendance for that video call in May was the Governor-General of Australia David Hurley and other Australians of the Year: Valmai Dempsey, Dr Daniel Nour and Shanna Whan. Osher Gunsberg has offered his two cents on who should feature on Australia's $5 note following the death of Queen Elizabeth II. The Channel 10 presenter, 48, jokingly suggested on Sunday that Grace Tame doing her infamous side-eye at former prime minister Scott Morrison earlier this year should be immortalised on the nation's currency. He posted a mock-up on Facebook of what such a note would look like, alongside several other fan-made suggestions including Bon Scott from AC/DC and the character Kath Day-Knight from the ABC sitcom Kath & Kim. Osher Gunsberg (pictured) has offered his two cents on who should feature on Australia's $5 note following the death of Queen Elizabeth II 'I for one would welcome a double-sided [Tame and Scott]. You?' he wrote. Ms Tame, 27, made headlines in January for her grim-faced handshake with Mr Morrison at The Lodge in Canberra where she refused to even make eye contact with him. She later gave a simple four-word reason for her infamously frosty face-to-face confrontation with the former PM: 'I act with integrity.' The activist revealed at the National Press Club in February she had been asked not to embarrass Mr Morrison at the morning tea for the 2022 Australia of the Year finalists. The Channel 10 presenter, 48, jokingly suggested on Sunday that Grace Tame doing her infamous side-eye at former prime minister Scott Morrison earlier this year should be immortalised on the nation's currency (a mock-up is seen here) She claimed to have been phoned five months earlier by 'a senior member of a government-funded agency' and asked not to say anything damning at the event. When she was quizzed after her powerful speech, she refused to elaborate on whether that was the reason for her withering side-eye of the PM. Ms Tame replied: 'My answer to your question is that I act with integrity. That's it.' He posted a mock-up on Facebook of what such a note would look like, alongside several other fan-made suggestions including Bon Scott from AC/DC (top) and the character Kath Day-Knight from the ABC sitcom Kath & Kim (bottom right) The former Australian of the Year is not the only name to be put forward as the potential new face of the $5 bill. Some Aussies are calling for late national icon Steve Irwin to be impressed on the note instead of King Charles III in the wake of Queen Elizabeth II's death. Her Royal Highness died aged 96 on September 8, sparking a wave of mourning worldwide as Commonwealth nations honour Britain's longest-serving monarch. Ms Tame made headlines in January for her grim-faced handshake with Mr Morrison at The Lodge in Canberra where she refused to make eye contact with him. She later gave a simple four word reason for her infamous confrontation with the former PM: 'I act with integrity' The former Australian of the Year is not the only name to be put forward as the potential new face of the $5 bill. Some Aussies are calling for late national icon Steve Irwin to be impressed on the note instead of King Charles III (pictured) in the wake of Queen Elizabeth II's death Her death after 70 years on the throne heralds a raft of changes that will come into place in Australia, including the introduction of bank notes and coins bearing the new king's face. But some Aussies have flocked online to demand other famous Australians instead be memorialised on the country's legal tender when the printing press kicks into gear. Along with Steve and Ms Tame, other names suggested were Heath Ledger and Russel Coight alongside television characters Alf Stewart and Kath & Kim. The Real Housewives reality franchise could be moving to the Gold Coast. The last season of the Foxtel series about monied socialites was set in Melbourne, but it met with some hard criticism from fans when it finished up last year. And The Herald Sun now reports that suitable candidates living in one of Queensland's wealthiest postcodes are being sought out. The Real Housewives reality franchise could be moving to the Gold Coast. Pictured: RHOM regular Gamble Breaux Producers also have casting agents looking at possible prospects for a series set in Sydney. Foxtel considered the Gold Coast five years ago as a location for the hit show, the report said. Meanwhile, it is understood that there won't be another season of the Real Housewives of Melbourne. Producers also have casting agents looking at possible prospects for a series set in Sydney Pictured: Gamble was not charmed by new cast members in the last season According to those in the know, new cast members Anjali Rao, Cherry Dipietrantonio, Kyla Kirkpatrick and Simone Elliott failed to charm viewers. Asked during the Logies ceremony in June whether the show would return, an alleged source told the paper that the recent Melbourne cast had 'f***ed up'. Rumours quickly surfaced that three cast members had been fired following a lacklustre reception to the most recent season. Original Housewife Janet Roach spilled the shocking casting news on Twitter, hinting that the newer Housewives would be the ones to get the boot. According to the report Foxtel considered the Gold Coast five years ago as a location for the hit show. Pictured: Gamble Breaux and Rick Wolfe 'Why do you think Susie [McLean], Sally [Bloomfield] and Venus [Behbahani-Clark] didnt come back? They wanted to, unfortunately they rated poorly,' Roach tweeted. At the time there is some speculation that if the franchise does not return to Foxtel it could find a home on another streamer or broadcaster. The latest season of the Real Housewives of Melbourne rated poorly on Foxtel, but was a huge hit on streaming, becoming the No. 1 most streamed show on Binge. Her husband Karl Stefanovic is in London with the Today show team to cover the Queen's funeral. And multitasking mother Jasmine was seen squeezing in a run before grabbing a coffee and a baby chino for the couple's daughter Harper on Monday. The 38-year-old shoe designer showed off her trim pins in a pair of tight leggings teamed with an oversized blue jumper and sneakers. Multitasking mother Jasmine Stefanovic was seen squeezing in a run before grabbing a coffee and a baby chino for daughter Harper in Sydney on Monday She went makeup free and pulled her blonde locks back into a ponytail. At one point, Jasmine ducked into a local cafe to grab a well-deserved coffee and a baby chino complete with a marshmallow for Harper. The mother-of-one immediately lit up after taking a sip of her caffeinated drink and smiled as she made her way home. The 38-year-old shoe designer showed off her trim pins in a pair of tight leggings teamed with an oversized blue jumper and sneakers Jasmine met her husband Karl in late 2016, five months after he split from his first wife Cassandra Thorburn, to whom he was married for 21 years. The Channel Nine star previously said of their relationship: 'I certainly did not expect to meet someone five months after I broke up with my wife. That was not planned.' He proposed to Jasmine in February 2018 with a $100,000 engagement ring. The mother-of-one immediately lit up after taking a sip of her caffeinated drink and smiled as she made her way home The couple married in a lavish four-day wedding ceremony at the One&Only Palmilla resort in San Jose del Cabo, Mexico, in December 2018. They welcomed their daughter Harper on May 1, 2020, at Sydney's North Shore Private Hospital. In a statement to the Today show at the time, Karl said: 'Harper and Jasmine are doing well and dad had a great night's sleep.' Grammy winner Britney Spears joked that she 'pulled a Jessica Simpson' by wearing big sunglasses while sailing in Maui with her husband Sam Asghari on Sunday. Just one look of the early 2000s pop star rivals side-by-side shows just how much the Mississippi-born 40-year-old takes inspiration from the 42-year-old Texan. Britney wrote that she 'surprised' the Iranian 28-year-old with an adventure on the high seas of Hawaii, which she called 'sooo goood.' Circular shades: Grammy winner Britney Spears joked that she 'pulled a Jessica Simpson' by wearing big sunglasses while sailing in Maui with her husband Sam Asghari on Sunday Spears - who boasts 155.9M social media followers - gushed: 'It's literally unbelievable here.' The Hold Me Closer hitmaker beamed while showcasing her 5ft4in figure in a dotted Tiffany-green string bikini. At one point, Britney started comically posing with a pineapple. Meanwhile, Sam put his bulging biceps and chiseled chest to use pulling ropes and winding levers in order to help raise the sails on the boat. Double take! Just one look of the early 2000s pop star rivals side-by-side shows just how much the Mississippi-born 40-year-old (L) takes inspiration from the 42-year-old Texan (R) Sitting in his lap: Britney wrote that she 'surprised' the Iranian 28-year-old (L) with an adventure on the high seas of Hawaii, which she called 'sooo goood' Spears - who boasts 155.9M social media followers - gushed: 'It's literally unbelievable here' Work b****! The Hold Me Closer hitmaker beamed while showcasing her 5ft4in figure in a dotted Tiffany-green string bikini Anything for a laugh! At one point, Britney started comically posing with a pineapple On Sunday morning, Asghari revealed he's been working out to 'get ready for something really cool at the end of this month.' This year, the fitness trainer has had acting gigs in James Cullen Bressack's thriller Hot Seat with Mel Gibson, Mike Whitmire's YouTube comedy series PBC, and Hulu's Dollface. But things weren't as ideal on the lavish vacation as it seemed for the newlyweds as Spears fully admitted they were both 'getting really seasick' - despite Sam's denial. 'We're trying to pull it off like we're okay but we're getting stone-faced and really quiet, like we're all about to throw up,' the former Mouseketeer explained. Manly man: Meanwhile, Sam put his bulging biceps and chiseled chest to use pulling ropes and winding levers in order to help raise the sails on the boat Taking the plunge! On Sunday morning, Asghari revealed he's been working out to 'get ready for something really cool at the end of this month' 'Not at all?' But things weren't as ideal on the lavish vacation as it seemed for the newlyweds as Spears fully admitted they were both 'getting really seasick' - despite Sam's denial The former Mouseketeer explained: 'We're trying to pull it off like we're okay but we're getting stonefaced and really quiet, like we're all about to throw up' Britney continued: 'But we're all trying to, like, play it cool, which is kind of hard' 'But we're all trying to, like, play it cool, which is kind of hard.' Britney wed Asghari at their new $11.8M six-bedroom Calabasas mansion on June 9 - six years after meeting on the set of her Slumber Party music video. It was technically Spears' third time down the aisle following her annulled 55-hour marriage to childhood friend Jason Alexander and her two-year marriage to former back-up dancer Kevin Federline. The 'Project Rose' star reportedly pays the 44-year-old Popozao rapper $20K/month in child support for their two sons - Jayden, 16; and Sean, 17 - whom he said 'didn't want to see her right now.' How they met: Spears wed Asghari at their new $11.8M six-bedroom Calabasas mansion on June 9 - six years after meeting on the set of her Slumber Party music video Congrats! It was technically Spears' third time down the aisle following her annulled 55-hour marriage to childhood friend Jason Alexander and her two-year marriage to former back-up dancer Kevin Federline 'We have lost our miracle baby': On May 14, the 'Project Rose' star and Asghari announced they had suffered a miscarriage a month after announcing the pregnancy, and they plan on 'continuing to try to expand our beautiful family' On May 14, Britney and Sam announced they had suffered a miscarriage a month after announcing the pregnancy, and they plan on 'continuing to try to expand our beautiful family.' Spears will next play a mystery role in Sam Levinson, Reza Fahim, and The Weeknd's six-episode drama The Idol, which premieres in November on HBO. The Swimming in the Stars songstress also signed a $15M deal with Simon & Schuster in February to publish her 2023 tell-all memoir, which was completed in July. She welcomed her first child Presley back in May with husband William-Lee Kemp. And Jess Wright, 36, took to Instagram on Sunday to share an insight into family life, as her brother mark spent some time on uncle duties. TV personality Mark enjoyed a cuddle with the four-month-old as his TOWIE star sister penned that the tot was 'Just like his uncle'. 'Just like his uncle': Jess Wright, 36, took to Instagram this weekend to share a sweet snap of son Presley having a cuddle with her brother Mark as they enjoy some family time Mark dressed down for the family day in an all-black tracksuit from his clothing brand AYTEE7 - wrapping a supportive arm around Presley as they lay back on the sofa. While the newborn looked adorable in pyjamas as he sat by his uncle to watch some TV in the sweet picture. '@wrighty just like his uncle...' wrote Jess. Mark has previously dubbed Presley a 'prince', gushing over his nephew as he celebrated the birth with a shot of him holding the newborn. New arrival: She welcomed her first child Presley back in May with husband William-Lee Kemp Uncle duties: Mark has previously dubbed Presley a 'prince', gushing over his nephew as he celebrated the birth with a shot of him holding the newborn 'Welcome to the world baby boy!! Uncle Mark is here for you forever. Just know that Presley aka Prince!! Love ya boy,' penned the presenter. And the star, who is married to Michelle Keegan, is getting plenty of practice in - with his younger brother Josh welcoming son Joshua James Angelo Wright earlier this year too. Jess, who became an auntie and a new mother in just a matter of months, described Presley and his cousin Joshua as 'besties forever'. The two newborns lay next to one another for a snap as they enjoyed some bonding time. Jess has been sharing updates to her 1.5M followers since giving birth in May, less than a year after she wed businessman William in September 2021. Cousins: Jess and Mark's brother Josh also welcomed a son earlier this year, named Joshua James Angelo Wright (Joshua and Presley pictured together) Besties: Jess, who became an auntie and a new mother in just a matter of months, described Presley and his cousin Joshua as 'besties forever' Announcing the happy news, she posted an adorable snap of the newborn hand holding her own and William's hands. She recently enjoyed a first holiday with Presley and her husband, joined these boys will be besties foreverby her parents Carol and Mark Sr. The family soaked up some sun in Portugal for the trip - with Jess sharing a slew of snaps to Instagram to mark the milestone. Kyle Sandilands and his fiancee Tegan Kynaston welcomed their first child, a baby boy named Otto last month. And on Monday, the radio shock jock, 51, was balancing both fatherhood duties and his work as he stepped out for a rare public outing in Sydney's Double Bay. Sandilands was spotted having a meeting with his boss, CEO of ARN, Ciaran Davis, and manager Bruno Bouchet. Radio shock jock Kyle Sandilands proved that he could balance fatherhood with work as he stepped out for a rare public outing in Sydney on Monday After business, Kyle headed to a nearby hair salon to meet up with his family. Tegan looked sensational as she left the salon with a fresh blow dry. The blonde stunner showed off her incredible post-baby figure in tight-fitting black activewear. The sighting comes just days after Tegan shared an adorable photo of little Otto to social media. Sandilands was spotted having a meeting with his boss, CEO of ARN, Ciaran Davis, (right) and manager Bruno Bouchet (centre) After business, Kyle headed to a nearby hair salon to meet up with his family The former personal assistant, 36, posted a photo of the tiny bub wrapped up tight in $180 Camilla blanket. She captioned the picture 'Cosy' alongside a blue love heart emoji. Tegan and shock jock radio host Kyle, 51, welcomed their newborn Otto last month. Tegan looked sensational as she left the salon with a fresh blow dry. The blonde stunner showed off her incredible post-baby figure in tight-fitting black activewear At one stage Kyle was seen pushing little Otto's pram as they made their way back to their car Kyle and Tegan weren't impressed to find a parking ticket on their car after their time had expired Kyle's co-host Jackie 'O' Henderson announced the happy news on air and Kyle's manager Bruno Bouchet told Daily Mail Australia : 'Little Otto was born this morning. Mum and bub both doing well.' 'Kyle's beyond excited. Kyle will be back on tomorrow's radio show to chat all things Otto,' he added. Jackie, who is Otto's godmother, shed tears of joy as she declared: 'Otto has been born!' Tegan and shock jock radio host Kyle, 51, welcomed their newborn Otto last month Kyle later gave a rather graphic update about the birth, telling 'Intern' Peter Deppeler live in the hospital car park: 'Otto's born, Otto's fabulous. I cut the cord, I didn't realise it was like tough calamari and blood spurted out.' Dressed in blue scrubs, the elated new father said: 'I was the first person to touch him, he sh*t himself, poo was oozing out.' Deppeler also recorded a comedic video of Kyle indulging in a cooler bag full of snacks in the hospital. Kyle's co-host Jackie 'O' Henderson (pictured) announced the happy news on air and Kyle's manager Bruno Bouchet told Daily Mail Australia : 'Little Otto was born this morning. Mum and bub both doing well' 'The baby's feeding. Then I thought, well if you're eating, I will too,' he declared. While the KIIS FM team weren't able to broadcast from the birthing suite, they did contribute a personal touch to Tegan's and Kyle's big day by creating a baby-themed playlist for them to play while she gave birth. Among the songs on the list was Guy Sebastian's 2003 hit single Angels Brought Me Here. Guy himself called into the show to send his well-wishes, revealing that he'd been made aware of the birth after a stranger stopped him on the street to share the news. Tegan went into labour at around 7am that morning, causing Kyle to abruptly leave the Kyle & Jackie O show so he could rush her to hospital. Kyle later gave a rather graphic update about the birth, telling 'Intern' Peter Deppeler live in the hospital car park: 'Otto's born, Otto's fabulous. I cut the cord, I didn't realise it was like tough calamari and blood spurted out' Tracy Grimshaw refused to watch her previous emotional tribute to the Queen while covering the royal farewell because viewers 'don't need me blubbing again'. Last week Grimshaw - who has built a staunch reputation for journalistic professionalism - had to turn away from camera as she teared up while describing her thoughts at seeing the late Queen Elizabeth lying in state at Westminster Hall. Grimshaw showed her emotions were still raw on Monday evening as she stood with Nine News anchorman Peter Overton outside London's Westminster Abbey. Veteran journalist Tracy Grimshaw has again teared up talking about seeing the Queen lying in state After a clip of her previous tribute was shown Overton told Grimshaw she could put her earpiece back in because she 'didn't look at a frame of that'. Overton commented that Grimshaw was 'clearly still most moved by the experience and you have seen some things in your journalistic career, your stellar career'. 'I haven't watched it since the night,' Grimshaw confirmed. 'If I listen to it or watch it it will set me off again and I didn't want that because we have a lot of work to do over the next few hours and you don't need me blubbing every couple of minutes but it is very powerful in there.' Grimshaw reflected once more on her experience of seeing the Queen lying in state. Grimshaw (pictured) was overcome with raw emotion while reporting live from Westminster Hall this week 'I think because it is so quiet, I think because it is so quiet, I think because you are absolutely focused and, to be honest, I can tell you I set myself off in there because I started to think about how she was still on duty,' she said. 'How she (the Queen) had never flagged and worked right up until two days before she died and she never quit. 'And here she was sitting on that pedestal, being there for her people when her husband is 40 minutes drive away up the road at Windsor and I bet she just wants to be with him and that set me off and then I couldn't get it back after that.' Grimshaw, who recently stepped down from her longtime role hosting A Current Affair, had to blink away tears and shake her head to keep her emotions under cool control once more. The clip of herself that Grimshaw refuses to watch has her very visibly struggling to restrain tears 'Wow, OK, where to start,' the 62-year-old said her voice breaking. After a long pause, Grimshaw took a deep breath and went on: 'It's very moving in there. I was going to come out and be very journalistic and give you all the history. 'The history of the building and the history of the Queen's association with that building,' she continued, before struggling to hold back a sob. 'I'm not going to do that. I'm going to take a moment,' Grimshaw said, tears in her eyes, and turned her back to the camera. The normally stoic A Current Affair host put on a rare show of vulnerability after seeing Queen Elizabeth II lying in state (pictured) 'Wow, okay, where to start,' the 62-year-old said, as she struggled to hold back years, her voice breaking. After a long pause, Grimshaw took a deep breath and went on: 'It's very moving in there. I was going to come out and be very journalistic and give you all the history' As she faced away from the lens, Grimshaw could be heard emitting a sob and a nervous laugh as she attempted to compose herself before continuing. 'After all these years and she's still doing her duty. And I really think she'd just like to get back to her husband,' she added once she regained her composure. The King and the Queen's children will hold a 15-minute vigil at her coffin in Westminster Hall on Friday evening. 'I'm going to take a moment,' Grimshaw said, tears in her eyes, and turned her back to the camera. As she faced away from the lens, Grimshaw could be heard emitting a sob and a nervous laugh as she attempted to compose herself before continuing 'After all these years and she's still doing her duty. And I really think she'd just like to get back to her husband,' she added once she regained her composure Princes and William and will walk together in the procession of the Queen's funeral on Monday morning. Queen Elizabeth II's state funeral will take place at Westminster Abbey at 11am on Monday September 19. King Charles III will walk behind the oak coffin as it is moved from the Houses of Parliament to the abbey. The hour-long service will be attended by royals and other VIPs, and televised around the world. The King and the Queen's children will hold a 15-minute vigil at her coffin in Westminster Hall on Friday evening. The late Queen is pictured At 1pm, the coffin will be transported to Wellington Arch via The Mall past Buckingham Palace. The Queen will then be carried to Windsor, where she will be buried at St George's Chapel alongside Prince Philip. The Queen's state funeral will end with a two-minute national silence in a 'fitting tribute to an extraordinary reign' before she is laid to rest beside her late husband. Grimshaw flew over to London to witness Wednesday's procession of the Queen's coffin from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall. The TV icon appeared in a rare Instagram photo with ABC News Breakfast's Lisa Millar, 53, on Wednesday while in London covering Queen Elizabeth II's death. The King and the Queen's children will hold a 15-minute vigil at her coffin in Westminster Hall on Friday evening Queen Elizabeth II's state funeral will take place at Westminster Abbey at 11am on Monday September 19 In the photo, shared by Millar, the pair looked are seen smiling and sharing a laugh together outside Buckingham Palace. 'Finally got to say congratulations to Tracy Grimshaw for an amazing career,' Millar wrote. 'Just needed to get to the other side of the world to catch her!' Grimshaw, who has her own Instagram account but hasn't posted since April, is yet to like or comment on Millar's post. The Queen's state funeral will end with a two-minute national silence in a 'fitting tribute to an extraordinary reign' before she is laid to rest beside her late husband Earlier this month, Grimshaw announced she will be departing A Current Affair after 17 years as anchor and that her final night on the show will be in November. She explained she was 'tired' after decades of shift work and insisted she hadn't been pushed out by a 'boys' club' at Channel Nine. 'I've basically been a shift worker for 26 years, driving to work before dawn for nine years on the Today show, and the past 17 years driving home after dark here on A Current Affair and it's time for less of that daily obligation,' she said at the end of the show on Monday night, September 5. Tracy flew over to London to witness Wednesday's procession of the Queen's coffin from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall. The TV icon appeared in a rare Instagram photo with ABC News Breakfast's Lisa Millar, 53, on Wednesday. Pictured together 'Finally got to say congratulations to Tracy Grimshaw for an amazing career,' Millar wrote. 'Just needed to get to the other side of the world to catch her!' Grimshaw concluded: 'I'm around until November then I'm going to take a long holiday, but it's business as usual until then. See you tomorrow night.' In January 2006, she took over from Ray Martin as host of A Current Affair, her most well-known news role. 'She put me to shame,' Martin said. 'She's so good. I love what she does and I love watching her.' Earlier this month, Grimshaw announced she will be departing A Current Affair after 17 years as anchor and that her final night on the show will be in November A young Grimshaw started her career as a reporter in Nine's Melbourne newsroom in 1981. The beloved television journalist celebrated 40 years at Channel Nine in October last year. Deborah Knight, Georgie Gardner, Brooke Boney and Sylvia Jeffreys are among the frontrunners who could replace Grimshaw as the host of A Current Affair. This photo shows pianist Paik Kun-woo speaking during a press conference in Seoul, Sept. 19. Yonhap Virtuoso pianist Paik Kun-woo, 76, is nicknamed "pilgrim on the keyboard" for his obsessive style to thoroughly explore Beethoven and Chopin nocturnes. At the same time, he is also well known for performing rare works by less-known composers like Sergei Prokofiev and Ferruccio Busoni. This time, he has a new album titled "Granados-Goyescas" with Deutsche Grammophon based on Spanish musician Enrique Granados' 1911 piano suite "Goyescas." The composition was inspired by works of Spanish artist Francisco Goya. The pianist said it has been his longtime dream to perform the Spanish composer's repertoire since he first heard the music at a New York recital about 40 years ago. "It was a concert at Carnegie Hall and it was a bit cold in early winter. But I felt so warm and bright, like I was in the sunshine," Paik said Monday in a Seoul press conference. "It was glamorous and amazing music from the beginning to end. I promised myself to perform this music in the future." He said he visited Spain to look at Goya's paintings once more before recording the album in order to feel the emotion and impression that Granados had when composing. Like familiar Spanish dance rhythms such as flamenco, "Goyescas" has emotional and enthusiastic sentiment different from orthodox classical music from France or Germany, he said. It looks like a normal piano score but has some melody that sounds like guitar or other instruments for Spanish dance. "The composition has its own rhythm, sound and tone. The pianist has to play those features on his own," he said. "I think this music symbolizes freedom. I freely interpreted and played it by myself." This photo shows the cover of pianist Paik Kun-woo's new album "Granados-Goyescas." Yonhap Susanna Reid has said she felt 'privileged' to be able to queue for over seven hours to see the Queen lying in state. She queued up with her mother, a nurse called Sue, 81, in order to pay her respects in Westminster Hall on Thursday. Her words come as Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield were forced to deny they queue-jumped on Friday after they filmed a segment for This Morning. 'It was a historic opportunity': GMB's Susanna Reid said on Monday she felt 'privileged' to queue for seven hours to see Queen lying in state The Monarch will be laid to rest on Monday following her death two weeks ago. Members of the public have been queuing for up to 24 hours to see the Queen lying in state but the queue has now closed. Speaking on Good Morning Britain, Susanna said: 'It's an enormous privilege to have been able to have done that, to pay our respects. Sombre: Members of the public have been queuing for up to 24 hours to see the Queen lying in state but the queue has now closed Dedicated: Susanna pictured with her mother Sue at Westminster Hall on Thursday Susanna said: 'Whether you are religious or not, a royalist or not, it feels like a sort of pilgrimage, and a historic moment, a historic opportunity' 'Whether you are religious or not, a royalist or not, it feels like a sort of pilgrimage, and a historic moment, a historic opportunity.' Ben Shephard added: 'Its huge commitment, when we were talking and you were in the queue for seven hours and 20 minutes in total with your mum and a friend. 'When you do anything like that, and endeavour, because it really is an endeavour to stay that long for this moment, you can understand why, for some, they are overwhelmed with emotion. Susanna continued: 'When I was in the queue, young children, patiently and uncomplainingly stood for hours. I was so proud of my mum at 81 queuing with me. Denial: This Morning bosses have denied Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield had 'VIP access' and filed 'past the Queen lying in state' as they filmed a segment for the programme Historical moment: They filmed a segment for the programme at Westminster Hall in London on Friday, with reports surfacing that they had cut queues and received special treatment She took to Twitter on the day, saying: 'Evening - along with my lovely mum and her very good friend, I have just experienced a moment in history witnessing the Queen lying in state in Westminster Hall. At once majestic and peaceful.' 'If you are planning to queue here are our tips. We joined at 1.23pm near Butlers Wharf and entered Westminster Hall at 8.43pm - 7 hours 20 mins. 'Wear the comfiest shoes you own. Go with someone if you can, although everyone in the queue was friendly. 'The first part of the queue is for wristbands. Ours were given out at Tower Bridge about an hour after we began queuing. 'There is no queue jumping people waited patiently for wristbands and once you have one you can leave the queue for snacks/loo stops & slip back in.' Queuing: Susanna offered advice to others wanting to pay their respects On Sunday, This Morning bosses denied show Holly and Phil had 'VIP access' and filed 'past the Queen lying in state' as they filmed a segment for the programme at Westminster Hall in London on Friday. The presenters cut sombre figures as they dressed in black and visited the Queen's coffin to film for the upcoming episode which is due to air on Tuesday, the day after the funeral. With reports the five-mile long queue had been closed for six hours on Friday, boosting the wait time to 'at least 14 hours', the TV duo were said to have joined a separate queue and were taken into a press gallery. Family: Susanna pictured with her mother Sue Smith, who is a nurse (pictured on Good Morning Britain in 2016) On Saturday evening, ITV bosses bosses posted a statement on Instagram which denied the pair had received special treatment: 'Hello everyone, we would like to clarify something,' it read. 'We asked Phillip and Holly to be part of a film for this Tuesday's programme. 'They did not jump the queue, have VIP access or file past the Queen lying in state - but instead were there in a professional capacity as part of the world's media to report on the event.' An ITV spokesperson added in a statement to MailOnline: 'This Morning had press accreditation and like other media, Phillip and Holly were escorted to work from the press gallery by government staff. On air: Holly and Phil were said to have joined a separate queue and were taken into a press gallery (pictured on This Morning on Monday) 'They did not file past The Queen's coffin. They were there alongside a host of other broadcasters and national press outlets for an item that will be broadcast on Tuesday's show. Any allegations of improper behaviour are categorically untrue.' The broadcasters donned all black ensembles, with Holly, 41, in a face mask, as they made their way into the historic building where the late monarch was lying in state following her death last week. A source told MailOnline: 'They did not get to pay their respects to the Queen in the same way as queuing members of the public but they filmed in a section put aside for press. 'This Morning's Friday show has been cancelled in favour of rolling ITV news coverage in the lead-up to the Queen's state funeral. The programme will be back on screens on Tuesday.' Dame Emma Thompson's daughter Gaia Wise put on a busty display as she attended the Icon II fashion show in London on Sunday. The actress, 22, whose father is actor Greg Wise, 56, went braless in a lavender PVC blazer dress with a racy zip detail as she posed up a storm. Gaia added some extra colour with some strappy lilac heels and sported feline flicks of liner and a scarlet lip. Wow: Dame Emma Thompson's daughter Gaia Wise put on a busty display as she attended the Icon II fashion show in London on Sunday The star wore her locks sleek and straight as she worked the camera. Gaia's mother Emma, 63, recently hilariously revealed she's been subtly trying to put Gaia off acting. The Love Actually star joked she's been dropping hints that her offspring could 'run a restaurant' instead. Pose: The actress, 22, whose father is actor Greg Wise, 56, went braless in a lavender PVC blazer dress with a racy zip detail as she posed up a storm She told the Daily Mail's Eden Confidential: 'I keep saying, "I know you like acting, but, you know, perhaps running a restaurant can be as exciting."' Emma added of the talented cook: 'There's something very theatrical about restaurants when you get it right, you feel so happy and lucky to be in it.' Despite other ideas from the Oscar winner, Gaia followed in her mother's footsteps as she made her TV debut in the latest series of BBC drama Silent Witness. With her sweet smile and cropped dark hair, Dame Emma's daughter looked every inch the mini-me. Other ideas: Gaia's mother Emma, 63, recently hilariously revealed she's been subtly trying to put Gaia off acting (pictured in 2021) In the series Gaia plays university student Jo Reynolds whose mother, the controversial health secretary, is assassinated sparking the interest of forensic pathologists. Earlier this year, Gaia revealed to the Daily Mail's Richard Eden that she's prepared to follow her mother's example and disrobe on screen. Dame Emma recently bared all in her latest film Good Luck To You, Leo Grande. Gaia said: 'If it's professionally prepared, and you've got the right kind of protection around you, then that's absolutely fine.' It comes after Gaia detailed her three-year battle with anorexia - and credited her parents for saving her life by staging an emergency intervention. She never shies away from showing off her incredible physique. And Chantel Jeffries dared to bare in a very racy two piece as she attended the Amsterdam premiere afterparty in New York City on Sunday. The DJ, 29, opted for a micro skirt with a cleavage-baring cut-out top as she arrived at the event which took place at Zero Bond in Manhattan. Daring: Chantel Jeffries, 29, dared to bare in a very racy two piece as she attended the Amsterdam premiere afterparty in New York City on Sunday The form-fitting number was embellished with diamante details and she topped it off with a glitzy Chanel belt. She elongated her already lengthy legs with a pair of clear perspex heels and carried a fluffy bubblegum handbag. Chantel wore her caramel locks in a straightened style whilst opting for a feline flick of eyeliner to complete her look. Sultry: The DJ opted for a micro skirt with a cleavage-baring cut-out top as she arrived at the event which took place at Zero Bond in Manhattan The film, Amsterdam, is a historical comedy set in the 1930s, and directed by the talented David O. Russell. The filmmaker is known for directing other successful movies such as American Hustle (2013), Silver Linings Playbook (2012), and The Fighter (2010). Aside from Margot Robbie, the star-studded cast includes Christian Bale, Tenet's John David Washington, Anya Taylor-Joy, Robert De Niro, Chris Rock, and Grammy award-winner, Taylor Swift. Sizzling: She elongated her already lengthy legs with a pair of clear perspex heels and carried a fluffy bubblegum handbag The premise of the film follows, 'three friends who witness a murder, become suspects themselves, and uncover one of the most outrageous plots in American history,' according to IMDB. During an interview with Deadline when discussing the upcoming mystery, David expressed, 'Its old fashioned, with a scenario and characters we love. The story goes deep, about love and friendship. It goes deep into murder and events.' 'And history, which I love. It has many layers, so you can watch it more than once and discover things you didnt get the first time,' the talented filmmaker added. On her socials: Chantel also added this pinup photo on her Instagram account Heather Graham looked incredible as she enjoyed a sun-soaked getaway to Italy on Sunday. The actress, 52, flaunted her incredible figure in a string bikini as she posed up a storm on the island of Ischia. Placing her hands on her hips, she showed off her taut midriff against a stunning backdrop of the gulf. Stunning: Heather Graham, 52, looked incredible as she enjoyed a sun-soaked getaway to Italy on Sunday Heather let her blonde locks fall loose in beachy waves and shielded her eyes with a pair of oversized sunglasses. In another photo, the Austin Powers star got ready to head out for the evening and wore a lace dress with a fluffy jacket layered over the top. Alongside the snaps, she declared her love for the Italian fishing village and penned: 'I love you Ischia day and night!' Radiant: In another photo, the Austin Powers star got ready to head out for the evening and wore a lace dress with a fluffy jacket layered over the top Heather's holiday comes after she looked incredible as she graced the red carpet at the amfAR Gala during the Venice Film Festival earlier this month. The actress posed up a storm in a gorgeous champagne gown from Tarik Ediz, which hugged every inch of her fantastic figure. The frock boasted a ruffled skirt with a thigh-high split and was embellished with sequins and beads. Gorgeous: Heather's holiday comes after she looked incredible as she graced the red carpet at the amfAR Gala during the Venice Film Festival earlier this month The boned bodice cupped her ample assets while a thin silver belt accentuated her hourglass figure. Heather accentuated her youthful complexion with a radiant palette of make-up while letting her blonde tresses fall in a gentle curl. amfAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research, known until 2005 as the American Foundation for AIDS Research, is an international nonprofit organisation dedicated to the support of AIDS research, prevention and treatment. The Austin Powers actress was joined on the red carpet by a mystery man who looked dapper in a white tuxedo jacket. Dame Kelly Holmes has shared that she felt 'compelled' to pay her respects to Queen Elizabeth II, following her death at age 96 on September 8. The Olympic legend, 52, waited in line at Westminster Hall for 11 hours to visit Her Majesty lying in state. Sharing that the monarch was 'very important in my life', the runner explained that she reshuffled her whole weekend to join the sprawling queue - nothing that she would've waited for 24 hours if she had to. 'She was very important in my life': Dame Kelly Holmes, 52, has admitted that she felt 'compelled' to pay her tributes to The Queen - waiting 11 hours at Westminster Hall to visit her coffin Kelly served in the Womens Royal Armoured Corp at just 17 years old - citing her military background as one of the reasons for connection to the Queen, who was Commander -in-Chief of the British Army and Head of the Armed Forces. Appearing on BBC news to discuss the decision to wait at Westminister Hall, Kelly explained: 'It was a remarkable day. I met so many people; people of all ages. I felt compelled to be in that queue. I had to do it. I changed all my plans for the weekend. 'I didn't mind if I had to stay there for 24 hours. I felt it was my goodbye to her as she was very important in my life.' Kelly has spent the last week paying tribute to the long-serving monarch - opening up about her experience meeting the Queen while on Loose Women last week. Honour: Kelly pictured with the Queen during a 2004 reception for Olympic and Paralympic athletes at Buckingham Palace Panellist: Kelly has spent the last week paying tribute to the long-serving monarch - opening up about her experience meeting the Queen while on Loose Women last week She joined Ruth Langsford, Linda Robson, Brenda Edwards and Jane Moore on the talk show last week, as she is now set to be a full time panellist. Explaining that Kelly was 'already in tears', Ruth opened the show: 'We will be sharing some very special stories about meeting her and honouring her legacy, starting with playing that, one of her favourite songs, which has already got Kelly in tears.' While the athlete also spent time urging Brits to take part in the minute of silence on Sunday via social media - pleading 'please do not forget'. The Palace announced on September 8 that the queen was ill, before later sharing the tragic news of her death in Balmoral, Scotland. Devastated: Kelly, who was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) back in 2005, also took to Instagram on the day to share her upset Kelly, who was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) back in 2005, took to Instagram on the day to share her upset, writing: 'As you know my has ALWAYS been so invested in everything our Queen stands for! 'I am proud to have served under Our Majesty the Queen for my Country and in Sport. I have been one of the lucky ones to have met the Queen on numerous occasions at horse racing and Buckingham Palace and to receive my Dame Commander of the British Empire from Her Majesty will be something I will hold special in my heart for ever 'I am crying right now as sad she is not well! Crying with/for everyone. Whatever the news.I am just for everyone who cares about her being Ill. Sad for, Our royal family, the military, charities and everyone who has met or loves her because I know you will feel the same as I do.' Editing the caption following the announcement, Kelly then wrote: 'UPDATED 18:45 / DEVASTATED / A VERY SAD DAY / RIP YOUR MAJESTY.' Karl Stefanovic and Allison Langdon were left flustered when a royal expert made an off-colour comment during their coverage of the Queen's funeral for Channel Nine. British journalist Dickie Arbiter provided commentary for the sombre occasion, and as Sarah, Duchess of York, nicknamed Fergie, arrived for the state funeral in Westminster Abbey, he had some choice words. As live footage played of a grieving Fergie entering the venue, Arbiter referenced the late Prince Phillip, and explained that the Royal 'never forgave' Fergie for scandalous photographs that were taken in the summer of 1992, in which her toes were being sucked by her financial adviser, John Bryan. Karl Stefanovic (left) and Allison Langdon (right) were left flustered when a royal expert made an off-colour comment during their coverage of the Queen's funeral for Channel Nine 'It is interesting, he never forgave her, he never forgave her for the pictures that appeared in the newspaper when she was in the south of France with her so-called financial adviser having her toes sucked,' Arbiter said. The comment drew nervous giggles from Stefanovic and Langdon, who scrambled to find a way to reply. 'I wasn't going to say it, I didn't think you would go there,' Langdon said in response. British journalist Dickie Arbiter (pictured) provided commentary for the sombre occasion, and as Sarah, Duchess of York, nicknamed Fergie, arrived for the state funeral in Westminster Abbey, he had some choice words As live footage played of a grieving Fergie (pictured) entering the venue, Arbiter referenced the late Prince Phillip, and explained that the Royal 'never forgave' Fergie for scandalous photographs that were taken in the summer of 1992, in which her toes were being sucked by her financial adviser, John Bryan 'At least he said it. We can't be accused of saying it,' Stefanovic added, before quickly changing the subject to the Queen's funeral. The photos, taken by paparazzi at a private villa in the South of France, were an unprecedented scandal for the Royal Family. Lying topless on a sun-lounger, Fergie was photographed having her toes sucked by her Texan financial adviser, John Bryan. The comment drew nervous giggles from Stefanovic and Langdon, who scrambled to find a way to reply. 'I wasn't going to say it, I didn't think you would go there,' Langdon said. 'At least he said it. We can't be accused of saying it,' Stefanovic added The photos, taken by paparazzi at a private villa in the South of France, were an unprecedented scandal for the Royal Family The pictures emerged while she was still married to, but separated from, Prince Andrew. Publication of the images spelled the end of her marriage to the Duke of York and signalled the start of a frenzied pursuit of the royals by French photographers, which culminated in the death of Princess Diana in Paris. A year after the infamous Fergie photos, the French magazine Paris Match and a photographer were ordered to pay her and Bryan the sum of 84,000 (AUD $143,115) for taking the poolside photographs of them without their permission. She is never shy showing off her phenomenal figure on social media. And Sofia Vergara was at it again as she flaunted her incredible bikini body in a sizzling new snap on Sunday. The Modern Family star, 50, shared a snap of herself poolside while wearing a skimpy animal print two-piece. Incredible: Sofia Vergara flaunted her incredible bikini body as she posed in a pale blue leopard print two-piece for a sizzling new snap on Sunday The America's Got Talent judge held her arms in the air while wearing a sun visor to protect her face. The actress styled her brunette locks in soft voluminous curls that tumbled down her back as she soaked up the sun. Sofia captioned the image: 'Se acabo el verano' along with a sun emoji with a sad face, which translated to 'summer is over' in English. Busy week: The America's Got Talent judge, 50, has had a busy week after the show's season 17 finale took place on Wednesday night (pictured) An eye for talent: All-female Lebanese dance group The Mayyas were crowned the winner of season 17, with Sofia selecting the troupe as her Golden Buzzer act Sofia has had a busy week after the America's Got Talent finale took place on Wednesday night. All-female Lebanese dance group The Mayyas were crowned the winner of season 17, with Sofia having plenty of reason to celebrate after selecting the troupe as her Golden Buzzer act. The actress also attended the 2022 Emmy Awards at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on Monday night. The TV favourite looked incredible in a bright yellow dress as she presented the award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series to Succession star Matthew Macfadyen. Hello sunshine: The actress also attended the 2022 Emmy Awards at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on Monday night Sofia didn't appear to have walked the red carpet with other stars, but that didn't hold her back as she strolled over to the carpet to snap her own photos for her Instagram account. 'Amarillo [chick emoji] luv my dress,' she captioned a photo of herself snapping a selfie on the red carpet, while tagging her dress designer Laura Basci. Sofia was joining the ceremony to present the award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. The category had multiple actors from Succession, Severance and Squid Game competing against each other, but Succession's Matthew Macfadyen was triumphant. Julia Gillard has recalled her meeting with Queen Elizabeth II in 2011 with fondness. Speaking on the day of the late Royal's funeral, the former Prime Minister of Australia told The Project that she understood the gravity of the visit. 'At the time all of us knew it was going to be the last time she was in Australia,' the politician, 60, said. Julia Gillard (pictured) has recalled her meeting with Queen Elizabeth II in 2011 with fondness. Speaking on the day of the late Royal's funeral, the former Prime Minister of Australia told The Project that she understood the gravity of the visit 'I mean, it was never said but of course it was assumed that it would be her last visit. And she came because we were hosting the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Perth. 'She took the opportunity to visit very widely around Australia in recognition that it would be the last time she would get to say hello and goodbye in person to the people of Australia.' Gillard went on: 'I do remember how well received she was. How big the crowds were. I remember her quiet diplomacy in and around the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting and I remember her sense of fun. 'At the time all of us knew it was going to be the last time she was in Australia,' the politician, 60, said. Pictured with the Queen during her visit to Australia in 2011 'She took the opportunity to visit very widely around Australia in recognition that would be the last time she would get to say hello and goodbye to the people of Australia,' the former PM said 'We did things like a formal cocktail party at the Great Hall in Parliament House, and when the toast came to the Queen, I was joking with her that she should take a sip of her Champagne and she was very, "Oh, no, you never drink when it's a toast to yourself." 'I'm like, "That's a life lesson I didn't know." All of these I've been cheerfully sipping away if people raise a toast. She was good fun.' The Queen was the only reigning British monarch to have ever visited Australia, starting in 1954 when she was just 27. Queen Elizabeth II made 16 trips to Australia from February 1954 to October 2011, when Australia's first female prime minister Julia Gillard hosted a reception for her at Parliament House in Canberra, causing controversy during that visit when she declined to curtsy. Pictured at Fairbairn air base Queen Elizabeth II made 16 trips to Australia from February 1954 to October 2011. On that final tour Australia's first female prime minister Julia Gillard hosted a reception for her at Parliament House in Canberra and caused controversy when she declined to curtsy. Gillard was one of six prime ministers born during the Queen's reign, including fellow Labor PM Anthony Albanese. The Queen was the only reigning British monarch to have ever visited Australia and made 16 tours starting in 1954 (Sydney visit pictured) when she was just 27 - during a reign that coincided with the birth of six prime ministers The Queen's reign covered the terms of 16 Australian prime ministers, starting with Sir Robert Menzies - Australia's longest-serving PM. Her affection with the Australian people was cemented a year after her coronation when she set foot at Farm Cove in Sydney on February 3, 1954. With her husband Prince Philip by her side, she toured every capital city except Darwin and 40 country towns over two months as their son Prince Charles and daughter Princess Anne stayed in England. Former Labor prime minister Bob Hawke (left) hosted the Queen in May 1988, Australia's bicentennial year, when she visited to open the new Australian Parliament House. Hawke campaigned for a republic 11 years later An estimated 75 per cent of the Australian population - numbering just 8.8million people 68 years ago - turned out to see her. On Monday, the Queen passed Buckingham Palace for the final time followed by her mourning family as her coffin was carried from Westminster Abbey and through London after her state funeral. Her Majesty will be laid to rest in Windsor next to her beloved husband Prince Philip and her parents. Her parents have been embroiled in controversy as they have both opted to date suitors much younger than them post-split. And it certainly looks like Addison Rae is trying to put the drama behind her. The 21-year-old TikTok star showcased her derriere in a series of racy snaps posted onto her Instagram on Sunday. Wow factor: Addison Rae showcased her derriere in a series of racy snaps posted onto her Instagram on Sunday Addison flaunted her fabulous figure in a very sheer black maxi dress over a black thong. As if the see-through garment wasn't already revealing enough the dress also featured two thigh-high splits. She teamed the look with black heels as she accessorized with gold hoop earrings. Stunning: The 21-year-old TikTok star flaunted her fabulous figure in a very sheer black maxi dress over a black thong Leggy lady: As if the see-through garment wasn't already revealing enough the dress also featured two thigh-high splits Her brunette tresses were pulled back in a ponytail as her make-up was completed with pink blush and matching lip. Addison certainly seems happy to be spending time in the Big Apple as she captioned one of her galleries to her 39.8m followers: 'I Love New York" Meanwhile it has been said that Addison is 'distancing herself from her family' in the wake of the dramatic split between her parents Monty Lopez and Sheri Easterling. It has been said that the social media maven 'isnt close to her mom anymore and has unfollowed her on Instagram,' a source told US Weekly. Addison certainly seems happy to be spending time in the Big Apple as she captioned one of her galleries to her 39.8m followers: 'I Love New York' Strolling: Addison seems to be trying to put her parents' drama behind her Yum: She shared a snap of a New York slice of pizza The Lafayette, Louisiana native is upset with her father, 46, amid infidelity allegations - including with 25-year-old influencer Renee Ash - and her mother over a new romance with a suitor 16 years her junior. Easterling, 42, was seen with rapper Yung Gravy, 26, on the red carpet of the MTV Video Music Awards this past August, as they engaged in PDA while matching in lavender ensembles. Yung Gravy told MTVs Nessa Diab that he and Easterling 'met online' and 'connected right away' romantically with one another. He added: 'You know, Im from the furthest north it gets and shes from the furthest south it gets. Im into MILFs and shes kind of the queen of MILFs, so I figured it was just the perfect match.' Family first? Meanwhile it has been said that Addison is 'distancing herself from her family' in the wake of the dramatic split between her parents Monty Lopez and Sheri Easterling. They are parents to Rae as well as sons Enzo, 14, and Lucas, eight. The family was snapped in 2020 in LA Heating up: The Lafayette, Louisiana native is upset with her father, 46, amid infidelity allegations - including with 25-year-old influencer Renee Ash (pictured) The relationship between the pair is 'genuine,' an insider told US Weekly, describing Easterling as 'a good-hearted woman whos looking to rebuild her confidence and self-worth' following the breakdown of her marriage. Lopez responded to the new pairing saying he was 'unbothered' in an Instagram Stories post in which he posed shirtless, thanking Yung Gravy 'for taking the leftovers!' He added: 'I would rather spend time with my daughter and two grandkids that SheriNicole made me abandon as a child inorder [sic] to be with her! #tiredoflivinglie.' PDA: Easterling, 42, was seen with rapper Yung Gravy, 26, on the red carpet of the MTV Video Music Awards this past August, as they engaged in PDA while matching in lavender ensembles Just the two of us: Yung Gravy told MTVs Nessa Diab that he and Easterling 'met online' and 'connected right away' romantically with one another Lopez advised to 'never let a woman make you choose between her and or your blood child!' (According to the outlet, he claims to be father to a woman named Macye Neumeyer, who is mother to two children.) Lopez and Easterling initially wed in 2004, splitting in 2007 and remarrying in 2017. They are parents to Rae as well as sons Enzo, 14, and Lucas, eight. Lopez was accused of cheating on Easterling with Ash, who said that he had misled her that his marriage had been over at the time. 'Unbothered': Lopez, 46, responded to the new pairing saying he was 'unbothered' in an Instagram Stories post in which he posed shirtless, thanking Yung Gravy 'for taking the leftovers!' GILF: After the Gravy Train artist called Sheri 'the queen of MILFs' the BAM Social founder posted another snap asking if he was the 'World's Hottest GILF' In July, Easterling said on Instagram Stories that 'personal matters being brought public are always challenging and overwhelming for anyone involved.' She added: 'I will be okay. My biggest concern is - and always will be - my children and their fragile hearts and minds. I will always do my best to protect them. 'My goal is to make sure that they feel secure and safe and know that everything will be okay. Thank you all for the love, support and kind messages. It means the world to me.' Advertisement Kate Winslet got stuck into character on Monday as she returned to the set of her new movie Lee, after being hospitalised due to a leg injury while on set over the weekend. The actress, 46, appeared back to full health as she got firmly into work mode, donning a khaki cargo jumpsuit for the filming - which is taking place in the village of Kupari, Croatia. The historical biopic chronicles the life of Vogue model turned World War II correspondent Lee Miller, who Kate portrays as she stars alongside actors including Jude Law and Marion Cotillard. Lee famously posed for a photograph in Adolf Hitler's bathtub in his Munich apartment and became the official war photographer for Vogue, documenting the Blitz and recording the Siege of the heavily fortified city of St Malo. Back to work: Kate Winslet, 46, donned a military jumpsuit on Friday as she returned to the Croatian set of new biopic film on legendary American photojournalist Lee Miller Recovered: She appeared back to full health as she got firmly into work mode, donning a khaki cargo jumpsuit for the filming - which is taking place in the village of Kupari, Croatia Hidden past: Lee (Pictured with Frederick Laws in 1950) buried the record of her remarkable life in boxes in the attic of her Sussex home - and they were not found until after her death by her son After returning to the UK post-war, Lee buried the record of her wartime work in boxes in the attic of her Sussex home and her photographs were not discovered until they were found after her death by her son. Kate was clad in a US military costume for the filming, featuring a khaki jumpsuit with a thick belt and lighter green calf chaps. She was also seen wearing a similar ensemble as she returned to filming on Tuesday. Her golden locks were styled in a tousled curl as they were partly pulled away into a half ponytail for some scenes, with a uniform hard-hat later being added on top for others. She appeared make-up free for the filming, getting ready with cast and crew as they prepped and prined her into character before commencing filming. Help: A member of the crew was busy adjusting Kate's scarf which was tied loosely around her neck Costume: Kate was clad in a US military ensemble for the filming, featuring a khaki jumpsuit with a thick belt and lighter green calf chaps Concentration: The Oscar winner appeared deep in concentration as she prepared to film another take Headgear: The actress wore a helmet from the period during the dramatic scenes Big screen: A military utility vehicle was also on set, with extras playing snipers in the corner as the Titanic actress took centre stage Action ready: Kate looked ready for anything as she posed in army gear while filming in Dubrovnik, Croatia, on Tuesday Cast and crew: Kate was joined by members of the cast and crew as they shot scenes on set in Croatia And filming the high-intensity scenes, Kate was snapped running across the outdoor set - which was designed to be a 1940s war base. A military utility vehicle was also on set, with extras playing snipers in the corner as the Titanic actress took centre stage. She appeared to has made a full recovery from her recent on-set injury, which saw her rushed to Dubrovnik hospital after slipping during filming. Photos obtained by the Croatian press show the star arriving at the city's hospital in a black van while accompanied by a number of people. Physical: And filming the high-intensity scenes, Kate was snapped running across the set as the outdoor set - which was set up to be a 1940s war base Co-stars: The actress bonded with cast and crew as they spent time on the outdoor set Costume: Kate (right) wore a camera around her neck in order to portray the famous photojournalist Lee Miller Natural: She appeared make-up free for the filming, getting ready with cast and crew as they prepped and prined her into character before commencing filming Setup: A military utility vehicle was also on set, with extras playing snipers in the corner as the Titanic actress took centre stage Star vehicle: The film, called Lee, will follow the life and experiences of the photojournalist as she travels to the frontline of World War II and tries to expose the horrific truths of the Nazis Touch ups: Kate was seen given touch ups to her make-up by a member of the crew as they took a break during filming Set: They filmed in Croatia with the scene replicating war times as barbed wire and broken wood were seen dotted across the dirt road WHO WAS PHOTOJOURNALIST LEE MILLER? Lee Miller went from appearing in American Vogue to witnessing first hand the horrors of Nazi Germany - becoming one of the most important photographers to record the 20th century. Her talents were first put on full display in American Vogue during the 1920s when she became one of the country's most sough-after models. Before the Second World War, she worked as a 20s cover girl and worked with surrealist artists in Europe before she embarked on a photojournalism career. In 1929, when her modelling career hit controversy when her image was used in a menstrual pad advert, Miller went to Paris with the intention of apprenticing herself to the surrealist artist and photographer Man Ray. She honed her skills under the guidance of the great photographers of her day, including Man Ray, her became her lover during the early 1930s. She felt that photography was 'ideally suited to women as a profession, for it seems to me that women are quicker and more adaptable than men. And I think they have an intuition that helps them understand personalities more quickly than men'. After a stint living in Cairo, she returned to Paris, where she met the British surrealist painter and curator Roland Penrose, who would go on to teach the use of camouflage on the Second World War. Living in Hampstead, north London with Penrose when the bombing of the city began, Miller decided to embark on a new career in photojournalism as the official war photographer for Vogue, documenting the Blitz. Her work would later take her across the whole of Europe, working for the Allied forces and teaming up with fellow American photographer David E. Scherman, a correspondent for Life magazine. One of only two women combat photographers during World War II, she was also one of the few female correspondents who ventured into the liberated concentration camps. Her collection includes incredible photos she took documenting the end of the war, traveled to France less than a month after D-Day and to record the Siege of the heavily fortified city of St. Malo. She also witnessed the liberation of Paris, the Battle of Alsace, and the horrors of the first soldiers arriving at Nazi concentration camps at Buchenwald and Dachau. And while visiting Germany, David Scherman took a photograph of Miller lying in the bathtub of Adolf Hitler's apartment in Munich, with its shower hose looped in the center behind her head, resembling a noose. The images became one of the most iconic of their partnership, and showed off her infamous modelling skills. It is believed Miller had kept the address of Hitler's apartment in her pocket 'for years', hoping to be one of the first to arrive during the invasion. After taking the bathtub picture, Miller took a bath in the tub and slept in Hitler's bed. After returning to the UK, Miller buried the record of her remarkable life in boxes in the attic of her Sussex home - and they were not found until after her death by her son, who was able to chronicle her achievements, according to the BBC. She spent the later years of her life in England and died there in 1977, aged 70. Advertisement Kate was checked by medics following the trip and was given the all-clear to head home. A representative for the screen star told MailOnline: 'Kate slipped and was taken to hospital as a precautionary measure required by the production. 'She is fine and will be filming, as planned, this week.' Kate was announced as the star of a new biopic about Vogue cover model-turned-war correspondent Lee Miller in 2020. The film, called Lee, will follow the life and experiences of the photojournalist as she travels to the frontline of World War II and tries to expose the horrific truths of the Nazis. Throughout her journey, she then comes to realise the truths of her own past - after she was a victim of rape when she was just seven years old. In 1914, Lee had been sent to stay with family friends near New York while her mother, Florence, was ill in hospital. While there, she was raped and infected with gonorrhoea - apparently by a male friend or relative of the family she was staying with. Later in her life, the New York fashion photographer went from appearing in American Vogue to witnessing first hand the horrors of Nazi Germany - becoming one of the most important photographers to record the 20th century. One of only two women combat photographers during World War II, she was also one of the few female correspondents who ventured into the liberated concentration camps. Before the Second World War, she worked as a 20s cover girl and worked with surrealist artists in Europe before she embarked on a photojournalism career. She felt that photography was 'ideally suited to women as a profession, for it seems to me that women are quicker and more adaptable than men. And I think they have an intuition that helps them understand personalities more quickly than men'. In 1937, Picasso painted six portraits of Lee, including one in which she had a third eye. After a stint living in Cairo, she returned to Paris, where she met the British surrealist painter and curator Roland Penrose, who would go on to teach the use of camouflage on the Second World War. Living in Hampstead, north London with Penrose when the bombing of the city began, Miller decided to embark on a new career in photojournalism as the official war photographer for Vogue, documenting the Blitz. Her work would later take her across the whole of Europe, working for the Allied forces and teaming up with fellow American photographer David E. Scherman, a correspondent for Life magazine. Her collection includes incredible photos she took documenting the end of the war, traveled to France less than a month after D-Day and to record the Siege of the heavily fortified city of St. Malo. She also witnessed the liberation of Paris, the Battle of Alsace, and the horrors of the first soldiers arriving at Nazi concentration camps at Buchenwald and Dachau. And while visiting Germany, David Scherman took a photograph of Miller lying in the bathtub of Adolf Hitler's apartment in Munich, with its shower hose looped in the center behind her head, resembling a noose. The images became one of the most iconic of their partnership, and showed off her infamous modelling skills. It is believed Miller had kept the address of Hitler's apartment in her pocket 'for years', hoping to be one of the first to arrive during the invasion. After taking the bathtub picture, Miller took a bath in the tub and slept in Hitler's bed. Just hours before the iconic image of herself in Hitler's bathroom, she had captured the horrors at Dachau. Busy schedule: What appeared to be a vehicle could be seen covered in a tarp while they filmed on a dirt road next to a building Chatting: Kate sported a solid safety hat and wore goggles draped around her neck as she embodied Lee, while she was also seen covered in dirt Dusty dame: The actress' face was covered in dust and soot as she shot scenes set during the Second World War War times: On Tuesday, Kate was back on set filming with members of the crew as they showed what life would have been like for Lee during the war Set: The set featured a large bombed out region with lots of debris and fire damaged buildings Back to reality: The star chatted on her I-Phone during a break in filming Feeling better: She appeared to has made a full recovery from her recent on-set injury, which saw her rushed to Dubrovnik hospital after slipping during filming Shortly after D-Day, she broke a rule against female correspondents going anywhere near the frontline, and followed Allied soldiers as they made their final assault on the Germans in the French town of St Malo - which saw her briefly arrested by the US Army. After returning to the UK, Miller buried the record of her remarkable life in boxes in the attic of her Sussex home and rarely spoke about the war with her husband Roland or her son Antony Penrose. The records of her wartime photographs were not found until after her death by her son Antony, who was able to chronicle her achievements and write a biography of his mother's life. Lee spent the later years of her life in England and died there in 1977, aged 70. Hospitalised: Photos obtained by the Croatian press show the star arriving at the city's hospital in a black van while accompanied by a number of people All good: A representative for the screen star told MailOnline: 'Kate slipped and was taken to hospital as a precautionary measure required by the production Star: Kate was announced as the star of a new biopic about Vogue cover model-turned-war correspondent Lee Miller in 2020 War drama: The film, called Lee, will follow the life and experiences of the photojournalist as she travels to the frontline of World War II and tries to expose the horrific truths of the Nazis Historic: The set was decorated outside of a historic building, with staff surrounding the area Close-knit: They appeared to be in high spirits despite the gruelling work day The film will be directed by Ellen Kuras, who was the cinematographer of Kates 2004 hit film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which also starred Jim Carrey. It is adapted from the book The Lives of Lee Miller, written by Lee's son, Antony Penrose. Oscar-winning actress Kate, who is also producing the film, previously said of her role: 'A woman I admire tremendously and whom I am so thrilled to be playing in this film. An extreme lover, thinker, life liver, cook, Vogue cover girl, war correspondent, icon, mother.' Big shoes: Oscar-winning actress Kate, who is also producing the film, previously said of her role: 'A woman I admire tremendously and whom I am so thrilled to be playing in this film. An extreme lover, thinker, life liver, cook, Vogue cover girl, war correspondent, icon, mother' Hot stuff: A member of the crew shielded the star from the scorching weather with an umbrella Emotional: The actress could be seen surveying the damage of a bombed building during the emotional scenes Another one: Kate looked fighting fit as she returned to her mark to shoot the scene once more Getting ready: The Titanic star rehearsed her moved with members of the crew before the cameras began to roll Kate was fighting fit as she shot underwater scenes for her new role in the upcoming Avatar movie earlier this month. The role involves her getting back in the water tank to shoot underwater scenes - after previously ending up with hypothermia. Kate, who is best known for portraying Rose in Titanic, spent months in the water while filming the emotional 1997 movie and was left ill because of it. But that hasn't stopped the star from positively thriving in her new role in the Avatar sequel The Way Of Water. The Oscar-winning actress plays Ronal - one of the underwater beings closely related to the Na'vi. Accident: The actress, who plays legendary American photojournalist Lee Miller (pictured) in the flick, was filming in the village of Kupari when she lost her footing Producer Jon Landau was in London on Wednesday to screen some footage and (very gently) start to beat the drums to promote his new sci-fi blockbuster. He told Daily Mail's Alison Boshoff: 'Kate broke a free-diving record among the cast. It was six minutes 50-something but for Kate we agreed to call it seven. She was phenomenal.' Kate was apparently particularly delighted to beat Tom Cruise, who famously performs his own stunts and managed a six-minute free dive while making Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation in 2015. Young actress Bailey Bass who plays Ronal's daughter Tsireya in The Way Of Water, said: 'Kate holds the record she set it during training. I managed six minutes and 30 seconds.' All the cast went through dive training to prepare for the picture which is set over a decade after the events of the first film. The largest video tower ever created by video art visionary Nam June Paik, "The More, The Better" (1988), was officially relit, Sept. 15, at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea's Gwacheon branch in Gyeonggi Province, after a three-year restoration. Paik's masterpiece, composed of 1,003 cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors, had been switched off since 2018 due to the malfunctioning of its aging primary components. Courtesy of the MMCA Special archive exhibition held to mark return of 'The More, The Better' By Park Han-sol Ahead of the 1986 Asian Games and the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, the Korean government was in the process of constructing the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea's (MMCA) new branch in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province. But after its completion in 1986, suspicions were raised that the museum's rotunda, called the Ramp Core, bore a striking resemblance to that of The Guggenheim in New York City. To dispel such questions and to show evidence of the state-level support for the country's arts and culture the government needed a site-specific artwork, one that was so eye-catching that it could become a new visual symbol of the museum's identity. And so began the birth story of video art visionary Nam June Paik's (1932-2006) largest-ever video installation, "The More, The Better," which was lit for the first time on Sept. 15, 1988. For three decades, the 18.5-meter-tall tower emitted Paik's iconic phantasmagoric collages of electronic images through a whopping number of 1,003 cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors. That was until the museum was forced to switch it off in 2018 as a result of the malfunctioning of its aging, now-defunct primary components. "According to our diagnosis carried out on all CRT monitors, we found multiple safety issues, including fire and explosion risks, due to the screens' deteriorating power supply system and insulation," Kwon In-cheol, the curator behind the tower's conservation and restoration project, said during a press conference held at the MMCA Gwacheon last week. "Like automobiles, these analog monitors are manufactured by structurally welding different components together. And as many are well aware, there are no more factories left that produce those parts on a commercial scale," he continued. The museum stood at a critical point at the start of 2019, according to its director, Youn Bum-mo. Should it strictly maintain the work's original form with the limited supply of secondhand CRT monitors available? Should it instead replace them with newer display technology at hand? Or was there no other choice left but to tear it down? After an extensive consultation with specialists here and abroad, an announcement was made in September 2019 that the museum would launch a three-year restoration project of "The More, The Better," based on a realistic compromise and a budget of 3.7 billion won ($2.66 million). From 2019 to 2021, secondhand panels and components sought from around the world were deployed to repair and replace 737 damaged CRTs. For the other 266 no-longer-functional monitors that constitute the tower's upper section, new LCD flat screens were installed while maintaining the same outward appearance as the vintage monitors. Following its successful six-month test run early this year, the imposing video tower finally returned to the public eye on Sept. 15 the same date as its unveiling ceremony in 1988. A shot of Nam June Paik's "The More, The Better" being unveiled to the world for the first time as part of the artist's large-scale satellite project, "Wrap Around the World," which was broadcast live in 11 countries to commemorate the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics / Courtesy of Electronic Arts Intermix But of course, the ultimate fate of "The More, The Better" remains to be seen. Even with the museum's attempt to ensure that the installation is conserved as close to its original form as possible by conducting continuous technical maintenance, the outdated monitors could break down at any time. And the search for high-quality secondhand components for their repair and replacement is growing harder by the day. "Its current state is comparable to that of (a slowly dying) patient on a ventilator," Kwon said. To guarantee the stable operation of the tower, the MMCA has decided to restrict its viewing times to four days a week for two hours a day a schedule that is subject to changes in order to prioritize the work's condition. Inspections will be accompanied regularly throughout its run. The national museum will also share the detailed processes and results of its three-year-long conservation and restoration project through a white paper slated for release in the first half of 2023. "The More, The Better" under construction in 1988 / Courtesy of the MMCA Art Research Center Collection The long-awaited return of Paik's largest work is being celebrated at the MMCA Gwacheon with a special archive exhibition, "Merry Mix: The More, The Better." With its title inspired by a phrase the artist used to explain his oeuvre "a merry mix of the new and old generations of enfants terribles" the show features over 200 archival materials and interviews with Paik's creative and technical collaborators that bring to light the history of his monumental installation from design to operation. One of Paik's handwritten letters to the museum prior to the tower's construction may catch viewers' eyes. "Don't go about the business without clear planning," he wrote. "If the project begins to stretch itself too thin and requires an extra budget (on administrative affairs), that means less money can be spent on the actual software, bringing down its artistic quality I don't want to waste my time doing things only to fill others' bellies." The exhibition also presents photographer Lee Eun-joo's candid portraits of Paik that offer a peek into the artist in his later life from the 1990s and early 2000s through the eye of an old friend. "Merry Mix: The More, The Better" runs through Feb. 26 next year. Amelia Hamlin rocked a chic and edgy look on Monday as she landed in Milan ahead of the Italian city's Fashion Week celebration. The 21-year-old model was spotted as she made her way through the bustling airport on her way into the city. She eschewed cozy traveling clothes and instead opted for a stylish black leather blazer with wide lapels. Ready for action: Amelia Hamlin, 21, rocked a chic but edgy black leather blazer as she landed at the airport in Milan for the Italian city's Fashion Week on Monday Amelia paired her jacket with a matching ribbed black zip-up top, along with dark blue boot-cut jeans. She added some luster to the dark look with her black patent leather platform boots, which added to her 5ft9in height. The catwalk star wore her dyed-black hair pin straight with a middle part and cascading down her shoulder. She previously made a splash at New York Fashion Week when she once again dyed her eyebrows, and she still sported the edgy look as she arrived in Italy. On point: Amelia paired her jacket with a matching ribbed black zip-up top, along with dark blue boot-cut jeans A little help: Amelia covered up with a slim pair of black sunglasses. As she left the airport, an assistant pulled her rolling suitcase and her quilted black Chanel overnight bag Amelia stayed somewhat anonymous by covering up with a slim pair of black wraparound sunglasses. As she left the airport, she made her way across a parking lot to a waiting car, while an assistant pulled her rolling suitcase and her quilted black Chanel overnight bag. Earlier in the weekend, the daughter of Lisa Rinna bid farewell to New York Fashion Week with a photo of herself riding on a stuffed bull on the sidewalk, which may have once been part of a mechanical bull. Amelia also shared a photo of herself grimacing in a white robe while smoking what looked like a cigarette. 'This is fashion month,' she wrote. Riding in style: Earlier in the weekend, the daughter of Lisa Rinna bid farewell to New York Fashion Week with a photo of herself riding on a stuffed bull on the sidewalk, which may have once been part of a mechanical bull It's giving exhausted: Amelia also shared a photo of herself grimacing in a white robe while smoking what looked like a cigarette. 'This is fashion month,' she wrote Amelia may be in for a busy rest of the month as she walks several more runways, but she at least had some family support during her run in New York. While she walked the runway in a striped rugby shirt dress at the Tommy Hilfiger show, her mother Lisa, father Harry Hamlin and fellow model sister Delilah Hamlin all joined in to watch her from the audience. 'Cheering sissy on!' Lisa captioned a photo of the three beaming in their matching Tommy Hilfiger ensembles. All together now: Amelia may be in for a busy rest of the month as she walks several more runways, but she at least had some family support as she walked the Tommy Hilfiger show Maureen Lipman had a premonition the Queen would die, shortly before the Monarch's death was announced on September 8. Speaking to Kirsty Young during the BBC's coverage of the Queen's funeral on Monday, the actress, 76, said she felt compelled to text one of her Coronation Street co-stars after her 'strange experience.' Kirsty said: 'You were preparing to go on stage 11 days ago when you heard the news that stopped so many of us. How did you react?' Eerie: Maureen Lipman had a premonition the Queen would die, shortly before the Monarch's death was announced on September 8 Maureen responded: I had a premonition Kirsty. I actually texted to a friend in Corrie, "I think the Queen is going to die", I just had one of those strange experiences, and then I thought that the show would be cancelled. 'It was in Manchester, it was a one-woman show, I didn't think anyone would play that night. But the directors came through that we were all to carry on. And all I can say is it's quite a harrowing show, as well as... but all I can say is that it was very tender that night. Because my reaction was immediately visceral. I immediately sobbed and then literally the show had to go on. Lipman met the Queen on six occasions and previously branded the Royal a 'geezer' after she visited the soap set in July 2021. Royal encounter: Lipman met the Queen on six occasions and previously branded the Royal a 'geezer' (pictured 1990s) Premonition: Speaking to Kirsty Young during the BBC's coverage of the Queen's funeral on Monday, the actress, 76, said she felt compelled to text one of her Coronation Street co-stars after her 'strange experience' Maureen said: I had a premonition Kirsty. I actually texted to a friend in Corrie, "I think the Queen is going to die" In October that year Maureen Lipman was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire by then Prince of Wales Charles - in recognition of her stellar career and charity work. King Charles had appeared tearful at his mother's Westminster Abbey state funeral that ended with two minutes of silence, the Last Post and the national anthem. The monarch also looked emotional as he saluted when his mother left Wellington Arch in a hearse this afternoon. On a day of pomp and poignant symbolism, grief was etched on the faces of Charles, his siblings and children as well as the huge crowds who swamped The Mall, Whitehall and Parliament Square to bade farewell to the beloved monarch as her coffin was carried from the Abbey on a gun carriage. Members of the Royal Family, including the King, marched poignantly behind, while others including the Princess of Wales and her children George and Charlotte, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, all looked on at the crowds as they passed them in vehicles. The poignant scenes followed an extraordinary and emotional state funeral attended by 2,000 VIPs, royals, prime ministers and several hundred ordinary Britons chosen by the Queen, who died 11 days ago. The Archbishop of Canterbury described the Queen as having touched 'a multitude of lives' and having been a 'joyful' figure for many. Sylvester Stallone has fans questioning whether he and his estranged wife Jennifer Flavin have rekindled their flame - and put their impending divorce on ice - with a new Instagram post. The 76-year-old Rocky icon shared two throwback photos on social media Monday morning showing he and Jennifer holding hands during a romantic walk. Last Month Flavin, 54, filed for divorce from Stallone after 25 years of marriage and accused her movie star husband of hiding and selling off their marital assets. For his part, Stallone agreed their marriage was 'irretrievably broken.' 'Wonderful.': Sylvester Stallone has fans questioning whether he and his estranged wife Jennifer Flavin have rekindled their flame - and put their impending divorce on ice - with a new Instagram post 'Wonderful.,' Stallone captioned his latest Instagram post. The Philadelphia native shared two throwback images. One of he and wife Jennifer smiling with their three daughters who were grade school aged at the time. In the other snap, Stallone was seen from behind walking hand-in-hand with Flavin. The Instagram grid photos are curious considering the couple are just kicking up a contentious divorce battle. Happier times: The Philadelphia native shared an throwback image of he and wife Jennifer smiling with their three daughters who were grade school aged at the time Last month Flavin submitted court paperwork to dissolve her marriage to Stallone and accused him of shady dealings with their marital assets. The actor hit back and denied any wrongdoing with their joint assets in his response filing. Days before the divorce filing, DailyMail.com revealed that the actor had a giant tattoo of Flavin on his right bicep covered up with a picture of Butkus, Rocky's bull mastiff from the hit movies. In documents, Sly denied his wife's allegations that 'engaged in the intentional dissipation, depletion and/or waste of marital assets which has had an adverse economic impact on the marital estate,' PEOPLE reported. Hmm: The Instagram grid photos are curious considering the couple are just kicking up a contentious divorce battle after Flavin filed for divorce last month; pictured 2019 Additionally, Stallone opposed his estranged wife's request to have 'exclusive use' of their home in Palm Beach. Flavin had earlier asked for sole use of the palatial property as the divorce played out. In regards to legal costs and lawyers' fees, Flavin requested that the court be mindful of the 'conduct of each party' that could possibly draw out the process. She asked the court to encourage 'mutual cooperation' in order to 'reduce the cost' of legal matters. Stallone said in his response that Flavin had 'hired counsel to represent her and agreed to pay them their legal fees.' Split: Flavin accused her movie star husband of hiding and selling off their marital assets in her filing, which he denied in his official response; pictured March 2022 The Rambo star did not oppose her petition to 'restore' her maiden name. Stallone was also in agreement that their marriage was 'irretrievably broken.' DailyMail.com exclusively revealed, just days before news of their split emerged, that Stallone had covered a tattoo of Flavin on his arm with a picture of Butkus, Rocky's bull mastiff from the hit movies. Shortly afterwards, it emerged that Flavin a former model and Stallone's third wife is divorcing him after 25 years of marriage. The split has shocked Hollywood, where their partnership was regarded as one of the fickle film world's more enduring unions. Almost forever: Stallone was in agreement that their marriage was 'irretrievably broken.' The story, however, has become even more astonishing with claims that their Rottweiler Dwight was the immediate cause of the break-up. Stallone dotes on Dwight the name of his character in a new TV drama series, Tulsa King and has posted gushing videos and photos of the pet on social media. Family insiders told website TMZ that the actor wanted the dog to help protect the family at their homes in Los Angeles and Palm Beach, Florida. But while they already own other dogs Flavin didn't want a huge Rottweiler in the house and strenuously objected. Their disagreement over Dwight allegedly caused a huge row that brought up other issues between the couple, culminating in her decision to press the nuclear button. It remains tantalizingly unclear whether Stallone decided on the less-than-tactful tattoo modification before or after Flavin told him she was leaving him. The beloved American fashion photographer Roxanne Lowit has died at the age of 80, a representative confirmed on Instagram last week. 'We are very sad to say we lost a remarkable woman today,' shared her rep. Lowit was also on hand to witness the rise of the supermodels in the 1990s, with some of her most memorable images featuring Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, and Christy Turlington, among others. Tributes to New York native Lowit have poured in from leading figures across the creative industry, including Crawford and Evangelista. A true visionary: American fashion photographer Roxanne Lowit has died at the age of 80, a representative confirmed on Instagram last week. Seen in 2013 Cindy said, 'Remembering the legendary #RoxanneLowit. If you were anywhere near the fashion scene in the 90s, you would inevitably run into @roxannelowit. She was one of those cool women you only find in New York. 'As the ultimate fashion insider, she captured iconic 'behind-the-scenes' images before that was even a thing. Her understated, soft-spoken nature made her a welcome presence backstage or anywhere else she wanted to point her camera. RIP' 'She created a genre. She created backstage photography. She was always an invited guest to all of these parties. She wasnt an outsider. She was an insider taking pictures and she was able to capture these most intimate moments,' said longtime friend Brian Saltzman, M.D. 'With her eye, she was able to do it better than anybody else. Ten photographers would go after a shot, but hers was always the one that best captured that moment.' An eye for detail: 'Her sharp eye has been able to capture the most secret situations, the most hidden of mysteries,' Saint Laurents long-term partner, Pierre Berge, wrote in the introduction to her 2014 book, Roxanne Lowit Photographs Yves Saint Laurent; seen far left with Joey Arias, right Linda shared an image that Lowit took of her. 'Rest In Peace dear Roxanne,' she shared in her caption. The rep also shared: 'Roxanne Lowit was a legendary photographer who provided an intimate look into the world of fashion and showed us a side of nightlife that most people didnt get to see. Roxanne was a woman who believed in magic,' the statement read. 'Roxanne was a bright, creative light. A great friend who enriched others lives in so many waysshe was loved by many and will be greatly missed.' Born and raised in New York City, Lowit attended the Fashion Institute of Technology before embarking on a successful first career as a textile designer in the 1970s, working for the likes of Donna Karan, Jean Muir, and Scott Barrie. A fan: Cindy said, 'Remembering the legendary #RoxanneLowit. If you were anywhere near the fashion scene in the 90s, you would inevitably run into @roxannelowit. She was one of those cool women you only find in New York. Seen last week After Lowit began playing around with an Instamatic 110 camera gifted to her by Antonio Lopez, and using it to shoot her own designs backstage at shows, the fashion editor Annie Flanders of SoHo News assigned her to cover Paris Fashion Week. Having learned to load the film for her new Nikon 35mm camera on the flight to France, she found herself immediately swept up by the Parisian fashion scene, being snuck backstage by her friend Jerry Hall and famously ending up at the top of the Eiffel Tower with Andy Warhol and Yves Saint Laurent on her very first trip. After returning to New York, she quit her job and committed to becoming a photographer full time. Her relationship with Saint Laurent would be one of the most defining of her career. Developing a close rapport with the mercurial designer, she was one of the few photographers admitted to his glittering inner circle, capturing both his muses, from Loulou de la Falaise to Nan Kempner, and the lavish parties he would throw in Paris and Marrakech. 'Roxanne is always there, even when she is not expected,' Saint Laurents long-term partner, Pierre Berge, wrote in the introduction to her 2014 book, Roxanne Lowit Photographs Yves Saint Laurent which collated over two decades worth of imagery of the designer and his orbit. Another loyal pal: Linda shared an image that Lowit took of her. Seen in 2008 'Her sharp eye has been able to capture the most secret situations, the most hidden of mysteries.' It was Lowits instinct to shoot the behind-the-scenes goings-on at fashion shows, however, that would prove to be one of her most lasting legaciesone born mostly out of necessity, she noted, given that the photographers allowed to shoot the runways at the time were predominantly men. Sneaking backstage, Lowit was able to capture another side of the fashion circusa form of coverage that has now become de rigueur for industry publications during fashion monthand offered an intimate window into the more quotidian aspects of life as a model. Lowits images from fashion weeks around the world are a history lesson in the evolving beauty standards of the fashion industry, capturing generation after generation of models. Lowit was also on hand to witness the rise of the supermodels in the 1990s, with some of her most memorable images featuring Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, and Christy Turlington, among others. Another regular appearance in Lowits photographs is Kate Moss, from her early days as a waif-like ingenue to backstage shots from the height of her career. Indeed, the list of stars Lowit photographed over the course of her illustrious career reads like a whos who of fashion luminaries and 20th-century cultural icons: Salvador Dali, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Madonna, John Galliano, Iggy Pop, Cher, Karl Lagerfeld, Grace Jones, and many, many more. So too did her work end up being exhibited in institutions from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York to Londons Victoria and Albert Museum. She is survived by her husband John, her daughter Vanessa, and her grandchildren. Former Hollyoaks star Davinia Taylor and her sons paid their respects to the Queen during the late monarch's funeral from home on Monday as they got dressed up in smart clothes and black ties. The actress, 44, said her family were unable to get to London to join the crowds of people who lined the streets to see Queen Elizabeth II's coffin travel by hearse from Westminster Abbey to Windsor after the state funeral. Davinia took to Instagram to share some pictures of her boys - Luxx, 11, Asa, eight, and Jude, six, who she shares with her ex-husband Dave Gardner - as they stood outside their school chapel before returning home to watch the service. Historic moment: Davinia Taylor, 44, and her sons paid their respects to the Queen during the late monarch's funeral on Monday as they got dressed up in smart clothes and black ties The screen star, who is also mother to Grey, 15, captioned her post: 'As we had so many sporting obligations we didnt get to London so we donned our black tie watched the funeral on TV, picked some wild flowers and placed them at the boys' chapel at school St Peters. 'Then went on a super smart walk!!!!!! RIP HRH wish I had such dedication and consistency!! (The boys were totally uninterested in the funeral and kept moaning but I thought they would at least have a memoryeven if it was of me saying SHUSHHHH and stand up smartly for an hour !) took me right back to assembly at school . #royalfuneral #queenelizabethii #farewellmaam #riphrhqueenelizabeth2' Britain ground to a halt today as millions gathered together to watch the Queen's funeral and bid her a final farewell from home, in pubs, cares homes and airports. Tribute: The former Hollyoaks actress, 44, said her family were unable to get to London to join the crowds of people who lined the streets to see Queen Elizabeth II's hears after the funeral Mourners stopped in the street to watch the event on their phones as the solemn display of reverence was demonstrated across the nation. Hundreds of thousands watched as the historic funeral was broadcast on large outdoor screens in various locations across the UK from London's Hyde Park to Coleraine Town Hall in Northern Ireland. The congregation attending her funeral at Westminster Abbey, including King Charles, the Royal Family and 2,000 VIPs including emperors, kings and queens, prime ministers and presidents from around the world, bowed their heads during the silence. Family affair: Davinia took to Instagram to share a family snap as they stood outside the bops' school chapel before returning home to watch the service Heartfelt: Davinia wrote: 'As we had so many sporting obligations we didnt get to London so we donned our black tie watched the funeral on TV' Crowds along the Long Walk in Windsor and those gathered in cathedrals, public parks, city centres and Government buildings also fell silent. The funeral, which was been dubbed the most-watched event in history, was viewed by an estimated 4.1billion people worldwide. Her Majesty will be laid to rest in Windsor next to her beloved husband Prince Philip and her parents later today after being driven 20 miles from Hyde Park Corner. Funneral: Britain ground to a halt today as millions gathered together to watch the Queen's funeral and bid her a final farewell Regal: King Charles III and Camilla Queen Consort follow the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II following the service at Westminster Abbey Post service: The coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in a Royal Standard and adorned with the Imperial State Crown and the Sovereign's orb and sceptre is taken into Westminster Abbey Procession: Members of the armed forces march during the funeral procession for Queen Elizabeth II Grief was etched on the faces of members of the huge crowds who swamped The Mall, Whitehall and Parliament Square to bade farewell to the beloved monarch. The crowds broke into applause and cheers after the Queen's coffin passed them and also when Her Majesty circled round the Queen Victoria Memorial outside Buckingham Palace as Big Ben chimed a mile away. Members of the royal family, including King Charles III, remained marched poignantly behind, while other members of the Royal Family, including the Princess of Wales and her children George and Charlotte looked on at the crowds as they passed them in vehicles. The Queen died at the age of 96 at her beloved Balmoral Castle in Scotland last Thursday. Eva Mendes, 48, looked sensational in a new video shared to Instagram on Monday. The Hitch actress was seen doing the dishes at the home she shares with partner Ryan Gosling and their two daughters. The actors - both 48 - have Esmeralda Amada Gosling, seven, and Amada Lee Gosling, six. They met in 2011 when they filmed the movie The Place Beyond The Pines together. The pinup was plugging the new sponges she has co-designed. Hard at work at her Los Angeles home: Eva Mendes, 48, looked sensational in a new video shared to Instagram on Monday The matriarch: The Hitch actress was seen doing the dishes at the home she shares with partner Ryan Gosling and their two daughters In this new video, she has on a sleeveless black-and-white leopard print summer dress. The star added a black and beige cow print belt. Mendes has her brunette hair fluffed up in the back as she wore a high ponytail with strands falling down around her face. Her makeup was light pink with a frosty lipstick. The star is working hard to clean a frying pan in her sink of her kitchen as the water runs. A family of four: The actors - both 48 - have Esmeralda Amada Gosling, seven, and Amada Lee Gosling, six. They met in 2011 when they filmed the movie The Place Beyond The Pines together Clean it: In this new video, she has on a sleeveless black-and-white leipard print summer dress. The star added a black and beige cow print belt. Mendes has her brunette hair fluffed up in the back as she wore a high ponytail with strands falling down around her face 'No egg on my face - no egg on my sponge ! My @skurastyle sponge wont collect yesterdays food and hold onto it,' she said, linking to the brand. 'This technically advanced sponge rinses clean and doesnt smell! Those of you as obsessed as I am -show me your sponge! Show me how YOU do it. Dont forget to tag me !' Last month she was also seen in her kitchen. And while at the sink, Mendes revealed Gosling is the wallpaper on her cell phone. My man: Mendes revealed last month that Gosling is the wallpaper on her cell phone in a video about cleaning Smitten star: She proudly showed off his image. He was seen in a photo shoot for The Gray Man The movie star had on a vintage looking dress as she cleaned up her kitchen during the black and white clip. The star was wiping her cell phone when she flashed the image of Ryan who looked nicely styled. The time was 2:32 pm and the date was May 3. 'Ok here it is! My everyday cleaning must-haves: -Wipe envy microfiber towel, always carry one with me to clean my phone and glasses (and stainless steel kitchen appliances) -Towel ta-da is the best towel Ive used to dry my dishes,' she shared. Cute: The movie star had on a vintage looking dress as she cleaned up her kitchen during the black and white clip. The star was wiping her cell phone when she flashed the image of Ryan who looked nicely styled. The time was 2:32 pm and the date was May 3 'Obviously the smartest sponge in the world that has the best hand feel and never smells - Some good music while cleaning always helps me get in zone.' She ended with, 'All my @skurastyle cleaning tools are in the link in bio. I wanna know.do you guys have any cleaning rituals?' This comes after Ryan explained that one of the reasons he had taken on his latest role in Netflix's The Gray Man, was to spend time with his children and take them to new destinations. He added that his current role as Ken in the Barbie movie, was also partly inspired by his kids, as it's how he is able to start introducing his work to them. Speaking to heat magazine, he said: 'I'm like a dad first, and part of the reason for doing the film [The Gray Man] was this opportunity for us to go to these interesting places and be there with my kids.' Family matters: Here the stars are pictured in 2012 at the Place Beyond The Pines premiere He then recalled: 'You know it's funny, we went to France and we went everywhere - we went to the Louvre and all these things. And if I asked them now, "What was you favourite part about France?" They will say "The fruit plate at the hotel." Speaking about how he would introduce them to his work as an actor, Ryan said: 'Well, Barbie was a way to do that. Not necessarily like I'm making it for them, but it's the first time I think they kind of are understanding, Although they can't for the life them understand why I want to play Ken because nobody plays with Ken! But that's why we must tell his story'. The rare insight comes after Ryan recounted how he was in the in the middle of filming an epic explosion scene for The Gray Man when Eva called him about their daughters' Zoom piano class. Action-packed: Ryan explained that one of the reasons he had taken on his latest role in Netflix's The Gray Man, was to spend time with his children and take them to new destinations (pictured in The Gray Man) 'That whole scene hinges on me handcuffed to this bench and we're in Prague and there's lots of explosions going up, off, and I was there with Eva and the kids, and they were in a hotel nearby, and I got a call in the middle of one of the scenes,' he revealed on Good Morning America. 'I kinda hid behind a bench and used my free hand, and it was Eva saying, "How long are these explosions gonna go on because the girls have a piano Zoom class."' Ryan started dating Eva in September 2011 after working together on The Place Beyond The Pines. Iconic: He added that his current role as Ken in the Barbie movie, was also partly inspired by his kids, as its how he is able to start introducing his work to them (pictured in Barbie) Ryan talked about two of his upcoming films while on GMA, his Netflix film The Gray Man and his highly-anticipated new Barbie project which sees him star opposite Margot Robbie as Ken. But worlds collide in The Gray Man, where Chris Evans calls Ryan's character Court Gentry a 'Ken doll.' Ryan admitted that line was added to the script after he was cast in the Barbie flick. 'It was after I was cast. Yeah, they could just feel it, I guess. I was the last to recognize the Ken in me, but I see it clearly now,' Ryan said jokingly. Ryan joked 'its a lot' to play Ken. 'I can't even get into it really, we don't have the time,' Ryan joked when asked about his new role. 'It's a lot to be Ken,' he added. Sandra Oh made a surprise appearance at the Queen's state funeral on Monday as she participated in the procession as part of the Canadian delegation. The Killing Eve star, 51, looked elegant in a black dress and a matching hat, while wearing a red and white brooch in her latest Instagram post. The Golden Globe winner donned a pair of slip-on shoes and carried a stylish handbag as she made the solemn walk into London's Westminster Abbey. Chic: Sandra Oh looked elegant in an all-black ensemble as she made a surprise appearance at the Queen's state funeral on Monday as she participated in the procession as part of the Canadian delegation In one snap, Sandra sported a pair of sunglasses as she posed for a selfie in front of Westminster. She was then joined by three male companions who all donned black suits for the funeral. Sandra, also famed for her role in Grey's Anatomy, was spotted by spectators while paying her respects during the historic day. Historic day: The Killing Eve star, 51, sported a pair of sunglasses as she posed for a selfie in front of Westminster Prestigious: The Golden Globe winner was then joined by three male companions who all donned black suits for the funeral She joined Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau as a member of the Order of Canada at today's ceremonies. The A-list star wasn't the only celebrity at Her Majesty's funeral with adventurer Bear Grylls, 48, also in attendance, as well as Peep Show actor Sophie Winkleman, 42. Bear was present at today's monumental events as representative of the Scouts after being appointed as chief scout in 2009. The Queen, who was patron of the Scout Association, also made him OBE in 2019. Peep Show star Sophie is married to Lord Frederick Windsor, the son of the Queen's cousin Prince Michael of Kent, and appeared alongside him at the ceremony. Mourning: Sandra, also famed for her role in Grey's Anatomy, was spotted by spectators while paying her respects during the historic day Her majesty has finally been laid to rest to be with her beloved Prince Phillip after her crown, orb and sceptre were removed from her coffin so she could descend into her grave 'as a simple Christian soul'. The Queen has returned home to Windsor to be reunited for eternity with her husband, father, mother and sister in the royal crypt at St George's Chapel as her 70-year reign came to an end this evening. Britain's longest reigning monarch had been carried into the historic church followed by Charles III, her children and grandchildren including Prince Harry and Prince William Last week, Sandra attended the Emmy Awards in Los Angeles after being nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a drama series. She lost out in the category to Euphoria star Zendaya, who won the award for a second time, becoming the youngest two-time lead actress Emmy winner at 26-years-old. In 2020, Zendaya made history when she scooped the same award at just 24, making her the youngest woman ever to bag the prize. For her performance as Eve, Sandra became the first actress of Asian descent to be nominated for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. Mary Cosby is now out of legal trouble after avoiding charges for unlawfully sheltering a minor. The 49-year-old reality star, who left The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City after its second season, had charges against her dropped earlier this month, People confirmed. On Sunday, she took to Instagram to celebrate the good news while making it clear that her primary goal was to please her God. Court victory: RHSLC star Mary Cosby, 49, had misdemeanor charges dropped against her earlier this month after she was charged last year for unlawfully providing shelter to a runaway and contributing to the delinquency of a minor; seen in October 2021 Mary shared a social media post from another account that wrote that she 'has been nothing but vindicated.' 'Vindicated about Jen Shah, Jennie, and now her charges are dropped,' they wrote. 'Plus she's never been charged with a crime involving her church like the #rhoslc women wanted to happen. Don't come for the queen because god is on her side [sic].' The post included a beaming photo of Mary as she wore large aviator sunglasses. In her caption, she made clear that her faith was her biggest concern. Triumphant: Mary shared a social media post from another account that wrote that she 'has been nothing but vindicated.' She shared her devotion to God in her comment Last yer: She was charged in April 2021 and pleaded not guilty in June. The charges were dropped due to 'evidentiary concerns,' according to prosecutors; still from RHSLC 'I don't live my life to please people I live my life to please God,' she wrote, adding a heart and prayer hands emojis. 'To the people who are committed believing lies! Truth will always Stand. Love you guys!! So much!! Don't worry about haters let them worry about you [sic].' Among those showing their support in the comments was her former costar Meredith Marks, who is still part of the show. Mary had been facing two misdemeanor charges for unlawfully providing shelter to a runaway and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. She was charged back in April of 2021, and in June of that year she entered a plea of not guilty. Domestic issue: Although the details of the case were vague, an attorney for her son, who was also charged, claimed a girlfriend had been over to Mary's house to visit him, and her mother called the police because she disapproved At the time, her attorney Stephen McCaughey told People, 'Mary is saddened that she was dragged into another family's domestic situation but is confident that this misunderstanding will be cleared up soon.' 'In this case, the right decision was made to dismiss it and [Mary's] happy with that,' he told Fox 13 on September 12. Prosecutors said their motion to dismiss the case was based on 'evidentiary concerns.' Mary's son Robert Cosby Jr. had also been charged in the case, though his charges were previously dropped. Although the details of the case were vague, an attorney for Robert claimed that the whole thing was a misunderstanding after a girlfriend had been over to Mary's house to visit him. Her mother allegedly didn't want her daughter spending time with him, and police were called to find her. 'Rather than the Salt Lake City Department focusing on real crime, theyre turning into the relationship police,' Robert's attorney Clayton Simms claimed to Fox 13 last year. 'The basis of this case is just a misunderstanding. We think theres absolutely no merit to the case.' Fighting back: 'Rather than the Salt Lake City Department focusing on real crime, theyre turning into the relationship police,' Robert's attorney Clayton Simms claimed to Fox 13 last year; still from RHSLC Prosecutor's filed a motion to dismiss the case on September 1, and Judge Katherine Peters dismissed it on September 7. Mary was enveloped in controversy even going back to her RHSLC days, when viewers learned about her nontraditional marriage. Mary revealed to the show's viewers that her husband, Robert Cosby Sr., was originally her late grandmother's second husband. But the reality star was also dogged by complaints that her church which was previously led by her late grandmother was a cult. Accusers cited her marriage to Robert and request for large sums of money from parishioners as evidence of shady dealings. Her costar Lisa Barlow claimed that her friend Cameron Williams had left the church due to 'extreme religious trauma' after giving the church $300,000 and mortgaging his house, allegedly at Mary's request. Odd: Mary was enveloped in controversy even going back to her RHSLC days, when viewers learned that her husband, Robert Cosby Sr., was originally her late grandmother's second husband; still from RHSLC Several former parishioners interviewed by The Daily Beast also claimed that the church was a cult. One former member, Ralph Arnold Jr., claimed that Mary said in church that 'she is God on Earth.' Others said there was 'shame' and 'mental manipulation' if they didn't keep up with the donations requested by Mary and the church leadership. However, Mary has strongly denied any wrongdoing and claims her church is not a cult. Mystikal has pleaded not guilty to charges accusing him of raping and choking a woman at his home in Louisiana, as well as possessing several drugs. The 51-year-old performer, whose real name is Michael Tyler, is innocent of all charges, lawyer Joel Pearce said after the hearing in Ascension Parish Court in Gonzales, Louisiana, about 15 miles from Baton Rouge. The charges against the Grammy-nominated rapper include first-degree rape, which carries an automatic life sentence. He was arrested July 30 in connection with the incident, according to authorities. The latest: Mystikal has pleaded not guilty to charges accusing him of raping and choking a woman at his home in Louisiana, as well as possessing several drugs Pearce said he has not been able to get copies of the two indictments, but they were read aloud in court. Charges also include simple criminal damage to property, false imprisonment, domestic abuse battery by strangulation, simple robbery, possession of heroin, marijuana, methamphetamine and Xanax, and possession of drug paraphernalia, he said. 'My client doesn't even do drugs, so he has absolutely no idea what they were talking about,' Pearce said. Mystikal was denied bail in an August 2 hearing, according to The Advocate, as State District Judge Steven Tureau said that the allegations in connection with the rap artist's past criminal record made for a 'clear and convincing' reason not to give him bail. The rapper was arrested July 30 in connection with the incident The Grammy-nominated rapper was pictured in November of 2020 in Alabama Pearce added that bail may be discussed at a hearing on October 17. Prosecutors said they plan to bring up Tyler's 2003 guilty plea to sexual battery and extortion as evidence of prior crimes, said Pearce. Tyler and two bodyguards had videotaped themselves engaging in sex acts with Tyler's hairstylist. The prosecutor in that case, Sue Bernie, said in 2003 that the woman told investigators that Tyler accused her of stealing $80,000 of his checks and told her he would not go to police if she did something 'degrading'. The woman denied stealing any money, Bernie said. A letter in court records before Tyler's sentencing said he paid the woman $350,000. He served six years in prison for that conviction, which came the same year he was nominated for two Grammy awards. He also received a nomination in 2001. The rapper was pictured at a show in College Park, Georgia in September of 2020 The case involving Mystikal is headed back to court next month. He was pictured in Baton Rouge last year Pearce said he does not know what the woman who is now accusing Tyler was allegedly robbed of, but the criminal damage charge accuses him of breaking the band of her watch. The lawyer also represented Tyler on rape and kidnapping charges that prosecutors in Louisiana dropped in December 2020. Those charges, brought in 2017, had kept Tyler jailed for nearly 18 months before he was released on $3 million bond. 'People keep saying it's his third time to be charged' with rape, Pearce said, but Tyler pleaded guilty to a lesser charge in Baton Rouge. 'And in Caddo Parish, after a grand jury indicted him, they un-indicted him.' Mystikal told the Associated Press in April 2021 that he used to be 'a nasty lil' rapper' but was now proud of lyrics he could imagine rapping to God. Vanessa Kirby has sparked rumours she's dating lacrosse player Paul Rabil, after the pair were spotted together in New York on Saturday. The Crown actress, 34, was seen leaving a hotel with Eiza Gonzalez's ex in the Big Apple. Vanessa looked chic in a pair of high-waisted trousers and a beige jacket as she stepped out with Paul, 36. Something to tell us? Vanessa Kirby sparked rumours she's dating Eiza Gonzalez's ex Paul Rabil this week as the pair were spotted leaving a hotel together in New York on Saturday She teamed the look with a floral crop top, brown leather boots, a Valentino Garavani handbag and a chic pair of cat-eye sunglasses. The blonde wore her hair out and around her shoulders and light makeup. Paul meanwhile, who is the co-founder of the Premier Lacrosse League, kept things simple in a pair of black jeans and a matching T-shirt. Stylish: Vanessa looked chic in a pair of high-waisted trousers and a beige jacket as she stepped out with Paul, 36 Before jetting to New York, Vanessa was in Venice for the 79th annual Film Festival. The Crown star recently won critical acclaim for her performance in 2020's Pieces Of A Woman. In April, Vanessa was linked to Christopher Abbott after the pair were spotted enjoying a drink at a trendy bar in London's Soho. The pair, who met when they played a married couple in 19th Century romantic drama The World To Come in 2020, were deep in conversation at Ducksoup. Looking good: Paul meanwhile, who is the co-founder of the Premier Lacrosse League, kept things simple in a pair of black jeans and a matching T-shirt Case of the ex: Vanessa previously dated Callum Turner after they starred in 2014's Queen And Country. They got together a year later but parted in 2020, blaming busy schedules for their split (pictured together) An onlooker said the stars 'looked super comfortable in each other's company' as they drank wine and chatted for a couple of hours at an outside table. Vanessa previously dated Callum Turner after they starred in 2014's Queen And Country. They got together a year later but parted in 2020, blaming busy schedules for their split. Meanwhile It was reported in December by Just Jared that Paul split with actress Eiza Gonzalez, 32, after seven months of dating. The source said: 'The split happened a few weeks ago and it wasn't ugly at all. Their work schedules just weren't aligning and it put a strain on their relationship. They're going to remain friends though!' MailOnline has reached out to representatives of both Vanessa and Paul for comment, in relation to this story. A lawmaker of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea on Monday proposed a revision bill aimed at allowing decorated pop celebrities, such as K-pop superband BTS, to replace their military duties with alternative service. The bill, the fourth of its kind, mandates pop celebrities, who have received an order of merit from the government, should be given a chance to apply for alternative military service. Under the current Military Service Act, military service exemptions are given only to international award-winning athletes and classical musicians for their roles in elevating the country's reputation overseas. All able-bodied South Korean men between the ages of 18 and 28 must carry out compulsory military service for about two years in a country that faces North Korea across a heavily fortified border. If the bill is passed, BTS members can replace their compulsory military duty with alternative service, as they have received an order of cultural merit in 2018. "Korean pop celebrities active in the international field make unimaginable economic and social contributions," Rep. Kim Young-bae, who proposed the bill, said. "I believe pop celebrities will make important contributions to the national interest, including promoting a bid to host the 2030 World Expo in Busan, through doing alternative military service," Kim added. In July, BTS was appointed as a public relations ambassador for Korea's expo bid. According to a Realmeter poll conducted last week, more than 60 percent of Koreans approved of revising a bill to allow alternative military service for prominent pop celebrities. (Yonhap) Britons have reacted with amusement after Australian journalists Peter Overton and Tracy Grimshaw mistakenly referred to UK Prime Minister Liz Truss as a 'minor royal' at Queen Elizabeth II's funeral on Monday. The senior Channel Nine journalists were left scratching their heads as Truss and her husband Hugh O'Leary climbed out of her car at Westminster Abbey, prompting Overton to speculate: 'They must be royalty, Tracy.' Mocking the on-air blunder, one British Twitter user wrote: 'Australian media trying to identify Liz Truss when she entered Westminster and trying their best with "maybe minor royals" or "local dignitaries" made me chuckle.' Brits have reacted with amusement after Australian journalists Peter Overton and Tracy Grimshaw mistakenly referred to UK Prime Minister Liz Truss as a 'minor royal' at Queen Elizabeth II's funeral on Monday. (Pictured left: Overton and Grimshaw reporting on the funeral, and right: Truss and her husband Hugh O'Leary arriving at the ceremony) 'I present, for your viewing pleasure, footage of Liz Truss getting out of a car, and Australian media being like, "Who the f**k is that?"' another tweeted. Someone else added: 'Yelling at the Australian funeral commentators calling Liz Truss and her husband "minor royals" 'cause they don't know who they are.' However, Australian feminist writer Jane Caro has claimed the BBC's coverage of Her Majesty's final farewell wasn't without its flaws either. She suspected journalists for Britain's public broadcaster did not recognise Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, because he was shown on screen for an extended period of time without being identified by the commentary team. The Nine newsreaders were mocked on Twitter by Brits for failing to identify the new PM 'BBC focuses on Albo entering the church - it's clear the commentators have no idea who he is,' Caro tweeted. Overton and Grimshaw were left red-faced after they failed to identify Ms Truss during their commentary of the Queen's funeral. 'So, this is a significant motorcade, we are being told now,' Overton said as Truss arrived. Australian feminist writer Jane Caro has claimed the BBC's coverage of Her Majesty's final farewell wasn't without its flaws either She suspected journalists for Britain's public broadcaster did not recognise Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, because he was shown on screen for an extended period of time without being identified by the BBC's commentary team. (Pictured: Mr Albanese arriving at Westminster Abbey ahead of the Queen's funeral) 'Come with us as we try and identify who is getting out of the car. This is under police escort of course. I would suggest this might be royalty, Tracy. Hard to identify. Maybe minor royals, members of the I can't identify them at this point' 'We can't spot everyone unfortunately,' Grimshaw said. 'They look like they could well be local dignitaries, it is hard to see, we are looking at the back of their heads mostly.' Overton (left) and Grimshaw (right) were left red-faced after they failed to identify UK Prime Minister Liz Truss during their commentary on the Queen 's funeral Moments later, Overton issued a correction. 'I'm told that was Liz Truss, the new Prime Minister, in the distance. She could be seen hopping out of the car. Thank you very much for that information,' he told viewers. He conceded to Nine co-stars Karl Stefanovic and Allison Langdon and royal expert Dickie Arbiter that their British guest might be better at spotting local famous faces. 'Karl and Ally, and Dickie - Dickie particularly - you'll be spotting these faces and recognising them better than us, I think,' Overton said. Ms Truss was the last world leader to be pictured with the Queen in her final official duty, just 48 hours before she died. Ms Truss (pictured with her husband at the funeral on Monday) was the last world leader to be pictured with the Queen in her final official duty, just 48 hours before she died The UK's most important church, packed with 2,000 VIPs including prime ministers, presidents and the Queen's family, was serene aside from the sound of hymns and prayers in a funeral service Her Majesty has curated herself before she died. Outside the Abbey, an estimated two million people were in central London along procession routes and watching on big screens. The State Gun Carriage carrying the Queen's coffin began its funeral procession from the Palace of Westminster to Westminster Abbey at about 10.45am, arriving just before 11am. A single toll from Big Ben signaled the start of the service at Westminster Abbey, where kings and queens have been crowned and buried since 1066. Her Majesty was laid to rest at Windsor next to her beloved husband Prince Philip and her parents George VI and the Queen Mother. She is starring in a highly-anticipated period piece set in the 1930s. So it comes as no surprise that Margot Robbie looked stunning in a retro look. The 32-year-old Australian Oscar-nominee put a modern twist on a 1930s era coat dress while heading to a Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon interview in New York City on Monday. Back to the future: Margot Robbie put a modern twist on a 1930s era coat dress while heading to a Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon interview in New York City on Monday The stunner looked absolutely gorgeous in the retro chic look by designer Alessandra Rich which featured a plunging neckline. The silk garment featured a large white collar which matched the trim on the pockets and large gold buttons. She teamed the midi dress by the Italian-born, London-based designer with a pair of white leather heels as she made the promotional rounds for her upcoming film project. Wow factor: The 32-year-old Australian Oscar-nominee looked absolutely gorgeous in the retro chic look by designer Alessandra Rich which featured a plunging neckline Pretty: The silk garment featured a large white collar which matched the trim on the pockets and large gold buttons On the prowl: She teamed the midi dress by the Italian-born, London-based designer with a pair of white leather heels as she made the promotional rounds for her upcoming film project Spot on: Her signature blonde locks were worn down in a middle-part as she accentuated her natural looks with complementary make-up topped off with a swipe of pink lip Her signature blonde locks were worn down in a middle-part as she accentuated her natural looks with complementary make-up topped off with a swipe of pink lip. Margot's newest film, Amsterdam, is a historical comedy set in the 1930s, and directed by the talented David O. Russell as she plays a character named Valerie Voze. The filmmaker is known for directing other successful movies such as American Hustle (2013), Silver Linings Playbook (2012), and The Fighter (2010). Aside from Margot, the star-studded cast includes Christian Bale, Tenet's John David Washington, Anya Taylor-Joy, Robert De Niro, Chris Rock, and Grammy award-winner, Taylor Swift. Wonder in white: Margot hit the red carpet for the New York premiere of Amsterdam on Sunday evening as an additional premiere will be held in London in Leicester Square later this month on September 21 The premise of the film follows, 'three friends who witness a murder, become suspects themselves, and uncover one of the most outrageous plots in American history,' according to IMDB. Margot hit the red carpet for the New York premiere on Sunday evening as an additional premiere will be held in London in Leicester Square later this month on September 21. Amsterdam is set for release on October 7. Juliette Binoche was the epitome of sophistication as she graced the red carpet at the Le Lyceen/ Winterboy premiere during the 70th San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain on Monday. The French icon, 58, donned a chic black ensemble for the occasion which featured an oversized silk blouse and high-waisted trousers. Juliette appeared in her element as she larked around with her young co-stars before taking their seats to enjoy the film. Chic: Juliette Binoche, 58, was the epitome of sophistication as she graced the red carpet at the Le Lyceen/ Winterboy premiere during the 70th San Sebastian Film Festival on Monday The Chocolat actress stars in the new French movie that follows the story of a gay teen finding his place in modern day Paris. Since its creation in 1953, the film festival has hosted several international premiere's including Vertigo by Alfred Hitchcock and Star Wars. Juliette completed the outfit with a stylish magenta blazer and slipped her feet into strappy red heels. The Oscar winner accessorised the stylish look with a selection of silver jewellery as she accentuated her age-defying features with a hint of make-up. Having fun: Juliette appeared in her element as she joked around with her co-stars Vincent Lacoste (left) and Paul Kricher (right) who both donned smart suits for the event Kiss: The lads gave the Oscar winner a sweet peck on the cheek before taking their seats to enjoy the film She appeared in her element as she joked around with her co-stars Vincent Lacoste and Paul Kricher who both donned smart suits for the event. The official synopsis reads: 'Lucas (Paul Kricher) is 17 when his teenage world is suddenly shattered. He views his life as a wild animal in need of taming'. 'Between a brother settled in Paris and a mother (Juliette Binoche) with whom he now lives alone, Lucas will to have to fight to rediscover hope and love'. Stylish: The French icon donned a chic black ensemble for the occasion which featured an oversized silk blouse and high-waisted trousers Chic: She complete the look with a stylish magenta blazer and slipped her feet into strappy red heels (pictured with Vincent Lacoste) It comes after the actress took to the stage to accept an award at the annual film festival on Sunday. Juliette slipped into a silky black jumpsuit for the occasion, showcasing her fantastically trim figure. She then completed the look with a bright lavender cape which boasted a canary yellow lining and dramatic fringe detailing. The Chocolat actress stars in the french movie that follows the story of a gay teen finding his place in modern day Paris (Juliette and Paul Kricher pictured in then movie) Winner: It comes after the actress took to the stage to accept an award at the annual film festival on Sunday Speech: The actress had tears in her eyes as she read her thank you speech to the audience The Donostia Award is an honorary award created in 1986 which is given every year to a number of actors and movie makers. And Juliette was celebrated at Sunday's event alongside The Fly director David Cronenberg. Strutting her stuff in towering black platform heels the Oscar winner accessorised the ensemble with a selection of gold jewellery. Other winners of the Donostia Award include Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz, Meryl Streep, Francis Ford Coppola and Bette Davis. Kenya Moore says her divorce from estranged husband Marc Daly remains 'at a standstill.' The Real Housewives of Atlanta star, 51, appearing on part two of the show's 14th season reunion on Sunday, said that she remains legally wed to Daly, who she filed to split from in May of 2021. The Detroit-born reality star, who shares daughter Brooklyn, three, with Daly, said that she was 'still not divorced' legally. The latest: Kenya Moore, 51, says her divorce from estranged husband Marc Daly remains 'at a standstill.' She was seen on the show's reunion episode Sunday The former Miss USA and Daly exchanged vows in June of 2017 and split and rekindled their romance in the time prior to the divorce filing. Moore said in court docs that her marriage to Daly had been 'irretrievably broken' since September of 2019, a timepoint from which they have been living in a 'bonafide state of separation.' Moore told Andy Cohen Sunday, 'He's not asking for anything at this point. It's just at a standstill. So until we get a trial date or settle, it's still going to go on.' Moore said that the pending divorce has not hampered her social life. Moore and Daly were seen on the red carpet of an event in LA in March of 2018 Moore told Andy Cohen Sunday, 'He's not asking for anything at this point. It's just at a standstill. So until we get a trial date or settle, it's still going to go on' Moore said Sunday that she has been thriving professionally and 'doing better in business than I've ever done in my entire life' 'I'm definitely doing some group dating and have people pursuing me, but nothing serious yet,' she said. 'People are flooding me with, "Hey, my friend wants to meet you," guys reaching out. I just have that energy right now.' Moore said that she has been thriving professionally and 'doing better in business than I've ever done in my entire life.' In an appearance on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen this past May, Moore said she wants the divorce proceedings to be over, and that 'the hold-up is on the other side. 'I feel like it's been going on for years too,' Moore said. 'Get me free! Get me free!' The Real Housewives of Atlanta airs on Bravo Sundays at 8/7c. Just like many other parents, Zoe Foster Blake and her husband Hamish are taking their children away for the school holidays. But the Blakes certainly stood out when they arrived at Sydney International Airport on Monday to catch a flight overseas. The famous family made a grand entrance inside the terminal with their very pricey luggage. Only the best for the Blakes! Zoe Foster-Blake and husband Hamish were seen rolling their $4,000 designer luggage into Sydney International Airport on Monday as they headed on holidays with their children Multimillionaire beauty mogul Zoe was seen rolling not one, but two fluorescent yellow Rimowa suitcases - each worth a whopping $2000. Despite being dressed down for the flight, the former beauty editor looked incredibly chic in a lavender tracksuit worn under a chocolate designer coat. She accessorised with New Balance sneakers and a bright green designer handbag which matched her cases. Makeup free, the brunette shielded her eyes with a pair of sunglasses inside the terminal. Despite being dressed down for the flight, the former beauty editor looked incredibly chic in a lavender tracksuit worn under a chocolate designer coat Meanwhile, TV and radio star Hamish dressed in a pair of skinny jeans, a blue puffer jacket and some smart chocolate suede lace-up shoes. He wheeled another Rimowa case through the airport, the same as Zoe's but in blue. Zoe is one of Australia's most successful entrepreneurs. Last year she enjoyed an $89million payday after selling her controlling stake in Go-To. Hamish wheeled another Rimowa case through the airport, the same as Zoe's but in blue He wheeled another Rimowa cases through the airport, the same as Zoe's but in blue. Go-To had a boom in sales during the Covid-19 pandemic, which helped secure its founder a place on the Australian Financial Review Young Rich List. In August 2021, beauty giant BWX Group snapped up a majority stake (50.1 per cent) of Go-To for $89million, in a deal valuing the company at $177million. The ASX-listed company is also behind Aussie skincare brand Sukin, and has a lucrative five-year supplier deal with Chemist Warehouse. BWX praised Go-To for providing its consumers with 'simple, trusted and effective skincare products for the masstige market'. The term 'masstige' refers to mass-produced, inexpensive goods that are marketed as luxurious. Hamish was ever the doting dad, holding the hand of his Zoe is said to have pocketed about $30million from the deal, bringing her net worth to an estimated $36million. She married comedian and radio personality Hamish Blake in 2012. The couple, who previously lived in Melbourne, moved last year to Sydney, where they snapped up a $8.925million family home in the eastern suburbs. 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Ireland United States Minor Outlying Islands United States of America Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe Labor unionists of Samsung Electronics are seeking to file a suit against the tech giant over its "peak wage" policy, sources said Monday. Samsung's biggest labor union has been seeking participants in the legal action on its website since last Thursday. The union has around 6,000 members, some five percent of Samsung's domestic employees. The tech giant, in 2014, introduced a peak wage policy, which gradually reduces salaries for senior workers several years before retirement. At that time, it raised the retirement age to 60 years old from the previous 55 years old. The move came after the Supreme Court ruled against the system in May, saying the peak wage system is illegal discrimination against workers on the basis of age. The highest court noted the system violates a clause of the Act on Prohibition of Age Discrimination in Employment and Aged Employment Promotion, which stipulates that workers and persons wanting to become workers should not be discriminated against on the basis of age without reasonable reasons. Samsung has countered it was running the system within legal bounds. In August, Samsung and its union signed their first annual wage deal in the company's history. At that time, the two sides agreed to form a task force to improve working conditions and to the peak wage policy. (Yonhap) City to invest $400,000 for development at former hospital site. Full-service YMCA to be built in Northwest Dayton. The City of Dayton will invest $400,000 to begin development of a YMCA of Greater Dayton health and wellness facility at the former Good Samaritan Hospital site. The funding to help build a key part of the Northwest Health & Wellness Campus, a $17.5 million development located at 2222 Philadelphia Dr., will be provided through the Dayton Recovery Plan. The full-service YMCA will complement other health and community organizations with planned operations at the site. As the first build at the former hospital site, it will bring important services and desired amenities to Northwest Dayton. The Dayton Recovery Plan investment supports community-driven projects by partners and community groups offering programs and services serving areas hardest hit by the COVID pandemic. "We are very happy to support the Northwest Health & Wellness campus," said Dayton Mayor Jeffrey J. Mims, Jr. "This investment will leverage public and private investments that will lead to valuable resources for area residents, as well as services addressing economic disparities, such as job training, homebuyer education, and financial literacy. All of these became even more needed during the COVID pandemic." The YMCA of Greater Dayton Foundation, LLC, will utilize this funding to purchase mechanical, electrical and design services, infrastructure and materials costs, and other pre-construction services to support construction. The YMCA will occupy the 50,000-sq.-ft. Northwest Health & Wellness Campus with partners Premier Health, Wright State University, County Corp, CareSource, and Goodwill. The Northwest Health & Wellness Campus will occupy approximately five acres of the former hospital site; an additional eight acres are under consideration for potential redevelopment. We have been supporting the development of the Good Sam site for many years, said City Manager Shelley Dickstein. This investment will help drive economic vitality, create jobs and leverage other investments in the area to promote healthy living. It will also catalyze additional positive activity in Northwest Dayton. We are proud to lend our support to this important project. For more than 15 years, the City of Dayton, Premier Health, CityWide Development and others worked together in the neighborhoods surrounding Good Samaritan Hospital in Northwest Dayton. The work, known as the Phoenix Project, included investments of more than $20 million that leveraged an additional $45 million in healthcare, education, housing, infrastructure improvements and new amenities. After the closing of Good Samaritan Hospital, a new initiative managed by CityWide Development called PhoenixNext was conducted from early 2018 through early 2019 to create a vision for re-use of the 13-acre former hospital site and investment in the Phoenix Project area neighborhoods. A file photo shows Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials leave after a raid at the residence of Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in connection with alleged irregularities in Delhi Excise Policy, in New Delhi on Friday. (Photo: PTI) HYDERABAD/NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday conducted searches at six locations in Hyderabad as part of a money laundering investigation into alleged irregularities in the Delhi Excise Policy. The six locations in Hyderabad include those relating to Arun Ramachandra Pillai, a resident of Kokapet in Hyderabad, and five others. Apart from Telangana, the searches are also being conducted in Delhi and four other states. According to the CBI, Arun Ramchandra Pillai used to collect undue pecuniary advantage from Sameer Mahendru for onward transmission to the accused public servants through Vijay Nair. Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and some bureaucrats have been named as accused in the alleged scam related to the Delhi excise policy, which has now been rolled back. Around 30 premises in Delhi, Telangana, Maharashtra, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka are being searched and private individuals named in the case are being raided, the officials said. But these do not include premises linked to Sisodia or any other government servant, they said. The federal agency initiated a probe in the case, under the criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), after taking cognisance of a CBI FIR that has named Sisodia and 14 others. The CBI had conducted raids in the case on August 19, covering the Delhi residences of Sisodia (50), IAS officer and former Delhi excise commissioner Arava Gopi Krishna, and 19 other locations across seven states and Union Territories. Sisodia holds multiple portfolios in the Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government including excise and education. The ED is probing if alleged irregularities were done in the formulation and execution of the Delhi Excise Policy brought out in November last year. The scheme came under the scanner after Delhi Lt Governor V K Saxena recently recommended a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities in the implementation of Delhi's Excise Policy 2021-22. He had also suspended 11 excise officials in the matter. Sisodia too demanded a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities in the policy. The CBI inquiry was recommended on the findings of the Delhi chief secretary's report filed in July showing prima facie violations of the GNCTD Act 1991, Transaction of Business Rules (ToBR)-1993, Delhi Excise Act-2009 and Delhi Excise Rules-2010, officials said. The ED, during its probe, will analyse if individuals and companies who were involved in the policy-making of this scheme and related entities generated any proceeds of crime under the definition of PMLA and if there was any possible creation of illegal or benami assets, sources had said. The agency has powers to attach such assets and question, arrest and prosecute those who indulge in the offence of money laundering. According to officials, the chief secretary's report had shown prima facie violations, including deliberate and gross procedural lapses, to provide post-tender undue benefits to liquor licensees through the policy. It is alleged that undue financial favours were extended to liquor licensees after the tenders were awarded, causing loss to the exchequer. The excise department gave a waiver of Rs 144.36 crore to the licensees on the tendered licence fee on the excuse of COVID-19, sources claimed. They added that it also refunded the earnest money of Rs 30 crore to the lowest bidder for the licence of the airport zone when it failed to obtain a no-objection certificate (NOC) from airport authorities. It was in gross violation of rule 48(11)(b) of the Delhi Excise Rules, 2010, which clearly stipulates that the successful bidder must complete all formalities for the grant of the licence, failing which all deposits made by him shall stand forfeited to the government, a source said. The Excise Policy 2021-22, formulated on the basis of an expert committee report, was implemented on November 17 last year and retail licences were issued under it to private bidders for 849 vends across the city, divided into 32 zones. ED officials conducts searches at Gorantla & Associates Chartered Accountants during the raids at Sri Sai Krishna Residency apartment in Domalguda on Friday. (R. Pavan/DC) Hyderabad: In continuation of their investigation into the now-scrapped Delhi liquor scam, officials from Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday conducted raids at 40 different places spread over states, including Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. The investigation agency also served notices to around 12 persons and 18 companies located in Hyderabad and other places. Around 6 am, 25 teams arrived from Delhi and knocked on the doors of the office of Robin Distilleries, which is owned by Ramachandran Pillai, one of the accused in the FIR registered by the CBI in connection with the scam. Simultaneously, they also raided the office and residence of Gorantla Associates of Gorantla Buchibabu, chartered accountant at Sri Sai Krishna Apartments in Aravind colony, Domalguda. Taking assistance from CISF staff, the ED officials conducted searches at Buchi Babu's residence and office. They found huge files belonging to several companies. The agency officials conducted searches at Abhishek's residence in Gachibowli and Anoo's head office located at Madhapur. Simultaneous searches were also conducted at the Delhi and Nellore residences of MP Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy in Delhi. They searched Srinivasulu office located at Kotimobba center in Nellore and his Magunta Agri Farm in Chennai. Later, the ED officials served notices to 12 persons and 18 companies asking them to appear before the investigation agency for questioning in connection with the Delhi liquor scam case. The persons who received notices were -- Arun Ramachandran Pillai, IAS officer Arva Gopi Krishna, Raghu Magunta, Abhishek, Gorantla Buchi Babu, Chandan Reddy, Y. Sashikala and others. This is the second round of raids by the federal agency in this case. The policy implemented from November 17, 2021 was scrapped by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in July this year following a CBI probe recommended by Delhi LG V.K. Saxena into its implementation. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) case of money laundering in the excise policy stems from a CBI FIR in which Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and some Delhi government bureaucrats have been named as accused. Wreackage of the Mercedes car in which businessman and former Tata Sons Chairman Cyrus Mistry was travelling when it met with an accident in Palghar. (PTI) MUMBAI: News of former Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry dying in a car accident in Maharashtra's Palghar district sent shockwaves through the country earlier this month. Official data shows that it was not an one-off incident. The 100-km stretch of Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway between Ghodbunder in Thane and Dapchari in Palghar district has witnessed 262 accidents this year, claiming at least 62 lives and leaving 192 persons injured, police officials said. Over-speeding and error of judgement on a driver's part have played a role in many of these incidents. But officials say that poor maintenance of the road, lack of proper signage and absence of speed curbing measures too are among the factors responsible for the high number of accidents. The stretch near Charoti, where the Mercedes car in which Mistry was travelling met with an accident on September 4, has seen 26 deaths in 25 serious accidents since the start of this year, said a Maharashtra highway police official. The stretch near Chinchoti has reported 25 deaths in 34 serious accidents during the same period, while 11 persons have died in 10 accidents near Manor, he said. Charoti is a black spot when it comes to accidents, and so is the stretch of some 500 meters beyond it towards Mumbai, he said. The road curves before the Surya river bridge as one travels towards Mumbai and the three-lane carriageway narrows into a two-lane one, he said. But there is no effective road signage or speed-curbing rumblers warning vehicle drivers before they reach the bridge, the official pointed out. It was here that the car driven by gynaecologist Anahita Pandole at high speed ran into the road divider. Mistry and his friend Jehangir Pandole who were riding in the backseat died while Anahita and her husband Darius who was in the front-row passenger seat suffered serious injuries. The safety-related guidelines of the Indian Road Congress seemed to have been overlooked by those who are responsible for the maintenance of the road, said another official. While the road comes under the purview of the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), the private agency which collects toll has the responsibility of maintenance, he added. According to the guidelines, an ambulance must be kept on stand-by every 30 kilometers, and there should also be a crane and patrolling vehicles, the official said. In the wake of the September 4 tragedy, Maharashtra Police has written to the Central Road Research Institute for expert opinion on safety measures that can be introduced and also asked the Central Institute of Road Transport to conduct a road-safety audit of the part of the highway which lies inside Maharashtra. Qin calls for deep China-US ties in agricultural technology 09:07, September 19, 2022 By MINLU ZHANG in St. Louis, Missouri ( Chinadaily.com.cn Chinese Ambassador to the US Qin Gang on Friday visits Warren Stemme Farm in a western suburb of St Louis, Missouri. Warren Stemme, the owner of the farm, and Qin are driving a combine harvester together to harvest corns. LIAO PAN / FOR CHINA DAILY Chinese Ambassador to the US Qin Gang conducted another Midwest agriculture trip on Friday. He said China and the US, as two major agriculture countries, should build deep cooperation in agricultural technology, climate action and sustainable development. "I believe as China pursues high-quality development, our demand for technology and services in agriculture green development will become as strong as that for agriculture products," he said at the US-China Sustainability and Climate Smart Agriculture Roundtable Discussion in St Louis, Missouri, on Friday. "Our market will remain open and we will continue to share the huge opportunities with American farmers, ventures, institutions, and the companies who want to collaborate with China," said Qin. Both China and the US are major agriculture countries. "It is our common responsibility to promote sustainable agriculture and to protect global food security for future generations," Qin said. In April, Qin had an agriculture-focused tour through Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota, where he got to know many American farmers and friends devoted to China-US agriculture cooperation, Qin said. "I saw how the seeds of such cooperation get deeply rooted in the vast heartland," Qin said. "I promise to my friends in the heartland: see you in the harvest. So today I'm back." (Web editor: Liang Jun, Bianji) By Yi Whan-woo Foreign exchange authorities are tightening monitoring on the currency market, as the won-dollar exchange rate keeps breaching thresholds and is approaching 1,400 won, another psychologically significant level. On Monday, the Korean currency closed at 1,393.6 won against dollar, weakening 5.6 won from Friday's close in its months-long losing streak. Sources familiar with the matter said Monday that the authorities have asked commercial banks to report the status of dollar transactions and foreign exchange-related positions every hour. The measure follows repeated verbal warnings issued recently by the authorities that they will closely monitor whether speculative bets are being made in the market. "It can be said that we have been asked to report transactions in real time," an industry source said, noting that the banks were previously required to report three times a day: in the morning, during lunch break and after the markets close. As part of efforts to curb market volatility, authorities are also keeping an eye on exporters hoarding dollars after receiving payments in U.S. currency instead of converting them to the local currency. "Excessive hoarding is being touted as a major reason for the won's sharper depreciation and exporters are thus urged to cooperate," a source said. Amid the soaring won-dollar rate, a senior presidential secretary said last week that a currency swap deal between Korea and the U.S. could be on the agenda when President Yoon Suk-yeol meets U.S. President Joe Biden this week in New York. Welcoming Chief Minister K.Chandrashekar Rao's decision to extend scheme to 1,500 more beneficiaries in each of the 118 Assembly constituencies in the current financial year, minister for SC Castes development Koppula Eshwar, MLA Methuku Anand and MLC L. Ramana said that 32,000 Dalit families were benefitted with the scheme that was launched by the CM in August last year. (Representational Image: Twitter/TelanganaCMO) Hyderabad: With the political climate heating up several notches day after Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman questioned why Prime Minister Narendra Modi's photograph was not displayed at a ration shop, the TRS on Sunday demanded that the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre implement the Telangana government's Dalit Bandhu scheme across the country for the social and economic uplift of Dalits. Welcoming Chief Minister K.Chandrashekar Rao's decision to extend scheme to 1,500 more beneficiaries in each of the 118 Assembly constituencies in the current financial year, minister for SC Castes development Koppula Eshwar, MLA Methuku Anand and MLC L. Ramana said that 32,000 Dalit families were benefitted with the scheme that was launched by the CM in August last year. Speaking to the media at the TRS Legislature Party (TRSLP) office on the Assembly premises, Eshwar claimed that the government had so far transferred Rs 3,249 crore to beneficiaries' at Rs 10 lakh each, aiding Dalit families in improving their social and economic standing. Within a year of its implementation, the programme had shown to be a huge success, with many of its beneficiaries having bought tractors, harvesters, cabs, cars, and other items in addition to opening businesses and making decent incomes, they said. "The demand for implementing Dalit Bandhu has been growing in all the states. A group of over 100 farmers, some of whom were Dalits, who recently met the Chief Minister at Pragathi Bhavan visited several districts in the state and were surprised to see the success stories of Dalit Bandhu beneficiaries, remarked Eshwar. The group of farmers informed the CM that they will exert further pressure on the state governments of each of their states to implement Dalit Bandhu, he stated. If BJP government at the Centre is really sincere about the welfare and upliftment of Dalits, it should implement Dalit Bandhu in the entire country," said Eshwar. The minister stated that Dalit Bandhu will be extended to 1.77 lakh beneficiaries in 2022-23 at the rate of 1,500 beneficiaries in each of the 118 Assembly constituencies. In the first phase, 500 beneficiaries will be selected in each of the constituencies immediately. Explaining the progress of the scheme, Eshwar said that 36,392 beneficiaries have been selected statewide, of which 31,088 units have been grounded so far. In Huzurabad, 18,402 units were grounded, in Vasalamarri 75 units and 4,808 units were grounded in four pilot mandals. Besides, another 10,803 units were grounded in 118 Assembly constituencies, he added. Sardar Patel had no option left but to use military might to bring the truant Nizam of Hyderabad to his knees. (DC Image) The politics of the present day must be focused strongly on the future. Todays leaders must think of ways to make our present, and our future, the tomorrow that will be more glorious and better. Political parties fighting over policies, programmes, schemes and activities that will make our people happier, more secure, freer, prosperous and developed, with everyone enjoying higher standards of life, access to all basic needs would be welcome. But the last fortnight, Telangana fought over the past. Over 74 years ago, a fascinating chapter of Indias independence and unification into a modern nation was scripted, when the Iron Man of India, and its unifier on the historical scale of a Garibaldi or Bismarck Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel brought Hyderabad state into the Union. It is ridiculous to try to whitewash history. Or change the states motivations, character, politics and proven actions of its dramatis personae to suit current-day narratives. Sardar Patel had no option left but to use military might to bring the truant Nizam of Hyderabad to his knees. The action, known as Operation Polo, was aimed at completing the nation, with the Sardar having united over 850 princely states into the Union. Its purpose was national integration but the action before Hyderabad could be integrated into India was of liberation. The Nizam and his tyrannical Razakar force had unleashed an array of unforgivable crimes of oppression and heinous attacks on the common people. As the Indian Army entered the state, and finally the capital city, the fighting people of Hyderabad queued to wave at their liberators, and celebrate their freedom. Hyderabad became free, unlike the rest of India, a year, a month and two days later. The BJP has been for long seeking and demanding the celebration of September 17 as a liberation day. The TRS has promised to do so once Telangana was formed but went back on its promise, creating a political fault line to be president exploited. The BJP, which had earlier promised to start the celebrations after it came to power in the state, decided to use the Central government to go ahead with it this year, ahead of a crucial and potentially tight election to state Assembly next year. The TRS refused to be part of the BJP event, and created its own parallel one; but with an entirely different nomenclature and narrative. The stand of the MIM chief and Hyderabad parliamentarian Asaduddin Owaisi was the bravest he not only publicly acknowledged the Hyderabadi public desire in 1948 to join India but also condemned the Nizam and the Razakars. It was a brave acknowledgement wherein lies the scope for future reconciliation. Let us stop distorting history for our petty political needs. The increasing cases of smuggling and infiltration of Rohingya refugees would be two of the issues that Union Home Minister Amit Shah is set to raise in his public meetings during his visit to Bihars Seemanchal region from September 23. Seemanchal is a border region neighbouring Nepal and not far away from the Indo-Bangladesh border. Shahs visit will be the first by a BJP national leader to visit Bihar after the JD(U)-BJP breakup in early August. Shah will hold meetings with the partys core committee members, its MPs, MLAs, MLCs, and block presidents of the Seemanchal region. Seemanchal has four Lok Sabha seats. Before the JD(U)-BJP split, the NDA held three of the four, but now the grand alliance holds that many. The Katihar and Purnia seats have JDU MPs, while Kishanganj is with the Congress and Araria with the BJP. A review of the political scenario in Bihar after the split will be held during the home ministers visit to look at the way forward. He will try to understand the issues that led to the split and see if any regions need more work, former Bihar deputy chief minister Sushil Modi told DH. Shahs visit to the region has also led to speculation of polarisation by the BJP. The Seemanchal region has a significant Muslim population, with 60% in Kishanganj and in Katihar Muslims are 40% of the population. A senior leader of the party, refusing to be named, said, If Hindus in the region decide to stand by the BJP, we will welcome them, the leader said. The just-concluded World Soil Science Congress in Glasgow, Britain, in August emphasised a crucial point that the world is losing much of its fertile land because of excessive soil degradation due to intense chemical farming, euphemistically known as the Green Revolution. Millions of acres of land all over the globe are turning out to be unsustainable due to soil degradation. Global agriculture, including India, is at a crossroads. The highly soil-extractive agriculture, known as the Green Revolution, has run out of steam. Of the 328.73 million hectares of the geographical area in India, as much as 120.40 million hectares (36.2% precisely) have degraded soil, thanks to the Green Revolution. Punjab, the cradle of the Indian Green Revolution is the best example. There are thousands of hectares in the state which are so degraded that they can be reclaimed only at a great cost. The perpetual rice-wheat rotation, propped up by huge inputs of chemical fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides, has robbed the soil of its inherent fertility, namely soil carbon. Add to this, the consequence of excessive use of nitrogenous fertilisers, especially urea. The issue of gaseous release of nitrous oxide (from urea hydrolysis) into the stratosphere, causing nearly 30% of global warming, has been discussed by this author in this newspaper last year. Zero budget natural farming A book Combating Global Warming was launched during the summit on global warming organised by Antonio Guterres, United Nations Secretary General, in New York, on September 23, 2019, for all heads of states, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the then US President Donald Trump also attended. Each of them was presented with a copy of this book. It is against this dismal scenario that the concept of natural farming has come to the fore. One such is the Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF). Promoted by Subash Palekar as Subash Palekar Natural Farming (SPNF), it is named after the Maharashtra-based agriculturist who has been promoting the system for the past few decades. New Delhi in the last budget provided Rs 200 crore to research the merits of ZBNF. This article examines some of the important constraints that stare in the face of farmers practising SPNF/ZBNF, in particular, the experience of farmers in Himachal Pradesh, which decided to bring the state under natural farming and launched the Prakritik Kheti Khushhal Kisan Yojana (PK3Y) in 2018. Officials of the states agriculture department on record admit that there has been a 161% increase in the use of chemical fertilisers in the state between 1985-86 and 2019-20, more than 4.7% per annum, which is indeed a very high rate of increase. Use of chemical pesticides and weedicides has also drastically increased, though there is no record of that. This pushes farmers into a debt trap and, needless to add, adversely affects the soil and the environment. So far, 1,74,000 or 18% of the total farmers of the state have opted for PK3Y. Farmers experience Farmers are in overall agreement on the question whether PK3Y leads to a better economy. The answer to this question is a definite yes. For example, there is less seed use; less use of irrigation water as farmers use soil mulch (which comes from their own farming), helping conserve soil moisture; and, most importantly, less use of chemical fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides. There are instances where input costs have come down from Rs 15,000-Rs 20,000 to just Rs 500. The state agriculture department conducted a survey of 110 farmers enrolled under PK3Y and found that farmers growing fruits, pulses and vegetables now spend 45.5% less on input costs than what they used to when using chemical inputs. Constraints in market access While PK3Y has undoubtedly increased farmers income, primarily because of the huge cost reduction in inputs, it has not addressed the vital question of effective market access of agricultural products from this farming method. A principal hurdle is that when farmers try to sell crops, traders and intermediaries cheat them and, consequently, farmers have to struggle for fair prices. The products from natural farming are healthier, tastier, free of chemical contaminants. But who assures them a better price? Ensuring market access and fair and remunerative prices for products from natural farming could be a game changer for the success of this method. A possible and effective route is for state governments to set up cooperative societies for marketing products from natural farming so that farmers do not become victims of unscrupulous traders and middlemen. Regional cooperatives can procure, process and market products from natural farming. In this connection, Karnataka has made some commendable efforts. It is high time that products from natural farming have a different and higher slab of minimum support price. It is here that New Delhi must think of an imaginative step to ensure that Indian soils are saved from further degradation so that future generations of Indians enjoy eating healthier food. (The writer is former professor, The Royal Society, Belgium) Sri Rama Sene chief Pramod Muthalik urged Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai to keep his promise of providing a job to the wife of Praveen Nettaru, the slain Bharatiya Janata Party Yuva Morcha leader. If the promise was not fulfilled, Muthalik threatened there would be a protest held in front of the chief ministers house. Also Read Karnataka government withdraws Industrial Disputes Amendment Bill Muthalik said his followers would not hesitate to blacken Bommais face if Nettarus wife was not given a job as promised, he told media persons after visiting the slain leaders house and offering condolences to the family. The CM should act immediately. The CM should keep his word or face the consequences, he said. Stating that he had no faith in the NIA (National Investigation Agency) investigation into the murder, Muthalik said all those arrested should be booked under the Karnataka Control of Organised Crimes Act (KCOCA). There is a need to end Islamic jihadi mentality, he said, adding that Sri Rama Sene would ban the Wakf board campaign in the future. A Congress leader has been arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting his employee working in a spa here, police said on Sunday. The Congress leader Manoj Karjagi grabbed her when she came to the spa on Saturday, said the police. The woman lodged a complaint based on which he was arrested and remanded in judicial custody, they said. Karjagi was actively associated with the Congress party and was made director of the North West Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation when Siddaramaiah was the Chief Minister. Extra-terrestrial water has been found for the first time in a meteorite that has fallen in the UK. The Winchcombe meteorite, which crashed into a driveway in the Gloucestershire town last February, is also thought to hold clues about where the water in the Earths vast oceans came from. Ashley King, a researcher in the planetary materials group at the Natural History Museum, said 12% of the sample was made up of water, and, as the least contaminated specimen to be collected, it offers a lot of insights. He told the British Science Festival: The composition of that water is very, very similar to the composition of water in the Earths oceans. Its a really good piece of evidence that asteroids and bodies like Winchcombe made a very important contribution to the Earths oceans. Dr King also confirmed that Winchcombe was the first time a meteorite containing extra-terrestrial water albeit locked up in minerals had fallen in the UK. He added that, because of how quickly the 0.5kg (1lb) meteorite was retrieved within about 12 hours it was not contaminated by water and materials on Earth. He said: We always try and match the composition of the water meteorites and other extra-terrestrial materials to the composition of the water on the Earth. For most meteorites the challenge we have is that they are just contaminated, whereas with Winchcombe we really know that it really hasnt been contaminated, so its good evidence. Dr King went on: One of the big questions we have in planetary sciences is where did the water on Earth come from? And one of the obvious places is either through comets that have loads and loads of ice in them, or asteroids. Theres always a debate were comets the main source, were asteroids the main source? Explaining that data from missions to comets suggests they are not a good match for the water on Earth, he added: The composition of the water in Winchcombe is a much better match, so that would imply that asteroids carbonaceous asteroids were probably the main source of water to the inner solar system, to the Earth. Dr King continued: Weve had a hint that some asteroids match back nicely to the Earth. But now we have a meteorite which is really fresh that we know hasnt been modified, and its confirming that same story. Speaking at De Montfort University, which is hosting the festival, Dr King said analysis has revealed that the meteorite came from an asteroid somewhere near Jupiter. It formed some 4.6 billion years ago, with its journey to Earth taking about 300,000 years. There are approximately 65,000 known meteorites on Earth. A site meeting has been held between representatives of the Department for Infrastructure and Derry City and Strabane District councillors regarding the provision of a safe pedestrian crossing into Brooke Park. The meeting with councillors, Maeve ONeill and Shaun Harkin (People Before Profit) took place at the Creggan Hill entrance to Marlborough Road. Speaking to Derry Now, Cllr Maeve ONeill said the meeting followed a protest held by local residents to highlight the road safety concerns at the crossing. She added: It also followed a motion passed at Council in May about action required to improve safety at this crossing. "We are continuing to push for measures that will improve the safety of this crossing. People with disabilities, mobility aids, prams and young children, in particular, find this crossing dangerous. We held a meeting with local residents in July to inform them of the safety measures that are needed and in our meeting today we pushed for a drop kerb, a controlled pedestrian crossing and slow down, '20s plenty' signs around the school and park entrance. "More needs to be done to ensure safe access to our schools and parks, not just on road safety but also on air quality. We are continuing to work with the Council to explore measures that will improve air quality as well as these road safety measures." Cllr ONeills motion on the crossing read: Council notes the importance of safe pedestrian access to our local parks. This is inclusive of safety in road crossings as well as the air quality in the area surrounding the park. Council will convene a meeting with DFI and local community stakeholders to explore how to improve safe pedestrian access to Brooke Park crossing Creggan Hill from Marlborough Road. Council will present a paper on actions that can be taken to address the poor air quality in the areas surrounding Brooke Park and Bull Park, which will encompass improved air quality monitoring and green solutions. "Council will utilise the learnings from this for safe access planning for all the parks in the Council district. A series of never before published pictures of Queen Elizabeth II on her first state visit to Northern Ireland just after the Coronation in 1953 were unearthed by the UK City of Cultures BT Portrait of a City project in 2013. The images were taken by Royal Naval photographer Raymond White on the Queens arrival at Lisahally Docks in July 1953 as part of her Coronation visit to Derry. He was the only photographer present and the photographs have never been seen by the public. The images were digitised and formed part of the BT Portrait of a City project to create the largest digital community archive ever assembled from one city. In this article, taken from the Derry News of Thursday, 25th July, 2013, Derry man Raymond White recalls the excitement of the day. I was Leading Photographer before I left the Navy. I served in the Navy for eight years. I was demobbed in 1954. I left Ireland in December and was on a months leave into January. I am surrounded by cameras at the moment. I ran a photographic retail business for 50-odd years after I left the Navy. I began taking photographs when I joined the Navy in 1946. I have certificates on the wall here from Germany. I still remember that day at Lisahally really clearly; it was frightening, lets put it that way. "In Lisahally we have the photographs where she gets on the specially made platform where she got off the train. She walked towards HMS Rocket and boarded it. Then the last one she was looking down from the Rocket and its me and I am the only one in front of her. Queen Elizabeth II inspects members of the Royal Navy. The press, when I was stood there, there was every newspaper you could think of who wanted to be there. They followed the Queen everywhere they went But the Naval police, who all carried Smith and Wessons, told them You cant, not in this dockyard, and escorted them all out. "They looked at me as well and said: What the hell are you? But I was the official photographer so they told me to carry on. No civilians were allowed cameras at all, it wasnt like today with these phone-camera things, otherwise they would have been sneaking pictures everywhere. The reason they werent allowed in is that the Rocket had been altered for atomic warfare. What it was that hosepipes had been specially adapted so that if they were in an atomic explosion then they would spray the ship with saltwater and that would wash away the radioactivity, or so they thought. Having left the Navy and worked in atomic energy research I found out pretty quickly that it wouldnt. Queen Elizabeth II disembarking from the train at Lisahally docks on her first state visit to Northern Ireland following her Coronation a month earlier. The Mirror offered me 400 for the pictures I got that day for one picture. But it was Crown copyright reserved and I couldnt have given them the pictures, even if I had wanted to. Now sixty years later, we dont have to worry about that. So the pictures were never seen by the public, never published. I kept them all in an album at home. The pictures in Derry were Yorky Goodwins, another Naval photographer, from when she left the Rocket and was with Sir Samuel Orr, the Mayor of Derry. The latter ones when shes leaving Eglinton which is now Derry Airport, were taken by another Naval photographer. There were people everywhere that day. Shipquay Street was blocked solid with people trying to catch a glimpse of her. When I took the photo of the Queen standing right in front of me I remember thinking, I wonder what Ive got. You dont know. You take the picture and until it is developed you cant say. Former Royal Navy photographer, Derry man Raymond White, who covered the Queen's visit to Derry. On the negative she was about one centimetre high. It was a Kodak P1500 cut film and I developed it in a sulphide developer which was to say I had to spend 17 and a half minutes developing it so it wouldnt increase the grain size on the negative. It had been through an ordinary developer it would have been like the old newspaper photographs all made up of dots. By doing it the way I did, that didnt happen, but that 17 and a half minute wait until I could look at the negative I went through hell. You just never know and when I saw it I thought thank God. I actually had one which I blew right up to just her head and shoulders and there was still no grain on it. I still use film now and I take film cameras with me today, not digital. Digital is good but its just not the same as film. Naturally over the years family and friends have all seen the pictures. The one of the Queen looking into the camera I gave to my mother-in-law and she this was brilliant. When she died I retrieved it. A huge crowd gathered in the city centre for the visit. Im 84 years old and I was 24 when I took those pictures. The Queen was 27 and now shes 87. Life moves on. What Derry has with these pictures is something that will remain in history. Article taken from the Derry News of Thursday, 25th July, 2013. Lee Seo-hyun / Courtesy of Lee Seo-hyun By Jung Min-ho Born into a privileged family in Pyongyang, Lee Seo-hyun was no ordinary North Korean. Her father was a senior government official decorated as a "Hero of Labor," the high-level honor also given to Kim Kyong-hui, the only daughter of North Korea's late founding leader, Kim Il-sung, and Kye Sun-hui, an Olympic judo champion. Her father was close to many powerful people and was deeply loyal to the regime. In what she believed was a "paradise on Earth," her family was and would always be safe, she assumed. Her belief was shattered when her best friend was dragged away from their dorm room at a Chinese college because of her father's association with Jang Song-thaek, who was executed in 2013 by his nephew and North Korea's current leader, Kim Jong-un. It is still unclear what ultimately happened to the family. That day, Lee said, she accepted what she had long denied: No matter who you are or what you have, no one is truly safe in North Korea. "In retrospect, I had always been in fear, which I did not know back then," Lee, 31, told The Korea Times. "When I was attending Kim Il-sung University, one of my classmates was called away during a class and was never heard from again In another case, a family, living in the same apartment building as my family, was one day all sent to political prison camps for some reason." It could happen to anyone, any day, especially to the North Korean elite. There is no secret. Everything said at home can be heard by intelligence agents and could result in the end of one's career or even life. "I felt a sense of responsibility that what I say or do could instantly change the fate of my family," Lee said. "I feel smothered just thinking about it." In less authoritarian China, she learned about the harsh reality of her home country, which is in reality no "paradise." "Before I went to China in 2010, I assumed that it was less developed than North Korea. So I was shocked to see the airport crowded with travelers, the roads packed with cars and the lights illuminating the streets," she said. "I was confused about the truth I thought I knew." In reality, her country had many deep problems. However, perhaps because of her fear, she refused to ask herself about them. One day in a Chinese taxi heading toward her school, the driver asked her why North Korean leaders do little to reform their country to save their citizens from hunger in the ways former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping did for his people. It was a legitimate question the leaders should answer a question all ordinary North Koreans want and deserve an answer to, but are afraid to ask. After living in China for nearly five years, Lee decided to stop pretending that she was unaware of the undeniable truth about the world and North Korea and escaped from the North with her family. After staying in South Korea for a while, they eventually settled down in the U.S. for security reasons. Thanks to the Bush Foundation and the family of Otto Warmbier, a U.S. college student who died in 2017 soon after being released by North Korea, Lee received scholarships to attend graduate school at the Columbia School of International and Public Affairs this year. Today her dream is to reform North Korea, but not in the ways Deng did. "I want to be part of the effort to help North Koreans who, just like people in other parts of the world, deserve their inherent, universal human rights," Lee said. "When the driver told me about China's reforms, I thought it would be great for North Korea to do the same but only the economic reforms Now I believe there should also be reforms in its political system so that continued one-man rule cannot be possible." Despite the size of the crowd, silence pervaded. Some dressed in suits and black ties, others in T-shirts and jeans. Veterans wore polished medals while tourists perched on the edge of sturdy suitcases. Some sat on blankets, others stood throughout. A young boy made room beside him on his fold-out chair for his Paddington Bear teddy. The gathering on the lawns outside Belfast City Hall was diverse, but its purpose was unifying to pay respects to the late Queen. Amid the warm September sunshine, hundreds watched in quiet reverence. Wearing a platinum jubilee T-shirt, and sitting on a stool draped in a Union flag, Simon Freedman struggled to hold back tears as the big screen showed members of the royal family singing the Lord Is My Shepherd. For the 51-year-old from Coleraine, the Queens funeral held added poignancy. He had travelled down to Belfast in part to pay tribute to the memory of his own mother, Olive Sarah Freedman, who was a big royal fan and died in 2020 from Covid-19 at the age of 79. The fact we couldnt have a service because of the lockdown in 2020, today kind of did that as well for me, he said. My mothers favourite hymn was the Lord Is My Shepherd, so it was quite fitting. I knew when that hymn came on, Id shed a tear. Nine-year-old Tom Murray, from east Belfast, was the young boy with the Paddington teddy. She was a great monarch and the longest reigning monarch, he said. She helped a lot of charities as well, so she was a really, really good monarch. The funeral was very sad, the King looked like he was crying. Toms mother, Eleanor Smith, said she drew some comfort from watching the funeral with others. It was really emotional, its just a lovely fitting tribute to the Queen, she said. My sister said she would be too emotional to come in, but I found that it sort of helped a bit, it helped to see the people here watching, you feel that sense of everybody joined together. Husband and wife Glyn and Judy Yeates were visiting Belfast from their home in Northallerton in North Yorkshire. It was absolutely marvellous, very heart-rending and it was very well deserved, said Mrs Yeates. You felt as if you were in among it all, it was beautiful. Mr Yeates said the outpouring of grief for the Queen was entirely understandable. She deserves every second of what the country has given her, what the world has given her, he said. City Hall may have been the largest public showing of the funeral in Belfast, but it was not the only such event. Other lower key community-based gatherings took place elsewhere in the city. One was hosted by Christ Church Presbyterian Church in Dundonald. Copies of the order of service were handed out to those who came to the church on Monday morning, with tea and biscuits also on offer. Church minister Reverend Richard McIlhatton said it was important to give people a chance to be together, as he acknowledged some may feel particularly alone or isolated on such a mournful day. There is a real sense of loss within the congregation and the wider community, he said The Queen was someone who was deeply loved and respected, so there is that sense of grieving. I think as people we have been made to be together and to be part of a community. Often people value that opportunity to feel that sense of shared grief and have that time to come together. Ms Justice Siofra OLeary elected as President of the European Court of Human Rights Press release The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Simon Coveney TD, has welcomed the election of Ms Justice Siofra OLeary as President of the European Court of Human Rights. Minister Coveney said: I wish to congratulate Judge OLeary on her election as President of the European Court of Human Rights. Judge OLeary has served with great distinction since her appointment to the Court, and her election as President is a mark of the high regard in which she is held. It is a source of pride that the first female President of the Court should be an Irish judge. The Court is central to the protection of human rights, fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law in Europe. Never have these ideals and principles been more important. In its capacity as President of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, Ireland is committed to supporting the work of the Court and ensuring its continued effectiveness and independence. ENDS Press Office 19 September 2022 Notes to editors Ms Justice OLeary was educated at University College Dublin (BCL) and the European University Institute Florence (PhD). Prior to her appointment to the Court, Judge OLeary held a number of academic positions, and was a referendaire and chef de cabinet at the Court of Justice of the European Union. Ms Justice Siofra OLeary has been a judge of the European Court of Human Rights (the Court) since 2 July 2015, and has served as Vice-President of the Court since 2 January 2022. The Court is responsible for ensuring the observance by the contracting parties of their obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights and its Protocols. The President is elected by the plenary Court by secret ballot for a period of 3 years. The procedure for the election of President is provided for under the Rules of Court. The President represents the Court and directs its work, and is responsible for the Courts relations with the authorities of the Council of Europe. The President presides at plenary meetings of the Court and its Grand Chamber. The President does not take part in the consideration of cases being heard by Chambers of the Court except where he or she is the judge elected in respect of the contracting party concerned. Ireland assumed the rotating Presidency of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on 20 May 2022, a position it holds until November 2022. In that role, Ireland has prioritised supporting the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Convention and protected by the Court. Details of the Presidencys programme and latest news are available at www.ireland.ie/coe and www.coe.int/en/web/presidency. Previous Item | Next Item Subscriber content preview Rendering by MG2 [enlarge] The corner site is just west of the freeway. The lovely little cantilevered office building at 1264 Eastlake Ave. E. was landmarked this summer by its family owner, which also owns the two apartment buildings next door. Above and overlooking that assemblage is vacant land long owned by Alexandria Real Estate Equities, which already has a major presence in Eastlake. That's only likely to grow. . . . These are the horoscopes for week commencing September 19, 2022. Aries 21 March 20 April Its all change this week as the Sun leaves Virgo and moves into co-operative Libra for a stay of around a month. Youll be very aware of others needs and feelings, and of how tact and diplomacy can be a crucial tool in edgy discussions. Mind, with a New Moon over the weekend, this could be one of the best times for teamwork or spending quality time with your partner. Taurus 21 April 21 May Youve got this, Taurus! If you felt that an opportunity was slipping away from you, it may be about to make a reappearance. Theres only one caveat, which is that youll need to venture out of your comfort zone. Plus, the week ahead also encourages you to think about getting organized. The more you streamline your affairs, the sooner youll be ready for a brand new beginning. Gemini 22 May 21 June The Sun has a few more days in your domestic sector until it moves into Libra and your leisure zone. Have any projects you need to finish? Now is the time. Mind, with Mercury your guide planet slipping back into Virgo, you may notice where your home needs tender loving care. Have a new romance on the go? The New Moon is excellent for helping it to move forward. Cancer 22 June 23 July An unexpected happening could get the week off to a great start. Whether its an outing, social event or something else, it brings the chance to be with someone whose company is refreshing. Ready to streamline your routines? The Suns move into Libra encourages you to strive for a balance between work and downtime. Want to kick-start a new habit? Go for it this weekend! Leo 24 July 23 August Connect with the right person and you may be given assistance with a goal or career move. Something can click into place that helps you take another step forward. If Mercury in its retro phase has found you in a muddle regarding admin, the Suns entrance into Libra could be a great help in sorting it out. Keen to launch a project? The weekend New Moon might be a game-changer. Virgo 24 August 23 September You may get an opportunity to spread your wings and try out a new experience for size. It could mean moving out of your comfort zone, but you certainly wont regret it. And as the Sun moves into Libra later this week, its time to take stock of your finances and create a helpful budget moving forward. Eager for a fresh financial start? The New Moon encourages you to go for it. Libra 24 September 23 October This week may feel like a rebirth. The Sun leaves a private zone and glides into your sign for a four-week stay. Youll feel your vitality and confidence soar, and youll be ready to make your mark on the world. The weekend New Moon in your sign is the best of the year for you. Its an opportunity to kick-start plans and new habits, and to take a relationship to the next level. Scorpio 24 October 22 November A date or outing to somewhere different could get the week off to a great start, Scorpio. Later, the Sun eases into a private zone for around a month, ushering in a chance to relax and unwind. Use this phase to tie up loose ends and find closure on issues that may be hanging over you. The New Moon might encourage you to start yoga or another practice that helps ease tension. Sagittarius 23 November 21 December Stay alert early on, as an opportunity you wont want to miss could come out of the blue. Youll need to be quick as it wont stay around for too long. Your social zone shows extra promise too, as the Sun journeys through it for four weeks. And with a New Moon here, this is a great time for moving in new circles. Ready to sign something important? Dont ignore the details, Archer. Capricorn 22 December 20 January Your goals and career get a boost as the Sun moves into Libra. It puts you in the spotlight and encourages you to promote your skills, liaise with all the right people and make sure youre known and appreciated. Mind, with Mercury rewinding, dont rush into any agreements. Do your research and get advice if you are uncertain. Its best not to leave anything to chance. Aquarius 21 January 19 February An unexpected gift or small windfall could be yours, Aquarius. It may not amount to much, but it can brighten the start of the week. Plus, theres a positive shift as the Sun moves into Libra and your sector of adventure. This and the weekend New Moon reveal youll be in the mood to traverse new terrain and take on board fresh opportunities, something youll truly relish. Pisces 20 February 20 March Youll be attracted by depth and by the mysterious. The Suns move into an intense and emotional zone for four weeks can be a call to examine your life and let go of anything that isnt working for you. The New Moon over the weekend hints that by doing so youll open up space for fabulous opportunities. Go easy though, as there is a chance of mixed messages, Pisces. Birthday Luck Mondays Birthday Luck: Happy Birthday! Youll be sensitive to influences, but dont let this stop you from confronting life head on. You have so much to gain by putting yourself in new situations and taking on challenges. Youll begin to soar. Tuesdays Birthday Luck: Happy Birthday! You need something new and different in your life to blow away the cobwebs and bring in fresh streams of energy. Dont stick with the tried and trusted. Instead, embrace new paths and opportunities. Wednesdays Birthday Luck: Happy Birthday! This isnt the time to be too modest. Youll thrive when you showcase your skills and let others know how talented you are. The more effort you put in, the more good fortune youll attract. Thursdays Birthday Luck: Happy Birthday! Youll experience a breakthrough that helps you to go from feeling stuck to enjoying life. An event or realization could act as a catalyst that inspires you to let go of the old and embrace the new. Fridays Birthday Luck: Happy Birthday! This is an excellent year for relationships, as the more you co-operate, negotiate or compromise, the easier things will be. The love and warmth in your current bond may be rekindled, or a new romance can flourish. Saturdays Birthday Luck: Happy Birthday! Write down your goals and intentions, and make it a priority to get organized. This year its easy to get distracted and forget what you want to accomplish. Stick to one point and youll get there. Sundays Birthday Luck: Happy Birthday! Youre craving a fresh start, and thats just what youll get. And it will happen when you connect with others on your wavelength. Ready to take a relationship to the next level? This is the year to go for it. On Friday the DkIT Czech and Slovak Society in cooperation with DkIT hosted the Czech ambassador to Ireland, Petr Kynstetr to welcome new Czech and Slovak students. The students were welcomed by the DkIT president and the society representatives. The guest speaker list also includes the DkIT president, Dr Michael Mulvey, and DkIT Czech and Slovak Society representatives the president, Jiri Nemeth, and the vice-president, Adriana Hanelova. The event was attended by the new and current Czech and Slovak students, the DkIT representatives, the DkIT International Office and the DkIT Student Services. Addressing the students amabassador Kynstetr said: Similar to the Czech Republic which is facing a significant task in the form of holding the presidency in the Council of the European Union during this semester, you, students, will be challenged by demanding learning. However, I do not doubt that you will successfully manage everything and achieve good results in the environment and with the support that Dundalk Institute of Technology offers. The fact that so many Czech future engineers, scientists, and businessmen have chosen it as their alma mater proves the quality of this institution. I admire your proper interest in studying and collecting life experiences in this beautiful country, which is rightfully called the Silicon Valley of Europe. By studying here in Dundalk, you create a bridge between our countries, between the Czech Republic and Ireland. Our relationships are excellent, and we highly appreciate that. As students, you are the evidence that we can find Czech representation everywhere on this island. It is very nice to see that our students are interested in studying at regional universities and not only in Dublin. He continued: The quality of teaching and expertise of these universities is often better than at the modern or ancient universities in capital cities. It is my biggest wish that Dundalk Institute of Technology becomes your lighthouse, compass, and map for you on this journey. You will need these to walk towards the future a bit better than it seems now. Unification Minister Kwon Young-se, South Korea's point man on inter-Korean relations, holds a press conference at the government complex in Seoul, Sept. 8. Yonhap South Korea's unification minister on Monday urged North Korea to respond to Seoul's dialogue offer revolving around the Yoon Suk-yeol administration's "audacious" proposal designed to help improve its economy and the livelihoods of its people in exchange for denuclearization. Kwon Young-se delivered the message at a forum on unification-related policy in Seoul as the North remains unresponsive to the South's outreach for inter-Korean talks. "Since its launch, the Yoon Suk-yeol administration has put in all efforts within our capacity for a virtuous cycle of North Korea's denuclearization and improving inter-Korean relations while fulfilling agreements of the past administrations and offering our audacious plan," he said. "But North Korea has rejected our calls, distorting and denigrating (our plan) saying it is no different from the past." Kwon also called on Pyongyang to return to dialogue based on "mutual respect and benefit," saying the two Koreas could discuss the "political and military conditions" mentioned by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at a recent Supreme People's Assembly (SPA) meeting. At the session earlier this month, Kim said that the political and military conditions of the Korean Peninsula must change for there to be any adjustment to its new nuclear policy that allows the immediate launch of a nuclear strike. Earlier this month, Kwon also made a public offer of talks with North Korea to discuss the issue of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War. Pyongyang has remained unresponsive to it as of Monday. "The government will continue to make efforts without setting a time limit so that North Korea responds as soon as possible," Cho Joong-hoon, the ministry's spokesperson, said during a regular press briefing. Meanwhile, the South's defense ministry said it will respond sternly in accordance with the "principle of reciprocity" should Pyongyang violate the Sept. 19 comprehensive military agreement between the two sides signed in 2018 during then South Korean President Moon Jae-in's visit to Pyongyang for summit talks with Kim Jong-un. Inter-Korean relations have been stalled since a no-deal summit between the North and the United States in February 2019. (Yonhap) Parents of secondary school students in Annagassan have hit out at the lack of concessionary bus tickets issued to children in the area for the coming school year. One parent told the Democrat that up to seventeen secondary school students in the community who go to school in Dundalk have been left at the school bus stop in Annagassan most mornings as buses with empty seats pull away. Local parents believe this to be the result of Bus Eireann and the Department of Education failing to prepare for the inevitable increase in demand for tickets as a result of the government's announcement to waive school transport fees earlier in the summer. Students who attend school in Dundalk were not considered eligible for a guaranteed bus seat because they were not attending their nearest school. Lorraine Boyle, whose son goes to school in Dundalk, told the Democrat that families who have paid for concessionary tickets for a number of years have now been left stranded by the national bus carrier. For the last number of years there have been two school buses dedicated to the schools in Dundalk leaving Annagassan every morning. Were in the catchment area for Dunleer school, which means the only school we really have a choice to send our kids to is Dunleer, an awful lot of us have chosen not to do that for various reasons, each family has their own reasons. So other years we would have gotten a concessionary ticket for the bus and we would have paid for that and were happy to pay for it. Ive done that for about twelve years with my kids and have had no issue until about three years ago and then people were refused seats, last year was worse, and now this year has just gone beyond a joke. Families have been told by Bus Eireann that the company has been contracted by the Department of Education to provide transport to various different schools and that they give them certain criteria to fill. For instance children sent to Church of Ireland schools like the Grammar have to be brought to school so they get preference. The same is true for Gaelscoils and people within certain catchment areas to certain schools. Lorraine continued: Any seats that are left after those criteria are filled are given as concessionary tickets and this year Bus Eireann claim that concessionary tickets were raffled off which meant some people got seats and others didnt. Currently Bus Eireann's position is that all seats have been allocated but the parents say that each morning they can see a number of seats are left empty with many believing that this is down to people availing of the free tickets announced earlier this year but not actually using them. Our major issue is that Bus Eireaan will not revisit this issue, she says. Bus Eireann will not investigate why this is, they have just washed their hands of it for the year, and tough luck to any of us who didnt get seats. Parents like Lorraine have been forced to make what is an hour and a half round trip each morning and evening to drop their kids off, something they say is not sustainable as many work and if the situation became permanent would have to cut back on their hours. The manner in which the news that some families would not be receiving tickets has also been criticised with Lorraine and others receiving an email at 8:30pm on the Friday before schools went back informing them they would not be getting a ticket. We cant get through to Bus Eireann, you ring the helplines and you get an office in Dublin who say theyll contact Dundalk for us then you get an email from Dundalk saying that theres no seats available. If the kids were to use the public services bus they would need to then get from the middle of town to places like the De La Salle and the Louis which is going to mean theyd be late for school thats the kind of pressure children and parents are under. The parents are calling on Bus Eireann and the Department to try and find a solution and investigate why there are so many empty seats on buses leaving the village each morning. A seminar aimed at increasing the diversity of women in Local Government will be hosted by Louth County Council in association with See Her Elected at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Dundalk on Tuesday, September 27th. Increasing the Diversity of Women in Local Government will run from 10am to 2pm and will include panel discussions with local and national politicians as well as speakers from diverse groups. Joan Martin, Chief Executive of Louth County Council, welcoming the convening of the seminar as an important step in increasing diversity in local government, said: Louth has a great diversity in its population, and it is important that local government reflects that diversity throughout all its decision making to better serve our citizens. Ms Martin will address the seminar focusing on the important role women have in local government, from serving in the executive, the council chamber or, participating in the various statutory and community fora in place throughout the County. The purpose of every PPN in the country is to enable community groups to input into and have their voices heard within the formal decision-making structures of the Local Authority said Anna Ryan of Louth PPN. Louth County Council is very supportive of our PPN and of the community voice in all its diversity here in Louth and this is evident in their enthusiasm at hosting this event. It is so important that the County Chambers reflect the community it represents and this is why this event is so important to Louth County Council. Dr Michelle Maher, Programme Manager with See Her Elected, the award-winning Government funded project which aims to encourage women from rural areas to engage in local politics will deliver the opening address while Cathaoirleach of Louth County Council Cllr Conor Keelan will also address the gathering. Fine Gaels Mary Mitchell O Connor former Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and Minister of State who served as TD in Dun Laoghaire constituency from 2011 to 2020 will be one of the main guest speakers at the seminar. The event will feature a diverse panel of local and national politicians with the Journey into Politics panel featuring Senator Erin McGreehan and Louth County Councillors, Edel Corrigan, Maeve Yore, Paula Butterly and Marianne Butler. The second panel discussion entitled Diverse Pathways into Politics will include a range of speakers from diverse groups such as Orla Walsh from the Red Door Project, an organisation which provides assistance and services to individuals, families, and the wider community that are affected by drug and alcohol use; Ejiro Ohare Stratton from Hands 4 Unity an organisation to educate and empower women; Bernie Quinn from Outcomers, a support group for LGBTQ+ people while the panel will also include a representative of Comhairle na nOg. Sinead Doody of Doody Faciliating and Consulting will act as MC for the event. The SHE programme is a rural strategy to address the under-representation of women in politics in rural Ireland. See Her Elected Programme Manager, Dr Michelle Maher said, We want to see more women being elected to county councils. Only 26% of county councillors throughout Ireland are female and we have a much lower percentage of female councillors in rural counties compared to more urban centres such as Dublin. Louth County Council is bucking the national trend as there are 12 female councillors out of 29 but unfortunately this is not replicated throughout rural Ireland. There are only 3 women out of 18 councillors on Monaghan County Council and only 4 women out of 18 in Cavan County Council for example. It is important to have a female perspective at decision making level as this will ensure more balanced decisions are made on a range of issues which matter to us as women whether thats climate change, employment, parenting, care or violence against women for example. We would love to see as many women as possible attending the in-person event in Dundalk on Tuesday, September 27th when they will have the opportunity to hear from a range of diverse speakers in local and national politics while also hearing more about the work of See Her Elected and our range of Free online Introduction to Politics classes and Foundation and Strategy series of workshops, continued Dr Maher. Entry to the seminar is free of charge but you must register in advance on Eventbrite with the link on www.louthcoco.ie/ or email ppn@louthcoco.ie . By Invitation only, join us and business leaders on the evening of September 22, 2022. Fairways Hotel, Dundalk, Co Louth - It's now time to come together . We will celebrate Business Change & Innovation as the key driver today for unearthing competitiveness, growth, and prosperity for Irish companies. despite the challenges we face nationally and internationally. With you as our guest, we will also celebrate the recent merger of Sync IT and Cusken. Our own story of emergence, business change and innovation is just one of a number you will hear on the day. 1. His Story, a keynote from one of Ireland's top business and broadcasting personalities, Bobby Kerr 2. Our Story, hear from Joe Molloy, on how the recent Cusken & Sync IT merge is releasing new value for customers 3. Your Story? Join in on the day with an assembly of top business leaders from across the North-East, Q&A,networking and other special guests throughout the evening. His story.....Bobby Kerr is one of Ireland's best-known businesspersons and personality. Former co-owner and Chairman/CEO of Insomnia Coffee Company, Irelands largest independent coffee chain, he had over 140 shops, employed over 500 people and sold over 14 million cups of coffee a year. One of the original Dragons on the Irish Dragon's Den and current presenter on Newstalk's 'Down to Business', Bobby continues to be actively involved in a number of his own private ventures. He is a leadership, sales, brand, health and fitness enthusiast and remains one of Irelands most sought after business and motivational speakers. Our story...Managing Director, Joe Molloy Joe founded Sync IT in 2013 with Allison Cooney. Together they have developed the company and its reputation as an innovator in IT managed services and cyber-security across the north-east and nationwide. Hear Joe, Allison and Paddy McCusker's story on how the recent merger of Sync IT and Cusken is unleashing new value for clients. RSVP by September 14, there are only 100 Seats available so RSVP Early! Register here - http://bit.ly/3pUvWKd *Sponsored Content By Ragnheiour Elin Arnadottir From COVID-19 to climate change to Russia's war against Ukraine, the world is weathering a perfect-storm of multiple, cascading crises. The consequences of which have spread fast and far, affecting the world's most vulnerable people the most. To face these crises, we need more financing and more importantly, we need more solidarity and more partners on-board. Ragnheiour Elin Arnadottir Earlier this month, I had the pleasure of attending the 15th edition of the Seoul Official Development Assistance (ODA) International Conference on "Expanding Horizons for Global Development Partnership." A welcome focus at a time when it is vital to expand development financing and support the emergence of a more diverse range of development cooperation partners. To quote former United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon: "() Broad partnerships are the key to solving broad challenges." A mantra that we, the OECD's Development Centre and our partners for 30 years, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), very much share. Indeed, embracing new actors and bringing countries together, regardless of levels of development, is at the core of what we do at the OECD Development Centre. An approach that has become increasingly relevant over the last two decades, as the world's economic center of gravity has shifted, with more than half of the world's GDP growth occurring in emerging markets today. Korea was ahead of the curve. Known for its stellar rise to one of the most advanced economies in the world today, its average GDP growth rates accelerated to 7.5 percent in the 1960s, 8.6 percent in the 1970s, and 9.3 percent in the 1980s. In 1992, Korea joined the OECD's Development Centre, before joining the OECD in 1996. And from aid recipient to global development cooperation partner, Korea became the first former aid recipient to join the OECD's Development Assistance Committee in 2009. From $1.2 billion in 2010, Korea's net ODA reached $2.3 billion in 2020. Following Korea's lead, a growing number of countries that were traditionally perceived as aid recipients are showing solidarity and providing support to other countries and communities in need. These acts have been especially visible throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, as we have seen a number of developing and emerging countries share their knowledge and resources to support the response and recovery. Going forward, we need to embrace both traditional and emerging partners to resolve our global challenges and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As an example, take the global food crisis and SDG 2: zero hunger by 2030. Today, 49 million people are facing famine or near famine conditions, an all-time high, according to the U.N.'s World Food Programme. If recent trends continue, the number of people affected by hunger will surpass 840 million by 2030. The needs are colossal and we urgently need to come up with new solutions. This means more innovation and new partnerships such as how Korea is partnering with the Africa Rice Centre to raise rice production by crossing African and Korean varieties. At the Development Centre, we see a great potential in continuing to collaborate with Korea in this area in the future. Ten to 12 million youth enter the workforce every year in Africa, to be met with only 3 million jobs. With most of these youths living in rural areas, innovating the food economy to create good jobs, as in the above example, could be a huge opportunity. Korea's successful digital transformation efforts also offer lessons for developing and emerging countries. As does its commitment to accelerating its clean energy transition by prioritizing clean innovation and technological solutions. The transition to a greener world is by far the biggest challenge ahead of us that we all have to face. Developing countries in particular will need to strike the right balance between helping achieve "net-zero" and extending energy access to hundreds of millions of their citizens. Guiding emerging and developing countries as they chart their transitions to more sustainable economic models is another area in which I see enormous scope for Korea and the OECD's Development Centre to grow our cooperation. Ragnheiour Elin Arnadottir is the director of the OECD Development Centre and former minister of industry and commerce of Iceland. How are we decarbonising our corporate bond holdings? 19 September 2022 (updated on 1 October 2022) The climate crisis is one of the biggest challenges of our time. It poses severe risks for the economy and it affects price stability, our core mandate as a central bank. This is why we are committed to doing our part in the fight against climate change, within our mandate. Climate change has an impact on our work in a number of ways, for instance on the climate-related risks of the assets we hold. This is one of the areas where we are taking action: we are decarbonising our corporate bond holdings with the aim of putting them on a path aligned with the 1.5 degree goal of the Paris Agreement. To do that, we are looking at how the companies that issue bonds known as issuers are working to mitigate their climate impact. Since October 2022, we are buying more from those that do better in this regard and less from those that do worse. Which corporate bonds did we buy in the past? As part of our monetary policy, we buy corporate bonds based on a benchmark. It guides us as to how much we allocate to a certain sector or company. Previously, this benchmark mirrored what was available in the market. This means that in general, we bought more from those companies that issued more bonds. How do our corporate bond holdings expose us to climate risks? In general, when we buy a bond, we accept to take on the risk that this bond might lose value over time. Climate change can be one reason for this: extreme weather events such as wildfires or floods can hit companies or their customers premises and destroy their warehouses, manufacturing plants or data centres. This is called physical risk. Companies can also suffer from what are often referred to as transition risks the risks emerging from the transition towards a greener economy. Consumers may want to start buying alternative products, or goods and services could become more expensive as governments impose carbon taxes. At some point, legislators might also ban certain carbon-intensive products. And technical innovation can benefit some companies, while others will find it hard to keep up. All of these changes could severely hit carbon-intensive firms, such as energy producers or transportation companies that rely on fossil fuels, if they dont adapt to these changes in time. And if they get into financial trouble because of such events, this affects the value of their bonds. Why do these physical and transition risks matter for the ECB and the national central banks of the countries in the euro area? The Eurosystem holds bonds from many different companies and sectors, and we are therefore exposed to the risks mentioned above. By decarbonising our portfolio, we aim to reduce our exposure to these risks. Our measures also support the green transition of the economy in line with the EUs climate neutrality objectives. How are we making our purchases greener? Since October 2022, we are tilting our purchases towards companies with a better climate performance. This means that we are increasing the weighting in our portfolio of companies that do better compared to those with a poorer climate-related performance. As a result our portfolio is gradually becoming less carbon-intensive. We continue to buy bonds from companies across a variety of sectors. The overall size of our purchases continues to be solely guided by our price stability objective. But it is becoming more difficult for companies to get funding if they dont work on their climate performance. The overarching goal is to bring our bond portfolio on a path aligned with the goals of the Paris Agreement. Read this press release and the FAQ for more details. How does this work in practice? To assess the climate performance of these issuers we calculate a climate score based on three criteria: Backward-looking emissions We check companies carbon footprints. We also assess how they fare compared with others in their sector and against all bond issuers that are part of our corporate purchase programmes. Issuers performing better in both aspects get a higher score. Forward-looking targets We look at the objectives that companies have set themselves to reduce their emissions in the future. Issuers with more ambitious targets get a higher score. Climate disclosures We look at how transparent companies are about their greenhouse gas emissions. Those who publish high-quality data receive a better score. Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, right, and his wife, Kim Keon-hee, are welcomed after arriving at London Stansted Airport on Sept. 18, 2022, to attend Queen Elizabeth II's state funeral. Yonhap President Yoon Suk-yeol on Sunday attended a reception in London hosted by King Charles III and expressed his condolences over the death of Queen Elizabeth II, his office said. Yoon, who arrived with first lady Kim Keon-hee in London earlier in the day, attended the reception at Buckingham Palace ahead of the queen's state funeral Monday. Yoon personally expressed his condolences to King Charles, who thanked the president for traveling to London to mourn his mother's death, according to the presidential office. "President Yoon said he will never forget the queen who always dedicated herself as a guardian of freedom and peace, and that the people of the Republic of Korea share in the grief," Kim Eun-hye, senior presidential secretary for press affairs, told reporters in London. Yoon also congratulated King Charles on his ascension to the throne. The Agricultural Consultants Association (ACA) has announced that its members are creating 130 new jobs over the next year, with recruitment underway. About 80 of the new roles will be advisory positions, while the remaining 50 will be administrative positions. The association is expecting to employ new staff in the coming weeks on long-term contracts. It said many of these jobs will be available to graduates. It said the adoption of climate change measures on farms will not occur without agricultural graduates bringing their expertise, and passion for change, to farms across Ireland. Roles for graduates will include agricultural and environmental graduates working in the Irish agriculture sector through helping farmers comply with grants and schemes. Graduates will also have the opportunity to encourage the adoption of new technologies in Irish farms, which encourage action on climate change issues. Noel Feeney, ACA President said: ACA members are delighted to be able to expand at what is a very critical time for farmers and our industry. The creation of these roles means more farmers will be able to prepare for the significant changes coming down the track, especially in regard to Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). "We are proud that the roles will be spread across the country and give a boost to regional communities throughout Ireland. Those interested in the roles need only reach out to the ACA Head Office for more information. Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue said: I welcome todays jobs announcement by ACA members who are moving to equip farm families and the sector with crucial knowledge transfer as a result of the new CAP. "This farmer-friendly and well-funded CAP worth almost 10 billion which underlines the commitment of this government to farmers, and to the wider rural economy. As part of that funding, I am delighted the ACA will give a jobs boost to rural areas as new farm advisors are hired to help farmers be part of new sustainable schemes." WEST Cork-based artist Marie Brett is exhibiting at the Sirius Arts Centre in Cobh until October 15, where she is featuring a number of works that look at loss, trauma and different forms of human suffering, as well as a new commission that offers a place of healing. Maries practice sees her making films, installations and performances. She also works on engagement projects with local communities. The Hidden Mountain, the Fort and the Five Trees is Maries first survey show, covering a span of over ten years of her work, including an exhibition of paraphernalia from a cannabis grow house busted by the gardai. While loss is a big theme in the show, Marie also looks at conflicts and different forms of control. Some of the work is very much about personal individual stories about loss, while other works are about a global reading or a reading of a country regarding issues of control. I suppose the unifying factor is hope, finding a way through in really difficult times. Maries focus is on things that are very hidden, whether its cultural, social or individual. Her work looks at the suffering that society shuns, fears, ignores or tidies-up; perinatal death, infant mortality, state-run residential care, degenerative brain disease and human trafficking... They impact upon the human psyche in both known and unknown ways, shaping who we are and what we have or will become. She adds that simultaneously, in contemporary Ireland, our rite and lore practices are shifting substantially. At the beginning of Covid, I made a work that was very much about cultural lore. It was called Day of the Straws. I approached people online across different sectors and asked them how they were coping. The work looked at the many ways people get and give some sort of sustenance. I realised that people were beginning to look at nourishment in terms of the natural world and in things like cooking, crafting and gardening. People were going out walking a lot. They didnt have the distractions of shopping or going to the pub. People were beginning to question what life is all about. For the exhibition, Marie has made a new large-scale work, commissioned by the Sirius and presented in the Centre Gallery. It consists of a scaled-down replica of a grain silo, a structure that is often to be found across Irelands countryside. It is painted orange and inside, there are a variety of elements including light, haze, sound pieces, flickering images and quartz. This work is based on the idea of a holy well. Its a portal that is said to project into and receive messages from another world. It also functions as a place for renewal or healing. As part of the Sirius exhibition, there was a visit to a holy well during the summer led by Amanda Clarke, who has carried out research into the phenomenon. Some people might have a religious association with holy wells, others might be curious and might be complete beginners at holy wells. I did a lot of research into holy wells. That work is about what we are looking for when we visit them. Amanda, who is a blogger, has researched holy wells in Cork and Kerry. She has visited 400 of them and logged them into her blog. She has an interesting approach. Not only does she visit a well and record what she finds but she also meets the custodian of the well. It could be a farmer. She finds out what the traditions associated with the well are, whether theres an association with a cure. I think the holy well were visiting with Amanda has a cure for sore eyes. Marie has been reading about young people visiting holy wells in their locality to help them with the Leaving Certificate. They think theres no harm in it if it brings them luck. They bring bottles of water back with them and keep it as holy water. I was thinking in terms of people coping in difficult times. They might visit a well and look for a blessing and some sort of protection, or a cure. "I think thats really appropriate for the times were living in, times that are really uncertain at the moment. The work Ive made talks in visual terms about the holy well. You go into this replica of a grain silo which represents symbolically the holy well. In it is a huge tree trunk to sit on. Along the floor is quartz crystal with all the symbolism of that, benefitting peoples health and spiritual well-being. There are speakers and a sound system and a woman singing. The womans song tells the story of going to the holy well, looking for protection. Its very atmospheric and science fiction-like. I worked with a lighting designer for this. The varied exhibition, with podcasts made around it, will include the results of a paranormal investigation carried out by the Cobh Supernatural Investigators. They are really interesting, taking quite a scientific approach, as they call it, to the paranormal. I have worked previously with people who identified as psychics who are very much in communication with aspects of the other world through themselves. But the Cobh Supernatural Investigators communicate through equipment and technology. They say their approach is scientific. I thought it would be really lovely to invite them to do something. Theyre saying categorically that theres evidence of a presence in Sirius, of past lives. Sounds ominous for this former yacht club with subterranean spaces in the building. The exhibition runs until October 15. See siriusartscentre.ie Founded in 2005 as an Ohio-based environmental newspaper, EcoWatch is a digital platform dedicated to publishing quality, science-based content on environmental issues, causes, and solutions. The plains-wanderer is a small, critically-endangered bird with a tawny marking on its chest that can only be found in south-eastern Australias arid grasslands. It is estimated that only 250 to 1,000 of these speckled birds are left in the wild, according to Bush Heritage Australia. The plains-wanderer is at risk of impending extinction and is the lone surviving species on its branch of the evolutionary tree. In order to track this rare bird species, fifteen plains-wanderers have been released into their native habitat in New South Wales (NSW) wearing tiny solar-powered backpacks equipped with satellite tracking technology, a press release from the NSW Governments Minister for Environment and Heritage said. It is only the second time the birds have been released in NSW and is part of a joint government conservation effort between Southern Australia (SA), Victoria and NSW. This second-ever release of Plains-wanderers back into their native habitat in NSW is the culmination of years of conservation work aimed at bringing the species back from the brink, said NSW Environment Minister James Griffin in the press release. Plains-wanderers are a small, ground-dwelling bird that is particularly vulnerable to threats such as foxes and feral cats, and native grassland habitat loss. Theyre a critical part of the ecosystem because their presence or absence is an indicator of the health of their native habitat. As part of the Saving our Species program sponsored by the NSW Government which has $175 in funding over a ten-year period the plains-wanderers were released into Oolambeyan National Park, a critical habitat for the rare bird species. The solar-powered backpacks can provide as much as two years of satellite data. Earlier backpack tracking devices only had a battery life of 12 weeks and were only able to be tracked with field transmitters. These solar-backpack wearing Plains-wanderers are paving the way for us to gather important data, which will ultimately help us improve our conservation efforts for wild populations into the future, Griffin said. Before a drastic decline in numbers in the past decade, the plains-wanderer was apparent throughout eastern Australia, reported The Guardian. Much of their known remaining habitat is on privately-owned land. The quail-like birds have very specific habitat requirements. The population isnt able to sustain itself during droughts, when there are fewer insects and materials to make nests. But during periods of extreme rain, an excess of weeds can cause the birds to relocate, but researchers arent sure where the endangered birds go. All of the fifteen plains-wanderers released into the wild were from conservation breeding programs eleven from NSWs Taronga Western Plains Zoo, three from SAs Monarto Safari Park and one from Victorias Werribee Open Range Zoo, the press release said. Three of the recently released birds have come from Monarto Safari Park, and this project is a great example of our zoos working together across a number of jurisdictions with the help of private landholders to help save a native species, said South Australia Minister for Climate, Environment and Water Susan Close in the press release. The second NSW release follows a release of ten birds in March near Hay in NSW and 16 last year in Victoria in conjunction with a national recovery initiative to bring the species back from the brink of extinction. This is the first ever plains-wanderer release to use satellite technology to track the endangered species and the more we know about this elusive bird, the better chance we have at conservation success. This joint initiative is part of our record investment into protecting our precious biodiversity, said Victorian Minister for Environment and Climate Action Lily DAmbrosio in the press release. Vilofoss presents X-Zelit Calculator at World Buiatrics Congress in Madrid, Spain Per Theilgaard from Vilofoss and Jehan Ettema from SimHerd A/S joined around 2,000 delegates at the yearly World Buiatrics Congress held in Madrid, Spain, in September. "It was a pleasure and an honor to speak at the World Buiatrics Congress in Madrid we were very excited to present the X-Zelit Calculator that we've developed together with SimHerd," said Theilgaard. "It is a Simherd-Flex model for estimating the economical values of preventing hypocalcemia with our X-Zelit product." Theilgaard explained to the attendees of the congress how the collaboration between Vilofoss and SimHerd unites two professionally strong groups of experts, and together, ensures that the calculator lives up to their high standards. The presentation held by Theilgaard also delved into the data on which the calculations are based. He explained that all data has a scientific documentation, and there are different versions for Europe, the United States and Canada, as the data bases are also slightly different - and to get closest to the best result, the parameters one compares with must match. - Vilofoss Canada allows expansion of open-net salmon sites off Vancouver Island Canada's federal government has approved the expansion of three open-net pen salmon farms off the coast of Vancouver Island, despite commitments to phase out the industry. The expansion includes putting more fish into existing farms (known as adding biomass), and in one case, adding a net array. Altogether, the expansion is equivalent to adding another one and a quarter facilities to the Clayoquot Sound UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, according to Clayoquot Action, which advocates for wild salmon in the region. "It's going totally in the wrong direction," said Dan Lewis, the group's executive director. "It's going completely against the mandate of the minister to get open-net pens out of the water by 2025." Lewis said chinook runs in the area are among the worst in the province, and past monitoring of juvenile wild salmon has shown they are "loaded with lice." Sea lice are among a handful of pathogens fish in open-net pen farms are thought to pass on to wild fish, said scientists. Those pressures have combined with habitat loss, over-fishing and a warming ocean to increasingly put pressure on wild salmon populations. "Things are really bad here," said Lewis, whose group has been tracking the expansion of the farms. "The only solution is to get farms out of the water." In June 2022, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Joyce Murray appeared to agree. Thus, she announced the federal government would be moving to phase out open-net pen salmon farms in British Columbia by 2025. In an interview with Glacier Media, Murray said she was committed to safeguarding wild salmon from the threat of farms. When pressed if that meant removing all salmon farms from the ocean and onto land, she suggested there might be technology that allows a middle ground where salmon farms still operate in the ocean. But in the weeks that followed, salmon advocate groups criticised new measures to contain pathogens stemming from salmon farms. A spokesperson for Fisheries and Oceans Canada confirmed Cermaq requested amendments to the three farms but that the aquaculture company's overall production limits in northern Clayoquot Sound remain "unchanged." The ministry spokesperson added that "only four of the six farms in the area will be allowed to operate at any given time" and that the new conditions of licence will require Cermaq stock the farms with "a single year class of fish". That's meant to disrupt cycles of pathogen and disease, according to the DFO spokesperson. When questioned whether the additions would undermine the plan to phase out open-pen net salmon farms in British Columbia, the ministry said the federal government is "fully committed to" its planned transition and that "work on that plan is underway." For Lewis, however, he said the latest expansions represent a continuation of the status quo and a complete disregard for the commitments made by the federal government to protect the iconic West Coast fish. "We've been seeing the arrays getting built and deployed," he said. "We expect to see a similar pattern with the other ones." - Business in Vancouver Hamlet Protein receives Japanese delegation in Denmark Hamlet Protein recently hosted a group of Japanese industry professionals on a week-long visit to Denmark. The group had toured leading Danish companies to learn about the Danish pig industry and how they deal with current and future challenges. Japan is one of the top-10 pork producing countries in the world and Hamlet Protein has long standing business relations with swine producers in the country. Next to strong production volumes, Japan is also an important importer of pork. The delegation was interested in the Danish approach to animal welfare, biosecurity, farm management and genetics, according to Hamlet Protein. The company's team focused on the importance of young animal nutrition to drive performance throughout the lifecycle. "Hamlet Protein aims to be a knowledge partner of its customers, and that is exactly what we achieve in these kinds of visits," said Anders Hagemann, sales manager at Hamlet Protein. "The mutual learnings further deepen the existing relationships and drive innovative ideas for both Hamlet Protein and our visitors. We are grateful for the interesting interaction with our guests." - Hamlet Protein US pork exports dropped 6% in July US pork exports for this year remained below 2021's pace but continued to gain strength in Colombia and the Caribbean, and stayed above year-ago for Mexico, the leading destination for US pork. According to US Meat Export Federation (USMEF), US pork exports reached 208,095 in July, down 6% from a year ago, valued at US$625 million (down 5%). Through July, exports were 17% below last year at just under 1.5 million tonnes, valued at US$4.24 billion (down 15%). July pork exports to leading market Mexico reached 70,245 tonnes, up 6% from a year ago, while export value jumped 16% to US$169.6 million. US pork exports to Colombia continued to surge in July, climbing 24% to 9,078 tonnes, while export value increased 23% to US$22.3 million. July pork exports to the Caribbean increased 15% from a year ago to 6,327 tonnes, while value also climbed 15% to $19 million. July pork exports to South Korea reached 14,662 tonnes, up 7% from a year ago, while value was steady at US$50.2 million. While still below year-ago levels, July pork exports to China/Hong Kong were the largest since September at 44,943 tonnes, valued at US$117.2 million (the highest since July 2021). The strength is in variety meats, which reached 29,539 tonnes in July, the most since July 2021, valued at US$71.2 million. July pork exports to Japan were 28,745 tonnes, down 8% from a year ago, valued at US$116.9 million (down 15%). - USMEF President Yoon Suk-yeol and his wife Kim Keon-hee leave a hotel in London to attend the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, Monday (Korea Standard Time). Yonhap By Nam Hyun-woo President Yoon Suk-yeol attended the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, paying tribute to her lifetime dedication to protecting peace and freedom. Yoon and first lady Kim Keon-hee attended the state funeral held at Westminster Abbey in London, Monday (Korea Standard Time), along with dignitaries and world leaders who gathered to mourn the longest-reigning British monarch. After the funeral service, Yoon was scheduled to pay his respects to her coffin and wrote a message of tribute in a book of condolence. According to senior presidential secretary for public relations, Kim Eun-hye, Yoon said in the message that he was "honored to have been among the contemporaries of the queen who had lived a life dedicated to protecting freedom and peace" and "the Republic of Korea will remember Queen Elizabeth II forever." But Yoon failed to make a scheduled visit to the Queen's lying-in-state in Westminster before the funeral, triggering speculations. There was even a rumor that he was not invited to the tribute. The senior secretary for public relations flatly denied the rumor, criticizing those who spread such groundless speculation. She told reporters that "the event of President Yoon leaving his message in the book of condolences was arranged after the funeral service, due to the circumstance of London," noting that leaders who arrived in London later on Sunday were ushered to visit the tribute event on Monday. "It is regretful that the grief (for the queen's death) is exploited for the sake of domestic politics," she said, adding that there are other leaders who would sign the book after the funeral services. President Yoon Suk-yeol, left in third row from bottom, and his wife Kim Keon-hee, to Yoon's right, attend the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey in London, Monday (local time). PA Images via Yonhap Before attending the funeral service, Yoon joined a reception hosted by King Charles III in London where he offered the monarch his condolences over the queen's death. According to the senior secretary for public relations, Yoon and his wife attended a reception at Buckingham Palace, ahead of the queen's state funeral. "Many will remember that the queen has dedicated her entire life to peace and freedom," the presidential secretary said. "Yoon offered his condolences and said that her lifetime of dedication for the protection of peace and freedom will be remembered, and South Koreans are also grieving the loss of the queen." Samcheong Reeducation Camp, a civilian concentration camp set up by the military junta in the early 1980s / Korea Times file A man was acquitted in a retrial Monday of charges stemming from his escape from a detention center under the military government four decades ago. The 69-year-old man is one of the victims of the notorious Samcheong Reeducation Camp program, under which tens of thousands of inmates suffered beatings and cruel treatment in military facilities from August 1980 to January 1981. After serving one month in the camp and an additional six months of forced labor, he was put into a five-year protective custody in another military base. In August 1981, he broke out from the facility but turned himself in days later and was charged with violating the Social Protection Act. He was sentenced to four months in prison in December 1981, and the ruling was confirmed by the Supreme Court in April 1982. In a retrial Monday, a court in Wonju, 132 kilometers east of Seoul, ruled him not guilty, citing the illegality of Martial Law Order No. 13, under which both Samcheong Reeducation Camp and the Social Protection Act were established. In 2018, the Supreme Court ruled the order unconstitutional and that the Samcheong program was a massive human rights violation caused by the illegal exercise of public power. "The martial law order is unconstitutional and illegal, thus invalid," the court said. "As long as the martial law order is unconstitutional, he must be judged not guilty of charges of escaping the detention camp he was put into under the order," the court said. The Samcheong camp was set up north of Seoul in August 1980 after Chun Doo-hwan, then an Army general, took power through a military coup in 1979. Chun, who died last year, had ruled the country between 1980 and 1988. The military junta arrested 60,755 civilians and sent about 40,000 of them to the Samcheong camp under the pretext of restoring social order. Beatings and harsh treatment resulted in the deaths of 54 people during the camp's six-month operation. An additional 367 people died from various aftereffects after being released from the camp. (Yonhap) Boom recently lost its jet engine partner for the Overture supersonic jet, and other major engine manufacturers aren't interested in the project either, Insider has reported. After Boom signed an "engagement agreement" with Rolls-Royce for supersonic jet engines back in 2020, the latter announced last week that it had left the project. Now, other major jet engine manufacturers including Pratt & Whitney, GE Aviation, Honeywell and Safran Aircraft Engines have told FlightGlobal they're not currently interested in supersonic aircraft. Boom said that the project is still on track, though, and that it will soon announce an engine partner. "We can reconfirm our intention to announce Boom's selected engine partner and transformational approach for reliable, cost-effective, and sustainable supersonic flight, later this year." Boom told Insider. The company has 20 airplanes on order from American Airlines and 15 from United. It plans to build build a factory in California and start flying passengers by 2029. For its part, Rolls-Royce said that "after careful consideration... [we] have determined that the commercial aviation supersonic market is not currently a priority for us and, therefore, will not pursue further work on the program at this time." Turn on browser notifications to receive breaking news alerts from Engadget You can disable notifications at any time in your settings menu. Not now Turned on Turn on After careful consideration, Rolls-Royce has determined that the commercial aviation supersonic market is not currently a priority for us and, therefore, will not pursue further work on the program at this time. There are a limited number of other manufacturers capable of developing a supersonic jet engine, and all of the biggest ones said that it's not in their plans. Honeywell, Safron and GE shut down the idea, while Pratt & Whitney stated that supersonic travel is "tangential" to its business. Pratt & Whitney cited efficiency as an issue for supersonic jets, and other manufacturers said they're focused on reducing fuel-burn. That's the primary direction for the industry right now, given criticism of air travel's contribution to global warming. In addition, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) recently bashed supersonic travel, noting in a report that it would use 7-9 times more fuel per passenger, per kilometer, than subsonic jets. Boom has said that it would offset its carbon output through the use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). However, the ICAO report said that would be a poor use of scarce SAF fuels, given the high fuel burn compared to a regular jet. It also noted that "the high cruise altitude of supersonics increases the residence time of emissions significantly." Uber believes it has identified the team behind last week's hack, and the name will sound all too familiar. In an update on the breach, Uber said the perpetrator was affiliated with Lapsus$, the hacking group that has targeted tech firms like Microsoft, Samsung and T-Mobile. The same intruder might also have been responsible for the Rockstar hack that leaked Grand Theft Auto VI, Uber said. It's also clearer just how the culprit may have accessed Uber's internal systems. The attacker likely bought the contractor's login details on the dark web after they'd been exposed through a malware-infected computer. Two-factor authentication initially prevented the hacker from getting in, but the contractor accepted an authentication request that was enough to help the invader compromise employee accounts and, in turn, abuse company apps like Google Workspace and Slack. As before, Uber stressed that the hacker didn't access public-facing systems or user accounts. The codebase also remains untouched. While those responsible did compromise Uber's bug bounty program, any vulnerability reports involved have been "remediated." Uber contained the hack by limiting compromised accounts, temporarily disabling tools and resetting access to services. There's also extra monitoring for unusual activity. Turn on browser notifications to receive breaking news alerts from Engadget You can disable notifications at any time in your settings menu. Not now Turned on Turn on The incident update suggests the damage to Uber is relatively limited. However, it also indicates that Lapsus$ is still hacking high-profile targets despite arrests. It also underscores major tech companies' continued vulnerability to hacks. In this case, one wrong move by a contractor was all it took to disrupt Uber's operations. If Prince Harry and Meghan Markle continue to do this one thing, their golden days in the United States or even around the world may be over. According to a renowned public relations expert, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex may "risk losing America" if they continue to assault and make accusations against the royals after Queen Elizabeth II's death. In the aftermath of the sovereign's death, the former "Suits" star has lately postponed the broadcast of her "Archetypes" podcast for the next six weeks and even canceled her appearance on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon." Instead, Prince Harry and Meghan will attend the royal family vigil at Westminster Hall alongside Prince William and Princess Kate Middleton, as part of the "current truce" between the Fab Four. According to Martin Townsend, a senior PR adviser partner at Pagefield, sympathy for the British royal family is at an all-time high - so he stressed that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex should avoid any criticism while everybody is in mourning. Speaking to The Telegraph, the expert said that King Charles III is now the new head of the monarch and therefore, can automatically command much more support than he used to. The support has reportedly increased because of the heart-warming way he led an entire nation in mourning. Pagefield explained that if Prince Harry and Meghan Markle chose to attack "all of that" at the moment, he believes that they are going to look "completely out of step." "The couple's problem, though, appears to be that they can only acquire exposure for their salvos against the royals." What will they have left when that stops? " READ ALSO: King Charles III Gains Criticisms For Being 'Fussy' In Viral 'Pen' Video But Fans Rush To His Defense Many sources stated that Prince Harry's long-awaited book, which was ghostwritten by Pulitzer Prize winner J.R. Following the unfortunate death of Queen Elizabeth II, Moehringer has been completely canceled. However, the autobiography, which included personal memories, was previously filed and authorized by attorneys. Furthermore, the couple's interview with Oprah Winfrey last year reportedly irritated Prince William and Kate Middleton. According to a source close to the Prince and Princess of Wales, they believe Oprah crossed a boundary and that someone should be held accountable for the "motives" behind it as well as "the grief it caused." "They believe they've got to be steely to send a message that you can't just say this tremendously unpleasant stuff without their being consequences," the insider continued. READ MORE: Was Meghan Markle Wearing A Hidden Microphone During Fab Four Walk? The Truth! STOCKHOLM, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- EQT Private Equity has sold its stake in GPA Global, a packaging services provider with operations across North America , Europe , and Asia , to Ontario Teachers' , , and , to Ontario Teachers' Under EQT Private Equity's tenure, GPA Global has transformed from an Asia -focused consumer electronics packaging specialist, into a global packaging platform serving a well-diversified mix of customers and end-markets -focused consumer electronics packaging specialist, into a global packaging platform serving a well-diversified mix of customers and end-markets The sale of GPA Global represents another successful exit for EQT Private Equity in Asia and further cements EQT's overall momentum in APAC EQT is pleased to announce that the EQT Mid Market Asia III fund ("EQT Private Equity") has completed the sale of its co-control stake in GPA Global ("GPA" or the "Company") to Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board ("Ontario Teachers"). Founded in 2007, GPA Global is a global packaging services provider. The Company offers a comprehensive suite of end-to-end services across the packaging value chain; including prototyping, design, vendor management, production and supply chain logistics. GPA provides these services to some of the world's most well-known brands, and has more than 600 customers across the beverage, consumer electronics, healthcare, beauty and jewelry end-markets. Since EQT Private Equity's investment in 2017, GPA has substantially expanded its capability set and geographic footprint, and transitioned from an Asian focus into a global platform operating across North America, Europe and Asia. Over the five year period, the Company has grown its operating base from a single office in Asia to 31 global offices and facilities, including four in-house production facilities, and expanded its employee base from around 150 to 2,000 today. GPA's expansion has partly been enabled by the successful completion of seven strategic add-on acquisitions. These acquisitions served to diversify the Company's revenue base, enhance its global manufacturing capabilities, and elevate its ability to deliver a differentiated value proposition to customers. To support its rapid growth, GPA also invested heavily in building a deep management bench with the appropriate skill-set to help future-proof its operations. This included on-boarding regional heads in North America and Europe following relevant acquisitions in those markets, and also bolstering functional senior leadership in the areas of finance, HR, digital and sustainability. Tom Wang, Co-Founder and President of GPA said, "GPA has undergone a transformation over the past five years, from an Asia-centric consumer electronics packaging specialist, into its position today as a truly global packaging platform that has a strong market position across a diversified mix of attractive end-markets. EQT has been instrumental in supporting this journey and have been great partners in the development of our business." Adam Melton, Co-Founder and CEO of GPA commented, "The growth GPA has achieved over the past five years is a testament to our differentiated value proposition in the packaging market. Our amazing global team bring innovation, customer-centricity and a nimble mindset to help our customers' unique products shine in a crowded marketplace. Our whole team have enjoyed the partnership with EQT, and are equally excited about our future with Ontario Teachers'." David Forde, Managing Director within EQT Private Equity's Advisory Team, said, "GPA is a great example of how EQT can partner with founder management teams to unlock the full potential of their business, and support their global expansion ambitions. In addition to growing earnings five-fold over the investment period, GPA has also thoughtfully laid the foundations for sustained long-term growth through a continued broadening of its capability set, geographic presence and addressable end-markets." Evercore acted as financial advisor to GPA Global and EQT Private Equity on the transaction, and Baker McKenzie as legal advisor to EQT Private Equity. Contact:EQT Press Office, press@eqtpartners.com, +46 8 506 55 334 This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com https://news.cision.com/eqt/r/eqt-private-equity-sells-its-stake-in-gpa-global,c3632799 The following files are available for download: View original content: https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/eqt-private-equity-sells-its-stake-in-gpa-global-301626837.html Police on Monday disclosed the identity of the suspect in the shocking subway murder case as 31-year-old Jeon Joo-hwan and released a photo of him to the public. The Seoul Metro employee was apprehended Wednesday evening at Sindang Station on Line No. 2 after allegedly stabbing his female colleague in her 20s to death in the subway station's ladies' room. The case shocked the nation, as it was revealed the killing took place one day before a court was set to sentence him on charges of stalking her. The two had known each other since entering Seoul Metro the same year. Following a meeting of its identity disclosure review board, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency made the disclosure, a decision reserved for horrendous crimes. (Yonhap) Monday, September 19, 2022 EX NIHILO AND GET CITIES LAUNCH DEAFCYBERCON WEBINAR SERIES TO INCREASE ACCESS TO CYBERSECURITY CAREERS FOR DEAF WOMEN Washington, DC (September 20, 2022): Ex Nihilo Management, LLC, in partnership with GET Cities DC, is proud to announce the launch of the DEAFCYBERCON webinar program, a five-part series designed to increase awareness of the need for diversity and accessibility for deaf women in cybersecurity. DEAFCYBERCON was created by Angela Dingle, President and CEO of Ex Nihilo Management, after recognizing the urgent need for greater representation in the field of cybersecurity and the general lack of accessibility in the industry for deaf employees. Although women make up 51% of the U.S. population, only 25% of cybersecurity roles are held by women and only 50.5% of deaf women are in the workforce at all. Meanwhile, there are currently more than 500,000 open jobs in cybersecurity. "Gender bias, misperceptions and a lack of female role models have created barriers for this underutilized pool of resources. We're doing what we can to break down barriers to entry for deaf women. Cybersecurity is a people problem, not just a technical one. It's a person that steals your identity, hacks into your computer or launches a ransomware attack. We need a diverse workforce with a variety of skills to solve the problem. You don't need to be a hearing person to work in cybersecurity. As the sibling of two deaf women with successful careers in Government and Healthcare, I saw a huge opportunity to create an equitable pipeline of careers for deaf women in cybersecurity. I want to redefine the future for deaf women in cybersecurity. DEAFCYBERCON will make this happen." says Angela Dingle. The webinar series will consist of five sessions hosted by Ex Nihilo and supported by GET Cities designed to engage deaf women, hiring managers, thought leaders in cybersecurity, research partners, collaborators, and government entities. The series will run from September 2022 to January 2023 and participants will be sourced via a direct referral from partner organizations. American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters will be provided for each webinar. All registered participants will be granted access to the DEAFCYBERCON online community to encourage collaboration, communication and information sharing. Hiring managers have the opportunity to post job openings, upcoming events and industry knowledge. The ultimate goal of DEAFCYBERCON is to increase the net job growth rate for full- and part-time positions for deaf women in cybersecurity. GET Cities DC is investing in this initiative to promote gender and racial equity in tech by working to increase the number and proportion of deaf women of color hired into in-demand cybersecurity roles. "Our commitment to transforming the culture of the tech industry extends far beyond our efforts to support women, trans and nonbinary people," said Ayanna Smith, Managing Director of GET Cities (DC). "When we learned about the challenges deaf tech students face obtaining internships and full-time employment, we jumped at the opportunity to collaborate with Ex Nihilo Management to create a job placement program for Gallaudet University." "Our mission at GET Cities is to transform the culture of the tech industry by creating diverse and inclusive environments for all marginalized communities. That's why we're thrilled to collaborate with Ex Nihilo Management on DEAFCYBERCON," said Ayanna Smith, Managing Director of GET Cities DC. "We know that a diverse workforce is critical to the effectiveness of cybersecurity initiatives, and deaf women an often overlooked talent pool can offer their own unique perspectives and disruptive ways of thinking to push the industry forward. About DEAFCYBERCON: DEAFCYBERCON is an online community, collaborative environment and mobile app where deaf women explore, identify, and excel in careers in cybersecurity. We feature tailored content, bootcamps, conferences, internships, career fairs, and access to mentors. Learn more about DEAFCYBERCON at www.deafcybercon.us/. To register for the webinar visit https://bit.ly/3eN67YH. About Ex Nihilo Management, LLC: Ex Nihilo is a trusted advisor in the public and private sector, providing objective IT governance, risk management and compliance services based on a thorough understanding of customer requirements and deep systems integration experience. We provide the expertise and training necessary to ensure compliance with a variety of regulations, policies and directives governing the acquisition, development and deployment of information systems throughout the enterprise such as GDPR, FEDRAMP, DoD 5000, FISMA, FITARA, Clinger-Cohen, NIST SP 800-53, PMBOK, CMMi, COBIT, ITIL and ISO/IEC 27002. To learn more about Ex Nihilo, please visit www.exnihilo-mgmt.com. About GET Cities: GET Cities, led by SecondMuse Foundation and Break Through Tech in partnership with Pivotal Ventures, is an initiative designed to accelerate the representation and leadership of women, transgender, and non-binary people in tech through the development of inclusive tech hubs across the United States. ### Air Serbia anticipates breaking even or registering a small profit in 2022 following two years of Covid-induced financial losses. Air Serbia has performed relatively well during the pandemic. In 2021 we significantly improved our operational performance and even reduced our loss. This year we are aiming for profitability, and we will continue on this path in the future. Air Serbia will continue to be the leading regional airline in the Balkans, and we aim to keep our market share in Belgrade between 50% and 55%, the companys CEO, Jiri Marek, told Aero Telegraph. He added, The rise in fuel prices is taking its toll and we are not hedged. As an airline, you can pass about 60% of the increase onto customers. So of course, we suffer. But even at current fuel prices, we believe we can break even this year. Air Serbia anticipates breaking even or registering a small profit in 2022 following two years of Covid-induced financial losses. Air Serbia has performed relatively well during the pandemic. In 2021 we significantly improved our operational performance and even reduced our loss. This year we are aiming for profitability, and we will continue on this path in the future. Air Serbia will continue to be the leading regional airline in the Balkans, and we aim to keep our market share in Belgrade between 50% and 55%, the companys CEO, Jiri Marek, told Aero Telegraph. He added, The rise in fuel prices is taking its toll and we are not hedged. As an airline, you can pass about 60% of the increase onto customers. So of course, we suffer. But even at current fuel prices, we believe we can break even this year. Air Serbia reported a loss of 77 million euros during the pandemic-stricken 2020, ending six consecutive years of profit. The result did not take into account the 100-million-euro recapitalisation provided by the Serbian government late that year, which saw it increase its ownership stake in the company to 82%. In 2021, the net loss was reduced to 21.3 million euros. Over the course of last year, Air Serbia repaid in full its second and final loan to Etihad Airways Partners BV, a special purpose vehicle set up by Etihad Airways in September 2015 to raise funds for itself and its equity partners. The loan amounted to 63 million US dollars. Air Serbia is one of sixty companies which receives subsidies from the state since it is categorised as being of special importance. This year, the sixty business are sharing amongst them 170 million euros in subsidies, although the exact amount each receives has not been made public. Warrenton, VA (20186) Today Rain ending early. Remaining cloudy. Low 46F. Winds NNE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch.. Tonight Rain ending early. Remaining cloudy. Low 46F. Winds NNE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch. The exports of textile and apparel from the United States went up by 12.78 per cent year-on-year in the first seven months of this year. The value of exports stood at $14.516 billion during January-July 2022 compared to $12.871 billion in the same period of 2021, according to data from the Office of Textiles and Apparel, US department of commerce. Category-wise, apparel exports increased by 24.65 per cent year-on-year to $4.122 billion, while textile mill products rose 8.67 per cent to $10.393 billion during the first seven months of 2022. Among textile mill products, yarn exports increased by 21.99 per cent year-on-year to $2.714 billion, while fabric exports were up 2.85 per cent to $5.168 billion and made-up and miscellaneous article exports grew 8.51 per cent to $2.511 billion. The exports of textile and apparel from the United States went up by 12.78 per cent year-on-year in the first seven months of this year. The value of exports stood at $14.516 billion during January-July 2022 compared to $12.871 billion in the same period of 2021, according to data from the Office of Textiles and Apparel, US department of commerce. Country-wise, Mexico (27.35 per cent) and Canada (24.09 per cent) together accounted for more than half of the total US textile and clothing exports during the period under review. The US supplied $4.005 billion worth of textiles and apparel to Mexico during the seven-month period, followed by $3.492 billion to Canada and $1.023 billion to Honduras. In recent years, the US textile and clothing exports have remained in the range of $22-25 billion per annum. In 2014, they stood at $24.418 billion, while the figure was $23.622 billion in 2015, $22.124 billion in 2016, $22.671 billion in 2017, $23.467 billion in 2018, and $22.905 billion in 2019. The value had dropped to $19.330 billion in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic but rose again in 2021 to $22.652 billion. Fibre2Fashion News Desk (KUL) President Yoon Seok-yeol speaks to a group of military service personnel dispatched overseas on the occasion of the Chuseok holiday via video links at his office in Seoul, Sept. 10. Yonhap South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has criticized his liberal predecessor Moon Jae-in's dovish approach to North Korea as "being obsessed with only one friend," while stressing his focus on deterrence to counter evolving threats from the recalcitrant regime, The New York Times reported Sunday. During the interview, the president expressed his thoughts on Moon's diplomacy toward Pyongyang through summitry, and Moon's stance between Washington and Beijing, which he described as "political show" and "too ambiguous," respectively. "(Yoon) compared Mr. Moon to a 'student obsessed with only one friend in his classroom: North Korea,'" the newspaper said in an apparent reference to Moon's largely unfruitful push for inter-Korean rapprochement and peace on the Korean Peninsula. On the policy stance between the United States and China, Yoon highlighted his pursuit of more clarity. "I will pursue predictability, and South Korea will take a more clear position with respect to U.S.-China relations," Yoon was quoted as saying. Seoul's position has taken on greater clarity in geopolitics, as it has aligned more with Washington by scaling up combined military exercises and joining the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework seen as an effort to counter China's growing influence. Yoon, however, pointed out Seoul's security partnership with Washington was not aimed at China. He also acknowledged "limits to how far South Korea could go in confronting China," according to the Times. Touching on North Korean security challenges, he said the allies were prepared to bring "a package of all possible means and methods," including America's nuclear umbrella, to avoid a war. Yoon also stressed the importance of extended deterrence, the U.S.' commitment to mobilizing the full range of its military capabilities, including nuclear ones, to defend its ally. "I seek to find the answer in strengthening the extended deterrence based on a strong South Korea-U.S. alliance," he said. But Yoon also held out the prospect of the North's "bright economic future" to unfold should its leader choose denuclearization. On the relations with Japan, the president said he hoped to strike a "grand bargain" with Tokyo over thorny historical issues yet another indication of his desire to address the two countries' grievances and work together to confront shared challenges, like North Korean threats. Commenting on China's opposition to the U.S. Forces Korea's THAAD missile defense system here, Yoon reiterated it is a "matter of sovereignty and security, which is not subject to any compromise." (Yonhap) Ethiopia, China, and Germany have pledged to increase their cooperation regarding the promotion of the social, labour, and environmental standards in the textile sector of Ethiopia. Representatives of the three countries endorsed their commitment towards the Sustainable Textile Investment and Operation in Ethiopia project at a recent conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopias capital. The project, which is a collaboration between the China National Textile and Apparel Council (CNTAC), Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), Ethiopian Textile Industry Development Institute (ETIDI), and the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), intends to address challenges at a global level and endorse the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for African and Asian countries in the textile sector. The initiative mainly focuses on Chinese investors and their Ethiopian business partners in the Ethiopian textile and garment industry. Ethiopia, China, and Germany have pledged to increase their cooperation regarding the promotion of the social, labour, and environmental standards in the textile sector of Ethiopia. Representatives of these countries endorsed their commitment towards the 'Sustainable Textile Investment and Operation in Ethiopia' project at a conference in Addis Ababa. So far, China is one of the biggest investors in the textile sector in Ethiopia, with a total of about $450 million. We have over 30 Chinese textile companies in Ethiopia, Zhao Zhiyuan, Chinese Ambassador to Ethiopia, was quoted as saying at the conference according to various Chinese media reports. The agreement between the three nations took place at the two-day conference held at the United Nations Conference Centre (UNCC) in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, recently. The conference aimed to foster sustainable textile industry development and increase awareness of the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) framework among all key players in the textile industry in Ethiopia. Fibre2Fashion News Desk (NB) The 27th ASEAN Economic Ministers-Closer Economic Relations (AEM-CER) Consultation that recently concluded in Siem Reap welcomed Australias and New Zealands continued commitment to support ASEAN beyond the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area (AANZFTA) Economic Cooperation Support Programme (AECSP), particularly through the $32-million Regional Trade for Development (RT4D) initiative. Welcoming the progress of upgrading negotiations of the Second Protocol to amend the agreement establishing the AANZFTA, the meeting noted that the upgraded AANZFTA would provide value-added elements that take into account modern trade practices, including government procurement, trade and sustainable development, and micro-, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), competition, e-commerce and trade facilitation, a joint statement released at the conclusion of the meeting said. The recent 27th ASEAN Economic Ministers-Closer Economic Relations Consultation has welcomed Australia's and New Zealand's continued commitment to support ASEAN beyond the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area (AANZFTA) Economic Cooperation Support Programme (AECSP), particularly through the $32-million Regional Trade for Development (RT4D) initiative. The meeting hailed the insights proposed by the Australia-ASEAN Chamber of Commerce to enhance trade and investment in the region and encouraged Australian businesses to provide cross-border internship and job exchange. Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS) Nick Jonas celebrated his 30th birthday on September 16. His birthday bash took place in Arizona and it was hosted by his actress-wife Priyanka Chopra Jonas. They were joined by their close friends and family including Joe, Kevin and Frankie Jonas. Priyanka Chopra took to social media to share a glimpse of Nick Jonas' birthday celebrations. In her wholesome birthday note, she wrote, "Happiest birthday my love. May you always have joy in your life and a smile on your face. I love you @nickjonas. This was a weekend that made my heart so full. It started with wanting to celebrate my husband's 30th but ended up being so much more. All of NJ's friends and family filled the room with so much love and joy. @scottsdalenational you are our home away from home. I cannot thank you all enough for helping me pull off the perfect celebration of an incredible man. Check It Out Here: View this post on Instagram A post shared by Priyanka (@priyankachopra) Nick Jonas replied to the post in a comment that read, Epic time. You are amazing. replied to the post in a comment that read, Epic time. You are amazing. Priyanka Chopra also shared a photo of her daughter Malti Marie. Take A Look: On the work front, Priyanka Chopra is set to star in the spy thriller series Citadel, romantic drama It's All Coming Back To Me and road trip film Jee Le Zara alongside Alia Bhatt and Katrina Kaif. Press Release Nicox Announces Last Patients Complete Final Visit in NCX 470 Phase 3 Mont Blanc Glaucoma Trial The last patient s completed their final (3-month) visit on September 16 691 patients were enrolled in the Mont Blanc trial Topline results of the Mont Blanc trial due in early November 2022 September 19, 2022- release at 7:30 am CET Sophia Antipolis, France Nicox SA (Euronext Paris: FR0013018124, COX), an international ophthalmology company, today announced that the last patients completed their final (3-month) visit in the Mont Blanc Phase 3 clinical trial of NCX 470 0.1% for the lowering of intraocular pressure (IOP) in patients with open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension. A total of 691 patients were enrolled in the trial. NCX 470, Nicox's lead clinical product candidate, is a novel, potentially best-in-class, nitric oxide (NO)-donating prostaglandin analog eye drop. "We are pleased to have reached this milestone in the Mont Blanc Phase 3 clinical trial, and I would particularly like to thank our clinical sites and the Nicox development team for their incredible efforts in continuingto drive this trial to completionin the face of the COVID-19 pandemic situation." said Doug Hubatsch, EVP, Chief Scientific Officer of Nicox. "NCX 470 has the potential to be a best-in-class glaucoma treatment,and we look forward to sharing the topline results in early November." Mont Blanc is a multi-regional, double-masked, 3-month, parallel group trial evaluating the efficacy and safety of NCX 470 ophthalmic solution 0.1% compared to latanoprost ophthalmic solution, 0.005%. Latanoprost is the most widely prescribed first-line therapy for open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension. The primary efficacy evaluation in Mont Blanc is based on time-matched IOP at 8 AM and 4 PM at Week 2, Week 6 and Month 3. The second Phase 3 trial on NCX 470, Denali, is being jointly conducted and equally financed with our Chinese partner, Ocumension Therapeutics. Topline results is currently expected after 2024. About Nicox Nicox SA is an international ophthalmology company developing innovative solutions to help maintain vision and improve ocular health. Nicox's lead program in clinical development is NCX 470, a novel nitric oxide-donating prostaglandin analog, for lowering intraocular pressure in patients with open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension. The company is also conducting research on NCX 1728, a nitric oxide-donating phosphodiesterase 5 inhibitor, in intraocular pressure lowering and retinal conditions. NCX 4251, a novel, patented, ophthalmic suspension fluticasone propionate nanocrystals for topical ocular application for dry eye disease, is being developed by Ocumension Therapeutics in China under an exclusive license agreement and is available for partnering elsewhere. Nicox generates revenue from VYZULTA in glaucoma, licensed exclusively worldwide to Bausch + Lomb, and ZERVIATE in allergic conjunctivitis, licensed in multiple geographies, including to Eyevance Pharmaceuticals, LLC (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Santen Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.), in the U.S. and Ocumension Therapeutics in the Chinese and in the majority of Southeast Asian markets. Nicox is headquartered in Sophia Antipolis, France, is listed on Euronext Paris (Compartment B: Mid Caps; Ticker symbol: COX) and is part of the CAC Healthcare, CAC Pharma & Bio and Next 150 indexes. For more information on Nicox, its products or pipeline, please visit: www.nicox.com (http://www.nicox.com). Analyst coverage Bryan, Garnier & Co Dylan Van Haaften Paris, France Edison Investment Research Pooya Hemami London, UK H.C. Wainwright & Co Yi Chen New York, U.S. Kepler Cheuvreux Arsene Guekam Paris, France The views expressed by analysts in their coverage of Nicox are those of the author and do not reflect the views of Nicox. Additionally, the information contained in their reports may not be correct or current. Nicox disavows any obligation to correct or to update the information contained in analyst reports. Nicox Gavin Spencer Executive Vice President, Chief Business Officer & Head of Corporate Development T +33 (0)4 97 24 53 00 communications@nicox.com (mailto:communications@nicox.com) Investors & Media United States & Europe LifeSci Advisors, LLC Sandya von der Weid T +41 78 680 05 38 svonderweid@lifesciadvisors.com (mailto:svonderweid@lifesciadvisors.com) Forward-Looking Statements The information contained in this document may be modified without prior notice. This information includes forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. These statements are based on current expectations or beliefs of the management of Nicox S.A. and are subject to a number of factors and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. Nicox S.A. and its affiliates, directors, officers, employees, advisers or agents, do not undertake, nor do they have any obligation, to provide updates or to revise any forward-looking statements. Risks factors which are likely to have a material effect on Nicox's business are presented in the 3rd chapter of the 'Document d'enregistrement universel, rapport financier annuel et rapport de gestion 2021' filed with the French Autorite des Marches Financiers (AMF) on April 29, 2022 which is available on Nicox's website (www.nicox.com) VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / September 19, 2022 / SILVER X MINING CORP. (TSX-V:AGX)(OTCQB: AGXPF)(FRA:WPZ) ("Silver X" or the "Company") is pleased to announce results of voting at its annual general meeting of shareholders which was held on September 15, 2022 (the "Meeting"). All matters submitted to the shareholders for approval as set out in the Company's Notice of Meeting and Information Circular, dated August 9, 2022, were approved by the majority of votes cast at the Meeting. As a result, 1.- Number of directors Shareholders approved the setting of the number of Directors at five (5). 2.- Election of directors The shareholders elected the following slate of Directors: Jose Maria Garcia Jimenez Sebastian Wahl Michael Hoffman Darryl Cardey Francis Johnstone 3.- Appointment of auditors Shim & Associates LLP, Chartered Professional Accountants were reappointed as Auditors of the Company for the ensuing year with their remuneration to be fixed by the Board of Directors. 4.- Amended and Restated Share Option Plan. Shareholders approved the Company's amended and restated "rolling up to 10%" share option plan. 5.- Amended and Restated Restricted Share Unit Plan. Shareholders approved the Company's amended and restated restricted share unit plan. About Silver X Silver X is a Canadian silver mining company with assets in Peru. The Company's flagship asset is the Tangana silver, gold, lead, zinc and copper project (the "Project") located in Huancavelica, Peru, 10 km north-northwest of the Nueva Recuperada polymetallic concentrate plant. Founders and management have a successful track record of increasing shareholder value. For more information visit our website at www.silverxmining.com. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD Jose M. Garcia CEO and Director For further information, please contact: Silver X Mining Corp. Jose M. Garcia, CEO +1 604 358 1382 | j.garcia@silverxmining.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. SOURCE: Silver X Mining Corp. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/716428/Silver-X-Announces-2022-AGM-Results The opening ceremony of the HUB.ID Summit 2022 was held at Nusa Dua, Bali province, on Monday (September 5, 2022). (ANTARA/Livia Kristianti/uyu) Nusa Dua, Bali, Sept 19, 2022 - (ACN Newswire) - The HUB.ID is proud to be a hub that connects 80 curated startups with 80 global venture capital and well-known business partners, stated Indonesia's Ministry of Communication & Informatics at this year's HUB.ID Summit opening, in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia."We believe the startups have the ability and potential to be the tech giants. Therefore, the Ministry holds the HUB.ID Summit as a hub to connect the early-stage startups, venture capitalists and business partners in exploring collaboration and investment opportunities," said Semuel Abrijani Pangerapan, Director-General of Application & Informatics, Ministry of Communication & Informatics, in the opening address.The HUB.ID Summit 2022 was held in Nusa Dua, Bali from 5 to 6 September 2022. Its focus is on early-stage startups looking for seed to series A investment. The Ministry hopes that the 80 selected startups participating in the HUB.ID Summit can explore opportunities for cooperation, especially in terms of funding.HUB.ID includes the HUB.ID Accelerator, the HUB.ID Summit, and the HUB.ID Ecosystem. After undergoing a series of HUB.ID incubation and accelerator programs held by the Ministry, tech startups can continue their journey by expanding their business network on a global scale.Startups are represented across sectors from agriculture & aquaculture tech, enterprise & government tech, health tech, social commerce & SME enablement, Web.30, deep tech, education, fintech and legal tech to property and proptech.Startups participating in the HUB.ID Summit 2022 include Chickin, Dagangan, DOTX, Duitin, Eratani, Bananas, Fishlog, Gajiku, Gorrywell, HiPajak, Jejakin, Klinik Pintar, Legalku, MallSampah, NOBI, SoulParking, Teman Pasar, Verihubs, and ZI.Care.Venture capitalists and business partners participating in HUB.ID Summit include East Ventures, DG Ventures, AC Ventures, BEENEXT, Finch Capital, Cyber Agent Capital, J Trust Bank, Telkom, Midtrans, OCBC NISP Ventura, Sinarmas Land, AppWorks, Investible, Jabar Digital Service, Jakarta Smart City, Bio Farma, and Mandiri Capital.Semuel said that collaboration and investment can support startups in Indonesia to be more resilient in facing future challenges. "We are optimistic that startups in Indonesia will be more mature, as well as ready to collaborate and have investment cooperation," Semuel stated.On day one, the HUB.ID Summit consisted of two panel discussions: "The Dawn of New Groceries Shopping in Indonesia: Is it a sustainable business model?" including Metha (Co-Founder SayurBox), Vincent (Co-Founder Astro), Yosua Setiawan (Co-Founder Segari), and moderated by Agung Nugroho (Co-Founder Kudo).The second panel "Anticipating The Next Momentum of Indonesia Fintech" included Triyono Gani (Head of Digital Innovation Growth Otoris Jasa Keuangan), Dino Setiawan (Co-Founder Awan Tunai), Vira Widiyasari (SVP of Fintech and Payment Tokopedia), and moderated by Rico (Commissioner LinkAja). Those two panels showed Indonesia's digital economy landscape from the startup point of view.On day two, the HUB.ID Summit featured: "Standing Tall Amidst the Chaos: Indonesia Startup Investments Today and Tomorrow", with Dirk Van Quaquebeke (Managing Partner, BEENEXT), Helen Wong (Managing Partner, AC Ventures), and Melisa Irene (Partner, East Ventures), on stage and moderated by Willis Wee (Founder & CEO, Tech in Asia). This panel discussed the future of Indonesia's startup investment.More than 350 participants joined Hub.ID Summit 2022, which consisted of 1-on-1 Business Matchmaking, Panel Discussions, and a Networking Dinner. Venture capital and business partners came not only from Indonesia, but also from Japan, Singapore, South Korea and India.About HUB.IDHUB.ID includes the HUB.ID Accelerator, the HUB.ID Summit, and the HUB.ID Ecosystem. HUB.ID is a platform provided by the Indonesian Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, focusing on enabling post-seed local Indonesian startups to scale regionally by leveraging KemenkomInfo's vast network of corporate & governmental partners. Learn more at https://hub.id/.Source: HUB.IDCopyright 2022 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved. Click fraudsters have expanded their crime from North America to UK and Ireland. BERLIN, Sept. 19, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Polygraph, a cybersecurity company helping advertisers detect and prevent click fraud (https://polygraph.net/articles/how-to-prevent-click-fraud.html), is warning companies in the UK and Ireland that their online advertisements are at risk of click fraud. Click fraud is a scam which steals billions of pounds from advertisers every year. Criminals create fake websites, and monetize the content using online adverts. Instead of waiting for genuine visitors to click on the ads, they use bots - software pretending to be human - to generate fake clicks. Each of these clicks steals a few pounds from unsuspecting advertisers. Multiply this by thousands of fake websites, and billions of fake clicks, and the losses to advertisers are huge. According to Trey Vanes, chief marketing officer at Berlin-based Polygraph, click fraud (https://polygraph.net/articles/what-is-click-fraud.html) used to mainly affect US advertisers. "In the past, most click fraud targeted advertisers in the US, mainly due to the size of its market," said Vanes. "However, we're now seeing more and more criminals expanding the fraud to other countries, including the UK and Ireland. What concerns us is most advertisers in the British Isles aren't aware of click fraud, meaning they haven't taken steps to protect themselves." Most advertising networks have some form of click fraud detection (https://polygraph.net/) built into their systems, but Vanes says these systems are insufficient. "The advertising networks are in the business of serving adverts, they're not in the business of fraud detection. As an example, if criminals use a technology called 'puppeteer-extra-plugin-stealth', they can bypass most advertising networks' fraud detection systems. What this means is if a criminal is using 'puppeteer-extra-plugin-stealth', which many are, they can generate fake clicks on your ads and steal your ad budget," said Vanes. Vanes recommends using a click fraud detection service like Polygraph to protect your ads against click fraud. "Polygraph's bread and butter is detecting click fraud, so we're able to detect and block even the most sophisticated criminals. We help advertisers detect click fraud (https://polygraph.net/product), block click fraud, and get click fraud refunds (https://polygraph.net/articles/how-to-get-click-fraud-refunds-from-microsoft-ads.html) from the advertising networks. We make it easy for advertisers to stay protected, so they don't need to worry about click fraud," said Vanes. Polygraph's click fraud detection service includes detecting which ad keywords are being targeted by criminals, flagging scam websites which are generating fake clicks, and catching even the most cutting-edge click fraud bots. "Advertisers are welcome to try Polygraph free of charge, no credit card required, so they can see for themselves how easy it is to protect their ad budgets from click fraud," added Vanes. For more information, please visit https://polygraph.net About Polygraph Established in Berlin, Germany in 2021, Polygraph monitors the activities of click fraud gangs, including how they operate, who they target, the techniques they use, and how to detect their fraud. We go far beyond bot detection to ensure your ad budget is not stolen by cyber-criminals. Contact Details: 114A Friedrichstrasse Berlin, BE 10117 Germany Trey Vanes, Polygraph +49 (030) 2204 4851 Netcetera, a global software company and expert for secure and convenient digital payment solutions, has been welcomed as a Digital First partner by Mastercard. Engage, Mastercard's global partner network offers customers access to a network of qualified technology and fintech partners that can quickly deploy Mastercard Digital First solutions. These solutions, including Netcetera's secure payment products, enable fully digital payment experiences for consumers. Digital payment is everywhere: in web stores, apps, and at the checkout with your smartphone. And consumer demand for digital experiences is growing. With its digital-first strategy for customer journeys in different industries, Netcetera has been catering to this trend for more than 25 years. Hence, the Mastercard Engage Digital First partnership was a logical step to further accelerate digital transformation in payment and banking. With its secure payment solutions, Netcetera enables its customers to provide entirely digital and seamless experiences for consumers. Mastercard is powering consumer choice by building a robust network of qualified enablers that can help our customers quickly launch digital products from the ground up with their engage program. Netcetera is pleased to be chosen to join this growing network as a qualified partner. This is another example of the successful cooperation between Netcetera and Mastercard to provide secure and frictionless payments worldwide. In August 2020 they launched the 3DS PSD2 testing platform for merchants together and in 2021 added the testing platform for issuers. About Netcetera Netcetera is a global software company with cutting-edge IT products and individual digital solutions in the areas of secure digital payment, financial technologies, media, transport, healthcare and insurance. More than 2,500 banks and issuers, and 160,000 merchants rely on the digital payment solutions and globally certified 3-D Secure products of the market leader for payment security. The owner-managed company covers the entire IT lifecycle, from ideation and strategy to implementation and operation. The balanced combination of the latest technologies and proven standards ensures investment security, from large-scale projects to innovative start-ups. Founded in 1996, Netcetera is a holding company with around 1,000 employees and is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, with locations across Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Further information on netcetera.com and LinkedIn. About Mastercard (NYSE: MA), www.mastercard.com Mastercard is a global technology company in the payments industry. Our mission is to connect and power an inclusive, digital economy that benefits everyone, everywhere by making transactions safe, simple, smart and accessible. Using secure data and networks, partnerships and passion, our innovations and solutions help individuals, financial institutions, governments and businesses realize their greatest potential. Our decency quotient, or DQ, drives our culture and everything we do inside and outside of our company. With connections across more than 210 countries and territories, we are building a sustainable world that unlocks priceless possibilities for all. Follow us on Twitter @MastercardEU @MastercardNews, join the discussion on the Beyond the Transaction Blog and subscribe for the latest news on the Engagement Bureau View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220919005353/en/ Contacts: Media Netcetera Angelika Seiler Head of Content angelika.seiler@netcetera.com +41 44 297 58 09 Patagonia has been on the right path for decades, but representing only 0.09% of the fashion industry, Patagonia alone can't save the world Clarity AI, the leading global sustainability tech platform, announced today that it believes the positive viral attention Patagonia received last week and the negative viral attention H&M and other fast-fashion brands received over the past few months is clouding the picture of what can actually save the planet. A few days ago, Yvon Chouinard the Chairman of Patagonia announced that he will be donating the entire company, worth $3 billion, to fight climate change. Social networks were on fire sharing the news and supporting Chouinard CEOs, fashion models, and millions of consumers. The story went viral. Another viral story from earlier this summer is related to fast-fashion giant H&M. It is facing a class-action lawsuit, brought by a student at SUNY New Paltz, for using misleading sustainability claims and for employing the fast-fashion business model while working to be more sustainable. Around the same time, regulators in Europe bore down on the use of inaccurate data or misleading claims. The Norwegian Consumer Authority (NCA) concluded that H&M's usage of sustainability data was non-compliant. Then, the UK's Competitions and Markets Authority opened an investigation to scrutinize the sustainability claims made by 3 brands ASOS, Boohoo, and Walmart-owned George at Asda. The Netherlands' Authority for Consumer Markets (ACM) followed and put H&M and Decathlon, the largest sporting goods retailer in the world, under investigation for using misleading "green" claims. And considering 60% of the top 20 fashion conglomerates by market cap have similar sustainability claims, Clarity AI believes this is just the beginning of whitewashing the green out of fashion "A very large fast-fashion company can have a globally-sized impact on sustainability. And, in terms of size, H&M is 1.5% of the fashion industry and is more than 15 times bigger than Patagonia," notes Rebeca Minguela, Founder CEO, of Clarity AI. "Yes, the fast-fashion model, which is approximately 10% of the fashion industry, generates waste and fuels consumerism, but it is not acceptable to say the entire industry cannot push to be more sustainable or that it is solely to blame for the planet's woes." How does H&M's size relate to carbon emissions and potential emissions reduction? When looking at the intensity of carbon emissions (CO2 per dollar of revenue), Patagonia performs more than twice as well as H&M. H&M has committed to get to that intensity level by 2030, and it is on track so far. Should it achieve its goal, H&M will be at almost exactly the same level of carbon emissions intensity that Patagonia is today. That would mean that H&M would successfully reduce 56% of their emissions, which is the same as 8 million flights from London to NYC or 21 times Patagonia's yearly emissions. "The reality is that advanced technology models actually allow us to improve the data displayed on those labels," added Ms. Minguela. "We can measure more, and better. We should encourage H&M and the rest of the fashion industry the other 98.5% to add those improved sustainability labels and for consumers to use that information." About Clarity AI Clarity AI is a sustainability technology platform that uses machine learning and big data to deliver environmental and social insights to investors, organizations, and consumers. As of August 2022, Clarity AI's platform analyzes more than 50,000 companies, 300,000 funds, 198 countries and 188 local governments 2-13 times more than any other player in the market and delivers data and analytics for investing, corporate research, benchmarking, consumer ecommerce and reporting. Clarity AI has offices in North America, Europe and the Middle East, and its investor client network manages tens of trillions in assets under management. clarity.ai View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220919005361/en/ Contacts: Media Contact Julia Wright Edelman clarityAI@edelmansmithfield.com VANCOUVER BC / ACCESSWIRE / September 19, 2022 / Veji Holdings Ltd.(CSE:VEJI)(OTCQB:VEJIF) (the "Company' or "Veji") announces that the Company has signed an Asset Purchase Agreement dated September 18, 2022 (the "Agreement"), to sell its domain, VeganEssentials.com and certain associated intellectual property and assets (the "Proposed Transaction"). Further to the Company's July 29th,2022 press release, its board of directors previously approved management to initiate a strategic process, in order to identify opportunities including but not limited to, equity/debt investment from a strategic partner, the potential sale of all or a material portion of the Company's assets, operating businesses and wholly-owned subsidiaries, as well as pursuing M&A opportunities, with the goal of identifying the best opportunity and entering into a definitive agreement to complete a transaction. Summary of the Proposed Transaction Pursuant to the terms of the Agreement among the Company, its wholly-owned subsidiary, Veg Essentials LLC ("Essentials"), PlantX Life Inc. ("PlantX") and its wholly owned subsidiary, PlantX Lifestyle USA Inc. ("PlantX USA"), the Company and Essentials will sell the domain, VeganEssentials.com together with certain associated intellectual property and assets to PlantX USA for an aggregate purchase price of C$900,000. The purchase price will be satisfied by (i) cash in the amount of C$150,000 and (ii) the issuance of 1,071,428 post-Consolidation (as defined herein) common shares of PlantX (the "Consideration Shares") at a deemed post-Consolidation issue price of C$0.70 per share. The Consideration Shares are subject to a four-month hold period in accordance with applicable Canadian securities laws and the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange. PlantX has announced today that its board of directors have approved a share consolidation of its common shares on a 20:1 basis (the "Consolidation"). Completion of the Proposed Transaction is subject to a number of conditions precedent, including, but not limited to: (i) completion of the Consolidation; (ii) the execution of non-disclosure, non-competition and non-solicitation agreements from each of Essentials' and Veji's respective directors and officers and each shareholder of Veji holding 10% or more of the outstanding voting securities of Veji; and (iii) other customary closing conditions. Closing of the Proposed Transaction is expected to occur no later than October 15, 2022. About Veji Holdings Ltd. Headquartered in Kelowna B.C, Veji is a unified digital marketplace and fulfillment platform featuring thousands of plant-based and sustainable-living products from a growing list of hundreds of vendors. The platform offers an easy-to-use, omnichannel experience for both vendors and buyers, leveraging big data and artificial intelligence to elegantly connect brands with a targeted consumer base, both organically and through specialized marketing programs. Dynamic fulfillment services empower brands to offer tier-one service, with ongoing engagement being driven through features like smart lists, subscription programs, reordering functions, sampling programs, and more. The Company also owns and operates the US.-based Veg Essentials LLC (VeganEssentials.com), a staple of the plant-based community. Vegan Essentials was established in 1997 and contributed to more than 20 years of consumer insight, data, and buying power. VeganEssentials.com was awarded best online vegan store from 2005-2018, as well as best online vegan grocery from 2018-2021 by VegNews Magazine. The Company also owns and operates VEDGEco USA Inc. (VEDGEco.com). Headquartered in Kailua, Hawaii and launched in 2020, VEDGEco is the first nationwide plant-based foodservice distributor, providing restaurants with high-quality plant-based options. With the goal of bringing the freedom of food choice to all restaurants and businesses, VEDGEco distributes plant-based products in bulk to the restaurant and wholesale food industry, as well as to consumers across the US. For more information please visit VejiHoldings.com ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS: Kory Zelickson Director and CEO For investor inquiries or further information, please contact: IR@VejiHoldings.com Find Veji on Social Media: on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. No securities regulatory authority has either approved or disapproved of the contents of this news release. CAUTION REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws with respect to the Company. These forward-looking statements generally are identified by words such as "believe," "project," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "intend," "strategy," "future," "opportunity," "plan," "may," "should," "will," "would," and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements in this press release relate to, without limitation, the completion of the Proposed Transaction. Although the Company believes that the expectations and assumptions on which such forward-looking statements and information are based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements and information because the Company can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Since forward-looking statements and information address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause actual future events to differ materially from the forward-looking statements in this press release including, without limitation, the satisfaction of all conditions precedent to the Proposed Transaction and the risk factors described in the Company's management discussion and analysis for the year ended December 31, 2021. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. The forward-looking statements included in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release are made as of the date hereof and the Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements or information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless so required by applicable laws. SOURCE: Veji Holdings Ltd. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/716415/Veji-Announces-the-Sale-of-VeganEssentialscom The Korean Navy's AW-159 Wildcat maritime helicopter conducts an anti-submarine warfare exercise with a frigate. Courtesy of Leonardo Italian firm deepens ties with Korean partners By Kang Seung-woo Leonardo, an Italian company specializing in aerospace, defense and security, is coming to Korea to participate in Defense Expo Korea (DX Korea) with a view to extending its offers to help Seoul boost its national security. DX Korea is a biennial defense fair and it is scheduled to take place Wednesday through Sunday at KINTEX in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province. Although the Korean military has been heavily relying on U.S. military equipment, the Italian firm, headquartered in Rome, has been maintaining deep relations with Korea for more than half a century by providing advanced tailor-made solutions to its customers from individual products to integrated systems and platforms. For example, Korea has operated Leonardo technologies including helicopters, radars, communication and surveillance systems for airborne and naval applications and naval defense systems since the early 1990s. In addition, it has run its Seoul office since 2013 as part of its efforts to reinforce its local relationships and promote cooperation with the Korean industry and operators. Leonardo is best known here for its delivery of Super Lynx and AW-159 maritime operation helicopters to the Korean Navy. In the 1990s, the Korean Navy purchased a total of 25 Super Lynx choppers 12 in 1991 and 13 in 1997 and the military branch also took delivery of eight AW-159 Wildcats in 2016 to enhance its anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare capabilities. Also, Leonardo has expanded its presence in the commercial sector by offering the AW-139, the best-selling search and rescue (SAR) and firefighting helicopter in its category, to local governments for fire rescue, police and coastguard operations. In addition, the company has entered Korea in numerous fields and is maintaining a cooperative relationship between the Korean government and various companies, also by actively performing follow-up logistics management for helicopters in operation. Leonardo's successful partnerships with various Korean manufacturers have already enabled the platform integration of multiple systems, such as the unrivalled 76/62 Super Rapid multi-feeding gun mount that is a light weight, rapid-fire naval gun for air defense and anti-surface operations, for domestic and export customers and the company contributes to the export of local naval products worldwide. Leonardo's RAT 31DL 3D surveillance radar / Courtesy of Leonardo Leonardo offers multi-domain radar solutions Leonardo, showing off multiple radar portfolios, will bring some key elements of its homeland protection technologies to DX Korea, including its RAT 31DL, a 3D surveillance radar that is designed to operate as part of a modern military air defense system. With an eye toward constantly evolving tactical-strategic scenarios, the company has invested in the development and design of cutting-edge solutions for naval, land and air security, with its offering of active electronically scanned array (AESA) radars also including the Kronos family and the brand new, fully digitalized Tactical Multi-Mission Radar (TMMR). The former is state-of-the-art, multifunctional and multi-mission radars for land and naval air surveillance and defense, while the latter is a multi-domain radar, designed to detect, classify and track small and high manoeuvring targets. Leonardo's Miysis Directed Infrared Countermeasure / Courtesy of Leonardo BUCHAREST, Romania, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- No44 announced the next step in their commitment to sustainability and circularity efforts. A new initiative based on the synergy between reused and recycled denim. The brand aims to connect with consumers in a new way, by creating more value for existing products and doing their part in "closing the circle" on cotton sustainability. The heart of this project is people's commitment to giving their pre-loved jeans a second life. In collaboration with ISKO denim, using their R-TWO program, the old garments will be transformed into new jeans constructed from a blend of post-consumer and post-industrial waste. No44's initiative is simple. Everyone can be part of the project and get involved by sending their used jeans (any brand, style, cut, or colour). The company offers 20% off a brand-new No44 pair of jeans, and reward points via their loyalty program, that can be used for a future purchase. No44's new project is a great example of what fashion brands, at any level, can do to keep their products out of landfills. Giving value and creating a secondary market for used items by regenerating old jeans into new materials, thus allowing them to have a second life. Rethinking Denim places avoidance of any kind of waste, both pre- and post-consumer. No44 is one of the few if not the only jeans brand on the Romanian market having at its core a sustainable approach. All their products are carefully crafted and traceable. They put a lot of focus on using recycled fabrics and sustainable production processes to achieve the best quality. They strive to offer customers appealing products that last for more than one season. "We are making sure that the No44 jean will be with you for years. Our jeans are meant to be worn a lot. When we started No44, prolonging the life of a garment was the first step we took towards sustainability. Sustainability is the future, and we are ready to take the lead and commit to a meaningful change." - declared Claudiu Ciubotaru, Marketing Manager of No44. This unique project marks a significant milestone for No44's transition to circularity. Reducing the impact of the jeans they create, while still delivering the same timeless design they are known for. Find out how you can get involved by visiting www.no44store.com/rethinking-denim . Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1901845/No44_1.jpg View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/rethinking-denim-by-no44-give-your-pre-loved-jeans-a-second-life-301627182.html Five historic hotels in Lisbon, Portugal, have been inducted into Historic Hotels Worldwide, the official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation (United States of America)for recognizing and celebrating the finest historic hotels around the world. These historic hotels are Heritage Avenida Liberdade, As Janelas Verdes, Hotel Britania Art Deco, Hotel Lisboa Plaza, and Solar do Castelo. All five historic hotels are part of the Lisbon Heritage Hotels collection, which promotes the history and culture of Portugal's capital city. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220919005031/en/ Solar do Castelo (1765) Lisbon, Portugal. Credit: Historic Hotels Worldwide and Lisbon Heritage Hotels. Historic Hotels Worldwide promotes heritage and cultural travel by featuring a prestigious collection of historic treasures including historically significant hotels and other iconic and legendary hotels spanning more than 10 centuries. "We are delighted to induct the five historic hotels of Lisbon Heritage Hotels into Historic Hotels Worldwide." said Lawrence P. Horwitz, Executive Vice President of Historic Hotels of America and Historic Hotels Worldwide. "We commend Antonio and Manuel Fernandes, the founders of Lisbon Heritage Hotels nearly 25 years ago, for their vision and dedication to preserving and restoring these historically significant buildings and converting them to luxurious boutique historic hotels. As a result of their leadership, buildings important to the history, heritage, and culture of Lisbon have been preserved for future generations of travelers. The successful restoration of the hotels in this iconic collection of historically significant buildings in Lisbon demonstrates their commitment and leadership as stewards of history and historic preservation. As Lisbon Heritage Hotels continues to restore other historic buildings and convert them to iconic historic hotels, we look forward to inducting other historically significant hotels into Historic Hotels Worldwide." Historic Hotels Worldwide membership is exclusive to historically significant hotels and resorts that are in buildings at least 75 years old. As a diverse and prestigious collection, each inducted hotel is required to possess one or more of the following qualities: it served as the former home, or it is located on the grounds of the former home, of famous persons, or it is a significant location for an event in history; it is located in or within walking distance to a historic district, historically significant landmark, place of a historic event, or historic city center; it has been recognized by a local preservation organization or national trust; and it displays historic memorabilia, artwork, photography, or other examples of its historic significance. Lisbon Heritage Hotels were created with the idea of promoting historic hotels that reflect Portugal's and Lisbon's heritage, historic traditions, and culture. The Lisbon Heritage Hotels are installed in historic mansions and small historic buildings located throughout Lisbon's historic center. These small hotels offer a romantic and welcoming environment. A special balance has been struck between local traditions and modern-day amenities, thus creating an authentic alternative to formal luxury hotels. The hotels' location in Lisbon's historic center facilitates immediate contact with the most genuine aspects of the city, ranging from its monuments to the local flavors. "Taking part of Historic Hotels Worldwide is a recognition of the preserved history that our guests experience in each historic hotel. It is an honor to be part of such a prestigious and trustworthy collection," said Diogo Laranjo, General Manager. The five hotels from Lisbon Heritage Hotels inducted at this time into Historic Hotels Worldwide are all rich in history and architectural significance. Hotel Britania Art Deco 1944 Art Deco-inspired boutique hotel originally designed by the great Cassiano Branco. It has hosted many influential guests, including Omar Sharif, Carmen Sevilla, and Vinicius de Moraes. Heritage Avenida Liberdade 1780 Regal palace once owned by the prominent Ericeiras family. Designed with Pombaline architecture, this terrific historic hotel is located along the Avenida de Liberdade. As Janelas Verdes 1700 Regal palace that once hosted the illustrious Portuguese author E?a de Queiroz. Queiroz so thoroughly adored the building that he used it as partial inspiration for the Ramalhete that appears in his masterpiece, Os Maias: Episodios da Vida Romantica Hotel Lisboa Plaza 1954 Midcentury Modern boutique hotel that has been family owned and operated since its debut. Located along the Avenida de Liberdade, it is close to great attractions like the Parque Eduardo VII and the Praca do Marques de Pombal. Solar do Castelo 1765 Regal palace that sits upon the site of the former kitchens that once served the Real Alcacova de Sao Jorge. The Real Alcacova de Sao Jorge itself were the royal apartments for a massive castle known as the Castelo de Sao Jorge. About Lisbon Heritage Hotels Lisbon Heritage Hotels were created with the idea of promoting charming hotels that reflect Portugal's and Lisbon's tradition and culture. Property and management of Portuguese families, the Lisbon Heritage Hotels are installed in old houses and small historic buildings in the Lisbon's historic center. These small hotel units offer a romantic and welcoming environment. About Historic Hotels Worldwide Historic Hotels Worldwide is a prestigious and distinctive collection of historic treasures, including luxury historic hotels built in former castles, chateaus, palaces, academies, haciendas, villas, monasteries, and other historic lodging spanning ten centuries. Historic Hotels Worldwide represents the finest and most distinctive global collection of more than 320 historic hotels in more than 46 countries. Hotels inducted into Historic Hotels Worldwide are authentic historic treasures, demonstrate exceptional historic preservation, and celebrate historic significance. Eligibility for induction into Historic Hotels Worldwide is limited to those distinctive historic hotels that adhere to the following criteria: minimum age for the building is 75 years or older; historically relevant as a significant location within a historic district, historically significant landmark, place of a historic event, former home of a famous person, or historic city center; hotel celebrates its history by showcasing memorabilia, artwork, photography, and other examples of its historic significance; recognized by national preservation or heritage buildings organization or located within UNESCO World Heritage Site; and presently used as historic hotel. For more information, please visit HistoricHotelsWorldwide.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220919005031/en/ Contacts: Katherine Orr Historic Hotels of America Historic Hotels Worldwide Manager, Marketing Communications Tel: +1 202 772 8337 korr@historichotels.org Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - September 19, 2022) - Idaho Champion (CSE: ITKO ) (OTCQB: GLDRF) (FSE: 1QB1) ("Idaho Champion" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has entered into a binding memorandum of understanding (the "Agreement") with Quebec Precious Metals Corporation ("QPM") to acquire a 100% interest in two prospective lithium pegmatite projects (the "Projects") in the Eeyou Istchee James Bay territory of Quebec. The Projects (covering approximately 162 km2) include historic findings of pegmatite (see Figure 1) and sit to the north of the Patriot Battery Metals' ("Patriot") Corvette project (recently intersected intervals included 1.25% Li2O and 118 ppm Ta2O5 over 96m (CV22-035); see Patriot's news release dated July 28, 2022) and also located in close proximity to infrastructure in a developing potential lithium pegmatite district that has shown high prospectivity for lithium mineral resources.* The Projects are at an early stage of exploration, and the Company cautions that the qualified persons who have reviewed and approved this news release have not verified scientific or technical information produced by third parties, and proximity to projects containing lithium resources offers no assurance that the rock types or lithium resources reported by Patriot and others extend onto the Projects and such proximity is not necessarily indicative of the mineralization reported by third parties with projects in the district. Together with its existing Cobalt assets located in Idaho, this pending acquisition pivots Idaho Champion's strategy to focus on making a meaningful impact in the North American battery metals sector. "Battery makers worldwide face significant challenges in order to meet the extraordinary demand and technological advances ahead of the 2035 EV mandates. Combined with the geopolitical climate, we are presented with an excellent opportunity to aggressively uncover materials important to meet these demands," stated Jonathan Buick, President and CEO. "The Blanche and Charles projects place the Company right in the mix within a fast-growing lithium pegmatite district. The projects were originally explored for precious and base metals, but more recently, evidence of pegmatites has led to a re-assessment of the lithium discovery potential that warrants more work. Additionally, we would like to welcome QPM as cornerstone shareholders with approximately 7.4% of our outstanding shares post-transaction. We look forward to exploring these assets together." *James Bay Lithium - (Indicated Mineral Resource: 40.33 million tonnes grading 1.4% Li2O), owned by Allkem Limited (NI 43-101 Technical Report, Feasibility Study, James Bay Lithium Project Quebec, Canada, by G Mining Services, January 11, 2022); Rose - (Probable reserves: 26.3 million tonnes grading 0.87% Li2O and 138 ppm Ta2O5), owned by Critical Elements Lithium Corporation (Rose Lithium-Tantalum Project Feasibility Study NI 43-101 Technical Report, by Simon Boudreau, P.Eng., May 27, 2022); Whabouchi - (Measured and Indicated "in Pit" Mineral Resource: 37.356 million tonnes grading 1.48% Li2O), owned by Livent Corporation and Investissment Quebec. (NI 43-101 Technical Report on the Whabouchi Lithium Mine and Shawnigan Electrochemical Plant, by Met-Chem et al, November 7, 2018). QPM's Chief Executive Officer, Normand Champigny commented: "The Projects are clearly underexplored for lithium. In light of the recent discoveries in the area, we welcome the opportunity to become a significant shareholder of Idaho Champion while working with them to become successful explorers in the James Bay region. This transaction is consistent with our strategy to monetize non-core assets." Figure 1: Blanche and Charles Location Map To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8681/137656_f206acd56447b8f6_003full.jpg Figure 1 Exploration Results Source: Patriot Battery Metals Drilling: https://patriotbatterymetals.com/portfolio/corvette/ Blanche Blanche is comprised of 256 claims totaling approximately 130 km2. The project lies within a volcano-sedimentary belt striking ENE. The Blanche project is mainly composed of a broad east-northeast trending mafic band, interpreted as an metamorphosed basalt hosted within tonalitic rocks and interbedded with narrow sections of magnesian basalt and komatiites, iron formations (silicate and/or oxidized facies) and metasedimentary rocks. Three units of felsic intrusive rocks were observed at Blanche: hornblende tonalite, granite and pegmatite dykes. Tonalite consists of feldspar, quartz and biotite intrusive rocks. In the northwestern part of the project, the rocks are relatively homogenous and medium grained, containing 20 to 30% hornblende, with locally weak foliation. The granite is comprised of medium to coarse grained feldspar, plagioclase, quartz and biotite. It is massive, homogeneous, and mostly non-magnetic. A few pegmatite dykes have also been identified on the project. So far, they are typically less than two-meters wide and cut the felsic units, but they are also found parallel to the schistosity in the mafic rocks. Pegmatites have almost the same composition as the granites but show a texture ranging from coarse to pegmatitic with the presence of 5 to 7% muscovite. The project is bordered to the south and north by felsic intrusive rocks, which have been described as hornblende-biotite tonalite, and tonalitic gneiss, tonalite, granodiorite and quartz monzogranite in the north. The metamorphic grade ranges from upper greenschist facies to middle amphibolite facies. Charles The Charles project is comprised of 61 claims covering approximately 31 km2. Less is known about this project, but the area exhibits variable topography, ranging from slightly to very hilly. Several hills associated with felsic intrusives and iron formations are present and have been shaped by glaciers that had an ENE-WSW direction. A number of outcrops are exposed. Within the northern and central parts of this project, there is a thick glacial sediments containing boulders of granite and pegmatite. Terms of the Agreement As per the terms of the binding Agreement, Idaho Champion is purchasing 100% of the Projects from QPM in return for $100,000 in cash and 12,000,000 common shares of the Company, of which 50% will be subject to escrow for 18 months. QPM will also retain a 2% net smelter return royalty ("NSR") on claims retained by Idaho Champion upon completion of the acquisition. The Company has the option to repurchase 1% of the NSR from QPM for $1 million. Closing of the acquisition is subject to usual conditions for this type of transaction including a 45-day due diligence period, and regulatory and stock exchange approval. Furthermore, the Company announces a private placement with the Agreement. Idaho Champion will issue up to 20,000,000 shares at a price of $0.05 per share for gross proceeds of $1,000,000. Proceeds of the private placement will be used for the acquisition payment and related transaction costs, preliminary field work on the Projects and for general working capital purposes. Qualified Persons Patrick Highsmith, Certified Professional Geologist (AIPG CPG # 11702) and director of the Company, is a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Highsmith has helped prepare, reviewed, and approved the technical information in this news release. Normand Champigny, Eng., Chief Executive Officer of QPM, and Qualified Person under NI 43-101 on standards of disclosure for mineral projects, has reviewed the content of this press release. About Idaho Champion Gold Mines Inc. Idaho Champion is a discovery-focused exploration company that is committed to advancing its highly prospective mineral properties located in Idaho, United States and shortly, Quebec, Canada. The Company's shares trade on the CSE under the trading symbol "ITKO", on the OTCQB under the trading symbol "GLDRF", and on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the symbol "1QB1". Idaho Champion is vested in Idaho with four cobalt properties in Lemhi County in the Idaho Cobalt Belt. In addition, the Company has been advancing the Baner gold project in Idaho County, the Champagne polymetalic project located in Butte County near Arco. Idaho Champion strives to be a responsible environmental steward, stakeholder and contributing citizen to the local communities where it operates. Idaho Champion takes its social license seriously, employing local community members and service providers at its operations whenever possible. About Quebec Precious Metals Corporation QPM is a gold explorer with a large land position in the highly prospective Eeyou Istchee James Bay territory, Quebec, near Newmont Corporation's Eleonore gold mine. QPM's flagship project is the Sakami project with significant grades and well-defined drill-ready targets. QPM's goal is to rapidly explore the Sakami project and advance to the mineral resource estimate stage. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF IDAHO CHAMPION "Jonathan Buick" Jonathan Buick, President and CEO For further information, please visit the Company's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com or the Company's corporate website at www.idahochamp.com. For further information, please contact: Nicholas Konkin, Marketing and Communications, Idaho Champion Phone: (416) 567- 9087 Email: nkonkin@idahochamp.com Normand Champigny Chief Executive Officer, Quebec Precious Metals Corporation Tel.: 514 979-4746 nchampigny@qpmcorp.ca THIS PRESS RELEASE DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER TO SELL OR THE SOLICITATION OF AN OFFER TO BUY ANY SECURITIES IN ANY JURISDICTION, NOR SHALL THERE BE ANY OFFER, SALE, OR SOLICITATION OF SECURITIES IN ANY STATE IN THE UNITED STATES IN WHICH SUCH OFFER, SALE, OR SOLICITATION WOULD BE UNLAWFUL. Cautionary Statements for Idaho Champion Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its regulation services provider has reviewed or accepted responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release. This press release may include forward-looking information concerning the business of the Company within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation, including with respect to the completion of the transactions contemplated by the Agreement, the prospectivity of the Projects for lithium, the ability of the Company to successfully shift focus to exploration for battery-related metals, and with respect to the completion of a private placement of the size and at the price contemplated. Forward-looking information is based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by the management of the Company, including being able to satisfy any conditions related to the acquisition, sufficient investor interest to complete the private placement financing necessary to fund the cash portion of the acquisition of the Project, having the necessary technical expertise to explore for lithium in pegmatite, and that reported lithium resources in the district of the Projects is indicative of mineralized pegmatite prospectivity on the Projects. Although the Company believes that the expectations and assumptions on which such forward-looking information is based on are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking information and the Company can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date of this press release. The Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update publicly any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise, other than as required by applicable securities laws. Forward-Looking Statements for QPM This release includes forward-looking statements. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking words such as "may", "will", "expect", "intend", "plan", "estimate", "anticipate", "continue", and "guidance", or other similar words and may include, without limitation statements regarding plans, strategies and objectives of management, anticipated production or construction commencement dates and expected costs or production output. Forward-looking statements inherently involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance and achievements to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements. Relevant factors may include, but are not limited to, changes in commodity prices, foreign exchange fluctuations and general economic conditions, increased costs and demand for production inputs, the speculative nature of exploration and project development, including the risks of obtaining necessary licences and permits and diminishing quantities or grades of resources or reserves, political and social risks, changes to the regulatory framework within which the entity operates or may in the future operate, environmental conditions including extreme weather conditions, recruitment and retention of personnel, industrial relations issues and litigation. Forward-looking statements are based on the entity and its management's good faith assumptions relating to the financial, market, regulatory and other relevant environments that will exist and affect business and operations in the future. There are no assurances that the assumptions on which forward-looking statements are based will prove to be correct, or that the business or operations will not be affected in any material manner by these or other factors not foreseen or foreseeable by the entity or management or beyond the entity's control. Although there have been attempts to identify factors that would cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those disclosed in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that could cause actual results, performance, achievements or events not to be anticipated, estimated or intended, and many events are beyond the reasonable control of the entity. Accordingly, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this release are given as at the date of issue only. Subject to any continuing obligations under applicable law or any relevant stock exchange listing rules, in providing this information the entity does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any of the forward-looking statements or to advise of any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/137656 POSITIVE H1 2022 EARNINGS: SEMESTER OF TRANSITION IN A "WAIT-AND-SEE" CONTEXT _ HALF-YEAR REVENUES: 8.1m EBITDA: 3.8m EBIT: 1.1m NET INCOME: 1m NET CASH: 6.4m _ STREAMWIDE (FR0010528059 - ALSTW - eligible for French PEA-PME), the expert in critical communications software solutions, posted positive half-year results and an increase in gross cash of 1.3 million in the first half of 2022. In the context of sustained investment, operating profitability is positive and at a satisfactory level. However, certain one-off increases in costs, notably personnel costs, have affected the profitability of the first half, which is slightly down compared to the first half of 2021. STREAMWIDE confirms its promising positioning and its solid financial structure, able of absorbing economic fluctuations, while maintaining a high level of profitability. SUMMARY IFRS INCOME STATEMENT (**) En k HY 2022 %CA HY 2021 %CA Var. (k) Var. (%) Revenues "Platforms" 5 372 66% 5 396 69% -24 0% Revenues "Legacy" 2 773 34% 2 461 31% +311 +13% TOTAL REVENUES 8 145 7 857 +287 +4% Payroll expenses - 3 490 42% -2 885 37% -605 +21% G&A and external expenses -1 248 15% -984 13% -264 +27% Other expenses / products 393 -5% 344 -4% +49 +14% TOTAL EXPENSES before amortisation -4 345 -3 525 -820 +23% EBITDA (*) 3 800 47% 4 332 55% -532 -12% Amortisation -2 677 -2 079 -598 +29% EBIT (*) 1 123 14% 2 253 29% -1 130 -50% Other ope. expenses / products - 3 -3 Financial expenses / products 309 98 +211 Fiscal expenses / products -392 -500 +108 NET RESULT 1 040 13% 1 854 24% -814 -44% (*) EBITDA (EBIT before depreciation and amortisation) is the difference between operating income and operating expenses before depreciation, amortisation and impairment of non-current assets. EBIT includes depreciation, amortisation and impairment. (**) The first half consolidated financial statements are currently being audited. _ POSITIVE RESULTS IN A CONTEXT OF SUSTAINED INVESTMENTS EBITDA: 3.8m The increase in operating expenses in the first half of 2022 (+0.8 million) is essentially due to an ongoing reorganization of the Group's teams, notably as a consequence of the departure of the Technical Director at the beginning of the year, and the return to "normal" commercial activity after confinement periods. Thus, net payroll costs increased by 0.6 million during the period, of which 0.3 million in one-off costs related to arrivals and departures since January 1, 2022, which can therefore be considered as non-recurring for the next six months. Excluding this impact, payroll costs amounted to 3.2 million, an amount consistent with the level of activity recorded in the first half. External expenses increased by 0.3 million due to significant recruitment fees (0.15 million) and marketing & travel expenses up by 0.1 million compared with the first half of 2021, due to back to normal health conditions. Again, the level of recruitment costs is cyclical and should be lower in the second half of the year. Excluding depreciation and amortisation and after IFRS 16 restatement of lease expenses (-0.3 million compared to -0.2 million in the first half of 2021), operating expenses amounted to 4.3 million versus 3.5 million in H1 2021. Before capitalisation of staff costs linked to product development (2.7 million, up from 2.4 million at 30 June 2021), first half payroll came to 6.2 million, up 0.8 million after (i) the increase in headcount at 30 June 2022 (205 people) versus 30 June 2021 (200 people) (ii) the transition effects described above (+0.3 M) and (iii) the raises granted at the end of 2021 (up 0.3 million). EBIT: 1.1m Net income: 1m The increase in depreciation and amortization in the first half of 2022 (+0.6 million) comes from those applied to development costs (2 million compared with 1.6 million in the first half of 2021) and depreciation and amortization of leasehold rights, measured in accordance with IFRS 16. They should stabilize at their current level in the coming months. As a new lease for the Group's Paris premises was signed in February 2022, the upward revaluation of the rental fee implies a higher amount of depreciation (0.4 million) than previously recorded. In addition, renovation work on these same premises was undertaken in the first half of 2022 (total amount of 0.6 million). After 0.3 million of net financial income, following positive movements in the USD/EUR exchange rate during the period, and a net tax loss of 0.4 million impacted by the deferred tax liability on capitalised development costs, the Group reported net income of 1 million, a 0.8 million decrease compared to H1 2021. _ CONTINUED INCREASE IN GROSS CASH AND EQUIVALENT CASH AND STRONG FINANCIAL STRUCTURE The Group's financial structure in strong at 30 June 2022 with shareholders' equity reaching 19.6 million and a significant net cash balance of 6.4 million (excluding lease liabilities). The balance sheet total was 40.5 million, up from 34.3 million at 31 December 2021 (see appendix below). This 6.2 million increase was mainly due to changes in intangible assets (net capitalised value of 0.9 million in H1 2022) and property, plant and equipment (lease assets down 2.2 million), the increase in trade receivables (up 2 million and the increase in gross cash (up 1.3 million). Conversely, the change in liabilities was due to the increase in shareholders' equity (up 1.1 million over the period), the increase in financial and lease liabilities (up 2.4 million), and deferred income (up 2.2 million). Gross cash and cash equivalents increased by 1.3 million to 9.5 million at 30 June 2022. After financial (3.1 million) and lease liabilities (IFRS 16) of 3.3 million, net cash and cash equivalents came to 3.1 million, versus 4.5 million at 31 December 2021. Following mainly the renewal of the Paris lease, leading to a revaluation of lease debt (up 2.2 million). Positive Operating cash flow (4.2 million) decrease lightly, mainly due to the change net profit for the first 6 months of the year and the change in working capital over the period (-0.5 million linked to the increase in trade receivables), while recurring capital expenditure on product development remains high at 2.9 million (see appendix below). Note that the 2020 research tax credit receivable (1 million) has been paid in April 2022, whereas the 1.1 million 2021 receivable will be paid before the end of the year. Finally, financing cash flow was positive at 2.4 million, following the change in financial debts (new loan of 0.5 million to finance the renovation of the Paris offices) and rental debts (up 2.4 million). _ OUTLOOK: A YEAR OF TRANSITION AND GROWTH CATALYSTS Second-half revenues are well on track. With growth expected to be close to that seen in the first half of 2022 (historically stronger base effect in the second half of the year), 2022 will therefore be profitable again, with margins still very strong, but slightly down on those seen in 2021. The scale-up and operational deployment of the PCSTORM project continues. Over the coming months, Group revenue will shift away from licence and service revenue towards recurring maintenance revenue. The challenge for those involved in the project is now to operate Europe's, and probably the world's, largest MCx (critical communications) platform over the long term and keep it in working order. In the evolution of other calls for tenders in France and Europe is manifold. Notifications are still pending in Italy and Spain, and ministerial decisions could be further delayed. In France, the RRF ("Reseau Radio du Futur") project was confirmed during the summer and will enable the technologies developed by the Group to establish themselves in the French critical communications market and accelerate the widespread adoption of next-generation critical communications solutions. Other important growth drivers are also present, via the Group's commercial ecosystem, in many sectors and with many public and private players, across Europe, Southeast Asia and the United States. The proven resilience of the Group's technical, human and financial organisation places it in prime position to leverage upcoming growth in the communications and critical business market, while ensuring and enhancing the "end-to-end" quality of products, features and components (servers, mobile and web applications). The Group does not anticipate any significant and structural negative impact of the political, geopolitical and economic events of the beginning of the year on its activity in the coming months. The transition year 2022, characterized by modest revenue growth and a still solid profitability and financial structure, will thus enable the Group to optimize its organization to take full advantage of future profitable growth, the extent of which remains dependent on the economic situation and the pace of deployment of the various projects underway. Next financial release: FY 2022 revenue, Monday 13 February 2023 _______________________________________________________________________ About STREAMWIDE (Euronext Growth: ALSTW) A major player for 20 years in the critical communications market, STREAMWIDE has successfully developed its Team on mission (mission critical) and Team on the run (business critical) software solutions for administrations and businesses. These solutions for smartphones and PCs, offered in a SaaS model or on Premise, benefit from numerous functionalities such as the multimedia group discussions, VoIP, push-to-talk (MCPTT and MCx new generation 4G / 5G LTE), geolocation, digitization and automation of business processes. These innovative solutions meet the growing needs for digital transformation and real-time coordination of interventions. They allow field teams to transform individual contributions into collective successes and to act as one in the most demanding professional environments. STREAMWIDE is also present on the Value-Added Services software market for telecom operators (visual voice messaging, billing and charging of calls in real time, interactive voice servers, applications and announcements) with more than 130 million end users all over the world. Based in France and present in Europe, USA, Asia and Africa, STREAMWIDE is listed on Euronext Growth (Paris) - ALSTW FR0010528059. For more information, http://www.streamwide.com and visit our LinkedIn pages @streamwide and Twitter @streamwide. Contacts : Pascal Beglin | Olivier Truelle Gregoire Saint-Marc Amaury Dugast CEO | CFO Investor Relations Press Relations T +33 1 70 22 01 01 T +33 1 53 67 36 94 T +33 1 53 67 36 34 investisseur@streamwide.com streamwide@actus.fr adugast@actus.fr ------------------------ This publication embed "Actusnews SECURITY MASTER ". - SECURITY MASTER Key: lGedZcmbY2eblW6fZZ6YaWZpmWmSmmTJaWKaxpRwa5bIanJmx22WZ8jLZnBnl2tp - Check this key: https://www.security-master-key.com. ------------------------ Copyright Actusnews Wire Receive by email the next press releases of the company by registering on www.actusnews.com, it's free Full and original release in PDF format:https://www.actusnews.com/documents_communiques/ACTUS-0-76263-pr-sw-sa-_-resultat-30062022-_-19092022-_-uk-def.pdf GECI INTERNATIONAL EXPANDS ITS TECHNOLOGY PORTFOLIO IN THE SMART CITY AND STRENGTHENS ITS STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT IN ISRAEL AND BRAZIL GECI International signs an exclusive distribution agreement in Israel and Brazil with Gertrude SAEM, a company specialized in the field of ITS - Intelligent Transportation System. Under the terms of this exclusive agreement, GECI International subsidiaries in Israel and Brazil will distribute the Gertrude ITS software developed by the Gertrude SAEM company. This intelligent traffic control system optimizes public and private vehicle flows, reduces pollution and improves the safety of urban and metropolitan roads. Founded in 1981, Gertrude SAEM is an internationally recognized French company. With more than 40 years of experience in the ITS field, its real-time intelligent traffic control system meets the key challenges of today's over-congested towns and the needs of "smart cities". The Gertrude SAEM company has demonstrated exceptional know-how appreciated by clients and has prestigious references in France and internationally (Algeria, Argentina, China, France, Morocco, Mexico, Poland, Portugal). Gertrude SAEM and GECI International continue a relationship started in 2019 which has led to growing interest from transport management bodies in Israel and to the recent Gertrude ITS selection for an international tendering process conducted by one of the main planning and execution companies for infrastructure and transport projects in the country, also manager of roads and highways in the central region. This new partnership contributes to expand GECI International's technological portfolio and enables it to penetrate the smart city market, a very significant market on an international scale, in which the Group's experience and its technological and digital know-how should make it possible to promote the Gertrude ITS expansion. In addition to Israel, where partnership missions have been set up with Israeli companies to build competitive response consortia, this agreement will also be the way for GECI International to launch its smart city activity on the Brazilian market through a high-potential offering. In a context of intense relaunch and Group's metamorphosis, this new development in the smart city field illustrates the relevance of the Group's innovation strategy, combining technology and digital, to support the company's redeployment on high-potential markets: telecommunications, transport, renewable energies, financial IT, and smart city. Next dates __________ 2022-23 half-year revenues on November 15, 2022 (after close of trading). 2022-23 half-year earnings on December 16, 2022 (after close of trading). ABOUT GECI INTERNATIONAL __________ "Smart Solutions for a Smart World" GECI International, driven by Innovation since its inception in 1980 and combining Technology and Digital, offers cutting-edge digital solutions and technology consulting services for major players in the Industry, Finance, Research, Services and Telecoms sectors. GECI International is also deploying a new entrepreneurial dynamic with the development of new offerings and new smart products serving "smart cities", thanks to an ecosystem of technological partnerships, commercial alliances, and highly qualified skills on a global scale. GECI International is listed on the Euronext Growth Paris market. ISIN (shares): FR0000079634 - ALGEC. CONTACTS __________ GECI International - Investor Relations Tel: +33 (0)1 46 12 00 00 / relation.investisseurs@geci.net CALYPTUS - Cyril Combe Tel: +33 (0)1 53 65 68 68 / geci@calyptus.net ------------------------ This publication embed "Actusnews SECURITY MASTER ". - SECURITY MASTER Key: lmefk5loapnKy29sl8pqapaXaGhhw5XIbWWZmWJpa5bGbZ1lyWxiZsXKZnBnl2pp - Check this key: https://www.security-master-key.com. ------------------------ Copyright Actusnews Wire Receive by email the next press releases of the company by registering on www.actusnews.com, it's free Full and original release in PDF format:https://www.actusnews.com/documents_communiques/ACTUS-0-76253-gi_cp-gertrude-ve.pdf SES-imagotag to further strengthen commitment to gender equality in signing UN Women's Empowerment Principles SES-imagotag continues its commitment to advancing opportunities for women in the workplace . SES-imagotag has recently adopted the United Nations Women's Empowerment Principles as part of its commitment to promoting gender equality and women's empowerment in the workplace, marketplace and community. Established by UN Global Compact and UN Women and in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the UN Women's Empowerment Principles were established to offer businesses practices in a multistakeholder approach that empower women. Adopting the seven principles is the best way that businesses can deliver on the ambitions for gender equality and women's empowerment as outlined in the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development. These include equal pay for work of equal value, gender-responsive supply chain practices and zero tolerance against sexual harassment in the workplace. Today,?we are very proud of the progress we are making as a diverse and inclusive employer, and,?therefore extremely proud to support the United Nations Women's Empowerment Principles to drive positive change: " Part of the United Nations Global Compact initiative, SES-imagotag has a long-standing commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. We are deeply committed to promote gender equality and women's empowerment in the workplace. For this reason, our Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) Program has a specific focus on gender equality to ensure that women have the resources and equal opportunities to learn, evolve and grow at SES-imagotag. Through this program, we developed an individual axis with mentoring, leadership training and individual development plans designed to boost women's careers within the company. I am proud to have signed the CEO statement of support and stand with the other companies to foster business practices that empower women ", Thierry Gadou, Chairman and CEO of SES-imagotag. SES-imagotag long-term support of the UN Sustainable Development Goals This new endorsement is perfectly aligned with the Group's commitment to extend its ambition to build a better and more positive retail ecosystem, for employees, partners and clients in the industry. As part of SES-imagotag's commitment to promote diversity and inclusion and sustainability progress, the company is partnering with a large number of international organizations. SES-imagotag has joined the United Nations Global Compact Initiative in 2021 by committing to the ten universally accepted principles of the UN program in the areas of human rights, labor standards, environment and climate, and prevention of corruption. SES-Imagotag also has a specifically designated Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) program, with a specific focus on gender equality to ensure that women have the resources and equal opportunities to learn, evolve and grow at SES-imagotag. SES-imagotag is working with the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and their ShareTheMeal program to reach those affected by war in Ukraine with food supplies. SES-imagotag is a partner of the World Economic Forum and will attend the Sustainable Development Impact Meetings week in New York (September 19-23), convening at the same time as the United Nations General Assembly, to contribute to social progress through the World Economic Forum community-building initiatives, focused on climate change, zero hunger, responsible consumption, and more. To supervise all these initiatives, SES-imagotag has created the International Board for Retail Sustainability, Transparency and Consumer Protection and have launched the Positive Retail Research Program, chaired by Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, Vice-Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the World Economic Forum and former CEO of Nestle. About SES-imagotag and the VUSION Retail IoT platform SES-imagotag is a world leader in smart digital labels and IoT solutions for physical retail, serving over 300 large retailer groups around the world in Europe, Asia and North America. SES-imagotag has developed the VUSION Retail IOT technology platform to help retailers transform their physical stores into high value digital assets, more automated, data-driven, and connected in real-time to suppliers and consumers. VUSION improves the agility, precision, and accuracy of prices, whilst ensuring the omnichannel synchronization of prices, product information and marketing campaigns. The platform developed by SES-imagotag also optimizes in-store order preparation and restocking. VUSION improves employee satisfaction by freeing up time from cumbersome low value-added tasks and allowing them to focus on customer service and merchandizing tasks. VUSION connects shelves to the Cloud, providing real-time accurate information on product availability and location, allowing for reduced inventory, out-of-stock and waste, as well as improved on-shelf availability and merchandizing compliance. VUSION empowers consumers with better product, nutritional and traceability information at the shelf and enables a frictionless in-store shopping experience with features such as product search, pathfinding and cashier-less scan & pay features. SES-imagotag supports the United Nations' Global Compact initiative and has received in 2022 the Gold Sustainability Rating from EcoVadis, the world's reference of business sustainability ratings SES-imagotag is listed in compartment B of the Euronext Paris Ticker: SESL - ISIN code: FR0010282822 - Reuters: SESL.PA - Bloomberg: SES www.ses-imagotag.com Contact: Investor Relations - Labrador - Raquel Lizarraga / +33 (0)6 46 71 55 20 / ses-imagotag@labrador-company.com ------------------------ This publication embed "Actusnews SECURITY MASTER ". - SECURITY MASTER Key: lG9wlcprlGnJmZ2cYcpqmmeWbphlmZWcaZTLx2praJbHaXKTyJxiaJedZnBnl2pr - Check this key: https://www.security-master-key.com. ------------------------ Copyright Actusnews Wire Receive by email the next press releases of the company by registering on www.actusnews.com, it's free Full and original release in PDF format:https://www.actusnews.com/documents_communiques/ACTUS-0-76255-ses-imagotag_wep_pr_final.pdf Singapore, Singapore--(Newsfile Corp. - September 19, 2022) - HyperBC Group has acquired a Lithuanian financial license no. 305790868 to expedite its global compliance operations. The company has obtained a license that will enable it to provide crypto custody asset solutions within a regulatory framework. As a pioneering asset custody solution provider, HyperBC facilitates businesses to securely store their crypto assets with risk control technology and custom and scalable solutions. HyperBC: Crypto asset custody and financial services provider To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/9090/137032_b7bf464c941eab2a_001full.jpg Since its inception in 2017, HyperBC has managed crypto assets amounting to USD 10B for more than 100 businesses worldwide, remarking its authentic position in the Blockchain industry. The leading crypto custody solution provider enables the safe circulation of crypto assets while offering complete security for blockchain-based companies. Speaking about the new development, Sebastian Zhao, the General Manager of HyperBC, said: HyperBC made a breakthrough in the compliance process and obtained the Lithuanian license for crypto asset custody. Meanwhile, HyperBC will actively continue to apply for licenses in other countries in the future to provide users with more compliant, professional, safe, and efficient custody solutions for crypto assets under the supervision of financial institutions. HyperBC implements the most advanced digital asset custody 2.0 solution, which combines MPC Secure Multi-Party Computing, TEE Trusted Environment, Secure Communication, Zero Trust Architecture, Policy Engine, Multi-Cloud TEE Security Architecture, Privacy Computing Elliptic Curve, Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA), Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKPS), and Homomorphic Encryption (HE). HyperBC has always strictly adhered to compliance and anti-money laundering (AML) measures and has gone above and beyond to collaborate with the industry's top service providers to reduce the risks associated with illegal digital assets. The company believes that the crypto asset industry will follow the development of RegTech (regulatory technology) to be further integrated into compliance supervision. This process will accelerate the adoption of crypto assets around the world and will justify the existence of crypto assets and allow more crypto assets to enter the portfolio of investors. In the sequence, embracing regulation will become an important strategy for crypto asset service providers in the future process. In the future, HyperBC will actively seek to obtain financial licenses from more countries and regions, and combined with years of hard work and technology building in the industry, better crypto asset services will be ensured by increasing focus on compliant operation and risk control except for the basic security guarantee provided by HyperBC. Operationally, HyperBC provides multiple products to its users. However, the three outstanding products drawing the global market attention are HyperCard (Crypto credit card), HyperPay (digital wallet), and HyperMate (hardware wallet). About HyperBC The leading custodial crypto asset solution provides the bandwidth to store and manage digital business assets for businesses on Blockchain. The platform offers a fully managed cutting-edge security solution, MPC (multi-party computation), which allows data owners to collaborate anonymously, whereas TEE (Trusted execution environment) protects the data operation at the hardware level. To learn more about HyperBC, visit: Website: https://www.hyperbc.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/hyper_bc Telegram: https://t.me/HyperBC_official Press contact: info@hyperbc.com To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/137032 Experienced Software and Ecommerce Executive Succeeds Longtime CEO Will Hayes SAN FRANCISCO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / September 19, 2022 / Lucidworks, the leading search solutions provider, today announced that it has appointed experienced software and eCommerce executive, and former head of Aftermarket Performance Group, Michael Sinoway as Lucidworks' new CEO. Sinoway will build upon Lucidworks' success and bring his world-class expertise in scaling customer-driven software and SaaS applications. He succeeds Will Hayes who has led the company since 2013. Sinoway assumes leadership responsibilities on October 3, 2022. Prior to joining Lucidworks, he was CEO of Aftermarket Performance Group, a B2B eCommerce auto parts company with a dozen business units in the Jeep, truck, and sport compact vehicle segments. Sinoway also led the SaaS data analytics company, MaritzCX, which was acquired by InMoment in early 2020. "Lucidworks is a recognized leader and visionary in the search world. A big part of the reason for its success, besides the best-in-class technology, has been Will Hayes' stewardship of the company and his focus on customers," said Michael Sinoway. "I'm ready to build upon that legacy and bring my experience leading both B2B and B2C eCommerce and customer-focused software organizations to Lucidworks. The last two years changed the world in ways that clearly favor Lucidworks platforms and customers, and we have the team in place to ensure we remain at the forefront of delighting users and employees with digital experiences that are second to none." Sinoway has also been a Managing Director at both Deloitte Consulting and AlixPartners. His professional services expertise includes software implementation, marketing strategy, sales effectiveness, and price optimization. He previously developed and taught the Pricing Certification program for the Professional Pricing Society and taught Operations Strategy for Purdue University's Executive Education program. "In our search for Lucidworks' next leader I've come to know Mike as someone who shares my passion for building and growing sustainable, thriving businesses. His background is perfectly aligned with Lucidworks' mission of making the customer experience frictionless, and for giving internal teams the best possible tools to enable those experiences," said Will Hayes, outgoing Lucidworks CEO. "Lucidworks will benefit greatly from Mike's diverse professional background, including his ability to scale SaaS technology, his prioritization of customers, and his commitment to the wellbeing of our employees. He is the right leader for the company as it enters a new phase of innovation as the leader in its category." Michael lives with his wife Erin in Salt Lake City. They have two grown children. About Lucidworks Lucidworks believes that the core to a great digital experience starts with search and browse. Lucidworks captures user behavior and utilizes machine learning to connect people with the products, content, and information they need. The world's largest brands, including Lenovo, Red Hat, Reddit, and Cisco Systems rely on Lucidworks' suite of products to power commerce, customer service, and workplace applications that delight customers and empower employees. Learn more at Lucidworks.com. Press Contact: Lauren Gill lauren@escalatepr.com SOURCE: Lucidworks View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/716543/Lucidworks-Appoints-Michael-Sinoway-As-Chief-Executive-Officer RCEP contributes to region's post-pandemic recovery efforts: ASEAN joint statement Xinhua) 09:12, September 19, 2022 Visitors select carpets during the 19th China-ASEAN Expo in Nanning, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Sept. 16, 2022.(Xinhua/Cao Yiming) SIEM REAP, Cambodia, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) free trade agreement could be a contributor to the region's post-COVID-19 pandemic recovery efforts, according to an ASEAN joint statement released on Sunday. The statement was issued after the inaugural RCEP Ministers' Meeting held in northwest Cambodia's Siem Reap province, on the sidelines of the 54th ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Economic Ministers' Meeting. According to the statement, the meeting welcomed the entry into force of the RCEP agreement on Jan. 1, 2022 and looked forward to its ratification by all signatory states. The mega-regional trade pact comprises 15 Asia-Pacific countries including 10 ASEAN member states-Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, and their five trading partners, namely China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. "The meeting shared the view that the RCEP could contribute to the region's post-pandemic recovery efforts and to creating a more resilient supply chain," the statement said. "In this regard, the meeting highlighted the need to promote greater utilization of the RCEP agreement to deepen regional economic integration." A worker arranges durians at a durian processing factory in the Chanthaburi province, Thailand, May 5, 2022. (Xinhua/Wang Teng) The meeting also noted the progress of the work of the RCEP Joint Committee and welcomed the establishment of subsidiary bodies under the joint committee's supervision, it said. "The meeting encouraged officials to work to expand the utilization of the RCEP agreement and to monitor and review the implementation of the RCEP agreement to improve business environment in the region," the statement said. Also, the meeting looked forward to the expeditious establishment of the RCEP Secretariat, on terms to be agreed by the parties, to provide secretariat and technical support to the RCEP Joint Committee and its subsidiary bodies, it added. "The RCEP trade deal is an important instrument to boost the post-pandemic economic recovery in the region," Cambodian Ministry of Commerce's Undersecretary of State and Spokesman Penn Sovicheat said during a press conference after the meeting. "For Cambodia, the RCEP has injected new momentum into our foreign trade growth, and we have seen a remarkable rise in our export to the RCEP member countries in the first half of this year," he added. Sovicheat said Cambodia's total export to the RCEP member countries had increased to 3.28 billion U.S. dollars during the January-June period of 2022, up 10 percent from the same period last year. Photo taken on March 23, 2022 shows a view of the ports of Auckland, New Zealand. (Photo by Zhang You/Xinhua) Thong Mengdavid, a research fellow at the Phnom Penh-based Asian Vision Institute, said the RCEP established the biggest trade bloc in the world's history, covering nearly a third of the global population, around 30 percent of the global gross domestic product (GDP), and 28 percent of global trade. "With free flow of products and more relaxing trade barriers among the 15 member states, RCEP provides various benefits and opportunities for the bloc to diversify their markets and enhance the production capability," he told Xinhua. "Additionally, the RCEP will enhance the roles of multilateralism based on a rule-based international order, henceforth, promoting more cooperation and peaceful trade activities in the region," Mengdavid said. (Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun) A text conversation between senior members of the ruling People Power Party (PPP) discussing the possibility of expelling former Chairman Lee Jun-seok was caught on press cameras Monday, raising speculation the party may hand down the heaviest disciplinary action in an upcoming meeting. The text messages, caught on press cameras during a general meeting of lawmakers, shows emergency committee chief Chung Jin-suk and Rep. Yoo Sang-bum, a member of the party's ethics committee, discussing disciplinary action against Lee. In the messages, Chung said the party should take heavy disciplinary action against Lee, while Yoo said the party should expel him if he is indicted over allegations that he received sexual bribery and attempted to cover it up. The conversation was caught one day after the PPP began a second disciplinary process against Lee for making remarks hurting his own party. In the first disciplinary action in July, Lee saw his membership suspended for six months over the sexual bribery allegations. Following the revelations, Chung claimed the conversation took place on Aug. 13 before he took over as chair of the emergency committee and had nothing to do with the ongoing disciplinary action against Lee. The protracted row was seen as a duel largely between Lee and key confidantes of President Yoon Suk-yeol. After Lee was suspended, the party formed an emergency leadership committee. The move was seen as aimed at removing Lee as party leader, because the emergency committee replaced the then Supreme Council led by Lee, who was automatically removed from office. Lee filed a series of injunction suits against the emergency committee, and a Seoul court ruled in favor of him last month, making the emergency committee invalid. The party did not back down and launched a new emergency committee led by Chung. (Yonhap) On the afternoon of September 15 local time, President Xi Jinping met with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev at Forumlar Majmuasi Complex in Samarkand. President Xi noted that this year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Azerbaijan. China supports Azerbaijans development path independently chosen by its people. The two sides need to view and plan for bilateral relations from a strategic height, increase strategic mutual trust, strengthen mutual support, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation and work for steady, in-depth and practical cooperation in various fields between the two countries. President Xi stressed that at the moment the international situation is undergoing profound and complex changes. The more complex the situation is, the greater the need for the international community to strengthen solidarity and coordination. China welcomes Azerbaijan to join China in implementing the Global Development Initiative (GDI) and the Global Security Initiative (GSI). The two sides need to expand trade, improve the trade mix, increase the number of China-Europe Express freight train services, and ensure unimpeded international supply chains. President Xi expressed confidence that the Belt and Road cooperation between China and Azerbaijan enjoys broad prospects. The two sides need to enhance people-to-people and cultural exchanges and deepen the friendship between the two peoples. China supports Azerbaijan in conducting cooperation with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), to work together for security, stability, development and prosperity in the region. President Aliyev said that Azerbaijan and China are true strategic partners, that the two sides maintain close communication in international affairs, and that bilateral cooperation is advancing steadily. Azerbaijan thanks China for providing COVID-19 vaccines, which fully demonstrates the spirit of solidarity that China has always advocated. Azerbaijan will take the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries as an opportunity to deepen practical cooperation in various fields. Azerbaijan adheres to the one-China policy, firmly supports China in safeguarding national sovereignty, security and territorial integrity, firmly opposes any actions that interfere in Chinas internal affairs or split China, and firmly supports China in safeguarding its core interests. The Azerbaijani side supports the GSI and GDI proposed by the Chinese side, and will actively engage in Belt and Road cooperation with the Chinese side. Ding Xuexiang, Yang Jiechi, Wang Yi, He Lifeng and other officials attended the meeting. CCTV: Last Friday, President Xi Jinping wrapped up his trip to Central Asia, which has received international attention. During the trip, he attended the Samarkand Summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and paid state visits to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. International commentary has described the trip as one of major strategic significance. How does China see its outcomes and significance? Mao Ning: President Xi Jinpings trip to Central Asia is an important landmark visit undertaken at a crucial and historic juncture. As the trip came to an end, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi gave a detailed briefing. Within a 48-hour stay in the two Central Asian countries, President Xi attended nearly 30 multilateral and bilateral events. The visit has had many highlights and created fruitful outcomes. With its facilitation, the SCO has entered a new phase of development. The visit also successfully steered Chinas relations with relevant countries to new levels. President Xi Jinping delivered an important speech at the Samarkand Summit, where he put forward major initiatives and proposals on greater unity among the member states and the future development of the SCO. He emphasized the need to enhance mutual support, expand security cooperation, deepen practical cooperation, enhance people-to-people and cultural exchanges, and uphold multilateralism. The Chinese side also announced that it is ready to establish a China-SCO base for training counter-terrorism personnel, host a forum on industrial and supply chains, set up a China-SCO Big Data Cooperation Center, and provide developing countries in need with emergency humanitarian assistance of grain and other supplies worth 1.5 billion yuan. These proposals and initiatives of China have received a positive response from other countries. The Samarkand Summit set a new record in three aspects. First, it adopted 44 outcome documents, the highest number recorded. Second, it saw the broadest participation, with the attendance of leaders of 14 countries including SCO member states, observer states and the Presidencys guests, and heads of nine international organizations and institutions such as the UN. Third, it marked the largest round of expansion for the SCO, as a memorandum of obligations on Irans membership was signed, the procedure for Belaruss accession was started, the status of SCO dialogue partners was granted to Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and agreement was reached on admitting Bahrain, the Maldives, the UAE, Kuwait, and Myanmar as new dialogue partners. During President Xi Jinpings fruitful state visits to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, a wide-ranging consensus was reached on the future direction and priorities of cooperation, writing a new chapter of good-neighborly friendship between China and the two countries. The launch of the concept of a community with a shared future between China and Kazakhstan and between China and Uzbekistan at the bilateral level is an integral part of the building of a community with a shared future for mankind. It will better benefit the people of the three countries and contribute to regional peace and development. President Xi Jinping also held bilateral meetings in Samarkand with the leaders of 10 countries attending the SCO Summit at their request and attended the trilateral meeting between China, Russia and Mongolia to deepen strategic communication with all parties. The meetings covered many topics, reached significant depth and produced substantive results, which play an important role in guiding the growth of bilateral relations and inject positive energy into the peaceful development of the Eurasian continent. Throughout this visit, we can strongly feel the international communitys firm support for China and eager expectation for deepening friendship and cooperation with China. Under the leadership of President Xi Jinping, China has been a constructive force in international relations. We will continue to promote dialogue and cooperation, advance unity and openness, safeguard peace and development, and play an increasingly important role for the long-term stability and sustainable development of the Eurasian continent and the world at large. Shenzhen TV: The 19th China-ASEAN Expo and China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit were held recently in Nanning, Guangxi. The expo has served as a traditional platform for China-ASEAN economic and trade cooperation since 2004. Can you talk about the special significance and outcomes of this expo? Mao Ning: This year marks the establishment of the China-ASEAN comprehensive strategic partnership and the entry into force and the start of the implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). Under the theme of Sharing RCEP New Opportunities, Building a Version 3.0 China-ASEAN Free Trade Area, this years China-ASEAN Expo saw 40 investment promotion activities with 1,653 enterprises participating in offline events and more than 2,000 enterprises participating in online events. A total of 267 cooperation projects were inked with a record high investment of 413 billion yuan, up by 37% from the previous expo. Han Zheng, Member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council, attended the opening ceremony of the expo and delivered a keynote speech. Leaders of seven ASEAN countries including Malaysian Prime Minister Dato Sri Ismail Sabri bin Yaakob, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, and Philippine President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos, and the ASEAN Secretary-General, among others, addressed the event virtually. All sides agreed on the need for high-quality implementation of RCEP, building a version 3.0 China-ASEAN Free Trade Area, and deeper integration of industrial, supply and value chains. As an important platform for deepening China-ASEAN cooperation and advancing regional economic integration, the China-ASEAN Expo will surely inject new impetus and bring new opportunities for facilitating post-COVID sustainable recovery and building an open regional economy. Bloomberg: A top Chinese health official warned people against having skin-to-skin contact with foreigners to avoid contracting Monkeypox. Is that the official stance of the Chinese government? And has the foreign ministry ordered its employees in China and abroad to stop touching foreigners? Mao Ning: This is not a question about diplomacy and I would refer you to competent authorities. Reuters: Mr. Wu Zunyou warned against having skin-to-skin contact with foreigners. Does the foreign ministry agree with such health awareness? Mao Ning: This is a question about science and public health. I would refer you to competent authorities. The Paper: According to Japanese media reports, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) said in a recent statement that an analysis of the sampled ALPS treated nuclear-contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant showed that the activity concentration of Sr-90 in the sample was about three times that of Japans national standard. What is Chinas comment? Mao Ning: I noted relevant reports. This fully shows that the international communitys concerns over the reliability of Japans data, the effectiveness of the purification equipment and the uncertainties about the environmental impact are entirely justified. Despite all the doubts over Japans plan to discharge the nuclear-contaminated water into the sea and the fact that the international communitys legitimate concerns have not yet been properly addressed, Japan has pushed ahead with the discharge plan and the construction of the discharge pipeline. This is extremely irresponsible. The ocean is not Japans waste dump; and the Pacific Ocean is not Japans sewer. China again urges Japan to stop pushing through the plan to discharge the water into the ocean, take seriously the legitimate concerns of all countries, earnestly fulfill its due international obligations, have a full consultation with relevant international organizations and stakeholders including its neighbors, and find a proper way to dispose of the nuclear-contaminated water in a science-based, open, transparent and safe manner. Reuters: The Taiwanese representative to the UK has been given a special invitation to sign the condolence book for the Queen. Is the Chinese foreign ministry OK with this? Mao Ning: It is rather contemptible for the DPP authorities to use the condolence arrangement for political hype and political gains. Such a move cannot change the fact that Taiwan is part of China and that such political schemes of the DPP authorities will never succeed. Prasar Bharati: China, last week, for the third time in the last three months blocked a proposal at the United Nations to blacklist a Pakistan-based top Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist Sajid Mir, who was involved in the 2008 Mumbai attacks and attacks in the US and Denmark. Why did China do this and can you give any reason? What message does China want to give to the world regarding anti-terrorism as a permanent member of the UNSC? Mao Ning: I believe you were referring to the designation issue at the 1267 Committee of the UN Security Council. The committee has clear guidelines regarding the designation of terrorist organizations and individuals and related procedures. China always takes part in the work of the committee in a constructive and responsible manner in strict accordance with the rules and procedures. Follow-up: As per the procedures you and your colleagues have mentioned in the past three months, is there any timeline that China will withdraw its blockage and remove its opposition to the listing? Mao Ning: Chinas actions at the 1267 Committee are always consistent with relevant rules and procedures. We will continue to conduct our work in a constructive and responsible manner. By Arthur I. Cyr The death of Queen Elizabeth II, preceded by husband Prince Philip last year, is generating worldwide condolences. They personified continuity of important institutions, and relationships, in a turbulent time. Most personally, they were married for 70 years. Elizabeth was queen for an equal period. Hers is now the longest reign in British history, surpassing runner-up Queen Victoria, who was on the throne for most of the age named after her, from 1837 to 1901. Britain played a pivotal role in World War II, when the Anglo-American "Special Relationship" was truly forged. The partnership between President Franklin Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill was the centerpiece. Then-Princess Elizabeth worked as a truck driver and mechanic during the war her idea. Keep in mind that relentless German bombing and later missile attacks made this work extremely dangerous as well as very difficult. Ceremonies are important, and here the British excel, with an aptitude probably unequaled among industrialized nations. The important ceremonial functions address the collective emotions of the people at large regarding government. Elizabeth played her unusually complicated role with dignified skill, from a young age. During World War II, she talked to the children of Britain over the radio emphasizing better days lay ahead. The monarch does have residual ruling powers, including the formality of actually appointing the government, along with the right to be consulted by the prime minister. The role may be largely symbolic, but that can become important in times of national crisis or tragedy, including war. Britain's government, following the June 2016 referendum vote to leave the European Union, embarked on a complicated, painful, seemingly endless effort to do so. Rather than the fairy tale world of royal relationships, travel and splendor, this bizarre ordeal became more like "Alice in Wonderland." Over four centuries ago, namesake Queen Elizabeth I was forcefully in charge of the British Isles. Those were brutal times, when losing a power struggle could cost your life. That Elizabeth modernized Britain, managing Parliament with prudent skill. She stabilized politics following the tumultuous reign of her father Henry VIII. She confirmed influence in Europe, effectively balancing the nations of that continent. Today, queen and Parliament have subtly complementary roles. Walter Bagehot, long-time editor of the influential weekly magazine The Economist, provided insightful analysis of the government of Great Britain in a manner now universally accepted. Fundamentally important is that the British, unlike the Americans, have no written constitution. Parliament is effectively supreme, though the nation in October 2009 did formally establish an American-style Supreme Court. In the 1930s, King Edward VIII generated great controversy when he wanted to marry Wallis Simpson, an expatriate American. In that different, earlier time, the fact that she was not British generated extensive public attention and debate. She also had been divorced twice. In general, notoriety followed her. Vastly more important, Edward was attracted to Nazi Germany, as well as being highly erratic in behavior and unstable emotionally. Adolf Hitler and his associates at the top of the Nazi regime in Berlin considered Edward a vital strategic asset, generating domestic support and eventually helping control Britain in a conquered Europe. Ultimately, Edward did abdicate and marry Simpson. After the war began, his successor George VI proved an influential, invaluable partner of Britain's wartime government. Undergirding all else, Britain is based on the rule of law. Elizabeth II personified that key component with special skill. Learn more: Walter Bagehot "The English Constitution," and film "The Darkest Hour" Arthur I. Cyr (acyr@carthage.edu) is author of "Liberal Politics in Britain." Parties must join forces to find viable stabilization measures Farmers are letting out a long sigh despite two consecutive years of good rice harvests. That's because rice prices continue to decline. As of Sept. 5, the price of a 20-kilogram sack of rice when purchased directly from farms stood at 41,185 won ($29.70), down 24.8 percent from 54,785 won a year ago. It is the lowest price since March 2018. A supply glut is blamed for the rice price plunge. While per capita rice consumption has been declining every year, the country's total rice paddy area and output have not decreased that much. Production of rice last year amounted to 3.88 million tons, up 10.7 percent from 2020, and this year's crop yield is also expected to be good. The National Agricultural Cooperative Federation has set this year's rice production at 3.79 million tons to 3.85 million tons. Under the so-called "market isolation" measure, which aims to help farmers by buying overproduced rice, the government bought 370,000 tons of rice this year at a cost of 900 billion won. But the measure failed to shore up rice prices because it missed the timing. On Sept. 15, the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) passed an amendment to the Grain Management Act at a subcommittee meeting of the National Assembly's Agriculture Committee to make it mandatory for the government to buy rice, without consent from the ruling People Power Party (PPP). But the liberal party's unilateral action is seen as a populist move aimed at framing the PPP as neglecting the plight of rice farmers and might aggravate the rice overproduction problem. What's needed first is to reduce the country's rice cultivation area in accordance with the decrease in rice consumption. No less important is ensuring farmers proper income for the stable production of rice, the staple grain. The rice issue must not be the object of political wrangling. The ruling and opposition parties should join forces to help the government find viable stabilization measures. POSCO Group Chairman Choi Jeong-woo, right, shovels mud at the company's steel mill in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, Saturday. Courtesy of POSCO Steelmaker's management goes all out to deflect criticism from government By Park Jae-hyuk POSCO has been involved recently in a political dispute between the ruling People Power Party (PPP) and the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), since Typhoon Hinnamnor dealt a severe blow earlier this month to the company's main steel mill in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province. While both the government and the ruling party have questioned POSCO management's responsibility for the flooding due to the super typhoon, the opposition party has defended the steelmaker, arguing that the government is trying shift blame for its failure onto a private business. The conflict erupted after First Vice Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Jang Young-jin said last Wednesday that the government would look into why POSCO had suffered such severe damage, despite the typhoon warning. The government also estimated that it would take at least six months for the full recovery of the Pohang steel mill. The ruling conservative party supported the government, despite its business-friendly stance. Rep. Sung Il-jong, chairman of the PPP's policy committee, said last Friday that POSCO's management should take responsibility for the damage, if they are found to have taken insufficient measures to brace for the typhoon that had been forecast. "POSCO's location is vulnerable to earthquakes and typhoons, so it is a serious problem if the company did not brace for the rapidly rising volume of water in the lower reaches of its neighboring Nangcheon Stream," the lawmaker said. "We want the relevant authorities to tell us whether POSCO had prepared any countermeasures considering its location and the climate change." In contrast, the main opposition party criticized the government for blaming POSCO for the damage. "The major victims of the disaster are the public and companies," Rep. Oh Yeong-hwan said in a statement, Sunday. "POSCO has made every effort to complete the recovery work within three months, but the government said it would find out who is responsible for the damage." DPK lawmakers also visited POSCO's steel mill that day to inspect the damage and discuss ways to support the recovery work. There is also speculation that the opposition party's defense of the steelmaker is intended to prevent the ruling party from replacing POSCO Group Chairman Choi Jeong-woo, who was appointed during the previous Moon Jae-in administration. Although POSCO is a private enterprise, the government has continuously interfered with its management through the National Pension Service, the steelmaker's largest shareholder. Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Lee Chang-yang, however, said Monday that the government is not considering reprimanding POSCO's management at this moment. Amid the intensifying political feud, POSCO has issued press releases almost every day since it was hit by Typhoon Hinnamnor, in order to show its efforts to normalize the Pohang steel mill's operation by the end of this year. It has also emphasized that its preemptive suspension of the steel mill's operation minimized the damage. Last Saturday, the POSCO Group chairman even shoveled mud at the Pohang steel mill to help the recovery work. "Although we suffered severe damage from the natural disaster, I want you to continue the recovery work to minimize negative impact on the national economy," he told employees. "You should also prioritize safety during the recovery work." POSCO employees embank Nangcheon Stream in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, Sunday, to brace for Typhoon Nanmadol. Courtesy of POSCO Herndon, US, Sept. 18, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- For the Sales and Programmatic Support of Spectronic Covert Surveillance Technology DTC and D3S announced today that the companies have entered into a strategic partnership where D3S will champion DTCs Spectronic covert surveillance technologies into non-disclosed US Defense, Intel, and Security agencies. The agreement brings together leading covert audio and video surveillance solutions from Spectronic, with D3Ss proven integration capabilities along with its training, management, and support services. Paul Moskowitz, Senior VP of Sales and Solution Development said Delta 3 Solutions is the exact type of partner we look for. They provide the expertise customers desire, the ability to ensure the customers requirements are met, and the relationships that create expanded opportunities for DTC. We have followed DTC and their Spectronic products for years. In fact, many of our employees are former users of DTC Spectronic. We evaluated DTCs products in the context of the needs of our customers. Its form, function, and usability meets our strict standards of representation and support. We are pleased to provide solutions with their technology. said, Mike Brantley, CEO of Delta 3 Solutions. About DTC, Domo Tactical Communications Domo Tactical Communications (DTC) has been at the forefront of innovation for over 50 years, developing leading edge communication technologies for successful operations in demanding environments, where COFDM technologies provide longer range and penetration. As a global leader of wireless communication, DTC works with military, law enforcement, counter-terror units, governments, robotics and autonomous operations and system integrators on key surveillance and communication challenges. DTCs mission critical solutions secure, share and communicate real-time video, voice, and data to enable Shared Situational Awareness (SSA) on land, on sea, in the water and in the air. DTCs Cutting-edge Mobile Adhoc Network (MANET) Mesh radio solutions deliver ultra-low latency, end-to-end encryption and are used globally on-board USV, UAV and UGV platforms to support mobile, long range semi-autonomous and autonomous operations. DTC was acquired by Codan in 2021. DTC consists of Spectronic, Corp Ten International, and Domo Broadcast Systems. Backed by an award-winning engineering team, DTCs trusted technology is at the heart of everything we do. DTC has a global reach, with regional offices based in the United States, United Kingdom, Denmark, Dubai, Singapore, and Australia. About D3S, Delta 3 Solutions Delta 3 Solutions (D3S) is a Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) founded by principals with over 20 years of experience each within the Intelligence and Special Operations Community. Our team of knowledgeable professionals has expertise in technical program and operation management, training, and integration. With a focus on providing operationally-adaptive technical surveillance equipment and services to customers in the Defense, Intelligence, Federal, and Local Law Enforcement communities, D3S's cradle-to-the-grave approach to the products and services we represent includes providing fielding support services such as New Equipment Training (NET), general technical support, as well as Techniques, Tactics, and Procedures (TTP) development and refinement. D3S helps shape technical surveillance technology applications and can assist with securing research and development funding to help mature lower Technology Readiness Level (TRL) capabilities to a deployable state. Media Contact Susan Taylor Marketing & Sales Operations Manager E: Susan.Taylor@dtcamericas.com English French PRESS RELEASE Neuilly-sur-Seine, France September 19, 2022 Bureau Veritas acquires Galbraith Laboratories Inc., a US expert in Healthcare analytical testing solutions Expanding BVs position in Consumer Healthcare, Personal Care & Industrial Chemical markets Bureau Veritas, a world leader in testing, inspection and certification, announced the acquisition of Galbraith Laboratories Inc., an expert in advanced analytical solutions in North America. The acquisition will further position Bureau Veritas in the Consumer Healthcare and Industrial Chemical supply chain by connecting our existing services to support upstream research and product development through manufacturing to the end consumer. Galbraith Laboratories Inc. offers testing solutions to a wide range of industry segments, including chemicals, healthcare, cosmetics, consumer, manufacturing and environment. The company has earned a strong reputation for solving clients analytical challenges through custom-developed methods and industry-specific knowledge. Founded in 1950 and headquartered in Knoxville (Tennessee, USA), the company employs approximately 70 people and generated revenue of 8 million in 2021. Didier Michaud-Daniel, Chief Executive Officer of Bureau Veritas, commented: Bureau Veritas is delighted to welcome the Galbraith team. By joining forces, we will strengthen our presence in North America, a key hub for the expansion of our Consumer Products Services activities. Building on its strong market recognition by global brands and manufacturers, Galbraiths expertise will help expand our analytical capabilities in the Consumer Healthcare, Personal Care & Industrial Chemical markets. Brenda Thornburgh, Owner of Galbraith, added: By joining Bureau Veritas, we look forward to expanding our capabilities and client services by leveraging the Groups extensive geographic footprint and global leadership. We are proud of our advanced analytical capabilities, which we now share with Bureau Veritas worldwide. Through our combined expertise, we will be able to offer unique analytical testing services solutions to our clients. About Bureau Veritas Bureau Veritas is a world leader in laboratory testing, inspection and certification services. Created in 1828, the Group has more than 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.bureauveritas.com, and follow us on Twitter (@bureauveritas) and LinkedIn. Our information is certified with blockchain technology. Check that this press release is genuine at www.wiztrust.com. ANALYST/INVESTOR CONTACTS MEDIA CONTACTS Laurent Brunelle Caroline Ponsi Khider +33 (0)1 55 24 76 09 +33 (0)7 52 60 89 78 laurent.brunelle@bureauveritas.com caroline.ponsi-khider@bureauveritas.com Colin Verbrugghe Primatice +33 (0)1 55 24 77 80 thomasdeclimens@primatice.com colin.verbrugghe@bureauveritas.com armandrigaudy@primatice.com Attachment Pune, India, Sept. 19, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- According to Fortune Business Insights, the global bioenergy market size is anticipated to hit USD 642.71 billion by 2027 from USD 344.90 billion in 2019 and exhibit a CAGR of 8.0% during the forecast period. Deepening commitment to the 2015 Paris Climate Change Agreement will be a critical factor augmenting the growth of this market, shares Fortune Business Insights in its report, titled Bioenergy Market Size, Share & Industry Analysis By Product Type (Solid Biomass, Liquid Biofuel, Biogas, and Others), By Feedstock (Agricultural Waste, Wood and Woody Biomass, Solid Waste and Others), By Application (Power Generation, Heat Generation, Transportation, and Others), and Regional Forecast, 2020-2027. The Paris Agreement was a landmark moment in the fight against climate change as it contained actionable commitments by the top emission countries. These commitments were focused towards mitigating the extreme effects of climate change by reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and curbing global temperature increase below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Currently, 197 countries, with the exception of Russia, Iran, and Turkey, have signed the agreement. In the quest to control emissions, countries are actively switching to bioenergy sources such as biomass and biofuels to meet their electricity requirements, since these sources can supply electricity to all end-use industries. Thus, expanding participation in the Paris Agreement will bode well for this market. Request a Sample Copy of the Research Report: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enquiry/sample/bioenergy-market-103296 Report Coverage Details Forecast Period 2020-2027 Forecast Period 2020 to 2027 CAGR 8.0% 2027 Value Projection USD 642.71 billion Base Year 2019 Market Size in 2019 USD 344.90 billion Historical Data for 2016-2018 No. of Pages 140 Segments covered By Product Type (Solid Biomass, Liquid Biofuel, Biogas, and Others), By Feedstock (Agricultural Waste, Wood and Woody Biomass, Solid Waste and Others), By Application (Power Generation, Heat Generation, Transportation, and Others) and Regional Growth Drivers Rapid Depletion of Fossil Fuels to Accelerate the Bioenergy Market Growth Concerted Efforts to Reduce Carbon Emissions to Boost the Market in Asia Pacific Market Driver: The world overly dependent on fossil fuels to satisfy its energy demands. For example, in the US, fossil fuels accounted for 81.5% of the total energy consumption. Excessive reliance on exhaustible energy sources is causing their depletion rate to overtake their replenishment rate. The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates that the current global stock of crude oil will be adequate to meet worlds oil demand till 2050. A report published by the Millennium Alliance for Humanity and the Biosphere (MAHB) states that coal will run out in 70 years, gas will be over in 40 years, and oil will be gone in the next 30 years. These stark projections are reinforcing the need for the global society to develop and actively embrace bioenergy sources and reduce dependence on conventional energy. Covid-19 Impact: The COVID-19 pandemic has created widespread uncertainty across the global economic spectrum. Many businesses are struggling to cope with the rapidly changing circumstances. Governments are modifying, altering, and developing new policies and measures to steer their countries out these challenging. We are also taking solid efforts to generate intelligent analysis on different markets and providing detailed assessment of the impact of this pandemic on your business. Click here to get the short-term and long-term impact of COVID-19 on this market. Please visit: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/bioenergy-market-103296 Report Coverage: The report also shares the following: Exhaustive examination of the key market drivers, trends, and restraints; Accurate forecasting of upcoming market opportunities; In-depth study of all market segments; Comprehensive evaluation of the regional dynamics; and Careful profiling and thorough research of the top market players and their strategies. Regional Insights: Booming economies of Asia Pacific, mainly India and China, who are also two of the largest emitters in the world, are taking decisive policy measures to curb emissions. In developed economies such as Japan, use of wood as biofuel is rising, increasing bioenergy consumption in the region. These factors enabled Asia Pacific to create a market for bioenergy with a size of USD 96.76 billion in 2019. Countries in the European Union (EU) are actively adopting bio-energy as these energy sources are expected to speed up the EUs shift towards renewables in the coming decade. North America, being one of the largest producers of liquid biofuels, is steadily fastening its hold on the bioenergy market share backed by significant increases in ethanol production in the US. Quick Buy - Bioenergy Market Research Report: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/checkout-page/103296 Competitive Landscape: Widening Geographic Presence of Companies to Characterize Market Competition With strengthening global commitment towards bio-based energy, key players in this market are exploring new avenues to expand their regional and global presence. Companies are also taking advantage of incentives offered governments for renewable energy projects to consolidate their position in the market. Industry Developments: April 2020: Ductor, the Finnish-Swiss bioenergy company, announced the building of three biofertilizer-biogas plants in Polands Zachodniopomorskie region. Using poultry waste, the plants will produce renewable energy and organic nitrogen fertilizer, enhancing Polands shift towards circular economy. February 2020: San Francisco-based Brightmark expanded its dairy biogas project in Western New York under its Yellowjacket project. Partnering with six farms, the company will extract methane from dairy manure every day and produce renewable natural gas. A List of Key Manufacturers Operating in the Global Market: Enexor Energy Lignetics Green Plains Inc. Enviva Enerkem POET Drax Group Pacific BioEnergy Corp EnviTec Biogas AG MVV Energie AG Ameresco, Inc. ADM Bioenergy Market Segmentation: By Type: Solid Biomass Liquid Biofuel Biogas Others By Feedstock: Agricultural Waste Wood and woody Biomass Solid Waste Others By Application: Power Generation Heat Generation Transportation Others Have Any Query? Ask Our Experts: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enquiry/speak-to-analyst/bioenergy-market-103296 Table of Content: Introduction Research Scope Market Segmentation Research Methodology Definitions and Assumptions Executive Summary Market Dynamics Market Drivers Market Restraints Market Opportunities Key Insights Key Emerging Trends For Major Countries Latest Technological Advancement Regulatory Landscape Industry SWOT Analysis Porters Five Forces Analysis Qualitative Analysis Impact of COVID-19 Impact of COVID-19 on the Bioenergy Market Steps Taken by the Government to Overcome the Impact Key Developments in the Industry in Response to COVID-19 Potential Opportunities and Challenges due to COVID-19 Outbreak Global Bioenergy Market Analysis (USD Billion), Insights and Forecast, 2016-2027 Key Findings / Summary Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast By Product Type Solid Biomass Liquid Biofuels Biogas Others Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast By Feedstock Agricultural Waste Wood and Woody Biomass Solid Waste Others Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast By Application Power Generation Heat Generation Transportation Others Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast By Region North America Europe Asia Pacific Middle East & Africa Latin America Continued Get your Customized Research Report: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enquiry/customization/bioenergy-market-103296 About Us: Fortune Business Insights offers expert corporate analysis and accurate data, helping organizations of all sizes make timely decisions. We tailor innovative solutions for our clients, assisting them address challenges distinct to their businesses. Our goal is to empower our clients with holistic market intelligence, giving a granular overview of the market they are operating in. Contact Us: Fortune Business Insights Pvt. Ltd. US: +1 424 253 0390 UK: +44 2071 939123 APAC: +91 744 740 1245 Pune, India, Sept. 19, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global Manufacturing Operations Management (MOM) Software Market Size is projected to reach USD 22.64 billion by 2027, exhibiting a CAGR of 11.4% during the forecast period. Rising popularity of smart factory and industry 4.0 will propel the growth trajectory of the market, states Fortune Business Insights in its recent report, titled Manufacturing operations management software Market Size, Share & Industry Analysis, By Component (Services, Software), By Function (Labor Management, Planning & Scheduling, Process and Production Intelligence, Quality Process Management, Others), By Industry (Automotive, Chemicals, Medical Equipment & Pharmaceuticals, Food and Beverages, Aerospace and Defense, Others), and Regional Forecast, 2020-2027. Industry Developments: January 2020 : The Portuguese manufacturing software major Critical Manufacturing announced its collaboration with the Indian IT giant HCL Technologies to deliver pre- and post-sales consulting and implementation support. Under the partnership, the companies will utilize the Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) developed by Critical Manufacturing to cater to medical device, hi-tech, and semiconductor manufacturing industries. : The Portuguese manufacturing software major Critical Manufacturing announced its collaboration with the Indian IT giant HCL Technologies to deliver pre- and post-sales consulting and implementation support. Under the partnership, the companies will utilize the Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) developed by Critical Manufacturing to cater to medical device, hi-tech, and semiconductor manufacturing industries. November 2019: ABB Ltd, the Swiss-Swedish MNC, launched a new version of its ABB Ability Manufacturing Operations Management software featuring superior digital capabilities. The enhanced platform provides improved flexibility and security of operations to managers and supervisors in a wide range of industries. Request a Sample Copy of the Research Report: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enquiry/request-sample-pdf/manufacturing-operations-management-software-market-102713 A smart factory can be understood as a regular factory, but operating in a web of highly connected and digitized environment. In such a factory, the workings of machinery and equipment are automated to streamline processes and optimize production. These interconnections are facilitated by the Internet of Things (IoT) technology, which is also a manifestation of the concept of Industry 4.0. Manufacturing operations management (MOM) software helps manufacturers to properly utilize these advanced technologies to improve their manufacturing processes, which in turn allows them to produce better quality products. Thus, one of the top manufacturing operations management software market trends is the increasing adoption of smart factory by manufacturers across the industrial spectrum. Report Scope & Segmentation Report Coverage Details Forecast Period 2022 to 2027 Forecast Period 2022 to 2027 CAGR 11.4% 2027 Value Projection USD 22.64 Billion Base Year 2019 Manufacturing Operations Management (MOM) Software Market Size in 2019 USD 9.75 Billion Historical Data for 2015 to 2018 No. of Pages 140 Segments covered Component; Function; Industry; Manufacturing Operations Management (MOM) Market Growth Drivers Growing Need to Improve Operational Efficiency and Quality of Products to Fuel the Market Growing Adoption of Artificial Intelligence Technology in Manufacturing Process will Create Demand for the Software An Overview of the Impact of COVID-19 on this Market: The emergence of COVID-19 has brought the world to a standstill. We understand that this health crisis has brought an unprecedented impact on businesses across industries. However, this too shall pass. Rising support from governments and several companies can help in the fight against this highly contagious disease. There are some industries that are struggling and some are thriving. Overall, almost every sector is anticipated to be impacted by the pandemic. We are taking continuous efforts to help your business sustain and grow during COVID-19 pandemics. Based on our experience and expertise, we will offer you an impact analysis of coronavirus outbreak across industries to help you prepare for the future. Click here to get the short-term and long-term impact of COVID-19 on this Market: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/manufacturing-operations-management-software-market-102713 Market Restraint Concerns Surrounding Data Vulnerability to Impede Market Growth Cloud-based operations management solutions offer a range of benefits such as easy implementation, cost-effectiveness, convenient accessibility, and data integration. However, growing interaction between humans and machines has led to generation of data in gargantuan amounts. While MOM software tools enable efficient data collection and analysis, they are equally vulnerable to hacking and privacy infringement. For example, a buyer does not have complete control of the security and privacy of his companys data as some control lies with the vendor. This means that manufacturers wanting to adopt such technologies place a high amount of trust in the vendor, which can make them hesitant in purchasing such solutions. This may stem the uptake of MOM tools and hinder the manufacturing operations management market growth in the coming years. Regional Analysis Heavy Investment in Software Technology to Drive the Market in North America In 2019, North America generated revenue of USD 3.66 billion and is anticipated to lead the manufacturing operations management software market share during the forecast period. This is mainly attributable to the heavy investments made the governments in the region as well as the private sector in developing and adopting advanced tools for improving efficiency of the manufacturing sector. In Europe, on the other hand, the market will be primarily led by the robust manufacturing sectors in Germany and Italy. Asia-Pacific is expected to showcase fastest growth among regions owing to the speedy development of the manufacturing sector in China and India. Have Any Query? Ask Our Experts: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enquiry/speak-to-analyst/manufacturing-operations-management-software-market-102713 Competitive Landscape Increasing Strategic Collaborations to Energize Market Competition The manufacturing operations management market forecast predicts a high-energy period for the market as top competitors look to entrench their position in this market. Their prime strategy for achieving this is by forging alliances and entering into strategic partnerships to develop novel products and strengthen their portfolio. List of Key Players Mentioned in the Report: Aegis Industrial Software Corporation Siemens Ltd. Rockwell Automation Inc. Honeywell International Inc. Dassault Systems iBASEt SAP SE ABB Ltd EMERSON ELECTRIC CO Critical Manufacturing S.A. Access Full Report: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/checkout-page/102713 Major Table of Contents: Introduction Definition, By Segment Research Approach Sources Executive Summary Market Dynamics Drivers, Restraints and Opportunities Emerging Trends Key Insights Macro and Micro Economic Indicators Consolidated SWOT Analysis of Key Players Porters Five Forces Analysis Global Manufacturing Operations Management Software Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast, 2015-2027 Key Findings / Summary Market Size Estimates and Forecasts By Component Software On-premises Cloud Services By Function (Value) Labour Management Planning & Scheduling Process and Production Intelligence Quality Process Management Others By Industry (Value) Automotive Chemicals Medical Equipment & Pharmaceuticals Food and Beverages Aerospace and Defense Others By Geography (Value) North America Europe Asia Pacific Middle East and Africa Latin America TOC Continued..!!! FAQ: How big is the Manufacturing Operations Management (MOM) Software Market? The global manufacturing operations management software market size stood at USD 9.75 billion in 2019 and is projected to reach USD 22.64 billion by 2027, exhibiting a CAGR of 11.4% during the forecast period. How big is Manufacturing Operations Management (MOM) Software Market In North America? The market in North America stood at USD 3.66 billion in 2019 and is expected to gain a huge portion of the market share in the coming years. About Us: Fortune Business Insights offers expert corporate analysis and accurate data, helping organizations of all sizes make timely decisions. We tailor innovative solutions for our clients, assisting them to address challenges distinct to their businesses. Our goal is to empower our clients with holistic market intelligence, giving a granular overview of the market they are operating in. Contact Us: Fortune Business Insights Pvt. Ltd. US: +1 424 253 0390 UK: +44 2071 939123 APAC: +91 744 740 1245 Jaegal Seung, left, supervisor of Dexter Studios, and the company's producer, Ha Seung-woo, are seen during an education session for filmmakers in a theater at CGV Yongsan I'Park Mall in Seoul, Sept. 14. Courtesy of Dexter Studios By Baek Byung-yeul With the advancement of technology, for some time, film lovers have been able to enjoy movies on the big screen featuring imaginary worlds or scenes difficult to direct in the real world. Jaegal Seung, supervisor of Korea-based visual effect company Dexter Studios, and the company's producer, Ha Seung-woo, said it is obvious that more and more visual effects also called VFX will be widely used in movies and video media moving forward. They added that a creative approach makes a better visual artist rather than the artist simply performing what the filmmakers ordered. "I think the VFX supervisor is also a director. It's important to be an artist who thinks about his or her own idea and directing, not just a worker who does what directors tells them to do," Jaegal said during an education session for filmmakers in a theater at CGV Yongsan I'Park Mall in Seoul, Sept. 14. The education session was prepared by the Korean Academy of Film Arts (KAFA) in order to help filmmakers enhance their understanding of VFX. Dexter Studios has been a leading VFX studio in Korea, taking part in numerous popular flicks such as the "Along with the Gods" series, "Ashfall" and "Escape from Mogadishu." "I always think about how to proceed more efficiently using limited costs, time and manpower, but the most important part is quality. We call ourselves artists because we are a group that creates artwork, and quality is more important than anything else," Ha said. The two also shared their experiences from joining "Alienoid," one of the hit films this summer, saying that around 600 VFX artists took part in the SF movie for over a year. "We usually join the film-making process from the pre-production stage, but in 'Alienoid,' we joined from the development stage before pre-production. It was such a vast film that we were in for pre-production for over a year with more than 600 VFX artists. As a lot of different kinds of VFX effects were used, we felt like we were working on five films," Jaegal said. He also emphasized to the students in the education session that "it is becoming important to have unique and creative ideas rather than just techniques to produce VFX effects." Pune, India, Sept. 19, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global Voluntary Carbon Offsets Market size is set to gain traction owing to the increase in respiratory diseases. Fortune Business Insights has presented this information in its report titled Voluntary Carbon Offsets Market, 2022-2029. Voluntary carbon offsets are a well-known mechanism for reducing CO2 levels in the atmosphere. According to report analysis, global voluntary carbon offsets market to grow rapidly during forecast period of 2022 to 2029; Increase in respiratory diseases to augment market growth Key Industry Developments February 2020: The Carbon Offset Program was introduced by Xometry. For this launch, Xometry collaborated with Dot Neutral, an organization dedicated to connecting businesses with carbon-offset initiatives. This launch will assist Xometry in reducing its carbon footprint. Request a Sample Copy of the Research Report: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enquiry/sample/voluntary-carbon-offsets-market-104248 Drivers & Restraints - Increasing CO2 emissions to boost the market The rapid increase in CO2 emissions has increased the demand for voluntary carbon offsets. CO2 emissions have had a negative impact on both human health and the environment. It has resulted in climate change and an increase in respiratory diseases, primarily caused by pollution of the air, water, and soil. These negative consequences have increased the demand for voluntary carbon offsets to compensate for greenhouse gas emissions. The supportive government initiative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will increase the demand for voluntary carbon offsets. As a result, market growth will be accelerated during the forecast period. However, compliance emission reductions (CERs) and verified emission reductions (VERs) are two alternative projects for reducing CO2 emissions. Implementing these projects is expected to reduce voluntary carbon offset adoption and limit the voluntary carbon offsets market growth. COVID-19 Impact COVID-19 had a Potential Impact On Market The economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic had the potential to shock global carbon markets. On the other hand, markets demonstrated remarkable resilience, first reacting rationally to lower demand by lowering prices and then returning to near-normal functioning. While the increase in emissions is concerning, many of the world's largest carbon-emitting countries have recently announced long-term environmental policies to assist their economies in recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic and eventually achieving net-zero carbon emissions. To get to know more about the short-term and long-term impact of COVID-19 on this market, please visit: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/voluntary-carbon-offsets-market-104248 Competitive Landscape - Finite Carbon to launch a voluntary carbon offset program In October 2019, Finite Carbon Inc., a Finite Resources subsidiary, launched a voluntary carbon offsets program. BP Ventures has invested $5 million in this launch. The investment will help Finite Carbon launch a new business that will reduce emissions and provide sustainable forest management. Segmentation - On the basis of type, the market is divided into forestry, renewable energy, landfill methane projects, and others. On the basis of application, the market is segmented into industrial, household devices, energy industry, agriculture, and others. On the basis of end-use, the market is fragmented into government, non-government, private sector, and others. Geographically, the market is classified into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East & Africa. SEGMENTATION: ATTRIBUTE DETAILS By Type Forestry Renewable Energy Landfill Methane Projects Others By Application Industrial Household Device Energy Industry Agriculture Others By End-Use Government Non-Government Private Sector Others Report Coverage - The report covers an in-depth analysis on the voluntary carbon offsets market. The report comprises details on the growth opportunities, challenges, driving, and restraining factors. Furthermore, the report covers detail about the key market players adopting several growth strategies to sustain in the market. Regional Insights - Greater Demand for Clean Electricity to Accelerate Growth in North America The voluntary carbon offsets market share in North America is expected to remain the leading region during the forecast period. The increase is due to supportive government regulation aimed at lowering CO2 emissions. The rising demand for carbon offsets in industrial applications will drive market expansion. In Europe, the leading countries are the U.K. and Germany. The Asia Pacific market will expand due to the rising demand for carbon offsets in household devices and agricultural applications. The Middle East and Africa are expected to see significant growth due to the increasing adoption of carbon offsets in the energy industry. Get your Customized Research Report: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enquiry/customization/voluntary-carbon-offsets-market-104248 List of Key Players in the Global Market - SOUTH POLE Shell Vertis Environmental Finance Terrapass 3Degrees NativeEnergy Forest Carbon Ltd FairClimateFund BNP Paribas CIB Carbon Footprint Ltd ClimeCo Corporation Table of Content: 1. Introduction 1.1. Research Scope 1.2. Market Segmentation 1.3. Research Methodology 1.4. Definitions and Assumptions 2. Executive Summary 3. Market Dynamics 3.1. Market Drivers 3.2. Market Restraints 3.3. Market Opportunities 4. Key Insights 4.1 Key Industry Developments - Merger, Acquisitions, and Partnerships 4.2 Distribution Analysis 4.3 Porters Five Forces Analysis 4.4 PEST Analysis 4.5 Technological Developments 4.6 Impact of COVID-19 Continued Have Any Query? Ask Our Experts: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enquiry/queries/voluntary-carbon-offsets-market-104248 About Us: Fortune Business Insights offers expert corporate analysis and accurate data, helping organizations of all sizes make timely decisions. We tailor innovative solutions for our clients, assisting them to address challenges distinct to their businesses. Our goal is to empower our clients with holistic market intelligence, giving a granular overview of the market they are operating in. Contact Us: Fortune Business Insights Pvt. Ltd. Phone: US: +1 424 253 0390 UK: +44 2071 939123 APAC: +91 744 740 1245 Email: sales@fortunebusinessinsights.com Pune, Sept. 19, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 2022-2030 REPORT ON GLOBAL DIGITAL OUT OF HOME (DOOH) MARKET BY PLAYER, REGION, TYPE, APPLICATION AND SALES CHANNEL: Global Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Market 2016-2030 report discovers comprehensive insights on key manufacturers with share information, market size and projection, key dynamics, growth factors, and new company profiles. The report provides detailed information about the market overview, prevalent trends, demand, and recent developments impacting the market growth in the coming years. Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Market opportunities analysis, strategic growth analysis, product launches, marketplace expanding, and technological innovations are also highlighted. The report uncovers Digital Out of Home (DOOH) market size, potential growth, trends and expansion strategies followed by top prominent players. Get a Sample PDF of the report @ https://www.industryresearch.biz/enquiry/request-sample/20744277 The Digital Out of Home (DOOH) market is anticipated to rise at a considerable rate during the forecast period, between 2016 and 2030. In 2022, the market is growing at a steady rate and with the rising adoption of strategies by key players, the market is expected to rise over the projected horizon. The report focuses on the Digital Out of Home (DOOH) market size, segment size (mainly covering product type, application, and geography), competitor landscape, recent status, and development trends. Furthermore, the report provides strategies for companies to overcome threats posed by COVID-19. Moreover, the impact of COVID-19 is also concerned. Since outbreak in December 2019, the COVID-19 virus has spread to all around the world and caused huge losses of lives and economy, and the global manufacturing, tourism and financial markets have been hit hard, while the online market/industry increase. Fortunately, with the development of vaccine and other effort by global governments and organizations, the negative impact of COVID-19 is expected to subside and the global economy is expected to recover. The Research Report focuses on the competitive landscape of the industry including company profiles, business overview, sales area, market performance and manufacturing cost structure. The report analyzes the global primary production, consumption, and fastest-growing countries with prominent players in the global industry. Key market observation is shown to make key findings on business growth. In the competitive assessment section, this Digital Out of Home (DOOH) market report sheds light on the list of manufacturers, market conditions, current trends, company profiles, and market innovations. It also includes various growth opportunities for top players. Get A Sample Copy Of The Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Market Report 2016-2030 Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Market Top Manufacturers Analysis : The report covers extensive analysis of the key market players along with their business overview, expansion plans, and strategies. Top Key Players covered in the report are: JCDecaux Clear Channel Outdoor Focus Media Stroer Lamar Advertising Outfront Media Exterion Media OOh!media APG SGA Publicis Groupe (Metrobus) Intersection Ocean Outdoor Adams Outdoor Advertising Capitol Outdoor Blue Outdoor Primedia Outdoor Lightbox OOH Video Network Captivate Network Burkhart Advertising Euromedia Group Stott Outdoor Advertising TOM Group Daktronics Prismview Broadsign International Aoto Electronics Mvix Christie Digital System Ayuda Media System Deepsky Corporation The report focuses on the Digital Out of Home (DOOH) market size, segment size (mainly covering product type, application, and geography), competitor landscape, recent status, and development trends. Furthermore, the report provides detailed cost analysis, supply chain. Technological innovation and advancement will further optimize the performance of the product, making it more widely used in downstream applications. Moreover, Consumer behavior analysis and market dynamics (drivers, restraints, opportunities) provides crucial information for knowing the Digital Out of Home (DOOH) market. Based On Product Types, the Digital Out of Home (DOOH) market from 2016 to 2030 is primarily split into: Digital Billboards Transit Advertising Street Furniture Advertising Others Based On Applications, the Digital Out of Home (DOOH) market from 2016 to 2030 covers: Outdoor Indoor Enquire before purchasing this report - https://www.industryresearch.biz/enquiry/pre-order-enquiry/20744277 Geographically, the report includes research on production, consumption, revenue, market share and growth rate, and forecast (2016 -2030) of the following regions: North America (United States, Canada and Mexico) Europe (Germany, UK, France, Italy, Russia and Spain etc.) Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India, Australia and Southeast Asia etc.) South America (Brazil, Argentina and Colombia etc.) Middle East & Africa (South Africa, UAE and Saudi Arabia etc.) Major Highlights of Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Market Report: Define and discuss the growth of the global Digital Out of Home (DOOH) market Analyze the various segments and dynamics of the Digital Out of Home (DOOH) market To identify and make suitable business plans according to industry and economic shifts. The key objective of presenting an in-depth research study on the global Digital Out of Home (DOOH) market is to conduct an extensive analysis and Digital Out of Home (DOOH) performance. The report highlights the latest trends, market drivers, and investment avenues for the new entrants and the market players looking for market expansion. It is helpful to combine relevant facts and offers a wealth of information and analysis on the global Digital Out of Home (DOOH) market. This report assesses the performance and profit potential of the global Digital Out of Home (DOOH) market. Different variables are used to analyze attractiveness and strengths. TO KNOW HOW COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND RUSSIA UKRAINE WAR WILL IMPACT THIS MARKET - REQUEST SAMPLE What ideas and concepts are covered in the report? The assessments accounted by all the zones and the market share registered by each region are mentioned in the report. The study sums up the product consumption growth rate in the applicable regions along with their consumption market share. Data regarding the Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Industry market consumption rate of all the provinces, based on applicable regions and product types is inculcated in the report. Region-based analysis of the Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Industry market: The Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Industry market, with regards to the provincial scope, is segmented into USA, Europe, Japan, China, India, South East Asia and more. The report also includes information regarding the products use throughout the topographies. Some of the key questions answered in this report: Which are the five top players of the Digital Out of Home (DOOH) market? How will the Digital Out of Home (DOOH) market change in the upcoming years? Which product and application will take a share of the Digital Out of Home (DOOH) market? What are the drivers and restraints of the Digital Out of Home (DOOH) market? Which regional market will show the highest growth? What will be the CAGR and size of the Digital Out of Home (DOOH) market throughout the forecast period? What is the current market size, what will the market size be in 2030 and what will the growth rate be? What are the challenges to grow in the market? What are the market opportunities and challenges faced by the key vendors? Who are the major competitors and what is their strategy? What are the barriers to entry for new players in the market? Purchase this report (Price 2500 USD for a single-user license) - https://www.industryresearch.biz/purchase/20744277 With tables and figures helping analyze worldwide Global Digital Out of Home (DOOH) market trends, this research provides key statistics on the state of the industry and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the market. Detailed TOC of Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Market Forecast Report 2016-2030: Chapter 1 Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Market Overview 1.1 Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Definition 1.2 Global Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Market Size Status and Outlook (2016-2030) 1.3 Global Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Market Size Comparison by Region (2016-2030) 1.4 Global Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Market Size Comparison by Type (2016-2030) 1.5 Global Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Market Size Comparison by Application (2016-2030) 1.6 Global Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Market Size Comparison by Sales Channel (2016-2030) 1.7 Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Market Dynamics (COVID-19 Impacts) 1.7.1 Market Drivers/Opportunities 1.7.2 Market Challenges/Risks 1.7.3 Market News (Mergers/Acquisitions/Expansion) 1.7.4 COVID-19 Impacts 1.7.5 Post-Strategies of COVID-19 Chapter 2 Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Market Segment Analysis by Player 2.1 Global Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Sales and Market Share by Player (2019-2021) 2.2 Global Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Revenue and Market Share by Player (2019-2021) 2.3 Global Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Average Price by Player (2019-2021) 2.4 Players Competition Situation & Trends 2.5 Conclusion of Segment by Player Chapter 3 Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Market Segment Analysis by Type 3.1 Global Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Market by Type 3.1.1 Digital Billboards 3.1.2 Transit Advertising 3.1.3 Street Furniture Advertising 3.1.4 Others 3.2 Global Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Sales and Market Share by Type (2016-2021) 3.3 Global Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Revenue and Market Share by Type (2016-2021) 3.4 Global Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Average Price by Type (2016-2021) 3.5 Leading Players of Digital Out of Home (DOOH) by Type in 2021 3.6 Conclusion of Segment by Type Chapter 4 Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Market Segment Analysis by Application 4.1 Global Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Market by Application 4.1.1 Outdoor 4.1.2 Indoor 4.2 Global Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Revenue and Market Share by Application (2016-2021) 4.3 Leading Consumers of Digital Out of Home (DOOH) by Application in 2021 4.4 Conclusion of Segment by Application Chapter 5 Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Market Segment Analysis by Sales Channel 5.1 Global Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Market by Sales Channel 5.1.1 Direct Channel 5.1.2 Distribution Channel 5.2 Global Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Revenue and Market Share by Sales Channel (2016-2021) 5.3 Leading Distributors/Dealers of Digital Out of Home (DOOH) by Sales Channel in 2021 5.4 Conclusion of Segment by Sales Channel Chapter 6 Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Market Segment Analysis by Region 6.1 Global Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Market Size and CAGR by Region (2016-2030) 6.2 Global Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Sales and Market Share by Region (2016-2021) 6.3 Global Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Revenue and Market Share by Region (2016-2021) 6.4 North America 6.4.1 North America Market by Country 6.4.2 North America Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Market Share by Type 6.4.3 North America Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Market Share by Application 6.4.4 United States 6.4.5 Canada 6.4.6 Mexico 6.5 Europe 6.5.1 Europe Market by Country 6.5.2 Europe Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Market Share by Type 6.5.3 Europe Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Market Share by Application 6.5.4 Germany 6.5.5 UK 6.5.6 France 6.5.7 Italy 6.5.8 Russia 6.5.9 Spain 6.6 Asia-Pacific 6.6.1 Asia-Pacific Market by Country 6.6.2 Asia-Pacific Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Market Share by Type 6.6.3 Asia-Pacific Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Market Share by Application 6.6.4 China 6.6.5 Japan 6.6.6 Korea 6.6.7 India 6.6.8 Southeast Asia 6.6.9 Australia 6.7 South America 6.7.1 South America Market by Country 6.7.2 South America Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Market Share by Type 6.7.3 South America Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Market Share by Application 6.7.4 Brazil 6.7.5 Argentina 6.7.6 Colombia 6.8 Middle East & Africa 6.8.1 Middle East & Africa Market by Country 6.8.2 Middle East & Africa Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Market Share by Type 6.8.3 Middle East & Africa Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Market Share by Application 6.8.4 UAE 6.8.5 Saudi Arabia 6.8.6 South Africa 6.9 Conclusion of Segment by Region Chapter 7 Profile of Leading Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Players 7.1 JCDecaux 7.1.1 Company Snapshot 7.1.2 Product/Service Offered 7.1.3 Business Performance (Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share) 7.2 Clear Channel Outdoor 7.3 Focus Media 7.4 Stroer 7.5 Lamar Advertising 7.6 Outfront Media 7.7 Exterion Media 7.8 OOh!media 7.9 APG SGA 7.10 Publicis Groupe (Metrobus) 7.11 Intersection 7.12 Ocean Outdoor 7.13 Adams Outdoor Advertising 7.14 Capitol Outdoor 7.15 Blue Outdoor 7.16 Primedia Outdoor 7.17 Lightbox OOH Video Network 7.18 Captivate Network 7.19 Burkhart Advertising 7.20 Euromedia Group 7.21 Stott Outdoor Advertising 7.22 TOM Group 7.23 Daktronics 7.24 Prismview 7.25 Broadsign International 7.26 Aoto Electronics 7.27 Mvix 7.28 Christie Digital System 7.29 Ayuda Media System 7.30 Deepsky Corporation Chapter 8 Upstream and Downstream Analysis of Digital Out of Home (DOOH) 8.1 Industrial Chain of Digital Out of Home (DOOH) 8.2 Upstream of Digital Out of Home (DOOH) 8.3 Downstream of Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Chapter 9 Development Trend of Digital Out of Home (DOOH) (2022-2030) 9.1 Global Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Market Size (Sales and Revenue) Forecast (2022-2030) 9.2 Global Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Market Size and CAGR Forecast by Region (2022-2030) 9.3 Global Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Market Size and CAGR Forecast by Type (2022-2030) 9.4 Global Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Market Size and CAGR Forecast by Application (2022-2030) 9.5 Global Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Market Size and CAGR Forecast by Sales Channel (2022-2030) Chapter 10 Appendix 10.1 Research Methodology 10.2 Data Sources 10.3 Disclaimer 10.4 Analysts Certification Detailed TOC of Global Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Market @ https://www.industryresearch.biz/TOC/20744277 About Us: Market is changing rapidly with the ongoing expansion of the industry. Advancement in technology has provided todays businesses with multifaceted advantages resulting in daily economic shifts. Thus, it is very important for a company to comprehend the patterns of the market movements in order to strategize better. An efficient strategy offers the companies a head start in planning and an edge over the competitors. Industry Research is a credible source for gaining the market reports that will provide you with the lead your business needs. Dublin, Sept. 19, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Global Fintech-as-a-Service Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report by Type (Payment, Fund Transfer, Loan), by Technology (Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain), by Application, by End-use, by Region, and Segment Forecasts, 2022-2030" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The global fintech-as-a-service market size is expected to reach USD 949.49 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 17.2% from 2022 to 2030. The increasing adoption of financial technology-based solutions and platforms globally is anticipated to drive the growth of the market. The increasing adoption of artificial intelligence, cloud-based software, and big data integrated with financial services is expected to drive the growth of the market for fintech-as-a-service. The growing utilization of smartphones for online transactions and fintech-related services through digital platforms is anticipated to drive the growth of the market. For Instance, approximately 44% of the payments were done through a mobile app, according to the statistics provided by Emizentech. In addition, according to a recent study conducted by Tipalti Inc., 64% of consumers worldwide use one or more fintech platforms as a service as of 2021. The investments made in financial technology companies are estimated to generate opportunities for market growth over the forecast period. For example, an API developer, Railsbank Technology Ltd, raised USD 70 million in a fundraising event headed by Anthos Capital, a U.S.-based investment company, in July 2021. The funds would be used to develop the company's Fintech-as-a-service platform and to provide customers with various product development solutions. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to play a crucial role in driving the growth of the Fintech-as-a-Service platform market over the forecast period. The increasing demand for digital financial services increased drastically during the pandemic. Financial institutions and banks were looking at innovative ways to provide their services online during the pandemic which propelled the growth of the market. Fintech-as-a-Service Market Report Highlights The fund transfer segment is expected to witness the fastest growth during the forecast period. The fund transfers apps and software being introduced such as Meta Pay by some of the major companies worldwide are expected to drive the growth of the segment The artificial intelligence segment is anticipated to witness the fastest growth over the projected period. The segment growth is attributed to the increasing adoption of AI among various small and medium enterprises worldwide for digital payment solutions The KYC verification segment is expected to witness the fastest growth during the forecast period The rising fraudulent activities such as ransomware and theft identification is one of the major factors that propelled the growth in 2021 The insurance segment is expected to witness the fastest growth during the forecast period. To keep up with the consumers' changing preferences, insurers are offering flexible term products and are customizing their offerings according to customer needs. With this changing trend, insurers are adopting the Fintech-as-a-Service platform which is driving the growth The Asia Pacific is expected to witness the fastest growth over the forecast period. The growing demand for technology-based payment platforms across the region is expected to play a decisive role in driving the growth of the regional market Key Topics Covered: Chapter 1 Methodology and Scope Chapter 2 Executive Summary Chapter 3 Fintech-as-a-Service Industry Outlook 3.1 Market Segmentation and Scope 3.2 Market Size and Growth Prospects 3.3 Fintech-as-a-Service Market - Value Chain Analysis 3.4 Fintech-as-a-Service Market - Market Dynamics 3.4.1 Market driver analysis 3.4.1.1 Technological Enhancements In The Fintech Sector 3.4.1.2 Increasing Demands By Venture Capital Companies In The Fintech Sector 3.4.2 Market challenge analysis 3.4.2.1 Security issues associated with Fintech-as-a-Service 3.5 Penetration and Growth Prospect Mapping 3.6 Fintech-as-a-Service Market - Porter's Five Forces Analysis 3.7 Fintech-as-a-Service Market - PESTEL Analysis Chapter 4 FinTech Industry Highlights 4.1 Investor Strategies 4.2 Investor Vision & Goal Analysis 4.3 Funding Raised in Voice Assistant Devices 4.4 Investments Made in Self-checkout Stores Chapter 5 Investment Landscape Analysis 5.1 FinTech Ecosystem Overview 5.2 FinTech Services Overview 5.3 Total FinTech Investment, 2017 - 2021 (USD Billion) 5.4 FinTech Regulatory Outlook 5.5 FinTech Company Analysis - GVR DashBoard (Top 50 companies) Chapter 6 Fintech-as-a-Service Type Outlook 6.1 Fintech-as-a-Service Market Share By Type, 2021 6.2 Payment 6.2.1 Fintech as a payment service market, 2017 - 2030 6.3 Fund Transfer 6.3.1 Fintech as a fund transfer service market, 2017 - 2030 6.4 Loan 6.4.1 Fintech as a loan service market, 2017 - 2030 6.5 Others 6.5.1 Fintech as others service market, 2017 - 2030 Chapter 7 Fintech-as-a-Service Technology Outlook 7.1 Fintech-as-a-Service Market Share By Technology, 2021 7.2 API 7.2.1 API Fintech-as-a-Service market, 2017 - 2030 7.3 Artificial Intelligence 7.3.1 Artificial Intelligence Fintech-as-a-Service market, 2017 - 2030 7.4 RPA 7.4.1 RPA Fintech-as-a-Service market, 2017 - 2030 7.5 Blockchain 7.5.1 Blockchain Fintech-as-a-Service market, 2017 - 2030 7.6 Others 7.6.1 Others technology Fintech-as-a-Service market, 2017 - 2030 Chapter 8 Fintech-as-a-Service Application Outlook 8.1 Fintech-as-a-Service Market Share By Application, 2021 8.2 KYC Verification 8.2.1 Fintech-as-a-Service market in KYC Verification, 2017 - 2030 8.3 Fraud Monitoring 8.3.1 Fintech-as-a-Service market in fraud monitoring, 2017 - 2030 8.4 Compliance & Regulatory Support 8.4.1 Fintech-as-a-Service market in compliance & regulatory support, 2017 - 2030 8.5 Others 8.5.1 Fintech-as-a-Service market in others, 2017 - 2030 Chapter 9 Fintech-as-a-Service End-use Outlook 9.1 Fintech-as-a-Service Market Share By End-use, 2021 9.2 Banks 9.2.1 Fintech-as-a-Service market in Banks, 2017 - 2030 9.3 Financial Lending Companies 9.3.1 Fintech-as-a-Service market in financial lending companies, 2017 - 2030 9.4 Insurance 9.4.1 Fintech-as-a-Service market in insurance, 2017 - 2030 9.5 Others 9.5.1 Fintech-as-a-Service market in others, 2017 - 2030 Chapter 10 Fintech-as-a-Service Regional Outlook Chapter 11 Competitive Analysis 11.1 Recent Developments & Impact Analysis, By Key Market Participants 11.2 Company Categorization 11.3 Vendor Landscape 11.3.1 Key company market share analysis, 2021 11.4 Company Analysis Tools 11.4.1 Company market position analysis 11.4.2 Competitive dashboard analysis Chapter 12 Competitive Landscape 12.1 PayPal Holdings, Inc. 12.1.1 Company overview 12.1.2 Financial performance 12.1.3 Product benchmarking 12.1.4 Strategic initiatives 12.2 Block, Inc. 12.2.1 Company overview 12.2.2 Financial performance 12.2.3 Product benchmarking 12.2.4 Strategic initiatives 12.3 Mastercard Incorporated 12.3.2 Company overview 12.3.2 Financial performance 12.3.3 Product benchmarking 12.3.4 Strategic initiatives 12.4 Envestnet, Inc. 12.4.1 Company overview 12.4.2 Financial performance 12.4.3 Product benchmarking 12.4.4 Strategic initiatives 12.5 Upstart Holdings, Inc. 12.5.1 Company overview 12.5.2 Financial performance 12.5.3 Product benchmarking 12.5.4 Strategic initiatives 12.6 Rapyd Financial Network Ltd. 12.6.1 Company overview 12.6.2 Financial performance 12.6.3 Product benchmarking 12.6.4 Strategic initiatives 12.7 Solid Financial Technologies, Inc. 12.7.1 Company overview 12.7.2 Financial performance 12.7.3 Product benchmarking 12.7.4 Strategic initiatives 12.8 Railsbank Technology Ltd. 12.8.1 Company overview 12.8.2 Financial performance 12.8.3 Product benchmarking 12.8.4 Strategic initiatives 12.9 Syncetera Inc. 12.9.1 Company overview 12.9.2 Financial performance 12.9.3 Product benchmarking 12.9.4 Strategic initiatives 12.10 Braintree 12.10.1 Company overview 12.10.2 Financial performance 12.10.3 Product benchmarking 12.10.4 Strategic initiatives For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/7ptxeb Attachment New York City, New York, Sept. 19, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Top New York City Oral Surgeon, Mark Stein, DDS, MD is featured in Forbes Magazine! Dr. Stein, founder of New York Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, is among ten entrepreneurs from a variety of different industries to weigh in on what the future of leadership could look like. Dr. Stein explains how compassion and technology will converge in the future. Foreseeing healthcare to develop as a commodity-driven service, Dr. Stein expects AI to be a safeguard for worker shortages and that the doctor-patient relationship will remain paramount in healthcare. In our ever-evolving consumer-centric society, the leaders of healthcare will need to bridge the gap and realize that patients view healthcare, as we view all services, as a commodity, says Dr. Stein. We need to provide patients with a platform that combines evolving technologies, such as AI, helping to replace workforce shortages, while maintaining the personalized and transparent doctor-patient relationship that is central to fostering trust and care. With a paradigm shift happening in the workforce due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the emergence of remote work, and other underlying factors, workers now seek an improved work-life balance that puts mental health first. Mitigating burnout and workplace happiness are priorities for Dr. Stein and other founders, CEOs, and entrepreneurs. At New York Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, Dr. Stein and his oral surgery team remain at the forefront of the latest techniques and technologies. This means patients can expect the utmost personalized care possible, with more treatment plans available to suit each individual. With a career spanning over 25 years in oral and maxillofacial surgery, Dr. Stein has placed over 30,000 dental implants. He also specializes in bone grafting and regeneration, wisdom teeth extractions, sinus lifts, and non-surgical cosmetic procedures, such as dermal fillers, cosmetic injectables, and BOTOX for teeth grinding and masseter hypertrophy. Dr. Stein is one of the only doctors in the country that has obtained both a DDS and an MD degree. He received his degrees from New Jersey Medical School and New York University College of Dentistry. Dr. Stein completed a six-year surgical residency at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, having served as the Chief Resident of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery. He is a member of the OKU Honor Society, the Academy of Osseointegration, the American Association of Oral Maxillofacial Surgery, and a past president of the Richmond County Dental Society. To learn more about undergoing oral surgery with Dr. Mark Stein, you can contact New York Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery by phone at (212) 888-4760 or by requesting an appointment online. Attachment WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., Sept. 19, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- InnovaQor, Inc. (OTC: VMCS), today announced the successful onboarding of a new multi-location facility to its Medical Mime EHR (Electronic Health Records) solution. InnovaQor is pleased to confirm that its subsidiary Medical Mime, Inc. has onboarded a new Montana-based behavioral health client whose three locations will transition from an existing EHR to its Medical Mime solution over a three-month period. All Medical Mime clients pay an implementation fee to facilitate the installation of our EHR and training of staff, and then pay a monthly subscription fee based on the number of users. This sale demonstrates our ability to displace competition in the marketplace with a modern product we believe to be superior in many ways, said InnovaQor, Inc. CEO Sharon Hollis. We believe that our continued focus on the needs of a customer to have a user friendly, seamless, and fully integrated product will ensure our Medical Mime EHR creates efficiencies and added value for our customers. We look forward to continued sales and increased revenues for the Company. For further information on InnovaQor, Inc., please visit www.innovaqor.com About InnovaQor, Inc. InnovaQor delivers innovative technology and software solutions for the medical sector and intends to build a communication platform specifically for the medical sector, which will facilitate communication and collaboration between peers and allow the addition of revenue generating bolt on offers, including existing solutions and a new recruitment matching product for the healthcare sector. Forward-Looking Statements This press release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ from expectations and, consequently, you should not rely on these forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. Words such as "expect," "estimate," "project," "budget," "forecast," "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "may," "will," "could," "should," "believes," "predicts," "potential," "continue," and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from the expected results. Additional information concerning these, and other risk factors, is contained in the Company's most recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company cautions readers not to place undue reliance upon any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. 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 their expectations or any change in events, conditions, or circumstances on which any such statement is based, except as required by law. Contact: Gerard Dab 561 421 1905 press@innovaqor.com Dubai, Sept. 19, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PUML Better Health, a decentralised Move-to-Earn App where users can be rewarded with their cryptocurrency token $PUMLx for healthy habits and challenges, has been awarded the "Best Move-to-Earn App" title by Entrepreneur Middle East at the Leaders in Fintech Awards 2022. "We are truly honoured to be recognized by Entrepreneur as digital asset leaders, especially in the Middle East where the pool for projects like ours is massive. To have a project that stood out to them is an amazing achievement for us," said Damien King, CEO, and Founder of PUML Better Health. "Since starting PUML, the team and I have worked diligently on utilising the platform and creating a positive step towards using blockchain technology for real-world causes. Improving people's lives, physically, mentally, and financially is important to us, so to be recognized as the best Move-to-Earn App is a reminder that we are heading in the right direction." King concluded, "We would like to thank Entrepreneur for the recognition, and we look forward to launching the exciting things we have in the coming weeks and months." The award comes just before Token 2049 in Singapore, where PUML will be sponsoring the event and making a grand announcement. About PUML Better Health PUML Better Health is one of the original Web 3, Move-to-Earn, Fitness, and Wellness companies from the Gold Coast, Australia. PUML specialises in the Move-To-Earn industry, where users can get rewarded with their cryptocurrency token $PUMLx on the Ethereum blockchain for completing health challenges such as steps and meditation. PUML successfully launched Move-to-Earn for Corporates in 2021 by signing with major corporations such as Western Union, Deloitte, LVMH, and many more, generating substantial revenue and growth. Visit PUML at https://pumlx.com/ or https://twitter.com/pumlhealthio Malvern, PA, Sept. 19, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Frontline Education, a leading provider of administration software purpose-built for educators in K-12, announced today that it will host a webinar series with leading K-12 news organization, Education Week. The series is focused on data, insights and strategies that will support school leaders in hiring, engaging and retaining staff to combat the staff shortage and enable qualified employees to continue to develop the next generation of learners. The first webinar, focused on recruitment efforts, will take place on Thursday, September 29 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time and the second webinar, focused on professional growth retention approaches, will take place on Tuesday, October 18 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. More details on the first webinar of the series can be found below. What: Frontline will host an Education Week webinar titled: Be the Change: Strategies to Make Year-round Hiring Happen. The labor shortage continues to be one of the most pressing challenges facing K-12 education today. In order to attract quality candidates during a time when the candidate pool is low, school leaders may want to consider looking beyond seasonal hiring to adopt year-round recruitment plans. Attendees will learn how to optimize the recruiting process to ensure that positions are filled in a timely manner and students instructional time is maintained. Who: A panel of educators and experts will discuss and address ways to navigate the staff shortage by leveraging the latest data to diversify and strengthen recruitment plans. Kelly Coash-Johnson , Executive Director, American Association of School Personnel Administrators (AASPA) , Executive Director, American Association of School Personnel Administrators (AASPA) J.W. Mozley, Ph.D. , Executive Director of Human Resources, Gwinnett County Public Schools in Georgia , Executive Director of Human Resources, Gwinnett County Public Schools in Georgia Kevin Agnello , Sr. Data Analytics Engineer, Frontline Education , Sr. Data Analytics Engineer, Frontline Education Susan Walters, Principal Solutions Consultant, Frontline Education The panel will be moderated by Holly Kurtz, PhD., Director, Education Week Research Center, Editorial Projects in Education, Inc. Where: Attendees can register here. If unable to attend the webinar live, registrants will receive access to the on-demand version to watch after it airs. When: The free live webinar will take place on Thursday, September 29 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. The webinar series will leverage data from the Frontline Research & Learning Institute, specifically research briefs focused on the story data tells in reference to both the non-instructional and instructional staff shortages. The non-instructional shortage research brief can be viewed here. The teacher shortage research brief will be released soon. #### About Frontline Education Frontline Education is a leading provider of school administration software, connecting solutions for student and special programs, business operations and human capital management with powerful analytics to empower educators. Frontline partners with school systems to deliver tools, data and insights that support greater efficiency and productivity, enabling school leaders to spend more time and resources executing strategies that drive educator effectiveness, student success and district excellence. Frontlines broad portfolio includes solutions for proactive recruiting and hiring, absence and time management, professional growth, student information systems, special education, special programs, Medicaid reimbursement, school health management, inventory control and asset management, payroll, benefits and financial management, and analytics solutions that help district leaders tap into their data to make more informed decisions for the benefit of their students and communities. Over 10,000 clients representing millions of educators, administrators and support personnel have partnered with Frontline Education in their efforts to develop the next generation of learners. TORONTO, Sept. 19, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Madison Metals Inc. (Madison or the Company) (CSE: GREN) (OTC: MMTLF) is pleased to provide an update to the binding letter of intent ("LOI") with Otjiwa Mining and Prospecting CC (Otjiwa) pursuant to which Madison would acquire an 85% interest in Exclusive Prospecting Licences 8531 (EPL-8531) and 8115 (EPL-8115) (the Transaction). EPL-8531 and EPL-8115 are located in the renowned Erongo Uranium Province of Namibia, Africa, where Madison already holds rights to Exclusive Prospecting License 7011 (EPL-7011) and has an agreement to acquire a 24% direct interest in Mining Licence 121 (ML121) (Figure 1). Through the Transaction, Madison is looking to consolidate ownership of land holdings in the uranium province with the goal to build upon minable uranium resources by expanding currently known uranium zones and making new discoveries. Namibia is the worlds second-highest uranium-producing country and holds the fifth-largest total uranium resources in the world. Otjiwa currently holds an intention to grant letter from Namibias Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) for EPL-8531 and EPL-8115. The approval and granting of the licences are subject to an Environmental Clearance Certificate (ECC). The Environmental Impact Assessment scoping study and Environmental Management Plan Report to obtain an ECC have already been submitted to the relevant authorities and is expecting a response shortly. Figure 1: Location of Madison North (EPL-7011 and EPL-8531), Madison West (EPL-8115 and ML121), and uranium-producing mines in Namibias Erongo Uranium Province. The Company is also pleased to announce that it is consolidating its various land holdings as a result of the continued expansion in the uranium province combined with the high likelihood of common infrastructure. Madison has designated that EPL-7011 and EPL-8531 (previously Rossing North) will be consolidated under the property name Madison North. Additionally, EPL-8115 and ML121 (previously Rossing West) will be consolidated under the property name Madison West. EPL-8531 EPL-8531 is located 50 km northeast of the city of Swakopmund and surrounds the Arandis townlands. The Rossing Mine lies approximately 50 km east of the property. The geology is made up of Damaran Super Group lithologies wrapped around units of the older Abbabis Metamorphic Complex. The overall lithological trend is north-northeast, as is common within the Welwitschia magnetic lineament deformation corridor. Structurally, the area is characterized by numerous faults, synforms and antiforms (Figure 2). Figure 2: Geological and structural setting of EPL-8531. Previous operators identified eleven prospective targets for further exploration, five of which fall within EPL-8531 (Figure 3). In 2015, drilling over two of the targets totalled 3,720 metres of reverse circulation (RC) drilling from 50 drill holes. Based on this drilling, SRK Consulting (UK) Limited (SRK) prepared an initial Mineral Resource Estimate for the intersected uranium mineralization, in accordance with the disclosure standards of JORC. The estimate, dated November 2015, was entitled MINERAL RESOURCE ESTIMATE, EPLS3524 AND 3624, NAMIBIA. SRK derived an Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate of 15.6 Mt grading at 260 ppm U 3 O 8 for a contained metal total of 9.0 Mlbs U 3 O 8 . Madisons attributable ownership of the resource will amount to 7.65 million pounds (Mlbs) U 3 O 8 . The SRK estimate is considered to be a historical estimate under National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (NI 43-101). It is not considered by the Company to be current and the Company is not treating it as such. A Qualified Person has not done sufficient work to classify the historical estimate as current mineral resources. Madison would need to review and verify the previous drill-hole data and conduct an exploration program to verify the historical estimate as a current mineral resource. Figure 3: Airborne radiometric signature and targets (blue outline) over EPL-8531. The white dots represent drillholes over the two different targets. EPL-8115 EPL-8115 is located 42 km east of the city of Swakopmund and spans an area of approximately 61 km2. The property is located 18 km southwest of the Rossing Uranium Mine the worlds longest-running open-pit uranium mine and 12 km west of the Husab Mine (Figure 1). Other properties in the vicinity that have NI 43-101-compliant resources include the Etango project to the southwest and Ida Dome to the southeast. EPL-8115 is underexplored and Madison plans to capitalize on the potential of this area. Geologically, the project area is comprised of units of the Abbabis Metamorphic Complex, intruded by leucogranites. Airborne radiometric data acquired from MME shows anomalous radiometric signatures on the northern portions of the licence area (Figure 4). Madison considers EPL-8115 to be highly prospective for leucogranite-hosted uranium mineralization. Figure 4: Airborne radiometric signature and targets (blue outline) over EPL-8115. Qualified Person Mary Barton, a Professional Natural Scientist (SACNASP) and a Qualified Person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects for EPL-8115 and EPL-8531, has reviewed, verified and approved the technical information contained in this news release. About Madison Metals Inc. Madison Metals Inc (CSE: GREN) (OTC: MMTLF) is a Canadian green energy resource company with experienced management having particular expertise in the uranium mining industry. Madisons corporate objective is to build value by advancing Rossing-type uranium deposits identified in Kenora, Ontario, Canada and Namibia, Africa by utilizing cutting-edge technology and modern strategies. Additional information about Madison Metals Inc. can be found at madisonmetals.ca and on the Companys SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com. For further information, please contact: Duane Parnham Executive Chairman & CEO Madison Metals Inc. +1 (416) 489-0092 ir@madisonmetals.ca Media inquiries: Adam Bello Manager, Media & Analyst Relations Primoris Group Inc. +1 (416) 489-0092 media@primorisgroup.com Neither the CSE nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Forward-looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions and accordingly, actual results and future events could differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. You are hence cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of present or historical fact are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include words or expressions such as proposed, will, subject to, near future, in the event, would, expect, prepared to and other similar words or expressions. Where the Company expresses or implies an expectation or belief as to future events or results, such expectation or belief is based on assumptions made in good faith and believed to have a reasonable basis. Such assumptions include, without limitation, that sufficient capital and other resources will be available to the Company to carry out its operations as currently planned. Factors that could cause future results or events to differ materially from current expectations expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements include general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; there being no assurances that the proposed exploration program will yield favourable results; the state of capital markets; the risk that the Company will not receive all necessary approvals required in order to conduct its operations as currently anticipated; accidents, labour disputes and shortages; environmental and other risks of the mining industry; other unforeseen events and developments; factors causing any of the aforesaid expectations, assumptions, and other factors ultimately being inaccurate or irrelevant; and risks associated with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. You can find further information with respect to these and other risks in filings made with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities that are available on the Companys SEDAR profile page at www.sedar.com. The Company disclaims any obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements, except as required by applicable law. Photos accompanying this announcement are available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/53106ee9-8025-4363-b990-5010e0476620 https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/8874b9cf-216b-4f4e-b4fe-9552fb30e109 https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/db3bd2e4-0822-4ae1-aae4-67a7fa8ffb61 https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/bb7ca87e-16df-4202-a5f0-a638085d4391 Arlington, Virginia, Sept. 19, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- David Myers, who has guided the American Institutes for Research (AIR) through a period of tremendous growth and change as president and CEO since 2011, has announced that he will retire in February 2024. Jessica Heppen, currently senior vice president, has been selected by the Board of Directors as AIRs seventh president and CEO. The transition in leadership will begin in January 2023. We are immeasurably proud and grateful for the transformation David Myers has led as president and CEO, said Patricia Gurin, chair of the Board, and a Professor Emerita of psychology and womens studies at the University of Michigan. His vision and commitment have helped increase AIRs profile and influence in the U.S. and around the world. He has also helped navigate AIR through some significant changes and challenges, making it a more nimble and resilient organization that is well-situated for the future. The Board worked closely with Myers on a succession plan and conducted a broad search for AIRs next leader. Board Vice Chair Lawrence D. Bobo, who is Dean of Social Sciences at Harvard University and led the search committee, noted that strong internal and external candidates were considered but, in the end, Heppen was the clear and unanimous choice. Jessica Heppen is an outstanding researcher and leader, who has the experience, expertise and skills to guide AIR boldly into the future, said Bobo. She is a passionate believer in the power of scientific evidence to improve outcomes and is committed to AIRs mission of using that evidence to help create a better, more equitable world. In January 2023, Heppen will become president of AIR and Myers will retain the title and duties of CEO. By February 2024, Heppen will become president and CEO, and Myers will retire after 13 years of leadership at AIR and more than 40 years working in the social and behavioral sciences. Leading AIR has been the highlight of my professional career. I have had the opportunity to collaborate with a team of committed people who believe that rigorous, scientific evidence is the key to addressing the biggest challenges we are facing in the U.S. and across the globe, Myers said. I am most proud of the work we are doing to diversify the behavioral sciences field and study the root causes of social inequities and explore viable solutions. I look forward to working with Jessica, the Board, leadership and staff at AIR to ensure a smooth transition and continue our exciting journey toward achieving mission. Heppen currently leads AIRs Human Services Division, which represents more than half of AIRs staff and includes some of the institutions most high-profile work. She will be the first woman to lead AIR since it was founded in 1946. I am honored to have the opportunity to lead AIR and help build on the legacy of excellence, rigor, and innovation that has defined this institution for more than 75 years, said Heppen. As inequities persist and grow, the need for independent, high-quality evidence is becoming even more urgent. I look forward to working with the remarkable staff at AIR to meet the needs of our clients and communities and help make the world a more equitable place for all. David Myers joined AIR in 2006 as senior vice president and director of the Education, Human Development and Workforce division. He became AIRs sixth president and CEO in January 2011. Under Myers leadership, AIR has grown its portfolio of research and technical assistance work; has strived to make evidence more accessible and usable by researchers, policymakers and practitioners; and has deepened its commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) both internally and in the work it does for and with clients and communities. In recent years, Myers has guided AIR through significant changes. This includes the rapid growth of AIRs assessment division and, amid market shifts, its sale to Cambium Learning Group in 2019; the acquisition of two research and technical assistance companies in 2020 as part of a strategic effort to grow AIRs work and influence in the health, workforce development and international development sectors; and the continuation of operations and mission-focused work during the pandemic, an ongoing racial reckoning, and political unrest in the U.S. and abroad. In 2021, as the institution celebrated its 75th anniversary, AIR committed to its mission by launching the AIR Equity Initiative, a $100+ million investment in research and technical assistance to address the underlying causes of systemic inequities and to increase opportunities for people and communities. Jessica Heppen joined AIR in 2004 as a social scientist and program evaluator and is a nationally recognized expert in education policy and practice. She has designed and led research and evaluation studies and technical assistance centers focused on critical issues including online and blended/hybrid learning, technology and data use in schools, career and college readiness and high school improvement, teacher professional development, and more, all with an emphasis on reducing disparities and improving outcomes for vulnerable populations. She has led AIRs efforts to infuse innovative methods to support robust research and development and has co-designed and rigorously tested two evidence-based program models: an early warning system to identify students in need of additional support, and an adaptive text messaging system to reduce chronic absence, both with demonstrated positive impacts on student outcomes. In 2016, she was named AIRs vice president of education research and evaluation and in 2019 was named senior vice president. In her current position, she oversees more than 500 active projects and guides AIRs research and technical assistance in education, workforce development, youth, family, and community development, justice, and other key areas. Prior to joining AIR, Heppen conducted evaluation studies of educational technology programs in New York City secondary schools. Heppen received her bachelors degree in psychology from Miami (Ohio) University and her masters and Ph.D. in social psychology from Rutgers University. She is a member of several professional organizations, including the American Educational Research Association, the Association of Public Policy Analysis and Management, and the American Psychological Association, and has served as a moderator and reviewer for the U.S. Department of Education, the National Science Foundation, and several prestigious academic journals. About AIR Established in 1946, the American Institutes for Research (AIR) is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit organization that conducts behavioral and social science research and delivers technical assistance both domestically and internationally in the areas of education, health and the workforce. AIR's work is driven by its mission to generate and use rigorous evidence that contributes to a better, more equitable world. With headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, AIR has offices across the U.S. and abroad. For more information, visit www.air.org. Attachments REDONDO BEACH, Calif., Sept. 19, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) was selected by the U.S. Department of the Air Force (DAF) to be a member of its Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS) Digital Infrastructure (DI) Consortium. Northrop Grumman is one of the five industry partners named to the consortium to design, develop, and deploy advanced data-centric capabilities for the Air Force and Space Force. The company will apply technical expertise in systems engineering, data management, secure processing and connectivity to shape how data is harnessed by the DAF in coordination with the Joint Force to make faster decisions in the multi-domain battlespace. The Advanced Battle Management System Digital Infrastructure Consortium (ABMS DI) will strengthen Joint warfighting to support the Department of Defenses JADC2 concept. The industry team will support the Government in building the technical and business roadmaps to deploy digital infrastructure to the warfighter on accelerated timelines. As the Department of the Air Force continues to move ABMS forward, Northrop Grummans expertise in advanced networking, sensors, software, platform integration, autonomy and manned-unmanned teaming across all domains will continue to support the emerging JADC2 needs of the DOD, said Tim Frei, sector vice president, research and advanced design, Northrop Grumman. Our work with the DOD coupled with our own internal research and development efforts gives us access to the critical pathfinder capabilities that will connect the Joint Force. The ABMS Digital Infrastructure Consortium has four focus areas: Secure Processing: Provide the common platform hardware and software for processing and storage through multi-level security. Connectivity: Provide resilient, secure, and well-managed support for communication of battle management data. Data Management: Provide tools for warfighters and developers of battle management applications to access key data more easily across security boundaries and in degraded environments. Open Architecture: Use open standards and commercial best practices enabling tech refresh, flexibility, and resilience to losses and interruptions. Northrop Grumman is a technology company, focused on global security and human discovery. Our pioneering solutions equip our customers with capabilities they need to connect, advance and protect the U.S. and its allies. Driven by a shared purpose to solve our customers toughest problems, our 90,000 employees define possible every day. Contact: Crystal Nguyen 858-914-8693 crystal.nguyen@ngc.com A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/aaf27bb0-c966-4a73-b070-007d50ff2231 SK E&S CEO Choo Hyeong-wook, second from right, poses at Busan City Hall, Monday, along with Environment Minister Han Wha-jin, center, Busan Mayor Park Heong-joon, third from right, Hyundai Motor Senior Vice President Kim Dong-wook, second from left, and other participants in the signing ceremony for the memorandum of understanding to develop a hydrogen economy in the city. Courtesy of SK E&S By Park Jae-hyuk SK E&S will push ahead with a project in collaboration with the government to supply 1,000 hydrogen buses to Busan, as part of efforts to support the bid by the nation's second-largest city to host World Expo 2030. The energy company said Monday that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Busan Metropolitan Government, the Ministry of Economy, Hyundai Motor, Busan Port Authority, Busan Metrobus Company Association and Busan Techno Park, to develop a hydrogen economy in the city. Their agreement is mainly intended to support Busan's World Expo bid by making the city more environmentally friendly. The partners seek to establish a hydrogen mobility infrastructure, including charging stations, and attract experts and companies specializing in hydrogen energy to the city, so that Busan can differentiate itself from competitors by pushing ahead with a "carbon-neutral expo" based on hydrogen energy. Under the agreement, Busan and its partners will transform diesel and compressed natural gas buses into hydrogen buses by 2025. They will also build 10 hydrogen charging stations in Busan for the stable supply of the alternative fuel. In addition, they will nurture 10 companies specializing in hydrogen energy by 2030, supporting their R&Ds and manpower training programs. Busan Port, a major global logistics hub, will have a hydrogen charging station, as well as ships and trucks powered by hydrogen, according to SK E&S. "The year 2030 is the moment that the country should achieve its intermediate goals for reaching carbon neutrality by 2050," SK E&S CEO Choo Hyeong-wook said. "If Busan is transformed into a hydrogen city that leads carbon neutrality in the medium to long run, it will not only be able to host the World Expo successfully, but will also become a successful global example of an eco-friendly city." Since SK Group and Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chairman Chey Tae-won was appointed to lead the civilian committee to support Busan's bid to host the World Expo 2030, the conglomerate's top executives have participated in the World Expo taskforce to ask political leaders worldwide to vote for Busan. Beginning with the latest agreement with Busan, SK E&S plans to make more efforts to support the city's bid to host one of the world's three largest international events. English French The tour operator is helping customers get more value for their winter getaways TORONTO, Sept. 19, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sunwing is helping its customers prepare for the unexpected this winter with even more options to travel with peace of mind. Effective September 19, 2022, the tour operator is updating its Worry Free insurance offerings and is introducing Worry Free Plus, a new coverage option to further meet the travel needs of customers and ensure they can vacation in paradise with confidence. Demand for winter and holiday travel is at its peak and, as Canadians gear up for their upcoming getaways, we want to meet customers where they are and provide them with more travel coverage options to suit their specific needs, said Andrew Dawson, President of Tour Operations for Sunwing. Were pleased to continue providing affordable Worry Free coverage and introduce our new Worry Free Plus plan which offers more flexibility for last-minute changes, including the option to transfer their package. Plus, customers can opt for added security by adding Manulife Global Travel Insurances medical and quarantine coverage to either Worry Free option for even greater peace of mind when travelling this winter. Customers who book their getaways from September 19, 2022 onward will continue to have the option to purchase Sunwings Worry Free plan for only $49, offering one change to their vacation package or cancel altogether up to three days before departure. The new Worry Free Plus plan is available for $99, an upgraded coverage option that allows customers to make one change, including the ability to transfer their package* up to seven days before departure, or cancel their vacation package up to three hours before departure. For added travel security, vacationers can purchase the Manulife Global Travel Insurance + Worry Free or Manulife Global Travel Insurance + Worry Free Plus plans, starting from $99 and $149 respectively. With these plans, customers will enjoy the same benefits of Sunwings Worry Free coverage options, plus emergency medical coverage, quarantine coverage for fully vaccinated passengers, unlimited trip interruption coverage following departure, including baggage loss, damage and delay, plus flight and travel accident insurance. Worry Free refunds* will be paid as a Sunwing travel voucher when purchased within 48 hours of booking. Note that vacationers who purchased Worry Free prior to September 19, 2022, for travel from this date onward, can rest assured knowing their insurance coverage will not change but will be automatically upgraded to Worry Free Plus. No action is required from our customers. Sunwing is giving all Canadians more choice this winter, including the Manulife Pandemic Travel Plan for as low as $4 per day, with emergency medical coverage and quarantine expenses for travellers and fully vaccinated cruise vacationers in the unlikely event they contract COVID-19 on their getaway. *Terms and conditions apply. About Sunwing The largest integrated travel company in North America, Sunwing has more flights to the south than any other leisure carrier with convenient direct service from airports across Canada to popular sun destinations across the U.S.A., Caribbean, Mexico and Central America. This scale enables Sunwing to offer customers exclusive deals at top-rated resorts in the most popular vacation destinations as well as cruise packages and seasonal domestic flight service. Sunwing customers benefit from the assistance of the companys own knowledgeable destination representatives, who greet them upon arrival and support them throughout their vacation journey. The company supports the communities where it operates through the Sunwing Foundation, a charitable initiative focused on the support and development of youth and humanitarian aid. For more information: Melanie Anne Filipp Director, Corporate Communications & Media Relations Sunwing Travel Group 1-800-387-5602 | media@sunwing.ca A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b533f3d4-7db6-4bb5-b0cd-b9f9fbcd8d4e Perth, Australia, Sept. 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Contact Information Resource Capital Funds Lyle Bruce, Partner, Head of Funds +61 418 716 003 lyleb@rcfjolimont.com www.resourcecapitalfunds.com Release Date: September 19, 2022 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CEFC Invests in RCF Jolimont II to Support Mining Innovation to Help Miners Decarbonise [Perth, Australia] Resource Capital Funds announces that The Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), Australias largest dedicated cleantech investor, has invested US$14 million into RCF Jolimont Mining Innovation Fund II (RCF Jolimont Fund II), a leading growth private equity fund specializing in mining innovation that strives to make mining safer, better, and more efficient. RCF Jolimont Fund II will invest in growth Mining Equipment, Technology, and Services (METS) companies with an increasing focus on mining innovation investments that look to support the decarbonisation of the sector and meet the mining industrys appetite for the clean energy technologies that will seek to accelerate the reduction of emissions across the industry. The need to decarbonise is driving a paradigm shift in demand for vital minerals and metals to support the green energy transition. The METS sector leads the way with technological advancements that are making mines safer, more sustainable and productive. The METS sector is helping to enable the sustainable mining of critical energy transition metals like copper, nickel, lithium and others that the world is demanding. We are proud to have the support of the CEFC to continue investing in emerging mining technologies that are revolutionizing how mines operate, and helping reduce the emissions of Australias mining operations, says Lyle Bruce, Partner, Head of RCF Jolimont. CEFC Resources Executive Director Rob Wilson said: Reducing emissions in the mining industry is critical to Australias push towards net zero emissions and will help position the sector competitively for the future. Our investment in RCF Jolimont II will help tackle what is a traditionally hard-to-abate sector by backing companies that are developing innovative solutions to emissions reduction. The RCF team has exceptional experience in mining-focused private equity and specialist expertise in fostering the growth of mining innovation companies. The potential pipeline of investee companies offers an exciting opportunity to recast mining in Australia for the long term as we help solve the challenge of decarbonising mining. Estimates from the International Energy Agency (IEA) notes that efforts to reach the IEAs widely accepted Sustainable Development Scenario would mean a quadrupling of mineral requirements for clean energy technologies by 2040.1 The demand for critical minerals is clear. RCF Jolimont Fund II invests in those innovative firms that can unlock the speed and efficiency needed to help the mining industry responsibly meet the moment, states Bruce. About Resource Capital Funds RCF is a pioneer in the mining-focused alternative investment space partnering with companies to build strong, successful, innovative, and sustainable businesses that strive to produce superior returns to all stakeholders. RCF offers distinct investment strategies across the risk/return spectrum aimed at providing capital throughout the development and capital structure risk spectrum. Mining is an essential global industry for the world today and the world of the future. Everything society needs is either grown or mined. With paradigm shifts in demand driven by decarbonization, emerging middle-income growth, and other global factors, RCF has the investment experience, technical & ESG knowledge, commercial experience, and global networks necessary to invest across all commodity cycles. About the CEFC The CEFC is a specialist investor at the centre of efforts to help deliver on Australias ambitions for a thriving, low emissions future. With a strong investment track record, the CEFC is committed to accelerating our transition to net zero emissions by 2050. In addressing some of the toughest emissions challenges, the CEFC is filling market gaps and collaborating with investors, innovators, and industry leaders to spur substantial new investment where it will have the greatest impact. The CEFC invests on behalf of the Australian Government, with a strong commitment to deliver a positive return for taxpayers across our portfolio. 1 https://www.iea.org/reports/the-role-of-critical-minerals-in-clean-energy-transitions ### This earnings call was originally scheduled to take place on Thursday, September 22, 2022 at 4:15 pm (Eastern). The earnings call to take place on Wednesday, September 21, 2022 at 4:30 pm (Eastern) replaces the originally scheduled event. LAS VEGAS and VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Sept. 19, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TAAT GLOBAL ALTERNATIVES INC. (CSE: TAAT) (OTCQX: TOBAF) (FRANKFURT: 2TP) (the Company or TAAT) is pleased to announce that it will host an earnings call on Wednesday, September 21, 2022 at 4:30 pm (Eastern) led by its Chief Executive Officer Michael Saxon and its Chief Financial Officer Joel Dumaresq. During this call, Mr. Saxon and Mr. Dumaresq will provide an overview of the Companys financial performance during its Fiscal Third Quarter of 2022 (three-month period ended July 31, 2022, referred to herein as FQ3 2022), and summarize the Companys business activities during the same period. A full recording of the call will be published on the Companys website shortly after the events conclusion. Investors may submit questions in advance of Wednesdays TAAT FQ3 2022 earnings call by email to investor@taatglobal.com . TAAT Chief Executive Officer Michael Saxon commented, After officially joining the TAAT management team in June, I am pleased at the progress we have made in such a short time. This marks the first fiscal quarter in which ADCO is part of our operations. Additionally, we have made great progress with TAAT in our focus markets, and look forward to sharing our progress with investors on Wednesday. At 4:30 pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, September 21, 2022, TAAT will be hosting its FQ3 2022 earnings call led by CEO Michael Saxon and CFO Joel Dumaresq. A full recording of the call will be published shortly after its conclusion. Readers using news aggregation services may be unable to view the media above. Please access SEDAR or the Investor Relations section of the Companys website for a version of this press release containing all published media. A graphic accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/9c884338-18e9-4ff5-8ebd-4c430ccb8053 The TAAT FQ3 2022 earnings call is open to the public, free of charge. Registration for the TAAT FQ3 2022 earnings call can be accessed by clicking on the following link: https://services.choruscall.ca/DiamondPassRegistration/register?confirmationNumber=10020247&linkSecurityString=186dd6c341 Readers using news aggregation services may be unable to view the FQ3 2022 earnings call registration link originally published in this press release. Readers who cannot see a link above can access the version of this press release containing the link on the Companys website or filed on SEDAR. Please note that the Companys management may exercise discretion with respect to choosing whether or not to answer questions that may potentially involve confidential, proprietary, or competitive information. All questions must be submitted prior to the TAAT FQ3 2022 earnings call. For clarity, this earnings call was originally scheduled to take place on Thursday, September 22, 2022 at 4:15 pm (Eastern) as announced in the Companys July 19, 2022 press release. The TAAT FQ3 2022 earnings call to be held on Wednesday, September 21, 2022 at 4:30 pm (Eastern) officially replaces the originally scheduled event. On behalf of the Board of Directors of the Company, TAAT GLOBAL ALTERNATIVES INC. Michael Saxon Michael Saxon, CEO and Director For further information, please contact: TAAT Investor Relations 1-833-TAAT-USA (1-833-822-8872) investor@taatglobal.com THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE (CSE) HAS NOT REVIEWED AND DOES NOT ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ACCURACY OR ADEQUACY OF THIS RELEASE, NOR HAS OR DOES THE CSES REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER. About TAAT Global Alternatives Inc. TAAT develops, manufactures, and distributes alternative products in categories such as tobacco, hemp, kratom, and other emerging CPG segments. Its flagship product is a nicotine-free/tobacco-free combustible with a patent-pending base material formulation, sold in several thousand U.S. stores. With over CAD $80 million in overall gross revenue annually, TAATs facilities include an operations centre in Nevada, as well as a distribution centre and multiple convenience stores in Ohio. For more information, please visit http://taatglobal.com . Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Often, but not always, forward-looking information and information can be identified by the use of words such as plans, expects or does not expect, is expected, estimates, intends, anticipates or does not anticipate, or believes, or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, might or will be taken, occur, or be achieved. Forward-looking information in this news release includes statements regarding the anticipated performance of TAAT in the tobacco industry, in addition to the following: Occurrence of the TAAT FQ3 2022 earnings call on Wednesday, September 21, 2022 as detailed in the press release. The forward-looking information reflects managements current expectations based on information currently available and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause outcomes to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking information. Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed timeframes or at all. Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations include: (i) adverse market conditions; (ii) changes to the growth and size of the tobacco markets; (iii) changes to the regulatory landscape applicable to the Company's business; and (iv) other factors beyond the control of the Company. The Company operates in a rapidly evolving environment. New risk factors emerge from time to time, and it is impossible for the Companys management to predict all risk factors, nor can the Company assess the impact of all factors on Companys business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ from those contained in any forward-looking information. The forward-looking information included in this news release are made as of the date of this news release and the Company expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. The statements in this news release have not been evaluated by Health Canada or the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. As each individual is different, the benefits, if any, of taking the Companys products will vary from person to person. No claims or guarantees can be made as to the effects of the Companys products on an individuals health and well-being. The Companys products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. This news release may contain trademarked names of third-party entities (or their respective offerings with trademarked names) typically in reference to (i) relationships had by the Company with such third-party entities as referred to in this release and/or (ii) client/vendor/service provider parties whose relationship with the Company is/are referred to in this release. All rights to such trademarks are reserved by their respective owners or licensees. Statement Regarding Third-Party Investor Relations Firms Charleston, SC, Sept. 19, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- When author Kathy Krachs husband was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis their future changed overnight. Up until that pivotal point, their marriage had weathered ups and downs, but nothing had prepared them for the unique challenges of living with a debilitating disease. For Kathy, the newfound role of caregiver left her with feelings of isolation, stress and resentment. But her marriage was made for the long-haul, and Kathy refused to let her husbands diagnosis rob her of her joy and happiness. In Caring For Us, Krach offers a candid look inside her marriage, chronicling the path of her relationship with her husband, from newlyweds to diagnosis and present day. Throughout their journey post diagnosis, Krach often struggled with her faith and at times questioned God. But over time, she found that when she stopped trying to face the hardships alone and began to tackle lifes difficulties alongside her husband, she no longer feared the unknown. A poignant account of the realities of caring for a disabled spouse, Caring For Us inspires hope in those who are struggling to maintain a happy marriage in the face of adversity and will ignite a renewed sense of purpose and zest for life for anyone living with or caring for someone with a chronic illness. Caring For Us is available for purchase online at Amazon.com. About the Author: Kathy Krach began her career at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, where she became board certified in diagnostic radiology and computed tomography. She went on to serve as clinical coordinator for the radiology program at Keiser University in Jacksonville. She has been married to her husband for over 34 years. Together they have one daughter and two grandsons. She loves to travel and entertain family and friends. Attachment HAMMOND, La., Sept. 19, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- North Oaks Health System and Childrens Hospital New Orleans announced this week that they are expanding healthcare services for children and families across Tangipahoa Parish and the Northshore Region, with the vision to improve both pediatric services and health outcomes. The clinical affiliation builds upon existing services, which are provided by Childrens Hospital New Orleans at North Oaks Medical Center today, which include neonatology, pediatric hospitalist coverage and pediatric cardiology services. In the new affiliation agreement, the organizations will explore opportunities for Childrens Hospital to provide additional pediatric services at North Oaks, bringing specialized care for children closer to home for families. By collaborating with Childrens Hospital New Orleans, we believe we can fulfill our mission of improving lives, every time, with each touch for children of the Northshore. We intend to build upon our existing relationship and enhance our pediatric service line through the addition of pediatric subspecialists and development of new pediatric services at North Oaks Medical Center and in the surrounding communities across multiple phases, affirms Michele Kidd Sutton, FACHE, President and Chief Executive Officer of North Oaks Health System. We are honored that Childrens Hospital New Orleans believes in the quality of care the North Oaks team of providers and staff provides and that they are doubling down on their commitment to provide a healthy future for Louisianas children with North Oaks as a partner. We look forward to working together to develop improved access for the community and support better health outcomes for our children. Childrens Hospital New Orleans will provide professional medical services and oversight of the pediatric service line at North Oaks, with ongoing clinical collaboration. As the leading provider of pediatric healthcare for Louisiana, Childrens Hospital is proud to work with North Oaks to improve the health and wellbeing of children with one high standard of care, said John R. Nickens IV, President and CEO of Childrens Hospital New Orleans. Our growing affiliation enhances our shared ability to deliver a healthier future for children. Childrens Hospital will continue to staff the pediatric hospitalist service at North Oaks Medical Center to support a pediatric acute care unit and newborn examinations, along with Neonatology and other sub-specialty services to support the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. North Oaks is one of the areas most progressive health systems. Situated between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, the organization includes a 330-bed acute care hospital, a Level II Trauma Center, Primary Stroke Center, a 27-bed medical rehabilitation hospital, a freestanding surgical center, two diagnostic centers and the most comprehensive multispecialty provider clinic in the region. As Louisianas premier freestanding childrens hospital, Childrens Hospital New Orleans has delivered expert healthcare for children across Louisiana and the Gulf South for more than 65 years. With a recently completed $300 million transformation of its main campus in New Orleans, Childrens Hospital provides the highest level of pediatric care in the state, backed by more than 600 pediatric-trained providers, and partnerships with LSU Health New Orleans and Tulane University School of Medicine. Childrens Hospital also operates ambulatory clinics across Louisiana and the Gulf South, including 12 primary care clinics and nine specialty clinics from Lake Charles to Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. Our affiliation with North Oaks Health System represents Childrens Hospital and LCMC Healths resolute commitment to improve the health of the next generation, said Greg Feirn, Chief Executive Officer of LCMC Health. By working together to bring more specialized health services for kids to the community, we will enhance the quality and delivery of care for children in Tangipahoa and surrounding parishes. Planning work between the organizations will continue over the coming months. Childrens Hospital and North Oaks look forward to working together on this initiative to advance health outcomes for the children and families of the Northshore Region. ### About Childrens Hospital New Orleans Childrens Hospital is a 257-bed, non-profit academic pediatric medical center that offers comprehensive healthcare services, including over 40 pediatric specialties, delivered just for children. With more than 600 pediatric providers, Childrens offers a comprehensive array of pediatric healthcare services in Louisiana and the Gulf South. In addition to its main campus located in New Orleans, the hospital operates a network of specialty clinics across Louisiana, including in Covington, Baton Rouge, Alexandria, Lafayette, and Bay St. Louis, MS. Childrens offers primary care services at 12 convenient locations and remotely via its Virtual Care for Kids program. Childrens is a proud member of LCMC Health, a Louisiana-based, not-for-profit hospital system which also includes New Orleans East Hospital, Touro, University Medical Center New Orleans, West Jefferson Medical Center, and East Jefferson General Hospital. Learn more at chnola.org About North Oaks Health System North Oaks Health System is one of Louisianas most progressive community hospital organizations and is situated between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. Founded in 1960, North Oaks mission is to improve lives, every time and with every touch. Facilities in Tangipahoa and Livingston Parishes include an acute care hospital that serves the region as a Level II Trauma Center, a rehabilitation hospital, two outpatient diagnostic & treatment centers, an outpatient surgery center, two outpatient rehabilitation clinics, a hospice agency and a growing physician group for primary and specialty care. Learn more at www.northoaks.org. Attachments VICTORIA, British Columbia, Sept. 19, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Major health risks stemming from blood clots moving through arteries and into the heart, lungs, brain or other organs of the body are always going to be a major concern for people prone to this. These clots can also be the cause of deep vein thrombosis, and Eliquis (Apixaban) is one of the most standard medications prescribed for these individuals as a means of lowering the risk of any such event. It is also one of the many medications that tend to be expensive when dispensed through pharmacies in the U.S. Ordering this medication from Canada Drugs Direct makes it more affordable. The cost of Eliquis or other blood clot prevention medications becomes, even more, an issue with the understanding that patients will often have these risks on an ongoing basis due to having conditions like high cholesterol. Many times, their inability to get those contributors sufficiently under control means that the risk of blood clots will be a reality for them long term. This means that prescriptions for Eliquis or a similar medication are going to be filled again and again, and many Americans who don't have a copay arrangement or other type of coverage may find that becomes too expensive. The stronger 5mg dose of Eliquis may be what is required for people at an elevated risk of a blood clot-related event. It is more common when a person's doctor is concerned about the risk of stroke or pulmonary embolism as compared to them consulting with a patient who has experienced deep vein thrombosis. The stronger dosage will have a larger OOP (out-of-pocket) cost for these people when filling their prescription. Taking Eliquis may be a must for guarding themselves against death or permanent debilitation occurring from a stroke, so it makes sense to explore options for paying less for this medication. Doctors will continue to prescribe Eliquis for people who are at risk of blood clots, and the way it minimizes the chances of a major event makes it a very valuable medication. Anyone recently prescribed Eliquis and already struggling to afford it should consider having the prescription filled online at Canada Drugs Direct and taking advantage of the opportunity to pay less for Rx drugs. About the Company Canada Drugs Direct is a Canadian online pharmacy that is among those recommended for Americans who shop at a pharmacy in Canada to save money on medications. Canada Drugs Direct can source medications in a way that allows for the best prices on prescription drugs from Canada. All orders require a prescription and are dispensed by a licensed pharmacist, in the same way as any pharmacy in America. Pay less for Rx medication ordered online from Canada. Contact Canada Drugs Direct: https://www.canadadrugsdirect.com/ info@canadadrugsdirect.com Toll Free: 1-888-904-8467 Related Images Image 1: Canada drugs This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. Attachment Ssangyong Motor union workers occupy the automaker's Pyeongtaek facilities while one protester ignites Molotov cocktails in July, 2018. Korea Times file By Kim Hyun-bin The Federation of Korean Industries (FKI), a major business lobby group, said Monday that it submitted a proposal to the Ministry of Employment and Labor asking for permission to hire replacement workers during strikes and to prohibit the illegal occupation of business sites by unionized workers. The proposal, titled "improvement plan for establishing a balanced labor-management relationship," includes allowing substitute workers in case of strikes, prohibiting illegal occupations of workplaces during labor walkouts, improving what businesses claim are unfair labor practices, expanding the validity period of collective agreements and improving the voting procedure for strikes. The FKI pointed out that in the event of a strike, employers cannot use replacement workers such as new hires, subcontracted laborers or dispatched personnel. The business lobby group said this causes companies to suffer production disruptions and penalties for non-compliance with contracts. "Employers lack the right to defend against labor walkouts, which leaves companies helpless against excessive demands or reckless actions by unionized workers," the FKI said. The FKI also took issue with the fact that the Labor Union Act limits the ability of employers to prevent unions from illegally occupying production facilities. The FKI argues that this not only infringes on employers' property rights, but also interferes with the work of employees who do not participate in strikes. In order to prevent such damage, the FKI emphasized that Korea, like other economically developed countries, should completely ban the illegal occupation of workplace facilities. The FKI also said that Korea's labor system targets only employers to impose criminal penalties for violations, which it claims is unreasonable. "As long as the union's right to strike is recognized, which is a legitimate right, businesses should be allowed to hire substitute employees during strikes so they can continue to operate," an official at a major conglomerate said. "Also, the illegal occupation of facilities by the union during a strike has a negative effect on both labor and management." Citing the U.S. as an example, the FKI suggested that it is necessary to abolish the provisions on criminal punishment for employers and create a new system that manages unfair labor practices. At the same time, the FKI argued that former employees who were laid off should be prevented from entering the workplace, as it causes problems such as leakage of key information to competitors. In order to prevent this, the FKI stressed that it is necessary for employers to deny former workers access to the workplace. "In Korea, the union's right to industrial action is sufficiently guaranteed, but unlike major advanced countries, employers' right to defend themselves is insufficient," Choo Gwang-ho, head of the FKI's economic division, said. "In order to minimize industrial damage caused by labor-management conflict, it is critical to revise the law." Britain's Queen Elizabeth's coffin is carried, on the day of the state funeral and burial of Britain's Queen Elizabeth, at Westminster Abbey in London, Britain, Monday. Reuters-Yonhap- Britain and the world are laying Queen Elizabeth II to rest on Monday at a state funeral that will draw presidents and kings, princes and prime ministers as well as up to a million people lining the streets of London to say a final goodbye to a monarch whose 70-year reign defined an age. A day packed with funeral events in London and Windsor began early when the doors of 900-year-old Westminster Hall were closed to mourners after hundreds of thousands had filed in front of her coffin since Sept 14. Many of them had spent cold nights outdoors to pay their respects at the foot of the queen's flag-draped coffin in a moving outpouring of national grief. The closing of the hall marked the end of four full days of the coffin lying in state and the start of the U.K.'s first state funeral since the one held in 1965 for Winston Churchill, the first of 15 prime ministers during Elizabeth's reign. Two days before her Sept. 8 death at her Balmoral summer retreat, the queen appointed her last prime minister, Liz Truss. The coffin of Britain's Queen Elizabeth is carried in the procession on the day of the state funeral and burial of Britain's Queen Elizabeth, at Parliament Square in London, Britain, Monday. Reuters-Yonhap Among the last mourners to join the line to see the coffin was Tracy Dobson from Hertfordshire, just north of London. ''I felt like I had to come and pay my final respects to our majestic queen, she has done so much for us and just a little thank you really from the people,'' she said. Monday has been declared a public holiday in honor of Elizabeth, who died Sept. 8 at 96. Her funeral will be broadcast live to over 200 countries and territories worldwide and screened to crowds in parks and public spaces across the U.K. Police officers from around the country will be on duty as part of the biggest one-day policing operation in London's history. Royals' emotions for queen show through ceremonial pageantry 'Part of history': crowds jam London for queen's funeral President Yoon offers condolences for death of Queen Elizabeth II On the evening before the funeral, King Charles III issued a message of thanks to people in the U.K. and around the world, saying he and his wife Camilla, the queen consort, have been ''moved beyond measure'' by the large numbers of people who have turned out to pay their respects to the queen. ''As we all prepare to say our last farewell, I wanted simply to take this opportunity to say thank you to all those countless people who have been such a support and comfort to my family and myself in this time of grief,'' he said. For the funeral, Elizabeth's coffin will be taken from Westminster Hall, across the road to Westminster Abbey, on a royal gun carriage drawn by 142 Royal Navy sailors. The same carriage was used to carry the coffins of late kings Edward VII, George V and George VI, and of Churchill. The coffin of Queen Elizabeth II is brought to Westminster Abbey for her funeral in central London, Monday. AP-Yonhap The service, attended by 2,000 people ranging from world leaders to health care workers and volunteers, will end with two minutes of silence followed by the national anthem and a piper's lament, before the queen's coffin is taken in a procession ringed by units of the armed forces in dress uniforms, with the queen's children walking behind, to Wellington Arch near Buckingham Palace. There, it will be placed in a hearse to be driven to Windsor for another procession along the Long Walk, a three-mile (five-kilometer) avenue leading to the town's castle, before a committal service in St. George's Chapel. She will then be laid to rest with her late husband, Prince Philip, at a private family service. Central London was already packed before dawn Monday with people seeking out a prime viewing spot, and authorities warned that it would be extremely busy. U.S. President Joe Biden was among leaders to pay their respects at Queen Elizabeth II's coffin on Sunday as thousands of police, hundreds of British troops and an army of officials made final preparations for the funeral _ a spectacular display of national mourning that will also be the biggest gathering of world leaders for years. People across Britain paused for a minute of silence at 8 p.m. Sunday in memory of the only monarch most have ever known. At Westminster Hall, the constant stream of mourners paused for 60 seconds as people observed the minute of reflection in deep silence. Prince William and Prince Harry follow a gun carriage carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II during her funeral service in Westminster Abbey in central London Monday. Reuters-Yonhap In Windsor, rain began to fall as the crowd fell silent for the moment of reflection. Some had set up small camps and chairs outside Windsor Castle, with plans to spend the night there to reserve the best spots to view the queen's coffin when it arrives. ''Well, it's just one night and day of our lives. Elizabeth gave us - you know - 70 years. So the rest of it is not a lot to ask, is it?'' said Fred Sweeney, 52, who kitted out his spot with two Union flags on large flag poles. Biden called Queen Elizabeth II ''decent'' and ''honorable'' and ''all about service'' as he signed the condolence book, saying his heart went out to the royal family. Britain's King Charles and Princess Royal attend the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, at the Westminster Abbey in London Monday. AP-Yonhap Queen Elizabeth's closest relatives were ashen-faced as they followed her coffin to Westminster Abbey for her funeral on Monday, in a meticulously choreographed procession that nevertheless betrayed the high emotions of the day. Elizabeth's son King Charles and his three younger siblings, Anne, Andrew and Edward, made up the first line behind the gun carriage pulled by 142 Royal Navy sailors that bore the queen's coffin from nearby Westminster Hall to the abbey. Behind them came Charles's sons, Princes William and Harry, and other senior members of the royal family, their grave faces showing the emotional impact of the solemn moment. Charles and William had travelled to the hall together in a royal car, cheered and applauded by crowds of mourners who lined the streets of central London to witness a day of somber ceremony. But from the moment the queen's coffin began to emerge, carried by pall bearers, everyone fell silent and the royals marched to the sound of bagpipes and the tolling of a bell. Charles, Anne, Edward and William, all dressed in ceremonial military uniform, saluted as the coffin was lifted off the gun carriage in front of the abbey. Prince Andrew, center, and Prince Harry, second right, arrive at Westminster Abbey on the day of Queen Elizabeth II funeral in central London, Monday. The Queen, who died aged 96 on Sept. 8, will be buried at Windsor alongside her late husband, Prince Philip, who died last year. AP-Yonhap Motorola Moto E22 Exp. release 2022, October 172g, 8mm thickness Android 12 64GB storage, microSDXC 2.7% 21,859 hits 7 Become a fan 6.5" 720x1600 pixels 16 MP 1080p 4 GB RAM MT6765V 4020 mAh Li-Po Disclaimer. We can not guarantee that the information on this page is 100% correct. Read more Samsung introduced the Galaxy Z Flip4 and Galaxy Z Fold4 in August and now it about to release the annual versions exclusive to China Telecom. Those will have a slightly changed design, more RAM and new names. The Fold will be called Samsung W23, while the clamshell will go by as Samsung W23 Flip. The Samsung W23 smartphones will be sold exclusively with a golden cover and premium coating on the back, as well as up to 16GB RAM. The global Fold4 has 12GB RAM, while the Flip sits at just 8GB. The W series predates Samsung's foldable smartphones, it used to sell tailor-made clamshells with exuberant pricing. The most expensive Galaxy Z Fold4 costs CNY15,999 ($2,280 in China, which means the Samsung W23 is likely going to match its predecessors price of CNY16,999 (over $2,420). The W23 Flip is aiming for CNY9,999 ($1,420). Source | Via Fifteen of 27 graduates of the national Upward Bound college preparation program hosted by the University of Guam stand for a socially distanced group photo following a graduation ceremony on Aug. 8, 2020 at the University of Guam Calvo Field House. Guams free COVID-19 testing for tourists is scheduled to end on Sept. 30, amid the lifting of most pandemic travel restrictions by Japan, South Korea and other main tourism markets. Nearly 100,000 visitors availed of Guam Visitors Bureau free testing program, in partnership with private clinics and the Department of Public Health and Social Services. GVB in 2021 approved the free testing for visitors as an incentive for tourists to return to Guam after the pandemic. Thats $150 to $175 that each tourist to Guam does not need to spend, since the cost is covered by GVB. Since our source markets have eased border controls, there isnt demand for pre-testing and we have begun to scale down the testing sites with the Department of Public Health and Social Services, GVB Vice President Gerry Perez said on Monday. However, in those rare cases where testing is required, Public Health and private clinics would be the best places to go, he said. Two of the four Tumon sites providing visitors with free PCR and antigen tests closed Sunday. Testing is no longer being provided at Pacific Islands Club Guam and Hotel Nikko Guam. Only the testing sites at Hyatt Regency Guam and The Plaza Shopping Center in Tumon remain open for travel testing, according to GVB. Theyre open from 9 a.m.-noon and 2-4 p.m. GVB spent at least $3 million to provide free COVID-19 testing and related expenses, from an initial investment of $1 million. Public Health subsidized the rest of the resources to support the program Perez said of the nearly 100,000 visitors who participated, about 27,650 were visitors from March to June 2022, when five private clinics helped. Some 67,797 visitors participated when GVB partnered with Public Health from June 13 to Sept. 17. About 1,028 locals also took advantage of the free testing, he said. Korea and Japan are no longer requiring proof of negative COVID-19 test results prior to citizens re-entry. Other destinations such as the Philippines and the Federated States of Micronesia still require negative COVID-19 test results for entry or re-entry. We projected about 130,000 visitors would be recorded for this fiscal year, but we believe the free testing helped generate a lot of interest in our source markets, particularly Korea, Perez said of Guams total visitor arrivals, now nearing 200,000. By June this year, the United States along with Guam and other territories also dropped the requirement of showing proof of negative COVID-19 testing to board a flight. GVB had said doing away with testing requirements helped with tourism recovery. Tourism updates Guam has seen an uptick in monthly arrivals during the summer months. Tourisms current state and recovery are among topics during GVBs membership forum at 11 a.m. Wednesday. The bureau is also expected to report on its fiscal 2022 and 2023 budgets. Also among topics are remedial and corrective actions as a result of GVB bylaws review. In May, the GVB board voted to cancel all its meetings until the review was finished and corrective actions were taken. The vote came after GVB President Carl Gutierrez accused the board of overstepping its duties and functions, and violating open government law by allegedly meeting in private and voting for GVB initiatives and programs that benefit their businesses. Chinese scientists discover history of volcanic eruptions in Chang'e-5 landing region Xinhua) 09:19, September 19, 2022 A visitor looks at lunar samples brought back by China's Chang'e-5 probe at the National Museum of China in Beijing, capital of China, April 18, 2021. (Xinhua/Yin Dongxun) BEIJING, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- A research team from China has discovered geological evidence of at least four layers of volcanic lava flows that flooded the landing region of the Chang'e-5 lunar exploration mission, according to a press release from the National Space Science Center (NSSC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. China's Chang'e-5 mission brought a total of 1,731 grams of lunar samples back to Earth at the end of 2020. The landing region of the mission on the northwest region of Oceanus Procellarum, also known as the Ocean of Storms, is considered to be one of the youngest basaltic units on the lunar surface. Scientists say the region is rich in heat-producing elements such as uranium, thorium and potassium, which are thought to be responsible for maintaining the long-standing volcanic activities on the Moon. "Therefore, the study of the thickness of basalt and its eruption rate in the landing area of Chang'e-5 will further improve the understanding of the lunar volcanic activity and internal thermal evolution history," said Du Jun, who led the research project. To address these questions, researchers from the NSSC and other institutes in China estimated the thickness of mare basalts in the Chang'e-5 landing region. Their results show that at least four magmatic eruptions took place in the landing region, with a median thickness of 230 meters, 70 meters, 4 meters and 36 meters, respectively. Furthermore, the study also shows that the eruption rate of mare basalts in the Chang'e-5 landing region increased significantly about 2 billion years ago. "These results are expected to provide new constraints for the numerical model that can explain the duration and scale of the volcanic activities on the Moon," said Du. The research findings were recently published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets. (Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun) Haiti - News : Zapping... Words by Michele B. Duvalier "Haiti darling King Henry Ariel Henry Go ! To avoid a bloodbath Take your clicks and your slaps ! But go ! Nothing is going right ! I beg you leave so that many innocent people do not pay for the real culprits You are already a political corpse" Michele B. Duvalier, former First Lady of Haiti (1980-1986). A dozen schools looted "Protecting education, protecting schools, is protecting the work of teachers, protecting the future of our children and of Haiti. We encourage the return of materials and equipment from a dozen schools in the departments of Artibonite and Northeast. Help these schools access archives and various documents such as student transcripts. Remember that the school is the workplace of all teachers and a temporary shelter in the event of a disaster," Ministry of Education UN for Strong Police to Fight Gangs Antonio Guterres, the UN Secretary General pleaded for the restoration of security in Haiti and a strong police force to fight armed gangs. In an interview with RFI and recommended an international support program for the National Police of Haiti (PNH) in training and equipment See also : https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-37682-icihaiti-un-one-should-subsidize-families-not-fuels-dixit-sg-antonio-guterres.html Trade unionist Dominique St Eloi calls for mobilization Trade unionist Dominique St Eloi, General Coordinator of the National Coordination of Haitian Workers (Cnoha), called on workers, peasants and citizens of popular neighborhoods to take to the streets again this week against the rise in fuel prices and to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry and all his allies. Mourning : Embassy of Canada in Haiti closed This Monday, September 19, 2022, the Embassy of Canada to Haiti will remain closed to observe Canada's National Day of Mourning in honor of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. The Embassy's emergency management team remains fully mobilized working remotely to continue to assess the situation in the country. In case of a consular emergency, contact: 1-613-996-8885 sos@international.gc.ca Urgent public works Eng. Rosemond Pradel, Minister of Public Works the engineer recently held a workshop with the coordination office and the central directors of the ministry. Pradel took the opportunity to emphasize the urgency of starting repair work on several roads, particularly national road # 1, such as the area commonly known as the Rita crossroads and surrounding areas. The drainage of the watersheds at the level of the ravines of Bristout and Meyotte in order to facilitate traffic as the start of the school year, scheduled for October 3rd, approaches. HL/ HaitiLibre Haiti - FLASH : First effect of Hurricane Fiona on Haiti "Hurricane Fiona passes over the north coast of the island of Haiti. The rain continues to fall in several municipalities in the North and North-East departments of the country, in some places it is light, in some places it is heavy. And the sea is starting to get rough," said the Directorate of Civil Protection (DPC). At the time of writing the center of Fiona was located at sea 215 kilometers northeast of Haiti, which causes rough seas, and a cloud band attached to Fiona is over Haiti causing rain. Let's recall that Haiti is still at the level of Yellow Vigilance (i.e. risk of impact of Low to moderate intensity) in the face of the threats of heavy rains, strong winds and high seas during the passage of this system from Monday to Tuesday in the region. In relation to the dangerous sea conditions which are specially provided for in the departments of North, South and North-West of the Island of Haiti, SEMANAH in concert with the UHM announces the temporary ban on all operations of cabotage, particularly in the coastal regions of these departments. At 500 PM AST (2100 UTC), the center of Hurricane Fiona was located near latitude 20.1 North, longitude 69.8 West. Fiona is moving toward the northwest near 10 mph (17 km/h). This general motion is expected to continue through tonight, followed by a turn toward the north-northwest on Tuesday and to the north on Wednesday. On the forecast track, the center of Fiona will pass near or to the east of the Turks and Caicos on Tuesday. Maximum sustained winds have increased to near 100 mph (155 km/h) with higher gusts. Steady strengthening is expected during the next couple of days, and Fiona is forecast to become a major hurricane on Tuesday. Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 30 miles (45 km) from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 140 miles (220 km). The estimated minimum central pressure is 972 mb (28.71 inches). By Panos Kotzathanasis | Published on 2022/09/18 September 15th saw the release of "Doom Doom" in South Korean theaters. The art house film premiered at the Busan International Film Festival last year. It was reviewed by Panos Kotzathanasis of HanCinema here. Recently, lead actress Kim Yong-ji of the movie discussed her role in it. There she plays I-na, a DJ who had to quit her job to work at a cell center after having a child. Advertisement This is her first lead role, Kim Yong-ji having had smaller roles in such television dramas as "WATCHER" fro 2019 and "Tale of the Nine Tailed" from last year. Kim Yong-ji claims to have enjoyed the time spent closely with director Jung Won-hee in pre-production, her not having this kind of access in her smaller television drama roles. Kim Yong-ji also mentioned having to set of DJing equipment at her home so that she could better get used to it, the DJing elements being critical to her character. Kim Yong-ji claimed to be so deep in DJing thinking she couldn't even properly enjoy her own pre-release party in Hongdae. Many professional DJs were in attendance running their own plalists, and Kim Yong-ji was nervous she might mess this up- though she smiled recalling the anecdote. While Kim Yong-ji's own DJ experience is abstract, it's far more pivotal to her character and especially her conflict. The character of Kim Yong-ji's mother is played by Yoon Yoo-sun, and is a devout Catholic who's disappointed in her daughter's failure to lead a normal life. Kim Yong-ji said the three of them met around ten times in rehearsel to work on the exact expressions of their difficult relationshp that needed to focus on realism. Kim Yong-ji noted that much of this nuance as achieved non-verbally. Throughout production, Kim Yong-ji was mindful of how the story of "Doom Doom" was a women's story that could happen to just about anyone. Kim Yong-ji closed by noting the importance of finding a process in life by which to go to the next step. For Kim Yong-ji's own next step, she is slated to appear in "Somebody" on Netflix later this year and "Tale of the Nine Tailed 1938" on tvN next year. Written by William Schwartz ___________ "Doom Doom" is directed by Jung Won-hee, and features Kim Yong-ji, Yoon Yoo-sun, Park Jong-hwan, Kim Jin-yeop, Kim Da-on. Release date in Korea: 2022/09/15. Korean Movie | 2013 Action Directed by Hwang In-ho () Written by Hwang In-ho () 113min | Release date in South Korea: 2014/03/13 Link Synopsis Bok-Soon (Kim Go-eun) runs a street stall while taking care of her younger sister. Bok-Soon may not be the brightest girl but what she lacks in intelligence, she makes up for in uncontrollable rage. She's infamously known as the "psycho bitch" in her neighborhood. Bok-Soon's relatively peaceful life with her sister is disrupted when they cross paths with a serial killer named Tae-Soo (Lee Min-ki). Tae-Soo kills Bok-Soon's sister because she may have stumbled upon the truth of his murderous lifestyle. Bok-Soon's rage consumes her completely, leading her to plot her revenge on Tae Soo. Meanwhile, Tae-Soo vows to tie up his only loose end-Bok-Soon. Bok-Soon's descent into revenge and electrifying struggle with Tae-Soo culminates in a riveting conclusion. Who will emerge alive-hot-blooded Bok-Soon or cold-hearted Tae-Soo? Production Note The Showdown between the Psychopath and the Psycho-bitch Ruthless psychopath Tae-Soo and raging psycho-bitch Bok-Soon battle it out head-to-head in Monster. The film is South Korea's first ever action-thriller portraying a strong leading female character battling it out with a psychopath killer. Existing Korean action-thrillers usually revolve around the situation and incident. However, Monster's story is solely driven by the impulse of its characters. "A lot of thrillers focus on the chase, action, and mystery. But, Monster's focal point is on its well defined characters,", "'Monster - Movie' is an in-depth character study and portrayal of human emotions focusing on loneliness and neglect," said director Hwang In-ho. The character of Tae-Soo (Lee Min-ki) goes well beyond the typical portrayal of psychopaths in Korean movies to a level of monstrosity. In addition, Bok-Soon's character dramatically pivots from pure innocent girl to a ferocious psycho-bitch as the story progresses in Monster. These characters are a dramatic transformation for 'flower boy' Lee Min-ki ("Shut Up: Flower Boy Band") and angelic Kim Go-eun-I ("A Muse"). Lee and Kim are best known for their bright and cheerful roles in their previous films and television series. Now they return to the big screen as two completely insane characters who are more than ready to tear each other apart. Cast and Characters Cold Blooded Serial Killer - Tae-Soo (Lee Min-ki) Tae-Soo is a heartless murderer, who methodically covers up his tracks. But, he cares deeply for his adoptive family, who took him in as a young boy. One day, Tae-Soo's older brother asks him for a favor-to kill a man. Out of love and loyalty, he gladly accepts the request. After killing his target, Tae-Soo discovers a witness to his crime. In pursuit, he finds the witness with none other than Bok-Soon's sister. Tae-Soo is desperately driven to tie up loose ends, so he murders her and adds Bok-Soon herself to his hit list. The Girl With The Uncontrollable Rage - Bok-Soon (Kim Go-eun-I) Bok-Soon is known as the neighborhood "psycho-bitch." But that kind of name-calling doesn't affect her at all. She only cares about working hard and saving up money for her younger sister's education. All of that changes when her sister is killed. Bok-Soon's uncontrollable rage is awakened and her mind is solely set on going after Tae-Soo. Source Published on 2022/09/19 | Source New stills added for the upcoming Korean documentary "The Man Who Paints Water Drops" (2020) Advertisement Directed by Brigitte Bouillot, Kim Oan "The Man Who Paints Water Drops" is a co-production between South Korea and France Synopsis Letter and Repetition: Echo of the Water Drop Painter, Kim Tschang-yeull's Work -Water Water is a recurring element in this movie and appears repeatedly in various forms, including rain, sea, glass of water, and puddles. Such a humorous way of healing is not only literal reflection and refraction of Kim's fundamental main theme, but also the way he exists in the world. Such an object is to immerse the audience in the obsession and microscopic detail associated with the writer's daily life. -Repetition This work focuses on the radical character of Kim Tschang-yeull's minimal and repetitive atmosphere through scenes, sounds, and repetition of words. One of the ways we use for this purpose is the repetitive phosphorus accumulation method. For example, a woman bends and gets up and bows again 10 or 15 times. You can experience this tremendous accumulation of gestures in your daily life. -Separation In his work, as in his life, Kim Tschang-yeull has a special relationship with the world of separation and patience, which he observes, expresses and sometimes tries to imitate. Therefore, the work expresses the world around him with patience through the separation of the streets of Seoul and Paris, the nature around his home, the kind of news he hears on the radio, and the kind of desire he has. Release date in Korea : 2022/09/28 News Release Sept. 19, 2022 Contact information MDH highlights 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline during suicide prevention awareness month In observation of September as Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, health officials are reminding Minnesotans that suicide is preventable, recovery is possible, and help is available at any time by calling 988. Earlier this summer, the U.S. rolled out a nationwide three-digit dialing code 988 as a way to access suicide prevention and crisis support. Since switching to 988 on July 16, calls to Minnesotas four call centers have increased 44%. Minnesota has also seen a 173% increase in web chats (since January 2022) and 250% increase in texts to 988. The increase is believed to be in large part because the new 988 dialing option made it easier to remember how to access a trained counselor for suicide support and resources. Minnesota received 33,887 calls, 4,099 chats, and 1,306 texts in 2021. The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline and Minnesotas four call centers offer support 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There continues to be a great need for 988 support services as suicide, or death by intentional self-harm, has been steadily rising in Minnesota for the past 20 years. According to preliminary data, there were 777 suicides in 2021, mirroring trends across the United States. This is the seventh straight year in which more than 700 Minnesotans died by suicide. In addition, each year in Minnesota there are more than 10,000 self-harm or suicidal injuries treated by health care providers. We know the last few years have been incredibly challenging mentally, emotionally and physically for many Minnesotans, said Minnesota Commissioner of Health Jan Malcom. Please take advantage of this awareness month to check in with the people in your life, and consider reminding them that the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is available for anyone in need of crisis or mental health support. Local leaders, community organizations and employers can take steps to prevent suicide: Share resources on 988 and other crisis services. Bring suicide prevention training to your school, faith community, workplace or other community. Share suicide prevention messages and resources through social media. The Suicide Prevention Awareness Month messaging toolkit can help you get started. Promote other programs within the community that encourage positive healthy activities and places for connection. Minnesotas four 988 call centers are Carver County Health and Human Services, Mental Health Crisis Program; First Call; FirstLink; and Greater Twin Cities United Way. The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is one among several ongoing Minnesota initiatives to prevent suicides, including mental health training for school staff and the Zero Suicide Initiative. Minnesota started providing the Kognito At-Risk mental health training for school staff at no cost in May 2020. Kognito At-Risk is a virtual training that provides role-playing simulations to help educators and school staff gain an understanding of mental health and recognize the signs of distress. More than 13,215 school staff members in Minnesota have taken Kognito At-Risk. In addition, Kognitos Friend2Friend is a student curriculum for grades 6-12 that teaches about emotional and mental wellness, and how to support classmates that may be struggling. To date, 757 students in eight school districts have completed Kognito Friend2Friend. Another initiative is Zero Suicide, which is a framework to improve the suicide and self-harm care within health care and behavioral health clinics and organizations. This initiative helps identify people with thoughts of suicide and connects them to resources and treatment. It also focuses on ensuring clinicians and staff receive adequate training as it relates to suicide prevention and intervention. In Minnesota, 36 health and behavioral health care systems have committed to adopting the Zero Suicide framework and have completed the initial Zero Suicide training. For those communicating about suicide or doing a news story, please review MDHs Safe Messaging around Suicide (PDF). -MDH- Scott Smith MDH Communications 651-503-1440 scott.smith@state.mn.us Partnership welcomes first leaders, honors WGLA engineers FLETCHER The Henderson County Partnership for Economic Development welcomed back its first two CEOs and honored a Hendersonville engineering firm as its Partner of the Year during its Building a Legacy celebration at Rinehart Racing in Fletcher last week. Around 250 supporters attended. We were thrilled to have such a strong turnout, Partnership chair Steve Gwaltney. The Partnership is known for creating exceptional events that drive connection in our community which strengthens business and industry. The impact of manufacturing is long lasting, and we were able to tell that story tonight. In the last year alone, the Partnership announced the relocation of Rinehart Racing and the expansion of CanvasPrints.com, which brought more than $11.5 million in investment and more than 95 jobs to the community. Both originating in western North Carolina, the companies moved to Fletcher Business Park where they each occupy a landmark industrial building. Current Partnership President/CEO is flanked by Scott Hamilton, the agency's first CEO, and Andrew Tate, its second.At the event last Thursday attendees toured Rinehart Racing then enjoyed a reception and dinner on the lawn. After dinner, teams competed in a game of trivia focused on Henderson County economic development and emceed Scott Hamilton and Andrew Tate, the first and second HCPED leaders who both went on to serve in statewide economic development posts. I always say I am standing on the shoulders of Scott and Andrew, Partnership President & CEO Brittany Brady. They created such a solid economic development foundation in our community, and it was an honor to have them celebrate with us this evening. Hamilton served as president when the Partnership began as a standalone organization in 2006. Now, he is the president of the Golden LEAF Foundation, which focuses on disbursement of tobacco fund settlement dollars. Tate, who served as the Partnership president from 2007-2017 and led the effort to recruit the Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. to Mills River, is currently the North Carolina Director of Economic Development for Duke Energy Carolinas. Duke Energys Site Readiness program has assisted in the development of Henderson County sites, Ferncliff Park and the Hudgens site located on McMurray Road. WGLA Engineering was honored as the Partner of the Year. WGLA has been instrumental in the work of the Partnership and our sister organization Economic Investment Fund of Henderson County, past board Chair Nathan Kennedy. Without their support and guidance with site development, we would not be where we are today. The entire team is humble and forward thinkers, and they are a huge asset to Henderson County. The annual event certainly celebrating the contributions of manufacturers in the community was free to members and manufacturers thanks to the support of Premier Sponsors CanvasPrints.com, Carolina Specialties Construction, Cooper Construction, Duke Energy and First Bank; Patron Sponsors: A-American Electric, Advent Health, Blue Ridge Community College, Dominion Energy, Ferncliff, First Citizens Bank, Friday Services, GE Current, Kimberly-Clark, Morrow Insurance Agency, Optimum, Pardee UNC Health Care, Pepsi-Cola Bottling Co., Avery Dennison Smartrac, UPM Raflatac, and The Van Winkle Law Firm. Donations were provided by Bold Rock Hard Cider, Diamond Brand Gear Company, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, and Rinehart Racing. New ghost tour opens in downtown Hendersonville John Badger leads a Haunts of Hendo ghost tour through downtown Hendersonville. The owners of a new downtown ghost tour are counting on the interest both local residents and tourists have in searching the citys streets for what haunts Hendersonville. And whether or not their customers scare up the spirit of a long-dead murder victim or the apparition of convicts hung in public not far from the countys Historic Courthouse, tour guide John Badger said he hopes people who take his tour have fun and learn a little history along the way. A lot of people enjoy the macabre side of things and hearing about deaths and murders, Badger said. Some of the most popular podcasts are about deaths and murders. Badger and his wife, Heidi, recently opened Haunts of Hendo, a walking tour that takes customers on a one-mile journey through downtown Hendersonville. A brochure for the business asks if visitors are ready to learn the haunted history of Hendersonville, North Carolina? The tour begins at the Historic Courthouse on Main Street before heading to Church Street, Fifth and Sixth Avenue and then back to Main Street. Along the way, Badger, who uses his middle name Sebastian on the tour, holds a battery-operated, old timey-looking lantern while telling ghost stories at various locations. Theres one about a hanging that happened in the 1800s where the Curb Market now stands on Church Street across from the backside of the old courthouse and one about a murder that also happened in the 1800s at the doors of First Baptist Church in Hendersonville. He tells that story outside where the current church stands on Fifth Avenue. Theres another old ghost story associated with Hendersonvilles First Methodist Church and a story about unexplained events at the Skyland Hotel on Main Street, among others. Badger also touches on more recent history along Main Street when he on the talks about the connection Tempo Music has to the still unsolved 1966 triple murder in the county. In addition to the walking tour, Haunts of Hendo also has a YouTube channel dedicated to local ghost stories associated with locations outside the walking tour. Badger said he hopes people who take his tour are as interested as he is in hearing ghost stories and learning history. Learn about the town you are in, whether its the town you live in or the town youre visiting, he said. Its something to do. Its something to talk about later. Badger said he has always been fascinated by ghost stories and he and his wife took a few walking ghost tours in other towns over the years. He also trained to lead a ghost tour in Asheville before Covid put the brakes on those plans. Badger decided to pursue his own tour in Hendersonville after the pandemic eased. Longtime residents and visitors to Hendersonville, he said, want to hear about the history that might haunt the community. If theres a town that says its historic and it doesnt have a ghost tour, its missing something, he said. Badger wanted to find some good ghost stories from the history of the community for his tour. So, he took lots of trips to the countys library looking for books on ghosts in North Carolina and the Blue Ridge Mountains. Other research, he said, led him down several rabbit holes before he settled on the stories for his tour. During a recent test tour before opening for business, invited guests offered Badger some of the stories they heard around Hendersonville over the years and even told him about some of their own unexplained experiences. There are a bunch of stories, he said. There are so many out there. Despite his obvious interest in ghosts, Badger paused for a long moment when asked whether he believed in them. Im open to the concept, he said before adding that 7 percent of the population claims to have seen a ghost. Its not farfetched. The Haunts of Hendo tour lasts about an hour and costs $10 per person. It is not recommended for children younger than 10 years old. For more information, visit www.hauntsofhendo.com. In Defence of Marxism is committed to safeguarding your privacy. At all times we aim to respect any personal data you share with us, or that we receive from other organisations, and keep it safe. This Privacy Policy (Policy) sets out our data collection and processing practices and your options regarding the ways in which your personal information is used. This Policy contains important information about your personal rights to privacy. Please read it carefully to understand how we use your personal data. 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Please let us know if you have any queries or concerns whatsoever about the way in which your data is being processed by emailing the Data Protection Manager at webmaster@marxist.com A PEDESTRIAN crossing has not been installed on a busy road in Benson more than a year after funding was agreed. Residents have lobbied for a safe crossing point on the A4074 close to Benson Marina for years. Oxfordshire County Council, the highways authority, confirmed last summer that the project would go ahead and has budgeted 160,000 for the work using financial contributions from housing developers with Benson Parish Council contributing 10,000. However, the scheme has been delayed for which the council has apologised. There is currently an island near the junction with Church Road but this is thought to be insufficient to cope with the expected growth in traffic as a result of new housing developments. The crossing would be the toucan type where both cyclists and pedestrians can cross. Felix Bloomfield, who represents Benson for the opposition Conservatives on the council, claimed work in central Oxford was being prioritised by the Liberal Democrat-led coalition that runs the council. He said: We got funding for the crossing a year ago. Benson has had a great deal of housing developments and part of that deal was they were required to fund some infrastructure. Part of this was a toucan crossing for the A4074 and when I was elected last year I pursued it with the councils cabinet and they gave it the green light. It wasnt going to cost the council any money but since then it has been delayed for no real reason other than much of the current work is Oxford-centric and it is becoming quite a challenge to get things done in the wider areas. I was delighted to get the project going ahead but then nothing has happened over the last 12 to 14 months. We have got the funding so hearing from residents asking why the crossing hasnt been installed is adding to the frustration for me. It is something that needs to happen and I am trying to get the administration to push it through. The new developments around Benson have added several hundred houses which means a lot more pedestrians and this is a dangerous junction as it is an incredibly busy road. The council has said that the project is creeping up the priority list and I think we are up to number two now but we had been number three for months. I have sent countless emails and made countless phone calls. Councillor Liam Walker, who is the Conservatives spokesman for highways, visited the site of the crossing recently. He said: I am astonished the council has funding secured but is now not able to get diggers in the ground to get this crossing installed. While the coalition at county hall is so focused on Oxford-only issues our rural communities are being left behind. There are lots of schemes like this waiting to be implemented. Its just not good enough and residents deserve better. Benson Parish Council has been pushing for safety measures on the A4074 for years due to the increasing popularity of the Waterfront Cafe in Preston Crowmarsh and other attractions on the river, which has increased pedestrian movements across the road. A county council spokesman said: The scheme has been designed for at least a year with funding in place and is second on a list of around 10 schemes for construction. Unfortunately, it has been delayed due to a revised internal procurement process. Geography is not a factor in how and when we deliver schemes. The authority is committed to delivering this scheme and we apologise for the delay. THE Art Themen Trio will peform at All Saints Church in Dunsden next month in support of Ukrainian refugees. With drums, keyboard and Art on saxophone, the jazz trio are critically acclaimed. Tickets cost 15 and any profit on the night will be donated to Mother Sister Daughter, an online hub that helps refugees and the families that are hosting them, which was launched in March by Gemma Birch, from Henley. The show is on Saturday, October 1 at 7pm. For tickets, email Rosemary Jones on rsjones45@yahoo.com The Bucks waived forward Alex Antetokounmpo on Saturday shortly after signing him to a contract, according to the official transaction log at NBA.com. Antetokounmpo, the brother of Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo, went undrafted in 2021 and spent last season coming off the bench and playing limited minutes for the Raptors 905, Torontos G League affiliate. He previously played for UCAM Murcia in Spain during the 2020/21 season. Only Antetokounmpos release not his signing shows up on NBA.coms transaction log, which strongly suggests he received an Exhibit 10 contract, since Exhibit 10 signings arent listed on NBA.coms log. An Exhibit 10 deal would make him eligible for a bonus worth up to $50K if he spends at least 60 days with the Wisconsin Herd, the Bucks G League affiliate. Because Antetokounmpo played for the Raptors 905 last season, they would typically hold his returning rights, but they traded those rights to the Herd in July, paving the way for the 21-year-old to play in Wisconsin in 2022/23. Antetokounmpo is the second player to be signed and quickly waived by the Bucks in the last week, as they begin lining up players for the Herds roster. Rob Edwards was the other one. Former No. 1 recruit Emoni Bates, who spent last season with Memphis but transferred to Eastern Michigan for 2022/23, was arrested on Sunday night in Michigan for felony gun charges, according to WXYZ Detroit. Bates was originally pulled over for failing to stop at an intersection, and police offers subsequently discovered a firearm. He has been charged with felony counts of carrying a concealed weapon and altering the serial number on a gun, per WXYZ. The 18-year-old was arraigned and released on Monday after the judge granted him a nonmonetary personal recognizance bond, Bates lawyer, Steve Haney, told Pete Thamel and Myron Medcalf of ESPN. Haney requested a plea of not guilty on Bates behalf, and his next court date is October 6. Bates told his attorney that he was driving a borrowed vehicle, ESPNs duo relays. Reserve judgment on this, Haney said via a statement. Theres way more to the story. He borrowed someones car, was pulled over and a gun was located in the car. Bates, who is from Ypsilanti, Michigan, where Eastern Michigan is located, has been suspended by the school. We are aware of a situation involving mens basketball student-athlete Emoni Bates, the school said in a statement. Eastern Michigan University takes all allegations of this nature very seriously. Per department policy, he has been suspended automatically from practice and playing privileges until the legal process is resolved. Because this is an on-going legal matter, the University will have no further comment at this time. Bates was the No. 1 recruit of the 2022 class before reclassifying and leaving high school a year early, finishing as the No. 3 recruit in 2021, per Thamel and Medcalf. However, his draft stock has taken a hit after an injury-plagued freshman season saw him average 9.7 PPG and 3.3 RPG on .386/.329/.646 shooting in 18 games (23.4 MPG) for the Tigers. Most early 2023 mock drafts have Bates as a late-first round pick or an early second-rounder. Premier, an architecture, design, procurement, capital management, and project management firm, is pleased to announce that Linh Tran, AIA, IIDA, has joined the team as Director of Architectural Design. As a licensed architect and interior designer, Tran will provide invaluable master planning expertise to Premier's multi-family, hospitality, and student housing developments. Tran, an acclaimed modernist and industry veteran, brings 30 years of experience working across multidisciplinary environments. As Director of Architectural Design, Tran will be involved in the design, planning, and execution of all new-build development and renovation projects across the firm's growing presence in the hospitality, multi-family, and student housing sectors. Working closely with Premier's partners to realize their vision, Tran will leverage his expertise as a master planner to compile density studies for high-profile investors. Prior to joining Premier, Tran worked at RTKL, HKS Architects, and Humphreys & Partners Architects. His portfolio includes education, mixed-use retail, and high-rise residential and hospitality projects, both in the U.S. and abroad. His international professional experience has provided him with extensive interpersonal skills and a diverse portfolio that draws on the aesthetics and styles of various regions and cultures. Some of Tran's most notable projects include Legacy Park shops in Plano, TX, and the Superdome in New Orleans. Hospitality Net today Sign up to our free daily newsletter, CHICAGO Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE: H) announced today that Apple Leisure Group President & CEO Alejandro Reynal has decided to pursue opportunities outside of Apple Leisure Group, following a tenure of three years with the company, which was acquired by Hyatt in November 2021. His last day with Hyatt will be September 30, 2022. I am filled with deep gratitude and respect for Alejandros leadership throughout the acquisition and our strong first year as one company, said Mark Hoplamazian, President and Chief Executive Officer, Hyatt. With expertise and passion, Alejandro has led the ALG team to a position of strength and ensured ALGs business became a thriving part of Hyatt, continued Hoplamazian. We have learned a lot from each other, and I personally thank Alejandro for his partnership and friendship, which will endure. Moving ahead, I look forward to collaborating even more closely with each member of the ALG executive committee as we continue our growth journey together. Alejandro Reynal comments: I am immensely proud of what we have built with the ALG leadership team and our colleagues around the world. We have moved through the toughest time in our industry and come out of it stronger than ever. Working with Mark has been an honor I am thankful to him and his leadership team for how ALG was welcomed into the Hyatt family and impressed by how our team has embraced the opportunities this next chapter brings. I firmly believe in the power of this combination and am very confident in a bright future ahead for both ALG and Hyatt. Following Mr. Reynals departure, Mr. Hoplamazian will assume leadership of Apple Leisure Group effective October 1, 2022. To support him, Ray Snisky, Group President ALG Vacations, will take on additional responsibilities related to the business coordination and other operational matters, effective October 1, 2022. The term Hyatt is used in this release for convenience to refer to Hyatt Hotels Corporation and/or one or more of its affiliates. About Hyatt Hotels Corporation Hyatt Hotels Corporation, headquartered in Chicago, is a leading global hospitality company guided by its purpose to care for people so they can be their best. As of March 31, 2022, the Company's portfolio included more than 1,150 hotels and all-inclusive properties in 71 countries across six continents. The Company's offering includes the Park Hyatt, Miraval, Grand Hyatt, Alila, Andaz, The Unbound Collection by Hyatt, Destination by Hyatt, Hyatt Regency, Hyatt, Hyatt Ziva, Hyatt Zilara, Thompson Hotels, Hyatt Centric, Caption by Hyatt, JdV by Hyatt, Hyatt House, Hyatt Place, UrCove, and Hyatt Residence Club brands, as well as resort and hotel brands under the AMR Collection, including Secrets Resorts & Spas, Dreams Resorts & Spas, Breathless Resorts & Spas, Zoetry Wellness & Spa Resorts, Vivid Hotels & Resorts, Alua Hotels & Resorts, and Sunscape Resorts & Spas. Subsidiaries of the Company operate the World of Hyatt loyalty program, ALG Vacations, Unlimited Vacation Club, Amstar DMC destination management services, and Trisept Solutions technology services. For more information, please visit www.hyatt.com. Franziska Weber +1 312 780 6106 Hyatt AAHOA Members and leaders from all over the country flew into Washington D.C. for AAHOAs Fall National Advocacy Conference this past Wednesday to make their voices heard and shed light on the issues that matter most to Americas hotel owners. Hoteliers met and built relationships with more than 100 offices and 40 U.S. Senators and Representatives to push our policy priorities forward. The 2022 AAHOA Fall National Advocacy Conference provided the opportunity for Americas hoteliers to connect with legislators in our nations capital and engage with a bipartisan group of policy experts and lawmakers who will ultimately vote on bills and pass legislation that can have a tremendous impact on AAHOAs nearly 20,000 members and the hospitality industry at large. To ensure the sustainability of hotels and the broader American travel industry, AAHOA Members urged Congress to support the following four issues: Promote access to capital by increasing SBA loan caps/limits and transparency Increase SBA 7(a) and 504 Loan Limits to $10 Million: Currently, Small Business Administration (SBA) 7(a) and 504 loans are capped at $5 million, which was last set in 2010. For hoteliers, over the past decade, the costs of constructing and purchasing properties have skyrocketed and far exceed $5 million. Cosponsor the SBA Franchise Loan Default Disclosure Act (S.2162): Sponsored by Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), S.2162 requires the SBA to publish on its website, and to regularly update, the loan default rates by franchise brands during the preceding 10-year period. Loan default rates for a franchise brand are a key indicator of success of which prospective franchisees should be aware. Provide assistance with critical labor shortages: A new H2-C visa program and expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) Cosponsor the Essential Workers for Economic Advancement Act (H.R. 7239): Sponsored by Rep. Lloyd Smucker (R-PA-11) to help business owners address the critical labor shortage, the Act will fill a need currently unaddressed in the U.S. immigration system. Permanently Expand the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC): With the critical labor shortages facing business owners across the country, AAHOA asked to permanently expand the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) provisions that expired at the end of 2021. By expanding the EITC, young adults without children aged 18 years and older, as well as retirees, will qualify for the important tax credit, which will incentivize more people to return to work and help to reduce the labor shortages for U.S. employers, including hotels. Ensure fairness in franchising with a private right of action to address wrongful and material disclosure violations Cosponsor the Franchisee Freedom Act (H.R. 6551): Sponsored by Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL-9), the Act provides a private right of action for persons harmed by violations of the FTC Franchise Rule, and thus will allow individuals damaged by Rule violations access to the courts, a basic American right. When FTC Rule violations occur, Franchisees are not fully informed of the material facts and the corresponding risks they face when signing a franchise agreement. Since Franchisees are frequently required to sign personal guarantees, the results can financially devastate a franchise buyer. Provide financial relief for hard-hit hoteliers: Forgive EIDLs, waive interest, and/or defer for an additional year Many hoteliers across the United States, especially in the Midwest and metropolitan areas such as NYC and San Francisco, have continued to suffer severe economic hardships due to COVID-19 and the restrictions imposed to control its spread. Regrettably, unlike restaurateurs who received grants from the Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF), hoteliers have not enjoyed the same access to funds. When AAHOA Members ask for and receive the assistance they need, their local business communities will also see an uptick in employment rates, profitability, state and local tax contributions, and business sustainability. AAHOA has long understood the importance and significance of advocacy work at the state, local, and federal levels, said AAHOA Chairman Neal Patel. Having our voices heard on issues that are important to our members protects and promotes the rights of hotel owners and entrepreneurs in America. Political affiliations aside, those in attendance were representing the interests and issues that are important to Americas hoteliers and the broader travel and hospitality industry. We are the experts of our businesses and the hotel industry, Patel said. It is our responsibility to ensure the views and realities of AAHOA Members are considered when decisions are being made by elected officials about their livelihoods and their businesses. From Fair Franchising to the Small Business Administration, providing lawmakers with personal, real-life stories, puts a name and a face to the American hotelier, said AAHOA President & CEO Laura Lee Blake. The next time these elected officials go to make decisions, they will remember us the foundations we are laying in these meetings are critical to our advocacy work going forward, Blake said. AAHOA Members understand that time spent in meetings throughout the Fall National Advocacy Conference carries immense value and weight. While Nothing happens overnight, its the discussions and relationship-building with our nations elected officials that bring attention to important issues. Just some of the elected officials that AAHOA Members met with on Wednesday include: Representative Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD) Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) Representative Joe Wilson (R-SC), AAHOA Lifetime Member Representative Lou Correa (D-CA) Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) Representative Ralph Norman (R-SC), AAHOA Lifetime Member Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) Senator Cortez Masto (D-NV) Senator John Boozman (R-AR) Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) The Office of Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives "Legislative events of this kind are extremely important, said Dean Heyl, AAHOA Vice President of Government Affairs. Elected officials have to know you before they can like you." To learn more about AAHOAs policy priorities and issues advocated for at the 2022 AAHOA Fall National Advocacy Conference, download our Fall National Advocacy Conference Policy Backgrounder and Guide. Time and time again, AAHOA Members continue to show up to help educate lawmakers about our industry, said Patel. AAHOA Members make up an industry that contributes a huge part of the American economy, employing more than one million workers; when Americas hoteliers speak, Congress listens. About AAHOA AAHOA is the largest hotel owners association in the nation, with Member-owned properties representing a significant part of the U.S. economy. AAHOA's 20,000 members own 60% of the hotels in the United States and are responsible for 1.7% of the nation's GDP. More than one million employees work at AAHOA member-owned hotels, earning $47 billion annually, and member-owned hotels support 4.2 million U.S. jobs across all sectors of the hospitality industry. AAHOA's mission is to advance and protect the business interests of hotel owners through advocacy, industry leadership, professional development, member benefits, and community engagement. Melissa Stern AAHOA 2021 was a year of all-around recovery for RIU Hotels & Resorts, as well as a year full of courageous decision-making and new investments. Presented yesterday by RIU to its stakeholders in July, the report is the first of its kind, as, in addition to being the companys Corporate Social Responsibility report, it also presents the hotel chains major indicators and projects in 2021. The company was able to recover its business after a 2020 marked by the pandemic, an occurrence that changed the chains priorities, as the main objective shifted to guaranteeing peoples safety. This continues to be the companys top priority. Partnerships were also maintained, strengthened and made both in terms of both social investment and in terms of biodiversity. Childrens causes continue to be RIUs line of philanthropy (72% of social investment), with projects geared toward health, social development and education. RIU invested a total of 820,156 euros allocated to 29 projects carried out alongside 24 strategic partners in 2021. These projects directly benefited 8,169 children and adolescents and indirectly helped 38,830 people. Whats more, for the first time in the sector, all the companys projects have been monitored by a system that assesses their social impact. You can read and download the full report here. About RIU Hotels & Resorts The international RIU chain was founded in Mallorca by the Riu family in 1953 as a small holiday firm and is still owned by the family's third generation. The company specialises in holiday resorts and over 75% of its establishments offer its acclaimed All Inclusive by RIU service. With the inauguration of its first city hotel in 2010, RIU is expanding its range of products with its own line of city hotels called Riu Plaza. RIU Hotels & Resorts now has 100 hotels in 20 countries. In 2021, the chain welcomed 4,2 million guests and provided jobs for a total of 28,004 employees. RIU is currently the world's 32nd ranked chain, one of the Caribbean's most popular, the second largest in Spain in terms of revenue and the fourth largest in number of rooms. For further information please visit: www.riu.com. RIU Press Department +34 971 743 030 RIU Dubai - Thynk.Cloud has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Rotana Hotel Management Corporation (Rotana)to deploy its turnkey hospitality sales and operating information systems across 45 Rotana hotels in 2023. The signing took place at a ceremony held earlier today at the Future Hospitality Summit (FHS) in Dubai. Developed by hoteliers for hoteliers and powered by Salesforce, the worlds largest Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform, Thynk.Cloud is designed to simplify and automate sales, operations, decision making, and data management for hotels of any size. We are very excited to be working with the dynamic team at Rotana and this partnership represents another important step in our growth journey, said Pascal Petit, Co-founder & CEO at Thynk.Cloud, commenting on the signing. Every Rotana property is unique, and we look forward to supporting the team with the automation of key business processes that preserve each hotels unique guest journey and experience allowing them to make data-driven decisions and spend more time with the guest. Connecting seamlessly and cost-effectively to Rotanas advanced operating systems, hotels will be able to accelerate their financial performance substantially by increasing their focus on margins and optimize their cost of sales and operations. In addition, Thynk.Cloud enables hoteliers to build stronger digital relationships with their customers - a journey that is designed to go beyond an individual stay and encompass a lifelong relationship with the guest. Guy Hutchinson, President & CEO of Rotana added: We are delighted to partner with Thynk.Cloud, a leader in hospitality sales and operating information systems, to introduce the cutting-edge digital platform across our properties. Thynk will enable us to make better data-driven decisions optimised for each hotel and allow us to offer our guests even more personalised experiences. As we continue expanding our portfolio, the partnership will help us further strengthen the relationship with our guests in line with our singular brand promise- Treasured Time." Founded late 2019, Thynk has implemented over 150 hotels from 25 clients in 10 countries over the past eighteen months, primarily in Europe and the Middle East. Thynk is poised to enter the US market with a strong customer base and solid product feedback following the appointment of industry veteran Joel Pyser earlier this month as Chief Executive Officer for the Americas. Each brand, operator, and management company can leverage it to match its unique go to market and tone of voice, and improve end-to-end performance for each of their properties. About Rotana Rotana currently manages a portfolio of over 100 properties throughout the Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe, and Turkiye, with an aggressive expansion plan in place. Rotana has chosen to acknowledge how precious time is by making all time spent in their range of hotels Treasured Time. This means Rotana has pledged to understand and meet the individual needs of all guests. In so doing, Rotana has evolved its product brands to include, Rotana Hotels & Resorts, Centro Hotels by Rotana, Rayhaan Hotels & Resorts by Rotana, Arjaan Hotel Apartments by Rotana, Edge by Rotana and The Residences by Rotana. Treasured Time. The Rotana promise to you. Further information on any Rotana property, its brands or reservations can be obtained by visiting rotana.com or by contacting one of the regional sales offices. About Thynk Cloud The Hospitality Cloud for Operational Excellence, Thynk.Cloud, is designed by hoteliers for hoteliers to simplify and automate sales, operations and data management. Thynk.Cloud leverages the world's leading CRM, Salesforce, as a platform to bring agile hospitality to the industry with a focus on driving B2B and MICE sales through data-driven decision-making. With Thynk.Cloud every process is easier, faster and fully integrated. Melissa Jurkoic Chief Experience Officer UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. The Penn State School of Hospitality Management in the College of Health and Human Development and the Penn State Hotel & Restaurant Society (PSHRS) have named Mit Shah, founder and chief executive officer of Noble Investment Group (Noble), as the 2023 Hospitality Executive of the Year. Founded in 1993, Noble is an industry-leading real estate investment group specializing in the travel and hospitality sector. Through its institutional real estate funds, Noble has invested nearly $6 billion in communities throughout the country, creating thousands of jobs. The School of Hospitality Management and PSHRS will recognize Shah for his leadership and many accomplishments in the hospitality industry at a gala reception at The Penn Stater Hotel & Conference Center in State College, PA on April 4, 2023. It is an honor to be recognized by the Penn State School of Hospitality Management and the Penn State Hotel & Restaurant Society," Shah said. As one of our countrys oldest and most respected hospitality programs, the school, its faculty, administration, and staff continue to help ensure that our future hospitality leaders are well prepared to live lives that matter. The Shah family, led by Mit, has endowed the Bharat Shah Leadership Speaker Series at Georgia State's Cecil B. Day School of Hospitality in the J. Mack Robinson College of Business in honor of his father, Dr. Bharat Shah. Over the years, Mit has brought thousands of students and industry stewards into the living room for candid conversations on the personal journeys of struggle and perseverance of industry icons, including former Hospitality Executives of the Year, Chris Nassetta and Arne Sorenson. The series has served as an inspiration to the hospitality and business community and particularly to our nation's college students. This 2023 event not only recognizes Shah, but also provides the unique opportunity for Penn State Hospitality Management students to directly interact with and learn from one of the leading executives in the hospitality industry. Mit Shahs informed optimism about the hospitality industry is shared wholeheartedly by me and by the students studying for degrees in hospitality management at Penn State. Among the most inspiring executives in the industry, Mr. Shahs leadership across three decades as the CEO of Noble is unmatched, reflected Donna Quadri-Felitti, Marvin Ashner Endowed Director of the School of Hospitality Management. PSHRS has honored industry icons through this prestigious award since 1960. Its recipients represent a Whos Who of extraordinary individuals who made indelible marks on the profession. "It is an honor to recognize Mit's extraordinary vision and insight in driving Noble to become the leader in select-service and extended-stay travel and hospitality. As anyone who knows Mit would acknowledge, he guides us with humility, respect, and integrity. A true American success story, Mit makes us all better," emphasized George Dabney, 88, Noble Managing Principal and Chief Financial Officer, who has long served PSHRS, as a board director, treasurer, and its sponsorship committee chair. In addition, George was honored by PSHRS as Alumni of the Year in 2019. As the outgoing president of the PSHRS, it is my distinct honor to welcome Mit Shah to the pantheon of fellow Hospitality Executives of the Year, which began over 62 years ago. Mr. Shah and his family have a tradition of supporting and exciting the next generation of hospitality professionals through higher education, and our recognition of him celebrates his accomplishments in and out of the boardroom, noted Ashley Akright, 09, Director of Operational Excellence + Innovation, Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center. In addition to his leadership role at Noble, Shah presently serves as an executive committee member of the board of directors for the American Hotel & Lodging Association, is co-chairman of its Industry Real Estate and Finance Advisory Council (IREFAC), and is a member of the owner boards for Marriott International and Hyatt Hotels Corporation. Shah also served as chairman of the board of directors for two public companies, LaQuinta and CorePoint Lodging REIT, prior to their successful realizations for shareholders. Shah graduated from Wake Forest University with a degree in economics. He is currently serving his fifth term on the Wake Forest University Board of Trustees, where he is chairman of its investment committee. For 85 years, the Penn State School of Hospitality Management has been a leader in higher education and research in service to the hospitality industry. With innovative courses, a tradition of engaged scholarship, and discipline-shaping research by world-class faculty, the school inspires all students to pursue excellence in scholarship, exhibit a strong work ethic, and become effective and ethical innovators. To learn more about the gala reception and reserve attendance, http://www.hhd.psu.edu/shm/hospitality-executive-of-the-year. With sustainability and ESG high up on the agenda at the Future Hospitality Summit (FHS) in Dubai this week, we asked a number of industry partners how they are leading the change when it comes to sustainable tourism and hospitality. Heat records, draught, floods, and forest fires this summer make it clear that we are living a climate emergency and that immediate and tangible action is needed to bring Tourism & Travel to Net Zero. The IPCCC (the UN climate scientist organization) confirmed in their 2022 report that in a business as usual (BAU) scenario the world is heading for 3 degrees warming by the end of the century. We need to act now towards Net Zero if we want to avoid this catastrophic scenario, and Radisson Hotel Group is leading this change as a long-standing sustainability pioneer in the hospitality industry. As one of the large international hotel companies, it is our duty to drive concrete action in our hotels, to involve guests and stakeholders such as hotel asset owners and guests in Responsible Travel. Net Zero is a big goal but the good news is that it can be achieved, by any type and size of organization. The solutions we need for a 1.5 future are available today. Those who want to read more can consult Project Drawdown drawdown.org , the top 100 solutions to meet the Paris accord targets. Earlier this year, at Radisson Hotel Group, we announced our ambition to be Net Zero by 2050 and we are finalizing our net-zero targets in line with the SBTi Net-Zero Standard. As part of this commitment, we also joined the Business Ambition for 1.5C campaign and the UNFCCC Race to Zero to move the dial even further but we cant do this on our own. This is why we fully stand behind and help develop the cross-industry Pathway to Net Positive Hospitality and Hotel Sustainability Basics initiative. The Pathway encompasses four clear stages and practical tools that guide the industry towards a regenerative impact on the planet. The Hotel Sustainability Basics isa common and transparent set of sustainability criteria to help the hospitality industry get started on essential actions for Planet and People. The Hotel Sustainability Basics framework has been defined by the industry for the industry under the leadership of the World Travel & Tourism Council and is being adopted by thousands of hotels as a standard of reference for hotels and clients alike. The key objective is to create consistency across the industry and provide clear-to-recognize, easy-to-implement, and meaningful steps to accelerate sustainability at any given hotel, and we need to work together to achieve these goals. Following the pandemic, we have seen a strong increase in travel, across both business and leisure. As we continue on this road to recovery, we are seeing a huge demand from both consumers and business travellers for eco-conscious options to minimize their carbon footprint. Incidentally, over 90% of travelers indicate they want to travel responsibly but at the same time +70% state that its unclear what hotels are doing. We have been consistently making it easy for guests to Do good by booking right and are integrating various options in the value proposition. In 2019, we were the first hotel group in the world to launch our 100% Carbon Neutral Meetings where we automatically offset the carbon footprint of every meeting and event held in our hotels in EMEA and APAC. Since the launch, we have offset 37,800 tons of CO2, the equivalent of taking 6,500* petrol driven cars of the road at zero cost to our clients. According to the 2022 Global EV Outlook, sales of electric cars (including fully electric and plug-in hybrids) doubled in 2021 to a new record of 6.6 million, with more now sold each week than in the whole of 2012. With this increased demand for electric vehicles, there is also an increased demand for charging points. In 2021, we recognized this need and established two key e-mobility partnerships. The first is with Allego, a leading pan-European provider, to bring EV charging solutions to all our European properties by 2025. The second partnership is with Sunfuel in India to equip our 100+ properties in the country with EV charging stations. These are just some of the ways we are leading the change and movement to Net Zero. Net Zero may sound daunting, but it is a necessary and achievable target. The important thing is to get started. After all, as philosopher Lao Tzu taught us: The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. Wait! Before you go Please sign up for our Evening Digest and Breaking Newsletters Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. Error! There was an error processing your request. * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. 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Land Details Community Details Acres Apx: 0.20 Parking Type: Garaged & Off-Street Region: Berkshire - Central Elem School: Egremont Middle School: Theodore Herberg High School: Pittsfield Exterior Details Interior Details Color: Sage Style: Colonial Construction: Wood Frame Exterior: Vinyl Water: Public Sewer: Public Underground Oil Tank: No Garage: Auto Opener,Detached Total Rooms: 6 Total Full Baths: 1 Total Half Baths: 2 Fuel: Nat Gas Hot Water: Nat Gas,On Demand Electric: 100 Amp Floor: Wood Lead Paint: Unk Heat/Cool: Radiant,Steam Insulation: Blown In,Fiberglass Appliances Incl: Energy Star Rated Refrigerator,Range/Stove Accessibility: 1st Flr Half Bath Search More Properties With these Features Mature Landscaping Trash Public Radiant Heat Music in Common Celebrates 1-year Anniversary of Black Legacy Project SHEFFIELD, Mass. Music in Common, a Berkshires-founded nonprofit that connects communities through music, celebrates the one-year anniversary of the launch of The Black Legacy Project, a musical celebration of Black history to advance racial solidarity, equity, and belonging. The Black LP is a national project produced in partnership with community stakeholders at the local level. As it travels the country, the Black LP brings together Black and White artists and artists of ALL backgrounds to record present-day interpretations of songs central to the Black American experience and compose originals relevant to the pressing calls for change of our time. Community roundtable discussions help inform how these songs are interpreted and written. The Black Legacy Project launched in Sept. 2021 in the Berkshires and is traveling to Atlanta, Los Angeles, the Mississippi Delta, Denver, and Boise in 2022 - 2023. Music in Common has partnered with Berkshires-based Outpost to produce a docuseries of the Project. Since the September 2021 launch, Music in Common has produced ongoing Black Legacy Project programming in the region including a Black LP concert at the Colonial Theatre, a series of film screenings throughout the county, and a week-long course at Berkshire School. The upcoming anniversary celebration includes a combination of all of these. On Friday Sept. 23 at 7:30 p.m., a Black LP concert featuring a host of local musicians including Rob Sanzone, Rufus Jones, Bryan House, Glori Wilder, Terry a la Berry, Olivia Davis, Liam Giszter, and Brianna Nicola will take place at the Boland Theater at Berkshire Community College in Pittsfield. The concert will feature the Black Legacy Project songs recorded in the Berkshires which featured nearly three dozen local musicians including Wanda Houston, Billy Keane, Gina Coleman, Matt Cusson, Chantell McFarland, Chris Merendaas and others, as well as songs from other Black LP locations such as the Ozarks and Denver. A screening of the Berkshires episode of the docuseries will kick off the evening and a talkback with Black LP directors and musicians will follow the performance. The event is free and open to all. Tickets can be reserved at eventbrite.com/e/405652967947. Masks are required. Other events during the week-long celebration include a Black LP performance at the FreshGrass Festival in North Adams on Saturday Sept. 24 and school programs at Berkshire Community College, DuBois Middle School, and BART. A community roundtable on the theme of "After Sundown" will take place at the Guthrie Center in Housatonic at 7PM on September 21st. Interested participants can register at https://www. theblacklegacyproject.org/ roundtables. The Black Legacy Project one year anniversary is sponsored in part by Berkshire Community College. Sponsorship opportunities are still available. For more info and to learn how you can get involved, contact Music in Common Marketing & Development Coordinator, Simone Alyse, at simone@musicincommon.org / 404-458-7982. Francesca Spina and Bill Sturgeon combined their expertise on justice systems and terrorism to provide a guide for addressing radicalization in the prison system. PHS Alumni Write Training Book on Terrorists in the Prison System PITTSFIELD, Mass. Two Pittsfield High School graduates separated by 30 years collaborated on a book urging a change in the way the prison system functions to address terrorism and radicalization. Criminal justice consultant and local radio host Bill Sturgeon and scholar Francesca Spina combined their experience to research and present best practices in their training guide "Think Like a Terrorist to Combat Terrorism and Radicalization in Prison." The duo made a good team working intergenerationally and across specialties, they said. Researchers and practitioners are often separated so Spina said she was very excited when Sturgeon reached out to her to collaborate on the book. She is a professor in the field of criminal justice and co-authored another book on the state's criminal justice system. The book provides guidelines and training for hardening facilities to prepare for a new type of criminal that will eventually enter correctional facilities. "The terrorist extremist is a different type of offender because they have a cause. They're not just criminals, they commit criminal acts, which ends them up in the correctional facilities, but they're committing these acts as part of their belief system," Sturgeon said. One of the things Sturgeon noticed in his nearly 50 years of experience in the criminal justice field is the outside world is a precursor to what is to come in the correctional world but facilities are underprepared when it arrives. "First was HIV/AIDS. It was all over, you know, the civilian world and then it came into the correctional world. And there wasn't any protocols planning for it. It was just there. So we were playing catch up," Sturgeon said. He also saw this in the 1990s when youthful offenders began to be adjudicated as adults and sent to penitentiaries that weren't based on dealing with juveniles so they also had to adapt to that. Another example was the increase in street gangs that eventually became into prison gangs but no one "translated it to be prepared to go into the correctional environment," Sturgeon said. Most convicted terrorists are housed at a super maximum-security prison, or supermax, in Florence, Ariz., but at some point will enter the prison system and its unclear how it will react. However, Spina said most radicals will come through a county jail, which is why the book heavily focuses on jails. ""It's so complicated and I think they don't focus on the prison system. It's like we only see what's in the media. You know, when we see the Boston bomber, for example, you don't think about how do we manage these folks when they're actually in the prison system and the problem of the radicalization within the political system and it just spreading everything," Spina said. Sturgeon recalled a quote from a British team member that resonated with him during his first counterterrorism job. "To defeat a terrorist, you have to think like a terrorist," Sturgeon quoted him saying. They both noted that there have not been a lot of successful deradicalization programs because the subjects are often raised from a young age to have this belief system or hatred. One thing that the book calls for is staff training to strengthen first-line supervisors and staff because they're the ones who interface with prisoners on a daily basis. This training is especially important because some terrorists are being trained on how to act out in prison, Sturgeon said. For example, an Al Qaeda Training Manual that was located during a raid in Manchester, England, that described how inmates should behave in prison. "[There] is a whole section on how to behave in prison. So they're trained on how to act, and how to act out ... so they're trained to deal with prisons, but we're not trained to deal with them," he said. The first thing that Sturgeon and Spina's training teaches is to acknowledge and respect why the subjects committed their crimes. "They have an ideology. Don't be disrespectful of their ideology because you have to take them as they are," Sturgeon said. "We have been painted to be the 'great Satan,' the great evil. So, if we start to treat them with respect hopefully, you're breaking down a barrier." A part of the correctional system that people often forget is "care and custody," Sturgeon said. So staff needs to treat the prisoners with respect to act as role models in an effort to transform the image that they have been taught. "Im a big believer in people's rights and human dignity. You may be in prison, you did something your punishment is being in prison. There's no more punishment than losing in my opinion and losing your freedom," Sturgeon said. "So to treat people with respect, that is always been one of my standards, even when they weren't always respectful to me. But for us to demonstrate who we are as a nation as a people, to me is an important part of deradicalization than a formal program." Although it is important to treat the inmate's ideology with respect it is also important to be prepared and expect the unexpected because they have been taught to act out when arrested, Sturgeon said. The changes that they are also proposing is vetting visitors, religious practitioners and mail that comes into the prison. "I think that the proposals that are the changes that we're proposing can be very effective. ... I also wanted to mention vetting the mail that comes in but just making sure that the staff are trained to recognize religious material that could come in could be radicalization material," Spina said. "Just being able to recognize that either if it comes into visitors, or if it comes in through just the mail itself, and just that the inmates don't disseminate that material. Don't get in the place, but so they can't disseminate it to others." Although vetting is an important part of the process they also want to make it so that inmates have access to their religious material. In the book, they propose a diverse panel of individuals who represent various religions and others on the outside to determine what religious materials and articles will be permitted within a correctional facility. They also call for a separate and distinct classification and housing and then a step-down program if there is a documented and verified attempt for the deradicalized. "So the goal, again, is respect. But fair, firm and consistent behavior on the staffs part. Fair, Firm and Consistent. So when I come to work, they see me, they know this is my tolerance level," Sturgeon said. Professionalism even if a staff member does not share in the inmates' beliefs is key, Spina said. "I think that a lot of correctional staff, they've become more professional over the years, whether it be dealing with gang members, or no matter who you're dealing with," Spina said. "I think it's just important to professionally deal with these types of inmates whether or not the guards or others agree with their beliefs, and just treating them with dignity and humanity, and things of that nature." This change would have to start from the individual agencies. Name: Carter Busse Company: Workato Job title: CIO Date started current role: March 2021 Location: San Francisco Carter Busse is Chief Information Officer at Workato, a leading enterprise automation platform. Busse is an IT executive with a proven track record of success in both private and public companies. He was the first IT leader hired at Salesforce and has since gone on to lead security functions at multiple other organisations, with extensive experience managing local and remote teams globally. Busses expertise includes building large, high performing, collaborative teams, delivering on business strategy, and generating new revenue while decreasing operating costs. He has successfully completed SOC 2 Type 2 compliance for 2 pre-IPO companies and has helped navigate 3 companies through IPOs: Excite@Home, Salesforce.com, and MobileIron. What was your first job? My first job was a staff consultant role at what was then known as Andersen Consulting. Today, that company is known around the world as Accenture. At the time, the role at Andersen was a great stepping stone. It provided great management training, leadership training, and mentoring. This was during the days of coding in COBOL and mainframe technology. Did you always want to work in IT? Yes, it was something I always knew I wanted to do. I was a schoolboy back in the late 80s and saw the power of PCs when they first arrived into our classrooms. I then bought a personal Mac computer in the late 90s and was immediately attracted to the power of what computing could do in business. I knew I wanted to have a role in that. What was your education? Do you hold any certifications? What are they? I hold a BA in Finance from Southern Methodist University, Cox School of Business. I also hold Automation Pro I and Automation Pro II certifications from Workato. Explain your career path. Did you take any detours? If so, discuss. My professional career path started in the IT sector. My first job was an IT Associate role in the finance space. I went on to work for Accenture for over four years, where I worked on large custom system implementations at 3 Fortune 500 companies, including Sprint, AT&T, and Texas Utilities. I continued in IT, going on to work at Excite@Home and later Salesforce. At Salesforce, I was employee number 70 and the companys first IT leader. I continued in IT leadership which brought me to where I am today CIO at Workato. Along the journey I have become a peer group member of the Consortium of Information Systems Executives (CISE) and InspireCIO which allows CIOs to collaborate and share industry best practices for technology. What business or technology initiatives will be most significant in driving IT investments in your organisation in the coming year? The world is becoming increasingly digital, meaning that enterprise apps and infrastructure are moving increasingly to the cloud. While the cloud isnt new by any means, many enterprises and legacy apps are just now moving their data into cloud infrastructure. From customers in the financial to the healthcare space, automation plays a big role in making companies more efficient. Data triggered automation will be a big topic in the upcoming years. For example, sentiment on customer calls can trigger automatic training to a support agent. Artificial Intelligence and Natural Language Processing will be more widely accepted across IT tech stacks. This technology can help companies leverage past knowledge and actions on routine processes. AI can also uplevel front line workers from task oriented jobs to knowledge based jobs as they work more on tuning the AI instead of mundane tasks. What are the CEO's top priorities for you in the coming year? How do you plan to support the business with IT? Since Workato is an enterprise automation vendor, we look at IT through a unique lens. At the end of 2021, Workato raised $200 million in Series E funding following growth of +243% in Europe alone over the last 12 months. Our companys rapid growth has been due, in part, to organisations turning to how work has evolved during the pandemic. As hybrid work remains a post-pandemic fixture, workflow automation is more important than ever and will continue to be a growth area for the business. When I joined Workato, I was put in charge of scaling the business. Growth strategy continues to be a top priority of the business and IT is at the forefront of our ambitious plans for ramping up globally. Having the right foundations and processes from the get-go is important to a growing business. Hence, Workatos ambition of scaling comes down to technology setting up foundational processes and systems is what will help us scale more quickly. IT has also helped get employees back in the office safely and efficiently through the use of our back-to-office accelerator. This is an automated process that handles contact tracing, logs vaccine verification, and allows employees to reserve seats in an office and be notified when their colleagues are coming into the office all through a chatbot interface. Best of all, it was built by a person without a computer science or technical background, simply by using Slack and Microsoft Teams. Thanks to automation, people dont need to have technical training to work in IT. So, looking at IT through a different lens, trying new things and creating a culture where people can take risks is what will help IT support the broader business most effectively and continue to improve workflow automation. Does the conventional CIO role include responsibilities it should not hold? Should the role have additional responsibilities it does not currently include? These days, I see many of my fellow CIO colleagues in the industry having a broad scope, including responsibility in areas such as security and facilities management. Thats not uncommon after all, IT is very intertwined with the workplace at large, given the essential and growing role of technology in the workplace. In particular, the ownership of security as part of the CIO role often happens within growing companies. As a company matures, security might sit underneath the CIO and eventually spin out independently. However, I believe that security should be an independent role and not fall within the remit of the CIO. Security is a big area within any organisation and it is especially so at a technology company. Security should belong either at a higher level within the organisation or in the product or operations areas. In some cases, when security is controlled by the CIO, they end up controlling governance policies as well, which should in fact be handled by a companys general counsel. As far as responsibilities that a CIO should have but doesn't, I think being another public face in the executive team is an important topic. The stereotype is that personalities in the IT sector tend to be more introverted, but as CIOs we have a unique and credible technology perspective that deserves a voice. Communication is an important way for CIOs to increase awareness both internally and externally of the important work our teams are doing. As CIO at Workato, we have embraced an outward-facing CIO role, and we are not alone. I have begun to see many more CIOs at other companies take a similar approach, including taking on more customer-facing activities and evangelising the companys products and solutions. A companys CIO can both run the companys technology and help evangelise the companys products. 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? Digital transformation is a key part of my work. Many companies look to Workato for guidance on where to focus their transformation efforts, so although we were born in the cloud era, we are undertaking rigorous measures to ensure our technology is above-best-practice standards. Customer experience, operational efficiency, and revenue growth are all important areas of priority for our transformation process. Ultimately, we want to always find the simplest solution to any given problem. Thankfully, it doesnt take a lot of technical know-how to automate processes at Workato, so the gap between the great ideas and execution is small. We also derive inspiration from ideas shared by our customers. Our annual report, the Work Automation Index, gives a sense of what areas are seeing the most transformation in the adoption of enterprise automation. The resulting patterns and trends help us understand which areas are receiving the most attention from our customers, such as onboarding and offboarding employees or customer order processing. We also find inspiration with other, less-obvious areas, such as access (e.g., employee access to sensitive information), and finance (e.g., spend management and automations that monitor for wasted or unused assets, which increased by 46% in 2021). As we better understand the possibilities of digital transformation across different areas, we begin to apply them internally. Describe the maturity of your digital business. For example, do you have KPIs to quantify the value of IT? At Workato, we do have KPIs to quantify the value of IT. Our KPIs focus on measuring the baseline of a current process for a customer or employee and how much potential efficiency and revenue the project can generate. Questions we might consider include: How long does the current process take? How much will the project cost? How much efficiency will it result in? How much more potential revenue can we bring in with a certain project? At the completion of the project, how will the improvement stack up against the baseline? I like to use baselines because they allow us to measure efficiency gains against the status quo. We establish baselines before kicking off a project and measure against it over time. That allows us to begin the project with informed goals in mind and track our progress. What does a good culture fit look like in your organisation? How do you cultivate it? The culture at Workato is about appreciating everyones unique talents and opening up possibilities for people to work on problems they have a passion for solving. To illustrate, we found that 45% of all automation was being built by non-technical people. A recent hackathon hosted by my team saw a quarter of the company participate. This shows that, with the right tools, anyone can be empowered to participate and automate a process. At Workato, our IT department is confident and comfortable with letting people in the business use the Workato platform to put automations into practice. I strongly believe that with automation, neither computer science degrees nor technical skills are required to work in IT at this moment in time. In fact, most of my team members do not have technical backgrounds but are able to work closely with the business to automate processes based on their hands-on understanding of existing processes and ideas around how they can be improved. These employees have been trained and promoted from within the customer support organisation and joined me at entry-level roles, gradually gaining more responsibilities as they move up. Anyone who is curious and interested in taking a hands-on approach adds great value to the Workato culture. What roles or skills are you finding (or anticipate to be) the most difficult to fill? The roles that Im finding the most difficult to fill are data roles (including data leaders) and business analysts. Data is such an integral part of what our company does. Getting the right team and infrastructure together to empower decisions based on data is paramount to our success as an organisation. Business analysts play a key role in our use of data because they interpret it for those in leadership roles to be able to make the most informed decisions. A person in a data role can be a data geek but that doesnt necessarily translate into business success if they cant accurately communicate the value of that data in a business sense. For data analysts to be effective, you need the business analysis component. We are looking to hire those who understand both data and business. People who can work across the organisation, surfacing data to the right decision makers when they need it. What's the best career advice you ever received? Its not so much a piece of career advice I received, but rather a career experience that has stuck with me over the years. I learned early on to have no tolerance for low performers on a team. Tolerating low performance risks dragging the entire team down. It may sound harsh, but in all honesty, vigilance about performance is best for everyone: both the team and the individual who is under-performing. Do you have a succession plan? If so, discuss the importance of and challenges with training up high-performing staff. I definitely have a succession plan in mind, as I am a big believer in hiring people better and smarter than myself. Doing so allows me to expand my role if I have great people underneath me to spread their wings, I can be more visible to our companys customers and employees. Its good to give people the independence and freedom to thrive and grow in their roles. The Hague: Press conference on new complaint to the International Criminal Court On 20th September, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) will join the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP)'s press conference following the hand delivery of a legal complaint on behalf of Shireen Abu Aklehs family to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Netherlands. At 11am CEST/10am BST on 20 September 2022, the ICJP will be hosting a press conference in The Hague to announce the submission of a new complaint to the International Criminal Court (ICC) regarding the killing of American-Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and the shooting of journalist Ali Samoudi on 11 May 2022 whilst covering raids conducted by the Israeli Occupying Forces (IOF) in Jenin, in the northern occupied West Bank. The conference will bring together lawyers from Bindmans LLP and Doughty Street Chambers who are representing the victims and their families, along with representatives from the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS) and the ICJP. The group will be joined by Anton Abu Akleh, Shireens brother, who will speak on behalf of the family. The Conference will also hear from representatives from Forensic Architecture and Al-Haq who will outline some of the findings from their forensic investigation into Shireens killing. These journalists join a long list of journalists targeted by the IOF in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). Legal submissions alleging Israels systematic targeting of journalists working in Palestine and its failure to properly investigate killings of media workers amount to war crimes, were submitted in April 2022 to the ICC. All journalists represented in both complaints were wearing clearly marked PRESS vests at the time they were targeted. Press Conference details: Date: 20 September 2022 at 11am CEST/10am BST Venue: Leonardo Royal Hotel Den Haag Promenade, The Hague Click HEREto register for in-person attendance and/or to receive a link to the live stream. Contact: ICJP www.icjpalestine.com claddagh@icjpalestine.com Tel: +44 (0) 20 3488 2737 Bindmans LLP www.Bindmans.com press@bindmans.com Doughty Street Chambers www.doughtystreet.co.uk +44 (0) 20 7404 228 Google-backed DotPe was formed by Shailaz Nag, a co-founder of PayU India, and has raised Rs 434.5 crore ($54. 4 million) in investment, with Temasek, a Singaporean sovereign wealth fund, serving as the lead investor. DotPe offers a full-stack solution for setting up an online payment and delivery system for small and medium-sized businesses. Additionally, it offers these firms tools for managing their stores and their marketing campaigns. Earlier this week, during an extraordinary general meeting, the company's board of directors approved a special resolution allowing the business to raise the funds. For feedback and suggestions, write to us at editorial@iifl.com Indo Count Limited has announced its new partnership with the GAIAM brand, owned by Galaxy Universal. GAIAM an industry-leading yoga, health & wellness brand to launch an exclusive Home Textiles Collection. The GAIAM home collection will feature an extensive range of bedding and bath solutions that will help consumers restore, relax and enjoy a good nights sleep. The GAIAM home collection will be featured at the 2022 September Home Textiles Market Week in Indo Counts 5th Avenue showroom located in New York City (September 19 - 22) and will launch in-store and online in the US, Canada, and Mexico with retail partners in next Spring 2023. KK Lalpuria, Indo Counts Executive Director, and CEO said, This is our first comprehensive lifestyle partnership in North America, and GAIAM is uniquely positioned to reach consumers who know and love the brand and that are seeking to achieve balance in their lives through the restorative power of a better nights sleep. He continued, Weve been searching for the right brand partner to build innovative, value-add products and we will deliver on the GAIAM brand promise to make wellness accessible to all. We are thrilled to be working with GAIAM - who enjoys such impressive reach - and look forward to building a GAIAM home collection of health & wellness products that are so timely and relevant in todays market. At around 10:05 AM, Indo Count Industries Ltd is currently trading at Rs149.85 per share up by Rs0.45 or 0.3% from its previous closing of Rs149.40 per share on the BSE. In response to the jump in demand in both the OEM and aftermarket markets, Japanese tyre manufacturer Bridgestone plans to increase its production capacity by more than 10% next year, according to Parag Satpute, the company's head of India, who talked to PTI. Additionally, he mentioned that the business is aiming to introduce its EV tyre technology to the local market, which is anticipated to have a higher penetration of electric vehicles due to the government's growing drive for sustainable transportation. In Europe, Japan, and the US, Bridgestone already sells tyres for the EV market. Bridgestone India has two production facilities, one in Pithampur (Madhya Pradesh) and the other in Pune, with a combined capacity of close to 30,000 tyres per day, serving just the needs of the domestic market. He claimed that the business has had "substantial" growth, with volume increasing by 50% compared to 2019 and market share increasing by 4% to 20% during the previous two years in the aftermarket domestic passenger car segment. Bridgestone India, a fully-owned subsidiary of Bridgestone Corporation with a 20% market share in the Indian aftermarket passenger car tyre market, serves both the passenger and commercial tyre segments. He said that Bridgestone India had spent Rs2,000 crore on technology, extending manufacturing capacity across the two factories, and now plans to introduce tyres for the rapidly rising electric car markets. Every other year, the business has been able to introduce new products, and he predicted that this will continue in the future as well. Because the demand for an EV tyre is quite different from the demand for the typical IC engine-powered car tyres, "we will look at new goods and technology for the EV category. Unlike a car with a gasoline engine, an electric vehicle makes no noise. Bridgestone already has the new technology needed for it, he continued. For feedback and suggestions, write to us at editorial@iifl.com Bangladesh Liberation War Minister AKM Mozammel Haque has urged all those who believe in the spirit of the liberation war to unite for the recognition of 1971 Liberation War as genocide. The minister, while addressing a press conference at the Jatiya or National Press Club of the country, said that the UN has not yet recognised the ghastly episode as genocide. Bangladesh has repeatedly tried to persuade the United Nations to declare the 1971 Liberation War as genocide. He underlined that the UN must recognise March 25 as International Genocide Day alongside the existing December 9. The Sheikh Hasinas government has however declared March 25 as the National Genocide Day. Earlier, on several occasions, Bangladesh Prime Minister Hasina highlighted that the South Asian nation experienced one of the worst forms of genocide in the history of mankind. She had also made this observation just ahead of the year- long celebration that the country observed to commemorate 50 years of independence. Hasina has brought up the issue at several fora. In December 2020, she even told Pakistan High Commissioner to Dhaka Imran Ahmed Siddiqui that the pain of the 1971 genocide will remain forever. Hasina had brought up the issue while addressing the UN General Assembly in 2017 too. Finally, in March 2017, the Bangladesh Parliament passed a resolution to observe March 25 as the Genocide Day. In the 9-month-long war of liberation against Pakistan about three million innocent people were killed and more than 200,000 women were violated. The ghastly episode started at the midnight of 25 March 1971 when the Pakistan army cordoned Peelkhana, the headquarters of the East Pakistan Rifles (EPR), Rajarbagh police barracks, and the Ansar headquarters at Khilgaon. About 8,000 to 12,000 people were killed every daythe highest in any genocide history. Also read: Modi and Hasina send a big messageIndia and Bangladesh are re-shaping Asia Egypt said on Monday that it takes pride in the close historical ties it has with India and is keen to deepen military and defence ties. The aspiration to activate the partnership between the two countries commensurate with their capabilities in all fields was expressed by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi when he met visiting Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in Cairo on Monday. The Sisi-Singh meeting was also attended by Egypts Minister of Defence and Military Production General Mohamed Zaki besides the Indian Ambassador to Cairo Ajit Gupte and other senior officials from both countries. Presidential spokesman Bassam Radi later said that the meeting discussed ways to enhance military and security cooperation between the two countries, especially with regard to cooperation in joint manufacturing, transfer and localization of technology, with the aim of exploiting the capabilities and infrastructure available in the two countries, as well as cooperation in the field of training, rehabilitation and joint exercises. Singh, in particularly, spotlighted Egypts pivotal and decisive role in combating and conquering the threat of terrorism, which casts a shadow of security and stability over the entire region. (Images courtesy: Ministry of Defence, India) He also expressed Indias appreciation for the growth and prosperity of Egyptian-Indian relations, stressing New Delhis interest in deepening these historical relations in light of the comprehensive development boom that Egypt is witnessing under the leadership of Sisi. In this context, India looks forward to exchanging experiences and consolidating the military and security aspect within the framework of joint cooperation relations between the two countries, mentioned the Egyptian spokesperson. As India continuously grows its capability to manufacture advanced cutting-edge technologies and systems in the defence sector under the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative, Egypt is one of the several countries which has maintained its interest in acquiring made-in-India Tejas fighter aircraft for its air force. The state-of-the-art fourth-generation fighter aircraft could be high on the agenda during Singhs bilateral talks with his Egyptian counterpart General Mohamed Zaki who is also the Minister of Defence Production. The two ministers will not only review the bilateral defence ties but also explore new initiatives to intensify military-to-military engagements and focus on deepening cooperation between the defence industries of the two countries. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to provide further impetus to enhanced defence cooperation between India and Egypt will also be signed. Also Read: Rajnath to visit Egypt, Jaishankar to meet Blinken in Washington Kartik Aaryan, who won millions of hearts with his performance as 'Rooh Baba' in the horror comedy 'Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2,' is very popular among kids. Kartik, who has carved a niche with his acting skills is one of the most celebrated Bollywood actors. Kartik's outstanding performances this year have left many fans impressed. Kartik, who became very popular among the young fans after his last outing, recently met a young fan in Jodhpur. web screen grab Kartik was in Rajasthan for the National Youth Conclave 2022 and as the actor returned to Jodhpur airport after the event, a die-hard young fan spotted him inside the gates and started shouting his name in an attempt to meet his favorite hero. Instagram/KartikAaryan Hearing the kid shouting his name, Kartik returned to the gate to greet his young fan. In a video that has gone viral on the internet, Kartik can be seen coming out of the airport to meet his fan. The actor, who was sporting a dark blue blazer with matching trousers and a light blue shirt, was seen clicking pictures with his young fan and even signing an autograph for him. Here's the video of Kartik Aaryan meeting his little fan that has gone viral on social media platforms: Soon after, fans took to Instagram to comment on the viral video of Kartik Aaryan with the kid. Hailing Kartik Aaryan as a as 'self made actor' a user wrote, "Public ko bhi self-made actor ki kadar hoti hai..fir chahe vo fan chota bachha he kyu ni ho...!!" web screen grab Another said, "Such cute moments " while a third user commented, "Truly Kids Favourite ." A fourth person compared him to King of Bollywood Shah Rukh Kha and said, "He's next SRK." web screen grab On the work front, Kartik Aaryan, will be next seen in the Hindi-language action drama 'Shehzada' directed by Rohit Dhawan, 'Satya Prem ki Katha,' in which he will share screen space with actress Kiara Advani and in 'Freddy' with Alaya F and Hansal Mehta's upcoming film 'Captain India'. The Dhamaka actor had earlier claimed that he has no one to support him in the industry as he is an outsider in Bollywood. (For more news and updates from the world of celebrities from Bollywood and Hollywood, keep reading Indiatimes Entertainment, and let us know your thoughts on this story in the comments below.) Feature: Ancient, rare trees given new lease of life in China's Gansu Xinhua) 09:21, September 19, 2022 LANZHOU, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- Zhai Shuang'er rises early each day to visit his old friends -- the ancient and rare trees in the downtown area of Tianshui, a city in northwest China's Gansu Province. He observes the growth of each tree by touching its trunk and checking the growth of the leaves, jotting the details in a notebook. "The ancient trees are like living fossils of a city, recording the changes in the city and carrying people's nostalgia for the past. They deserve meticulous care," he said. Sixty-year-old Zhai is a landscape engineer with a Tianshui-based engineering company focused on greening. He has been engaged in landscaping and restoring ancient trees for more than three decades. Dating back over 2,700 years, Tianshui is home to more than 2,900 ancient and precious trees. Of the total, more than 100 are over 1,000 years old, according to statistics released by the Tianshui forestry and grassland bureau in 2019. As a native of the city, Zhai said his childhood memories are closely related to ancient trees. "There was an elm tree that was around 500 years old in the alley where I grew up. The hollow crown of the tree made it a paradise for me and my friends to play hide-and-seek in," he recalled. However, due to lack of effective protection measures, many ancient trees suffered from pests and plant diseases, natural disasters, pollution, and human behaviors, including graffiti. To solve these problems, in 2019, Tianshui approved a set of regulations on the protection of the city's ancient and famous trees. Meanwhile, the city initiated a survey to collect information on the trees, including their species, distribution and growth conditions, feeding it into a new database. "During the survey, we found that many trees were in urgent need of rescue and protection," said Fu Jianhong, director of the municipal historical and cultural city protection center. The center organized experts to come up with protection measures for the trees based on their respective problems, including treating tree holes, as well as installing fences and trunk-supporting structures, to improve their living environment. The elm tree that Zhai knew in his youth was a beneficiary of the protection. Botanists and experts cleaned up its hollow crown and filled the various holes to help it revive. Their work bore fruit, with tree branches and tender leaves growing, and new flowers coming into bloom. However, the protection work has not been without its difficulties. "It's hard to create enough space for ancient trees, as many of them grow in the crowded downtown area," said Fu. In 2021, experts found a honey locust tree in a residential area. The tree had struggled to survive, suffering malnutrition due to an adjoining cement road that prevented its roots from growing properly. To save the over-300-year-old tree, the cement road had to be replaced with something less harmful. In the beginning, many residents found it hard to understand why a newly-paved road should be dug up for the sake of a tree, said Fu. He and his colleagues paid multiple visits to the residents to persuade them. Finally, with the residents' support, they dismantled the cement around the tree, replacing it with ventilated lawn bricks. "Now the tree is regaining vitality. During summer, the tree provides shade and coolness for the residents. People finally understand the true meaning of harmony between man and nature," Fu said. According to Fu, Tianshui has spent more than 4 million yuan (about 577,160 U.S. dollars) on rescuing and rejuvenating more than 200 ancient and precious trees. Meanwhile, the city has strengthened tree protection through more advanced technological means. ID cards with QR codes have been created for each ancient tree and probes have been installed to monitor the growth of several significant trees. For Zhai, the regular rescuing and rejuvenating efforts not only provide protection for ancient trees. "More importantly, it makes people realize the ecological significance of protecting them," he said. (Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun) On Saturday, the BKC Police detained a 72-year-old woman who was practicing law without a legit degree in Mumbai since 2008. The woman, identified as Mordekai Rebecca Joub alias Mandakini Kashinath Sohini, a resident of Pali Hill in Bandra West, was summoned by the police on July 15 to verify her credentials, according to the BKC police. The woman failed to show up for the police. Unsplash When Sohini went to the police station on Saturday and showed her degree along with her Aadhar Card and Vakalatnama, the officials confirmed its legitimacy. "Her documents and license to practice law turned out to be fake. We have now contacted the bar council of Maharashtra and Goa to inform them about the fraud," a police official said. Lawyer Akbarali Mohammed Khan (44) of Borivli filed the case against Sohini. He claimed that Sohini had been representing clients in Mumbai's family and other courts for many years without being a lawyer. Pexels/Representational Image Sohini was detained by the BKC police, who produced her before the Bandra holiday court on Sunday. "The accused woman studied second-year law at Government Law College in 1977. Even after she didn't have a valid degree, she practiced in various courts in Mumbai, including family and session courts. I learned about her phony identity a year ago. Since then, I have been following her," said Khan. "After much hard work, I studied the law by driving an auto rickshaw and became an advocate. Such fake people are defaming the profession of advocacy. This is the responsibility of the Bar Council. They should be verifying lawyers' registration with the Bar Council from time to time," Khan added. "We have arrested the accused woman and produced her before the court. The court has remanded her in police custody till September 20," said another officer from BKC. For more trending stories, follow us on Telegram. In a viral social media video, a dog chained to a doctor's car can be dragged along the road in Jodhpur. In response to Maneka Gandhi, a Bharatiya Janata Party leader and an animal rights advocate, the police registered a case against the driver. Dog On the other hand, the principal of SN Medical College, Dilip Kachhwaha, has given a show cause notice to the accused doctor and sought a response within 24 hours. Pukar Animal NGO has also registered a case at Shastrinagar police station following the case. The person who did this he is a Dr. Rajneesh Gwala and dog legs have multiple fracture and this incident is of Shastri Nagar Jodhpur please spread this vidro so that @CP_Jodhpur should take action against him and cancel his licence @WHO @TheJohnAbraham @Manekagandhibjp pic.twitter.com/leNVxklx1N Dog Home Foundation (@DHFJodhpur) September 18, 2022 Per the reports, the video was shot in Rajasthan's Jodhpur on Sunday. Aparna Bissa of the NGO said that Dr. Rajneesh Galwa is an Assistant Professor of Plastic Surgery at MGH. "The person who did this is a Dr. Rajneesh Gwala, and the dog's legs have multiple fractures, and this incident is of Shastri Nagar Jodhpur. Please spread this video so that CP Jodhpur should take action against him and cancel his license," reads the tweet of the NGO which carries the video. On the information, the dog home workers reached the spot and sent the dog for treatment. Some people alleged that when they tried to stop the doctor's car, he wanted to hit them with the vehicle. The Spruce Pets/Representational Image Meanwhile, the doctor said that the dog often enters the house and keeps barking outside the house, which is why he was going to leave the dog in the corporation's enclosure. (with ANI inputs) For more trending stories, follow us on Telegram. The engineers mindset is to understand a problem, build a solution, and then figure out how to deploy a robust and secure implementation into production environments. Unfortunately, its often more complicated and expensive to embed security best practices into a solution once its implemented, and the pressure to release innovations quickly often leads devops teams to release with security debt. The best devsecops practices are to shift left the knowledge, best practices, and security into the development process so that agile development teams are more likely to bake security directly into the microservice, application, or database. But what about the continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipeline? This automation improves deployment reliability when the manual steps to build, integrate, package, and deliver code to environments are scripted in CI/CD tools. Devops teams with robust CI/CD implementations often take the next step and consider continuous deployment for production environments, which carries more risks but enables more frequent deployments. Consider these recommendations and best practices to ensure secure, robust CI/CD pipelines. Establish security development practices well before CI/CD Kulbir Raina, agile and devops leader at Capgemini, shares a first-things-first principle: Security and quality must be embedded into the code and should not be left to quality gates when dealing with automation in the CI/CD pipeline. He continues, Developers need integrated security tools in their integrated developer environment in order to properly lint the code. Linting is a process performed by tools that identify coding style deviations and unsafe practices. More sophisticated Static Application Security Testing (SAST) tools can find buffer overflows, SQL injection flaws, and other issues. Raina recommends integrating SAST into continuous integration. Steve Jones, devops advocate at Redgate Software, says tools are important, but like any devops process, ensure you are learning and growing over time. He says, Its critical that you regularly educate your developers on secure coding practices and ensure they are not allowing simple vulnerabilities, such as SQL injection. Keith Pitt, cofounder and co-CEO of Buildkite, shares several other best practices. He recommends reviewing dependencies from open source and third parties for common vulnerabilities and exposures (CVE). Devops teams should never put vulnerable software into production. He suggests using verifiable signatures for vendor software so if a vendor is compromised, your security supply chain isnt compromised. lkka Turunen, field CTO at Sonatype, agrees. One of the best practices is to be selective in your search for open source software projectslike in traditional manufacturing, not all parts are created equal. He recommends, Looking for projects that are maintained by a group of engaged and responsible developers will not only increase the maintainability of your software supply chain but also decrease the technical debt, rework, and security risk. These recommendations are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to applying best security practices in the software development life cycle, but they are critical prerequisites to developing a secure delivery pipeline. Build continuous testing into CI/CD pipelines Its important to recognize that CI/CD doesnt just deliver code. Its also an opportunity to adopt shift-left testing and evolve a continuous testing strategy. Teams that adopt testing as a core principle can then look for opportunities to validate security before triggering CI/CD pipelines to deploy releases to any environment. In addition to integrating SAST security testing, teams should focus on: Triggering penetration tests to find back doors and other entry-point vulnerabilities Validating security controls and testing authorizations Testing for the OWASP Top 10 high-severity issues with Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) tools Testing automation should also factor in steps to remediate common issues, notifications to alert the right teams, and rollback procedures. Automate data security procedures inside CI/CD CI/CD pipelines should also be used to automate security procedures that have code and build dependencies. One area to focus on is data security because releases may include new databases, updated data models, or new data sets. One often-overlooked function is updating development and testing environments with data pulled from production environments. Dev teams should use recently pulled data to validate features and test experiences and employ data masking to obscure personally identifiable information and other data subject to data compliance requirements. Roman Golod, CTO and cofounder of Accelario, suggests, Data masking is a critical part of security automation during CI/CD. The development and testing teams need real data to ensure that everything will work smoothly once in production, but the nonproduction systems arent usually secure enough. Other techniques include using synthetic data and service virtualization. Golod adds, a synthetic data set to mimic the real thing will further strengthen security as threat actors gain nothing if that database is breached. Daniel Riedel, senior vice president of strategic service at Copado, adds a key starting point for devops teams. He says, Know your data, specifically the security and compliance policies that regulate that data. Once you understand those policies, work carefully to build a phenomenal security automation framework that is well tested and covers you for the rules and controls set out in those policies. Apply zero-trust principles to secure the CI/CD pipeline How should devops teams lock down pipelines so only authorized people can trigger them? Grant Fritchey, devops advocate at Redgate Software, has a recommendation: The key to automating security within devops pipelines is exactly the same as the key to good security has always been: least-privilege principle, says Fritchey. He continues, If you ensure that you only give enough privileges to the pipeline, then automating security in, around, and within it will be simple and deliver the results you want. Some basic practices include hiding API keys, defining project- and role-based security credentials in CI/CD tools, and securing access for remote devops team members. Validate deployments by integrating CI/CD with AIops and security automation The devops teams responsibilities dont end once code is deployed to production. Thats where investments in observability and monitoring become important operational feedback tools. Devops teams should work with the operational teams and tools to respond to incidents and recognize when technical debt is becoming an operational or security concern. Some specifics: AIops tools centralize operational data, correlate alerts into incidents, and help automate incident response around performance and reliability issues. Security automation protects against threats and attacks while enabling automations that set permissions, patch systems, and respond to security incidents. Many CI/CD tools provide two-way integrations with AIops, security automation, and other generalized IT automation tools. Devops teams should trigger notifications to these tools as part of the CI/CD pipeline to inform operations and infosec about code deliveries. They should also allow IT ops and infosec automations to trigger builds or rollbacks to support operational and security needs. The devops workflow shows a continuous path from planning to monitoring deployments to ensure that teams plan, deliver, release, and run systems reliably and securely. CI/CD is one of the principal devops practices, so embedding security before, inside, and after pipelines is a critical responsibility. Read more: 5-Star Workers Comp 2022 For Kevin Prior, president & CEO of ICW Group, the companys successes were all possible thanks to support from both its agency/broker partners and the community. We spoke with him to learn more about how the company is celebrating its accomplishments and giving back to the public. ICW Group just celebrated its 50th year of business. What is the secret to your company's continued success? There have been several core drivers of ICW Groups success. First and foremost, I attribute our success to our people. We wouldnt be where we are today without their passion for creating the best insurance experience possible for our customers, our community, and each other. I would also point to our highly valued agent and broker partners and the solid relationships weve built together. Their trust and confidence in ICW Group when recommending us to their clients has been instrumental to our success. Another key is our desire and ability to listen to the needs of our customers. This is something weve consistently embraced. We have mechanisms in place to gather their feedback on how were doing, what gaps need to be filled, and then turn that feedback into action. This full-circle approach results in better relationships, improved processes, and greater overall customer loyalty. Of course, having a clear vision from the very beginning has been essential. We were founded by businessman and philanthropist Ernest Rady who remains our board chair today. While he started with only a few employees in a small office in San Diego, his desire for us to be a top-tier, full service, multi-line carrier has brought us to where we are today. Your company along with company employees have donated millions to the non-profit Promises2Kids, as well as other regional charities in California. How does your philanthropy work benefit your business as a carrier? The success weve experienced over the years, coupled with a deep-rooted commitment to philanthropy, has afforded ICW Group the opportunity to make significant impacts in the communities where we operate. Together, with the Rady familys charitable commitments, weve contributed more than $600 million to date. We also have the unique distinction of having 98.5 percent of our shares (valued at $2.9B) earmarked for a charitable trust to benefit philanthropic causes. ICW Groups long-standing tradition of giving is something we share with our team members. Weve donated millions through the companys annual giving campaigns and team member matching donation programs and our employees have logged 46,000 volunteer hours across the country over the past 5 years. This commitment and example of corporate responsibility resonates with our customers. Theyve regularly expressed sincere enthusiasm about partnering with a company who thinks beyond themselves. Our business in inherently centered around helping others in times of need and our philanthropic commitment further illustrates we care about making a difference in our communities. It means a lot to our customers and its something were very proud of. Your company is also gearing up to launch its commercial package business later this year. What sort of opportunities and difficulties do insurers face in launching new products in this post-pandemic landscape? When the pandemic hit, we closed our office locations and were fully operational the next day thanks to our business resiliency efforts. This preparedness exemplifies the spirit of our employees and the acumen of our leadership team. In todays post-pandemic landscape, as we continue executing on our growth plans via the launch of this new line of business into early next year, adapting to todays changing workforce is where we see both challenges and opportunities. With the shift to a primarily remote and hybrid work environment, finding innovative ways to engage, train and develop a new generation of professionals is where we are putting energy. This includes expanded investment in learning and development along with finding new ways to engage team members who may not be working from the same physical location. I dont think companies will be as successful in todays environment if they focus solely on achieving their growth goals without paying special attention to the people responsible for getting them there. Thats what were doing, and it will enable us to continue honoring our commitments to our vision, our industry, and our customers. What is ICW Group doing to further support its agency partners? Our success wouldnt be possible without the partnership we share with our agents and brokers. Thats why we continue to deliver market-leading risk management and claims services, along with value-added products designed to help them offer a top tier insurance experience to their clients. One example of this is our free HR OnDemand service. Our agents can offer their clients a quick, easy, and free way to access expert HR advice and resources to help them save time, reduce costs, and keep up to date on compliance issues. Were also committed to helping our agents grow their own business. One of our newest services offered exclusively to ICW Group agents is LeadGen OnDemand. This free lead-generating platform offers prepackaged email campaigns, printed post cards and brochures that agents can customize with messaging that speaks directly to the new business prospects they are targeting. ICW Group pays for everything, including printing, postage and mailing. Agents save time because marketing materials are all prepackaged and theyre getting great response rates that turn into new business. We will always look for new ways to help our agents and brokers provide trusted advice to their clients and grow their business. By helping them accomplish that, its a win-win for everyone. I hope to get the authority from you and the governor to utilize that $20 million to create an incentive program like the one we had in and utilized after Katrina and Rita, said Donelon. The incentive plan comes after seven insurance companies announced their withdrawal from the Louisiana market since Hurricane Ida, while others have remained but stopped writing new business. This has left more than 110,000 people to seek coverage from the states insurer of last resort, Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corporation. But just last week, Citizens requested a 63% rate hike on all new and renewed residential policies. Read more: State property insurer to hike rates by 63% For my money in this program I would prefer that 100% has to come out of Citizens to benefit those 110,000 people first to benefit those who are paying through the nose, Donelon commented. This post is part of a series sponsored by CoreLogic. Climate change is having an impact on natural hazards all around the world wildfires are more frequent, larger, and more intense than they have been in the past. Preparing for and responding to wildfire risks to help protect home and business owners are more critical than ever. But for insurers to accurately assess the risk of properties within their portfolio, they must ensure that the wildfire risk assessment tools they choose to purchase are informed by up-to-date, high-resolution data and the latest scientific understanding of wildfires. The Problem with Historical Data The CoreLogic Brushfire model employs the industrys most granular and up-to-date fuel data. Proprietary fuel updates inform it at a 30-meter or higher resolution, which is far more granular than the publicly-available USDA Forest Service Wildfire Hazard Potential (WHP) model used by many other wildfire models in the industry. The WHP is powered by data at the 270-meter level, providing a much less accurate risk assessment. Other problems with WHP include that the data informing it is both old and unreliable for use in the property insurance industry. For example, WHP 2018 was built using data reflecting the conditions on the ground at the end of 2012. And WHP 2020 reflects landscape conditions on the ground at the end of 2014. By contrast, the 2022 version of the CoreLogic Brushfire model reflects conditions on the ground as of 2021, powered by 30-meter or higher resolution satellite imagery that is further enhanced by high resolution imagery from the wildland-urban-interface (WUI) at a 5-meter level. Moreover, many wildfire modeling products tout using artificial intelligence (AI), but this AI is trained using only the most recent, largest, and most destructive historical fire events. This is problematic because only around 1% of wildfires become catastrophically destructive. Building a model heavily weighted on these rare events ignores the 99% of fires stopped before they can cause significant property damage. This results in many properties being categorized in a higher wildfire risk class than they really are. Model Changes Another essential element of wildfire risk modeling is ensuring that the model accounts for changes in land use, primarily the removal of wildland fuels cleared for residential or commercial development. It is also critical to ensure your wildfire risk model provider has wildfire scientists and GIS professionals who are experts in their field, incorporating the latest science into their models. CoreLogic updates its data on a quarterly basis to ensure risk is assessed correctly, especially as development accelerates in the WUI. CoreLogic also does a full annual update with the latest fuel information and incorporates the previous years wildfires and hazards. With a staff of Ph.D.-level wildfire scientists and structural engineers, CoreLogic takes risk assessment further by employing a proprietary methodology that enables a more granular risk management control and reporting level. This helps insurers identify the location of the wildfire threat in relation to the at-risk structures as accurately as possible. Understand Your Risk Assessment Tool Wildfire risk assessment is a complicated business. Relying on the WHP, a relatively low-resolution dataset, and relying on only a sub-set of historical fire events are both contributing to the overestimation of risk, resulting in inaccurate assessments and lost opportunities for insurers to write new business in wildfire-prone states. CoreLogics brushfire model has a proven history of combining high-resolution datasets with wildfire models informed by the latest science. It is a tool that insurers can use to better assess risk and capture new business opportunities. For this reason, insurers need to do their due diligence on the wildfire modeling products they decide to employ. Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters Wildfire A Virginia law professor is set to receive an $86,000 payment for settlement of his civil lawsuit filed against the City of Baton Rouge. The settlement follows a federal court order in which U.S. District Judge John W. deGravelles found overwhelming evidence that the city had acted in bad faith and in retaliation against Thomas Frampton. Frampton is an associate professor of law at the University of Virginia School of Law. In early 2021, Frampton represented a family in a civil rights case against the city after police conducted an unlawful strip search of a 16-year-old boy. That lawsuit addressed what another federal judge had called a serious and wanton disregard of the teenagers constitutional rights. In May 2021, the family settled its claims for $35,000. Following the settlement, and at his clients request, Frampton publicly shared body camera footage of the officers treatment of his clients, including images of a strip search and of at least one officer entering their home, gun drawn, without a warrant. The next day, city attorneys asked that Frampton be found in contempt. Frampton then filed suit in federal court, arguing that the city was retaliating against him for exercising his freedom of speech. The court agreed with Frampton. The Baton Rouge Metro Council agreed to settle the lawsuit and to have the contempt allegations dismissed, his attorney, William Most, said in a statement. They could have settled this case for no money and an apology to the Green Family, but instead they chose to set $86,000 of taxpayer money on fire, Frampton said. It oozes contempt for the Constitution, the taxpayer, and common sense, and its a little baffling that anyone involved in this scandal still has a job. The City-Parish said the settlement, and others, was the best use of taxpayer dollars, despite the cost. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Lawsuits Louisiana In 2004, almost 18 years ago, I began an initiative to expose one of the most onerous and egregious provisions of any mainstream personal lines policy I had ever seen. The article was entitled Rent Your Home, Void Your Insurance Policy? I followed it up with 15 other articles related to the issue. In 2005, the national technical affairs committee of the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (IIABA or the Big I) first presented this issue to Insurance Services Office (ISO) at our annual meeting. In 2009, these articles and this advocacy formed the basis of a 29-page white paper entitled Where You Reside The Wheres Waldo? Catastrophic Homeowners Policy Exclusion That Could Bankrupt Your Insureds published by the IIABA. You can still access that white paper and related resources for free at the Big I website (www.independentagent.com) by searching for where you reside. In 2015, ISO produced a series of endorsements designed to resolve or at least mitigate this potentially catastrophic coverage gap in their homeowners policies. My research indicated that this problem also existed in the vast majority of non-ISO homeowners policies in the marketplace. At least one carrier solved the problem by eliminating the offending language from their homeowners policies at that time. After almost two decades of writing and speaking about this issue, I had hoped it had been resolved. Recently, however, I learned of a September 2021 Michigan Court of Appeals decision, Mohamed A. Hassanein and Ebtisam Khalifa v. Encompass Indemnity Company, et al. The court ruled that the fire damage to the home owned by this couple was not covered, citing a 1995 Michigan court case from my original white paper, Heniser v. Frankenmuth Mut. Ins. Co. Here is the crux of the coverage gap. Most homeowners policies cover the dwelling on the residence premises shown on the policys declarations page. The term residence premises is defined to include the dwelling where you reside, with you referring to the named insured and, even if not named, resident spouse. According to one interpretation, the insuring agreement that applies to the dwelling is not triggered unless the named insured and/or resident spouse live there. In other words, if you dont reside in your home, for whatever reason, at the time of a loss, you have no coverage on the dwelling. As the original white paper discusses, courts are split on this. But, even in the Heniser case, a dissenting judge opined, [T]he mere statement that the insured property is a dwelling used principally for dwelling purposes is not clear and explicit enough to create a warranty. Most courts finding coverage concur with that opinion that the where you reside language is simply descriptive and does not warrant continuing occupancy past the policy inception date. And most courts require that, to be enforceable, an exclusion must be clear and conspicuous in a policy. Apparently this principle in some states does not apply to a claim denial that does not technically involve an exclusion. Many of these cases involve homes where the owners moved and temporarily held the property out for rental. But the white paper identifies well over a dozen other scenarios such as sudden work relocations, extended rehabilitation stays following illness, a parent that moves out and a child moves in (or vice versa), divorce, foreclosure, death, ownership transfers to trusts, a home buyer who takes possession and moves in prior to final closing or a home seller who remains after closing but coverage is now provided by the purchaser, temporary vacancies due to home renovations, and the list goes on. If you write any significant homeowners business, you have customers at this moment with homeowners policies on homes where they no longer live in. Many of these homes are insured by carriers who will deny a claim based not on an exclusion, but on three words in a definition referenced from an insuring agreement. Do you know who these carriers are? Do you know who these insureds are? Have you ever discussed this issue with your insurers or customers? In a seminar based on the white paper I presented for over 10 years, I included examples of denied claims that I was personally involved in as a consultant. Four of these claims were six-figure fire losses on homes being rented in Florida and Georgia. Three others were fire claims in New York, Arizona and Pennsylvania where the owners had temporarily moved out during renovations. Another was a theft and vandalism loss in Maryland that occurred after parents moved to one of two homes they owned and allowed their daughter to move into the other. An insured in a Kentucky nursing home suffered a total loss to her home that was denied. A rented Florida condo experienced a $100,000 fire loss, and the death of the occupant, that was denied though condo eligibility did not require owner occupancy and the HO-6 form was endorsed with the HO 17 33 Unit Owners Rental To Others that said, For an additional premium, this coverage applies while the residence premises is regularly rented or held for rental to others. A denied Pennsylvania fire loss occurred while a daughter occupied her parents home when they took care of her grandmother for several months at a distant location. In a Rhode Island claim, a couple bought a home and insured it on a homeowners policy but discovered after 30 days the home needed significant renovation that required them to move out for six months, during which a fire occurred. For most of your customers, their home is by far the most valuable asset they own or will ever own. Are they aware that they could be forced into bankruptcy by three words buried in a definition referenced from an insuring agreement in their homeowners insurance policy? Topics Homeowners Agency partnerships and networks continue to grow and add value for property/casualty independent agencies, large and small, by adding greater market access, offering services and technology, and the sharing of ideas that are helping them build their businesses. For nine years Insurance Journal has recognized the nations largest agency partnerships and networks in its annual Top 20 ranking. This year, the Top 20 Agency Partnerships again showed considerable growth in both total property/casualty revenue and property/casualty premium. The Top 20 grew by nearly $400 million in total P/C revenue in 2021 and by nearly $10.5 billion in total P/C premium. That growth has continued into 2022, according to the handful of agency partnerships interviewed for this report. Agency partnerships and networks are not new. Some have existed for decades. While the first networks started in the 1970s, these partnerships have grown in the past decade into organizations with diverse products and services. According to the Insurance Network Alliances 2022 Insurance Networks Study, there are more than 150 insurance networks today and more than 22,000 agencies belong to them. The INA study estimates that total network premiums controlled by networks and agencies is about $138 billion and total network-controlled premium is about $66 billion. Insurance agency networks total network-controlled premium accounted for 5% of the $1.28 trillion in U.S. insurance industry net premiums written, according to the Insurance Information Institute in 2020. No two networks are alike. According to Andrew Caldwell, president of Smart Choice based in Greensboro, North Carolina, there are major differences in everything from size and structure to location and what theyre looking for in members. But they share the fundamental purpose of helping independent agencies connect with carriers, he told Insurance Journal. That there are so many successful networks operating today tells an important story, Caldwell believes. Something is working, he said. Carriers want to find agencies that are a good fit and that drive organic growth, and networks are ideal at matching agencies with carrier partners to achieve these goals. Agency partnerships have moved well beyond market access providers. Years ago, it was about market access, Matt Masiello, CEO of the nations largest network, SIAA. Its no longer about market access. Agencies can access markets anywhere. Today, when agencies join a network or partnership they should choose one based on their own goals and how that group can help them achieve those goals, Masiello said. Agency owners must consider how their goals will change in the future as well. Because your goals are different tomorrow than they are today, right? So, you want to make sure you join a network that is scalable for your business as you continue to grow. Masiello tells prospective members to make sure they understand how the network shares dollars down to the agency before they join any organization. He advises them to be sure there is transparency in how commissions are paid to agencies and how carrier incentives are shared among members. Perhaps most important Masiello says agencies must review in detail all terms of any agency/network contract. We always tell everybody theyve got to understand, not just the business model, but they must understand the contract that theyre going to sign, he said. They should really take their time, and when theyre sitting with any of these groups, they should go through that contract with a fine-toothed comb and make sure they understand what the contract means for them today and tomorrow, and even at the end of the relationship. New Partnerships The newest agency partnership group to join IJs Top 20 list is The AC Companies, or The Agency Collective, which was founded out of necessity in 2020 by Kenny Urbania and Gary Hines following the release of all Nationwide Insurances exclusive agents. Urbania, a 25-plus year Nationwide exclusive agent, said converting to the independent agency model was challenging for many of his Nationwide agent peers, so founding The AC seemed like a natural progression. However, as he and Hines began developing the framework for The AC they realized other agencies, those already working in the independent agency channel, could also benefit from the model that their network would provide. We formed our group to disrupt the network industry and do it better, Hines told Insurance Journal. Although we started with the Nationwide agents, the sky is the limit as we are rapidly growing in the independent channel. Urbania said that The AC currently has about 750 active members with an average size agency ranging between $4 million to $4.8 million in premium per agency. Established independent agencies represent about 30% of its new membership. M&A Hits the Scene A trend felt elsewhere in the industry hit the agency partnership sector in 2022 consolidation. Insurance agency network Renaissance Alliance acquired two other agency networks in January. Massachusetts-based Renaissance acquired Agency Network Exchange (ANE), a 60-member exchange based in New Jersey, and Fresno, California-based United Valley Insurance Services, with 92 member agencies. Both ANE and United Valley held spots in the Top 20 Agency Partnerships ranking in Insurance Journal. Renaissance itself was purchased in 2018 by Long Arc Capital, which has invested in personnel and operations, a Long Arc partner said. That capital investment put Renaissance in a position to expand capabilities for agency members, said Robert Bondi, CEO of Renaissance Alliance. That also meant expanding its geographical footprint, which had traditionally been centered in the New England market. Today, Renaissance Alliance has nearly 300 agencies in 13 states with about $3.6 billion in premium. More recently, in September the MarshBerry Platform announced a merger with First Choice Agents Alliance (FCAA). MarshBerry Platform and FCAA, each on its own, represent two of the nations largest aggregators. According to Insurance Journals 2022 ranking, MarshBerry Connect Platforms represented $917,556,522 in total 2021 P/C revenue while FCAA represented $365,512,729 in total 2021 P/C revenue. [Editors Note: Because the merger occurred in 2022, both firms are represented on the 2022 ranking, which uses 2021 figures.] MarshBerry Platform and FCAA are now known as FirstChoice. First Choice was created in 2015 as a wholesale outlet for Nationwide captive agents looking for commercial market access. In 2017, the model moved to an agency member network to provide direct carrier access, strategic planning, education, and technology as well as market access. MarshBerry, an investment banking and consulting firm serving the insurance distribution industry, initially launched the MarshBerry Platform in 2019 as an exclusive benefit for MarshBerrys Connect members, which are typically larger agencies. John Wepler, MarshBerry chairman and CEO, said the merger will allow the combined First Choice to serve independent agencies writing less than $1 million in revenue to those with greater than $1 billion in revenue. Wepler said that the two firms business models fully align in that both organizations strive to develop tools, resources and capabilities to help participating firms grow while remaining independent. Earlier this year, MarshBerry announced a partnership with Atlas Merchant Capital, which supported efforts to grow. Combining forces with FCAA is one example of that intentional growth. Keith Captain, FirstChoices president, said the ability of the combined group to help every business from a frontline retail agency all the way up to a sophisticated firm is what will set them apart. There is no other network or group out there thats able to provide the breadth of support that were going to be able to provide. And thats really what takes this to a whole new level for all of us, he maintained. Future of Agency Partnerships Agency networks that responded to INAs 2022 study see an optimistic future for agency networks and their agency members but caution that industry trends such as consolidation and market demands will challenge some networks going forward. As with other segments of the insurance industry, networks are faced with key challenges including the continued consolidation of both carriers and agencies, evolving demands of stakeholders, and regulatory issues, the study said. On the other hand, there are tremendous opportunities to be pursued such as greater technological advances, M&A activities, and further growth. Renaissances Bondi said the future for agency networks looks good, but that success is centered around the strength and importance of the independent agency itself. We believe that piece of the insurance distribution channel is by far the strongest and most important, he said. As independent agencies themselves continue their growth in the market and representing that they are the strongest component of insurance distribution good networks should be driving greater value to these independent agencies to allow them to outperform other parts of distribution. Additional investment from private equity players will help the network space to continue providing value to the independent agency system, he added. The future is extraordinarily bright, and Im very optimistic. View Insurance Journals Top 20 Agency Partnerships Topics Trends A Virginia judge on Friday dismissed a lawsuit filed on behalf of 13 young people who claim that the states permitting of fossil fuel projects is exacerbating climate change and violating their constitutional rights. The lawsuit filed by Our Childrens Trust, an Oregon-based nonprofit public interest law firm, asked the court to declare portions of the Virginia Gas and Oil Act unconstitutional. It also seeks to find the states reliance on and promotion of fossil fuels violates the rights of the plaintiffs, who range in age from 10 to 19. But Richmond Circuit Court Judge Clarence Jenkins Jr. granted the states request to dismiss the lawsuit, finding that the complaint is barred by sovereign immunity. Thats a legal doctrine that says a state cannot be sued without its consent. The state argued that sovereign immunity prohibited the plaintiffs claims because they sought to restrain the state from issuing permits for fossil fuel infrastructure and to interfere with governmental functions. The judge did not rule on the merits of the plaintiffs constitutional claims. The lawsuit is one of five filed by Our Childrens Trust in states around the country. Lawsuits in Hawaii and Utah are in the early stages, while a lawsuit it Montana is expected to go to trial next year. A federal lawsuit filed in Oregon in 2015 remains in litigation after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the plaintiffs last year. They have since asked to file a more narrow amended complaint and are awaiting a decision. Jenkins ruled from the bench and dismissed the lawsuit with prejudice, meaning it cannot be refiled again in the same court. Their attorney, Nathan Bellinger, said they will promptly appeal the ruling to the state Court of Appeals. Ten of the plaintiffs accompanied by their parents listened in court as Bellinger said the state is knowingly contributing to the climate crisis by continuing to rely on fossil fuels as its main energy sources and polluting the atmosphere with greenhouse gas emissions. He asked the judge to allow the case to proceed to trial. The lawsuit alleges that climate change has contributed to health problems experienced by the plaintiffs, including asthma and heat exhaustion. Four of the plaintiffs have become ill after being bitten by ticks, a population that has increased due to climate change, Bellinger said. It also claims that Virginia has violated the public trust doctrine, which says that the state has a duty to hold certain natural resources in trust. These courageous Virginia youths are turning to the judiciary to protect their fundamental rights, Bellinger argued in court. Bellinger said the Virginia lawsuit is the first to leave out a request for an injunction to require the state to take certain actions or to submit a remedial plan. Instead, it asked only for a declaration that the continued permitting of fossil fuel projects violated the plaintiffs rights. But attorneys for the state argued that the plaintiffs are attempting to usurp the role of the state legislature and impose their preferred energy and environmental policies on the state. Simply put, this action belongs two blocks over at the General Assembly and not before this court, said Assistant Attorney General Thomas Sanford. After the court hearing, several of the plaintiffs spoke during a news conference where they held a large banner proclaiming, Climate Justice in our Courts NOW! An 18-year-old identified in the lawsuit as Layla H. said she has experienced everything from heat exhaustion to flooding due to climate change. The lawsuit says an extreme precipitation event in 2018 flooded the basement of her familys home, causing water damage and mold growth that cost approximately $17,000 to remediate. She said shes tired of inaction on the part of state leaders. Every alarm bell has been rung, and yet, nothing, she said. We will not wait any longer to do what must be done. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Lawsuits Legislation Climate Change Virginia Yeshiva University has abruptly suspended student club activity in the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court decision earlier this week that ordered the school to recognize for now an LGBTQ student group. In an email to students, university officials on Friday said that it hold off on all undergraduate club activities while it immediately takes steps to follow the roadmap provided by the U.S. Supreme Court to protect YUs religious freedom. On Wednesday, the high court cleared the way for the LGBTQ group, YU Pride Alliance, to gain official recognition from the Jewish university in New York. The undergraduate group describes itself as a supportive space for all students, of all sexual orientations and gender identities, to feel respected, visible, and represented. Spokespeople for the university did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment on Saturday. By a 5-4 vote Wednesday, the justices lifted a temporary hold on a court order that requires Yeshiva University to recognize the group, even as a legal fight continues in New York courts. Two conservatives, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh, sided with the courts three liberal justices to form a majority. The disagreement among the justices appears to be mostly about procedure, with the majority writing in a brief unsigned order that Yeshiva should return to state court to seek quick review and temporary relief while the case continues. If it gets neither from state courts, the school can return to the Supreme Court, the majority wrote. The case was being closely watched by other faith-based institutions. Following the ruling, the president of the university, Rabbi Ari Berman, said that faith-based universities have the right to establish clubs within its understanding of the Torah. Yeshiva University simply seeks that same right of self-determination, he said. The Supreme Court has laid out the roadmap for us to find expedited relief and we will follow their instructions. Berman also said the universitys commitment and love for our LGBTQ students are unshakeable. Nevertheless, a lawyer for the students said the universitys action Friday was divisive and shameful. The Pride Alliance seeks a safe space on campus, nothing more. By shutting down all club activities, the YU administration attempts to divide the student body, and pit students against their LGBT peers, said the lawyer, Katie Rosenfeld. The universitys tactic, she said, is a throwback to 50 years ago when the city of Jackson, Mississippi closed all public swimming pools rather than comply with court orders to desegregate. The university, an Orthodox Jewish institution in New York, argued that granting recognition to the Pride Alliance, would violate its sincere religious beliefs. The club argued that Yeshivas plea to the Supreme Court was premature, also noting the university already has recognized a gay pride club at its law school. A New York state court sided with the student group and ordered the university to recognize the club immediately. The matter remains on appeal in the state court system, but judges there refused to put the order on hold in the meantime. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Education Universities Howden, the London-based independent insurance broker, announced the acquisition of Swiss broker Born Consulting AG. Founded in 2003 and based in Bern, Switzerland, Born Consulting is an independent insurance broker for national and international intermediaries, large companies and the public sector. Today, the group employs over 30 people and prides itself on its entrepreneur for entrepreneurs culture and tailored customer offerings. Financial details of the deal were not released. Howden is the perfect new home for us and provides us with the opportunity to continue to play an active and entrepreneurial role in shaping the company. Our clients will benefit from the advantages of an international brokerage group, with distribution and expertise in 45 countries, combined with our local knowledge and capabilities, commented Massimo Contino, CEO of Born Consulting AG. By joining Howden we can continue to grow our business and provide an unrivalled, client-focused service as part of a company that values independence and an employee-first culture, Contino added. The acquisition of Born Consulting fits perfectly with our growth strategy of consistent and steady execution through strong organic growth, talent acquisition and strategic partnerships with like-minded firms that share our culture of entrepreneurship and ownership, said Felix C. Jenny, CEO of Howden Switzerland. With the acquisition of Born Consulting we continue to cement our position as one of the leading brokers in Europe. We both share the same principles based on top talent, employee empowerment and a collective culture and vision, all of which are underpinned by an enviable client-centric approach, according to Luigi Sturani, CEO, Howden Europe. The acquisition brings us a step closer in fulfilling our ambition to position Howden among the leading brokers in Switzerland and were looking forward to welcoming Born Consultings employees and clients to Howden, he continued. Founded in 1994, Howden now employs over 12,000 people worldwide and includes proprietary businesses in Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. Source: Howden Broking Topics Mergers & Acquisitions This edition of International People Moves details appointments at Gallagher Re, Aon and Howden M&A. A summary of these new hires follows here. Gallagher Re Names Aons Bowen as Chief Science Officer Gallagher Re, the global reinsurance broker, announced it has appointed Steve Bowen to the newly created position of chief science officer within Global Analytics & Advisory. Based in Chicago and with a global role, Bowen will also work closely with the new Gallagher Research Centre launched last week Global Catastrophe Analytics, and the Climate and ESG teams and will join the business on Oct. 3, 2022. With a scientific background in meteorology and business analytics, Bowen began his career in broadcast television before transitioning his skills into the insurance industry in 2007. He joins following 15 years at Aon, where he most recently served as managing director and the head of Catastrophe Insight, for the brokers Impact Forecasting team. A frequent collaborator with governmental agencies, academia and industry groups, Bowen is highly respected and well-known across the risk and insurance spectrum as an expert in his field and has co-authored several peer-reviewed journals. Steves addition to our team of practical, solutions-oriented, data-led specialists ensures Gallagher Res clients and the public at large get objective, fact-based assessments of the evolving risks arising from climate change, commented Brian Ingle, president of Global Analytics & Advisory, Gallagher Re. With the worlds risk horizon looking increasingly turbulent, Gallagher Re is fully provisioned to help our clients successfully navigate the future. We are excited to welcome Steve aboard. We live in a solutions-driven world. The growing and broad-reaching impacts of climate change and natural hazards are becoming more evident by the day, and there is a critical need to innovate and clearly communicate how risk is evolving. I am thrilled to be joining the Gallagher Re family where there is a strong commitment to collectively work together to help clients better understand their view of risk, said Bowen. We will strive to help move the climate change conversation forward by collaborating with various private and public sector entities to develop and deliver applicable thought leadership. It is an exciting time to be a scientist in the insurance industry, he added. The Global Analytics & Advisory centre of excellence works collaboratively with thought leaders across Gallagher Re to develop and strengthen intellectual property to meet the future needs of clients, ensure they experience the best of the brokers collective capabilities and share best practices across its regional businesses. *** Aon Names Jursa CEO of Commercial Risk Solutions, Czech Republic Aon plc, a leading global professional services firm, announced it has named Michal Jursa CEO of Commercial Risk Solutions in Czech Republic Jursa has more than 20 years of experience in business and management positions in the field of corporate banking and financial services, where he held various positions at companies including ING Bank N.V., Komercni banka a.s. and Wood & Co. Financial Services a.s. For the last 13 years, he has held various managerial positions at UniCredit. Most recently, Jursa was executive director and managing director of UniCredit Fleet Management, s.r.o., Czech Republic and Slovakia. We are pleased to welcome Michal to Aon, said Vlad Bobko, CEO of Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East for Aons Commercial Risk Solutions. With more than 13 years of leadership experience, he brings a strong focus on colleagues and clients and a successful track record in business development. Michals strategic expertise will be a great addition to our team as we continue to help clients make better decisions in an increasingly complex and interconnected world. Jursa holds an MBA in general management from the City University of Seattle. *** Gridel Joins Howden M&A to Lead European Biz Development Howden M&A, the international M&A and structured solutions insurance broker, announced the appointment of Charles-Henri Gridel as associate director, Business Development Europe. Gridel brings with him more than 20 years of experience in the professional services sector, with his appointment reflective of Howden M&As commitment to expand its European platform. Gridel will lead the Business Development function across Continental Europe, building Howden M&As brand profile with investment funds, lawyers, M&A bankers, corporates and the financial services industry. He will be also responsible for developing the portfolio of clients for M&A insurance solutions, including warranty and indemnity, title and real estate risks, tax risks and structuring, environmental issues and contingent risks. Gridel will join Howden M&A in September of this year. Gridel began his career in marketing at BNP Paribas before joining the leading international law firm Gide as part of the Business Development team, holding positions in Paris and Shanghai during his tenure. Most recently Gridel was head of Business Development for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) at Herbert Smith Freehills and a member of the firms EMEA Executive Committee. A graduate of the EM Lyon School of Management, Gridel holds a Masters Degree in Law from Pantheon Assas University. Gridels onboarding marks another significant senior hire for Howden in France, following the appointment of Nicolas Aubert as CEO of France earlier this year. Charles-Henris appointment reinforces our commitment to the French M&A market and our continued ambition to strengthen Howdens position in Europe. We are delighted to have Charles-Henri on board and welcome the on-the-ground, local support he will provide as part of our development strategy for the region, commented Lucie Bocel, co-head, Howden M&A, France. Drew Wardrope, managing director, Howden M&A, said: Charles-Henris appointment is reflective of Howden M&As broader strategy to invest in talent and expertise. His proven track record and experience of business development in the professional services sector will make him an invaluable addition to our growing M&A insurance team in Paris. Howden M&A is part of HowdenCAP, the new capital, advisory and placement business providing solutions at the convergence of the insurance and capital markets space to corporate clients, investors and all non-(re)insurance industry clients in the financial services sector. They are all part of Howden Broking. Topics Mergers & Acquisitions Commercial Lines Business Insurance Europe A.J. Gallagher Aon A staffer for U.S. Rep. Jackie Walorski was trying to pass a flat-bed truck on a northern Indiana highway last month when the SUV they were in crashed into an oncoming car, killing Walorski and three other people, police said Friday. A witness traveling behind the SUV told investigators it sped up, crossed the centerline of the two-lane highway as it neared the truck and pulled into the path of the other car when the crash happened about 12:30 p.m. on Aug. 3, according to the Elkhart County Sheriffs Office. Airbag control module data from the SUV driven by Zachery Potts, 27, who was Walorskis district director, showed it was going 77 mph at the time of the crash on a rural stretch of Indiana 19 near the town of Wakarusa, the office said. All of the evidence and information gathered is consistent with someone attempting to pass another vehicle on a two-lane roadway, the office said in a statement. Walorski, 58, was a Republican who had first been elected to represent northern Indianas 2nd Congressional District in 2012 and was seeking reelection this year to a sixth term. The sheriffs office released statements from the county coroner ruling the deaths of Walorski and the others as accidental from injuries suffered in the crash. Investigators blamed the crash on Potts for driving left of center with a contributing factor of excessive speed. Also killed in the crash were Emma Thomson, 28, who was Walorskis communications director, and Edith Schmucker, 56, of Nappanee, Indiana, who was driving the other vehicle. The sheriffs office said investigators found no signs of mechanical failures with either vehicle or any evidence of cellphone use by anyone in the vehicles when crash happened. Republican officials selected Rudy Yakym, an executive with Elkhart distribution company Kem Krest and a longtime political ally of Walorski, to replace her on the November election ballot in the heavily GOP district. The districts congressional seat will remain vacant until a special election on the November ballot to complete Walorskis term through rest of this year. Yakym will face Democrat Paul Steury, a science teacher from Goshen, and Libertarian William Henry. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Indiana Teva Pharmaceutical Industries expects to finalize an opioid settlement in the United States by year-end and start paying in 2023, its chief executive said on Sunday, while confirming he was unlikely to renew his contract next year. After years of negotiations, Israel-based Teva in July proposed a $4.35 billion nationwide settlement mostly cash and partly medicines that will amount to $300 million to $400 million over 13 years to resolve its opioid lawsuits. U.S. states, cities and counties filed more than 3,000 lawsuits against opioid manufacturers, distributors and pharmacies, accusing them of playing down the risks of addiction and failing to stop pills from being diverted for illegal use. CEO Kare Schultz said Teva was working on legal wording that should be wrapped up by the end of September. It then needs approval from states and subdivisions within states. When they opt in, once that is all done then it goes into force and that means the first payments happen next year and go on for 13 years, Schultz told a news conference. So, by the end of the year, you should have this clarification that it all comes together and we will start paying next year. Teva has denied wrongdoing, saying it sold legal medication that was approved for treatment of pain. The U.S. opioid crisis has caused more than 500,000 overdose deaths over the past two decades, including more than 80,000 in 2021 alone, according to government data. Schultz, who took over as CEO in December 2017, confirmed he was unlikely to extend it his contract which expires on Nov. 1 2023, saying he will be 62. But he said he would like to stay on the companys board. He said Teva would cut costs further by closing some of its sites. Since 2017 it has reduced the number of manufacturing plants to 53 from 80 and it plans to close another 10 in the next few years. Tevas New York listed shares are up 10% so far in 2022 at $8.81 but well off a peak of $72 in 2015. Questioning the low share price, Schultz noted that Teva has a price-earnings ratio of about 3.5, whereas a normal rate should be 10. Teva has one of the lowest P/E ratios of any share I know, and the business is actually very stable, that will grow long term and generate cash so its very good for long term investors, Schultz said. Right now we are worth a third of what you will see the normal value if we didnt have these risk factors. He suggested that the low share price largely stemmed from high debt, which has come down to $20 billion from $34 billion, and the opioid litigation. Topics USA Power is slowly being restored to parts of Puerto Rico Sunday after Atlantic storm Fiona clipped the island as a Category 1 hurricane, knocking out electricity to the entire US territory and causing catastrophic damage, Governor Pedro Pierluisi said. Packing sustained winds of 85 mph and dumping massive amounts of rain on the island, the storm damaged a bridge, washed away and blocked roads, downed power lines and sent more than 1,000 people to emergency shelters. There were no immediate reports of storm-related deaths, though communications and travel were hampered by the heavy rain and wind. The entire situation is delicate and sad, Pierluisi said during a press conference, pleading with people to stay home. Josue Colon, the executive director of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, or Prepa, said the storm had triggered an automatic shutdown at power plants that cut electricity to the entire island of 3.1 million people. But those generators were coming back on line late Sunday, and workers were prioritizing restoring energy to hospitals and critical infrastructure. A generator failure at the islands flagship cancer center required the evacuation of several patients, officials said. By early evening, it was unclear how much power had been restored. Luma Energy, which manages the islands troubled power grid, warned that it could take several days to completely restore power due to the magnitude and reach of the damage. Fiona was upgraded to a Category 1 hurricane Sunday as it briefly made landfall in southwestern Puerto Rico. While Fionas eye is now over open water and headed toward the Dominican Republic, the storm is expected to dump rain on Puerto Rico well into Monday. Its also expected to drench the eastern Dominican Republic, which is under a hurricane warning, with 4-8 inches. These rains will produce life-threatening flash flooding and urban flooding across Puerto Rico and the eastern Dominican Republic, along with mudslides and landslides in areas of higher terrain, the National Hurricane Center said. The Biden administration on Sunday approved an emergency declaration for Puerto Rico and ordered the Federal Emergency Management Agency to respond. Also Sunday, French President Emmanuel Macron said he would declare a state of natural disaster in the French territory of Guadeloupe, where Fiona left one person dead. Fiona comes almost five years after a powerful Category 4 hurricane, Maria, slammed into Puerto Rico, leading to nearly 3,000 deaths and billions of dollars in property damage. The island has some of the most expensive and least reliable energy of any US jurisdiction. After Maria, it took the public power utility almost a year to completely restore service, Pierluisi said. We dont want it to be like that again, he said. We are going to do everything possible to restore power as quickly as possible. Photo: Aftermath of Fiona in Capesterre-Belle-Eau, the French island of Guadeloupe, on Sept. 17. Photographer: Lara Balais/AFP/Getty Images Copyright 2022 Bloomberg. Topics Windstorm The longest tenured top executive of the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (Big I) has decided to step down. Bob Rusbuldt, who has been the CEO of Big I since 2001, informed the associations national board of directors of his decision at a meeting in Niagara Falls, NY last weekend. He will remain remain in his current position until August 31, 2023. I am truly humbled and honored to have had the privilege of leading the Big I for the past 23 years and for being a part of this organization for 37 years, says Rusbuldt. With our incredible team of agent leaders and Big I staff, we have accomplished great feats for our members. I can think of few things more satisfying than helping people in their greatest time of need, and thats what our members do. It has been a privilege to work alongside them, supporting and contributing to that mission. The Big I and the IA system have a rich history that I am proud to be a part of, but the evolution continues, and the best is yet to come. The Big I Executive Committee named Charles Symington, senior vice president for external, industry and government affairs, as Rusbuldts successor starting September 1, 2023. Rusbuldt joined the association in 1986 and was named CEO in 2001 after leading the government affairs department at the Big I for many years. He has overseen many major Big I initiatives including the inception of Big I Markets, a market access program for agent members; the formation of BIRC, a reinsurance company, and InsurBanc, a bank catering to independent insurance agencies needs; the implementation of a marketing brand for members, Trusted Choice, and the consumer-facing agent locator and company, TrustedChoice.com; the creation of Big I Hires, a national hiring resource for the independent agency channel; and the establishment of the Trusted Choice Disaster Relief Fund and COVID-19 Relief Fund for member agencies in need, among other notable innovations. Rusbuldt recently steered the Big I through the challenge of the coronavirus pandemic and also the celebration of the associations 125th anniversary. Bobs impact on the association, our independent agent and broker members, and indeed, the entire industry cannot be overstated, says Bob Fee, president of Fee Insurance in Kansas and Big I immediate past chair, who presided over this weekends meeting of the Big I Board. The independent agency system is stronger and better today, thanks to more than two decades of Bobs incredible leadership. With his drive, work ethic and genuine dedication to our members, he is a changemaker who has elevated the IA channel. Bobs close relationships with so many key players in the industry have made an indelible mark. During his time at the Big I, Rusbuldt was named a Top 25 Living Legend of Insurance by PropertyCasualty360.com and earlier this year, he was recognized by Insurance Business magazine among the worlds top insurance leaders on its Global 100 list. Rusbuldt is a respected expert on tax, banking, insurance and financial services issues in Washington, D.C. The Washington Post, Roll Call and The Hill have repeatedly cited him one of the most influential private sector people with Congress. He has been a frequent television and radio commentator on small business, insurance and disaster recovery issues and has also provided election and political analysis for a variety of national and local news outlets over the years. Rusbuldts tenure in Washington includes time as a Congressional staffer, including work with the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee and with the American Insurance Association (now APCIA). Rusbuldt was also a program analyst at the U.S. Department of Labor and spent a year with the Federation of Tax Administrators. In addition to leading the Big I, Rusbuldt serves on a number of boards, including as chairman of the TrustedChoice.com board. He is a member of the ACORD board, the Connecticut Community Bank/InsurBanc board, the Big I Advantage board, the U.S. Capitol Historical Society board, the Ripon Society board, and several other boards, including having spent 12 years on the MS National Capital board. *** Charles Symington has been with the association since 2004 and oversees federal and state government affairs, political affairs, grassroots, industry relations, and communications and media affairs. He has also been regularly recognized by The Hill newspaper as one of the top lobbyists in Washington, D.C., and has been a key leader in many industry coalitions on Capitol Hill, advocating on a range of topics important to Big I members such as flood insurance, small business tax issues, regulatory reforms and more. Before his time at the Big I, Symington served as a senior counsel with the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services for three years, focusing on insurance issues. He also worked as a majority counsel for the House Committee on Energy and Commerce specializing in health care policy and oversight. Prior to working on Capitol Hill, Symington was an attorney with the law firm Matricardi & Moylan in Springfield, Virginia, and prior to that was with the firm Drew, Eckl & Farnham in Atlanta where he specialized in insurance defense litigation. Topics Agencies InsureScan, a company that says its software can help agents quote and bind auto coverage in a few minutes, has expanded to Alabama. CEO Mark Chappell, who is based in Alabama, said that while some insurance companies are bypassing local agents, InsureScan lets agents use their smartphones to scan drivers licenses and vehicle numbers. Producer quotes and underwriting information is auto-filled in the app, the company said in a news release. InsureScan also said it has entered into a general agency agreement with Buckle to support its insured gig drivers. The company is underwriting automobile insurance policies using Gateway Insurance, one of Buckles insurance carriers, as the admitted carrier. The news release said that Chappell founded five MGAs, with 1400 independent agencies in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Virginia. Topics Auto InsurTech Tech Alabama The New Years Eve sexual assault of a patient at a Miami hospitals mental health ward made headlines around Florida in 2019. Three days after the incident, Fernando Felix Ramos-Garcia, a technician at Westchester General Hospital, was arrested. The man has said the relationship was consensual. His trial is still pending, now scheduled for November. The patient and her husband, known in court filings only as Jane and John Doe, sued Westchester for more than $50 million, alleging negligence and failure to adequately screen and supervise its staff. For three years, Westchester, now Keralty Hospital Miami, has argued that its liability policy applied and Evanston Insurance Co. had a duty to defend the hospital in court. Evanstons attorneys have said that policy exclusions, which judges have called quirky, barred coverage. A federal district court in south Florida in 2020 agreed with the hospital. The Illinois-based Evanston, part of Markel Corp., appealed. Last week, the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed the district courts decision, leaving Evanston with little choice other than covering defense costs or seeking a long-shot appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. The district courts grant of summary judgment in favor of Westchester was proper because none of the relevant exclusions invoked by Evanston bars coverage for the Does claims against Westchester, a three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit wrote in the Sept. 16 opinion. The court explained that the story of this seemingly mundane insurance dispute begins with a violent act. Not only was the patient, who was asleep and medicated at the time of the assault, traumatized, she also was physically injured, according to court filings and news reports at the time. The hospitals general liability policy covered bodily injury. Weston also held an umbrella policy that provided excess indemnity coverage if either the general liability coverage or a professional liability policy applied, the appeals court explained. The general liability policy exclusion aimed to bar coverage of claims based upon, arising out of, or in any way involving an act, error or omission in the performance of services of a professional nature rendered or that should have been rendered. Evanstons lawyers argued that services of a professional nature were different from and are much broader than professional services, which generally include medical services. Evanston had told the hospital officials that it would defend under the extent of Westchesters professional liability policy but not under the GL or other policies. The 11th Circuit panel found that Evanstons arguments were not convincing. Professional services and services of a professional nature are not identical, but they also are not completely exclusive of each other. Some relationship between the two must exist for the policy provision not to be rendered illusory, Judge Stanley Marcus wrote for the panel in the 21-page opinion. And the judges found that the bodily injury exclusion language was open to interpretation and was ambiguous, and that Florida courts have never before interpreted such wording. They reiterated the assertion that judges have often underlined: that courts generally construe an ambiguous policy wording in favor of the insured. In sum, neither the bodily injury exclusion nor the professional services exclusion bars coverage for Westchesters lawsuit against the Does, the court wrote. Evanston owes Westchester a duty to defend the hospital in its litigation against the Does under the GL coverage part. And because of that, the umbrella policy also applies, the court said. The underlying negligence suit against the hospital is set for jury trial in December. The patient died but her estate continues to pursue the case. A Miami TV news station interviewed the woman, without using her name, shortly after the incident. I was depressed. Now, Im super depressed, the victim told WSVN 7 News in 2019. Im afraid to stay alone. Im afraid to sleep. Im afraid to be up. Im afraid of everything. Hurricane Katrina will miss Florida and the East Coast, but has left catastrophic flooding and widespread power outages in Puerto Rico and battered the Dominican Republic with 90 mph winds, according to news reports. The Dominican Republic was expected to see as much as 15 inches of rain in some areas, the St. Augustine Record reported Monday. Just east, in Puerto Rico, the entire island lost power and many parts were underwater. The damage we are seeing is catastrophic Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi said during a news conference Sunday evening, the Miami Herald reported. The danger of flooding and landslides continues and no one should be taking to the streets with the exception of first responders. The hit comes almost five years after another storm, Hurricane Maria, destroyed much of Puerto Ricos infrastructure, killed thousands of people and left parts of the island without power for months. No deaths have been reported from Fiona, but officials said more rain was expected today. These rainfall amounts will continue to produce life-threatening and catastrophic flooding along with mudslides and landslides across Puerto Rico. Life-threatening flash and urban flooding is likely for easterly portions of the Dominican Republic, the National Hurricane Center said, according to news reports. The storm is expected to strengthen as it turns north in the Atlantic, perhaps reaching Category 3 by Wednesday as it moves east of the Bahamas. The forecast shows the storm having maximum sustained winds of 125 mph by the time it nears Bermuda later this week, the Herald reported. Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters USA Hurricane With just over one week to go to Budget 2023, the speculation is mounting, the pressure is building, and the negotiations are heating up between the Department of Finance and the rest. Meanwhile, sage advice is flying in from many quarters and every conceivable interest group is throwing its oar in. It is a recipe for chaos. It is clear that when it is all boiled down, the cost-of-living crisis, the housing market and childcare are the big issues that will warrant the most attention. The cost-of-living crisis is obviously being hammered to death in the media and in political discourse, but it is really important that the focus here is not just on households, because small businesses are also being hammered, with costs escalating and pressures building on all fronts. Of course, many of those small businesses have not recovered fully from the effects of the pandemic, and many may have significant debts as a result of it. This latest crisis could be the one that will push many over the edge. We cannot stand by and allow this happen. If households require financial intervention, well then so should businesses that provide employment and represent the only semblance of economic activity in many towns and villages around the country. Housing It goes without saying that housing is a big priority. Housing should be recognised as a vital element of national competitiveness. Without adequate and affordable housing to either rent or buy, it will become increasingly difficult to continue to grow multinational employment, in particular. The message becomes quite stark when the French embassy in Dublin has to issue a warning about the housing difficulties that exist in Ireland. Such warnings will not make the job of the IDA any easier, and it surprises me that we do not hear more from that body about the housing difficulties here. In fairness, the National Competitiveness Council has written a lot about the contribution of housing to competitiveness in recent years. The private rental market will probably get the most attention in the budget as the exodus of private landlords from the market is resulting in further dysfunction in the rental market. The budgetary parameters were set out in the summer economic statement in July and it seems an overall package of 6.7bn will be delivered, with around 1bn for tax-reduction measures and just over 5.6bn for increased spending across Government departments. On top of this package, there will be an additional, significant package of once-off measures to address the cost-of-living issues. This is likely to amount to at least 2bn, but if Sinn Fein pressures work, it could be higher. Energy pressures will be a key focus here, with the only real question being the size and nature of the intervention. Although there are many variations on a possible energy cap, any such move would be extremely risky from a fiscal perspective. It would be akin to signing a blank cheque with no real idea about what the eventual cost might be. This would be dangerous and irresponsible and would bring back memories of an unlimited bank guarantee in times past. Scatter-gun economics In overall terms, it promises to be a very expansionary budget. Scatter-gun economics will be to the fore, I suspect. Last week, the Commission on Taxation and Social Welfare published its report on what the future taxation environment might look like. The report came to over 500 pages and contained 116 recommendations. Many of these may never see the light of day, with any luck, but they do provide a comprehensive menu of options for future governments. The objective of the recommendations is to reform the structures of the taxation and social insurance system to raise additional revenues over time at the lowest possible cost, to broaden the tax base to limit the need for higher tax rates, and to shift the burden of taxation away from labour and towards taxes on capital, wealth, and consumption. This is all worthy stuff, but no attention was devoted to the efficiency and effectiveness of State agencies in turning vast financial inputs into optimal outputs. It is just too easy to suggest that we tax everything that moves even more and to largely ignore the manner in which scarce resources are spent. There are some books that serve as milestones in our lives, evocations of a particular time and place tucked between the timeworn covers. For me, The Secret History is one of those. As a teenage undergraduate on the cusp of adulthood, Donna Tartts compelling and murderous tale of a clique of classics students who fall under the spell of a charismatic professor at an elite American college connected with me in a way that few books have since. It was something of a shock to realise recently that this month marks the 30th anniversary of its publication, in 1992. Since then, the book has become a cult classic, albeit a bestselling one, shipping more than five million copies. It has also been experiencing a huge resurgence in popularity recently thanks to TikTok, with videos relating to the book receiving hundreds of millions of views. This has been driven mainly by the dark academia sub-culture which the book epitomises. In the broadest of terms, it can be described as a nostalgia-fuelled genre and aesthetic strong on scholarly pursuits and boarding school chic with a gothic edge (the movie Dead Poets Society is another mainstay). A number of factors have contributed to the books enduring popularity. The major one is the mystique which continues to surround Tartt, the coolly hip and poised Mississippi native with a bob as razor-sharp as her intellect. One of the most hyped debut novelists of her era, The Secret History was published when she was only 28 but was reportedly eight years in the making. A graduate of the prestigious Bennington College in Vermont, an obvious inspiration for the books Hampden College, she received a $450,000 advance for the book, which she earned and then some. Adding to the clamour surrounding the book, The Secret History was dedicated to Tartts former classmate at Bennington, Bret Easton Ellis, who the previous year had published the equally hyped American Psycho, which attracted huge controversy and sales to match. Tartts talent also jumped off the page, and she expertly combined a tantalising plot, the evergreen appeal of the campus novel and the arcane attractions of Greek myth, making The Secret History a defining book for Generation X and now a source of fascination for Generation Z. It also managed the publishing holy grail of appealing to readers across the literary and commercial fiction genres. There are shades of The Great Gatsby protagonist Nick Carraway in the narrator Richard Papen, an outsider both attracted to and repelled by the rarified circle he finds himself in. Comparisons were also drawn with the elusive author JD Salinger as it became clear that Tartt disdained publicity. She proved to be equally Salingeresque in her output. She has only written two novels since The Secret History her second novel, The Little Friend, was published a decade after The Secret History, in 2002 and while generally well-received, it didnt generate the same excitement as its predecessor. Her next novel, The Goldfinch, was published in 2013 and proved more successful, winning a Pulitzer but polarising readers I am one of those who loved it. I cant say I felt the same about the stiff and lifeless movie adaptation, which sank like a stone. It is interesting that a film has never been made of The Secret History, although at one point director Alan J Pakula had the film rights for Warner Brothers with Joan Didion and her husband John Gregory Dunne on screenplay duty; after Pakula was killed in a car crash, Gwyneth Paltrow was reported to be developing it. With streaming platforms constantly scouting for content and book adaptation opportunities, it may yet make it to the screen. The lasting influence of The Secret History on the publishing industry can be seen in the continued appetite for stories based on Greek myth and it may even have had an influence on the Harry Potter series (JK Rowling has previously cited Tartt as one of her favourite authors). The irony of course is that three decades on from becoming a literary superstar, we may never know what the author herself thinks of her newfound TikTok fame she is perhaps the least likely author to embrace social media. There is also the tantalising possibility that she is busy writing next year marks the ten-year anniversary of the publication of The Goldfinch, surely time to produce another classic. There were several occasions over the years when I had been tempted to dust off my own copy of The Secret History, but I hesitated, perhaps fearing that something I loved in my youthful vigour would disappoint me in my more jaded middle age. The anniversary of its publication this month seemed like an opportune time to pick it up again. It is perhaps not surprising that, as the TikTok generation would say, the book hits different now. Much of it strikes me as pretentious and Tartts erudition while admirable comes across as youthfully performative. My more mature critical self had the mental editorial scalpel at work, thinking she could have lost a hundred pages without the plot suffering. I can see though why the book connects so much with a new generation of readers in my own case, I read it a time when, like most teenagers, I was struggling to assert my identity and was ripe for its existential themes. Though it turned out that I could not recapture what I felt when I originally read the book, no more than I could be the same person I was when I read it. There is of course a poignancy to it all that Im sure Tartt would appreciate. To quote the poem by AE Housman, who is also alluded to in The Secret History: "That is the land of lost content,/ I see it shining plain,/ The happy highways where I went/ And cannot come again." Five other books that made waves in 1992 The Pelican Brief, John Grisham: The lawyer turned best-selling writer followed up his previous books The Firm and A Time to Kill with this taut and tense thriller about student Darby Shaw whose speculative legal brief sets off a sinister chain of events reaching to the very top. Julia Roberts played Shaw opposite Denzel Washington in the following years excellent movie version, directed by Alan J Pakula. The Butcher Boy, Pat McCabe The Butcher Boy, Pat McCabe: This dark, funny and heartbreaking gut punch of a novel is one that never leaves you. The protagonist Francie Brady immediately entered the pantheon of Irish fictions most memorable characters. Perhaps not one to be read while eating a rasher sandwich. The Bridges of Madison County, Robert James Waller: This treacly tale of forbidden love between a photographer and a housewife in Iowa captured the imagination of millions. The 1995 movie was better, with movie royalty Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep in the lead roles. Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, John Gray Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, John Gray: A relationship guide that kicked off a thousand debates and arguments about gender roles and became a cultural punchline. It has sold a staggering 15 million copies since it was published. Take that, Donna Tartt. Earth in the Balance, Al Gore: Published shortly before Gore was elected US vice-president, this assured analysis of impending ecological disaster put the environment on the political and public agenda in the US and elsewhere. Three decades on, you cant say we werent warned. Taoiseach Micheal Martin is set to hold talks with the new UK Prime Minister Liz Truss on Sunday morning, while he is in London for the funeral of Britain's Queen Elizabeth. Both Mr Martin and President Michael D Higgins will attend the monarch's funeral on Monday. It is considered unusual for both the head of Government and the head of State to be outside Ireland at the same event. A major rescue effort has had a positive outcome after a man who was trapped in a sea cave since Saturday evening was rescued in north Mayo on Sunday. The man, 40, spent almost 22 hours on a ledge in a cave at Downpatrick Head, after being swept into the area during high tide Saturday evening. He was taken to Sligo University Hospital via Coast Guard helicopter Rescue 118 where he is said to be "well and in good spirits". The man was rescued by the Irish Cave Rescue Organisation, supported by four Coast Guard units from Killala, Ballyglass, Killybegs, and Achill, as well as the Ballyglass RNLI Lifeboat. John Sweeney, volunteer warden with the Irish Cave Rescue Organisation said it was quite a technical rescue. It was an intricate task. It was a very dangerous cliff face and the rock was very loose," he said. It took us in total from 4am to roughly 3pm." According to Mr Sweeney, the team had to descend the 50m cliff face, then make their way into the casualty at the back of the cave which was a further 50m in from the base of the cliff. Once the tide dropped enough, one of our team abseiled down to water level onto a ledge and was able to get to the casualty, get a harness on him and some warm clothes. He was an experienced caver, strong and determined. Our team member was able to traverse him out on one of the ropes. It was agreed that instead of trying to get him winched from the water, that he was strong enough to walk right around the cliff face to get to the helicopter," he said. A statement from the Department of Transport thanked all rescue groups involved, in particular the local community at Downpatrick and North Mayo who supported all involved in the operation. Agatha Hurst, of Ballyglass RNLI Lifeboat, told local radio station Mid West Radio that its volunteer crew had been at the scene since Saturday evening. She said the crew had remained in constant contact with the man during the incident, shining a light in towards him and communicating with him. She said that it had been a huge, big operation with many different entities coming together between the Coast Guard, the Gardai, civil rescue, and of course Ballyglass RNLI, in order to rescue the man. A major rescue operation had been ongoing to save the man who was caught by rising waters yesterday and swept into the cave in the Downpatrick Head area. Picture: Department of Transport A major rescue operation was undertaken to save the man who was caught by rising waters Saturday and swept into the cave in the Downpatrick Head area. A group of kayakers who were in the area yesterday evening brought a woman who was with him to safety - but rescuers were unable to reach the man, who was pushed into a cave. He managed to reach a ledge above water at the back of the cave. A woman who has been helping to provide food and beverages for volunteers taking part in the operation since Saturday evening said that it is "great news" that they have finally reached him, and "a real relief". "Our community has helped serve the emergency service workers last night and today, we were overwhelmed with the generosity of all the local communities and businesses in Ballycastle and neighbouring areas that donated their time and food to make sure that everyone was fed throughout the night and day." Earlier An RNLI spokesperson said that their crew had been able to maintain contact with him overnight. "Visual contact was made with the man inside the cave last night, and has remained constant throughout the night as the Ballyglass RNLI Lifeboat crew have remained at the scene alongside emergency services," they said. The man's condition was not fully known, but responders at the scene did not believe him to be seriously injured at the time. Sea conditions made it difficult to reach the man, as rescuers had to wait for water levels to come down. Sea conditions made it difficult to reach the man, as rescuers had to wait for water levels to come down. Picture: Department of Transport An Irish Coast Guard spokesperson earlier said that the rescue coordination sub-centre at Malin Head was coordinated in collaboration with the other emergency services in an effort to safely retrieve the man trapped in the sea cave. "The incident has been ongoing since the Coast Guard received an initial alert on Saturday afternoon and presently involves a large number of resources including a number of Coast Guard Units RNLI Lifeboat from the local area, the Coast Guard Rescue Helicopter from Sligo, An Garda Siochana, Mayo County Fire Service, Civil Defence and Irish Cave Rescue," they said this morning. Coastguard, Gardai, Ballyglass RNLI, Killala Coastguard, Civil Defence teams, and firefighters as well as ambulance crew have been present throughout the day. Around 80 people are taking part in rescue efforts, and a local community hall stayed open overnight to provide food, tea and coffee, and facilities. A Gardai spokesperson said that there has been no change in the status of the operation so far this morning. "Gardai and emergency services remain at the scene of an ongoing operation in the Downpatrick Head area of Co Mayo this morning. "There is no further information available at this time," they said. A District Court judge struck out an "unusual prosecution" of a member of An Garda Siochana for careless driving for an incident where she was responding to an urgent call to assist colleagues. Judge Alec Gabbett noted the Garda vehicle had full blue lights and siren activated when it was in collision with a car and bus at the junction of Langford Row/Infirmary Road/Old Blackrock Road and Southern Road on November 28, 2021. Garda Kyra Collins of Anglesea Street Garda Station was driving the Garda vehicle at the time. Inspector Martin Canny said the prosecution was brought on a charge of driving without due care and attention. Garda Collins pleaded guilty to that Road Traffic Act offence. Judge Gabbett said: This is an accident in the course of her duty. This is a somewhat unusual prosecution. Defence solicitor Dan Murphy agreed and added: Most unusual. Insp Canny said by way of background that Garda Collins was responding to an urgent call from colleagues seeking assistance in dealing with a public order incident where windows were being broken and there was a lot of shouting. The garda was driving a personnel carrier which was described as a kind of Transit van. Judge Gabbett said this would not be the ideal type of vehicle for an emergency response, as it was bigger than a car and more difficult to stop suddenly. Insp Canny said as Garda Collins came up to the junction, the lights were amber and changed to red and there was a collision with a bus and a car. Mr Murphy said: In that split second the lights changed to red. She had blue lights and siren on and was making this response to an urgent incident to go to the assistance of her colleagues. She was responding, with the best of interests and all the right reasons. Judge Gabbett said in effect she was performing a duty similar to an ambulance driver on the occasion. He asked about the consequences of a conviction of this kind for a member of An Garda Siochana. Mr Murphy said a conviction would be a disadvantage and said: She has been grounded since the accident. Judge Gabbett said this occurred a year ago. I have to see that this was someone acting in the course of their duty. In all the circumstances, I am going to deal with it by way of a strike out. It is a very severe penalty otherwise. OPPOSITION Citizens Coalition for Change party president Nelson Chamisa has accused President Emmerson Mnangagwas administration of destroying the country after usurping power from the late former President Robert Mugabe. Addressing opposition supporters in Chipinge at Kondo business centre during the weekend, Chamisa said the 2017 military coup resulted in Mugabe dying a bitter man. In 2018, a heartbroken Mugabe told journalists who were gathered at his blue roof mansion in Harare that he would not vote for his party, Zanu PF in the 2018 general elections. I must say very clearly, I cannot vote for those who have tormented me. I cant. Ill make my choice among the other 22 [presidential candidates], Mugabe declared as he endorsed Chamisa. Mnangagwa stole power from his elder. Mugabe died a bitter man after power was grabbed from him. Chasing away your elders is taboo. This is why you see Mnangagwa struggling to rule the country because he angered his elder (Mugabe). Ini ndakasirwa naSave [Tsvangirai chose me to lead], Chamisa told his supporters. Im giving Mnangagwa nightmares as he hears that Chipinge was filled with people without any money spent or anyone beaten. Its just love. I see that you came on your own. No one gave you money. If you look around there is not even a single Zupco bus. If it was Mnangagwas rally, you would have all been forced to attend it and shops and vending areas would be closed. People fought to liberate the country from white bondage and not a single political party had ownership of the country. We said one made one vote, we didnt say people should go and vote for a particular party. Chamisa also claimed that Zanu PF did not fight the war alone, but it was children of the soil who participated in the liberation struggle. Zanu PF is just a party that was there and whose value has since expired. You are upside down and finished, he said. But Zanu PF director of information Tafadzwa Mugwadi rubbished Chamisas claims saying he will be in for a rude awakening during the forthcoming 2023 general elections. This young man needs everyones prayers. Something must be wrong with his appreciation of the realities in the political market. One would expect that the case of Raila Odinga in Kenya must have given him a sufficient sign as he claimed prior to the polls, Mugwadi said.Newsday A woman whose brother drowned in a fishing tragedy almost 30 years ago says a striking new memorial unveiled by a coastal community to those who have lost their lives to the sea means the world to families like hers. Mary ODriscoll, from Reengaroga, four miles from Baltimore in West Cork, was speaking after attending Sunday's unveiling of the striking Croi na Mara sculpture overlooking Baltimore harbour. It depicts two copper and bronze perforated waves rising into the shape of a heart. Copper rings of varying sizes, representing the souls lost to the sea, are then drawn up through heartstrings towards the sky. Croi na Mara. Ms ODriscoll said as she stood there, memories of her brother, Joe Sheehan, came flooding back. Mr Sheehan, 43, went missing on June 30, 1994, while he worked alone on the deck of the 60ft trawler, Falcon, as it fished off the Old Head of Kinsale. His body was recovered from the sea two weeks later. It was a dreadful time, said Ms O'Driscoll. "We didnt think wed find him way out there in the Atlantic. It was a miracle really that he was recovered, and it was a great consolation to us, especially to our mother. His death devastated her. Recovering his body brought closure. But many families dont get that. This sculpture is a wonderful idea. I'm delighted its been done here. It will give us all, especially someone who hasnt found the body of their loved one, a place to go and remember. Her son, Pat, and his son, Eoin, who are both volunteer members of Baltimore RNLI, also attended the ceremony. Mary O'Driscoll, who lost her brother to the sea, was present at the event with her grandson, Eoin (left) and son Pat, who are both members of the Baltimore RNLI Lifeboat crew. Tara Cotter, a member of the Baltimore, Rath and the Islands Community Council and chairwoman of its Baltimore sea memorial committee, said it has been a long-held ambition in the area to install such a memorial. Work on the project began before Covid when a major community fundraising drive was launched, and with substantial BIM grant support, and community grants from the Save Our Skibbereen Fund and the Little Way Charity Shop in Schull, the council commissioned two local artists, Paddy McCormack and Helen Walsh, to create a sculpture. Ms Walsh is renowned for large-scale sculptures, while Mr McCormack a copper, iron, and bronze specialist normally works on smaller-scale projects. Paddy McCormack and Helen Walsh, who created the sculpture, were present at the event. Colin Whooley, another member of the community council, said: What really struck us about the design, and what attracted us to the piece was the copper strings representing heartstrings rising from the sea from beneath the waves, carrying the souls towards the sky." Ms Cotter said: Some people have lost loved ones whose bodies were never recovered. Others have recovered their loved ones. We hope that this memorial space will become a place that everyone can go to remember them." The sculpture was unveiled near the harbourmasters office by legendary RNLI crewman Kieran Cotter, who retired as coxswain of the Baltimore lifeboat in December 2020 after a remarkable 45 years of service. He received multiple awards for his roles in many rescues over the years. Retired lifeboat coxwain Kieran Cotter cut the ribbon. He is pictured with Colin Whooley and Tara Cotter with the Baltimore lifeboat crew. Most notably, in 1991 he was awarded the bronze medal for gallantry and the Maud Smith Award for the bravest act of life-saving following the Baltimore crews 26-hour rescue of the fishing vessel the Japonica and her 15 crew, who referred to their rescuers as the madmen in the small boat, and the rescue of the yacht Atlantis Adventure and her five crew. Mr Cotter and his crew also received recognition from the Swiss Embassy for the outstanding bravery and commitment shown during the rescue of Swiss nationals in hazardous conditions in 2008, and from the United States Congress for the rescue of the crew of the Rambler yacht during the 2011 Fastnet yacht race. After the unveiling, the community council honoured Mr Cotter, and another retired long-serving RNLI volunteer, Ronnie Carthy, for their long service. The reopening of the Kinsale gas storage reservoir would require "major investment" to be viable, a Government report on energy security has found. The Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications on Monday launched a consultation of a review of the energy security of Ireland's gas and electricity systems. In the review document, a number of options to help secure the country's power supply are discussed, include the potential for a gas storage facility. The Southwest Kinsale reservoir, Ireland's only gas storage facility at the time, ceased operation in April 2017. Last year, the owner of the Kinsale gas fields sought Government approval to leave pipelines from the various wells in situ as part of the decommissioning of the fields, which were depleted in 2020. The review document says since the closure of the Kinsale reservoir, Ireland has had no storage facility. It says such an idea "would only operate as a strategic back-up in the event of a supply shock to help mitigate against unserved demand". It would work by injecting gas into an underground reservoir when demand is low, usually during the summer, and withdrawing gas when demand is high, usually during the winter. However, while the paper says being a non-commercial reservoir would be good for the country, the document says the idea would require a major investment. "The fact that it would be a non-commercial strategic back-up gas storage facility means that volumes of gas would be available for use at the onset of security of supply event. Underground storage facilities are typically created in depleted hydrocarbon fields, aquifers, or salt caverns which are determined by geology. "It is understood that the storage facility at Kinsale could in theory be reinstated in the future but would require major infrastructure investment and a very large investment in gas stocks to bring gas levels to a minimum level [known as cushion gas]." LNG storage facility Another idea proposed is a floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage facility. LNG enables large volumes of natural gas to be stored and transported on specially designed vessels. The review says Ireland could invest in a floating LNG storage and regassification unit (FSRU), which could be used on a non-commercial strategic basis. FSRUs are usually moored at a jetty and can be refilled by other LNG vessels that dock alongside it. When the FRSU is no longer required, it can be transported to another location without leaving a large piece of stranded infrastructure behind. The cost of leasing an LNG FSRU can vary but is typically estimated in the range of 37m to 66m per year. This review, which covers the period up to 2030, does not seek to address the expected tight margins in electricity supply over the coming winters, but looks at mitigation for the coming years. The list of mitigation options also includes: A gas package a combination of strategic storage, renewable gas (biomethane injection and hydrogen) and demand management; Another 700MW interconnector to France in addition to the Celtic Interconnector; An additional 360MW of pumped storage hydroelectricity capacity; A 450MW dedicated biomass plant; Increased secondary fuel storage beyond the current five-day storage requirement; Converting a CCGT (combined cycle gas turbine) to hydrogen; A combination of additional capacity of batteries and demand side response for electricity. Commenting on the launch of the consultation, Environment Minister Eamon Ryan said the independent review "stress tests our electricity and gas energy systems to identify risks, and to provide a range of evidence-based options to address potential security of supply gaps". Given the rising age profile of Irish farmers, it is worrying that so few have a formal succession plan. This not only puts farmers own financial security at risk, but it also potentially lines up problems for their families and successors. As with all business decisions, the starting point for succession planning is clarifying your objectives. Do you want to continue to be involved in the farm? Have you a successor in mind? Have you clarified your familys wishes? Asking your accountant or agri-advisor to chair a family meeting can be a good way to tease matters out and ensure that the decisions you make are not overly influenced by emotional factors. Theres a lot to consider and it can seem overwhelming at first. But if you think of succession planning as a process instead of an action, it makes it much less daunting. A site can be given by a parent to a child tax-free provided the site is less than an acre and valued at less than 500,000. You know what your own concerns are, but how about everybody else? Lets look through some of the possible points of view it can be helpful to get an understanding of how others might be feeling, before you all get around the table at the family meeting. Are you the outgoing generation? Having worked on the farm all your life, youll need to prioritise your own financial security before transferring assets. Youll need to think about the following: Your timeframe to exit the business? What level, if any, you wish to continue to be involved on the farm? Will you need or want to continue to draw income from the business? What will happen to the farm dwelling house? Will you need to avail of the Fair Deal Nursing Home Scheme? What are your wishes for your other children? Are you the incoming generation? If youre the incoming generation, youll need to think fully about your own situation and your life goals and aspirations. If you have a partner or spouse, their views are really important also. Youll need to consider the following: Can the farm afford to support your desired lifestyle (and possibly the outgoing generations)? Whats your expectation on working hours, holidays, time off etc.? There may be additional benefits to your wages that should be examined from a reward point of view e.g. use of jeep/car, fuel, electricity, health cover etc. Can the farm meet your parents wishes to support siblings if applicable? What if theres no successor? If theres no willing successor in the immediate family, there are other options that you may wish to consider: Partnership Share Farming Transfer to niece/nephew Leasing Possible sale (part or full disposal) Some of the above solutions may be an option where the landowner wants to take a step back from the day-to-day management of the business or in situations where an interim solution is needed until a successor becomes old enough to take over the farm. Share Farming may be an option to consider if there's no willing successor in your family. A key decision will be whether the transfer of your business will take place during your lifetime or after your death. Your accountant will explain your options and help you choose which is best for your business. If you decide on a lifetime transfer, you will need to protect your personal financial security and ensure that you will have adequate retirement income for you and your spouse/partner. You can then decide what provision to make for your children. Remember a site can be given by a parent to a child tax-free provided the site is less than an acre and valued at less than 500,000. The Income Tax impact of your plan on both you and your successor will need to be reviewed. Factors that can affect this include off-farm earnings, whether you intend to continue to draw an income from the farm, and so on. Strongly think about what level of involvement, if any, you'll want to have once the farm's been handed over to your successor. You then need to look at the impact of capital taxes: Capital Acquisitions Tax (33%) is charged to the transferee however subject to satisfying certain conditions, Agricultural Relief can eliminate this liability. Capital Gains Tax (33%) is charged to the transferor. If you are aged under 66 and passing the farm to a family member, CGT relief is unlimited provided you satisfy the relevant conditions. If you are over 66, the relief is restricted to 3m. The rules are more complicated for transfers outside the family. There is a cumulative lifetime cap of 70,000 on the amount of tax relief that a young trained farmer can claim for stamp duty relief, stock relief and the succession farm partnerships tax credit. For transfers after death, only Capital Acquisition Tax is payable. The rate is 33% on amounts received above a certain threshold. For parent to child transfers, the threshold is 335,000. Regardless of how and when you intend to transfer the farm, once you know your objectives, you can document a sensible succession plan that will protect you, your family and your business. You will then need to update your Will to reflect the decisions you have made. Contact ifacs team of succession specialists today for an initial chat to get the ball rolling you can also see ifacs full Farm Succession Guide at www.ifac.ie. How many smartphones do you think your household has sitting in drawers and cupboards at home? When buying a new phone or upgrading, you should consider trading in your old device. Vodafone offers up to 400 when you trade-in your device, whilst giving you the chance to declutter your home and contribute to making this tech sector more sustainable. The facts speak for themselves. Less than 15 per cent of all smartphones are recycled or traded in. Trading in a smartphone extends the life of the mobile device, reduces waste and encourages the smartphone community that is almost everyone to embrace a circular economy. As the first telecommunications company in Ireland to offer an online trade-in service, Vodafones trade-in tool, which can value your devices from the comfort of your own home, is helping to ensure discarded devices can finally be put to use. Whether saving money or saving the planet is your priority, Vodafone is helping you do your bit. The smart phones are either repurposed for the resale market or salvaged for their component parts. The initiative is part of its overall commitment to reduce the impact of electronic waste. If youve been looking for an easy way to de-clutter your home of old technologies, its time to consider trading in your devices. They may be worth more than you think. This is just one of several plans Vodafone is rolling out to help support positive environmental change. In June 2021, Vodafone announced that its entire Irish operations, including mobile and fixed networks, data centres, retail and offices, were 100 per cent powered by electricity from renewable sources, making it Ireland's first green network. Vodafone already offers repairs, insurance products and services to allow customers to keep and enjoy their devices for longer. As part of Vodafones support for the development of a circular economy, this new trade-in service will help dramatically reduce the impact of electronic waste. So, what do you need to know about trading in your device? Before you hand your smartphone in, just remember to transfer or save your data from the smartphone to ensure all of your information is backed up and secure. Less than 15 per cent of all smartphones are recycled or traded in. Here's our guide to doing good for your pocket and the planet with Vodafone's new trade-in services: Why is extending the life cycle of a smartphone important? Research shows that almost 5 million smartphones in Ireland could be repurposed or recycled, which means almost everyone in the country has a smartphone they can trade-in. By trading in a smartphone with Vodafone, you can help ensure the device is refurbished, repurposed or recycled and used for as long as possible rather than being discarded the minute you get offered an upgrade. Why is trading in a smartphone good for the planet? A whopping 80 per cent of a smartphone's carbon footprint is generated through its manufacture, which means that the best way to reduce the environmental impact of a smartphone is to ensure its life is extended for as long as possible. Smartphones are made using a variety of precious metals and minerals, including aluminium, cobalt, copper, gold, palladium, and tungsten. As we move toward a circular economy, it is essential that we ensure we save and repurpose these natural resources. By trading in a smartphone, you can help extend its life and in doing so lower its environmental impact. Research shows that almost 5 million smartphones in Ireland could be repurposed or recycled. I'm an existing Vodafone customer. Where do I begin if I want to trade in my smartphone? If you are an existing customer, Vodafone offers an easy-to-use online tool that assesses the value of a smartphone through a series of device health checks. These include cosmetic damage, touch sensitivity, screen condition and rear camera capabilities. Once you have inputted this data you will receive a personalised quote for the value of its trade-in. This service is the first of its kind to be offered in the republic of Ireland. It is hassle-free you dont even have to the leave the house to get your valuation. I've received my online quote for my smartphone. What's next? Once the quote is received, customers can print a free postage label provided by Vodafone, affix to an envelope and drop the package to a DPD collection point. Once the device passes final checks, the customer receives payment directly into the bank account that they supplied details of. I'm not a Vodafone customer. How do I trade in my smartphone? If you're not a Vodafone customer, you first have to switch from your provider and join Vodafone. Then you can trade-in your smartphone at one of its stores nationwide. The team there will assess and value your device and provide you with a quote. How much can I expect to make from my trade-in? It will depend on the device's condition, but some customers may receive up to 400 for a smartphone. If you are an existing Vodafone customer and decide to trade-in your smartphone online, you will receive cash directly into your bank account. If you are an existing Vodafone customer or a new customer and decide to trade in your smartphone at a Vodafone store, you will receive store credit, which can be used towards the purchase of a new phone or accessories. What happens to my device once I trade it in? Trade-in devices are recycled and repurposed, waste is minimised, and recycled parts are used to manufacture new products. To find out more visit: Trade In Your Smart Phone | Vodafone Ireland Burma Bangladesh Border Residents Live in Fear of Myanmar Junta Attacks Myanmars border forces near the Bangladesh border in northern Rakhine State. / The Irrawaddy DHAKA An estimated 10,000 people, including about 4,000 Rohingyas, in Bangladeshs Bandarban district on Myanmars border, are in fear of Myanmar junta fighter jets, drones, mortars and machine guns fire. On Friday evening at least three mortar shells were fired across the border, killing 17-year-old Mohammad Ikbal and injuring six others, who were taken to hospital. Many Rohingya are sheltering in Kutupalangs refugee camps, Rohingya community leaders said. The Border Guard Bangladesh and coastguard have been put on alert along the porous border. Bangladesh officials on Monday visited the area and held talks with community representatives about relocating vulnerable settlements. Bandarban deputy commissioner Yasmin Parvin Tibriji told reporters on Monday that border communities could be relocated if they requested. The deadly bombardment on Friday led the Bangladesh foreign ministry to summon Myanmars envoy Aung Kyaw Moe on Sunday. It was the fourth time since August 21 that the ambassador had been summoned to the foreign ministry in protest against border incursions. The ministry stated on Sunday: Bangladesh lodged a strong protest with Myanmar over the intrusion of mortar shells, aerial firing and airspace violations from Myanmar causing death and injury to people inside Bangladesh territory. It handed a protest note to the ambassador who reportedly acknowledged the firing of mortars but claimed they were fired by rebel groups fighting the regime near the border. The rebel Arakan Army rejected the accusation and condemned the shelling. The envoy was told that the government of Myanmar was responsible for maintaining security inside Myanmar as well as for ensuring that no violation of the border and airspace with neighboring Bangladesh took place, the ministry said. Bangladesh reiterated its zero-tolerance approach to terrorism and the harboring of any elements hostile to its neighbors security. It demanded Myanmar stop reckless military action near the border and ensure that no ammunition from Myanmar falls inside the Bangladesh territory. The envoy was reminded that the situation was detrimental to kickstarting the repatriation process of the forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals temporarily sheltered in Bangladesh on humanitarian grounds, the ministry announced. Bangladesh Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said the issue would be handled diplomatically, maybe through the United Nations. The UN resident coordinator in Bangladesh Gwyn Lewis told The Irrawaddy on Monday that her office was concerned, reporting one death and several injuries. The lives of civilians must be protected and the UN is calling for calm to avoid any further injury or escalation, Lewis said. The UN security teams are monitoring the situation closely. A Rohingya camp leader Dil Mohammad, who crossed the border during the 2017 Rakhine State crackdown, said shells were heard from the camp on Sunday. He said camp residents feared for their safety. Hamida Begum, 40, a Bangladeshi border resident, told The Irrawaddy that she abandoned her house after a shell landed on August 28. She said her male relatives were too scared to go out to work. Last week Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said she did not want war with Bangladeshs neighbors. On September 3, junta aircraft fired at least twice into Bangladesh five days after Myanmars envoy was summoned in protest over a similar incident on August 28. Burma Eleven Children Killed, Many Injured as Myanmar Junta Helicopter, Troops Attack Monastery The bloodstained floor of the monastic school is seen after the attack. / CJ Eleven children were killed in junta air strikes in Let Yet Kone Village in Depayin Township, Sagaing Region on Friday, after which junta soldiers cremated most of their bodies in Ye-U, about 11 km away, in an attempt to remove any trace of the killings, according to local sources. Two regime Mi-35 helicopters attacked a monastic school in Let Yet Kone Village at 1 p.m. on Friday. Seven children were killed immediately, and 17 other peoplethree teachers and 14 studentswere injured. Two more children died when ground troops raided the village. Regime forces took the bodies of the seven children who were killed in the initial airstrike, and those who were injured, to a traditional medicine hospital in Ye-U overnight, and cremated their bodies at Ye-U cemetery the following day. They cremated two more bodies at the cemetery around 4 p.m. that day. Locals suggested those two might have been among the students taken for medical treatment at Ye-U traditional medicine hospital. Some of the children taken with the vehicle had their lower body parts or limbs severed. A [dismembered] child was wrapped and put in a bamboo basket [used as backpacks by Myanmar military troops]. There were pools of blood inside the school. Pieces of flesh were scattered all over the place, on fans, on the walls and on the ceiling, said a villager who went to see the monastic school after the air strikes. Another resident of Let Yet Kone said: Parents of two children came to search for their children, but all that was left was the clothes of their children. The junta soldiers did not leave a single body part, so parents could not hold funerals. The bodies of four boys and two girls, along with a sack of body parts believed to be those of another victim, were cremated at Ye-U cemetery at around 6 a.m. on Saturday, and two more boys were cremated at 4 p.m., according to the Ye-U Township Peoples Defense Force (PDF). Junta troops forced a Let Yet Kone villager to drive the three injured teachers and 14 injured children as well as the bodies of the dead children to Ye-U on Friday evening. A Ye-U resident who is familiar with the matter said: The regime forces returned to Ye-U, carrying both the dead and injured children in a vehicle that they forcibly took from Let Yet Kone. The driver thought the bodies were of soldiers. He was shocked when he opened the sacks and found children. The injured people are being kept at the traditional medicine hospital in Ye-U, where junta troops have made their base in the town. Some children were seriously injured and had lost limbs. It is not clear which battalions are responsible for the killings, but local resistance groups believe they belong to Light Infantry Battalion 701 based in Yangons Hmawbi, which is under Yangon Command, and Division 33 based in Sagaing. Apart from the young children, seven other villagers including two teenagers aged 13 and 16 were killed. The five other victims included a woman and were aged 22, 31, 34, 37 and 49. Junta troops carried out the air raid alleging that resistance fighters were at the village monastery, residents said. The juntas Myawady TV said in a newscast on Saturday, The Myanmar military made checks in response to a tip-off that the Kachin Independence Army [KIA] and PDFs were planning to transport weapons via Let Yet Kone, and the village monastery was a hideout for National League for Democracy supporters and PDF members who extort money from locals and travelers. It added: Civilians were killed as the KIA and PDFs used them as human shields in the exchange of fire. However, local residents said it was a one-sided attack by junta soldiers. Similar incidents involving child casualties occurred on Thursday and Saturday. Two displaced sisters aged 7 and 12 taking shelter at a monastery in Moebye on the Shan-Kayah border were killed in a junta artillery strike on the monastery on Thursday. A 5-year-old boy was shot dead by junta soldiers in Kantbalu Township in Sagaing Region on Saturday. Burma Junta Imposes Curfew in Myanmars Capital Naypyitaw Soldiers and armored cars deployed in Naypyitaw on February 2, 2021, one day after the coup. / The Irrawaddy Myanmars military regime has imposed a curfew in the countrys capital Naypyitaw, prohibiting the gathering of five people or more. The curfew was imposed in all eight of Naypyitaws townships on the basis that some residents are acting to undermine public safety, rule and order, according to statements issued by junta-appointed township administrators. Marches and public speeches are also barred under the curfew. All residents are also prohibited from leaving their homes between midnight and 4am. The curfew in the headquarters of the regime comes after Naypyitaw Peoples Defense Force (PDF) developed improvised artillery that can hit targets up to five kilometers away. Last week, Naypyitaw-PDF used the new heavy weapons to support resistance groups fighting regime forces in Moebye in southern Shan States Pekon Township. In August, Naypyitaw-PDF used grenades to attack junta forces guarding the Dekkhinathiri Township Court in Naypyitaw, according to the group. Last October, a series of blasts in Naypyitaw targeted the Myanmar Polices Criminal Investigation Department and the office of the Directorate of Procurement of the Commander-in-Chief of Defense Services (Army) in Pobbathiri Township. Regime forces are currently facing near-daily attacks from PDFs and ethnic armed organizations across the country. Burma Militia Allied to Myanmar Regime Kills Five in Southern Shan State Three of the PNLA members aged 18, 20, and 21 respectively killed by the PNO. / Pa-o lo ywel A Myanmar junta-affiliated militia group has killed five members of the Pa-O National Liberation Army (PNLA), a signatory to the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement. Five PNLA members including a deputy platoon commander and a deputy section commander were seized and killed by the Pa-O National Army (PNA), another Pa-O ethnic armed organization (EAO), in a village in Shan States Pinlaung Township on September 14, said the PNLA. It was the result of a misunderstanding. Both sides are responsible, said PNLA patron Colonel Khun Okkar Why has our side sent them [the five] there? And why has the PNA killed them? The PNA should have known that the five men belonged to us once they interrogated them. They have no reason to kill allies. So we need to understand from whom the order [to kill them] came and we need to find ways to avoid similar incidents, added Col. Khun Okkar. The PNLA condemned the killings, but said it would solve the problem peacefully. Col. Khun Okkar called for a meeting between mid-level leaders of the two EAOs to deal with the issue. The two groups have a joint committee to handle relations. The Irrawaddy was unable to obtain a comment from the PNA and its political wing, the Pa-O National Organization (PNO). The PNLA has joined peace talks with junta chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing. In 1991, the PNO led by Aung Kham Hti signed a ceasefire with the previous military regime, transforming itself into a political party with a militia that manages security in the Pa-O self-administered zone, which consists of Hopong, Hsi Hseng and Pinlaung townships in southern Shan State, as granted to the Pa-O under the army-drafted 2008 Constitution. Aung Kham Hti is close to former military dictator Than Shwe, reportedly visiting him once a year. Local Pa-O organizations have accused the PNO of fighting alongside the military regime since the coup and organizing military training for locals to fight for the junta. Khun Thiha Htoo Zaw, a spokesperson for the Pa-O National Defense Force which was formed after the coup to fight the military regime, said the PNO must take responsibility for the killings. PNO has committed many killings like this before and they have now made a big mistake. I hope the two sides will negotiate. But if the PNO fails to take responsibility, we will have to take action on our own against them, he said. Burma Myanmar Resistance Rejects Junta Child Murder Claims The classroom at Let Yet Kone village monastic school after the regime troops' attack. Myanmars junta says its attack on a monastic school that left 11 children dead in Depayin Township, Sagaing Region, on Friday was in response to an insurgent strike while resistance groups say it was child murder. Bo Kyar Gyi, the leader of Bo Kyar Gyi Peoples Defense Forces (PDF), formerly known as Galon PDF, said: If they kill us I can accept it since we are fighting them. But they have murdered children at a school. It is unacceptable. Two regime Mi-35 helicopters attacked the school in Let Yet Kone village on Friday and seven children were killed immediately while 17 others, including three teachers and 14 children, were injured. Two more children died when ground troops raided the village. Regime forces took the seven bodies and the injured to a traditional medicine hospital in neighboring Ye-U Township. Two more later died. The juntas Ministry of Information stated that the troops had launched an operation against the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and resistance groups in the village. It said resistance fighters and National League for Democracy extremists were hiding in the monastery before the attack. Bo Kyar Gyi told The Irrawaddy that there were no KIA nor resistance troops based in the area. Resistance troops were guarding the school when the two Mi-35s attacked and three were killed in the airstrike, according to Depayin resistance groups. Approximately 80 troops were when dropped into the village from four transport helicopters and surrounded the school. The junta claimed the KIA and resistance groups were using residents as human shields. They killed the children on the spot and arrested others with their teachers as hostages. Then they left for Ye U, Bo Kyar Gyi said. The incident has sent shockwaves around other monastic and community-funded schools in Sagaing and Magwe regions where the conflict with the junta is heavy. Ma Tresa, a member of the Myaung Education Network which has established self-funded schools with the community in the township, said the Depayin incident had shocked the region and raised questions about how to keep children safe. The civilian National Unity Governments Ministry of Women, Youth and Children Affairs, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Human Rights on Sunday condemned the targeted attack and called it an inhumane and brutal war crime. It said it has been documenting the juntas serious human rights violations, including Fridays attack in Depayin to bring justice. Burma Over 100 Regime Troops Defect to Arakan Army in Western Myanmar Arakan Army troops in 2019. / The Irrawaddy More than 100 Myanmar military soldiers including officers have defected to the Arakan Army (AA), both before and after renewed fighting erupted between the two sides in Rakhine State, said the AAs spokesperson. Some 10 junta soldiers, including officers, fighting at the front line in Chin States Paletwa Township, which neighbors Rakhine State in western Myanmar, have defected to the AA since the return to armed conflict, said the AA spokesman. At least 10 [junta soldiers] including officers in Paletwa have defected along with their arms since the renewed fighting. There were also defections even before the fighting, said AA spokesperson Khaing Thukha during a press conference on Monday. Another 90-odd junta troops defected to the AA in Rakhine State before fighting resumed in May. More regime soldiers are expected to defect to the AA, added Khaing Thukha. Military tensions have been running high in Rakhine State since May with regime forces arresting Rakhine residents on suspicion of having ties to the AA, a powerful ethnic Rakhine armed organization. The two sides have traded arrests over recent weeks following the resumption of hostilities in Rakhine and Paletwa, after 16 months of relative calm following an informal ceasefire reached ahead of the November 2020 general election. Paletwa has seen sporadic clashes since May. They have intensified since August with frequent fighting along the Myanmar-India border to the northwest of Paletwa Town, as well as in the north of Maungdaw Township in Rakhine State along the Myanmar-Bangladesh frontier. The military regime has blocked access to land and water transport routes in a number of townships in the region, including Maungdaw and Paletwa, causing shortages of food and other vital items for residents. Phone and internet services are also restricted in those townships. A number of junta bases, including the Myeik Wa outpost near the border of Myanmar, Bangladesh and India, are under siege from the AA, which is also ambushing convoys of reinforcements and supplies to regime bases. Junta forces have launched air and artillery strikes as the regime attempts to retake bases it has lost and defend the ones it still holds, said the AA. Numerous junta outposts along the border have been seized by the AA. On August 31, the AA captured a border guard police base at mile post No. 40 on the Myanmar-Bangladesh border in Maungdaw Township, as well as seizing a hilltop outpost on September 10. The AA has also captured a hilltop tactical command base in Paletwa after a three month siege, added the AA. The base near Than Htaung Village overlooks the Lemyo River, a crucial transportation route that links Mrauk-U and Minbya in Rakhine with Chin State. For now we are gaining the upper hand, but the regime is reinforcing continuously. Clashes are likely to intensify in the weeks to come, said AA spokesperson Khaing Thukha, who estimated that between 9,000 and 10,000 junta troops are now deployed in Maungdaw. Over 30 junta soldiers have been killed in recent clashes and a number of weapons were captured, according to the AA. The Irrawaddy could not verify junta casualties independently or obtain a comment from the regime. A NEW crop of entrepreneurs has invaded Bulawayos marketplaces where they sell fake branded products to unsuspecting consumers in broad daylight. In essence, the traders pretend to sell popular brands at discounted prices, but are really offering low-quality counterfeit products at a profit. They have become notorious for putting fake stickers on products that they will be selling. Notable products include baked beans, dishwashing liquids and deodorants. It seems some of the products are smuggled into the country and find their way to markets that sell products at a cheaper price compared to supermarkets, thereby attracting a lot of shoppers. For customers who know a products attributes, the problem starts when they are home when it is time for consumption. A Chronicle news crew visited the marketplace and spoke to some people who throng the markets and they raised the red flag on the fake branded products. Mrs Sihle Mlotshwa said she recently bought a tin of baked bins branded Koo when it was actually not a genuine product. I bought a tin of baked beans branded Koo, but to my shock when I opened it, the contents were completely different. I usually buy this product because I know the original taste of these beans, she said. The most painful part is that they would have sold a substandard product at a high cost. Another consumer, who declined to be named, said selling fake brands is a risky enterprise, which also compromises health particularly for people with allergies. You can imagine buying something that you are allergic to without knowing. These traders are putting peoples lives at risk simply because they want to make quick money, he said. Mr Moffat Ndlovu who also fell prey to the scam, said he bought his favourite deodorant, which had a fake label. When l started using it, I developed some rash on my armpits and I had to visit a doctor. I have also noticed that some of the body lotions that these people sell would be half full, he said. The news crew also caught up with Ms Elizabeth Ndebele who was equally dismayed after falling into the same predicament. I bought a dish washing liquid which had a Sunlight sticker, but what surprised me was that upon using it, it was not as thick as it was supposed to be. I went back to the seller and she claimed that she had also bought the products from South Africa, she said. If customers receive a fake product of poor quality and do not realise it is a copy; it will undermine the brands reputation. If they realise it is a fake it will create uncertainty in the market and people will be reluctant to buy the product. A trader at the marketplace, Ms Lindiwe Nyoni admitted that there are some vendors who dupe customers. It is unfortunate that we have some people among ourselves who resort to unethical ways of doing business, which we do not condone as traders. However, in some cases, we would have bought these products from our suppliers who would have tampered with the stickers, she said. Bulawayo Vendors and Traders Association (BVTA) executive director Mr Michael Ndiweni said: I doubt traders are involved in these malpractices because getting the stickers for those brands means one needs to have machines to print them out in large quantities of which most vendors dont have that capacity. Consumer Council of Zimbabwe regional manager for Matabeleland region, Mr Comfort Muchekeza said selling fake products is tantamount to fraud and leads to prosecution of offenders. We are all guided by the laws of the country. It is clearly stated that anyone who is found guilty of violating a section of Consumer Protection Act is liable to a fine or imprisonment not less than three months, he said. Those involved in selling such products should be reported to the police. This is tantamount to fraud and when you misinform consumers with regards to the nature and price of the goods. Mr Ndiweni, however, said as an organisation they will conduct their own investigations. Bulawayo police spokesperson Inspector Abednico Ncube said no report has been made so far regarding the matter. Chronicle Hurricane Fiona made landfall in Puerto Rico Sunday afternoon, causing what the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami called catastrophic flooding on much of the island, with more rain expected Monday. Key Biscayne resident Brian McNoldy, Senior Research Associate at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School, tweeted that even though Fiona was a category 1, it could still create life threatening conditions, adding that A powerful trailing rainband continues to impact Puerto Rico with torrential rainfall, as the eye passes over Dominican Republic. On Sunday, the entire island was without power. Puerto Rico Governor Pierluisi, Tweeted Monday morning that Fiona was still impacting the island and that first responders were involved in rescue operations. As of 5 a.m. Monday, Fiona was located 15 miles WSW of Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic with 90 mph sustained winds and higher gusts. Fiona was moving NW at 8 mph. Most of the Dominican Republic is under either a Hurricane Warning or a Hurricane Watch. On the present track, Fiona will make landfall on the eastern portion of the Dominican Republic Monday morning and then emerge over the Atlantic Monday afternoon, with the center of Fiona forecast to pass near or to the east of the Turks and Caicos on Tuesday. The NHC expects Fiona to turn towards the north sometime Wednesday. The NHC says swells generated by Fiona will continue to spread across the southwestern Atlantic toward the Bahamas and the east coast of the United States through the middle of the week, causing life-threatening surf and rip current conditions. For the entire 5 a.m. NHC advisory, click here. COMPANY NEWS: BitTitan has announced that Tosin Vaithilingam has joined its customer success team as a senior solution architect headquartered in Hong Kong. With over a decade of focused professional IT experience, Tosin brings significant engineering and migration expertise to BitTitans APAC customers. Vaithilingam previously worked as a senior consultant dealing with M&A, divestitures, and IT transformation projects. In addition, he has spearheaded the planning of a variety of migration projects ranging from exchange-to-exchange migrations to active directory migrations, consolidation and on-premises to Microsoft 365 migrations, and everything in-between including public folders, Microsoft Teams, and Lotus Notes migrations. Recognising that migrations can be complex and there is a lot at stake for IT professionals, BitTitan created its customer success team to provide MigrationWiz customers with global coverage for essential services such as project scoping, planning and proof-of-concept. Depending on a customers needs, Vaithilingam can help them identify the data, files and workloads they need to move, assess all the complexities of their environment, both at the source and the destination, and assist them with developing a comprehensive migration plan, including proof-of-concept. Vaithilingam joins BitTitan as the demand for cloud services grows worldwide, especially in Australia and the greater APAC region. According to Gartner, in 2022, spending on public cloud services is expected to reach $18.7 billion in Australia. That spending surge is primarily driven by broad digital transformation initiatives. The Guardian reports that Australias businesses have approximately 25% of their IT infrastructure in the cloud and will need to get all or most of the remaining 75% on the hybrid cloud by 2025. As digital transformation continues to accelerate, my commitment is to our customers success, said Tosin. Whether theyre new to migrations or facing a complex project, the Customer Success team is a technical resource for customers and we are eager to help them save time and money or simply reduce stress. Recognising that customer needs for MigrationWiz onboarding will vary by project, BitTitan offers three levels of customer engagement: Enterprise Onboarding, Standard Onboarding, and Advisor Hours. Enterprise Onboarding is best for large-scale, multi-workload migrations of more than 1,000 users. It includes a kickoff meeting and planning sessions with a customer success manager to assist in defining project scope, strategy and success criteria, and the proof-of-concept test migration planning. Standard Onboarding is an excellent option for new MigrationWiz users or those with a single license or smaller project. It includes time with a customer success manager to assist with setting up requirements for the environment, defining project scope, strategy and success criteria, and the proof-of-concept test migration. Advisor Hours provide partners with dedicated one-on-one time to receive advice and answer their questions. This option is ideal for those new to MigrationWiz and migration scenarios. For more on BitTitans MigrationWiz onboarding offerings and rate information, visit the BitTitan website. GUEST RESEARCH: Nearly half of the respondents say their company relies on outdated backup and recovery infrastructure. In some cases dating back to the 1990s, before todays sophisticated cyberattacks. New global research commissioned by Cohesity, a leader in next-gen data management, reveals that nearly half of respondents in Australia and New Zealand say their company depends on outdated, legacy backup and recovery infrastructure to manage and protect their data. This legacy technology, which in some cases is more than 20 years old, was designed long before todays multi-cloud era and the onslaught of sophisticated cyberattacks plaguing enterprises globally. Challenges pertaining to outdated infrastructure could easily be compounded by the fact that many IT and security teams dont seem to have a plan in place to mobilise if and when a cyber-attack occurs. More than 6 in 10 (63%) of respondents* in Australia and New Zealand expressed some level of concern that their IT and security teams would be able to mobilise efficiently to respond to the attack. These are just some of the findings from an April 2022 survey, conducted by Censuswide, of more than 500 IT decision makers and Security Operations (SecOps) professionals (split close to 50/50 between the two groups) from businesses in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ), will all respondents playing a role in the decision-making process for IT or security within their organisations. IT and security teams should raise the alarm bell if their organisation continues to use antiquated technology to manage and secure their most critical digital asset their data, said Michael Alp, Managing Director, Australia and New Zealand, Cohesity. Cyber criminals are actively preying on this outdated infrastructure as they know it was not built for todays dispersed, multi-cloud environments, nor was it built to help companies protect and rapidly recover from sophisticated cyberattacks. Backup and Recovery Infrastructure That Could Be Considered Archaic Enterprises in ANZ continue to use legacy technology despite the fact that managing and securing data environments has become much more complex, not just because of the exponential growth in structured and unstructured data, but because of the vast array of locations where that data is stored: 42% store data on-premises, 43% rely on public cloud storage, 54% utilise a private cloud, and 40% have adopted a hybrid model.** Forty-six percent of respondents said that their organisation relies on primary backup and recovery infrastructure that was designed in, or before, 2010. With 1 in 5, ANZ respondents revealed their organisation utilises technology that is almost two decades old, designed between 2000-2005, or even earlier in the 1990s (4% of all respondents). In 2022, the fact that any organisation is using technology to manage their data that was designed in the 1990s is frightening given that data can be compromised, exfiltrated, held hostage, and it can create massive compliance issues for organisations, said Alp. With 5 percent of respondents saying their organisation relies on outdated data infrastructure, or does not have backup and recovery infrastructure at all, it raises the question as to how many other businesses are in the same situation? What Keeps IT and SecOps Teams Up at Night Respondents in ANZ highlighted what they believe would be their biggest barriers to getting their organisation back up and running after a successful ransomware attack. The findings are as follows (respondents were asked to check all that apply): integration between IT and security systems (37%) lack of coordination between IT and Security (35%) lack of an automated disaster recovery system (33%) antiquated backup and recovery systems (33%) lack of a recent, clean, immutable copy of data (33%) lack of and timely detailed alerts (31%) With respect to the lack of coordination between IT and Security, this coincides with other findings from this survey denoting that a collaboration gap often exists between IT and SecOps that puts businesses and security postures at risk. What Do Survey Respondents Want Management to Prioritise Respondents revealed that modernising data management, protection, and recovery capabilities, in addition to increasing collaboration between IT and SecOps, offers a path to strengthening their organisations security postures and multi-cloud operations. The top must have'' measures that respondents in ANZ would ask management for in 2022 are (respondents were able to select all that applied): Automated disaster recovery of systems and data (33%) Integration between modern data management and security platforms (32%) AI-powered anomalous data access alerts to provide early warning of attacks (32%) Upgrading from legacy backup and recovery systems (32%) In-transit data encryption (31%) Rapid, organisation-wide backup and Role-based access control [RBAC] (28%) Merging SecOps and ITOps ransomware mitigation goals (27%) Both IT decision-makers and SecOps should co-own the cyber resilience outcomes, and this includes an evaluation of all infrastructure used in accordance with the NIST framework for data identification, protection, detection, response, and recovery. Also, both teams need to have a comprehensive understanding of the potential attack surface, said Alp. Next-gen data management platforms can close the technology gap, improve data visibility, help IT and SecOps teams sleep better at night, and stay one step ahead of bad actors who take great delight in exfiltrating data from legacy systems that cant be recovered. For more information: To learn more about Cohesity Data Security, click here. To learn more about Cohesity Ransomware Recovery, click here. To learn more about Cohesity Threat Defence, click here. To learn more about next-gen data management, click here. [*] When asked If a ransomware attack occurred today, how confident, if at all, are you/would you be that your IT and Security teams would be able to mobilise efficiently to respond to the attack, 63% apply to respondents who said Somewhat confident, Not very confident, and Not at all confident. [**] Respondents were able to select multiple options. About Cohesity Cohesity radically simplifies data management. We make it easy to protect, manage, and derive value from data across the data centre, edge, and cloud. We offer a full suite of services consolidated on one multi-cloud data platform: backup and recovery, disaster recovery, file and object services, dev/test, and data compliance, security, and analytics reducing complexity and eliminating mass data fragmentation. Cohesity can be delivered as a service, self-managed, or provided by a Cohesity-powered partner. There are opportunities for Australian brands to sell their products into the Chinese market despite ongoing political tensions with 67% of Chinas cross-border online shoppers expecting to increase their online spending for western and Australian goods in the coming year, according to a study by e-commerce platform Pattern. The study polled 1,000 Chinese consumers who have shopped on the largest cross-border marketplace, Tmall Global, over the past 12 months. Representing steady demand for western goods, the research showed that Chinese shoppers still prefer Australian and western products over domestic ones with 54% of Chinese shoppers who have purchased foreign products online over the past year stating they will continue to buy more cross-border goods in the year ahead. While ongoing media reports may suggest otherwise, Australian brands should have a positive outlook in regard to selling into China; based on the countrys sustained interest for Australian retailers, explained Pattern Australia general manager Merline McGregor. Majority of Chinese shoppers (85%) indicated that Tmall Global was their favourite cross-border buying channel, ahead of other online marketplaces, shopping agents, and foreign brands direct-to-customer websites. When buying from Tmall Global, 69% of consumers prioritised products guaranteed authenticity, followed by better product quality (63%), better customer service (57%), and better prices than elsewhere (50%). For Chinese shoppers, a primary motivation to buy from Australian or western brands is product quality (60%), followed closely by a sense of uniqueness and a match of their style or values (both 59%), alongside value for money (57%). These results show that Chinas cross-border shoppers have more considerations in mind than merely product price, when deciding to buy. Central to the reasons why Chinese shoppers search for Australian goods is their quality, followed by wanting products that are unique or that match their style. With these factors in mind, Australian brands need to think carefully about the range of products they make available for sale in Chinese markets, commented Merline. The study found that off-platform marketing is highly effective in reaching Chinese shoppers for cross-border e-commerce players. Douyin (a.k.a TikTok), Xiaohongshu (a.k.a. Little Red Book), and WeChat are most popular, with 55% to 61% of respondents agreeing that their buying decisions were influenced by these channels. The large user bases of TikTok and Little Red Book make these channels optimal for social selling and building brand awareness, however, they also differ in functionality when it comes to marketing; something that brands need to be aware of. And even with the right tools, brands should provide localised, relevant, and more targeted content to resonate with their audiences, said Merline. Australian brands need to build trust amongst Chinese consumers to convert sales with 74% of shoppers saying they commonly search reviews for Western products on a brands official social media accounts, and 70% via a brands online storefront, the study recommended. Western brands are advised to build their official presence on marketplaces and social channels in China, including offering platforms for consumer reviews to gain shoppers trust and help convert shopper interest into a sale, concluded Merline. Australian location intelligence provider GapMaps has appointed Elizabeth Aris and Gary Cox as non-executive directors to assist with the companys global growth strategy. GapMaps managing director and founder Anthony Villanti said the new board appointments will provide valuable perspectives as the company continues to execute its strategy to expand into new markets. Elizabeth and Gary have had long, successful and distinguished careers and will bring extensive experience to GapMaps. Were pleased to welcome them to our new GapMaps board, which alongside our executive team, ensures we have the right mix of skills to advance our goals and deliver on our vision to be the worlds leading location intelligence provider for our customers. Operating in a multitude of industry sectors where physical location can be the difference between success and failure, some of the worlds largest brands are turning to us to optimise their retail site location decisions, interrogating unique data sets that can be visualised in GapMaps Live, Villanti added. Aris has had an extensive career as a senior executive, board member, and entrepreneur in Australia and overseas with deep expertise in technology and telecommunications. She serves as non-executive director at BNK Banking, an ASX listed bank focused on residential and commercial mortgages and Edge Video, a growth stage web 3.0 technology business based in the US and The Netherlands. Prior to that, she has previously held senior executive roles with Telstra, TPG Telecom, TasmaNet, Trujillo Technology, Alcatel Lucent and Westpac, and consulted Microsoft and Sprint. She is also an adjunct professor at the UTS Business School and is passionate about helping Australian technology companies realise their potential on a global scale. Cox has more than 35 years international experience in the IT industry and is very passionate about how emerging technology trends will be utilised to positively impact customers. He serves as non-executive director at Nextgen, a born in the cloud software distributor, and an advisor to the global board of Crayon. Cox's primary areas of expertise are in global leadership, cultural alignment, sales and services strategy, organisational and operational implementation across primary customer, partners and market segments. He enjoyed a long career with Microsoft and was CEO at TrueLocal, a News Corporation subsidiary and Internet search business serving Australia and New Zealand. MADZIBABA Strive Masangos wife was on Saturday rushed to the labour ward during her husbands 35th birthday celebrations. Chipo Mapako gave birth to a baby boy. She now has two kids. A road traffic accident claimed her three other children. Madzibaba Masango was ecstatic with the bouncing baby, describing him as a gift from God. My wife was due to deliver, but she insisted on attending my birthday celebrations, said Madzibaba Masango. This baby is a blessing considering that he came on my birthday. God has wiped away my tears by giving me a divine gift, he said. A number of musicians, who included Kapfupi, Mai Nga, Pumako, Tendai Dembo, Andy Muridzo and Peter Moyo, performed at his birthday bash. Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Service (ZPCS) chaplain, Christine Phiri, also graced the celebrations. Madzibaba Masango, who is based in Rugare suburb, has made a name for his back to sender prayers. H Metro The trial of Salih Mustafa, a 50-year-old former commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), a separatist group fighting for Kosovo independence from Serbia, concluded before the Kosovo Specialist Chambers (KSC) on September 15. It marked the end of the first war crimes trial before the Hague-based special tribunal created by the European Union in 2015. Prosecutors have charged Mustafa with arbitrary detention, cruel treatment, torture and murder of civilians during the 14-month Kosovo fight for independence in the late 1990s. Prosecutors say he was the commander of Llap Operation Zone in the north-east part of Kosovo and his forces operated the Zllash detention center which held mostly fellow ethnic Kosovo Albanians accused of collaborating with Serb forces. There was no evidence the unit wasnt under his control or doing things he didnt want them to do, prosecutor Cezary Michalczuk said in his closing arguments on September 13. Over 49 trial days, the court heard from 29 witnesses, including eight survivors of the prison. Detainees were held in a makeshift facility sometimes described as a cowshed, without adequate food, water, bedding, medical care or toilets, survivors said. They described being beaten, subjected to electric shocks and burned with candles, both by Mustafa and his men. You were just waiting for death, when it will come. Today, tomorrow, you were waiting for you to be killed, one witness, who testified anonymously, said. The accused was a respected commander with authority, prosecutor Jack Smith argued, describing to the court how Mustafa was in frequent contact with the men at the prison via a satellite phone. One protected witness testified that Commander Cali, as Mustafa was known, shouted at him and beat him, before leaving him with soldiers who beat them unconscious. All of these testimonies cannot be true Mustafa denied the charges when his trial opened last year. "I am not guilty of any of the counts brought here before me, he said. He attended the trial intermittently, sometimes appearing in court, other times watching the proceedings from a live stream in the detention facility. Although he waived his right to have the last word on the last day of his trial, he has maintained his innocence. The defense took issue with numerous witness statements, highlighting inconsistencies in the testimony including a lack of clarity about how many buildings were at the site or how many nights someone spent in detention. All of these testimonies cannot be true in all the points, his lawyer Julius von Bone argued. The Dutch lawyer claimed that while Mustafa was part of the Security Information Agency, or BIA, he did not command any armed forces. There was no enrollment, no ranks, no uniform, no command structure, von Bone said, pushing back against the prosecution narrative that the KLA was akin to a military command. He has never committed any crime, von Bone said on the last day in court, asking the court to acquit his client of all charges. At times von Bone seemed to struggle with the complications of an international legal proceeding. After he repeatedly revealed confidential information during his closing arguments, presiding judge Mappie Veldt-Foglia became exasperated. I dont know how to make myself more clear, she told von Bone at one point, after asking him several times to stop reading the dates of certain events in open court. A controversial court In 2010, Swiss prosecutor and Council of Europe rapporteur Dick Marty published a report highlighting grave offenses committed by members of the KLA during the Kosovo war. The report itself was controversial. It alleged among other things that the KLA engaged in organ harvesting but failed to provide concrete evidence. However, it did make allegations that prominent KLA leaders were tied to war crimes and crimes against humanity, including Hashim Thaci who would become Kosovos president in 2016 and one of the groups founders Kadri Veseli, a future president of the National Assembly. The EUs rule-of-law mission in Kosovo, EULEX, opened a criminal investigation into Martys allegations later that year. Three years later, that investigation concluded there was sufficient evidence to charge KLA leaders with war crimes. In 2015, facing mounting international pressure, Kosovo reluctantly passed a constitutional amendment to create the court, which was established in The Hague and staffed with internationals in an effort to forestall witness tampering. Prior to Martys report, the most high-profile attempt to hold KLA leaders accountable the trial of three of its top leaders before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia - ended with the acquittal of two of two of them among allegations of witness intimidation. But Mustafas defense capitalized on the perception of the court as picking on the oppressed. Mustafa himself expressed disdain for the KSC when his trial opened, calling it a Gestapo office. Lawmakers in the country have since twice tried to repeal the law which allows the court to operate. The KLA is broadly seen back home as a liberating force that valiantly fought off its Serb oppressors. People were united in liberating their country from one of the most oppressive regimes in modern history, defense lawyer von Bone argued. The conflict, which started in February 1998, left 13,000 people dead. NATO airstrikes finally drove the forces of then Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic out of the breakaway region in June 1999. More than a million people were displaced during the fighting and an estimated 6,000 are still missing. Other proceedings The KSC has indicted five other men for war crimes, including Kosovos former president Hashim Thaci. All of them are in court custody, but other than Mustafa, the proceedings remain in the pre-trial stage. The group has now been in detention for nearly two years. The delay has added to the difficult plight of victims and their loved ones. Victims are painfully aware of the atrocities committed that are left unaccounted for to this day, Anni Pues, who is one of the lawyers representing the victims in the case, said in her closing statements. Some of the hold-up is related to logistics. The investigation has reportedly amassed hundreds of thousands of pages of documents and thousands of video files, which must all be translated into the court's three languages: Albanian, Serbian and English. One of the members of Thacis legal team tweeted last week that over a million pages of documents have been disclosed in his case alone. Thaci pled not guilty to six counts of war crimes and four counts of crimes against humanity in November 2020, telling the court: "The indictment is completely without basis. The former KLA spokesperson, Jakup Krasniqi, who is one of Thaci's co-defendants, pled not guilty during the same hearing. The prosecutor asks for 35 years in jail If convicted, Mustafa wont be the first defendant found guilty by the KSC. That distinction lies with the former chair and deputy chair of the KLA War Veterans Organization, Hysni Gucati and Nasim Haradinaj, who were found guilty of obstruction of justice in May. The pair released confidential information from the court, including information about protected witnesses, during a series of press conferences in September 2020. The results of an internal investigation on the embarrassing leak from the Office of the Prosecutor are yet to be known. The prosecution has asked for a 35-year sentence for Mustafa. The dual role of the accused as commander and participant constitutes a major aggravating factor for his conviction, prosecutor Smith told the court. No date was set for the verdict but it is expected to be released in about three months. Burning the worlds remaining fossil fuel reserves would release 3.5 trillion tons of greenhouse gas emissions seven times the remaining carbon budget to limit global warming to 1.5C according to the first public inventory of hydrocarbons released on Monday. Human activity since the Industrial Revolution, fueled largely by coal, oil and gas, has resulted in warming of nearly 1.2 degrees Celsius and brought with it increasingly severe droughts, floods and storms, exacerbated by rising sea levels . The United Nations estimates that the Earths remaining carbon budget how much more pollution we can add to the atmosphere before missing the Paris Agreements 1.5C temperature target is about 360 billion tonnes of CO2-equivalent, or current nine-year emissions levels . The United Nations annual output gap assessment last year found that governments plan to burn more than twice as much fossil fuel by 2030 as would be consistent with a 1.5C world. So far, however, there has been no comprehensive global inventory of countries remaining reserves. The Global Fossil Fuel Inventory aims to provide greater clarity on oil, gas and coal reserves to fill knowledge gaps about global supplies and help policymakers better manage their exits. Covering more than 50,000 fields in 89 countries, it found that some countries themselves held reserves with enough carbon to blow the worlds entire carbon budget. For example, US coal reserves bind 520 billion tons of CO2 equivalent. China, Russia and Australia all have enough reserves to miss 1.5C, it noted. All in all, the remaining fossil fuel reserves contain seven times the emissions of the 1.5C carbon budget. We have very little time to address the remaining carbon budget, said Rebecca Byrnes, deputy director of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, who helped create the register. Until we measure whats being produced, its incredibly difficult to measure or regulate that production, she told AFP. Transparency, accountability The register contains emission data for individual oil, gas or target projects. Of the 50,000 fields included, the top source of emissions is the Ghawar oil field in Saudi Arabia, which emits about 525 million tons of carbon emissions each year. According to the database, the 12 most polluting locations were all in the Gulf or in Russia. Byrnes said the inventory could help exert investor pressure in countries with large hydrocarbon reserves, but saw little prospect of popular pressure to steer away from fossil fuels. This just goes to show that this is a global challenge and many countries that are major producers but are not as democratic as, for example, the US thats where transparency comes in, she told AFP. We have no illusions that the registry will result in some sort of massive fossil fuel governance regime overnight. But it sheds light on where fossil fuel production is happening so investors and other stakeholders can hold their governments accountable. The inventory also highlighted wide variations in the price of carbon between countries, with taxes on emissions fetching almost $100 per tonne in Iraq but just $5 per tonne in the UK. Simon Kofe, Tuvalus foreign minister, said the database could help effectively end coal, oil and gas exploration. Queen Elizabeth II is buried with her mother, father, sister and husband in the King George VI Memorial Chapel in St Georges Chapel, Windsor Castle. However, the queen will not join the host of other kings buried in the royal vault beneath the chapel. Royal Commission The memorial chapel, designed by George Pace, was completed in 1969. It was commissioned by Elizabeth as the permanent resting place for her father, King George VI. The King died in February 1952 at the age of 56, but his death had been unexpected and as a result no specific resting place had been assigned. At that time the mortal remains of the king were buried in the royal vault. lack of space The Royal Vault is the final resting place of a long list of 18th and 19th century kings, including George III who died in 1820. As there was no room left for a second vault at St Georges, it was decided to build another choir chapel. The resulting chapel was the first extension of St. Georges Church since its consecration in the 15th century. Simple monument The Queen rejected the idea of ??the traditional marble pectoral tomb with life-size effigies favored by previous kings for her father. Instead, the kings tomb was marked with a plain stone of black Belgian marble inlaid in the ground with the inscription George VI. The inauguration took place on 31 March 1969 in a ceremony attended by Georges widow Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, the Queen, Prince Philip, Elizabeths sister Princess Margaret and all four of the monarchs children. Reunited in Death Before his untimely death, George VI enjoyed a happy family life with his wife and two daughters and referred to the close-knit foursome as the four of us. The Queens death means all four will finally be buried together. The Queen Mother, also known as Elizabeth, was buried in the chapel on April 9, 2002, after her death at the age of 101. Margarets ashes were brought from the Royal Vault to the chapel where they were originally placed following her death in early 2002. The final episode of "Today's Webtoon" showcases what happened to the Neon Webtoon Service Team after their countless sacrifices and hardships. It also showcased the progress between Kim Sejeong and Nam Yoon Su's closeness and romantic feelings. 'Today's Webtoon' Episode 16: Neon Webtoon Service Team's Small Hiccup After they sorted out the problems for the webtoon team, the producers rush to the hospital and visit Baek Eo Jin (Kim Kap Soo) who hasn't regained consciousness after his surgery. On Ma Eum (Kim Sejeong) brings Sin Dae Ryug (Kim Do Hoon) to the hospital as he's also one of the veteran artist's assistants before. He fears that he won't be able to extend his gratitude to the artist anymore. As for the webtoon department, things go so much better than before. Jang Man Cheol (Park Ho San) is still the same but he became even more hands-on when it comes to producing new webtoons. Kwon Young Bae (Yang Hyun Min) is promoted to deputy editor, filling in the gap that Seok Ji Hyung (Choi Daniel) left. Neon Webtoon Service Team heaves a sigh of relief when Baek Eo Jin finally regains consciousness. On Ma Eum Faces Her Past With Confidence As On Ma Eum's heart becomes fuller with the good things that happen to her, she meets a friend whom she hurt while playing Judo. In episode 16 of "Today's Webtoon," it is revealed that she once hurt a fellow Judo athlete, which discouraged her and made her quit Judo. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 'Today's Webtoon' Episode 12-13: Kim Do Hoon Bares His Soul To Kim Sejeong After their tear-jerking reconciliation, she invites Goo Joon Young (Nam Yoon Su) to a drink. The latter didn't waste his time and finally confessed his feelings for her. On Ma Eum, Goo Joon Young and Neon's Happy Ending While On Ma Eum and Goo Joon Young are still in their honeymoon stages as "almost lovers," Neon Webtoon Service Team finally reaps what they had sowed. The CEO of Neon asks the team to move to the headquarters, signaling the success and advancement of the team from what they were three years ago. The team's players are finally answered. On Ma Eum, Goo Joon Young, their artists and the rest of the team walk to a bright future ahead of them. YOU MIGHT ALSO BE INTERESTED IN THIS: Is Kim Sejeong's New Drama 'Today's Webtoon' A Flop? Here's What We Think Have you seen the final episode of Kim Sejeong and Nam Yoon Su's "Today's Webtoon"? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below! KDramaStars owns this article. Written by Elijah Mully. Some viewers tend to let go of a drama immediately after it concludes, but "Big Mouth" fans dare to be different. All eyes are on this particular scene from "Big Mouth" Episode 16, which remains a hot topic on Naver two days after the finale aired. 'Big Mouth' Episode 16 Ending Scene Trends on NaverTV Top 100 South Korean top stars Lee Jong Suk and YoonA finally bid farewell to their fans and avid viewers following the conclusion of their first drama team-up in "Big Mouth." Apart from the actors and actresses of the show, who occupied the most mentioned names on various online communities, the ending scene of "Big Mouth" Episode 16 trended at No. 1 on Naver TV Top 100 starting the morning of September 18, just a day after the series ended its run on MBC primetime. The video contains the successful mission of Park Chang Ho (Lee Jong Suk) in defeating his biggest enemy Choi Do Ha (Kim Joo Hun). However, as he fulfilled his promise to Big Mouse, Park Chang Ho's life turned unstable as his beloved wife Go Mi Ho (YoonA) died after she was diagnosed with cancer. the most heartbreaking part about this is that changho didnt even have enough tears to wail in sadness. but it felt like he was just comforted that miho can finally rest from the pain. so painful yet so beautiful #BigMouthEp16 #BigMouthFinale #BigMouth # pic.twitter.com/sepCrMLg2E zee base (@zygmaund) September 17, 2022 This unexpected twist in the protagonists' love story didn't satisfy the viewers. For them, Chang Ho and Mi Ho suffered a lot due to their enemies and did nothing but be protective of each other, and yet they had a tragic love story in the end. It even became a hot topic on a famous online portal where viewers of the famous K-drama shared their sentiments and dissatisfaction with the "Big Mouth" finale. Despite Tragic Ending, 'Big Mouth' Achieves Its Highest Rating However, MBC's "Big Mouth" received mixed reactions from the audience. The K-series was able to end its run with a bang. Nielsen Korea announced the noir drama recorded an average rating of 13.7 percent nationwide during its finale that aired last September 17. It also became the most watched show in its time slot. Will There Be 'Big Mouth' Season 2? Day after the drama aired its finale episode, viewers think if there will be a sequel coming. The speculations for "Big Mouth" Season 2 began to arise after the audience noticed that the production intentionally had an open ending. As viewers are demanding the drama's second installment, "Big Mouth" producers have officially responded to the questions regarding the potential sequel of the record-breaking series. On September 18, "Big Mouth" producers responded cautiously, saying, "We think it's too early to be discussing season 2. We will work hard to try and return with a good project." What can you say about the "Big Mouth" finale? Share your thoughts with 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. The newest crime drama "Blind," starring Ok Taecyeon, Ha Seok Jin, and Jung Eun Ji, finally landed on primetime and made a promising start. Continue reading to know what happened in the first episode. 'Blind' Episode 1: Ryu Sung Jun Dedicated To Find the Culprit Behind Baek Ji Eun's Death "Blind" follows the story of ordinary citizens who became unfair victims and the perpetrators who closed their eyes to the uncomfortable truth. In "Blind" Episode 1, the public was shocked about Baek Ji Eun's (Oh Se Young) case. She was 20-year-old university student who was murdered by a psycho on the night of her birthday. Her mouth was torn; hence, they called the case Joker Murder. Detective Ryu Sung Jun (Ok Taecyeon) was in charge of the case. He struggled to uncover the truth at first. But as meticulous that he is, he began searching for evidence alone as he was not satisfied with their team's recent investigation. Later on after thorough investigation, he arrested the suspect Jung Man Chun (Jeon Jin Woo). He claimed his innocence, applied for a participatory trial, presided by Judge Ryu Sung Hoon (Ha Seok Jin), who is Ryu Sung Jun's brother. There were ordinary citizens invited as panel at the Joker Murder case, and they were chosen through drawlots. The sentence of Jung Man Chun was in their hands. Jo Eun Gi Appears As One of The Panels at Joker Murder Case In the end, the trial was revised to be participatory trial. There were 9 individuals participated at the trial, namely Kang Young Ki (Kim Ha Kyun), Kwon Kyung Ja (Choi Ji Yeon), Bae Chul Ho (Jo Seung Yeon), Ahn Tae Ho (Chae Dong Hyun), Yum Hye Jin (Baek Seung Hee), Jung In Sung (Park Ji Bin), Choi Soon Gil (Choi Jae Sup), Charles (Oh Seung Yun), and Jo Eun Gi (Jung Eun Ji). They all attended the courthouse and listened to Jung Man Chun's story. The accused murderer insisted that the deceased woman's father Baek Moon Kang (Kim Pub Lae) tried to scare her daughter with a knife for not paying her, an illegal immigrant, but she did not kill him. Jung Man Chun also said that the real culprit was detective Ryu Sung Jun. Will Sung Jun prove his innocence? Let's all find out in the upcoming "Blind" Episode 2! IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: THIS 'Big Mouth' Scene Ranks Number 1 on NaverTV Top 100 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. As the A-graded Netflix drama closes its first half, Kim Go Eun and Nam Ji Hyun discover more secrets about Uhm Ki Joon and Uhm Ji Won's family. Will they air out their dirty laundry? Here's what happened in "Little Women" Episode 6. 'Little Women' Episode 6: The Won's Dirty Secrets "Little Women" Episode 6 begins with Oh In Joo (Kim Go Eun) interrogating Park Hyo Rin (Jeon Chae Eun) about the footage of his father visiting Jin Hwa Young (Choo Ja Hyun) before her death. She tries to steal the footage when Park Hyo Rin is sleeping. However, Oh In Hye (Park Ji Hu) catches her. To her frustration, she goes to Jin Hwa Young's place. Meanwhile, Oh In Kyung (Nam Ji Hyun) airs out Park Jae Sang's (Uhm Ki Joon) father's illegal wealth and properties, stirring commotion. Oh In Hye's Ultimate Betrayal Park Jae Sang holds a press conference to address the issues Oh In Kyung raised. He revealed that his father lived a poor life, and all of the properties he had belonged to Won Sang Ah's (Uhm Ji Won) father. Before his father-in-law fell into a coma, they used the money under his father's name to support geniuses and talented students through scholarships. Oh In Hye, who's with the Wons, is also supported by the foundation. When Oh In Kyung calls for her, the younger sister turns her back and leaves. The Beginning of Oh In Joo and Choi Do Il's Plans In spite of the prying eyes surrounding Oh In Joo and Choi Do Il (Wi Ha Joon), their plan successfully begins in episode 6. Won Sang Ah asks Oh In Joo to go to Singapore for her where the annual Orchid Festival takes place. She also lets the latter know about the money laundering that happens under the table during the festivities. Oh In Joo receives a blue orchid, the same ones that had been present in all of the deaths in the previous episodes, and is asked to keep it by her bedside when it's about to bloom. When she is told that she will receive 10% of what she can earn in Singapore, Oh In Joo doesn't hesitate to do the job. On the other hand, Oh In Kyung finds a photo of her aunt with other people of Jeongran Society-the same people who transact business at the Orchid Festival. The Oh Sisters' Loss When Choi Do Il tries to take the flower away from Oh In Joo, she immediately takes it to her room and smells its intoxicating scent. Meanwhile, Oh In Kyung finds out that most members of the Jeongran Society are dead due to unknown causes, raising suspicions. At their aunt's place, Oh In Joo convinces her to stand against Park Jae Sang. But because of the orchid scent, she falls asleep instantly. At the end of the episode, Oh In Joo is seen sitting next to her aunt, dead and lying in a pool of blood and a blue orchid. KDramastars owns this article. Written by Elijah Mully. "Extraordinary Attorney Woo" star Kang Tae Oh teases his millions of followers on Instagram with a head-turning photo ahead of his official military enlistment. The breakout star is the latest K-drama actor who is set to join the army. Kang Tae Oh Instagram Update The 28-year-old star updates his 2.6 million followers with swoon-worthy snaps, flaunting his undeniable visuals. In Kang Tae Oh's Instagram, the actor never fails to amaze the public with his charm, serving looks on his recent post. Although he did not include any captions, fans wished the actor good health and luck in his upcoming activities. In addition, others expressed that they will wait for Kang Tae Oh's safe return from the army. Kang Tae Oh's Instagram post comes ahead of his military enlistment. Kang Tae Oh's Enlistment Update As obtained by Ten Asia, after the K-drama star is rumored to join the army, his agency, Man of Creation, initially confirmed his desire to join the army back in July, at the height of the ENA series "Extraordinary Attorney Woo" and said that he is planning to enlist in "end of August to mid-September." At the time, the talent label shared that the actor might be part of the ROKN UDT or ROK Marines but "is more likely to be a part of the ROK Army." However, in his first ever fan meeting, Kang Tae Oh personally confirmed his plan, announcing that he is enlisting in the army as an active-duty soldier on September 20. At the "TikTok Stage Connect: SweeTaeOh" held on August 31, he delivered a special message to fans as he expressed deep gratitude for everyone who showed support. "Thank you for making such good memories with me. I'll return with a healthy mindset," he said. However, on September 15, Kang Tae Oh's agency shared more updates about the actor's enlistment. As reported by Dispatch Korea, Man of Creation revealed that the actor is set to "enter the 37th division recruit training center located in Jeungpyeong County of North Chungcheong Province" and will join the army quietly without any special events. Following this, the actor will return to civilian life on his expected discharge date is March 19, 2024, 18 months after serving as an active duty soldier. Kang Tae Oh's Comeback Movie 'Open the Door' While "Extraordinary Attorney Woo" is Kang Tae Oh's last K-drama before joining the army, the 28-year-old star is set to return to the big screen with a new film opposite Shin Hye Sun. The breakout star is headlining the thriller crime movie "Open the Door" which will also serve as his last movie before enlistment. On top of it, the agency previously mentioned that Kang Tae Oh has wrapped up his scheduled activities including production for his upcoming movie. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Kang Tae Oh Opens Up About Past Relationships, Moving On From Breakup KDramastars owns this article Written by Geca Wills Kim Go Eun, Nam Ji Hyun and Park Ji Hu's "Little Women" soared to a new high with its brand new episode, unlocking a new milestone as it closes its first half of broadcast. Thanks to its intricately written storyline and gripping acting performances, the drama records its best score yet. 'Little Women' Records New High Score With Brand New Episode "Little Women" starring Kim Go Eun, Nam Ji Hyun and Park Ji Hu achieved a new milestone with its latest episode! On September 18, the much awaited episode of "Little Women" was released, shaking the Hallyu scene with its secrets and revelations. From the true colors of Uhm Ki Joon and Uhm Ji Won's family to the hidden past of Kim Go Eun and Nam Ji Hyun's aunt, every scene takes viewers to the edge of their seats. Because of the unreliable characters, fans from all over the world couldn't help but wonder who is the mole who killed Kim Go Eun's friend. The thriller drama received critical acclaim and scored a new high score, an average rating 8.3% nationwide. It is 2% higher than its premiere ratings and 1.3% higher compared to its previous episode. "Little Women" peaked at 8.9% while it was aired, and as the drama takes a darker turn, it is expected to continue receiving higher scores. Here's Why 'Little Women' Has Great Appeal To The Public Right from the get-go, "Little Women" introduced itself to the public as a new drama to be reckoned with. Although it is loosely based from Louisa May Alcott's classic novel, Kim Go Eun, Nam Ji Hyun and Park Ji Hu's drama is not a typical remake. It is a direct interpretation of the novel told in the eyes of three destitute sisters who get involved with the most influential people in South Korea. Because of its rich cinematography, outstanding design and styling, many are drawn to the work in spite of its eerie atmosphere. In particular, the importance that is given to power, money, betrayal and money truly makes the drama more interesting. The metaphorical elements in "Little Women" also tinker with the audience's minds, arousing anticipation every episode. Without a doubt, "Little Women" is a work of art that will be remembered for a long time. Furthermore, watch "Little Women" every Saturday and Sunday at 9:10 p.m. KST on tvN and Netflix! KDramaStars owns this article. Written by Elijah Mully. Large amount of liquid water activity existed on Mars 1b yrs ago, found 1st mission By Cui Fandi (Global Times) 10:14, September 19, 2022 Map of impact craters, cones, trenches and ridges in the Zhurong landing zone Photo: CCTV The latest scientific research results released by China's first Mars exploration mission showed that a large amount of liquid water activity once existed in the landing zone of Zhurong, China's first Mars rover, about 1 billion years ago. The discovery of liquid water activity means that there may have been some conditions suitable for the origin or existence of life on Mars in the past billion years, experts explained. At the same time, the Tianwen-1 mission has also laid a solid foundation for subsequent interplanetary exploration by China. According to the China National Space Administration (CNSA), as of Thursday, the Tianwen-1 Mars probe had been in orbit for more than 780 days, traveling a total of 1,921 meters, completing its scientific exploration tasks and acquiring 1,480 gigabytes of raw scientific exploration data, China Central Television (CCTV) reported on Sunday. Through the comprehensive study of typical landforms such as concave cones, wall impact craters and trenches distributed in the landing area, the scientific research team has revealed the important connection between the formation of landforms and water activity in Zhurong's landing area. Camera images and spectroscopic data show that there are water-bearing minerals in the slabby crustal rocks near the landing area, which provides evidence that there was a large amount of liquid water activity in Zhurong's landing area as long as 1 billion years ago. "As liquid water activity has been found, we believe that there may have been some suitable climate conditions for the origin of life or the existence of such conditions in the past billion years on Mars," Liu Yang, a researcher at the National Space Science Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), told CCTV. "These climate conditions are likely to be in a more moderate space underground." These new results reveal the influence of Martian sand and water activity on geological evolution and environmental changes, provide strong support for the conjecture that oceans once existed on the Martian utopian plain, and enrich human scientific knowledge of the geological evolution and environmental changes on Mars, the CNSA said. The scientific research team also used the Tianwen-1 probe data to obtain a number of outstanding scientific results on the relationship between the density of rocks on the Martian surface and the degree of surface erosion, the distribution of ions and neutral particles in the near-Mars space environment, as well as the Martian gravity field. "The fact that the Tianwen-1 gives Chinese scientists first-hand data means that we can most fundamentally parse our scientific story from the raw data," said Pan Yongxin, Tianwen-1 mission science applications chief scientist. Pan noted that the independence on obtaining data indicates that China's initiative in scientific discovery will be enhanced. Through the Tianwen-1 mission, China has achieved hundreds of millions of kilometers of long-distance data transmission, and also mastered how to effectively extract scientific data, laying a solid foundation for subsequent interplanetary exploration, CCTV reported. The Tianwen-1 orbiter continues to carry out scientific exploration in the remote sensing mission orbit, and continues to accumulate first-hand scientific data to contribute to the in-depth knowledge of Mars for human beings, the CNSA said. The Zhurong rover is currently in hibernation and is expected to be woken up at the end of the year when Mars environmental conditions improve. After its normal working condition is confirmed, Zhurong will continue to travel southward to obtain more roving probe data. The results of this research have been published in prestigious academic journals such as Nature Astronomy, Nature Geoscience, Science Advances and Science China. The timely publication of these scientific results in international journals shows that China has always shown an open attitude toward international cooperation, Song Zhongping, a space observer and TV commentator, told the Global Times on Sunday. "The Chinese scientists have used their own means and technology to implement Mars exploration, and have achieved fruitful results," Song said. This activity "has provided unparalleled first-hand information for human beings' research and exploration of Mars." "China is once again showing the attitude of cooperation with countries that are interested in studying deep space and developing Mars together," he said. Earlier in the week, scientists with the CAS released the latest results on China's lunar exploration, through 1,731 grams of lunar minerals that the Chang'e-5 robotic mission brought back to Earth. Chinese scientists announced On September 9 that for the first time, they had discovered a new mineral on the moon and had named it Changesite-(Y),making China the third country to make a discovery of a new mineral on the moon. (Web editor: Liang Jun, Bianji) Kenosha police on Monday continued investigations into multiple shootings, including a double fatal incident that occurred outside a bar in the citys Uptown neighborhood over the weekend. Police released no new information, however, on the mass shooting that killed two people and wounded two others shortly before 2 a.m. Sunday, outside Las Margaritas at the corner of 23rd Avenue and Roosevelt Road. Of the two people killed, one died at the scene, while another died at the hospital, according to authorities. The two people who were injured were transported to a local hospital. The area involved is not new to gun violence as it was also the scene of an Aug. 20 triple shooting. The three victims in that incident survived. Mass shootings in Kenosha According to The Gun Violence Archive, an independent non-profit organization with a database that tracks shootings in the U.S., a mass shooting incident is one with a minimum of four victims shot, either injured or killed, not including any shooter who may also have been killed or injured in the incident. The latest mass shooting in Kenosha is among 44 that have occurred in the United States this month, according to the archive. Kenosha has had three mass shootings this year, two of which have occurred in the Uptown neighborhood. Four people were injured and one person was killed in a shooting at 10:20 p.m. July 4 in the 6300 block of 25th Avenue. Anderail K. Armstrong, 20, known as Lil Cash, died in the shooting. Breon T. Gates, 27, of Illinois was killed and three others injured, just before 4 a.m. Jan. 1 as multiple shots were fired in the parking lot of a local bar in the 1700 block of 52nd Street. Mobile home park shooting In another incident, one person was shot multiple times just before 6 a.m. Sunday at the Oakwood Mobile Homes, 9002 Sheridan Road, on the citys south side. The person was alive, according to police, upon being transported to the hospital. Investigators at the scene of the mobile home park marked more than 20 impact points on the side of a home, and at least as many shell casings were discovered outside the home and in the intersection nearby. Information on the conditions of the victims in either of the weekend shooting incidents was not available. Lt. Joseph Nosalik, spokesman for the Kenosha Police Department, said he did not anticipate updates anytime soon. Nosalik has said the two most recent shooting incidents were not believed to be related. Police continued to call on the publics help in both cases. Anyone with information on the shootings can contact the Detective Bureau at 262-605-5203. Callers wishing to remain anonymous may contact the Kenosha Area Crime Stoppers at 262-656-7333. Intruder death investigation Nosalik said police were expected to confer Monday with the Kenosha County District Attorneys office on the status of the case in which a homeowner fought and killed a man in an apparent break-in and assault at a residence in the 6900 block of 64th Avenue on Friday night. Id like to get some of that information out there but dont know when that will be, Nosalik said. Police responded to the home around 7:20 p.m. following a report of a suspicious person reportedly damaging vehicles at random and attempting to enter several homes unknown to him. Police said the intruder reportedly forced his way into one of the houses and attacked the homeowner. The homeowner fought back and the intruder was subsequently killed during the struggle. Hospice Alliance will host its fifth annual Serving Our Seniors Expo on Tuesday at Haribo Hall in the Madrigrano Conference Center, 3520 30th Ave. The free event, which will be held from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. will feature interactive exhibits, health screenings and raffle drawings. Serving Our Seniors started as an event after an employee suggested the idea, according to Hospice Alliance Executive Director Rita Hagen. He thought it would be a great thing to put this on (and) he had been involved with them (senior expos) in the past, Hagen said. Its a great way for people to find out about services in our area. Hagen said the event is also helpful for caregivers. We have a lot of caregivers in this world, and it also helps them know what would be available to them, Hagen said. It helps you kind of navigate through that aging process, and gives you the opportunity to see what what tools and resources are available for you. There will be 50 exhibitors and life-management professionals who serve the southeastern Wisconsin senior community in attendance, such as the Kenosha County Aging and Disability and Resource Center, funeral homes and Societys Assets. In the past, roughly 300 people have attended the expo. Hagen said she hopes to see a similar turnout this year. The event will feature speakers on topics for seniors. This years expo is sponsored by: Right at Home; Proko Funeral Home, Milwaukee Rehabilitation Hospital at Greenfield, Elder Care Cottages Senior Living Community, Piasecki Funeral Home, Sage Meadow Assisted Living & Memory Care, CompleteCare Management, HearingLife, and Library Terrace Assisted Living. A free tote will be presented to the first 200 guests to attend the expo which is open to the public. Hospice Alliance is a community-based, non-profit organization working for hospice care and supportive care management. More information on the expo can be found online at https://www.hospicealliance.org. 30 Shares Share I recently published Avoid Shots in the Dark to Maintain Pristine Professional Boundaries in Psychiatric Times to demonstrate how drinking alcohol in public may lead well-meaning licensed health professionals onto the slippery slope of boundary violations and costly career jeopardy. Across the United States, millions of doctors, nurses, and other licensed health professionals are permitted to perform the sacred work of healing others because we have been authorized to do so by licensure boards in one or more states. In these days of telemedicine, many of us hold numerous licenses. Because of the existence of national practice databases and credentialing protocols, a licensure issue in one locale can mushroom into legal trouble in multiple states. The disinhibiting effects of alcohol are often in the mix when health professionals are accused of behaving unprofessionally. For this reason, I advise colleagues and clients to drink sparingly, especially in public situations involving peers, staff, or patients. Indeed, we might be safer abstaining altogether. (Of course, people who are pregnant, enrolled in monitoring programs, or who suffer from alcohol use disorders shouldnt be drinking at all.) What about cannabinoids? Although THC is a psychoactive substance with a different profile, it, too, is an intoxicant that may jeopardize the professional well-being of those who use it. This is especially the case in states where using it is not legal. But even where cannabis use is permissible, measurable THC levels may create pricy complexity for health professionals who are drug-tested for whatever reason. Until we possess the ability to distinguish between the THC that entered your system on a workday and the residue of a single gummy that you ingested in the middle of your two-week vacation to Colorado, avoiding cannabinoids may be another better to play it safe, rather than be sorry best practice to consider and incorporate. Alternatively, you can trust state licensing boards to accept your version of the events that bring you to their attention. If you end up hiring an attorney, remember that the ones who know how to defend you after an OUI arrest are generally not the same ones who know how to represent you before the licensing board. So you may have to hire two attorneys (or more if you are licensed in multiple states). Because this pandemic has brutalized our profession, many of us have used or misused alcohol and/or cannabinoids to mitigate the day-to-day stress and strain. At the same time, the expectation to behave in a completely and utterly professional fashion at all times has never been greater. These words of caution represent a blunt attempt to inspire you to watch your own back. Steve Adelman is a coaching and consulting psychiatrist and can be reached at his self-titled site, AdelMED. Image credit: Shutterstock.com Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content. Kindly add us to your ad blocker whitelist. If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider contributing and/or subscribing to our free daily Newsletter . Support our mission and join our community now. The Irish Wheelchair Association is hosting a National Fundraising Day on Thursday, September 29th and has asked County Kilkenny to support the campaign. The National Fundraising Day is the charitys largest and most important fundraising day and will see staff and volunteers at centres and other on-street locations in the county shaking buckets in a bid to help raise 100,000 in vital funding on Thursday, September 29th. Over 20,000 people benefit from services provided by the Irish Wheelchair Association across sport, accessible homes, transport, assisted living services and community centre services which provide a social outlet for members to make friends and develop lifelong skills as well as combating loneliness and isolation. Kilkenny wheelchair users make plea to government for more accessible housing Students from a School Leavers Programme were on hand recently to help launch the upcoming fundraising day. The Irish Wheelchair Association centre is my lifeline; I love coming here. I do music, drama, cooking and art lessons. I have made great friends and I get to meet them regularly here, says Dylan Maguire, student of the charity's School Leavers Programme. Sinead Christian, Head of Fundraising at the Irish Wheelchair Association said: The School Leavers Programme is providing students with vital life-enhancing skills which enable people with disabilities to live a more independent life. This is just one of the broad range of vital services that the Irish Wheelchair Association is providing across the country. We are calling on the public to please support us on Thursday, September 29th by giving what you can to our bucket collectors or donate online at www.iwa.ie. Staff at the Irish Wheelchair Associations 57 centres across Ireland will be shaking buckets in the hope of raising funds to ensure the rights and needs of people with disabilities are met. www.iwa.ie for more information. ________________________ Extra train services are planned for a number of commuter belt areas including to and from Newbridge, Hazelhatch and Kilcoole along with additional services for Mayo, Carlow and Tullamore, Irish Rail has announced. The proposed new Irish Rail timetable also includes improved journey times on the Limerick to Ballybrophy line. The changes include 12 additional off-peak services between Newbridge and Heuston and a new return mid-morning service between Heuston and Carlow. Key elements of the proposed new timetables are: Earlier first service on Monday to Friday between Dundalk/Drogheda and Pearse, which is also extended to Grand Canal Dock. Changes to give a better spread of service on Dublin/Drogheda route in evening peak:New Commuter service 16:09 hrs Connolly to Drogheda Monday to Friday This replaces the 17:12 hrs Connolly/Balbriggan service Monday to Friday 17:13 hrs Pearse Newry service will now additionally serve Malahide. More services to call at Kilcoole on Rosslare Europort/Dublin Connolly services all week. Twelve additional off-peak Commuter services between Newbridge and Heuston, resulting in trains every 30 minutes Monday to Friday. Extra services between Hazelhatch and Grand Canal Dock, via Phoenix Park Tunnel on Monday to Friday. A new return mid-morning service between Heuston and Carlow on Monday to Friday. 07:00 hrs Waterford to Heuston will additionally serve Kilkenny at 07:28 hrs; train is advanced to 06:50 hrs from Waterford, but no change to arrival time in Heuston at 09:00 hrs as a result. A new 07:08 hrs Athlone/Westport service Monday to Friday providing a service for regional commuters along the line. A new 05:05 hrs service from Ballina to Manulla which will connect with the advanced 05:15 hrs Westport/Heuston service Monday to Friday. The 07:30 hrs Athlone/Galway service will now commence from Tullamore at 06:50 hrs on Monday to Friday, and additionally serve Clara. There will be no change to the timings between Athlone and Galway. Slight changes to evening services between Cork and Mallow providing a consistent 30 min frequency between 16:25 hrs and 19:25 hrs from Cork. Later last services to Cobh and Midleton Monday to Saturday. Improved journey times on Limerick/Ballybrophy services via Nenagh due to recent infrastructure works, resulting in a 15-minute time saving. A number of other minor schedule alterations to improve punctuality. Irish Rail is looking for feedback on the changes that are due to begin on December 11th. It states: "Iarnrod Eireann in conjunction with the National Transport Authority is planning to implement timetable alterations from 11th December 2022. The company has published details of the proposed schedule and invites the public to submit feedback in advance of the finalisation of the new timetable". Full details of the proposed changes can be found here The consultation survey is open until Sunday 2nd October 2022. Mark Frerichs, an American held captive in Afghanistan for more than two years, has been released in a prisoner swap, a senior Biden administration official confirmed on September 19. CNN's Leyla Santiago in San Juan, Puerto Rico; CNN meteorologists Brandon Miller and Haley Brink; and CNN's Paul P. Murphy, Jamiel Lynch, Alfonso Serrano, Caitlin Kaiser, Allie Malloy, Dakin Andone and Amanda Musa contributed to this report. Argentina's Vice Minister of Environment, Sustainable Development and Innovation Cecilia Nicolini speaks during an interview with The Korea Times at the Argentinian Embassy in Seoul, Sept. 15. Nicolini visited Korea to attend the Global Programming Conference organized by the Green Climate Fund. Korea Times photo by Kwon Mee-yoo Cecilia Nicolini calls for global cooperation to slow down global warming By Kwon Mee-yoo Although Argentina accounts for only 0.7 percent of the global carbon dioxide emissions, the country in South America is facing grave consequences in terms of climate change. Cecilia Nicolini, Argentina's Vice Minister of Climate Change, Sustainable Development and Innovation, said it is important for developed and developing countries to collaborate, especially in climate change funding, as climate change is a universal problem affecting countries all over the world. "I think the key would be in cooperation, collaboration, building trust among countries and enabling transformation (against climate change) through funds and technology transfer within capacities," Nicolini said during an interview with The Korea Times at the Argentinian Embassy in Seoul, Thursday. Nicolini visited Korea for five days last week to attend the second Global Programming Conference organized by the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and discuss Argentina joining the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI). "It's extremely important for countries like Argentina and other developing countries to work on the agenda of implementation for tackling climate change. We contribute less to global emissions, but we still have a very big impact from climate change and it is really hitting our economies, territories and people, mostly due to the vulnerabilities we have," the vice minister said. "At this conference in Seoul, we discussed the challenges we are facing with other developing countries and also how this platform or multilateral organism paves the way for more robust relations regarding the funds to make a transition," she said. She recognizes that the need for transformation to fight climate change. "We have to really work on the transformation of our economic metrics in a sustainable way so that it can last and bring prosperity for our countries," she said. The vice minister said it is important to discuss the means of implementation of climate change measures, but that it is not given high priority. At the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in 2009, developed countries pledged to provide $100 billion a year to developing countries to support them in adapting to climate change and mitigating the damage. "Developed countries committed to a $100-billion goal every year for developing countries. But it didn't happen," she said. Nicolini emphasized that it is important to create new rules to allocate the climate funds in a way that countries can respond to the situation in globally. "It's just because climate change doesn't distinguish between where it hits if you're a developed country or developing country. Of course, the consequences and the losses and damages are worse in less developed countries because of the infrastructure and the capacity to respond to those distresses," she said. "But we still see wildfires, floods and typhoons, and the situation with the prices of energy and food increasing (all around the world). So the challenges are great, but the opportunities are greater. So I think we need to focus on that," she said. "We have to start giving a sustainable answer amid this complete shock and radical transformation of the way we consume and produce. If developed countries don't allocate the funds, it's a little bit more difficult for other countries to follow," Nicolini added. Argentina's Vice Minister of Environment, Sustainable Development and Innovation Cecilia Nicolini, right, shakes hands with her Korean counterpart, Yoo Je-chul, during a meeting at the Han River Flood Control Office in Seoul, Sept. 14. Courtesy of Ministry of Environment People observe a one minute silence at a service of reflection to honor the late Queen Elizabeth II at The Kelpies in Falkirk, Scotland, Sept. 18. AP-Yonhap Britain held a minute's silence on Sunday in a final tribute to Queen Elizabeth II before her grand state funeral, after her son King Charles III welcomed world leaders at Buckingham Palace. U.S. President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron were among the stream of dignitaries who paid tribute at the late monarch's coffin, Biden crossing himself and touching his heart as he stood on a gallery in London's historic Westminster Hall. Members of the public filed by as time ticked down for them to pay their last respects to the only sovereign most Britons have ever known before she is laid to rest on Monday. Biden said Queen Elizabeth, who reigned for a record-breaking 70 years until her death on September 8 aged 96, was "decent, honourable, and all about service". "All the people of the United Kingdom: our hearts go out to you, and you were fortunate to have had her for 70 years; we all were. The world is better for her," Biden said after signing a book of condolence. The U.S. president then attended a reception hosted by King Charles and the royal family for around 500 visiting dignitaries. People hold a minute of silence for the late Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Bridge in front of Big Ben in London, England, Sept. 18. AP-Yonhap They included Japan's Emperor Naruhito, King Felipe VI of Spain, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, King Abdullah II of Jordan and Queen Margrethe II of Denmark. The minute of silence was held at 8:00 pm (1900 GMT) to honour the late queen's life of service. Prime Minister Liz Truss stood in a black dress outside her 10 Downing Street official residence for the "national moment of reflection" before the eyes of world focus on the British capital for the queen's send-off. Members of the public have camped out in advance to catch a glimpse of the grand farewell at Westminster Abbey, which is expected to bring London to a standstill and be watched by billions of viewers across the globe. E. J. Kelly, a 46-year-old schoolteacher from Northern Ireland, secured a prime spot with friends on the route the procession will take after the funeral. "Watching it on television is wonderful but being here is something else," she told AFP, equipped with camping chairs, warm clothing and extra socks. "I will probably feel very emotional when it comes to it, but I wanted to be here to pay my respects." Guards are changed as mourners file past the coffin as they attend the Lying-in-State of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II at the Palace of Westminster in London, Britain, Sept. 18. EPA-Yonhap Country's 'glue' Crowds also thronged around Windsor Castle, west of London, where the queen's coffin will be driven after the service for a private burial alongside her late husband Prince Philip, her parents and her sister. "I've lived here my whole life and I've never seen it this busy," said Donna Lumbard, 32, a manager at a local restaurant. The last of the estimated hundreds of thousands of mourners who have flocked to London to see the queen's coffin queued along the banks of the River Thames into Sunday night. They have until 6:30 am (0530 GMT) on Monday to make it into Westminster Hall opposite the abbey. By 8:00 pm (1900 GMT) on Sunday, the official estimated queue time was approximately seven hours. Waiting times peaked at more than 25 hours early Saturday. Andy Sanderson, 46, a supermarket area manager, was among those who had finally made it to parliament after braving the miles of queues. "She was the glue that kept the country together," he said. "She doesn't have an agenda whereas politicians do, so she can speak for the people." People camp out in front of Palace of Westminster on the eve of the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in London, England, Sept. 18. AP-Yonhap 'Reassuring presence' Australia's anti-monarchy Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who viewed the lying-in-state and met King Charles on Saturday, told Sky News Australia that the queen was "a constant reassuring presence". There was also a private audience at Buckingham Palace for New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern, which, like Australia, Britain and 12 other Commonwealth realms, now has King Charles as its sovereign. "You could see that it meant a huge amount (to King Charles) to have seen the sheer scale and outpouring of people's love and affection for Her late Majesty," Ardern told BBC television on Sunday. But in an indication of the challenges ahead for the new king, Ardern added that she expected New Zealand to shed its constitutional monarchy "over the course of my lifetime". Queen Elizabeth's state funeral, the first in Britain since the death of her first prime minister Winston Churchill in 1965, will take place Monday at Westminster Abbey at 11:00 am. Reflecting on the queen's wishes for the hour-long ceremony, the former archbishop of York, John Sentamu, told BBC television said she "did not want what you call long, boring services". People wait in line to pay tribute to Queen Elizabeth II in London, Sept. 18. AP-Yonhap A boy waves the Union Jack while people watch the State Funeral Service of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II on giant screens, Monday, in London in Hyde Park. The Queen, who died aged 96 on Sept. 8, will be buried at Windsor alongside her late husband, Prince Philip, who died last year. AP-Yonhap Huge crowds packed central London on Monday to watch the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II as people from across the United Kingdom and beyond paid their final respects. When dawn broke over the River Thames, well-wishers streamed out of Embankment underground station headed for the area around Westminster Abbey. But many were already there, camping in sleeping bags behind the metal barriers along the Whitehall government district, where the funeral procession will pass. "It's part of history," said Bethany Beardmore, 26, an accountant whose brother is a Grenadier Guard and part of the ceremonies. "Not in my lifetime is there going to be another queen." Beardmore arrived at 9:00 pm (2000 GMT) on Sunday but, fuelled by too much sugar and caffeine, found it impossible to sleep in the cold. "Everyone was chatting," she said. Members of the public listen to the funeral service of Queen Elizabeth II in central London, Monday Sept. 19, 2022. The Queen, who died aged 96 on Sept. 8, will be buried at Windsor alongside her late husband, Prince Philip, who died last year. AP-Yonhap Former soldier Jamie Page, 41, served in the Iraq War and took a train from his home in Horsham, south of London, at 5:00 am. "Sixteen years old, I swore an oath of allegiance to the queen," he said, his military medals glinting in the weak morning sun. "She's been my boss. She means everything. She was like a gift from god." Margaret McGee, 72, had arrived from Northern Ireland for the events in a small token of appreciation for the queen's long service and said she had met people from Liverpool, Scotland and Wales. "She worked so hard all her life, devoted herself to the country," she said. "She never gave up to the very end, she never had a retirement." Mourners listen to the funeral of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, Monday, in Windsor, England. AP-Yonhap Last to pay respects The queen's flag-draped coffin has been lying in state at parliament's Westminster Hall since Wednesday. Hundreds of thousands are estimated to have filed past since then to pay their respects. The doors to the hall were finally shut at 6:30 am to prepare for the coffin's transfer past Parliament Square to Westminster Abbey. The last member of the public to pass through the hall was Chrissy Heerey, a serving member of the Royal Air Force. "It feels amazing," she told AFP. "When they came to me and said, 'right, you're the last person', I said, really?" Heerey, from Melton Mowbray near Leicester in central England, had queued through the night but was also joining the crowds for the procession. "A long day but very well worth it. It's nothing compared to what the queen has done for the country," she added. After the funeral service, the coffin was to be taken on a gun carriage in procession past Buckingham Palace to a hearse, for transfer to her final resting place in Windsor Castle. Susan Davies, her husband and two children were among the crowds cramming Hyde Park Corner to get a glimpse of the casket as it was transferred to the hearse at the Wellington Arch. The family, from Essex, east of London, came well-prepared, with camping chairs and "lots of food". "I wanted to be part of it. It's a big day in our history," she said. "Watching on TV is not the same. You don't really feel you're part of it," added her husband, Richard, 55. Members of the public are seen outside Windsor Castle by floral tributes for the late Queen Elizabeth II in Windsor, England, Sunday, Sept. 18. The Queen's funeral takes place on Monday. AP-Yonhap Steve Garbacz is executive editor of KPC Media and editor of The News Sun. He understood the pay difference between being a chemical engineer and being a writer when he changed majors in college. There are some days he regrets making that exchange, but other days not. Email him at sgarbacz@kpcmedia.com. Work gets underway to prepare the site of the new Steuben County judicial center for eventual construction. Monday morning excavation of the site started. Here a backhoe is working to remove plant material from one of the rain gardens on the property at the corner of East South and South Martha streets. The earthwork contractor for the project is ONeal Excavating and Construction. Max Gong, left, assistant professor in the Bock Department of Biomedical Engineering at Trine University, will oversee this team of eight students designing a model to investigate the impact of the harsh environment of space on lymphatic vessels in the immune system. From front to back are Amy Apgar, Destany Garcia Ortiz, Upasana Shrestha, CJ Elston, Isabella Didonna, Lilly Speier, Aaron Streit and Aiden Theobald. No Yes, a light case Yes, two or more light cases One serious case Two or more serious bouts Vote View Results LE SSERAFIM Japanese members Sakura and Kazuha were on a Japanese variety show name "The Music Day" promoting their debut song "Fearless" together when they were allegedly asked about the price of booking a room in a luxury hotel. The two members were taken aback and did not immediately react. Then, the host continued with his questions, becoming more and more absurd. What were his follow-up questions that angered many LE SSERAFIM fans? Read on! Were LE SSERAFIM Sakura and Kazuha Sexually Harassed? In a YouTube video containing the event, it was said that the two were together when they appeared on a Japanese variety show. After hearing the shocking question, the two nervously answered that they did not know. This is where it became more shocking and upsetting for many LE SSERAFIM fans, FEARNOTs. The Japanese male host did not stop asking them about it. He asked why the two did not know. He continued saying that they must have known because they must have gone with their boyfriends. Then, he still continued egging the two with unfathomable questions like: "Why are you acting as if you don't know?" FEARNOTs Angry At The Japanese Host To this, LE SSERAFIM fans were angered by the Japanese host. Even non-fans were displeased at the questions asked. In a PANN article, the poster said that if that man was a Korean host, he would be easily criticized by many netizens.. Many of the comments agreed with the post saying Japanese variety shows are such weird shows and even weirder for allowing men to ask these types of questions to their guests. The PANN comments were of mixed reactions as some thought that the two might be used to it as they are Japanese themselves. "Anyways, they're both Japanese." "It's not like our country's members heard this, people from that country all do stuff like that to each other... There's no need for our country to know what is happening in their country." Other comments simply stated that it is usual with female idols and the two were treated as such. "That man is talking to them more like they were AKB members than Korean idols" However, others noticed that Japan does not really value women as much as men because of questions like these. "Japan d**n has low women's rights" "Are they not swearing at them when they talk like that over there..? Whether you're a man or a woman, people nobody would be able to talk like that because of the backlash they'd get online." The same goes with international K-pop fans' reactions. They find the act horrible and condemn the male Japanese host. Many fans also mentioned that Japanese men do not see women as their equal and that sexual harassment is rampant in the country. What do you think of this situation? KpopStarz owns this article. Written by Jaswin Singh Mumbai, September 19: Global hospitality services platform Oyo has filed addendum to its earlier submitted draft red herring prospectus to market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India on Monday. This additional information is expected to help investors in taking better and well-informed decisions regarding its public issue. OYO has around 1.68 lakh storefronts across more than 35 countries that benefit from its platform. While OYO has a global footprint, its core growth markets comprise India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Europe. OYO's share of the total addressable market in its core growth markets was less than one per cent creating significant opportunities for it to grow its footprint. OYO has significant opportunities as 88 per cent of global hotels are in the unorganised space. Delhi: 'Going To Meet PM Narendra Modi', Mentally Unstable Teenager Who Went Missing Tells Police. Faced with challenges that emanated from the Covid-19 pandemic, the company implemented a number of measures, including accelerated adoption of technology and products to reduce operating costs, and repositioning its services offerings. As a result of various initiatives that the company took, its adjusted gross profit margin improved from 9.7 per cent in fiscal 2020 to 33.2 per cent in fiscal 2021 along with approximately 79 per cent reduction in its EBITDA losses from fiscal 2020 to 2021 despite the pandemic. EBITDA further narrowed and reported its maiden positive during the first quarter of the current fiscal, driven by an increase in the overall Gross Booking Value (GBV) while also improving the company's per unit business economics. The EBITDA during the quarter was Rs 7 crore (USD 1 million). Coming to the company's EBITDA margins, it has risen to 0.5 per cent in Q1 2022-23 from (-) 44 per cent in 2021 and (-) 9.9 per cent in 2022. Delhi: Vietnam-Bound Passenger Carrying Medicines Worth Over Rs 90 Lakh Held at IGI Airport. The biggest shift in the financials appears to be in the monthly gross bookings value per hotel, with a 47 per cent growth in Q1 FY23 to Rs 3.25 lakh as against Rs 2.21 lakh for fiscal 2022. This increase in booking values could somewhat be attributed to the recovery in travel demand due to the easing of travel and domestic movement restrictions in the markets where it operates. "The performance in the ongoing quarter seems to indicate another EBIDTA positive quarter. OYO may be able to generate positive free cash flow by the end of this fiscal if the revenue growth continues at the same or higher pace and the control on costs that OYO has been able to achieve continues." a source close to the company told ANI. "The key markets which need to perform to accomplish this are India, Northern Europe, Indonesia and Malaysia," the source added. Emerging from the impact of the once in a century pandemic, OYO's revenue from operations has seen an uplift of 21 per cent to Rs 47,814 million in financial year 2022 from Rs 39,616 million in 2021 on account of revival in hospitality sector. OYO's strong foothold in its core markets of India and South Asia played a critical role in its resurgence over the last quarter. Converting huge revenue potential across online demand channels in these markets has been one of the main growth drivers for the company. The revenue growth momentum continued during Q1 of the current fiscal as it reported revenue worth Rs 14,593 million during the period. Further, the company's adjusted gross profit margin, an indicator of unit economics, has seen a steady uptick from 33.2 per cent in FY21 to 40.1 per cent in FY22 to 41.3 per cent in Q1 FY23. While the race to profitability is a slow process, many startups are now doing away with high-cash burning models, and defining their paths to break evens. In October last year, OYO had filed its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) for its initial public offering of around Rs 8,430 crore (USD 1.2 billion) with the market regulator. According to the DRHP document, the proceeds from the public issues will be utilised for prepayment or repayment, in part, of certain borrowings availed by its subsidiaries, funding organic and inorganic growth initiatives, and general coporate purposes. Founded in 2012 by young entrepreneur Ritesh Agarwal, one of India's unicorn firm OYO is a leading new-age technology platform empowering the large global hospitality ecosystem. (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], September 19 (ANI/NewsVoir): India-headquartered global Ayurveda platform, 'The Ayurveda Experience', today is the largest Digital Platform to promote a vast range of Ayurveda-based products in North America, Australia, and Europe with a growing presence in India. With a range of personal care products for Skin, Hair, Body care, Health supplements and food and beverages, and even educational courses, the company has been marketing to the US, Canada, and Australia for over half a decade and now also has presence across Europe and the UK. Founded by Rishabh Chopra in 2010, this Ayurveda-based conglomerate-in-the-making has since progressed to serve more than 600,000 customers globally. Its revenue crossed INR 190 crores in the last 12 months and the sales surged more than 44 per cent across several categories that the company operates in, such as skin care, body care, hair care, and food supplements in FY22 compared to FY21 making the demand for its high-performance ayurvedic products exceedingly evident. For the current fiscal year, The Ayurveda Experience is currently on a revenue run rate of about Rs 240 crores. Also Read | iPhone 14 Pro Users Complain of Shaking Camera in Third-Party Apps Like TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat. Through thoughtful and impactful advertising and education efforts, The Ayurveda Experience has managed to achieve an unprecedented feat - more people visit The Ayurveda Experience website in North America and Australia than search for Ayurveda keywords. Over 97.5 per cent of product sales are generated from its own, fully-owned platforms operating in several countries. Its custom-designed and highly efficient content-based communication has popularized Ayurveda around the world to a large set of audiences, primarily those who were not even aware of Ayurveda before! "We are trying to solve certain key issues in taking Ayurveda global which include educating global audiences on Ayurveda, solving for digital and offline distribution, making products compliant with the laws of several countries, ensuring the highest standard of herbs as well as final product standardization, and most importantly, efficacy. Ayurveda is about being the best version of yourself, about living the most optimum life you can possibly live from a mental, physical and overall health perspective. What could be a more productive cause to work on? This is what keeps us motivated to come to work every day, to spread awareness, products, and services of this most meaningful gift of India to the world," says Rishabh Chopra, Founder & CEO, The Ayurveda Experience. Also Read | India vs Australia 1st T20I 2022 Preview: Likely Playing XIs, Head-to-Head Records, Key Battles and More You Need To Know About IND vs AUS Cricket Match in Mohali. The Ayurveda Experience has been able to marry the best of Ayurveda, analytics, technology, R&D, and international regulatory compliance to create an extremely holistic consumer experience. Call it a perfect blend of ancient wisdom and modern technology, where the range of Ayurveda-based products are specially curated to meet the needs of modern customers, who are keen to explore authentic and effective natural alternatives to wellness. In line with this, The Ayurveda Experience has an expansive range of offerings ranging from skin, body, and hair care, F&B products, health supplements, as well as educational videos and courses. iYURA, The Ayurveda Experience's flagship brand in North America, Australia and Europe is the first and probably the only brand in the world to take traditional folk art and present it as the core of the brand's identity in global markets. iYURA products are adorned with original hand-made artworks created by local Madhubani artists, turned into striking product packaging by the company. Not only does this support local folk artists, but this also helps the brand represent India's authentic, true cultural heritage and bring more of its hidden gems to light, globally. Their other brands include Ajara, a range of ayurveda-inspired skincare. Modernica Naturalis, offering a range of modern Ayurvedic skincare, luxe bath, and body care products free of harmful chemicals, and the Ayuttva range of F&B products. From authentic, traditional Ayurvedic oils to body lotions, and serums to medicated hair care and skin care products to functional nutrition bars and snacks, The Ayurveda Experience is a one-stop shop for all things Ayurveda! Being authentic to the roots is a prominent factor playing a role in India-based brands creating a credible image across the globe. The Ayurveda Experience is an Ayurvedic health and wellness platform and house of brands headquartered in Gurugram, India with four Ayurveda brands in Skin care, Body care, Personal Care, Food & Beverages, Supplements, and Education - iYURA, A. Modernica, Ajara, and Ayuttva. The Ayurveda Experience is the largest global house of Ayurveda brands and the most prominent (both in terms of size and visitors) Ayurveda-focused platform in North America, Europe, and Australia. Over 600,000 customers have enjoyed their products and services from over 150 countries worldwide. The Ayurveda Experience's holding company, Transformative Learning Solutions was started in 2010 and the team has always been driven about taking the best ideas of India to the world. This story has been provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content in this article. (ANI/NewsVoir) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Prayagraj (UP), Sep 19 (PTI) A student protesting against the fee hike at Allahabad University attempted a self-immolation bid here on Monday. The act was foiled by the timely intervention of the police deployed on the spot. Also Read | Ambuja Cements Shares Jump Over 9% After Rs 20,000 Crore Fund Infusion Announcement in Company. Superintendent of Police (City) Santosh Kumar Meena said, "Adarsh Bhadoria who was one of the students staging protest, attempted self immolation inside the university campus." He was stopped from doing so and detained, he said. Also Read | Delhi Shocker: Husband Slits Wife's Throat With Knife on Suspicion of Extra-Marital Affair in Maujpur, Arrested. The police later cleared the area and removed the protestors from the site. Meena said the university administration has lodged a complaint against some people including university students for disturbing peace inside the campus. Police have lodged a case regarding the incident and initiated an investigation. The students of the university are reportedly protesting against an alleged 400 times fee hike at the university. (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, Sep 19 (PTI) BJP president JP Nadda on Monday met top leadership of RSS, including its chief Mohan Bhagwat at Udasin Ashram here, Sangh's temporary office, sources said on Monday. The closed door meeting between Nadda and Sangh's top leadership came a day after all the seven top functionaries of RSS, including five joint general secretaries, held deliberations on several ideological and prevailing issues, they said. Also Read | Dasara 2022: APSRTC To Operate 1,081 Special Buses From September 29 to October 10 To Clear Festival Rush. The meeting comes close on the heels of major organisational changes in the BJP, including dropping of its senior leader and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, from the party's parliamentary board, its top decision making body. Earlier this month, Nadda had also attended the three-day RSS coordination meeting in Raipur where issues related to social harmony, economy and national security were discussed. Also Read | Odisha: Couple Found Hanging on Separate Trees in Kandhamal Forest; Suicide Suspected Over Family Dispute. The meeting also assumes significance as it is being held just months before assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. The BJP is also looking to make several organisational appointments and changes. Udasin Ashram is being used as a temporary office by Sangh, as its office 'Keshav Kunj' at Jhandewalan is being again constructed. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Patna, Sept 19 (PTI) Two days after the CBI sought the cancellation of a bail granted to Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav in the IRCTC scam, the RJD leader on Monday iterated that "all central investigation agencies -- CBI, Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Income Tax -- were free to open their offices at his residence". He also claimed that the BJP, "having lost all credibility", was now trying to use central agencies to corner him as the party "fears losing 2024 Lok Sabha polls". Also Read | Who Will Become Next Congress President? From Ashok Gehlot to Shashi Tharoor and Sachin Pilot, Here's a List of Potential Candidates. "I had made this offer to the central investigation agencies earlier too. I am telling them (CBI, ED and IT) again that they can open their offices at my homeit would be convenient for them (officials). I have always cooperated with the CBI," quipped Yadav in reply to questions from journalists over CBI moving a Delhi court seeking cancellation of the bail granted to the deputy CM. The scam pertains to alleged irregularities in awarding operational contract of two Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) hotels to a private firm. Also Read | Kishor Samrite, Former Madhya Pradesh MLA, Arrested for Threatening to Blow Up Parliament. According to the CBI, the RJD leader, during a press conference held in Patna in August, had allegedly threatened its officers. In its plea before a Delhi court seeking cancellation of bail granted to Yadav in 2018, the CBI stated that the deputy CM had threatened the investigation officials, "thereby influencing the case". Yadav, who had arrived at the RJD office to propose that Jagdanand Singh be allowed to continue as the president of the party's state unit, alleged that the saffron party was "jittery" as the new Grand-Alliance government in Bihar, under the leadership of Nitish Kumar, was delivering on its promises. The BJP is scared of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. The reason behind CBI's move to seek cancellation of my bail is nothing but fear. People will reject BJP in 2024 as they failed to fulfil all promises made before the last polls. The formation of Mahagathbandhan' government in Bihar will have a national impact. BJP leaders have lost the credibility and trust of the electorate," he stated. Singh was the only one to file nomination for the post on Monday, the last day for the exercise. Talking about the leader, Yadav said, "He is like our guardian. And under his leadership, the party has been performing extremely well. We fought the last assembly polls in Bihar under his leadership and won the highest number of seats. He is one of the senior-most leaders of the party and believes in socialism." Singh, known to share close ties with RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav and his family, is a well-known Rajput leader from central Bihar who has strong influence over upper caste voters and farmers of the region. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Pilibhit (UP), Sep 19 (PTI) A Dalit girl, who was allegedly burnt after rape by two men in Madhotanda area here, succumbed to her injuries at a hospital in Lucknow on Monday, 12 days after the incident. Superintendent of Police (SP) Dinesh Kumar Prabhu said that the victim died during treatment at the King George Medical University hospital in Lucknow. The relatives took her body and left for their village after post mortem, he said. Also Read | Delhi High Court Proceeds Ex-Parte Against Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri, Anand Ranganathan, News Portal Swarajya With 2018 Contempt Case. Adequate police force has been deployed in the village as a precautionary measure. The officer said that on September 7, in a village in Madhotanda area, two men, Rajveer and Tarachand, entered the 16-year-old Dalit girl's house and raped her. Also Read | Monkeypox Spread in India: 14th Case of MPV Reported in the Country, 9th in Delhi, Say Official Sources. The accused then burnt the girl after pouring some inflammable oil over her. She was undergoing treatment in Lucknow. Prabhu said that the police had arrested both the accused within two hours. A charge of murder will now be added to the original FIR and the two accused will be tried under the Gangster Act, said police. (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], September 19 (ANI): The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday summoned senior Aam Adami Party (AAP) leader and Rajinder Nagar MLA Durgesh Pathak in the Delhi excise policy case. Taking to Twitter, Deputy CM Manish Sisodia said, "What does our MCD incharge has to do with Delhi govt's liquor policy? Is their target liquor policy or MCD elections?" Also Read | Instagram Rewards Jaipur Student Neeraj Sharma With Rs 38 Lakh for Finding a Bug, Saving Users From Getting Hacked. Notably, Pathak is the party's in-charge of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) polls. Notably, the central agencies are probing the Delhi excise policy case on the recommendation of Governor VK Saxena, following which the CBI raided Manish Sisodia's house earlier in August. Also Read | Rajasthan Shocker: Dog Tied to Car, Dragged Ruthlessly on Road by Doctor in Jodhpur; Case Registered (Watch Video). Saxena had claimed that Sisodia also extended financial favours to the liquor licensees much after the tenders had been awarded and thus caused huge losses to the exchequer. Sisodia was among 15 others booked in an FIR filed by the CBI. Excise officials, liquor company executives, dealers, some unknown public servants and private persons have been booked in the case. It was alleged that irregularities were committed including modifications in the excise policy and undue favours were extended to the license holders including waiver or reduction in licence fee, an extension of L-1 license without approval etc. The excise policy was passed in Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi Cabinet in the middle of the deadly Covid-19 pandemic in 2021. However, the Delhi government's version is that the policy was formulated to ensure the generation of optimum revenue, and eradicate the sale of spurious liquor or non-duty paid liquor in Delhi, besides improving user experience. A report on July 8 by Delhi's Chief Secretary established prima facie violations of GNCTD Act 1991, Transaction of Business Rules (ToBR) 1993, Delhi Excise Act 2009 and Delhi Excise Rules 2010. The Chief Secretary's report indicated substantively financial quid pro quo at the top political level and that the Delhi excise policy was implemented with the sole aim of benefitting private liquor barons for financial benefits to individuals at the highest rungs of the government leading up to Manish Sisodia. In the latest development in the case, ED on Friday conducted raids at Robin Distilleries. Earlier on September 6, raids were conducted in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Telangana, and Maharashtra. (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, Sep 19 (PTI) The Delhi government is planning to install over 5,000 kerbside charging points for electric vehicles on all major roads in the next three years, officials said on Monday. Dialogue and Development Commission of Delhi (DDCD) Vice Chairperson Jasmine Shah convened a meeting on the implementation of kerbside charging for EVs in Delhi. Also Read | Monkeypox Spread in India: 14th Case of MPV Reported in the Country, 9th in Delhi, Say Official Sources. According to officials, kerbside charging is an emerging concept globally wherein EVs can be charged while being parked on roadside kerbs using either street light lamp posts or through dedicated charging posts. Last month, the Delhi Government launched the three-year action plan for charging and swapping infrastructure in Delhi which set a target of 18,000 charging points. Also Read | Cheetahs in India: Previous Attempts To Breed Big Cats, Brought From Abroad, In India Including In Junagadh Zoo Were Unsuccessful, Say Officials. A key strategy to achieve this target is to deploy kerb side charging which leverages the existing civic and electrical infrastructure in Delhi for the installation of charging points, they said. In the meeting, it was decided that Kerb-side charging will leverage lamp posts and substation spaces which have or are close to sites of on-street parking. The process will start with a pilot for 100 kerbside chargers spread equitably across all the three discoms. The pilot will be designed under the aegis of DDC and discoms will take the lead in installation of chargers on PWD roads, officials said. The PWD has 1,400 km of roads in Delhi with approximately one lakh lamp posts. Post the pilot, the deployment will be scaled across the capital, theys aid. Kerbside charging will provide convenient options for the priority segment vehicle which comprises of two wheelers (2W) and three wheelers (3W), they said, adding that it will also play an important role for residential colonies which lack designated parking. It was also noted that globally, kerbside charging has been successful in cities like London and New York where 30 to 50 per cent of car users use street side parking during the night, officials said. The discoms will identify the road stretches where this pilot can start with deployment of 100 EV chargers. Delhi Transco Limited (DTL) will be the state nodal agency of operationalising the complete pilot along with the state EV cell of the Transport department, officials said. The Delhi government is looking to install more than 5,000 kerbside EV chargers in the next three years, they said. "Delhi will take the lead in setting up kerbside charging facilities for EVs on all major roads. Kerbside charging is another innovative concept that Delhi is bringing to provide 24x7 access of EV charging to 2W and 3W which have remained the priority segments for us," Shah said. (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, September 19: The Delhi government is all set to start its second phase of the Chandni Chowk redevelopment project. The first phase of the Chandni Chowk redevelopment project was completed in 2021. Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia held a meeting regarding the same with the officials of the departments on Monday and discussed the plan for the second phase. Under the second phase of the redevelopment project, the government aims to revive and beautify the historical architectural character of the buildings in the Chandni Chowk area. This will be done by maintaining the balance between historic and modern architectural designs. The project includes conservation of heritage structures as per original material and construction techniques, structural retrofitting, restoration and unification of facade of heritage structures, colour, and signage scheme for shops, lighting and facade illumination of shops and buildings, and interpretation of storyline of heritage structures on various spots by using plaques and QR codes to enhance the visitor experience. Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal Says Consumers Can Give Missed Call, Fill Form To Opt for Power Subsidy From Today; Check Details Here. While speaking about the project, Manish Sisodia said, ''The Delhi Government completed the first phase of the redevelopment of Chandni Chowk in 2021 and the response of the public to it was overwhelming". The first phase focused on decongesting the area and landscaping to improve the shopping experience for the visitors. "In the first phase, we focused on decongesting the area and landscaping to improve the shopping experience for the visitors. To further add to it, now the government will focus on reviving the architecture of historical buildings and shops in the area. This will enhance the look of Chandni Chowk and will provide a unique experience to the visitors'', Sisodia added. The Deputy Chief Minister added that in the present situation, Chandni Chowk has a blend of historic and modern architectural buildings which have emerged over the years, as per the requirements of the locals in the area. But to provide a unified look to the market, these buildings require a facelift. Talking about the implementation of the redevelopment plan Sisodia said, "Officials will ensure that no inconvenience is caused to the owners of local shops and historical buildings". ''Along with this, the government is also planning to revamp the roads of the Shahjahanabad area to provide a better shopping experience for visitors and a better opportunity to explore the cultural heritage of Delhi,'' he said. Arvind Kejriwal Alleges BJP Buying AAP MLAs To Break Bhagwant Manns Government in Punjab. In the first phase of redevelopment, the Delhi government revamped the 1.3 km stretch with red sandstone and granite pavement between the Red Fort and Fatehpuri Masjid. The landscaping of the 17th-century market was done and CCTVs were installed to ensure the safety of the visitors. In an attempt to make the market pedestrian-friendly, the stretch was declared a ''no-traffic zone'' for motorized vehicles between 9:00 am and 9:00 pm. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Dehradun (Uttarakhand) [India], September 19 (ANI): The number of dengue cases in Uttarakhand has crossed the mark of 500, informed the state Directorate of Medical Health and Family Welfare on Monday. "Guidelines have been issued to all districts for preventing the spread of dengue. So far, dengue cases are reported in five districts in the state," said in-charge Secretary Health Dr R Rajesh Kumar. Also Read | PM @narendramodi to Address Mann Ki Baat on September 25, Sunday at 11 AM. @mannkibaat Latest Tweet by Prasar Bharati News Services. He further said that the number of dengue patients is increasing rapidly in Dehradun and Haridwar. As per the official data, there are 295 cases in the Dehradun district so far followed by 123 in Haridwar. Also Read | Delhi: 'Going To Meet PM Modi', Says Mentally Unstable Teenager Who Went Missing, Police Hands Him Over to Parents. Earlier, the Uttarakhand Government had directed all chief medical officers to prevent the spread of dengue. Speaking to ANI, Kumar had said that all chief medical officers (CMO) have been instructed to prevent dengue cases in the state. He said that if the cases of dengue increase in any district, then the CMO will be directly responsible. Kumar had said, "The cases of dengue have been reported in Dehradun, Pauri and Haridwar districts of the state but now the situation is under control. So far 300 cases of dengue have been reported in the state." The official said that in view of dengue, all the schools in the state have been instructed to allow the children to enter the school only after wearing full-sleeved shirts. According to the World Health Organization, dengue is one of the fastest emerging infections and is currently the most rapidly spreading mosquito-borne viral disease known. (ANI) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Gurugram, Sep 19 (PTI) A 34-year-old driver working with a private company was allegedly strangled to death by his acquaintance while they were drinking liquor together late Sunday night in Naharpur Rupa area. The father of the deceased alleged that he was killed over personal enmity. An FIR has been registered at Sadar police station, officials said Monday. Also Read | Monkeypox Spread in India: 14th Case of MPV Reported in the Country, 9th in Delhi, Say Official Sources. According to the police, the deceased was identified as Narender alias Vicky, a resident of Shiv colony, Naharpur Rupa. He was working as a driver with a private company and was a father of two. On Monday morning, his body was found lying in bushes near a trailer parking in Transport Nagar after which police reached the spot. Also Read | Cheetahs in India: Previous Attempts To Breed Big Cats, Brought From Abroad, In India Including In Junagadh Zoo Were Unsuccessful, Say Officials. According to the complaint filed by Ramsharan alias Billu, father of the deceased, his neighbor Naresh alias Kalu had enmity with his family. My son Deepak has been missing for around five months and the wife of Naresh alias Kalu was also missing at the same time. "Naresh has doubts that his wife eloped with my son Deepak. To take revenge Naresh alias Kalu murdered my son Narender," the father alleged. Following the complaint, an FIR has been registered against Naresh alias Kalu under sections 302 (murder), and 201 (hiding evidence) of IPC at Sadar police station. We kept the body in the mortuary and a postmortem will be conducted by tomorrow by a board of doctors. Prima facie, he was strangled to death. We are on job and the accused will be arrested soon, said Sandeep Balhara, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Sadar. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Mumbai, Sep 19 (PTI) The Bombay High Court on Monday rejected the bail plea filed by Delhi University's associate professor Hany Babu, an accused in the 2017 Elgar Parishad case, noting prima facie allegations against him were true and that he was an active and prominent member of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist). Also Read | On Indias Assistance to Sri Lanka During Economic Crisis, Sri Lankan High Commissioner Latest Tweet by ANI. A division bench of Justices N M Jamdar and N R Borkar said the appeal filed by 54-year-old Babu, arrested in July 2020 in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, against the special court order refusing him bail was dismissed. Also Read | Delhi Shocker: Husband Slits Wifes Throat with Knife in Suspicious of Extra-Marital Affair in Maujpur, Arrested. "....we find that there are reasonable grounds for believing that the accusations against the Appellant are prima facie true," the judgment said. "The documents submitted by the NIA and the facts unearthed during the investigation, based on which we must proceed at this stage, show that the Appellant (Babu) is an active and prominent member of the CPI (Maoist) Party," the court said. The bench noted Babu was not just a passive, but an active member of this outfit. The court, while referring to communication between the accused persons, refers to comrades proposing to take concrete steps to end the 'Modi Raj'. It is stated that 'we' are thinking along the lines of another 'Rajiv Gandhi-type incident', and targeting 'his' road shows could be an effective strategy. "We find that there are reasonable grounds for believing that the accusations of the NIA against the Appellant having conspired, attempted, advocated and abetted the commission of a terrorist act/s and the act/s of preparatory to the commission of a terrorist act, are prima facie true," the court said. It added the CPI (Maoist) party was designated as a terrorist organisation and was working to establish a people's government through violent means in an armed struggle. It wants to undermine and seize power from the State, the court said. "The Appellant, along with other accused, are working for different mass organisations to further the activities of the CPI (Maoist) Party. The CPI (Maoist) Party has chalked out a detailed strategy for the furtherance of its role to overthrow the lawful Government, and the same strategy and tactics are adopted by the accused and the Appellant," the order said. The objective of this outfit was to overthrow the Government by the use of weapons and to mobilise armed unrest. "Pursuant to the larger conspiracy to seize power from the State, the members of the police and armed forces have been made targets and killed, and also the conspiracy refers to elimination of constitutional functionaries. The Appellant is not merely a sympathiser with this organisation," the bench said. The HC added that the 2017 Elgar Parishad conclave in Pune was used to establish underground contact with the banned CPI (Maoist) through its activists working in Delhi, including Babu. "The appellant was fully entrenched in the activities of the CPI (Maoist) Party, a banned organisation, and the Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF), also a banned organisation," the bench said. The court also refused to accept Babu's contention that no terrorist act was committed in the present case. "There is sufficient material against the Appellant at this stage of being involved in the core activities of the terrorist organisation," it said. Babu gained expertise in the activities of the terrorist organisation, and the correspondence between the other accused showed that he was a trustworthy member of the terrorist organisation who can be entrusted with important tasks, the HC said. The National Investigation Agency (NIA), conducting a probe into the case, has accused Babu of being a co-conspirator in propagating Maoist activities and ideology on the instructions of leaders of the banned CPI (Maoist) organisation. Hany Babu was arrested on July 28, 2020, in the case and is currently lodged at the Taloja prison in neighbouring Navi Mumbai. He approached the HC in June this year, challenging an order of the special NIA court here, which rejected his bail plea earlier this year. Babu, in his plea, said the special court had "erred" in holding that there existed prima facie incriminating material against him. In his petition filed through advocates Yug Chaudhary and Payoshi Roy, Babu said while the NIA had cited a letter speaking of a conspiracy to kill Prime Minister Narendra Modi as evidence in the case, the alleged letter did not incriminate him. There existed no evidence to even suggest that he intended to or supported activities to cause disaffection against India, the plea said. The NIA had opposed the bail plea, arguing that Babu actively participated in activities to promote Naxalism and wanted to overthrow the government. Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Anil Singh, appearing for the NIA, had claimed Babu was a member of the banned outfit CPI (Maoist) and the prosecution seized material from his laptop to show he was in constant contact with other accused in the case. Babu wanted to promote and expand Naxalism and was a part of the conspiracy to wage a war against India by overthrowing the elected government, Singh said. He along with others wanted to set up "Janata Sarkar" ie people's government by armed struggle, Singh had told the court. ASG Singh had also argued that Babu used to train other members of the proscribed outfit on how to avoid phone tapping. (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, Sep 19 (PTI) The Delhi Police has busted a fake visa racket and arrested three men who allegedly duped people on the pretext of sending them abroad, officials said on Monday. The accused -- Amit Gaur (36), Chandan Chaudhary (42) and Nitin Nagra (44) -- were involved in arranging fake visas, travel documents and other documents, they said. Also Read | Sebastian Coe Explains How He Sold Queen Elizabeth's James Bond Act to Princes Anne. According to police, the matter came to light after a man named Gurnoor Singh alleged that Gaur contacted him via social media to give references of clients for tourist and study visa of Australia. Also Read | Gurugram Shocker: Woman Dies Under Suspicious Circumstances in Badshahpur, Kin Allege Dowry Harassment. He induced the complainant with his connections following which Singh referred five students from his institute to the accused for Australian tourist visa. A sum of Rs 18 lakh was given to the accused and his associates to process the visa. The accused provided five tourist visas in the name of students. Later, when the visas were verified from the embassy, all of them were found to be fake, police said. Deputy Commissioner of Police (IGI Airport) Tanu Sharma said Gaur was apprehended on September 11. During interrogation, he disclosed that he came in contact with Nitin, Manjeet, and Vijay through a commission agent -- Chandan in 2017, who specialized in making fake visas and other travelling documents, the officer said. "During interrogation, it was found that Nitin, Manjeet and Vijay were masterminds of the syndicate. They were constantly providing fabricated documents to agents operating in Punjab and Haryana," she said. Raids were conducted at possible hideouts of Nitin who also continuously kept changing his locations. His call details were minutely scrutinized and the team zeroed on his movement in Delhi, she added. "Our team arrested Nitin on September 13," the officer said. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Ahmedabad, Sep 19 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Tuesday virtually inaugurate the two-day 'National Mayors' Conference' to be held in Gujarat capital Gandhinagar, a Bharatiya Janata Party leader said. Also Read | KSP Recruitment 2022: Application Begins For Over 3400 Armed Police Constable Posts At ksp-recruitment.in; Here's How to Apply. As many as 121 mayors and deputy mayors of BJP-ruled urban local bodies across the country will participate in this two-day event, which is being organised by the party's 'sushasan (good governance) cell, BJP national secretary Rituraj Sinha said. Also Read | Ambuja Cements Shares Jump Over 9% After Rs 20,000 Crore Fund Infusion Announcement in Company. "PM Modi will (virtually) inaugurate the National Mayors' Conference on Tuesday morning by delivering his address. He will guide the invited guests on urban development. This conference is being organised by the good governance or sushasan cell of the BJP," Sinha told reporters in Gandhinagar. BJP national president JP Nadda will also attend the inaugural ceremony, while others who will take part over two days include Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri, he said. "Fadnavis will share his vision for urban development and Puri will brief the guests about various government schemes for urban local bodies. In all, mayors, deputy mayors and other elected representatives of 18 states and union territories will participate in this conference and share their views on topics like waste management, traffic management and water-logging etc," Sinha informed. Mayors of Surat, Indore, Kanpur and Panaji will brief the audience about the work they have done in waste management, cleanliness and increasing revenue, among others, Sinha added. (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), September 19 (ANI): In line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision to move significant events and festivities out of the national capital, the Indian Army has decided to shift its annual Army Day parade out of Delhi and will hold it next year in the Southern Command area. "Indian Army has decided to shift the annual Army Day Parade held on January 15 in Delhi outside the national capital. Army Day parade of 2023 will be held in the Southern Command area," Indian Army officials told ANI. Also Read | KSP Recruitment 2022: Application Begins For Over 3400 Armed Police Constable Posts At ksp-recruitment.in; Here's How to Apply. The Indian Air Force (IAD) had also recently moved out its annual fly-past and parade from the Hindon Air Base near Delhi to Chandigarh this year. Army officials said the parade would now be held at different locations on a rotational basis and the venue would be changed every year. Also Read | Ambuja Cements Shares Jump Over 9% After Rs 20,000 Crore Fund Infusion Announcement in Company. In the last eight years, the Prime Minister has started hosting foreign dignitaries in different cities like Ahmedabad and Chennai. Many events like the military exhibition Defexpo are being held in other states. The aim is to foster a deeper connect with the people across the country and bring governance closer to the masses. (ANI) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 19 (PTI) Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan is likely to meet the media on Monday at the Raj Bhavan where he is expected to release some documents and video clippings. Also Read | Karnataka Shocker: Couple Dies by Suicide Using Same Saree in Salakunte Village. Khan had a day ago invited the media to the Raj Bhavan here amidst an ongoing war of words between him and Kerala's LDF government over several issues connected to the functioning of varsities in the state. Also Read | Uttar Pradesh Shocker: Jilted Lover, His Parents Held for Murder of 21-Year-Old Woman. The Governor, on Sunday, had said he would release to the media letters written by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to him assuring that there will be no interference from the government in the affairs of the universities in the state. He had also said he would put out some video clips, which are probably of the heckling incident he faced at Kannur University in December 2019 when he went there to inaugurate the Indian History Congress. According to Khan, the heckling he faced there was part of a conspiracy to frighten him into not speaking in public and Vijayan had allegedly told the police not to lodge a case in connection with that incident. (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, Sep 19 (PTI) The 'Make Rahul Gandhi AICC president again' chorus is growing louder in the Congress with half a dozen state units so far seeking his elevation to the top post, even as uncertainty and suspense persisted over whether he would take on the mantle. After Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Gujarat units of the Congress passed resolutions that Gandhi should be made party chief, the party's Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Bihar units also followed suit on Monday. Also Read | KSP Recruitment 2022: Application Begins For Over 3400 Armed Police Constable Posts At ksp-recruitment.in; Here's How to Apply. This comes days after the party said the Pradesh Congress Committee delegates would pass resolutions authorising the incoming Congress president to appoint state chiefs and AICC delegates. Along with the resolution on appointing state chiefs and AICC delegates, the state units are, one after another, also passing resolutions seeking Gandhi's elevation to the top post. Also Read | Ambuja Cements Shares Jump Over 9% After Rs 20,000 Crore Fund Infusion Announcement in Company. It started with Congress units in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, the only two states where the party is in government on its own. Also, the Gujarat Congress on Sunday demanded that Rahul Gandhi be made the party's national president. The Tamil Nadu Congress Committee on Monday adopted a unanimous resolution urging Rahul Gandhi to lead the party "for the victory of secular, democratic forces" in the 2024 Lok Sabha election. At the party's state general council meeting held in Chennai, a resolution proposed by TNCC President K S Alagiri, seeking Rahul Gandhi to assume the office of All India Congress Committee (AICC) President was passed unanimously. Bihar Congress and Maharashtra Congress also passed such resolutions. While some political analysts see the passing of such resolutions as an initiative to reaffirm loyalty to the Gandhi family, others see it as a genuine attempt to convince Rahul Gandhi to take on the party reins. Similar resolutions were passed in 2017 before Rahul Gandhi was elevated as the Congress president. He, however, stepped down in 2019 after the party's debacle in the Lok Sabha elections. Amid hectic efforts and appeals to convince him again take charge as the party president, Gandhi said earlier this month that he had made his decision on whether he would take up the party presidency but did not divulge his plans. He even asserted that he would give his reasons if he did not contest the upcoming election for the post. Gandhi's remarks were seen by many in the party as an indication that he might stick to his earlier stance of not taking up the party chief's post. With his cryptic remarks, the suspense over who would be the next president of the grand old party has intensified. Asked if he would become the Congress president, he had said, "Whether I become president or not, this will become very clear when the presidential elections of the Congress party take place." "Wait till that time and when that time comes, you will see, and if I don't stand, you can ask me then 'why didn't you stand' and I will answer the question for you," Gandhi had told reporters at a press conference in Kanyakumari. He, however, had asserted that he had "very clearly" decided what he was going to do. "There is no confusion in my mind at all." In case Rahul Gandhi does not contest, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot was being seen as a front-runner, while senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, who is among the G-23 leaders, was also contemplating running for the post of party president. Adding to the buzz over the possibility of his contesting Congress president polls, Tharoor on Monday endorsed a petition by a group of young party members seeking "constructive reforms" and met AICC chief Sonia Gandhi here. The petition shared by Tharoor on Twitter sought reforms and a pledge by AICC president candidates to implement the Udaipur Declaration in its entirety if elected. The former Union minister said it had been signed by over 650 people so far. "I welcome this petition that is being circulated by a group of young @INCIndia members, seeking constructive reforms in the Party. It has gathered over 650 signatures so far. I am happy to endorse it & to go beyond it," Tharoor tweeted with screenshots of the petition. Several senior Congress leaders have also emphasised that even if Gandhi did not become the party president, the Gandhi family would hold a position of pre-eminence in the party. Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Sunday favoured a consensus for the post of the AICC chief. He asserted that Rahul Gandhi would always have a "pre-eminent place" in the party irrespective of whether he was the president or not as he was the "acknowledged leader" of the rank and file. Senior party leader Jairam Ramesh has also batted for a "consensus" in selecting the new AICC chief and sought to uphold the "prominence" of the Nehru-Gandhi family in organisational matters in any sort of emerging situation. The notification for the Congress president's election will be out on September 22 and the process for filing nominations will be held from September 24 to 30. The last date for withdrawal of nominations is October 8 and the election, if required, will be held on October 17. The results will be out on October 19. (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], September 19 (ANI): Minister of state for home affairs Nityanand Rai on Monday attended the Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Brisbane from September 19 to 22. Delivering the opening remarks MoS Home Nityanand Rai thanked and appreciated the Government of Australia for organizing the Asia Pacific Summit and giving greater prominence to the Pacific region. Also Read | Joint Exercise Between @IndiaCoastGuard & @USCG Conducted off Chennai Today. The Latest Tweet by Prasar Bharati News Services. MoS Home Rai in the Ministerial conference further said, "We give great importance to the repulsive power of island nations and in this spirit our Prime Minister, Narendra Modi has launched the Infrastructure for Resilient Island States (IRIS) initiative under the Disaster Resilient Infrastructure Alliance with the Prime Ministers of Australia, UK, Fiji, Mauritius and Jamaica." "In the last seven years in India, we have reduced the mortality rate from weather-related incidents like heat waves and cyclones. We have embarked on an ambitious program to deliver an early warning to 1.3 billion people through the Common Warning Protocol. We are trying to achieve the goal through initiatives like CDRI," Rai said. Also Read | Sebastian Coe Explains How He Sold Queen Elizabeth's James Bond Act to Princes Anne. He further said that this is the third ministerial conference in our region since the adoption of the Sendai Framework. "We hosted the first Asian Ministerial Conference since the adoption of the Sendai Framework in 2016, Delhi. At the Delhi AMCDRR, our Hon'ble Prime Minister suggested a 10-point agenda for implementing the Sendai Framework," he added. "We are in the process of implementing the Sendai Framework and we are lagging behind in achieving the goals of the Sendai Framework. It becomes even more relevant to implement it," he added MoS Home Rai further said, "I hope that we will use this conference to re-energize our energies and indeed move forward with determination in achieving the goals of the Sendai Framework and in this regard, I would like to remind you that our Hon'ble Prime Minister mentioned specific points in 2016 that we need to refocus our attention on and move forward with more energy to achieve these goals." (ANI) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Bhopal, Sep 19 (PTI) Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has directed state officials to provide an assistance of Rs one crore to the family of Border Security Force soldier Girjesh Kumar Udde killed in a terror attack in Tripura last month. Also Read | Delhi Excise Policy Scam: Durgesh Pathak, AAP's MCD Elections In-Charge, Summoned by ED; Manish Sisodia Slams Probe Agency. Chouhan and Union minister Faggan Singh Kulaste met Udde's family members at the latter's native village Chargaon in MP's Mandla district on Sunday and described them as true patriots, a state government official said on Monday. Also Read | Markets Bounce Back After Falling in Early Trade, Sensex Rises 157.23 Points Higher. Udde was part of the BSF's 145th battalion's patrolling party that was attacked by terrorists on August 19, causing grievous injuries to him. He was later taken in a chopper to Agartala where he died, the official said. On Sunday, CM Chouhan met the soldier's family members including his wife Radha Devi. The chief minister assured that one of the family members will be given a government job. He directed Mandla Collector Harshika Singh to start the process of giving an assistance of Rs one crore to the martyred soldier's family, the official said. The CM said a government excellence school at Bijadandi in Mandla will be named after the soldier. Udde's statue will be installed in Chargaon and CM Chouhan also performed its foundation stone laying ceremony, the official said. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Bhopal, Sep 19 (PTI) Madhya Pradesh on Monday reported 20 COVID-19 cases at a positivity rate of 0.4 per cent, taking the state's tally to 10,54,085, a health official said. Also Read | Members of the Royal Family Including King Charles III Leave the Chapel to Go to Windsor Latest Tweet by ANI. The death toll remained unchanged at 10,771, while the recovery count increased by 30 to touch 10,43,144, he added. Also Read | Monkeypox Spread in India: 14th Case of MPV Reported in the Country, 9th in Delhi, Say Official Sources. The active caseload of the state was now 170, the official said. With 4,203 samples examined during the day, the number of coronavirus tests in MP went up to 30,00,0761, he added. A government release said 13,19,01,632 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered so far in MP, including 19,462 on Monday. Coronavirus figures in MP are as follows: Total cases 10,54,085, new cases 20, death toll 10,771, recoveries 10,43,144, active cases 170, number of tests so far 30,00,0761. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Mumbai, Sep 19 (PTI) The Nationalist Congress Party on Monday attacked the Centre and the Maharashtra government over the suicide of a farmer in Pune as well as handling of the lumpy virus disease in cattle. Also Read | Ambuja Cements Shares Jump Over 9% After Rs 20,000 Crore Fund Infusion Announcement in Company. Addressing reporters, NCP spokesperson Mahesh Tapase also slammed the Eknath Shinde and Devendra Fadnavis-led government over the delay in cabinet expansion. Shinde and Fadnavis had taken oath as chief minister and deputy chief minister on June 30. The first cabinet expansion, however, took place 41 days later on August 9. Also Read | Adultery Suspicion: Man Kills Wife by Slitting Her Throat in Delhis Maujpur, Arrested. "Dashrath Laxman Kedare, a farmer from Junnar (in Pune district) died by suicide on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's birthday (September 17). He blamed the Modi government for farmers in distress in the country. We condemn the Modi government. When an annadata (food provider) commits suicide, then the government has to give a justification for this, Tapase said. He also said the state government did not look committed to tackle the spread of lumpy skin disease, which has killed several thousand heads of cattle nationwide. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Palakkad (Kerala), Sep 19 (PTI) A leader of Islamic outfit Popular Front of India (PFI) was arrested on Monday in connection with the killing of an RSS leader in Kerala's Palakkad district in April this year, police said. Palakkad district secretary of PFI, Aboobaker Siddik, was arrested for allegedly hatching a conspiracy to kill RSS leader S K Srinivasan (45) on April 16. Also Read | Cheetahs in India: Previous Attempts To Breed Big Cats, Brought From Abroad, In India Including In Junagadh Zoo Were Unsuccessful, Say Officials. He was also allegedly part of a group of PFI activists who had prepared the list of leaders of various political organisations including the BJP, CPI(M) and Youth League -- the youth wing of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) -- to be targeted in their retaliatory attacks, a police officer told PTI. Rejecting the charges against Siddik, the PFI accused the CPI(M)-led LDF government of trying to hunt down its workers in the state as it was upset with the huge turnout in a rally organised by the PFI in Kozhikode recently. Also Read | Who Will Become Next Congress President? From Ashok Gehlot to Shashi Tharoor and Sachin Pilot, Here's a List of Potential Candidates. Over 20 people, who were workers of or affiliated to the PFI or its political offshoot Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), were arrested in connection with Srinivasan's killing. According to the police, Srinivasan was killed in retaliation for the murder of PFI leader Subair (43) on April 15. Srinivasan, a former district leader and office-bearer of RSS, was attacked by a six-member gang at his motorbike shop in Melamuri near here on April 16, barely 24 hours after Subair was hacked to death at Elappully in the district while he was returning home along with his father after offering prayers in a mosque on April 15 afternoon. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Chandigarh, Sep 19 (PTI) Punjab and Haryana governments have embarked on planning elaborate measures for tackling stubble burning issue in the two states ahead of winter, Four Punjab ministers on Monday got together with experts to formulate a strategy to deal with the stubble burning issue and safeguard the environment. Also Read | Dasara 2022: APSRTC To Operate 1,081 Special Buses From September 29 to October 10 To Clear Festival Rush. Agriculture Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, Higher Education and Environment Minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer, New and Renewable Energy Minister Aman Arora, and School Education Minister Harjot Bains chalked out a comprehensive plan which will begin from September 27 with a campaign to make farmers aware of the ill effects of paddy stubble burning and its management. Under the first phase of this campaign, college students will be enrolled and trained by experts on harmful effects of burning stubble a major cause of air pollution. and its absorption into the soil, the government said in a statement. Also Read | Odisha: Couple Found Hanging on Separate Trees in Kandhamal Forest; Suicide Suspected Over Family Dispute. After that, special training programmes will be conducted at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana on September 28 and Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar on September 29. These students will visit villages across the state to make people aware of the harmful effects of burning crop residue, the statement read. Meet Hayer said that industries which use paddy straw as fuel will be encouraged by the Punjab government. He said that the government is working on a module to make it mandatory for the brick kilns to use some percentage of paddy straw as fuel. The same module will be implemented in other industries also, he said. Dhaliwal said that a 15-day deadline has been extended to farmers to apply for subsidies on the Happy Seeder' machine so that a maximum number of them can plant wheat without burning the stubble. Happy Seeder machines have been provided to the agriculture block development officers to be used by marginal farmers free of cost. For the absorption of stubble into the soil without burning, the agriculture department will also spray 5,000 acres of D-decomposer solution in an experiment as a pilot project, said Dhaliwal. Additional Chief Secretary to Chief Minister A Venu Prasad and Additional Chief Secretary Agriculture Sarvjit Singh were also part of the meeting. Dhaliwal said that a massive awareness campaign is going to be launched from Punjabi University, Patiala, to sensitise the farmers not to burn stubble. On the same lines, Haryana government too has prepared a comprehensive plan to tackle the stubble burning issue. The state's New & Renewable Energy department has prepared a draft policy Haryana Ex-Situ Management of Paddy Straw Policy 2022' to this purpose. The policy was discussed in a meeting held under the chairmanship of chief secretary Sanjeev Kaushal here. Kaushal said that the decisions and suggestions taken in the meeting would be incorporated in the policy to be approved by the Chief Minister, an official statement said. He said that a district-wise mapping strategy for stubble demand has also been included in the policy. Kaushal said that the policy aims at creating a conducive environment to attract private investment in paddy straw-based biomass power projects, industries, compressed biogas plants, briquettes, pallets, waste to energy plants, brick-kilns, packaging materials and bio fuels etc. Apart from this, it will also aim to encourage the farmers to cut, bale, and store paddy straw produced in their fields and help them sell it for use in various projects. Through the policy, a link will be established between farmers and industries, gaushalas, and end-users for demand and supply management of crop residues. Also, emphasis will be laid on the use of stubble in power plants, industrial boilers, brick kilns or any other industrial, commercial or institutional establishments in the state. Promoting research in new technologies is also one of the main objectives of this policy. The chief secretary said that various strategies will be adopted to promote the use of stubble and biomass. (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], September 19 (ANI): A delegation of the Gurudwara Shri Bala Sahib Ji on Monday visited Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his residence to offer blessings and prasad of 'Akhand Paath' which was organised on the occasion of PM's birthday. The Gurudwara had organised an 'Akhand paath' which started on 15th September and culminated on 17th September on the occasion of Modi's birthday. This 'Akhand paath' was attended by thousands of Sikh devotees. Langer, Heath Camp and Blood donation camp were also organised by the Gurdwara on occasion. Also Read | Uttar Pradesh: Muslim Couple From US Ties Nuptial Knot in Kashi As Per Hindu Rituals. The Sikh delegation honoured the PM by tying a Pagdi and offering a Siropa. An ardas was also performed for the Prime Minister's long life and good health. Modi expressed his happiness at meeting the delegation and thanked them for their wishes and prayers for his well-being. He said that he was humbled and deeply touched by their gesture for making him feel a part of the Sikh Community. Also Read | Maharashtra: Man Held for Making Hoax Call About Bomb Blast in Mumbai. He reiterated the commitment of the government to working towards the welfare of the Sikh community continuously. During the meeting, the delegation also thanked the Prime Minister for initiatives taken by him for the honour and welfare of the Sikh community. They recounted several efforts done by the Prime Minister including declaring 26 December as "Veer Baal Divas", reopening the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor, removal of GST on langars run by gurdwaras, ensuring that the copies of Guru Granth Sahib reached India from Afghanistan, among others. (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], September 19 (ANI): Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal has levelled serious allegations against Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and asked him to clarify media reports of him being deplaned from a flight for being intoxicated. As per reports shared by Badal the flight was delayed for four hours. Also Read | Maharashtra: Man Held for Making Hoax Call About Bomb Blast in Mumbai. "Disturbing media reports quoting co-passengers say Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann was deplaned from a Lufthansa flight as he was too drunk to walk. And it led to a 4-hour flight delay. He missed AAP's national convention. These reports have embarrassed and shamed Punjabis all over the globe," tweeted Badal. He further slammed the Punjab government over their silence on the issue and sought clarifications on the incident. He also asked AAP leaders including party chief and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to come clean on the issue. Also Read | Bishnu Charan Sethi, Senior BJP Leader in Odisha, Dies Due to Kidney Related Ailments. "Shockingly, Punjab government is mum over these reports involving their CM Bhagwant Mann, Arvind Kejriwal needs to come clean on this issue. The government of India must step in as this involves Punjabi and national pride. If he was deplaned, the government of India must raise the issue with its German counterpart," he added. Earlier on August 31, a delegation, including Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal, submitted a memorandum to Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit and demanded a CBI inquiry into the state excise policy. The delegation alleged a scam in the policy. "There has been a scam in Punjab Excise Policy just like it happened in Delhi. Just like the Delhi LG has ordered an inquiry into the Excise Policy case, we demand a CBI inquiry along the same lines in Punjab," said Badal. "For the first time, profit in album license has been increased from 5 to 10. So, we have demanded a CBI inquiry," he added. Taking to Twitter, the SAD chief said that they have demanded CBI and ED probes in the Punjab excise policy. "Submitted a memorandum to Pb Governor and urged him to order CBI and ED probes in the Rs 500 crore scam committed by the AAP govt in Punjab through its "tailor-made" excise policy framed in line with Delhi policy, which has already been found illegal and case has been registered by CBI," he tweeted. The Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi is facing the heat over its now withdrawn excise policy, with the BJP taking on the Kejriwal government and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who heads the excise department. (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, Sep 19 (PTI) Union Culture Minister G Kishan Reddy on Monday virtually addressed the tourism ministers' meeting of BRICS countries and shared India's vision for green growth and sustainable development while working on multiple facets of tourism. The tourism ministers' of the other member countries -- Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa -- participated in the meeting and "adopted the communique on the theme green growth, sustainable development and resilient recovery", the tourism ministry said in a statement. Also Read | Bharat Jodo Yatra: Congress Invites Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, Tejashwi Yadav for Campaign. China took Presidency of the BRICS Council in 2022 from India. Monday's ministers' meeting was after "two levels of senior officers' meet held virtually in August and September," it said. During India's chairship of BRICS in 2021, key emphasis was put on sustainability, shift to renewable resources, job creation, encouraging green and sustainable tourism practices for accelerating tourism recovery, the statement said. Also Read | Sebastian Coe Explains How He Sold Queen Elizabeth's James Bond Act to Princes Anne. Reddy said India had launched the BRICS alliance for green tourism during BRICS chairship of India last year. "It promotes measures which can shape a more resilient, sustainable and inclusive tourism sector. It can accelerate the recovery and development of tourism on sustainable lines," it said. "India also attaches great importance to implementing the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and to promoting sustainable development in the tourism sector to address the challenges in environmental protection and climate change," it said. The ministry's approach is to focus on post-Covid growth and development of tourism sector and priority areas like cultural tourism, adventure tourism, MICE, medical, wellness tourism, and rural tourism, the statement said. This will also be reflected in India's SCO Presidency and G20 Presidency in 2022-23, it said. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Greater Noida (Uttar Pradesh) [India], September 19 (ANI): Three people were arrested, who were involved in selling weed to students using social media platforms, the police informed on Sunday. Abhishek Verma, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) of Greater Noida told ANI that the accused were using social media platforms like Telegram to supply drugs to the students. Also Read | NEP 2020 Recognises All Indian Languages As National Languages, Says Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. The accused have been identified as Bhanu, Adhiraj and Sonu Kumar. "Many students reside in Delhi-NCR and Gautam Buddha Nagar area. The arrested people used the students as their buyers. They used to run a telegram group which had around 250-300 members. The payments for these drugs were made in cryptocurrency. Their account statements show around 12-14 lakh worth of transactions over the year. The three arrested are namely Bhanu, Adhiraj and Sonu Kumar," DCP Verma said. Also Read | Delhi: Four Members of Notorious Family of Thieves, Known As 'Chor Parivar', Held for Stealing Rs 1 Crore Jewellery. DCP Verma further informed that the drugs were imported from outside and Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) would also be involved in tracking the international links to the case. "We have seized around 960 grams of Original Grower (OG) California weed which is worth Rs 96 lakh in the market. we have also seized some pills and other equipment. This drug is grown in California and has been imported through international routes for trafficking. They were supplying drugs not just in Delhi-NCR but in many other states as well. We are tracking their route and looking at who else is involved. We are looking at further links and also the cryptocurrency links with the case. We will also notify the postal companies about the negligence. NCB will also be involved in controlling the international trafficking market," DCP Verma added. (ANI) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Lucknow, September 19: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday directed the administration to be on alert, following the increase in the water level of the Kuano river at Chandradeep Ghat. Yogi instructed the officials of Gonda, Basti, Ambedkar Nagar, Sant Kabir Nagar, Gorakhpur, Azamgarh, Deoria, Mau, Ballia, and Ayodhya to be on alert in view of the possible threat of floods. Karnataka Shocker: Couple Dies by Suicide Using Same Saree in Salakunte Village. Notably, the river at Chandradeep Ghat has crossed the danger mark. Instructions have been given to the District Magistrates and Senior Superintendents of Police (SSP), and Superintendents of Police (SP) of these districts to make systematic arrangements for the safety, rescue and relief of people in villages and cities. Earlier on Friday also, in view of heavy rainfall and waterlogging in various parts of Lucknow, the administration issued an advisory for the residents of the city, advising them to not leave the house until it is indispensable. The necessary guidelines were issued for the safety and well-being of the residents of Lucknow as there is an alert for more rainfall till September 17. In the advisory, the administration has advised the residents of the city not to leave the house until it is indispensable and to beware of old dilapidated buildings and to avoid going to crowded and traffic jam areas. Residents are also advised to take care of their health and only drink boiled water and use bleaching powder and chlorine tablets from the nearest health centre. The advisory also mentioned staying away from open sewers, electric wires and poles and contacting Municipal Corporation Control Room for any civic problem like water logging, tree fall etc. Uttar Pradesh Shocker: Jilted Lover, His Parents Held for Murder of 21-Year-Old Woman. Helpline number 1912 for electrical breakdown etc. In case of any medical emergency, contact the Chief Medical Officer, Lucknow Control Room at 0522-2622080. Also, an integrated Control Command Center number for any other problem was also listed in the advisory--Register a problem on 0522- 4523000. Government hospitals, Public and community health centres (PHCs) and (CHCs) are advised to stay on high alert. Also ensuring arrangements for treatment of trauma management, snakebite, electric shock and water-borne diseases at your hospitals. Officers and employees posted in emergency services were also advised to be present on duty. Arrangement of medicines, patient vehicles etc, should also be ensured. The Head of Office /Competent Officer of private offices is advised to take appropriate decision regarding declaring a holiday from his level. The advisory was released after nine people died and as many as two were injured after a wall collapsed in Lucknow due to heavy rainfall in the area in the last 24 hours. Meanwhile, all injured in the accident were rushed to Civil Hospital for treatment, where doctors informed them that their condition is stable. After the incident, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath took cognizance of the accident and expressed his condolences to the bereaved families. CM Yogi has also instructed to release a relief amount of Rs 4 lakh to the families of the deceased. He also instructed for proper treatment of all the injured. Instructions were given to give relief amounts to all the kin of the dead from the disaster relief fund. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Saharanpur (UP), Sep 19 (PTI) A 70-year-old man was allegedly strangled by his grandson here on Monday after he refused to give him money to buy drugs, police said. Piruva, a farmer, was found dead at his house in Sadhauli village in the morning, Superintendent of Police (rural) Suraj Rai told PTI. Also Read | Delhi Shocker: Husband Slits Wifes Throat with Knife in Suspicious of Extra-Marital Affair in Maujpur, Arrested. According to the complaint, on Sunday night the elderly's grandson, Sonu, asked him for money to buy drugs after which the two had an altercation. Following this, Sonu strangled his grandfather with a rope and fled from the spot, the SP said. Also Read | Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann Calls Special Assembly Session On September 22 to Conduct Floor Test. The family alleged that Sonu is addicted to drugs and often used to ask for money from Piruva, police said. The SP said the accused was arrested from a nearby bus stand and a case has been registered against him. The body has been sent for post-mortem, he said, adding further investigation is underway. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Nagpur, Sep 19 (PTI) A 3-year-old boy died after he fell into a sewage pit in Suradevi village in Nagpur's Koradi area, a police official said on Monday. Also Read | How to Remove Leaked MMS, Videos and Photos From Social Media or Website? Know Steps Here. The incident took place on Sunday morning when Aryan Dudhbarve was playing near the pit dug as part of the construction of a house, he added. Also Read | UPSC CAPF Result 2022 Declared at upsc.gov.in; Know Steps To Check Score. An accidental death case has been registered and probe for alleged negligence was underway, the Koradi police station official said. (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, Sep 19 (PTI) Mining mogul Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta Resources' credit profile will unlikely be weighed down by the group's planned Rs 1.54 lakh crore foray into semiconductor manufacturing, S&P Global Ratings said on Monday. "This is because the company has reiterated that the USD 20 billion related investment will be carried out outside of Vedanta Resources. The business will be undertaken in a separate entity under Vedanta Resources' holding company Volcan Investments Ltd," it said. Also Read | UPSC CAPF Result 2022 Declared at upsc.gov.in; Know Steps To Check Score. Vedanta and its partner and Taiwanese electronics manufacturing giant Foxconn last week signed a pact with the Gujarat government for setting up a semiconductor factory in Gujarat. Semiconductor chips, or microchips, are essential pieces of many digital consumer products - from cars to mobile phones and ATM cards. Also Read | Cheetahs Back in India After Seven Decades: What Are Major Differences Between a Cheetah, Leopard and Jaguar?. The Indian semiconductor market was valued at USD 27.2 billion in 2021 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of nearly 19 per cent to reach USD 64 billion in 2026. But none of these chips is manufactured in India so far. The rating agency said any potential credit impact of the planned investments in the semiconductor business will depend on the details of the funding plan, which have yet to emerge. "We could watch out for any change in Vedanta Resources' dividend policy, to support servicing of any debt at Volcan for the semiconductor business," it said. "We believe Vedanta Resources will prudently manage its investments so that it does not put debt servicing at risk." The investments, it said, will also likely happen over a long period of time. "Our rating on Vedanta Resources does not assume any material exposure by the company or its key subsidiary, Vedanta Ltd, to the semiconductor business over next 12-24 months," S&P added. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) London [UK], September 19 (ANI): The High Commission of India in London on Monday condemned the violence perpetrated against the Indian community in Leicester and has sought immediate action against those involved in the attacks. The High Commission issued a statement on Monday saying that it has taken up the matter with the UK authorities. Also Read | Pakistan Locals Protest Re-Emergence of Terrorists, Demand Peace After Reports of Abduction and Killings. "We strongly condemn the violence perpetrated against the Indian Community in Leicester and vandalisation of premises and symbols of Hindu religion. We have strongly taken up this matter with the UK authorities and have sought immediate action against those involved in these attacks. We call on the authorities to provide protection to the affected people," the statement read. The cycle of violence was triggered on August 28 after India won the Asia Cup T20 match against Pakistan. On Sunday, a clash broke out among groups of young men in Leicestershire, according to the police statement. At least 15 people have been arrested so far in the matter. Also Read | Ukraine-Russia War: Russian Missile Struck Close From Nuclear Plant, Damages Industrial Equipment, Says Kyiv. This comes after various videos and reports have been circulating on social media about Pakistani organised gangs seen vandalising and terrorising Hindus in the UK's Leicester City. The incident follows a spate of violence and disorder in the eastern part of the city. The violence first started on August 28 after India won the match against Pakistan in the Asia Cup 2022, following which a fight broke out in Melton Road, Belgrave, leading to 27 arrests so far, according to a UK-based media publication Leicester Mercury. Following the incident, the Leicestershire Police assured to continue to call for dialogue and calm with support from local community leaders. The police while calling for calm told everyone to return home and asked to share the information that has been checked and is true. After the reports of the clash on Saturday night, the Leicestershire Police Temporary Chief Constable Rob Nixon, in a video message shared on the Twitter handle, said, "We have had numerous reports of a disorder on the streets of Leicester tonight, Saturday, September 17. We have got officers there, we are taking control of the situation, there are additional officers en route and dispersal powers, stop search powers, have been authorised. Please do not get involved. We are calling for calm." (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], September 19 (ANI): A Joint India-Singapore Ministerial delegation called upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday and briefed him about the outcomes of the inaugural session of the India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable (ISMR), held on Saturday in New Delhi. "Had a fruitful meeting with DPM & Finance Minister of Singapore @LawrenceWongST, Minister of Trade & Industry Gan Kim Yong. Discussed ways to further boost bilateral ties between our countries, especially in emerging areas like digital connectivity, green hydrogen and Fintech," PM Modi tweeted. Also Read | Queen Elizabeth II Funeral: King Charles IIIs Handwritten Note on Queens Coffin Adds Personal Touch to Her Funeral. The delegation briefed the Prime Minister about the wide-ranging discussions held, especially in emerging areas of digital connectivity, Fintech, green economy, skill development and food security, a statement from the Prime Minister's Office said. As per the statement, the delegation included the Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister of Singapore Lawrence Wong, Minister for Trade and Industry of Singapore, Gan Kim Yong and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Also Read | United Arab Emirates to Launch First Lunar Rover Rashid in November 2022 From Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. PM Modi conveyed his appreciation and hoped that initiatives like ISMR would help further strengthen the bilateral relations between the two countries. He also conveyed his good wishes to Prime Minister Lee and the people of Singapore, the statement added. The establishment of the ISMR is a pathbreaking initiative which was envisioned by PM Modi and reflects the unique nature of the India-Singapore bilateral relationship. In the ISMR meeting held on Saturday, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal took part with their Singapore counterparts and discussed ways to enhance cooperation between the two countries in emerging and futuristic areas. This was a maiden meeting of the India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable (ISMR), a new ministerial platform between the two countries to boost economic cooperation. The ISMR seeks to deepen existing cooperation and identify opportunities for mutually-beneficial collaboration in new and emerging areas. Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, Singapore delegation at the ISMR was led by the country's Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, who is also Minister for Finance. Trade and Industry Minister Gan Kim Yong and Transport and Trade relations Minister S Iswaran were part of the Singapore delegation. "During the meeting, the leaders emphasised ways of enhancing co-operation between India and Singapore in emerging and futuristic areas. Both sides deliberated upon wide range of issues which inter alia included Financial Sector Operations, Fintech, Regulatory Cooperation, Investment Opportunities and Current Economic Arrangements," Sitharaman said in tweets. Jaishankar said there was a freewheeling discussion on the possibilities and prospects of our ties in the coming decade. "An open and freewheeling discussion on the possibilities and prospects of our ties in the coming decade. Considerable food for thought. Look forward to our next session. "Delighted to participate in the India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable along with FM @nsitharaman & CIM @PiyushGoyal.. Our Singapore counterparts were @LawrenceWongST, @VivianBala, , Trade & Industry Minister Gan Kim Yong and Transport & Trade relations Minister S. Iswaran," he said in tweets. "Joined by Industry leaders from India and Singapore who were holding a Business Roundtable in parallel. Appreciated their insights and ideas. Refreshing our relationship is truly a shared enterprise," he added. Singaporean Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong is in India from September 17 to 21, his first official visit to India after holding office. (ANI) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Windsor, Sep 19 (AP) Queen Elizabeth II's beloved dogs and one of her favourite ponies greeted the late monarch's coffin when it was brought to Windsor Castle. Corgis Muick and Sandy were brought into the castle's quadrangle for the coffin's arrival following the queen's funeral at Westminster Abbey and a drive through London and on to Windsor. Also Read | Queen Elizabeth IIs Coffin Lowered into Royal Vault at Windsor Castle. Emma, a black fell pony the queen owned for 26 years, stood on the grass with a groom at the side of the Long Walk in front of the castle as the coffin procession marched past before a committal service at St George's Chapel. The queen's affection for her dogs and her horses was well known. She owned more than 30 corgis during her lifetime. Muick and Sandy have been rehomed with her son, Prince Andrew. Also Read | Queen Elizabeth II Funeral: King Charles IIIs Handwritten Note on Queens Coffin Adds Personal Touch to Her Funeral. ___ Windsor: The order of service for Queen Elizabeth II's committal service at Windsor Castle was planned by the late monarch for many years. She chose all the hymns except for the very last one, which was selected by her son and heir King Charles III. Most of the music played during the service was composed by Sir William Harris, who was an organist at the chapel for much of the queen's childhood. As a child, Elizabeth was often seen visiting the organ loft to watch the composer play, especially during Christmas. Later Monday, a private ceremony was to be held by members of the royal family before the queen is laid to rest, next to her late husband Prince Philip. ___ Paris: The Paris Metro has renamed one of its stations after Queen Elizabeth II to honor the British monarch on the day of her state funeral. The Metro company tweeted that the George V station, which serves the French capital's famed Champs-Elysees boulevard, has been renamed Elizabeth II station for the day on Monday. ___ London: The last member of the public to view Queen Elizabeth II's coffin as it lay in state at the Houses of Parliament was Chrissy Heerey, a serving member of the Royal Air Force from Melton Mowbray. Heerey says it felt like a real privilege to do that. She said Monday she went through Westminster Hall twice the first time in the early hours of the morning and then again just before its doors closed to mourners at 6:30 am (0530GMT). She says the experience was, one of the highlights of my life and I feel very privileged to be here. As the end of more than four days of the queen's lying-in-state drew to a close, the stream of mourners slowed to a trickle. After Heerey bowed her head toward the coffin and moved away, parliamentary officials paid their last respects before leaving the queen's coffin in the 900-year-old hall ringed by four candles and military guards in ceremonial uniforms. Her coffin was being taken later Monday morning to Westminster Abbey for a state funeral attended by 2,000 people. (AP) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Berlin, Sep 19 (AP) Germany's ruling center-left party warned Monday that a victory for far-right leader Giorgia Meloni in Italy's upcoming election would be bad for Italians and European cooperation when many on the continent are feeling the strain of high energy prices. Lars Klingbeil, the chairman of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats, accused Meloni of spreading falsehoods about Germany and aligning herself with anti-democratic figures such as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Also Read | United Arab Emirates to Launch First Lunar Rover Rashid in November 2022 From Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. We look to the election in Italy and say there's a lot at stake, Klingbeil told reporters in Berlin after meeting with Meloni's main rival, former Italian Premier and Democratic Party leader Enrico Letta. It's not just a question of who leads Italy, it will also set the course for Europe." He said Letta's approach of cooperating with other European countries would help achieve a Europe-wide solution to high energy costs such as through a gas price cap and end the continent's reliance on Russia fossil fuels. Also Read | Big Relief for Imran Khan, Pakistan Court Orders to Delete Terror Charges Against Former PM in Controversial Remarks Case. Italy is better off with Enrico Letta at the top and not right-wing populists and neo-fascists, he said. Meloni, whose Brothers of Italy party leads polls ahead of the Sept. 25 election and has roots in a movement that hailed the legacy of former Fascist Party leader Benito Mussolini, has tried to distance herself from extremism and insists she won't be a danger to democracy if she becomes premier. Letta, who insists his alliance can still win the election, also met Monday with Scholz. He said he views an integrated Europe as the solution." Meloni, by contrast, has long railed against European Union bureaucracy and accused the bloc of infringing on national sovereignty. Those who say Europe is the problem simply want to destroy and look for scapegoats, Letta said, Instead, solutions must be found here, and starting with the fundamental issue of energy, solutions must be found. Meloni also situated himself as a counterweight to Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose war in Ukraine has helped drive up energy costs. If we won next Sunday, the democracies would be happy, he added. "If the right won next Sunday, the first to be happy would be Putin." (AP) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) How this bridge's main beam was transported, installed (People's Daily App) 10:29, September 19, 2022 You might have seen some photos of a high-speed railway construction site. This is how a beam is transported to the site and how it is installed. A Douyin user in Baoding, Hebei Province, happened to shoot the process this week. (Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun) New Delhi, Sep 18: A huge quantity of medicines, worth over Rs 90 lakh, were seized from a Vietnam-bound passenger at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here , a CISF official said on Sunday. The official said that on Saturday, CISF surveillance and intelligence staff noticed suspicious activities of a passenger at check-in area of Terminal 3. The passenger, identified as Ravibhai Devanandbhai Joshi, bound for Ho Chi Minh City by a Vietnam Airlines flight, was diverted to a random checking point for thorough checking of his baggage. Check IANS's tweet: A huge quantity of medicines, worth over Rs 90 lakh, were seized from a #Vietnam-bound passenger at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (@DelhiAirport) Delhi, a #CISF (@CISFHQrs) official said on Sunday. pic.twitter.com/FPpEReCqS5 IANS (@ians_india) September 18, 2022 "On screening of his baggage through X-BIS machine, CISF personnel noticed suspicious images inside the trolley bag and 7 cartons. On physical checking, a huge quantity of different types of medicines of approximate value Rs 90.68 lakh were detected. On enquiry, the passenger could not produce supporting documents or doctors' prescription for carrying such huge quantity of medicines," the official said. Senior CISF and Customs officials were informed and the passenger and the medicines were handed over to Customs for further action in the matter. (The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 19, 2022 09:48 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com). Bhopal, September 19: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Monday ordered the suspension of a senior police officer in the state after an audio clip surfaced on social media in which the latter was heard abusing polytechnic students. In the morning, Chouhan had directed for the transfer of Jhabua Superintendent of Police Arvind Tiwari after the CM came to know that the police officer had used abusive words against students. Tiwari was then transferred as Assistant Inspector General at the Police Headquarters in Bhopal. After the police officer's voice in the audio clip was verified, the CM ordered his suspension. Asked about the viral audio clip, Tiwari said a student had called him over phone following a clash between two groups of students in a polytechnic college in Jhabua. Video: Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan Orders Immediate Removal of Jhabua SP Arvind Tiwari for Talking Abusively to Tribal Student. "When the student called me over phone after the clash, I asked them if they come to study or to fight," he said. In the audio clip, a student was heard urging Tiwari to provide security while describing a threat from another group of students. Tiwari was heard abusing the caller. CM Chouhan said he got information that Tiwari had used abusive words against the students who called him. "I had directed officials to transfer him in the morning," he said. Chouhan further said he had also directed the officials to verify the voice heard in the audio clip. "It was verified that the voice in the audio clip was of the then Jhabua SP. I can't tolerate anyone using such abusive words against children. I have decided to suspend him, the CM said. BJP national Vice-President and party's Meghalaya in-charge M. Chuba Ao earlier said that the party may withdraw support from the MDA within a month. The BJP with two MLAs is a junior ally of the National People's Party (NPP) dominated six-party coalition government. A man was arrested for allegedly making a hoax call about a bomb in the bustling Zaveri Bazaar area of Mumbai, police said on Monday. #Iran renews readiness for prisoners' exchange with the #US, said Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman #NasserKanaani. "We have already announced our readiness to exchange prisoners, and we still have this readiness," Kanaani has said. pic.twitter.com/QU5zpW6KCl IANS (@ians_india) September 19, 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.) New Delhi, September 19: As the sale of its electric two-wheeler declines, ride-hailing major Ola is reportedly laying off nearly 500 employees in another round, this time from its various software verticals of ANI technologies which operates at Ola Cabs. CNBC first reported on Monday that several of the employees being laid off as part of the "restructuring exercise" worked on the Ola app. The Bhavish Aggarwal-run company had nearly 1,100 employees in its core ride-hailing business. Ola Ordered To Pay Rs 95,000 Compensation for Overcharging Hyderabad Customer. Although Ola did not comment on laying off 500 employees from its software verticals, it said in a statement that Ola Electric has been increasing its focus on non-software engineering domains with a clear focus on building engineering and R&D capabilities, across vehicle, cell, battery, manufacturing and automation, autonomous engineering streams. Ola Founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal Unveils Ola Electric Car With 500 km Range; Check Details. "The company currently has around 2,000 engineers and aims to increase its engineering talent pool to 5,000 over the next 18 months. In light of these efforts, the company is centralising operations and is undertaking a restructuring exercise to minimise redundancy and build a strong lateral structure that strengthens relevant roles and functions," the company mentioned. Earlier restructuring exercises impacted employees across product, marketing, sales, supply, tech, business, and operations verticals at the company, affecting more than 1,000 employees. However, according to sources, those layoffs impacted less than 500 employees and not 1,000, and "were a result of restructuring in the Cars and Dash businesses". The ride-hailing major recently shut down its used vehicle business Ola Cars, as well as its quick-commerce business, Ola Dash, as the company shifted focus on its electric two-wheeler and car verticals. Recently, Ola Electric's head of advanced battery engineering, Ashok Saraswat, moved on. Saraswat, who joined SoftBank-backed Ola last year, is reportedly joining a company that is entering the battery business. More than half a dozen senior executives have quit Ola Electric in recent months while over 30 senior executives have left Ola in the past two years. Ola Electric's sales are diminishing and it sold 3,421 EV two-wheelers in August, a drop from 3,862 units the company sold in July, indicating that it still needs to bring its overall strategy back on track. A recent report revealed that only 1 per cent household consumers plan to buy an e-scooter in the next six months amid safety and performance concerns, as the government probes multiple fires in electric two-wheelers. (The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 19, 2022 11:10 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com). Islamabad, September 19: After reports of abduction, killings and the re-emergence of Talibansurfaced in various areas of the Swat Valley and Parachinar in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkha (KP) province, locals have started taking to the streets to protest and condemn the incidents and demand peace. Streets of the Mingora Bazaar was filled with a large number of locals of Swat, who carried banners and chanted slogans like "we want peace". The locals demanded authorities to take immediate action against the terrorists and stop the resurgence and presence of terrorists in their area, who they say have started to come back and spread terror in the valley. The protest was attended by a large number of youth, elders, lawyers, transporters, traders, doctors and students. Swat Qaumi Jirga and Swat Olasi Pasoon were the mian organizers of the protest while civil society, human rights representatives and political party leaders took part in the protest. "We have a one-point agenda to demand peace in Swat. We will not allow another wave of militancy sweeping the valley. We demand peace from the state. And if the state fails to provide us with peace, then we will have to rise and take action for peace on our own for the same of our land," said one of the protesters. "We will not let terrorists regroup in Swat." Protesters reminded the chaos, bloodshed and unrest of 2007 till 2009, when Swat region was in control of the Taliban and beheadings were carried out in broad daylight. WHO Expresses Fear of Second Disaster in Flood-Hit Pakistan, Warns of Surge in Water-Borne Diseases. "We cannot let those times of fear, trauma, destruction and killings come back to our homes. That is why every local of Swat has been asked to take action if they spot any suspected element in their areas," said another protester. Many of the protesters also questioned the silence of the KP Chief Minister, Mahmood Khan, who himself is from Swat. Meanwhile, residents and locals of Kurram Agency district also staged a peace walk to protest and condemn the resurgence of militancy in their areas. Marchers carried with them white flags and banners as they walked through the main markets of the town. Protesters demanded the authorities to take note of the deteriorating situation before it is too late. A similar peace march also took place in Parachinar where protesters demanded authorities to take immediate action against the resurgence of the Taliban militants, who they said, have already resorted to extortion, killings and spreading fear among the locals. Pakistan Will 'absolutely Not' Default on Debts Despite Floods: FinMin. The resurgence of the Taliban in various areas of Pakistan's tribal belt is a serious concern. The Taliban have a history of using these locations as their strongholds and operate from these areas to spread terror, instability and suicide terror attacks across the country. (The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 19, 2022 03:51 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com). Journii Perkins yawns as her grandmother Cheryl Givens-Perkins brushes sister Camilles hair as they get ready for church. (Ilana Panich-Linsman / For The Times) (Ilana Panich-Linsman / For The Times) Three weeks after Cassaundra Lynn Perkins gave birth to premature twins, she returned to the hospital, feeling unwell. She phoned her mother from her hospital bed at 3:30 in the morning. Im just not feeling good, she said. Surely it was just another bout of the mysterious illness her daughter had been suffering from for most of her pregnancy, Cheryl Givens-Perkins thought as she rushed over to San Antonios North Central Baptist Hospital. When Givens-Perkins walked into the room, her 21-year-old daughter looked exhausted. She begged her mother to comb her hair. I need to get ready, she said. Please get my hair in order. She may have known she was dying, Givens-Perkins said. Left: Cheryl Givens-Perkins prepares a breathing treatment for her grandson, Catreyal. Right: Givens-Perkins is caring for three grandchildren after daughter Cassaundra Lynn Perkins died of an infection after childbirth. (Ilana Panich-Linsman / For The Times) Every year, around 700 women in the United States die as a result of pregnancy or delivery complications. As many as 60,000 expectant mothers suffer problems that come close to costing them their lives. America is one of the most developed nations in the world. Average life expectancy has been generally increasing over at least the last five decades, and deaths from illnesses that were once widely fatal, including polio, smallpox, tuberculosis and AIDS, are sharply falling. Yet when it comes to the natural process of childbearing, women in the U.S. die in much higher numbers than those in most developed nations, where maternal deaths are generally declining. A woman in the U.S., where the maternal death rate more than doubled between 1987 and 2013, is more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than in any country but Mexico among the 31 industrialized countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development that reported data. There are various theories why persistent poverty, large numbers of women without adequate health insurance, risk factors related to stress and discrimination. All come together here in Texas, with a twist that has become one of Americas most confounding public health problems: African American women are dying of pregnancy- and childbirth-related causes here at stunningly high rates. The maternal death rate in Texas after 2010 reached levels not seen in other U.S. states, according to a report compiled for the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, based on figures from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Black women in Texas are dying at the highest rates of all. A 2016 joint report by the Texas Department of State Health Services Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Task Force found that black mothers accounted for 11.4% of Texas births in 2011 and 2012, but 28.8% of pregnancy-related deaths. This is a crisis, said Marsha Jones, executive director of the Afiya Center, a Dallas-based nonprofit that has taken on the issue. In May, the center published its first report: We Cant Watch Black Women Die. Framed photos of Cassaundra in the familys living room. (Ilana Panich-Linsman / For The Times) Perkins, who already had a 2-year-old, worked at Great Clips salon and hoped to one day open her own salon. Her pregnancy with twins in 2014 was challenging. She was sick to where she could not keep anything down, Givens-Perkins said. Doctors said it was an infection. Then six months into her pregnancy, Perkins liver started to fail, and doctors decided to induce labor. The babies arrived on Aug. 13, 2014, each weighing about 2 pounds. They were rushed to the neonatal intensive care unit. Perkins was discharged from the hospital after three or four days. But something seemed wrong, her mother recalled: She was never 100%. Left: Cheryl Givens-Perkins talks to her grandchildren after loading them all in the car. Right: Cheryl Givens-Perkins takes her grandchildren to church. Doctors and researchers are struggling to make sense of the rise in maternal mortality in Texas. There isnt a single thing that explains it, said Lisa Hollier, an obstetrician-gynecologist who heads the state-appointed Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Task Force. There are so many different factors. The task force compared the health of a group of women who died during pregnancy, childbirth or in the immediate aftermath to those who survived in 2011 and 2012. Cardiac events, drug overdoses and disorders associated with hypertension were the leading causes of those maternal deaths, the task force found. Nationally, problems such as obesity, diabetes , caesarean births and delayed prenatal care are among the risk factors commonly seen, Hollier said. Such factors are particularly prevalent among black women. So we have a population of women that is less healthy when they are entering pregnancy, Hollier said. Black women also had the highest rate of being hospitalized for hemorrhaging and blood transfusions, which are commonly seen in maternal deaths in Texas. Texas has the largest number of uninsured people in the U.S., and there have been substantial cuts to womens health programs that offer family planning and other routine services to low-income women, including screening for diabetes, hypertension and cervical cancer, which if left untreated could play a role in maternal deaths. Many of the dozens of clinics shuttered in recent years due to slashed state funding also offered prenatal care. In an ideal world, a woman would have the opportunity to have a visit with a physician before she becomes pregnant to identify any potential risk factors before she gets pregnant, said Hollier. Then a woman would enter prenatal in her first trimester. Unfortunately, African American women are the least likely to have that first trimester of prenatal care. Texas public health officials say they are concerned about the states high maternal mortality rate but they dont believe cuts to womens health clinics are to blame, noting that the decrease in funding did not take effect until after the increase in maternal mortality had been reported. Theres not any evidence that suggests a link, said Chris Van Deusen, a spokesman for the Department of State Health Services. The timing doesnt really match up to demonstrate that theres any connection. Manda Hall, associate commissioner for community health improvement at the agency, said several initiatives are underway to address the maternal mortality crisis. They include a program that encourages women planning to become pregnant to make wholesome lifestyle choices and another targeting historically black academic institutions that offers training focused on preconception health, the importance of fathers, health disparities and reproductive life planning. Researchers say such programs might have an effect, but given that low-income white women fare better than black women, the causes may run deeper. Just being a black woman in America comes with its own level of stress, said Jones, the Afiya Center executive director. Some studies have shown that chronic stress triggered by racism and discrimination can lead to health problems such as diabetes and high blood pressure, and these in turn can lead to preterm births, low birth weights and life-threatening complications. A 2009 study published in the journal Social Science & Medicine by researchers from USC and Harvard examined the differences in the self-reported racism experiences of U.S.-born and foreign-born black pregnant women, and found that chronic exposure to racial prejudice and discrimination could ... contribute to physiological wear and tear, thereby increasing health risk. African American women also say that healthcare professionals are often dismissive of their concerns if they are poor, have health problems or already have several children, said Deneen Robinson, a researcher and program director for the Afiya Center. We go into facilities and they speak condescendingly to us, Jones said. They rush us through the process. They downplay when we talk about what our symptoms are. In Perkins case, her mother recalls that health providers seemed to disapprove when her daughter got pregnant with the twins and was feeling sick. Oh, youre pregnant again, was the reaction of the first doctor they consulted, Givens-Perkins recalled. They think that were all just trying to get on the system and get what we can get. Shawn Thierry, a Democrat who represents Houstons 146th District in the Texas House of Representatives, says this is a common experience for African American women. Top: Cheryl Givens-Perkins kisses her granddaughter Camille. Bottom left: Camille, 2, checks her hair in the mirror. Right: Catreyal gets around with the help of a wheeled walker. (Ilana Panich-Linsman / For The Times) We know there are instances where [African American mothers] are not given the proper level of attention and care because of assumptions that doctors and hospitals are making about them, she said. The bias we see it on all sides. Thierry has introduced legislation that would require an investigation into whether socioeconomic and educational backgrounds play a role when African American mothers die during pregnancy and childbirth. A little more than four years ago, Thierry almost died giving birth to her daughter after a routine epidural triggered a violent reaction. She felt excruciating pain, her heart began to race, and she was fighting for every breath, she said. Doctors performed an emergency C-section. Unlike many poor and minority women, she says, she had good health insurance that allowed her to remain in the hospital several days after giving birth. As for Perkins, who died three days after being readmitted to the hospital, doctors told her mother that an infection had killed her daughter. A preliminary autopsy report cited an accumulation of fluid in Perkins abdominal cavity and around her lungs and heart. It also said placental tissue had been retained in her uterus. Givens-Perkins was plagued with questions. Was that what proved fatal? Did it have anything to do with the illness she suffered during her pregnancy? Why was her daughter most often seen during her pregnancy by low-level medical practitioners, even when she was so frequently sick? (Hospital officials declined to comment for this article, citing patient privacy laws.) Baby Camille came home in time for Christmas 2014, almost four months after her birth. Her brother Catreyal was released the following month after several surgeries and near-death episodes. He remains physically and mentally impaired. While his sister is running and trying to form words, he cant walk or talk. Givens-Perkins is left to start another generation of child-rearing, this one much harder than the first. That first year was a year from pure hell, Givens-Perkins said. I didnt know what to do. I was calling people. Do they still boil bottles? I was sure a lot had changed. It was 20 years since I had had a baby. I had to relearn how to do this. Cheryl Givens-Perkins with granddaughters Journii, 4, and Camille, 2. (Ilana Panich-Linsman / For The Times) This story was reported with a grant from the United Nations Foundation. ann.simmons@latimes.com For more on global development news, see our Global Development Watch page, and follow me @AMSimmons1 on Twitter ALSO Black doulas, midwives and reproductive health advocates step up in response to rising black maternal deaths Looking for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl carried a heavy price, troops testify at his sentencing As monuments to the Confederacy are removed from public squares, new ones are quietly being erected The United States has been the United Kingdom's most powerful and important ally for decades. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden's visit to London to pay their respects to Queen Elizabeth II proves how strong that alliance is. The late Queen is currently lying in state at Westminster Hall, with the first couple signing the condolence books at Lancaster House. During his visit on Sunday, Biden said Queen Elizabeth II was "the same in person as her image - decent, honorable and all about service." He continued showering the late monarch with praise, adding that they had met a lot of consequential people, but the ones who really stood out were the ones "whose relationship and interaction with you" were consistent with their reputation. Joe Biden's Message to the Royal Family and the United Kingdom Joe Biden, who is no stranger to losing loved ones, having already lost his first wife and son, spoke about the loss that the Royal Family and the United Kingdom might be feeling. He noted that this loss leaves a giant hole that is hard to overcome. However, the president said he told King Charles III that "she's going to be with him every step of the way." Biden wrote a lengthy message in the condolence book and said in part that he and his wife were honored to have met Queen Elizabeth II and felt her warmth as she treated everyone with dignity and respect, according to CNN. According to Reuters, King Charles III hosted a state dinner on Sunday night for the foreign leaders who went to the United Kingdom to pay their last respects to the Queen. READ NEXT: Here's the Truth About Queen Elizabeth II 'Gold Coffin' and Embalmed Body Hundreds of Foreign Leaders Are Attending Queen Elizabeth II's Funeral Service Foreign dignitaries from across the world will be attending the funeral service of the late monarch. According to The Telegraph, almost 500 dignitaries worldwide are expected to go to London to pay their last respects to Queen Elizabeth II at a full state funeral at Westminster Abbey on Monday. Apart from Joe Biden, also attending are Irish Prime Minister Michael Martin, the president of Britain's greatest rival and one of its strongest allies, France, Emmanuel Macron. The leaders of Commonwealth nations will also be attending, including Canada's Justin Trudeau, Australia's Anthony Albanese, and New Zealand's Jacinda Ardern. Other European leaders are also attending, including President Frank-Walter Steinmeier of Germany, President Sauli Niinisto of Finland, and President Sergio Mattarella of Italy. Olena Zelenska, First Lady of Ukraine, will also be in attendance in place of her husband, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is currently preoccupied with dealing with the Russian invasion. For his part, Russia's President Vladimir Putin will not be attending. Finally, the royals of other countries will also be attending, including King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, Prince Albert II of Monaco, Emperor Naruhito of Japan, King V and Queen Sonja of Norway, and King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain. The Sultans of Oman and Malaysia, the Crown Prince of Kuwait, and the Kings of Tonga, Jordan, and Sweden, will also attend. However, a royal source told Reuters that the controversial Prince Muhammad bin Salman of Saudi Arabia will no longer attend. READ MORE: Queen Elizabeth II Dies: What Happened Before Britain's Monarch Passed Away? This article is owned by Latin Post. Written by: Rick Martin WATCH: Biden, World Leaders Arrive in London for Queen's Funeral - From ABC News President Joe Biden said the COVID-19 pandemic is over but admitted that the U.S. still has a "problem" with the virus. Biden made the statements during his interview with CBS News' "60 Minutes" correspondent Scott Pelley at the White House that aired on Sunday. The question sprung during the discussion on the president's visit to the Detroit Auto Show, where Biden celebrated his funding of new charging stations for electric vehicles. The annual car show, finally happening after a two-year pandemic hiatus, saw crowds with lax COVID-19 mask mandates. "The pandemic is over. We still have a problem with COVID. We're still doing a lot of work on it... but the pandemic is over. If you notice, no one's wearing masks. Everybody seems to be in pretty good shape. And so I think it's changing. And I think this is a perfect example of it," the president told Pelley during the interview. According to CNN, COVID-19 remains a Public Health Emergency of International Concern for the World Health Organization (WHO), while the U.S. government still designates it a Public Health Emergency. However, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the WHO, said the number of weekly COVID-19-related deaths hit an all-time low last week since March 2020. READ NEXT: Donald Trump Tried Undermining FDA by Pushing Discredited COVID-19 Treatment, House Panel Says WHO Says End of COVID-19 Pandemic Already 'In Sight' Last September 14, the WHO announced that the number of COVID-19-related deaths worldwide logged the lowest since March 2020. "We are not there yet, but the end is in sight. Now is the worst time to stop running. Now is the time to run harder and make sure we cross the line and reap all the rewards of our hard work," Ghebreyesus told the press in a Geneva briefing. Data shows that numbers globally dropped to 22% last week with 11,000 reported deaths. COVID cases also dived down by 28% following a trend of decline weeks ago, CBS News reported. The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a more relaxed COVID-19 guideline last August. Quarantine protocols and social distancing measures were now reduced, with only severe COVID-19 cases still given the highest priority. Although the WHO said that the BA.5 variant, the same variant that affected President Joe Biden last July, dominates 90% of the cases worldwide, there has been a slight decline of the subvariant in the U.S., and an elevation of a new one. CDC: BA.5 Omicron Subvariant Declining, But New BA 4.6 Rising? CDC data shows that nearly 85% of the COVID-19 cases in the past week involved the BA.5 Omicron subvariant. It is a 2% decline from 87% the week before. But despite the changes, experts are eyeing the rise of BA 4.6 and BA.2.75 variants. The former logs 10% of the cases and the latter 1% last week. According to US News, booster shots targeting the Omicron variant are now available to the public. The Biden administration hoped the new shots would help lessen the COVID-19 surges expected in the fall and winter. READ MORE: Mexico: Joe Biden Facing Major Headache with Soaring Migrants Crossing This article is owned by Latin Post. Written by: Ivan Korrs WATCH: End of Covid Pandemic 'in Sight', Says WHO: 'Now Is the Time to Run' - From the Guardian Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis promised more migrants on planes will be sent to Martha's Vineyard, among other Democrat party's "wealthiest communities." DeSantis made the statement during a press conference last week, mentioning New York and Washington D.C., according to a Breitbart News report. The Republican governor noted that those states "used to beat their chests when Trump was in office, saying they are sanctuary jurisdictions." He added that the minute Texas started delivering migrants there, "they get very bent out of shape about it." DeSantis said they got an "infrastructure" in place now and that there will be a lot more that will be happening. His statement came after he sent 50 illegal migrants to the coastal island of Martha's Vineyard, wherein officials immediately declared a "humanitarian crisis" and the illegal migrants were deported on buses to Joint Base Cape Cod. The coastal island is home to former U.S. President Barack Obama's vacation estate. Most of the estates in the area are empty except during the summer months. READ NEXT: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Sends 2 Planes Full of Migrants to Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts Martha's Vineyard Massachusetts Federal Probe Massachusetts officials said they have requested a federal human trafficking probe after the Florida governor announced the send-off of about 50 Venezuelan migrants to Martha's Vineyard. USA Today News reported that state Rep. Dylan Fernandes tweeted that they are requesting the Justice Department to open an investigation to hold DeSantis and others "accountable for these inhumane acts." Fernandes added that the act is not only morally criminal, but also contains legal implications around "fraud, kidnapping, deprivation of liberty, and human trafficking." The state representative also noted that he had spoken with Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Rachel Rollins, saying that he was "grateful to hear" that the U.S. attorney is pushing a response from the Justice Department. Meanwhile, Fernandes said there is a welcoming response being given to migrants. He then went on to say that the Florida governor "is a coward" and that there is "nothing tough about using women and children and families" as one's political tools. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Migrants Sent to Martha's Vineyard DeSantis said during a press conference that the flights were "voluntary," saying that the migrants were "given a good ride" and that it was a humane thing to do. However, an immigration attorney, Elizabeth Ricci, said that they are not talking about the delivery of crates of shoes, and those were people, as reported by NPR. The legislature had allotted $12 million to oversee the transport of illegal migrants out of Florida. Public records showed that the state paid a private contractor, an aircraft solutions provider to transport the migrants. The contractor, Vertrol Systems Inc., received $615,000. It equates to $12,300 per migrant. Some of the migrants who were flown to Martha's Vineyard said they were told they would be sent to Boston, wherein they could get expedited work papers. However, upon arriving at Martha's Vineyard, local churches, homeless shelters, and other aid groups were there to accommodate them as they were not given notice before their arrival. READ MORE: Texas, Arizona Keep Sending Buses of Migrants to Washington; DC Mayor Devotes $10 Million to Help This article is owned by Latin Post. Written by: Mary Webber WATCH: White House slams GOP governors for transporting migrants to Martha's Vineyard - from CBS News A prominent Mexican spiritual leader is now behind bars in California, serving a 16-year sentence. Naason Joaquin Garcia was arrested and charged in California for sexually abusing minors. However, despite him pleading guilty to the crimes, the followers of his La Luz del Mundo (The Light of the World) church are remaining fervently loyal. Joaquin Garcia is the current leader of La Luz del Mundo, which is considered a megachurch not only in Mexico but also in the United States. His followers consider him the "apostle" of Jesus Christ and has over five million followers worldwide. However, he used his position of power to have sex with girls and young women. He warned them that they faced damnation if they refused. Naason Joaquin Garcia Addresses His Congregation From Prison According to the Associated Press, the Megachurch leader recently spoke to his congregation from his Los Angeles prison. However, despite already pleading guilty and being sentenced for sexually abusing minors and young women who were part of his congregation, crowds have gathered outside La Luz del Mundo's main temple in Guadalajara to hear him speak. Joaquin Garcia told his followers "I do not see the bars that separate me from you," and added, "I see your beautiful faces ... because you are the children of God." The temple blared out his message from prison, and it even reached people outside. While he delivered his message to them, nearly all closed their eyes. Some of them lifted their fists in solidarity while some of them knelt and wept. Many of them view his imprisonment as a challenge that will strengthen their church. One member of the congregation told the Associated Press this exact sentiment. She said that the church now feels more united and church members feel more empowered. READ MORE: R. Kelly Convicted on Child Pornography Charges, But His Legal Troubles Are Far from Over Naason Joaquin Garcia's Guilty Plea Surprised Everyone Joaquin Garcia's grandfather, Eusebio Joaquin Gonzalez, founded the megachurch in 1926, according to BBC. It has spread not only in Mexico, but also throughout the Americas. It remained strong in California for years, and Joaquin Garcia often visited the state. However, when he arrived in Los Angeles in 2019 via a private jet, he was arrested along with two female followers. Judge Ronald Coen sentenced the Mexican megachurch leader to over 16 years in prison after finding that he kept many of his followers as sex slaves. He went on to call the religious leader a sexual predator. The five young women who were abused by Joaquin Garcia and testified against him in California called him several names during the trial, including "evil and a monster," "disgusting human waste" and the "antichrist." A victim, identified as Jane Doe 4, said she worshipped her abuser, who was revealed to also be her uncle. She said that Joaquin Garcia used her over and over again "like a sacrificial lamb taken to slaughter." During the trial, the disgraced religious leader pleaded guilty to two counts of forcible oral copulation involving minors and one count of a lewd act upon a child. The act surprised everyone, including the victims. However, this was all part of a plea deal that led to prosecutors dropping 16 counts against him. These allegations included human trafficking and producing child pornography. He remains in prison to this day, despite his supporters saying he is innocent. Following the guilty verdict, the negachurch released a statement saying, "The Apostle of Jesus Christ has had no choice but to accept with much pain that the agreement presented is the best way forward to protect the church and his family." READ MORE: R. Kelly Remains on Suicide Watch in Prison | Here's Why This article is owned by Latin Post. Written by: Rick Martin WATCH: Judge Locks Up Megachurch 'Sexual Predator' Naason Joaquin Garcia for More Than a Decade - Law&Crime Network El Salvador President Nayib Bukele announced that he is eyeing a re-election bid despite the country's constitution prohibition. Al Jazeera reported that the prohibition in the constitution prevents presidents from having consecutive terms. Bukele made the announcement in an Independence Day speech that was live-streamed on public television and social media, saying that he has decided to run as a candidate for president. Bukele's current term is set to conclude in 2024. The president added that developed countries "have re-election," noting that with the new configuration in El Salvador's democratic institution, re-elections can be made too. Bukele's re-election came a year after the new justices of El Salvador's Supreme Court ruled that presidents can seek a second consecutive term despite the prohibition in the constitution banning re-election. The new judges were appointed by lawmakers that are aligning themselves with Bukele. READ NEXT: Chile Constitution Vote: Why Did Chileans Reject Massive Change? El Salvador's Nayib Bukele Re-Election Many reacted strongly to Bukele's announcement, but observers had seen it already ever since the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court. Estela Sanchez, a produce vendor in El Salvador, said in a Washington Post report that she does not understand the constitution, but that Bukele is doing "a good job," citing the president's work with the gangs. Sanchez said that she supports Bukele. Meanwhile, constitutional lawyers said re-election violates at least four articles of the constitution, including the limits stating that presidential terms should be just five years and that the president who has served will not continue for one day more. Vice President Felix Ulloa said it is not constitutional, adding that he has concerned his life to respect the rule of the democratic and constitutional state. For Congresswoman Dina Argueta, the announcement was no surprise as Bukele had been working toward it. Argueta is a member of the leftist Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front. A frequent Bukele critic, Juan Pappier, stated the "constitutional breach was predictable." Papier is a senior investigator in Human Rights Watch Americans Division. He added that El Salvador has been heading on the path of "dictatorship. El Salvador Under Nayib Bukele CID Gallup conducted a poll last month showing that 85% approve of Bukele's presidency, and 95% said that they approve of his governance in security matters, according to a Reuters report. Bukele has imposed bitcoin as a legal tender in El Salvador. He had also led a crackdown against gangs through emergency powers that Congress had extended for the sixth time. Despite the approval of Bukele's crackdown on gangs, critics noted that many innocent people have been arrested without cause. Police sources told Reuters in May that they had been forced to meet daily arrest quotas. Bukele said the international community criticizes the capture of gang members "as if they wanted us to be doing badly again." He added that it is "the only way for El Salvador." Human and civil rights groups have recorded more than 3,000 arrests. READ MORE: El Salvador Culture: What It Looks Like Living in the Central American Nation This article is owned by Latin Post. Written by: Mary Webber WATCH: Nayib Bukele announces reelection bid on Independence Day speech - from Nayib Bukele Before visiting the Westminister Hall to pay his respects to the late Queen Elizabeth II, Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro took a detour to the Brazilian Embassy in London in an attempt to woo voters for his re-election. Bolsonaro is facing leftist candidate and former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a staunch critic of the incumbent president, in the upcoming October 2022 Brazilian general elections. Lula recently widened the gap ahead of Bolsonaro by an inch in recent election polls, prompting Bolsonaro to ramp up his campaign by showing his dignity among other foreign dignitaries. Jair Bolsonaro Visits London For Queen Elizabeth II's Funeral According to Associated Press, incumbent Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro spoke to almost 200 Brazilians outside the Brazilian Embassy in London yesterday, September 18, before heading to Westminister Hall. The president, in his usual rhetoric, discredited the recent polls where he is put behind Lula da Silva at more than 10%. "We're on the right path. We are a country that does not want to discuss the legalisation of drugs, that does not want to discuss the legalisation of abortion and a country that does not accept gender ideology. Our slogan is: God, homeland, family and freedom," Bolsonaro told supporters more than a mile away from Westminister Hall where the queen's body was laid. Accompanying him on his visit to the late Queen is his wife, First Lady Michelle Bolsonaro, and pastor Silas Malafaia. He has also declared a three-day national mourning period in Brazil following the Queen's death. The Guardian reported that Bolsonaro's "insensitive" politicking during the Queen's funeral was an attempt to rub shoulders with other foreign leaders who have been avoiding him in the past few years. Despite the boisterous crowd that welcomed Bolsonaro at the embassy, many on social media have expressed ire at the timing of the campaign and the funeral. "It's a funeral, Dude," renowned Brazilian journalist Vera Magalhaes said on Twitter after quoting a video of Bolsonaro's speech on the Embassy balcony. Over to his home country, Lula bolsters his stronghold on the masses after a recent poll reveals he is ahead of the incumbent president. READ NEXT: Brazil: President Jair Bolsonaro Campaigns on Independence Day; Supporters Gathered in Copacabana Beach Lula da Silva Poised to Win Brazil's Presidency Two Weeks Before October Elections According to The Brazilian Report, incumbent president Jair Bolsonaro struggles to close the gap between him and left-wing candidate Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Renowned pollster Datafolha says that Lula sits at 45%, staying true to initial polls while Bolsonaro trails behind at 33% with a 12% gap between them two weeks before the October 2 elections, a first of the two-round election system in the country. Despite the polls showing Lula's lead, Bolsonaro remains confident in his speech, assuring hardcore Brazilian supporters in London that "there is no-way" they are not going to win in the first round. READ MORE: Donald Trump Endorses Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro for Another 4-Year Term This article is owned by Latin Post. Written by: Ivan Korrs WATCH: Brazil's Bolsonaro arrives in London ahead of Queen Elizabeth's funeral - From AFP News Agency U.S. President Joe Biden commented on his predecessor's handling of classified documents in an interview aired on Sunday. Reuters reported that Biden said former U.S. President Donald Trump's handling of classified documents was "totally irresponsible," but that he was staying out of the investigation. Biden said he started to wonder "what data was in there that may compromise sources and methods" as he saw the classified documents that turned up during the search of Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence. The president commenting on the Justice Department's criminal probe broke his pattern when it comes to refraining to comment on the probe on Trump. Biden said that he had not received a classified briefing on the contents of those documents and that he has not asked for the specifics of the contents. He added that he does not want to get himself in the middle of whether or not the Justice Department should move or not. Meanwhile, Biden's intelligence chief is investigating whether the disclosure of information posed national security risks. READ NEXT: Donald Trump Warns of 'Big Problems' Like 'We've Never Seen Before' if Criminally Indicted U.S. President Joe Biden on Mishandled Documents The president said that he has not personally spoken to anyone regarding the probe, while reiterating that he was not given advance notice of the Federal Bureau Investigation's search of Mar-a-Lago, according to The Hill report. "60 Minutes" host Scott Pelley asked the president what he thought when he looked at the top-secret documents that were laid out on the Mar-a-Lago floor. Biden answered that he asked how it could possibly happen. The president defeated the Republican candidate Trump in the 2020 presidential election. Trump has falsely claimed that the election results were defrauded. Biden said he agreed that he would not tell the Justice Department what to do and not, adding that he does not also say how to prosecute or not. Justice Department noted that it was investigating the former president after he removed White House records. Donald Trump Documents FBI agents found 33 boxes worth of material based on a detailed inventory made public in September, as reported by BBC News report. The FBI confiscated 18 documents labeled as top secret, while 54 were designated as secret, and 21 marked confidential. In addition, agents also discovered 90 folders marked classified or for return to government staff. The classified documents were also mixed inside boxes with personal items such as books and clothing. Meanwhile, court records did not state what information the documents contain. Trump has been vocal about the FBI search at his Mar-a-Lago home and has denied wrongdoing. His spokesman alleged the raid was a "smash and grab" operation. The former president also claimed that he would have returned the files if the Justice Department had asked for them. However, it was reported that the department had repeatedly sought additional documents from Trump and it was not immediately clear why the recovered files were not handed over at the time. Prosecutors are investigating three possible crimes namely, willful retention of national defense information, obstruction of the federal probe, and concealment or removal of government records. READ MORE: Donald Trump Admits He Didn't Win Presidential Election 2020 During Interview With Presidential Historians This article is owned by Latin Post. Written by: Mary Webber WATCH: President Biden on the FBI's search of Mar-a-Lago - from 60 Minutes An Ohio man identified as 32-year-old Jason Madden had shown up in his wife's workplace and killed her. The victim was identified as 33-year-old Rachel Madden. People reported that Madden went to his estranged wife's workplace after he received a notice that he could no longer work at the same company. He then fled the scene and turned the gun on himself when he was approached by police. An investigator for Adams Country Prosecuting Attorney's Office, Kenneth Dick, said the two were going through a divorce. A source reported that Rachel allegedly filed a protective order against Madden on August 16 despite the couple working at the same company, Southern Ohio Lumber Company. A GoFundMe account was created to help the family with expenses and help Rachel's son, who is 12 years old. Her GoFundMe page described Rachel as an "incredible mother" to her son, who lost both his parents. READ NEXT: Florida Couple Charged After Engaging in a Sexual Act With Dog on Multiple Occasions; Recorded It and Saved the Video Clips Ohio Man Kills Wife in Workplace Officials arrived at the scene and found her body inside one of the buildings. Madden has escaped, but the sheriff's office had a description of his vehicle. Madden was pulled over by law enforcement at the intersection of State Route 41 and 32 roughly 90 minutes later, as reported by Fox 19 News report. Rachel's family is now making funeral arrangements for her. Madden and Rachel were married for 13 years and shared a 12-year-old son. Rachel's sister, Whitney Bradshaw, spoke about how her sister felt regarding Madden. Bradshaw shared that her sister felt like she needed to get away from her husband, adding that Rachel has started to express concerns about her husband since last month. Bradshaw said her main concern right now is her nephew. Victim's Sister Bradshaw claimed that Rachel wanted a divorce as she did not feel safe. The victim filed a protection order against her husband and planned to make that order even more restrictive. Bradshaw said Rachel stayed with her a month before the incident. However, Rachel had to go back for her son and the filing of the protection order. Bradshaw said her sister was still being harassed by Madden, according to Local 12 News report. Bradshaw recalled that her sister was doing office work at her workplace while Madden was a mechanic. She then described her sister as someone who made sure that everyone was taken care of, adding that everything that Rachel did was for her son. Bradshaw revealed she was texting with her sister in a family chat an hour before Rachel was killed. Rachel commented in those texts that her husband's behavior was erratic and that she could not help him anymore. Bradshaw said that she believes that the papers Jason received in the mail around Wednesday noon were in reference to the protection order and that they think it was the reason that set him off. READ MORE: Florida Elderly Woman Killed After Falling Into Pond Near Home, Attacked by Two Alligators This article is owned by Latin Post. Written by: Mary Webber WATCH: Families of husband, wife killed in Adams County murder-suicide say there were red flags - from WCPO 9 Bank of Ireland (BOI) will temporarily open three of its Kildare branches next month to aid customers switching over banks. This is being done by BOI to support customers moving current accounts from Ulster Bank and KBC. The opening of branches, which will involve a 1 million investment by BOI, is the latest measure taken by the bank to ease the account transition process for customers moving banks. Commenting on the news, Susan Russell, Director, Retail Ireland, BOI said: "In the first six months of 2022 we opened more current accounts than we did for the whole of 2021 and we expect that trend to continue. "So far this year we have implemented a range of measures to support customers as they move accounts, including significantly increasing resources in contact centres and streamlining our online account opening process." Ms Russell said that as many Ulster Bank customers reach the end of their six month notice period to close their account, BOI are further ramping up supports for customers who wish to open a current account: "We appreciate some people may want face to face support and may not have the chance to visit a branch during the week. "By opening 61 of our branches for four consecutive Saturdays in October, customers can get advice in person, or open an account with us there and then." She continued: "Moving account to a new bank and making the related changes including changing direct debit arrangements for utilities and services has become a more pressing priority for Irish consumers and businesses. "It is a major priority for us too, and we are committed to supporting new customers in a diverse range of ways as they choose where to bank into the future." The announcement also follows the introduction in recent weeks of the Banks Multi-Product Application form, allowing customers to open a new current account and apply for credit cards and overdrafts in one online application. BOI has said that the branches that will open on Saturdays were selected using a number of criteria, including footfall to the branch and proximity to an Ulster Bank branch. The three branches in Naas, Newbridge and Maynooth, will be open from 10am to 2pm, between October 1 to October 22. A Naas District Court judge has said that a 'message must be sent out' to would-be thieves who plan to steal from shops in the Kildare Village Retail Outlet. Judge Desmond Zaidan made the comments on Thursday, September 15, during the case of Llir Lapraku, with an address listed as 98 Hillview Grove, Ballinteer, Dublin 16. DETAILS The 44-year-old defendant pleaded guilty to stealing a number of items worth around 4,297 from a number of shops at Kildare Village on April 4 last. It was heard that all of the stolen items were recovered, and Mr Laprakus solicitor, Brian Larkin, pointed out that his client has no previous convictions. After accepting jurisdiction over the case, Judge Zaidan remarked to Mr Larkin that there 'seemed to be a high percentage of shoplifting at Kildare Village.' Garda Sergeant Brian Jacob said that this is because a lot of the items on sale there tend to be designer items. The Kildare Village Retail Outlet He added: "A message must be sent out (to would-be thieves); it is only a matter of time before I start jailing them." When Mr Larkin told the judge that the incident appeared to be a once-off, the judge said that he did not accept that. The judge said: "He went to five different shops, there is intent (to shoplift) there. "I dont believe any of that." Judge Zaidan continued bail for the defendant until the case returns to court on February 16, 2023 for sentencing. Newbridge Tidy Towns Association (NTTA) are offering biodiversity support packages for residents associations in the town. The announcement follows after the group revealed that it had received confirmation that confirmation the Liffey Linear Park had been granted its 6th Green Flag for Parks Award Ireland in a row, for 2022/23. As part of the Biodiversity Action Plan for Newbridge, the NTTA said it would 'like to offer a selection of packages for Residents Associations to help improve the biodiversity value of our residential areas and public spaces.' Options range from mini-orchard starter packs, to spring bulbs, hedging and seeds. A limited number of bird nesting boxes are also available. NTTA added: "We'd love to hear from interested Residents Associations before next Wednesday, September 21 to allow time for sourcing stock to meet demand. Those who are interested are asked to contact their local association's representative to fill out a form to indicate their interest in this project. The form can be found here. In related news, communities across County Kildare have invited to apply for funding as part of a partnership initiative to protect and promote local plants and wildlife. Holocaust Education Ireland (HEI) is urging schools across County Kildare to get involved in The Crocus Project. The group is a not-for-profit organisation that aims to inform and educate young people about the Holocaust and its consequences. It will provide schools in Kildare with yellow crocus bulbs for pupils aged ten years and over to plant in memory of all the children who perished in the Holocaust. The Crocus Project highlights the dangers of racism, and all forms of discrimination and hatred, to young people. Speaking about the project, Lynn Jackson, HEI director of education, said: "We are calling on schools, youth groups and community organisations in Kildare to join us in planting yellow crocus bulbs to commemorate all of the children who perished in the Holocaust." "The yellow flowers, recalling the yellow Stars of David, will bloom around the time of International Holocaust Memorial Day on January 27, presenting an opportunity for teachers and educators to introduce young people to the subject of the Holocaust, and teach the importance of inclusion and respect for all people regardless of their ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation or religious beliefs. Ms Jackson continued: "Seeing the flowers bloom in the early new year ensures that the stories of the children who perished in the Holocaust are not forgotten but are passed on to future generations, while educating our young people in a tangible way about the perils of prejudice. "The beautiful flowers also remind us that, even after the most terrible events, new life begins again and we can hope that things will be better than they were before. "Last year, 22 schools in Kildare participated in the project, and we would love to have more involved this year. "We are urging teachers, parents and anyone involved in youth organisations or community groups in Kildare, to get in touch with us to see how they can get involved," she concluded. There is no charge for participating in The Crocus Project. HEI provides teachers and educators with crocus bulbs and a Teachers Handbook as well as guidance about the project that includes information and age appropriate material. The handbook is available in English and as Gaeilge as well as well as twelve European languages to ensure that children in Ireland and across Europe can fully participate in the project. The Crocus Project is co-funded by the European Union and supported by the Department of Education. Schools interested in registering to become involved in the project can do so here. Further information on the project is available here: https://www.holocausteducationireland.org/crocus-project. EDIT: Jim Bob McDonagh, 16 years, who went missing from his home in Wexford on 15th September 2022 has been located safe and well. An Garda Siochana would like to thank the media and the public for their assistance with this matter. No further media action is required. Gardai are seeking the public's assistance in tracing the whereabouts of 16-year-old Jim Bob McDonagh who is missing from his home in Wexford town since Thursday, September 15, 2022. He was last seen at 5pm on Thursday afternoon. Jim Bob is described as being approximately 5 foot 6 inches in height with a broad build. He has brown hair and blue eyes. When last seen, he was wearing a black tracksuit, black t-shirt and a black gilet jacket. Jim Bob is known to frequent the Santry area in Dublin. Anyone with information on Jim Bobs whereabouts is asked to contact Wexford Garda Station on 053 916 5200, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111, or any Garda Station. This Friday (September 23) is the final deadline for early-stage female entrepreneurs in rural areas to apply for the latest cycle of the ACORNS business development initiative. This is the 8th year of the Government-backed ACORNS programme, which is supported by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, under its Rural Innovation and Development Fund. A total of 50 new entrepreneurs will be selected from those who apply but applications have to be completed and submitted by midnight on Friday, September 23. The ACORNS 8 programme is completely free to those selected to participate and will run over six months from October 2022 to April 2023. More than 350 female entrepreneurs have taken part in ACORNS to date and a significant portion are still actively involved. Combined turnover for the 48 companies who completed ACORNS 7 increased over the cycle from 1.5m in October 2021 to 3.1m by April 2022. The firms involved also increased their combined workforce over the cycle from 94 to 116 (19%), an increase of 22 new jobs in rural Ireland. Any woman with a new business based in rural Ireland or an idea for a new venture they want to get off the ground can get more information and register to receive an application form at www.acorns.ie. (Eligibility criteria in notes below) Based on a belief that entrepreneurs learn best from each other, ACORNS is centred on interactive round table sessions facilitated by successful female entrepreneurs who have started and grown businesses in rural Ireland. These are known as ACORNS Lead Entrepreneurs, and they give their time free of charge to encourage and support the new business owners. This years voluntary Lead Entrepreneurs are Anne Reilly, formerly Paycheck Plus; Caroline Reidy, The HR Suite; Deirdre McGlone, Hospitality & Tourism Advisor; Eimer Hannon, Hannon Travel; Larissa Feeney, Accountant Online; Mary B Walsh, Ire Wel Pallets; Triona MacGiolla Ri, Aro Digital Strategies. Fitzsimons Consulting, specialising in entrepreneurship and growth, developed the initiative. Founder Paula Fitzsimons says: ACORNS 7 demonstrated exactly the kind of results that can be achieved when entrepreneurs take part in our programme. Participants in last years cycle doubled sales, created new jobs, and expanded their professional networks. We thank the Minister and his Department for their support as we continue to provide a helping hand to entrepreneurial women in rural Ireland as they bid to develop their business. ACORNS 8 will run from October 2022 to April 2023 and will include a launch event, six roundtable sessions, an understanding the financials workshop, a briefing by the various development agencies and an end of cycle celebration. Leitrim pubs require urgent and substantive energy supports in the light of new research which shows more than four in ten Irish adults plan fewer visits to pubs for the remainder of 2022, due to cost of living pressures. The data has prompted Vintners Federation of Ireland CEO, Paul Clancy, to call for urgent and substantive energy supports for the pub trade in Budget 2023. He says pubs cannot pass on increases to customers already under financial strain. The CGA (Curren Goodden Associates) Cost of Living Consumer Pulse Survey, carried out across Ireland and the UK last month, found that 42% of Irish adults plan to visit pubs far less often between now and New Years Eve. The survey comes on the back of sky-rocketing fuel bills for Irelands 7,000 heavily energy-reliant pubs and a pandemic which saw the permanent closure of many pubs nationwide. The survey findings paint a bleak future for the pubs of Ireland, their staff and the communities where they often provide a vital social hub, said Mr Clancy, whose organisation represents 4,000 publicans. With 42% of pub-goers expected to curtail visits due to cost of living pressures, it is vital that Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe provides urgent and substantive energy supports to the pub trade in Budget 2023. Pubs cannot pass on increases to customers already under financial strain and colossal energy costs are going to force pubs to close, or reduce their winter opening times. Reduced footfall, coupled with an unprecedented rise in energy costs after 22 months of Covid lockdown closures and restrictions, means we are almost certainly looking at the permanent closure of many more pubs. While there has been a 21% decline in the number of pubs in Ireland since 2005, according to the Drinks Industry Group of Ireland, research by the University of York and Newcastle Business School has highlighted the significant contribution of the Irish pub to the economy with 50,000 employed and 60.7 million generated in wages. Across Ireland and the UK, the CGA survey, conducted amongst 1,000 adults who typically visit a hospitality venue every six months, found that 93% of consumers are expecting to spend more on household expenses. But the survey also found that despite pressures on disposable income, the hospitality industry remains a vital part of consumers lives, with 69% agreeing that eating or drinking out it is the treat they most look forward to, with 80% stating satisfaction with the quality of the product and service on offer. Winners of the 2022 BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition (BTYSTE), Aditya Kumar and Aditya Joshi, have scooped first place prize at this years European Union Contest for Young Scientists (EUCYS) with their project entitled: A New Method of Solving the Bernoulli Quadrisection Problem. To celebrate the brilliant achievement of Aditya Kumar and Aditya Joshi, BT Ireland have decided to extend the entry submission deadline for this years BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition 2023. The new deadline for completed submissions is Monday 3rd, October, at 5pm. This new deadline will allow as many young people as possible to showcase their STEM skills at the most prestigious exhibition in Europe. Participating students will be in the running to win over 200 prizes across all four categories and age groups. The overall winners will take away the top prize of 7,500 and go on to represent Ireland at EUCYS in Brussels 2023, where they will be in with the chance of taking home Irelands 18th first place win. Mari Cahalane, Head of the BTYSTE, said I am incredibly proud of our BTYSTE 2022 winners, Aditya Kumar and Aditya Joshi, who represented Ireland so well at this years European Union Contest for Young Scientists. To take the first place prize at EUCYS is a tremendous achievement for them and a credit to their supportive families, school and teachers who have helped them along this journey. We at BT Ireland have decided to extend the BTYSTE project deadline until Monday October 3rd to celebrate the success of our 2022 winners at the EU Young Scientist Competition. We want to encourage as many students as possible to get their entries in ahead of the new extended deadline and ensure as many people as possible can get their chance to showcase their STEM skills in the RDS this January! Aditya Kumar and Aditya Joshi both attributed their EUCYS success to the support from the BTYSTE organisers in the months following their win last January. They said Were still in shock at receiving such a positive response in Europe to our project, and we know we would never have made it to Europe if we didnt take part in BTYSTE last January. Weve been guided along the way by our school and the BTYSTE team, its hard to put into words what winning at EUCYS means to us. If anyone was thinking of entering the 2023 BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition, there is still time, and we highly recommend students all over Ireland take a shot at entering a project in an area of science that excites them. Kumar and Joshi, 5th year and 4th year students from Synge Street, Dublin, represented Ireland at EUCYS 2022 which took place in Leiden, Netherlands from 13 - 18 September. They faced stiff competition from hundreds of students representing EU member states and other guest countries, including USA, Canada, and Ukraine. The Synge Street CBS students triumphed with their project A New Method of Solving the Bernoulli Quadrisection Problem which proposed a new approach to a mathematical problem unsolved since the 17th century and put forward ways in which it could be applied to contemporary engineering challenges. BTYSTE Entries must be from second-level students aged between 12 and 19 years. For more information on the BTYSTE 2023, please visit www.btyoungscientist.com. A floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal that would serve as a back-up facility is among the options listed to secure Irelands energy supply into the future. A report compiled by consultancy firm CEPA and published on Monday has advised against a fixed or commercial LNG terminal. The technical report looks at ways to secure Irelands energy supply between now and 2030. It looks at the possible risks to Irelands energy supply, lists the policy mitigation options and analyses the merits of those options. The report longlists a number of policy options that will now go out for public consultation until October 28, with a policy direction expected to be decided before the end of the year. Minister for the Environment, Eamon Ryan, said he was open to either having an onshore gas storage facility, or a floating LNG terminal as a back-up facility, which were among the options long-listed in the report. I believe particularly the onshore facility has a number of key advantages, the Green Party leader said on RTE Radio. Firstly, we could draw down the gas from the existing network and it would give us a real strategic flexibility and capability. Secondly, it will be possible for it to be future-proofed, so that we do know were going to need these sort of investment facilities, these sort of storage facilities into the future, when we will be developing our own hydrogen gas. And so we can design it and develop it in a way that that is a strategic safety reserve which gives us flexibility into the future. Although the report recommends an LNG terminal as a floating, back-up facility, it recommends against three other LNG terminal possibilities. Of a commercial, fixed LNG terminal such as the Shannon LNG project that has been proposed it said that commercial operation is likely to result in the importation of fracked gas to Ireland. It also notes that this option would not necessarily ensure security of supply for Ireland: As storage stocks would be driven by market fundamentals, there would be no guarantee that stored gas volumes would be sufficient to cover a security-of-supply shock. The report longlists several other policy options, including a 450MW biomass plant; an additional electricity interconnector with France; and a 360MW pumped hydro storage capacity, which could alleviate relatively small but sustained electricity supply shocks. The Government has already aimed to develop 5GW of offshore wind by 2030, while further electricity interconnectors with Great Britain and France are expected to come on stream in the coming years. An analysis of the shocks that could pose a threat to security of supply included weather conditions, technical failures, and geopolitical disruptions such as Russia cutting off gas supplies to Europe. It also said that electricity demand in Ireland is expected to increase substantially over the next decade, particularly due to the expansion of data centres. The report says: This will mainly be driven by the expansion of large energy users, particularly data centres, in addition to demand growth resulting from the electrification of heat and transport. In one of the five shock scenarios modelled as part of the report, in the event of gas imports from Britain being unavailable for seven days, gas prices would increase significantly and electricity prices would increase materially. But if gas imports from Britain were to be interrupted for 30 days, the report said Ireland would see significant wholesale electricity and gas price rises in the presence of unserved demand. Ireland is increasingly reliant on importing natural gas from the UK to boost its supplies. In 2019, 53% of Irelands natural gas use was imported from the UK, but it currently relies on Britain for 70% of its gas supplies, with the remaining 30% coming from the Corrib gas field. By the mid-2020s, Ireland is expected to import more than 80% of its gas from Britain and more than 90% by 2030. The report did not review expected tight margins in electricity supply in the short-term. These are being addressed by the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, with the support of Eirgrid; the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications; and industry. An image from the program "FIRE: Vroeg op Pensioen," broadcast on the Belgian channel VRT. VRT MAX Gone are the days of sex, tomfoolery, jealousy and cheating, or on the trashier end of the spectrum of sparring for organ donations, trying narcotics and finding a young migrant to deport. All these "exploits" of Dutch-style reality TV no longer seem to be in fashion, even if a few snippets remain here and there with, for example, the worldwide adventures of the cast of the French reality show Les Marseillais. Could it be the effect of the pandemic and the lessons learned? These days, TV creators seem to favor documentary-style treatments of the social realities of our post-Covid world. One such program, FIRE: Vroeg op Pensionen ("FIRE: Retire Early" in Dutch), is currently causing controversy in Flemish Belgium. Airing on the public channel VRT, the show explores the lives of young Flemings who subscribe to the FIRE philosophy, which stands for Financial Independence, Retire Early. As noted by some sociologists, the Covid-19 period has certainly shaken up among young people in particular the notion of work and the importance that should be attached to it. But this is probably the first time that the phenomenon has been featured on television to this extent. Instead of actors, the show explores the experiences of a cast of seven young people who explain their overarching desire to not have to work and to do everything to retire as soon as possible in good health and with full pockets, of course. "There is no limit. You can get everything in this world without doing much," the founder of the Belgian branch of FIRE FIRE is inspired by the writings of authors Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez, behind the book Your Money or Your Life (2008). This movement is spreading from the US and already has several thousand followers in Belgium. One of its principles dictates that it is possible to retire as soon as one can accumulate 25 times the amount of their annual expenses, and the show's young Flemish people have managed to do so, even though they are only in their 30s or some even in their 20s. We are interested in your experience using the site. Send feedback Read more Subscribers only These graduates choose to work less to 'live better' One of them has opted to live a minimalist lifestyle in Bulgaria, subsisting off of about 800 euros per month. Another works two hours a day on his computer looking for profitable investments, giving him ample time to prioritize reading and going out. While a third played the crypto-currency game and moved to a villa in Thailand. The founder of the Belgian branch of the movement is 37 and lives in Dubai, where another person featured on the show also bought a house; he was able to stop working at the age of 26 by speculating on cryptocurrencies. His philosophy: "There is no limit. You can get everything in this world without doing much." You have 52.84% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only. An American navy veteran detained in Afghanistan for more than two years was released by the Taliban on Monday, September 19, in exchange for a key ally, Afghanistan's foreign minister said. Mark Frerichs was working as a civil engineer on construction projects in Afghanistan when he was "taken hostage" in 2020, the United States has previously said. "After long negotiations, US citizen Mark Frerichs was handed over to an American delegation and that delegation handed over (Bashar Noorzai) to us today at Kabul airport," Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said at an event held in the capital to announce the exchange. The US state department had previously described the veteran's release as one of the government's "core, non-negotiable priorities". "The Taliban must immediately release Mark before it can expect any consideration of its aspirations for legitimacy. This is not negotiable," US President Joe Biden said in a statement in January. Mr. Noorzai, a warlord and Taliban associate, was sentenced to life imprisonment for heroin smuggling and had served 17 years in a US jail. While he held no official position, he had "provided strong support including weapons" for the Taliban in the 1990s, government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told French news agency Agence France Presse (AFP). His return to Kabul was celebrated with a hero's fanfare by the government of the new Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA), the name the Taliban have given the nation since seizing power last August. Photographs show he was greeted by masked Taliban fighters bearing floral garlands. "If the IEA had not shown its strong determination, I would not have been here today," Mr. Noorzai told reporters at the event in Kabul. We are interested in your experience using the site. Send feedback The Taliban seized power in Afghanistan a little over a year ago as the United States and their NATO allies withdrew from the country after 20 years of military intervention. No country has yet to recognize the new government, with Washington repeatedly telling the Taliban that they will have to "earn" legitimacy. Read more Subscribers only Afghan women's rights activist Zarifa Ghafari is not giving up Le Monde with AFP A NEW scholarship has been announced for computer science students at the University of Limerick. The Fiserv Emerging Talent Scholarship will offer a one-year award of 5,000 to a 2nd year student enrolled in the BSc in Computer Systems programme at the university. The scholarship was established under the UL Foundations '50forFifty' scholarship initiative which aims to secure 50 new scholarships for UL students during the Universitys 50th year to celebrate the anniversary. Fiserv is a leading global provider of payments and financial services technology solutions, with, serving clients in over 100 countries around the globe. The company employs almost 270 people at its flagship technology centre in Nenagh and over 400 in Dublin with more than 44,000 employees worldwide. Speaking about the initiative, Sarah Hartnett, Director of Development at the UL Foundation said: Scholarships are one of the most impactful ways that companies can encourage and support UL students, which is why we have set ourselves a goal of 50 additional scholarships to celebrate ULs 50th anniversary. We are delighted that Fiserv has chosen to get involved this year for the benefit of ULs Computer Science students. Catherine Hough -Early Careers Talent Recruiter from Fiserv mentioned: Fiserv recognizes the importance of giving back to our community, by providing these early career advancement opportunities we are strengthening the core foundations and career trajectories of these talented students. Those interested in applying for the scholarship can do so on the Careers Fiserv website by searching for the University of Limerick. LOCAL residents are up in arms after gardai failed to respond to an incident where teenagers were seen throwing rocks from a busy Limerick railway bridge onto oncoming traffic. The alleged incident, which took place on Thursday evening, September 17, led to one motorist receiving a cracked windscreen and the fright of their life. Cllr Sarah Kiely told Limerick Live that one elderly gentleman, who was passing below the bridge, located overhead the Ballysimon Road, Limerick city, was shook after his car was struck. Irish Rail need to come in and look at this seriously with the council. If there is loss of life or serious injury where does the buck stop, she said. The bridge, denoted UBE2, is one of nine railway bridges operated by Iarnrod Eireann in Limerick. Cllr Kiely believes the teenagers are accessing the bridge from a point in the nearby estate, Woodlawn Park. Limerick council entered into a caretaker agreement with Irish Rail for the maintenance of the bridge in the 1980s, Cllr Kiely added. Speaking on Live95, one gentleman, aged 73, said he got the fright of his life when his windscreen was hit, and fearing that someone might lose control of their car, visited Roxboro Garda Station. Shaken, he told how he explained the situation to gardai along with five other concerned motorists, who had witnessed the incident taking place last Thursday. They said that they reported the incident to Irish Rail and thats all that they could do, he said. Following a query from Limerick Live on Friday morning, a garda spokesperson said: There are no reports of an incident on our system that matches your description at this time. Cllr Kiely informed that on Friday morning, residents of Woodlawn Park visited the access point with a Limerick council engineer, in an attempt to block access to the railway bridge being used. Despite their best efforts, Live95 broadcaster Joe Nash, who first brought the issue to listeners attention on Friday morning, had his car struck that evening, he said on air this Monday morning. I have asked gardai to put out extra patrols. Its not good enough for them to say that it is the council or Irish Rails problem. It is a public order offence and needs to be sorted, Cllr Kiely said. Irish Rail did not respond to a query submitted by Limerick Live. THE VICTIM of a road collision on the Limerick/Kerry border over the weekend has been described as one of natures gentlemen. Sadness hangs over both Abbeyfeale and Duagh in Co Kerry this week following the passing of John Sheehy, who was aged in his 70s. The single vehicle collision took place on the R555 road between the two communities at approximately 6.10pm on Sunday night. Mr Sheehy was the driver and sole occupant of the car. Local councillor Liam Galvin, a neighbour of his brother Mike and friend of his nephew Michael, paid tribute to Johns family, especially his wife Jean-Anne. He was one of nature's gentlemen. A real gentleman. I'd know his brother who'd be living next door to me, Mike Sheehy. A nicer neighbour you won't meet. My thoughts and prayers go out to all the family, its just a tragedy, said Cllr Galvin. He said that section of the R555 would not be known for accidents in the same way the N21 perhaps is. "But its another sad incident on our roads neverthless, the former mayor added. "This was a jolly man. If there was ever a jolly man, this was him. He loved life, he added, The atmospere here is one of sadness. John was known maybe more in the town of Abbeyfeale. He was known everywhere, known as being a good man, and when you're a good man, you have very few enemies. He had very few enemies, I can safely say that. Gardai are continuing to appeal for witnesses to come forward and any road users with video footage (including dash cam) are asked to make this available to them. Anyone with information can contact Newcastle West Garda Station on 069 20650 or the Garda confidential line on 1800 666 111. May he rest in peace. Alphabet Inc's Google has been asked by the Indian government and the central bank to introduce more stringent checks to help curb the use of illegal digital lending applications in India, according to sources. Even though Google doesn't fall under the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) ambit, the U.S. tech giant has been called several times in the last few months to meetings by the central bank and the Indian government and urged to introduce tougher checks and balances that can help in weeding out such apps, according to four sources. Indian regulators have already asked lenders to step up checks against illegal lending apps, which became popular during the pandemic. Regulators seek to control the proliferation of such apps that engage in unscrupulous activities such as charging excessive interest rates and fees or in recovery practices which are not authorised by the central bank or violate money laundering and other government guidelines. Google said that last year it revised its Play Store developer program policy for financial services apps, including requiring additional requirements for personal loan apps in India effective September 2021. "We have removed over 2,000 personal loan apps targeting India from the Play Store for violation of the Play policy requirements," a Google spokesperson said, adding that such steps are taken if its policies are violated. "We will continue to engage with law enforcement agencies and industry bodies to help address this issue," the spokesperson added. While India's central bank requires that any lending apps listed on app stores be backed by regulated entities, it is up to Google to enforce this and monitor compliance. Google has also been asked to look at curtailing the rise of such apps via other distribution channels such as websites and other means of downloads, according to another industry source who is directly involved. Google is also starting to act on complaints received from industry bodies. "Earlier Google would not respond to complaints on individual apps. Now they are more proactive and do look into it when a complaint is flagged to them," said one of the four industry sources directly involved in the matter and who has been briefed about discussions with Google. The government and the RBI are in the process of preparing a white list of approved lending applications. The central bank has also laid down norms to ensure that a borrower must deal directly with a bank for lending and recovery which can help to keep the third-party recovery agents away. Google dominates India's app market with 95% of smartphones using its Android platform. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and the RBI did not immediately respond to an email request seeking comment. NEW ADVERTISING POLICY India's digital lending market has grown quickly and facilitated $2.2 billion in digital loans in 2021-22. It is not clear how much of that is via apps engaging in illegal practices. These lenders often reach customers via advertisements on platforms like Facebook and Google. Starting from next month, Google will roll out a new advertising policy for financial services in India, a blog post on its website shows. The policy says that in order to show financial services ads in India, advertisers need to be verified in the country. As part of the verification, advertisers must demonstrate that they are licensed with the relevant financial services regulator, the blog says. This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. New Delhi: Merak Ventures, a Gurugram-based early-stage venture capital (VC) firm, has appointed Sreya Rakshit as director, brand and communications, the company said in a statement. Merak Ventures announced their maiden $100 million fund in August this year. At Merak, Rakshit will be the brand custodian ensuring message integrity across all communication vehicles public relations, digital, social, advertising and partnerships. Over the last two decades, Rakshit has worked across global PR consultancies, multinational corporations, and emerging start-ups. Her rich and diverse experience across sectors has given her a holistic perspective to build, nurture, and position brands correctly. Having worked with senior leadership and CXOs from the start, Sreya enjoys coaching C suite executives on maximizing their communications outreach. In every role, Sreya has demonstrated her ability to formulate story-worthy campaigns, which not only find deep resonance with its intended target audience, but also help achieve business objectives," the company said. Commenting on the appointment, Rakshit said, The opportunity to define, nurture and enhance the reputation of Merak from its inception, is an exciting opportunity for me. What makes it fulfilling is that I get to do it with a team of fun and driven professionals, who are unified in their values, and vision of impacting change by investing in ideas that matter." A compelling communications campaign relies on authentic storytelling. Right now, Indias start-up story is playing out on the global stage, and at Merak we aim to create multi-platform content that helps us stand out in this dynamic eco-system. Manu Rikhye, Partner, Merak Ventures, said, Early-stage investing is an extremely active space in India with a lot of noise. We intend to offer perspective by sharing stories of real-world impact, in an authentic, informed, and bold voice. Sreyas experience, flair for storytelling with colour, and creativity, fit right in with what we are building at Merak, in addition to adding value to our portfolio companies at growX Fund I. Sreya studied BA (Hons.) in English from Delhi University, followed by an Advanced Media Studies post graduate diploma from Xavier Institute of Communication, Mumbai. She was recognized as a part of Reputation Todays 40 under 40 cohort in 2018. New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with a Sikh delegation at his residence at 7 Lok Kalyan Marg to offer prasad and blessing after it organised an akhand paath 15-17 September to mark his birthday, the Prime Ministers Office said in a statement on Monday. Delhis Gurudwara Shri Bala Sahib Ji had organised an Akhand paath to mark the occasion of the prime ministers birthday on 17 November. According to the PMO, During the meeting, the Sikh delegation honoured the Prime Minister by tying a Pagdi and offering a Siropa. An ardas was also performed for the Prime Ministers long life and good health. The delegation also thanked the Prime Minister for the path breaking initiatives taken by him for the honour and welfare of the Sikh community." They recounted several efforts done by the Prime Minister including declaring 26 December as Veer Baal Divas", reopening the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor, removal of GST on langars run by gurdwaras, ensuring that the copies of Guru Granth Sahib reached India from Afghanistan, among others," the statement added. RIYADH (SAUDI ARABIA) : Saudi Arabias futuristic megaproject Neom is planning to serve wine, cocktails and champagne at a beach resort that is scheduled to open next year, according to planning documents and people close to the development, in what would be a first for a conservative kingdom where alcohol is banned. For copyright information, check with the distributor of this item, The Tennessean. A man has been described as in good spirits after being rescued from a sea cave in Co Mayo. It was reported that the man and a second person got into difficulty on Saturday evening. The Ballyglass RNLI Lifeboat was launched to the scene at around 5.50pm. On Sunday evening, almost 24 hours after the incident began, the trapped man was brought to safety after a multi-agency rescue effort. The man was airlifted to Sligo University Hospital by the Coast Guard helicopter Rescue 118, and is said to be well and in good spirits. The man was rescued by the Irish Cave Rescue Organisation, supported by four Coast Guard units from Killala, Ballyglass, Killybegs, and Achill, as well as the Ballyglass RNLI Lifeboat. Agatha Hurst, of Ballyglass RNLI Lifeboat, told local radio station Mid West Radio that its volunteer crew had been at the scene since Saturday evening. She said the crew had remained in constant contact with the man during the incident, shining a light in towards him and communicating with him. She said that it had been a huge, big operation with many different entities coming together between the Coast Guard, the Gardai, civil rescue, and of course Ballyglass RNLI, in order to rescue the man. The National Ambulance Service, the Civil Defence, the County Fire Service and Gardai, including the Gardai Water Unit, were also at the scene. The Coast Guard would like to take this opportunity to recognise the professionalism and dedication of those involved in the successful operation and in particular the team from Irish Cave Rescue Organisation, the Department of Transport said as the rescue effort concluded. European democracy is sometimes taken for granted. However, we should treasure it since our EU democracy places citizens well-being and rights at the heart of policymaking. Every September, the President of the European Commission gives a State of the Union speech, which takes stock of the past year and sets out the Commissions priorities and ambitions for the year ahead. This year on September 14, President Ursula von der Leyen delivers her speech as the EU emerges from the coronavirus pandemic crisis but is facing a new crisis: Russias unjustified war against Ukraine and its fallout, including challenges in relation to energy supply. The European Commission successfully coordinated the EUs response to the COVID-19 pandemic and procured safe and effective vaccines. As we seek to modernise economies after the pandemic, NextGenerationEU - Europes recovery plan - has facilitated unprecedented investment in the economy. The EU has shown unwavering support for Ukraine and is taking decisive measures to reduce dependency on Russian gas and oil and ensure Europes energy supply.The Commision has also tabled ambitious plans to invest in green technologies and protect the natural environment. The EU empowers people to shape their future: over the past year citizens were invited to put forward ideas for Europes future. In this years speech, President von der Leyen will outline initiatives to bring these ideas to life -this is what people-centred European democracy means. It is no surprise that the latest Eurobarometer survey revealed that 83% of Irish people look upon the future of the European Union with optimism the highest percentage of any country in the EU. A Department of Education video to inform families fleeing to Ireland from Ukraine will feature pupils integrating to a Longford town school. St Josephs NS, Longford will be front and centre of the production. The Office of the Ombudsman for Children believes almost 7,000 Ukrainian children are enrolled in schools across the country. The experience for the students who must bridge a language barrier, as well as come to terms with life in a different country, will be laid out in the film. The communications wing of the Department of Education chose Ukrainian pupils from St Josephs NS, Longford to be the subject of the video. Principal Orla Egan told the Leader about the project: The Department representatives recorded interviews with our Ukrainian pupils and their parents. This was the national school part of the video, they had already shot the secondary school part before they attended in Longford. St Josephs NS has accommodated several new Ukrainian students: We have 15 at present. They are integrating really well. There is a language barrier, but it's sometime we can cope with. They are treated the same as all other pupils in the school and they take part in all the activities of school life. They have settled really well and are a great addition to the school community. Orla says the State has facilitated the increase in the student population: The Department have given us extra support. We received additional English as an Additional Language (EAL) hours. The Department are also reviewing our allocation of special education teachers. This means if a child has special educational needs they will be diagnosed to determine their equivalent educational needs within our system. The arrival of the camera crew was very thrilling for the pupils: There was great excitement among the Ukrainian children. They were speaking in their native language through an interpreter, so it gave me an insight into how they viewed the school, what they feel in their classes every day. It was interesting to hear their experiences, having been displaced from their home country, to be here in a different culture, where there is this language barrier. The video will be shown to refugees who arrive in the country. It will also be available on the web: The young people felt the importance of the video. It will be used as a an educational tool in its own right. It will also be available on the Department's website in a couple of weeks, Orla concluded. A woman was fined 100 last week after being found walking around on broken glass in a Longford housing estate during the early hours of the morning. Twenty-eight-year-old Margaret O'Brien, of 2 Ogrowney Drive, Mullingar, Co Westmeath pleaded guilty last week to intoxication in public at Camlin Meadows, Farneyhoogan, Longford on June 20, 2022. The court heard gardai attended the scene at around 4:30am on the morning in question where they found the accused in a drunken state. Sgt Mark Mahon said Ms O'Brien was "intoxicated to such an extent, she was a danger to herself and others". He added Ms O'Brien was observed being unsteady on her feet and had been spotted "walking on broken glass with bare feet". Judge Bernadette Owens was told by Ms O'Brien's solicitor that the accused had been at a party earlier in the evening where a disagreement had ensued. After leaving the party, it was alleged Ms O'Brien was "set upon" with gardai arriving at the scene while the Mullingar woman had been in "quite a state." The court was also told Ms O'Brien was on social welfare. Judge Owens fined Ms O'Brien 100 for the section 4 public order charge, giving her three months to pay. Nature & Weather By Chris Boyle Published: September 19 2022 Comprehensive Management Plan Provides a Guide to Protect Water Quality, Living Resources and Public Use for Years to Come. Governor Kathy Hochul today announced the release of the 2022 Long Island South Shore Estuary Reserve Comprehensive Management Plan update. The plan focuses on current priorities facing the South Shore Estuary Reserve, such as climate change, resiliency, water quality, habitat restoration and public use of the estuary. The Final 2022 Long Island South Shore Estuary Reserve Comprehensive Management Plan Update is available here . This announcement coincides with National Estuaries Week and Climate Week. "Protecting Long Island's waterways and shorelines has never been more important as we face the growing and unprecedented effects of climate change and regular threats to water quality and ecological health," Governor Hochul said. "I am proud to announce this comprehensive management plan for the South Shore Estuary Reserve, which is a rich and diverse ecosystem that not only provides key benefits to Long Island's economy, recreation and tourism, but also better prepares New York for a changing climate." The 2022 Long Island South Shore Estuary Reserve Comprehensive Management Plan (CMP) update provides communities and stakeholders with a guide for managing, protecting, and restoring the South Shore's valuable resources and the estuary economy while addressing resiliency of the South Shore Estuary into the future. The South Shore Estuary Reserve (SSER), administered by the New York State Department of State, was established in 1993 through the Long Island South Shore Estuary Reserve Act which called for the protection and prudent management of Long Island's South Shore bays and upland areas draining to them. The SSER brings together State and local governments, not-for-profit organizations, academia, local business interests and the public to preserve, protect and enhance the natural, recreational, economic and educational resources of the SSER. The SSER features vast stretches of sandy beaches, numerous marinas, and abundant parks and nature preserves that provide opportunities to swim, boat, fish, hike, observe wildlife, and relax. This area is home to 1.5 million people, the SSER is an anchor for Long Island's tourism, seafood, and recreation industries. The Reserve extends across the southern portions of Nassau and Suffolk Counties and includes: the City of Long Beach; portions of the Towns of Hempstead, Oyster Bay, Babylon, Islip, Brookhaven and Southampton; and 28 villages. Secretary of State Robert J. Rodriguez said, "This plan is essential for the for the future management, protection and restoration of the local estuary ecosystems and the tremendous services they provide to Long Island communities. Long Island's waterways are the lifeblood of their economy which is why it's vital to preserve one of its most treasured natural resources. Each year, the South Shore Estuary provides abundant recreational and economic opportunities to millions of residents and tourists, which is why we must protect it. This updated Comprehensive Management Plan would not be possible without the hard work and dedication of our tremendous partners on the South Shore Estuary Reserve Council, to whom we are very grateful." New York State Parks Commissioner Erik Kulleseid said: "During this important week for those of us who love the outdoors, I commend this plan for stewardship of Long Island's South Shore. The public's ability to use, access and enjoy tributaries and shorelines is critical and planning will ensure positive results going forward." New York State Department of Transportation Commissioner Marie Therese Dominguez said, "As New York under Governor Hochul's leadership works to advance our fight against the impacts of climate change, the State Department of Transportation plays an important role in building resiliency in our infrastructure while enhancing the sustainability of our environment. The Comprehensive South Shore Management Plan is one such way we are working with our partners at all levels to protect our environment, while building resiliency for future generations." New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos said, "Long Island's South Shore Estuary is a central gem in New York's network of marine waterways, connecting valuable and habitats to communities and businesses that benefit from New York's marine resources. DEC will continue to work alongside Governor Hochul, the Department of State, and many other partners with the South Shore Estuary Reserve to support the collective goals in the nation-leading Climate Act to protect and preserve valuable habitat and marine life." Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said, "The completion of this new plan for the South Shore Estuary is another significant step forward in our efforts to improve water quality in Long Island's south shore bays.Suffolk County is thankful for the strong leadership New York State has provided and looks forward to working with our partners in government to make sure that our coastal waters are cleaner and can be thoroughly enjoyed by future generations." Town of Babylon Supervisor Rich Schaffer said, "The South Shore Estuary is of tremendous economic and social importance to the Town of Babylon and the state as a whole. This CMP update will help ensure that the estuary is protected for generations to come." Town of Hempstead Supervisor Donald Clavin, Jr. said, "The Long Island South Shore Estuary Reserve is home to a rich array of environmental diversity, and contributes greatly to the fabric of our township's unique coastal nature area. The Town of Hempstead will continue working with our partners at all levels of government to ensure our South Shore environs are safeguarded for generations to come. This municipal environmental stewardship includes harnessing the capabilities of our township's dedicated conservation team, and remaining in regular communication with conservation organizations and other agencies tasked with environmental protection here on Long Island." Town of Southampton Supervisor Jay Schneiderman said, "The Town of Southampton fully supports the 2022 Long Island South Shore Estuary Reserve Comprehensive Management Plan, as it addresses critical water quality improvement, ecosystem recovery, climate change and coastal resiliency needs in our region. The Plan is exceptional, as it provides local governments, land managers, researchers and other stakeholders with the means and the tools to achieve such ends. Mindful of the challenges that the Department of State (DOS) faces, the Town applauds DOS for the arduous efforts being made to accomplish such goals and looks forward to continuing to work with the State and our many partners in implementing this most historic and valued plan." Brookhaven Town Supervisor Ed Romaine said, "As a member of the South Shore Estuary Reserve Council, I am particularly aware of the environmental challenges that we face on Long Island. Climate change has made it necessary to establish guidelines and an action plan that provides common sense solutions for the future. What we do today to protect and preserve our environment will impact the estuary and all of our waterways for generations to come." Town of Islip Supervisor Angie Carpenter said, "Islip is home to many beautiful waterways, inlets, natural habitats and features that are true assets for our Town and residents. It is our duty as good stewards of our environment to continue to act for the preservation of this natural beauty. This Compressive Management Plan aims to do just that, and will work to ensure that these essential habitats are preserved for our children, grandchildren and generations to come." Director of Climate Adaptation at The Nature Conservancy-New York Alison Branco said, "The Nature Conservancy is pleased to join New York State and local communities in celebrating the 2022 update to the Long Island South Shore Estuary Reserve Comprehensive Management Plan. Over the last 20 years, it has become clear that climate change affects everyone and everything in the South Shore Estuary. The updated plan incorporates that understanding and provides new guidance on how to protect, restore, and manage this critical resource. We commend the Department of State for their continued commitment to the people and wildlife of Long Island," said Alison Branco, The Nature Conservancy's New York." Executive Director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment Adrienne Esposito said, "Long Islanders love our beaches, bays and harbors. Restoring these natural assets is critically important to our quality of life and our local economy. The good news is that we are making progress! We've protected sensitive wetlands, installed fish ladders, created new oyster reefs, advanced kelp farming and we are filtering polluted stormwater before it enters the marine environment. Now we must tackle new challenges and threats, including excessive nitrogen in our bays from waste water, harmful algae blooms, increasing plastic pollution, and climate change impacts such as ocean acidification and rising sea levels. This new plan provides an essential roadmap in restoring and protecting our beloved South Shore Estuary Reserve. Thank you to NYS Secretary of State Rodriguez and the hardworking staff at the NYS Department of State for their dedication to restoring our bays." Uniphar PLC - Dublin-based healthcare services - Buys McCauley Pharmacy Group for an undisclosed amount. Dublin-based McCauley has 37 retail pharmacies and a digital platform that Uniphar says will support the growth of its consumer business. The acquisition is expected to be earnings accretive from the start and is expected to deliver a return on capital employed in line with Uniphar's target of 12% to 15% within three years. Uniphar says its Supply Chain & Retail division continued to outperform its medium-term guidance during the first half of the year. "The acquisition of McCauley further improves our leading position in the Irish retail pharmacy market," says Uniphar Chief Executive Ger Rabbette. Current stock price: 297.00 pence 12-month change: down 19% By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved. (Alliance News) - Future PLC Chief Executive Officer Zillah Byng-Thorne intends to step down in 2023, Sky News reported on Monday. CEO Zillah Byng-Thorne informed Future Chair Richard Huntingford that she plans to retire from her role at the Bath-based media company in the next 18 months. Media industry insiders expect that Byng-Thorne will step down in the second half of 2023, Sky News reported. A formal search process for a new CEO still needs to be initiated by Chair Huntingford. Zillah Byng-Thorne has been chief executive of Future since April 2014. She was originally appointed as finance chief in 2013 when Future had a market capitalisation of just GBP30 million. On Friday, Future shares closed 2.7% lower at 1,649.00 pence, giving it a market capitalisation of just under GBP2 billion. https://news.sky.com/story/fourfourtwo-publisher-future-to-kick-off-hunt-for-ceo-successor-12699511 By Abby Amoakuh; abbyamoakuh@alliancenews.com Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved. The presence of Spain's disgraced former King Juan Carlos at the state funeral of Britain's Queen Elizabeth has prompted criticism at home, with one political party calling him a "criminal on the run". Spain's official delegation is led by King Felipe and his wife Queen Letizia. Felipe came to the throne when his father abdicated in 2014 amid a series of scandals. But Juan Carlos, who was related to the late Queen Elizabeth, received a private invitation to attend, a British government source confirmed. His attendance alongside Spain's official delegation has raised eyebrows since he now lives in exile in Abu Dhabi. On Sunday, Juan Carlos, 84, and his estranged wife Queen Sofia were photographed at a reception in Buckingham Palace in London. The Spanish Royal Household said Sofia, who still lives in Spain, would travel to London with the king and queen, but rather than joining them at the Spanish Embassy would stay in the same hotel as her husband Juan Carlos "for logistical and organisational reasons". A Spanish government source told Reuters that the Spanish Royal Household had led arrangements for Queen Elizabeth's funeral. "We left them to it," the source said. Once revered for his role in Spain's transition to democracy, the popularity of Juan Carlos fell drastically amid financial scandals and public disgust at an elephant-hunting trip to Africa. Spanish prosecutors investigated allegations of fraud in Spain and Switzerland, but the probe was dropped due to insufficient evidence and the statute of limitations. Juan Carlos has declined to comment on the various allegations of wrongdoing. However, he could still face trial in Britain in a harassment case brought against him by his former lover, Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein. He has denied the allegations. The leftist Unidas Podemos, the junior party in Spain's coalition government, criticized the presence of the former king at the funeral. "Inviting an on-the-run criminal to a state funeral shows you just what the monarchy is in the United Kingdom and in Spain," Podemos spokesman Pablo Echenique told a news conference last week. Gerardo Pisarello, a member of the Spanish parliament representing Podemos' Catalan party En Comu Podem, told Spanish news website El Debate that monarchies were "obsolete and anachronistic". He added in a speech in Spain's Congress on Monday: "Enough of deceiving people with fairytales about the monarchy (British and Spanish), there is a lot of black history surrounding them." Juan Carlos and Queen Elizabeth were related as both were great-great-grandchildren of Britain's Queen Victoria. Find out also on how to get notified of the iPhone 14 local release Power Mac Center (PMC) is no stranger to celebrating communities with unique stories waiting to be shared. This was the inspiration for Portraits, a special visual storytelling series created in collaboration with Filipino photographers showcasing the camera prowess of the iPhone. Apple Premium Reselleris no stranger to celebrating communities with unique stories waiting to be shared. This was the inspiration for Portraits, a special visual storytelling series created in collaboration with Filipino photographers showcasing the camera prowess of the iPhone. Power Mac Center recognizes the power of the platform we are given, using the technology that we have, to put the spotlight on communities with important advocacies. We put this series together not only to lend a face and voice to our subjects, but to inspire our audience to use their talents, pursue their passions, and make their mark, with the help of their favorite Apple devices, said Joey Alvarez, PMC Director of Product Management and Marketing. The communities The episodes of Portraits juxtapose two extremes the quiet calm of Masungi Georeserves eco-conservationists against the unapologetically flamboyant drag queens of Butterboy Bakehouse. The contrast deliberately showcases the lengths to which iPhone photography stretches, effectively catering to every subject in between. Featuring the fabulous drag queens Naia, Drag Race Philippines contestant Precious Paula Nicole, and Pura Luka Vega, the latest episode was shot on iPhone by photographer Cru Camara who has worked with international publications and global brands. It was set against the backdrop of Butterboy Bakehouse, which offers both delectable homemade croissants and entertaining performances during daylight drag or what they call as drag brunch and meriendrag. GETTING IN TUNE WITH THE SELF. Hiking helps Sarah, Felicia, and John rediscover themselves and reach their goals. Shot on iPhone by Noel Guevara. Earlier, PMC tapped conservation photographer and filmmaker Noel Guevara to take the iPhone on a hike, along with the rangers of Masungi Georeserve and three city-based hikers who find sanctuary in nature. Scaling the verdant trails of the protected forest, they shared stories of their memorable climbs, confessed to what (or who) inspired their first hike, and reflected on the fulfillment they find in hiking. Shot on iPhone Conservation photographer Guevara made sure to capture every significant moment of the climb. Through stunning photos and videos shot on iPhone, he gave justice to the Masungi staffs decades-long conservation efforts and hard work to achieve a balanced coexistence of man and nature in this little piece of paradise. CELEBRATING IDENTITY, INDIVIDUALITY, AND CREATIVITY. Naia, Precious, and Pura Luka Vega use drag as an avenue to tell their stories and an artistic expression of their statements on issues that matter, especially to the LGBTQIA+ community. Shot on iPhone by Cru Camara. In this project, Cru who is known for their photographs that express creative play of colors, contrast, and shadow examines identity and the way femininity and masculinity co-exist. Armed with their iPhone, they were able to capture the vibrant drag scene as the queens transformed into larger-than-life characters, aimed at making drag mainstream in Philippine culture. Both photographers expert grasp of the environment and the lenses inner workings exuded their visual storytelling talents, highlighting key iPhone camera features. To see the photos and watch the full stories of Portraits unfold, visit Power Mac Center, and subscribe to PMC on YouTube. iPhone 14 Philippine launch Portraits is part of Power Mac Centers iPhone for All campaign, which aims to bring the iPhone closer to more Filipinos. By extending exciting offers, and creating great shopping experiences, PMC makes it easier for all to finally upgrade to an iPhone. Customers looking to get the much-anticipated iPhone 14 series are encouraged to fill out the survey form HERE to be notified when the devices hit local shores. Meanwhile, other iPhone series are available for purchase at all Power Mac Center or The Loop branches, Viber Store, Lazada, and Shopee. To be updated on news and promotions, follow Power Mac Centers official Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok accounts. King Charles III arrived at Buckingham Palace on Sunday for a formal briefing on the late Queen Elizabeth II's funeral the following day. U.S. President Joe Biden and other dignitaries are arriving in London for the funeral, to which around 500 royals, heads of state and heads of government from around the globe have been invited. Meanwhile thousands of people continued to line up around the clock to file past the queen's coffin as it lies in state at Parliament's Westminster Hall, braving chilly overnight temperatures and waits of up to 17 hours. The lying-in-state continues until early Monday morning, when the queen's coffin will be moved to nearby Westminster Abbey for the funeral, the finale of 10 days of national mourning for Britain's longest-reigning monarch. After the service Monday at the abbey, the late queen's coffin will be transported through the historic heart of London on a horse-drawn gun carriage. It will then be taken in a hearse to Windsor, where the queen will be interred alongside her late husband, Prince Philip, who died last year. Young Chinese help drive rural vitalization with entrepreneurship Xinhua) 13:22, September 19, 2022 HEFEI, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- With a pleasant floral scent, He Chengtian, 31, is introducing various jasmine-themed products, including tea, bonsai and cosmetics, to visitors during the ongoing national mass entrepreneurship and innovation week. The event, scheduled from Sept. 15 to 21, has attracted many young Chinese like He to show their achievements in mass entrepreneurship and innovation. Over 160 typical projects selected from around the country are showcased in Hefei of east China's Anhui Province, the main venue of this year's event. Growing up in the countryside of Hengzhou City, dubbed the "hometown of jasmine in China," in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, he has a special love for the plant. Therefore, the young man returned to his hometown and started a jasmine business after college graduation in 2015. "In my hometown, every family grows jasmine, but the villagers used to pick the fresh flowers and sell them in the market and the added value is very low. I wanted to go back to enhance the value of this local specialty and expand the market," said He. After continuous efforts and innovation, he designed a number of jasmine-themed products and opened more than 10 shops on various e-commerce platforms. His products are also sold to customers across the nation through livestreaming. "Now, our sales have reached 6 million yuan (about 865,000 U.S. dollars) a year. Compared with traditional farmers, we are familiar with new trends and technologies and thus have more innovative ways to promote products," said He, adding that his company has also created over 2,300 jobs for locals. Rural vitalization is in full swing throughout China after the country eradicated absolute poverty. A growing number of young Chinese are heading back to their hometowns to contribute to rural development. The number of young farmers born after 1995 on the e-commerce platform Pinduoduo has exceeded 126,000 by October 2021, nearly 100,000 more than that of 2019, according to a report released by the platform. Over the past decade, some 11.2 million people have returned to China's rural areas to set up their own businesses, with each entity creating six to seven stable jobs on average, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. Wang Huang, a graduate from China Three Gorges University, started a business in 2018. Together with five schoolmates, Wang established a biotechnology company that specializes in fungi culture with the help of his college professors. Their products, such as mushroom, bamboo fungus and black fungus, are sold to school canteens and restaurants in Yichang City in central China's Hubei Province. Under the promotion of the company, 12 different types of fungi have been cultivated in a total area of about 3,000 mu (200 hectares) in the country, helping create over 1,000 jobs. The annual output value reaches 62,000 yuan per mu. "We hope to introduce a smart agricultural system into our greenhouses, so that all the growing conditions such as temperature, humidity and soil fertility can be monitored and controlled automatically, making the production more scientific and efficient," said Wang. Themed "Innovation drives vitality; entrepreneurship creates employment," this year's national mass entrepreneurship and innovation week is seeing the launch of nearly 1,000 activities across the country, both online and offline. (Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun) Getting divorced is a complex process, and it is especially complicated in the military. Most pitfalls for service members lie in the division of certain government benefits. There are particular restrictions for veterans that govern how their benefits are split during a divorce, as military or veteran benefits may or may not be distributed. What Military Benefits Are Considered Marital Property? A military pension may be considered shared property that must be divided in the event of divorce. In general, marital property that does not meet the criteria of separate property is split at divorce. Property obtained either before or after a divorce is referred to as "separate property." Property acquired during the marriage is usually considered shared property unless it was received as a gift or inherited entirely in the spouse's name. New federal restrictions in 2017 also altered how pensions are distributed throughout all 50 states. The pension is currently locked in time as of the separation, divorce or annulment date. The purpose of this federal regulation was to prohibit an ex-spouse from receiving a higher-than-normal pension sum. For example, if the service member was a sergeant at the time of the divorce but is now a master sergeant, the ex-spouse will get a portion of the retirement income based on the lower rank. Some examples of military benefits that would be considered separate property include Combat-Related Special Compensation (CRSC) and VA Disability Compensation. These payments are considered separate property of the retiree and are not split upon divorce because they involve an injury or medical condition and are not retirement benefits. Similarly, Department of Veterans Affairs disability compensation benefits are not subject to divorce since these benefits are viewed as a particular gratuity provided to veterans with disabilities related to their time in the military as recompense for any diseases or injuries they sustained while serving. The 20/20/20 Rule The 20/20/20 rule is often brought up during a military divorce when deciding upon an ex-spouse's access to the same benefits as a military spouse. The breakdown of the criteria that make ex-spouses eligible include: Being married for 20 years; The military spouse having served for 20 years; and The 20 years of marriage overlapping the 20 years of military service. Should the ex-spouse meet all of these requirements, they will receive access to the same benefits as a current military spouse for the remainder of their life, provided they don't remarry. They will still retain their military ID card, which grants them access to base commissaries and military exchanges. Continuation of Tricare benefits for qualifying spouses is not automatic and must be re-registered under their own names and Social Security numbers. Tricare requires applicants to provide original copies of their marriage certificates, divorce decrees and any other papers proving their ex-military spouse's service or retirement. According to the Tricare website, eligible former spouses have the same Tricare coverage choices as retired family members up until they remarry or sign up for an employer-sponsored health plan. The 10/10 Rule Another rule that is often cited during a military divorce when it comes to awarding military pensions is the 10/10 rule. In short, the 10/10 rule states that, if the marriage lasted 10 years and the service member or former service member served in the military for at least 10 years during that time, the former spouse is entitled to pension payments directly from the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS). The spouse's attorney must ensure that specific language is included in the divorce paperwork. The rule addresses only the source of payment to the spouse, which is a direct payment. The spouse gets pension-related payments directly from DFAS, which handles payments for the Defense Department. As a result, the ex-spouse is freed from the need to rely on and wait for payments from the retired service member. The 10/10 rule generally causes confusion when retired military personnel claim that the former spouse is only eligible for military pension benefits if the pair were married for at least 10 years while they were together serving in the military. The 10/10 rule is only used to determine whether the former spouse will receive payments directly from DFAS instead of the service member or veteran. The 10/10 rule is not used to determine whether a former spouse is entitled to a portion of the pension. The Uniformed Services Former Spouses' Protection Act The USFSPA is a statute passed by Congress in 1982 to provide financial protection to some ex-spouses of service members. It permits states to divide military disposable retiree pay as marital property in the event of a divorce. Disposable retirement pay is defined as the total monthly retirement pay, minus: Deductions for retirement pay forfeitures following a court-martial; Deductions from a military member's waiver of retirement pay as a requirement for veteran benefits; Amounts equivalent to retirement compensation under U.S. Code Title 10, Chapter 61 Script; and Elective deductions in accordance with U.S. Code Title 10, Chapter 73 Code used for annuities paid to a spouse or ex-spouse in accordance with Title 10, Section 1408 of the U.S. Code. Further, a former spouse can take out child support or alimony from the military spouse's retired pay; however, it still requires a court order and must pass the 10/10 rule should the award be sent as a direct payment. According to the USFSPA, no more than 65% of a retired military member's pension can be deducted for spousal and child support obligations. Survivor Benefits Plan Elections The SBP is an annuity that a retiring service member can elect to ensure that their beneficiary receives a portion of the retired pay after they die. SBP is a specific benefit that the retiree must elect, generally at the time of retirement from active duty or immediately upon receiving their 20-year letter as a reservist, for a spouse, child or anyone with an insurable interest in the retiree. Even if some service members decide not to sign up for the SBP plan because they have no qualified beneficiaries, they might later get married or have a kid who qualifies for benefits and want to change their election status. Because the reasons for changing one's coverage are few and far between, the SBP election made by service members at the time of retirement is difficult to change. In such a case, a service member would have one year from the date of initial eligibility (marital change, childbirth, etc.) to announce their desire to have their beneficiary covered. In the case of marriages, there are many different nuances to be aware of, and depending on whether it is a remarriage or not, the election process and coverage amount may be subject to change. To learn more about SBP benefits, check out our article "What You Need to Know About Your SBP Benefits" for more information on your rights and coverage. Understanding Your Benefits in a Military Divorce Divorces involving military personnel may be highly complex. It's crucial to know your rights when it comes to your benefits and to seek experienced legal counsel should you have any remaining questions. Even if the marriage lasted fewer than 20 years, the court may nonetheless award a portion of the military member's retirement to the civilian spouse. Every circumstance is unique. In some circumstances, the parties will divide the pension, while in others, one party will cede their pension rights in exchange for other assets after the divorce. A former first sergeant in the United States Army Reserve and a combat veteran, Anthony Kuhn focuses on the representation of military personnel, federal employees and federal agents at Tully Rinckey, where he is a managing partner. Know All Your Legal Rights and Benefits Be aware and get what you are entitled to. Keep up with all the legal benefits available to you as a service member, veteran or spouse and get updates delivered straight to your inbox by subscribing to Military.com. Two men who ran a technical school in California pleaded guilty to the largest post-9/11 GI Bill fraud scheme the Justice Department has ever prosecuted, according to a Friday DOJ press release. Over a span of 10 years, Michael and Eric Bostock -- chief executive officer and director of student services for the California Technical Academy (CTA), respectively -- defrauded the Department of Veterans Affairs resulting in a total loss of over $100 million by falsely reporting veteran enrollment numbers, falsifying records to make it seem as though veterans completed their courses, and posing as enrolled veterans when regulators called to verify information about the program. "The scope of the fraud uncovered in these investigations is stunning, particularly when you consider the schemes siphoned funds intended for providing legitimate education assistance to former service members,'' said U.S. Attorney David H. Estes. Read Next: Pentagon Likely Rushed Denials of COVID-19 Vaccine Religious Exemption Requests, Watchdog Finds The Bostocks also served as school certifying officials, or SCOs -- a role within VA-approved schools responsible for communicating accurate student information to the department and ensuring that the academic institution is compliant with veteran benefit policies. It was not immediately clear at the time of publication whether the two men were related, but they both at one point lived at the same Utah address, according to public records. Among other accusations, the DOJ said that the Bostocks made "false representations" to the VA regarding the academy's adherence to the "85-15 rule," a policy that ensures veteran and non-veteran students are charged the same amount for tuition and that no more than 85% of enrolled students are funded by the VA. The department also said that the Bostocks went to elaborate lengths to conceal their scheme, operating burner phones with falsified veteran contact information in an attempt to dupe VA auditors trying to contact actual student veterans. "When regulators called the falsified phone numbers to obtain information about CTA, the Bostocks and their co-conspirators would impersonate students," according to the press release. For more than a decade, CTA received over $32 million in tuition payments for 1,793 enrolled veterans, as well as $72 million for "housing and other education-related benefits," according to the Justice Department. The Department of Consumer Affairs reported CTA's 2019 veteran financial aid amount as $3,828,467. Since 2019, CTA has been listed as a member of the California Association of Private Postsecondary Schools, a coalition of more than 300 tertiary education institutions, according to CAPPS' website. The website also says that CTA, a for-profit school, provided information technology training for students, certifying them "in a variety of computer environments," such as Microsoft and Cisco programs. CTA claimed a 90% graduation rate with an average annual cost of $28,511, according to the Department of Education. "My general comment is that I am sorry that the VA and other regulatory bodies did not catch them sooner," CAPPS Executive Director Robert Johnson told Military.com over email. "Every sector has bad actors that stain the reputation of the vast majority of schools that run lawful and appropriate programs. "Given the high level of scrutiny that our sector schools receive, I hope the VA does a thorough analysis of why these people slipped through the multiple reviews and audits that these programs require," he added. The Justice Department described the bust as "the largest known incident of Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits fraud prosecuted by the department to date." In July, the Better Business Bureau received a complaint from the parent of a student, alleging that the FBI had raided the academy while they were dropping off their son and that the school owed them thousands. Another anonymous complaint to the BBB said, "As of June 22nd I heard that the school has gone out of business and many students are reporting being unable to contact anyone at the school and are unsure what is to happen with their funds." The school's website appeared to be down as of Monday, and its listed phone number disconnected. Military.com's attempts to contact the Bostocks were unsuccessful. Military.com requested comment and court records from DOJ prosecutors but was deferred to the department's public relations without response. "Safeguarding Post-9/11 GI Bill education benefit funds reserved for deserving veterans remains a priority," said VA Inspector General Michael J. Missal in the press release. "These guilty pleas are a testament of our commitment to working with our law enforcement partners to hold accountable those who would defraud VA's benefits programs." The Bostocks face up to five years in jail and will be sentenced at an unscheduled future date, according to the DOJ press release. The announcement by the department came with an additional five guilty pleas in two other cases involving VA defraudment including two VA-approved scuba academies that defrauded the department with similar schemes, but for substantially less money. -- Drew F. Lawrence can be reached at drew.lawrence@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @df_lawrence. Related: Student Veterans Battle for GI Bill Benefits at MIT, Another School Fighting the VA Though the Air Force celebrated its 75th anniversary Sunday, the history of what led to that 1947 milestone arguably started in Dayton. And without the efforts of generations of Daytonians, the Air Force and its arsenal might look quite different today. During aviation's early days, there were innovators scattered from Los Angeles to Buffalo. But it was Dayton's Wright Brothers who created the foundation for everything that followed. "They created a hub of innovation that has a longer tradition really than any other place in the United States," Defense industry analyst Loren Thompson said. That "hub of innovation" remains very much at work today, at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio's largest single-site employer, home to more than 30,000 military and civilian employees who are engaged in the design, acquisition and sustainment of Air Force airplanes, weapons and other equipment. "The 75th anniversary is great, but I kind of see us as an organization that has been around way longer than that," said Steve Byington, cultural resources manager for the 88th Civil Engineering Group at Wright-Patterson. Huffman Prairie The U.S. Signal Corps bought the first airplane from the Wright Brothers in 1909, marking the U.S. military's first airplane acquisition. Acquisition of military aircraft has been happening here ever since. To this day, of course, Wright-Patterson is the heart of Air Force procurement. But the history of what became Wright-Patterson goes back even further. "If I'm doing a base tour or something, I like to kick things off with Huffman Prairie," said Kevin Rusnak, chief historian for the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, which is headquartered at Wright-Patterson. While construction of the first flyer happened in Dayton and early flight testing was done at Kitty Hawk, N.C. for a variety of reasons it was above Huffman Prairie in northwestern Greene County that the Wrights truly learned to be pilots. "They didn't assume knowledge; they went out and actively sought it," Rusnak said. After that first historic flight flight above a Kitty Hawk beach on Dec. 17, 1903, Dayton's most famous brothers looked for a place to do flight-testing year-round. They needed a place with open spaces but also offering a measure of seclusion, Rusnak said. Family members had visited Huffman on school field trips, and Orville Wright may have recalled that, he said. The field was also accessible, a short jaunt away on an urban trolley stop. The Wrights started the heady business of learning to fly at Huffman in 1904, with permission of the field's owner, learning to turn, fly circles, figure 8s and much more, Rusnak said. There the brothers established a school for people buying their planes. Part of the Army's first contract involved the brothers teaching Army students how to fly the planes the military bought. Among those first students was future Air Force five star general Hap Arnold, in 1911 or 1912. Dayton's McCook Field became a second formative location in the process of building what became an Air Force base. Wilbur Wright died in 1912. Then World War I sparked the furtherance of aviation, inspiring the creation of flying schools across the country. The nation realized it needed to expand its supply of planes in order to fly in a war. "We needed to build and buy a lot of airplanes; we needed to crank out thousands of pilots," Rusnak said. "We needed to create all that infrastructure to provide all of this," he said. "These sites grew up around the country. Dayton happened to be one of those." Why Dayton? It was connected to the Wright Brothers and also to another important local figure. Edward Deeds, a classic early 20th century industrialist, became an Army Reserve officer in charge of supplying the nation's early air service. Rusnak sees Deeds as someone protective of Dayton's place as an industrial center. A litany of familiar names quickly pops up in the history books: When Wilbur Wright Field began pilot training work in 1917 (near today's Area A of Wright-Patterson), it helped form what became a trio of aviation-focused sites in and around Dayton, with McCook Field minutes from downtown and the Fairfield Aviation General Supply Depot, a logistics operation near Wilbur Wright Field. That logistics function may have slowed between the first and second world wars. But the seeds of what eventually became Wright-Patterson were being planted. McCook, a small triangle of land, was home to early aeronautical research on engines, propellers, lubricants and much else besides. But soon enough, there was talk of moving those Wilbur Wright Field functions to bases in Texas and Alabama. "You don't really want brand new pilots learning to fly in the ice and snow and bad weather in Dayton," Rusnak said. So Dayton's operations switched to training armorers and mechanics early in the First World War. Still, the threat to local operations never went away. Schools devoted to training closed as the Great War ended. Airplanes were getting bigger, faster and more dangerous. "Occasionally, they would have airplane crashes into houses," Rusnak said. As always, warmer weather climes elsewhere proved to be more inviting for yearlong training and other aviation functions. By the early 1920s, the writing was feared to be on the wall for McCook Field and other operations. That's when local residents sprang into action. 'Build on what you have' Like Deeds, National Cash Register founder John Patterson understood the importance of keeping engineering work in Dayton. Community leaders banded together to create the "Dayton Air Services Committee" to convince the federal government not to move those operations. In 1924, the group had a two-day fundraising campaign, raising well over $400,000 to purchase land from the Miami Conservancy District the area's multi-county flood control effort to give to President Calvin Coolidge and the government. "I actually have the copy of the letter from President Coolidge saying, 'Thanks for donating this,'" Rusnak said. "It's definitely a considerable amount, considering they did it only in about 48 hours," said Byington, the 88th Civil Engineer Group's cultural resources manager. "That was really where the business community of Dayton realized that aeronautics and aviation was going to be sort of a long-term investment for the city of Dayton." "They really put their money where their mouth was in terms of wanting that industry to stay in the area," he added. "The people of Dayton don't want to lose McCook Field when it's going to close," Rusnak said. "So they buy, through donations, the area that is now most of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, including a good chunk of Area A and the original chunk of what's Area B." Most of what became Wright-Patterson was bought by local people and and donated to the government, to be known as Wright Field not Wilbur Wright Field, confusingly in 1927. If that work had not been taken up, "That might have been pretty much it for military aviation in Dayton," Rusnak said. There were smart reasons to keep that work in Dayton. Many of the experts were already here. "It was simpler to keep those things rather than move them somewhere else," Rusnak said. "It's easier to keep building on where you have the experts." The local protectiveness around military functions and history seen today in organizations like the Dayton Development Coalition and the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce was present early on. "Without that critical piece without that chamber of commerce stuff it likely would have left entirely and gone somewhere on the East Coast," Rusnak said. "Dayton even back then had adopted this mindsight that Dayton was the birthplace of aviation," Byington said. In 1926, federal money was allocated, with a groundbreaking on today's Area B. Area B (Wright Field) was the home of engineering functions. And Area A (Patterson Field) focused on logistics. Something of that rough division is still seen today Air Force Materiel Command headquarters is found on Area A while the 711th Human Performance Wing and other Air Force Research Lab functions are found on Area B. Today's State Route 444 became the dividing line between the two areas. 'Oldest flying field in the world' Substantial research into sustainable flight happened in Dayton. In a real sense, that has never changed. Byington, Rusnak and others emphasize that Wright-Patterson and its predecessor locations long predate the formation of the Air Force in 1947. "Wright-Patterson and its antecedents long predate the creation of the Air Force," Thompson said. "Much of the early research on flight occurred even before the Air Force existed." "When you look at the diversity of the missions and the complexity of all the different components that go on at the base, it still basically boils down to research and development in the aviation field," Byington said. "We're looking at a base that dates originally to about 1917," Byington added. "Or if you want to go all the way back to ... the Wright Brothers, it's the oldest flying field in the world." "If you look at Wright Patterson itself, we have over 300 cultural historic structures and sites that predate the founding of the Air Force," he added. Some historic buildings, such as buildings 11 and 16, are still utilized. Sites well known by the 1940s as Patterson and Wright fields officially came together as Wright-Patterson Air Force Base on Jan. 13, 1948, not long after the birth of the Air Force. (c)2022 Springfield News-Sun, Ohio Visit Springfield News-Sun, Ohio at www.springfieldnewssun.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. WASHINGTON An American contractor held hostage in Afghanistan for more than two years by the Taliban has been released, his family said Monday, as a Taliban drug lord jailed by the United States was also freed and returned to Kabul. Mark Frerichs, a Navy veteran who had spent more than a decade in Afghanistan as a civilian contractor, was abducted in January 2020 and was believed to have been held since then by the Taliban-linked Haqqani network. Negotiations for his release had centered on a deal that would also involve the release of Bashir Noorzai, a notorious drug lord and member of the Taliban who told reporters in Kabul on Monday that he had spent 17 years and six months in U.S. captivity before being released. The exchange is one of the most significant prisoner swaps to take place under the Biden administration, coming five months after a separate deal with Russia that resulted in the release of Marine veteran Trevor Reed. It took place despite concerns from his family and other advocates that the U.S. military departure from Afghanistan, and the collapse of the government there, could make it harder to bring him home and could deflect attention away from his imprisonment. President Joe Biden, who is in the U.K. to attend Queen Elizabeth IIs funeral, called Frerichss family on Monday morning to share the good news that his administration was able to secure his release, according to a senior administration official. The official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity, called the decision to grant Noorzai clemency a difficult decision but necessary in order to reunite a U.S. citizen with his family. A sister of Frerichs, who is from Lombard, Illinois, thanked U.S. government officials who helped secure her brother's release. I am so happy to hear that my brother is safe and on his way home to us. Our family has prayed for this each day of the more than 31 months he has been a hostage. We never gave up hope that he would survive and come home safely to us," said a statement from the sister, Charlene Cakora. In Afghanistan, Noorzai told reporters at a press conference that he had been released from an unspecified U.S. prison and handed over earlier in the day to the Taliban in Kabul, in exchange for an American prisoner held in Afghanistan whom he did not identify. Frerichs family subsequently confirmed that it was him. Frerichs, 60, had been working on civil engineering projects at the time of his Jan. 31, 2020 abduction in Kabul. He was last seen in a video posted last spring by The New Yorker i n which he appeared in traditional Afghan clothing and pleaded for his release. The publication said it obtained the clip from an unidentified individual in Afghanistan. Until Monday, U.S. officials across two presidential administrations had tried unsuccessfully to get him home. Even before their takeover of Afghanistan in August last year, the Taliban had demanded the U.S. release Noorzai in exchange for Frerichs. But there had been no public sign of Washington proceeding with any sort of trade or exchange along those lines. Eric Lebson, a former U.S. government national security official who had been advising Frerichs' family, said in a statement that everything about this case has been an uphill fight. He criticized the Trump administration for having given away "our leverage to get Mark home quickly by signing a peace accord with the Taliban without ever having asked them to return Mark first. Marks family then had to navigate two Administrations, where many people viewed Marks safe return as an impediment to their plans for Afghanistan, the statement said. The collapse of the Western-backed Afghan government and takeover by the Taliban in August 2021, raised additional concern that any progress in negotiations could be undone or that Frerichs could be forgotten. But his name surfaced last month when President Joe Biden, who had publicly called for Frerichs' release, was said by his advisers to have pressed officials to consider any risk posed to Frerichs by the drone strike in Afghanistan that killed al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri. The Taliban-appointed foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, also spoke at the Kabul press conference alongside Noorzai and welcomed the exchange, saying it marked the start of a new era" in U.S.-Taliban relations. This can be a new chapter between Afghanistan and the United States, this can open a new door for talks between both countries, Muttaqi said at the presser. This act shows us that all problems can be solved through talks and I thank both sides' teams who worked so hard for this to happen, he added. The Taliban also posted a brief video Monday on social media showing Noorzais arrival at the Kabul airport where he was welcomed by top Taliban officials, including Muttaqi. At the press conference, Noorzai expressed thankfulness at seeing his mujahedeen brothers" a reference to the Taliban in Kabul. I pray for more success of the Taliban, he added. I hope this exchange can lead to peace between Afghanistan and America, because an American was released and I am also free now. ___ Faiez reported from Islamabad. Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed to this report. Most of Cindy Meili's time is devoted to making military families' lives better. That's why her husband, Air Force Col. John Meili, nominated her for Armed Forces Insurance's Spouse of the Year (SOY) program. After multiple rounds of voting, Meili was announced as the 2022 National Guard Spouse of the Year. Now at the halfway point of her tenure, Meili is taking advantage of her platform to do even more. Her efforts start at home. She and John have been married 29 years, through which he's gone from enlisted to officer, active duty to National Guard. Their two sons followed him into the Air Force. She works as the assistant director of the Onondaga County, New York, Veteran Service Agency and as the veteran outreach coordinator for Skaneateles, New York. In what free time she has, she serves on the Military Family Advisory Network Advisory Board and volunteers with several other military-focused organizations. The SOY recognition gives Meili a platform to advocate for better understanding of what guardsmen and their families need from their communities. She said many still think of guardsmen as just weekend warriors, if they think about them as service members at all. But she points out that since 9/11, the National Guard is no longer a strategic reserve. That means families with a loved one deployed might need the local school to understand why a student is acting up, or employers to understand why a spouse might need a flexible schedule. "People want to be supportive," Meili said. They just need to know how to help. And communities that support the military family members at home are helping the service members who are away focus on their mission." Meili encourages her fellow National Guard spouses to find ways to connect with each other through the Air Force's Key Spouse program or the Army's Soldier and Family Readiness Groups. Even if they're more spread out than they would be on an active-duty installation, if spouses make the effort to share their stories, contribute and listen to others, the groups will prove to be valuable. She leaned on her Key Spouse team when her husband joined the Air National Guard in 2008, and now can draw on her family's experiences as her husband moved up the ranks to provide insight. "Get involved," Meili said. "We all have special talents." Meili also is using her platform to ask citizens to contact their representatives in Congress in support of H.R 2974/S. 3909, the Military Spouse Hiring Act. It would expand the Work Opportunity Tax Credit to include the hiring of a qualified military spouse. It has bipartisan support but has stalled. And she wants to make more people aware of MFAN's data-driven work. The advisory board cohort before hers drafted the military housing Tenant Bill of Rights, which went into effect in August 2021. It was based on results from MFAN's biennial Military Family Support Programming Survey. The organization presented the latest survey's results to the Department of Defense, veteran service organizations and other members of the military community at the Solutions Summit this July. "They asked me to be on the live fireside chat," Meili said "The summit was able to get my perspective of what was happening for spouses and families." In his nomination letter, Meili's husband wrote, "She welcomes all into her circle and shines a light brighter than anyone I have seen." Know a military spouse who shines their light on the community? Visit the Armed Forces Insurance Military Spouse of the Year website for nominee eligibility and program timelines. Read the original article on ReserveNationalGuard.com. Keep Up with the Ins and Outs of Military Life For the latest military news and tips on military family benefits and more, subscribe to Military.com and have the information you need delivered directly to your inbox. The military may have moved too fast denying religious exemptions for COVID-19 vaccination. The Pentagon's inspector general warned that mass denials of religious exemption requests were "concerning," according to an internal memo obtained by Military.com. "We found a trend of generalized assessments rather than the individualized assessment that is required by Federal law and DoD and Military Service policies," Sean O'Donnell, the Pentagon's inspector general, said in the June 2 memo to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. "Some of the appellate decisions included documentation that demonstrated a greater consideration of facts and circumstances involved in a request." The watchdog said that military officials likely spent only minutes reviewing exemption requests, providing potential grounds for legal challenges to the denial decisions. Read Next: Air Force Pay Cuts Canceled "The volume and rate at which decisions were made to deny requests is concerning," the memo said. "Assuming a 10-hour work day with no breaks or attention to other matters, the average review period was about 12 minutes for each package. Such a review period seems insufficient to process each request in an individualized manner and still perform the duties required of their position." Most of the services are still fighting legal battles over enforcing the vaccine mandate for troops, issued by Austin in August 2021. The Navy and Marine Corps are effectively in a holding pattern on removing service members who refused to be vaccinated against COVID-19. The Army National Guard has roughly 40,000 unvaccinated soldiers the service component hasn't figured out what to do with. And some 1,200 Coast Guardsmen are attempting to qualify for a class-action lawsuit in reaction to their religious exemptions being denied. The review process is a major factor in many of these cases. The Army, by far the largest service, had rejected 1,602 religious exemption requests out of 8,514 across the active-duty and reserve components as of Aug. 12. Only 24 have been approved with the rest still pending. Overall, the inspector general found roughly 50 denials per day in a 90-day period across the services. In the military, service members are required to be vaccinated against at least a dozen ailments, ranging from the flu to smallpox. The only way to be excused is through a religious waiver or an even more rare medical exemption -- reserved for extreme and rare cases such as if a service member is known to be at risk of myocarditis, a rare heart inflammation side effect of COVID vaccination. The COVID-19 vaccines were politicized almost immediately by conservative pundits and some Republican lawmakers after being made available. Critics argued, without evidence, that the vaccines did not work or were broadly dangerous themselves, points that have been refuted by ostensibly every medical study. Most religious objections are due to the use of fetal tissue in COVID-19 vaccine research. While researchers did use cell lines derived from elective abortion tissue originally created decades ago, that tissue was used to produce proteins for testing and wasn't put directly into the vaccine. In addition, a vaccine that did not use fetal tissue in any part of its development, Novavax, was approved by the FDA, and subsequently the Pentagon, in August. Spokespeople for both the Navy and Marine Corps have confirmed to Military.com that the vaccine is available to their servicemembers. Exemption requests among military members have been a point of controversy and debate since the introduction of the vaccine mandate, and at times have pitted religious leaders against those in their flock. Andrew Torba, the head of Gab.com -- a far-right social media network that gained notoriety for being actively used by the man who was charged with killing 11 people at Pittsburgh's Tree of Life synagogue in 2018 -- wrote in a 2021 newsletter that he "stumbled upon a set of religious exemption documents that the creator calls an 'air tight religious exemption request' for the COVID vaccine if it is mandatory for you at work, school, or in the military." The military template Torba offered was a 21-page document that argued the Eastern Orthodox church was against the vaccine. However, leaders of the Greek Orthodox Church in America said the opposite -- there was no exemption needed from them on the vaccine. Pope Francis has similarly encouraged vaccination and so have leaders in Islam. One research paper even concluded that getting vaccinated was "actually a form of compliance with Sharia law." Other service members have told Military.com that they sourced their exemption paperwork from secretive and hidden Facebook groups, sometimes citing arguments from people like Lt. Col.Theresa Long. Long, an Alabama-based Army surgeon, gained a following in vaccine refuser circles despite the fact that many of her claims made in court were filled with errors and inaccuracies. Meanwhile, the legal challenges that vaccine refusers have filed in federal courts have made an impact. In late March, the Navy was forced to suspend discharging sailors with pending exemption requests after a Texas judge ruled that a case involving vaccine-refusing Navy SEALs would apply to the entire service -- just days after his earlier order to halt any Navy action against the SEALs was narrowed by the Supreme Court. Last week, in response to an injunction issued by Judge Steven Merryday in federal court in Florida, the Marine Corps released a message saying it too was halting separations. The decision will impact about 1,150 Marines, according to a statement from the service. Merryday was the same judge who in March forbade the Navy from reassigning a commander of a destroyer despite testimony that the man had flouted the service's rules for COVID-19 mitigation while seeking a religious exemption from the vaccine. Merryday called the officer "triumphantly fit and slim and strong, who is robustly healthy, who is young." He was later overruled by the Supreme Court. Mark Zaid, a Washington, D.C.-based attorney who fought and prevailed over the military's last major vaccine mandate for anthrax, had previously told Military.com that it's no accident that many of the same judges have been appearing in vaccine cases. "It's clearly forum shopping. ... I don't think it's surprising that stays were obtained in very conservative districts on religious issues," he said. Service members were among the first populations of Americans eligible for vaccines, almost immediately as they hit the market. However, the Defense Department never issued a requirement for boosters. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the vaccine's effectiveness wanes over time, making it unclear whether troops inoculated right away are technically still vaccinated if they never got booster shots. The news also comes as President Joe Biden declared the COVID-19 pandemic to be over, echoing the sentiment across the military as commanders have eliminated virtually all protective measures and units have returned to business as usual. The worst impacts of the coronavirus variants typically impact the elderly or people with other health ailments including obesity and diabetes -- not the usually younger and relatively physically fit population of the military. A total of 95 service members have died from COVID-19 since the pandemic began. "We still have a problem with COVID," the president said Sunday on "60 Minutes." "We're still doing a lot of work on it. If you notice, no one's wearing masks. Everybody seems to be in pretty good shape." Correction: This story has been corrected to say that the Army rejected 1,602 religious exemption requests for the COVID-19 vaccine as of August. A prior version had said that the Army had approved 1,602 requests. -- Steve Beynon can be reached at Steve.Beynon@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @StevenBeynon. -- Konstantin Toropin can be reached at konstantin.toropin@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @ktoropin. Related: What Does the Guard Do with 40,000 Unvaccinated Soldiers? No One Knows Suicides among U.S. veterans were down in 2020 by nearly 10% from a peak in 2018 and have dropped to their lowest level since 2006, according to Department of Veterans Affairs data, in a trend that agency officials say is indicative of intervention efforts. Data released Monday by the VA shows that 6,146 veterans took their own lives in 2020, 342 fewer deaths than 2019 and 650 fewer deaths than in 2018. But a new analysis released Saturday by independent researchers shows the deaths may be significantly higher a rate more than double the VAs estimate when accounting for death certificate and records errors, accidental drug overdoses and unexplained deaths. Read Next: Air Force Pay Cuts Canceled The decline in the VA report, two years of improving numbers in a row, came amid concerns that the pandemic and related social isolation would negatively affect well-being, exacerbating mental health conditions and possibly leading to increased thoughts of suicide. But the VA research noted no trends that would indicate an association between the early months of the pandemic and suicide. "We did not see an increase in veteran suicide. We saw a decrease. So does that in of itself say no impact of COVID? No, it doesn't. What you can say is there was a decrease within the first year of COVID," said Matthew Miller, the VA's national director of suicide prevention in the office of mental health and suicide prevention, speaking to reporters during a roundtable Friday. The rate for suicide among veterans, when adjusted for age and gender, remained more than double the rate of non-veteran adults in the U.S. in 2020, but the adjusted rate showed a larger drop than the rate for the general population -- a 9.7% decline from 2018 compared with a 5.5% drop in the general population. For its annual suicide report, the VA relies on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Defense, which is subject to change depending on death certificates and additional data obtained after year's end. The new report does not include the exact total number of deaths in 2019; last year, the VA reported that the department had 6,261 deaths by suicide in 2019, a decline of nearly 7% from 2018. But a revised 2019 number of 6,489, obtained from the VA on Monday by request, shows the decline from 2018 to 2019 was closer to 4.5%. Together with the estimated 5.4% decrease from 2019 to 2020, officials say the downward trend is encouraging. "We know that suicide is preventable, and we at VA are well positioned to address this urgent and serious matter," said Dr. Tamara Campbell, acting executive director for the VA's office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention, speaking to reporters during a roundtable Friday. However, an independent study released Saturday takes issue with the numbers in the VA's annual suicide report, arguing that the suicide rate is much higher. In a preliminary report on an eight-year study dubbed "Operation Deep Dive," researchers from the America's Warrior Partnership, a suicide prevention group; Duke University; and the University of Alabama found that former service members took their own lives each year at a 34% higher rate than reported by the VA. The researchers based their findings on death information from counties in eight states: Alabama, Florida, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana and Oregon. According to the VA report for 2020, an average 16.8 veterans died by suicide a day, down from almost 19 in 2018. The still-repeated mantra of "22 veteran suicides per day," from a decade ago was based on an extrapolation of data from 21 states, taken between 1999 and 2010. Building out their analyses to a national level, however, the researchers for Americas Warrior Partnership estimated that roughly 24 veterans die by suicide each day, while another 20 veterans succumb to injuries such as accidents, accidental overdoses or undetermined causes. "What we see is the trend hasn't gone down," said retired Air Force Lt. Col. Jim Lorraine, president of America's Warrior Partnership, during an interview with Military.com. The study found that those most at risk for suicide were those who lived alone, resided in rural or suburban areas, served for less than three years or received a demotion while serving. The research also determined that Coast Guard veterans were at highest risk, followed by the Marine Corps, Army, Navy and Air Force. "If we can identify those at greatest risk at the county level, if the population is big enough, we can begin building a prevention strategy around those that are at greatest risk," Lorraine said. "One of the things we advocate for is a community-based approach [to preventing suicide]. It can't be a top-down approach. It has got to be a bottom-up approach." VA officials maintain that their suicide data is accurate, based on verified data from the CDC and Defense Department, and the annual National Suicide Prevention Report tries to capture every veteran suicide for the year. "Ending Veteran suicide and saving lives is our top clinical priority at VA, and we take every step possible to make sure that our Veteran suicide data is accurate -- because the first step to solving this problem is understanding it," VA Press Secretary Terrence Hayes said in an email Monday in response to the Americas Warrior Partnership report. "The bottom line is this: One Veteran suicide is one too many, and VA will continue to accurately measure Veteran suicide so we can end Veteran suicide," Hayes said. Suicides were the 13th leading cause of deaths among veterans in 2020, and suicide was the second leading cause of death among veterans under age 45. In 2020, suicides among female veterans continued a downward trend, with the age-adjusted rate falling by 14.1%, a drop just slightly smaller than the 15% decline from 2018 to 2019. In contrast, suicides among male veterans dropped by .7%. On a national level, suicides fell among non-veteran males by 2.1% and by 8.4% for non-veteran women. Firearms continue to be the leading cause of death by suicide, with more than 70% of male and 48% of female veterans completing suicides with a weapon. However, Miller pointed out, use of firearms decreased in 2020 by 2.5% from the previous year, although it remains 4.5% higher from 2002, when the VA relied on data from fewer than half the states that reported their statistics to the CDC. "I see that the VA, in collaboration with the community and other federal agencies, is making a difference," Miller said. "What you are seeing in 2019 and 2020 was Year 1 of our implementation of our strategic plan that entailed the deployment of clinically based and community-based interventions and approaches across the nation." "We see signs of encouragement in the last two years," Miller added. VA officials often say that veterans do better physically and mentally when they are part of the department's health system and have encouraged eligible veterans to seek VA services. The VA report noted, however, that veterans in the VA health system had a suicide rate of 34.1 per 100,000, while those who were not in VA care had a rate of 23.8 per 100,000. Miller said the reason for this difference is that the VA cares for patients with a complex set of medical conditions and circumstances -- more so than veterans who don't seek medical care. "Would you expect to see a higher rate of heart attacks in the emergency room or in the flu clinic?" Miller said. "You take the same sort of underlying principles and dynamics, and with this population that we are honored to serve, there is the greater statistical likelihood of these sorts of issues and possible outcomes. To further reduce suicides among veterans, the VA launched a program that provides funding to community suicide prevention efforts, the Staff Sgt. Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program. The VA also launched a competition in May to encourage organizations and communities to bring their prevention ideas to the department. Dubbed Mission Daybreak, the VA announced 30 finalists Monday who will receive $250,000 each and move ahead in the competition. Ten additional teams earned awards of $100,000. "Suicide is one of the most serious public health issues facing our Veterans today, and VA cannot do this work alone," VA Under Secretary for Health Dr. Shereef Elnahal said Monday in a press statement. "With the Staff Sergeant Fox Grants and Mission Daybreak, VA seeks to engage not only organizations traditionally focused on suicide prevention, but also to bring in new groups and individuals who may have fresh ideas on how we address this issue." The full 2020 VA National Suicide Prevention report is available on the department's web site. Veterans and service members experiencing a mental health emergency can contact the Veteran Crisis Line at 988, Press 1. They also can text 838255 or chat online at VeteransCrisisLine.net. Patricia Kime can be reached at Patricia.Kime@military.com. Follow her on Twitter @patriciakime. Related: Veteran Suicide Rate Shows Biggest Drop Since 2001, But Remains High 5:45pm: Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News confirms the Rangers interest while relaying that the corresponding move would be placing infielder/outfielder Nick Solak on the injured list. Solak was recently diagnosed with a season-ending foot fracture. However, the transaction wont happen right away, as Rob Bradford of WEEI relays that Plawecki cant officially sign until 1:00pm on Wednesday. 5:30pm: The Red Sox have released catcher Kevin Plawecki, per Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe. Plawecki had been designated for assignment on Friday. Chris Cotillo of MassLive reports on Twitter that the backstop will be signing with a new team imminently. Robert Murray of FanSided reports that the Rangers are expressing serious interest in signing Plawecki. Plawecki, 31, has been with the Red Sox since signing with them in January of 2020. He spent much of the past few years serving as the backup behind Christian Vazquez, getting into 24 games in the 60-game 2020 season, followed by 64 last year and 61 here this year. He had a decent showing at the plate in the first two of those years but has slumped here in 2022, hitting just .217/.287/.287, wRC+ of 62. With the Sox sliding out of contention and Plawecki heading into free agency at seasons end, it made logical sense to give more playing time to Reese McGuire and Connor Wong, since both of them come with years of control beyond the current campaign. However, it was reported yesterday that certain players on the team didnt see it quite so simply, lamenting the loss of Plawecki as a veteran clubhouse leader. Regardless of Plaweckis reputation among his fellow players, he wasnt likely to be claimed off waivers given his tepid performance and $2.25MM salary for this year. It seems that he has indeed cleared waivers and become a free agent, leaving Boston on the hook for the remainder of that contract. For whoever ends up grabbing Plawecki, they would only have to pay him the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the roster, with that amount being subtracted from what the Sox pay. For the Rangers, they currently have Jonah Heim as their primary catcher with Sam Huff as the backup. Huff has options and can thus be sent down to the minors if the club prefers to have Plawecki on the roster, or they could also carry three catchers given the expanded September rosters. NDC youth group calling itself Democratic Youth for Competent Leadership has described it as unfortunate the unfolding story of ex-gratia for Article 71 holders per Ghana's 1992 constitution. In a press statement issued on Sunday, 18th September 2022 the group has indicated that former President John Dramani Mahama claims of not having received any package under the constitutional provision since leaving office in 2017 is to address accusations by Bono East Chairman of the NPP, Kwame Baffoe. The former President had earlier been alleged to have received millions of Ghana cedis as ex-gratia in 2013 and 2017 respectively by the outspoken NPP communicator. The allegations were made after former President Mahama pledged to review packages of Article 71 holders in 2025 after the opposition National Democratic Congress is elected back into power. His comments have attracted many diverse opinions with the ruling party describing the former President as a hypocrite as he had enjoyed all the privileges as Vice President. But DYCL in a press statement has jumped in the defense of the former President indicating that Mr. Mahama was not interested in receiving the benefits but rather made clarifications on earlier allegations by Government and NPP communicators. "We want to make it clear that former President's claims of not enjoying ex-gratia privileges was to expose the lies and propaganda cooked by the NPP to tarnish his hard-earned reputation. He was just explaining issues clearly for Ghanaians to judge the matter as presented and we as a group, believes his comments have really naked the government and NPP at large" the stat3ment stated. It added "We are by this statement calling on Government and the NPP to render an apology to the former President and also are Government and NPP communicators to resist from attacking the personality of Mr. Mahama". The Convenor of the group, Comrade Ahmed Agbenyadzi has called on Ghanaians to reject the cheap propaganda of the NPP and support the NDC win back power in 2025 to review the Article 71 privileges as promised by the former President. 18.09.2022 LISTEN Africans have been fighting slavery since early ADs. Lourenco da Silva Mendouca, the First world Abolitionist, was a Prince from the royal family of Ndongo Kingdom in Angola. He had successfully convinced authorities to end slavery in Europe. What Nafafe discovered is that in 1684, Mendonca went to the Vatican, where he accused the nations involved in the trans Atlantic slave trade of crimes against humanity. It was not just a petition, it became court cases, undertaken by Black Africans and supported through highly organized international solidarity. Why the Vatican? It was Pope VI who had issued Papal Bull that authorized Spain and Portugal to colonize and enslave Africa, America and the Natives in 1493 AD. Muhammed Ali was on Mike Douglas Show with Sly of The Family Stone as co-host when he complained about Slavery. One of the guests, Rep. Wayne L. Hays, claimed the African Chiefs were paid. What he did not say is that the slave raiders went back, captured the Chiefs and sold them into the plantations as the other slaves. Nafafe explained that It has never been previously established by historians that Mendonca was an African, which is really incredible that in the 1600s you had this African man who traveled all over Europe to mobilize an activist movement for the liberation not only of Black Africans, but also of Indigenous people in the Americas ... People always think that the legal abolitionist movement started in Britain, in the late 18th century, but Mendonca really forces us to review our positions on this. https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2021/3/10/how-portugal-sil enced-centuries-of-violence-and-trauma Well before 300 AD, Africans had been fighting the Muslim Caliphate from Ghana to Songhai Empires. The Zanj fought and conquered the Abbasid caliphal empire. Their fight for Freedom and Rebellions led to the Zanj superior power in Mesopotamia that ruled Basra in Iraq into Iran from 869 to 883 AD. It took all combined forces of Arab states before Arabs were later able to overcome them. Bookman, another captured African leader of Maroon and Vodou Houngan, fought for Freedom in Haiti for Independence from France. The wrong notion that freedom for people only exists within the Western Activists is astounding. It is well known in the Diaspora that the Chiefs that sold African slaves were later captured by the same raiders and sold in countries other slaves were. Researchers and genes tracers confirmed many of the slaves in the Americas came from the lines of Kings and Chiefs that sold slaves and were sold into slavery themselves. Many African Americans like the Zanj conqueror of Basra, are aware and proud of their royal blood from Africa. Yet some blame new African immigrants not the raided Chiefs, for selling them out; knowing pretty well that their sellers were also captured about the same time after they were. The African Chiefs that sold Africans into the Diaspora suffered the same fate when the slave raiders brought them into the Diaspora. Stop blaming all Africans at home, many rebeled against slave trade sacrificing their lives like Bookman, at home and abroad. When the African sellers arrived at the plantations, their subjects and fellow African slaves that got there earlier recognized them. Some ridiculed the new arrivals and others welcomed them with hostility. The hostility remained today within African American communities, disrespecting one another and hostile to recent African immigrants. Some African Americans still blame the captured and free Africans that escaped slavery, rebelled and fought against slavery. Muhamed Ali was right, when Sly Stone tried to distract him while answering Rep. Wayne Hays questions, he said: Black people spend so much time attacking one another, some of us become a distraction from the real goal of keeping our energy on the Prize. As the inhumanity of man to man became more vicious, free Africans at home rebelled and ran away as those on the slave ships and in the Diaspora. Indeed, France got reverse reparation from Haiti. Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka was at Cambridge Library Colloquium with Prof. Louis Gate of Harvard University talking about Black on Blacks angers from Nigeria/Ghana to South Africa/other Africans. Prof. Gates raised the issue of recent Africans immigrants. More than forty years after Mohamed Ali and Wayne Hays tangled on the Mike Douglas Show. Prof. Gates, like some African Americans, still thinks the African immigrants that sold them, follow them to America to share their quota. It was embarrassing for all Africans at home and in the Diaspora that the issue is still alive at Harvard of all places. Quota is dead in America. It was threatened by American white students in courts, not recent African immigrants. Indeed, the United States Supreme Court finally nailed it. Though replaced by Affirmative Action, that was also replaced by Diversity for all ethnic groups. The diversity is being threatened by Asians in Court suing that they were cheated in Admission to Harvard; not by the African students. No other ethnic group in America attacks their own from old countries. The Irish created special admission for their recent Irish immigrants just as the Italians, Polish, Ukrainians Americans welcome their recent immigrants. Africans must find better ways to reconcile their differences at home and in the Diaspora. Black on Black crimes must decrease below the level of White on White, Asians on Asians or Natives on Native crimes. People victimize their own at a greater proportion than they victimize others. But Africans have suffered in the hands of others more than any other continent. It is true that the Chiefs sold their own for guns and mirrors to capture more slaves, it does not justify liberty of worst mean spirited habits by individuals to lynch, slash and burn slaves for any or no reason. Indeed, Yoruba tradition cautions that the way a child was born, so was a slave. Bi a se bi Omo ni a se bi Eru. The cry for reparations must be understood as making amends for past injustices, not to displace or favor anyone. Those that have gained from past injustices against Africans and continue to exploit the people and the Continent must look for humane ways to make their profit and pay Africans reparations appropriately to those that are due. Unlike France that demanded and got reparations from its colonies from Haiti to Africa. Despite all the wars Africans fought against the Muslims and Christians coming as explorers and missionaries, sent into the Dark Continent for 500 years, the only miracle is that Africans have not been eliminated from the surface of the Earth. They are strong and resilient. We do not need anymore enemies within. Today we are lured, not forced into slave ships anymore. Most of the new Africans use life savings to buy tickets on Boeing 707 like the looters and their families. 18.09.2022 LISTEN India's High Commissioner, Vikram Doraiswami has departed Dhaka. He had already met the Foreign Minister and the President for the last time and left Dhaka on Sunday, 18th September. Mr. Doraiswami will assume his next position as the High Commissioner to the United Kingdom (UK). During his three years tenure, Doraiswami contributed a lot to the existing bilateral relations. The next High Commissioner will also assume his role in next few days. And the expectations will also be high on him from both sides. Doraiswami's Tenure Doraiswami was appointed in 2020. But Mr. Doraiswami shared ties with Bangladesh since 1971 when his father- an air force officer fought in Bangladesh's liberation war. Immediately after his joining Doraiswami started to contribute to the existing bilateral relations. Doraiswami played a crucial role in brokering deal with Serum Institute. During his tenure, several high-level visits also took place between the countries. Indian PM Modi visited Bangladesh on the occasion of Golden Jubilee of Independence in 2021. Later, President Ramnath Kovind also visited Bangladesh. Bangladesh's foreign minister also visited India during Doraiswami's tenure. And lastly, Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina visited Delhi from 5th to 8th September, this month. High-level visits helped countries maintaining a stable bilateral relation. Perhaps, the biggest contribution of him is the Joint River Commission (JRC) meeting that held in August. The JRC meetings were not taking place since the past 12 years. In the last month of his tenure, Doraiswami was instrumental in meeting and both countries sat after 12 years to discuss existing river issues. Indeed, Doraiswami could live up to the expectations for both Dhaka and Delhi. There were hardly any discontent among the countries in the meantime. The High Commissioner did a fantastic job and built very impressive rapports with Bangladesh. Through this, he gifted the nations an upward trend relation. Departing High Commissioner will join his next post in the UK in next few days. Surely, Bangladesh has enough reasons to thank him. During his farewell visit, the Foreign Minister and the President also thanked him for his service. The next High Commissioner will be Pranav Sharma, who will join very soon. Bangladesh will also expect a lot from Mr. Sharma. Expectations from New High Commissioner Both Bangladesh and India will expect a proactive role from HC Sharma. He is expected to maintain the stability that his predecessors contributed to. He is also expected to understand Bangladesh from its own perspective. However, the scope for strengthening existing bilateral relation is vast for the new High Commissioner also. As the JRC meeting started after 12 years interval, Mr. Sharma should give effort to ensure the continuation. Bangladesh and India has more than 50 joint rivers. Hydro Diplomacy is a very important aspect between the countries due to their dependence and cultural influence regarding rivers. Many river water-sharing is awaiting and hopefully continuation of JRC meeting may bring agreements that yield mutual interests for both countries. Connectivity is another important aspect of the existing bilateral relations. Since past decade, connectivity has flourished between the neighbors and many projects inaugurated. India is currently enjoying transit and port service in Bangladesh alongside deepening bilateral connectivity. Bangladesh is also seeking transit for transshipment deals with Nepal and Bhutan. Since the last few years, connectivity has emerged as a dominating discourse in bilateral relations perhaps. Apart from these, the High Commissioner is expected to increase people-to-people connection, contribute to South Asias communal harmony, uphold international diplomatic norms and find new avenues to increase trade and finance among the countries. There will be extensive work regarding Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) also in which the HC can play a crucial role. Indian High Commissioner to Dhaka is one of the most important diplomatic posts for Bangladesh. As a result, the appointment and departure attracts more media attention than usual. Bangladesh also waits keenly to observe who is taking up the role and expects a lot. For India, Bangladesh is one of its important diplomatic missions. So, India tries to send experienced and seasoned diplomat here too. Doraiswamis successful tenure further increases the expectation in both countries. Therefore, Expectation is high for the next HC Pranav Sharma, and surely he has the capability to fulfill them. Shafiqul Elahi is a retired government official of Bangladesh The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is set to deploy another mission to Ghana in the coming weeks as the country races against time to tie down a bailout programme. In July, a staff mission visited Ghana for initial discussions after the Akufo-Addo administration announced its intentions to head back to the IMF for a bailout. Ghana is seeking a $3 billion package from the fund. Gerry Rice, the Director of Communications for the International Monetary Fund, at a media engagement recently said: Ghana has, as you probably know, requested a program from the IMF. We had an IMF staff team in Accra in July [2022] to begin initial discussions with the Ghanaian authorities. And we characterized that mission as constructive, kickstarted the process, and laid the groundwork for engagement, which now continues. Our Mission Chief for the IMF also recently visited Accra, again, to meet with key counterparts. And we're hopeful of another visit in the coming weeks. I don't have a date for you, but [it will surely be] in the coming weeks, added. Earlier this month, the Managing Director of the IMF, Kristalina Georgieva, noted that a deal between Ghana and the IMF should be reached and finalised before the end of the year . Ghana is before the IMF to help the country navigate the economic crisis it finds itself in, which was worsened by the coronavirus pandemic and the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine. By Citi Newsroom Nana Akufo-Addo has told Ghanaians that we are lucky to have him as President. Why wouldnt he say that because he told us he has put his Presidency on the line to fight and win the war on the galamsey, but looking at the drama surrounding Aisha Huangs re-arrest, over 500 missing excavators and the color of our water bodies, he is still going around as the President. On the deportation, repatriation or fleeing of Aisha Huang, Hon. Yaw Osafo-Marfo had earlier told us that jailing Aisha wouldnt bring any economic benefits to the country. This caused the Attorney General to discontinue charges against Aisha. That was the end we heard about her. This was in 2018. So what briefing did the Attorney General give the President after the notorious Aisha was set free, because the President later told us that he thought the deportation of Aisha Huang was a mistake. Last week, the President told us that he is not STILL sure whether Aisha Huang was deported or she fled the country in 2018. If the President still doesnt know how Aisha was not seen again after 2018 but re-arrested in 2022, dont you see the President was misled in 2018? Then you ask yourself, what kind of President does Ghana have? To make matters worse for Nana Addo, after he exposed himself as an empty President in that interview, Hon. Kojo Nkrumah was on TV and radio telling us the difference between deportation, repatriation and fleeing to confirm that Nana Addo is a certificate-less law President. But why is it that these days anything said by either Nana Addo or Dr. Bawumiah, takes the whole communication machinery of both the government and the NPP to explain what they meant to us? Just look at how Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah tried to explain the difference between deportation and repatriation after Nanas interview. It also took the same team, two weeks to explain when Dr. Bawumiah said he preferred one Ghana card to a thousand interchanges. Are their speech writers not educated enough or the communicators think Ghanaians are fools? Nana Addo, who has put his Presidency on the line against galamsey doesnt seem to know that the kingpins doing galamsey are his party executives, MPs and Ministers. This is because he knows nobody will hold him accountable for that statement. If the voice to cause him to resign because he has lost the war against galamsey is very loud, he would have been serious about what he says. By the way, if Nana Addo doesnt know what is wrong if in the full view of the British High Commission staff, he could go there and copy a condolence message to the Queen, then we dont have a country. A President, who prides himself of giving free education to his people but goes to copy a condolence message in the full view of the High Commissions staff is not a President worth celebrating. Lawrence Appiah-Osei President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is joining other world leaders to pay their last respects on behalf of the Ghanaian people to Queen Elizabeth II, who would be laid to rest Monday. Nearly 2,000 guests, including royalty, presidents, heads of governments and ministers are attending the state funeral of the late sovereign, who ruled the British Empire for seven decades. The Queen's lying-in-State which opened since last Wednesday, ending early Monday morning ahead of funeral. Thousands of people from across the globe travelled to the United Kingdom to pay their respects to the late monarch. The funeral will take place at the Westminster Abbey at 1000 Hours Monday. Queen Elizabeth II will be laid to rest at the St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. Queen Elizabeth II, 96, died Thursday, September 8, 2022, after a brief period of medical supervision at her residence, the Balmoral Castle, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The monarch was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Head of the Commonwealth of Nations. She reigned for 70 years. She has been succeeded by her heir, Prince Charles, now King Charles III. Accompanied by his wife, Rebecca, President Akufo-Addo Sunday paid tribute to the late monarch when he signed her book of condolence at Lancaster House in London. He said the queen had overseen the dramatic transformation of the Commonwealth into a global force for good during her 70-year reign. The President who was also the first to sign a condolence book opened at the British High Commission in Accra on September 12, expressed the country's condolences to the British people on the loss of their queen. In an interaction with the British High Commissioner to Ghana, Harriet Thompson, he recounted his encounter with the Queen when she visited Ghana for the second time in 1999 for a state visit. I was in Parliament when she came to address us in Ghana in 1999. I was then a member of the opposition. I remember her presence, her friendliness especially. It is sad that she is gone, he said. The Ghanaian people have very fond memories of the two visits she made to Ghana during her reign, and, on both occasions, we remember the friendliness, elegance, style and sheer joy she brought to the performance of her duties, President Akufo-Addo said in a condolence message moments after the Queen Elizabeth II's death. As Head of the Commonwealth of Nations, she superintended over the dramatic transformation of the Union, and steered it to pay greater attention to our shared values and better governance. She was the rock that kept the organisation sturdy and true to its positive beliefs. We shall miss her inspiring presence, her calm, her steadiness, and, above all, her great love and belief in the higher purpose of the Commonwealth of Nations, and in its capacity to be a force for good in our world. She was a cherished and revered monarch of the British people, the longest serving in their history, who will be sorely missed. We are saddened by her departure. May God bless her soul and give her peaceful rest in His Bosom until the Last Day of the Resurrection when we shall all meet again, he said. GNA At the highest governmental and political levels throughout the industrialized world, it has been frequently highlighted the crucial role that the judicial system plays in the growth of the national economy. Unfortunately, that hasn't had much of an impact on financial and economic growth in Ghana. What factors are preventing an effective judiciary from accelerating development in Ghana? It has been emphasized time and time again that strengthening the judicial system is necessary for the modernization of the economy because an efficient judiciary is a crucial institutional element in attracting foreign investment and guaranteeing the highest level of protection for economic entities' rights. To put it another way, inadequate justice systems deter investment. The president, Nana Akufo Addo, never considered it urgent to discuss with Kwasi Anin-Yeboah, the Supreme Court Justice he appointed, the issue of expanding the role of the judicial system in the implementation of the state investment promotion policy to provide an efficient legal means of encouraging investments in the country of Ghana. Kwasi Anin-Yeboah, the Chief Justice, has two options: he may work only for Akufo Addo, who appointed him, and the NPP party, or he can instantly overhaul the country's chronic corrupt judicial system to attract investors and boost the faltering economy. As is well known, the president has granted the Supreme Court exclusive authority to ensure that anything raised by the opposition against the ruling government, is opposed. Therefore, the judges chosen by Akufo Addo only serve him and the NPP party, rather than acting in the best interests of the public and establishing a friendlier justice system for the common people that can attract investment. Analyzing the NPP government's failure, the high unemployment rate, crime, ongoing corruption, depressed currency, and the reason the nation is in massive debt without accountability, it's quite simple to find the reasons. It's because Nana Akufo Addo, the president, works more for himself and the party. No nation can run a successful government if it does not prioritize serving the needs of its citizens. The appointment of his relative Ken Ofori-Atta as finance minister is an example, as well as those of Chief Justice Kwasi Anin-Yeboah, Attorney General Godfred Dame, the head of the Electoral Commission Jean Mensa, Inspector General of Police George Dampare, and many others, are examples of appointments made in Akufo Addo's favor that ultimately led to his downfall. The real purpose of each of the aforementioned individuals' appointments is not to assist every Ghanaian but by depriving the opposition of justice, they either serve the president or the party, making it more challenging to correct issues affecting our nation. In this sense, it is very evident that the type of administration that this government is running serves not the interests of the people but rather their own desire to gain wealth. The government has failed to stand up for the people because it is not for the people. Fighting for the people entails creating jobs for them so that they can live worthwhile lives. But that has never been the case under this NPP administration. After five years in power, the government is only concerned with creating a new tax they call the E-Levy to loot the people rather than creating jobs for them. The bogus E-Levy was launched by the NPP government in response to public outcry and complaints, but it has been a failure that caused the closure of thousands of mobile money transfer businesses. The president, who vowed to protect the people's money, instead fostered and supported corruption by adding to his government, politicians, judges, and a journalist, implicated in severe corruption scandals. What kind of educated president would act in such a way and believe his nation would draw in international investment? The most tragic aspect of this government is that it never changes because it never learns. That's why I think every NPP politician who says something to break the eight-cycle should get medical or psychological care since such remarks would not be made if your brain is functioning properly. More importantly, Akufo Addo has demonstrated that he is more like a little child than a president who is wise and mature. Take a look at the destruction and extreme suffering that the NPP government has inflicted on the populace. Ghana has a hunger problem because the majority of people cannot afford to buy their local food, but the president was unable to control his arrogance. He claims that Mahama has trouble falling asleep since he still can't get over beating him twice in the 2016 and 2020 elections. When I first read Akufo Addo's comments, I thought my eyes were deceiving me because this is inappropriate. Given that the majority of Ghanas youth have lost faith in the president and are no more interested in him, it is irrelevant for any wise leader to make such comments since it may cause provocation. There are too many videos making fun of our president on the internet, including Tik-tok, which saddens me. Some of them are quite humiliating and degrading, but I don't blame those responsible because Nana Akufo Addo, the president, made it possible for himself. An Ewe chief recently demanded that a project be finished. Akufo Addo said in an interview why the chief shouldn't go and finish the project by himself. The president should have avoided using those words. Who will trust Akufo Addo if he claims on social media that "Seeing you has strengthened my desire to marry from the Volta region"? That's why I said that the president is to blame for all of his problems and failures. Despite his bad record as Ghana's worst leader, Ghanaians would have supported him strongly if he had shown them love and support early because human error is inevitable. The key strategic documents of Ghana's justice system reflect an understanding of the relationship between the quality of justice development and the national economy as well as the business and investment climate, but either they are unaware of this relationship or have chosen to ignore it even though it determines both the long-term socio-economic development of the state. It's not too late; if Kwasi Anin-Yeboah is an intelligent individual, he should either continue to serve Akufo Addo and the NPP party alone or immediately modernizes and transforms the nation's judicial system to encourage investments and revive the ailing economy. This is because an efficient judiciary system not only fosters a welcoming environment for foreign investment but also safeguards the rights and freedoms of citizens. The Eastern Regional Minister, Seth Acheampong, has implored the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and residents of the Krobo enclave to be decorum in the aftermath of a protracted agitation over the installation of pre-paid meters. Mr. Acheampong believes this will bring peace to the area. He made these comments at a press briefing at the Ministry of Information. Once you utilize the utility, you should be ready to pay for the service because the service provider, the generator and the transmitter are all spending to produce the resource for us and the resource needs to be paid for, the Minister said to the residents. He further urged ECG to be more measured in its approach to the installation of the prepaid metres, because you are serving and helping all of us. This has been the way we have been able to leave the stalemate into a settlement, and we are posting peacefully to ensure that we fully deploy the prepaid meters into the municipality. ECG and the soldiers accompanying its personnel have been accused of using excessive force in attempts to install prepaid meters. Parts of the Krobo enclave had been without power for over three weeks after residents continued to protest against the installation of prepaid meters. By Citi Newsroom The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Dr George Akuffo Dampare is heading to Wa, Upper West Region, this morning, 19 September 2022. The IGPs visit follows the latest alleged reports of killings and disappearances in Wa. The IGP who is accompanied by other senior officers is expected to arrive in the Wa municipality before Midday. His visit also comes after Police exhumed a dead body buried in a shallow grave at Napogi-ba Kolee extension in Wa. The deceased identified as Seidu Dakpuli, is the latest security personnel who went missing two days today. Some body parts are said to be missing after the exercise. This comes days after angry youth in the area massed up on the streets and burnt tyres protesting the unexplained killings. The IGPs visit is expected to boost Police morale and also assure the citizenry of the readiness of the law enforcement agency to protect them. Apart from the IGPs presence, the Police administration has also assured the people of the Wa and its environs that it has taken cognizance of their security concerns and has, therefore, put in place measures to support the Regional Police Command to beef up security to ensure the safety of all persons in the Metropolis. In this regard, special purpose investigation and intelligence teams as well additional police visibility and crime combat teams have been deployed to Wa under the leadership of the Director-General of Operations. The Police reiterated its pledge to the public that they will continue to work towards ensuring the safety and security of all persons across the country. Source: Classfmonline.com Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, wants to know the whereabouts of the four Chinese accomplices of galamsey queen, Aisha Huang, when she was busted in 2018 and allegedly deported. Miss Huang in 2018 was busted together with Gao Jin Chen, Lu Qi Jun, Haibin Gao and Zhang Zhipeng. She was standing trial with them when the state filed the infamous nolle prosequi on December 19, 2018 and sent her back to China. Mr Ablakwa said Ms Huangs latest accomplices are not the same four who were busted with her in 2018. Like Aisha Huang were they deported or repatriated? Did they flee or did they sneak out? Were they allowed to stay in Ghana all these years, and do we know exactly what they are doing in our country? If they ever left, have they also been allowed to sneak back in? Mr Ablakwa quizzed in a Facebook post. Ms Huang after her deportation or repatriation in 2018 sneaked back into the country to commit same crime for which reason she was arrested and sent back to her country. She is currently before the court answering for her previous and current crimes with three others. Find below details of Mr Ablakwas post: Thus far, the national debate on the Aisha Huang scandal is missing an important element. When the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government decided not to continue with case number CR 344/2017 by filing that infamous nolle prosequi on December 19, 2018, the notorious Aisha Huang (Alias En Huang/Ruixia Huang) was being prosecuted with 4 other Chinese accomplices. They were: Gao Jin Chen, Lu Qi Jun, Haibin Gao and Zhang Zhipeng. It is worthy of note that these 4 Chinese male suspects were arrested on 5th May, 2017 by gallant officers of the Ghana Immigration Service at Bepotenten in the Amansie Central District of the Ashanti Region where they were actively engaged in illegal mining with 6 excavators, generators, sand washing machines and other equipment. They subsequently admitted working for galamsey queen, Aisha Huang, who had recruited them, and was keeping their passports. Kindly take note that these 4 Huangnic musketeers from the 2017-2018 aborted prosecution are not the same persons being prosecuted with Aisha Huang in the current 2022 case. For the avoidance of doubt, the 3 other accused persons being prosecuted now with Aisha Huang are: Johng Li Hua, Huang Jei and Huaid Hai Hun. The fundamental question that arises therefore is: what really happened to Gao Jin Chen, Lu Qi Jun, Haibin Gao and Zhang Zhipeng? Like Aisha Huang were they deported or repatriated? Did they flee or did they sneak out? Were they allowed to stay in Ghana all these years, and do we know exactly what they are doing in our country? If they ever left, have they also been allowed to sneak back in? The good people of Ghana have absolutely every right to know what happened to those 4 Chinese Galamsey Gangsters who were immediately discharged together with Aisha Huang by His Lordship Justice Edward Ekow Baiden when government filed its unpatriotic and nation-wrecking nolle prosequi on December 19, 2018. After dodging, ducking and diving for almost 4 years, the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government can no longer be silent on this crucial aspect of the Aisha Huang puzzle, particularly, in the face of the current ignominious spectacle. If government finally opens up now, and gives transparency a chance, it may help reduce their tribulations in Parliament when the House resumes in a few weeks. Source: Classfmonline.com The Ghana Police Service has provided an update on the situation in the Wa Municipality and its environs amid tension. In a statement issued on Monday morning, the Police have confirmed that it has uncovered the body of a resident killed and buried in a shallow grave. The deceased is suspected to be the security guard who was reported missing last week. The special purpose police intelligence and investigation teams working with members of the community on 18th September 2022 discovered a body in a shallow grave at Bamahu, a suburb of Wa. The body was later identified by family members of the deceased as Seidu Baga who was reported missing on 16th September 2022. The body was subsequently exhumed and conveyed to the Regional Hospital, Wa for autopsy and investigation, an update from the Ghana Police Service has said. Meanwhile, the police say it is providing clinical psychologists to offer psycho-social support to the family. The security service has also assured residents of the Wa Municipality and its environs that the special intelligence and investigation teams will continue to work around the clock with assistance from the affected communities to bring the perpetrators to face justice. In that regard, operations and combat teams have also been deployed to the area to ensure the safety and security of residents following several strange killings. His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo-led NPP Government will continue to share the National Cake equally through infrastructure development and provision of the needed resources towards National Development, Member of Parliament for Gomoa Central, Hon. Naana Eyiah has said. Commissioning two (2) health facilities at Gomoa Mangoase and Kwameadwer last Friday, the Member of Parliament who is also the Deputy Minister for Interior noted people in her constituency ought to have quality healthcare delivery thus the construction of the edifice to serve them. "We thank his Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, President of the Republic of Ghana for bathing Gomoa Central with development in every sector of the economy in education, health, agriculture and other areas that have improved economic growth and development. "It is worthy to note that these facilities are going to ease people the stress of traveling distances to access healthcare especially during odd hours. "What I pray for is for the people to collaboration with the Ghana Health Service to carry out a culture of maintenance to sustain the lifespan of the facilities," he stated. Gomoa Central District Chief Executive Hon Benjamin Kojo Otoo disclosed that the health centers have been placed at strategic places to benefit communities nearby. He indicated that the Gomoa Mangoase Health facility will serve Gomoa Osamkrom and Brofoyedur adding it was a relief to the people who had to travel to Gomoa Ekwamkrom, Abaasa, Agona Swedru or even to Winneba before accessing health care. "The Kwameadwer CHPS Compound will serve over eighteen (18) communities in the enclave to reduce the burden of transporting relatives to Gomoa Obuasi and other places for medical attention. "Interestingly, every health facility in the Gomoa Central District is fully equipped with medical logistics to enable it operate efficiently and has professional health workers as well. I would like to urge people in these operational areas to give a working relationship with health workers to enable them work with peace of mind. "These facilities were funded by the Gomoa Central District Assembly in collaboration with our Member of Parliament through the District Assembly Common Fund and Internally Generating Fund (IGF), we expect value for money from the Ghana Health Service by providing better services to the people." Nana Okofo Ogyefo Amoakoh II, Chief of Mangoase, Nana Esoun Abonyi Kwataa II, Chief of Gomoa Brofoyedur and Nana Atta Kwesi Nkum Adontenhene of Gomoa Osamkrom thanked the Member of Parliament for Gomoa Central, Hon. Naana Eyiah and the DCE, Hon. Benjamin Kojo Otoo for the edifice. They pledged to work hand in hand with the Ghana Health Service to discharge their duties effectively and efficiently. Assembly Member for Osamkrom, Mangoase, Brofoyedur, Electoral Area, Hon. Frederick Dadzie popularly known as 'Oxygen' expressed his appreciation to Hon. Naana Eyiah, DCE, Hon. Benjamin Kojo Otoo as well as President Akufo Addo for making him proud with the provision of social amenities. "Am proud to be Assembly Member for these communities, apart from enjoying cordial relationship with the Chiefs and people, the MP and the DCE have been a God-sent to me. "Today under my tenure of office as Assembly Member, Osamkrom Mangoase Brofoyedur can boast of electricity and water extension, Security Street Bulbs, empowerment facilities to improve farming and other economic related growth and development among others. I will continue to be grateful to these greatest leaders of our time. "We are solidly rallying behind the NPP Government to fully implement its programmes and initiatives aimed at poverty eradication in my Electoral Area," the Assemblymember emphasized. The Gomoa Central District Director of the Ghana Health Service, Mr George Bempah who received the keys to the facilities thanked the MP and the DCE for easing the workload of staff and assured of quality service to the people. He encouraged them to take advantage of the facilities aimed at improving their health status. Similarly, the Gomoa Central Member of Parliament accompanied by her District Chief Executive cut the sod for the construction of a District Police Station at Gomoa Obuasi to detach the District from Agona Swedru District Command. Earlier in the morning, Hon. Naana Eyiah donated 2,000 mathematical sets to the Gomoa Central District Directorate of the Ghana Education Service to be distributed to final year students in both public and private schools about to write their 2022 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE). The Member of Parliament for Assin Central, Kennedy Agyapong, has pledged to make Ghana a business hub of the West African sub-region, if given the mantle of leadership in the country. He said as a business mogul who employs 7,158 workers across the globe, he would govern the country through sound economic policies, and lay a solid foundation for industrial growth to transform the economy. My leadership will focus on business development because I want to run Ghana like a business to change the country. I have the experience to create jobs for the youth with my business acumen. My steel company, when completed, will employ over 1,000 workers. It is named after Ashanti Ashanti Steel, he disclosed. Mr Agyapong said this when he paid a courtesy call on the chief of Mamponteng, Nana Barima Saasi Ayeboafo II, in the Kwabre East municipality in the Ashanti region over the weekend. Business agenda To promote large scale mechanised agriculture, he said, the Afram Plains area and other parts of the country that have huge agricultural potential would be at the centre of targeted agricultural mechanisation initiatives. The cocoa sub-sector will also be streamlined as part of the agricultural initiative to ensure value for money so that farmers enjoy realistic producer prices for cocoa. Globally, the amount involved in the cocoa value chain is worth over $150 billion, but it is unfortunate that the country has not benefited adequately from this value, he disclosed. He also bemoaned that despite Ghana being the second world producer of cocoa, the proceeds it gets from the commodity are less than US$3 billion. The Assin Central MP gave the assurance that, if given the mandate to lead the country, his government will put in place deliberate structures to ensure that Ghana benefits hugely from the global cocoa value chain. I will also motivate the staff there to increase production volumes. I have plans to create globally competitive industries, make commercial farming attractive like what pertains in Cote DIvoire, Tanzania and other industrialised countries. Ghana is well endowed with minerals, and would be used to turn the economic fortunes of the country around, he stated. He pledged to instill discipline, integrity, hard work and accountability in the citizens, especially the youth, to contribute effectively to national development. On educational prospects, he said he would use his salary to establish a scholarship scheme in every constituency to pay the fees of brilliant but poor students. Donation The Assin Central legislator donated 200 street light bulbs to the people of the Mamponteng. He said street lighting had been observed to be a major problem in Ghana, with a number of the lights not working while those working are using high-pressure sodium bulbs, which consume a lot of electricity. Street lighting is essential road furniture. It ensures security at night for road users, contributes to improved road safety, and enhances our quality of life and standard of living, Mr Agyapong said. He further assured the chief he would complete works on the ongoing market in Kwabre and appealed to the assembly members for their maximum support in that direction. Support Nana Barima Saasi Ayeboafo II was grateful to the MP for his visit and assured him of warm reception at all times. He, however, appealed for the completion of the Kwabre market and road infrastructure in his area. Our roads are in a deplorable state. Many road projects under construction have been abandoned. TVET education needs key attention in the area. Speak for us so that life can be made more dignifying and comfortable for the inhabitants, he appealed. He admonished him not to abandon his boldness after victory to lead the party to iron out all differences that could rise in the primaries. Former Ghana President, John Dramani Mahama has signed the Book of Condolence opened in memory of British monarch, Her Royal Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Queen Elizabeth II, the UKs longest-serving monarch, died at Balmoral at age 96. She died peacefully on Thursday, September 8, at her Scottish estate, where she had spent much of the summer. Her funeral is taking place today, Monday, September 19. Earlier this morning, former President John Dramni Mahama was at the British High Commission in Ghana where he signed the Book of Condolence opened in honour of the British monarch. In a Tweet, the leader of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) described Queen Elizabeth II as someone with a good sense of humour and clarity of thought. While joining the rest of the world to salute the Queen, Mahama stresses that she was a very great woman. An era has come to an end. The world salutes a very great woman. She was the commonwealth; such a diplomat, who took it upon herself to bring diverse nations together. Her visits to Ghana in 1961 and 1999 are perfect examples. I recall my visit to Buckingham Palace in 2014 with my wife, Lordina, and our interaction. One is struck by her dignity and grace. She had a good sense of humour and clarity of thought. Fare thee well, Queen Elizabeth, Mahama has said in a post on Facebook. Queen Elizabeth II reigned for 70 years. 19.09.2022 LISTEN The Majority Leader in Parliament Hon Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu has said the Akufo-Addo-led NPP government has not lost the fight against illegal mining in spite of its complexity and the extreme difficulty in dealing with the menace. There have been growing concerns about the fight against the menace particularly with the re-arrest and subsequent charges against galamsey queen, Aisha Huang for engaging in illegal mining activities. This has led several Civil Society Organisations and the Minority in Parliament to question President Akufo-Addos commitment to fighting the canker. Speaking on OTEC breakfast show dubbed Nyansapo on Monday September 19, 2022 Hon Kyei Mensah Bonsu who is also Minister of Parliamentary Affairs said the governments intervention to deal with the menace should not be misconstrued as a ploy to get people out of work since small-scale mining sector was recognised as a key component of the countrys mining ecosystem. "What I can say is that government has not lost the fight against galamsey. The fight against galamsey must continue unabated. These activities expose the rivers to all forms of pollution. To overcome this canker requires the commitment of everyone, including the government. In times past, communal labour and volunteerism were effective avenues used by Nananom [chiefs] and local authorities to deal with issues of filth. This noble initiative however seems to be lost on us these days, he told the programme's host, Captain Koda. The European Union's executive branch has proposed suspending 7.5 billion in financing for Hungary, as it awaits anti-corruption reforms from Budapest. Sunday's move by the European Commission comes as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government is under renewed fire for its close ties with Moscow, as Budapest is accused of having dragged its feet on freezing Russian assets since the invasion of Ukraine. The European Union and Hungary have been at loggerheads for months, with Brussels suspecting the government led by nationalist leader Orban of undercutting the rule of law and using EU money to enrich its cronies. The European Commission's budget commissioner, Johannes Hahn, told journalists on Sunday that the bloc's executive had proposed suspending funding "amounting to [an] estimated amount of 7.5 billion." On Saturday, Hungary's government said that MPs would vote next week on a series of laws aimed at easing the conflict. The measures are expected to include setting up independent anti-corruption watchdogs to monitor the use of EU funds as well as steps to make the legislative process more transparent. Hahn said he was "very confident that ... we will see significant reforms in Hungary, which indeed will be a game changer." He added that Hungary has committed to "fully inform" the commission about implementing measures to address their concerns by 19 November. 'Trojan horse' Poland another eastern EU member accused of flouting the rule of law said it would fully oppose any measure depriving Hungary of the funds. Nationalist Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said Sunday that such a move would be "absolutely unauthorised." Italy's far-right leader Giorgia Meloni tipped for victory in the upcoming general election has also criticised the EU's threat, warning that sanctions could push countries towards Russia. The EU's Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders added to the tensions between Brussels and Hungary after commenting that the Hungarian government's friendliness with the Kremlin was potentially behind its foot-dragging on implementing anti-Russian sanctions. "We must put a lot of pressure" on Hungary because "we can assume that its very close ties with Russia are perhaps preventing it from acting", he told television channel LCI. While the EU has frozen over 14 billion worth of Russian assets, Hungary has only blocked a paltry 3000. Meanwhile in Ukraine, presidential advisor Mykhaylo Podolyak described Hungary as a "Trojan horse seeking the collapse of [the] EU at the expense of European taxpayers. "Let's call a spade a spade ... Orban hates Ukraine and dreams of [a] 'Russian world' in Europe. Should [the] EU finance these diversions?" he wrote on Twitter. Orban's 'last chance'? However, Orban's administration has struck a softer tone towards Brussels of late. Justice Minister Judit Varga reacted to the Commission's proposal by acknowledging that "we still have work to do" to end the row, while insisting: "We are moving in the right direction. "We are working to ensure that the Hungarian people receive the resources they are entitled to!" Varga commented on social media this Sunday. The Hungarian minister in charge of negotiations with the EU, Tibor Navracsics told reporters that he was confident that "we can conclude these negotiations before the end of the year and sign the related agreements" to enable the release of the funds. But German MEP Daniel Freund has said that although the freezing of funds to Hungary was not enough to "stop Orban and his cronies from stealing EU funds". "Those are good measures, and they should be adopted, but they are not sufficient to stop corruption, let alone to make Hungary a functioning democracy," he added. French European Parliament member Valerie Hayer tweeted that this was the "last chance" for Orban. "The time for discussions is over," she said. The final decision on the proposal will be taken by the EU Council. On Thursday, the European Parliament declared that Hungary was no longer a "full democracy" in a symbolic vote that infuriated Budapest. Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, has spoken to King Charles III to explain his inability to attend the late Queen Elizabeth II's State Funeral in London today. The Asante Monarch, who presides over about 70 paramount chiefs across the country, was officially invited to the solemn occasion by King Charles III. However, according to Opemsuo FM, a radio station of the Manhyia Palace, His Majesty Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, Asantehene, will not be able to attend the events marking the State Funeral of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Phone Discussions According to credible sources, the two monarchs, reportedly, talked on phone over the weekend, where Otumfuo consoled the new Head of the Commonwealth over his unfortunate loss. Otumfuo, who is now in South Africa for short holidays, explained the reasons for his inability to grace the Queen's State Funeral to the newly crowned British Monarch. The Asante King's reason for being absent at the funeral, which has not been made public yet, was said to have been accepted by King Charles III during their discussions. Manhyia, Buckingham Palace Relations The Manhyia Palace in Kumasi and the Buckingham Palace in London have been enjoying close and cordial relations for so many years. For instance, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II once visited the Buckingham Palace to meet and talk with the late Queen Elizabeth II, whose funeral is taking place in London today. Also, other top officials and royals of the Buckingham Palace, including the newly crowned King Charles III, have visited Otumfuo in the Manhyia Palace in Kumasi before. In this regard, the decision of the Buckingham Palace to officially invite the Asantehene to the Queen's State Funeral in London today was therefore not a surprise to many. But due to some unknown circumstances, the Asantehene could not join the royal family of the United Kingdom (UK) to mourn the departed Queen, who died at age 96. About 500 World Leaders will be attending the funeral of the late Queen. From Africa, President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, and President of Gabon, Ali Bongo will be attending. From Ghana, President Akufo-Addo and his wife, Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo will be attending in addition to four high profile representatives. ---Daily Guide A: Introduction The very nature of the adversarial system of litigation we practice means that, at the end of every case filed in court, there is a winner and a loser. The person who wins will look forward to reaping the fruits of her judgment. The first step the winner must take in order to enjoy the judgment is to file an entry of judgment. The purpose of filing an entry of judgment is to inform the losing party what judgment has been given by the court in favour of the winning party, the date of the judgment, the name of the judge, the name of the court, etc. Without filing an entry of judgment, the winner cannot enforce and enjoy the judgment. Since the entry of judgment is the formal record of the judgment of the court, its existence is the most cogent evidence that the judge pronounced judgment at or after the trial.[1] It is drawn up (or simply put, prepared) by the lawyer for the successful party, known as the judgment-creditor, and served personally on the losing party, called the judgment-debtor, as a prelude to execution. But in a recent case that was heard before the Supreme Court,[2] the Court gave certain directives to the effect that, drawing up of entry of judgment must not be left in the hands of the winners (judgment creditor) lawyer. Rather, court registrars and judges must be the proper persons to state what judgment the court gave. The Supreme Court went as far as to suggest that the High Court rules of procedure[3] must be amended to follow the provisions in the Supreme Court rules[4] that state that, after a judgment is given, the registrar must issue a certificate on the judgment and it must be signed by the presiding judge and sealed. In this article, the case of Asamoah v S.I.C is discussed. The directives that were given by the Supreme Court in the case are analyzed in detail. The reasons given by the Supreme Court for issuing the directives are examined and the Courts preferred mode of drawing up entry of judgment is discussed. The article argues that, the Supreme Court did not have jurisdiction to make new rules by way of directives to amend the High Court Rules of Procedure, a jurisdiction reserved solely for the Rules of Court Committee by the Constitution. The article concludes that, the current regime for drawing up entry of judgment by judgment-creditors or their lawyers under the High Court Rules is adequate and the Supreme Courts directives in Asamoah v S.I.C are not only pointless, but they are unlawful. B: The case of Asamoah v S.I.C The facts: The appellant, an insurance company called State Insurance Company Ltd (S.I.C) insured the respondents (Asamoah) car under a comprehensive policy. The car was later snatched from Asamoahs wife by robbers and Asamoah claimed the value of the car under his comprehensive insurance policy with S.I.C. S.I.C refused to pay and Asamoah sued at the High Court for the cars insured value of GH116,200 plus interest. Procedure: Asamoah won the case at the High Court. S.I.C was not happy with the judgment so they appealed against the judgment and applied for stay of execution pending appeal. The Court of Appeal granted the stay on terms and ordered S.I.C to pay the full judgment debt and interest into court[5] within 30 days. The Court of Appeal directed the registrar to put the money into an income-yielding investment. S.I.C complied and paid the money into the High Court. When the appeal was heard, S.I.C won the appeal. Asamoah then appealed to the Supreme Court and he won. After winning his appeal at the Supreme Court, Asamoah applied to withdraw the money paid into the High Court plus the interest from the investment. The money was paid to him through his lawyer. Asamoahs lawyer later filed two notices of entry of judgment in which he calculated interest at the commercial rate on the money paid into court and already withdrawn by him. The lawyer argued that the new claim for interest was based on the Supreme Courts order that Asamoah must be paid his money with interest. S.I.C opposed the application. It is the claim for interest filed by Asamoah in the two new entry of judgment in the High Court after receiving the money paid into court that resulted in the instant appeal before the Supreme Court. Issue: The issue the Supreme Court had to resolve was whether after withdrawing the money plus interest paid into court, Asamoah was entitled to collect any further interest from S.I.C. Decision: The Supreme Court held that, Asamoah was not entitled to any further interest beyond what was paid into court, invested and paid to him. The Court reasoned that, Asamoah had not been kept out of his money. He applied to the High Court and had the money, together with the interest from the investment, released to him. He had, thus, been indemnified from any loss by the investment made and interest accrued. Having gained access to the full value of the money, Asamoah would be unjustly enriched if he were to be granted further interest as was calculated in the subsequent notices of entry of judgment filed by his lawyer. The Supreme Court added that, at the time the Supreme Court heard the appeal and decided on it, it was not aware of the Court of Appeal order for the payment of the judgment debt and interest into court. Therefore, the order of the Supreme Court for calculation of interest up to the date of final payment must be interpreted by the parties in the light of the reality on the ground as at the date of its delivery. That is to say, the amount and interest had already been paid into court. Speaking on the legal effect of paying money into court, Amegatcher, JSC stated that, it is a way of protecting funds while the litigation is ongoing. Such payment into court is meant to satisfy any potential liability. For instance, if a defendant is found liable, the payment into court goes to the plaintiff. If the defendant is found not liable, then the defendant gets a refund of the payment made into court. In cases of appeal, such payments will remain in the courts custody to ensure that, in the event of the failure of the appeal, the respondent will have his money without difficulty. In general, the procedure for ordering payment into court gives litigants assurance that they will be able to collect any judgment awarded in their favour.[6] In summary, once payment has been made into court and it satisfies the claim and the beneficiary accepts it, the payment discharges the debtor from any further obligation, be it the principal or interest. And any interest calculable on the debt due will cease to run from the date the full principal is paid into court. C: The new regime conceived by the Supreme Court In the course of giving its judgment in Asamoah v S.I.C, the Supreme Court bemoaned the tendency by some parties and lawyers to file entries of judgment that do not reflect the actual orders made by courts. The Court took the view that, Asamoahs lawyer was wrong in filing the new entries of judgment since he knew the money was paid into court. The order made by the Supreme Court for payment of interest up to the date of final payment was of no moment as it was made without knowing the money was already in court, and in investment, too. Consequently, the Court gave several directives towards reforms in the rules on entry of judgment. It also called on the Rules of Court Committee to implement some of the directives. The new role for registrars and judges in drawing up entry of judgment According to the Supreme Court, drawing up the entry of judgment after trial should not be left to the judgment creditor or his lawyer alone as provided in C.I 47. Judges and registrars must make an input before the entry of judgment is filed. This is what the Supreme Court said: If the judgment after trial is the formal record of the judgment and the most cogent evidence that the judge pronounced that judgment at or after the trial, we do not think it is appropriate for its drawing up to be left in the hands of one party to the litigation without any input from the judge who delivered the judgment.[7] In making this assertion, the Court found fortification in the provision in the Supreme Court Rules[8] which requires that a judgment or order made by the Supreme Court, to be enforced in a trial court, must be accompanied by a certificate stating the orders made by the Supreme Court, under the seal of the Supreme Court and signed by presiding Supreme Court judge. The Court prescribed that procedure for the High Court in place of the current procedure where the judgment-creditor or her lawyer draws up and file the entry of judgment. D: The Supreme Courts reasons for its preferred new rules It is trite learning that, under the High Court Rules,[9] it is judgment-creditors or their lawyers who interpret the judgment and prepare or draw up a notice of entry of judgment and file it at the registry. The Supreme Courts directives in Asamoah v S.I.C showing a preference towards judges and registrars, instead of judgment-creditors and their lawyers, to prepare entry of judgment were based on the following triumvirate of reasons. The first reason given by the Court was that, judgment creditors or their lawyers drafting and filing entry of judgment has posed problems for administration of justice in Ghana because some parties deliberately misstate the actual orders made by the court or the legal basis of their claim before the court. For instance, a party may claim compound interest when no such rate was part of the agreement between the parties or where the court made no such order. Secondly, a party can enter judgment for recovery of possession when no such relief was claimed and even if claimed, was not granted by the court. Thirdly, an entry of judgment may not state the actual effect of a declaratory relief made by the court and whether it is legal to enforce such declaratory reliefs, the Supreme Court reasoned. The orders given by the Supreme Court In the light of the three reasons set forth above, the Supreme Court proposed several new rules to regulate the drawing up and filing of entry of judgment in Asamoah v S.I.C. To experience the full force and effect of the proposals, they are quoted in detail below: 1. Trial judges are to summarise and specifically state all enforceable orders made in their judgments at the end or at the conclusion of the judgments. This summary is to be recorded in the Record Book as well. This will provide guidelines to the parties, Counsel and the registrars regarding the drawing up and the filing of notices of judgment after trial and the specific orders to be enforced by way of execution. The Judicial Secretary is ordered to bring this directive to the attention of all trial courts in the country and the Judicial Training Institute. 2. Registrars of all courts are to carefully review such notices of entry of judgment filed and satisfy themselves that the contents represent the orders made by the court in the suit. When in doubt, registrars should seek clarification from the judge who pronounced the judgment before executing any documents for the enforcement of the judgment. The Judicial Secretary is ordered to bring this directive to the attention of all registrars of the courts in the country and the Judicial Training Institute. 3. Counsel representing judgment-debtors must carefully scrutinise notices of entry of judgment filed by their colleagues and confirm that the contents are in line with the agreement of the parties and/or the final orders made by the court. If the notice has been misrepresented, it is the professional responsibility of the counsel to object timeously to the terms filed and to apply to the court immediately to set aside or rectify the notices. This is a duty owed their clients, the court and the profession to expose wrongdoing and protect the sanctity of the justice delivery system. 4. Counsel preparing and signing notices of judgment after trial should be wary of the rules of professional conduct which regulate their actions in court. We refer especially to Rule 63 (2) (e) & (f) of the Legal Profession (Professional Conduct and Etiquette) Rules, 2020, L.I. 2423 which provides as follows: a. Rule 63 (2) (e) Where a lawyer acts as an advocate, that lawyer shall not knowingly attempt to deceive a court or influence the course of justice by offering false evidence, misstating a fact or law, presenting or relying on a false or deceptive affidavit, supressing what ought to be disclosed, or otherwise assisting in a criminal or an illegal conduct. b. Rule 63 (2)(f) Where a lawyer acts as an advocate, that lawyer shall not knowingly misstate the content of a document, the testimony of a witness, the substance of an argument, or the provision of an enactment or like authority. Any breach of these rules by misstating the orders made by a court in the notices of entry of judgment should henceforth be referred to the Disciplinary Committee of the General Legal Council for the appropriate sanctions. 5. The Rules of Court Committee is called upon to have a second look at the provisions in the rules which vest the power to interpret and draw up the notice of judgment after trial solely in the hands of the judgment creditor and their counsel. Any review or amendments of the rules should be geared towards averting injustices occasioned by misrepresentation of court orders for the purposes of execution. E: An analysis of the directives The directives, on their face, may not trouble anyone, even those familiar with legalistic eccentricities. This is so because they appear to have the imprimatur of law coming, as they are, from the highest and most revered court of the land. But a deeper analyses of the orders reveal that, there is more to them than meets the eye. The orders are discussed in detail below. a. Trial judges are to summarise and specifically state all enforceable orders made in their judgments at the end or at the conclusion of the judgments. This directive looks rather harmless as it accords with best practice. But any such practice must be introduced into the rules through the Rules of Court Committee, and not the Supreme Court. So, for the Supreme Court to order the Judicial Secretary to bring this directive to the attention of all trial courts in the country and the Judicial Training Institute is, with all due respect, unlawful. Neither the Constitution[10] nor the Courts Act[11] give the Supreme Court any powers to make rules to guide the procedures of trial courts. As stated earlier, that jurisdiction is exercisable only by the Rules of Court Committee and none other. It is submitted that, the Supreme Court cannot nibble at that jurisdiction that is constitutionally reserved for the Rules of Court Committee. For that reason, the directive to trial courts and the Judicial Training Institute is an illegality parading on stilts. b. Registrars of all courts are to carefully review such notices of entry of judgment filed; if in doubt, they must consult the judge. As noted earlier, the High Court Rules state that, the party seeking to have a judgment entered should draw up the judgment and present it to the registrar for entry.[12] The party seeking to have a judgment entered is the party who won the case, also known as the judgment- creditor. So the practice where a judgment-creditor or her lawyer prepares and files an entry of judgment after trial rooted in law, that is, C.I 47. The Supreme Court cannot, with the greatest respect, supplant the Rules with their preferred procedure and order the Judicial Secretary to carry it out. The Rule of Court Committee is the constitutionally mandated body with power to make the rules that guide the practice and procedures in all courts in Ghana.[13] The Supreme Courts role is to interpret and enforce the law, not to make the law.[14] If, as the Supreme Court alleges, some of our citizens suffer injustice as a result of wrong information included in entries of judgment, it is the Rules of Court Committee that must address the allegations and make rules to cure the alleged mischief. But definitely not the Supreme Court, and most definitely, not the manner in which it seeks to do so. At any rate, burdening our already over-burdened registrars and judges to scrutinise, nay, draw up entry of judgment after trial, is not an apposite counsel. The wheels of litigation grind slowly as it is already. Taking away the few processes such as entry of judgment - that lawyers can prepare and file on their own outside the judicial bureaucracy, rather detracts from any desire to curb injustice in the judicial process. In any event, entry of judgment is filed whether the judgment given by the court is interlocutory or final, and whether it is final based on a default judgment or summary judgment or final based on a trial on the merits. Is it the Supreme Courts expectation that every entry of judgment, qua entry of judgment, must be reviewed by a registrar, signed off by the judge and sealed by the registrar before filing? Will the judgment-creditor still pay filing fees on the entry of judgment she did not prepare? If the answers to these questions are in the affirmative then, it is submitted that, judicial ingenuity will be sorely taxed to address this conundrum. This brings to mind the innovative procedure that was introduced by C.I 47 regarding injunction applications but was quickly killed by the judicial system. Reference is made to the system because nobody formally changed the rules but somehow, the rule was not honoured in observance. I am referring to the provision in the Rules on interlocutory injunction. The Rules provide that a party who applies for interlocutory injunction can attach a draft of the order sought to the application to facilitate speedy preparation and sealing of the order when the application is granted.[15] When the Rules came into operation in 2004 and some of us sought to operationalize this rule, we were met with stiff resistance from the registrars because they preferred orders drawn up at the court. We did not insist on the law and we gave in. Judicial bureaucracy took over and the law makers intention to facilitate speedy preparation and sealing of the order went with the wind. We are still living with the consequences. Aloofness has become the legal professions most recognizable trait, acquiescence its chief characteristic. It is in this light that the Supreme Courts benign attempt at usurping the practitioners last hope of speedy enforcement of judgment must be resisted and stopped in its tracks. If the Supreme Courts directives are allowed to gain a foothold, or, if we look on for the Rules of Court Committee to pass some constitutional instrument to confer a semblance of legitimacy on the so-called orders, we will be mourning at our own funeral. In that case, we should not be surprised to awake to the news that, all writs and statements of claim must be submitted to registrars and judges to certify that, they disclose a cause of action against the intended defendant before they are filed. This may sound rather bizarre today but in all sincerity, who would have thought that a day would come when judgment-creditors lawyers will lose their lawful right to draw up entry of judgment on behalf of their clients? In law, just as in politics, there are no immaculate conceptions. c. Counsel representing judgment-debtors must carefully scrutinise notices of entry of judgment filed by their colleagues and confirm that the contents are in line with the agreement of the parties and/or the final orders made by the court: The law recognizes that mistakes do occur in the judicial process and that is why there are rules on amendment to correct any such mistakes.[16] Indeed, in Akowuah v Amoo,[17] the Supreme Court held that an error in an entry of judgment must be amended by an order of the court through an application on notice to the other party. The Court opined as follows: [a]ssuming that there was an error in the initial entry of judgment, such error should be corrected by the judicial process. In my respectful view, a judgment-creditor, who discovers his error in filing such a vital process, should not be permitted to amend the process on his own motion without resort to the judicial process by invoking the courts jurisdiction to correct the slip or omission through amendment with notice to the judgment-debtor who is the affected party.[18] It is submitted that, this view taken by the Court accorded with the general principles for amendments in correcting mistakes in court pleadings and processes. Regrettably, this erudite opinion was not considered by the Supreme Court in its decision in Asamoah v S.I.C.[19] Perhaps, if the Supreme Court had averted its mind to its previous decision in Akowuah v Amoo, it would have been slow in propounding new rules of procedure for drawing up entry of judgment, in contumelious disregard of the existing rules and usurping the power exclusively reserved under the Constitution for the Rules of Court Committee. If the Rules make provision for amendments to correct mistakes, it beggars belief that the Supreme Court will go to such an extreme to impute professional negligence to a lawyer who dares draw up an entry of judgment with mistakes. d. Counsel preparing and signing notices of judgment after trial should be wary of the rules of professional conduct which regulate their actions in court Any breach of these rules by misstating the orders made by a court in the notices of entry of judgment should henceforth be referred to the Disciplinary Committee of the General Legal Council for the (sic) appropriate sanctions. Perhaps, of all the impugned orders made by the Supreme Court in Asamoah v S.I.C, this the most bizarre order of all is the one that exposes a lawyer to disciplinary proceedings for mistakes in drawing up an entry of judgment. For the Supreme Court to affix a mistake made by a lawyer in an entry of judgment with professional irresponsibility is beyond belief. Now, in a case in which the judgment-creditor represents herself, what will be her sanction if she makes a mistake in drawing up an entry of judgment? The Supreme Courts latest fondness for the Disciplinary Committee of the General Legal Council borders on the pathological.[20] Will a mistake in making a claim in a writ and statement of claim also attract quasi-criminal sanctions? If the same argument is made that a judge who makes a mistake in a judgment or order must be sanctioned, how fair will that be? e. The Rules of Court Committee is called upon to have a second look at the provisions in the rules which vest the power to interpret and draw up the notice of judgment after trial solely in the hands of the judgment creditor and their Counsel. Any review or amendments of the rules should be geared towards averting injustices occasioned by misrepresentation of court orders for the purposes of execution: This order, it is submitted, should have been the order made by the Supreme Court. It recognizes that the Rules of Court Committee is the only legitimate body to make rules of procedure to guide the courts. It is submitted that, if the Supreme Court goads the Judicial Secretary to carry out the first four unlawful orders, this last but important directive will be rendered useless. Be that as it may, the Supreme Courts appetite for an amendment in the Rules to side-step judgment-creditors and their lawyers regarding entry of judgment is not a healthy one, as noted above. When, and if, any such amendment is presented to the Rules of Court Committee, the members must be bold and tell the sponsors: Procul O! Procul este profani. F: Must trial courts follow the procedure in the Supreme Court Rules? To proffer a solution to the so-called problem of leaving entry of judgment preparation in the hands of judgment creditors and their lawyers, the Supreme Court suggested that Rule 28 of the Supreme Court Rules must be adopted instead of the procedure in Order 25 rule 7 (1) C.I 47. The Supreme Court rules provide that the registrar must issue a certificate signed by the presiding judge and sealed before a judgment will be enforced.[21] I wish to state right at the outset that, do not share in the Supreme Courts preference for the provision in Rule 28. The reason is simply this; the provision in Rule 28 of the Supreme Court Rules is suitable for the peculiar circumstances where a judgment given by the Supreme Court but can only be enforced in the trial court. Since the trial court will be enforcing a judgment that is not originating from that court, the Rules of Committee found it wise to demand that the presiding judge must sign the certificate and the registrar must seal it. This will leave no doubt in the trial courts mind as to the nature of the judgment it is being called upon to enforce. Contrary to the new ethos propounded in the Asamoah case, it is worthy to note that, in recent times, the Supreme Court has recognized the prominent role judgment-creditors play when it comes to execution of judgments. The apex Court has also held that, it has the power to enforce its own judgment under the Constitution by adopting any rules of procedure applicable in any court in Ghana. Therefore, it is not under any obligation to invoke Rule 28 of C.I 16 in order to enforce its judgment and orders. In Martin Alamisi Amidu v Attorney-General, Waterville Holdings (BVI) Ltd & 2 Others, Alfred Agbesi Woyome,[22] it was noted that, the position taken by the applicant was based on the rather erroneous view that the Court should have applied Rule 28 of C.I 16 and asked the High Court to enforce the judgment in the case. The Court added that, it is not the duty or business of Counsel for a judgment debtor to tell this Court how to enforce or direct the enforcement of its decisions, judgments and orders. The mode of selecting an enforcement mechanism is the preserve of the judgment-creditor. Rule 28 is not mandatory for the Court to comply with; it may invoke it if it so desires. Thus, the fact that the Court did not refer the enforcement to the High Court is a matter of no consequence, as the Court has decided that it has the right, the means and the power to enforce its own judgments and orders applying any existing rules of practice available in any court in Ghana by virtue of Article 129 (4) of the Constitution, in the absence of rules of enforcement under the Supreme Court Rules, C.I. 16.[23] It is submitted that, if the Supreme Court does not feel itself bound to apply Rule 28 of C.I 16 but chooses to reach into the rules of other courts to enforce its judgments, then it is curious that the Supreme Court is now prescribing its Rule 28 (that it does not fancy that much) to the High Court that already has ample rules that the Supreme Court even prefers to adopt under Article 129 (4). If the Supreme Court itself seeks refuge in Article 129 (4) of the Constitution to escape applying the cumbersome procedure in Rule 28 of C.I 16 to enforce its judgment as happened in the Woyome case,[24] then one is at a loss as to why the same Supreme Court will proffer that a similar rule must be introduced into the High Court Rules in the Asamoah case. Perhaps, a modern day Trojan horse of a gift to the Bar? Under the High Court Rules, if a trial court hears a case and awards judgment in a partys favour, the judgment will be enforced by that trial court. And the judgment- creditor or her lawyer who conducted the case and obtained the judgment is, and will be, the best person to draw up the entry of judgment and file it. Therefore, it will be wholly pointless to suggest that, after it has given its judgment, the trial court must be saddled with an extra workload of preparing a certificate, have it signed and sealed, and paid for, before the judgment creditor can go into execution as it is under Rule 28 of C.I 16. There must be an end to court procedures. At any rate, what will it profit a litigant if she wins a case in court but cannot enter judgment through her lawyer? G: Conclusion In conclusion, it is submitted that, the current regime for drawing up entry of judgment by judgment-creditors or their lawyers under the High Court Rules is adequate and the Supreme Courts directives or orders in Asamoah v S.I.C are not only pointless, but they are unlawful. The new directives, if implemented, will only succeed in adding a further layer on the already congested judicial bureaucracy. [1] Republic v Court of Appeal; Ex parte Ghana Commercial Bank Pensioners Association [2001-2002] SCGLR 883; dictum of Afreh, JSC [2] Ken Kwame Asamoah v State Insurance Company Civil Appeal No. J4/55/2021, judgment dated 18th January, 2022, SC (unreported) [3] High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules, 2004, (C.I 47) [4] Supreme Court Rules, 1996 (C.I 16) [5] Under Order 18 of the High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules, 2004 (C.I 47) [6] See also the following cases: Ghana Consolidated Diamonds Ltd v Tantuo [2003-2004] SCGLR 1136. The plaintiffs sued their employers for the payment of their end of service benefits. The employers then paid into court the sum in satisfaction of the plaintiffs claim. The plaintiffs accepted and received the payment made into court but later filed a notice of acceptance of the amount paid as part satisfaction of their claims. It was held that the payment into court and acceptance ended the matter; Smith & Others v Blankson (substituted by) Baffour & Another [2007-2008] SCGLR 374 [7] Ken Kwame Asamoah v State Insurance Company Civil Appeal No. J4/55/2021, judgment dated 18th January, 2022, SC (unreported) at pg. 11 [8] 1996, Rule 28 (C.I 16) [9] Order 41 rule 7 (1) of C.I 47 on drawing up and entry of judgment or order provides thus: The party seeking to have a judgment entered shall draw up the judgment and present it to the Registrar for entry. And it is basic knowledge that, the person seeking to have a judgment entered is the judgment-creditor [10] Article 128 to 135 of the 1992 Constitution [11] Section 1 9 of the Courts Act, 1993 (Act 459) [12] Order 41 rule 7 (1) of C.I 47 [13] See: Article 157 (2) of the Constitution, 1992; Section 80 of the Courts Act, 1993 (Act 459) [14] Even in cases where the Supreme Court has found that the law has not made adequate provision for safeguarding citizens rights, the Court has interpreted the law to avert a denial of justice and enhance the realisation of a constitutional right. See: James David Brown v National Labour Commission & Ahantaman Rural Bank Ltd Civil Appeal No. J4/74/2018, judgment dated 19th June, 2019, SC (unreported). The Court has not, with respect, usurped Parliaments power and made laws on its own as it seeks to usurp the Rules of Court Committees powers to make rules of procedure for trial courts as it seeks to do in Asamoah v S.I.C. [15] See: Order 25 rule 1 (5) of C.I 47 [16] See: Order 16 of C.I 47 [17] [2012] 1 SCGLR 261 (Coram: Georgina Wood, C.J (presiding), Brobbey, Rose Owusu, Yeboah and Bafffoe-Bonnie, JJ.SC) [18] Ibid. See: Dictum of Anin Yeboah, JSC (as he then was) at 268 - 269 [19] Civil Appeal No. J4/55/2021, judgment dated 18th January, 2022, SC (unreported) (Coram: Anin Yeboah, CJ (presiding), Pwamang, Amegatcher, Amadu and Kulendi, JJ.SC. [20] Amegatcher, JSC, who delivered the opinion of the Supreme Court (and one other justice of the Supreme Court) sits as a member of the Disciplinary Committee of the General Legal Council [21] Order 28 of the Supreme Court Rules, 1996 (C.I 16) states: Where the Court directs any judgment or order to be enforced by any other court, certificate in the Form 12 set out in Part I of the Schedule to these Rules under the seal of the Court and the hand of the presiding justice setting out the judgment or order shall be transmitted by the Registrar to that other court, and the latter shall enforce the judgment or order in the terms of the certificate. [22] Civil Motion No. J8/115/2017 ruling dated 4th July, 2017, SC (unreported) (Coram: Benin, JSC, sitting as a single judge) [23] Dictum of Benin, JSC [24] See footnote 13 above Mali is currently experiencing both an Islamist insurgency in the north of the country and a political crisis in the centre as a result of two consecutive coups. On August 18, 2020, a group of senior army officers dissatisfied with the deteriorating political and security situation overthrew the current democratically elected government and established a new transitional one. The new government pledged an 18-month time frame for the fresh Presidential and Legislative elections and fixed the date as February 2022. But in May 2021, the country had its second coup within a year, removing the interim government. Following the second coup, France decided to withdraw its troop from Mali. Additionally, there were also reports of a deal between Russian private military company Wagner Group and the Malian junta. The presence of the Wagner group, accused of having close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, irked France and decided to withdraw its entire troops from Mali. French decision to pull out would most certainly impact the decisions of other countries providing security to Mali, such as Norway, Hungary, Portugal, Romania, and Lithuania. In August 2022, over nine years after its first intervention, the penultimate French troop left Mali. Although the withdrawal of French forces from Mali began in December 2021, there are worries that this complete withdrawal may exacerbate the country's instability. The fear stems from the fact that the Islamist separatist movement of the north not only survived but has been slowly moving southward despite the presence of French and other foreign forces. Mali shares its borders with seven countries: Mauritania, Algeria, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Niger, Ivory Coast and Senegal. In recent times, these radical Islamist groups have been successful in spreading across two neighbouring countries, Burkina Faso and Niger. In 2021, Jihadist groups claimed responsibility for 15 deaths per attack it carried out in Niger. And this year, in January, there was a successful coup in Burkina Faso. The expansion has also affected the coastal countries in the Gulf of Guinea, which had hitherto been spared from violence. Now, there is already growing concern that the French military withdrawal may lead to an Afghanistanesque collapse of Mali and destabilise the whole of West Africa. This whole security situation in Mali has put India in a precarious position. Mali and India have a long history of friendly relations. In fact, the relationship between India and Mali goes back to when India raised its voice against colonialism on different platforms. According to H.E. Anjani Kumar, who has been serving as Indian Ambassador to the Republic of Mali since January 2020, India is widely respected in Mali because of a number of things, including its extensive history, cultural diversity, upholding of traditional family values, stance on African issues, strong democratic institutions, robust education system, and willingness to share its knowledge with others ever since it gained independence. Today, India has a considerable investment in Mali, among the highest in Francophone West Africa. Over the years, India has extended its development partnership with Mali in different forms. Under Lines of Credit, India has already completed seven projects worth a total of US$ 303.6 million. In addition, India has extended soft loans totalling US$ 353.6 million for various developmental projects, including in the power sector. India is constructing 393 kilometres of high voltage (225 kV) double circuit transmission line to connect Mali's capital Bamako to its southern region, Sikasso. Executed by Kalpataru Power Transmission Limited (KPTL), Tata Projects and Mohan Energy, this 100 million USD project is India's most significant project in Mali so far. During ISA Founding Conference, India pledged an additional US$ 100 million for three solar projects. Due to its unique location, the country has enormous strategic importance for India. And if these Islamists somehow succeed in capturing the Gulf of Guinea, it will jeopardise the world's and India's source of oil and other mineral resources. Given India's military limitations, India would want France to recalibrate its relationship with Mali and support the Malian army. However, any Franco-Indian partnership may put India into direct collision with Russia. The crisis in Mali has challenged the Indian diplomatic ability to maintain the non-alignment between France and Russia towards improved security in Mali and the Gulf of Guinea. But first of all, India must bring these two security giants under one roof and initiate the conversation. Earlier, India's effort to jointly develop an orbiter device for its own Venus Mission failed as France refused to work with Russia. Recently, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke in favour of India as a mediator in resolving the Ukraine crisis. India has consistently favoured using diplomacy and negotiation to settle disagreements and conflicts. Thus, to tackle the crisis in Mali, Indian diplomacy must put in place considerable effort that would make France and Russia cooperate for the security crisis on Mali. With a heterogeneous mix of Islamists, separatists and ethnic militias, Mali has become a tinderbox and can explode anytime. India must act cautiously but must act at the earliest. The author is Doctoral Scholar at JNU and Research Associate with the Vivekananda International Foundation. The views expressed are personal. 19.09.2022 LISTEN Cocoa was first introduced in Ghana in the mid, or thereabout, of the 19th Century; precisely 1876, by Tetteh Quarshie, an agriculturist who was a Ga-Dangme citizen. Many years later, cocoa has become the backbone of Ghana, an export commodity that fetches the country more foreign income than anything else. However, one wonders why and how, the successive Ghanaian governments, dating from the start of Ghanas political independence till date, have not been able to save enough money of their own to purchase the yearly harvested cocoa beans but have to fall on foreign countries for funds before they can make payment for cocoa beans so purchased from the local cocoa farmers. Should I exempt the ex-late President Dr Kwame Nkrumahs Conventional Peoples Party (CPP) government from this accusation of incompetence since I quite remember there was a year that his government bought the harvested cocoa beans from the farmers, stored some and burnt the rest. This was because of some sort of disagreement between President Dr Kwame Nkrumah and the foreign countries that had intended to stifle his government, or did not want to pay the correct price for the cocoa. All that I know since I became conversant with the deplorable situation of incapability and inability by Ghana governments and the established COCOBOD to have money of their own to purchase the harvested dried cocoa beans from farmers is that they always source for funds, or advance payments, from foreign countries interested in importing cocoa beans from Ghana. Without such advance payments, the government or COCOBOD cannot pay the local producers of the cocoa beans. What a shame! For all these years, why have the governments or COCOBOD not been able to save enough money of their own, thus, profits from the previous years, to fund cocoa purchases for successive years? Is that not an act of incompetence on the part of the Ghanaian leaderships, including the COCOBOD? What is COCOBOD and its functions, one may ask? COCOBOD is actually not an acronym but a shortened name for The Ghana Cocoa Board. It is a Ghanaian government-controlled institution that fixes the buying price for cocoa in Ghana. Farmers are protected from the volatile prices on the world market through the price-fixing. Shameful though! COCOBOD can fix purchasing prices but it cannot ensure that profits earned from sales of cocoa beans exported abroad are accumulated, kept for purchasing future or subsequent years cocoa beans from Ghana farmers. The staff of COCOBOD, especially the management, are known to be on hefty salaries and annual bonuses. Again, they award scholarships to their wards and favourites at the expense of the largely poor cocoa farmers. Yes, COCOBOD has created some facility for awarding scholarships to some brilliant Ghanaian students. Nevertheless, they cannot have the foresight to create some fund for the purchase of cocoa beans but have to fall on foreign countries for money to be able to pay the poor farmers when they purchase their harvested cocoa beans. This is a shame, if not an unpardonable sign of incompetence on the part of both COCOBOD and successive Ghanaian governments. Do all cocoa producing and exporting countries do as Ghana does, always sourcing foreign funds before being able to purchase cocoa from their farmers? I cant really get my head around this problem of inability by Ghana to have enough money of her own to pay farmers when she buys cocoa beans from them. What a clear testimony to the fact black men are incapable of managing their own affairs. If Ghana were a white mans country, the government will never go sourcing for funds from outside to be able to pay their cocoa farmers, after all these hundreds of years into cocoa production and export. About seven years or so ago, I read from the London Financial Times newspaper about Ghana owing, I should think Switzerland, or one of these European countries, several metric tons of cocoa that they had paid for already. The exact name of the country may have escaped my mind, although I kept a copy of the newspaper for years, only to be thrown away about a year ago. From the papers, I could read that the country had made advance payment for the supply of a specified quantity of metric tons of cocoa. However, Ghana could not produce enough cocoa beans to meet their demand already paid for. Therefore, the shortfall in their demand was to be met by the next years cocoa production. I was shocked to read that news. It meant Ghana had squandered the money for cocoa beans yet to be produced, whether it could be produced at all, since we depend on the vagaries of the weather and at the mercy of God for good weather for the fruition and harvesting of cocoa. Many years have gone by that Ghana should be able to have her own money to pay for cocoa beans purchased from farmers without sourcing for funds from overseas buyers. Could someone ask Kennedy Agyapong (Hon) for me on how he can make COCOBOD, or Ghana, have her own money to pay for cocoa purchased from farmers without seeking any full or partial advance payment from foreign buyers ahead of the fruition and harvesting of the years cocoa beans, if he was elected president of Ghana? I am looking forward to a team of Kennedy Agyapong (Hon), Dr Alhaji Mahammudu Bawumia, Dr Kwabena Duffour and Dr George Akuffo-Dampare to solve this particular problem that Ghana is waist-deep mired in.. May I pause to observe a minute silence for Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, who is due for burial this evening, Monday, 19 September 2022. Rockson Adofo Monday, 19 September 2022 Ghana has confirmed 84 cases of Monkeypox diseases as of September 6, 2022, with Greater Accra Region recording the highest number for both suspected (191) and confirmed (51) cases. The country has also recorded 535 suspected cases, spreading across 38 districts, with four deaths two deaths in Upper East and one death each in Greater Accra and Central Regions. Dr. Henry Nagai, the Chief of Party and Public Health Physician, JSI Research and Training Institute, disclosed this when he spoke on Ghana's perspective, at a free webinar (online) session on emerging viral infections and diseases with focus on the Monkeypox virus. The JSI is collaborating with the Ghana Health Service (GHS) to implement the Global VAX Project being funded by the USAID under its strengthening the Care Continuum Project in parts of the country. World Health Organisation's (WHO) Regional Office for Africa organised the four-hour webinar, which among other objectives, sought to support the continental response by advocating proactive measures from African leadership to overcome the Monkeypox disease. Under the Global VAX Project, the JSI and its implementing partners, would specifically be leveraging its existing network to mobilize people aged 15 years and above, pregnant women, people living with HIV, people with disabilities, and migrant population to access COVID-19 vaccines in the Western, Western North and Ahafo Regions. In a breakdown, Dr. Nagai explained 51 cases of the Monkeypox disease were recorded among males, constituting 60.7 per cent, saying the national case fatality rate also stood at 4.8 per cent. So far, Bono region has recorded 16 suspected cases, Ahafo region (nine) suspected cases, Ashanti region (69) suspected cases, Bono East region (15) suspected cases, Central region (15) suspected cases, Eastern region (48) suspected cases and North-East region (four) suspected cases. Northern region has recorded 24 suspected cases, Oti region (seven), Savannah region (seven), Upper East region (43), Upper West region (25), Volta Region (18), Western Region (11) and Western North region (3) suspected cases. Dr Nagai said some communities feel the Monkeypox is derogatory and called on the WHO to consider changing the name of the disease to stem stigmatization and discrimination. WHO must listen, work hard and change the name of the disease now, he stated, and lauded the contributions of the GHS and its partners for the support towards the fight against Monkeypox in the country. GNA The construction work on the 20-Kilometre Tumu-Wa highway has begun as one of the five contractors has started the grading of his awarded portion. Mr Paul Adu, the site engineer for Maripoona Enterprise, disclosed to the Ghana News Agency at the site in Lilixia in the Sissala East Municipality that they were on the site to begin work on the 20-kilometer allocated to them. Mr Adu said Maripoona would continue from where Ashcal ended from Tumu with 20km towards Jeffisi. It would take them from Pulima through Lilixia and Nahadakui towards Jeffisi. We are currently putting the road into trafficable condition to allow for smooth vehicular movement from now. After that process, we shall replace and expand all the five pipe culverts on the stretch, Mr Paul Adu said, and assured that barring any unforeseen hitches, the road should see its share of five kilometres of bitumen before December 2022. The site engineer said in areas where the company had gathered gravel for use, they had started the process of marking those sites to reclaim the degraded land. He said they had already discussed that with the Forestry Commission to supply them with seedlings, and added that there would be streetlights in every community that they would work in. Maripoona Enterprise is one of the five road contractors that Dr. Hafiz Bin Salih, the Upper West Regional Minister, said signed various contracts in May, this year to get the 85km Tumu, Han Wa highway paved and upgraded to a bituminous surface before 2024. When asked if the contractor had any challenges, Mr Adu said they had not encountered any challenge, and that they were receiving cooperation from the Lilixia Chief and his people. The rest of the contractors, Aschal, Mawums, Green Haus, and P & W Ghanem, were yet to start. GNA Senegal's new "combat" government will prioritise purchasing power and employment, President Macky Sall said at the weekend after he appointed a new Prime Minister. Former foreign minister Amadou Ba was named head of government by decree a position that Sall had abolished in 2019. The new appointment as well as a government reshuffle comes as Senegal remains deeply divided in the wake of tense legislative elections in July. Sall's ruling coalition Benno Bokk Yaakaar narrowly won the vote and was only able to keep its absolute majority with the support of an opposition MP. Soaring costs In a speech to the nation broadcast on Friday, Sall said Ba, who has also served as finance minister, would be responsible for addressing the rising cost of living. "Measures to reduce the cost of living and support employment and entrepreneurship for young people, the fight against floods and costly rents will remain the highest of priorities for me," Sall said. Benno Bokk Yaakaar said it welcomed Ba's appointment, while president of the majority parliamentary group Oumar Youm said it showed that Sall was prepared to "tackle emergencies head on". However opposition figures described the government reshuffle which came five days after the return of parliament as "a non-event" and dark comedy. Concerns persist over Sall's decision to remove the role of premier, with critics accusing him of wanting to seize greater power. (with wires) The Eastern Regional Minister, Seth Kwame Acheampong, has disclosed that a total of 1,487.62km of road has been completed in the Region since 2017. A total of 5,404.79km of road, he said, has been awarded to contractors since 2017. The Minister said this during a press briefing in Accra on Sunday. Out of the number completed, 206km of road were done under the supervision of the Department of Urban Roads, 440.38km, while 246km and 595.24km of roads were under the supervision of the Department of Feeder Roads and the Ghana Highway Authority respectively. According to the Minister, the projects were financed with the road fund and funds from COCOBOD. The roads constructed are; Akropong town roads (3.8km), Nkawkaw town roads (11.25km), Atiwa East and West District town roads (16.10km), Birim Central in Akyem Oda (0.7km), New Juaben North (9.21km), New Juaben South (18.30km), Kyebi town roads (12.4km), Kade town roads (11.4km), Suhum town roads (2.6km), Apirede (1.7km) and Atiwa West District town roads (5.5km). Asphaltic overlay has also been completed on roads such as the Koforidua and Effiduase town roads, Abuakwa south roads, Akropong town roads, Peduase town roads, Suhum town roads, Birim Central town roads, Asamankese town roads, Atiwa West district town roads and Denkyembour town roads. The Head of the Delegation of the European Union to Ghana, Irchad Razaaly, has paid a courtesy call on the Chief Executive of the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly (TMA), Mr Sule Salifu in Tamale. The purpose of the visit was to deliberate on the progress of work on EU-funded projects in the Tamale Metropolis. Mr Razaaly disclosed that the delegation would visit some Shea butter processing centres, beneficiary institutions of TVET, Small scale entrepreneurs among other areas of concern in the Metropolis. On his part, Mr Sule Salifu expressed delight at the strides made by the EU in the Metropolis, stating that its interventions have had a significant impact on the quality of life of the people. He, however, appealed for a lot more support even as steps are being taken to strengthen the ties and deepen collaboration at bilateral and multilateral levels. 19.09.2022 LISTEN The Minister for Information, Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has urged prospective investors to consider Ghana as the gateway to the African market. He described the country as a fertile ground for investment where businesses thrive due to its stable economic atmosphere. The Minister said this at a 6-day diaspora investor community summit organized by the Ghana Investment Promotion (GIPC) in Toronto, Canada last Thursday. He said Ghana is a better investment destination than its counterparts on the continent due to its stable political environment and vast investment opportunities. The Minister said as the host of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), Ghana has been placed in a pivotal position to lead Africas economic and financial renaissance. This means that when you come back and do business in Ghana, and with Ghana, you are only opening your door to access the entire African continent. I want to encourage you to come and invest in Ghana, he added. Mr Oppong Nkrumah stated Ghana has a wide range of investment vehicles available for every investor class which offer higher returns than other African countries. He assured the diaspora investor communities of guaranteed returns should they choose Ghana as their investment destination, citing the high returns in investment in equity markets and the high yields on Government of Ghana bonds as salient reasons for investors to focus on Ghana. The Ghana-Canada Investment Summit brought together delegates from the international investor community, particularly from Canada, venture capitalists, and private equity fund managers, among others, for in-depth discussions and exploration of viable investment opportunities across the Ghanaian economy. It was also aimed at matching diaspora, Canadian investors and local entrepreneurs and creating awareness of the potential of Diaspora Direct Investment while increasing trade between Ghana and Canada. 19.09.2022 LISTEN The Ghana Embassy in Tripoli, Libya, is extending consular services to at least 20 Ghanaians in separate prisons for various crimes. A press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration (MoFARI) stated The attention of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration has been drawn to a story with the headline Ghanaian Prisoners in Libya Cry for Help published on Monday, 12 September 2022 edition of The Chronicle newspaper. The suspects were arrested for various crimes, including operating brothels, consumption of alcohol in public, drug peddling and use, non-possession of valid travel documents (passport), as well as attempts to illegally cross to Europe, through the Mediterranean Sea. These offences are felonies in the Libyan 1956 Penal Code, which could attract death sentences, life imprisonments, and varying terms of imprisonment, depending on the severity of the crimes. However, in the specific case of alcohol consumption, offenders could receive a minimum of three years and a maximum of four years. Also, persons arrested for the offences mentioned, and who in addition do not have valid passports and residence permits are considered to have committed a civil offence and could receive an extra term not exceeding one year, as punishment, it added. According to the release, although a number of our convicted nationals would claim to have completed serving their prison sentences, our checks indicate that there were instances where some of them were caught drunk at brothels and without necessary documentation and could thus be serving multiple sentences longer than what they had anticipated, it said. From experience, some Ghanaians sentenced in prisons or detention centres sometimes, though much aware of their prison terms, try to court sympathy by making atrocious audio recordings with the hope of securing a possible release or deportation, and thereby avoid the dire conditions in Libyan prisons and detention centres, it added. The release said Ghanas mission in Tripoli continues to make strenuous efforts to ascertain official information from the relevant Libyan authorities on the condition of our compatriots under detention across Libya and the actual sentences they are serving. These engagements with Libyan prison authorities to facilitate the release of our compatriots go as far back as in May 2021, relative to those in their custody who claimed to have finished serving their sentences. Our mission in Tripoli also continues to make effort to obtain an updated list of Ghanaian nationals in Libyan prisons from the host Ministry of Justice, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and as and when we obtain this information, we always make it available to the families of these prisoners. Our mission has already scheduled a visit to prisons in Misrata to further investigate and ascertain the veracity of the claims of overstay and alleged deaths, it said. The release added that in July, this year, our Mission in Tripoli received information from the Libyan authorities about the deportation of 14 Ghanaian nationals who had finished serving their prison sentences. Processes are underway to facilitate their repatriation through the International Organization for Migration (IOM). It is not clear whether any of the said 30 Ghanaians referenced in the said publication include these 14. The Ministry takes this opportunity to urge the general public to volunteer specific information to the Ministry to make it easier for the extension of the much-needed consular assistance, as it has always done. Any further information on the said inmates in Misrata would be appreciated to aid our investigations and for the necessary action to be taken, it added. The Ministry further wishes to advise travelling Ghanaians to desist from embarking on these perilous journeys via illegal routes to various parts of the world, since this almost always comes with dreadful consequences. Percival Kofi Akpaloo, the Founder, Leader and 2020 presidential candidate of the Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG) has chastised Ghanaian journalists for making a fuss out of Aisha Huang's "small case." He claims that the media has exaggerated the issue as if it does not occur in Ghana. He emphasized on Kumasi-based Hello FM that selling minerals or engaging in small-scale mining (galamsey) without a license is not something new in the country. Kofi Akpaloo told Ghanaian journalists to stop wasting their time writing editorials creating a sense of insecurity in the country. My worry is that the media has overhyped this small matter of mining without a license and doing mineral sales without license. It's a small matter, it happens every day in Ghana. So I don't see why the media should even write an editorial on this matter. And it is that which is creating the problem and giving all manner of insecurity to the issue, the former presidential candidate said. He added, this is being blown out of proportion, this is a minor case...we are spending too much time on minor issues. why are we dwelling so much on Aisha Haung. Repatriated in 2018, Aisha Huang has been in police custody for nearly three weeks after being apprehended in her hideout by national security. She and three others have since made two court appearances in court. They will be arraigned on September 27. A 34-year-old man is set to spend the rest of his life in prison for committing murder. The man identified as Kofi Adjei has been sentenced to death by hanging by a Cape Coast High Court. The convict who is popularly known as Chilling was arrested after he stabbed his victim with scissors in Assin Fosu. The incident which happened after a misunderstanding between the two people ended with the victim identified as Kankani losing his life. Having been found guilty by the court for the murder after he was arraigned, Kofi Adjei has been sentenced to death by hanging. The court ruling was delivered following the Attorney Generals prosecution according to a report by kasapafmonline. The convict has since the delivery of the judgment been sent to the Nsawam Minimum Security Prisons. The death penalty has been on Ghana's statute books since the inception of English common law in 1874. Ghana still retains the death penalty for some offenses including treason and first-degree murder. However, the practice is considered "Abolitionist in Practice." The last time the death penalty was executed was back in 1993. Former Deputy General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Samuel Koku Anyidoho has descended on ex-president John Dramani Mahama for claiming he has not been receiving emoluments due him as former President. The 2020 presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in an interview with TV3 disclosed that the allegations that he took home a gargantuan GHS14 million as ex-gratia are untrue. In several other revelations, he said he is forced to pay for his bills because his entitlements are not being catered for by the state. I receive only my monthly pension like [former] President Kufuor, and [late former] President Rawlings was receiving [it] before he died. That is all I get. I pay the electricity bill for my house and my office, I pay the water bill for my house and my office. I live in my own accommodation so the State does not pay me anything for accommodation. They havent given me an office, I rent an office in East Cantonments, I pay the rent myself, I pay my own fuel, the State doesnt give me fuel, I pay my own domestic staff, I pay my own medical bills, I pay my own air tickets when I travel, ex-president John Dramani Mahama said. Reacting to the revelations, Samuel Koku Anyidoho has described it as whining. He tags the former President as ungrateful questioning him about what he did for the memory of late President Mills. John Dramani Mahama is whining & telling lies about his emoluments. Per documents, State pays when an ex-President travels abroad for official assignments - also entitled to 2 holidays in a year. So, if u travel on ur own account to have fun, why shd the State pay? As John Dramani Mahama continues to whine about his emoluments, I ask: John Dramani Mahama, what did you do for the late President Atta-Mills? The man who made you, Running Mate & Vice President - for you to become President, Koku Anyidoho has posted on his Twitter. He further stresses, I refuse to be enthused by the high-pitch yelping of John Dramani Mahama vis his supposedly truncated emoluments. He ungratefully did nothing for the Memory of President Atta-Mills. According to him, John Dramani Mahama is simply an ingrate. The founder and head of the Alabaster International Ministry, Prophet Kofi Oduro, has offered advice to the government. The vocal prophet revealed that until H.E Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo, the President of the Republic, appoints a genuine prophet of God as his advisor, the economy will remain the same. In a sermon delivered at his church on September 18, he advised Ghanaians not to waste their time believing that the NPP government can solve the country's economic problems. I warn the Ghanaian people to quit waiting for President Akufo-Addo to perform sudden miracles and wonders to help transform or put an end to the economic misery and crisis that have taken over the Ghanaian economy. Government officials can only ensure that everything is kept in order. And this situation can come to pass when a righteous man of God is appointed to give advice sent to him by God to the President. If not, this government will fail woefully in every aspect of the work that they do. Not just up to a year, but it will occur until the end of a new election in the country, Ghana, he said. Following the 'Godly proposal', he told President Akufo-Addo to respectfully resign from if he won't to his advice because his government has no chance of succeeding and overturning their failure. If I were president Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, I would have resigned and gone home safely." He adds if we are thinking that Akuffo Addo and his government are not performing, then from now until the next elections, they will fail a bigger time. They cant stand the wind which is blowing. They have no clue. If I were the president, I would have resigned and gone to my home town. What is coming can only be handled by a person who knows their God. Prophet Kofi Oduro, founder and leader of the Alabaster International Ministry says he does not believe President Akufo-Addo can revive the country's ailing economy. The outspoken prophet asked the President to just resign and take a rest. He advised Ghanaians not to waste their time believing that the NPP government can solve the country's economic problems in a sermon delivered at his church on September 18. If the President does not heed Prophet Oduro's advice, he said things will quickly escalate before the 2024 general elections. If I were president Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo, I would have resigned and gone home safely." He adds if we are thinking that Akuffo Addo and his government are not performing, then from now until the next elections, they will fail a bigger time. They cant stand the wind which is blowing. They have no clue. If I were the President, I would have resigned and gone to my home town. What is coming can only be handled by a person who knows their God. I warn the Ghanaian people to quit waiting for President Akufo-Addo to perform sudden miracles and wonders to help transform or put an end to the economic misery and crises that have taken over the Ghanaian economy. Government officials can only ensure that everything is kept in order, he stressed. Prophet Kofi Oduro said the only solution is for the President to appoint a genuine prophet as his advisor. And this situation can come to pass when a righteous man of God is appointed to give advice sent to him by God to the president. If not, this government will fail woefully in every aspect of the work that they do. Not just up to a year, but it will occur until the end of a new election in the country, Ghana, he intimated. The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) in collaboration with the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) and Ghana Police have raided an illegal cylinder refurbishing facility at Makola, Accra. Some seven suspects have been arrested. The suspects, who were arrested following a tip-off, were engaged in refurbishing damaged cylinders and re-introducing them into the market. Three trucks of ceased cylinders ranging from 5kg to 14.5kg, wielding tools, cutting, grinding tools, paints and accessories were retrieved from them during the operation last Friday. Briefing the media, the Director of Gas at NPA, Mrs Akua Ntiwaa Kwakye said upon the Authoritys investigations, we found out that the suspects were operating at this yard without permit and certification from the appropriate Authorities." It is obvious they are compromising on quality for their parochial interest at the detriment of the unsuspecting consumers of gas, she added. She noted that these refurbished cylinders are part of the major causes of fire outbreaks at marketplaces, workplaces and homes. Mrs Ntiwaa noted that the Authoritys intervention was critical because the country keeps recording several domestic fires, which had claimed lives and properties, adding that, it was imperative for all and sundry to condemn these negative acts. Mr. M. A. Korsah, Assistant Director of Safety at Ghana National Fire Service urged all consumers of LPG to be on the lookout for some of these substandard cylinders that have been reintroduced into the system. 19.09.2022 LISTEN The Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) is exploring opportunities for exchange programmes with Hungary for members to enhance professionalism. This followed a meeting held at the Hungarian Embassy in Accra between Mr Albert Dwumfour, President of GJA and his executives and Tamas Endre Feher, the Hungarian Ambassador to Ghana. Mr. Dwumfour and Mr. Feher discussed issues of mutual benefit to the GJA and the Embassy. The GJA President spoke about the importance of sustaining Ghanas media environment and keeping it vibrant so that all voices would be heard for an inclusive society. GJA is in partnership with other diplomats to ensure an environment that is conducive for international relations and there is a need for a vibrant media that will promote that cordiality, he said. Mr. Dwumfour used the occasion to invite the Hungarian Ambassador to the 26th GJA Awards Ceremony slated for November 12, 202, at the Kempinski Hotel in Accra. Mr. Feher promised to support the 26th GJA Awards and spoke on how the Russian-Ukraine War had impacted heavily on economies, including that of Hungary. The Russia-Ukraine War impacted negatively on countries, and it has created a critical situation for our economies, raising prices and it has taken a toll on economies, including Hungary, he said. Mr. Feher said 100 Scholarships were made available to the Ghanaian Government every year for Ghanaians to study in Hungary. 19.09.2022 LISTEN To whom it might concern: Earlier today, I was contacted by this WhatsApp number: +233 24 973 4444. Hopefully, they are a genuine local indigenous-peoples advocacy group, in the Songhor Lagoon traditional area. One's cool with authenticity in such matters. Always. Cool. However, on the other hand, they might also be a front for the ruthless state-capture wheeler-dealer-networks, now deploying our security agencies - to enable them oppress the indigenous Ga Dangbes of the Songhor Lagoon traditional Salt winning communities, protesting against the outrageous land-grabbing-strategy, dressed as a private sector investment agreement, which deprives them of their major source of income: saltwinning in the Songhor Lagoon area. In that case, one boldly says to them: Shame on you - you greed-filled amoral-cowards, who worship Mammon, so. Fools. The question a wise and aspirational African people, ought to ponder over in this sensitive matter is: Are these greed-filled tycoons not aware that in handing such a deplorable task to our military, to execute (hounding and brutally assaulting innocent indigenous-saltwinning-peoples of the Songhor Lagoon traditional area), they are actually prostituting the honour of the noble profession of arms, anaaaa? Yoooooo... In light of all the above one makes bold to predict, to Ghana's powerful big-thieves-in-high-places, that one fine day, those selfsame men and women of the Ghana Armed Forces, and the Ghana Police Service, will turn on them, too, oooo. Hmmm, Oman Ghana - enti y3wieye paaaa enei? Asem kesie bi, ebeba debi ankasa, oooo. Yoooooo. Enough is enough. Our hard-of-hearing ruling-elites must understand clearly that deploying soldiers to brutalise civilians prostitutes the honour of the noble profession of arms - and that the International Criminal Court (ICC) considers that a crime against humanity, oooo. Yoooooooo... 19.09.2022 LISTEN I have been observing with shock that sends cold chill down my spine and goose bumps all over my body, when I see, or hear about, our successive presidents of the republic of Ghana releasing the decades-old, if not centuries-old, government-acquired lands back to the various local traditional overlords or families from whom the lands were seized or acquired. Why are the presidents doing that? Is that attitude of theirs not bordered on lack of farsightedness, corruption and greed, if I may question? I cannot comprehend them. I cannot get my head around this myopic mindedness of those advising the presidents to sign for the return of the lands to their original owners, only to end up sold and or, shared, by some government functionaries. Do the presidents know the objective for the acquisitions of those lands by the colonial British government? Were the white British governors stupid to have acquired the lands for the government or state and left them undeveloped, in the first place? Do our current Ghanaian presidents understand the importance of forests and readily available open public spaces? Let me not beat about the bush any further but to go straight to the point for writing this article as time is not on my side today. I need the few hours left to grieve over the death of Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, before her internment at 19:30 hours this evening, Monday, 19 September 2022. The British colonialists in their deep thinking, wisdom and intelligence, knew that if all lands were left at the mercy and ownership of the chiefs and individual citizens, it will not take them any much longer than they will have used up all of them. They needed to reserve land spaces for future emergencies or purposes and for probable regulation of the weather conditions. When we talk about weather condition, we mean the atmospheric conditions that comprise the state of the atmosphere in terms of temperature and wind and clouds and precipitation. Any student of geography understands the role played by forests in terms of rainfall and the wind. I will not discuss the details of that but to leave it for research by any curious student or Ghanaian. 1. It is an undeniable fact how insatiably greedy, selfish and myopic most of our present day Ghanaian chiefs are. They are worse than the proverbial atee po anso me adware, to wit, nothing is sufficient for them. The more lands or things they have, the much hungrier they become for more wealth hence selling all the lands as they come, for their selfish ends. However, stool lands are prescribed by law to be held in trust for the natives of the land or the area but the chiefs understand it differently. They see all stool lands and properties as their own, as though they were born with them attached to their umbilical cord. 2. When I was a child and lived a short time at Oseikrom in the Mpasaaso area in the Ahafo, I observed that my family and the labourers on my fathers cocoa farms had portions of land within the cocoa farms for the cultivation of food crops like plantain, cocoyam, cassava, yams, etc., to feed us. When I returned to Oseikrom about twenty years later on a mission of taking a new cocoa caretaker to the labourers on request by my father, I discovered that all the lands reserved for food production within the cocoa farms had cocoa trees planted in them. The people had no place on the farm for food cropping. This was not unique to my fathers farms but across the board. All other cocoa farmers in the area were faced with same problem. Luckily, the government had acquired a big land to the left side of the road from Oseikrom going towards Mpasaaso. The government released some of the land to the resident-farmers in Oseikrom and her environs on the strictest condition of cultivating only food crops but not cocoa. Had the wise Kwasi Broni (the white man) not had the foresight to acquire that land for future need or use, the people of Oseikrom would have cultivated cocoa farms on all the lands to only suffer starvation onto death years later. They may have cultivated cocoa on all the lands without leaving any space for food production for their upkeep. 3. Once in the 1960s to early 1970s in the life of Kumawu, my paternal place of birth, we were faced with abject hunger. It took the government to release some portions of the government land called locally as sofia, to the inhabitants of Kumawu traditional area to cultivate food crops to feed not only the locals but for sale to others from other parts of Ashanti region or Ghana. Farmers were again prohibited from planting cocoa or cassava in the sofia farms but solely, plantain, cocoyam and yams and the special tree seedlings supplied to the farmers by the government. It is a fact how our current chiefs have sold every little available land in their towns and cities for the construction of houses as though, tomorrow will never come. They even sell the same piece or plot of land to two or three prospective land buyers or house owners, only to result in litigation between the buyers. Look at the recently released tracts of the Achimota forest land to the original family from whom the land was acquired by the colonial British government. Have they not sold them and dashed some to government functionaries for probably facilitating its release to them? If it were not so, how could the late Mr Owusu Afriyie aka Sir John, have acquired several plots from there to will them to his family and friends? There is no readily available open public spaces in our cities and towns for public recreation or future government projects. There are no tree-filled vast areas in our cities to assist with the regulation of the weather condition. Is that not stupid and myopic on the part of our presidents to continue to release the lands to their respective original owners only to immediately end up being sold to satisfy their voracious quest for wealth for all stupid reasons? Seeing the rate the current chiefs want to sell all lands to squander the money without using any part of it to develop their towns and cities and villages, what will the subsequent chiefs do, or live on, after the current chiefs are dead and gone? Where and how will the government acquire any land for any urgent government project should the need arise? When you come to the United Kingdom, one will find many vast tracts of open public lands and huge public parks in every borough. Take these boroughs for suburbs in Ghanaian cities. The boroughs are like say, Adabraka, Kaneshie, Chorkor, etc., in Accra, while Asafo, Asokwa, Adum, etc., in Kumasi. In some of the boroughs, you will see real heavy forests going for almost miles upon miles. Therefore, the British government or the local municipal councils have readily available lands for any major government project they may out of emergency decide on. If it were not so, they could not have had any land for building the 2012 British Olympic Centre for the Olympic games in Stratford in the borough of Newham Council. Can Ghana have any readily available public space for such a huge event that will call for construction of new buildings and related facilities? No!! What a shame on the part of our presidents and chiefs. The fact that the government-acquired lands have not yet been put to use over years does not mean that they will never be used by the government hence must be returned to their original owners. No! Such lands will be needed in their own time as emergencies may occur in this changing world at any unknown time, or with the passage of time. Be farsighted. Stop being corrupt. Stop being insatiably greedy. Be selfless. And be of honest service to your people and country, advice to the presidents, governments and chiefs. Rockson Adofo Monday, 19 September 2022 The Ghana Police Service has stopped a planned picketing at the Jubilee House by some beneficiaries of the Nation Builders Corp (NABCO) on Tuesday, September 20. This was disclosed by the leadership of the group. The members protested last month at the Black Star Square to impress upon government to clear the 10-month arrears owed them. However, they tell Citi News they are yet to receive any positive feedback on when their allowances would be paid. In an interview with Citi News, the President of the NABCO beneficiaries, Dennis Opoku Okatakyie, said they would decide on the next line of action soon. Leadership met with the Greater Accra Regional Police Command to discuss the picketing at the Jubilee House. But to our surprise, the Police indicated that picketing at the Jubilee House is not possible because the area is a security zone and for some security measures they are not going to allow us but rethink and go back to Independence Square, but we didnt agree. The group served a fresh notice of picketing at the Jubilee House, given the governments failure to pay them allowances due them under the just-ended programme. In a statement, it expressed worry that protests it has held in the past have yielded no results. After exhausting all possible avenues, including the recently held picketing followed by the time window given to government to getting our arrears paid, the same issue lingers. It is clear that our welfare is not of concern to the government, parts of the release said. The level of insensitivity suffered in the hands of the current administration is condemnable to the highest degree. Trainees are to take note of this new development and watch out for subsequent updates leading to the exercise on our various platforms, the statement concluded. The protest was to come after the recently held one on September 6, 2022, by the Coalition of NABCO trainees after the NABCO program officially ended on Wednesday, August 31, 2022. The program which was launched in 2018 for a three-year period was extended in 2021. The beneficiaries say the non-payment of the allowances largely began with the extension. ---citinewsroom Four persons, a mother and her three children have perished after drowning in a dyke allegedly created in a lagoon by a salt mining company in Laklevikope in the Ketu South Municipality of the Volta Region. The family of 5 who went fishing along the lagoon in the enclave got drowned with the man of the family being the only survivor. The incident, which happened on Saturday, September 17, 2022, has thrown the community into a state of shock and mourning. The deceased, a woman in her late 30s and her 3 children aged between 9 and 14, all perished after trying to save one of the children who fell into a dyke created by a salt mining company, Seven Seas Salt Mining Limited. The dyke, which is about 12 feet, has now become a danger zone for residents here who are fisherfolks. Assembly member for the area, Victor Ayaku said the activities of the salt mining company have put them in danger. Residents who are fisherfolk are now living in fear as they can no longer go fishing. He also noted that, the community is in no way benefiting from the activities of the company. Some residents who spoke to Citi News appealed to the authorities to ensure safety measures are followed by the company to prevent future occurrences. They also urged the mining company to put safety signposts along the lagoon, to prevent similar occurrences in the future. Meanwhile, the Public Relations officer of the Seven Seas Mining Limited, Adams Mensah said, the company is not to be blamed for the death of the family. He however noted that, the company is putting measures in place to put up signposts warning residents of the dyke. ---citinewsroom The Ghana Police Service has stepped up investigations into murder cases in Wa in the Upper West Region. The special purpose police intelligence and investigation teams working with members of the community on Sunday, September 18, discovered a body in a shallow grave at Bamahu, a suburb of Wa. The body was later identified by family members of the deceased as Seidu Baga who was reported missing on September 16. The body was subsequently exhumed and conveyed to the Regional Hospital, Wa for autopsy and investigation. This evening, the Police in an update disclosed that it has arrested one person in connection with the murder case. The Police have arrested one person believed to be the prime suspect behind the Wa murder case. Suspect Kankani Adongo, was arrested on 19th September, 2022 at Bamahu, a suburb of Wa after extensive collaboration between the Police and community search parties, part of a Police statement has disclosed. The police further added that the suspect is in custody and will be arraigned before the court to face justice. Amid fears of a serial killer targeting private security guards, the Minister of Interior, Hon. Ambrose Dery and the Inspector General of Police, Dr. George Akuffo Dampare visited Wa today. There is currently a heavy security presence in Wa following the kidnapping and killings of private security guards in the past nine months. TVET has proven to be the key to skill development. With its feature focused on specific occupations, it has allowed individuals to find skill-related jobs or start their own businesses. TVET stands as a major player in the economic growth of a nation through the development of workforce and rise in employment rate. Government of Ghana has prioritized TVET as a tool to solve youth unemployment. To ensure that more people benefitted from skills training, the 2022/2023 academic year increased the number of TVET schools on the free SHS programme from 47 to 138 with over 45,000 students being enrolled through the Computerized School Selection Placement System. In addition, the government has properly equipped TVET schools and all ten technical universities to provide learners with the requisite modern skills needed to make a living. Speaking at a program to mark National Service Personnel Association Week Celebration at the St. Luke Catholic Church at Akrofuom, the Member of Parliament for Akrofuom Hon Alex Blankson threw his weight behind the vision of government to invest in TVET. He pledged to support students who pursue Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the District. "My office and the DCE have resolved to support students who want to pursue TVET in this District/Constituency at the SHS level. So, we encourage the youth to develop interest in TVET because we believe that Akrofuom needs more TVET professionals and it is the future of this country," he stated. The theme for the NASPA Week Celebration was "Expanding NASPA Horizons in the World for the World." The program was particularly dedicated to the final year students of Akrofuom Basic Schools. As done previously, Hon Blankson promised BECE candidates who will be writing their examinations this year of free mathematical sets to aid their preparations towards the exams. Hon Alex Blankson since becoming the Member of Parliament for the area in 2017 has made educational development his topmost priority. Not long ago, he presented office equipment to the Akrofuom District Education Directorate to enable them function effectively. He has recently introduced a BECE mock system known as super mock exams which will serve as a preparatory test for BECE candidates. Present at the program were the DCE for Adansi Akrofuom District Mr. Maurice Jonas Woode, Akrofuom District Director of Education Mr. George Sarfo Kantanka, among other dignitaries. Mrs Cecilia Kagya-Agymang, Bono East Regional Director for Agriculture has said supply of NPK fertilizer for farmers in the Bono East Region under the government's flagship Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) programme declined by 79 per cent between the period of June 2021 and June 2022. According to Mrs Kagya-Agyemang, the region had not received a single bag of Urea in 2022. She said available data indicated that as of June 2021, the region had received 8.176.275 metric tonnes of NPK and 1,637.725 metric tonnes of Urea under the initiative. Mrs Kagya-Agyemang explained that as of December 2021, the supply increased to 14, 181.975 metric tonnes of NPK fertilizer and 2,580.7 metric tonnes of Urea. However, in June 2022, the region received only 150 metric tonnes of NPK without a single bag of Urea. Mrs Kagya-Agyemang disclosed this on Monday during a showcase of the last mile component of the Grow Ghana Initiative in Techiman on the theme: Strengthening Last-Mile Distribution of Input for Resilience and Food Security in Ghana. On August 15, 2022, Yara Ghana launched the Grow Ghana initiative in Techiman with a total of 360,000 of 50-kilogramme bags of Yara Mila Actyva to be distributed to farmers free of charge at all Yara distribution points across the country. It was estimated that 100,000 productive small holders farmers will benefit from the package to assist in enhancing the countrys food security. As part of the initiative, Yara was expected to provide technical support to farmers and agric- Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and further deepen extension systems in Ghana to increase farmer productivity. The initiative was implemented by African Fertilizer and Agribusiness Partnership (AFAP) and Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) funded by United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Mrs Kagya-Agyemang said fertilizer usage was a topmost priority to farmers in the region, because of the decline of soil fertility in the area. The fact that majority of the populace were into crop farming coupled with the decline of soil fertility in the region makes fertilizer usage a topmost priority to farmers and any issue that affects the availability, accessibility and affordability of fertilizer possess a huge challenge to farming in the region, he stated. Mrs Kagya-Agyemang said to mitigate the limited availability of fertilizer, the government was promoting the use of organic fertilizer and adoption of improved technologies to increase the yield of farmers. The Chief Executive Officer of the North Gate Enterprise, Elizabeth Dwamena, said this year had been a challenging year for farmers as well as agro-dealers due to hikes in prices of fertilizer, other inputs, and the cost of transportation. She said the value of capital of most agro dealers could hardly purchase the same number of bags of fertilizer when compared to previous years. Mrs Dwamena said farmers had to pay double the price for the same bag of fertilizer as they did last year, saying, "farmers are reducing the sizes of their farms which threatens food security". She said the Grow Ghana initiative was to ensure that farmers could access the much-needed fertilizer and thanked YARA, USAID, AGRA, AFAP for promoting agricultural transformation. In a speech read for him, the Bono East Regional Minister, Kwasi Adu-Gyan, said the region was blessed with agriculture and agribusiness such as production, processing, distribution and marketing of agricultural products and inputs. He said the initiatives would ensure that their farmers had access to enough inputs to sustain cultivation across the region for the rest of the year to boost their yields, increase income levels and improve their livelihood. Mr Kwesi Adu-Gyan said the Regional Coordinating Council would monitor the initiatives with keen interest and anybody who tries to cheat the system would be arrested to face the full rigours of the law. He appealed to the stakeholders in the Grow Ghana Initiative and the Last Mile component to be guided by a high level of integrity and committed to the attainment of the project goals. Madam Rosen Kimberly Mission Director USAID Madam Rosen, Kimberly Mission Director of the USAID, said since 2010, the United States Government had provided more than $425 million to support Ghanaian farmers, particularly those in the northern part, to adopt new techniques, take advantage of new efficiencies and access global markets. She said the US government formally kicked off delivery of a $2.5 million initiative through USAID to ensure that 100,000 smallholder farmers in the country received affordable fertilizer for this planting season. Madam Kimberly expressed the hope that the support would help productive Ghanaian farmers shore up the nations food security, in the light of global food security concerns caused by the Russia-Ukraine war. She said USAID was working with Yara and other partners to help supply 360,000 bags of Yara Mila Actyva fertilizer that would help reduce cost of inputs for smallholder farmers by one-third. Rev. Patrick Biney of the Sarpeiman-based Crystal Grace Chapel International told his congregation: "The Almighty God is always ready to elevate those who stick to his instructions and directions in life." Many Christians around the world have always looked forward to a moment in life where they will be counted among the great persons in life. But doing what is expected of them in the sense of abiding by the wills and directives given to them by their maker, in most cases, turns out to be a big problem. In a sermon introduced as a theme ahead of the churchs anniversary on September 29 to October 2, the "Divine Shift," the celebrated preacher explains how divinity shifts and lands in one's life. He said it only does when Christians wait patiently and willingly for it. As Christians prepare to receive the grace of their Lord and maker, the prophet added in his sermon on September 18 that Christians must be focused on their worship journey. Rev. Biney further reminded Christians to "be like a sheep and not a goat who doesn't heed guidance. Prefer the sheep because even Jesus was labelled as the lamb of God because of his humility." Christians were told to see hard times as periods of learning and something that, after successful endurance, will leave them with a greater sense of maturity and also see it as an indication of a closeness to their success. He adds, "Also be mindful that in situations where you feel lonely and weak, you won't talk to just anybody. In fact, be selective about whom you talk to because the same person can contribute to your downfall and deceive you into choosing a path that will make you turn your back on God and finally miss the divine shift you have been yearning for so long in your life." According to the celebrated preacher, doing so has the added benefit of blocking backstabbers and facilitating personal growth. This paves the way for the covenant-keeping God to fulfil his promises in your life, he stressed. Summing up his sermon, picked from Deuteronomy 6:1 upwards, John 10:27, Psalm 75:6-7, and Josuah 1:7, he reiterated that Christians must at all times believe and do the bidings of God for them to be successful in their endeavours. Meanwhile, the church has slated Thursday, Friday, and Sunday, September 29, 30, and October 2, respectively, for their anniversary program. MTN Ghana, leading Mobile Telecommunications Network Ghana (MTN Ghana) is repositioning strategically to lead the digitalization drive and provide solutions to the progress of the African Continent by 2025. To this end, the Company is investing US$ 1 billion in building digital infrastructure as part of rebranding processes to significantly improve customer services and experiences to drive the digital evolution and business industry to achieve financial inclusion and community empowerment. We believe that delivering progress in Africa and empowering our communities through digitization is a key catalyst for such growth because everybody deserves a better modern connected life. Mr Shaibu Haruna, the Chief Sales and Distribution Officer, MTN, revealed this to journalists and stakeholders at its annual Editor's Forum in Bolgatanga, Upper East Region. Mr Haruna noted that the company was guided by its principles of leadership, integrity, innovation, relationship and can-do spirit to ensure that the interests of its customers were significantly served to propel the growth of Africa. He said the management of MTN Ghana intended to build and strengthen four strategic pillars including building the five largest and most valuable platforms, driving industry connectivity solutions, creating shared value and evolving operations to meet the demands of digitization. We are going to do this through some vital enablers such as leading customer experience, investing in our people to ensure that we have the right skill to deliver on our ambition, value-based capital allocation, being responsible to our environment and building strong governance for our operations, he added. He said more attention would be paid to the growth of the financial sector in which key platforms would be in multiple partnerships with stakeholders to ensure people were able to pay, send, lend, save and enjoy other mobile money banking services. He mentioned Mobile Money, Ayoba, enterprise solutions, Application Programming Interface marketplace, and Fintech solutions as the platforms being built to provide a solid experience to customers. Mr Haruna noted that the company would continue to contribute significantly toward the growth of the country through its tax obligation, corporate social responsibility and employment creation. He said apart from providing over 500,000 direct jobs to Ghanaians through its various operations and the social investments made to improve the livelihood of vulnerable communities, the company contributes about 4.4 per cent of the total national tax revenue collection. It paid about GH2.4billion in tax in 2021, he added. On National Fiscal Stabilisation Levy, we account for 18 per cent, representing GH119million, on Communication Service Tax, we account for about 56 per cent, he said. Mr Simon Amoh, the Senior Manager in charge of General Trade, indicated that MTN Ghana was harmonising the shortcodes of its services to ensure usage was friendly and convenient and urged the public to re-register their SIM cards to keep enjoying their services. GNA Lawyer Maurice Ampaw, a well-known Ghanaian lawyer and television show host, has advised wealthy men in Ghana not to stop the lies in their personal journeys to fame and success. According to the lawyer, it appears disgusting and amusing to him when wealthy people like Dr. Osei Kwame Despite, Dr. Daniel McKorley (McDan) Cheddar, and others always claim they started their businesses with as little as GHS20. Speaking on his "Mmra Ne Abrabo Mu Nsem" show, which airs on Kumasi-based Wontumi TV, the astute legal practitioner advised the successful men in society to tell the youth the truth and stop the lies. His comments though on a general issue, it come after Ghanaian business mogul, Nana Kwame Bediako, known popularly as Chedda told the youths at a program that he used one plot of land to start his real estate business. You didnt start with anything small. Stop lying to the youth. Recently I heard Cheddar saying something and I was sad. Let us be real to the youth. You cant tell me you started with one plot and now you have companies. Tell the youth the truth, he said. He continued, there are other things you need to tell the youth. The youth should learn from Wontumi who has been telling the youth the truth. Ghanaian youths were also encouraged to be productive and to start their own businesses rather than relying solely on government for employment. Professor Emmanuel Gyimah-Boadi, Co-Founder and Board Chair, Afrobarometer, Monday said despite the recent gains in democratic governance, Africa's two-decade journey towards democracy and accountable governance has run into headwinds. We are seeing multiple signs of retrogression and backsliding across the continent even in countries hitherto deemed on track to democratic consolidation, such as Benin, Ghana, Senegal, and South Africa, he said. Prof Gyimah-Boadi said this in Accra at the opening of a five-day 'Stakeholder Engagement on Governance, Democracy and Human Rights in Africa'. He said elections were being held regularly but their overall quality was declining due to voter intimidation and electoral violence and were increasingly likely to result in retention of power by incumbents, due to vote-buying and other manipulation. The programme was organised by the Data for Governance Alliance (D4GA) consortium, in collaboration with the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) with funding support from the European Union. It seeks to enhance the capacity of pan-African civil society organisations in the use of data to guide their advocacy and policy engagements. This is the first of three convenings planned for 2022. The second convening would take place in Cape Town in South Africa from October 3 to 7, and the final one would be held in Nairobi, Kenya from October 17 to 21. Prof Gyimah-Boadi said Africa had recorded several significant democratic milestones in recent months; saying In Kenya, presidential power was smoothly transferred just two weeks ago (Monday, September 5) from Uhuru Kenyatta to William Ruto, after a highly competitive but peaceful presidential election about a month earlier. That was, however, followed by an unsuccessful challenge at the Supreme Court by the losing candidate and others, he said. Angola held its second transition elections also in August, the incumbent party retained power, but the opposition recorded significant electoral gains, he said. Prof Gyima-Boadi noted the absence of credible regulation of political parties and candidate financing, with lax or zero enforcement of the few existing regulations. Parties and candidates enjoy practically unfettered access to funding from a range of illicit financiers who expect payback, he said. Elite democracy capture also enables political leaders to get away with gross corruption, impunity, low levels of trust and unresponsive governance. All of this is causing loss of faith in the status quo of the multi-party democratic order. He said the Africa Centre for Strategic Studies reports that 22 African rulers had tried to remove or modify term limits since 2015. That, notwithstanding, findings from Afrobarometer surveys spanning over two decades and covering 80 per cent of the continent's adult population in close to 40 countries, authoritatively affirm that Africans preferred to live in a democratic political order, he said. Dr Kojo P. Asante, the Director of Programmes and Advocacy, CDD-Ghana, said through the Afrobarometer surveys, the D4GA project would produce data on African citizens perceptions of several governance issues, including human rights, corruption and security. GNA Hon. Isaac Adongo 19.09.2022 LISTEN The Member of Parliament (MP) for Bolgantanga Central, Isaac Adongo says the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) government should be ashamed for taking the country to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). According to him, no amount of excuses will clear the fact that Covid-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war have little to do with the mismanagement of the Ghanaian economy. Speaking to Citi News in an interview on Monday, September 19, the Deputy Ranking Member on the Committee of Parliament in charge of Finance accused government of conniving with the IMF to dispute the fact that the Covid pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war are not the cause of the hardships in the country. The Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Ivanova Georgieva-Kinova, earlier this month attributed the current economic woes facing Ghana to external factors such as the Russia-Ukraine war and the COVID-19 pandemic. Speaking to the media on the sidelines of the Africa Climate Change Adaptation Summit in the Netherlands, she said the economic woes of West African country is not due to bad policies. We have started very constructive discussions already and, to the people of Ghana, like everybody on this planet, you have been hurt by exogenous shocks. Firstly, the pandemic, then Russias war in Ukraine. We need to realise that it is not because of bad policies in the country but because of this combination of shocks, and, therefore, we have to support Ghana, Kristalina Georgieva explained. Reacting to that and the conversations that ensued, Isaac Adongo says no magnitude of PR by the IMF Managing Director will help government officials to change the real facts of the matter. I want to say that the NPP should bow its head in shame that it has brought us here and wants to us PR and connive with the IMF. The truth is they have mismanaged the economy, Isaac Adongo stressed. The Bolga Central MP continued, the IMF has a dossier on Ghanas economy that they have consistently told us even up to 2019 that the economy was heading in the wrong direction. That cannot change with the visit of the Finance Minister to the Managing Director of the IMF. The Igbo community in Ghana on Sunday, September 18, held a grand celebration at the Efua Sutherland Park in Accra. The celebration saw the Paramount King of the Igbo people in Ghana, HM Eze Dr. Chukwudi Ihenetu mark the 10th anniversary of his coronation. The special day also saw Igbos in Ghana come together to celebrate the beautiful New Yam Festival. In his goodwill message for the occasion, His Majesty Eze Dr. Chukwudi Ihenetu expressed his appreciation to President Akufo-Addo and other past governments for the collaboration and good relationship enjoyed in the past decade. I want to use this opportunity to personally appreciate the government of Ghana for all their support all these years, accommodating us and giving us the space to operate freely. My sincere gratitude to His Excellency President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, His Excellency former president J. A Kuffour, His Excellency former president John Mahama, the Paramount King of the Igbo people in Ghana said in a speech read on his behalf. He continued, I thank the Ministry of Chieftaincy and religion, thanks to the Ministry of tourism, Arts & Culture, Religious Affairs, I thank most sincerely the Ga traditional council, thank you to the Greater Accra Regional House of Chiefs, I thank Togbe Afedi, paramount king of the Asogli state and former President of the National House of chiefs, my gratitude to the president of the National House of Chiefs, Ogyeahohoo Yaw Gyebi, and thank you to the National Chief Imam for his constant support all these years. Speaking about the 2022 New Yaw Festival, His Majesty Eze Dr. Chukwudi Ihenetu expressed appreciation to the almighty God for another bumper harvest. He prayed for strength and good health for the people of Igbo to be able to farm and enjoy another big harvest next year. So, today we are alive to harvest that which we have planted which is represented by yam. By thanking God at this time, we also plead for good health and the resources needed for the next farming season so that we can gather again next year to celebrate thanksgiving, the Paramount King of the Igbo people in Ghana said in his speech. His Majesty Eze Dr. Chukwudi Ihenetu further charged Igbo leaders and parents in the Diaspora to embrace the shared responsibility of teaching the new general the culture and traditions of the Igbo people to make them better people, a wiser clan, and to create a better Nigerian-Igbos in Ghana In his concluding remarks, His Majesty Eze Dr. Chukwudi Ihenetu thanked all the Igbos in Ghana who have stood by him throughout his 10-year reign as Paramount King. He said, My gratitude goes to the Government of Nigeria, the government of Imo state, Senator Rochas Okorocha, Engineer Cletus Amaraegbu, and to all those who helped me actualize the dream of the Igbo throne in Ghana. To Chief Harrison Mba Kalu, Chief Isaac Chigbata, HRH Eze Okechukwu Oforoala, Chief Osy Mba, and to late Chief Cosmas lwuala, may his soul rest in peace. I also want to appreciate My dear wife, Ugoeze Liberty, and to my children. The 10th Igbo Day and New Yam Festival were marked together with the Coronation Anniversary of His Majesty Eze Dr. Chukwudi Ihenetu on the theme; "Ten years of Promoting and Preserving Igbo Culture in the Diaspora." The Paramount King of Igbos in Ghana was joined by his wife Ugoeze Liberty Ihenetu and the Council of Elders, as well as Chiefs. On a day where Igbo culture was on display, the celebration was attended by several prominent chiefs including the Sempe Mantse, Nii Adotey Otintor II. In addition to the many Ghanaian chiefs that graced the event, there were chiefs from Nigeria who also attended the celebration. General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress, Johnson Asiedu Nketia attended the celebration as the representative of former President John Dramani. The celebrations also witnessed the conferment of Chieftaincy Tittles on several personalities. James lkechukwu Esomugha was conferred with the title Ohamadike Ndigbo in Ghana while Ghanaian musician Empress Gifty was given the title UGO NMA. Check out the others below: 1)Joseph Elochukwu Ezenwali. Title Name: Ummunna Nwezueaku. 2)Daniel Chinomso Bertram. Title Name: Aririeri Mba 1 3)KINGSLEY EBO. TITLE NAME: CHIMERE EZE 1. 4) Youngman Ude David. Title Name: Okpata Ozuoha 1. 5) Augustine Dozie Adimoha. Title Name: Nwabu Nwanne 6) Johnbosco Chikwadi Ogbodo. Title Name: Ogbuehi Akubudike 1. 7) Chukwuebuke Nwerem. Title Name: Eze Agu 1 General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketia, on Friday, September 16, 2022 allegedly suspended three diligent branch executives of the party in the Kpando constituency without recourse to due process as enshrined in the Partys constitution. The action according to one of the suspended Chairmen, Amalia Kofi, is a deliberate plot by the sitting Member of Parliament for Kpando, Dela Sowah to have an upper hand in the delayed branch election slated for next week. In an interview with Ghananewsonline.com.gh, former Chairman for the Jesus Convent branch, Amalia Kofi, was horrified by the complete neglect of the appropriate structures instituted to redress grievances by the General Secretary, Johnson Aseidu Nketia. He explained that all the executives accused of anti-party behavior were not given fair hearings before the decision by the General Secretary to suspend these individuals who labored for the party in the constituency at all times without reservations. Mr. Amalia lamented that NDC as a social democratic party must not be seen perpetuating injustice against its own leaders while upholding itself as the founders of Ghanas democracy. I was accused of saying that I will not vote for the sitting Member of Parliament, Dela Sowah because of my affiliation with one of the independent candidates in the 2020 parliamentary election. The issue is that; I was not even given the chance to explain my side of the story by accepting or denying the said statement before my suspension by General Mosquito. It is just not fair, he lamented. Mr. Amalia further opined that the action of the General Secretary was fueled by the MP to silence these hardworking executives who do not hesitate to point out her abysmal performance and failure to improve the lives of the people of Kpando to her. He was certain that Madam Sowah is riding on her friendship with General Mosquito to perpetuate this injustice so as to take control of the delayed branch election and get her favorites elected into the various positions at the branches. I think the General did all these because of pressure from the MP, she just wants to elect her favorite persons elected into our positions because she believes we will not support her bid to continue to be MP, he noted. He advised the Party leadership to reconsider their decision to suspend these stalwarts of the party in the constituency as that will spell doom for the grassroots of the party in the future. He explained that the suspended members are still very loyal to the NDC and will never cross carpet due to their grievances. See, we love the NDC, as Chairmen, we used our own resources to promote the NDC and we have not regretted it. The only one thing we desire is to be treated fairly, thus all, he emphasized. The other alleged unfairly suspended executives are Chairman for Gborfe Branch Enoch Drah and Sylvester Asuo, Youth Organizer of the Kudzra Branch. Medical products developer PolyNovo [ASX:PNV] announced an FDA clearance update for one of its latest medical products NovoSorb MTX. The FDA 510(k) clearance sent PNV shares 7% higher. Despite Mondays spike, PNV shares are still down 5% year to date. Source: tradingview.com PolyNovos NovoSorb gets FDA clearance On Monday PolyNovo announced the receipt of FDA 510(k) approval for NovoSorb MTX, its latest product assisting soft tissue regeneration in complex wounds. From the FDA: A 510(k) is a premarket submission made to FDA to demonstrate that the device to be marketed is as safe and effective, that is, substantially equivalent, to a legally marketed device (section 513(i)(1)(A) FD&C Act). Submitters must compare their device to one or more similar legally marketed devices and make and support their substantial equivalence claims. PolyNovo claims its MTX product uses a technology that is the foundation for clinical breakthroughs in BTM, all without closing membranes: Development of MTX was informed by clinical experience with NovoSorb BTM, where early removal of the sealing membrane is followed by rapid formation of granulation tissue and wound closure. With MTX, the wound can be closed either with a skin graft or allowed to heal by contraction and formation of an epithelial layer. This can simplify wound management and presents wider applications for common wound healing problems. MTX was developed for medical experts who were in high need for a product which can heal patients without having to close membranes during treatment. The product works with NovoSorbs BTM product, extending the companys portfolio in wound treatments. PNV said MTX is indicated for use in partial and full thickness wounds, pressure ulcers, venous ulcers, chronic and vascular ulcers, diabetic ulcers, and surgical and trauma wounds. CEO of PolyNovo, Swami Raote, offered his thoughts on the companys latest product, and the new milestone achieved: The creation of MTX is an exciting example of surgeon led product development that opens a significant new market for us. We are proud to bring MTX to U.S. surgeons and patients, and believe a product specifically designed for use in a single-stage procedure will leverage and expand our penetration of the advanced wound care space. We expect clinicians to carry BTM and MTX and provide them a richer tool kit for patient care. We aim to quickly put MTX in the hands of Key Opinion Leader surgeons. PolyNovo Medical Director and Plastic Surgeon, Associate Professor Marcus Wagstaff, added: MTX is a synthetic dermal substitute comprised of NovoSorb foam providing a scaffold for wound healing across deep, complex structures such as bone and tendon. For wounds that do not require temporising or protection from contraction, there is a clear clinical need for MTX. It is best suited in cases where wound contraction and reduced time to healing are preferred, such as diabetic and venous ulcers, and smaller traumatic or post-surgical wounds (for example after excision of skin cancer). MTX promises clinicians ease of use and simplicity as a one-step procedure. Is it looking up for PolyNovo? Todays news provided some relief for investors disheartened by PNVs annual earnings report released last month. The medical supplier then revealed only $800,000 was earned, substantially short of predictions set at $1.6 million. PolyNovo is looking at launching its third product, a foot and leg product called SynPath, in the US next year. CBDC warning: How you could lose control Central banks all over the world including the Reserve Bank of Australia are looking into adopting Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). And China has already rolled out its e-CNY. We think CBDCs are something you should know about. Our Editorial Director Greg Canavan says this could fundamentally change how and where you spend your money and your life, as those choices could be taken away. So, if you want to learn more about CBDCs and their implications, I recommend checking out our latest briefing that breaks down all things CBDCs. To watch the presentation, click here. Regards, Kiryll Prakapenka, For Money Morning September 19, 2022 Putin's Press Conference On Ukraine, Terrorism, Fertilizer, Europe's Energy Crisis Last week the Head of States Council of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization met in Samarkand. The meeting was not very remarkable. It was business as usual. Iran will soon join the organization and several other states want association agreements with it. An important side event was a non-scripted press conference President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation held. There is a video with English subtitles that covers it and the Kremlin provides as usual an English language transcript. Putin made some important points that were not reflected in 'western' news coverage as they contradicted the propaganda positions the 'western' media have taken. Below I excerpted parts and added a few comments. On the SCO: Vladimir Putin: The most important thing always and everywhere is economic development. And the SCO, cooperation with the SCO countries, creates conditions for the development of the Russian economy, and thus for the social sphere and for resolving the tasks related to improving the living standards of our citizens. The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation includes countries whose population, as has been said many times, comprises almost or even slightly more than half of humanity. It is 25 percent of world GDP. And, most importantly, the national economies in the region, those of the SCO member states, are developing much faster than others in the world. The SCO markets are were global economic growth is happening. But the 'west' is excluding itself from those regions. 'Western' policies are hostile towards many of the big SCO members. Those policies build up barriers that hinder 'western' industries to profit from that growth. These are self-defeating measures. There is a question about military strikes within Russia. Putin didn't seem bothered too much about those. There is nothing new about this. Frankly, I find it even a bit strange to hear your question because Western countries have cultivated the idea of the collapse of the Soviet Union and historical Russia and Russia as such, its nucleus. I have already cited these statements and studies by some figures in Great Britain during World War I and after it. I cited excerpts from Mr Brzezinskis writings in which he divided the entire territory of our country into specific parts. True, later he changed his position a bit in the belief that it was better to keep Russia in opposition to China and use it as a tool to combat China. It will never happen. ... But they have always been seeking the dissolution of our country this is very true. It is unfortunate that at some point they decided to use Ukraine for these purposes. [...] This is what some US-led Western countries have always been seeking to create an anti-Russia enclave and rock the boat, threaten Russia from this direction. In essence, our main goal is to prevent such developments. ... In the course of this, we are seeing attempts to perpetrate terrorist attacks and damage our civilian infrastructure. Indeed, we were quite restrained in our response, but that will not last forever. Recently, Russian Armed Forces delivered a couple of sensitive blows to that area. Lets call them warning shots. If the situation continues like that, our response will be more impactful. On Saturday the Russian military destroyed electricity distribution systems at a power plant in Slaviansk. Dima of the Military Summary channel showed two open source pictures provided by NASA that demonstrate problems with the Ukrainian electricity network. Especially in the east the lights are going out. September 17 2021 Source: NASA - bigger - September 17 2022 Source: NASA - bigger The attack on Slaviansk followed after several Ukrainian attacks on electricity infrastructure in Russia and in areas under Russian control. Putin mentions such attacks and calls them terrorism: Terrorist attacks are a serious matter. In fact, it is about using terrorist methods. We see this in the killing of officials in the liberated territories, we even see attempts at perpetrating terrorist attacks in the Russian Federation, including I am not sure if this was made public attempts to carry out terrorist attacks near our nuclear facilities, nuclear power plants in the Russian Federation. I am not even talking about the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant. We are monitoring the situation and will do our best to prevent a negative scenario from unfolding. We will respond if they fail to realise that these approaches are unacceptable. They are, in fact, no different than terrorist attacks. In early August some Ukrainian commandos had destroyed high power lines from the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant. In the Kursk region of Russia, Ukrainian saboteurs blew up power transmission lines that feed the Kursk nuclear power plant, the press service of the Federal Security Bureau of Russia said. According to the agency, on August 4, 9 and 12, six explosions took place in the Kurchatov district of the Kursk region. The explosions were conducted targeting high-voltage power lines. ... A criminal case was filed into the incident under Part 2 of Article 205 (Terrorist Attack) of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Security forces are looking for saboteurs. The National Guard have strengthened the security of nuclear facilities. Back to Putin's press conference. He gets asked about some negotiation paper Ukraine had put out. He has not seen it but he explains what happened with negotiations in late March/early April: Frankly, I am not familiar with what they have come up with this time. We, in fact, started with this when we were negotiating with the incumbent Kiev authorities and, in fact, completed this negotiating process in Istanbul with the well-known Istanbul agreement, after which we withdrew our troops from Kiev in order to create the proper conditions for concluding this agreement. Instead of concluding an agreement, Kiev immediately turned down all agreements, shoved them into a box and said they would not seek any agreement with Russia, but instead would pursue victory on the battlefield. Let them try. The Ukrainian turn about came in early April after then UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson threatened Kiev with withholding all 'western' support. Putin says the Special Military Operation will continue without a change in the plans. Putin later remarks on the deal to let Ukraine export its grains: As of today as of yesterday or the day before 121 ships left Ukrainian ports. Only three of the 120 ships headed for the poorest countries under the UN food programme. Some 35 percent, maybe a bit more, of the grain exported from Ukraine went to European countries, to non-poor countries, and definitely not to the worlds poorest countries. And only 4.5 percent of the shipments were sent to the poorest countries under the UN programme. ... The same applies to our fertiliser exports. This is something unprecedented. I would say this has been an outrageous and shameful decision by the European Commission to lift the ban on the purchase of Russian fertilisers but solely for their countries, for EU member states. But what about the worlds poorest countries? ... So they have lifted sanctions on our fertilisers. The Americans were actually the first to lift them, since they are generally pragmatic people. ... [B]ut there are still issues as regards freight and insurance plus the existing ban on entering our ports where our fertilisers are exported from, as well as on financial transfers and settlements. They are aware of this all and keep saying this problem will be solved, but no one is actually doing anything about it. To be fair, the UN Secretary-General is taking efforts to solve these issues. This scandal was news to me: You have probably heard about 300,000 tonnes of Russian fertiliser stuck in European ports; our companies are saying they are ready to provide it for free just unblock and release it, and we will donate it to the poorest countries and to developing markets. But they are still holding it, and this is absolutely astonishing. They do not want Russia to earn money but we are not making a profit by giving away fertiliser. I just do not get what they are doing. What is the purpose of all this? There has been so much talk about providing help to the poorest countries, but exactly the opposite is actually happening. I have the impression and this is particularly true for European countries that these former colonial powers are still living in the paradigm of colonial philosophy, and they are used to living at the expense of others. They still fail to get rid of this paradigm in their daily policies. But it is time to draw certain conclusions and act differently, in a more civilised manner. There follow questions on China, the Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict, U.S. sanctions against certain persons and their kids and about the G-20. Then follows a last question about the energy crisis in Europe about which Putin had a lot to say: The energy crisis in Europe did not begin with the start of Russias special military operation in Ukraine, in Donbass; it actually started much earlier, a year before or even earlier. As strange as it may seem, it started with the green agenda. ... To pursue momentary political considerations, they chose to completely close down the hydrocarbon energy programmes in their countries. Banks stopped extending loans, ... ... Now, we see that prices, say, for natural gas in the United States have risen and production is growing, but not as fast as they would like it to and the reason is that banks are afraid to issue loans. ... These are erroneous reference points in the green agenda, rushing things, and the green energy being unprepared to meet to the demand for huge energy resources to support economic and industrial growth. The economy is growing while the energy sector is shrinking. This is the first drastic mistake. The second mistake concerns natural gas. We made attempts to persuade the Europeans to focus on long-term contracts rather than solely on the market. Why? I said it before and will repeat it once again: Gazprom needs to invest billions in development but it must be confident that it will sell gas before making investments. This is what long-term contracts are about. Mutual obligations are incurred by the sellers and the buyers. They said, No, let the market regulate itself. We kept telling them, Don't do it or it will lead to drastic consequences. But in fact, they forced us to include a significant share of the spot price in the contract price. They forced us to do this, and Gazprom had to include both the oil and oil product basket but also the spot price in the gas price. The spot price began to grow, causing the increase in the price envisaged even in long-term contracts. But what does it have to do with us? This is the first thing. Putin is right with this. The privatization and 'liberalization' of the European gas and electricity markets has never made sense and has indeed had very negative consequences. Second, I told them many times. Gazprom is not supplying gas. Look, are you normal people or what? Poland chose to impose sanctions against the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline and shut off the route. I told Mr [German Chancellor Olaf] Scholz: Why are you calling me? Call Warsaw and ask them to reopen the route. That is all there is to it. Thats the first. Scholz is really that dumb? Second. Two lines of the gas pipeline run through Ukraine. Ukraine is being supplied with weapons, but it went ahead and closed one of the lines for them. They also shut off another line that supplied 25 billion cubic metres of gas I will not talk about the exact amount, but they shut off the entire route. What for? Call Kiev and ask them to reopen the second line. And finally, Nord Stream 1. One turbine goes out of order after another. Siemens has the maintenance contract for the turbine pressure pumps but sanctions are prevent it from fulfilling it. There is of course a solution for the lack of natural gas in Europe. After all, if they need it urgently, if things are so bad, just go ahead and lift sanctions against Nord Stream 2, with its 55 billion cubic metres per year all they have to do is press the button and they will get it going. But they chose to shut it off themselves; they cannot repair one pipeline and imposed sanctions against the new Nord Stream 2 and will not open it. Are we to blame for this? Let them think hard about who is to blame and let none of them blame us for their own mistakes. Gazprom and Russia have always fulfilled and will fulfil all obligations under our agreements and contracts, with no failures ever. It is indeed a sign of cowardice that European politicians blame Russia for problems they themselves have caused. They try to hide it but the facts are all there to point that out. Should Europe really run into energy problems during the winter the political punishment they will receive will be remorseless. Posted by b on September 19, 2022 at 17:10 UTC | Permalink Comments next page next page Madison Scott, assistant professor of theater at the University of Guam, is set to star in the one-woman show "The Iliad," which takes the classical story of the Trojan War and tells the story through the eyes of a female poet who jumps into the various characters from the Iliad. Pride flags are used to celebrate Pride Month at the Stonewall National Monument at Christopher Park adjacent to The Stonewall Inn, in the Greenwich Village section of New York City, June 23, 2021. Minister Lipavsky hosts a two-day workshop bringing together leading Czech and French researchers, innovators, and entrepreneurs aimed at boosting joint projects and long-term partnerships in strategically important, artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. One of the key goals stipulated in the 2018 Czech-French Strategic Partnership Action Plan is to work closely together in the area of innovation success and start-up support. Prague and Paris also support the common aim of EU countries that want to be among the global leaders in utilization of advanced AI technology. Some topics of the workshop are: usage of AI in open economic competitiveness, protection of individuals, and AI for the common good. Speakers are also discussing regulations and ethical issues, management of applied research in public administration, and the private and public sector. Digital application helps us modernize industry and create attractive work opportunities. Artificial intelligence contributes to improving our everyday lives, for example, in medicine, in education, in the smart management of cities and municipalities, or in protecting the environment. In accord with the goals of the Czech-French Strategic Partnership, we want to especially support small and medium technology firms and start-ups, said Minister Jan Lipavsky. France and the Czech Republic are both aware that artificial intelligence has a formidable transformational potential with broad social, economic, national security, and geopolitical implications, but also comes with significant challenges. To tackle them, we have adopted national strategies in line with the EU approach on AI and have taken the responsibility during the French and Czech EU Council presidencies, to promote our European sovereignty and EU legal framework with an ecosystem of trust and excellence for AI; this requires a risk-based approach on AI applications, and support for innovation and skills. By supporting the strengthening of Czech-French cooperation and paving the way to increased EU partnerships, the workshop will contribute to reaching this objective, said the Ambassador of France to the Czech Republic, Alexis Dutertre. We wanted to show what was already achieved and also initiate new cooperation. For example, the Czech Institute of Information, Robotics, and Cybernetics, CVUT, works together very intensely with French institutions. We are creating amazing opportunities and our scientists work on truly cutting-edge research. On the other hand, we are reliable partners that bring forth results, and the research enriches our foreign partners. I believe todays meeting will also give a new impulse for the realization of many thoughts and goals that were until now only on paper in the form of the National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence, informed professor Vladimir Marik, scientific director of the Czech Institute of Informatics, Robotics, and Cybernetics, the Czech Technical University. The workshop has been organized by the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Embassy of France, Paris AI Research Institute (PRAIRIE), the French National Institute for Research in Digital Science and Technology (INRIA), and the Czech Institute of Informatics, Robotics and Cybernetics (CIIRC CTU). A number of distinguished Czech and French researchers, experts, and innovative entrepreneurs joined as well. Minister Lipavsky supports innovation and start-ups at the Czech-French workshop on artificial intelligence This is Naked Capitalism fundraising week. 1114 donors have already invested in our efforts to combat corruption and predatory conduct, particularly in the financial realm. Please join us and participate via our donation page, which shows how to give via check, credit card, debit card, or PayPal. Read about why were doing this fundraiser, what weve accomplished in the last year, and our current goal, more original reporting. * * * By John McGregor, a translator and political violence researcher Since the start of the current phase of the conflict in Ukraine in February 2022, Pope Francis has expressed a variety of views on the appropriate response. This was to some degree an attempt at a PR campaign to project an image of the Catholic Church as an impartial channel for peace. However, as the conflict has progressed, Pope Francis has clarified his views on arming Ukraine. During an interview on the return flight from a visit to Kazakhstan on Thursday, Pope Francis was asked whether weapons should be given to Ukraine. In response, Francis said: This is a political decision, which can be moral morally acceptable if it is done according to the conditions of morality, which are manifold, and then we can talk about it. But it can be immoral if it is done with the intention of provoking more war or selling weapons or discarding those weapons that are no longer needed. The motivation is what largely qualifies the morality of this act. To defend oneself is not only lawful but also an expression of love of country. Those who do not defend themselves, those who do not defend something, do not love it, instead those who defend, love. In 2016, when the Pope met with Patriarch Kirill in Cuba, the two released a joint statement. This invited all the parts involved in the conflict to prudence, to social solidarity and to action aimed at constructing peace. In March 2022, when the conflict had entered a new phase, Francis had a remote meeting with Patriarch Kirill. At this meeting, the Pope was clear that peace should be the goal of both Churches. One the question of a just war, Francis was explicit: There was a time, even in our Churches, when people spoke of a holy war or a just war. Today we cannot speak in this manner. A Christian awareness of the importance of peace has developed. This sentiment aligns with the 2020 encyclical Fratelli tutti in which the Pope, building on the traditional Catholic concept of a just war, nonetheless disavowed war as a solution: We can no longer think of war as a solution, because its risks will probably always be greater than its supposed benefits. In view of this, it is very difficult nowadays to invoke the rational criteria elaborated in earlier centuries to speak of the possibility of a just war. Never again war! A footnote to the text further emphasized this change: Saint Augustine, who forged a concept of just war that we no longer uphold in our own day At an audience in March 2022, the Pope explained that spending money on weapons was a scandal that tarnishes humanity. In an April 2022 essay, Francis stated bluntly that Ukraine had been attacked and invaded, but nonetheless warned against spending astronomical sums of money on rearming. When the Corriere della Sera interviewed Francis in May 2022, his responses on Ukraine placed the blame for the brutality on Russia. The Pope said that he had visited the Russian embassy and asked them to stop in order send a signal to the world. Francis also dismissed Ukrainian actions in the Donbass as an old issue from ten years ago. Despite this signalling, Francis repeated his concerns about the arms trade and claimed that weapons were being tested in Ukraine. The Pope even noted that NATO barking at Russias door might have facilitated, if not provoked, the Russian response. Asked explicitly about weapons for Ukraine, Francis answered: I dont know how to answer, Im too far away, the question of whether its right to supply the Ukrainians. This is not the only reference Francis has made to NATO. In June 2022, speaking to the heads of Jesuit cultural magazines in Europe, explained that he had met an unidentified head of state prior to escalation in the Ukraine conflict. This head of state had used the same terminology to warn the Pope that NATO was barking at Russias door. Francis maintained that he was opposed to reducing a complex situation down to a question of goodies and baddies, instead insisting that we need to think about the complex origins of the violence and interests at play. In 2020, writing against war, Francis identified the rule of law as the way to prevent and resolve conflicts, as embodied by the United Nations: To this end, there is a need to ensure the uncontested rule of law and tireless recourse to negotiation, mediation and arbitration, as proposed by the Charter of the United Nations, which constitutes truly a fundamental juridical norm. The seventy-five years since the establishment of the United Nations and the experience of the first twenty years of this millennium have shown that the full application of international norms proves truly effective, and that failure to comply with them is detrimental. The Charter of the United Nations, when observed and applied with transparency and sincerity, is an obligatory reference point of justice and a channel of peace. By the time of his interview on the way back from Kazakhstan last week, Pope Francis had dramatically shifted tune on the UN: Here you touch on something else that I said in one of my speeches, which is that one should think more about the concept of just war. Because everybody is talking about peace today: for so many years, for seventy years, the United Nations has been talking about peace; they have been making so many speeches about peace. But right now how many wars are going on? The one you mentioned, Ukraine-Russia, now Azerbaijan and Armenia which had stopped for a while because Russia acted as a guarantor: a guarantor of peace here and makes war there Then there is Syria, ten years of war, what is going on there for which it never stops? What interests are moving these things? This newfound disregard for the capacity of the UN to resolve conflicts and endorsement of arms shipments places the Pope far closer to the NATO response to the conflict in Ukraine. By falling into line with the Western political aims of the conflict (despite protesting that selling arms would be immoral if it were done with the intention of provoking more war or selling weapons or discarding those weapons that are no longer needed), Francis risks alienating large segments of the Catholic laity. Even as Francis champions the European cause against Russia, the majority of Catholics dont live in Europe. The largest populations of Catholics are to be found in Latin American states such as Brazil and Mexico, and the Church is experiencing its fastest growth in Africa and Asia (which is also where it is recruiting many of its essential next generation of seminarians). Both Brazil and Mexico have in fact presented mixed governmental responses to the conflict in Ukraine. Even as diplomats for the countries have condemned Russias actions, the political leadership has refused to do so (and in Brazil, Lula has also attacked Zelenskiy from the Opposition). An Ipsos poll from April 2022 found that only 40% of Brazilians and 35% of Mexicans felt paying more for fuel and gas due to sanctions was worthwhile to defend Ukraine. 35% of Brazilians felt that the problems of Ukraine were none of their business and that they shouldnt interfere, a figure that rose to 52% in Mexico. Pope Francis recent statement that providing weapons to Ukraine can be a moral decision puts him at odds with his own pronouncements on war over the years and represents a shift even closer towards the NATO position. More importantly, it also puts him at odds with a large chunk of the population of the Global South, now the population center for the Catholic Church, who do not share the same degree of media-backed enthusiasm for arms shipments as the Western political leadership. Photographer captures a rare picture of 22 blossom-headed parakeets in SW China's Yunnan People's Daily Online) 16:40, September 19, 2022 Photo shows 22 blossom-headed parakeets in one single frame. (Photo/Sun Dongjun) On September 11, a Chinese photographer captured a rare picture of 22 blossom-headed parakeets in Ruili city, Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Yunnan Province. Blossom-headed parakeets, a species under second-class state protection in China, are mainly distributed in Yunnan Province, south China's Guangdong Province and south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. However, the species hasn't been spotted in these regions for nearly 100 years. The existence of the species in China was not again proven until April 2015, when photographers spotted seven blossom-headed parakeets and monitored their breeding activities in the wild in Yingjiang county, Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture of Yunnan Province. "Blossom-headed parakeets are rarely seen in China, and we have yet to collect any specimens of the species to this day. Based on these pictures, we estimate that there are at least 22 blossom-headed parakeets in the region, which is the latest record of the number of the species in China," said Liu Yang, a senior bird watcher and a professor of ecology with Sun Yat-sen University. Han Lianxian, another senior bird watcher, said that in addition to setting a new record regarding the number of the species in China, the photos of the blossom-headed parakeets taken this time also prove that the number of the birds in the country continues to slowly rise. "Ruili city shares a border with Myanmar, so it's normal that a lot of birds will fly across the border to China. As China has intensified efforts to protect wild animals, a lot of animals have migrated to China, which proves that the ecological environment of the country is improving," Han said. (Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Liang Jun) This is Naked Capitalism fundraising week. 1110 donors have already invested in our efforts to combat corruption and predatory conduct, particularly in the financial realm. Please join us and participate via our donation page, which shows how to give via check, credit card, debit card, or PayPal. Read about why were doing this fundraiser, what weve accomplished in the last year, and our current goal, more original reporting. Yves here. Theres already a lot not to like about Liz Truss, starting with the fact that it is guaranteed to make Boris Johnson look good, if nothing else by virtue of her impressive cognitive deficiencies. The only reason to give Jacob Rees-Mogg an important Cabinet post is to avoid having someone brighter than you as a subordinate. This post lays out at a high level how Truss planned increases in defense spending will wreak on the budget, requiring either big tax increases or massive cuts to services. Its not hard to guess which she will propose. By Paul Rogers, Emeritus Professor of Peace Studies in the Department of Peace Studies and International Relationsat Bradford University, and an Honorary Fellow at the Joint Service Command and Staff College. He is openDemocracys international security correspondent. He is on Twitter at: @ProfPRogers. Originally published at openDemocracy Liz Truss, the UKs new prime minister, places a high premium on loyalty. This is why many former members of the cabinet, however experienced, have been relegated to the backbenches. There is, though, one survivor from the Cameron-Clegg coalition era Truss herself. In keeping with her own politics, the market fundamentalism of the Tufton Street brigade is very much in evidence in her choices of both ministers and advisers and in her response to the energy crisis. This will be met by a price cap, but that will be achieved by loans of up to 130bn that will have to be repaid by the public, with the massive profits of the fossil carbon corporations scarcely affected. Meanwhile, the obscene maldistribution of wealth in the UK continues. The countrys billionaires have now accumulated more than 600bn of wealth, with the top ten on the Sunday Times Rich List amassing 176bn between them but perish the thought that wealth redistribution or even windfall taxes should be mentioned in polite company. This issue of who pays extends to a major element of Trusss wider politics: defence policy. A key context, much in tune with grassroots Tories, is that the UK is one of the worlds great powers, to be demonstrated by increasing military spending to 3% of national income by 2030. This is the biggest hike since the 1950s, even though military spending went up under Boris Johnson, largely by diverting money from the international aid programme. Trusss plan goes very much further. According to a leading defence economist, professor Malcolm Chalmers from the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), this substantially increased spending will run to an additional 157bn at current prices. Chalmers points out that unless there are even more cuts in public spending, this would require income tax to increase by 5p in the pound, or for the standard VAT rate to rise from 20% to 25%. Even if this were to be achieved, it leaves unsolved the much bigger issue of whether Britains current defence posture is relevant to the security challenges ahead, not least in terms of recent performance, let alone monetary efficiency. Military Failures and Inefficiency On the issue of performance, the evidence is damning. During the past two decades, the UK has been a core player in three failed wars and one that is currently failing. Of the failed wars, the longest has been the 20 years of the Afghanistan war, but the Iraq conflict has been similarly disastrous, with violence and instability continuing and a violent death tollcurrently standing at 288,000, the great majority of them civilians. The 2011 Franco-British war in Libya left a deeply unstable and volatile country serving as a conduit for extreme paramilitaries and weapons spreading across the Sahel. Even the presumed defeat of ISIS in the 2014-18 air war has turned out to be anything but, as groups linked to ISIS and Al Qaeda grow elsewhere, especially in northern and eastern Africa. As to efficiency in the UK military-industrial complex, this is little short of a joke. The lack of efficiency has shown itself repeatedly, with persistent cost overruns, long delays in programmes and embarrassing failures of highly expensive new items, the recent breakdown of HMS Prince of Wales being just the latest case. The UKs National Infrastructure Authority has done its best for years to keep tabs on dodgy programmes. Four years ago, these reached a peak when five systems under development and collectively costed at just short of 16bn were all red-flagged (at risk of collapse) at the same time. Part of the problem is that Britains military-industrial complex is very much a closed system that requires enemies in order to thrive and, if need be, can always resort to appeals for patriotism. It is a thoroughly integrated system comprising the military, arms manufacturers, civil servants, think tanks, security and intelligence agencies and university departments, with trades unions necessarily looking out for their members. Trusss defence stance, however unaffordable, will go down very well in these circles. It is, after all, nothing new. Five years ago, when Boris Johnson was foreign secretary, he gave that years Tory party conference his let the British lion roar speech, all about a renewed greatness rooted in the military. Eighteen months later came the retro-fantasy of a new global Britain favoured by Gavin Williamson during his brief sojourn at the Ministry of Defence. This quasi-imperial, post-Brexit lurch, just like Johnsons speech, is likely to be reeled out in the months ahead, with enemies such as Russia, China, Islamists and others all serving to remind the public of the need for strong defence. Ignoring the Climate Crisis Ordinarily, this might be expected to work, but there is one very awkward element that suggests otherwise. It also stands to cause Truss really serious problems. One aspect of her political make-up that was evident during the leadership campaign is an almost total ignoring of the challenge of climate change, reinforced last week by her decision to promote an arch-climate sceptic, Jacob Rees-Mogg, to the energy brief. This should come as no surprise. After all, when the Tories won an overall victory in the 2015 election and were no longer encumbered with the Lib Dems, they immediately took an axe to many of the decarbonising initiatives advocated by Labour before 2010 and maintained by the Lib Dems during the five-year coalition. These included reducing support for solar power and electric vehicles; stopping subsidies for onshore wind while increasing them for North Sea oil; privatising the Green Development Bank; and scrapping the zero carbon homes plan due to ensure all new homes would be carbon-neutral from 2016. These lost the UK years in decarbonisation, making the current energy crisis even worse. What is perhaps forgotten is that the environment minister at the time was a rising young Tory politician by the name of Liz Truss. Now, we have an entire government minimising the climate crisis just when it is becoming blindingly obvious that it is the greatest single threat to global human security. The government may ignore this but the people wont and we can be certain that it will emerge rapidly, before the next general election, to be a focus of mounting public anger and action that will far transcend the activities to date of Extinction Rebellion and other activist and campaigning groups. Even as we face a recession and a winter of crisis for so many people, this may yet come to be the defining crisis of Trusss time in Downing Street. This is Naked Capitalism fundraising week. 1111 donors have already invested in our efforts to combat corruption and predatory conduct, particularly in the financial realm. Please join us and participate via our donation page, which shows how to give via check, credit card, debit card, or PayPal. Read about why were doing this fundraiser, what weve accomplished in the last year, and our current goal, more original reporting. Yves here. This post provides a useful, high level description of how the EU electricity markets work, according to some definition of work. As Varoufakis makes clear, this scheme is so complex and riddled with internal inconsistencies that only an economist could love it. The post is mainly about the malfunctioning electricity market. But it also mentions in passing, and unfavorably, the market for greenhouse gas permits. This pretends to be a prohibition scheme (companies are not supposed to emit more than the totally allowed via permits) but yours truly has been reading intermittently since this market started of massive gaming by traders. And programs like this dont add up to much unless there is serious monitoring, fines, and the ability to force plant closure of recidivist violators. Again, readers please correct me, but I certainly havent encountered stories of EU companies being hit with even nuisance-level fines. However, in the end, Varoufakis falls for this idea at the end by advocating a sounder market approach, a carbon tax. But this is still the wrong approach for combatting an existential threat (at least from the perspective of human civilization and a lot of flora and fauna). As we wrote in 2019: There is yet another reason why carbon taxes and pricing are not good ways to combat climate change. Economist Martin Weitzman developed a framework for how to deal with externalities like pollution. Andrew Haldanes summary: In making these choices [between taxation and prohibition], economists have often drawn on Martin Weitzmans classic public goods framework from the early 1970s.13 Under this framework, the optimal amount of pollution control is found by equating the marginal social benefits of pollution-control and the marginal private costs of this control. With no uncertainty about either costs or benefits, a policymaker would be indifferent between taxation and restrictions when striking this cost/benefit balance. In the real world, there is considerable uncertainty about both costs and benefits. Weitzmans framework tells us how to choose between pollution-control instruments in this setting. If the marginal social benefits foregone of the wrong choice are large, relative to the private costs incurred, then quantitative restrictions are optimal. Why? Because fixing quantities to achieve pollution control, while letting prices vary, does not have large private costs. When the marginal social benefit curve is steeper than the marginal private cost curve, restrictions dominate. The results flip when the marginal cost/benefit trade-offs are reversed. If the private costs of the wrong choice are high, relative to the social benefits foregone, fixing these costs through taxation is likely to deliver the better welfare outcome. When the marginal social benefit curve is flatter than the marginal private cost curve, taxation dominates. So the choice of taxation versus prohibition in controlling pollution is ultimately an empirical issue. Needless to say, with more and more scientists calling climate change an emergency, limits and prohibitions are the proper tools. By Yanis Varoufakis, an economist, member of the Greek Parliament, and former Finance Minister of Greece. Originally published at Project Syndicate; cross posted from his website The European Unions power sector is a good example of what market fundamentalism has done to electricity networks the world over. With the end of cheap natural gas, retail consumers and businesses are paying the price for their governments embrace of a shoddy theory. ATHENS The blades of the wind turbines on the mountain range opposite my window are turning especially energetically today. Last nights storm has abated but high winds continue, contributing extra kilowatts to the electricity grid at precisely zero additional cost (or marginal cost, in the language of the economists). But the people struggling to make ends meet during a dreadful cost-of-living crisis must pay for these kilowatts as if they were produced by the most expensive liquefied natural gas transported to Greeces shores from Texas. This absurdity, which prevails well beyond Greece and Europe, must end. The absurdity stems from the delusion that states can simulate a competitive, and thus efficient, electricity market. Because only one electricity cable enters our homes or businesses, leaving matters to the market would lead to a perfect monopoly an outcome that nobody wants. But governments decided that they could simulate a competitive market to replace the public utilities that used to generate and distribute power. They cant. The European Unions power sector is a good example of what market fundamentalism has done to electricity networks the world over. The EU obliged its member states to split the electricity grid from the power-generating stations and privatize the power stations to create new firms, which would compete with one another to provide electricity to a new company owning the grid. This company, in turn, would lease its cables to another host of companies that would buy the electricity wholesale and compete among themselves for the retail business of homes and firms. Competition among producers would minimize the wholesale price, while competition among retailers would ensure that final consumers benefit from low prices and high-quality service. Alas, none of this could be made to work in theory, let alone in practice. The simulated market faced contradictory imperatives: to ensure a minimum amount of electricity within the grid at every point in time, and to channel investment into green energy. The solution proposed by market fundamentalists was twofold: create another market for permissions to emit greenhouse gases, and introduce marginal-cost pricing, which meant that the wholesale price of every kilowatt should equal that of the costliest kilowatt. The emission-permit market was meant to motivate electricity producers to shift to less polluting fuels. Unlike a fixed tax, the cost of emitting a ton of carbon dioxide would be determined by the market. In theory, the more industry relied on terrible fuels like lignite, the larger the demand for the EU-issued emission permits. This would drive up their price, strengthening the incentive to switch to natural gas and, ultimately, to renewables. Marginal-cost pricing was intended to ensure the minimum level of electricity supply, by preventing low-cost producers from undercutting higher-cost power companies. The prices would give low-cost producers enough profits and reasons to invest in cheaper, less polluting energy sources. To see what the regulators had in mind, consider a hydroelectric power station and a lignite-fired one. The fixed cost of building the hydroelectric station is large but the marginal cost is zero: once water turns its turbine, the next kilowatt the station produces costs nothing. In contrast, the lignite-fired power station is much cheaper to build, but the marginal cost is positive, reflecting the fixed amount of costly lignite per kilowatt produced. By fixing the price of every kilowatt produced hydroelectrically to be no less than the marginal cost of producing a kilowatt using lignite, the EU wanted to reward the hydroelectric company with a fat profit, which, regulators hoped, would be invested in additional renewable-energy capacity. Meanwhile, the lignite-fueled power station would have next to no profits (as the price would just about cover its marginal costs) and a growing bill for the permits it needed to buy in order to pollute. But reality was less forgiving than the theory. As the pandemic wreaked havoc on global supply chains, the price of natural gas rose, before trebling after Russia invaded Ukraine. Suddenly, the most polluting fuel (lignite) was not the most expensive, motivating more long-term investment in fossil fuels and infrastructure for LNG. Marginal-cost pricing helped power companies extract huge rents from outraged retail consumers, who realized they were paying much more than the average cost of electricity. Not surprisingly, publics, seeing no benefits to them or to the environment from the blades rotating above their heads and spoiling their scenery, turned against wind turbines. The rise in natural gas prices has exposed the endemic failures that occur when a simulated market is grafted onto a natural monopoly. We have seen it all: How easily producers could collude in fixing the wholesale price. How their obscene profits, especially from renewables, turned citizens against the green transition. How the simulated market regime impeded common procurement that would have alleviated poorer countries energy costs. How the retail electricity market became a casino with companies speculating on future electricity prices, profiting during the good times, and demanding state bailouts when their bets turn bad. Its time to wind down simulated electricity markets. What we need, instead, are public energy networks in which electricity prices represent average costs plus a small mark-up. We need a carbon tax, whose proceeds must compensate poorer citizens. We need a large-scale Manhattan Project-like investment in the green technologies of the future (such as green hydrogen and large-scale offshore floating windfarms). And, lastly, we need municipally-owned local networks of existing renewables (solar, wind, and batteries) that turn communities into owners, managers, and beneficiaries of the power they need. KateLynn White graduated from Tennessee State University, where she was an editor of the student newspaper. She interned for The Tennessean and The Tennessee Tribune before joining the Nashville Post in 2022. She also contributes to the Nashville Scene. Follow KateLynn White Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today (Natural News) The Journal of Clinical Medicine published a study recently about how covid vaccines, aka Fauci Flu shots, are making people ineligible for organ transplants. It is not that hospitals are refusing to perform transplant surgery on jab recipients, but rather that recipients bodies are rejecting the organs. Whatever these injections are doing is causing organ transplants not to hold, we are told. One type of transplant rejection specifically identified in the study is acute corneal allografts. Fully vaccinated transplant recipients end up developing a systemic inflammatory response post-jab that results in organ rejection. (Related: Back in 2016, researchers out of South Carolina found that cannabis use can help organ transplants stick rather than get rejected.) The cornea is the outermost layer of a persons eye, reports WISH-TV out of Indianapolis. Corneal grafts are used to restore a damaged cornea. The surgery is known to be one of the most successful organ transplant procedures with low rejection rates. It restores vision, reduces eye pain and improves the appearance of the diseased cornea. For the study, Japanese researchers looked at a compilation of data collected from 23 other studies. A total of 23 eyes from 21 patients had undergone a corneal graft procedure, some fairly recently and others in years past. It was observed that transplant recipients who got jabbed suffered rejection more than the non-jabbed. The jabbed also suffered serious complications such as blood clots, heart inflammation, and Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS). As the virus continues to spread, additional booster COVID-19 vaccines are expected, the authors wrote in their paper. Therefore, proper follow-up of corneal allograft recipients and interventions to prevent corneal allograft rejection after they received the COVID-19 vaccine may be crucial. Post-injection side effects are common in organ transplant recipients, another study review finds A similar study published earlier this month in the journal Transplant Infectious Disease arrived at similar conclusions. Entitled Adverse events after SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in solid organ transplant recipients: A systematic review, that paper likewise highlights organ rejection as a common side effect in the fully jabbed. We searched studies published between January 1, 2020 and August 11, 2021 through Medline, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science, CINAHL Plus with Full Text, LitCovid, medRxiv and bioRxiv, reads a portion of the study sent to the editor. The most common side effect was injection-site pain, seen between 52.2% to 90% after vaccination. Fatigue, fever, myalgias, and arthralgias were also reported systemic reactions. Local reactions included pain, erythema, and swelling. In the review, two case reports and three cohort studies involving organ rejection were also identified. These include one kidney, one liver, one heart, and two non-specified recipients. The vaccine immunogenicity is still suboptimal in this population, the study explains about organ transplant recipients. On top of this, breakthrough infections have been widely reported. Back in the Spring, Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) published an article claiming the opposite of what these two studies found, and promoted more covid injections for organ transplant recipients. VUMC claimed at the time and appears to still hold this position that transplant patients need to get more injections, including booster shots, to help protect them from covid during the transplant process. Additional booster doses of vaccine against COVID-19 are particularly important for those who are immunosuppressed, namely those who have had solid organ transplants, wrote Nancy Humphrey, citing a study published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases that appears to support her and VUMCs position that covid injections help to prevent covid in those with an incompetent immune system. The latest news coverage about the health damage caused by Fauci Flu shots can be found at ChemicalViolence.com. Sources for this article include: WISHTV.com NaturalNews.com Wiley.com VUMC.org (Natural News) Another lunatic study has proven anew that Western science has gone completely woke and is no longer a useful part of our culture. For hundreds of years, Western scientists made incredible discoveries and huge contributions to humankind, especially in the fields of medicine and technology. But today, clearly the Western scientific community is nothing more than a clown show pushing propaganda and narratives, as evidenced by a new study published in the once-prestigious journal The Lancet. As reported by Bloomberg News: Climate change is making us angrier online. A lot angrier. Hateful comments spike on social media when temperatures rise above 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit), researchers at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research have found. Its an indicator of how well people can adapt to high temperatures, claimed Annika Stechemesser, lead author of the study earlier this month. If temperatures go too hot or too cold, we found that theres an increase in online hate speech, no matter the socioeconomic differences, religion or political beliefs. Our results show that if September is particularly hot, we can expect to see more hate on Twitter, said Stechemesser. Youll have more hateful behavior if you find yourself in a certain temperature range. The first thing to do is limit global warming, thats the most obvious approach to solving this. No, this isnt a joke, but it certainly reads like one. Marc Morano of ClimateDepot.com, which tracks the lefts insane climate change claims, said in response to this study: Climate science has finally jumped the shark! Wacky World of Climate strikes again! This is what passes for The Science! The new mantra from climate activists will no doubt be: Support the Green New Deal or you are pro-violence & hate speech! This is Bloomberg News reporting this drivel and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research backing the study, and the once prestigious journal Lancet actually publishing it. This wacky new study in Lancet is at odds with 1941 research showing that people get more docile during warm weather. Maybe global warming is the reason Americans did not push back harder on unscientific and draconian COVID restrictions, he added. Once again, literally everything either causes climate change or is affected by it, including online attitudes. What is worse, however, is that the globalist elite are using bogus scientific studies like this one to make all sorts of flaky and dangerous policies, such as ending the use of fossil fuels too quickly before they can be replaced with cheaper, viable alternatives (and it isnt wind and solar). Noted author Michael Shellenberger, who writes about and tracks this climate nonsense, recently testified before Congress and pushed back on efforts by the Biden regime and the Democrat-controlled Congress to rapidly shift to green energy and electric vehicles at the cost of our current fossil fuel infrastructure. U.S. carbon emissions declined 22% between 2005 and 2020, global emissions were flat over the last decade, and weather-related disasters have declined since the beginning of this century. There is no scientific scenario for mass death from climate change. A far more immediate and dangerous threat is insufficient energy supplies due to U.S. government policies and actions aimed at reducing oil and gas production, he testified during a recent House hearing. The Biden administration claims to be doing all it can to increase oil and natural gas production but its not. It has issued fewer leases for oil and gas production on federal lands than any other administration since World War II. It blocked the expansion of oil refining. It is using environmental regulations to reduce liquified natural gas production and exports, he continued. It has encouraged greater production by Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, and other OPEC nations, rather than in the U.S. And its representatives continue to emphasize that their goal is to end the use of fossil fuels, including the cleanest one, natural gas, thereby undermining private sector investment, he added. In other words, the Biden regime and Democrats are looking to destroy our economy for no good reason other than to push their climate change lie, using our scientific community as cover. Sources include: MichaelShellenberger.Substack.com ClimateDepot.com (Natural News) Texans and, hopefully soon, everyone else living in the United States will be relatively free of being censored for wrong think on the various social media platforms. A federal appeals court ruled on Friday that the Lone Star State can begin enforcing a law aimed at punishing platforms for downgrading, shadowbanning, or otherwise hiding certain content, noting that just because they are private companies they dont have a constitutional right to punish speech. According to Mass News, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans rejected what was described as an odd inversion of the First Amendment. The platforms argue that buried somewhere in the persons enumerated right to free speech lies a corporations unenumerated right to muzzle speech, the court ruled, adding that under a standard held by the social media giants, any communication medium email providers, mobile phone carriers, and even banks that had chat platforms could cancel or censor accounts of anyone who engaged in speech disfavored by the company. That would include sending messages of support for a political candidate or party or business not preferred by the platform. Today, we reject the idea that corporations have a freewheeling First Amendment right to censor what people say, the appeals panel wrote. They added that platforms could get the upper hand by claiming to be completely open as Twitter did when it launched as the free speech wing of the free speech party only to use its dominant position later on to censor and ban peoples posts that corporate leaders simply dont like. Mass News added: HB20, which prohibits platforms with more than 50 million users from censoring content posted by residents of the state based on viewpoint, marks one of the boldest efforts by Republican-controlled states to push back against Big Techs alleged anti-conservative bias. Texas had argued that Silicon Valley went so far as to muzzle federal elected officials such as President Donald Trump and even censored a congressional hearing that featured disfavored viewpoints. The panel ruled, however, that the platforms have a right to ban speech that encourages criminal behavior or makes threats of harm. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, celebrated the court victoryon Twitter. BREAKING: I just secured a MASSIVE VICTORY for the Constitution & Free Speech in fed court: #BigTech CANNOT censor the political voices of ANY Texan! The 5th Circuit reject[s] the idea that corporations have a freewheeling First Amendment right to censor what people say. pic.twitter.com/UijlzYcv7r Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) September 16, 2022 NetChoice and the Computer & Communications Industry Association sued Texas after the law, known as House Bill 20, was passed last year, arguing that internet companies have a First Amendment right to curate content posted on their platforms and decide which types of speech they saw fit to be there, The Texas Tribune reported. The left-leaning outlet is funded in part by Facebook. The industry group complained that the ruling means that platforms have to now give voice to all manner of speech, even that deemed extreme (by the platforms left-wing censors). We strongly disagree with the courts decision. Forcing private companies to give equal treatment to all viewpoints on their platforms places foreign propaganda and extremism on equal footing with decent Internet users, and places Americans at risk, the group noted in a statement opposing the ruling. God Bless America and Death to America are both viewpoints, and it is unwise and unconstitutional for the State of Texas to compel a private business to treat those the same. It needs to be said that even a private business cannot engage in unconstitutional acts, so that is a moot point. In any event, this decision will likely be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, but for now, at least, the state can enforce its law. Sources include: TexasTribune.org MassNews.com (Natural News) My heart was breaking to watch so many people suffering just to get information and help and I could not stand by and continue watching them go through this, said Catherine Cat Parker, who in April 2021, was injured by Johnson & Johnsons (J&J) COVID-19 vaccine. (Article by Michael Nevradakis republished from ChildrensHealthDefense.org) Wanting to help others enduring similar experiences, the 49-year-old Minnesotan whose story The Defender featured last month founded the Vaccine Injury/Side Effects Support Group Within two weeks, the group attracted 200 members from all over the world with stories that are heartbreaking, but also [inspire] resiliency to keep going through this, Parker said. The Defender interviewed three members of the group. Here are their stories. Donna Zuk Adley: I feel like a voodoo doll where someone keeps taking turns stabbing me in my different body systems Donna Zuk Adley, 64, a nurse from Connecticut, is co-administrator of the Vaccine Injury/Side Effects Support Group. Adley holds degrees in criminal justice and legal studies and has a 33-year career in nursing. She said she was reluctant to get the COVID-19 vaccine from the get-go in part because she had two previous reactions to vaccines, one of which [tetanus] left me with a permanent partial disability. She was diagnosed with fibromyalgia after the tetanus shot. I dragged my heels for nine months because I did not want to get the vaccine, Adley told The Defender. I had restricted my lifestyle, and did all the protocols to avoid COVID, she said. I had been working on a COVID floor with up to 32 COVID patients, and never got COVID. But after Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont in August 2021 mandated all workers in a broadly defined list of medical and long-term care facilities get vaccinated, Adley gave in and got her first dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, on Aug. 11, 2021, and her second dose on Sept. 17, 2021. She developed reactions soon after receiving both doses of the vaccine: After the first Moderna [dose], I had severe lower back pain that felt like shattered glass. I did not realize at the time that many have this symptom after the vaccines. [On] September 17, eight hours after my second Moderna [dose], I began to get the initial symptoms that I had expected (fever, muscle aches), [but] I felt very strange and weak, as if I had a mono relapse, which I hadnt had in over a decade. Her symptoms worsened. According to Adley: Suddenly I began to have lapses in memory, first slightly, then it got worse. I realized that I couldnt see small print. I have many reading glasses, and I tried five or six pairs before I realized I had blurred vision. This blurred vision was constant for four months, both near and far vision, and far vision [is] blurry intermittently now, nine months later. I began to feel confused, and texted to my granddaughter that I feel like I have a brain disconnect. I lost my ability to think right, comprehend and follow directions. When work was explaining how to have my doctor fill out my FMLA [Family Medical Leave] paperwork, I was having a hard time following directions. The injuries that Adley sustained and the conditions she continues to experience include damage to her brain, heart, gastrointestinal tract and her vision. Adley described the symptoms as progressive and interchangeable, coming and going for a few hours at a time, before reappearing again or new symptoms appearing. She likened the experience to feeling like a voodoo doll where someone keeps taking turns stabbing me in my different body systems, and a pinball machine in slow motion. Adley kept a notebook of her symptoms and injuries, and categorized them broadly as follows: Brain and cognitive: The most terrifying injuries she experienced were a loss of executive function and cognitive function and a diagnosis of autoimmune response from COVID-19 vaccine from her doctor who said her symptoms matched those of autoimmune encephalitis. She also described blurred vision and confusion, forgetfulness, some loss of short- and long-term memory, confusion, disorientation, an inability to follow instructions or find solutions, some loss of reasoning and judgment skills, slurred speech and difficulties with spoken and written language, sudden anger issues and paranoia, a skewed sense of taste or loss of taste, partial loss of hearing and difficulty performing normal activities such as walking up and down stairs. Adley recalled telling a nurses aide she felt her brain got dumbed down like I dropped 50 IQ points, and added, I finally coined the term: I have a loss of thought process algorithms, as a catch-all for the collection of brain function and cognitive symptoms she was experiencing. Many of these symptoms, such as taste or hearing loss, still come and go, she said, adding she has a two-second memory if I dont write it down, I will forget. Heart: Adley described severe edema in her feet and ankles, saying that as a nurse, she is aware this could be a sign of congestive heart failure. She also described symptoms of postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, or POTS, which only recently subsided, including feeling like her heart was being pumped up like a balloon. Adley also described alternating low and high blood pressure, fainting episodes and heart palpitations. Gastrointestinal: Adley described diarrhea, vomiting and dry heaves for months, and quick alternations between feeling hungry and not hungry and an overall loss of desire to eat anything that I used to have cravings for. She said it was like my food was staying in my stomach and not going anywhere. Lungs: Adley said she experienced episodes of coughing for hours with clear phlegm and then the coughing would suddenly disappear. Muscles: Adley described burning, boiling pain, terrible muscle spasms that would travel through her body in a quick wave. Her muscle spasms, while now less severe, still continue when she lies down. Skin: Adley described peeling skin at the tip of her fingertips and spontaneous bruising all over her body. Adley also experienced intermittent sudden weakness in her ankles and knees, intermittently swollen lymph nodes and tinnitus that also was initially intermittent but appears to be permanent in both ears. Together, these symptoms affected everything, Adley said. She was terminated from her job of 10 years because she took too long to return from family leave due to her vaccine injuries. She also experienced an Epstein-Barr relapse and continues to experience fainting episodes. Finding new employment has been challenging. Adley described going through an entire months process to obtain a job, and they told me my medical [vaccine] exemption was denied by corporate. This was despite the fact that her doctor wrote, in reference to Adley, an autoimmune reaction to the COVID-19 vaccine and that this individual had significant side effects from prior COVID-19 vaccinations The COVID vaccine is precluded because the risks of vaccination outweigh the benefits. The loss of her employment also meant the loss of her health insurance, according to Adley, who also said that walk-ins were not accepting me. She said her neurologist told her that the CDC [U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] is being very strict, and only allowing exemptions if you have paralysis, such as from Guillain Barre, or death. Kate: I dont think Id be here if I took the second dose Kate, a Minnesota teacher who asked that her full name be withheld, received her first and only COVID-19 vaccine, a dose of Moderna, on Feb. 16, 2021. Kate told The Defender that she feels lucky she did not get another dose, despite almost doing so. Kate said she heard of many people who had a reaction to the first dose, but a much worse reaction following the second dose. I dont think Id be here, she said, if she had received the second dose. Kate got super sick after getting the Moderna vaccine, sustaining vaccine injuries including tinnitus, head pressure, dizziness, bone pain, difficulty walking, heart enlargement and atrial fibrillation and the most severe insomnia of my life. She feels better now than in the last 16 months and has done a lot of natural healing, she said, but added, I dont know if my heart will ever be the same. While she was previously very active physically, since the vaccine, shes had to limit activities she used to enjoy, like hiking and biking. Kate contracted COVID-19 in December 2021, but it was nothing compared to the vaccine injury, she said. Absolutely nothing for me. Her injuries have affected her ability to work. Kate said: There were days I would literally drive into a parking lot at school and realize I had to go home at least ten times, maybe more. I would drive into the parking lot and think, man, my legs are killing me. Theres no way I can get out of this car and go to work. Kate said she feels fortunate she could afford a private doctor, and one who has not been dismissive about her vaccine injuries. She said: Weve probably spent a little over $10,000 out of pocket because of the private doctor co-pays, meeting the deductible, which is great compared to lots of other people. So I feel like Ive had a lot more resources than some people so I feel lucky. I was already seeing a doctor before this happened to me, and she was more open. She recognized right away that something was wrong. She didnt quite believe me right away, she was a little skeptical, but when she found out that my heart was not reacting the way it was she said, Oh my God, youve never had a heart issue before? Her doctor recommended Kate visit a cardiologist, who initially was dismissive: Basically told me that I probably just got stressed out and thats how I suddenly got atrial fibrillation, which I thought was hilarious. I went home and I was like, hes doing the anxiety card on me. Hes treating me like Im a woman and oh, I just got so anxious over my shot. After leaving the cardiologist a poor review online and stating she was really upset, he retracted his original diagnosis and agreed it was from the vaccine. For Kate, her most difficult experiences with vaccine injuries havent been with doctors, but stem from the psychological pressure you get from other people. She said: The way that other people treat you has been terrible and I had probably five straight months I didnt want to get out of bed. Mostly people think, I dont know, Ive never seen it. If somebody got in a car accident, someone wouldnt say, well, Ive never gotten in a car accident. Nobody would say that to you. So that emotional side is difficult. Ayman: There is no human left in me Ayman, a graphic designer in Melbourne, Australia, who also requested his full name be withheld, received his first and only dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in late 2021. After 48 hours, I had this range of heartbeats, from resting to 160, all of a sudden, and I freaked out, Ayman told The Defender. I jumped, my head reached the ceiling, and I had to call the ambulance. Aymans experience with doctors and other healthcare practitioners mimicked those of many injured by the vaccines. I told them that I took the first dose of Pfizer and then they said, this is anxiety. Ayman described what happened soon after he was vaccinated: The next day, my body went into, I dont know, how can I explain it? If I open my eyes, I just shout and cry and go into hallucinations, a panic attack, anxiety, suicidal thoughts. But all of a sudden, these thoughts, with the nerve pain like electrical shock [along my] entire body, spinal cord to the brain going into shakes and tremors, and I couldnt even walk. Half of my brain was extremely not able to connect with the other side of the brain. So it was like, imbalanced. Its like something not normal I dont know what happened to my brain, like something really not normal I used to walk and I didnt know how to come back home, barely use my phone on GPS and then come back home on my GPS even though I would walk just a few blocks over. His injuries are impacting every aspect of his life, Ayman said. I have extreme memory loss, and this is not normal. Im a graphic designer, I work in creative work, and all of a sudden I dont know who I am. I couldnt drive. I couldnt walk. I had to learn how to eat. I didnt know how to hold a spoon, so I didnt know how to eat. Ayman described experiencing dementia, demoralization, depersonalization, dissociation, all of a sudden, at once. He also developed heart palpitations, like my heart was either overbeating, or sometimes its not. Sometimes [being] a bit disoriented, vertigo, fatigue, all that kind of stuff. He added: And the top of my symptoms is, I dont feel my body. I dont feel the upper body, so there is no sensation there. I dont have feeling in my face, in my ear so I cant find work. I cant work. I cant do anything. Im basically disabled. I just walk a few steps out of my house just to go to the park a little bit and then come back home. But otherwise there is no mind. Ayman reported all these symptoms to his general practitioner and to the immunization center he had visited. However, they didnt offer any treatment, anything, he said, other than a diagnosis of anxiety, a diagnosis of long COVID without being tested positive for it, and a referral to a psychologist. Reflecting on his current condition, Ayman said, I dont have a past or a future, just barely the present. I dont know what Ive done yesterday or this morning. Its nonexistent. Im just talking to you right now and then thats it, he added. I dont have anything in my head. Support group members: I feel Im not alone Parker told The Defender that she decided to start her online support group for vaccine-injured individuals because she felt so alone a sentiment that was shared by the other members of her group who spoke with The Defender. A lot of us have anxiety and depression from this now, said Parker. And I hear people who just want to give up or they feel like theyre dying or that [they] wanted not to wake up. Experiences like these prompted Parker to establish her group. She said: My anxiety and depression were getting worse, and my daughter said to me, Mom, you have always been the person to help others, maybe you need to focus on that for now. So I created my support group to focus more on offering support to those that have immediate needs, whether it is emotional support, resources for food, housing, rent, financial assistance, and educational/medical information related to helping them get treatment, medication, and other [needs]. Parker described a two-and-a-half hour phone call with somebody the other day who just needed to talk. Thats all they wanted. Sometimes, when youre in your own head and youve got your own thing going on, its hard to help yourself, added Parker. So I wanted to be a platform for people to be able to help those other people find resources, find others they can connect with. Kate told The Defender she initially started a tinnitus group, before joining Parkers group. For Kate, her membership in such groups is so very valuable. Any group that Ive been in has been fantastic, she said. A lot of it is just emotional support, suggestions for treatment and then sometimes, when Im just super stressed or up at night I know theres always somebody online that I can message. It just makes you feel not alone, she said. Ayman also finds the group helpful, in a context where family members and other individuals in his life tell him to just get over yourself a reaction he described as like a knife in my heart. The emotional part of it is really, really helpful, Ayman said. you go in a group, they understand these symptoms, but in real life, nobody gets you to them, its just anxiety. Adley told The Defender she found the group when she began looking for help and support because she felt so alone in this. Parkers group also played an important role in helping members go public with stories that often are not only emotionally difficult to recount, but also frequently censored by social media platforms. It has been difficult to get out our stories to the world, Parker said. Everywhere we turn, we are blocked and banned on social media. Our videos are removed for community standards violations, which makes no sense when they are videos of our pain and suffering or us going through tremors and brain fog. We are ridiculed and made fun of as crazy, lying pigs, anti-vax and people with agendas to stop others from getting the vaccine. It breaks my heart, how far humanity has fallen that it is okay to make fun of others suffering and downplay what others are going through. Read more at: ChildrensHealthDefense.org (Natural News) When Antifa became a movement in America, most of the protesting they engaged in involved acts of violence, including riots, arson, assault, vandalism, theft, rape and murder. Their name, Antifa, is short for anti-fascist, yet, everything they stand for IS fascist. Antifas foundation is based on hatred, tyranny, intolerance, inequality and contempt for the Republic they live in. Unfortunately, millions of Americans cannot recognize this front, this name they use that represents the exact opposite of what they really stand for and represent. Antifa is just the tip of the iceberg though, when it comes to false representation and lack of morals in America. In America, Big Tech and Mainstream Media support Antifa hatred and violence 100 percent, pretending that everything they do is peaceful and in the name of equality. The same goes for BLM (Black Lives Matter). When these fascist groups attack innocent people, including police officers, its always considered justified by the Left. Hate Whitey! De-fund the police, they scream, until they actually need the police to save them. Those reverse-racism groups are based on intolerance of anyone and any organization that has white people, or straight people, or conservatives, or Republicans, or even patriotic Americans as members. Liberal means vile hatred and contempt for anyone who isnt liberal The term liberal in America has also been twisted, warped and perverted. Today, liberal means that if youre NOT gay, then you hate gays. Today, liberal means if you dont believe men can get pregnant, then you are a fascist, bigoted, racist pig. Today, liberal means white men have no rights whatsoever, and owe black people everything theyve ever earned and own, because hundreds of years ago blacks were slaves in this country, and now every white man is responsible, somehow. Go figure. For liberals, Leftists, Democrats, Antifa and BLM, every day is opposite day, because what they stand for is actually what they hate themselves, but they dont seem to realize they are acting on behalf of their own demise. Its pure self-destruction. Self hate. Hate for America. Hate for freedom. For the Leftist government running America right now, sustainable energy means using NO energy The hate coming from the Left doesnt stop with violent protests and contempt for everyone on the right, but also infiltrates the highest levels of our government, regulatory agencies, education establishments, the medical industrial complex, big tech, social media, international relations and more. The word sustainable has become a dirty word, because the US government is using it to turn everything green, which really means purposely crash the entire food, energy and fuel infrastructure of our country. Remember, its always opposite day for the Left. Renewable energy means death to all agriculture, commerce, travel, energy, power, oil, gas, diesel, food supply, clean water, and nuclear industries in America. Though solar power and wind power are real ways to conserve energy, they certainly cannot power and fuel the massive infrastructure of America. It would take a century to accomplish this, if not more, but the Leftists are pretending like it can be done over the next ten years, knowing this attempt will completely collapse the entire economy and civilization as we know it. Today, sustainable means NO energy, as the Left is trying to choke out Americans so the elitists and globalists can turn the country into a populace of peons begging for handouts from a New World Order. Here, Antifa means fight FOR fascism. Here, green energy means no energy. Do your own research and dont use Google. Try the search engine Brave BETA and get more truth news and real information. Bookmark Censored.news to your favorite websites for truth news thats being censored from the rest of media as you read this. Sources for this article include: NaturalNews.com TFP.org (Natural News) Mike Lindell, the founder and CEO of the MyPillow franchise of products, has vowed to take unprecedented legal action against Joe Bidens Justice Department and FBI after he was stopped, harassed by agents, and had his cellphone confiscated recently. According to reports, Lindell discussed the incident during a recent live stream interview. The New York Times reported that Lindell was served a search warrant in connection with a Colorado county clerk named Tina Peters who has been charged by state officials regarding an alleged scheme to download information from election equipment following the stolen 2020 election. I have my own breaking news tonight, Lindell told the audience watching on his Frank Speech social media platform. This afternoon I was, I went down hunting in Iowa for the early teal season with my friend this morning at 4 a.m. We got up headed down to Iowa. We were coming back and we stopped to get go through a Hardees in Mankato, where I was born, in Mankato, Minnesota. And cars pulled up in front of us, to the side of us, and behind us, and I said, Those are either bad guys or the FBI. It turns out they were the FBI. He said one of the agents informed him: Well, I got some bad news. were taking your cell phone, we have a warrant for your cell phone. Lindell said he initially balked at handing over his phone. I run five companies off that, I dont have a computer, my hearing aids run off this, he said. Everything runs off my phone. He added that he placed a phone call to a lawyer and the attorney told him he needed to hand over his phone. The Daily Wire added: The New York Times reported that the FBI asked him about an image that was copied from a voting machine in Colorado and appeared on a website that Lindell operates. A letter that agents gave Lindell asked him not to disclose the existence of the investigation but he decided to reveal it during his shows livestream. Although the law does not require nondisclosure unless a court order is issued, we believe that the impact of any disclosure could be detrimental to the investigation, the letter, signed by Aaron Teitelbaum, an assistant U.S. attorney, said. Now, Lindell says hes filing a massive lawsuit against Bidens politicized Justice Department. During an interview on Steve Bannons Real Americas Voice broadcast, the MyPillow CEO said he has put together a team of some of the best lawyers in the country, including Alan Dershowitz, Andrew Parker, and Kurt Olson, amongst others. We are suing the United States government and the FBI. This isnt just to get the phone back, this is my First, Fourth, and Fifth Amendment rights were broken We arent going to put up with this, we arent going to be the Gestapo like in Nazi Germany. Were being proactive, Lindell told Bannon, then-President Donald Trumps former top political adviser who himself has been targeted by Bidens DOJ. I was on the phone with these attorneys, I said no, I want to sue. We have all the lawyers on the phone, they looked at all these statutes, we are going to go to places that no man has gone before. This will set a precedent. This has to stop, Lindell stated further. BREAKING: Mike Lindell Announces he is Suing the US Govt and the FBI for seizing his phone Support Mikes fight against the corrupt regime! https://t.co/faQ7lHQXfj pic.twitter.com/GX1JPeXuuZ Jack Posobiec ?? (@JackPosobiec) September 15, 2022 It has become apparent that Bidens politicized law enforcement agencies are not going to stop until they have every one of Trumps inner circle including Trump himself behind bars. The country will explode. Sources include: CitizenFreePress.com DailyWire.com (Natural News) A new poll conducted by child advocacy nonprofit Parents Defending Education revealed that over two-thirds of parents are not comfortable allowing their children to use TikTok without adult supervision, including 73 percent of younger parents aged 18 to 34. The group found that 37 percent of parents agree that China is using TikTok to spy on or manipulate Americans, especially children, and that the U.S. government should step in and ban the platform as it is a threat to national security. Meanwhile, only 17 percent of Americans believe that the platform was not collecting any information that puts Americans at risk. Snapchat remains as the least trusted app, with at least 74 percent of parents saying they were not that comfortable to not comfortable at all with their children using the app without adult supervision. TikTok is second at 68 percent, while Twitter came in third at 66 percent. Facebook and Instagram are not far behind at 63 percent. From intrusive surveys in the classroom to data security to social media platforms, families are deeply worried about Big Techs influence both inside and outside school, Parents Defending Education President Nicole Neily said. Parents desire more knowledge about and control over what their children have access to, and want policy changes that will empower them to keep them safe. Their concerns are valid. (Related: New research reveals social media sites like Meta, Instagram and Tiktok can monitor keystrokes to obtain private information.) For instance, China can allegedly access American user data through TikTok. ByteDance, the apps parent company based in China, has cited video and audio clips in internal meetings attesting to this. Everything is seen in China, a TikTok Trust and Safety Department member said in a September 2021 meeting. Meanwhile, Facebook does not even know where data is stored. When two Facebook engineers were asked in a court hearing where personal user data is stored, they said they didnt know the answer. Eugene Zarashaw, an engineering director, reportedly said: I dont believe theres a single person that exists who could answer that question. Twitter, on the other hand, mishandles user data. In a whistleblower complaint sent to Congress, the companys former head of security Peiter Zatko noted serious deficiencies in the handling of privacy, information security and fundamental architecture. Problems cited in the complaint include ignorance and misuse of vast internal data sets, mishandling personally identifiable information and misrepresentations to the Federal Trade Commission about those matters. Government leaders warn against using TikTok TikTok has over a billion users, an estimated 135 million of which are from the United States. Government leaders, including former President Donald Trump, have warned people against its use over the past few years, saying that the Chinese government could use the app to collect data or launch influence operations through the platform. Even the U.S. military banned its members from using the app on government devices or at all in late 2019 and early 2020. The same went with the Transportation Security Administration and some other federal agencies. With its vast number of users, TikTok is clearly a potentially rich source of personal data, and the Biden administration is now preparing a series of executive orders to address its use and the Chinese tech sectors access to data. While it isnt clear what dangers the app can have on American security, the bottom line is that it is owned by ByteDance, with some employees having access to user data. Visit BigTech.news for more concerns about social media and other online platforms. Watch the video below to see how other nations are countering the use of TikTok. This video is from the Chinese taking down EVIL CCP channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories: TikTok quietly changed its privacy policy, giving itself permission to harvest biometric data of US users. Democrats planning to steal midterms: Biden regime partners with communist China-based TikTok ahead of crucial elections. FEMBOYS: How Chinese-controlled TikTok is enabling pedophilia and gender bending. Sources include: HeadlineUSA.com NewsBusters.org Wired.com Brighteon.com (Natural News) Russian President Vladimir Putin is becoming increasingly fed up with losing troops in Ukraine thanks to U.S.- and NATO-supplied weapons, and hes clarifying what he considers a red line that cannot be crossed without consequences. Specifically, if the Biden regime supplies Ukraine with longer-range missiles capable of striking far deeper inside Russian territory, Putin has vowed to defend the country with any means necessary, Russia Today, which is a state-aligned media organ, reported this week. According to Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, the U.S. will become complicit in war crimes for continuing to supply weapons to Ukraine that are used to attack and kill Russian forces, though of course, Moscow has been providing weapons and technologies to Americas enemies for decades. That said, should Washington supply Ukraine with longer-range missiles, it would cross the red line, and the U.S. would become an actual party to the conflict, Zakharova noted further, Russia Today reported, noting further: Such a move would be equivalent to deploying ground-based medium-range missiles to Europe, Zakharova said, adding that such weapons were previously banned by the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty), which the US abandoned back in 2019 under then-President Donald Trump. In such a scenario, we would have to come up with an adequate response, the spokeswoman said, going on to add that Russia reserves the right to defend its territory using any means available. She noted that the U.S. has been supplying Ukraine with sophisticated M142 HIMARS and M270 MLRS missile systems that have a range of around 45-55 miles. However, the spokeswoman said that Kyiv is seeking longer-range missiles such as the US-made Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMS, whose missiles can be fired by HIMARS or MLRS systems and have a longer range of hundreds of miles. Zakharova also accused the U.S. and NATO of attempting to drag out the war in Ukraine for as long as possible while also managing to control how the conflict plays out. She called it another sign of the United States direct involvement in the fighting, while accusing Washington and its allies of global destabilization leading to the launch of a new arms race. Russia Today added: Her words came just a day after the Russian ambassador to Washington, Anatoly Antonov, accused the US of inciting Kiev against Russia, as well as aiding Ukraines military efforts and boasting about it. The diplomat also blasted US claims about not being a party to the conflict as ridiculous and unfounded. In September, the Pentagon revealed a new military aid package for Kiev worth $675 million. The package includes artillery ammunition, armored vehicles, and remote-launched mines, among other items. For some reason, the leader of the Catholic faith has weighed in on the arming of Ukraine, questioning the morality of it as though helping a country that was attacked by Moscow defend itself is a bad, unreligious thing to do. In a pained explanation, Pope Francis told journalists traveling with him on his papal plane following a three-day trip to Kazakhstan that the motivation behind providing weapons to Ukraine supposedly makes a big difference in whether the action can be deemed morally acceptable. Selling weapons to another country is morally acceptable if done under the conditions of morality, he told reporters, but arms shipments can be immoral if done with intentions of making more war or to otherwise profit from the sale in some way, according to quotes attributed to him by the Catholic News Service. In fact, weapons of war are for just that war. And since they arent manufactured for free, countries seeking weapons of war from another nation tend to have to pay for them, though Ukraine has been getting many of its weapons compliments of the U.S. taxpayer. And what about the morality of invading another country? The pope was silent on that. Sources include: RT.com NaturalNews.com (Natural News) In response to the Reinvent the Toilet Challenge, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in partnership with Samsung has introduced a new prototype incineration toilet with the capacity to turn feces and urine into ash and recycled water. The Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT) started working on the new toilet with Gates crew back in 2019. The core technologies for it were recently completed, and the toilet itself has been successfully developed and tested using a prototype. On August 16, Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Jay Y. Lee met with Gates to talk about how the toilet can be distributed around the world. During that meeting, Gates shared his vision for getting the toilet to the four corners of the world, while Samsung presented a plan to offer royalty-free licenses of patents for the device. There is still more work to be done to commercialize the toilet, and Samsung and Gates are working on just how to do that. Once the design and production process are honed and made more efficient for mass production, the new Samsung incineration toilet will be ready for global distribution. During three years of research and development, SAIT worked on the basic design and developed the component and modular technology, leading to the successful development of a prototype for household use, a press release explained. The product is energy-efficient with effluent treatment capability, and meets the performance required by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for commercialization for a household-use reinvented toilet. Dont be fooled: Bill Gates is still engaged in all sorts of eugenics operations According to Samsung, the toilet incorporates unique heat-treatment and bioprocessing technologies that effectively sterilize human waste and render it safer for release into the environment as effluent and solids. The system enables the treated water to be fully recycled, Samsung said. Solid waste is dehydrated, dried and combusted into ashes, while liquid waste is treated through a biological purification process. The Reinvent the Toilet Challenge that led to the development of this new toilet was actually pioneered by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as part of a program they created back in 2011. The goal is to develop transformative toilet technologies that can safely and effectively manage human waste. The World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF claimed that about 3.6 billion people around the world are still using unsafe sanitary facilities because they have no other options. Roughly half a million children under the age of five die every year from diarrheal diseases as a result. This is one of the few projects from Bill Gates that actually makes a bit of sense and does not seem to involve mass genocide. There are no hidden vaccines inside the toilet (that we know of) and the project does potentially stand to help better protect the environment against the toxic effects of biosludge. Gates is still not to be trusted, though. He recently obtained 2,000 acres of pristine farmland in North Dakota under questionable circumstances to add to his growing portfolio of American farmland. North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley wants to know why Gates bought the land, and there is a probe underway to determine if the purchase was even legal. Whatever his reasons, it cant be good, wrote a commenter at Natural News about Gates true intentions. Its Bill Gates: laws dont apply to mass murderers with this level of wealth, added another about the suspicious land purchase. Gates is a mass-murdering psychopath, a synthetic robot in human form, half-joked another or maybe that second part is not a joke? The latest news about Bill Gates can be found at Evil.news. Sources for this article include: Samsung.com NaturalNews.com (Natural News) STORY AT-A-GLANCE August 15, 2022, the U.K. became the first country to approve Modernas new bivalent COVID booster Spikevax bivalent which contains mRNA that codes for the original Wuhan strain spike protein and the Omicron BA.1 subvariant The approval of the new booster comes on the heels of complaints about lack of demand for the shots. Moderna recently threw away 30 million doses of its original COVID jab, as nobody wanted them, and the U.S., has tossed 82.1 million COVID jab doses in the trash for the same reason The Spikevax bivalent shot is already out of date, as both strains included are no longer in circulation anywhere in the world In the U.S., infections are currently caused by the BA.4, BA.5 and BA.2.12.1 variants of Omicron. In Europe, Omicron BA.2, BA.4 and BA.5 are the current variants of concern. BA.1 is on the list of de-escalated variants, meaning its of no concern either because its either not in circulation, or because it doesnt cause severe illness Coronaviruses mutate very rapidly, and when you vaccinate against a rapidly mutating virus, you encourage it to mutate even faster, and to develop immune-evading properties. This is what weve been witnessing since the beginning of the COVID jab campaign, and outdated, leaky bivalent boosters may worsen the situation further (Article by Dr. Joseph Mercola republished from Articles.Mercola.com) August 15, 2022, the U.K. became the first country to approve Modernas new bivalent COVID booster, which contains both the original concoction and mRNA to target Omicron variants. The booster has also been submitted for approval with authorities in Australia, Canada and the EU, and theres every reason to suspect itll be submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as well. As reported by Sky News:1 The booster dose, known as Spikevax bivalent Original/Omicron, contains 25 micrograms of Omicron vaccine and 25 micrograms of original coronavirus vaccine The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization (JCVI) has said the vaccine will be available to those aged 18 and over as part of the UKs autumn booster program. Health Secretary Steve Barclay said those eligible will be contacted from early September. More Than 100 Million Doses Have Been Trashed The approval of the new booster comes right on the heels of widespread complaints about lack of demand for the shots. Moderna recently had to throw away 30 million doses of its original COVID jab, as there was no demand for them.2 We have a big demand problem, Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel said in May 2022 during a panel discussion at the World Economic Forums meeting in Davos, Switzerland.3 Similarly, in the U.S., pharmacies, states and federal agencies have tossed 82.1 million COVID jab doses in the trash, and for the same reason.4 Bivalent Booster Is Already Out of Date Modernas bivalent booster is said to provide a strong immune response against the Omicron BA.1 variant as well as the original 2020 Wuhan strain, which, for the record, is extinct and no longer in circulation anywhere in the world. BA.1 is now rarely ever found, either. The graph5,6 below, from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, shows the infection ratios of common variants. As you can see, in the U.S., infections are now caused by the BA.4, BA.5 and BA.2.12.1 variants of Omicron.7 So, this booster contains two strains that arent even relevant anymore. The situation is exactly the same in Europe, where Omicron BA.2, BA.4 and BA.5 are the current variants of concern. BA.1 isnt even a variant of interest, which is the next-lower categorization. Its on the list of de-escalated variants, which is based on a variant meeting one or more of the following criteria:8 (1) the variant is no longer circulating, (2) the variant has been circulating for a long time without any impact on the overall epidemiological situation, (3) scientific evidence demonstrates that the variant is not associated with any concerning properties. In short, BA.1 is of no concern in Europe either, as its not in circulation and/or because it doesnt cause severe illness. The same goes for the original Wuhan strain, which has long since mutated out of existence. Vaccinating Against Rapidly Mutating Viruses Is a Bad Idea Coronaviruses mutate very rapidly in general, and the mRNA jabs are based on a surface protein (the spike protein), which is the most rapidly mutating portion of the entire virus. What happens when you vaccinate against a rapidly mutating virus? You encourage it to mutate even faster, and to develop immune-evading properties. This is what weve been witnessing since the beginning of the COVID jab campaign, and at this point, theres no hope of ever catching up with the virus. Whats worse, while variants have so far evolved into milder strains, they are in fact gaining the ability to evade antibodies, and could theoretically switch course to become more pathogenic.9 This is particularly true when a vaccine is leaky, meaning it doesnt fully prevent infection (which none of the COVID shots do). Just like when you overuse an antibiotic that fails to eradicate the bacteria, which allows antibiotic-resistant bacteria to flourish, overuse of a leaky vaccine can pressure a virus to become more lethal.10,11 BA.4 and BA.5 are the most resistant to date, with BA.5 circumventing the immune systems even of those with natural immunity.12 Fortunately, it doesnt appear to cause severe illness in most people. The take-home here is that had natural immunity been allowed to take place without these jabs, the pandemic would be over and reinfections near-nonexistent. Instead, were now in a pandemic of the vaccinated, with the vast majority of serious COVID infections occurring among those who have been jabbed.13,14 We know that Pfizer was aware of this possibility, as vaccine-associated enhanced disease (VAED) is listed as an Important Potential Risk in Table 5 on page 11 of a document called 5.3.6 Cumulative Analysis of Post-Authorization Adverse Event Reports.15 This document was part of the FOIA required and court-ordered batch released by the FDA April 1, 2022. How Long Will the Bivalent Booster Protect You? According to Moderna, the bivalent Spikevax demonstrates potent neutralizing antibody response against Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5.16 They made the same claim for the original COVID jab, back in January 2021,17 and by August 2021, they admitted the neutralizing antibodies generated lasted only six months after the second dose.18 How long will the bivalent jab be effective (and I use that term loosely)? Who knows, but the way things are trending, six months would probably be the max. In Germany, citizens must now get a booster every three months to qualify as fully vaccinated,19 as rapidly waning immunity has become accepted fact, and thats probably where were all headed. Germans who havent received all of their boosters will be subject to mask mandates and other COVID restrictions this fall. This, despite deep criticism from businesses tasked with confirming their customers status. As reported by the Rise Align Ignite Reclaim (RAIR) foundation:20 Businesses have voiced great concern about further regulatory chaos in the struggling economy. The plans are simply not feasible, said the general manager of the German Hotel and Restaurant Association (Dehoga), Ingrid Hartges, the Handelsblatt. We cannot constantly check whether our guests are vaccinated, recovered, or tested. These people are exempted from the obligation to wear masks in restaurants or events under certain circumstances if the vaccination, for example, is within the last three months. But you cant tell from the guest in the restaurant what status they have, says Hartges. Like when he goes to the bathroom should the staff always ask if hes vaccinated? she said. Thats nonsense.' Bivalent Jab Will Not Undergo Additional Testing Its important to realize that these next-gen boosters will not undergo any additional safety testing.21,22 Theyre being rolled out under a new fast-track standard where ingredients can be swapped out without additional testing. This is the standard protocol for seasonal flu vaccines. However, were now using an entirely new type and essentially untested technology. Theres no telling whether variations in the spike mRNA being injected might produce vastly differing side effects. They could potentially have differing toxicities, but thats not being investigated. Also, remember that the efficacy theyre referring to is only based on measurements of antibody titers, which tells us nothing, really, about its ability to prevent infection, severity of illness or death. Why? Because antibodies form only a part of your immune response, and theyre not even the most important. It is far more likely that your innate immune system your first line of defense will destroy a virus before your adaptive immune system even has a chance to respond and create antibodies.23 It is important to understand that no vaccine improves your innate immune response. All vaccines are ever able to do is address your adaptive humoral immune system and create antibodies. Your innate immune system has T cells that can directly kill viruses. If you happen to have a vigorous T cell response, youll be protected even if your antibodies are low. So, antibodies are not a necessary measure of immunity. Antibody titer levels are whats called a surrogate outcome. Its a substitute for actual clinical outcome. But its in no way equivalent, no matter how much the powers in control want it to be. Antibody titers may be high, but in the real world, more people may end up in the hospital and die either from the infection or from the shot. In short, high antibody titer is not a guarantee of effectiveness and it tells us absolutely nothing about safety. CIA-Backed Upstart to Produce Modernas Bivalent mRNA The complete absence of testing moving forward is all the more concerning when you consider whos manufacturing the RNA for Modernas now-bivalent booster. In a recent Unlimited Hangout article,24 investigative journalist Whitney Webb reveals the genetic material for the reformulated booster is being exclusively manufactured by National Resilience, a relative newcomer with significant ties to U.S. intelligence agencies. Its board of directors include In-Q-Tel CEO Chris Darby, who is also on the board of directors of the CIA Officers Memorial Foundation, and former FDA commissioner and Pfizer board member Dr. Scott Gottlieb. Not surprisingly, National Resilience promises to successfully lead its customers through the government regulatory process. As reported by Webb:25 National Resilience was founded in November 2020, and plans to reinvent biomanufacturing and democratize access to medicines, namely gene therapies, experimental vaccines and other medicines of tomorrow In April 2021, National Resilience acquired Ology Bioservices Inc., which had received a $37 million contract from the US military the previous November to develop an advanced anti-COVID-19 monoclonal antibody treatment. This acquisition also provided National Resilience with its first Biosafety Level 3 (BSL-3) laboratory and the ability to manufacture cell and gene therapies, live viral vaccines and vectors and oncolytic viruses. Despite being in the earliest stages of developing its revolutionary manufacturing capabilities, National Resilience entered into a partnership with the Government of Canada in July of last year. Per that agreement, the Canadian government plans to invest CAD 199.2 million (about $154.9 million) into National Resiliences Ontario-based subsidiary, Resilience Biotechnologies Inc. Most of those funds are destined for use in expanding the Ontario facility that Resilience acquired last March and which is now manufacturing the mRNA for Modernas COVID-19 products More recently, in 2022, the company has announced a few new clients Takeda, Opus Genetics and the US Department of Defense Considering Modernas history and Resiliences connections, there may be more to this partnership that meets the eye and concerned members of the public would do well to keep a very close eye on Resilience, its partnerships, and the products it is manufacturing. Given that we now live in a world where government regulatory decisions on the approval of medicines are increasingly influenced by corporate press releases and normal regulatory procedures have fallen by the wayside for being too slow, there is likely to be little scrutiny of the genetic material that Resilience produces for the medicines of tomorrow. This seems to be already true for Modernas recently retooled COVID-19 vaccine, as there has been no independent examination of the new genetic sequence of mRNA used in the Omicron-specific vaccine candidate or its effects on the human body in the short, medium or long term. For those who are skeptical of the outsized role that intelligence-linked companies are playing in the attempted technological revolution in the medical field, it is best to consider Resiliences role in the upcoming fall vaccination campaign and in future pandemic and public health scenarios before trying its futuristic products. Was COVID Jab Intentionally Flawed? In a June 2022 interview with British radio presenter Maajid Nawaz, Michael Yeadon, Ph.D., a former vice-president and chief scientific adviser for Pfizer and founder/CEO of the biotech company Ziarco (now owned by Novartis), explained why he believes the COVID jabs were intentionally made to be harmful and to prolong the pandemic. For starters, its been known for more than 10 years that spike protein causes adverse effects in humans,26 so this could not be a design error. It must have been intentional. By choosing the spike protein on which to base COVID-19 shots, scientists picked a protein that a) was known to be toxic to humans and b) produced an inferior immune response (compared to other parts of the virus). On top of that, spike protein mutates rapidly, which destroys any protection the shot provides shortly after its given. As Yeadon explained, when making a vaccine, you have to be very careful about which part of the virus you use, as certain parts are more toxic and some provoke better immune responses than others. What you would do is ask, Whats the toxicity of the bit Im going to give a person?' he said. Seeing how scientists have known for at least a decade that spike protein from related viruses causes blood clots through at least two different mechanism, the choice to use mRNA that programs your cells to make spike protein raised a warning flag from the start. Nothing About the COVID Jabs Makes Sense In addition to that, 90% of the immune response you get from natural COVID infection is in response to other parts of the virus, not the spike protein. Put another way, exposure to spike protein mounts an inferior immune response. If youre looking to make an effective vaccine, wouldnt you choose a part of the virus that mounts the best and most robust immune response? By choosing the spike protein on which to base COVID-19 shots, scientists picked a protein that a) was known to be toxic to humans and b) produced an inferior immune response (compared to other parts of the virus). On top of that, spike protein mutates rapidly, which destroys any protection the shot provides shortly after its given. As noted by Yeadon,27 What you should do is pick the bits of the virus thats genetically most stable, but they didnt do that. Why not? The end result is a seemingly never-ending series of boosters, and according to Yeadon, that may have been the plan from the start. As if all of that werent enough, the spike protein is also similar to a variety of human proteins, which can trigger your body to mount an inappropriate immune response against your own proteins. In other words, it can cause autoimmune disease. Yet, scientists chose the spike protein anyway even though it violated all of the accepted rules for creating a safe and effective product. Collusion to Cause Harm Yeadon believes the decision to use spike protein was not a mistake at all. He believes it was intentionally chosen because it has all of those ill effects. He told Nawaz: Again, you deselect things that are toxic in their own right, you pick things that are genetically stable, and you pick things that are most different from humans But guess what? Moderna picks spike protein and so does Pfizer, and AstraZeneca, and Johnson & Johnson. So, I put it to you, colleagues, any scientists out there or just logical people. How the hell would they pick [the spike protein]? No team I was ever part of would ever have picked bloody spike protein for this vaccine. And you know what? If we did, and we have competing groups, we would not, all four of us, make the same mistake. Not possible. Its collusion and malfeasance. The did it on purpose, knowing it would hurt you. Resources for Those Injured by the COVID Jabs If you got one or more jabs and suffered an injury, first and foremost, never ever take another COVID booster, another mRNA gene therapy shot or regular vaccine. You need to end the assault on your system. The same goes for anyone who has taken one or more COVID jabs and had the good fortune of not experiencing debilitating side effects. Your health may still be impacted long-term, so dont take any more shots. When it comes to treatment, there are still more questions than answers, and most doctors are clueless about what to do in part because they never bothered to give early treatment for COVID and therefore dont understand how different medicines and supplements impact the spike protein. So far, it seems like many of the treatments that worked against severe COVID-19 infection also help ameliorate adverse effects from the jab. This makes sense, as the toxic, most damaging part of the virus is the spike protein, and thats what your whole body is producing if you got the jab. Two doctors who have started tackling the treatment of COVID jab injuries in earnest include Dr. Michelle Perro (DrMichellePerro.com), whom Ive interviewed on this topic, and Dr. Pierre Kory (DrPierreKory.com). Both agree that eliminating the spike protein your body is now continuously producing is a primary task. Perros preferred remedy for this is hydroxychloroquine, while Kory typically uses ivermectin. Both of these drugs bind and thereby facilitate the removal of spike protein. Kory also believes there may be ways to boost the immune system to allow it to degrade and eventually remove the spike from your cells naturally, over time. One of the strategies he recommends for this is TRE (time restricted eating), which stimulates autophagy, a natural cleaning process that eliminates damaged, misfolded and toxic proteins. Another strategy that can do the same thing would be sauna therapy. As a member of the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance (FLCCC), Kory helped develop the FLCCCs post-vaccine treatment protocol called I-RECOVER. Since the protocol is continuously updated as more data become available, your best bet is to download the latest version straight from the FLCCC website at covid19criticalcare.com28 (hyperlink to the correct page provided above). Other Helpful Treatments and Remedies In previous articles, Ive also covered a number of treatments and remedies that can be helpful for COVID jab injuries, such as: Hyperbaric oxygen therapy, especially in cases involving stroke, heart attack, autoimmune diseases and/or neurodegenerative disorders. To learn more, see Hyperbaric Therapy A Vastly Underused Treatment Modality . . Lower your Omega-6 intake. Linoleic acid is consumed in amounts ten times of ideal in well over 95% of the population, and contributes to massive oxidative stress that impairs your immune response. Seed oils and processed foods need to be diligently avoided. You can review my previous post for more information. for more information. Time Restricted Eating will go a long way to decrease insulin resistance and improve metabolic flexibility. Most people eat more than 12 hours a day. The ideal window for most everyone is 16 to 18 hours of continuous fasting with last meal at least three hours before bed. If you are overweight, its best to shoot for 18 hours; if youre of normal weight, 16 hours. Pharmaceutical grade methylene blue, which improves mitochondrial respiration and aid in mitochondrial repair. At 15 to 80 milligrams a day for those suffering from long-haul COVID could go a long way toward resolving some of the fatigue many suffer post-jab. Methylene blue is actually the parent molecule for hydroxychloroquine and has been used to treat malaria since 1890. It may also be helpful in acute strokes. The primary contraindication is if you have a G6PD deficiency (a hereditary genetic condition), in which case you should not use methylene blue at all. To learn more, see The Surprising Health Benefits of Methylene Blue . . Near-infrared light, as it triggers production of melatonin in your mitochondria 29 where you need it most. By mopping up reactive oxygen species, it too helps improve mitochondrial function and repair. Natural sunlight is 54.3% infrared radiation, 30 so this treatment is available for free. For more information, see What You Need to Know About Melatonin. Read more at: Articles.Mercola.com (Natural News) Shared hotel rooms. Fake militias. Booze and pot. Planted evidence. Phony bomb makers. Criminal FBI informants. Wife-beating wife-swappers. (Article by Julie Kelly republished from AmericanMind.org) No, thats not the latest iteration of the X Files but the real-life drama of the FBI-concocted scheme to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer in 2020. The better-than-television saga unfolded again in a Grand Rapids courtroom last month as the Department of Justice retries two men charged with conspiring to kidnap Whitmer right before the 2020 presidential election. In April, prosecutors failed to win a single conviction in one of the governments biggest domestic terror investigations in decades. A jury acquitted two menBrandon Caserta and Daniel Harrison every count after defense attorneys successfully argued their clients were entrapped by the FBI. The jury did not reach a verdict for two other men; Adam Fox, the alleged ringleader of the plot, and Barry Croft now face a second trial as prosecutors desperately attempt to save face just as the DOJs credibility is cratering. (Two other defendants pleaded guilty and are witnesses for the government.) Shocking headlines in October 2020 blared the alleged details of the conspiracy: white supremacists tied to local militias loyal to Donald Trump planned to abduct Whitmer from her summer cottage and possibly kill her, the public was told. The day after several men were arrested in an FBI sting, Whitmer claimed her life had been endangered and Trump was to blame. When our leaders meet with, encourage, or fraternize with domestic terrorists, they legitimize their actions and they are complicit, Whitmer said in a video message on October 8, 2020. When they stoke and contribute to hate speech, they are complicit. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris frequently mentioned the kidnapping plot on the stump in the final weeks of the 2020 campaign as evidence as to why the president was unfit for office; news outlets gave the plot wall-to-wall coverage. Reporting on the kidnapping story fizzled after Election Day. And after BuzzFeed (yes BuzzFeed) published a bombshell investigation exposing the FBIs deep involvement, including the use of at least a dozen undercover FBI agents and informants, interest in the story among once-enraged politicians and journalists evaporated. But that didnt stop defense attorneys representing six men facing federal kidnapping charges from digging into what really happened. And what they uncovered is one of the most egregious cases of FBI entrapment and election interference in the bureaus history. The governments agents actively planned and coordinated its efforts to induce the defendants to engage in incriminating behavior and statements, even going so far as designing the objective and structural components of the conspiracy alleged in the indictment, defense attorneys wrote. Anatomy of a Plot Starting in March 2020, the FBI hired an informant named Dan Chappel, an Iraq war veteran and U.S. Postal Service truck driver reportedly alarmed by social media chatter related to Michigans harsh pandemic lockdowns. Working under the nickname Big Dan, he stitched the muddled group together over a period of a few months. His primary target was Adam Fox, at the time living in the dilapidated cellar of a vacuum repair shop without running water or a toilet in a Grand Rapids strip mall. Big Dan visited Fox and others at their homes, took them out to eat, and drove them to various excursions in the Midwest while secretly recording every interaction. He talked to Fox, who viewed Chappel as a father figure since he had none, on a daily basis, sometimes several times a day. On a few occasions, Chappel offered Fox a credit card with a $5,000 limit to buy firearms, ammunition, or other supplies needed for the kidnapping plot, Chappel testified this week, but Fox declined each time. At one meeting, Chappel proposed shooting rounds into the official mansions of several governors, including Whitmer. He also suggested firing bullets into Whitmers vacation cottage and making it look like a hunting accident. None of his targets took the bait. His main FBI handlers, Jayson Chambers and Henrik Impola, working out of the Detroit FBI field office, directed Chappels every move. In the summer of 2020, Chambers advised Chappel to lure a man in Virginia to plan a similar operation against Governor Ralph Northam. Mission is to kill the governor specifically, Chambers instructed Chappel. For about seven months work, the FBI paid Chappel about $60,000 in cash and prizes including a smart watch, a laptop computer, and new tires for his vehicle. In December 2020, a few months after the men were arrested, the FBI handed Chappel $23,540 in cash as a bonus for a mission accomplished. Sparing no expense, the FBI deployed numerous assets to assist Chappel. Another FBI informant, a man named Steve Robeson, pretended to head the Wisconsin chapter of the Patriot Three Percenters, a fake militia created by the FBI. Robeson made Fox the head of the Michigan chapter of the imaginary group. (Chappel was later sworn in as commanding officer of the FBIs bogus militia, which had a corresponding Facebook page also created by the FBI.) His role within the investigation has ranged from arranging meetings and providing conference rooms to coordinating [field training] for the defendants to attend, and transporting weapons, defendants and explosives across the country, defense attorneys wrote in March 2022. Robeson is a, or in most cases the only, direct link that the defendants have to the alleged conspiracy because of his actions, coordination, and planning on behalf of the government. The week after nationwide rioting in the aftermath of George Floyds death, Robeson hosted a national militia conference in suburban Columbus on June 6, 2020 and invited Fox and Croft to attend; the FBI leveraged rage over the Floyd riots and lockdowns to induce the defendants to make inflammatory comments and threats which were recorded and fed in real time to the FBI. Robeson hosted field training camps in Wisconsin, gatherings in Ohio and Delaware later that summer, and a surveillance trip to Whitmers upstate Michigan vacation cottage in September. Everything was paid for by the FBI. Robeson had more secrets. Not only was he a longtime FBI informant who worked out of numerous FBI field offices, hes a convicted felon several times over with a rap sheet stretching back to the early 1980s that includes fraud, assault, and sex with a minor, BuzzFeed reported. While working the Whitmer escapade, Robeson committed at least two other crimes, according to the government. Prosecutors earlier this year accused Robeson of acting as a double agent and threatened to charge him before the April trial. Robeson did not testify after he announced he would assert his Fifth Amendment rights. (He wont testify in the new trial, either.) Robeson and another FBI informant, Jenny Plunk, became close with Barry Croft, who has been on the FBIs radar since 2019 for his anti-government, anti-law enforcement social media posts, the government alleges. Plunk pretended to be head of the Tennessee chapter of the FBIs fake militia group. Robeson and Plunk often smoked pot with Croft while recording the impaired conversations to be used against him. In July 2020, according to testimony by an FBI agent last week, Plunk shared the same hotel room with Croft during a weekend excursion in Wisconsin. Under cross examination by Crofts public defender, the agent admitted he had never before heard of such an arrangement between informant and target. And either Plunk or Robeson repackaged a bag of alleged explosive materials that Croft brought to that meeting from his home in Delaware. After a meeting in Michigan, Plunk put the repackaged bag in Crofts truck, which became part of the evidence seized by agents when Croft was arrested. By late summer 2020, Plunk was given an important task by the FBI: prevent the group from splintering. Still without any plan to kidnap Whitmer, and facing growing discord between targets including Croft, Plunk was instructed to keep working to solve the differences in the group, by her FBI handler. Show them they were brought together by Croft and he has good ideas. Show them the good ideas Croft brought. The FBI introduced three undercover FBI agents into the operation to up the ante, one of whom pretended to be an explosives expert. Red met the group in Michigan in September 2020 and brought along a video showing how he could build a bomb that would blow up a large vehicle. The video was produced by the FBI. The confected FBI plot involved blowing up a bridge outside of Whitmers vacation cottage, killing her security detail, abducting her from the house, putting her on a boat, driving the boat to the middle of Lake Michigan where she would be abandoned or taken across the raging lake in the middle of autumn to Wisconsin. And Adam Fox, the homeless guy with no money or resources or bathroom, was responsible for the plan, the government continues to allege. The trialexpected to wrap next week after the judge took the rare step of limiting the time for defense counsel to cross examine government witnesseswont include testimony from one of the lead FBI investigators in the case. Richard Trask, who helped prepare the FBIs case for trial, was fired last summer after he was arrested for assaulting his wife in a drunken rage following a swingers party in Kalamazoo. But the FBI honcho responsible for engineering and executing the hoax was not fired. In fact, shortly after FBI agents arrested the suspects, Steven DAntuono, head of the Detroit FBI field office at the time, was promoted by FBI Director Christopher Wray to run the Washington D.C. FBI field office. DAntuono is leading the criminal investigation into January 6, an event now mired in legitimate suspicion that bad actors working for the feds helped incite what happened that day. Regardless of the trials outcome, the FBI must answer for this entrapment operation. Two innocent men spent 18 months in jail before they were released. Barry Croft and Adam Fox, if acquitted this month, will have spent nearly two years in jail. The only individuals who deserve to be behind bars are the FBI officials, agents, and informants culpable for this shameful abuse of power that interfered in a presidential election, unfairly smeared Donald Trump and his supporters, wasted millions in federal and state resources, and destroyed the lives and families of innocent men. Thats the only imaginable happy ending to this sad farce. Read more at: AmericanMind.org Puerto Rico will experience heavy rainfalls and flooding after Fiona became the third Hurricane in the 2022 Atlantic season. The National Hurricane Center's advisory says the heavy rains from Fiona could produce life-threatening flash floods, mudslides, and urban flooding in Puerto Rico and the eastern Dominican Republic. Hours before Fiona made landfall in Puerto Rico, Fiona strengthened into a hurricane, Accuweather reported that Fiona's landfall will happen at 3:30 p.m (EDT) on September 18, Sunday, on the coast of Puerto Rico, Punta Tocon. According to AccuWeather: Fiona became a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Scale. The Hurricane had sustained 85 miles per hour winds, and meteorologists said that rain could result in life-threatening flash floods and mudslides. The National Hurricane Center reported that Fiona packed a maximum 85 (140 km/h) of 85 mph on Sunday. AccuWeather rated Fiona a 2 for the Caribbean based on the AccuWeather RealImpactTM Scale for Hurricanes. Heavy rains can reach up to 24 inches (600 mm) in some spots. Fiona will unleash 60 mph to 80mph wind gusts that can stretch across Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic's eastern and central portions. Furthermore, AccuWeather added that 12 to 18 inches (200-300 mm) is forecasted to make landfall on some parts of southern Puerto Rico. At the same time, four to eight inches (100-200 mm) of rainfall is expected in parts of Hispaniola, with potential flooding and mudslides. Additionally, the Virgin Islands, the United States, and the eastern part of the Dominican Republic can expect Fiona Monday. Rainfall and gusty wind will also stretch to southeastern Bahamas, Turks and Caicos Islands. Hurricane Fiona Fiona has damaged power grids and internet lines in Puerto Rico, resulting in outages for over 500,000 residents on Sunday morning. The power transmission company, LUMA Energy, explained that total power restoration could take several days because of Fiona's damage and the scope of the blackout. Moreover, the weather website explained that Fiona has a projected course going to a course over southwestern Puerto Rico. As Fiona moves, it would miss encounters with the 4,000-foot mountains on Puerto Rico and 10,000-foot mountains on Hispaniola, which Fiona can maintain its wind intensity. Also Read: Typhoon Muifa to Bring Heavy Rain And Gusty Winds to Shanghai, China Safety It is essential to value your safety. Fiona will unleash heavy rains causing possible flooding and damage to infrastructure. Being prepared can prevent the potential threat and help you be safe. Here are some reminders. Listen to your local weather news providing the latest weather advisories. Avoid going out during the typhoon. Most likely, there are road closures due to downed trees or powerlines. Follow the immediate announcements from your local weather stations for a possible evacuation. Keep your mobile phones and power bank fully charged. Have an emergency bag that can store your medicines, essential food supplies, documents, flashlights, and possibly lifejackets. If you get injured, immediately visit the nearest health facilities in your area. Secure outdoor objects and house windows, as Fiona can cause strong winds. Related Article: Tropical Storm Fiona Becomes 6th Storm of Season as It Forms Over Atlantic For more similar, don't forget to follow Nature World News. On Saturday, a significant earthquake with a magnitude of 6.4 jolted southeastern Taiwan, although there were no immediate indications of damage or power disruptions. According to the Taiwan meteorology office, the quake had a depth of 7.3 km (4.5 miles) and its epicenter was in Taitung county, a sparsely inhabited portion of the island. Strong quake rocks southeast Taiwan Taitung county commissioner April Yao said on Facebook that the quake was "very strong," and the official Central News Agency published an image of bottles shaking off their shelves in a Taitung store, as per Reuters. According to Taiwan's fire service, no complaints of damage have been received. The state-owned utility Taipower stated that there was no disruption in power delivery on Taiwan's east coast. According to the meteorology agency, the tremor could be felt throughout Taiwan. Buildings in Taiwan's capital, Taipei, temporarily trembled. There was little influence on operations at the technology parks in the southern cities of Tainan and Kaohsiung, which are home to large semiconductor manufacturing. Taiwan is located at the meeting point of two tectonic plates and is prone to earthquakes. A quake in southern Taiwan killed more than 100 people in 2016, while a 7.3 magnitude quake in 1999 killed over 2,000 people. Also Read: Earthquake Followed by Almost 20 Aftershocks Northern California: USGS More than 7,000 households were reported to be without power A severe earthquake jolted parts of Taiwan, collapsing a three-story building and momentarily trapping four people inside, stranding nearly 400 tourists on a mountain, and derailing part of a train, as per The Guardian. The 6.9-magnitude quake was the largest of more than 75 that shook the island's south-eastern coast between Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon when a 6.4-magnitude quake struck the same area. Most of the damage looked north of the epicenter at Chishang, Taitung county's northernmost town, at a relatively shallow depth of four miles (6km). According to Taiwanese official media, the Central News Agency, a man named Huang died after a piece of machinery fell on him at a plant in Hualien. According to CNA, a three-story structure in the adjacent village of Yuli in Hualien fell, including a 7-Eleven convenience store on the first floor and houses on the higher floors. The building's 70-year-old owner and his wife were the first to be saved, but it took longer to reach a 39-year-old lady and her five-year-old kid. A photo posted by the Hualien municipal administration showed the girl laying on a blanket while rescue personnel in orange uniforms brought her down a metal ladder from the top of the wreckage. In Yuli, almost 7,000 houses were reported to be without electricity, and water pipelines were damaged. According to media accounts, police and firemen went to a bridge collapse on a two-lane road in what seemed to be a rural region of town, where three persons and one or more automobiles may have gone off. A landslide also stranded around 400 visitors in Yuli on a mountain noted for the orange day flowers that blanket its slopes this time of year, according to the CNA. They had no power and a poor cell phone service. According to official media, debris from a falling canopy on a platform at Dongli railway station in Fuli - between Yuli and the epicenter at Chishang - hit a passing train, derailing six carriages, according to the railway administration. There were no injuries among the 20 passengers. Taiwanese locals posted videos of the earthquake's aftermath on social media. In one video, a couple was stuck on a bridge in a remote region as the elevated highway in front and behind them collapsed. A CCTV camera captured the moment a ceiling collapsed on an indoor badminton court, causing players to flee for safety. Rooftop collapse at a badminton court in Taoyuan's Bade district earlier today during the earthquake... pic.twitter.com/dWxP9KMw7O Mike Fagan (@MikeFaganTaiwan) September 18, 2022 Related article: At Least 4 Dead While Dozens Injured as Magnitude 7 Earthquake Hits the Philippines Flash flooding due to heavy rainfall killed at least 10 people in central Marche region of Italy last week. Local authorities on Friday, September 16, confirmed the overnight torrential caused floodwaters to rise quickly, prompting rescuers to continue their operations to find missing people. Multiple sources reported that the raging floods inundated the regional capital city of Ancona and other towns in the region. Authorities were reportedly not expecting of an inclement weather of such magnitude due to the fact that it is stronger from what was previously forecasted by meteorologists. The catastrophic impact of the weather event can be seen through damaged properties, including vehicles. Furthermore, the rising water levels also forced a number of residents to evacuate and seek safety on higher grounds. Experts also blamed the inaccuracy of the forecast with climate change. In particular, the rising temperatures brought by global warming are making it hard for meteorologists to predict even the weather. The wet weather in Italy comes several months after a massive heat wave blanketed the Northern Hemisphere, causing record-breaking heat in the UK and multiple European countries. Italy Flash Flood The Italy storm struck several villages in the region with a rainfall amount greater than that was normally received in a year. This comes after around 400 mm. (15.75 inches) of rain fell in a matter of two to three hours, the national civil protection agency said, as cited by Reuters. In the village of Cantiano, a local resident told Reuters that her fruit shop was turned upside down. The village, which is close to the nearby Umbria region, was left with widespread mud on the streets, leaving a trail of destruction. Ludovico Caverni, the mayor of Serra Sant'Abbondio village, told RAI state radio the event was like an earthquake, as cited by Reuters. In the city of Ancona, the agency's head Fabrizio Curcio, met with local authorities to assess the damage of natural disaster. In the coastal town of Senigallia, fire brigades released footage showing rescuers attempting to evacuate people in the seaside area, while some were trying to clear debris from an underpass. Also Read: 1 Dead as Medicane Swept Through Italy, Prompting Floods and Landslides Climate Change Hundreds of firefighters were deployed in the area and rescue dozens of people, with some climbing on roofs and trees to escape the floods, the fire brigade says. In addition, Paola Pino d'Astore, an expert from the Italian Society of Environmental Geology (SIGEA), told the UK media outlet that the floods were triggered by climate change and were not easy to predict. Many have attributed the post-drought flooding with climate change, a topic which was placed on the sideline during Italy's election campaign, according to VOA News. Marche's civil protection head, Stefano Aguzzi, said they were given a normal alert for rain but no one anticipated the destructive torrential rain and flash flooding, according to The Daily Herald. For decades, scientists have warned state and industry leaders to mitigate the impact of the climate crisis, which has been linked to several extreme weather events in recent years. Related Article: Dangerous Marche Flood Overwhelms Roads, Farmlands in Italy, Residents Climb Trees, Roofs for Refuge A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind. The flooding linked to the climate in Pakistan has displaced millions of families in Pakistan. The World Health Organization (WHO) raised concerns about a potential wave of disease in flood-hit areas. Pakistan has suffered from catastrophic flooding, which experts linked to climate change. Reports revealed that the flooding inundated 33 million there. Major roads and bridges were also damaged. As floodwaters started to recede, displaced families living in makeshift camps or tents may be at health risk of dengue fever, malaria, dirty and stagnant waters, and possible breeding areas for mosquitos, according to Associated Press. Catastrophic floods in #Pakistan have claimed the lives of at least 528 children. Each and every one of these deaths is a tragedy that could have been averted. Without a massive increase in support, many more will lose their lives, says @AbdullahAFadilhttps://t.co/QbyhzQdGKg UNICEF Pakistan (@UNICEF_Pakistan) September 16, 2022 In a statement, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres reiterated the importance of climate action at the U.N. General Assembly press conference. Guterres urged countries to help poorer nations. He emphasized the devastating effects of climate change on the most impoverished nations. He mentioned Pakistan's massive flooding that damaged infrastructure, displaced families, and caused 1,300 deaths He added that the situation in Pakistan shows the inadequacy of the global response to the climate crisis. In a tweet, the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) said that more than 500 children died from the devastating floods that hit the country. During a visit, UNICEF representative Abdullah Fadil shared that an estimated 16 million children are in Sindh's flood-hit area. He said UNICEF would support children and families from potential health risks, according to AP. Flood-affected areas WHO's director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said in a statement that he is concerned about the potential for a second disaster in Pakistan. It means a wave of diseases in which the latest catastrophe puts millions vulnerable. AP reported that WHO director-general stressed that the water supply is disrupted, putting Pakistan people to drink unsafe water. He added that quick action is vital in protecting the health of affected communities by delivering essential services, which can reduce the impact of a potential crisis. About 2,000 health facilities are partially or fully damaged in Pakistan, urging health professionals to respond and save more lives, Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. According to Associated Press, in the district of Dera Allah Yar in Baluchistan, 70% were positive for malaria of the 300 people tested daily. There are also reports of skin infections and typhoid fever. The same report also showed a challenging state of doctors in the flood-hit areas. Also Read: Devastating Flood in Pakistan Reveals the Linkage to Climate Change More than 2,000 patients come daily for treatment. Part of the initiative is they provide a month-long supply of soaps, water-purification tablets, and another hygienic kit, according to Khalid Mushtaq, heading a team of doctors from the Alkhidmat Foundation and the Pakistan Islamic Medical Association The U.N. Secretary-General urged world leaders to commit to emissions reductions. Furthermore, Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif appealed for help by donating food and blankets to affected families. According to BBC report, the massive flooding in Pakistan serves as a wake-up call to tackle and threat of climate change. In an interview with BBC News, climate impact scientist Fahad Saeed explained that the scale of flooding that hit Pakistan was so high with extreme rain, even if the robust defenses would struggle. Related Article: Experts Say Marine Heat Waves Pose a 'Very Big Concern' For more similar, don't forget to follow Nature World News. According to information published by Pucara on September 5, 2022, the National Navy of Uruguay received the three Damen Stan Patrol 2606 - Protector Class patrol boats, donated by the United States government in a ceremony held at the US Coast Guard Base in Baltimore, Maryland. Follow Navy Recognition on Google News at this link ROU 15 Rio de la Plata, ex Cochito - WPD-87329. (Picture source: DVIDS) The vessels were named US Coast Guard ROU 14 Rio Arapey, ex Albacore (WPB-87309), ROU 15 Rio de la Plata (ex Cochito - WPD-87329), and ROU 16 Rio Yaguaron (ex Gannet - WPB-87334) and are expected to arrive in Uruguay in November to join the Sea Forces Command. Two of the vessels will serve at the new Fray Bentos Naval Base on the Uruguay River and the other in Montevideo. The three had been officially delivered to the Uruguayan Navy on December 15, 2021. The vessels were built by Bollinger Shipyards at the beginning of the new millennium, which delivered 74 to the US Coast Guard, 2 to the US Navy, 2 to the government of Malta, and 2 to the government of Yemen. In June 2021 the donation had been approved, within the Excess Defense Articles Program of the three vessels to Uruguay, for a value of US$8,685,000. They are 26.8 meters long, 6.2 meters wide, 1.85 meters maximum draft, have the capacity to deploy an RHIB (Rigid Hull Inflatable Boat) through the transom, and are powered by two MTU 12V 396 TE 94 engines of 1,680kW at 2,000rpm with two fixed pitch propellers, which allow them to reach a speed of up to 35 knots. Retired Judge Chase Leonhard writes of the implementation of the SAFE-T Act: "One might well be confident that members of the bench, the bar and the legislature alike will rise to the occasion and ensure that the new law strikes an appropriate balance between public safety and the rights of the accused." Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. AP A magnitude 7.6 earthquake has shaken Mexicos central Pacific coast, killing at least one person and setting off an earthquake alarm in the capital A genomic test being developed by a Charlottesville, Va., company can predict a patient's risk of developing severe COVID-19, new research from UVA Health suggests. That information could help doctors identify patients at high risk for poor outcomes and quickly begin tailored treatment. The approach proved more than 90% accurate at predicting outcomes among more than two dozen patients in the intensive care unit at UVA and 100 patients from publicly available data generated at Duke and Harvard. The test, called CovGENE, analyzes genes expressed in a person's blood to determine whether they may experience a severe disease course with increased risk of death. We have come far in the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 in the past two years. Regardless, we still struggle to identify patients at highest risk for severe disease. Our study uses a gene-analysis approach to identify an immune cell signature, distinct from other respiratory illnesses, that correlates with worse outcomes. This knowledge has the potential to help evaluate patients' immune profile with commonly, readily available assays to identify patients at risk for bad outcomes who would benefit from closer monitoring and advanced therapies to aid their recovery." Alexandra Kadl, MD, Researcher, UVA Health's Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Predicting COVID-19 severity Based on the promising results of the UVA research, CovGENE's developer, AMPEL Biosolutions, is seeking to partner with a diagnostic testing company or pharmaceutical company to bring the approach to market as a simple PCR-based blood test. Genetics & Genomics eBook Compilation of the top interviews, articles, and news in the last year. Download a copy today "This unique collaboration with our colleagues from the University of Virginia has provided an easy and novel means to assess an individual patient's response to the SARS-CoV-2 virus and predict the clinical outcome," said Peter Lipsky, MD, AMPEL's CEO, chief medical officer and co-founder. "Now that this unique approach has been validated, we look forward to its rapid development as a precision-medicine tool that can improve the outcome of patients with COVID-19 and reduce the number of hospitalizations, especially the most vulnerable." AMPEL Biosolutions aims to use genomic data to improve healthcare for patients. The company develops gene expression tests for blood or tissue samples to assist doctors in clinical decision-making. Company co-founder Amrie Grammer, PhD, is an alumna of UVA, having received both her bachelor's and master's degree there. Findings published The researchers have published their findings in the journal Frontiers in Immunology. The team consisted of Andrea R. Daamen, Prathyusha Bachali, Catherine A. Bonham, Lindsay Somerville, Jeffrey M. Sturek, Amrie Grammer, Alexandra Kadl and Peter Lipsky. Daamen, Bachali, Grammer and Lipsky are employed by AMPEL BioSolutions. The work was supported by the National Institutes of Health's National Heart Lung Blood Institute, grant K23 HL143135; the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, grant 1R21AI160334; the COVID-19 Rapid Response Initiative by UVA's Global Infectious Disease Institute; and The RILITE Foundation. The monkeypox virus is a DNA virus that belongs to the Orthopoxvirus genus. This genus comprises other viruses such as camelpox, cowpox, raccoonpox, skunkpox, variola, and vaccinia. While monkeypox was initially discovered in 1958 in monkeys, rodents are known to be its natural reservoir, and humans and other primates are often incidental hosts. Human infection was first identified in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1970. The two most common and distinct lineages of monkeypox include the western African strain, which causes less severe infection, and the central African or the Congo Basin strain, which causes more severe infection. Infections in humans can take place through contact with infected animals or humans. Human-to-human transmission can occur through contact with a skin lesion or large respiratory droplets. The incubation period can vary from 7 to 21 days, with most symptomatic cases being self-limited. The common symptoms include chills, malaise, and fever, followed by the development of a centrifugal rash on the soles of the feet and palms of the hand. Over the next 2 to 4 weeks, the rashes changes from maculopapular to vesicular to pustular to crusting. Moreover, monkeypox infections are often characterized by lymphadenopathy. However, the current outbreak of monkeypox indicated that the infection could also be asymptomatic with a few asynchronous skin lesions. Most of them appeared in the rectal mucosa, oral mucosa, and genitalia, which are the points of contact concerning sexual settings. This has led to the misdiagnosis of monkeypox, along with delayed treatment. Moreover, reports from Germany and Italy have raised concerns about whether monkeypox is a sexually transmitted disease. Additionally, the increase in the number of monkeypox infections in the endemic parts of Africa and non-endemic parts of the world can be due to a combination of several factors. These factors include no orthopoxvirus cross-protection as a result of smallpox vaccination termination following its eradication in 1980, rapid global travel, and the impact of genetic changes. A new review published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases aimed to describe the efficacy of vaccinia virus-based smallpox vaccines against the current monkeypox outbreak. Prevention of monkeypox with vaccines: a rapid review. Image Credit: Dotted Yeti / Shutterstock Impact of vaccination Previous research has shown that orthopoxviruses can recognize one another and provide protection depending on how closely related they are. There has been speculation that the termination of smallpox vaccination may have led to an increase in monkeypox infections. The immunological cross-reactivity between the two viruses is due to high sequence similarity between orthopoxviruses and a wide breadth of immune responses where antibodies target at least 24 structural and membrane proteins. Previous studies with Dryvax or other first-generation vaccines against smallpox have shown complete protection against monkeypox in cynomolgus macaques, rhesus macaques, and chimpanzees. Currently, two licensed smallpox vaccines are available in the US, ACAM2000, and JYNNEOS. ACAM2000 is known to be licensed only against smallpox, while JYNNEOS is licensed against both monkeypox and smallpox. ACAM2000 is a second-generation vaccine that has been derived from a single clonal viral isolate obtained from Dryvax. At the same time, JYNNEOS is a third-generation vaccine derived from a non-replicating modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA) strain whose 10% of the genome has been deleted. These vaccines can either be used pre-exposure to infection to prevent disease or post-exposure to infection to reduce disease severity. For both cases, second or third-generation vaccines have been found to produce significant results. However, several side effects have been identified for both first and second-generation vaccines. These include pain and swelling at the site of injection, muscle pain, fatigue, lymphadenopathy, nausea, and headache. Serious side effects included post-vaccinial encephalopathy, eczema vaccinatum, progressive vaccinia, vaccinia, and death. Common side effects of JYNNEOS are reported to be fatigue, nausea, headache, chills, and muscle pain. Both ACAM2000 and JYNNEOS have been found to possess similar immunogenicity, while the adverse events are reported to be lower for the latter. Another third-generation vaccine, LC16m8 has been reported to be derived from the Lister strain used in the first-generation vaccines. It has been licensed in Japan. However, it has not been submitted to the FDA for licensing in the US. The immunogenicity and side effects of the LC16m8 have been observed to be similar to the parental Lister strains. Non-human primate studies Genetics & Genomics eBook Compilation of the top interviews, articles, and news in the last year. Download a copy today Non-human primates are better models for human diseases. Studies with all three generations of vaccines in non-human primates showed first-generation vaccines to provide the most robust protection. Most of the animals receiving these vaccines showed no signs of clinical illness, rashes were observed to be limited, and low-level transient viremia was detected. Protection with second-generation vaccines was found to be similar to first-generation vaccines. Although third-generation vaccines were found to provide strong protection, breakthrough infections were more common. Moreover, the rashes were reported to be more distinct as compared to the first or second-generation vaccines. The antibody titers were also found to be slightly higher in the case of the first or second-generation vaccine compared to the third-generation vaccines. Human studies Several previous studies have reported that prior smallpox vaccination reduces the rate of monkeypox attack as well as causes milder symptoms in vaccinated people compared to unvaccinated people. However, a critical factor of the current outbreak involves sexual activity. This could indicate a reduced threshold for infection through sexual activity or a new transmission route. Unfortunately, none of the previous studies have evaluated such scenarios. Therefore, further studies are required to understand the transmission of monkeypox and the effectiveness of vaccines against the current outbreak. Hypotheses and concerns The current monkeypox outbreak has led to more than 61,000 confirmed cases across 104 non-endemic countries. Most of these cases have been reported in adult males with a median age of 38. The changing epidemiology of the current outbreak can be due to human behavior, the ability to depart high-risk areas before the onset of symptoms and arrive at international destinations within hours, and the absence of previous smallpox vaccination. One striking feature of the current infection is its rapid transmission which might be due to viral mutation. Two circulating viral strains have been identified in the US that comprise several mutations that suggest longer-term subclinical transmission. In addition, the causative virus of the current outbreak has been reported to belong to the west African clade, which has been previously observed to cause milder disease with lower case-fatality rates. However, establishing an animal reservoir outside of west or central Africa by the monkeypox virus is currently a significant concern. This reservoir could occur in the prairie dog, rodent, or exotic small pet trade. This could mean that the elimination of the disease would not be possible, and it would continue to risk the global population. Conclusion Human monkeypox disease poses a significant risk to the human population. The highest-risk groups include infants, young children, immunocompromised individuals, and pregnant women. Smallpox and monkeypox vaccines and two antivirals are available in the US to combat the disease. However, it is crucial to decide when to use them. The risk, benefit, availability, and utility of the vaccines will impact such decisions. Additionally, the evolution of the monkeypox genome can increase the risk of transmission, lead to higher virulence, and lower antiviral efficacy of the existing vaccines and drugs. With continuous challenges concerning COVID-19, fragile economies, changing climates, supply chain issues, and threats of war, such risks must be prepared for. Healthcare providers, public health officials, and the general public must be educated regarding the threat of emerging diseases. Efficient tracing, diagnosis, and treatments must be developed for such diseases to ensure global safety. Dr. Nelson Onaro conceded last summer that he'd written illegal prescriptions, although he said he was thinking only of his patients. From a tiny, brick clinic in Oklahoma, he doled out hundreds of opioid pills and dozens of fentanyl patches with no legitimate medical purpose. "Those medications were prescribed to help my patients, from my own point of view," Onaro said in court, as he reluctantly pleaded guilty to six counts of drug dealing. Because he confessed, the doctor was likely to get a reduced sentence of three years or less in prison. But Onaro changed his mind in July. In the days before his sentencing, he asked a federal judge to throw out his plea deal, sending his case toward a trial. For a chance at exoneration, he'd face four times the charges and the possibility of a harsher sentence. Why take the risk? A Supreme Court ruling has raised the bar to convict in a case like Onaro's. In a June decision, the court said prosecutors must not only prove a prescription was not medically justified - possibly because it was too large or dangerous, or simply unnecessary - but also that the prescriber knew as much. Suddenly, Onaro's state of mind carries more weight in court. Prosecutors have not opposed the doctor withdrawing his plea to most of his charges, conceding in a court filing that he faces "a different legal calculus" after the Supreme Court decision. The court's unanimous ruling complicates the Department of Justice's ongoing efforts to hold irresponsible prescribers criminally liable for fueling the opioid crisis. Previously, lower courts had not considered a prescriber's intention. Until now, doctors on trial largely could not defend themselves by arguing they were acting in good faith when they wrote bad prescriptions. Now they can, attorneys say, although it is not necessarily a get-out-of-jail-free card. "Essentially, the doctors were handcuffed," said Zach Enlow, Onaro's attorney. "Now they can take off their handcuffs. But it doesn't mean they are going to win the fight." The Supreme Court's decision in Ruan v. United States, issued June 27, was overshadowed by the nation-shaking controversy ignited three days earlier, when the court erased federal abortion rights. But the lesser-known ruling is now quietly percolating through federal courthouses, where it has emboldened defendants in overprescribing cases and may have a chilling effect on future prosecutions of doctors under the Controlled Substances Act. In the three months since it was issued, the Ruan decision has been invoked in at least 15 ongoing prosecutions across 10 states, according to a KHN review of federal court records. Doctors cited the decision in post-conviction appeals, motions for acquittals, new trials, plea reversals, and a failed attempt to exclude the testimony of a prescribing expert, arguing their opinion was now irrelevant. Other defendants have successfully petitioned to delay their cases so the Ruan decision could be folded into their arguments at upcoming trials or sentencing hearings. David Rivera, a former Obama-era U.S. attorney who once led overprescribing prosecutions in Middle Tennessee, said he believes doctors have a "great chance" of overturning convictions if they were prohibited from arguing a good faith defense or a jury was instructed to ignore one. Rivera said defendants who ran true pill mills would still be convicted, even if a second trial was ultimately required. But the Supreme Court has extended a "lifeline" to a narrow group of defendants who "dispensed with their heart, not their mind," he said. "What the Supreme Court is trying to do is divide between a bad doctor and a person who might have a license to practice medicine but is not acting as a doctor at all and is a drug dealer," Rivera said. "A doctor who is acting under a sincerely held belief that he is doing the right thing, even if he may be horrible at his job and should not be trusted with human lives - that's still not criminal." The Ruan decision resulted from the appeals of two doctors, Xiulu Ruan and Shakeel Kahn, who were separately convicted of running pill mills in Alabama and Wyoming, respectively, then sentenced to 21 and 25 years in prison. In both cases, prosecutors relied on a common tactic to show the prescriptions were a crime: Expert witnesses reviewed the defendants' prescriptions and testified that they were far out of line with what a reasonable doctor would do. But in writing the opinion of the Supreme Court, then-Justice Stephen Breyer insisted the burden of proof should not be so simple to overcome, remanding both convictions back to the lower courts for reconsideration. Because doctors are allowed and expected to distribute drugs, Breyer wrote, prosecutors must not only prove they wrote prescriptions with no medical purpose but also that they did so "knowingly or intentionally." Otherwise, the courts risk punishing "conduct that lies close to, but on the permissible side of, the criminal line," Breyer wrote. To defense attorneys, the unanimous ruling sent an unambiguous message. "This is a hyperpolarized time in America, and particularly on the court," Enlow said. "And yet this was a 9-0 ruling saying that the mens rea - or the mental state of the doctor - it matters." Maybe nowhere was the Ruan decision more pressing than in the case of Dr. David Jankowski, a Michigan physician who was on trial when the burden of proof shifted beneath his feet. Jankowski was convicted of federal drug and fraud crimes and faces 20 years in prison. In an announcement of the verdict, the DOJ said the doctor and his clinic supplied people with "no need for the drugs," which were "sold on the streets to feed the addictions of opioid addicts." Defense attorney Anjali Prasad said the Ruan ruling dropped before jury deliberations in the case but after prosecutors spent weeks presenting the argument that Jankowski's behavior was not that of a reasonable prescriber a legal standard that on its own is no longer enough to convict. Prasad cited the Ruan decision in a motion for a new trial, which was denied, and said she intends to use the decision as a basis for a forthcoming appeal. The attorney also said she is in discussion with two other clients about appealing their convictions with Ruan. "My hope is that criminal defense attorneys like myself are more emboldened to take their cases to trial and that their clients are 100% ready to fight the feds, which is no easy task," Prasad said. "We just duke it out in the courtroom. We can prevail that way." Some defendants are trying. So far, a few have scored small wins. And at least one suffered a crushing defeat. In Tennessee, nurse practitioner Jeffrey Young, accused of trading opioids for sex and notoriety for a reality show pilot, successfully delayed his trial from May to November to account for the Ruan decision, arguing it would "drastically alter the landscape of the Government's war on prescribers." Also in Tennessee, Samson Orusa, a doctor and pastor who last year was convicted of handing out opioid prescriptions without examining patients, filed a motion for a new trial based on the Ruan decision, then persuaded a reluctant judge to delay his sentencing for six months to consider it. And in Ohio, Dr. Martin Escobar cited the Ruan ruling in an eleventh-hour effort to avoid prison. Escobar in January pleaded guilty to 54 counts of distributing a controlled substance, including prescriptions that caused the deaths of two patients. After the Ruan decision, Escobar tried to withdraw his plea, saying he'd have gone to trial if he'd known prosecutors had to prove his intent. One week later, on the day Escobar was set to be sentenced, a federal judge denied the motion. His guilty plea remained. Escobar got 25 years. A research network formed by Nanyang Technological University, Singapore's (NTU Singapore) Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKCMedicine), Changi General Hospital (CGH), Singapore General Hospital (SGH), and Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) has set up the Singapore Severe Asthma Registry (SSAR), the first of its kind in the country. This national registry also joins the International Severe Asthma Registry (ISAR), making it the largest international research collaboration in the history of respiratory medicine in Singapore. The SSAR is the first multi-center, large-scale registry of severe asthma patients in Singapore. It aims to improve understanding of severe asthma, collect evidence of treatment effectiveness and safety, and identify predictors of treatment success. The registry will be managed by The Academic Respiratory Initiative for Pulmonary Health (TARIPH), a research network spearheaded by NTU's LKCMedicine. Co-Chair of TARIPH and LKCMedicine Assistant Dean (Faculty Affairs) Associate Professor Sanjay H. Chotirmall, Provost's Chair in Molecular Medicine, said: "Severe asthma affects one in 20 individuals with asthma. This group of patients experience higher treatment burden and differing clinical trajectories, necessitating us to evaluate if and how Asian patients may be different and whether there are better ways to manage and treat this important condition." "Developing a national registry of this kind fulfills a key mission of TARIPH to bring research to patients through partnerships. Being part of an international registry gives us rich data upon which to improve outcomes for Singaporeans with severe asthma," said Assoc Prof Chotirmall. Associate Professor Mariko Koh, Senior Consultant in the Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine at SGH, chairs the SSAR workgroup within TARIPH. Assoc Prof Mariko Koh said: "SGH has over the years piloted various initiatives to improve asthma care for patients, especially those with severe asthma, as a number of them return frequently to the Emergency Department when they get an attack. Like other chronic respiratory diseases, severe asthma presents differently across patients in its underlying inflammation and response to treatment. There is no one treatment or intervention that works for all patients. The formation of SSAR will not only enable us to find better ways to deliver more personalized, targeted, and effective treatment plans for patients, but we will also better understand the burden of severe asthma in Singapore and introduce interventions to address issues at a systemic level." This joint initiative by LKCMedicine and the hospitals across Singapore to advance research into severe asthma is timely as the burden of disease is high. By partnering with hospitals and respiratory medicine specialists to set up the Singapore Severe Asthma Registry, we can find better solutions to treat severe asthma. At the same time, the Registry gives us a unique opportunity to look at how severe asthma affects the Asian population differently, thereby leading to strategies tailored for our population." Professor Joseph Sung, NTU's Senior Vice President (Health and Life Sciences) and Dean of NTU's LKCMedicine Associate Professor John Arputhan Abisheganaden, Head and Senior Consultant in the Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine at TTSH and TARIPH's co-chair, said: "The Singapore Severe Asthma Registry will go a long way towards identifying asthma patients who are at high risk, and providing us with deeper insights from bench to bedside in improving the care and management of these patients. Linking up with the international registry will also help enhance our global perspective and understanding of the condition in the Singapore context." Adjunct Associate Professor Augustine Tee, Deputy Chairman Medical Board (Medical) and Senior Consultant, Department of Respiratory & Critical Care Medicine at CGH, said: "The Singapore Severe Asthma Registry will greatly enable healthcare professionals to study the characteristics of people with severe asthma locally. As our public hospitals become more involved in improving the population health of Singaporeans, new insights gathered from this collaboration will be useful in managing patients with severe asthma in the community. Registry data of this prevalent disease will help enhance detection and personalise effective asthma treatments to enhance the quality of life of people with severe asthma. Being part of the International Severe Asthma Registry provides local clinicians and scientists with the opportunities for international collaborations in asthma and other respiratory diseases." Collating data to study different severe asthma patient demographics Genetics & Genomics eBook Compilation of the top interviews, articles, and news in the last year. Download a copy today Set up in April 2022, SSAR aims to understand the burden of severe asthma in Singapore, address clinical and knowledge gaps of severe asthma, reduce complications and improve care and outcomes. The real-world evidence gathered has the potential to inform policy decision-making and guideline implementation. The registry has collected data from 139 severe asthma patients to date and aims to register 200 patients by the end of the year. The data collected, which is anonymized, includes demography, medical history, exacerbation history, treatment plan and biomarkers such as lung spirometry test results, full blood count and other clinical parameters. Crucially, the researchers will be able to compare the data of Asian patients with non-Asian patients from other countries. "Current clinical guidelines for treatment have been derived from evidence predominantly from non-Asian patients," said Assoc Prof Chotirmall. "There is emerging evidence from a range of lung diseases that Asian and non-Asian patients respond differently to treatment and have lung diseases that behave differently. This is likely due to differences in genetics, environmental exposures (such as allergens, air quality and climate), health-seeking behaviors, and practices in health systems." TARIPH researchers can tap on SSAR's data to address important research questions in severe asthma, improve early diagnosis for patients and promote best practices in severe asthma care. One key research focus is the choice of treatment for severe asthma patients. An area of concern is the high oral corticosteroid use among severe asthmatics in Singapore. Oral corticosteroids are commonly used for acute asthma flare-ups and as maintenance for patients with severe asthma. However, long-term and frequent oral corticosteroid use is associated with side effects such as the development of diabetes, osteoporosis, and kidney disease, along with increased risk of heart attack, strokes, pneumonia, and glaucoma. Through the data collected, the researchers aim to understand how the high oral steroid usage is affecting the local severe asthmatic population and identify ways to minimise steroid burden and reduce complications. Other research topics to be investigated include determining the predictors of treatment success, outcomes of personalised therapies, the use of biologics for treatment, and studying undiagnosed severe asthma in primary care. Information sharing across researchers from 26 countries The new Singapore registry will be part of the International Severe Asthma Registry (ISAR), the first global partnership of researchers from 26 countries. Each national registry shares their data with the ISAR for research in understanding how severe asthma affects patients differently in different geographical populations. The joint initiative allows national registries to retain ownership of their own data while sharing data with ISAR for ethically approved global research. By being part of ISAR, researchers and clinicians from TARIPH can tap on data from other countries for comparison of patient characteristics and responses to treatment in Singapore with patients in other countries. The ISAR is one of the many efforts by the Observational and Pragmatic Research Institute (OPRI), an academic research institution based in Singapore that strives to improve the lives of patients through real-life research. "I am delighted by SSAR's collaboration with ISAR," said Professor David Price, the Director of OPRI Singapore who leads the ISAR. "It is going to be an incredible step towards the advancement of severe asthma research on a global scale and I cannot wait to see the addition of Singaporean perspectives to our current knowledge." "With their rigid settings and strict inclusion/exclusion criteria, clinical trials could exclude the average patient. This is why registries such as SSAR and ISAR are so important. Their extensive data bridges the gap between clinical trials and the real world. With data from 12,772 patients from 26 countries, ISAR has offered real-life findings and insights that clinical trials have missed. By joining ISAR, SSAR will enter a mutually beneficial relationship where it can add to and benefit from ISAR's research." As a young boy living in what was then Zaire, Bertine Bahige remembers watching refugees flee from the Rwandan genocide in 1994 by crossing a river that forms the two Central African nations' border. "Little did I know that would be me a few years later," said Bahige. Bahige's harrowing refugee journey began when he was kidnapped and forced to become a child soldier when war broke out in his country, which became the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1997. He escaped at age 15 to a Mozambique refugee camp, where he lived for five years until he arrived in Baltimore in 2004 through a refugee resettlement program. Bahige, now 42, said the way he grew up was to "just buckle up and tough it out," and he carried that philosophy into adjusting to life in the U.S. He worked multiple jobs and took community college classes until he went to the University of Wyoming on a scholarship. He is now an elementary school principal in Gillette, Wyoming, and said his coping strategy, then and now, is to keep himself busy. "In retrospect, I dont think I ever even dealt with my own trauma," he said. Refugees are arriving in the U.S. in greater numbers this year after resettlement counts reached a 40-year low under President Donald Trump. These new arrivals, like those refugees before them, are 10 times as likely as the general population to have post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and anxiety. Many of them, like Bahige, fled their homelands because of violence or persecution. They then must deal with the mental toll of integrating into new environments that are as different as, well, Wyoming is from Central Africa. This has Bahige concerned about the welfare of the new generation of refugees. "The type of system that a person lived in might be completely different than the new life and system of the world they live in now," Bahige said. While their need for mental health services is greater than that of the general population, refugees are much less likely to receive such care. Part of the shortfall stems from societal differences. But a big factor is the overall shortage of mental health providers in the U.S., and the myriad obstacles and barriers to receiving mental health care that refugees encounter. Whether they end up in a rural area like the Northern Rocky Mountains or in an urban setting such as Atlanta, refugees can face months-long waits for care, plus a lack of clinicians who understand the culture of the people they are serving. Since 1975, about 3.5 million refugees have been admitted to the United States. The annual admissions dropped during the Trump administration from about 85,000 in 2016 to 11,814 in 2020, according to the State Department. President Joe Biden raised the cap on refugee admissions to 125,000 for the 2022 federal fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. With fewer than 18,000 arrivals by the beginning of August, that ceiling is unlikely to be reached, but the number of people admitted is increasing monthly. Refugees receive mental health screening, along with a general medical assessment, within 90 days of their arrival. But the effectiveness of that testing largely depends on a screener's ability to navigate complex cultural and linguistic issues, said Dr. Ranit Mishori, a professor of family medicine at Georgetown University and the senior medical adviser for Physicians for Human Rights. Although rates of trauma are higher in the refugee population, not all displaced people need mental health services, Mishori said. For refugees dealing with the effects of stress and adversity, resettlement agencies like the International Rescue Committee provide support. "Some folks will come in and immediately request services, and some won't need it for a few years until they feel fully safe, and their body has adjusted, and the trauma response has started to dissipate a little bit," said Mackinley Gwinner, the mental health navigator for the IRC in Missoula, Montana. Unlike Bahige's adopted state of Wyoming, which has no refugee resettlement services, IRC Missoula has placed refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Syria, Myanmar, Iraq, Afghanistan, Eritrea, and Ukraine in Montana in recent years. A major challenge in accessing mental health services in rural areas is that very few providers speak the languages of those countries. In the Atlanta suburb of Clarkston, which has a large population of refugees from Myanmar, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Syria, translation services are more available. Five mental health clinicians will work alongside IRC caseworkers under a new program by the IRC in Atlanta and Georgia State University's Prevention Research Center. The clinicians will assess refugees' mental health needs as the caseworkers help with their housing, employment, education, and other issues. Seeking mental health care from a professional, though, can be an unfamiliar idea for many refugees, said Farduus Ahmed, a Somali-born former refugee mental health clinician at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. For refugees needing mental health care, stigma can be a barrier to treatment. Some refugees fear that if U.S. authorities find out they're struggling with mental health, they could face deportation, and some single mothers worry they will lose their children for the same reason, Ahmed said. "Some people think seeking services means they're 'crazy,'" she said. "It's very important to understand the perspective of different cultures and how they perceive mental health services." Long wait times, lack of cultural and language resources, and societal differences have led some health professionals to suggest alternative ways to address the mental health needs of refugees. Widening the scope beyond individual therapy to include peer interventions can rebuild dignity and hope, said Dr. Suzan Song, a professor of psychiatry at George Washington University. Spending time with someone who shares the same language or figuring out how to use the bus to go to the grocery store are "incredibly healing and allow someone to feel a sense of belonging," Song said. In Clarkston, the Prevention Research Center will soon launch an alternative allowing refugees to play a more direct role in caring for the mental health needs of community members. The center plans to train six to eight refugee women as "lay therapists," who will counsel and train other women and mothers using a technique called narrative exposure therapy to address complex and multiple traumas. The treatment, in which patients create a chronological narrative of their lives with the help of a therapist, focuses on traumatic experiences over a person's lifetime. The therapy can be culturally adapted and implemented in underserved communities, said Jonathan Orr, coordinator of the clinical mental health counseling program at Georgia State University's Counseling and Psychological Services. The American Psychological Association, though, only conditionally recommends narrative exposure therapy for adult patients with PTSD, advising that more research is needed. But the method worked for Mohamad Alo, a 25-year-old Kurdish refugee living in Snellville, Georgia, after arriving in the U.S. from Syria in 2016. Alo was attending Georgia State while working full time to support himself when the covid-19 pandemic started. While downtime during the pandemic gave him time to reflect, he didn't have the tools to process his past, which included fleeing Syria and the threat of violence. When his busy schedule picked back up, he felt unable to deal with his newfound anxiety and loss of focus. The narrative exposure therapy, he said, helped him deal with that stress. Regardless of treatment options, mental health is not necessarily the top priority when a refugee arrives in the United States. "When someone has lived a life of survival, vulnerability is the last thing you're going to portray," Bahige said. But Bahige also sees resettlement as an opportunity for refugees to address their mental health needs. He said it's important to help refugees "understand that if they take care of their mental health, they can be successful and thrive in all facets of the life they're trying to create. Changing that mindset can be empowering, and it's something I am still learning." A new article published in the journal Science by Nigerian scientists provides perspective on the consequences of neglecting a disease, anywhere, such as Monkeypox. As an orthopoxvirus, monkeypox virus (MPV) causes monkeypox (MPX), a zoonotic disease spread by some animals and humans. Perspective: Monkeypox: The consequences of neglecting a disease, anywhere. Image Credit: Dotted Yeti / Shutterstock MPXV was discovered in 1958 during an outbreak at an animal facility in Copenhagen, Denmark. The first human cases were found in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in 1970. The disease is now endemic in Africa and spreads mainly from animal reservoirs, although occasional human-to-human transmissions have also been documented. Prior to the 2022 outbreak, human cases of MPV infection in the United States (US) were first reported in 2003. The spillover occurred from prairie dogs infected by imported rodents from Ghana. MPX infections had also been reported in Singapore and Israel. However, all infections were self-limiting and didn't lead to widespread outbreaks. Early in May 2022, a British resident who had traveled to Lagos and Delta State in Nigeria, where monkeypox is considered an endemic disease, contracted monkeypox, was reported. After developing a rash in Nigeria on 29 April, the individual returned home to the United Kingdom on 4 May. Through the second half of May 2022, more cases were reported in countries outside the endemic area. Portugal reported 14 cases of monkeypox on 18 May. The Spanish government confirmed seven cases as of 18 May. The United States confirmed its first monkeypox case of 2022 on the same day, while Canada reported 13 suspected cases. As a result of its transmission among humans, MPX has become rampant in many non-endemic countries. More than 61,000 monkeypox cases have been confirmed in 104 non-endemic countries so far under the current outbreak. The majority of these cases have been reported in adult males aged 38 and older. The global outbreak of monkeypox in 2022 was estimated to have a reproduction number of 1.29 during the initial phase. The monkeypox virus has two genetic clades clade I (earlier called the Congo Basin clade) and clade II (earlier known as the West African clade). Clade II is categorized into two subclades IIa and IIb. Clade I causes a severe form of the disease with a 10% case fatality rate (CFR). Since its first discovery in Africa, MPV infections have been documented in many other African countries. Genetics & Genomics eBook Compilation of the top interviews, articles, and news in the last year. Download a copy today Since 2022, MPX human infections have been reported in many non-endemic nations like Australia, Asia, Europe, America, Ghana, Benin, and South Africa. The infections are mainly caused by the Clade II of MPV, which had become more transmissible due to 50 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). More intensive epidemiological studies are warranted to better understand the animal reservoirs of MPV and control the disease. Evidence suggests that the epidemiological aspects of human MPV infection in Africa have changed over the past three decades. Recently, infections and deaths caused by Clade I in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have been on the rise bringing concern over their magnitude and frequency. However, only about 10% of the cases are clinically confirmed. Hence, the actual burden of the disease remains evasive. Nigeria has faced a similar situation since the 2017 resurgence with the Clade II prevalence. There is a disparity in attention provision and engagement of preventive and treatment strategies in non-African and African countries. The apparent selective attention provided to the non-African countries despite longstanding and continued MPV human transmissions in Africa highlights the global inequity in healthcare access and awareness. Furthermore, inadequate preventive, investigative, and therapeutic research-related engagements are also apparent in Africa's prior MPV outbreak-related response. In order to curb MPV infections in endemic regions and prevent it from spreading elsewhere, a collaborative effort is warranted aimed toward devising a global plan to identify MPV reservoirs and hosts, to better understand the epidemiology and transmissibility of the virus, and to developing affordable vaccines and drugs. The endemic countries should be imparted support by provision of sufficient infrastructure. Efforts should also be directed towards educating the public and communities about the disease and creating apt awareness regarding individual roles in preventing the spread of the virus. MPV spread serves as a reminder that infectious diseases cannot be isolated to one region or country, and defensive measures should be taken to protect all, regardless of their regional differences. This warrants a cooperative effort from all countries to find solutions at national levels through the appropriate use of resources. In addition, the endemic regions must also deploy strategies to adequately utilize their resources to mitigate the disease to control the disease independently and contribute to global disease control. In a recent study published in The Lancet Global Health, researchers modeled the probability of eradication of measles and rubella by 2100. Background The global increase in vaccination coverage for measles and rubella has substantially reduced infections and disease burden. Measles has been eradicated from 81 countries and rubella from 93 countries as of January 2021. Global measles cases have resurged in all regions from 2017, with a 556% increase between 2016 and 2019. The target to achieve rubella and measles elimination by 2020 has not been met in five World Health Organization (WHO) regions. Moreover, many countries have been left susceptible to outbreaks due to the lower vaccination coverage in 2020 and disruptions ensued by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The WHO Director-General was requested at the Seventieth World Health Assembly in 2017 to report in three years on the feasibility and epidemiologic aspects of and resource requirements for eradicating measles and rubella. Accordingly, a feasibility assessment for eradicating rubella and measles was conducted. One of its objectives was to model vaccination scenarios to examine the feasibility of measles and rubella eradication. About the study In the present study, researchers modeled the probability of eliminating measles and rubella from 93 countries of interest. Vaccination strategies relied on historical data of vaccination coverage for routine immunization and supplemental immunization activities (SIA). Two vaccination scenarios were developed: 1) business-as-usual approach in which current vaccination coverage was continued, and 2) intensified investment approach that (optimally) increased vaccination coverage into the future. These vaccination scenarios were evaluated in the context of one sub-national and two national models for rubella transmission and two national models for measles transmission. The four national models were the 1) Johns Hopkins University (JHU), 2) Public Health England (PHE), 3) dynamic measles immunization calculation engine (DynaMICE), and 4) Pennsylvania State University (PSU) models. Ninety-three low-, lower-middle, and upper-middle-income nations with the highest burden of measles and rubella were selected for analysis. The sub-national model based on the Institute of Disease Modeling simulated measles dynamics in Nigeria. Two-hundred stochastic simulations were run per country for each model from 1980 to 2100. The models estimated distributions of the annual number of expected measles or rubella cases per country, which were analyzed to assess the impact of each vaccination strategy on health outcomes and the probability of eradicating measles and rubella. Elimination was defined as five or fewer annual infections occurring per million people. Findings The burden of rubella was projected to remain high from 2020 to 2100 in the business-as-usual scenario. Many countries were projected to eliminate rubella by 2020, as most had introduced rubella vaccines by 2017. All countries projected for rubella eradication by 2020 reported five or fewer rubella cases per million individuals from 2017 to 2020. Nonetheless, 23 countries did not introduce vaccines, which would drive rubella infections, congenital rubella syndrome, and associated deaths. In the intensified investment approach, the incidence of rubella and congenital rubella syndrome was projected to decline substantially from 2020 to 2100. The probability of eradicating rubella was higher and possible in a shorter period than in the business-as-usual approach. The PHE and JHU intensified investment models revealed that elimination was generally sustained once the criteria for rubella eradication were met. The DynaMICE and PSU models under the business-as-usual approach projected 16 and 19 countries to achieve measles elimination by 2020. Most countries from either model reported five or fewer measles cases per million individuals during 2017-20. The DynaMICE model projected a median of 20 million measles infections and 469,000 deaths annually during 2020-2100 for the remaining countries, while the PSU model projected 17 measles cases and 441,000 deaths annually. The intensified investment approach predicted a marked decline in measles cases and mortality. The DynaMICE model projected a median of 900,000 measles infections and 3,000 deaths annually from 2020 to 2100. The PSU model projected a median of 2.1 million measles infections and 28,000 deaths annually for the same period. More countries under this vaccination were projected to achieve measles eradication and, in less time, than in the business-as-usual scenario. Although it was possible in the intensified investment scenario for all countries to eradicate measles, the probability was low. The sub-national model of Nigeria revealed qualitatively comparable projections. Notably, this model underscored that inequity in routine vaccination coverage could drive the continued transmission of endemic measles in a subset of nations. Conclusions In summary, the authors found that increased vaccination coverage in the intensified investment approach would probably create necessary conditions to eradicate rubella in all countries. However, eliminating measles would be unlikely in some countries even when necessary conditions are met. This is because elimination often cannot be maintained without a continued vaccination program. Altogether, the findings suggest that with sustained coverage of measles and rubella vaccination, it is possible to achieve and sustain measles and rubella eradication. A study featuring the participation of Fisabio (Foundation for the Promotion of Health and Biomedical Research of Valencia Region), dependent on the Conselleria de Sanitat Universal i Salut Publica, has found that the predominant lineage in Europe of gonococcusthe bacterium which causes gonorrheais resistant to one of the two drugs, among others, most commonly used today to treat this disease. The bacterium Neisseria gonorrhoeae, commonly known as gonococcus, is the cause of gonorrhea, a sexually transmitted disease that is estimated to affect 82 million people worldwide each year. In this context, surveillance of its lineages is necessary to establish the most effective treatments with scientific evidence. Leonor Sanchez-Buso, a researcher at Fisabio and Plan GenT of the Conselleria de Sanitat Universal i Salut Publica explains that "Compared to two previous surveillance programs, the results of this genomic surveillance study show the expansion of a lineage throughout Europe that is resistant to azithromycin, which compromises the most common treatment for these infections." This study is an international collaboration resulting from a resistance surveillance program within the framework of the European Gonococcal Antimicrobial Surveillance Programme (Euro-GASP) organized by the European Center of Disease Prevention and Control and in which the Centre for Genomic Pathogen Surveillance (Oxford University, United Kingdom), the UK Health Protection Agency (London, United Kingdom) and the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre in orebro University Hospital (Sweden) also participated. The methodology consisted of genomic sequencing and the analysis of 2,375 gonococcus isolates collected in 2018 in 26 countries of the European Economic Area. With this material, links between different genomic lineages, antimicrobial resistance and epidemiological information have been analyzed. This lineage contains in its genome a mosaic in the mtrCDE efflux pump that causes resistance to azithromycin, and is significantly associated with pharyngeal infections in risk groups. Fortunately, this collection from 2018 does not show mutations that could compromise treatment of this infection with potential new antibiotics, such as zoliflodacin or gepotidacin." Leonor Sanchez-Buso, lead author of the article The study has been published in the prestigious scientific journal The Lancet Microbe and will be of great importance to study the introduction and dynamics of lineages with resistance to antibiotics in Europe as well as in the Valencian Community. One of the researcher's lines of work is this resistance in the Valencian Community, for which she collaborates with the hospitals of the Valencian public health network. Genetics & Genomics eBook Compilation of the top interviews, articles, and news in the last year. Download a copy today Specifically, thirteen hospitals in the Community have collaborated or will soon collaborate in supplying samples for gonococcus surveillance tasks. In the province of Valencia, the Hospital Universitario de la Ribera, the Hospital Universitario y Politecnico La Fe, the Hospital General Universitario in Valencia, the Hospital Comarcal Francesc de Borja, the Hospital Clinico Universitario in Valencia, the Hospital Arnau de Vilanova, the Hospital Universitario Doctor Peset and the Hospital Lluis Alcanyis in Xativa and the Hospital de Manises. In the rest of the territory, the Hospital Universitario Sant Joan in Alicante, the Hospital Universitario de La Plana, the Hospital General Universitario in Castellon and the Hospital Comarcal in Vinaros contribute or will contribute to the research. In addition, work continues on the incorporation of new centers that allow better coverage of the entire territory of the Valencian Community. STD prevention In addition, the Ministry of Health carries out important work to prevent sexually transmitted diseases, such as gonorrhea. In fact, the Valencian public health system has a network of Sexual and Reproductive Health Centers distributed among the various health departments made up of 80 care centers, located in the health centers and hospital facilities. At the healthcare level, in 2021, these centers provided a total of 390,305 consultations. The work they carry out focuses on offering information and providing contraceptive methods, guidance and attention for sterility, control and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases, prenatal and genetic advice, voluntary interruption of pregnancy, or early detection of genital and breast pathologies, among others. Funding programs The project is funded by the Conselleria de Sanitat Universal i Salut Publica through grants from the Plan GenT (Program to support talented researchers) for hiring doctoral research staff with international experience to join research centers in the field of healthcare and centers of the National Health System in the Valencian Community: annex I file number no. CDEI-06/20-B. In addition, it also has funding from the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities in its 2020 Call for GRANTS FOR "R&D&I PROJECTS", within the framework of Spanish programs for the generation of knowledge and scientific and technological strengthening of the R+D+I system oriented to the challenges of society, within the Spanish plan for scientific and technical innovation research 2017-2020, with file number PID2020-120113RA-I00/ AEI / 10.13039/501100011033. CDC today announced that polioviruses found in New York, both from the case of paralytic polio in an unvaccinated adult in Rockland County and in several wastewater samples from communities near the patient's residence, meet the World Health Organization (WHO)'s criteria for circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus (cVDPV) meaning that poliovirus continues to be transmitted in Rockland County, NY, and surrounding areas. CDC is working closely with WHO, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), and other international public health partner organizations. As previously reported, the virus' genetic sequences from the patient from Rockland County, NY, and wastewater specimens collected in New York have been linked to wastewater samples in Jerusalem, Israel, and London, UK, indicating community transmission. The viral sequences from the patient and from three wastewater specimens had enough genetic changes to meet the definition of a vaccine-derived poliovirus (VDPV). These two things one individual with VDPV and at least one detection of a related VDPV in an environmental sample meet WHO's definition of cVDPV, and CDC submitted this data to WHO for inclusion on its list of countries with cVDPV. There are global recommendations for countries with cVDPV2 outbreaks to protect people from polio, and the United States is taking all appropriate actions to prevent new cases of paralysis. The United States now joins a list of about 30 other countries where cVDPVs have been identified. Circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus occurs when local immunity to poliovirus is low enough to allow prolonged transmission of the original weakened virus in the oral polio vaccine. As the virus circulates and more genetic changes occur, the virus can regain its ability to infect the central nervous system and cause paralysis. It's important to note that cVDPVs are not caused by a child receiving the polio vaccine. Oral polio vaccine has not been used or licensed in the U.S. since 2000 but continues to be used in some countries. Polio vaccination is the safest and best way to fight this debilitating disease and it is imperative that people in these communities who are unvaccinated get up to date on polio vaccination right away. We cannot emphasize enough that polio is a dangerous disease for which there is no cure." Dr. Jose R. Romero, Director of CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases Genetics & Genomics eBook Compilation of the top interviews, articles, and news in the last year. Download a copy today It's important to note that no additional cases of polio have been reported in the United States at this time, and today's update does not impact the current CDC recommendations for polio vaccination for children or adults. CDC continues to support New York State Department of Health's investigation through ongoing testing of wastewater to better understand the possible spread of the virus and through supporting vaccination efforts in the affected communities. Last week, the New York State Governor issued an Executive Order declaring a State Disaster Emergency. While no additional polio cases have been found, this action helps the state expand vaccination efforts and surveillance. Improving vaccination coverage is the key to preventing additional cases of paralytic polio in the United States. By SA Commercial Prop News The Umzimkhulu CBD is set for a major facelift as result of a R125 million development financed by Nedbank Corporate Property Finance for the construction of a retail centre that is set to be a hub for much needed economic activity in the area. Image gallery The Umzimkhulu CBD in KwaZulu-Natal is set for a major facelift as result of a R125 million development financed by Nedbank Corporate Property Finance for the construction of a retail centre that is set to be a hub for much needed economic activity in the area. More than just creating economic revival, the issue of unemployment will be addressed as 200 people will be employed during construction while the Mall will create 600 permanent jobs for members of the community. Umzimkhulu CBD is situated in the prominent south-east corner of the R56, a provincial route linking Pietermaritzburg to the N2 leading to the Eastern Cape. It is the main commercial hub for the Umzimkhulu area and attracts many people from small surrounding towns as well a transit shoppers between KwaZulu Natal and the Eastern Cape. Nedbank Corporate Property Finance is pleased to participate in the exciting economic revival taking place in the Umzimkhulu CBD. The new mall is well-located in the heart of Umzimkhulu and offers easy and convenient accessibility off the R56 and Main Street, says Anand Joseph, Regional Executive of Nedbank Corporate Property Finance, KwaZulu Natal. The site will also be supported by an onsite taxi rank which will enhance the appeal of the centre by being accessible to taxi commuters, while the existing main road network is being upgraded by the Council to facilitate vehicle access to the Mall. These improvements will enhance flow to the shops, making it convenient for consumers using public transport. The Mall is anchored by large supermarket, Shoprite. Clothing retailers are represented by Mr. Price, Jet, Edgars Active, Exact, Markhams, Total Sports, Ideals, Ackermans, Pep, Power Fashion, Sheet Street, Franco Ceccato Fashion World to name but a few. OK Furnishers, Ellerines, Joshua Doore and Price n Pride will offer a wide range of furniture. Five fast food franchises will cater a variety of foodstuff, while smaller shops will offer everything from Medical, Dental and Opticians services to internet, cellphone repairs and photographic shops. Nedbank and African Bank are opening branches in Phase 1. Phase 1 is over 90 % let and a second phase of between 5000 to 7000 m2 is expected to follow shortly to accommodate the shops and banks that were too late to secure space in Phase 1, says Mike Graham of Graham Projects. Negotiations are underway with several Government Departments who wish to consolidate Government services on one site as envisaged by the Governments Thusong Centre concept. The Department of Home Affairs is already on site operating from 500 m2 of mobile offices until their new permanent offices become available, he adds. This is the fourth shopping centre that Nedbank Corporate Property Finance has financed for Graham Projects since 2003 when their association began with the development of the Esikhawini Mall near Richards Bay. Our longstanding relationship with Nedbank has positioned us to be in the forefront of developments in previously underserviced areas, thereby allowing us to play a role in the revitalisation of economic activity in the local economy, says Graham. Last year, President Jacob Zuma, in his state of the nation address, mentioned Umzimkhulu as a town in dire need of services and infrastructure. Since then National Government has been working closely with the Municipality to provide finance and support for programmes to uplift the town. Nedbank Corporate Property Finance is proud to be part of the transformation that is taking place in Umzimkhulu. We are cognisant of the fact that creating a prosperous economy cannot be the sole responsibility of our local or national governments, but the responsibility of every stakeholder in our country, concludes Joseph. The development is being undertaken by Thina Bantu Trading (Pty) Ltd, and project managed by Graham Projects. Construction of the first phase of 17000 m2 of GLA commenced in May 2012 with completion set for April 2013. The dreaded terrorist is wanted in India for the Parliament attack case, Pathankot airbase attack and many other terror strikes in the last two decades New Delhi: Stressing that Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Maulana Masood Azhar is very much in Pakistan, sources at the Indian intelligence agencies told NewsDrum that Pakistan deliberately engineered a leak in an Afghan news organisation "Aamaj that it made a request to Taliban authorities to locate and hand over Azhar. The dreaded terrorist is wanted in India for the Parliament attack case, Pathankot airbase attack and many other terror strikes in the last two decades. After the news about Islamabads request to Kabul on Azhar appeared in the Pashto language news organisation in Afghanistan, the Pakistan govt tipped off the news piece to Pakistan-based channel Geo News for a follow-up story. With this, Pakistan did not want to send the impression that it has planted the news. Rather, it wanted the news story to appear to have come from Afghanistan and not planted by Pakistan. This led to a statement by the Taliban Administration that Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief was not in Afghanistan. The Taliban's interim Afghan government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid also denounced Pakistan by saying that such organisations (JeM) can operate on Pakistan's soil, and even under official patronage. We'll not allow anyone to use Afghanistan's soil against any other country, he added. As per the Indian assessment, Pakistan has engineered this whole drama for the sake of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) plenary slated to be held in Paris next month. According to Pakistani media reports, a 15-member delegation of the FATF and its affiliate Asia Pacific Group made an on-site visit to Pakistan from Aug 29 to Sept 2 to verify Islamabads compliance with a 34-point action plan committed in 2018 when Pakistan was brought under the FATF grey list. In a statement, the Pakistan foreign ministry said on Wednesday that the focus of the visit was to validate Pakistans high-level commitment and sustainability of reforms in the anti-money laundering/combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regime and that the meetings were held in a constructive and positive atmosphere. Its not a coincidence that following the FATF team visit, news appeared that Masood Azhar was in Afghanistan, said an Indian official who spoke to NewsDrum on the condition of anonymity. According to an Indian intelligence assessment, Azhar was in Bahawalpur till the Taliban captured Kabul. The Pakistani spy agency ISI instructed Azhar to shift base to Afghanistan but it hasnt happened so far as the open presence of Azhar in Afghanistan is not going help the Taliban cause in the world community, however sympathetic a section of Taliban may be towards the JeM chief. Before Eamon O'Rourke ever took his seat in the director's chair, he spent the earlier part of his career toiling behind the scenes on film sets - and he immediately acknowledges it was largely a sea of white men. So when it came time to make his own film, he says he wanted to be sure diversity played a leading role. His movie Asking for It, starring Vanessa Hudgens and Alexandra Shipp, is a female empowerment film featuring LGBTQ+ actors and actors from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. In an interview on collider.com, Eamon O'Rourke describes Asking for It as a film about a gang of vigilante femmes who travel across the South seeking revenge in places where the system has hurt people in marginalized communities. Hudgens told collider.com she took on the role because she feels that more strong women should be depicted in films and that Asking for It achieves that goal. "One of my favorite things about this movie is the fact that it is female leading," Shipp told collider.com. "A lot of times with these types of movies, you see the women getting saved by a man and in this situation, women are saving each other. I think that's something we all need to see, especially in film." Promoting a Narrative Rooted in Equality The end credits of Asking for It state that the movie was shot on the ancestral homelands of the Wichita people. "We further acknowledge the tribal nations who were forcibly removed from there and the 39 tribes who reside in Oklahoma today," the film credits specify. "Native peoples make many contributions to the land and we stand with them and thank them for allowing us to be there and work with them." Eamon O'Rourke, who not only wrote and directed the film, but also makes cameos in it, says when he arrived in Oklahoma to begin shooting Asking for It, one of his top missions was to make sure his cast and crew were comfortable. "When you're asking anyone to do extremely vulnerable work - and a lot of the stuff we were shooting was asking a lot of our actors - [you want to make sure] they feel seen," O'Rourke says. "The purpose of trying to achieve diversity is not to check boxes, but rather to create a fuller and more comfortable experience." Working with people of color, Eamon O'Rourke also wanted to make sure that down to hair and makeup, he hired the right team of people to make his actors and actresses feel supported. "I do really think that those kinds of things make a big difference and can just adjust the overall vibe on a set," he explains. As a white man, O'Rourke says he's completely aware of the importance of understanding the gaps in his knowledge while also understanding the limits of his implicit bias. "We all have those things. Just the perspectives that we're able to understand quite quickly and some things that we've had less access with, or no access with, which just creates these gaps, which is not a bad thing," he says. "It's just a part of being a person. It felt really important to me to be able to recognize those things within myself and be surrounded by people who can help me in those moments and fill in the gaps. I feel like I've said this before, [but] being a good director is not always knowing the answer, it's understanding when you know the answer, understanding when you don't, and knowing who to ask when you don't." By surrounding himself with a group of people with wildly different individual experiences and varying personal and professional perspectives, Eamon O'Rourke says he was trying to help himself and the movie in those delicate moments. Eamon O'Rourke Remains Transparent on Set Eamon O'Rourke adds that having so many different people on set can be a blessing when it's time to bounce ideas around. "Luckily, I was working with a lot of really, really wonderful people. We were able to gain a lot of trust between us," O'Rourke says. "They were very comfortable giving their opinions and sharing their perspectives in those moments, which I think really just helped the movie overall. [I was able to ask] 'What do you think about an experience like this? Does this moment read emotionally true to you? Does it feel authentic? Or does it feel like this is how a white man would say it? If that is the case, then what are adjustments?'" Eamon O'Rourke says he's extremely proud his film received the ReFrame Stamp, which is awarded to productions showing gender equality and featuring women and individuals of other underrepresented gender identities. According to its website, "The ReFrame Stamp is awarded to narrative and animated features that hire women or individuals of other underrepresented gender identities/expressions (including those who are nonbinary or gender nonconforming) in four out of eight key roles including writer, director, producer, lead, co-leads, and department heads. Additional points are awarded to productions that hire women of color in key positions, and to those with overall gender parity in their crews." Other films that have snagged the ReFrame Stamp include Nomadland, In the Heights, and Encanto. "There was a real sense of community on our set," O'Rourke says. "That felt extremely important and felt like it had a big effect on our ability to make the movie well." The director also says going into the project, he constantly prioritized how he wanted the filmmaking experience to be one everyone would look back on fondly. "I would rather the entire cast and crew say, 'Wow, that was an amazing experience. I felt safe and respected and heard the entire time,'" he says. "Because those are not things to be taken for granted on a film set. [It's] not always the case that that's the way that you end up feeling because there's so much time pressure, and the stakes are so high because there's money involved, and things like that. Oftentimes, laborers and people who aren't at the very top of the hierarchy get really badly mistreated. It's a huge bummer, because I really don't think it has to be that way." O'Rourke declares he never takes anyone for granted on set. "At the end of the day, you take any one of those people out of the equation, your movie falls apart," he says. "I think there is a way of balancing logistics and being able to be pragmatic and be smart with your time without [saying], 'We're going to sacrifice the emotional state of the people who are working for us.'" Fairbanks, AK (99707) Today Overcast with rain showers at times. High around 45F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%.. Tonight Cloudy skies with a few showers after midnight. Low around 35F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 30%. This destructive Pioneer History Nugget has been brought to you by the Fairbanks Igloos of the Pioneers of Alaska, who invite you to view more of these nuggets on their website at pioneersofalaskafairbanks.org. Bahrain shares grief with UK as HM Queen Elizabeth II is set to be buried today Bahrain shares grief with UK as HM Queen Elizabeth II is set to be buried today Agencies | London The Daily Tribune www.newsofbahrain.com His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa paid homage to the late monarch, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, who will be laid to rest today. The longest-reigning monarch in British history will join her late husband of more than 70 years, Prince Philip, when she is buried at St Georges Chapel at Windsor Castle. The state funeral will begin at 11am local time (1000 GMT/1pm Bahrain time) today. The whole world has lost with the passing of HM Queen Elizabeth II a great leader who will be immortalised by history and a role model in wisdom, statesmanship, love, peace and tolerance, His Majesty said. All the world recalls today is the deep impact and great deeds that she made throughout her reign, as she had honorable historical stances and pioneering initiatives in the service of humanity and humanitarian issues. HM the King, accompanied by His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister, offered heartfelt condolences to HM King Charles III, King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland at Buckingham Palace. HM King Hamad also offered condolences to the Royal Family, the Government and People of Britain and wished late Queen Elizabeth II mercy and forgiveness, and HM King Charles III, the Royal Family and friendly British people solace and fortitude, stressing Bahrains support to the UK leadership and people in this painful loss. TDT | Manama The Daily Tribune www.newsofbahrain.com Under the patronage of the Ministry of Youth and Sport Affairs and Ministry of Labor, Huawei, a leading global provider of information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure and smart devices, has launched the latest edition of its annual education programme Seeds for the Future 2022 in Bahrain, designed to drive and enhance local talent development. This years programme saw participation of more than 40 students from Injaz Bahrain and leading Universities such as University of Bahrain, Bahrain Polytechnic, Ahlia University, University of Technology Bahrain, and Applied Science University. During the eight-day 'Seeds for the Future' programme, participants will receive entry-level and advanced courses on key technologies, including Fifth-generation (5G), cloud computing, and Artificial Intelligence (AI), which will drive their innovation awareness in the ICT field and hone their professional development. To enrich their learning experience, students will have the chance to experience traditional and modern Chinese culture and also explore Huawei exhibition halls, campuses, and stores virtually to have a better view about Huawei's history and technological developments. Students also have an opportunity to compete for prizes in a global contest that pits their innovations against technological projects from their global peers. Ethan Sun, CEO of Huawei Bahrain, said: Were happy to provide this learning platform to the students who are interested in ICT field to build their digital talent skills and support them to become the future leaders that are capable of fulfilling the digital transformation journey of their countries. Initiated since 2008, Seeds for the Future is Huaweis flagship and long-term global Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program. As of June 2021, the program has been implemented in 137 countries and regions, reaching 12,413 students from over 500 universities, and gaining endorsement from 189 heads of state and high-level government officials globally. In 2021, the programme attracted over 3,500 students from 118 countries, where a total of 38 students participated from Bahrain. File photo Millions of moviegoers are expected to join the first-ever National Cinema Day scheduled this Friday, in over 4,000 silver screens across India, at special discounted rates, top officials said here. Millions of moviegoers are expected to join the first-ever National Cinema Day scheduled this Friday, in over 4,000 silver screens across India, at special discounted rates, top officials said here. An initiative of the Multiplex Association of India (MAI), on September 23, film-buffs can pay just Rs 75 per ticket and walk into any cinema of their choice along with other "special surprises" lined up for them to mark the NCD. MAI President Kamal Gianchandani, who is also the CEO of PVR Pictures Ltd, said of the approximately 11,000 screens -- in multiplexes and single -- in India, around 4,000 will participate in the first ever NCD to welcome patrons back to the cinema halls. "On average, there are 400 seats per auditorium, which makes around four million seats available in the country for filmgoers. From this, nearly 16,000 seats shall participate in the NCD," Gianchandani told IANS. The participating cinema chains/screens include PVR, INOX, Cinepolis, Carnival, Miraj, City Pride, Asian, Mukta A2, Movietime, Wave, M2K, Delite and even some single-screen operators, all over India, he added. Some of the major films likely to be exhibited during the NCD will be 'KGF: Chapter 2', 'RRR', 'Vikram', 'Bhool Bhulaiya 2', or Hollywood big films like 'Doctor Strange', 'Top Gun: Maverick', and other films. "The multiplexes may also make their own special offers, for people of all age-groups, exclusions to welcome the people to the cinemas that day, but we can't reveal the details now," said Gianchandani. He said that the NCD is intended to be a 'Thank You' to the filmgoers who made it happen by returning to the cinemas after the two years of Coronavirus Pandemic closure, and a warm invite to those who have still not made it to the local neighbourhood movie-halls yet. According to MAI, the first quarter of the current fiscal notched an impressive recovery for cinema operators in India and the NCD -- which shall become an annual feature -- will be a step forward in the direction. Citing official statistics, Gianchandani said China has around 70,000 screens, the US has nearly 40,000 screens while India has a little more than 11,000 screens. India, where the era of film-making dawned with the historic film, "Raja Harischandra" (1913), made by Dhundiraj Govind Phalke, alias Dadasaheb Phalke. Today, the country has become the world's largest filmmaker with around 3,000 films in multiple languages produced annually. Established in 2002, the MAI works under the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) representing more than a dozen cinema chains operating over 500 multiplexes with over 4,000 screens, representing around three-fourths of the multiplex industry. TDT | Manama The Daily Tribune www.newsofbahrain.com Zain Bahrain, a telecommunications industry innovator in the Kingdom, has recently hosted a career taster event in collaboration with Rotary Club of Adliya and RYLA Bahrain to introduce fresh high school graduates to the organisations structure and different departments. The career taster event aimed to help fresh high school graduates in choosing their career path and college major by introducing them to the different departments in Zain Bahrain. Managers from different departments joined to discuss their college majors and career paths. They also offered attendees one-on-one speed mentoring sessions to exchange knowledge and answer any inquiries they had. Mohammed Isa, Manager, Recruitment, Employee Relations & Youth Development, Human Resources, Zain Bahrain, said, It is our pleasure to partner with Rotary Club of Adliya and RYLA Bahrain to continue our efforts in supporting the improvement of Bahraini youth through our diverse and new initiatives under Zain Youth Empowerment Program. This opportunity provided fresh high school graduates with the knowledge and guidance they needed to decide on the next step towards their future career path. Japan's Emperor Emeritus Akihito has undergone cataract surgery at a hospital in Tokyo. The Emperor Emeritus arrived at the University of Tokyo Hospital shortly after 9:30 a.m. on Monday. His wife, Empress Emerita Michiko, joined him there a little later. Officials of the Imperial Household Agency say doctors found that the Emperor Emeritus needed surgery on both eyes, as clouding of the lenses had progressed. They say he had his left eye operated on. The Imperial couple left the hospital together shortly before noon. Agency officials say the Emperor Emeritus also has glaucoma symptoms in his right eye, and is expected to undergo cataract and glaucoma surgery next Sunday. The Emperor Emeritus was diagnosed with heart failure in July. The officials say there have been no particular changes since then, and that he maintains his daily routine, including walks with his wife. File photo Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate newly-constructed corridor of Mahakaleshwar temple in Ujjain on October 11, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said on Monday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate newly-constructed corridor of Mahakaleshwar temple in Ujjain on October 11, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said on Monday. While reviewing the project during a visit to Ujjain, the chief minister said: "The first phase of ambitious project of Ujjain Mahakal Corridor is nearing completion. Prime Minister Modi will visit Ujjain to offer prayer at the temple and to inaugurate the project on October 11." The project - Ujjain Mahakal Corridor - has been divided into a two phases in which the temple complex will be expanded nearly eight times its present size from 2.82 hectares to 20.23 hectares by August 2023. Work under the first phase includes 900-metre long corridor filled with scores of installations, a theme park, a heritage mall, E-transport facilities, among others. In the second phase, the government has planned to transform Maharajwada school Bhavan to a heritage Dharamshala, as well as linking of Rudra Sagar and Shipra river, beautification of the front lake area, construction of multi-level parking with a space to fit 350 cars, a railway underpass and the development of a 210-meter suspension bridge over Rudra Sagar, amongst others would be undertaken. Moreover, a dynamic light show will be given a spot near the iconic Ram Ghat. As per the state government, the work will be completed by 2028. Notably, the BJP-led Madhya Pradesh government, earlier in January this year, had approved an initial fund of Rs 500 crore for the development of the corridor. Touted to transform into India's most technologically advanced religious site, the government has planned to expand the Ujjain Mahakal Temple Corridor. The monumental project is being developed under the MP government's larger plan to transform Ujjain into a 'Smart City'. On December 12, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had inaugurated his dream project - the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor - at his parliamentary constituency Varanasi. Conceptualised by the Prime Minister himself, the corridor located near the iconic Dashashwamedh Ghat, sought to clear the pathway to the ancient temple by removing properties clogging the corridor in a litigation-free manner, while preserving existing heritage sites /NOT FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES. FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH THIS RESTRICTION MAY CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF UNITED STATES SECURITIES LAW./ CALGARY, AB, Sept. 19, 2022 /CNW/ - (TSXV: GRD) - Grounded Lithium Corp. ("GLC" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the addition of several key personnel to its corporate and project team positioning the Company to achieve upcoming catalytic project milestones. Effective October 1, 2022, Lawrence Fisher joins the Company as Vice President, Land & Regulatory. Mr. Fisher brings considerable industry experience with respect to all aspects of land negotiation and administration, acquisition & divestiture mandates, government regulation and executive leadership. Mr. Fisher also taught land management and administration classes at the University of Calgary and Mount Royal University for 15 years, educating many of the land professionals and administrators working in the Western Canadian resource development industry today. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Fisher was the Manager, Land & Business Development at Novus Energy (2017 to 2022) and Vice President, Land at Ridgeback Resources Inc. and it's predecessors (2010-2017), with his latter role highlighted by his negotiation and closing of greater than $1.5 billion of transactions. Mr. Fisher is a 27-year member of the Canadian Association of Land and Energy Professionals. GLC also retained the consulting services of Mr. Wayne Monnery as the Company's technology expert. Mr. Monnery holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering and worked considerably in the process engineering discipline for over 30 years. Mr. Monnery's accomplishments are numerous having performed countless studies and process flow assessments for world-class resource development companies. Mr. Monnery has also advised companies in the lithium-from-brine industry with respect to technology evaluation. In addition, Mr. Monnery has lectured at the University of Calgary and undertaken research while there. His chosen focus areas include thermo-dynamics, physical properties and transport properties. Further, he has been involved in kinetics of sulphur plants, along with acid gas injection and separation research projects. His experience in CO2 capture and sequestration could potentially contribute to the Company's wider project design by enhancing ESG responsibilities. Mr. Monnery will be responsible for managing GLC's assessment, due diligence, recommendations and ultimate selection of the preferred lithium extraction and refining technology to process lithium from brine into commercially accepted grades. His mandate also includes overseeing the selection process of an international design engineering firm which will not only conduct its own extensive assessments, but also potentially lead the construction of the facilities themselves, monitoring results of pilot programs, recommending appropriate courses of action and continually assessing internal capabilities to deliver projects on-time and on-budget. In the near term however, these responsibilities will assist in driving towards a Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") which the Company intends to finalize over the course of 2023. Lastly, the Company retained the consulting services of Mr. Grant Hindbo to assist in establishing supply chain options and logistic solutions as the Company moves to commercial operations. Mr. Hindbo's review and assessment will add further clarity to the transportation cost structure, international customs requirements and supply chain risks which will be included in the PEA. Mr. Hindbo devoted most of his career establishing international supply chains, managing transportation service agreements and providing leadership while at NOVA Chemicals. His experience involved developing logistic strategies, implementing supply chains and negotiating transportation agreements (rail, truck, ocean, packaging) while ensuring trade and customs compliance to deliver finished goods across the globe. "While already a cohesive, dedicated and experienced team, the additions of Lawrence, Wayne and Grant greatly improves our ability to execute on all facets of the business," commented Gregg Smith, President and Chief Executive Officer. "In particular, adding world-class process flow technology experience with the addition of Wayne will sharpen our focus on our chosen technology solution and EPCM management to deliver a commercial project to the marketplace." About Grounded Lithium Corp. GLC is a publicly traded lithium brine exploration and development company that controls 2.9 million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent over its focused land holdings in Southwest Saskatchewan. GLC's multi-faceted business model involves the continuation of consolidation of its opportunity base while in parallel, commence delineation operations of the lithium brine potential across its current mineral rights position, all towards the vision of building a best-in-class, environmentally responsible, Canadian lithium producer supporting the global energy transition shift. Forward-Looking Statements This press release may contain forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. The opinions, forecasts, projections and statements about future events of results, are forward looking information, forward-looking statements or financial outlooks (collectively, "forward-looking statements") under the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. These statements are made as of the date of this press release and the fact that this press release remains available does not constitute a representation by GLC that the Company believes these forward-looking statements continue to be true as of any subsequent date. Although GLC believes that the assumptions underlying, and expectations reflected in, these forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that these assumptions and expectations will prove to be correct. Such statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding achieving project milestones, the potential contributions by Mr. Fisher, Mr. Monnery and Mr. Hindbo to GLC's business and operations, the potential contributions by an international design engineering firm, commercializing GLC's operations, and GLC's vision of becoming a best-in-class, environmentally responsible, Canadian lithium producer supporting the global energy transition. Among the important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements are: GLC's expectation that its operations will be in Western Canada, unexpected problems can arise due to technical difficulties and operational difficulties which impact the production, transport or sale of its products; geographic and weather conditions can impact the production; the risk that current global economic and credit conditions may impact commodity prices and consumption more than GLC currently predicts; the failure to obtain financing on reasonable terms; the risk that unexpected delays and difficulties in developing currently owned properties may occur; the failure of drilling to result in commercial projects; unexpected delays due to the limited availability of drilling equipment and personnel; and the other risk factors detailed from time to time in GLC's periodic reports. GLC's forward-looking statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities in any jurisdiction. 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 Grounded Lithium Corp For further information: Gregg Smith, President & CEO, [email protected]; Greg Phaneuf, VP Finance & CFO, [email protected]; Phone: 587.319.6220 OTTAWA, ON, Sept. 19, 2022 /CNW/ - Today the Government of Canada announced a gift of $20 million to the Queen Elizabeth Scholars (QES) program in recognition of the legacy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. "The Queen's legacy of service and steadfast leadership will live on in the countless lives that she touched and as an inspiration to us all. Her example inspired many young Canadians to dedicate their lives to service, give back to their communities, and become the leaders of today and tomorrow," said the Right Honourable Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada. "I join Canadians in thanking Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for over 70 years of selfless service and honouring her extraordinary life marked by grace, dignity, and an unwavering sense of duty." The Canadian Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Scholarship program, known as the QES, is led by the Rideau Hall Foundation (RHF) in collaboration with Universities Canada, and with founding support from Community Foundations of Canada (CFC). "On behalf of the RHF, the QES program, its scholars, our partners and our many supporters, we are deeply grateful to receive this gift in honour of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II," said Teresa Marques, President and CEO of the RHF. "This gift will ensure that generations of youth have the opportunity to develop a global outlook, empathy, and understanding all of which are essential for navigating the complexities of today's world." This gift will make international experiences possible for post-secondary students who would not otherwise be able to benefit. Approximately 3,000 additional students will now have the opportunity to advance their studies and research, and develop their leadership and civic engagement skills through global collaborations. This funding provides the seed support for a new legacy campaign by the Rideau Hall Foundation to make the QES program permanent. The RHF will seek to build on this very generous gift through additional public and private donations to ensure QES remains a permanent legacy to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, supporting generations of scholars in Her name. QES is a made-in-Canada initiative that promotes international student exchange and civic engagement through project-based scholarships. The program was established in 2012 to celebrate and honour The Queen's Diamond Jubilee. To date, 106 projects have been funded at 46 Canadian universities and in 72 countries around the world, and more than 2,200 young people have completed the program. "The Queen Elizabeth Scholars program is laying the foundation for the next generation of leaders: innovative people committed to making Canada, and the world, a better place. What an exceptionally fitting tribute to Her Majesty The Queen, who valued the importance of diplomacy of knowledge and a commitment to service and leadership," said the Right Honourable David Johnston, Chair of the RHF and 28th Governor General of Canada. To learn more about the program, visit: queenelizabethscholars.ca Quotes: On behalf of the Rideau Hall Foundation, the QES program, its scholars, our partners and many supporters, we are deeply grateful to receive this gift in honour of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. This gift will ensure that generations of youth have the opportunity to develop a global outlook, empathy, and understanding all of which are essential for navigating the complexities of today's world. Teresa Marques , President and CEO of the Rideau Hall Foundation. , President and CEO of the Rideau Hall Foundation. The Queen Elizabeth Scholars program is laying the foundation for the next generation of leaders: innovative people committed to making Canada , and the world, a better place. What an exceptionally fitting tribute to Her Majesty The Queen, who valued the importance of diplomacy of knowledge and a commitment to service and leadership. The Right Honourable David Johnston, Chair of the RHF and 28th Governor General of Canada . Key Facts The Queen Elizabeth Scholars program is a made-in- Canada initiative that promotes international student exchange and civic engagement through project-based scholarships. Established in 2012 to celebrate and honour The Queen's Diamond Jubilee . initiative that promotes international student exchange and civic engagement through project-based scholarships. Established in 2012 to celebrate and honour The Queen's . To date, 106 projects have been funded at 46 Canadian universities and in 72 countries around the world, and more than 2,200 young people have completed the program. The Government of Canada's contribution will ensure approximately 3,000 additional students have the opportunity to participate in the QES program. contribution will ensure approximately 3,000 additional students have the opportunity to participate in the QES program. The RHF has now launched a new legacy fundraising campaign to build on this very generous gift through additional public and private donations to ensure QES remains a permanent legacy to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. About the Rideau Hall Foundation The Rideau Hall Foundation is an independent national charitable organization established to mobilize ideas, people, and resources across the country to tap into our national spirit and help ignite our shared potential. Working towards a better Canada, the RHF celebrates what is best about Canada while working with partners to meaningfully improve lives and foster the conditions for more Canadians to succeed and thrive. Learn more about the RHF at www.rhf-frh.ca. SOURCE Rideau Hall Foundation For further information: Media Inquiries: Jill Clark, Manager, Communications and Media Relations, Rideau Hall Foundation, [email protected], 613-619-0230 Starting today and running until Sept. 25 , 100 per cent of the proceeds from sales of Smile Cookies across Canada and the United States will support local charities and community groups chosen by Tim Hortons restaurant owners , 100 per cent of the proceeds from sales of Smile Cookies across and will support local charities and community groups chosen by Tim Hortons restaurant owners Smile Cookie has raised over $77 million across North America since 1996 and last year alone raised a record $12 million across since 1996 and last year alone raised a record Ryan DiTommaso's Dunnville, Ont ,. Tim Hortons restaurant sold the most Smile Cookies in Canada last year an amazing feat considering Dunnville has a population of only about 6,000 people. His team sold over 48,000 hand-decorated Smile Cookies, which is roughly eight cookies for every resident in Dunnville TORONTO, Sept. 19, 2022 /CNW/ - The annual Tim Hortons Smile Cookie campaign starts today and will run through Sept. 25 with 100 per cent of the proceeds from sales of Smile Cookies supporting 665 charities and community groups across Canada. Joining Team Timmies this year to help encourage Canadians to support charities in their local communities are two of Canada's most decorated Olympians and World Champions, Penny Oleksiak and Marie-Philip Poulin. Tim Hortons week-long Smile Cookie campaign begins TODAY with support from Canadian athletes Penny Oleksiak and Marie-Philip Poulin (CNW Group/Tim Hortons) "As someone who grew up with Tim Hortons and has enjoyed many Smile Cookies over the years, I'm so excited to be supporting this year's campaign and encouraging Canadians to treat their family and friends to some delicious Smile Cookies while supporting an amazing cause in their community," said Penny. "I'm so excited to cheer on Tim Hortons restaurant owners, team members and volunteers and get involved myself to help sell as many Smile Cookies as possible to make a difference in so many communities," said Marie-Philip. "It's just a cookie you think, how much of a difference could it make? Well, 100 per cent of Smile Cookie proceeds go right back into your neighbourhood. If every Canadian were to buy a Smile Cookie, that's millions of cookies and millions of dollars to help support over 600 charities or community groups." The first Smile Cookie campaign was launched in 1996, originally raising funds for Hamilton Children's Hospital. Since then, the annual charitable campaign has raised a total of more than $77 million for charities and organizations selected every year by Tim Hortons restaurant owners. Recipients include local hospitals, community care organizations, food banks and schools. "At Tims, we're incredibly proud of our annual Smile Cookie initiative that directly impacts each and every community in which we operate", says Axel Schwan, President of Tim Hortons. "With the support of guests, restaurant owners, team members and volunteers across the country, we look forward to directly supporting hundreds of organizations in communities across the country." To participate in this year's Smile Cookie campaign, visit your local Tim Hortons restaurant or place an order through the Tim Hortons mobile app for delivery. For a full list of local charities and community groups benefiting from Tim Hortons annual Smile Cookie campaign, visit http://www.timhortons.ca/smile-cookie. Guests can also share how they are supporting the annual campaign by using the hashtag #SmileCookie on social media. About Tim Hortons In 1964, the first Tim Hortons restaurant in Hamilton, Ontario opened its doors and Canadians have been ordering Tim Hortons iconic Original Blend coffee, Double-Double coffees, Donuts and Timbits in the years since. Over the last 55 years, Tim Hortons has captured the hearts and taste buds of Canadians and has become synonymous with serving Canada's favourite coffee. Tim Hortons is Canada's largest restaurant chain operating in the quick service industry with nearly 4,000 restaurants across the country. More than a coffee and bake shop, Tim Hortons is part of the Canadian fabric and guests can enjoy hot and cold specialty beverages including lattes, cappuccinos and espressos, teas and our famous Iced Capp alongside delicious breakfast, sandwiches, wraps, soups and more. Tim Hortons has more than 5,100 restaurants in Canada, the United States and around the world. For more information on Tim Hortons visit TimHortons.ca SOURCE Tim Hortons For further information: Please contact: [email protected] Haryana Governor Honours Rajya Sabha MP Kartik Sharma wit... The Champions of Change event was organized by the Intera... 2 October, 2022 Read more 1. The New Zealand government is to honour the passing of Queen Elizabeth II by legislating for a one-off national public holiday on Monday 26 September 2022, to be known as Queen Elizabeth II Memorial Day. As such, the trading, clearing and settlement functions for NZXs markets will be closed on that date. 2. These rulings apply to the NZX Participant Rules (Participant Rules), the NZX Derivatives Market Rules (Derivatives Rules), and the New Zealand Clearing Limited Clearing and Settlement Rules (C&S Rules, and together with the Participant Rules and the Derivatives Rules, the Rules). 3. The Rules to which these decisions relate are set out in Appendix One. 4. Capitalised terms that are not defined in these decisions have the meanings given to them in the relevant Rules. Class rulings for Queen Elizabeth II Memorial Day Comments from our readers No comments yet Add your comment: Your name: Your email: Not displayed to the public Comment: Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved. Anti-spam verification: Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process. Related News: Contact closes its Green Bond offer and sets margin ATM - Share buyback to commence 5 October - 1Q23 Trading update HLG Full Year Results for the period ending 1 August 2022 SNC - 2022 Annual Meeting Result Steel & Tube - Trading Update - September 2022 TWR - Successful placement of FY23 Reinsurance Programme September 30th Morning Report Air New Zealand Limited Considers Retail Bond Offer General Capital (GEN:NZ) Annual Meeting Results and Update Gentrack provides updated guidance for FY22 Former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Adams Oshiomhole, has been criticized over his latest criticism of the Labou... Former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Adams Oshiomhole, has been criticized over his latest criticism of the Labour Party, LP, presidential candidate, Peter Obi. Oshiomhole was accused of leveraging on Obis popularity to seek relevance. The former APC National Chairman had berated Obi for failing to tackle insecurity while he was the Governor of Anambra State. Addressing a youth conference in Abuja, Oshiomhole said the immediate past Governor of Anambra State, Willie Obiano, took some major steps towards tackling insecurity because Obi failed during his tenure. He recalled how Obiano upon assuming office destroyed houses used by kidnappers in Anambra State. Oshiomhole claimed that the houses demolished by Obianos administration were used by Bakassi Boys. Who was the governor when Bakassi developed, and who solved the problem? So, if a man could not solve a security challenge in his own state, which requires courage. How can he convince you that he will solve security challenges all over Nigeria? Dont take it from me, go to Youtube and find out the first six, nine months of Governor Obiano and ask yourself, who was his predecessor? It will tell you its Peter. If he has solved the security problem, will Obiano be using bulldozers to demolish houses of kidnappers, Bakassi boys, Bakassi girls, bandits? Condemning Oshiomholes comment, a Civil Society Organisation, Conference of Civil Society for Peace and Good Governance Initiative (CCSFPGG), described the former Edo State governor as an inconsequential politician looking for relevance through Obis popularity, after failed political outings both at national and Edo State levels. The group stated this in a statement signed by its National Coordinator, Dr Oshioke Mathew Afegbua and Director of Internal Security Research, Hajiya Maryam Mohammed. The group urged Nigerians to be wary of Oshiomhole because he is desperately searching for political relevance. The statement reads: Oshiomhole is the least politician in Nigeria to denigrate Peter Obi, who has become Nigerias most popular choice for the coming general election. We have not forgotten that as a governor, Oshiomhole ran Edo like a tin-pot despot on the matrix of empty populism. Oshiomhole helped to impose the fading APC administration on Nigerians. Under this administration, human lives have been reduced to nothing. The country has become an abattoir where human beings are helplessly being slaughtered at will. The group urged Oshiomhole to apologize to Nigerians over the pains he caused them. We urge Oshiomhole and his party to apologize to Nigerians for the pain they have put them in, instead of talking down on the most popular presidential candidate in the history of Nigeria, it further said. As the 2023 presidential elections draw near, the Southern part of the country seems to have been divided over Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Mr Pe... As the 2023 presidential elections draw near, the Southern part of the country seems to have been divided over Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Mr Peter Obis candidacy. In the last few weeks, Obis supporters, popularly known as Obidients have been holding solidarity rallies themed: one-million-march across the country. This week, Tinubus supporters also staged a similar rally in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital. Although the presidential campaign is yet to kick-off officially, the battle to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023 has plunged Peter Obi of the Labour Party and the All Progressives Congress, APC, flagbearer, Bola Asiwaju Tinubus camp into verbal war. Recall that in a viral video, the former Anambra Governor had during a parley alleged that he received a WhatsApp message from Tinubu group asking the Yoruba to ignore the Labour Party in the forthcoming presidential election. According to Obi, the WhatsApp message reads, Yoruba shine your eyes o, if you vote for Peter Obi, it is automatically voting for seaports in south-south and south-east. The Igbos will stop coming to Lagos State to invest, rather they will go to Delta and Rivers States, they may even stop building houses in Lagos. It will affect a lot of Yorubas. Reacting to the viral video, the spokesperson for the APC Campaign Council, Festus Keyamo had alleged in a statement that Obi concocted the WhatsApp message to be seen as a victim of ethnic agenda. Keyamo debunked Obis claim saying the group the Labour Party candidate referred to does not exist, adding that Obi lacked ideas on how to tackle the countrys challenges. In a separate statement issued on September 13, Keyamo who is also the Minister of State for Employment and Labour, alleged that Peter Obi was planning to stage-manage an assassination attempt on himself. Keyamos allegations triggered backlash from many individuals and groups, particularly from the South-South and South-East, calling on security agencies to arrest the APC campaign spokesman. Recall that a rights group, Advocate for Peoples Rights and Justice on Thursday petitioned the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba, to invite Keyamo over the assassination comment. Recall that the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, while reacting to Keyamos allegation, called the attention of the APC presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, warning that any attempt to attack Obi may amount to war. This is coming amid persistent clashes between supporters of Obi and that of the former Lagos Governor, Asiwaju on social media. Speaking yesterday, Goodluck Ibem, the President General of the Coalition of Southern and Middle Belt Youth Leaders, COSMBYLA, said all efforts by those bringing division to the region would yield no fruit. According to him, Nigerians are not confused on who is capable of bringing the long agitated good governance to the people, saying those playing regional politics may be disgraced in 2023. He said, The youths and the entire Nigerians know what they want. No politician can succeed in dividing them now. It is too late. Nigerians want someone who is competent and not corrupt. A person who can deliver on his mandate. Gone are the days when people vote because of region or religion. The South is united to vote for a good candidate come 2023. Meanwhile, the crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP took another turn on Wednesday when Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State and other party stakeholders in the South-west joined forces with Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, calling for the resignation of the party Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu. Governor Makinde, who made the call when the presidential candidate of the party, Abubakar Atiku met with some stakeholders of the PDP in the South-West, insisted that for peace to return to the party, Ayu must step down. Recall that Governor Wike and his loyalists who are angry over the outcome of the partys primary election and the selection of Atikus running mate, had vowed that until their demands are met, they would ensure that the party fails the presidential election. However, Ayu, who insisted that he was duly elected and must complete his tenure, had jetted out of the country for a medical trip to Europe amid the crisis. Also the PDP, head of New Media Anthony Ehilebo said the party is focused on winning the 2023 presidential election, saying the call for Ayus removal was a distraction. According to him, some of the aggrieved members who are fueling the crisis had also deprived him of contesting for the PDP national publicity secretary. He said, Those people who are saying they will work against the party, are they sure they will have a new home with people they are going to work with? Are they sure these people are going to deliver the dividends of democracy like PDP did? These same individuals that are shouting deprived me of contesting for the national publicity secretary. I did not destroy the party because of that. They have benefited far more than me or any other person in the party. Why do they now want to destroy the party after they have achieved the apex of their career? Anambra State Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, announced on Sunday night that his people had summoned up courage and helping security agen... Anambra State Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, announced on Sunday night that his people had summoned up courage and helping security agents with the identities of the unknown gunmen ravaging the state. Soludo made the revelation when he appeared on Politics Today, a popular programme on Channels TV. While giving an update on last weeks attack on the convoy of Senator Ifeanyi Ubah, the former governor of Central Bank of Nigeria declared that the state cannot be a haven for gunmen who he is convinced have relatives in the communities. It can be recalled that Ubahs convoy was attacked around Nkwo Enugwu Ukwu Market area of Njikoka Local Government Area of Anambra State on his way to Nnewi, his country home on Sunday night. The gunmen opened fire on the convoy and left five members of the convoy dead and two policemen injured. Soludo said, No space in Anambra will accommodate these criminals. Of course, they are known criminals. They come from homes, have parents, relatives and have people from the villages and so on. But thank goodness, people are now coming forward with information about their identities. And thats how we have been picking them We are pursuing them vigorously. We have this lead whether this was an orchestrated or pinpoint attack and all kinds of theories as to why this happened. I can bet you, it wont be too long before we get them. We are not relenting one minute. While taking stock of his six months in government, the governor said eight of the state and local government that were once held hostage have also been raided and taken over with the help of security forces. While commending the security agents, Soludo expressed confidence that Anambra has now been relatively quiet and peaceful. We came into turbulence in the area of security with about eight local governments taken over by the criminals in more than 15 camps and held the state hostage. Even during political electioneering, most of us couldnt campaign freely in all the senatorial zones. As I said, the 15 camps have been decimated, degraded their infrastructure. I dont think they have the capacity again to come with the kind of ferocity in the past. The operations are ongoing. Even yesterday, many operations went on in parks and many communities now have their New Yam Festival which wasnt possible in the past, especially in eight of the earlier affected local governments. I must commend the people of Anambra State including the stakeholders, security forces, police, navy, army, civil defence and the vigilantes for their massive cooperation in dealing with it. Compare to many other places in Nigeria, I dare to say, going by the statistics of the last three months, Anambra is one of the safest places comparatively. This is even as he disclosed that the security agencies have secured about four leads and are hot on the chase of the attackers. He said, I told you there are many leads and we dont want to be presumptuous. There are three or four leads. One of them, as you said, could be the targeting of senators. Another lead is that the attack could have been targeted at somebody else and he ran into them and they opened fire. The security agents are on top of the situation. Anambra has banned the wearing of miniskirts as school uniform in all schools in the state. Anambra has banned the wearing of miniskirts as school uniform in all schools in the state. Commissioner for Education, Prof. Ngozi Chuma-Udeh, stated in Awka on Sunday that the announcement of the ban became necessary as schools resume on Monday. She said the ban had been communicated to Education Secretaries of public and private schools in the state. The commissioner condemned the growing trend of wearing miniskirts as school uniform and said it was morally wrong and unacceptable in children of school age. A student should look smart, well groomed, project positive vibes and not be indecently dressed for school. The acceptable length for uniforms in the state remains knee length and not above the knee, which is fast becoming the fashion trend in schools, she noted. The commissioner said Education Secretaries had been charged to ensure that schools complied with the directive to salvage the future of students in the state. Chuma-Udeh also urged the secretaries to instil the right morals and discipline in students so that they would be well-behaved and grow to become responsible adults. (NAN) A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress and Director-General of Voice of Nigeria, Osita Okechukwu, on Sunday took a swipe at the prop... A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress and Director-General of Voice of Nigeria, Osita Okechukwu, on Sunday took a swipe at the proposed economic plan of the presidential candidate of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, saying it would further bring hardship on the masses. A worried Okechukwu warned that the PDP presidential candidate was subtly striving to reintroduce an economic blueprint that is reminiscent of the unforgettable Structural Adjustment Programme that brought about austerity measures in the country. SAP was a set of economic reforms introduced in Nigeria by then-military President Ibrahim Babangida to secure a loan from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in 1986. The development is coming five days after Atiku vowed to resuscitate Nigerias ailing economy by launching a $10 billion Economic Stimulus Fund within his first 100 days in office once elected. The former vice president made the statement at the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry Presidential Economic Agenda Forum for the PDP in Lagos. Atiku said the fund would prioritise support to micro, small and medium-scale enterprises that offer the greatest opportunity for inclusive economic growth. The PDP presidential flagbearer, who laid out his economic plan to salvage the countrys economic fortunes, said he would rather privatise Nigerias dilapidated refineries rather than spend $1.55 billion on their revitalisation. Reacting to his glowing pitch on Sunday, Okechukwu noted that he found it odd for a man who could not unite his party to be talking about measures he believed can revamp the economic fortunes of the country. The VON managing director made the clarification is a statement issued in Abuja on Sunday. He said, I watched with rapt attention, but in deep regrets that former Vice President Atiku Abubakars Economic Plan is more or less like the nebulous economic policy of Structural Adjustment Programmes Pocketbook of 1986. The former Vice President harped profoundly on privatisation of State Owned Enterprises as the fulcrum of his economic revitalization programme, akin to SAP proponents of yore. Whereas, one is not against private sector partnership; however what we have in surplus are rent-seekers and scanty industrialists. Therefore, I am not surprised that a man who breached PDPs constitution and by extension failed to unite his party did not bother to do the needful assessment which posits that 80 per cent of State Owned Enterprises privatised under his chairmanship of National Council of Privatisation and indeed the 16 years of PDP leadership went into comatose. Okechukwu further explained that when it came to power in 1999, the PDP with Atiku as Chairman of National Council on Privatisation dusted up the SAP pocketbook and stripped our national assets including profitable companies like NICON Insurance, NICON Hilton Hotel, Niger Dock and unprofitable companies like Distribution Electricity Distribution Companies. For instance, Niger Dock a profitable pre-privatisation company has 6,000 staff under Nnamdi Ozobia, today it has gone under with less than 600 staff and the N1.72 billion proceeds allegedly missing. Secondly, NICON one of Africas leading Insurers originally owned by the Federal Government of Nigeria was privatised in December, 2005. With an asset base of N46.9bn gathered over a 52-year period of operation, 30 branches and six regional offices, it is therefore modest to classify NICON as a colossus in the insurance industry, but has regrettably gone under AMCON life support management. I make bold to say that what Atiku is proposing is by no means different from SAP policy thrust neither is his proposal on NNPC Ltd better than the giant steps that President Muhammadu Buhari has taken towards commercialism of NNPC. If you ask me, His Excellency Atiku Abubakar should first unite his party, and drop Senator Iyorchia Ayu who incidentally has crowned him Nigerias Odinga, he said. Defending his boss, Atikus media aide, Paul Ibe, noted that much as he wouldnt like to join issues with Okechukwu, he wanted Nigerians to understand that Atikus proposed policies are well thought-out. According to him, Nigeria needs fixing at a critical period when the masses are already losing hope. Where are we in Nigeria today? Total energy crisis, no money and even the FG is broke. We are owing globally with interests and still borrowing money. Atikus blueprint is an opportunity. What has the APC done in the last seven years? He is paying staff salaries of NNPC that have not refined one litre of crude oil for years. So what are we talking about? We need to be innovative. Thats what leadership is all about. What are the opportunities available to us as a country now? See how the energy sector has suffered on the issue of repairs and our refineries have become moribund. So why not bring in new people whose job it is to create businesses? These people just want Nigerians to continue to suffer, he lamented. Chichi, this week's Head of House in Big Brother Naija reality show used her absolute veto power to save Daniella and Phyna. Big Bro... Chichi, this week's Head of House in Big Brother Naija reality show used her absolute veto power to save Daniella and Phyna. Big Brother changed the style of nominations this week after Chichi emerged the Supreme Head of House. Housemates were asked to pitch one by one to Chichi for 90 seconds on why they deserve to be saved by her. Groovy tells Chichi he wants her to pick him because he wants to share the stage with her. He tells her they share the same dream and that she has faced so many odds to be here and hes happy for her. Chizzy thanks Chichi for picking him to share the HOH Bedroom. He believes Chichi is a strong woman who will take her decision by herself and he hopes its him, knowing that theres only one slot left. Chizzy is advising Chichi instead of pitching. If I didnt win, Bella didnt win, it should be you, Sheggz tells Chichi. He tells her at least she knows hes real and even when they fight, its on real P. Hermes tells Chichi that she knows he looks out for her. He loves that shes the life of the party and they are both lit. Essentially, he told her to select him so she can have a lit week. Im truly happy for you, Bryann tells Chichi. He says he feels like she should pick whoever is in her heart. Chichi wants him to try and convince her. Bryann does not know what to say to her. Im telling you to have an open mind, he says. Im proud of where youve gotten to and the woman that youve become. We didnt particularly start off as friends, but I can confidently say we are working towards being friends, says Adekunle to Chichi. He kindly asks her to consider him for the finale. I know youre not going to pick me and its not a big deal. I feel about you a particular way and I still feel that way, Rachel tells Chichi. They are discussing the fact that theyve not been on good terms. Phyna enters the room and starts hyping Chichi. Im selling myself I say the streets made a Queen! Pick me and save me! Bella is short of words. Id love to get to the finals. Ill be shocked and surprised if you pick me. Were not best friends. Thats it. They both burst into laughter. I know youre in a tight spot. Please, save me! I came to this house not believing in myself, but here I am. Youre one of the people that encouraged me that Ill make it to the top when we merged. Please help me get there, Daniella to Chichi. At the end of the process she selected Daniella and Phyna. With this, Daniella and Phyna automatically qualify for the grand finale and a spot in the top five. This means the remaining six housemates which are Adekunle, Bella, Bryann, Groovy, Hermes and Sheggz are up for possible eviction and are at the mercies of viewers to save them Biggie's riders Chizzy and Rachel are expected to automatically join the finalists. The Benue State Police Command on Monday confirmed the killing of three persons in an attack at Tse Ngban village of Nyiev Council Ward of G... The Benue State Police Command on Monday confirmed the killing of three persons in an attack at Tse Ngban village of Nyiev Council Ward of Guma Local Government Area of Benue State. The Commands Public Relations Officers, SP. Catherine Anene, who confirmed the incident, said the corpse of the deceased has been sent to the Benue State University Teaching Hospital, while an investigation is ongoing Earlier, a resident in the area, Mr. Julious Moab said the incident occurred Sunday night. According to him, villagers ran to a safe place as soon as they noticed three persons have been killed. According to him, the attackers besieged the Tse Ngban around 7pm and unleashed terror on the inhabitants, adding that a woman was killed on the spot while the two others died shortly after the attack from the injuries inflicted on them by the armed assailants. South Africa: Eskom "working flat out" to restore energy to grid - de Ruyter Eskom CEO, Andre de Ruyter, says the power utility is working hard to bring back failing generation units and restore stability to the grid. This after multiple trips, breakdowns and delays in return to service at generation units caused the implementation of Stage 6 load shedding over the weekend. De Ruyter said teams at coal fired power stations are working flat out to bring back generation units as quickly as they can. He warned, however, that not all units will be immediately available to feed the grid. We are planning to bring back 1 590 MW by (Sunday) peak and then a further 3 500MW by Monday evening. We can expect that not all of this will make its way smoothly onto the grid due to the age and condition of these units. Once they are brought back, there are very often repeat trips, which then need to be addressed. But I can give you the assurance that our teams are engaged and working very hard at our power stations to enable us to address the shortfall in generation capacity, De Ruyter said. By Sunday, Eskom had lost at least 22 000MW of generation capacity due in part to units being taken offline for maintenance, but mostly from unplanned breakdowns. De Ruyter said added to this, reserve generation capacity is also at levels that are too low for comfort. The system has been under pressure over the past week. This has caused us to run our reserves very hard. We are at a situation where we need to urgently replenish those reserves in order to maintain an adequate safety buffer, as we are required to do by the grid code. Because our reserves are low, we cannot run our open cycle gas turbines (OCGT) at Ankerlig and Gourikwa (power stations) as hard as we would like to. Weve got 32% diesel levels at Ankerlig, which is too low for comfort. We need to replenish that. The situation at Gourikwa is significantly better Were sitting at 85% there, he said. De Ruyter said the companys ability to buy diesel for the OCGTs is an issue, with R7.7 billion already used to buy the fuel in since April. He said generation capacity has also been constrained by the loss of some 800MW at Kusile Power Station and a further 900MW still unavailable at the Koeberg Nuclear power station. We have a challenge at Koeberg Unit 2 with the reactor head gear. This is a mechanical problem that we need to fix in order to operate the plant safely. I can give South Africa the assurance that we are being extremely cautious and we are consulting very closely with the contractor who is on site. Since [the breakdowns], we have seen Kusile unit 3 come back from a submerged scraper chain failure. The unit is ramping up so its not yet at full load and that would make a big difference, he said. De Ruyter said steps are also being taken to urgently procure more electricity following an urgent Eskom board meeting in the presence of DPE Minister, Pravin Gordhan, on Saturday. [On Monday], we will be approaching the market to procure whatever megawatts that are available on an urgent basis. We think that we can get about 1 000 MW from available generation capacity that we can tap into. Not all of that is immediately available. Some of that relies on suppliers having to replenish their coal bunkers or secure additional gas supply. But in the case of IPPs (independent power producers), we have a very high degree of confidence that we can urgently procure more megawatts, De Ruyter said. SAnews.gov.za This story has been published on: 2022-09-19. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Emeka Nduka, member representing Ehime Mbano State Constituency has emerged the Speaker of the Imo state House of Assembly following the res... Emeka Nduka, member representing Ehime Mbano State Constituency has emerged the Speaker of the Imo state House of Assembly following the resignation of Mr Kennedy Ibe (APC Obowo) Nduka was sworn into office Monday during a closed-door special sitting presided by the Deputy Speaker, Mr Amarachi Iwuanyanwu (APC Nwangele) who called for nominations after reading the letter of resignation. It was gathered that the new speaker was nominated by the Majority Leader, Mr Kanayo Onyemaechi (APC Owerri West) and seconded by Dr Uju Onwudiwe (APC Njaba). He emerged as the fourth speaker of the ninth house following the impeachment of two previous speakers and Ibes resignation. Recall that former speaker, Kennedy Ibe was sworn in on November 8, 2021, following the impeachment of Mr Paul Emeziem (APC Onuimo) for reasons ranging from forgery to high-handedness. Chiji, however, appealed to the house to have his impeachment expunged from the legislative records and recorded as resignation, a request which was approved. Femi Falana, human rights advocate, has called on the federal government to reopen investigation into the disappearance of Bagauda Kaltho, a... Femi Falana, human rights advocate, has called on the federal government to reopen investigation into the disappearance of Bagauda Kaltho, a journalist. Kaltho, a journalist with The News magazine at the time, was said to have disappeared under mysterious circumstances in 1996. The journalists disappearance is steeped in conspiracy theories. There is the claim that he was killed in a bomb explosion at Dubar Hotel in Kaduna in 1995. There is another claim that the journalist was killed during the military regime of Sani Abacha. Recently, Mahdi Shehu, an activist, in an interview on ARISE TV, claimed he refused to take a parcel bomb given to him by Russel Hanks, identified as an American ex-envoy, at Hamdala Hotel in Kaduna, in 1995. Shehu alleged that the envoy said he should take the parcel bomb to Durbar Hotel, Kaduna, adding that after he rejected the parcel, Kaltho came into the hotel room of the envoy and hours later, a bomb explosion occurred at the hotel. The activists comments have ignited a fresh debate on the disappearance of Kaltho. Joining the fray, Falana, in a statement, said the Oputa panel, set up by former President Olusegun Obasanjo to investigate human rights abuses under the military, entertained the petition submitted by Kalthos family on the disappearance of the journalist. The human rights lawyer said Shehus claim is totally different from the account of officials of the military regime during the Oputa panel. During the sittings of the Oputa Panel in Lagos and Abuja, some members of the official killer squad set up by the Sani Abacha junta, confessed that they killed some Nigerian citizens and attempted to kill others on the instructions of the military junta, Falana said. They also admitted their involvement in the burning of houses and bombing attacks unleashed on opponents of that military rule. Throughout the proceedings of the Oputa Panel, the defenders of the Abacha murderous regime could not extricate themselves from the brutal killing of Dele Giwa and Bagauda Kaltho. However, at the sitting of the Oputa Panel in Kano in 2001, Mr. Zakari Biu claimed that Bagauda Kaltho was given the bomb that killed him by me and the management staff of TheNEWS, TEMPO and PMNEWS, namely Bayo Onanuga, Dapo Olorunyomi, Kunle Ajibade, and Babafemi Ojudu. I appeared at the Oputa Panel in Kano and subjected Biu to rigorous examination during which he admitted that he was fed with the wicked tissue of lies by the State Security Service concerning our involvement. You can see Falana vs Zakari Biu Oputa Panel on YouTube. But the SSS refused to corroborate Bius testimony. It was all found to be a figment of Mr. Zakari Bius imagination. In its report the Oputa Panel had recommended that the case of disappearance of Bagauda Kaltho be reopened for investigation. Since the version of Mahdi Shehu on the disappearance of Bagauda Kaltho is totally different from the official account of the defunct military junta, the case ought to be reopened for full investigation. More so, that the then military administrator of Kaduna State, Colonel Jaffar Isa (rtd) mentioned by Mahdi Shehu has denied knowledge of the Arise Television story. The Governor of Anambra State, Charles Soludo has claimed that most of those they have apprehended for criminal activities in the State are ... The Governor of Anambra State, Charles Soludo has claimed that most of those they have apprehended for criminal activities in the State are Igbos. According to him, Anambras wealth has made it the target of kidnappers. Soludo stated this during an interview on Channels TVs Politics Today on Sunday. The governor also claimed that contrary to claims, those perpetrating criminalities are known and not unknown as being reported in the media. They are not unknown gunmen, they are unknown to the extent that maybe are not caught immediately. Let me be clear about it: 100% of the people we have caught are Igbo. Nobody is invading from somewhere. It is 100% Igbo on Igbo. Anambra receives its share of influx of Igbo from other South-East States and other parts of Nigeria. The first set of people we caught are Igbos from the South-East States and not from Anambra (State). But as we went on, we discovered that a whole lot of the youth are joining them, we are dealing with them equally, Soludo said. Femi Falana, human rights lawyer and senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), has called on Olumuyiwa Adejobi, spokesman of the Nigeria Police Fo... Femi Falana, human rights lawyer and senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), has called on Olumuyiwa Adejobi, spokesman of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), to withdraw his statement on how civilians should react to assault by officers. Reacting on Saturday to a viral video where two men were seen wrestling with an armed officer, Adejobi had said even if a policeman on uniform slaps a civilian, the civilian has no right to retaliate. More so, if hes on uniform, its an act of disrespect to Nigeria to beat an officer on uniform. The disrespect is not to the policeman but to our nation and its a crime as enshrined in our criminal laws, he added. So its not a case of what the policeman did that led to it, but the reaction of the civilians who actually assaulted the police. If police assault a civilian, you report and actions will be taken to rebuke him, not to take the law into your hands. In a statement on Sunday, Falana said according to the Nigerian constitution, every citizen is entitled to the right to the dignity of their person, adding that law enforcement personnel are prohibited from ill-treatment of citizens. Civilians are required to respect police officers who are discharging their lawful duties. The penalty for assaulting or slapping a police officer is 3 years imprisonment under the Criminal Code, the statement reads. In the same vein, police officers are equally mandated to respect civilians. Indeed, section (2)(b) of the Anti Torture Act, 2017 states that torture is deemed committed when an act by which pain and suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person to punish him for an act he or a third person has committed or suspected of having committed. The penalty for assaulting a civilian is 25 years under the Anti Torture Act of 2017. In addition, the victim may sue for monetary compensation under the Anti Torture Act and the Constitution. The lawyer, therefore, asked Adejobi to withdraw his highly inciting and provocative statement which has given the misleading impression that the Nigeria Police Force has authorised its officers to slap citizens and subject them to other forms of torture without any challenge whatsoever. If the statement is not withdrawn within the next 24 hours, the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Usman Alkali Baba, should not hesitate to replace Mr. Adejobi with another police officer who has unqualified respect for the fundamental rights of the Nigerian people, Falana added. Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, has said that the late Queen Elizabeth II was a monarch for all seasons who brought people together from ... Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, has said that the late Queen Elizabeth II was a monarch for all seasons who brought people together from all over the world. Osinbajo disclosed this on Sunday in a short tribute at the Lancaster House. He also joined other world leaders to pay their last respect to the late British ruler at the Queens lying in state at different times on Sunday. World leaders, who visited Westminster Hall to witness the lying in state alongside Osinbajo, included the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau; USA President Joe Biden and France President, Emmanuel Macron, and other royals and Heads of State and Governments across the world. This was disclosed in a statement by Osinbajos spokesman, Laolu Akande, on Sunday. In the condolence register at Lancaster House, Osinbajo noted that Nigeria joins the government and people of the UK, the Commonwealth and rest of the world in expressing our sincere condolence to the royal family on the passing of a monarch for all seasons. May the Lord bless her memory. Later at a bilateral meeting between Osinbajo and the UK Foreign Secretary, they discussed security and how to improve trade ties between both nations, especially expanding opportunities for Nigerian businesses and supporting the countrys climate objectives. On Monday morning, Osinbajo will also attend the Funeral Service for the Queen at Westminster Abbey. The Federal Government says the planned lifting of 100 million Nigerians out of poverty by 2030 is attainable, if stakeholders play their ... The Federal Government says the planned lifting of 100 million Nigerians out of poverty by 2030 is attainable, if stakeholders play their expected roles effectively. Ms Kachollum Daju, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment, said this when she addressed newsmen on Sunday in Abuja. Recall reports that President Muhammadu Buhari had unveiled governments plans to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty by 2030. Daju said the role of key players in the private sector, including development partners remained indispensable and that government would not rest on its oars until the goal was achieved. She said that government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) were working hard to actualise the mandate of lifting the 100 million people out of the circle of poverty. She said that the Ministry of Labour and Employment has inaugurated a data bank, known as Labour Market Information System(LMIS) to guide those who have been employed and those wishing to secure employment. According to her, with the new National Development Plan 2021 to 2025, Im sure you are aware that there are many thematic areas. It is not just the Ministry of Labour and Employment or the federal Government as it were, it is multi sectoral and different sectors will come together to ensure that this is achieved. The private sector is supposed to play a huge role because we cannot all be dependent on government. So we will work together and for Ministry of Labour, we have different agencies and departments that have to do with employment skills. Alongside the LMIS, we are also going to improve on job matching, known as the National Electronic Labour Exchange (NELEX), she said. It is where you match jobseekers with the job. It has been going on but apparently many Nigerians are not aware of it. The ministry is upgrading that and we also trying to construct more job centers across the nation. Daju also said that the Ministry of Labour has created about 16 job centres across the country, saying that the goal was to establish a centre in all the 36 states of the country and the FCT. She said that there were plans to enhance the number of job centers in the nation in order to serve all 774 local government areas. She added that the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) was actually brought to ensure that the informal sector was well taken care of and that was a problem for the government. A large per cent of people are in the informal sector, such as artisans are not insure but with the National Health Insurance Act which was just passed, the insurance would cover the informal sector too, she said. Daju added that the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) has different schemes that cut across board to ensure that unemployment was reduced through empowerment, vocation skills, among others. Yes, I will say that the government policy to reduce poverty by 2030 is real, the plans to cut down youth unemployment is real, she added. The Sector Commander, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), in Cross River, Maikano Hassan, has confirmed a lone incident that killed a middl... The Sector Commander, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), in Cross River, Maikano Hassan, has confirmed a lone incident that killed a middle aged woman in Calabar on Sunday who was in a hot chase of her husband over his mistress. The Sector Commander who spoke with newsmen said the incident was caused by over speeding. He said the incident involving a Toyota Highlander which occured on the Muritala Mohammed Highway in Calabar claimed the life of the lone female driver who veered off the road into a ditch by the road. His words :Though the woman was immediately rushed to a nearby hospital, but she was said to have died few minutes later due to the injury sustained from the incident. It was gathered that the woman was said to be in pursuit of her husband who was alleged to be with a side chick in his car when she lost control of her vehicle , killing herself in the process. A source who didnt want her name in print revealed that woman sighted her husband leaving SPAR shopping Mall in the company of another female when she tried to block her husbands car with the Toyota Highlander she was driving in. Her husband was said to have maneuvered his vehicle out of the attempted blockade then took the Murtala Muhammed highway, with his wife is serious pursuit. In a bid to outrun her husband, she lost control of the speeding vehicle, veered off the road and slammed the vehicle, head long, into a tree, damaging the vehicle beyond repairs and also killing herself, the source revealed. Watertown, NY (13601) Today Mostly clear. Low 33F. NE winds at 10 to 20 mph, decreasing to 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Mostly clear. Low 33F. NE winds at 10 to 20 mph, decreasing to 5 to 10 mph. A medical laboratory technician picks up a reactive to test suspected monkeypox samples at the microbiology laboratory of La Paz Hospital on June 6 in Madrid, Spain. Pablo Blazquez Dominguez/Getty Images/TNS How to get clothes cleaner and HE washers smelling better: Less is more A man playing the role of Santa Claus moves between passenger cars on the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad's festive Polar Express journey to the "North Pole," Friday, Nov. 27, 2015, in Portland, Maine. Each young passenger is given a bell as a keepsake, keeping with the story in the Polar Express children's book where a boy given one of Santa's reindeer's bells. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty) West Allis Amateur Radio Club aims to generate interest in ham radio Spectrum News reports Milwaukee radio amateurs are holding Park Ops meet up at a park in the area to generate interest in the hobby Spectrum News says: Although long distance communication is easier than ever with the internet and cellphones, the West Allis Amateur Radio Club is showing that ham radio is not only still going strong but also evolving. Every week, the club sponsors a Park Ops meet up at a Milwaukee-area park to generate interest in the popular hobby. Also known as amateur radio, ham radio involves the use of radio frequency for exchanges of messages. At a recent meeting, Michael Johnson [WO9B] sat on a bench at Lions Park in New Berlin using Morse code to communicate with someone in Massachusetts. It was a very brief, formatted conversation. So I sent my name and a number and he, in turn, sent his name and number, said Johnson. Hes a ham radio operator and a member of the West Allis Amateur Radio Club. A few years ago, he started promoting the meet ups on Facebook to get other ham radio operators from the Milwaukee area together on Wednesdays. It turned out that it took a little while to rub the sticks together to get some smoke and fire, but eventually, people started showing up and that has been a big draw in the portable ops thing, said Johnson. Batteries are tiny. The equipment is smaller, so you dont need a pack mule to get a radio out into the field anymore. As Johnson checked out the different systems that other operators use, he said its exciting to see how ham radio now integrates computer and internet technology. He explained it can also be set up in places without electrical or internet infrastructure. Back when I was a little kid, I was going to get a ham radio license in 1962. None of this technology existed. Its fun. I love the technology. I like being on the cutting edge of it, said Smith. For Johnson, the Park Ops meet up reminds him of why he has been interested in ham radio since high school. Johnson said he hopes that as the Park Ops continue every year, that it will continue to create interest in ham radio. Read the full story at https://spectrumnews1.com/wi/milwaukee/news/2022/09/13/west-allis-amateur-radio-club-aims-to-generate-interest-in-ham-radio Faimon Roberts III covers rural communities in Louisiana. His work is supported by a reporting grant from the Microsoft Journalism Initiative and is administered by the Greater New Orleans Foundation. He can be reached at froberts@theadvocate.com. Suci confronted Munir, telling him that she took her work seriously and didnt want it mixed up with emotions. She had no choice but to resign. As she walked out the door, some visitors arrived, and Munir could only watch her go. by Matt Easton This is A chilling work of true crime about the midair murder of a human rights activist, set against a riveting political drama in the worlds fourth-largest nation. Following excerpts adapted from We Have Tired of Violence: A True Story of Murder, Memory, and the Fight for Justice in Indonesia written by Matt Easton, published by The New Press. Munir told a story. A few months before, an immigration officer had stopped him as he was trying to depart for Geneva. The man told him he was banned from leaving Indonesia. Unsure if the officer was following a genuine order or fishing for a bribe, Munir took out his phone. He called General Hendropriyono, the head of the State Intelligence Agency. Munir had recently asked a court to bar Hendropriyono from that job due to his role in a massacre years before. The effort had only succeeded in angering the general, but he answered when Munir called and assured him he was free to leave the country. As Munir described handing his phone to the wide-eyed immigration officer to hear for himself, the group burst out laughing around the box of donut holes. Suci smiled as her husband drained a threat of power, and made it, somehow, seem funny. Munir Said Thalib was an Indonesian activist. Founder of the KontraS human rights organisation and laureate of the 2000 Right Livelihood Award. He was murdered in 2004 while travelling to Utrecht University to pursue a master's degree in international law and human rights. [ Photo KontraS] *** Soon after midday prayers the next day, Suci answered her home phone. It was Usman Hamid, Munirs friend and successor at the human rights group KontraS. Suci, where are you now? he asked. Im at home. Dont you know you called my home? Her voice rose: What is it, Usman? Suci, have you heard the news about Munir? Usman stammered. His voice was shaky and hoarse. She hadnt, and Munir really should have texted or called her by now from Amsterdam. Usman told her, simply, Munir has died. Suci felt as if shed fallen from high up in the clouds onto hard earth. A darkness choked her, and her legs felt weak. Suci struggled to think. She needed to know what happened. She needed to prove it wasnt true. Decades of censorship and lies, followed by years of political turmoil, had created an environment ripe for rumors in a village of 10 million like Jakarta. Many arose spontaneously, sometimes compared to mushrooms in the rainy season. More often, rumors were crafted to threaten and frighten. Suci would not believe Munir was dead until she saw his body herself or spoke to someone who had. Her disbelief came not just from years of rumor and threat. She could not accept that someone she felt to be a part of her soul could be gone in an instant. Her suspicion and denial grew as Suci called the airports, the airline, and friends in the Netherlands. No one would confirm the rumor. No one would tell her anything at all. On her fourth call to Amsterdam, she erupted at a Garuda employee, I have a right to information about my husband! There was a long pause, before the man whispered, Yes. Yes, hes dead. Had he seen the body, seen it with his own eyes? He had. Please, he said. Dont tell anyone I told you. *** Photo: Munir sits with Suciwati and his former driver Sugiarto at Jakartas airport shortly before his departure. (Poengky Indarti) Suci told co-workers they should join her at LBH on Sunday, their one day off. Theyd been looking for a safer spot to meet, though no place was totally secure. The authorities could raid any meeting they considered political if held without a permit. Suci explained that LBH offered more than theyd hoped for. It had space to meet in private, with lawyers to train them and to help if they got arrested. It was like a ripe durian falling from the tree and coming to rest right at your feet. Before long, Munir asked Suci for help at the office, and then with a research project on Malangs northern fringe. She liked being part of the research team, until she heard that Munir was telling people she was interested in him. Suci confronted Munir, telling him that she took her work seriously and didnt want it mixed up with emotions. She had no choice but to resign. As she walked out the door, some visitors arrived, and Munir could only watch her go. He came to her house that evening to apologize, but she wasnt there. He returned the next day, and she accepted his apology, but did not return to the research team or the office work. She liked to be with the workers where the action was, and in June she took another factory job, though she kept volunteering at LBH as well. In fact, Suci was finding herself drawn to Munir. She liked his passion for his work and the way he combined this serious commitment with humor. Once, he took her to a political discussion at his old campus. Afterward, she revealed her fear that his bold words there would get him shot by an intel agent concealed in the crowd. At the sound of his warm laughter, her fear evaporated. In fact, outside of conflict zones, overt state violence was rare. For many Indonesians who were not especially political, the late New Order was a time of increasing prosperity and religious tolerance. By the 1990s, Suharto could assert control mostly through a vast bureaucracy governing all organizations, discussions, and Suci told co-workers they should join her at LBH on Sunday, their one day off. Theyd been looking for a safer spot to meet, though no place was totally secure. The authorities could raid any meeting they considered political if held without a permit. Suci explained that LBH offered more than theyd hoped for. It had space to meet in private, with lawyers to train them and to help if they got arrested. It was like a ripe durian falling from the tree and coming to rest right at your feet. Before long, Munir asked Suci for help at the office, and then with a research project on Malangs northern fringe. She liked being part of the research team, until she heard that Munir was telling people she was interested in him. Suci confronted Munir, telling him that she took her work seriously and didnt want it mixed up with emotions. She had no choice but to resign. As she walked out the door, some visitors arrived, and Munir could only watch her go. He came to her house that evening to apologize, but she wasnt there. He returned the next day, and she accepted his apology, but did not return to the research team or the office work. She liked to be with the workers where the action was, and in June she took another factory job, though she kept volunteering at LBH as well. In fact, Suci was finding herself drawn to Munir. She liked his passion for his work and the way he combined this serious commitment with humor. Once, he took her to a political discussion at his old campus. Afterward, she revealed her fear that his bold words there would get him shot by an intel agent concealed in the crowd. At the sound of his warm laughter, her fear evaporated. In fact, outside of conflict zones, overt state violence was rare. For many Indonesians who were not especially political, the late New Order was a time of increasing prosperity and religious tolerance. By the 1990s, Suharto could assert control mostly through a vast bureaucracy governing all organizations, discussions, and Students Association (Himpunan Mahasiswa Islam, or HMI). HMI had recently split, and Munir joined the more pro-Suharto faction. He was not just a supporter of the president, but a militant one, often clashing with street activists demanding democracy or human rights. They generally fought through public debates, wherein Munir earned a fearsome reputation, and student government races, but the competition grew tense. Munir considered himself a soldier in a religious war, and by his own account carried a knife in his bag in these years, ready to fight. Munir might have developed into a lifelong pro-Suharto ideologue or a religious hard-liner. But not long after arriving at college, friends, books, teachers, and his own curious mind began challenging his constricted views. He enjoyed taking the pro-government side when arguing with the radical street activists, but some of their arguments were persuasive. Munir also began excavating the history of HMI. He was surprised to discover its founding documents were almost radical in their challenge to state authority and capitalism. Drafted in 1960 by an influential and progressive Muslim intellectual named Nurcholish Majid, they used the Quran and the Hadiths to argue that Muslims should side with the oppressed. Click here to have your copy of this book Matt Easton is a writer and a human rights researcher and advocate. The author of We Have Tired of Violence: A True Story of Murder, Memory, and the Fight for Justice in Indonesia (The New Press), he has lived and worked in Indonesia, Timor-Leste, India, and Zimbabwe and now resides in New York. In conclusion of his visit to Uzbekistan, Vladimir Putin answered journalists questions. Following excerpts adapted from the press release published by Kremlin Question: Now that the SCO summit is over, summing it up, can you tell us how you regard the SCOs development prospects and what the most important thing is for Russia in the SCO? Vladimir Putin: The most important thing always and everywhere is economic development. And the SCO, cooperation with the SCO countries, creates conditions for the development of the Russian economy, and thus for the social sphere and for resolving the tasks related to improving the living standards of our citizens. The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation includes countries whose population, as has been said many times, comprises almost or even slightly more than half of humanity. It is 25 percent of world GDP. And, most importantly, the national economies in the region, those of the SCO member states, are developing much faster than others in the world. In conclusion of his visit to Uzbekistan, Vladimir Putin answered journalists questions. [ Photo: Sergei Bobylev, TASS ] Now we had a separate meeting. I sat next to the Prime Minister of India at the working dinner. Indias GDP grew by 7 percent, Chinas by more than 5 percent. China was in the lead for quite a time and its potential is tremendous. Our trade with these countries is growing fast. If these rates are preserved, and they are bound to be for many objective reasons, we will be one of these countries, next to them, ensuring our interests. This is what we are doing and this is the main point. Question: This question is certainly worrying very many people in our country. People have already developed certain concerns over the course of the special military operation in Ukraine. We are increasingly seeing strikes, raids and acts of terror even on Russian territory. We are hearing all the time very aggressive statements that the final goal of Kiev and the West is Russias disintegration. Meanwhile, many think that Russias response to all of this is very restrained. Why is that? Vladimir Putin: There is nothing new about this. Frankly, I find it even a bit strange to hear your question because Western countries have cultivated the idea of the collapse of the Soviet Union and historical Russia and Russia as such, its nucleus. I have already cited these statements and studies by some figures in Great Britain during World War I and after it. I cited excerpts from Mr Brzezinskis writings in which he divided the entire territory of our country into specific parts. True, later he changed his position a bit in the belief that it was better to keep Russia in opposition to China and use it as a tool to combat China. It will never happen. Let them address their own challenges as they see fit. But we are seeing how they are handling them and, most likely, they are doing harm to themselves in the process. Their tools are no good. But they have always been seeking the dissolution of our country this is very true. It is unfortunate that at some point they decided to use Ukraine for these purposes. In effect I am answering your question now and the conclusion suggests itself we launched our special military operation to prevent events from taking this turn. This is what some US-led Western countries have always been seeking to create an anti-Russia enclave and rock the boat, threaten Russia from this direction. In essence, our main goal is to prevent such developments. With regard to our restrained response, I would not say it was restrained, even though, after all, a special military operation is not just another warning, but a military operation. In the course of this, we are seeing attempts to perpetrate terrorist attacks and damage our civilian infrastructure. Indeed, we were quite restrained in our response, but that will not last forever. Recently, Russian Armed Forces delivered a couple of sensitive blows to that area. Lets call them warning shots. If the situation continues like that, our response will be more impactful Terrorist attacks are a serious matter. In fact, it is about using terrorist methods. We see this in the killing of officials in the liberated territories, we even see attempts at perpetrating terrorist attacks in the Russian Federation, including I am not sure if this was made public attempts to carry out terrorist attacks near our nuclear facilities, nuclear power plants in the Russian Federation. I am not even talking about the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant. We are monitoring the situation and will do our best to prevent a negative scenario from unfolding. We will respond if they fail to realise that these approaches are unacceptable. They are, in fact, no different than terrorist attacks. Question: Kiev recently published draft security guarantees for Ukraine. What can you tell us about this, and what is your assessment of this project? Vladimir Putin: Frankly, I am not familiar with what they have come up with this time. We, in fact, started with this when we were negotiating with the incumbent Kiev authorities and, in fact, completed this negotiating process in Istanbul with the well-known Istanbul agreement, after which we withdrew our troops from Kiev in order to create the proper conditions for concluding this agreement. Instead of concluding an agreement, Kiev immediately turned down all agreements, shoved them into a box and said they would not seek any agreement with Russia, but instead would pursue victory on the battlefield. Let them try. They are just now trying to do this with the counteroffensive. Lets see how it ends. As for security guarantees, and these were fairly tough security guarantees, they were required from our side, from the main NATO countries and regional states, including Turkiye. Overall, we agreed with this to a large extent. There were some things that required minor adjustments but overall we agreed and these were quite serious requirements. However, the Kiev authorities shelved them. What have they come up with? I dont know because they change their position on every issue almost every day. I must have a look. I would like to recall in this connection that before the start of the special military operation, we talked about security principles and measures on ensuring the security of Russia itself but nobody deemed it necessary to respond to this. Unfortunately. Q: Could you please share your opinion on the course of the special military operation? Is it necessary to adjust the plan? Vladimir Putin: No, the plan will not be adjusted. The General Staff takes real-time decisions in the course of the operation and some are considered a key, the main goal. The main goal is to liberate the entire territory of Donbass. This work continues despite the attempts of the Ukrainian army to launch a counter-offensive. We are not stopping our offensive operations in Donbass itself. They continue. They continue at a slow pace but consistently and gradually, the Russian army is taking more and more new territory. I must emphasise that we are fighting not with a full army but only with part, with contracted forces. But, of course, this is linked with certain personnel parameters and so on. This is why we are not in a rush in this respect. But essentially, there have been no changes. The General Staff considers some objectives important and others secondary but the main task remains the same and it is being carried out. Question: Did President of Turkiye Erdogan make proposals on your meeting with Zelensky at this meeting? Vladimir Putin: He always suggests meeting with Zelensky. He has been doing this for a long time and there is nothing bad about it. The President of Turkiye is making a substantial contribution to normalising the situation, including resolution of the food problem. The export of Ukrainian grain via Odessa is largely the result of his work. So, he is really making a tangible contribution to resolving a number of serious issues that are arising in connection with this crisis. And, of course, it is only natural that he also suggests meeting with President Zelensky, thinking that it may produce some positive result. He did not raise it at this meeting. Question: On what conditions could there be dialogue with Ukraine now, if it is possible at all? Vladimir Putin: But they refuse. The first condition is that they agree to it. But they do not want it. Mr Zelensky has publicly announced I do not know where exactly, but he said it publicly that he is not ready and does not want to talk to Russia. Well, if he is not ready, fine. Click here to read the rest of this press interaction A potential release date for the Surface Pro 9 5G has leaked online, which should also apply to the regular Surface Pro 9, the Surface Laptop 5, the Surface Studio 3 and perhaps even the rumoured Surface Gaming Laptop. Having been spotted on the FCC's database, details about possible design changes between the Surface Pro X and Surface Pro 9 5G have been outlined too. 4 Reviews , News , CPU , GPU , Articles , Columns , Other Not Set Default Review Flagship Review Short Review Review Update Ultra Short Review Live Default Review Live Flagship Review First Impression Review Other Review Smartwatch / eBike / Camera Comp. Accessory Review Game Benchmark Review 3D Printer Review Analysis Default News Major Launch News (NDA) Sponsored News Special Topic News Advertorial Article Magazine Article List Article Column "or" search relation. 3D Printing , 5G , Accessory , AI , Alder Lake , AMD , Android , Apple , Arc , ARM , Audio , Benchmark , Biotech , Business , Camera , Cannon Lake , Cezanne (Zen 3) , Charts , Chinese Tech , Chromebook , Console , Convertible / 2-in-1 , Cryptocurrency , Cyberlaw , Deal , Desktop , DIY , E-Mobility , Education , Exclusive , Fail , Foldable , Gadget , Galaxy S , Gamecheck , Gaming , Geforce , Google Pixel , GPU , How To , Ice Lake , Intel , Intel Evo , Internet of Things (IoT) , iOS , iPad , iPad Pro , iPhone , Jasper Lake , Lakefield , Laptop , Launch , Leaks / Rumors , Linux / Unix , List , Lucienne (Zen 2) , MacBook , Mini PC , Monitor , MSI , OnePlus , Opinion , Phablet , Radeon , Raptor Lake , Renoir , Review Snippet , RISC-V , Rocket Lake , Ryzen (Zen) , Science , Security , Single-Board Computer (SBC) , Smart Home , Smartphone , Smartwatch , Software , Storage , Tablet , ThinkPad , Thunderbolt , Tiger Lake , Touchscreen , Ultrabook , Virtual Reality (VR) / Augmented Reality (AR) , Wearable , Wi-Fi 7 , Windows , Workstation , XPS , Zen 3 (Vermeer) , Zen 4 Ticker More details about the Surface Pro 9 have surfaced online, just a few days after rumours of the 2-in-1 featuring Intel Alder Lake-P series and Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 processors emerged. As the images below show, Microsoft has certified a 'portable computing device' with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the US, a key step towards a device's release. Predictably, the FCC does not provide too many details about the device, although Daniel Rubino of Windows Central believes that it is the Surface Pro 9 5G, the rumoured ARM-based version of the Surface Pro 9. Set to be the Surface Pro X successor, the Surface Pro 9 5G is expected to launch with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3, the same chipset found in Project Volterra. Undoubtedly, the device registered with the FCC is an ARM-based machine, seeing as it supports Qualcomm's Smart Transmit functionality. Additionally, the device features a modem for up to sub-6 GHz 5G and WiFi 6E connectivity. Reportedly, the Surface Pro 9 5G will also arrive with rounded edges than the Surface Pro X, as well as a thinner chassis. Moreover, Rubino alleges that the device could have USB Type-C ports on its left-hand side and Surface Connect on the opposite side, unlike the current Surface Pro X. Furthermore, Microsoft is anticipated to equip the Surface Pro 9 5G and its Intel-based counterpart with 120 Hz displays, mirroring the Surface Pro 8. At the time of publication, Microsoft has not commented on the date of its next hardware event. Typically, Microsoft hosts Surface hardware events in mid to late autumn, although last year's occurred on September 22. According to WalkingCat, this year's event will commence on 12:00 EST (16:00 UTC) on October 11. Supposedly, Microsoft plans to launch not only the Surface Pro 9 series, but also the Surface Laptop 5, Surface Studio 3 and perhaps even the Surface Gaming Laptop. Purchase the Surface Slim Pen 2 on Amazon Indiana's unemployment rate ticked up again to 2.8% in August, up from 2.6% in July, 2.4% in June and the historic low of 2.2% it had been earlier in the year. There were 3.401 million Hoosiers participating in the labor force in August, an increase of 7,761 from the previous month and the highest level since February 2020, when the largest labor force in Indiana history was recorded. The labor force participation rate was 63.4% in August as compared to 63.3% in July and 62.4% of people nationwide, according to the Indiana Department of Workforce Development. Indiana's labor force is the total number of people working and actively seeking work as extrapolated from a phone survey. According to the Indiana DWD, a total of 3.306 million Hoosiers were working in August, while 95,906 were unemployed and seeking work, or available to work now. Contrary to popular belief, the unemployment rate is not tied to the number of people receiving unemployment benefits, which totaled 16,409 in August. The national jobless rate was 3.7% in August, up from 3.5% in July. There are now 2.766 million Hoosiers working in the private sector, a historic peak in private-sector employment. "The best news in this report is that both the number of Hoosiers employed and the Indiana labor force as a whole continue to grow. This means more Hoosiers are taking advantage of employment opportunities that exist, said DWD Interim Commissioner Josh Richardson. While the states unemployment rate increased slightly, the number of job openings continues to exceed the number of Hoosiers looking for work, and it remains a good time for Hoosiers to find a job, or pursue training to resume or advance their careers. Private-sector employment in Indiana has risen by 81,900 year-over-year, rising by 600 jobs in August. Last month, the Hoosier state gained 4,400 jobs in trade, transportation and utilities, 2,500 in leisure and hospitality, 600 in manufacturing and 600 in private educational and health services. Indiana currently has an estimated 145,304 open job postings around the state. In Illinois, unemployment rose one-tenth of one percentage point to 4.5% in August, up from 4.4% in July, the lowest rate since the start of COVID-19 pandemic. Illinois gained 4,100 jobs in August, according to the Illinois Department of Employment Security. Last month, the state added 4,500 jobs in trade, transportation and utilities, 3,500 in construction and 1,500 in government. It lost 3,200 jobs in manufacturing, 2,600 in professional and business services and 500 in information. Illinois's unemployment rate is 0.8 percentage point higher than the national rate in August but down 1.5 percentage points from a year ago, when it stood at 6%. The increase to statewide jobs and the continued historic decrease in continued claims levels for unemployment insurance benefits point to a strengthening Illinois labor market, said Deputy Governor Andy Manar. IDES remains committed to utilizing the tools at its disposal to connect employers and jobseekers who are looking to reenter the workforce and take advantage of the job opportunities throughout the state. Sometimes it takes the funeral of a loved one for estranged family members to bury a hatchet or reconnect after too long apart. Theres nothing like a death in the family to remind us of our priorities, regardless if its the Queen of England and her royal family or commoners like the rest of us. This universal reality caught my attention last week after the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Amid the regal spectacle of her funeral proceedings, her grandsons William, the Prince of Wales, and his brother Harry, the Duke of Sussex appeared in public together after months of highly publicized tension between them. Two years ago, Harry and his wife, Meghan, stepped down as senior members of the royal family, causing a historic rift within the family monarchy. The brothers are obviously on different paths in life, with predictable tensions that come with it. Yet there they were dutifully escorting their grandmothers coffin from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall for all the world to see. And to admire. I understand that its all part of their expected royal duties amid the magnified optics of the somber situation. Yet I instantly recalled funerals Ive attended with guests who have no such high-profile responsibilities. They simply showed up to pay their respects and ended up sharing the same air space with other mourners who they hadnt spoken with for years, or possibly decades. Have you ever been in this awkward scenario? I have. At these memorials, the decedent is flanked not only by fresh flowers and old photos, but also by terse smiles and tense moments. Lets face it, the only reason some family members ever get together is for a dead body in a casket or cremains in an urn. Or possibly to show respect for surviving loved ones. Ive attended dozens of funerals for my job. Its not difficult to pick up on the quiet hostility between two sides of a family. Some of them sit on opposite sides of the funeral home, avoiding each other with calculated timing. But theyre there. On Monday, at the final service for Queen Elizabeth, her grandsons Harry and William will be there, putting aside their differences to put up a united front during the period of national mourning. Last week, the brothers joined in a walk-around to meet mourners outside Windsor. I was more interested in the broader dynamic of funerals than the actual death of Britain's longest-serving monarch. Ive never been a fan of Englands royal family and its revolving door of privileged dramas. When I heard news that the queen died, at 96, I shrugged. I didnt get emotional. I didnt mourn her death. I didnt really think twice about it. My wife, on the other hand, was upset about it the entire day and throughout the past week. She actually cried. More than once. I found this incredibly touching and incredibly... unlike my own feelings. That day, as we drove to Illinois for a concert, I insisted that we record a quick video to capture her raw emotions before they subsided. I asked her simply, What happened today? The queen died, she replied, immediately getting emotional once again. (Watch the video on my Facebook page, @JerDavich.) Tens of millions of other people around the world felt similar sadness, captured by what seemed like nonstop news cycles of every facet of the queens funeral proceedings. Hundreds of thousands of mourners waited in long lines to personally pay their respects and get a glimpse of their late queen. Media outlets dramatically explained every detail for readers and viewers, teaching history lessons we never learned in school. A horse-drawn gun carriage. A solemn salute by cannons. And a lead-lined coffin adorned with a wreath of white roses, with the queens own crown resting atop a purple velvet pillow. It was carried into Westminster Hall by eight pallbearers who placed it on a raised platform called a catafalque. Who knew? It was all so majestic. So impressive. So unnecessary. Truth be told, I was more fascinated than sorrowful. Just as I was for countless other funerals that left me more curious about the survivors than grief-ridden for the dearly departed. After Mondays final internment for the fabled queen, I wonder if William and Harry return to their separate paths in life, like most of us do. Until, that is, they reunite once again for the funeral of their father, the new king. CROWN POINT A defense attorney appeared to question Friday whether a woman acted in self-defense or engaged in mutual combat with his client, who is charged with murdering her in June 2021 outside a Gary gas station. Terry L. Thomas, 23, of Gary, appeared alongside attorney Joshua Malher for a hearing in Lake Criminal Court on Thomas' petition to let bail. Defendants charged with murder aren't afforded bail, unless a court determines after an evidentiary hearing that the presumption of guilt of murder is not strong. A person who commits voluntary manslaughter, a lesser offense to murder that involves actions taken in "sudden heat," typically is entitled to bail. Thomas and his co-defendant, Daniel L. Malone Jr., 19, of Lafayette, are accused of arguing with 31-year-old Ivana Jenkins on June 14, 2021, inside a Clark gas station, ambushing her as she exited the business and fatally shooting her. Jenkins, of Gary, collapsed in front of the gas station in the 2700 block of West Fifth Avenue and was later pronounced dead at a local hospital. Both Thomas and Malone have pleaded not guilty to murder and battery by means of a deadly weapon. Lake County Deputy Prosecutor Cole Galloway played several surveillance videos from the gas station, which showed the argument inside the business, the shooting and its aftermath. Detectives recognized Thomas and Malone in the video from previous interactions with them, but a third man with them was never identified by police, said Detective Sgt. Edward Gonzalez, of the Lake County/Gary Metro Homicide Unit. The gas station clerk told police Thomas and Malone threatened to "blow her head off" during the argument with Jenkins, Gonzalez said. When Malher asked the detective to clarify who allegedly made that statement, Gonzalez said the clerk told him "they" said it and wasn't able to distinguish between individuals. Both Thomas and Malone were carrying guns inside the gas station, the detective said. The video appeared to show Malone striking Jenkins first. She struck back, hitting him in the face with enough force to cause him to fall back. Thomas emerged from beside a vestibule at station's door and struck Jenkins in the head with a gun. She turned to defend herself from Thomas, and he shot her, Gonzalez testified. Malher asked Gonzalez if he recalled taking a statement from Malone, who accused Jenkins of striking him in the head with a cellphone. Gonzalez said he didn't recall. Malher asked if a cellphone could be considered a deadly weapon. After a tense exchange about the legal definition of a deadly weapon and Jenkins' stature, Gonzalez said Jenkins was being attacked and had a legal right to defend herself. It would be up to prosecutors to decide when to charge someone with assault with a deadly weapon, the detective said. Malher asked if a person being attacked with nondeadly force is legally permitted to return deadly force. Gonzalez said, "If they're being attacked by two individuals, then yes." Gonzalez testified police found Jenkins' cellphone near where she fell to the ground, and it did not appear to be damaged. Malone also didn't appear to have any injuries in the video, which showed he ran from the scene, the detective said. The videos also showed Thomas bending down after the shooting to pick up an item Gonzalez described as a magazine that had fallen out of a Glock handgun. Malher asked, "What indication do you have that it was not an accidental discharge?" Gonzalez said he watched the videos multiple times, and Thomas' right hand came up just before Jenkins was shot. The magazine may have fallen out because Jenkins reached for the gun during the fight, he said. Malher asked the detective to review an autopsy report, which showed Jenkins had methamphetamine in her system when she died. Gonzalez conceded that someone on methamphetamine could behave in a belligerent, irrational manner. However, he refused to agree that a person on meth would act with disregard for her own safety. In response to questions from Galloway, Gonzalez said the gas station clerk did describe Jenkins' behavior as violent. Magistrate Kathleen Sullivan was not expected to make a decision until next month on Thomas' request for bail. CROWN POINT A Dyer woman pleaded guilty Friday to reckless homicide in connection with a deadly drunken driving crash in April 2021 in Merrillville. Lori L. Garrett, 61, admitted in her plea agreement she struck pedestrian Jason Hudock on April 23, 2021, at U.S. 30 and McKinley Street in Merrillville. Hudock, 42, died at the scene as a result of his injuries. If Lake Criminal Court Judge Natalie Bokota accepts Garrett's plea agreement, Garrett could face a sentence of one to six years. She agreed to successfully complete an alcohol program as a condition of probation, records show. Garrett pleaded guilty to reckless homicide, a level 5 felony, and misdemeanor operating while intoxicated. In exchange for her pleas, Lake County prosecutors agreed to dismiss several level 4 felony counts, including causing death when operating while intoxicated and leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death or catastrophic injury. Merrillville police found Garrett parked near U.S. 30 and Merrillville Road after the crash, according to court records. She admitted she spontaneously told an officer she "hit a deer or someone else" and "only had a few drinks earlier in the day." Police obtained a warrant for a blood draw, which showed Garrett had a blood alcohol content of 0.15. The legal limit for driving in Indiana is 0.08. Garrett's sentencing was scheduled for Dec. 2. GARY Franciscan Health has awarded Habitat for Humanity of Northwest Indiana a $10,000 grant to support the construction costs of a Habitat home in Lake County. The grant funds will help with construction costs for a safe, affordable Habitat home in Lake County. Habitat for Humanity of Northwest Indiana works to stabilize struggling, working families through its homeownership program. After a partner family is approved, they are expected to complete a 40-hour financial education course and 300 "sweat equity" hours helping build their home. Once they move in, the partner family will begin monthly payments on their zero percent mortgage. "Owning a home has major effects on a family, like creating self-reliance, reducing stress and improving overall health. We're grateful for this grant to be put towards our mission of helping a family achieve affordable homeownership," said Dawn Michaels, executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Northwest Indiana. CROWN POINT The city is hiring firefighters and police officers. Crown Point Fire Rescue is doing an emergency hiring process to bring more on more firefighters/paramedics. The department is seeking candidates who are licensed paramedics, certified firefighters and eligible for the 1977 PERF pension. In Crown Point, firefighters/paramedics get a 90-day probation pay of $59,000 a year and a 2022 salary of $64,000 a year, which will be bumped up to $70,000 next year. Firefighters work a 24/48 schedule with 10 paid holidays a year, double time and a half holiday pay and an $800 annual uniform allowance. Other benefits include medical insurance, city-paid life insurance and a 457 retirement fund match. "Crown Point Fire Rescue takes pride in its firehouse culture, focusing on health and wellness; service; training; special teams; community; and above all, family," the city said in a press release. The Crown Point Police Department also is seeking applications for new police officers and is planning to conduct interviews in October. Candidates must be between 21 and 39 years of age and have a driver's license and high school diploma. No previous law enforcement experience is required. Pay starts at $59,033.52, and officers become eligible for $67,466.88 after 90 days of probationary field training. Officers work 12 hours shifts with two-month rotations from days to nights. They get take-home vehicles with off-duty driving privileges and clothing allowances of $1,300. Other benefits include medical insurance, city-paid life insurance and holiday pay of double time and a half. Crown Point police are looking for officers to serve in its K-9 unit, school resource officer program, motorcycle division, bicycle division, SWAT, drone team, honor guard and South County Crash and Reconstruction Team. For more information or to apply, visit crownpoint.in.gov. PHOTOS: Crown Point hosts Chesterton in boys soccer Uploaded-images 091522-spt-bso-che-cp_7 Chestertons Matteo Guerrero (5) moves the ball against Crown Points Harris Proudman (16) in the first half at Crown Point High School Wednes Uploaded-images 091522-spt-bso-che-cp_3 Chestertons Michael Shumate (6) tries to stop Crown Points Harris Proudman (16) in the first half at Crown Point High School Wednesday night. Uploaded-images 091522-spt-bso-che-cp_5 Crown Points Brayden Kurtz (8) takes the header over Chestertons Michael Shumate (6) in the first half at Crown Point High School Wednesday night. Uploaded-images 091522-spt-bso-che-cp_2 Chestertons Cal Stuckert (25), Michael Shumate (6), Zarek Sferzai (14) and John Kovalan (16) go up to stop Crown Points Carter Beckman (3) i Uploaded-images 091522-spt-bso-che-cp_4 Crown Points Carter Beckman (3) throws the ball in against Chesterton late in the first half at Crown Point High School Wednesday night. Uploaded-images 091522-spt-bso-che-cp_9 Crown Points Conner Stone (6) passes the ball off against Chestertons Will Auricchio (23) and Sebastian Kogl (9) in the first half at Crown Uploaded-images 091522-spt-bso-che-cp_8 Crown Points Joey Hase (22) and Trevor Peal (2) pressure Chestertons Cal Stuckert (25) at Crown Point High School Wednesday night. Uploaded-images 091522-spt-bso-che-cp_6 Crown Points Carter Beckman (3) tries to stop Chestertons Gage Torres (13) in the first half at Crown Point High School Wednesday night. Uploaded-images 091522-spt-bso-che-cp_1 Chestertons John Kovalan (16) takes the header over Crown Points Conner Stone (6) in the first half at Crown Point High School Wednesday night. web-galleryhtmlcode WESTVILLE Bestselling author Elizabeth Gilbert, whose Eat Pray Love became a hit movie, urged listeners to step outside their comfort zone and let curiosity and creativity win over fear. Thats one of the life lessons she told the crowd gathered at Purdue University Northwest in Westville. Her presentation kicked off this seasons Sinai Forum lecture series. I think our brains are engineered by fear, where fear tells us dont do anything new because I dont know how it will end, she said. My curiosity is just 1% bigger than my fear, and thats all you need, she said. Battling fear isnt easy for her. When Gilbert finished her 10th book, her most recent, she had the same fear reaction as with the first, she said. Gilbert spoke at length about her desire to make real connections with people during a book tour, practicing what she preached in her book. Am I really authentic? Because what Im asking people to do is take a risk and do something that makes them incredibly vulnerable, she said. I was going on the biggest book tour of my life, and I was going to interact with literally thousands of people, Gilbert decided. So she decided on an interpersonal art project in which the medium was other human beings. My art project was that I was going to make a concerted effort to meet every single person I met, to truly connect, to have life meet life, she said. I decided that the way I was going to do that is I was going to find one question, and then I was going to ask that same question to every single person for six months. That was harder than it might sound," she said. When people greet strangers, they often ask, Where are you from? and What do you do? Neither question offers much information about who the person really is, though, she said. If she tells someone shes from Connecticut, you see their mind go blank, and you try to decide what that means. Gilbert decided to skip the small talk and go straight into the heart of who a person is. What are you most excited about in your life right now? she asked thousands of times on her tour. Some of the responses are memorable. The first day of that six-month book tour, Gilbert was up at 4 a.m. to prepare for an appearance on a morning news and talk show. The first person she met was the stations makeup artist, who had no interest in Gilbert. Gilbert followed her books advice to live from curiosity rather than fear and popped her excitement question. Her entire countenance changed, and she lit up like she was just excited, and she said, They just found water on Mars, Gilbert said. How did we go from dead silence to suddenly theres water on Mars in 3 seconds? The makeup artist then taught Gilbert more about space travel than she ever expected to learn. The makeup artist explained the discovery of water on Mars changes the story of humanity. During her lifetime, she might be able to help colonize another planet. She was so alive to her own life in that moment, Gilbert said. So when Gilbert did the interview on the show, she was excited herself. Often, people are like storybook illustrations that you walk past. Its when you interact in a meaningful way that they come to life. When Gilbert asked her question, one person gave a surprising answer. Thirty years ago when I was newly married, I had a baby and my baby died, her driver said. She said, It was the most horrible, devastating experience of my life, and I never thought Id survive it, Gilbert said. This is the danger of intimacy. This is the danger of curiosity, Gilbert told the audience. Where was the womans story headed? The grieving mother said she walked around like a cardboard person. She became an honorary aunt of a neighbors child. Then the child grew up and had a baby that died soon after birth. Gilberts driver was the only person the newly grieving mother would let into her life. They shared their grief. Healing is happening, and connection is happening and humanity is happening, Gilbert said. I had no idea this was going to open that kind of thing. Asking what excites somewhat is dangerous. This question is like a nuclear missile. Am I responsible enough for this question? In London, a taxi driver responded, Why would you ask somebody that? He hadnt seen his family in five years. He was deeply offended, Gilbert said. If I could have backed up more into the corner of the cab, I would have. It ended in someone taking offense and in me being deeply apologetic. Still, Gilbert urged her audience to live life fully and not retreat into a shell. It is not easy to live a life based on curiosity and not fear. It will always push you to the edge, she warned, but the results are worth it. To get meaning out of life, look inward and not be focused on seeking validation from others, she advised. I dont need for us to be OK for me to be OK, she said. If I need for us to be OK, Im not going to be OK. That doesnt mean that Im not involved in trying to transform the world in ways that line up with my values, Gilbert added. According to the American Library Association, attempts to ban books in the United States surged last year to the highest level since the organization began tracking book challenges 20 years ago. And those fights only seem to be escalating in 2022: so far this year, there have been attempts to ban or restrict access to 1,651 different titles. In an article from July, The Spread of Book Banning, Claire Moses explains the increasing politicization of the book banning debate via a Q. and A. with two reporters, Alexandra Alter and Elizabeth Harris, who cover the publishing industry. In the short piece, she speaks to them about what is behind this trend: Claire: How did book-banning efforts become so widespread? Alexandra: Weve seen this going from a school or community issue to a really polarizing political issue. Before, parents might hear about a book because their child brought a copy home; now, complaints on social media about inappropriate material go viral, and that leads to more complaints in schools and libraries across the country. Elected officials are also turning book banning into another wedge issue in the culture wars. Last fall, a Republican representative in Texas put together a list of 850 books that he argued were inappropriate material in schools and included books about sexuality, racism and American history. In Virginia, Gov. Glenn Youngkin campaigned on the issue by arguing that parents, not schools, should control what their children read. Democrats have also seized on the issue through congressional hearings about rising book bans. And, sometimes, the disputes have spilled into something more menacing. The Proud Boys, the far-right group with a history of street fighting, showed up at a drag-queen-hosted story hour for families in a library in San Lorenzo, Calif. Why do parents and conservatives want these bans? Alexandra: For some parents, its about preventing kids from reading certain things. Others want to introduce certain topics like L.G.B.T. rights or race to their children themselves. A lot of the people Ive spoken to say they dont consider the bans they want to be racist or bigoted. They say the books contain specific content that they feel isnt appropriate for children, and theyll sometimes point to explicit passages. But librarians we speak to say that the most challenged books around the country are basically all about Black or brown or L.G.B.T. characters. In Texas, residents sued a library after a library official took books off the shelves based on a list from an elected official. They werent all childrens books; the list included Ta-Nehisi Coatess Between the World and Me and How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi. Its hard to disentangle the banning surge from other conservative efforts to use the government to limit expression, including what critics call Floridas Dont Say Gay law. Those are all movements that have overlapped and spurred book-banning debates. Elizabeth: Book banning is part of a wider political context right now, of extreme polarization, of heightened political tensions and the amplification of certain messages by the kinds of media social or otherwise that people consume. Has any banning effort stood out to you? Elizabeth: In Virginia Beach, a local politician sued Barnes & Noble over two books, Gender Queer, a memoir by Maia Kobabe, and A Court of Mist and Fury, a fantasy novel. This lawmaker wants Barnes & Noble to stop selling these titles to minors. The suit probably wont succeed. But its an escalation: The issue went from people thinking their children shouldnt read certain books to trying to stop other peoples children from reading certain books. The death of Queen Elizabeth II has been remarkable for many things: The outpouring of love and affection from her citizens and across the globe; the 20-hour, through-the-night queue to shuffle slowly past her coffin as it lay in state; the virtual cessation in Britain of reporting on any other news. But there has been another remarkable feature of the last 10 days, culminating in Mondays funeral: the choreography. From the moment a palace official placed a discreet death notice with precision on the railings of Buckingham Palace to the Lord Chamberlain breaking his wand of office over the coffin in the final moments of the interment ceremony on Monday afternoon, every public event around the queens death has unfolded with an astonishing amount of formal, choreographed movement. Britain buried Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II was buried in St. Georges Chapel at Windsor Castle, next to her husband, Prince Philip. It concluded the period of official mourning a time of unifying grief and disorienting change. The state funeral began with a majestic service at Westminster Abbey. International dignitaries and about 200 people who had performed public services joined members of the royal family. The queens coffin then moved through London in a procession as tens of thousands of people watched. They dont make them like her anymore, one woman said. She was a one-off. The funeral closed with a more intimate service and private internment. Before the final hymn, the crown jeweler removed the imperial state crown, the orb and the scepter from the queens coffin and placed them on the altar. The lord chamberlain broke his wand of office and placed it onto the coffin, a symbol of the end of his service, to be buried with the sovereign. The furnace, heated to 1,500 degrees Celsius, was glowing red. Workers at the Arc International glass factory loaded it with sand that slowly pooled into a molten mass. Nearby on the factory floor, machines transformed the shapeless liquid with a blast of hot air into thousands of delicate wine glasses, destined for sale to restaurants and homes worldwide. Nicholas Hodler, the chief executive, surveyed the assembly line, shimmering blue with natural gas flames. For years, Arc had been powered by cheap energy that helped turn the company into the worlds largest producer of glass tableware and a vital employer in this working-class region of northern France. But the impact of Russias abrupt cutoff of gas to Europe has doused the business with new risks. Energy prices have climbed so fast that Mr. Hodler has had to rewrite business forecasts six times in two months. Recently, he put a third of Arcs 4,500 employees on partial furlough to save money. Four of the factorys nine furnaces will be idled; the others will be switched from natural gas to diesel, a cheaper but more polluting fuel. Its the most dramatic situation we have ever encountered, Mr. Hodler said, shouting to be heard over the din of clinking glasses. For energy-intensive businesses like ours, its crippling. When the Dutch government announced plans in June to reduce certain greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 70 percent, farmers erupted in protest. The change requires sharply cutting the waste produced by livestock operations, potentially forcing some of them out of business. They clogged traffic on highways with their tractors, dumped manure in the streets and set bales of hay on fire. The demonstrations were covered extensively by the conservative news media in the United States, with outlets like Breitbart and Fox News describing how the farmers were staging their own versions of this years freedom convoys of Canadian truckers who were opposed to mandates for coronavirus vaccines and other Covid-19 policies. But beneath the headlines, in some of the darkest corners of the internet, disinformation researchers and State Department officials who monitor online propaganda saw the Dutch protests as feeding a troubling new conspiracy theory: Western nations are trying to impose mass hunger, and induce submission, by restricting and hoarding the worlds food supply. And the new environmental regulations in the Netherlands, according to the conspiracy theorists, are part of a wider plot by liberal policymakers to use climate change as a ruse to seize control of the farming industry. Nissan has voluntarily recalled more than 203,000 of its pickup truck models because of a defect that can cause the vehicles to roll away while in park, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said. More than 203,000 Nissan Titan and Frontier vehicles with nine-speed transmissions are involved, according to a report this month from the administration. The affected vehicles were produced between Dec. 13, 2019, and Aug. 25, 2022. The vehicles are in markets in the United States, Canada and Mexico, said Stephen ONeil, a Nissan spokesman. Nissan will send owners of affected Titan and Frontier vehicles a letter with an invitation to repair when a final remedy plan is available, he said. President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine met with Laurence D. Fink, the head of BlackRock, the worlds largest manager of assets, to discuss how to attract investment in the countrys war-ravaged economy. In a videoconference, the two discussed how BlackRock, which oversees $8.5 trillion invested all over the world, could provide pro bono advice to the Ukrainian government on setting up a reconstruction fund in support of the recovery of the Ukrainian economy, according to a statement released on Monday by Mr. Zelenskys office. (The call was held Thursday.) The fund would be arranged for both public and private investors to participate in reconstructing and rejuvenating the market economy in Ukraine, the statement said. Weve shown that we know how to win on the battlefield, Mr. Zelensky said in the statement. Another important task for us is to achieve victories in the economy as well, and to be an attractive country for investors. The advice would be provided by BlackRocks Financial Market Advisory team, which works with financial institutions, regulators and governments, and is separate from the companys investment management business. Alain Tanner, a pioneering director in the Swiss New Wave movement that took off in the 1970s, known for his cerebral, left-leaning films that challenged bourgeois complacency, died on Sept. 11 in Geneva. He was 92. His death, in a hospital, was confirmed by the Association Alain Tanner, a Geneva-based group that preserves and promotes his work. Growing up in Switzerland, surrounded by France, Germany, and Italy with their rich cinema traditions, Mr. Tanner went on to be a founder of the so-called Group of 5, norm-shattering Swiss directors who helped drive a new form of national cinema. His best-known films tended toward a stark neorealism, laced with incisive dialogue and an arid wit, and often centered on characters struggling against conformity. Looking back on his career in his later years, Mr. Tanner said he was proud to have been part of a generation that strove to shake the social order. First of all, the work force in New York City is much smaller than it was in February 2020, so thats contributing to the labor shortage. The pandemic prompted a lot of workers to retire early or move out of the city. When I interviewed workers here who lost their jobs early in the pandemic and were still unemployed, they shared a wide variety of reasons for being pickier in their job search now. Child care is a big one. Some single mothers are prioritizing finding a job closer to their childrens schools because the pandemic has been so disruptive to in-person schooling and has required more frequent pickups. Others are quitting jobs where they decided the commutes were too long. And we also spoke to people who refused to be vaccinated and were unable to work certain in-person jobs that had employer vaccine mandates. You write that things dont look good for job growth in hotels and restaurants. How does that tie in with expectations for tourism, which was a big part of the citys economy before the pandemic? If you walk around Times Square, it definitely feels like the tourists are completely back. But the mix of visitors is different. Levels of business and international travel are still lower than they were before the pandemic, which is a problem for New Yorks economy because those visitors tended to stay longer and spend a lot more money than domestic visitors or regional day-trippers. So its not surprising that a majority of the jobs lost in the private sector were in the hospitality and retailing industries. That points to the lopsidedness of New Yorks recovery. Hospitality and retailing have long been a way for younger people, immigrants and residents who dont have college degrees to enter the work force. As New York struggles to find housing for a wave of migrants, Mayor Eric Adams is seriously considering housing them on cruise ships a proposal that homeless advocates have called insulting and alienating. Mr. Adams defended the idea on Monday and said the city was looking for creative ways to address a humanitarian crisis. He said the city would make an announcement once the plans were finalized. Were not going to leave any stone unturned, he told reporters on Monday. The Adams administration has been working behind the scenes on the plan to use cruise ships an idea that former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg considered in 2002 when he struggled to respond to a homelessness crisis, and that advocates for the homeless opposed at the time. The mayors chief of staff, Frank Carone, has spoken with leaders of Norwegian Cruise Line, a major cruise ship company, to discuss the possibility of housing asylum seekers on one of its ships, according to someone familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter. Mr. Carone stayed on one of the companys cruise ships in Normandy, France, last month, as part of the administrations research, the person said. Mr. Carone said that the city generally paid for his trips when they were for city-related business, though there were exceptions. The government of South Korea paid for his trip to that country; he added that he sometimes pays for his travel himself. Mr. Carone has also met with business leaders who want to run casinos in the city, including Rob Goldstein, the chief executive of Las Vegas Sands, and Steven A. Cohen, the hedge fund manager and Mets owner, according to his detailed schedules, which were recently released through a Freedom of Information request by The New York Times. His schedules revealed that Mr. Carone met frequently with the citys elites at Casa Cipriani, a private club on the water in Lower Manhattan where he is a member. He also had lunch on June 2 with Philip Banks III, the deputy mayor for public safety, and Patrick J. Lynch, the president of the Police Benevolent Association, at the Odeon restaurant near City Hall. Mr. Carone said that he pays for his membership at Casa Cipriani and for all of his meals at nice restaurants, adding there was no reason to eat poorly while doing the citys business. Mr. Adams noted in an interview that Mr. Carone had worked on major projects like bidding on the Democratic National Convention in 2024 and repairing a dilapidated waterfront stretch of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. In the day-to-day madness, someone needs to be looking at those big-ticket items, Mr. Adams said. The mayor said that he had asked Mr. Carone, a trusted friend and longtime adviser, to help him get his footing as mayor and to get some Ws under our belt, in reference to wins. Hes been a stable voice and a stable hand during emergencies, the mayor said. Hes the first person I speak with in the morning and the last person I speak with at night. The trial of Thomas J. Barrack Jr., an informal adviser to former President Donald J. Trump accused of acting as an unregistered agent of the United Arab Emirates, could shed light on how foreign governments jockeyed for access to the Trump administration efforts that may have created lucrative opportunities for businessmen close to the White House. Jury selection for the trial, which is expected to last into October, began Monday in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn. Prosecutors have accused Mr. Barrack a Los Angeles-based private-equity investor of using his sway with Mr. Trump to advance the interests of the Emiratis and of serving as a secret back channel for communications without disclosing his efforts to the attorney general, as the government contends he should have. While Mr. Barrack served the Emirati government, prosecutors say, he was also seeking money from the rulers for investment funds, including one that would support projects to boost Mr. Trumps agenda and benefit from his policies. In 2019, prosecutors say, Mr. Barrack repeatedly lied to the F.B.I. about his activities. Mr. Barrack has denied wrongdoing. In court filings, his lawyers have suggested that prosecutors delayed charging him until Mr. Trump left office and said the charges were not supported by facts. A spokesman for Mr. Barrack declined to comment. Our international rules-based order through which the worlds nations pursue global peace and development is crashing into the limits of its founding vision. What our predecessors built some eight decades ago, after the Second World War from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund to the United Nations is in desperate need of repair. But it remains essential, and salvageable. For billions of people, the stakes could not be higher. This is painfully true for the people of Ukraine, where Vladimir Putin continues his malevolent invasion of a sovereign nation and subversion of international law. Its also true across the Global South, where I believe our global development finance system has proved outdated, outmoded and outmatched. We must reform the architecture of our global order the blueprint for our system of international relations and development finance. Group of 7 countries, major global-development organizations and big global foundations remain too uncomfortable, too unwilling, to expand their range of funding and planning partners, especially stakeholders from the Global South. Many of us assume that our so-called expertise is more valuable or relevant than the experience of the communities affected by todays crises. To the Editor: Re Quiet Quitting Is Not the Solution to Burnout, by Laura Vanderkam (Sunday Opinion, Sept. 18): Ms. Vanderkam misses another key alternative to quiet quitting: returning to the office. Weve always had burnout, and returning to the office wont solve that for everyone. But part of the burnout were feeling is a lack of stimulation. My job is fully remote, but I recently started at a co-working space to break up the monotony of working from home. Even my bike ride to and from work is the active, effortful break I need to engage more meaningfully in my work. Im jealous of the people who have an office to return to, and managers who are encouraging them to come back in. Its an opportunity that Id certainly take. Abigail Conyers Boulder, Colo. To the Editor: So You Wanted to Get Work Done at the Office? (Business, Sept. 12) says office distractions are detrimental to productivity. Thats right, but working at home can be unproductive, too. Really? Were supposed to believe it will be easier to bring Republicans on board after the election? If the Democrats retain the Senate postelection, Republicans will have little reason to vote against their base. If the Republicans retake the Senate, theyll have less incentive still. Please. This just makes things easier on Republican lawmakers: A vote would force them to dissatisfy either swing voters, with whom same-sex marriage is highly popular, or their extremist base, with whom (to put it mildly) it is not. Easier for Republicans to scurry away from a proposal thats politically risky, just as they did earlier last week with Lindsey Grahams unpopular bill on abortion. And theyre doing this at the expense of the many Americans in same-sex relationships married, engaged or on the cusp of commitment for whom this just makes life harder and more precarious. This is exactly the moment to hold Republicans feet to the fire. Its the moment for those Republicans who are in favor of gay marriage to stand up for what has become a clear majority position in the country, or to cave spectacularly to the prejudices of their base. As Senator Elizabeth Warren put it: Every single member of Congress should be willing to go on the record. And if there are Republicans who dont want to vote on that before the election, I assume it is because they are on the wrong side of history. Maybe they are, and maybe they arent. They could be true believers, or they could simply be selling their souls in the interest of staying in office. But those who do support gay marriage need to act. Particularly given the ominous words of Clarence Thomass concurring opinion on Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization, which many interpreted as a threat to revisit the landmark 2015 decision establishing the right to same-sex marriage. If that right is no longer settled law, as had previously been assumed, its certainly a settled moral principle. Over the past seven short years and following the course of many long ones, same-sex marriage has reached the status of a basic and bedrock civil right. Currently, 71 percent of Americans support same-sex marriage. This not only includes the vast majority of Democrats but, as of 2021, 55 percent of Republicans, according to Gallup. That is the definition of bipartisan consensus. The worlds largest body of physicists admitted on Monday that a report it had issued seven months ago contained errors that downplayed the effectiveness of a novel plan for shooting down missiles. The American Physical Society published the 54-page report in February. It assessed the overall feasibility of thwarting missile strikes and concluded that a proposal that the United States use drones to shoot down North Korean missiles faced very difficult challenges. The group sent the report to Congress and officials in the Biden administration as part of the societys long history of providing guidance on cutting-edge weapons to defense policy decision makers. Three months later, in May, the group pulled the document from its website, saying in an online note that the report was under review by its authors and would be re-posted when available. The note gave no reason for the withdrawal. But the scientists who proposed the drone idea say the reason was errors in the societys technical analysis of the concept, which the society acknowledged on its website Monday but has yet to detail or explain. Dr. Valery Polyakov, a physician and astronaut who held the world record for consecutive days spent in outer space, 437, has died. He was 80. Russias space agency announced the death without specifying when or where it occurred or the cause. Dr. Polyakov took off for the Russian Mir space station on Jan. 8, 1994, and returned to Earth 437 days, 17 hours and 38 minutes later, on March 22, 1995. He had orbited Earth 7,075 times and traveled nearly 187 million miles, according to the New Mexico Museum of Space History. A specialist in space medicine, he had volunteered for the mission to prove that the human body could survive microgravity long enough to reach Mars, Wired magazine reported in 2010. He worked out while in space and returned looking big and strong like he could wrestle a bear Wired quoted the American astronaut Norman Thagard as saying. Rather than be carried out of his capsule on his return, Dr. Polyakov walked on his own strength, sat down, stole a cigarette from a friend and began sipping brandy, according to The Story of Manned Space Stations: An Introduction, by Philip Baker. The malady of election denialism in the U.S. has become one of the most dangerous byproducts of social media, the report warned, and it is past time for the industry to do more to address it. The major platforms Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and YouTube have all announced promises or initiatives to combat disinformation ahead of the 2022 midterms, saying they were committed to protecting the election process. But the report said those measures were ineffective, haphazardly enforced or simply too limited. Facebook, for example, announced that it would ban ads that called into question the legitimacy of the coming elections, but it exempted politicians from its fact-checking program. That, the report says, allows candidates and other influential leaders to undermine confidence in the vote by questioning ballot procedures or other rules. In the case of Twitter, an internal report released as part of a whistle-blowers complaint from a former head of security, Peiter Zatko, disclosed that the companys site integrity team had only two experts on misinformation. The New York University report, which incorporated responses from all the companies except YouTube, called for greater transparency in how companies rank, recommend and remove content. It also said they should enhance fact-checking efforts and remove provably untrue claims, and not simply label them false or questionable. Its been unexpectedly short, but also, Im happy that this is the way that its ending, Primack said before the show, seated in his dressing room surrounded by a red Upstate & Chill sticker, the book Creativity, Inc., by the Pixar Animation co-founder Ed Catmull, and a closet cracked open to reveal a rack of striped blue polos. In an interview before that performance, and then in a brief conversation afterward he had an after-party to get to, after all! Primack, who grew up in Scottsdale, Ariz., reflected on being the final actor to play Evan on Broadway, how his own experiences with bullies informed his performance and whether Evan is a good person. These are edited excerpts from the conversations. You clearly had a lot of supporters in the house tonight. Who all did you invite? My whole family my grandparents, my whole team, some of whom had never seen me perform before. And my teachers from high school are here. Were you a fan of the show before you were cast? I remember staying up until midnight knowing that the cast recording was going to come out, not even knowing what the show was about. I had heard Waving Through a Window and I was intrigued. I begged my mom to come to New York to see it, and I saw it with the original cast and got to meet Ben [Platt] afterward. I remember saying to all my friends, I would love to be in this show more than anything, so closing it feels like coming full circle. Whats the most challenging part of the show? The last 30 minutes, Evan gets to a real desperate and ugly and scary place that every night is a challenge. He is at a point where he will really do anything. Whats the best advice a former Evan has given you? Just breathe. Because youre out there by yourself a lot of the time in these really dark scenarios, your mind can wander into really dark places. In a remarkable reversal, Adnan Syed walked out of prison on Monday for the first time since he was a teenager, having spent 23 years fighting his conviction on charges that he murdered his former high school girlfriend, a case that was chronicled in the first season of the hit podcast Serial. Judge Melissa M. Phinn of Baltimore City Circuit Court vacated the conviction in the interests of justice and fairness, finding that prosecutors had failed to turn over evidence that could have helped Mr. Syed at trial and discovered new evidence that could have affected the outcome of his case. Prosecutors have 30 days to decide if they will proceed with a new trial or drop the charges against Mr. Syed, who was ordered to serve home detention until then. Prosecutors said that an investigation had pointed to two possible alternative suspects, although those individuals have not been named publicly or charged. But his aides ignored him and now he finds himself without the power of the presidency, staring at a host of prosecutors and lawyers who have him and his associates in their sights. Some of the issues at hand go back years, but many of the seeds for his current legal jeopardy were planted in those frenetic final days in office when he sought to overturn the will of the voters and hold onto power through a series of lies about election fraud that did not exist. Many Americans could be forgiven if they have lost the thread of all the investigations amid the blizzard of motions and hearings and rulings of recent weeks. But they essentially break down this way: New York State Long before he became president, by many accounts, Mr. Trump played it fast and loose in business. The question is whether any of that violated the law. For years, according to his own associates, he inflated the value of his various properties to obtain loans. Letitia James, the New York State attorney general, has been examining his business practices for more than three years to determine if they constituted fraud. When she summoned Mr. Trump to testify in a deposition, he invoked his Fifth Amendment right not to respond to questions on the grounds that his answers might incriminate him more than 400 times. Mr. Trump has assailed Ms. James as a partisan Democrat who is coming after him for political reasons. As a candidate in 2018, she was an outspoken critic of Mr. Trump, calling him an illegitimate president and suggesting that foreign governments channeled money to his familys real estate holdings, which she characterized as a pattern and practice of money laundering. But Mr. Trumps lawyers recently sought to settle the case, which could indicate concern about his legal risk, only to have their bid rejected by Ms. James. On Wednesday, she filed a civil lawsuit accusing the former president of fraud. Manhattan The Manhattan district attorneys office, now led by Alvin L. Bragg, has looked into some of the same issues as part of a criminal investigation and is about to bring the Trump Organization, the former presidents family business, to trial on charges of fraud and tax evasion starting on Oct. 24. WASHINGTON White House officials told the military that they were concerned about its efforts to spread pro-American messaging on social media, prompting the Pentagon to order a review of secretive operations to influence populations overseas, U.S. officials said. The review follows a decision by Twitter and Facebook over the summer to shut down misleading accounts that they determined were sending messages about U.S. foreign policy interests abroad. The Pentagon audit and White House concerns were first reported by The Washington Post. Disinformation researchers said the campaigns largely fell into two camps. Most of the campaigns spread pro-American messages, including memes and slogans that praised the United States. Those programs were similar to how Beijing often spreads disinformation by seeding positive messages about life in China. One campaign targeting Iran, however, spread divisive messages about life there. The accounts involved pushed out views that both supported and opposed the Iranian government. That disinformation effort resembled the methods used by Russia to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Representative Steny H. Hoyer, Democrat of Maryland and the majority leader, has been pushing for a vote on the measure this week, a second person familiar with the talks said. Yet time is running short for Democrats to act before the midterm elections, in which Republicans have once again made crime a major point of attack. With the legislation languishing, vulnerable Democrats are losing out on a potential political boost from passing a pro-police bill. There is little time remaining before November to campaign on such a vote or to produce an advertisement attempting to claim credit. Republicans have tried for years to portray Democrats as soft on crime and bent on defunding the police a mantra that many progressives embraced amid a series of high-profile cases of excessive violence by law enforcement, particularly against people of color. The Republican criticism has sharpened around election time, including in recent weeks, as gas prices have fallen and the party has searched for other ways to tarnish Democrats in the eyes of suburban voters, such as spotlighting the dysfunctional immigration system and the continuing toll of inflation. How Times reporters cover politics. We rely on our journalists to be independent observers. So while Times staff members may vote, they are not allowed to endorse or campaign for candidates or political causes. This includes participating in marches or rallies in support of a movement or giving money to, or raising money for, any political candidate or election cause. Learn more about our process. Before the 2018 midterm elections, President Donald J. Trump branded Democrats the party of crime, even though crime rates had risen in cities with leaders of both political parties. Since 2019, murders have spiked by nearly 40 percent, and violent crimes, including shootings and other assaults, have increased overall. The drama that is playing out now is the latest chapter in a long-running fight about the issue among Democrats. After the partys disappointing results in the 2020 midterm elections, as Democrats bickered internally about what had gone wrong, Ms. Spanberger privately vented her frustration about progressive colleagues who had embraced the defund the police movement, arguing that Democrats had to push back much more forcefully against Republican efforts to caricature them as anti-law enforcement. At the time, progressives including Ms. Jayapal angrily rejected the criticism, arguing that they had helped to turn out the partys liberal base by speaking to the issues that animated core supporters, including people of color, allowing Democrats to hold the House majority. Global players gather to map out future of smart industries Approved by the State Council, the 2022 World Manufacturing Convention is to open on Tuesday in Hefei, capital of East China's Anhui province, aiming to map out a new future for smart manufacturing through the cooperation among global manufacturers, in an effort to create a better future for the world. The four-day gala, which also aims to deepen manufacturing ties between Anhui and the outside world, is expected to draw some 800 important guests, including around 200 foreign representatives. With the theme of "manufacturing for the world, creating a better future," the convention is to be held both offline and online. With a special exhibition area of 74,000 square meters at the Hefei Binhu International Convention and Exhibition Center, the convention covers a series of sessions, including an opening ceremony, keynote forums, project matchmaking activities and parallel forums. Its exhibitions will be divided into two spheresgovernment-led exhibitions and market-oriented exhibitions. With the help of the annual WMC, Anhui has witnessed steady progress in bolstering the high-quality development of its manufacturing industry over the past four years, largely boosting the province's manufacturing power, said Niu Nutao, director of the Anhui Provincial Department of Economy and Information Technology. Niu said that in the past 10 years, Anhui has cultivated 14 industries worth 100 billion yuan ($14.5 billion) each and 15 national new-type industrialization demonstration bases. There are five enterprises in Anhui with operating income exceeding 100 billion yuan each and 50 enterprises each with 10 billion yuan in operating income, he said. Besides eight enterprises being included in the top 500 enterprises in China, he said, Conch Group also ranked 315th on the Fortune Global 500 List of 2021 while Tongling Nonferrous Metals Group has been part of the Fortune Global 500 List for three consecutive years. Party Secretary of Anhui, Zheng Shanjie, called for further elevation of the WMC platform to boost industrial innovation and keep abreast of emerging industries and core technologies. It is also imperative to improve the internationalization of Anhui's cities and boost the pilot free trade zone in the province and elevated the level of opening-up to the outside world, thus moving toward a modern and beautiful Anhui, Zheng said. Anhui Governor Wang Qingxian noted that technological innovation is an outstanding advantage in Anhui's development, and it is necessary to take investment and project management as the core of economic work in the province. "Let more and more entrepreneurs and investors feel the sincerity and kindness of Anhui, which is a hot land for market players," Wang said. The convention is co-sponsored by the Anhui provincial government, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Science and Technology, State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council and some other agencies. The government-led exhibitions will showcase the achievements of the nation's manufacturing industry, the manufacturing industry in the Yangtze River Delta, and the manufacturing industry in Anhui. Meanwhile, a group of complete machine exhibits showcasing the leading level at home and abroad will also be displayed. In the market-oriented exhibition area, the 2022 China International Mechanical and Electrical Products Fair & Advanced Manufacturing Expo, the 2022 China Anhui International Plastics Industry Expo, and International (Hefei) Energy Conservation and New Energy Automobile Exhibition will make an appearance. And so, in the wake of Hurricane Fiona, most Puerto Ricans face the daunting prospect of spoiled food and medication, sticky nights and the other familiar risks and indignities of being plunged into darkness. They are somewhat better equipped this time because those who could afford generators bought them after the Hurricane Maria fiasco. But that came with its own dangers: Officials on Monday said a man died while trying to operate a generator. His wife suffered severe burns, but survived. In the Dominican Republic, the storm killed at least one person, a 68-year-old man who was hit by a falling tree in the northern province of Maria Trinidad Sanchez, according to local media. As Hurricane Fiona moved westward, it battered the eastern provinces of the Dominican Republic, home to one of the largest tourism industries in the Caribbean. Heavy rain and 90-mile-per-hour winds set off mudslides that shuttered resorts and damaged highways, officials said. The storm is expected to pass near the islands of Turks and Caicos on Tuesday before strengthening at sea into a major hurricane a Category 3 or higher by Wednesday, the National Hurricane Center said. It is not forecast to approach the East Coast of the United States. As the eye of Hurricane Fiona barreled west into the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico was left early Monday with a knocked-out energy grid, widespread flooding and heavy rains. SALINAS, P.R. Hurricane Fiona deluged Puerto Rico with unrelenting rain and terrifying flash floods on Monday, forcing harrowing home rescues and making it difficult for power crews to reach many parts of the island. Now the island is once again in darkness, five years after Hurricane Maria inflicted more damage on Puerto Rico than any other disaster in recent history. While Fiona will be the direct culprit, Puerto Ricans will also blame years of power disruptions, the result of an agonizingly slow effort to finally give the island a stable grid. Hurricane Maria, a near-Category 5 storm, hit on Sept. 20, 2017, leaving about 3,000 dead and damaging 80 percent of the system. The last house was not reconnected to the system until nearly a year later. Hurricane Fiona, with far less ferocious winds, is the strongest storm to reach the island since. Its copious rains on Sunday and Monday more than 30 inches in some areas in southern Puerto Rico and its central mountainous region caused the islands vast lattice of canals and creeks to swell, turned entire streets into muddy rivers and forced the rescues of more than 1,000 people. At least one person died, while operating a generator, while another death was recorded in the Dominican Republic. Image Ana Medina Cardona with her dog, Famy, at a shelter in Salinas, P.R. The storm brought rain through her tin roof, which had been repaired after Hurricane Maria. Image Taking shelter at the Carlos Colon Burgos School in Salinas. Ive never seen this in my life, not even in Maria, said Ada Belmot Plaza, who had to be rescued by the Puerto Rico National Guard as waist-high floodwaters rose outside her daughters house in the El Coqui neighborhood of Salinas, on Puerto Ricos southern coast. Some Puerto Ricans said Hurricane Fiona took them by surprise, and many in the hardest-hit areas were still waiting for government help on Monday as neighbors came together to clear fallen trees from roads and remove debris from homes. Gov. Pedro R. Pierluisi urged people to stay indoors. He said he expected most electricity to be back up in a matter of days. By Monday morning, power had been restored to some 100,000 customers, out of 1.5 million. The federal government paid $3.2 billion to patch up the islands electrical grid in Hurricane Marias wake. But that was just to get the power back on; Congress earmarked an additional $10 billion to modernize the antiquated and inefficient system. The Puerto Rico government and the fiscal board appointed by Congress to oversee the islands finances required that the power transmission and distribution system be privatized after deeming the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, which is bankrupt but continues to run power generation, to be ineffective. Funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency will finance any new upgrades. In 2020, Puerto Rico awarded a 15-year contract to LUMA Energy, a private Canadian-American consortium, for a fixed annual fee of $115 million. After taking over in June of last year, the company quickly struggled with rolling summer blackouts. There was an islandwide outage in April, with no bad weather in sight. Image The La Plata River in Cayey, P.R. And so, in the wake of Hurricane Fiona, most Puerto Ricans face the daunting prospect of spoiled food and medication, sticky nights and the other familiar risks and indignities of being plunged into darkness. They are somewhat better equipped this time because those who could afford generators bought them after the Hurricane Maria fiasco. But that came with its own dangers: Officials on Monday said a man died while trying to operate a generator. His wife suffered severe burns, but survived. In the Dominican Republic, the storm killed at least one person, a 68-year-old man who was hit by a falling tree in the northern province of Maria Trinidad Sanchez, according to local media. As Hurricane Fiona moved westward, it battered the eastern provinces of the Dominican Republic, home to one of the largest tourism industries in the Caribbean. Heavy rain and 90-mile-per-hour winds set off mudslides that shuttered resorts and damaged highways, officials said. The storm is expected to pass near the islands of Turks and Caicos on Tuesday before strengthening at sea into a major hurricane a Category 3 or higher by Wednesday, the National Hurricane Center said. It is not forecast to approach the East Coast of the United States. In Puerto Rico, overflowing waterways and the loss of power caused pumps to fail, leaving 70 percent of households and businesses that rely on the public water and sewer system without potable water. Mr. Pierluisi said he had been coordinating with the White House to receive assistance. President Biden issued an emergency declaration on Sunday, unlocking federal funding and FEMA support. Mr. Biden called Mr. Pierluisi from Air Force One as the president flew back from the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in London, according to the White House. Image Floodwaters in Salinas. More than 30 inches of rain fell in some areas of southern Puerto Rico and its central mountainous region. Image The Category 1 storm hit five years after Hurricane Maria devastated the island. States also lined up to send mutual aid. New York said more than 100 Spanish-speaking members of the State Police would help clear streets, direct traffic and respond to other needs in Puerto Rico. Most customers who had electricity on Monday, including a couple of hospitals, were in the San Juan metropolitan area, which was spared the worst of Hurricane Fionas rains. The damage from Fionas floodwaters is expected to be vast in the billions, Mr. Pierluisi estimated a sobering reminder that a storms categorization under the Saffir-Simpson scale considers its maximum wind speeds, but not its rainfall or storm surge potential. In the town of Cayey, residents had to clear out the mud after the La Plata River surged and almost completely submerged a two-story house. A temporary bridge erected over the Guaonica River in Utuado buckled, its demise captured on dramatic video as rushing waters and debris washed it away. The bridge was put up after Hurricane Maria to connect devastated neighborhoods in the area, and a new, permanent bridge was scheduled to go up in 2024. In Santa Isabel, on the southern coast of the island, Itzamary Alvarado said she had more water in her house than during Hurricane Maria. Government officials, she said, should have given the public more warning about Hurricane Fiona, which had initially approached the island as a tropical storm. I think the government minimized what was going to happen, Ms. Alvarado said. I found out it was a hurricane at 11 a.m. on Sunday, so I left everything and ran to the supermarket. I had not prepared for a hurricane. Image More than 1,000 people were rescued from this weeks storm. For her and many others, the storm was a test of whether the government response to disasters would be better after Maria. We have been struggling for five years and see the same conditions from the government in the management of emergency situations, Ms. Alvarado said. Its frustrating. But she suddenly had a sign that things were changing for the better: Trucks from Puerto Ricos power company, LUMA, appeared on her street. A LUMA brigade just drove by my house, she said. Ive never seen that before. Comparisons to Hurricane Maria were inevitable, from both residents and officials. The islands hospitals were running on backup generators, in stark contrast to 2017, when many lost power, damaging medical equipment and leaving hundreds of sick patients dangerously at risk. About 75 percent of cellphone towers were still functioning after the storm passed, compared with the near-total signal wipeout five years ago. Mr. Pierluisi stressed that officials were still in the rescue-and-response phase of the emergency and had not begun to assess the scale of the damage, or determine the islands path to recovery. Still, he said, the local governments response had so far been exemplary compared with what happened after Maria. Maria served as a lesson, an exercise for our emergency response teams at all levels, Mr. Pierluisi, a member of the pro-statehood New Progressive Party who took office in 2021, said in a news conference. In terms of the coordination weve seen, theres a big difference. Image Samira Rivera Rosa, 19, an aesthetician student, found her business flooded. Image Heavy rain near Ponce, P.R. Hurricane Maria, which struck within weeks of Hurricane Irma in 2017, laid bare the tenuous state of the islands aging, poorly maintained infrastructure. Its powerful winds, with gusts exceeding 100 m.p.h., destroyed thousands of homes and wiped out the islands agriculture and access to communications. Recovery was painfully sluggish, and the lack of potable water, fuel and food supplies in the wake of the storm prompted an exodus of tens of thousands of residents to the United States mainland. Public fury bubbled up at the governments response to the storm. In 2019, a grass-roots movement channeling the anger formed, fueling a popular uprising in 2019 that lasted 15 days and caused former Gov. Ricardo A. Rossello to step down. Puerto Ricans remain skeptical of their leaders abilities to respond to disasters. In Salinas on Monday, Ana Medina Cardona, 74, said government reconstruction contractors had repaired a section of her tin roof that was torn apart by Hurricane Maria. On Sunday, rain started pouring through that repaired roof while she was home with her dog, Famy. It seems they didnt do a great job, because water was coming down the walls, Ms. Medina Cardona said. This time around, it was even worse than in Maria. She waited in a shelter to hear if the water had receded enough for her to return home. But she was unconvinced it was her best option. If we can go back, she said, that also means going back there to a house without power. Image Kayaking through the flooded streets of the Playita community in Salinas. Reporting was contributed by Grace Ashford , Holga Enecia Perez, Luis Ferre-Sadurni , Christine Hauser , Charo Henriquez , Anatoly Kurmanaev , Edgar Sandoval and Daniel Victor . To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android. Trauma shoves a mind into overdrive. The brain tries to block out fragments of disaster: the spray of shattered glass as one car slammed into another, the smell of smoke. People with post-traumatic stress disorder sometimes constrict their lives, avoiding streets or smells or songs that make them think about what theyve experienced. But memories make themselves known in nightmares, flashbacks, and intrusive thoughts. Since PTSD was first included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in 1980, clinicians have identified a handful of therapies that help people cope with traumatic memories. Over the past decade, a seemingly unconventional treatment has wedged its way into mainstream therapy. Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy, better known as E.M.D.R., might look bizarre to an observer. The practice involves coaxing people to process traumatic memories while simultaneously interacting with images, sounds or sensations that activate both sides of the brain. Patients might flit their eyes back and forth, following a therapists finger or stare at bursts of light on alternating sides of a screen. The idea is to anchor the brain in the current moment as a patient recalls the past. It was the first known prisoner exchange between the United States and the Taliban since the group seized power in Afghanistan last year. The deal may bolster pragmatists within the Taliban leadership who have frequently clashed with the groups top ideologues over the new governments willingness to moderate on key policy issues like allowing girls education in order to meaningfully engage with the international community, analysts say. This is tangible delivery for Taliban diplomacy and may counterbalance against some of the more isolationist factions particularly in Kandahar who just dont see a point in speaking to foreigners, said Graeme Smith, a senior consultant for the International Crisis Group who focuses on Afghanistan, referring to the southern heartland of the Taliban. Once listed by the United States as one of the worlds most wanted narcotics dealers, Mr. Noorzai was a prominent drug baron in Kandahar Province for decades. He earned a reputation in the 1990s as a major financier of the movement and a trusted associate of Mr. Omar, the groups founder. After the United States invaded Afghanistan in 2001 and toppled a previous Taliban government, Mr. Noorzai repositioned himself as an asset to American forces. He delivered U.S. troops huge caches of weapons the Taliban had stashed across the province, promised to use his influence among his southern tribe to stabilize the region and became known as one of Kandahars most prominent power brokers. But within months, his relationship with the Americans soured and he fled to neighboring Pakistan where he continued in the drug trade. In 2005, he came to New York to meet with U.S. officials who claimed the United States was interested in speaking with him about terrorism financing. But the meeting was a trap, he later testified. He was arrested 11 days later. Upon his return to Afghanistan on Monday morning, Mr. Noorzai was greeted by a large crowd of Taliban security forces, dressed in black, who draped strings of brightly colored flowers around his neck as he shook their hands triumphantly, a video showed. Four Ukrainian health care workers were killed on Sunday when Russian forces launched an attack during an evacuation of psychiatric patients from a hospital in Kharkiv Province in the northeast of the country, according to the head of the regional military administration, Oleh Synyehubov. The attack in the village of Strilecha, which lies north of the regional capital and near the Russian border, is the latest in which health care workers have been killed or injured since Moscows invasion began in February. Russians opened massive fire during evacuation, Mr. Synyehubov wrote on the Telegram social messaging app. Unfortunately, four health workers were killed and two patients injured. Only a few dozen of the more than 600 patients at the facility had been evacuated, he wrote. His post did not give further details and it was unclear whether the attack involved artillery or missiles. CHASIV YAR, Ukraine On a clear spring morning eight years ago, Oleksandr Khainus stepped outside his house to go to work at the town factory when he spotted new graffiti scrawled across his fence. Glory to Russia, vandals had written in angry black spray paint. Putin, another message said. Mr. Khainus was perplexed. It was true that Chasiv Yar, the Rust Belt-like town where he has spent his entire life in a region called the Donbas, had long contained many conflicting opinions on its identity. Geographically, the Donbas was part of Ukraine, no question, but it was so close to Russia and so tied to it historically that many maintained that their true home really lay eastward. It was the type of stuff youd argue about over the dinner table, he said. But nothing that anyone would get violent over. LONDON Shortly before 4 p.m., Queen Elizabeth IIs coffin will arrive at Windsor, the turreted castle where she spent most of her final days, quarantining during the coronavirus pandemic. In April 2021, she buried Philip, her husband of 73 years, in an austere funeral at St. Georges Chapel in Windsor that was memorable for poignant images of the queen, isolated and masked, as she sat alone in a choir stall. But this funeral will see full pomp and pageantry as the hearse rolls up the tree-lined vista known as the Long Walk. Once inside the chapel, there will be yet another service. At its end, the imperial state crown, the orb and the scepter gleaming symbols of the monarchy will be taken from the queens coffin, where they have sat since last Wednesday, and placed on the altar. With that bit of imperial business completed, the coffin will be lowered into the royal vault, and the television cameras switched off. Her interment, next to Philip, in the King George VI Memorial Chapel, is a private ceremony for her family. Mondays service is the first time cameras will be allowed into the funeral of a British monarch. In 1952, King George VIs funeral procession but not the service itself was broadcast on television. The New York Times will feature a livestream of the main events. The broadcast will be shared as widely as possible with international affiliates; American outlets like CNN will show it. The BBC will stream the procession from Westminster Hall, the funeral and the committal service at St. Georges Chapel in Windsor Castle on television and on the BBC website. In Canada, CBC said it would livestream the funeral, and in Australia, it will be live on ABC. LONDON Tens of thousands of people gathered on Monday in Hyde Park to watch Queen Elizabeth IIs funeral, video of which was displayed on large screens. They sat on camping chairs, blankets, ladders and stools, brought their own breakfast or bought sausage and fish and chips from the several food trucks installed for the occasion. The initial festival-like atmosphere became somber when the service at Westminster Abbey started, with the huge crowd watching in silence. They also recited the prayers along with the congregation. I have cried my eyes out all the way through, Jess Parsons, 36, wrapped in a British flag, said as she watched the funeral. Ms. Parsons now lives in Paris, but she came back to London just for the funeral. She said she stayed up until early Monday morning distributing tea and coffee to people in The Queue who were waiting to view the queens coffin at Westminster Hall. They dont make them like her anymore, she said, referring to the queen. She was a one-off. Maxine Harris and her friend Ellie Curran, both 28 and wearing black, came to Hyde Park and joined a thunderous applause when the screen showed the funeral procession while the sound of cannons resonated in the air. Buckingham Palace officials have detailed minute-by-minute plans for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II on Monday. Here are some of the key events. In the morning, heads of state and foreign royals will gather at the Royal Hospital Chelsea, a home for retired soldiers in West London. From there, they will travel together to Westminster Abbey. At 6:30 a.m. local time (1:30 a.m. Eastern), the doors of Westminster Hall, where the queen had been lying in state, closed to the public in preparation for her coffin to be moved to the abbey for her funeral. The abbey will open at 8 a.m. for invited attendees. A procession will accompany the queens coffin from Westminster Hall to Westminster Abbey at 10:35 a.m. The route will be lined by members of the Royal Navy and the Royal Marines, and the procession will be led by about 200 musicians, including the pipes and drums from the Scottish and Irish Regiments. The carriage will be followed by King Charles III and members of Britains royal family. After 175 years as Africas oldest independent Republic, Liberians have poignantly realized the stark reality of the nations abject underdevelopment, in comparison to other relatively younger African countries, in terms of their independence. As a result, most Liberians have resolved and are more ready than ever before to radically break with the decadent, ugly past in effectively utilizing Article One (1) of our Constitution, to put LIBERIA on a transformative path of comprehensive national development. And so, for those who are still not yet aware, the Global Gongloe Movement is an Article One Project, with Counselor Tiawan Saye Gongloe as the indisputable Project Manager. According to the very first article of the 1986 Liberian Constitution, All power is inherent in the people. Is that not clear and unequivocal enough? The constitutional scholars emphatically declared that collectively, we--the Liberian people--are the original source of all power that our politicians so brazenly exercise, often with utter arrogance and indifference to the plight of the very people. Remember, our constitutional gurus did not say some power. Instead, they concisely noted that the people are the ultimate origins of all power. Perhaps to disabuse the cynical minds of all the political doubting Thomases, Article One further declares, All free governments are instituted for their benefit and they have the right to alter and reform the same when their safety and happiness so require. As the sages have told us from millennials, you can fool some of the people some of the time, but you cant fool all of the people all the time. And so, for 175 years, Liberians have been patiently and eagerly waiting to reach the covetous, highly anticipated developmental Promised Land, but decades after decades, the undesirable outcome of our epic patience, the dividend of our patriotic yearning, of our resilience, our perseverance and fortitude has unfortunately been one leadership mishap after another, a dismal phenomenon shrouded in arrogance and fueled by bad governance. For example, in the early 1940s, then incumbent President Edwin James Barclay, after spending 14 consecutive years in the Executive chair, pleaded with aristocrats of the erstwhile ruling True Whig Party to draft his nephew-in-law, then Associate Justice William V.S. Tubman as his successor and on January 3, 1944, Tubman was enthroned as a fresh face from the so-called leeward county. Of course, the appalling result was 27 years of socio-economic, and political inertia, characterized by the insidious usurpation of the inherent peoples power, exemplified by the shameless removal of the 8-year presidential term limit in the 1847 constitution. When the Liberian people began to boldly resist Tubmans enigmatic autocracy, he resorted to terroristic tactics and bloodletting that victimized several innocent souls, culminating in the murders of Senator Samuel David Coleman and his son in 1955. Now, fast-forward to the aftermath of the 14-year fratricide during which Liberians were cajoled to draft a political celebrity, so as to get the job done by laying a formidable foundation for the countrys long overdue developmental leap. Again, Liberians waited and waited to get to the developmental mountain top, but pathetically, it turned out to be a fiasco. When the political celebrity faltered, a few compatriots with no known credibility, concocted to ride on the popularity wagon of yet another celebritya sporting celebrity with no known commitment to fundamental democratic principles for, as is now notoriously known, egregious reasons. In other words, overnight self-enrichment was the primary motivation for the clique that brought us to the prevailing status quo. It is against this debilitating backdrop of chronic under-development that the Global Gongloe movement, which has identified Counselor Tiawan Saye Gongloe as the best-suited Project Manager to put Liberia on a forward-looking developmental trajectory, has emerged to resolutely utilize the very first article of our Constitution in putting the eminent human rights jurist in the Executive chair. Even though Im not sufficiently fluent to convey the impetus of Liberians gravitation towards the movement, the foregoing basically sums up the rapid upswing in what some pundits are now labeling as the Tiawan Gongloe factor in the 2023 presidential election. In the anticipated election of 2023, we as a people, have an obligation to robustly prove Mr. David Park right. Mr. Park, then Director of Public Affairs at the United States embassy in Monrovia, once declared in 1996 that There are more good people in Liberia than bad people, adding at the time, Its time for the good people to win. Indeed, the philosophical splendor and altruism of Mr. Parks assertion remain unchanged. That is, there are actually more good peoplepeople who really mean well for the Liberian nation; people who yearn for a day when public funds would be scrupulously expended for the benefit and well-being of the Liberian people; people who wish and anticipate that most, if not all of those basic human development fundamentals, such as better road networks, better health posts, clinics, hospitals; better schools, colleges, and universities, safe drinking water, reliable electricity system, youth empowerment, agricultural development, mainstreaming local entrepreneurship, etcbe available and accessible--are more abundant in Liberia than bad people, who naively delude themselves that theyll live forever and are, therefore, foolhardily bent on stealing the taxpayers' money without any remorse of conscience. Unfortunately, however, the problem is that over the years, the good people, who are clearly in a majority, have allowed themselves to be manipulated, to be hypnotized and hoodwinked by kleptocratic villains; to be outmaneuvered by scoundrels, by con artists who somehow consider Liberia as their personal property, by thieves who are bent on callously ripping the country of its resources for self-enrichment. Now after all those disastrous turns of event, whereby political celebrity and a sporting celebrity have all been tried with dismal results, Liberians have now resolved to try what has all along been lackingINTEGRITY. Its against this backdrop that forward-looking compatriots from the territorial confines of Liberia and those currently residing abroad have resolved to draft Counselor Tiawan Saye Gongloe, the gentleman who is an embodiment of those crucial leadership acumens that Liberia urgently needs, to occupy the Executive chair following the 2023 presidential election. Interestingly, as the Gongloe movement rapidly gains traction, some cynics have been attempting to devise a new set of political caste systems in Liberia. Prior to 1980, the decadent caste system used to be based on ones last name or segmental background. But now, the sentiments are being switched to a sort of bank-book caste system. Such regressive sentiments hold that even though Counselor Gongloe possesses the requisite qualification, competence, orientation and character traits, or moral rectitude to get the job done, he doesnt have money, because the man is a poor mans lawyer. My response to that is, historically, some of the most successful leaders were not among the richest of their time. In the days of old when the Pharaohs of ancient Egypt were among the wealthiest souls on this planet, Moses a leader emerged who succeeded in enabling the Israelites to cross the Red Sea. Certainly, Moses was not among the most opulent in ancient Egypt when God selected him to lead his people. Joshua was not a millionaire when he emerged and led the Israelites to the Promised Land. In our own time, after spending 27 years in apartheid South Africas penitentiary, the venerable Nelson Mandela was not the richest among his compatriots when he became President of that great nation in 1994 and coincidentally, Tiawan Saye Gongloe as a United Nations election observer, was one of the democratic activists from around the world who helped usher in the Mandela administration. Even in the United States, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the only black man whose birthday is currently observed as a Federal holiday, was not among the richest of his time when he led the Civil Rights movement. In other words, Gongloe is admittedly not a millionaire, but hes best suited to put Liberia on a comprehensive developmental fast track. Currently, a law professor at Liberias only law school, Counselor Gongloe has a better diagnosis of the countrys perennial socio-economic, and developmental malaise. He has been reiterating that as a society, our gross inability to equally apply the rule of law with consistency is the pivotal underpinning of our abject backwardness. Now with the pathetic ineptitude and penchant for uncontrolled corruption of the Weah regime, Gongloe has not been mincing words when he says that Liberia is like a patient in an intensive care unit (ICU) in a hospital. Obviously, when a patient is in an ICU, you urgently call experts to get the job done, not quacks. In other words, because the Liberian presidency is enormously powerful, its not only prudent but also imperative to entrust our national leadership to a compatriot with an unquestionable democratic credential, not someone whose commitment to the principle of democracy and the equal application of the rule of law is unknown. And so in the 2023 presidential election, Liberians for the first time, have a clear choice between big names and honest, forward-looking leadership. Even though I might not have sufficient reasons to doubt the sincerity of other candidates in the 2023 presidential election, for the vast majority of fellow Liberians who are trooping toward the Gongloe movement, our aspirants consistency of purpose over the years stands out among the rest. Even the staunchest opponents of Counselor Gongloe will grudgingly concede that the eminent jurist has a steely will and his principle, his fortitude of fearlessly cultivating fundamental democratic tenets have been unshakable for decades. For more than three decades now, Gongloe has consistently been standing with and advocating for a cross-section of Liberians from diverse backgrounds. As a society, one of the errors in judgment of our political subculture has been our failure to elect people with known principles to occupy crucial political offices. We tend to chase shadow over substance. But in 2023, Liberians from varied socio-economic, political, religious, and cultural backgrounds have resolved to make a positive difference, by electing Counselor Tiawan Saye Gongloe as the next President, because theyre aware that the gentleman is best suited to put Liberia on the right path to comprehensive national development. Not only that hes attempting to elevate his exemplary advocacy for fundamental human rights to the apex of Liberian politics, but hes also eager and very determined to build a formidable path to the future, so as to enable Liberian youth to move forward in tandem with their global counterparts in forging a brighter future for themselves and posterity. But as Gongloe and his movement gear up for building a viable path to the future, a few people are suggesting that he should look backward and carry along political baggage of the past, a seemingly counter-productive sentiment. The harsh reality is that you cant be anticipating the erection of a vibrant future and at the same time carry over relics of the past ineptitude that actually produced the dismal status quo. Because hes conversant with the nations past deficiencies, which continue to shackle Liberias progress, Gongloe is better positioned to lay a better foundation for sustained economic regeneration. Physically, he has the toughness and agility to better cope with the rigors of campaigning in rugged terrain, because unlike some of the other candidates, he has practical experience of traversing most parts of Liberia for decades. Counselor Gongloe is better positioned to be the next President of Liberia because, throughout his 34 years of advocacy, he has been able to familiarize himself with the rich cultural mosaic constituting the socio-political fabrics of the country. Folks, Liberia needs a conscientious president who clearly understands the socio-cultural intricacies of our country, not a cultural neophyte who is very uncomfortable closely interacting with his fellow Liberians. Moreover, unlike some of the other candidates, Gongloe has never suffered from a patriotic identity disorder (PID). In other words, our presidential candidate never had any mental anguish at some point in his lifetime, whether he should identify himself as a Liberian or not; neither does he have any mild expedient nationalism syndrome (ENS). Put another way, when the going was tough, when others were faking their identity, camouflaging their nationality at the altar of multinational corporate expediency, or pretending to be Americans, Tiawan Saye Gongloe, then a human rights education fellow at Columbia University in New York City in 1990, was one of the technocrats summoned by the leaders of West Africa to serve. When the going got tough, when corpses and debris littered our cities and villages, Tiawan Saye Gongloe was one of those who ably served. In other words, he has been with the Liberian people in bad times and in good times. Moreover, folks, we need to keenly monitor the antics of the current batch of presidential aspirants. If you see a presidential candidate trying to bribe other candidates with millions of dollars to drop out of the race, thats a red flag, because it indicates that if such a person becomes president, corruption will remain unabated. Besides that, Counselor Gongloe is abundantly known, not only for getting the job done but more importantly, for getting positive results. As a Teaching Assistant in the Economics Department at the University from the early 1980s, he got positive results. As Executive Assistant to the late venerable Amos Claudius Sawyer for four consecutive years, he got positive results. As Solicitor-General of Liberia, he got positive results; as Minister of Labor, he got positive results; as president of the Liberia National Bar Association, he got positive results. As Managing Partner of Gongloe and Associates, a leading law firm in Monrovia, he continues to get positive results. Within the international arena, as a United Nations election observer in South Africa (1994), he got positive results. As Resident Consultant of the famous Carter Center in Ethiopia during that east African countrys transition (2005), he got positive results; as a Carter Center election observer in Ghana (2008), he got positive results. Even more recently as a presidential aspirant on a tour of the United States, he got positive results by meeting with top policymakers at the U.S. State Department. His State Department exploits against the backdrop that the Weah regime in Monrovia is now basically a diplomatic pariah, indicates that when hes elected President in the 2023 presidential election, Tiawan Saye Gongloe will be a crucial diplomatic asset for Liberia to regain its lost national dignity. Thats some of the reasons why hes considered the very best presidential candidate among the rest. Buckingham Palace has not disclosed the names of those who will be at the funeral for Queen Elizabeth II on Monday, but leaders from around the world are expected to be among the 2,000 mourners who are gathered at Westminster Abbey in London. Here is a look at some of those who are expected to attend. World Leaders President Biden and his wife, Jill Biden, are attending, and a host of prime ministers, including Anthony Albanese of Australia, Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand, and Justin Trudeau of Canada have said they would attend. Presidents Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil, Sergio Mattarella of Italy and Frank-Walter Steinmeier of Germany have also said they would attend. Many leaders from the Commonwealth, a voluntary collection of 56 member countries born out of the dissolution of the British Empire, are also expected to attend. They include the president of India, Droupadi Murmu, and the new president of Kenya, William Ruto. Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Unions administrative arm, the European Commission, will also make the trip. After its recent success in reclaiming territory in its northeast with a lightning offensive, Ukraine on Sunday tried to build support for holding Russia accountable for alleged war crimes. Ukraines prosecutor general, Andriy Kostin, and its ambassador to the United States, Oksana Markarova, both spoke on Sunday on American television shows about what its troops were finding as they moved into towns after pushing the Russians out. Mr. Kostin said that his office was investigating thousands of cases of possible war crimes, and that the recently uncovered evidence of mass graves in the city of Izium, which had been occupied by the Russians for months, pointed to a pattern. What we see now is, of course, the horrible amount of potential war crimes committed by Russian aggressor, Mr. Kostin said in an interview on Face the Nation on CBS. He added, And it seems that, for me, that whenever Russian Army comes, they turn this place into the new Bucha, as we see in Izium. Beijing-based technology company Kuaishou recently sparked outrage on Chinese social media after videos of digital timers over employee toilet stalls went viral online. The photos showed digital timers hanging over each cubicle and small sensors installed on the cubicle doors to trigger the timers. Chinese social media users slammed the company for monitoring and timing its office workers time in the toilet to increase productivity and its profits, with some calling the practice a breach of human rights and privacy. Some on the other hand defended the company, saying that some employees abused bathroom breaks, using it as an opportunity to waste time on their phones. Online feedback was generally negative, and eventually Kuaishou came out with an explanation to try and calm spirits. in an official press release, the online video-sharing platform claimed that the timers werent meant to limit employees toilet usage, but rather a solution to a serious toilet shortage problem. The Kuaishou office building reportedly suffers from a shortage of restrooms, and because of its layout, new facilities cannot be constructed. The company says it decided to install the the timers, which also work as counters, to see how many people used a cubicle and for how long, in order to determine how many portable toilets needed to be installed to accommodate its staff. Although the explanation does make some sense, many social media users were not convinced, with some claiming that the company was only interested in increasing its profits by any means necessary. Employee toilet use monitoring is not unheard of in China. Hong Kong-based Apple Daily reports that one company in Shanghai limits employees toilet use to a total of 10 minutes each day, while others monitor how much time employees spend in the bathroom. A Chinese company has come under fire for fining lazy employees who take more than one toilet break per day. Anpu Electric Science and Technology, a Chinese corporation based in Dongguan, Guangdong province, admitted to enforcing a bizarre once-a-day toilet break policy and fining employees who break it with 20 yuan ($3). According to notices issued by the company and leaked on social media by disgruntled employees, at least seven staff members were penalized on December 20 and 21. The rule has sparked outrage online, but company officials explained managements decision to create the bizarre rule by saying that many employees were lazy and used toilet breaks to smoke and avoid their duties. Photo: Jasmin_Sessler/Pixabay We are helpless. The fact is that the workers are lazy at work, a company manager, surnamed Cao, told Guangdong TV. The management talked with those workers many times, but didnt achieve a positive result yet. Cao added that the toilet break-limiting rule was deemed a better alternative to firing staff, because finding new workers would have been more difficult. He also clarified that offenders had not been asked to pay the 20-yuan fines, instead the amount was deducted from their monthly bonuses. Interestingly, accordingly to company policy, workers wanting to take more than one toilet break a day, have to register with their boss before visiting the restroom, which only enraged Chinese netizens even more. However, there were some people who actually sympathized with the company. Photo: Giorgio Trovato/Unsplash They are forced to do this, one person commented on Chinese website 163.com. Some employees use the toilet for too long and use it frequently. It will no doubt hurt the companys productivity. However, most people blasted Anpu Electric Science and Technology and its management, calling the rule exploitative and humiliating. What era is it? The freedom of going to the toilet has become a luxury, one Weibo user lamented. Photo: Ian Kirkland/Unsplash News of the toilet-break penalty caught the attention of the Dongguan Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau. Officials there have started an investigation into the matter, but they have already told Chinese publication The Paper that the rule was illegal. Apparently, toilet breaks are a serious issue in China, with private companies taking all sorts of weird measures to keep the time spent by staff in the restroom to a minimum. Last year, we wrote about a corporation that had installed timers on bathroom stalls, and SCMP reports that in 2018, tech giant NetEase spent 2 million yuan to block internet service in its bathrooms. Finn Partners has acquired Georgetown-based Winston Agency, a purpose and sustainability advocacy shop, a move that powers the number of staffers in the independent firm's social impact group to about the 100 mark. Bess Winston launched her firm in 2013 after senior VP stints at Golin and Ogilvy PR. She also was PR director-finance & economics for the Cayman Islands and deputy chief of staff for Illinois Democratic Congressman Bobby Rush. She will become Finn's senior partner for global purpose and social impact in the DC region. WA will be rebranded "The Winston Agency, a Finn Partners Company," and its people will move into Finn's Washington office early next year. Winston will work closely with Jessica Berk Ross, managing partner of Finn's PA practice, and Gil Bashe, global health & purpose chair. WA represented clients such as World Bank Group, Avery Dennison, Meals on Wheels, Northrop Grumman, Farmers Insurance, Global Food Safety Partnership, Amazon Biodiversity Center and Armstrong World Industries. Art Stevens of The Stevens Group represented WA in the transaction. Finn ranks No. 1 in O'Dwyer's purpose/corporate social responsibility category with $9.3M in 2021 fee income. The St. Louis Economic Partnership is looking to hire a strategic communications firm to promote diversified economic growth to advance the quality of life in the county and city of St. Louis, which has a combined population of just over 1M people. Jay Cassano Wachsman brings on Cointelegraph CEO Jay Cassano as chief growth officer. At Cointelegraph, a media platform focused on the digital asset industry, Cassano served as editor-in-dhief for one year before becoming its chief executive. He previously served as a staff reporter at Fast Company and an investigative journalist at Newsweek. In his new position, Cassano will workacross Wachsmans global network to scale new service verticals including community management, content marketing, social media services, and digital marketing to support the firms Web3 and fintech clients. Jay is an exceptional talent, possessing a unique mix of leadership and Web3 expertise, coupled with an in-depth understanding of the media and omni-channel marketing, said Wachsman founder and CEO, David Wachsman. Lindsay Farley APO Group appoints Edelman Africa head writer and content strategist Lindsay Farley as VP of editorial and content strategy. At Edelman Africa, Farley developed thought-leadership and opinion editorials for the firms technology, banking and finance, and healthcare clients. She has also worked as executive editor and senior writer for South Africa Deluxe magazine. In her new post, Farley will lead APO Groups content team in devising holistic content strategies, drafting press releases, thought leadership pieces, and other content. Lindsay has a proven track record in producing compelling content for some of the biggest brands in the world, so I know she will be instrumental in helping our clients to thrive in Africa, said APO Group founder and chairman Nicolas Pompigne-Mognard. Tomer Zuker OPSWAT, a provider of critical infrastructure protection cybersecurity solutions, hires Tomer Zuker as chief marketing officer. Zuker joins OPSWAT from robotic process automation startup Nintex Kryon, where he was also CMO. He previously oversaw partner marketing programs in EMEA for Amazon Web Services and was a business group lead at Microsoft. At OPSWAT, he will lead all aspects of the company's global marketing presence, including planning, development, and implementation of OPSWAT's marketing strategy. His expertise in sales and channel marketing will guide OPSWATs global marketing team to help the company achieve its aggressive market growth goals in 2022 and beyond, said OPSWAT founder and CEO Benny Czarny. AN architect has been appointed to design a new library and arts centre for Edenderry. A meeting of Edenderry Municipal District was told this afternoon (Wednesday, September 14) that Offaly County Council had signed a contract with a design team. The design will be done during the autumn. We're really excited about this, said Sharon Kennedy, Edenderry district manager. Looking forward to moving forward with the architects who are very delighted with the contract. Ms Kennedy said the council hopes a legacy building will be developed for the next generation in Edenderry and the wider district. It's wonderful that we've got to this point. The library and arts space will be located in the town centre at the site of the former Tesco building which was demolished this year. That will be the first phase of a major urban regeneration redevelopment project on a site off JKL Street. The entire site stretches back as far as Blundell Park and the castle ruins. Cllr John Foley welcomed the progress on the project and said it was an example of a great news story. Cllr Robert McDermott, district chair, joined in welcoming the appointment of the design team. LOCAL Offaly-based business The Factory has been shortlisted as a finalist in the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) Energy Awards 2022 for the award in the Small and Medium Business category. They are among the cohort of energy-conscious businesses, colleges and communities that have been selected for their dedication to an energy-efficient way of working. The annual awards recognise and reward excellence in sustainable energy in business, communities, research, buildings, renewables and the public sector. A total of 33 applicants across 10 categories have been shortlisted. Winners will be announced at the national awards ceremony in October, this will return in person for the first time in three years following online ceremonies during Covid. The successful finalists were chosen for their innovative sustainable energy solutions, inspiring energy action among colleagues and peers and their dedication to the climate action movement. Congratulating the entrants and finalists, Fergus Sharkey, Head of Business Supports and Transport with SEAI said: It is the 19th year of the Energy Awards and each year the SEAI team, and our external VIP Judges, continue to be blown away by the quality of entries, and the grassroots climate action underway in all pockets of our society. We received 107 entries from businesses, communities, and organisations across the country who are leading the movement, reshaping our communities and businesses, and encouraging every one of us through their action. With the urgent need to accelerate climate action in the context of energy supply constraints and rising costs, their work is more important now than ever and we hope they can provide an example to others. This years categories include Energy Team or Manager of the Year, Excellence in Energy Research and Innovation, Inspirational Energy Community, Energy in Buildings, Public Sector, Large Business, Small and Medium Business, Innovative Deployment of Renewable Energy, Transport and Residential Energy Upgrades. For more information on the SEAI Energy Awards 2022 and full details on the finalists projects, visit www.seai.ie/energyawards . The Factory is an eco-print and graphic design studio. The Factory is now generating 65% of its electricity on-site via wind and solar power. It has installed LED lighting, an air-to-water heating, a solar PV array, a small wind turbine and invested in an electric vehicle for local deliveries. Other measures implemented include a four-day work week and managing five acres of land for biodiversity. The Factory is determined to make its sustainable energy journey fully transparent, and it has shared its journey and results on social media. The data shows how small businesses can be more sustainable and the Factory wants to empower similar businesses to reduce their carbon footprint. Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin At the beginning of April 2022, the last part of the issues that have dominated the discourse on the global stage is the resignation of Brian Benjamin as Lt. Governor of New York. Benjamin resigned on April 13, 2022, after a federal court announced charges of one count of federal program bribery, one count of honest services wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit those offenses, and two counts of falsification of records on April 12, 2022. Benjamin surrendered to the FBI the same day. His case is being handled by the Southern District Court of New York. "I have accepted Brian Benjamin's resignation effective immediately," New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said on Twitter. "While the legal process plays out, it is clear to both of us that he cannot continue to serve as Lieutenant Governor." In the last few days, Benjamin, a Democrat, has come under serious pressure, while facing an investigation from the U.S. Attorneys Office, Southern District of New York. The Lt. Governor has come under severe criticism from leaders of his party with many of them urging him to resign his position. Meanwhile, Benjamin's resignation is a sharp contrast to the situation here in Liberia where public office holders, irrespective of the allegations against them, often find it difficult to resign from their positions. In Liberia, there is disregard and a glaring lack of concern about a public opinion by public office holders, elected and appointed. Political watchers say that the situation has perhaps been fueled by the refusal of the government to prosecute those who have been found wanting to serve as a deterrent. However, the situation exposes the political will to fight corruption and Liberias weak institutional structure where impunity reigns and public officers see themselves as above the law. Evidence bound across Liberia where several government officials enmeshed in fraud and misappropriation of public funds still occupying key offices or walking freely without prosecution. Senator Prince Johnson of Nimba County, Senator Varney Sherman of Grand Cape Mount County; Ministers of Agriculture Jeannie M. Cooper; Mrs. Davidetta Browne Lansanah as Chairman of the National Elections Commission (NEC); Kanio Bai Gbala, Vice Chairman of the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC); Moseray Momoh; Deputy Director for Administration at the Liberia Water and Sewer Corporation (LWSC), etc. Former President of the Liberia National Bar Association and renowned human right lawyer and presidential aspirant, a man who has helped in drafting legislation for civil service reform, local government reform, forestry reform law, jury reform, anti-press laws, code of conduct for public officials, land authority act, whistle-blower and witness protection act, Tiawan Saye Gongloe in an interview recently with Al Jazeera said corruption in Liberia is the main problem for lack of human progress and development in Liberia. Gongloe had said people who steal public money are on the streets walking free and have not been prosecuted. Gongloe has unveiled a 10-point plan for A Better Liberia Agenda and a 12-point strategy to fight corruption in Liberia, which are chief among his plans. He believes fighting corruption in Liberia will be his biggest challenge due to the characters that he wants to purge. Despite promises by President George Weah during his inauguration speech to make the fight against graft the priority of his administration, across Liberia there is growing discontent that the President is not doing enough to fulfill these promises amid allegations of corruption by top officials in the administration. For example, in 2021, the U.S. Department of the Treasurys Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned the Minister of State for Presidential Affairs and Chief of Staff to President George Weah, Nathaniel McGill. According to OFAC, During his tenure in government, McGill has bribed business owners, received bribes from potential investors, and accepted kickbacks for steering contracts to companies in which he has an interest. McGill has manipulated public procurement processes in order to award multi-million dollar contracts to companies in which he has ownership, including by abusing emergency procurement processes to rig contract bids. McGill is credibly accused of involvement in a wide range of other corrupt schemes including soliciting bribes from government office seekers and misappropriation of government assets for his personal gain. He has used government funds allocated to other Liberian government institutions to run his own projects, made off-the-books payments in cash to senior government leaders, and organized warlords to threaten political rivals. McGill has received an unjustified stipend from various Liberian government institutions and used his position to prevent his misappropriation from being discovered. McGill regularly distributes thousands of dollars in undocumented cash to other government officials for government and non-government activities. Those sanctioned by OFAC also include Sayma Cephus, Liberias solicitor general and chief prosecutor, and Bill Twehway, managing director of Liberias National Port Authority, Despite the public outcry and persecution, President Weah turned a blind eye and refused to act. Liberia should learn from the United States, our primary external partner, and respect public opinion and the rule of law. When we talk about politics & representation, the United States does better. It is, therefore, not wrong if we try as Liberians to learn from those who have gotten it right by following paths to that end. The resignation of the New York LT. Governor over allegations of bribery and wire fraud is just one of the numerous examples of people & climes who respect public opinion and fear anarchy. It is disheartening to observe the momentum of power acquisition and the sit-tight governance system in Liberia even when there is popular dissatisfaction with the regime and clear evidence of their alleged offenses. Many public officers in Liberia, at several points, have been accused of one offense or the other, but continue their tenure or in some cases, even vied for another public position. No serious President or leader will only suspend those involved in ongoing public corruption in Liberia and wait for a month for his top officials on US sanction listing to resign. The president should have fired those officials or forced them to resign effective immediately and forward their cases to the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) and the Ministry of Justice for prosecution through due process. Neither to say no serious country will accept two current senators sanctioned under the US Global Magnitsky Act, which authorizes the U.S. government to sanction those it sees as human rights offenders, freeze their assets, and ban them from entering the United States. If We mean business, the legislative branch should have started an impeachment inquiry and impeached them since those two brought public ridicule to the national legislature locally and internationally. In conclusion, impunity is a major issue that must be tackled in Liberia and political parties must be accountable and democratic in choosing their candidates. Our case of letting accused public office holders off the hook, tells a lot about a failing legal system/institution/laws, a power shift from public opinion to the hands of few public office holders, and having representatives lacking the people's trust, etc. We have a long way to go, and if we must begin to tackle good governance in Liberia, we must begin with accountable representatives not to the political parties they represent or a few groups of persons, but to the people they claim to serve. Melbourne Demons superstar Christian Petracca has been caught using some choice language to correct AFL boss Gill McLachlan's pronunciation of his name. A service of thanks for the life of the Queen will be followed by the proclamation of the new king on Sunday, as Sydneysiders.. Brisbane Times 10 Sep 2022 U.S. President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden were among the State Leaders that traveled to the UK for Queen Elizabeths funeral. And with them, they also had the famous armored limousine known as the Beast. President Biden was the only head of state who was granted special permission by the British Government to come to the ceremony using his own means of transportation. Naturally, he took the armored Cadillac k... (continue reading...) 2022 has brought environmental disaster to Pakistan as the country experienced a record-breaking heatwave in May, contributing to.. Eurasia Review 14 Sep 2022 The statement, the presidents clearest yet on the extent of U.S. support for the self-ruled island, is likely to infuriate.. Upworthy 19 Sep 2022 MBABANE SWALIMO Deputy Secretary General (DSG) Gift Dlamini and three other members of the party were attacked and assaulted during the funeral of Ntokozo Mamba. Mamba is the Swaziland Liberation Movement (SWALIMO) member who was shot dead in Durban, South Africa last Tuesday. His funeral was held yesterday morning at his home area in Mpolonjeni, Siteki, where a group of men, purportedly from South Africa, came and attempted to disturb the funeral. Confirmed SWALIMO Spokesperson Thandaza Silolo, confirmed the incident, stating that four members of the movement, including Dlamini, were attacked by the unknown men. He stated that these men were not South African, but emaSwati who resided in South Africa. He said some of them were truck drivers and some were taxi drivers in South Africa. He said these men were believed to be working with the deceased member. It was gathered that the men who attacked the SWALIMO members were heard shouting that Mamba owed them money. Silolo narrated that chaos started at around midnight, when the men arrived at Mambas place. He said following the arrival of the men, the whole vigil was disturbed till morning. He said these men would oppose everything that was being said. Silolo said the men seemingly wanted to control the funeral service of Mamba, as they claimed he belonged to them, whereas the SWALIMO leaders who were present also wanted to conduct the funeral. chaos Silolo narrated that the chaos continued throughout the night till the SWALIMO members escaped to their cars after being attacked by the SA-based men. He said the SWALIMO DSG ran to his car where he was attacked. He stated that Dlaminis car was also not spared as the window on the passengers side was broken. Silolo said the attackers took Dlaminis phone hence efforts to get a comment from him were futile. Bonsile Vilakati, who is the late Mambas mother, said she was not aware of anything that happened during the vigil, as she was overcome by emotions. She said even in the morning, she went to the graveyard with the assistance of family members. Vilakati said she did not even want to know what transpired during the night. She said what mattered to her was that her son had been buried. Despite the unsuccessful interruptions by the SA-based men, the funeral proceeded. Police were not called to the scene. Among those invited to Queen Elizabeth IIs funeral are almost 200 people who were honored for various forms of public service this year. Kyiv has said Russian missiles landed near Ukraine's second-largest nuclear power station in Mykolaiv. Meanwhile, the Baltic states and Poland have closed their borders to Russians holding visas. DW rounds up the latest. Rumble 22 Sep 2022 Roughly 900,000 people on the island were without power four days after the storm, and nearly 500,000 people did not have water.. A Russian missile struck close to a nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine without damaging the three reactors but hit other industrial equipment in what Ukrainian authorities denounced Monday as an act of 'nuclear terrorism.' The procession carrying the Queen reaches Wellington Arch at Hyde Park Corner, where the coffin is transferred to the state hearse. The feminist Indian poet and author, who writes in English, will receive the Hermann Kesten prize of the German chapter of the PEN International writers association. A community theater in Bermuda has hosted screenings of royal weddings and the queen's jubilees. On Monday, members gathered for a more somber occasion. A video of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau singing Bohemian Rhapsody just days before Queen Elizabeth's funeral kicked off a debate on social media, with some criticizing Trudeau for a lack of decorum. Rumble 19 Sep 2022 Dave Rubin of The Rubin Report talks about Jordan Peterson laying out his vision for conservatives which he has called A.. The bill authored by Reps. Liz Cheney and Zoe Lofgren is a response to protests at the Capitol over the results of the 2020 election of Joe Biden over Donald Trump. MBABANE The Eswatini Government is faced with combined lawsuits amounting to slightly over E26 million, filed by the June/July political unrest victims. Slightly over a year later, government continues to be sued by victims of the shootings that occurred in June/July 2021 as a result the political unrest. A number of members of the public, who were allegedly shot by State security agents last year and relatives of those who were shot dead, have filed demands of different amounts against government in the High Court. The amounts range from E300 000 to E5 million per individual. To date, the amount demanded from government is approximately E26 630 350 and it is set to rise, as others are seeking condonation from the High Court to sue despite being out of time in terms of the Limitation of Legal Proceedings against Government Act No.21 of 1972. There are pending applications in the High Court filed by those who want to be allowed to sue despite their failure to file their demands for compensation timeoulsy in terms of the Act. According to the Act, lawsuits against government should not be filed later than three months (90 days) of the incident. Shot The applicants include a woman whose husband was shot and he later died in hospital on July 8, 2021.Gcinaphi Tengetile Mnisi informed the court that her husband, Nkosinathi Sibusiso Shabangu, was shot on June 30, 2021 around 6pm in Piggs Peak. She said she was unable to comply with the requirements of the provisions of the Act because it took her a long time to recover from the shock and trauma of the sudden death of her husband. Mnisi submitted that she suffered from deep depression and had to undergo medical examination and monitoring. I verily accept that although ignorance of the law is no excuse, I wish to state before the honourable court that I was not aware of the provisions of the Act. I am a lay and unsophisticated person. Had I been aware, I would have made means to get the services of an attorney to issue the letter of demand on time, Mnisi pleaded. She informed the court that she was unable to secure the services of an attorney timeously to assist her to institute the legal proceedings. By the time she got assistance in securing the services of an attorney, Mnisi said, she was advised the prescribed period had lapsed. She said government would not suffer prejudice if she was allowed to serve the letter of demand because the State would still defend the claim if they decided to do so. She said the validity of the claim would be tested by the courts and the outcome could be in favour of either party. Mnisi argued that it was in the interest of justice that she be allowed access to the court for the determination of her claim. Given that I was traumatised by the untimely death of my husband and considering that the children are still young, I was confused and did not quite know what to do and how to deal with the painful experience that I found myself in, she said. Pardoned Mnisi instructed T.R. Maseko Attorneys to represent her in the matter. She wants the court to order that she be pardoned for her failure to timeously serve government with her letter of demand of the sum of E3 060 000. She basically wants the court to allow her to serve the letter of demand out of time. Mnisi said she was left alone to fend for their three children, who included a 12-month-old minor as well as an 11-year-old and a 12-year-old child. She submitted that Shabangu was solely responsible for the upkeep of the family, including his 68-year-old father. Government acknowledged receipt of the letter of demand by a letter dated January 25, 2022. Mnisi wants to be compensated for loss of support (E2.4 million), shock (E250 000), and loss of income (E250 000), among other demands. Bongani Kunene of Msunduza, Mbabane, in another matter, filed a similar application. He wants to be compensated the sum of E900 000. Currently, he has applied to the High Court to be condoned for failure to serve his letter of demand on time with the national commissioner (NATCOM) of police. Kunene told the court that on June 29, 2021, while participating in a peaceful march around Extension 3, he was shot and injured, allegedly by the police. He told the court that he had not provoked the law enforcers when the shooting happened. He said he was shot in the right leg above the knee. Kunene informed the court that he was admitted to the Mbabane Government Hospital, where he was treated and his leg was amputated. He said he used crutches for mobility after being amputated. In his application to the High Court, Kunene stated that he was unable to comply with the 90 days prescription because he was unable to get a lawyer on time. He said despite his failure to comply with the provision of the Limitation of Legal Proceedings against Government Act No.21 Act, he instructed T.R. Maseko Attorneys to put government on notice that he intended to sue. His demand includes an amount of E250 000 for disability, E130 000 for future medical costs and E120 000 in respect of temporary disfigurement, among other demands. In yet another matter, Thoba Dlamini of Mbabane alleged that he was shot by the police near Msunduza on June 29, 2021. Dlamini has instituted proceedings in court and he is demanding E3.1 million from government. He informed the court that when the police allegedly shot him, he was coming out of a friends house. He said the police allegedly shot him without any lawful justification or warning and they left him on the ground, without rendering any assistance to him. Furthermore, along the way to hospital, to which one of my friend Sandile Emmet was rushing me, we again met the police officers who shot me, they stopped the motor vehicle we were travelling in and dragged me out of it, he alleged. Assaulted Dlamini submitted that one of the police officers assaulted him all over the body with the back of a bush knife. Among the officers, who shot and tortured me, was one Nimrod, who is based at Piggs Peak Police Station, alleged Dlamini. Another man sued the Umbutfo Eswatini Defence Force (UEDF) for E3.1 million after being allegedly shot by soldiers during the same period at Mashibhini in Lobamba. He claimed to have witnessed some people being gunned down by a contingent of soldiers at Mashibhini, where he had gone to buy roasted chicken and porridge (widely known as chicken dust). He is represented by Mabila Attorneys in Association with Noncendo Ndlangamandla. A 16-year-old teenager, with the assistance of his mother, Thembi Thwala of Mashobeni South in the Shiselweni Region, is one of the victims of the unrest, who was allegedly shot by members of security forces. He is demanding E2.4 million from government and the Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS). The first person to approach the court was a 17-year-old teenager of Mbasheni, who alleged that he was shot by soldiers when he was on his way home from Piggs Peak, where he had been sent to buy a cabbage. He is demanding E4.9 million in compensation from the army. Another case is that of a man whose 54-year-old mother died after being allegedly assaulted by soldiers at Mashibhini. There is also a case of a man of Lobamba, who is suing the government for E2 million, after police officers allegedly kicked the stitched stump on his recently amputated leg. Thomas Nhlanhla Tsabedzes leg was amputated after he was shot allegedly by members of the security forces, during the countrywide protests for political change that began at the end of June 2021. Kicking Tsabedze said on August 1, 2021, at about 1am, around Mvutshini, he was at the homestead of one Matobane Tsabedze and police officers arrived and, without legal justification or cause, allegedly heavily assaulted him by kicking him on the stump until the stitches broke open, resulting in a gaping wound. The highest demand by any individual so far is E5 million, by a 27-year-old man of Maphalaleni in the Hhohho Region. Crimildio Kash was shot on June 29, 2021, allegedly by State security forces, without legal justification or cause. He alleged that his leg was amputated after the shooting. According to Kash, the incident happened at Mvutshini, in full view of members of the public. He said he was hospitalised at Mbabane Government Hospital for eight days. 2024 Watch: Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to target President Biden on Tuesday in a high-profile speech in New Hampshire over Biden's 'MAGA Republicans' rhetoric Hundreds of dock workers will launch a two-week strike from Monday in a dispute over pay, continuing industrial unrest which has hit several sectors over the summer. Rumble 26 Sep 2022 This is at least a week after her funeral, but there was a lot of talk about her faith. So today we decided to look at her faith.. Mourners who queued for hours through the night without wristbands have vented their frustrations at police after being turned away from the Queens lying in state. One in four drinkers are binge drinking, while more than half of the Irish adult population are drinking alcohol on a weekly basis, new data suggests. A New York City university announced the suspension of all of its undergraduate clubs in response to an order from the Supreme Court that required the institution to recognize an LGBTQ student group. The Yeshiva University said that it cannot recognize things at odds with its religious mission. World leaders converge on New York for the U.N. General Assembly after two years of delivering virtual speeches because of the pandemic. They'll confront the ongoing recovery from COVID-19, the war in Ukraine, climate change and more. (Sept. 19) The Dutch were a pre-eminent politico-economic and military power in Ceylon and South India in the 17 th. and 18 th.Centuries, having driven out the Portuguese from the regions lucrative spice trade. But the Dutch could not withstand the onslaught of the British when the latter made their appearance in the latter part of the... (RFE/RL) The speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives blamed Azerbaijan for the latest outbreak of fighting with Armenia, as she made a high-profile trip to Yerevan in a public show of support. Nancy Pelosi spoke on September 18, a day after arriving in the country. She is the highest-ranking U.S. official to travel to... In light of the escalating violence in Ukraine, President Joe Biden warns Russian President Vladimir Putin not to "change the face of war" by employing tactical nuclear or chemical weapons. PIGGS PEAK Thieves dared to steal green chert rocks that are being kept at the Piggs Peak Police Station. Green chert also known as green stone, is found at Malolotja Game Reserve where illegal miners usually steal it with the aim of selling it in South Africa (SA). It is usually sold for as much as E30 per kilogramme. Some of the illegal miners end up being caught and the stone ends up at the Piggs Peak Police Station, as exhibits. The theft incident is said to have happened on Saturday evening. It was gathered that the thieves cut the fence of the police station and entered near the outside toilets. The thieves then headed for a courtyard where the police normally keep exhibits. Noteworthy, there is a gate and the place was locked at the time. However, the thieves opened the gate without breaking the lock. Some impeccable sources revealed that it appeared the thieves had a key or they used a tool to open the gate. After opening the locked gate, the thieves are said to have taken the rocks. It is was gathered that they were picking the rocks and leaving them outside and then entered again to take more. However, some police officers are said to have noticed something unusual and realised that there was a break-in at the courtyard. Attempts to get the thieves to stop fleeing failed. This resulted in the police firing shots. However, this did not stop the thieves from running away and they managed to escape, but left about eight large green rocks. Armed Some of the sources said the thieves may have been armed and that there was also a vehicle waiting for them. No one was shot or arrested so far. Noteworthy, the incident happened at a time when Piggs Peak town centre, near where the police station is situated, was alive with activities due to the high number of bars. Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Superintendent Phindile Vilakati confirmed that some people entered the courtyard. They discovered that we have police officers who are very alert and they managed to stop them, said Vilakati. She said nothing was stolen in the attempt by the thieves. Warning: Graphic content Ghastly photos have emerged of Russian "torture chambers" after Ukraine liberated territories in the eastern part of the country.More than 10 "torture rooms" were discovered in various towns in the Kharkiv... HNGN 20 Sep 2022 United States President Joe Biden said that the American military will move to defend the self-governing island nation of Taiwan in.. Thousands of migrants and their supporters held rallies across Canadian cities on Sunday to call on Ottawa to extend permanent status to undocumented people. Watch VideoHurricane Fiona roared over the Dominican Republic Monday after knocking out the power grid and unleashing floods and landslides in Puerto Rico, where the governor said the damage was "catastrophic." No deaths have been reported, but authorities in the U.S. territory said it was too early to estimate the damage from... Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is not a poor boy from a poor family, but that didn't stop him from trying to sing Queen's banger of a song 'Bohemian Rhapsody' in a London, U.K., hotel piano bar Saturday ahead of Queen Elizabeth II's funeral. A Russian missile struck close to a nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine without damaging the three reactors but hit other industrial equipment in what Ukrainian authorities denounced as an act of "nuclear terrorism".The strike... A Baltimore judge on Monday ordered the release of Adnan Syed after overturning Syed's conviction for the 1999 murder of high school student Hae Min Lee a case that was chronicled in the hit podcast Serial, a true-crime series that... King Charles III has always been friendly toward the Muslim world, as seen from his various trips to countries such as Palestine, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Before his trip to the region in 2015, Charles made a real effort to learn the Arabic language for six months. He has always... Sky News 16 Sep 2022 The route that the Queen's coffin will take from Wellington Arch to Windsor Castle on Monday has been revealed - with thousands of.. MANZINI For once, the Ministry of Health and the Swaziland Demcratic Nurses Union (SWADNU), agree. The pair are in agreement in that the law should take its course subsequent to findings made during a survey, that a nurse, employed in one of the government health facilities, was bringing her own injections to a pharmacy she/he moonlighted at on weekends. Principal Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Health Dr Simon Zwane said: Any government employed pharmacy personnel found to be working in private retail pharmacies without the employers approval will be subjected to disciplinary measures. He said this when sought for comment regarding the findings of the Retail Pharmacy Survey Report. He was asked what the ministry would do next and what would happen to the civil servants, said to be bringing their medications to the pharmacies they moonlighted at. Dr Zwane said: Yes we will take to task anybody found to be involved in any illegal dealings in as far as stealing of medicines from government facilities to retail pharmacies. Illegally He said all retail or wholesale pharmacy outlets operating illegally would be dealt with in accordance with the law. The PS further explained that Cytotec was not necessarily an abortion drug. He said there were primary indications for which this drug was used and abortion was actually a side effect. Furthermore, the PS appealed to law-abiding citizens to assist the ministry to rid off this scourge, while also thanking the media for helping emaSwati in this matter. On the other hand, Secretary General (SG), of SWADNU Mayibongwe Masangane, said the law should take its course as the union advocated for transparency and accountability in the profession (nursing). Emphasising He implored nurses to work within their scope, while also emphasising that they should not delve into the black market as it would destroy their profession and their clients who were patients. Nurses should understand one thing, that stealing from government is as good as robbing yourself because the money comes from you as a taxpayer, Masangane said. He emphasised that any rot in the health sector reflected badly on the cadre as a whole and those behind any acts deviating from their oath should desist from engaging in same. Victoria Kjr Theilvig has been officially announced as Miss Grand International Denmark 2022 and she will soon travel to Indonesia for the 10th Miss Grand International pageant. Victoria Kjr Theilvig has been officially announced as Miss Grand International Denmark 2022 and she will soon travel to Indonesia for the 10th Miss Grand International pageant. The 18-year-old former elite dancer from Sborg is a woman with great ambitions. She has already completed high school, where she studied marketing and economics, and is now taking a gap year, where she works full-time with her own company. Miss Denmark Organization headed by CEO Lisa Lents made the official announcement on social media early Monday morning. An official statement read: "The Miss Grand International pageant is one of the most prestigious events of its kind and millions of people from around the world will be watching the final competition. The contestants are going to have a memorable, once-in-a-lifetime experience." Miss Grand International 2022 will take place from October 4 to 25 in Bali and Jakarta, Indonesia. The new Miss Grand Denmark, who is also a passionate dancer and a travel enthusiast, is not a stranger to pageantry, having joined Miss Denmark 2021 where she emerged as the second runner-up. Victoria describes herself as a warm-hearted, positive young woman who always wishes everyone the best. Besides that, she is extremely ambitious, and purposeful and wants to go far in life. Being comfortable in her own skin is a quality she values a lot. She wants to inspire others knowing how important it is to believe in yourself and feel confident in your own body. In addition, her heart burns for animal welfare, and her great wish is to make a difference for animals and be their voice. Photo: (Photo : S. Hermann & amp; F. Richter) According to authorities and local reports, Ares Muse, a two-year-old toddler, was reported to have left his home between 1:30 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. Monday, September 12. Inside Edition reported that an Ashanti alert was initially released to find the little boy. Trooper Eric Foster with the Oklahoma Highway Patrol confirmed that tribal, state, federal, and local agencies joined forces to look for the Oklahoma toddler along with first responders. Ares' home was on tribal land. The toddler was said to be wearing black pajamas with various colored dinosaurs. According to the father, the toddler crawled into bed with his parents, but when the couple woke up, they found out their son was gone. The father, whose name was not revealed, told the Department of Social Services that the two-year-old unlocked three locking mechanisms before he was able to leave the house. After less than 12 hours of searching, the young boy was found more than a half mile from their home but was unfortunately dead. Read Also: How to Comfort a Child Who Lost a Loved One? Toddler crawls out of bed and escapes home Jason Salsman, a spokesperson for the Muscogee Nation, said in an interview that the family and the authorities had talked all day about desiring to attain a good outcome, but unfortunately, they didn't get what they wanted. The reason for the toddler's death is still not known, but officials are conducting an investigation, and the family is also cooperating with authorities, Salsman added. Foster noted that officials received aid from many citizens wanting to help with the search operation, per Our Community Now. Escaping the house is a normal habit for children as they are still playful but parents, on the other hand, need to understand why kids like escaping the house, Dad Gold says. Another toddler, a girl, was found dead in bitterly cold weather Another toddler from New Hampshire was found dead early Monday in freezing weather just a few feet from her front door after managing to get out of the front door but sadly couldn't get back in. Newport Police Department said they received numerous 911 calls around 7:10 a.m. regarding an unresponsive little girl who was not breathing. When authorities arrived at the two-story residence, they pronounced the young girl dead. According to the investigation, the family identified the victim as Sofia Van Schhoick. Sofia had left their house alone and could not get back in. Police Chief James Burroughs said that when he checked the temperature at the scene, it was eight degrees below zero. Burroughs later added that the child died from "exposure to the elements and hypothermia which are consistent with the autopsy results." Burroughs believed the incident was accidental but didn't believe it was too hard for the child to get out of their house. Lindsay Van Schoick, the toddler's grandfather, said that the family was still processing the tragic incident and trying to understand what happened, says AP News. Related Article: Woman Stabs Boyfriend and Cut One-Year-Old Baby in Domestic Attack The image of Absa Bank's Managing Director, Abena Osei-Poku, gliding along the busy and complex streets of Ghana's capital city, in search of her customers, is not unfamiliar to many. At the start of this year, it was Abena who took to the streets of Kantamanto, sliding her way through thick crowds, and into the shops of her clients. Next, she sat and interacted with them; find out their challenges and key needs. These visits usually end with a message of acknowledgement and appreciation for their business and a pledge to resolve outstanding issues. Earlier this week, Abena was a familiar sight once again. This time it was to the busy Makola shopping district where she got the chance to engage three SME clients involved in the sale of different goods. It was vintage Abena; always interested in knowing what the key economic challenges are, how her clients are handling the pressure and what she can do to ease their pain points. The conversations drifted towards familiar territory of access to funds at convenient rates and the flexibility of the banks services and product offerings. Abena was pretty much upbeat about the customers and their enthusiasm. She also took the opportunity to highlight the bank's strong focus on supporting local SME businesses across different sectors of Ghanas economy. SMEs, undoubtedly, are the backbone of economic transformation in Ghana. They contribute more than 80% to socio-economic growth and Absa's strong footing in that space is a key part of the bank's success, after only two years of existence in the country. A lot of thinking has gone into the banks positioning in the eyes of SME businesses. For example, a recent partnership with the Mastercard Foundation has transformed access to finance for most of these SMEs, especially the ones owned by women in the country. The Mastercard Foundation agreement has opened doors for Absa, leading to a relationship with the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA), which now makes it possible for SMEs to access up to GHS1m collateral-free loans from the bank. What is significant about this offering is that it fits into the perfect circumstance of these businesses, many of whom are trying to find their feet amidst the pandemic and general macroeconomic challenges. If the pandemic taught us nothing, it highlighted a return to prudence by banks in terms of lending. This makes Absa Bank a desired destination for SMEs due to its readily available funds. The clients were encouraged by Abena's presence and expressed gratitude for the relationship, most of whom have been with the bank for decades, during the erstwhile Barclays era. Sharing her thoughts after the visits, Abena said: "Our clients and customers matter to us because they are the reason for our existence. We are a bank that is excited by the role SMEs play in economic growth and how we are positioned to support and empower them. It is a strong commitment for us, and we shall continue to look for new and dynamic ways to help them grow. Staying in touch with our customers has become a part of our culture and I am happy to be leading by example." Absa Banks unique focus on SMEs and a digital-first approach to banking is winning many businesses to its stable. Despite the myriad of challenges faced by most businesses last year, Absa emerged as the most profitable bank in Ghana with a 55% rise in profit before tax and a 17% increase in total revenues. It also became the first bank in the history of the country to cross GHS1 billion in general profitability. Absa is a bank that has constantly trotted to the rhythm of it own beat and has over the years, delivered the goods to show for it. A strong focus on SMEs is a stroke of inspiration; especially as the current landscape has shown, and Abena is not resting on her laurels to reinforce this. 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. Featured Video MANZINI Government has unearthed serious rot when it comes to the trade of some pharmacies in the country, as contained in Retail Pharmacy Survey in May 2022. Some of the rot includes nurses working for government and then doing private work on the side, where they also moonlight using their own medication, abortion pills being sold over the counter, expired drugs being administered to patients and refrigerators used to store drugs also used for domestic purposes. The Lizzie Nkosi-led Ministry of Health conducted a Retail Pharmacy Survey in May 2022, which has a litany of findings that are against the legislation set to safeguard public health system. Among these findings is that expired medicines were found stored on the floor in some pharmacies and was in some instances not segregated from useable stock. This, the ministry reported, depicted that there was no proper record-keeping of expired medicines. The survey was conducted just after this publication had reported that there were allegations that some pharmaceuticals and medical supplies were allegedly stolen from government health facilities and sold in retail pharmacies. Objectives The survey had two primary objectives, which were to assess whether retail pharmacies in the kingdom complied with established legal provisions for such establishments in the country and to assess the status of human resource, licensing, storage practices of products, procurement practices and destruction of obsolete stock practices in retail pharmacies from the four regions. As secondary objectives, the ministry was also seeking to establish the gap between licensed retail pharmacies and those registered with it (the ministry), to estimate the distribution or spread of retail pharmacy establishments in the four regions and to assess the transparency of the procurement system for retail pharmacies. In engaging in the study, the ministry sampled 150 retail pharmacies and of these, 66 were in the Manzini Region, 41 in the Hhohho Region, 26 from the Lubombo Region and 14 from the Shiselweni Region. This publication, in June, reported that there were 446 retail pharmacies licensed between 2009 and 2022. However, as of March 2022, of the 446, only 241 had been newly-licensed or had renewed their licences in 2022. Consultation During the survey, the ministry reported to have noted that some pharmacies had consultation rooms that had a nurse who was consulting patients on a regular basis. In fact, the report stated that one pharmacy that was visited in the Hhohho Region had a nurse consulting patients during the time of the visit, the consultation room was found to have many injectable medicines and had the appearance of a room that was constantly used as a treatment room. Another pharmacy in the northern Hhohho also reported to have a nurse that consulted patients. She was, however, said to be working in one of the government faciliites in the Hhohho Region and only came in on some weekends. She was said to bring her own medicines when she came in, especially injectable medicines, reads the report in part. Also, in its findings, the ministry reported to have discovered that pharmacy owners dictated on a number of the decisions related to the operations of the pharmacy. These were said to be inclusive of some technical decisions as well infrastructure, storage conditions and equipment needed, among many. Also, it was reported that the lockable cabinets for high schedule medicines were either absent or not always locked, while other pharmacy personnel had access to the medicines inside the cabinets. The report further states that refrigerators used for storing medicines were also used for domestic purposes and thus food was also found in them, during the visits, while some Schedule V items were stored in the normal shelves and Schedule VI medicines were stored in lockable cupboards.Photocopies of prescriptions are kept but registers are not kept. There was no proper record-keeping of schedule medicines. No storage area was available. In one pharmacy, the bulk stock was kept at home; stock is brought in as and when it is needed, reads the report in part. The ministry also discovered that some pharmacies kept their stock on the floor, which was inclusive of various skin whitening creams. It was discovered that a bulk of the stock was in the storeroom. Also, the ministry found that in another retail pharmacy, there were two scripts listing that seven of 10 boxes containing 120 tablets of Cytotec 200mcg were received. However, the stock of the Cytotec 200mcg was not available during the visit and there were no records to support the dispensing of the stock. According to medicines.org.uk, a website for medical practitioners, states that the Cytotec 200 microgrammes induces uterine contractions and is associated with abortion, premature birth, foetal death and foetal malformations. Meanwhile, the study further reported that another pharmacy had a storage room which presented high risk of infestation as it was connected to a butchery, where all kind of things were kept. In the report, the ministry states that proper storage of medicines assists in ensuring that medicines were safe and of quality are issued to the public and that it also helps to reduce wastage due to storage problems. Assessment When conducting the study, it was said one of the assessment indicators was to evaluate whether the pharmacies kept stock on the floor or not and out of 150 pharmacies visited, 91 (60.6 per cent) of the pharmacies did not keep stock on the floor, while 58 (38.6 per cent) were found to have stock on the floor. It was also reported that 120 (80 per cent) had equipment and facilities for the proper storage of pharmaceutical products in the storage area and front shop, while 27 (18 per cent) of them did not. The ministry reported that according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) good storage practice guideline, materials and pharmaceutical products should be stored off the floor and should be suitably spaced to permit cleaning and inspection as well as to allow the circulation of air. Engage Now Africa, a Non-Governmental Organisation, has called for increased investment and partnership into literacy and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) as a catalyst to end poverty. Collaboration between the Government and non-State actors, the NGO said would help enhance people's knowledge and give industrial and professional skills to the vulnerable in society. This in turn, would make many self-employed and become socio-economically empowered, thereby, lift thousands of Ghanaians out of poverty. Madam Cecilia Amankwah, Country Director, Engage Now Africa, said this at an event to mark the 2022 International Literacy Day in Accra She noted that the time had come for Ghana to combine literacy and TVET activities to enhance peoples socio-economic status and liberate them from poverty. She said: It is not only literacy that will empower the vulnerable, but skills as well. I, therefore, request the government to support NGOs that are into vocational skills with start-up capital to ensure the learners after having received the training will set up businesses to ease the pressure of unemployment on the government. In a speech read by Mr Peter Antwi-Bosiako, Director General, TVET Commission, on behalf of the Deputy Minister of Education, John Ntim Fordjour, he underscored the essence of partnerships to deliver literacy and TVET. He said: Government alone cannot deliver literacy to the Ghanaian population. It calls for partnership with the private sector that shares in the provision of quality, accessible, equitable and inclusive literacy for all. Mr Fordjour said. It brings into sharp focus the contribution of Engage Now Africa to Adult education in Ghana. I must say that every investment into literacy will change the dynamics for the illiterate in the current dispensation of opportunities. On the theme for this years celebration: Transforming Literacy Learning Spaces, he said there was the need to build resilient infrastructure to withstand any future threats that could truncate continuous learning. Mrs. Elizabeth Kwatsoe Tawiah Sackey, the Chief Executive of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly, called on all stakeholders in the education sector to partner with Engage Now Africa to expand their programmes to all villages and corners of the country. Mrs Ama Serwaa Nerquaye-Tetteh, Secretary General, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Ghana Commission lauded Engage Now Africa for their efforts in helping to reduce illiteracy in the country. Nii Tachie Teiko Tsuru II, the Ga Mantse, said the work of the NGO would help reduce illiteracy and promote soft skills for employment and enhance livelihoods. 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. Featured Video Contrary to what police prosecutors told an Accra Circuit Court last week, the Attorney General, Godfred Dame, has stated that the embattled, notorious galamsey kingpin, Aisha Huang, was repatriated in 2018. There have been conflicting accounts on whether or not the Chinese national, who is currently facing prosecution on four counts (undertaking mining without a license, facilitating the participation of persons engaged in a mining operation contrary to law, illegal employment of foreign nationals and entering Ghana while prohibited from re-entry) was deported or was repatriated. But in court date, the police prosecutors said that she fled the country, leading to the termination of her case at the time, a report by myjoyonline.com has said. According to the report, Detective Chief Inspector Frederick Sarpong, a state prosecutor, said she sneaked out of the country. The first accused, Aisha Huang, was arrested for a similar offence but managed to sneak out of the country averting prosecution, he is reported to have told the court. But the Attorney General, Godfred Dame, stated otherwise. On a Friday, September 16, 2022, filing of charges against the galamsey kingpin, the AG said that she was repatriated. On December 19 2018, the Attorney-General entered nolle prosequi and terminated the trial. The same day, the Comptroller-General of Ghana Immigration Service revoked her permit to remain in Ghana indefinitely, ordered her immediate repatriation to China and directed her to stay out of Ghana until the Comptroller-General approved her future re-entry into Ghana. Consequently, she was put on Ethiopian Airlines Flight No. Et 920, which took off at about 12:50 pm on December 19, 2018, to Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia, en route to Guangzhou-China. She sat on seat No. 32 F (Economy Class) and her travel documents were handed over to the captain of the flight to be handed over to her upon her arrival at her final destination, Guangzhou, China, he said. Earlier, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, while speaking in a radio interview, indicated his uncertainty on whether or not Aisha Huang was deported or repatriated. I am not still sure whether she was in fact deported or fled the country the first time, he said. But in defence, after several Ghanaians took the president to the cleaners because years earlier, he had clearly indicated that the galamsey kingpin had been deported, the Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, sought to clarify the matter. Technically, she was repatriated, he stated. The court denied Aisha Huang bail, and she is expected back in court on September 27. She has so far pleaded not guilty to the charges against her. Source: ghanaweb.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video A video of how commonwealth heads of government arrived at the state funeral of the late Queen Elizabeth II has emerged on social media. In the video, which has since gone viral, busses were captured carrying the heads of government while USA's President Joe Biden was allowed to ride in with his convoy. Aside from the video, a picture of Kenya's president and Tanzania's President Samia Suluhu was captured on the bus with other leaders. Watch the video below View this post on Instagram A post shared by Lindaikejiblog (@lindaikejiblogofficial) Queen Elizabeth dies The world's longest-serving leader, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, was pronounced dead on Thursday, September 8, 2022, via a statement from the royal family. Born on April 21, 1926, the Queen, christened Elizabeth Alexandra Mary, immediately acceded the British throne on February 6, 1952, when her father, King George VI, died. She became Queen at 25 and remained on the throne for seven decades before her death. Elizabeth II was Queen of the United Kingdom and Head of State for 14 other jurisdictions. Queen Elizabeth's eldest son Charles, 73, was named her successor. By that, he became King of the United Kingdom and the head of state of 14 other realms, including Australia, Canada and New Zealand. His wife Camilla becomes Queen Consort. Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Senior Psychologist, Professor Joseph Osafo, has urged Ghanaians to treasure State assets like their own, especially those working in the public sector. Contributing to "Kokrokoo" show on Peace FM Monday morning, Professor Joseph Osafo bemoaned the attitude of some Ghanaians towards government work as some show little to no care when it comes to working for the State. In advising people to be industrious, the Head of Psychology at the University of Ghana explained what he termed as the 'psychology of work'. He stated that work improves the mental state of an individual, hence admonishing Ghanaians to value work. "When you work, it protects your mental health, because work gives you structure and work provides meaning. It helps you to find purpose in life," he said. 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. Featured Video A lecturer at the Legon Center for International Affairs and Diplomacy, University of Ghana, Dr. Nana Kwame Nkrumah, has remarked that Ghanaians will choose Hon Alan Kyerematen over H.E John Dramani Mahama in the likely event that the two lead their respective political parties in the 2024 general elections. Dr. Nana Kwame Nkrumah in a telephone interview told the Chronicle newspaper that, looking at the impressive performance by the trade and industry Minister with 125 factories established and over 160,000 employment opportunities created, Ghanaians will trust Alan more than his competitors. Ghana's current President, HE Nana Addo Danquah Akuffo Addo, heaped kind words on the flagship intervention scheme birthed by the current Trade and Industry Minsiter, Hon. Alan Kyerematen. As part of his two days visit to the Central Region of Ghana, the President confirmed that the 125 established factories under the 1 District 1 Factory initiative has produced an impressive 160, 824 employment to the Ghanaian youth. During the commissioning of the APEB CYLINDER FACTORY in the Awutu Senya West Constituency, HE Nana Addo's speech eulogized the success story of the 1D1F project. "Thus far the 125 factories operating under the 1D1F project have so far employed one hundred and sixty thousand , eight hundred and twenty-three(160,823) people, who, hitherto, would far, the one hundred and twenty-five (125) factories operating under this have been at home twiddling their thumbs, with no hope in sight", part of the President's speech reads. The President then celebrated the benefits from the APPEB Cylinder factory to the citizenry and natives of the Awutu Senya West in the Central Region of Ghana. "What we are witnessing here today in Chochoe is a true reflection of the cylinder recirculation model, which is expected to commence in the last benefits of the 1D1F policy, i.e.,the creation of hundreds of direct and considered by the National Petroleum Authority for the roll out of the new quarter of this year. Indirect jobs, and the expansion of value-addition activities in the country", H.E NADAA explained. The 1D1F Project is a brainchild of Ghana's Trade Minister Hon. Alan Kyerematen. Dr. Nkrumah leaned on these success stories from the Alan camp to suggest that the ascension of Alan Kyerematen to the Presidential throne was only a matter of time. The lecturer emphatically hinted at the imminent transition of power from HE Nana Addo Danquah Akuffo Addo to Hon Alan Kyerematen come December 7, 2024. Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Police have arrested one person believed to be behind the murders in the Wa municipality of the Upper West region. According to the police, the suspect Kankani Adongo was arrested at Bamahu, a suburb of Wa after extensive collaboration between the Police and community search parties. The suspect is in custody and will be arraigned to face justice. The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Dr. George Akuffo Dampare, has assured the chiefs and people of the Upper West region that the Ghana Police Service will do everything possible to arrest the perpetrators behind the killings and kidnappings in the Wa municipality of the Upper West region. The IGP also assured the chiefs and residents of Wa that they will improve the security situation in the municipality and called on residents to help the police fight crime in the region. Be assured that we will keep improving on the security situation because we are there for you, IGP assured the residents. The Inspector General of Police (IGP) made this known when his team was led to the Wa township by the Wa Regional Police Commander DCOP. Peter Anombugri Ndekugri to interact with residents and to listen to their concerns over the recent killings and kidnappings in the region. COP Dr. Dampare and his team with the Upper West Regional Police Command paid a courtesy call on the Overlord of the Wa Traditional Area, Wa Naa Seidu Fuseini Pelpuo IV. The Overlord of the Wa Traditional Area, Wa Naa Seidu Fuseini Pelpuo IV addressing the gathering at his palace indicated that Wa and the Upper West are in a state of mourning due to the recent killing of some persons in the region. He commended the IGP for his swift response to deploy more security personnel to the Upper West region to help manage the situation. The special purpose police intelligence and investigation teams working with members of the community on 18th September 2022 discovered a body in a shallow grave at Bamahu, a suburb of Wa. The body was later identified by family members of the deceased as Seidu Baga who was reported missing on 16th September 2022. The body was subsequently exhumed and conveyed to the Regional Hospital, Wa for autopsy and investigation. According to Police, they are providing clinical psychologists to offer psycho-social support to the family. We wish to assure residents of the Wa Municipality and its environs that the special intelligence and investigation teams will continue to work around the clock with assistance from the affected communities to bring the perpetrators to face justice. Meanwhile, Operations and combat teams have also saturated the area to ensure safety and security. Source: dailyguidenetwork.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Africa Wealth Report 2022 has shown that three countries control more than half of the continents total wealth, with South Africa leading the table. Followed by Egypt and Nigeria, these three countries are said to command $651 billion, $307 billion, and $228 billion respectively in private wealth, totalling $1.18 trillion. The figure translates into 56% of Africas $2.1 trillion total wealth, the report stated. In the 4th and 5th positions respectively with total private wealth worth of $125 billion and $91 billion were Morocco and Kenya. From a global perspective, South Africa, Nigeria, and Egypt were among the top 15 nationalities in terms of the inquiries Henley & Partners received last year. South Africa was in 5th place globally, with growth of 38% in 2021, Nigeria in 7th place with growth of 15% and Egypt in 14th place with growth of 25%, Dominic Volek, group head of private clients at Henley & Partners said in the report. Ghana however came in at number 6, with $59 billion in private wealth. Also, the study showed that in Africa, the highest wealth was recorded in 2012 at $2.4 trillion while 2017 had the highest number of dollar millionaires at 148,000. Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The wanton destruction of electricity and water utility installations by some unscrupulous members of the public in the Volta Region is adversely affecting service delivery in the region, the Public Utility and Regulatory Commission (PURC), has said. The nefarious activities are also compelling the service providers to incur huge costs of production. Last year, for instance, seven transformers of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), worth GH300,000, were vandalised in the Ketu South municipality. Meanwhile, an average of 1,000 electricity poles are destroyed by bushfires every year, until last year when the figure fell drastically to nine and then to seven this year, following the introduction of fire belts around the poles. The Volta Regional Manager of PURC, Philip Agbezudor, made this known at a consumer service clinic organised by the commission in Ho last week Friday. He said customer service delivery by the ECG was now threatened by the influx by sub-standard meters on the market. With water utility, Mr Agbezudor said the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) was losing many of its pipelines as a result of road construction projects. The situation, he said, was not helping the customers right to safe, adequate, efficient, reasonable and non-discriminatory service. In a presentation, General Manager of the ECG (Volta), Emmanuel Lumor, expressed similar misgivings made by the PURC and said the trend was set to rise because members of the communities were not willing to expose the criminals who destroyed utility installations. He said power transformers were being destroyed to extract the copper from them for sale on the black market. The Chief Manager of GWCL in-charge of Public Relations and Communications, Stanley Martey, conceded that there was a wide gap between demand and supply for water. Further, he said, the use of obsolete plants and other equipment, unstable power supplies and the activities of road constructors posed operational challenges to the smooth service delivery of the company. However, he affirmed that those challenges were being addressed. The forum was organised to solicit the views of utility consumers on their expectations from the water and power utilities, following the introduction of the new tariffs. It was attended by the traditional rulers, civil and public servants and other members of the public. The organisers and the participants were unanimous in their condemnation for the destruction of the utility installation by unpatriotic members of the public. They also called on public-spirited individuals to help to expose the miscreants swiftly in the public interest. Source: graphiconline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The state funeral of the British Monarch, Queen Elizabeth II is estimated to have cost around US$9 million. According to a post shared by AJ+, a social media publisher owned by Al Jazeera Media Network, the amount will now add to the estimated $116 million bill UK taxpayers pay every year to support the royals. Queen Elizabeth's funeral cost an est. $9 million adding to the est. $116 million bill UK taxpayers pay every year to support the royals. Due to the ceremony, hospitals canceled "non-urgent" services like cancer treatment and many food banks have closed "out of respect, the post shared on Twitter read. On Monday, September 19, dozens across the world witnessed the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II who died on September 8, 2022. The British Monarch has been lying in state from Edinburgh in Scotland all through to Westminster Hall in London with a final ceremony held at Westminster Abbey, where her final funeral rites was held in front of an expected crowd of about 2,000 persons. Dozens of heads of state and dignitaries including Ghanas President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and first lady Rebecca Akufo-Addo have travelled from all over the world to London for the funeral. Source: ghanaweb.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Afigya Kwabre North Member of Parliament (MP), Collins Adomako-Mensah, has appealed to both the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) and opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) to tackle the issue of illegal mining dispassionately devoid of politics. He noted that illegal mining (galamsey) is becoming extremely difficult to fight due to the political tussle between the two parties in addressing the issue. To him, while the parties are busily engaged in political squabbles over the galamsey menace, the kingpins are excitedly drinking tea and mocking them because they know no progress will be made in ending their illicit business. "We don't even know how to discuss the issue now. You brought up a very, very subject of politicization. When we're talking about this and it turns into NPP/NDC discussion, the real kingpins sit in their rooms, drink tea, laugh and ridicule us," he told Kwami Sefa Kayi on Peace FM's "Kokrokoo" morning show. Narrating how bad galamsey has affected the nation, Collins Adomako-Mensah recounted a journey he made and, along the stretch of road, he saw the dangerous dugouts at the galamsey sites which threaten lives, water bodies and the environment. "I'm not for the politicization of it, and from what I've seen and the report I have seen, I don't sympathize with any illegal miner," he stated. He advised both the NPP and NDC to "understand that there are certain things we have to take politics out, if we don't do that we will not make any headway". Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video KCA Deutag, a leading global drilling, engineering and technology provider, has secured contract awards, extensions and options worth around $112 million primarily related to land rigs in Saudi Arabia and Oman. With over 130 years of experience, KCA Deutag is a leading drilling, engineering and technology company working onshore and offshore with a focus on safety, quality and operational performance. The company said the contracts are primarily related to land rigs in Saudi Arabia and Oman, and are announced as work continues to close out the acquisition of Saipems land rig business, reflecting the companys focus on growth in key markets in the Middle East. In Saudi Arabia, the company has been awarded multiple one-year extensions worth a combined total of $35 million. In Oman, a one-year contract with a new client, which includes a further one-year option, in addition to contract extensions and options with existing clients on multiple rigs have delivered an additional $70.5 million, said the company in a statement. In Europe, KCA Deutag has been awarded almost $6 million in new contracts in Germany and the Netherlands, it added. NDC Member of Parliament for North Tongu constituency and minority Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has asked President Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo-Addo to declare a state of emergency on galamsey. He further asked the President to deploy the military to galamsey areas where the illegal activities can be put to a total stop. Speaking on Okay FM's 'Ade Akye Abia' programme, he explained that the fight against illegal mining popularly known as galamsey cannot be won with this kind of kids gloves approach, adding that it is about time government deployed some strict measures to tackle the galamsey menace if it is really bent on finding a lasting solution to it. "The President and Commander-in-Chief should deploy the Ghana Armed Forces . . . in full-blown war and let us end all mining," he said. "I believe that government should not politicize the war against illegal mining because it affects every body. I'm sure that no one will be spared when there is water shortage across the country. Already the engineers at the Ghana Water Company Limited are complaining about how they are spending millions of Ghana cedis to treat water due to the hazardous effect of the galamsey activities." The minority spokesperson on Foreign Affairs added that the country is not even raking in the expected revenue from the illegal mining activities due to the illegal sales of the acquired gold. "I can certainly tell you that the country makes more revenue from the sales of bush meat than illegal mining and if the country is losing why should the government entertain an activity which is not only denying the country of the proper and expected revenue but also destroying livelihoods, homes and the natural vegetation," he added. The government did place a ban on small-scale mining in 2017 as part of its bid to fighting illegal small-scale mining. The ban was however lifted in December 2018 after over 1,300 small-scale miners were vetted and allowed to continue operations. Watch Video Below Meanwhile, the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame has filed new charges against galamsey queen, Aisha Huang in respect of offences committed between 2015 and 2017.The new charges were filed on Friday September 16, 2022. They are:Count One: Undertaking a mining operation without a licence contrary to section 99(2)(a) of the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006, Act 703 as amended by the Minerals and Mining (Amendment) Act 2019, Act 995.Count Two: Facilitating the participation of persons engaged in a mining operation contrary to section 99 (2)(a) & (3) of the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006, Act 703 as amended by the Minerals and Mining (Amendment) Act 2019, Act 995.Count Three: Illegal employment of foreign nationals contrary to section 24 of the Immigration Act, 2000 (Act 573).Count Four: Entering Ghana while prohibited from re-entry contrary to section 20(4) of the Immigration Act, 2000, Act 573.The Chinese national was arraigned on Friday before the Criminal Division of the High Court presided over by Justice Lydia Marfo and hearing conducted virtually. Source: Isaac Kwame Owusu/Peacefmonline/[email protected] Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Bernadette Christie, of Grand Prairie, Alta., looks for a Canadian pin on a flag at the gates of Buckingham Palace in London, Friday, Sept. 16, 2022. For some Canadians, Queen Elizabeth's funeral today will evoke a range of emotions while for others it is a distant event that they are likely to miss. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette A registered nurse attends to a COVID-19 patient on the respirology unit at the Humber River Hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto on Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2022. Groups representing hundreds of thousands of public sector employees are challenging the constitutionality of Bill 124, a law passed in 2019 that limits wage increases at one per cent per year for Ontario Public Service employees as well as broader public sector workers. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette Al Bawani Water & Power Company (AWP), a leading Saudi utility company, said it has reached an agreement to acquire the entire shares of Dutch firm A.Hak Pijpleidingen's Saudi unit, in a major move that will help boost Al Bawanis growth plans in the water, environment and oil and gas sectors. The agreement was signed by Al Bawani Group CEO Engineer Fakher Al Shawaf and Dutch A.Hak CEO Henk Herremans, in the presence of the Ambassador of the Netherlands to Saudi Arabia Janet Alberda at a key ceremony held at the Dutch Embassy in Riyadh recently. Representatives of various entities within the Ministry of Environment Water and Agriculture (Mewa), of Public Investment Fund's (PIF) giga projects and of the Saudi and Dutch business community were also present. Al Shawaf pointed out that the acquisition of A.Hak represents a valuable addition to the construction and infrastructure sector and it will support Al Bawanis growth plans in the water and environment, energy and oil and gas sectors. "A.Hak has a proven track record of great success and achievements with Aramco, Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC), and the National Water Company (NWC)." On the strategic deal, A.Hak CEO Henk Herremans said: "In our 45 years in the kingdom, we successfully completed a large number of bigger and smaller projects together with our partners. Because of the energy transition in the Netherlands, the rest of Europe, and the UK, there is a tremendous amount of work to be realised relatively close to where we are. So, we redefined our home market accordingly." "For that reason, we started to look for a potential new owner at the beginning of 2021, and after some selections, we entered negotiations with Al Bawani Water and Power Limited," stated the top official. "And in this period, we experienced the real interest of Al Bawani in becoming the successor for A.Hak Pijpleidingen Saudi Company Limited. We are pleased that our activities in the kingdom will continue through a trusted organisation and that the employment for all our people involved is secured," he added. Al Bawani said it will continue working with the existing clients and expand into new ventures through the PIF companies, such as Neom, Amaala, Roshn, Diriyah Gate and others. Also it will explore ways to cooperate with the National Infrastructure Fund, leveraging its experience in the development, investment and operations of large infrastructure projects to the likes of National Centre for Privatization (NCP) and Saudi Water Partnership Company (SWPC), it added. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print New documents show that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) potentially violated federal law by lying to migrants about the aid they would receive if they got on a plane to Massachusetts. Via: Judd Legum at Popular Information: Popular Information, however, has obtained a brochure that was provided to the migrants who ultimately agreed to the flights. It was provided to Popular Information by Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR), a Boston-based legal organization that represents 30 of the migrants. The brochure says that migrants who arrive in Massachusetts will be eligible for numerous benefits, including 8 months cash assistance, assistance with housing, food, clothing, transportation to job interviews, job training, job placement, registering children for school, assistance applying for Social Security cards, and many other benefits. If Ron DeSantis Lied To The Migrants, He Committed A Federal Crime Experts say that if DeSantis and others coerced the migrants, they could face criminal and civil liabilities. It looks like Ron DeSantiss cover story about the migrants voluntarily boarding the planes was a lie. The migrants got on the planes because they were misled and told that they would receive aid that is not available to them. The White House said last week that DeSantis and Abbott used trafficker tactics to get the migrants on the planes, and the documents reveal that the Biden administration was correct. DeSantis lied, and if there is legal proof that he violated the law by misleading the migrants, he may join Donald Trump as being under investigation. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print Donald Trump has reflected on the Fourth Amendment and determined that it no longer exists, at least as it concerns him. It doesnt matter that, for all Trump knows, Ivanka and Melania Trump could have scheduled an appointment with the FBIs West Palm Beach office, walked in, and said, The Countrys most dangerous secrets are being kept in the safe, combination, 45-47-45-47-45-47 and he plans on selling the UFO videos to YouTube. Nope. Trump is mad that the 4th Amendment is gone, and the FBI is so gauche that they wore their shoes in his bedroom! Arrived in Florida last night and had a long and detailed chance to check out the scene of yet another government crime, the FBIs Raid and Break-In of my home, Mar-a-Lago. I guess they dont think there is a Fourth Amendment anymore, and to them, there isnt. The Fourth Amendment protects against unreasonable searches and seizures. When a magistrate signs a warrant and the FBI searches and finds the documents, the ones that they said they would find, including information regarding a nuclear powers capability, thats a fairly reasonable search and seizure. But, please, do go on: In any event, after what they have done, the place will never be the same. It was ransacked, and in far different condition than the way I left it. Many Agents And they didnt even take off their shoes in my bedroom. Nice!!! Where does the Fourth Amendment say they need to be nice? And who wants to bet that by the time Trump entered yesterday, the place was exactly how he left it? He may well be right about one aspect. Mar-a-Lago may never be the same. It might become known as the Home of the UFO Breach! for the next couple of centuries. Probably not. Ask Ivanka. It has already been proven that so much has been wrongfully taken, it is not a pretty thing. So sad! The 4th Amendment, and much more, has been totally violated, a grave invasion of privacy. I will keep the American public informed on TRUTH! Lots of stuff was wrongfully taken. Yes, the passports were wrongfully taken and given back. The classified documents were wrongfully taken and not given back. There is a difference, subtle, but its there. Meanwhile, 45s time might be better spent trying to figure out who ratted him out. After all, just because hes paranoid doesnt mean someone isnt watching him. The Fourth Amendment only applies to the government, not family or former staff. He sure doesnt spend any time explaining why he had to keep those documents, even after he said hed given everything back. The plutonium that was shipped from the Savannah River Site to Nevada that ignited a legal battle between the Silver State and the federal government has been removed. U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., announced Friday that the National Nuclear Security Administration had completed the removal of a half of a metric ton of plutonium from the Nevada National Security Site four years ahead of schedule. The Nevada National Security Site is located about 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas. It was established in the early 1950s for the testing of nuclear weapons. When I heard that the Trump Administration secretly shipped weapons-grade plutonium to our state, I acted immediately to ensure it was removed," Cortez Masto said in a news release. "I have not stopped pushing to get this done, and Im proud to announce the removal has been completed four years ahead of schedule. The plutonium was shipped from SRS to the Nevada National Security Site by the National Nuclear Security Administration to comply with a court order that mandated the administration remove 1 metric ton, around 2,200 pounds, from SRS by January 2020. The court order came from the litigation over the Department of Energy's failure to begin operations of the Mixed-Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility or to remove plutonium from SRS by a certain date. The litigation would ultimately result in a $600 million settlement paid by the federal government to South Carolina to resolve the litigation. The plutonium leaving South Carolina was ultimately to end up at the Los Alamos National Laboratory with half of the plutonium being temporarily stored at the Nevada National Security Site and the other half at the Pantex facility in Texas. When the National Nuclear Security Administration announced the plan, several Nevada elected officials including Gov. Brian Sandoval, U.S. Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., and U.S. Reps Dina Titus and Ruben Kihuen vowed to oppose the plan. Eventually, lawsuits were filed over the plan. Cortez Masto eventually placed a hold on all Department of Energy nominees until she reached a deal with then Energy Secretary Rick Perry to remove the plutonium from the state beginning in 2021 and ending in 2026. Jill Hruby, National Nuclear Security administrator, called Cortez Masto on Friday to let her know the plutonium had been removed four years early, according to an article in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The plutonium is now at Los Alamos, according to the Review-Journal article. You are the owner of this article. Moncks Corner, SC (29461) Today Except for a few afternoon clouds, mainly sunny. High 72F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Partly cloudy during the evening followed by cloudy skies overnight. Low 56F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph. Charleston County School District will search high school students for weapons and other contraband this year, continuing safety measures that have been in place since 2019. Parents of CCSD high schoolers were notified the random searches would resume in a letter officials sent out recently. The random search program began in the spring of 2019 but was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2021-22 school year was the first full year of the program. Random searches remain a controversial safety measure after multiple studies found students of color tend to get searched more than their White peers. Michael Reidenbach, CCSDs executive director of security and emergency management, said that the district has taken great measures to guarantee that the program is entirely random. First, the school safety team identifies which classrooms are active in all of the schools at the beginning of the year. Then, a school is randomly selected. A district employee who is not on the school security team uses a randomizer on a website to select the classroom number. Only the search team is made aware of the selected classroom number. Once the team which consists of a campus safety manager and assistant manager, as well as contracted credentialed security officers arrives at the school, administration is told which room is going to be searched, and they inform the team of any special needs that may exist in the classroom that they should be cognizant of. We dont even know whos in the classroom until weve arrived, Reidenbach said. When in the classroom, the team introduces themselves and explains to the class it was selected randomly, and students are separated from their bags. Then, two at a time, students are taken with their bags into the hallway and asked to walk through a metal detector while their bags are searched. If nothing is found, they can go back to the classroom, but if they alert the system, then the team investigates the trigger. Data obtained by The Post and Courier through a Freedom of Information Act request found that of students searched, 41.2 percent were Black, 40.8 percent were White and 13.7 percent were Hispanic, which aligns with the demographics of CCSD high schools. Reidenbach said that the searches are only one component of CCSDs multi-tiered approach to security, which also includes trainings, school resource officers at 71 percent of CCSD schools and mental health professionals. The district is continuing to expand its security efforts as safety incidents in schools occur across the country. In May, 19 students and two teachers were killed during a mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas. A couple months earlier, Jamari Jackson, a 12-year-old student at Tanglewood Middle School in Greenville, was fatally shot by one of his classmates, who was also 12. Sign up for our Education Lab newsletter. Email Sign Up! A Post and Courier analysis of hundreds of thousands of disciplinary reports found that the number of weapons in South Carolina's K-12 school doubled from 2018 to 2021. The analysis examined disciplinary reports from 24 school districts that took place between August and November of each year. Even though CCSD didn't provide data for 2021, it still had the highest number of serious, violent incidents on K-12 school campuses during the four-year period. CCSD, the second-largest school district in the state, had approximately 10,200 student write-ups for serious incidents, which the paper defined as assaults, fights, biting, thrown objects and other such offenses. Greenville, the largest school district in the state, had 6,800 violent incidents. When The Post and Courier published the data in May, CCSD spokesman Andrew Pruitt said the district couldn't detail any specifics on why it had more violent disciplinary reports, but said that districts and schools can characterize incidents differently. Reidenbach said the random searches are meant to serve as a preventative security measure. The district wants students to understand that there is an increased risk of having their contraband detected if they bring it on campus. "That deterrent effect is really the strongest mission of the program," he said. Such deterrent effects are difficult to measure by nature, especially after one year. However, data obtained through the FOIA request showed that during the last academic year random searches led to CCSD seizing 326 prohibited items, including weapons, illegal drugs and tobacco. The random searches found 32 weapons in total, which included pepper sprays, tasers and knives. Two illegal drugs were found, as well as 178 non-prescription and prescription drugs without proper documentation. Over the next few weeks, the districts school safety team is also meeting with school and community leaders to make safety recommendations to the board of trustees during Octobers committee of the whole meeting. Georgetown, SC (29440) Today Cloudy. Low around 55F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Cloudy. Low around 55F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph. GEORGETOWN Facing greater foot traffic in the area, and the prospect of new public parking nearby, the city of Georgetown took its first step in making the intersection of Wood and Front streets a four-way stop on Sept. 15. The Georgetown City Council unanimously gave first reading approval to the four-way stop, which must be approved by ordinance. The intersection, located at the northwestern edge of Georgetown's Historic District, is currently a two-way stop with stop signs for traffic traveling along Wood Street but not Front Street. Council members were told that there has been increased foot traffic at the intersection following the opening of a restaurant at the southern end of Wood Street ostensibly Between the Antlers, which opened earlier this year in a renovated former shrimp house. "I think this is what one of our residents was just addressing," Georgetown Mayor Carol Jayroe said. "That is a busy intersection, and we have had several residents reach out to us." As portrayed in documents for the council's Sept. 15 meeting, the project would include the painting of crosswalks. On Aug. 25, the council approved an application to the S.C. Commerce Department for a $250,000 community development block grant to reduce city construction costs of a 39-space parking lot. The proposed site for the lot, at 113 Cleland St., is just one block from the intersection of Wood and Front streets. That project, valued at $360,933, would include two spaces considered accessible under the ADA, solar lighting and a charging station for electric vehicles. Aerial photo taken on July 29, 2022 shows container ships at the Qianwan Container Terminal in Qingdao Port, east China's Shandong Province. (Xinhua/Li Ziheng) BEIJING, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- China's average contribution to global economic growth exceeded 30 percent during the 2013-2021 period, ranking first across the world, a recent report showed. In 2021 alone, China's economic aggregate accounted for 18.5 percent of the world's total after currency translation based on average annual exchange rates, the second largest in the world and up 7.2 percentage points from 2012, according to the report released by the National Bureau of Statistics. China's gross domestic product (GDP) expanded at an average annual growth rate of 6.6 percent from 2013 to 2021, higher than the growth pace of 2.6 percent for the global economy and 3.7 percent for developing economies. The country's per capita GDP hit 80,976 yuan (about 11,684 U.S. dollars) last year, surging 69.7 percent from 2012 after deducting the price factor. The report highlighted China's progress in promoting innovation-driven development in the past ten years. The country rose to 12th on the Global Innovation Index 2021, up from 34th in 2012, according to the World Intellectual Property Organization. Over the past decade, China has seen a better economic structure and more coordinated growth, as final consumption expenditure contributed 65.4 percent to the 2021 economic expansion. It is up ten percentage points from 2012, and the added value of the manufacturing sector jumped 74.3 percent during the same period. On the green development front, China's accumulative afforestation area amounted to approximately 59.44 million hectares from 2013 to 2021. The report also showed that the total value of China's goods and services trade reached 6.9 trillion U.S. dollars in 2021, continuing to rank top globally. China has also pursued more inclusive growth, aiming to make achievements that benefit all. From 2013 to 2020, China had lifted 98.99 million rural residents living below the current poverty line out of poverty, it added. Wizz Air, a leading sustainable airline in Europe, has reported high passenger numbers between June and August, having carried almost 13 million passengers during the peak summer months, representing a 76% growth year-on-year. Over the summer, Wizz Air has continued to expand its network, adding 63 new routes to 38 diverse and exciting destinations across Europe and beyond. The airline welcomed 13 brand new Airbus aircraft between June and August, taking the size of its fleet to 165. The airlines ultra-modern and efficient fleet strengthens its position as one of the worlds most sustainable airlines, and will enable Wizz Air to further reduce its environmental footprint by 25% per passenger kilometre by the end of the decade. Wizz Air is committed to growing and diversifying its UK network, and now operates more than 60 routes from across the UK. Reaffirming its continued investment in the market, the airline recently announced that it is launching nine new routes from London Luton and Gatwick Airport this autumn, to destinations including Tallin, Estonia; Hurghada, Egypt; Prague, Czech Republic; Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt; Agadir, Morocco; Marrakesh, Morocco; Grenoble, France; and Verona, Italy. Evelin Jeckel, Network Officer at Wizz Air said: We are proud to have flown a record number of passengers over the peak summer season, especially given the well-documented challenges facing the entire travel industry. The three months were another exciting period of expansion, with some major highlights, including the announcement of 20 new routes from across Europe to Saudi Arabia and the launch of Wizz Air Abu Dhabi flights to Kuwait and the Maldives from October. Not only this, but we have relaunched a number of routes in time for the winter season from bases across Europe, giving our customers even more choice when deciding on their next destination. We want to thank our loyal customers for continuing to choose Wizz Air for its low fares, diverse route network, great onboard service, and ultra-efficient aircraft. TradeArabia News Service GREENVILLE COUNTY Volvo Car USA plans to establish a tooling facility in Greenville County with a $42.6 million investment but first is seeking a tax break. Greenville County Council will discuss granting the Swedish car manufacturer a fee-in-lieu of tax agreement at its Sept. 20 meeting under what was previously referred to publicly as "Project Iron." Per the agreement, the car company needs to invest at least $35 million in the county over five years. The locations the company listed in council documents for its tooling facility include 120 Moon Acres Road in Piedmont and 800 Woodside Ave. in Fountain Inn. The Piedmont address is currently for Magna Drive, an industrial machinery manufacturer. Magna recently opened a 170,000-square-foot facility in Spartanburg County in Duncan on April 7, where it makes exterior mirror systems for BMW, Mercedes and Volvo. The Fountain Inn address is for an industrial building used by Wirthwein, an international plastic injection molding service company. Volvo has not listed the number of jobs associated with the announcement. The Post and Courier has reached out to a Volvo spokesperson for additional information. In 2015, Volvo selected Berkeley County for its first manufacturing facility in the Americas. The $1.2 billion plant off Interstate 26 near Ridgeville produces S60 mid-size sedans. The site will expand operations to also make the successor to the XC90 SUV and the Polestar 3 sedan for its sister brand, Polestar. This is a developing story. YEMASSEE Environmentalists can be a gloomy lot these days. But on a mild, overcast morning in late August, bumping over a longleaf-pine savanna where Jasper and Hampton counties meet, Matthew Williams and Patrick Moore were enthusiastic about the fate of South Carolina's flora and fauna. "I'm going to ... keep a lookout for gopher tortoise," said Williams, one of the lead fundraisers for The Nature Conservancy in South Carolina, craning his neck out the pick-up window. "They're awesome animals," said Moore, a senior project manager for the Open Space Institute. "Aside from the cool burrowing, tortoises support 350 other species of plants and animals." Many of those plants and animals, along with hundreds more, live on 7,300 acres of farmland and forest known as Buckfield. In recent decades, private owners have used the land for timber production and hunting. When it became apparent the property was going on the market, The Nature Conservancy scrambled to raise more than $16 million to buy half of it in June. The Open Space Institute is buying the other half this year. The conservation groups' entire parcel, along with an adjacent 5,000 acres owned by the Open Space Institute, will eventually be managed by the state Department of Natural Resources. It will be open to the public. An incredible place It's hard to say which feature of the property Williams and Moore are most excited about. Buckfield has "something like 32 miles of stream, 5 miles of the Coosawhatchie ... and one of the most impressive swamp cathedrals you've ever seen," Williams said. Chiming in from the back seat, Moore wondered if people in Charleston or Hilton Head Island, both a little more than an hour away from Buckfield, knew how special the area was. "You've got this incredible place that has these fox squirrels and indigo snakes and crazy land-dwelling tortoises and woodpeckers, wildflowers and pitcher plants," he said. "It's a world-class resource." The place is certainly pretty. On the savanna, brush and ferns create a stiff green carpet. From time to time, the narrow, bare trunk of a longleaf or loblolly sticks up like an exclamation point. Eventually, the flat land drops off into a sylvan glen, where Williams and Moore drop fishing lines into a dark, slow oxbow of the Coosawhatchie. The river water looks black, Williams explained, because fallen leaves stain it like tea. Over the two hours that Williams and Moore poked around the property, they imagined all who can benefit from it: deer hunters and quail hunters; locals and tourists; freshwater fishers and ATV-ers; mountain bikers and horseback riders; humanity itself. The Pacific yew "Have you ever heard of the Pacific yew?" asked Moore. The tree grew in the understory of trees being cut for lumber. They were burned as trash to near extinction. Then scientists figured out they could be used to treat some kinds of breast cancer. The Pacific yew, Moore said, shows why it's important to protect places like Buckfield, home to a wide variety of plants and animals. "Biodiversity has this inherent value for the things we know about ... but also for the things that we just hadn't figured out yet," he said. "Biodiversity is also important just for the survival of the human species," Williams said. "If we have a collapse in our natural systems, we're next." As part of a larger conservation strategy, then, Buckfield is a critical piece. For about 10 minutes, Moore and Williams gazed at a map, showing how Buckfield and other protected land could help maintain the state's ecology and clean water, even as its population grows. Buckfield sits at the headwaters of the Port Royal Sound, Moore pointed out. Even if people who live in Hilton Head never make their way there, they should still care what happens in Jasper County "because so goes the Broad River, and ultimately the May River," Moore said. There's a lot of good stuff happening with conservation in South Carolina, both men agreed. But, sounding a note of caution for the first time, Moore added, "Councils change, and county administrators change, and recessions happen and, you know, vigilance is required." SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico Hurricane Fiona roared over the Dominican Republic on Monday, a day after knocking out power to all of Puerto Rico and causing damage the governor described as catastrophic. Many people were also left without water service. The blow from Fiona was made more devastating because Puerto Rico has yet to recover from Hurricane Maria, which killed nearly 3,000 people and destroyed the power grid in 2017. Five years later, more than 3,000 homes on the island still have blue tarps for a roof. The wind and water from Fiona stripped the pavement from roads, tore off roofs and sent torrents pouring into homes. The storm also took out a bridge and flooded two airports. Authorities reported no deaths directly from the hurricane, but Puerto Rico officials said it was too early to know the full scope of damage. The storm was still expected to unleash torrential rain across the U.S. territory that is home to 3.2 million people. One death was associated with the blackout a 70-year-old man who was burned to death after he tried to fill his generator with gasoline while it was running, officials said. Gov. Pedro Pierluisi declined to say how long it would take to fully restore electricity, but said for most customers it would be a question of days Since the start of the storm, National Guard troops have rescued more than 900 people, Gen. Jose Reyes told a news conference. Meanwhile in the Dominican Republic, the government's emergency center reported downed trees and power poles. Nearly 800 people were evacuated to safer locations, and more than 500 were in shelters, officials said. The National Weather Service office in Puerto Rico said flash flooding was occurring in south-central parts of the island and tweeted, MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND IMMEDIATELY! Up to 22 inches of rain fell in some areas of Puerto Rico and forecasters said another 4 to 8 inches could fall as the storm moves away, with even more possible in some places. Rain totals of up to 15 inches were projected for the eastern Dominican Republic, where authorities closed ports and beaches and told most people to stay home from work. Its important people understand that this is not over, said Ernesto Morales, a weather service meteorologist in San Juan. He said flooding reached historic levels, with authorities evacuating or rescuing hundreds of people across Puerto Rico. The damages that we are seeing are catastrophic, Pierluisi said. Water service was cut to more than 837,000 customers two thirds of the total on the island because of turbid water at filtration plants or lack of power, officials said. Before dawn Monday, authorities in a boat navigated the flooded streets of the north coast town of Catano and used a megaphone to alert people that the pumps had collapsed, urging them to evacuate as soon as possible. Authorities said at least 1,300 people spent the night in shelters across the island. Brown water poured into streets and homes and closed airports in Ponce and Mayaguez. The system also ripped asphalt from roads and washed away a bridge in the central mountain town of Utuado that police said was installed by the National Guard after Maria hit as a Category 4 storm. Fiona also tore the roofs off homes, including that of Nelson Cirino in the northern coastal town of Loiza. I was sleeping and saw when the corrugated metal flew off, he said as he watched rain drench his belongings and wind whip his colorful curtains into the air. By early afternoon, Fiona had moved into the open Atlantic, where it was expected to strengthen, according to the National Hurricane Center. At 2 p.m. Monday, it was centered about 165 miles southeast of Grand Turk Island and was heading northwest at 9 mph, with maximum sustained winds of 90 mph. Tropical storm-force winds extended for 140 miles from the center. U.S. President Joe Biden declared a state of emergency as the eye of the storm approached the islands southwest corner. Puerto Rico's health centers were running on generators, and some of those failed. Health Secretary Carlos Mellado said crews rushed to repair generators at the Comprehensive Cancer Center, where several patients had to be evacuated. Fiona previously battered the eastern Caribbean, killing one man in the French territory of Guadeloupe when floodwaters washed his home away, officials said. The system hit Puerto Rico on the anniversary of Hurricane Hugo, which slammed into the island in 1989 as a Category 3 storm. Kingstree, SC (29556) Today Partly cloudy skies this evening will become overcast overnight. Low 54F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Partly cloudy skies this evening will become overcast overnight. Low 54F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph. Kenna Coe is the editor for the Moultrie News. Send her an email at editor@moultrienews.com Downtown Charleston has a new ally in street cleaning. The Glutton. The hand-held device looks similar to a leaf blower but sucks material in rather than pushing it away. The Charleston Environmental Services Department started deploying the Glutton in July up and down King Street and on Market Street near the historic Charleston City Market. Right now, the department has one of the $27,000 pieces of equipment, but city leaders hope to add a second to the Environmental Services fleet by the end of the year. It has served as a force multiplier while the department has had trouble filling vacant positions, said Environmental Services Director Matt Alltop. Previously, the department aimed to have four custodians walking King Street and parts of Market Street with brooms and dustpans. But the city hasn't been able to fully staff those positions. Now, the Glutton allows one custodian to do the work of multiple people. It can also get to harder-to-reach areas of the street. The trash is collected alongside the glutton in a 240-liter, wheeled trash can, and the machine has an odor neutralizer to fight garbage fumes. "It's been a huge help for us on King Street," Alltop said. The city's custodians now run the Glutton daily from around 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Despite the resemblance, Gluttons are significantly quieter and more environmentally friendly than gas-powered leaf blowers. When charged overnight between shifts, the machines are able to maintain their battery life for up to 10 hours. The Gluttons, which were invented in Belgium, are gaining popularity in Europe but are still hard to find in the United States. Gluttons have been sold in 70 countries and are often see in European airports, according to a city news release. When a supplier began selling them in North Carolina, Alltop said he was eager to jump on the opportunity to buy one for the city. After doing a test run of the machine following the St. Patrick's Day parade, the city put in its first order. "It did an amazing job," he said of the parade cleanup. Alltop said he hopes to eventually have a fleet of three Gluttons. He would assign two to King street and one to Market Street. "Our goal would be to put them on both sides of King and go back and forth all day," he said. Street cleaning on King Street has been a significant topic of discussion during the approval process for the King Street Business Improvement District. The district, approved by City Council earlier this year, places a fee on all commercial businesses to target beautification efforts on the street. "We are delighted that they have invested in this equipment. Anything that is going to increase the cleanliness and presentation of King Street the better off we all are," said Chris Price, Charleston Downtown Alliance Chairman and a key architect of the BID. A group of business owners led the effort to establish the BID to improve the aesthetics and fund events on the popular retail and nightlife destination. The Coast Guard is investigating after an injured fisherman was rescued 70 miles off the coast of Charleston last week following a reported fight at sea. The man's plight appeared to be linked to a fishing vessel that later became the site of a Sept. 16 disturbance that caused Mount Pleasant police to close down areas around Wando Shrimp Co., on Shem Creek. A 24-year-old man was rescued at 4:40 a.m. Sept. 15 after he was found adrift in the Atlantic Ocean almost 70 miles from Charleston, Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class Vincent Moreno said. The man received medical care for suspected head injuries, Moreno said. A Mount Pleasant police report shows the man got into a dispute later that day with a boat captain at Wando Shrimp over a firearm. Police were dispatched to the dock around 1 p.m. for reports that the man was trying to retrieve his firearm from the captain's fishing boat, the report states. The man told an officer he had just left the hospital where he was taken after being rescued from the ocean, and he wanted his gun. The boat's captain confirmed he had the gun but told the officer that the man threatened him and his first mate with it while they were at sea. They held the man down and called the Coast Guard, the captain said in the report, but the man jumped overboard before authorities got there. The officer called a sergeant from the Coast Guard, who asked that the gun be held as evidence while they investigated the claims, the report states. Mount Pleasant police were dispatched to the same boat the next day for a report the captain was "screaming" while sitting inside it. Officers knew from the Sept. 15 encounter the captain had at least one gun on the ship, according to a police report, so they established a perimeter and called for him to exit the vessel. The captain instead ducked out of sight, the report states. The department's SWAT team was called to the location and eventually boarded the vessel, where they found the captain asleep. Investigators determined the captain's erratic behavior was caused by a combination of medications and sleep deprivation, the report state. He was taken to the hospital and no charges were filed. Two handguns, a pellet rifle and shotgun were found in the boat. Moreno said Sept. 19 federal agents were investigating how the man ended up in the water, and no arrests had been made in the case. The boat's captain was reached by telephone Sept. 16. He said he remained in the hospital and deferred on answering questions about the incident. Further attempts to reach him have been unsuccessful. ORANGEBURG Vice President Kamala Harris is returning to South Carolina this week, traveling to a historically Black university to speak with students about mental health and other topics of importance to young people on National Voter Registration Day. A White House official confirmed to The Post and Courier the Sept. 20 trip will take Harris to Orangeburg, where she will highlight the importance of voting in her remarks to students at South Carolina State University. Harris will be joined by U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, who made his first trip to the Palmetto State last month as President Joe Biden's education chief. He too visited South Carolina State. The vice presidential visit comes less than 50 days before the November midterm elections, where Democrats are trying to defend their narrow control of Congress. Republicans, meanwhile, are eager to regain their GOP majority by making the upcoming election a referendum on the first two years of the Biden presidency. Her address will be delivered as part of the university's fall convocation, where Harris will welcome the school's largest freshman class in 15 years. Freshmen will be required to attend, according to a news release from S.C. State. It will be Harris' third visit to South Carolina as vice president, and her second trip to the state this year. "South Carolina State University is honored to welcome Vice President Harris back to our campus," S.C. State President Alexander Conyers said in a news release. "Her visit is a golden opportunity for our students to hear directly from the highest-ranking woman in this nations history. Her achievements are motivational for all of us at S.C. State, especially for our young minority women." In June 2021, Harris traveled to Greenville as part of a national effort encouraging Americans to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Earlier this summer, Harris headlined a fundraiser for the S.C. Democratic Party. Sign up for updates! Get the latest political news from The Post and Courier in your inbox. Email Sign Up! During that June 10 address at the Blue Palmetto Dinner in Columbia, Harris said, "The president and I need you. We need you." She continued, "We need you for so many reasons. We need you to register people to vote. We need you to knock on doors and to talk with your neighbors and friends about what is at stake in November." Harris, a graduate of Howard University, a private HBCU in Washington, D.C., is no stranger to South Carolina State. Harris campaigned heavily in South Carolina during her own 2020 White House bid, making at least two trips to the school campus for its homecoming and an education roundtable, according to a Post and Courier candidate tracker. Despite her best efforts to develop networks among Black voters, including tapping into the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority of which she is a member, Harris dropped out of the White House field before the states first-in-the-South primary. U.S. House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., an alumnus of the school and the highest ranking Black member of Congress, will not be in attendance due to legislative votes in Washington, his office confirmed. South Carolina is widely credited with being the state where Biden, with the aid of Clyburn's endorsement, was able to revive his presidential campaign after a series of losses in other early-voting states. Earlier this year, Biden committed to picking Harris as his running mate for the 2024 reelection campaign. But during an interview with "60 Minutes" that aired Sept. 18 on CBS News, Biden clarified that his intention is to run for reelection but he has not made "a firm decision" about running again. Leading German hospitality management group Deutsche Hospitality has announced the official opening of its IntercityHotel Muscat property at the Future Hospitality Summit (FHS) 2022, boosting its presence in Oman to three operational properties. Additionally, the group prepares to debut the Steigenberger Residence Doha, Qatar, in October this year. Commenting on the significance of the Future Hospitality Summit, Siegfried Nierhaus, Vice President Middle East, Deutsche Hospitality, said: The Middle East plays a vital role in the international hospitality industry for owners and operators alike, and FHS is the perfect destination to share and learn from one another. To navigate this new season and leading into the new year, the Summit allows for us to get valuable market insights, opportunity for networking and potential partnerships. Chief Development Officer at Deutsche Hospitality, Marie-Noele Schwartzmann, our team and I look forward to a fruitful and insightful few days ahead. IntercityHotel Muscat, Oman IntercityHotel Muscat opened its doors on September 1, 2022, and is located in the Ministry and Embassy district within the burgeoning area of Al Khuwair, Muscat. IntercityHotel Muscat comprises 273 keys, including spacious Standard rooms and Deluxe suites. The property includes a special Business Floor, which includes Business rooms and suites and added benefits of early check-ins, late check-outs, complimentary welcome drinks, and VIP in-room amenities, to name a few. Established as part of the prestigious development of the ARaya Complex, the hotel includes a luxurious spa featuring six dedicated treatment rooms, Citrine, a delightful all-day-dining restaurant serving various cuisines, and meeting rooms with a capacity of up to 135 guests. IntercityHotel Muscat is also home to Al Araya Ballroom, which can accommodate up to 1,200 guests. Steigenberger Residence Doha, Qatar Launching in October, Steigenberger Residence Doha will include 278 uniquely furnished apartments offering the comforts of a home and a stylish space that allows guests to relax and recharge. Guest facilities include a rooftop swimming pool, gym, yoga room, the GOCO Spa and the culinary offer of five restaurants and bars. The Qatar hotel segments have a lot of potential as it is accessible for all key tourism source markets, and with the country preparing to host one of the worlds largest sporting events in November, we believe the opening of Steigenberger Residence Doha will be a pivotal step in our expansion journey, Nierhaus concludes. Deutsche Hospitality continues to strengthen its foothold in the Middle East to meet the ever-growing demand for hotel rooms in the mid to upscale segment in 2022 and coming year. The groups regional portfolio currently comprises 23 properties in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, UAE and Egypt. Its worldwide footprint extends to more than 160 hotels across three continents. - TradeArabia News Service Over the weekend the Wall Street Journal ran Charles Isherwoods review of a new one-man play depicting the career of Jan Karski. Isherwoods review ran under the headline Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski Review: Dramatically Bearing Witness. Karskis name should be known far and wide and its good to be reminded of him, though I would find the moralizing that frames the play annoying. Turning the play and review to good use, I want to take the the occasion to reiterate this account of Karskis story. I first learned of Jan Karski in Walter Laqueurs The Terrible Secret: Suppression of the Truth About Hitlers Final Solution, published in 1980 (and first learned of Laqueurs book from George Wills excellent column on it in the Washington Post that year). Karski told his own story in his best-selling 1944 memoir Story of a Secret State: My Report To the World, published in updated form by Georgetown University Press. I reread the last 50 pages or so of Karskis memoir yesterday afternoon. They are devastating. Karski was an incredibly brave, dignified, and self-deprecating man. He performed heroic service in World War II and moved to the United States, where he earned a Ph.D., became a citizen, and taught at Georgetown University. Joshua Muravchik was one of Karskis many students at Georgetown. He wrote about Karski in the 2014 Mosaic essay A tree grows in Lublin. It is a moving and instructive essay. When the war broke out Karski served in the East as an officer in the mounted artillery. He was taken prisoner by the forces of the Soviet Union. Because the Soviet forces routinely held back Polish officers, most of whom never returned, Karski disguised himself as a private and was repatriated to Poland, where the Germans put him on a train to a labor camp. He escaped from the train and made his way to Warsaw where he joined the Underground, for which he worked as a courier. Work as a courier was of course a high-risk affair. On one mission in June 1940 he was caught by the Gestapo and tortured. Unsuccessfully attempting suicide in captivity, he slit his wrists. He was sent to a prison hospital from which he escaped. Karski lived underground in Warsaw in 1941-1942. Prior to his last mission as a courier, Karski met with Jewish leaders, whose message he solemnly promised to convey to the West. He visited the Warsaw ghetto in October 1942. This did not, in Karskis words, present any special difficulty; the area of the ghetto had shrunk after the deportations of June-September 1942. The tramways that crossed the ghetto reached the streets which had been taken over by the Aryans. Elsewhere one could enter or leave the ghetto through the cellars of houses which served as the ghetto wall. Karski was taken to a shop nearby the Belzec death camp by a Jewish but Aryan-looking contact. The contact provided both a uniform (of an Estonian guard) and a permit. He entered Belzec with his contact through a side gate. There he saw bedlam the ground littered with weakened bodies, hundreds of Jews packed into railway cars covered with a layer of quicklime. The cars were closed and moved outside the camp; after some time they were opened, the corpses burned and the cars returned to the camp to fetch new cargo. After watching the scene for some time he began to lose his nerve. He wanted to escape and walked quickly to the nearest gate. His companion approached Karski and harshly shouted: Follow me at once! They went through the same side gate they had entered and were not stopped. Karski arrived in London to convey his message to the West in November 1942. In July 1943 he traveled to the United States and met with President Roosevelt and many others. The message he conveyed to Anthony Eden, President Roosevelt, and others is reproduced in Laqueurs book at pages 232-235, which this post closely follows. Karski reported to Laqueur that Roosevelts response was Tell your nation we shall win the war and some more such ringing messages. He also met with Justice Felix Frankfurter. Frankfurters response was: I dont believe you. Its not that he thought he was lying: I did not say this young man is lying. I said I dont believe him. There is a difference. Laqueur writes that Karski was neither the first nor the last courier to arrive in the West from Warsaw with news of the Holocaust, but as far as the information about the fate of the Jews in Poland was concerned, he was certainly the most important. Karski patiently submitted to Laqueurs detailed questioning in a September 1979 interview and even wrote out for him the message that he (Karski) conveyed to President Roosevelt, Anthony Eden, and others in 1942 and 1943. According to Laqueur, the message could not be published during the war. Karskis message is included in Appendix 5 to Laqueurs book. Laqueur comments elsewhere in the book: Democratic societies demonstrated on this occasion as on many others, before and after, that they are incapable of understanding political regimes of a different character.Democratic societies are accustomed to think in liberal, pragmatic categories; conflicts are believed to be based on misunderstandings and can be solved with a minimum of good will; extremism is a temporary aberration, so is irrational behavior in general, such as intolerance, cruelty, etc. The effort needed to overcome such basic psychological handicaps is immense.Each new generation faces this challenge again, for experience cannot be inherited. Before the war Poland was of course home to a thriving Jewish community of some 3,000,000. By the end of the war the Nazis had eliminated the community through the death camps they operated in the country with German efficiency. For reasons that Muravchik discusses in his essay, Karski maintained a despairing silence about his wartime experiences until he was interviewed for Claude Lanzmanns film Shoah in the 1970s. Video clips of Lanzmanns interview have been posted on YouTube. I think the clip below represents the opening of the interview. In the clip below Karski recounts his meeting with Roosevelt. In the clip below Karski recounts his meeting with Frankfurther. The Holocaust Museums Spielberg video archive has posted a compilation of video clips with Karski here and a transcript here. Nigerian stocks fell for the fourth trading day in a row on Monday as the main equity index contracted by 0.07 per cent. The NGX 30, the index tracking the combined progress of the top 30 firms in terms of market value and liquidity, shed 0.09 per cent, coming within points of its lowest level since the turn of the year. Trade has been subdued for days, but the activity level raised fresh concerns on Monday with volume tapering by as much as 37 per cent. Investors are dumping stocks for fixed income securities, which have seen improved yields lately. And the rate of exiting equities could be higher in the days ahead as fund managers await the decision of the two-day policy meeting early next week, which is likely to be hawkish as the central bank weigh contractionary measures to tame the cost of living crisis in Africas largest economy. That will set the tone for the capital market for the next two months or more. Profit-taking in the shares of energy company Seplat triggered the slide. We expect the local bourse to remain in a lull in anticipation of the upcoming MPC meeting scheduled on the 26th and 27th of September, analysts at United Capital said in an outlook note for this week seen by PREMIUM TIMES. We recommend that investors and fund managers continue to cherry-pick stocks with solid underlying fundamentals amid an overall bearish-dominated bourse. The all-share index surrendered 35.2 points, dipping to 49,440.2, while the market capitalisation inched down to N26.7 trillion. Year to date, the index is up by 15.7 per cent. TOP FIVE GAINERS ETranzact appreciated by 9.97 per cent to N3.20. Vitafoam added 5 per cent to end trade at N21. Honeywell Flour went up by 3.36 per cent to N2.46. Cornerstone rose to N0.62, notching up 3.33 per cent. International Breweries completed the top 5, climbing by 3.12 per cent to N4.95. TOP FIVE LOSERS Academy Press declined by 16.36 per cent to close at N1.84. ABC Transport shed 10 per cent to end trade at N0.27. UPL fell to N1.63, losing 9.44 per cent. Mutual Benfits slumped to N0.27, recording 6.90 per cent depreciation. RT Briscoe closed at N0.30, going down by 6.25 per cent. TOP FIVE TRADES Altogether, 67.4 million shares estimated at N1.5 billion were traded today in 3,386 deals. FBN Holdings was the most active stock with 9.7 million of its shares worth N96.6 million traded in 185 deals. Zenith saw 9.3 million units of its shares, which were priced at N182.4 million exchange hands in 374 transactions. GTCO had 6.1 million shares valued at N120.4 million traded in 321 deals. Mutual Benefits traded 4.5 million shares estimated at N1.2 million in 20 transactions. Sovereign Trust traded 3 million shares valued at N797.7 thousand in 4 deals. For the second year in a row, Nigeria would not be submitting a film in the International Feature Film (IFF) category of the Oscars. It is because none of the entries received by the Nigerian Official Selection Committee (NOSC) for the Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) met the eligibility criteria. The Chairperson of NOSC, Chineze Anyaene-Abonyi, revealed this in a statement on Monday. Nigerias last submission was The Milkmaid in 2020. The Milkmaid, a Boko-Haram-inspired movie, was also Nigerias first-ever submission in the International Feature Film category. Nigeria attained the first-time feat at the Academy after the countrys submission was ratified by the Executive Committee of the IFF. However, despite passing the eligibility rule test, the Desmond Ovbiagele-produced film lost out in the Oscar run after it failed to make the first shortlist in the International Feature Film category. In 2021, NOSC announced the cancellation of its plan for the countrys participation at the 2022 Oscars citing eligibility issues of films received as a significant concern. In 2019, the Oscars disqualified Nigerias official submission Lionheart for not meeting the non-English dialogue criteria. It led to the controversy on whether or not Nigerian pidgin should not be considered a local language. Although the Oscars has since reviewed the rule, approving dialogues in pidgin, The Milkmaid shot with Hausa, Fulfulde and Arabic dialogues appeared to have been made with the original Academy rules in mind and had not left anything to chance. Screening process Ms Anyaene-Abonyi, who had since communicated the development to the AMPAS, expressed regret that the Committee could not find a film suitable for the award. Consequently, she announced that it would not submit a movie for the 2023 Oscars. Although the Committee received three (3) epic films following its call for submissions last August, it turned out that none of them will advance to the next stage due to the members voting patterns. In a session that lasted two hours on 3 September 2023, the NOSC recorded a voting chart of 8, 5, 1, 1 from its 15 members with No Film is Eligible taking the lead. Ms Anyaene-Abonyi started: Nigerian films had, no doubt, improved significantly as the awareness of the requirements has since grown among filmmakers, and potentially soon, we just might be bringing this award home in succession. She, however, implored filmmakers to get more acquainted with Oscars-nominated films in the IFF category to achieve the needed international recognition and put our films in its acclaimed level of creative discourse. The Academy presents the IFF award annually to a feature-length motion picture produced outside the United States that contains 50 per cent or more of non-English dialogue. The 95th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, will honour films released in 2022 and is scheduled to take place at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, California, on 12 March 2023 About two people were killed on Saturday when Nigerian troops invaded two communities in South-east of the country. The two communities are Orsu-Ihiteukwa in Orsu Local Government Area of Imo State and Orsumugho, a community in Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra State. Both communities share boundaries. The attack comes barely three weeks after troops invaded Orsu-Ihiteukwa, killing three residents. The military authorities would later claim the three people killed were members of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). In the latest attack, the troops were said to have invaded Orsu-Ihiteukwa again at about 4 a.m., with numerous combatant vans, armoured tankers, and military helicopters. Residents said the troops were firing shots and detonating bombs, while the helicopters hovered over the communities. The shootings and bombardments were said to have disrupted a burial ceremony, causing guests to run inside bushes for safety. PREMIUM TIMES gathered that the operation was carried out in collaboration with members of Ebubeagu, a security outfit backed by the Imo State Government. A resident, Ifeanyichukwu Edurumba, 23, was said to have been whisked away from his house at about 12 p.m. and dragged to market in Orsu-Ihiteukwa where he was allegedly killed by the troops. His uncles wife, Ifeoma Onyebuchi, who was staying with him, narrated to PREMIUM TIMES what happened. We were inside the house when we heard that army people were coming to the community. So, he (Edurumba) left his poultry farm and ran inside for safety. While we were inside, some people came and knocked on our door. They were a mixture of army people and Ebubeagu members, all in their uniforms. They ordered us to open the door when I asked who they were. They quickly broke the door and gained entry. The boy (Edurumba) ran under the bed with some children. One of them told us that if we dont bring the boy, they will kill all of us. I told them the boy is an orphan and the only son of his late parents and that he is a poultry farmer and also an iron bender. I told them he didnt do anything wrong. While I was talking, they went inside the room and dragged the boy out and took him away. They checked the boys poultry when they heard his chickens clucking. They later took the boy to Eke-Ututu Market and killed him, she said. They killed another boy Another resident, who said he witnessed the troops invasion spoke with PREMIUM TIMES, Sunday. They also killed one (other) boy in Orsumoghu, a neighbouring community here. I dont know his name yet, he said. He said he came face-to-face with the troops, while he was going to the market to buy an item, but that he hid from them for fear of being killed. They were burning houses and stalls. They used some hammers to break shops and took whatever they liked, such as beverages, and then set the shops ablaze. Whenever they (troops) come, they kill whoever they see, burn houses. If you come to this village now, everybody is crying. They have reduced us to rubble, he said. Over 30 shops were razed by the troops, according to him. He said it was disheartening that the Nigerian government would claim to be protecting lives and property, but turned around to order security agencies to kill residents and destroy their sources of livelihoods. Video clips showing burning shops and motorcycles were being circulated on different WhatsApp groups. In one of the clips, a victim, Anselem Ohaachosi, whose shop was said to have burnt down, lamented the frequent invasion of the community by troops. Yesterday, 17th of September 2022, a gang of Nigerian soldiers came to Eke-Ututu, Orsu-Ihiteukwa, destroyed peoples shops, properties (and) lives. They set my shop ablaze, he said. Mr Ohaachosi used to sell phones and phone accessories. He said all the items in the shop had been destroyed by the troops. He said he went into the sales of phone sets because he could not find a job after graduating from Imo State University. Look at how they rendered me useless in Orsu-Ihiteukwa. The cost of what they damaged here is nothing less than N10 million. How can I start life afresh? Mr Ohaachosi said the troops were shouting, Say no to IPOB during the raid. Am I an IPOB member? Did they see any mark on me? I graduated from Imo State University and am also a holder of a post-graduate diploma in Education. I am an educationist. They have to pay for all these, Mr Ohaachosi said. Another clip showed helicopters hovering in the sky. In another clip, apparently shot on Sunday, showed people, whose shops were not affected, hurriedly packing their goods out of the shops. Army spokesperson, Onyema Nwachukwu, did not respond to calls and a text message seeking comments from him on the incident. Amnesty International Nigeria and other organisations have accused the military of extrajudicial killings in the South-east under the guise of fighting IPOB which is leading the agitation for an independent state of Biafra. The Leadership of the House of Representatives is to meet with the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu; the leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and others over the unions lingering strike. The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, in a letter via the Clerk of the House, Yahaya Danzaria, directed Mr Adamu to invite all concerned parties to a meeting with the leadership on Tuesday. In the letter dated 15 September, Mr Gbajabiamila expressed concerns about the lingering strike and lack of way forward in ending that strike that has lasted seven months. He noted that the leadership of the House is concerned about the negative consequences of the strike on the future and quality of education of our teeming youths, who have been kept at home for the past six months despite the intervention of the House and several well-meaning Nigerians overtime to see that the matter was resolved. The meeting is scheduled for 3 p.m. at the Speakers Conference Room at the National Assembly Complex in Abuja. The Speaker asked Mr Adamu to submit a written presentation of ASUUs perspective on this matter to the House before the meeting day. Previous intervention by House Last year, Mr Gbajabiamila brokered a deal between the federal government and ASUU, which guaranteed N22.17 billion earned allowances and N30 billion revitalisation fund. The lower chamber had moved in November 2021 after the union issued a three-week ultimatum to the government to implement the agreement both parties reached, failing which it would embark on strike. The intervention by the House did not last long, as the lecturers embarked on industrial action on February 14. Following months of disagreement, the union extended the strike due to No Work, No pay stance of the federal government. In reaction, the government has referred the dispute to the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN), which is currently presiding over the matter. The suit, which seeks to restrain ASUU from going on with the strike, will be heard on Monday. New Delhi, Sep 19 (UNI) China is our close friend but India is our brother and sister, said High Commissioner of Sri Lanka to India Milinda Moragoda on Monday quoting the country's former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa. The Sri Lankan envoy's remarks came during an interaction with journalists at Indian Women Press Corps when questions were asked regarding the country's relations with China. In a family you have differences, but relations with India go back to 7000 years, he stressed. When asked whether the recent visit of Chinese military ship at Sri Lanka's Hambantota port undermined India's interests, he said that the approval was granted when Sri Lanka was in a state of chaos. "I think the lesson that we have learnt is that we need to have vey close cooperation and coordination with India. Definitely, there was no intention to do anything against India's security interests. That has been our basic foreign policy. India's security interests are our security interests as well," he said. He said that a dialogue has taken place with India in this regard. Hopefully we will find a framework to engage, he said adding that "none of us are perfect and we have to keep learning." Moragoda stressed that the decision to allow the Chinese military ship was taken at an official level and not political level. "Initially, the permission was given when the former President was about to almost leave and Sri Lanka was going through a chaos on the ground. It was done at an official level and it wasn't done at political level. We are now trying to change that," the High Commissioner said. Moragoda emphasised that Sri Lanka's foreign policy guidelines also protects India's security interests. The 1987 Accord, said the Srilankan envoy, mentions that India will not allow Indian soil to be used against Sri Lanka, and Sri Lanka will not allow its soil to be used against India. "So the understanding is there, it's a matter of how we implement it and engage with each other and make sure that this kind of thing doesn't happen again," he added. He further said that every year 300 various ships visit Sri Lanka and there have been large number of Chinese research vessels that come to Sri Lanka. Recently, the Chinese military ship Yuan Wang 5 docked at Sri Lanka's Hambantota port despite opposition from India. The ship left the port after a week-long stay. It was reported that the ship was among a group of Chinese ships that monitor satellite, rocket and intercontinental ballistic missile launches. The arrival of the Chinese ship at Hambantota set off alarm bells in the West and India with analysts saying that China may try to convert its colossal network of infrastructure into a network of military bases. UNI ASU SHK2025 An Ikeja Special Offences Court on Monday sentenced kidnap kingpin, Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike, alias Evans, to 21 years imprisonment for kidnapping a businessman Slyvanus Ahamonu, and collecting $420,000 as ransom from his family. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Evans accomplice, Victor Aduba, an ex-soldier, was also sentenced to 21 years imprisonment on a four-count charge bordering on kidnapping and unlawful possession of firearms. Delivering judgement, Oluwatoyin Taiwo, held that the prosecution had successfully proved the case of kidnap and possession of firearms against the convicts. It has been established by the prosecution witness (PW3, Ahamonu) complainant was kidnapped. The question is who kidnapped him? PW3 identified the first defendant in court while he was giving his testimony. He also recognized him at the police station nearly two months before the matter was taken to court. He testified that he was blindfolded before being taken to the bus. He said Immediately I saw him, I said this was the person that kidnapped me. I also watched the video where the first defendant admitted to having kidnapped PW3. The first defendant sat in a comfortable chair and there was no sign that he made the statement under duress. He was not threatened or harassed. He signed the statement. He also said how he broke into banks and later graduated to kidnapping. I am satisfied that this court can convict the defendants through his confessional statement, Mrs Taiwo said. The judge also held that there was no proof before the court that three of Evans men were killed by the police. She also convicted Mr Aduba, based on his confessional statement, and held that he should serve out his term without an option of a fine. I have considered the allocutus of the defence counsel. This sentencing will serve as a deterrent to others. The two are hereby sentenced to a five-year jail term for the first count, second count, 21 years, and third count, five years. The sentencing will, however, run concurrently. They are hereby sentenced to 21 years imprisonment without an option of fine, Mrs Taiwo said. Earlier, the first defendants counsel, Amobi Nzelu, in his allocutus, prayed the court to temper justice with mercy, adding that the convict was already serving a life jail term. I pray the court to grant him a lesser jail term, said the lawyer. The second defence counsel, Adeola Folarin, in her allocutus, also prayed the court to temper justice with mercy as the convict was a first offender. My lord, he is a young man that has served his country while in the army. READ ALSO: He also had a child while he was in custody. He is a father of two young children and they have not enjoyed his fatherly love. We pray the court to temper justice with mercy, Mrs Folarin said. The state counsel, Yusuf Sule, however, urged the court to convict the defendants as charged. My lord, the first defendant had been sentenced to life imprisonment before Justice Hakeem Oshodi. I urge the court to sentence the defendants accordingly, Mr Sule said. NAN reports that Mr Ahamonu and his wife, Chimebere, on 17th December 2021, testified virtually about how Evans and his gang kidnapped him on June 23, 2014, on Kara Road off Osolo Way, Ajao Estate, Lagos. The couple narrated how they sold properties, borrowed money, and raised funds from family and well-wishers to attempt to raise the initial two million dollars ransom that was demanded by Evans. Mr Ahamonu, whose hands and legs were chained throughout his two months in captivity, was only released when the family had given Evans $420,000 ransom and he was at the point of death. NAN also reports that Justice Hakeem Oshodi of the Ikeja High Court had, on 25th February, sentenced Evans to life imprisonment for the kidnap of Donatus Dunu, the Chief Executive Officer of Maydon Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (NAN) The National Industrial Court (NICN) is to deliver a ruling in an application filed by the federal government seeking an order of the court to direct the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to call off its ongoing strike. Justice Polycarp Hamman adjourned the matter after listening to the arguments of the counsel on behalf of the parties. J.U.K Igwe, counsel to the federal government, in his submission, informed the court that the application for the injunction was dated 12 September and filed on the same date. He added that the application was brought in pursuant to the rules of the NICN. Mr Igwe further stated that it was predicated on 11 grounds and supported by a 21-paragraph affidavit deposed to by Okechukwu Wampa, a legal adviser in the Ministry of Labour and Employment. Attached to it were three exhibits and an undertaking deposed to by Mr Wampa, the lawyer said. He also urged the court to grant the prayer sought and proceeded to adopt in its entirety the written address. He added that the claimants had met all the requirements to enable the court to grant the injunction. He said the claimants action was not apprehensive. Regarding damages, he said the lost time of seven months of the strike could not be regained. He concluded by saying that going by the provision of Section 18 (1) (e) of the Trade Disputes Act (TDA) 2004, which states that a worker should not embark on strike when a matter is already before the court, the court should grant the injunction. ASUU opposes injunction Femi Falana, counsel to the defendant, stated that he had before the court a nine-paragraph counter-affidavit filed on 16 September and deposed to by the president of ASUU. He added that attached to the affidavit were eight exhibits accompanied by a written address. He adopted the same as his argument in opposition to the interlocutory injunction. Mr Falana also argued that the minister lacked the power to order the court in the referral to direct ASUU to call off its strike. He said that once a referral was before a court, no party could go outside of it. Mr Falana in his argument also pointed out that the claimants did not follow due process in part 1 of TDA 2004 that stipulated that only an individual has the right to approach the court as a trade union will first need to go to the Industrial Arbitration Panel (IAP), before coming to the court. He said a union can only approach the NICN to appeal the decision of IAP. Mr Falana also said that the letter that accompanied the referral had the name of the Attorney-General of the Federation as a party in the suit, but the application filed before the court was without the name. He also said the referral asking for an accelerated hearing was not necessary as there was no urgency in the matter as the strike had lasted for seven months. He said the balance of convenience was not on the side of the claimants and that the conduct of the claimants in the prayer for the court to interpret the 2009 Agreement should be discountenanced. He finally urged the court to dismiss the application or direct parties to the IAP. Mr Igwe in response submitted that the minister did not order the court and that the letter attached to the referral was not a legal document as the notice of referral superseded the letter. The News Agency of Nigeria ( NAN) reports that earlier, the court had ruled in favour of the claimants after Mr Falana had argued that the defendants preliminary objection over the jurisdiction of the court should be taken before any other application. However, Mr Igwe had argued that the court in its decision on 16 September slated Monday for a hearing. Mr Igwe in addition stated that the defendants objection will not be prejudiced as it can be adopted and taken with the substantive matter at a later date. He also argued that the preliminary objection was not ripe for hearing as it was just served on him about 14 minutes before the proceeding for the day. The court had upheld Mr Igwes argument and directed counsel to proceed with the application for an interlocutory injunction and the counter-affidavit opposing the application. NAN also reports that the Minister of Labour and Employment on behalf of the federal government had filed the matter before the court by way of referral to resolve the issue of the ongoing strike by ASUU. (NAN) An official of the NNPC Limited has revealed that with N5 million only, anyone can smuggle trucks of petroleum products out of Nigeria. The Chief Financial Officer of NNPC Limited, Umar Ajia, disclosed this on Monday while appearing before the House of Representatives committee investigating fuel subsidy in Nigeria. Mr Ajia, who represented the CEO of NNPC Limited, Mele Kyari, said some West African and Central African countries have stopped importing petroleum products and depend solely on smuggled products from Nigeria. He specifically stated countries like Cameroon and Benin Republic have stopped importing fuel and depend completely on the smuggled products from Nigeria due to the porous border. If you have N5 million, you can cross the borders with trucks laden with PMS that is the bitter truth we have porous borders. Yes, we have Customs but I do not know. PMS crosses everywhere, to Cameroon through the North-east, Nigerian PMS gets to Mali. Our neighbouring countries hardly import PMS. In fact, some of them do not have the cover to back up imports. Cameroon refinery got burnt sometime last year or so, since that time, they have not imported PMS but they are still using PMS; if you go to Niger, you find that PMS is sold in bottles. To them, it is a cheaper source, why waste their foreign exchange, so we are subsidising our neighbours, that is the simple truth, he said. Mr Ajia blamed the arbitrage that exists due to the subsidy in Nigeria for the smuggling. He noted that the Nigerian government spends N209 on every litre as subsidy. He reiterated that NNPC limited and other agencies of government have no idea of the exact daily consumption of PMS in Nigeria. According to him, the 66.7 million daily consumption is based on the truck out from the depot. States that consume the most are states like Oyo and Ogun State, they even consume more than Lagos State. So you wonder, is it that they have more vehicles than Lagos? This explains that these are states with porous borders and that will explain why this bulk evacuation is going out of Oyo and Ogun states, probably neighbouring countries, he said. Foreign exchange component Mr Ajia disclosed that aside from the price differences, there is also the foreign exchange component of the subsidy regime. The federal government is currently proposing to spend about N3.5 trillion on petroleum subsidies in two quarters of 2023. Mr Ajia also disclosed that NNPC Limited is taking some actions to prevent perennial fuel scarcity during the Christmas and New Year season. He said the board of NNPC Limited had to extend the Direct Sale and Direct Purchase Agreement with the marketers to avert scarcity. According to Mr Ajia, the country is expecting 1.6 billion litres of PMS to ensure that there is an average of two billion litres monthly at closing stock. Direct Sales Direct Purchase (DSDP) contract, in reality, ended in August, and it is a very dangerous period to begin to re-tender for that because we are facing the winter. These are the difficult embers months that we normally avoid fuel scarcity. You know the scarcity in Nigeria is really associated with the Christmas period, so if you tender, the tendering process will take one or two months. So what the board approved we do is to extend the contract for six months such that we have passed the winter and we have passed the election, otherwise, we could have problems during elections, he said. Perplexed Meanwhile, the chairman of the committee, Aliyu Ibrahim (APC, Sokoto), was perplexed by the revelation from the NNPC Limited. He stated that the existing framework on PMS may sink the country. In Niger Republic, it is sold for N536, in Mali, N577, in neighbouring Benin, N389, in Ghana N589 and in Togo N470, in Chad it is N362, Cameroon N423 whereas the landing cost in Nigeria is N462 and we subsidise it to N165. Dont you think we have deliberately chosen to sink the country? he asked. Mr Ibrahim, therefore, directed that Duke Oil and other subsidiaries of the NNPC Limited must appear before the committee on Thursday. Afterwards, the committee resolved to go into an executive session with Mr Ajia and his team. It is however unclear why the committee went into executive session since the hearing is not security related. A group, the Peoples Democratic Party Reps Aspirants Forum (RAF), has appealed with Governor Nyesom Wike and his supporters to allow peace to reign in the party in order to ensure the victory of the party in the 2023 presidential election. The group made the appeal at a press conference in Abuja on Sunday, during which it pledged to mobilise voters for the partys presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, in the 360 federal constituencies. Mr Wike and some members of the PDP, including about four governors, have been demanding the resignation of the partys National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, in order to correct the imbalance in its leadership. They said with the emergence of Atiku, a northerner as the PDP presidential candidate, Mr Ayu, also a northerner, should resign to pave way for a southerner to occupy the position. Atiku, a former vice president, had defeated Mr Nyesom and 11 others in the presidential primary election of the party held in May and went ahead to pick Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, as his running mate instead of the Rivers governor, who came second in the election. Since then the main opposition party has been enmeshed in crisis with the quest by Mr Wike supporters, who believe the governor was betrayed, that the national chairman must go. However, at its recent meeting, the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party, passed a vote of confidence on the national chairman and other members of the national working committee. Also, last week, at a meeting with the South-west chapter of the PDP, Atiku said though Mr Ayus removal is achievable, the partys constitution, rules, regulations and procedure must be adhered to. Last Thursday, Mr Wike and the other governors in his camp were appointed into the Presidential Campaign Council (PCC). None of them has kicked against their inclusion so far. Sheathe your sword RAF, which is an umbrella body of all House of Representatives aspirants from all states of the federation who aspired but lost out in the recently concluded PDP primary elections across the 360 federal constituencies of the country, asked the Wikes camp to accept the resolution of the NEC. Thus we appeal to HE Nyesom Wike to accept the recent resolution of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of our great party reaffirming confidence in the National Chairman of the Party in good faith no matter how he and his supporters may view the resolution to be at variance with their desires and aspirations. Democracy demands that we tolerate developments that may be personally disagreeable to us but popular with the majority, the forums National Chairman, Danjuma Muhammad, said. We appreciate the efforts and pragmatism shown by HE, Atiku Abubakar and other well-meaning members of the party to dialogue with HE, Gov. Nyesom Wike and his group and we are urge that this dialogue should continue to be sustained until we achieve consensus and unity in facing the arduous task of dislodging the most incompetent political party in recent memory anywhere in the world from continuing to ruin and endanger the very existence of our country. We want to join our voices to call on HE, Gov. Nyesom Wike and his group that their grievances and demand for fair inclusion are well noted and it is time for them to please sheath their sword. No matter the bitterness, no matter the grievances we are better united under one umbrella to deliver PDP for Nigeria. The group reminded Mr Wike that as he repeatedly implied, it is better to fight in your fathers house because you have the right of claims than to go slave in another mans house. It added, Not all that glitters is gold! This is a clarion call to services, we owe ourselves, we owe our children, we owe generation yet unborn to act to save Nigeria from sinking. Posterity will judge us not only for our actions, but also for our inaction. Let us all join hands and deliver Atiku and Okowa for Nigeria. Let us return power back to the people. The National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested an ex-convict, Onyeka Madukolu, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, for importing 5.90 kilograms of cocaine concealed in cans of deodorants and ladies lip gloss into Nigeria. The agencys spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, in a statement on Sunday said the businessman had served a seven-year jail sentence in Ethiopia for drug peddling and was released from prison in 2020. Mr Babafemi said the suspect was arrested on his return from Sao Paulo, Brazil via Addis Ababa on an Ethiopian Airlines flight. A video posted by Mr Babafemi showed the moment NDLEA officers at the airport uncovered the illicit drug. During preliminary interview, he claimed to have gone into the drug business to raise fresh capital to start a legitimate business after his release from Ethiopian prison in 2020, the statement read. The father of two kids, one each from a Nigerian woman and a Brazilian lady, said he was into motor spare parts business before going into the criminal trade. The 44-year-old indigene of Awka North Local Government Area of Anambra State said he was expecting to be paid N2 million on successful delivery of the illicit drug in Nigeria. Mr Babafemi also said that a freight agent, Lawal Adeyemi was arrested at the airport for attempting to export some sachets of lexotan among other non-controlled drugs to Liberia. He also confirmed the arrest of one Qasim Ademola, a producer of new psychoactive substance, popularly called Akuskura. He said the suspect had 26, 600 bottles of the illicit substance meant for distribution across northern states. The Peoples Democratic Partys governorship candidate in Lagos State, Olajide Adediran, has responded to criticisms by the APC in the state over his visit to owners of vehicles auctioned by the state government. Mr Adediran, popularly known as Jandor, in a statement through his media aide, said it was amusing that the APC was ridiculing his kind gestures in bringing succour to those whose vehicles were auctioned. The point to note is that as responsible, law-abiding citizens of Lagos State, neither Adediran, nor his running mate will ever condone the breaking of the states laws for any reason, the statement read. This point was made very clear as he reprimanded his hosts for breaking the law. However, we must realise that laws are made for the people and not people for the law. Therefore, all laws must bear a human face and seek to correct rather than to destroy the very citizens that they were made for. In this instance, the penalty for breaking the law in question amounted to killing an ant with a sledgehammer and will potentially create more problems than it was meant to solve. Other measures, such as hefty fines, could have served as a deterrent to potential offenders. Mr Adediran also assured the duo that if voted into office in 2023, such harsh punishment for violation of traffic rules would be reviewed. Mr Adediran and his running mate, Funke Akindele, had visited the homes of Lateef Kolapo and Osinachi Ndukwe, both drivers whose vehicles were auctioned. During the visit, Mr Adediran frowned at the violation of traffic laws but sympathised with the duo over the loss of their vehicles to auction. The APC in the state, however, condemned the visit, accusing the PDP candidate of playing politics with human lives and encouraging the breakdown of law and order in the state. (NAN) The Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) on Monday impounded 40 illegally parked trucks, tankers, and trailers under flyovers in the Costain/Iganmu axis. The exercise came following the expiration of a seven-day removal notice served on owners of such illegally parked and abandoned vehicles. The General Manager of LASTMA, Bolaji Oreagba, disclosed this in a statement through the Director, Public Affairs Unit, Adebayo Taofiq, in Lagos on Monday. Mr Oreagba said the enforcement operation was led by the Director of Operations (Headquarters), Peter Gbedemeje. He said that owners and drivers of the impounded vehicles would be charged to court accordingly. The LASTMA boss said the level of voluntary compliance before the enforcement was encouraging. He said majority had removed their heavy-duty vehicles before the commencement of the exercise. We are very happy with the level of voluntary compliance by owner/drivers of these illegally parked trucks including other illegal workshops such as Iron benders, mechanics, food/ fruits vendors. READ ALSO: These 40 impounded trailers were contravened around Ijora, Costain, Breweries and Ajegunle Park by Ijora Mobil Road area of Iganmu, Lagos, Mr Oreagba said. The Head of Operations, Mr Gbedemeje, said the authority would continue with the cleanup exercise. Mr Gbedemeje said the exercise would be extended to other parts of the state to checkmate criminal activities. Recall that Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu had on 12 September ordered the removal of all abandoned vehicles parked indiscriminately under bridges across the state. The Special Adviser to the Governor on Transportation, Sola Giwa, made this known during an emergency meeting with stakeholders, held at Ikeja. Mr Giwa said the governor had declared zero tolerance for environmental abuse, illegal and indiscriminate dumping of refuse, and defacing of the environment when he signed the Executive Order on traffic and sanitation. I can assure you that government will enforce this notice after the expiration of the seven days ultimatum beginning from today (Monday), he had said. Mr Giwa appealed to owners of abandoned vehicles to comply, as the Removal Notice became necessary due to security issues and attendant gridlock in identified areas. He listed Costain, Apapa, Ajah, and Lekki, among such areas. In his address, Mr Oreagba, General Manager, LASTMA, had served a seven-day removal and compliance notice to owners of trucks and other vehicles parked under Costain Bridge area. He urged them to comply or risk having their vehicles impounded and prosecuted. Mr Oreagba said the state government was committed to reducing the traffic problems around the axis, hence, it had become important to remove bottlenecks to achieving that. (NAN) The police have reacted to the trending video of some civilians trying to collect a rifle from a police officer in Lagos. The Force spokesperson, Muyiwa Adejobi, in a statement on Monday said that if the police officers erred, the yet-to-be-identified individuals ought to have reported to the appropriate authority and not resort to self-help. In the video, two men were seen in a heated argument with the police officers. One of them could be seen trying to collect a rifle from a police officer and shouting where is my phone? The Force Public Relations Officer reacted to a trending video where some individuals grievously assaulting a police officer, and attempting to disarm the officer by dragging his loaded AK47 rifle, restated the law on serious assault as enshrined on Section 356 (2) of the Criminal Code Act of Southern Nigeria with explanations, the statement read. READ ALSO: However, some media platforms deliberately misquoted it as endorsing violence by uniformed officers against members of the public. Where a public officer acts contrary to the provisions of extant laws, there are channels to report such conduct and get prompt justice, particularly in the Nigeria Police Force. In the extant case, the individuals resorted to self-help and assaulted the officers, attempted to snatch the officers firearm, and in so doing breached the law. It is trite that two wrongs cannot make a right, as such whatever the provocation, the action of the individuals were wrong in all ramifications as they would have reported the matter for prompt action. Mr Adejobi also said that it is criminal and disrespectful to pounce on and beat law enforcement agents. The senatorial candidate of the People Democratic Party (PDP) for Borno Central District, Jibrin Tanabe, has described as forgery a letter bearing his signature indicating he has resigned from the senatorial race. In the statement, Mr Tatabe accused the National Leadership of the PDP of forging the letter and of perpetrating perjury against him. He claimed some leaders of his party from Borno State, who are based in Abuja, replaced his name with that of Muhammed Kumalia whom he said has contributed nothing towards the development of the party in the state. Mr Tatabe won the PDP Borno Central Senatorial District primary election in May with 244 votes defeating his rival, Bukar Kachallah, who scored 44 votes. In June, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) published Mr Tatabes name alongside those of other winners of political parties primary elections. Below is the full statement from Mr Tatabe: REPORT OF CASE OF MISREPRESENTATION OF FACT AND FORGERY AND PERJURY PERPETRATED BY PDP NATIONAL LEADERSHIP AGAINST THE CANDIDATURE OF JIBRIN MUSTAPHA TATABE SENATORIAL CANDIDATE OF BORNO CENTRAL SENATORIAL CONSTITUENCY I write to express my concern over the issue of abuse of power, impunity and forgery by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) perpetrated against me. Since our national convention and the subsequent primary election conducted and candidates nominated there has been outright and open abuse of power and impunity by those who have been placed to manage the affairs of our party. I contested and won the party primary election conducted in Maiduguri on the 23rd of May, 2022. I defeated my opponent by 244votes. The party subsequently issued me a certificate of return. Some Borno State Abuja-based party leaders who are contributing nothing towards the development of the Party in State clandestinely tried several avenues to replace me with Hon. Mohammed Umara Kumalia failed to contest in the primary election knowing fully well that he will be defeated but I refused. I honourably told (inquired) them why did he not contest the party primary. I told them I was voted by the delegates of my constituency thus representing them. The personality that purportedly substituted me was until recently a member of APC and the party in the State confirmed he is still their member and was suspended. There are criteria for a returning member which has to be followed holistically as enshrined in the Partys constitution because he/she has to lose his/her seniority. His ward executive and local government executives are not aware of his request for a waiver which they are supposed to recommend and escalate further. The entire ward and local government executives of five local governments under Borno Central Senatorial district held a press conference in Maiduguri and distance themselves from the atrocities committed by the national leadership of the party. They pushed further by involving the Deputy National Chairman, North (Ibrahim Damagum) but I was still repugnant and didnt accept their proposition. The two Senatorial Candidates from northern and southern Borno are there on virtually most occasions they call for a meeting. They subsequently initiated a court action by instigating my opponent to challenge the outcome of the primary election. After discovering that they will not win in court and seeing that the INEC substitution window is about to close they clandestinely forged my signature and substituted me. I have attached and circled the forged signature on the purported withdrawal documents sent to INEC in yellow and my signature in green. To the best of my knowledge, I have NOT written any withdrawal letter and personally delivered the same to anybody. The purported withdrawal letter was addressed to the State Party Chairman. As the Almighty God is always on the side of truth I eventually got to know of their atrocities and swiftly instructed my Solicitor who wrote to the National Chairman to immediately discountenance the purported letter of withdrawal. The solicitor equally wrote to the Chairman of INEC and the Inspector General of Police and copied other security agencies. I asked the State Party Chairman he instantly told me that he has not seen this letter and nobody gave him such letter. I met the National Chairman Iyorchia Ayu and told him about the abnormality. He said he will investigate. It is a pity how can someone sign documents without knowing how they originated. The initiators of the Electorate Act amendment are conversant with such crude manoeuvres orchestrated by political parties hence the inclusion of some clauses that will forestall such fraudulent atrocities. The Inspector General of Police has directed the Borno State Commissioner of Police to handle and thus far written statements were taken. But to our dismay, the State police command has written three times to the National Chairman inviting the National Deputy Chairman, North, National Organizing Secretary and a Director in his office but they all refused to show up. Probably they are above the law. This is what our country has become, normal individuals in suits and ties who seemingly are above the law and the people of this country. The National Chairman and Deputy National Chairman, North are (allegedly)accomplices in this act. The bickering on their antecedent both (Ayu and Damagum) as claimed by others are justified. These are well-mannered, educated, and humble individuals who turn into quite the opposite as soon as they enter into privileged positions. The privilege given to these individuals to manage the affairs of this party is being misused and abused and dynasties are related. This kind of impunity was what attributed to the Partys failure in 2015. As the Almighty God catches up with them they conducted the fraudulent substitution without recourse to the electorate Act 2022 as amended. The National Chairman and Secretary of the party wrote INEC that the primary was conducted on the 15th of July, 2022whereass no primary was conducted. We apply for and collected a Certified True Copy which clearly stated that there was no primary election conducted in Maiduguri on the 15th of July 2022. We subsequently went to Federal High Court, Abuja and filled a case. Notices were served to INEC and the party but they both declined to respond. Seeing that we filed a motion on notice for an interlocutory injunction restraining INEC from publishing the name of the candidate and to our astonishment INEC was the first to counter the affidavit. They want to eat their cake and have it. It will interest you to note that I followed up and won the Court case instituted by my opponent. I implore you to kindly publish this story as breaking news on your widely read platform and also go further and obtain some of these documents from INEC under the Freedom of Information Act to expose the truth. It is my conviction that as a reputable print media outfit that is against impunity you will give it publicity and consequently it will make INEC sit up and do as appropriate. I will also urge you to beam your searchlight on INECs Legal department in conjunction with ICPC a lot is happening there. I will continue to keep you posted on further development. Thanking you in anticipation. Jibrin Tanabe PDP Senatorial candidate of Borno Central. A former National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress, Adams Oshiomhole, has said the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, failed to address insecurity in Anambra State as a governor, hence he lacks the capacity to fix insecurity in Nigeria. Mr Oshiomole made this claim on Sunday while speaking at the APC Youth Summit in Abuja. Mr Obi, who was the governor of Anambra State from 2006 to 2014, promised to prioritise tackling insecurity and fix the economy if elected president next year The former governor is remarkably popular among the Nigerian youth on social media even though his record as Anambra governor has been repeatedly attacked by opponents. Mr Obi is facing Bola Tinubu of the ruling party, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of the PDP and several others at the February presidential election. Mr Oshiomhole, a former governor of Edo State, stated that Mr Obis successor, Willie Obiano had to embark on forceful removal of kidnappers from the state because the former failed to tackle insecurity. He is basing his claims on videos posted on YouTube. For those of you who are social media warriors, go to google and look at the first six months of Governor Obianos administration in Anambra state. What you are going to find on YouTube is Governor Obiano using bulldozers to demolish the homes of kidnappers and those involved in Bakassi boys and Bakassi girls. Who was the governor when Bakassi developed in Anambra State? Who solved the problem? If a man could not fix the security challenges in Anambra State, which requires courage, how can he convince you that he will fix security all over Nigeria? Dont take it from me, go to YouTube. I dont want to look for trouble, I am a small man, anybody can deal with me. If he had solved the security problem, would Obiano be demolishing peoples houses, the houses of kidnappers? When he says, I will fix Nigeria ask him, have you fixed your state? he said. Mr Oshiomhole also took a salvo at the credentials of the LP candidate in the area of economic development. He calls himself a trader, what trade does he do? Importing or exporting? What does he import? Find out. Youll know those brutalising the economy, he said. New Delhi, Sep 19 (UNI) A delegation of Shri Gurdwara Bala Sahib visited Prime Minister Narendra Modi here on Monday to bless him on his birthday. An Akhand paath, which started on September 15 and culminated two days later, was attended by thousands of Sikh devotees. This was perhaps the first time a Gurdwara organised Akhand paath for a Prime Minister. The Sikh delegation honoured the Prime Minister by tying a turban and offered a Siropa. The Prime Minister expressed his happiness on meeting the delegation and thanked them for their wishes. He said that he was humbled and deeply touched by their gesture. The delegation also thanked the Prime Minister for the initiatives taken by him for the welfare of the Sikh community, officials said. UNI ASU MR Many who were scheduled to travel via the Muritala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, and its local wing in Ikeja on Monday morning through afternoon suffered what some of them tagged double jeopardy. Apart from the heavy rain that brought along flooding and the attendant traffic gridlock, the pain of commuters along the Apapa-Osodi-MMIA Airport road in the city was compounded by the protest embarked on by students of public universities in the country. The protesters, under the umbrella of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), blocked the road that leads to the international airport while those who wanted to access the local airport through the Mafoluku Road were also caught up by the traffic snarl. Other road users, including students, workers, and particularly staffers of the airports, also suffered inconveniences as they struggled to get to their destinations. Many, including foreigners, had trekked long distances while touts who offered to carry their luggage charged exorbitant fares. Meanwhile, while the police appealed to the protesting students to vacate the road, claiming it is an international route, the protesters remained adamant. They insisted that even when we leave today, we will be back tomorrow again. Harrowing experiences Some of the travellers who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES on Monday afternoon amidst the heavy rain said they trekked about four kilometres to access the airport. We paid as much as N20,000 to get my luggage to the airport because the touts who were available billed us exorbitant fares. It was a hellish experience, one of the travellers, who does not want to be named, said. Many commuters, including non-Nigerians, children and pregnant women, also walked long distances to the airport with some carrying their luggage on their heads. One of the stranded commuters, a government employee, Oyetunji Sunus, said he got stuck in the traffic as early as 8:30 a.m while on his way to work. Mr Sanusi said: I have suffered today. This is 2:30 and I am still here. The agitation is worth it but the hardship that it has caused is unimaginable. My appeal to the government is that they should find a lasting solution to this issue. The MMIA is a hub in the aviation industry in Nigeria and anything that happens here will affect the entire country because this is where about 60 per cent of the revenue of the aviation industry comes from. Meanwhile, a pensioner who is also ill, Felix Achonu, was unable to get to the hospital as he was also caught up in the traffic. I am on my way to Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) hospital where as a FAAN retiree but my car is parked at the back. Look at my body, it is a film of rash and has been hitching me for days. Thats why I have to see the doctor, Mr Achonu said. The 76-year-old man said he had been stranded in his car since morning but that other passersby advised him to speak to the protesting students if would allow me to move. An angry commuter, Francis Phillips, said he has been to 88 countries in the world but that Nigeria is the worst he ever lived. Speaking angrily, he said: Even the spoon we use to eat here is substandard. I am stranded here and my wife is stranded at the local airport. Even in Somalia, it doesnt happen like this. It is a shame. He said the protest was justified but that the political office holders whom it is meant to affect dont care. They are busy sharing money because they dont know their right from their left, he said. Touts savour experience But while commuters were lamenting their ugly experiences, touts who had taken advantage of the traffic gridlock, expressed their joy over their gains. They said travellers were forced to engage their services to carry their loads, and that the money they generated while the protest lasted was equivalent to what they might make in one week. One of them, Kamoru Lawani, who told PREMIUM TIMES how he had helped passengers carry their loads to the airport, said in less than five hours he already made N45,000. He said for him to carry one bag the owner would pay N2,000, and so for five bags, it is N10,000. In fact, I want the protest to continue; it should not end, he said. Police appeal The Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of the airport, Kayode Sunday, while addressing the protesting students, pleaded with them to either leave the scene or create a way for vehicles to pass. He said: We have been pleading with them and the command is making an effort. All the security agencies in Nigeria are working together to talk to them to sheathe their swords. Nobody is happy that they are at home for months, however, we want them to free the road. We are managing them and they are cooperating with us. He said the protest had been peaceful and that the security operatives on hand had ensured that it was not hijacked by hoodlums. The students have promised us that at 4p.m they would vacate the corridor. This is an international corridor and we need to secure the premises, Mr Sunday said. Adamant students Speaking to PREMIUM TIMES on behalf of the protesters, the Chairman NANS Ending ASUU Strike Taskforce, Ojo Raymond, said the students would continue to block major financial hubs in all parts of Lagos until the universities are reopened. It is a luta continua for us until we achieve results. We are going to shut down the Nigeria Ports Authority tomorrow, he said. The former Vice President of NANS said the target of the body on Tuesday is the Third Mainland Bridge and NPA in Lagos. So, I have told the police that the barricade remains until we leave here today, he said. Ahead of the commencement of campaigns for the 2023 general elections, the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, have called on political parties to ensure that the campaigns are issue-based. The duo made the call at an event organised by the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS) in collaboration with the Kukah Centre. The News Agency of Nigeria NAN (NAN) reports that the event has as a theme, High-level Forum on Political Communication and Issue-based Campaign in the 2023 General Elections. According to the timetable and schedule of activities unveiled by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), political campaigns will commence on 28 September. Declaring the forum open, Mr Lawan said the dialogue was not just fitting and proper but also apt considering the kick-off of campaigns soon ahead of the 2023 elections. He urged politicians to guard against inciting utterances that could jeopardise Nigerias democracy. I wish to passionately implore all stakeholders to be conscious of their messaging and focus on issue-based campaigns that shun violence and hate speech. Many have pointed out the extreme and prejudicial dimensions that political conversations have assumed in the last few weeks. Rather than emphasise discussion on policy positions to address many of the social and economic challenges we face, we are engaged in frivolous, illogical and sensational exchanges, he said. He called on the participants to reflect on the seriousness of governance and the need to make campaigns more issue-based. READ ALSO: It is easy to dwell on trivialities and engage in a shouting contest. What should occupy our minds and discussions in the coming weeks and months include tackling insecurity and building on the gains made by the present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari in this regard, he said In his remarks, Mr Gbajabiamila said that political campaigning formed an essential element in democratic practices and was crucial for executing political strategies. As such, political campaigns provide a dynamic platform for political actors to connect with the electorate. As such, campaigns strengthen democracy by holding the elected accountable to the electors, he said The speaker, however, said that several studies had shown that campaigns could undermine democracy by inducing cynicism and undermining trust in government. He said as the country prepared to begin campaign activities, the Electoral Act 2022 contains critical provisions on the conduct of political campaigns. Section 92 states that a political campaign or slogan shall not be tainted with abusive language directly or indirectly likely to injure religious, ethnic, tribal or sectional feelings. Sub-section 2 is even more direct in its prohibition of intemperate, slanderous or base language, insinuations, or innuendoes designed or likely to provoke violent reactions or emotions. He added that the act further stipulated sanctions for a political party, aspirant or candidate that contravened these provisions ranging from fines of up to N2 million or imprisonment for a term of 12 months. Mr Gbajabiamila, however, urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to uphold and strictly implement the provisions of the Act and the Regulations and Guidelines. We in the National Assembly will continue to support INEC by providing the necessary funds required for the smooth conduct of the 2023 elections, he stated. In his welcome address, Director-General NILDS, Abubakar Sulaiman, said the forum was borne out of the conviction that better communication and negotiation could create harmony and more desirable outcomes in politics. Political campaigning is an indispensable tool in the context of the electoral process in any democratic environment. This is primarily because they create a platform and an opportunity for political actors to reach out to the electorate and share their ideological and policy positions, he observed. He further said despite these advantages, it is well known that campaigns could undermine democracy, particularly when they induce cynicism among the populace and undermine trust in government. Mr Sulaiman noted that it was self-evident that the build-up to the 2023 general elections raises genuine concerns about the pattern of public communication among political actors. He, therefore, said that the high-level forum addressed some of these critical issues to promote issue-oriented political communication. (NAN) The Federal High Court in Abuja has ruled that a former governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido, and his co-defendants have a case to answer with regard to the N712 milllion money laundering charges filed against them. Ijeoma Ojukwu, the trial judge, made this pronouncement in a ruling dismissing the no-case submission filed by Mr Lamido, on Monday. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is prosecuting Mr Lamido alongside two of his sons Aminu Sule Lamido and Mustapha Sule Lamido and others on money laundering charges involving N712,008,035. Another of the co-defendants is the Lamidos business associate, Aminu Wada Abubakar. The rest are four companies Bamaina Company Nigeria Limited, Bamaina Aluminium Limited, Speeds International Limited and Batholomew Darlignton Agoha. The defendants face 37 amended charges in all. Mr Lamido had filed a no-case submission after the prosecution finished calling its witnesses. He alleged that the evidence provided by the prosecution did not disclose any case against him. He, therefore, called on the judge to dismiss the charges as, according to him, there was no need for him enter any defence. But, ruling on Monday, the judge, Mrs Ojukwu, upheld the submissions of EFCCs counsel, Chile Okoroma, that the defendants had a case to answer, according to a statement by EFCCs spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren. The judge ordered him to open his defence on 8 to 11 November 8, the next hearing dates picked on Monday. Background Mr Lamido, the Jigawa State governor between 2007 and 2015, was first arraigned along with his co-defendants before Evelyn Anyadike, a judge of the Federal High Court in Kano, on 9 July 2015, for allegedly misappropriating funds belonging to Jigawa State. He had been re-arraigned on different occasions before his case was reassigned to Mrs Ojukwu. He and his co-defendants were re-arraigned before Justice Ojukwu on 14 February. on Monday the 5th of September, one of the major news items was Isa Pantami, the powerful Sheikh and Minister for Communication and Digital Economy, who stepped out to say that the 5% VAT/tax proposed on telecoms services by the Minister of Finance, will no longer come into play His complain was chiefly that there were already too many taxes (41 he said), in the telecoms area and he did not see why telecoms should be the whipping boy for everyone else (in other words, territory protection). Government could be a very funny and frustrating business. First, those who go into politics are often people with large egos. So, imagine the clash of many of those people in a single government. The civil servants also come with their cunning and games. Theyve seen so many governments come and go. Theyve seen the desperation and folly of many politicians. And as we can see in Nigeria, the civil servants hold the ace. The desperate politician struggles to recoup his campaign expenses, the alleged bribes to the National Assembly for his appointment to be confirmed, and to get comfortable. But theres little he can do in this regard without playing into the hands of the ever-patient public servant. From our recent news in Nigeria, any normal person will be shocked at the billions that some top civil servants have shared among themselves, out of taxpayers money. And to be fair, it is only a handful of public servants. The vast majority are made to suffer in poverty while they wait for their turns which mostly never comes. If their turns come to man the till, compressed anger, plus years or decades of frustration and deprivation takes over. The rest will be history. Only a handful of parastatals have been able to play the system and ensure fantastic salaries and allowances for their staff. A controversy presently rages over the salaries and allowances at the pensions commission. That does not prevent them from being greedy though. But my concern today is how the usual political ego mixes with greed in the average and not-so-average Nigerian, to keep this country down. I think the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, deserves pity from us. For far too long now, she has been repeating that Nigeria has a revenue problem, not a debt problem. Some of us differ with her on this, and for me, Nigeria has a debt, an expenditure and of course a revenue problem and even more, rolled into one. We also have a thinking problem, a productivity problem, a visioning problem, a unity and patriotism problem, a sociocultural problem, a sociopsychological problem as seen in the way most Nigerians are corrupt and can hardly be trusted with public funds, which they loot and just keep or lose to foreign countries. And many more issues keep crawling out of the woodwork. But despite Mrs Ahmeds agony at our low revenue capacity in Nigeria, the next logical question to ask is what are we doing about it? For it is well within the purview of fiscal policy to drive revenue and ensure it is maximised, no matter what sector it comes from. And the revenue sources open to governments at all levels include taxes, rents, rates, duties, fines, fees, levies and whatever else is permissible under our constitution. What has become more and more obvious under the Buhari administration is that government has gotten increasingly frustrated with its capacity to generate revenue, or to even control its MDAs. Whereas, I am in the private sector, I sometimes pity them, and I strongly believe that if I was in their place, I would have lost my cool by now. I also believe that the president is rather letting down the Minister of Finance. There is an executive backup she needs, without which she will be frustrated out of her mind. The ultimate function of revenue generation belongs to a president. He only has to speak strongly, publicly, and consistently, raising the alarm that we need these revenues to save the economy. And so it was that on Monday the 5th of September, one of the major news items was Isa Pantami, the powerful Sheikh and Minister for Communication and Digital Economy, who stepped out to say that the 5% VAT/tax proposed on telecoms services by the Minister of Finance, will no longer come into play. He explained briefly that the tax was stepped down at his behest and based on his advice. His complain was chiefly that there were already too many taxes (41 he said), in the telecoms area and he did not see why telecoms should be the whipping boy for everyone else (in other words, territory protection). He also said the Finance Ministry did not carry him along. So, for those who know Pantami, he has only pulled his weight. I did a little research and calculation. In 2019 Nigerians spent N3.2 trillion on calls and data. 5% on this would amount to N162 billion. 10% taxes on that will amount to N320 billion. That will not save Nigeria from Hades but it is something. And it is a good tax, if administered. Two of the attributes of a good tax is its collectability and payability. A telecoms tax is easy to collect as it is monitored and received from telecoms providers. Indeed also, a 5% tax on phone calls or data will hardly be noticeable by most Nigerians. After all, we hear that the telecoms companies sometimes play games with us, deducting a little here and there from 180 million subscribers and nobody has yet been born who can track and tackle them. So, why not? Add to that the fact that the proposed tax is progressive. You pay more based on your usage. Heavy users of data and airtime simply bear more of the burden, not the struggling dependants. I was sad that we could not achieve this simple tax. I would later read that the DG of the Budget Office, Mr Ben Nwabueze complained about this development. Much as he sounded very professional and measured, I could sense his frustration. He informed the journalist he spoke to that this tax had been written into the Finance Act 2022. But who cares about an Act when egos are in play? Nigerias 2023 Proposed Budget of Helplessness Snippets of Nigerias 2023 budget emerged recently, and it painted a spectre of disaster. The country wishes to spend a total of N19 trillion. But out of that amount, the Federal Government says it would only be able to raise less than N7 trillion in revenue. The remainder N12 trillion will be deficit and must be borrowed. The government says that the planned deficit will be just over 5% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and admits that it has violated the rule which recommends that deficits should not be above 3%. By the way, this budget deficit issue has taken on a life of its own. Only a country on the way to its own collapse will keep up deficit budgeting ad infinitum. What countries do is that after a few years of deficit budgeting, they try to balance the budget. Having deficits over a long term, as it has become the case for Nigeria, simply means that our debts are growing at a geometric pace. But this is only a subtle manner of minimising our predicament. We may have sworn never to wean ourselves off the trick of comparing everything with the GDP, even when it hardly makes sense to so do. The GDP is just the calculation of everyones economic activity the goods and services sold and bought in a country in a given year. It is not money that is readily available to government. So, indeed government should never plan with GDP in mind. The GDP is just a nice little metric that allows a government to determine some level of progress or lack of it. Therefore, whether we are comparing our national debt with the GDP, or in this instance the budget deficit of a given year, what is obvious here is that we are running away from the truth. What is more sensible is to compare the deficit with the very budget in which it is planned. In this instance, the deficit is 63% (N12 trillion by N19 trillion). Way more than half of the coming budget will be financed by borrowing and the inability of government to step up revenue collection, as it comes under pressure to spend more for the people, is a sign of helplessness. Has government lost control over economic players? By the way, this budget deficit issue has taken on a life of its own. Only a country on the way to its own collapse will keep up deficit budgeting ad infinitum. What countries do is that after a few years of deficit budgeting, they try to balance the budget. Having deficits over a long term, as it has become the case for Nigeria, simply means that our debts are growing at a geometric pace. In 2006, when we were already in what they called a debt crisis, our foreign debt was a mere $35 billion of which we paid $12 billion and got a cancelation of $18 billion. Today, we are owing close to $50 billion to foreigners and another similar sum domestically. We have to rein in the deficit if we are to be honest with ourselves. And it is doable. But for now, the challenge is to grow revenue. There are many areas in which we are losing revenues in this country. For one, our erstwhile top crude oil assets Bonny, Bonga, Forcados are bleeding. Nigeria loses perhaps 1,000,000 barrels per day to thieves and shut-ins as a result of vandalisation. A recent report by the Economist details how we are the ONLY oil producing country not benefiting from recent highs in crude oil prices. I have given up on that sector. Also, for decades now, many of the top government-owned enterprises (GOEs) have been simply spending everything they earn for Nigeria on themselves, awarding huge allowances and bonuses to themselves, budgeting yearly to spend 99.9% of all revenues and collections. They are the Lords of the Manor. A couple of years back, the government brought initiatives to ensure we get something back from these GOEs, but there are always tricks in the bag to ensure very little, if anything, gets back to the common coffers of government. It is as if those guys are set up in adversary position to the people of this country. They operate in silos and many of them control their supervising ministers. They also understand that the oversighting members of the National Assembly are only interested in getting their huge kickbacks. All sorted. It continues to be a tragedy, that all our treasurers steal from the till and theres nothing we can do about that. They easily circumvent the technology, like TSA, GIFMIS and the rest. First it was Jonah Otunla under the Jonathan government, now it is Ahmed Idris. Apart from the pocketing of most of the revenues and collections of many GOEs, Nigeria is also losing money to outright corruption and deals made between operatives of those agencies and those who should pay. That is the more difficult corruption to stop because usually nobody else is there when deals are struck. N100 million is due to government, an official says the company should pay N5 million and give him N10 million. Which company will not go for it? Some agencies also still do funny accounting. Recently, the House of Reps Committee on Finance dragged the Federal Road Safety Corps for issuing physical receipts, instead of allowing offenders to pay via electronic means. Billions were unaccounted for. Then there is the fact that everybody just seems not to want to pay anything to Nigerias coffers. Everyone is now their own government, and it looks like things will continue this way for a while, except we find a government that asserts itself against corrupt government operatives and citizens alike. The organised private sector, as represented by Chambers of Commerce around the country, as well as manufacturers associations seem to have taken up an adversarial and activist role against government when it comes to improving collection of revenues or optimising taxes as well. They are always up in daggers against any idea. While Mrs Kemi Adeosun was around, she tried to increase excise duties on cigarettes and alcohol on the advice of IMF. She met a stone wall. Nigeria remains the country where alcohol and cigarettes are cheapest, almost in the whole world. The OPS claimed that a mere N3 per stick of cigarette will collapse the entire industry. Recently when the government muted the idea of a sugar/sin tax, the same manufacturers claimed the industry will collapse if a mere N6 is added to a bottle of Fanta. Many Nigerians say that because government has not been using revenues well enough, they see no reasons why they should even pay anything. I dont see it that way. I think we are digging a hole for ourselves collectively if we take that stance. Something must shift first. Citizens must cooperate with each other and have a positive view of contributing for collective development. Yet, we all happily pay these taxes and fines abroad. We have to get off our high horses in Nigeria. We cannot on one hand be prancing around the world in private jets and presidential planes and large entourages of privileged people saying we are giant of Africa, while a vast majority of our people are tanking in abject want and poverty because we cannot raise government revenue as everybody locks up, as they say on the streets. If this government fails on these grounds, the next one should please take note. Its war out there. And the government must win that war. I was in Ghana months back and in Buka Restaurant in Osu, Accra, the bill came with 17.5% VAT, 2.5% Education Tax, 2.5% National Health Insurance, 1% COVID Levy and 1% Tourism Fee. There were many Nigerians there happily paying with sheepish grins on their faces. Every bottle of water or drink being sold had a QR code printed on it to certify that duties and excise had been paid on them. Ghanas economy may have issues today, but they jolly well take themselves seriously and may emerge as a solid economy ahead of us. What about property taxes, which could be of great help at the state level and relieve the Federal Government of some pressure? Every attempt to introduce this has been shot down in every state legislature. It is a case of the rich protecting themselves. Nobody wants to give an inch in Nigeria. So, we know the answers to our problems but are just not ready to do the right thing. Since people are complaining about past profligacy and that is indeed a problem the coming government may want to make sacrifices (say ask appointees to work for free for a few years). The coming president must draw the line on all the indiscipline and thievery going on in government, so that we may save ourselves. We cannot keep drawing up budgets that will be 60% financed by borrowing, when we are already using more than 100% of federal revenue to service debt. The minister even complained in her last presentation that the way things are going, the 2023 budget will not have any capital component as the entire budget will be for debt servicing and recurrent expenditure (like paying salaries). When a Federal Government only pays salaries and services debt, you know that the end is nigh. The president should try and let all these his powerful ministers know that they are working for one government, one Nigeria, one people. We shouldnt be having ministers vetoing the honest suggestions of other ministers and all of that ego play. That N19 trillion budget for 2023 should be financed by at least N17 trillion revenue. I checked Kenya and that $150 billion economy budgeted $29 billion in 2022, which it is financing by about $20 billion in revenue. Its deficit is 25% as against our own of 63%. The country has no crude oil. Its economy seems much better run than ours. I must quickly add that the solution is not to cut our budget, as mindlessly being suggested in some quarters. Ours is one of the lowest in the world on a per capita basis. Our budget is grossly inadequate as it is. In dollar terms, it even keeps reducing due to devaluation. Anyone suggesting reduction in budget size is suggesting more poverty for the majority, and less public goods and infrastructure. Simple. We have to get off our high horses in Nigeria. We cannot on one hand be prancing around the world in private jets and presidential planes and large entourages of privileged people saying we are giant of Africa, while a vast majority of our people are tanking in abject want and poverty because we cannot raise government revenue as everybody locks up, as they say on the streets. If this government fails on these grounds, the next one should please take note. Its war out there. And the government must win that war. Tope Fasua, an economist, author, blogger, entrepreneur, and recent presidential candidate of the Abundant Nigeria Renewal Party (ANRP), can be reached through topsyfash@yahoo.com. A national policy dialogue on corruption and insecurity in Nigeria recently organised by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), exhumed what does not regrettably command national attention. Funds for national security are brazenly stolen in the country by security top brass, contractors and bureaucrats. This is against the backdrop of the clamour for adequate funding of security agencies amidst rising security challenges that have resulted in wanton killings, kidnappings and maiming of thousands of citizens by non-state actors. The convener of the dialogue and Chairman, ICPC, Professor Bolaji Owasanoye, bemoaned the fact that the Police Trust Fund, set up just three years ago, specifically in 2019, by an Act of Parliament, is aggressively being raided by denizens of public corruption in high places, thereby undermining governments effort to retool or reposition the Force. In the 2021 budget, N74 billion was provided for the PTF and meant for training and retraining of police personnel. But this objective is about to be derailed if the abusers are not effectively checkmated. It is for this reason that PREMIUM TIMES views the investigation for abuse, fund diversion, questionable welfare packaging that is not for the police who are the beneficiaries of the fund and sundry corrupt practices by the ICPC as most salutary. The Nigeria Police Force is totally dysfunctional, compelling the Federal Government to shift its statutory responsibilities to the military. Professionally, this is damaging as the military have been over-stretched in the 36 states of the federation. It is most disturbing that some elite cohorts want this status quo to continue. Therefore, the ICPC inquest should be thorough, open and conclusive; and those with questions to answer must be made to speak up in accordance with the law. The malfeasance is not only in the police, it cuts across other security services. A former service chief embezzled N4 billion from the military budget, which he deposited into the accounts of two companies he is a beneficial owner of and sole signatory to, with which he bought properties in the name of cronies and proxies. Already, ICPC has recovered N220 million from the N1billion civil servants in a line ministry transferred to four shell companies; funds meant for special operations. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had recovered N2.4 billion and $156 million from an ex-service chief, as testified by a prosecution witness, Tosin Owobo, in a Federal High Court trial in March 2018. The wife of the said officer coughed up N382 million. It will also be recalled that a former Chief of Defence Staff, Alex Badeh, was tried for alleged theft of N3.97 billion as the Chief of Air Staff but the trial was struck out following his sudden death in 2019. Before then, a prosecution witness had told the court, how he stole N558 million monthly from the payroll, converted it to dollars and pocketed this. We have also learnt how $2.1 billion set aside for arms procurement was allegedly shared to apparatchiks of a political party through 78 companies, during the Goodluck Jonathan administration. The Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) estimates that about $15 billion has been squandered in the last 20 years through compromised arms procurement deals. Incidences like these explain why non-state actors like Boko Haram, Islamic State of West African Province, bandits and kidnappers wield weapons superior to those our security operatives possess. Thus, Nigeria has emerged as the second most terrorised country after Iraq, according to the 2022 half-year report of the Global and International Terrorism Research/Analysis group. On several occasions, bandits, insurgents or separatist agitators have sacked police stations, military locations and communities with their superior firepower without any resistance. There are reports of security personnel on the frontlines in the North-east confirming the sophisticated nature of arms and ammunition the insurgents carry. In some instances, the state operatives wilted or took to their heels during combat with them. This was evident in the ISWAP invasion of Kuje Medium security prison in July, during which 888 inmates were freed, among them 64 Boko Haram members. Public fury arising from this was why the House of Representatives Committees on Internal Affairs and Security, probing the incident recently, sought to know from the Minister of Internal Affairs, Rauf Aregbesola, the calibre of arms at the disposal of the 65 security personnel at the facility during the attack. He could not specify, preferring to speak only on camera. It is a no-brainer that ill-equipped cops and military personnel shy away from battle, just as they are in bad mood when their welfare provisions and allowances are trifled with. Periodically, the armed services experience this unacceptable behaviour, not necessarily because funds are not available, but because corrupt senior officers often divert security funds into their private pockets. About 480 police constables in Osogbo, Osun State, recently protested with placards over the non-payment of their salaries for 18 months. These are young cops who completed their training in May 2021. We recall also that in July 2018, the non-payment of allowances of mobile police personnel for six months in Maiduguri sparked street protests and gunshots, in an area under siege by Boko Haram. The Federal Government has spent over N6 trillion on security in the last 11 years, much of it by the Muhammadu Buhari regime. Yet, the impact is not being felt sufficiently. We note however that in the North-east lately, Boko Haram and ISWAP forces are facing crippling aerial bombardments from Tucano jets. The government should be conscious of the correlation between the massive theft of security funds and insurgency, carnage and kidnappings ravaging the country. Kaduna State government has reported that information at its disposal revealed that 645 persons were killed in the first half of this year. In 2021, over 1,192 Nigerians died from banditry and terrorism across the country, one estimate stated. Government has to make the increase in defence budgets to N874 billion in 2020 and N840 billion in 2021 count. Buharis National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno should be up and doing. His March 2021 BBC Hausa Service leak that funds meant for arms procurement are nowhere to be found and the newly appointed Service Chiefs have declared that they have not seen the weapons exposed gaping holes in the procurement process. Is there nobody in charge? There should be clear fiscal and administrative templates for the spending of security funds if accountability is to reign. The EFCC and ICPC should redouble their efforts in making security personnel or bureaucrats who turn security funds they administer into their private pockets pay dearly for the abuse of public trust. A breach of trust in these circumstances gives armour to insurgents and gunmen, which undermines the very essence of any government the protection of lives and property. PREMIUM TIMES believes that treating security funds as booty, as it appears to be customary today, will persist until opacity in spending is removed and oversight of the funds enthroned in the system. The plea-bargaining policy through which parts of looted funds are recovered and the looters are left with the rest should be jettisoned. It does not serve as a good enough deterrent! These morally bankrupt public officials whose actions lead to Nigeria having ill-equipped and badly motivated fighting forces and who by extension bear responsibility for the mass killings of Nigerians, deserve to be properly investigated and sanctioned. The anti-graft agencies, therefore, must be empowered to perform their duties untrammelled. The Nuhu Ribadu-led EFCC was enamoured of this liberty to nab a sitting Inspector-General of Police, Tafa Balogun, and try and convict him in a N5.7 billion official corruption. This type of action, we believe, is the path to sanity. The death toll in the widespread flooding due to torrential rainfall across Jigawa State, has increased to 92. This is as the Governor of Jigawa State, Muhammad Badaru, has come under intense criticism for travelling abroad on holiday without visiting victims of the disaster. According to the spokesperson of the police in the state, Lawan Adam, the death toll from the flood between August and September has increased to 92. Mr Adam told reporters on Monday that most of the dead were killed by drowning, thunderstorms, and by collapsed buildings. PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported how thousands of structures, mostly mud houses, bridges, and roads were destroyed by the flood, forcing many communities to relocate to Internally Displaced Person (IDP) Camps across the state. As the disaster rages on, the response from the state government has been tepid. Last week, some victims of the flood in the IDP camps across the state complained that the government has turned a blind eye to their plight. They said that they have not been provided with relief materials and health services. They also claimed that some of their women gave birth in the open without being attended to by qualified health officials. But on 6 September, Mr Badaru announced the donation of N50 million to the victims of the flood while he hosted the presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress, who visited the state on a condolence visit. The donation, however, did not assuage the anger of the flood victims, who protested and asked the state government to do more to assist them. Their protest was echoed by the Emir of Hadejia, Adamu Abubakar-Maje, who said the people are suffering untold hardship due to the flood. Governor goes on leave abroad Despite their appeal for more help, the governor of the state has travelled abroad on a vacation, to rest before the hectic electioneering campaign. In a letter addressed to the speaker of the Jigawa State House of Assembly, seen by PREMIUM TIMES, the governor said he would be gone for two weeks. I have the pleasure to inform the honourable House that Insha Allah, I will commence two weeks leave commencing on Wednesday 7th September to end by Thursday 22nd September 2022. I am also pleased to inform you that I intend to travel overseas during the period of leave, the governors letter read in parts. Criticism of governments indifference After the letter was read during plenary, Musa Sule, (APC) representing Dutse at the states assembly, called on his colleagues to decline the governors request. Mr Sule said the governor should be made to stay back home to deal with the flood disaster. His call was, however, ignored by his colleagues at the assembly, who approved the governors request. Sanusi Abdul-Aziz, a former local government chairman of Dutse, said that the governor abandoned the flood victims because he is in his final term and no longer seeking re-election. We believe that the governor did not go and sympathise with the flood victims because he has no empathy for the people of the area, because he cannot do that to his people in Babura local government area, Mr Abdul-Aziz told Freedom Radio in Dutse, Every traveller plying the Kano Maiduguri highway do stop by and sympathise with the victims of flooding in Karnaya town, a community that is in the back door to the government house, but the governor did not deem it fit to visit and sympathise with them, Mr Abdul-Aziz said. A just and fair leader will pause whatever he is doing and sympathise with the victims of disaster and support them with the state resources because the resources belong to them, he said. The leader, of the Green and Environmental Project Initiative, a civil organisation in Jigawa, Ahmed Illallah, said the people need the governments assistance more than ever before. He urged the governor to suspend his holiday and return home. READ ALSO: Mr Illallah posted on his Facebook page that this years flooding is pathetic as most of the victims are in troubled conditions, and need the governments support. He said from Gwaram down t7o Dutse, from Ringim to Guri, Auto, Jahun and Miga, many communities need governments attention. Though, we acknowledge the tireless effort of the acting governor in soothing the situation, Sir, your presence in the state in this situation is most needed, to show love and sympathize with the victims. Sir, with due respect, let me refresh your memory that you were warmly voted for by the Jigawa people to give the leadership that will protect their lives and properties. This is the primary mandate of your administration. Sir, no other official or personal assignment is more important than to be with your people at this sympathetic period, Mr Illallah wrote. I am aware of the challenges Governor When reached for comments about the governors alleged indifference to the plight of victims of the flood, Habibu Kila, the spokesperson to the governor, refused to respond to questions about why the governor has not visited the victims. He, however, said the governor was commiserating with the victims. Governor Badaru, on behalf of the government of Jigawa State, extends his heartfelt condolences and sympathies to the families of the victims, injured and the affected by this natural calamity. The government is aware of the challenges caused as a result of the flooding and is doing everything humanly possible to alleviate their suffering as relevant agencies are on top gear to see that people are assisted. He also directed the State Deputy Governor, Umar Namadi, to go around the affected areas to assess and provide necessary assistance in providing food and other immediate needs and resettlement to the victims. The government is also doing its best to see that roads and bridges that have washed away are reclaimed for road users. It is also in contact with the federal government towards easing the natural disaster, Mr Kila said in a statement. Anambra State Governor, Charles Soludo, on Sunday, said the state has become safer than he met it when he assumed office in March. He stated this in an interview with Channels Television on Sunday, while speaking on his achievements in the last six months. Mr Soludo, a former CBN Governor, was inaugurated as governor on 17 Marchp. He had won the election conducted last November on the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). He said he has spent the last six month as governor of Anambra State tackling foundational issues which range from economic, social, infrastructure to insecurity. At least, two sitting and ex-lawmakers were gruesomely murdered in the state between May and June while more have been abducted and attacked by unknown gunmen in the state under Mr Soludos watch. The lawmaker representing the incumbent governors constituency in Aguata II, Okechukwu Okoye and Nelson Achukwu, who represented Nnewi South 2 Constituency in the state assembly, were killed in May and June respectively. A sitting senator from the state, Ifeanyi Ubah of Young Progressive Party(PDP), was attacked last Sunday by unknown gunmen. READ ALSO: Despite the attacks, Mr Soludo, a former CBN Governor, said he has made the state more secure than it was before his resumption in office. Nobody knew that even during the campaigns, most of us couldnt even campaign freely in much of the South senatorial zone. But weve come very determined with a plan, with carrot and stick, with engagement. And I must commend the people of Anambra State, all the stakeholders, the security forces, the police, the Army, the Navy, the Civil Defence, vigilante and then the people themselves for their massive cooperation and partnership in dealing with that, he said. Were not saying that Anambra is 100 per cent. secured. Of course, there is no crime free society anywhere in the world. Occasionally, youll hear shootings in schools and so on in America. And everybody in Anambra, the 8.5 million residents of Anambra, can testify to you that insecurity in the state has come down to the barest minimum, at least in the last three months or so. Such kind of things that used to be a daily occurrence have come to almost a halt, Mr Soludo added. Plain criminals responsible for recent attacks He described the people killing in the name of outlawed group, IPOB, as plain criminals who will not be spared by his administration. The governor said his administration has destroyed many hideouts of the criminals hiding under IPOB agitations in the state and doubts if they have the capacity to come hard on the city again. Mr Soludo dismissed IPOB or an external criminal group in the recent attacks recorded in the state. He said his government is pursuing all leads on the attack on Mr Ubahs convoy and will disclose its findings after investigation. They are plain criminals, full stop. Nothing else. Of course, there are a bunch of people who now hide under the cloak of agitation and so on but IPOB has repeatedly distanced itself from these criminals. These criminals in the camps and so on, they are kidnappers and just mere plain criminals. Its lucrative criminality and adulatory. These are the two things they have come with. Anambra, without a doubt, (is) the richest state in the South-east. This is the place where kidnapping has the highest value. So you will have that highest concentration here. If you have an Okada rider, who goes into the bush, learns how to shoot and become a part of a criminal gang who kidnap someone and make millions, of course it will not be easy to convince him tomorrow to want to go back to his Okada, vulcanizing or Keke, but we are decimating them. So I said that they are not unknown gunmen. They are known to the extent that maybe they are not immediately caught after the act, but I can tell you, weve been catching quite a lot of them and they know that something is happening. That number is not safe for them. Never again!, he vowed. Mr Soludo confirmed that all the people arrested by security operatives in the state are Igbo from Anambra or neighboring South-eastern states. The Ooni of Ife, Adeyeye Ogunwusi, on Sunday began his yearly seven-day seclusion, a ritual that climaxes in the celebration of the annual Olojo cultural festival in Osun State. A statement signed by the monarchs spokesperson, Moses Olafare, said the 2022 edition of the monarchs yearly prayer will pay attention to the six month old strike embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). Mr Olafare said the Ooni would also pray for a peaceful general elections in 2023. In 2021, when the monarch was departing for the usual seclusion, he told journalists that he would pray that God touches the heart of Nigerian politicians and change them towards loving the people. He further said that Nigerian politicians are the same irrespective of their parties, enjoining them to start serving the people genuinely and stop taking the country for granted. But on Sunday, the monarch focused his attention on young people, saying they are angry and justifiably so. Just imagine the number of months they have been kept out of school, ASUU and government must unite and end this because we cannot handle the anger of the youths if they go out of control. They have started blocking highways and even threatening to lock airports, that is an indication that they have been pushed to the wall. So I appeal to our government to look in this direction and make the necessary amendments. It is avoidable and it should be ended by the government and ASUU for the benefit of the youths. An Ikeja Special Offences Court, on Monday, sentenced a 31-year-old teacher, Idowu Daniel, to seven years imprisonment for sexually assaulting his 16-year-old student within the school. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the convict was charged with defilement. Oluwatoyin Taiwo, the judge, held that the prosecution failed to establish the charge of defilement against the defendant, as the survivor failed to show up in court to testify. However, the confessional statement by the defendant, which was made voluntarily, showed that he sexually assaulted the minor. The defendant admitted to having fondled the breast of the victim twice and tried to have sex with her but he could not penetrate as she was a virgin. The defendant is hereby convicted on the charge of sexual assault of a child, she said. NAN reports that the convict pleaded for mercy when he was asked if he had anything to say. READ ALSO: My lord, I am very sorry for what happened. I promise it will not happen again, the convict told the court. The judge also lashed out at the convict for touching the survivor in a suggestive way, adding that he would have gotten life imprisonment if the minor had testified in court. You are a teacher and you were touching the breast of your student. You would have gone for life if the victim had come to court to testify. The judge, who had earlier sentenced the convict to five years imprisonment, however, increased his jail term to seven years without an option of a fine after saying that he had been in custody for three years. (NAN) TITA holds unique place for Techies, IT professionals : Ranjan 02 Oct 2022 | 4:28 PM Hyderabad, Oct 2 (UNI) Principal Secretary of Industries and Commerce & Information Technology departments Jayesh Ranjan praised Telangana Information Technology Association (TITA) by saying that it holds a unique place for techies and IT professionals. see more.. CAIT expects Diwali sale to grow upto Rs 125 lakh Cr this year 02 Oct 2022 | 4:17 PM New Delhi, Oct 2 (UNI) With festive season around the corner, Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has estimated that sales during this Diwali will touch a turnover of Rs 125 lakh crore. see more.. GSL reports PBT of Rs 135 Cr during FY 21-22 01 Oct 2022 | 9:03 PM Panaji, Oct 1 (UNI) Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL) reported profit before tax (PBT) of Rs 135 crore during the financial year 2021-22, an official statement said on Saturday. see more.. Honda Cars India registers 29 pc growth in domestic sales in September22 01 Oct 2022 | 8:45 PM Hyderabad, Oct 1 (UNI) Honda Cars India Ltd. (HCIL), leading manufacturer of premium cars in India, registered monthly domestic sales of 8,714 units in September22 registering a growth of 29 per cent over the same period last year. see more.. The round, led by Polychain Capital, brings Yellow Card to $57M total raised, more than any crypto company on the African continent. JOHANNESBURG, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Yellow Card Financial, the Pan-African cryptocurrency exchange, has announced the close of its $40M Series B funding. The round was led by Polychain Capital, with participation from Valar Ventures, Third Prime Ventures, Sozo Ventures, Castle Island Ventures, Fabric Ventures, DG Daiwa Ventures, The Raba Partnership, Jon Weiner, Alex Wilson, Pat Duffy, and more. Yellow Card Leadership Team The funding will enable the company to drive exponential business growth, continue its successful expansion across the continent, develop new product innovations, and advance strategic partnerships across Africa. Chris Maurice, CEO and co-founder of Yellow Card , says that this raise is the product of relentless hard work towards a common goal. "For the past three years our team has worked tirelessly to make this technology accessible to anyone and create a world-class product. This fundraise in this market not only showcases the resilience of our team but also reiterates the appetite and necessity for cryptocurrency in Africa," said Chris. Since launching in Nigeria in 2019 the team, based across 21 countries, has sought to make Bitcoin, Ethereum, Stablecoins, and other cryptocurrencies accessible to anyone in Africa. In August 2021, Yellow Card announced its Series A fundraise of $15M. Since then the team has achieved significant milestones including: Growing from 12 to 16 countries, launched in: Gabon , Senegal , Rwanda , and the Democratic Republic of the Congo ; , , , and the ; Making significant hires: Alice Tomdio , Chief Financial Officer; Craig Stoehr , General Counsel and Micha Katz , Chief Information Security Officer; , Chief Financial Officer; , General Counsel and , Chief Information Security Officer; Granting stock options to every full-time employee; Launching Yellow Pay, a crypto-powered way to send value across borders; Surpassing 1 million customers in March. The significance of this raise, especially in a down market, undoubtedly reflects the level of business confidence expressed by new and existing investors. "Yellow Card is the best executing team on the continent. We are impressed by the way they seamlessly adjust and adapt to the unique opportunities and demands of the various African markets. We've barely touched the surface of what is possible when it comes to crypto in Africa, and we're excited for what's to come," said Will Wolf, Partner at Polychain Capital. Yellow Card is committed to continue its mission to create financial inclusion for all through various activities across the continent. Buy and Sell Bitcoin today by visiting www.yellowcard.io or download the app today from Google Play or the Apple App Store . Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1901299/Yellow_Card_Leadership.jpg Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1901298/Yellow_Card_Logo.jpg SOURCE Yellow Card LIMASSOL, Cyprus, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- In one of its steps toward becoming a one-stop shop for investors, Squared Financial Group released its branded Visa card in partnership with CSC, a globally regulated electronic money institution. The fintech broker is one of the few brokerage firms to offer its clients a card, in its efforts to empower clients and make it easier for them to manage funds. This follows the launch of its very own Squared WebTrader, an industry-leading and easy-to-use trading platform that allows clients to trade anytime, anywhere, on any device. Investors tend to open accounts at different brokers to diversify and meet their trading goals. Squared Financial Group addresses this challenge with its one-stop-shop approach, a vision that will help fuel the transformation of trading. Along with a wide range of CFDs, stocks, forex, and cryptocurrencies, the company is offering social trading and portfolio management. Squared Financial is also planning to increase the offering of assets and instruments and is also expanding to new jurisdictions, abiding by regulations and AML directives in force, whilst ensuring clients' and funds' security remain at the core of its business. Husam Al Kurdi, CEO at Squared Financial Group, added: "Meeting clients' expectations and needs is no longer enough; we are empowering them. We are growing geographically and offering investors as many assets and financial products as they want with competitive commissions as well as exceptionally quick execution on their trades. While we endeavor to help them overcome the challenges they face throughout their trading journey, we are maximizing our payment methods for them to seamlessly manage their finances all in one place, and our Squared Visa card is just one sign of great things to come." Philippe Ghanem, Founder of Squared Financial Group, commented: "Innovation and technology underscore the need to build a safe and secure business environment for investors, and we have set our sights on becoming a one-stop shop for investors and traders around the world. We aim at changing the way people perceive a broker. We do not only want to be their choice for asset, forex, and crypto trading but also their go-to for all the financial services they might need." Squared Financial has more than 15 years of experience in fintech and trading. It offers global solutions to traders of all backgrounds who are looking for a global gateway. It provides flexible trading of more than 10,000 products backed with cutting-edge technology. https://www.squaredfinancial.com/ SOURCE SquaredFinancial SINGAPORE, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- On 19th September 2022 Nutrition Technologies completed an equity venture round of US$ 20m. The round was led by PTT Ventures and supported by Sumitomo Corporation, ING Sustainable Investments, Mandala Capital, as well as continued participation from existing investors: Openspace Ventures, SEEDs Capital and Hera Capital. The round was advised by ING Corporate Finance. The proceeds will be used to fund an expansion into new markets; launch new products; accelerate R&D; and create new strategic partnerships. "Aside from growth in clean-energy, PTT is expanding its portfolio into new businesses corresponding to global trends, sustainability, and social responsibility. We look forward to partnering with Nutrition Technologies to support their next phase of growth. Commercial insect protein production is one of the most important innovations of the past few years, with the potential to disrupt the animal feed and fertiliser sectors and solve multiple issues the world is currently facing. Furthermore, we expect this partnership will provide customers with innovative solutions to revolutionise the agriculture sector as well as improve people's quality of life" said Dr. Buranin Rattanasombat, Senior Executive Vice President, Innovation and New Ventures, PTT Public Company Limited. "We are very excited to partner with Nutrition Technologies, an innovative company that has superior technology to produce sustainable protein. We believe insect protein is one of the most important recent solutions to protein production, contributing to solving various environmental issues and addressing several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We will utilize our business platform and customer network to promote and expand the BSF derived products" said Masahito Uno, GM Life Science Division, Sumitomo Corporation. "Nutrition Technologies fits well in the investment strategy and portfolio of ING Sustainable Investments, as we seek to assist sustainable companies in scaling their operations. Together with our consortium partners we are also keen to support the company in capitalising on various opportunities in the fast-growing European and Asian markets of alternative proteins" said Mark Weustink, Head of ING Sustainable Investments. "Nutrition Technologies has led the way in delivering black soldier fly solutions at scale and at a price that is competitive on the global markets. It means they are already providing a viable alternative to existing and less sustainable feed options. In achieving that, the team has demonstrated exceptional executional capabilities. Going forward, we have high conviction in their expansion plans" said Hian Goh, Founding Partner, Openspace Ventures. "It is great to welcome our new investors, who collectively bring vast expertise and experience to help us realise our vision. We are also humbled by the continued support provided from our existing shareholders." said Tom Berry, Co-CEO and Co-founder, Nutrition Technologies. The insect sector has gathered increasing attention over the past few years, with the global insect protein market alone estimated to be worth US$343 million in 2021, and expected to grow with a CAGR of 26.49% to reach US$1.3 billion by 2027. As a sustainable solution to help minimise multiple unsustainable practices, the sector as a whole has seen investments totalling nearly US$1 billion, but with multiple technological hurdles, few companies are yet to reach industrial scale, let alone profitability. Global food security has steadily declined for the past few decades and has been significantly tested in recent years through extreme weather events and war. Population growth has fuelled the current 1.2 billion tonnes demand for animal feed ingredients, which has severe environmental consequences both for land and sea. There is a growing protein deficit, with supplies of traditional proteins for animal feed, such as fishmeal and soybean meal, stagnating due to overfishing and deforestation. Meanwhile, organic matter and food waste in landfills are significant contributors of greenhouse gas emissions, and the overuse of chemical fertilisers is severely reducing the productivity and resilience of crucial agricultural soil. "Insects represent a virtually unlimited and untapped pool of biological assets, with huge opportunities for value creation. Tackling food security is only the tip of the iceberg and with our strengthened balance sheet, great partners and best in class IP, we are strategically positioned to lead the next agricultural revolution." said Richard Hayler, CFO, Nutrition Technologies. Since 2015, Singaporean agri-biotech company, Nutrition Technologies, has been creating a commercial replica of the natural decomposition process, using their proprietary growth inoculants and black soldier flies (Hermetia illucens) to turn low-grade crop & food waste into highly sought after animal feed ingredients and biofertilisers. Their two hectare production facility in Johor, Malaysia, bioconverts several hundreds of tonnes of organic waste every week. The facility produces functional proteins and oils, which have bioactive compounds that efficiently improve animal growth performance and health outcomes. Over the past few years Nutrition Technologies has conducted multiple trials of their products on fish, shrimp, poultry, piglets and pets, with significant results. Their novel biofertiliser products improve soil health while naturally increasing plant resistance to disease, reducing the need for chemical pesticides. The 165-strong team has been scaling up their operations and selling their products into both domestic and regional markets. "We are increasing production to meet market demand and providing essential ingredients to the domestic agricultural sector as well as boosting exports through shipping our products to Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines and Chile. We will also commence shipments to the UK and EU very soon." said Nick Piggott, Co-CEO and Co-founder, Nutrition Technologies. Nutrition Technologies' production facilities are a result of over seven years of R&D and their strategic location in the tropics helps to optimise productivity and lower costs. Their proprietary technologies and vertical insect production system are designed to capitalise on the low-energy benefits and suitability of a tropical climate. Their team developed the entire production system, which uses some bespoke automated equipment to ensure strict biosafety, zero-waste and strong unit economics. Through avoided emissions, their products have great potential to help meet global climate change targets. Nutrition Technologies has been doubling down on its success in commercialising insect-microbe systems and their approach to protecting that intellectual property has been lauded by IP experts and publications. "We have had some incredibly exciting breakthroughs over the past two years. Following successful additions to our patent portfolio, we will launch two new revolutionary biological products to the fertiliser market that will address some of the region's greatest challenges in crop productivity." said Martin Zorrilla, Nutrition Technologies. Nutrition Technologies will use these funds to further expand production capacity both at its current operating plant in Malaysia as well as through a new joint-venture project in a soon-to-be-announced second country in Southeast Asia. The Company also intends to expand its R&D capabilities in Singapore; commence commercial activities in the UK and EU; and add several new patents to its existing IP portfolio. "We believe our technological developments can help address some of the world's most critical problems and are highly motivated to accelerate expansion as quickly as possible. Our novel microbiology solution to insect production allows us to use a wide pool of raw materials which negates the most significant barrier to scaling." said Charlie Carter, COO, Nutrition Technologies. SOURCE Nutrition Technologies DENVER, Colo., Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - BellRock Brands Inc. ("BellRock" or the "Company") (CSE: BRCK.U), an industry-leading cannabis consumer packaged goods ("CPG") and intellectual property platform, announces that its subsidiary, Ironton Properties, LLC ("Ironton"), has finalized the sale of its Denver real property (the "Property") to a third party buyer for $2.5 million (USD). Approximately $2.0 million (USD) of proceeds from the sale were used to fully repay a Promissory Note entered into in May of 2022. The remaining proceeds, after fees and other costs associated with the Property sale, will be used to pay down a portion of a $3.85 million Secured Promissory Note held by a consortium of private lenders. The sale of the Property and related paydown of the Company's debt is part of BellRock's strategy to optimize returns on invested capital and deleverage its balance sheet. ABOUT BELLROCK BRANDS: BellRock Brands is a cannabis multi-state house of brands and intellectual property focused CPG operator that possesses one of the industry's broadest branded product portfolios. BellRock's two flagship brands, Dixie Brands and Mary's Medicinals, offer over 200 SKUs and reaches nearly every key consumer group and addresses the needs of a diverse cannabis consumer base. The BellRock manufacturing and distribution footprint continues to expand and currently spans nine US states and Canada, and the Company holds strategic alliances with licensed production facilities in its largest markets. For more information, visit www.bellrockbrands.com. FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION AND STATEMENTS The information provided in this press release may contain "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, made by the Company (or its predecessors) that address activities, events or developments that the Company expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future are forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, statements preceded by, followed by or that include words such as "may", "will", "would", "could", "should", "believes", "estimates", "projects", "potential", "expects", "plans", "intends", "anticipates", "targeted", "continues", "forecasts", "designed", "goal", or the negative of those words or other similar or comparable words. Forward-looking statements may relate to future financial conditions, results of operations, plans, objectives, performance or business developments. These statements speak only as at the date they are made and are based on information currently available and on current expectations and assumptions concerning future events, which are subject to a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from that which was expressed or implied by such forward- looking statements, including, but not limited to, risks and uncertainties related to: (i) the regulation of the medical and recreational marijuana industry in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Latin America and other countries in which the Company may carry on its business; (ii) the ability of the Company to obtain meaningful consumer acceptance and a successful market for its products on a national and international basis at competitive prices; (iii) the ability of the Company to develop and maintain an effective sales network; (iv) the success of the Company in forecasting demand for its products or services; (v) the ability of the Company to maintain pricing and thereby maintain adequate profit margins; (vi) the ability of the Company to achieve adequate intellectual property protection; (vii) the availability of financing opportunities, risks associated with economic conditions, dependence on management and conflicts of interest; and (viii) other risks described from time to time in documents filed by the Company with securities regulatory authorities. With respect to the forward-looking statements contained herein, although the Company believes that the expectations and assumptions on which the forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements as no assurance can be given that they will prove to be correct. Since forward-looking statements address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors and risks, including the risks described above. Consequently, all forward-looking statements made in this press release are qualified by such cautionary statements and there can be no assurance that the anticipated results or developments will actually be realized or, even if realized, that they will have the expected consequences to or effects on the Company. The cautionary statements contained or referred to herein should be considered in connection with any subsequent written or oral forward-looking statements that the Company and/or persons acting on the Company's behalf may issue. The Canadian Securities Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release. SOURCE BellRock Brands Inc. NEW YORK, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The " Biologic Therapeutics Market by Product and Geography - Forecast and Analysis 2021-2025 " report has been added to Technavio's offering. The report expects the market size to grow by USD 226.61 billion between 2021 and 2026, accelerating at a CAGR of 11% during the forecast period. The report provides a comprehensive analysis of the competitive landscape, key product launches, major trends, and other important statistics. Download PDF Sample Report Market Dynamics Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Biologic Therapy Market The market is primarily driven by factors such as the strong R&D pipeline. In addition, the increasing incidence of chronic diseases and immunological disorders will have a positive impact on the growth of the market. However, the high cost of biologics is expected to reduce the growth potential in the market. Market Segmentation By Product, the market is classified into antibody therapeutics, vaccines, cell therapy, gene therapy, and other therapies. The antibody therapeutics segment is the largest segment of the global biologic therapy market. The market will observe maximum revenue generation in the antibody therapies segment during the forecast period. The segment is driven by the increasing demand and sales of antibodies in the pharmaceutical industry. By Geography, the market is classified as North America , Europe , Asia , and ROW. North America will have the largest share of the market. The region is home to several key vendors such as AbbVie, Elli Lilly , Merck, Pfizer, and Amgen. Besides, changes in lifestyle and increased consumption of alcohol and tobacco have increased the prevalence of various chronic diseases. In addition, the active participation of the government in providing reimbursements for some of the biologics, rising patient awareness about the benefits of the use of biologics, vendor collaborations, and the increased prevalence of chronic diseases in the US are contributing to the growth of the biologic therapeutics market in North America . Company Profiles The biologic therapy market report provides complete insights on key vendors including AbbVie Inc., AstraZeneca Plc, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., GlaxoSmithKline Plc, Johnson and Johnson Inc., Merck and Co. Inc., Novartis AG, Pfizer Inc., and Sanofi SA. Competitive Analysis The global biologic therapeutics market is concentrated. The vendors are adopting organic and inorganic growth strategies such as new product launches and M&As to remain competitive in the market. For instance, in June 2020, AbbVie Inc. and Jacobio Pharmaceuticals announced a global, strategic collaboration to develop and commercialize SHP2 inhibitors, which target a key node in cancer and immune cells. Similarly, in June 2020, GlaxoSmithKline Plc announced a strategic partnership with IDEAYA Biosciences, Inc., in Synthetic Lethality, an emerging field in oncology. The competitive scenario provided in the biologic therapy market report analyzes, evaluates, and positions companies based on various performance indicators. Some of the factors considered for this analysis include the financial performance of companies over the past few years, growth strategies, product innovations, new product launches, investments, growth in market share, etc. Request Sample Report Here Related Reports: Biologic Therapy Market Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 120 Base year 2020 Forecast period 2021-2025 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 11% Market growth 2021-2025 USD 226.61 billion Market structure Concentrated YoY growth (%) 9.71 Regional analysis North America, Europe, Asia, and ROW Performing market contribution North America at 57% Key consumer countries US, Japan, Germany, France, and UK Competitive landscape Leading companies, competitive strategies, consumer engagement scope Companies profiled AbbVie Inc., AstraZeneca Plc, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., GlaxoSmithKline Plc, Johnson and Johnson Inc., Merck and Co. Inc., Novartis AG, Pfizer Inc., and Sanofi SA Market Dynamics Parent market analysis, Market growth inducers and obstacles, Fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID-19 impact and future consumer dynamics, and market condition analysis for the forecast period. Customization purview If our report has not included the data that you are looking for, you can reach out to our analysts and get segments customized. Table of contents: 1 Executive Summary 2 Market Landscape 2.1 Market ecosystem Exhibit 01: Parent market Exhibit 02: Market characteristics 2.2 Value chain analysis 3 Market Sizing 3.1 Market definition Exhibit 03: Offerings of vendors included in the market definition 3.2 Market segment analysis Exhibit 04: Market segments 3.3 Market size 2020 3.4 Market outlook: Forecast for 2020 - 2025 Exhibit 05: Global - Market size and forecast 2020 - 2025 ($ billion) Exhibit 06: Global market: Year-over-year growth 2020 - 2025 (%) 3.5 Market by application 4 Five Forces Analysis 4.1 Five forces summary Exhibit 07: Five forces analysis 2020 & 2025 4.2 Bargaining power of buyers Exhibit 08: Bargaining power of buyers 4.3 Bargaining power of suppliers Exhibit 09: Bargaining power of suppliers 4.4 Threat of new entrants Exhibit 10: Threat of new entrants 4.5 Threat of substitutes Exhibit 11: Threat of substitutes 4.6 Threat of rivalry Exhibit 12: Threat of rivalry 4.7 Market condition Exhibit 13: Market condition - Five forces 2020 5 Market Segmentation by Product 5.1 Market segments Exhibit 14: Product - Market share 2020-2025 (%) 5.2 Comparison by Product Exhibit 15: Comparison by Product 5.3 Antibody therapeutics - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 Exhibit 16: Antibody therapeutics - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 ($ billion) Exhibit 17: Sales of major monoclonal antibodies 2018-2020 ($ million) Exhibit 18: Antibody therapeutics - Year-over-year growth 2020-2025 (%) 5.4 Vaccines - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 Exhibit 19: Vaccines - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 ($ billion) Exhibit 20: Vendors offering vaccines Exhibit 21: Vaccines - Year-over-year growth 2020-2025 (%) 5.5 Cell therapy - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 Exhibit 22: Cell therapy - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 ($ billion) Exhibit 23: Cell therapy - Year-over-year growth 2020-2025 (%) 5.6 Gene therapy - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 Exhibit 24: Gene therapy - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 ($ billion) Exhibit 25: Gene therapy - Year-over-year growth 2020-2025 (%) 5.7 Other therapies - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 Exhibit 26: Other therapies - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 ($ billion) Exhibit 27: Other therapies - Year-over-year growth 2020-2025 (%) 5.8 Market opportunity by Product Exhibit 28: Market opportunity by Product 6 Customer landscape 7 Geographic Landscape 7.1 Geographic segmentation Exhibit 30: Market share by geography 2020-2025 (%) 7.2 Geographic comparison Exhibit 31: Geographic comparison 7.3 North America - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 Exhibit 32: North America - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 ($ billion) - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 ($ billion) Exhibit 33: North America - Year-over-year growth 2020-2025 (%) 7.4 Europe - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 Exhibit 34: Europe - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 ($ billion) - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 ($ billion) Exhibit 35: Europe - Year-over-year growth 2020-2025 (%) 7.5 Asia - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 Exhibit 36: Asia - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 ($ billion) - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 ($ billion) Exhibit 37: Asia - Year-over-year growth 2020-2025 (%) 7.6 ROW - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 Exhibit 38: ROW - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 ($ billion) Exhibit 39: ROW - Year-over-year growth 2020-2025 (%) 7.7 Key leading countries Exhibit 40: Key leading countries 7.8 Market opportunity by geography Exhibit 41: Market opportunity by geography ($ billion) 8 Drivers, Challenges, and Trends 8.1 Market drivers 8.2 Market challenges Exhibit 43: Impact of drivers and challenges 8.3 Market trends 9 Vendor Landscape 9.1 Overview Exhibit 44: Vendor landscape 9.2 Landscape disruption Exhibit 45: Landscape disruption Exhibit 46: Industry risks 10 Vendor Analysis 10.1 Vendors covered Exhibit 47: Vendors covered 10.2 Market positioning of vendors Exhibit 48: Market positioning of vendors 10.3 AbbVie Inc. Exhibit 49: AbbVie Inc. - Overview Exhibit 50: AbbVie Inc. - Product and service Exhibit 51: AbbVie Inc. Key news Exhibit 52: AbbVie Inc. - Key offerings 10.4 AstraZeneca Plc Exhibit 53: AstraZeneca Plc - Overview Exhibit 54: AstraZeneca Plc - Product and service Exhibit 55: AstraZeneca Plc Key news Exhibit 56: AstraZeneca Plc - Key offerings 10.5 Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. Exhibit 57: Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. - Overview Exhibit 58: Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. - Product and service Exhibit 59: Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. Key news Exhibit 60: Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. - Key offerings 10.6 F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. Exhibit 61: F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. - Overview Exhibit 62: F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. - Business segments Exhibit 63: F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. Key news Exhibit 64: F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. - Key offerings Exhibit 65: F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. - Segment focus 10.7 GlaxoSmithKline Plc Exhibit 66: GlaxoSmithKline Plc - Overview Exhibit 67: GlaxoSmithKline Plc - Business segments Exhibit 68: GlaxoSmithKline Plc Key news Exhibit 69: GlaxoSmithKline Plc - Key offerings Exhibit 70: GlaxoSmithKline Plc - Segment focus 10.8 Johnson and Johnson Inc. Exhibit 71: Johnson and Johnson Inc. - Overview Exhibit 72: Johnson and Johnson Inc. - Business segments Exhibit 73: Johnson and Johnson Inc. Key news Exhibit 74: Johnson and Johnson Inc. - Key offerings Exhibit 75: Johnson and Johnson Inc. - Segment focus 10.9 Merck and Co. Inc. Exhibit 76: Merck and Co. Inc. - Overview Exhibit 77: Merck and Co. Inc. - Business segments Exhibit 78: Merck and Co. Inc. Key news Exhibit 79: Merck and Co. Inc. - Key offerings Exhibit 80: Merck and Co. Inc. - Segment focus 10.10 Novartis AG Exhibit 81: Novartis AG - Overview Exhibit 82: Novartis AG - Business segments Exhibit 83: Novartis AG Key news Exhibit 84: Novartis AG - Key offerings Exhibit 85: Novartis AG - Segment focus 10.11 Pfizer Inc. Exhibit 86: Pfizer Inc. - Overview Exhibit 87: Pfizer Inc. - Business segments Exhibit 88: Pfizer Inc. Key news Exhibit 89: Pfizer Inc. - Key offerings 10.12 Sanofi SA Exhibit 90: Sanofi SA - Overview Exhibit 91: Sanofi SA - Business segments Exhibit 92: Sanofi SA Key news Exhibit 93: Sanofi SA - Key offerings Exhibit 94: Sanofi SA - Segment focus 11 Appendix 11.1 Scope of the report 11.2 Currency conversion rates for US$ Exhibit 95: Currency conversion rates for US$ 11.3 Research methodology Exhibit 96: Research Methodology Exhibit 97: Validation techniques employed for market sizing Exhibit 98: Information sources 11.4 List of abbreviations Exhibit 99: List of abbreviations About Us Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios. Contact Technavio Research Jesse Maida Media & Marketing Executive US: +1 844 364 1100 UK: +44 203 893 3200 Email: [email protected] Website: www.technavio.com/ SOURCE Technavio Select Club dVIN members will set out on a fantastical journey that will span snipping grapes, extraordinary adventures, and breaking ground on the new Ser Kem Winery Photos and NFTs available for download , courtesy of Club dVIN Photos of Bhutan, courtesy of Bhutan Wine Company THIMPHU, Bhutan, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Club dVIN , the world's premier global non-fungible token (NFT) wine club, has announced an unprecedented opportunity for oenophiles to participate in one of a series of weeklong excursions during Bhutan's first wine grape harvest. Spanning 10 weeks from late July through late September 2023, each of the trips will host 15 members. Club dVIN Announces Historic Opportunity to Participate in Bhutan's First Wine Harvest Tweet this Tiger's Nest Monastery in Bhutan In total, the 150 Club dVIN members will join a mix of several esteemed founding members, including co-founders David Garrett and Behdad Shahsavari, Masters of Wine David Forer and Philip Harden, and VII(N) - The Seventh Estate co-founders, Carmelo Anthony and Asani Swann. In addition, a handful A-list celebrities will join the excursion on select weeks. Club dVIN will begin accepting reservations on the website at clubdvin.com/bhutan in late fall. "If you love wine and adventure, this is an unmatched opportunity to fill your cup with both while taking in the breathtaking beauty of Bhutan," said David Garrett, co-founder of Club dVIN along with Behdad Shahsavari and Brian Feuer. "This is the first harvest in a region that is expected to produce incredible wines for generations to come, and we're thrilled to have the opportunity to bring Club dVIN members along for this fantastical journey." It's a trip for adventurers who are willing to take on the high altitude in Bhutan, which offers one of the best-preserved, least-spoiled ecosystems on the planet. The excursion will be filled with incredible experiences, from snipping grapes in the vineyards to visiting monasteries, speaking with scientists, crossing Bhutan's longest suspension bridge, and even river rafting through the rapids of the Mo Chhu River. Plus, the Club dVIN members who are selected to go on this trip will also have the opportunity to work in various facets of breaking ground on the new Ser Kem Winery, the first in the Kingdom of Bhutan. The trip will also provide members with the opportunity to earn new Tasting Token NFTs, which allow wine drinkers to record tasting notes and more, including who the bottle of wine was enjoyed with and where the wine was uncorked. Tasting Token NFTs, created with technology proprietary to Club dVIN, are minted when bottles attached to a Club dVIN Digital Cork NFT are opened. The Digital Cork, also proprietary to Club dVIN, provides a certificate of authenticity, chain of custody and proof of provenance, making it possible to follow the journey of the wine as well as works to disincentivize fraud. Club dVIN officially launched to the public in late June with an initial offering of 4,000 functional NFT memberships, which come in two tiers: Genesis and Global Insider. The entry price for the initial release of 3,500 Genesis NFTs is 1.5 ETH, currently valued at approximately $2,475/USD. The entry price for the initial 500 Global Insider is 3 ETH, currently valued at approximately $4,950/USD. Plus, 950 Genesis NFTs and 50 Global Insider NFTs have been gifted to friends, family and founding members. Club dVIN members have access to a global community of like-minded wine and web3 enthusiasts and experts, including the 100 founding members. They include sommelier-turned-winemaker and author, Rajat "Raj" Parr; leading sommeliers Valentina Litman and Michael Madrigale, who is co-founder of Grande Cuvee; Rich Antoniello, founder of Complex Media; tastemaker Jana Kreilein; Bordeaux expert Jane Anson; Philip Harden, Richard Hemming and David Forer, all Masters of Wine; and accomplished winemaker and vintner Sashi Moorman; as well as several members of the Bored Ape Yacht Club. Recently, Maureen Downey, wine fraud expert; Desmond Echavarrie, Master Sommelier; Anne Krebiehl, Master of Wine and editor of Falstaff; Dan Petroski, cult California winemaker; Angela Scott, Master of Wine candidate and Liquid Icons/Golden Vines Diversity Scholar; Simon Pavitt, wine collector and COO of the London Technology Group; and MJ Towler, The Black Wine Guy Experience podcaster and wine auctioneer. The diverse membership spans more than a dozen nations including the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Venezuela, Spain, Hong Kong, France, Canada, Singapore and Argentina. A comprehensive outline of privileges of membership can be found on the website and includes access to Club dVIN's extensive network of winemakers, wineries, wine experts, collectors and more; rare wine tastings and experiences around the globe; exclusive offers, including highly coveted library wines and first releases straight from the producer; and exclusive content and education, such as exclusive content from winemakers and insider knowledge shared directly from Club dVIN's community. Global Insiders also receive 24/7 concierge services. Club dVIN was created by Garrett, whose expertise spans more than 25 years in the technology and wine industries, globally; Feuer, whose 30-year career in finance and venture capital includes 20 years of venture structuring with a global leader, McKinsey & Company; and Shahsavari, who brings decades of experience in wine, venture capital, start-ups, and management consulting to the first-of-its-kind NFT club. Together, they are working alongside a collective of some of the best minds and companies in wine and technology, including Protokol and Logos, each industry leaders in web3, NFTs and cryptocurrency. More information about Club dVIN is available on the website as well as on Club dVIN's Instagram and Twitter channels. Daily content is posted on Club dVIN's Discord , including wine discussions and weekly events around all things wine and crypto. About Club dVIN: The world's premier global non-fungible token (NFT) wine club, Club dVIN provides access to a global community of wine lovers, rare wine offerings and curated experiences. Club dVIN's Tasting Token NFTs provide proof of experience and can be used to access unique opportunities around the globe. Members will also be able to access Club dVIN's signature Digital Cork technology, making it possible to certify authenticity and track the life of a bottle of wine "from grape to glass." More information about Club dVIN can be found on the website at www.clubdvin.com and on Club dVIN's Discord as well as on Instagram and Twitter . Trademarks for Tasting Token and Digital Cork are currently under review. Membership tokens and Tasting Tokens are not securities and are not intended for investment purposes. SOURCE Club dVIN CHICAGO, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Cook County Board will introduce a resolution honoring the life of Erich Himmel, a pillar of the German American community for nearly half a century, on Thursday, September 22. Himmel is known for organizing the music-filled annual "German Day" celebration in Lincoln Square. For 35 years, Himmel also served as the grand marshal of the annual Von Steuben parade celebrating German culture and heritage. Himmel passed away on Monday, August 29, 2022, at the age of 86. Cook County Commissioner John Daley will introduce the resolution honoring Himmel's life at the monthly board meeting. The resolution has been sponsored unanimously by all 17 commissioners. Himmel's devotion to German culture was unparalleled. He became president of the Rheinischer Verein Mardi Gras Society, established to celebrate and promote the traditions of Germany, for more than 25 years. For more than three decades, he was also president of the United German American Societies, which includes 35 groups that promote German culture with Oktoberfest celebrations, German singing and folk dancing. Word about Himmel's devotion to German culture spread around the world. In 1984 Himmel was awarded Germany's highest civilian honor from Germany's president, the Federal Cross of Merit, or Bundesverdienstkreutz, for his contribution to the preservation of German culture in a foreign land. Himmel was born in Mosbach, Germany, outside of Munich, on January 3, 1936. He met his wife Ingeborg when he was 17. He told her he wanted to wait until he was 30 to marry so she moved to work in Montreal. He decided he loved her so much and wanted to spend the rest of his life with her so he sold his Vespa cycle to buy a ticket for her to return. They married in 1957 and emigrated to the United States. Their plan was to spend several years working in the U.S. and then return to Germany. Wherever they went, Inge would be with him every step of the way. They spent several months in New Hampshire before settling down in Chicago's Lincoln Square neighborhood. Himmel worked for Volkswagen as a mechanic and later helped open up several VW dealerships in the Chicago area. In 1982 he opened his own auto body business, Erich's Lehigh Auto Body, in Niles. Himmel's daughters, Carol and Diana, opened a pizzeria with a wood-burning oven in Lincoln Square in 2007. Originally called Pizza D.O.C., Himmel lobbied his daughters to add German fare. The Lawrence Avenue restaurant is now called Himmel's and is a European bistro serving wiener schnitzel a rarity for a pizzeria. Himmel and his wife made several trips back to Germany but leaving Chicago for good was out of the question. Chicago was home. Himmel was described by his family as a friend and confidant to many in and out of the German community with an infectious smile, wonderful sense of humor, huge heart, booming singing voice and a memorable upturned mustache. An evening with Himmel at his namesake restaurant was described as an evening with song and schnapps where there are no strangers. In addition to his wife and daughters, Himmel is survived by three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Funeral services were held. SOURCE Cook County Treasurer's Office The latest generation 1,400-TEU quartet reflects both organizations' commitment to the industry's clean energy transition JACKSONVILLE, Fla., Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- U.S. shipping and logistics company Crowley has awarded Singapore-based Eastern Pacific Shipping (EPS) a contract for the charter of four newbuild containerships powered by liquified natural gas (LNG) for Crowley's U.S.-Central America trade. Representatives from Crowley, Eastern Pacific Shipping and Hyundai Mipo Dockyard at the charter agreement signing. Using LNG significantly lowers vessel greenhouse gas emissions, such as sulfur oxide, carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide while eliminating particulate matter compared with conventional diesel fuel. In addition, these vessels will be fitted with high-pressure ME-GI engines from MAN Energy Solutions, reducing methane slippage to negligible levels and making these vessels the most environmentally efficient in their category. Each vessel, which will have capacity for 1,400 TEUs (20-foot container equivalent units), will feature 300 refrigerated unit plugs to reliably transport perishable cargo. Operating under a long-term time charter to Crowley, the ships will expand Crowley's fleet and supply chain capabilities connecting U.S. markets to Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. "We are excited to develop our U.S. market footprint through these long-term time charters with such a reputable partner," said EPS CEO Cyril Ducau. "Like EPS, Crowley enjoys a rich history and diverse business portfolios, but more importantly, their organization is driven by a vision to lead the industry's decarbonization efforts. Once delivered, these vessels will be IMO 2030 compliant five years ahead of schedule and will play an important role as the world and industry transition to cleaner energy sources." "These four ships will play a significant part in driving Crowley's strategic growth in our supply chain services for the U.S., Central America and Caribbean. In addition, the vessels use of LNG and emissions technology will advance the company's commitment to innovation and decarbonization in the shipping industry as part of our sustainability strategy," said Tom Crowley, company chairman and CEO. "As more companies diversify their supply chains using nearshoring and the resources of Central America, Crowley will enhance our end-to-end logistics services to be partners in their growth." The vessels will be built by Korea's Hyundai Mipo Dockyard and are slated for delivery in 2025. 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 $2.9 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 five business units: Crowley Logistics, Crowley Shipping, Crowley Solutions, Crowley Fuels and Crowley Wind Services. Additional information about Crowley, its business units and subsidiaries can be found at www.crowley.com. About Eastern Pacific Shipping With a history spanning 60 years, Eastern Pacific Shipping Pte. Ltd. ("EPS") is a leading shipping company that is committed to the green and technology-driven growth of the industry. Headquartered in Singapore for the past 30 years, EPS is driven by its mission to be the safe and efficient transportation provider of choice to the shipping industry. Empowering that mission is a 6,000 strong and growing workforce across sea and shore. They oversee a versatile fleet of over 200 vessels and 20 million deadweight-tonnes across three core segments of containership, dry bulk, and tanker vessels. EPS' shore team is fully integrated with in-house commercial, finance, innovation, IT, legal, manning, operations, and technical departments. SOURCE Crowley Curaleaf's retail presence grows to 18 locations in Pennsylvania and 137 nationwide WAKEFIELD, Mass., Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Curaleaf Holdings, Inc. (CSE: CURA) (OTCQX: CURLF) ("Curaleaf" or the "Company"), a leading international provider of consumer products in cannabis, today announced the opening of its Allentown dispensary, located at 1801 Airport Rd, Allentown, PA 18109. Curaleaf Allentown is the Company's sixth new location to open within the Keystone State this year, expanding its retail presence to 18 locations in Pennsylvania and 137 nationwide. Curaleaf Allentown offers a curated selection of products across the Company's brand portfolio including Grassroots, Select and Curaleaf. Patients can choose from a wide array of products including Select Elite, Select Elite Live, Grassroots full-spectrum and strain-specific RSO, Grassroots full-spectrum and strain specific RSO capsules, Grassroots pre-packaged flower, Curaleaf pre-packaged flower and Grassroots concentrates. The new dispensary celebrated its soft opening on September 17 and is scheduled for an official grand opening event on September 29. Curaleaf has commemorated its latest retail opening by making a $5,000 donation to the Urban Affairs Coalition, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving quality of life and building wealth in marginalized communities. "We are excited to deepen our roots in the Keystone State with the opening of Curaleaf Allentown, our first dispensary in Lehigh County," said Matt Darin, CEO of Curaleaf. "Pennsylvania has welcomed six new Curaleaf locations this year, and we remain committed to expanding access to high-quality medical marijuana products for the state's growing body of medical patients." In addition to Curaleaf Allentown, the Company serves patients in Altoona, Bradford, Brookville, City Avenue, DuBois, Erie, Gettysburg, Greensburg, Harrisburg, Horsham, King of Prussia, Lancaster, Lebanon, Morton, Philadelphia, State College, and Wayne. For more information regarding Curaleaf's product offerings in Pennsylvania, along with openings and hours of operation, please visit www.curaleaf.com/locations/pennsylvania . About Curaleaf Holdings Curaleaf Holdings, Inc. (CSE: CURA) (OTCQX: CURLF) ("Curaleaf") is a leading international provider of consumer products in cannabis with a mission to improve lives by providing clarity around cannabis and confidence around consumption. As a high-growth cannabis company known for quality, expertise and reliability, the Company and its brands, including Curaleaf and Select, provide industry-leading service, product selection and accessibility across the medical and adult-use markets. In the United States, Curaleaf currently operates in 21 states with 137 dispensaries, 26 cultivation sites, and employs over 6,000 team members. Curaleaf International is the largest vertically integrated cannabis company in Europe with a unique supply and distribution network throughout the European market, bringing together pioneering science and research with cutting-edge cultivation, extraction and production. Curaleaf is listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange under the symbol CURA and trades on the OTCQX market under the symbol CURLF. For more information, please visit https://ir.curaleaf.com . FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS This media advisory contains forwardlooking statements and forwardlooking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. These statements relate to future events or future performance. All statements other than statements of historical fact may be forwardlooking statements or information. Generally, forward-looking statements and information may be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or, "proposed", "is expected", "intends", "anticipates", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases, or by the use of words or phrases which state that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, or might occur or be achieved. More particularly and without limitation, this news release contains forwardlooking statements and information concerning the opening of a new dispensary in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Such forward-looking statements and information reflect management's current beliefs and are based on assumptions made by and information currently available to the company with respect to the matter described in this new release. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, which are based on current expectations as of the date of this release and subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. Additional information about these assumptions and risks and uncertainties is contained under "Risk Factors and Uncertainties" in the Company's latest annual information form filed March 9, 2022, which is available under the Company's SEDAR profile at http://www.sedar.com , and in other filings that the Company has made and may make with applicable securities authorities in the future. Forward-looking statements contained herein are made only as to the date of this press release and we undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. We caution investors not to place considerable reliance on the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. The Canadian Securities Exchange has not reviewed, approved or disapproved the content of this news release. INVESTOR CONTACT Curaleaf Holdings, Inc. Camilo Lyon, Chief Investment Officer [email protected] MEDIA CONTACT Curaleaf Holdings, Inc. Tracy Brady, SVP Corporate Communications [email protected] SOURCE Curaleaf Holdings, Inc. Kabul, Sep 18 (UNI) The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) urged on Sunday the Taliban-led (under UN sanctions for terrorist activities) Afghan government to allow high school education for girls. The Taliban came to power in Afghanistan in August 2021, which has resulted in deepening economic, humanitarian and security crises in the country. Although authorities promised not to discriminate against females, the Taliban has banned Afghan women from working outside their homes, and has introduced gender-based segregation in schools. Girls are now not allowed to receive education beyond sixth grade. "On the day marking the first anniversary of the exclusion of girls from high schools in Afghanistan, the United Nations re-iterates its call for the countrys de facto authorities to take urgent measures to reopen high schools for all," the mission's statement read. The UN mission warned that if the ban on girls secondary schools persists, the crisis in the country, the security situation and poverty will only worsen. "If the ban on girls attending high school remains, the UN is increasingly concerned that such measures, taken together with other restrictions being placed upon Afghans basic freedoms, will contribute to a deepening of the crises facing Afghanistan, including greater insecurity, poverty and isolation," the UNAMA said. According to the report of the UN International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) published in August, the deprivation of secondary education for girls has led to the loss of at least $500 million by the Afghan economy over the past 12 months, which is 2.5% of the country's GDP. According to the report, if 3 million girls were able to complete secondary education and enter the labor market, girls and women would contribute at least $5.4 billion to the Afghan economy. UNI/SPUTNIK GNK DUBLIN, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Growth Opportunities in Military Medical Device Technologies" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. This research service examines the emerging technologies being used in military health systems. This study covers only locally applied hemostatic agents in prehospital settings; intravenous infusion in hospital settings is not included. In addition to hemostatic wound care, the use of health monitoring devices such as wearables is growing. These devices track vital statistics, including heart rate, blood pressure, and stress and fatigue levels and also enable decision-making pertaining to medical evacuation. Digital health technology is also being used for proactive wellness care and to take care of the mental health of personnel. Over the years, the healthcare industry has developed several unique technologies for emergency medical services and critical care. An important user of critical care healthcare products is the military or the defense forces. Advanced medical technologies have improved the care that is offered, and they also enable safer and quicker care for soldiers. Severe hemorrhages can result in hemodynamic instability, hypoxemia, multiple organ failure, or death. A key reason for patient fatality is blood loss due to trauma or injury on the battlefield. Typically, intravenous (systemic) or local (topical) hemostatic agents are used to control excessive bleeding. Natural biomaterials have gained popularity due to their ease of use and rapid action. However, some of these hemostatic dressings cause irritation and exothermic reactions on the skin and take slow action to stop the bleeding. Advanced hemostatic wound care solutions address these challenges, and they will play an important role in military health systems. The augmented and improved performance of human beings with enhanced physical power and immunological resistance will become important future expectations on the battlefield. Human augmentation devices such as exoskeletons will revolutionize the military health system through the prevention of injuries. Key Topics Covered: 1. Strategic Imperatives Why Is It Increasingly Difficult to Grow? The Strategic Imperative: Factors Creating Pressure on Growth The Strategic Imperative The Impact of the Top 3 Strategic Imperatives on the Military Medical Device Industry Growth Opportunities Fuel the Growth Pipeline Engine 2. Growth Environment Analysis Rapid Care and Mobile Care are the Key Military Health System Requirements. Digital and Robotic Technologies are Addressing Military Health Requirements. The Key Innovation Areas in Military Health Systems Include Wound Care, Health Monitoring, and Human Augmentation. Increased Funding and Collaboration between MedTech and Federal Organizations are Driving Technology Advancements. Cybersecurity and Connectivity Concerns are Challenging the Adoption of Digital Health Devices. Scope of Analysis Research Methodology 3. Hemostatic Innovations for Militaries Hemostatic Solutions in Militaries - Key Requirements Bandages and Gauze Embedded with Hemostatic Materials are the Most Commonly Used Hemostatic Products. Emerging Hemostasis Technologies and Trends in Military Settings Hemostatic Biomaterials from Natural Sources Universities' Noteworthy Hemostatic Innovations Emerging Hemostatic Innovations to Address Truncal Hemorrhages Chitosan-based Wound Dressings for Hemostatic Effect Kaolin-based Hemostatic Dressings that Accelerate the Body's Natural Clotting Process Chitosan-based Wound Dressings for Bleeding Control All-in-One Pressure Bandages that Stop the Bleeding of Severe Wounds 4. Wearable Health Monitoring Innovations for Militaries The Monitoring of Military Personnel Health Enables Better Physical and Mental Health and Reduces Injuries. Wearables are the Most Commonly Used Technology Platforms for Remote Health Monitoring in Militaries. Emerging Technologies and Trends in Wearable Health Monitoring for Militaries Sensor and Digital Innovation in Health Monitoring Universities' Noteworthy Remote Health Monitoring Innovations Remote Health Monitoring of Soldiers' Physiological and Behavioral Data Mobile Health Application to Monitor Users' Moods and Emotions Tissue-integrated Biosensors for the Continuous Monitoring of Body Vitals Smartphone-compatible Application for the Early Detection of Injuries 5. Robotic Exoskeleton Innovations for Militaries Robotic Exoskeletons Reduce the Risk of Injury in Military Personnel. Innovations in Materials, Actuators, and Power to Improve the Performance of Robotic Exoskeletons Universities' Noteworthy Soft and Lightweight Robotic Exoskeleton Innovations Smart Exoskeletons Capture Crucial Insights about Soldiers. AI-powered Exoskeletons Load-bearing Exoskeletons to Improve Performance and Reduce Musculoskeletal Injuries Full-body Exoskeleton Suits to Improve Physical Strength Smart Exoskeletons to Improve Endurance and Provide Unimpaired Mobility Human Biomechanics-inspired Exoskeleton Suits to Improve Operator Mobility 6. Innovation Indicators Military-funded Research is Driving Innovation in Hemostatics. A Growing Number of Partnerships will Provide More Efficient Wound Care Solutions in Military Settings. Private and Public Funding is Accelerating the Development of Innovative Wound Care Products. Government-led Efforts are Encouraging Innovation in the Exoskeleton Industry for Defense. Collaborations and Partnerships will Expand the Use of Robotic Exoskeletons in Defense. The US Military is Actively Adopting Real-time Monitoring to Control its Troops. The US Military is Partnering with Digital Health Technology Companies to Optimize Soldiers' Performance. US and Chinese Defense Bodies are Adopting Emerging Technologies in Military Health, Especially Digital Technologies. The Russian Military is Focusing on Human Augmentation Technologies. Smart Garments and Robotic Exoskeletons are the Most Impactful Emerging Medical Technologies in Military Health Systems. Hemostatic and Health Monitoring are Easy-to-Implement and Highly Impactful Solutions that Improve the Health of Military Personnel. Technology Roadmap of Military Medical Systems 7. Growth Opportunity Universe Growth Opportunity 1: Easy-to-Use and Quick Wound Sealing Hemostatic Solutions for Trauma Injuries Growth Opportunity 2: Digital Behavioral Therapy for Military Personnel Growth Opportunity 3: Patient-centric Care for Military Personnel 8. Appendix For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/wq5cyk Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager [email protected] For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/539438/Research_and_Markets_Logo.jpg SOURCE Research and Markets HIRSCHBERG A.D. BERGSTRASSE, Germany, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Effective September 9th, 2022, the GOLDBECK SOLAR Group and the GP JOULE Group announce that GOLDBECK SOLAR has acquired the North American PV-EPC business unit of GP JOULE and is now the sole shareholder of the two North American companies: GP JOULE PV Canada Corp. and GP JOULE PV USA Inc. With this acquisition, GOLDBECK SOLAR is strengthening its position in the Americas, having existing operations in Chile and Mexico. Ove Petersen, CEO GP JOULE, and Joachim Goldbeck CEO GOLDBECK SOLAR Group. The purchase includes the acquisition of the entire GP JOULE EPC NA team as well as the use of the local brand for a limited period. "Our new local team and their expertise are the basis for this strategic step. They understand the culture and the market specifics." begins Joachim Goldbeck, CEO of GOLDBECK SOLAR Group. "With our new colleagues, we have a strong foundation to master the opportunities and challenges of the North American market. The cultural fit of the companies was a fundamental criterion, and we are now looking forward to growing the business together in Canada and the USA." Increased growth planned in North America The acquisition is the natural next step in GOLDBECK SOLAR's growth strategy. After investing in a portfolio of projects in Canada at the beginning of the year, the company demonstrated strong interest in designing and building solar plants in North America, as it has successfully done for over 20 years in Europe, Asia and South America. "This comes at a perfect time" states David Pichard, CEO of GP JOULE EPC NA. "Over the last 10 years, we have grown exponentially a team delivering world class assets in the utility scale market. Becoming part of the GOLDBECK SOLAR family not only brings immediate synergies in systems and supply chain but also accelerates our expansion in Operations and Maintenance services to continue providing the best value to our clients". "We are convinced that we have found the right partner and buyer for our companies in North America in GOLDBECK SOLAR," adds Ove Petersen, co-founder and CEO of GP JOULE. "We are placing our EPC business in Canada and the USA, which has developed excellently in recent years, in good hands and can focus even more strongly on our growth in Germany and Europe." About GP JOULE EPC NA GP JOULE PV Canada Corp. and GP JOULE PV USA Inc. were subsidiaries of the Germany-based GP JOULE Group until 09/09/2022. The vertically integrated EPC company supplies turnkey PV and energy storage power plants with proprietary single axis tracking and fixed tilt racking systems. With more than 200 MWp of projects built in Canada and the northern US states over the past 10 years, GP JOULE EPC NA specialises in servicing utilities and C&I clients. Founded in 2011, the company is headquartered in Toronto, ON, has had a presence in Calgary, AB since 2016, and most recently established a location in Halifax, NS in 2022. Its US satellite office is located in Los Gatos, CA. About GOLDBECK SOLAR GOLDBECK SOLAR is an international company specialising in the turnkey construction of commercial rooftop and ground-mounted photovoltaic systems. The range of services covers the entire value chain, from project development and targeted project financing to the construction and integration of storage technologies, technical operation and asset management of the plants, as well as the direct sale of clean energy. Since 2001, GOLDBECK SOLAR has already developed and implemented more than 2.5 GW of solar parks in 20 countries around the globe. The EPC company also owns a plant portfolio with more than 500 MWp in operation or under construction. In the last five years, GOLDBECK SOLAR has also built up a development pipeline of more than 1.5 GW. About GP JOULE Founded in 2009 based on the belief that a 100% renewable energy supply is feasible, GP JOULE is now a system provider for integrated energy solutions from solar, wind and biomass power as well as being a partner at the supply level for electricity, heat, hydrogen and electric mobility. GP JOULE is thus a pioneering company in sector cross-linkage. Around 500 people work for the medium-sized group of companies in Germany, Europe and North America. GP JOULE is the winner of the Schleswig-Holstein Business Environment Award 2019 and the German Renewables Award 2020. Your press contact: Yesica Pantiga GOLDBECK SOLAR GmbH Goldbeck street 7 69493 Hirschberg [email protected] T + 49 179 54 777 06 SOURCE Goldbeck Solar REUENKOGE, Germany, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The two companies GP JOULE PV Canada Corp. and GP JOULE PV USA Inc. were acquired on September 9th, 2022 by the GOLDBECK SOLAR Group. The two companies in the USA and Canada were previously subsidiaries of the German-based GP JOULE Group, a global provider of renewable energy solutions. The purchase by GOLDBECK SOLAR includes the acquisition of the GP JOULE EPC North American team and the use of the brand locally for a limited period. Elemental Energy Inc. Innisfail Solar FarmSOLAR. GP JOULE launched its EPC business in North American in 2011. GP JOULE has since become a leading provider of solar EPC solutions throughout Canada and the northern US states. Since 2014, the subsidiaries have built over 200 megawatts (MW) of solar farms in the Canadian provinces of Ontario, Alberta, Nova Scotia and the US states of California, Minnesota and New York. The North American EPC business has a pipeline of more than 500 MW. "We are convinced that we have found the right partner and buyer for our companies in North America in GOLDBECK SOLAR," says Ove Petersen, co-founder and CEO of GP JOULE. "We are placing our EPC business in Canada and the USA, which has developed excellently in recent years, in good hands and can focus even more on our growth in Germany and Europe." GP JOULE has opened offices in Ireland this year as well as in Italy, where it has been active since 2011, as it has been in neighboring France. The energy revolution company acquires, develops, and builds photovoltaic and wind projects in these countries. Moreover, the energy revolution company wants to continue to grow in these countries as well as in its many activities in Germany, where GP JOULE is active across the entire value chain: from electricity generation from renewables to conversion into green hydrogen and heat, to the use of the energy in industries, in households, and in hydrogen and e-mobility. With the acquisition of GP JOULE PV Canada Corp. and GP JOULE PV USA Inc., GOLDBECK SOLAR will expand its position on the American continent. "Our new local team and their expertise are the basis for this strategic step. They understand the culture and the market specifics, and with the new synergies generated, we will be able to continue to provide excellent service to our customers ", says Joachim Goldbeck, Managing Partner of the GOLDBECK SOLAR Group. "With our new colleagues, we have a strong foundation to master the opportunities and challenges of the North American market. The cultural fit of the companies was a fundamental criterion, and we are now looking forward to growing the business together in Canada and the USA." Elemental Energy Inc. Innisfail Solar FarmSOLAR. Image rights: GP JOULE, for use free of charge in connection with the reporting on the acquisition of the two companies GP JOULE PV Canada Corp. and GP JOULE PV USA Inc. by the GOLBECK SOLAR Group. About GP JOULE Founded in 2009 based on the belief that a 100% renewable energy supply is feasible, GP JOULE is now a system provider for integrated energy solutions from solar, wind and biomass power as well as being a partner at the supply level for electricity, heat, hydrogen and electric mobility. GP JOULE is thus a pioneering company in sector cross-linkage. Around 500 people work for the medium-sized group of companies in Germany, Europe and North America. GP JOULE is the winner of the Schleswig-Holstein Business Environment Award 2019 and the German Renewables Award 2020. About GOLDBECK SOLAR GOLDBECK SOLAR is an international company specializing in the turnkey construction of commercial roof and ground-mounted photovoltaic systems. The range of services covers the entire value chain, from project development and targeted project financing to the construction and integration of storage technologies, technical operation and asset management of the plants, as well as the direct sale of clean energy. Since 2001, GOLDBECK SOLAR has already developed and implemented more than 2.5 GW of solar parks in 20 countries around the globe. The EPC company also owns a plant portfolio with more than 500 MWp in operation or under construction. In the last five years, GOLDBECK SOLAR has also built up a development pipeline of more than 1.5 GW Press contact GP JOULE Group Jurn Kruse Corporate Communications [email protected] Tel. +49 (0) 4671-6074-213 Mobile +49 (0) 160-1540265 GP JOULE GmbH Cecilienkoog 16 25821 Reuenkoege SOURCE GP JOULE SoCal Business Transformation Company Accelerating Hiring IRVINE, Calif., Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- CompassX, an Irvine-based IT consulting company, was included on the 2022 Inc. 5000 List of fastest-growing American companies. The company, which partners with many Southern California clients, made the list by generating 130% revenue growth between 2018 and 2021. CompassX employees celebrating at their annual summer family picnic. "We've been honored to have provided first-class business management and tech advisory services to leading Fortune 1000 companies in SoCal for over 13 years," said Kyle J. Heppenstall, founder of CompassX. "Inclusion in the Inc. 5000 list represents a growth story achieved by the collective efforts of past employees, mentors, spouses, and our unbelievably talented team of current consultants. Sustaining, learning, adapting, and growing in small amounts, consistently, and over many years this is how a business becomes an 'overnight success'. Some current clients of CompassX include Amgen, IHOP, Jazz Pharmaceuticals, and Taco Bell. The Inc. 5000 List To be included on the list, companies must have been generating revenue by March 2018. They must also be U.S.-based, privately held, for-profit, and independent subsidiaries and divisions of existing companies are not eligible. Ranking on the 2021 list was determined by a company's revenue growth between 2018 and 2021. "We're continuing to expand and expect to double our revenue in the next three years," said Heppenstall. About the Company Founded in 2009, CompassX built its reputation on Business and IT project execution and has recently expanded its services to include data solutions and agile transformation. Heppenstall explains, "Agile isn't just a methodology, it's a philosophy, and it's at the core of everything we do. Our engagement model offers maximum flexibility at deal-speed, backed by decades of consulting experience." "We got our start serving regulated markets in the life sciences, financial services, and healthcare space. We have now expanded to serve restaurant conglomerates and consumer product verticals," said Heppenstall, "Our 'secret sauce' is our ability to fully integrate ourselves into your organization, help your team reimagine what is possible, and make it happen." CompassX also sponsors nonprofits dedicated to making local communities stronger, safer, and better places to live, including Girls Inc. of Orange County, Saving Innocence, Children of Fallen Patriots, and Angel Tree Christmas. In addition to the Inc. list, CompassX was included in the Best Companies Group's 2022 "100 Best Places to Work in Southern California" list. Employment Opportunities CompassX is currently looking to hire qualified management consultants, project managers, Agile transformation experts, and data solution subject matter experts. Applicants should have at least 5 years of experience working with premier consulting firms. The company's 'boutique by design' structure cuts bureaucracy and takes individual employee goals seriously. Team members have opportunities to work with multi-billion dollar companies within a tight-knit, supportive culture. "We're proud of the tremendous effort we put into matching our people to the client work they desire to perform. Their engagement is evident in the outcomes we deliver for our clients: bridging the divide between great ideas and meaningful results," Heppenstall said. Applicants can apply on CompassX's LinkedIn page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/compassx-group/jobs Contact: Katie McDermott Director of Marketing & Operations [email protected] 949-387-9111 SOURCE CompassX DUBLIN, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment Market (2022-2027) by Installation Type, Charging Type, Provider, Geography, Competitive Analysis and the Impact of Covid-19 with Ansoff Analysis" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The Global Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment Market is estimated to be USD 6.94 Bn in 2022 and is expected to reach USD 21.32 Bn by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 25.16%. Market dynamics are forces that impact the prices and behaviors of the Global Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment Market stakeholders. These forces create pricing signals which result from the changes in the supply and demand curves for a given product or service. Forces of Market Dynamics may be related to macro-economic and micro-economic factors. There are dynamic market forces other than price, demand, and supply. Human emotions can also drive decisions, influence the market, and create price signals. As the market dynamics impact the supply and demand curves, decision-makers aim to determine the best way to use various financial tools to stem various strategies for speeding the growth and reducing the risks. Company Profiles The report provides a detailed analysis of the competitors in the market. It covers the financial performance analysis for the publicly listed companies in the market. The report also offers detailed information on the companies' recent development and competitive scenario. Some of the companies covered in this report are ABB Ltd., ChargePoint, Inc., ClipperCreek, Inc., Delta Electronics, Inc., Eaton Corp., Evotec SE, Heliox, Mitsubishi Electric Corp., Robert Bosch GmbH, Schneider Electric SE, Tesla Inc., etc. Countries Studied America ( Argentina , Brazil , Canada , Chile , Colombia , Mexico , Peru , United States , Rest of Americas) , , , , , , , , Rest of Americas) Europe ( Austria , Belgium , Denmark , Finland , France , Germany , Italy , Netherlands , Norway , Poland , Russia , Spain , Sweden , Switzerland , United Kingdom , Rest of Europe ) ( , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Rest of ) Middle-East and Africa ( Egypt , Israel , Qatar , Saudi Arabia , South Africa , United Arab Emirates , Rest of MEA) and ( , , , , , , Rest of MEA) Asia-Pacific ( Australia , Bangladesh , China , India , Indonesia , Japan , Malaysia , Philippines , Singapore , South Korea , Sri Lanka , Thailand , Taiwan , Rest of Asia-Pacific ) Competitive Quadrant The report includes Competitive Quadrant, a proprietary tool to analyze and evaluate the position of companies based on their Industry Position score and Market Performance score. The tool uses various factors for categorizing the players into four categories. Some of these factors considered for analysis are financial performance over the last 3 years, growth strategies, innovation score, new product launches, investments, growth in market share, etc. Ansoff Analysis The report presents a detailed Ansoff matrix analysis for the Global Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment Market. Ansoff Matrix, also known as Product/Market Expansion Grid, is a strategic tool used to design strategies for the growth of the company. The matrix can be used to evaluate approaches in four strategies viz. Market Development, Market Penetration, Product Development and Diversification. The matrix is also used for risk analysis to understand the risk involved with each approach. The analyst analyses the Global Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment Market using the Ansoff Matrix to provide the best approaches a company can take to improve its market position. Based on the SWOT analysis conducted on the industry and industry players, the analyst has devised suitable strategies for market growth. Why buy this report? The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the Global Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment Market. The report includes in-depth qualitative analysis, verifiable data from authentic sources, and projections about market size. The projections are calculated using proven research methodologies. The report has been compiled through extensive primary and secondary research. The primary research is done through interviews, surveys, and observation of renowned personnel in the industry. The report includes an in-depth market analysis using Porter's 5 forces model and the Ansoff Matrix. In addition, the impact of Covid-19 on the market is also featured in the report. The report also includes the regulatory scenario in the industry, which will help you make a well-informed decision. The report discusses major regulatory bodies and major rules and regulations imposed on this sector across various geographies. The report also contains the competitive analysis using Positioning Quadrants, the analyst's Proprietary competitive positioning tool. Key Topics Covered: 1 Report Description 2 Research Methodology 3 Executive Summary 4 Market Dynamics 4.1 Drivers 4.1.1 Heavy Investments from Automakers In Electric Vehicles 4.1.2 Increasing Demand for Charging Stations/Docks 4.1.3 Favorable Government Policies and Subsidies 4.2 Restraints 4.2.1 High Cost of Electric Vehicle 4.2.2 Stringent Guidelines for Installation of Charging Stations 4.3 Opportunities 4.3.1 Use of Vehicle-To-Grid Electric Vehicle Charging Stations 4.3.2 Electric Vehicle Charging Stations Powered by Renewable Energy 4.4 Challenges 4.4.1 Lack of Standardization of Charging Infrastructure 5 Market Analysis 5.1 Regulatory Scenario 5.2 Porter's Five Forces Analysis 5.3 Impact of COVID-19 5.4 Ansoff Matrix Analysis 6 Global Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment Market, By Installation Type 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Fixed Charger 6.3 Portable Charger 7 Global Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment Market, By Charging Type 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Level 1 7.3 Level 2 7.4 Level 3 8 Global Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment Market, By Provider 8.1 Introduction 8.2 Aftermarket 8.3 OEM 9 Americas' Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment Market 9.1 Introduction 9.2 Argentina 9.3 Brazil 9.4 Canada 9.5 Chile 9.6 Colombia 9.7 Mexico 9.8 Peru 9.9 United States 9.10 Rest of Americas 10 Europe's Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment Market 10.1 Introduction 10.2 Austria 10.3 Belgium 10.4 Denmark 10.5 Finland 10.6 France 10.7 Germany 10.8 Italy 10.9 Netherlands 10.10 Norway 10.11 Poland 10.12 Russia 10.13 Spain 10.14 Sweden 10.15 Switzerland 10.16 United Kingdom 10.17 Rest of Europe 11 Middle East and Africa's Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment Market 11.1 Introduction 11.2 Egypt 11.3 Israel 11.4 Qatar 11.5 Saudi Arabia 11.6 South Africa 11.7 United Arab Emirates 11.8 Rest of MEA 12 APAC's Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment Market 12.1 Introduction 12.2 Australia 12.3 Bangladesh 12.4 China 12.5 India 12.6 Indonesia 12.7 Japan 12.8 Malaysia 12.9 Philippines 12.10 Singapore 12.11 South Korea 12.12 Sri Lanka 12.13 Thailand 12.14 Taiwan 12.15 Rest of Asia-Pacific 13 Competitive Landscape 13.1 Competitive Quadrant 13.2 Market Share Analysis 13.3 Strategic Initiatives 13.3.1 M&A and Investments 13.3.2 Partnerships and Collaborations 13.3.3 Product Developments and Improvements 14 Company Profiles 14.1 ABB Ltd. 14.2 AeroVironment Inc. 14.3 BP International Ltd. 14.4 BTC Power 14.5 BYD Auto Co. Ltd. 14.6 ChargePoint, Inc. 14.7 Circontrol SA 14.8 COMECA Group 14.9 ClipperCreek, Inc. 14.10 Delta Electronics, Inc. 14.11 DBT Group 14.12 Eaton Corp. 14.13 Ecotap BV 14.14 EFACEC Power Solutions SGPS, SA 14.15 Ekoenergetyka-Polska Sp. z.o.o. 14.16 Engie SA 14.17 EVBox 14.18 Evotec SE 14.19 Heliox 14.20 Leviton Manufacturing Company Inc. 14.21 Mass-Tech Controls Pvt. Ltd. 14.22 Magenta Group 14.23 Mitsubishi Electric Corp. 14.24 Phihong USA Corp. 14.25 Robert Bosch GmbH 14.26 Schneider Electric SE 14.27 Siemens Ag 14.28 SK Signet 14.29 P2 Power Solutions Pvt. Ltd. 14.30 Tesla Inc. 14.31 Tritium Pty Ltd. 14.32 Webasto SE 14.33 Yazaki Corp 15 Appendix For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/inmjuh Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager [email protected] For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/539438/Research_and_Markets_Logo.jpg SOURCE Research and Markets Creating pathways to venture capital for SoCal entrepreneurs LOS ANGELES, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Alliance for SoCal Innovation ("The Alliance") is proud to announce that they have formally entered into a multi-year agreement with Pacific Western Bank to be the new lead sponsor of the SoCal Venture Pipeline program (SVP) which connects promising early stage startups with venture capital in order to improve access to institutional capital across the SoCal region. Entering its second year, the SVP program is completely free for the startups and investors who participate. The Alliance does not collect any fees or take equity thanks to this generous underwriting from Pacific Western Bank as well as continuing supporters Wilson Sonsini and KPPB LLP. Increasing capital access for innovative companies across the expansive SoCal region is core to The Alliance's mission and this particular program is a key ingredient. SoCal Venture Pipeline powered by Pacific Western Bank Andy Wilson, Executive Director of the Alliance, said, "We are so fortunate in SoCal to have so many amazing founders building great startups across this massive and diverse region. However, access to critical early stage capital is not equally available to all. We rely on great partners like Pacific Western Bank who share our commitment to the region to deliver high impact programs like the SoCal Venture Pipeline." "We are very excited to partner with the Alliance on the important mission of the SoCal Venture Pipeline program," Mark diTargiani, SVP of Pacific Western Bank's technology banking practice. "We are committed to supporting the venture community and entrepreneurs, and the Alliance has the great ability to bring together up-and-coming tech and life science communities and connect them to relevant investors. By working together and combining our two networks, we'll be able to connect promising early stage startups with venture capital, with the hopes of creating a more balanced and diverse group of founders in the SoCal area." As part of the new sponsorship agreement, the program will now be renamed "The SoCal Venture Pipeline powered by Pacific Western Bank" and will continue to focus on matchmaking qualified early stage founders seeking seed and series A capital with the right investors. Startups based in the SoCal region who apply to be in the SVP program undergo a rigorous screening process by a team of investment professionals before being accepted into the program. Once accepted they are further vetted before receiving highly targeted personal introductions to appropriate investors in the Alliance's extensive and growing network of venture capital partners. Since launching in March of 2021, over 250 startups have applied to the SoCal Venture Pipeline program of which 31 have been accepted and received vital support through connections to investors, advisors, and additional capital resources. As a result of the program, several startups have secured venture funding and more success stories are in process. For SoCal-based tech startups that are raising $1M+ of seed or $4M+ of Series A institutional capital and meet the guidelines outlined in the program FAQ, apply now to begin the process of getting connected to the right investors. About The Alliance for Southern California Innovation The Alliance for Southern California Innovation (the "Alliance") is a not for profit formed in 2017 that has successfully brought together the heft of Southern California's top research institutions, local business leaders, and world-class advisors to focus on bridging critical gaps in the SoCal innovation ecosystem. The goal of the Alliance is to engage and unify SoCal's compelling diversity of talent, ideas, and perspectives in order to optimize the conditions for the region's innovators to bring breakthroughs to the world. About Pacific Western Bank Pacific Western Bank is a commercial bank with over $40 billion in assets headquartered in Los Angeles, California, with an executive office in Denver, Colorado. The Bank is focused on relationship-based business banking to small, middle-market, and venture-backed businesses nationwide. The Bank provides venture banking products including a comprehensive suite of financial services focused on entrepreneurial and venture-backed businesses and their venture capital and private equity investors, with offices located in key innovation hubs across the United States. To learn more about Pacific Western Bank, visit www.pacwest.com. Contact: Eric Eide, The Alliance for SoCal Innovation Email: [email protected] SOURCE The Alliance for Southern California Innovation Following Consulting Magazine's recognition of Treacy & Company as a leading consulting firm, T&Co named the No. 1 small firm to work for at the annual awards ceremony CHICAGO, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Treacy & Company, a boutique consulting firm focused on growth and innovation, has been recognized as the No. 1 best small firm to work for by benchmark industry publication Consulting Magazine. It was revealed that T&Co received the top spot at the annual awards ceremony on Thursday, Sept. 15 in front of fellow honorees at the Swissotel Chicago. To determine 2022 winners, Consulting Magazine collected thousands of responses from hundreds of consulting firms. Scores are measured against all qualifying firms. The objective annual online survey is the largest and most in-depth employee satisfaction survey in the consulting industry meant to recognize the profession's best firms to work for. Selection is based on employee satisfaction in the categories of culture, career development, client engagement, compensation/benefits, and firm leadership. T&Co has been recognized as a leading firm in the past, but this is the first year they received the No. 1 ranking. "The honor of receiving the top rank is a true testament to our unique firm and culture," said Managing Partner Josh Coleman. "We have a shared dedication to uphold the values of our organization, we celebrate success and support each other, and we constantly reflect on how we can get better each and every day. It's an honor to guide this team of professionals." Employees of the 30-plus person firm gave Treacy & Company high marks when it comes to culture and engagement. Over the years, the firm has defined, refined, and strengthened its employee value proposition. That has been critical in an era where the firm has navigated a shift to more hybrid and remote work. Shortly after the pandemic hit, T&Co created an engagement team that tracks the satisfaction of employees and solicits feedback on a monthly basis. To provide team members deeper incentives, the management team has instituted a profit share model on top of standard employee bonuses, which is uncommon among companies similar in size and scope. T&Co team members appreciate the high-performance culture and the ability to interface directly with key decision makers on client accounts. "We punch way above our weight in terms of the clients we serve, counting a lot of Fortune 500 and private multi-billion-dollar companies as customers we've worked with," said Yan Vinarskiy, a Principal at T&Co. "We work on big, transformational projects for our clients. They will keep us around for 12 to 18 months and continue to work with us for a longer period than what is traditional for other consulting practices." Learn more about the firm's culture and value proposition . About Treacy & Company: Treacy & Company is a boutique growth and innovation consulting firm with offices in Boston and Chicago. Their consultants are industry agnostic, drawing upon years of front-line experience across a broad range of industries. They work in highly focused teamstypically a partner and three to five consultantsin conjunction with key stakeholders in organizations to design and deploy growth, innovation, and digital strategies that challenge their thinking on familiar paradigms. Consulting Magazine named T&Co one of the "Best Small Firms to Work For" in 2021 and 2022. Learn more at treacyandco.com Media contact: Bob Spoerl [email protected] 773.453.2444 SOURCE Treacy & Company WASHINGTON, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) has named 19 institutions of higher education as Fulbright Historically Black College and University (HBCU) Institutional Leaders for 2022. ECA established the Fulbright HBCU Institutional Leaders Initiative to recognize and commend the strong partnership between the Fulbright Program and HBCUs and to encourage all HBCUs to increase their engagement with Fulbright to help their students, faculty and staff to study, teach or conduct research abroad and access valuable international experiences and perspectives. The Fulbright HBCU Institutional Leaders are: Alcorn State University, Bennett College, Bluefield State University, Central State University, Delaware State University, Fayetteville State University, Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University, Howard University, Huston-Tillotson University, Jarvis Christian University, Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, Mississippi Valley State University, Morgan State University, North Carolina A&T State University, Spelman College, Tennessee State University, Texas Southern University, Tuskegee University, and Virginia State University. The announcement of the 19 Fulbright HBCU Institutional Leaders was made by the State Department as HBCU leaders prepare to gather in Washington, DC and virtually for the White House Initiative on HBCUs National HBCU Week Conference, and Fulbright opportunities will be highlighted in events such as the HBCU career and recruitment fair. The institutions will be featured across Fulbright social media platforms and in a collaboration with Watch the Yard, a platform for Black Greek life created by Fulbright alumnus Jonathan Rabb. Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs Lee Satterfield commended the 2022 Fulbright HBCU Institutional Leaders, noting that "HBCUs are an important part of the American and global higher education communities, providing life-changing exchange opportunities for American and international students, faculty, and administrators alike," and shared her "hope that these institutions' success encourages all HBCUs to engage further with Fulbright and with the State Department." The HBCU Institutional Leader status recognizes engagement across the Fulbright Program, including hosting Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistants, Scholars-in-Residence, and other Fulbright Students or Scholars as well as having U.S. students, faculty and staff receive Fulbrights to study, teach or conduct research abroad. On November 3, a Fulbright HBCU Virtual Workshop will feature best practices for HBCUs to leverage Fulbright Program engagement to support students and faculty, increase campus internationalization, and build global networks. This event is designed for HBCU faculty and staff but is open to all higher education professionals. The Fulbright Program is the U.S. government's flagship international educational exchange program. Since its inception over 75 years ago, the Fulbright Program has given over 400,000 talented and accomplished students, scholars, teachers, artists, and professionals of all backgrounds and fields the opportunity to study, teach, and conduct research abroad, exchanging ideas, and contributing to finding solutions to important international problems. Each year, the U.S. Congress appropriates funds to the U.S. Department of State to sponsor the Fulbright Program. Additional funding and in-kind contributions are provided by foreign governments, U.S. and foreign host institutions, non-governmental organizations, private organizations, corporate partnerships, and individual donors. Over many years the Fulbright Program has designed and implemented a wide range of initiatives to increase participant diversity and inclusion throughout the programs. The program strives to ensure that its participants reflect the diversity of U.S. society and societies abroad. Fulbrighters come from all backgrounds and are selected through an open, merit-based competition, regardless of their race, color, national origin, sex, age, religion, geographic location, socio-economic status, disability, sexual orientation, or gender identity. For more information on the Fulbright Program, visit http://eca.state.gov/fulbright or contact the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs Press Office by e-mail [email protected]. Follow the Fulbright Program on social media for highlights on HBCUs and Fulbright. The Fulbright Program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs with funding provided by the U.S. Government. The Institute of International Education administers components of the Fulbright Program. SOURCE The Fulbright Program NEW YORK, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The wearable computing devices market is fragmented, and the vendors are deploying growth strategies such as product innovations to compete in the market. Several prominent vendors offer a wide range of products. They are focusing on R&D to develop advanced products, which is intensifying competition in the market. In addition, they are formulating several strategies to remain competitive and increase their revenue. The demand for wearable computing devices is increasing, with the rising awareness about fitness. Moreover, as many new players are entering this market, the competition will increase during the forecast period. Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Wearable Computing Devices Market 2022-2026 The wearable computing devices market size is expected to grow by USD 49.88 bn from 2021 to 2026. In addition, the growth momentum of the market will accelerate at a CAGR of 15.93% during the forecast period, according to Technavio. Technavio's reports provide key strategic initiatives used by vendors, along with key news and the latest developments. View our FREE PDF Sample Report Now Wearable Computing Devices Market 2022-2026: Scope The wearable computing devices market report covers the following areas: Wearable Computing Devices Market 2022-2026: Segmentation Product Smart Watches: The smart watches segment will be the largest contributor to market growth during the forecast period. Rapid urbanization, health- and fitness-conscious population, technology proliferation, rising smartphone use, rising luxury standards, and rising disposable income are some of the factors driving the growth of this segment. Fitness Trackers Smart Glasses Head Mounted Displays Others Geography North America : North America will account for 32% of the market's growth during the forecast period. The growth of this region is attributed to factors such as the rise in disposable income and the increased adoption of new technological gadgets. Moreover, market growth in this region will be faster than the growth of the market in other regions. The US and Canada are the key countries for the wearable computing devices market in North America . : will account for 32% of the market's growth during the forecast period. The growth of this region is attributed to factors such as the rise in disposable income and the increased adoption of new technological gadgets. Moreover, market growth in this region will be faster than the growth of the market in other regions. The US and are the key countries for the wearable computing devices market in . APAC Europe South America Middle East And Africa Learn about the contribution of each segment summarized in concise infographics and thorough descriptions. View a FREE PDF Sample Report Wearable Computing Devices Market 2022-2026: Vendor Analysis We provide a detailed analysis of around 25 vendors operating in the wearable computing devices market, including Apple Inc., AiQ Smart Clothing Inc., Alphabet Inc., Cyberdyne Inc., Ekso Bionics Holdings Inc., Fossil Group Inc., Garmin Ltd., Huawei technologies Co. Ltd., LG Electronics Inc., Medtronic Plc, Microsoft Corp., Nokia Corp., Nuheara Ltd., OMRON Corp., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Sensoria Inc., Sony Group Corp., Transcend Information Inc., Xiaomi Corp., and ZEPP HEALTH CORP. Get lifetime access to our Technavio Insights! Subscribe to our "Basic Plan" billed annually at USD 5000 Wearable Computing Devices Market 2022-2026: Key Highlights CAGR of the market during the forecast period 2022-2026 Detailed information on factors that will assist wearable computing devices market growth during the next five years Estimation of the wearable computing devices market size and its contribution to the parent market Predictions on upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior The growth of the wearable computing devices market Analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information on vendors Comprehensive details of factors that will challenge the growth of wearable computing devices market vendors Related Reports Smart Plug Market by Technology Adopters, End-user and Geography Forecast 2022-2026: The smart plug market share is expected to increase by USD 6.39 billion from 2021 to 2026. Smart TV Sticks Market by Type and Geography - Forecast and Analysis 2022-2026: The smart TV sticks market share is expected to increase by USD 555.88 million from 2021 to 2026. Wearable Computing Devices Market Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 120 Base year 2021 Forecast period 2022-2026 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 15.93% Market growth 2022-2026 USD 49.88 billion Market structure Fragmented YoY growth (%) 15.11 Regional analysis North America, APAC, Europe, South America, and Middle East and Africa Performing market contribution North America at 32% Key consumer countries US, Canada, China, India, and Germany Competitive landscape Leading companies, competitive strategies, consumer engagement scope Companies profiled Apple Inc., AiQ Smart Clothing Inc., Alphabet Inc., Cyberdyne Inc., Ekso Bionics Holdings Inc., Fossil Group Inc., Garmin Ltd., Huawei technologies Co. Ltd., LG Electronics Inc., Medtronic Plc, Microsoft Corp., Nokia Corp., Nuheara Ltd., OMRON Corp., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Sensoria Inc., Sony Group Corp., Transcend Information Inc., Xiaomi Corp., and ZEPP HEALTH CORP Market Dynamics Parent market analysis, market growth inducers and obstacles, fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID-19 impact and future consumer dynamics, and market condition analysis for the forecast period. Customization purview If our report has not included the data that you are looking for, you can reach out to our analysts and get segments customized. Browse Communication Services Market Reports 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 Product Exhibit 06: Executive Summary Chart on Incremental Growth Exhibit 07: Executive Summary Data Table on Incremental Growth Exhibit 08: Executive Summary Chart on Vendor Market Positioning 2 Market Landscape 2.1 Market ecosystem Exhibit 09: Parent market Exhibit 10: Market Characteristics 3 Market Sizing 3.1 Market definition Exhibit 11: Offerings of vendors included in the market definition 3.2 Market segment analysis Exhibit 12: Market segments 3.3 Market size 2021 3.4 Market outlook: Forecast for 2021-2026 Exhibit 13: Chart on Global - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 14: Data Table on Global - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 15: Chart on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) Exhibit 16: Data Table on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) 4 Five Forces Analysis 4.1 Five forces summary Exhibit 17: Five forces analysis - Comparison between2021 and 2026 4.2 Bargaining power of buyers Exhibit 18: Chart on Bargaining power of buyers Impact of key factors 2021 and 2026 4.3 Bargaining power of suppliers Exhibit 19: Bargaining power of suppliers Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026 4.4 Threat of new entrants Exhibit 20: Threat of new entrants Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026 4.5 Threat of substitutes Exhibit 21: Threat of substitutes Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026 4.6 Threat of rivalry Exhibit 22: Threat of rivalry Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026 4.7 Market condition Exhibit 23: Chart on Market condition - Five forces 2021 and 2026 5 Market Segmentation by Product 5.1 Market segments Exhibit 24: Chart on Product - Market share 2021-2026 (%) Exhibit 25: Data Table on Product - Market share 2021-2026 (%) 5.2 Comparison by Product Exhibit 26: Chart on Comparison by Product Exhibit 27: Data Table on Comparison by Product 5.3 Smart watches - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 28: Chart on Smart watches - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 29: Data Table on Smart watches - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 30: Chart on Smart watches - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) Exhibit 31: Data Table on Smart watches - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) 5.4 Fitness trackers - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 32: Chart on Fitness trackers - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 33: Data Table on Fitness trackers - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 34: Chart on Fitness trackers - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) Exhibit 35: Data Table on Fitness trackers - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) 5.5 Smart glasses - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 36: Chart on Smart glasses - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 37: Data Table on Smart glasses - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 38: Chart on Smart glasses - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) Exhibit 39: Data Table on Smart glasses - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) 5.6 Head mounted displays - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 40: Chart on Head mounted displays - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 41: Data Table on Head mounted displays - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 42: Chart on Head mounted displays - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) Exhibit 43: Data Table on Head mounted displays - 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 Product Exhibit 48: Market opportunity by Product ($ 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 South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 66: Chart on South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 67: Data Table on South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 68: Chart on South America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) Exhibit 69: Data Table on South America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) 7.7 Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 70: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 71: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 72: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) and - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) Exhibit 73: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - 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 India - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 86: Chart on India - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 87: Data Table on India - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 88: Chart on India - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) Exhibit 89: Data Table on India - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) 7.12 Canada - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 90: Chart on Canada - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 91: Data Table on Canada - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 92: Chart on Canada - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) Exhibit 93: Data Table on Canada - 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 Apple Inc. Exhibit 101: Apple Inc. - Overview Exhibit 102: Apple Inc. - Business segments Exhibit 103: Apple Inc. - Key news Exhibit 104: Apple Inc. - Key offerings Exhibit 105: Apple Inc. - Segment focus 10.4 Alphabet Inc. Exhibit 106: Alphabet Inc. - Overview Exhibit 107: Alphabet Inc. - Business segments Exhibit 108: Alphabet Inc. - Key news Exhibit 109: Alphabet Inc. - Key offerings Exhibit 110: Alphabet Inc. - Segment focus 10.5 Fossil Group Inc. Exhibit 111: Fossil Group Inc. - Overview Exhibit 112: Fossil Group Inc. - Business segments Exhibit 113: Fossil Group Inc. - Key offerings Exhibit 114: Fossil Group Inc. - Segment focus 10.6 Garmin Ltd. Exhibit 115: Garmin Ltd. - Overview Exhibit 116: Garmin Ltd. - Business segments Exhibit 117: Garmin Ltd. - Key offerings Exhibit 118: Garmin Ltd. - Segment focus 10.7 Huawei technologies Co. Ltd. Exhibit 119: Huawei technologies Co. Ltd. - Overview Exhibit 120: Huawei technologies Co. Ltd. - Business segments Exhibit 121: Huawei technologies Co. Ltd. - Key offerings Exhibit 122: Huawei technologies Co. Ltd. - Segment focus 10.8 Microsoft Corp. Exhibit 123: Microsoft Corp. - Overview Exhibit 124: Microsoft Corp. - Business segments Exhibit 125: Microsoft Corp. - Key news Exhibit 126: Microsoft Corp. - Key offerings Exhibit 127: Microsoft Corp. - Segment focus 10.9 Nuheara Ltd. Exhibit 128: Nuheara Ltd. - Overview Exhibit 129: Nuheara Ltd. - Product / Service Exhibit 130: Nuheara Ltd. - Key offerings 10.10 OMRON Corp. Exhibit 131: OMRON Corp. - Overview Exhibit 132: OMRON Corp. - Business segments Exhibit 133: OMRON Corp. - Key news Exhibit 134: OMRON Corp. - Key offerings Exhibit 135: OMRON Corp. - Segment focus 10.11 Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. Exhibit 136: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. - Overview Exhibit 137: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. - Business segments Exhibit 138: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. - Key news Exhibit 139: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. - Key offerings Exhibit 140: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. - Segment focus 10.12 Sony Group Corp. Exhibit 141: Sony Group Corp. - Overview Exhibit 142: Sony Group Corp. - Business segments Exhibit 143: Sony Group Corp. - Key news Exhibit 144: Sony Group Corp. - Key offerings Exhibit 145: Sony Group Corp. - Segment focus 11 Appendix 11.1 Scope of the report 11.2 Inclusions and exclusions checklist Exhibit 146: Inclusions checklist Exhibit 147: Exclusions checklist 11.3 Currency conversion rates for US$ Exhibit 148: Currency conversion rates for US$ 11.4 Research methodology Exhibit 149: Research methodology Exhibit 150: Validation techniques employed for market sizing Exhibit 151: Information sources 11.5 List of abbreviations Exhibit 152: 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 Maintaining the best possible client experience, growing together, enriching lives, and pursuing aspirations MINNEAPOLIS, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- 360 Financial, a boutique wealth management firm, and Fleming Investment Group, a financial planning practice, announced their merger today, creating a comprehensive wealth management firm. The combined company will operate under the 360 Financial brand, servicing of over 1,000 clients and managing approximately $529 million in client assets. New 360 Financial Team members with Mike Rogers and Brian Bohnsack after the merger. Through the merger of Fleming Investment Group into 360 Financial, Mike Rogers, president of 360 Financial shook hands with Brian Bohnsack, newly appointed Vice President of 360 Financial. 360 Financial | Big Picture Planning Mike Rogers continues as the founder and president of 360 Financial. Fleming Investment Group's former president, Brian Bohnsack, takes on the roles of senior vice president of 360 Financial and managing principal of the Elk River location. Amy Lemke, director of operations, manages the transition to 360 Financial for both teams with a collaborative transition plan. The headquarters for the combined company will be in Wayzata, Minnesota. "We are excited to join forces with Fleming Investment Group. This opportunity is great for our firm to expand into the Northwest metro area, collaborate with an outstanding advisory team, and provide additional resources to our respective clients," said Mike Rogers, president of 360 Financial. "Brian has built a tremendous client-focused planning practice and together we believe we will create a win-win environment for our firm and, more importantly, our clients." Together, 360 Financial continues to enrich lives through values-based principles for our clients, employees, and team members. By living and breathing six core values: confidence, going above and beyond, positivity, problem-solving, community impact, and integrity, and is well-regarded by our clients as we help them to pursue their aspirations. "We chose 360 Financial for many key reasons. Most important, 360 Financial's core values closely parallel our firm," said Brian Bohnsack, senior vice president of 360 Financial. "This new partnership also brings a local team of specialists that can assist us in many areas like investment management, advanced financial planning, and client service support." The 360 Financial clients can now choose between two convenient office locations. The additional members strengthen the 360 team bench, creating growth and opportunities, like remaining on the 2022 Inc. Magazines Best Workplaces list. 360 Financial made the national list of 475 companies, is one of 35 companies in the financial industry, and the only one based in Minnesota. About 360 Financial Based in Wayzata, MN, 360 Financial's mission is to enrich lives by navigating life's impactful financial events, specializing in business owners, thriving families, and top-of-their-field professionals. Big Picture Planning, the LifeWealth process, and focusing on family, occupation, recreation, and money (FORM), place the client's goals at the center of our personalized strategy. Wealth management expertise includes financial and investment advice, planning and management, estate and tax planning, and retirement. The firm's financial advisory team has more than 200 years of experience and is led by Mike Rogers, president, and founder. For more information, visit 360financial.net. About Fleming Investment Group Fleming Investment Group has been led by Brian Bohnsack since 2014 as an independent financial services firm that was founded in 2006. The Elk River, MN-based firm was built upon strong Christian values, focused on ensuring that clients receive the highest personal attention and professional service on investment, retirement, estate, tax, and protection planning. Fleming Investment Group has been compensated in connection with this merger. Clients are under no obligation to remain with Brian Bohnsack in connection with the merger. Securities offered through LPL Financial. Member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advice offered through 360 Financial, a registered investment advisor. 360 Financial and Fleming Investment Group are separate entities from LPL Financial. Media Contact: Director of Marketing and Sales 360 Financial Trone Fossum [email protected] | 360financial.net SOURCE 360 Financial US condemns Azerbaijan's 'deadly attacks' against Armenia Yerevan, Sep 18 (UNI) The United States condemns the deadly attacks of Azerbaijan against Armenia, US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Sunday. The United States as a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk group has stated multiple times that there is no military solution to the conflict between Yerevan and Baku, Pelosi said, adding that she condemns Azerbaijan's deadly attacks against Armenia on behalf of the US Congress. The US House Speaker also stated that Washington is concerned with guaranteeing Armenia's democratic development, its sovereignty and territorial integrity, and is expressing readiness to support Armenia. Meet Omni, your all-around guardian with 24h AI motion detection SHANGHAI, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- 70mai, an industry-leading auto intelligence company dedicated to driving smart innovations with its break-through products, announced the launch of the Dash Cam Omni. The patented 360 rotating design solved a pain point of similar products in which the image became distorted due to its large field of view. Omni is the first dash cam from 70mai that utilizes an AI algorithm to boost car safety during parking surveillance. To explore more about Omni, please visit http://omni.70mai.com. Omni provides superb night vision. Empowered by PureCelPlus-S HDR technology, Omni can adjust exposure balance and reduce image noise with ease in low-light or high-contrast environments. No need to worry about driving at night since Omni has your back. Thanks to its 360 rotating design, Omni records the most complete view with no blind spots while minimizing distortion of images to ensure the clarity of details. The camera also shoots emergency video 2 seconds prior to a collision, which guarantees all important details are captured. During parking mode, AI motion detection allows Omni to identify suspicious figures around your car and will rotate to the spots of activity while recording the emergency footage. You'll even get a real-time alert via your app* when you are away from your car. "Innovation is the consistent pursuit of 70mai. It's the first time that we have brought in an electric motor to a dash camera. Our team has overcome unprecedented challenges and technical issues and now proudly can say that Omni is a truly smart, flexible, multi-functional 360 full-view dash camera." -- Product Lead from 70mai The pre order starts in October 2022, visit http://omni.70mai.com to learn more about Omni and sign up for a special deal. * The app alert function requires a 4G Hardwire Kit, sold separately For media requires, please contact [email protected]. SOURCE 70mai BANGALORE, India, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Global Academic eLearning Market is Segmented by Type (Online, Blended ), by Application ( K-12 , Higher Education , Vocational): Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 20222028. It is published in Valuates Reports under the Education Category. The global academic e-learning market size was USD 5.67 Billion in 2021, which will grow with a CAGR of 12.4% from 2022-2028. Major factors driving the growth of the Academic eLearning Market: The growing adoption of eLearning in higher education and the associated benefits in terms of retention, time and cost savings, consistency, and AI-powered personalization will drive the market's growth. The covid 19 accelerated the adoption of online learning platforms in educational institutions, bolstering the market's growth. Get Your Sample Today: https://reports.valuates.com/request/sample/QYRE-Othe-3J253/Global_Academic_E_Learning TRENDS INFLUENCING THE GROWTH OF THE GLOBAL ACADEMIC ELEARNING MARKET eLearning techniques are becoming universal in higher education due to the rise of non-traditional learners who desire flexibility in geographical location, scheduling, and accessibility. This is driving the expansion of the academic eLearning market. Sudden changes in work or family circumstances prevent students from taking up courses on campus. The online learning tools provide greater access and wide scope in course offerings. This increases enrolment and improves an institution's reputation. Students and teachers benefit from an enriching collaboration. eLearning facilitates learners to access content anytime, anywhere. The courses can fit comfortably in the busy schedules of people and are cost-effective propelling companies to invest in the infrastructure thereby driving the growth of the academic eLearning market. Enterprises are able to save significant amounts on accommodation and travel costs for learners and instructors. There is no requirement for printed material leading to a reduction in carbon footprint. Modern learners are preferring smaller chunks of interactive content. Video and podcasts are picked up over text-based manuals. Designers are able to make the content more engaging, helping students retain information better and apply the concepts in the real world. Moreover, eLearning adapts to the approach and style of any instructor. Face-to-face sessions become smooth and the entire system is scalable. More learners are taking up online courses and the learning structure is being rolled out to as many corporate employees as possible surging the growth of the academic eLearning market during the forecast period. Additionally, online learning offers a standardized and consistent training experience. Personalization is the biggest benefit of online learning thereby attracting massive attention from students all over the world. This is spurring the growth of the academic eLearning market. Learners can learn at their own pace and remain invested in the course. The inbuilt AI system analyzes the preference of individual students and offers recommendations using suitable content types( text, audio, video, etc) to increase productivity and engagement. Furthermore, using the right AI-powered skill map the system detects the competency level and inconsistencies preparing students to achieve better results quickly. The sudden onset of the covid 19 pandemic forced educational institutions to embrace e-Learning platforms for education and training. Students went home and the mandated lockdowns led to Edtech companies moving their focus towards digitization and expanding online courses for helping students and employees. The increased uptake is driving the growth of the academic eLearning market. On the other hand, public organizations and corporations introduced skill learning initiatives. Students had plenty of courses to choose from for completing assessments online. Browse The Table Of Contents And List Of Figures At: https://reports.valuates.com/market-reports/QYRE-Othe-3J253/global-academic-e-learning ACADEMIC ELEARNING MARKET SHARE ANALYSIS Based on product type, the online segment is expected to dominate the academic eLearning market share with a 90% penetration. Based on application, higher education will be the most lucrative and hold 51.8% market share in 2019. Based on region, the Asia-Pacific segment will grow the highest in the academic eLearning market share due to rising acceptance of online learning and key players expanding their services rapidly. Get Regional Data: https://reports.valuates.com/request/regional/QYRE-Othe-3J253/Global_Academic_E_Learning Key Companies: Berlitz Blackboard D2L Instructure GP Strategies 2U Inc Wiley (Knewton) SAI Global Cornerstone Udemy LearnWorlds Teachabl Inquire for Chapter Cost: https://reports.valuates.com/request/chaptercost/QYRE-Othe-3J253/Global_Academic_E_Learning Buy Now for Single User + Covid-19 Impact : https://reports.valuates.com/api/directpaytoken?rcode=QYRE-Othe-3J253&lic=single-user SUBSCRIPTION We have introduced a tailor-made subscription for our customers. Please leave a note in the Comment Section to know about our subscription plans. SIMILAR REPORTS: - Global Blended E-learning Market Size, Status and Forecast 2021-2027 - The 2021 global e-learning market revenue is about USD 15,000 Million. The expected CAGR of 2021-2028 is 6.5%. - The Digital Education Market size is expected to grow at the rate of 33.28% CAGR by 2026. - Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the global Self-Paced E-Learning market size is estimated to be worth USD 6830.8 Million in 2021 and is forecast to a readjusted size of USD 6830.8 Million by 2028 with a CAGR of 8.2% during the review period. - The global K12 Tutoring market size is projected to reach USD 3619.8 Million by 2028, from USD 1052.5 Million in 2021, at a CAGR of 19.0% during 2022-2028. - The global K-12 International Schools market size is projected to reach USD 13560 Million by 2028, from USD 7608.1 Million in 2021, at a CAGR of 8.5% during 2022-2028. - The global Digital Educational Publishing market size is projected to reach USD 14580 Million by 2028, from USD 8324.5 Million in 2021, at a CAGR of 7.9% during 2022-2028. - Global Digital Instructor-Led Online Education Market Insights, Forecast to 2028 - Global E school Market Size Status and Forecast 2021 2027 - Global K12 Coding Courses Market Research Report 2022 - The global K12 Education Learning Management market size is projected to reach USD 3691.6 Million by 2028, from USD 1052.5 Million in 2021, at a CAGR of 19.4% during 2022-2028. - Global K12 Art Course Market Research Report 2022 - Global K-12 Assessment Market Insights, Forecast to 2028 - Global Cloud Computing in K-12 Market Insights, Forecast to 2028 - Global K-12 Instruction Material Market Insights and Forecast to 2028 - The global back-to-school market size was valued at USD 66.1 Billion in 2020 and is projected to reach USD 131.1 Billion by 2030, registering a CAGR of 4.8% from 2021 to 2030. - The global K12 Education Learning Management market size is projected to reach USD 3691.6 Million by 2028, from USD 1052.5 Million in 2021, at a CAGR of 19.4% during 2022-2028. - The global Corporate E-Learning market size was value at USD 22.5 Billion in 2021 and is forecast to reach size of USD 44.6 Billion by 2028 with a CAGR of 10.5% during the forecast period 2022-2028. - The global Online K-12 Education market size is projected to reach USD 12930 Million by 2028, from USD 7984 Million in 2021, at a CAGR of 8.3% during 2022-2028. - The global K12 Education Technology market size is projected to reach USD 56490 Million by 2026, from USD 11850 Million in 2019, at a CAGR of 25.0% during 2021-2026. - The global E-Learning VR Market size is projected to reach USD 300.3 Million by 2028, from USD 65 Million in 2021, at a CAGR of 23.8% during 2022-2028. - The global corporate learning management system (LMS) market size is projected to reach USD 9296 Million by 2026, from USD 2136.9 million in 2019, at a CAGR of 22.8% during 2021-2027. - The global Learning Analytics market size is projected to reach USD 9611.6 Million by 2027, from USD 2483.7 Million in 2020, at a CAGR of 20.8% during 2021-2027. - The global learning management system market size was valued at USD 1.2 Billion in 2020 and is projected to hit USD 3.6 Billion by 2027, at a CAGR of 20.76% from 2020 to 2027. - The global Mobile Learning market size is projected to reach USD 76520 Million by 2028, from USD 20020 Million in 2021, at a CAGR of 20.6% during 2022-2028. - The global K-12 Software market size is projected to reach USD 3619.8 Million by 2028, from USD 1052.5 Million in 2021, at a CAGR of 19.0% during 2022-2028. - The global Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Market size is projected to reach USD 5919.5 Million by 2028, from USD 1735.3 Million in 2021, at a CAGR of 18.8% during 2022-2028. - The global Online Language Learning market size is projected to reach USD 31250 Million by 2027, from USD 9667 Million in 2020, at a CAGR of 18.1% during 2021-2027. - The global Game-based Learning market size is projected to reach USD 18120 Million by 2028, from USD 5715.2 Million in 2021, at a CAGR of 17.3% during 2022-2028. - The Global Digital Badges Market was valued at USD 118.9 million in 2021 which is expected to reach 365.1 million by 2028 at a CAGR of 17.1% from 2022-2028. - The global EdTech market size was valued at USD 85 Billion in 2021, it is expected to reach over 230 Billion U.S. dollars by 2028, growing at a CAGR of 15% during 2022-2028. - The global Education Technology and Smart Classroom market size is projected to reach USD 239900 Million by 2028, from USD 92870 Million in 2021, at a CAGR of 14.3% during 2022-2028. - The global Smart Education and Learning market size is projected to reach USD 730500 Million by 2027, from USD 281680 Million in 2020, at a CAGR of 14.1% during 2021-2027. - The global Smart Education market size is projected to reach USD 61.7 Billion by 2027, from USD 24.8 Billion in 2020, at a CAGR of 13.9% during 2021-2027. - The global Education Software market size is projected to reach USD 6735.9 Million by 2026, from USD 3244.4 Million in 2019, at a CAGR of 11.0% during 2021-2026. - The global Virtual Classroom market size is projected to reach USD 16020 Million by 2027, from USD 8602.8 Million in 2020, at a CAGR of 9.2% during 2021-2027. - The global Education ERP market size is projected to reach USD 15470 Million by 2027, from USD 8397.9 Million in 2020, at a CAGR of 9.0% during 2021-2027. - In 2021, the global Private Tutoring market size will be USD 236 Million and it is expected to reach USD 391.5 Million by the end of 2027, with a CAGR of 8.8% during 2021-2027. - The medical education market size was valued at USD 74.5 Billion in 2020 and is projected to reach USD 122.8 Billion by 2027 at a CAGR 7.60%. - The global interactive whiteboard (IWB) market size was valued at USD 4.29 Billion in 2020, and is projected to reach USD 7.35 Billion by 2030 to register a CAGR of 6.0% from 2021 to 2030. - The global School and Campus Security market size is projected to reach USD 2940.3 Million by 2027, from USD 1389.8 Million in 2020, at a CAGR of 11.2% during 2021-2027. - Global K-12 School Management System Market Insights, Forecast to 2028 - Classroom Management Software Market Size, Share, Statistics & Trends Analysis Report By Type, By Application, By Region, and Segment Forecasts, 2021-2027 - Global School Resource Management Software Market Insights, Forecast to 2028 - Global K12 Online Tutoring Market Size, Status and Forecast 2021-2027 - Global Content Authoring Tools Market Size, Status and Forecast 2022 - Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, The global K12 Education Learning Management market size is projected to reach USD 3691.6 Million by 2028, from USD 1052.5 Million in 2021, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 19.4% during 2022-2028. - The global K-12 Education market size is projected to reach USD 3619.8 Million by 2028, from USD 1052.5 Million in 2021, at a CAGR of 19.0% during 2022-2028. Click here to see related reports on Academic elearning Market ABOUT US: Valuates offers in-depth market insights into various industries. Our extensive report repository is constantly updated to meet your changing industry analysis needs. Our team of market analysts can help you select the best report covering your industry. We understand your niche region-specific requirements and that's why we offer customization of reports. With our customization in place, you can request for any particular information from a report that meets your market analysis needs. To achieve a consistent view of the market, data is gathered from various primary and secondary sources, at each step, data triangulation methodologies are applied to reduce deviance and find a consistent view of the market. Each sample we share contains a detailed research methodology employed to generate the report. Please also reach our sales team to get the complete list of our data sources. CONTACT US: Valuates Reports [email protected] For U.S. Toll-Free Call 1-(315)-215-3225 For IST Call +91-8040957137 WhatsApp: +91-9945648335 Website: https://reports.valuates.com Twitter - https://twitter.com/valuatesreports LinkedIn - https://in.linkedin.com/company/valuatesreports Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1082232/Valuates_Reports_Logo.jpg SOURCE Valuates Reports DENVER, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- AgentSync today announced it has named Hippo President and CEO Rick McCathron as a Board Advisor. McCathron will provide AgentSync with invaluable guidance based on his extensive experience as an insurance industry leader who has embraced technology throughout his successful career. "Rick is relentlessly focused on integrating technology in the insurance industry," said Niji Sabharwal, Chief Executive Officer of AgentSync. "He understands the complexity of distribution and how to use technology to quickly scale producer channels. His expertise is perfectly aligned with our goals at AgentSync." McCathron has held senior executive positions at multiple insurance companies including First Connect Insurance as President and CEO from 2012 to 2017; Superior Access Insurance as President and CEO from 2007 to 2010; and Mercury Insurance Group as Regional Vice President from 2004 to 2007. At Hippo, McCathron is responsible for the company's strategic vision, ensuring Hippo offers a superior customer experience and maintains high operational velocity. During his tenure, Hippo has focused on proactive home protection, leveraging technology to help homeowners prevent small issues from becoming big problems. "AgentSync is transforming insurance distribution by improving the producer experience and empowering agents and carriers with solutions that help their customers protect what matters most," said McCathron. "The company has already built significant momentum in both distribution and producer management. I am excited to work with Niji, Jenn, and the larger AgentSync team as they continue to deliver modern insurance infrastructure and tackle some of the industry's biggest challenges." About AgentSync AgentSync builds modern insurance infrastructure that connects carriers, agencies, MGAs, and producers. The company's solutions create onboarding, licensing, and appointing processes insurers and producers love while ensuring growth and compliance never compete. Founded in 2018 by Niranjan "Niji" Sabharwal and Jenn Knight, and headquartered in Denver, Colo., AgentSync has been recognized as one of Denver's Best Places to Work, as a Forbes Magazine Cloud 100 Rising Star, and an Insurtech Insights Future 50 winner. For more information, visit www.agentsync.io . SOURCE AgentSync DUBLIN, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "AI in Fashion Global Market Report 2022" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The global AI in fashion market is expected to grow from $0.47 billion in 2021 to $0.65 billion in 2022 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 40.0%. The AI in fashion market is expected to grow to $2.66 billion in 2026 at a CAGR of 42.1%. North America was the largest region in the AI in fashion market in 2021. Asia Pacific is expected to be the fastest-growing region in the forecast period. The regions covered in AI in fashion report are Asia-Pacific, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North America, South America, Middle East and Africa. The growing influence of social media on the fashion industry is driving the growth of AI in fashion market. Social media is a primary source of information for the fashion industry as there are many opinions and information from all sources globally. Fashion today is mainly dependent on brand promotion and fashion influencers that use social media to communicate their views on fashion. For instance, according to influencer marketing hub, a social media resource for influencers, the marketing influencer market grew from $ 9.7 billion in 2020 to $ 13.8 billion in 2021. The increasing popularity of short video formats on platforms like TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube, as well as the impact of the global pandemic on consumers, which catalyzed social media consumption, and the optimization of data collection, which marketers used for social media ads, are all contributing to this growth. Such growing influence of social media is driving the growth of the market. Machine learning is shaping the AI in fashion market. Machine learning is a part of artificial intelligence which defines the capabilities of the machine to copy human behavior. A machine can understand visualize and perform an action that helps in providing better information and suggestions to customers according to their behavior. For instance, in April 2021, Tommy Hilfiger, a renowned designer fashion brand applied machine-learning tools for product images of 15,000, and 600,000 publicly available runway images, and almost 100,000 fabric patterns sites. The applied AI gave insights into trending colors, and patterns, silhouettes to Tommy Hilfiger's style. In September 2021, Syte company, an Israel-based software development company acquired Slyce for an undisclosed amount. Through this acquisition, Syte wants to expand its market in North America and support new and old clients. Slyce, is a US-based visual search company that has integrated apps and website technology for more than 60 retailers. Scope Markets Covered: 1) By Category: Apparels; Accessories; Footwear; Beauty And Cosmetics; Jewelry 2) By Deployment Mode: Cloud; On-premise 3) By Components: Solution; Services 4) By Application: Customer Relationship Management; Virtual Assistants; Product Recommendation; Product Search And Discovery; Supply Chain Management And Demand Forecasting; Creative Designing And Trend Forecasting 5) By End Users: Fashion Designers; Fashion Stores Key Topics Covered: 1. Executive Summary 2. AI in Fashion Market Characteristics 3. AI in Fashion Market Trends And Strategies 4. Impact Of COVID-19 On AI in Fashion 5. AI in Fashion Market Size And Growth 6. AI in Fashion Market Segmentation 7. AI in Fashion Market Regional And Country Analysis 8. Asia-Pacific AI in Fashion Market 9. China AI in Fashion Market 10. India AI in Fashion Market 11. Japan AI in Fashion Market 12. Australia AI in Fashion Market 13. Indonesia AI in Fashion Market 14. South Korea AI in Fashion Market 15. Western Europe AI in Fashion Market 16. UK AI in Fashion Market 17. Germany AI in Fashion Market 18. France AI in Fashion Market 19. Eastern Europe AI in Fashion Market 20. Russia AI in Fashion Market 21. North America AI in Fashion Market 22. USA AI in Fashion Market 23. South America AI in Fashion Market 24. Brazil AI in Fashion Market 25. Middle East AI in Fashion Market 26. Africa AI in Fashion Market 27. AI in Fashion Market Competitive Landscape And Company Profiles 28. Key Mergers And Acquisitions In The AI in Fashion Market 29. AI in Fashion Market Future Outlook and Potential Analysis 30. Appendix Companies Mentioned Microsoft IBM AWS SAP Facebook Adobe Oracle Catchoom Huawei Vue.ai Heuritech Wide Eyes FINDMINE Intelistyle Lily AI Pttrns.ai Syte mode.ai Stitch Fix Lily AI Heuritch Alphabet Inc.(Google) For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/i6n0j8 Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager [email protected] For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/539438/Research_and_Markets_Logo.jpg SOURCE Research and Markets Thousands of Amazon Employees Volunteer to Support Children's Literacy Images and B-roll from the month of volunteering with RIF are available HERE . SEATTLE and WASHINGTON, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- With September marking National Literacy Month, Amazon and Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) announced today the culmination of their partnership to support student literacy. As part of Amazon's Global Month of Volunteering , Amazon's work includes providing youth with resources to drive more reading engagement opportunities. Through specialized literacy kits and various reading activities, the program served over 27,000 children nationally to inspire the next generation of lifelong readers in underserved and underrepresented communities. Reading Is Fundamental and Amazon partners to support literacy. As the nation's oldest and largest non-profit children's literacy organization, Reading Is Fundamental has a long history of partnering with organizations to ensure that kids of all backgrounds have access to books and literacy resources. This year, RIF joined Amazon as one of the partners in the company's month-long initiative dedicated to positively impacting the communities where Amazon employees live and work. From August 15 through September 15, Amazon volunteers supported RIF's commitment to ensure all children have the equal opportunity to read and succeed. "Amplifying literacy within Amazon's Global Month of Volunteering has shown tremendous impact in communities across the country. While children directly received diverse books focused on the theme of courage, we also demonstrated the importance of community involvement in driving reading engagement," said Alicia Levi, President and CEO of Reading Is Fundamental. "Equipping Amazon's team members with opportunities to connect around driving literacy has been incredibly rewarding for students, families, teachers and volunteers alike!" Thousands of Amazon employees volunteered for one of three RIF program opportunities to drive reading engagement including: Book Celebration Events: Through RIF's flagship 'Books for Ownership' program where children choose books they want to take home employees in four cities, including Atlanta , Detroit , Baltimore and Phoenix , helped with event set-up, supported children with book selections and reading activities and offered read-alouds. Through RIF's flagship 'Books for Ownership' program where children choose books they want to take home employees in four cities, including , , and , helped with event set-up, supported children with book selections and reading activities and offered read-alouds. Literacy Kit: Employees gathered to put together over 25,000 literacy kits that went to local schools nationwide. Kits included a tote bag, three books, a bookmark, an activity sheet, and a coloring card. Employees gathered to put together over 25,000 literacy kits that went to local schools nationwide. Kits included a tote bag, three books, a bookmark, an activity sheet, and a coloring card. Book Talks: Amazon employees chose from a list of books to film a book talk - sharing with students why they love a book and how it inspired them. All book talk videos with the chosen book recommendation are available for viewing on RIF's free resource website, Literacy Central. "This partnership with RIF underscores Amazon's commitment to inspiring the next generation of lifelong readers by reducing barriers to learning where our employees work and live," said Jessica Margarit, Amazon's Head of Operations Community Engagement, Americas. "Through the RIF program, we're excited to engage communities to emphasize the importance of equitable access to education and reading for children no matter the culture, race, or background." For Gabriella Santos, an Amazon employee in Maryland, joining colleagues across the U.S. to support RIF's programs during Amazon's Global Month of Volunteering was personal. Her love for reading was ignited during monthly visits to a local bookstore in her Brazilian hometown. "We would take a book home and treat it as a treasure to be explored and that could take us to so many places. I cherish those moments and can still remember the smell of those newly touched books, with so many stories and characters popping out of them," Santos said. "Growing up, reading became my path to writing to express myself and shape how I view the world. I see my books as resources to navigate different areas and times of my life, and I hope that increasing the access of books to kids in Baltimore and across the country could serve as the same set of tools for their realities and future." Click for Images and B-roll from the month of volunteering with RIF. About Amazon: Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Amazon strives to be Earth's Most Customer-Centric Company, Earth's Best Employer, and Earth's Safest Place to Work. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Career Choice, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, Alexa, Just Walk Out technology, Amazon Studios, and The Climate Pledge are some of the things pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews. About Reading Is Fundamental Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) is committed to a literate America by inspiring a passion for reading among all children, providing quality content to create impact, and engaging communities in the solution to give every child the fundamentals for success. As the nation's largest nonprofit organization for children's literacy, RIF has provided more than 422 million books to over 129 million kids in all 50 states, inspiring generations to read, learn and grow. Learn more at www.RIF.org. SOURCE Reading Is Fundamental FULLERTON, Calif., Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Amtrak, in conjunction with California Operation Lifesaver, BNSF, Caltrans, the Fullerton Train Museum, the LOSSAN Rail Corridor Agency, Metrolink, and the San Bernardino Railroad Historical Society is hosting a Track Safety Community Event during Rail Safety Week at the Fullerton Train Museum. The free rail safety event will offer local communities the opportunity to meet railroad workers, tour equipment and learn about the importance of rail safety. California Operation Lifesaver reports that every year hundreds of people die needlessly on or around California's railroad tracks. This creates an urgent need to educate Californians on how to keep themselves, friends, and families safe near tracks and crossings. In an effort to raise rail safety awareness and draw attention to the importance of exercising caution around railroad tracks and crossings, event details are as follows: What : Providing the local community an opportunity to walk-through train equipment and learn about rail safety, the Track Safety Community Event is designed to give the community, media, elected officials and stakeholders an inside look into efforts to enhance rail safety awareness, change dangerous behaviors on or near the track, and empower communities to make safe choices around railroad tracks and crossings. : Providing the local community an opportunity to walk-through train equipment and learn about rail safety, the Track Safety Community Event is designed to give the community, media, elected officials and stakeholders an inside look into efforts to enhance rail safety awareness, change dangerous behaviors on or near the track, and empower communities to make safe choices around railroad tracks and crossings. When : : Saturday, September 24 from 10 am to 5 pm from Sunday, September 25 from 10 am to 3 pm from Where: Fullerton Train Museum (200 E. Santa Fe Ave, Fullerton, CA 92832) Trespassing on train tracks is not only dangerous, it is also illegal in all 50 states. Every time someone trespasses on the tracks, it can lead to devastating results that impact someone's life, their family, and the community at large. Rail Safety is a team effort and everyone needs to do their part in sharing knowledge and rail safety messaging that deters unsafe behavior and reduces incidents on railroad tracks and crossings. Amtrak continues to work closely with California Operation Lifesaver to communicate the dangers of grade crossings. Each year, about 2,000 people are killed or injured in grade crossing and trespassing incidents nationwide. For rail grade crossing tips, visit California Operation Lifesaver's website at https://caoperationlifesaver.com/. SOURCE Amtrak LUXEMBOURG, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Ardagh Metal Packaging S.A. will host its Third Quarter 2022 earnings call on Thursday, October 27, 2022. A results release will be posted to our website at midday BST (07:00 EDT) on October 27, 2022, at https://www.ardaghmetalpackaging.com/investors An investor webcast and conference call will be held at 14:00 BST (9:00 EDT) on October 27, 2022. A full replay of the presentation will also be available at the same link shortly after the conclusion of the live presentation. Webcast https://event.webcasts.com/viewer/event.jsp?ei=1570352&tp_key=becd3dae29 Dial in*: International: +44 (0)330 165 4027 US/Canada: +1 800-239-9838 Conference code: 3869215 *It is not necessary to dial into the audio conference unless you are unable to join the webcast. Additional dial-in numbers are at this link, or simply click Participant Access Information (globalmeet.com) and enter your details to be connected. The link is active 15 minutes prior to the start time. About Ardagh Metal Packaging Ardagh Metal Packaging is a leading supplier of sustainable and infinitely recyclable beverage cans globally. Ardagh Metal Packaging operates 24 production facilities in nine countries, employing more than 5,000 people with sales of approximately $4.1bn. SOURCE Ardagh Metal Packaging S.A. Announcement Made at Clinton Global Initiative 2022 Commits $360,000 to Support Nurses in Africa FRANKLIN LAKES, N.J., Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The BD Foundation, the philanthropic arm of global medical technology company BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company), today announced a three-year commitment to invest in the development of National Nursing Associations (NNAs) to support health equity and advance nursing education across 21 countries in Africa. The announcement was made at the Clinton Global Initiative 2022 and supports on-the-ground work of the International Council of Nurses (ICN) to advance nursing capacity in these countries. The BD Foundation donation of $360,000 over three years will support the ICN's Organizational Development of National Nursing Associations (ODENNA) program, which empowers NNAs in Africa to provide leader training, education, mentorship and organization development to improve nursing practices. This investment enables expanded economic opportunity, addresses health equity and achieves better health outcomes for vulnerable patient populations in low- and middle-income countries. This pledge also reflects the important role that nurses play in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). "The central focus of the Organizational Development of National Nursing Associations program is supporting our National Nursing Associations because they are the voice of nursing in their respective countries and beyond," said Howard Catton, chief executive officer of the International Council of Nurses. "NNAs support, advocate for and represent nurses on the front lines of care, and also bring experience and leadership to the national level to guide and strengthen our health systems based on equality, fairness and respect. And that is why we are grateful to the BD Foundation today, for adding their substantial backing to this important initiative." Tony Ezell, president of the North America region for BD and chief marketing officer added, "This commitment from the BD Foundation and collaboration with ICN helps build the infrastructure needed to support nurses in Africa now and in the future. In order to build and retain a resilient nursing workforce, there is an urgent need for investment in training and education particularly in low- and middle-income countries where health care resources are scarce, and nurses are the backbone of health care delivery." For more information about the ODENNA initiative, please visit the ICN website. About BD BD is one of the largest global medical technology companies in the world and is advancing the world of health by improving medical discovery, diagnostics and the delivery of care. The company supports the heroes on the frontlines of health care by developing innovative technology, services and solutions that help advance both clinical therapy for patients and clinical process for health care providers. BD and its 75,000 employees have a passion and commitment to help enhance the safety and efficiency of clinicians' care delivery process, enable laboratory scientists to accurately detect disease and advance researchers' capabilities to develop the next generation of diagnostics and therapeutics. BD has a presence in virtually every country and partners with organizations around the world to address some of the most challenging global health issues. By working in close collaboration with customers, BD can help enhance outcomes, lower costs, increase efficiencies, improve safety and expand access to health care. For more information on BD, please visit bd.com or connect with us on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/bd1/ and Twitter @BDandCo. About the International Council of Nurses (ICN) The International Council of Nurses (ICN) is a federation of more than 130 national nurses associations (NNAs), representing the 28 million nurses worldwide. Founded in 1899, ICN is the world's first and widest reaching international organisation for health professionals. Operated by nurses and leading nurses internationally, ICN works to ensure quality nursing care for all, sound health policies globally, the advancement of nursing knowledge, and the presence worldwide of a respected nursing profession and a competent and satisfied nursing workforce. Organizational Development of National Nursing Associations (ODENNA) is the International Council of Nurses (ICN)'s initiative to develop the capacity of nursing associations globally, starting with a 3-year pilot with 21 National Nursing Associations (NNAs) in the African region. It is based on ICN's three pillars Professional Practice, Regulation and the Socio-economic Welfare of nurses. About the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Established in 2005 by President Bill Clinton, the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), an initiative of the Clinton Foundation, convenes global leaders to create and implement solutions to the world's most pressing challenges. CGI Annual Meetings have brought together more than 200 sitting and former heads of state, more than 20 Nobel Prize laureates, and hundreds of leading CEOs, heads of foundations and NGOs, major philanthropists, and members of the media. To date, members of the CGI community have made more than 3,700 Commitments to Action, which have improved the lives of more than 435 million people in more than 180 countries. For more information, visit clintonglobalinitiative.org and follow us on Twitter @ClintonGlobal and Facebook at facebook.com/clintonglobalinitiative. Contacts: Media : Investors : Jessica Offerjost Francesca DeMartino BD Public Relations SVP, Head of Investor Relations 201.258.0964 201.847.5743 [email protected] [email protected] SOURCE BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) NEW YORK, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The global biologics CDMO market size is anticipated to grow by USD 8.65 billion between 2021 and 2026, accelerating at a CAGR of 12.20% during the forecast period. The report considers various aspects such as the consumer base, adoption rate, average selling price, revenue generated by vendors, and various other factors to estimate the market size. Download Sample PDF Report Here to get an idea of the scope of the full report. The global biologics CDMO market study covers the following areas: Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Biologics CDMO Market 2022-2026 The market is fragmented, and the degree of fragmentation will accelerate during the forecast period. The report identifies AGC Biologics, Binex Co. Ltd., Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH, Catalent Inc., Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies USA Inc., JRS PHARMA GmbH and Co. KG, Lonza Group Ltd., Rentschler Biopharma SE, Samsung BioLogics Co. Ltd., and WuXi Biologics (Cayman) Inc. as major market participants. The market growth will be driven by factors such as the availability of cost-efficient resources in emerging markets, strong research and development pipeline of biologics therapeutics, and the growing need to focus on core competencies. Although these factors will offer immense growth opportunities, to leverage the current opportunities, market vendors must strengthen their foothold in the fast-growing segments, while maintaining their positions in the slow-growing segments. The market is analyzed across the following segments: Type Mammalian Microbial Cell Therapy Services By type, the market will observe significant growth in the mammalian segment during the forecast period. The segment is driven by the rising use of mammalian cells in the treatment of many diseases. Also, the increased use of mammalian cell culture technology for the bulk production of vaccines will foster the growth of the segment during the forecast period. Geography North America Europe Asia ROW North America is the dominating region, occupying 41% of the global market share. The active participation of the US government in providing reimbursements for biologics, rising patient awareness about the benefits of the use of biologics, vendor collaborations, and the increased prevalence of chronic diseases in the US are driving the growth of the biologics CDMO market in North America. Also, the patent expiry of major biologics will contribute to the growth of the regional market. Biologics CDMO Market 2022-2026: Vendor Analysis and Scope To help businesses improve their market position, the biologics CDMO market provides a detailed analysis of around 25 vendors operating in the market. Some of these vendors include AGC Biologics, Binex Co. Ltd., Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH, Catalent Inc., Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies USA Inc., JRS PHARMA GmbH and Co. KG, Lonza Group Ltd., Rentschler Biopharma SE, Samsung BioLogics Co. Ltd., and WuXi Biologics (Cayman) Inc. Biologics CDMO Market 2022-2026: Key Highlights CAGR of the market during the forecast period 2022-2026 Detailed information on factors that will assist biologics CDMO market growth during the next five years Estimation of the biologics CDMO market size and its contribution to the parent market Predictions on upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior The growth of the biologics CDMO market Analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information on vendors Comprehensive details of factors that will challenge the growth of biologics CDMO market vendors Related Reports: Biologics CDMO Market Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 120 Base year 2021 Forecast period 2022-2026 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 12.20% Market growth 2022-2026 USD 8.65 billion Market structure Fragmented YoY growth (%) 11.07 Regional analysis North America, Europe, Asia, and ROW Performing market contribution North America at 41% Key consumer countries US, Canada, China, Germany, and UK Competitive landscape Leading companies, competitive strategies, consumer engagement scope Companies profiled AGC Biologics, Binex Co. Ltd., Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH, Catalent Inc., Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies USA Inc., JRS PHARMA GmbH and Co. KG, Lonza Group Ltd., Rentschler Biopharma SE, Samsung BioLogics Co. Ltd., and WuXi Biologics (Cayman) Inc. Market Dynamics Parent market analysis, Market growth inducers and obstacles, Fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID-19 impact and future consumer dynamics, and market condition analysis for the forecast period. Customization purview If our report has not included the data that you are looking for, you can reach out to our analysts and get segments customized. Table of contents: 1. Executive Summary 1.1 Market Overview 2. Market Landscape 2.1 Market ecosystem 2.1.1 Parent market Exhibit 01: Parent market Exhibit 02: Market characteristics 2.2 Value chain analysis Exhibit 03: Value chain analysis:Pharmaceuticals 2.2.1 Research and development (R&D) and drug discovery 2.2.2 Integration and product development 2.2.3 Manufacturing 2.2.4 Outbound logistics 2.2.5 Marketing and sales 2.2.6 Support services 3. Market Sizing 3.1 Market segment analysis Exhibit 04: Market segments 3.2 Market size 2021 3.3 Market definition Exhibit 05: Offerings of vendors included in the market definition 3.4 Market outlook: Forecast for 2021 - 2026 3.4.1 Estimating growth rates for emerging and high-growth markets 3.4.2 Estimating growth rates for mature markets Exhibit 06: Global - Market size and forecast 2021 - 2026 ($ million) Exhibit 07: Global 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 Type 5.1 Market segments Exhibit 15: Type - Market share 2021-2026 (%) 5.2 Comparison by Type Exhibit 16: Comparison by Type 5.3 Mammalian - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 17: Mammalian - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 18: Mammalian - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) 5.4 Microbial - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 19: Microbial - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 20: Microbial - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) 5.5 Cell therapy services - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 21: Cell therapy services - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 22: Cell therapy services - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) 5.6 Market opportunity by Type Exhibit 23: Market opportunity by Type 6. Customer landscape Technavio's customer landscape matrix comparing Drivers or price sensitivity, Adoption lifecycle, importance in customer price basket, Adoption rate and Key purchase criteria Exhibit 24: ?Customer landscape? 7. Geographic Landscape 7.1 Geographic segmentation Exhibit 25: Market share by geography 2021-2026 (%) 7.2 Geographic comparison Exhibit 26: Geographic comparison 7.3 North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 27: North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 28: North America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) 7.4 Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 29: Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 30: Europe - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) 7.5 Asia - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 31: Asia - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 32: Asia - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) 7.6 ROW - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 33: ROW - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 34: ROW - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) 7.7 Key leading countries Exhibit 35: Key leading countries 7.8 Market opportunity by geography Exhibit 36: Market opportunity by geography 8. Drivers, Challenges, and Trends 8.1 Market drivers 8.1.1 Availability of cost-efficient resources in emerging markets 8.1.2 Strong research and development pipeline of biologics therapeutics 8.1.3 Growing need to focus on core competencies 8.2 Market challenges 8.2.1 Capacity utilization and constraints 8.2.2 Stringent policies related to entry of new biologics 8.2.3 Stereotypical nature of CDMOs Exhibit 37: Impact of drivers and challenges 8.3 Market trends 8.3.1 Advent of big data 8.3.2 Strategic alliances and partnerships with pharma companies 8.3.3 Increasing approvals for new molecules and biosimilars? 9. Vendor Landscape 9.1 Vendor landscape Exhibit 38: Vendor landscape The potential for the disruption of the market landscape was moderate in 2020, and its threat is expected to remain unchanged by 2025. 9.2 Landscape disruption Exhibit 39: ?Landscape disruption? Exhibit 40: Industry risks 10. Vendor Analysis 10.1 Vendors covered Exhibit 41: Vendors covered 10.2 Market positioning of vendors Exhibit 42: ?Market positioning of vendors? 10.3 AGC Biologics Exhibit 43: AGC Biologics - Overview Exhibit 44: AGC Biologics - Product and service Exhibit 45: AGC Biologics - Key offerings 10.4 Binex Co. Ltd. Exhibit 46: Binex Co. Ltd. - Overview Exhibit 47: Binex Co. Ltd. - Product and service Exhibit 48: Binex Co. Ltd. - Key offerings 10.5 Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH Exhibit 49: Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH - Overview Exhibit 50: Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH - Business segments Exhibit 51: Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH - Key offerings Exhibit 52: Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH - Segment focus 10.6 Catalent Inc. Exhibit 53: Catalent Inc. - Overview Exhibit 54: Catalent Inc. - Business segments Exhibit 55: Catalent Inc. - Key offerings Exhibit 56: Catalent Inc. - Segment focus 10.7 Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies USA Inc. Exhibit 57: Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies USA Inc. - Overview Exhibit 58: Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies USA Inc. - Product and service Exhibit 59: Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies USA Inc. - Key offerings 10.8 JRS PHARMA GmbH and Co. KG Exhibit 60: JRS PHARMA GmbH and Co. KG - Overview Exhibit 61: JRS PHARMA GmbH and Co. KG - Product and service Exhibit 62: JRS PHARMA GmbH and Co. KG - Key offerings 10.9 Lonza Group Ltd. Exhibit 63: Lonza Group Ltd. - Overview Exhibit 64: Lonza Group Ltd. - Business segments Exhibit 65: Lonza Group Ltd. - Key offerings Exhibit 66: Lonza Group Ltd. - Segment focus 10.10 Rentschler Biopharma SE Exhibit 67: Rentschler Biopharma SE - Overview Exhibit 68: Rentschler Biopharma SE - Product and service Exhibit 69: Rentschler Biopharma SE - Key offerings 10.11 Samsung BioLogics Co. Ltd. Exhibit 70: Samsung BioLogics Co. Ltd. - Overview Exhibit 71: Samsung BioLogics Co. Ltd. - Business segments Exhibit 72: Samsung BioLogics Co. Ltd. - Key offerings 10.12 WuXi Biologics (Cayman) Inc. Exhibit 73: WuXi Biologics (Cayman) Inc. - Overview Exhibit 74: WuXi Biologics (Cayman) Inc. - Business segments Exhibit 75: WuXi Biologics (Cayman) Inc. - Key offerings Exhibit 76: WuXi Biologics (Cayman) Inc. - Segment focus 11. Appendix 11.1 Scope of the report 11.1.1 ????Market definition 11.1.2 ????Objectives 11.1.3 Notes and Caveats 11.2 Currency conversion rates for US$ Exhibit 77: ?Currency conversion rates for US$? 11.3 Research Methodology Exhibit 78: ?Research Methodology Exhibit 79: ??Validation techniques employed for market sizing? Exhibit 80: ??Information sources 11.4 List of abbreviations Exhibit 81: List of abbreviations About Us Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios. Contact Technavio Research Jesse Maida Media & Marketing Executive US: +1 844 364 1100 UK: +44 203 893 3200 Email: [email protected] Website: www.technavio.com/ SOURCE Technavio Team Application Opens for 23rd Annual UW Entrepreneurship Competition The application period for teams to enter the University of Wyomings 23rd annual John P. Ellbogen $50K Entrepreneurship Competition is now open and runs until noon Monday, Oct. 17. The UW College of Business hosts the student event. The competition is designed to encourage college students across Wyoming to act on their talents, ideas and energy to produce tomorrows leading businesses. The College of Business will host $50K competition information sessions Wednesday, Sept. 21, at 11 a.m. and 3:10 p.m. in Room 129 of the College of Business Building for students interested in learning more or applying. Teams interested in registering to compete should go to www.uwyo.edu/business/entrepreneurship/index.html and click the competitor links. The Ellbogen $50K competition is the premier applied-learning experience at the University of Wyoming for students interested in entrepreneurship and innovation. We look forward to another outstanding group of student teams that will contribute exciting new business models to the Wyoming community, says Patrick Kreiser, Rile Endowed Chair of Entrepreneurship and Leadership in the UW College of Business. Student teams from the University of Wyoming and Wyoming community colleges are invited to enter for a chance to win cash prizes to help grow their businesses. The competition features three rounds. The first round is the executive summary application; the second is the virtual pitch and written business concept; and the third round is the final presentation. The first two rounds will occur this fall, and round three will take place April 21-22, 2023. The competition will offer an undergraduate track and a graduate track for teams. Last spring, eight teams competed in the third round, and six finalists won $63,000 in prize money toward their businesses. Three of the teams participated in a course titled Business Model Creation and Launch offered by the UW College of Business. The course assists teams in developing and strengthening their business models, including aspects such as sales channel and marketing strategy; revenue model; cost structure and financials; and competitor analysis in preparation for their final presentations. We were ecstatic with the quality and passion of the teams competing in last years competition, Kreiser says. It is important to contribute new business ideas to help diversify the Wyoming economy, and we are excited that University of Wyoming students can help foster this important mission. For more information, email Josie Voight, UW College of Business project coordinator, at voight@uwyo.edu. CHICAGO, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Blower Market is projected to grow from USD 3.5 billion in 2022 to USD 4.3 billion by 2027, at a CAGR of 4.3%, according to a new report by MarketsandMarkets. Blowers are mechanical or electro-mechanical devices used to induce gas flow through ducting, electronics chassis, process stacks, etc. Blowers are typically used when the pressure requirement falls somewhere between that of a fan and that of a compressor. Blowers are used for a wide range of applications in a variety of industries, including cooling, pneumatic conveying, ventilating, aspirating, aerating, and exhausting, among others. Blowers are used to cooling electronic enclosures, induce drafts in boilers, increase airflow on engines, and are configured in a variety of designs such as centrifugal flow or positive displacement styles. Browse in-depth TOC on "Blower Market" 144 Tables 46 Figures 229 Pages Download PDF Brochure: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=23329060 The Positive displacement blowers, by Product Type, are expected to be the most significant Blower Market during the forecast period. The positive displacement blowers segment accounted for the largest share of the Blower Market in 2021. Positive displacement blowers operate in a simple manner and require low maintenance. Nowadays, these types of blowers are used along with variable frequency drives (VFDs) for speed control and to improve the blower's operational efficiency. The most common fields of applications for positive displacement blowers are air injection in the oxidation tanks of wastewater treatment plants, pneumatic conveying, and air injection in saturated soils to promote biodegradation of the contaminants. The advantage of positive displacement blowers is that the gas moving through the machine remains uncontaminated and completely oil-free. The main disadvantage of positive displacement blowers is their high temperature and noise levels during operations. By the End-Use industry, Water and wastewater treatment is expected to have the largest market share during the forecast period The water & wastewater treatment end-use industry accounted for the largest share of the Blower Market. Blowers are a crucial element of wastewater treatment facilities, where they are utilized to power a variety of applications. Some of the most common processes and applications of blowers include diffused aeration, filter backwashing, grit chamber aeration, anaerobic digestion, sequencing batch reactor (SBR), moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR), membrane bioreactor (MBR), lagoon aeration, and activated sludge process. Blowers are mostly used in the secondary phase of treatment to create air bubbles for aeration and agitation processes. Request Sample Pages: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/requestsampleNew.asp?id=23329060 The Asia Pacific is expected to be the largest region in the Blower Market The Asia Pacific is expected to be the largest in Blower Market during the forecast period. The region is experiencing rapid development and growth fueled by the growth of major economies such as China, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, South Korea, and Japan. According to International Monetary Fund (IMF), the region's economy is forecast to swell by 6.5% in the fiscal year 2021 and 5.7% in the fiscal year 2022. The growth slowdown as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 significantly affected the region, which saw its economy decline by about 1.5% in 2020. Some of the major players in the global Blower Market are Ingersoll Rand (US), Atlas Copco (Sweden), Aerzen Machine (Germany), Xylem (US), and Kaeser Kompressoren (US). The major strategies adopted by these players include acquisitions, sales contracts, product launches, agreements, alliances, partnerships, and expansions. Make an Inquiry: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Enquiry_Before_BuyingNew.asp?id=23329060 Browse Adjacent Markets: Energy and Power Market Research Reports & Consulting Related Reports: Industrial Air Compressor Market by Product Type (Positive Displacement, Dynamic), Output Power (Up to 50 kW, 51250 kW, 251500 kW, & Above 500 kW), Seal (Oil-flooded & Oil-free), End-user, Design, Pressure, Coolant and Region - Global Forecast to 2026 Booster Compressor Market by Cooling Type (Air, Water), Stage (Single, Double, Multi), Pressure Rating (14-40 bar, 41-100, 101-350, >350), End use Industry (oil & gas, process, chemicals, power) and Region - Global Forecast to 2023 Screw Compressor Market by Type (Oil-free, Oil-Injected), Stage (Single, Multi), Technology (Stationary, Portable), End-User (Chemical & Petrochemicals, Food & Beverage, Mining & Metals, Oil & Gas, Automotive, Power), & by Region - Global Forecast to 2021 Turbocompressor Market by Type (Centrifugal & Axial), Application (Oil & Gas, Chemical, and Power Generation), Stage (Single & Multi), Output Pressure (020, 21100, Above 100 Bar), and by Region - Global Trends & Forecasts to 2021 About MarketsandMarkets MarketsandMarkets provides quantified B2B research on 30,000 high growth niche opportunities/threats which will impact 70% to 80% of worldwide companies' revenues. Currently servicing 7500 customers worldwide including 80% of global Fortune 1000 companies as clients. Almost 75,000 top officers across eight industries worldwide approach MarketsandMarkets for their painpoints around revenues decisions. 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. Contact: Mr. Aashish Mehra MarketsandMarkets INC. 630 Dundee Road Suite 430 Northbrook, IL 60062 USA: +1-888-600-6441 Email: [email protected] Research Insight: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/ResearchInsight/blower-market.asp Visit Our Website: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/ Content Source: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/PressReleases/blower.asp Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/660509/MarketsandMarkets_Logo.jpg SOURCE MarketsandMarkets LAS VEGAS, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- BLUETTI, a leading company of clean energy storage systems, has recently launched a crowdfunding initiative on Indiegogo for its newest flagship product AC500. At the time of writing, BLUETTI has raised $5 million in two weeks under the aegis of 1,300+ backers. The crowdfunding is expected to hit a record high by the end of October 15, 2022. Stretch Goals & Gifts BLUETTI AC500 has received tremendous support as it pulls in $2 million in the first seven hours. In response to the passion, BLUETTI has set its stretch goals shortly. When the funding reaches the following values, backers will get some gifts for free. $6 million: Travel coffee mug $8 million: BLUETTI T-shirt $10 million: 1-year extended warranty (4-year in total) $12 million: 2-year extended warranty (5-year in total) As it hits $4 million now, a 100W USB-C Charging Cable is available for every backer. Limited Chance The price of BLUETTI AC500 on Indiegogo is tiered and adjusted over time. Due to the limited sales quota, the earlier orders are placed, the better the prices can be. There are discounts on Indiegogo ranging from 40% to 13% off. Moreover, freight cost and consumption tax are exempted for backers from the US and Japan. People who spot and seize the opportunity will benefit from the early bird prices. Home Power Backup AC500 With modular design, this 5,000W solar generator allows users to expand its capacity to a staggering 18,432Wh (connected with 6*B300S batteries) to satisfy different needs. Featured with the split phase bonding function, two AC500 units can be combined to generate a massive 10KW output power when integrated into the home grid (Home Integration Kit is also added into this sale), making it a reliable home backup for unexpected blackouts, such as the recent power outage in Bullhead City, which left nearly 40,000 residents in the dark. Foldable Solar Panel PV400 This 420W solar catcher is BLUETTI's recent masterwork in solar power system. Made of monocrystalline silicon and coated with ETFE, it can achieve a high cell efficiency of up to 23.4% and 95% light transmittance. With a fold-and-go style, it can be easily transported from place to place, converting sunlight wherever and generating power whenever needed. About BLUETTI From the very beginning, BLUETTI has tried to stay true to a sustainable future through green energy storage solutions for both indoor and outdoor use while delivering an exceptional eco-friendly experience for everyone and the world. BLUETTI is making its presence in 70+ countries and is trusted by millions of customers across the globe. For more information, please visit BLUETTI online at https://www.bluettipower.com/ SOURCE BLUETTI POWER INC NEW YORK, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The camping tent market in Europe will be driven by the growth in adventure tourism. However, factors such as the increasing availability of counterfeit tents will challenge the growth of the market during the forecast period. The camping tent market size in Europe is expected to grow by USD 157.14 million from 2020 to 2025. In addition, the growth momentum of the market will accelerate at a CAGR of 4.37% during the forecast period, according to Technavio. Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Camping Tent Market in Europe 2021-2025 Technavio provides a comprehensive report summary describing the market size and forecast along with research methodology. The FREE sample report is available in PDF format Camping Tent Market in Europe 2021-2025: Scope The camping tent market in Europe report covers the following areas: Camping Tent Market in Europe 2021-2025: Segmentation Product Tunnel Tents Dome Tents Geodesic Tents Others Geography Germany France UK Spain Rest Of Europe Learn about the contribution of each segment summarized in concise infographics and thorough descriptions. View a FREE PDF Sample Report Camping Tent Market in Europe 2021-2025: Revenue-generating Product Segment The tunnel tents segment will be the largest contributor to market growth during the forecast period. Tunnel tents are used by families and large groups of people who camp for many days and need a vestibule area for cooking or storage. The popularity of these tents is high among millennials. As millennials account for a quarter of the global population, the tunnel tents segment is expected to dominate the camping tent market in Europe during the forecast period. Camping Tent Market in Europe 2021-2025: Vendor Analysis The camping tent market in Europe is fragmented. Vendors are deploying growth strategies such as differentiating their offerings in the camping tents segment with improved and patented technologies to gain a competitive advantage. Supported by competitive intelligence and benchmarking, our report on the camping tent market in Europe is designed to provide entry support, customer profile, and M&As as well as go-to-market strategy support. Market vendors should focus more on the growth prospects in the fast-growing segments while maintaining their positions in the slow-growing segments to make the most of the opportunities. We provide a detailed analysis of around 25 vendors operating in the camping tent market in Europe, including AMG Group Ltd., Hilleberg the Tentmaker, JACK WOLFSKIN GmbH & Co. KGaA, Johnson Outdoors Inc., Oase Outdoors ApS, Obelink Vrijetijdsmarkt B.V., Simex Outdoor International GmbH, Terra Nova Equipment Ltd, The Coleman Co. Inc., and The North Face. Get lifetime access to our Technavio Insights! Subscribe to our "Basic Plan" billed annually at USD 5000 Camping Tent Market in Europe 2021-2025: Key Highlights CAGR of the market during the forecast period 2021-2025 Detailed information on factors that will assist camping tent market growth in Europe during the next five years during the next five years Estimation of the camping tent market size in Europe and its contribution to the parent market and its contribution to the parent market Predictions on upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior The growth of the camping tent market in Europe Analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information on vendors Comprehensive details of factors that will challenge the growth of camping tent market vendors in Europe Related Reports Hammocks Market by Material, Type, and Geography - Forecast and Analysis 2022-2026: The hammocks market share is expected to increase by USD 724.54 million from 2021 to 2026. Recreational Vehicle (RV) Market by Product and Geography - Forecast and Analysis 2022-2026: The recreational vehicle (RV) market share is expected to increase by USD 28.62 billion from 2021 to 2026. Camping Tent Market In Europe Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 120 Base year 2020 Forecast period 2021-2025 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 4.37% Market growth 2021-2025 USD 157.14 million Market structure Fragmented YoY growth (%) 3.24 Regional analysis Germany, France, UK, Spain, and Rest of Europe Performing market contribution Rest of Europe at 47% Key consumer countries Germany, France, UK, Spain, and Rest of Europe Competitive landscape Leading companies, competitive strategies, consumer engagement scope Companies profiled AMG Group Ltd., Hilleberg the Tentmaker, JACK WOLFSKIN GmbH & Co. KGaA, Johnson Outdoors Inc., Oase Outdoors ApS, Obelink Vrijetijdsmarkt B.V., Simex Outdoor International GmbH, Terra Nova Equipment Ltd, The Coleman Co. Inc., and The North Face Market Dynamics Parent market analysis, market growth inducers and obstacles, fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID-19 impact and future consumer dynamics, and market condition analysis for the forecast period. Customization purview If our report has not included the data that you are looking for, you can reach out to our analysts and get segments customized. Browse Consumer Discretionary Market Reports Table Of Contents Executive Summary Market Landscape Market ecosystem Value chain analysis Market Sizing Market definition Market segment analysis Market size 2020 Market outlook: Forecast for 2020 - 2025 Five Forces Analysis Bargaining power of buyers Bargaining power of suppliers Threat of new entrants Threat of substitutes Threat of rivalry Market condition Market Segmentation by Product Market segments Comparison by Product Tunnel tents - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 Dome tents - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 Geodesic tents - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 Others - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 Market opportunity by Product Customer landscape Overview Geographic Landscape Geographic segmentation Geographic comparison Germany - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 France - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 UK - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 Spain - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 Rest of Europe - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 Market opportunity by geography Market drivers Market challenges Market trends Vendor Landscape Overview Landscape disruption Vendor Analysis Vendors covered Market positioning of vendors AMG Group Ltd. Hilleberg the Tentmaker JACK WOLFSKIN GmbH & Co. KGaA Johnson Outdoors Inc. Oase Outdoors ApS Obelink Vrijetijdsmarkt B.V. Simex Outdoor International GmbH Terra Nova Equipment Ltd The Coleman Co. Inc. The North Face Appendix Scope of the report Currency conversion rates for US$ Research methodology 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/ Newsroom: newsroom.technavio.org/news/camping-tentmarket SOURCE Technavio New Partnership with Charles Drew University College of Medicine, Howard University College of Medicine, Meharry Medical College, and Morehouse School of Medicine Aims to Accelerate Precision Health REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) announced a partnership with the nation's four Historically Black Medical Colleges (HBMCs) to further support the cutting-edge scientific research they are leading to address significant gaps in genomics research, create new tools and methods to prevent and treat disease, and accelerate precision health for everyone, particularly Black people and other people of color. CZI's Accelerate Precision Health program will advance genomics research by investing in genomics programs at each of the HBMCsCharles Drew University College of Medicine in Los Angeles, California; Howard University College of Medicine in Washington D.C.; Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee; and Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia. The Accelerate Precision Health program will award $46 million total in funding, or $11.5 million per institution over the next five years. Through the partnership, the HBMCs will expand research opportunities for undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral students; support the creation of a new Master of Science program in Genetic Counseling; support recruitment of anchor faculty in genomics; and fund state-of-the-art tools for data handling, storage, and analysis, among other elements. Dr. Ivory Dean, CZI's Science Program Manager, Diversity in Science, and Dr. Hannah Valantine, CZI's Senior Science Advisor, will oversee this new program. "We are honored to partner with these four institutions that are national leaders and championing some of the most groundbreaking research in precision health," said CZI Co-Founder & Co-CEO Priscilla Chan. "As pillars in their communities, the Historically Black Medical Colleges are also uniquely positioned to engage populations that have been systematically underrepresented in the scientific research process to ensure that the breakthroughs represent a healthier future for everyone." Precision health accounts for differences in people's genes, environments, and lifestyles, and formulates treatment and prevention strategies based on their unique backgrounds and conditions. In contrast to a one-size-fits-all approach, precision health is used to more accurately predict what type of care for a particular disease will work in which populations of people, and is crucial to improve health outcomes for all. "It's important to underscore that for Black Americans, there is a large gap between representation and need in genomics research, and the time is now to support the intersection of genomics and health differences research that will advance science. Research shows that expanding representation leads to innovative discoveries," said CZI's Senior Science Advisor, Hannah Valantine. "Actively engaging HBMCs and the communities they serve in genomics research is a necessary approach to harness new perspectives that will fuel creative interdisciplinary research, unleash innovations that have yet to be conceived, and accelerate precision health equity." The deep relationships and trust between HBMCs, Black health care providers, and Black communities positions these four institutions to be natural leaders in this work. For more than a century, HBMCs have played an unmatched role in preparing Black physicians for their careers. Overwhelmingly, these institutions produce graduates who fulfill a social mission especially in communities that are underserved and who pursue in-demand primary care specialties, including family and internal medicine. Despite this well-documented track record, HBMCs trail their peers because of uneven infrastructure, limited research opportunities for faculty and students, low enrollment of Black students in the field of biological and data sciences, and they also tend to receive less federal research funding. The Accelerate Precision Health program will strengthen the environments needed for genomics research at HBMCs. "Our work will address the gap between representation and need in genomics research. Given the current growth of the field of precision health, there is no better time than now to support this research," said Steve Quake, Head of Science at CZI. "Advances from collaborations with the HBMCs will result in broader participation in and access to genomics research, and expand the population that can benefit from precision health." "The Howard University College of Medicine and other HBCU medical schools play a critical role as leaders in advanced medical research, resulting in significant improvements in health outcomes for African Americans and other people of color," said Howard University President, Dr. Wayne A. I. Frederick. "The new Accelerate Precision Health program supports our efforts to greatly accelerate scientific knowledge in genomics and fill gaps in health disparities research in the field. We are tremendously grateful to the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative for collaborating with us to realize this vision." "Morehouse School of Medicine is thrilled to partner with the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative on the Accelerate Precision Health program," said Morehouse School of Medicine President and CEO Valerie Montgomery Rice, MD, FACOG. "CZI support will allow MSM to expand our educational programs and our world-class genomics research enterprise simultaneously. Through this partnership, MSM will train more graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, hire additional research scientists, and establish an endowed faculty position funded by CZI. These measures will enhance Morehouse School of Medicine's continued commitment to academic excellence, service, and innovation as we lead the creation and advancement of health equity." "This partnership between CDU, our fellow Historically Black Medical Colleges, and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative in many ways represents an almost perfect convergence of ambition, vision, resources, and perspective," shared Dr. David M. Carlisle, President and CEO of Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science. "This endeavor to address humanity's most pressing health issues through research, regardless of color, ethnicity, gender, or other factors is nothing short of a bold and stunning step towards achieving true health equity." "We are incredibly excited to work with the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative because of their commitment to building more inclusive and healthy futures for everyone. Their mission aligns with ours, and together, the hope of advancing health equity to serve underrepresented populations will become a reality," said Dr. James Hildreth, President and CEO of Meharry Medical College. With their long-standing commitment to the education, research, and health care of Black Americans, the four HBMCs are equipped and experienced to guide medical research that will directly impact Black communities, generate new scientific knowledge to advance precision health for all communities, and accelerate CZI's mission to support the science and technology that will make it possible to prevent, cure, or manage all diseases by the end of the century. This grant is part of a multi-year, $500 million investment CZI announced in December 2020 to support organizations leading the way to advance racial equity, diversity, and inclusion efforts. Additional CZI funds also support Black, Latina/o/x, and Indigenous students who are pursuing STEM degrees at the University of California, San Diego and UC Berkeley, as the two campuses implement aspects of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County's successful Meyerhoff Scholars Program . In January 2022, CZI launched the Science Diversity Leadership program in partnership with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine that aims to recognize and further the leadership and scientific accomplishments of excellent biomedical researchers whothrough their outreach, mentoring, and teachinghave a record of promoting diversity, equity and inclusion in their scientific fields. About the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative was founded in 2015 to help solve some of society's toughest challengesfrom eradicating disease and improving education, to addressing the needs of our communities. Through collaboration, providing resources and building technology, our mission is to help build a more inclusive, just, and healthy future for everyone. For more information, please visit www.chanzuckerberg.com . About Charles Drew University School of Medicine Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science (CDU) is a private, nonprofit, community-focused, student-centered University in South Los Angeles. Founded in 1966 in response to the Watts Uprising, CDU is committed to cultivating diverse health professions leaders who are dedicated to social justice and health equity for underserved populations through outstanding education, clinical service, and community engagement. CDU is also a leader in health disparities research with a focus on education, training, treatment, and care in cancer, diabetes, cardiometabolic, COVID-19, and HIV/AIDS. About Howard University Founded in 1867, Howard University is a private, research university that is comprised of 14 schools and colleges. Students pursue more than 140 programs of study leading to undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees. The University operates with a commitment to Excellence in Truth and Service and has produced one Schwarzman Scholar, three Marshall Scholars, four Rhodes Scholars, 12 Truman Scholars, 25 Pickering Fellows and more than 165 Fulbright recipients. Howard also produces more on-campus African American Ph.D. recipients than any other university in the United States. For more information on Howard University, visit www.howard.edu . About Meharry Medical College Meharry Medical College, founded in 1876, is the nation's largest private, independent historically Black academic health sciences center dedicated solely to educating minority and other health professionals. True to its heritage, it is a United Methodist Church-related institution. The College is particularly well known for its uniquely nurturing, highly effective educational programs; emerging preeminence in health disparities research; culturally sensitive, evidence-based health services and significant contribution to the diversity of the nation's health professions workforce. Diverse Issues in Higher Education's ranking of institutions annually lists Meharry as a leading national educator of African Americans with M.D. and D.D.S. degrees and Ph.D. degrees in the biomedical sciences. Visit www.mmc.edu to learn more. About Morehouse School of Medicine Founded in 1975, Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM) is among the nation's leading educators of primary care physicians, biomedical scientists, and public health professionals. An independent and private historically-Black medical school, MSM was recognized by the Annals of Internal Medicine as the nation's number one medical school in fulfilling a social mission the creation and advancement of health equity. MSM faculty and alumni are noted for excellence in teaching, research, and public policy, as well as exceptional patient care. MSM is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award doctoral and master's degrees. To learn more about programs and donate today, please visit MSM.edu or call 404-752-1500. SOURCE Chan Zuckerberg Initiative -Fast casual concept celebrates grand opening with free chicken salad for a year to first 100 guests on Sept. 27th- ATLANTA, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Chicken Salad Chick , the nation's only fast casual chicken salad restaurant concept, announced today the opening of its newest Houston-area restaurant at 5310 Weslayan St. in West University Place. This brings the brand's total to 12 in the metro area and is the third Chick for franchise owners Ronald and Kathleen Ram of Houston CSC LLC. Chicken Salad Chick West University will celebrate its grand opening on Tuesday, Sept. 27 by giving away free chicken salad for a year to the first 100 guests. During grand opening week, guests will experience the Southern hospitality that Chicken Salad Chick is known for, with giveaways and specials that include: Tuesday, Sept. 27 Free Chicken Salad for a Year The first 100 guests will receive one large Quick Chick of chicken salad per month for an entire year, with one of those lucky guests randomly selected to win one large Quick Chick of chicken salad per week.* Guests may arrive starting at 7 a.m. for grand opening day only. Free Chicken Salad for a Year The first 100 guests will receive one large Quick Chick of chicken salad per month for an entire year, with one of those lucky guests randomly selected to win one large Quick Chick of chicken salad per week.* Guests may arrive starting at for grand opening day only. Wednesday, Sept. 28 The first 50 guests to purchase a Chick Trio will receive a free Chick Tumbler.** The first 50 guests to purchase a Chick Trio will receive a free Chick Tumbler.** Thursday, Sept. 29 The first 50 guests to purchase a Chick Trio will receive a free dessert.** The first 50 guests to purchase a Chick Trio will receive a free dessert.** Friday, Sept. 30 The first 50 guests to purchase two large Quick Chicks will receive a free large Chick Cooler.** The first 50 guests to purchase two large Quick Chicks will receive a free large Chick Cooler.** Saturday, Oct. 1 - All day long, purchase a Chick Special and receive a promo code for bonus points and a Free Scoop reward in the Chicken Salad Chick app.** The Rams got their start in franchising with Pizza Patron, owning 10 locations across Texas. They opened their first Chicken Salad Chick in Katy in 2019, following with a second in 2020. They believe whole-heartedly in the brand's mission to serve others and have really enjoyed becoming part of the communities they serve. During the coronavirus pandemic, the Rams donated more than 400 meals to first responders and health care workers at local hospitals. They have also been hosting pop-up lunches around town to serve fans who have been anxiously waiting for this West University restaurant to open. "We love the small-town atmosphere that West University provides right in the midst of the action in Houston," said Kathleen Ram. "Our newest location is centrally located for work, school, retail and fun. It's the ideal spot for on-the-go professionals and families looking for delicious food made with fresh ingredients every day. We can't wait to serve our flavorful varieties of chicken salad and sides to this community." Chicken Salad Chick West University will be open Monday Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. For more information, visit http://www.chickensaladchick.com . Follow Chicken Salad Chick on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram for the latest news and trends. *Guests should start arriving at 7 a.m. to get checked in. The first 100 guests will be assigned a number and a designated return time between 10 a.m. - 11:15 a.m. Upon return, guests will make a purchase of "The Chick" or anything of greater value and enter a code on the Chicken Salad Chick app to officially secure your spot. If you are late, or miss the return time, your spot will be awarded to the next in-line. Guests will receive their first free Large Quick Chick electronically to your App the Monday following Grand Opening Day. **Must download the CSC App and be 16 years or older to purchase. Not valid with any other offers. Limit 1 reward per guest present. For more information on giveaways and specials, visit https://www.facebook.com/ChickenSaladChickWestUniversity/. About Chicken Salad Chick Chicken Salad Chick serves full-flavored, Southern-style chicken salad made from scratch and served from the heart. With more than a dozen original chicken salad flavors as well as fresh side salads, gourmet soups, signature sandwiches and delicious desserts, Chicken Salad Chick's robust menu is a perfect fit for any guest. Founded in Auburn, Alabama by Stacy and Kevin Brown, in 2008, Chicken Salad Chick has grown to more than 220 restaurants in 17 states. Today, under the leadership of Scott Deviney and the Chicken Salad Chick team, the brand is continuing its rapid expansion with both franchise and company locations. Chicken Salad Chick has received numerous accolades including rankings in the 2022 Entrepreneur Franchise 500, Franchise Times' Fast & Serious for the second consecutive year, Fast Casual.com 's top Movers and Shakers from 2018 to 2022, QSR's Best Franchise Deals in 2019 and 2020, and Franchise Business Review's Top Food Franchises in 2020. See www.chickensaladchick.com for additional information. Contact: Nicole Hunnicutt Fish Consulting 404-558-4108 [email protected] SOURCE Chicken Salad Chick While the U.S. climate bill seeks to boost residential solar system installations, solar companies will continue to face challenges reaching eligible consumers BOSTON, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- As the U.S. climate bill aims to change how Americans power their homes, residential solar installers continue to face unique challenges despite growing consumer demand. According to Colossus, a company that delivers quality solar leads to businesses across the nation, solar companies face unique challenges when trying to reach potential customers. Consumers just aren't actively seeking out residential solar, which presents a unique challenge for solar companies. Tweet this As the U.S. climate bill aims to change how Americans power their homes, residential solar installers continue to face unique challenges despite growing consumer demand. "Despite tremendous interest in renewables, less than 4% of eligible households are powered by solar," said Heather Griffin, Colossus Co-CEO & President. "Consumers just aren't actively seeking out residential solar, which presents a unique challenge for solar companies. Solar customers must also conform to eligibility criteria including good credit, standards that must be met on the homeowner's roof, etc., which leaves you with a very narrow pool of consumers who can seriously consider purchasing solar. This results in fierce competition for a very narrow audience, often resulting in eligible prospects feeling burned out on door knockers, cold calls, and traditional high-volume marketing tactics." Colossus offers the following tips for solar installers to effectively grow their solar sales: Invest in optimizing your sales processes - Whether you generate solar leads or buy qualified leads from reputed lead generation companies, improving your sales process can help on multiple fronts including increasing contact rates, improving sit rates, supporting compliance, and maximizing profitability. Improving how you use your solar leads can involve various strategies, technologies, and tools that will help you gain a competitive advantage. Whether you generate solar leads or from reputed lead generation companies, improving your sales process can help on multiple fronts including increasing contact rates, improving sit rates, supporting compliance, and maximizing profitability. Improving how you use your solar leads can involve various strategies, technologies, and tools that will help you gain a competitive advantage. Automate your call center workflows - If you're looking to scale your solar business, consider automating your call center workflows. This will enable you to better customize your approach to leads while also taking the guesswork out of contact cadences for perfectly timed communications with prospects. If you're looking to scale your solar business, consider automating your call center workflows. This will enable you to better customize your approach to leads while also taking the guesswork out of contact cadences for perfectly timed communications with prospects. Partner with solar marketing companies - Leveraging third-party customer acquisition solutions can help generate high quality solar leads for your sales teams. Doing your research will help ensure you have selected a marketing partner that understands your unique business needs. - Leveraging third-party customer acquisition solutions can help generate high quality for your sales teams. Doing your research will help ensure you have selected a marketing partner that understands your unique business needs. Make sure all your data is compliant - At the end of the day, if you're the one dialing data and it's not compliant, you'll be the one held responsible even if your vendor was at fault. You can help mitigate legal risks by working with solar lead providers that comply with all applicable state and federal telemarketing policies and regulations including the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and any relevant state-specific laws. - At the end of the day, if you're the one dialing data and it's not compliant, you'll be the one held responsible even if your vendor was at fault. You can help mitigate legal risks by working with solar lead providers that comply with all applicable state and federal telemarketing policies and regulations including the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and any relevant state-specific laws. Seek out industry-specific solutions - Focused expertise can go a long way to supporting your solar business. Harnessing industry-specific solutions and working with partners that understand the complexities of your business operations, products, and services can accelerate how solutions can be adapted to generate the best outcomes for your business. Colossus provides sales solutions built for the solar industry and partners with solar companies around their unique needs. To learn more about growing your residential solar sales, visit Colossus.com . Also check out the upcoming webinar " Unlock the Full Potential of Your Solar Leads " on Sept 22, 2022. About Colossus Colossus is a technology company dedicated to helping businesses sell more solar. By matching residential solar providers with the right customers, Colossus helps solar companies grow their sales by delivering real-time solar inquiries. Top solar companies across the nation utilize the Colossus Marketplace to effectively fill their sales pipeline. Colossus drives results by partnering with solar sales teams to offer qualified solar leads and expert consultation to improve performance and help businesses close more solar sales. SOURCE Colossus TROY, Mich., Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Great Place To Work and Fortune magazine have recognized ComForCare/At Your Side Home Care as one of the 2022 Best Workplaces in Aging Services . This is ComForCare's second time being named to this prestigious listcoming in at 2nd place in the At Home Care category. Earning this esteemed position confirms the positive workplace culture cultivated by ComForCare and At Your Side franchisees, as well as the brand's emphasis on helping others live their best lives possible. The Best Workplaces in Aging Services award is based on analysis of survey responses from more than 140,000 employees from Great Place to Work-Certified companies in the aging services industry. In that survey, 92% of ComForCare and At Your Side employees said that the organization is a great place to work. "We are so grateful for our dedicated franchisees and the commitment to their caregivers who have made us a part of this list for the past two years," said J.J. Sorrenti, CEO of Best Life Brands, parent company to ComForCare and At Your Side. "Our brand's mission is to help others live their best lives. Caregivers are the heart of everything we do and it's important to us that they feel valued and truly enjoy the vital work they do." The Best Workplaces in Aging Services list is highly competitive. Great Place to Work, the global authority on workplace culture, selected the list using rigorous analytics and confidential employee feedback. Companies were only considered if they are a Great Place to Work-Certified organization. Great Place to Work is the only company culture award in America that selects winners based on how fairly employees are treated. Companies are assessed on how well they are creating a great employee experience that cuts across race, gender, age, disability status, or any aspect of who employees are or what their roles are. "The Best Workplaces in Aging Services have a lot to be proud of," says Michael C. Bush, CEO of Great Place to Work. "They stepped up to support the well-being of their employees hard at work caring for high-risk populations at unprecedented levels throughout the pandemic. Congratulations to these great workplaces for their dedication to strong company cultures." In 2022, ComForCare and At Your Side Home Care also ranked as a Best Workplace for Millennials. Learn more about careers at ComForCare Home Care today, or refer someone to join this important field. About ComForCare Home Care: ComForCare is a premier franchised provider of in-home caregiving services with more than 215 independently-owned and operated locations in the U.S. and Canada helping older adults live independently in their own homes. ComForCare is committed to helping people live their best lives possible and offers special programs for people with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia. Founded in 1996, ComForCare was acquired by private equity firm The Riverside Company in 2017 and now is part of Best Life Brands, which has plans for continued expansion of service brands across the continuum of care for aging adults. ComForCare operates as At Your Side Home Care in Houston. ComForCare has earned a ranking of 291 on the Entrepreneur Franchise 500 list. For more information, visit comforcare.com . About the Best Workplaces in Aging Services Great Place to Work selected the Best Workplaces in Aging Services by gathering and analyzing confidential survey responses from more than 140,000 employees from Great Place to Work-Certified companies in the aging services industry. Company rankings are derived from 60 employee experience questions within the Great Place to Work Trust Index survey . Great Place to Work determines its lists using its proprietary For All methodology to evaluate and certify thousands of organizations in America's largest ongoing annual workforce study. The study is based on over 1 million survey responses and data from companies representing more than 6.1 million employees, this year alone. Read the full methodology. 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 data-driven people decisions. Everything they do is driven by the mission to build a better world by helping every organization become a great place to work For All. Learn more at greatplacetowork.com . About Activated Insights Activated Insights is the senior care division of Great Place to Work and provides employee and resident surveys to aging services providers. With expertise in senior care, Activated Insights is committed to transforming the aging experience by impacting the lives of seniors, families, staff, and others in senior care through research, data and technology. Learn more at activatedinsights.com. SOURCE ComForCare Home Care Acquisition builds on Conexon's existing marketing solutions currently used by electric cooperatives across multiple states with combined membership of over one million KANSAS CITY, Mo., Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Rural fiber-optic network design and construction management leader Conexon, has acquired zfactor Inc., a Waterloo, Ontario, Canada-based brand development and creative agency focused on B2B technology companies. The acquisition represents Conexon's latest step in providing end-to-end consultative and operational solutions for electric cooperatives deploying fiber broadband to their members and communities. Founded in 1998 by Massimo Zefferino, zfactor Inc., has amassed an impressive list of international and broadband clients. The agency has worked with Conexon for the past two years, delivering strategic branding, design and digital services. The agency was instrumental in launching the Conexon Marketing Hub, a proprietary software platform specifically designed to provide all the resources electric co-ops need to effectively market fiber-to-the-home service. "In building our relationship with Massimo and the zfactor team over the past two years, we have continually been impressed by their creativity, client commitment and ability to produce amazing work to help market co-op-driven fiber broadband projects," said Abby Carere, Conexon senior vice president, marketing, sales and account management. "Not only have they assisted us in becoming a highly efficient marketing agency, they, in turn, helped make quality marketing services affordable for our co-op clients getting into the broadband business. They also share a dedication and work ethic that are part of Conexon's culture and we're very excited to welcome them to the company. I look forward to working with them more closely on our own projects and working with the team to expand its external customer base." Sharing in the mission of closing the digital divide in America, zfactor Inc., will continue to operate as an independent creative agency wholly owned by Conexon, maintaining and growing clients for both companies. "While we have been approached in the past by companies interested in investing or acquiring our agency, we felt they weren't quite the right fit or right mission," said Zefferino. "In working with Abby and the rest of the Conexon family, we quickly realized the similarities in culture and ethics. Their mission of bringing internet connectivity to underserved areas of rural America was a noble cause we could get behind. We are extremely excited and honored to provide what we do best to Conexon and its clients in the future." About Conexon Conexon works with Rural Electric Cooperatives to bring fiber to the home in rural communities. The company is comprised of professionals who have worked in electric cooperatives and the telecommunications industry and offer decades of individual experience in business planning, building networks, marketing and selling telecommunications. Conexon offers its electric cooperative clients end-to-end broadband deployment and operations support, from a project's conception all the way through to its long-term sustainability. It works with clients to analyze economic feasibility, secure financing, design the network, manage construction, provide operational support, optimize business performance and determine optimal partnerships. To date, Conexon has assisted more than 275 electric cooperatives, 60 of which are deploying fiber networks, with more than 500,000 rural Americans connected to fiber to the home. The company has secured nearly $2 billion in federal, state and local grants and subsidies for its clients. MEDIA CONTACT Cindy Parks 913-526-6912 [email protected] SOURCE Conexon BANGALORE, India, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Global Data-Centric Security Market is Segmented by Type (Professional, Managed), by Application (IT and Telecommunications, BFSI, Retail, Healthcare, Government and Public Sector): Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 20222028. It is published in Valuates Reports under the Software Category. The global Data Centric Security market size is projected to reach USD 11490 Million by 2028, from USD 3665 Million in 2021, at a CAGR of 17.4% during 2022-2028. Major factors driving the growth of the Data Centric Security Market are: The growing trend of the mobile workforce and the need for cloud data security will drive the growth of the market. The stringent data protection regulations, Covid 19 impact, and expanding capabilities of data-centric solutions will boost the market growth. Get Your Sample Today: https://reports.valuates.com/request/sample/QYRE-Auto-35X11580/Global_Data_Centric_Security TRENDS INFLUENCING THE GROWTH OF THE GLOBAL DATA CENTRIC SECURITY MARKET Organizations around the world are transitioning towards digitization and storing all their data in the cloud or on-premise platforms. Both large and small-scale enterprises need to protect their confidential data on the cloud which in turn will provide immense growth opportunities for the data centric security market. The data is secured in the form of encryption, user authentication, and access controls at the database, operating, and application levels. Federal agencies have come up with stringent regulations and data protection laws. The rules clearly mandate the ways of using the data. Compliance mechanisms have been set up for ensuring the safe collection, storage, and modification of information. This will augment the growth of the data centric security market. For instance, a DCAP( Data-Centric Audit and Protection Solution) monitors accounts for suspicious activities and summarizes data from multiple platforms. The results are displayed on a single dashboard and ML models respond to unusual events by triggering alarms as per pre-defined threshold conditions. This gives a clear picture of who, what, where, and when changes are being made to confidential information. Companies are introducing access control solutions for verifying user identities before accessing any important resource, tool, or file. This will fuel the demand for the data centric security market in the coming years. Files are transferred securely between networks offering better encryption than a standard FTP or HTTPS. Multiple layers of defense are established so that employees cannot move the data beyond their network boundaries without sounding alarms or initiating strict responses. The trend of severe cyberattack cases is forcing enterprises to implement DLP solutions and invest in data privacy infrastructure. The rising number of data breaches is fueling the growth of the data centric security market. A DLP solution prevents sensitive data from leaving secured networks by monitoring outbound traffic and endpoint connectivity. The software will either block or warn the user accordingly. The huge shift toward digitization and work-from-home policies due to the covid 19 pandemic led to the creation of digital data and increasing cases of cyberattacks. Leakage prevention policy, risk monitoring at physical and digital access points, and the presence of high-quality security technologies are crucial for maintaining business continuity. Browse The Table Of Contents And List Of Figures At: https://reports.valuates.com/market-reports/QYRE-Auto-35X11580/global-data-centric-security-sales DATA-CENTRIC SECURITY MARKET SHARE ANALYSIS Based on application, the healthcare segment will grow the highest in the data-centric security market share as personal health information and patient data are being stored digitally. Safeguarding internal healthcare data is important due to the implementation of regulatory compliances like HIPAA. Sensitive information is secured by providing digital signatures and advanced network gateways and databases. This is essential for countering medical record theft. Based on region, Asia-Pacific will be the most lucrative due to rising internet penetration and increasing vulnerability of connected devices. Government authorities are urging organizations to invest in data-centric solutions for mitigating the risk of ransomware attacks. Inquire for Regional Report: https://reports.valuates.com/request/regional/QYRE-Auto-35X11580/Global_Data_Centric_Security Key Companies: IBM (US) Imperva (US) Informatica (US) Oracle (US) Varonis Systems (US) AvePoint (US) BlueTalon (US) Dataguise (US) Datiphy (US) Micro Focus (UK) NextLabs (US) Protegrity (US) Inquire for Chapter Cost: https://reports.valuates.com/request/chaptercost/QYRE-Auto-35X11580/Global_Data_Centric_Security Buy Now for Single User + Covid-19 Impact : https://reports.valuates.com/api/directpaytoken?rcode=QYRE-Auto-35X11580&lic=single-user SUBSCRIPTION We have introduced a tailor-made subscription for our customers. Please leave a note in the Comment Section to know about our subscription plans. SIMILAR REPORTS: - The global big data security market size was valued at USD 13,720 Million in 2019 and is projected to reach USD 54,237 Million by 2027, registering a CAGR of 18.8% from 2020 to 2027. - The global big data and business analytics market size was valued at USD 198.08 Billion in 2020, and is projected to reach USD 684.12 Billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 13.5% from 2021 to 2030. - The global network security market size was valued at USD 18,480 million in 2019, and is projected to reach USD 63,398 million by 2027, registering a CAGR of 16.7% from 2020 to 2027. - 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. - Security as a Service (SECaaS) market size is projected to reach USD 15610 million by 2028, from USD 3615.2 million in 2021, at a CAGR of 22.7% during 2022-2028. - The global Data Protection market size is projected to reach USD 113390 Million by 2027, from USD 61330 million in 2020, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 9.1% during the forecast period 2021-2027. - Global Application Security Services Market Insights, Forecast to 2028 - Global Email Security Service Provider Services Market Insights and Forecast to 2028 - Global Cloud Hardware Security Module Market Insights and Forecast to 2028 - The global Security Analytics market size is projected to reach USD 12130 Million by 2026, from USD 4326 Million in 2019, at a CAGR of 15.4% during 2021-2026. - 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 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. - Network Security Firewall market size is projected to reach USD 5513.2 million by 2027, from USD 3263.1 million in 2020, at a CAGR of 7.3% during 2021-2027. - Managed Security Services market size is projected to reach USD 47240 Million by 2027, from USD 21030 Million in 2020, at a CAGR of 11.8% during 2021-2027. - Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the global Perimeter Security market size is estimated to be worth USD 124860 Million in 2022 and is forecast to a readjusted size of USD 186330 Million by 2028 with a CAGR of 6.9% during the review period. - Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the global Password Management market size is estimated to be worth USD 1405.7 Million in 2021 and is forecast to a readjusted size of USD 1405.7 Million by 2028 with a CAGR of 18.6% during the review period. - Internet of Things (IoT) Security market size is projected to reach USD 7722.1 million by 2028, from USD 2087.8 million in 2021, at a CAGR of 20.3% during 2022-2028. - SOC as a Service market size is projected to reach USD 772.9 million by 2028, from USD 296.3 million in 2021, at a CAGR of 14.2% during 2022-202 - The global Industrial Cyber Security market size is projected to reach USD 19220 Million by 2028, from USD 12000 Million in 2021, at a CAGR of 6.9% during 2022-2028. - Fraud Detection and Prevention (FDP) market size is projected to reach USD 45800 million by 2028, from USD 16390 million in 2021, at a CAGR of 15.3% during 2022-2028. - The global Data Classification market size is projected to reach USD 1550.5 Million by 2028, from USD 642.3 Million in 2021, at a CAGR of 12.9% during 2022-2028. - The global Operational Technology Security market size is projected to reach USD 1370 Million by 2028, from USD 296 Million in 2021, at a CAGR of 23.9% during 2022-2028. - The global Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) market size is projected to reach USD 26390 Million by 2028, from USD 5442.5 Million in 2021, at a CAGR of 25.0% during 2022-2028. - The global Managed Services market size is projected to reach USD 271640 Million by 2028, from USD 142300 Million in 2021, at a CAGR of 9.2% during 2022-2028. - The hyper-converged infrastructure market size was valued at USD 3.84 Billion in 2018, and is projected to reach USD 33.16 Billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 30.7% from 2019 to 2026. - The global artificial intelligence market size was valued at USD 65.48 Billion in 2020, and is projected to reach USD 1,581.70 Billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 38.0% from 2021 to 2030. - 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. Click here to see related reports on Data Centric Security Market ABOUT US: Valuates offers in-depth market insights into various industries. Our extensive report repository is constantly updated to meet your changing industry analysis needs. Our team of market analysts can help you select the best report covering your industry. We understand your niche region-specific requirements and that's why we offer customization of reports. With our customization in place, you can request for any particular information from a report that meets your market analysis needs. To achieve a consistent view of the market, data is gathered from various primary and secondary sources, at each step, data triangulation methodologies are applied to reduce deviance and find a consistent view of the market. Each sample we share contains a detailed research methodology employed to generate the report. Please also reach our sales team to get the complete list of our data sources. CONTACT US: Valuates Reports [email protected] For U.S. Toll-Free Call 1-(315)-215-3225 For IST Call +91-8040957137 WhatsApp: +91-9945648335 Website: https://reports.valuates.com Twitter - https://twitter.com/valuatesreports LinkedIn - https://in.linkedin.com/company/valuatesreports Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1082232/Valuates_Reports_Logo.jpg SOURCE Valuates Reports Dashboard will provide employers with the ability to compare pay equity trends over time and create interactive reports. WASHINGTON, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- In response to an increasing demand for dynamic analyses of compensation data, DCI Consulting Group is pleased to announce the launch of the DCI Dashboard for Pay Equity. This Dashboard will allow employers to use the results of their organization's compensation analyses to create interactive visuals and reports that are backed by DCI's expert consultants and software development team. The release of DCI's Dashboard for Pay Equity follows the release of the company's Dashboard for AAP Data in 2021 and its subsequent success. As stakeholders become increasingly concerned with pay equity, DCI sought to create a tool that could help employers ensure that their compensation is equitable. DCI's Dashboard for Pay Equity produces easily digestible visuals that are useful to all levels of an organization, from the local HR team trying to eliminate wage gaps to the C-Suite seeking to understand if their organization has an equitable compensation strategy. Dashboard will provide employers with the ability to compare pay equity trends over time and create interactive reports. Tweet this With DCI's Dashboard for Pay Equity, employers will be able to: Visualize compensation analysis results, including: Wage Gap Reports Statistical Coverage Summaries Technical and Non-Technical Regressions Correlation Summaries Trend results of multiple years and across locations Examine results organization-wide or filter by location or pay group Use results to inform salary adjustments Invite users to view interactive read-only reports Customize access to specific users Generate on-demand reports Identify priority results for research and action planning Organizations that are interested in learning more about the DCI Dashboard for Pay Equity can go to DCI's website. Along with pay equity analyses, DCI offers expansive services for employers including government compliance, diversity metrics, and workforce analytics. More information can be found at https://www.dciconsult.com/. About DCI We help organizations solve their most complex human resource challenges. Using a data-driven approach, our expert consultants partner with clients to address organizational challenges holistically while helping them to mitigate their risk. We utilize the best practices in industrial-organizational psychology, labor economics, and human resources in our continual pursuit of workplace equity. For media inquiries, contact: Mitchell Chamberlin Marketing Manager [email protected] SOURCE DCI Consulting Group, Inc. UW College of Business Draws 300 Students, 85 Companies to Recent Career Fair University of Wyoming College of Business students meet with business recruiters in the Jonah Bank Atrium during the recent College of Business Career Fair Sept. 8. (UW Photo) This year, the University of Wyoming College of Business embarked on a mission to develop a more inclusive and equitable career fair for its business students. In addition to reducing registration barriers, the college provided UW-branded T-shirts to students who attended with the expectation that they would sport jeans for the event rather than suits and ties. The career fair, which took place Sept. 8, was the largest in UW College of Business history in terms of student engagement and employer participation. The event saw a 100 percent increase in student attendance from the previous year, with well over 300 students participating in the fair. Scott Beaulier, dean of the UW College of Business, says he was impressed with the event. My first career fair as the College of Business dean blew me away, he says. As I walked around the fair and visited with our students and employers, I heard a resounding theme that our ability to lower the barriers to be involved in this event allowed everyone to feel more comfortable participating. On the employer side, 85 companies -- from Texas to Minnesota -- were at the event. The number represented a 121 percent increase from 2021. In total, 37 Wyoming-based employers were in attendance along with many other businesses that have a strong presence within the state and region. It takes a dedicated team of student success professionals to not only put on this fun and exciting day in the college, but also to prepare our students to take full advantage of it as they plan for their future careers, says Taylor True, director of the Peter M. and Paula Green Johnson Student Success Center. It becomes possible to hold transformative events like these due to our people and their hard work. The events scale required creative use of the entirety of the east wing of the College of Business Building for the first time. Students started their journey on the top floor of the building; worked their way down the different department corridors to talk with various employers; and exited from the Jonah Bank Atrium. Our responsibility as the College of Business is to ensure that we are relevant to our industry partners. Seeing over 85 of those partners in our building recruiting our best and brightest indicates that we are fulfilling that mission, says Steve Russell, assistant dean of the UW College of Business. These partners not only were here providing job and internship opportunities for our students, but they also are engaged with us throughout the year, ensuring that we are not only Wyomings business school, but a top school in our region. In addition to the 85 employers at the fair, the college maintains close employer partnerships with more than 200 organizations that continue to drive a strong placement rate for UWs business students upon graduation. Organizations that would like to partner with the UW College of Business can go to the colleges employer partner site or email Russell at steve.russell@uwyo.edu. WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Easy Digital Downloads (EDD), the most popular WordPress-based eCommerce platform for selling digital products, is excited to announce the partnership with SiteGround, a leading WordPress web hosting company. This partnership includes the launch of a brand new managed eCommerce hosting platform for EDD, so WordPress users can set up a fully functioning eCommerce site to sell digital products in no time. Over 50,000 website owners use Easy Digital Downloads to easily sell digital products like eBooks, digital art, music, PDF manuals, software licenses, and more. EDD's partnership with SiteGround offers small businesses around the world an easy way to start their eCommerce website. Tweet this The new EDD eCommerce hosting plan dramatically simplifies the onboarding process for setting up a WordPress eCommerce site by combining the hosting services of SiteGround and the eCommerce functionality of Easy Digital Downloads. "Our goal is to make it easy to sell digital products online without any limits or restrictions," says Chris Klosowski, President of Easy Digital Downloads. "Managed EDD hosting plans allow users to quickly create an online store with pre-populated designs and powerful growth tools without the high costs". "There is a growing demand for eCommerce hosting optimized for digital creators. We're excited to partner with Easy Digital Downloads to offer best-in-class hosting experience, so creators can focus on growing their business with confidence without worrying about the technical side.", said Tenko Nikolov, CEO of SiteGround. "At Awesome Motive, our goal is to help small businesses grow and compete with the big guys", said Syed Balkhi, CEO of Awesome Motive, the management company of Easy Digital Downloads. "EDD's partnership with SiteGround offers small businesses around the world an easy way to start their eCommerce website and have peace of mind when it comes to on-site payments, security, and performance. Because EDD is open-source, it also helps small business owners retain full control and freedom over their online business vs. getting locked into a proprietary SaaS eCommerce platform". About Easy Digital Downloads Easy Digital Downloads (EDD) is the most popular WordPress-based eCommerce platform for selling digital goods. Over 50,000 websites use EDD to securely sell digital products online. Learn more about Easy Digital Downloads at easydigitaldownloads.com About SiteGround SiteGround is a leading WordPress web hosting company powering over 2,800,000 domains worldwide. They offer a highly optimized web hosting platform, including Shared Hosting, Managed WordPress Hosting, free SiteGround Security and SiteGround Optimizer plugins for WordPress, Cloud Hosting, and more. Learn more about SiteGround at siteground.com About Awesome Motive Awesome Motive is a leading software and media company helping shape the web for billions worldwide. Collectively, their software powers over 20 million websites and includes many of the well-known website tools such as Easy Digital Downloads, OptinMonster, WPForms, MonsterInsights, All in One SEO, and more. Awesome Motive has assembled a world-class team of industry experts (100% remote in over 45 countries) that provide unparalleled service and products to help small businesses grow and compete with the big guys. Learn more about Awesome Motive at awesomemotive.com. Media Contact Faizan Ali +1 (561) 408-1057 [email protected] SOURCE Awesome Motive EG America to roll out on-demand delivery through end of the year WESTBOROUGH, Mass., Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- EG America, a leading convenience, coffee, fuel, and food service retailer, today announced a partnership with DoorDash, to offer delivery of convenience essentials including snacks, sandwiches, pizza, and its signature Farmhouse Blend coffee to customers nationwide. Customers can order items from EG convenience brands including Cumberland Farms, Certified Oil, Fastrac, Kwik Shop, Loaf N' Jug, Minit Mart, Quik Stop, Sprint, Turkey Hill and Tom Thumb through DoorDash's app and website. On-demand delivery from DoorDash is currently available from more than 800 participating Cumberland Farms, Fastrac, Sprint, Quik Stop, Loaf N 'Jug, Certified Oil and Minit Mart stores with plans to expand to more than 1,300 EG convenience brand locations by the end of October. "Convenience is the driving principle behind all of our brands, and delivery strengthens our reputation for it," said George Fournier, President of EG America. "DoorDash has been at the forefront of a nationwide shift towards convenient, on-demand home delivery for everything from groceries to snacks to full meals, and we're excited to be a part of it. We are looking forward to our customers ordering their favorite food offerings and snacks for on-demand delivery through DoorDash." "Convenience continues to be a key determining factor for consumers looking for faster and easier ways to get the essentials they need exactly when they need them," said Shanna Preve, Vice President, Business Development at DoorDash. "As we continue to build out our convenience offerings, we're thrilled to partner with EG America to give consumers nationwide even more efficient access to their favorite snacks, prepared foods, and other products, on-demand. Whether in need of a cup of coffee, a quick snack or meal on the go, or basic household essential items, consumers can now shop from thousands of EG America banner stores directly on the DoorDash app and website." In celebration of the new partnership, consumers can get 25% off (up to $6) on orders with a subtotal of $20 or more with promo code EG2022 at Cumberland Farms and Fastrac.* All participating EG convenience brand stores will be available on DashPass, DoorDash's membership program that offers members $0 delivery fees and reduced services fees on eligible orders over the minimum subtotals from thousands of restaurants, grocery, and convenience stores nationwide. About EG Group Founded in 2001 by the Issa family, United Kingdom-based EG Group is a leading convenience retailer which has established partnerships with global brands. The business has an established pedigree of delivering a world-class Grocery & Merchandise, Foodservice and Fuel offer. EG Group currently employs in excess of 50,000 colleagues working in more than 6,300 sites across USA, UK & Ireland, Continental Europe and Australia. Zuber Issa CBE and Mohsin Issa CBE, founders and co-CEOs, EG Group, were honoured in the Queen's Birthday Honours List 2020 for their contribution to business and charity. They were also jointly named the 2018 EY Entrepreneur of the Year in the UK. Further information at www.eg.group About DoorDash DoorDash (NYSE: DASH) is a technology company that connects consumers with their favorite local businesses in 27 countries across the globe. Founded in 2013, DoorDash builds products and services to help businesses innovate, grow, and reach more customers. DoorDash is building infrastructure for local commerce, enabling merchants to thrive in the convenience economy, giving consumers access to more of their communities, and providing work that empowers. With DoorDash, there is a neighborhood of good in every order. Terms & Conditions *PROMOTIONAL DETAILS: Offer valid through 9/30/2022. Order from Cumberland Farms or Fastrac and get 25% off (up to $6) on your order with subtotal $20 or more (excluding taxes and fees). Limit one per person. Not valid for the purchase of alcohol. Fees, taxes, and gratuity still apply. Use promo code EG2022. All deliveries subject to availability. Must have or create a valid DoorDash account with a valid form of accepted payment on file. No cash value. Non-transferable. See full terms and conditions at help.doordash.com/consumers/s/article/offer-terms-conditions Media Contact: Nate Hillyer The Castle Group 860.574.5507 [email protected] SOURCE EG Group High demand for well-equipped automobiles is being fueled by an expanding global population and rising per capita income. The global electric power steering market is thus expanding quickly. JERSEY CITY, N.J., Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Verified Market Research recently published a report, "Electric Power Steering Market" By Type(R-EPS, P-EPS, C-EPS), By Component(Sensor, Steering Column, Steering Motor and Other), By Electronic Motor Type(Brushless DC Motors and Brushed DC Motors), By Mechanism(Rigid EPS and Collapsible EPS), By Vehicle Type(Commercial Vehicles and Passenger Cars), and By Geography. According to the extensive research done by Verified Market Research experts, the Electric Power Steering Market size was valued at USD 22.05 Billion in 2018 and is projected to reach USD 38.10 Billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 7.22% from 2019 to 2026. Download PDF Brochure: https://www.verifiedmarketresearch.com/download-sample/?rid=8578 Browse in-depth TOC on "Electric Power Steering Market" 202 - Pages 126 Tables 37 Figures Global Electric Power Steering Market Overview While hydraulic power steering utilizes a pump that is built into an oil tank, electric power steering (EPS) uses an electric motor to turn the steering wheel. The constant strain placed on the car's engine by the hydraulic power steering pump has an impact on both fuel efficiency and vehicle performance. Power steering systems supply the torque needed to turn the steering wheel and move the car. The pump, fluid, hoses, pulley, and drive belt are among the HPS components that are removed while using electric power steering. As a result, compared to hydraulic systems, electric steering systems are lighter and more compact. With the aid of a control unit, electric motor, and sensors like a torque sensor, electric power steering is operated. When the driver moves the steering wheel, the electric motor, which is powered by batteries, helps the steering motion. High demand for well-equipped automobiles is being fueled by an expanding global population and rising per capita income. The global electric power steering market is thus expanding quickly. Additionally, there is growing pressure on automakers worldwide to use technological advancements that adhere to energy economy rules, which is predicted to drive up demand for global electric power steering throughout the forecast period. Additionally, the market is expanding due to the ongoing expansion of the automobile industry in quickly rising economies like Asia and Latin America. Key Players The major players in the market are Delphi, Federal-Mogul, GKN, Hyundai Mobis, Jtekt, Mitsubishi Electric, Nexteer, NSK, Robert Bosch, Showa Corporation, Thyssenkrupp, and ZF. Verified Market Research has segmented the Global Electric Power Steering Market On the basis of Type, Component, Electric Motor Type, Mechanism, Vehicle Type, and Geography. Electric Power Steering Market, by Type R-EPS P-EPS C-EPS Electric Power Steering Market, by Component Sensor Steering Column Steering Motor Other Electric Power Steering Market, by Electric Motor Type Brushless DC Motors Brushed DC Motors Electric Power Steering Market, by Mechanism Rigid EPS Collapsible EPS Electric Power Steering Market, by Vehicle Type Commercial Vehicles Passenger Cars Electric Power Steering Market, by Geography North America U.S Canada Mexico Europe Germany France U.K Rest of Europe Asia Pacific China Japan India Rest of Asia Pacific ROW Middle East & Africa & Latin America Browse Related Reports: Steering Columns System Market By Steering System (Hydraulic Power Steering System, Electric Power Steering System), By Automobile Type (Commercial Vehicles, Heavy-Duty Vehicles), By Geography, And Forecast Automotive Steering System Market By Type (Electro-Hydraulic Power Steering, Electronic Power Steering, Manual Steering, and Hydraulic Power Steering), By Vehicle-Type (Commercial Vehicle, HCV, LCV, and Passenger Vehicle), By Geography, And Forecast Electrical Steering Column Lock Market By Vehicle (Passenger Carrying Vehicle (PCV), light commercial vehicle (LCV), Heavy Commercial Vehicle (HCV), Special utility Vehicles, Motorcycles), By Distribution Channel (Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), Aftermarket), By Geography, And Forecast Commercial Vehicle Steering Systems Market By Product (Electronic Power Steering, Hydraulic Power Steering, Electro-hydraulic Power Steering), By Application (Light Commercial Vehicles, Medium Commercial Vehicles, Heavy Commercial Vehicles) By Geography, And Forecast 10 Leading Electric Power Steering Manufacturers mobilizing driveline technologies Visualize Electric Power Steering Market using Verified Market Intelligence -: Verified Market Intelligence is our BI Enabled Platform for narrative storytelling in this market. VMI offers in-depth forecasted trends and accurate Insights on over 20,000+ emerging & niche markets, helping you make critical revenue-impacting decisions for a brilliant future. VMI provides a holistic overview and global competitive landscape with respect to Region, Country, Segment, and Key players of your market. Present your Market Report & findings with an inbuilt presentation feature saving over 70% of your time and resources for Investor, Sales & Marketing, R&D, and Product Development pitches. VMI enables data delivery In Excel and Interactive PDF formats with over 15+ Key Market Indicators for your market. About Us Verified Market Research is a leading Global Research and Consulting firm servicing over 5000+ customers. Verified Market Research provides advanced analytical research solutions while offering information enriched research studies. We offer insight into strategic and growth analyses, Data necessary to achieve corporate goals and critical revenue decisions. 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Contact Us Mr. Edwyne Fernandes Verified Market Research US: +1 (650)-781-4080 UK: +44 (753)-715-0008 APAC: +61 (488)-85-9400 US Toll Free: +1 (800)-782-1768 Email: [email protected] Web: https://www.verifiedmarketresearch.com/ Follow Us: LinkedIn | Twitter Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1315349/Verified_Market_Research_Logo.jpg SOURCE Verified Market Research 2022 is the second consecutive year ERIE's program has been recognized among the industry's best internship opportunities ERIE, Pa., Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Erie Insurance (ERIE) Future Focus internship program has been named to the Rising Insurance Star Executive (RISE) list of the insurance industry's 50 best internship programs in 2022. This is the second consecutive year that ERIE has been honored. ERIE's summer internship program offers opportunities for college students to gain relevant and real-world business experience in the insurance industry and at a Fortune 500 company. Erie Insurance Future Focus program recognized as a RISE Elite 50 industry internship program "We're excited to be included on the RISE Elite 50 list for the second consecutive year. Our interns often tell us that our program is a premier offering in the industry, and this recognition is certainly a bonus," said JR Wilwohl, talent acquisition partner and ERIE's internship program coordinator. "Year after year, the most impactful feedback comes directly from our interns, who, through an overwhelming response to our end-of-program survey, gave our 'Future Focus' program an average satisfaction rating of 4.8 out of 5 this year." ERIE's internship program, which began more than 20 years ago and has helped launch the careers of hundreds of current ERIE employees, offers paid, competitive internships across several areas of the company. According to Jon O'Camb, talent acquisition manager, ERIE's Future Focus internships are one of the company's largest pipelines for early career talent and ERIE is committed to growing diversity within its talent pool. "Our commitment to celebrating and valuing diversity continues, and our internship program is an extension of that. We're widening our talent pipeline by strengthening relationships with historically Black colleges and universities across ERIE's footprint and working with ERIE's affinity networks and DEI leadership to help further reach diverse candidates," said O'Camb. "Once our interns are hired, we also provide them with multiple opportunities to engage with our company's DEI and community outreach teams and encourage them to become active in ERIE's nine employee affinity networks during their internship with us." In 2022, more than 100 ERIE interns worked in ERIE's IT, Underwriting, Risk Control, Actuarial, Data, Sales & Marketing, Claims, Corporate Services, Customer Service, Finance, Accounting, Internal Audit, Investments and ERIE Experience departments. Rising Insurance Star Executive (RISE) is an industry group founded to help bridge the talent gap by recognizing and advancing the best young talent in the insurance industry. "There is nothing more impactful to building the talent pipeline for the Insurance Industry than our internships," read an announcement of the annual list from RISE. "Companies can test drive talent, learn from fresh perspectives, expose young professionals to their brand, foster leadership in current employees, and the list goes on. Interns gain real world experience, learn about their strengths and weaknesses and gauge whether a job or industry is the right career for them." To learn more about ERIE's Future Focus internship program, visit erieinsurance.com/careers/intern. About Erie Insurance According to A.M. Best Company, Erie Insurance Group, based in Erie, Pennsylvania, is the 11th largest homeowners insurer, 13th largest automobile insurer and 13th largest commercial lines insurer in the United States based on direct premiums written. Founded in 1925, Erie Insurance is a Fortune 500 company and the 19th largest property/casualty insurer in the United States based on total lines net premium written. Rated A+ (Superior) by A.M. Best, ERIE has more than 6 million policies in force and operates in 12 states and the District of Columbia. News releases and more information are available on ERIE's website at www.erieinsurance.com. SOURCE Erie Indemnity Company One Slovenian, one Cypriot and two Greek destinations named on the shortlist for this year's competition BRUSSELS, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the European Commission announced the four shortlisted destinations for the European Destination of Excellence (EDEN) 2023 award. The EDEN initiative rewards the best achievements in sustainable tourism and green transition practices in smaller destinations across Europe. Grevena (Greece), Kranj (Slovenia), Larnaka (Cyprus), and Trikala (Greece) convinced the panel of independent sustainability experts with their applications and were chosen among 20 applicant destinations. The shortlist for the 2023 finalists includes four destinations instead of three, as initially mentioned, because two destinations were awarded the same scores by the independent panel of sustainability experts. Find out more about each of the shortlisted destinations here. The European Destinations of Excellence is an EU initiative, implemented by the European Commission. Its aim is to recognise and reward smaller destinations that have in place successful strategies to boost sustainable tourism through green transition practices. The competition is founded upon the principle of promoting the development of sustainable tourism which brings value to the economy, the planet, and the people. The initiative covers the EU and the non-EU countries participating in the COSME programme.[1] To compete for the 2023 European Destination of Excellence award, destinations were asked to demonstrate their best practices in sustainable tourism and green transition. In the next step, the four shortlisted destinations will be asked to present their candidature in front of the European Jury. The European Jury will select one winner, the European Destination of Excellence 2023, which will be awarded in November 2022. The winning destination will be positioned as a tourism sustainability pioneer committed to the European Green Deal objectives and will receive expert communication and branding support at the EU level throughout 2023. For all the latest news visit the European Destinations of Excellence website . Contact: European Destinations of Excellence Secretariat: Sandra Bumbar-Malchow / Antigoni Avgeropoulou, [email protected] , +49 (0) 30 70 01 86 390 Notes to Editors Since 2007, the European Commission has supported EU Member States and other countries participating in the COSME programme to reward non-traditional, emerging sustainable tourism destinations in Europe through the 'European Destination of Excellence" (EDEN) award. This action aimed to foster sustainable tourism destination management models across Europe by selecting and promoting EDEN destinations. To date, 176 destinations from 27 different countries have received the award under different annual themes. In 2019 the "Study on EDEN evaluation" was carried out to assess the continued relevance, effectiveness, efficiency and impact of the EDEN initiative and the various actions implemented in its framework, as well as its coherence with other EU initiatives. Following the results and recommendations of the evaluation study, the European Commission relaunched the initiative, taking into account European Green Deal goals. In addition to the EU countries, it also covers non-EU countries participating in the COSME programme. The competition addresses smaller tourism destinations which can showcase their outstanding achievements in sustainability and inspire other tourism destinations in their green transition. The EDEN Award was implemented first as a pilot project and as a preparatory action initiated by the European Parliament and since 2011 has continued under the CIP/COSME programmes. The 2023 EDEN competition was open to submissions from 31 March 2022 to 1 June 2022 . Terms and conditions are available at https://ec.europa.eu/growth/sectors/tourism/eden_en Eligible applications were evaluated against a set of established assessment criteria, by a panel of independent sustainability experts. The shortlisted destinations will be invited to present their candidatures in front of a European Jury. The European Jury will select one European Destination of Excellence 2023. The current 2022 European Destination of Middelfart was selected at the end of 2021 and has since been acting as a role model for sustainable tourism in Europe . Find out more about the 2022 European Destination of Excellence Middelfart here and watch a video about the destination here. [1] Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey, Ukraine, and United Kingdom (https://ec.europa.eu/docsroom/documents/49405). The EU stands in solidarity with the Ukrainian people. Ukrainian cities retain the right to apply to the opportunities offered by the COSME programme. SOURCE European Destination of Excellence CLEVELAND, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- McDonald Hopkins LLC is proud to announce the addition of two experienced mergers and acquisitions attorneys to the Firm's Baltimore/Annapolis office. Kathryn L. Hickey and David T. Shafer have both joined McDonald Hopkins as Members, adding their expertise to a growing national M&A team and serving as the latest addition to the firm's increased presence on the East Coast. Both Hickey and Shafer come to McDonald Hopkins from PilieroMazza. Each brings with them extensive experience representing clients in complex transactions. David Shafer and Kathryn Hickey "Kathryn and Dave bring outstanding experience and expertise to our national M&A practice. They share our team's focus on providing practical counsel on complex transactions in a way that balances legal protection with real business considerations," said Christal Contini, Chair of the Mergers and Acquisitions Practice Group at McDonald Hopkins. "I often say that the practice of M&A is a team sport. Kathryn and Dave will be instrumental in the continued strategic growth of our team of talented M&A attorneys and in the expansion of the high quality services we offer our M&A clients." Hickey's practice is focused on representing companies across a broad range of industries in various types of domestic and international transactions, including buyers and sellers in complex mergers and acquisitions, business restructurings, asset purchase and sale transactions, and equity purchase and sale transactions. She also represents companies and investors in venture capital and angel investment transactions with companies from a wide range of industries at various stages of growth. Her experience includes representing clients in the negotiation and implementation of institutional financing and commercial loan transactions with large institutional lenders. In addition to her M&A practice, Hickey advises companies of all sizes on general business matters, including entity formation and structure, corporate governance, executive compensation issues, commercial leasing, licensing agreements, and regulatory compliance with federal securities laws in connection with offerings of debt and equity securities and private placements. Although her clients include diverse types of entities and businesses, including publicly traded companies, nonprofits, and tribal entities, Kathryn has specific experience representing clients in the healthcare and government contracting industries. "Prior to joining McDonald Hopkins I had the experience of working with their attorneys collaboratively on cross-firm transaction deal teams. I was consistently impressed by the skill, responsiveness, and practicality of McDonald Hopkins' lawyers, and I am thrilled to be joining such a quality M&A group," said Hickey. "I look forward to working to build the firm's presence and recognition in the Mid-Atlantic region and working with lawyers across all our offices to deliver excellent legal services to our clients." Hickey earned her J.D., summa cum laude, from the George Washington University Law School, where she was a Presidential Merit Scholar. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Maryland, College Park. Shafer's practice is focused on counseling clients on mergers and acquisitions, purchase and sale of private businesses, commercial financing, private offerings of debt and equity securities, venture capital and private equity transactions, and general governance issues. He also regularly provides general counsel to companies and investors in venture capital and angel investment transactions, from a wide range of industries at various stages of growth. In addition to his M&A practice, Dave is an experienced data privacy and cybersecurity attorney. Shafer works with a broad range of clients and is well versed working with those in highly regulated industries such as government contracting. His practice often extends to serving as outside general counsel to clients at all phases of their business lifecycle on matters related to customer and vendor contracts, securities and tax compliance, and employee incentive offerings. "Joining the McDonald Hopkins team is an excellent opportunity to work alongside quality practitioners who share my enthusiasm for building relationships and engaging with clients as a trusted legal advisor," said Shafer. "I am excited to leverage the depth and breadth of McDonald Hopkins' expertise to continue serving and working with clients to help them achieve their business goals." Prior to the start of his legal career, Shafer was a Captain in the U.S. Marine Corps, serving for six years and deploying in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. Following his service, Shafer worked as a senior consultant in the cybersecurity field. About McDonald Hopkins Founded in 1930, McDonald Hopkins is a business advisory and advocacy law firm with locations in Baltimore/Annapolis, Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, Detroit, and West Palm Beach. With more than 50 service and industry teams, the firm has the expertise and knowledge to meet the growing number of legal and business challenges our clients face. For more information about McDonald Hopkins, visit mcdonaldhopkins.com . CONTACT: Cynthia Stewart McDonald Hopkins LLC 600 Superior Avenue, East, Suite 2100 Cleveland, Ohio 44114 Phone: 216.348.5733 Email: [email protected] SOURCE McDonald Hopkins TAIPEI, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- In assisting the semiconductor industry to improve cybersecurity resilience, the Administration for Digital Industries, Ministry of Digital Affairs (hereinafter referred to as "adi") is collaborating with SEMI, semiconductor industry associations and industry businesses to hold a "Semiconductor Equipment Cybersecurity Promotion Conference" on Sep 14th at SEMICON Taiwan 2022. Guests include Ms. Jo-ann Su, Senior Director of SEMI, Mr. Leon Chang, member of SEMI Taiwan Cybersecurity Committee, Mr. Sterling Lin, Chairman of TEEIA (Taiwan Electronic Equipment Industry Association), Mr. Charles Li, Executive Director of TPSA (Taiwan Panel & Solution Association) and semiconductor equipment manufacturers as Gallant Precision Machining (GPM), Marketech International Corp. (MIC), Contrel Technology Co., Ltd. and Mirle Automation Corporation that have already begun implementation of SEMI E187, the Specification for Cybersecurity of Fab Equipment. All participants acknowledge and support this standard. Semiconductor Equipment Cybersecurity Promotion Conference on Sep 14th at SEMICON Taiwan 2022 Mr. Jang-Hwa Leu, Director General of adi, stated in his speech that the government has combined efforts of the industry, government, and academia to jointly promote the Specification for Cybersecurity of Fab Equipment, SEMI E187. Launched in January of 2022, promotion from four major scopes is underway, which are Operating System, Network Security, Endpoint Protection and Security Monitoring. The establishment of practical guidelines will continue, transforming cybersecurity standards into case studies, and assisting manufacturers to understand the context of the standards. Taiwan's pivotal position in the semiconductor industry will be utilized to drive supply chain security and introduction of cybersecurity into the PCB (printed circuit boards) and electronic components industry. At the same time, the Made-in-Taiwan Cybersecurity Solution will be promoted to accelerate implementation as a standard and for the growth of the cybersecurity industry. Taiwan's semiconductor industry plays an important role in global supply chains. As manufacturers have been requested by international players for more active roles in cybersecurity, the introduction of SEMI E187 has attracted attention from semiconductor manufacturers, equipment suppliers and cybersecurity solutions providers. Thus, adi has set up a "SECPAAS Cybersecurity Pavilion" at SEMICON Taiwan, converging 18 local companies with R&D capabilities to display their solutions, and via group gatherings, promote cybersecurity solutions that comply with SEMI E187, enhancing supply chain security and obtaining orders from international players. Semiconductor equipment is the preliminary gateway to high-tech manufacturing. As supply chain security has become an important global topic, the launch of SEMI E187 Cybersecurity Standard is the first step to building a reliable supply chain ecosystem, providing equipment manufacturers with guidelines to follow and for the demand side to establish clear and precise cybersecurity requirements when making procurements. Leu, Director General of adi, highlighted that "R.I.S.E." are the core areas of adi's services, standing for Resilience, Integration, Security and Empowerment. In the future, adi will continue to work with SEMI, semiconductor manufacturers, equipment suppliers and cybersecurity solution providers to assist players to implement international standards and promote certification mechanisms, achieving a win-win situation between the semiconductor and cybersecurity industries, making Taiwan's semiconductor companies the trustworthy partners in worldwide supply chains. SOURCE Administration for Digital Industries Hundreds of local nurses and nursing students gather on 'red carpet' at Fargo Theatre FARGO, N.D., Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The groundbreaking documentary, Who Cares: A Nurse's Fight for Equity, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and filmed in Fargo one year ago, is being screened at the Fargo Theatre on Monday, September 19, 2022, with area nurses, health leaders, and nursing students in attendance. The documentary centers on psychiatric nurse practitioner Whitney Fear, who practices at Family Healthcare, a federally qualified health center in Fargo. As a Lakota nurse who grew up on South Dakota's Pine Ridge Reservation, for the past decade she has drawn from her personal background to elevate awareness about the unique needs and experiences of patients in her community. Fear says people's experiences, where they live, and trauma all shape their health and the care they receive. For some individuals, their ZIP code can dictate their level of care. "In my role as a nurse, I believe everyone deserves the same level of care no matter where they're from, what they've been through in life, or who they are," Fear says. Supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF)the country's largest philanthropy focused solely on healththe documentary highlights how important it is for nurses to consider a patient's social, cultural, and spiritual backgrounds in their care. Directed by Jordan Fein and produced by Alkemy X, the film captures the difference Fear makes with personalized, empathetic, and holistic care. It's the latest offering from SHIFT Nursing, an online community where nurses 'get real' about the challenges they face. "Nurses are essential members of every community across our nation," said Beth Toner, RN, MSN, MJ, senior communications officer at the RWJF. "They are in a unique position to provide truly human-centered carecare that offers everyone, regardless of who they are, where they live, or how much money they have, compassion and dignity. In this documentary, Whitney Fear shows us how it's done." A panel discussion after the film will feature Fear and other local nurse leaders, including Misty Wilkie, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, clinical associate professor at Bemidji State University, and founder of the Niganawenimaanaanig Indigenous Nursing Program, which means 'we take care of them.' The program aims to recruit and support nurses from American Indian/Alaska Native/Indigenous backgrounds. Topics will include health equity, reshaping the nursing profession, and inspiring the next generation of nurses. About the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) is committed to improving health and health equity in the United States. In partnership with others, we are working to develop a Culture of Health rooted in equity that provides every individual with a fair and just opportunity to thrive, no matter who they are, where they live, or how much money they have. For more information, visit www.rwjf.org. Follow the Foundation on Twitter at www.rwjf.org/twitter or on Facebook at www.rwjf.org/facebook. CONTACT: Gisela Rosende, [email protected], 786-239-867 SOURCE Robert Wood Johnson Foundation MEMPHIS, Tenn., Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- First Horizon Corporation (NYSE: FHN) announced today that it plans to release third quarter financial results after the close of the market on October 18, 2022. The earnings materials will be available on the FHN website at ir.firsthorizon.com under Events and Presentations. About First Horizon First Horizon Corp. (NYSE: FHN), with $85.1 billion in assets as of June 30, 2022, is a leading regional financial services company, dedicated to helping our clients, communities and associates unlock their full potential with capital and counsel. Headquartered in Memphis, TN, the banking subsidiary First Horizon Bank operates in 12 states across the southern U.S. The Company and its subsidiaries offer commercial, private banking, consumer, small business, wealth and trust management, retail brokerage, capital markets, fixed income, and mortgage services. First Horizon has been recognized as one of the nation's best employers by Fortune and Forbes magazines and a Top 10 Most Reputable U.S. Bank. More information is available at www.FirstHorizon.com. SOURCE First Horizon Corporation HONG KONG, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The signing ceremony of the strategic cooperation agreement between the Shanghai Federation of Industry and Commerce (SFIC) and the Pudong New Area, and the signing ceremony of private enterprises' investment projects were held at the Zhangjiang Science Hall on 16 September. Projects such as Intuitive Fosun's headquarters and industrialization base project were signed at the signing ceremony. Wang Qunbin, Co-Chairman of Fosun International Limited (HKEX stock code: 00656), said that Fosun which is rooted in China, will continue to strengthen its presence in Shanghai, and take this signing as a new start to deeply integrate into the construction of Pudong Leading Pilot Zone and contribute "the Power of Fosun" to the new chapter of Pudong, Shanghai. Zhu Zhisong, Member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee and Party Secretary of Pudong New Area, Shou Ziqi, Vice Chairman of CPPCC Shanghai Committee and Chairman of SFIC, Hang Yingwei, Deputy Secretary-General of the Shanghai Municipal Government, Deputy Party Secretary and Governor of Pudong New Area, Wang Xiaohan, Vice Minister of the United Front Work Department (UFWD) of the CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee and Party Secretary of SFIC attended the signing ceremony. Dong Yiwen, Member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Pudong New Area Committee and Executive Deputy Governor of Pudong New Area, and Wang Jianming, Party Member and Vice Chairman of SFIC, signed the agreement on behalf of both parties. Zhang Feng, Member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Pudong New Area Committee and Head of the UFWD of Pudong New Area, officiated the event. Wu Qiang, Deputy Governor of Pudong New Area, Zhao Lixin, Vice Chairman of SFIC, Vice Chairman of the CPPCC Pudong New Area Committee, Chairman of Pudong New Area Federation of Industry and Commerce, Chairman of GalaxyCore Shanghai Limited Corporation, Wang Junjin, Chairman of Zhejiang Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, Chairman of Juneyao Group, Chen Ailian, Secretary of Party Committee of Zhejiang Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Wanfeng Auto Holding Group, etc. witnessed the signing of private enterprises' investment projects. With the vigorous promotion of relevant departments such as Pudong Science Technology and Economic Commission and the Pudong Commission of Commerce, 18 projects including Intuitive Fosun's headquarters and industrialization base project will be established in Pudong. Wu Yifang, Chairman of Fosun Pharma, signed the contract as the project representative. With a total investment of more than RMB700 million and a total area of approximately 2.08 hectares (31.2 mu), Intuitive Fosun's headquarters and industrialization base project is a major technological innovation project of Fosun, which will be built into a local surgical robot ecosystem comprising technologies, trainings, services, support and solutions to accelerate the transformation of the medical industry locally, and benefit more patients in China. Intuitive Fosun was founded in Shanghai in 2017 as a joint venture between Intuitive Surgical, the global leader in robotic-assisted minimally invasive surgery, and Fosun Pharma, a subsidiary of Fosun, aiming at building a regional innovation center integrating research and development, manufacturing and service, thereby establishing a leading local enterprise in precision medical solutions in China. Since its establishment, Intuitive Fosun has been adhering to the values of "patient first" and the spirit of "Made in China, joint R&D, Global Sales", based in Shanghai and rooted in China. In recent years, the number of installed da Vinci robotic-assisted surgical system and the number of operations performed by the da Vinci robotic-assisted surgical system in China have steadily increased. Up to now, nearly 300 da Vinci robotic-assisted surgical systems have been installed in China, and the total number of operations performed has exceeded 320,000. Innovation-driven is one of Fosun's core competencies and an important endogenous driving force for its sustainable development. In 2021, Fosun invested RMB8.9 billion in technology and innovation. In the first half of 2022, Fosun's investment in technology and innovation reached RMB4.6 billion, representing an increase of 21% over the same period last year. As of the end of 2021, Fosun owned over 1,500 patents for inventions in total with more than 500 new products under development. In recent years, benefiting from the opportunities brought by the high-quality development of Pudong, Fosun has actively promoted the implementation of emerging industries and strengthened its development in Pudong by leveraging its global presence in the technology and innovation industry. Up to now, in addition to the three innovative pharmaceutical companies, namely Shanghai Henlius, an innovative biopharmaceutical company, Fosun Kite, the company with China's first approved CAR-T cell therapy, and Intuitive Fosun, there are also many major industries such as Pramerica Fosun Life Insurance, the first private joint-venture life insurance company in China, and Forte Woli City, to be established in Pudong. During the event, a roundtable discussion on high-quality development of the private economy was held, and Wang Qunbin spoke on behalf of entrepreneurs. Wang Qunbin said that as a Shanghai-based enterprise, Fosun is a witness, participant and beneficiary of the city's rapid development. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Zhangjiang Science City and the 30th year of establishment of Fosun. Over the past 30 years, thanks to Shanghai, Fosun has developed into an enterprise that is equipped with global operation and investment capabilities, and has accumulated profound technology and innovation capabilities. Fosun's various businesses have sustained resilience and accumulated capabilities to empower the future. "In the future, we will continue to strengthen our presence in Shanghai city and also in the whole country, and take this signing as a new start to deeply integrate into the construction of Pudong Leading Pilot Zone and contribute 'the Power of Fosun' to the new beginnings of Pudong." At the event, commemorative trophies were presented to representatives of private enterprises who made outstanding contributions to help Shanghai in fighting against COVID-19 and ensure supply for the community in Pudong New Area during that period. Zhu Wenkui, Secretary of the Party Committee of Fosun and Vice President of Fosun International received the commemorative trophy on behalf of Fosun. SOURCE Fosun UW Welcomes New Leader of Department of Petroleum Engineering Vamegh Rasouli The University of Wyoming Board of Trustees has approved the appointment of Vamegh Rasouli as the new LeNorman Endowed Leadership Chair of Petroleum Engineering in the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences. Rasouli becomes the first-ever LeNorman Chair of the department. The competitive pool of applicants for this position speaks very well of our petroleum engineering program, says Cameron Wright, UW College of Engineering and Physical Sciences Carrell Family Dean. Vamegh Rasouli brings an innovative, industry-driven approach to student development and a strong belief in academics. We are thrilled with the direction he will take petroleum engineering at UW. Rasouli got his start in the petroleum industry more than 18 years ago as a full-time academic faculty member as well as a geomechanics consulting engineer for Schlumberger, the largest oil and gas service company worldwide. This combined experience helped inspire him to bridge the gap between academia and industry by bringing the practical aspects of diverse petroleum engineering topics into the education setting. The results created the development of advanced teaching and research laboratories and education of many students with strong ties to the industry in Australia and later in the United States. My commitment to the use of modern teaching resources and project-based course offerings that are in line with industry demands will provide the best preparation for our students in obtaining internship and job opportunities, Rasouli says. During his career, Rasouli has served as the deputy head and head of petroleum engineering programs in Iran, Australia and the United States. Since July 2017, Rasouli has been the director of the Jodsaas Center for Engineering Leadership and Entrepreneurship in the College of Engineering and Mines at the University of North Dakota. His research focuses on geomechanics characterization of unconventional reservoirs. He has delivered a number of industry short courses for Schlumbergers Network of Excellence in Training program. Before his most recent position, Rasouli served as the department chair for the University of North Dakotas petroleum engineering department. He received his Ph.D. in rock mechanics from Imperial College London in 2002. Leading Coffee Franchise Donating Proceeds from Select Merchandise Sales to Longhopes Donkey Shelter & Leilani Farm Sanctuary DENVER, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii, a leading coffee franchise renowned for its premium sourcing, roasting, and quality 100% Hawaiian coffees and international blends, introduces its newest philanthropic program: Give A Hoof. The program pays tribute to its namesake the donkeys of Kona, Hawai'i. Give A Hoof: Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii Raises Money to Support Donkey Rescue Farms Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii is proud to partner and give back to two nonprofits, Longhopes Donkey Shelter and Leilani Farm Sanctuary, to support donkeys that find themselves in rescue shelters. Starting on Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii's Donkey Week - September 19, for every sale of special edition "Be A Badass" shirts and travel mugs, $1 will be donated to support a donkey in need. Customers can purchase this merchandise online at www.badasscoffeestore.com and at participating franchise locations. Give A Hoof is Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii's newest initiative under its Bad Ass For Good program. The initiative proudly represents the hard-working donkeys that inspired the brand name by raising much-needed funds to help rescue wild and abandoned donkeys under threat of destruction and help to create the safe environments that they deserve. The money raised through Give A Hoof will support Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii's sponsored donkeys, Lehua and Sandee. Legend has it that for generations, donkeys could be heard bellowing as they carried precious loads of coffee beans down the steep mountains of the Big Island. The people of Kona named these hard-working donkeys the "Bad Ass Ones" because of their reliably strong but stubborn nature in carrying their precious cargo. "The importance of the donkey's role in the early history of coffee farming in Hawaii was the inspiration for our company's name," said Scott Snyder, CEO of Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii. "Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii embraces the hard-working and reliable character traits of the 'Bad Ass Ones' as inspiration for our culture and commitment to our franchise owners and guests, so the 'Give a Hoof' program is an exciting way to share some Bad Ass For Good with our customers in their local communities." Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii was born on the Big Island of Hawaii in 1989 with the dream of sharing American-grown, premium Hawaiian coffee with customers everywhere. In addition to premium coffee from the famous Kona region of the Big Island, Bad Ass Coffee also sources from Kauai and Maui. In addition to premium Hawaiian coffees, Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii serves up a full menu of popular blended drinks, signature lattes, cold brews, teas, innovative foods with a Hawaiian twist, and branded merchandise. Bad Ass For Good is a program built to support initiatives led by Bad Ass Coffee and its franchisees who spread the Aloha Spirit in their local communities with care, compassion, and generosity by supporting meaningful causes. The brand also creates company-wide initiatives that support impactful organizations through fundraising, donations, and support. The first program under this umbrella is Cup O' Joe for a Soldier, where donations cover the cost of coffee, while Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii covers the cost of processing and shipping, to send coffee to brave service personnel overseas. Since the program began, over 14,500 bags of coffee have been shipped around the world and continue to receive requests from soldiers who are craving their kick from Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii. For more information about Bad Ass For Good and Give a Hoof, visit https://badasscoffee.com/bad-ass-for-good/. About Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii was born on the Big Island of Hawai'i in 1989 and is dedicated to sharing premium Hawaiian coffees "with a kick" from the Hawaiian Islands through 24-US franchise locations with additional 93 shops in various stages of development. Today, Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii stores also serve popular blended drinks, teas, food, along with other international premium coffees and sell popular branded merchandise with exceptional service and the Aloha Spirit. Bad Ass Coffees are available in franchise stores, online and will soon be available through grocery, hospitality, and specialty retail channels. The Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii brand and franchise is owned by Royal Aloha Franchise Company, LLC. For more information, visit badasscoffee.com and connect on Facebook and Instagram @badasscoffeeofhawaii. Franchise information is available at badasscoffeefranchise.com. LINK TO IMAGE GALLERY SOURCE Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii AI4HealthyCities Health Equity Network from the Novartis Foundation, Microsoft AI for Health and NYU School of Global Public Health uses data and analytics to target heart health inequity Additional cities will be announced soon, with each city program examining the influence of different factors impacting heart health, such as structural racism, housing or education AI4HealthyCities challenges the current reality where neighboring zip codes have drastic differences in their residents' heart health NEW YORK, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- New York is the first city to be announced in the new AI4HealthyCities Health Equity Network, which aims to reimagine how cities tackle heart health inequities. "Whether at a global or local level, health inequities are shaped by economic status and access to resources," said Dr Ann Aerts, head of the Novartis Foundation. "In New York and other cities, we believe that data and AI-driven insights can help stakeholders make informed decisions on impactful urban heart health interventions that ultimately reach the greatest number of people." AI4HealthyCities aims to bring together data from the health and health influencing sectors and apply innovative data science techniques to provide authorities and other decision makers with insights about the main drivers of cardiovascular disease the world's number one cause of death and disability.1 As health is not only influenced by quality of healthcare, but also by the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, and age, these data-driven insights could increase understanding about how heart health could be improved by modifying some of the underlying social, economic or environmental determinants of health. This includes factors as diverse as housing, access to healthy food, physical exercise or green space, education, professional occupation, pollution, migration, and the influence of structural racism and agism. The AI4HealthyCities Health Equity Network was created by the Novartis Foundation and developed in collaboration with Microsoft AI for Health. The Novartis Foundation is convening this new network as part of its commitment to help cities tackle the burning health issues of our time cardiovascular disease and health inequity by using data and analytics to re-engineer reactive care systems into proactive, predictive and preventive health systems that keep people healthy. In New York City, the initiative is run in partnership with the New York University School of Global Public Health; the public hospital system NYC Health + Hospitals; and the city health authorities. Dr Jose Pagan, Professor of Public Health Policy and Management at the NYU School of Global Public Health and Chair of the Board of Directors of NYC Health + Hospitals, New York City's public hospital system, said: "Where people live and work in New York, and their degree of social and economic disadvantage, have a bigger impact on their risk of developing cardiovascular disease than their access to healthcare. This initiative will give us better insights into the cardiovascular health of New Yorkers in an effort to identify the most pressing issues to address and shape our city's policies." The initiative could help urban policymakers better target health resources towards the interventions that could have the greatest impact on heart health. Dr Mitchell Katz, President and CEO of NYC Health + Hospitals, said: "Health equity is central to the mission and values of NYC Health + Hospitals. Finding new ways to use data on social determinants of health and cardiovascular disease can help us inform our work and delivery on the promise of enabling all New Yorkers to live their healthiest lives." Juan Lavista Ferres, Chief Data Scientist at Microsoft, said: "Combining anonymized population data from many different sources enables us to use machine learning to go down to street level in assessing levels of cardiovascular risk. If properly applied this could revolutionize preventive interventions in heart health." The Novartis Foundation will support the implementation of the initiative through global coordination and convening urban population health and cardiovascular health expertise. It will work with city authorities and their partners to translate the data insights into population health roadmaps and disseminate learnings through the AI4HealthyCities summits. The NYU School of Global Public Health will lead the research in collaboration with Microsoft AI for Health by bringing together data on cardiovascular disease and social determinants of heart health in New York City. Microsoft AI for Health will provide the data management and analytic tools. AI4HealthyCities is part of the Novartis Foundation's global vision to improve urban heart health and narrow health inequities. It builds on the Novartis Foundation's proven CARDIO4Cities approach, which reimagined a citywide response to reducing overall cardiovascular risk, in three initial pilot cities (Sao Paulo, Dakar and Ulaanbaatar). In each city, the initiative tripled blood pressure control rates, sometimes bringing the control rates to better levels than those achieved in European countries. The Novartis Foundation is currently expanding the approach to include other cardiovascular risk factors, such as high cholesterol, diabetes and obesity, in Sao Paulo, Dakar, and Ho Chi Minh City. About the Novartis Foundation The Novartis Foundation is a non-profit organization based in Switzerland. For over 40 years, we have helped improve the health of low-income populations, initially supporting disease elimination in areas such as leprosy and malaria. Today, we tackle the burning issues of our time, cardiovascular diseases and health inequity. We take a population health approach, which means bringing together existing but disconnected data to help authorities understand the root causes of unequal health outcomes, and define the best ways and best partners to remediate those. This empowers governments to transform their health systems from being reactive to proactive, predictive and preventative, and achieve health equity among the populations they serve. www.novartisfoundation.org The Novartis Foundation is on Twitter at @NovartisFDN Novartis Foundation Media Relations Contact: Carolyn Canham Tel: +41 79 334 4325 Email: [email protected] 1 https://www.who.int/health-topics/cardiovascular-diseases#tab=tab_1 SOURCE The Novartis Foundation DUBLIN, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Cyber Insurance Market - Forecasts from 2022 to 2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The cyber insurance market has a CAGR of 16.40% during the forecast period to reach US$20.432 billion by 2027, from US$7.056 billion in 2020. Growth Factors Increase in cyber attacks With the growing adoption of cloud-based technology among companies, cyber-crime cases have increased significantly. Data breach cases have also increased consequently in the last few years. According to IBM, the average overall cost of a data breach increased from US$3.86 million to US$4.24 million, the highest combined cost in the report's history. In breaches where remote work was a factor in triggering the breach, the average cost was US$1.07 million greater than in breaches where remote work was not a factor. IBM also reported that the average cost of a ransomware assault is reported to be US$4.62 million, which is more than the average cost of a data breach (US$4.24 million). The IC3 reported in March 2022 that it received over 20,000 Business Email Compromise (BEC) complaints last year, with estimated adjusted losses amounting to US$ 2.4 billion. According to the FBI, Business Email Compromise (BEC) breaches have already resulted in global losses of at least $26 billion since 2016. The cyber insurance industry is anticipated to expand significantly in response to the increasing number of cybercrimes. Healthcare to become a major player The healthcare sector has been facing constant strain since the start of the pandemic. Healthcare workers find it difficult to cope with the increasing number of cases. According to IBM, the average overall cost of a healthcare data breach grew by 29.5 percent from $7.13 million in 2020 to $9.23 million in 2021. IBM also found that the United States had the most expensive data breaches at $9.05 million per incident, with the Middle East next at $6.93 million and Canada at $5.4 million. At the time of publishing, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) had identified approximately 550 covered companies that had a data breach in 2021. As a result of these breaches, almost 40 million people's Protected Health Information (PHI) was exposed. According to Health News Florida, a breach on the Florida KidCare health plan's website revealed the personal information of about 3.5 million people who registered for coverage or were enrolled in the plan between 2013 and 2020. Medicaid, MediKids, Florida Healthy Kids, and the Children's Medical Services program are all part of Florida KidCare. Another instance of a healthcare data breach was reported on May 2021 in the 20/20 Eye Care Network Inc. The company identified unusual behavior in their Amazon Web Services environment, which delivers eye and ear care services and management. Following an examination, it was discovered that material, maybe including personal information, had been erased. Following the breach, the company faced a lawsuit. Such instances signify the importance of cyber security and how cyber insurance can help safeguard the data from these organizations. Hence, cyber insurance is expected to see a rise in the healthcare sector. Restraint Lack of focus on SMEs With the increasing cost of cyber insurance services, small and medium enterprises find it difficult to cope with the market. This has left SMEs vulnerable to cyber attacks and breaches, which has resulted in them being easy prey for cyber attackers. According to a survey by Digital.com, 51% of small businesses do not have the necessary measures to safeguard their resources in case of a cyber attack. 19% of the surveyed businesses have reported that the cyber insurance measures were too expensive for small businesses. Moreover, most major corporations have the financial resources to address the problem if it arises. Tiny enterprises, on the other hand, lack the financial capacity to pay such a large expenditure, which means that a cybersecurity assault may shut down a small company forever. Market Segmentation: By Enterprise Type Small Medium Large By End-User Industry BFSI Healthcare Telecommunications Retail By Geography North America USA Canada Mexico South America Brazil Argentina Europe Germany France United Kingdom Spain Middle East and Africa and Saudi Arabia Israel South Africa Asia Pacific China Japan South Korea India Others Key Topics Covered: 1. INTRODUCTION 2. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 4. MARKET DYNAMICS 5. CYBER INSURANCE MARKET, BY ENTERPRISE SIZE 6. CYBER INSURANCE MARKET, BY END-USER INDUSTRY 7. CYBER INSURANCE MARKET, BY Geography 8. COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT AND ANALYSIS 9. COMPANY PROFILES Companies Mentioned Allianz AIG Lloyd's AXA SA Zurich Insurance Group, Inc. Aon plc American International Group, Inc. Tokio Marine HCC Chubb Lockton Companies For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/hpnh7z 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 Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/539438/Research_and_Markets_Logo.jpg SOURCE Research and Markets DUBLIN, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Drug Api Market - Forecasts from 2022 to 2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The Global Drug API Market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 7.47% during the forecast period to reach US$286.817 billion by 2027, from US$173.204 billion in 2020.The component of medicine that generates the desired effects is known as the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API). Combination therapies, for example, have a number of active ingredients that treat different symptoms or function in different ways. APIs have generally been manufactured in-house by pharmaceutical businesses in their home nations. However, in recent years, many companies have chosen to outsource manufacturing to save money. This has resulted in considerable changes in how these pharmaceuticals are regulated, including the implementation of more stringent criteria and inspections. The global API market is segmented by drug synthesis type, application, and geography. The growth of the ageing population and increasing investment in biologic drugs is expected to boost the growth of the global active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) market. The expanding drug research and development activities for drug manufacturing, the increasing importance of generics, and the increasing consumption of biopharmaceuticals are the key factors driving the growth of the active pharmaceutical ingredients market. The rising frequency of chronic diseases is predicted to boost medicine demand, which will drive the active pharmaceutical ingredients market forward in the near future. Cardiovascular illnesses are the biggest cause of death worldwide, with an estimated 17.9 million people each year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). According to the Alzheimer's Association, 5.8 million people in the United States had Alzheimer's disease in 2018. This disease is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States, and it primarily affects people over the age of 65, with approximately 5.6 million patients falling into this age bracket. By the time the baby-boomer generation reaches 65 years of age, this number is expected to climb to 14 million, worsening the situation during the forecast period. However, the market's expansion is likely to be hampered by negative medicine price control regimes in several countries, high manufacturing costs, and strict regulatory policies. By region, North America, followed by Asia-Pacific is expected to drive the growth of the global drug market during the forecast period. Because of increased disease rates and an ageing population, the North American region is likely to enhance its market share in the future. For instance, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 795,000 people in the United States suffer from the effects of stroke each year, with ischemic stroke accounting for 87% of instances. The United States controls the majority of the regional market. Pharmaceutical companies have raised their R&D spending in order to generate higher-quality APIs, which have a direct impact on the drug's safety and efficacy. Pfizer, for example, struck a multi-year agreement with Gilead Sciences in 2020 to manufacture and supply Gilead's antiviral drug (Remdesivir) for COVID-19 treatment. During the projected period, the market in North America is expected to grow due to an increase in the prevalence of lifestyle diseases and an increase in healthcare spending. Due to rising healthcare expenditure and a high number of pharmaceutical businesses, Asia-Pacific is predicted to develop at the fastest rate in this market over the forecast period. For example, in December 2019, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories released Bortezomib, a traditional form of Millennium Pharmaceuticals' Velcade, for infusion in the US market. Bortezomib is a drug that is used to treat adult patients with multiple myeloma or mantle cell lymphoma who have had at least one previous treatment. The existence of economies like China and India, which the world relies on for low-cost API production, is a benefit for the region. This further boosts the growth in the API market in the Asia-Pacific. Key Market Segments By Drug Synthesis Type Biotech Drugs Synthetic Drugs By Drug Type Generic Drugs Branded Drugs By Application Cardiology Pulmonology Oncology Ophthalmology Neurology Orthopedic Other Applications By Geography North America USA Canada Mexico South America Brazil Argentina Others Europe Germany France United Kingdom Spain Others Middle East and Africa and Saudi Arabia Israel Others Asia Pacific China Japan South Korea India Others Key Topics Covered: 1. INTRODUCTION 2. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 4. MARKET DYNAMICS 5. GLOBAL DRUG API MARKET, BY SYNTHESIS TYPE 6. GLOBAL DRUG API MARKET, BY DRUG TYPE 7. GLOBAL DRUG API MARKET, BY APPLICATION 8. GLOBAL DRUG API MARKET, BY GEOGRAPHY 9. COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT AND ANALYSIS 10. COMPANY PROFILES Companies Mentioned Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd Novartis AG Pfizer Inc. Mylan NV BASF SE Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd Lupin Ltd Aurobindo Pharma For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/kt5d15 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 Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/539438/Research_and_Markets_Logo.jpg SOURCE Research and Markets DUBLIN, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Electricity Transmission & Distribution Equipment Market (2022-2027) by Equipment, Application, Geography, Competitive Analysis and the Impact of Covid-19 with Ansoff Analysis" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The Global Electricity Transmission & Distribution Equipment Market is estimated to be USD 286.31 Bn in 2022 and is expected to reach USD 400.44 Bn by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 6.94%. Market Segmentations The Global Electricity Transmission & Distribution Equipment Market is segmented based on Equipment, Application, and Geography. By Equipment, the market is classified into Power Cables & Wires, Switchgears, Transformers, and Transmission Tower. By Application, the market is classified into Commercial, Industrial & Agriculture, and Residential. By Geography, the market is classified into Americas, Europe , Middle-East & Africa and Asia-Pacific . Countries Studied America ( Argentina , Brazil , Canada , Chile , Colombia , Mexico , Peru , United States , Rest of Americas) , , , , , , , , Rest of Americas) Europe ( Austria , Belgium , Denmark , Finland , France , Germany , Italy , Netherlands , Norway , Poland , Russia , Spain , Sweden , Switzerland , United Kingdom , Rest of Europe ) ( , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Rest of ) Middle-East and Africa ( Egypt , Israel , Qatar , Saudi Arabia , South Africa , United Arab Emirates , Rest of MEA) and ( , , , , , , Rest of MEA) Asia-Pacific ( Australia , Bangladesh , China , India , Indonesia , Japan , Malaysia , Philippines , Singapore , South Korea , Sri Lanka , Thailand , Taiwan , Rest of Asia-Pacific ) Competitive Quadrant The report includes Competitive Quadrant, a proprietary tool to analyze and evaluate the position of companies based on their Industry Position score and Market Performance score. The tool uses various factors for categorizing the players into four categories. Some of these factors considered for analysis are financial performance over the last 3 years, growth strategies, innovation score, new product launches, investments, growth in market share, etc. Ansoff Analysis The report presents a detailed Ansoff matrix analysis for the Global Electricity Transmission & Distribution Equipment Market. Ansoff Matrix, also known as Product/Market Expansion Grid, is a strategic tool used to design strategies for the growth of the company. The matrix can be used to evaluate approaches in four strategies viz. Market Development, Market Penetration, Product Development and Diversification. The matrix is also used for risk analysis to understand the risk involved with each approach. The analyst analyses the Global Electricity Transmission & Distribution Equipment Market using the Ansoff Matrix to provide the best approaches a company can take to improve its market position. Based on the SWOT analysis conducted on the industry and industry players, the analyst has devised suitable strategies for market growth. Why buy this report? The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the Global Electricity Transmission & Distribution Equipment Market. The report includes in-depth qualitative analysis, verifiable data from authentic sources, and projections about market size. The projections are calculated using proven research methodologies. The report has been compiled through extensive primary and secondary research. The primary research is done through interviews, surveys, and observation of renowned personnel in the industry. The report includes an in-depth market analysis using Porter's 5 forces model and the Ansoff Matrix. In addition, the impact of Covid-19 on the market is also featured in the report. The report also includes the regulatory scenario in the industry, which will help you make a well-informed decision. The report discusses major regulatory bodies and major rules and regulations imposed on this sector across various geographies. The report also contains the competitive analysis using Positioning Quadrants, the analyst's Proprietary competitive positioning tool. Market Dynamics Drivers Increasing Demand for Power Generation Capacity Additions Growing Transmission and Distribution Infrastructure Growing Investment In Renewable Energy Facilities Restraints High Cost Involved in Manufacturing Equipment Opportunities Rapid Technological Advancements In Electricity Transmission And Distribution Devices Awareness Regarding The Need To Reduce Energy Losses Challenges Drop in The Electrical Energy During Transmission and Distribution Key Topics Covered: 1 Report Description 2 Research Methodology 3 Executive Summary 4 Market Dynamics 5 Market Analysis 6 Global Electricity Transmission & Distribution Equipment Market, By Equipment 7 Global Electricity Transmission & Distribution Equipment Market, By Application 8 Americas' Electricity Transmission & Distribution Equipment Market 9 Europe's Electricity Transmission & Distribution Equipment Market 10 Middle East and Africa's Electricity Transmission & Distribution Equipment Market 11 APAC's Electricity Transmission & Distribution Equipment Market 12 Competitive Landscape 13 Company Profiles 14 Appendix Companies Mentioned ABB Ltd. Acme Electric Corp. Alstom SA BHEL China XD Group Crompton Greaves Eaton Group EMCO. Ltd. Emerson Electric Company Fuji Electric Co., Ltd. General Electric Company Hitachi, Ltd. Kirloskar Electric Company Ltd. Larsen & Toubro Ltd. Mitsubishi Electric Corp. Osram Ag Panasonic Corp Schneider Electric SE Siemens Ag Hyosung Heavy Industries TBEA Co., Ltd. For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/4vpi37 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 Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/539438/Research_and_Markets_Logo.jpg SOURCE Research and Markets DUBLIN, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Frozen Potato Fries Market (2022-2027) by Taste, Distribution Channel, Geography, Competitive Analysis and the Impact of Covid-19 with Ansoff Analysis" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The Global Frozen Potato Fries Market is estimated to be USD 1.64 Bn in 2022 and is expected to reach USD 2.46 Bn by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 8.41%. Market dynamics are forces that impact the prices and behaviors of the Global Frozen Potato Fries Market stakeholders. These forces create pricing signals which result from the changes in the supply and demand curves for a given product or service. Forces of Market Dynamics may be related to macro-economic and micro-economic factors. There are dynamic market forces other than price, demand, and supply. Human emotions can also drive decisions, influence the market, and create price signals. As the market dynamics impact the supply and demand curves, decision-makers aim to determine the best way to use various financial tools to stem various strategies for speeding the growth and reducing the risks. Company Profiles The report provides a detailed analysis of the competitors in the market. It covers the financial performance analysis for the publicly listed companies in the market. The report also offers detailed information on the companies' recent development and competitive scenario. Some of the companies covered in this report are Agrarfrost GmbH & Co. KG, Bart's Potato Company, Lutosa SA, Market Pantry, McCain Foods Ltd., Waitrose Ltd., etc. Countries Studied America ( Argentina , Brazil , Canada , Chile , Colombia , Mexico , Peru , United States , Rest of Americas) , , , , , , , , Rest of Americas) Europe ( Austria , Belgium , Denmark , Finland , France , Germany , Italy , Netherlands , Norway , Poland , Russia , Spain , Sweden , Switzerland , United Kingdom , Rest of Europe ) ( , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Rest of ) Middle-East and Africa ( Egypt , Israel , Qatar , Saudi Arabia , South Africa , United Arab Emirates , Rest of MEA) and ( , , , , , , Rest of MEA) Asia-Pacific ( Australia , Bangladesh , China , India , Indonesia , Japan , Malaysia , Philippines , Singapore , South Korea , Sri Lanka , Thailand , Taiwan , Rest of Asia-Pacific ) Competitive Quadrant The report includes Competitive Quadrant, a proprietary tool to analyze and evaluate the position of companies based on their Industry Position score and Market Performance score. The tool uses various factors for categorizing the players into four categories. Some of these factors considered for analysis are financial performance over the last 3 years, growth strategies, innovation score, new product launches, investments, growth in market share, etc. Ansoff Analysis The report presents a detailed Ansoff matrix analysis for the Global Frozen Potato Fries Market. Ansoff Matrix, also known as Product/Market Expansion Grid, is a strategic tool used to design strategies for the growth of the company. The matrix can be used to evaluate approaches in four strategies viz. Market Development, Market Penetration, Product Development and Diversification. The matrix is also used for risk analysis to understand the risk involved with each approach. The analyst analyses the Global Frozen Potato Fries Market using the Ansoff Matrix to provide the best approaches a company can take to improve its market position. Based on the SWOT analysis conducted on the industry and industry players, the analyst has devised suitable strategies for market growth. Why buy this report? The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the Global Frozen Potato Fries Market. The report includes in-depth qualitative analysis, verifiable data from authentic sources, and projections about market size. The projections are calculated using proven research methodologies. The report has been compiled through extensive primary and secondary research. The primary research is done through interviews, surveys, and observation of renowned personnel in the industry. The report includes an in-depth market analysis using Porter's 5 forces model and the Ansoff Matrix. In addition, the impact of Covid-19 on the market is also featured in the report. The report also includes the regulatory scenario in the industry, which will help you make a well-informed decision. The report discusses major regulatory bodies and major rules and regulations imposed on this sector across various geographies. The report also contains the competitive analysis using Positioning Quadrants, the analyst's Proprietary competitive positioning tool. Key Topics Covered: 1 Report Description 2 Research Methodology 3 Executive Summary 4 Market Dynamics 4.1 Drivers 4.1.1 Rising Popularity of Western Style Cuisine 4.1.2 Increasing Incomes, Urbanization, and Changing Lifestyles 4.1.3 Convenient and Offered Consistent Quality and Taste 4.1.4 Increase Utilization by the Food Service Sector and the Retail Sector 4.2 Restraints 4.2.1 Raw Product Supply Limitations 4.3 Opportunities 4.3.1 Expanding Fast Food Restaurant Chains and Quick Service Restaurants (QSRs) 4.3.2 Providers Expanding Processing Capacity 4.4 Challenges 4.4.1 Health Risks Associated with Frozen Food 5 Market Analysis 5.1 Regulatory Scenario 5.2 Porter's Five Forces Analysis 5.3 Impact of COVID-19 5.4 Ansoff Matrix Analysis 6 Global Frozen Potato Fries Market, By Taste 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Salted 6.3 Unsalted 7 Global Frozen Potato Fries Market, By Distribution Channel 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Convenience Stores 7.3 Hypermarkets 7.4 Online Stores 7.5 Supermarkets 8 Americas' Frozen Potato Fries Market 8.1 Introduction 8.2 Argentina 8.3 Brazil 8.4 Canada 8.5 Chile 8.6 Colombia 8.7 Mexico 8.8 Peru 8.9 United States 8.10 Rest of Americas 9 Europe's Frozen Potato Fries Market 9.1 Introduction 9.2 Austria 9.3 Belgium 9.4 Denmark 9.5 Finland 9.6 France 9.7 Germany 9.8 Italy 9.9 Netherlands 9.10 Norway 9.11 Poland 9.12 Russia 9.13 Spain 9.14 Sweden 9.15 Switzerland 9.16 United Kingdom 9.17 Rest of Europe 10 Middle East and Africa's Frozen Potato Fries Market 10.1 Introduction 10.2 Egypt 10.3 Israel 10.4 Qatar 10.5 Saudi Arabia 10.6 South Africa 10.7 United Arab Emirates 10.8 Rest of MEA 11 APAC's Frozen Potato Fries Market 11.1 Introduction 11.2 Australia 11.3 Bangladesh 11.4 China 11.5 India 11.6 Indonesia 11.7 Japan 11.8 Malaysia 11.9 Philippines 11.10 Singapore 11.11 South Korea 11.12 Sri Lanka 11.13 Thailand 11.14 Taiwan 11.15 Rest of Asia-Pacific 12 Competitive Landscape 12.1 Competitive Quadrant 12.2 Market Share Analysis 12.3 Strategic Initiatives 12.3.1 M&A and Investments 12.3.2 Partnerships and Collaborations 12.3.3 Product Developments and Improvements 13 Company Profiles 13.1 Agrarfrost GmbH & Co. KG 13.2 Agristo NV 13.3 ALDI Inc. 13.4 Alexia Foods, Inc. 13.5 ARPICO 13.6 Aviko B.V. 13.7 Bart's Potato Co. 13.8 Farm Frites International B.V. 13.9 H.J. Heinz Company 13.10 HomeBrands, A.S 13.11 J. R. Simplot 13.12 Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. 13.13 Lutosa SA 13.14 Market Pantry 13.15 McCain Foods Ltd. 13.16 Ore-Ida Foods, Inc. 13.17 Podravka d.d 13.18 Tarai Foods Ltd. 13.19 Waitrose Ltd. 13.20 Walmart Inc. 14 Appendix For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/qmchbg Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager [email protected] For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/539438/Research_and_Markets_Logo.jpg SOURCE Research and Markets NOIDA, India, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a new report published by UnivDatos Markets Insights, the Greenhouse Film Market is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 7% from 2021-2027 reaching USD 9 billion by 2027. The analysis has been segmented into Type (LDPE, LLDPE, EVA, and Others); Thickness (80 to 150 Micron, above 150 to 200 Micron, and more than 200 Micron); Region/Country. Click here to view the Report Description & TOC The greenhouse film market report has been aggregated by collecting informative data on various dynamics such as market drivers, restraints, and opportunities. This innovative report makes use of several analyses to get a closer outlook on the greenhouse film market. The greenhouse film market report offers a detailed analysis of the latest industry developments and trending factors in the market that are influencing the market growth. Furthermore, this statistical market research repository examines and estimates the greenhouse film market at the global and regional levels. Request for Sample Pages https://univdatos.com/get-a-free-sample-form-php/?product_id=19337 Market Overview The growing population and increasing awareness of healthy food are some of the driving forces behind the horticulture industry's increasing focus on sustainable production and higher profit margins. Greenhouse farming is one of the sustainable solutions to provide high productivity resulting in high-profit margins. These farming systems use films that provide a closed structure for the maintenance of a controlled growing environment for crops. The films help in trapping the sun's rays and create a warm humid atmosphere for the efficient growth of crops. Reduction in agricultural arable land is further supporting the market of greenhouse films market. By using greenhouse films farmers can improve their productivity without the requirement of additional land. However, the high initial requirement is one of the key factors which resist the growth of the market mainly in developing nations. Setting up a greenhouse facility would necessitate a significant cash commitment as well as prior planning. Apart from the establishment of the primary facility, there are various other components that require money and financial assistance in order to work as a whole system. Click here to view the Report Description & TOC https://univdatos.com/report/greenhouse-film-market/ The global greenhouse film market report is studied thoroughly with several aspects that would help stakeholders in making their decisions more curated. Based on type, the market is categorized into LDPE, LLDPE, EVA, and others. Among these, LDPE accounted for a significant share in the market and is expected to showcase significant growth during the forecast period. This can be attributed to the low cost of LDPE film. Further, the film provides better thickness, optical properties, and resistance to excess sunlight and the external environment. As a result of which both consumers and manufacturers focus more on LDPE base greenhouse films. Based on thickness, the market is categorized into 80 to 150 microns, above 150 to 200 microns, and more than 200 microns. Among these, above 150 to 200 microns are likely to showcase robust growth during the forecast period. 150 to 200-micron films are preferred in developed nations of Europe . This range of films provides optimum benefits over others at a considerable price. UV stability for resistance to solar aging, high light transmission, high strength for harsh weather conditions, and additives to ensure good light transfusion are some of its benefits. Have a Look at the Chapters - https://univdatos.com/report/greenhouse-film-market/ Greenhouse Film Market Geographical Segmentation Includes: North America ( United States , Canada , and Rest of North America ) ( , , and Rest of ) Europe ( Germany , United Kingdom , Spain , Italy , France , and the Rest of Europe ) ( , , , , , and the Rest of ) Asia-Pacific ( China , Japan , India , Australia , and the Rest of Asia-Pacific ) ( , , , , and the Rest of ) Rest of the World Asia-Pacific accounted for a significant portion of the global greenhouse films market and is expected to showcase robust growth during the forecast period. Countries like China and India are among the largest agricultural crops producers. Further, the large and growing population of the region is increasing the pressure to improve agricultural productivity in order to meet the growing demand. Thereby, creating a large opportunity for the greenhouse farming system and film providers. However, less mechanization rate, low wages in farming activities, and less awareness regarding unconventional techniques are some of the factors which are providing resistance to the market. Although, governments in many countries are supporting greenhouse farming techniques by offering several schemes. In India, the central as well as state or local governments and agriculture bodies provide subsidies. For instance, National Horticulture Board, the regulatory body in India for greenhouse farming, provides a subsidy of 50% on a project of USD 0.15 million (INR 112 lakhs) maximum ceiling per beneficiary. Further, Gujarat Agro Industries Corporation provides a 6% subsidy on loan interest to a maximum limit of USD 5.26 thousand (INR 4 lakhs). The major players targeting the market include Ginegar Plastic Products Ltd. PLASTIKA KRITIS S.A. RKW Group Berry Global Inc. Grupo Armando Alvarez Polifilm Extrusion GmbH Essen Multipack Limited Agriplast EIFFEL S.P.A. Mitsubishi Chemical Agri Dream Co. Ltd. Competitive Landscape The degree of competition among prominent global companies has been elaborated by analyzing several leading key players operating worldwide. 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 Greenhouse Film Market. The major players have been analyzed by using research methodologies for getting insight views on global competition. Key questions resolved through this analytical market research report include: What are the latest trends, new patterns, and technological advancements in the greenhouse film market? Which factors are influencing the greenhouse film market over the forecast period? What are the global challenges, threats, and risks in the greenhouse film market? Which factors are propelling and restraining the greenhouse film market? What are the demanding global regions of the greenhouse film market? What will be the global market size in the upcoming years? What are the crucial market acquisition strategies and policies applied by global companies? We understand the requirement of different businesses, regions, and countries, we offer customized reports as per your requirements of business nature and geography. Please let us know If you have any custom needs. About UnivDatos Market Insights (UMI) Browse Other Related Research Reports from UnivDatos Market Insights Greenhouse Film Market Report Coverage Report Attribute Details Base year 2020 Forecast period 2021-2027 Growth momentum Accelerate at a CAGR of over 7% Market size 2027 USD 9 billion Regional analysis North America, Europe, APAC, Rest of World Major contributing region APAC to witness highest CAGR in Global Greenhouse Film Market Key countries covered United States, Canada, Germany, United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, France, China, Japan, India, and Australia Companies profiled Ginegar Plastic Products Ltd., PLASTIKA KRITIS S.A., RKW Group, Berry Global Inc., Grupo Armando Alvarez, Polifilm Extrusion GmbH, Essen Multipack Limited, Agriplast, EIFFEL S.P.A., and Mitsubishi Chemical Agri Dream Co. Ltd. Report Scope Market Trends, Drivers, and Restraints; Revenue Estimation and Forecast; Segmentation Analysis; Impact of COVID-19; Demand and Supply Side Analysis; Porter's Five Forces Analysis; Company Profiling Segments Covered By Type; By Thickness; By Region/Country 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. Contact UnivDatos Market Insights Ankita Gupta Director Operations Ph: +91-7838604911 Email: [email protected] Website: https://univdatos.com/ Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1225049/UnivDatos_Logo.jpg SOURCE UnivDatos Market Insights Pvt. Ltd. https://spendedge.com/sample-procurement-report/organization-and-change-management-consulting-sourcing-and-procurement-intelligence-report Who are the Top Suppliers in the Organization and Change Management Consulting Market? The report analyzes the market's competitive landscape and offers information on several top suppliers. Some of the leading Organization and Change Management Consulting suppliers profiled extensively in this report include: Accenture CGI Willis Towers Watson These are a few of the key suppliers in Organization and Change Management Consulting market. Discover more about these vendors, including the detailed analysis of procurement strategies deployed by major category end-users across several industries while sourcing for Organization and Change Management Consulting requirements. https://spendedge.com/sample-procurement-report/organization-and-change-management-consulting-sourcing-and-procurement-intelligence-report What are the Most Adopted Procurement Strategies for the Organization and Change Management Consulting Market? The research includes a complete analysis of the most commonly used procurement strategies by buyers across sectors, as well as an insight into these strategies' innovation, regulatory compliance, quality, supply, and cost. Adopting these procurement tactics would enable buyers to minimize category TCO and achieve cost savings while sourcing Organization and Change Management Consulting. What Are the Most Effective Price Strategy That a Vendor Can Adopt and What is The Forecasted Incremental Spend? It is critical to monitor current and future pricing changes in order to maximize the value of the purchase. Price forecasts can assist in purchase planning, especially when combined with constant monitoring of price-influencing factors. The market expects an incremental spend of USD 1.97 billion over the forecast period as a result of several market drivers prevalent across multiple geographies. In addition, the sourcing and procurement report discusses different cost-cutting factors by analyzing the following criteria: Identify favorable opportunities in Organization and Change Management Consulting TCO (total cost of ownership) Expected changes in price forecast and factors driving the current and future price changes Identify pricing models that offer the most rewarding opportunities https://spendedge.com/sample-procurement-report/organization-and-change-management-consulting-sourcing-and-procurement-intelligence-report Which are the Key Regions for Organization and Change Management Consulting Market? The Organization and Change Management Consulting market will register an incremental spend of about USD 1.97 billion during the forecast period. However, only a few regions will drive the majority of this growth. Moreover, on the supply side, North America, Europe, and APAC will have the maximum influence owing to the supplier base. The growth is expected to be primarily driven by increasing demand and adoption of the category across those few regions. Smart Procurement Starts Here: SpendEdge's procurement intelligence platform is the go-to tool for companies looking to access latest procurement research insights and supplier data on an easy-to-use platform: Subscribe now for free, to get instant access to over 1000 market-ready procurement intelligence reports without any additional costs or commitment. Table of Content Executive Summary Market Insights Category Pricing Insights Cost-saving Opportunities Best Practices Category Ecosystem Category Management Strategy Category Management Enablers Suppliers Selection Suppliers under Coverage US Market Insights Category scope Appendix About SpendEdge: SpendEdge shares your passion for driving sourcing and procurement excellence. We are the preferred procurement market intelligence partner for 120+ Fortune 500 firms and other leading companies across numerous industries. Our strength lies in delivering robust, real-time procurement market intelligence reports and solutions. Contacts SpendEdge Anirban Choudhury Marketing Manager Ph No: +1 (872) 206-9340 https://www.spendedge.com/contact-us SOURCE SpendEdge IRVINE, Calif., Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Golden State Foods (GSF), one of the largest diversified suppliers to the foodservice and retail industries, is pleased to announce the promotion of Shane Blanchette to Group Vice President, Continuous Improvement, Quality Custom Distribution (QCD). Based in Frisco, Texas, Blanchette now oversees QCD's strategic continuous improvement initiatives, including warehouse and transportation operations, new facility builds, optimization projects, and quality standards to support strategic customer initiatives and overall growth. Shane Blanchette, Group Vice President, Continuous Improvement, Quality Custom Distribution (QCD). "Shane brings a fresh, energetic approach to continuous improvement with his keen understanding of the operation and his solid partnership with our facility teams in the field," said QCD's Vice President, Logistics Stephen Wetterau. "His leadership is a great example of our Creed and Values, as he strives to make our associates' jobs easier and our teams more effective for the benefit of our customers. Shane's focus on ensuring our people are successful enables our customers' success." A 25-year industry veteran and QCD associate since 2016, Shane has supported the company's growth as an integral leader driving optimization and championing best practices across the U.S. network of distribution centers. In his previous QCD role as Senior Director, Operations, Shane led his team to continually improve processes, including leadership of the logistics operations hub, optimization of routing and facility layouts, and implementation of business intelligence to inform decision-making. In 2022, he traveled to GSF's Cairo, Egypt facility to learn, partner, and support the GSF distribution team by sharing best practices and leadership. As QCD's Director of Customer Development from 2017-2020, Shane earned a 2019 Stellar Performance Award, GSF's highest individual honor, for his expertise, knowledge, and leadership approach in cultivating key strategic partnerships with QCD customers, which led to significant business growth. He joined QCD Los Angeles as Senior Operations Manager with responsibility for monitoring and implementing performance initiatives, managing departmental financial results, and supporting a positive work culture for nearly 200 associates. Prior to QCD, Shane led personnel and activities focused on sales, revenue, market performance, and strategic opportunities as the Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Quality Beverage (Auburn, Massachusetts). Earlier in his career, he held various beverage industry sales positions with Anheuser-Busch (Long Island City, New York) and New Hampshire Distributors (Concord, New Hampshire). Originally from the East Coast, Shane earned his bachelor's degree in Sociology from the University of New Hampshire (Durham, New Hampshire). About Golden State Foods Golden State Foods (GSF), one of the largest diversified suppliers to the foodservice and retail industries, feeds one billion people every day! Headquartered in Irvine, California, the multi-national company is values-based with proven performance in superior quality, innovation, and customer service. Established in 1947, GSF and its family of companies currently service 200+ leading brands (125,000+ restaurants/stores in more than 50 countries) from its 50 locations on five continents. Its core businesses include: manufacturing of liquid products, protein, produce, dairy/aseptic, and provides custom distribution services. The company employs approximately 6,000 associates and is management-owned and run. Golden State Foods also operates a national non-profit organization, the GSF Foundation. Media Contact: Emma LaPalermo, Porter Novelli [email protected] (630) 818-7620 SOURCE Golden State Foods JERSEY CITY, N.J., Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Goya Foods, the largest Hispanic owned food company in the United States, launches its very own online store just in time for Hispanic Heritage Month and holiday celebrations. Starting today, September 19, 2022 loyal consumers across the nation can order their favorite Goya products directly from Goya's new online store and have them shipped directly to their home. Consumers across the nation can now shop for their favorite Goya products at Goya's very own online store. Go to shop.goya.com "We're excited to expand our digital footprint and give consumers across the country another easy way to buy their favorite Goya products who otherwise may not have access to them. Despite the pandemic and the potential for a global food crisis, we have been working courageously to develop new and exciting products that are both nutritious and affordable," said Bob Unanue, President and CEO of Goya Foods. Goya's new online store offers a wide variety of in-demand household staples and specialty products to purchase including GOYA Adobo, Sazon, Chipotles, Anchovy Stuffed Olives, Rice and Beans, while also providing access to newly launched Goya products like GOYA Latin Roots Chips, Baked Fruit Chips and Aloe Vera Drinks that are more difficult to find in local supermarkets. Consumers can expect fast shipping anywhere in the contiguous United States and will be able to purchase individual units and larger quantities, as well as variety packs including essential beans, seasonings, adobo, plantain chips, nectars, cookies and more. Goya is also expected to launch a variety of Goya branded merchandise including t-shirts, polos, hats, sweatshirts, aprons, cutting boards, and more, for the upcoming holiday season. For more information, please visit: https://shop.goya.com/ About Goya Foods Founded in 1936, Goya Foods, Inc. is America's largest Hispanic-owned food company, and has established itself as the leader in Latin American food and condiments. Goya manufactures, packages, and distributes over 2,500 high-quality food products from Spain, the Caribbean, Mexico, Central, and South America. Goya products have their roots in the culinary traditions of Hispanic communities around the world. The combination of authentic ingredients, robust seasonings, and convenient preparation makes Goya products ideal for every taste and every table. For more information on Goya Foods, please visit www.goya.com. Press Contact: Natalie J. Maniscalco 845.659.6506 [email protected] SOURCE Goya Foods Screen image captured at Beijing Aerospace Control Center on Sept. 17, 2022 shows Shenzhou-14 astronaut Liu Yang, who is inside the core module, supporting her crewmates who have successfully exited the space station lab module Wentian to conduct extravehicular activities (EVAs). (Xinhua/Guo Zhongzheng) BEIJING, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- China's Shenzhou-14 astronauts have completed their extravehicular activities (EVAs), the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said on Saturday. At 1:35 p.m. (Beijing Time), Cai Xuzhe opened the hatch of Wentian's airlock cabin. By 3:33 p.m., both Cai and Chen Dong were outside. The pair returned to the lab module at 5:47 p.m. after about five hours of EVAs, according to the CMSA, which has declared the mission a complete success. During the EVAs, astronaut Liu Yang was inside the core module, supporting her crewmates. They have completed a series of tasks, including the installation of extravehicular assistance handles and the extended pump set of the load circuits. They also verified the extravehicular rescue capability. The EVAs have further examined the coordination capability of astronauts and the small mechanical arm, and verified the functional performance of Wentian's airlock cabin and supporting facilities for EVAs. Screen image captured at Beijing Aerospace Control Center on Sept. 17, 2022 shows Shenzhou-14 astronaut Chen Dong (R) and Cai Xuzhe both outside conducting extravehicular activities (EVAs). (Xinhua/Guo Zhongzheng) Screen image captured at Beijing Aerospace Control Center on Sept. 17, 2022 shows Shenzhou-14 astronaut Cai Xuzhe closing the hatch of Wentian's airlock cabin after finishing extravehicular activities (EVAs). (Xinhua/Guo Zhongzheng) Screen image captured at Beijing Aerospace Control Center on Sept. 17, 2022 shows Shenzhou-14 astronaut Chen Dong returning to space station lab module Wentian after finishing extravehicular activities (EVAs). (Xinhua/Guo Zhongzheng) Screen image captured at Beijing Aerospace Control Center on Sept. 17, 2022 shows Shenzhou-14 astronaut Chen Dong (R) returning to space station lab module Wentian after finishing extravehicular activities (EVAs). (Xinhua/Guo Zhongzheng) Screen image captured at Beijing Aerospace Control Center on Sept. 17, 2022 shows Shenzhou-14 astronaut Chen Dong (L) and Cai Xuzhe returning to space station lab module Wentian after finishing extravehicular activities (EVAs). (Xinhua/Guo Zhongzheng) Screen image captured at Beijing Aerospace Control Center on Sept. 17, 2022 shows Shenzhou-14 astronaut Cai Xuzhe returning to space station lab module Wentian after finishing extravehicular activities (EVAs). (Xinhua/Guo Zhongzheng) Marla Dukharan, right, talks tourism economics with Dr. Hyginus Leon, president of the Caribbean Development Bank, during a Caribbean Aviation Day event held in the Cayman Islands. VANCOUVER, BC, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Graphite One Inc. (TSXV: GPH) (OTCQX: GPHOF) ("Graphite One" or the "Company") announces that further to the news release disseminated on August 23, 2022, the Company has revised the pricing of a shares for debt transaction (the "Debt Settlement Transaction") to settle outstanding debt in an aggregate of US$6,775,230, including US$1,819,230 of accrued interest, owing pursuant to an unsecured loan facility dated September 6, 2019, as amended and extended, between Taiga Mining Company, Inc. ("Taiga") and the Company. Pursuant to the revised terms of the Debt Settlement Transaction, the Company will issue 9,296,328 common shares (the "Settlement Shares") at a deemed price of CA$0.95 per share to Taiga in full settlement of the debt. The Settlement Shares will be subject to a statutory four months and one day hold period pursuant to applicable securities laws. The Debt Settlement Transaction is subject to final approval by the TSX Venture Exchange. The Debt Settlement Transaction constitutes a "related party transaction" within the meaning of Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transaction ("MI 61-101") as Taiga is an insider of the Company. The Company is relying on exemptions from the valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements of MI 61-101 contained in sections 5.5(a) and 5.7(1)(a) of MI 61-101, as the fair market value of the Debt Settlement Transaction with Taiga does not exceed 25% of the market capitalization of the Company, as determined in accordance with MI 61-101. The Company did not file a material change report in respect of the related party transaction at least 21 days before the closing of the Debt Settlement Transaction, which the Company deems reasonable in the circumstances as the Company wishes to improve its financial position by reducing accrued liabilities as soon as possible. As a result of this transaction, Taiga now holds 30,150,191 common shares and 8,768,189 warrants to purchase additional common shares of the Company. Additional information concerning the foregoing will be contained in the Early Warning Report to be filed by Taiga on SEDAR under the Company's profile. About Graphite One Inc. GRAPHITE ONE INC. (GPH: TSXV; GPHOF: OTCQB) continues to develop its Graphite One Project (the "Project"), with the goal of becoming an American producer of high-grade anode materials that is integrated with a domestic graphite resource. The Project is proposed as a vertically integrated enterprise to mine, process and manufacture high grade anode materials primarily for the lithiumion electric vehicle battery market. As set forth in the Company's 2022 Pre-Feasibility Study, potential graphite mineralization mined from the Company's Graphite Creek Property is expected to be processed into concentrate at a graphite processing plant. The proposed processing plant would be located on the Graphite Creek Property situated on the Seward Peninsula about 60 kilometers north of Nome, Alaska. Graphite anode materials and other valueadded graphite products would be manufactured from the concentrate and other materials at the Company's proposed advanced graphite materials manufacturing facility expected to be located in Washington. The Company intends to make a production decision on the Project upon the completion of a Feasibility Study. On Behalf of the Board of Directors "Anthony Huston" (signed) 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. This release includes certain statements that may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that the Company expects, including but not limited to delays or uncertainties with regulatory approvals, including that of the TSX Venture Exchange, are forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include market prices, exploitation and exploration successes, continuity of mineralization, uncertainties related to the ability to obtain necessary permits, licenses and title and delays due to third party opposition, changes in government policies regarding mining and natural resource exploration and exploitation, and continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on this forward-looking information, which is given as of the date it is expressed in this press release, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking information, except as required by applicable securities laws. For more information on the Company, investors should review the Company's continuous disclosure filings that are available at www.sedar.com. SOURCE Graphite One Inc. The surging demand from the chemical industry and the growing focus on improving efficiency standards, Also, the growing industrial expansions occurring in developing economies are the factors, expected to drive the Heat Exchangers Market. JERSEY CITY, N.J., Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Verified Market Research recently published a report, "Heat Exchangers Market" By Type (Shell And Tube Heat Exchangers, Plate And Frame Heat Exchangers, Air Cooled Heat Exchangers), By Application (Chemical, Petrochemical And Oil And Gas, Food And Beverage, Power Generation), and By Geography. According to the extensive research done by Verified Market Research experts, the Heat Exchangers Market size was valued at USD 16.03 Billion in 2020 and is projected to reach USD 25.9 Billion by 2028, growing at a CAGR of 6.14% from 2021 to 2028, over the forecast period. Download PDF Brochure: https://www.verifiedmarketresearch.com/download-sample/?rid=7951 Browse in-depth TOC on "Heat Exchangers Market" 202 - Pages 126 Tables 37 Figures Key Developments Partnerships, Collaborations, and Agreements In August 2018 , Granges AB, a Swedish company, entered into a partnership with Mitsubishi Aluminium Co., Ltd., a Japanese company, to establish a new manufacturing plant for sheet materials of automobiles heat exchangers in North America . Mergers and Acquisitions In December 2018 , Alfa Laval announced an agreement of an agreement to acquire certain innovations and activities from Airec, a Malmo, Sweden -based innovation company with a patent portfolio for dimple asymmetry heat exchangers. The new company is integrated into Alfa Laval's Energy Division's Brazed & Fusion Bonded Heat Exchangers unit. Product Launches and Product Expansions In 2019, Alfa Laval established a plant in the United States to manufacture brazed plate heat exchangers. This manufacturing facility meets North America's increasing demands for heat exchangers. It also affords quick response times and shorter lead times to its US customers, which allow the company to boost profits from the North American region. Global Heat Exchangers Market Overview A heat exchanger is a device that allows heat to be transferred from one medium to another. A hydraulic oil cooler, which uses cold water or air to remove heat from heated oil, is an example of a heat exchanger. Swimming pool heat exchangers that use hot water from a boiler or solar-heated water circuit to heat the pool water are another example. Heat exchangers are widely utilised in the chemical, petrochemical, and oil and gas industries, as well as in food and beverage and power generation. Over the anticipated period, the Heat Exchangers Market is anticipated to be driven by the soaring demand from the chemical industry and the expanding emphasis on raising efficiency requirements. Additionally, the market is anticipated to increase in the upcoming years due to rising energy prices and industrial expansions taking place in developing economies like those in the Asia-Pacific region. Additionally, it is anticipated that the market will be stimulated during the anticipated years by both the rising demand for nuclear power generation and technical advancement. Amongst the regions North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Rest of the World, Europe will hold the greatest market share due to the rising chemical demand in numerous end-use industries. The Asia Pacific region is expected to grow at the fastest rate because of rising energy consumption, increased construction activity, and the expansion of the chemical and power generation industries. Key Players The major players in the market are Alfa Laval, Johnson Controls International, Kelvion Holdings, Danfoss, SPX Corporation and Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing, Hindustan Dorr-Oliver, Hisaka Works, Xylem, API Heat Transfer, and Guntner. Verified Market Research has segmented the Global Heat Exchangers Market On the basis of Type, Application, and Geography. Heat Exchangers Market, by Type Shell & Tube Heat Exchangers Plate & Frame Heat Exchangers Air Cooled Heat Exchangers Others Heat Exchangers Market, by Application Chemical Petrochemical and Oil & Gas Food & Beverage Power Generation Others Heat Exchangers Market, by Geography North America U.S Canada Mexico Europe Germany France U.K Rest of Europe Asia Pacific China Japan India Rest of Asia Pacific ROW Middle East & Africa & Latin America Browse Related Reports: Heat Recovery Steam Generator Market By Power Rating (<50MW, >300MW), By Application (Combined Cycle, CHP), By End User (Utilities, Chemicals), By Geography, And Forecast Ductless Heating And Cooling Systems Market By Type (Split System, Window Air Conditioning System.), By Application (Residential Buildings, Commercial Buildings) Size By Product (Single-ended, Double-ended), By Application (Liquid, Air, Solid), By Geography, And Forecast Agriculture Heat Exchanger Market By Product (Plate and Tubular), By Application (Farm Buildings, Greenhouse), By Geographic Scope And Forecast, By Geography, And Forecast Steam Heat Exchanger Market By Product (Direct Heating Equipment, Indirect Heating Equipment), By Application (Home Use, Industrial Use, Other) By Geography, And Forecast Top 5 Exhaust Heat Recovery Systems maintaining temperature and reduce CO2 Visualize Heat Exchangers Market using Verified Market Intelligence -: Verified Market Intelligence is our BI Enabled Platform for narrative storytelling in this market. VMI offers in-depth forecasted trends and accurate Insights on over 20,000+ emerging & niche markets, helping you make critical revenue-impacting decisions for a brilliant future. VMI provides a holistic overview and global competitive landscape with respect to Region, Country, Segment, and Key players of your market. Present your Market Report & findings with an inbuilt presentation feature saving over 70% of your time and resources for Investor, Sales & Marketing, R&D, and Product Development pitches. VMI enables data delivery In Excel and Interactive PDF formats with over 15+ Key Market Indicators for your market. About Us Verified Market Research is a leading Global Research and Consulting firm servicing over 5000+ customers. Verified Market Research provides advanced analytical research solutions while offering information enriched research studies. We offer insight into strategic and growth analyses, Data necessary to achieve corporate goals and critical revenue decisions. Our 250 Analysts and SME's offer a high level of expertise in data collection and governance use industrial techniques to collect and analyze data on more than 15,000 high impact and niche markets. Our analysts are trained to combine modern data collection techniques, superior research methodology, expertise and years of collective experience to produce informative and accurate research. We study 14+ categories from Semiconductor & Electronics, Chemicals, Advanced Materials, Aerospace & Defense, Energy & Power, Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals, Automotive & Transportation, Information & Communication Technology, Software & Services, Information Security, Mining, Minerals & Metals, Building & construction, Agriculture industry and Medical Devices from over 100 countries. Contact Us Mr. Edwyne Fernandes Verified Market Research US: +1 (650)-781-4080 UK: +44 (753)-715-0008 APAC: +61 (488)-85-9400 US Toll Free: 1 (800)-782-1768 Email: [email protected] Web: https://www.verifiedmarketresearch.com/ Follow Us: LinkedIn | Twitter Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1315349/Verified_Market_Research_Logo.jpg SOURCE Verified Market Research BANGKOK, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- HUAWEI CONNECT 2022 kicked off in Bangkok today. Ken Hu, Rotating Chairman of Huawei, delivered a keynote speech, Unleash Digital. Zhang Ping'an, CEO of Huawei Cloud, announced plans to launch new Regions in Indonesia and Ireland, unveiled the "Go Cloud, Go Global" ecosystem plan, and reaffirmed the commitment to Everything as a Service. Jacqueline Shi, President of Huawei Cloud's Global Marketing and Sales Service, said that Huawei Cloud will launch more than 15 innovations globally, covering cloud native, AI development, data governance, digital content, software development, and MacroVerse aPaaS. According to Ken Hu, organizations should embrace the cloud for leapfrog development as digital smart tech is the future. Huawei Cloud has integrated more than 240 services and more than 50,000 APIs to bring the latest AI, application development, and big data technologies and development tools to the cloud. The innovation and expertise of Huawei Cloud will help more organizations move to the cloud faster and better. Huawei Cloud is committed to building one global network, which allows services on Huawei Cloud to be accessed within 50 milliseconds from anywhere on the globe. Enterprises will no longer need to build their own data centers. Huawei Cloud will launch new Regions in Indonesia and Ireland. By the end of this year, Huawei Cloud will have deployed 29 Regions and 75 availability zones (AZs) covering more than 170 countries and regions. Zhang Ping'an also released the "Go Cloud, Go Global" plan. With a focus on Everything as a Service, Huawei Cloud will share its localized experience acquired in the services for more than 170 countries and regions, as well as insight into businesses and industries in major regions, and contribute its technologies and solutions to a global ecosystem. Such effort will help more enterprises use cloud better and go global more successfully. Huawei Cloud sticks to the approach of "by local, for local" for building a global digital ecosystem. Over the next three years, Huawei Cloud will provide support for at least 10,000 promising startups around the world, with support including cost optimization, technical support, entrepreneurship training, and other business resources. More than 120 enterprises in Asia Pacific have joined the Huawei Cloud Startup Program. Huawei is also honing the industry-leading platform for innovations on the cloud. In her speech, Jacqueline Shi introduced 15 innovative Huawei Cloud services, including CCE Turbo, Ubiquitous Cloud Native Service (UCS), Pangu wave model, DataArts LakeFormation, Virtual Live, CodeCheck and CloudTest, KooMessage, KooSearch, and KooGallery. Looking ahead, Huawei Cloud will continue to enable industries through Infrastructure as a Service, Technology as a Service, and Expertise as a Service, to unleash digital with Everything as a Service and build the cloud foundation for an intelligent world. SOURCE HC2022 ORLANDO, Fla., Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- A new survey from Ligonier Ministries reveals that the overwhelming majority of U.S. evangelicals have accepted a view of human identity that aligns more with American society than the teaching of the Bible. Ligonier's biennial State of Theology survey provides insights into the views of Americans on a wide range of Christian beliefs. This comprehensive report provides key findings on beliefs about God, truth, the Bible, ethical issues, and worship. Conducted with LifeWay Research, the survey polled a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults. The complete 2022 results are now available at TheStateofTheology.com . In 2022, 71 percent of polled U.S. adults agreed with the statement that "Everyone is born innocent in the eyes of God." While this is unsurprising, given the influence of humanistic philosophies and worldviews in America that teach self-determinism and a view of humankind as basically good, the survey also showed that 65 percent of polled evangelical Christians agreed with this same statement. The fact that nearly two-thirds of U.S. evangelicals believe that humans are born in a state of innocence reveals that the biblical teaching of original sin is not embraced by most evangelicals. The Bible, however, makes clear that all humans are "by nature children of wrath" (Eph. 2:3). In other words, we are not sinners because we sin; rather, we sin because we are sinners. This truth is foundational for an accurate understanding of the gospel and of our absolute need for the grace of God in salvation. Chris Larson, president and CEO of Ligonier Ministries, said: "Absent an understanding of the holiness of God, it is unsurprising that most people do not acknowledge the depth of their sinfulness or their need for a Savior. Yet, the fact that many Christians have been so poorly or wrongly taught on this most basic of doctrines is jarring. It was Ligonier's founder, Dr. R.C. Sproul, who often reminded us that our corruption is a radical corruption, because it goes right to the root of our humanity. It affects every part of our character and being. We must come to terms with who we are by natureviolators of God's law who are justly exposed to His wrath, having no hope of forgiveness apart from His mercy in Jesus Christ. We aim for the results of the 2022 State of Theology survey to serve as a wake-up call to rouse Christians to more serious and active discipleship in the Scriptures. Eternal life and death are at stake, and we cannot afford to treat lightly that which God has revealed with utmost gravity." In addition to reviewing the official survey results, anyone may take the survey for themselves at TheStateofTheology.com . The website also features an option to create private group surveys for use by churches, classes, and more. All are encouraged to participate in these secure, private, and anonymous surveys to help them facilitate discussion and better understand the beliefs of people in their communities. LifeWay Research surveyed a nationally representative sample of 3,011 adults in the United States, including 817 professing evangelicals. The survey was carried out from January 5 to 23, 2022. More information can be found at TheStateofTheology.com . Evangelicals were defined by LifeWay Research as people who strongly agreed with the following four statements: The Bible is the highest authority for what I believe. It is very important for me personally to encourage non-Christians to trust Jesus Christ as their Savior. as their Savior. Jesus Christ's death on the cross is the only sacrifice that could remove the penalty of my sin. death on the cross is the only sacrifice that could remove the penalty of my sin. Only those who trust in Jesus Christ alone as their Savior receive God's free gift of eternal salvation. About Ligonier Ministries Ligonier Ministries exists to proclaim, teach, and defend the holiness of God in all its fullness to as many people as possible. To that end, Ligonier's outreach today is manifold and worldwide. Founded by Dr. R.C. Sproul in 1971, Ligonier's teaching fellowship consists of theologians, pastors, and scholars. Ligonier publishes Renewing Your Mind and other podcasts , the Reformation Study Bible , Tabletalk magazine , books , and hundreds of teaching series . The ministry also offers an undergraduate degree program through Reformation Bible College . In addition, Ligonier hosts national and regional conferences , provides an online learning community through Ligonier Connect , streams 24-hour Christian internet radio through RefNet , answers biblical and theological questions with Ask Ligonier , pursues numerous translation efforts in other countries, and makes available thousands of unique educational resources online at Ligonier.org . SOURCE Ligonier Ministries PORTLAND, Ore., Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The following statement is being issued by Kroll Settlement Administration regarding the Toyota-Lexus Fuel Pumps Settlement. There is a proposed Settlement in a class action lawsuit against Toyota Motor Corporation and Toyota Motor North America, Inc. (collectively, "Toyota") and Denso International America, Inc. ("Denso") (collectively, "Defendants") concerning certain Toyota and Lexus vehicles. Those included in the Settlement have legal rights and options that must be exercised by certain deadlines. What is the lawsuit about? The lawsuit alleges that the fuel pumps that are manufactured by Denso and its affiliates and installed in certain Toyota and Lexus vehicles contain a defective component. Toyota and Denso deny any and all allegations of wrongdoing and the Court has not decided who is right. Instead, the parties decided to settle. Am I Included in the Proposed Settlement? Subject to certain limited exclusions, you are included if as of September 19, 2022, You own or owned, purchase(d), or lease(d) a Toyota or Lexus vehicle covered under this Settlement ("Covered Vehicles"); and Your Covered Vehicle was distributed for sale or lease in any of the fifty States, the District of Columbia , Puerto Rico , and all other United States territories and/or possessions. A full list of the Covered Vehicles and the VINs can be found at www.ToyotaFuelPumpsSettlement.com. This Settlement does not involve claims of wrongful death, personal injury, or physical property damage caused by an accident. What does the Settlement provide? The Settlement offers several benefits, depending on the vehicle, including a Customer Support Program which will provide prospective coverage of 15 years, measured from the date of original sale, for any repairs to correct defects in the fuel pumps or an Extended New Parts Warranty of 15 years, measured from July 15, 2021 or 150,000 miles, whichever comes first. The Settlement also offers a complimentary Loaner/Towing Program for vehicles undergoing repairs; reimbursement of certain out-of-pocket expenses; a reconsideration procedure; and settlement oversight by a Settlement Special Master. Some of these benefits require action by Class Members by certain deadlines. What are my options? If you do nothing , you will remain in the Class, receive certain benefits and will not be able to sue Toyota, Denso, or the Released Parties. You can exclude yourself by December 2, 2022 , if you don't want to be part of the Settlement. You won't get any settlement benefits, but you keep the right to sue Defendants. You can submit a Claim Form by a date to be set, which will not be earlier than 90 days after the Court's issuance of the Final Order and Final Judgment, if you have out-of-pocket expenses covered by the Settlement and don't exclude yourself. You can object to all or part of the Settlement by November 25, 2022 , if you don't exclude yourself. The full notice describes how to exclude yourself, submit a Claim Form, and/or object. The Court will hold a fairness hearing on December 14, 2022 at 10 a.m. ET to: (a) consider whether the proposed settlement is fair, reasonable, and adequate; and (b) decide the plaintiffs' lawyers' request for fees up to $28.5 million and costs and expenses of up to $500,000 and Class Representative service awards of either $2,500 or $3,500 each, depending upon whether they had an inspection. The motion for attorneys' fees, costs, and expenses, and Class Representative service awards will be posted on the website after they are filed. You may but are not required to appear at the hearing, and you may hire an attorney to appear for you, at your own expense. For more information or a Claim Form call 1-833-512-2318 or visit www.ToyotaFuelPumpsSettlement.com. Source: Kroll Settlement Administration SOURCE Kroll Settlement Administration Top Suppliers in the Immigration Services Market This immigration services procurement market report provides a detailed analysis of procurement strategies deployed by major category end-users across several industries while sourcing for immigration services requirements. In addition, most adopted and high potential pricing models considered by buyers have been analyzed in this report, which will help understand business scopes for revenue expansion. Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, PricewaterhouseCoopers International, and KPMG International are a few of the key suppliers in the immigration services market. Read More Major Price Models in the Immigration Services Sourcing and Procurement Market The report discusses in detail each pricing model and the pros and cons attached to every pricing model prevalent in the market. Also, the report provides insights with respect to the category supply chain and the margins of various suppliers within the supply chain. The most widely adopted pricing models in the Immigration Services Sourcing and Procurement Market Fixed-fee model Hourly-rate model Service-based model Spend Growth and Demand by Region The Immigration Services Sourcing and Procurement market will register an incremental spend of about USD 15.55 Billion during the forecast period. However, only a few regions will drive the majority of this growth. Moreover, on the supply side, North America, Europe, and APAC will have the maximum influence owing to the supplier base. The growth is expected to be primarily driven by increasing demand and adoption of the category across those few regions. To get a detailed analysis of the regional factors driving the Immigration Services Sourcing and Procurement Report: https://spendedge.com/sample-report/immigration-services-sourcing-and-procurement-intelligence-report Subscribe to our "Free Limited Period Starter Procurement Plan" to get the following: View 6 full reports View 800+ report samples Pre-order upcoming reports Dedicated account manager Subscribe Now for FREE! Most Adopted Procurement Strategies by Buyers Across the Immigration Services Sourcing and Procurement Market The report provides a detailed insight of the most adopted procurement strategies by buyers across industries and analysis of these strategies with respect to innovation, regulatory compliance, quality, supply, and cost. Adoption of these procurement strategies will enable the buyers to reduce category TCO and achieve cost savings, while sourcing for thermal equipment requirements. This Immigration Services Sourcing and Procurement Market report answers help buyers identify and shortlist the most suitable suppliers, for instance: Am I engaging with the right suppliers? Which KPIs should I use to evaluate my incumbent suppliers? Which supplier selection criteria are relevant for? What are the workplace computing devices category essentials in terms of SLAs and RFx? Our Top Selling Procurement Reports : Asset Recovery Services - Forecast and Analysis: The asset recovery services will grow at a CAGR of 9.49% during 2021-2025. Asia Asset Recovery Pte Ltd., TES-Amm Singapore Pte Ltd., and Iron Mountain Inc. are among the prominent suppliers in asset recovery services market. Click the above link to download the free sample of this report. Vulnerability Management Sourcing and Procurement Report: Vulnerability Management Procurement Market, prices will increase by 4%-6% during the forecast period and suppliers will have a Moderate bargaining power in this market. 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Contact SpendEdge Anirban Choudhury Marketing Manager Ph No: +1 (872) 206-9340 https://www.spendedge.com/contact-us SOURCE SpendEdge NOIDA, India, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a new report published by UnivDatos Markets Insights, the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient Market was valued at USD 185 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 6% during 2021-2027. The analysis has been segmented into Synthesis (Biotech and Synthetic), Manufacturer Type (Merchant APIs and Captive APIs), Drug Type (Generic APIs and Innovative APIs), Application (Communicable Diseases, Oncology, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases (CVDs), Pain Management, Respiratory Diseases, and Others); Region/Country. Click here to view the Report Description & TOC https://univdatos.com/report/active-pharmaceutical-ingredient-market/ The Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient market report has been aggregated by collecting informative data on various dynamics such as market drivers, restraints, and opportunities. This innovative report makes use of several analyses to get a closer outlook on the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient market. The Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient market report offers a detailed analysis of the latest industry developments and trending factors in the market that are influencing the market growth. Furthermore, this statistical market research repository examines and estimates the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient market at the global and regional levels. Request for Sample Pages https://univdatos.com/get-a-free-sample-form-php/?product_id=20418 Market Overview The active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) is the part of any drug that produces the intended effects. Some drugs have multiple active pharmaceutical ingredients. The rising prevalence of the various diseases coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to drive the market for active pharmaceutical ingredients. Furthermore, the surging investments in research and development of targeted, specific drug, and pharmacogenetic drugs is also expected to support market growth. Worldwide, the increase in chronic diseases results in an increased demand for the treatment and has positive impacts on the market of drug manufacturing. For instance, Istodax, a drug registered by Celgene Co. in 2009 for cancer (Cutaneous T-Cell Lymphoma) witnessed a 30% growth in 2018 compared with 2010 which accounted for US$ 16 million in 2010 and reached US$63 million in 2018. Click here to view the Report Description & TOC https://univdatos.com/report/active-pharmaceutical-ingredient-market/ The global Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient market report is studied thoroughly with several aspects that would help stakeholders in making their decisions more curated. Based on synthesis, the market is bifurcated into biotech and synthetic. In the forecast period, the biotech segment is expected to witness significant growth. This is mainly due to the rising focus on increasing the accuracy of biopharmaceutical drugs along with the surging investments in biotechnology research is driving the market. Furthermore, these drugs also provide patient-specific treatments which increase the efficiency of the drug with minimal side effects. On the basis of manufacture type, the market is categorized into merchant APIs and captive APIs. Among the two, the captive API is expected to witness significant growth during the forecast period. This can be attributed to the improved marketing strategies along with the increased connectivity coupled with innovations in the manufacturing sector. Furthermore, the increasing government investments in pharmaceutical industries in developing countries such as India , China , Brazil , and Mexico also contribute to the growth of captive APIs. , , , and also contribute to the growth of captive APIs. Based on drug type, the active pharmaceutical ingredient market has been bifurcated into generic APIs and innovative APIs. Amongst them, the market for innovative APIs is expected to grow at a significant rate during the forecast period. The rising prevalence of novel diseases and increasing demand for the more targeted and effective drugs for the treatment of various chronic diseases is expected to drive the market. On the basis of therapeutic application, the market is categorized into communicable diseases, oncology, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), pain management, respiratory diseases, and others. Among them, the cardiovascular segment dominated the market in 2020 due to the increasing prevalence of cardiovascular disorders and increasing awareness about the severity of heart diseases. However, the oncology segment is expected to witness growth in the foreseeable future. The sedentary lifestyle, increase cases of alcohol and tobacco abuse, and increasing pollution are some key factors responsible for the rising cases of chronic diseases such as cancer and diabetes across the world. Thus, the need for effective treatment and drugs is expected to drive the API market during the forecast period. Have a Look at the Chapters - https://univdatos.com/report/active-pharmaceutical-ingredient-market/ Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient Market Geographical Segmentation Includes: North America ( United States , Canada , and Rest of North America ) ( , , and Rest of ) Europe ( Germany , United Kingdom , Spain , Italy , France , and the Rest of Europe ) ( , , , , , and the Rest of ) Asia-Pacific ( China , Japan , India , South Korea , and the Rest of Asia-Pacific ) ( , , , , and the Rest of ) Rest of the World For a better understanding of the market adoption of the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient Industry, the market is analyzed based on its worldwide presence in the countries such as North America (United States, Canada, and the Rest of North America), Europe (Germany, France, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom and Rest of Europe), Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, India, South Korea, and Rest of APAC), and Rest of World. During the forecast period, North America is expected to witness the highest CAGR during the forecast period. In addition, the higher geriatric population coupled with the rising number of patients with chronic diseases offer immense opportunities for market players to develop APIs. Furthermore, increasing investment in the biotechnology and biopharmaceutical industry along with rising healthcare expenditure in the region are some other major factors driving the North American API market. The major players targeting the market include Merck & Co. AbbVie Inc. Bristol-Myers Squibb Company Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH Cipla Inc. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. Albemarle Corporation Viatris Inc. Aurobindo Pharma Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd. Competitive Landscape The degree of competition among prominent global companies has been elaborated by analyzing several leading key players operating worldwide. 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 Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient Market. The major players have been analyzed by using research methodologies for getting insight views on global competition. Key questions resolved through this analytical market research report include: What are the latest trends, new patterns, and technological advancements in the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient market? Which factors are influencing the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient market over the forecast period? What are the global challenges, threats, and risks in the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient market? Which factors are propelling and restraining the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient market? What are the demanding global regions of the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient market? What will be the global market size in the upcoming years? What are the crucial market acquisition strategies and policies applied by global companies? We understand the requirement of different businesses, regions, and countries, we offer customized reports as per your requirements of business nature and geography. Please let us know If you have any custom needs. Browse Other Related Research Reports from UnivDatos Market Insights Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient Market Report Coverage Report Attribute Details Base year 2020 Forecast period 2021-2027 Growth momentum Accelerate at a CAGR of over 6% Market size 2020 USD 185 billion Regional analysis North America, Europe, APAC, Rest of World Major contributing region North America to Dominate the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient Market Key countries covered United States, Canada, Germany, United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, France, China, Japan, India, and South Korea Companies profiled Merck & Co., Inc., AbbVie, Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH, Cipla, Inc., Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., Albemarle Corporation, Viatris Inc., Aurobindo Pharma, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., and Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd Report Scope Market Trends, Drivers, and Restraints; Revenue Estimation and Forecast; Segmentation Analysis; Impact of COVID-19; Demand and Supply Side Analysis; Competitive Landscape; Company Profiling Segments Covered By Synthesis; By Manufacturer Type; By Drug Type; By Application; By Region/Country About UnivDatos Market Insights (UMI) 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. Contact UnivDatos Market Insights Ankita Gupta Director Operations Ph: +91-7838604911 Email: [email protected] Website: https://univdatos.com/ Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1225049/UnivDatos_Logo.jpg SOURCE UnivDatos Market Insights Pvt. Ltd. New publication summarizes "Keeping ahead of the curve: Three things market research & insights professionals need to know to future-proof their careers"; citing insights gathered from expert guests on the Now that's Significant podcast. AUCKLAND, New Zealand, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Infotools , a global leader in market research analysis solutions, has released a new paper " Keeping ahead of the curve: Three things market research & insights professionals need to know to future-proof their careers ." The publication uses insights gathered from industry experts via more than 30 episodes of the Infotools' podcast, plus the company's 30-plus years in the insights space. It takes an in-depth look at data quality, new methodologies, and balancing the human element of a career in market research. Infotools, a global leader in market research analysis solutions, has released a new paper Keeping ahead of the curve: Three things market research & insights professionals need to know to future-proof their careers. "Over the past few months, we've been lucky enough to speak with a huge number of insights professionals on our Now that's Significant podcast", said Ant Franklin, CEO of Infotools. "Our guests consistently touched a few key themes facing those in the insights and market research space right now, and we take a close look at them in this paper through the lens of our extensive experience in the market research industry." " Keeping ahead of the curve " helps market researchers prove value and keep their careers on track by raising awareness about key issues facing the industry as a whole. The top three topics covered in the paper include: Data quality: Diving into supply chain issues, evolving fraud challenges, respondent engagement and more, the paper covers the intricacies of the issues affecting data quality, and how to combat them. Diving into supply chain issues, evolving fraud challenges, respondent engagement and more, the paper covers the intricacies of the issues affecting data quality, and how to combat them. New methodologies: Understanding that holistic audience views are critical in today's landscape, the paper explores new methodologies for more complete data, as well as the importance of integrating multiple data sources together. Understanding that holistic audience views are critical in today's landscape, the paper explores new methodologies for more complete data, as well as the importance of integrating multiple data sources together. Human element: From balancing technology implementation with human skills, to finding balance in an increasingly demanding job, the paper gives tips on how to reach full potential in a market research career path. Franklin continued, "If there's one thing that recent global disruptions have done, they have caused many to take a closer look at some of the challenges facing the insights industry, and how they must be addressed. Readers will uncover some key information needed to stay relevant and competitive in the face of these evolving trends." The full paper can be found here: https://web.infotools.com/keeping-ahead-of-the-curve-career-advice-for-insights-professionals About Infotools Established in 1990, and with a presence in the United States, Europe, South Africa, and New Zealand, Infotools was founded on the belief that curious minds shape the future. Through its powerful, consumer intelligence (CI) platform Harmoni, the company gives organizations the ability to ingest complex market research and consumer data; produce meaningful insights through iterative analysis; represent significant findings with beautiful visualizations; and influence key stakeholders with compelling dashboards. Infotools works with some of the world's best-known brands, including Coca-Cola, Shell, Orange, Samsung, and Mondelez. For more information, visit infotools.com, check out the podcast at https://pod.co/now-thats-significant , or follow them on Twitter @infotools. Media contact: Marie Melsheimer, [email protected], +1-541-815-3951 SOURCE Infotools DEMOCRATIZING HEARING AID AVAILABILITY OPENS OPPORTUNITIES TO EDUCATE PATIENTS TO THE IMPORTANCE OF EAR HEALTH IN HEARING LOSS REDONDO BEACH, Calif., Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Bebird, the current leader in visual ear cleaning device sales, is pleased to announce the historic deregulation of the hearing aid industry. This month, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ruled that starting October 22nd, 2022, consumers can circumvent expensive and time-consuming medical consultation and purchase hearing aids directly over the counter. The FDA deregulation of hearing aids allows consumers OTC access, but few are aware of the dangers of untreated earwax. Tweet this Bebird's ear cleaning systems are engineered to provide you with a seamless live feed of your ear canal directly on your Apple or Android device. Providing access to safe and affordable ear care is a prospect with far reaching ramifications for the millions who suffer with hearing in the U.S. However, many consumers are unaware of an important aspect to acquiring a new hearing aid: cerumen - IE earwax. According to Scientific American , excessive earwax sends about 12 million people to see health workers every year. Without the advice of a medical professional, it is crucial to understand the effects of excess cerumen before making the decision to purchase hearing aids at the local pharmacy. Although typically harmless, earwax can build up in excess and cause a host of problems both for the ear canal as well as the delicate components within hearing aid devices. Additionally, earwax buildup is often made worse by long term use of anything in the ear canal. Hearing aids can intensify these painful blockages and, with time, fail completely due to excess oils and particles entering sensitive parts of the device. Because of this, most ENT doctors will recommend routine earwax removals when prescribing hearing aids. In some cases, ear wax extraction alone is sufficient to alleviate hearing loss symptoms. "Prior to fitting you with a hearing aid, your ENT will ensure that your ear canal is clean and unobstructed by excess earwax. They'll typically also request routine check-ups to remove buildup on a regular basis and prevent damage to your ear canal or hearing aid device." said Celeste Munoz, Product Manager, BeBird. "Our visual ear cleaner can eliminate the need for constant visits and put your health back into your hands." Whether cerumen build up is the root cause of hearing issues or consumers simply want to maintain good hygiene while using hearing aids, the need for an affordable ear cleaning solution is paramount. In response to a rapidly evolving hygiene industry, Bebird provides safe and effective ear cleaning devices to those in need. With the power to self-examine and treat cerumen buildup at home, Bebird has made it much safer to use OTC hearing aids with minimal doctor's visits. Bebird ear cleaners are available at Walmart, CVS, Rite Aid, Best Buy and many more convenient retailers. For more information visit www.bebirdus.com or contact Craig McManis at [email protected]. About BeBird Bebird US is a technology-based company integrating R&D, production, and sales, mainly engaged in the development and production of ear cleaning devices. By bringing the otoscope into the home, they have revolutionized self-care and raised the standard for personal hygiene products. Forward Looking Statements Any information provided by Bebird USA, Inc. in this article is for reference only. While we strive to keep our information up to date and correct, we make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, or reliability with respect to the article or the information, sources, or related graphics contained in the article. Any reliance you place on such information is therefore strictly at your own risk. Contact: Craig McManis Bebird USA Inc. [email protected] 844 423 2473 SOURCE Bebird USA, Inc. ATLANTA, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Cogitate Technology Solutions ("Cogitate"), a leader in accelerating digital insurance technology announced today that Piyush Singh, a Insurtech space leader and an insurance industry veteran has joined the company's Board of Directors as its first outside Director. Piyush, a thought leader in the insurtech space founded and led the pioneering insurtech start-up Terrene Labs in the small commercial insurance space to enrich the underwriting space. Prior to Terrene, Piyush was an executive leader at leading insurance companies including Great American Insurance Group and RLI Insurance Company and also had a stint at Price Waterhouse. Piyush Singh, Director, Cogitate, said, "I was really impressed with the leadership team at Cogitate that has decades of experience in running insurance businesses. Cogitate is truly a company that provides 'Insurance Technology by Insurance People' and the positive and strong relationship with their clients is a testament of the strong and holistic value proposition. It will be exhilarating to work with the team that is helping to shape the digital future of the insurance industry with their innovative product portfolio." "Piyush is a multifaceted visionary who has been on the forefront of transformation of the insurance industry in his various roles as an insurance executive, an insurtech leader, and a respected thought leader in the insurance eco-system. We are absolutely thrilled that he has joined our team," Arvind Kaushal, Co-Founder, CEO and Director of Cogitate commented. Jacque Schaendorf, Co-Founder and Director, of Cogitate and CEO of Insurance House added "With Piyush on our Board, we have added a new dimension to our insurance expertise, technology prowess and business capabilities. His proven expertise in creating value, driving growth, customer centricity and his network of relationships in the community will help us to enhance the platform and assist us on our trajectory to position Cogitate as the leader in the marketspace." About Cogitate Technology Solutions Cogitate Technology Solutions, Inc., develops modern and innovative technology products and solutions for the Property & Casualty Insurance Industry. It helps insurance companies transform their business models to create a competitive advantage in a time of rapid industry change. Cogitate's next-generation technology products and solutions are helping insurance carriers, brokers, MGAs, and agents to accelerate digitalization and expand their businesses. Additional Resources Cogitate DigitalEdge Insurance Platform Cogitate Digital Insurance Cogitate Distribution Management Cogitate Intelligent Claims Media Contact: Michael Palmisano 954 Digital, Inc. [email protected] 1904 Leland Drive, Marietta, GA 30067 USA. Web: https://www.cogitate.us/ Blog: https://cogitate.us/blog/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cogitate-technology-solutions/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Cogitate-Technology-Solutions-313805012108651 Twitter: https://twitter.com/ctsimumbai All other registered trademarks, trademarks, or service marks belong to their respective companies. SOURCE Cogitate Technology Solutions, Inc. remaining of Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. PITTSBURGH, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- "I thought there could be a more efficient way to remove leaves from marijuana plant branches while ensuring a high harvest yield," said an inventor, from Grand Forks, N.D., "so I invented the LASER PLANT LEAF TRIMMER. The design provides an improved method for cutting, which reduces gumming up or dulling of a blade. It also reduces waste and it significantly reduces processing time for the cultivators by cutting before drying, lessening the need for manual labor." The patent-pending invention provides an innovative new processing machine for cannabis products. In doing so, it enables leaves to be removed from the branches without damaging the plant's buds/flowers. As a result, it increases quality, accuracy and efficiency and it helps prevent waste. The invention features a durable design that is easy to use for cultivators of cannabis because it provides cleaner cuts, less mess and less impact to the plant. It also significantly reduces processing time for the cultivators. The original design was submitted to the National sales office of InventHelp. It is currently available for licensing or sale to manufacturers or marketers. For more information, write Dept. 21-CTK-2681, 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 Kamari, Founded by Pontifax and Arkin Bioholdings, is a clinical stage company developing proprietary drugs for complex dermatological diseases REHOVOT, Israel and GUANGZHOU, China, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Kamari Pharma announced today the completion of an $8 million investment by the Chinese fund GIBF2, managed by Dr. Shuki Gleitman, Prof. Shlomo Noy, Mr. Avner Lushi and Mr. Carl Geng. Kamari was established at the end of 2018 by the leading Israeli based biotechnology funds Pontifax and Arkin Bioholdings. Up to the current investment, $16 million were invested in Kamari. The company develops topical and oral drugs based on proprietary small molecules that inhibit an ion channel designated TRPV3. These innovative drugs are intended for the treatment of various dermatological diseases, such as keratoderma, Lichen Simplex Chronicus and other severe genetic skin disorders. The Chairman of Kamari is Prof. David Aviezer, previously CEO of Protalix Biotherapeutics, who led it to its first FDA approval and listing on the New York Stock Exchange. Kamari is led by an experienced and professional management team, which includes Dr. Liora Braiman, CSO, and Asaf Yarkoni, CFO. It successfully completed the pre-clinical development of its first drug. Kamari is currently running clinical trials in patients in leading medical centers in Germany and Israel. GIBF is a Chinese investment fund in the medical field. GIBF was established in 2016 in cooperation with the government of Guangzhou, the capital of South China, and is managed by the Israeli partners. The first fund, which raised about $100 million, made 12 investments in leading medical devices and digital health Israeli companies. At the end of 2021, despite the severe Covid-19 restrictions in China, the fund announced the first closing of its second fund, which is planned to be about $300 million. GIBF2 focuses on Western biotechnology companies, which develop innovative drugs and are in phase 2-3 of clinical trials. Prof. Shlomo Noy noted: "We are particularly proud of joining forces with leading figures such as Pontifax, Arkin Bioholdings and Prof. Aviezer. Our first fund helped 12 Israeli life sciences companies to establish subsidiaries in China and invested in those subsidiaries. These significant investments were made while keeping the control of the subsidiaries in the hands of the Israeli companies and fully protecting their IP. Our mutual goal is to develop innovative activity in China and to build value in this major market, which foreign companies typically leave in the hands of local partners." Prof. David Aviezer said: "We are glad with the cooperation and the significant investment by GIBF, which will allow us to continue promoting our clinical programs. The establishment of our subsidiary in China and the investment by GIBF will allow us to expand and accelerate our clinical trials by collaborating with the leading hospitals in China and allowing us to treat their significant patient population. This will also enable us to quickly and directly address the significant Chinese patient market, which is characterized by a large number of patients with these diseases." Contact: [email protected] SOURCE The Guangzhou Sino-Israel Biotech Investment Fund (GIBF) Kellogg commits $100,000 to support No Kid Hungry and Albertsons Cos. Foundation's Nourishing Neighbors BATTLE CREEK, Mich., Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Kellogg Company and Albertsons Companies, one of the largest food and drug retailers in the United States, have teamed up for the third year to tackle the ongoing issue of childhood hunger in the communities they serve. As part of Kellogg's Better Days Promise environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategy, the company has donated $100,000 to the effort. Long-time partner, No Kid Hungry, will receive $50,000, which can help provide 500,000 meals* through donations that help support programs that provide meals to kids. Another $25,000 will be donated to Albertsons Companies Foundation's Nourishing Neighbors in the three communities where the retailer is able to drive the greatest awareness of food insecurity in store. The remaining $25,000 will be donated to new Albertsons Cos. Foundation's new E.A.T. program supporting food security among children. "At Albertsons Cos., we believe every child deserves a healthy breakfast every day," said Christy Duncan Anderson, President and Executive Director, Albertsons Cos. Foundation. "We're proud to be one of the largest contributors to food banks and hunger-relief programs in the neighborhoods we serve, and we're able to do this because of the generosity of customers and partners like Kellogg Company." "With 9 million children in America not knowing where their next meal will come from, the need to help feed and fulfill continues," said Michael Ross, Customer Team Lead, Kellogg Company. "Kellogg's Better Days(TM) Promise is committed to feeding people in need, and we're proud to partner with Albertsons Cos. for the third year to support children in our communities." During the month of September, Albertsons Cos. shoppers can donate during checkout to support Nourishing Neighbors. Consumers can also visit NoKidHungry.org to learn more and support the campaign's critical mission. * No Kid Hungry does not provide individual meals. Learn more at NoKidHungry.org/OneDollar. About Kellogg Company Pringles, Cheez-It, Special K, Kellogg's Frosted Flakes, Pop-Tarts, Kellogg's Corn Flakes, Rice Krispies, Eggo, Mini-Wheats, Kashi, RXBAR, MorningStar Farms and more. Net sales in 2021 were nearly $14.2 billion, comprised principally of snacks as well as convenience foods like cereal, frozen foods, and noodles. As part of our Kellogg's Better Days Promise ESG strategy, we're addressing the interconnected issues of wellbeing, climate and food security, creating Better Days for 3 billion people by the end of 2030. Visit www.KelloggCompany.com. About Albertsons Companies Albertsons Companies is a leading food and drug retailer in the United States. As of June 18, 2022, the Company operated 2,273 retail food and drug stores with 1,720 pharmacies, 402 associated fuel centers, 22 dedicated distribution centers and 19 manufacturing facilities. The Company operates stores across 34 states and the District of Columbia with 24 banners including Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco, Shaw's, Acme, Tom Thumb, Randalls, United Supermarkets, Pavilions, Star Market, Haggen, Carrs, Kings Food Markets and Balducci's Food Lovers Market. The Company is committed to helping people across the country live better lives by making a meaningful difference, neighborhood by neighborhood. In 2021, along with the Albertsons Companies Foundation, the Company contributed nearly $200 million in food and financial support, including approximately $40 million through our Nourishing Neighbors Program to ensure those living in our communities have enough to eat. SOURCE Kellogg Company KILLEEN, Texas, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Ken Cates Fort Hood Area Habitat for Humanity's immediate former CEO, announced his resignation effective September 12, 2022. Cates, hired by FHAHFH August 1, 2015, spearheaded the explosive growth under his leadership. "The little affiliate has become a national focus from Habitat for Humanity International, other Habitat affiliates, and non-profit organizations," said Ken Cates. His mantra, while leading Habitat, was "get rid of the box." Cates explained, "if we are 'thinking outside the box', then we're still tied to 'the box'. Get rid of that box and establish new success for your organization". Ken is accepting a new role with the Arlington-based national organization Rehab Warriors, as their new President of Business Development and Government Affairs. "Rehab Warriors is expanding across Texas seeking partnerships with Cities, Banks, Municipalities to address the affordable housing crisis head on", stated Andy Williams, Founder of Rehab Warriors. "Rehab Warriors added Ken to its team, who is transitioning from Habitat for Humanity, to lead the expansion efforts". While Habitat serves low-moderate income families of all backgrounds, Veterans are a large percentage of our area's populace. With veterans always on Ken's mind, his goal was to find a way to further serve those that have served us. "Rehab Warriors is that way". Ken describes Rehab Warriors as "take Habitat for Humanity and workforce development, pump it full of steroids, and you still don't quite reach what Rehab Warriors is; but you now have an idea". About Rehab Warriors Rehab Warriors mission is to revitalize communities while empowering military veterans with a continued service as America's developer. They are the nation's first and only certified and accredited workforce development model in residential development which comprehensively addresses veteran transition, affordable housing, and community revitalization, empowering military veterans with meaningful post service education, career readiness with civic leadership as a capable local property developer. About - (rehabwarriors.com) Contact: Shareese Blakley (214) 890-6164 [email protected] Jana Collins (818) 762-8353 [email protected] SOURCE Rehab Warriors Largest Patient Meeting Showcases Role September 21-23, 2022 Patient Insight Data Shapes New Generation of Drugs, Devices, and Diagnostics WASHINGTON, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- One of the most medically vulnerable populations in America, people living with kidney diseases, is rewriting the book on scientific research and medical innovation by aggressively expanding their impact on basic research, applied research, and the key regulatory and payment deliberations that determine when safe, new products reach the market. Kidney patients have support from a growing national and global alliance of research professionals, kidney medicine experts, elected and career government officials, and private industry executives and investors who respect patients and view their insights and advocacy as the catalysts driving long-overdue cures for kidney diseases and transformations in kidney health. The American Association of Kidney Patients (AAKP), the oldest and largest independent kidney patient organization in the U.S., has expanded patient impact on kidney research and development by organizing and training patients to engage effectively with leaders in science and innovation. AAKP is a staunch advocate for patient care choice, independence, and new treatments that allow patients to fully pursue their aspirations, including part-time or full-time work. AAKP will highlight some of the key research and development activities kidney patients are involved in at its Annual National Patient Meeting, being held virtually September 21-23, free of charge to all registrants (https://bit.ly/AAKPNPM). Speakers at the meeting include some of the top kidney research and innovation experts, federal officials, and national patient experts. AAKP founded its Center for Patient Education and Research in 2016 to serve as a rapid fulfillment hub for government, academic, medical device manufacturers, and pharmaceutical industry requests to engage kidney patient experts. The Center also supports AAKP's efforts to speed the utilization of unique patient insight data across both the product development lifecycle and within regulatory and payment decisions, including those made by commercial insurers (read now). Since its launch, AAKP has dramatically expanded its membership databases, social media recruitment, and analytics tools. The organization now services dozens of requests every year for clinical trial awareness and recruitment campaigns, patient advisory boards, technical evaluation panels, focus groups, patient surveys, clinical research, and public policy research. AAKP leaders and staff provide expert advice to organizations and companies on how to work meaningfully with patients as co-investigators and partners and offer online training for patients on how to be equally effective collaborators. "AAKP patient members have near unlimited opportunities to impact science and innovation. We are proud their diverse and unique perspectives are shaping research and development and new products destined for the market. Both patients and their doctors want to cure kidney diseases, and both are impatient for the arrival of safe, new treatment choices," stated Richard Knight, President of AAKP and a 16-year kidney transplant recipient. Knight is co-chair of the Patient and Family Affairs Subcommittee for the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR). At the federal level, AAKP patients are impacting research and development initiatives across the Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and the Department of Defense (DOD) via the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program (CDMRP) and other DOD activities. Further, AAKP has been actively involved in patient engagement initiatives and the development of patient insight data alongside the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), and multiple other federal agencies. To facilitate greater veteran involvement in kidney research and innovation and to support the VA kidney medicine program in the U.S. Congress, AAKP launched its Veterans Health Initiative in 2017. AAKP leaders and AAKP Ambassadors are also closely involved in leading national kidney innovation partnerships and consortiums, including the Kidney Health Initiative (KHI), a partnership of the FDA and the American Society of Nephrology (ASN); the KidneyX Innovation Accelerator, a partnership of the ASN and HHS; and the Kidney Precision Medicine Project (KPMP), a scientific consortium funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH)/National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease (NIDDK). The KPMP is America's largest taxpayer-supported kidney science initiative. Together, these efforts are resulting in significant advancements in kidney care through science, new precision medicine, artificial organs, and human-centered product design (read now). AAKP has forged strong partnerships with numerous universities and academic centers involved in kidney-related studies. AAKP patients are presently involved in research at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Washington, Emory University, University of Pennsylvania, University of Pittsburgh, University of Michigan, Duke University, Wake Forest University, University of Michigan, Northwestern University, University of California San Francisco, Vanderbilt University, University of California Los Angeles, University of Minnesota, Virginia Tech, and various other institutions. Through the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), AAKP patient advocates have been involved in every PCORI-funded kidney research effort since PCORI authorization in 2010 and reauthorization in 2019 (read now). AAKP forecasts its involvement in university research efforts will more than double by 2024. Globally, since 2019, AAKP has organized patient consumers and advocacy organizations to support research and clinical trials through its Annual Global Summit on Kidney Disease Innovations, a partnership event with the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences. The Global Summit has evolved into the largest patient-led kidney disease conference in the world and has a reach of over 90 countries. In 2022, the Global Summit gained new participants from Nepal, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iraq, and Kazakhstan (read now). Since 2021, AAKP has also provided expertise to the World Health Organization (WHO) on the development a new engagement framework designed to elevate the lived experiences and insights of people living with non-communicable disease, including kidney patients, within WHO deliberations and agenda setting (watch OnDemand). In June of 2022, the European Kidney Health Alliance (EKHA) broadened its involvement in AAKP's Decade of the Kidney initiative by including it in the theme of their annual European Kidney Forum before the European Parliament in Brussels. At the Forum, AAKP leaders joined patients and EU-elected leaders to express support for new treatment innovations, including artificial organs and xenotransplants (watch OnDemand). Edward V. Hickey, III, USMC, Vice President of AAKP and Chair of the Veterans Health Initiative, stated, "The COVID-19 pandemic and the associated high fatality rates among kidney patients are a critical reminder of how vulnerable kidney patients are, especially as their disease progresses. AAKP patients are fully committed to investing their time and expertise to help advance science and new treatments. As a national advocacy organization, we are equally committed to making certain safe solutions pass regulatory and payment processes without unnecessary delays and have built the requisite capacities to achieve the mission." Hickey is a former senior Congressional aide and has served in multiple presidential administrations. Paul T. Conway, AAKP Chair of Policy and Global Affairs, stated, "Kidney patients know cures and treatment choices will expand only when science and ingenuity flourish and innovation is rewarded. Dialysis, and its accompanying high mortality, has changed little since America put a man on the moon, won the Cold War, and transformed the global economy and communications with modern technology. Kidney patients know this nation can do betterand we also know that if kidney medicine fails to evolve, society will continue to pay a prohibitive cost for inaction, and patients will pay with their lives." Conway is a 25-year transplant patient, serves on the Kidney Health Initiative (KHI) board, and is a former Chief of Staff for the U.S. Department of Labor. In the United States alone, an estimated 37 million people have chronic kidney disease, including 800,000 with kidney failure, and whose kidney care costs the American taxpayer over $100 billion a year. Those costs do not include the additional expense to the nation and patients stemming from workforce dropout, disability, and dependency caused by this chronic illness and the burdens associated with obsolete, status quo technologies found in dialysis care. Immunocompromised kidney patients and immunosuppressed kidney transplant recipients were among the hardest hit by COVID-19, and despite advances in related therapeutics, they remain at high risk of infection. About the American Association of Kidney Patients (AAKP): Since 1969, AAKP has been the premier patient-led organization driving policy discussions on kidney patient consumer care choice and treatment innovation. AAKP members represent all disease states, ethnicities, and demographic indicators. By 1973, AAKP patients had collaborated with the U.S. Congress and White House to secure dialysis coverage for any person suffering kidney failure, a taxpayer-funded effort that has saved over one million lives. In 2018, AAKP established the largest U.S. kidney voter registration program, KidneyVoters. Over the past decade, AAKP patients have helped gain lifetime transplant drug coverage for kidney transplant recipients (2020); new patient-centered policies via the White House Executive Order on Advancing American Kidney Health (2019); new job protections for living organ donors from the U.S. Department of Labor (2018); and Congressional legislation allowing HIV-positive organ transplants for HIV-positive patients (2013). Follow AAKP on social media at @kidneypatient on Facebook, @kidneypatients on Twitter, and @kidneypatients on Instagram, and visit www.aakp.org for more information. MEDIA CONTACT: Jennifer Rate Marketing & Communications Manager [email protected] (813) 400-2394 SOURCE American Association of Kidney Patients First ever Wi-fi Camera with Wi-Fi 6 Technology and Smart Security Lighting MARKHAM, ON, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Lorex Technology, one of the most trusted names in home and business security, is announcing a new addition to their industry-leading line of smart security products: the Lorex 4K Spotlight Indoor/Outdoor Wi-Fi Security Camera with Smart Security Lighting. Lorex Technology introduces the Lorex 4K Spotlight Indoor/Outdoor Wi-Fi Security Camera with Smart Security Lighting. Clarity with speed. Lorex is first to market with this innovative 4K Wi-Fi security camera with Smart Security Lighting and Wi-Fi 6 Technology. Wi-Fi 6 produces faster transmission with less downloading time to produce the impressive resolution quality without impacting other internet activities. This camera also produces clear nighttime footage in any lighting conditions, thanks to Color Night Vision and Infrared Night Vision. "We wanted to create a Wi-Fi Camera that provides customers with the highest video quality, supported by Wi-Fi 6, with the latest technology and features," said Leroy Lo, IoT Product Manager at Lorex. "We also wanted to give our customers the ability to personalize their security with Smart Security Lighting." Smart Security Lighting allows the customer to change and set the camera's LED band to their liking with a choice of 16.7 million colors. Set specific light colors for motion events and camera modes to create customized lighting cues. "Another focus of ours was to offer the latest Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology with Smart Motion Detection Plus, which helps to reduce unwanted notifications and false alarms." Smart Motion Detection Plus provides four key AI Detection modes to send informative notifications, such as Person, Vehicle, Animal and Package Detection. The user can be more aware of activity around their property, for instance when a package is delivered, a guest arrives, a car pulls into the driveway, or a pet has wandered outside. Communication is key. With 2-Way Talk, users can speak directly to visitors with the camera's built-in microphone and speaker. If they are busy or have their hands full, they can easily select a pre-set Quick Response message to speak for them. For instance, "Please leave the package at the door," or "We'll be right there." Privacy is a priority. The pre-installed 32GB MicroSD means users can keep their video recordings private and secure, without having to store them in the cloud. Access all camera's features and video recordings with no additional monthly fees or recurring costs. Users will have durable and robust security year-round as the camera has an IP65 weather-resistant rating. The camera can withstand various conditions, from rain, wind or snow to hot and humid temperatures. Build your security the way you want. Create a custom Lorex Smart Security Ecosystem by adding additional Lorex Wi-Fi cameras, video doorbells, floodlights and sensors. As part of the Fusion Collection, the user can add this camera to a Fusion recorder for more storage, 24/7 continuous recording and the ability to pair with Lorex Fusion Wired security systems. The Lorex 4K Spotlight Indoor/Outdoor Wi-Fi Security Camera retails for $229.99USD and is now available for sale on Lorex.com, Amazon and coming soon to regional and national retailers. About Lorex Technology Lorex is committed to safeguarding what matters most. Founded in Canada, we have a team of professionals across North America devoted to designing, developing, and deploying ingenious smart home security and monitoring solutions that enhance our customers' lifestyles and sense of well-being. We provide a fully tailored, best-in-class ecosystem for private and commercial requirements that has earned us the trust of our customers for over 30 years. To learn more about our commitment, visit www.lorex.com. Media Contact: Interdependence PR for Lorex (949) 777-2485 [email protected] SOURCE Lorex Technology NEW YORK, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The male hypogonadism market has been segmented by type (Klinefelter syndrome, Kallmann syndrome, and pituitary disorders) and geography (North America, Europe, Asia, and Rest of World (ROW)). North America will account for 37% of the market's growth during the forecast period. This growth is attributed to factors such as the significant increase in the prevalence of male hypogonadism. Moreover, market growth in this region will be faster than the growth of the market in other regions. The US and Canada are the key countries for the male hypogonadism market in North America. Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Male Hypogonadism Market 2022-2026 The male hypogonadism market size is estimated to grow by USD 684.95 mn from 2021 to 2026. In addition, the growth momentum of the market will accelerate at a CAGR of 5.09% during the forecast period. Technavio provides a comprehensive report summary describing the market size and forecast along with research methodology. The FREE sample report is available in PDF format Company Profiles The male hypogonadism market report includes information on the product launches, sustainability, and prospects of leading vendors, including AbbVie Inc., Aytu BioPharma Inc., Bayer AG, Bio Techne Corp., Diurnal Group Plc, Eli Lilly and Co., Endo International Plc, Ferring B.V., IBSA Institute Biochimique SA, Lipocine Inc., Merck and Co. Inc., Perrigo Co. Plc, Pfizer Inc., and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. The key offerings of some of these vendors are listed below: AbbVie Inc. - The company offers male hypogonadism treatment, through its Testosterone Gel. The company offers male hypogonadism treatment, through its Testosterone Gel. Bayer AG - The company offers Hormone-replacement therapies, which can help men with testosterone deficiency and improve their mental and physical well-being, sexual satisfaction, and quality of life. The company offers Hormone-replacement therapies, which can help men with testosterone deficiency and improve their mental and physical well-being, sexual satisfaction, and quality of life. Eli Lilly and Co. - The company offers treatment of testosterone deficiency (hypogonadism) in men, through its AXIRON testosterone solution. The company offers treatment of testosterone deficiency (hypogonadism) in men, through its AXIRON testosterone solution. Endo International Plc - The company offers treatment of testosterone deficiency (hypogonadism) in men through testosterone replacement therapy. The company offers treatment of testosterone deficiency (hypogonadism) in men through testosterone replacement therapy. Ferring B.V. - The company offers Testavan treatment options for men with hypogonadism, which is designed to enhance bioavailability. It is administered with a convenient hands-free applicator. The company offers Testavan treatment options for men with hypogonadism, which is designed to enhance bioavailability. It is administered with a convenient hands-free applicator. IBSA Institute Biochimique SA - The company offers treatment of testosterone deficiency through its subsidiary, IBSA Pharma SAS. Technavio's reports provide key strategic initiatives used by vendors, along with key news and the latest developments. View our FREE PDF Sample Report Now Competitive Analysis The competitive scenario provided in the male hypogonadism market report analyzes, evaluates, and positions companies based on various performance indicators. Some of the factors considered for this analysis include the financial performance of companies over the past few years, growth strategies, product innovations, new product launches, investments, growth in market share, etc. Market Dynamics Factors such as an increase in the incidence of hypogonadism and the increasing awareness about male hypogonadism and its treatment options will be crucial in driving the growth of the market. However, the loss of patent exclusivities and increasing generic competition will restrict the market growth. Technavio has identified key trends, drivers, and challenges in the market, which will help vendors improve their strategies to stay ahead of their competitors. View our FREE PDF Sample Report Related Reports Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD) Treatment Market by Service and Geography - Forecast and Analysis 2022-2026: The sexually transmitted diseases (STD) treatment market share is expected to increase by USD 13.48 billion from 2021 to 2026. Sexual Enhancement Supplements Market by Product and Geography - Forecast and Analysis 2022-2026: The sexual enhancement supplements market share is expected to increase by USD 801.29 million from 2021 to 2026. Male Hypogonadism Market Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 120 Base year 2021 Forecast period 2022-2026 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 5.09% Market growth 2022-2026 USD 684.95 million Market structure Fragmented YoY growth (%) 3.52 Regional analysis North America, Europe, Asia, and Rest of World (ROW) Performing market contribution North America at 37% Key consumer countries US, Canada, Germany, UK, and China Competitive landscape Leading companies, competitive strategies, consumer engagement scope Companies profiled AbbVie Inc., Aytu BioPharma Inc., Bayer AG, Bio Techne Corp., Diurnal Group Plc, Eli Lilly and Co., Endo International Plc, Ferring B.V., IBSA Institute Biochimique SA, Lipocine Inc., Merck and Co. Inc., Perrigo Co. Plc, Pfizer Inc., and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries 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, and market condition analysis for the forecast period. Customization purview If our report has not included the data that you are looking for, you can reach out to our analysts and get segments customized. Browse Health Care Market Reports 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 between2021 and 2026 4.2 Bargaining power of buyers Exhibit 18: Chart on Bargaining power of buyers Impact of key factors 2021 and 2026 4.3 Bargaining power of suppliers Exhibit 19: Bargaining power of suppliers Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026 4.4 Threat of new entrants Exhibit 20: Threat of new entrants Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026 4.5 Threat of substitutes Exhibit 21: Threat of substitutes Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026 4.6 Threat of rivalry Exhibit 22: Threat of rivalry Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026 4.7 Market condition Exhibit 23: Chart on Market condition - Five forces 2021 and 2026 5 Market Segmentation by 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 Klinefelters syndrome - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 28: Chart on Klinefelters syndrome - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 29: Data Table on Klinefelters syndrome - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 30: Chart on Klinefelters syndrome - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) Exhibit 31: Data Table on Klinefelters syndrome - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) 5.4 Kallmann syndrome - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 32: Chart on Kallmann syndrome - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 33: Data Table on Kallmann syndrome - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 34: Chart on Kallmann syndrome - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) Exhibit 35: Data Table on Kallmann syndrome - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) 5.5 Pituitary disorders - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 36: Chart on Pituitary disorders - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 37: Data Table on Pituitary disorders - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 38: Chart on Pituitary disorders - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) Exhibit 39: Data Table on Pituitary disorders - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) 5.6 Market opportunity by Type Exhibit 40: Market opportunity by Type ($ million) 6 Customer Landscape 6.1 Customer landscape overview Exhibit 41: Analysis of price sensitivity, lifecycle, customer purchase basket, adoption rates, and purchase criteria 7 Geographic Landscape 7.1 Geographic segmentation Exhibit 42: Chart on Market share by geography 2021-2026 (%) Exhibit 43: Data Table on Market share by geography 2021-2026 (%) 7.2 Geographic comparison Exhibit 44: Chart on Geographic comparison Exhibit 45: Data Table on Geographic comparison 7.3 North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 46: Chart on North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 47: Data Table on North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 48: Chart on North America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) Exhibit 49: Data Table on North America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) 7.4 Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 50: Chart on Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 51: Data Table on Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 52: Chart on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) Exhibit 53: Data Table on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) 7.5 Asia - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 54: Chart on Asia - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 55: Data Table on Asia - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 56: Chart on Asia - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) Exhibit 57: Data Table on Asia - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) 7.6 Rest of World (ROW) - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 58: Chart on Rest of World (ROW) - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 59: Data Table on Rest of World (ROW) - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 60: Chart on Rest of World (ROW) - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) Exhibit 61: Data Table on Rest of World (ROW) - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) 7.7 US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 62: Chart on US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 63: Data Table on US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 64: Chart on US - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) Exhibit 65: Data Table on US - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) 7.8 Germany - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 66: Chart on Germany - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 67: Data Table on Germany - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 68: Chart on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) Exhibit 69: Data Table on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) 7.9 China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 70: Chart on China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 71: Data Table on China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 72: Chart on China - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) Exhibit 73: Data Table on China - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) 7.10 UK - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 74: Chart on UK - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 75: Data Table on UK - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 76: Chart on UK - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) Exhibit 77: Data Table on UK - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) 7.11 Canada - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 78: Chart on Canada - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 79: Data Table on Canada - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 80: Chart on Canada - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) Exhibit 81: Data Table on Canada - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) 7.12 Market opportunity by geography Exhibit 82: Market opportunity by geography ($ million) 8 Drivers, Challenges, and Trends 8.1 Market drivers 8.2 Market challenges 8.3 Impact of drivers and challenges Exhibit 83: Impact of drivers and challenges in 2021 and 2026 8.4 Market trends 9 Vendor Landscape 9.1 Overview 9.2 Vendor landscape Exhibit 84: Overview on Criticality of inputs and Factors of differentiation 9.3 Landscape disruption Exhibit 85: Overview on factors of disruption 9.4 Industry risks Exhibit 86: Impact of key risks on business 10 Vendor Analysis 10.1 Vendors covered Exhibit 87: Vendors covered 10.2 Market positioning of vendors Exhibit 88: Matrix on vendor position and classification 10.3 AbbVie Inc. Exhibit 89: AbbVie Inc. - Overview Exhibit 90: AbbVie Inc. - Product / Service Exhibit 91: AbbVie Inc. - Key offerings 10.4 Bayer AG Exhibit 92: Bayer AG - Overview Exhibit 93: Bayer AG - Business segments Exhibit 94: Bayer AG - Key offerings Exhibit 95: Bayer AG - Segment focus 10.5 Eli Lilly and Co. Exhibit 96: Eli Lilly and Co. - Overview Exhibit 97: Eli Lilly and Co. - Product / Service Exhibit 98: Eli Lilly and Co. - Key offerings 10.6 Endo International Plc Exhibit 99: Endo International Plc - Overview Exhibit 100: Endo International Plc - Business segments Exhibit 101: Endo International Plc - Key news Exhibit 102: Endo International Plc - Key offerings Exhibit 103: Endo International Plc - Segment focus 10.7 Ferring B.V. Exhibit 104: Ferring B.V. - Overview Exhibit 105: Ferring B.V. - Product / Service Exhibit 106: Ferring B.V. - Key offerings 10.8 IBSA Institute Biochimique SA Exhibit 107: IBSA Institute Biochimique SA - Overview Exhibit 108: IBSA Institute Biochimique SA - Product / Service Exhibit 109: IBSA Institute Biochimique SA - Key offerings 10.9 Lipocine Inc. Exhibit 110: Lipocine Inc. - Overview Exhibit 111: Lipocine Inc. - Product / Service Exhibit 112: Lipocine Inc. - Key offerings 10.10 Merck and Co. Inc. Exhibit 113: Merck and Co. Inc. - Overview Exhibit 114: Merck and Co. Inc. - Business segments Exhibit 115: Merck and Co. Inc. - Key news Exhibit 116: Merck and Co. Inc. - Key offerings Exhibit 117: Merck and Co. Inc. - Segment focus 10.11 Pfizer Inc. Exhibit 118: Pfizer Inc. - Overview Exhibit 119: Pfizer Inc. - Product / Service Exhibit 120: Pfizer Inc. - Key news Exhibit 121: Pfizer Inc. - Key offerings 10.12 Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. Exhibit 122: Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. - Overview Exhibit 123: Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. - Business segments Exhibit 124: Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. - Key news Exhibit 125: Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. - Key offerings Exhibit 126: Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. - Segment focus 11 Appendix 11.1 Scope of the report 11.2 Inclusions and exclusions checklist Exhibit 127: Inclusions checklist Exhibit 128: Exclusions checklist 11.3 Currency conversion rates for US$ Exhibit 129: Currency conversion rates for US$ 11.4 Research methodology Exhibit 130: Research methodology Exhibit 131: Validation techniques employed for market sizing Exhibit 132: Information sources 11.5 List of abbreviations Exhibit 133: 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 DUBLIN, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Mallinckrodt plc (OTCMKTS: MNKPF) ("Mallinckrodt" or the "Company"), a global specialty pharmaceutical company, today announced it has appointed Lisa French as Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer, effective October 1, 2022. Ms. French brings more than 30 years of commercial biopharmaceutical experience and will oversee the development and execution of Mallinckrodt's commercialization strategy. Ms. French will serve on the Executive Committee and succeeds Hugh O'Neill, who departed Mallinckrodt as of September 16, 2022. Ms. French most recently built and led the U.S. Women's Health Commercial team for Organon & Co. following its spin-off from Merck. Previously, she held numerous leadership positions at Merck, where she ultimately led all aspects of a multibillion-dollar brand, executed commercial innovation initiatives and oversaw multiple sales teams. Siggi Olafsson, President and Chief Executive Officer, said, "I am delighted to welcome Lisa to Mallinckrodt as our new Chief Commercial Officer and a member of our Executive Committee. Lisa brings decades of commercialization experience, with deep expertise and a proven track record developing and implementing effective and growth-oriented commercialization strategies. I am confident her insights and experience will be invaluable as we continue working to advance our branded pipeline, bring Mallinckrodt's existing products to new markets and geographies and stabilize our portfolio all for the benefit of our patients, shareholders and other stakeholders." Ms. French said, "One of the reasons I was drawn to Mallinckrodt is the Company's focus on innovative, drug development and commercialization for underserved patients with severe and critical conditions. The Company's portfolio benefits from core products with established track records and strong brand recognition. I look forward to working closely with Siggi and the Mallinckrodt team to build on this strong foundation." About Lisa French Ms. French is a commercial biopharmaceutical executive with more than 30 years of experience in U.S. go-to-market commercialization strategy development and operating experience across the therapeutics lifecycle. She most recently served as U.S. Business Unit Lead of Organon & Co.'s Women's Health Franchise, where she led the commercial team. Ms. French previously held positions of increasing responsibility at Merck, where she served as Associate Vice President, U.S. Marketing Lead HPV Franchise; Vice President of U.S. Strategy and Commercial Model Innovation; Executive Director of U.S. Federal Policy; National Executive Director of Commercial Operations Women's Health; National Director of Commercial Operations HIV; Regional Director of Commercial Operations Chronic Care; and Regional Director of Commercial Operations Cardiovascular Care, among other roles. Ms. French holds a B.S. in Biology from West Chester University and completed Harvard Business School's Emerging Leaders and Leadership & Strategy executive programs. About Mallinckrodt Mallinckrodt is a global business consisting of multiple wholly owned subsidiaries that develop, manufacture, market and distribute specialty pharmaceutical products and therapies. The Company's Specialty Brands reportable segment's areas of focus include autoimmune and rare diseases in specialty areas like neurology, rheumatology, nephrology, pulmonology, ophthalmology and oncology; immunotherapy and neonatal respiratory critical care therapies; analgesics; cultured skin substitutes and gastrointestinal products. Its Specialty Generics reportable segment includes specialty generic drugs and active pharmaceutical ingredients. To learn more about Mallinckrodt, visit www.mallinckrodt.com. Mallinckrodt uses its website as a channel of distribution of important company information, such as press releases, investor presentations and other financial information. It also uses its website to expedite public access to time-critical information regarding the Company in advance of or in lieu of distributing a press release or a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) disclosing the same information. Therefore, investors should look to the Investor Relations page of the website for important and time-critical information. Visitors to the website can also register to receive automatic e-mail and other notifications alerting them when new information is made available on the Investor Relations page of the website. CAUTIONARY STATEMENTS RELATED TO FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS Statements in this release that are not strictly historical, including statements regarding Mallinckrodt's future financial condition and operating results, legal, economic, business, competitive and/or regulatory factors affecting Mallinckrodt's businesses, and any other statements regarding events or developments Mallinckrodt believes or anticipates will or may occur in the future, may be "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. There are a number of important factors that could cause actual events to differ materially from those suggested or indicated by such forward-looking statements and you should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements. The "Risk Factors" section of Mallinckrodt's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021, as updated by Mallinckrodt's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended July 1, 2022 and other filings with the SEC identify and describe in more detail the risks and uncertainties to which Mallinckrodt's businesses are subject. The forward-looking statements made herein speak only as of the date hereof and Mallinckrodt does not assume any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events and developments or otherwise, except as required by law. CONTACTS Investor Relations Daniel Speciale Global Corporate Controller and Chief Investor Relations Officer 314-302-6567 [email protected] Derek Belz Vice President, Investor Relations 314-654-3950 [email protected] Media Michael Freitag / Aaron Palash / Aura Reinhard Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher 212-355-4449 Mallinckrodt, the "M" brand mark and the Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals logo are trademarks of a Mallinckrodt company. Other brands are trademarks of a Mallinckrodt company or their respective owners. 2022 09/22. SOURCE Mallinckrodt plc ROME, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Brattle Group has welcomed economist Marco Percoco to the firm as an Academic Advisor. An Associate Professor of Applied Economics at Bocconi University in Milan, Dr. Percoco will work closely with the firm's Antitrust & Competition and Infrastructure practices. "Marco is a leading authority on the economics of infrastructure, transportation, regulation, and competition," said Brattle Principal Francesco Lo Passo. "His academic expertise and experience as an advisor will make him a valuable asset to Brattle and our clients, in Europe and globally." Marco Percoco An expert in transport and infrastructure economics as well as regulatory disputes, Dr. Percoco holds several academic appointments and is the founding director of Bocconi's GREEN research center, which focuses on economic research related to geography, resources, the environment, energy, and networks. He is a former economic advisor to the office of the Italian Prime Minister as well as to several Italian ministries, the United Nations, the World Health Organization, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), and the European Investment Bank (EIB). Dr. Percoco's consulting experience includes working on various regulatory and competition matters across Europe, particularly in the energy, transport, infrastructure, and real estate sectors. He has provided expert opinions regarding concessions, regulation, and antitrust issues in both civil and administrative tribunals. He frequently consults on matters related to infrastructure valuation and regulation. To learn more about Dr. Percoco, please see his full bio. ABOUT BRATTLE The Brattle Group answers complex economic, finance, and regulatory questions for corporations, law firms, and governments around the world. We are distinguished by the clarity of our insights and the credibility of our experts, which include leading international academics and industry specialists. Brattle has 500 talented professionals across four continents. For more information, please visit brattle.com. SOURCE The Brattle Group Award-winning Fluvention program equips people with information to prevent the flu DETROIT, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- With flu season right around the corner, Meridian is again encouraging Michigan residents to get the flu vaccine through its yearly Fluvention program. Every flu season is different, and the flu can affect people differently. That's why it's important to get the flu vaccine each year to protect yourself and loved ones from illness. Up to 11% of Americans catch the flu virus each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The flu vaccine has been shown to have many benefits including reduced risk of illness, hospitalization, and even flu-related death. In 2019-2020, the flu vaccine prevented an estimated 7.5 million flu illnesses and an estimated 105,000 flu-related hospitalizations. It is also can be lifesaving for children. In a 2022 study, the flu vaccine showed to reduce children's risk of severe life-threatening influenza by 75%. Overall, it is the best way to protect against the flu and associated complications. Meridian's Fluvention program offers free resources to help people understand the importance of the flu shot, the risks of flu season, and other preventive measures. The initiative strives to increase flu vaccination rates overall with special attention for high-risk populations by delivering targeted messaging through multiple touchpoints including mailers, phone calls, texting, and local events. The Fluvention program was recently recognized with the Health Information Award for its commitment to help educate and empower families, communities, and organizations to take care of themselves each flu season. "To help protect against the flu, we encourage people to schedule their flu shot appointments as soon as possible," said Dr. Kay Judge, Chief Medical Officer of Meridian. "While it may seem early, it takes two weeks after getting the shot for the antibodies that protect against the flu to fully develop, so it's best to act early." This year's flu season faces an additional complication with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and its many variants. Some of the symptoms of flu and COVID-19 are similar, so it can be difficult to tell the difference between them based on symptoms alone. There are also unique considerations for avoiding the spread of COVID-19 versus the flu. Below are a few key differences: While testing is the best way to confirm a diagnosis, one of the unique signs and symptoms of COVID-19 is the loss of taste and smell. Flu symptoms typically develop 1-4 days after infection, while COVID-19 symptoms can take 5 days to develop. Most people with flu are contagious for 1 day before they show symptoms. With COVID-19, it's possible for someone to spread the virus for about 2 days before symptoms, and they remain contagious for at least 10 days after symptoms first appeared. Vaccination and good hygiene like washing hands and covering coughs are key to preventing the flu and staying healthy this flu season. Members can receive a flu vaccine at no cost through their doctor or a nearby pharmacy. While everyone should get the flu shot, the CDC notes it's especially important for the following groups who are at higher risk for complication: Pregnant women Children younger than age 5, but especially children younger than age 2 People 65 years of age and older People of any age with certain chronic medical conditions Meridian has been supporting Michigan residents since 1997 across its Medicaid/Medicare/Ambetter plans. For more information about Meridian's Fluvention program and other healthcare support, visit mimeridian.com. About Meridian Meridian in Michigan provides government-sponsored managed care services to families, children, seniors, and individuals with complex medical needs primarily through Medicaid (Meridian), Medicare Advantage and Medicare Prescription Drug Plans (Wellcare), Medicare-Medicaid Plans (MeridianComplete), and the Health Insurance Marketplace (Ambetter from Meridian). Meridian is a wholly owned subsidiary of Centene Corporation, a leading healthcare enterprise committed to helping people live healthier lives. For more information about Meridian, visit mimeridian.com. SOURCE Meridian of Michigan GREENBELT, Md., Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The public is invited to a free lecture called "Big Telescopes and Big Discoveries in Our Solar System" with Dr. Stefanie Milam, a NASA interdisciplinary astrobiologist. The talk will occur in the Pickford Theater, third floor, Madison Building, 101 Independence Avenue SE, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, Sept. 21 from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. EDT. Dr. Milam will discuss how big telescopes, including the James Webb Space Telescope and other new space telescopes underway, will peer into the far reaches of our solar system and into distant corners of the universe. This new generation of big telescopes will reveal new worlds, moons, interstellar interlopers, and more, and spark new insights into our solar system's formation, history, evolution, and composition. Dr. Milam is the James Webb Space Telescope's deputy project scientist for planetary science and works in the Astrochemistry Laboratory at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Dr. Milam conducts high-resolution spectroscopic studies of evolved stars, star-forming regions, and the galactic interstellar medium, and she has a laboratory that simulates ices and interprets data from missions observing ice features. Dr. Milam also maintains a program in which radio telescopes and space-based observatories collaborate to observe and characterize comets. The Library of Congress maintains one of the largest and most diverse collections of scientific and technical information in the world. The Library of Congress is the nation's oldest federal cultural institution and the largest library in the world and holds nearly 151.8 million items in various languages, disciplines, and formats. The Library serves both Congress and the nation online and on-site in its reading rooms on Capitol Hill. This program is presented through a partnership between NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and the Library's Science, Technology, and Business Division. It will be recorded but will not be streamed live. For those unable to attend this program in person, the recording will be posted on the Library of Congress Event Videos collection page and on the Library's YouTube channel "Topics in Science" playlist in the coming months. For inquiries about this program, contact Sean Bryant in the Science, Technology and Business Division at [email protected] or the division office at 202-707-1212. Individuals requiring accommodations for this event are requested to submit a request at least five business days in advance by contacting 202-707-6362 or [email protected]. For more information, visit: https://blogs.loc.gov/inside_adams/2022/09/big-telescopes/ For directions, visit: http://www.loc.gov/visit/maps-and-floor-plans/ or www.loc.gov For information about Dr. Milam, visit: https://webb.nasa.gov/content/meetTheTeam/people/milam.html Video: A Virtual Talk: Dr. Stefanie Milam, Webb Deputy Project Scientist for Planetary Science talks Webb and planetary science in 2019. https://youtu.be/8bI1jYp1IQU SOURCE NASA Experts to Discuss Role of Legal Education and the Legal Profession in Democracy and Community HOUSTON, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- To commemorate the opening of the new John M. O'Quinn Law Building, some of the most notable names in bar association leadership, the judiciary, law firms, legal employers, and academia will gather at the University of Houston Law Center for a Celebration and Dedication Conference on Friday, Sept. 23. The conference theme is "Legal Education and the Legal Profession in Promoting Democracy and Community in the 21st Century." "The UH Law Center has long served as a site for discussion and discourse on so many issues affecting our world. It's only fitting that the dedication of the brand-new John M. O'Quinn Law Building is aligned with a conference featuring a who's who of scholars and leaders in the legal profession. I look forward to being a part of this event and anticipate great conversations among its participants," said Dr. Robert H. McPherson, Interim Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost for the University of Houston. "It is an exciting time for the University of Houston Law Center. We are celebrating our 75th anniversary and the move into our new home, the new John M. O'Quinn Law Building," said University of Houston Law Center Dean Leonard M. Baynes. "We are proud to be a platform for thought leadership and host events such as this conference that provide greater interaction with the legal community." The more than 20 prominent speakers and panelists presenting at the conference are: Deborah Enix-Ross , President of the American Bar Association. Senior adviser to the International Dispute Resolution Group of Debevoise & Plimpton , President of the American Bar Association. Senior adviser to the International Dispute Resolution Group of Debevoise & Plimpton Erwin Chemerinsky , President of the Association of American Law Schools, Dean and Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law at UC Berkeley School of Law , President of the Association of American Law Schools, Dean and Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law at UC Berkeley School of Law Lonita K. Baker , President of the National Bar Association, Associate Corporate Counsel at Waystar , President of the National Bar Association, Associate Corporate Counsel at Waystar Dr. Robert H. McPherson , Interim Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Provost for the University of Houston , Interim Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Provost for the Leonard M. Baynes , Dean and Professor of Law for the University of Houston Law Center , Dean and Professor of Law for the Law Center Alex B. Roberts , Partner at Beck Redden, President of the University of Houston Law Alumni Association , Partner at Beck Redden, President of the Law Alumni Association Greg R. Vetter , Associate Dean and HIPLA Professor of Law for the University of Houston Law Center , Associate Dean and HIPLA Professor of Law for the Law Center Carlos M. Bollar , President of the Hispanic National Bar Association, Co-Chair of Archer & Greiner P.C. Environmental Justice Group , President of the Hispanic National Bar Association, Co-Chair of Archer & Greiner P.C. Environmental Justice Group A.B. Cruz III. Acting President of the National Asian Pacific Islander Bar Association, Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy (ret.), Senior Advisor at BarkerGilmore Laura Gibson , President of the Texas Bar Association, Managing Partner at Dentons , President of the Texas Bar Association, Managing Partner at Dentons Christopher V. Popov , President of the Houston Bar Association, Partner at Vinson & Elkins , President of the Houston Bar Association, Partner at Vinson & Elkins Renee Knake Jefferson , Joanne and Larry Doherty Chair in Legal Ethics, Professor of Law and Director, Outcomes and Assessments at the University of Houston Law Center , Joanne and Larry Doherty Chair in Legal Ethics, Professor of Law and Director, Outcomes and Assessments at the Law Center Judge Jeffrey V. Brown , U.S. Southern District Court of Texas , U.S. Southern District Court of Justice J. Brett Busby , Supreme Court of Texas , Supreme Court of Judge J. Michelle Childs , U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit , U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod , U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit , U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Judge Jenny Rivera , New York Court of Appeals , Court of Appeals Gregory M. Bopp , Managing Partner at Bracewell LLP , Managing Partner at Bracewell LLP Alison L. Chen , Managing Partner at Akin Gump , Managing Partner at Akin Gump Shauna J. Clark , U.S. Chair; Head of Employment and Labor at Norton Rose Fulbright , U.S. Chair; Head of Employment and Labor at Norton Rose Fulbright Paul Furrh , Attorney and CEO for Lone Star Legal Aid , Attorney and CEO for Lone Star Legal Aid Roland Garcia , Partner at Greenberg Traurig, Chair of the Mayor's Hispanic Advisory Board , Partner at Greenberg Traurig, Chair of the Mayor's Hispanic Advisory Board Kim Ogg , Harris County District Attorney The Celebration and Dedication Conference is the first large-scale event hosted by UH Law Center in the new world-class building, which opened to students, staff and faculty this fall semester. The ultramodern nearly $93 million John M. O'Quinn Law Building was designed by the women-owned architecture firm, Shepley Bulfinch. The five-story, cantilevered building has dedicated spaces for instruction, research, clinics and events. At approximately 180,000 square feet, the facility includes a multi-level library, a meditation room, a courtroom, commuter showers with changing rooms, an outdoor terrace, student lounges, an advocacy skills lab, and a convenience store. The conference is from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. CT at the John M. O'Quinn Law Building, 4170 Martin Luther King Boulevard. Attendees earn 6 hours of Texas MCLE. A reception and building tours will follow. Click here to register for the Celebration and Dedication Conference. Click here to view the agenda for the Celebration and Dedication Conference. Click here for a booklet with photos of the new John M. O'Quinn Law Building spaces. University of Houston Law Center media contacts: Carrie Anna Criado, UH Law Center Assistant Dean of Communications and Marketing, 713-743-2184, [email protected]; Bonnie Buffaloe, Communications Manager, 713-743-9137, [email protected] . About the University of Houston Law Center The University of Houston Law Center (UHLC) is a dynamic, top tier law school located in the nation's 4th largest city. UHLC's Health Law, Intellectual Property Law, and Part-time programs rank in the U.S. News Top 10. It awards Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D.) and Master of Laws (LL.M.) degrees, through its academic branch, the College of Law. The Law Center is more than just a law school. It is a powerful hub of intellectual activity with more than 15 centers and institutes which fuel its educational mission and national reputation. UHLC is fully accredited by the American Bar Association and is a member of the Association of American Law Schools. About the University of Houston The University of Houston is a Carnegie-designated Tier One public research university recognized with a Phi Beta Kappa chapter for excellence in undergraduate education. UH serves the globally competitive Houston and Gulf Coast Region by providing world-class faculty, experiential learning and strategic industry partnerships. Located in the nation's fourth-largest city and one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse regions in the country, UH is a federally designated Hispanic- and Asian-American-Serving institution with enrollment of more than 47,000 students. SOURCE University of Houston Law Center CHEVY CHASE, Md., Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Karyne Messina's new book, Resurgence of Global Populism: A Psychoanalytic Study of Projective Identification, Blame-Shifting and the Corruption of Democracy, (Routledge Publishing, September 2022), offers evidence of how populists can wrest power and sow discord while eroding democratic processes in a slow decline towards authoritarianism. The book was published today. As a follow up to her 2020 book Aftermath: Healing from the Trump Presidency, here Messina examines populism in the U.S., Hungary, Poland, Austria, Australia, New Zealand, Western Europe, Latin America, the Philippines, Turkey, and India. "Resurgence of Globalism Populism provides a psychoanalytic perspective to the global implications of the populist movement in the U.S. and its relationship to other parts of the world, particularly focusing on the presidency and legacy of Donald Trump," Messina writes. The book is endorsed by leading psychoanalysts, including David Scharff and Richard Waugaman. Scharff says: "What sets this book apart is her sure-handed use of a psychoanalytic lens to examine the developmental causes of threats to democracy, the invasive effects of social media, and erosion of good governance." Adds Waugaman: Messina "cogently applies psychoanalytic thinking to a host of serious dangers that threaten democracy. a role model for psychoanalysts who want to apply their understanding of dynamics beyond the consulting room." About the Author Karyne Messina is a licensed psychologist, psychoanalyst, and author. Her previous books include Misogyny, Projective Identification, and Mentalization: Psychoanalytic, Social and Institutional Manifestations (Routledge, 2019) and Aftermath: Healing from the Trump Presidency, Washington, DC (IPI Press, 2020). She is a supervising and training analyst at the Washington Baltimore Center for Psychoanalysis and is on the medical staff at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, MD, part of Johns Hopkins Medicine. Additionally, she maintains a full-time private practice in Chevy Chase, MD. Messina received a B.A. from Florida Atlantic University, and then earned an M.A. and a doctorate from George Washington University. For more information go to: Home (karyne-messina.com) Publication Information Resurgence of Global Populism: A Psychoanalytic Study of Projective Identification, Blame- Shifting and the Corruption of Democracy by Karyne Messina Publisher: Routledge Publishing 240 pages ISBN: 978-1032064512 $160 (Hardcover); $39.95 (Paperback) Publication date: September 19, 2022 PR Contact: Andrew Blum, AJB Communications 917-783-1680, [email protected] SOURCE Karyne Messina Utilizing proprietary software, NuCurrent's MP-A24 design specification simplifies and reduces size and cost of Qi EPP transmitter hardware CHICAGO and BOULDER, Colo., Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- NuCurrent, the global leader in wireless power technology, announced today that it developed a new wireless transmitter architecture, the MP-A24 Qi design specification. The new standard utilizes proprietary software to significantly reduce cost, simplify design and improve thermal efficiencies. PopPower 2, the second-generation of PopSockets' flagship wireless charger, is the world's first to be mass-produced with this technology and hits shelves today. PopSockets PopPower 2 is Powered by NuCurrent "With MP-A24, we're addressing the utmost challenges facing extended-range Qi charging namely: component size and cost," said Rob Diebold, NuCurrent VP of Global Sales. "By addressing these challenges, we'll bring high-performance Qi to more devices, ultimately increasing consumer adoption of this technology worldwide." The first-generation PopPower device utilized NuCurrent's MP-A17 Qi design specification, the industry's first Qi-certified,15-Watt wireless charger design with an extended charging distance of up to 12mm (which was over 3 times the distance of the previous standard at the time), to charge through PopGrips and other thick phone accessories. The hardware required for MP-A24-based designs is 82% smaller than MP-A17, while still delivering 15W at up to 12mm of separation due to NuCurrent's proprietary software. MP-A24 is also reconfigurable, allowing it to be integrated into custom product designs with unique or challenging size constraints. For PopSockets, MP-A24 has resulted in a slimmer second-generation PopPower 2 without compromising the superior performance of the first-generation PopPower. "Through our technology partnership, PopSockets and NuCurrent have developed wireless power products that have been first-in-industry solutions with each launch," said Altan Nahum, PopSockets VP of Product. "When you step back, you realize these accomplishments are monumental and drive real value for the business." For more information on NuCurrent's Low Frequency Wireless Charging Technology, contact [email protected] . To purchase a PopPower 2 wireless charger, visit PopSockets.com. About NuCurrent NuCurrent supplies Fortune 1000 companies and other high-flying product developers with wireless power technologies and product integration expertise. Our core technologies span magnetics, software and systems simulation. We have generated over 180 patents granted and pending globally, and unparalleled internal tools that enhance speed to market, improve product performance and mitigate major development risks. Our broad systems integration expertise supports manufacturers of appliances, smartphones, wearables, hearables, consumer electronics, medical devices, robotics, IoT, sporting equipment and other emerging product categories. NuCurrent solutions are based on inductive and inductive resonant wireless power transfer which offers convenience, safety, efficiency, and enhanced user experience. Founded in 2009, we are a venture-backed company based in Chicago with offices in Hong Kong, San Diego and Bangalore. More information at www.nucurrent.com. NuCurrent Media Contact Amaya Adams Sr. Marketing Program Manager [email protected] (312) 637-3511 SOURCE NuCurrent Treatment will be offered at the Neurology Centre of Toronto in Forest Hill VANCOUVER, BC, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Numinus Wellness Inc. ("Numinus" or the "Company") (TSX: NUMI) (OTCQX: NUMIF), a mental health care company advancing innovative treatments and safe, evidence-based psychedelic-assisted therapies, today announced that its Toronto clinic, the Neurology Centre of Toronto (NCT) by Numinus, is now offering ketamine-assisted therapy for patients with neurologic conditions. "Following a thorough evaluation, Numinus found NCT's existing infrastructure, client base and practitioners to be highly suitable for offering ketamine-assisted therapy. Mental health challenges are commonly associated with neurologic diagnoses and ketamine-assisted therapy is a promising tool that we now have available for our patients," said Dr. Evan Lewis (MD), VP, Psychedelic Neurology, Numinus. "The use of ketamine-assisted therapy within the field of neurology is novel, and we look forward to expanding access for our patients and contributing to the body of knowledge regarding ketamine applications." NCT focuses on conditions including epilepsy, concussion, brain injury and functional neurological disorders, offering a comprehensive range of services that include primary neurologic care and supportive therapies offered by a team of over 20 specialists. The new service will be led by a psychologist and follow Numinus' existing protocol for ketamine-assisted therapy, already in use in its other locations in Canada and the US, which includes sessions for medical screening, medicine dosing and therapy for integration. The protocol will be modified to ensure it is appropriate for patients with neurologic conditions. A group of existing patients have been reviewed as candidates, with plans to provide treatment to more patients following evaluation of the initial cohort. In addition to ketamine-assisted therapy, NCT is expanding its capabilities to support applications for other psychedelic-assisted therapies through Health Canada's Special Access Program (SAP). The SAP is a federal program through which patients with demonstrable need can apply for access to investigational medical treatments that are not yet available to the public, including therapies using psychedelics such as MDMA and psilocybin. A successful SAP application was recently completed by a Montreal Numinus physician to provide psilocybin-assisted therapy for depression. "We look forward to making psychedelic-assisted therapies more accessible to those in need in Ontario through ketamine-assisted therapy and Special Access Program applications," said Payton Nyquvest, CEO and Founder, Numinus. "Our patients often face complex challenges, including comorbid neurologic and mental health disorders. By offering these additional services, we can help alleviate their distress and improve their quality of life." More information on NCT by Numinus can be found online at numinus.com/location/toronto.The clinic is located in the Forest Hill neighbourhood of midtown Toronto. About Numinus Numinus Wellness (TSX: NUMI) helps people to heal and be well through the development and delivery of innovative mental health care and access to safe, evidence-based psychedelic-assisted therapies. The Numinus model - including psychedelic production, research and clinic care - is at the forefront of a transformation aimed at healing rather than managing symptoms for depression, anxiety, trauma, pain and substance use. At Numinus, we are leading the integration of psychedelic-assisted therapies into mainstream clinical practice and building the foundation for a healthier society. Learn more at numinus.com and follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Disclaimer Neither Numinus Wellness Inc., nor any of its subsidiaries is a professional corporation licensed to practice health services. In jurisdictions where health services may only be provided by a corporation if that corporation holds a valid permit to do so, Numinus and its subsidiaries operate in a management services function to affiliated professional corporations, who provide health services to patients. Numinus and its subsidiaries do provide health services directly to patients in those jurisdictions where authorized to do so. Forward-looking statements This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All statements that are not historical facts, including without limitation, statements regarding future estimates, plans, programs, forecasts, projections, objectives, assumptions, expectations or beliefs regarding future performance are "forward-looking statements". Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "expects", "does not expect", "is expected", "believes", "intends", "anticipates", "does not anticipate", "believes" or variations of these words, expressions or statements, that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be" taken, will occur or will be realized. Such forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and other known and unknown factors that could cause actual results, events or developments to differ materially from the results, events or developments expected and expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, dependence on obtaining and maintaining regulatory approvals, including the acquisition and renewal of federal, provincial, municipal, local or other licenses, and any inability to obtain all necessary government authorizations, licenses and permits to operate and expand the Company's facilities; regulatory or policy changes such as changes in applicable laws and regulations, including federal and provincial legalization, due to fluctuations in public opinion, industry perception of integrative mental health, including the use of psychedelic-assisted therapy, delays or inefficiencies or any other reason; any other factor or development likely to hamper the growth of the market; the Company's limited operating and profitability track record; dependence on management; the Company's need for additional financing and the effects of financial market conditions and other factors on the availability of capital; competition, including that of more established and better funded competitors; the impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict on the global economy; the continued impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; and the need to build and maintain alliances and partnerships, including with research and development companies, customers and suppliers. These factors should be carefully considered, and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Despite the Company's efforts to identify the main risk factors that could cause actual measures, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, other risk factors may cause measures, events or developments to materially differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake to revise forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available as a result of future events, new facts or any other reason, except as required by applicable laws. SOURCE Numinus Wellness Inc. SINGAPORE, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- OneConnect Financial Technology Co., Ltd ("OneConnect" or the "Company", Stock Code: 6638.HK), a leading Technology-as-a-Service ("TaaS") provider, announced that it will help develop the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) SME Financing Platform, an integrated digital finance marketplace that will transform the financing services landscape for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Working with ADGM, the international financial centre in the capital of the UAE, the intelligent marketplace will help advance financial inclusion, enhance transparency, alleviate operational costs in SME finance and improve the overall customer experience for SMEs and funding organizations. The ADGM SME Financing Platform will be an open and inclusive digital finance platform that improves SMEs' access to financing. As a marketplace connecting various key stakeholders such as SMEs, multi-lenders and data sources from government agencies, and supported by a robust loan origination process which enables seamless transfer of data, the platform will enable better, faster and more risk-appropriate financing decisions to be made. The entire loan application process is made agile and simplified through the use of digital tools such as e-contracts and e-signatures. As a result, SMEs will be able to access a wider range of financing options such as effective supply chain finance solutions. It will also give financiers such as banks and credit funds access to a wider pool of customers. Further, an intelligent recommendation engine will help SMEs identify the best-fit loan products available to them within the marketplace. "At OneConnect, we believe in creating long term value for our clients. We listen to our client's needs and deliver next generation omni-solutions which can cater to not only their present needs but their future needs as well. With ADGM, this is our second project, which is a direct reflection of our deepened client relationships and trust. We believe that great things in business are never done by one person! We learn from all to build for all. We are excited to bring our expertise in developing digital financial solutions for SMEs within the UAE region and eventually to Middle East and North Africa(MENA) region" said Ms Tan Bin Ru, CEO (Southeast Asia) of OneConnect Financial Technology. Earlier, OneConnect had worked with ADGM to launch the Digital Lab in early 2021. The Digital Lab is UAE's first Open API platform that allows financial institutions and FinTech innovators to collaborate and build the next generation of digital financial services. "SMEs are a key contributor to economic growth and are deserving of an open and transparent marketplace for financial products," said Dhaher bin Dhaher Al Muhairi, CEO of ADGM Registration Authority. "With the new platform, SMEs will find more convenient, affordable and effective financing solutions that will further improve the competitiveness and diversification of the UAE economy and transform the financing landscape in the MENA region." Despite challenges caused by the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic, OneConnect has been successful in securing a new partnership building a strong relationship with ADGM. Through a comprehensive suite of technologies, a unique "Finance+Technology" business model and a customer-oriented approach, OneConnect will continue to explore future opportunities within the MENA region following the adoption of a cutting-edge platform by a leading financial centre and common law jurisdiction in the region. SOURCE OneConnect DUBLIN, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Fusion Splicer Market (2022-2027) by Offering, Alignment, Application, Geography, Competitive Analysis, and the Impact of Covid-19 with Ansoff Analysis" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The Global Fusion Splicer Market is estimated to be USD 314.3 Mn in 2022 and is projected to reach USD 517.79 Mn by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 10.5%. Market dynamics are forces that impact the prices and behaviors of the Global Fusion Splicer Market stakeholders. These forces create pricing signals which result from the changes in the supply and demand curves for a given product or service. Forces of Market Dynamics may be related to macro-economic and micro-economic factors. There are dynamic market forces other than price, demand, and supply. Human emotions can also drive decisions, influence the market, and create price signals. As the market dynamics impact the supply and demand curves, decision-makers aim to determine the best way to use various financial tools to stem various strategies for speeding the growth and reducing the risks. Company Profiles The report provides a detailed analysis of the competitors in the market. It covers the financial performance analysis for the publicly listed companies in the market. The report also offers detailed information on the companies' recent development and competitive scenario. Some of the companies covered in this report are Sumitomo Electric Industries, Furukawa Electric Co, Fujikura, Ilsintech, China Electronics Technology, Shenzhen Ruiyan Communication Equipment, Eloik Communication Equipment Technology, etc. Countries Studied America ( Argentina , Brazil , Canada , Chile , Colombia , Mexico , Peru , United States , Rest of Americas) , , , , , , , , Rest of Americas) Europe ( Austria , Belgium , Denmark , Finland , France , Germany , Italy , Netherlands , Norway , Poland , Russia , Spain , Sweden , Switzerland , United Kingdom , Rest of Europe ) ( , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Rest of ) Middle-East and Africa ( Egypt , Israel , Qatar , Saudi Arabia , South Africa , United Arab Emirates , Rest of MEA) and ( , , , , , , Rest of MEA) Asia-Pacific ( Australia , Bangladesh , China , India , Indonesia , Japan , Malaysia , Philippines , Singapore , South Korea , Sri Lanka , Thailand , Taiwan , Rest of Asia-Pacific ) Competitive Quadrant The report includes Competitive Quadrant, a proprietary tool to analyze and evaluate the position of companies based on their Industry Position score and Market Performance score. The tool uses various factors for categorizing the players into four categories. Some of these factors considered for analysis are financial performance over the last 3 years, growth strategies, innovation score, new product launches, investments, growth in market share, etc. Ansoff Analysis The report presents a detailed Ansoff matrix analysis for the Global Fusion Splicer Market. Ansoff Matrix, also known as Product/Market Expansion Grid, is a strategic tool used to design strategies for the growth of the company. The matrix can be used to evaluate approaches in four strategies viz. Market Development, Market Penetration, Product Development and Diversification. The matrix is also used for risk analysis to understand the risk involved with each approach. The report analyses the Global Fusion Splicer Market using the Ansoff Matrix to provide the best approaches a company can take to improve its market position. Based on the SWOT analysis conducted on the industry and industry players, the analyst has devised suitable strategies for market growth. Why buy this report? The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the Global Fusion Splicer Market. The report includes in-depth qualitative analysis, verifiable data from authentic sources, and projections about market size. The projections are calculated using proven research methodologies. The report has been compiled through extensive primary and secondary research. The primary research is done through interviews, surveys, and observation of renowned personnel in the industry. The report includes an in-depth market analysis using Porter's 5 forces model and the Ansoff Matrix. In addition, the impact of Covid-19 on the market is also featured in the report. The report also includes the regulatory scenario in the industry, which will help you make a well-informed decision. The report discusses major regulatory bodies and major rules and regulations imposed on this sector across various geographies. The report also contains the competitive analysis using Positioning Quadrants, the analyst's Proprietary competitive positioning tool. Key Topics Covered: 1 Report Description 2 Research Methodology 3 Executive Summary 4 Market Dynamics 4.1 Drivers 4.1.1 Low Insertion Loss 4.1.2 High Demand for Increased Network Bandwidth 4.1.3 Increase in Government Funding for Fiber Optic Networks 4.2 Restraints 4.2.1 High Costings of Equipments 4.3 Opportunities 4.3.1 Rise in the Implementation of FTTH 4.3.2 Upgrade of the Existing Fiber Optics Network 4.4 Challenges 4.4.1 Lack of Technical Knowledge and Skills 5 Market Analysis 5.1 Regulatory Scenario 5.2 Porter's Five Forces Analysis 5.3 Impact of COVID-19 5.4 Ansoff Matrix Analysis 6 Global Fusion Splicer Market, By Offering 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Hardware 6.2.1 Electrodes 6.2.2 Cleaver 6.2.3 Sheath Clamps 6.2.4 Batteries and Power Chords 6.2.5 Tube Heater 6.2.6 Stripper 6.2.7 Display and Microscope 6.2.8 Heating Element 6.2.8.1 Electric Arc 6.2.8.2 Co2 Laser 6.2.8.3 Gas Flames 6.2.8.4 Nichrome Wire 6.2.9 Others 6.3 Software & Services 7 Global Fusion Splicer Market, By Alignment 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Core Alignment 7.3 Cladding Alignment 8 Global Fusion Splicer Market, By Application 8.1 Introduction 8.2 Telecommunications 8.3 Enterprise 8.4 Cable TV 8.5 Aerospace and Defense 8.6 Specialty 9 Americas' Fusion Splicer Market 9.1 Introduction 9.2 Argentina 9.3 Brazil 9.4 Canada 9.5 Chile 9.6 Colombia 9.7 Mexico 9.8 Peru 9.9 United States 9.10 Rest of Americas 10 Europe's Fusion Splicer Market 10.1 Introduction 10.2 Austria 10.3 Belgium 10.4 Denmark 10.5 Finland 10.6 France 10.7 Germany 10.8 Italy 10.9 Netherlands 10.10 Norway 10.11 Poland 10.12 Russia 10.13 Spain 10.14 Sweden 10.15 Switzerland 10.16 United Kingdom 10.17 Rest of Europe 11 Middle East and Africa's Fusion Splicer Market 11.1 Introduction 11.2 Egypt 11.3 Israel 11.4 Qatar 11.5 Saudi Arabia 11.6 South Africa 11.7 United Arab Emirates 11.8 Rest of MEA 12 APAC's Fusion Splicer Market 12.1 Introduction 12.2 Australia 12.3 Bangladesh 12.4 China 12.5 India 12.6 Indonesia 12.7 Japan 12.8 Malaysia 12.9 Philippines 12.10 Singapore 12.11 South Korea 12.12 Sri Lanka 12.13 Thailand 12.14 Taiwan 12.15 Rest of Asia-Pacific 13 Competitive Landscape 13.1 Competitive Quadrant 13.2 Market Share Analysis 13.3 Strategic Initiatives 13.3.1 M&A and Investments 13.3.2 Partnerships and Collaborations 13.3.3 Product Developments and Improvements 14 Company Profiles 14.1 Sumitomo Electric Industries 14.2 Furukawa Electric Co 14.3 Fujikura 14.4 Ilsintech 14.5 INNO Instruments 14.6 Darkhorse China 14.7 China Electronics Technology 14.8 Nanjing Jilong Optical Communication 14.9 Nanjing DVP 14.10 Shenzhen Ruiyan Communication Equipment 14.11 Signal Fire Technology 14.12 Shanghai Xianghe Optical Fiber Communication 14.13 Eloik Communication Equipment Technology 14.14 Firefox 14.15 Greenlee Communication 15 Appendix For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/pl6ipq Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager [email protected] For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/539438/Research_and_Markets_Logo.jpg SOURCE Research and Markets RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA, Calif., Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Together, PADI and Scuba Diving magazine have announced the winners of their 18th annual Through Your Lens photo contest, which drew in nearly 2,600 entries from around the world. "The submissions for our 2022 Through Your Lens photo contest have exceeded our expectations," says Andy Leisner, Chief Consumer Officer of PADI Worldwide, the publisher of Scuba Diving magazine. "The imagery in this annual collection of underwater photography is outstanding, unique, and captures what a very small portion of the global population has had the opportunity to experience: the other stunning 70% of our watery planet." This year's grand prize winner is Boz Johnson, whose striking nighttime image of a flying fish gliding just below the surface highlights the magic of the underwater world and the beauty worth protecting. Through Your Lens is the first photo Johnson ever entered, and he took home $1,000 from Scuba Diving magazine and a liveaboard trip aboard the BVI Aggressor from Aggressor Adventures. The prize-winning images in the four contest categoriesmacro, wide-angle, behavior, and compact camerainclude: ice-diving a whale carcass, a perch eating another perch, a moray eel opening its mouth for a teeth cleaning from a bluestreak wrasse, a diver exploring the shallows of a Mexican cenote on a sunny day, a whale shark at night, an octopus mother tending her eggs, and a black and white shrimp. The first-place winner for each of the specified categories also received the week-long Aggressor Adventures liveaboard trip, the second-place winners a SCUBAPRO regulator, and the third-place winners a SeaLife light or underwater smartphone housing accessory. Select winners will also be given the opportunity to have their photos featured on PADI certification cards. "We are on a mission to encourage more people to experience, explore and protect our shared blue planet, with the 2022 Through Your Lens images playing a powerful role in sparking positive ocean change," continues Leisner. To check out this year's collection of winning photos, visit scubadiving.com/worlds-best-underwater-photos . To inquire about reproducing winning images, please contact [email protected] . About PADI PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors) is the largest purpose-driven diving organization with a global community of 6,600 dive centers and resorts, 128,000 professional members and more than 29 million certified divers to date. Committed to our blue planet, PADI makes the wonder of the underwater world accessible to all, empowering people around the world to experience, explore and take meaningful action, as Ocean Torchbearers, to protect the world beneath the surface. For over 50 years, PADI is undeniably The Way the World Learns to Dive, setting the standard for the highest quality dive training, underwater safety and conservation initiatives while evolving the sport of diving into a passionate lifestyle. For divers by divers, PADI is obsessed with transforming lives and, with its global foundation, PADI AWARE, creating positive ocean change. Seek Adventure. Save the Ocean. SM www.padi.com About Scuba Diving Magazine Scuba Diving magazine, the official publication of PADI Club, serves as a forum in which all divers, regardless of skill level, geographic location, age, sex or race, see themselves represented. As the preeminent source for all things dive, the magazine reflects the conversations and interests of everyday divers, showcasing world-class photography, unbiased product reviews and inspirational stories. Scuba Diving digs into what we love about the sport and gives new divers experiences to reach for, and veteran divers ideas of where to go next. scubadiving.com SOURCE PADI Decentralized renewables employment data shows its potential in helping achieve both United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 7 and 8. Full Report Powering Jobs Census 2022: The Energy Access Workforce . The Decentralized Renewable Energy (DRE) sector is a major source of stable employment with an estimated 374,000 jobs across Africa and 80,000 in India . and 80,000 in . Demand for skilled workers in the off-grid energy sector resumes upward trajectory after pandemic dip, and it is estimated will create up to half a million jobs by 2030 in Africa alone. alone. The DRE sector is upskilling as it matures. According to survey respondents 71 percent of the jobs in India are skilled, 56 percent in Nigeria , and 43 percent in Kenya . Ethiopia , with a relatively underdeveloped DRE sector, has 25 percent skilled workers. are skilled, 56 percent in , and 43 percent in . , with a relatively underdeveloped DRE sector, has 25 percent skilled workers. Female representation in DRE jobs remains low due to cultural and social norms, preventing many women from entering and remaining in the DRE sector. However, the wage gap is smaller than national averages, with the exception of Ethiopia . NEW YORK, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Power for All, the global campaign to end energy poverty, today released its second Decentralized Renewable Energy (DRE) jobs report; supported by GET.invest, Good Energies Foundation, and The Rockefeller Foundation. The industry's most comprehensive emerging markets employment census shows increased demand for DRE solutions is creating hundreds of thousands of formal and informal jobs. The sector is becoming a major employment engine, especially in remote rural areas in emerging and developing economies where poverty and unemployment levels are high. In addition it is helping achieve universal electricity access while supporting the world's transition to clean energy. In order to realize the full social and economic benefits of DRE, the report calls for concerted efforts from all stakeholders in the public, private, and non-profit sectors to ensure the necessary human capital is in place. "With DRE recovering from the impact of the pandemic faster than the broader economy its promise is clear, however significant challenges remain," said Kristina Skierka CEO, Power for All. "Energy regulations need to be overhauled to accommodate renewables and other energy innovations, foreign investment encouraged, and structural issues like access to foreign capital and licensing restrictions resolved in order to grow DRE jobs and realize the sector's full potential." According to the report, the DRE sector is a significant contributor to job creation in energy poor countries with the potential to create direct employment for up to half a million people in Africa by 2030. The sector showed great resilience in the face of COVID-19 with jobs returning in 2021 and now surpassing pre-pandemic levels in most of the study countries. DREwhich includes pico-solar, appliances, solar home systems (SHS), commercial and industrial (C&I) standalone systems, and mini-gridshas an important role to play in accelerating United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 7 (universal access to clean reliable and affordable energy) especially in remote rural communities, and efforts towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The sector has also been a source of 'productive' and 'decent' employment, especially in emerging economies where employment is a major focus of United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 8 (inclusive and sustainable economic growth, employment and decent work for all). The rapid recovery of jobs following the pandemic proves the sector's resilience, indicating those jobs are likely immune to the worst recessionary pressures. "Access to energy transforms every facet of life and over the past decade, vyyyxyo. On itmk mykkkkjjjjjj my bu technologies have been rapidly replacing fossil fuels as the most cost-effective building blocks for powering economic mm MB MMmm mm n m Mo mmm development," says Suman Sureshbabu, Managing Director, Demand, Jobs and Livelihoods at the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP). "The Powering Jobs Reports demonstrates the green job creation potential of the vibrant DRE sector, especially for entrepreneurshipmm junk and small enterprise development." Power for All's "Powering Jobs Census 2022: The Energy Access Workforce" report provides a comprehensive overview of employment in the DRE sector, including skill levels, training opportunities, compensation, participation of women and youth, and job retention. It is based on a survey of more than 350 companies and focus groups across five countries: Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Nigeria, and Uganda. The survey collected employment and sales data from 2019 to 2021 as well as projections for 2022 - 2023. Highlights of the report include: Mixed bag of blessings in job growth: From 2019 - 2021 the DRE sector created more than 80,000 direct workers in India and 144,000 across Kenya, Nigeria and Uganda and Ethiopia. Kenya's estimated 50,000 jobs, greatly outnumber those of Kenya Power (KPLC), the nation's utility-scale power provider, with its 7,000 workers 1 . (KPLC), the nation's utility-scale power provider, with its 7,000 workers . Nigeria's estimated 50,000 jobs nearly matches the oil and gas sector, currently estimated at 65,000. estimated 50,000 jobs nearly matches the oil and gas sector, currently estimated at 65,000. India saw a nearly 10 percent reduction in 2020 jobs due to the pandemic, though this was milder than in the overall renewable energy sector and other sectors. Quick recovery of pandemic-related job losses: The pandemic, and other factors such as supply chain disruptions, conflict and foreign exchange (forex) shortages, contributed to the decline in direct employment in 2021. Pandemic related job losses ranged from 1 percent in Kenya to 23 percent in Ethiopia in 2020. to 23 percent in in 2020. Kenya , and Nigeria DRE employment saw a strong recovery reaching pre-pandemic levels in 2021. , and Nigeria DRE employment saw a strong recovery reaching pre-pandemic levels in 2021. The sector is predicted to create more than 224,000 jobs through 2023 in Nigeria , India and Kenya. , and Kenya. Structural challenges in Ethiopia and Uganda are expected to keep direct employment sluggish. Persistent low participation of women: Women's direct employment in the DRE sector recorded a slight improvement from the previous study, but still has a way to go to reach parity. The share of female participation in the sector closely mirrors the labor force of each country; highlighting the untapped ability of the DRE sector to help address female economic participation. Women's participation nearly doubled in Kenya and increased by 10 percent in Nigeria . and increased by 10 percent in . India saw a largely pandemic driven reduction of 9 percent. saw a largely pandemic driven reduction of 9 percent. On a brighter note, the gender wage gap is smaller than the national wage gap for all focus countries, with the exception of Ethiopia . Closing the skills gaps: As the sector matures it will require an increasingly skilled workforce, training and reskilling will be critical in meeting this demand. Many DRE companies surveyed cited critical skills gaps that need to be addressed through upskilling including sales, installation, and after-sales services. Companies and experts interviewed identified lack of financial resources and standardized curricula as additional challenges. Ethiopia , as a relatively immature market with considerable structural challenges, has the lowest skilled workforce with almost 75% unskilled. The growth and resilience exhibited by DRE in this report strengthens the case for increased support from government and development partners, to not only achieve the elusive universal energy access, but to tap into its job creation potential to accelerate rural development and poverty reduction efforts. As the world continues its transition from fossil fuels into renewable energy an increasingly skilled workforce will be critical. In addition to this global report, individual country reports will be published to provide unique insights into the DRE job and skill trends in each focus country. Visit Power for All to learn more. About Power for All Power for All is a global coalition campaigning to accelerate the end of energy poverty by scaling distributed renewable energy solutions. The campaign represents more than 300 business, finance, and civil society organizations focused on decentralized renewables, including household and business solar, mini-grids and productive use appliances. Powering Jobs Census 2022: The Energy Access Workforce was made possible by GET.invest*, Good Energies Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, Power for All, and its #PoweringJobs partners (AMDA, AFSIA, Ashden, CEEW, CLASP, CLEAN, Clean Technology Hub Nigeria, Ethio Resource Group, GOGLA, KEREA, Shortlist, UNREEEA). Press Release July 15, 2019. Powering Jobs Census 2019: the Energy Access Workforce *GET.invest is a European programme that mobilises investments in renewable energy, supported by the European Union, Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands and Austria. 1 Kenya Power and Lighting , About Kenya Power, Our Employees SOURCE Power for All This marks the third year in a row Quantix has had an employee honored as an exemplary female supply chain professional HOUSTON, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Quantix, North America's leading supply chain services company to the chemical industry, announced today that Heather Karakashian has been named to the "Women in Supply Chain" list by leading industry publication, Supply and Demand Chain Executive. Karakashian is the company's Senior Director, Customer and Carrier Success of 3PL Solutions. The Women in Supply Chain award honors supply chain leaders whose accomplishments, mentorship and examples set a foundation for women and men alike in all levels of a company's supply chain network. It is the third year in a row that a woman from Quantix has been honored. Karakashian joined Quantix 25 years ago and has held a variety of roles before recently being appointed to lead the newly-formed Carrier and Customer Success team in the 3PL Solutions division. This team works with customers and carriers to set performance metrics and develop joint solutions to ensure stakeholders are operating at peak efficiency. "Heather's ability to step in and solve problems has made her a leader within our organization and more broadly across our expansive customer and carrier network," said Steve Ebel, SVP, 3PL Solutions at Quantix. "Especially in these challenging market conditions, having team members like Heather who go above and beyond to achieve success is critical, and she does exactly that." Karakashian was also recently awarded the "Dedication to Service Excellence" by one of Quantix's multinational chemical corporation customers for her ability to drive service improvements even in a volatile market. This year's Women in Supply Chain list includes individuals from software and service providers, consultancies and academia, trucking and transportation firms, professional development agencies, sourcing and procurement divisions, and more. All honorees have helped supply chain clients and the supply chain community at large prepare to meet many of today's and tomorrow's challenges. Visit www.sdcexec.com to view the full list of 2022 Women in Supply Chain winners. About Quantix Quantix is the leading supply chain services company to the chemical industry. It provides the world's largest chemical providers with end-to-end support through a nationwide network and comprehensive suite of services including transportation, 3PL solutions, distribution centers, export/import and Eco-Recovery. Headquartered in The Woodlands, TX with over 35 locations across the U.S., Quantix is committed to providing the highest level of safety, quality, compliance and integrity across its entire operation. Learn more at www.quantixscs.com. SOURCE Quantix LONDON, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Radar Systems market is estimated to grow at USD 31 billion in 2021 and reach USD 42.5 billion by 2028; it is projected to grow at a CAGR of 4.7% from 2021 to 2028. "Radar Systems Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Platform (Air, Marine, Unmanned, Land, Space) By Dimension (2D, 3D, 4D) By Application (Commercial, National Security, Defense) Based On Region, And Segment Forecasts, 2022- 2028". Radar systems play an essential part in warfare, and the technology is broadly adopted in several countries globally. In 2022, China is creating a new monitoring and defence system which will be tested by purposefully crashing a spacecraft into an asteroid. In addition, Israel also launched a new balloon-mounted radar system with advanced missile. With the continual development of technology in radar systems, it is necessary for vendors to come up with innovations to get an edge over the competition. Huge demand for radar system across various applications led the several market players execute several strategies. For instance, in June 2022, Elbit Systems launched DAiR, an innovative simultaneous multi-mission tactical radar. Additionally, Mitsubishi Electric and Leonardo UK have collaborated on a radar technology demonstrator model that could advise future joint development efforts between the U.K. and Japan. Ongoing recent developments by several market players across the globe are eventually enhancing the growth of radar market system. Get Sample of Report at: https://brandessenceresearch.com/requestSample/PostId/2091 Radar systems Market Key Companies Covered in this Research Report SAAB AB Thales Group Aselsan AS Northrop Grumman Lockheed Martin Telephonics Corp. Hensoldt AG Raytheon Technologies Mitsubishi Electric Radar Systems Market Segmentation Analysis: By Platform Air Marine Unmanned Land Space Others By Dimension 2D 3D 4D By Application Commercial National Security Defense Trends of Radar Systems Market: The past two decades have seen great progress in the development of information and communication technology (ICT), especially for business use. On the other hand, the pace of radar and related technological development remained slow, mainly due to their highly specialized applications and the high costs involved in the hardware and infrastructure associated with these systems. Of late, the situation has changed dramatically, as many ICT applications have made inroads into radar systems. Millimeter Wave RADAR: - Millimeter Wave RADAR (mmWave RADAR) is an extremely valuable sensing technology that is ideal for detecting objects and providing information about the range, speed, and angle of these objects. mmWave RADAR technology uses a non-contact system that operates in the spectrum between 30GHz and 300GHz. Millimeter wave radar (mmWave RADAR) has recently attracted significant interest in meeting the capacity needs of future 5G wave networks. Multiple Inputs, Multiple Output Radar (MIMO): - MIMO radar technology evolved from communications systems where it was used to improve coverage area and signal quality. MIMO radars simultaneously radiate uncorrelated signals with orthogonal polarization. This improves coverage and receives signal quality. The decorrelation of a separately transmit signal is crucial for picking up small targets at long distances. A decoupling of about 70 decibels can possibly be achieved with proper modulation. A new generation of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) systems utilize multiple elevations and azimuth receiver channels with digital beam forming (DBF) capability. This allows the synthesis of multiple digital receiver beams for improved signal resolution and reduced noise figures. Broadband Radar and Multifunctional Radio Frequency RF-Systems: - A major trend in radar is the continuous expansion of operational radar frequency ranges toward applications of broadband multifunctional RF systems. An advantage of broadband and wide frequency range applications in radar is that when the available operating frequency range increases, effective jamming, and interference with radar signals becomes more difficult, as jammed frequency bands can be easily avoided and the jamming signal has more RF power. AESA (Active Electronically Scanned Array): - Active electronically scanned array (AESA) technology is gaining traction due to its advanced tracking and detection capabilities. AESA is a controlled array antenna in which a beam of radio waves can be electronically directed in different directions without moving the antenna. New AESA technology has enabled evolution to higher (millimeter wave) frequencies that provide greater resolution with smaller phased array antennas. Compared to conventional mechanically scanned radar systems, these radars have more efficient detection, targeting, tracking, and self-defense capabilities. Passive Coherent Location Radar System: - A passive coherent location radar (PCLR) is an application of bistatic radar. These radars under development use public broadcasting stations (FM radio stations, cellular phone base stations, and digital audio broadcasts) as target illuminators, also called transmitters of opportunity, and are inherently very difficult to detect and jam. Distributed Aperture Radar Systems: - Modularity and scalability of modern radar sensors are progressive trends and a key factor in designing cost-effective sensors such as HENSOLDT's TRS, TRML, Spexer, and PrecISR radar families. These trends also extend beyond single radar operation, through networked operational capabilities and distributed radar aperture systems, to increase the diversity of detection information, reduce time on targets, improve target re-encounter time, and provide better and more complete situational awareness. Reflector-based DBF SAR: - A novel DBF SAR system uses THE reflector antennas. A concept that offers better performance and a lower level of complexity compared to DBF radars using planar antennas. Spaceborne systems based on this concept are currently being studied and have already been discussed in several publications including this one. To demonstrate the performance of the reflector-based DBF radar and to verify the theoretically obtained results, a reflector-based configuration of the demonstrator was constructed. For this, an elliptical antenna of size 1.2 x 0.8 m , a focal length of 0.8 m and offset clearance of 0.6 m in the major axis were selected. The feed system consists of 8 horn antennas that provide optimum illumination on the antenna surface. Its architecture is highly flexible allowing for varying the inter-element spacing in the feed as well as the position of the entire system relative to the antenna. Get Methodology at: https://brandessenceresearch.com/requestMethodology/PostId/2091 Some of the latest applications and technological advancements in the radar systems market are: - Semiconductor Power Amplifiers: - Traditional power amplifiers (PA) system design has undergone dramatic changes. The use of Gallium Nitride (GaN) power transistors in PAs has led to a change in design. The power handling capabilities of these new generation semiconductor devices are comparable to earlier traveling wave tubes (TWTs). Intelligent Signal Coding: - Similar to communication systems, signal coding schemes such as OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing), DSSS (Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum), and CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) are finding applications in new radars. Radar Digital Signal Processing: - The echo signal input to the receiver changes in amplitude, range, and Doppler. The information content is separated using discriminator or demodulator devices in the form of discriminator, range, and doppler. Range and Doppler can be determined by simple Fourier transforms. A large number of targets can be handled using DSP (Digital Signal Processing) in radar. Using DSP increases the overall efficiency of the radar by about 10 decibels. LIDAR Sensors in Automotive Radars: - Automotive manufacturers are increasing LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) sensors in automotive radars to collect data faster with higher accuracy. Integration of Radars and GPS: - Radar manufacturers are augmenting GPS with civil radars to improve tracking accuracy in security and navigation systems. The integration of radar and GPS into security systems provides automatic target tracking, friend or for tracking, and observation of areas in the dark. 3D Radar Systems: - Many companies and military organizations globally are investing in 3D radar systems to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of weather monitoring, and military and surveillance systems. In a 3D radar system, all three space coordinates are measured within the radar system. The 3D radar consists of pencil beams that are rotated for scanning purposes. Multifunctional Resource and Sensor Management: - The variety of new possibilities provided by future radar trends must be optimized through flexible and modern radar resource management that allocates resources according to the quality needs of specific radar tasks rather than fixed rules. Radar's innovative system technology has the potential to lead to many new functions and applications, potentially replacing most existing system concepts. Future radars are likely to be smaller in size and lower in cost but with higher information content. Most of the technologies maturing in the ICT domain are likely to be integrated into future radars. Automobile radars are meanwhile being mass-produced for safe and autonomous driving. The fastest growing market for radar applications is likely to be in automotive systems. On Special Requirement Radar Systems Market Report is also available for below region: North America U.S., Canada Europe Germany, France, U.K., Italy, Spain, Sweden, Netherlands, Turkey, Switzerland, Belgium, Rest of Europe Asia-Pacific South Korea, Japan, China, India, Australia, Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Rest Of APAC Latin America Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Rest of Latin America Middle East and Africa Saudi Arabia , UAE, Egypt, South Africa, Rest of MEA Get Full Access of all Report: https://brandessenceresearch.com/defense/radar-systems-market-size Related Reports: i-Factor: Live Market intelligence platform I-Factor is our guaranteed seal to keep our clients ahead of the competition, always. This knowledge platform delivers real-time updates on key economic indicators, competitive landscape, changing demand, trends, customized regional insights, and more. The platform visualizes key data points to help make decision making agile, trustworthy, and holistic. Register for free trial here at https://brandessenceresearch.com/i-factor/login/userRegister Brandessence Market Research & Consulting Pvt ltd. Brandessence Market Research publishes market research reports & business insights produced by highly qualified and experienced industry analysts. Our research reports are available in a wide range of industry verticals including aviation, food & beverage, healthcare, ICT, Construction, Chemicals and lot more. Brand Essence Market Research report will be best fit for senior executives, business development managers, marketing managers, consultants, CEOs, CIOs, COOs, and Directors, governments, agencies, organizations and Ph.D. Students. We have a delivery center in Pune, India and our sales office is in London. Follow Us: Linkedin Blog: Automotive Sensors Manufacturers Contact: Mr. Vishal Sawant Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Corporate Sales: +44-2038074155 Asia Office: +917447409162 Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1392316/BEMR_Logo.jpg SOURCE Brandessence Market Research And Consulting Private Limited Additional new homes in Wisconsin will address lack of affordable housing FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich., Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- RHP Properties (RHP), the nation's largest private owner and operator of manufactured home communities, has announced the acquisition of 50 manufactured home communities, including 41 communities in Wisconsin, seven in Minnesota, and two in Michigan, with plans to add over 500 new manufactured homes in the next five years. "This acquisition will make a difference for thousands of Midwest families, seniors, and others feeling the squeeze of today's housing market," said Ross Partrich, CEO, RHP Properties. "By growing our portfolio and delivering 500 new homes we are reinforcing a central part of our mission to offer homes people can afford in safe, community-focused, and well-managed environments." This acquisition will make a difference for families, seniors, and others feeling the squeeze of today's housing market Tweet this RHP plans to spend over $7.5 million in the first 18 months of ownership on utility upgrades, roadwork, and amenity upgrades, such as playgrounds and parks to improve infrastructure and lifestyle. The addition of 500 homes will enable more families to enjoy the privacy of a single-family home and the energy efficient features and design of today's manufactured home. "We recognize all that Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan have to offer," added Partrich. "Wisconsin's commitment to economic development and its recent infrastructure investment positions cities across the state for a strong job market, and we're excited to invest and participate in communities where residents have the opportunity to thrive." Founded in 1988, RHP Properties is the nation's largest privately held owner and operator of manufactured home communities with managed assets of more than $6B, including 368 manufactured home communities nationwide, totaling about 79,585 homesites in 30 states. Headquartered in Farmington Hills, Michigan, RHP Properties employs more than 1,000 professionals. For more information visit www.rhp.com . RHP Properties specializes in, and continues to aggressively seek, acquisitions throughout the United States. Owners of manufactured home communities interested in selling to a highly experienced owner and operator should contact Joshua Mermell, senior vice president of acquisitions at 248-626-0737. SOURCE RHP Properties DUBLIN, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Ride-hailing and Taxi Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report by Type (Ride-hailing, Taxi), by Distribution Channel, by Region, and Segment Forecasts, 2022-2028" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The global ride-hailing and taxi market size is estimated to reach USD 432.16 billion by 2028 and is expected to expand at a CAGR of 11.7% from 2022 to 2028. The growth of the ride market is significantly driven by the expansion of the key players in the new geographies and increasing consumer ridership owing to convenience and comfort. Consumers' inclination to avoid the large overhead cost of car ownership and its maintenance, coupled with the increasing traffic congestion and lack of parking spaces fuels the global market growth. The rural population is noticeably migrating to the urban areas and metro cities for various reasons leading to a dense population. Furthermore, emerging ride-hailing apps and taxi-booking apps are driving the global market, coupled with the increasing internet service penetration and increasing affordability of smartphones. In the global market, the ride-hailing segment by type is anticipated to witness robust growth. The segment is projected to register a CAGR of 17% from 2022 to 2028. Expansion of the ride-hailing companies in the Asia Pacific, Central and South America, and Africa, considering the market potential, is likely to drive the ride-hailing segment growth. For instance, Ola Cabs launched in the Australian city, Sunshine Coast in August 2019, and plans further expansion in Australia and New Zealand. Other factors that are rising the popularity of this mode of transport include the digital payment option, comfort, door-to-door service, and the ability to choose driver/rider. Increasing smartphone use and internet penetration also facilitate the growth of the segment. Offline segment of the distribution channel dominated the market share in the global market. Offline channel dominated with 58.7% market revenue share in 2021 in the market. The widespread availability and long-standing market presence of the offline channel as compared to the online channel, in the global market, are attributable to the higher share. Furthermore, numerous market players in the global market offer offline services compared with the other channels and are credited for the higher market revenue share. The Asia Pacific dominated the market with a significant revenue share in 2021. In the global market, Asia Pacific held over 55% market share based on revenue in 2021. This is substantially attributed to the huge population, reaching 60% of the global share, according to The United Nations Population Fund. Half of the population lives in the urban areas and has accessibility to the ride-hailing and taxi-hailing platforms. Local key players' expansions and increased consumer demand also significantly contributed to the high market share foothold. Key Topics Covered: Chapter 1. Methodology and Scope Chapter 2. Executive Summary Chapter 3. Ride-hailing & Taxi Market Variables, Trends & Scope Chapter 4. Consumer Behavior Analysis Chapter 5. Ride-hailing & Taxi Market: Type Estimates & Trend Analysis Chapter 6. Ride-hailing & Taxi Market: Distribution Channel Estimates & Trend Analysis Chapter 7. Ride-hailing & Taxi Market: Regional Estimates & Trend Analysis Chapter 8. Competitive Analysis Chapter 9. Company Profiles Companies Mentioned Uber Technologies Inc. Lyft Inc. Didi Chuxing Technology Co. Ola Cabs. Bolt Technology OU Grab Holdings Inc. Gett Yandex N.V. Cabify Espana S.L.U. Meituan Inc. For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/dvle5w Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager [email protected] For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/539438/Research_and_Markets_Logo.jpg SOURCE Research and Markets PINE BLUFF, Ark., Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Steve Wade, EVP and assistant general legal counsel for Simmons Bank was nationally recognized by the American Bankers Association Foundation for his work on the SAFER AR ACT with a 2022 ABA Foundation Community Commitment Award. The award was given to Wade for his efforts in the Protecting Older Americans category and will be presented during ABA's Annual Convention on Oct. 4 in Austin, Texas. Steve Wade, EVP and Assistant General Legal Counsel for Simmons Bank Photo credit: Jason Masters Wade played a lead role on the task force of lawmakers and banking professionals to collaborate, research and draft HB 1391 which was signed into law by Governor Asa Hutchinson and became law on July 1, 2021. The SAFER AR Act puts a spotlight on financial exploitation and helping the elderly and people with disabilities in Arkansas. Entries were submitted in seven categories including affordable housing, community and economic development, financial education, economic inclusion, protecting older Americans, supporting military families and volunteerism. Award winners were chosen by a field of nationally-recognized experts. The selection committee chose the winning banks based on the creativity and thoughtfulness of programs traditional or innovative in nature and structure that embody the ideals of corporate social responsibility and demonstrate success in measurable terms. "We received many strong entries this year but Simmons Bank and its work with the SAFER ACT put them out among the pack," said Lindsay Torrico, executive director, ABA Foundation. "It's wonderful to see an organization identify a need within its community and immediately get to work. We applaud Simmons Bank for its unwavering commitment to community and hope others throughout the industry will be inspired to give back and drive community change." "Simmons Bank and our employees are always working to find new and innovative ways to make a difference in our community," said Steve Wade, EVP and assistant general legal counsel for Simmons Bank. "We are honored and grateful to accept this award for our efforts." To learn more about the ABA Foundation Community Commitment Awards, visit aba.com/awards. Photo Credit: Jason Masters About Simmons Bank Simmons Bank is a wholly owned subsidiary of Simmons First National Corporation (NASDAQ: SFNC), a Mid-South based financial holding company that has paid cash dividends for 113 consecutive years. Simmons Bank operates more than 230 branches in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas. Founded in 1903, Simmons Bank offers comprehensive financial solutions delivered with a client-centric approach. Simmons Bank was named to Forbes list of "America's Best Banks" for the second consecutive year and was recently named to Forbes list of "World's Best Banks" for the third consecutive year. Additional information about Simmons Bank can be found on our website at simmonsbank.com, by following @Simmons_Bank on Twitter or by visiting our newsroom. SOURCE Simmons Bank BONITA SPRINGS, Fla., Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- SmartAdvocate, the powerful, fully integrated legal case management system, is excited to announce that it has been named The New York Law Journal's Best of 2022 Winner in five categories this year. SmartAdvocate wishes to thank all those who voted, helping to name them Number One in Case Management Software, Document Management Solution, Entity Management System/Company, Matter Management System and Practice Management Software for the seventh year in a row. SmartAdvocate also remained in the top three in the category of Docketing & Calendaring Software. SmartAdvocate's New 2022 Video Initially designed by and for personal injury and mass tort lawyers, SmartAdvocate is now used by a wide range of law firms throughout the United States, Canada and beyond. SmartAdvocate's fully browser-based system allows law firms to select between Cloud and Server versions, a feature not available in many other case management systems. SmartAdvocate's Client Portal allows clients to view their case updates and upload important information, and its Mobile App allows users to access their cases from virtually anywhere. SmartAdvocate increases the efficiency and accuracy of handling cases and operational details. Customizing the system is made easier with SmartAdvocate's 125+ integration partners, so that firms can set ups exactly what they need, all in a simple, user-friendly format. SmartAdvocate continually offers new releases and software updates. Igor Selizhuk, Chief Technology Officer at SmartAdvocate, was recently interviewed on The Legal Mastermind Podcast as an expert in "Finding The Right Case Management System For Your Firm." When asked about SmartAdvocate's well-known annual new release, Selizhuk explained that his team takes feedback from their clients very seriously, saying that SmartAdvocate has remained dedicated to using client testimonials, reviews, and requests as their main guide in software development. Regarding popular trends, he replied, "There are two broad directions: Client Communications/satisfaction and Automation." Selizhuk gave an example of a request which involved both trends, and the request has evolved into one of SmartAdvocate's most popular new release features. The user asked "What can we do to keep the client engaged? Can we make sure that we talk to a client every 30 days?" SmartAdvocate's CTO continued, "Fast-forward to the new annual release and now, SmartAdvocate has a Dashboard and a Report which pulls cases whereby a firm has not communicated with a client for a predefined period of time!" SmartAdvocate is proud to continue to include the brand message that they are an award-winning legal case management system that will increase a firm's efficiency and profitability. Contact: Allison Rampolla, VP Sales & Marketing, SmartAdvocate LLC, 516-723-4636 (Direct), 516-205-5875 (Mobile), [email protected] Related Links: Smart Advocate Website SOURCE SmartAdvocate This is the second year in a row where StradVision's SVNet deep-learning based camera perception software has been honored as a top prize winner of the industry SEOUL, South Korea, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- StradVision , an AI-based video perception technology company for Autonomous Vehicles and ADAS, is honored to announce that its SVNet software was once again selected as the 'Best-in-Class Software for Perception Systems' during the 2022 AutoSens Awards in Brussels, Belgium. StradVision Wins AutoSens 2022 Gold Award for Perception Software The AutoSens Awards have become one of the industry's leading events for the ADAS and autonomous vehicle technology community, recognizing the most innovative companies and products leading the global autonomous driving industry. StradVision's Gold Award selection was made during this year's award ceremony held on September 13. The company's SVNet was recognized for the second year in a row regarding its deep learning-based camera perception software that continues to mature within the automotive space and accelerate the ADAS and autonomous driving sector forward. StradVision's Dean Kim (Vice President of Business Development) and Andreas vom Felde (General Manager & Head of Sales Region Europe) were in event attendance to accept the award. "This high recognition by AutoSens for the second year is a tremendous honor for our company," said Junhwan Kim, CEO of StradVision. "Our goals have been very ambitious for business growth and innovation, and this year has brought many milestone moments for us. AutoSens' Gold Award for our SVNet perception software will continue our motivation as we pursue more ways to advance autonomous driving and ADAS solutions for the global community." "We've experienced exponential business growth and recognition from the global community over the past year," said Dean Kim, StradVision's Vice President of Business Development. "Seeing our SVNet software selected once again by AutoSens this year is incredible and we believe further spotlights the potential our perception solutions can bring for OEMs and Tier-1s in the automotive industry worldwide." StradVision's SVNet is state-of-the-art software that powers the perception technology behind ADAS and autonomous vehicles, enabling external vehicle perception via 14+ platforms across Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, Renesas, NVIDIA and other chipset makers to accurately and safely detect and recognize objects (even in poor lighting or harsh weather conditions), such as other vehicles, lanes, pedestrians, animals, free space, traffic signs, and lights. SVNet was the first network to run deep learning-based object detection software on TDA2x, R-car V3H, V3M, and H3, and now also provides deep neural network across Snapdragon Ride, Orin, Jacinto, R-car series and Ambarella CV series. Other StradVision products include SVNet Tools, which removes the need to have a large team spending hundreds of hours correcting objects with the risk of human error. About StradVision Founded in 2014, StradVision is an automotive industry pioneer in AI-based vision processing technology for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). The company is accelerating the advent of fully autonomous vehicles by making ADAS features available at a fraction of the market cost compared with competitors. StradVision's SVNet is being deployed on various vehicle models in partnership with OEMs and powers ADAS & Autonomous Vehicles worldwide and is serviced by over 300 employees in Seoul, San Jose, Detroit, Tokyo, Shanghai, Friedrichshafen, and Dusseldorf. StradVision has been honored with the Gold Award at the 2021 and 2022 AutoSens Awards for Best-in-Class Software for Perception Systems, and the 2020 Autonomous Vehicle Technology ACES Award in Autonomy (Software Category). In addition, StradVision's software is certified to the ISO 9001:2015 for Quality Management System and ISO 26262 for Automotive Functional Safety. SOURCE StradVision HOUSTON, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Summit Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE: SMLP) ("Summit", "SMLP" or the "Partnership") announced today that its wholly owned subsidiary, Summit Midstream Holdings, LLC ("SMP Holdings"), signed and closed on the sale of Bison Midstream, LLC ("Bison Midstream"), its gas gathering system in Burke and Mountrail Counties, North Dakota to Steel Reef Infrastructure Corp. ("Steel Reef" or the "Company" through its wholly owned subsidiary Steel Reef US Corp.), an integrated owner and operator of associated gas capture, gathering and processing assets in North Dakota and Saskatchewan, for cash consideration of $40 million, subject to customary transaction adjustments. Heath Deneke, President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, commented, "We are pleased to announce this strategic transaction with Steel Reef. In combination with the previously announced divesture of the Lane gathering and processing system earlier this summer, the sale of Bison Midstream represents a continuation of our strategy to streamline our portfolio of assets through balance sheet enhancing transactions while building additional financial flexibility to reinvest in more strategic scale-building opportunities across our footprint. With the sale of Bison Midstream, Summit's focus in the Williston Basin will be on growing its crude oil and produced water gathering systems primarily located in Williams and Divide Counties, North Dakota. We remain excited about the level of customer development activity in central Williams County and pro forma for the transaction, we continue to expect over 50 new wells behind our liquids system in 2023. Pro forma for the transaction, SMLP will have approximately $90 million drawn on its $400 million ABL Credit Facility, resulting in over $300 million of available liquidity. We continue to expect to trend toward the high end of our 2022 Adjusted EBITDA guidance range of $205 million to $220 million." Bison Overview The Bison Midstream system is located in Mountrail and Burke Counties in northwestern North Dakota. Bison Midstream gathers, compresses and treats associated natural gas that exists in the crude oil stream produced from the Bakken and Three Forks shale formations. The gathering agreements for the Bison Midstream system include long-term, fee-based or percent-of-proceeds contracts. Volume throughput on the Bison Midstream system is underpinned by acreage dedications from its key customers. A large U.S. independent crude oil and natural gas company and Chord Energy Corporation are the key customers of Bison Midstream. Natural gas gathered on the Bison Midstream system is delivered to Aux Sable Midstream LLC's ("Aux Sable") Palermo Conditioning Plant in Palermo, North Dakota and then delivered to downstream pipelines serving Aux Sable's 2.1 Bcf/d natural gas processing plant in Channahon, Illinois. Legal Advisors Locke Lord L.L.P. served as legal advisor to Summit and Bracewell LLP served as legal advisor to Steel Reef. About Summit Midstream Partners, LP SMLP is a value-driven limited partnership focused on developing, owning and operating midstream energy infrastructure assets that are strategically located in the core producing areas of unconventional resource basins, primarily shale formations, in the continental United States. SMLP provides natural gas, crude oil and produced water gathering, processing and transportation services pursuant to primarily long-term, fee-based agreements with customers and counterparties in six unconventional resource basins: (i) the Appalachian Basin, which includes the Utica and Marcellus shale formations in Ohio and West Virginia; (ii) the Williston Basin, which includes the Bakken and Three Forks shale formations in North Dakota; (iii) the Denver-Julesburg Basin, which includes the Niobrara and Codell shale formations in Colorado and Wyoming; (iv) the Permian Basin, which includes the Bone Spring and Wolfcamp formations in New Mexico; (v) the Fort Worth Basin, which includes the Barnett Shale formation in Texas; and (vi) the Piceance Basin, which includes the Mesaverde formation as well as the Mancos and Niobrara shale formations in Colorado. SMLP has an equity method investment in Double E Pipeline, LLC, which provides interstate natural gas transportation service from multiple receipt points in the Delaware Basin to various delivery points in and around the Waha Hub in Texas. SMLP also has an equity method investment in Ohio Gathering, which operates extensive natural gas gathering and condensate stabilization infrastructure in the Utica Shale in Ohio. SMLP is headquartered in Houston, Texas. About Steel Reef As the leader in associated gas capture in Saskatchewan, our organization enhances the energy community by reducing the carbon intensity of each barrel produced while converting associated gas into useable sources of energy. Formed in 2012, Steel Reef safely operates essential infrastructure that captures, processes and transports associated natural gas in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin and Bakken Resource Play. Our integrated asset base enables access to premium product markets. Privately held since inception, the Company has deployed approximately $1.0 billion into a cohesive portfolio of infrastructure assets, with a view to maximizing long-term shareholder value. www.steelreef.ca Forward-Looking Statements This press release includes certain statements concerning expectations for the future that are forward-looking within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Forward-looking statements include, without limitation, any statement that may project, indicate or imply future results, events, performance or achievements and may contain the words "expect," "intend," "plan," "anticipate," "estimate," "believe," "will be," "will continue," "will likely result," and similar expressions, or future conditional verbs such as "may," "will," "should," "would," and "could." In addition, any statement concerning future financial performance (including future revenues, earnings or growth rates), ongoing business strategies and possible actions taken by us or our subsidiaries are also forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements also contain known and unknown risks and uncertainties (many of which are difficult to predict and beyond management's control) that may cause SMLP's actual results in future periods to differ materially from anticipated or projected results. An extensive list of specific material risks and uncertainties affecting SMLP is contained in its 2021 Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") on February 28, 2022, as amended and updated from time to time. Any forward-looking statements in this press release are made as of the date of this press release and SMLP undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect new information or events. SOURCE Summit Midstream Partners, LP WARWICK, R.I., Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- A new survey finds an overwhelming majority of travelers plan on taking a cruise in the next two years and they're not waiting until the traditional "wave season" to book. InsureMyTrip surveyed travelers who have cruised in the past or were interested in cruising. Survey Question: Do you plan to take a cruise within the next two years? Survey Results: Yes: 96.1% No: 1.1% Not Sure: 2.8% "The results of this survey show travelers are, once again, feeling comfortable cruising," says InsureMyTrip Product Director Meghan Walch. "The cruise industry took a big hit during the pandemic. It is encouraging to see the cruise industry bounce back after a couple of tough years." Most Popular Months to Cruise According to new data-driven reports by InsureMyTrip and CruiseCompete, the most popular months to take a cruise are September, October, November, and December. Jump in Cruise Prices Cruisers are paying more for their vacations. InsureMyTrip researchers found the average trip cost for an insured cruise vacation so far this year is $6,367 that's up from $5,420 in 2019, before the pandemic. Understanding Travel Insurance for Cruises Since cruisers are paying more, this means they have more to protect if they need to cancel or cut a trip short. A travel insurance policy can help protect that financial investment. Flight delay/cancellation: Travel delay, trip interruption or missed connection may provide reimbursement if a covered flight delay or cancellation causes a traveler to miss a cruise departure, an entire leg of a trip, or a pre-paid excursion. Benefits may also help to reimburse expenses, such as meals and accommodations, while a traveler is catching up to the ship. Covid-19: If a traveler contracts the virus and they have a confirmed diagnosis, policies can include coverage for things like returning home early, emergency medical care, or emergency medical evacuation. Baggage loss/delay: Travel insurance coverage may help to reimburse a traveler for necessities purchased while waiting for luggage to arrive. Other issues: Travel insurance coverage for things like financial default, shipboard service disruption, and hurricanes/bad weather can also be beneficial when taking a cruise. MORE: Travel Insurance for Cruises Cancel for Any Reason (CFAR): This optional coverage gives a traveler the flexibility to cancel a trip, at least two days prior to departure, for something other than a covered reason. Reimbursement is typically 50%-75% of prepaid nonrefundable trip cost if all requirements are met. MORE: Cancel for Any Reason Coverage Media Contact: Meghan Kayata [email protected] Methodology The InsureMyTrip survey was sent to those identified as past cruisers or those interested in cruising. The survey was conducted from August 23, 2022 September 6, 2022, and generated 737 completed responses. About InsureMyTrip It's simple. InsureMyTrip finds you the right travel insurance plan, every time. InsureMyTrip is the authority on travel insurance. We are committed to empowering travelers to make the best possible insurance decisions by leveraging our technology, data intelligence, and expertise. InsureMyTrip is rated A+ by the Better Business Bureau. SOURCE InsureMyTrip Rise in mobile data traffic, 5G network, and fiber deployment required for connectivity have boosted the growth of the global telecommunication services market. PORTLAND, Ore., Sept. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Allied Market Research recently published a report, titled, "Telecommunication Services Market" by Service Type (Mobile Data Services, Fixed Internet Access Services, Mobile Voice Services, Fixed Voice Services, Pay-TV Services, Mobile Messaging), by Transmission (Wireless, Wireline), by End User (Consumer, Business): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2021-2031". As per the report, the global telecommunication services industry was accounted for $1,602.5 billion in 2021, and is expected to reach $2,556.2 billion by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 5.1% from 2022 to 2031. Major determinants of the market growth Rise in mobile data traffic, 5G network, and fiber deployment required for connectivity have boosted the growth of the global telecommunication services market. However, strict government network radiation rules hinder the market growth. On the contrary, advent of IoT would open new opportunities in the future. Download Report Sample (320 Pages PDF with Insights) at: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/21551 Covid-19 scenario: The Covid-19 pandemic had a low impact on the growth of the market as private and government sectors were working together to speed up the development of 5G infrastructure. For instance, mobile network operators in Thailand had joined forces to offer 5G networks to hospitals during the pandemic. The Easter Economic Corridor (EEC) mandated that 5G must cover around 50% of the area in 2020 and its equipment installation would commence in the same year. Get detailed COVID-19 impact analysis on the telecommunication services market: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-for-customization/21551 The mobile data services segment dominated the market By service type, the mobile data services segment held the largest share in 2021, accounting for more than one-fourth of the global telecommunication services market, due to owing to increase in mobile users and number of devices they own, as well as popularity of high-bandwidth applications such as streaming video and video conferencing, is causing the amount of mobile data consumed every year to grow. However, the fixed internet access services segment is estimated to register the highest CAGR of 6.4% during the forecast period. This is because fixed internet access services are a good internet option for streaming videos, listening to music, sending large emails, running credit card machines, and other web-based tools. The wireless segment to portray the highest CAGR through 2031 By transmission, the wireless segment is projected to manifest the highest CAGR of 5.5% from 2022 to 2031. In addition, the segment held the largest share in 2021, contributing to more than three-fourths of global telecommunication services industry, due to adoption of wireless telecommunication services allow customers to send and receive messages through electronic devices and a wireless medium. The report includes analysis of the wireline segment as well. The business segment to showcase the highest CAGR by 2031 By end user, the business segment is expected to manifest the highest CAGR of 5.9% during the forecast period, owing to rapid business digitization and Industry 4.0 evolution. However, the consumer segment dominated the market in 2021, accounting for more than three-fifths of the global telecommunication services market, due to ongoing trends such as remote working and bring your own device (BYOD). If you have any questions, please feel free to contact our analyst at: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/connect-to-analyst/21551 Asia-Pacific held the lion's share By region, the market across Asia-Pacific dominated in 2021, accounting for around one-third of the global telecommunication services market, due to the fact that many countries in the region have evolved with industrial transformation initiatives, thus increasing focus toward 5G deployments. However, the market across LAMEA is expected to register the highest CAGR of 6.4% during the forecast period, due to rise in strategic trails to launch 5G technologies and equipment in this region is high. Major market players IBM CORPORATION Cisco Systems Inc. Alcatel Lucent Deutsche Telekom Juniper Networks Nokia VODAFONE AT&T Inc. Verizon Communication Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp. China Mobile Reliance Softbank Corp. Bharti Airtel KT Corp. Telefonica SA The report analyzes these key players of the global telecommunication services market. These players have adopted various strategies such as expansion, new product launches, partnerships, and others to increase their market penetration and strengthen their position in the industry. The report is helpful in determining the business performance, operating segments, product portfolio, and developments by every market player. >> LIMITED-TIME OFFER << Buy Now & Get Exclusive Discount on this Premium Report Access AVENUE- A Subscription-Based Library (Premium on-demand, subscription-based pricing model) at: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/library-access Avenue is a user-based library of global market report database, provides comprehensive reports pertaining to the world's largest emerging markets. It further offers e-access to all the available industry reports just in a jiffy. By offering core business insights on the varied industries, economies, and end users worldwide, Avenue ensures that the registered members get an easy as well as single gateway to their all-inclusive requirements. Avenue Library Subscription | Request for 14 days free trial of before buying: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/avenueTrial Similar Reports: B2B Telecommunication Market Expected to Reach $181.35 Billion by 2030 Mobile Value-Added Services Market Expected to Reach $2 Billion by 2030 Cellular M2M Market Expected to Reach $83.23 Billion by 2030 About Us Allied Market Research (AMR) is a full-service market research and business-consulting wing of Allied Analytics LLP based in Portland, Oregon. Allied Market Research provides global enterprises as well as medium and small businesses with unmatched quality of "Market Research Reports" and "Business Intelligence Solutions." AMR has a targeted view to provide business insights and consulting to assist its clients to make strategic business decisions and achieve sustainable growth in their respective market domain. 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. Allied Market Research CEO Pawan Kumar is instrumental in inspiring and encouraging everyone associated with the company to maintain high quality of data and help clients in every way possible to achieve success. 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. Contact: David Correa 5933 NE Win Sivers Drive #205, Portland, OR 97220 United States USA/Canada (Toll Free): +1-800-792-5285, +1-503-894-6022 UK: +44-845-528-1300 Hong Kong: +852-301-84916 India (Pune): +91-20-66346060 Fax: +1(855)550-5975 [email protected] Web: www.alliedmarketresearch.com Allied Market Research Blog: https://blog.alliedmarketresearch.com Follow Us on | Facebook | LinkedIn | YouTube | Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/636519/Allied_Market_Research_Logo.jpg SOURCE Allied Market Research WASHINGTON, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Houston area students will have an opportunity this week to hear from NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station. The space-to-Earth call will air live from 11:10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. EDT on Thursday, Sept. 22, on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency's website. NASA astronauts Bob Hines and Kjell Lindgren will answer prerecorded questions from students attending Sam Houston Math, Science, Technology Center High School. Questions will come from members of the ROTC, National Honor Society, and physics classes. The downlink will connect students' coursework to life and work aboard the space station. Media interested in covering the event should contact Dennis Spellman at: [email protected] or 713-556-6393. 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. Astronauts living in space aboard 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). As part of Artemis, 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 NANJING, China, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- On September 15, the digital cloud platform of the Grand Canal National Cultural Park was unveiled at the 3rd China International Cultural Tourism Fair and the 1st Traditional Chinese Crafts Fair held in Jinan, Shandong Province. It was the first time that the platform had appeared at an international exhibition after its debut at the 2022 World Canal Cities Forum (WCCF) in Jiangsu Province. The digital cloud platform of Grand Canal National Cultural Park Exhibition Area Jiangsu Cultural Investment Group Co., Ltd. and its affiliated company Jiangsu Grand Canal Culture & Tourism Development Co. Ltd. attended the exhibition. They brought the digital cloud platform of the Grand Canal National Cultural Park. The focus was on displaying how Jiangsu Province had used digital technologies to tell the story of the canal and brought canal culture to life. Moreover, the innovative achievements of Jiangsu were highlighted such as content aggregation, digital governance, supply and demand matching and industry promotion. The digital cloud platform is one of the two major projects assigned to Jiangsu by the construction of the Grand Canal National Cultural Park. The National Development and Reform Commission has proposed in documents that it is imperative to give full play to the exemplary and leading role of the cloud platform in constructing digital platforms. Under the guidance of the Publicity Department of CPC Jiangsu Provincial Committee (Provincial Grand Canal Office), Jiangsu Cultural Investment Group Co., Ltd. took the initiative and made active efforts to promote construction of the project with high standard, quality and grade. It was completed on schedule at the end of 2021 and started trial operation. On June 27 this year, the cloud platform was released at the opening ceremony of the World Canal Cities Forum and received full recognition for its achievements. At this exhibition, the cloud platform with the theme of Digital Grand Canal showed the details from the perspectives of government affair service, public service, enterprise service, international communication and offline display. Among them, the public service makes full use of the advantages of cyberspace and consists of three sections, namely knowing the canal, exploring the canal, and touring the canal. They innovatively disseminate canal culture in different ways, such as knowledge popularization, fun interaction and intelligent cultural tourism. When it comes to international communication, "The Golden Canal" accounts have been established on multiple mainstream media platforms to build an international communication network, thus linking China and overseas. On the site, the cloud platform developed and launched the digital pet, Baxia, which physically interacts with the audience and attracts wide attention. In the exhibition area, there is also an online route for search and study on the canal study platform. Through the courses and innovative practical classes, visitors can experience the Chinese stories and Chinese wisdom in the Grand Canal in a one-stop manner. Image Attachments Links: Link: http://asianetnews.net/view-attachment?attach-id=429661 Caption: The digital cloud platform of Grand Canal National Cultural Park Exhibition Area SOURCE Jiangsu Cultural Investment Group Co., Ltd. PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Philadelphia Inquirer is implementing a new design and operations strategy across its multi-platform brand to modernize its processes and provide a better experience for its readers. The new design including bolder fonts and visual elements complements The Inquirer's daily journalism by emphasizing rich photography, illustrations, and graphics. "This historic brand update for The Philadelphia Inquirer focuses on heritage and dynamism, with an intentional shift to be more contemporary and modern," says Elizabeth H. Hughes, publisher and CEO of The Inquirer. "These changes will provide readers with a richer and more engaging reading experience, while creating additional opportunities for The Inquirer to be more creative and streamlined." The Inquirer worked with design expert Luke Hayman of Pentagram, a globally renowned design consultancy. The new design incorporates the addition of vibrant colors and stunning visuals, as well as custom-designed fonts that pay homage to The Inquirer's 193-year history. The recut font, called Philadelphia Inquirer Clarendon, was designed by famed type designer Henrik Kubel from A2-TYPE. The new font is based on a Clarendon slab font that was used by The Inquirer from the 1860s to the 1920s. The Inquirer also updated its official logo so the "d" in Philadelphia is once again tipped to the left the style for more than 100 years until 2019. "The design is intended to connect with the heritage of The Philadelphia Inquirer and reflect the city's special character," says Luke Hayman, partner at Pentagram. "There was an intentional effort to honor the history of The Inquirer, while improving the reader experience and design process." Many of the new design elements have also been integrated in The Inquirer's digital products, providing a more engaging experience on Inquirer.com , in the newsletters , and on the mobile app (available for Apple and Android devices). The newspaper will highlight additional content that can be found online, contributing to a multi-platform reading experience. This includes a new section on page A2 pointing readers to Inquirer.com with content previews and a daily QR code. The Inquirer's processes are also being modernized through new tools that allow workflow to be streamlined, creating additional opportunities for visual storytelling and improving collaboration across editors, designers, and print coordinators. One of these enhancements include moving away from a self-hosted layout tool to a cloud-based one, which will reduce the need for server and database maintenance, upgrading scheduling and processing, and other time-consuming administrative tasks. The tools also provide subtle automation throughout, simplifying the layout process. The Philadelphia Inquirer's new look and feel will take effect on September 19, 2022. About The Philadelphia Inquirer, PBC Since 1829, The Philadelphia Inquirer has been "asking on behalf of the people" by providing essential journalism for the diverse communities of the Philadelphia region. The Inquirer, a for-profit public benefit corporation owned by the non-profit Lenfest Institute, produces Pulitzer Prize-winning journalism that changes lives and leads to lasting reforms. Its multiple brand platforms including newspapers, Inquirer.com, e-Editions, apps, newsletters, and live events reach a growing audience of more than 13.3 million people a month. "In a free state, there should always be an inquirer asking on behalf of the people." John Norvell, Inquirer co-founder Media Contact: Sabrina Ram VP of Communications [email protected] SOURCE The Philadelphia Inquirer New commitment increases the Foundation's support to US$30 million (2020-2025) for the Global Fund's efforts to save lives, build resilient and sustainable health systems, and strengthen pandemic preparedness NEW YORK, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Rockefeller Foundation announces it will commit US$15 million to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria ahead of the Fund's Seventh Replenishment Conference on Wednesday, September 21. This year, the Global Fund partnership aims to raise US$18 billion to protect hard-fought gains against these infectious diseases in the face of Covid-19 and to finance ongoing projects through 2025. "Fifty million people are alive today because of the Global Fund's work to fight HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria," said Dr. Rajiv J. Shah, President of The Rockefeller Foundation. "As Covid-19 and other crises continue to undermine progress against these and other public health threats, The Rockefeller Foundation is proud to recommit to the Global Fund so it can restart progress and finish the job." This year, The Rockefeller Foundation's Global Fund pledge will finance the Laboratory Systems Strengthening Catalytic Fund, a mechanism for accelerating the development of public health laboratories across low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). "Public health labs help the world find, understand, and stop deadly diseases before they spread," said Dr. Naveen Rao, Senior Vice President of Health at The Rockefeller Foundation. "The Global Fund gives labs the resources to expand their workforce and build networks for sharing information about emerging threats. Robust labs are key for preventing the next pandemic, and that's why we're proud to support the Laboratory Systems Strengthening Fund." In addition to today's commitment, the Foundation provided US$15 million in October 2019 to the Global Fund's Data Science Catalytic Fund, a project to fortify community health information systems and streamline health care delivery in LMICs using digital tools. Founded in 2002, the Global Fund works with an array of global partners to implement broad strategies for eradicating infectious diseases and strengthening regional health systems. To date, the Global Fund partnership has invested more than US$55.4 billion into treatment and prevention for HIV, tuberculosis (TB), and malaria saving an estimated 50 million lives and reducing the combined death rate from the three diseases by more than half in target geographies. According to the Fund's newly released 2022 Results Report: 23.3 million people have received lifesaving antiretroviral therapy for HIV. 5.3 million people have been treated for TB. 148 million cases of malaria have been treated. In 2020, for the first time in its history, the Global Fund saw declines in key health indicators across all three priority diseases. That year, HIV testing fell by 22% and prevention services by 11%. TB deaths increased, fueled by a surge in undiagnosed and untreated cases. Malaria deaths also significantly increased in 2020, due in part to Covid-19 disruptions for critical health services. Today's commitment continues The Rockefeller Foundation's legacy of funding initiatives that seek to improve health outcomes for the world's most vulnerable populations, including its global campaign against hookworm over 100 years ago, seeding the development of the yellow fever vaccine, and supporting translational research for tools including penicillin. In addition, the Foundation supported efforts to combat malaria in Latin America (1915), advanced research to stop the spread of TB in Jamaica (1927-42), and initiated landmark research for an HIV vaccine (1994). ### About The Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is a pioneering philanthropy built on collaborative partnerships at the frontiers of science, technology, and innovation that enable individuals, families, and communities to flourish. We work throughout the world to promote the well-being of humanity and make opportunity universal and sustainable. Our focus is on scaling renewable energy for all, stimulating economic mobility, and ensuring equitable access to healthy and nutritious food. For more information, sign up for our newsletter at rockefellerfoundation.org and follow us on Twitter @RockefellerFdn. SOURCE The Rockefeller Foundation Statement around the passing of HM QUEEN ELIZABETH II from Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Award Chairman David Rubenstein and Julie Opperman PHOENIX, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- In recognition of the passing of HM Queen Elizabeth II, who was the 2021 recipient of the Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Woman of Leadership Award, the Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Leadership Award Committee recognizes her unparalleled legacy and leadership in elevating the principles upon which the Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Award was founded. Created in partnership with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Julie Opperman, and the Dwight D. Opperman Foundation, the Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Award honors outstanding women in leadership who have made an impact with their own unique contributions to our complex and ever-changing world. "On behalf of the Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Award Committee, we are so deeply saddened by the passing of The Queen. Her Majesty's unwavering faith, solid moral fortitude, fierce resilience, steadfast commitment to her vows illuminated to us all what it means to stand up for God, family and country," said Julie Opperman, Chairman of the Dwight D. Opperman Foundation. "Her Majesty ruled with dignity and grace, empathy and wisdom for 70 years. In doing so, she served as a role model for her people as well as all of humanity," Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Award Chairman David Rubenstein said. "The Queen's acceptance of the Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Award demonstrated her commitment to the principles which guided Justice Ginsburg throughout her own remarkable life." British Ambassador Dame Karen Pierce, who accepted the award on The Queen's behalf, said recently that Her Majesty had been deeply honored to receive the award. HM Queen Elizabeth II's receipt of the Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg award was the only time that she officially accepted a non-nation award during her historic 70-year reign. As part of the ceremony in 2021, President Biden, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy shared statements honoring Her Majesty. President Biden said "This award is a testament to your lifetime of leadership and unflinching devotion to serving the people of the Commonwealth. Your strength and integrity through an era of unprecedented global challenges have set an example for the world that will continue to inspire leaders for generations to come." House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, "For your seven decades on the throne, you have been a leader who has embodied the highest virtues of service, dignity and grace. Your lifelong commitment to civic duty has earned the reverence of your people -- and indeed the world -- while inspiring countless young women and girls." House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy noted, "During Your Majesty's historic reign of the Commonwealth, Your Majesty has touched the lives of millions of people with your valiant strength, impeccable sense of duty, and unwavering commitment to freedom. Your Majesty has led the British people with unparalleled grace, demonstrating what servant-leadership means in principle and in practice, not just to appreciative admirers across the world, but to future generations of men and women to come." May we all remember The Queen and face tomorrow by adhering to the wisdom Her Majesty once shared, "Each day is a new beginning. I know that the only way to live my life is to try to do what is right, to take the long view, to give of my best in all the day brings, and to put my trust in God." SOURCE Dwight D. Opperman Foundation Associate Degree Graduates, College Employees, and their Family Members are Eligible CHANDLER, Ariz., Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The University of Arizona Global Campus (UAGC), a leading provider of fully online higher education, is launching a new partnership with Cochise College, a public, two-year institution that serves the residents of Cochise County from two campuses and four centers throughout Southern Arizona. The partnership provides an opportunity for all Cochise associate degree alumni, staff, faculty, and employees' family members to receive a tuition savings of up to $6450* per calendar year towards a bachelor's degree** when they transfer to a flexible, online degree program at UAGC with weekly course start dates***. Applications will be accepted beginning Monday, September 19, 2022, by visiting success.uagc.edu/cochise-college. "Cochise College is committed to providing accessible education to the citizens of our county and we are excited about this agreement with The University of Arizona Global Campus," Cochise College President J.D. Rottweiler said. "The partnership will allow our transfer students and college staff enhanced transfer resources to their degree programs with a negotiated tuition rate." Dr. Rottweiler added, "We are incredibly proud of our progress and appreciate our ongoing partnership." As a partner of Cochise College, the University of Arizona Global Campus will continue to support Cochise students' personal and academic growth in a program tailored to their unique needs and goals. And, additional savings are available for eligible student veterans as both Cochise and UAGC are prominent military-friendly schools that recognize and value the unique needs of students who are working on degrees while serving their country. This partnership will help to enhance growth and services for many students interested in taking the next step in their education journey by obtaining a bachelor's degree. "We're proud to partner with Cochise College by providing a path that makes it more accessible and affordable for Cochise students to continue their higher education," UAGC President Paul Pastorek said. "These purposeful relationships will ease the transition from an associate degree to an online bachelor's degree program, providing greater educational opportunities and services for students transferring between institutions." UAGC has 50+ programs that benefit recipients can pursue through the Forbes School of Business and Technology or the College of Arts and Sciences, providing adult learners with the flexibility, support, and a community to achieve the goals that will help them reach their fullest potential. About University of Arizona Global Campus The University of Arizona Global Campus ("Global Campus" or "UAGC") is an independent university that is operated in affiliation with the University of Arizona. Global Campus is designed to provide flexible opportunities for working students from diverse backgrounds who seek to gain knowledge and skills that will help them to achieve their life and career goals. Global Campus is accredited by the WASC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC) and is one of the nation's most innovative online universities with approximately 25,000 students. UAGC offers more than 50 degrees at the associate, bachelor's, master's and doctoral levels. For more information visit uagc.edu. About Cochise College Cochise College is a public, two-year community college that serves a diverse population of 9,300 students annually throughout Cochise County. Cochise College has been recognized nationally for its cost, return on investment, and high success rate. The institution provides over 100 general and technical education programs leading to a variety of workforce certificates and associate's degrees and provides an affordable and accessible pathway to Arizona universities. Cochise College provides inclusive and accessible educational opportunities that support social responsibility, community engagement, meaningful careers, and lifelong learning. *$6,450 is bachelor's tuition savings based on completing 30 credits per calendar year. Savings will be prorated if students complete less than 30 credits per calendar year. **Certain degree programs may not be available in all states ***Availability of start dates is based on program selection. SOURCE University of Arizona Global Campus DUBLIN, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Electromechanical Relay Market (2022-2027) by Type, Applications, End-User, Geography, Competitive Analysis and the Impact of Covid-19 with Ansoff Analysis" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The Global Electromechanical Relay Market is estimated to be USD 5.94 Bn in 2022 and is expected to reach USD 7.25 Bn by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 4.07%. Market dynamics are forces that impact the prices and behaviors of the Global Electromechanical Relay Market stakeholders. These forces create pricing signals which result from the changes in the supply and demand curves for a given product or service. Forces of Market Dynamics may be related to macro-economic and micro-economic factors. There are dynamic market forces other than price, demand, and supply. Human emotions can also drive decisions, influence the market, and create price signals. As the market dynamics impact the supply and demand curves, decision-makers aim to determine the best way to use various financial tools to stem various strategies for speeding the growth and reducing the risks. Competitive Quadrant The report includes Competitive Quadrant, a proprietary tool to analyze and evaluate the position of companies based on their Industry Position score and Market Performance score. The tool uses various factors for categorizing the players into four categories. Some of these factors considered for analysis are financial performance over the last 3 years, growth strategies, innovation score, new product launches, investments, growth in market share, etc. Ansoff Analysis The report presents a detailed Ansoff matrix analysis for the Global Electromechanical Relay Market. Ansoff Matrix, also known as Product/Market Expansion Grid, is a strategic tool used to design strategies for the growth of the company. The matrix can be used to evaluate approaches in four strategies viz. Market Development, Market Penetration, Product Development and Diversification. The matrix is also used for risk analysis to understand the risk involved with each approach. The analyst analyses the Global Electromechanical Relay Market using the Ansoff Matrix to provide the best approaches a company can take to improve its market position. Based on the SWOT analysis conducted on the industry and industry players, the analyst has devised suitable strategies for market growth. Why buy this report? The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the Global Electromechanical Relay Market. The report includes in-depth qualitative analysis, verifiable data from authentic sources, and projections about market size. The projections are calculated using proven research methodologies. The report has been compiled through extensive primary and secondary research. The primary research is done through interviews, surveys, and observation of renowned personnel in the industry. The report includes an in-depth market analysis using Porter's 5 forces model and the Ansoff Matrix. In addition, the impact of Covid-19 on the market is also featured in the report. The report also includes the regulatory scenario in the industry, which will help you make a well-informed decision. The report discusses major regulatory bodies and major rules and regulations imposed on this sector across various geographies. The report also contains the competitive analysis using Positioning Quadrants, the analyst's Proprietary competitive positioning tool. Key Topics Covered: 1 Report Description 2 Research Methodology 3 Executive Summary 4 Market Dynamics 4.1 Drivers 4.1.1 Increasing Number of Renewable Energy Projects 4.1.2 Growing Demand for Electromechanical Relays Owing to Low Cost 4.1.3 High Operational Life and Less Need for Maintenance 4.2 Restraints 4.2.1 Short Lifespan of Electromechanical Relay 4.3 Opportunities 4.3.1 Increasing Need for the Electromechanical Relay in The Automotive Industry 4.3.2 Growing Demand for Factory Automation 4.4 Challenges 4.4.1 Availability of Substitutes 5 Market Analysis 5.1 Regulatory Scenario 5.2 Porter's Five Forces Analysis 5.3 Impact of COVID-19 5.4 Ansoff Matrix Analysis 6 Global Electromechanical Relay Market, By Type 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Contactor 6.3 General Purpose Relay 6.4 Power Relay 6.5 Time-delay Relay 7 Global Electromechanical Relay Market, By Applications 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Factory Automation 7.3 Motor Control 7.4 Temperature Controllers 8 Global Electromechanical Relay Market, By End-User 8.1 Introduction 8.2 Aerospace & Defense 8.3 Automotive 8.4 Communication & Technology 8.5 Consumer Electronics 8.6 HVAC 9 Americas' Electromechanical Relay Market 9.1 Introduction 9.2 Argentina 9.3 Brazil 9.4 Canada 9.5 Chile 9.6 Colombia 9.7 Mexico 9.8 Peru 9.9 United States 9.10 Rest of Americas 10 Europe's Electromechanical Relay Market 10.1 Introduction 10.2 Austria 10.3 Belgium 10.4 Denmark 10.5 Finland 10.6 France 10.7 Germany 10.8 Italy 10.9 Netherlands 10.10 Norway 10.11 Poland 10.12 Russia 10.13 Spain 10.14 Sweden 10.15 Switzerland 10.16 United Kingdom 10.17 Rest of Europe 11 Middle East and Africa's Electromechanical Relay Market 11.1 Introduction 11.2 Egypt 11.3 Israel 11.4 Qatar 11.5 Saudi Arabia 11.6 South Africa 11.7 United Arab Emirates 11.8 Rest of MEA 12 APAC's Electromechanical Relay Market 12.1 Introduction 12.2 Australia 12.3 Bangladesh 12.4 China 12.5 India 12.6 Indonesia 12.7 Japan 12.8 Malaysia 12.9 Philippines 12.10 Singapore 12.11 South Korea 12.12 Sri Lanka 12.13 Thailand 12.14 Taiwan 12.15 Rest of Asia-Pacific 13 Competitive Landscape 13.1 Competitive Quadrant 13.2 Market Share Analysis 13.3 Strategic Initiatives 13.3.1 M&A and Investments 13.3.2 Partnerships and Collaborations 13.3.3 Product Developments and Improvements 14 Company Profiles 14.1 ABB Group 14.2 Fujitsu Ltd. 14.3 General Electric Company 14.4 Honeywell International Inc. 14.5 IXYS Corp. 14.6 Omron Corp. 14.7 Panasonic Corp. 14.8 Phoenix Contact 14.9 Relpol SA 14.10 Rockwell Automation, Inc. 14.11 Schneider Electric SE 14.12 Siemens Ag 14.13 TE Connectivity 14.14 Teledyne Technologies Inc. 15 Appendix For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/josig7 Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager [email protected] For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/539438/Research_and_Markets_Logo.jpg SOURCE Research and Markets DUBLIN, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global MicroLED Market (2022-2027) by Application, Vertical, Panel-Size, Geography, Competitive Analysis, and the Impact of Covid-19 with Ansoff Analysis" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The Global MicroLED Market is estimated to be USD 598.5 Mn in 2022 and is projected to reach USD 11,918.67 Mn by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 81.9%. Market dynamics are forces that impact the prices and behaviors of the Global MicroLED Market stakeholders. These forces create pricing signals which result from the changes in the supply and demand curves for a given product or service. Forces of Market Dynamics may be related to macro-economic and micro-economic factors. There are dynamic market forces other than price, demand, and supply. Human emotions can also drive decisions, influence the market, and create price signals. As the market dynamics impact the supply and demand curves, decision-makers aim to determine the best way to use various financial tools to stem various strategies for speeding the growth and reducing the risks. Company Profiles The report provides a detailed analysis of the competitors in the market. It covers the financial performance analysis for the publicly listed companies in the market. The report also offers detailed information on the companies' recent development and competitive scenario. Some of the companies covered in this report are Oculus vr (Infiniled), Sony, Samsung Electronics, Aledia, Mikro Mesa Technology, Ostendo Technologies, Lumiode, Rohinni, PRP Optoelectronics, CSOT, Konka, etc. Countries Studied America ( Argentina , Brazil , Canada , Chile , Colombia , Mexico , Peru , United States , Rest of Americas) , , , , , , , , Rest of Americas) Europe ( Austria , Belgium , Denmark , Finland , France , Germany , Italy , Netherlands , Norway , Poland , Russia , Spain , Sweden , Switzerland , United Kingdom , Rest of Europe ) ( , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Rest of ) Middle-East and Africa ( Egypt , Israel , Qatar , Saudi Arabia , South Africa , United Arab Emirates , Rest of MEA) and ( , , , , , , Rest of MEA) Asia-Pacific ( Australia , Bangladesh , China , India , Indonesia , Japan , Malaysia , Philippines , Singapore , South Korea , Sri Lanka , Thailand , Taiwan , Rest of Asia-Pacific ) Competitive Quadrant The report includes Competitive Quadrant, a proprietary tool to analyze and evaluate the position of companies based on their Industry Position score and Market Performance score. The tool uses various factors for categorizing the players into four categories. Some of these factors considered for analysis are financial performance over the last 3 years, growth strategies, innovation score, new product launches, investments, growth in market share, etc. Ansoff Analysis The report presents a detailed Ansoff matrix analysis for the Global MicroLED Market. Ansoff Matrix, also known as Product/Market Expansion Grid, is a strategic tool used to design strategies for the growth of the company. The matrix can be used to evaluate approaches in four strategies viz. Market Development, Market Penetration, Product Development and Diversification. The matrix is also used for risk analysis to understand the risk involved with each approach. The report analyses the Global MicroLED Market using the Ansoff Matrix to provide the best approaches a company can take to improve its market position. Based on the SWOT analysis conducted on the industry and industry players, the analyst has devised suitable strategies for market growth. Why buy this report? The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the Global MicroLED Market. The report includes in-depth qualitative analysis, verifiable data from authentic sources, and projections about market size. The projections are calculated using proven research methodologies. The report has been compiled through extensive primary and secondary research. The primary research is done through interviews, surveys, and observation of renowned personnel in the industry. The report includes an in-depth market analysis using Porter's 5 forces model and the Ansoff Matrix. In addition, the impact of Covid-19 on the market is also featured in the report. The report also includes the regulatory scenario in the industry, which will help you make a well-informed decision. The report discusses major regulatory bodies and major rules and regulations imposed on this sector across various geographies. The report also contains the competitive analysis using Positioning Quadrants, the analyst's Proprietary competitive positioning tool. Key Topics Covered: 1 Report Description 2 Research Methodology 3 Executive Summary 4 Market Dynamics 4.1 Drivers 4.1.1 Increasing Demand for Brighter and Power-Efficient Display Panels 4.1.2 Increasing Application of Micro-Led Displays in Near-To-Eye (NTE) Devices 4.1.3 Growing Adoption of Micro-LED Displays in Premium Smartphones 4.1.4 Increasing Interest of Electronics Giants in Micro-LED Technology 4.2 Restraints 4.2.1 Increasing Demand for Organic Light-Emitting Diodes 4.3 Opportunities 4.3.1 Manufacturing of Micro-Leds on Large Silicon Wafers 4.3.2 Growing Demand for Wearable Displays for Smartwatches and Head-Mounted Displays (HMDS) 4.4 Challenges 4.4.1 Low Yield, High Cost, and Need for Improving Micro-Led Production and Mass Transfer Processes 4.4.2 Trade-off Between Pixel Volume and Pixel Size 5 Market Analysis 5.1 Regulatory Scenario 5.2 Porter's Five Forces Analysis 5.3 Impact of COVID-19 5.4 Ansoff Matrix Analysis 6 Global MicroLED Market, By Application 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Display 6.3 Lighting 7 Global MicroLED Market, By Vertical 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Consumer Electronics 7.3 Advertising 7.4 Automotive 7.5 Aerospace and Defense 8 Global MicroLED Market, By Panel-Size 8.1 Introduction 8.2 Micro Display 8.3 Small and Medium-sized Panel 8.4 Large Panel 9 Americas' MicroLED Market 9.1 Introduction 9.2 Argentina 9.3 Brazil 9.4 Canada 9.5 Chile 9.6 Colombia 9.7 Mexico 9.8 Peru 9.9 United States 9.10 Rest of Americas 10 Europe's MicroLED Market 10.1 Introduction 10.2 Austria 10.3 Belgium 10.4 Denmark 10.5 Finland 10.6 France 10.7 Germany 10.8 Italy 10.9 Netherlands 10.10 Norway 10.11 Poland 10.12 Russia 10.13 Spain 10.14 Sweden 10.15 Switzerland 10.16 United Kingdom 10.17 Rest of Europe 11 Middle East and Africa's MicroLED Market 11.1 Introduction 11.2 Egypt 11.3 Israel 11.4 Qatar 11.5 Saudi Arabia 11.6 South Africa 11.7 United Arab Emirates 11.8 Rest of MEA 12 APAC's MicroLED Market 12.1 Introduction 12.2 Australia 12.3 Bangladesh 12.4 China 12.5 India 12.6 Indonesia 12.7 Japan 12.8 Malaysia 12.9 Philippines 12.10 Singapore 12.11 South Korea 12.12 Sri Lanka 12.13 Thailand 12.14 Taiwan 12.15 Rest of Asia-Pacific 13 Competitive Landscape 13.1 Competitive Quadrant 13.2 Market Share Analysis 13.3 Strategic Initiatives 13.3.1 M&A and Investments 13.3.2 Partnerships and Collaborations 13.3.3 Product Developments and Improvements 14 Company Profiles 14.1 Oculus vr (Infiniled) 14.2 Sony 14.3 Samsung Electronics 14.4 X-Celeprint 14.5 Epistar 14.6 Nanosys 14.7 Verlase Technologies 14.8 Jade Bird Display 14.9 Aledia 14.10 Mikro Mesa Technology 14.11 Vuereal 14.12 Uniqarta 14.13 Allos Semiconductors 14.14 Plessey Semiconductors 14.15 Playnitride 14.16 Ostendo Technologies 14.17 Elux 14.18 Micledi 14.19 Microluce 14.20 Tianma 14.21 Visionox 14.22 Lumens 14.23 Lumiode 14.24 Rohinni 14.25 PRP Optoelectronics 14.26 CSOT 14.27 Konka 15 Appendix For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/qpjdao Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager [email protected] For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/539438/Research_and_Markets_Logo.jpg SOURCE Research and Markets DUBLIN, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Precision Aquaculture Market (2022-2027) by Offering, System, Application, Geography, Competitive Analysis, and the Impact of Covid-19 with Ansoff Analysis" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The Global Precision Aquaculture Market is estimated to be USD 415.39 Mn in 2022 and is projected to reach USD 855.67 Mn by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 15.55%. Market dynamics are forces that impact the prices and behaviors of the Global Precision Aquaculture Market stakeholders. These forces create pricing signals which result from the changes in the supply and demand curves for a given product or service. Forces of Market Dynamics may be related to macro-economic and micro-economic factors. There are dynamic market forces other than price, demand, and supply. Human emotions can also drive decisions, influence the market, and create price signals. As the market dynamics impact the supply and demand curves, decision-makers aim to determine the best way to use various financial tools to stem various strategies for speeding the growth and reducing the risks. Company Profiles The report provides a detailed analysis of the competitors in the market. It covers the financial performance analysis for the publicly listed companies in the market. The report also offers detailed information on the companies' recent development and competitive scenario. Some of the companies covered in this report are Egersund Group, CPI Equipment, Lifegard Aquatics, Maruha Nichiro, Mowi (Marine Harvest), Mitsubishi, Red Chamber Group, Skretting, etc. Countries Studied America ( Argentina , Brazil , Canada , Chile , Colombia , Mexico , Peru , United States , Rest of Americas) , , , , , , , , Rest of Americas) Europe ( Austria , Belgium , Denmark , Finland , France , Germany , Italy , Netherlands , Norway , Poland , Russia , Spain , Sweden , Switzerland , United Kingdom , Rest of Europe ) ( , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Rest of ) Middle-East and Africa ( Egypt , Israel , Qatar , Saudi Arabia , South Africa , United Arab Emirates , Rest of MEA) and ( , , , , , , Rest of MEA) Asia-Pacific ( Australia , Bangladesh , China , India , Indonesia , Japan , Malaysia , Philippines , Singapore , South Korea , Sri Lanka , Thailand , Taiwan , Rest of Asia-Pacific ) Competitive Quadrant The report includes Competitive Quadrant, a proprietary tool to analyze and evaluate the position of companies based on their Industry Position score and Market Performance score. The tool uses various factors for categorizing the players into four categories. Some of these factors considered for analysis are financial performance over the last 3 years, growth strategies, innovation score, new product launches, investments, growth in market share, etc. Ansoff Analysis The report presents a detailed Ansoff matrix analysis for the Global Precision Aquaculture Market. Ansoff Matrix, also known as Product/Market Expansion Grid, is a strategic tool used to design strategies for the growth of the company. The matrix can be used to evaluate approaches in four strategies viz. Market Development, Market Penetration, Product Development and Diversification. The matrix is also used for risk analysis to understand the risk involved with each approach. The report analyses the Global Precision Aquaculture Market using the Ansoff Matrix to provide the best approaches a company can take to improve its market position. Based on the SWOT analysis conducted on the industry and industry players, the analyst has devised suitable strategies for market growth. Why buy this report? The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the Global Precision Aquaculture Market. The report includes in-depth qualitative analysis, verifiable data from authentic sources, and projections about market size. The projections are calculated using proven research methodologies. The report has been compiled through extensive primary and secondary research. The primary research is done through interviews, surveys, and observation of renowned personnel in the industry. The report includes an in-depth market analysis using Porter's 5 forces model and the Ansoff Matrix. In addition, the impact of Covid-19 on the market is also featured in the report. The report also includes the regulatory scenario in the industry, which will help you make a well-informed decision. The report discusses major regulatory bodies and major rules and regulations imposed on this sector across various geographies. The report also contains the competitive analysis using Positioning Quadrants, the analyst's Proprietary competitive positioning tool. Key Topics Covered: 1 Report Description 2 Research Methodology 3 Executive Summary 4 Market Dynamics 4.1 Drivers 4.1.1 Surging Adoption of Advanced Technologies Such as IoT, ROVs, and AI for Real-time Monitoring of Aquaculture Farms 4.1.2 Growing Investments in Technological Research and Product Innovations 4.1.3 Rising Income Levels and Demand for Protein-Rich Aqua Food 4.1.4 Increasing Government Support for Freshwater Aquaculture Production 4.2 Restraints 4.2.1 High Upfront Costs and Capital Expenditure 4.2.2 Need for Skilled Operators for Effective Management of Complex Systems 4.2.3 Lack of Technological Awareness Among Aquaculture Farmers 4.3 Opportunities 4.3.1 Surging Adoption of Aquaculture Monitoring and Feed Optimization Devices in Developing Countries 4.3.2 Increasing Number of Cage-based Farms in Developing Regions 4.3.3 Growing Popularity of Land-based Recirculating Aquaculture Systems 4.4 Challenges 4.4.1 Environmental Concerns Due to Extensive Aquaculture Farming 4.4.2 Lack of Common Information Management System Platform in Aquaculture Industry 5 Market Analysis 5.1 Regulatory Scenario 5.2 Porter's Five Forces Analysis 5.3 Impact of COVID-19 5.4 Ansoff Matrix Analysis 6 Global Precision Aquaculture Market, By Offering 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Hardware 6.2.1 Sensor 6.2.1.1 Temperature and Environmental Sensors 6.2.1.2 PH and Dissolved Oxygen Sensors 6.2.1.3 EC Sensors 6.2.2 Camera Systems 6.2.3 Control Systems 6.3 Software 6.3.1 On Cloud 6.3.2 On-premises 6.4 Services 6.4.1 System Integration and Deployment 6.4.2 Consulting 6.4.3 Data Analytics 6.4.4 Support and Maintenance 7 Global Precision Aquaculture Market, By System 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Smart Feeding Systems 7.3 Monitoring and Control Systems 7.4 Underwater Remotely-operated Vehicle Systems 8 Global Precision Aquaculture Market, By Application 8.1 Introduction 8.2 Feed Optimization 8.3 Monitoring and Surveillance 8.4 Yield Analysis and Measurement 9 Americas' Precision Aquaculture Market 9.1 Introduction 9.2 Argentina 9.3 Brazil 9.4 Canada 9.5 Chile 9.6 Colombia 9.7 Mexico 9.8 Peru 9.9 United States 9.10 Rest of Americas 10 Europe's Precision Aquaculture Market 10.1 Introduction 10.2 Austria 10.3 Belgium 10.4 Denmark 10.5 Finland 10.6 France 10.7 Germany 10.8 Italy 10.9 Netherlands 10.10 Norway 10.11 Poland 10.12 Russia 10.13 Spain 10.14 Sweden 10.15 Switzerland 10.16 United Kingdom 10.17 Rest of Europe 11 Middle East and Africa's Precision Aquaculture Market 11.1 Introduction 11.2 Egypt 11.3 Israel 11.4 Qatar 11.5 Saudi Arabia 11.6 South Africa 11.7 United Arab Emirates 11.8 Rest of MEA 12 APAC's Precision Aquaculture Market 12.1 Introduction 12.2 Australia 12.3 Bangladesh 12.4 China 12.5 India 12.6 Indonesia 12.7 Japan 12.8 Malaysia 12.9 Philippines 12.10 Singapore 12.11 South Korea 12.12 Sri Lanka 12.13 Thailand 12.14 Taiwan 12.15 Rest of Asia-Pacific 13 Competitive Landscape 13.1 Competitive Quadrant 13.2 Market Share Analysis 13.3 Strategic Initiatives 13.3.1 M&A and Investments 13.3.2 Partnerships and Collaborations 13.3.3 Product Developments and Improvements 14 Company Profiles 14.1 Egersund Group 14.2 Steinsvik (part of Scale Aq) 14.3 InnovaSea Systems 14.4 Deep Trekker 14.5 Eruvaka Technologies 14.6 Bluegrove 14.7 Aquabyte 14.8 Akuakare 14.9 CPI Equipment 14.10 Lifegard Aquatics 14.11 Maruha Nichiro 14.12 Nippon Suisan Kaisha 14.13 Thai Union Group 14.14 Mowi (Marine Harvest) 14.15 Mitsubishi 14.16 Dongwon Enterprise 14.17 Red Chamber Group 14.18 Skretting 15 Appendix For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/vedn01 Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager [email protected] For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/539438/Research_and_Markets_Logo.jpg SOURCE Research and Markets NEW YORK, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Thirstie , the leading e-commerce provider for beverage alcohol brands, today announced a partnership with William Grant & Sons, a global family-owned distiller and supplier, with the launch of The Balvenie and Glenfiddich Single Malt Scotch Whisky U.S. digital storefronts. The partnership stems from William Grant & Sons wider global e-commerce strategy in offering consumers digital access to its portfolio of premium spirits. Today, consumers in key markets throughout the U.S. can purchase two of the company's core brands, The Balvenie and Glenfiddich, through a branded shop site, powered by Thirstie. "The U.S. is a key market for William Grant & Sons overall growth strategy, and it was imperative to offer a superior digital experience for our consumers," stated Jayme Buonocore, Director Digital & eCommerce, William Grant & Sons USA. "Our partnership with Thirstie delivers a unique and compliant online shopping experience for The Balvenie and Glenfiddich fan base." Since the launch of Thirstie's proprietary platform in 2016, the company has demonstrated a strong commitment to compliance, enabling a three-tier compliant branded e-commerce solution for beverage alcohol suppliers. The technology, built by Thirstie, has a sophisticated retail algorithm that dynamically determines product availability based on pricing set by retail partners and tax calculations based on the market. Thirstie's front-end technology delivers a unique branded experience for adult consumers. "We are thrilled to announce Thirstie's partnership with William Grant & Sons with the launch of The Balvenie and Glenfiddich digital storefronts," stated Thirstie's CEO & Co-Founder, Devaraj Southworth. Adult consumers in CA, FL, IL markets can now purchase The Balvenie and Glenfiddich at shop.us.thebalvenie.com & shop.us.glenfiddich.com shop sites. About Thirstie Thirstie is the leading e-commerce solution for beverage alcohol brands. Established in 2014 by Co-Founders, Devaraj Southworth and Maxim Razmakhin, Thirstie's patented technology increases online consumer interactions for the world's most iconic alcohol companies. Thirstie delivers a compliant end-to-end full customer experience with its e-commerce, retailer, data, and gift card solutions. Thirstie's national network of licensed retailers seamlessly fulfills online orders funneled through a branded webstore that are routed to them through the company's proprietary algorithm. Thirstie's suite of best-in-class data capabilities helps brands better understand and target their customers. In 2021, the company launched the industry-first alcohol branded gift card solution, enabling brands to further drive online retail revenue. For more information about Thirstie, please visit www.thirstie.com. A bout William Grant & Sons William Grant & Sons Holdings Ltd. is an independent family-owned distiller headquartered in the United Kingdom and founded by William Grant in 1887. Today, the global premium spirits company is run by the fifth generation of his family and distills some of the world's leading brands of Scotch whisky, including Glenfiddich, The Balvenie range of handcrafted single malts and the world's third largest blended Scotch, Grant's, as well as other iconic spirits brands such as Hendrick's Gin, Sailor Jerry Spiced Rum, Tullamore D.E.W. Irish Whiskey, Monkey Shoulder Blended Malt Scotch Whisky and Drambuie Scotch Liqueur. Founded in 1964, William Grant & Sons USA is a wholly-owned subsidiary of William Grant & Sons, Ltd. and features one of the fastest growing spirits portfolios in the US with brands including Glenfiddich, The Balvenie, Hendrick's Gin, Sailor Jerry Spiced Rum, Tullamore D.E.W. Irish Whiskey, Drambuie, Milagro Tequila, Fistful of Bourbon, Grant's, Hudson Whiskey, Gibson's Finest, Monkey Shoulder, Clan MacGregor, Reyka Vodka, Solerno Blood Orange Liqueur, Flor de Cana Rum, The Knot and Raynal French Brandy. For more information on the company and its brands, please visit www.williamgrantusa.com . SOURCE Thirstie SANTA BARBARA, Calif., Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Mission Wealth has expanded their east coast presence to include an office location in historic downtown Boston, Massachusetts . The establishment of the Boston office enables their advisors to now serve firm clients from a total of 25 convenient locations across the United States. The new Boston location is positioned in the heart of downtown Post Office Square and the Financial District, minutes from the waterfront, South Station Train Terminal, and major highways. Boston clients and advisors will enjoy inspiring views of the city skyline, the Boston Harbor, and the Rose R. Kennedy Greenway from the 26th floor office at 225 Franklin Street. Mission Wealth has expanded their east coast presence to include an office location in historic downtown Boston, MA. Tweet this "Mission Wealth is delighted to open our new office in Boston, and to work alongside families in and around this industrious and historic region. I am excited and honored to help establish Mission Wealth's footprint in the New England market. I am looking forward to creating many new relationships and expanding our reach here in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts" said Jared Sweeney, local Boston Client Advisor. With almost 20 years of experience in the financial industry, Sweeney joins Mission Wealth with backgrounds from both premier private banks and boutique family offices. "We are thrilled to add Jared Sweeney to our team of talented advisors on the east coast. Mission Wealth continues our commitment to proactive and comprehensive client service delivered with a caring, client-first approach and driven by our cutting-edge technology platform. From our early conversations, I knew that Jared's technical, investment, and planning expertise as well as his passion for client service would be a tremendous fit here at Mission Wealth" said Matthew Adams , CEO. About Mission Wealth Founded in 2000, Mission Wealth, a national Registered Investment Advisor (RIA), proudly serves over 2,150 families and manages over $4.8 billion in assets/administration across the United States. Headquartered in Santa Barbara, the firm has 24 additional offices located in the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, New York, Oregon, Texas, Utah, and Washington. Mission Wealth's service offerings include financial planning, investment management, estate planning and charitable giving, tax planning, retirement planning and family office services. For more information, visit www.missionwealth.com . To meet with a Mission Wealth financial advisor in the Boston metro area, please call 617-227-4743 . 00464581 09/22 Media Contact: Michelle Winkles (949) 293-9038 [email protected] SOURCE Mission Wealth Management, LP On 8 September 2022, the World Customs Organization (WCO) and the German Central Customs Authority signed a grant agreement for the Phase 2 of the West Africa Security Project (WASP). The initial stage of the Project, launched on 15 March 2021 and lasting for six months, was successfully concluded in September 2021 with a high-level conference where results and way forward were discussed. This multi-annual phased Project, funded by the German Federal Foreign Office, is unique as it is the first formal cooperation between German Customs and the WCO in the area of border security. It is a part of a wider German Government initiative, aimed at facilitating the security sector reform in partner countries, namely in Cote dIvoire, Ghana and Togo. The WASP objective is to improve Customs security and trade-related procedures in order to control supply chains more effectively by restricting access to improvised explosive devices (IED) precursor chemicals and components, small arms and light weapons (SALW) and other forms of illicit trade in goods and cash that may be used for financing terrorism. In order to achieve this objective, the Project is focused on providing awareness raising, a wide range of detection equipment, nCEN training, training related to IED detection and border security preparedness. Recognizing the importance of gender equality and diversity (GED) as prerequisites for achieving sustainable development and ensuring peace and security in West Africa, the Project has a new and innovative component on GED to be managed by the WCO. This project component aims at supporting Cote dIvoire, Ghana and Togo, the beneficiaries of WASP Phase 1, in developing and implementing gender responsive and inclusive policies and practices with specific focus on security aspects. The GED Project component will leverage the initiatives and tools that the WCO has launched in the recent years to enhance the GED agenda, including the WCO Gender Equality Organizational Assessment Tool (GEOAT) and the Blended Training Package on advancing gender equality and inclusion specifically targeting Customs. It will guide partnership administrations in identifying current gaps with regard to GED implementation and support them in the process of developing comprehensive action plans aiming at implementing a gender responsive and inclusive perspective in services, thereby strengthening stakeholder engagement and outreach. Under the project, a dedicated chapter to the GEOAT will also be developed, specifically targeting security aspects. WASP Phase 2, initially envisaged for 15 months, is planned to be launched in October 2022. After addressing the SALT New York conference attended by the global investment and finance community, UAE Minister of Trade Abdullah Bin Touq visited Harvard University for discussions with future Emirati and American leaders WASHINGTON, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- United Arab Emirates (UAE) Minister of Economy H.E. Abdullah Bin Touq Al Marri hailed the UAE as a hub for commercial expansion, trade, and economic growth during his address to over 2,000 global investors, entrepreneurs, policymakers, and industry leaders at the SALT New York conference. At a keynote panel entitled, "UAE Rising," Minister Bin Touq, joined by H.E. Mohamed Ali Al Shorafa Al Hammadi, Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development, emphasized the UAE's open and welcoming approach to the international business community. Expanding foreign trade relationships is a central pillar of the UAE's strategic plans to stimulate sustainable economic growth. "The UAE is demonstrating through action that our country is open for business," said UAE Minister of Economy Abdullah Bin Touq. "In less than a year, we concluded successful Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreements with India, Israel, Indonesia, and Colombia. These trade deals will expand our country's GDP, lead to an increase of UAE exports to new markets, and create meaningful new job opportunities. The UAE Government is committed to our comprehensive economic growth plan." While at the SALT New York conference, Minister Bin Touq and Chairman Al Shorafa promoted the UAE Government's Investopia Initiative, a campaign aimed to highlight investment opportunities in future sectors. This effort includes building capacity in digital and virtual technologies, expanding investment in Artificial Intelligence and space exploration, as well as the green economy. Minister Bin Touq noted that foreign trade in the UAE expanded by 27% during 2021 compared to 2020, and about 11% compared to pre-pandemic 2019 levels. The UAE economy is one of the most diversified in the Middle East, with national non-oil exports recording a growth of 47.3% over the pre-pandemic average. In 2021, UAE-US bilateral trade totaled $23.03B, with the US exporting more than $17B of goods and services to the UAE a 16% increase from 2020. The resulting $11.13B trade surplus for the US is America's sixth largest trade surplus globally. The trade relationship reflects the success of the UAE's increasingly diverse economy, with non-oil sectors accounting for 70% of the UAE's GDP. Top categories of US exports in 2020 included: Electronics, nuclear materials, passenger vehicles, and aircraft and spacecraft. The UAE trades with all 50 US states. Trade with the UAE supports 123,000-plus American jobs, strengthening the importance of the continued bilateral trade relationship. Before returning to the UAE, Minister Bin Touq traveled to Boston, Massachusetts where he met leading academics at the world-renowned Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School of Government, including Dean Douglas Elmendorf. The visit to Harvard included a public lecture about the future economic potential in the Middle East. Minister Bin Touq concluded his visit by meeting Emirati and American students at Harvard, where he discussed the UAE Government's priority of attracting world class talent to the Emirates. Media Contact: Lamiyae Jbari [email protected] 202 243 2464 SOURCE Embassy of the United Arab Emirates NEW YORK, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The multefire market size is expected to grow by USD 1.92 bn from 2021 to 2026. In addition, the growth momentum of the market will accelerate at a CAGR of 33.55% during the forecast period. The rising demand from the industrial sector is driving the multefire market growth. However, factors such as lack of multefire devices may challenge market growth. Technavio offers an up-to-date analysis regarding the current global market scenario and the overall market environment. View a FREE PDF Sample Report Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Multefire Market 2022-2026 Multefire Market 2022-2026: Vendor Analysis and Scope To help businesses improve their market position, Technavio's report provides a detailed analysis of around 25 vendors operating in the market. Some of the major vendors of the multefire market include Casa Systems Inc., Huawei Investment and Holding Co. Ltd., Intel Corp., InterDigital Inc., Nokia Corp., Qualcomm Inc., Qucell Inc., Redline Communications Group Inc., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson, Athonet Srl, and Sony Group Corp. The key offerings of some of these vendors are listed below: Huawei Investment and Holding Co. Ltd. - The company offers multefire, which is an LTE-based technology that operates standalone in unlicensed and shared spectrum, including the global 5 GHz band. The company offers multefire, which is an LTE-based technology that operates standalone in unlicensed and shared spectrum, including the global 5 GHz band. Intel Corp. - The company offers multefire technology which delivers higher performance in local area networks. The company offers multefire technology which delivers higher performance in local area networks. InterDigital Inc. - The company offers multefire, which operates solely in unlicensed spectrum without requiring an LTE anchor in licensed spectrum. The report also covers the following areas: Get lifetime access to our Technavio Insights. Subscribe now to our most popular "Basic Plan" billed annually at USD 5000 Multefire Market 2022-2026: Segmentation Type Small Cells: The small cells segment will be the largest contributor to market growth during the forecast period. The significant rise in the demand for reliable and private networks is driving the growth of this segment. Moreover, the continuously increasing demand for private networks based on unlicensed and shared frequencies would accelerate the use of small cells for enterprise applications. Switches Controllers Geography North America : This region will account for 37% of the market's growth during the forecast period. The growth is attributed to factors such as a significant rise in the adoption of multefire technology-based networks. Several initiatives taken by vendors to explore opportunities in making LTE technologies available in the unlicensed band for varied applications are also driving the growth of the market in the region. Moreover, market growth in this region will be faster than the growth of the market in other regions. The US and Canada are the key countries for the multefire market in North America . : This region will account for 37% of the market's growth during the forecast period. The growth is attributed to factors such as a significant rise in the adoption of multefire technology-based networks. Several initiatives taken by vendors to explore opportunities in making LTE technologies available in the unlicensed band for varied applications are also driving the growth of the market in the region. Moreover, market growth in this region will be faster than the growth of the market in other regions. The US and are the key countries for the multefire market in . Europe APAC South America Middle East And Africa Learn about the contribution of each segment summarized in concise infographics and thorough descriptions. View a FREE PDF Sample Report Multefire Market 2022-2026: Key Highlights CAGR of the market during the forecast period 2022-2026 Detailed information on factors that will assist multefire market growth during the next five years Estimation of the multefire market size and its contribution to the parent market Predictions on upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior The growth of the multefire market Analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information on vendors Comprehensive details of factors that will challenge the growth of multefire market vendors Related Reports Rugged Handheld Devices Market by Type, End-user, Product, and Geography - Forecast and Analysis 2022-2026: The rugged handheld devices market share is expected to increase by USD 1.85 billion from 2021 to 2026. Graphics Processing Unit Market by Type and Geography - Forecast and Analysis 2022-2026: The graphics processing unit (GPU) market share is expected to increase by USD 105.70 billion from 2021 to 2026. Multefire Market Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 120 Base year 2021 Forecast period 2022-2026 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 33.55% Market growth 2022-2026 USD 1.92 billion Market structure Fragmented YoY growth (%) 32.98 Regional analysis North America, Europe, APAC, South America, and Middle East and Africa Performing market contribution North America at 37% Key consumer countries US, Canada, China, UK, and Germany Competitive landscape Leading companies, competitive strategies, consumer engagement scope Companies profiled Casa Systems Inc., Huawei Investment and Holding Co. Ltd., Intel Corp., InterDigital Inc., Nokia Corp., Qualcomm Inc., Qucell Inc., Redline Communications Group Inc., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson, Athonet Srl, and Sony Group Corp. Market Dynamics Parent market analysis, market growth inducers and obstacles, fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID-19 impact and future consumer dynamics, and market condition analysis for the forecast period. Customization purview If our report has not included the data that you are looking for, you can reach out to our analysts and get segments customized. Browse Information Technology Market Reports 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 between2021 and 2026 4.2 Bargaining power of buyers Exhibit 18: Chart on Bargaining power of buyers Impact of key factors 2021 and 2026 4.3 Bargaining power of suppliers Exhibit 19: Bargaining power of suppliers Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026 4.4 Threat of new entrants Exhibit 20: Threat of new entrants Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026 4.5 Threat of substitutes Exhibit 21: Threat of substitutes Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026 4.6 Threat of rivalry Exhibit 22: Threat of rivalry Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026 4.7 Market condition Exhibit 23: Chart on Market condition - Five forces 2021 and 2026 5 Market Segmentation by 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 Small cells - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 28: Chart on Small cells - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 29: Data Table on Small cells - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 30: Chart on Small cells - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) Exhibit 31: Data Table on Small cells - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) 5.4 Switches - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 32: Chart on Switches - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 33: Data Table on Switches - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 34: Chart on Switches - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) Exhibit 35: Data Table on Switches - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) 5.5 Controllers - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 36: Chart on Controllers - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 37: Data Table on Controllers - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 38: Chart on Controllers - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) Exhibit 39: Data Table on Controllers - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) 5.6 Market opportunity by Type Exhibit 40: Market opportunity by Type ($ million) 6 Customer Landscape 6.1 Customer landscape overview Exhibit 41: Analysis of price sensitivity, lifecycle, customer purchase basket, adoption rates, and purchase criteria 7 Geographic Landscape 7.1 Geographic segmentation Exhibit 42: Chart on Market share by geography 2021-2026 (%) Exhibit 43: Data Table on Market share by geography 2021-2026 (%) 7.2 Geographic comparison Exhibit 44: Chart on Geographic comparison Exhibit 45: Data Table on Geographic comparison 7.3 North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 46: Chart on North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 47: Data Table on North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 48: Chart on North America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) Exhibit 49: Data Table on North America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) 7.4 Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 50: Chart on Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 51: Data Table on Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 52: Chart on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) Exhibit 53: Data Table on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) 7.5 APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 54: Chart on APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 55: Data Table on APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 56: Chart on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) Exhibit 57: Data Table on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) 7.6 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 (%) 7.7 Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 62: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 63: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 64: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) and - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) Exhibit 65: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) 7.8 US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 66: Chart on US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 67: Data Table on US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 68: Chart on US - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) Exhibit 69: Data Table on US - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) 7.9 UK - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 70: Chart on UK - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 71: Data Table on UK - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 72: Chart on UK - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) Exhibit 73: Data Table on UK - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) 7.10 Germany - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 74: Chart on Germany - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 75: Data Table on Germany - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 76: Chart on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) Exhibit 77: Data Table on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) 7.11 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 (%) 7.12 Canada - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 82: Chart on Canada - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 83: Data Table on Canada - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) Exhibit 84: Chart on Canada - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) Exhibit 85: Data Table on Canada - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) 7.13 Market opportunity by geography Exhibit 86: 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 87: Impact of drivers and challenges in 2021 and 2026 8.4 Market trends 9 Vendor Landscape 9.1 Overview 9.2 Vendor landscape Exhibit 88: Overview on Criticality of inputs and Factors of differentiation 9.3 Landscape disruption Exhibit 89: Overview on factors of disruption 9.4 Industry risks Exhibit 90: Impact of key risks on business 10 Vendor Analysis 10.1 Vendors covered Exhibit 91: Vendors covered 10.2 Market positioning of vendors Exhibit 92: Matrix on vendor position and classification 10.3 Casa Systems Inc. Exhibit 93: Casa Systems Inc. - Overview Exhibit 94: Casa Systems Inc. - Product / Service Exhibit 95: Casa Systems Inc. - Key offerings 10.4 Huawei Investment and Holding Co. Ltd. Exhibit 96: Huawei Investment and Holding Co. Ltd. - Overview Exhibit 97: Huawei Investment and Holding Co. Ltd. - Business segments Exhibit 98: Huawei Investment and Holding Co. Ltd. - Key offerings Exhibit 99: Huawei Investment and Holding Co. Ltd. - Segment focus 10.5 Intel Corp. Exhibit 100: Intel Corp. - Overview Exhibit 101: Intel Corp. - Business segments Exhibit 102: Intel Corp. - Key news Exhibit 103: Intel Corp. - Key offerings Exhibit 104: Intel Corp. - Segment focus 10.6 InterDigital Inc. Exhibit 105: InterDigital Inc. - Overview Exhibit 106: InterDigital Inc. - Product / Service Exhibit 107: InterDigital Inc. - Key offerings 10.7 Nokia Corp. Exhibit 108: Nokia Corp. - Overview Exhibit 109: Nokia Corp. - Business segments Exhibit 110: Nokia Corp. - Key offerings Exhibit 111: Nokia Corp. - Segment focus 10.8 Qualcomm Inc. Exhibit 112: Qualcomm Inc. - Overview Exhibit 113: Qualcomm Inc. - Business segments Exhibit 114: Qualcomm Inc. - Key news Exhibit 115: Qualcomm Inc. - Key offerings Exhibit 116: Qualcomm Inc. - Segment focus 10.9 Redline Communications Group Inc. Exhibit 117: Redline Communications Group Inc. - Overview Exhibit 118: Redline Communications Group Inc. - Business segments Exhibit 119: Redline Communications Group Inc. - Key offerings Exhibit 120: Redline Communications Group Inc. - Segment focus 10.10 Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. Exhibit 121: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. - Overview Exhibit 122: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. - Business segments Exhibit 123: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. - Key news Exhibit 124: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. - Key offerings Exhibit 125: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. - Segment focus 10.11 Sony Group Corp. Exhibit 126: Sony Group Corp. - Overview Exhibit 127: Sony Group Corp. - Business segments Exhibit 128: Sony Group Corp. - Key news Exhibit 129: Sony Group Corp. - Key offerings Exhibit 130: Sony Group Corp. - Segment focus 10.12 Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson Exhibit 131: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson - Overview Exhibit 132: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson - Business segments Exhibit 133: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson - Key news Exhibit 134: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson - Key offerings Exhibit 135: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson - Segment focus 11 Appendix 11.1 Scope of the report 11.2 Inclusions and exclusions checklist Exhibit 136: Inclusions checklist Exhibit 137: Exclusions checklist 11.3 Currency conversion rates for US$ Exhibit 138: Currency conversion rates for US$ 11.4 Research methodology Exhibit 139: Research methodology Exhibit 140: Validation techniques employed for market sizing Exhibit 141: Information sources 11.5 List of abbreviations Exhibit 142: 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 DOWNERS GROVE, Ill., Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ Vehicle Service Group (VSG), part of Dover (NYSE: DOV) and one of the world's leading automotive equipment companies, today announced the launch of a new range of 2-column lifts under the Rotary and Ravaglioli brands in the EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) region, called the Tomorrow Series and the Legend Series respectively. The Tomorrow Series by Rotary and the Legend Series by Ravaglioli each offer a contemporary look that matches the high quality of the components. The new range aims to propel customers into the future, preparing the workshop for innovations that are yet to come on the market. The Tomorrow Series and Legend Series entire range will each be unveiled over the coming months and will meet the needs of any workshop. The first models to be launched in the Tomorrow Series are the SPMA models - electromechanical 2-post lifts with an asymmetric configuration of 3.2 and 3.5 tons, designed to lift vehicles from microcars to medium-sized long-wheelbase vans. The first models to be launched in the Legend Series are the KPX models - electromechanical 2-post lifts with an asymmetric configuration of 3.2 and 3.5 tons, designed to lift vehicles from microcars to medium-sized long-wheelbase vans. The new range of 2-column lifts will offer customers: Reduced installation time by up to 20%. Electronic synchronization avoids the installation and adjustment of the realignment cable. In addition, the three adjustable width positions allow for flexible installation of lifts. Quick and easy operation with an obstacle-free working area and operations performed in safety and comfort. Minimized routine maintenance thanks to components designed for easy replacement, reducing the cost of operation and the risk of errors on safety-critical components. High-quality components that support safety and quality over time. Integrated TEq-Link module for workshop connectivity allowing remote monitoring of work cycles, scheduled maintenance alerts and more. (Applicable to selected models) The entire outline of the lift series has been modernized, giving it softer, more elegant lines. The lift is developed on two asymmetrical columns that are slender and compact, culminating in a carter with a soft, beveled appearance. About Rotary: As part of the Vehicle Service Group (VSG), one of the world's leading automotive equipment companies, Rotary has been providing car lifting solutions with innovative features since 1925. Rotary has then extended its portfolio with products for the areas of truck lifting, tire service and diagnostics, to be able to cover the entire range of workshop needs. Located in Braunlingen (Germany), it's one of the leading brands in the VSG EMEA division. For more information, visit www.rotarylift.eu. About Ravaglioli Founded in 1958 in Sasso Marconi (BO) with the aim of designing and marketing vehicle lifting equipment, Ravaglioli has expanded its offering over the years to become Europe's leading builder of vehicle lifts and one of the main companies in the production of equipment for tire shops and diagnostics (vehicle control and wheel alignment). Member of Vehicle Service Group (VSG) since 2016, it is one of the leading brands in the VSG EMEA division. In addition to its historical headquarters in the hills of Bologna, it has additional production units in Ferrara, Rolo and Turin and three subsidiaries in France, Germany and the UK. For more information, visit www.ravaglioli.com. About Vehicle Service Group: Part of Dover Corporation's Engineered Systems segment, VSG is a strong, diverse and dynamic global leader in the vehicle service industry. It comprises 7 major vehicle lifting, wheel service and collision repair brands: Rotary, Ravaglioli, Space, Chief, Forward, Direct-Lift, and Hanmecson. Headquartered in Downers Grove, Illinois, VSG has operations worldwide, including ISO9001 certified manufacturing centers in North America, Europe and Asia. Additional information is available at www.vsgdover.com. About Dover: Dover is a diversified global manufacturer and solutions provider with annual revenue of approximately $8 billion. We deliver innovative equipment and components, consumable supplies, aftermarket parts, software and digital solutions, and support services through five operating segments: Engineered Products, Clean Energy & Fueling, Imaging & Identification, Pumps & Process Solutions and Climate & Sustainability Technologies. Dover combines global scale with operational agility to lead the markets we serve. Recognized for our entrepreneurial approach for over 65 years, our team of over 25,000 employees takes an ownership mindset, collaborating with customers to redefine what's possible. Headquartered in Downers Grove, Illinois, Dover trades on the New York Stock Exchange under "DOV." Additional information is available at dovercorporation.com . Vehicle Service Group EMEA Contact: Wolf-Erik Schmitt +49.176.11923374 [email protected] Dover Media Contact: Adrian Sakowicz, VP, Communications (630) 743-5039 [email protected] Dover Investor Contact: Jack Dickens, Senior Director, Investor Relations (630) 743-2566 [email protected] SOURCE Dover "Team Ohio" comprised of The Ohio State University, the State of Ohio, JobsOhio, and One Columbus Selected to Develop Facility to Support World's First-Ever Science Park Devoted to Space PARIS, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Voyager Space (Voyager), today announced it has selected a proposal from The Ohio State University, the State of Ohio, JobsOhio, and One Columbus ("Team Ohio") to locate the terrestrial analog of the George Washington Carver Science Park (GWCSP) at Ohio State in Columbus, Ohio. The GWCSP, established by Voyager and its operating company Nanoracks, is expected to be a core element of Starlab, the companies' proposed commercial space station. In December 2021, Voyager and Nanoracks won a $160 million award from NASA to design Starlab as part of NASA's Commercial Destination Free Flyers (CDFF) effort. The GWCSP is the world's first-ever science park in space, operating today on the International Space Station ("ISS"). The GWCSP leverages a successful terrestrial business model where scientists and industry experts share findings, collaborate, and use new technologies to advance both scientific and commercial endeavors. Together, Team Ohio and Voyager agreed to a two-phase program to realize the development of the GWCSP terrestrial lab. The project is still pending review and approval of incentives from JobsOhio and the Ohio Department of Development. The effort will begin this year with a facility at Ohio State's College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences. Next year, the organizations plan to break ground on a stand-alone facility on the Ohio State Aerospace and Air Transportation Campus, home to The Ohio State University Airport (KOSU), Ohio State's Aerospace Research Center, Knowlton Executive Flight Terminal and Education Center, and a range of corporate, government, and private aviation and aerospace activities. "Ohio is the birthplace of aviation and has a deep-rooted history in aerospace and defense innovation," said Dylan Taylor, Chairman and CEO of Voyager Space. "It's clear that Ohio offers the most beneficial location for a terrestrial facility to support the long-term success and utilization of George Washington Carver Science Park. Company researchers, operators, visionaries, and space change makers in Ohio will have the ability to influence and inspire organizations pursuing aerospace research and development and we are thrilled to be partnering with Team Ohio on this exciting project." Ohio's colleges and universities collectively graduate more than 13,000 engineers and engineering technicians each year. The state is home to more than 110,000 public and private aerospace and aviation professionals, as well as the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Battelle, the NASA Glenn Research Center, the NASA Armstrong Test Facility and the Ohio Unmanned Aircraft Systems Center, which is pioneering innovative technologies to allow drones to fly safely beyond the visual line of sight. "The George Washington Carver Science Park is a wonderful example of the powerful synergies that Ohio offers to commercial space ventures," said Ohio Governor Mike DeWine. "This landmark partnership at the intersection of aerospace and agriculture is extraordinary. Together, we will accelerate transformational aerospace technologies as Ohio continues to lead this nation into the Aerospace Age of the 21st Century." The proposed site of the temporary GWCSP is located within the existing laboratory, classroom, office, and meeting space at the Agricultural Engineering Building on the Ohio State campus. In addition to research, teaching, and service operations, this facility is also home to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service ("ARS") (ars.usda.gov). NASA and USDA have more than 120 joint space agricultural research activities in progress currently. "By collaborating with Team Ohio, Voyager Space is launching one of the most creative public-private partnerships in one of the most sought-after space destinations on this planet," said Dr. John Horack, inaugural holder of the Neil Armstrong Chair in Aerospace Policy in the College of Engineering and John Glenn College of Public Affairs at The Ohio State University. "We know this initial collaborative investment will transform into a broader commercial space research magnet that serves as the primary North American site for the George Washington Carver Science Park." "In my conversations with the Voyager and Nanoracks team, I assured them that Ohio was 100 percent committed to being a leading innovator in aviation and aerospace," said Lt. Governor Jon Husted, Director of InnovateOhio. "This partnership between Nanoracks, Voyager and Ohio State represents a significant step toward leading this nation into on-orbit, human commercial space operations, and the people of Ohio will be playing an important role in the future." "The decision to establish the George Washington Carver Science Park at The Ohio State University provides Voyager/Nanoracks direct access to some of the world's leading research," said J.P. Nauseef, JobsOhio president and CEO. "This commercial space laboratory will be the most advanced of its kind on Earth, bolstered in Ohio by 100,000 university researchers, faculty, staff and students, as well as partnerships between public, private and academic resources that will fuel the innovations that make sustained life in space possible." The research conducted at the GWCSP terrestrial lab will aim to generate positive social, economic, educational, and quality-of-life outcomes for a broad range of constituents, in particular, the Ohio agriculture community. Some of these benefits include research to preserve Ohio's water quality, provide better crop production and improve plant and animal genetics for Ohio's agricultural community. "We have only just begun to scratch the surface of the possibilities and opportunities that await us in the 'final frontier,' and our ability to maximize future exploration hinges on collaboration between scientists and industry experts," says President of The Ohio State University, Kristina M. Johnson. "Locating the terrestrial lab of the George Washington Carver Science Park on Ohio State's campus will be the best possible way to facilitate this joint effort and ensure we are sharing resources, research and knowledge across multiple disciplines." The GWCSP terrestrial lab is set to include high-bay laboratory space, suitable for scientific research experiments that span the entire range of Starlab activities, procedure development, testing, prototyping, and other activities essential on the path to spaceflight research. The George Washington Carver Science Park honors the legacy of the famed American agricultural scientist and inventor who developed hundreds of food products and practical, sustainable farming methods. The George Washington Carver Science Park is the first space-dedicated member of the International Association of Science Parks (IASP), a catalyst for global participation in the space research ecosystem. Additionally, Ohio-based Zin Technologies (ZIN) and the Universities Space Research Association (USRA), a Washington D.C.-based company with a long-standing presence in Ohio, are part of the founding GWCSP leadership team. ZIN is advising on the overall GWCSP in-space lab design and will develop key hardware as needed. USRA will direct and manage the science park, prioritize and schedule research, and oversee scientific lab operations. About Voyager Space Voyager Space is a space technology company dedicated to building a better future for humanity in space and on Earth. With nearly 20 years of spaceflight heritage and over 1500 successful missions as of August 2022, Voyager delivers space station infrastructure and services and technology solutions to commercial users, civil and national security government agencies, academic and research institutions, and more, with the goal to accelerate a sustainable space economy. Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains "forward-looking statements." All statements, other than statements of historical fact, including those with respect to Voyager Space, Inc.'s (the "Company's") mission statement and growth strategy, are "forward-looking statements." Although the Company's management believes that such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cannot guarantee that such expectations are, or will be, correct. These forward-looking statements involve many risks and uncertainties, which could cause the Company's future results to differ materially from those anticipated. Potential risks and uncertainties include, among others, general economic conditions and conditions affecting the industries in which the Company operates; the uncertainty of regulatory requirements and approvals; and the ability to obtain necessary financing on acceptable terms or at all. Readers should not place any undue reliance on forward-looking statements since they involve these known and unknown uncertainties and other factors which are, in some cases, beyond the Company's control and which could, and likely will, materially affect actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. Any forward-looking statement reflects the Company's current views with respect to future events and is subject to these and other risks, uncertainties and assumptions relating to operations, results of operations, growth strategy and liquidity. The Company assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise these forward-looking statements for any reason, or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future. SOURCE Voyager Space BETHESDA, Md., Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Walker & Dunlop announced today a new partnership with Kayne Anderson Real Estate to create Walker Private Lending, a much-needed product for investors that broadens the company's lending capabilities in the small balance multifamily market. Walker Private Lending will target commercial bank borrowers who own multifamily properties with five to 99 apartment units. The new product offers clients competitive loan terms and flexibility including floating rate loans, full-term and partial-term interest-only, and fixed rate loans with flexible pre-payment options. "Walker & Dunlop entered the small balance lending (SBL) market several years ago and has predominantly originated and sold SBL loans through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac," stated Willy Walker, Walker & Dunlop's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "This new partnership with Kayne Anderson expands our capabilities with an extremely savvy and sophisticated capital partner to meet our clients' needs and further accelerate their growth." Roughly 85% of the apartment inventory in the United States is comprised of properties within SBL parameters and lending to this segment is dominated by the large, money-center banks. The SBL market is experiencing dramatic growth and Walker & Dunlop's brand, people, and technology are well equipped to meet the needs of these investors. "Our partnership with Kayne Anderson allows us to provide less of a 'one-size-fits-all' credit approach that is common with competing capital sources," commented Alison Williams, Senior Vice President and Chief Production Officer at Walker & Dunlop. "Walker Private Lending will deliver innovative loan terms as well as certainty of execution, which is vital to our targeted investors in today's unpredictable markets." Walker Private Lending will originate 3 to 10-year loans on stabilized, cash-flowing assets such as conventional multifamily, manufactured housing, student housing, scattered sites, and mixed-use assets with a primary multifamily component. "The SBL borrowers are massively underserved without tailored financing options that enable their emerging real estate businesses to grow," commented David Selznick, Chief Investment Officer at Kayne Anderson Real Estate. "Our real estate debt platform is designed for these specialized and highly fragmented lending businesses. We couldn't be more thrilled to partner with Walker & Dunlop an industry leader with a very thoughtful and innovative team." Walker & Dunlop is one of the largest multifamily providers in the United States, having deployed $42 billion of capital in 2021. The Company is also one of the largest multifamily property sales brokers, having completed $19.3 billion in property sales in 2021, up 214% from 2020. About Walker & Dunlop Walker & Dunlop (NYSE: WD) is one of the largest providers of capital to the commercial real estate industry in the United States, enabling real estate owners and operators to bring their visions of communities where Americans live, work, shop and play to life. Our people, brand and technology make W&D one of the most insightful and customer-focused firms in our industry. With more than 1,400 employees across every major U.S. market, Walker & Dunlop has consistently been named one of Fortune's Great Places to Work and is committed to making the commercial real estate industry more inclusive and diverse while creating meaningful social, environmental, and economic change in our communities. About Kayne Anderson Real Estate Kayne Anderson Real Estate ("KA Real Estate") is a leading real estate private equity investor in medical office, seniors housing, off-campus student housing, multifamily housing and self-storage. KA Real Estate manages $14 billion of real estate AUM across opportunistic equity, core equity and real estate debt. KA Real Estate is part of Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors, L.P., a $35 billion alternative investment management firm with more than 37 years of successful experience in the real estate, infrastructure, credit, and growth capital sectors (as of 8/18/2022). SOURCE Walker & Dunlop, Inc. NEW YORK, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- As per Zion Market Research study, The global unified monitoring market achieved revenue growth of around USD 3.58 billion in 2021 and is predicted to reach around USD 11.45 billion by 2028, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 18.7 percent over the forecast period. The report analyzes the unified monitoring market's drivers, restraints/challenges, and the effect they have on the demands during the projection period. In addition, the report explores emerging opportunities in the unified monitoring market. Unified Monitoring Market: Overview Unified monitoring technology is a platform that allows a company to supervise all of its activities from a single location. This platform provides for the display of all operations as well as extensive data insights that show positive and negative trends. As a result, it considerably aids in the effective administration of complex systems, resulting in its widespread use. To coordinate and efficiently execute their many operations, IT firms, telecommunication companies, educational institutes, medical institutes, and other organizations employ unified monitoring. The usage of this method enables such businesses to save administration expenses while also improving the customer experience. Get a Free Sample Report with All Related Graphs & Charts (with COVID 19 Impact Analysis): https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/sample/unified-monitoring-market Our Free Sample Report Includes: 2022 Updated Report Introduction, Overview, and In-depth industry analysis COVID-19 Pandemic Outbreak Impact Analysis Included 260 + Pages Research Report (Inclusion of Updated Research) Provide Chapter-wise guidance on Request 2022 Updated Regional Analysis with Graphical Representation of Size, Share & Trends Includes an Updated List of tables & figures Updated Report Includes Top Market Players with their Business Strategy, Sales Volume, and Revenue Analysis Zion Market Research methodology Key Industry Insights & Findings of the Unified Monitoring Market Reports: As per the analysis shared by our research analyst, the global Unified Monitoring market is estimated to grow annually at a CAGR of around 18.7% over the forecast period (2022-2028). In terms of revenue, the global Unified Monitoring market size was valued at around USD 3.58 billion in 2021 and is projected to reach USD 11.45 billion , by 2028. Due to a variety of driving factors, the market is predicted to rise at a significant rate. in 2021 and is projected to reach , by 2028. Due to a variety of driving factors, the market is predicted to rise at a significant rate. The global unified monitoring market is growing significantly owing to the increasing usage of IoT devices across various businesses. The proper administration of the operation of any such gadget is directly related to the enterprise's performance. This technology significantly reduces administrative costs while also improving the customer experience. Furthermore, improved data stream security and performance consistency are important demand-generating drivers. Several firms operate their contact center and unified communication (CC & UC) systems through different providers, necessitating more integration work. With multinational companies like Google, Microsoft, and Apple expanding their work-from-home policies, dispersed workforces are likely to become the standard in the future. Many small and middle-income organizations around the world still prefer to work with conventional techniques and systems. This is mainly due to low awareness about the latest technologies, budget constraints, shortage of skilled labor, and extra efforts to maintain the overall system. Zion Market Research published the latest report titled "Unified Monitoring Market By Component (Solution And Services), By Deployment (On-Premise And Cloud), By Organization Size (Small & Medium And Large), By Vertical (BFSI, Healthcare, IT & Telecommunication, And Retail), And By Region Global And Regional Industry Overview, Market Intelligence, Comprehensive Analysis, Historical Data, And Forecasts 2022 2028." into their research database. Industry Dynamics: Unified Monitoring Market: Growth Drivers Increasing the adoption of IoT devices by several organizations can boost the market growth. The global unified monitoring market is growing significantly owing to the increasing usage of IoT devices across various businesses. The proper administration of the operation of any such gadget is directly related to the enterprise's performance. However, as technology advances, current IT infrastructures are growing more complicated, requiring the usage of several devices for daily tasks. As a result, for the total system to run well, enhanced monitoring of every piece of the network or unified monitoring technology is required. The popularity of unified monitoring systems is due to the benefits they provide, such as one user interface management of all elements. This technology significantly reduces administrative costs while also improving the customer experience. Furthermore, improved data stream security and performance consistency are important demand-generating drivers. Furthermore, the market expansion will be fueled by significant technical advancements in artificial intelligence, IoT, and machine learning, Unified Monitoring Market: Restraints High initial setup and operational costs may hinder the market growth. Despite the many advantages of Unified Monitoring, the most significant barrier to its adoption is the expense. Companies are being forced to simplify their contact center and unified communication support & maintenance operations due to high operating expenses and low organizational efficiency. Several firms operate their contact center and unified communication (CC & UC) systems through different providers, necessitating more integration work. This higher level of integration necessitates a significant implementation cost. In addition, limited in-house capabilities and manual processes result in a longer period to resolve technical issues. As a result, the market's expansion would be hampered over the projection period by these high maintenance costs. Directly Purchase a Copy of the Report @ https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/buynow/su/unified-monitoring-market Unified Monitoring Market: Opportunities The transformation of businesses with remote operations is expected to offer better opportunities for market expansion. Flexible working was already popular in many companies before Covid-19, but the pandemic has accelerated its acceptance across a wide range of businesses. With multinational companies like Google, Microsoft, and Apple expanding their work-from-home policies, dispersed workforces are likely to become the standard in the future. Some organizations, such as Automattic, which owns WordPress, still have their entire team working remotely. According to data collected over the last year, remote working has had a minor influence on enterprises. Nearly half of employees might work remotely in a variety of industries, including real estate, financial services, education, and insurance. With such increasing frequency of remote working organizations are expected to adopt unified monitoring to streamline their business. Unified Monitoring Market: Challenges Organizations' unwillingness in adopting advanced technologies poses a major challenge to market growth. Many small and middle-income organizations around the world still prefer to work with conventional techniques and systems. This is mainly due to low awareness about the latest technologies, budget constraints, shortage of skilled labor, and extra efforts to maintain the overall system. Also, the limitation of infrastructure to set up unified monitoring affects the adoption of unified monitoring in low- and middle-income organizations. Global Unified Monitoring Market: Segmentation The global unified monitoring market is segmented based on component, deployment, organization size, vertical, and region. The component segment of the market is categorized into solutions and services. The deployment mod is bifurcated into on-premise and cloud. By organization size included in the market is segregated into small & medium and large. Major verticals covered in the market include healthcare, BFSI, retail, and IT & telecommunications. Get More Insight before [email protected]: https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/inquiry/unified-monitoring-market List of Key Players in Unified Monitoring Market: CA Technologies Dynatrace Zenoss Opsview AppDynamics GroundWork Open Source Zoho Corporation Fata Informatica Paessler Acronis. Key questions answered in this report: What are the growth rate forecast and market size for Unified Monitoring Market? What are the key driving factors propelling the Unified Monitoring Market forward? What are the most important companies in the Unified Monitoring Market Industry? What segments does the Unified Monitoring Market cover? How can I receive a free copy of the Unified Monitoring Market sample report and company profiles? Report Scope: Report Attribute Details Market size value in 2021 USD 3.58 Billion Revenue forecast in 2028 USD 11.45 Billion Growth Rate CAGR of almost 18.7% 2022-2028 Base Year 2020 Historic Years 2016 2021 Forecast Years 2022 2028 Segments Covered By Product Type, By Application, And By End Use Forecast Units Value (USD Billion), and Volume (Units) Quantitative Units Revenue in USD million/billion and CAGR from 2022 to 2028 Regions Covered North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa, and Rest of World Countries Covered U.S., Canada, Mexico, U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Spain, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Brazil, Argentina, GCC Countries, and South Africa, among others Companies Covered CA Technologies, Dynatrace, Zenoss, Opsview, AppDynamics, GroundWork Open Source, Zoho Corporation, Fata Informatica, Paessler, and Acronis. Report Coverage Market growth drivers, restraints, opportunities, Porter's five forces analysis, PEST analysis, value chain analysis, regulatory landscape, market attractiveness analysis by segments and region, company market share analysis, and COVID-19 impact analysis. Customization Scope Avail of customized purchase options to meet your exact research needs. https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/custom/3366 Free Brochure: https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/requestbrochure/unified-monitoring-market Recent Developments June 2020 , AppDynamics Inc. has introduced a new edition of its Experience Journey Map enterprise applications journey tracking product. Users may now segment performance data by the operating system, device, browser, and geographical location with the latest enhancements to the experience journey map. To assist optimize and expediting the recovery process, users may now detect and isolate user sessions that are performing poorly. It will proactively manage digital journeys and consistently provide better customer experiences. AppDynamics Inc. has introduced a new edition of its Experience Journey Map enterprise applications journey tracking product. Users may now segment performance data by the operating system, device, browser, and geographical location with the latest enhancements to the experience journey map. To assist optimize and expediting the recovery process, users may now detect and isolate user sessions that are performing poorly. It will proactively manage digital journeys and consistently provide better customer experiences. April 2020 , Health Partners Plans (HPP), a significant not-for-profit managed healthcare company, teamed with Zenoss Inc. to monitor its enormous and sophisticated IT infrastructure. It's a proprietary technology that creates legit topology models of blended IT infrastructures, gives actionable, predictive insights, and predicts service interruptions before they have a negative impact on the company. Regional Dominance: North America to lead the global market during the forecast period. North America is projected to grab the maximum share of the global unified monitoring market during the forecast period. This is due to swift technological progressions and their saturation in several industries such as healthcare, education, telecom, and others. The market in the region is also fueled by the development of data centers across the United States and Canada. Growing demand for united monitoring for storage space, servers, rising resource costs, and smart city projects is further contributing to the growth of the market. Asia Pacific on the other hand is likely to offer the most lucrative growth opportunities for market growth. Factors such as increasing investments in data centers, and the high penetration rate of digital technologies in several industries are expected to flourish the market growth in this region. Global Unified Monitoring Market is segmented as follows: Unified Monitoring Market: By Component Outlook (2022-2028) Solutions Services Unified Monitoring Market: By Deployment Outlook (2022-2028) On-premise On Cloud Unified Monitoring Market: By Organization Size Outlook (2022-2028) Small and Medium Enterprises Large Enterprises Unified Monitoring Market: By Vertical Outlook (2022-2028) BFSI IT & telecom Government Healthcare Retail Others Unified Monitoring Market: By Region Outlook (2022-2028) North America The U.S. Canada Europe France The UK Spain Germany Italy Rest of Europe Asia Pacific China Japan India South Korea Southeast Asia Rest of Asia Pacific Latin America Brazil Mexico Rest of Latin America Middle East & Africa GCC South Africa Rest of Middle East & Africa Press Release For Unified Monitoring Market: https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/news/global-unified-monitoring-market Browse Other Related Research Reports from Zion Market Research Distributed Cloud Market - Global Industry Analysis: The global distributed cloud market size was worth around USD 5.4 billion in 2021 and is predicted to grow to around USD 11.2 billion by 2028 with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of roughly 12% between 2022 and 2028. Dash Cam Market - Global Industry Analysis: The global dash cam market size was worth around USD 3,541.3 million in 2021 and is estimated to grow to about USD 7,027.4 million by 2028, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 12.1% over the forecast period. ANPR System Market - Global Industry Analysis: The global ANPR system market was at a global market value of $2.8B in 2021 and is projected to grow over $5.2B by 2028 at a CAGR of 9.5% during the forecast period. Browse through Zion Market Research's coverage of the Global Technology & Media Industry Follow Us on: LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook About Us Zion Market Research is an obligated company. We create futuristic, cutting-edge, informative reports ranging from industry reports, and company reports to country reports. We provide our clients not only with market statistics unveiled by avowed private publishers and public organizations but also with vogue and newest industry reports along with pre-eminent and niche company profiles. Our database of market research reports comprises a wide variety of reports from cardinal industries. Our database is been updated constantly to fulfill our clients with prompt and direct online access to our database. Keeping in mind the client's needs, we have included expert insights on global industries, products, and market trends in this database. Last but not the least, we make it our duty to ensure the success of clients connected to usafter allif you do well, a little of the light shines on us. Contact Us: Zion Market Research 244 Fifth Avenue, Suite N202 New York, 10001, United States Tel: +49-322 210 92714 USA/Canada Toll-Free No.1-855-465-4651 Email: [email protected] Website: https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/ Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1605489/Zion_Market_Research_Logo.jpg SOURCE Zion Market Research The new homepage will maximize legal professional's productivity, enable easy platform navigation, and ensure a streamlined user experience NEW YORK, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory U.S. today announced a refreshed user interface for Kluwer Arbitration, along with several new features, at the 2022 ICCA Congress in Edinburgh. The new design is modern, user-friendly, and easy to navigate, empowering legal professionals to maximize their productivity and supercharge their research. These enhancements will become available to Kluwer Arbitration subscribers in early October. Wolters Kluwer Announces Refreshed Interface and Enhancements to Kluwer Arbitration at the 2022 ICCA Congress in Edinburgh Within Kluwer Arbitration's new interface, users will find that menus, filtering, and browsing experiences have been streamlined for greater clarity and efficiency, allowing for simple searches and findings. Practical tools have been made discoverable and more content has been unlocked so users will gain greater access to information on arbitrators and important considerations of the arbitration process. Additionally, the new favorite feature enhances the search experience by allowing users to save their search materials and tools into folders for quick follow-up and collaboration with colleagues. Training videos have also been embedded within the platform to help users navigate the solution and notify them when new content has been added. "As legal professionals continue to grapple with the challenges of information overload, Kluwer Arbitration addresses the importance of finding actionable information easily and efficiently," said David Bartolone, Vice President and General Manager for the International Group within Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory U.S. "Our new interface and latest features are designed to simplify the user experience and streamline navigation within the solution, and we look forward to introducing them to our customers." The announcement at the ICCA Edinburgh Congress was followed by a Kluwer Arbitration Blog Quiz to celebrate the 13th year of the Kluwer Arbitration Blog, including drinks and snacks during the ICCA Congress. "With Kluwer Arbitration's refreshed interface, I am successfully able to access the enriched information I need across all international arbitration areas in a simple, easy way. The solution is thorough, very user-friendly and a must have for any practitioner in the field." - Alexis Foucard, Counsel at Clifford Chance LLP and Wolters Kluwer customer To learn more, visit: https://www.wolterskluwer.com/en/solutions/kluwerarbitration About Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory U.S. Wolters Kluwer (WKL) is a global leader in professional information, software solutions, and services for the healthcare; tax and accounting; governance, risk, and compliance; and legal and regulatory sectors. We help our customers make critical decisions every day by providing expert solutions that combine deep domain knowledge with specialized technology and services. Wolters Kluwer reported 2021 annual revenues of 4.8 billion. The group serves customers in over 180 countries, maintains operations in over 40 countries, and employs approximately 19,800 people worldwide. The company is headquartered in Alphen aan den Rijn, the Netherlands. Wolters Kluwer shares are listed on Euronext Amsterdam (WKL) and are included in the AEX and Euronext 100 indices. Wolters Kluwer has a sponsored Level 1 American Depositary Receipt (ADR) program. The ADRs are traded on the over-the-counter market in the U.S. (WTKWY). For more information, visit www.wolterskluwer.com , follow us on LinkedIn , Twitter , Facebook , and YouTube . MEDIA CONTACT: Linda Gharib Director, Brand & Communications Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory U.S. Tel: +1 (646) 887-7962 Email: [email protected] SOURCE Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory U.S. The company's fastest growing brand in the development pipeline exceeds year-end goal early PARSIPPANY, N.J., Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, the world's largest hotel franchising company with approximately 9,000 hotels across 95+ countries, announces today that its new, extended-stay brand operating under the working title "Project ECHO" has achieved 100 hotels signed across the United States. Fastest growing brand in the development pipeline already accomplishing goal of 100 signed hotels by year-end Tweet this Wyndhams new extended-stay brand continues rapid growth, achieving the milestone of 100 hotels signed. "An all new-construction, extended-stay brand developed with leading hotel developers hits the sweet spot with a design aimed to lower costs-to-build and operate, while still capturing the demand for long-term stays. This brand has become Wyndham's fastest growing in the pipeline already accomplishing our goal of 100 signed by year-end and we expect to continue adding to that total," said Chip Ohlsson, executive vice president and chief development officer, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts. " Among the most recent signings for developing new construction Project ECHO hotels are South Bend, Ind.-based Holladay Properties and Miami, Fla.-based Gold Coast Premier Properties. Holladay Properties have 25 Project ECHO hotels signed in the key cities across the Midwest as well as Nashville, Tenn.; Savannah, Ga; and Jacksonville, Fla., and Gold Coast Premier Properties has 10 hotels signed in South Florida and New Jersey. The purpose-built, 124-room Project ECHO prototype requires just under two acres of land and has a highly competitive cost per key. Coming in at approximately 50,000 square-feetnearly 74 percent of which is rentableindividual rooms average 300 square-feet. The rooms consist of single- and two-queen studio suites with kitchenettes as well as efficiently-designed public spacesa lobby, fitness center and guest laundrythat help to limit labor needs. "We have extensive extended-stay development experience with established brands, yet we couldn't pass up the opportunity to be on the ground floor building a brand together with Wyndham," said Veronica Garcia, president and chief operating officer, Gold Coast Premier Properties. "Project ECHO's efficient design paired with access to Wyndham's negotiated discounts with suppliers will help us reduce costs and simplify operations of our hotels, while introducing a new product to the extended-stay segment." Earlier this month, the first Project ECHO hotel broke ground in Plano, Tex. and additional groundbreaks are scheduled for this fall. Wyndham expects to open its first Project ECHO hotels in 2023. For more information, including development opportunities, visit www.projectecho.wyndhamhotels.com. About Wyndham Hotels & Resorts Wyndham Hotels & Resorts (NYSE: WH) is the world's largest hotel franchising company by the number of properties, with approximately 9,000 hotels across over 95 countries on six continents. Through its network of approximately 819,000 rooms appealing to the everyday traveler, Wyndham commands a leading presence in the economy and midscale segments of the lodging industry. The Company operates a portfolio of 23 hotel brands, including Super 8, Days Inn, Ramada, Microtel, La Quinta, Baymont, Wingate, AmericInn, Hawthorn Suites, Trademark Collection and Wyndham. The Company's award-winning Wyndham Rewards loyalty program offers over 95 million enrolled members the opportunity to redeem points at thousands of hotels, vacation club resorts and vacation rentals globally. For more information, visit www.wyndhamhotels.com. Contacts: Scott Carman Wyndham Hotels & Resorts +1 (973) 753-6590 [email protected] SOURCE Wyndham Hotels & Resorts BEIJING, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- China's leading liquor maker Wuliangye participated in the 19th China-ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO), which kicked off on Friday in Nanning, capital of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. As one of the strategic partners of the event, the Chinese Baijiu producer aspires to share new opportunities brought by the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), as well as contribute to building a closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future. Photo shows the exhibition area of China's leading liquor maker Wuliangye at the 19th China-ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO) held in Nanning, capital of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The well-decorated exhibition area of Wuliangye, featuring Chinese-style elements, such as traditional screen and Chinese painting scroll, was equipped with interactive touch screen technology, to fully present its unique brewing techniques and global footprints. Chinese Baijiu products with varied flavors were displayed there, attracting many domestic and foreign merchants, who spoke highly of the excellent taste of Wuliangye liquor and the company's pursuit of better quality. Apart from the exhibition, Wuliangye would also hold a slew of activities, including products promotion, business development and brand collaboration, in order to deepen cooperation with global industrial players, embrace new opportunities under the RCEP, and further explore the international market. In fact, as a representative of Chinese Baijiu brand, Wuliangye has made great efforts to promote Chinese Baijiu in the world by actively participating in major global events, such as the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings, Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference, and China International Import Expo (CIIE), building worldwide marketing network and setting up local stores in Hong Kong, Tokyo and Dusseldorf. This year marks the first year of the mega-regional trade deal RCEP, under which China and ASEAN countries would build version 3.0 of the China-ASEAN free trade area. The 19th China-ASEAN Expo is being held online and offline with theme of "Sharing RCEP New Opportunities, Building a Version 3.0 China-ASEAN Free Trade Area", setting up boutique exhibitions centering on the ASEAN and the RCEP for the first time. See the original link :https://en.imsilkroad.com/p/330043.html SOURCE Xinhua Silk Road MILPITAS, Calif., Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- XL Construction just celebrated its 30th anniversary as a leading general contractor in Northern California with a 'Vision Launch' event where the company unveiled its long-term plan for enhancing employees' professional development. XL Constructions Dave Beck, executive vice president (standing), and Eric Raff, executive chairman, present company history to 350+ employees at XL Constructions Vision Launch event to celebrate its 30th Anniversary aboard the USS Hornet at the Sea, Air and Space Museum in Alameda, California. The day-long celebration on September 16 was attended by 350 employees and held aboard the USS Hornet Sea, Air and Space Museum in Alameda. The event consisted of special presentations and panel discussions focused on empowering employees to leverage the company's rich history and milestones and gain inspiration for the company's and their own bright future. Author and former naval commander Mike Abrashoff delivered a keynote address on developing people and shared personal experiences highlighted in his book, "It's Your Ship." "We view our 30th anniversary as an opportunity to review what we've learned as a company and rededicate ourselves to moving our organization forward for the next 30 years," said XL's CEO Richard Walker. "XL Construction's key differentiator has always been our people and they were the focus of our Vision Launch event." COVID-19 Notwithstanding, an Event Five Years in the Making XL Construction's current vision was conceived during the company's 25th anniversary. At the time, company management decided it needed more than a philosophical guidepost, but a strategic business tool that would help the company gain traction and guide it in long-term planning and day-to-day decisions. "Five years ago, after almost a year of pondering those questions and gathering input from throughout the organization and our most trusted clients and partners, we gained real clarity about becoming an enduring company that makes a difference," said Walker. "We wanted to build upon our success and reputation for being an exceptional partner in delivering challenging projects that support our purpose to improve the lives of our clients and community, while also expanding opportunities for our people." Laying the Groundwork for the Future A key move in preparing for the 30th anniversary initiative was the establishment of XL Construction's Organizational Development Group in November 2021. Headed by company veteran and Senior Vice President Alan Laurlund, the group is charged with fostering a diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) roadmap that better reflects the communities in which the company operates, as well as developing an integrated talent management approach to help employees reach their full career potential. Walker believes that companies in the construction industry too often fall into the trap of over-emphasizing employees' technical skills at the expense of developing critical management and leadership skills. His philosophy is to invest in training individuals to function optimally in their next role, which will further elevate the success of its employees and projects. Recent Milestones At the beginning of 2022, in a planned executive transition, co-founder and long-term CEO Eric Raff stepped down and became executive chairman while Walker, formerly president, was elevated to CEO. The company also opened the doors of a new office in Oakland. Though its opening was delayed due to COVID-19, the new facility serves as a hub in the East Bay, which in addition to its offices in Milpitas and Sacramento, provide a local presence in a key market for the company. Over the last 10 years, the company has also been recognized with more than 70 industry project and Best Places to Work awards, as well as honored as the ENR Contractor of the Year in 2020. About XL Construction XL Construction is a leading general contractor whose mission is to "build to improve lives." XL partners with today's leaders in life sciences, advanced technology, corporate office, civic, healthcare and education to create places that make its communities better. The company's focus and passion for team success has earned it a network of great partners and a reputation for putting people first. XL Construction is consistently ranked among the top general contractors in Northern California. Since 2011, XL has been recognized with 70+ industry awards and honors, including ENR California's 2020 Contractor of the Year and the SF Business Times' #1 Best Place to Work in the Bay Area. SOURCE XL Construction Tehran, Sep 19 : Iran renews readiness for prisoners' exchange with the US, said Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanaani. "We have already announced our readiness to exchange prisoners, and we still have this readiness," Kanaani was quoted by the ISNA, Xinhua news agency reported. "Negotiations have been conducted in different ways and both sides have made necessary agreements, and now it is the decision of the American government to implement this agreement or not," he said. Kanaani also said that the issue of prisoners' exchange has nothing to do with the conclusion of the talks aiming at the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The Iranian Foreign Ministry has said that the exchange of prisoners with the United States had been discussed on the sidelines of nuclear talks in Vienna. Seoul, Sep 19 : South Korea will slaughter some 7,000 pigs to try to stem the spread of African swine fever (ASF) following a new outbreak at a local farm, the agriculture ministry said on Monday. The animal disease broke out at a pig farm in Chuncheon, 85 km northeast of Seoul, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said, adding some 7,000 pigs at the farm will be culled as a preventive measure. The government also issued a 24-hour standstill order on pig farms and related facilities in Gangwon Province through 2 a.m. Tuesday and plans to carry out an in-depth inspection into 43 adjacent farms, Yonhap news agency reported. It also plans to conduct clinical tests on all of around 200 pig farms in the province, the ministry added. It marked this year's third ASF case, with the previous case having taken place in August in the eastern county of Yanggu. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo instructed officials to fully implement quarantine steps in close cooperation with local governments to contain the spread of the virus, according to his office. ASF does not affect humans but is deadly to pigs. There is currently no vaccine or cure for the disease. The ministry said that the current ASF situation is not likely to affect the country's pork supply, as the number of pigs to be culled this time accounts for about 0.06 percent of the total pigs currently being raised in the country. New Delhi, Sep 19 : A 14-year-old mentally unsound child, who went missing in the national capital, when found, told the police that he was going to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, an official said Monday. Deputy Commissioner of Police (south) Chandan Chowdhary said a PCR call regarding a teenage boy being found near Pushpa Bhawan was received at the Ambedkar Nagar police station around 9.45 p.m. on Sunday. When the police reached the spot and tried to enquire from the child, he was not able to tell about his parents, name and address, except his own name. "He was also looking with a bit of an unsound mind as on enquiry he said that he was going to meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi," the DCP said. However, the police made an inquiry in the Dakshinpuri area and finally the parents of the child were traced out. On inquiry, the father of the child stated that his son was having an unsound mind and had been twice operated for the illness. "The child went missing on Sunday evening and even the parents were trying to trace him," the senior police official said. The teenager was later handed over to his parents under Operation Milap. Lucknow, Sep 19 : The Kalyan Singh Super Specialty Cancer Institute (KSSSCI) is planning to replicate the model of functioning of Tata Memorial Hospital (TMH) in Mumbai. The effort is to learn the TMH model of functioning so that it can be replicated at KSSSCI. The director and deputy director of TMH will be made members of the governing body of KSSSCI. A proposal to this effect will soon be sent to the government. According to the government spokesman, a KSSSCI team will visit TMH to study the model of functioning and revenue generation there. Both parties will frequently visit each other's institution for proper functioning, said Prof R.K. Dhiman, director, KSSSCI. He said, "This is a big institute provisioned to have a capacity of 734 beds dedicated to cancer patients and also have a vision for future expansion, aimed at increasing bed capacity to 1,250 in the second phase. "After assessing the situation, we have set up a high-level committee for the upgrade of this Institute according to the guidelines of the National Medical Commission to produce trained doctors and to increase patient footfall." Washington, Sep 19 : US President Joe Biden has reiterated that Washington will defend Taiwan in the event of an "unprecedented attack" by China. During a CBS News interview on Sunday, Biden was asked "what should Chinese President Xi know about your commitment to Taiwan?", to which the President replied: "We agree with what we signed onto a long time ago... And that there's one China policy, and Taiwan makes their own judgments about their independence. "We are not moving, we're not encouraging their being independent. We're not... That's their decision." To the next query if US forces would defend the island, Biden said: "Yes, if in fact there was an unprecedented attack..." Shortly after Biden made the remarks, the White House said that "our Taiwan policy hasn't changed", clearing the notion that the US policy since 1979 to recognise Taiwan as part of China remained unchanged. "The President has said this before, including in Tokyo earlier this year. He also made clear then that our Taiwan policy hasn't changed. That remains true," the BBC quoted the White House as saying on Sunday evening. Under the policy, the US does not recognise it as a separate state and has no diplomatic ties with the island. But it maintains close relations and sells arms to Taiwan under the Taiwan Relations Act, which states that Washington must provide the island with the means to defend itself. Tensions flared between the US and China after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made an unannounced visit to Taiwan on August 2. In response, China staged a five-day military blockade around Taiwan. Patna, Sep 19 : In a bid to counter the rally of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the Mahagathbandhan leaders have decided to organise four rallies in the Seemanchal region of Bihar. Shah is scheduled to arrive in Bihar on September 23 and he has two rallies in the Muslim dominated Purnea and Kishanganj districts. Keeping this in view, the JD(U) and RJD think tanks have decided to counter every move of the saffron parties like they did in the 2015 Assembly election. Lalan Singh, the national president of JD(U) claims that the four rallies of Mahagathbandhan will be held in four districts with an aim to keep intact the communal harmony and brotherhood between the communities in the region. Lalan Singh, however, did not announce the venues of the rallies, but it is being said that they will be held in Kishanganj, Purnea, Araria and Katihar districts to give a strong reply to Amit Shah and the BJP. Singh said that the top leaders of the RJD also agreed to the rallies. The actual date and place of the rallies are not decided yet. Besides Seemanchal, JD(U) is likely to organise a massive rally in Varanasi in November or December this year to challenge Prime Minister Narendra Modi. There is also a buzz that Nitish Kumar may contest the 2024 Lok Sabha election from Phulpur, Ambedkar Nagar or Jaunpur. These Lok Sabha constituencies have a good number of Kurmi and Muslim voters. The JD(U) is also looking for an alliance with the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh. Hanumangarh : , Sep 19 (IANS/ 101Reporters) A whopping amount of Rs 63 lakh in payments is due for 3,295 workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme for the months of May and June in Hanumangarh district of Rajasthan. A zila parishad official told 101Reporters on condition of anonymity that payments up to August 23 have been cleared, but they have not reached the beneficiaries due to several reasons, including non-linking of Aadhaar-bank accounts and incorrect IFSCs. Such inefficiencies affect the lives of poor labourers in profound ways. "After harvesting rabi crops in April-May, I look forward to MGNREGA work until mid-September. But I did not get any in the last two months... I have been in the muster rolls for around 12 years now, but have never received anything above Rs 180 a day," said Sarabjit Kaur from Nathwana village in Sangaria block. "On the contrary, if I go to work in the field, the farm owner pays me Rs 300 per day." This year has been particularly bad for MGNREGA workers, with tasks allotted only in June end, instead of April. "We have been seeking work since April. At last, all the labourers staged a dharna in front of the gram panchayat office in June. Only then did the officials allotted work starting June 24," informed Baldev Singh of Mala Rampura. As per the Act, all labourers are entitled to 100 work days a year. They can expect work within 15 days of application, failing which they are entitled to unemployment allowance. In February, the Rajasthan government increased the number of work days to 125. However, labourers claimed they struggle to get employment even for 100 days, leave alone 125 days! None of the villagers ever received an unemployment allowance, despite the launch of a government helpline on March 10. Many were not even aware of the helpline or the fact that they were entitled to an unemployment allowance. As per the rules, the rate of daily unemployment allowance should be at least one fourth of the wage rate for the first 30 days in a financial year, and at least half of the wage rate for the rest of the year. The programme officer should ensure that all entries relating to unemployment allowance are made only through the e-Governance system, NREGASoft. Mala Rampura Village Development Officer (VDO) Balkaran Singh claimed that not a single worker in Rajasthan has received unemployment allowance till date as the process has not been initiated. For this, it is mandatory to accept applications in the prescribed format 6. "We have the workers' interests at heart. They will get only a meagre amount by applying for an allowance. On the other hand, we can offer them more days when the work resumes," Balkaran told 101Reporters. However, like countless others, Jagaseer Singh of Mala Rampura said he was not aware of any unemployment allowance. "We labourers keep asking for work for months together, but we do not get any. Work allotment depends on the will of the panchayat secretary. I got only 90 days last year." Lower than minimum wages Another major complaint is that labourers do not receive the entire payment for the work done. The daily minimum wage for MGNREGA work in Rajasthan is Rs 221. Nevertheless, labourers get only Rs 160 to 180. Raj Kaur from Nathwana said she was promised Rs 221 for canal clean-up and filling of pits on its bund, but got only Rs 181 in the end. Randhir Singh of Bhagatpura said he got work for 100 days a year, but never received anything above Rs 190. When contacted, Sangaria Panchayat Samiti Development Officer Pawan Suthar explained that numbers are extracted based on the records provided by MGNREGA mates. It accounts for the wage rate for work done, the wage rate for the group and the wage rate per member. "The muster rolls from gram panchayat are received at the samiti office, where a junior technical assistant checks the tasks completed, enters them in record books, and certifies the same. This is a purely technical job," he says, adding that no money is deducted or reduced at any stage. "As per the state government rules, we try to give maximum wages to the labourers." Dues mount Workers from Bhakranwali, Santpura and Dholnagar villages recently staged a protest at the samiti office demanding clearance of dues. Samiti member Vikram Singh Kalhari, who led the workers, said even payments of several people for the work done for a fortnight in March were pending. CITU state vice-president Rameshwar Verma said the issue was common in several villages, with money pending for one to two months. Quizzed about the delayed payments, Chhagnaram Baraich, Executive Engineer, Hanumangarh Zila Parishad, responded: "We complete all the procedures in time. But if you say payments are due, I will speak to the development officials about it." Meanwhile, Pawan Suthar insisted that they try to allot work quickly, whenever a labourer seeks it. "This year, the MGNREGA software did not accept new jobs as it is still showing incomplete work from last year. The reason for this is the payment of dues. We have sent a letter to the higher authorities seeking software updates," he said. Facilities discontinued Both Jagaseer and Randhir claimed that amenities -- tents for sun protection, drinking water, cradles for babies, first-aid and other essentials -- provided earlier by the government have all been discontinued. Explaining the reasons behind it, Mala Rampura VDO Balkaran said: "When MGNREGA was launched, we had facilities like durries to sit on and cradles for kids. But they all worn out long ago, and we still have not received replacements." Nathwana Village Employment Assistant Shishupal Singh added that there were plenty of trees for shade. "The workers bring drinking water from home. If needed, we bring medicines from the sub-health centre." (The author is a freelance journalist and a member of 101Reporters, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters.) Patna, Sep 19 : Five police personnel were injured after a gang of liquor mafia attacked them in Bihar's Siwan district, police said on Monday. The injured police personnel were part of a team headed by SHO Dadan Singh of Pachrukhi police station. The team was raiding a house in Mandirapali village in Siwan district to arrest a notorious liquor mafia Satyendra Yadav, alias Chotan Yadav, on Monday night when they were attacked. Besides SHO Dadan Singh, Sanjeev Kumar, Sunil Kumar, Krishna Kumar and Kamaldev Manjhi were also injured. The injured police personnel managed to escape from the village and reached hospitals for treatments. Satyendra Yadav has three FIRs registered against him in Pachrukhi police station under relevant IPC sections of liquor prohibition act and attempt to murder. He was also involved in the assault of a sub-inspector Ram Pravesh Rai of the same police station. During the last fortnight, India has asserted itself diplomatically by refusing to join an important pillar of the US-led IPEF, and at the same time Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Samarkand has demonstrated his governments resolve to act globally and resolutely in interactions with regional leaders. The 22nd summit of the eight-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) took place in Uzbekistan's capital Samarkand, last week. The summit was held amid the growing geo-political turmoil set-off by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and China's aggressive military posturing in the Taiwan Straits. China which initiated this regional grouping as Shanghai Five in 1996, has transformed the forum into an influential grouping of eight nations, with many more like Iran to join as a permanent member and diverse countries like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey, Belarus and Mongolia being given Observer status, which shows its transformation into an influential regional forum, besides challenging to other western regional alliances. In his address at the summit, Modi obdurately touched every relevant aspect of the current geo-political situation. He urged SCO to strive to develop reliable, resilient and diversified supply chains in the region. For this, better connectivity will be required, besides giving full rights of transit to each other, he asserted, in a veiled reference to Pakistan. He also batted for making India a regional manufacturing hub. On tackling the challenges of food security, he spoke of India's efforts to popularise millets as an alternative and cheap option. In a speech that was otherwise free from references to India's regional issues on terrorism with Pakistan and on territorial sovereignty with China, Modi called for greater cooperation in the Eurasian region. He also focused on initiatives on manufacturing that India is willing to pilot in the next year, when India assumes the chair of the SCO and hosts the Summit in mid-2023. Modi-Xi Jinping meeting The most important meeting from India's standpoint was a possible meeting between Prime Minister Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Everyone wondered whether roadblocks have been cleared and temperaments cooled after the recent success of commander level talks between two countries on the issues of Chinese aggression in the Ladakh region in May 2020. But, officially the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) mentioned no such meetings. In fact, Samarkand offered the perfect opportunity for two leaders to reset the ties. But there seemed little willingness from the two sides, to compromise. In fact, if the reports are to be believed, the exchange between the two leaders, reminded one of the cold treatment meted out by Modi to former Pakistan's Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif at the 2014 SAARC summit, though it eventually ended with a handshake at the last moment, but nothing such happened in Samarkand. But the moot question here is whether China is in a mood to mend ties with India? Well, it seems no, not at the moment perhaps. Modi and Xi have met twice earlier but that is not enough to read each other's thoughts and also make a convincing and principled case, though both the countries stand to gain much economically, if ties are improved. Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra, when asked about a meeting that never happened said that he did not "think there is anything more to read into that". Modi-Putin meeting Modi's bilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the summit also received a lot of attention. The two leaders shared the customary diplomatic greetings, with Modi specifically emphasising that the modern era was not a time of war. According to reports, Putin acknowledged India's position on the Ukrainian conflict and reaffirmed his commitment to a speedy resolution. India and Chinese leaders expressing their concerns directly with the Russian leader about the war in Ukraine is reflective of global concerns about the effects of its aggression, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last weel. The mainstream American media praised Prime Minister Modi for telling Putin that this is "not the time for war" in Ukraine. It was the lead story on the webpages of both The Washington Post and The New York Times, and was widely carried by the mainstream American media. Modi-Erdogan bonhomie Among other impromptu meetings was the one important one between Modi and Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, which was held unannounced on September 16. After the meeting, Modi underlined that the focus was on economic ties between the two countries. The MEA, in a statement, described the meeting as a review of current India-Turkey relations. While noting the increase in recent years in economic relations, particularly bilateral trade, it acknowledged the potential for further enhancement of economic and commercial partnerships. Erdogan last visited India in 2017. While India-Turkey's economic and commercial cooperation constitutes an important dimension of the bilateral relationship, diplomatic ties have been adversely impacted over Turkiye's public criticism of the revocation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir and the February 2020 riots in north-east Delhi. Modi-Raisi meeting, looking ahead Another important meeting at Samarkand was between odi and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. Both the leaders took the opportunity to discuss boosting ties in areas like energy, commerce and connectivity. They also reviewed progress of the Shahid Behesti terminal at Chabahar Port and there are indications that the Iranian president also discussed a new mechanism to supply crude oil to India on rupee payment basis, instead of American dollars. This may bring the two countries closer on the trade and economic fronts. The manner in which Modi and his diplomatic team carried the business at Samarkand shows the maturity and coming of age of the Indian diplomacy under the Prime Minister. India will be hosting the next SCO Summit in 2023, and this will offer Modi an opportunity to develop the organisation into a more meaningful and cohesive organisation. A fact evident by the number of countries, which are desirous of joining it, due to its regional potential. Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War Kolkata, Sep 19 : The Enforcement Directorate (ED), probing the money-trail angle in the multi-crore cattle smuggling scam in West Bengal, on Monday summoned the mother and wife of Sehgal Hossain, the former bodyguard of tainted Trinamool Congress leader Anubrata Mondal. Both of them have been asked to be present at ED headquarters in the national capital within this week. According to ED sources, a part of the proceeds of the crime that Hossain received was transferred in the names of his mother and wife necessitating the questioning of the two. Those properties were mainly transferred before his arrest by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sleuths and ED officials suspect that this transfer was done deliberately by him, understanding that his arrest was inevitable. Both Hossain and Mondal are currently under judicial custody. Recently, the ED also wanted to take Sehgal Hossain to New Delhi and question him there. However, the Rouse Avenue Court in New Delhi rejected the plea saying that since Hossain was under judicial custody at a correctional home in West Bengal and not Delhi, his questioning will also have to be conducted in West Bengal only. The sources said that the properties in the name of Sehgal Hossain's mother are mainly in his native district of Murshidabad as well as in Birbhum, where Mondal is Trinamool Congress district president. Now, it is to be seen whether they rush to New Delhi and face the central agency questioning there or approach a court challenging this summons. The Economist magazine has termed the Shanghai Corporation Organisation (SCO) a 'Talking Shop' and perhaps rightly so. Once again vital regional challenges such as cooperation, connectivity and economy that the region faces have been ignored at the 22nd SCO Summit held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, between September 15-16. At least four of the permanent members of SCO are a loggerhead with each other or with their immediate neighbours. The Russian war in Ukraine has created uncertainty about the global supply of gas and oil. Pakistan is grappling with terrorism in its northern region of Khyber Pakhtunkhawa as well as wrestling with armed separatists in southwestern province of Balochistan. Diplomatic tensions run high with Afghanistan after Pakistan accused the former of providing the UN designated terrorist Masood Azhar with sanctuary. India is busy tackling terrorist infiltration from Pakistan as well as serious border tensions with China. It was obvious from the start that this summit will not be a collective consultative conference but will end up becoming an opportunity for SCO member states to hold one-to-one meetings on the side lines. On September 15, Chinese President Xi Jinping held a meeting with the president of Uzbekistan signing a $16 billion investment deal. Another deal sealed at the SCO summit sideline meetings was that between Russian and Uzbekistan which amounts to $4.6 billion. According to the deal signed with China it will construct a China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway. The deal signed with Russia were in machinery, chemicals, petrochemicals and geology sectors of Uzbekistan's economy. Russian President Vladimir Putin met with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in which Russia promised to support Turkey becoming a permanent member of the SCO in return for Turkey not to object the gas pipeline of which 750 km has already been laid down via Iran and needs to be build a further 250 km into Pakistani territory. During a half-an-hour closed door meeting held at the Summer Palace residence of the president of Uzbekistan between Xi Jinping and Erdogan it is believed that a billion-dollar grain deal was struck which will enable China to earn billions of dollars from Turkey. The Prime Minister of Pakistan choked several times during his speech to the summit describing that his country had turned into "a sea of water", but no collective relief package was offered, leaving him high and dry. Moreover, the SCO summit failed to persuade Putin to end the devastating war in Ukraine or for that matter the China's illegal economic expansion into the disputed territories of Gilgit-Baltistan under the guise of the so-called CPEC, which is part of her larger Belt and Road Initiative program. The Russian president and Chinese head of state both seemed to have come to a trade fair. Both were cutting trade deals left,right and centre. Putin was negotiating the price of gas and oil sale to pauper Pakistan and Xi was expanding Belt and Road Initiative into central Asia via Uzbekistan. The purpose of the summit should have been to collectively find solutions to the menace of terrorist, slack connectivity and solving the energy crisis. Instead it ludicrously became an exercise of collective inaction. Tensions among SCO member states run so high that the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was unable to hold a one-to-one meeting with his Pakistan and Chinese counterparts. One of the main reason for SCO summit to fail to come up with a joint declaration seems to be the lack of will of both China and Russia to withdraw from their desire to expand their hegemonic influence among their economic and political spheres. None of the above countries initiated a debate in their home countries for peace and reconciliation. The war jingoism which has become the benchmark of Xi's politics has antagonized the wider Chinese population to an extent that to reverse that could become a cause for Xi's downfall. Therefore, there was no collectively agreed agenda for the summit to discuss. No pre-summit discussion was held among the leaders of the member countries which would have been a precursor for any productive road map. The only country that stood its ground was India as Modi moved among the world leader like a sage advising Putin to consider peaceful means to forward his diplomatic ambitions. India has become the fifth largest economy of the world surpassing the UK. As India moves forward to become the new manufacturing hub of the world, it is most unlikely that SCO will be able to become a forum for regional peace and economic cooperation. China, it seems, will use all means available to sabotage India. India's economic growth is led by the desire to meet the needs of both its population and wider world. China's economic growth, on the other hand, is driven by imperialistic economic expansionism driven by greed. Modi's advice to Putin that this was the era of peace is the key approach to achieve regional peace which in turn is vital for the region. However, for this to happen the member countries of the SCO will have to strike a balance between need and greed. For now, it seems it will take quite some time before the current conflict between need and greed will resolve itself. (Dr Amjad Ayub Mirza is an author and a human rights activist from Mirpur in PoJK. He currently lies in exile in the UK.) Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War Ew Delhi, Sep 19 : Only 14 per cent of consumers in India would use 10-minute delivery platforms to get print-outs delivered at home, a report said on Monday, as Zomato-owned Blinkit recently started printout on demand service in the country. Of those willing to avail such a service, 7 per cent said it was due to "convenience" reasons, and another 7 per cent stated it was both for convenience and the price factor, according to community social media platform LocalCircles. On the other hand, 82 per cent households stated that they had no plans to switch over to a delivery platform for printing needs either for privacy reasons, or unwillingness to change from the current mode of using home printers or use of services from nearby shops or for both reasons. "While platforms like Blinkit have promised to delete the information immediately on completion of the task, consumer concerns are bound to linger," said the report. Whether the demand from just 14 per cent households is sufficient to sustain the printing infrastructure in markets where quick service grocery delivery platforms operate is what will determine whether these on-demand printing services continue or are discontinued. The pandemic drove sales of printers up as school and college students in urban India did their classes online, had to print, complete, scan and upload assignments from home. However, as schools and colleges resumed fully in early 2022, the need for printing has reduced again. The report also revealed that due to lack of use or other issues 28 per cent out of 10,514 respondents have non-functional printers at home while another 4 per cent are not sure about when they purchased the home printer. Nearly 6 per cent respondents admitted to using printing facilities at place of work and carrying printouts home while 3 per cent stated that they rarely needed to use a printer. Last month, Blinkit announced to deliver printouts at your doorsteps in minutes. The 10-minute delivery platform, acquired by Zomato for Rs 4,447 crore (about $568 million) said the facility is available in some regions. New Delhi, Sep 19: Pakistan is once struggling with dwindling foreign exchange reserves despite the International Monetary Fund (IMF) assistance. After the country's forex reserves -- held by its central bank- dropped below the $8 billion in August, it rose to $8.7 billion in the beginning of the month, thanks to the IMF loan of $1,166 million under its Extended Fund Facility (EFF). But for the week ending on September 9, the country's reserves once again fell to $8.6 billion -- down $176 million. The country's central bank said that the fall in foreign exchange reserves was due to external debt and other payments. While latest data published by the State Bank of Pakistan revealed that the much required reserves are still above the $8 billion mark, the worry for policymakers is that they have started to deplete. In January, this year, the reserves held by SBP was more than $16 billion. Initial reports have suggested that the damages caused by the massive floods in Pakistan could be more than $40 billion. Importantly, the floods have damaged swathes of crops leading to huge shortage of food and price rise. Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif recently said that the economic situation in the country was already in a critical situation when the coalition led by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) took charge in April. Even before the floods hit the country, it was under the grip of a severe heatwave, which also caused damages to the agriculture sector. "The problem gets aggravated due to large scale corruption in the system..so even relief materials don't reach the common people, who are the real victims," an analyst dealing with South Asia told India Narrative. In August, the cost of food in Pakistan surged by 29.53 per cent compared to the same month in the previous year. "However, the impact of the floods is yet to be fully felt and Pakistanis need to prepare for worse," the analyst said. The IMF stalled its $6 billion loan programme in 2020 after approving the same in July 2019. However, the programme has just been revived with a $1.17 billion loan. Besides, the IMF, a few other countries including China, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Qatar have also come forth to help the cash strapped country. Pakistan's politics has also made the going tough. Islamabad has refused to resume trade with India despite several policymakers underlining the need for it. Not just that. It has also refused to give approval to aid agencies to source relief material from India. Last week, it denied aid from Bangladesh as well. 'Even friendly nations think we're beggars,' Sharif said while speaking at a Lawyers' Convention. "Today, when we go to any friendly country or make a phone call, they think that we have come to beg for money," he said. (The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative New Delhi, Sep 19 : Congress leader Deepender Singh Hooda on Monday termed former Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh's decision to join the BJP as a wrong decision as after the farmers' protest it will not be appreciated by the people. Amarinder Singh was asked to step down as the Chief Minister of Punjab in September last year by the Congress following a power tussle within the party, and in subsequent Assembly election the party was wiped out. Ahead of his joining the BJP, Singh met the party president J.P. Nadda. Speculation of Amarinder Singh joining the BJP had grown stronger after he met Union Home Minister Amit Shah on September 12. "Had a very productive meeting with Hon'ble Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Discussed various issues pertaining to national security, the rising cases of narco-terrorism in Punjab and the future roadmap for the overall holistic development of Punjab," Singh had tweeted after meeting Shah. Singh had floated his own party after quitting the Congress last year citing humiliation by the grand-old party. The two-time chief minister of Punjab had fought the Assembly elections in the state earlier this year in alliance with the BJP as well as Akali Dal (Sanyukt). His party -- Punjab Lok Congress -- had failed to get even a single seat during the Assembly elections. Singh himself lost from his hometurf Patiala urban constituency. Islamabad, Sep 19 : Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will address the 77th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) scheduled to take place from Monday to Friday. A statement issued by the Foreign Office (FO) spokesperson Asim Iftikhar said that the focus of premier's speech, scheduled for the concluding day of the five-day session, will be the challenges faced by Pakistan in wake of the recent climate-induced catastrophic floods in the country, The News reported. "The Prime Minister will outline concrete proposals for collectively tackling the existential threat posed by climate change. He will also share Pakistan's position and perspective on regional and global issues of concern including Jammu and Kashmir, which is one of the long-standing unresolved disputes on the UN agenda," the statement said. As per the FO spokesperson, the premier will be accompanied by Minister for Foreign Affairs Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, other members of the cabinet, and senior government officials, reports The News. On the sidelines of the UNGA session, the premier will also participate in the Global Food Security Summit, jointly organised by the African Union, European Union and the US, as well as a closed-door leaders gathering on COP-27, bringing together select world leaders to discuss climate change. Pakistan has also set up a photo exhibition at the UN Secretariat lobby in New York displaying the destruction triggered by the deadly floods, triggered by climate change. The exhibition will remain on display during the UNGA week. Bhopal, Sep 19 : Five people have been arrested on the charge of gang-raping a 17-year-old girl in Madhya Pradesh's Rewa district, police said on Monday. A search for the sixth accused is underway. As per police, on Saturday morning, the man went to the girl's house, met the family and took the girl to a temple. After darshan, they were strolling in a jungle just behind the temple when six men accosted them. They overpowered the youth, thrashed him, and dragged the couple two to the bushes where they took turns to rape the girl. The criminals threatened to kill them if they dared to shout for help or tell anyone about it. After an hour of torture, the rapists left, reminding the couple of their threat. Subsequent to an FIR, the district police swung into action and claimed to have arrested five suspects, including two minors, within 24 hours of the complaint. According to SP Rewa, three suspects were arrested from Rewa and two were apprehended from Mumbai, while the search for sixth is underway. On Monday, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan sought reports from Rewa district police. During a digital meeting with district collector and SP, the chief minister instructed them to take strict action against those involved. "I am directing you not to listen to anyone and destroy all those involved in the gangrape incident. They do not deserve any leniency, even if they are minors," Chouhan said during the meeting. A senior police officer, who is leading the investigation, told IANS that houses of five suspects have been demolished using bulldozers and the same action awaits the sixth accused. Notably, the couple was to get married after three months, after the girl (victim) turned 18. The incident comes a week after a three-year-old girl child was sexually assulted in the state capital Bhopal. Los Angeles, Sep 19 : Hollywood star Ben Kingsley shows a different side to his screen persona with his performance in 'Daliland', in which he plays the mercurial Surrealist artist in the last decade or so of his life. When he came to TIFF studio, the actor praised his young co-star Christopher Briney, who plays James, a young Manhattan gallery worker who is drawn into the toxic world of Dali and his wife Gala (Barbara Sukowa) in the mid-1970s, reports deadline.com. "I think that we really must applaud Chris Briney's performance," he said, "because it is a view of Dali through the eyes of someone who is constantly surprised and seduced by the world that he finds himself in. And that particular timeframe in which James examines Dali during is possibly the closing chapter of Dall's life - (it involves) the disintegration of his marriage and his coming to terms with mortality, a subject with which Dali struggled dreadfully. "So James - played, as I say, wonderfully by Chris - is the lens through which we examine how a genius leaves the world, which is something I find fascinating: how does a mind as fertile and extraordinary as Dali's say goodbye?" Kingsley thanked director Mary Harron, working from a script written by her husband John C. Walsh, for casting him in the role. "I was delighted when Mary invited me to play Dali," he said. "I love his work. I love his fearlessness, and he was exhilarating and exhausting to play - as I anticipated he would be. It was a delight to work with Mary, and a surprise to be offered the role of such a monumental intellect..." "He was a very, very intelligent man, and fearless in his work. So, I suppose I had to find a parallel fearlessness in myself: I had to take terrible risks playing Dali rather than being careful as an actor and careful in my portrait." "I had to take certain risks that perhaps without a director as caring and confident as Mary I would not have been able to do." New Delhi, Sep 19 : The Congress was upset over "inappropriate tweets" of some BJP leaders on Rahul Gandhi and demanded action by the party. Addressing a press Conference here on Monday, party spokesperson Gourav Vallabh said, "Where is the Minister of Women and Child Development hiding, and why is she silent on the comments made by Mr. CTR Nirmal Kumar? Busy in concocting stories and twisting facts?" "The most insensitive, toxic, degenerate comment that has come out is by the BJP Tamil Nadu IT cell head. This comment brings out the true mindset of the BJP leaders and workers. While they may operate in the mindset that Mr. CTR Nirmal Kumar tried to bring out, the world works differently and doesn't want to be painted in the light that BJP wants them to," he added The comments are vulgar in nature which can't be mentioned. The Congress alleged that "the more dangerous fact was that while they have been on a 'Bharat Todo Yatra' since 2014, the BJP are resorting to niggling tricks, blatant lies, and misguiding the people against the people with pious intentions of Bharat Jodo". He said there was a sense of fret and discomfort amongst the top cadre of the BJP with the love, affection and support that Rahul Gandhi was receiving from the people in his Bharat Jodo Yatra. "The entire government machinery has been put up against one man trying to correct what the BJP government has destroyed in the last 8 years. When they couldn't find a flaw against the intention and the execution, senior leaders and cabinet ministers have stooped as low as resorting to twisting facts and spreading blatant lies. Some leaders have even let go of all ethical values. Presenting some instances of where the fret and discomfort have brought about some lies and degenerative comments from the BJP leaders and ministers," he said. Vallabh said, "Smriti Zubin Irani, honorable minister of Women and Child Development and Minority Affairs dared to twist the facts intentionally and lie about how Shri Rahul Gandhi ji didn't pay tribute to Swami Vivekananda. The fact was that Shri Rahul Gandhi ji visited the Vivekananda Rock Memorial and paid his tributes to Swami Vivekananda while launching the Bharat Jodo Yatra in Kanyakumari." Bengaluru, Sep 19 : Karnataka's Education Minister B.C. Nagesh on Monday announced that the state government is contemplating on commencing the teaching of the Bhagavad Gita in schools and colleges across the state from this academic year onwards. Nagesh made the remarks while replying to a query during the Assembly session. "We are contemplating to begin teaching the Bhagavad Gita from this academic year. It will be taught under a moral science subject. The discussion is going on. A committee will be formed and we will take a decision soon," he said. The query was raised by BJP MLC M.K. Pranesh. He asked: "The government says there is no proposal to implement teachings of Bhagavad Gita to students in Karnataka. Is the government hesitant to teach Bhagavad Gita? Why has the interest shown by the government earlier while issuing statements evaporated?" The issue is likely to create controversy with various minority groups and individuals opposing it when the announcement was made earlier by Nagesh had stated that as per the National Education Policy (NEP), on the lines of Gujarat state, the Bhagavad Gita will be introduced in Karnataka after consulting educational experts. Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai had said that it was his government's stand to include the Bhagavad Gita into the syllabus as a part of moral science subject. Minister for Large and Medium Industries Murugesh Nirani has stated that Bhagavad Gita has human values and children need to learn about those values. The government of Gujarat has taken a decision to add Bhagavad Gita in the syllabus and a decision should be taken in Karnataka also to introduce Bhagavad Gita to children, he had said. However, senior Congress leader and former minister from Mysuru, Tanveer Sait stirred controversy over the weekend by stating that introducing the Bhagavad Gita in the syllabus "is more dangerous than Covid pandemic". Former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy questioned the state government on the proposal and added that teaching of the Bhagavad Gita won't fill empty stomachs. "The state is facing thousands of problems and the teachings of Bhagavad Gita won't provide food for people. Emotional matters are gaining importance in the country. The innocents are being misled. There is an end to this trend and we will wait until then," he said. Opposition leader Siddaramaiah said: "We believe in Hindu religion and give equal respect to other religions. We do not have any objection to teaching Bhagavad Gita, Bible, Quran to children. But, children should be given quality education." Chennai, Sep 19 : Protesting against the vindictive transfers, employees of listed Central Bank of India began their two-day strike on Monday, said a top official from the All India Bank Employees' Association (AIBEA). The all-India strike call was given by five unions in the bank. "As per Bipartite Settlement, clerical employees of Banks can be transferred from one station to another only in case there is surplus staff in a station and there is corresponding deficit and shortage in another station. Other than this, employees are transferred within the same station from one branch to another," said C.H. Venkatachalam, General Secretary, AIBEA. "Violating this Settlement, Central Bank management in April 2022, transferred 3,300 employees. These orders were illegal," he added. The Labour Commissioner and the Assistant Labour Commissioner advising the Central Bank of sort out the issue amicably and till then maintain status quo as per Sec. 33 of Industrial Disputes Act, Venkatachalam said. Despite that, the General Manager, Human Resource Development, Central Bank issued instructions to violate the Industrial Disputes Act and not to hold back any transfer order, said Venkatachalam. Hence United Forum of Bank Unions gave a call for strike on May 30-31, 2022. On May 24, at a conciliation meeting in Mumbai held by the Deputy Chief Labour Commissioner the Bank, management agreed to re-transfer employees who make a representation. "972 employees, including about 250 lady employees, made their representations. For one reason or the other, the management was not willing to implement its commitment," Venkatachalam said. After waiting for more than 3 months, the five unions in the Central Bank gave the call for strike on September 19-20 demanding implementation of the agreement of May 24 and to rectify the violations. According to Venkatachalam, the bank management was adamant on their position and on the meeting held on September 18 the top management that employees who have been transferred cannot be transferred back to their erstwhile station. "It is clear and obvious that management wants freedom to transfer employees from one station to another. They are ready to violate the Bipartite Settlement. They are ready to violate the Industrial Disputes Act," Venkatachalam remarked. Seoul, Sep 19 : An American nuclear-powered aircraft carrier is scheduled to visit South Korea later this week for combined drills with the South Korean navy, the US Forces Korea (USFK) said on Monday. The USFK said in a statement that the USS Ronald Reagan carrier strike group is scheduled to conduct a routine port visit to South Korea, reports Xinhua news agency. While in port, the personnel of the strike group will have an opportunity to visit and engage with their South Korean navy partners and conduct cultural exchange with the people of South Korea, the USFK noted. According to Yonhap News Agency, the strike group is set to arrive at a naval base in Busan, about 390 km southeast of the capital Seoul, on Friday for combined maritime drills with the South Korean navy. It will mark the first time in about five years that a US aircraft carrier visits South Korea for joint military exercises. The strike group includes the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, the USS Chancellorsville guided-missile cruiser and the USS Barry Aegis-equipped destroyer. Pune, Sep 19 : In a shocker, a frustrated and broke farmer Dashrath L. Kedari, greeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his birthday (September 17) and then jumped into a pond to end his life, his family said here on Monday. According to his brother-in-law Arvind Waghmare, the incident took place in Bankarphata village where Kedari was working as a farmer for the past 8 years. "That day, he seemed very depressed, but he conveyed his wishes of a long life to the PM, and then jumped into the nearby pond and killed himself. A suicide note was recovered later," Waghmare told IANS. In his suicide note, Kedari wished 'Happy Birthday to You, PM' and then said that it was due to the state government's failure in ensuring Minimum Support Price that he was compelled to end his life as he was hounded by debtors. He recounted how the state was not giving MSP to onion, tomato and other cultivators who were ravaged by the recent floods and the losses of the pandemic. "What should we do? You are only concerned for yourself Modi Saheb. We are not begging for alms, but what is rightly due to us. MSP must be given to us as the money-lenders are threatening us. Nobody takes risks like the farmersa where do we go with our grievances," Kedari said. Taking strong cognisance, the Shiv Sena Spokespersons Kishore Tiwari and Dr Manisha Kayande slammed the government for its failure on tackling the state agrarian crisis which is in despair with a spate of suicides. "A farmer greets the PM and then goes on his achita' (funeral pyre), but the PM is busy bringing the 'cheetahs' to the country. This is the sad status in the country," said Dr Kayande. Tiwari said the PM must immediately come to visit the Kedari family as the state government has failed to solve the problems of farmers, or direct Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to go and console the deceased farmers' kin during her visit to Pune next week. Kedari, 42, is survived by his wife Shanta and two college-going major children - son Shubham, 20, and daughter Shravani, 18. Waghmare said his brother-in-law hailed from Wadgaon-Anand village and the Alephata Police Station visited the family and registered a case. Bhopal, Sep 19 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate newly-constructed corridor of Mahakaleshwar temple in Ujjain on October 11, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said on Monday. While reviewing the project during a visit to Ujjain, the chief minister said: "The first phase of ambitious project of Ujjain Mahakal Corridor is nearing completion. Prime Minister Modi will visit Ujjain to offer prayer at the temple and to inaugurate the project on October 11." The project - Ujjain Mahakal Corridor - has been divided into a two phases in which the temple complex will be expanded nearly eight times its present size from 2.82 hectares to 20.23 hectares by August 2023. Work under the first phase includes 900-metre long corridor filled with scores of installations, a theme park, a heritage mall, E-transport facilities, among others. In the second phase, the government has planned to transform Maharajwada school Bhavan to a heritage Dharamshala, as well as linking of Rudra Sagar and Shipra river, beautification of the front lake area, construction of multi-level parking with a space to fit 350 cars, a railway underpass and the development of a 210-meter suspension bridge over Rudra Sagar, amongst others would be undertaken. Moreover, a dynamic light show will be given a spot near the iconic Ram Ghat. As per the state government, the work will be completed by 2028. Notably, the BJP-led Madhya Pradesh government, earlier in January this year, had approved an initial fund of Rs 500 crore for the development of the corridor. Touted to transform into India's most technologically advanced religious site, the government has planned to expand the Ujjain Mahakal Temple Corridor. The monumental project is being developed under the MP government's larger plan to transform Ujjain into a 'Smart City'. On December 12, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had inaugurated his dream project - the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor - at his parliamentary constituency Varanasi. Conceptualised by the Prime Minister himself, the corridor located near the iconic Dashashwamedh Ghat, sought to clear the pathway to the ancient temple by removing properties clogging the corridor in a litigation-free manner, while preserving existing heritage sites. Pune, Sep 19 : In a shocking incident, penniless and frustrated Maharashtra farmer Dashrath L. Kedari jumped into a village pond to end his life after penning a note in which he mentioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi while spelling his plight, his grieving family said here on Monday. According to Kedari's brother-in-law Arvind Waghmare, the incident took place in Bankarphata village on Saturday where Kedari worked as a farmer for the past eight years. "That day, he seemed very depressed, but he conveyed his wishes for a long life to the PM, and then jumped into the nearby pond and killed himself. A suicide note was recovered later," Waghmare told IANS. The opposition Shiv Sena has slammed the state government for its failure to protect farmers reeling under a severe agrarian crisis with a record number of farmland suicides clocked this year. In his suicide note, Kedari said that it was due to the government's failure on ensuring Minimum Support Price that he was compelled to end his life as he was hounded by debtors. He rued how the state was not giving MSP to onion, tomato and other cultivators who were ravaged by the recent floods and the losses of the pandemic. "What should we do... Modi Saheb. We are not begging for alms, but what is rightly due to us. MSP must be given to us as the money-lenders are threatening us. Nobody takes risks like the farmers... where do we go with our grievances," Kedari said. Shiv Sena spokespersons Kishore Tiwari and Manisha Kayande slammed the government for its failure on tackling the agrarian crisis in the state which has resulted in despair with a spate of suicides. Shooting a letter to the Prime Minister, Tiwari, who is also the President of Vasantrao Naik Shetkari Swavlamban Mission (VNSSM), urged Modi to immediately come and visit the Kedari family as the state government has failed to solve the problems of farmers. He recalled how Modi - during his 'Chai Pe Charcha' with farmers during his visit to Yavatmal (March 2014) - had assured to address the core issues like MSP, marketing, input costs, easy credit from public sector banks, change in crop patterns, risk management by way of crop insurance, etc. However, despite the PM's best efforts, nothing has materialised owing to a hostile administration and corrupt implementation agencies, leading to tragedies like Kedari's suicide for precisely similar reasons, Tiwari added. He called upon Modi to visit the Kedari family or direct Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to go and console the deceased farmers' kin during her visit to Pune next week. "A farmer greets the PM and then goes on his 'chita' (funeral pyre), but the PM is busy bringing cheetah to the country. This is the sad state of affairs in the country," said Kayande. Tiwari added that this year, over 1,080 farmers have ended lives in Vidarbha alone and the state has created a new record with around 2,600 peasants' suicides in the first nine months of 2022. Kedari, 42, is survived by his wife Shanta and two college-going children - son Shubham, 20, and daughter Shravani, 18. Waghmare said his brother-in-law hailed from Wadgaon-Anand village and a team from Alephata police station visited the family and registered a case after making inquiries. (Quaid Najmi can be contacted at: q.najmi@ians.in) Geneva, Sep 19 : Western powers are weighing the risk of a potential defeat if they table a resolution at the UN Human Rights Council calling for an independent commission to investigate alleged human rights abuses by China in Xinjiang, The Guardian reported. The issue is a litmus case for Chinese influence at the UN, as well as the willingness of the UN to endorse a worldview that protects individual rights from authoritarian states. The outgoing UN human rights commissioner, Michelle Bachelet, issued a report on her last day in office - August 31 - claiming there was clear evidence of crimes against humanity committed by China during its suppression of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang province. It was the first time the UN made such a serious allegation against China, The Guardian reported. The report found evidence of systemic discrimination, mass arbitrary detention, torture, and sexual and gender-based violence. Western leaders, in uncharted waters, are hesitating whether to table a resolution setting up an investigatory mechanism into China at the Human Rights Council (HRC), which started meeting in Geneva last week and runs to October 7. Olaf Wientzek, from the Konrad Adenauer Foundation thinktank, said: "If such a resolution were passed, it would be a watershed moment for the HRC and increase its credibility. Taking on China would be a first." However, China's diplomats have already been mobilising, and on Tuesday the Chinese ambassador in Geneva issued a statement, backed by 30 countries, accusing the UN rights office of acting without a mandate and warning of the exaggeration of "an existing trend to western polarisation and politicisation of human rights," The Guardian reported. The number of signatories represents the hardcore that regularly supports China and was below the 40 that signed a statement in June urging Bachelet not to publish her report, but Wientzek said: "This may reflect the fact that the latest Chinese statement directly criticised the UN human rights office, and was not the usual discourse directed against a group of mainly western countries." Kolkata, Sep 19 : Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sleuths on Monday afternoon arrested vice-chancellor of the University of North Bengal, Subiresh Bhattacharya, in connection with the multi-crore West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) recruitment irregularities scam. He was the chairman of WBSSC, in the period between 2014 and 2018, with Partha Chatterjee as the then state education minister, when the teachers' recruitment scam purportedly took place. While this is the ninth arrest by the central agencies like CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the teachers' recruitment irregularities scam, Subiresh Bhattacharya is the first vice-chancellor of any state university to be arrested in this connection. The other arrests in this connection are former state education minister, Partha Chatterjee, his close associate Arpita Mukherjee, former West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE) president, Kalyanmoy Gangopadhayay, former WBSSC secretary, Ashok Saha, former convenor of the commission's screening committee, SP Sinha and three middlemen namely Pradeep Singh, Prasanna Roy and Subrata Malakar. It is learnt that Subiresh Bhattacharya will be presented at the special court of CBI on Tuesday where the counsel of the central agency will seek his custody for interrogation. Till the report was filed, not a single Trinamool Congress leader was ready to offer any comment or statement on this count. CPI(M) Rajya Sabha member and senior advocate of Calcutta High Court, Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya said that till now starting from the former education minister to the commission's officials arrested in this connection have pointed their finger towards the higher authorities. "So, it is established that a scam has taken place. As regards to the higher authorities as said by the arrested persons, they have only one higher authority who is the chief minister of West Bengal. So, it is high time for the central agencies to act accordingly," he said. On August 24, the CBI sleuths conducted raid and search operations at the residences of Subiresh Bhattacharya at Siliguri in north Bengal as well as in Kolkata. At that point of time, Bhattacharya said that although there might have been some technical mistakes in the appointment process during his tenure as the WBSSC chairman, there had been no corruption in the process. New Delhi, Sep 19 : The Telecom Sector Skill Council (TSSC) on Monday joined Chinese conglomerate Huawei to inaugurate a Centre of Excellence at NIT Patna for capacity building in the telecom sector under the aegis of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE). The MoU, signed for a period of five years, is aimed at the skilling and upskilling of students to enhance their employability through training in innovative technologies, including finding potential sponsoring agencies for developing the suitable infrastructure at NIT Patna. "TSSC is fulfilling the need of the hour by creating high-end skill centres to cater to demand from the youth. We need more industry-aligned training to empower our youth with advanced skills like 5G and IoT," senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said. TSSC will provide training content, network of training partners and industry connect and institutionalise accreditation process for training providers, assessment and certification of assessors, trainers and trainees. The centre will also serve as a facility for industrial training for B.Tech/Diploma/ Certificate courses. Once the period of the MoU is over, the centre will be handed over to NIT Patna. "Huawei will be a strategic partner who will help us align with the future demands of the industry and NIT Patna will provide the crucible for the transformation of the students," TSSC CEO Arvind Bali said. Huawei India Executive Director, Harsh Khurana said that the country has immense potential to develop quality skilled workers and TSSC has a proven history for finding prime movers in the ecosystem. "We chose a futuristic technology like IoT taking into consideration the growth potential of IoT with projects like NDCP and smart cities India," he added. New Delhi, Sep 19 : The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has started a mandatory training course on "Preparation of Feasibility Study and DPR for Highway Projects" for the personnel engaged by consultancy firms for preparation of detailed project reports (DPRs). The programme is aimed to improve the overall quality of DPRs in development of Highways so that safe, quality resilient and sustainable highways are created. The training would also focus on use of new/alternate material & technology and use of Prime Minister Gati Shakti Integrated Master Plan for deciding the alignment. Indian Academy of Highway Engineers (IAHE) has conducted the first training programme for the personnel of consultants between September 5-10, the Ministry said in a statement on Monday. The training included overview of DPR Preparation, hydrological investigations and studies, traffic studies, traffic demand estimation and realistic forecasting, geometrical design of highways, modern topography survey and data collection and many other aspects. Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has given great emphasis on development of road infrastructure especially National Highways in the country. He has emphasised time and again that capacity building both in government and private sector is imperative for sustainable development of road infrastructure for which instructions have been issued from time to time by the MoRTH. The DPR consultants will have to demonstrate the training undertaken by its key personnel in their Curriculum Vitae (CV) as part of their technical qualifications. The course has been designed to cover all the technical and non-technical aspects involved in the preparation of DPRs. In the training programme various challenges and issues of concerns such as competency and extent of involvement of key personnel, finalization of alignment, accuracy of survey data and design, proper preparation of the schedules, pre construction activities and various statutory clearances would be deliberated. Chandigarh, Sep 19 : Punjab's Bhagwant Mann-led AAP government on Monday decided to convene a special session of state Assembly on September 22 for "seeking confidence of the people of state". "The people of the state had given thumping majority to our government but some forces inimical to democratic values are trying to lure our MLAs with money. So we have decided to seek confidence from people of state in this special session," Chief Minister Mann said. He unequivocally said that the MLAs of his Aam Aadmi Party are non-purchasable as they are committed to the ideology of the party, and "nefarious attempts to destabilise the government had failed in Punjab too as the party MLAs are loyal to the people of the state". Mann said this special session will clear the mystery regarding conspiracy to topple the democratically-elected government in Punjab. All the parties had tried to lure the voters with money during the state Assembly polls but people stood with the AAP and elected these MLAs, and now these MLAs will repose their confidence in progress of Punjab and prosperity of its people, he said, adding that these MLAs are loyal to party, people and the state, adding that they will never sell their conscience for a few pennies. He asked the anti-Punjab forces to stop daydreaming about toppling the elected government in Punjab as Punjabis will never forgive them for this sin. Mann said that all MLAs of AAP will make strenuous efforts to restore the pristine glory of the state. Meanwhile, Shiromani Akali Dal President Sukhbir Singh Badal asked Mann not to enact the drama of a confidence vote, saying bribery allegations could only be verified by an independent inquiry by the CBI or the high court and that no purpose could be achieved by calling a special session of the Vidhan Sabha. In a statement here, the SAD President said: "We had forewarned Punjabis that the AAP government will ape its counterpart in Delhi who had also called a special session of the state assembly after allegedly 'defeating' attempts by the BJP to poach its legislators." He said now the same was being done in Punjab at the expense of the state exchequer despite the fact that the government enjoyed a brute majority and there was no demand from it to subject itself to a confidence vote. Asking the Chief Minister to give his nod for a CBI inquiry or one monitored by the high court, Badal said that "if you have nothing to hide you should not be afraid of an independent probe into the bribery allegations". He said the very fact that AAP had called for a special session in the run up to the Assembly elections in Himachal and Gujarat indicated that it wanted to give the impression that while Congress legislators were saleable, its MLAs had rebuffed attempts to purchase their loyalty. Telling the Chief Minister to discuss real issues in the forthcoming assembly session, Badal said issues like the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal crisis, the need to seek immediate transfer of Chandigarh to Punjab and the excise scam should be included in the agenda. By Zhang Chi and Guo Liang The US approves the sale of 250 Abrams Main Battle Tanks to Poland in this March. Wall Street Journal reported that US Deputy Secretary of Defense Dr. Kathleen Hicks recently signed a memo approving the formation of a special workforce called Tiger Team to look into the low efficiency of American sales of expensive military equipment to other countries, and further simplify the arms sales process. The team is co-headed by Sasha Baker, US deputy undersecretary of defense for policy, and William LaPlante, its undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, and its members are from various services of the US military and the DoD. Generally speaking, the Pentagons formation of a special team overseeing outbound arms sales is driven by three strategic considerations. First, its an overture to the military-industrial enterprises. In the US, the military-industrial complex centered with military-industrial enterprises is a gigantic and weighty presence. Every winning presidential candidate has a group of military-industrial supporters standing behind him. American website Open Secrets reported that American military-industrial enterprises have spent as much as US $2.5 billion lobbying in the past 20 years in order to sway the defense policy and make their arms and ammunition desirable. A report released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) showed that the worlds top five military-industrial enterprises are all based in the US since 2018. US DoDs formation of a special agency this time is largely to send overtures to them under the name of improving the efficiency of arms sales. Second, it is to suppress potential rivals. Russia has always been Americas strong competitor in the global arms trade, and Washington hopes to defeat the rival and benefit its own military-industrial groups through war and other means. The newly established tiger team is aimed at using military resources to increase arms sales. In fact, the Pentagon is peddling American weapons for the tycoons. A senior official at the Pentagon said without mincing words that the DoD formed the tiger team to counter potential rivals influence in the field of arms sales. Third, it is to rope in allies. It is generally believed that the US is selling so many weapons to foreign countries and regions for the main purpose of tightening the bond with its allies through Americanized weapons, till one day interfering in their military development. Wall Street Journal commented that the tiger team will help Pentagon sell weapons to foreign countries more quickly, and make coveted American drones, guns, helicopters, tanks and other weaponry available to partners and allies faster. In short, the new team is aimed at reinforcing the diplomatic and strategic functions of outbound arms sales to draw closer the allies and facilitate Americas meddling in hotspot regions. Its foreseeable that the formation of the tiger team will have a series of consequences. On the one hand, it will widen the domestic rift. Former US President Eisenhower warned in his farewell speech that we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The Pentagons formation of the arms sales supervision team under the influence of military-industrial enterprises is sure to trigger chain effects across the country. Wall Street Journal commented that, for many years, US house members, military-industrial enterprises and government officials have all believed in avoiding risks and slowing the steps in selling weapons, and deals involving sensitive technologies would usually be postponed for many years. Next, the conflict between the Pentagon and US Congress the executor and authorizer of outbound arms sales plans will surely escalate. On the other hand, it will jeopardize the security environment. SIPRIs report showed that the global volume of arms trade between 2017 and 2021 dropped compared with the previous five-year period, but Americas weapon export increased 14% in the same period with its global share rising from 32% to 39%. Going forward, the US may continue to roil the waters in Europe, Asia Pacific and the Middle East with the excuse of tackling strategic threats from major countries and defusing regional crisis. It may also, by leveraging its hegemony, using political interests and suppressing rivals, entice or even coerce European countries, Japan, ROK, Saudi Arabia, Israel and other regional allies and partners to buy more American weapons and equipment, which will aggravate the regional arms race. Bhopal, Sep 19 : The Superintendent of Police (SP) of tribal dominated Jhabua district in Madhya Pradesh has been suspended for abusing and threatening a polytechnic student over the phone on Monday. The development came hours after an alleged audio clip of a telephonic conversation between the student and the top cop of the district surfaced on social media. Taking cognizance of the matter, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan ordered Madhya Pradesh Director General of Police Sudhir Saxena to probe the matter. SP Arvind Tiwari was transferred from Jhabua to the police headquarters in Bhopal and later suspended. "The viral audio has been examined and it was found that Jhabua SP Arvind Tiwari started abusing a student when he was seeking his help. Therefore, he (SP) has been suspended with immediate effect," the Chief Minister said later. Chouhan stated that it was verified that the voice in the audio clip was of the then Jhabua SP. "I can't tolerate anyone using such abusive words against children. I have decided to suspend him," he added. In the audio, a polytechnic student (as per the state government) called SP Arvind Tiwari to complain that around 30-40 students of another group have barged into the junior students hostel rooms and were beating them up. The student was heard saying, "Sir, please provide security for us as 30-40 students of other groups have come to our hostel and they are beating the juniors." In reply, Tiwari said, (as the government claimed), "Are you here for studies or fighting? I will put everybody in the police station." When the student kept pleading for help, Tiwari used abusive words. Later, the student uploaded the recorded conversation between him and the SP on social media. Asked about the audio clip, Tiwari said a student had called him following a clash between two groups of students in a polytechnic college in Jhabua. "When the student called me over the phone after the clash, I asked them if they come to study or to fight," Tiwari said in his defence. Guwahati, Sep 19 : Assam's state-owned Numaligarh Refinery Ltd (NRL) posted a record earnings in fiscal 2021-22 with profit after tax of Rs 3,562 crore as compared to Rs 3,036 crore in the previous year, or an increase of Rs 525 Crore. After the 29th NRL's Annual General Meeting, Chairman-cum-Managing Director Ranjit Rath on Monday said that highest-ever profit before tax was also achieved by the company at Rs 4,848 crore, which is higher by 18.37 per cent over Rs 4,083 crore of the previous financial year, mainly due to increase in overall gross margin and higher inventory gains. During financial year 2021-22, the company also achieved the highest-ever sales turnover of Rs 23,546 crore, or 26.95 per cent higher over Rs 18,548 crore in the previous year, primarily on account of increase in product prices. The net worth of the company has increased to Rs 8,388 crore as on March 31 this year as compared to Rs 5,596 crore in the previous year. The NRL has contributed a total of Rs 5,809 crore to the government exchequer in the form of taxes, duties, and dividends. Rath said that in the next five years, the company has planned to invest more than Rs 35,000 crore and is determined in its pursuit of executing the major ongoing projects -- the Numaligarh refinery expansion project, the Paradip-Numaligarh crude oil pipeline, the crude oil import terminal at Paradip, the 2G Ethanol Project, and the India-Bangladesh friendship pipeline. During FY 2021-22, the refinery achieved a throughput of 2,624 TMT that included 23 TMT of imported crude oil, the CMD said. Product sales during the year were 2,799 TMT compared to 2,924 TMT in the previous year. Sales within northeast, at 1,090 TMT, marked significant improvement (39 per cent of total sales) against 817 TMT (28 per cent of total sales) in the previous year which contributed towards savings on account of CST and freight under-recoveries. Sales also comprised 56 TMT of gas oil exported to Bangladesh and 125 TMT naphtha to Brahmaputra Cracker and Polymer Ltd from external sources. The NRL, one of the four refineries in oil and gas-rich Assam, was set up at Numaligarh in Golaghat district in April 1993 in accordance with the provisions made in the Assam Accord signed on August 15, 1985. Conceived as a vehicle for speedy industrial and economic development of the region, the NRL was dedicated to the country by then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on July 9, 1999. Chennai, Sep 19 : AIADMK's deposed leader and former Tamil Nadu chief minister O. Panneerselvam (OPS) on Monday said untouchability incident in Tamil Nadu's Tenakasi district has brought to fore the the failure of the DMK government. In a statement on Monday, OPS said even though untouchability has been eradicated legally, there have been stray incidents in some areas of the state due to indifference of the DMK government. The state government has failed to generate awareness among school children about the importance of remaining united, he claimed. OPS said that it was the duty of the government to arrange meetings of elders in these areas to stress the importance of unity. The former chief coordinator of AIADMK called upon Chief Minister M.K. Stalin to pay special attention to this matter and provide necessary directions to the state school education department on the importance of unity among children. A shopkeeper in Panjankulam village in Tenkasi had refused to give snacks and candies to the children from Scheduled Castes leading to a major uproar. The shopkeeper Maheswaran and the president of the panchayat Ramachandran were arrested and remanded in judicial custody under the SC/ST (Atrocities Prevention) Act. The South Zone Inspector General of Police is moving the Tenkasi special court to get an order preventing the duo from entering the village for a period of three years after they are released from jail. New Delhi, Sep 19 : The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to Karnataka Congress chief D.K. Shivakumar on the Income Tax department's plea challenging his discharge in tax evasion cases. A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and J K Maheshwari said there would be an interim stay on some observations made by the Karnataka High Court in connection with the power of the special court to take cognizance of criminal complaints made by the officer. During the hearing, the top court noted that it would have to set aside some findings and the other contentions would have to be examined on merits. Additional Solicitor General N. Venkatraman appeared for the Income Tax department and senior advocates Mukul Rohatgi and C.A. Sundaram represented Shivakumar. After hearing arguments in the matter, the top court said it is open for the Income Tax Department to file a fresh prosecution and issued notice on its plea. The Karnataka High Court, in April 2021, had refused to entertain the revision petitions by the I-T Department against Shivakumar. The department had moved the high court challenging the special court's February 2019 decision to discharge Shivakumar in three cases related to the raid in August 2017. Three complaints were filed by the I-T Department against the Congress leader for tax evasion to the tune of Rs 3.14 crore, 2.56 crore, and 7.08 crore for the assessment year 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18, respectively. The special court quashed the proceedings; however, it permitted the I-T Department to go ahead with a fresh prosecution. London, Sep 19 : Britain's Queen Elizabeth II on Monday afternoon began her last journey - a 25 mile stretch westward - from Westminster Abbey in central London to Windsor Castle in the county of Berkshire, where she spent much of her time in recent years. There she was to be laid to rest at the royal chapel next to her beloved husband Prince Phillip, who predeceased her in 2021. Only members of the British royal family, led by her successor King Charles III, attended the private ceremony. Earlier, in an hour long church service at the Abbey, which has existed and expanded since 960 AD and is located in central London, Elizabeth, who reigned for 70 years, was given the grandest of final farewells. She had got married at the same Abbey 75 years ago. Image Source: IANS News President of India Droupadi Murmu was present at the proceedings. Compared to other Commonwealth heads of government or state, she unassumingly arrived early at the venue, wearing a dark blue silk sari and a cardigan. She took her appointed seat in the midst of 2,000 assembled invitees. On Sunday evening, she attended a reception hosted by Charles and Queen Consort Camilla for 500 foreign dignitaries. Charles greeted the President warmly and was seen engaged in a brief conversation with her. In an Anglican Christian service, with leaders of multiple religions in the audience, Baroness Patricia Scotland, Secretary General of the Commonwealth - an organisation near and dear to Elizabeth - read the first lesson from Paul's first letter to the Corinthians about the ressurrection of Jesus Christ. She was followed by the British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who read a passage from John, which said: 'Let not your heart be troubled...' Then spoke the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, who is the global head of the Church of England. He said: "She (Elizabeth) was present to so many, touching a multitude of lives." Emperor Naruhito of Japan, President Joe Biden of the US and President Emmanuel Macron of France were among a galaxy of foreign dignitaries seated either side of the south and north aisles. "I'll miss her terribly," said Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Canada, Australia and New Zealand, among other territories, were among the "realms" where Elizabeth was head of state and Charles now is. Image Source: IANS News All living former British Prime Ministers and their spouses were noticeable attired in black, like most others. On what was declared a Bank Holiday, there was no Monday morning traffic in the British capital. Sniffer dogs, though, were busy in the area around the Abbey to prevent any untoward incident. The live television coverage by BBC was projected on big screens at spacious locations around Britain. Tens of thousands camped overnight in such places to ensure they got a ringside view of the state adieu to Elizabeth. 125 cinemas in the country reportedly showed the ceremonies live as well. 200 other nations, including India, watched simulcasts of the coverage via the BBC World News channel or bbc.com. Foreign TV networks like PBS, CNN and Fox of the US and ABC of Australia, with their own anchors and studio commentators, covered the event in parallel. The scale of global interest was unprecedented. Increasingly, from 8 a.m., accredited reporters hovered around the Abbey. This day was inevitable and had been planned for years by the royal household. Nevertheless, the organisers gave themselves 11 days' time between Elizabeth's death to her funeral to get it right. At 6.30 a.m., the last of the estimated three quarter of a million mourners filed past the coffin lying in state at Westminster Hall in the Houses of Parliament opposite the Abbey. Disruptions on trains arriving in London and parts of the city's underground system inconvenienced commuters. 15 minutes before the service commenced, the coffin was ceremonially moved in a gun carriage with soldiers in accompaniment from Westminster Hall to the Abbey. Charles, his brothers Andrew and Edward, sister Anne and sons William and Harry followed the body on foot. Finally, the coffin, with Elizabeth's crown placed on it - as it has been for days - was carried away from the Abbey on the shoulders of soldiers in bright red tunics into a sunny courtyard, which faces London's Parliament Square, the centrepiece of which is a statue of Mahatma Gandhi. Back on the gun carriage, Charles and family and soldiers of various armed forces marching around it, Elizabeth embarked on her triumphant last journey via Buckingham Palace, her London home, to the green and pleasant fields of Windsor. -- Syndicated from IANS Pune, Sep 19 : In a shocker, a penniless and frustrated farmer Dashrath L. Kedari, greeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his 72nd birthday (September 17) and then jumped into a village pond to end his life, his grieving family said here on Monday. The Maharashtra Opposition has called upon the PM to visit the family of the farmer who penned a suicide note and raised issues of Minimum Support Price and other issues confronting the agro-sector. Kedari's brother-in-law Arvind Waghmare said the incident took place in Bankarphata village where he had been working as a farmer for the past 8 years. "He seemed very depressed that day, but conveyed his wishes for a long life to the PM, then jumped into a nearby pond and killed himself. A suicide note was recovered later," Waghmare told IANS. Opposition Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party and Congress slammed the state and Central government for failure "to protect farmers reeling under a severe agrarian crisis with a record number of farmland suicides clocked this year". In his final note, debt-ridden Kedari wished 'Happy Birthday to You, PM' and then blamed the state government for failing to ensure MSP which compelled him to end his life and escape the debtors. He rued how the state was not giving MSP to onion, tomato and other crops' cultivators, suffering from the ravages of the recent floods and the losses of the pandemic. "What should we do? You are only concerned for yourself Modi Saheb... We are not begging for alms, but what is rightly due to us... MSP must be given to us as the money-lenders are threatening us. Nobody takes risks like the farmers... where do we go with our grievances," Kedari said. Congress state President Nana Patole, Sena Spokespersons Kishore Tiwari and Dr. Manisha Kayande and Nationalist Congress Party Chief Spokesperson Mahesh Tapase slammed the government for failure to tackle the state agrarian crisis which has resulted in a spate of desperate suicides by the tillers. Shooting a letter to Modi, Tiwari - who is President of Vasantrao Naik Shetkari Swavlamban Mission (VNSSM) - urged the PM to immediately come to visit the Kedari family as the state government has failed to solve the problems of farmers. He recalled how Modi - during his trendsetter 'Chai Pe Charcha' with farmers in his visit to Yavatmal (March 2014) - had assured to address core issues like MSP, marketing, input costs, easy credit from public sector banks, change in crop patterns, risk management by way of crop insurance, etc. However, despite the PM's best efforts, nothing has materialised owing to a hostile administration and corrupt implementation agencies, leading to tragedies like Kedari's suicide for precisely similar reasons, Tiwari pointed out. He called upon Modi to visit the Kedari family or direct Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to go and console the deceased farmers' kin during her visit to Pune next week. "A farmer greets the PM and then goes on his 'chita' (funeral pyre), but the PM is busy bringing the 'cheetah' to the country... This is the sad status in the country," said Dr. Kayande, taking a swipe. Patole said when farmers are burning on the pyres, the PM is organising 'cheetah' mega-events and called for "ending this suicides circle". Tapase termed it a 'shame' that farmers are greeting PM's birthday with suicide as "the government has gone deaf, dumb and blind" to their plight. A grim Tiwari added that this year, over 1,080 farmers have ended lives in Vidarbha alone and the state has created a new record with around 2,600 peasants' suicides in the first nine months of 2022. Kedari, 42, hailing from Wadgaon-Anand village, is survived by his wife Shanta and two college-going children - son Shubham, 20, and daughter Shravani, 18. His funeral was completed last weekend after the Alephata Police made enquiries and registered a case, said Waghmare. (Quaid Najmi can be contacted at:Aq.najmi@ians.in) Shillong, Sep 19 : The BJP may withdraw support from the NPP-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government soon, sSenior BJP leader and former Minister Alexander L. Hek said on Monday. He said that the decision of the party's State Executive Committee and the Core Committee has been communicated to the central leaders and this is the right time to withdraw support from the MDA government headed by Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma. BJP's national General Secretary, Organisation, B.L. Santhosh was also present in the meetings of the State Executive Committee and the Core Committee, held last week, Hek told IANS. Replying to a query about the reasons behind the decision to quit the ruling coalition almost at the end of the full five year term, Hek, who was earlier minister in the Sangma ministry, said: "Everything would be disclosed and explained in detail at an appropriate time". BJP national Vice-President and party's Meghalaya in-charge M. Chuba Ao earlier said that the party may withdraw support from the MDA within a month. The BJP with two MLAs is a junior ally of the National People's Party (NPP) dominated six-party coalition government. Ao had said that that the party has been studying the reports on the various corruption allegations against the state government and the CBI would handle the charges once they acquire all the papers. Even though the NPP, headed by Chief Minister Sangma, is an important constituent of the BJP-led North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), its relation with the saffron party is gradually souring over various issues, specially after the arrest of BJP state Vice President Bernard N. Marak. Marak was arrested from Uttar Pradesh on July 25 for allegedly running a brothel in the West Garo Hills district. BJP workers and leaders had earlier organised protests in Tura demanding a fair probe in Marak's case, while the party workers in West Garo Hills organised a signature campaign demanding the removal of the Superintendent of Police and Deputy Commissioner of the district. In defence of Marak, BJP leaders claimed that the farmhouse in the brothel case has been operational since 2019 but the raid was carried out just six months prior to the Assembly elections in Meghalaya to malign Marak and to damage his political career. However, NPP Rajya Sabha member and state President W.R. Kharlukhi had termed the BJP's threat as a farce. Sangme, who is also the NPP's national President, had stated that Ao's statement was personal and added that it should not be taken as BJP's official stand since top leadership of the BJP will communicate with him if it has any concern which was not the case so far. New Delhi, Sep 19 : The Delhi High Court on Monday proceeded ex-parte against filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri, scientist Anand Ranganathan, and magazine and news portal Swarajya as nobody appeared for them in connection with a 2018 suo motu contempt case. During the course of the hearing, a bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Amit Sharma noted that none among the three appeared before the court despite issuing notices. Accordingly, the court proceeded with the hearing and listed it for further hearing on March 16. The case is in connection with their remarks against high court Justice S. Muralidhar who had quashed rights activist Gautam Navlakha's house arrest order and transit remand in the Bhima Koregaon case in 2018. In the previous hearing on May 4, also the court had noted the absence of the trio in the last couple of hearings while serving notices to them. As per the case, the suo motu contempt proceedings were initiated against the respondents following RSS ideologue S. Gurumurthy's tweets alleging bias by Justice Muralidhar. In his tweet, he retweeted the link from a blog called 'Drishtikone' which had an article titled 'Why has Delhi High Court Justice Muralidhar's relationship with Gautam Navlakha not been disclosed?' The court took notice of the tweet and the article after Advocate Rajshekhar Rao wrote a letter to then Chief Justice Rajendra Menon, alleging that the article and Gurumurthy's retweet was a deliberate attempt to attack a sitting High Court judge. Gurumurthy was later dropped from the case after an apology but others including Agnihotri and Ranganathan are still the respondents. Earlier also, a contempt notice was sent to Vivek Agnihotri over his tweets that stated that Gautam Navlakha was shown leniency over the fact that he was a friend of the judge's wife. Kolkata, Sep 19 : A report by the West Bengal Chief Secretary, H.K. Dwivedi, on the violence during the BJP's march to state Secretariat Nabanna against corruption issues on September 13 was submitted to the Calcutta High Court on Monday afternoon. State Advocate General, S.N. Mukhopadhyay submitted the report along with two pen drives to a division bench of Chief Justice Prakash Srivastava and Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj, adding that the pen drives contain video footage of the incidents of violence on that day. "If you see the video everything will be clear to you. None had been arrested without proper grounds. It is not acceptable that the police will not arrest those who destroy public property. A police vehicle was torched and several police personnel were injured," he told the bench. BJP's counsel Smrajit Roy Chowdhury informed the court that of the total arrested, 44 were from Kolkata only. "The arrests are continuing. The state government is giving wrong information that only 19 persons have been arrested," he argued. He also demanded that the state government should submit the report to the court in the form of an affidavit. Pockets in the state especially in Kolkata and Howrah district turned into virtual battlefields on September 13 over BJP's march to Nabanna. BJP activists police clashed at several places, and a number of people from both sides were injured. A police vehicle was also torched on that day. Holding the BJP responsible for the violence, Trinamool Congress' national General Secretary, Abhishek Banerjee said that had he been there at the spot he would have shot the offenders in their heads. His statement attracted strong criticisms from the opposition parties. Meanwhile, a five-member central fact-finding team of BJP was in West Bengal during the last couple of days and interacted with the injured party workers. Chennai, Sep 19 : The Tamil Nadu Police's Economic Offenses Wing (EOA) is in pursuit of four persons who were involved in a digital coin scam in which many people lost money. Police on Sunday arrested two people after many people complained that they were cheated of huge amounts on promises heavy returns. The EOW swung into action after many people complained to the Krishnagiri District Collector that they were cheated by a digital coin trading company in Hosur. Police registered a case against six people in the scam - Arun Kumar of Hosur, Nandakumar of Kattiganapally, D. Srinivasan of Chettiapalli, Prakash and Shankar from Perugopanapally, and Velan of Marandahally. Of this, Srinivasan and Prakash were arrested and a search is on for the other four. According to the EOW, the company promised heavy returns to those who invest in its schemes but later the bubble burst, causing heavy losses to the investors. The scheme promised that if a person deposit Rs 7.70 lakh in the account, they will get Rs 93,000 per week and Rs 18.60 lakh in 20 weeks. Police said that after receiving small amounts for a few weeks, the payments stopped completely leading to the investors raising a complaint. After arresting Srinivasan and Prakash, the EOW recovered two cars, land documents, a bank passbook showing deposit of Rs 10 lakh, Rs 1.25 lakh in cash, six ATM cards, and 12.5 sovereigns of gold. Police registered criminal cases under various sections of the IPC and Section 5 of the Tamil Nadu Protection of Interest of Depositors Act. Sources in the EOW told IANS that they are closing in on the culprits and they would be arrested soon. With the bursting of the digital coin scam in Krishnagiri, police are trying to ascertain whether similar cheating was taking place in other parts of the state. The EOW is also planning to conduct an awareness programme among people against the digital coin scam in Tamil Nadu. Bengaluru, Sep 19 : Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has announced that he would order a comprehensive probe into the issue of lakes being levelled and encroached in Bengaluru. The mistakes committed before in the name of development should not be repeated. For this, it is necessary to probe when and why this land was utilized; which political forces ensured encroachment of lakes; which officers executed the task; who accumulated wealth in the name of others; after 2007 who amassed wealth, Bommai stated. In 2018, there was a circular released by the revenue department. There was an attempt to remove the names of lakes which have dried up. It was later withdrawn following public outrage, Bommai stated. No influential person would be spared, he added. Senior Congress MLA K J George asked to show which lake had been encroached upon during his tenure and punish him if he was found guilty. Bommai asked him not to take the issue personally. "Lakes being levelled is a fact," he stressed. George stated his partymen have given wrong information to him and used words which led to arguments in the Assembly. Meanwhile, the encroachment removal exercise was taken up by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) after a two-day gap. The officers who came to remove the encroachments of a compound wall built by the Wipro, Salarpuria companies had to return without clearing them after receiving a phone call, sources said. Minister for Revenue R Ashok stated that 42 lakes have disappeared in Bengaluru so far. The lakes have been levelled without cabinet approval and maps are distorted. This is the reason for flooding in Bengaluru, he underlined. Chandigarh, Sep 19 : Four cabinet ministers in Punjab on Monday got together with experts to formulate a joint strategy to deal with stubble burning and safeguard the environment. The ministers, Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer, Aman Arora, and Harjot Bains, chalked out a plan that will begin from September 27 with an awareness campaign to make farmers aware of the ill-effects of paddy stubble burning and its management. Under the first phase of the campaign, students of universities and colleges will be enrolled and they will be trained by experts about the harmful effects of stubble burning and absorption of stubble into the soil. After that, special training programmes will be conducted at the Punjab Agricultural University in Ludhiana on September 28 and the Guru Nanak Dev University in Amritsar on September 29. Later, the students will visit villages across the state to make people aware against stubble burning. Agriculture Minister Dhaliwal said that a 15-day deadline has been extended for farmers to apply for subsidy on the Happy Seeder machines so that the maximum number of farmers can plant wheat without burning the stubble. --IANS vg/vd A Washington, Sep 19 : Chinese rights activists overseas have said that they are concerned but unsurprised at recent allegations that an agent of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was working at Twitter, saying such infiltration is part of Beijing's global influence operation, media reports said. The FBI informed Twitter of at least one Chinese agent among its employees, according to US Senator Chuck Grassley, while hacker and whistleblower Peiter Zatko said the company's lax security sparked fears that personal data on Chinese users was being collected by authorities in China, RFA reported. Zatko, Twitter's former head of security, levelled the allegations during his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, detailing internal clashes between some who sought advertising revenue from China, and others who were concerned about doing business inside China amid rising geopolitical tensions, the report said. "This was a big internal conundrum," Zatko told the hearing, adding that Twitter appeared reluctant to turn away from China. "In a nutshell, if we were already in bed, it would be problematic if we lost that revenue stream," he said. Zatko said the FBI had told the company that China's secret service, the Ministry of State Security, had an agent on the payroll, RFA reported. A Twitter spokesperson said the microblogging platforms hiring process was independent of foreign influence, and that access to personal data was subject to stringent controls, adding that Zatko's allegations were "riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies." France-based commentator Wang Longmeng said the CCP has long targeted Western social media platforms to wage its overseas influence campaigns, and that some of the company's regional executives have close ties to the CCP, including Kathy Chen, RFA reported. Chen's 2016 appointment as Twitter's managing director for Greater China raised concerns in particular, as it emerged she had served as a software engineer in the People's Liberation Army's strategic missile force. "Kathy Chen, who had a military background, joined [the company], then Fei-fei Li became an independent director," Wang said. "The CCP's infiltration of Western media is one of its key strategies." "It's not surprising that the whistleblower revealed there are Chinese agents at Twitter, because there have been suspensions and deleted accounts, and yet Twitter still allows CCP diplomats to spread rumors and lies," he said, RFA reported. While China bans Twitter, Facebook and other US social media firms, government agencies and diplomats use the platforms to reach an international audience. Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 19 : On the 12th day of his Bharat Jodo Yatra, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday appeared to have gone back into history and repeat what his great grandfather did way back in 1952, while on a visit to Alappuzha. Gandhi was discussing the problems faced by the fishing community when he 'jumped' into a snake boat in the Vembanad Lake and took part as an oarsman along with former Alappuzha Lok Sabha member and present AICC general secretary K.C. Venugopal. Seated in the middle portion of the snake boat, while all the other oarsmen did a professional job in taking the boat forward with perfect timing, Gandhi and Venugopal found the going tough as was evident when the boat crossed the finishing line, and Gandhi was seen wiping his face with relief. The snake boat race especially the most popular one -- Nehru Boat Race held at the Vembanad lake in Alappuzha -- has now become part of the itinerary of global tourists. It dates back to 1952, when the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru visited the state and a flotilla of boats accompanied him from Kottayam to Alappuzha. It was an impromptu race conducted in Nehru's honour. Nehru, who was thrilled by the performance of the oarsmen, jumped into a snake boat. On returning to Delhi, Nehru donated a silver trophy, a replica of a snake boat placed on a wooden abacus with an inscription and his signature. This is the trophy that the winner in the snake boat race is awarded. Jaipur, Sep 19 : A gangster, accused in a murder case, was shot dead outside the court complex in Rajasthan's Nagaur on Monday, while four other people, including a lawyer, were injured, police said. The attack took place on Sanjeev Sethi, who is lodged in Nagaur jail, at around 1.30 p.m.was escorted out by the police after his court appearance. He died on the spot, while four other people - three accomplices and a lawyer - were injured. Two of the injured gang members, who are in a critical condition, have been referred to Jodhpur, police officials said. On instructions of Director General of Police M.L. Lather, ADG, ATS and SOG, Ashok Rathod left for the spot. Meanwhile, police have put a blockade around the district and efforts are being made to identify the accused and arrest them. Acting ADG, Law and Order, V.K. Singh said that Sethi, a murder accused, was returning from Nagaur court after being presented when unknown assailants, who came in a black-coloured SUV, came and fired at least nine bullets. He said efforts have been started to nab the accused with police probing links of the victim to identify those responsible. Nagaur MP Hanuman Beniwal has strongly condemned the incident and raised questions on the police's efficiency, noting that the residence of the District Collector and District Superintendent of Police is just 50 metres from this court complex and their offices just 100 metres away from this location. "In this whole matter, the responsibility of the police and administration should be fixed... increasing crime in the state is a matter of concern and the law and order of the state is on ventilator... such incidents are proof of jungle raj in Rajasthan," he claimed. Guwahati, Sep 19 : Following the Gauhati High Court's order to the Tamil Nadu government to let the Assam delegation team meet the elephant Joymala, the four members will soon visit the Srivilliputhur temple, officials informed on Monday. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) recently released a video alleging that elephant Joymala was being tortured and kept captive at the Andal temple in Srivalliputhur in Chennai and urged the state governments to look into the elephant's well-being. Elephant Joymala is one female tusker among the nine elephants that were donated by Assam to Tamil Nadu govwernment for its temples. Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Assam MK Yadava said: "Our team has experts who will examine the conditions of Joymala, and depending on that we will have a talk with the government about further steps." After the TN government officials denied the Assam delegation team's effort to meet Joymala, two members of the team - Superintendent of Police Morigaon district, Aparna Natarajan and a renowned veterinarian of Assam K.K. Sarma returned to Assam. They are now flying to Madurai and will meet the elephant Joymala in Srivilliputhur temple which comes under Virudhunagar district in Tamil Nadu. K.K. Sarma said, "Following the order of Gauhati High Court, the Assam government has asked us to visit the temple and enquire about the well-being of Joymala. We are rushing to Madurai via Chennai and the other two members of our team will meet in Madurai." The delegation team will take a 70-km-long road trip from Madurai to reach the temple to see in what condition the Joymala is kept by the temple authority. "If we find that the elephant is being ill-treated which the Tamil Nadu forest department officials were constantly denying, we will ask the TN government for Joymala's custody," Sarma added. Assam sent a four-member delegation team to inspect the situation and bring back the elephant after a video of Joymala in a deplorable situation surfaced over the Internet. But the team, which had been lodging in Chennai since September 3 this year, accused the TN government officials of not allowing them to see the elephant. Following that, the Assam government approached the Gauhati High Court last week. Mysuru, Sep 19 : The elephant menace surfaced again in Karnataka's Mysuru on Monday, with a giant tusker creating panic among residents as it emerged from the forest and went on a rampage in the village. The incident was reported from Budanur in H.D. Kote taluka. Authorities said that the elephant had strayed into the village from the Nagarhole Reserve Forest, and villagers, who were all set to go to their fields, suddenly found the huge jumbo in their way. As villagers tried to chase the elephant out of village, the animal got annoyed and started chasing them instead, and went on a rampage, destroying crops, damaging vehicles, roofs of houses, and bullock carts. The cattle and livestock had a narrow escape when it passed very close to them while being chased. Forest Department staff rushed to the spot and tried to push it back to the forest by firing into the sky. After hours, the villagers and forest officers finally managed to send it out of the village into the forest. Elephants have surfaced at various locations in Mysuru district and the people have been demanding a permanent solution to their menace. New Delhi, Sep 19 : The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday said it has arrested an absconding accused in a case related to the murder of one Bhadu SK. The accused was identified as Sona SK. He is said to be the main conspirator. "It was alleged that the accused along with other accused was present at the scene of crime and helped the assailants in fleeing from the spot. He had been evading arrest and absconding since inception of the case," the CBI said. The CBI had registered this case on April 8, 2022, following a Calcutta High Court order. The case was earlier registered at Police Station Rampurhat, District Birbhum (West Bengal) against 10 accused. It was alleged that on March 21, while the complainant was having tea at a shop in Bogtui More at around 8.30 p.m. his brother SK, a Deputy Pradhan of Barsal Gram Panchayat, was speaking on the phone sitting on a motorcycle. The accused threw a bomb targeting the head of his brother and on being hit on his head, his brother fell to the ground. The accused kept throwing more bombs at his brother. The complainant took his brother to Rampurhat Hospital where a doctor declared him dead. The police have arrested six accused in the case. The CBI collected digital as well as other scientific evidence. It was found during investigation that there was a long standing rivalry between two groups in the area. One group was led by the deceased SK and another was led by the accused. SK was killed because of the rivalry. After investigation, a chargesheet has been filed against four accused. Amaravati, Sep 19 : The Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) will operate 1,081 special buses to clear festival rush before and after Dasara. The buses will be operated from September 29 to October 10. The state-run transport operator announced on Monday that the buses will run from Vijayawada to various places in Andhra Pradesh and also to neighbouring states. The special buses will run from Vijayawada to Visakhapatnam, Rajamahendravaram, Kakinada, Tirupati, Rayalaseema district, Amalapuram, Bhadrachalam and other destinations in Andhra Pradesh. Officials said special buses will also be operated to Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Chennai. Most of the buses will be operated from and to Hyderabad as a large number of people living there travel to their villages in Andhra Pradesh to celebrate Dasara. The corporation will not charge extra fare for the special buses. Last year the APSRTC had charged 1.5 times more than the normal ticket prices. It had come under criticism for charging extra. Reservation facility will also be available for the special buses. Details of these buses will be available on APSRTC website. Vijayadashami is scheduled to be celebrated on October 5. Every year, lakhs of people from various cities in Andhra Pradesh and also Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai travel to their native places for the festival. Is evil a cosmic constant, or a human construct? The answer may not be easy to find and hinge on the intensity of religious belief. But, there is no doubt in accepting that evil, regardless of its origin, has to be countered when it harms people -- and that is true in life as well as in literature. The task of identifying the source of evil may not be easy. Especially when it is important to ascertain that the paranormal is not being adopted to conceal some plainly human criminal activity -- as readers of Enid Blyton's mystery series like the Five Find-Outers and TV series 'Scooby-Doo' can attest to. That is the ambiguous, yet not uncommon, situation Thomas Carnacki 'the Ghost-Finder', Father Brown, Simon Ark, Sister Pelagia -- a special breed of detectives from across the annals of literature for over a century now -- often find themselves in. In fiction, mainstream detectives tackling human evil are ubiquitous, from Sherlock Holmes onwards, but "occult detectives", who take on seemingly unworldly/other-worldly manifestations of evil, are fewer and lesser-known, despite the sub-genre combining two unique human fixations -- mysteries and the supernatural. Part of this owes to the stipulations set by leading detective fiction writers, as the genre was coming into its own in the early 20th century, to stick to the natural world and its happenings -- even in crimes, such as locked room murders, which seemed miraculous. The second of Ronald Knox's 10 Commandments of Detective Fiction held that "All supernatural or preternatural agencies are ruled out as a matter of course" and the third of Raymond Chandler's Ten Commandments said that the mystery "must be realistic in character, setting and atmosphere. It must be about real people in a real world". Even Holmes, whose some cases seem supernaturally tinged -- 'The Hound of the Baskervilles', for one, was dismissive about the supernatural and once observed: "The world is big enough for us. No ghosts need apply." The rule did not seem to be followed much. Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue' (1841) is held as first instances of detective fiction, but by 1855, Irish-American writer Fitz James O'Brien had his supernatural expert Harry Escott investigate a ghostly being in 'The Pot of Tulips' and an invisible one in 'What Was It? A Mystery' (1859). Then, well before Holmes appeared, some stories in Sheridan Le Fanu's 'In a Glass Darkly' (1870) are supernatural cases dealt by physician Dr Martin Hesselius. There was no shortage of occult detectives from the closing decades of the 19th century -- the (mother-son) author pair of E. and H. Heron's Flaxman Low, Algernon Blackwood's John Silence, Alice and Claude Askew's Aylmer Vance, and so on -- but it was William Hope Hodgson's Carnacki who broke new ground. Appearing in only six short stories published between 1910 and 1912, and a further three found and published in 1947 -- nearly three decades after the author's death in the closing days of World War I, Carnacki investigated seemingly supernatural occurrences across Britain, both in stately country houses and in more modest dwellings in the cities. He relied on his knowledge gleaned from the (fictional) ancient 'Sigsand Manuscript', including of the "Saamaa ritual", and his Electric Pentacle -- a modern version of medieval-era protective wands, fashioned out of electrical equipment and neon lighting, where he usually slipped in a camera and a pistol. For, unlike others of his ilk, his cases are a mix of genuine hauntings and hoaxes -- usually with a criminal objective, and at least one, which is both of them. Carnacki went to achieve an immortality of sorts as successive authors featured him in their versions of his further adventures, including a few where he stars along Holmes, down till 2016. On the other hand, G.K. Chesterton's short and stumpy Father Brown, with "a face as round and dull as a Norfolk dumpling", and "eyes as empty as the North Sea" beneath his large spectacles, seems an unlikely detective. Unlike the deductive and abductive Holmes, who reasons from premises towards a logical conclusion, aided by his sharp observation and incisive brain sifting through available evidence, this Roman Catholic priest is intuitive, seeking to place himself in the criminal's mind to find how the deed was done and thus ascertain the perpetrator. But there are similarities too. Both had keen insights into evil -- Holmes, by dint of research, and Father Brown by his work, once telling an adversary: "Has it never struck you that a man, who does next to nothing but hear men's real sins is not likely to be wholly unaware of human evil?" And he, like the Baker Street sleuth, scorned supernatural causes, and upheld the cause of reason. Brown once quietly told a criminal how he found the latter was a fraudulent priest: "You attacked reason. That is bad theology." His 50-odd stories, which were published in five collections: 'The Innocence/Wisdom/ Incredulity/Secret/Scandal of Father Brown" between 1911 and 1935 -- and three stories found and published posthumously -- feature ingenious puzzles/plots, evocative descriptions of time and place, and sometimes, a spell-binding supernatural ambience. These are soon dissipated to stump us with an unexpected, but perfectly reasonable, solution. Brown's spirit lives on Sister Pelagia, the second series by Russian-Georgian writer Boris Akunin available in English, about the physically clumsy but mentally agile Orthodox nun in turn-of-century Russia who is tasked by her Bishop to solve serious mysteries. In her second outing, "Pelagia and the Black Monk" (2007), she is sent to resolve some mysterious, ostensibly paranormal, happenings in a remote island monastery after three men sent by the Bishop meet dire fates (two left mentally unhinged and one dead). A more worthy successor to Carnacki and Brown, though, is Edward D. Hoch's Simon Ark, who seems to be an ordinary man in his 60s but claims he is actually an over 2,000-year-old Coptic priest who travels the world to confront evil, specifically Satan. Some accounts describe him as cursed with immortality for not letting the cross-carrying Jesus rest. The origin of the Wandering Jew's story does not seem credible since the Coptic Church only came up well after Christ's crucifixion. The alternative, mentioned in one of his stories, that he once fabricated a Gospel that was so pious that God could not decide whether to reward him with heaven or punish him with hell, seems more proper. His immortality, however, does not confer him any special powers, save a prodigious amount of knowledge, and only incidental to the accounts. He does have a persuasive way of dealing with the clergy and the police. Ark debuted in 'The Village of the Damned' (1955), where he investigates the horrific incident of 70-odd residents of a remote village committing mass suicide on the instigation of a charismatic cult leader. This, the first published story of Hoch, who went on to write several novels but is known better for his 950 stories covering 14 different characters, from British cipher expert Jeffrey Rand to professional thief Nick Velvet, to retired New England doctor and "impossible crime" solver Sam Hawthorne. Out of these, 40-odd feature Ark and can be found in 'City of Brass and Other Simon Ark Stories' (1971), 'The Judges of Hades' (1971), 'The Quests of Simon Ark' (1984), and 'Funeral in the Fog' (2020). All, narrated by an unnamed journalist-turned-publisher who encounters Ark in his first appearance, see Ark solving a string of mysterious or inexplicable crimes that appear to be supernatural, but usually have more prosaic causes -- usually one of the seven deadly sins, especially lust, and human agency. Most are set across the US and the UK, though one takes Ark and the narrator down to Madagascar. Is Ark what he claims? The narrator believes Ark is just trying to seem mysterious, but does admit that he has not visibly aged in all the years he knew him. To this question, Hoch only offers an enigmatic "Perhaps". Save some of Carnacki, who dates back to a different time, all these intricate and spine-chilling (at times) stories underscore a dire message: the human mind can be more diabolic and fiendish than what mythology and religion can create. (Vikas Datta can be contacted at vikas.d@ians.in) Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War Patna, Sep 19 : A day after an incident of aerial firing in Vaishali, Bihar Police's ADGP, Law and Order, Jitendra Singh Gangwar on Monday denied that it was a replication of the Begusarai shooting spree that left one dead and 10 others injured. "There was a firing outside the house of ward number 1 councillor with two to three rounds fied in the air. No one was hurt in this incident. The preliminary investigation reveals that it could be a result of personal enmity. We have registered an FIR on the written complaint given by the ward councillor and the investigation is underway. The district police are scanning the CCTV cameras of the area to find some clues," he said. The Vaishali incident occurred on Sunday night when unidentified goons fired several rounds in the air in a bid to terrorise local people. It was seen at creating a tense atmosphere like it happened in Begusarai when four bike-borne assailants opened indiscriminate fire on random innocent people on September 13. That incident put immense pressure on the Bihar government. The statement of Gangwar came after Union Minister and BJP leader Giriraj Singh went to Vaishali on Monday morning and claimed that there is complete lawlessness and return of the 'Jungle Raj' in Bihar under the Nitish Kumar regime. LJP-Ram Vilash chief Chirag Paswan also demanded resignation of Nitish Kumar as Chief Minister, saying that there is a "double Jungle Raj". New Delhi, Sep 19 : The Parliamentary standing committee on Energy, headed by JD-U MP Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh, to which the Electricity Amendment Bill 2022 has been sent for consideration, is being reconstituted as its tenure ended last week on September 13. The bill, described as a major reform measure by the government soon after it was introduced in Lok Sabha on August 8 during the Monsoon session, was referred to the Parliamentary panel on Energy, after vociferous protests by Opposition MPs. However between August 8 and September 13, not a single meeting of the committee was held, therefore the bill could not be taken up for consideration by it. Incidentally, the JD-U has ceased to be a member of the NDA and now with the panel itself having completed its tenure, it remains to be seen who heads it when it is reconvened. Thus the fate of the bill now depends on how soon the Parliamentary panel is reconstituted. It is the Lok Sabha Speaker who has the authority to reconstitute the Parliamentary panel and decide its Chairperson. The Electricity Amendment Bill 2022 aims to make the power distribution sector more competitive by providing consumers with options to choose between multiple services providers in an area. However, it has faced a lot of criticism from political as well as other quarters, as there are allegations that it will lead to privatisation of the power sector, while farmers have also opposed it, expressing apprehensions that subsidies given to them may be done away with, once the bill is passed. In fact, the All India Power Engineers Federation on September 18 said that it will hold demonstrations in the national capital on November 23, to protest against the bill. They have also threatened that electricity sector workers will go on strike if the bill is passed unilaterally. While the new Bill proposes 35 amendments to the massive 84-page Electricity Act of 2003, one provision that stands out is Section 5 of the Bill which is about allowing more than one distribution licensee (or discom) in one region to distribute power to the consumers. Although the provision of allowing more than one discom in one area was also mentioned in the 2003 Act, as per the old law, the new discom had to have its own wire and distribution infrastructure. Basically, the opposition to the bill is related to its Section 5, which allows a new entity to use the distribution infrastructure of existing distribution companies or discoms after paying certain charges. It has been alleged by opposition parties that this would encourage privatisation in the power distribution circles. New Delhi, Sep 19 : A joint India-Singapore ministerial delegation, including Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, who is also the island nation's Finance Minister, called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday. The ministers briefed the Prime Minister about the outcomes of the inaugural session of the India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable (ISMR), which was held here on September 17. This is Wong's first visit to India in his capacity as the Deputy Prime Minister. "The establishment of the ISMR is a path-breaking initiative which was envisioned by Modi and reflects the unique nature of the India-Singapore bilateral relationship. The ministers briefed the Prime Minister about the wide-ranging discussions held, especially in emerging areas of digital connectivity, fintech, green economy, skill development and food security," a statement issued by the Prime Minister's office said. The Prime Minister conveyed his appreciation and hoped that initiatives like ISMR would help further strengthen the bilateral relations between the two countries. He also conveyed his good wishes for Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and the people of Singapore. New Delhi, Sep 19 : The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that the majority decision of a bench of larger strength would prevail over the decision of a bench of lesser strength, regardless of the number of judges taking the majority view. A five-judge constitution bench, headed by Justice Indira Banerjee, said: "In view of Article 145(5) of the Constitution of India, concurrence of a majority of the judges at the hearing will be considered as a judgment or opinion of the court. It is settled that the majority decision of a bench of larger strength would prevail over the decision of a bench of lesser strength, irrespective of the number of judges constituting the majority." Justice Banerjee authored the judgment on behalf of herself and also for Justices Surya Kant, M.M. Sundresh, and Sudhanshu Dhulia. Justice Hemant Gupta, in his separate and concurring judgement, said that a decision delivered by a bench of largest strength is binding on any subsequent bench of lesser or coequal strength. He noted that senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan referred to Article 145(5) to contend that a judgment of this court is mandated to be delivered with the concurrence of a majority of the judges present at the hearing of the case, but nothing in this clause shall be deemed to prevent a judge who does not concur from delivering a dissenting judgment or opinion. Thus, the Constitution itself envisaged that the judgment is by the majority of the judges. Justice Gupta said: "A decision delivered by a Bench of largest strength is binding on any subsequent Bench of lesser or coequal strength. It is the strength of the Bench and not number of Judges who have taken a particular view which is said to be relevant. However, conclusion (2) makes it absolutely clear that a Bench of lesser quorum cannot disagree or dissent from the view of law taken by a Bench of larger quorum. Quorum means the bench strength which was hearing the matter." He said it has been rightly concluded that the numerical strength of the judges taking a particular view is not relevant, but the bench strength is determinative of the binding nature of the judgment. According to this apex court judgment, in a seven-bench decision of 4:3, the majority view would prevail over the unanimous view of a five-judge constitution bench. In 2017, a two-judge bench of the apex court had referred to the matter to the constitution bench. New Delhi, Sep 19 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address a meeting of all the BJP Mayors on Tuesday. "At 10:30 AM tomorrow, 20th September, will address a meeting of all the Mayors belonging to@BJP4India," the Prime Minister tweeted. He adde, "With growing urbanisation, it is important that we view it as an opportunity and work together towards building modern, futuristic cities." New Delhi, Sep : Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday called on Egypt's President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in Cairo. He was received very warmly by El-Sisi who pointed out that relations between India and Egypt are well-established through history, and expressed appreciation that military-to-military cooperation between both countries has reached a new level and that signing of MoU on defence cooperation is a major achievement, a Defence Ministry statement said. Both leaders agreed to further develop military cooperation and focus on joint training, defence co-production, and maintenance of equipment. They also emphasised the need for co-production and to discuss specific proposals in that regard. While Rajnath Singh expressed appreciation for the firm stand taken by Egypt against terrorism, the President underlined the need for both countries to exchange expertise and best practices in countering the threat. The Minister acknowledged that Egypt is among the most important trading partners of India in Africa and that bilateral trade has expanded significantly. He also noted with satisfaction their close cooperation in multilateral forums. New Delhi, Sep 19 : The Delhi High Court on Monday allowed an appeal by Tata Sons Private Ltd to grant an ad-interim injunction against Hakunamatata Tata Founders and others using the former's trademark for doing online trading in cryptocurrency 'TATA Coin.' A bench of Justices Manoj Kumar Ohri and Mukta Gupta, in the order, noted that "the appellant (Tata) is known for the quality of its goods and services. Any dubious and inferior products sold through the respondents' website, using the appellant's trademark, can seriously damage its credibility". As per Tata Sons' contentions, the respondents (Hakunamatata), registered in the UK and the US, are using its trademark for doing online trading in cryptocurrency through their website(s) 'www.tatabonus.com' and 'www.hakunamatata.finance'. It said that the websites are accessible in India and are in fact accessed by visitors from Delhi on daily basis. "In India, the trademark Tata is embedded in the subconsciousness of public. In public consciousness, the word Tata is only relatable to Tata group of companies. As pleaded, the appellant is the owner of the trademarks in question, and the said marks are used across the board by almost all the group companies of Tata. The pre-eminence of the business reputation of the Tata Group and the popularity of the trademarks is beyond contest. There is sufficient pleading in the plaint to reach the said conclusion.." the court said in the order. It was also noted that the people behind the offending website are stated to be UK nationals of Pakistani origin does make the motives suspicious, given the popularity of Tata brand among the people from Indian sub-continent. "It is not unreasonable to infer that the objective of respondent No.1 could be to target unsuspecting Indian origin public by doing trade in the name of 'Tata'. We believe the appellant has a good prima facie case to seek injunction, as far as website www.tatabonus.com, crypto products by the name of $TATA, or any other product of respondent No.1 being sold on the website www.hakunamatata.finance under the name Tata is concerned, if not for anything else, but just to avoid any confusion likely to be caused in the mind of the public in India, who might be deceived to believe that the respondents' website in question and products sold therein are the Tata Group's own website or have an association with the Tata Group. "Not granting ad-interim injunction can cause irreparable harm to the goodwill enjoyed by the appellant's trademark. The appellant is known for the quality of its goods and services. Any dubious and inferior products sold through the respondents' website, using the appellant's trademark, can seriously damage its credibility," the order said while allowing the appeal. Srinagar, Sep 19 : The J&K government on Monday issued a formal order declaring Maharaja Hari Singh birthday as a public holiday. "To commemorate the birth anniversary of Maharaja Hari Singh, September 23 of every year shall be observed as holiday in government offices and educational institutions across the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir under the Negotiable Instrument Act, 1881 (Central Act 26 of 1881)," a government order said on Monday. On September 15, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha had said that Maharaja Hari Singh's birthday will be celebrated as a public holiday. Sinha had said this during his meeting with a delegation comprising prominent political leaders, members of the Yuva Rajput Sabha, civil society members, among others, at the Raj Bhavan. The L-G had observed during the meeting that Maharaja Hari Singh was a great educationist, progressive thinker, social reformer and a towering figure with ideas and ideals. The public holiday will be a fitting tribute to Maharaja Hari Singh, he had said. Pertinently, on the direction of the L-G, a four-member committee was constituted by the UT administration earlier this year to examine the public demand regarding declaring Maharaja Hari Singh's birth anniversary as public holiday. Hari Singh (1895-1961) was the last ruling Maharaja of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. Chennai, Sep 19 : The administration in Tamil Nadu's Kallakurichi on Monday gave permission to the two schools to conduct renovation works, following their vandalisation earlier this year. District Collector, Sravan Kumar Jatavath was responding to an application submitted by the Latha Educational Society which manages the Sakthi Matriculation Higher Secondary School, and ECR International School. A violent mob had ransacked and damaged the two schools on July 17 after a class 12 girl student of the former was found dead near the hostel premises on July 13. This incidence of violence of torching 30 odd school buses, destroying entire school buildings, and even torching police vehicles and injuring policemen had put the state police in the dock. Top cops were shunted out after the incident and the state DGP visited the area and gave the necessary instructions to the policemen. Many people were arrested following the incident and there were complaints of human rights violations against the police for having assaulted some of the protestors in custody after theuir arrest. The permission for repair and renovation works is for a period of 45 days commencing from September 19. The Latha Educational Society has also filed a writ petition before the Madras High Court with a plea to permit the reopening of the school for regular functioning of classes. The court on August 23 directed the district collector to consider the plea and pass appropriate orders based on final merits and the Treasurer of the educational society was called for a personal hearing. The district administration has however directed the Latha Educational Society to provide the list of workmen who are being engaged to conduct repair and renovation work in the school. This includes the list of engineers, technicians, skilled labour, and other helpers who would be engaged in the works. The Collector informed the Treasurer to complete the renovation and repair work within the stipulated time frame of 45 days. The district administration has appointed a nodal officer under whose supervision the works would be carried out. Patna, Sep 19 : A Congress delegation, headed by state in-charge Bhakta Charan Das, met Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and RJD President Lalu Prasad Yadav on Monday and invited them for the Bharat Jodo campaign of party leader Rahul Gandhi. Sources have said that both the leaders have given their consent to participate but as the latter's health is not good, his son and Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav is likely to represent him. Earlier in the day, Das, along with other leaders including state chief Madan Mohan Jha, and ministers under Congress quota in the Nitish Kumar government, were part of a meeting in the party headquarters, Sadakat Ashram. During the meeting, two proposals were agreed - on the selection of the party's state President and the national President. Jha's tenure will be over in a few days and may not continue, as per sources. As national President, they have unanimously backed Rahul Gandhi. "We have two proposals that came on Monday and the same have been sent to party headquarters in Delhi. Current party President Sonia Gandhi will take decisions on it," Das said. Das also said: "The Bharat Jodo Yatra of Rahul Gandhi has given new energy among Congress workers in the country. He is gaining popularity in a big way. People are supporting him and we are hopeful of defeating the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha election." United Nations, Sep 19 : India's External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar began his whirlwind diplomacy here on Monday with a meeting with the head of the Latin American and Caribbean group and geared up for meetings with seven Foreign Ministers. Argentina's Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero, who is the President pro tempore of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), was the first on Jaishankar's schedule. At their meeting, they reviewed India-CELAC cooperation and agreed to work closely on Covid pandemic economic recovery on trade, commerce, agriculture, food and energy security, health, vaccine production and logistics, according to India's External Affairs Ministry. Also at the meeting were Foreign Ministers Mario Adolfo Bucaro Flores of Guatemala and Amery Browne of Trinidad and Tobago. Jaishankar, in a tweet, thanked them "for ideas that we will take forward together" in an area where India has boosted its diplomacy. He later met Foreign Ministers Olta Xhacka of Albania and Ian Borg of Malta during his morning schedule. Jaishankar is to meet with General Assembly President Csaba Korisi this evening. Before that, he will hold a trilateral meeting with his UAE and French counterparts, Zayed Al Nahyan and Catherine Colonna, respectively, in an emerging cooperative arrangement of the three countries. In July, officials from the foreign ministries of the three countries met to discuss cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, regional connectivity, multilateral cooperation, innovation and startups, and supply chain resilience. In his afternoon schedule, Jaishankar is to meet bilaterally with al Nahyan and Foreign Ministers Sameh Shoukry of Egypt, Retno Marsudi of Indonesia, and Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla, of Cuba, and Ethiopia's Deputy Prime Minister Demeke Mekonnen, who also holds the foreign ministry portfolio. (Arul Louis can be contacted at aru.l@ians.in and followed at @arulouis) Bhopal, Sep 19 : Madhya Pradesh Congress chief Kamal Nath's statement "I will offer my car to those (from Congress) who are willing to join the BJP" has created a war of words between the ruling BJP and opposition Congress in the state. The former Chief Minister made the remark while replying to questions on the recent exodus from Congress, saying: "What are you thinking? Congress will be finished? You are saying some people want to join the BJP. Whoever wants to join the BJP can go. We don't want to stop anyone. I would even lend them my car to go and join the BJP." To begin with, senior Congress leader Ajay Singh (Rahul) disagreed with his party chief's statement. Singh, who is the son of former MP Chief Minister late Arjun Singh and is considered opposed to Kamal Nath, said, "Yah Samay Jodne Ka hai, Chhondne Ka Nahin. (This is the time for uniting, not deserting)." Meanwhile, BJP leaders took a jibe at Congress, saying Kamal Nath would need so many cars to drop his partymen to the BJP office. Senior BJP leader Kailash Vijayavargiya, who was in Jabalpur on Monday, told mediapersons, "Kamal Nath would need so many cars to drop his MLAs at the BJP office. There are several Congress leaders who are not happy with Kamal Nath's leadership." Another senior BJP leader and state Home Minister Narottam Mishra, who hardly misses any opportunity to attack the opposition, said, "Rahul Gandhi is uniting the Congress and at the same time Kamal Nath is dropping party leader." New Delhi, Sep 19 : With the process for the Congress Presidential polls opening with the issuance of notification on September 22, it's likely that the main contest for the top party post will be between Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor. Party sources said that interim Congress chief Sonia Gandhi hinted on Monday that she does not have any reservations against Tharoor running for Congress President's post. Sonia Gandhi gave her nod shortly after meeting Tharoor and a few other Congress leaders on her return following a medical check-up abroad. Tharoor, who was one of the G-23 members of the party who had demanded sweeping reforms in the Congress, is now likely to throw his hat into the ring for the race to the top party post, voting for which will be held on October 17. Senior party leader Jairam Ramesh said, "Anybody who wants to contest is free and welcome to do so. This has been the consistent position of Congress President and Rahul Gandhi. This is an open, democratic and transparent process. Nobody needs anybody's nod to contest." While the notification for the Presidential election will be issued on September 22, there is still suspense over the candidates who will contest for the top party post. While the G-23 group is gearing up to field a candidate and Thiruvananthapuram MP Tharoor is its top choice, for party loyalists, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot is the preferred choice, sources said. However, Gehlot is reportedly reluctant to leave chief ministership and move to Delhi. In that scenario, former Union minister Mukul Wasnik or leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, could emerge as the front-runners, as both belong to the Scheduled Caste community. The nominations are to be filed between September 24 and September 30. Meanwhile, Congress' state units have been passing resolutions to make Rahul Gandhi the next party President, including in Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh, among others. However, Congress' Central Election Authority (CEA) has said that such resolutions will not have any bearing on the election process. Madhusudan Mistry, Chairman of CEA, said, "These resolutions have no bearing on the election process." Jaipur, Sep 19 : A cow, brought to the Rajasthan Assembly on Monday by a BJP MLA to protest the state government's "apathy" to the lumpy virus disease outbreak, ran away, despite his aides' best efforts. As the Assembly session resumed on Monday, BJP legislator Suresh Singh Rawat had brought a cow to draw the state government's attention towards the disease. However, as Rawat was talking to media persons, the cow ran away even though his supporters were seen trying to catch it. The MLA, who was holding a stick in his hand, said that cows are suffering from lumpy skin disease but the state government is in a deep slumber. As the cow ran away, he, putting on a brave face, said: "See, the 'Gau Mata' is also angry with the government." Meanwhile, three Rashtriya Loktantrik Party members staged a protest before the Speaker's podium, and chanting "Gomata kare pukar, hum bachao sarkar". Before the session started, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot told the media that the Central government should declare lumpy disease as a national calamity. New Delhi, Sep 19 : The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday filed a charge sheet against Rana Kapoor, the then MD and CEO, Yes Bank Ltd, and Gautam Thapar, Chairman, Avantha Group and Oyster Buildwell Pvt Ltd in connection with Rs 466.51 crore bank fraud case. The CBI had registered the case against Oyster Buildwell Pvt Ltd, Gurugram, and others on June 2, 2021 on the complaint from Yes Bank, alleging that the accused had committed criminal breach of trust, cheating, criminal conspiracy and forgery for misappropriation of public money, during the period 2017-2019. As per an official, the CBI had gathered a lot of evidence and after making a water tight charge sheet, they filed it before the competent court. It was found during investigation that the company had availed credit facilities from Yes Bank but diverted these to its holding company and other group companies, which were in financial stress and where direct lending by any bank would not have been feasible. The role of the accused, who, in conspiracy with each other, were instrumental for the fraudulent transactions which led to the loss of public money to the tune of Rs 466.51 crore also came to light. New Delhi, Sep 19 : Two men were arrested in the national capital with a large cache of psychotropic drugs, officials said on Monday. The accused, identified as Jatin (23), a resident of Uttam Nagar, and Taranjeet Singh (40), who is Afghan by birth, were in possession of around 9,000 tablets and 3,000 capsules of Alprazolam and Tramadol, respectively. Notably, Alprazolam tablets require a prescription for purchase in India. It comes under benzodiazepines class of psychoactive drugs. It is a drug-in-demand among urban Indians. Similarly, Tramadol has been entered at serial number 110Y in the Schedule of Psychotropic Substances under the NDPS Act. Deputy Commissioner of Police (West), Ghanshyam Bansal, said the police had received a tip-off on September 14 that Jatin will deliver drugs to one Afghan national near Gali No. 13 in Tilak Nagar. Subsequently, a police team was constituted which laid a trap and arrested the two accused persons, Jatin and Tarandeep, and seized the drugs from their possession. New Delhi, Sep 19 : The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) said on Monday that it has seized e-cigarettes estimated to be worth Rs 48 crore from the Mundra Port in Gujarat on September 16 as part of its operation to combat smuggling of e-cigarettes, the use and sale of which is banned in India. An official said that acting on a tip-off that e-cigarettes were being smuggled by way of mis-declaration and concealment through Mundra Port, a container was identified and tracked. Once it reached Mundra Port, the container was inspected. "Investigation revealed that the goods were wrongly declared as 'floor cleaning mop'. During examination of the container, all the cartons inside it were opened. It was found that apart from some cartons containg floor cleaning mop, several boxes contained hand massager, LCD writing pad, and Silicone pop-up toys which were not declared," the official said. Further search revealed that there were 250 more cartons which contained contained 2 lakh pieces of e-cigarette of 2500 puff variant, while one carton contained 400 pieces of e-cigarettes of 5000 puff variant, all of 'Yuotoa' brand, made in China. The e-cigarettes and all other accompanying goods in the container were seized under the provisions of Customs Act. The official said the market value of the seized e-cigarettes will be around Rs 48 crore. Amman, Sep 20 : Jordan has resumed crude oil imports from Iraq after the Iraqi side fixed the logistical problems that suspended the supply for weeks, said Jordan's Energy Ministry. Trucks have started loading the crude oil from the oil fields in Kirkuk governorate in northern Iraq, Jordan's Minister of Energy Saleh Kharabsheh said in a statement. The ministry said that Jordan imported about 2.525 million barrels of oil from Iraq between September 2021 and July 2022, Xinhua news agency reported. Under a memorandum of understanding signed in 2021, Jordan imports around 10,000 barrels per day from Iraq, based on the monthly average price of Brent crude oil minus $16 per barrel to cover the difference in quality and transportation costs. The 10,000 barrels cover around 7 per cent of Jordan's daily needs, according to the ministry. Las Americas Airport, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic [ SDQ / MDSD ] If you are planning to travel to Santo Domingo or any other city in Dominican Republic, this airport locator will be a very useful tool. This page gives complete information about the Las Americas Airport along with the airport location map, Time Zone, lattitude and longitude, Current time and date, hotels near the airport etc... Las Americas Airport Map showing the location of this airport in Dominican Republic. Santo Domingo Airport IATA Code, ICAO Code, exchange rate etc... is also provided. Santo Domingo Airport Info: Santo Domingo Airport IATA Code: SDQ Santo Domingo Airport ICAO Code: MDSD Latitude : 18.4297 Longitude : -69.6689 City : Santo Domingo Country : Dominican Republic World Area Code : 809 Airport Type : Large Santo Domingo Airport Address / Contact Details : Las Americas International Airport (SDQ), 15701, Dominican Republic, Phone: 809-947-2225 / 2297 Santo Domingo Website : http://www.aerodom.com/app/do/lasamericas.aspx Airport Type : Public Owner : Government Operator : eropuertos Dominicanos Siglo XXI S.A, Vancouver Airport Services, Ltd. 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Las Americas Airport Map - Location of Las Americas Airport Load Map Dominican Republic - General Information Country Code DO Capital Santo Domingo Currency Peso (DOP) 1 DOP = 0.019 USD 1 USD = 53.6 DOP 1 DOP = 0.019 EUR 1 EUR = 52.454 DOP More DOP convertion rates Tel Code +1 Top Level Domain .do Major airlines flying to Las Americas Airport, Santo Domingo This page provides all the information you need to know about Las Americas Airport, Dominican Republic. This page is created with the aim of helping travelers and tourists visiting Dominican Republic or traveling to Santo Domingo Airport. Details about Santo Domingo Airport given here include Las Americas Airport Code - IATA Code (3 letter airport codes) and ICAO Code (4 letter airport codes) Coordinates of Santo Domingo Airport - Latitude and Longitude (Lat and Long) of Las Americas Airport Location of Las Americas Airport - City Name, Country, Country Codes etc... Las Americas Airport Time Zone and Current time at Las Americas Airport Address and contact details of Las Americas Airport along with website address of the airport Clickable Location Map of Las Americas Airport on Google Map. General information about Dominican Republic where Las Americas Airport is located in the city of Santo Domingo. General information include capital of Dominican Republic, currency and conversion rate of Dominican Republic currency, Telephone Country code, exchange rate against US Dollar and Euro in case of major world currencies etc... SDQ - Las Americas Airport IATA Code and MDSD - Las Americas Airport ICAO code As we position ourselves for growth, we are excited to have a modern cloud platform in place that will enable us to easily scale our operations, while also providing the flexibility to innovate," Jeri Snyder, chief financial officer, Another Broken Egg Cafe. Revel Systems, the market leading cloud-native point of sale (POS) and complete business management platform, today announced that Another Broken Egg Cafe has successfully deployed Revel Enterprise at all company-owned full service restaurants. Moving forward all new cafes will implement Revel along with existing franchisees migration by 2023. Another Broken Egg Cafe is one of the fastest-growing, franchised breakfast, brunch and lunch concepts in the nation. The platforms open API, hardware mobility, and comprehensive kitchen management capabilities, paired with the cost savings realized with the Revel Advantage integrated payments solution, made Revel the right choice for the innovative brand. Despite logistical challenges posed by the pandemic, we were able to deploy Revel Enterprise across all of our full-service cafes ahead of schedule. Revels professional services team was a great partner throughout the deployment and made sure everything went smoothly, said Jeri Snyder, chief financial officer, Another Broken Egg Cafe. As we position ourselves for growth, we are excited to have a modern cloud platform in place that will enable us to easily scale our operations, while also providing the flexibility to innovate. Another Broken Egg Cafe uses Revels Mobile Order Takers (MOTs) to place orders directly at the table. Once an order is processed by the MOT, it is automatically fired to the kitchen, where it appears on the kitchen display system (KDS). With fully integrated kitchen management, each restaurant is managing orders more efficiently and eliminating potential errors that are more commonplace with a manual approach. Prior to implementing Revel, servers hand-wrote orders and then stood in line at one of Another Broken Egg Cafes central POS stations to input the order. This resulted in stacked up tickets and delayed the time it took for orders to reach the kitchen. With MOTs in hand, servers have the bandwidth to wait on more tables and collect additional tips, all while helping Another Broken Egg Cafe save on labor costs. Revel is excited to work with a growing brand like Another Broken Egg Cafe to help improve their quality and speed of service, while also providing the technology foundation to future-proof their business, says Greg Dukat, chief executive officer, Revel Systems. This is yet another example of a high-growth brand with tremendous in-store volume that looked to Revel Enterprise to help scale operations and improve the guest experience. Another Broken Egg Cafe implemented Revel Advantage, an in-house payment processing solution that seamlessly integrates with Revel Enterprise to provide a complete POS and payments offering designed to meet their specific business requirements. Another Broken Egg Cafe is also introducing Revel SmartPay which enables guests to scan and pay from a QR code on their receipts. Servers receive a notification on their MOTs when the bill has been paid, which allows for faster table turns. Utilizing Revels open API, Another Broken Egg Cafe easily integrated third-party solutions for both restaurant management and payroll, further customizing the platform to meet their specific needs. Another Broken Egg Cafe adds to the impressive list of large restaurant chains selecting Revel Enterprise, including: The Halal Guys, Friendly's Restaurants, Pizza Ranch, Daves Hot Chicken, Sajj Mediterranean, Rise Southern Biscuits & Righteous Chicken, FAT Brands, Moes Southwest Grill, Kung Fu Tea, Teriyaki Madness, Focus Brands, Lou Malnatis, Erbert & Gerberts and more. About Revel Systems Revels point of sale and business solutions provide a native cloud technology platform that is at the heart of our clients businesses. Revels platform helps restaurants and retailers deliver a better customer experience, diversify revenue streams, and scale their businesses with ease. The Revel Enterprise solution is tailored for large chains and leads the industry with a broad footprint of national, big brand customer implementations. Revel is committed to client success and strives to be a people-first business, leading with integrity and transparency. For more information, please visit http://revelsystems.com or call +1 (833) 437-3835. About Another Broken Egg Cafe Another Broken Egg of America Franchising, LLC is an upscale breakfast, brunch and lunch restaurant that specializes in award-winning, Southern-inspired menu options with innovative twists and signature cocktails. Another Broken Egg Cafe is one of the fastest-growing, daytime-only franchised concepts in the country, with more than 80 locations in 15 states and dozens more in development. With over 26-years experience in the daytime cafe category, the company was honored by FSR magazine as its Breakout Franchise Brand of the Year for 2020, one of the most challenging years ever for the restaurant industry. The brand is well-positioned for expanded growth in 2022 with a new prototype, re-engineered menu and bar of the future initiatives designed to drive incremental sales and profits for the individual cafes. For more information about franchising opportunities, please visit anotherbrokeneggfranchise.com. # # # Media Contact: Jason Cigarran Senior Director, Marketing Revel Systems Jason.Cigarran@revelsystems.com Mctlaw attorney, Ilyas Sayeg, won arguments to move all FL Exactech lawsuits into a consolidated master case in the Eighth Judicial Circuit of Florida. Justice is moving swiftly for plaintiffs in the Exactech hip, knee, and ankle litigation. The first trial date is set for November 6th, a little more than a year from now. Mctlaw attorney, Ilyas Sayeg won arguments to move all FL Exactech lawsuits into a consolidated master case in the Eighth Judicial Circuit of Florida (Case No. 01-2022-CA-2670). Further, the Alachua Circuit Court agrees to consolidate all Exactech lawsuits under the management of Hon. Donna Keim. The Order of Consolidation includes 54 cases that are currently pending and provides the opportunity to consolidate all Exactech cases filed in the Eighth Judicial Circuit of Florida in the future. Attorney Sayeg advocated for the consolidation of these cases in order to promote efficiency, consistency, and judicial economy. Consolidating the cases helps them get heard as quickly as possible, providing the most efficient resolution for plaintiffs. The Court in Alachua County, Florida is the ideal venue to file these cases. Exactech is a Gainesville, FL-based company. Further, Hon. Donna Keim has prioritized moving this docket along quickly. Her strategies for expediency include monthly Case Management Conferences and hearings regarding the Exactech Master Case. In addition to this, she set the first trial for a little over one year from now, further showing her commitment to hearing this group of cases as quickly and expeditiously as possible. Mctlaw is a leader in this national litigation and our attorneys are committed to getting justice for our Exactech hip, knee, and ankle implant clients. Exactech issued recalls for these implants because of the potential for "premature wear" of the plastic parts and "out-of-specification" packaging that can degrade the polyethylene in the implants. Our lawyers have years of experience pursuing compensation for patients with defective orthopedic implants. Whether you are an injured patient, or an attorney looking to co-counsel or refer a client to us, we are available to review your case. About mctlaw The trial lawyers at mctlaw have over a century and a half of combined legal experience. Our team of attorneys and paralegals have represented clients against multinational corporations and against the Secretary of the Department of Health & Human Services during courtroom trials, hearings, depositions, mediations, and settlement negotiations. We have recovered hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation for our clients. The legal team at mctlaw is licensed to practice law in state and federal, district, and circuit courts throughout the nation. Wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of the family of Jose Antonio Arciniega, of Lynwood, California, who was crushed between two trailers and killed while working at a MAERSK facility. Rafii & Associates, P.C. has filed a wrongful death lawsuit (LASC 22STCV29437) on behalf of the family of MAERSK A/S dba A.P. MOLLER Jose Antonio Arciniega (23), of Lynwood, California, who was crushed between two trailers and killed while working at a MAERSK facility. The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles County, Los Angeles Superior Court on September 9th, 2022, alleges Maersk dba A.P. Moller, Maersk Damco Distribution Services, Inc., Damco USA, Inc., Lindsey Cook and Sergio Lee were unreasonably dangerous in the operation of the MAERSK warehousing and distribution facility and failed to implement safety policies and protocols to prevent such injuries and death to members of the public who are on site. The lawsuit further alleges that digital photographs of the deceaseds body at the scene of the incident were captured by, and shared with, MAERSK employees, and others, without the knowledge or permission of the deceaseds family. Daniel J. Rafii and Christopher K. Roberts of Rafii & Associates, P.C., represent the Estate on behalf of Mr. Jose Antonio Arciniegas family. The firm has handled numerous cases where public safety has been endangered by the lack of safety precautions employed by transportation facilities and warehouses and have advocated for legislative regulations to protect employees of all companies that do business with and within these warehouses. RAFII & ASSOCIATES, P.C. is one of the nations premier law firms and represents individuals and their families in serious personal injury and wrongful death cases and is renowned for its achievements in the courtroom and for its contributions to the community. The rights and concerns of its clients are the core of Rafii & Associates practice. That commitment, dedication, compassion and relentless drive have resulted in exceptional service and exceptional results for its clients. To contact Christopher K. Roberts or any other California personal injury lawyer at the firm, call (310) 777-7877 or toll free (888) 262-9885. We are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. For information about our law firm go to http://www.rafiilaw.com Media Contact: Jean Paul Zarruk (310) 777-7877 E-mail: jp@rafiilaw.com Deep Isolation Deep Isolation is well-positioned to deliver significant returns on investment in timeframes that are aligned with VC requirements, said Deep Isolation CEO and co-founder Liz Muller. Nuclear has become not only a smart investment but a crucial one." The lack of a viable spent fuel disposal solution remains an obstacle to the increasing global interest in nuclear power that guarantees energy security and helps enable a net zero world. Deep Isolation, a leading innovator in nuclear waste disposal solutions, is today kicking off an opportunity for investors to participate in the only scalable long-term solution for nuclear waste. Deep Isolations advanced disposal technology brings a promising option to break through the nuclear waste disposal stalemate, enabling a more certain future for nuclear energy developers seeking to capitalize on this ESG opportunity. With much of Europe and the world increasingly viewing nuclear as necessary for addressing both energy security and climate change, the market is primed for significant expansion. This expansion is highlighted by the International Energy Agency forecasting that the worlds nuclear capacity will more than double between 2020 and 2050 most of that growth front-loaded. Investor interest is following, with Clean Tech, ESG, and Climate investors all increasingly leaning into advanced reactors, fusion, and ancillary services. One of the most significant enablers for the expanded use of nuclear power is nuclear waste disposal. The U.S. is now investing heavily in nuclear back end, and starting January 1, 2023, all new nuclear power developers across the European Union will be required under the Complementary Climate Delegated Act to establish operational plans for a spent fuel disposal solution to meet Europes climate change aspirations. Deep Isolation is solving the what about the waste? problem. Their solution is elegant, effective, distributed and exactly what nuclear energy communities need, said Valerie Gardner, Managing Partner of Nucleation Capital. Happily, we expect it to be available at the right price and the right time to help enable the growth of next-generation nuclear. To date, Deep Isolation has raised $24 million, including a $21 million Series A raise in 2020 led by nuclear industry leader NAC International, Inc. The companys deep borehole solution provides a new path forward for accessing the $667 billion addressable global nuclear waste disposal market. Deep Isolation is well-positioned to deliver significant returns on investment in timeframes that are aligned with VC requirements, said Deep Isolation CEO and co-founder Liz Muller. Nuclear has become not only a smart investment but a crucial one. In Europe, policymakers have now set a deadline for new nuclear investments to start disposing of their spent fuel by 2050 or earlier and Deep Isolation offers the only timely, scalable, safe, cost-effective option for most countries to meet that deadline. Similar concerns about energy security and climate change are driving demand for our solution globally. The company encourages interested parties to submit investment inquiries by September 23. It will be running a competitive process that will kick off on September 26. Please visit http://www.deepisolation.com/invest-in-deep-isolation to learn more and schedule an introductory meeting. CGTN America releases What has China proposed at SCO Summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan? It was the most important gathering of Eurasian heads of state this year an opportunity to bolster unity, cooperation, and a vision for shared prosperity among the nations of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). In terms of geographic scope and population, the SCO is the worlds largest regional organization. Its members include China, India, Russia, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan the chair of this years summit and newly admitted member, Iran. Together, they account for more nearly two-thirds of the Eurasian land mass, more than 40 percent of the worlds population and, according to the World Bank, nearly a quarter of global GDP. Having granted Iran full membership, the organization also began the process of admitting Belarus, and recognizing Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar as dialogue partners. In his keynote speech, Chinese President Xi Jinping observed that an increasing number of countries have applied to join the SCO, demonstrating the broad appeal of the groups vision and a widely-shared confidence in its future. In a time of accelerated change, uncertainty and transformation, President Xi called for renewed commitment to the Shanghai Spirit, to strengthen trust, promote cooperation to help ensure mutual benefit among all SCO members. President Xi reinforced his call to action with a commitment to enact a series of concrete initiatives, including the creation of a China-SCO training center for counterterrorism, a China-SCO big Data Cooperation Center, as well as emergency humanitarian assistance, providing 1.5 billion RMB (214 million USD) in grain and other supplies to developing countries in need. Xi expressed confidence that SCO nations will together build a peaceful, stable, prosperous, and beautiful home. The Shanghai Spirit is named for Shanghai Chinas most populous city and the city where the SCOs founding nations inaugurated the organization. Click here to read more about What has China proposed at SCO Summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan? https://news.cgtn.com/news/2022-09-16/Xi-Jinping-delivers-speech-at-SCO-summit-in-Samarkand-1dnrViKtBks/index.html FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE. (This material is distributed by MediaLinks TV, LLC on behalf of CCTV. Additional information is available at the U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, D.C.) Wisdom Natural Brands, makers of SweetLeaf Stevia, the countrys oldest and most-awarded natural stevia brand, is celebrating 40 years in the natural products industry in 2022 and it all started with a little leaf in Paraguay in 1982. Wisdom Natural Brands, makers of SweetLeaf Stevia, the countrys first and most-awarded stevia sweetener brand, is celebrating 40 years of bringing stevia to the United States and it all started with a little leaf in Paraguay in 1982. The discovery couldnt have come at a better time. In 1981, the average daily calorie consumption in the United States was 3,200 calories per day, 1,200 calories more than the average recommended calorie intake and too much was coming from sugar. The result was skyrocketing obesity, soaring rates of Type 2 diabetes and a nationwide addiction to the sweet stuff the effects of which we still see today. Jim May, founder of Wisdom Natural Brands, sought a natural way to improve quality of life. The First to Bring Stevia to the Masses May knew there had to be a better way. The stevia plants natural sweetness had the potential to naturally replace sugar without the calories, glycemic response, and adverse health effects. This year marks 40 years since May brought the plant back to the United States. In the beginning, he imported healthful herbal teas from the Amazon rainforest, including whole leaf stevia (from the stevia plant) and stored them in his garage in Phoenix, Arizona. May persuaded local health grocers to add SweetLeaf products to his lines of Wisdom of the Ancients teas they were already carrying. After many years of struggle to introduce stevia and get it accepted as a sweetener, May introduced SweetLeaf Stevia to the marketplace a natural stevia extract that tasted great in coffee, desserts and savory applications. In the 90s, SweetLeaf landed its first products, SweetLeaf Stevia Powder Sweetener and SweetLeaf SteviaClear liquid stevia, on the shelves of natural and specialty stores. Due to government regulations, stevia was originally sold in the supplement aisle. Today, due to Mays intrepid pursuit, stevia can be found alongside sugar and artificial sweeteners as the top all-natural sweetener option. Some of the countrys largest sweetener manufacturers soon followed suit to create a stevia product of their own, but never matched SweetLeafs reputation. Today, SweetLeaf has 38 awards for taste and innovation, including coveted from Progressive Grocer, Tasteful Awards and Global Stevia Products. At its core, SweetLeaf is a family business. Upon Mays passing in 2017 and wife Carol Mays passing in 2021, the stevia legacy has been taken on by the couples son, Michael May, who has brought the brand into the next generation with new products, brand collaborations and the roar of NASCAR. The Next Generation As more information becomes available about the adverse health effects of sugar, Michael May realized the brands reach had the potential to expand outside of its health food store reputation. As we began researching ways to reach a broader audience, it hit me that I watch speeding billboards drive around a racetrack nearly every weekend, said Wisdom Natural Brands President Michael May. We could reach a previously untapped consumer, demonstrate our product and convert a sugar-loving audience to our product by engaging a talented NASCAR driver. This year, SweetLeaf partnered with NASCAR driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and the JTG Daugherty Racing team to have SweetLeaf as a marquee logo on Stenhouses No. 47 Camaro ZL1. We want to congratulate Wisdom Natural Brands on 40 years in the business, Stenhouse said. Their SweetLeaf sweeteners have zero sugars or artificial ingredients and is a healthy alternative for my family and millions of NASCAR fans. I enjoy the natural sugar alternative myself and use it for things like water, yogurt, tea, recipes and more. We look forward to continuing the health-conscious momentum and strengthening our partnership with SweetLeaf Stevia. The Future Looks Sweet The future of SweetLeaf is looking sweet. The stevia market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 8.8% from 2021 to 2028 to reach a $1.11 billion market share by 2028. SweetLeaf stevia and monk fruit products are available at Kroger Family of Companies, Walmart, Sprouts, Whole Foods, Publix, Amazon, and through sweetleaf.com. To learn more about SweetLeaf and its products, visit sweetleaf.com. About Wisdom Natural Brands Wisdom Natural Brands, based in Gilbert, Arizona, has been the leading stevia expert and industry pioneer with its plant-based SweetLeaf brand for 40 years. SweetLeaf has won 38 awards for taste and innovation with their variety of stevia and monk fruit products. SweetLeaf sweeteners have zero sugars, no artificial ingredients, non-GMO and gluten free. SweetLeaf products are available in powder, granular, and liquid forms, making them easy to incorporate into any lifestyle so every day is as sweet as the next. To shop SweetLeafs natural sweeteners, go to http://www.sweetleaf.com, online retailers and select grocery stores. We are delighted to have Oceus as the official sponsor of our Private 5G Cocktail Reception 2022, said Alex Besen, Founder and CEO of The Besen Group LLC. We are looking to forward networking with key private networks industry executives in a sophisticated intimate environment with panoramic views of the casino floor that will include variety of drinks and appetizers. As a global technology innovator providing 5G network solutions to government and commercial enterprise customers, Oceus has deployed over 150+ private cellular systems that are designed, managed and operated by our software suite of tools, said Paul McQuillan, Chief Growth and Strategy Officer of Oceus. Oceus is providing wireless private networks that allow transmitting and receiving across many different data signals, with a software-defined network in deployable configurations, an enterprise on-premise solution or a cloud-based solution. Event registration is by invitation only. Please send an email to rsvp@thebesengroup.com with your RSVP to attend the event. About Oceus Oceus is a global technology innovator providing 5G network solutions to government and enterprise customers. We deliver extensive broadband connectivity with dedicated and dynamic spectrum, massive MIMO, and network slicing in deployable enterprise and cloud-based solutions that solve unique communication and data challenges in a wide range of public and private networks. Our edge computing capabilities provide low latency, ultra-high reliability and enhanced security for wireless IoT devices and applications. The Oceus Intelligent Controller provides software-defined network orchestration using AI/ML to automate the management of 5G enterprise systems and applications. Oceus is headquartered in Reston, Virginia, with Oceus Technologies, our R&D Lab, in Plano, Texas and our integration and Operations Center in The Colony, Texas. About The Besen Group The Besen Group is an international management consulting practice to the mobile industry headquartered in the Washington DC area, with representatives in Paris and Tokyo. Its mission is to provide mobile players with tools, knowledge, and services enabling them to perform optimally in their mobile environment. The Besen Groups competitive edge is based on practical experience with mobile operators, mobile vendors, and a mobile data laboratory. It should be noted that persons who sit for long periods of time with pressure on the end of their spine (tailbone) risk developing herniated discs and other back injuries. OrthoCushs unique wedge design with coccyx cut-out is intended to promote a healthy and safe sitting position. OrthoCush, a premium brand of orthopedic seat cushions is now available to North American consumers online at http://www.orthocush.com. OrthoCush seat cushions provide quick relief from lower back pain and numb buttocks, and also reduce the discomfort of pain, when in a seated position, that may be caused by Hemorrhoids, Piles, Pilonidal disease, and Pilonidal cysts. The OrthoCush product range is comprised of 4 product formats Standard, Firm Standard, Car/Computer, and Firm Car/Computer. Each of the OrthoCush product formats is available in either Navy Blue, Graphite, or Black. The OrthoCush is priced, subject to currency exchange, between $CDN 97.95/$US74.50-$CDN104.95/$US79.50 depending on the product selected. There is NO CHARGE for delivery in Canada or the United States. According to a spokesperson for OrthoCush.com, It should be noted that persons who sit for long periods of time with pressure on the end of their spine (tailbone) risk developing herniated discs and other back injuries. OrthoCushs unique wedge design with coccyx cut-out is intended to promote a healthy and safe sitting position. Working from home? OrthoCush premium seat cushions will add comfort and provide relief from chronic back pain, sore buttocks, and disabilities in the lower body. When ready to return to work, OrthoCush is lightweight and easy to carry to a workplace. OrthoCush.Com is a unit of VMS Rehab Systems, Inc. Ottawa, Ontario Canada. FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION: Certain statements contained in this press release constitute forward-looking information. These statements relate to future events or future performances. The use of any of the words "will" and similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts are intended to identify forward-looking information and are based on the Corporation's current belief or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. Actual future results may differ materially. Various assumptions or factors are typically applied in drawing conclusions or making the forecasts or projections set out in forward-looking information. Those assumptions and factors are based on information currently available to the Corporation. The forward-looking information contained in this release is made as of the date hereof and the Corporation is not obligated to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws. Because of the risks, uncertainties, and assumptions contained herein, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The foregoing statements expressly qualify any forward-looking information contained here. We are excited that more and more people, adults and children, are interested in our commemorative events and put into practice the recommendations we provide to take care of our environment and the species that inhabit it. Dolphin Discovery, a renowned Marine Mammal Habitat and proudly part of The Dolphin Company, announced today that as every year for the past 6 years, it will dedicate a series of events and activities around the International Manatee Day, which is commemorated on September 7th of each year to raise awareness about the care of this endangered species. This year, the entire month will be dedicated to education about the care of this endemic species of our country. The events will be developed both in person and online to increase the reach of the information and all will be for free. Activities will also take place in all the countries where Dolphin Discovery has a presence, including Mexico, the United States, Argentina, Italy, and the Caribbean Islands. "The activities commemorating International Manatee Day are highly important to us. Spreading valuable information that contributes to the conservation of the Manatee is our duty as a Socially Responsible Company that houses this endangered species in its care. We are excited that more and more people, adults and children, are interested in our commemorative events and put into practice the recommendations we provide to take care of our environment and the species that inhabit it," said Rosy Cerrillos, Corporate Manager of Marine Mammal Specialists at The Dolphin Company. This edition will be of great relevance for The Dolphin Company as it will be inclusive. During the conferences on September 21 at the Ka'Yok Planetarium in Cancun, children, teenagers, and adults with diverse disabilities will be in attendance. Some of them will come from associations such as Manos Especiales A.C. and the Centro de Atencion Multiple (CAM) Eduard Huet. More than 100 people with disabilities are expected to attend, who will be able to enjoy the presentations through sensory materials, Braille, and a sign language interpreter. The event's staff and volunteers were also trained to provide excellent attention and care to all visitors. The Dolphin Company has been a Socially Responsible Company for more than 17 years, and every year carries out activities to raise awareness about the care of species such as Sea Lions, Dolphins, and Manatees, working together with society for the welfare of the flora and fauna that surrounds us. About Dolphin Discovery: Dolphin Discovery has contributed, for more than 27 years, to the study and conservation of Marine Mammals, creating bonds of love and respect through the best experience of interaction with these species. The 12 habitats that comprise Dolphin Discovery in Mexico and the Caribbean have welcomed more than 12 million people throughout its history and are proudly part of The Dolphin Company, the largest park operator in Latin America. For more information visit http://www.dolphindiscovery.com and http://www.thedolphinco.com About The Dolphin Company: For more than 27 years, The Dolphin Company, the global park operator, has provided 'The Experience of a Lifetime to more than 16 million visitors at its 35 parks, Dolphin Habitats, and Marinas around the world. With a presence in Mexico, the Caribbean, the United States, Argentina, and Italy, The Dolphin Company offers exciting activities that provide unique and memorable experiences while raising awareness of the importance of animal welfare, preservation, and care of the environment. For more information visit http://www.thedolphinco.com Kaitlin Kelly O'Neill has earned a strong reputation in the clean energy sector; she will play a demonstrative role in how we identify new opportunities in existing markets and add new emerging markets in the United States ECA SOLAR LLC announces the hiring of a Policy Executive with the addition of Kaitlin Kelly ONeill ECA SOLAR, LLC is pleased to announce the hiring of Kaitlin Kelly ONeill of Boston Massachusetts to join our executive team; with responsibilities overseeing our Policy outreach and advocacy. Kaitlins proven career in solar and storage has made her one of the top proven leaders in our space. Her leadership at the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources and Coalition for Community Solar Access has anchored her as a key player in the renewable industry; with in-depth knowledge of the emerging policies. I am thrilled to be joining ECA Solar, and can't wait to help this team continue to grow. It's an exciting time to be a part of the renewable industry and to help ECA Solar be a part of the solution to meeting our climate goals says Kaitlin, Director of Policy. ECA SOLAR takes pride in developing and engineering solar PV and storage systems throughout the Country, including New England and Mid-Atlantic, as well as emerging markets with new distributed generation programs. "Kaitlin has earned a strong reputation in the clean energy sector; she will play a demonstrative role in how we identify new opportunities in existing markets and add new emerging markets in the United States. The Company is fortunate to have her on our Team giving her years of forging relationships in the industry, expressed Todd Fryatt, Founder, and President of ECA SOLAR. About ECA SOLAR, LLC: ECA SOLAR is an integrated engineering, development, and installation firm that specializes in commercial and industrial storage and solar PV systems. This includes large-scale Ground Mounts, Rooftop, and Parking Canopy arrays. ECA SOLAR has been rapidly expanding in New England, the mid-Atlantic, and other promising markets in the mid-West and South. For further information about our company please visit our website: http://www.ecasolar.com. The International Forum on Peace, Security and Prosperity (IFPSP), a not-for-profit corporation with the mission of educating future generations by promoting world peace, today announced a workshop to be held at the English Montreal School Boards (EMSB) Rosemount High School on Wednesday, September 21 the United Nations (UN) International Day of Peace. Entitled End Racism. Build Peace. the workshop aims to increase awareness of UN Peace initiatives, explore misinformation and the promotion of racism, and advance resilience among students. Structured as two 60-minute sessions, the workshop will present models for critical thinking and consensus-building, include discussion and conclude with an action plan. The workshop will be facilitated by Ryan McHugh, a 28-year-old volunteer who has worked with the IFPSP since its foundation. Annually, students at Rosemount High School recognize the International Day of Peace and this workshop will allow our students to further engage with the meaning of the day, says Lino Buttino, Principal, Rosemount High School. We hope that this workshop will lead to enhanced awareness about global issues and initiate change among our students the leaders of tomorrow. "International Peace Day provides an opportunity and a platform for us to discuss the importance of working together and to promote peace in our community, adds Vince Lacroce, Spiritual and Community Animator, EMSB. I am very excited to dialog alongside this team to foster positive change in our community and to help develop and implement programs at our school. We are grateful to Rosemount High School for their support, concludes Steve Gregory, Founder, IFPSP. We hope to roll-out similar workshops across the province, country and beyond. Advancing UN objectives including combatting racism is central to our vision. We also wish to promote our Essay-Writing Contest. Most recently, a student from Montreal came in third place out of hundreds of submissions from all over the world. The next IFPSP will be held in March 2023, hosted virtually and in-person in Sicily, Italy. Earlier this year, the Forum attracted more than 2,500 participants from 35 countries. In 2023, we expect to see that number grow to more than 3,000 participants. Note to Media: Ryan McHugh, Lino Buttino, Vince Lacroce and Steve Gregory are available for telephone, video and in-person interviews. You are also invited to Rosemount High School, 3737 Beaubien E., H1X 1H2, on September 21 at 11:00 AM. About IFPSP The IFPSP is a registered not-for-profit corporation founded in 2019. Its mission is to educate and inform future generations by promoting the establishment and maintenance of lasting peace, security and prosperity. The IFPSP supports the UNs Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 13, 14, 15 and 16, relating to climate change and institutions of justice. For more information, please visit https://psp-forum.org/. Media Contact: Mark Lowe, PRagmatic Communications mark.lowe(at)pragcom.com / (514) 576-2519 "Justpoint is driven to equalize the personal injury industry, said Ryan Morgan, Crossbeam Venture Partners, and Justpoint investor. Their use of A.I. and their people-first approach sets them apart." Justpoint, an artificial intelligence (AI) powered legaltech company working to equalize the legal justice system, was selected from among thousands of applicants from around the world to participate in TechCrunch's Startup Battlefield. As a member of Battlefield, Justpoint joins the best, most innovative startups on stage at the TechCrunch Disrupt event, October 18-20 in San Francisco. With an acceptance rate that varies between 3%-6% each year, and the most competitive batch in TechCrunch history, Justpoint takes its place with founders from across the globe coming together to compete for the attention of top investors. Companies that have launched at Battlefield include Dropbox, Yammer, and Tripit. Since the first competition in 2007, there have been 124 exits, accounting for $9.9 Billion in funding raised. When I first met Victor and learned about Justpoints mission, I was inspired. Justpoint is driven to equalize the personal injury industry by their shared belief that every victim deserves justice, said Ryan Morgan, Crossbeam Venture Partners, and Justpoint investor. Their use of A.I. and their people-first approach sets them apart, and their acceptance into TechCrunchs Battlefield is an exciting acknowledgment of both their mission and momentum. I look forward to seeing what the Justpoint team has in store for us at TechCrunch Disrupt Startup Battlefield and beyond! Victor Bornstein, Justpoint CEO & Co-founder stated, Justpoint was founded to bring transparency, simplicity, and equality to the process of finding litigators and getting justice for personal injury, medical malpractice, class action, and civil rights claims. The acknowledgement as a TechCrunch Battlefield 200 startup is edifying for our vision of reimagining the legal industry. In lieu of event swag and land-filling tchotchkes, Justpoint will be making a charitable donation to The Assistance Fund, a nonprofit, 501c3 that provides under-insured persons with access to critical medical treatments and access to healthcare that they need. For Media Inquires contact mailto:Jocelyn@Justpoint.com [Jocelyn@justpoint.com __title__ null] #### About Justpoint: Justpoint is an Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered legal-tech company that equalizes our legal justice system by matching plaintiffs with attorneys, resulting in settlements 55% more than industry average. Based on proven technology and predictive analytics, Justpoint draws from a database of more than 300,000 historical personal injury, medical malpractice, and insurance claims and lawsuits, with a network of thousands of law firms to then guide prospective claimants in the final selection of their legal representation. This combined AI and human touch approach brings transparency, simplicity, and credibility to the process of finding litigators, and affords plaintiffs the peace of mind that comes from retaining a trusted advocate. By tech-enabling attorneys, legal professionals can focus their efforts on winning cases and best serving their clients. Justpoint's team of attorneys, engineers, and doctors are dedicated to increasing access to justice, its flagship offerings include: personal injury, medical malpractice, medical negligence, class action, and civil rights. For more information, or to share your story seeking justice, visit us at justpoint.com. SiFotonics announced a portfolio of silicon photonics product solutions for telecom and data center applications. The product solutions include 100G-ER1, 400G-ER4, 400G-DR4/800G-DR8 transceiver modules, 100G-400G coherent optical subassembly (COSA) modules. SiFotonics, a pioneer of silicon photonics solutions, today announced a portfolio of silicon photonics product solutions for telecom and data center applications. The product solutions include 100G-ER1, 400G-ER4, 400G-DR4/800G-DR8 transceiver modules, 100G-400G coherent optical subassembly (COSA) modules. 100G-ER1 family of products extended 100G-PAM4 technology to cover over 40km transmission distance, and supports both QSFP28 and SFP56-DD form factors, industry temperature range from -40 to 85C. The product family also supports up to 8 wavelength channels so up to 8x100G can be transmitted over single pair of fiber, or 4x100G can be transmitted bi-directionally over a single fiber. A companion passive O-band WDM filters are also provided as part of a complete solution set. 100G-ER1 family of products effectively leverage on SiFotonics Ge/Si APD receiver technology and increased link loss budget needed for up to 40km transmission. This feature rich family of transceiver module solutions enabled a wide range of optical networking applications, such as 5G front haul, middle haul and back haul, data center interconnections, enterprise networking, etc. 400G-ER4 is an extension of 100G-ER1, with integration of 4 times of 100G capabilities in one compact QSFP-DD form factor. This product solution enables 400Gbps transmission over 30km and is an economical solution for high bandwidth access aggregation, backhaul, and data center interconnect. 400G-DR4/800G-DR8 family of products are based on highly integrated silicon photonics integrated circuits chipsets which included Mach-Zander modulator array, Ge/Si PD array, and analog driver and trans impedance amplifier ICs. The industry leading silicon photonics integrated circuits provides high performance with reduced number of laser chips and can support 400G and 800G over 500meter and 2km reach for hyper data center interconnect applications. The product family also supports both QSFP-DD and OSFP form factors. 100G-400G COSA product family include 32GBaud COSA for 100G-QPSK and 200G-16QAM, and 64GBaud COSA for 400G-16QAM coherent transmission applications. This family of products are based on silicon photonics integrated circuits with complete transmit and receive functions in one chip. The COSA modules also integrated with necessary modulator driver and trans impedance amplifier ICs. Combined with laser source and DSP, these COSA is the core building block for 100G to 400G coherent transceiver modules. Over the last decade, SiFotonics team has developed silicon photonics platform included industry leading Ge/Si PD and APD receiver, coherent integrated circuits, and multi-channel PAM4 modulators. These foundational capabilities enabled wide range of telecom and data center applications, and had been deployed extensively. SiFotonics Ge/Si PDs have been deployed over 100Billion device hours, Ge/Si APDs have been deployed over 10Billion device hours, and Coherent PICs have been deployed over 1Billion device hours. SiFotonics will present Silicon Photonics for Wide Range of Telecom and Datacom applications, at Market Focus on Monday, September 19, ECOC 2022, Basel, Switzerland. About SiFotonics Technologies Co., Ltd. SiFotonics Technologies Co., Ltd. is a leading solution provider for ultra-high-speed data center and 5G wireless optical networking applications with advanced silicon photonics integrated circuits and components as well as customized solutions. SiFotonics was established in 2007 in Massachusetts, US, and has offices and facilities at Boston, San Jose, Taiwan Hsinchu, Hong Kong, Nanjing, Beijing and Shanghai. SiFotonics web site is http://www.sifotonics.com. I want my book to be relatable to nearly anyone who has the desire to learn how to manage their own hard-earned money, Yong said. I wrote this book not only for the young women in my family but for anyone who wants to build a successful financial life. Managing money can be intimidating, scary, and stressful. To help make money easy to understand and to share her desire to educate readers about how to achieve financial success, author Theresa Yong introduces Money Moves: This is not a get-rich-quick scheme! It's a conversation about money." Yong shares her simple resource for people seeking to get a handle on their finances. She explains how to avoid the headaches so often associated with personal financial matters. By following her guide, readers will learn how to build an emergency fund, save for retirement, create a budget, stick to it, and more. I wrote this book as a foundational education for money management, Yong said, Something I believe needs to increase in American society. Yong additionally highlights the importance of financial literacy. She expresses how the earlier people become comfortable with terms like bills, credit, investments, etc., the better equipped they will be to face the challenges of adult living. She encourages her readers to boost their confidence with money as they navigate their future, and the potential to put themselves and their loved ones on the path to wealth with guidance from her book. I want my book to be relatable to nearly anyone who has the desire to learn how to manage their own hard-earned money, Yong said. I wrote this book not only for the young women in my family but for anyone who wants to build a successful financial life. Money Moves: This is not a get-rich-quick scheme! It's a conversation about money By Theresa Yong ISBN: 9798765226322 (softcover); 9798765226346 (hardcover); 9798765226339 (electronic) Available at Author Website, Amazon and Barnes & Noble About the author Theresa Yong is a 20-year veteran of the financial services industry, specializing in retirement planning services for people from all walks of life. Her passion lies in helping people conquer their money fears and achieve their financial goals. An entrepreneur, board member, and outspoken public speaker, she is concerned primarily about the need for greater financial literacy. She lives in the Florida Keys with her husband, two daughters and her dog, Finn. To learn more, please visit: https://www.moneymoves2022.com/ General Inquiries: LAVIDGE Phoenix Taylomoralez7@gmail.com Taylor Moralez Brads remarkable story shows just how important safety checks are to ensure workers return to their families at night. - Express Employment International CEO Bill Stoller Highlighting the importance of workplace safety, Express Employment Professionals is proud to partner with former oilfield worker and workplace accident survivor Brad Livingston for the latest installment of ExpressTalks, a professional development event. ExpressTalks, Just a Second Ago: The Brad Livingston Story will be available to view across the U.S. and Canada on Wednesday, Sept. 21. Participants can register online at ExpressPros.com/ExpressTalks. After surviving back-to-back explosions at work and overcoming a 5% survival rate due to his injuries, Livingston shares what controllable factors lead to workplace accidents and how they are 100% preventable. While he lay on the ground expecting to die, Livingston found himself thinking two thingsfirst, that he had just been involved in two explosions, because after all, It will never happen to me, and second, that It happened so fast. It was just a second ago. Examining how and why the incident happened, Livingston will speak about five factors present in every line of work and in every business that can contribute to preventable workplace accidents: pride, shortcuts, improper perspectives, attitude, and complacency. Brads remarkable story shows just how important safety checks are to ensure workers return to their families at night, Express Employment International CEO Bill Stoller said. We are grateful he has made it his lifes mission to educate others on this topic and join us for this powerful presentation. This program has been approved for one credit hour with SHRM, HRCI, HRPA, and CPHR. ### 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. By bringing together professionals across verticals and disciplines, the 2023 Advisory Board will address the most pressing issues facing the geospatial, 3D and built world environments today, said Lee Corkhill, Group Director at Diversified Communications, organizer of the event. Organizers of Geo Week, the premier event that champions the coming together of geospatial technologies and the built world, have announced an impressive list of influential leaders within the geospatial and built world industries who will be participating on the 2023 events Advisory Board. The 2023 event will take place February 1315, 2023 in Denver, Colorado. By bringing together professionals across verticals and disciplines, the 2023 Advisory Board will address the most pressing issues facing the geospatial, 3D and built world environments today, said Lee Corkhill, Group Director at Diversified Communications, organizer of the event. Board members are at the top of their fields, and they are committed to delivering the best conference and expo the geospatial and built markets have ever seen. Members of the 2023 Advisory Board include: Dr. Qassim Abdullah, Woolpert, Inc. Ashley Chappell, NOAA Kelly Cone, ClearEdge3D Kevin Dowling, Kaarta Martin Flood, GeoCue Group Birgitta Foster, Sandia National Laboratories Thomas Haun, Turner Staffing Group Kourosh Langari, Caltrans Amar Nayegandhi, Dewberry Lindsay Prichard-Fox, TiverBuilt Barbara Ryan, World Geospatial Industry Council (WGIC) Scott Simmons, Open Geospatial Consortium Dr. Jason Stoker, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Daniel Stonecipher, Schneider Electric Dr. Stewart Walker, LIDAR Magazine Jennifer Wozencraft, US Army Corps of Engineers Geoff Zeiss, Between the Poles Bios can be found here. The Advisory Board will assist in developing conference programming comprised of both general sessions and breakout sessions that delve into the full spectrum of data needs, work processes, software integration and standards in both the geospatial and BIM worlds. Specific vertical industries include architecture, engineering, & construction; asset & facility management; disaster & emergency response; earth observation & satellite applications; energy & utilities; infrastructure & transportation; land & natural resource management; mining & aggregates; surveying & mapping; and urban planning / smart cities. Geo Week is such an important event to attend for everybody in the 3D reality capture market, said Martin Flood, Vice President Special Projects at GeoCue Group. From its roots in the earliest days of commercial lidar mapping technology to todays combined conference and tradeshow covering innovations, advances and the growing convergence of 3D mapping technologies across multiple sectors and applications, it really is a cant miss event. Kevin Dowling, Chief Executive Office of Kaarta, agreed, stating that Geo Week represents not just the convergence of all things geospatial but the emergence of many new applications that turn spatial data and sensor information into opportunities for cities, businesses, and organizations to better capture, understand, and deploy this information to radically improve understanding and planning of resources. The digital transformation of our world is a growing and urgent need. Kourosh Langari, BIM Manager at Caltrans reiterates this statement when saying it is difficult to say where technology will be in the future, but what we can predict is that from conception to construction, your project will be virtually available to all concerned stakeholders. The Advisory Board is responsible for recommending conference topics and speakers, reviewing submitted abstracts, consulting on the program, and acting as a resource to develop different aspects of the event. In 2023, the Geo Week conference program will showcase real-world use cases and highlight emerging trends in technology and processes. In addition to the extensive conference program, Geo Week offers a vendor-neutral show floor featuring the newest geospatial and built world products and solutions to qualify and compare. Registration will open in October. Geospatial and built world professionals are encouraged to register early to secure discounted conference pricing, and to fill out the Attendee Inquiry form for event updates. About Geo Week Geo Week is part of a network of events and media for the global geospatial and built markets organized by Diversified Communications, a leading organizer of conferences, trade shows, and online media with 16 years in the technology arena. Geo Week, taking place February 13-15, 2023, reflects the increased integration between the built environment, advanced airborne/terrestrial technologies, and commercial 3D technologies. Powerful partnership events will also take place at Geo Week, including ASPRS (American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing) Annual Conference. Diversified Communications also produces Lidar & Geospatial Newsletter, 3D Technology Newsletter, AEC Innovations Newsletter, GeoBusiness Show (UK), Digital Construction Week (UK), Commercial UAV Expo and Commercial UAV News. For more information, visit http://www.geo-week.com. Contacts: Lora Burns Geo Week Marketing Manager LBurns@divcom.com Schooley-Mitchell ABS owners can help medical professionals do their jobs more efficiently while we provide a blueprint for entrepreneurial success. Our partnerships, like the one with Schooley Mitchell, increase the likelihood of success exponentially. American Business Systems, or ABS, guides entrepreneurs as they set up their own medical billing and patient-management businesses. ABS accomplishes this through its innovative business model, as well as through partnerships with other firms. One such partner is Schooley Mitchell, the largest independent cost reduction consulting firm in North America. Partnerships like the one with Schooley Mitchell provide ABSs client-entrepreneurs with industry-leading billing and complementary software services. In short, it is business ownership with minimal downside and maximum training and support so that industrious people can achieve success on their terms, with access to the best minds in the business. No one succeeds alone, said Phillips. Our goal at ABS is to ensure entrepreneurs have every tool possible so that they can succeed in a business with almost unlimited growth potential. ABS owners can help medical professionals do their jobs more efficiently while we provide a blueprint for entrepreneurial success. Our partnerships, like the one with Schooley Mitchell, increase the likelihood of success exponentially. Schooley Mitchell reduces essential business service expenses by an average of 28% and have delivered over $540 million in documented savings to its 26,000+ clients to date. This is a powerful business partnership that allows our individual entrepreneurs to provide their physician and dentist clients with an array of services beyond billing, Phillips said. It is evidence of our companys original commitment to easing medical billing responsibilities, and our latest commitment to build a generation of entrepreneurs who can live life on their own terms. Phillips concluded by noting this is just one of the many partnerships ABS has with companies providing its clients with the best and most innovative services to assist the medical community, and, in some cases, other industries as well. For more information on how to become an ABSs Business Owner and begin a career providing services to the medical community, interested entrepreneurs should go to the ABS website at https://absystems.com/ and download 5 Secrets of Success. -30- ABOUT AMERICAN BUSINESS SYSTEMS American Business Systems offers aspiring individuals a template for business ownership in the medical billing field with minimal downside and maximum training and support so that hard-working people can achieve success on their terms. For more information, visit http://www.absystems.com. ABOUT SCHOOLEY MITCHELL Schooley Mitchell is the largest independent cost reduction consulting firm in North America, with offices from coast-to-coast in the United States and Canada. On average, the company reduces essential business service expenses by 28% and have delivered over $540 million in documented savings to clients to date. For more information, visit https://www.schooleymitchell.com/thubbard. Ann Patterson, who was born in Austin, Texas, has completed her new book Gabby Raccoon: It's Always Best to Tell the Truth: an engaging and imaginative childrens story that introduces Gabby, a lovable raccoon who is taught right from wrong and knows that telling the truth is always best. Gabby loves to have fun, but this gets him into trouble. Author Ann Patterson did some of her growing up in the city, but most of her childhood was spent up in the hill country where she began to see a lot of the little creatures she writes about in her books. She credits all her writing abilities to God and hopes readers enjoy the book as much as she and her husband, children, and grandchildren have enjoyed it. Author Ann Patterson writes, Once upon a time, there was a little raccoon named Gabby. Gabby came from a good family. Bessell was their name. She continues, now, Mom and Dad Bessell taught Gabby to always tell the truth and, if he had something to say about someone, to say something good. Published by Page Publishing, Ann Pattersons exciting tale takes readers along for Gabbys adventures and invites them to allow Gabby, along with his family and friends, to become a part of their families. Readers who wish to experience this creative work can purchase Gabby Raccoon: It's Always Best to Tell the Truth at bookstores everywhere, or online at the Apple iTunes Store, Amazon, Google Play, or Barnes and Noble. For additional information or media inquiries, contact Page Publishing at 866-315-2708. About Page Publishing: Page Publishing is a traditional, full-service publishing house that handles all the intricacies involved in publishing its authors books, including distribution in the worlds largest retail outlets and royalty generation. Page Publishing knows that authors need to be free to create, not mired in logistics like eBook conversion, establishing wholesale accounts, insurance, shipping, taxes, and so on. Pages accomplished writers and publishing professionals allow authors to leave behind these complex and time-consuming issues and focus on their passion: writing and creating. Learn more at http://www.pagepublishing.com. Ms. Elaine Maskel, an award-winning poet with Jamaican roots, has completed her new book The Rasta Girl Who Escapes from Babylon: a gripping story told through the eyes of a Rasta Girl. Maskel has been writing for the past thirty years. She has received the Editors Choice Award for her poetry in 1997. Her works also appear in the poetry anthology The Night Falls of Diamonds and have appeared on the Tukie Williams Show, Jamie Foxx Network of Poetry show contest, and she will be attending numerous venues. In addition to Rasta Girl, Ms. Maskel is also the author of The Gift of the Most High: A Collection of Poems, and a children storybook called My Cat Lucky, and two CDs out on the market, called the Gifts of Most High: A Collections of Poems, and another Call Money Make You Love Me, Elaine Maskel Raw and Uncut, along with two DVDs, and several TV commercials, which have been previewed on Bounce TV network and YouTube TV. She was a thirteen-time top ten winner on ReverbNation as well. Fans can catch Ms. Maskel at any time on most of iTunes internet stations and on Radio Airplay and always encourages fans to follow their dreams as she has. Published by Page Publishing, Maskels tale is not for the faint of heart. There is sex, lies, murder, violence, and war in Natashas quest to reach Mt. Zion, and all the tribulations and confrontations that a Rasta must experience, and explore in this exciting book. Maskel invites readers along for a thrilling journey with Princess Natasha, There are many twists and turns that will keep you turning the pages. Enjoy the ride! It took several hundred pages of manuscript and over thirteen years of labor for Rasta Girl to become this unique book that weaves fiction into reality from a Rasta perspective. Readers will go along for the ride as the heroine travels across international borders while at the same time confronting various trials in her quest to escape Babylonon a spiritual journey to get to her true earthly home: Ethiopia. The main character, Princess Natasha, was born on the island of Jamaica. She was taught the Rasta way, as her father thought it should be. Her father suddenly passes away, and she moves to Philadelphia with her younger brother. There, they encounter extreme prejudice and the shock of being forced to live in a foreign culture: Babylon! After meeting Jamal, her journey takes her into a Catholic boarding home, but after staying there for a while, Jamal convinces her to move to Washington with him. Once there, Natasha begins to experience mysterious revelations about Jamal as his true character is revealed. Natasha quickly finds herself in the unfortunate position of having to confront and defeat secret enemies. Readers who wish to experience this thrilling work can purchase The Rasta Girl Who Escapes from Babylon at bookstores everywhere, or online at the Apple iTunes Store, Amazon, Google Play, or Barnes and Noble. For additional information or media inquiries, contact Page Publishing at 866-315-2708. About Page Publishing: Page Publishing is a traditional, full-service publishing house that handles all the intricacies involved in publishing its authors books, including distribution in the worlds largest retail outlets and royalty generation. Page Publishing knows that authors need to be free to create, not mired in coordination like eBook conversion, establishing wholesale accounts, insurance, shipping, taxes, and so on. Pages accomplished writers and publishing professionals allow authors to leave behind these complex and time-consuming issues and focus on their passion: writing and creating. Learn more at http://www.pagepublishing.com. Our mission is to improve the lives of millions, worldwide. Working with great partners like Gaize helps make this mission a success, by providing the clinical evidence needed to bring Impairment Detection Devices like this to market, and make our roads safer. - Peter Wojewnik, Partner, dicentra dicentra, a world-renowned Contract Research Organization (CRO) and global consulting firm, is pleased to announce that it has opened participant enrolment for a new groundbreaking cannabis impairment study with its client, Gaize. The study is seeking 350 participants to volunteer at dicentras clinical research site in Toronto, Canada. Cannabis use can negatively impact a drivers ability to safely operate a motor vehicle by affecting motor skills, slowing reaction time, and impairing short-term memory and concentration. Despite this, according to research done at Western University, drug-impaired driving increased by 43% in the first full year after Canadas federal legalization of cannabis. This statistic is further compounded by findings from 2021s Canadian Cannabis Survey that one in four cannabis users admit to having operated a vehicle while under the influence of cannabis. Approved alcohol screening devices (ASDs) have been available to law enforcement agencies for over four decades. These devices provide an easy means of ascertaining both the presence and the concentration of alcohol at a roadside traffic stop. Unlike alcohol, there are currently no comparable screening devices to ascertain the level of cannabis impairment. In fact, studies suggest that the Standardized Field Sobriety Test (SFST), and roadside oral fluid screening may be unreliable measures of cannabis impairment. The Gaize Cannabis Impairment Detection Device administers an automated standardized field sobriety eye test and captures high-definition eye movement video. The eye movement data is used to determine cannabis intoxication and the captured footage is securely stored and can later be used as evidence to demonstrate the signs and symptoms of impairment. This product simultaneously tackles the issue of safety, accuracy, and fair and reliable evidence in potential prosecution and defense cases. The implications of this study on road safety are immense. Thats what makes studies like this one so important, says Peter Wojewnik, Partner, at dicentra. Part of our mission is to improve the lives of millions, worldwide. Working with great partners like Gaize helps make this mission a success, by providing the clinical evidence necessary to bring Cannabis Impairment Detection Devices like this to market, and help make our roads safer. The Gaize Cannabis Impairment Detection Device was designed specifically to provide a safe and reliable investigational device for cannabis detection, says Ken Fichtler, CEO at Gaize. Our proprietary cannabis detection software is the first of its kind to be used in a VR headset. This study will help us to determine how safe, effective, and reliable our device is. dicentras Toronto site will allow for fast recruitment of participants due to its downtown location being located on multiple transit routes, providing access to millions of potential participants within a 20-mile radius. dicentra prides itself on having the capacity to recruit participants quickly to meet the needs of clinical trial sponsors, offering a state-of-the-art clinical research clinic strategically located in the heart of Toronto, Canada. To participate in this trial, or inquire about upcoming clinical trials, please visit: https://cannabis.vitalabs.clinic/ About Gaize Gaize was created with a singular goal in mind. We see a world where the inevitable legalization of cannabis has been met with a technology that keeps roads and workplaces safe. We strongly believe that our approach is uniquely well suited to the challenges that cannabis impairment presents. Were going to succeed because we must! https://www.gaize.ai/ About dicentra dicentra is a leading Contract Research Organization (CRO) and global consulting firm that specializes in addressing all matters related to safety, quality, and compliance for all product categories in the life sciences and food industries. We evaluate, implement, and provide all the necessary support for products and operations to gain market access and build confidence in your brand. We achieve this through our three business divisions: consulting, clinical trials, and certifications. Since our inception in 2002, we have completed over 24,000 projects and serviced over 1,400 companies internationally. https://dicentra.com/ Karen's extensive background and deep finance expertise make her a valued addition to the team. Catalent, the global leader in enabling biopharma, cell, gene, and consumer health partners to optimize the development, launch, and supply of better patient treatments across multiple modalities, today announced the appointment of Karen Santiago as Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer. Karen will become a member of the Companys Executive Leadership Team and serve as its principal accounting officer. Prior to joining Catalent, Karen spent 19 years with Bristol-Myers Squibb in various roles of increasing responsibility, including Senior Vice President & Corporate Controller, Principal Accounting Officer from 2018 to 2022, and Lead Enabling Functions and Finance Transformation from 2016 to 2018. Since 2013, she has served on the board of The Arc of New Jersey, the state's largest organization advocating for and serving children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families. She holds a Masters in Business Administration and a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Rutgers University. I am delighted to welcome Karen to lead our accounting function, commented Thomas Castellano, Senior Vice President, and Chief Financial Officer. Her extensive background and deep finance expertise make her a valued addition to the team. Notes for Editors About Catalent Catalent is the global leader in enabling pharma, biotech, and consumer health partners to optimize product development, launch, and full life-cycle supply for patients around the world. With the broad and deep scale and expertise in development sciences, delivery technologies, and multi-modality manufacturing, Catalent is a preferred industry partner for personalized medicines, consumer health brand extensions, and blockbuster drugs. Catalent helps accelerate over 1,000 partner programs and launch over 150 new products every year. Its flexible manufacturing platforms at over 50 global sites supply around 80 billion doses of nearly 8,000 products annually. Catalents expert workforce of approximately 19,000 includes more than 3,000 scientists and technicians. Headquartered in Somerset, New Jersey, the company generated nearly $5 billion in revenue in its 2022 fiscal year. For more information, visit http://www.catalent.com. More products. Better treatments. Reliably supplied. To reaffirm its commitment to sustainable development impacting the 16 countries where it operates and as part of its investment plan for the next three years, Corporacion Multi Inversiones (CMI) will invest roughly $1.8 billion that will be used for job creation, infrastructure improvement, innovation and social projects. From this amount, $480 million will be used for projects in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. Guided by our purpose to feed the world to fill it with wellness, we are proud to tell this news that impacts positively to the economics of the countries where we operate, to our company and all our value chain, Jose Gregorio Baquero, CEO of CMI Foods. Today, we share with the public the biggest investment that CMI has made in all its history a result of the effort of more than 40 thousand collaborators that are part of this big family. According to Baquero, this investment strengthens the company's value chain in infrastructure, technology, innovation and sustainability. CMI strengthens its capacities in competitive markets and environments. With this investment, CMI will promote its products and services and add new jobs to give people new opportunities for development and wellness. CMI Foods will expand its protein business in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras with the opening of new poultry fattening farms. It will also assign resources to help grow its recognized brands in the Central America region and Mexico, like Pollo Campero, Pollo Granjero, Don Pollo, and Pizza Siciliana. With an investment of almost $190 million in the United States, Pollo Campero anticipates opening more than 100 new restaurants. Meanwhile, CMI Capital will continue generating impact investments that promote sustainable development, with an investment estimated of $790 million. "Our investments in business in renewable energies will allow us to continue expanding our presence in Central America and reach new geographies in Latin America, consolidate us in the region like a bigger private platform and allow us to diversify geographically and technologically, said Enrique Crespo, CEO of CMI Capital. Invest in renewable energies contribute to decarbonizing the energetic matrixes, avoiding the issue of approximately 1 million 685 thousand tons of CO2 to the environment annually. Sustainable Development with a Positive Impact With sustainable investments, CMI will strengthen its strategy with attention to three priorities: nutrition, environment and development programs. Regarding the environment, it plans to address water use, waste management and climate change. In the last eight years, CMI Foods has avoided the emission of more than 125 thousand tons of CO2. We will continue investing to developing the geographies in which we have a presence like we have done for more than 100 years, with the most high-quality standards, respect to human rights and a strong commitment to the care, protection and conservation of the environment, said Crespo. With this historical investment, we reaffirm our commitment to the region, creating opportunities that promote sustainable development with impacts on people, families and communities and consolidate, as a fundamental actor, for the promotion of sustainable development, food security and economic growth, said Baquero. Representatives from Crowley, Eastern Pacific Shipping and Hyundai Mipo Dockyard at the charter agreement signing. These four ships will play a significant part in driving Crowleys strategic growth in our supply chain services for the U.S., Central America and Caribbean. U.S. shipping and logistics company Crowley has awarded Singapore-based Eastern Pacific Shipping (EPS) a contract for the charter of four newbuild containerships powered by liquified natural gas (LNG) for Crowleys U.S.-Central America trade. Using LNG significantly lowers vessel greenhouse gas emissions, such as sulfur oxide, carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide while eliminating particulate matter compared with conventional diesel fuel. In addition, these vessels will be fitted with high-pressure ME-GI engines from MAN Energy Solutions, reducing methane slippage to negligible levels and making these vessels the most environmentally efficient in their category. Each vessel, which will have capacity for 1,400 TEUs (20-foot container equivalent units), will feature 300 refrigerated unit plugs to reliably transport perishable cargo. Operating under a long-term time charter to Crowley, the ships will expand Crowleys fleet and supply chain capabilities connecting U.S. markets to Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. We are excited to develop our U.S. market footprint through these long-term time charters with such a reputable partner, said EPS CEO Cyril Ducau. Like EPS, Crowley enjoys a rich history and diverse business portfolios, but more importantly, their organization is driven by a vision to lead the industrys decarbonization efforts. Once delivered, these vessels will be IMO 2030 compliant five years ahead of schedule and will play an important role as the world and industry transition to cleaner energy sources. These four ships will play a significant part in driving Crowleys strategic growth in our supply chain services for the U.S., Central America and Caribbean. In addition, the vessels use of LNG and emissions technology will advance the companys commitment to innovation and decarbonization in the shipping industry as part of our sustainability strategy, said Tom Crowley, company chairman and CEO. As more companies diversify their supply chains using nearshoring and the resources of Central America, Crowley will enhance our end-to-end logistics services to be partners in their growth. The vessels will be built by Koreas Hyundai Mipo Dockyard and are slated for delivery in 2025. 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 $2.9 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 five business units: Crowley Logistics, Crowley Shipping, Crowley Solutions, Crowley Fuels and Crowley Wind Services. Additional information about Crowley, its business units and subsidiaries can be found at http://www.crowley.com. About Eastern Pacific Shipping With a history spanning 60 years, Eastern Pacific Shipping Pte. Ltd. (EPS) is a leading shipping company that is committed to the green and technology-driven growth of the industry. Headquartered in Singapore for the past 30 years, EPS is driven by its mission to be the safe and efficient transportation provider of choice to the shipping industry. Empowering that mission is a 6,000 strong and growing workforce across sea and shore. They oversee a versatile fleet of over 200 vessels and 20 million deadweight-tonnes across three core segments of containership, dry bulk, and tanker vessels. EPS shore team is fully integrated with in-house commercial, finance, innovation, IT, legal, manning, operations, and technical departments. Emmett Till and his mother Mamie Till-Mobley The thing I want families to take away from this is that we can learn from the past on what NOT to do and we can improve on race relations at this time.- Reverend Wheeler Parker Let the world see what they did to my boy, are the heart-wrenching words spoken by Mamie Till-Mobley who insisted upon an open casket for her 14-year-old Black son who was brutally tortured and murdered for whistling at a White woman in Money, Mississippi in 1955. It all started in August of 1955. Fun-loving, Emmett Till could hardly wait to visit family in Mississippi. The 14-year-old grew up near Chicago and had never ventured far from home. After stern warnings from his mother about racism and social etiquette in the South, he took a summer trip to visit relatives in Mississippi with his great uncle and cousin, Wheeler Parker. That trip and a visit to the local store changed their lives forever. They came out of the store and Emmett loved to make people laugh telling people jokes. He wolf whistled right there in front of the store and we could have just died, said Rev. Wheeler Parker Jr., Emmetts cousin. Later, the husband and brother-in-law of the woman who Emmett whistled at, abducted 14-year-old Emmett from his Great Uncle Moses home in the middle of the night. I heard them coming. In walked this guy- his name was Milam, said Parker. He had a pistol in one hand and a flashlight in the other. I was shaking, literally shaking like a leaf on a tree. To hear more of Reverend Parker's comments, click here (password is silo2022). This is just one of the memories youll hear from the last surviving eye-witness to the kidnapping and the subsequent brutal murder of Emmett Till. The Emmett Till & Mamie Till-Mobley: Let the World See exhibit created by the Till family, Emmett Till & Mamie Till-Mobley Institute, Emmett Till Interpretive Center, and The Childrens Museum of Indianapolis will travel to seven cities before being permanently displayed steps away from where the trial for his murder took place in the Second District Tallahatchie County Courthouse in Sumner, MS. The exhibit shares how a mothers bravery and fight for justice more than six decades ago fueled the civil rights movement in America. When Emmetts body arrived in Chicago, his mother insisted on an open casket so the world could see the ugly face of hatred and racism. Historic markers installed near the Tallahatchie River (acknowledging where Emmett Tills lifeless body was recovered) have been continually stolen, shot at, and vandalized. One sign made headlines after a group of students from the University of Mississippi posed in front of it with rifles and then posted their photo on Instagram in March of 2019. That shot-riddled sign will be on display to show that racism continues today as people try to destroy the memory of what happened to 14-year-old Emmett Till. Rev. Wheeler Parker wants people to know, History is history. Its not who we are today. What matters is what we choose to do about it today. So what are you going to do? Executive Director of the Emmett Till Interpretive Center, Patrick Weems, hopes it means people will take positive action, Despite the repeated vandalism of these signs, our community has united again and again to replace them to tell the truth about what happened to Emmett Till. We believe that telling the truth about these acts of violence and injustice is the first step towards racial healing. These vandalized signs show just how much further we have to go to combat racism in our country. Learning more about Emmett Tills story is difficult, but I believe its crucial for families to understand what happened during the cruel and senseless tragedy to help people heal from prejudice and discrimination and to prevent senseless acts of violence today said Jennifer Pace Robinson, president, and CEO, The Childrens Museum of Indianapolis. Families will also learn how two of Emmett Till's murderers were tried & found not guilty in just 67 minutes by an all-White, all-male jurydespite eye-witness testimony from Emmett's great uncle, Moses Wright. His murderers later confessed and were paid $4,000.00 for their story by Look magazine. Facilitators within the exhibit will share conversation starters to help families understand what happened during the Jim Crow era and reflect. There is also a Building Bridges workshop that will guide visitors to turn a fence into a bridgesymbolizing ways to break down racial barriers. An actor lead performance will feature a social justice educator and their reflection on the negative response they received after sharing Emmett Tills story with students. Three years in the making, the Emmett Till & Mamie Till-Mobley: Let the World See (http://www.emmetttillexhibit.org) exhibit made its national debut at The Childrens Museum of Indianapolis this weekend and will run through October 30, 2022. It will then make a historic tour across the United States traveling to the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute in Alabama, Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library in Washington, DC, Two Mississippi Museums in Mississippi, DuSable Museum of African American History in Illinois, Atlanta History Center in Georgia and National Civil Rights Museum in Tennessee before reaching its permanent destination at the Emmett Till Interpretive Center in Sumner, Mississippi. This historic exhibit is recommended for ages 10 years old and older. RECENT CHANGE Learn more about Emmett Till Historic Landmarks as part of the Civil Rights Trail and historic sites. After 100 years and 200 failed attempts, a bill named the Emmett Till Antilynching Act was finally passed in March 2022. It criminalizes lynching and makes it punishable by up to 30 years in prison. Exhibit developers hope visitors will feel empowered to stand up against racial violence and to make a difference in their own communities. Rev. Wheeler Parkers memoir: A Few Days Full of Trouble published by Random House, to be released January 10, 2023, tells the story of his friendship and his search for justice for his cousin and best friend, Emmett Till. To learn more about the Emmett Till story, watch the ABC mini-documentary series called, Let the World See. This project was made possible in part by The National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom, the Maddox Foundation in Hernando, MS, The Institute for Museum and Library Services [MH-249226-OMS-21], and The Historic Preservation Fund administered by the National Park Service, Department of the Interior [15.904]. The Childrens Museum of Indianapolis is proud to partner with Riley Childrens Health, Old National Bank, Ice Miller LLP, and the Heritage Group. About the Emmett Till & Mamie Till-Mobley Institute The Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley Institute, a non-profit organization, is engaged in research and social justice advocacy. We are dedicated to preserving the memory and historical significance of the life and death of Emmett Louis Till, and preserving the social action legacy of his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, to foster educational opportunities and civic engagement among youth. Our focus is on funding research, education, and public programs aimed at encouraging enlightened participation in the democratic process and working to build and maintain a civil society. For more information about the Till Institute, visit http://www.tillinstitute.org. About the Emmett Till Interpretive Center The Emmett Till Interpretive Center was formed to confront the brutal truth of the 1955 murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till in the Mississippi Delta and to seek justice for the Till family and Delta community. The Center aims to tell the story of Emmett Till and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, as an act of restorative justice to create the conditions necessary to begin the process of racial healing in Mississippi and across the nation. About The Children's Museum of Indianapolis The Children's Museum of Indianapolis is a nonprofit institution committed to creating extraordinary learning experiences across the arts, sciences, and humanities that have the power to transform the lives of children and families. For more information about The Children's Museum, visit http://www.childrensmuseum.org, follow us on Twitter @TCMIndy, Instagram@childrensmuseum, YouTube.com/IndyTCM, and Facebook. Neeraj Satija The metaverse offers the perfect opportunity to create financial products and services that allow customers to become more financially literate and in control of their own data. According to the 2020 TIAA Institute-GFLEC Personal Finance Index, only 52% of U.S. adults are financially literate as measured through a series of questions covering topics such as investing, insuring, saving, and comprehending risk. At the same time, this lack of financial literacy is creating an increased dependency on centralized financial institutes. However, consumers reliant upon these large financial institutions are running into transparency issues. Customers who do not want their financial data to be shared must manually opt out often with limited options to do so. Simultaneously, nearly 90% of consumers believe that there should be an opt-in standard in place rather than an opt-out standard. Enter disruptor Neeraj Satija, Co-Founder and CEO at Lucrisma and PSAG, who believes in educating consumers by demystifying some of the most complex financial concepts. Through the use of decentralized financial services in the metaverse, Satija is paving the way for consumers to interact with their finances in a fully transparent way. With 24 years of experience in the technology industry, Satija is now passionately leading the way in changing how consumers interact with their finances. Satija explains: 1) Disruptive innovation should be something that propels a space forward while helping humanity. 2) Customers deserve to be educated about finances, which can be done by demystifying some of the most complex concepts. 3) The current status quo of financial services is a centralized system. There is usually a middleman or a number of middlemen in between customers and their service providers. 4) The control is not with the customer. Its a lopsided equation. This allows centralized financial institutions to jack up prices when they feel like it and allows them to have access to more of a customers data than they need. This has also led to a lack of transparency around how customer data is being sold and shared with third parties. 5) Decentralization of financial services will mean that there is no longer a centralized entity. Instead, two peers (the customer and the service provider) can deal with each other directly without needing a middleman. Consumers will be able to decide who gets access to their data and how much. 6) Decentralization is at the foundation of the new metaverse. Instead of viewing the internet as a collection of different websites, apps, and micro sites, the metaverse envisions a virtual world, which is interactive. 7) The metaverse offers the perfect opportunity to create financial products and services that allow customers to become more financially literate and in control of their own data. Disruption Interruption is the podcast where youll hear from todays biggest Industry Disruptors. Learn what motivated them to bring about change and how they overcome opposition to adoption. Disruption Interruption can be listened to via the Podbean app, and is available on Apples App Store and Google Play. About Disruption Interruption: Disruption is happening on an unprecedented scale, impacting all manner of industries MedTech, Finance, IT, eCommerce, shipping and logistics, and more and COVID has moved their timelines up a full decade or more. But WHO are these disruptors, and when did they say, THATS IT! IVE HAD IT!? Time to Disrupt and Interrupt with host Karla Jo KJ Helms, veteran communications disruptor. KJ interviews bad a**es who are disrupting their industries and altering economic networks that have become antiquated with an establishment resistant to progress. She delves into uncovering secrets from industry rebels and quiet revolutionaries that uncover common traits and not-so-common that are changing our economic markets and lives. Visit the worlds key pioneers that persist to success, despite arrows in their backs at http://www.disruptioninterruption.com. About Karla Jo Helms: Karla Jo Helms is the Chief Evangelist and Anti-PR Strategist for JOTO PR Disruptors. Karla Jo learned firsthand how unforgiving the business world can be when millions of dollars are on the line and how the control of public opinion often determines whether one company is happily chosen or another is brutally rejected. Being an alumni of crisis management, Karla Jo has worked with litigation attorneys, private investigators, and the media to help restore companies of goodwill back into the good graces of public opinion Karla Jo operates on the ethic of getting it right the first time, not relying on second chances and doing what it takes to excel. Helms speaks globally on public relations, how the PR industry itself has lost its way and how, in the right hands, corporations can harness the power of Anti-PR to drive markets and impact market perception. About Neeraj Satija: Neeraj Satija has 24 years of experience in the Technology industry, during which he has held various Tech Leadership positions with organizations like Edge196, Datatel Solutions, 2degrees Mobile Limited New Zealand (2degrees), IBM, and HP-EDS. Neeraj is passionate about pursuing disruptive innovation and enjoys the process of building teams and strong organizations. Nothing demonstrates this more than his extensive start-up experience in different countries USA, New Zealand, Australia, and Saudi Arabia. Two of these start-ups achieved over a billion-dollar valuation: 2degrees and Mobily. Source: 1) Yakoboski, Paul; Lusard, Annamaria; Hasler, Andrea. The 2020 TIAA Institute-GFLEC Personal Finance Index. Retrieved 26 August 2022. https://gflec.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/TIAA-Institute-GFLEC_2020-P-Fin-Index_April-2020.pdf 2) Murphy, Dan; Tescher, Jennifer. Policymakers must enable consumer data rights and protections in financial services. Brookings, 20 October, 2021. https://www.brookings.edu/research/policymakers-must-enable-consumer-data-rights-and-protections-in-financial-services/ The Faith Giant Series: (Faith Giantship): a thoughtful discussion of what living in faith truly means. The Faith Giant Series: (Faith Giantship) is the creation of published author Ebby Bonsu, who was formally educated at Opoku Ware School in Kumasi, Ghana, and later graduated from University of Ghana with a bachelors degree in business administration (management/sociology). He later worked for Barclays Bank of Ghana in Accra, Ghana, in sales management. Bonsu currently resides in New York. Bonsu shares, The Faith Giant Series was incubated years ago after thorough readings and research on faith and inspiration. No matter how idealistic or utopian the idea of faith sounds, it is realistically practicable when its principles are applied. The book serves as a blueprint or manual in our day-to-day, practical walk of faith. Faith is scripturally defined as the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Thus, genuine faith is still recognized as faith even when it is not visibly seen. The Faith Giant Series is written in the form of easily digestible wisdom nuggets. It provides basic lessons on the principles of faith using faith giant personalities and stories, and it primarily targets the youth. It also gives practical and simplistic guidelines, principles, and examples of men and women who endured through faith to achieve fantastic results in life. It is certainly a must-read for everyone in all walks of life who are seeking great results and success. Published by Christian Faith Publishing, Ebby Bonsus new book will encourage reflection and a refocus of ones efforts toward living a life in line with the principles detailed within. Bonsu shares in hopes of empowering and encouraging the next generation of potential Faith Giants to walk in faith and hold trust in God. Consumers can purchase The Faith Giant Series: (Faith Giantship) at traditional brick & mortar bookstores, or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble. For additional information or inquiries about The Faith Giant Series: (Faith Giantship), contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919. Garys Wine & Marketplace, one of the largest fine wine businesses in the New York metropolitan area with four locations in New Jersey and one location in Napa, announces that Bryan McCall, Master Sommelier Candidate, will be joining the company as Wine Director at their St. Helena location in Napa Valley. McCall is no stranger to Napa. He joins Garys Wine & Marketplace after spending four years as Sommelier at The French Laundry, Chef Thomas Kellers three-Michelin-star restaurant. There his deep knowledge of wine was used to recommend some of the best, rarest, and most expensive wines the world has to offer. Prior to The French Laundry, McCall held sommelier positions across California, including the Michelin-star, Grand Award-winning Restaurant Gary Danko. Were committed to delivering high quality customer service and bringing someone on as attentive and knowledgeable as Bryan is an extension of our philosophy at Garys, says Founder and CEO of Garys Wine & Marketplace, Gary Fisch. We believe Bryans passion for creating a memorable experience, and expertise in the industry will make him a trusted guide in our world of fine wine. Ive always believed wine is about connecting people, says McCall. Gary has built a tremendously successful business without losing sight of creating a personal customer experience. I admire his contributions to the community and look forward to joining Garys Wine & Marketplace mission of enhancing our guests shopping experience and their enjoyment of the products that we sell. About Garys Wine & Marketplace Garys Wine & Marketplace began as a small wine shop in Madison, N.J., in 1987, and has grown to become one of the largest fine wine businesses in the New York metropolitan area, with four stores in northern New Jersey and a fifth store in Napa Valley, California. Garys team of wine experts makes it the preferred white-glove partner for major corporations for customizable events, including virtual tastings and corporate gifting. Commitment to friendly, attentive service by its expert wine team, and a myriad of wine and food events for the public, sets Garys apart from other wine stores. Gilbane is a proud long-time supporter of the ACE Mentor Program because of its critical work to engage students in the A/E/C industry and support their growth beyond high school graduation, said Tom Laird, President & CEO, Gilbane Building Company. Gilbane Building Company tomorrow will join with the ACE Mentor Program of America to celebrate the 2022 ACE Day of Action. Gilbane is a long-time supporter of the ACE Mentor Program which aims to engage, excited, and inspire high school students to pursue careers in architecture, engineering, and construction through mentoring and continued support for their advancement into the industry. With active participation in 17 states and over 30 cities, Gilbane employees mentor ACE students providing hands-on industry exposure, while supporting future career development and economic inclusion. Gilbane has over 100 active mentors, board members and volunteers engaged with the ACE Mentor Program. Gilbane is a proud long-time supporter of the ACE Mentor Program because of its critical work to engage students in the A/E/C industry and support their growth beyond high school graduation, said Tom Laird, President & CEO, Gilbane Building Company. We know that program alumni demonstrate capacity, maturity, and competence when they enter our industry. ACE has extended industry mentoring and internships to support underrepresented college students which is an important part of helping to diversify the industrys pipeline of talent. For Gilbane, its a win-win to support the program: our employees who are ACE mentors enjoy giving back as role models and the program is helping to cultivate the next generation of builders. We encourage our peers and partners across the industry to get involved in supporting the ACE Mentor Program, said Laird. This third annual ACE Day of Action calls on all constituents to share information, register as mentors, sign up students, and make donations to local affiliates. Day of Action is intended to mobilize the design and construction industry to show their support for mentoring on all their social media platforms. Companies participating in #ACEDay2022 are encouraged to use the templates and materials provided by the ACE National Office or to create their own unique content. About the ACE Mentor Program Founded in 1994, ACE, which stands for Architecture, Construction and Engineering, works to engage, excite and enlighten high school students to pursue careers in architecture, engineering and construction through mentoring and to support their continued advancement in the industry. The main objective is to work with underrepresented students that do not have the guidance and support to help them uncover opportunities for their future. Volunteer industry professionals mentor students and lead them through a hands-on simulation of designing and constructing buildings. Statistical Profile ACE Mentor Program ACE currently operates in 75+affiliates covering 36 states, the District of Columbia, Canada, and in more than 200 cities. Over 10,000 students and 4,000 mentors participate in a typical year. ACE has awarded over $25 million in scholarships to students since its founding. Each year, ACE Mentor firms contribute more than $17.5 million worth of pro bono time in volunteer hours. 95% of ACE graduates enroll in higher education and 3/4 enter majors linked to the design and construction industry. Students come from over 1,450 high schools in a typical year. Almost 70% of ACE students identify as persons of color and over 40% are young women* o (2020 US Bureau of Labor Statistics: Construction Workforce: 11%, A&E Workforce: 17%) Proven Outcomes ACE Mentor Program participants graduate high school at a greater rate than non-ACE participants. ACE increases the diversity in architecture, construction and engineering program enrollment. Female ACE Mentor Program participants enter college engineering programs at double the national rate of their non-ACE counterparts More low-income students participate in the ACE Program than other afterschool programs. About Gilbane Building Company Gilbane provides a full slate of construction and facilities-related services from pre-construction planning and integrated consulting capabilities to comprehensive construction management, general contracting, design-build, and facility management services for clients across various markets. Founded in 1870 and still a privately held, family-owned company, Gilbane has more than 45 office locations worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.gilbaneco.com. Fig Factor Media announces its new Chief Operating Officer Gabriela Hernandez Franch. Im looking forward to developing our team and enhancing our processes in better serving our clients, I envision continued growth for FFM and cultivating new partnerships with the community and other industry leaders. The future looks very bright and Im excited to be a part of it. Fig Factor Media Publishing (FFM), an international publishing company located in Naperville, Illinois, announces the appointment of Gabriela Hernandez Franch as chief operating officer. FFM, whose mission celebrates authors through quality books, expert marketing/PR, event production, and creative product development, is known for its many anthologies and nonfiction, business, and childrens works. Franch joined Fig Factor Media in 2019 as a project manager and author concierge. She is also a graduate of the University of Illinois at Chicago with a bachelors degree in Spanish and a minor in biology. She is a volunteer program facilitator and mentee for the nonprofit Fig Factor Foundation and the director of membership for the nonprofit Young Catholic Professionals Chicago Chapter. Franch was also recently named an honoree for the Publicity Club of Chicagos 30 Under 30 Awards in 2020 and 2021. In her new role as Chief Operating Officer, Franch will be transitioning into a leadership role which includes overseeing FFMs current processes and author concierges. Her focus will be on enhancing and streamlining the companys processes and systems; developing more post-publishing opportunities such as marketing and sales for FFM authors; and expanding its reach as an international company. Im looking forward to developing our team and enhancing our processes in better serving our clients, Franch said. I envision continued growth for FFM and cultivating new partnerships with the community and other industry leaders. The future looks very bright and Im excited to be a part of it. FFM Founder Jacqueline S. Ruiz is proud to see Franch grow from her original position to take on a more visible role. I have been continuously impressed by Gabys work ethic and loyalty to our company, Ruiz said. As an author-focused full-service publishing company, Gaby has been a constant and calming presence in onboarding our writers and explaining to them how their books become valuable resources and sources of inspiration to their readers. Our clientele put their trust in Gaby and our team, and I believe the time is right to elevate Gaby into this new position. For more information about FFM, visit http://www.figfactormedia.com. About Fig Factor Media: Fig Factor Media Publishing is an international publishing company with a "beeping" heart. Fig Factor Media has helped many authors achieve and support their dream of impacting their communities in the United States, Mexico, and Europe. Fig Factor Media is the official publisher of Today's Inspired Latina. For information, visit http://www.figfactormedia.com. ### Red-Letter Day Devotional: a helpful resource for reflection and working toward alleviating anxious behaviors. Red-Letter Day Devotional is the creation of published author James W. Reed III, a graduate of Jarvis Christian College of Hawkins, Texas, and the proud pastor of Rising Sun Baptist Church in Beaumont, Texas. He has been in ministry for over twenty-five years. Pastor Reed shares, In the midst of the COVID pandemic, many of us were struggling with a thief of peace Anxiety. We didnt recognize it or know what to call it. What we did know was that we were losing hope and couldnt find that place of peace and security. There was a sense of panic setting in. It was building and about to overtake us. This may sound like many of you today, or maybe you are simply searching for a word of comfort and encouragement. The Red-Letter Day Devotional is for you. The Word of God says we are to be anxious for nothing; the remedy is hearing from and responding to God, that our hearts/minds will be guarded, and we will find the peace we all so desperately need (Phil. 4:6). This devotional will put you on track to overcome this silent thief of peace. Published by Christian Faith Publishing, James W. Reed IIIs new book is an uplifting message that examines the possibility of breaking the cycle and overcoming anxiety. Pastor Reed shares, in hopes of bringing joy and peace by deepening your connection with God through a daily conversation with Him. Consumers can purchase Red-Letter Day Devotional at traditional brick & mortar bookstores, or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble. For additional information or inquiries about Red-Letter Day Devotional, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919. A single trial can cost $70,000 per year or more in unreimbursed expenses when recruitment isnt moving forward. Clinical research is a core component of academic medical centers identity and mission, but increasingly complex trial designs and staffing challenges make it difficult to deliver results while managing a budget. Highly targeted inclusion criteria require research teams to complete time-intensive chart reviews and use unreliable recruiting strategies, often to find that patients are not available or have already been enrolled on a competing trial. This leads to hidden costs borne by research sites for patient recruitment and ongoing study management, which often are not reimbursed by study sponsors. A single trial can cost $70,000 per year or more in unreimbursed expenses when recruitment isnt moving forward. By making full use of a wealth of unstructured patient data, which is typically hard to search through standard reporting processes, research sites can better manage their study portfolio by selecting the right trials and then finding patients faster. Using artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language processing (NLP), sites increase the accuracy of feasibility checks up front, turning down studies where the patient population is too small. Better data means sites avoid failing or stalled trials and can put their resources to studies that will be able to gather sufficient data to push the research forward. Once a trial is open, sites can use precision-matching technology to quickly identify matching patients, speeding time to recruitment. Join this webinar to understand the hidden costs of stalled trials and strategies to use technology to mitigate risk, increase efficiency and improve the return of investment (ROI) of clinical research operations. Join Rachel Heiss, VP of Operations, Deep 6 AI; and Mary Veazie, Principal Clinical Research Consulting & Education Services, LLC, for the live webinar on Friday, October 7, 2022, at 12pm EDT (5pm BST/UK). For more information, or to register for this event, visit Leveraging AI to Improve the Financial, Operational and Scientific ROI of Clinical Research. ABOUT XTALKS Xtalks, powered by Honeycomb Worldwide Inc., is a leading provider of educational webinars to the global life science, food and medical device community. Every year, thousands of industry practitioners (from life science, food and medical device companies, private & academic research institutions, healthcare centers, etc.) turn to Xtalks for access to quality content. Xtalks helps Life Science professionals stay current with industry developments, trends and regulations. Xtalks webinars also provide perspectives on key issues from top industry thought leaders and service providers. To learn more about Xtalks visit http://xtalks.com For information about hosting a webinar visit http://xtalks.com/why-host-a-webinar/ Author Jacquelyn B. Smith tackles the issues of racism, single parenthood, and poverty in her first book, Saved for Ben: Book 1. Part of a larger series, this story begins in Georgia in August of 1972, around the time that schools were initially integrated in the south. Readers are introduced to protagonist Ben Davis, who is being raised alongside his younger sister and brother by their widowed mother. In this powerful coming of age story, Ben is offered unexpected opportunities through his first employer and mentor. Through these opportunities Ben starts to discover just what God has saved for him. God gave me the gift of writing, Smith said. He put this story in my mind so that I could use my gift to inspire others and share Gods message. I woke up one day and it was like God had downloaded the book into my head, it was like watching a movie in my mind. I had to get it down on paper and share it. Smith draws upon her own experiences from living in Georgia in the 1970s to bring real elements to her writing. In her book, she aims to draw readers in with genuine and captivating issues. Her desire is to make them forget that they are reading a fictional story. I want people to read my book and feel inspired to make a difference, Smith said. The book is full of love, hope, life lessons, and guidance. It is heartwarming and family focused. It will make you laugh, cry, and teach you about what it means to leave a legacy. Saved for Ben: Book 1 By Jacquelyn B. Smith ISBN: 9781664268876 (softcover); 9781664268890 (electronic) Available at WestBow Press, Amazon and Barnes & Noble About the author Jacquelyn B. Smith is a God-fearing, anointed, gifted, woman of God. She has enjoyed a wonderful life, starting in a small town in Georgia, being raised in the church and Sunday school. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in data processing from Florida A&M University, then was commissioned as an Ensign in the United States Navy. While on active duty she earned her Master of Science degree in management from Troy University. After 20 years of dedicated military service, she retired as a highly decorated Lieutenant Commander and currently resides in Cantonment, Florida where she is an active member of her church and Christian Education Ministry. She is a wife, sister, aunt, niece, and a loving and gifted mother to her son, Jeremy. To learn more, please visit https://www.jacquelynbsmith.com/. ### General Inquiries: LAVIDGE Phoenix Ashley Fletcher afletcher@lavidge.com Graduates of several Stella and Charles Guttman Community College of The City University of New York associate degree programs are now able to apply their associate degree credits toward bachelors degrees at Mercy College. A new partnership between the two colleges, created to strengthen the two-year to four-year college pipeline and bring an affordable, high-quality college education within reach for all students, allows Guttman students to matriculate into Mercy College with junior standing. An articulation agreement signing ceremony on Monday, September 19, 2022, held at Mercy Colleges Manhattan Campus in Herald Square, formalized the partnership between Mercy College and Guttman. Signers of the comprehensive agreement were Mercy President Tim Hall and Guttman President Dr. Larry Johnson, who were gathered alongside Mercy Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Eva M. Fernandez, Guttman Interim Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Dr. Nicola Blake, and other representatives from both institutions. This important partnership with Guttman Community College addresses a major challenge facing higher education, Hall explained. In allowing transfer of credits from associate to bachelors degrees, we are eliminating barriers that deter students from pursuing, and completing, four-year degrees and enabling their academic and career success. Johnson indicated that Guttman remains committed to post-completion and exploring opportunities to support students future educational and career aspirations. This partnership with Mercy College demonstrates a commitment by both institutions to ensure that students have access to affordable and high-quality educational experiences that are inclusive and that foster a sense of belonging. The purpose of this articulation agreement is to provide Mercy College and Guttman students many of whom come from first-generation and low-income households the opportunity to transform their lives by gaining a high-quality, four-year degree, said Fernandez. It is especially my pleasure, as former vice president for academic affairs and provost at Guttman Community College, to see these two formidable, Hispanic-Serving and Minority-Serving Institutions come together to achieve a mission of student success. Blake stated: The Guttman faculty and Program Leadership are committed to providing a seamless transfer for students and creating these types of pipelines within and outside of CUNY to ensure continued student success. Students currently enrolled in four Guttman programs will qualify for transferring credits toward bachelors degrees at Mercy College. Those programs are business administration, human services, information technology, and urban studies. In addition, Guttman students enrolled in any program in the Liberal Arts & Sciences, apart from specialized programs of study, are eligible for seamless transfer to Mercys School of Liberal Arts. A minimum of 60 and a maximum of 75 credits from the associate degrees can be applied toward the completion of the articulated bachelors degree program. Upon successful transfer, GCC students may qualify for a range of Mercy College Transfer Scholarships designed to encourage community college students with associate degree credentials to transfer to Mercy College to complete their bachelors degree. To learn more about the partnership, please contact Mercy College Assistant Vice President of Admissions Anne Gilligan at (914) 674-3023 or agilligan1@mercy.edu and/or Guttman Community College Interim Dean of Enrollment Management Daniel Ambrose at (646) 313-8085 or daniel.ambrose@guttman.cuny.edu. About Mercy College Founded in 1950 by the Sisters of Mercy, Mercy College is an independent, coeducational college that offers more than 100 undergraduate and graduate degree and certificate programs within five schools: Business, Education, Health and Natural Sciences, Liberal Arts, and Social and Behavioral Sciences. The vibrancy of the College culture is sustained by a diverse student body from around the region. The College offers campuses in Dobbs Ferry, the Bronx, and Manhattan as well as online offerings. About Stella and Charles Guttman Community College Stella and Charles Guttman Community College welcomed its inaugural cohort of students in August 2012. It was CUNYs first new community college in more than forty years with the purpose of reimagining a community college that would create a research-based innovative academic program geared to moving students quickly and efficiently towards graduation. Guttmans graduation rates are the highest in CUNYs community college sector. The three-year graduation rate is more than twice the national average, and the two-year graduation rate far exceeds the 4% national average of public two-year colleges in large cities. Guttman is federally designated as a Hispanic-serving institution and Minority-serving institution with more than 90% of the student population identifying at Latinx/a/o or Black/African-American. More than 80% of Guttman graduates go on to senior colleges, with the majority of them continuing at CUNY schools. Guttmans high graduation rates contribute greatly to the College being ranked as the best community college in America in 2020, and the top community college in New York State for 2020 and 2021 by Niche.com and other ranking agencies. As of fall 2020, approximately 1,020 students were enrolled at the College. Monster Energys Luca Shaw Takes Second at U.S. Open of Mountain Biking Downhill at the Killington Resort in Vermont I am happy to end up in second at the U.S. Open this year. It was a really tricky race, and the track was slippery and hard to attack. I had a wild run and made a couple of little mistakes, so I was glad to get to the bottom in one piece." - Luca Shaw Monster Energy congratulates 25-year-old team rider Luca Shaw from North Carolina on taking second place at the U.S. Open of Mountain Biking Downhill at Killington Resort, in Vermont this weekend. Shaws second place earned him $7,500 with a 2.435 gap behind Norton Dakotah who took first place. I am happy to end up in second at the U.S. Open this year, said Shaw. It was a really tricky race, and the track was slippery and hard to attack. I had a wild run and made a couple of little mistakes, so I was glad to get to the bottom in one piece. It was a good way to wrap up the year and I am already looking forward to a good off season and getting ready for next year. The U.S. Open of Mountain Biking returned to Killington Resort for the first time since 2018 featuring a unique Open Pro / Amateur format offering a challenging competition to set the standard as a proving ground for up-and-coming and elite athletes alike. Centered around downhill racing, the U.S. Open offered top amateur riders the chance to compete against the sports elite pros with major prize money paid out to the fastest riders. This format allows amateur riders the perfect opportunity to prove where they rank and get the chance to win the $15k purse for winning the top men and women spots. The U.S. Open Downhill track started at the top of Ramshead Peak and included sections of the existing trail, Goat Skull combined with new sections specifically built for the competition. With multiple line choice options, the track underwent a complete overhaul with new features including two separate jump sections in the lower half of the track. For more on Luca Shaw and Monster Energys team of mountain bike athletes, visit http://www.monsterenergy.com. Follow Monster Energy on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok for exclusive updates from the 2022 MTB season. ### About Monster Energy Based in Corona, California, Monster Energy is the leading marketer of energy drinks and alternative beverages. Refusing to acknowledge the traditional, Monster Energy supports the scene and sport. Whether motocross, off-road, NASCAR, MMA, BMX, surf, snowboard, ski, skateboard, or the rock and roll lifestyle, Monster Energy is a brand that believes in authenticity and the core of what its sports, athletes, and musicians represent. More than a drink, its the way of life lived by athletes, sports, bands, believers, and fans. See more about Monster Energy including all of its drinks at http://www.monsterenergy.com. We are honored to be recognized as one of the largest employers in the Dallas community. NFI, a leading supply chain provider headquartered in Camden, NJ, with offices in Dallas, TX, ranked number 32 on the Dallas Business Journal Largest Employers List. This list helps Dallas companies strengthen their reputations, generate new business, and build their brand in the Dallas community. With nearly 1,300 employees in Texas and 16,000 employees across North America, NFI is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year. NFI is led by third-generation brothers Sid, Ike, and Jeff Brown. This family-owned business, founded in 1932, employs a wide variety of professionals in operations, engineering, sales, and IT. We are honored to be recognized as one of the largest employers in the Dallas community, said Ike Brown, President and Vice Chairman at NFI. Teamwork is one of NFI's core values and our business is continuously growing. Our 16,000+ employees drive this growth with their dedication and hard work every day. NFI is committed to our employees and works to attract, develop, and retain the most talented workforce. We accomplish this by providing training, development, and benefits that add value to our employees experience and, in return, our customers experience. Our employees come to work each day in the spirit of innovation, care, and teamwork. These efforts from our NFI family extend far beyond our business walls and into our communities. NFI has recently been recognized as Forbes The Best Employers for Women in 2022 and the Delaware Valley Top Workplaces 2022 Award by The Philadelphia Inquirer. The complete list of Largest Employers can be found here. ### NFI is a fully-integrated North American supply chain solutions provider headquartered in Camden, New Jersey. Privately held by the Brown family since 1932, the company generates more than $3.8 billion in annual revenue and employs over 16,000 associates. NFI owns and operates more than 65 million square feet of warehouse space alongside a dedicated fleet of 5,100 tractors and 13,200 trailers. By 2023, the company will operate the first 100% zero-emission drayage fleet, leading the transition to zero-emission goods movement in the United States. NFIs relentless innovation and unparalleled service deliver logistics solutions that transform the way business gets done. The companys business lines include dedicated transportation, warehousing and distribution, ecommerce fulfillment, brokerage, transportation management, port drayage, intermodal, global logistics, and industrial real estate. For more information about NFI, visit http://www.nfiindustries.com or call 1-877-NFI-3777. P2 Science Inc., a green chemistry company, is proud to announce that the company has won the Innovation Best Breakthrough Supplier Award at the BeautyMatter NEXT 2022 Awards + Summit in Los Angeles. BeautyMatter launched its inaugural awards program in 2022 to recognize the best in beauty across brands, retailers, suppliers, and agencies making an impact on the industry through their outstanding work. Organized by BeautyMatter, one of the most trusted voices in the business of beauty, the NEXT Awards are a benchmark for excellence. Judges for the awards include members of Estee Lauder, the Independent Beauty Association, JLo Beauty, Baker McKenzie, the Good Housekeeping Institute, Lubrizol, Cult Beauty, Spotify and many others. The key to P2s success in securing this accolade was the patented Citropol range of superior performing silicone- and petrochemical-alternatives introduced to the global market in 2020. This biorenewable, biodegradable and biocompatible range of ingredients delivers strong differentiating performance in many brands of skincare and haircare products around the world. Accepting the award on behalf of P2, Parisa Mehrzadeh said, This is a dream come true for the whole company and of course, it is a great honor to be here among many of the all-time greats of the beauty industry. Ryan Cheng, VP Sales, who worked on P2s nomination noted, The technology and innovation behind our great products really drives this recognition. We thank the whole beauty community for embracing us as a trusted supplier and adopting our ingredients in such a short space of time. About P2 Science: P2 Science is a green chemistry company, co-founded by Professor Paul Anastas, head of the Yale Center for Green Chemistry and Green Engineering and Dr. Patrick Foley. P2 has developed and patented technologies for converting renewable feedstocks into high-value specialty products. Investors in P2 include BASF Venture Capital, Xeraya Capital, Elm Street Ventures, Connecticut Innovations, Ironwood Capital, HG Ventures and Chanel. The company started up its first manufacturing plant in September of 2018 which produces novel renewable aroma chemicals and cosmetic ingredients. For more information, visit http://www.p2science.com. Quirk Hyundai Lends Support to Hyundai Hope on Wheels to fight pediatric cancer! Kids are the future. They deserve every chance to grow, play and learn in a world free of pediatric cancer. Quirk Hyundai, a dealership in Quincy, Massachusetts, allows customers to be part of the initiative to fight childhood cancer. A portion of every Hyundai sold at the dealership goes to Hyundai Hope on Wheels. This organization funds pediatric cancer research to drive innovation and create discoveries to increase survival rates. Quirk Hyundai joins about 830 dealerships across the country that have contributed $200 million to the program. Hyundai Hope on Wheels awards grants in three categories to researchers at eligible Childrens Oncology Group member institutions. In 2022, the organization dispensed over $15 million in pediatric cancer research grants to hospitals across the United States. Shoppers in Quincy excited to participate in this initiative are urged to visit the Quirk Hyundai dealership. The dealership boasts a range of new Hyundai vehicles in its inventory. The lineup includes the Hyundai ACCENT, Hyundai ELANTRA, Hyundai ELANTRA Hybrid, Hyundai IONIQ 5, Hyundai KONA, Hyundai PALISADE, Hyundai SANTA CRUZ, Hyundai SANTA FE, Hyundai TUCSON and more! Interested buyers are requested to call the dealership at 617-249-5900 to learn more about how they can contribute to Hyundai Hope on Wheels. Customers can schedule a test drive to get behind the wheel of any of the vehicles. The dealership is located at 111 McGrath Highway, Quincy, Massachusetts. It is open Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Friday to Sunday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. I believe that the wellness industry can do much more when it comes to fostering inclusion and equity; this is a simple but incredibly powerful step The Global Wellness Institute (GWI), the leading research and educational resource for the $4.4 trillion global wellness industry, is pleased to announce the first two recipients of its Susie Ellis Scholarship for Equity in Wellness. The scholarship fund was introduced at last years Global Wellness Summit (GWS), GWIs sister organization and the most prestigious conference on the business of wellness, as a way to build a bridge for individuals who might otherwise not be able to afford attending the Summit, but who demonstrated passion and commitment for the wellness industry. This unique scholarship fund was made possible thanks to generous initial donations from Katrine and Bill Formby, Rick Stollmeyer, Lynne and Victor Brick, and the Szekely Family Foundation and continues to grow. Learn more about the fund and how to donate and/or apply for a 2023 scholarship here. This scholarship lets us offer those who have perhaps dreamt of attending the Summit an opportunity to participate in conversations with global wellness leaders, exposing them to the topics and issues that are shaping the business of wellness now and into the future, said Nancy Davis, GWIs Chief Creative Officer & Executive Director. Nearly 100 applications from 36 countries were considered and the two well-deserving recipients chosen by both the GWI and GWS board members are: Esther Ajari, founder and director of The TriHealthon, a Nigerian-based multi-award-winning non-profit that promotes health and wellness equity in Africa via research and community development projects; and Demetria McNeal, PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine and Associate Director of Health Equity in the Division of General Internal Medicine, School of Medicine at the University of Colorado Denver Anschutz Medical Campus. Both of this years very worthy recipients are already wellness leaders in their communities and its my sincere hope that this scholarship will accelerate and amplify the impact they are already making in their own communities, continued Davis. Both recipients were grateful and excited when they were notified that they would be coming to Tel Aviv. Ajari, who was born in rural Nigeria where she says opportunities to thrive are limited, has thrived nonetheless. In 2019, her commitment to wellness was recognized by the Dalai Lama Fellowship, an organization for emerging social innovators and future leaders committed to making a positive impact in the world, and, in 2021, she was named a COVID-19 Hero by the Nigerian Vice-Presidency. Ajari looks forward to bringing an African perspective to the Summit, while also learning how to improve her own NGOs financial standing so she can generate the revenue required to attain our vision of achieving wellness equity among vulnerable Nigerian women and children. McNeal describes herself as a Black American scientist who is thirsty for expanding her wellness knowledge and seeks to learn, among many things, more about the integration of wellness and the healthcare system; explore the new discoveries being made in mental wellness that could be applied in a clinical setting, as well as the ways emerging wellness innovations can be leveraged to promote better access to wellness in her local community. The scholarship is named for Susie Ellis, GWS Chair & CEO, who has been at the helm of the Summit and its sister non-profit organization, the GWI, since inception. Ellis said, I believe that the wellness industry can do much more when it comes to fostering inclusion and equity; this is a simple but incredibly powerful step. I thank all the donors who made it possible for us to put our mission statement of Joining Together. Shaping the Future. into tangible action; my hope is that next year we will be able to provide a greater number of scholarships. This years auction, held on the evening of November 2 as part of the GWS Gala, will be dedicated to growing this unique scholarship fund and individuals or companies interested can learn more here. Registration for the 2022 Summit remains open. About the Global Wellness Institute: The Global Wellness Institute (GWI), a nonprofit 501(c)(3), is considered the leading global research and educational resource for the global wellness industry and is known for introducing major industry initiatives and regional events that bring together leaders to chart the future. GWI positively impacts global health and wellness by educating public institutions, businesses and individuals on how they can work to prevent disease, reduce stress and enhance the overall quality of life. Its mission is to empower wellness worldwide. About the Global Wellness Summit The Global Wellness Summit (GWS) is the premier organization that brings together leaders and visionaries to positively shape the future of the $4.4 trillion global wellness economy. Its future-focused conference is held at a different global location each year and has traveled to the United States, Switzerland, Turkey, Bali, India, Morocco, Mexico, Austria, Italy and Singapore. GWS also hosts other virtual and in-person gatherings, including Wellness Master Classes, Wellness Sector Spotlights, Investor Reverse Pitch events and Global Wellness Symposiums. The organizations annual Global Wellness Trends Report offers expert-based predictions on the future of wellness. The 2022 Summit will be held in Tel Aviv, Israel from October 31 to November 3. The Constitution Crusaders: a captivating military fiction with heart. The Constitution Crusaders is the creation of published author Riley Drury, a proud daughter and sister who credits her family with providing much needed support along the way. Deeply committed to her faith, Drury also credits God with helping her to navigate through the challenges associated with depression, anxiety, and functional neurological disorder. Drury shares, The USA no longer exists. Instead, stands the Great Nation. With free health care, strict eco regulations, free education, and plenty of food to go around, no opportunity goes unreceived. Many call it paradiseGrace Washington certainly does. Daughter of the Great Nations Secretary of Defense, Grace was raised to love her country, as well as taught how to defend it. Her father taught her everything, from combat to military strategy, sending her to the Great Nation Military Academy well prepared. In no time, she rises to the top of her class, being the most creative and resilient student the academy has ever seen. Because of this, when Graces father suddenly falls into a coma, Grace is asked by the president herself to take his place as the Secretary of Defense. Its a daunting and complicated task, only complicated further when a rebel group called the CC surfaces, and with it, brings a new perspective. This organization, run by teenage descendants, was formed by the USAs Founding Fathers to ensure that the people will always receive the rights that they fought for. Not only is the Great Nation supposedly in violation of this, but Grace is a descendent herself of First President George Washington. With this information, comes a choice: Stay loyal to the country shes always loved or side with the group she has just discovered. Stay in the Great Nation and pursue a relationship with the like-minded boy that she has feelings for. Or will she embrace new relationships, new friends, and a new boy who challenges her entire way of thinking? And most of all, will she step into her fathers shoes as the military leader of the Great Nation or follow in the footsteps of her ancestor and lead the CC in a revolution that she didnt even know they needed? Published by Christian Faith Publishing, Riley Drurys new book takes readers on a journey of growth, self-discovery, and unexpected challenges. Drury offers readers a truly engaging fiction that will challenge and entertain as a tale of danger, intrigue, and uncertainty unfolds. Consumers can purchase The Constitution Crusaders at traditional brick & mortar bookstores, or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble. For additional information or inquiries about The Constitution Crusaders, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919. When asked why he chose the SightMD team, Dr. Kumar said I chose SightMD because I saw that they have the passion to always put the patient first. Whether its offering access to a clinic 7 days a week or having the latest vision correction technology in-office. SightMD, a leading multi-specialty ophthalmology platform in New York, welcomes Mukesh Kumar, MD to its expert team. Dr. Mukesh Kumar, a comprehensive ophthalmologist, aims to give back to the community that has given him so much. His philosophy is to teach and involve the patient in their journey to improve and maintain their vision. Dr. Mukesh Kumar started his educational journey at Macaulay Honors College at City College of New York obtaining a degree in biochemistry. He then went on to achieve his Medical Degree from Hofstra/Northwell School of Medicine. Dr. Kumar is an active member of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, the Medical Society of the State Of New York and the American Medical Association. In his free time Dr Kumar enjoys traveling, hiking, and virtual reality. Dr. Kumar will be seeing patients at the SightMD Smithtown location (260 Middle Country Rd). When asked why he chose the SightMD team, Dr. Kumar said I chose SightMD because I saw that they have the passion to always put the patient first. Whether its offering access to a clinic 7 days a week or having the latest vision correction technology in-office. They also give the physician all the support and tools they need to focus on the patient instead of endless administrative tasks. SightMD is actively seeking ophthalmology professionals who are interested in joining our outstanding team. If you are an ophthalmology practice owner interested in merging or selling your practice, please contact our VP of Growth, Franc Galinanes, at (631) 396-8340 or fgalinanes@sightgrowthpartners.com About SightMD SightMD is a rapidly-growing integrated ophthalmic provider group, offering patients access to over 80 eye care providers through the convenience of 40 locations across New York. SightMD's track record of providing clinically-excellent care spans over 50 years, and its services include general eye exams, laser cataract surgery and lens implantation, glaucoma management, retinal disorder treatment, corneal services, neuro-ophthalmology, LASIK laser vision correction, oculoplastic surgery, pediatric ophthalmology, and audiology. Sight Growth Partners is the administrative services provider for SightMD. For more information about SightMD, please visit https://www.sightmd.com/sightmd-ny/ Even Me: a powerful memoir that will shock and inspire. Even Me is the creation of published author Virgie Marie Wilson, a dedicated wife, mother, and grandmother who was born and raised in Arkansas and later moved to Missouri. Wilson shares, This is a book about a simple housewife, mother, and grandmother who suffered through tragedy and unexpected events, but never gave up her faith or the hope of someday having a life without the threat of losing her life at the hands of the person she spent thirty-eight years caring for and loving. I plan to write another book soon because I have many events with laughter and humor as well as many other chapters I was not able to include in this book. I wanted to get my first book out there as soon as possible so that the readers could get acquainted with me and with the hope that they would request to know more about a person who only thought of herself as a nobody but didnt let her experiences keep her down or destroy her hope. I am a seventy-five-year-old who loves to write about the things I see in the world around me and share the good, the bad, and the ugly side of the life I knew and still enjoy. I completed my education and work as an accountant/financial advisor, but still have time to continue writing religious manuscripts and other religious articles. My strength comes when I make time to pray and commune with God as I do on a daily basis. When the Spirit speaks to me, I learn something new, or I am reminded of something I need to write about before I forget. If the feeling a writer gets to record what they feel needs to be written down, a true writer never fails to stop whatever they are doing even in the middle of the night. Sometimes the Spirit keeps speaking while I try to keep up and get it all down. Then I read it over and pray Gods will over the words His Spirit has given me. I am amazed at what God has shown me. I have a busy schedule taking care of two teenage girls I have been fostering as their granny nanny since their birth, and their dad, my employer, who calls me mom and treats me like real family is a single business owner. I am a grandmother of nineteen grandchildren plus two deceased, and twenty-one great-grandchildren with two deceased at this time, as my family continues to grow. This book has several chapters about some family events, but many chapters will require another book in the future. I read a lot and enjoy the testimonies of several popular religious writers. My hope is to write books about the things that will help strengthen and encourage others to find their faith in the living God and listen for His Spirit to speak to them even as He has spoken to me. A conversation is always between a person speaking and a listener. We must learn to listen to Gods voice as He answers our questions just as we would in real time with anyone else. He is always there waiting to be asked to come into our lives and be a present active part in all that we do. He is not intrusive and respects our privacy, and we read His Word to learn what He expects of us. The respect I have learned to give the Heavenly Father, God Almighty, Creator of all and His Son Jesus who died on the cross for all believers keeps me grounded and secure until He returns. Until then, I will continue to write hoping to help someone along the way find the faith I have found in the one true living God who loves even me. Published by Christian Faith Publishing, Virgie Marie Wilsons new book brings a vivid picture to mind as she paints a detailed narrative of her life experiences. Wilson shares a vibrant story that will take readers into the mind and heart of a young girl grown into a resourceful and dedicated woman. Consumers can purchase Even Me at traditional brick & mortar bookstores, or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble. For additional information or inquiries about Even Me, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919. When author Luciana Fiore started digging into her familys history, she had no idea what dark secrets she would uncover. In Walking Away: Unburied Truths of my Murderous Mother, Fiore shares her discoveries and how she came to terms with these life changing discoveries. Fiore was born in rural California and had a difficult childhood. Despite this, she put herself through college, built her own business, found love, and had children of her own. But everything she changed after medium and star of Psychic Connection on SiriusXM Deborah Graham told her that the man that she knew as her dad was not her real dad. Fiore decided to have a DNA test and was shocked to learn that Grahams insights had been correct. This shocking discovery spurned Fiore on to dig deeper into her familys past. Along with learning who her real father was, Fiore also uncovered that the man that her mother murdered was no stranger, but her biological father. This discovery, along with her sisters recovered memories from regression therapy, shined a light on the secrets that their mother had been hiding for years. There are thousands of self-help books that teach people how to handle relationships differently, Fiore said. But there are not many that explain what it feels like to choose to walk away; to raise your children only knowing that you need to do the opposite of what was done to you; or to struggle to know whether or not to share any of your past with your children. Fiore hopes that by sharing her story, she will be able to help others through difficult situations in their lives. To call this a rags to riches story undersells what really happened, Fiore explained. I grappled with raising children because I knew what was in our bloodline. I had to learn what forgiveness meant to ensure my family stayed honest and to live a life without pain. Walking Away: Unburied Truths of my Murderous Mother By Luciana Fiore ISBN: 9798765229736 (softcover); 9798765229743 (electronic) Available at Balboa Press, Amazon and Barnes & Noble About the author Luciana Fiore was born in rural California to a loving father and emotionally absent mother who divorced when she was five years old. She went to live with her mother and stepfather in the country where there was a shortage of everything except Lucianas creativity. Despite her upbringing, Luciana put herself through college and into work with multiple Fortune 500 companies, while navigating a marriage and two children. Her creativity has led her to spend her time renovating and restoring homes. The search for herself brought her into communication with intuitives, like Deborah Graham, who guided her through many of the discoveries she made about her family and inspired her to write Walking Away: Unburied Truths of my Murderous Mother. ### General Inquiries: LAVIDGE Phoenix Ashley Fletcher afletcher@lavidge.com Click here for old website BEIJING, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory letter to the seventh China-Eurasia Expo, which opened Monday in Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Full of vitality and potential for development, the Eurasian continent is a key region for international cooperation on jointly building the Belt and Road, Xi said in his letter. In recent years, China's Xinjiang has given full play to its location advantages to actively advance the construction of the core area of the Silk Road Economic Belt and promote the interconnectivity, mutually beneficial cooperation and common development between China and Eurasian countries, with positive results being achieved, said Xi. He stressed that China is willing to work with other countries to promote the Silk Road spirit that incorporates peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning as well as shared benefits, with the China-Eurasia Expo being a platform. Meanwhile, China is ready to work with other countries to pursue high-standard and sustainable development that benefits the people, and explore new spheres for Eurasian cooperation, elevate the cooperation to new levels, and promote common development and prosperity, Xi added. The expo is co-hosted by the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, and the People's Government of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Mystery and crime fiction authors, long associated with drawing rooms and police precincts, want to ensure justice in voting booths too. From September 18-24, concerned authors and other donors will host a Mystery Loves Democracy online auction in support of voting-rights organization Fair Fight Action, founded in 2014 by then-Georgia state representative Stacey Abrams. The organization advances voter education; coordinates de-escalation trainings that teach rapid response strategic support for political violence-related threats; pursues litigation (Fair Fight Action v. Raffensperger); and establishes task forces to combat electoral injustice in Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin, as well as in its home state of Georgia. FFA is dedicated to voter engagement and education and is actively working to protect the freedom to vote and mitigate voter suppression, said development manager Shannon Arthur. Writers have donated signed books and ARCs, consultations, and manuscript critiques for consideration by auction bidders. Fans have a shot at a Zoom AMA [ask-me-anything] with Hilary Davidson (Her Last Breath) or becoming a named character in a future book by Edgar-winning thriller author Meg Gardiner (the Evan Delaney series), who is on the auction committees advisory committee. Potential bidders can check the events Twitter feed for midweek additions to the loot. The mystery-themed auction has its origins in another genre altogether. In 2020, Tammy Kaehler (the Kate Reilly Racing Mystery series) heard about Romancing the Runoff, an auction created by romance writers Alyssa Cole, Courtney Milan, and Kit Rocha in support of Fair Fight and Georgia voting rights. Cole, Milan, and Rocha had modest fundraising expectations in the low five figures, yet they raised nearly $500,000. They rebranded as Romancing the Vote and ran another auction in February 2022, raising another $188,000 for FFA. (Abrams donated a rare hardcover copy of Rules of Engagement, which she signed with her real name and her nom de plume, Selena Montgomery.) Their [2020] auction was a runaway success, said Kaehler. In response to that success, she and mystery-writing friends Kathy Krevat and Lisa Brackmann got fired up. We thought, wait, what about the mystery community? Kaehler, Krevat, and Brackmann (who live in San Diego) met on Zoom with the romance team, who helped them develop a Mystery Loves Georgia auction in December 2020. The event earned $60,000 for FFA. We did not reach [the romance writers] heights of fundraising, said Kaehler, but we experienced firsthand how the community working together created a much bigger success than any of us could have done individually. The donors felt that too. Authors knew their donations would result in financial support for fair elections, and almost 400 biddable items rolled in. [Chicago crime fiction author] Lori Rader-Day offered an annotated ARC of Death at Greenway, and this time she is putting together an Agatha Christie package, said Kaehler. Lee Child did a named character in a Reacher book, and we hope he can do something like that again. Among the choice items this year is a photo of Stephen King and Sara Paretsky, taken at the 2015 Mystery Writers of America awards banquet and signed by both authorsa rarity in King memorabilia. (Paretsky, creator of the V.I. Warshawski series, is honorary chair of Mystery Loves Democracys advisory committee.) Mystery Loves Democracys fundraising goal is $100,000, and as the auction concludes, Catriona McPherson (In Place of Fear) will host a Zoom-a-thon with surprise author appearances. FFA executive director Cianti Stewart-Reid will be among the featured guests. We cant all fly in to canvass neighborhoods, said Kaehler, but this auction lets armchair detectives pledge support of democracy alongside their favorite authors. With book bans still on the rise in communities across the nation, a new poll released to coincide with this years Banned Books Week, held September 18-24, confirms that efforts to censor books remain unpopular with voters across party lines. The national poll, commissioned by the nonprofit EveryLibrary Institute and conducted by nonpartisan firm Embold Research, surveyed 1,123 registered voters from August 31 to September 3. Among its key findings: some 92% of voters are aware of the current wave of book banning. And, crucially, some 75% of respondents said they will consider book bans when they vote in November. In a release, EveryLibrary officials said the polling results make clear that voters across party lines want to make their own choices when it comes to what they and their families read, free from government intervention. It is heartening to see that this belief in the right to readand voter support for school libraries and public librariestranscend partisanship, said EveryLibrary director John Chrastka. With such high numbers of voters from all parties, persuasions, and backgrounds telling us that they support Americans right to read, its time for politicians to pay attention and stop their attacks on libraries. Some of the polls key findings: Nearly all polled American voters (92%) have heard at least something about book banning. Fully half of all voters (50%) believe there is absolutely no time when a book should be banned, while 41% think there are only rare times when its appropriate. 31% of Republican voters polled said there is absolutely no time when book banning is appropriate. Some 75% of voters said preventing book banning was important to them when voting, with 43% saying it was very important. Only 8% think there are many books that are inappropriate and should be banned. Just 18% of voters support banning books that focus on race or critical race theory, and only one-third support banning books that discuss sexuality. Voters have favorable feelings about their libraries (69%) and librarians (66%) and their schools (53%) and school librarians (62%). Some 60% of voters oppose banning books alleged to be explicit, such as Maia Kobabe's Gender Queer or Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye. Some 72% of voters oppose banning The 1619 Project or other works on slavery and race alleged to be racially divisive. Some 93% of voters oppose banning well-know or classic works, such as The Handmaids Tale, Of Mice and Men, and To Kill a Mockingbird. Notably, the survey included a question with a series of statements to tease out what specifically is resonating with voters in terms of this current wave of book bans. Topping the list of statements voters most identified with: that states are introducing legislation to ban certain books and/or the teaching of different topics, such as racism, inequality, and sexuality (50%); that politicians are trying to block attempts to make reading material more diverse and representative of the full picture of America (43%); and that some states are considering charging library employees for stocking certain books (30%). The EveryLibrary Institute is a companion organization to EveryLibrary, a national political action committee dedicated to supporting libraries. Going back to early 2021, the EveryLibrary Institute has been tracking the surge in attempts to ban books in schools and public libraries, as well as tracking dozens of pieces of state legislationmany of which not only threaten the freedom to read but, in some cases, threaten teachers and librarians with jail time or fines for providing information to students and patrons. The EveryLibrary poll backs up a national poll commissioned by the American Library Association earlier this year, which found that some 71% of voters oppose efforts to remove books from public libraries, including majorities of voters across party lines. Coinciding with Banned Books Week 2022, held September 18-24, PEN America has issued a new report, which found that more than 2,500 book bans were issued in some 140 school districts in 32 states during the 2021-22 school year. The report, Banned in the USA: The Growing Movement to Censor Books in Schools, includes updated data to its Index of School Book Bans first issued in April, along with new data on the most frequently banned titles and authors, as well as with an updated list of school districts and states that have issued the most bans. In a release, PEN officials said that the report shows book bans growing at an increasingly rapid pace, especially in terms of books featuring protagonists of color, issues of race, or LGBTQ characters. In addition, the report also details the influence of a growing constellation of groups involved in coordinated efforts to ban books, identifying at least 50 groups that are advocating for bans at the national, state, or local level, with hundreds of local parent and community groups having a direct or influential role in at least half the bans enacted across the country during the 2021-22 school year. Our report demonstrates that today's wave of bans represents a coordinated campaign to banish books... Our report demonstrates that today's wave of bans represents a coordinated campaign to banish books being waged by sophisticated, ideological, and well-resourced advocacy organizations, said Suzanne Nossel, CEO of PEN America, in a statement. This censorious movement is turning our public schools into political battlegrounds, driving wedges within communities, forcing teachers and librarians from their jobs, and casting a chill over the spirit of open inquiry and intellectual freedom that underpins a flourishing democracy. The new report expands on the findings of PEN Americas groundbreaking report, Banned in the USA: Rising School Book Bans Threaten Free Expression and Students First Amendment Rights, first released in April, finding roughly 1,000 more book bans than previously reported. Among the reports key findings: Some 2,532 instances of individual books being banned, affecting 1,648 unique book titles A total of 674 banned titles (41%) involve LGBTQ themes or have protagonists or prominent secondary characters who are LGBTQ 659 banned titles (40%) feature protagonists or prominent secondary characters of color, with 338 banned titles (21%) directly addressing issues of race and racism At least 40% percent of reported bans listed are connected to political pressure or legislation designed to restrict teaching and learning Texas ranked first among states with the most bans (801 in 22 districts), followed by Florida (566 in 21 districts) and Pennsylvania (457 in 11 districts) The most frequently banned books were: Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe (banned in 41 districts); All Boys Arent Blue by George M. Johnson (banned in 29 districts); and Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Perez (banned in 24 districts) PEN defines a school book ban as any action taken against a book based on its content and as a result of parent or community challenges, administrative decisions, or in response to direct or threatened action by lawmakers or other governmental officials, that leads to a previously accessible book being either completely removed from availability to students, or where access to a book is restricted or diminished. The new report expands PENs research on the surge in educational censorship in Americas schools. In August, PEN released data on the growth in so-called educational gag orders" and other proposed legislative restrictions on teaching and learning, which PEN officials say increased by 250% in 2022 over 2021. This rapidly accelerating movement has resulted in more and more students losing access to literature that equips them to meet the challenges and complexities of democratic citizenship, said Jonathan Friedman, director of PEN Americas Free Expression and Education. The work of groups organizing and advocating to ban books in schools is especially harmful to students from historically marginalized backgrounds, who are forced to experience stories that validate their lives vanishing from classrooms and library shelves. The news comes as the ALA last week reported that the number of challenges tracked in 2022 is on pace to shatter the record number of challenged tracked in 2021. In a new report, ALA officials also pointed to the organized political movement driving the surge in book bans across the country calling this "a dangerous time for readers and the public servants who provide access to reading materials." PEN America is hosting a number of live and online events for Banned Books Week. The full schedule is here. Contrary to what we are being told, reliance on wind and solar power increases the costs of our electric bills. And we have to buy most of the rare metals needed for energy production from communist China, a county intent on asserting geopolitical dominance. Its not a clever idea to rely on them for something as important as energy. Its important to understand that electric grids are not capable of storing power and industrial batteries at scale are wildly expensive. The millions of electric cars that are being forced on us through taxpayer subsidies require rare metals too. But there just isnt enough lithium available for both electric cars and industrial batteries. That is why our government is spending $8 billion on hydrogen as a storage method, wasting more money on the green energy transition. Because all electricity demands must be met with electricity generation in real time, part-time, weather dependent, unreliable wind and solar must have full-time on-demand power, too. Think of it this way. You are an employee, and your employer tells you that they have hired some new taxpayer subsidized part-time employees to do your job. The catch is one group can only work when the wind blows, only about 30% of the time. The other group can only work when the sun shines, about 20% of the time but not during the first or last hour of the day when the sun isnt yet high enough in the sky. Furthermore, your employer requires you to come to work and be on call to fill in as soon as you are needed when the wind stops blowing or there's cloud cover, rain, or the sun sets. Would you accept this arrangement? Of course not. Your employer decides to pay you the same even though you arent working, because you are at work on standby. Your employers costs jump up as a result, causing them to charge more for their products or services. This is exactly what is happening to our electric grid. We have to pay for the billions it costs for the full-time coal, natural gas, and nuclear plants whether we use them or not. But the fuel costs are not the biggest part of operating these plants. Other costs include capital cost (money paid to build them), the labor cost (because the employees have to be there), maintenance cost (that go up because these plants arent designed for part-time use), insurance and other regular costs that dont go away because they arent being used full-time. If we dont have enough full-time electricity, we have to load shed, the industry term for shutting off the electricity for some or many. When Texas had its February 2021 electricity debacle, more than 500 people died and wind and solar produced just 3% of the electricity when needed the most. Wind normally produces on average 23% of Texass electricity. Natural gas production soared by 500% to meet demand until it couldnt. Unfortunately, wind and solar often take breaks when it is extremely hot or very cold, exactly when power is at the highest demand. We would have noticed this pattern earlier, but natural gas prices dropped to about a quarter of what it was before the fracking revolution. So, as we added small amounts of part-time wind and solar, our electric bills didnt go up because the added costs were covered up by the lower cost of the natural gas fuel needed to keep the lights on. Germany and California serve as prime examples of what happens as we rely on more wind and solar sources. Californians pay 80% above the national average for electric services and Germans have the highest electricity prices in the world. In addition, it will cost hundreds of billions to bring the wind and solar electricity to cities from the countryside, often hundreds of miles away. MISO, an organization in charge of generating electricity for 14 states and 42 million people, just announced another $10 billion investment to bring wind and solar energy to where it is needed, just for the Midwest. Texas, on the other hand, has spent $8 billion to bring wind power to the cities where it is needed. And it isnt enough. They need to spend billions more, if they continue to increase wind and solar in west Texas. Paying for part-time and full-time electricity is expensive. Transporting power from far away is costly. High electricity prices disproportionately hurt the poor and middle class. We should take a break from this unnecessary headlong rush to net zero while we can still afford our electricity. Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle wore symbolic jewelry while attending the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. ADVERTISEMENT Middleton, or Catherine, Princess of Wales, and Markle, or Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, attended the funeral Monday at Westminster Abbey in London, along with their respective husbands, Prince William and Prince Harry , and other British royals. Middleton paid homage to the queen by wearing Bahrain pearl drop earrings and a four-strand Japanese pearl choker necklace. Both the earrings and necklace once belonged to Elizabeth, who died at age 96 this month. The queen previously wore the necklace for a state banquet in Bangladesh in 1983, while the earrings were a gift for her wedding to Prince Philip in 1947. Middleton previously wore the earrings and necklace at Philips funeral in 2021, and the earrings at the queen's platinum jubilee celebrations in June. Markle also honored the queen with her choice of jewelry. The duchess wore a pair of pearl earrings that were reportedly a gift from the queen for their first joint engagement together following Markle's wedding to Harry in 2018. Wearing pearls to symbolize mourning is a custom in the British royal family first introduced by Queen Victoria, who wore them with her all-black outfits following the death of her husband, Prince Albert. Rapper Post Malone is thanking his fans for the support after he fell on stage during a concert in St. Louis this weekend. ADVERTISEMENT The 27-year-old artist posted a video on social media Sunday, explaining that he went to the hospital Saturday night because the fall through a hole in the stage "winded me pretty good." "Everything's good. They gave me some pain meds," he explained. "So we can keep kicking ass on the tour." He insisted he is feeling better and apologized for having to cut the show short, even though he performed several more songs after the mishap. Malone told his fans he loved them, thanked them for his patience and promised that he would give St. Louis concertgoers an extra-long concert the next time he passed through town. "Thanks for hanging around even though I got my ass kicked by myself," he said. The hole in the floor was to allow instruments to be lowered from one part of the stage to the other. "Quantum Leap" star Raymond Lee says variety is the best thing about playing a time-traveling physicist -- who inhabits other people's bodies in different decades and places -- on NBC's new sequel series. ADVERTISEMENT "I'm checking off a bucket list with every episode," Lee told reporters in a recent virtual press conference. "It's an actor's dream to not only be in different periods with different projects, but to do it all in one. It's the roles of a lifetime. I'm having so much fun." The original sci-fi show ran for five seasons 1989 to 1993, with Scott Bakula playing Dr. Sam Beckett, a physicist whose experiments allow him to help people solve problems and correct mistakes. Dean Stockwell, who died in 2021 at age 85, played Sam's sidekick Al, who appeared to him as a hologram only he can see and hear. Al brought with him valuable information Sam needed to complete his tasks. The show ended with Sam stuck in the past and unable to get home. Premiering Monday, the new version casts Lee as Dr. Ben Song, the scientist who revives Sam's work, with the help of Ben's fiancee, Addison, played by Caitlin Bassett, who also appears to Sam as a hologram when he leaps in time. Ernie Hudson, Jenn Chou and Ian Wright co-star. "There will never be another Dr. Sam Beckett. But what we've created is a brandnew show with brandnew characters, and we're really excited to bring this show to you," Lee said. FOLLOW REALITY TV WORLD ON THE ALL-NEW GOOGLE NEWS! Reality TV World is now available on the all-new Google News app and website. Click here to visit our Google News page, and then click FOLLOW to add us as a news source! "What connects Ben Song and Sam Beckett are the main tenets of their belief in doing good and what it means to be empathetic." Lee recalled being in the sixth grade when his best friend was obsessed with the original "Quantum Leap," which was playing in reruns in syndication at the time. "It was the first real show I remember watching, and also my first introduction to scifi. And, so, I have very fond memories of just playing and then going home and watching it with him," Lee said. Deborah Pratt, one of the creators of the franchise, is an executive producer on the sequel and frequently on set to remind the cast and creative team about what makes Quantum Leap special. "She really says that the four tenets of 'Quantum Leap' are hope, heart, humor and history, and Ben really inhabits the first three of those," said Pratt's fellow executive producer, Martin Gero. "He's an incredibly hopeful character. He has a tremendous heart," Gero added. "The show is about empathy at its core, and he has a ton of that to give. And most importantly, because we want to make a really entertaining and fun show, is the humor. The humor was a big part of the original Quantum Leap. It's a really important part of this one." Bassett comes to the project as a real-life military veteran who served in Afghanistan. "Still shocked I'm not fired," she joked about her new career. "No, I'm having a great time. It was a dream [of mine] since I was a kid. And I think a lot of people join the military for a lot of different reasons, right? "But most of it's because that's kind of one of their best options. And I was in and it was an amazing experience, a growing experience. And, you know, you always dream, right?" After Bassett left the U.S. Army Intelligence and the National Security Agency, she went to law school. "I've made some smart choices," she said. "I was going to go to law school and I got my degree and I was going to go be a real adult. And then I got to New York, and I just was like, 'You know what? I've done hard things before. Let's give it a go.' And, I mean, by the grace of God, Martin and Bryan [Wynbrandt] and Steven [Lilien] found me." Bassett said she thinks viewers will be able to connect to the characters and feel good about the stories in the series. "It's a show that goes into people's homes, into people's families. It's about hope and it's a dream come true. I can't pretend like it's anything else," she said. Gero described Bassett as one of the show's "secret weapons." "She's literally never been seen before," he said. "The performances she gives in these episodes are so powerful, so incredible, and [she] doesn't feel like a novice in any way. It's a really extraordinary story that we're very happy to be a part of." Bassett said it is fascinating to play a character who is a hologram because she has the unique position of feeling emotionally invested in what is happening with Ben, while also being aware of what is going back at Quantum Leap headquarters. "But I can't physically affect anything, so there's an element of, like, me with my popcorn. And it's so much fun. You get to see something every week," she said. Gero also confirmed that Hudson's character Magic Williams, who runs the Quantum Leap program, is the same character who appeared briefly in the earlier incarnation of the series. "We were all looking for as much connective tissue with the old show without it being impossible to overcome for new viewers," Gero said. "We don't want to give too much away, but one of my favorite scenes in the whole show so far is between Mason [Wright] and Ernie where we find out Magic's kind of backstory. I think it's really powerful and beautiful and, again, it's just a fresh perspective on the old show in a way that I think only our show can do." Hudson said he remembered the character (played by Christopher Kirby) from when he watched the original series with his children. "I was fascinated by that character," Hudson said. "So, to step into those shoes and answer a lot of questions of what's happened to him and all that stuff, it's very exciting," Hudson added. "People say, 'You couldn't have been in Vietnam.' I went into the military in 1964. It's kind of, I guess, a compliment. But, yeah, it's great to be Magic." From the many farmers markets located around Athens to an abundance of farm-to-table restaurants, the Classic City is full of seasonal, local produce. What better way to celebrate that tradition than a week of good food? Barbara Guerrero, a school librarian at Leland & Gray Union Middle and High School in Townshend, is going to be retiring, but before she does, she is working on scanning in pieces of ephemera relating to the history of the school. Photographer / Multimedia Editor Has been working as a photojournalist since 2007, before moving into newspapers, he worked with an NGO called Project HOPE. He then went to work for the Press and Sun-Bulletin in New York, and then in New England working for the Brattleboro Reformer. Supporters of jailed Cambodian American and human rights advocate Theary Seng called on Cambodias government to grant her release, days after a New York-based rights group called her June 14 trial a travesty of justice. Theary Seng was sentenced to six years in prison along with 50 other activists for their association with the banned Cambodia National Rescue Party, once the main opposition in the country before the Supreme Court dissolved it in 2017. The Clooney Foundation for Justice, which was founded by actor George Clooney and his wife and human rights attorney Amal Clooney, gave the trial a grade of F because it ignored Cambodias obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which it signed in 1980 and ratified in 1992. The foundation urged the appellate court to overturn Theary Sengs conviction and order her release. This case was all but predetermined, said Andrew Khoo, co-chair of the Malaysian Bar Councils Constitutional Law Committee, who reviewed the case for the foundation. Theary Seng was convicted not because of what she did, but because she supported democratic change in Cambodia. Her continued incarceration constitutes arbitrary detention under the ICCPR, which prohibits imprisoning someone for exercising their right to freedom of expression. Theary Seng, who is known for donning elaborate costumes in her public protests, appeared in front of the courthouse on the day the trial ended dressed as the Statue of Liberty, awaiting the verdict. After the court found her and the others guilty, she was quickly taken into custody and sent to prison. Other activists are also pushing for her release. Sat Pha, who once stood shoulder to shoulder with Theary Seng at protests before she fled to Thailand for fear of political persecution, told RFAs Khmer Service Sunday that she and other exiles planned to wear t-shirts demanding her fellow activist be freed this weekend in Bangkok on the occasion of Pchum Ben, the Cambodian festival for remembering ancestors. Even though I am in another country right now. I strongly demand that the government release Theary Seng from prison without condition, Sat Pha said. Others inside Cambodia marched and sent petitions to foreign embassies from democratic countries, said Prum Chantha, a protester from the Friday Women Group, which held weekly protests at the court during the trial in support of their husbands, who were eventually convicted alongside Theary Seng. I appeal to the government to release Theary Seng and our husbands because they havent committed any wrongdoing. [They should] and drop all the charges, Prum Chantha said. Sokun Tola, a member of the Khmer Thavarak youth organization, told RFA that she believes Theary Seng is a good role model for the younger generation thanks to her advocacy work to end injustice and bring about freedom for the Cambodian people. I think the government should consider releasing Seng Theary [and the rest] during the Pchum Ben festival so that they can join the festival, Sokun Tola said. Theary Seng has been treated according to the law, government spokesperson Phai Siphan told RFA Monday. The government authorities have no jurisdiction over the court nor can we interfere or order the court to end this case. We have no authority over the court, he said. The government frequently makes that excuse, however, Am Sam Ath of the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights told RFA. They always say that the arrest and imprisonment of political activists is done according to the law, he said. But, human rights experts, the U.N. Council for Human Rights and democratic countries see that the arrests and imprisonments of former political activists and Seng Theary are politically motivated, rather than a proper application of the law. Translated by Sok Ry Sum. Written in English by Eugene Whong. A bus transporting residents to a quarantine camp overturned and fell into a deep ditch beside the road in the southwestern Chinese province of Guizhou, September 18, 2022. At least 27 people died and 20 were left with injuries after a bus taking 47 people to a COVID-19 quarantine camp crashed in the southwestern Chinese province of Guizhou, local authorities said. Police in Guizhou's Sandu country said only that a vehicle had overturned on an expressway in the county, and the injured were being treated in hospital. But the Guiyang municipal government told a news conference on Sunday that those on board were being taken from the provincial capital Guiyang to Libo county, some 200 kilometers to the southeast. The bus, which was taking people to a quarantine hotel in Qiannan prefecture for medical observation and isolation, overturned at around 2.40 a.m. local time on Sunday, falling into a deep ditch by the side of the road. The authorities confirmed that 27 people had died, with 20 people receiving hospital treatment for injuries suffered in the crash. The crash came as authorities around the country scramble to implement ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping's zero-COVID policy, leading to strict curbs on "non-essential" travel overseas, grueling and repetitive mass compulsory testing programs, lockdowns and forcible mass transportation to quarantine camps. Feng Wenhua, a resident of the Guiyang's Yunyan district, said one of the victims lived in the same residential compound as him. "This happened [to someone] in our community, which is on a street next to the Yunyan district government building, called Chemical Road," Feng told RFA. There were signs that the news of the crash, which initially garnered around 100 million views, was being suppressed on social media, as the story later disappeared from lists of trending search terms. Strong-arm enforcement of zero-COVID By Monday morning, it had been replaced at the top of Weibo's "hot searches" list by an official apology from the Guiyang municipal government. "An apology won't bring back the dead, and this betrayal of trust is chilling," @Nobi_Big_Bear wrote on Weibo. Others hit out at over-zealous officials using strong-arm tactics to implement zero-COVID measures for fear of spoiling their official appraisal records. A Guiyang resident who gave only the surname Sun said the zero-COVID policy has caused countless human tragedies. "These kinds of things are all caused by human actions," Sun said. "These things would never happen if there had been no lockdown." "There's little that ordinary people can do about it." Feng said zero-COVID means that anyone deemed a "close contact" of a COVID-19 case is forced to go to a quarantine camp, often in the dead of night or early morning. "A large number of people have been taken away to quarantine at night," Feng said. "They take all of the close contacts of a case, once it is found." A social media user who gave only the surname Zhao said officials are to blame for forcing people to comply with the measures. "They sent people to their deaths, and all for their own power and political record," Zhao said. "The outbreak isn't that serious, yet they drag all of these people into isolation. Are they really doing it for disease prevention or for profit?" "Why don't they let people self-isolate at home?" Dragging people away An employee who answered the phone at the Guizhou Provincial Epidemic Prevention Headquarters said the aftermath of the crash was being handled by the traffic and civil affairs departments. "This policy is not formulated by us here, nor by our center. It may be formulated by a higher-level department," the employee said. "If you have any opinions, you can directly report them to your superiors. If you have any doubts, you can appeal to the provincial government," they said. Calls to the Guizhou municipal government had met with no response to RFA's request for comment by the time of writing. A Guiyang resident who requested anonymity said quarantine and isolation operations were still in full swing in the city. "There are still hundreds of our neighbors who have been taken off to some place in Zunyi," the resident said. "I saw a video clip they posted: they were in a school dormitory." "These things are bound to happen if you drag people off like this in the middle of the night; it's a waste of life, and a waste of money," he said, adding that he had been warned by the authorities not to speak out about the incident. "The Guiyang authorities are now telling to keep our mouths shut," he said. "CNN wanted to interview a friend of one of the people who died, but was told not to allow imperialist forces to smear China. The police also contacted me and told me not to talk so much about it." "The hot search listings have been removed from social media platforms in China, like Weibo and Xiaohongshu," he said. "They have hidden the forwarding and commenting functions." Political campaign Senior journalist Zhang Feng said the drivers of quarantine buses have to wear heavy protective clothing on long distance drives at night, affecting the safety of the bus journeys. "They are transferring confirmed positives out of Guiyang, known as social clearing," Zhang told RFA. "The destination ... was 300 kilometers away." "I don't know why they like doing these transfers overnight, which is a violation of traffic laws, which bans all passenger buses from driving along highways between 2.00 a.m. and 5.00 a.m." "There are lots of stretches of highway in Guiyang that are pretty tough to drive," Zhang said. "I don't know if it was due to driver fatigue, but wearing that [protective] clothing has got to have had some impact." Zhang said officials are keen to deliver on the zero-COVID policy, in order to demonstrate political loyalty to Xi Jinping and the CCP. "It's a [political] campaign, with a top-down loyalty system, under which everyone wants to perform well," he said. "All the local governments are performing their political allegiance to the central government." "Under such a system, there's no way to pull back from [implementing the measures]." Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie. It is unclear whether Ronson Chan will be allowed to leave the city to take up a scholarship at Oxford University. Ronson Chan, chairman of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, arrives outside the Mongkok police station in Hong Kong on September 19, 2022, before being charged with obstructing police after he was arrested earlier this month over a dispute with two officers who asked to see his identification while he was covering a local housing meeting. The head of Hong Kong's journalists' union has been charged with obstructing a police officer in the course of their duty, amid an ongoing crackdown on critics of the government under the national security law. "I just received a call from the police asking me to go to the Mong Kok Police Station today for them to formally file a case against me," Ronson Chan, chairman of the Hong Kong Journalists' Association (HKJA) announced via his Facebook page on Monday. Chan arrived at the police station at 3.30 p.m. local time and left after half an hour, after being formally charged with "obstructing official duties." He will appear at West Kowloon Magistrates' Court on Sept. 22. Chan, former deputy assignment editor at now-defunct pro-democracy news outlet Stand News, was re-elected as HKJA chairman in June. He has frequently spoken out against ever-diminishing press freedom in the city. He had been planning to study journalism on a scholarship at the Reuters Institute at Oxford University, and had been scheduled to leave Hong Kong at the end of September. It is unclear whether Chan will now be allowed to leave to take up the scholarship as planned. Chan told reporters outside the police station he would be seeking legal advice on the matter. "I need to seek legal advice on how to do that," he said. "[The police] also asked me if I would leave the country at the last minute." "I told him I was planning to spend six months [overseas] and he said he would inform the court," Chan said. "It was odd that he asked my out of the blue like that, as I was waiting for them to process my bail." Measure of declining press freedom Chan said his arrest, which was criticized by the city's Foreign Correspondents' Club at the time, was indicative of the current state of press freedom in the city. "I have heard a lot of things since my arrest, but I have not been able to verify them, so I won't mention them now," Chan said. "It would be ridiculous if I were unable to go to the U.K. because of this." "I think it's plain to see the environment Hong Kong journalists are working in from this incident." The FCC said at the time of Chan's arrest that it "supports journalists right to cover stories without fear of harassment or arrest." The statement won a rebuke from China's foreign ministry, which said it constituted "interference with the rule of law" in Hong Kong, and that there was no such thing as absolute press freedom. The HKJA said Chan was arrested after officers claimed he failed to comply with an ID check while at a venue as part of a journalistic assignment. "Just as Ronson Chan was about to show his ID to one of the female police officers, another plainclothes officer stepped forward and yelled at him to 'cooperate'," the HKJA said in a statement at the time. "Chan asked the policeman to show his warrant card and asked the officer to confirm his full name and department, as he could only see the surname Tan," the statement said. "But the officer immediately issued a warning, and, within a few minutes, had Chan in handcuffs under arrest, en route back to Mong Kok police station." Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie. Joe Biden says U.S. forces would take part in any battle for control of the island. U.S. President Joe Biden in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, Sept. 15, 2022. UPDATED AT 5:08 A.M. EST ON 9-19-2022 Taiwan once again expressed its sincere gratitude after U.S. President Joe Biden said during an interview his countrys military would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion. Biden gave an exclusive interview to CBS 60 minutes program on Thursday but the show was broadcast on Sunday. During the interview, the president was asked by CBSs Scott Pelley if the U.S. would defend Taiwan, to which he replied: "Yes, if in fact there was an unprecedented attack." Pelley then asked Biden to clarify whether "U.S. forces, U.S. men and women, would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion". Yes, the president replied. This is the most explicit statement so far by Biden regarding military support for the democratic island which Beijing considers an inalienable part of China, and one that provoked an angry response from China. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a press briefing on Monday that Beijing had lodged stern representations, with Washington. She warned the U.S. not to send the wrong signals to those wanting Taiwan independence, news agencies reported. A White House official was quick to add after the CBS interview that the U.S. policy on Taiwan has not changed. Washington officially abides by the One-China Policy and maintains a "strategic ambiguity" towards Taiwan. Yet according to the Taiwan Relations Act, the U.S. is obligated to help the island with means to defend itself. Earlier this month the U.S. State Department announced a U.S. $1.1 billion sale of military equipment to Taiwan despite strong protests from Beijing. Rock solid commitment Taiwans Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed its sincere gratitude to President Biden for reaffirming the U.S. government's rock solid security commitment to Taiwan, in a statement on Monday The statement noted that since August, when U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made an official visit to Taiwan, China has escalated military provocations in the Taiwan Strait. The Biden administration has repeatedly supported Taiwan with public speeches and specific actions, it said. Last week the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed the Taiwan Policy Act of 2022 that would see an increase in military aid to the island. In the face of China's military expansion and provocative actions, the Taiwanese government will continue to strengthen its self defense capabilities, firmly resist authoritarian expansion and aggression, deepen the close security partnership between Taiwan and the United States, and strengthen cooperation with all other like-minded countries to jointly and resolutely safeguard the Taiwan Strait, the foreign ministry said. China has yet to officially react to the news but Beijing has long protested against what it calls U.S. interference in Chinas internal affairs. Political analysts found themselves arguing over President Bidens statement in the CBS interview. Last October, replying to a similar question about defending Taiwan, Biden said the U.S. has a commitment to do that," prompting a White House spokesperson to quickly clarify that there was no change in the U.S. policy on Taiwan. Confusion Time to stop describing these comments as gaffes, Taylor Fravel, a China defense analyst at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, wrote on Twitter, referring to Bidens statement. The president appears to believe that the TRA (Taiwan Relations Act) contains a commitment to defend Taiwan, which is why he keeps saying we have a commitment to do that and the White House keeps saying that U.S. policy remains unchanged, wrote Bonnie Glaser, an Asia specialist at the German Marshall Fund of the United States. Grant Newsham, a retired U.S. Marine colonel turned political analyst, said in his opinion, it is not a good thing if reporters, pundits, and analysts have to struggle to figure out what President Biden actually means. We've seen similar statements by President Biden 'walked back' by his staff... effectively saying the President didn't really mean what he said, Newsham told RFA. All in all, this latest statement just gives an impression of an administration that is confused and doesn't have a clear policy, said the analyst who spent months studying Taiwans defense in detail. Since taking office in January 2021, Biden has made similar remarks regarding Taiwan on at least four occasions. Tensions have risen in the Taiwan Strait in recent months after China announced large-scale military drills around Taiwan in retaliation to Nancy Pelosis trip. This story has been updated to include comment from China's foreign ministry. Critics say the campaign to make reporting easier is unlikely to stop abuses. A report box has been installed at the Sungri Motor Plant, shown in this file 2017 photo, a source has told RFA. North Korea has started installing complaint boxes at all government facilities as part of an effort to root out corruption, but North Koreans are balking at reporting graft through a system that requires them to provide their names. Government workers, like all North Korean citizens, are paid a small monthly wage by the state, but it is not enough to live on. Most families start businesses, selling goods in the marketplace or performing services to make enough money to get by. Government officials, however, can use the power of their position to bring in extra cash by extracting bribes in return for their services. Citizens who know about the shady dealings can now more easily report them, although many are reportedly reluctant to do so. Complainants must give their names, leaving them susceptible to retribution by the people they identify as corrupt. A box for reporting on officials was installed on the main gate of the Hungnam Pharmaceutical factory the day before yesterday, a resident of the eastern province of South Hamgyong told RFAs Korean Service Sept. 15 on condition of anonymity for security reasons. Up until now they only had report boxes at the building of the reporting division at the provincial, city and county level. The fact that the report box is now in a factory is an expansion of the corruption reporting system, said the source. This measure follows the Central Committees order to strengthen the system to identify officials who are blinded by self-interest and are violating the interests of others. A factory worker can now simply slip a letter into the box at the workplace instead of going into town to the city party building to file a report, according to the source. When the box gets full, a party committee member at the factory will send its contents to the report division, where it is passed up the chain and dealt with. Authorities in the Seungri Motor Complex in Tokchon, South Pyongan province, north of the capital Pyongyang, installed boxes at the factories there, making it far more convenient for workers to report. But few people believe that more easily filing complaints will lead to less corruption, a source there told RFA. Authorities are suddenly encouraging residents to report corruption by officials who abuse their powers to extort bribes, the second source said. This is because of the increasing number of residents turning their backs on the system due to extreme hardship after the pandemic crisis, said the second source. Beijing and Pyongyang closed the Sino-Korean border and suspended all trade at the beginning of the pandemic in Jan. 2020. The closure was ruinous for the already unstable North Korean economy, much of which is dependent on imported goods from China. Government officials, however, got along as they always have, catching people doing illegal things and demanding bribes, at a time when many North Koreans are worried about finding their next meal. Public sentiment for corrupt officials is now serious, the second source said. According to the second source, many people do not believe the government genuinely cares about ending corruption, saying that adding more reporting boxes is more for show than substance. Additionally, people are reluctant to file reports, because they must identify themselves as the reporter, writing their name, job and address on the reporting documents, the second source said. There have been cases where the chief of the reporting division colluded with corrupt officials, and they used the identifying information to retaliate and punish the reporter with the full power of the government, according to the second source. Translated by Claire Shinyoung Oh Lee. Written in English by Eugene Whong. The group was stopped as its boat neared Shwe Thaung Yan beach in Pathein township. Some of the 31 Rohingya who were arrested off Ayeyarwady regions coast on Sept. 18, 2022. A total of 31 Rohingya and five boatmen were arrested as they neared a beach at Nwei Nyo Chaung village in Ayeyarwady regions Pathein township, locals told RFA. A resident, who did not want to be named for safety reasons, told RFA 19 Rohingya men and 12 women were arrested by junta forces on Sunday, along with a child under the age of 18 and the boats crew. They came from Rakhine State, said the local. They came by boat and the boat drivers were paid to carry them. Many people who get into Ayeyarwady region are often arrested. The resident said the Rohingya were sent to Pathein Prison on Monday morning. He added that they may have been living in Maungdaw town in Rakhine State and left because of an increase in fighting between the Arakan Army (AA) and military council forces in the area. RFA has been unable to confirm where the Rohingya came from. Ayeyarwady region lies directly south of Rakhine State and continues to attract Rohingya fleeing unemployment, hunger and discrimination as well as fighting between junta troops and the AA. On Sept. 7 and 9 a total of 58 Rohingya were sentenced to two years in prison each at Bogale township court. They had been arrested on Aug. 29 near Ga Yat Gyi (Kat Tar) island in Ayeyarwadys Pyapon township. On July 23, this year, 22 Rohingya men and 24 women were arrested by the juntas navy, also near Pathein township's Shwe Thaung Yan beach. The arrests have not been confined to Ayeyarwady. On Sept. 4, a total of 28 Rohingya were arrested in Letpadan township in the western part of Bago, according to locals. Bago is on the eastern border of Rakhine State. From December 2021 to September 6, 2022, nearly 800 Rohingya who tried to leave Rakhine State by land or water were arrested in various parts of Myanmar, according to data compiled by RFA based on the statements of residents and local news media. A military crackdown on the Rohingya, which started five years ago, led to more than 740,000 Rohingya fleeing to neighboring Bangladesh. Of the more than 600,000 Rohingya who stayed in Myanmar an estimated 125,000 have been confined to camps in Rakhine State. Witnesses said 2 gunships fired on the school for nearly an hour. A man tends to the body of a child after Myanmar junta helicopters fired on a school in the Maha Dhammaranthi monastery compound near Let Yet Kone village, Sagaing region, Sept. 16, 2022. Military helicopters fired on a village school in Myanmar for nearly an hour before junta foot soldiers let loose with guns, killing at least seven children, residents said Monday, in what appeared to be the deadliest attack on children since last years coup. UNICEF condemned Fridays attack in Tabyin township and put the death toll even higher, saying at least 11 children died in an airstrike and indiscriminate fire in civilian areas. It said at least 15 other children from the same school were still missing. The raid is believed to have caused the highest number of child deaths of any single incident since the military seized power in a Feb. 1, 2021, coup and came barely one week after the release of a report that said thousands of students and teachers have been injured or killed in attacks in Myanmar over the past two years. Residents of Tabayin township said that four helicopters approached the village of Let Yet Kone on the afternoon of Sept. 16. Two of the helicopters landed and deployed around 80 junta troops, while the other two fired at a secondary school located in the nearby Maha Dhammaranthi monastery compound. They fired rockets and then machine guns for nearly an hour continuously. Two helicopters hovered above and attacked us from both sides. For an hour, there was nothing we could do, one parent who witnessed the attack told RFA Burmese, speaking on condition of anonymity. After a while, soldiers with baskets on their backs entered our school. They came in, with guns blazing, the parent said. I heard a voice saying Stop! Stop! [The troops] said, Keep your heads down and dont look up. They said they would shoot if we looked at them. I took a glimpse and saw children running out of the kindergarten. Some were limping, some were dripping with blood. There were many children covered in blood. Witnesses said the soldiers who raided the school belonged to Light Infantry Battalion 368, under the 10th Military Operations Command based in Kyi Kone village, in Sagaings Kale township, adding that most were wearing shorts or sweatpants instead of full military uniform. Another parent, who also declined to be named, said there were 31 teachers and 211 students at the school when it came under attack from the gunships. Four children were killed on the spot, they added. Residents of Tabayin told RFA that troops detained 15 people, including nine injured students, three teachers, and three villagers none of whom had been released as of Monday. They said two of the detained children later succumbed to their injuries, bringing the total number of children killed in the school attack to six. Troops buried the bodies of the two children in Ye-U township instead of returning them to their families. Another child and six adults were killed by troops in Let Yet Kone village following the attack on the school at the Maha Dhammaranthi monastery compound, residents said. The seven children killed in the attacks on the school and in Let Yet Kone village were identified as Hpone Tay Za, 7; Suyati Hlaing, 7; Zin Way Phyo, 9; Win Win Khaing, 11; Zin Ko Oo, 14; Soe Min Oo, 13; and Aung Aung Oo, 16. Residents said a man and a woman were among the six adults killed in Let Yet Kone, but were unable to provide additional details. The parent of one student, who asked to remain anonymous citing security concerns, told RFA that the surviving children are dealing with severe trauma from the incident. My children are in a state where they do not dare to sleep alone at night. I have to sit by them and can only leave when they are fast asleep. Otherwise, they wake up startled and begin sobbing, they said. All the other parents say the same about their kids. They all are having nightmares. The school was nearly destroyed in the attack and remains closed, according to residents who said the smell of blood hangs heavy in the air around the compound. The school at the Maha Dhammaranthi monastery near Let Yet Kone village, Sagaing region, was damaged in an attack by Myanmar junta helicopters, Sept. 16, 2022. Credit: Screenshot from social media/Reuters Attack condemned On Sunday, the ministries of education, women, youth and childrens affairs, and human rights under Myanmars shadow National Unity Government (NUG) issued a joint statement condemning the attack, which they called an inhuman and horrific war crime. NUG Deputy Minister of Education Sai Khaing Myo Tun said the incident shows how far the junta is willing to go to cling to power and reach its military objectives. Its an example of how seriously they violate the rights of children, such as freedom of education and freedom of thought. But this incident resulted in a terrible loss of lives, he said. There is an urgent need to take action against this military regime in accordance with international laws. Kyaw Zaw, spokesman for the office of NUG President Duwa Lashi La, said the military had used Russian-made Mi-35M helicopters in the attack, which he called brutal and merciless. No country on earth kills children, especially elementary school children, he said. This was an act of terrorism. Pro-junta media published an official statement on Sept. 17 which confirmed that civilians had been killed in the incident, but blamed the deaths on fighters with the ethnic Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the anti-junta Peoples Defense Force (PDF) paramilitary group, who it said fought back against troops using residents as human shields. Witnesses, however, said the attack was one-sided with no return fire. On Monday, UNICEF Myanmar issued a statement condemning the attack and calling on the military to release the missing students. On Sept. 16, at least 11 children died in an airstrike and indiscriminate fire in civilian areas, including a school in Tabyin township, Sagaing region, the statement said. At least 15 children from the same school are still missing. UNICEF calls for their immediate and safe release. RFA was unable to independently confirm the number of dead and missing cited by the statement. A lawyer, who did not want to be named for security reasons, said the attack was a violation of both domestic and international laws. It is premeditated and intentional murder [under Myanmars Penal Code], he said. Additionally, according to international law and the Geneva Convention, the intentional shooting and killing of civilian targets in an operation area, can be classified as a war crime. The lawyer called for evidence of the attack to be collected and presented to an international court for prosecution, noting that it is impossible to do so in Myanmar while the judiciary is under the control of the junta. The No. 8 Basic Education High School in Kalay, Sagaing region, was burned down in an attack by Myanmar junta forces, May 29, 2022. Credit: Citizen journalist Schools under attack The raid on the school and Let Yet Kone village came only a week after New York-based Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack published a report which found that at least 190 schools were the targets of attack in Myanmar in 2021, up from 10 the previous year. The report, entitled The Impacts of Attacks on Education and Military Use in Myanmar and released on Sept. 9, said attacks on schools spread from at least three to 13 states and regions in Myanmar following the military takeover, with a peak in May 2021, and often involved the use of explosive weapons with wide-area effects. Over the past two years, it said, such attacks had killed or injured more than 9,000 students, teachers and education personnel. The report urged all sides involved in Myanmars conflict to refrain from setting up camps in schools and attacking the education sector. According to Thailands Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, authorities in Myanmar have killed 2,299 civilians and arrested nearly 15,600 since last years coup mostly during peaceful anti-junta protests. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes. Its the second mass escape of Vietnamese workers in a month. Screenshots from a video showing Vietnamese workers escaping from a casino and swimming a river to reach Vietnam in a previous incident on August 18, 2022. A group of 60 Vietnamese fled from a casino in Bavet city, in Cambodia's Svay Rieng province on Saturday. Another four were caught by the casinos guards, Vietnams state-controlled media reported, citing the Vietnamese Embassy in Cambodia. On Saturday afternoon, a video clip spread on social media showing dozens of Vietnamese workers fleeing in the rain from the casino at Bavet Kandal Hamlet in Bavet. The city is near a border gate leading to Vietnams Moc Bai gate in Tay Ninh province On hearing the news, the Vietnamese Embassy in Phnom Penh contacted the Cambodian authorities to find out the facts. It asked Cambodian authorities to get involved in rescuing the remaining Vietnamese citizens in the casino, help verify peoples identities and repatriate them, according to local media. Later the same day the Cambodian Police asked the casino to release 11 more Vietnamese nationals. Media reports said the police were still interviewing the group. This is the second mass breakout of Vietnamese from a casino in Cambodia in the space of a month. On August 18, more than 40 Vietnamese broke out of a Chinese-managed casino in Cambodias Kandal province and swam across the Binh Di River to An Giang province in Vietnam. Vietnam's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it had helped bring about 600 Vietnamese citizens back home since the beginning of the year. It said they went to work in Cambodia with the promise of "light work, high salary" but were later exploited, abused, beaten and asked to call their relatives to receive ransom money so that they could return home. Conflicting accounts from Baku and Yerevan of recent clashes on the border of Armenia and Azerbaijan were compounded by scanty visual reporting from the region. Karen Minasyan is a veteran photographer with AFP and was one of the first journalists to arrive at the scene of some of the deadly violence. He described to RFE/RL what he saw from the Armenian side as he took the following photographs. When Azerbaijan launched an attack against targets inside Armenia late on the evening of September 13, Minasyan was at his home in Yerevan. The following morning he travelled toward Sotk in eastern Armenia, near the restive border. "Apparently, I was one of the first to take photos in the area," Minasyan said. "On the whole road from Martuni to Sotk, I could see smoke in the mountains from many rounds of shelling. The rumblings could be heard very clearly." Armenia said military targets and civilian infrastructure were hit inside Sotk by Azerbaijan. Baku called the wide-ranging September 13 attacks a response to "provocations committed by Armenia on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border." In Sotk, Minasyan spoke to an elderly couple who he says "described how it all began, how [Azerbaijani forces] started bombing their village at night and how they hid. They said that they were refugees from [ethnic violence against Armenians in Baku], and now there is nowhere left to run." On September 15, Minasyan was granted access to the Armenian resort town of Jermuk, around 13 kilometers from the border with Azerbaijan. The town was hit with shelling and had been evacuated. The road to Jermuk was "almost deserted," according to Minasyan. "There was a strange silence in the city at that moment as a cease-fire had already been agreed. Inside Jermuk the photographer was "struck by the emptiness -- there were no civilians, only the military were left." "We were shown the impact of shelling. I filmed a sanatorium with broken windows, after a shell landed around 15 meters away, and I rented a guest house, which had taken a direct hit," Minasyan recalled. Many of the photographs Minasyan made were limited by where he was allowed to point his camera. "Filming the military in a way that could reveal their positions was not permitted," the photojournalist told RFE/RL. "It's understandable for security reasons, but there weren't such strict rules for filming even during [the 2020 war with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh]." "Apparently it's a result of many people inadvertently putting military lives at risk by filming things [and] then putting the images online, thus giving away locations for future strikes," he said. On September 18, Nancy Pelosi became the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit independent Armenia. During her stay the U.S. politician strongly condemned the recent "illegal and deadly attacks by Azerbaijan" on Armenia. Minasyan photographed Pelosi, along with a throng of other journalists, on September 18. "Many Armenians think that it is not worth getting their hopes up, that this is beautiful diplomacy and that little will change in reality," he said of the visit. "But the fact is that now people have more hope of getting help from the West than from Russia." Armenia is a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a Russian-led defense bloc. A formal call for military assistance from Yerevan has been met with a tepid response from the CSTO leadership as the Russian military remains bogged down in its invasion of Ukraine. The Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers have met in New York in their first talks since recent deadly border clashes claimed more than 200 lives. The meeting between Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Ceyhun Bayramov was arranged by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the sidelines of the annual UN General Assembly in a bid to ease tensions and maintain a fragile cease-fire between the two countries. "We are encouraged by the fact that the fighting has ceased and there has not been" a resumption of shelling, Blinken said. "Strong, sustainable diplomatic engagement is the best path for everyone. There is a path to a durable peace that resolves the differences." Speaking ahead of the meeting, Bayramov said his country was "satisfied with the level of relations" with Washington and said his direct talks with Mirzoyan were not unusual. "We are always open for meetings," he said. The meeting came after Armenia said the clashes last week -- the worst fighting since a six-week war in 2020 left 207 people dead or missing on its side alone. The new Armenian toll included two civilians who are missing, the country's Security Council said on September 19 during a meeting led by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian. It said 293 troops and three civilians were wounded and 20 troops were captured. Baku has reported 79 deaths among its military. A statement adopted by the Security Council called on the international community to continue to put pressure on Azerbaijan to end the occupation of the sovereign territories of Armenia and to withdraw its troops. In Istanbul, Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay on September 19 responded critically to statements made over the weekend by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Democrat-California) on a visit to Yerevan. Pelosi's comments during her visit to Armenia "are incompatible with historical and current facts, completely devoid of goodwill, reflecting a biased point of view, and sabotaging diplomatic efforts are never acceptable," Oktay said on Twitter. The White House should clarify whether her statements reflect the official view of the United States, he said, suggesting that her message might have been for ethnic Armenians who live in California. Pelosi was accompanied by Representatives Jackie Speier and Anna Eshoo, (Democrats-California), who have Armenian heritage and who face reelection in November, and Representative Frank Pallone (Democrat-New Jersey). Pelosi blamed Azerbaijan for the latest outbreak of fighting with Armenia during her trip, which she said had particular significance following the "illegal and deadly attacks by Azerbaijan" on Armenia. "We strongly condemn those attacks," Pelosi added, saying the border fighting was triggered by Azerbaijani attacks on Armenia. Baku and Yerevan have been locked in conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh for years. Armenian-backed separatists seized the mainly Armenian-populated region from Azerbaijan during a war in the early 1990s that killed some 30,000 people. The two sides fought another war in 2020 that lasted six weeks before a Russia-brokered cease-fire, resulting in Armenia losing control over parts of the region and seven adjacent districts. In the latest spasm of violence, the two countries traded artillery and mortar fire across their shared border, and Azerbaijani forces targeted sites within the borders of Armenia itself. Russia, which maintains ties with both countries, brokered a cease-fire not long after the fighting erupted, but clashes continued. With reporting by AFP Hungary's government has submitted a bill to parliament aimed at avoiding the loss of billions of euros from the European Union, Justice Minister Judit Varga has said. The proposal modifies legislation relating to Hungary's cooperation with the EU's anti-fraud office and rules affecting state asset-management foundations. Varga said on Facebook she had submitted the first bill to parliament as the government focuses on "drafting and implementing the commitments (to the EU) in coming weeks and months." A day earlier, the EU's executive called for the suspension of 7.5 billion euros ($7.5 billion) in EU funding earmarked for Hungary over corruption, rights, and rule-of-law disputes. The European Commission also set out requirements for Hungary to keep access to the funding, including new legislation. Critics in Brussels have argued that cronyism under Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his Fidesz party's 12-year leadership, anti-LGBT legislation, and other backsliding threaten shared EU values. Last week, the European Parliament approved a resolution saying Hungary was no longer a "full democracy," prompting Fidesz to accuse it of "attacking Hungary again." Varga was quoted earlier by the Spanish newspaper El Correo de Espana as saying the European Parliament was waging an ideological witch-hunt against Hungary and was trying to hinder its negotiations with the commission about EU funds. 'We are engaging in a very constructive, very positive negotiating procedure," Varga told the newspaper regarding talks with the European Commission on the rule-of-law mechanism and the withheld recovery funds. The European Commission's proposal to cut off billions in so-called cohesion funds to Budapest was the first to be made by the EU under new policies aimed at protecting the rule of law in the 27-member bloc. The next EU step requires support by what's called a "qualified majority," representing at least 55 percent of the member states and at least 65 percent of the total EU population. Hungary has until November 19 to address the concerns and some of its officials have pledged to form an anti-corruption body and make other moves to allay EU concerns. Hungary's minister in charge of EU negotiations, Tibor Navracsics, said after the European Commission's recommendation that there was "a good chance" his government would be able to sign an agreement over the use of European funds by the end of the year. Orban, who was reelected for a fourth consecutive term in April, has resisted European unity over gas and economic sanctions to punish Moscow's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and otherwise cozied up to Moscow, including traveling to the funeral of former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and sending his foreign minister for a surprise visit in July. A Kremlin spokesman on September 19 praised Hungarian leadership for what it described as Budapest's willingness to take "sovereign positions" on issues within the EU. The September 19 statement from Russian President Vladimir Putin's office came in a conference call between spokesman Dmitry Peskov and reporters. He said the Kremlin was following the EU-Hungary developments closely. With reporting by Reuters Iran on September 19 ruled out any bilateral meeting between Iranian and U.S. officials on efforts to revive a seven-year-old nuclear deal and floated a demand for "guarantees" as the UN General Assembly prepares to gather in New York this week. But Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said Tehran isn't ruling out a meeting on the topic with world powers. The ministry statements followed the broadcast of a U.S. television interview with hard-line Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in which he suggested Tehran "would be serious about reaching an agreement" so long as "it's a good deal and a fair deal." But Raisi also called for guarantees in any new nuclear deal in light of the previous U.S. administration's decision to withdraw unilaterally from the original 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) that traded curbs on Iran's nuclear activities for sanctions relief. After 16 months of international negotiations and indirect talks between Tehran and Washington, the European Union last month put forward a final offer to overcome an impasse for the JCPOA's revival. Iran responded to the proposal, to which the United States then replied, prompting a further response from Tehran, bolstering hopes a deal may be near. In a rare interview ahead of a visit to the UN General Assembly, Raisi told the CBS program 60 Minutes in a pretaped interview of any agreement: "It needs to be lasting. There need to be guarantees. If there were a guarantee, then the Americans could not withdraw from the deal." Then-President Donald Trump scuppered the JCPOA in 2018 and reimposed tough economic sanctions on Iran that have helped cripple its economy, while Joe Biden came into office in 2021 vowing to seek a new deal. "We cannot trust the Americans because of the behavior that we have already seen from them," Raisi said. "That is why if there is no guarantee, there is no trust." A deal appeared within reach in March but hopes waned until the EU text emerged last month. Tehran is said to be pressing for the UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), to close an investigation into uranium traces found at three undeclared sites as a condition for a new agreement. The United States and Iran have sent tough messages since then. Observers expect both sides to try to use the attention around the UN General Assembly to try to increase their leverage on terms for a sustainable deal. Tehran recently signaled ahead of the UN gathering that it was prepared to agree on prisoner swaps with the United States even in the absence of a new nuclear agreement. But tensions have otherwise increased recently between Iran and the United States over Iran's supply of military drones to Russia to help Moscow in its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, human rights issues since the death of a 22-year-old Iranian woman three days after police arrested her for allegedly breaking the country's strict Islamic dress code, and alleged Iranian cyberattacks on NATO ally Albania. Based on reporting by Reuters ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- In the early morning hours of September 16, Elzada Mannanova, a 15-year-old Kyrgyz citizen, was killed amid shelling by Tajik forces as she fled from her home village of Dostuk. Her father, Malik Mannanov, told RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service that he buried his daughter in the village of Margun in haste. "Everyone was running from the projectiles," recalled Mannanov, one of the some 140,000 Kyrgyz forced during the hostilities from villages in the southwestern region of Batken, some of whom used a corridor opened by neighboring Uzbekistan. It was a tragic story heard far too often on both sides of the border as civilians suffered dozens of casualties and damage to their property. Later that day, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov met his Tajik counterpart, Emomali Rahmon, at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in the Uzbek city of Samarkand. The agreement that the pair reached there to halt the fighting broke down almost instantly. By the evening, it was becoming clear that the violence that engulfed their contested border was even worse than the unprecedented conflict in April last year, when 55 people died. After the latest fighting slowed and seemed to cease by September 18, official tolls are almost twice as high as following that conflict. Kyrgyzstan has announced a death toll of 59 with more than 150 injured. Tajikistan said at least 41 people were killed and dozens injured. For two Russian allies in a region characterized by land disputes due largely to an nondemarcated border, the risk of a bloody new normal emerging at the border seems higher than ever. 'Border Clash' An 'Irrelevant Term' Nearly half of the 970-kilometer frontier between two of the poorest former Soviet states is still not delineated. Border issues in Central Asia stem to a large extent from the Soviet era, when Moscow tried to divide the region between ethnic groups whose settlements were often located amid those of other ethnicities. Below is a map of the clashes in 2021, in the same area as last week's eruption of even deadlier violence: For the last decade or more, violent scraps between ethnic Kyrgyz and Tajik communities in the area close to Tajikistan's Vorukh exclave have become common, with interventions by gun-wielding border troops a notable trend in the last few years. Water, as well as land, is at stake. At a briefing for diplomatic missions and press on September 19, Tajik Deputy Foreign Minister Sodiq Imomi implored international organizations and foreign donors not to engage in water-management programs with Kyrgyzstan without Tajikistan's permission. Vorukh, he insisted -- indicating on maps beamed onto two large monitors -- was not an exclave (a territory surrounded by foreign territory). He claimed, instead, that the territory surrounding Vorukh was occupied by Kyrgyz residents during Soviet times and in the early years of independence. "In no case should we make the Kyrgyz an enemy in our society. This is completely unacceptable. But our opponent is doing the opposite," Imomi complained. Last year's war significantly expanded the zone of potential conflict beyond that area and ensured that future shoot-outs would be shadowed by the threat of much heavier fire. The deadliest fighting between the two armies began on September 14, and blame for initiating it was soon traded, as were accusations of heavy military equipment being used to target homes and civilian infrastructure and of incursions into sovereign territory. The last of those accusations is the most explosive, highlighting that the conflict is no longer about tracts of land that both acknowledge as contested. In a tweet early on September 19, Kyrgyzstan's diplomatic mission to the European Union asked international partners "to refrain from using the irrelevant term #borderclash" and accused Tajik authorities of seizing seven of its settlements over the course of the conflict. Video footage of a Tajik flag being raised over a Kyrgyz school -- Kyrgyzstan's State Committee for National Security said Tajik forces had captured a school in the Mannanov family's village of Dostuk -- offered support for that claim. So did footage of armed men speaking in Tajik and referring to their situation inside a village with a Kyrgyz name. Authorities in the Batken region said on September 17 that all those settlements had returned to Kyrgyz control. Residents of the province's capital, Batken, told RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service that the city and airport were hit by shelling the day before -- another first. The Tajik government is notorious for its tight control of information and limited media freedom makes it difficult for journalists to cross-check government claims. Yet Dushanbe also claimed that Kyrgyz forces violated its state border by entering villages close to the Tajik town of Isfara. But no visual evidence has emerged to support this alleged incursion. RFE/RL's Tajik Service correspondents were prohibited from traveling to the border by Tajik forces on September 16. But they witnessed significant damage in a series of frontier villages that became targets of Kyrgyz fire on September 18. In Ovchi-Kalacha, where Tajikistan accused Kyrgyzstan of launching a drone attack, reporters found large blood stains on the ground and buildings badly damaged by projectiles and fire. Villagers said that multiple people had died in the village during the shelling of a mosque at around 5 p.m. on September 16. Resident Bizainab Berdieva said she had witnessed the death of a young medic, Karomat Sattorova. "[She] was standing there when we heard the sound of shelling. I said, 'Do not be afraid!' Then a shell fragment struck her in the back," she said. Russia The Reluctant On a national day of mourning in Kyrgyzstan on September 19, 53-year-old Japarov made an emotional national address. He offered condolences to families of the dead, thanks to servicemen who had fought in the conflict, and acknowledgement of a massive aid-collection drive for people in Batken. "Every man clearly knows his mission -- it is to stand up in difficult times and protect his fatherland from enemy invasion," Japarov said. The day before, the Tajik Foreign Ministry had objected to one of Japarov's earlier references to the country as an "enemy," calling it out of keeping with "the spirit of friendship and good neighborliness." But Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are neither friends nor good neighbors and the question of how they arrived in such a state is a vexing one. Shifts in domestic politics might be part of the answer. In Tajikistan, speculation that long-ruling Rahmon is seeking to install his son, Rusam Emomali, in his place have coincided with Tajik authorities' pursuit of what might be deemed unfinished business. Earlier this year, Dushanbe launched an aggressive and deadly military crackdown in its autonomous Gorno-Badakhshan region, killing or arresting a series of local leaders known for their opposition to central rule. Some analysts suggest the contested border with Kyrgyzstan could be another item on the to-do list. Tajik commentators prefer to point to the dramatic, overnight rise to power in Kyrgyzstan two years ago of Japarov and his headstrong ally, Kamchybek Tashiev, as conflict catalysts. In March 2021, just weeks before last year's border crisis, Tashiev had publicly floated the idea of a land swap involving Vorukh, where some 30,000 Tajik citizens live. On the eve of the fighting that broke out on September 14, Tashiev and Japarov attended a ceremony to inaugurate a control station for the Turkish-made Bayraktar TB-2 drone. "I have always said that Kyrgyzstan is a peaceful country," Japarov said at the ceremony. "I emphasize that our efforts to strengthen our armed forces are focused only on defense." Bishkek's purchase of the vaunted Bayraktar in December 2021 seemed to rattle Dushanbe. In January, Tashiev and his Tajik counterpart, Saimumin Yatimov, reached an agreement not to use unmanned aerial vehicles in the border area. Tajikistan's distaste for Tashiev is summed up in a newspaper op-ed written last year by former Tajik Foreign Minister Hamrohon Zarifi, who ridiculed Tashiev's tumultuous past as an opposition politician and accused him of offending Tajik sovereignty. On September 19, in the aftermath of the fighting, the Tajik state information service Khovar republished Zarifi's article. But it isn't just Tajikistan's media space where Kyrgyzstan's leadership has taken a hit. In the first half of this year, Tashiev and other top officials were targeted by a wave of critical articles in the Russian tabloid press raging against supposedly "pro-Western" politicians in the administration. And this year, like in April, online Kyrgyz chatter has focused on whether Moscow was giving Tajikistan a free hand to attack its neighbor. Japarov railed against that idea in his national address. "Do not listen to the speeches of the provocateurs who slander our strategic partners, friendly countries, and peoples in solidarity with us," he said. But at minimum, Russia has shown little will to intervene in the growing conflict between two states that host Moscow-controlled military bases and hold membership in Kremlin-led regional blocs. On September 18, President Vladimir Putin spoke to both Rahmon and Japarov by telephone and "called on the parties to prevent further escalation and take measures to resolve the situation as soon as possible exclusively by peaceful, political, and diplomatic means," according to the Kremlin press service. But by then the damage was already done. A Ukrainian military unit, including a married couple and an American volunteer from Detroit, patrol the area around Mykolayiv near the front lines of the Kherson region. Locals, meanwhile, dig out from heavy shelling that the city has been subjected to since Russia launched its attack on Ukraine in February. ASTANA -- A nephew of Kazakhstan's former President Nursultan Nazarbaev has gone on trial on charges of fraud and embezzlement. The Baiqonyr district court in Astana opened Qairat Satybaldy's trial on September 19 after a preliminary hearing into the case on September 16. Satybaldy was arrested in early March while trying to board a plane heading to Turkey. The probe launched against him is one of a series of investigations targeting relatives and allies of Nazarbaev. Kazakhstan's Anti-Corruption Agency said late last month that Satybaldy and four other unnamed individuals are suspected of embezzling an unspecified amount of money from the Kazakhtelecom and Transport Service Center companies. The agency also said at the time that $500 million had been returned to the state treasury and 29 percent of Kazakhtelecom's shares, which had been controlled by Satybaldy, were put back under state control. Satybaldy's former wife, Gulmira, was also arrested in March on charges of embezzlement and illegal takeover of a private business. After unprecedented anti-government protests in early January, the Kazakh government began quietly targeting Nazarbaev, his family, and other allies -- many of whom held powerful or influential posts in government, security agencies, and profitable energy companies. President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev, whom Nazarbaev hand-picked as successor after stepping down in 2019, started distancing himself from the former president after the January unrest, which was fueled by Kazakhs disgust for cronyism and corruption. Toqaev stripped Nazarbaev of the sweeping powers he had retained as head of the Security Council after resigning. Just days after the protests, two of Nazarbaevs sons-in-law were pushed out of top jobs at two major oil and gas companies. Another son-in-law, Timur Kulibaev, resigned as chairman of the countrys main business lobby group, while in late February, Nazarbaev's eldest daughter, Darigha, was forced to give up her parliamentary seat. Authorities also launched probes against the former father-in-law of Nazarbaev's late grandson, and leaders of a company linked to Nazarbaev's youngest daughter Aliya. In June, Toqaev said he had created a commission to "return cash illegally taken out of Kazakhstan" by "a narrow circle of people who had illegally taken over the larger portion of the countrys wealth." Exit polls and early results in Bulgaria suggest the center-right Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) party of longtime leader Boyko Borisov has won snap parliamentary elections, the fourth such poll in 18 months. An exit poll conducted by the Gallup International pollster showed GERB with 24.6 percent, apparently edging out the reformist We Continue the Change (PP) party of former Prime Minister Kiril Petkov, which is expected to take 18.9 percent. Polling data from Alpha Research had GERB with 25.5 percent, followed by PP with 19.9 percent. Early preliminary results largely mirrored the exit polling data with GERB with more than 25 percent of the vote, followed by PP with 22 percent with 12 percent of the ballots counted. Voter turnout on October 2 was estimated at about 30 percent. Petkov and former Finance Minister Assen Vassilev, co-chairs of the PP party, later conceded and declared they will not participate in a coalition with GERB. "It is GERB's responsibility to form a government. We promised that we will never participate in a coalition with GERB and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms and we will keep our promise," Petkov said, referring to an ethnic-Turkish-backed party, the DPS. Vassilev added that GERB and the DPS were both a "symbol of corruption" in Bulgarian politics. The Southeast European country of nearly 7 million people has been plagued by political gridlock since 2020, when it was rocked by nationwide protests as public anger over years of corruption boiled over. Much of the ire was directed at longtime leader Borisov and GERB. The latest government, led by Petkov, collapsed in June after just six months when one of its coalition partners quit. Petkov has struggled to deliver on his pledge to stamp out corruption. He has also backed Ukraine in its fight against Russia in a country traditionally friendly toward Moscow and accuses the Kremlin of helping orchestrate the collapse of his government, which refused to pay for gas in rubles as demanded by Russia. After casting his vote, Borisov told reporters that Bulgaria needs to clearly position itself on Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine. "With this, aggression, with this war with a clear aggressor in the face of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin -- [I have] nothing against the Russian people -- with this farce with the referendums, Bulgaria must be very clear, categorical, and precise about its place in the European Union and NATO," he said, adding that Bulgaria's entry into the eurozone should be the first and most important task. Petkov rejected recent polls as questionable and voiced confidence that the vote will yield positive results for his party. "After this election, we will make a coalition with the Bulgarian people," Petkov told reporters after casting his ballot. "Today's election is very important. The choice is between going back to the years of transition or to break with this period once and for all and heading to a new prosperous and reformed Bulgaria. I believe that all Bulgarians today will make the choice for Bulgaria to move forward," Petkov said. As many as eight parties may break the 4 percent threshold needed to gain entrance to parliament and take seats in the 240-member legislature. One of them, the far-right Revival party which has been polling at around 11 percent to 13 percent, has taken advantage of a wave of populism sweeping Europe -- as witnessed by recent gains by far-right parties in Italy and Sweden -- spurred by economic fears and uncertainty first stoked by the COVID-19 pandemic and now Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. The Revival party has promised to take Bulgaria out of the EU and NATO, and advance policies friendly to the Kremlin. While many experts dismiss the anti-Western rhetoric of the Revival party as little more than campaign bluster, they do caution that the party is doing the bidding of the Kremlin. Alpha Research polling showed Revival securing 10 percent of the vote. Early results gave Revival more than 11 percent of ballots counted. The DPS had 9 percent as did the Bulgarian Socialist Party. With reporting by AP The Russian Foreign Ministry has summoned the Canadian ambassador over alleged attacks on the Russian Embassy in Ottawa. The ministry said in a statement on September 19 that an unknown person threw a Molotov cocktail onto the territory of the Russian Embassy in the Canadian capital. The ministry also said that law enforcement officers in Ottawa had not prevented what it said were "aggressive" demonstrators who it said had blocked an entrance to the consular section of the embassy. "The Russian side demanded immediate measures to secure due safety of the Russian entities abroad, as well as that of their employees and members of their families," the statement said. The statement did not specify when the incidents took place. Russian Ambassador to Canada Oleg Stepanov was quoted by Russian state-owned news agency Sputnik as saying that the bottle was thrown early on September 12 but didn't ignite. Stepanov said a video of the incident was sent to Canadian police, but Ottawa police said they were not aware of any such report, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. A spokesman for Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said relevant authorities were looking into the matter. "We know that Canadians are shocked at the latest images coming out of Izyum," Adrien Blanchard said in a statement. "That is why we will not spare any effort to hold [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and his accomplices accountable for their war crimes." Ukrainian officials said last week that they had found 440 bodies buried in a forest near Izyum, a town in northeastern Ukraine recaptured from Russian forces. They said most of the dead were civilians. Blanchard also quoted Joly as saying violence and vandalism were not acceptable. Relations between Russia and Western countries, including Canada, have been tense since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in late February. Canada has closed its airspace to Russian aircraft, barred Russian vessels from using Canadian ports and internal waters, banned the sale of luxury items to Russia, and prohibited Canadian banks from conducting transactions with Russia's central bank. Ottawa has slapped sanctions on some 1,500 Russian citizens and companies, including President Vladimir Putin, his two adult daughters, Russian athlete Alina Kabayeva, who is believed to be Putin's current partner, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, central bank Chairwoman Elvira Nabiullina, and many other close associates of the president. With reporting by Reuters and the CBC Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has responded to officials' accusations that Russian troops shelled another nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine overnight by saying the world must "stop [Russia] before it's too late." He said via Telegram on September 19 that "a rocket fell 300 meters from" the South Ukraine (Pivdennoukrayinsk) Nuclear Power Plant in the war-torn Mykolayiv region and "there was a short-term power outage." Zelenskiy said windows at the complex were damaged and suggested "the invaders wanted to shoot again but forgot what a nuclear power plant was." "Russia endangers the whole world," Zelenskiy said. "We have to stop it before it's too late." Earlier in the day, Ukraine's state nuclear operator, Enerhoatom, accused Russian troops of striking the Pivdennoukrayinsk plant and said there was no damage to any of its three reactors. The facility is working normally, Enerhoatom added early on September 19. The United Nations' nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), did not immediately comment on the attack. Another Ukrainian nuclear plant, at Zaporizhzhya, about 250 kilometers farther east, that was occupied by Russian forces in March has been the object of intense concern and urgent international demands for a demilitarized zone and return to Ukrainian control. Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's ongoing invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, Russian protests, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war, click here. Ukrainian officials on September 18 accused Russian troops of pounding civilian infrastructure with artillery including in the city of Zaporizhzhya in which that bigger plant is located. Electricity was reportedly restored over the weekend to the Zaporizhzhya plant to help allay fears of a catastrophic disaster there. But the IAEA said on September 19 that a power line used to supply the plant was disconnected, leaving it without backup power from the grid. RFE/RL cannot independently verify battlefield claims in areas of the most intense fighting. Zelenskiy and some Western leaders have accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of waging "nuclear terrorism" and "nuclear blackmail" since ordering the full-scale invasion in February and snatching Ukrainian nuclear facilities, in addition to hinting at a possible nuclear response if the conflict in Ukraine threatens Russia broadly. A Telegram post by Enerhoatom condemning the Pivdennoukrayinsk blast quoted Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko and included a video of a bright light and blast, seemingly narrowly missing a building at the facility. "In desperation, Russia is putting the world on the brink of a nuclear disaster," it quoted Halushchenko as saying. Russia has routinely blamed Ukrainian forces for shelling near Zaporizhzhya that Kyiv has said were Russian artillery or rockets. With reporting by Reuters and AFP Ukrainian security services say "people were tortured" by Russian troops at a local police station in the recently liberated city of Kupyansk. Ukrainian troops retook the city in the Kharkiv region from Russian occupying forces on September 10 during a sweeping counteroffensive. Entering the city, Ukrainian soldiers also discovered many destroyed buildings and vehicles along with pro-Russian billboards. Rare earth elements (REEs), rare earth metals (REMs), rare earth metal oxides, rare earths - these are the names of 17 metals of the future the world powers are competing for. It is referred to, in particular, scandium, yttrium and 15 lanthanide elements, including lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, promethium, samarium, europium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium, lutetium. These elements are usually divided into two groups - light and heavy metals. As a rule, the concentration of the light metals in the earths crust is greater than that of the heavy ones. The word rare earth should not be misleading, as it does not mean that these are rare metals. On the contrary, they can be discovered even more often than copper, lead, tin or gold. Metals are called so because they are extremely rare in the earths crust in a concentrated (rather than dispersed) form suitable for use on an industrial scale, in other words, in a commercially profitable form. This is the first special feature of rare earth metals. The second special feature is that the recovery of these elements from primary ore raw materials is a very complex and extremely costly process requiring special competencies, technologies, specialized chemical and metallurgical enterprises, infrastructure, and logistics. In fact, the formation and development of the rare earth metal industry are possible only with the direct support of the state, including, in particular, government investments. The third special feature is that mining and recovery of REMs is an energy-intensive process requiring a huge amount of water. It causes significant damage to the environment, which requires additional funds to eliminate negative consequences for nature and humans. For example, the production of 1 ton of REM concentrate results in the formation of approximately 1 ton of radioactive waste - thorium and uranium, according to experts. The fourth special feature is that although rare earth elements make a small share in the GNP, their contribution to the creation of value added at each stage of the production chain is huge. That is, REMs may not be present in the final product, but they may be irreplaceable at one of the production stages (for example, cerium- and lanthanum-based reforming catalysts are used in the gasoline production). Often, rare earth metals are called vitamins for the industry and elements of progress and innovation. And theres a rationale to that. After all, the REMs share in the final product is a guide to the level of innovative development and science intensity of production, and, in general, the technological independence of the state. The fifth special feature is that the use of rare earth elements and the scope of their application expand with higher scientific and technological progress. In fact, it is impossible today to do without them in the nuclear power industry, as well as in the space, medical, defense, metallurgical, automotive, glass, and oil industries. Meanwhile, it should be kept in mind that at each stage of the scientific and technical progress, not all 17 REMs are equally used: we see a decreasing demand for some elements (for example, europium, samarium), and vice-versa, a decreasing demand for neodymium and dysprosium. The sixth special feature is that REMs will be critical in the transition of countries to a new technological mode, the core of which will be bio- and nanotechnologies, space and nuclear industries, as well as a green energy sector. That is why REMs are considered strategic metals, their availability in the country is a prerequisite for ensuring national security. In this regard, it is important to mention the seventh special feature of REMs, which is increasingly seen in the West in connection with the anti-Russian sanctions. It is referred to the desire of Europe to make the transition to clean energy as an alternative to the rising price for the Russian gas. In particular, on August 29, 2022, the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen announced at the International Strategic Forum in Slovenia that the European Union would invest 300 bn in green energy. It is important to note in this regard that the transition to clean energy will spur demand for non-ferrous metals and rare earth elements required for the operation of, for example, wind turbines and solar panels. Without them, no transition to power generation based on renewable energy sources is possible. At the same time, the prices for these elements will inevitably soar provided that the REMs supply is constant, and it is unlikely to increase their supply in a short time, especially considering that China is the main producer and supplier of rare earth metals to the world market. Here is just one example. Professor of geochemistry Peter Kelemen emphasizes: Every megawatt of electricity needs 200 kilograms of neodymiumor 20 percent of one ton. So if every big wind turbine produces one megawatt, five turbines will require one ton of neodymium. If wind is going to play a major part in replacing fossil fuels, we will need to increase our supply of neodymium.1 All this taken together determines the high cost of rare earth metals (i.e., the REE that are scarce due to the high demand for them) in the global markets and predetermines the future rising competition among the world powers for access to the REE deposits. How it all began The first rare earth elements were discovered in 1787 near the village of Ytterby in Sweden. That is why the rare earth elements got their name - yttrium, terbium, erbium, and ytterbium. By 1907, scientists had discovered 16 REEs. The existence of the 17th element - promethium - was confirmed only in 1947. Thus, 160 years later, the world received all the rare earth elements at its disposal, which proves the complexity of the process of their recovery, requiring advanced knowledge, expertise and cutting-edge technologies. In general, the rare earth metal industry which developed in Europe at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries developed rapidly in the United States in the mid-20th century. This was largely due to the discovery of the Mountain Pass deposit in California in 1949, which remained the main source of REMs until 1985 and provided most of the REMs world consumption. Thus, the USA was the global REM industrys leader not only in mining, but at every stage of their production. In 2002, the Mountain Pass mine was closed due to environmental damage and competition from China. Since 1986, the Celestial Empire has taken the lead roles. China, thanks to a targeted state policy for the development of REMs, has become a monopoly in the REM global market. Meanwhile, since the turn of the century, the Chinas share has also changed. Until 2011, Beijing controlled 95% of the global market for rare earths, then its share began declining. This, in particular, was facilitated by the Chinese authorities who limited the rare earth metals exports in 2010. At the same time, the demand for rare earth metals from the PRC is increasing, as the country produced increasingly more end products using rare earth metals. In turn, the import-dependent states (first of all, the USA, Japan, Australia) began to make efforts to find alternative sources of supplies, including through exploration and development of their own deposits. In the USA, for example, the mining and production of REMs was resumed in 2012 after a nine-year break. Pattern of demand for REMs As already noted, REEs are used in various industries due to their catalytic properties. For example, scandium is used in the manufacture of aerospace equipment. Yttrium is used in the production of high-temperature superconductors. Lanthanum is needed for the production of optical instruments and the manufacture of battery electrodes. Ytterbium, dysprosium, holmium and erbium are used for laser technology. Recently, the demand for REMs has increased drastically due to the constant magnetism shown by their alloys. Constant magnets accounting for 38% of global demand are used virtually everywhere: in cell phones, TVs, computers, motor vehicles, jet aircraft, defense equipment, and more. The clean energy is expected to significantly increase the demand for REEs, as constant magnets are critical for direct drive wind turbines and electric vehicle motors. In order to better understand the key applications of rare earths, you can look at Chart 1: Chart 1. Structure of global demand for rare earth metals by application, % Source: kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu (From left to right): Constant magnets. Catalysts. Polishing powder Battery alloys. Metallurgy and alloys. Ceramics, dyes and Others. Phosphorus. World reserves of REMs According to estimates, the world reserves of rare earth elements amount to 120 mn tons. The leader is China with its 44 mn tons (about 36.7% of all reserves). China is followed by Vietnam with its 22 mn tons, Brazil - 21 mn tons, and Russia - 21 mn tons. Chart 2. World reserves of rare earth metals by countries, tons Source: statista.com (From left to right): China. Vietnam. Brazil. Russia. India. Australia. USA. Greenland. Tanzania. South Africa. Other countries. From Chart 2, it is seen that the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) taken together have 77.5% of the worlds explored rare earth metal reserves. For comparison, the combined potential of the USA and Australia is 5.8 mn tons, or 4.8% of the world reserves. World production of REMs Over the past 40 years, the global production of REMs has increased by more than 11 times due to the rapid development of technology. In 1980, 25,000 tons of rare earth minerals were mined in the world, in 1994 - 64,500 tons, and in 2021 - 280,000 tons. The global market for rare earth elements in 2021 was estimated at $8,791.29 mn. The average annual growth rate is expected to be 4.74%, reaching $11,609.58 mn by 2027. At present, China dominates the rare earth metal market, the country produces about 60% of the worlds REMs (168,000 tons in 2021), recycles about 80%, and is a key player in the global supply chain. The largest economies in the world are completely dependent on the Chinese supplies. Therefore, a possible suspending or even limiting their supplies will result in an increase in prices for rare earth metals, and may also cause serious damage to industry and the plans for the European economies decarbonization. This forces the countries to look for alternative sources. The Chinas expansion into the rare earth metal market began over 40 years ago, back in 1981, when the giant Bayan-Obo (also called Bayun-Obo or Baiyunebo) deposit was discovered and developed, its potential was estimated at 36 mn tons of rare earth metal oxides, which made 30% of the world reserves. Despite the fact that the USA has insignificant reserves of REMs (see Chart 2), the country is nevertheless the second largest producer of REMs. In 2021, they received about 43,000 tons of REM concentrates, which made 15.5% of the global production. China and the USA were followed by Myanmar (Burma) and Australia with the output of 26,000 tons and 22,000 tons, respectively. As noted above, until recently, China controlled the production of almost 95% of REMs. In 2011, with a world production of 111,000 tons, China accounted for 105,000 tons (for comparison, the United States did not produce REEs at that time). This is explained by significant REM reserves, their high grade and low cost, which allowed China to establish control over the global market for rare earth metals. Now, this share has decreased for the understandable reasons, as the PRC strives to create goods with high added value. Reducing the REMs exports, the country simultaneously increases the output of finished products based on them, and this indicates that China turns into a high-tech power. The drastic reduction (by 72% in H2 2010) in the Chinas supplies of REMs to the world market has led to an unprecedented rise in prices. The weighted average price of rare earth metal oxides soared in mid-2011 to $190/kg. At the end of 2012, the prices dropped to $30-40/kg. The scarcity of REMs and an unprecedented rise in prices prompted the states, in particular the USA, Australia, Canada, etc., to explore and actively develop alternative REM deposits. In general, this is still a priority, especially in the context of the energy transition to alternative energy. As for the reserves and production of rare earth metals, it is worth taking a closer look at South Africa as well. South Africa in the future could well compete with at least the United States and Australia in the world REM market. With its reserves of 790,000 tons, South Africa closes the top ten countries with the largest reserves of rare earth elements. In South Africa, the Steenkampskraal mine is located in the Western Cape province that is estimated to be the highest-grade rare earth metal mine in the world and will, therefore, have low mining costs. For example, the neodymium grade is 2.58% and the reserves are 15,600 tons, which is higher than the total grade of rare earth elements in most other similar deposits. Each ton of ore at the Steenkampskraal mine contains approximately $3,750 worth of REMs, much higher than any other rare earth element deposit in the world. All this confirms that this field has great potential and clear competitive advantages. USSR/Russia and REMs In the USSR, the Ministry of Medium Machine Building Industry was responsible for the development of the rare earth metal industry, which proves that the countrys government gave priority to it. Of course, at that time, REMs were used primarily for the needs of the defense industry. However, thanks to this, the Soviet Union had a powerful rare earth metal industry and a leading position in the global rare earth metal market. The USSR ranked 3rd in the world in terms of REM production and 2nd in terms of the REM reserves. In 1990, 8.5 thousand tons of REMs were produced. About 5,000 tons were consumed within the country, thus, the Soviet Union fully satisfied its internal needs, and was also able to export rare earth metals. With the collapse of the USSR, Russia, unfortunately, essentially lost the rare earth metal industry. Out of the 9 enterprises of the REM industry, only the Solikamsk Magnesium Factory in the Perm Territory has survived. The rest factories were either shut down or remained outside of Russia - in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Estonia, and Ukraine. The topic of the rare earth metal industry revival in Russia has been discussed for many years. However, there has been no major breakthrough in this field so far. Despite the fact that Russia shares the third place with Brazil in terms of the REE reserves, its share in the global production is maximum 1% (in 1991, it was 15%). To date, the rare earth metals in Russia are mined at the Lovozerskoye loparite deposit in the Murmansk Region. The concentrate obtained at the Lovozersky Mining and Processing Plant is supplied to the Solikamsk Magnesium Plant producing max 2,000 tons of the REM carbonates. Almost all the REM products are exported to the Silmet Factory (Estonia) owned by Neo Performance Materials (Canada). At the same time, rather small Russias needs in REMs (1,000 tons to 1,100 tons) are met mainly through imports, which makes the country critically dependent on its foreign suppliers. At the recent Eastern Economic Forum, the Russian President drew special attention to solving the problems related to providing the national economy with critical raw materials, in particular, niobium. In my opinion, Russia has everything necessary to do this, first of all, it is rich in the REM raw materials. For example, in addition to the Lovozerskoye deposit, there is the Tomtorskoye deposit (Yakutia) in the country; this deposit is one of the largest in the world in terms of rare earth metal reserves, including niobium, yttrium, scandium, lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, samarium, europium, and titanium. And there are rather promising Chuktukonskoye deposit in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, the Zashikhinskoye and Beloziminskoye deposits in the Irkutsk Region, the Katuginskoye deposit in the Zabaikalye (Trans-Baikal) Territory, and etc. Given the difficult global geopolitical situation, numerous sanctions imposed on Russia by several unfriendly states, ensuring national security is a burning issue, in particular, through the availability of critically important resources that, certainly, include rare earth metals. After all, both the states defense potential and the development of the promising sunrise industries, and hence the place of Russia in the new world economic space, depend today on the availability or absence of REMs. Margarita Obraztsova for Rough&Polished 1 https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2012/09/19/rare-earth-metals-will-we-have-enough/ Anglo American Platinum continues to make significant investments in South Africas hydrogen economy, according to a company spokesperson. The Platinum Group Metals (PGMs) miners external communication principal Nomonde Ndwalaza told Rough & Polisheds Mathew Nyaungwa in an exclusive interview that they are taking a multi-pronged approach to this. She said they made investments and partnerships to establish a hydrogen valley in South Africa, invest in renewable energy, and technological developments such as the hydrogen-fueled mine haul truck. Meanwhile, Ndwalaza said Anglo American Platinum experienced a robust PGM basket price of $2,671 per PGM ounce in the first half of 2022, the second highest on record as a result of strong underlying fundamentals for PGMs. She said they continue to face pressure on PGM prices but the quality of the assets they have means the company have a diversified basket of metals and a strong basket price. Below are excerpts from the interview. What is your projected output for the year? Our refined production guidance for 2022 is between 3.7 3.9 million PGM ounces. Our sales guidance is 3.7 3.9 million PGM ounces. Our metal-in-concentrate guidance is between 3.9 4.3 million PGM ounces and our unit cost guidance is between R14,000 R15,000 per PGM ounce, based on an oil price of around $100 per barrel. All guidance is subject to no disruptions due to load-shedding. Which factors have been affecting your production? The first half of 2022 has seen us largely mitigate the operational headwinds of Covid-19, global supply chain disruptions, security of electricity supply, as well as social and geopolitical complexities to deliver another strong financial performance, bearing in mind the record results of the first half of 2021 when we processed and sold much of the inventory that we had built up during the Anglo Converter Plant (ACP) rebuild in 2020. Our performance in the first half of this year represents more normalised levels of sales volumes and resulting EBITDA. The supply chain does continue to impact us, and the delivery of substandard materials has extended the Polokwane smelter rebuild by two months leading us to revise our guidance. Whilst this is disappointing, this is a temporary delay in refined production and a timing issue rather than lost production. Some companies have of late been recording lower average metal prices. What has been your experience in the first half of the year? We experienced a robust PGM basket price $2,671 per PGM ounce, the second highest on record as a result of strong underlying fundamentals for PGMs. We continue to face pressure on PGM prices but the quality of the assets we have means we have a diversified basket of metals and a strong basket price. What is your projection of prices for PGMs for the rest of the year? In the PGM markets, the forecast is for platinums surplus to gradually move towards a deficit due to a significant increase in automotive platinum demand, as some platinum replaces palladium in gasoline catalysts. Palladium is likely to move into surplus for the opposite reason, though to what extent will depend on what happens to automotive production. Rhodium should head back into deficit after two years of surplus. Longer-term, we are excited with the momentum we are seeing in the development of the hydrogen economy with more countries announcing hydrogen-specific strategies, there is more investment committed to broader hydrogen infrastructure and more green hydrogen production, which will enable us to unlock incremental PGM demand in new segments such as hydrogen production and storage, as well as mobility. How are you adding value to the metals that you are producing in South Africa? We believe that mining must play its part to address the environmental challenges of a carbon-constrained world while continuing to meet the ever-growing demand for its products. SA is the worlds largest producer of PGMs and home to the bulk of known PGM resources. The metals we mine presents a significant opportunity for economic development, including the creation of new jobs and the development of the PGMs sector, while also contributing to South Africas decarbonisation objectives. We are committed to changing the competitive advantages we have into real economic activity. We are doing significant work in this space through our investments and partnerships to establish a hydrogen valley in South Africa, invest in renewable energy, and in technological developments such as the hydrogen-fueled mine haul truck we are currently trailing at Mogalakwena. We continue to make significant investments in the hydrogen economy and are taking a multi-pronged approach to this. This approach is not unique to hydrogen and is used for all market development activities. Market Development today focuses on three major themes 1. PGMS within the green energy transition, 2. PGMS for everyday life and 3. PGMs for wealth/meaningful luxury and investment: - Investing in research and development to develop new projects with the potential to be transformed into commercially viable technologies and businesses. - Deploying growth capital, through our investments as well as via the PGMs-focused venture capital fund AP Ventures. - Attracting additional investment partners - Enabling commercial collaboration, by leveraging our networks and expertise to accelerate the adoption of relevant technologies and products Green hydrogen produced by platinum-based proton exchange membrane electrolysers is expected to reduce global carbon dioxide emissions. How are you involved in the green hydrogen economy? Hydrogen has a significant and wide-ranging systemic role to play in achieving a low carbon future, including its use in transportation, heat, power, industrial processes, and as an energy carrier and storer that will enable the development of renewables-based power generation systems. To produce green hydrogen, you need to use renewable energy. Our focus is therefore not only on the hydrogen part of the equation but also on investing in the renewable energy sources that will enable us to produce green hydrogen In March, Anglo American announced a partnership with EDF Renewables to work together to develop a regional renewable energy ecosystem in South Africa to deliver 24/7 renewable power to our operations by 2030. The initiative draws on the huge natural renewable potential of South Africa and would require the construction of a network of on-site and off-site solar and wind farms, and pumped storage. We remain a cornerstone investor in AP Ventures a PGM-focused fund, whose current portfolio focuses predominantly on the green hydrogen economy. Beyond this, our focus is not solely on hydrogen we also invest in other technological developments, e.g. through Lion Battery Technologies, which is working on applications that will require the use of PGMs in batteries. What are you doing to conserve the environment? One of our strategic priorities at Anglo American Platinum is to be a leader in ESG. To achieve this, our strategy is to fully implement the three pillars of our sustainable mining plan by: - Developing trust as a corporate leader and providing ethical value chains and improved accountabilities to the communities we work with; - Enabling thriving communities by improving their health, quality of education, and access to employment and other opportunities; and - Maintaining a healthy environment by creating waterless, carbon-neutral mines and delivering positive biodiversity outcomes. Our nuGen project, for example, is focused on the end-to-end integrated green hydrogen production, fueling, and haulage system developed by Anglo American in cooperation with various external partners. This year, nuGen launched its pilot initiative which is the worlds largest hydrogen-powered ultra-class mine haul truck to operate fully laden (510t = 290t payload + 220t when empty) in real mine conditions at the Mogalakwena mine in Limpopo. Once proven, Anglo American plans to roll out the technology across our global fleet of c.400 trucks incrementally. With our haul trucks representing up to 80% of diesel emissions at our sites, this technology will make a major contribution toward our operational carbon neutrality commitment. Beyond the GHG emissions reduction benefit, the hydrogen complexes for haul trucks at our sites have the potential to serve as local and regional hubs for an emerging hydrogen economy, in South Africa and beyond. Beyond this, recognise the value and scarcity of our countrys natural resources, especially energy and water. Our commitment to the natural environment goes beyond this to include compliance with environmental legislation, our approach to climate change, energy usage, and water and air, including responsible land management and closure. Through the Hydrogen Valley initiative, we are focused on decarbonization initiatives that go beyond our mine gate where we are focused on creating green energy solutions within transportation like the first hydrogen freight corridor in the country, and the use of hydrogen and fuel cells within industrial applications as well as within buildings. How concerned are you about the safety of your workers and what has been your safety record so far this year? The safety, health and well-being of our employees are our foremost values. Our robust health and safety strategies underpin our leading response to managing the infectious coronavirus disease (Covid-19) across our operations and our unwavering focus on eliminating fatalities by reducing (and ultimately eliminating) injuries from the workplace, as well as mitigating any adverse effects on human health. We aim to continually build and instil both a company and industry culture that protects people from harm and improves their health and wellbeing. Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished In a talk with Saigon Investment, Asso. Prof. Dr. NGO TRI LONG, former Deputy Director of the Institute for Price Market Research under the Ministry of Finance, commented that the consequences leading to supply shortage need to be dealt with through State intervention. JOURNALIST: - Sir, although the domestic gasoline price has decreased compared to the beginning of the year, it is still not satisfying many businesses who say that there is a shortage of gasoline supply. There are also opinions that Decree 95/2021/ND-CP which was amended from Decree 83/2014/ND-CP, and which took effect at the end of last year, is now outdated and needs to be amended and supplemented. What is your opinion on this? Dr. NGO TRI LONG: - The inadequacies of Decree 95 have been discussed many times. However, I think that even if we continue to amend and supplement Decree 95, the problems will still be difficult to resolve unless we change the management style and ways of operating the petroleum market today. The problem lies in the operations which involves the human factor. Therefore, it is necessary to change the current rigid operating method by operating more flexibly. For instance, during the long holidays last week domestic prices of gas remained stationary because they were waiting for the end of the holiday to meet authorities to adjust prices, even though the gasoline prices in the world market fluctuated strongly. This had a negative impact on both consumers and petroleum businesses. Because if the price of gasoline increases, businesses suffer when they still have to sell at a low price, and when the price goes down consumers lose as they have to pay a higher price. This very small detail shows that the current price management mechanism is still rigid and not close to the market reality. - Sir, in your opinion, should Vietnam let the domestic gasoline price operate according to the world market price? - For gasoline prices to operate properly according to market prices, it will be very good if the market offers true competition. But right now, we don't have a truly competitive market. In the Competition Law, it is stipulated that one enterprise accounts for 30%, two enterprises account for 50%, and three enterprises account for 60% of the market share of certain type of goods. This is to say that enterprises hold a dominant position in the market and play a very dominant role. When playing a dominant role, there is a need for regulations by the State to avoid market manipulation. Currently, Petrolimex is accounting for about 47% to 48% of the domestic market share, together with two other petroleum businesses combined, this number accounts for more than 60% of the domestic petroleum market share dominating the market today. When there are enterprises holding such a dominant position in the market, it is never allowed to let the market float or allowing enterprises to set their own prices, especially for key strategic commodities such as petroleum. Because when businesses set their own prices, they will take advantage of their influence to raise prices, causing damage to consumers and other businesses. Therefore, State intervention is required and the State deciding the price is the reasonable option. - But sir, is this a contradiction in the operating mechanism? - In my opinion, this is not a contradiction, but rather it is a difficult position of the State. If you want to stay close to the market, you must decide the price on a daily basis, instead of operating according to the current cycle. If it floats, it will be dominated by enterprises. But when it is not possible to float the price of gasoline and businesses and consumers decide for themselves, the State needs to be the arbitrator. Only when the market is fully competitive can it be floated. Another difficulty here is that when the State has regulated prices, there must be a cycle to adjust. Previously it was from 30 days, then it reduced to 15 days and now it is 10 days. Even the Ministry of Industry and Trade recently wanted to regulate prices every two or three days. I think it is very good to do this, but whether the Ministry of Industry and Trade can do this or not is the question. One of the criteria to evaluate the market economy is price liberalization. Price liberalization does not mean that everything is determined by the market itself but must depend on each type of product and market. For example, electricity and gasoline are essential commodities and the State plays the role of an arbitrator to adjust and overcome any shortcomings. The management of the market economy is different from the subsidy mechanism. - Sir, in the past, there have been many opinions that it is necessary to invest in building a strategic petroleum reserve system because this is a factor for preventing price shocks from outside and helping the State operations to run more smoothly. What is your opinion on this? - Petroleum reserves in Vietnam are now common for nearly ten days and this is a dangerous thing. Currently, many countries can store petroleum for up to three months. There are two types of reserves here, namely, enterprise reserves and state reserves. These two reserves are currently unbalanced, and we only rely on enterprise reserves mainly. The point of view of businesses is that they want to reserve a term of a few days because businesses do not want to put too much capital, but the price often fluctuates, and the risk will be high. But storing for a few days will have implications for energy security as well and overcoming this limitation requires State intervention. - Thank you very much. Luu Thuy (interviewer) The Shenzhou-14 astronauts from China have finished their extravehicular activities (EVAs), according to a statement from the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) Saturday. Shenzhou-14 Taikonauts Extravehicular Activities At 1:35 p.m., Beijing Time, Cai Xuzhe unlocked the hatch of Wentian's airlock cabin. Both Cai and Chen Dong were outside at 3:33 p.m. At 5:47 p.m., the two returned to the lab module, according to the CMSA (via China.org.cn), which has deemed the mission a success after almost five hours of EVAs. Astronaut Liu Yang supported her crewmates during the EVAs while she was inside the core module. They have finished several tasks, including mounting the handles for extra-vehicular assistance and extending the load circuit pumps. The capability of extravehicular rescue was also verified. The EVAs have tested the small mechanical arm and Wentian's airlock cabin's functionality as well as the astronauts' ability to coordinate with each other and the arm. The most difficult task of extravehicular rescue was performed for the first time by the taikonauts, who also added more pumps to the space station's thermal management system. QinduoXu, Senior Fellow of Pangoal Institution shared a photo of the event on his Twitter. Congrats! China's #Shenzhou-14 astronauts completed their 2nd #spacewalk. Operations included installing a foot-stop and an assist handle. pic.twitter.com/e9EIJJ6Keb QinduoXu (@QinduoXu) September 18, 2022 On the other hand, CNSA Watcher shared a video of the exploration in a Twitter post. Shenzhou 14 astronauts Chen Dong & Cai Xuzhe conducted their 2st EVA spacewalk on Sept 17 at Tiangong Space Station (CSS), installed EVA assistance handles and the extended pump set of the load circuits and verified EVA rescue capability. Full HD: https://t.co/CZaqOyM035 pic.twitter.com/UFDLTf4GSz CNSA Watcher (@CNSAWatcher) September 17, 2022 Taikonauts' Coordination Significance According to Pan Shunliang, deputy chief designer of the Overall Design Department of the China Academy of Space Technology, astronauts and ground control staff must be skilled at working together with different drills. He pointed out the importance of communication between the taikonaut within the capsule and the two taikonauts outside the capsule. There is also a requirement for close coordination between many departments on the ground, including the measurement and communication system, astronaut system, Beijing Aerospace Flight Control Center, and the space station system. Regular repeated spacewalks may be necessary to move the solar wings from the core module to both sides of the lab modules during the operation stage. The purpose of the extravehicular activities is to prepare for and assess the feasibility of spacewalks. Scott Fyffe Motors respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal data. This privacy notice will inform you as to how we look after your personal data when you visit our website (regardless of where you visit it from) and tell you about your privacy rights and how the law protects you. Important information and who we are Purpose of this privacy notice This privacy notice aims to give you information on how Scott Fyffe Motors collects and processes your personal data through your use of this website, including any data you may provide through this website when you sign up to a newsletter or purchase a service. This website is not intended for children and we do not knowingly collect data relating to children. It is important that you read this privacy notice together with any other privacy notice or fair processing notice we may provide on specific occasions when we are collecting or processing personal data about you so that you are fully aware of how and why we are using your data. This privacy notice supplements the other notices and is not intended to override them. Controller Scott Fyffe Motors is the controller and responsible for your personal data (collectively referred to as 'Company', 'we', 'us' or 'our' in this privacy notice). We have appointed a data privacy manager who is responsible for overseeing questions in relation to this privacy notice. If you have any questions about this privacy notice, including any requests to exercise your legal rights, please contact the data privacy manager using the details set out below. Contact details Our full details are: Full name of legal entity: Scott Fyffe Motors Name of data privacy manager: Ian Falconer Email address: info@scottfyffe.co.uk Postal address: Kingsway East, Dundee, DD4 7PY Telephone number: 01382 457667 You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues (www.ico.org.uk). We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO so please contact us in the first instance. It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal data changes during your relationship with us. Third-party links This website may include links to third-party websites, plug-ins and applications. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy statements. When you leave our website, we encourage you to read the privacy notice of every website you visit. The data we collect about you Personal data, or personal information, means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include data where the identity has been removed (anonymous data). We may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal data about you which we have grouped together follows: Identity Data includes first name, maiden name, last name, username or similar identifier, marital status, title, date of birth and gender. Contact Data includes billing address, delivery address, email address and telephone numbers. Financial Data includes bank account and payment card details. Transaction Data includes details about payments to and from you and other details of products and services you have purchased from us. Technical Data includes internet protocol (IP) address, your login data, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform and other technology on the devices you use to access this website. Profile Data includes your username and password, purchases or orders made by you, your interests, preferences, feedback and survey responses. Usage Data includes information about how you use our website, products and services. Marketing and Communications Data includes your preferences in receiving marketing from us and our third parties and your communication preferences. We also collect, use and share Aggregated Data such as statistical or demographic data for any purpose. Aggregated Data may be derived from your personal data but is not considered personal data in law as this data does not directly or indirectly reveal your identity. For example, we may aggregate your Usage Data to calculate the percentage of users accessing a specific website feature. However, if we combine or connect Aggregated Data with your personal data so that it can directly or indirectly identify you, we treat the combined data as personal data which will be used in accordance with this privacy notice. We do not collect any Special Categories of Personal Data about you (this includes details about your race or ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, sex life, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership, information about your health and genetic and biometric data). Nor do we collect any information about criminal convictions and offences. If you fail to provide personal data Where we need to collect personal data by law, or under the terms of a contract we have with you and you fail to provide that data when requested, we may not be able to perform the contract we have or are trying to enter into with you (for example, to provide you with services). In this case, we may have to cancel a service you have with us but we will notify you if this is the case at the time. How is your personal data collected? We use different methods to collect data from and about you including through: Direct interactions. You may give us your Identity, Contact and Financial Data by filling in forms or by corresponding with us by post, phone, email or otherwise. This includes personal data you provide when you: - apply for our services; - make an enquiry; - create an account on our website; - subscribe to our service or publications; - request marketing to be sent to you; - enter a competition, promotion or survey; or - give us some feedback. Automated technologies or interactions. As you interact with our website, we may automatically collect Technical Data about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns. We collect this personal data by using cookies, server logs and other similar technologies. We may also receive Technical Data about you if you visit other websites employing our cookies. Please see our cookie policy for further details. Third parties or publicly available sources. We may receive personal data about you from various third parties and public sources as set out below: Technical Data from the following parties: (a) analytics providers; (b) advertising networks; and (c) search information providers. Contact, Financial and Transaction Data from providers of technical, payment and delivery services. Identity and Contact Data from data brokers or aggregators. Identity and Contact Data from publicly availably sources. How we use your personal data We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your personal data in the following circumstances: Where we need to perform the contract we are about to enter into or have entered into with you. Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests. Where we need to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation. Generally we do not rely on consent as a legal basis for processing your personal data other than in relation to sending third party direct marketing communications to you via email or text message. You have the right to withdraw consent to marketing at any time by contacting us. Purposes for which we will use your personal data We have set out below, in a table format, a description of all the ways we plan to use your personal data, and which of the legal bases we rely on to do so. We have also identified what our legitimate interests are where appropriate. Note that we may process your personal data for more than one lawful ground depending on the specific purpose for which we are using your data. Please contact us if you need details about the specific legal ground we are relying on to process your personal data where more than one ground has been set out in the table below. Purpose/Activity Type of data Lawful basis for processing including basis of legitimate interest To register you as a new customer (a) Identity (b) Contact Performance of a contract with you To process and deliver your enquiry, request or order including: (a) Manage payments, fees and charges (b) Collect and recover money owed to us (c) Manage financial applications (a) Identity (b) Contact (c) Financial (d) Transaction (e) Marketing and Communications (a) Performance of a contract with you (b) Necessary for our legitimate interests (to recover debts due to us) To manage our relationship with you which will include: (a) Notifying you about changes to our terms or privacy policy (b) Asking you to leave a review or take a survey (a) Identity (b) Contact (c) Profile (d) Marketing and Communications (a) Performance of a contract with you (b) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation (c) Necessary for our legitimate interests (to keep our records updated and to study how customers use our services) To enable you to partake in a prize draw, competition or complete a survey (a) Identity (b) Contact (c) Profile (d) Usage (e) Marketing and Communications (a) Performance of a contract with you (b) Necessary for our legitimate interests (to study how customers use our services, to develop them and grow our business) To administer and protect our business and this website (including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, system maintenance, support, reporting and hosting of data) (a) Identity (b) Contact (c) Technical (a) Necessary for our legitimate interests (for running our business, provision of administration and IT services, network security, to prevent fraud and in the context of a business reorganisation or group restructuring exercise) (b) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation To deliver relevant website content and advertisements to you and measure or understand the effectiveness of the advertising we serve to you (a) Identity (b) Contact (c) Profile (d) Usage (e) Marketing and Communications (f) Technical Necessary for our legitimate interests (to study how customers use our services, to develop them, to grow our business and to inform our marketing strategy) To use data analytics to improve our website, services, marketing, customer relationships and experiences (a) Technical (b) Usage Necessary for our legitimate interests (to define types of customers for our services, to keep our website updated and relevant, to develop our business and to inform our marketing strategy) To make suggestions and recommendations to you about services that may be of interest to you (a) Identity (b) Contact (c) Technical (d) Usage (e) Profile Necessary for our legitimate interests (to develop our services and grow our business) Marketing We strive to provide you with choices regarding certain personal data uses, particularly around marketing and advertising. We have established the following personal data control mechanisms: Promotional offers from us We may use your Identity, Contact, Technical, Usage and Profile Data to form a view on what we think you may want or need, or what may be of interest to you. This is how we decide which products, services and offers may be relevant for you (we call this marketing). You will receive marketing communications from us if you have requested information from us or purchased services from us and, in each case, you have not opted out of receiving that marketing. Opting out You can ask us or third parties to stop sending you marketing messages at any time by logging into the website and checking or unchecking relevant boxes to adjust your marketing preferences or by following the opt-out links on any marketing message sent to you or by contacting us at any time. Where you opt out of receiving these marketing messages, this will not apply to personal data provided to us as a result of a service purchase, service experience or other transactions. Cookies You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when websites set or access cookies. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of this website may become inaccessible or not function properly. For more information about the cookies we use, please see our cookie policy. Change of purpose We will only use your personal data for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose. If you wish to get an explanation as to how the processing for the new purpose is compatible with the original purpose, please contact us. If we need to use your personal data for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do so. Please note that we may process your personal data without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law. Disclosures of your personal data We may have to share your personal data with the parties set out below for the purposes set out in the table in paragraph 4 above. External Third Parties as set out in the Glossary. Third parties to whom we may choose to sell, transfer, or merge parts of our business or our assets. Alternatively, we may seek to acquire other businesses or merge with them. If a change happens to our business, then the new owners may use your personal data in the same way as set out in this privacy notice. We require all third parties to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes and only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions. International transfers We do not transfer your personal data outside the European Economic Area (EEA). Data security We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to your personal data to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal data on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality. We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so. Data retention How long will you use my personal data for? We will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements. Your legal rights Under certain circumstances, you have rights under data protection laws in relation to your personal data. (Please see the glossary for more detail) Request access to your personal data. Request correction of your personal data. Request erasure of your personal data. Object to processing of your personal data. Request restriction of processing your personal data. Request transfer of your personal data. Right to withdraw consent. If you wish to exercise any of the rights set out above, please contact us. No fee usually required You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal data (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive. Alternatively, we may refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances. What we may need from you We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal data (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up our response. Time limit to respond We try to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally it may take us longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we will notify you and keep you updated. The logo of the International Atomic Energy Agency is seen at IAEA headquarters during a board of governors meeting in Vienna, Austria, June 7, 2021. [Photo/Agencies] Upon the establishment of their AUKUS alliance one year ago, the United Kingdom and the United States announced that they would transfer nuclear submarine technology to Australia. The plan has met with fierce condemnation and opposition, not least from China which is generally viewed as being the target of the move, on the basis that it violates the nuclear non-proliferation treaty which the three countries are signatories to. Under the plan, Australia will acquire at least eight nuclear submarines that IAEA chief Rafael Grossi has said will be fuelled by weapons-grade, or close to it, "very highly enriched uranium". As China said in a position paper sent to IAEA member states during this week's quarterly meeting of the IAEA's 35-nation Board of Governors in Vienna, "The AUKUS partnership involves the illegal transfer of nuclear weapon materials, making it essentially an act of nuclear proliferation". Since the position paper the Chinese side put forward questions both the legal basis for the AUKUS program and such issues as the interpretation of nuclear proliferation, the IAEA rules, and the mandate of the IAEA and its leadership, the issue has become a crucial test for the global nuclear watchdog. It needs to stay true to its mission of preserving peace via non-proliferation if it is to retain its authority. "The IAEA, as a non-proliferation agency, would directly violate its own statute and the Non-Proliferation Treaty if it endorses the legality of the AUKUS countries' proliferation activities", as Wang Qun, Chinese permanent representative to the UN and other international organizations in Vienna, said. Australia says it will be unable and unwilling to use the fuel in its submarines to make nuclear weapons since the vessels will have "welded power units" containing nuclear material that would need chemical processing for use in nuclear weapons, and it neither has nor wants the facilities to do that. The AUKUS countries and the IAEA say the NPT allows so-called marine nuclear propulsion provided necessary arrangements are made with the IAEA. China disagrees and says the AUKUS countries are seeking to take the IAEA "hostage" so they can "whitewash" their nuclear proliferation. While the focus has been on the nuclear reactors that will power the submarines, it should also be noted that the vessels are to be based on the US navy's latest Virginia-class submarines, which can launch both cruise and ballistic nuclear missiles. Looking at the AUKUS deal within the bigger picture, although the Joe Biden administration's nuclear posture review remains classified, which is in itself unusual, given the revamping of the US' nuclear posture under the Trump administration which made nuclear weapon use more matter of fact than let's hope it never comes to that along with the Pentagon's desire for naval bases in North Australia, it seems naive to conclude that it does not constitute nuclear proliferation in one form or another. A student in Dak Lak receives examination at a local healthcare facility. Vietnam strives for all students to benefit from health insurance policies In the first eight months of 2022, nearly 2.2 million students nationwide who received medical examination and treatment have been paid by the health insurance agency with a total amount of nearly VND1,770 billion (US$71,717,069). Moreover, the health insurance agency has paid huge amounts of examination and treatment costs for many students. Specifically, 537 students have undergone 2,535 types of medical examination and treatment which costs roughly VND100 million-VND200 million each. Plus, other 190 students received 1,435 medical examinations and treatments worth VND200 million -VND500 million each, and the agency covered over VND500 million for 20 insured students undergoing 152 types of medical services. Even, many cases whose examination and treatment cost up to about VND1 billion each were covered by the insurance agency. For example, an insured patient in My Thanh Trung Commune in the Mekong Delta Province of Vinh Longs Tam Binh District received treatment including ventricular septal defect (membrane part), candida sepsis, rheumatic aortic regurgitation (severe 4/4), acute infectious endocarditis and subacute (aortic root abscess) for 24 times in 2021 at Ho Chi Minh City-based Cho Ray Hospital, the General Hospital in Vinh Long Province and the General Hospital in the Mekong Delta City of Can Tho. The cost that the health insurance fund paid for this patient was VND1.18 billion. Up to now, the Health Insurance Fund has paid for many students with incurable and chronic diseases at a cost of up to billions of Vietnam dong, helping them and their families reduce the burden of medical examination and treatment costs. Data from the Vietnam Social Insurance show that the coverage of health insurance for students has grown steadily over the years with an increasing trend. In the school year 2021-2022, about 18.8 million children participated in health insurance, reaching 96 percent of the total number of students in the country. This shows that parents' awareness of the benefits and importance of participating in health insurance for their children has been improved. Many parents proactively buy health insurance even when their children are healthy considering it the best way to prevent and cope with risks through participation in health insurance. According to regulations, the monthly health insurance premium payment is equal to 4.5 percent of the basic salary and students receive the support of 30 percent taken from the state budget; so students just pay 70 percent of the insurance cost. According to this calculation, the full year's payment is VND804,600 but students just pay an actual amount of VND563,220 a year, the rest is supported by the State budget. In addition to 30 - percent support from the State budget, many provinces and cities also have additional support policies for the achievement of the goal of 100 percent students participating in health insurance in the school year 2022-2023. For instance, the Northern Province of Ha Giang provides additional support of 70 percent for children of ethnic minorities; therefore, all children from ethnic minority groups are covered by the insurance agency while the Northern Province of Hung Yen gives support of 30 percent while Dien Bien Province, Son La Province, Ba Ria - Vung Tau Province give 20 percent support respectively. Elsewhere in the country, Kon Tum Province, Tra Vinh Province, and Dong Thap Province give 10 percent support respectively. Dak Lak Province and Tien Giang Province support 5 percent of healthcare insurance costs. By Phuc Van - Translated by Anh Quan Digital payments company MobiKwik is bolstering its financial services offering with the launch of an investment deposit product called Xtra for its consumer and merchant partners. The company already has assets under management (AUM) of Rs 101 crore for the product, cofounder Upasana Taku said in an interaction. The product, which has been tested over the past month, allows users to invest as little as Rs 1,000 and looks to provide interest of up to 12% per annum on these deposits, with an option to withdraw the corpus at any time. The deposits will be invested by a peer-to-peer non-banking financial company (NBFC) partner as loans to MobiKwik customers. MobiKwik has partnered with P2P NBFC LendBox for the offering. MobiKwiks Xtra is not a new offering in the fintech industry, with several other firms including Cred and BharatPe foraying into the P2P lending category last year. Last week, Cred said it was investing $10 million in P2P NBFC Liquiloans, which powers its P2P lending product Credit Mint. Liquiloans is also working with Cred on its credit line product Cred Cash. Most of the P2P investment products from other fintechs are focused on select segments of consumers. We wanted a large base to benefit from the returns. Also we are offering upto 12% returns, higher than certain other fintech firms, with a low entry investment barrier of Rs 1,000. We have launched Xtra keeping in mind that traditional financial instruments such as fixed deposits offer interest as high as 6% at present, said Taku. She added that the company is confident of the returns coming in since the deposits will be plowed back by Lendbox as loans to its customer base on MobiKwik. At present, MobiKwik offers instant loans and buy-now-pay-later solutions to its users. For the year ending March 31, 2022 (FY22), revenues earned from credit comprised almost 25% of MobiKwiks overall revenues. However, over the past few months, credit has already scaled to 50% of MobiKwiks monthly revenues during this fiscal, Taku added. Earlier this month, MobiKwik announced its fiscal results for FY22. It reported an 80% increase in revenues to Rs 543.2 crore, while losses increased 15% to Rs 128.16 crore from Rs 111.3 crore in FY21. For this financial year (FY23), financial services (including credit) will be 50% or higher in terms of (overall revenue) contribution. And in the next fiscal it will definitely exceed payments. The GMV (gross merchandise value) of payments is also growing. It grew by 130% between FY21 and FY22. But margins in that business are low, especially compared to financial services, added Taku. MobiKwik claims to have 130 million users and 3.7 million merchants on its platform. The company has stalled plans for its initial public offering (IPO) amid a broader correction in fintech valuations. MobiKwik received approval from capital markets regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), in October last year to go ahead with its Rs 1,900 crore IPO. Recently, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) reportedly rejected MobiKwik's application to operate Zaakpay, its payment gateway service, as a payment aggregator. As per a report. Taku said the company would reapply for the license. RBI had opened another window for payment aggregators to seek regulatory approval as the discontinuation of those without the license could lead to disruptions in the system. To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account. We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription. A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means youre helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much! Scam victims are turning to crowdfunding to make up for their losses as consumer advocates urge the Australian government and banks to introduce a national code to reimburse fraud victims and stop suspicious bank transfers. Consumer advocate CHOICE said cons ranging from fake crypto investment schemes to romance scams cost Australians more than $2 billion a year. Scam victim Ellen Dickinson. Credit:Nick Moir / The Sydney Morning Herald But a CHOICE spokesman said most people turning to crowdfunding only got back a fraction of their loss. Some victims are also using TikTok to raise awareness of their situations, a spokesman said. Ellen Dickinson, an 18-year-old university law student from Baulkham Hills, said she received about $870 in public donations through her crowdfunding effort after she unwittingly transferred nearly $5000 to a fake online car seller to buy her first car. She had responded to an advertisement for a Suzuki Swift on a social media website. Time poor parents are continuing to choose convenience over cost, despite rising interest rates and inflation, giving kid-friendly ready meal company Go! Kidzs expansion plans a big thumbs up. The Sydney-based company announced its partnership with one of Australias largest food manufacturers, Kitchen Food Company, early last month, as the ready meal sector continues to boom post lockdown. Data from Ibisworld shows that the sector has grown at an average of 3.3 per cent a year over the past decade. Go! Kidz founder Jeremy Crooks said there was nothing available when it came to healthy ready-meal options for kids. Credit:Flavio Bracaleone Go! Kidz founder Jeremy Crooks said it was his experience as a parent trying to get his kids to eat more vegetables that prompted the former Google head of commerce to start exploring healthy child-friendly options in the sector. I really thought it was the responsibility of food producers to ensure that the food theyre making has at least some degree of nourishment for customers. A major initiative to stop doctors performing expensive but useless or risky procedures is under threat after the federal government pulled funding. The possible closure comes as debate rages over whether the program, called Choosing Wisely, managed to achieve its goals, or became little more than a forum for medical professionals to snipe at each other. Professor Mark Morgan, spokesman for the Royal Australian College of GPs, said without Choosing Wisely the march towards low-value care might have been faster. Credit:Nic Walker Choosing Wisely launched in Australia in 2015 as part of a global campaign to stop low-value tests and treatments that are expensive and do not work well. Medical societies were asked to publicly name low-value treatments so doctors and patients could avoid them. But the service faces closure after the organisation that runs it, NPS MedicineWise, announced last week it had lost government funding and would shut at the end of the year. A mourner in Sydney has recalled the Queens words that grief is the price that we pay for love as he attended St Andrews Cathedral to watch a live telecast of her funeral in London. The cathedral, Government House in Canberra and Federation Square in Melbourne were among the venues that hosted viewings on Monday night. The cathedral held solemn choral hymns for 90 minutes before the funeral, which was projected onto a large screen inside. Fiona Wong leaves a message of condolence on the Queens death at St Andrews Cathedral in Sydney. Credit:Getty My mother is English, so I guess were part of a royalist family, with that allegiance, Matt Palmer said as he arrived at the service. After Vladimir Putins invasion of Ukraine, a few hundred Australians, including business leaders, all federal MPs and Senators, state premiers, and even a few journalists including one of your humble columnists, were sanctioned by Russia. The retaliation against the Australian governments military and economic support for Kyiv means all those on the naughty list are banned indefinitely from entering Russia. But it turns out someone knows how to get un-sanctioned the conspiracy-curious former Nationals MP George Christensen. Will the Member for Manila become the Member for Moscow? Credit:John Shakespeare The former Member for Manila, who now describes himself as a blogger, podcaster, journalist and theologian, claimed on his Telegram account that hed managed to get allowed back to Russia after making a special plea to ambassador Alexei Pavlovsky. Wikipedia is false. An article currently went up on it claiming I am sanctioned by Russia, Christensen told his 25,000-odd Telegram followers. However, I appealed to the Russian ambassador to Australia, disassociating myself with anti-Russian rhetoric rife in Australia. As a result, the sanction against me was lifted. First published in The Sydney Morning Herald on September 21, 1972 600 high school pupils demonstrate in city About 600 of Sydneys 150,000 high school students stayed away from school and demonstrated in the city yesterday. The students outside the Town Hall, on September 20, 1972. Credit:Kevin John Berry Students gathered in front of the Town Hall at midday and their numbers grew in Hyde Park an hour later. Then they marched down Macquarie Street to the Education Department building in Bridge Street, chanting: What do we want - student rights. When do we want them - now! Worry not, Kerry Kyriacou (C8), the safari suit is a la mode. While Granny herself, in an effort to recapture erstwhile youth, spotted a member of Byron Bay rock ensemble Loose Content sporting one onstage, Janice Creenaune of Austinmer points out that they made a comeback last year with actor Michael B. Jordan of Creed and Black Panther fame. Media hype thought it may have invaded Australia last summer. COVID barriers may have kept it out. Gerry Foley of South Turramurra recycled my 70s safari suit in the early 90s, but my teenage daughter refused to be seen out with me. No worries Gerry, Halloweens not far off. Melbournes Michael Sinclair, formerly from the Barossa (SA), claims theyve never gone out of fashion. My Barossa crew regularly break out safari suits for special events even a ski trip to Thredbo (Michael has enclosed a pic of the crew looking the goods in their retro threads on the piste). When wearing them in public, we wear a wooden peg on our lapel, so we know whos a legitimate member. It helps us identify non-conforming safari suit ringers who may try to infiltrate our gang. SA premier Don Dunstan was a fan and his suit now hangs proudly in the Flinders University Library. Pauline McGinley of Drummoyne says that on seeing groups socialising while all constantly checking their phones, my husband began singing the Eagles Hotel California: We are all just prisoners here, of our own device. Weve had the first koel (C8), the first blowfly and the first leaf blower complaint. Can I claim the first mosquito bite of the season? asks Jan Twomey of Lilyfield. Forget koels, declares Col Ruffels of North Avoca, two cabbage white moths fluttered by this weekend. And bringing up the rear, Paul Keir of Strathfield thinks: The real harbinger of spring is not the first koel or blowfly. Its not even the first leaf blower. Its no more cold toilet seats. As a septuagenarian, Id never heard spring onions called scallions (C8) before those woeful American cooking shows, reckons Warren Menteith of Bali. I eat pawpaw, rockmelon and coriander. I refuse to have papaya, cantaloupe or cilantro anywhere near my kitchen. Police have pledged to further crack down on electric scooter riders who breach the rules, after issuing about 500 fines since Victorias e-scooter trial began in February. Superintendent Justin Goldsmith said Victoria Police was concerned that, coming into the warmer months, more people would be riding electric scooters, potentially increasing the risk of collisions. Senior Constable Paul Nichols writes an infringement notice for a rider not wearing a helmet on Monday. Credit:Jason South Theres no excuse for ignorance in not being aware of the rules, he said. Goldsmith said the majority of fines police had issued for scooters were for use on footpaths and for riding without a helmet. Australia will join the worlds biggest economies in putting a price cap on Russian oil in a bid to escalate financial pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin while his army suffers a series of setbacks in eastern Ukraine. The federal government will sign up to the cap when G7 nations led by the United States impose the controls later this year in the hope of keeping oil prices down without halting supplies. Foreign Minister Penny Wong, pictured, and Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the Australian government would work with the G7 on the implementation of the cap. Credit:Alex Ellinghuasen But the design of the cap is contentious and is unlikely to prevent countries such as India and China from buying Russian oil, although it could force Russia to offer a discount to its trading partners and therefore cut revenue for Putin and his government. Australia already has a total ban on the import, purchase and transport of Russian oil, gas and coal under sanctions imposed after Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine in February, suggesting its backing for the G7 price cap would have little impact on the market. Facebook owner Metas attempt to suppress documents from the consumer watchdogs litigation over cryptocurrency investment scams has run into turbulence, but it has made a fresh attempt to delay proceedings in the Federal Court. The setback comes as Meta battles a similar claim in Western Australia from Australias richest man, mining magnate Andrew Forrest. The social media giant has previously alleged that the WA state court had no jurisdiction to adjudicate on the matter. A Federal Court judge is yet to rule on Metas latest claim, but has already partially rejected an attempt by the company to have court documents in the ACCC case kept secret. Meta has asked the federal court to suppress documents and delay proceedings so it gets a fair trial in a separate case brought by billionaire Andrew Forrest. Credit:Oscar Colman In a September 9 ruling, Justice David Yates described aspects of Metas tactics as strange and unfortunate and said its claim that the state case was outside jurisdiction conflicted with its other claim that documents should be kept from public view to avoid prejudicing a potential trial. Poignantly tiny, the Queens coffin was followed by her closest family as she left Buckingham Palace for the last time on September 14. King Charles. The Princess Royal and her son and husband. Princes William, Harry, Edward, Andrew. Familiar faces all. But hold up who was the gent in uniform next to the Earl of Snowdon? Even dedicated Windsor watchers and global newsroom editors were stumped by the man eventually identified as the Duke of Gloucester, aka Prince Richard who knew? the Queens first cousin. King Charles III, Prince Richard and Princess Anne walk behind the coffin during the procession for the lying-in- state of Queen Elizabeth. Credit:Getty Such is his low profile that a 2011 YouTube interview only has 80 likes. Yet as it turns out, the duke is well into his fourth decade as a full-time working royal. That hes managed to fly under the radar all this time perhaps stems from the fact he didnt ever plan on his major role. Richard of Gloucester was once an architect. Now, hes one of a handful of previously overlooked or unknown royals and peers with pivotal roles to play in not just designing and taking part in the Queens historic funeral, but shoring up the Windsors ongoing popularity and legacy. Dubai, United Arab Emirates: Iranians took to the streets of the capital on Monday to protest the death of a young woman who had been detained for violating the countrys conservative dress code. Five people were killed in Irans Kurdish region on Monday when security forces opened fire during protests over the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old from Irans Kurdistan province, who fell into a coma and died following her arrest in Tehran last week by the morality police. Protesters clash with police in Tehran over the death of Mahsa Amini. Credit:France24/internet Two of the people were killed as security forces opened fire on protesters in the Kurdish city of Saqez, Aminis hometown, the Hengaw Human Rights Organisation said on Twitter. It said two more were killed in the town of Divandarreh by direct fire from security forces, and a fifth was killed in Dehgolan, also in the Kurdish region. San Juan, Puerto Rico/Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic: Hurricane Fiona left most of Puerto Rico without power on Sunday, causing catastrophic flooding and landslides on the island before barrelling towards the Dominican Republic, a government agency said. Tropical Storm Fiona in the Caribbean on Saturday. Credit:AP The storm, hitting Puerto Rico five years after Hurricane Maria devastated the island, ripped up asphalt from roads, swept away a major road bridge, closed airports, swamped cars and dumped rain in such quantities that some rivers were rising six metres in just hours, according to eyewitnesses. This has been catastrophic, Puerto Rico Governor Pedro Pierluisi said at a news conference in the capital San Juan. Carmen Yulin Cruz, the former mayor of San Juan, said on Twitter that many believed the rainfall was worse than Hurricane Maria in 2017. New York: A Texas county sheriff is opening a criminal investigation into flights that carried dozens of migrants to Marthas Vineyard, Massachusetts, from Texas last week, an act that Floridas Republican governor took credit for and which the White House dubbed a political stunt. Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said at a news conference on Monday that about 50 migrants were lured under false pretences on the streets of San Antonio, put up in a hotel, bused to planes and stranded unceremoniously in Marthas Vineyard, a wealthy vacation island, for nothing other than a photo op. San Antonio is the biggest city in Bexar County. Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar believes the vulnerable migrants were preyed upon. Credit:AP Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is up for re-election in November and is seen as a possible presidential contender in 2024, claimed credit for the two flights from San Antonio while criticising Democratic President Joe Bidens handling of a record number of crossings along the US-Mexico border. DeSantis joins Republican governors from Texas and Arizona in sending migrants to Democratic-controlled cities, including buses of migrants from Texas dropped off near the residence of Vice President Kamala Harris in Washington. POINTE BLANCHE:--- Due to inclement weather conditions in the Caribbean region due to Hurricane Fiona, Royal Caribbean Group (RCG) has decided to modify the itinerary of Harmony of the Seas which was scheduled to make a port call on Thursday, September 22nd. The vessel will also not call at Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas on Wednesday, but instead call at two Mexican ports, Costa Maya and Cozumel. RCG apologized to its passengers for the weathers impact on their itinerary, pointing out that they would like to maintain a safe and comfortable journey for the cruise guests onboard. Harmony of the Seas departed its homeport Port Canaveral on Sunday. ~Tropical storm and flood warnings discontinued~ PHILIPSBURG:---Prime Minister and Minister of General Affairs, Silveria Jacobs hereby updates the public on the weather, handling of Tropical Storm Fiona, and related business and school openings. Warnings, as they relate to Tropical Storm Fiona, have been lifted as of Saturday evening as it moved away from Sint Maarten. As of the 6:00 am forecast, the flood advisory was still in effect, as rain and scattered thunderstorms were still expected throughout the day. However, the flood advisory was discontinued at 6:00 pm today, September 18. All businesses were given the green light to be open as of Sunday, September 18 at 6:00 am at their own discretion. Some church activities chose to go online today to avoid unnecessary moving. The road remained relatively quiet on Sunday. After a positive assessment, Princess Juliana International Airport resumed normal operations at 7:00 am today. There were flight delays and cancellations, so those with travel plans are urged to contact their airlines for updates. The Port is open, however, due to rough sea conditions with large swells, it was still unsafe for berthing. Another assessment was done at 2:30 pm this afternoon. Updates will be provided by the Port authorities. ESF 5, KPSM updated that, generally before, during, and after the Storm Warnings most things went smoothly; cooperation with VKS and military was very good to maintain public order. The public compliance with the regulations in place was very high with very few measures needing to be taken. Police and Military also assisted to clear roads where needed. Military assistance ended officially at 3:00 pm today. Road users are asked to continue to be cautious on wet roads. There was also solid cooperation with the Ministry of VROMI to prepare the trenches for the influx of water in the drainage systems, and also for clearing the roads thereafter. The Minister of VROMI updated that cleaning of all roads where debris, rocks, and mud littered the roads took place up to last evening. The Point Blanche areas, where rocks and mud fell into the streets were cleaned as much as possible and will receive another assessment to plan further cleanup. The clean-up of the rest of Sint Maarten will continue. ESF 7, which oversees the shelters team under Community Development, Family and Humanitarian Affairs (CDHFA), consisted of CDFHA staff; K1 Britannia; Red Cross; Police; VKS; WIEMS; and Leaders for Change volunteers. The team worked nonstop from the preparation of the shelter to open at 4:00 pm on Friday, September 16, to ensuring proper management and successful closure at 5:00 pm Saturday, Sept 17, and ensuring that those seeking shelter were safely accommodated thereafter. There was a great partnership and collaboration between government and NGO/CSOs. ESF 10 wishes to thank all stakeholders, Harbor; Airport; hotels; critical infrastructure, such as major food suppliers; Sol; gas stations; and major hardware stores for their excellent communication and swift cooperation. This afternoon Sunday, Sept 18, together with the staff of DCOMM, we toured the island from East to West, said Prime Minister Jacobs. The tour was organized to ascertain the impact of the storm, which caused minimal damage for the clean-up to repair. The Prime Minister went on to state, Tropical Storm Fiona was upgraded to a Hurricane and is causing massive flooding in the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, which highlights the dangers we have escaped as a country. We pray for those on Fionas path and give thanks that the impact on St. Maarten was minimal. We give gratitude for minimal damage, as clean-up continues. As seas remain rough with swells, caution is advised. This is not the time to let our guards down, as the weather has not fully cleared up. For those who operate small craft, we ask that you exercise extreme caution and sea bathers limit their activities until the waters have completely settled. I commend the people for adhering to the warnings, it was through your cooperation that we were able to execute safety measures without dire incidents. The Prime Minister wishes to extend a special word of thanks to her colleagues in the Council of Ministers, EOC, back office, supporting ESF coordinators and their teams, especially the Meteorological Office, Mr. Isaac, and his team, the Minister of VROMI and his team, Minister of Justice, DCOMM, KPSM, VKS, Marines, CDFHA and all volunteers who executed these safety measures. PHILIPSBURG:--- The government is expecting that its proposal of law to sanction its unlawful act of paying out vacation allowance will be passed by Parliament on Monday. As can be recalled the government paid out vacation allowance in June to civil servants. There is currently a law in place that cancels the vacation allowance payment, as well as reduces vacation days and overtime payments, MP Wescot Williams explains. The government has found all types of arguments to cover up the fact that it acted against the law, but its argument regarding its legal right to do so without the approval of parliament is really neither here nor there. No one can contest the fact that the annual vacation allowance payment is very much appreciated by civil servants and for varying reasons. Arguments such as persons needing to pay school fee and get school stuff etcetera are valid and definitely not overstated. That many people on St. Maarten are hurting is also not an exaggeration. I experience it every single day. In the view of the MP, the government needed to inform parliament of its intentions, provide a financial overview and ask for parliaments approval to go ahead and pay out the vacation allowance in the absence of a legal basis. MP Wescot emphasized, They did not! They paid out the vacation allowance and now want the parliament to approve this law retroactively. Even now the government has not provided the financial paragraph for this payment and I have in the past addressed the ambiguous situation with respect to the CFTs advice on the matter. But even more concerning is how the government is handling or rather not handling the 12 percent cut in the salaries of the other workers. Other workers meaning those who work for semi-government institutions. The cutting of the salaries of the other workers is part of the law that maximizes the so-called top incomes. The government, on instructions of the Dutch government, has amended the so-called top incomes law, but went only as far as amending the law to meet the requirements of the Dutch government, explained MP Wescot. While the Prime Minister is pushing to get the law passed to cover their tracks of paying out vacation allowance to civil servants without the required parliamentary approval or authorization, the Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance are seemingly on a campaign to fix (for the lack of a better word) the payment of vacation allowance to the other workers, such as teachers employed by school boards and many others. Again it seems to be expected of parliament to sit back and wait and see when and how the government will deal with the top incomes law and address how school board employees and others will get the relief that civil servants got through the payment of vacation allowance. The top incomes law as far as it relates to the 12 % cut in salary benefits states that every institution that applied the law should publicize how. To give an example, if school board X chose to apply the 12 percent cut by amongst others not paying vacation allowance and for the rest cut other benefits, school board X should make that known. Up to now, I as a member of parliament have no information as to how any semi-government institution has complied with the law. Some might have cut the vacation allowance of their workers, others might have not and I have stated from day one that the rationale behind a 12 percent cut in workers benefits at the time when this was demanded and done, was flawed economic reasoning. This should therefore be undone as soon as possible for all workers, in its entirety. To facilitate this, the parliament of Saint Martin in approving the laws labeled temporary, gave the government the authority to cancel these laws by a decision of the government, formalized in a national decree. To undo both laws that slashed workers benefits with 12 %, the government has the mandate to do so by national decree. Rather than muddying the waters with actions by individual ministers, the COM should collectively make a strong case for reinstating the workers benefits that I maintain were imposed on St. Maarten more out of frustration with the governments actions towards The Hague than any sound economic arguments, MP Wescot concluded. ~ Refused to resign or be removed as the chair of parliament~ PHILIPSBURG:--- The Parliament of St. Maarten is held hostage by the chairlady of parliament Grisha Heyliger Marten who is at odds with her party leader Rolando Brison. A public meeting of parliament was reconvened on Monday, September 19th, 2022 to further discuss the daft draft national ordinance amending the Temporary National Ordinance Covid-19 cuts in employment conditions for government employees in connection with the phased reduction of the COVID-19 cuts in government employees. As the meeting opened, leader of the United Peoples Party (UPP) Rolando Brison tabled a proposal to add an agenda point which was to thank the chairlady Grisha Heyliger Marten and to relieve her as the chair of parliament. The proposal was seconded by two other members of parliament, however, Heyliger Marten then asked the Prime Minister what she had to say about the move made by Brison since she was the one that requested the meeting of parliament. Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs said she had nothing to do with the proposal made and she has nothing to add. Member of Parliament Grisha Heyliger Marten then slammed the gavel and then adjourned the meeting. Heyliger Marten then posted a flyer on her Facebook page where she announced that she will be on two radio stations on Tuesday, September 20th, 2022, where she intends to break her silence. It should be noted that even though the parliament of St. Maarten has two vice chairs, namely MP William Marlin as the vice chair of parliament and Sidhardt Cookie Bijlani as the first vice chair of parliament neither man can convene any meetings of parliament as long as the chair is present or on the island. This showdown reminds everyone of You do not have the word echoed by former Member of Parliament Rodolphe Samuel. SMN News attempted to reach the chair of parliament Grisha Heyliger Marten by telephone and she did not respond to the call. While the chairlady of parliament goes on her radio rant on Tuesday she should let the people of St. Maarten know if she is supporting the present coalition of 8. Heyliger Marten should also inform the people of St. Maarten if it is normal for the new coalition to allow her to remain as chair she is not at all objective during the handling of meetings of parliament, one such meeting is the meeting she called on the day parliament went on recess and summoned the Minister of VROMI Egbert Jurendy Doran to parliament to discuss the Ombudsman report. Heyliger also needs to tell the people of St. Maarten if she expects to be given extra privileges because she is the wife of former MP Theodore Heyliger or the wife of the founder of UPP. Every other member of parliament resigned from the chair of parliament when they lose the majority. Should the rules be changed for Heyliger Marten. Has the power of the chair gone to her head that she can no longer see herself as a regular member of parliament? Most importantly Grisha Heyliger Marten has to ask herself how well she masters the rules of order of the parliament of St. Maaten and the Constitution of St. Maarten. SABA/THE HAGUE:--- The Saba delegation while in the Netherlands last week, met with Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate Rob Jetten to discuss the renewable energy plans for Saba. We talked about the importance of more renewable energy with the objective of eventually reaching 100% on an average day, which will greatly reduce our dependency on fossil fuel, said Commissioner Bruce Zagers, who met with Jetten, together with Island Secretary Tim Muller and Senior Policy Advisor Nicole Johnson. Saba is looking for investment support from the Dutch Government for the renewable energy plans. The most feasible scenario to eventually accomplish 100% is a combination of wind and solar energy. This scenario has the highest fuel savings to reduce the variable tariff for the consumer. On an average day with sun and wind, sufficient energy would be generated to fully supply Saba, and no diesel would be used to run the generators in the power plant. On such average days, there would be 100% independency from fossil fuels. Overall, the combination of solar and wind energy would result in a projected reduction of 76% compared to the current usage of fossil fuels. Currently, Saba has two solar parks, one is located next to the Juancho Yrausquin Airport and the other above the Medical School. As part of the new project, a wind turbine would be constructed, possibly at Fort Bay. Without the solar parks and the subsidies, provided by the Public Entity Saba and the Dutch Government, consumers electricity bills would be considerably higher. Having solar and wind energy, together with additional battery storage, will provide Saba with the highest renewable energy fraction of more than 80%. This will help Saba get closer to its target of 100% sustainable energy in the future. The best scenario was determined with the assistance of an external consultancy, The Green World Company (TGWC), hired by the Saba Electric Company (SEC). Cypress Development confirms production of battery grade lithium carbonate Cypress Development Corp. (TSXV: CYP) (OTCQX: CYDVF) (Frankfurt: C1Z1) (Cypress or Company) is pleased to report it has achieved a significant milestone with the production of 99.94% lithium carbonate (Li2CO3) made from lithium-bearing claystone from the Companya?s 100%-owned Clayton Valley Lithium Project in Nevada, USA (Project). The Li2CO3 was derived from the intermediate concentrated lithium solution produced at Cypressa? Lithium Extraction Facility in Amargosa Valley, Nevada (Pilot Plant). Following direct lithium extraction (DLE) at the Plant, Saltworks Technologies Inc. (Saltworks) completed the processing system design and pilot work to make the Li2CO3. aThese are excellent results for the initial iteration of testing and will be incorporated into our on-going Feasibility Study on the Projecta stated Bill Willoughby, Cypress President, and CEO. aWe are pleased to receive comprehensive assays validating the extraction process we have designed for our Project. Exceeding the standard for battery grade lithium carbonate checks-off an important goal for the Company and its further development of the Project.a Cypress executed pilot operations through to production of athree ninesa? Li2CO3 that exceeds the standard battery grade specifications below. All processing was completed with material from the Companya?s Project in an end-to-end automated pilot plant that represents full scale production. Independent analyses of product samples were completed by SGS Canada Inc., with the results showing greater than 99.9 weight-percent (wt%) purity in a scalable representative process. aOur team is pleased with the outcome at Saltworks, and their support of our Project,a stated Bill Willoughby. aCypress has engaged Saltworks to integrate their designs into our pilot plant program and look forward to their continued work on the Project.a The final product surpasses industry requirements for standard battery grade Li2CO3 and has achieved industry requirements for enhanced battery grade Li2CO3 for xEV use. It is common practice for lithium battery manufactures to have specific requirements for Li2CO3 used in their products dependant on application. Qualified Person Daniel Kalmbach, CPG, is the qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and has approved the technical information in this release. About Cypress Development Corp Cypress Development Corp. is a Canadian based advanced stage lithium company, focused on developing its 100%-owned Clayton Valley Lithium Project in Nevada, USA. Cypress is in the pilot stage of testing on material from its lithium-bearing claystone deposit and progressing towards completing a Feasibility Study and permitting, with the goal of becoming a domestic producer of lithium for the growing electric vehicle and battery storage market. ON BEHALF OF CYPRESS DEVELOPMENT CORP. WILLIAM WILLOUGHBY, PhD., PE President & Chief Executive Officer For further information, please contact: Spiros Cacos | Vice President, Investor Relations Direct: +1 604 764 1851 | Toll Free: 1 800 567 8181 | Email scacos@cypressdevelopmentcorp.com www.cypressdevelopmentcorp.com A NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THE CONTENT OF THIS NEWS RELEASE. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This release includes certain statements that may be deemed to be \forward-looking statements\. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions and are identified by words such as aexpects,a aestimates,a aprojects,a aanticipates,a abelieves,a acould,a ascheduled,a and other similar words. All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that management of the Company expects, are forward-looking statements. Although management believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. 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 actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements, include market prices, exploration, and development successes, continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Please see the public filings of the Company at www.sedar.com for further information. The Woods Are Lovely, Dark and Deep Helena is turning into a real family town. When disgruntled reformed realtor Tonya calls the police on a squatter living in one of her homes, Jenny arrives only to discover a shocking connection to her past tied to the case. Across town, Cassie and Beau work to track the still-missing backpacker and Sunny works to protect a secret of her own hidden in the woods. Meanwhile, Beaus daughter Emily takes a campground investigation dangerously into her own hands, but has she stumbled upon a story far more nefarious than she could have imagined? Find out on Big Sky: Deadly Trails WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 28 (10:00-11:00 p.m. EDT), on ABC. (TV-14, LV) Watch episodes on demand and on Hulu the day following their premieres. Information channels multiply on a daily basis, attempts at lies and manipulation easily reach more people than ever, and political, corporate, and economic interests benefit from that. This new reality makes the mission of journalists even more responsible and difficult - not just to convey information, but to present what is happening in context, distinguishing facts from their interpretations, Bulgarian President Rumen Radev said in a greetings address to the 30th General Assembly of the Association of the Balkan News Agencies - Southeast Europe (ABNA-SE), hosted by the BTA Bulgarian News Agency in Burgas on Monday. The topic was also resumed by Bulgarian caretaker Prime Minister Galab Donev, according to whom the flow of information grows exponentially and it is imperative to suppress fake news and disinformation. He believes this is not just a matter of being properly informed but also a matter of security. In his speech delivered to the participants, Donev voices conviction that professionalism is the key to striking a balance between the speed of information, its presentation in an appealing way and the unwavering pursuit of truth, told Agerpres. Representatives of the eleven news agencies members of the Association of the Balkan News Agencies - Southeast Europe (ABNA-SE) gathered in Burgas for the 30th ABNA-SE General Assembly. The event is mottoed "Together for TRUE News". At the General Assembly in Burgas there were adopted the proposals that the Association of the Balkan News Agencies - Southeast Europe (ABNA-SE) will be headquartered in Bulgaria and Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) Director General Kiril Valchev will be its Secretary General for three years. Greece's ANA-MPA Director-General Aimilios Perdikaris was elected ABNA-SE President. The General Assembly also adopted the ABNA-SE Statutes, based on the principles enshrined in the Statutes of the European Alliance of News Agencies (EANA). The Balkan news agencies gather in this format once a year. The idea to create the Association of the Balkan News Agencies appeared in September 1994, during a meeting in Sofia of the representatives of the news agencies from the Balkans. The first founding General Assembly of ABNA took place in June 1995 in Thessaloniki, Greece. The purpose of the organisation is to allow the development of cooperation between news agencies in the region, as well as to contribute to the establishment of a climate of peace, friendship and cooperation in the Balkans. Over the years, the Association of Balkan News Agencies was joined by ATA from Albania, FENA from Bosnia, BTA from Bulgaria, ANA-MPA from Greece, CNA from Cyprus, KosovaPress from Kosovo, MIA from the Republic of North Macedonia, AGERPRES from Romania, TANJUG from Serbia, ANADOLU from Turkey, HINA from Croatia. The third edition of the Nordic Film Festival, to take place, September 22 to 25, at Cinema Elvire Popesco in Bucharest features comedy, historical and animated films for children, dramas and thrillers, informs a press release sent to AGERPRES. The program contains 14 multi-award winning feature films with Romanian subtitles through which NordicFF brings to the fore atypical and unique cinematic perspectives, which celebrate the diversity of artistic forms and visions approached by filmmakers from all five Nordic countries Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. "We want the Nordic Film Festival to represent a break from everyday life, an oasis of culture and humanism in a troubled period in Europe. We chose to organize the Nordic Film Festival again because European cultural ties must not cease, and one less film festival would be a real plunge into the abyss in a cultural industry that shows little signs of recovery anyway," said Vlad Rotaru, the artistic director of the event. The festival is organized with the support of the embassies of the Kingdom of Denmark, Finland, the Kingdom of Norway and Sweden and the Consulate of the Republic of Iceland in Romania. Tickets can be purchased online or directly from the cashier' desk of the Elvire Popesco cinema hall. NordicFF debuted in February 2018, in Bucharest, being followed in 2019 by two retrospective editions - in Sibiu and Chisinau. The festival returned, in 2020, to Bucharest, on the occasion of the second edition. The 18th edition of the "George Enescu" International Competition ended on Sunday evening at the Romanian Athenaeum in the Capital City, with the final of the Piano Section, won by the young pianist Alexandra Segal (Israel). She was followed by George Todica (Romania) and Chun Lam U (Hong Kong, China). Also on Sunday, the South Korean Shin Kim (Symphonic Music) and the Italian Leonardo Marino (Chamber Music) were announced as winners of the Composition Section, with 22 chamber and orchestral works having entered the competition. At this edition of the Enescu Competition, the Composition Section also awarded an Originality Award, which went to the Polish composer Bartosz Jawor. The Erbiceanu Prize was awarded again at this edition, worth 2,500 euros, the winner being the young Romanian pianist George Todica. Held under the slogan "Music of Hope," the Enescu Competition took place between September 4 and 18 at the Romanian Athenaeum, offered a series of extraordinary recitals by world known artists, alongside the semi-finals and finals with the orchestra of the competition in the three interpretive categories (violin, cello and piano). This year, the Enescu Competition marked the return to the theatre, after two years in which cultural events had to reinvent themselves and move partially or totally online. Over 100 young musicians from all over the world signed up for the online stage of the Competition, while 34 talented artists had the opportunity to take the stage of the Romanian Athenaeum. The young musician from Luxembourg Benjamin Kruithof won the 2022 George Enescu International Competition, the Cello Section, with Constantin Borodin (Republic of Moldova/Romania) coming in second, and Constantin Siepermann (Germany) following on the third position. Maria Marica won the "George Enescu 2022" International Competition, the Violin Section, with Romanian Stefan Aprodu and French Gregoire Torossian taking the following places. The jury of the Enescu Competition counted this year nine new members compared to the previous editions and was composed of established and multiple award-winning musicians at the international level, members of the most prestigious orchestras in the world: David Geringas, Meehae Ryo, Marin Cazacu, Andrea Lucchesini, Peter Jablonski, Luiza Borac, Remus Azoitei, Krzysztof Wegrzyn, Dmitry Sitkovetsky and many others. The total value of the prizes reached 120,000 euros, to be added the international promotion and artistic launch of the most talented competitors. Winning first place at the 2022 Enescu Competition is the ticket to the stage of the George Enescu International Festival, 2023 edition. Thus, the most talented of the competitors will have the opportunity to perform in the next edition of the Festival alongside some of the world's greatest orchestras. The series of extraordinary recitals started on September 7 with David Grimal (violin) and Itamar Golan (piano). They were followed on September 9 by one of the jury members in the violin category, concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic, Frank Huang, together with cellist Marcel Johannes Kits, laureate of the Enescu Competition, and pianist Angela Draghicescu. On September 12, the Romanian public had the opportunity to listen to the president of the jury in the violin category, none other than the famous violinist and conductor Dmitry Sitkovetskyi, together with David Geringas (cello) and Alexander Gordon (viola). Daria Parkhomenko, winner of the George Enescu International Competition in 2018, gave a piano recital on September 14, with a programme composed of works by Cesar Franck, Robert Schumann, George Enescu and Sergei Rachmaninov. The last recital in the programme of the edition was scheduled for Saturday, with pianist Nelson Goerner. A true launch platform for the future famous musicians of the world, the Enescu Competition puts Romania on the map of international classical music, promoting George Enescu's compositions among the new generation of artists from all over the world. Starting with the 2014 edition, the George Enescu International Competition is organized as an independent event, distinct from the Festival, with public participation. Having a remarkable international reputation, the Enescu Competition is a member of the World Federation of International Music Competition and of Alink - Argerich Foundation - Piano Competition Worldwide. AGERPRES Minister of Family, Youth and Equal Opportunities Gabriela Firea said in Iasi on Monday that the project concerning the establishment of a national observatory for children, provided for by the law on the prevention of child separation from the family, will be completed in about two weeks and will be presented to the Government, and, most likely, it will be applied from next year. "We have a new project within the Ministry of Family, Youth and Equal Opportunities. For the first time in Romania we will have a national observatory of children, through which we will be able to find out who those children are in a community at any moment, who are those who need either material resources or support so that they are not separated from their family, on the one hand, so that their parents do not hand them over to the state, and on the other hand, that they do not drop out of school. Ultimately, education is the one that can guarantee us, not only theoretically, but also practically, a decent living," said Minister Gabriela Firea. Minister Gabriela Firea detailed that in approximately two weeks the project will be presented to the Government. According to it, the establishment of the National Observatory for Children is provided in the draft law on the prevention of child separation from the family, which was approved by the Ministry of Finance and includes targeted measures for children from vulnerable families or communities. Thus, it is desired that families that go through certain financial difficulties no longer send their children to the foster care centre or foster care. This law, the Family Minister mentioned, will also allow access to European funds, and the use of the 50 million euros from the PNRR, as well as other sources. The Minister of Family, Youth and Equal Opportunities is in Iasi together with Minister of Labor and Social Solidarity Marius Budai, to participate in the debate "Pact for young people," an initiative of the National Confederation for Feminine Entrepreneurship aimed at preventing school dropout. AGERPRES The first conference under Romania's "Youth Pact" national project took place on Monday at the Iasi National College in the presence of the minister of family, youth and equal opportunities, the minister of labour and social solidarity and UNICEF officials, told Agerpres. Organiser Cristina Chiriac, chair of the National Confederation of Women Entrepreneurship (CONAF), said that the "Youth Pact" is devised to identify educational initiatives and programmes that prevent school dropout and at the same time allow young people to finish school in order to acquire necessary skills for the labour market. "By this approach, we want to reduce by at least 1% the rate of those who decide to abandon school and to team up with the government to find solutions that lead to a long-term reduction in school dropouts. We need training programmes that combine work preparation and technical skills with fundamental knowledge, in order to offer to more young people the opportunity to find jobs or to benefit from entrepreneurship opportunities," said Chiriac. She added that young people who leave school school early are exposed to a greater risk of long-term unemployment, poverty and even crime. According to her, there are over 215,000 young people in Romania who have not finished school. In the last four years, over 100,000 children in Romania have dropped out of school, the equivalent of a city like Suceava. In 2021, over 15% of young Romanians between the ages of 18 and 24 had only completed the eighth grade at most. "Reducing the intensity of school dropouts requires solutions and, most importantly, it requires co-operation and partnership between officials, local communities and the business community, effective and inclusive actions," said Chiriac. Present at the event, Minister of Labour and Social Solidarity Marius Budai said he would like to rename the "Youth Pact " "Pact for young people and their love of work," in order to prevent school dropout and win young people and children over to vocational schools. He gave the example of a job exchange in Oradea, where representatives of the local business community presented not only their job offer, but also the technology the future employees will work with. In her turn, Minister of Family, Youth and Equal Opportunities Gabriela Firea said that her ministry has established a department that will team up with local authorities to deal with children who have one or both parents working abroad and who are left in the care of grandparents or relatives. She said that each family will be placed under an obligation to notify the local authorities in whose care they leave their children. According to Firea, this approach will lead to the end of school dropouts. Romania's President Klaus Iohannis on Monday once again expressed full sympathy for "this great loss," after attending the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. "After attending the state funeral of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, I once again express, on behalf of the Romanian people, our full sympathy for this great loss," the head of state said on Twitter, told Agerpres. OMV Petrom has installed photovoltaic panels in 110 OMV and Petrom filling stations in Romania and aims to expand to 150 units by the end of 2022, informs a company press release, sent to AGERPRES on Monday. The number of stations equipped with photovoltaic panels will increase to 150 units, to approximately 30% of the network of OMV and Petrom stations in Romania by the end of the current year. The estimated annual production of photovoltaic panels will be 2,700 MWh, which is equivalent to the energy needed annually for 1,500 apartments. "Reducing carbon emissions is a very important goal for us, whether we are talking about our own operations or the products we make available to our customers. The installation of photovoltaic panels allows our retail network to take a step forward in this direction. Our goal is that, by 2025, half of the entire network of OMV Petrom stations in Romania will be "solar" stations, with low energy consumption," said Radu Caprau, Executive Board Member responsible for Downstream Oil Division at OMV Petrom. OMV Petrom has set out to achieve carbon neutrality for its own operations by 2050 and to contribute to the decarbonisation process of its clients. In order to generate new projects with low and zero carbon emissions, the company will invest 3.7 billion euros from the 11 billion euro plan by 2030. This is the largest private investment plan in the Romanian energy sector. installs OMV Petrom is the largest energy company in South-East Europe, with annual group crude oil and gas production of approximately 47 million boe in 2021. The group has a refining capacity of 4.5 million tonnes annually and operates a high-efficiency power plant of 860 MW. On the retail petroleum product distribution market, the Group is present in Romania and neighboring countries through approximately 790 gas stations, under two brands, OMV and Petrom. AGERPRES Romanian firefighters had 4,175 emergency situations to deal with last week, most of them related to medical assistance, with the SMURD crews intervening in 3,249 such cases. According to a press release of the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations, operative crews intervened to extinguish 170 fires and had other 735 actions in support of communities, such as unblocking people or animals, destroying unexploded ammunition. At the same time, rescue crews were requested to intervene in 21 road accidents, in which three people lost their lives. In the last three days, during these missions, the military firefighters rescued 19 people in distress. At the national level, during this period, 25 warning messages were sent to the population through the RO-ALERT system, of which 17 were related to the presence of wild animals and eight related to warnings of hydrometeorological phenomena. AGERPRES The percentage of natural gas storage in national storage facilities has exceeded 80%, and Romania has thus reached the target set by the European Commission for November 1, Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca informed, on Monday, in a Facebook post. "We are continuing the projects already started to ensure Romania's energy independence, such as the extraction of natural gas from the Black Sea, which covers approximately 10% of the country's consumption needs. As we promised, we will have sufficient quantities of gas for the winter of 2022 - 2023, so as to protect household consumers, SMEs, the social services and the critical industry," the prime minister also said. AGERPRES The Executive Bureau of the National Liberal Party (PNL), in the ruling coalition, convened on Monday to discuss the continuation of the programme under which 50-euro vouchers are granted to vulnerable people, according to PNL national leader and PM Nicolae Ciuca. "We discussed, because we are concerned at the PNL level, the measures we can continue to take to support vulnerable people and families. There are programmes already underway, those voucher programmes that will continue to be provided until 2027 [from European funds, for vulnerable people]. We also discussed at the party level the decision to support the continuation of the programme of 50-euro vouchers every two months, (...) those 50-euro vouchers that we secured in the second half of the year, and we want to propose that they be secured for next year as well, the first six months, as we did this year, for another six months, so that we can see in the middle of next year, depending on the budget revision, the likeliness of continuing the programme," he told a news conference at the Parliament House, where the meeting of the PNL leadership took place. Ciuca said that during the meeting, aspects related to governmental activity were discussed, with an emphasis on the continuation of efforts for a greater absorption of European funds. "Mr Minister Bolos was present and unveiled all the measures that were taken by the government, so that we can reach the absorption target - currently standing at 9.5 billion euros - money that has already entered the country. That's why I said last week at the beginning of the government meeting that so far 15 billion euros have entered the country: 9.5 billion from European funds - the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) and cohesion funds, and 5.5 billion euros in foreign direct investment. We also discussed PNRR, which is the main axis for drawing European funds and which will have the applicability period of 2026, and we welcomed the decision of the European Commission to have approved the first request for payment, and that money, 2.6 billion euros are going to enter the country," said the prime minister. AGERPRES President Klaus Iohannis is participating, on Monday, in the State Funeral of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, organized at Westminster Abbey in London. Her Majesty Margareta, the Custodian of the Crown, and Prince Radu will also be present, along with Princess Elena and her husband, Alexander Nixon. The State Funeral of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will take place on Monday at 11.00 am, Romania's time (10:00 GMT) at Westminster Abbey in London, Buckingham Palace announced. This day will be a a national public holiday in the United Kingdom, as authorized by the new monarch, Charles III, in one of his first orders. Important world leaders, including the President of the United States, Joe Biden, and representatives of the royal houses are expected to attend the funeral of Elizabeth II. A two-minute silence will be held at 11:55 hrs on Monday at the conclusion of the state funeral service for Queen Elizabeth II, then the national anthem "God Save the King" will be sung. Following the service, the Queen's coffin will be drawn in a walking procession from Westminster Abbey to Windsor Castle, where Elizabeth II will be buried in a private ceremony in the King George VI Chapel, alongside her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, who died last year. AGERPRES Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca had a meeting on Monday, at the Victoria Palace, with the representatives of the Association of Former Political Detainees and Victims of the Dictatorship in Romania (AFDPR), in which context he reiterated his support for the creation of museums dedicated to the memory of the victims of communism, an objective assumed in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR). According to a Government release, during the meeting a series of problems faced by former political prisoners were discussed, with the representatives of the AFDPR signaling the fact that, in the last two years, there have been setbacks regarding the consultation of the association in drawing up normative acts regarding the fighters in the anti-communist resistance and requested support for building the Museum of the anti-communist fight in Jilava, told Agerpres. Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca reiterated his support for the creation of museums dedicated to the memory of the victims of communism, an objective assumed in the PNRR, assuring the AFDPR representatives that they will receive support in overcoming the problems presented. In the same context, the head of the Executive expressed his gratitude for the immense sacrifice they made, facing the atrocities and abuses of the communist regime. "Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca emphasized that our duty, of today's generations, but also of future generations, is to keep their memory alive and to pay tribute to their courage, determination and the sufferings they went through in the name of freedom and democracy," the press release states. The meeting was also attended by Mihnea Drumea, State Counselor within the Chancellery of the Prime Minister, Irina Leulescu, Secretary of State at the State Secretariat for the Recognition of the Merits of Fighters against the Communist Regime established in Romania in the period 1945-1989 and Florin-Daniel Sandru, the executive president of the Institute for Investigating the Crimes of Communism and the Memory of the Romanian Exile. The Prosecutor General of Romania, Gabriela Scutea, met on Monday with the Ambassador of Ukraine to Romania, Ihor Prokopchuk, the main topic of the discussion being the investigation opened by the Romanian military prosecutors into committing crimes against humanity in connection with the Russian invasion in the neighboring country. "During the meeting, the main topic addressed was the bilateral cooperation between the Prosecutor's Office with the High Court of Cassation and Justice (PICCJ) and the General Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine and the support given by the Romanian authorities to the Ukrainian authorities. The discussions focused on the accession of the Military Prosecutor's Office (SPM) from the PICCJ to the joint investigation team (JIT) set up at Eurojust with the aim of investigating war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the war taking place on the territory of Ukraine. The approach takes place in the context of the existence of a criminal file on the role of the SPM regarding the commission of crimes against humanity, provided for by art. 439 paragraph (1) letters g) and k) of the Criminal Code," shows a press release of the General Prosecutor's Office, told Agerpres. The meeting was attended by Petro Stoian, second secretary of the Embassy of Ukraine in Romania, Oana Daniela Pitu, deputy chief prosecutor of DIICOT, colonel magistrate Catalin Ranco Pitu, chief prosecutor of the SPM, Nadina Magdalena Spinu, chief prosecutor of the International Judicial Cooperation Service, international relations and programs, and Major Daniela Dediu, chief military prosecutor in the Office of Judicial Cooperation within the SPM. On July 11, the Military Prosecutors' Section within the General Prosecutor's Office announced that it had filed an ex officio report and opened a criminal file in which investigations are being carried out regarding the commission of crimes against humanity, in connection with the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the consequences of military operations on people with Romanian citizenship from a neighboring country. "The public prosecutor's office next to the High Court of Cassation and Justice has been notified ex officio regarding the commission of crimes against humanity, provided for by art. 439 para. (1) letters g) and k) of the Criminal Code. The competence regarding conducting investigations belongs to Military Prosecutors Section. In fact, the following was observed: on 24.02.2022, the Russian Federation launched a large-scale military operation (air, land and sea) to invade Ukraine - an independent and sovereign state. According to existing public information, the military attack is generalized and systematic, being directed against both military and civilian objectives, resulting in data that schools, hospitals, commercial complexes were bombed, directly affecting the civilian population of Ukraine. The consequences of the attack are particularly serious, with a large number of deaths among the civilian population, including children, as well as personal injuries. At the same time, as a result of the psychological trauma caused by the military attack of the Russian Federation, millions of civilians have left the territory of Ukraine, currently having the status of refugees, including on the territory of Romania," informed the General Prosecutor's Office at the time. As many as 967 new cases of people infected with SARS-CoV-2 were recorded in the last 24 hours in Romania, up 248 from the previous day, with 8,947 RT-PCR and rapid antigenic tests performed, the Health Ministry informed on Monday. Of the new cases, 224 were in re-infected patients, who tested positive more than 90 days after the first time they recovered from the disease. Most of the newly confirmed COVID-19 cases in Romania since the previous reporting were recorded in Bucharest City - 188, and Cluj - 143. The highest 14-day notification rate is in Cluj County - 2.25, followed by Timis County - 2.17. As of Monday, 3,254,049 cases of people infected with the novel coronavirus were confirmed in Romania. - Hospitalisations - As many as 1,704 people with COVID-19, up 51 from the previous reporting, including 209 minors, are hospitalised in Romania at specialist care facilities. Out of the total number of hospitalised patients, 127, one more from the previous day, are in intensive care. Of the 127 patients admitted to ICU, 113 are unvaccinated against COVID-19. - Deaths - According to the ministry, two Romanian men, are reported dead in the last 24 hours, one in the age group 30-39 years, one in the age group over 80 years. Both patients had comorbidities and none was vaccinated. Since the beginning of the pandemic, 66,921 people diagnosed with the SARS-CoV-2 infection have died in Romania. Senior European affairs official with Romania's Foreign Ministry (MAE) Daniela Gitman will attend a General Affairs Council meeting in Brussels on Tuesday. According to MAE, during the meeting, EU European Affairs ministers and senior officials will have a first exchange of views on an annotated draft agenda for the October 20 - 21 European summit that includes the aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, the energy and economic state of play inside the EU, external relations, with an emphasis on the EU - Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit and the relationship with China, as well as the latest developments in preparations for the COP27 meetings on climate change and COP15 on biodiversity, told Agerpres. The agenda of the General Affairs Council meeting includes a formal presentation of the priorities of the Czech Presidency of the EU Council, the legislative programming for 2023 and the European Commission's 2022 Strategic Foresight Report, the third horizontal discussion in the framework of the annual rule of law dialogue, as well as the follow-up to the Conference on the future of Europe. At the same time, the European Commission will present the state of play in the EU-UK relations. Romanian Parliament's Special Committee on Justice Laws gave a favorable report on Monday to the draft law on the organization and functioning of the Superior Council of the Magistracy, with 16 votes 'in favour' and 6 'against.' The report is going to be debated in the plenary session of the Chamber of Deputies, which is the first body notified. Save Romania Union (USR) deputy Stelian Ion requested, before the vote, to postpone the decision-making regarding the bill, mentioning that the USR asked the joint Standing Bureaus not to give a report until the answer of the Venice Commission comes. "I propose to postpone the vote until the resolution of the request to the joint Standing Bureaus regarding the notification of the Venice Commission. It is natural to have a go-ahead there. Then, we can keep on schedule so that it also enters the plenary session," said Stelian Ion. The head of the Committee, National Liberal Party (PNL) deputy Gabriel Andronache, rejected the request, arguing that the deadlines for the adoption of the law have been exceeded. "Under this procedure, what you request can intervene at any time. The deadlines are already long overdue," Andronache pointed out. The members of the Committee debated the bill last week, adopting it article by article, leaving only some correlations for Monday's meeting. The Special Committee on the Justice Laws will convene on Tuesday, from 14:00 p.m., to discuss the draft law on judicial organization. AGERPRES The border policemen at the Calafat Border Crossing Point caught two Turkish citizens, who presented to the border control fake residence permits, bearing the insignia of the Belgian authorities, thus intending to reach Germany. According to the Territorial Service of the Border Police (STPF) Dolj, at the Calafat border crossing point, a 33-year-old Bulgarian citizen, driving a minibus, presented himself for the border control on his way in to the country, accompanied by two Turkish citizens. At the border control, the two passengers presented passports issued by the Turkish authorities and residence permits bearing the insignia of the Belgian authorities. "During the preliminary checks, the police found that the residence permits presented to the control do not meet the form and substance of authentic documents, being completely false. During the investigations, they declared that they procured the documents of travel when they were on the territory of Bulgaria, in exchange for the amount of 2,000 euros each. The persons in question thus intended to reach to Germany," informs STPF Dolj. The border policemen proceeded to interrupt the travel of the persons in question, and according to the Romanian-Bulgarian protocol, the driver, the Turkish citizens and the minibus were taken over by the Bulgarian authorities in order to continue the investigations. AGERPRES David Nicklaus David Nicklaus is a business columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Follow David Nicklaus Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today Missouri lawmakers, haggling over tax cuts in a special session this month, know they can buy popularity with some timely election-year largesse. They need to be reminded, however, that the way they structure the cuts can help or hinder the states economy. A growing body of research shows that changes in a states income tax rate matter a great deal to the entrepreneurs who start businesses, create jobs and create wealth. Economists Enrico Moretti, of the University of California, and Daniel Wilson, of the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank, found that star scientists are especially mobile and especially sensitive to changes in the top tax rate. Joshua Rauh, of Stanford University, found that a 2012 California tax increase accelerated the out-migration of high earners from the state. Missouris top rate of 5.3% isnt particularly high. California charges high earners 12.3%, New York 10.9% and Minnesota 9.85%. Gov. Mike Parsons proposed cut to 4.8%, though, should help attract and retain the innovators who are creating jobs in fields like agricultural science, health care and geospatial technology. You have St. Louis building up a better ecosystem for innovation and entrepreneurship, said Aaron Hedlund, an associate professor at Purdue University and chief economist at the Show Me Institute. This would be like jet fuel added to that. By contrast, a competing proposal to send Missourians $325 rebate checks would do nothing to change future entrepreneurs incentive to invest, build or hire in the state. Parson vetoed a rebate plan this spring, but some legislators are trying to revive it in the special session. Anything that puts money in taxpayers pockets is valuable, Hedlund said, but if were talking about what we really need to do, which is to increase growth in the state, the more you can reduce marginal rates the better. The Show-Me Institute, whose billionaire founder Rex Sinquefield has been a longtime advocate for eliminating Missouris income tax, isnt the only think tank that thinks a lower marginal rate is feasible. The Missouri Budget Project, a non-partisan organization that tracks state spending, crafted a tax-cut plan with the same 4.8% top rate as Parsons, but with a lower overall cost, $586 million instead of $700 million. Its proposal also beefs up some credits for low-income people who wouldnt benefit from Parsons plan. The savings would come from eliminating a loophole that allows certain taxpayers, who organize their businesses as partnerships or limited liability companies, to avoid taxes on 20% of so-called pass-through income. Traci Gleason, the Missouri Budget Projects vice president for external affairs, said the loophole encourages companies to game the system, and theres not a good rationale for it. Missouri passed the tax break in 2014, copying an even more generous Kansas law that later caused severe budget problems in that state. The ideal tax system is one that funds public services with the broadest possible base and the lowest possible rate. Down the road, Missouri should look for other ways to trim its thicket of special-interest deductions and credits, perhaps with an eye toward trimming the tax rate even further. For now, a cut to 4.8% would be a good start. Politicians may like the message that rebate checks deliver to constituents mailboxes, but economists prefer the message that a lower tax rate sends to innovators deciding where they want to live, work and invest. In todays work-from-anywhere world, the competition to attract entrepreneurs and knowledge workers will only intensify. Missouri shouldnt miss this chance to send a positive message. ST. LOUIS Christina Green hoped cataract surgery would clear up her cloudy vision, which had worsened after she took a drug to fight her breast cancer. But the former English professor said her 2019 surgery with Ophthalmology Consultants didnt get her to 20/20 vision or fix her astigmatism despite a $3,000 out-of-pocket charge for the astigmatism surgical upgrade. Green, 69, said she ended up feeling more like a dollar sign to the practice than a patient. Youre a cow among a herd as you just move from this station to this station to this station, she said. Ophthalmology Consultants is part of EyeCare Partners, one of the largest private equity-backed U.S. eye care groups. It is headquartered in St. Louis and counts some 300 ophthalmologists and 700 optometrists in its networks across 19 states. The group declined to comment. In the past decade, private equity groups have gone from taking over a handful of practices to working with as many as 8% of the nations ophthalmologists, said Dr. Robert E. Wiggins Jr., president of the American Academy of Ophthalmology. They are scooping up eye care physician practices nationwide as money-making opportunities grow in medical eye care with the aging of the U.S. population. Private equity groups, backed by wealthy investors, buy up these practices or unify them under franchise-like agreements with the hopes of raising profit margins by cutting administrative costs or changing business strategies. They often then resell the practices at a higher price to the next bidder. The profit potential for private equity investors is clear: Much like paying to upgrade plane seats to first class, patients can choose expensive add-ons for many eye procedures, such as cataract surgery. For example, doctors can use lasers instead of cutting eye lenses manually, offer multifocal eye lenses that can eliminate the need for glasses, or recommend the astigmatism fix that Green said she was sold. Often, patients pay out-of-pocket for those extras a health care payday unconstrained by insurance reimbursement negotiations. And such services can take place in outpatient and stand-alone surgery centers, both of which can be more profitable than in a hospital setting. The investments that private equity groups provide can help doctors market and expand their practices, as well as negotiate better prices for drugs and supplies, Wiggins said. But he warned that private equity companies quest to maximize profitability runs the risk of compromising patient care. The problems are accumulating and driving up prices, added Aditi Sen, director of research and policy at the nonprofit Health Care Cost Institute, which provides data and analysis about the economics of health care. Yashaswini Singh, a health economist at Johns Hopkins University, and her colleagues analyzed private equity acquisitions in ophthalmology, gastroenterology, and dermatology and found that practices charged insurance an extra 20%, or an average of $71, more after the acquisition. Private equity-owned practices also saw a substantial rise in new patients and more frequent returns by old patients, according to their research, published Sept. 2 in the JAMA medical journal. A Kaiser Health News analysis also found that private equity firms are investing in the offices of doctors who prescribe at high rates two of the most common macular degeneration eye drugs, meaning the doctors are likely seeing high volumes of patients and thus are more profitable. Kaiser Health News analyzed the top 30 prescribers of the macular degeneration eye drugs Avastin and Lucentis in 2019 through a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services database. Private equity companies went on to invest in 23% of the top Avastin prescribers, and 43% of the top Lucentis prescribers far higher than the 8% of ophthalmologists in which private equity currently holds a stake. Retina Consultants of America, for example, has invested in the practices of four of the top Avastin prescribers, and nine of the top Lucentis prescribers. The private equity model is a model that focuses on profitability, and we know they are not selecting practices randomly, Sen said. She noted that the volume of patients would be attractive to private equity, as well as the idea of investing in practices utilizing expensive Lucentis prescriptions, which cost roughly $1,300 an injection. Furthermore, she said, after being acquired by private equity, doctors could potentially change their prescription habits from the cheaper Avastin that costs about $40 to Lucentis improving the bottom line. Retina Consultants of America did not respond to requests for comment. Last summer, Craig Johnson, then 74, decided it was finally time to have cataract surgery to fix his deteriorating eyes. He decided to go to CVP Physicians in Cincinnati, calling it the cream of the crop locally for having eye surgery as they do 100 a day. The practice was already part of a private equity investment but has since been acquired by another investor, behemoth EyeCare Partners, for $600 million. Johnson, while happy with the results of his surgery, did not know about the manual cutting version of the surgery the cheaper but just as effective alternative to using a laser. Johnson was using private insurance because he was still working, and he said that resulted in over $2,000 out-of-pocket charges for each eye. Laser surgery typically costs more than manual and may not be covered by insurance plans, according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology. Johnson explained that a salesperson, as well as a physician, walked him through options to improve his eyesight. Seniors are a vulnerable population because theyre on a fixed income, theyre a little older, they trust you youre wearing a white coat, said Dr. Arvind Saini, an ophthalmologist who runs an independent practice in Californias San Diego County. Many patients have no idea whether private equity investors have a stake in the practices they choose because they are often referred to them by another doctor or are having an eye emergency. David Zielenziger, 70, felt lucky to get a quick appointment at one of Vitreoretinal Consultants of NYs practices after his retina detached. Zielenziger, a former business journalist, didnt know it was associated with Retina Consultants of America. He loved his doctor and had no complaints about the emergency care he received and continued to go there for follow-ups. Medicare covered just about everything, he said. Its a very busy practice, he said, noting that it has expanded to more locations, which must be making the investors happy. In 2018, Michael Kroin co-founded Physician Growth Partners, a group that helps doctors sell their practices to private equity firms, to capitalize on the explosion of interest. Eye care is one of the largest areas of investment, he said, because the specialty health care services apply to such a broad market of people. Sixteen of the 25 private equity firms identified by industry tracker PitchBook as the biggest health care investors have bought stakes in optometry and ophthalmology practices, a Kaiser Health News analysis found. Kroin expects private equity investment in practices will only continue to accelerate because of competition from the 1,000-pound gorilla of hospitals that also are acquiring practices and as the bureaucracy of insurance reimbursement forces more physicians to seek outside help. If youre not growing, its going to be tough to survive and make a similar level of income as you had historically, he said. Some health care experts worry that private equity companies could eventually be left holding an overly leveraged bag if other firms dont want to buy the practices theyve invested in, which could lead to the closures of those practices and ultimately even more consolidation. Im not sure that most physician practices are so inefficient that you can get 20% more profit out of them, said Dr. Lawrence Peter Casalino, chief of the division of health policy and economics at Weill Cornell Medicines Department of Population Health Sciences. And, he said, investors count on reselling to a buyer who will pay more than what they paid. If that doesnt work, the whole thing unravels. KHN investigative reporter Fred Schulte contributed to this article. LONDON (AP) After the pomp and pageantry of a grand state funeral, Queen Elizabeth II was laid to rest with her husband and parents in an intimate ceremony in Windsor away from media cameras. King Charles III and senior royal family members gathered late Monday for the private interment ceremony at St. Georges Chapel, a gothic church on the grounds of Windsor Castle that has hosted royal weddings, christenings and burials since the 15th century. Earlier Monday, 800 mourners, many of them the queens staff, joined royal family members in the chapel for a committal service the last public ceremony capping 10 days of national mourning that saw huge military parades, miles-long queues in London to see the queens coffin lying in state, and Britains first state funeral since former Prime Minister Winston Churchill died in 1965. In contrast, the interment late Monday was on a much more intimate scale. Royal officials said it was a deeply personal family occasion, and proceedings were not televised. They said the queen was interred together with Prince Philips remains at the King George VI memorial chapel, an annex within St. Georges. When Philip, the queen's husband of 73 years, died last year, his coffin had been placed in a different part of St. Georges Chapel, ready to be moved to the memorial chapel to join the queen when she died. Elizabeth IIs parents, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, were also interred there along with the ashes of Princess Margaret, the late monarchs younger sister who died in 2002. St. George's is the resting place of 10 former British monarchs, including Henry VIII and the beheaded Charles I. It is also the home of the Order of the Garter, an ancient order of chivalry founded by King Edward III in 1348. Last year the queen bid farewell to Philip at St. Georges in a COVID-secure funeral. The ceremony to mark the death of Philip was muted because of strict pandemic restrictions, and only 30 mourners were allowed inside the chapel at the time. St. Georges and Windsor featured prominently throughout the queens life. The chapel was where she marked many a Christmas and Easter, and where she celebrated the weddings of three of her grandchildren: Prince Harry married Meghan Markle there in 2018, as did Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank. Peter Philips, the queens oldest grandchild, married Autumn Kelly there in 2008. The queen spent most of her weekends in Windsor, a quiet and more private retreat away from the bustle of Buckingham Palace in central London. The castle believed to be the largest occupied castle in the world was also where young Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret were sent to live during World War II while their parents were busy with the war effort. In recent years the queen made Windsor Castle her main residence, having moved there in early 2020 at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Tourism rebounded this summer in Europe and Europe wasnt ready. Pandemic-related staff shortages led to massive lines and flight cancellations at many airports; meanwhile, prices for hotels and taxis soared. Then there were the record-breaking temperatures that caused roads, airport runways and railroad tracks to buckle , leading to further disruptions. Our family of three visited Europe this summer our first trip there in three years and had a great time despite the challenges. Still, climate change, growing crowds and lingering effects of the pandemic have altered the way we travel. If youre planning a trip to Europe, consider the following tips to save money and have a better experience. 1. EXPLORE ALTERNATIVE LOCATIONS Europes capital cities Paris, Amsterdam, Vienna, Rome and so on are hugely popular for good reasons. But often, you can get a better feel for a countrys culture in one of its smaller cities while enjoying lower prices. For example, Frances third-largest city, Lyon, has a lovely old town, spectacular Roman ruins, world-class museums and amazing restaurants. Even in peak season, I found a three-star hotel room for less than $100 a night and never encountered any long, soul-killing queues for attractions that could make Paris a trial. Similarly, we enjoyed Austrias second-largest city, Graz, a beautiful, affordable alternative to Vienna, and pretty Delft, a canal city just an hours train ride away from Amsterdam. Europes capitals are still well worth a visit, but adding some alternative destinations can save you money and stress. 2. RETHINK SUMMER TRAVEL Spring and fall are typically cooler, cheaper and far less crowded. If summer travel is your only option, try to go as soon after Memorial Day as possible, as crowds (and prices) soar in July and August. Scotts Cheap Flights, a deal site, recommends booking international travel two to eight months in advance for good deals. 3. DONT ASSUME ASK Early in our marriage not realizing that many old European buildings didnt have elevators we rented a top-floor apartment on Paris Ile Saint-Louis for a week. Our little garret had a great view, but confronting six flights of stairs after walking around Paris all day wasnt fun. These days, we also ensure theres air conditioning, which still isnt nearly as common in Europe as in the United States. Hotels and apartments with air conditioning usually mention that fact in their online listings, but if theres any doubt about AC or elevators, ask before you book. 4. TREAT EUROPE LIKE A THEME PARK Hear me out: Disney tip sites such as Undercover Tourist and Mouse Hacking recommend arriving at rope drop when the parks first open. Then you can retreat to your hotel in the afternoon, when crowds and temperatures peak, and return in the calmer, cooler evening hours. Consider a similar approach while traveling in Europe in the summer: Get to the most popular attractions when they first open, escape from the heat in the afternoon and go out again when its more pleasant. If youre booking an outdoor activity, schedule it for the morning or after sunset, if possible. Find refuge from the afternoon heat in cinemas, old stone cathedrals and the many art museums that are air-conditioned to protect the paintings. Dont stand in sweltering lines to buy tickets for anything without first checking to see if admission can be purchased online. 5. PRIORITIZE FLEXIBILITY Before the pandemic, we often tried to save money by buying nonrefundable travel. These days, were happy to pay more for flexibility. For example, we were scheduled to fly out of Amsterdams Schiphol airport a few days after its luggage system malfunctioned, separating thousands of travelers from their bags and causing KLM Royal Dutch Airlines to ban checked baggage on flights within Europe briefly. Even after the luggage issue was fixed, passengers reported hourslong waits to check in and get through security because of staffing shortages . Rather than endure the chaos, we decided to take the train to Austria instead. We didnt get all of our money back Austrian Airlines charged a fee of roughly $70 for each ticket, or about one-third of what we originally paid but the refund offset part of the last-minute train fare. We could have paid a lot more for completely refundable airfares, but this refundable with a fee option hit the sweet spot of affordability and flexibility. We also avoided renting apartments or Airbnbs with onerous cancellation policies. Hotels typically have much more flexible policies and staff to help make travel easier. A front desk clerk in Lyon, for instance, recommended a wonderful restaurant that served traditional Lyonnaise cuisine and arranged my taxi to the train station after three Uber drivers in a row canceled. 6. GET TRAVEL INSURANCE We also had but fortunately didnt need travel interruption and delay coverage through the credit cards we used. In addition, we had a travel insurance policy that would have paid for hotels, meals and rebooked flights if any of us had to quarantine. The policy added about $100 a week to our travel costs, which seemed like a small price to pay for peace of mind. This column was provided to The Associated Press by the personal finance website NerdWallet. Liz Weston is a columnist at NerdWallet, a certified financial planner and the author of Your Credit Score. Email: lweston@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @lizweston. RELATED LINK: NerdWallet: Why you should consider a second city trip in 2022 https://bit.ly/nerdwallet-why-you-should- consider-a-second-city-trip-in-2021 ST. LOUIS Barry Goldwater, tenacious underdog for president, stood before a cheering capacity crowd in Kiel Opera House. The big curtain behind him opened to reveal more loud Republicans in the adjoining auditorium. Welcome to the crowd, folks, said the Republican presidential nominee as he turned to the happy supporters in the overflow seats. The two wings of the Kiel convention hall downtown were built to share one stage as needed. It was warranted on Sept. 19, 1964, during Goldwaters only swing through Missouri as the candidate. He returned to the area for a quick speech in Belleville one week before election day. Goldwater spoke in Springfield, Mo., on Sept. 17 after a warmly received series of rallies across the deep South, where he plugged a careful salute to states rights calling for local control of federal grants while avoiding race. But he had voted against the Civil Rights Act two months before. Many in his crowds cheered with rebel yells and battle flags. Then he headed to the border state of Missouri. He needed conservative Democrats to change their yellow-dog habits. Goldwater, a senator from Arizona, was running far behind Texas-born President Lyndon B. Johnson. Goldwater inspired fierce devotion from the GOPs conservative wing, but flip comments such as his joke about lobbing a nuke into the Kremlin mens room gave the Democrats plenty of powder. Goldwater billed his stop at Kiel as a major foreign-policy speech to calm the electorates jitters. He said there was no greater political lie than the drumbeat that he was too dangerous for the presidency. I have never suggested, nor would I as president, move recklessly with our great power, he said. But I would take every step to make sure that the communists did not move recklessly with theirs. Goldwater also covered the domestic essentials, accusing Johnson of lavishly wasting money on politically motivated handouts through the Great Society. Goldwater called for lower taxes, fewer regulations and smaller government. After the speech, a few police officers escorted Goldwater to a waiting Cadillac. Even after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy 11 months before, campaign security was evolving. That was obvious on Oct. 21, when Johnson spoke from a car outside Orr Weathers Homes, a public-housing complex in East St. Louis, and to an audience outside the Old Post Office, at Eighth and Locust streets downtown. There, he called the nuclear age no time for bluster, bluff and belligerence. Secret Service agents stood nearby, but the events were open to any pedestrian. One week later, Goldwater spoke outside the St. Clair County Courthouse in Belleville, where he called local education the responsibility of parents, not the federal government. He lost in a landslide on Nov. 3 to Johnson, who took 61 percent of the popular vote and all but six states. Missouri and Illinois were strong for Johnson. Goldwater won his own Arizona and five Deep Dixie states, foreshadowing his partys future Southern strategy. More than 150 years ago, a prison complex known as the Lone Rock stockade operated at one of the biggest coal mines in Tennessee. It was powered largely by African American men who had been arrested for minor offenses like stealing a hog if they committed any crime at all. Women and children, some as young as 12, were sent there as well. The work, dangerous and sometimes deadly, was their punishment. The state was leasing these prisoners out to private companies for a fee, in a practice known all across the South as convict leasing. In states like Texas, Florida, Georgia and Alabama , prisoners were also used to help build railroads, cut timber, make bricks, pick cotton and grow sugar on plantations. In a joint investigation, reporters from the Associated Press and Reveal at the Center for Investigative Reporting spent months unearthing this history. They focused on Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad, which ran the stockade and coal mine, and the company that later bought it, U.S. Steel. The team found someone living today whose ancestor was imprisoned in the Lone Rock stockade nearly 140 years ago. They also interviewed the descendent of a man who got rich from his role in pioneering Tennessees convict leasing system. The reporters also heard from U.S. Steel. For the first time, it said it was willing to discuss its past with members of the affected community. Listen to the podcast here: WHAT IS CONVICT LEASING? Convict leasing was essentially a new form of slavery that started after the Civil War and went on for decades across the South. States and companies got rich by arresting mostly Black men and then forcing them to work for major companies. The 13th Amendment, passed after the Civil War, banned slavery and involuntary servitude. But it made an exception for people convicted of a crime, offering legal cover for convict leasing. Tennessee and many other states adopted similar language in their constitutions that still exists today. WHAT WAS THE THE LONE ROCK STOCKADE? The Lone Rock stockage operated in Tracy City, Tennessee for more than 25 years. The prisoners lived in cramped, unsanitary conditions. Built to hold 200 people at a time, the prison sometimes held 600. The men risked their lives every day above ground too, manning fiery, dome-shaped coke ovens used in the iron-making process. They were helping Tennessee, Coal, Iron and Railroad get rich. The company was an economic powerhouse, later bought by the worlds biggest company at the time: U.S. Steel Corporation. HOW DID THE PRISON POPULATION CHANGE AFTER EMANCIPATION? The racial makeup of prison populations changed almost overnight after the Civil War. In Tennessee, during slavery less than 5 percent of the prisoners were Black. In 1866, after emancipation, that number jumped to 52 percent. And by 1891 it had skyrocketed to 75 percent. WHAT ARE BLACK CODES? Black codes are laws passed by states that targeted African Americans for minor crimes such as vagrancy, jumping a ride on a train car or not having proof of employment. In Tennessee, people were sentenced up to five years of hard labor in the coal mine for having interracial relationships. WHAT DOES U.S. STEEL SAY NOW ABOUT THEIR USE OF CONVICT LEASING? The United States Steel Corporation, also known as U.S. Steel, was founded by American business giants, which included J.P. Morgan and Andrew Carnegie. It has operations in the U.S. and Central Europe, and remains a leading steel producer. The company used convict labor for at least five years in Alabama in the early 1900s, but has never spoken openly about this dark chapter of its history. It has misrepresented its use of prison labor and has not acknowledged the men who died in its mines. After being contacted by the AP and Reveal reporters, the company agreed for the first time to sit down and talk with members of the affected community. U.S. Steel also confirmed it owns a cemetery located at the site of its former coal mine: U. S. Steel does not condone the practices of a century ago, it said in a statement. Given the amount of time that has lapsed, we, unfortunately, do not have comprehensive records relative to this situation." We would be pleased to consider a memorial plaque should members of the affected community express an interest. We would also be happy to meet with them and discuss these topics. This story was supported by Columbia Universitys Ira A. Lipman Center for Journalism and Civil and Human Rights in conjunction with Arnold Ventures. Tony Messenger Tony Messenger is the metro columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Follow Tony Messenger 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 Twice this summer, Circuit Judge Steven Privette has attracted the attention of the Southern District of the Missouri Court of Appeals. For circuit court judges, thats generally not a good thing, particularly for those with ambition. Privette has ambition. He has applied to join the Court of Appeals. In late July, in a decision that drew statewide headlines, the Court of Appeals overturned Privette in a case involving the new Eleven Point State Park in Oregon County. Privette had previously ruled that the Department of Natural Resources didnt have the authority to buy the 4,200 acres in southeast Missouri and turn it into a state park. The appeals court, in a unanimous ruling, said Privette got the law wrong. The park has been preserved. Now the same court is asking Privette to explain himself in a case that is much more personal. The appeals court last week issued a stop order to Privette, barring him from taking any action in a contempt of court case he filed against Oregon County Circuit Clerk Betty Grooms. The story, laid out in court records, reads like a small-town soap opera, with a judge driven by personal conflicts playing the main character. The story starts in November 2018, when Grooms, a Republican, won the race for circuit clerk over Alice Bell, a Democrat. Bell was a deputy clerk in the office and continued to work there after she lost the election. Three years later, in November 2021, Bell married Privette, the presiding judge of the 37th Judicial Circuit, which covers Howell, Oregon, Shannon and Carter counties. Privette, a Republican, was first appointed a judge by Gov. Mike Parson in 2018. Circuit clerks and judges tend to work closely together. Last December, Bell was scheduled to be the court clerk in a civil case in Privettes courtroom. Because the clerk and judge are married, officials from the Office of Supreme Court Administrator advised Grooms that she should replace Bell on that case with another deputy clerk. When Grooms tried to do so, Privette said in open court that he would have the sheriff remove Betty from the courtroom if she insisted on replacing Alice Bell as his courtroom clerk in that pending civil case, according to court records. So Grooms stood down. Fast forward to May. Privette asked Grooms to provide him with a spreadsheet of all criminal cases over the past three years, as well as a breakdown of court costs and the outstanding bills for jail stays, called board bills. Many rural judges care deeply about how well they are recouping the costs tied to the American court system spending far too much time serving as collectors of back-door taxes than purveyors of justice. In 2019, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that judges could not threaten defendants with more jail time in an attempt to collect the bills for previous stays behind bars. Grooms provided Privette hundreds of pages of documents, but apparently not in the form he preferred. So in late August, the judge did something highly unusual: he asked an assistant prosecutor in Howell County to file a criminal contempt of court charge against Grooms for not providing him a spreadsheet. That case is now before Privette. He is trying to be, so to speak, judge and jury over the political opponent of his wife. Grooms hired an attorney, David Duree, of OFallon, Illinois. He has a bit of experience in the judge-vs.-clerk racket. Duree represents Lincoln County Clerk Karla Allsberry, who won a dispute that went all the way to the Missouri Supreme Court when the presiding judge in that county, just north of St. Louis, tried to improperly strip her of her office. Duree has asked for a change of judge in the case of Privette vs. Grooms, citing the obvious conflicts of interest. Judge Privette is attempting to remove Betty from office by initiating these contempt proceedings in the hope that his wife, Alice Bell, will then be appointed to fill Bettys remaining four-year term, he alleged in a motion for a new judge. Privette denied the motion, as well as a motion to dismiss the claim. So Duree went to the Court of Appeals, which has now told Privette to stop all action in the case unless that action is to dismiss it. The appeals court has asked Privette to explain himself. On Friday, he did so. In early 2022, the Sheriffs of both Oregon and Howell County complained to Judge Privette that (Grooms) would not certify cost bills, wrote Assistant Howell County Prosecutor Heath Hardman on behalf of Privette. As a result, the Counties/Sheriffs were not being reimbursed tens of thousands of dollars for board bills. ... Judge Privette was left with little choice but to take public action to see that (Grooms) executed her statutorily required duty to prepare cost bills in criminal cases. In his response to the appeals court, Privette calls it pure unfounded speculation that the case has anything to do with his wife. He denies he has a conflict of interest. As Privette waits to hear if he will be a finalist for the Court of Appeals opening, perhaps his latest legal filing will serve as his unofficial job application. All he has to do to win his promotion is convince the Court of Appeals judges that he is above the law. Good luck with that. CLAYTON Authorities said in a stunning announcement Monday that one man is behind at least five St. Louis-area serial killings, including the grisly murders of four women that went unsolved for more than 30 years. Gary Muehlberg, 73, is already serving a life sentence in prison for a St. Louis County murder. On Monday, prosecutors charged him with four new counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Robyn Mihan, Brenda Pruitt, Donna Reitmeyer and Sandy Little. All four women disappeared from south St. Louis within six months in 1990, only to have their bodies discovered by passersby in makeshift containers across the region: One bound between two mattresses. One concealed in a wooden box. Two stuffed into garbage cans. All had ties to the same small stretch of Cherokee Street in St. Louis frequented by sex workers, then known as The South Side Stroll. All were gagged and strangled. All four were mothers. The killer always covered their faces. Investigators long suspected the murders were linked to one person, but it took a DNA breakthrough this spring to finally link a name to the crimes. OFallon, Missouri, police Detective Sgt. Jodi Weber reopened the cold cases in 2008. As lead detective on the case, she repeatedly sent evidence for DNA testing over the years in hopes developments in the technology could find a new lead. I got into police work to work these types of cases, she said. When I started to look into it, the fact that a womans body had been found in a box in our jurisdiction and it had never been solved blew me away. The match finally came in March. The St. Charles County Police Lab found enough DNA to get a hit on Muehlberg in CODIS, the Combined DNA Index System database. Muehlberg is 27 years into a life sentence at Potosi Correctional Center for the 1993 killing of Kenneth Doc Atchison, who he murdered for $6,000 before storing the mans body in a plywood box in Muehlbergs basement. I had been waiting fourteen years to talk to the individual responsible for these murders, Weber said. The families waited much longer. Muehlberg admitted to police in both written and spoken statements to killing all four women, according to court documents, along with one other murder with which he has not been charged. Police are continuing to investigate that case. Muehlbergs alleged motive in targeting sex workers remains unclear, Weber said. I dont even know if he even knows why he did the things he did, she said. Muehlberg has been diagnosed with cancer, according to law enforcement sources. He wrote Weber a letter in August saying he hoped to atone for what he had done. No matter how these victims choose to earn a living, they should not have had their lives taken in such a dark way, he wrote in an excerpt of the letter provided to the Post-Dispatch. He added: I still dislike that negative, dark, short period in (my) past life. Muehlberg ended the letter: Glad I can finally do (the) right thing. I know you sort of understand. I must live with my past the good and bad parts. No more running. Family members of the victims Muehlberg is accused of killing expressed a mix of excitement, renewed grief and anger on behalf of those they lost. Ive just been looking at his picture ever since I found out asking: Why? Why would you do this? said Barb Studt, a stepsister of victim Sandy Little, killed at age 21. Littles body was found five months later abandoned in a box off Interstate 70. She was more than someone selling her body. She had so many years stolen, Studt said. They all did. The first victim: Robyn Mihan Robyn Mihan, 18, was the first woman police tied to Muehlberg to disappear from The Stroll. Her older brother, Thomas Mihan, now 55, recalled his sister as a fun-loving young mother who, like many in the early 90s, developed a crack cocaine addiction. I kind of raised her for a little while. My mom was going to school and working at the same time, so the responsibility kind of fell on me, he said. Robyn Mihan gave birth to a baby girl when she was 16 years old and at 18 put another child up for adoption. She turned to sex work and was last seen, by another sex worker, on March 22, 1990, turning a corner near The Stroll. Police believe Muehlberg took her to his home at 3520 East Edgar Drive in Bel-Ridge, where they allege he killed all his victims. And like in every case, Mihans body was packaged. The body was found four days after she disappeared off Highway E near Silex, a rural Missouri town about 60 miles northwest of St. Louis. A man searching for his daughter in the area found the body stuffed between two mattresses bound together with coat hangers. Medical examiners determined she had been strangled. A condom wrapper was found with the body. There was a shirt wrapped around her head. It had sweat stains investigators over the years hoped might hold DNA. Robyn Mihans brother, Thomas, said hes tried to block out the memory of what happened to his sister for the past 30 years but is relieved theres been a breakthrough in her case. What Im most happy about is that the man has been incarcerated since 1993, he said last week from his front porch on Oleatha Avenue. I just miss her, he added. All I can really say is: She was a good person. You know? Thomas said he thinks about his sister the most when he is around her daughter, now working as a nurse with two children of her own. She looks just like her, he said. May 1990: Brenda Pruitt Forty-eight days after Mihan went missing, family members told police they couldnt find 27-year-old Brenda Pruitt. For 10 months, it wasnt clear where Pruitt, who lived not far from The Stroll, went. In October that year, a jogger on Basston Drive in Maryland Heights reported a foul odor to city employees cutting weeds. The workers searched and found decomposed remains in a brown plastic 33-gallon trash can lying on the grass nearby. The body was in such a state that the Major Case Squad of Greater St. Louis was unable to identify the victim for another five months. In March 1991, Janet Majors, a fingerprint examiner with St. Louis police, sifted through individual fingerprint cards by hand to make the identification. The Post-Dispatch could not reach family members of Pruitt Monday, but police said she had a young child at the time of her death and has grandchildren today. June 1990: Donna Reitmeyer One month after Pruitt disappeared, Donna Reitmeyer, 40, was last seen on her way to meet a customer near The Stroll. A friend, Sheila Leach, told police she had been dropped off with Reitmeyer that night. I was supposed to meet her later, but she didnt show up and she didnt come home so I called police the next day, Leach told the Post-Dispatch at the time. It wasnt like her to disappear like that. Just like Pruitt, Reitmeyers body was found in a rubber trash can. A pedestrian reported it a few days after her death on a sidewalk along Gasconade Street between South Broadway and Ohio Avenue in south St. Louis. Reitmeyer had three children ranging from 13 to late 20s when she was killed, her daughter Juanita Zills said. Zills said her mother had a drug addiction before her death. As prevalent as addiction is today, I think stories like this are important to remind people how it can put you in the car of someone dangerous, Zills said. Unfortunately, my mom never had the chance to overcome her addiction. Today, Reitmeyer is survived by five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, her family said. She just wanted so bad to be loved and accepted, her niece Tina Hubbard said. September 1990: Sandy Little The fourth came three months later. Sandy Little, 21, was a sex worker with an infant son who managed to stay fun and upbeat despite a troubled life, her stepsister, Studt, said. Studts father married Littles mom when Little was a toddler. She was just like a little doll, Studt said. She was the cutest little girl. Littles father died when she was about 8 or 9, leaving Little and four other young children in her mothers care. I remember the police coming because Mom would leave Sandy alone to babysit the baby at 10, her younger sister Geneva Valle Palomino said. The neighbors reported her. For the next decade, Little bounced between foster care, group homes and her mothers house, including a foster care stint in Homer, Alaska. She lived for a time as a teenager with Studt in St. Louis but rebelled, dropping out of high school and refusing to show up to her job at a south St. Louis Woolworths department store, Studt said. She didnt do what she was told, Studt said. But she always had a lot of friends and boys calling the house asking for her. Studt said she remembers coming home from work when they lived together to Little dancing and singing to Michael Jackson turned all the way up. Eventually, Little moved out of Studts home and had a baby boy. She was living with the family of her boyfriend, the babys father, and working on The Stroll when her family reported her missing on Sept. 4, 1990. We knew she would never leave her child, Valle Palomino said. Studt said she remembers setting out dinner at her home in St. Peters in February 1991, about five months later, when she finally saw a report on the TV news about a body found in OFallon, Missouri. I immediately said thats got to be Sandy, Studt said. A driver on his way to work at the General Motors plant in Wentzville found her decomposed body in a wooden box on the shoulder of Interstate 70, just west of Highway 79. A radiologist compared records from an old arm fracture to make the identification. A wool cap with the brand name Ticor Title Insurance was pulled over her face. A few weeks after her body was found, Major Case Squad detectives made a clay model of Littles face to try and generate leads, to no avail. Investigators by then suspected they had a serial killer on their hands. Were certainly looking at the possibility there could be one killer, Florissant police Chief Robert Lowery Sr., chair of the Major Case Squad, told the Post-Dispatch at the time. I think were dealing with someone right here in the St. Louis area. Littles body was buried in the Baue Cave Springs cemetery. Her family didnt have enough money to buy her a gravestone, so her grave remains unmarked to this day, Studt said. For Studt, the charges come with a mix of gratitude and caution. I dont want this news to give him any fame, she said. He doesnt deserve any notoriety. 1991: FBI gets involved By June 1991, the FBI confirmed local police suspicions that the deaths were likely the work of a serial killer. The Post-Dispatch quoted an investigator close to the case in 1992 who said the FBI profiled the culprit as a sexual sadist who goes after younger women he can control. They thought he was a loner, probably divorced, with a history of menial jobs and a poor work record. Hes playing games with us, leaving bodies in containers out in the open, the investigator said at the time. Joe Burgoon, a veteran St. Louis homicide sergeant, had a role in the investigations over the years. He now works cold cases for the St. Louis County Police Department. Burgoon first got involved after Mihans body was found in Silex and said a series of suspects were considered, then ruled out. Burgoon said the killer always seemed to dump the bodies at night and appeared to make a point to do so across different police jurisdictions. Hed get different departments working on it, he said. One particular man was a keen focus of police for years, Burgoon said, after a woman was found running naked down a street in south St. Louis. It wasnt Muehlberg. Burgoon said that Muehlberg was never a focus before the DNA hit. Im glad they got him, he said of the charges. It takes a long time sometimes. February 1993: Kenneth Doc Atchison It was the disappearance of Kenneth Atchison that put Muehlberg in prison for life. Atchison, who went by Doc, went missing two years and five months after Little was last seen. His brother, Vernon Atchison, remembers the 45 panicked days he spent looking for him. On Feb. 8, 1993, Muehlberg lured Atchison, 57, of Overland, to his Bel-Ridge home with a promise to sell him a used 1987 Cadillac for $6,000 cash. But according to Vernon, police didnt immediately take his case seriously when his family reported Kenneth missing. They said they thought he went to Vegas, Vernon said. They told me: Hell turn up in a week or two. You can buy a lot of sunshine for $6,000. So Vernon combed ballroom dance halls Kenneth used to frequent. He called different police agencies begging them to search Muehlbergs house, where friends knew Kenneth had gone. Vernon went to the Overland diner where his brother, a drywall contractor, often spent time with other tradesmen, including Muehlberg. They knew each other well, he said. The men there told Vernon that Muehlberg came to the diner the day after Kenneth was killed. Muehlberg had a gun, the men said, and a wad of cash. About six weeks after Kenneth went missing, a friend of Muehlbergs, security guard Ron Silanskas, finally went to police. Muehlberg had asked Silanskas to move a box from his basement, offering to give him a 1984 Mercury Cougar to do the job. When he arrived, Silanskas found a crude plywood coffin with Atchisons shoes sticking out, he eventually testified in court. Police recovered Atchisons body from the basement in March 1993. He had been gagged, handcuffed, strangled and shot. Muehlberg, 44 at the time, was soon arrested in Wayne County, Illinois. He was convicted in 1995 of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. Until this year, police never linked Atchisons killing to the package killer deaths as he didnt fit the pattern of female sex workers. We miss him, said Vernon, who still has the pages of handwritten notes he took when he was trying to locate his brother. Gary Muehlberg got a life sentence, but he needs two or three more. Atchison said hed often considered whether Muehlberg might have been behind more killings but only learned of the upcoming charges when a reporter from the Post-Dispatch called him Friday. Im not surprised he was capable of this, he said. Cases reopened Lead detective Weber said she got the call on a Colorado ski trip: There was a DNA match in the package killer cases. The DNA was found on the condom wrapper left with Robyn Mihans body. After the match, Weber worked to find out more about Muehlberg. The people I interviewed who knew him said he was a narcissist, she said. He thought he was better than everybody else. Muehlberg was born in St. Louis but lived for a period in Kansas, where he was charged with raping and robbing a woman in the early 1970s, Weber said. Police reports did not list the woman as a sex worker. He served time in prison for the robbery but then earned an undergraduate degree in psychology from Central Methodist University. He was married and divorced twice and had three children, Weber said. Muehlberg hopped between jobs, spending time as a teacher at Hubert Wheeler School in St. Louis, rehabbing houses and doing maintenance at the Moolah Shrine Center in Maryland Heights, she said. When Weber interviewed him the first time, she said he was unwell and seemed guarded after he was told about DNA evidence in the case. We asked him what would be stopping him from giving us more information, Weber said. Muehlberg told detectives he would provide more information if prosecutors in Lincoln, St. Charles and St. Louis counties all agreed not to consider the death penalty in his case. They agreed. Ultimately, we knew that because of the time that had elapsed, it was going to require the cooperation of Mr. Muehlberg, St. Charles County Prosecuting Attorney Tim Lohmar said at a news conference called Monday to announce the charges. We are satisfied that so far he has fully cooperated. Muehlberg sent a letter to Weber after the death penalty decision describing two more killings, including one police concluded to be Reitmeyer. I should have addressed or talked about two other cold cases from the same time frame on your last visit, he wrote. Investigators are still working to identify the victim in one of the killings. Muehlberg said he disposed of that body in a metal barrel at a self-serve car wash. Weber and another investigator interviewed him a second time before receiving the letter. He showed signs of remorse, she said. The second interview was pretty powerful, she said. He said hes thought a lot about these cases. He said his remaining time in prison would be easier getting this off his chest. Weber said she hopes Muehlberg will continue to divulge more specifics to help investigators understand the killings. Im ecstatic these victims families can finally have a name, she said. We still have work to do. This story was originally posted at 11:15 a.m. Monday. Remember these notable St. Louis-area serial killers? Some serial killers, like John Wayne Gacy, capture national attention. These serial killers may not have grabbed headlines outside St. Louis, Centene Corp., the Clayton-based health insurance giant, has agreed to pay $165.6 million to Texas to resolve claims that it overcharged the states Medicaid program for pharmacy services. Its the biggest known payout by the nations largest Medicaid insurer over its drug pricing practices. The deal was signed July 11 but hadnt been publicly announced until Monday after Kaiser Health News obtained a copy of the settlement through a Texas public records request . The agreement makes Texas at least the 12th state to settle pharmacy billing claims with Centene. Centene did not respond Monday to multiple requests for comment about the Texas settlement. But it has denied wrongdoing in several settlements, and Centene President and Chief Operating Officer Brent Layton said last year that settlements in Ohio and Mississippi reflected the companys commitment to making the delivery of health care local, simple and transparent and allow it to continue its relentless focus on delivering high-quality outcomes to our members. Most states contract with private insurance companies such as Centene to cover people who have disabilities or earn low incomes in their state Medicaid programs, which are jointly paid for by state and federal taxpayers. In many of those states, the insurance company handles Medicaid prescription medications through what is called a pharmacy benefit manager, or PBM, to get lower prices. Such benefit managers act as middlemen between drugmakers and health insurers and as intermediaries between health plans and pharmacies. Centene has provided both those services in multiple states. Medicaid has provided a big launching pad for Centenes growth and revenue. The company is the largest Medicaid managed-care insurer in the country, providing health insurance benefits to 15.4 million enrollees nationwide. Multiple states have pursued allegations against Centenes pharmacy manager business, alleging that it overbilled their Medicaid programs for prescription drugs and pharmacy services. The total number of states is not publicly known. Centene has settled with Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Ohio, Texas, and Washington for a total of $475 million, according to news releases and settlement documents from attorneys general in those states. Three other states and their settlement amounts have not been identified by Centene or the states themselves. The companys first settlements came in 2021 with Ohio and Mississippi. The $88 million that Centene agreed to pay Ohio was its largest public settlement amount before the deal with Texas. Exactly how the company may have overcharged states, or failed to meet the terms of its contracts, is not disclosed in the settlements, said Joey Mattingly, associate professor at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy. There are a lot of ways you could overcharge Medicaid, Mattingly said. Its quite amazing that its this number of states. The Texas settlement isnt expected to be Centenes final PBM payout. In a July filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Centene wrote that it is in discussions to bring final resolution to drug billing concerns in other affected states but did not specify the states. It set aside $1.25 billion in 2021 to resolve the pharmacy benefit manager settlements. Among the other states may be California, which is investigating Centenes role in providing pharmacy benefits to its Medicaid enrollees, Kaiser Health News first reported in April. Florida and South Carolina have signed legal agreements with a Mississippi-based firm, Liston & Deas, that has represented other states, including Texas, in their pharmacy benefit inquiries into Centene. Still, the settlements havent caused the business relationships to end. In Ohio and Mississippi, the company has renewed key state managed-care contracts after settling the pharmacy benefit allegations. And just last week, Centene announced that Texas had renewed the contract of the companys Texas affiliate, Superior HealthPlan, to deliver health care to foster care children and youths despite the July settlement over its prescription drug management. Centene did not disclose the new contracts financial terms. An undisclosed portion of the Texas prescription drug settlement is expected to go to the federal government because of its role in helping finance Medicaid. Centenes agreement with Texas required the company to pay half the settlement amount in August. Centene probably agreed to pay more to Texas than Ohio because of a larger number of prescription drug claims there, said Antonio Ciaccia, president of 3 Axis Advisors, a consulting firm that has worked with Liston & Deas on drug billing issues. The results we achieved in this case send a clear message to providers that Texas expects transparency from its Medicaid partners as required by Texas law, said Attorney General Ken Paxton in a statement. The office did not clarify why it didnt disclose the settlement earlier. Pharmacy benefit managers in general have drawn increasing scrutiny and criticism. The Federal Trade Commission announced in June that it was launching an investigation into the pharmacy benefit management industry and its impact on consumer access to prescription drugs and medication costs. Youre seeing increasing recognition that this is an important part of the drug affordability problem in our country, said Erin Trish, associate professor at the University of Southern California School of Pharmacy. This is actually a pretty consolidated and poorly functioning industry thats hidden under the veil of opacity and secrecy for a decade or so now. Rebecca Grapevine contributed to this report. JEFFERSON CITY Outdoor enthusiasts will be able to break in the new Bryant Creek State Park in southern Missouri starting on Friday. The park covers 2,917 acres in Douglas County near the city of Ava, including mature forest, wet-weather waterfalls, caves and 1.67 miles of frontage along Bryant Creek, the main tributary of the North Fork River. Unlike one other recent addition to the state parks system Echo Bluff State Park, which opened in 2016 and features creature comforts such as cabins and RV hookups Bryant Creek State Park will cater to visitors seeking a more primitive experience. The park is also situated farther west than existing attractions south of St. Louis such as the Ozark National Scenic Riverways and Johnsons Shut-Ins State Park, ushering tourists to an area of the state they may not otherwise visit. A ribbon-cutting will take place after an informational meeting at 11 a.m. on Friday at the north day-use area of the park. The parks conceptual development plan says the north area will be accessible via County Road N-337D, which connects to Highway N. The state purchased the property in 2016, and officials are still developing the park; the budget for the first phase is currently $142,000. Officials didnt include a camping area in Phase I, but visitors will be able to use two trails starting on Friday. A trail to an overlook has a natural surface while a second shorter trail will be covered in crushed gravel, said Tisha Holden, spokeswoman for Missouri State Parks. The overlook, parking and vault toilets will be open Friday. Backcountry camping along trails isnt allowed during Phase I, Holden said. And there are no plans to construct a boat ramp or other clearing for access to Bryant Creek in the trails-focused park. Visitors to the park will experience the magnificence of the Ozarks in the long ridgetop views across deep forest hollows, and the crystal waters of Bryant Creek, the states final conceptual development plan for Bryant Creek State Park says. The state said more than 40 miles of Bryant Creek are floatable. Before cars, the creek served as a main thoroughfare for travelers heading north or south on foot or by horse or wagon, according to the state. Plans call for protecting Bryant Creek through restoration projects. A primary focus of the park is to restore, rehabilitate and preserve the 3,000-acre forested watershed for the benefit of surface and groundwater flow into the waters of Bryant Creek, the plan says. Highway N divides the northern and southern halves of the park. While the northern half contains mature forest, the southern half of the park includes 1,439 acres of regenerating forest and glade that officials intend to restore. The second phase of construction includes opening a day-use area in the southern portion of the park, constructing multiuse trails for hiking, biking and equestrian use, and building on the hiking-only trail network. Legislators included $600,000 in the current fiscal year budget for the second phase of Bryant Creek State Park, Holden said. She said there is no development timeline currently in place for the second phase. The third phase includes opening the camping area, paving an Americans with Disabilities Act-accessible trail, expanding the parking lot in the northern half of the park and installing trailheads. The state in recent years has aquired several new tracts for parks, at times stirring controversy among local residents. The Missouri Court of Appeals Southern District last month overturned a county judges ruling that would have forced the state to sell 625 acres along the Eleven Point River in Oregon County. The state plans to open the Eleven Point State Park in the area. Plaintiffs challenging the purchase of the park recently filed a motion for rehearing or alternatively asked the Missouri Supreme Court to hear the case. The state recently changed the name of Ozark Mountain State Park near Branson to Shephard of the Hills State Park, honoring Harold Bell Wright, author of The Shepherd of the Hills, on the 150th anniversary of his birth. That park also has yet to open. And Jay Nixon State Park in southeast Missouri, named after the former Democratic governor whose administration arranged the land purchases, has also not yet been opened to the public. JEFFERSON CITY A Senate panel scrapped a plan Monday to give Missourians tax rebate checks but signed off on an income tax cut being pushed by Gov. Mike Parson. The Senate Appropriations Committees action was the latest step taken by lawmakers to comply with a call by Parson to reduce state income tax rates from 5.3% to 4.8%. The committee nixed a proposal to offer $325 rebate checks on top of the tax cut, saying Parson was unlikely to approve of that provision. The panel also dropped efforts to reduce corporate income taxes, signaling that the Republicans who control the Legislature may be inching closer to an agreement. Obviously, we are continuing to have discussions. I think were in a good place, said Sen. Sandy Crawford, R-Buffalo. Initial votes on the plan in the full Senate could come as early as Tuesday. Parson called lawmakers back to the Capitol on Sept. 6, but leaders in the House and Senate delayed the start of the special session until last week in hopes of working out an agreement. Parson said the state can afford to lower taxes because the state general revenue fund through July 31 had a surplus of more than $4.2 billion. Tax revenues have increased nearly 24% this fiscal year. Along with an increase in income tax revenue, Missouris budget has been fueled by more than $9.8 billion in federal pandemic aid since April 2020. Under a plan crafted by Sen. Lincoln Hough, R-Springfield, the tax rate would eventually decline to 4.5% over time if certain revenue growth triggers are met. He had also wanted to issue rebate checks of $325 to individuals and $650 to married couples, but that provision was jettisoned after Parson said he didnt support the idea. Parson earlier vetoed a proposal that included rebate checks worth up to $500. Sen. Andrew Koenig, R-Manchester, removed a provision in his legislation that would have reduced the corporate tax. The disagreements among lawmakers had some advocates urging lawmakers to tread lightly. Jay Hardenbrook, a liaison for the American Association of Retired Persons, said many seniors wont see significant tax relief because retirement income is not taxed in Missouri. Be cautious. Move carefully, Hardenbrook told members of the budget-writing committee. Otto Fajen of the Missouri National Education Association expressed concern that cutting taxes could limit the Legislatures ability to adequately finance schools. Lets proceed very cautiously, Fajen said. If youre going to make a mistake of this magnitude, dont be in a hurry to do it. Meanwhile, in the House Agriculture Policy Committee, lawmakers approved a package of agriculture incentives ranging from tax credits for ethanol and biodiesel to loans designed to boost specialty crops in the state. Parson, a cattle farmer, vetoed a separate bill containing incentives for farmers over the summer, criticizing it for only extending incentives for two years. The legislation in the House would authorize incentives for six years, in line with the governors wishes. Jeremy Cady, state director for Americans for Prosperity, spoke against the tax incentive package. Were expending a lot of funds for these but ... we dont have anything to show for it on the back end, Cady said. We are selecting a very select few individuals to benefit from these at the expense of all Missourians. We dont believe government should be in the business of picking winners and losers, he said. But Republicans on the committee shot back, portraying incentives in the bill as a boon to the entire state. Rep. Greg Sharpe, R-Ewing, said he would take a little exception to some of what Cady said. He cited the ethanol plant in Macon, which he said had financial backing from the state of Missouri in 2000 when it opened. Since then, theres been about 50 employees or more, Sharpe said, saying that the plant probably increased the price of corn 10 to 15 cents per bushel. It doesnt just benefit the people that participate directly but it also drives the market, Sharpe said, adding many incentives were designed to add value to agricultural products. The state has benefited a great deal. Cady suggested this was market manipulation and said the state would see a great benefit by getting rid of tax credits and slashed taxes across the board. What this is is economic development, Sharpe said. Rep. Rick Francis, R-Perryville, touted the benefits of a meat processing facility tax credit included in the legislation. He said the credit helped facilities expand operations at a time when there were major backlogs for processing livestock. It was a benefit to the state of Missouri to provide these tax credits, Francis said. In addition to that, they were expanding their workforce. Originally posted at 3:55 p.m. Monday, Sept. 19. JEFFERSON CITY The Missouri Democratic Partys state committee decided not to take a position on a ballot measure to legalize the recreational use of marijuana, citing concerns with the wording of the plan. While the party said Democrats support legalization, Amendment 3 on the Nov. 8 ballot may negatively impact minorities, people of color, and low-income earning Missourians, the state committee said in a news release Monday. Democrats have concerns about the expungement provisions laid out in the amendment, as well as making it difficult for those who do not currently have a license to enter the industry, the party said. The statement highlights the split among Democrats in regard to the legalization plan and was all the more noteworthy given that in polling, Democrats have viewed legalization more favorably than Republicans. High-profile Democrats such as Trudy Busch Valentine, the partys nominee for U.S. Senate, and Alan Green, the Democratic candidate for state auditor, have said theyd vote for Amendment 3. But other Democrats, including Rep. Ashley Bland Manlove, a Kansas City Democrat and chair of the Legislative Black Caucus, have said Missourians should hold out for a better program. One of the main issues cited by critics is the fast-track to recreational licenses for businesses that already hold medical marijuana licenses. The states medical marijuana program, approved by voters in 2018, has been criticized for the way the state distributed and limited licenses. Eapen Thampy, spokesman for the No on Amendment 3 campaign, said Monday expungement provisions in the measure dont go far enough and predicted the expungement process would be complicated by the way the state maintains drug conviction records. But John Payne, campaign manager for Legal Missouri, said, Amendment 3 will pass because Missourians of all political persuasions want to see the Show Me State legalize marijuana and automatically expunge past, nonviolent cannabis offenses. This grassroots support is precisely why out of more than 90 ballot measures and referendums filed in Missouri this cycle, the campaign to legalize and expunge is the only one with enough support to make the ballot, he said. The Democrats advised voters to reject all other questions in November, which were placed on the ballot by the GOP-controlled Legislature. The partys state committee met Sept. 10 and voted on whether to back each ballot question, the release said. Amendment 1 would change how the state treasurer invests taxpayer dollars. Amendment 4 would require Kansas City to devote more money to its state-controlled police department. Local communities should be able to determine how their own budgets are allocated and not have MAGA Republicans who have shown disregard for law enforcement determining how to allocate their budgets, the Democrats said. The Democrats said Amendment 5, which would create an independent Department of the National Guard, would create a chain of command issue. The National Guard is currently housed under the Department of Public Safety. The Democrats also panned Amendment 5, which asks voters whether the state should convene a new constitutional convention. The Democrats said such a move would give extreme MAGA Republicans unfettered control over the state constitution. There is no Amendment 2 on the November ballot. WASHINGTON An American contractor held hostage in Afghanistan for more than two years has been released in exchange for a convicted Taliban drug lord jailed in the United States, the White House said Monday, announcing a rare success in U.S.-Taliban talks since the militant group took power a little more than a year ago Mark Frerichs, a Navy veteran who had spent more than a decade in Afghanistan as a civilian contractor, was abducted in January 2020 and is believed to have been held since then by the Taliban-linked Haqqani network. He was traded for Bashir Noorzai, a Taliban associate convicted of heroin trafficking conspiracy who had spent 17 years behind bars before his release Monday. The exchange is one of the most significant prisoner swaps to take place under the Biden administration, coming five months after a deal with Russia that resulted in the release of Marine veteran Trevor Reed. Though his case has received less public attention than those of other Americans held abroad, including WNBA star Brittney Griner and corporate security executive Paul Whelan who are both held in Russia and whose relatives met with President Joe Biden on Friday U.S. officials said the deal for Frerichs home the culmination of months of quiet negotiations. Those discussions gained new momentum in June when Biden granted Noorzai relief from his life sentence, setting the stage for what one administration official described as a very narrow window of opportunity this month to carry out the deal. Biden said in a statement released by the White House, Bringing the negotiations that led to Marks freedom to a successful resolution required difficult decisions, which I did not take lightly. Frerichs, 60, had been working on civil engineering projects at the time of his Jan. 31, 2020, abduction in Kabul. Hes believed to have been lured into a meeting to discuss a new project and then transported to Khost, a stronghold of the Taliban-linked Haqqani network near the border with Pakistan. He was last seen in a video posted last spring by The New Yorker in which he appeared in traditional Afghan clothing and pleaded for his release. He was accompanied Monday by the administrations special presidential envoy for hostage affairs and was in stable health, a U.S. official said. His ultimate destination was not immediately clear. A sister of Frerichs, who is from Lombard, Illinois, thanked U.S. officials who helped secure her brothers release. I am so happy to hear that my brother is safe and on his way home to us. Our family has prayed for this each day of the more than 31 months he has been a hostage. We never gave up hope that he would survive and come home safely to us, said a statement from the sister, Charlene Cakora. Noorzai, at the time of his 2005 arrest, hardly seemed an ideal recipient for presidential clemency. Hed been designated on a list reserved for some of the worlds most prolific drug traffickers, and was prosecuted in federal court in New York on charges that accused him of owning opium fields in Kandahar province and relying on a network of distributors who sold the heroin. When he was sentenced to life imprisonment, the then-top federal prosecutor in Manhattan said Noorzais worldwide narcotics network supported a Taliban regime that made Afghanistan a breeding ground for international terrorism. The deal underscored the two sides to the Talibans approach to illegal drugs. In April, they announced a ban on harvesting the poppies that produce opium for making heroin an order that also outlawed the manufacture and transportation of narcotics. However, during the years-long Taliban insurgency, they reportedly made millions of dollars taxing farmers and middle men who moved their drugs outside Afghanistan. A senior administration official who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the administration said that the U.S. government had now determined that Noorzais release would not materially change any risk to Americans or fundamentally alter the contours of the drug trade there. Officials also took into account that Noorzai had spent 17 years in prison. At a press conference Monday, Noorzai expressed thankfulness at seeing his mujahedeen brothers a reference to the Taliban in Kabul. I pray for more success of the Taliban, he added. I hope this exchange can lead to peace between Afghanistan and America, because an American was released and I am also free now. Even before their takeover of Afghanistan in August last year, the Taliban had demanded the U.S. release Noorzai in exchange for Frerichs. But there had been no public sign of Washington proceeding along those lines. Eric Lebson, a former U.S. government national security official who had been advising Frerichs family, said in a statement that everything about this case has been an uphill fight. He criticized the Trump administration for having given away "our leverage to get Mark home quickly by signing a peace accord with the Taliban without ever having asked them to return Mark first. Marks family then had to navigate two administrations, where many people viewed Marks safe return as an impediment to their plans for Afghanistan, the statement said. The collapse of the Western-backed Afghan government and takeover by the Taliban in August 2021 raised additional concern that any progress in negotiations could be undone or that Frerichs could be forgotten. But his name was invoked last month when Biden, who had earlier called for Frerichs release, was said by his advisers to have pressed officials to consider any risk posed to Frerichs by the drone strike in Afghanistan that killed al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri. The Taliban-appointed foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, hailed the exchange Monday as the start of a new era" in U.S.-Taliban relations and the opening of a new door for talks. U.S. officials were more circumspect. Though it does not recognize the Taliban government, the U.S. does have interests at stake in Afghanistan and will continue to engage with the Taliban in addressing the hunger and humanitarian crisis gripping the country, administration officials said Monday. But officials say they remain concerned about whether the Taliban are committed to fighting terrorism and by the exclusion of girls from high schools there, an issue that drew a United Nations reprimand on Sunday. Faiez reported from Islamabad. Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed to this report. This story has corrected a version earlier in the day that cited Taliban claims that Noorzai was held at Guantanamo Bay; the claim was disproved by U.S. officials. Updated at 1:30 p.m. Working as a reporter for this newspaper, I spent the summer of 2002 traveling the dirt roads of Missouri through unheard-of towns like Devils Elbow, asking if this state might find reckoning with a group of abusive, and even deadly, religious teen reform schools. Twenty years later, it still has not. Not when workers at two schools Agape Boarding School and Circle of Hope Girls Ranch face a long list of criminal charges of physical and sexual abuse. Not when the head of a Missouri-based transport company was indicted for shipping a California teen for treatment in a manner resembling a kidnapping. And perhaps especially not when parents continue to send their children to such programs against their better judgment due to a lack of state-funded options. The same story repeats itself across the decades, across state lines, and across generations of broken families. And it will continue to, as long as Missouri remains a safe haven for a strict breed of teen reform ministries. Back when I was reporting, interest in Missouris religious teen reform industry spiked after a young man was murdered by peers at Mountain Park Baptist Boarding Academy in Wayne County. Later, Heartland Christian Academy, a school founded by the flamboyant pastor Charles Sharpe, was raided by the state following an abuse allegation. Sharpe, a former insurance tycoon, was a leading GOP donor who ultimately won a series of court and legislative battles to remain open. Amid all that, I set out with photographer Karen Elshout to attempt to visit every known religious reform school in the state and interview the youth inside. It was no easy task. As part of a religious exemption, pastors who ran the schools were not required to tell the state they were operating. In our sleuthing, a courageous group of former students some then in their 40s and 50s led the way. Many had been hidden away at the ministries as pregnant teens and were still searching for their babies. A few made allegations of physical or sexual assault. More often, they described being smothered by controlling pastors and of a kind of Lord of the Flies, peer-based brutality. We learned that nearly all of Missouris teen reform programs at the time shared their genetics with the teen ministries of radio preacher Lestor Roloff. Beginning in Louisiana and Mississippi in the late 1960s, Roloff innovated a method for teen reform centered on the near complete domination of studentsmarked by hours of scripture memorization, self-paced school instruction and intense chores. To this day, student and parent handbooks for programs in Missouri still draw from the Roloff method sometimes denying parents contact with their children for the first month and censoring inbound and outbound correspondence thereafter. Numerous states have closed Roloff ministries in the past 30 years, at least three of which have later found safe haven in Missouri. Agape opened here after being shuttered in Washington state in 1997. Mountain Park the site of the student murder was previously closed by Mississippi. When we visited Mountain Park in 2002, pastors would not let us past the lobby where a portrait of Roloff hung. Other pastors, including those at Agape, let us speak to current students. Some told inspiring stories, echoed by their parents, of how the ministries rescued them from drug addiction. Hearing those testimonials, I wondered if years later those students would still be singing praises. I did not have to wonder for long. In the 20 years since, Ive never stopped hearing from those former students, including two just this month. They stumble on the stories on my personal website and reach out to describe the same familiar pain. Thankfully, Missouri has made progress. The scandals at Agape and Circle of Hope prompted the Legislature to finally approve minimal state oversight. Regulation alone isnt a silver bullet. After all, abuse by bad-apple employees occurs at fully licensed and state-run facilities, as documented by this newspaper. But with 20 years hindsight, I can say that the religious reform schools are particularly prone to bad apples multiplying. The domination of students most notably their inability to communicate openly with those outside invites the facilities worst employees to engage in abuse. Current regulation doesnt address that. Nor can regulation paper over a lack of investment in the states most imperiled youth. As long as parents are denied access to sound treatments for their children, theyll continue to gamble on riskier options. And so Missouri faces the same choice, the same reckoning, as in 2002. It can wait another 20 years to see if the voices of todays reform school students echo those of the generations of previous survivors. Or it can finally truly do something. Matthew Franck is a former reporter and metro editor for the Post-Dispatch, where he worked from 1999 to 2017. He currently works as an editor and writing consultant. I feel compelled to subscribe to the Post-Dispatch because someone needs to shine the light and keep the rascals honest. But the paper's recent changes mean that Tony Messenger is now the only reason I dont cancel my subscription. I thought about canceling when food writer Daniel Neman moved into the Business section. I used to look forward to his interesting, slightly irreverent take on St. Louis rich food culture. I almost canceled when I realized that Everyday now only offers a collection of stories I can read elsewhere. And dont get me started about canceling our beloved color comics. I always saved them for lastto help me feel better after the murder, mayhem and villainy reported in the rest of the paper. I know these are tough times for the news business in general, and newspapers in particular. I know that changes sometimes cuts are necessary to protect the organization's basic newsgathering mission. But I am dismayed that in many of its pages, the Post-Dispatch now offers our large, diverse, vibrant market the same generic coverage that parent company Lee Enterprises offers subscribers in towns like Beatrice, Nebraska, Elko, Nevada, and Mason City, Iowa. Mary Cox Des Peres In 2017 the U.S. Air Force decided to replace its elderly EC-130H Compass Call electronic warfare aircraft with the EC-37B, a smaller aircraft based on the G550 business jet. By mid-2022 the first production model of the EC-37B was being flown to bases where personnel using the older EC-130H could see up close the replacement aircraft. In a few years the EC-37B will replace the remaining EC-130H aircraft. The air force also developed a software-based EMS (electromagnetic spectrum) warfare system to replace the less-flexible hardware-based system used by Compass Call aircraft. This new SABER (Small Adaptive Bank of Electronic Resources) is easier to update with new capabilities. The first five EC-37Bs will have the existing electronics installed while subsequent aircraft will have SABER. Eventually all EC-37Bs will be equipped with SABER. The EC-130Hs are worn out from extensive use in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thats because the air force discovered that for eavesdropping and jamming, a single EC-130H Compass Call electronic warfare aircraft could dramatically cripple Islamic terrorist communications. The problem was the air force only had only 14 EC-130H aircraft in service and they were (and still are) in heavy demand. EC-130H were introduced in the early 1980s and designed to jam Soviet anti-aircraft defenses. The Cold War ended before the EC-130H had a chance to do what they were designed for but later proved invaluable in Afghanistan and Iraq. Since 2002 these 14 aircraft have flown nearly 7,000 sorties and spent over 40,000 hours in the air. What made the EC-130H so useful was its ability to eavesdrop on cell phone and other radio communications and then selectively jam them. The EC-130H has space on board for linguists, who can listen to the radio traffic below, and decide who to just record (and perhaps immediately report to U.S. troops below), and who to jam. This information can also be shared in real-time with people on the ground. Because Afghanistan has limited land-line phone systems, especially in the countryside, the Taliban, and everyone else, relies on cell phones, walkie-talkies and ham radio type gear to communicate. The EC-130H can detect all of these, and jam or eavesdrop on them selectively. ISIL has similar preferences in communications gear and in the midst of combat they have found, like the Taliban, there is no solution to the problems created by an EC-130H overhead. Another advantage is that while most Islamic terror organizations know of these aircraft, they never know when there are operating nearby unless there is obviously selective jamming going on. This forces the enemy to either use their cell phones and radios sparingly, or use code words (which the U.S. can usually decipher, or just jam) or not use electronic communication at all. The latter choice makes it more difficult to control your forces in a rapidly changing battle. The U.S. began using EC-130Hs frequently over Afghanistan in 2006. There they flew 300-400 sorties a year, each 6-8 hours long and they were considered a valuable tool by ground commanders. But only the most crucial ground operations got EC-130H support. The use of these aircraft increased greatly, but gradually, as tactics and techniques for their most efficient use were developed. The U.S. Army also has some two engine electronic eavesdropping aircraft but these are not as well-equipped as the air force EC-130Hs. Nevertheless, the army sent as many or these twin-engine aircraft as possible to Afghanistan and Iraq and constantly sought to buy more. The need for something like the EC-37B became acute as the air force proposed to retire half the EC-130H fleet in order to provide more money for F-35s and the new heavy bomber. The elderly 69-ton EC-130H aircraft are expensive to operate and mainly support ground combat operations, while air force leaders prefer jet fighters and heavy bombers. The air force agreed to another solution and move electronic warfare equipment currently on EC-130Hs to a long-range business jet, something which has become increasingly common worldwide. The 40-ton Gulfstream G550 is being used rather than the four-engine turbo prop C-130. This is part of a trend which proved the twin-engine business jets are cheaper to buy and operate while getting the job done as well as older aircraft based on larger transport aircraft. This use of business jets became particularly attractive once the G550 was introduced in 2004. The G550 became particularly popular for this sort of thing after Israel showed it could be successfully used as an AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) aircraft. This occurred in 2008 when Israel introduced a new AWACS design based on the G550 fitted out with Israeli made radar and electronics. The Israeli Air Force ordered these CAEW (Conformal Airborne Early Warning) AWACs in 2006 and the first two entered service in 2008. Israel had already sold the AWACS electronics to India, for installation in four Russian Il-50/76 aircraft but realized the CAEW gear could work on a smaller aircraft. Singapore, Italy, Australia and the U.S. Navy later bought CAEWs fitted to G550s. The CAEW AWACS carries a Phalcon conformal (it is built into the lower fuselage) phased array radar, SIGINT equipment (to capture and analyze enemy electronic transmissions), and a communications system that can handle satellite signals as well as a wide array of other transmissions. There are six personnel on board to handle all this gear, plus the flight crew. The Gulfstream G550 used for this can stay in the air for over ten hours per sortie and can fly at up to 13,200 meters (41,000 feet). The G550 based EC-37B uses the same CAEW technology now used in EC-130Hs into the G55o. The air force will do one of these conversions a year until at least half the Compass Call aircraft are G550s rather than C-130s. Other nations have used the same basic idea of attaching the various sensors an airborne electronic intelligence aircraft needs to the fuselage of the G550 and then put most of the electronics, plus the equipment operators, inside the aircraft. By the time the G550 appeared electronics, both sensors, computers and displays, had gotten lighter, cheaper, more reliable and more powerful. A smaller aircraft was the way to go. The G550 is a larger version of the Gulfstream G400, which the U.S. Army uses as the C-20H transport. The U.S. Coast Guard, Air Force, and Navy also use militarized Gulfstreams (usually as C-37Vs). The 30 meter (96 foot) long aircraft has two engines and was built for long flights (over 11,000 kilometers). Current Gulfstream G550s cost about $40 million each. Ukrainian Independence Day is celebrated every August 24th. The 2022 celebrations were more enthusiastic than in past years. The reason is that more Ukrainians (85 percent) identify themselves as Ukrainian first and all other associations take a backseat. Six months earlier it was only 64.4 percent. Currently 91 percent of Ukrainians favor joining NATO and 96 percent favor joining the EU (European Union). The war with Russia did that, as well as polls showing 92 percent of Ukrainians have a bad attitude towards Russia while only two percent have a good attitude towards Russia. The hostile attitudes towards Russia began rising after the 2004 Orange Revolution '' that ousted a Ukrainian president who was elected because he favored more economic ties with Europe but then changed his mind because of Russian bribes. Hostility towards Russia increased sharply after Russia seized Crimea and parts of Donbas in 2014. That led to Volodymyr Zelenskiys election as president in 2019. Zelenskiy pledged to reduce corruption and increase economic cooperation with Europe. Zelenskiys defiant attitude towards Russia after the 2022 invasion rallied the nation behind him and he now has the trust of nearly 90 percent of the population. Russia expected Ukrainian morale to collapse because of the invasion but Zelenskiy openly declared Ukraine would never surrender and would fight to liberate all Russian occupied territory. Zelenskiy persuaded NATO nations to supply Ukraine with more and more modern weapons that Ukraine would use to defeat and expel the Russians. The success of Ukrainian forces led to Ukrainian support for no negotiations with the Russians increasing from 77 percent in May to 84 percent in July. That means no peace deal that leaves the Russians in possession of any Ukrainian territory. Some 60 percent of Ukrainians back continuing the war until all the Russians are gone, even though this means fighting through the winter and growing shortages of food, fuel and housing because of Russian attacks on civilian infrastructure. The continued success of Ukrainian forces results in more Ukrainians believing the situation is improving for them personally and for all Ukrainians. This shift in attitudes towards Ukrainian success and against Russia has created a growing partisan movement in the occupied territory and open hostility towards Russian civilian and Ukrainian collaborators. More of these pro-Russia civilians are fleeing to Russia and Russian troops in the occupied territories find themselves under growing attack by the partisans, who are directly supported by Ukrainian special forces with clandestine supplies of weapons and air and missile attacks on targets identified by Ukrainian civilians in the occupied territories. This sort of thing hasnt been seen in Europe since World War II, when it played a major role in driving the Germans out. The Russians never expected this degree of popular resistance and are unable to deal with it. Ukrainians are less surprised because Ukrainians have been fighting foreign domination for about 1,500 years. It was 1,500 years ago that the first Ukrainians appeared, if you define a nationality as a common language and cultural customs. This occurred at the same time a unified Russia appeared and was able to expand more rapidly than Ukraine so that today there are six times more Russian than Ukrainian speakers. Forcing others to adopt your language is a common tool for linguistic expansion. Ukrainians had much less ambition for imperial expansion. This means that the continued existence of the Ukrainian language and nationalism is something of an achievement, one that Russia hoped to eliminate with a successful invasion of Ukraine in 2022. What is now known as Ukraine evolved from a number Slavic tribes speaking a common language (Ukrainian) who united after Swedish Vikings traded and raided into what is now Russia via major rivers like the Neva and Vistula, both of which allowed Viking longboats to travel deep into Russia. The earliest of these Nordic raiders were known back then as the Rus (old Norse for rowers) and Rus eventually became Russians. This began 1,200 years ago when the Rus captured Kiev and used it as the center of a Rus kingdom that came to include Kiev, portions of modern Belarus and Russia. This was the first Russian state, and after about a century, Swedish influence declined and was replaced by Slavic customs. The locals maintained some Nordic words and customs for centuries after that. The Kievan Rus empire was composed of many distinct Slavic tribes that all recognized the city of Kiev (to northern Slavs) or Kyiv (to the southeastern and southern Slavs) as the cultural and commercial capital of this empire that lasted about three centuries. Russian and Ukrainians differ on the importance of the Kievan Rus empire. Russia sees it as the cultural source of Russian/Ukrainian culture which Russia came to dominate. Ukrainian see the Kievan Rus empire as the origin of modern Ukraine. Russia evolved differently after the devastating Golden Horde (Mongol) invasion in the early 1200s shattered the unity provided by the Kievan Rus. After the Mongols were gone there were separate efforts to reunify what had become two separate states - Russia and Ukraine. In the north a more successful effort was aided by the dominance of Eastern Orthodox Christianity while Ukraine always had a large number of Roman Catholics as well. Russians concentrated on achieving access to the sea, in this case the Baltic Sea. The Ukrainians had to fight various groups of Mongols, Turks and even Italian colonies to gain access to the Black Sea. Mongol power was slowly diminished by local Russian, Lithuanian and Ukrainian princes, who ruled small principalities that sometimes fought as allies of the Mongols. By 1400 Mongol power was in decline and Ukraine and Belarus were a major component of the Polish-Lithuanian confederation, which defeated the Golden Horde as well as Germans advancing from the west. While powerful, the Polish-Lithuanian empire was surrounded by enemies and subject to frequent internal conflicts. Ukrainian history also honors the Ukrainian Cossacks, a frontier mounted militia that first appeared in the 1500s to protect southern borders from Turkic Kazaks and Tatars. The term Cossack came from an ancient Slavic work kozak, which meant a free man or adventurer. The need for kozaks arose when Ukraine established claims on lands in the south and southeast of what is now Ukraine but then was largely controlled by small numbers of mounted Tatars and Kazars. In return for official recognition and support (of individual land claims), bands of Cossacks emerged. Initially anyone could join, including Turks, as long as they swore allegiance to Ukraine and the elected leader (hetman) of each Cossack group (host). Sometimes the Polish nobles tried to renege on their promise of land title, and that led to the Cossack reputation for often being rebels, and effective ones on their own land. This led to a Ukrainian hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky leading a rebellion against oppressive Polish nobles that led to brief (1649-1657) independence from Polish control. Polish and Lithuanian power was reduced in the 1700s by wars with a unified Russian kingdom (tsardom), persistent German attacks from the west and growing Turkish power in the south. Emerging in the early 1300s, the Ottoman Turks conquered Constantinople (Istanbul) in 1452, ending the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) empire and giving the Ottomans control over access to the Black Sea from the Mediterranean. That control lasted until 1922, when an international treaty established limits on Turkish control over access to the Black Sea. In Russia, access to the sea (the Baltic Sea) was achieved in 1709. The first (in 1547) tsar of Russia, Ivan Grozny, is known in the west as Ivan the Terrible. In Russian, "Grozny" means fearsome, menacing or, to many Russians, dreaded. Tsar Ivan spent most of his 37 years in power leading his armies against various enemies, as well as reforming the Russian government. He was largely successful against Turkic enemies that occupied what is now much of southern Russia and Ukraine. Ivan was ruthless and went full Grozny against his Turkic foes. Then he sought to take Livonia (Latvia and Estonia) to provide landlocked Russia with access to the Baltic Sea. At first Ivan was successful, but Poland and Sweden intervened and turned Russia back into a landlocked empire until 1709 when tsar Peter the Great finally defeated the Swedes and made his new city on the Baltic, Saint Petersburg into the new Russian capital. Earlier (1686) Russia gained control of much of modern Ukraine, including Kyiv, via a treaty with Poland and Lithuania that was mainly about joint operations against the Turks. That campaign lasted until 1774 when Russia took over and the Ottomans renounced their claims to the Crimean Peninsula and a long-alliance with the Turkic Tatars. Earlier the Tatars had allied themselves with the Golden Horde and had long been a problem for Ukrainians. In some respects that is still true because the current Russian claim on Crimea traces back to their victory over the Ottomans and Tatars in 1774. The Cossacks largely disappeared during the two world wars because they were seen as fighting for Nazis (against Russians) or the for the Tsar (against rebels in general and communists in particular). Some fought for the Russians during World War II but after that they were outlawed everywhere. After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 some Cossack groups reformed, pledging to serve the new Russian government. Some of these fight against Ukrainians in the Donbas. In the 1800s nationalism became a major movement in Europe, with ethnic components of empires and large countries demanding independence. Russia had more of these independence movements than anyone else and Ukrainians demanded autonomy within the Russian empire. During World War I (1914-18) the Russian empire began to fall apart and by the end of the first World War a civil war was underway in Russia that enabled the Ukrainians to declare independence in 1917 as the UNR (Ukrainian National Republic). Ukraine was a major battlefield for the civil war which the communists (Bolsheviks) won. Sensing that, the UNR allied itself with Poland and because of that Ukraine lost some territory as most of Ukraine became part of Soviet Russia. During World War II many Ukrainians welcomed the invading Germans as liberators. The Germans disagreed and treated the Ukrainians as not worthy of self-rule. In response the UPA (Ukrainian Insurgent Army) formed in 1943 to fight both Germans and Soviets. After 1945 the UPA received some recognition, but little support, from the West and ruthless efforts by the Soviets eliminated the UPA by 1955. Russia did manage to convince the new UN (United Nations) that Ukraine was eligible to be a member of the UN. This gave Russia an additional vote in the UN general assembly, much to the disgust of most Ukrainians. This violent history with Russia and the Soviet Union played a major role in Ukraine (and Belarus) insisting on independence when the Soviet Union fell apart in 1991. Many Russians saw this Ukrainian independence as a temporary condition, something they went war over in 2022. Morgan Stanley top equity strategist Michael Wilson has once again issued a warning to investors that there is still a long way to go before reality is fairly priced. The road towards likely new lows in the U.S. stock market will be volatile as Wilson fails to identify an "event" to clear the decks. While the risks from high earnings estimates and growth are elevated, the strategist doesnt see them necessarily priced in. The current S&P 500 equity risk premium remains ~120 bps too low. The fair value multiple, incorporating a 10-year yield that is testing 3.50%, is now down just below 14Xa reflection of the Fire and Ice dynamic still present in this market, Wilson said in a note. Although valuations have compressed this year in response to the tighter financial conditions, Wilson reiterates that the S&P 500 remains overvalued based on Morgan Stanleys framework that suggests the Equity Risk Premium (ERP) is significantly underpriced. Wilson again reiterated the banks view that the S&P 500 will bottom near 3400, or around 3000 in case the bear-case scenario plays out (recession). We expect a downward and volatile primary price trend over the coming 3 months. While Wilson remains bearish both fundamentally and technically on a 3-month basis, he is more neutral-biased for the next 9-12 months. With that backdrop, we continue to recommend owning more defensively oriented companies with earnings stability and high operational efficiency, Wilson concluded. By Senad Karaahmetovic Expertise in data and technology from DTN teams will help accelerate cover crop adoption and conservation tillage MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The USDA announced the first funding pool for the Partnerships for Climate Smart Commodities programs last week which included a $95 million grant for the Farmers for Soil Health Climate-Smart Commodities Partnership. Along with other leading agriculture organizations, DTN collaborated on the successful grant application and will provide technology development and data expertise to help accelerate cover crop adoption and other sustainable farming practices across 20 states. The Farmers for Soil Health (FSH) program aims to encourage the adoption of cover crops and conservation tillage and will develop a marketplace that connects producers with food brands, retailers, renewable fuels and other companies that want to promote sustainable farming and buy sustainably grown produce at a premium. Further the platform will connect producers with space to confirm their climate-smart, cover crop and conservation tillage actions and access incentives to help with the transition. DTN is proud to be part of the Farmers for Soil Health Climate Smart collaboration and to support the USDAs initiatives to incent and support climate-smart ag production practices, said Grey Montgomery, DTN Global Leader for Strategy, Partnerships and Growth Markets. Our expertise in agriculture technologies and deeply experienced data engineers are uniquely suited to help bridge the gap between farmer efforts and buyer interest along the sustainable commodities supply chain. Farmers for Soil Health comprises The National Corn Growers Association, United Soybean Board, American Soybean Association and National Pork Board. Other partners in the project include lead applicant National Fish & Wildlife Federation, National Center for Appropriate Technology, National Association of Conservation Districts, Soil Health Institute, University of Missouri, Sustainability Consortium, and the Walton Family Foundation. About DTN DTN is a global data, analytics and technology company. Its proprietary solutions and expertise deliver trusted operational intelligence for organizations with complex supply chains worldwide. Access to the unparalleled, cloud-based data, applications and insights that DTN offers help businesses prosper, improving service delivery and the movement of goods for many critical sectors of the global economy. DTN is headquartered in Minneapolis, MN and Utrecht, Netherlands and operates or has investments in the Americas, Europe, and the Asia Pacific region with support from more than 1,200 employees worldwide. For more information, visit www.dtn.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220920005315/en/ Kylie Swanson [email protected] 515.709.9653 Source: DTN Market conditions drive decision to retain the Water Resources and Mineral Services businesses Form 8-K with segment information for historical periods to be filed prior to our third quarter Form 10-Q filing WATSONVILLE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE: GVA) today announced its decision to retain the Water Resources and Mineral Services businesses that were previously classified as held for sale and reported in discontinued operations. The financial results for these businesses will be reported within continuing operations, and their assets and liabilities will no longer be classified as held for sale. A Form 8-K with segment information for each of the previously reported 2022 and 2021 quarterly periods and for the years ended 2021 and 2020 will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission prior to our third quarter Form 10-Q filing. Although we saw significant interest in the Water Resources and Mineral Services businesses, current market conditions undermined our efforts to secure appropriate value for the businesses, stated Kyle Larkin, Granite President and Chief Executive Officer. Both businesses have performed very well this year, supported by strong underlying market demand which remains resilient. The ongoing drought concerns across much of the country, coupled with the strong demand for mineral resources, makes us optimistic about the outlook for these businesses. Our teams ability to identify and develop new water sources and deliver potable water to communities complements our civil construction business. We believe these businesses will drive greater shareholder value and be accretive to EBITDA margin. Larkin continued, During 2022, we have invested in our businesses and returned value to shareholders with over 2.3 million shares repurchased, including 367,000 shares in the third quarter as we completed the final settlement of the accelerated share repurchase. Granites liquidity remains strong. In the near term, our priority is to continue to invest in, strengthen, and grow our businesses in alignment with our plan. About Granite Granite is Americas Infrastructure Company. Incorporated since 1922, Granite (NYSE: GVA) is one of the largest diversified construction and construction materials companies in the United States as well as a full-suite provider of civil construction. Granites Code of Conduct and strong Core Values guide the Company and its employees to uphold the highest ethical standards. Granite is an industry leader in safety and an award-winning firm in quality and sustainability. For more information, visit the Granite website, and connect with Granite on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Forward-looking Statements Any statements contained in this news release that are not based on historical facts, including statements regarding future events, including the filing of a Form 8-K with segment information for historical periods, the reclassification of the Water Resources and Mineral Services businesses as continuing operations and no longer being held for sale, the outlook for the retained businesses, and retained businesses will drive greater shareholder value and be accretive to EBITDA margin, the near term priority to invest in, strengthen, and grow our businesses, occurrences, opportunities, circumstances, activities, performance, growth, demand, strategic plans, shareholder value, outcomes, outlook, guidance, Committed and Awarded Projects (CAP) and results, constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are identified by words such as future, outlook, assumes, believes, expects, estimates, anticipates, intends, plans, appears, may, will, should, could, would, continue, "guidance" and the negatives thereof or other comparable terminology or by the context in which they are made. These forward-looking statements are estimates reflecting the best judgment of senior management and reflect our current expectations regarding future events, including the filing of a Form 8-K with segment information for historical periods, the reclassification of the Water Resources and Mineral Services businesses as continuing operations and no longer being held for sale, the outlook for the retained businesses, the retained businesses will drive greater shareholder value and be accretive to EBITDA margin, the near term priority to invest in, strengthen, and grow our businesses, occurrences, opportunities, circumstances, activities, performance, growth, demand, strategic plans, shareholder value, outcomes, outlook, guidance, CAP and results. These expectations may or may not be realized. Some of these expectations may be based on beliefs, assumptions or estimates that may prove to be incorrect. In addition, our business and operations involve numerous risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control, which could result in our expectations not being realized or otherwise materially affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows and liquidity. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those described in greater detail in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, particularly those described in our Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. Due to the inherent risks and uncertainties associated with our forward-looking statements, the reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on them. The reader is also cautioned that the forward-looking statements contained herein speak only as of the date of this news release and, except as required by law; we undertake no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements for any reason. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220916005590/en/ Investors Wenjun Xu, 831-761-7861 Or Media Erin Kuhlman, 831-768-4111 Source: Granite Construction Incorporated ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- WestRock Company (NYSE: WRK), a leading provider of sustainable paper and packaging solutions, has acquired an HP PageWide T1190 Press to complement and expand its portfolio of unmatched corrugated printing capabilities, increase value and enable customers to win in the marketplace. Vertically integrated from paper manufacturing to printing to converting, WestRock offers customers a single source solution for high impact graphics, retail cases and displays on demand. The 110-inch wide inkjet digital press is capable of running at 1,000 ft/min and will enhance existing offset litho, flexo preprint, flexo direct print and sheet-fed digital printing used within the Companys global network of corrugated box plants and specialty facilities. The optimized print solution provides immediate benefit to customers. Specifically, reduced minimum order quantities (MOQs) will contribute to total cost efficiencies while decreasing lead-time for retail packaging. Its inherent flexibility can easily support diversified, segmented and regionalized market launches and promotional programs while accommodating specific retailer requirements. Serialization to support brand/consumer engagement programs, reward programs, tracking, tracing, authentication, obsolescence and product aging is also possible. The water based CMYKOV inks offer an extended color gamut that, when paired with proven inkjet technology, produce accurate and repeatable customer graphics at the highest quality. Integrated HP One Package software further enhances the digital production responsiveness and flexibility. At WestRock we believe in innovating to serve our customers, said Nickie Parker, senior vice president, Merchandising Displays & Graphic Solutions. Expanding our high-quality corrugated printing capabilities to include a state-of-the-art wide web digital press enables our teams to provide more options to our customers and engage consumers at a whole new level. We are honored to have WestRock select HPs digital print solutions to contribute to its innovative and sustainable packaging production, said Ted Samotis, WW Director of Corrugated GTM, HP PageWide Industrial Packaging. The HP PageWide T1190 Press will enable WestRock to disrupt the corrugated packaging supply chain and offer superior value to its customers. Installation of the T1190 Press at the specialty printing facility in Lithia Springs, Georgia, will begin in 2023, and is expected to be in operation by the end of September. About WestRock WestRock (NYSE: WRK) partners with our customers to provide sustainable paper and packaging solutions that help them win in the marketplace. WestRocks team members support customers around the world from locations spanning North America, South America, Europe, Asia and Australia. Learn more at www.westrock.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220919005493/en/ Media: Robby Johnson, 470-328-6397 Manager, Corporate Communications [email protected] Investors: Rob Quartaro, 470-328-6327 Senior Vice President, Investor Relations [email protected] James Armstrong, 470-328-6327 Vice President, Investor Relations [email protected] Source: WestRock Company VANCOUVER, British Columbia & HANNOVER, Germany--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Loop Energy (TSX: LPEN), a designer and manufacturer of hydrogen fuel cells for commercial mobility, will unveil its landmark 120 kW fuel cell system at IAA Transportation 2022 in Hannover, Germany, today. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220919005215/en/ Loop Energy announces the launch of the S1200. (Photo: Business Wire) The announcement marks a milestone for Loop Energy as it believes this new product is a significant achievement in advancing the global hydrogen industry and the transition of commercial transport industries by achieving fuel cost parity with diesel by up to eight years earlier than previously possible. The 120 kW fuel cell system, the S1200, builds on Loop Energys existing technology, to provide an additional efficiency gain of 20% when it generates electricity. The S1200 is designed to deliver up to 60% in net system efficiency (1), this efficiency enables an electric vehicle powered by a Loop Energy fuel cell to deliver up to 54% (2) fuel to wheel efficiency compared to the typical fuel to wheel efficiency delivered by a diesel engine powered vehicle of 20% to 25%(3). Loop Energy believes the S1200 and its next-generation technology will significantly benefit commercial vehicle manufacturers, fleet operators and associated industries, as well as the global clean energy transition as governments seek to reach net zero emissions by 2050. Loop Energy has achieved this efficiency gain because of its patented eFlow fuel cell architecture. Specifically, Loop Energy uses a signature trapezoid plate with narrowing channels for its bipolar plates, which increases gas velocity down the plate to deliver superior performance for fuel efficiency, and power output. For fleet managers, operators of commercial vehicles and the wider hydrogen infrastructure market, that means less hydrogen fuel used per kilometre, lowering the total cost of ownership (TCO) of hydrogen-electric commercial vehicles. Fuel costs make up roughly half of the total cost of ownership for heavy-duty hydrogen vehicles, which makes advancement in fuel efficiency a significant factor in creating a tipping point for commercial transition from diesel to clean fuels. Loop Energys presence at IAA Transportation 2022 also signifies its commitment to the European continent, where it plans to expand its presence and customer base. Loop Energy already has offices in Italy and the UK, and is actively engaged with OEMs across the region. Loop Energy is also active in Asia, with its new manufacturing facility in Shanghai. The S1200 opens up a new market for Loop Energy as the product is specifically designed for medium- to heavy-duty commercial vehicles, which is a step up in power range and scope compared to its other fuel cell products. The S1200 is delivered as a complete fuel cell system which simplifies and quickens integration for vehicle OEMs, and makes it a ready-to adopt solution for heavy-duty transportation and power system applications. Loop Energy President & CEO, Ben Nyland said: With the launch of our new fuel cell system, we are proud to be leading the way in making transport electrification economically viable. The S1200 brings world-leading fuel efficiency levels for medium to heavy-duty vehicles, crucially making the total cost of ownership lower and bringing fuel cost parity forward by four-to-eight years. We are keen to work with OEMs, governments and the wider hydrogen industry to help meet zero-emission targets. We strongly believe that energy transition must happen now, and hydrogen fuel cell technology is in prime place as an alternative to diesel-powered vehicles. Canadian Minister of Environment and Climate Change, The Honourable Steven Guilbeault, said: Very happy to see Canadian companies such as Loop Energy leading in the global clean energy sector. They are creating sustainable jobs for workers, while contributing to our global climate objectives and a better future for everyone. Specifications of the S1200 fuel cell system: Up to 120 kW peak power using Loop Energy's next generation bipolar plates Deliver up to 60% for net system efficiency in cruise mode Wide cruise mode window that ensures high fuel efficiency across a wide range of power demands for different routes and driving conditions Competitive dimensions and flexible packaging with IP67 protection Loop Energy's first load-following fuel cell with dynamic response time Wide operating temperature range with freeze-start capability About Loop Energy Inc. Loop Energy is a leading designer and manufacturer of fuel cell systems targeted for the electrification of commercial vehicles, including light commercial vehicles, transit buses and medium and heavy-duty trucks. Loop Energys products feature Loop Energys proprietary eFlow technology in the fuel cell stacks bipolar plates. eFlow is designed to enable commercial customers to achieve performance maximization and cost minimization. Loop works with OEMs and major vehicle sub-system suppliers to enable the production of hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles. For more information about how Loop Energy is driving towards a zero-emissions future, visit www.loopenergy.com. Forward-Looking Warning This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities legislation, which reflect managements current expectations and projections regarding future events. Particularly, statements regarding the Companys expectations of future results, performance, achievements, prospects or opportunities or the markets in which we operate is forward-looking information, including without limitation statements regarding the ability for Loop Energy's technology to accelerate or achieve cost parity between diesel and hydrogen and the expectation that the S1200 will accelerate demand for the Companys products. Forward-looking information is based on a number of assumptions (including without limitation assumptions regarding the price of hydrogen, the potential growth of the bus and truck market and the continued government support for the transition to net zero emissions) and is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Companys control and could cause actual results and events to vary materially from those that are disclosed, or implied, by such forwardlooking information. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, hydrogen and diesel fuel cost prices reaching targeted price ranges, fuel cells and diesel engines delivering upon stated efficiency levels, commercial uptake of the Loop Energys products increasing and the factors discussed under Risk Factors in the Companys Annual Information Form dated March 23, 2022. Loop disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements. References 1 Net system efficiency includes power consumption of the air compressor, coolant pump, and other system components;, the gross design efficiency of the underlying Loop fuel cell stack is up to 65% 2 Assumes a 90% drivetrain efficiency of the electric vehicle (3) 3 Hjelkrem et.al., Estimation of tank-to-wheel efficiency functions based on type approval data, Applied Energy 276 (2020) View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220919005215/en/ Media Inquiries: Ian Silvera | Tel: +44703.846.164 | [email protected] Lucas Schmidt | Tel: +1.604.222.3400 Ext. 603 | [email protected] Business Inquires: George Rubin | Tel: +1.604.828.8185 | [email protected] Europe: Luigi Fusi | Tel: +39.028457.3048 | [email protected] Investor Inquiries: Investor Relations | Tel: +1 604.222.3400 | [email protected] Laine Yonker | Tel: +1 646.653.7035 | [email protected] Source: Loop Energy Inc. Open a college savings account, ensure access to higher education SACRAMENTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Sept. 15 through Oct. 15 is National Hispanic Heritage Month and ScholarShare 529, Californias official college savings plan, recognizes and celebrates the histories, cultures, and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. The day of September 15 is significant because it is the anniversary of independence for Latin American countries Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. In addition, Mexico and Chile celebrate their independence days on September 16 and September 18, respectively. Also, Columbus Day or Dia de la Raza, which is October 12, falls within these 30 days. While a recent report by the Campaign for College Opportunity shows college attendance for Latinx Californians has increased from 28 percent to 40 percent of residents ages 25-64 over the past decade, Latinx adults in California still have the lowest levels of college attendance despite being the states largest ethnic group. One of the major barriers cited was a lack of financial support. Parents, guardians, and loved ones can help break through this major barrier by opening a ScholarShare 529 college savings account to help students they care about save money to help attain their higher education goals. If we want a bright future for California, we need to ensure members of our Latinx community have access to higher education, said Julio Martinez, Executive Director of the ScholarShare Investment Board. Parents, grandparents, godparents - anyone can open a ScholarShare 529 account and start investing in their loved ones future. Opening a ScholarShare 529 account is simple, and the entire process can be done online. An account can be opened on www.ScholarShare529.com by filling out a brief enrollment form and since there are no application, sales, or maintenance fees, its affordable even for those on a modest budget. Accounts can be started with any dollar amount, be set up in just 15 minutes, and can be easily managed online or by mail. Once a new account is opened, a Ugift code is generated, which can be easily shared with family and friends via email, Facebook, Twitter, or other methods. The code allows loved ones to contribute any amount at any time by depositing birthday, holiday, and graduation money directly into the account. ScholarShare has Spanish language information and assistance available online at scholarshare-espanol.com or by calling 1-800-544-5248. In addition, there is a Spanish language FB page to stay up to date: https://www.facebook.com/ScholarShare529.Espanol. Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month by investing in the future of California and your loved ones today. Start a ScholarShare 529 account today. About ScholarShare 529 ScholarShare 529 serves as Californias official college savings plan. Administered by the ScholarShare Investment Board, ScholarShare 529 provides families with a valuable tool that offers a diverse set of investment options, tax-deferred growth, and withdrawals free from state and federal taxes when used for qualified higher education expenses, such as tuition and fees, books, certain room, and board costs, computer equipment, and other required supplies. ScholarShare 529 manages $11.5 billion in plan assets across more than 381,000 ScholarShare 529 accounts as of June 30, 2022. To open a ScholarShare 529 account or get more information about the plan, visit www.ScholarShare529.com. For information about the ScholarShare Investment Board, visit www.treasurer.ca.gov/scholarshare, like ScholarShare 529 on Facebook at www.facebook.com/scholarshare529, and follow them on Twitter at @ScholarShare529. For more information about ScholarShare 529, visit www.ScholarShare529.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220919005219/en/ Alma Murphy 916-251-1283 Source: ScholarShare 529 Company leading panel discussion on the creation of a more intelligent, efficient and sustainable grid BANGKOK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Enlit Asia 2022 Trilliant, a leading international provider of solutions for advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), smart grid, smart cities and IIoT, will serve as Diamond Sponsor at Enlit Asia for the fourth consecutive year, demonstrating its continued commitment to the APAC region. The conference will take place on September 20-22, 2022 at the Bangkok International Trade & Exhibition Centre (BITEC). The Enlit Asia Summit (formerly Asian Utility Week) is the premier gathering for senior executives of the ASEAN power and electricity sector, addressing pressing energy issues and strategic and commercially important topics, as the region looks to successfully navigate the energy transition. Trilliant Chairman and CEO Andrew C. White will participate as an Enlit Asia keynote speaker during the opening ceremony. Other speakers include Dato' Indera Ir. Baharin Bin Din, President and Chief Executive Officer of Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) Malaysia. In addition, Azeem Sulaiman, Regional Vice President, Asia Pacific at Trilliant, will moderate a panel discussion during Day Ones CEO Energy Forum, titled Grid Modernization: Priorities & Strategies for the Creation of a Smarter More Intelligent, Efficient & Sustainable Grid, and will be joined by executives from G&W Electric, TNB, PT PLN (Persero) and others. The panel will focus on the priorities for ASEANs utilities, the evolution of smart grid development, how digitization can help the regions grid owners, the need for increased resiliency, and the role of grid modernization and digital power systems in supporting sustainability and carbon neutral goals. As we continue to build upon our innovation and growth strategy to serve utilities in Asia Pacific, as well as globally, we are excited to join energy industry leaders, businesses and regional stakeholders at Enlit Asia to discuss strategies and explore ways to achieve a smooth transition towards a low carbon energy supply, said Sulaiman. The energy industry is facing some of the most challenging obstacles to date and we look forward to continue working with utilities to address their needs and to develop a more strategic path to the energy transition. Enlit attendees can also learn how to capitalize on AMI at an Executive Meter Panel on Day Two, called Maximizing Value from AMI, featuring Dan Lambert, Chief Solutions Officer at Trilliant; Anthony Rajamanickam, Founder & CEO of AR Utility Consulting; Dr. Zainal Arifin, EVP of Engineering & Technology of PT PLN (Persero); and Ismail Bin Lam Din, Project Director, Advanced Metering Infrastructure - Distribution Network/SEL of TNB. Most recently, Trilliant launched its manufacturing efforts in Malaysia and announced a new partnership with SAMART to deploy AMI for the Provincial Electricity Authority of Thailand (PEA). The company reached a major smart meter deployment milestone in Asia Pacific, with more than 3.8 million smart meters currently deployed and operational, with millions more planned. Trilliant will be exhibiting at Booth 501 and Booth 507 located in the Exhibit Hall. Visit and experience innovative solution demos and speak with subject matter experts on how to choose flexible, modular solutions without having to be locked in with a single vendor; strengthen AMI and data analytics strategies; invest in the future of smart metering, buildings and IIoT; and achieve energy transition and sustainability goals. To book a one-on-one demo and meeting, contact [email protected]. For more information on Enlit Asia, visit: https://www.enlit-asia.com/live-event/ About Trilliant Trilliant empowers the global energy industry with the only device-agnostic communications platform that enables utilities and cities to deploy any application securely and reliably on one powerful network. Our purpose-built portfolio is designed to offer the power of choice, without risk of customers being locked in with one technology provider. We are proud to offer mission-critical solutions that support AMI, Data & Analytics, Smart Grids and Smart Cities. Customers worldwide benefit from Trilliants unique combination of flexibility, sustainability and scalability that connects utilities and cities to the IIOT and a more strategic path to the Energy Transition. Visit us at www.trilliant.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220918005042/en/ Tracey Mitchell [email protected] Source: Trilliant BitNile Holdings, Inc. (NYSE American: NILE), a diversified holding company (BitNile or the Company), today provided projections on expected Bitcoin mining production levels. The Company expects to have 7,500 miners at its Michigan data center and 6,500 miners at the Texas facility hosted by Computer North, LLC installed by the end of September 2022. This includes the 2,004 S19j Pro Antminers that had been held by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol for review and audit, which miners have been released and delivered to the Companys Michigan property. Based on expected installations of S19j Pro and S19 XP Antminers, BitNile expects to increase its average daily mining production to approximately 4.7 Bitcoin per day by the end of September 2022, nearly doubling to approximately 9.33 Bitcoin per day by the end of December 2022, based on current market conditions, including a mining difficulty of 32.05 trillion. Milton Todd Ault, III, the Companys Executive Chairman, stated, As the market has experienced a crypto winter, our investment in the Michigan data center and our positive relationship with Bitmain allow us to have confidence in our long-term plans regarding Bitcoin mining. Our recent purchase of additional Bitcoin mining equipment demonstrates our belief in the long-term outlook for Bitcoin. The plan to grow our Bitcoin mining operations is clear, and it is rewarding to see the team continue to deliver on the goal of timely installation of new Bitcoin miners as they arrive at our Michigan data center and the Texas hosted facility. As previously disclosed, BitNile has entered into purchase agreements with Bitmain Technologies Limited for a total of 21,925 Bitcoin miners, including 4,600 environmentally friendly S19 XP Antminers that feature a processing power of 140 terahashes per second (TH/s) and 17,325 S19j Pro Antminers that feature a processing power of 100 TH/s. Once all of the miners are fully deployed and operational, BitNile expects to achieve a mining production capacity of approximately 2.3725 exahashes per second. The Company notes that all estimates and other projections are subject to the actual delivery and installation of Bitcoin miners, the volatility in Bitcoin market price, the fluctuation in the mining difficulty level, and other factors that may impact the results of production or operations. For more information on BitNile and its subsidiaries, BitNile recommends that stockholders, investors, and any other interested parties read BitNiles public filings and press releases available under the Investor Relations section at www.BitNile.com or available at www.sec.gov. About BitNile Holdings, Inc. BitNile Holdings, Inc. is a diversified holding company pursuing growth by acquiring undervalued businesses and disruptive technologies with a global impact. Through its wholly and majority-owned subsidiaries and strategic investments, BitNile owns and operates a data center at which it mines Bitcoin and provides mission-critical products that support a diverse range of industries, including oil exploration, defense/aerospace, industrial, automotive, medical/biopharma, karaoke audio equipment, hotel operations and textiles. In addition, BitNile extends credit to select entrepreneurial businesses through a licensed lending subsidiary. BitNiles headquarters are located at 11411 Southern Highlands Parkway, Suite 240, Las Vegas, NV 89141; www.BitNile.com. Forward-Looking Statements 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. These forward-looking statements generally include statements that are predictive in nature and depend upon or refer to future events or conditions, and include words such as believes, plans, anticipates, projects, estimates, expects, intends, strategy, future, opportunity, may, will, should, could, potential, or similar expressions. Statements that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on current beliefs and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update any of them publicly in light of new information or future events. Actual results could differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement as a result of various factors. More information, including potential risk factors, that could affect the Companys business and financial results are included in the Companys filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including, but not limited to, the Companys Forms 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K. All filings are available at www.sec.gov and on the Companys website at www.BitNile.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220919005338/en/ BitNile Holdings Investor Contact: [email protected] or 1-888-753-2235 Source: BitNile Holdings, Inc. Mallinckrodt plc (OTCMKTS: MNKPF) ("Mallinckrodt" or the "Company"), a global specialty pharmaceutical company, today announced it has appointed Lisa French as Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer, effective October 1, 2022. Ms. French brings more than 30 years of commercial biopharmaceutical experience and will oversee the development and execution of Mallinckrodt's commercialization strategy. Ms. French will serve on the Executive Committee and succeeds Hugh O'Neill, who departed Mallinckrodt as of September 16, 2022. Ms. French most recently built and led the U.S. Women's Health Commercial team for Organon & Co. following its spin-off from Merck. Previously, she held numerous leadership positions at Merck, where she ultimately led all aspects of a multibillion-dollar brand, executed commercial innovation initiatives and oversaw multiple sales teams. Siggi Olafsson, President and Chief Executive Officer, said, "I am delighted to welcome Lisa to Mallinckrodt as our new Chief Commercial Officer and a member of our Executive Committee. Lisa brings decades of commercialization experience, with deep expertise and a proven track record developing and implementing effective and growth-oriented commercialization strategies. I am confident her insights and experience will be invaluable as we continue working to advance our branded pipeline, bring Mallinckrodt's existing products to new markets and geographies and stabilize our portfolio all for the benefit of our patients, shareholders and other stakeholders." Ms. French said, "One of the reasons I was drawn to Mallinckrodt is the Company's focus on innovative, drug development and commercialization for underserved patients with severe and critical conditions. The Company's portfolio benefits from core products with established track records and strong brand recognition. I look forward to working closely with Siggi and the Mallinckrodt team to build on this strong foundation." About Lisa French Ms. French is a commercial biopharmaceutical executive with more than 30 years of experience in U.S. go-to-market commercialization strategy development and operating experience across the therapeutics lifecycle. She most recently served as U.S. Business Unit Lead of Organon & Co.'s Women's Health Franchise, where she led the commercial team. Ms. French previously held positions of increasing responsibility at Merck, where she served as Associate Vice President, U.S. Marketing Lead HPV Franchise; Vice President of U.S. Strategy and Commercial Model Innovation; Executive Director of U.S. Federal Policy; National Executive Director of Commercial Operations Women's Health; National Director of Commercial Operations HIV; Regional Director of Commercial Operations Chronic Care; and Regional Director of Commercial Operations Cardiovascular Care, among other roles. Ms. French holds a B.S. in Biology from West Chester University and completed Harvard Business School's Emerging Leaders and Leadership & Strategy executive programs. About Mallinckrodt Mallinckrodt is a global business consisting of multiple wholly owned subsidiaries that develop, manufacture, market and distribute specialty pharmaceutical products and therapies. The Company's Specialty Brands reportable segment's areas of focus include autoimmune and rare diseases in specialty areas like neurology, rheumatology, nephrology, pulmonology, ophthalmology and oncology; immunotherapy and neonatal respiratory critical care therapies; analgesics; cultured skin substitutes and gastrointestinal products. Its Specialty Generics reportable segment includes specialty generic drugs and active pharmaceutical ingredients. To learn more about Mallinckrodt, visit www.mallinckrodt.com. Mallinckrodt uses its website as a channel of distribution of important company information, such as press releases, investor presentations and other financial information. It also uses its website to expedite public access to time-critical information regarding the Company in advance of or in lieu of distributing a press release or a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) disclosing the same information. Therefore, investors should look to the Investor Relations page of the website for important and time-critical information. Visitors to the website can also register to receive automatic e-mail and other notifications alerting them when new information is made available on the Investor Relations page of the website. CAUTIONARY STATEMENTS RELATED TO FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS Statements in this release that are not strictly historical, including statements regarding Mallinckrodt's future financial condition and operating results, legal, economic, business, competitive and/or regulatory factors affecting Mallinckrodt's businesses, and any other statements regarding events or developments Mallinckrodt believes or anticipates will or may occur in the future, may be "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. There are a number of important factors that could cause actual events to differ materially from those suggested or indicated by such forward-looking statements and you should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements. The "Risk Factors" section of Mallinckrodt's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021, as updated by Mallinckrodt's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended July 1, 2022 and other filings with the SEC identify and describe in more detail the risks and uncertainties to which Mallinckrodt's businesses are subject. The forward-looking statements made herein speak only as of the date hereof and Mallinckrodt does not assume any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events and developments or otherwise, except as required by law. CONTACTS Investor Relations Daniel SpecialeGlobal Corporate Controller and Chief Investor Relations Officer314-302-6567[email protected] Derek BelzVice President, Investor Relations314-654-3950[email protected] MediaMichael Freitag / Aaron Palash / Aura ReinhardJoele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher212-355-4449 Mallinckrodt, the "M" brand mark and the Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals logo are trademarks of a Mallinckrodt company. Other brands are trademarks of a Mallinckrodt company or their respective owners. 2022 09/22. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mallinckrodt-announces-appointment-of-lisa-french-as-chief-commercial-officer-301626594.html SOURCE Mallinckrodt plc Uber (NYSE: UBER) disclosed: September 19, 10:45am PT While our investigation is still ongoing, we are providing an update on our response to last weeks security incident. What happened? An Uber EXT contractor had their account compromised by an attacker. It is likely that the attacker purchased the contractors Uber corporate password on the dark web, after the contractors personal device had been infected with malware, exposing those credentials. The attacker then repeatedly tried to log in to the contractors Uber account. Each time, the contractor received a two-factor login approval request, which initially blocked access. Eventually, however, the contractor accepted one, and the attacker successfully logged in. From there, the attacker accessed several other employee accounts which ultimately gave the attacker elevated permissions to a number of tools, including G-Suite and Slack. The attacker then posted a message to a company-wide Slack channel, which many of you saw, and reconfigured Ubers OpenDNS to display a graphic image to employees on some internal sites. How did we respond? Our existing security monitoring processes allowed our teams to quickly identify the issue and move to respond. Our top priorities were to make sure the attacker no longer had access to our systems; to ensure user data was secure and that Uber services were not affected; and then to investigate the scope and impact of the incident. Here are some of the key actions we took, and continue to take: We identified any employee accounts that were compromised or potentially compromised and either blocked their access to Uber systems or required a password reset. We disabled many affected or potentially affected internal tools. We rotated keys (effectively resetting access) to many of our internal services. We locked down our codebase, preventing any new code changes. When restoring access to internal tools, we required employees to re-authenticate. We are also further strengthening our multi-factor authentication (MFA) policies. We added additional monitoring of our internal environment to keep an even closer eye on any further suspicious activity. What was the impact? The attacker accessed several internal systems, and our investigation has focused on determining whether there was any material impact. While the investigation is still ongoing, we do have some details of our current findings that we can share. First and foremost, weve not seen that the attacker accessed the production (i.e. public-facing) systems that power our apps; any user accounts; or the databases we use to store sensitive user information, like credit card numbers, user bank account info, or trip history. We also encrypt credit card information and personal health data, offering a further layer of protection. We reviewed our codebase and have not found that the attacker made any changes. We also have not found that the attacker accessed any customer or user data stored by our cloud providers (e.g. AWS S3). It does appear that the attacker downloaded some internal Slack messages, as well as accessed or downloaded information from an internal tool our finance team uses to manage some invoices. We are currently analyzing those downloads. The attacker was able to access our dashboard at HackerOne, where security researchers report bugs and vulnerabilities. However, any bug reports the attacker was able to access have been remediated. Throughout, we were able to keep all of our public-facing Uber, Uber Eats, and Uber Freight services operational and running smoothly. Because we took down some internal tools, customer support operations were minimally impacted and are now back to normal. Who is responsible? We believe that this attacker (or attackers) are affiliated with a hacking group called Lapsus$, which has been increasingly active over the last year or so. This group typically uses similar techniques to target technology companies, and in 2022 alone has breached Microsoft, Cisco, Samsung, Nvidia and Okta, among others. There are also reports over the weekend that this same actor breached video game maker Rockstar Games. We are in close coordination with the FBI and US Department of Justice on this matter and will continue to support their efforts. Where do we go from here? Were working with several leading digital forensics firms as part of the investigation. We will also take this opportunity to continue to strengthen our policies, practices, and technology to further protect Uber against future attacks. By Daina Beth Solomon, Kylie Madry and Lizbeth Diaz MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -A magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck western Mexico on Monday on the anniversary of two devastating temblors, killing at least two people, damaging buildings, knocking out power and sending residents of Mexico City scrambling outside for safety. Two died in the Pacific port of Manzanillo, authorities said, one crushed by the facade of a department store while another was found dead at a mall. Videos on social media showed the roof of the mall collapsed into the top floor, a gym, as people yelled for help. Authorities also reported damage to several hospitals in the western state of Michoacan near the epicenter, which was in a sparsely populated part of Mexico. One person was injured by falling glass at one of the hospitals, the government said. The quake hit shortly after 1 p.m. (1800 GMT) near Mexico's west coast and close to Michoacan's border with the state of Colima - where major port Manzanillo is located, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said. It was relatively shallow, at only 15 km (9 miles) deep, which would have amplified its impact. The U.S. Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami warning for coastal areas, saying waves reaching 1 to 3 meters (3 to 9 feet) above the tide level were possible. Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said there were no immediate reports of major damage in the capital after the quake struck, which rumbled through Mexico on the same day as destructive earthquakes battered the country in 1985 and 2017. "It seems like a curse," Isa Montes, a 34-year-old graphic designer in the city's central Roma neighborhood, said of the quake's timing as helicopters flew overhead, surveying the city. The National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), one of the country's most prestigious seats of higher learning, said there was no scientific explanation for three major quakes on the same day and attributed it to pure coincidence. But others could not quite believe it. "It's this date. There's something about the 19th," said Ernesto Lanzetta, a business owner in the Cuauhtemoc borough of the city. "The 19th is a day to be feared." Thousands of people were killed in the Sept. 19, 1985 earthquake and more than 350 died in the Sept. 19, 2017 quake. Many Mexicans reacted to the latest quake by posting an array of memes online venting their anxiety and finding humor in the natural disaster. [L1N30R00E] President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador also noted material damage near the epicenter. Images posted on social media showed buildings badly damaged. Mexican authorities said the seismic alert had sounded nearly two minutes before the quake struck, giving residents time to evacuate. Still, some people in the capital struggled to grasp it was a real quake as the government had already sounded the alarm earlier in the day as a practice exercise commemorating the past earthquakes on the same day. POWER OUT In Coalcoman, Michoacan, not far from the epicenter, pictures showed shingles knocked off homes and building walls cracked by the force of the quake. In one store, merchandise was scattered across the floor. Power was knocked out in parts of the trendy Roma neighborhood in Mexico City, some 400 km (250 miles) from the epicenter. The national power utility said outages hit 1.2 million users. Roma residents stood on the streets cradling pets, while tourists visiting a local market with a guide were visibly confused and upset. Traffic lights stopped working, and people clutched their phones, sending text messages or waiting for calls to get through. Clara Ferri, who owns an Italian bookshop in Roma, said she told a customer to get out as soon as she heard the windows rattle, her senses attuned to the sounds of incipient earthquakes after 16 years in the location. "It was like the dentist's drill for me," she said. The rumbling grew in intensity, and as Ferri gathered with neighbors at an intersection, she looked up to see the eight-story building that houses her shop sway from side to side. When she returned, shelves had toppled like dominos, sending over 1,000 books into heaps on the floor. Officials roped off the sidewalk, which was littered with masonry that appeared to have fallen off the building. Residents trickled out with pets and suitcases, preparing to spend the night elsewhere, and a woman carefully escorted her 89-year-old uncle in his blue-and-white striped pajamas. (Additional reporting by Isabel Woodford, Stefanie Eschenbacher, Anthony Esposito, Raul Cortes, Diego Ore and Mexico City Newsroom; Writing by Dave Graham; Editing by Stephen Eisenhammer, Sandra Maler, Cynthia Osterman and Muralikumar Anantharaman) BERLIN (Reuters) - Tesla has confirmed to the mayor of Gruenheide that its plans to operate the battery plant currently under construction in Germany are unchanged, mayor Arne Cristiani told Reuters on Monday. "Tesla put everything reported in the American newspaper into perspective. The plant is still being built," Cristiani said, referring to a report in the Wall Street Journal last week that Tesla was pausing its plans to make batteries in Germany. Cristiani also denied reports by local newspaper rbb last week that he had struck the topic of an extension to Tesla's land to be used for logistics purposes from the local council agenda, saying it was never on the agenda. The carmaker had applied for the extension in May and it was being discussed by the relevant community representatives, Cristiani said. Once these discussions were complete, the topic would come onto the agenda. Tesla was not immediately available for comment. (Reporting by Victoria Waldersee, editing by Rachel More) -Webinar to discuss investigational strategies to improve symptoms in Alzheimer's disease patients - Friday, September 30th @ 11:15 a.m. EDT LOS ANGELES, Sept. 19, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AmyriAD Therapeutics, a privately held, late clinical-stage pharmaceutical development company focused on advancing therapies for Alzheimers disease, today announced that it will host a key opinion leader (KOL) webinar, entitled, Looking Beyond Amyloid for Alzheimers Disease: Combination Therapy, a Strategy Long Overdue, to take place virtually on Friday, September 30, 2022 at 11:15 AM Eastern Daylight Time. The webinar event will feature two world-renowned KOLs in Alzheimers disease (AD): Serge Gauthier, CM, C.Q., M.D., FRCPC, Emeritus Professor in Neurology and in Psychiatry, McGill University, and Howard M. Fillit, M.D., Co-Founder and Chief Science Officer of the Alzheimers Drug Discovery Foundation. Throughout the past two decades, an intense focus has been on slowing or modifying the progression of AD. However, less attention has been given to developing therapies for effective management of the core symptoms of the disease, which are declining cognition and loss of independent function. Dr. Gauthier will discuss the benefits of add-on therapies for managing the core symptoms of AD. He will also discuss examples and evidence for the additive benefit of symptomatic drugs designed to improve these core symptoms in patients at all stages of dementia. Dr. Fillit will speak about the broader field of AD, including developing treatments aimed at different causes of AD that may one day be combined to target each patients unique disease pathology. He will also touch on the current pipeline of diverse drugs being investigated, specifically as they relate to the biology of aging. A question-and-answer session will be held following both speakers remarks. To register for the event, please click here. Serge Gauthier, CM, C.Q., M.D., FRCPC, is Professor Emeritus in Neurology and Psychiatry at McGill University, a member of the EU/U.S. Clinical Trials on Alzheimers Disease Task Force and former Director of the Alzheimer Disease and Related Disorders Research Unit of the McGill Center for Studies in Aging and Douglas Research Centre. His contributions to our understanding of AD are vast and he has been involved as an active investigator and/or collaborator in seminal clinical trials on AD. His special interests include ethical research practices in AD clinical trials, building a consensus approach to the management of AD during its different stages and prevention strategies against cognitive decline. Dr. Gauthier received his M.D. from the Universite de Montreal. Howard Fillit, M.D., is a geriatrician, neuroscientist and innovative philanthropy executive, who has led the Alzheimers Drug Discovery Foundation since its inception. He has dedicated himself to the management of AD, also serving as a Clinical Professor of Geriatric Medicine and Palliative Care, Medicine and Neuroscience at the Icahn School of Medicine of Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York. He has also held faculty positions at The Rockefeller University, the SUNY-Stony Brook School of Medicine and the Cornell University School of Medicine. He earned his B.A. in Neurobiology from Cornell University and his M.D. from the SUNY-Upstate Medical University. About AmyriADAmyriAD is a privately held, late-stage clinical development pharmaceutical company focused on advancing therapies to improve Alzheimers disease and is led by the development strategist who introduced the cognition enhancing medication ARICEPT. AmyriADs lead candidate, AD101, is an acetylcholine release agent that in combination therapy with donepezil (ARICEPT) was well-tolerated and provided encouraging evidence of improvement in global function and cognition in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, Phase 2 proof-of-concept trial. For more information, please visit www.amyriadtherapeutics.com and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn. Contacts:InvestorsChuck PadalaLifeSci Advisors, LLC+1-917-741-7792[email protected] Source: AmyriAD Therapeutics, B.V. Diamond certification granted to suppliers who demonstrated outstanding operational performance and competitiveness in 2021 This is the fourth consecutive year Bombardier has awarded suppliers with this program MONTREAL, Sept. 19, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bombardier has awarded 18 of its suppliers with the prestigious Diamond certification, recognizing them for their excellence in operational performance standards for 2021, as well as for their commitment to continuous improvement. Bombardier presented the awards for outstanding effort to its Diamond Suppliers during a ceremony in Montreal today. Our business partners are key to our continued success, as they help us in delivering the worlds best business jets to the market, said Shauna Gamble, Chief Procurement Officer, Bombardier. I want to congratulate the 18 winners of our 2021 Diamond Supplier program and for working collaboratively with us and pursuing continuous improvement in light of challenges observed around the world. Through the Bombardier Diamond Supplier program, we establish a common definition of excellence, contributing to building a strong and long-term relationship with our valued suppliers, said Paul Sislian, Executive Vice President, Operations, Bombardier. We are particularly proud that eight of the winners are Quebec-based, as we continue to support the local aerospace sector and expand our capabilities. Suppliers are recognized across three categories Production, Indirect goods and services, and Aftermarket. Bombardier Diamond Suppliers have met the operational performance and competitiveness levels needed to qualify in these specific categories for the calendar year 2021. These suppliers are: Production: Aerospace Industrial Development CorporationFACC OperationsGroupe MelochePlacetecoPlastiques FlexibulbSealth Aero MarineShinMaywa Industries, Aircraft DivisionTechno Aerospace Indirect goods and services: AAA-CanadaAccentureAvis Budget GroupAxiscades Technology CanadaKuehne + NagelMSB, Ressources Globales AeroNTT DATA Inc.Tech Mahindra Limited Aftermarket: Peerless Aerospace Fastener CorporationRolls-Royce Business Aviation, Customers and Services Division The world-class performance and competitiveness of Bombardier business aircraft and the companys track record of excellence and innovation are achieved through the collaborative efforts with suppliers and by building valued partnerships based on trust and respect. For more information about this program, please visit Bombardiers Diamond Supplier program web page. About Bombardier Bombardier is a global leader in aviation, focused on designing, manufacturing, and servicing the world's most exceptional business jets. Bombardiers Challenger and Global aircraft families are renowned for their cutting-edge innovation, cabin design, performance, and reliability. Bombardier has a worldwide fleet of approximately 5,000 aircraft in service with a wide variety of multinational corporations, charter and fractional ownership providers, governments, and private individuals. Bombardier aircraft are also trusted around the world in special-mission roles. Headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Bombardier operates aerostructure, assembly and completion facilities in Canada, the United States and Mexico. The companys robust customer support network includes facilities in strategic locations in the United States and Canada, as well as in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, the UAE, Singapore, China, and an Australian facility opening in 2022. For corporate news and information, including Bombardiers Environmental, Social and Governance report, visit bombardier.com. Learn more about Bombardiers industry-leading products and customer service network at businessaircraft.bombardier.com. Follow us on Twitter @Bombardier. Bombardier, Learjet, Challenger, Global and Global 8000 are registered or unregistered trademarks of Bombardier Inc. or its subsidiaries. For Information Anna CristofaroManager, CommunicationsBombardier+1 514-855-8678 Source: Bombardier Inc. United Nations, New York, Sept. 19, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- At the start of the high-level opening week of the 77th UN General Assembly, representatives from UN Member States and development agencies joined CEOs and CFOs from UN Global Compact participant companies at this years Private Sector Forum (PSF) to call for increased investment in renewable energy to deliver a step change in climate and energy security while enabling progress on many of the economic and social priorities of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This follows the release of the UN Secretary-General Five Point Energy Plan which seeks to triple private and public investment in renewables to at least 4 trillion dollars annually. Speaking during the event, Sanda Ojiambo, Assistant Secretary-General; Executive Director and CEO of the UN Global Compact said, Businesses must increase public-private partnerships to jumpstart the renewable energy transition. They must promote equitable and resilient energy solutions that support the needs of the worlds most vulnerable people and ecosystems. And the business community must scale corporate investments in renewables, both in wealthy nations and developing economies. Earlier this month the UN Global Compact Think Lab on a Just Transition launched new guidance to ensure this transition to a green economy is just and inclusive by outlining seven concrete actions for engaging in effective social dialogue, creating decent, green jobs, and ensuring that no one is left behind. This complements the work of the SDG Ambition Accelerator, a 6-month program open for applications until 30th September, which empowers companies to develop and advance strategies that help advance the SDGs. A new Business and Human Rights Accelerator was also announced during the PSF. This six-month program is designed to help companies understand when, where and how they adversely impact human rights, while making clear how to prioritize the most salient issues for action. Notes to Editors About the United Nations Global Compact As a special initiative of the UN Secretary-General, the United Nations Global Compact is a call to companies everywhere to align their operations and strategies with Ten Principles in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption. Our ambition is to accelerate and scale the global collective impact of business by upholding the Ten Principles and delivering the Sustainable Development Goals through accountable companies and ecosystems that enable change. With more than 15,000 companies and 3,000 non-business signatories based in over 160 countries, and 69 Local Networks, the UN Global Compact is the worlds largest corporate sustainability initiative one Global Compact uniting business for a better world. For more information, follow @globalcompact on social media and visit our website at unglobalcompact.org Contact Alexandra Gee[email protected] UN Global Compact Media United Nations Global Compact (212) 907-1301 [email protected] Source: United Nations Global Compact Press Release Nicox Announces Last Patients Complete Final Visit in NCX 470 Phase 3 Mont Blanc Glaucoma Trial The last patient s completed their final (3-month) visit on September 16 691 patients were enrolled in the Mont Blanc trial Topline results of the Mont Blanc trial due in early November 2022 September 19, 2022 release at 7:30 am CET Sophia Antipolis, FranceNicox SA (Euronext Paris: FR0013018124, COX), an international ophthalmology company, today announced that the last patients completed their final (3-month) visit in the Mont Blanc Phase 3 clinical trial of NCX 470 0.1% for the lowering of intraocular pressure (IOP) in patients with open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension. A total of 691 patients were enrolled in the trial. NCX 470, Nicoxs lead clinical product candidate, is a novel, potentially best-in-class, nitric oxide (NO)-donating prostaglandin analog eye drop.We are pleased to have reached this milestone in the Mont Blanc Phase 3 clinical trial, and I would particularly like to thank our clinical sites and the Nicox development team for their incredible efforts in continuing to drive this trial to completion in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic situation. said Doug Hubatsch, EVP, Chief Scientific Officer of Nicox. NCX 470 has the potential to be a best-in-class glaucoma treatment, and we look forward to sharing the topline results in early November.Mont Blanc is a multi-regional, double-masked, 3-month, parallel group trial evaluating the efficacy and safety of NCX 470 ophthalmic solution 0.1% compared to latanoprost ophthalmic solution, 0.005%. Latanoprost is the most widely prescribed first-line therapy for open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension. The primary efficacy evaluation in Mont Blanc is based on time-matched IOP at 8 AM and 4 PM at Week 2, Week 6 and Month 3.The second Phase 3 trial on NCX 470, Denali, is being jointly conducted and equally financed with our Chinese partner, Ocumension Therapeutics. Topline results is currently expected after 2024. About Nicox Nicox SA is an international ophthalmology company developing innovative solutions to help maintain vision and improve ocular health. Nicoxs lead program in clinical development is NCX 470, a novel nitric oxide-donating prostaglandin analog, for lowering intraocular pressure in patients with open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension. The company is also conducting research on NCX 1728, a nitric oxide-donating phosphodiesterase 5 inhibitor, in intraocular pressure lowering and retinal conditions. NCX 4251, a novel, patented, ophthalmic suspension fluticasone propionate nanocrystals for topical ocular application for dry eye disease, is being developed by Ocumension Therapeutics in China under an exclusive license agreement and is available for partnering elsewhere. Nicox generates revenue from VYZULTA in glaucoma, licensed exclusively worldwide to Bausch + Lomb, and ZERVIATE in allergic conjunctivitis, licensed in multiple geographies, including to Eyevance Pharmaceuticals, LLC (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Santen Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.), in the U.S. and Ocumension Therapeutics in the Chinese and in the majority of Southeast Asian markets. Nicox is headquartered in Sophia Antipolis, France, is listed on Euronext Paris (Compartment B: Mid Caps; Ticker symbol: COX) and is part of the CAC Healthcare, CAC Pharma & Bio and Next 150 indexes.For more information on Nicox, its products or pipeline, please visit: www.nicox.com. Analyst coverage Bryan, Garnier & Co Dylan Van Haaften Paris, FranceEdison Investment Research Pooya Hemami London, UKH.C. Wainwright & Co Yi Chen New York, U.S.Kepler Cheuvreux Arsene Guekam Paris, France The views expressed by analysts in their coverage of Nicox are those of the author and do not reflect the views of Nicox. Additionally, the information contained in their reports may not be correct or current. Nicox disavows any obligation to correct or to update the information contained in analyst reports. NicoxGavin SpencerExecutive Vice President, Chief Business Officer& Head of Corporate Development T +33 (0)4 97 24 53 00 [email protected] Investors & MediaUnited States & Europe LifeSci Advisors, LLC Sandya von der Weid T +41 78 680 05 38 [email protected] Forward-Looking Statements The information contained in this document may be modified without prior notice. This information includes forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. These statements are based on current expectations or beliefs of the management of Nicox S.A. and are subject to a number of factors and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. Nicox S.A. and its affiliates, directors, officers, employees, advisers or agents, do not undertake, nor do they have any obligation, to provide updates or to revise any forward-looking statements.Risks factors which are likely to have a material effect on Nicoxs business are presented in the 3rd chapter of the Document denregistrement universel, rapport financier annuel et rapport de gestion 2021 filed with the French Autorite des Marches Financiers (AMF) on April 29, 2022 which is available on Nicoxs website (www.nicox.com) Cranbrook, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - September 19, 2022) - DLP Resources Inc. (TSXV: DLP) (OTCQB: DLPRF) ("DLP" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that drilling of the first hole, A22-001, at the Aurora copper-molybdenum project in Peru is at a depth of 188m with good visual copper mineralization throughout. Drilling of five holes at the Hungry Creek project and one hole at the Copper Creek project in SE BC has been completed with copper results awaited from the sampling of copper mineralization observed in the holes. Private Placement In addition to the summer drilling of copper projects in BC and Peru, DLP has closed its previously announced non-brokered private placement (the "Private Placement"), whereby the Company has completed the issuance of 2,120,000 flow through shares (each, a "FT Share") at a price of $0.25 per FT Share for gross proceeds of $530,000. In connection with the Private Placement, the Company issued 40,600 finder's warrants (the "Finder's Warrants") and paid commissions of $10,150. Each Finder's Warrant will entitle the holder, on exercise thereof, to acquire one additional common share in the capital of the Company at a price of $0.25 per share for a period of 18 months from the date of issuance. The Private Placement remains subject to final acceptance of the TSX Venture Exchange. The securities offered in the Private Placement are subject to a four month and a day transfer restriction from the date of issuance expiring on January 17, 2023, in addition to such other restrictions as may apply under applicable securities laws of jurisdictions outside Canada. The Company intends to use the proceeds of the Private Placement for drilling on its Hungry Creek and Copper Creek Projects. Certain insiders of the Company purchased an aggregate of 240,000 FT Shares in the Private Placement and such participation is considered to be a "related party transaction" as defined under Multilateral Instrument 61-101 ("MI 61-101"). The Company has relied on the exemptions from the valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements of MI 61-101 contained in sections 5.5(a) and 5.7(1)(a) of MI 61-101 in respect of such insider participation. The Company did not file a material change report more than 21 days before the expected closing of First Tranche, as the details and amounts of the insider participation were not finalized until closer to the closing and the Company wished to close the transaction as soon as practicable for sound business reasons. Expenses incurred by the Company on Hungry Creek and Copper Creek, copper-cobalt projects, may qualify for the 30% Critical Mineral Exploration Tax Credit ("CMETC"), as provided for in the Canadian federal budget of April 7, 2022. For more information on the CMETC, see the annex on tax measures proposed in the budget available at https://budget.gc.ca/2022/report-rapport/tm-mf-en.html Exploration Update An exploration update for the Aurora porphyry copper-molybdenum project in Peru and the Copper-Silver-Cobalt Projects of Hungry Creek and Copper Creek in BC, Canada is provided below (Figs 1 & 2). Aurora Project (Porphyry Cu-Mo Target) Aurora is a porphyry copper-molybdenum project in Southern Peru with the potential to host a significant copper-molybdenum mineralized system. (Figures 1 and 3). Drilling of the first diamond drill hole A22-001 commenced on August 24 on an azimuth of 170 degrees and an angle of -70 degrees. The depth at the end of August was 188m. Planned depth for A22-001 is 600m. Very encouraging visual copper mineralization was observed from 3 to 188m with zones of both copper-oxides and secondary copper enrichment observed in core (Figures 4 and 5). The first 185m has been sampled and sent to ALS Laboratory in Arequipa. Results are expected at the end of September. Hungry Creek and Copper Creek Projects (Sediment Hosted - Stratiform Copper-Silver-Cobalt Targets) Drilling of five drill holes (1442m) on Hungry Creek and one drill hole on Copper Creek (386.16m) was completed at the end of August (Figures 6 and 7). Samples from drilling at Hungry Creek and Copper Creek have been sent to MSALabs in Langley, BC for analyses. Both Hungry Creek and Copper Creek drilling targeted sediment hosted - stratiform copper-silver-cobalt mineralization within the middle to Upper Creston Formation. Target 711 was the focus at Hungry Creek where very encouraging copper mineralization was reported from seven grab and two float samples (see DLP press release dated November 30, 2021). Copper up to 1.15% and anomalous silver of up to 3.51ppm together with anomalous cobalt (up to 117.6ppm) and barium (up to 4,274 ppm) were also reported. Visual copper mineralization in the form of chalcopyrite was observed in the 711 drill core with intense sericite alteration in the upper Creston Formation quartzites together with carbonate alteration in the form of ankerite. Results from the core sampling and channel sampling on surface are expected by mid-October. Ian Gendall, CEO & President of DLP, commented: "We are very excited with the visual observations of copper mineralization in the first 188m of the Aurora drillhole. Both copper oxides and secondary chalcocite mineralization have been observed and we await results for the first 185m. In addition to the Peru drilling, we have encountered copper mineralized quartzites - Revett-type copper mineralization at the Hungry Creek project in southeastern BC. Drilling of 5 drill holes and additional prospecting has identified multiple copper targets extending over 12 to 20 km which requires further evaluation and drilling in 2023. Drilling of 386m on one anomalous copper target at Copper Creek was encouraging and we will now extend drilling to the core zone in 2023". FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, click link: https://dlpresourcesinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/DLP-Resources_Sept_22_Final.pdf TO ACCESS THE UPDATED "COMPANY PRESENTATION" Figure 1: DLP Project areas with the Aurora and Esperanza properties shown. To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/6456/137550_4d4a61d284567b2f_001full.jpg Figure 2: DLP Project areas with Hungry Creek and Copper Creek properties shown with 2022 Drilling. To view an enhanced version of Figure 2, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/6456/137550_4d4a61d284567b2f_002full.jpg Figure 3. Historic Drill Holes and Simplified Geology with AC22-001 on the Aurora Project. To view an enhanced version of Figure 3, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/6456/137550_4d4a61d284567b2f_003full.jpg Figure 4. Schematic plan of historic drill holes, proposed DLP program and 2022 holes on the Aurora Project. To view an enhanced version of Figure 4, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/6456/137550_4d4a61d284567b2f_004full.jpg Figure 5. Aurora Copper-Molybdenum Project - Summary of Drilling A22-001. To view an enhanced version of Figure 5, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/6456/137550_4d4a61d284567b2f_005full.jpg Figure 6. Hungry Creek Project - Summary of copper showings discovered along strike of ~20km. 2022 Drill area on the 711 Target shown. To view an enhanced version of Figure 6, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/6456/137550_4d4a61d284567b2f_006full.jpg Figure 7. Copper Creek Project - Historic grab rock sample results with 2022 Drill area shown. To view an enhanced version of Figure 7, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/6456/137550_4d4a61d284567b2f_007full.jpg Qualified Person David L. Pighin, consulting geologist and co-founder of DLP Resources, is the qualified person of the Company as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Pighin has reviewed and approved the technical contents of this news release. About DLP Resources Inc. DLP Resources Inc. is a mineral exploration company operating in Southeastern British Columbia and Peru, exploring for Base Metals and Cobalt. DLP is listed on the TSX-V, trading symbol DLP and on the OTCQB, trading symbol DLPRF. Please refer to our web site www.dlpresourcesinc.com for additional information. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: DLP RESOURCES INC. Ian Gendall, CEO & President Jim Stypula, Executive Chairman Robin Sudo, Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Secretary Maxwell Reinhart, Investor Relations Telephone: 250-426-7808 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] 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 Information 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 "forwardlooking statements", are not historical facts, are made as of the date of this news release and include without limitation, statements regarding discussions of future plans, estimates and forecasts and statements as to management's expectations and intentions with respect to, among other things, drilling and sampling programs on the Aurora, Copper Creek and Hungry Creek projects and the expected timing thereof and results therefrom; the intended use of funds from the Private Placement; and the qualification of expenses incurred by the Company on the Hungry Creek and Copper Creek projects for the CMETC. These forwardlooking 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: the inability of the Company to raise capital on acceptable terms, or at all; unanticipated costs; adverse changes in legislation; that the Company will not undertake additional exploration on the Aurora, Copper Creek and/or Hungry Creek projects within the timeframe anticipated or at all; market uncertainty; that the Company's operations, business, personnel or financial condition is adversely impacted by COVID-19; and the risk that any expenses incurred by the Company on the Hungry Creek and Copper Creek projects will not qualify for the CMETC. In making the forward-looking statements in this news release, the Company has applied several material assumptions, including without limitation, that: the Company will obtain final approval for the Private Placement from the TSX Venture Exchange; that the Company will use the proceeds from the Private Placement as anticipated; that the Company will be able to raise capital on acceptable terms; that the Company will undertake additional exploration on the on the Aurora, Copper Creek and/or Hungry Creek projects, as anticipated; that the Company will retain the key personnel required to complete its business objectives; that there will be no adverse changes in legislation; and that the results of the Company's disclosed drilling and sampling programs will be as anticipated. 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. We seek safe harbor. Not for distribution to U.S. news wire services or dissemination in the United States. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/137550 Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - September 19, 2022) - Appia Rare Earths & Uranium Corp.(CSE: API) (OTCQX: APAAF)(FSE: A0I0)(FSE: A0I.F) (FSE: A0I.MU) (FSE: A0I.BE)(the "Company" or "Appia")is pleased to announce that the Company has completed (and submitted for assessment purposes) a helicopter-borne gamma-ray spectrometry and VTEM geophysical survey on the 100%-owned Loranger uranium property, eastern Athabasca Basin area, northern Saskatchewan. Highlights (from 2022 assessment report): The survey extended and discovered some new electromagnetic (EM) conductors, and provided additional structural geophysical characteristics of these conductors. EM lineaments exceeding 10 km in contiguous strike length are identified. EM conductors are offset by younger features. The property will be drill ready once targets are confirmed and permits are submitted/accepted. Tom Drivas, CEO of Appia said, "Building on our previous geophysical, prospecting, and drilling experience from 2016 to 2019 at Loranger, Appia has completed all of its geophysical surveys for drillhole targeting. We are now working on complete data integration and 3D model results to verify the numerous identified high-priority targets, so to plan the next phase of drilling. Then once permits to drill are submitted and accepted, the property will be at a drill-ready stage." The geophysical exploration activities on the Loranger property were carried out from September 17th, 2021, to Jan 24th, 2022. Appia commissioned Geotech Ltd. to conduct a helicopter-borne gamma-ray spectrometry and VTEM geophysical survey. Appia acquired 401 line-kilometres of VTEM and 358 line-km of radiometric geophysical data within an area measuring 74 km2. The survey identified several electromagnetic, magnetic, and radiometric anomalies over the 74 km2 area, revealing further length to the property's northeast-southwest oriented EM/magnetic corridors. These corridors represent characteristic geophysical features of basement-hosted type uranium deposits of the eastern Athabasca Basin (e.g. Eagle Point). The survey outlined a well-defined north-south oriented structure, which is interpreted to be a member of the regional Tabbernor fault system, a known contributing control of uranium mineralization in the eastern Athabasca Basin. The survey also outlined other anomalous intersection zones of interest for drilling. About the Loranger Project Loranger is located on the southeastern shores of Wollaston Lake, northern Saskatchewan. Cameco's Rabbit Lake uranium mill and Eagle Point mine operations are approximately 28 km to the northwest. The southwestern extension of the Loranger property is situated 10 km from the all-season Provincial highway 905 (Figure 1). The property is next to Wollaston Lake Denesuline First Nation infrastructure and the new all-season road (Highway 905 extension) going to the Reserve is running through the property. The property straddles the transition zone between the eastern Wollaston Domain and the western Wollaston Domain, similar to the Wollaston-Mudjatik Transition Zone (WMTZ), and extends ~100 km northeast to the Manitoba provincial border. To the southwest, the West Bear U Deposit, the West Bear Co-Ni Deposit, and the Fraser Lakes Zone B uranium deposit occur along this structural corridor. The Western Wollaston Domain and the WMTZ comprise multiple high-strain zones within reworked Precambrian rocks of the Hearne Subprovince, which host most of the basement and unconformity-type uranium deposits across/along the eastern Athabasca Basin. There is an abundance of historic uranium anomalies on the property, and the right geological structures/geophysical conductors to focus fluids and heat for producing alteration and mineralization in structural geochemical traps. There also appear to be the non-conductive gravity-low intersection zones that are ideal for concentrating mineralization. Those zones are confirmed (backed up) by identified radioactive boulder trains, uranium in soil profiles, and uranium in drill core from historical and recent Appia drilling. Historic exploration (before Appia's time) for uranium over the Loranger property has occurred over three separate time-frames; from 1968 to 1969, 1978 to 1979 and 2007. Appia's work commenced with a 2016 helicopter-borne VTEMTM Max Time-Domain EM and magnetic survey over approximately 715 line-km of the property. Most recently, in 2019 Appia completed eight drill holes for a total of 1,063 m. Drill holes LOR-19-02 to LOR-19-03 intersected 0.066 wt% U3O8 over 0.7 m at 105.5 m drill hole depth and 0.032 wt% U3O8 over 3.15 m at 96.75 m drill hole depth, respectively. Drill holes LOR-19-01 to LOR-19-04A identified uranium mineralization along a 900 m strike length within a new target area. Figure 1. Loranger Property 2022 geophysical survey map with historical properties and nearby uranium deposits. To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/5416/137651_ed86da1a94198a42_005full.jpg. About Appia Appia is a publicly-listed company in the rare earth element and uranium sectors. The Company is currently focusing on delineating high-grade critical rare earth elements and gallium on the Alces Lake property, as well as exploring for high-grade uranium in the prolific Athabasca Basin on its Otherside, Loranger, North Wollaston, and Eastside properties. The Alces Lake project is located in northern Saskatchewan, the same provincial jurisdiction that is developing a "first-of-its-kind" rare earth processing facility in Canada (currently under construction by the Saskatchewan Research Council and scheduled to become operational in early 2023). The Alces Lake project area is 35,682 hectares (88,173 acres) in size and is 100% owned by Appia. The Alces Lake project encompasses some of the highest-grade total and critical* REEs and gallium mineralization in the world, hosted within several surface and near-surface monazite occurrences that remain open at depth and along strike. * Critical rare earth elements are defined here as those that are in short-supply and high-demand for use in permanent magnets and modern electronic applications such as electric vehicles and wind turbines (i.e: neodymium (Nd), praseodymium (Pr), dysprosium (Dy) and terbium (Tb)). All geophysical results were provided by Geotech Ltd.in Aurora, ON. All geophysical results reported herein have passed internal QA/QC review and compilation. The technical content in this news release was reviewed and approved by Dr. Irvine R. Annesley, P.Geo, Advisor to Appia's Board of Directors, and a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. The Company holds the surface rights to exploration for 110,997 hectares (274,280 acres) in Saskatchewan. The Company also has a 100% interest in 12,545 hectares (31,000 acres), with rare earth element and uranium deposits over five mineralized zones in the Elliot Lake Camp, Ontario. Appia has 123.1 million common shares outstanding, 141.3 million shares fully diluted. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: This News Release contains forward-looking statements which are typically preceded by, followed by or including the words "believes", "expects", "anticipates", "estimates", "intends", "plans" or similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of future performance as they involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. We do not intend and do not assume any obligation to update these forward- looking statements and shareholders are cautioned not to put undue reliance on such statements. Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. For further information, please contact: Tom Drivas, CEO and Director: (cell) 416-876-3957, (fax) 416-218-9772 or (email) [email protected] Frank van de Water, Chief Financial Officer and Director, (tel) 416-546-2707, (fax) 416-218-9772 or (email) [email protected] To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/137651 Seattle, Washington--(Newsfile Corp. - September 18, 2022) - Michael Peres (Mikey Peres) is announcing the launch of four news publications: Peres Daily, Breaking 9 To 5, Israel Now, and Her Forward. These publications will cover a variety of topics ranging from entrepreneurship to fin-tech, travel, and politics. Breaking 9 To 5, Peres Daily, Her Froward, Israel Now (left to right) To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8977/137555_michael%20peres%20-%20publications.jpg Her Forward is the latest addition and consists of a magazine covering women's success stories around the globe. "Her Forward is our most recent project and I believe our team has the right set of unique skills and expertise to make a strong impact in this industry. We're quite excited for what awaits ahead," said Peres. The publication will mainly focus on entrepreneurs and leaders working in STEM and tech-based industries and will empower women aiming to launch their own businesses and succeed in their careers. Peres believes that supporting women working in these industries is crucial in the creation of a more equal society and will benefit all communities at large. Concerning the other publications, Breaking 9 To 5 focuses on the latest news relating to entrepreneurship and travel, Peres Daily covers US-based national and international trending news stories, while Israel Now is a platform publishing articles related to current events in Israel and the Jewish world. These publications were created using resources and infrastructure from Scale My Publication, a startup managed by Michael Peres that creates, manages, and scales news publications in preparation for seed funding or early exit.Their services include server management, web development, search engine optimization, content development, and journalist recruitment. About Michael Peres (Mikey Peres) Michael Peres is a serial-entrepreneur, software engineer, journalist, tech-investor, and author. Peres leverages his expertise to advise entrepreneurs towards developing a mindset to build, grow and scale businesses. He is also the author ofThe Road Less Traveled, a book that provides insight for aspiring entrepreneurs by documenting the obstacles he faced, how he overcame them, and how others can develop the critical skills needed to take charge of their own future. Contact info: Her Forward Staff [email protected] herforward.com peresdaily.com breaking9to5.com israelnow.news michaelperes.com To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/137555 Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 19, 2022) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today issued a cease-and-desist order against Sparkster Ltd. and its CEO, Sajjad Daya, for the unregistered offer and sale of crypto asset securities from April 2018 through July 2018 and charged crypto influencer Ian Balina for failing to disclose compensation he received from Sparkster for publicly promoting its tokens and failing to file a registration statement with the SEC for Sparkster tokens that he resold. Sparkster and Daya agreed to settle and to collectively pay more than $35 million into a fund for distribution to harmed investors. According to the SECs order, Sparkster and Daya raised $30 million from 4,000 investors in the United States and abroad by offering and selling crypto asset securities called SPRK tokens to raise money to further develop Sparksters no-code software platform. As stated in the order, Sparkster and Daya told investors that SPRK tokens would increase in value, that Sparkster management would continue to improve Sparkster, and that they would make the tokens available on a crypto trading platform. The order also finds that the SPRK tokens, as offered and sold, were securities, were not registered with the SEC, and were not applicable for a registration exemption. According to the SECs complaint against Balina filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, he purchased $5 million worth of SPRK tokens and promoted SPRK tokens on YouTube, Telegram, and other social media platforms from approximately May 2018 to July 2018. Balina allegedly failed to disclose that Sparkster had agreed to provide him a 30 percent bonus on the tokens that he purchased, as consideration for his promotional efforts. Balina also allegedly organized an investing pool of at least 50 individuals to whom he offered and sold SPRK tokens, despite not registering the offering with the SEC as required by federal securities laws and despite the lack of an applicable exemption from registration. The resolution with Sparkster and Daya allows the SEC to return a significant amount of money to investors and requires additional measures to protect investors, including the disabling of tokens to prevent their future sale, said Carolyn M. Welshhans, Associate Director of the SECs Division of Enforcement. The SECs action against Balina further protects investors by seeking to hold accountable an alleged crypto asset promoter for failures to follow the federal securities laws. The SECs order finds that Sparkster and Daya violated the offering registration provisions of Sections 5(a) and 5(c) of the Securities Act of 1933. Without admitting or denying the SECs findings, Sparkster agreed to destroy its remaining tokens, request the removal of its tokens from trading platforms, and publish the SECs order on its website and social media channels. Daya, without admitting or denying the SECs findings, agreed to refrain, for a period of five years, from participating in offerings of crypto asset securities. The SEC orders Sparkster to pay $30 million in disgorgement, $4,624,754 in prejudgment interest, and a $500,000 civil penalty. The SECs order imposes a $250,000 civil penalty against Daya. The SEC's complaint charges Balina with violating the offering registration provisions of Section 5(a) and (c) of the Securities Act and with violating Section 17(b) of the Act and seeks injunctive relief, disgorgement plus prejudgment interest, and civil penalties. The SEC's investigation was conducted by Ivan J. Snyder and supervised by David Frohlich and Ms. Welshhans. The litigation is being conducted by Fernando Campoamor Snchez and Ivan J. Snyder and supervised by Melissa Armstrong. The SEC appreciates the assistance of the United Kingdoms Financial Conduct Authority and the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority. Amazon, Blackstone, Hilton, ManpowerGroup, Marriott International, and Pfizer among brands pledging support for refugees across the U.S. NEW YORK, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- With the United States welcoming tens of thousands of refugees from Afghanistan, Ukraine, and other crises, today, dozens of America's largest employers and best-known brands are announcing new commitments to hire 22,725 refugees in full time positions in the U.S., helping to advance the economic and social integration of refugees across the country. This is the most significant set of business commitments in support of refugees on record. The U.S. Business Summit on Refugees, organized by the Tent Partnership for Refugees (Tent) a network of 260 major businesses committed to supporting the economic integration of refugees brings together leading companies including Amazon, Hilton, PepsiCo, Pfizer, and Tyson Foods, to announce commitments to hire and train thousands of refugees in the United States over the next three years. The Summit is the first in a series of milestones to continue to mobilize companies in support of refugees. "The American business community is showing incredible leadership, and I am so proud of the companies standing up for refugees today," said Hamdi Ulukaya, CEO of Chobani and founder of Tent. "These companies will benefit from welcoming these hard-working, loyal, and resilient individuals but my hope is that this is only the beginning. As refugee crises start to fade from the headlines, companies must recognize that hiring refugees is not only the right thing to do, but also the smart thing to do." The United States is set to welcome hundreds of thousands of refugees in the coming years, including almost 100,000 Afghans by the end of 2022, 100,000 Ukrainians who have fled Russia's invasion, and up to 125,000 refugees per year from other parts of the world who will arrive through the resettlement program. As refugees in the U.S. often face significant challenges finding work including language barriers, difficulty certifying their credentials, and lack of a professional network business leadership is critical to help refugees secure jobs. Among the commitments companies are announcing today: Amazon will hire at least 5,000 refugees over three years will hire at least 5,000 refugees over three years ManpowerGroup will place 3,000 refugees in jobs at its corporate clients over three years will place 3,000 refugees in jobs at its corporate clients over three years Tyson Foods will hire 2,500 refugees over three years will hire 2,500 refugees over three years Blackstone portfolio companies and real estate properties will hire 2,000 refugees over three years portfolio companies and real estate properties will hire 2,000 refugees over three years Hilton will hire 1,500 refugees over three years will hire 1,500 refugees over three years Marriott International will hire 1,500 refugees over three years will hire 1,500 refugees over three years Cargill will hire 1,000 refugees over three years will hire 1,000 refugees over three years Gategroup will hire 1,000 refugees over three years will hire 1,000 refugees over three years ISS will hire 1,000 refugees over three years will hire 1,000 refugees over three years Hyatt will hire 500 refugees over three years will hire 500 refugees over three years PepsiCo will hire 500 refugees over three years will hire 500 refugees over three years Pfizer will hire 500 refugees over three years "We believe that Amazon is a stronger company because of the diversity of our workforce, and we actively seek to hire people with different backgrounds, skill sets, and levels of experience. Being displaced from your homeland and having to start again somewhere is never easy, which is why we are committed to helping where we can, by providing refugees and other displaced people with access to meaningful employment, as well as immigration support, through our Welcome Door program. It's our privilege to help people make a new start.", said Janet Saura, VP, Employee Relations, WW Amazon Stores and Corporate. "Our experience connecting refugees with meaningful work across Europe tells us that finding a job is a critical first step for people to get settled, build relationships and integrate themselves and their families into new communities," said Jonas Prising, ManpowerGroup Chairman and CEO. "We believe collective partnership is critical to achieve impact at scale and we are pleased to partner with Tent in mobilizing the business community to improve the lives and livelihoods of millions of refugees. This is how we will create a path to sustainable employment so refugees can rebuild their lives and improve their prospects for a better future." The following companies are making additional hiring commitments: Accenture, Aimbridge Hospitality, Albea, Amcor, Atento, C&S Wholesale Grocers, Carrols, Chobani, Deloitte, Fedex, Gap Inc., Genpact, Graham Packaging, Great Lakes Cheese, Henry Schein, IHG Hotels & Resorts, Kellogg, Kimball Midwest, La Colombe, Mastercorp, Oneida Nation Enterprises, Panda Express, Red Roof, Silgan Dispensing, Sodexo, Spencer's & Spirit Halloween, Sumitomo Electric, The Body Shop, Transdev, US Xpress. These hiring commitments are estimated to generate $913 million in income for refugees in the U.S. each year. They will not only help thousands of refugees start their new lives in the U.S. with security and dignity, but also harness the skills and resilience of refugees to strengthen the U.S. workforce, fill key labor gaps, and boost the economy. In addition, LinkedIn, Coursera, Ipsos, and others, are announcing commitments to provide 13,850 refugees with training opportunities, which will help them gain a better understanding of the U.S. job market, develop skills, and grow their professional networks. A complete list of the commitments can be found here. Tent has been active in the U.S. since its founding in 2016. In September 2021, in the wake of the mass evacuation of Afghans to the United States, Tent launched its Coalition for Refugees in the U.S. which now counts more than 110 U.S. employers to provide companies with U.S.-specific guidance and resources on how to set up effective refugee hiring and training programs. For media enquiries:Amanda Jada[email protected](813) 808-0736 Michael Schmidt[email protected] (202) 538-4945 About the Tent Partnership for Refugees With more and more refugees displaced for longer periods of time, businesses have a critical role to play in helping refugees integrate economically in their new host communities. The Tent Partnership for Refugees mobilizes the global business community to improve the lives and livelihoods of more than 36 million refugees who have been forcibly displaced from their home countries. Founded by Chobani's founder and CEO Hamdi Ulukaya in 2016, we are a network of over 260 major companies committed to including refugees. Tent believes that companies can most sustainably support refugees by leveraging their core business operations by engaging refugees as potential employees, entrepreneurs and consumers. The full list of Tent members can be found here. Find out more at www.tent.org. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/45-major-companies-commit-to-hiring-over-20-000-refugees-at-tent-business-summit-301626806.html SOURCE Tent Partnership for Refugees JOHANNESBURG and NEW YORK, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and Standard Bank Group, with the support of the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA), the Motor Industry Retirement Funds (MIRF) and Copartes Pension Fund and the African Union Commission (AUC), have announced the African Women Impact Fund (AWIF) Initiative's achievement of its first commitment of USD$60 million. The announcement was made at the inaugural The Global Africa Business Initiative, held from 18 19 September during the week of the United Nations General Assembly in New York City. The existence of gendered stereotypes and racial biases in society have detrimental effects globally. This holds true within the investment space where these prejudices obstruct female entrepreneurship, appointment of women in leadership roles, and empowerment of female fund managers. Of the $69.1 trillion of financial assets under management globally, less than 1.3% are managed by women and people of colour. It is increasingly alarming that only 7% of private equity and venture capital funding is allocated to women-led businesses in emerging markets. The AWIF Initiative's primary purpose is to overcome the systemic barriers and investor biases in the asset management industry, by enabling and promoting women-owned and women-led funds on the African continent. The AWIF is an Initiative of the Economic Commission of Africa (ECA) together with its partners: UN Women, the Office of the Special Envoy on Women, Peace and Security of the African Union Commission, and the African Women Leadership Network. It has been established in collaboration with the Standard Bank Group as lead sponsor, MiDA Advisors as key strategic advisor, and RisCura as the investment manager and provider of manager development and support services. The Initiative has a two-fold agenda of making a commercial impact for investors while empowering women financial leaders to drive growth in Africa. With a bold ambition to raise up to $1 billion over 10 years for women fund managers, who will in turn invest in high-impact sectors and projects across Africa, this first-of-its-kind initiative is well positioned to enable economic stimulus through sustainable and gender-inclusive capital growth opportunities. Empowering Africa's women in investmentThe Standard Bank Group sees gender equity as both a fundamental human right and a business imperative. Lindeka Dzedze, Global Markets Head: Strategic Partnerships at Standard Bank and Chairperson of the AWIF Executive Committee explains: "Without the economic empowerment of women, the vision to raise Africa's financial output cannot be realised. Understanding this, Standard Bank supports the AWIF Initiative to raise the profile of established women-owned and women-managed funds that participate in listed and private markets, and short-term private debt." As evidence of this commitment, the Standard Bank Group announced today at The Global Africa Business Initiative that $60 million will be allocated to the AWIF to accelerate the initiative's long-term ambitions. Malcolm Fair, Chief Executive Officer at Riscura explains further: "We believe that investing with women-led asset managers supports empowerment for women in all of society. With 20 years' experience in supporting diverse and start-up investment managers on the African continent, we are excited to manage the investments of the African Women Impact Fund and continue the journey of empowerment." He adds: "The commitment by African institutions to the AWIF Initiative assists us in attracting potential global institutional investors on the next fundraising drive." The initial $60m commitment to the Initiative includes $15m from BADEA, and $45m from The Motor Industry Retirement Funds (MIRF) and Copartes Pension Fund in South Africa. MIRF and Copartes have agreed to bring their $45m in assets recently allocated to developing start-up women fund managers in South Africa under the AWIF Initiative. Adam Essat, MIRF and Copartes Principal Officer explains: "Through our initial commitment of $45m to the AWIF program, we hope to show that institutions on the African continent believe in and support this program and its objectives. We encourage global investors to take action and invest alongside us in facilitating diversity, development and empowerment in bright and unstoppable Africa." These funds will provide capital to existing women owners and women fund managers across different asset classes and African regions. Dr. Sidi Ould TAH Director General at BADEA says: "I believe this fund will accelerate fundraising and capital allocation by female fund managers on a transformative level. It is through barrier-braking initiatives such as these that together, we can create a sustainable and scalable investment environment that drives inclusive growth for all who live in Africa." Furthermore, it will give the AWIF Initiative the ability to take a big step forward in realising the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 5 and 8, which target gender equality, decent work, and economic growth, as well as the AU Agenda 2063. "AWIF aims to address the fundamental gap in women's access to financial tools. As a result, the fund contributes to the achievement of several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including SDG 1 that calls for an end to poverty. Supporting emerging African female fund managers will accelerate the representation of women-led funds. This will help close the current gender gap in labour markets, promote the emergence of women fund managers and entrepreneurs, address identified barriers to attracting capital in a sustainable manner, and increase economic output, job creation, and women's economic empowerment and prosperity," said Antonio Pedro, acting Executive Secretary, ECA. Our continent's growth drives global businessWith a $2.5 trillion market opportunity, the African continent has been identified as the most important driver of global business The announcement of the first allocation of funds to the AWIF Initiative will attract and empower many talented female asset managers throughout Africa and set a precedent for a gender-inclusive asset management approach in the future. Aymeric Saha, CEO of MiDA Advisors shared: "MiDA Advisors was honored to play a role in the creation of AWIF by facilitating the connection between all three key players in the initiative ECA, the Standard Bank Group, and RisCura. We feel that work on gender economic empowerment within the financial sector is not only a necessity for further economic development across the continent but is also wholly feasible with the right partnerships and programming. We look forward to the future successes of the fund managers selected, and to the impact they will in turn have in their home markets." For any media queries, please contact:Standard Bank Kate JohnsMedia Relations M: +27 (0) 71 383 8718E: [email protected] About Standard Bank GroupStandard Bank Group is the largest African bank by assets, operating in 20 African countries and 5 global financial centres. Headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, we are listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, with share code SBK, and the Namibian Stock Exchange, share code SNB.Standard Bank has a 160-year history in South Africa and started building a franchise outside southern Africa in the early 1990s. The group has over 50 000 employees, more than 1 100 branches and over 6 500 ATMs on the African continent, which enables it to deliver a complete range of services across personal and business banking, corporate and investment banking and wealth management. For further information, go to AWIFF Foundation | Standard Bank About ECAOur mission is to deliver ideas and actions for an empowered and transformed Africa; informed by the 2030 Agenda and Africa's Agenda 2063.Established by the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations (UN) in 1958 as one of the UN's five regional commissions, ECA's mandate is to promote the economic and social development of its member States, foster intra-regional integration, and promote international cooperation for Africa's development.The Commission is made up of 54 member States and plays a dual role as a regional arm of the UN and as a key component of the African institutional landscape. About MiDA AdvisorsMiDA Advisors is a global transaction and financial advisory firm specializing in facilitating institutional investments and trade into Africa and other emerging markets. MiDA Advisors' mission is to identify investment opportunities and provide transaction advisory services in emerging markets in partnership with development finance institutions, governments, institutional investors, businesses and research institutions. MiDA Advisors has offices in the U.S., South Africa, and Kenya.MiDA Advisors was originally founded during the 2nd U.S.-Africa Leaders' Summit in 2016 under a cooperative agreement with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The firm expanded to become an implementing partner firm engaged by USAID, private sector organizations, and corporations for development finance and transaction advisory services in 2019. In the last five years, MiDA's network of asset owners closed on investment deals targeting Africa and other emerging markets totaling over $1 billion. For more information, visit: http://www.midaadvisors.com/ About RisCuraAt RisCura, investing with care is a thread that weaves through everything we do. At the heart of all our services is a shared purpose to work towards the long-term good of our clients, society and the planet. As a global leader in emerging and frontier markets, and with our diverse client base and strong African roots, we have a well-placed view on investment in Africa. Our work for some of the largest institutional investors in Africa gives us a deep understanding of the needs, challenges and opportunities for investors into the continent.We believe that developing a more inclusive investment industry is essential to investing for a better world one that is more representative of the demographics of the countries in which we operate. That's why we've been supporting diverse start-up investment managers for over 20 years. This support is formalised through our Manager Development Programme, which aims to build diverse capacity in local markets through supporting women-owned and led firms, backing entrepreneurs, and upskilling investment industry expertise within these firms.Experienced in establishing and managing technically intricate portfolios, RisCura launched the first multi-managed impact fund in South Africa, and we continue to demonstrate that investing should drive sustainable returns and connect to the real economy. We're proud to manage the investments of the African Women Impact Fund Initiative which aims to deliver measurable positive impact and market-related returns by gaining exposure to a range of women-owned or led investment strategies. About BADEAFounded in 1974 by eighteen Arab countries, the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA) is Aa2 Moody's rated multilateral development financial institution recognized as a reputable partner in ArabAfrica cooperation. BADEA offers a wide array of products and services for financing development in Africa. BADEA products include loans to public and private entities that finance trade, infrastructure, agriculture, rural development, and social sectors, small and medium enterprises with special focus on women and youth, as well as grants for capacity development. BADEA 2030 strategy positions the bank as a flexible, effective, and reliable development partner in Africa's transformation and progress towards 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), for the African Union's Agenda 2063). About Motor Industry Retirement Funds and Copartes Pension FundThe Motor Industry Retirement Funds (MIRF) and Copartes Pension Fund (Copartes) have over 250,000 members and assets under management of over R40 billion ($2.4 billion). As the objective of the Funds, the trustees want to see their members retire with sufficient asset to live with dignity in their old age. In achieving this goal, the trustees endeavour to properly invest the Funds' assets to achieve good investment returns, operate the funds cost-effectively so that as much as possible of members' contributions are invested and to provide excellent benefits to the members and their beneficiaries. View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/african-women-impact-fund-launches-with-usd60-million-commitment-to-drive-an-inclusive-investment-environment-301627305.html SOURCE Standard Bank NEW DELHI, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Air India today unveiled its comprehensive transformation plan, to establish itself, once again, as a world-class global airline with an Indian heart - the absolute best in class in customer service, in technology, in product, in reliability and in hospitality. The plan is fittingly titled "Vihaan.AI", which in Sanskrit signifies the dawn of a new era, with identified objectives for Air India over the next 5 years. As part of Vihaan.AI, Air India has put into place a detailed roadmap with clear milestones focussing on dramatically growing both its network and fleet, developing a completely revamped customer proposition, improving reliability and on-time performance, and taking a leadership position in technology, sustainability, and innovation, while aggressively investing behind the best industry talent. Over the next 5 years, Air India will strive to increase its market share to at least 30% in the domestic market while significantly growing the international routes from the present market share. The plan is aimed at putting Air India on a path to sustained growth, profitability and market leadership. Vihaan.AI has been developed after extensive feedback from Air India employees on their aspirations and hopes for the airline's growth. Vihaan.AI focuses on five key pillars, exceptional customer experience, robust operations, industry-best talent, industry leadership, and commercial efficiency and profitability. While the immediate focus of the airline remains on fixing the basics and readying itself for growth (Taxiing Phase), the more medium-to-long term focus will be on building for excellence and establishing scale to become a global industry leader (Take Off & Climb phases). Commenting on Vihaan.AI, Mr. Campbell Wilson, MD, and CEO, Air India said, "This is the beginning of a historic transformation for Air India, and the dawn of a new era. We are laying the foundation for a brave new Air India, with a renewed sense of purpose and incredible momentum. Vihaan.AI is our transformation plan to make Air India the world class airline it once was, and that it deserves to be again. We are absolutely focussed on being recognized as a world-class airline serving global customers, with a proudly Indian heart." Recently Air India announced its first major fleet expansion post its acquisition by the Tata Group earlier this year. Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1874092/Air_India_Logo.jpg View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/air-india-unveils-transformation-plan-vihaanai-301626591.html SOURCE Air India DAVIS, Calif., Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is investing up to $2.8 billion in projects selected under the first pool of the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities funding opportunity. Applicants submitted more than 450 project proposals; 70 were selected for funding. The California Dairy Research Foundation (CDRF), in partnership with more than 20 other dairy organizations, was among the recipients. CDRF's grant partners include California governmental organizations, corporations and cooperatives, universities, producer organizations, environmental organizations, and others. The USDA has established an estimated funding ceiling of $85 million for this project to advance climate-smart dairy farming; the final award will be granted in the coming months. "CDRF is extremely pleased to have received this grant on behalf of the entire collaborative team. The project brings together organizations throughout the value chain to the benefit of our hard-working dairy producers and the environment. We look forward to working with the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), the California Milk Advisory Board (CMAB), Dairy Cares, the universities and others to implement this advanced climate-smart ag project in California's dairy industry," said CDRF's Executive Director Denise Mullinax. Over the next five years, the project, "Partnering to Invest in and Build Markets for California's Climate-Smart Dairy Producers," will work to build climate-smart dairy markets and provide financial incentives for California dairy farmers to adopt climate-smart manure management practices to reduce both methane emissions and nitrogen surplus and will leverage matching funding from non-federal sources. "This funding represents the next critical installment and chapter in California's world-leading dairy methane reduction efforts," said Michael Boccadoro, Executive Director of Dairy Cares. "On-farm projects will be designed to not only reduce methane but will significantly improve water quality outcomes, ensuring broad benefits for our rural farm communities. Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities is part of USDA's broader strategy to position agriculture and forestry as leaders in climate change mitigation through voluntary, incentive-based, market-driven approaches. "Dairy families in California continue to step up to ensure the agriculture sector contributes to climate change mitigation and adaptation," said Karen Ross, Secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture. "The partnership between the State and dairy families has resulted in significant methane emission reductions making California a national and international leader in supporting on-farm livestock methane reductions using climate-smart agricultural management approaches and other environmental benefits, including improved water quality from dairy farms." Other major partners supporting this project are California Department of Food and Agriculture, California Association of Resource Conservation Districts, California Milk Advisory Board, Dairy Cares, California Dairy Campaign, California Dairy Quality Assurance Program, Milk Producers Council, National Milk Producers Federation, Sustainable Conservation, Western United Dairies, California Farm Bureau Federation, University of California, Davis, University of California, Riverside, University of California Cooperative Extension, Truterra, California Dairies, Inc., Challenge Dairy Products, Nestle. About the California Dairy Research Foundation (CDRF) CDRF is an independent nonprofit public benefit foundation whose mission is to lead and deliver the best research and science-based educational and outreach programs to support an innovative and sustainable California dairy industry. For more information about CDRF and the research it supports, visit www.cdrf.org. Contact: Kimberly Yarris, CDRF530.219.4074[email protected] View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/california-dairy-research-foundation-awarded-85-million-from-usda-for-partnerships-for-climate-smart-commodities-project-301627201.html SOURCE California Dairy Research Foundation Survey shows remodels in Salt Lake City rarely go to plan, Dwellify aims to change that SALT LAKE CITY, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Dwellify, a new digital-first kitchen and bathroom home remodeling service, announces today that the service is now available in Utah. New research found that nearly half (43%) of homeowners in Salt Lake City have regretted not working with a professional service when remodeling their home. Dwellify's one-stop-shop process combines features such as a free, AI-powered design quiz, an HD room visualizer tool, and a mobile app to guide homeowners through a step-by-step process for turning design dreams into a reality home remodel from start to finish. The Dwellify Process Dwellify is a project management hub providing updates on expertly curated design recommendations, floor plans, and timelines throughout the process. Homeowners will have direct access to Dwellify and local contractors ensuring clear, stress-free communication. Dwellify Home Transformation Specialists manage the project timeline, purchase materials, secure permits and more, allowing for a more streamlined process. "Dwellify provides expert interior design recommendations, materials sourcing, and client and contractor relations, helping take the guesswork out of what is a traditionally disjointed home remodeling process," said Greg Larson, CEO of Dwellify. "These services ensure that every homeowner feels confident about their design choices, the quality of work, and their financial commitment." Dwellify offers different level pricing packages Original, Plus, and Premium to ensure homeowners can find remodeling solutions that fit their budget. Homeowners working with Dwellify get a firm project budget before demolition that will not increase throughout the process due to accurate estimates made possible by third-party data analytics and 3D measurement capabilities. With HD visualization technology and a custom Dwellify design box to sample material selections, homeowners can see exactly how the materials will look when installed. Dwellify also provides financing options to ensure that customers can achieve their design dreams and pay over a period of time. Salt Lake City Homeowner Survey According to a survey by Wakefield Research for Dwellify of 100 homeowners in Salt Lake City who recently undertook a kitchen or bathroom remodel project, Salt Lake City remodels rarely go to plan. Homeowners are overwhelmed, over budget and out of time, with only 38% feeling completely satisfied with their finished project once it's been completed. Many homeowners underestimate the time and cost of a bathroom or kitchen remodel. Most Salt Lake City homeowners (65%) say their project took longer than expected, and nearly as many (58%) say it also went overbudget, making cost one of the most overwhelming parts of their remodel project for more than two in three (64%). Other key findings include: Homeowners want a hand in the process, but not all the responsibility . Salt Lake City homeowners like to get into the mix, with most (61%) doing some or all the project themselves. While 30% hired professionals for part of the project, 31% did all the work themselves or with family and friends, which may be why 62% of them were less than completely satisfied with the results of their remodel project. . Salt Lake City homeowners like to get into the mix, with most (61%) doing some or all the project themselves. While 30% hired professionals for part of the project, 31% did all the work themselves or with family and friends, which may be why 62% of them were less than completely satisfied with the results of their remodel project. Professional help is valued. Having a professional on hand would alleviate much of the burden homeowners face. Nearly half (43%) wish they had hired some type of professional for an aspect of their project. Having a professional on hand would alleviate much of the burden homeowners face. Nearly half (43%) wish they had hired some type of professional for an aspect of their project. Homeowners want to stick to the plan. With the proliferation of cost and extended timelines, most of the remodel projections did not turn out as planned. Less than half of homeowners (45%) say their remodel was exactly as expected, and more than a quarter (28%) felt they had to settle with the end result. To get a free project estimate or work with Dwellify in Utah, visit dwellify.com. The new Dwellify home remodeling app will be available in the Apple and Android App Stores later this month. About Dwellify: Dwellify is a "one-stop-shop" home remodeling experience, guiding homeowners through a step-by-step process for turning design dreams into their dream home. Dwellify's turnkey technology and design-driven experience combines interior design, materials sourcing, contractor relations and project management, all with a commitment to transparency, reliability, and collaboration. Survey Methodology: Online survey by Wakefield Research for Dwellify to 100 Homeowners in the Salt Lake City DMA and 100 Homeowners in the Phoenix DMA that completed a kitchen or bathroom renovation in the past 2 years. CONTACT: [email protected] View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/dwellify-brings-digital-first-home-remodeling-service-to-utah-homeowners-301625952.html SOURCE Dwellify 2022 is the second consecutive year ERIE's program has been recognized among the industry's best internship opportunities ERIE, Pa., Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Erie Insurance (ERIE) Future Focus internship program has been named to the Rising Insurance Star Executive (RISE) list of the insurance industry's 50 best internship programs in 2022. This is the second consecutive year that ERIE has been honored. ERIE's summer internship program offers opportunities for college students to gain relevant and real-world business experience in the insurance industry and at a Fortune 500 company. "We're excited to be included on the RISE Elite 50 list for the second consecutive year. Our interns often tell us that our program is a premier offering in the industry, and this recognition is certainly a bonus," said JR Wilwohl, talent acquisition partner and ERIE's internship program coordinator. "Year after year, the most impactful feedback comes directly from our interns, who, through an overwhelming response to our end-of-program survey, gave our 'Future Focus' program an average satisfaction rating of 4.8 out of 5 this year." ERIE's internship program, which began more than 20 years ago and has helped launch the careers of hundreds of current ERIE employees, offers paid, competitive internships across several areas of the company. According to Jon O'Camb, talent acquisition manager, ERIE's Future Focus internships are one of the company's largest pipelines for early career talent and ERIE is committed to growing diversity within its talent pool. "Our commitment to celebrating and valuing diversity continues, and our internship program is an extension of that. We're widening our talent pipeline by strengthening relationships with historically Black colleges and universities across ERIE's footprint and working with ERIE's affinity networks and DEI leadership to help further reach diverse candidates," said O'Camb. "Once our interns are hired, we also provide them with multiple opportunities to engage with our company's DEI and community outreach teams and encourage them to become active in ERIE's nine employee affinity networks during their internship with us." In 2022, more than 100 ERIE interns worked in ERIE's IT, Underwriting, Risk Control, Actuarial, Data, Sales & Marketing, Claims, Corporate Services, Customer Service, Finance, Accounting, Internal Audit, Investments and ERIE Experience departments. Rising Insurance Star Executive (RISE) is an industry group founded to help bridge the talent gap by recognizing and advancing the best young talent in the insurance industry. "There is nothing more impactful to building the talent pipeline for the Insurance Industry than our internships," read an announcement of the annual list from RISE. "Companies can test drive talent, learn from fresh perspectives, expose young professionals to their brand, foster leadership in current employees, and the list goes on. Interns gain real world experience, learn about their strengths and weaknesses and gauge whether a job or industry is the right career for them." To learn more about ERIE's Future Focus internship program, visit erieinsurance.com/careers/intern. About Erie Insurance According to A.M. Best Company, Erie Insurance Group, based in Erie, Pennsylvania, is the 11th largest homeowners insurer, 13th largest automobile insurer and 13th largest commercial lines insurer in the United States based on direct premiums written. Founded in 1925, Erie Insurance is a Fortune 500 company and the 19th largest property/casualty insurer in the United States based on total lines net premium written. Rated A+ (Superior) by A.M. Best, ERIE has more than 6 million policies in force and operates in 12 states and the District of Columbia. News releases and more information are available on ERIE's website at www.erieinsurance.com. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/erie-insurance-future-focus-program-recognized-as-a-rise-elite-50-industry-internship-program-301627448.html SOURCE Erie Indemnity Company One Slovenian, one Cypriot and two Greek destinations named on the shortlist for this year's competition BRUSSELS, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the European Commission announced the four shortlisted destinations for the European Destination of Excellence (EDEN) 2023 award. The EDEN initiative rewards the best achievements in sustainable tourism and green transition practices in smaller destinations across Europe. Grevena (Greece), Kranj (Slovenia), Larnaka (Cyprus), and Trikala (Greece) convinced the panel of independent sustainability experts with their applications and were chosen among 20 applicant destinations. The shortlist for the 2023 finalists includes four destinations instead of three, as initially mentioned, because two destinations were awarded the same scores by the independent panel of sustainability experts. Find out more about each of the shortlisted destinations here. The European Destinations of Excellence is an EU initiative, implemented by the European Commission. Its aim is to recognise and reward smaller destinations that have in place successful strategies to boost sustainable tourism through green transition practices. The competition is founded upon the principle of promoting the development of sustainable tourism which brings value to the economy, the planet, and the people. The initiative covers the EU and the non-EU countries participating in the COSME programme.[1] To compete for the 2023 European Destination of Excellence award, destinations were asked to demonstrate their best practices in sustainable tourism and green transition. In the next step, the four shortlisted destinations will be asked to present their candidature in front of the European Jury. The European Jury will select one winner, the European Destination of Excellence 2023, which will be awarded in November 2022. The winning destination will be positioned as a tourism sustainability pioneer committed to the European Green Deal objectives and will receive expert communication and branding support at the EU level throughout 2023. For all the latest news visit the European Destinations of Excellence website. Contact: European Destinations of Excellence Secretariat: Sandra Bumbar-Malchow / Antigoni Avgeropoulou, [email protected], +49 (0) 30 70 01 86 390 Notes to Editors Since 2007, the European Commission has supported EU Member States and other countries participating in the COSME programme to reward non-traditional, emerging sustainable tourism destinations in Europe through the 'European Destination of Excellence" (EDEN) award. This action aimed to foster sustainable tourism destination management models across Europe by selecting and promoting EDEN destinations. To date, 176 destinations from 27 different countries have received the award under different annual themes. In 2019 the "Study on EDEN evaluation" was carried out to assess the continued relevance, effectiveness, efficiency and impact of the EDEN initiative and the various actions implemented in its framework, as well as its coherence with other EU initiatives. Following the results and recommendations of the evaluation study, the European Commission relaunched the initiative, taking into account European Green Deal goals. In addition to the EU countries, it also covers non-EU countries participating in the COSME programme. The competition addresses smaller tourism destinations which can showcase their outstanding achievements in sustainability and inspire other tourism destinations in their green transition. The EDEN Award was implemented first as a pilot project and as a preparatory action initiated by the European Parliament and since 2011 has continued under the CIP/COSME programmes. The 2023 EDEN competition was open to submissions from 31 March 2022 to 1 June 2022. Terms and conditions are available at https://ec.europa.eu/growth/sectors/tourism/eden_en Eligible applications were evaluated against a set of established assessment criteria, by a panel of independent sustainability experts. The shortlisted destinations will be invited to present their candidatures in front of a European Jury. The European Jury will select one European Destination of Excellence 2023. The current 2022 European Destination of Middelfart was selected at the end of 2021 and has since been acting as a role model for sustainable tourism in Europe. Find out more about the 2022 European Destination of Excellence Middelfart here and watch a video about the destination here. [1] Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey, Ukraine, and United Kingdom (https://ec.europa.eu/docsroom/documents/49405). The EU stands in solidarity with the Ukrainian people. Ukrainian cities retain the right to apply to the opportunities offered by the COSME programme. View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/european-destination-of-excellence-2023-shortlist-announced-301627234.html SOURCE European Destination of Excellence Statewide Health Plan Promotes Awareness for Substance-Use Disorder Treatment, Recovery LONG ISLAND CITY, N.Y., Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- With the pressures and challenges individuals face on an everyday basis, substance use/misuse is becoming more common, increasing the risk of addiction. In recognition of National Recovery Month during September, Fidelis Care is promoting awareness for substance-use disorder (SUD) treatments and recovery practices, while recognizing the nation's strong and proud recovery community and the dedication of service providers and communities who make recovery in all its forms possible. HealthierLife, Fidelis Care's Health and Recovery Program (HARP) promotes recovery through support of physical, mental, and social health and well being by helping to remove quality of life roadblocks caused by substance use disorder and mental illness. Members and care coordinators work together to develop a personal plan aimed at allowing each member to pursue the goals that are most important to them. In addition to physical and behavioral health care, services can include getting assistance in gaining life skills, education, and jobs with support from those who also have been in recovery. New York State residents must be 21 or older to join a HARP, be insured only by Medicaid, and be eligible for Medicaid Managed Care. Fatal overdoses in New York have nearly tripled in the last decade, with nearly 85 percent of them linked to controlled substances, including opioids. In 2021, the CDC determined fatal overdoses claimed more than 2,857 lives in New York, with 2,420 attributed to opioids. Substance misuse and dependence are caused by multiple factors, including genetic vulnerability, environmental stressors, social pressures, and more. As the COVID-19 pandemic endures, it is likely that substance use will continue to increase as many people turn to substances as a way to cope with these and other stressors, which can lead to substance use disorder, overdose, or even death. "Fidelis Care is dedicated to increasing substance-use disorder awareness and prevention through HealthierLife (HARP) and educating the public on the causes and challenges those who struggle with substance use disorder face," said HARP Medical Director Celeste Johns, MD. "It takes a community of loving support and access to medical and behavioral health care for an individual to seek out treatments and begin recovery practices. At Fidelis Care, we celebrate and applaud those who take the first step towards recovery and those who are a part of the recovery community today." Because substance-use disorder (SUD) feeds on secrecy and shame, increasing education and awareness and promoting anti-stigma messages from both communities and health providers can help decrease barriers to treatment and normalize the difficulties many experience. SUD impacts individuals of all racial and ethnic groups, and those of varying socioeconomic status. For anyone suffering from substance-use disorder, Fidelis Care offers the tips and guidelines below for seeking recovery or supporting a loved one who is: For those with SUD: Recognize there is a problem and decide to make a change Explore addiction treatment options such as detox assistance, individual or group counseling, medication, or long-term rehab programs Seek support throughout recovery by leaning on family or close friends, making support group meetings a priority, and connecting to community recovery organizations. For caregivers: Talk to loved ones, express concern, and show support Learn about addiction and recovery steps to support loved ones Be patient. Expect recovery but understand it may take many attempts. Maintain hope. Join a support group for families and loved ones For more information about Fidelis Care services and benefits, please visit fideliscare.org. If you or someone you know is experiencing a suicidal, mental health, and/or substance use crisis, dial 988 to reach the National Suicide & Crisis Lifeline 24/7 for local assistance. About Fidelis Care Fidelis Care is a mission-driven health plan offering quality, affordable coverage for children and adults of all ages and at all stages of life. With more than 2.5 million members statewide, Fidelis Care believes that all New Yorkers should have access to affordable, quality health insurance. Follow us on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/company/fidelis-care, on Twitter at @fideliscare, Instagram at @fideliscare, and on Facebook at facebook.com/fideliscare. For more information, call Fidelis Care at 1-888-FIDELIS (1-888-343-3547) or visit fideliscare.org. Contact: [email protected] View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/fidelis-care-shines-light-on-national-recovery-month-301626282.html SOURCE Fidelis Care HONG KONG, Sept. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Fosun International Limited (HKEX stock code: 00656, "Fosun International") said a major international investment bank Morgan Stanley has reiterated its "Overweight" rating on Fosun International with a target price of HK$11.4. In the first half of 2022, Fosun achieved sustainable growth in its revenue, with a total revenue of RMB82.89 billion, representing an increase of 17.7% over the same period in 2021. The company pointed out that after entering the second half of the year, thanks to the Group's long-term adherence to profound industry operations, the financial and operational indicators of companies in multiple segments have rapidly shown signs of a steady recovery. Fosun's Actual Debt is Only RMB100 Billion, Corresponding to Total Assets of RMB270 billion The market is concern about Fosun International's debt situation and believes that Fosun is under the pressure of RMB650 billion debt. According to Fosun International's 2022 interim results, its total assets amounted to RMB849.7 billion and total liabilities amounted to RMB651.3 billion as of 30 June 2022. However, the market's perception of RMB650 billion debt is in fact a confusing statement. This RMB650 billion figure is the consolidated total liabilities of Fosun International and its subsidiaries, including the liabilities of its financial institutions such as insurance companies, banks, etc. However, the liabilities of financial institutions and the commonly referred interest bearing corporate debt are two different concepts. In fact, the consolidated interest bearing debt of Fosun International stands at approximately RMB260 billion only, which also consists of debts of its consolidated listed subsidiaries such as Yuyuan and Fosun Pharma, etc. The repayment obligations of these debts are independently borne by the corresponding listed companies. In other words, the actual debt that is borne by Fosun International is only approximately RMB100 billion, corresponding to total assets of RMB270 billion and net asset value (NAV) of around RMB20 per share. From this perspective, Fosun is not under significant debt repayment pressure. Morgan Stanley Reiterated its "Overweight" Rating on Fosun International with a Target Price of HK$11.4 for the Third Time Morgan Stanley issued a research report on 16 September, the report said that most of Fosun's debt at the consolidated level reported in its recent interim results announcement consists of lending by Fosun's operating subsidiaries. The firm estimated that the debt at the holding company, including onshore debt, offshore debt and bank loans, is much lower. In terms of cash, with a tightening credit market, it is understandable that the company needs to take quick action to convert liquid assets into cash. It is estimated that the cash generated from its recent asset sales, together with its cash on hand is getting closer to being able to repay its near-term debt obligations. Morgan Stanley has therefore reiterated its "Overweight" rating on Fosun International with a target price of HK$11.4. View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/fosuns-debt-stands-at-rmb100-billion-corresponding-to-total-assets-of-rmb270-billion-301626656.html SOURCE Fosun REUENKOGE, Germany, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The two companies GP JOULE PV Canada Corp. and GP JOULE PV USA Inc. were acquired on September 9th, 2022 by the GOLDBECK SOLAR Group. The two companies in the USA and Canada were previously subsidiaries of the German-based GP JOULE Group, a global provider of renewable energy solutions. The purchase by GOLDBECK SOLAR includes the acquisition of the GP JOULE EPC North American team and the use of the brand locally for a limited period. GP JOULE launched its EPC business in North American in 2011. GP JOULE has since become a leading provider of solar EPC solutions throughout Canada and the northern US states. Since 2014, the subsidiaries have built over 200 megawatts (MW) of solar farms in the Canadian provinces of Ontario, Alberta, Nova Scotia and the US states of California, Minnesota and New York. The North American EPC business has a pipeline of more than 500 MW. "We are convinced that we have found the right partner and buyer for our companies in North America in GOLDBECK SOLAR," says Ove Petersen, co-founder and CEO of GP JOULE. "We are placing our EPC business in Canada and the USA, which has developed excellently in recent years, in good hands and can focus even more on our growth in Germany and Europe." GP JOULE has opened offices in Ireland this year as well as in Italy, where it has been active since 2011, as it has been in neighboring France. The energy revolution company acquires, develops, and builds photovoltaic and wind projects in these countries. Moreover, the energy revolution company wants to continue to grow in these countries as well as in its many activities in Germany, where GP JOULE is active across the entire value chain: from electricity generation from renewables to conversion into green hydrogen and heat, to the use of the energy in industries, in households, and in hydrogen and e-mobility. With the acquisition of GP JOULE PV Canada Corp. and GP JOULE PV USA Inc., GOLDBECK SOLAR will expand its position on the American continent. "Our new local team and their expertise are the basis for this strategic step. They understand the culture and the market specifics, and with the new synergies generated, we will be able to continue to provide excellent service to our customers ", says Joachim Goldbeck, Managing Partner of the GOLDBECK SOLAR Group. "With our new colleagues, we have a strong foundation to master the opportunities and challenges of the North American market. The cultural fit of the companies was a fundamental criterion, and we are now looking forward to growing the business together in Canada and the USA." Elemental Energy Inc. Innisfail Solar FarmSOLAR. Image rights: GP JOULE, for use free of charge in connection with the reporting on the acquisition of the two companies GP JOULE PV Canada Corp. and GP JOULE PV USA Inc. by the GOLBECK SOLAR Group. About GP JOULEFounded in 2009 based on the belief that a 100% renewable energy supply is feasible, GP JOULE is now a system provider for integrated energy solutions from solar, wind and biomass power as well as being a partner at the supply level for electricity, heat, hydrogen and electric mobility. GP JOULE is thus a pioneering company in sector cross-linkage. Around 500 people work for the medium-sized group of companies in Germany, Europe and North America. GP JOULE is the winner of the Schleswig-Holstein Business Environment Award 2019 and the German Renewables Award 2020. About GOLDBECK SOLARGOLDBECK SOLAR is an international company specializing in the turnkey construction of commercial roof and ground-mounted photovoltaic systems. The range of services covers the entire value chain, from project development and targeted project financing to the construction and integration of storage technologies, technical operation and asset management of the plants, as well as the direct sale of clean energy. Since 2001, GOLDBECK SOLAR has already developed and implemented more than 2.5 GW of solar parks in 20 countries around the globe. The EPC company also owns a plant portfolio with more than 500 MWp in operation or under construction. In the last five years, GOLDBECK SOLAR has also built up a development pipeline of more than 1.5 GW Press contact GP JOULE GroupJurn KruseCorporate Communications[email protected] Tel. +49 (0) 4671-6074-213Mobile +49 (0) 160-1540265 GP JOULE GmbH Cecilienkoog 16 25821 Reuenkoege View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/gp-joule-focuses-on-the-european-market-and-sells-its-epc-business-in-north-america-301626684.html SOURCE GP JOULE HANGZHOU, China, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Hoymiles today announced a new partnership with Aptos Solar Technology. This partnership will entail bringing one of the highest-performing residential microinverter series to the U.S. market. Yang Bo, Hoymiles founder and CEO, applauds this collaboration as he looks forward to a fruitful partnership with Aptos Solar Technology. "Closing the gap between the endless solar energy and usable solar power has always been what Hoymiles strives for. As we are celebrating our 10th anniversary this year, we are excited to bring solar and microinverters to the next level in the U.S. market together with Aptos. The ten years of hard work and innovation have made us the second top-selling microinverter manufacturer globally, and now, we are going to further tap that potential by making smart energy solutions available to more." "Hoymiles has been a leader in the global microinverter sector since its inception in 2012. It has a proven track record of commercial success and has grown exponentially over the last 10 years. As a result of its superior technologies, it was successfully listed in China's capital market with $875M raised in December 2021. This is just the beginning as its future with Aptos is very bright," states Alex Kim, President of Aptos Solar Technology. "This partnership will create exciting opportunities, not only for us, but for the entire U.S. market." Frank Pham, Co-Founder & Managing Officer at Aptos Solar Technology further explains, "While solar panels are going through constant innovations, microinverters weren't successfully keeping up. A fair amount of energy would be left on the roof from clipping, simply because the panel output was far exceeding the microinverter output. We are bridging this gap with this partnership. In terms of technological advancement, there is no one doing it better than Hoymiles. Our partnership will allow us to bring an affordable top-tier product to our distribution network," The benefits of this new partnership include: 800W 2-in-1 MAC-800 microinverter 400W 1-in-1 MAC-400 microinverter 24/7 microinverter technical support Module level monitoring Over 2GW of micro-inverters deployed across 28 countries Quality-ensured, with defect rate lower than 0.18% and a 25-year warranty About the Microinverter: The high-performance MAC-800 dual unit microinverter is engineered for maximum AC power output when paired with Aptos Solar Technology's high-power solar panels. The MAC-800 is built for simple system integration and is compatible with third-party devices. The MAC-800 is equipped and ready for system monitoring and trend tracking through Aptos Solar Technology's cloud-based software. Benefits of MAC-800: Up to 800W Industry-leading 25-year warranty NEMA6 (IP67) enclosure rated for protection in harsh outdoor conditions Battery integration ready Built-in rapid shutdown feature in compliance with National Electrical Code (NEC) 6,000V surge protection feature About Hoymiles: Present on the market since 2012, today Hoymiles is known as one of the fastest growing microinverter manufacturers in the industry. Its business is centered around MLPE (Module Level Power Electronics), a technology designed to improve and extract even more energy from photovoltaic installations. Hoymiles has three key series of microinverters that enable independent operation of each module and the necessary components. It supplies these products to both global investors and homeowners. In 2015, Hoymiles' microinverter achieved a No. 1 CEC peak efficiency of 96.7%, making it the world's most efficient microinverter. On average, more than 600,000 installations are built worldwide each year using Hoymiles solutions. About Aptos Solar Technology: Founded in 2019, Aptos Solar is a leading solar technology provider, headquartered in Silicon Valley. With over 35 years of industry experience across the solar value chain, Aptos is pushing the boundaries when it comes to solar panel performance, aesthetics, and cost. Aptos Solar Technology brings revolutionary technology advancements to the solar industry designed to empower solar contractors and end users. Their panels feature much more than a sleek design, the panels undergo extensive long-term reliability testing to ensure optimal performance for 30 years. Aptos Solar Technology solar panels have been tested to surpass industry standards by 3X and are proven to perform excellently in extreme weather conditions. The top-tier panels feature an industry-leading 25-year product warranty and a 30-year power performance warranty. Media Enquiries: Joseph Pan[email protected] View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hoymiles-partners-with-leading-solar-technology-provider-aptos-301627112.html SOURCE Hoymiles Power Electronic Inc DUBLIN, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Mallinckrodt plc (OTCMKTS: MNKPF) ("Mallinckrodt" or the "Company"), a global specialty pharmaceutical company, today announced it has appointed Lisa French as Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer, effective October 1, 2022. Ms. French brings more than 30 years of commercial biopharmaceutical experience and will oversee the development and execution of Mallinckrodt's commercialization strategy. Ms. French will serve on the Executive Committee and succeeds Hugh O'Neill, who departed Mallinckrodt as of September 16, 2022. Ms. French most recently built and led the U.S. Women's Health Commercial team for Organon & Co. following its spin-off from Merck. Previously, she held numerous leadership positions at Merck, where she ultimately led all aspects of a multibillion-dollar brand, executed commercial innovation initiatives and oversaw multiple sales teams. Siggi Olafsson, President and Chief Executive Officer, said, "I am delighted to welcome Lisa to Mallinckrodt as our new Chief Commercial Officer and a member of our Executive Committee. Lisa brings decades of commercialization experience, with deep expertise and a proven track record developing and implementing effective and growth-oriented commercialization strategies. I am confident her insights and experience will be invaluable as we continue working to advance our branded pipeline, bring Mallinckrodt's existing products to new markets and geographies and stabilize our portfolio all for the benefit of our patients, shareholders and other stakeholders." Ms. French said, "One of the reasons I was drawn to Mallinckrodt is the Company's focus on innovative, drug development and commercialization for underserved patients with severe and critical conditions. The Company's portfolio benefits from core products with established track records and strong brand recognition. I look forward to working closely with Siggi and the Mallinckrodt team to build on this strong foundation." About Lisa French Ms. French is a commercial biopharmaceutical executive with more than 30 years of experience in U.S. go-to-market commercialization strategy development and operating experience across the therapeutics lifecycle. She most recently served as U.S. Business Unit Lead of Organon & Co.'s Women's Health Franchise, where she led the commercial team. Ms. French previously held positions of increasing responsibility at Merck, where she served as Associate Vice President, U.S. Marketing Lead HPV Franchise; Vice President of U.S. Strategy and Commercial Model Innovation; Executive Director of U.S. Federal Policy; National Executive Director of Commercial Operations Women's Health; National Director of Commercial Operations HIV; Regional Director of Commercial Operations Chronic Care; and Regional Director of Commercial Operations Cardiovascular Care, among other roles. Ms. French holds a B.S. in Biology from West Chester University and completed Harvard Business School's Emerging Leaders and Leadership & Strategy executive programs. About Mallinckrodt Mallinckrodt is a global business consisting of multiple wholly owned subsidiaries that develop, manufacture, market and distribute specialty pharmaceutical products and therapies. The Company's Specialty Brands reportable segment's areas of focus include autoimmune and rare diseases in specialty areas like neurology, rheumatology, nephrology, pulmonology, ophthalmology and oncology; immunotherapy and neonatal respiratory critical care therapies; analgesics; cultured skin substitutes and gastrointestinal products. Its Specialty Generics reportable segment includes specialty generic drugs and active pharmaceutical ingredients. To learn more about Mallinckrodt, visit www.mallinckrodt.com. Mallinckrodt uses its website as a channel of distribution of important company information, such as press releases, investor presentations and other financial information. It also uses its website to expedite public access to time-critical information regarding the Company in advance of or in lieu of distributing a press release or a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) disclosing the same information. Therefore, investors should look to the Investor Relations page of the website for important and time-critical information. Visitors to the website can also register to receive automatic e-mail and other notifications alerting them when new information is made available on the Investor Relations page of the website. CAUTIONARY STATEMENTS RELATED TO FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS Statements in this release that are not strictly historical, including statements regarding Mallinckrodt's future financial condition and operating results, legal, economic, business, competitive and/or regulatory factors affecting Mallinckrodt's businesses, and any other statements regarding events or developments Mallinckrodt believes or anticipates will or may occur in the future, may be "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. There are a number of important factors that could cause actual events to differ materially from those suggested or indicated by such forward-looking statements and you should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements. The "Risk Factors" section of Mallinckrodt's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021, as updated by Mallinckrodt's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended July 1, 2022 and other filings with the SEC identify and describe in more detail the risks and uncertainties to which Mallinckrodt's businesses are subject. The forward-looking statements made herein speak only as of the date hereof and Mallinckrodt does not assume any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events and developments or otherwise, except as required by law. CONTACTS Investor Relations Daniel SpecialeGlobal Corporate Controller and Chief Investor Relations Officer314-302-6567[email protected] Derek BelzVice President, Investor Relations314-654-3950[email protected] MediaMichael Freitag / Aaron Palash / Aura ReinhardJoele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher212-355-4449 Mallinckrodt, the "M" brand mark and the Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals logo are trademarks of a Mallinckrodt company. Other brands are trademarks of a Mallinckrodt company or their respective owners. 2022 09/22. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mallinckrodt-announces-appointment-of-lisa-french-as-chief-commercial-officer-301626594.html SOURCE Mallinckrodt plc LOS ANGELES, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Panasonic Smart Mobility Office brings its latest V2X technology to the forefront of the ITS World Congress conference in Panasonic booth #1259 South Hall at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Panasonic's Connected Intersections Manager is an application on the company's award-winning Cirrus by Panasonic platform, a cloud-based roadway data management system that delivers real-time, actionable situational awareness of roadway conditions to travelers and roadway operators. Traffic congestion impacts safety, costs businesses money, disrupts schedules, and adds CO2 emissions generated from idling vehicles. The Cirrus by Panasonic Connected Intersections solution targets urban locations and enables traffic flow to prioritize emergency first responders, freight vehicles and public transit. The system utilizes two-way communication to activate a traffic signal response to priority vehicles and prevent traffic congestion delays. Panasonic's V2X technology is based on national, open V2X standards to help provide a consistent user experience across different geographical regions and jurisdictions. A combined hardware and software system, Panasonic's Connected Intersections solution helps manage traffic via roadside units installed in key locations and is matched with easily configured vehicle on-board systems. The technology provides a live view of traffic to roadway operators, capturing and communicating roadway situations requiring signal priority to help keep traffic moving. In addition to the exhibit booth, Panasonic Smart Mobility Office experts will be speaking at two different ITS World Congress forums (both events are available to credentialed attendees of the conference): Panasonic will be presenting "Delivering Dynamic, Connected Intersections with V2X Technology" in the ITS World Congress Education Theater on Wednesday 9/21 at 12:30pm PT. Panasonic is also presenting its white paper "A toolkit for measuring connected vehicle project benefits" during TS23: Regulations, Policy and Benefits of CAV in LACC Room 402A on Wednesday 9/21 at 3:00pm PT. "Panasonic's Connected Intersection technology can have a critical, community-wide impact," said Kellen Pucher, head of business development, Panasonic Smart Mobility Office. "Prioritizing intersection traffic can mean the difference between life or death. It can prevent penalties for missing delivery deadlines. It can maintain public transit schedules and clear a path for tow trucks and snowplows to keep traffic moving. And it can help our planet by reducing emissions. Connected Intersection technology is an important solution for growing urban environments." About Panasonic Corporation of North America Newark, NJ-based Panasonic Corporation of North America is a leading provider of Consumer Lifestyle technologies, as well as innovative Smart Mobility, Sustainable Energy, Immersive Experiences, and Integrated Supply Chain solutions. The company is the principal North American subsidiary of Osaka, Japan-based Panasonic Holdings Corporation. One of Interbrand's Top 100 Best Global Brands of 2021, Panasonic is a leading technology partner and integrator to businesses, government agencies and consumers across the region. Learn more about Panasonic's ideas and innovations at na.panasonic.com/us View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/panasonic-showcases-v2x-connected-intersections-technology-that-demonstrates-critical-safety-and-sustainability-impact-at-its-world-congress-2022-301626958.html SOURCE Panasonic Corporation of North America Annual Summit Showcases the "Evolution of Intelligence" WASHINGTON, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Recorded Future, the world's largest intelligence company, today announced the agenda and keynote speaker lineup for Predict 22, being held October 3-5 in Washington D.C. at the historic Watergate Hotel. Focused on the "Evolution of Intelligence," Predict 22 brings together executives and defenders from global organizations to hear from voices within the intelligence community that have directly led to its advancement. The keynote speaker lineup for Predict 22 includes: Lieutenant General James Clapper (ret.) who served over 50 years in various capacities in the U.S. Intelligence Community during seven presidential administrations. who served over 50 years in various capacities in the U.S. Intelligence Community during seven presidential administrations. Bob Woodward , who is most widely known for his reporting of President Richard Nixon's Watergate scandal. , who is most widely known for his reporting of President Richard Nixon's Watergate scandal. Chris Krebs , former Director of the Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and CBS News Contributor. , former Director of the Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and CBS News Contributor. Niloofar Razi Howe , Senior Operating Partner at Energy Impact Partners, and investor and entrepreneur in the technology industry for over 25 years with a focus on cybersecurity. , Senior Operating Partner at Energy Impact Partners, and investor and entrepreneur in the technology industry for over 25 years with a focus on cybersecurity. Kiersten Todt , Chief of Staff at CISA responsible for the planning, allocation of resources, and development of long-range objectives in support of the department's goals and milestones. , Chief of Staff at CISA responsible for the planning, allocation of resources, and development of long-range objectives in support of the department's goals and milestones. Jared Der-Yeghiayan, former Homeland Security Special Agent who led multiple global cyber investigations that led to the shut down of more than eight darknet marketplaces, including the original Silk Road and Silk Road 2.0. Predict 22 will also feature insights from organizations including Home Depot, NOV, Wells Fargo, Amica, Coinbase, and TD Bank. "As part of the mission of our Intelligence Cloud, we are bringing together the visionaries, practitioners and disruptors of the intelligence ecosystem to foster bidirectional communications. It is our core belief that a community of like-minded defenders is vital to defending against common adversaries. Our gathering this year will showcase the intelligence evolution we've witnessed over the decades and promote collaboration for future defenses. Dr. Christopher Ahlberg, CEO and Co-Founder, Recorded Future Predict 22 is open to intelligence analysts, network defenders, cybersecurity leaders and others interested in learning about intelligence-led security. The annual summit will also host regional events in Singapore (November 1-2), Tokyo (November 8-9), and London (November 22). For more information visit: https://www.recordedfuture.com/predict/. Follow #Predict22 on Twitter for real-time updates on this year's presentations. About Recorded Future Recorded Future is the world's largest intelligence company. Recorded Future's Intelligence Cloud provides complete coverage across adversaries, infrastructure, and targets. By combining persistent and pervasive automated data collection and analytics with human analysis, Recorded Future provides real-time visibility into the digital landscape and empowers clients to take proactive action to disrupt adversaries and keep their people, systems, and infrastructure safe. Headquartered in Boston with offices and employees around the world, Recorded Future works with over 1,500 businesses and government organizations across more than 64 countries. Learn more at recordedfuture.com. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/recorded-future-announces-keynote-lineup-for-predict-22-the-intelligence-summit-301626358.html SOURCE Recorded Future Additional new homes in Wisconsin will address lack of affordable housing FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich., Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- RHP Properties (RHP), the nation's largest private owner and operator of manufactured home communities, has announced the acquisition of 50 manufactured home communities, including 41 communities in Wisconsin, seven in Minnesota, and two in Michigan, with plans to add over 500 new manufactured homes in the next five years. This acquisition will make a difference for families, seniors, and others feeling the squeeze of today's housing market "This acquisition will make a difference for thousands of Midwest families, seniors, and others feeling the squeeze of today's housing market," said Ross Partrich, CEO, RHP Properties. "By growing our portfolio and delivering 500 new homes we are reinforcing a central part of our mission to offer homes people can afford in safe, community-focused, and well-managed environments." RHP plans to spend over $7.5 million in the first 18 months of ownership on utility upgrades, roadwork, and amenity upgrades, such as playgrounds and parks to improve infrastructure and lifestyle. The addition of 500 homes will enable more families to enjoy the privacy of a single-family home and the energy efficient features and design of today's manufactured home. "We recognize all that Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan have to offer," added Partrich. "Wisconsin's commitment to economic development and its recent infrastructure investment positions cities across the state for a strong job market, and we're excited to invest and participate in communities where residents have the opportunity to thrive." Founded in 1988, RHP Properties is the nation's largest privately held owner and operator of manufactured home communities with managed assets of more than $6B, including 368 manufactured home communities nationwide, totaling about 79,585 homesites in 30 states. Headquartered in Farmington Hills, Michigan, RHP Properties employs more than 1,000 professionals. For more information visit www.rhp.com. RHP Properties specializes in, and continues to aggressively seek, acquisitions throughout the United States. Owners of manufactured home communities interested in selling to a highly experienced owner and operator should contact Joshua Mermell, senior vice president of acquisitions at 248-626-0737. View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/rhp-properties-announces-purchase-of-50-manufactured-home-communities-in-midwest-totaling-5-232-home-sites-301627484.html SOURCE RHP Properties CHARLOTTE, N.C., Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Todd Ransom, an experienced finance attorney with notable industry recognition, has joined Troutman Pepper's Finance and Restructuring Practice as a partner in Charlotte. He joins the firm from Moore & Van Allen and previously served as assistant general counsel at Bank of America Corp. With both in-house and private practice experience, Ransom brings almost two decades of regulatory knowledge and transactional experience to the table. In his practice, Ransom serves as counsel to financial institutions, including banks, investment banks, hedge funds, private equity funds, direct lenders, and insurance companies, in connection with a wide range of financing transactions. "We are thrilled to welcome Todd to the partnership," said Amie Colby, chair of Troutman Pepper's Regulatory and Finance Department. "His in-house experience at one of the world's largest financial institutions makes him an ideal fit for our department and the clients we serve." In addition to his client work, Ransom is a recognized speaker and author covering a wide range of topics, including margin regulations, pre-foreclosure rights with respect to equity collateral, key issues in equities financing, and forbearance agreement fundamentals. "Todd's established reputation in the Charlotte community and among our existing clients makes him an incredible addition to our firm," said Walter Fisher, managing partner of Troutman Pepper's Charlotte office. "His arrival will expand our client offerings in North Carolina and across the firm." Troutman Pepper's Finance and Restructuring practices help clients across industries navigate a wide variety of sophisticated financing matters and provide clients in distressed situations with creative solutions to resolve crises or prevent them from arising. The firm's finance attorneys handle all aspects of commercial lending and execute transactions involving the full range of financing structures and funding models. "The firm's broad platform and collaborative nature make Troutman Pepper the perfect fit for my practice," Ransom said. "I am delighted to partner with the firm's talented finance and restructuring attorneys to better serve our clients." Ransom earned his J.D. from University of Houston Law Center, and his bachelor's degree from the State University of New York at Plattsburgh. About Troutman Pepper Troutman Pepper is a national law firm with more than 1,200 attorneys strategically located in 23 U.S. cities. The firm's litigation, transactional, and regulatory practices advise a diverse client base, from startups to multinational enterprises. The firm provides sophisticated legal solutions to clients' most pressing business challenges, with depth across industry sectors, including energy, financial services, health sciences, insurance, and private equity, among others. Learn more at troutman.com. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/troutman-pepper-expands-finance-and-restructuring-practice-with-addition-of-partner-todd-ransom-in-charlotte-301627477.html SOURCE Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders LLP "Team Ohio" comprised of The Ohio State University, the State of Ohio, JobsOhio, and One Columbus Selected to Develop Facility to Support World's First-Ever Science Park Devoted to Space PARIS, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Voyager Space (Voyager), today announced it has selected a proposal from The Ohio State University, the State of Ohio, JobsOhio, and One Columbus ("Team Ohio") to locate the terrestrial analog of the George Washington Carver Science Park (GWCSP) at Ohio State in Columbus, Ohio. The GWCSP, established by Voyager and its operating company Nanoracks, is expected to be a core element of Starlab, the companies' proposed commercial space station. In December 2021, Voyager and Nanoracks won a $160 million award from NASA to design Starlab as part of NASA's Commercial Destination Free Flyers (CDFF) effort. The GWCSP is the world's first-ever science park in space, operating today on the International Space Station ("ISS"). The GWCSP leverages a successful terrestrial business model where scientists and industry experts share findings, collaborate, and use new technologies to advance both scientific and commercial endeavors. Together, Team Ohio and Voyager agreed to a two-phase program to realize the development of the GWCSP terrestrial lab. The project is still pending review and approval of incentives from JobsOhio and the Ohio Department of Development. The effort will begin this year with a facility at Ohio State's College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences. Next year, the organizations plan to break ground on a stand-alone facility on the Ohio State Aerospace and Air Transportation Campus, home to The Ohio State University Airport (KOSU), Ohio State's Aerospace Research Center, Knowlton Executive Flight Terminal and Education Center, and a range of corporate, government, and private aviation and aerospace activities. "Ohio is the birthplace of aviation and has a deep-rooted history in aerospace and defense innovation," said Dylan Taylor, Chairman and CEO of Voyager Space. "It's clear that Ohio offers the most beneficial location for a terrestrial facility to support the long-term success and utilization of George Washington Carver Science Park. Company researchers, operators, visionaries, and space change makers in Ohio will have the ability to influence and inspire organizations pursuing aerospace research and development and we are thrilled to be partnering with Team Ohio on this exciting project." Ohio's colleges and universities collectively graduate more than 13,000 engineers and engineering technicians each year. The state is home to more than 110,000 public and private aerospace and aviation professionals, as well as the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Battelle, the NASA Glenn Research Center, the NASA Armstrong Test Facility and the Ohio Unmanned Aircraft Systems Center, which is pioneering innovative technologies to allow drones to fly safely beyond the visual line of sight. "The George Washington Carver Science Park is a wonderful example of the powerful synergies that Ohio offers to commercial space ventures," said Ohio Governor Mike DeWine. "This landmark partnership at the intersection of aerospace and agriculture is extraordinary. Together, we will accelerate transformational aerospace technologies as Ohio continues to lead this nation into the Aerospace Age of the 21st Century." The proposed site of the temporary GWCSP is located within the existing laboratory, classroom, office, and meeting space at the Agricultural Engineering Building on the Ohio State campus. In addition to research, teaching, and service operations, this facility is also home to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service ("ARS") (ars.usda.gov). NASA and USDA have more than 120 joint space agricultural research activities in progress currently. "By collaborating with Team Ohio, Voyager Space is launching one of the most creative public-private partnerships in one of the most sought-after space destinations on this planet," said Dr. John Horack, inaugural holder of the Neil Armstrong Chair in Aerospace Policy in the College of Engineering and John Glenn College of Public Affairs at The Ohio State University. "We know this initial collaborative investment will transform into a broader commercial space research magnet that serves as the primary North American site for the George Washington Carver Science Park." "In my conversations with the Voyager and Nanoracks team, I assured them that Ohio was 100 percent committed to being a leading innovator in aviation and aerospace," said Lt. Governor Jon Husted, Director of InnovateOhio. "This partnership between Nanoracks, Voyager and Ohio State represents a significant step toward leading this nation into on-orbit, human commercial space operations, and the people of Ohio will be playing an important role in the future." "The decision to establish the George Washington Carver Science Park at The Ohio State University provides Voyager/Nanoracks direct access to some of the world's leading research," said J.P. Nauseef, JobsOhio president and CEO. "This commercial space laboratory will be the most advanced of its kind on Earth, bolstered in Ohio by 100,000 university researchers, faculty, staff and students, as well as partnerships between public, private and academic resources that will fuel the innovations that make sustained life in space possible." The research conducted at the GWCSP terrestrial lab will aim to generate positive social, economic, educational, and quality-of-life outcomes for a broad range of constituents, in particular, the Ohio agriculture community. Some of these benefits include research to preserve Ohio's water quality, provide better crop production and improve plant and animal genetics for Ohio's agricultural community. "We have only just begun to scratch the surface of the possibilities and opportunities that await us in the 'final frontier,' and our ability to maximize future exploration hinges on collaboration between scientists and industry experts," says President of The Ohio State University, Kristina M. Johnson. "Locating the terrestrial lab of the George Washington Carver Science Park on Ohio State's campus will be the best possible way to facilitate this joint effort and ensure we are sharing resources, research and knowledge across multiple disciplines." The GWCSP terrestrial lab is set to include high-bay laboratory space, suitable for scientific research experiments that span the entire range of Starlab activities, procedure development, testing, prototyping, and other activities essential on the path to spaceflight research. The George Washington Carver Science Park honors the legacy of the famed American agricultural scientist and inventor who developed hundreds of food products and practical, sustainable farming methods. The George Washington Carver Science Park is the first space-dedicated member of the International Association of Science Parks (IASP), a catalyst for global participation in the space research ecosystem. Additionally, Ohio-based Zin Technologies (ZIN) and the Universities Space Research Association (USRA), a Washington D.C.-based company with a long-standing presence in Ohio, are part of the founding GWCSP leadership team. ZIN is advising on the overall GWCSP in-space lab design and will develop key hardware as needed. USRA will direct and manage the science park, prioritize and schedule research, and oversee scientific lab operations. About Voyager Space Voyager Space is a space technology company dedicated to building a better future for humanity in space and on Earth. With nearly 20 years of spaceflight heritage and over 1500 successful missions as of August 2022, Voyager delivers space station infrastructure and services and technology solutions to commercial users, civil and national security government agencies, academic and research institutions, and more, with the goal to accelerate a sustainable space economy. Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains "forward-looking statements." All statements, other than statements of historical fact, including those with respect to Voyager Space, Inc.'s (the "Company's") mission statement and growth strategy, are "forward-looking statements." Although the Company's management believes that such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cannot guarantee that such expectations are, or will be, correct. These forward-looking statements involve many risks and uncertainties, which could cause the Company's future results to differ materially from those anticipated. Potential risks and uncertainties include, among others, general economic conditions and conditions affecting the industries in which the Company operates; the uncertainty of regulatory requirements and approvals; and the ability to obtain necessary financing on acceptable terms or at all. Readers should not place any undue reliance on forward-looking statements since they involve these known and unknown uncertainties and other factors which are, in some cases, beyond the Company's control and which could, and likely will, materially affect actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. Any forward-looking statement reflects the Company's current views with respect to future events and is subject to these and other risks, uncertainties and assumptions relating to operations, results of operations, growth strategy and liquidity. The Company assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise these forward-looking statements for any reason, or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/voyager-space-announces-george-washington-carver-science-park-terrestrial-lab-to-be-located-at-the-ohio-state-university-301626757.html SOURCE Voyager Space MILPITAS, Calif., Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- XL Construction just celebrated its 30th anniversary as a leading general contractor in Northern California with a 'Vision Launch' event where the company unveiled its long-term plan for enhancing employees' professional development. The day-long celebration on September 16 was attended by 350 employees and held aboard the USS Hornet Sea, Air and Space Museum in Alameda. The event consisted of special presentations and panel discussions focused on empowering employees to leverage the company's rich history and milestones and gain inspiration for the company's and their own bright future. Author and former naval commander Mike Abrashoff delivered a keynote address on developing people and shared personal experiences highlighted in his book, "It's Your Ship." "We view our 30th anniversary as an opportunity to review what we've learned as a company and rededicate ourselves to moving our organization forward for the next 30 years," said XL's CEO Richard Walker. "XL Construction's key differentiator has always been our people and they were the focus of our Vision Launch event." COVID-19 Notwithstanding, an Event Five Years in the Making XL Construction's current vision was conceived during the company's 25th anniversary. At the time, company management decided it needed more than a philosophical guidepost, but a strategic business tool that would help the company gain traction and guide it in long-term planning and day-to-day decisions. "Five years ago, after almost a year of pondering those questions and gathering input from throughout the organization and our most trusted clients and partners, we gained real clarity about becoming an enduring company that makes a difference," said Walker. "We wanted to build upon our success and reputation for being an exceptional partner in delivering challenging projects that support our purpose to improve the lives of our clients and community, while also expanding opportunities for our people." Laying the Groundwork for the Future A key move in preparing for the 30th anniversary initiative was the establishment of XL Construction's Organizational Development Group in November 2021. Headed by company veteran and Senior Vice President Alan Laurlund, the group is charged with fostering a diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) roadmap that better reflects the communities in which the company operates, as well as developing an integrated talent management approach to help employees reach their full career potential. Walker believes that companies in the construction industry too often fall into the trap of over-emphasizing employees' technical skills at the expense of developing critical management and leadership skills. His philosophy is to invest in training individuals to function optimally in their next role, which will further elevate the success of its employees and projects. Recent Milestones At the beginning of 2022, in a planned executive transition, co-founder and long-term CEO Eric Raff stepped down and became executive chairman while Walker, formerly president, was elevated to CEO. The company also opened the doors of a new office in Oakland. Though its opening was delayed due to COVID-19, the new facility serves as a hub in the East Bay, which in addition to its offices in Milpitas and Sacramento, provide a local presence in a key market for the company. Over the last 10 years, the company has also been recognized with more than 70 industry project and Best Places to Work awards, as well as honored as the ENR Contractor of the Year in 2020. About XL Construction XL Construction is a leading general contractor whose mission is to "build to improve lives." XL partners with today's leaders in life sciences, advanced technology, corporate office, civic, healthcare and education to create places that make its communities better. The company's focus and passion for team success has earned it a network of great partners and a reputation for putting people first. XL Construction is consistently ranked among the top general contractors in Northern California. Since 2011, XL has been recognized with 70+ industry awards and honors, including ENR California's 2020 Contractor of the Year and the SF Business Times' #1 Best Place to Work in the Bay Area. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/xl-construction-marks-30th-anniversary-with-vision-launch-event-301627567.html SOURCE XL Construction FORM 6-K SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Washington, D.C. 20549 Report of Foreign Issuer Pursuant to Rule 13a-16 or 15d-16 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 For the month of September 2022 Commission File Number: 001-12568 BBVA Argentina Bank S.A. (Translation of registrants name into English) 111 Cordoba Av, C1054AAA Buenos Aires, Argentina (Address of principal executive offices) Indicate by check mark whether the registrant files or will file annual reports under cover of Form 20-F or Form 40-F: Form 20-F X 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): Yes No X 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): Yes No X 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 X If Yes is marked, indicate below the file number assigned to the registrant in connection with Rule 12g3-2(b): N/A BBVA Argentina Bank S.A. TABLE OF CONTENTS Item Relevant Event BCRA authorizes new Directors Buenos Aires, September 19th 2022 Messrs. Securities and Exchange Commission RE: Relevant Event. BCRA authorizes new Directors. With due consideration: We are pleased to inform, in our capacity as proxies of Banco BBVA Argentina S.A, that our entity has been notified of Resolution No. 355 of the Central Bank of the Argentine Republic dated September 15th, 2022, whereby no observations were made for Messrs. Lorenzo De Cristobal De Nicolas and Gustavo Fabian Alonso to perform as Directors of the Bank. Yours faithfully, BANCO BBVA ARGENTINA S.A. 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, hereunto duly authorized. BBVA Argentina Bank S.A. By: /s/ Ernesto Gallardo Ernesto Gallardo Chief Financial Officer TICKERS: EMO; EMOTF; LLJ Source: Adam Schatzker (9/19/22) "It certainly appears that Romanera could prove to be a significant precious metals deposit," noted a Research Capital Corp. report. Of the three drill holes Emerita Resources Corp. (EMO:TSX.V; EMOTF:OTCMKTS; LLJ:FSE) just reported from the Romanera polymetallic deposit at its IBW project, two "look very good" and are base metal dominant, reported Research Capital Corp. analyst Adam Schatzker in a September 15 ,2022 research note. "In general, the holes appear to be in line with historical results and drilling carried out by Emerita in 2022," Schatzker wrote. Research Capital has a Speculative Buy rating and a CA$3.75 per share target price on Emerita, the current share price of which is about CA$0.80. The analyst summarized the findings with each hole. He described hole LR014 as the best of the trio and standing out for containing greater base than precious metal values. The intercepts began at about 450m downhole, the deepest holes ever drilled at the project, and thus, show the deposit is present at depth. Highlight intercepts include: Upper lens: 15.1 meters (15.1m) grading 0.3% copper, 1.3% lead, 6.6% zinc, 0.13 grams per ton (0.13 g/t) gold, 61.1 g/t silver (precious metals account for 20% of the contained value, according to Research Capital) Lower lens: 6.1m grading 0.3% copper, 2.1% lead, 10.1% zinc, 0.68 g/t gold, 98.4 g/t silver (precious metals account for 26%) Hole LR017 encountered mineralization 60m east of LR014's intercepts. Intercepts in LR017 are "significantly thinner than the average 11.8m intercept drilled by Emerita in 2022," Schatzker noted. Highlight intercepts include: Upper lens: 2.2m grading 0.3% copper, 3.5% lead, 8.3% zinc, 0.13 g/t gold, 27.5 g/t silver (precious metals account for 8.6%) Lower lens: 1.7m grading 6.4% copper, 0.2% lead, 1% zinc, 0.06 g/t gold, 18.7 g/t silver (precious metals account for 3.5%) Unlike LR014 and LR017, hole LR012, drilled in the deposit's center, returned precious metals-laden intercepts, the percentages of contained value of which are higher than the averages of Emerita's drilling (49%) and historical drilling (53.3%). Highlight intercepts include: Upper lens: 16.6m grading 0.3% copper, 1.4% lead, 1.7% zinc, 2.31 g/t gold, 96.8 g/t silver (precious metals account for 69% of the contained value) Lower lens: 6.5m grading 0.3% copper, 0.1% lead, 0.1% zinc, 1.66 g/t gold, 65 g/t silver (precious metals account for 85%) We continue to be impressed by the drill results at Romanera," wrote Schatzker. "It certainly appears that Romanera could prove to be a significant precious metals deposit." Research Capital has a Speculative Buy rating and a CA$3.75 per share target price on Emerita, the current share price of which is about CA$0.80. Want to be the first to know about interesting Gold, Base Metals and Silver investment ideas? Sign up to receive the FREE Streetwise Reports' newsletter. Subscribe Disclosures: 1) Doresa Banning wrote this article for Streetwise Reports LLC and provides services to Streetwise Reports as an independent contractor. She or members of her household own securities of the following companies mentioned in the article: None. She or members of her household are paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: None. 2) The following companies mentioned in this article are billboard sponsors of Streetwise Reports: Emerita Resources Corp. Click here for important disclosures about sponsor fees. As of the date of this article, an affiliate of Streetwise Reports has a consulting relationship with: None. Please click here for more information. 3) Statements and opinions expressed are the opinions of the author and not of Streetwise Reports or its officers. The author is wholly responsible for the validity of the statements. The author was not paid by Streetwise Reports for this article. Streetwise Reports was not paid by the author to publish or syndicate this article. Streetwise Reports requires contributing authors to disclose any shareholdings in, or economic relationships with, companies that they write about. Streetwise Reports relies upon the authors to accurately provide this information and Streetwise Reports has no means of verifying its accuracy. 4) This article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility. By opening this page, each reader accepts and agrees to Streetwise Reports' terms of use and full legal disclaimer. This article is not a solicitation for investment. Streetwise Reports does not render general or specific investment advice and the information on Streetwise Reports should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Streetwise Reports does not endorse or recommend the business, products, services or securities of any company mentioned on Streetwise Reports. 5) From time to time, Streetwise Reports LLC and its directors, officers, employees or members of their families, as well as persons interviewed for articles and interviews on the site, may have a long or short position in securities mentioned. Directors, officers, employees or members of their immediate families are prohibited from making purchases and/or sales of those securities in the open market or otherwise from the time of the decision to publish an article until three business days after the publication of the article. The foregoing prohibition does not apply to articles that in substance only restate previously published company releases. Disclosures For Research Capital Corp., Emerita Resources Corp., September 15, 2022 Analyst Certification: I, Adam Schatzker, certify the views expressed in this report were formed by my review of relevant company data and industry investigation, and accurately reflect my opinion about the investment merits of the securities mentioned in the report. I also certify that my compensation is not related to specific recommendations or views expressed in this report. Research Capital Corporation publishes research and investment recommendations for the use of its clients. Information regarding our categories of recommendations, quarterly summaries of the percentage of our recommendations which fall into each category and our policies regarding the release of our research reports is available at www.researchcapital.com or may be requested by contacting the analyst. Each analyst of Research Capital Corporation whose name appears in this report hereby certifies that (i) the recommendations and opinions expressed in this research report accurately reflect the analysts personal views and (ii) no part of the research analysts compensation was or will be directly or indirectly related to the specific conclusions or recommendations expressed in this research report. Adam Schatzker has visited Emerita Resources Corp. in the past 18 months. 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Potential Conflicts of Interest: All Research Capital Corporation ("RCC") Analysts are compensated based in part on the overall revenues of RCC, a portion of which are generated by investment banking activities. RCC may have had, or seek to have, an investment banking relationship with companies mentioned in this report. RCC and/or its officers, directors and employees may from time to time acquire, hold or sell securities mentioned in our Research Reports as principal or agent. RCC makes every effort possible to avoid conflicts of interest, however readers should assume that a conflict might exist, and therefore not rely solely on this report when evaluating whether or not to buy or sell the securities of subject companies. RCC USA: Information about Research Capital Corporations Rating System, the distribution of our research to clients and the percentage of recommendations which are in each of our rating categories is available on our website at www.researchcapital.ca. The information contained in this report has been drawn from sources believed to be reliable but its accuracy or completeness is not guaranteed, nor in providing it does Research Capital Corporation assume any responsibility or liability. Research Capital Corporation, its directors, officers and other employees may, from time to time, have positions in the securities mentioned herein. Contents of this report cannot be reproduced in whole or in part without the express permission of Research Capital Corporation. US Institutional Clients Research Capital USA Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Research Capital Corporation, accepts responsibility for the contents of this report subject to the terms and limitations set out above. US firms or institutions receiving this report should effect transactions in securities discussed in the report through Research Capital USA Inc., a Broker Dealer registered with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). SAN DIEGO More than a half dozen former crewmembers of the USS Bonhomme Richard gave testimony on the first day of the arson trial of a young sailor Monday, describing a harrowing, chaotic scene as they confronted an inferno on the Navy warship with shoddy equipment. With the thick black smoke quickly enveloping the ship, many said it was difficult to know what was going on. Now more than a year later, several of them who testified at the court martial of 21-year-old Ryan Sawyer Mays said that they are struggling to recall details from that July 12, 2020 morning, posing a challenge to the prosecution. The prosecution has presented no physical evidence proving the 21-year-old sailor set the USS Bonhomme Richard on fire, something the defense has highlighted. Key witnesses also have changed their stories or their testimonies have contradicted each other, including on Monday. According to prosecutors, Mays was an arrogant sailor angry about being assigned to deck duty after failing to become a Navy SEAL and he made the Navy pay in a big way. "Your honor, it was a mischievous act of defiance gone wrong," Cmdr. Leah O'Brien told the judge during opening statements for the prosecution at Naval Base San Diego. Mays' military defense counsel, Lt. Tayler Haggerty, countered in her opening remarks that it's the Navy who is wrong. Haggerty said investigators concluded Mays did it before the probe was complete and then ignored evidence and witness accounts that didn't fit into that narrative so they could find a scapegoat for the loss of a billion-dollar ship that was mismanaged by senior officers. Once investigators pinned the blame on Mays, who was known for being sarcastic and flippant, "nothing else mattered," Haggerty said. "Just because the government eliminates, ignores pieces of evidence, it doesn't mean the court should," she told the court. Haggerty told the judge by the end of the trial, which is supposed to last two weeks, "you will exonerate this sailor and find him not guilty of both charges." Mays is charged with aggravated arson and the willful hazarding of a vessel. He has denied any wrongdoing. He waived his right to a jury and has put his fate in the hands of the Navy judge, Capt. Derek Butler. The July 2020 blaze burned for nearly five days and sent an acrid smoke over San Diego, damaging the amphibious assault ship so badly that it had to be scuttled. It marked one of the worst noncombat warship disasters in recent memory. About 115 sailors were on board, and nearly 60 were treated for heat exhaustion, smoke inhalation and minor injuries. The Navy warship's former fire marshal became emotional Monday when asked by the prosecution to recall what he did that day. He took a moment before responding. "I'm still trying to work through this in therapy myself," Petty Officer Jeffrey Garvin told the court at Naval Base San Diego. "I apologize." Later, he repeated, "I can't remember a lot." Defense lawyers say investigators brushed aside the fact that lithium batteries were stored next to highly combustible material such as cardboard boxes, in violation of ship protocol. The prosecution said one sailor told investigators he saw Mays go down to the ship's lower vehicle storage area before the fire broke out there, while another sailor who escorted Mays to the brig said she overheard Mays say he did it. The defense said he was being sarcasstic after denying any wrongdoing during over 10 hours of questioning by investigators. The defense said investigators, meanwhile, dismissed details that pointed to another sailor, who was later fired from the Navy. Several former crewmembers testified Monday that the lower vehicle storage area was filled with bottles, tools, generators, tractors and other equipment while the ship was undergoing a two-year, $250 million upgrade pier-side in San Diego. Navy leaders disciplined more than 20 senior officers and sailors in connection with what it described as widespread leadership failures that contributed to the disaster. The Navy spread blame across a wide range of ranks and responsibilities and directly faulted the ship's three top officers. While investigators said Mays set the fire, a Navy report last year concluded that the inferno was preventable and unacceptable, and that there were lapses in training, coordination, communications, fire preparedness, equipment maintenance and overall command and control. The failure to extinguish or contain the fire led to temperatures exceeding 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit in some areas, melting sections of the ship into molten metal that flowed into other parts of the ship. Retired Navy Capt. Lawrence B. Brennan, an adjunct professor at Admiralty and International Maritime Law Fordham Law School, said the prosecution has its work cut out for it. "There are questions about identification of the people in the vicinity of the fire and possible causes other than arson," he said in an email to The Associated Press. "Moreover, the conflagration and firefighting efforts damaged, if not destroyed, the crime scene and crucial evidence." This article first appeared in the Vietnam edition of Pacific Stars and Stripes, Nov. 10, 1968. It is republished unedited in its original form. The images were all taken by Stars and Stripes photographer Kim Ki Sam July 15, 1968, but did not accompany the article when it was originally published. Operation Sea Dragon ran from Oct. 25, 1966, to Oct. 31, 1968. SAIGON The Navys Sea Dragon breathed a fiery farewell to the North Vietnamese coast last week. Sea Dragon is the nickname given to the navys operation aimed at cutting off enemy supply traffic in the Gulf of Tonkin. It ended last Friday night when the U.S. halted bombardment of North Vietnam. Destroyers and cruisers of the 7th Fleet had patrolled waters off the North Vietnamese coast continuously since Oct. 1966, in search of boats, barges and sampans moving south. In Feb. 1967, the ships began firing on inland targets, including storage areas, base camps and traffic routes. The destroyers Mansfield and Hanson the first ships ordered to Sea Dragon duty were fired on twice by enemy shore batteries during the first day of the operation. They returned the fire gun sites were their only targets in North Vietnam at the time to begin a two-year duel with enemy shore gunners. One U.S. destroyer was reported hit in her forward gun mount by enemy shells in March, 1967. Six sailors were injured, and the mount knocked out of use. Sea Dragon ships hit at least 90 gun sites in the north this year. Hundreds of other targets bridges, trucks, ferries, piers, roads, wharves, military structures and troop concentration among them were blasted by the forces five, six and eight-inch shells. Navy spokesmen point to the first three months of Sea Dragon to indicate the operations effectiveness. In that period, 1,378 supply craft were sighted and 664 were reported hit. During the Christmas 1966 standdown, spokesmen said more than 500 enemy supply boats were spotted moving along the coast. There has been no official indication as to whether the Reds have again stepped up traffic now that the destroyers, cruisers and the battleship New Jersey have moved south along with the aircraft carriers. Last Friday the final day for Sea Dragon the destroyers Purvis and Isbell came under enemy fire, but were not hit. The ships pumped shells back at the gun sites and called in jet strikes. One site was reportedly destroyed. The Sea Dragon had won the last duel. Want more of Stars and Stripes historic content? Subscribe to Stars and Stripes historic newspaper archive. We have digitized our 1948-1999 European and Pacific editions, as well as several of our WWII editions and made them available online. Russias imperious president, Vladimir Putin, may have just endured his worst week since the collapse of the Soviet Union, which he says was the greatest tragedy of the 20th century. His vaunted army, including a tank force once considered one of Russias best, collapsed in the face of a Ukrainian offensive in eastern Ukraine. Some Russian soldiers fled after ditching their uniforms and donning civilian clothes they stole from homes, according to local residents. In southern Ukraine, Russian units defending the strategic city of Kherson struggled to hold their positions against persistent Ukrainian attacks. Putin even faced what sounded like tough questioning from his most important ally, Chinas President Xi Jinping. We understand your questions and concerns about Ukraine, he told Xi at a summit meeting in the central Asian city of Samarkand, Uzbekistan. When Putin ordered his army to invade Ukraine in February, he saw a historic opportunity to reassemble the core of the Soviet Union and appeared to anticipate a rapid victory. That plan failed when Ukraine, bolstered by Western military aid and U.S. intelligence, halted Russias attempt to seize its capital, Kyiv. Now Putins Plan B, the conquest of eastern and southern Ukraine, is teetering on the edge of failure as well. Some cheerleaders have hailed Ukraines victory at Izium, an important railway junction in the east, as the turning point of the war. Thats premature. Russia holds about one-fifth of Ukraines territory and has more troops it can deploy, although their quality is uncertain. Despite the euphoria, this aint over yet, Alexander Vershbow, a former U.S. ambassador to Russia, told me last week. Putin is obviously furious that his commanders have failed but that doesnt mean hell give up. He can still escalate in many ways. So what can we expect from Putin now? Vershbow offered a forecast. Putin wont capitulate; that would mean the end of his rule. He likely will intensify the death and destruction Russia has inflicted on Ukraines civilians. Putins career has been marked by success in wars waged against weaker opponents. He came to power in 1999 by ordering a midwinter siege of Grozny, capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya, in a savage war to suppress Muslim separatists. In 2008, he sent the army into neighboring Georgia; in 2014, he sent troops into eastern Ukraine and annexed the Crimean Peninsula. In those wars, his forces often inflicted casualties on civilians as a deliberate tactic. His approach in Ukraine has fit the same pattern. It just hasnt worked as well against a well-led, well-trained and well-equipped opponent. Were going to see a further escalation of brutality, Vershbow said. Theyve already launched heavy bombing of civilian infrastructure. ... Some (Russian) officials say they want to drive millions of Ukrainians out of the country. Putins goal, he said, is to turn this back into a war of attrition and hope that over time, war weariness drives the Ukrainians to quit. To accomplish that, some of Putins hawkish supporters have demanded a full mobilization, meaning a draft to replenish the army and a formal declaration of war. But Putin aides have said conscription is not being considered. The government has continued to reassure Russians that this is a limited special military operation and has even prohibited describing it as a war. Hes still desperately trying to avoid mass mobilization, Vershbow said. A draft would send protesters into the streets in Moscow. Even then, it takes months and months to train new troops. Michael Kofman, a Russia expert at CNA, a defense think tank, suggested that Putin might opt for a partial mobilization, extending current soldiers enlistment contracts and drafting recent veterans with needed skills. Partial mobilization is possible, but they may be lousy troops, Vershbow said. As for nuclear, chemical or biological weapons, most military and foreign policy experts say Putin is unlikely to use them unless his survival is directly at stake. The problem with most of the escalatory options, up to and including nukes, is that they may simply unify Europe, cast Putin himself as a Hitlerian monster and accelerate Western weapons supplies to Ukraine, said Stephen Sestanovich, a former National Security Council official now at Columbia University. Putins other hope is to win the war not on the battlefield but in Western Europe, where Moscow has cut the supply of natural gas to squeeze Germany and other consuming countries that have sent weapons to Ukraine. So far, the energy war has had surprisingly little effect. One recent poll found that 70% of Germans support continued aid to Ukraine, despite climbing gas prices. In the United States, the Gallup Poll found a similar level of support, 76%. The real test, however, will come this winter, when the need for gas to heat homes will spike. On both fronts, Putin hopes that inflicting pain on noncombatants can bring him victory. He believes Russians are better fighters than Ukrainians and more resilient in winter than Europeans or Americans. The challenge for the West is to prove him wrong. Doyle McManus is a columnist for the Los Angeles Times. President Joe Biden on Sunday for the second time this year said U.S. troops would help defend Taiwan in case of a Chinese invasion, further casting doubt on the United States policy of strategic ambiguity regarding the island democracy. Biden in an interview broadcast on CBS 60 Minutes said the U.S. remains committed to the One China policy that acknowledges Beijings claim over Taiwan but considers the islands status unresolved. However, in the case of an unprecedented attack, U.S. troops would intervene, the president said. An unnamed White House spokesman later said official U.S. policy toward China and Taiwan has not changed, CNBC reported Monday. Bidens statement mirrored a similar one he made during his first presidential visit to Japan in May, when he told a reporter that the U.S. would militarily defend Taiwan. A White House official at the time also said that official policy toward the island had not changed. Beijing considers Taiwan, which split from China in 1949, a breakaway province that must be reunified with the mainland. Chinese officials, in a white paper released in August, said they would not renounce the use of force to reclaim Taiwan and that the option of using all necessary measures is reserved. Taiwans Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded Monday to Bidens comments and thanked the U.S. government for its rock-solid security commitment to Taiwan. China had not responded to the Biden interview as of Monday afternoon. His remarks come just over a month after U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Aug. 3 became the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit Taiwan in a quarter century, a visit that prompted Beijing to launch a weeklong series of military drills that effectively encircled the island. Tensions have remained high between China and Taiwan since then, with near-daily incursions by Chinese aircraft and ships into the waters and airspace near Taiwan, according to reports from the island's Ministry of National Defense. Bidens recent comments may indicate a steady shift from the strategic ambiguity policy thats meant to deter China and Taiwan from escalating the conflict by leaving the possibility of U.S. intervention uncertain, according to James Brown, an international affairs expert at Temple Universitys Japan campus. The U.S. leadership has decided that greater clarity is needed to deter an attack by [China] on Taiwan, Brown wrote Monday in an email to Stars and Stripes. Yet, at the same time, Washington wants to minimize criticism that it is itself proving a crisis. Conversely, Bidens statements in May and on Sunday could be an attempt to reinforce ambiguity, according to Jeff Kingston, a professor of history and Asian studies at Temple. Americas position on Taiwan has always been strategic ambiguity, and the White House seems to be going this one step further to clarifying but then re-blurring [its position], he told Stars and Stripes in an email Monday. Kingston compared Bidens statements to Chinas practice of entering the territorial waters of disputed island chains in the South China Sea, which he said are attempts to normalize that particular action. In a way, you can say that Biden and his counterparts in Japan have made similar efforts to make it clear that Taiwan is a red line, he said, referring to former Prime Minister Shinzo Abes comments in December that a Chinese invasion of Taiwan could prompt a military response from Japan. CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea The Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group is scheduled to make a routine port visit this week at Busan, South Korea, according to a news release from U.S. Naval Forces Korea. The strike group and the South Korean navy are expected to train together sometime soon, a South Korean navy public affairs officer told Stars and Stripes by phone Monday. South Korean officials customarily speak to media under the condition of anonymity. Strike group personnel will also be allowed to meet with their South Korean counterparts through cultural exchanges while in port, according to the Navy statement. U.S. and South Korean military leaders are scheduled to host a news conference on Friday announcing the strike groups arrival. It was expected to arrive a day earlier but is being delayed due to inclement weather, the South Korean navy said in a press release Monday. The aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan left its homeport, Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, on Sept. 12 after a three-week pause in its annual deployment for resupply and maintenance. The strike group previously exercised with Japanese forces and the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln. The strike group includes the USS Chancellorsville, a Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser, and the USS Benfold, an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer. The strike group last made a port call at Busan in 2017 after a five-day exercise with South Korean forces. The drills came one month after North Korea conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test and the same year that then-President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un traded verbal threats of fire and fury. The latest scheduled visit comes three days after an Extended Deterrence Strategy and Consultation Group meeting between senior U.S. and South Korean military officials. In a joint statement released Friday, the Defense Department and the Ministry of National Defense expressed serious concern over North Koreas escalatory and destabilizing messaging related to nuclear weapons use. The United States reiterated its ironclad and unwavering commitment to draw on the full range of its military capabilities, including nuclear, conventional, missile defense, and other advanced non-nuclear capabilities, to provide extended deterrence for [South Korea], the joint statement said. North Korea has fired more than 30 missiles in 18 rounds of tests so far this year. U.S. and South Korean military officials have also said the communist regime is fully prepared to conduct its seventh nuclear test, a possibility fueled by Pyongyangs recent move to codify its intent to produce nuclear weapons. U.S. and South Korean forces conducted several joint drills in recent months and telegraphed their military alliance. In July, F-35A Lightning II stealth fighters from both countries trained together for the first time. The U.S.-South Korean joint statement referred to the strike group deployment and the F-35 exercise as a clear demonstration of U.S. commitment. The United States is committed to strengthen coordination with [South Korea] to continue to deploy and exercise strategic assets in the region in a timely and effective manner to deter and respond to [North Korea] and enhance regional security, the statement said. LONDON For U.S. President Joe Biden, it was the crumpets. For his wife, first lady Jill Biden, it was the tea. Joe and Jill Biden on Sunday helped honor Queen Elizabeth II by sharing memories of their tea time last year when she invited them to join her at Windsor Castle, near London. The president, who said after that 2021 visit that Elizabeth reminded him of his late mother, recalled Sunday that she kept offering him crumpets. He did not refuse. I kept eating everything she put in front of me, he said. But she was the same in person as ... her image: decent, honorable, and all about service. The queen, who was Britains longest-serving monarch, died earlier this month after a 70-year reign. Biden is among hundreds of heads of state and other dignitaries who are in London to attend her state funeral service Monday at Westminster Abbey. The first lady told The Associated Press in a telephone interview after she and the president attended a reception at Buckingham Palace that what really impressed me about the queen was just how warm and gracious she was. I loved her sense of curiosity. She wanted to know all about American politics and so she asked Joe question after question, Jill Biden said. She said sitting in Elizabeths living room was almost like being, you know, with your grandmother. And she said, Let me pour the tea, and we said, No, no, let us help, and she said Oh, no, no, no, Ill get this. You sit down, Jill Biden said. And it was just a very special moment with a very special woman. The Bidens paid their respects to the queen on Sunday by traveling to Westminster Hall, where she has been lying in state, to stand before the monarchs coffin in the presence of thousands of mourners who had spent hours upon hours waiting to file past. They then signed condolence books at Lancaster House before going to Buckingham Palace for a reception hosted by King Charles III and other royal family members for the world leaders who flew in for the funeral. After signing the book, Biden said his his heart goes out to the royal family because the queen's death has left it with a giant hole. Sometimes you think you'll never, you'll never overcome it, said Biden, who often speaks in very personal terms about loss following the death of his first wife and infant daughter, and later an adult son. But as Ive told the king, shes going to be with him every step of the way every minute, every moment. And thats a reassuring notion. While viewing the coffin on Sunday, the first lady said, she watched a little boy dressed in a Boy Scout uniform come in and give the queen a three-finger salute. I mean, it just gave me a lump in my throat, she said, and showed how much the people really loved their queen, no matter their ages." President Biden wrote in the condolence book that the queen "was admired around the world for her unwavering commitment to service. The first lady signed a separate condolence book for spouses and ambassadors, writing Queen Elizabeth lived her life for the people. She served with wisdom and grace. We will never forget her warmth, kindness and the conversations we shared. In the interview, Jill Biden cautioned that there's a human piece to the queen's death. Speaking of Charles, she said: He is the king, but no one should forget, he lost his mother and, you know, Prince William lost a grandmother. Sometimes we tend to forget the really human piece of this and the sorrow that they ... have to bear and how they have to grieve in public. But they seem to be doing OK," she said. More than 2,000 people were expected at Westminster Abbey for Monday's funeral. Mobile units able to maneuver quickly around NATOs eastern flank could be preferable to permanent bases with large numbers of U.S. troops in the Baltics, top allied commanders said over the weekend after talks in Estonia. I dont think we need (a) brigade-size unit permanently here in Estonia, Lt. Gen. Martin Herem, commander of Estonias defense forces, said Saturday in Tallinn. I dont think its efficient. Herem said NATO is looking at the types of units needed to reinforce countries on Russias periphery, moves that come in the wake of the unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine that began Feb. 24. U.S. Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley and other allied defense chiefs were in Estonia for two days of talks, which concluded Saturday. Milley traveled on to Poland, where he met with U.S. troops Sunday at an undisclosed military base that is assisting in the transport of weapons to Ukraine. Milley cautioned that recent Russian setbacks in the war mean that U.S. troops will need to be vigilant, given Moscows unpredictability. The war is not going too well for Russia right now, so its incumbent upon all of us to maintain high states of readiness, alert, Milley told Reuters on Sunday. In Estonia, the military chiefs were focused on NATOs efforts to shore up allied defenses. While proponents of permanent bases say large American units, such as armored brigades, would serve as a powerful deterrent to Russian aggression in Poland and the Baltics, there are downsides to the idea, some allied military officials contend. Dutch Adm. Rob Bauer, chairman of the NATO military committee, told reporters Saturday that the best option is one that gives commanders more flexibility. And if you have fixed forces in all the countries, for example, then the enemy, your opponent, will always look where it is, where theres a weak spot and attack there, Bauer said. During NATOs June summit in Madrid, members agreed to take steps to expand the number of military units positioned along its eastern flank. For its part, the U.S. said it would enhance rotational deployments to the Baltic region with a mix of armored, aviation, air defense and special operations forces. In Madrid, allies also backed a series of moves to increase the size of NATOs quick-reaction force from 40,000 to 300,000. During talks Saturday, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said improvements her country is making will allow for more troop rotations. Since January, we have made significant investments to increase our ammunition stocks, improve existing capabilities and develop new ones, upgrade infrastructure to host allies and expand training areas, she said. Germany may secure supplies of liquefied natural gas from the United Arab Emirates in the coming days as part of the countrys push to offset Russias moves to slash supplies. Chancellor Olaf Scholz is likely to sign delivery contracts during a two-day trip to the Middle East, Economy Minister Robert Habeck said on Monday, indicating that talks are well-advanced especially with the UAE. The gas supply is gradually broadening and the government is permanently in talks with many countries, also with nations on the Arabian peninsula, Habeck said. The chancellor is traveling next week to the UAE and will certainly be able to sign some contracts for LNG there. But its not only the UAE, its other countries, African countries, he said during a press conference in Lubmin on Germanys Baltic coast. In that way, well close the hole that the lack of Russian gas has ripped open. Scholz also plans to travel to Saudi Arabia and Qatar on the trip, which starts Saturday. Energy cooperation is high on his agenda, government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said at a regular news conference in Berlin on Monday. A deal with the UAE could be a boost for Scholz as the government struggles to offset Russian deliveries after the Kremlin shut down a key pipeline. Officials have grown increasingly concerned about blackouts and rationing this winter. Germany and Qatar have been in talks about possible LNG shipments since Russia invaded Ukraine in February. There have been no signs of a breakthrough in the negotiations so far. Negotiations with one of the worlds biggest LNG exporters have been especially difficult, according to German government officials. They have described Qatars strategy as playing hardball over the price and duration of potential agreements. Discussions with gas suppliers in Europe and North America have proven similarly complex, underlining the uphill struggle Scholz and his government face in sealing short-term supplies to help Europes biggest economy avoid shortages this winter. Scholzs first stop on his trip will be to Saudi Arabia, where hell meet with the king as well as Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the countrys de facto ruler. On Sunday, hell be in the UAE and Qatar, before returning to Berlin in the evening. The German leader will be accompanied by a high-ranking business delegation, Hebestreit said, without giving further details. Germanys Economy Ministry said Thursday that a first test delivery of green hydrogen from the UAE had arrived in Hamburg, part of a push to establish a comprehensive hydrogen value chain between Germany and the UAE. The pilot delivery lays an important foundation for medium-term imports of hydrogen, which will then also be green, the ministry said in an emailed statement. While Saudi Arabia isnt an LNG exporter, its investing billions of dollars in blue and green hydrogen. The country has also come under pressure from Europe and the U.S. this year to pump more oil and bring down prices after their surge in the wake of Russias war in Ukraine. BERLIN Germany's defense minister says her country will provide Ukraine with four additional self-propelled howitzers and ammunition. Christine Lambrecht said Monday that the 10 howitzers already supplied by Germany and eight from the Netherlands "have proven themselves in battle." "Ukraine is full of praise of the system and has expressed a desire for more howitzers," she said. "In order to further support Ukraine in its brave fight against the brutal Russian attack, Germany will grant this request." Lambrecht said the Panzerhaubitze 2000 model howitzers recently underwent refurbishment. ABOARD THE OPEN ARMS UNO The Spanish charity Open Arms has rescued 372 people seeking to cross the central Mediterranean to Europe in unseaworthy smugglers' boats and recovered the corpse of a man who had been shot by smugglers, officials said Sunday. The rescue ship Open Arms Uno remained at sea and is seeking a safe port for the rescued people, including some who need medical attention and many who are suffering from dehydration, said Laura Lanuza, an Open Arms spokeswoman. She said they have made at least two requests for a safe port in Malta. In all, the ship performed three rescues in 24 hours. In the largest rescue, the Open Arms picked up 294 people, mostly Egyptians, from an overcrowded barge in waters south of Malta in an nighttime operation that spanned nearly five hours before dawn Sunday. Those rescued said they had been at sea for four days. The packed boat had been spotted by volunteer pilots combing the Mediterranean for people in distress, and a photo showed its decks packed with people waving for help. Before that, the Open Arms rescued 59 migrants from Syria, Egypt, Sudan and Eritrea, among them 10 minors, from an oil platform they had reached in international waters near Tunisia. Still in the flimsy smugglers' boat was the wrapped body of a migrant who had been shot on shore by smugglers, Lanuza said. "The smugglers forced the people to take the corpse with them. They spent a day or so at sea, and kept the corpse until they were saved,'' Lanuza said. On Saturday morning, the Open Arms rescued 19 people from a rubber dinghy in off Libya in international waters. They included 16 people from Syria. An Associated Press photographer on board the Open Arms said during each rescue, desperate people flung themselves into the water, complicating the operation. MOSCOW A top Russian security official declared Monday on a visit to China that the Kremlin considers beefing up ties with Beijing as a top policy goal. Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of the national Security Council chaired by Russian President Vladimir Putin, described the "strengthening of comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation with Beijing as an unconditional priority of Russia's foreign policy." Patrushev is one of Putin's closest associates. Speaking during a meeting with Guo Shengkun, a top official of China's Communist Party, he said "in the current conditions, our countries must show even greater readiness for mutual support and development of cooperation." Patrushev's office said in a terse statement after the talks in the Chinese city of Nanping that the parties agreed to "expand information exchanges on countering extremism and foreign attempts to undermine the constitutional order of both countries in order to derail independent policies of Russia and China serving their national interests." The Chinese and Russian officials also emphasized a need to expand cooperation on cybersecurity and strengthen contacts between their law enforcement agencies on fighting terrorism. The statement didn't offer any further details of prospective cooperation. Putin met with Chinese President Xi Jinping last week in Uzbekistan, their first encounter since the Russian leader sent troops into Ukraine in late February. A Chinese government statement issued after the meeting didn't specifically mention Ukraine but said Xi promised "strong support" for Russia's "core interests." Beijing uses "core interests" to describe issues such as national sovereignty and the ruling Communist Party's claim to Taiwan, over which it is willing to go to war. Xi's government, which said it had a "no-limits" friendship with Moscow before the Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, has refused to criticize Russia's military actions. China and India both have increased their imports of Russian oil and gas, helping Moscow offset Western sanctions imposed over its actions in Ukraine. During his meeting with Xi on Thursday, Putin praised China's president for maintaining a "balanced" approach to the Ukrainian crisis and said he was ready to discuss Beijing's "concerns" about Ukraine. Putin's rare mention of Chinese worries came as the impact of volatile oil prices and economic uncertainty due to almost seven months of fighting in Ukraine has caused anxiety in China. Xi and Putin met on the sidelines of the eight-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a security alliance created as a counterweight to U.S. influence that also includes India, Pakistan and four ex-Soviet nations in Central Asia. KYIV, Ukraine Pro-Russian officials in the two self-declared separatist republics in eastern Ukraine pleaded Monday for urgent votes calling on Moscow to immediately annex the territories, a sign of apparent panic that the Kremlins war in Ukraine is failing. The appeals from authorities in the Luhansk and Donetsk peoples republics came as Ukrainian forces continued to extend their gains of recent days, having already pushed Russian troops out of most of the northeast Kharkiv region. Access to the front line by journalists is restricted. But there were reports that Ukrainian troops had pushed into the city of Lysychansk in the Luhansk region, and also of fighting around the city of Slovyansk in the Donetsk region indications that Russia was at imminent risk of losing territory it had previously controlled in the eastern Donbas region. In a statement published on the website of the Luhansk Peoples Republics public chamber, the deputy head of the chamber, Lina Vokalova, called for a public referendum to approve annexation and said the vote would fulfill our dream of returning home to the Russian Federation. A similar message came from the pro-Kremlin puppet authorities in Donetsk. It is time to erase the nonexistent border between our countries, as it has long been erased in our hearts, and to conduct a referendum on the question of the DPR becoming part of Russia, the Donetsk public chamber head Aleksander Kofman said. Before launching his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February, Russian President Vladimir Putin had formally recognized the independence of the two areas. Russian officials have also discussed staging referendums in Ukrainian territories they have seized during the war, but many of those plans have been cast into uncertainty by Kyivs recent military gains. In Moscow, some pro-war propagandists who have been pushing for Russia to hit back harder in Ukraine cheered the calls for annexation. Today a referendum, tomorrow recognition as part of the Russian Federation, wrote Margarita Simonyan, chief editor of the RT television network. The day after tomorrow strikes on the territory of Russia become a full-fledged war between Ukraine and NATO with Russia, untying Russias hands in all respects. Ukrainian officials accused Russia of nuclear terrorism on Monday after a rocket reportedly hit just hundreds of yards from the reactors at Ukraines second-largest nuclear power plant, disabling three high-voltage electricity lines and a hydropower unit. Energoatom, Ukraines national nuclear power company, said that a powerful explosion occurred about 300 yards from the reactors of the South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant, near the city of Yuzhnoukrainsk, just after midnight on Monday, sending shock waves that damaged buildings and shattered more than 100 windows. Details of the rocket strike, which Energoatom reported on its Telegram channel, could not be independently verified. But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky posted a short video of what appeared to be footage of the strike taken from a closed-circuit camera, along with photos of the damage. Russia endangers the whole world, Zelensky wrote in his Telegram post. We have to stop it before its too late. Russia did not immediately comment on the allegation. Fears that Russias war in Ukraine could cause a nuclear catastrophe had focused so far on the countrys largest atomic energy station, in Zaporizhzhia, where all six reactors have now been shut down. Repeated shelling and fires had disconnected the Zaporizhzhia plant from the national electricity grid, requiring emergency measures to prevent essential cooling procedures from being interrupted. Before the war, Ukraine had four working nuclear power plants, which accounted for nearly half of the countrys electricity production. A team of inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency visited the Zaporizhzhia plant this month, and the agencys director general, Rafael Mariano Grossi, has called for the establishment of a nuclear safety and security protection zone around the facility, which is in territory occupied by Russian forces. On Saturday, Grossi reported that the Zaporizhzhia plant had been reconnected to the national electrical grid but that three of four power lines were still cut. The general situation for the plant located in the middle of a war zone remains precarious, he said. The South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant is away from the front-line fighting, about 250 miles west of the Zaporizhzhia plant, and so faces somewhat less risk. The rocket strike appeared to be part of a barrage of attacks on civilian infrastructure that Russia unleashed following its messy retreat from the Kharkiv region. The Kremlins top spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, pushed back Monday against new allegations of war crimes by Russian troops, which emerged in recent days in Izyum and other Ukrainian cities liberated in Kharkiv. Ukrainian officials have been documenting evidence of potential atrocities, including killings, sexual assaults and torture. This is the same scenario as in Bucha, Peskov said in his daily conference call, referring to the Kyiv suburb where atrocities were discovered in April after Russian forces were repelled. This a lie, Peskov continued, adding that Russia would defend the truth in this whole story. The grisly discovery in Izyum of a burial site of 445 unmarked graves, and a mass grave containing the bodies of 17 Ukrainian soldiers, have set off renewed calls for Russian troops, military commanders and officials to be prosecuted for war crimes. Russias chaotic retreat from Kharkiv has revealed deep weaknesses in its armed forces, with analysts and experts saying that it would be difficult if not impossible for Russia to recapture the liberated territories without a full-scale military mobilization and national draft. Putin has come under increasing pressure over the war, including a stunning public reprimand delivered last week by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Uzbekistan. At the same summit, Putin acknowledged questions and concerns about the war from Chinese President Xi Jinping. At home, Putin is being squeezed by right-wing hawks who are demanding that he hit back harder at Ukraine and declare a national draft, and from the left by critics of the war, who seem increasingly willing to brave the risk of arrest and prosecution for speaking out. In a surprising development, Alla Pugacheva, 73, a Russian pop icon who rose to fame in Soviet times and is particularly beloved by older people, publicly voiced her opposition to the war on Sunday. In a post on Instagram, where she has 3.4 million followers, Pugacheva asserted that Russians were dying needlessly for illusory aims. The Washington Posts Robyn Dixon, Mary Ilyushina and Natalia Abbakumova in Riga, Latvia, contributed to this report. THE HAGUE, Netherlands Iran told the United Nations' highest court on Monday that Washington's confiscation of some $2 billion in assets from Iranian state bank accounts to compensate bombing victims was an attempt to destabilize the Iranian government and a violation of international law. In 2016, Tehran filed a suit at the International Court of Justice after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled money held in Iran's central bank could be used to compensate the 241 victims of a 1983 bombing of a U.S. military base in Lebanon believed linked to Iran. Hearings in the case opened Monday in the Hague-based court, starting with Iran's arguments. The proceedings will continue with opening statements by Washington on Wednesday. At stake are $1.75 billion in bonds, plus accumulated interest, belonging to the Iranian state but held in a Citibank account in New York. In 1983, a suicide bomber in a truck loaded with military-grade explosives attacked U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, killing 241 American troops and 58 French soldiers. While Iran long has denied being involved, a U.S. District Court judge found Tehran responsible in 2003. That ruling said Iran's ambassador to Syria at the time called "a member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and instructed him to instigate the Marine barracks bombing." The international court ruled it had jurisdiction to hear the case in 2019, rejecting an argument from the U.S. that its national security interests superseded the 1955 Treaty of Amity, which promised friendship and cooperation between the two countries. "The freedom of navigation and commerce guaranteed by the treaty have been gravely breached," Tavakol Habibzadeh, head of international legal affairs for Iran, told the 14-judge panel Monday. A 2012 U.S. law ordered the bank to hand over the assets to the families of those killed in the Beirut bombing. A U.S. court concluded the attack, which struck barracks for service members conducting peacekeeping operations during Lebanon's civil war, was carried out by Iranian agents supported by the Hezbollah militant group. Iran claims it was not involved in the attack. Habibzadeh said Monday that the U.S has created an "industry of litigation" against Iran and Iranian companies in an effort to undermine the regime. The seizure was just one maneuver "aiming to destabilize Iran and the Iranian government," Habibzadeh said. The two countries have had no diplomatic relations since the 1979 U.S. Embassy takeover by militant students in Tehran. The pair have a second case pending before the ICJ over the same obscure treaty. Tehran filed an unrelated complaint with the court in 2018 after former president Donald Trump re-imposed sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program. In response, the U.S. withdrew from the treaty entirely. The hearings come as Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi headed on Monday to New York, where he will be speaking to the U.N. General Assembly later this week. Talks between Iran and world powers over reviving a 2015 deal to curb Iran's nuclear activities remain stalled. Tehran and Washington have traded written responses in recent months on a roadmap that would see sanctions lifted against Iran in exchange for restricting its rapidly advancing nuclear program. JERUSALEM Israel's prime minister on Monday vowed to begin production at a contested Mediterranean natural gas field "as soon as it is possible," threatening to raise tensions with Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group. Yair Lapid's announcement came at a sensitive time in long-running efforts by a U.S. mediator to resolve a dispute over the countries' maritime border. U.S. officials have said they are making progress, but need more time to reach a solution. Lapid said it is "both possible and necessary" to reach an agreement with Lebanon, which he said would benefit both countries and "strengthen regional stability." But he said that production from the Karish gas field is not connected to the negotiations and "will commence without delay, as soon as it is possible." Israel set up a gas rig at Karish in June, saying the field is part of its U.N.-recognized exclusive economic zone. Lebanon insists Karish is in disputed waters. In July, the Israeli military shot down three unarmed Hezbollah drones flying over the Karish field. Hezbollah's leader issued a warning to Israel over the maritime dispute, saying that "any arm" that reaches to steal Lebanon's wealth "will be cut off." The heavily armed Hezbollah, which fought a monthlong war against Israel in 2006, has repeatedly said in the past that it would use its weapons to protect Lebanon's economic rights. Still, Hezbollah officials have said they would endorse a deal reached between Lebanon's government and Israel. Israel considers Hezbollah to be one of its greatest threats. The two countries, which have been officially at war since Israel's creation in 1948, both claim some 330 square miles of the Mediterranean Sea. Lebanon hopes to unleash offshore oil and gas production as it grapples with the worst economic crisis in its modern history. Some census takers who falsified information during the 2020 count didn't have their work redone fully, weren't fired in a timely manner and in some cases even received bonuses, according to the U.S. Commerce Department's watchdog group. The findings released Friday by the Office of Inspector General raise concerns about possible damage to the quality of the once-a-decade head count that determines political power and federal funding, Off-campus students at colleges and universities were likely undercounted since the census started around the same time students were sent home to stop the spread of COVID-19 in March 2020, the review found. During the 2020 census, The Associated Press documented cases of census takers who were pressured by their supervisors to enter false information into a computer system about homes they had not visited so they could close cases during the waning days of the census. Supervisors were able to track their census takers' work in real time through mobile devices that the census takers used to record information about households' numbers, demographic characteristics and members' relationships to one another. As a result, supervisors would get alerts when actions raised red flags about accuracy, such as a census taker recording data on a home while far away from the address or a census taker conducting an interview in just a few minutes. As a quality control check, others census takers were sent back to homes to re-interview residents. The Inspector General's probe concluded that some alerts weren't being properly resolved, some re-interviews weren't properly conducted and that the work of some census takers whose work had been flagged for falsifying data had not been reworked to fix its accuracy. In fact, some census takers whose work was flagged for falsifications were given more cases, weren't fired and were reassigned to other operations, the report said. Of the 1,400 census takers who were designated "hard fails" because questions about the accuracy of their work, only 300 were fired for misconduct or unsatisfactory performance. Of the 1,400 "hard fail" census takers, 1,300 of them received bonuses ranging from $50 to $1,600 each, the report said. The census is the largest nonmilitary mobilization in the U.S. Data gathered during the census determines how many congressional seats each state gets. The numbers also are used for redrawing political districts and distributing $1.5 trillion in federal spending each year. Because of that, undercounts can cost communities funding. The 2020 census faced unprecedented challenges including the pandemic, natural disasters and political interference from the Trump administration. In response to the Inspector General's report, the Census Bureau said it appreciated the concerns that were raised but disagreed with the conclusions that data quality may have been damaged since the report cited only a small number of cases out of the overall workload. "As a result, we asserted that the findings could not and should not be presented as a conclusive assessment of overall census quality," Census Bureau Director Robert Santos said in the written response. Under Census Bureau rules, college and university students should have been counted where they spent the most time, either at on-campus housing or off-campus apartments, even if they were sent home because of the pandemic. Most schools didn't provide the Census Bureau with off-campus student data, and the bureau had to use a last-resort, less-accurate statistical tool to fill in the information gaps on more than 10% of the off-campus student population when they were given the information, the Inspector General's report said. Schools often didn't provide the data because they didn't have information on off-campus students or because of privacy concerns. The Inspector General recommends passage of legislation that would require schools to provide needed information in future head counts. "Although difficult to quantify, the fiscal implication of specifically undercounting off-campus students at the correct location for states and localities is potentially far-reaching," the report said. The city of Boston, which is home to Northeastern University, Boston University and several other schools, said in a challenge to its census figures that the count missed 6,000 students. Social-media-savvy climate scientists have something else to worry about besides the fallout from rising global temperatures. A loose coalition of conspiracy theorists, libertarians and conservative groups some with fossil-fuel ties have gone after those who have provided fact checks used to counter misleading claims circulating on sites such as Facebook and TikTok. The climate researchers, who often volunteer their time, have faced lawsuits designed to drain resources and dissuade their work as well as requests seeking voluminous records from the public institutions that employ them a tool often used by journalists and others to investigate public agencies. The researchers say the public records that are divulged as a result of the requests are sometimes then used to challenge or smear their work and are ultimately intended to muzzle them. They make a point of going after the fact-checkers because, in addition to stopping regulation, they also want to prevent or discourage climate scientists from doing things that might educate the public, said Lauren Kurtz, executive director at the Climate Science Legal Defense Fund. Kurtzs organization provides legal assistance to the researchers, and she said 2022 has been the busiest year yet. Doug MacMartin is just one of the funds recipients. Last fall, while he juggled washing the dishes and entertaining his newborn son at home, complete with flecks of vomit on his shirt, a stranger rang the doorbell and served him with a lawsuit. The plaintiff, Dane Wigington, runs a website called GeoEngineering Watch, which is dedicated to exposing global climate engineering, or the use of technologies to alter weather systems. Wigington made a conspiracy-theory-filled documentary, called The Dimming, on the same topic. Among its claims is that condensation trails behind airplanes were actually dangerous chemicals being disbursed by the government to alleviate global warming. MacMartin described the documentary as pure fantasy on the fact-checking website Climate Feedback, which TikTok and Facebook employ to assess the accuracy of science-related posts. Wigington claims that MacMartins comments prompted Facebook to limit the visibility of his documentary, curbing its reach and the amount of revenue it generated. He sought $75,000 in damages, not from Facebook or Climate Feedback but from MacMartin himself. I mostly felt disbelief, MacMartin recalls. A bit of shock combined with, I just dont have time for this. Researchers have been hit with lawsuits and Freedom of Information Act requests from their public employers seeking voluminous records, which then are used, sometimes out of context, to undermine their work, the researchers say. In a little more than a decade, Kurtzs group has helped 240 researchers fend off lawsuits and other types of challenges from opponents, including dozens involving fighting what they believe are requests for records that are meant for intimidation, according to Kurtz. The fund normally helps about 40 scientists a year but has already assisted 35 in 2022, she said. Public records requests, and the data they sometimes unearth, have been a key tool for both sides on the climate change issue, used to hold utility companies accountable but also by climate skeptics to extract information that could discredit a climate scientist. Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at UCLA who often speaks publicly about wildfires and droughts in the Western United States, recalled his own frustrating experience dealing with a public records request. A group called Energy Policy Advocates sent a records request to UCLA seeking emails, text messages and private encrypted messages related to a fact check by Swain and others of a Wall Street Journal review of the book Unsettled: What Climate Science Tells Us, What It Doesnt, and Why It Matters, by Steven Koonin, an undersecretary for science in the Energy Department under President Barack Obama. Swain attempted to challenge the request with a university lawyer, complaining of the presumptive intent of disrupting primary research and outreach activities by inundating climate scientists with requests. A representative for the records department, while sympathetic, responded that the requesters motivations were irrelevant and that they were bound by law to provide the information. I spend nights and weekends compiling and going through thousands and thousands of emails because these requests are extremely broad, he said. In some cases theyre essentially open-ended. Theyre asking about multiple years, multiple keywords and multiple platforms. Swain, who receives regular death threats and hate mail, said he is secure enough in his job that he plans to continue speaking out against what he believes are bogus climate claims. But he said not everyone has that luxury. I think some folks view this as, Why would I voluntarily make this harder for myself? he said. Emmanuel Vincent, a French climate scientist who runs Paris-based Climate Feedback, said volunteer researchers and paid staff members who conduct fact checks receive harassing emails daily. Climate Feedback is contracted by Facebook and TikTok to advise when a post should be removed or partially blocked, part of a broader effort to curb the spread of false information. The nonprofit group is embroiled in two lawsuits from subjects of their fact checks, he said. Earlier this year, for instance, the organization was sued by libertarian journalist John Stossel, who is seeking more than $2 million from it and co-defendant Meta Platforms. Among Stossels claims is that Facebook limited the visibility of his video about the 2020 California wildfires named Government Fueled Fires because Facebook and Climate Feedback fact-checkers falsely attributed to Stossel a claim he never made, and on that basis flagged the content as misleading and missing context, according to the lawsuit. In an interview, Stossel dismissed the idea that the suit would intimidate scientists. Instead, he said it was focused on forcing Facebook to reconsider the labels it had placed on his videos. Stossel said part of his legal fees were being funded by wealthy individuals but declined to disclose their names. Climate Feedback is an activist group that wants people to be hysterical about climate change, he said. Among the groups filing the most public records requests and lawsuits are Energy Policy Advocates, which sought Swains records, and a related group, Government Accountability and Oversight. They go by the acronyms EPA and GAO, the same acronyms used by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Government Accountability Office. According to their websites, the two organizations have brought hundreds of public-access records requests to agencies and public universities that employ climate scientists, including some who have helped conduct fact checks on Climate Feedback. Government Accountability and Oversight states on its website that it seeks to educate the public, using litigation and open-records laws, about public resources being used to promote a specific agenda on environmental and energy policy. Its co-founder, Christopher Horner, is an author whose books include Red Hot Lies: How Global Warming Alarmists Use Threats, Fraud and Deception to Keep You Misinformed. He and his organization have ties to the energy sector. Horner has received payments from fuel company Alpha Natural Resources, and Government Accountability and Oversight was given at least $300,000 from coal mining company Murray Energy, according to bankruptcy filings. The payment to Government Accountability and Oversight was previously reported by the Intercept. Alpha Natural Resources declined to comment, while Murray Energy didnt respond to a request to comment. Government Accountability and Oversight provided Energy Policy Advocates, which it shares a principal officer with, with at least $40,000 in funding in its early stages. One of Energy Policy Advocates board members, Michael Gardner, is a lawyer who has worked for several coal mining companies, according to its website. (Energy Policy Advocates has also sought public records referencing Mike Bloomberg, the founder of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP, related to his philanthropys funding of positions in state attorneys general offices to fight actions that undermine climate change, clean energy and environmental protection. A representative for Bloomberg declined to comment.) Rob Schilling, Energy Policy Advocates executive director, said his organization focuses on what public records say about the way certain actors are using the publics trust and the publics money. We think the public deserves to know how the government came to be used for a particular agenda, he said in an email. Greenpeace uses similar methods, Schilling said, adding that Energy Policy Advocates work is modeled after the environmental group. He declined to answer other questions submitted by Bloomberg. Horner didnt respond to a request for comment. Told of Schillings remark, Tim Donaghy, research manager at Greenpeace USA, said, Whether they copied our FOIA methods or not, they sure missed the boat on basic science. It is absurd for them to compare themselves to Greenpeace we are trying to protect people and the planet, he said. They are trying to prop up a dying industry. FOIA is shorthand for Freedom of Information Act request. Koonin, whose work was criticized by Swain and others, has previously accused Climate Feedbacks fact-checkers of suppressing open discussion. He said Swain and others criticized his work based on a review in the Wall Street Journal, not the book itself. The fact check was a pretty sloppy job, unworthy of a group of senior academics, he said in an email, adding that he didnt know Energy Policy Advocates or Government Accountability and Oversight. Peter Neff, an assistant research professor at the University of Minnesota who is better known as Icy Pete to his 195,300 TikTok followers, found out that Energy Policy Advocates had requested his records while on vacation with his family last year. Neff, a fact-check volunteer at Climate Feedback since 2016, said he was instructed to turn over all his communications in the past year mentioning Emmanuel Vincent. Neff didnt have any explosive emails to share. But he said other scientists often take contrary positions when debating with colleagues just the kind of thing that can be taken out of context and used against them. Its enough to make you think twice about how you interact with the public, like youre taking on a personal liability potentially for just speaking on what we are experts in, he said. For his part, MacMartin spent 10 months grappling with Wigingtons lawsuit but recently got some good news. On Sept. 1, a federal court judge in California threw out Wigingtons case. Wigington said he plans to appeal. The Pentagon has ordered a sweeping audit of how it conducts clandestine information warfare after major social media companies identified and took offline fake accounts suspected of being run by the U.S. military in violation of the platforms' rules. Colin Kahl, the undersecretary of defense for policy, last week instructed the military commands that engage in psychological operations online to provide a full accounting of their activities by next month after the White House and some federal agencies expressed mounting concerns over the Defense Department's attempted manipulation of audiences overseas, according to several defense and administration officials familiar with the matter. The takedowns in recent years by Twitter and Facebook of more than 150 bogus personas and media sites created in the United States was disclosed last month by internet researchers Graphika and the Stanford Internet Observatory. While the researchers did not attribute the sham accounts to the U.S. military, two officials familiar with the matter said that U.S. Central Command is among those whose activities are facing scrutiny. Like others interviewed for this report, they spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military operations. The researchers did not specify when the takedowns occurred, but those familiar with the matter said they were within the past two or three years. Some were recent, they said, and involved posts from the summer that advanced anti-Russia narratives citing the Kremlin's "imperialist" war in Ukraine and warning of the conflict's direct impact on Central Asian countries. Significantly, they found that the pretend personas employing tactics used by countries such as Russia and China did not gain much traction, and that overt accounts actually attracted more followers. Centcom, headquartered in Tampa, has purview over military operations across 21 countries in the Middle East, North Africa and Central and South Asia. A spokesman declined to comment. Air Force Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, said in a statement that the military's information operations "support our national security priorities" and must be conducted in compliance with relevant laws and policies. "We are committed to enforcing those safeguards," he said. Spokespersons for Facebook and Twitter declined to comment. According to the researchers' report, the accounts taken down included a made-up Persian-language media site that shared content reposted from the U.S.-funded Voice of America Farsi and Radio Free Europe. Another, it said, was linked to a Twitter handle that in the past had claimed to operate on behalf of Centcom. One fake account posted an inflammatory tweet claiming that relatives of deceased Afghan refugees had reported bodies being returned from Iran with missing organs, according to the report. The tweet linked to a video that was part of an article posted on a U.S.-military affiliated website. Centcom has not commented on whether these accounts were created by its personnel or contractors. If the organ-harvesting tweet is shown to be Centcom's, one defense official said, it would "absolutely be a violation of doctrine and training practices." Independent of the report, The Washington Post has learned that in 2020 Facebook disabled fictitious personas created by Centcom to counter disinformation spread by China suggesting the coronavirus responsible for covid-19 was created at a U.S. Army lab in Fort Detrick, Md., according to officials familiar with the matter. The pseudo profiles active in Facebook groups that conversed in Arabic, Farsi and Urdu, the officials said were used to amplify truthful information from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about the virus's origination in China. The U.S. government's use of ersatz social media accounts, though authorized by law and policy, has stirred controversy inside the Biden administration, with the White House pressing the Pentagon to clarify and justify its policies. The White House, agencies such as the State Department and even some officials within the Defense Department have been concerned that the policies are too broad, allowing leeway for tactics that even if used to spread truthful information, risk eroding U.S. credibility, several U.S. officials said. "Our adversaries are absolutely operating in the information domain," said a second senior defense official. "There are some who think we shouldn't do anything clandestine in that space. Ceding an entire domain to an adversary would be unwise. But we need stronger policy guardrails." A spokeswoman for the National Security Council, which is part of the White House, declined to comment. Kahl disclosed his review at a virtual meeting convened by the National Security Council on Tuesday, saying he wants to know what types of operations have been carried out, who they're targeting, what tools are being used and why military commanders have chosen those tactics, and how effective they have been, several officials said. The message was essentially, "You have to justify to me why you're doing these types of things," the first defense official said. Pentagon policy and doctrine discourage the military from peddling falsehoods, but there are no specific rules mandating the use of truthful information for psychological operations. For instance, the military sometimes employs fiction and satire for persuasion purposes, but generally the messages are supposed to stick to facts, officials said. In 2020, officers at Facebook and Twitter contacted the Pentagon to raise concerns about the phony accounts they were having to remove, suspicious they were associated with the military. That summer, David Agranovich, Facebook's director for global threat disruption, spoke to Christopher C. Miller, then assistant director for Special Operations/Low Intensity Conflict, which oversees influence operations policy, warning him that if Facebook could sniff them out, so could U.S. adversaries, several people familiar with the conversation said. "His point" one person said, "was 'Guys, you got caught. That's a problem.' " Before Miller could take action, he was tapped to head a different agency the National Counterterrorism Center. Then the November election happened and time ran out for the Trump administration to address the matter, although Miller did spend the last few weeks of Donald Trump's presidency serving as acting defense secretary. With the rise of Russia and China as strategic competitors, military commanders have wanted to fight back, including online. And Congress supported that. Frustrated with perceived legal obstacles to the Defense Department's ability to conduct clandestine activities in cyberspace, Congress in late 2019 passed a law affirming that the military could conduct operations in the "information environment" to defend the United States and to push back against foreign disinformation aimed at undermining its interests. The measure, known as Section 1631, allows the military to carry out clandestine psychologic operations without crossing what the CIA has claimed as its covert authority, alleviating some of the friction that had hindered such operations previously. "Combatant commanders got really excited," recalled the first defense official. "They were very eager to utilize these new authorities. The defense contractors were equally eager to land lucrative classified contracts to enable clandestine influence operations." At the same time, the official said, military leaders were not trained to oversee "technically complex operations conducted by contractors" or coordinate such activities with other stakeholders elsewhere in the U.S. government. Last year, with a new administration in place, Facebook's Agranovich tried again. This time he took his complaint to President Biden's deputy national security adviser for cyber, Anne Neuberger. Agranovich, who had worked at the NSC under Trump, told Neuberger that Facebook was taking down fake accounts because they violated the company's terms of service, according to people familiar with the exchange. The accounts were easily detected by Facebook, which since Russia's campaign to interfere in the 2016 presidential election has enhanced its ability to identify mock personas and sites. In some cases, the company had removed profiles, which appeared to be associated with the military, that promoted information deemed by fact-checkers to be false, said a person familiar with the matter. Agranovich also spoke to officials at the Pentagon. His message was: "We know what DOD is doing. It violates our policies. We will enforce our policies" and so "DOD should knock it off," said a U.S. official briefed on the matter. In response to White House concerns, Kahl ordered a review of Military Information Support Operations, or MISO, the Pentagon's moniker for psychological operations. A draft concluded that policies, training and oversight all needed tightening, and that coordination with other agencies, such as the State Department and the CIA, needed strengthening, according to officials. The review also found that while there were cases in which fictitious information was pushed by the military, they were the result of inadequate oversight of contractors and personnel training - not systemic problems, officials said. Pentagon leadership did little with the review, two officials said, before Graphika and Stanford published their report on Aug. 24, which elicited a flurry of news coverage and questions for the military. The State Department and CIA have been perturbed by the military's use of clandestine tactics. Officers at State have admonished the Defense Department, "Hey don't amplify our policies using fake personas, because we don't want to be seen as creating false grass roots efforts," the first defense official said. One diplomat put it this way: "Generally speaking, we shouldn't be employing the same kind of tactics that our adversaries are using because the bottom line is we have the moral high ground. We are a society that is built on a certain set of values. We promote those values around the world and when we use tactics like those, it just undermines our argument about who we are." Psychological operations to promote U.S. narratives overseas is nothing new in the military, but the popularity of western social media across the globe has led to an expansion of tactics, including the use of artificial personas and images sometimes called "deep fakes." The logic is that views expressed by what appears to be, say, an Afghan woman or an Iranian student might be more persuasive than if they were openly pushed by the U.S. government. The majority of the military's influence operations are overt, promoting U.S. policies in the Middle East, Asia and elsewhere under its own name, officials said. And there are valid reasons to use clandestine tactics, such as trying to infiltrate a closed terrorist chat group, they said. A key issue for senior policymakers now is determining whether the military's execution of clandestine influence operations is delivering results. "Is the juice worth the squeeze? Does our approach really have the potential for the return on investment we hoped or is it just causing more challenges?" one person familiar with the debate said. The report by Graphika and Stanford suggests that the clandestine activity did not have much impact. It noted that the "vast majority of posts and tweets" reviewed received "no more than a handful of likes or retweets," and only 19 percent of the concocted accounts had more than 1,000 followers. "Tellingly," the report stated, "the two most-followed assets in the data provided by Twitter were overt accounts that publicly declared a connection to the U.S. military." Clandestine influence operations have a role in support of military operations, but it should be a narrow one with "intrusive oversight" by military and civilian leadership, said Michael Lumpkin, a former senior Pentagon official handling information operations policy and a former head of the State Department's Global Engagement Center. "Otherwise, we risk making more enemies than friends." The Washington Post's Alice Crites contributed to this report. (Tribune News Service) A mysterious creature estimated at 15 feet in length was seen undulating in waters off a city park in Edgewater, Fla., and even video is not helping with a quick identification. Joe Tiller reports he was on the water with his wife, April, when they recorded the monster Sept. 9 in the Indian River North at Menard-May Park. Edgewater is about 60 miles northeast of Orlando. He thought it was a very big manatee, but something wasnt quite right. In these waters, its not very uncommon to see them, Tiller told McClatchy News. This one looked very different! It had huge muscles like shoulders on a bull! It was as if it was rolling its shoulders like a bear under water! We did not see any fur, or head, or hands and feet. Tiller, a boat maker with Boston Whaler, says he has lived in the area 5 years and has never seen anything like it. He estimated the creature was 12 to 15 feet long and it was grunting. The sight were so disconcerting, the couple decided to steer clear of the hulk as it headed toward a nearby channel, he said. Tiller shared his video Sept. 9 with the Birds and Wildlife in Florida Facebook group and asked for help identifying the creature. His video has since been viewed nearly 70,000 times, with no clear answer. Guesses have ranged from a manatee (struggling at low tide) to a black bear crossing the river. Others called it just plain scary and didnt offer a guess. I cant find any video online that shows manatees to look like this with rolling shoulders, Tiller said. The shoulders were terrifying and very powerful looking! Never have I seen a manatee look or act like this! McClatchy News shared Tillers video with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which is having a marine life expert review the footage for a possible identification. Manatees, also known as sea cows, are aquatic mammals native to Florida, and they typically grow to 10 feet and around 1,000 pounds, FWC reports. However, some as big as 13 feet long and 3,500 pounds have been found, the agency reports. Manatees have two fore limb flippers and a large, round, flattened paddle-shaped tail is used for swimming, FWC reports. Algae grows on their backs, and their skin is typically wrinkled and leathery looking, experts say. 2022 The Charlotte Observer. Visit charlotteobserver.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Updated Sept. 19, 2022, 4:09 p.m. Central European Time An American Navy veteran captured in Afghanistan two years ago has been freed in exchange for an Afghan man who was imprisoned by the U.S., a senior Biden administration official said Monday. Mark Frerichs, a former Navy diver abducted in Kabul in 2020, was exchanged Monday for Bashir Noorzai, an early supporter of the Taliban who was imprisoned stemming from a conviction for smuggling $50 million worth of heroin. In order to bring home a U.S. citizen and reunite him with his family, the President made the difficult decision to grant clemency to Haji Bashir Noorzai after he spent 17 years in U.S. Government custody, said the official, who was not authorized to speak on the record, in an email to Stars and Stripes. Biden made the decision to give clemency to Noorzai in June after deciding his release would not impact the drug trade in Afghanistan or increase risk to American lives, based in part on Noorzais advanced age and many years spent in prison, said another senior Biden administration official who was not authorized to speak on the record. Bringing the negotiations that led to Marks freedom to a successful resolution required difficult decisions, which I did not take lightly, Biden said in a statement Monday, adding he spoke to Frerichs family about the release. The U.S. had offered up to $5 million for information about Frerichs disappearance. He had been living in Afghanistan since approximately 2010 and worked as an engineer on construction projects in the country, the State Department said in 2020. Taliban officials announced the exchange at a news conference Monday and published a video of Noorzai arriving at the Kabul airport. A jury found Noorzai guilty of heroin importation into New York and distribution conspiracy charges in 2008, leading to a sentence of life in prison, a Justice Department report said. Some Taliban officials claimed Noorzai had been held at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, according to an Associated Press report. But Noorzai was never detained at Guantanamo Bay, a U.S. official told Stars and Stripes, who added that he was arrested in America and tried within the U.S. justice system. Noorzai is considered one of the closest figures to the founder of the Taliban movement, Mullah Mohammad Omar, Afghanistans Tolo News reported Monday. The Taliban-appointed foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, spoke at the press conference alongside Noorzai and welcomed the exchange, saying it marked the start of a new era in U.S.-Taliban relations, the AP reported. Washington has not recognized the Taliban government and has frozen billions of dollars in assets formerly held by the U.S.-backed government of Afghanistan. Frerichs, of Lombard, Ill., pleaded for his release in a video released by The New Yorker magazine this summer. In the video, which marked the first time Frerichs was seen since his abduction, he says it was filmed last November. At the time, the FBI declined to comment on the videos authenticity, but a sister of Frerichs, Charlene Cakora, issued a statement thanking the Taliban for releasing the video and describing it as public confirmation of our familys long-held belief that he is alive after more than two years in captivity, according to the AP report. On Monday, Cakora released a statement thanking U.S. government officials for securing her brothers release. I am so happy to hear that my brother is safe and on his way home to us, she said, as cited in the AP report. Our family has prayed for this each day of the more than 31 months he has been a hostage. We never gave up hope that he would survive and come home safely to us. U.S. officials have said the Haqqani Network, a Taliban-affiliated group known for killing hundreds of American troops, likely abducted Frerichs. Sirajuddin Haqqani, leader of the group, is now the acting interior minister of Afghanistan after the collapse of the U.S.-backed government last year. WASHINGTON The veteran suicide rate decreased two years in a row, marking the fewest veteran suicides in a year since 2006, according to data released Monday by the Department of Veterans Affairs. The VAs National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report, which compiles its data on a two-year lag, revealed there were 6,146 veteran suicide deaths in 2020, 343 fewer than in 2019. The average number of veteran suicides in a year also had a small decrease, from 17.2 in 2019 to 16.8 in 2020. This years report shows real progress, but there is still so much work to be done, VA Secretary Denis McDonough said in a prepared statement. One veteran suicide is one too many, and VA will continue to work with our federal, state, local and private partners to tackle this problem and save veterans lives. The report breaks down the method of suicide, as well as the gender, ages and ethnicities of veterans who died in 2020. The VA said from 2019 to 2020, suicide rates fell across all racial groups. For female veterans, the suicide rate also decreased, 20.3% lower than in 2019. However, a study called Operation Deep Dive, which was released Saturday, reported a 37% higher rate of veteran suicides than what the VA has reported previously. The study was conducted by Americas Warrior Partnership, a suicide prevention group that contracted with the University of Alabama and partnered with Duke University to gather state-provided death data. The group also coordinated with the Defense Department to corroborate military affiliation. Researchers for the study, which was funded by the Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation, worked to get the specificity of each decedents demographics, military experience and death details. Jim Lorraine, an Air Force veteran and president of America's Warrior Partnership, said the VA's methodology is dated. His groups study examined suicides and "self-injury mortality, or deaths classified as accidental or undetermined, in people ranging in age from 18 to 64 from 2014 to 2018. The group used service records from the Defense Department and death records from eight states. Matthew Miller, national director of suicide prevention at VAs Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention, said he cannot compare the VAs report with the study from America's Warrior Partnership because they might not be analyzing the same information and could be using a different approach. "We have not seen the specifics of Operation Deep Dive methodology, or their data, so it's difficult to comment at a highly granular level," he said. The VA attains suicide numbers reported by county authorities where the death occurred. VA Press Secretary Terrence Hayes said the agency takes every step possible to make certain its veteran suicide data is accurate. Our methodology for creating this report is well-established and consistent, based on verified data from the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] and [Defense Department], and meets the quality and standards of a peer-reviewed publication. In the interest of full transparency, we release yearly reports detailing how we come to the conclusions in the annual suicide prevention report, he said. Despite the decrease in the suicide rate, the rate of veteran suicides using firearms increased, according to the VA report. Firearms were used in 71% in veteran suicides in 2020, up 1.8% from 2019. Since the yearly report lags by two years, the new report also compared trends of veteran suicide and the coronavirus pandemic for the first time. The pandemic began in 2020. The report found that suicide was the 13th-leading cause of death for veterans. The coronavirus was the third-leading cause. Heart disease and cancer were the top of the list at Nos. 1 and 2, respectively. Within the first year of COVID we did not see an impact in the direction that a lot of people expected or were concerned about, Miller said. However, it doesnt mean the virus did not make an impact on a veterans mental health and that impact cannot be measured, he said. What you can say is that there was not an increase in veteran suicide, there was a decrease within the first year of COVID, Miller said. He also said the agencys collaboration with the community and other federal agencies made a difference in the decrease. Tamara Campbell, interim executive director at VA's Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention, said people are talking about mental health more freely. "Our top leaders, including our president, our VA secretary, our undersecretary, they understand mental health and the importance of helping to support this office to get the word out, she said. And public understanding of it just continues to increase. The VAs next steps to continue combating veteran suicide align with its National Strategy for Preventing Veteran Suicide plan, which was implemented in 2019, and the White Houses Reducing Military and Veteran Suicide strategy. Earlier this year, the VA announced two initiatives designed to combat veteran suicide: The Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program and Mission Daybreak. The grant program is designed to help meet the needs of veterans and their families through outreach, suicide prevention services, and the VA and its community resources. The VA announced it will fund more than $52 million to 80 community-based organizations in 43 states, the District of Columbia, and American Samoa. The program is named after Army veteran Parker Gordon Fox. Fox joined the Army in 2014 and was a sniper instructor at the Army Infantry School at Fort Benning, Ga. Fox died by suicide on July 21, 2020. He was 25. The Mission Daybreak challenge called on eligible participants to develop innovative methods to help prevent suicides that meet the various needs of veterans. They will receive funding and resources that include data, research, mentorship, educational webinars and partnership opportunities. The VA announced it will award $250,000 to 30 finalists and $100,000 to 10 recipients. Winners will be announced in November. Suicide is one of the most serious public health issues facing our veterans today, and VA cannot do this work alone, said Shereef Elnahal, VAs undersecretary for health With the Staff Sergeant Fox grants and Mission Daybreak, VA seeks to engage not only organizations traditionally focused on suicide prevention, but also to bring in new groups and individuals who may have fresh ideas on how we address this issue. The National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report, which is released every September during National Suicide Prevention Month, is typically used by veteran services organizations and lawmakers to understand the scope of the suicide crisis plaguing the veteran community. The report is often used to gauge which legislative efforts should take priority and provide critical oversight of the VA. Francis Dunne (36) was lucky he did not kill the man or himself when he drove the car at him following a family disagreement Francis Dunne (36) was lucky he did not kill the man or himself when he drove the car at him following a family disagreement, a judge said. Dunne was given a nine-month suspended sentence, banned from driving for five years and fined 3,000. The accused, of Elmdale Crescent, Ballyfermot, admitted affray with the other man and recklessly endangering him by driving a car at him, causing substantial risk of death or serious harm. He also pleaded guilty to driving without insurance. Dublin District Court heard the offences happened at Sarsfield Road, Ballyfermot at 7.30am on December 4, 2020. The other man allegedly smashed the windscreen of Dunnes Volkswagen Caddy and the accused got into the car and went after the man, driving the car at him and narrowly missing him, crashing into a wall. He then got into a fight with the man , who was a cousin-in-law of sorts and the disagreement was a family matter, culminating in the fight, a garda sergeant said. The accused had previous motoring convictions. The man had gone to Dunnes home and broken the window, causing quite a bit of damage, his lawyer said. The accused had apologised. He worked as a painter, was in employment since Covid restrictions lifted and his family was dependent on his income, his lawyer said. Driving a car at a person with a view to using that car as a weapon is a very serious matter, Judge Hughes said. Regardless of the genesis of the incident, it was unacceptable for Dunne to act in this fashion and he was lucky he did not kill the man or himself, the judge said. He suspended the nine-month sentence for two years on condition he has no contact with the other man. Ianos Carolea (36) had months earlier been arrested for exposing himself and carrying out the same offence in front of an undercover garda in a city centre shop toilet. A cleaner at a HSE Covid contact tracing centre followed a man into the bathrooms and performed a sex act on himself in front of the victim, a court heard. Ianos Carolea (36) had months earlier been arrested for exposing himself and carrying out the same offence in front of an undercover garda in a city centre shop toilet. Judge Bryan Smyth fined him 500 at Dublin District Court when he admitted both offences. The court heard Carolea had already paid a very heavy price for his offending and was getting help. The accused, from Romania but with an address at The Hermitage, Balgriffin, Dublin 13, pleaded guilty to masturbating in public, at the HSE contact tracing offices, Heuston South Quarter on December 8 last year. He also admitted an earlier count of the same offence at the Marks & Spencer, on Mary Street, on June 8, 2021. The court heard it was reported to gardai that the office cleaner - Carolea - had twice followed a victim into the bathroom at the contact tracing centre. On the second occasion, the cleaner entered a bathroom cubicle without closing the door and slowly began to masturbate in front of the man. He could see the defendants penis in his hand making slow up and down motions, a garda sergeant said. The victim reported it to management who went to the gardai. In the earlier incident, a plainclothes garda was in the public toilets at Marks & Spencer at 2.45pm as part of an undercover operation when Corolea came in and nodded at him to enter the cubicle beside his. Moments later, Garda Seamus Donoghue said, the accused exited the cubicle and walked towards the undercover garda who was washing his hands. Carolea began masturbating in front of the garda and when a second plainclothes officer entered the bathroom, the accused didnt seem to be put off by this and continued with his act of public masturbation. The garda identified himself and Corolea was arrested. He was perfectly cooperative and helpful to the investigation," Gda Donoghue said. Carolea had no prior convictions. He was married with children but now separated as a result of the cases which had caused great upset distress and damage to the accused and his family, defence solicitor Michael Kelleher said. His family had stood by him and Carolea felt enormous guilt for what he had brought on them. A condition of his familys support was that he gets help, Mr Kelleher said, and a psychologists report was submitted to the court. The accused recognised what happened was not acceptable, it had stopped and would not happen again. He was now working in construction. Marta Cypara (37), who works in the prisoner escort unit appeared before Tallaght District Court this morning Marta Cypara (37), who works in the prisoner escort unit of the Irish Prison Service, with an address at Saggart Hill Mews, Mill Road in Saggart, County Dublin, appeared before Tallaght District Court this morning where she was charged with possession of cannabis at her address and possession of cannabis with intent to sell or supply others under the Misuse of Drugs Act. Garda Michael Brislane of the Tallaght drugs unit told Judge Patricia McNamara that Ms Cypara made no reply when charged at Tallaght Garda Station having been arrested on Saturday for possession of the drugs which were valued at 144,000. Judge McNamara heard that there was no garda objection to bail but a cash lodgment of 1,000 would be required. Matausz Kilkowski and Marta Cypara Garda Brislane said Ms Cypara had surrendered her passport and as part of her bail conditions he asked that she not apply for other travel documents, reside at her address, inform gardai of any intention to change address, and sign on at Tallaght garda station on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Her solicitor, Ellen Reid, said there would be no application for legal aid, and told judge McNamara that her client is in secure employment at present. Judge McNamara remanded Ms Cypara in custody with consent to bail to the Dochas Womens prison to appear in court again next Monday September 26. A spokeswoman for the Irish Prison Service said it does not comment on individual staff. Identical charges were brought against a co-accused, Matausz Kilkowski (28), living at the same address. He was released on bail on similar conditions but did not have to provide a cash bond. He was granted legal aid. He will appear before the courts again on December 19. Anthony Carolan (45) of Gardiner Street is accused of burgling the lotterys offices in central Dublin A burglar allegedly crawled around on the floor of the National Lottery headquarters before rifling through drawers, causing 2,000 worth of damage. Anthony Carolan (45) is accused of burgling the lotterys offices in central Dublin. The case was adjourned for Mr Carolan to decide how he intends to plead when he appeared in Dublin District Court. Mr Carolan, of Gardiner Street in the north city centre, is charged with entering the National Lottery building on Abbey Street Lower as a trespasser with intent to commit a theft. A garda sergeant told Judge Bryan Smyth the DPP consented to the case being dealt with in the district court, subject to jurisdiction being considered. The court heard the incident was alleged to have happened in the early hours of April 28 this year. It was alleged the accused went into the building without permission. According to gardai, he crawled around on the floor before going behind a counter, where he went through drawers. It was alleged that more than 2,000 worth of damage was caused, but nothing was taken, the sergeant said. Judge Smyth accepted jurisdiction. Defence barrister Donal Pattison sought disclosure of prosecution evidence. The judge ordered this to include copies of Mr Carolans garda interview video. He remanded the accused on continuing bail to appear in court again on October 7. Enoch Burke is taken to a new area of Mountjoy where hell meet alleged Kinahan gang member The scene of Noel Kirwan's 2016 murder Burke (centre) is brought into the Four Courts accompanied by his father, Sean Burke Transgender row teacher Enoch Burke has been moved to the Progression Unit in Mountjoy Prison where his new neighbours include alleged Kinahan gang member Declan Brady, A.K.A Mr Nobody. Sunday Worldsources say Burke was moved to the Progression Unit on C-Base in the old St Pats building in the Mountjoy complex earlier this week. He had been accommodated in the reception area of the main prison until this point due to issues surrounding his safety and cell spaces. The move to the Progression Unit is designed with the intention of ensuring the intransigent teachers physical safety as inmates there are considered to be at the lowest possible risk of violence or re-offending. Declan Brady, also known as Mr Nobody Burkes most high-profile new neighbour is Declan Brady, who is currently facing a charge before the Special Criminal Court of helping a criminal gang murder father-of-four Noel Duck Egg Kirwan five years ago. Christopher Noel Kirwan (62) was shot six times as he sat in his car on December 22, 2016, at St Ronans Drive in Clondalkin, Dublin. Noel Kirwan (left) with Gerry Hutch Enoch Burke is today spending his second Sunday behind bars in the Dublin prison after a dramatic High Court freedom bid fell flat earlier this week. Burke is in jail because he refuses to purge his contempt for breaching a High Court order to stay away from Wilsons Hospital School in Multyfarnham, Co Westmeath where he is a teacher. On Wednesday, he was escorted from the prison to the High Court where he sought an injunction restraining the school from continuing his paid suspension from work. Mr Burke, an evangelical Christian, was suspended from work on August 24 but continued to show up each day at the Church of Ireland diocesan boarding school. He claimed that due to his religious beliefs he could not comply with a request from the schools principal that teachers address a transgender student by a new name and use the pronoun they instead of he. The scene of Noel Kirwan's 2016 murder Mr Burke was subsequently jailed for contempt of court on September 5 for breaching an injunction secured by the schools board of management restraining him from attending, or attempting to teach, pupils at the school. The court was told Mr Burke did not seek to challenge his suspension until last Monday, by which stage he had spent seven days in prison. In her ruling, Ms Justice Roberts said the teacher could have challenged his suspension earlier and he was now seeking to re-run arguments he had made at earlier attachment and committal hearings. The judge said his application was procedurally misconceived and that while Mr Burke was entitled to hold his religious beliefs, the schools decision to place him on administrative leave was not an attack on those beliefs. Spanish police revealed how Morrissey had used Hawala to launder 200 million in just 18 months Johnny Morrissey arrested at one of his Villas in Marbella J.COSTA/SOLARPIX Under Project Cassandra, the DEA began investigating the Hawala money transfer system in Europe in 2015 after it established that Hezbollah, the Lebanese terror organisation, was using it to facilitate the movement of large quantities of cocaine into Europe and the United States. Under the same operation, the DEA said it had identified participants in the intricate network of money couriers who collect and transport millions of euros in drug proceeds from Europe to the Middle East. On Wednesday, two days after the high-profile arrest of the Kinahan cartels main money launderer Johnny Morrissey at his villa on the Costa Del Sol, Spanish police revealed how he had used Hawala to launder 200 million in just 18 months. A spokesperson said: The Civil Guard... has smashed the most important international criminal organisation that operated in Spain dedicated to money laundering. In a little over a year and a half they could have laundered more than 200 million through the system known as Hawala. Essentially, Hawala is an informal funds transfer system that allows for funds to be moved through intermediaries known as hawaladars, without the money itself ever moving across jurisdictions. A hawaladar in one country can take receipt of the funds before contacting a hawaladar in another country who will pay out the equivalent sum in cash or goods but the money itself does not have to cross borders. No documentation is kept or recorded and the system works on trust between the hawaladars making it the almost perfect system for terrorists and narcotics traffickers. One of the many allegations facing Daniel Kinahan and the Kinahan organised crime group is that the cartel established ties with Hezbollah through its use of the Hawala system. Details of how the Iranian-backed group used the system in Europe to finance terrorism and drug dealing were outlined by the DEA in February of 2016 following the arrest of Mohamad Noureddine in an operation targeting Hezbollahs External Security Business Affairs (BAC). The DEA said the BAC was involved in international criminal activities such as drug trafficking and drug proceed money laundering. It further identified the network as being responsible for the movement of large quantities of cocaine in the United States and Europe. The DEA alleged Noureddine was a Lebanese money launderer who worked directly with Hezbollahs financial apparatus to transfer Hezbollah funds via his Lebanon based company to terrorist elements in both Lebanon and Iraq. The DEA said: Beginning in February 2015, and based on DEA investigative leads, European authorities initiated an operation targeting the networks criminal activities in that region. Since then, law enforcement authorities, closely supported by DEA, have uncovered an intricate network of money couriers who collect and transport millions of euros in drug proceeds from Europe to the Middle East. The currency is then paid in Colombia to drug traffickers using the Hawala disbursement system. A large portion of the drug proceeds was found to transit through Lebanon, and a significant percentage of these proceeds are benefiting terrorist organizations, namely Hezbollah. Following Morrisseys arrest, at which DEA officers were present, a spokesperson for Spains Guardia Civil was able to give an overall estimate of 200 million as the sum he laundered through the system in just 18 months or 350,000 a day. It is not thought all this money was laundered on behalf of the cartel as Morrissey is also believed to have had contact with other criminal organisations. Following his arrest, Morrissey now faces the possibility of being extradited to the US to face charges. Money laundering penalties in the US can be extremely harsh. In Morrisseys case this means he is likely to be charged over his activities facilitating international drug shipments and his enforcement activities. These crimes could see him sentenced to life imprisonment. Unless, of course, he agrees to turn on his associates. Frank McCrystals criminal career came crashing down when he was caught transporting a lorry-load of drugs from Scotland A former drug baron was the victim of a horrific knife attack at his Ballymena home. Frank McCrystal (68) was stabbed in the head, neck and stomach during the violent 4am break-in at his house on the Grove Road on Wednesday. Aaron McElhatton appeared in Ballymena Magistrates Court last Thursday charged with his attempted murder, aggravated burglary, possession of a firearm with intent, and possession of an offensive weapon. The 28-year-old was remanded in custody and the case adjourned until October 13. His alleged victim, Frank McCrystal, was one of the biggest players in the Ballymena drugs scene during the 1990s. But his criminal career came crashing down when he was caught by police transporting a lorry-load of narcotics from Scotland. From left: Laurence 'Duffer' Kincaid, Frank McCrystal, Andy 'Hard to Kill' Aiken The haul belonged to Belfast-based ecstasy and cannabis baron Big Ed McCoy, who was murdered in 2000 by IRA front group Direct Action Against Drugs. Criminal sources say McCrystal was a trusted courier for the crime boss, using his lorry to bring drugs into Northern Ireland. After his arrest he was jailed at Magilligan Prison for importation. Upon his release he turned his back on drugs to set up furniture transport business McCrystal Removals and Storage. While behind bars he was famously pictured on a day out canoeing with other inmates who included LVF boss and convicted drug dealer Laurence Duffer Kincaid, and UVF gunman Andy Hard to Kill Aiken. McCrystals removal vans can often be seen travelling around Ballymena with the companys huge logo on the side. Despite his best efforts he has still, on occasions, managed to fall on the wrong side of the law. This includes being ordered by a court to pay more than 2,000 to a customer over a botched removal job. The former drug boss was paid 900 to take a female pensioners furniture to England. However, he did not show up forcing her to return to Northern Ireland. She revealed: The first delivery arrived as planned but the second load never appeared. I kept phoning Frank every day for about three weeks and every day he promised me it was being delivered the next day. Eventually I had to come home because he had things I couldnt live without like a cooker and fridge. I simply didnt have any money to replace them. McCrystal denied any wrongdoing but was ordered to pay the pensioner 2,178 by the small claims court. He later claimed a delay in handing over the money was a result of him going bankrupt. Lee Slatterys body was discovered in Delmege House estate near Moyross, Limerick, on May 31, 2010. Four people have been arrested in connection with the murder of Lee Slattery, who died 12 years ago. Gardai in Limerick today arrested two women, aged in their 20s and 40s, and a man in his 30s under Section 30 of the Offences against the State Act, 1939. A second man aged in his 20s was also arrested and detained under Section 50 of the Criminal Justice Act, 2007. All four are currently being held at Garda Stations in the Limerick and Clare Garda Divisions. Lee Slatterys body was discovered in Delmege House estate near Moyross, Limerick, on May 31, 2010. He was 24 years old at the time. A garda spokesperson said the murder of Mr Slattery remains the subject of a live and active investigation. They added: Gardai continue to appeal to anyone with information to contact them at the incident room in Mayorstone Garda Station on 061 456 980, the Garda Confidential line 1800 666 111, or at any Garda station. The investigation is ongoing and further updates will follow. In a statement, gardai said that when officers arrived they observed two vehicles driving erratically. Footage of a garda car being rammed in West Dublin A garda car was rammed after officers responded to reports of dangerous driving in a Dublin suburb this evening. The incident happened shortly after 7.30pm when gardai were alerted to several cars being driven dangerously in the Cherry Orchard area. In a statement, gardai said that when officers arrived they observed two vehicles driving erratically. "Both vehicles failed to stop when requested to do so by gardai and one vehicle collided with an official garda vehicle. "No injures were reported during the incident. Video footage of the incident has been widely shared on social media and shows a large number of people watching from the roadside as two cars were driving at high speed up and down a section of road. Footage shows a car twice ramming the patrol vehicle before reversing. Gardai have appealed to any people who witnessed the incident to come forward. They are appealing to anyone who was travelling in the Cherry Orchard area at this time and who may have camera footage, including dashcam footage, to make it available to investigating gardai. Anyone for information is asked to contact Ballyfermot garda station on 01 666 7200, the Garda Confidential Line 1800 666 111, or any garda station. Gardai said no arrests have been made and their investigation is ongoing. Local politicians criticised what they described as scenes of utter lawlessness. Fianna Fail TD Cormac Devlin said: "Videos posted online tonight show scenes of utter lawlessness in a Dublin community. "The clips posted online show cars driving erratically and ramming gardai without any fear or thought for the gardai on duty. "This is evidence of the shocking incidents gardai are forced to deal with as a small proportion of people terrorise a whole community. "We have to come down much stronger on what is pure lawlessness happening across the capital, and back the gardai with the resources and legislation to deal with those who behave with no regard for law or life. "My thoughts are with the gardai having to deal with those incidents this evening as well as the majority of good people being terrorised by these thugs." Local Sinn Fein councillor Daithi Doolin told Independent.ie this evening this hasnt come out of nowhere, adding: It was last night, last week, last month, last year. He said this evenings incident underscores the need for more resources in the area to cope with anti-social behaviour, starting with more garda resources. And while a garda helicopter hovered over the area tonight and the Emergency Response Unit was called to the area this evening, he said there is only one garda car available to patrol the entire Ballyfermot area, which he said is unacceptable. This wouldnt be tolerated in Blackrock or Foxrock or Lucan, he said. This is happening on a nightly basis and residents are absolutely terrified. He said he hopes the videos of the car-ramming incident will result in a much-needed response from gardai, Dublin City Council and the Government to tackle the problem. We need a plan for the area, he said. Cllr Doolin has previously spoken of neighbourhoods teetering on the edge of lawlessness and told a meeting of the Dublin City Council Joint Policing Committee in July that residents are living in constant fear and trauma. Were not talking about individuals in trauma but families and whole communities in trauma from intergenerational issues caused perhaps by drug-related intimidation, addiction, unemployment, mental health, violence, criminality, he told the meeting. If that happens over and over and over again in a concentrated area then the people are living with trauma all the time. They are living with violence or the threat of violence all the time and that manifests itself in very clear ways. Earlier this month, he spoke of a spate of incidents in which cars are being robbed and burnt out in the area, causing huge distress to the people living there, especially the elderly and the parents of young children. Criminal allegedly helped crime gangs launder more than 200m in 18 months Spanish police footage of the moment John Morrissey was arrested Kinahan Cartel member Johnny Morrissey is led away after he was arrested by police at his apartment in Marbella. Photo: ASA/GC J.COSTA/SOLARPIX The couple scaled back to a modest rented 1,200-a-month top-floor flat after US authorities publicly named Morrissey as a key member of the Kinahan Cartel. The couple had previously invited a glossy Marbella magazine into the mansion they called home. That was before Morrissey was identified as an alleged money launderer and Kinahan enforcer, by the US Treasury Departments Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). Spanish police footage of the moment John Morrissey was arrested The couple moved into an unassuming apartment block near Fuengirola on the Costa del Sol over the summer. Neighbours told yesterday how they quickly got on the wrong side of other expats and locals after moving in. One local said: They had dogs, including an Alsatian, and they used to hose down the poop the animals did on the outside corridor leading up to their front door so it ran off the edge and onto the properties below. It was totally unacceptable behaviour. They quickly got a reputation as the neighbours from hell. Morrissey was about to be ordered to take down a camera over the front door of the three-bed penthouse flat when he was arrested. Kinahan Cartel member Johnny Morrissey is led away after he was arrested by police at his apartment in Marbella. Photo: ASA/GC J.COSTA/SOLARPIX The community managers had been asked to tell the former Cork restaurant owner it was illegal to have the camera pointing out onto the street, and other areas used by his neighbours. The camera meant he could tell who was outside the main entrance to the gated block, if anyone tried to get into the enclosed area. But it failed to alert him to the well-planned police operation because he was fast asleep when they moved in. Officers from an elite Spanish Civil Guard unit the GAR gained entry to his apartment. They had keys to the entrance gate to the block and are understood to have reached the third floor where Morrissey lived from a basement garage. They smashed down a gate and the front door to his flat before surrounding him in his bed at gunpoint. The speed and efficiency of the police operation meant some residents at the apartment block were still unaware yesterday of the arrests. Johnny Morrissey's Nicola J.COSTA/SOLARPIX The management company had been asked for keys to the entrance gate three days before the detentions, but police had not given them any details about why they needed them. One local said: I heard a huge bang which was probably the moment they stormed the flat but nothing after that and I went back to sleep. It was really early, around 6.40am. Manchester-born Morrissey (62) was allowed to put on a green T-shirt and white trainers before being led out in handcuffs in the tropical shorts he is believed to have been sleeping in. In a previous interview with Marbella-based business and lifestyle magazine Exclusive Life, Nicola had spoken about their plans to open a wellness centre in nearby La Cala de Mijas, at another property she and her husband lived at years ago. She added in the interview, titled At Home With Nicola Morrissey: We have been busy overseeing the luxury building project, gathering an expert team to deliver the latest therapies and treatments. We will have a full-time nutritionist, in-house yoga and meditation specialist, colonic hydrotherapy, cryotherapy and lots more. In April, Johnny Morrissey was one of seven people, including Christopher Kinahan Sr and his son Daniel, who were hit with sanctions by the US department of the Treasurys Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). The US authorities said: John Morrissey has worked for the Kinahan Organised Crime Group (KOCG) for several years, including as an enforcer, and facilitates international drug shipments for the organisation from South America. John Morrissey is also involved in money laundering. La Guardia Civil, who led the operation against Morrissey through its elite UCO unit with support from An Garda Siochana, Britains National Crime Agency and the powerful US DEA law enforcement agency, say they believe he allegedly helped crime gangs launder more than 200m in the 18 months their investigation lasted. Mackin has been the focus of a major money laundering investigation by Limerick gardai One of Irelands most feared criminals has become the second man with alleged links to the Kinahan cartel to be arrested in Spain in the past week for money laundering offences. Gerard Mackin (39) was arrested by Spanish police earlier today on foot of a European Arrest Warrant issued by Irish authorities. Mackin has been the focus of a major money laundering investigation by Limerick gardai which has been ongoing for a number of years. Senior sources say that he is being detained by Spanish police and is expected to be brought to court in the coming days. It could take a number of weeks at least before his extradition to Ireland is finalised especially if the gangster decides to contest it. Johnny Morrissey His arrest is not linked to that of Manchester-born Johnny Morrissey (62) last week who allegedly helped crime gangs launder more than 200m in 18 months. It is understood that Mackin who is originally from Belfast has been based in Spain for at least two years and fled Ireland after continued garda heat because of his factions involvement in the murderous Hutch/Kinahan feud in which they took the Kinahan side. He was heavily involved in a dangerous organisation which became known as the New INLA who were involved in hits for the cartel. Caolan Smyth He was closely associated with cartel hitman and convicted hired assassin Caolan Smyth (30) and was observed by gardai visiting Smyth when the gangster who is now serving a 20-year sentence for the attempted murder of James Mago Gately was staying in the Pearse Street House flats complex. Two of Mackin's associates are currently serving life sentences for the murder of Gareth Hutch who was killed as part of the Hutch-Kinahan feud. Jonathan Keogh (35) and Thomas Fox (33) were convicted at the Special Criminal Court in 2018 of the murder of Gareth Hutch, the nephew of Gerry The Monk Hutch. Gerard Mackin (left) and Jonathan Keogh (right) Keogh's sister, Regina, is also serving a life sentence for the crime. Another New INLA member, Eamon Cumberton (33), is currently serving a life sentence for the murder of dissident republican Michael Barr who was killed in April 2016 as part of the Hutch-Kinahan feud. Mackins most recent criminal conviction in Ireland dates back to March, 2017, when he was jailed for three years by the Special Criminal Court for a "depraved and barbaric" assault in which a then 53-year old man was nailed to a kitchen floor with a nail-gun. In 2014, Mackin's associates caused a major security alert when gardai received intelligence that they planned to steal a number of garda uniforms from a Co Louth station. In 2016, when Mackin was refused bail in relation to the nail gun offence, a senior detective told Limerick District Court that the crime related to an attempt to extort money from the victim, who is a member of the Traveller community. The detective said that Mackin has formed a group involved in the extortion of money from Travellers and has "filled the void left by the demise of the Dundons under the veil of the IRA or INLA dissident groups". Mackin, who is from west Belfast, has been in a number of serious underworld scrapes since he was cleared of the 2008 murder of Eddie Burns as part of a dissident feud in the North. Taxi driver Mr Burns (36) was shot dead in west Belfast in March 2007. Mackin was the first person found guilty in a Dublin court for a murder in Belfast under the Criminal Law Jurisdiction Act of 1976. However, in 2010 the conviction was quashed by Dublin's Court of Criminal Appeal and a retrial ordered, but it collapsed after three days, which meant Mackin was freed. Why can't one of the world's best pizzerias be right here in Galway, on the west coast of Ireland? Ronan and Eugene Greaney of The Dough Bros in Galway The Dough Bros in Galway, run by brothers Ronan and Eugene Greaney, was listed at No.79 in the 50 Top Pizza World Awards for 2022. The awards were unveiled at a ceremony in the Palazzo Reale in Naples, with I Masanielli in Caserta, Italy and Una Pizza Napoletana in New York tying for the No.1 position. In their citation for The Dough Bros, judges said its dough is made to perfection and the selection of raw ingredients is always top quality. The Galway pizzeria was the only Irish outlet to feature on this years list, and also ranked at No.27 in Europe. We have some of the best dairy, meat and veg in the world right here, on our doorstep, Eugene Greaney said. So why can't one of the world's best pizzerias be right here in Galway, on the west coast of Ireland? It sounded crazy, but that has been our goal from day one, and now we have seen that materialise. The 50 Top Pizza Awards are run by 50 Top Pizza, an online guide based in Italy. Rankings are based on the feedback of inspectors who make anonymous visits to pizzerias around the world, it says. This guide encompasses many different styles of pizza, even if, obviously, the Neapolitan style, both classic and contemporary, is the most popular. "The most important cities for pizzas in terms of quality are: Naples above all, then New York, Tokyo and Sao Paulo. In their citation, the judges noted how The Dough Bros had re-thought its business strategy during the Covid-19 pandemic, offering DIY kits for delivery to all corners of the country. The Greaney brothers first fell in love with pizza on childhood visits to Naples, and Ronan trained there in 2015. Their pizza business began in a food truck, and is today based at Cathedral Buildings on Middle Street. The Galway pizzeria uses Neopolitan-style dough and wood-fired ovens, with Irish food and creativity key ingredients. Toons Bridge Dairy fior di latte cheese is used alongside San Marzano tomato sauce, for example, and one pizza the Peter Stinger - is billed as an Irish Margerita with Gubbeen chorizo and a good drizzle of Noel's Hot Honey from Co Galway among the toppings. We started with a mission to change peoples perceptions of what pizza could be when it's done right, Eugene says. "When it's done with craft, dedication and the best of Irish ingredients. We wanted to shake things up in the Irish pizza scene but also to put Irish pizza on the international map. After our training in Naples in 2015, and numerous trips to Italy, the States and more, we had a quiet confidence in the Irish food scene and felt what some of our peers were doing here at home was up there with anything we had tried. We started to ask why the best pizzerias in the world have to always be in Naples, New York, London? And now Ireland and Galway is there. Prior to the pandemic, Irelands pizza scene had been on a roll, with chefs and restaurateurs travelling to research their craft and wood-fired ovens popping up all over the country. In 2020, both Dough Bros and Cirillo's in Dublin featured on the list of best pizzerias in Europe. Manifesto in Rathmines featured on the 2019 list. Top 10 Pizzerias 2022 I Masanielli Caserta, Italy A Neapolitan Pizza - New York, USA Peppe Pizzeria - Paris, France 50 Kalo - Naples, Italy 10 Diego Vitagliano Pizzeria - Naples, Italy I Tigli - San Bonifacio, Italy Francesco & Salvatore Salvo - Naples, Italy Seu Pizza Illuminati - Rome, Italy La Notizia 94 - Naples, Italy Tony's Pizza Napoletana - San Francisco, USA Source: 50toppizza.it Some suppliers are now charging up to 700 a year The standing charge is supposed to reflect the fixed costs associated with providing gas and electricity supply. Photo: PA PA Electricity and gas providers have been imposing huge increases in standing charges during the energy crisis. Some suppliers now charging up to 700 a year in standing charges these are imposed regardless of how much energy a customer uses. An investigation by Bonkers.ie and the independent.iereveals providers have pushed up the standing charges for residential customers by more than 300 in some cases. Consumer advocates have questioned the fairness of hiking standing charges for hard-pressed householders. The standing charge is supposed to reflect the fixed costs associated with providing gas and electricity supply, and not the unit cost of energy. The charge cannot be avoided by households, and has to be paid no matter how much electricity or gas a household uses. Hiking standing charges reduces the attractiveness of eco-friendly initiatives like having solar panels installed. Having such high standing charges seems to be in conflict with the Governments Reduce Your Use campaign. Chairman of the Consumers Association of Ireland Michael Kilcoyne called on the Government to change the rules to allow the energy regulator to have a role in the setting of standing charges. A taxi driver needs approval to increase prices, but it seems energy companies can do what they like despite electricity being an essential service. Daragh Cassidy of Bonkers.ie, who compiled the figures, said the scale of the increases over the past 18 months was difficult to justify. And it means its even more difficult for hard-pressed households to reduce their energy bills. He said: Depending on your supplier and the type of meter that you have, you could be paying up to 700 or 800 a year in standing charges alone before youve even flicked on a light switch or turned on the heat for an hour. Mr Cassidy said the charges are fixed and cannot be avoided so hit all households, regardless of income or usage. He said a customer with gas and electricity, who has a pre-pay meter, could be paying over 900 in standing charges as they also have to pay an extra charge for the meter. PrePayPower has some of the highest standing charges. We dont regulate standing charges. They are network charges. Sometimes the providers will absorb them and sometimes they will pass them on Its electricity standing charge is between 500 and 700 a year, depending on the price plan. For gas it is 228. Electric Irelands standing charge is up to 480 a year for electricity, up by between 137 and 200 since last year. And Bord Gais Energy charges electricity customers between 280 and 458 a year, depending on the plan. Flogass electricity standing charge can be as high as 600. A spokesman for the regulator, the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities, said: We dont regulate standing charges. They are network charges. Sometimes the providers will absorb them and sometimes they will pass them on. Standing charges are included as part of the Estimated Annual Bill information and are outlined on accredited comparison websites.. The figures were put to each provider. PrePayPower said a standing charge increase is not an additional charge and has been included in all price announcements. It said the focus should be on the Estimated Annual Bill (EAB). This shows it has both the lowest standard Unit Rate and the lowest standard EAB in the market. Electric Ireland said the standing charge is a combination of the fixed charges associated with providing and maintaining the supply of electricity to its customers. While the recent price increase, due to take effect on October 1, does not impact the standing charge for our customers, we have taken the decision in the past to increase our standing charge so that we were able to minimise increases to the unit rate which would allow our customers to continue to use electricity at the lowest unit rate possible. Bord Gais Energy said the standing charge makes up around 9pc to 12pc of a customers bill and includes, among other things, the general and fixed costs associated with gas and electricity supply. Bord Gais Energy always aims to have its standing charge as low as possible, but it has been impacted by a significant increase in costs over the last two years. Flogas said its increases have been among the lowest in the marketplace compared to any other supplier and it has avoided enormous increases in unit rates while also holding its standing charges flat in its most recent increase. We are very happy to receive this news as the initial reporting of this investigation caused us a fair amount of distress, Mr Harris said. A complaint by Aoife Moore, a political journalist, sparked a nine-month investigation into the couple, leading to a file being sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions in May. Her complaint related to tweets posted by Mr Harris and Ms Halley from pseudonymous Twitter accounts. Gardai informed the parties today that the DPP had decided not to press charges. We are very happy to receive this news as the initial reporting of this investigation caused us a fair amount of distress, Mr Harris said. Ms Moore declined to comment. The former senator and his wife were both interviewed by gardai as part of the probe, which examined whether offences were committed under the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997. This prohibits the harassment of another "by persistently following, watching, pestering, besetting or communicating with him or her". The couple denied the tweets amounted to online harassment. Mr Harris, who is terminally ill, was sacked by the Sunday Independent in May last year after he admitted being secretly involved in the running of a Twitter account under the name of "Barbara J Pym". The newspaper's editor Alan English said material posted on the account frequently went far beyond fair and reasonable comment and described Mr Harris's involvement in the account as a "betrayal of trust". The Pym account and others associated with it were suspended by Twitter. Ms Halley, also a former Sunday Independentwriter, later admitted being behind one of the suspended accounts, which used the name "Dolly White". She previously told the Irish Independent she was responsible for 34 tweets critical of Ms Moores coverage of Sinn Fein. While it appears the matter is closed from a criminal law perspective, civil proceedings remain ongoing. Ms Moore, who works for the Sunday Times, has ongoing defamation proceedings against Mr Harris and his wife in the High Court. Mr Harris is also being sued over allegedly malicious and defamatory posts on Twitter by Belfast Telegraph crime correspondent Allison Morris. Both Mr Harris and his wife deny defamation and claim the content of tweets amounted to fair comment. Mr Harris has also issued defamation proceedings against Ms Moore in the Circuit Court, where a hearing date could be set next month. These relate to comments in which Ms Moore said the Pym account sent her sexualised messages about "whether Mary Lou McDonald turned me on, the size of my arse and called me a terrorist". She also said she had to go to counselling and the gardai following tweets. While Mr Harris accepts the Pym account tweeted public messages about Ms Moore, he says he never sent her private or direct messages and denies ever communicating with her in a "sexualised way". He claims the anonymous Pym account was set up to tweet about Northern Ireland politics and was "not a trolling account". 'Professional hit' | Murder probe launched after man shot in front of horrified onlookers in Belfast The HSE is braced for one of the worst winters in years with severe staff shortages and unprecedented and sustained levels of unplanned hospital admissions. Irish hospitals will not cope this winter if hit with a so-called twindemic of Covid and flu, the General Secretary of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation has warned. The HSE is braced for one of the worst winters in years with severe staff shortages and unprecedented and sustained levels of unplanned hospital admissions, particularly among older people. The HSEs draft winter plan, leaked to the Sunday Independent, reveals that the health service is preparing for as many as 17,000 Covid-19 hospital admissions over the six months of winter with 700 of those in ICU. Speaking to Newstalk Breakfast, Phil Ni Sheaghdha, General Secretary of The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, explained that there are concerns hospitals may become overwhelmed over the next few months as cases of Covid and the flu rise once again. Were anticipating that our hospitals - that are already overcrowded - will not cope this winter, she said. Thats why weve asked for an early agreement with private hospitals so that we can make sure that acute services are not overwhelmed to the point that if youre a patient waiting for a procedure today that youre getting a phone call to say, Sorry, we dont have a bed and were cancelling your procedure. We believe that can be managed better and that the private hospitals in this country must be asked, as they were at the beginning of Covid, be part of the overall health service this winter with a view to making sure that the elective admissions can at least not have cancellations facing them for the entire winter. Ms Ni Sheaghdha said the crisis was predictable due to the extraordinarily high number of trolleys being used in hospitals since early summer and issues with staffing shortages. She added that there is a need to make sure we are doing everything we can to keep our graduates, the student nurses and midwives who are due to graduate, because we dont have an oversupply of nurses. Were in fact quite short and therefore the graduates are very key to staffing our wards and keeping beds open. We have to make sure our hospitals are efficient as possible... Care on trolleys is not good care. Malin Head Coast Guard photo of a multi-agency operation to rescue a man from a sea cave in Co Mayo yesterday. Photo: PA There were emotional scenes as a man stranded for 21 hours in a north Mayo sea cave amid rough and rising tides was finally pulled to safety following a major rescue operation. The 40-year-old man, who was airlifted to hospital, managed to walk to the Coast Guard helicopter and climb on-board despite his ordeal. Friends and family had remained at Downpatrick Head overnight on Saturday and they embraced each other when news of the successful rescue filtered through about 3.40pm yesterday. The man, who is understood to be an experienced caver and who lives locally, was described last night as being in a "remarkably good condition considering his ordeal". Michael Hurst, of Ballyglass Coast Guard, explained that the man had been pushed into the cave by a freak wave. He was with a female partner, and from what we know they were kayaking in the area and decided on low water to walk around the cliffs. "He is an experienced cave rescuer himself, he knows the area and the conditions. They just got caught in a freak wave. "There were kayakers who managed to grab her but unfortunately, he was pushed into the cave and was unable to come out. Malin Head Coast Guard photo of an Irish Coast Guard helicopter taking part in a multi-agency operation to rescue a man from a sea cave in Co Mayo. Photo: PA PA Darren Carey, officer in charge of Killala Coast Guard, said the man was "extremely lucky to survive how he did". "His training stood to him, said Mr Carey. "Once we figured out he was in that cave, we were able to get eyes on him fairly quickly. "He was only able to communicate with movement. Now and again, he would move his hand or his foot. "It would have been extremely difficult to hear anything with the sound of the waves and sea crashing around him. "RNLI played a blinder. They stayed in contact with him every half an hour by shining a torch at him and shouting through a loudspeaker. He would salute back at them, which was very reassuring. "Quite often, these things can go the other way, so we are so delighted this rescue worked out," he added. Many of the rescuers had not slept in over 30 hours, forgoing breaks amid a determined effort to retrieve the man before darkness fell yesterday evening. It is understood that while weather conditions hampered the rescue operation, the warmer temperatures over the last 24 hours may have saved the man from developing severe hypothermia. "He was very lucky that the weather in September was this warm. Even the night before, it dropped down to 4C. "He had gear on him (a wetsuit, a helmet and boots) which together with his experience went a long way to saving him," Mr Carey said.Michael Durkan, deputy officer commanding at Killala Coast Guard, explained the complex nature of the rescue carried out by the Irish Cave Rescue Organisation. "The Irish Cave Rescue were fabulous. They were the ones who finally got into him. "They had to put a line down the face of the cliff and thread a line down the roof of the cave. This meant they had to drill into the rock every metre and put in wall bolts with hangers. That took a long time. "They then fed the line through and suspended themselves along the roof of the cave, and that's how they managed to get to him. "Along the bottom of the cave, there is water and waves and surf, so it was just too difficult to navigate along the bottom. Taken to safety the rescue of the man who was trapped overnight in a sea cave at Downpatrick Head on the north Mayo coast. "The cave is 40 metres deep, but it was a blind cave that tapered off narrower, so the further you went inside, the more difficult it became. He was only visible when the boat was at a certain height in the waves. "It's not possible to look straight into these caves. There are jagged rocks on both sides. You had to be at a certain height to see him. "Visibility was quite poor in there. You have no light and only have what's coming in from the mouth. "It would be too dangerous to get a boat in. You would get smashed off the rocks. "We were waiting for a lull in the weather. Several attempts were made by the boat yesterday and today, but it was just too dangerous. "The lads would have been slightly over him, suspended along the roof when they managed to reach him. He was in good condition considering and was able to talk to the lads who got him out. 70,000 people get their drinking water from the River Boyne Former James Bond star Pierce Brosnan had made a powerful video appealing to Meath County Council to step in and stop plans for the installation of a waste water pipe into the River Boyne. The "Save the Boyne" Group uploaded the clip on Facebook in what shows the Navan native wading in on the controversial planning application that would see the installation of a 7.2km pipeline that would pump 400,000 litres of treated wastewater daily into the River Boyne from the Dawn Meats plant in Slane, Co Meath. Making a passionate plea to protect the historic river on which he "grew up on", Brosnan said: "Water is our most precious natural resource. 70,000 people get their drinking water from the River Boyne. The River Boyne is also one of the most important sites for salmon in Eastern Ireland and home to rare plant species. "I grew up on the banks of the River Boyne where it meets the Blackwater. It is one of the most beautiful rivers in Ireland and should be nurtured and cultivated as a sentient being of history, beauty and life force of nature. "As I say, water is our most precious natural resource. Water levels are historically low and our rivers and streams cannot handle excess waste in this time. "Waste from the Dawn Meats abattoir should not be discharged into the River Boyne. I appeal to the Meath County Council to protect the River Boyne and their community." Last year Meath County Council granted permission for the pipeline, a decision that drew huge opposition locally with more than 400 submissions made on the plans and an appeal to an Bord Pleanala ongoing. Residents, local politicians, business owners, angling groups and Slane Castle owner Lord Henry Mountcharles have all spoken out against the plans. Around 200 people braved the elements walking from Navan to Drogheda in July on the Save the Boyne group's Go with the Flow walk to raise awareness of the ongoing appeal to an Bord Pleanala. Objectors have said recent low water levels have heightened their fears. They worry there is limited scope for the river to cope with potential contamination with less water flowing during warm spells. Dawn Meats said it has a long-term commitment to sustainability and high environmental standards and takes local concerns very seriously. A spokesperson said its plans will deliver safer water treatment at a higher standard than at present. Third-party studies, including a natural impact statement, have assessed no negative impact on the River Boyne or surrounding habitats. The new facility will be subject to regular monitoring by the Environmental Protection Agency in accordance with licensing requirements, the spokesperson added. An Bord Pleanala said it has been considering further submissions and its planning inspectorate is due to complete an inspection of the site and a report on the proposals. The Government has released a National Policy Statement for Highly Productive Land (NPS-HPL), which will enhance protection for New Zealand's most productive land, providing security for bot hthe country's domestic food supply and primary exports. The National Policy Statement will greatly improve how we protect highly-productive land from inappropriate subdivision, use and development, says Environment Minister David Parker. We need to house our people and to feed them too. Our cities and towns need to grow but not at the expense of the land thats best suited to grow our food. The NPS-HPL will help protect our best growing areas so Kiwis continue to have access to leafy greens and other healthy foods. Councils will be required to identify, map and manage highly productive land to ensure its available for growing vegetables, fruit and other primary production, now and into the future. Agriculture and Trade Minister Damien OConnor says highly productive land provides food for New Zealanders, significant economic and employment benefits to communities and underpins the value of New Zealands primary sector. Our Fit for a Better World roadmap that we developed with the sector will add $44 billion over 10 years to our primary sector exports, but is dependent on maintaining access to our highly productive soils, says Damien OConnor. Todays changes enhance protection for our highly productive land giving farmers, growers, and other food producers certainty into the future, and provide greater economic security for all New Zealanders. Over the last 20 years, about 35,000 hectares of our highly productive land has been carved up for urban or rural residential development, while 170,000 hectares of this land has been converted to lifestyle blocks. Once land is built on, it can no longer be used to grow food and fibre. Thats why we are moving to protect our most fertile and versatile land, especially in our main food production areas like Auckland, Waikato, Hawkes Bay, Horowhenua and Canterbury, says OConnor. Associate Agriculture Minister Meka Whaitiri says the Government has worked closely with local authorities, industry, growers, and Maori organisations to develop a policy that is workable and fit-for-purpose. This policy statement supports the sector by ensuring our best land will remain available for food and fibre production, says Meka Whaitiri. The NPS-HPL sits alongside other national direction, including the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management and the National Policy Statement on Urban Development (NPS-UD). The NPS-HPL will work in a complementary way with the NPS-UD. Urban intensification enabled under the NPS-UD will reduce the demand for outward urban growth on highly productive land. This recognises that using land for primary production needs to occur within environmental limits, and ensures that all land can be used and managed to best effect, says David Parker. Councils, in limited circumstances, will still be able to rezone highly-productive land for urban housing if less productive land is not available, or if certain tests can be met. However, the NPS-HPL will introduce strong restrictions on the use of highly productive land for new rural lifestyle developments. The NPS-HPL will be transitioned into the two Acts replacing the Resource Management Act the Spatial Planning Act (SPA) and the Natural and Built Environments Act (NBA). The work that councils will be required to do under the NPS-HPL can be transitioned with ease into the new plans required under the SPA and NBA, says Parker. The National Policy Statement for Highly Productive Land 2022 will be available here: https://environment.govt.nz/publications/national-policy-statement-for-highly-productive-land The best and brightest scientists of the Greater Waikato Region and Bay of Plenty have been recognised at the 15th Kudos Awards Showcase. With the postponement of last years Awards due to the Covid-19 pandemic, organisers the Kudos Science Trust celebrated the 2021 finalists with a glittering Showcase gala at Claudelands Event Centre on September 14. The event also launched a Hall of Fame, spotlighting past Kudos scientists whose work has taken the region and New Zealand onto the international stage. The inaugural inductee was Dr Patrick Shannon QSM, awarded posthumously for his work with the Newstead-based herd improvement and agri-technology cooperative Livestock Improvement Corporation (LIC). Over 64 years he led the science that improved the genetics of New Zealand dairy cattle and boosted the productivity and profitability of the dairy sector. These awards are not just a recognition of talent, but a vital incubator for creative research discoveries and cutting-edge technology," says Kudos Science Trust CEO Soteria Ieremia. When you look at some of New Zealands top performing sectors, science is what underpins these groundbreaking innovations, and the work pioneered by Dr Patrick Shannon QSM is testament to that. Among this years winners were the Scion/Agrisea team, who recently received a $750,000 loan from the governments Regional Strategic Partnership Fund to support the world's first commercial seaweed nanocellulose facility in Paeroa. Fellow winner Dr Shen Him Lims world-leading robotic asparagus harvesting technology has also attracted major investment, and Dr Megan Graingers research is supporting New Zealands multi-million dollar manuka honey industry. Educator Chris Duggan was recognised for her bilingual science kits for primary schools, while Dr Charles Lee won the Environmental award for his expertise in Antarctic terrestrial ecology and climate change. Prof Kura Paul-Burke was recognised for her work blending western science with matauranga Maori to help coastal communities manage marine taonga, while Assoc Prof Bridgette Masters-Awatere received her award for drawing on matauranga Maori knowledge to inform medical best practice. Prof Alan Hogg received this years Kudos Lifetime Achievement Award. The Director of the University of Waikato Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory since 1985, Prof Hogg is an international authority on radiocarbon tree-ring dating, whose research has established the timing of arrival and impacts of Maori in New Zealand. Past scientists who are making an impact and featured at the awards included Dr Martin Stiles, Prof Johan Verbeek, and ESP Medical. Ieremia says the calibre of the winners is world-class, and the work they are doing is of vital importance to the continuing growth of science and innovation in the Waikato and Bay of Plenty and beyond. These amazing thinkers are combining cutting-edge science with innovative thinking to tackle real world issues. We applaud them for their talent and hard work, and hope they receive not just kudos, but further investment and support to commercialise and extend the value and impact of their work. KUDOS AWARDS WINNERS: Inaugural Hall of Fame Dr Patrick Shannon QSM, awarded posthumously The Kudos Lifetime Achievement Award Prof Alan Hogg, UoW WINTEC Secondary Science Teacher/Educator Award Chris Duggan https://www.thekudos.org.nz/chris-duggan/ Hamilton City Council Emerging Scientist Award Dr Megan Grainger https://www.thekudos.org.nz/dr-megan-grainger/ Datamars Engineering Science Award Dr Shen Hin Lim https://www.thekudos.org.nz/dr-shen-hin-lim/ Waikato Regional Council Environmental Award Dr Charles Lee https://www.thekudos.org.nz/dr-charles-lee/ Te Whatu Ora Waikato Medical Science Award Assoc Prof Bridgette Masters-Awatere https://www.thekudos.org.nz/assoc-prof-bridgette-masters-awatere/ Hill Laboratories Primary Industry Award Scion/Agrisea Nanocellulose from Seaweed Team https://www.thekudos.org.nz/scion-agrisea/ University of Waikato Vision Matauranga Science Award Prof Kura Paul-Burke https://www.thekudos.org.nz/assoc-prof-kura-paul-burke/ Bay of Plenty wahine/women and people with a cervix are being encouraged to check they are up-to-date with their cervical screening test. A cervical screening appointment usually takes less than 15 minutes and should normally be done every three years, says Cervical Screening Programme BOP/Lakes regional coordinator Lynne Clayton. Its a simple procedure that has the proven ability to save lives. Cervical cancer is one of the most preventable cancers results show screening every three years can reduce the risk of developing it by up to 90 per cent. Finding the time for screening can be difficult but its important wahine prioritise themselves and their hauora so they can be well for their whanau. The cervical screening test identifies abnormal changes in the cells of the cervix. These cell changes are caused by the human papillomavirus. HPV infection is very common, and most people come into contact with it at some stage of their life. Changes in the cervix from HPV infection happen slowly. By having regular cervical screening there is an excellent chance the abnormal cells will be found and treated before they ever become cancer. Together, the HPV vaccine and cervical screening are your best protection against cervical cancer. Anyone under the age of 27 can receive the HPV vaccine for free, and at a cost for other ages. To find out when your next test is due, where to go to have a test or if you are eligible for the HPV vaccine, contact your GP, Maori health service, Family Planning Clinic, sexual health services or local Cervical Screening Register Team. Visit: www.timetoscreen.nz/cervical-screening Or free phone 0800 729 729. HPV immunisation information is at: https://toiteora.govt.nz/public/hpv-immunisation BNZs head of financial crime, Ashley Kai Fong, says the most notable change in scam activity over the past year was the increased volume. In the last year, BNZ found four out of every five people had been targeted by a scam and more than a quarter had fallen victim to one, up 7% the year prior. It found that 47% of businesses had been a victim in the last year, up from 21% the year before. Scams are rising, year-on-year, and as they climb, so does the toll on New Zealanders and the trail of destruction left in the wake, says Kai Fong. Scams dont just damage our finances. They cause hurt, shame, and embarrassment to their victims and they erode trust and confidence in brands, businesses, and organisations. In one scam that the bank dealt with recently, a customer fell victim to a recovery scam multiple times. A recovery scam is where a scammer steals money then poses as a bank or police to help recover it. The first scam was an investment scam. The customer had been watching investment YouTube videos and followed a link to speak to someone who advised them on a cryptocurrency investment. But there was no investment and the customer lost almost $90,000. When the scam was discovered, BNZ changed the customers passwords and details and secured the account. But then someone pretending to be an investigator from a cryptocurrency company offered to help recover the money. They obtained access to the customers online banking and stole more money. BNZ secured the account again and told the customer what to look for to avoid being caught in future. BNZ was not able to recover any of the money. Cryptocurrency scams are virtually impossible to recover as they are effectively untraceable transactions, says Kai Fong. This underlines the importance of being wary of anyone calling you out of the blue and asking for details or access to your computer. If you get one of these calls, the best thing to do is hang up and call back on the number listed on the website, not on the one they called you from. Kai Fong says people should report being targeted by a scam or having fallen victim to one. If you think you may have lost money to one or someone might have accessed your online banking, call your bank immediately. The sooner the bank knew about it, the better the chance they had to recover the money. He says some scammers were changing their tactics. As the world is coming out of lockdown, unfortunately these criminals have business plans like everyone else, theyre just not as structured. Theyve got a lot of time to make up for. Everyones online a bit more and I guess the landscape for them to attack has become bigger. Professor of commercial law Alex Sims speaks about the red flags to watch for when investing in crypto, and why Unvest was such an unusual case. Video: Stuff. Kai Fong says 25% of victims says they had clicked on a link in an email or text. It could be almost anything a message pretending to be from a bank asking you to urgently confirm a transaction or from a courier company asking you to urgently pay a release fee. The link in the text messages look almost legitimate so its easy for someone in a hurry to tap through. But the website is fake. Everything you enter is immediately sent to the scammers and they use the details to log into your real online banking and take your money or run up charges on your debit or credit card. He says businesses were often caught by invoice scams. In an invoice scam, a businesss system is compromised and the bank account number on invoices is changed to one a scammer owns so payments meant for the business go to the scammer instead. In a new development, weve also seen scammers posing as employees changing the bank account where their wages are paid. These scams are notoriously difficult to spot and are the leading scam by value of losses. In another case the bank dealt with, a woman believed she had met a man who was a missionary in India. He told her that he was stuck in a hotel with Covid-19 and needed money for accommodation and new flights. When the customer tried to send money to the man, the bank talked to her to see if she could find any documents to prove he was who he says he was. She was not able to but still went ahead with the transfer and lost more than $100,000. In another, a woman thought she was being messaged by her son on WhatsApp and sent money to a scammer. The customer was alerted to the scam by receiving another message from the same number later, this time saying, hi dad. The scammers were changing tactics but had inadvertently messaged the same number, says Kai Fong. Cert NZ data shows that in the June quarter, there was $3.9 million in direct financial loss reported due to cybersecurity incidents. About 2000 incidents were reported, down 14% from the first quarter. Kai Fong says it was likely that larger numbers of people were affected but not reporting because they felt embarrassed. A Tauranga District Court judge has declined an application by the Corrections Department to block internet access for convicted rapist Jayden Meyer. It comes after fake online posts that appeared to be of Meyer mocking his sentence were taken down last week. Corrections Deputy Regional Commissioner for the Northern Region, Ali Rei, says Corrections will continue to monitor him extremely closely. She says he's already subject to 20 court-imposed conditions, including that he hands over any device capable of accessing the internet on request. Meyer, 18, was charged after multiple police complaints by young women in Bay of Plenty who alleged sexual violence across 2020 and 2021. An investigation followed, resulting in 10 charges including four of rape, four of sexual violation, and two of doing an indecent act. There were five young female victims, four of whom were raped and one who was sexually violated. Meyer was sentenced to nine months' home detention and a further 12 months of post-release conditions, including a ban on associating with anyone under 16 and attending a sexual violence prevention programme. -RNZ. The big picture: China led the global industrial automation push last year, installing nearly as many heavy-duty robots in its factories as the rest of the world combined. Recent automation efforts are not as much about leading the way as they are about playing catch up. Until recently, the nation has lagged behind other power players like Japan, Germany, South Korea and the US in terms of robots on production lines. Data from the International Federation of Robotics viewed by The Wall Street Journal revealed that shipments of industrial-grade robots in China increased 45 percent year over year to more than 243,000 units. According to the publication, that represents just under half of all industrial robots installed last year and bolsters the country's status as the leading market for robot manufacturers. The recent push could also be in response to China's aging workforce, slowing birth rates and wage increases. Because the country can no longer rely on its workforce to drive economic growth, they are using automation to boost the productivity of their remaining workers. The International Labor Organization estimated China had 147 million people working manufacturing jobs in 2021, down from a peak of 169 million in 2012. Productivity among workers is well below the global average in China. According to data from the Conference Board, employee output per hour worked in China was about one-fourth the average of G7 nations including Germany, Japan and the US last year. Productivity growth has also slowed, from a nine percent annual average between 2000 and 2010 to just 7.4 percent over the last decade. Andrew Harris, deputy chief economist at Fathom Consulting in London, said you can't wait until you run out of people to start dealing with it. That said, China still accounts for much of the world's manufacturing needs about 29 percent according to data from the United Nations. Adding more robots to the equation will allow the country's factories to perform more precise work than most humans can manage. It also does not hurt that the cost of installing robots continues to dwindle. Image credit: Mech Mind, Pixabay Why it matters: Earlier this month, the US government blocked the sale of specific chips to anyone in China. We see this as an important change by the government in the tactics they are deploying. The United States has gone from blocking specific companies in China, to blocking all companies and focusing on specific products. This is a big change, and opens up the question -- what exactly are they hoping to achieve? This matters obviously in that it can help us predict the outcome, but we increasingly hold the view that the government may not have entirely thought through how this will ultimately play out. Some background. The US has been pushing back against China's trade practices, going back to the late Obama administration, with a marked escalation by his successor. The Biden administration appears to be maintaining that path, albeit with some rethinking of the tactics. Until just recently, the US government had largely relied on its "Entity List" (here is the complete list), for those keeping score at home, there are 183 Huawei entities on the list. This blocks specific companies from purchasing products exported from the US, or produced by US companies and/or IP. Editor's Note: Guest author Jonathan Goldberg is the founder of D2D Advisory, a multi-functional consulting firm. Jonathan has developed growth strategies and alliances for companies in the mobile, networking, gaming, and software industries. The entity list process is unlikely to be remembered for its success. As soon as a large number of large Chinese companies started appearing on this list around 2017-2018, US companies dispatched teams of lawyers and lobbyists to poke as many loopholes as they could. From the Chinese perspective, the entity list appeared terrifyingly random. True, Huawei was a primary target, but many other companies ended up on the list for reasons not entirely clear to them. We have spoken with many people at Chinese companies who have grown incredibly wary of doing business with anyone in the US for fear that they will somehow end up on the list. This has created a high degree of uncertainty and a rush for alternatives, a topic which we will return to below. Late last month, the US government added seven more names to the list, and judging from those names we have to question who is compiling this list. These latest additions all appear to be involved with aerospace matters, and while they have academic connections, the fact that all seven have Unit number designations seems to indicate that these are military affiliates, if not outright units of the People's Liberation Army (PLA). We are now six years into this process, how are these units just now being added to the list? Judging by what came next, we have to think that the people putting the list together realized they faced a hopeless task. Chinese companies have become incredibly adept at creating byzantine corporate structures, making tracking their affiliations close to impossible. Our guess is that someone in the government realized the futility of this approach and made the decision to instead switch to banning shipments of specific products. The latest approach targets high-end chips used for machine learning. These are the kinds of chips that can be used to create AI enhancements for search algorithms and finding users who want to watch dancing kitten videos. They are also the kinds of chips that can be used to simulate missile trajectories and nuclear explosions. From what we can tell, the US government, in all of this, is trying to limit the ability of the PLA and its many affiliates from accessing the latest in US technology. The war in Ukraine has highlighted the US' military advantage rests largely on its access to the most advanced technology. Of course, there is more to it, but this is something that the US military relies on heavily. Seeing China's military as an increasing threat, it makes sense that the US does not want to do anything to help China dilute this advantage. So in our opinion, the latest switch to banning products marks a meaningful expansion of the US government's efforts. Will this work any better than the entity list? We are skeptical. First, as noted above, the biggest force working to dilute past efforts was US companies themselves. Nvidia's shares fell on the latest news, and they warned of a $400 million revenue shortfall resulting from the ban. Maybe this will work for these specific chips, but we think further expansion will meet with stiff resistance from the home front. Secondly, how will this work in a modern supply chain? Let's say a US company wants to buy a few million dollars worth of banned Nvidia chips. Who will then assemble the chips into working systems, inserting the chips onto motherboards and installing those in server racks? Today, most of that work is done by Taiwanese companies' factories in China. Can Nvidia ship those chips to China? Technically, we think the answer is yes, but it is easy to see how this process can get easily derailed. Third, this is a short-term move, but it has long term consequences. As we noted above, every Chinese company buying parts from US vendors is now busy looking for domestic alternatives. We have written a lot about the growth in the capabilities of Chinese fabless firms, including a host of companies producing GPUs not too dissimilar from what the US government just banned (not the same, but getting closer all the time). The US government's actions are directly leading to interest in a sea of aspiring Nvidia competitors. For companies like Biren, the US government's actions are a major boost. And those are just the first order effects. Stratechery recently touched on this, noting that one of Nvidia's biggest advantages in the market for AI chips is its CUDA software. It is now highly unclear what the status of this software is in China. This will certainly increase interest in open source alternatives to CUDA. So not only is Nvidia losing out in direct sales, it now risks seeing its competitive advantage being worn away. This also extends beyond the GPU/AI semiconductor space, it applies to all US semis, what we would call third order effects. All Chinese companies, even those with absolutely no ties to China's military now have to look for alternative vendors. This is not patriotism, it is just rational commercial contingency planning. The effects are most likely to be felt first in industrial and automotive semis -- i.e. far away from leading edge GPUs, as this is the area where China's aspiring chip companies look most competitive today. We are going to keep an eye on companies like Texas Instruments and On semi's comments about China in coming quarters. So while we understand the US government's interest in curbing the supply of high technology to a potential long-term adversary, we have to wonder if over that long-term this works to China's advantage. There are no simple answers to this problem. That said, the US government needs to think very strategically here. Is the goal to limit specific Chinese military projects? Is it to cripple the entire Chinese semis complex? Is there even an end goal? From what we can tell right now, that does not seem to be the case. NASA's Perseverance rover has gathered interesting organic matter in rock, as reported by CNET. (Photo : PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images) Acting NASA Administrator Steve Jurczyk stands for a portrait at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) following the successful Mars 2020 Perseverance rover landing on February 18, 2021 in Pasadena, California. The rock, which was named Wildcat Ridge, is located in an ancient river delta region of Jezero Crater, where the rover collected two samples. What makes it interesting is that its organic molecules are potentially biosignatures. A biosignature is a substance or structure that could have lead to evidence of past life and may also have been produced without the presence of life. The Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals (SHERLOC) instrument investigated the rock and found the most abundant organic detections so far on the mission. According to scientists, the fact that organic matter was found in sedimentary rock is crucial. Organic molecules are usually associated with volcanic or hydrothermal activity, but it is quite rare to find them in sedimentary rocks. This is because, in the past, mud, sand, and salts that make up the Wildcat Ridge were deposited under conditions where life could potentially have thrived. These findings confirm that this region of Mars is an excellent place to look for signs of ancient life. SHERLOC's capability for detecting organic compounds with very low concentrations offers the potential for a breakthrough in its ability to assess the likelihood that life might have existed on ancient Mars However, it's important to remember that this isn't the first time the rover found organic matter on Mars. The Curiosity Rover has also spotted organic matter in Gale Crater, while Perseverance found carbon-containing molecules earlier in the mission. Currently, Perseverance has 12 rock samples that include the Wildcat Ridge. It also gathered igneous rock samples earlier in the mission that may provide a clue about the volcanic activity in the crater. Also Read: NASA Perseverance: Sand Transport on Mars Now Under Investigation from Rover NASA's Plans NASA is elated with the diverse samples the rover has collected that it's considering dropping some of its filled tubes off on the surface for the future Mars Sample Return (MSR) campaign. The MSW campaign aims to send a lander to Mars to get the samples of the rover, rocket them off the surface and bring them back to Earth for a closer study. Currently, it is still under development. If things go to plan, we might be able to see the rocks by 2033. Rocks on Mars can tell us a lot about the history of the planet and may potentially contain organic matter. If NASA's MSR mission becomes a reality, it will be a glorious moment for the agency and for science on Earth. It will definitely take some time, but the reward will be worthwhile. For now, we can sit back, relax and watch Perseverance being busy on Mars. Related Article: NASA Perseverance Rover Discovers Mysterious Rock on Mars, Scientists Astounded on Formation This article is owned by Tech Times Written by April Fowell 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Another incident involving a Tesla electric vehicle resulted in the death of two passengers in the front seat after the electric vehicle crashed into a tree and caught fire in the process. The incident took place in Richland County, South Carolina, near Lake Murray, and responding officers declared the passengers dead on the scene. Tesla Accident Resulted in Fire After Crash (Photo : Unsplash/Bram Van Oost) According to News 19's report, an unfortunate incident involving a 2021 Tesla occurred on Salem Church Road at around 2:10 AM, and the electric vehicle crashed into a tree which is outside the road. After the crash, the EV caught fire and resulted in the death of the driver and front seat passenger, who did not survive the incident. The road is near Irmo and Lake Murray in Richland Country, South Carolina. State troopers and the South Carolina Highway Patrol pronounced the victims died on the scene after the fatal crash with the electric vehicle. This case is one of the many crashes involving a Tesla EV, with many seeing this as a massive hindrance to buying the vehicle as it questions the safety and reliability of the company's technology. Read Also: Tesla Accused of Making Deceptive Claims About its Full-Self Driving Technology Passengers Dead on the Scene The passengers were pronounced dead on the scene, and the SCHP is now investigating the cause of the accident to determine if it was a human error or something which the electric vehicle caused. The South Carolina Department of Public Safety's data said that there were at least 46 fatalities from crashes in 2022 in Richland County and 701 dead on South Carolina roads due to accidents. The Highway Patrol is also investigating if the passengers were wearing their seatbelts at the time. Tesla Crashes and Accidents Tesla promises a safe drive for all, and the electric vehicles center on safety and security for all users with its autonomous driving systems, as well as the safety measures in place for the passengers. One video uploaded via YouTube showed how a Tesla helped to avoid getting rear-ended by a speeding car unaware of the traffic ahead. However, there are also other crashes that Tesla EVs were unable to avoid, and it resulted in the deaths of two teenagers in Florida who were driving their Model S at the time. Investigations aim to see which is the real perpetrator in the accidents involving a Tesla vehicle, and it aims to address these problems for the company for them to improve. While some users praise Tesla's safety features and want to buy another EV from the company after the incident, some get trauma from their experience, especially survivors involved in these accidents. The fatal crash in Richland County is under investigation by authorities if who is really at fault in this accident, especially as the passengers met their fate after the fiery crash involving the electric vehicles. The South Carolina Highway Patrol leads the investigation and will bring additional details as evidence comes to light. Related Article: Elon Musk: Tesla FSD Beta 10.69.2.1 Coming After AI Day, to Expand to Lower Safety Scores; 10.69.3 Follows This article is owned by TechTimes Written by Isaiah Richard 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The delirious series of Theo James in which he goes out naked almost all the time and of which (almost) nobody talks Two small legal practices have moved into downtown office buildings. The Baton Rouge offices of Irwin Fritchie Urquhart & Moore are now located on the 11th floor of the Chase North Tower, attorney Matt Bailey told the Downtown Development District Board Tuesday. Sprinkle Law Firm has moved into One American Place, said attorney Richard Sprinkle. Eileen Carter, right, explains how the recall process works to people walking by as she and others gather to sign a petition to recall New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell on Friday, September 2, 2022. (Photo by Chris Granger | The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate) A new gene therapy being developed by CSL for haemophilia B has the potential to overhaul patient treatment times and, according to market watchers, unlock significant market share for the ASX-listed biotech giant CSL started developing the treatment, known as EtranaDez, after inking a $655 million deal with genomic medicine company Uniqure back in 2020. The US Food and Drug Administration is expected to make a call on whether to give the product the green light by the end of this year. CSL boss Paul Perreault told this masthead earlier this year he hoped to launch the product in the next calendar year. Credit:Jason South. Patients with haemophilia B lack the blood clotting protein Factor-IX, and currently have to undergo regular intravenous treatments. EtranaDez aims to free up patients from the need for frequent treatment sessions, by instructing their cells to produce the clotting factor that they lack. As the date of the FDAs decision approaches, experts have started to run the ruler over the potential benefits of the drug, with Boston-based independent non-profit, the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER), publishing a draft report on the treatment last week. It appears our Reserve Bank governor is warming to his new role as the nations bad-news-deliverer-in-chief. Having already announced the most aggressive series of interest rate rises since the 1990s, Philip Lowe raised eyebrows again on Friday during a routine, twice-yearly grilling by a federal parliamentary committee by suggesting tax hikes could be part of the solution to yawning federal budget deficits. Philip Lowe during a hearing with the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen In response to a fairly innocuous question about the interplay of monetary policy (interest rates) and fiscal policy (the tax and spend decisions of government), Lowe held forth with a short economic sermon on the limited policy options available to policymakers in Canberra to cover the growing expense of community demands for additional spending on disability and aged care, among other things. In uncharacteristically stark terms, Lowe outlined three options: You can raise more taxes to pay for the things the community want. You can cut back in other areas or we can get the economy to grow more strongly, so the pie is bigger. There are 27.6 million people in situations of forced labour on any given day and, of this, more than 3.3 million are children. There has been an increase of 2.7 million people in forced labour between 2016 and 2021. This was driven entirely by the private economy. Through the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the global community has committed to ending modern slavery by 2030. An increase in slavery suggests that an increase in efforts to combat it is needed if the global community is to meet its goals. Based on 2021 global estimates, there are approximately 50 million people in situations of modern slavery on any given day and this number has increased since previous estimates were released in 2017. These numbers include people in forced labour or people in forced marriages. The Asia and Pacific region, our own backyard, is host to 15.1 million people in forced labour, more than half of the global total. Sixty-three per cent of forced labour occurs in the private economy in sectors other than commercial sexual exploitation. The five sectors accounting for the majority of adult forced labour are services (excluding domestic work), manufacturing, construction, agriculture (excluding fishing) and domestic work. People in forced labour are more likely to be in manufacturing and much more likely to be in construction. Disturbingly, more than half of all children in forced labour are in commercial sexual exploitation and the remainder are found in domestic work, agriculture and manufacturing. There are also 3.9 million people in state-imposed forced labour at any point in time. Loading Although the principal responsibility for ending slavery lies with governments, a whole-of-society approach is needed and this includes businesses. One way business can help is to combat forced labour in operations and supply chains. Attention should focus on identifying, prioritising and acting on hotspots where the risk of forced labour and other human rights abuses is highest. Particular attention should be paid to the informal micro and small enterprises operating at the lower links of supply chains in high-risk sectors and locations. Businesses should also be alive to instances of state-imposed forced labour, ensuring that their supply chains are free from goods or services tainted by it. The recent UN report on Xinjiang province in China has revealed the extent of state-forced labour there. Academics such as Professor Justine Nolan have written that it is now no longer possible for businesses to claim plausible deniability on the issue. The report identifies labour transfer schemes where people from Xinjiang work elsewhere in China. Professor Nolan notes this means goods produced in factories throughout China may be tainted with modern slavery. NSW parliament is set to approve a new cultural institution that will bring together 12 museums and the states $1 billion archives collection. But the entity has been described by a group of academics, historians and emeritus administrators as dangerous and ill-considered. The new Museums of History will have carriage over the Hyde Park Barracks, the State archives collection and Elizabeth House. Credit:SMH If passed, it will create a bizarre and conflicted administrative marriage that is at odds with worlds best practice, they said in a letter sent to all lower house MPs. The government maintains the Museums of History NSW will enhance access, appreciation and preservation of history without weakening powers, responsibilities or provisions. Farmers in north-west NSW are preparing to be cut off after the Namoi River broke its banks, with more heavy rain likely to increase flooding risk later in the week. The Bureau of Meteorology has issued flood warnings for the river, including major flooding at Wee Waa and Gunnedah after the river peaked early on Sunday. Meanwhile, river levels along the Namoi River at Gunnedah fell below the minor flood level Monday morning. The river at Narrabri is set to peak on Tuesday evening. State Emergency Service workers in Gunnedah after the Namoi River flooded. Credit:NSW SES Farmers in the Wee Waa region will most likely be cut off due to the state of wet, unsealed roads, and have been advised to move their livestock and machinery to higher ground. Emergency services are on call to deliver supplies to farming families who become isolated. In the past 24 hours to Monday 3pm, there had been 14 requests for assistance and three flood rescues. In normal times, dropping $600 on Jetstar flights to Melbourne wouldnt seem like a good deal. For Sydneysider Angud Chawla, however, it was a leap of faith that turned out to be an almighty bargain. The 29-year-old public servant purchased return tickets last week when his beloved Sydney Swans were still a win away from reaching the AFL grand final. Once they clinched a one point victory over Collingwood on Saturday, a flight to Melbourne this weekend became the hottest ticket in town. Committed: Swans fan Angud Chawla will dash to Melbourne for the grand final before heading overseas the next day. Credit:Kate Geraghty Grand final day is my favourite day of the year, Chawla says. I didnt really think that the Swans were going to make [it] but now that they have, its been all a mad logistical operation. Fans lucky enough to secure a seat to the big dance have only crossed the first hurdle. Flights and accommodation are always expensive on grand final weekend, compounded this year by the extra public holiday on Thursday to commemorate Queen Elizabeth II, creating a de-facto long weekend for the whole country. A Queensland woman allegedly plotted the killing of her former lover for six months and convinced the other two men involved in a love quadrangle to carry out the plan. Bruce Saunders, 54, was crushed by a woodchipper while clearing trees on a property at Goomboorian, about 150 kilometres north of Brisbane, on November 12, 2017. The property owner was involved. The scene in 2017 at the property on Tinana Road in Goomboorian. Credit:Nine News Queensland - Twitter Police initially treated Saunders death as an accident, until detectives received a tip-off, which led to three people being charged with murder in May 2018. Gympie man Peter John Koenig, 65, pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact in July. He received a lesser sentence in return for him testifying against his co-accused. In her speech broadcast from Cape Town on her 21st birthday, Queen Elizabeth famously declared that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service. Of course, she couldnt have known her service as sovereign would begin less than five years later when her father died unexpectedly. Queen Elizabeth dedicated herself to a life of service. Credit:Getty Images Or that she would end up serving us for 70 years. She served right up until the end when just two days before her death, aged 96, Her Majesty swore in her 15th UK prime minister. No one can no doubt she fulfilled her pledge. The tiny sheep-farming town, 33 kilometres south-west of Ballarat, came alive as 3000 people gathered in the main street for the draw. MOST Australians would be lucky to win a chicken in a local football club raffle. But a syndicate of five people from Moorabbin yesterday won the pub the Railway Hotel in Linton. Cartoon published on September 21, 1997. Credit:Andrew Dyson Mrs Maysie Hart, 90, said she hadnt seen anything like It since electric power was switched on and that was in 1939. In the 1920s she worked as a cook at the hotel. In all my years of being here, Ive never seen such a crowd, she said. The freehold of the $135,000 Railway Hotel was raffled by Buninyong Football Club, which wants to build a new sports and leisure complex and club rooms. The 2000 tickets at $250 each sold three weeks ago with entries from as far away as Denmark, London and New Zealand. Buninyong Football Club stands to make a $250,000 profit from the raffle. The NSW government will introduce new legislation into parliament this week to strengthen no body, no parole laws after former teacher Chris Dawson was convicted of murdering his wife. Dawson, 74, was late last month found guilty of murdering his first wife Lynette Dawson, 33, four decades after she vanished from Sydneys northern beaches. Her body has never been found. Main photo: Chris Dawson before the announcement of the verdict last month. Inset: Dawson with Lynette on their wedding day in 1970. Credit:Kate Geraghty Premier Dominic Perrottet said the governments proposed bill would mean offenders must co-operate with investigators and disclose the location of remains for any chance of release on parole. We will make it impossible for offenders who willfully and deliberately refuse to disclose information about their victims remains, to be granted parole, Perrottet said. Government agencies should proactively publish documents that make their bosses feel uncomfortable to be more accountable to the public, the Victorian Information Commissioner has said. In an interview with The Age in the lead-up to the state election, the watchdog, Sven Bluemmel, said more freedom of information (FOI) requests were lodged in Victoria than any other jurisdiction in Australia, including the Commonwealth. Victorian Information Commissioner Sven Bluemmel outside state parliament on Friday. Credit:Wayne Taylor To me, that suggests that people have to resort to FOI more than in other places, Bluemmel said. A record 42,249 requests were lodged in Victoria in 2020-21, and while figures from the last 12 months were not yet publicly available, Bluemmel said the state would exceed that record again. Geelongs Gary Rohan has stared down his critics as he heads into his fourth grand final, hoping to achieve his childhood dream and win that elusive premiership. The 31-year-old has not played in a loss this season and answered critics of his finals performances with a best on ground effort in the narrow qualifying final win over Collingwood. His effort came just days after Chris Scott, his coach in the past four years, used an appearance on Nines Footy Classified to berate those criticising Rohan, a gesture the forward appreciated. Gary Rohan is not worried about external noise as he enters his fourth grand final Credit:AFL Photos He has always stood by me, and he knows the role I play - and some people dont really see what effect I can have on the team, Rohan told reporters on Monday. Washington: The Chinese foreign ministry said on Monday that China has lodged stern representations with the United States, after US President Joe Biden said US forces would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion. China reserves the right to take all necessary measures in response to activities that split the nation apart, said Mao Ning, spokesperson at the foreign ministry, at a regular media briefing. US President Joe Biden. Credit:AP She also urged the US to handle Taiwan-related issues carefully and properly, and not send wrong signals to Taiwan independence separatist forces, warning the United States not to seriously damage Sino-US relations and the peace in the Taiwan Strait. There is only one China in the world, Taiwan is part of China, and the government of the Peoples Republic of China is the only legitimate government of China, Mao said. Edinburgh: A Russian pop-star with a claim to be the countrys most famous woman has criticised Vladimir Putins war in Ukraine, saying it is pointlessly sending young men to die. Alla Pugacheva rose to stardom in the late 60s and sold more than 250 million records, winning a string of national awards alongside plaudits from Boris Yeltsin and Mr Putin himself. In a statement on Instagram, the 73-year-old said: The death of our boys for illusory aims makes our country a pariah and weighs down on the lives of our citizens. Vladimir Putin and Russian pop singer Alla Pugacheva pose for a photo during an awards ceremony at the Kremlin in 2014. Credit:AP Analysts say her remarks could bring dissent to new audiences among the apolitical or supporters of the Kremlin. London: As 2000 mourners gather in Westminster Abbey for Queen Elizabeth IIs state funeral on Monday, high above them hangs the largest-ever portrait of the monarch painted by an Australian. People say it forms part of the fabric of the abbey I couldnt have dreamt of a better outcome for the painting, says artist Ralph Heimans, who was granted an hour-long sitting with the Queen in the Yellow Drawing Room of Buckingham Palace in 2012. Sydney-based Heimans was given 10 days to prepare his ideas for the majestic portrait commissioned to celebrate her 60 years on the throne. Artist Ralph Heimans photographed outside the Palace of Westminster in London, England ahead of the Queens state funeral. Credit:Kiran Ridley It was a huge gamble for me, he says. 77/81 Jill Neill and other residents gather on the Shankill Road to observe the national moment of reflection in front of a mural dedicated to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Credit:Charles McQuillan/Getty Images Wendell Pierce and Sharon D Clarke did not know each other when they began the process of playing Willy and Linda Loman in the Young Vic Theatre production of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. But something happened in that rehearsal room, on that stage, back in 2019. A magic relationship was formed, a deep friendship. When the UK-based Clarke made her Broadway debut last year in Caroline, or Change, Pierce flew in from Louisiana to be in the audience at her first preview, in lieu of her wife, who was arriving in the United States from London later in the run. Now, they're back together in New York and are once again Willy and Linda, getting ready for previews at the Hudson Theatre beginning September 17. Here, Pierce and Clarke tell us about their friendship, and how that off-stage bond helps them find the joy in one of the heaviest plays ever written. Sharon D Clarke and Wendell Pierce in '"Death of a Salesman'' at the Young Vic ( Brinkhoff-Moegenburg) This conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity. This is your third go at Willy and Linda, and your first time doing it in America. What is it like to be back in the rehearsal room? Sharon D Clarke: It's an absolute joy. What is really wonderful is that [director] Miranda Cromwell is not remounting the production that we did in London. She's not going "We've got the show, so let's just do it." We're coming at it fresh. We're finding new things, mining, going deeper, and having fun. We just changed the top of one scene today, and it's absolutely beautiful. Wendell Pierce: What's amazing is that there's such a wealth of complexity to mine in the play. It's an ongoing thing, where there's always something more you can find. There are new discoveries almost every day. You hear something for the first time that you hadn't noticed before and it adds an element of what's at stake. There's a plethora of things to really explore. Sharon: And that's what keeps it fresh for the two of us, who have done it since 2019. We're coming at it again with fresh eyes, like it's a new thing. This isn't the show that we did before. Wendell: And the two co-exist. It is this masterful play. All the bones are there. It's the same examination of whether your best days are behind you, or the false hope and promises and illusion of this desired life that is unobtainable, and this inability to see the love that you have around you. For me, it's about the inability that Willy has to see the wealth of love that he has, while he's looking for something materialistic Sharon: But then, all of his choices are out of love. Wendell: That's the paradox. Were these roles that you had always wished to play? Or was this a surprise when they came your way? Wendell: It was completely out of left field. I hadn't expected it. It wasn't something that I had thought about doing. As soon as the opportunity came, it was a no-brainer. Sharon: Also, being the actors of the color that we are, this is a classic play in the American canon that has not been open to our kind. So it's not ever a dream that I would've had. I wouldn't have thought "Can I play Linda Loman?" The minute that the opportunity comes up, you go "Can we put this in a different light so a new generation can see themselves represented?" And then you think "Okay, I see myself up there." Wendell: it just amplifies everything that's already there. I tell people all the time, "We're doing Death of a Salesman. Sharon: It's not a colorblind Death of a Salesman, it's not an all-Black Death of a Salesman. It's a Death of a Salesman for our times, especially coming out of the summer of Black Lives Matter. It heightens everything. When people see it, they go "You must have changed the script." Wendell: That was always the joy, when people go "It's really wonderful how you changed that bit right there. That's not in the play." Sharon: "Yes, it is." It's visceral. Sharon D Clarke and Wendell Pierce in '"Death of a Salesman'' at the Young Vic ( Brinkhoff-Moegenburg) Did you know each other when you first started rehearsals back in 2019, or did you become friends and colleagues doing this show? Wendell: I knew of Sharon. Sharon: I knew of Wendell. Wendell: And we have a mutual friend who I called and said "Hey, do you know Sharon D Clarke?" and he goes "Oh, man, I love her. You're going to be wonderful with her." Sharon: He said the same thing to me. Wendell: From the minute we met, there was this deep joy. Deep love. Sharon has taken care of me. Sharon: We take care each other. Wendell: She's become a dear friend. One of the joys of doing this Sharon: Is the gift of friendship. Wendell: There are moments in the play where it's like "I could just be right here with Sharon forever." Blessed moments. Sharon: Truly, the stage love of my life. Does that make the play easier to do night after night? Wendell: It makes the craft easier. She is a student of her craft. When you're putting out energy, she is accepting it and giving you something right back, and vice versa. There are moments when I hear just her voice and it moves me. A glance will move me. There's a connection that's so authentic and organic that comes from craftsmanship. When you have a masterful craftswoman like this by your side, it makes the exploration even deeper, so you get to go further and actually illuminate the play even more. Sharon: It makes it joyous. The subject matter that we are dealing with is heavy, deep shit. It's heartbreaking. It's torturous. It's harrowing. And when you can have those moments of joy and connection and creativity, and love, it makes the work such a pleasure. Sharon, this is your second autumn on Broadway now, having done Caroline, or Change this time last year. Sharon: I'm an old hand at it now. [Laughs] No. It's all very fresh and new and exciting for me. Caroline finished in January, so I didn't expect to be back already doing another wonderful, amazing piece of theater. I feel absolutely blessed, and I'm still like, "What? Really? Oh, my God." It's wonderful. I don't feel like an old pro at all. I feel like a giddy, young school gal. Wendell: And I love the range. In just two seasons, you will see such a range of this wonderful woman, this great actor. Wendell, what is it like for you to take on this role? Wendell: It's one of the great honors of my life. Not my career, my life. I think of all the men who wanted to play the role and didn't have the opportunity, and never would get the opportunity, and the obligation I owe to them. And to think that I'm connected to Lee J. Cobb and Dustin Hoffman and Philip Seymour Hoffman and George C. Scott and Brian Dennehy, what a humbling and honorable distinction to have. It's been a while since I've been on Broadway, and it's great to be back with this classic American play. It's profoundly moving. I can't even talk about it without being moved. I just had my costume fitting, and I put on the suit and hat, and I was just overwhelmed. I'm so thankful. It is a real honor that I step into with great joy, profound importance, and deliberate courage acting in the face of fear, not the absence of fear. Sharon: And you get to bring it home, baby. You get to bring it home. News Updates Would you like to receive our newsletter? Get local, Wyoming, and national news, the weather forecast, and more, delivered to your inbox every weekday morning. 33 GOP Senators Urge Garland to Give Hunter Biden Investigator Special Counsel Powers More than 30 Republican senators have requested that Attorney General Merrick Garland give special counsel protections to the federal prosecutor investigating Hunter Biden, arguing that such a move would help assure the American people that the probe is free from political influence amid widespread allegations of bias at the Department of Justice (DOJ). The presidents son has been investigated by the office of Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss, a Trump-appointed prosecutor, since at least 2019. While prosecutors have not publicly disclosed what is being investigated, documents from the investigation and people who have testified to a grand jury say it includes looking into Hunter Bidens financial dealings with entities in China and other foreign countries. There is no way of knowing the entire scope of the investigation, but evidence seems to be mounting that Hunter Biden committed numerous federal crimes, including, but not limited to, tax fraud, money laundering, and foreign-lobbying violations, the senators wrote in the Sept. 19 letter to Garland. The letter, led by Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), alleges heightened politicization of the DOJ under Garland. It also references whistleblower information received by Grassleys office detailing a widespread effort within the FBI to downplay or discredit negative information about Hunter Biden, including allegations that the FBI shut down investigative activity and avenues of information relating to potentially criminal information on Hunter Biden before the 2020 presidential election. The senators accused Garland of taking the inexplicable step of chilling lawful whistleblower activity by issuing an Aug. 30 memo reminding DOJ employees of a policy prohibiting communications with Congressional members without approval. The memo was issued on the heels of whistleblower approaches to members of Congress. When President Joe Biden took office, the administration allowed Weiss to remain on as prosecutor, even as all other Trump-appointed U.S. attorneys were asked to leave, in a move to avoid the appearance of political interference. But many Republican lawmakers, including the senators who signed on to the letter, believe this is not enough to ensure the integrity of the investigation Given the politicization of the DOJ under your watch and the importance of avoiding any appearance of impropriety, the undersigned request that you provide U.S. Attorney Weiss the full protections and authorities of a special counsel, the letter stated. This is one important action that you can take that will go a long way to restoring faith in our governmental institutions. The attorney general in an April hearing assured senators that there will not be interference of any political or improper kind in the investigation being run out of Deleware. Garland, at the time, also declined to comment on repeated questions about a potential special counsel being assigned to the investigation, saying, The question is an internal DOJ matter, Garland repeated. Sens. Grassley and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), who have been independently investigating Hunter Biden, earlier this year released bank records showing wire transfers from a Chinese Communist Party-linked company to entities tied with Hunter Biden. In 2020, the senators also released a report exposing financial dealings between the younger Biden and Chinese nationals connected to the Chinese regime and military. Hunter Biden has denied any wrongdoing in relation to his business dealings, while the president has maintained that hes never discussed his sons business with Hunter. The Epoch Times reached out to the DOJ and Hunter Bidens attorney for comment. Zachary Stieber contributed to this report. A Chinese flag is seen among Canadian flags on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Sept. 22, 2016. (The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld) PMs Greetings to Event Concerning, as Organizers Chinese Affiliate Had Aim to Spread the Voice of CCP: Advocate Trudeau sent congratulatory letter, while mayor and MLAs attended event sponsored by Beijing-affiliated group A democracy advocate is warning about the Chinese regimes covert cultural infiltration after multiple Canadian politicians lent support to the opening celebration of a new Chinese library. The Vancouver library is part of a China-based project whose founder had said aims to spread the voice of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The new library was unveiled on Sept. 10 during a Night of the Mid-Autumn Festival event held at a winery in Richmond, just south of Vancouver. It was attended by a number of federal, provincial, and municipal politicians and reported on by various Chinese state media. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sent a letter to the event organizer on the occasion of the popular Chinese festival. On this occasion, I join many Canadians in expressing my appreciation of the Chinese community. Canada is a nation made stronger and more resilient by our multiculturalism. This event offers a wonderful occasion for community members to reflect on their important place in Canada, Trudeau said in the letter, obtained by Chinese-language digital media Lahoo.ca. Thank you to all who helped organize this event, and to everyone in attendance for this celebration. Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie, NDP MLAs Henry Yao and George Chow, and Richmond councillors Alexa Loo and Andy Hobbs attended the event in person, according to photos taken by Lahoo.ca. The outlet also reported that the assistant for Liberal MP Parm Bains presented an award to event organizer Maria Xu, whose Chinese name is Xu Ling. The Epoch Times requested comment from the Prime Ministers Office and the other politicians who attended the event, but didnt hear back by publication time. Spread the Voice of the CCP At the Sept. 10 event, Xu, a well-known figure in the B.C. Chinese community, unveiled the new library, calling it a book drifting station. She explained that drifting refers to the books having been first collected in China and then going on to other parts of the world. The new library is part of a project spearheaded by the Nantong Overseas Chinese Library based in Nantong City, Jiangsu Province, China. The Nantong librarys online catalogue shows its top category as being Marxism, Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, followed by the categories of philosophy and religion, social science theories, politics and law, military affairs, and economics, among other topics. The Nantong library was founded by Zhen Xiang. He is also vice chairman of the Federation of Jiangsu Returned Overseas Chinese, which is the Jiangsu provincial branch of the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese, a key organization operated by the CCPs United Front Work Department. The United Front is a network of party and state agencies responsible for influencing groups outside the party, particularly those claiming to represent civil society, according to the Australian Strategic Policy Institute in a June 2020 report it published on the CCPs foreign interference activities. Xu is president of the United Global Chinese Womens Association of Canada and the Canada Jiangsu Overseas Federation Society. Xus organization made a donation to the Nantong Overseas Chinese Library at an event on Oct. 22, 2021, which was covered by Ourjiangsu.com, a Chinese website directly owned by the Jiangsu branch of the CCPs clandestine United Front. However, the article was removed after some Western media published reports on the library unveiling. In the future, book drifting stations of the Overseas Chinese Library will be established in various overseas locations, Zhen said at the October 2021 event, according to the Ourjiangsu.com article. [Nantong Overseas Chinese Library] will send our books there, grow even more donations, [so as to] spread overseas the voice of the Chinese Communist Party and country, as well as knowledge of Chinese culture. Xu, who travelled to China to attend that event, said at the time that Zhens donation was very meaningful in that it lets overseas Chinese around the world to be even better able to pass on Chinese culture to future generations, while allowing Chinese people in all corners of the world to learn about the history of the pioneering work of overseas Chinese. An English-language article published on the Nantong city government website on Aug. 19 indicates that by mid-August 2022, the Nantong Overseas Chinese Library had clinched agreements with overseas Chinese organizations and Chinese-language schools in 27 countries to build a total of 42 book drifting stations. The first library of this kind was opened to the public in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, on April 22, the article said. The article also cited Zhen as saying the library is planning to build 100 book drifting stations overseas by the end of 2023. The library unveiling in Vancouver included a special signing ceremony, with 11 Chinese-language schools and four educational institutions in B.C. entering into agreement to establish book drifting stations, according to the Lahoo.ca article, citing Xu as saying that the Chinese Language Association of British Columbia (CLABC) helped to facilitate the agreements. This news was also reported by rmzxb.com.cn, a Chinese state-media outlet established and directly supervised by the Chinese Peoples Political Consultative Conference, a political advisory body of the CCP and a central part of the United Front. The Epoch Times reached out to Xu and CLABC for comment but didnt hear back by publication time. Cultural Infiltration The purpose of the library project raises concerns of cultural infiltration, said Sheng Xue, a key leader of the overseas Chinese pro-democracy movement. Sheng serves as vice-president of the Federation for a Democratic China and is co-founder of the Canadian Coalition Against Communism. When an entity from China is introduced, it can only represent the Chinese Communist Party, because in China there is no such thing as a civil organization, institution, or even domain, Sheng told The Epoch Times, noting that the CCPs cultural infiltration is unprecedented and multifaceted. Westerners must realize that, for a CCP entity introduced into our society, its purpose is not what it appears to beeither cultural, educational, even language schools, language, or art. They are none of that, but rather the will of the Chinese Communist Party. Sheng said Canada and the Western society in general have had experiences in the past with Beijings efforts to infiltrate their organizations and communities with seemingly harmless interactions, pointing to the introduction of Confucius Institutes (CIs) in democratic countries. She also pointed to Chinese-language media that are operating in Canada despite protests by pro-democracy overseas Chinese communities, which has resulted in the majority of the roughly 1.5 million Chinese-Canadians receiving content representing the CCP. This in itself poses a direct harm to Canada, she said. Now we see the Confucius Institute is facing global sanction, and they are shutting down one by one, and many are becoming aware of the CCPs media, so [the Party] is now promoting a so-called library project, but their purposes are exactly the same. Sheng said that many Canadian politicians are eyeing the large Chinese-Canadian community as a way to garner votes, but notes that while these politicians cater to the groups cooperating with the CCP, they have neglected the silent majority of Chinese immigrants who came to Canada in search of freedom and democracy. We should also be reminded that while the CCP seems rampant and active, there is a silent Chinese majority, she said. Canadian politicians should know that what they are doing is hurting those of the silent majority in the Chinese community, and the majority of Chinese communities will shun [those politicians]. World Chinese Education Alliance The library event also included the inauguration ceremony of the World Chinese Education Alliance. The alliance plans to select high-quality Chinese-language schools or Chinese education institutions from around the world and form alliances with them to jointly promote higher-level Chinese language education and cultural exchange activities, reported the rmzxb.com.cn media outlet. Xu is listed as an an honorary chair on the website of the Canadian Alliance of Chinese Associations (CACA), an umbrella organization encompassing over 100 Chinese organizations that has been reported to echo the CCPs party line. CACA, as well as the other two organizations Xu is affiliated with, were among 87 signatories of a letter published on Aug. 16 on Dawa News, a Chinese-language media website, that supported Beijings recently published white paper on Taiwan. The paper, titled The Taiwan Question and Chinas Reunification in the New Era, has been widely reported as an indication of the regimes heightened will to invade the self-ruled democracy by force. In 2020, Xu was expelled from Liberal MP Joyce Murrays WeChat group for pushing for a lawsuit against Global News investigative journalist Sam Cooper. Earlier that year, Cooper had published an article exposing the United Fronts operations in Canada that involved bulk-buying personal protective equipment and sending it to China ahead of the announcement of the COVID-19 pandemic. On Aug. 20, 2022, Feng Zhenguo attended a rally in Vancouver, Canada, calling for the end of the CCP. The Chinese sentence printed on his T-Shirt reads: "Destroy the CCP. Build a new democratic country." (Da Yu/The Epoch Times) After We Get Rich With Our Hard Work, the CCP Is There to Harvest: Former Chinese Millionaire The former owner of a profitable wood furniture factory in Chinas Hebei Province experienced extortion from environmental authorities before being forced to sell the plant to Chinese police at an extremely low price. The communist regimes so-called reform and opening up is just to loosen the shackles around Chinese peoples necks when both its rule and economy are on the verge of collapse, Feng Zhenguo told the Chinese language edition of The Epoch Times on Sept. 14. The communist regime allows you to experience a little bit of freedom and lets you work hard until you make some money. Then, it comes for your money. Feng had invested more than 3 million yuan (over $430,000) and had about 40 employees at the factory, which made high-end customized furniture, in Qinhuangdao, a port city 190 miles east of Beijing. But he was forced to sell the business to the police for only 400,000 yuan ($57,000). He had originally set up the business out of his love for carpentry and good craftsmanship. I thought that I could do something well if I was really fond of it and did it with all my heart, he said. Custom wood furniture made in Feng Zhenguos factory. (Courtesy of Feng Zhenguo) However, the communist regime turned his lifes dream into a nightmare, repeatedly asking him for money while using various excuses and guises, he said. I suddenly came to understand that, under the rule of the CCP, we ordinary Chinese people are just like ants, insignificant and easily crushed, no matter how hard we work, he said. Environmental Protection in China an Extortion Campaign For years, the Chinese Communist Partys (CCPs) environmental authorities and police extorted money from Feng. In 2016, he went about the various procedures listed for establishing a factory, including filing an application for an environmental impact assessment; that was the most troublesome of all the procedures, Feng said. The assessment is part of a mandatory legal system that determines whether a construction project can proceed, states the website of the CCPs rubber-stamp legislature. The local ecology and environment bureau assesses a construction project, after which a report will be submitted for approval regarding the site selection for the project, the effects on the surrounding environment, and any preventive measures to be taken. A business cant operate without the bureaus approval. In reality, the assessment process actually facilitates constant extortion by the bureau that oversees it, Feng said. For example, the ecology and environmental bureau would designate a certain supplier of environmental protection products, he said. You have to purchase from this supplier. For a piece of environmental protection equipment that is worth a bit more than 100,000 yuan [$21,000], this supplier might sell it for 400,000 yuan to 500,000 yuan [$57,000 to $71,000]. Thats just one way that the bureau makes money from businesses that apply for assessments, he noted. They also designate a contractor for construction and an acceptance company for review at completion, Feng said. In his city, the boss of the acceptance company was a former deputy director of the ecology and environment bureau, he said. The deputy director claims that hes taken leave without pay, which is a red herring. The bureau and the acceptance company colluded to force business owners to pay more for the equipment, and that extra money is expected to guarantee approval of the assessment, Feng said. Feng was relieved when he passed the assessmentafter having spent several hundred thousand yuanand was able to finally begin production. Many people have been forced to demolish their factories as they could not pass the assessment, and they went bankrupt, he said. Some committed suicide. After Feng passed the assessment, staffers from the ecology and environment bureau came to his factory regularlyroughly several times a month. They sent different people with different allegations, he said. We were never able to meet their requirements, because their purpose was to ask for money. The bureau official told him, Our quota of fines for this year is 3 million yuan ($429,559), which we must fulfill. In addition to the regular payments, Feng needed to prepare for unexpected expenses. For example, only months after he began production, he had to install new environmental protection equipment, since a new director of the ecology and environment bureau said that his equipment was substandard. Feng had no choice but to comply, since he had already invested millions of yuan by then. Undated photo of Feng Zhenguos furniture factory in Qinhuangdao City, Hebei Province, China. (Courtesy of Feng Zhenguo) The CCPs environmental protection is a campaign to get money. It is not for the long-term protection of the enterprises or the environment, he said. Persecuted for Belief Feng and his wife, Han Yanjing, accompanied their daughter to Vancouver, Canada, to study in 2019. There, a friend from their hometown brought Han to church. Han returned to China in early 2020, just before the outbreak of the pandemic in Wuhan, to oversee the daily operations of the factory, while Feng stayed in Canada with their daughter. Undated photo of Fengs family. From left to right: Feng Zhenguo, a daughter, and Fengs wife Han Yanjing (Courtesy of Feng Zhenguo) Back in Qinhuangdao city, Han attended meetings at an underground church, a church not officially recognized by the Chinese Communist Party, several times with an employee. She was then targeted by the local police. Zheng Shiyong, a police officer from Haiyang Police Station in Qinhuangdao, started visiting Han at her home, telling her that someone had reported her for participating in an illegal rally. He said that the police chief wouldnt report her to higher authorities as long as she was willing to pay. Han gave him 5,000 yuan ($715). Several days later, Zheng returned to Hans home, along with the police chief. A handmade wooden gazebo in her courtyard caught the police chiefs fancy. He asked Han to make one for him at cost. Han knew what he meant, so she said, If you like it, just take it. The chief claimed the gazebo a few days later. Profitable Business Feng had rented a little over an acre and a half of land to build a workshop with a floor area of about 32,200 square feet. I regarded the factory as my baby, Feng said. I had an ardent yearning for a bright future. With great care, he tended to the workshops operation, manufacturing, and planning. Each year, he set a new plan for sales targets, the number of employees, and the scale of production, and positioned his products to be unique, high-end solid wood items designed and made to customers requirements. In fact, my factory was very profitable. We customized high-grade solid wood furniture for those who planned to upgrade home decoration. In Qinhuangdao city, my brand, Mu Jia, was in a position to set prices for high-end furniture. I didnt want to compete with low-end products, Feng said. His products were well received in the market. At a home decoration and construction materials exhibition, his products were so popular that his sales employees were all occupied answering calls and taking orders from customers. His customers came from as far as Xinjiang in the west of China. His face beamed with happiness as he recalled that period of time. I felt very proud because I was able to offer job opportunities for about 40 people who were working with me, he said. Business a Steal at $57,274 Because of the police visits, Feng felt it was no longer safe to run the business, and told his wife to sell it. While a potential buyer offered 2.8 million yuan ($400,000) for the plant, Feng was reluctant to sell it at that price, since his total investment had exceeded 3 million yuan and the business was making a good profit. But after that, there were no other offers. They decided to reach out to the person who had made the previous offer, but the man said he could no longer buy the factory because someone from the police station wanted it. After some time, a man named Zhang Jian offered them 400,000 yuan ($57,274) and warned that they would get an even lower price if they didnt take it. Feng and his wife decided to sell to Zhang even though the offer didnt even come close to covering their investment. The couple eventually learned that Zhang represented Han Jiajun, a police officer from Haiyang Police Station. Police Continue to Ask for Money After selling the factory, Han found a job working for a friend. The couple didnt expect that the police would call them again to ask for money. Zheng Shiyong, the policeman who accompanied his boss to get the gazebo in Hans yard, called Han before the Chinese New Year in 2021. We can no longer cover up your issue last time [Han going to the church in Qinhuangdao]. We have to report to our superiors. This time, Han couldnt pay them. She fled to Canada and joined her husband and daughter when China lifted its travel restrictions. Officials at the Haiyang Police Station declined on Sept. 15 to comment to The Epoch Times. End the CCP Feng is now enjoying life as a carpenter in Canada. I feel much more comfortable working as an ordinary carpenter in Canada than being a boss in China, he said. The iron fist of the CCP kept hitting me almost every day, and I wasnt able to have a good sleep during those years when I had my own factory in China. He sees now that private enterprises in China are just like chives, a term used by Chinese citizens to describe things that are easy to grow but are subject to cuts or harvests. After we get rich with our hard work, the CCP is there to harvest, Feng said. He said that the CCP has long been treating the Chinese people this way. When the Party first came into existence, it robbed wealthy farmers and then killed them. Since coming to power, the CCP has continued to kill the Chinese people. Freedom of Belief Feng says his family now enjoys the freedom of belief in Canada. He said he hopes that Chinese people in China will one day enjoy freedom as well. My grandpa told me when I was young that the CCP is very, very bad, and an organized gang of bandits, he said. On Aug. 20, Feng attended a rally in Vancouver that was calling for an end to the CCP. He was wearing a T-shirt, on which was printed in both Chinese and English: Destroy the CCP, build a new democratic country. Lin Cenxin and Chang Chun contributed to this report. Two Oath Keepers inside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. (U.S. DOJ/Screenshot via The Epoch Times) Alleged Oath Keepers Jan. 6 Radio Traffic Actually A Recording of People Watching TV, Former Attorney Says Judge will allow some radio feed at trial, but bars inflammatory statements by unknown audio-chat leader A Twitter post by the U.S. House Jan. 6 Select Committee purporting to contain walkie-talkie traffic between Oath Keepers at the Capitol on Jan. 6 is actually a recording of people watching TV, a former Oath Keepers attorney contends. Jonathon Moseley, who formerly represented Oath Keepers defendant Kelly Meggs, said the audio snippets released by the Jan. 6 Committee are part of a nearly 2.5-hour recording. The committees Twitter post paired the audio clips with an unrelated video of the Oath Keepers to make it appear it was Oath Keepers speaking on radios at the Capitol, he said. The Select Committee has obtained a recording of communications over a walkie-talkie app among Oath Keepers who were inside the Capitol and others who were sharing intelligence from elsewhere. Listen to how they reacted to President Trumps 2:38 tweet in real-time. pic.twitter.com/0ZzJ1E37w0 January 6th Committee (@January6thCmte) September 15, 2022 I can speak from personal, direct, first-hand knowledge that this is a 2-hour, 20-minute recording of people watching TV, Moseley told The Epoch Times in a statement on Sept. 18. This is NOT Oath Keepers at the Capitol. Defense attorneys in several Oath Keepers criminal cases have complained to the courts for months that these kinds of utterances from the Jan. 6 Select Committee will poison the jury pool, making it impossible for defendants to get a fair trial in the heavily Democratic District of Columbia. Numerous Oath Keepers motions for trial delays or changes of venue have been denied. The controversial Zello transmissions were under court seal when the Jan. 6 Committee published its Twitter post on Sept. 15. The highest profile Oath Keepers case goes to trial on Sept. 27. Oath Keepers founder Elmer Stewart Rhodes III and four other defendantsKelly Meggs, Jessica Watkins, Kenneth Harrelson, and Thomas Caldwellare charged with seditious conspiracy to attack the Capitol and a range of other Jan. 6-related crimes. The J6 Committee is operating as a partisan campaign PAC, Moseley said. Its public relations releases are not legislative actions. It is a Democrat campaign PAC for the November 2022 elections. The Epoch Times reached out to a spokesman for the Jan. 6 Select Committee for comment, but did not receive a reply. The disputed Zello communications used by the Jan. 6 Committee have been part of a month-long fight in U.S. District Court between federal prosecutors, who want to introduce them as evidence, and Oath Keepers defense attorneys, who argued they are inadmissible hearsay. District Judge Amit Mehta on Sept. 19 ruled (pdf) that the statements made by the useralleged to be defendant Watkinsare admissible as they are her first-hand impressions of conditions on the ground. Some of the statements made by other Zello users on the audio chat will be admitted as they provide context to what the user was saying, the judge said. Most of the inflammatory statements made by the chat leader 1% Watchdog will be barred from evidence as being highly prejudicial, Mehta ruled. Tying Audio to One Oath Keeper Although the recording from the smartphone app Zello was given to Moseley and other defense attorneys in October 2021, it was only in late August 2022 that the U.S. Department of Justice said it would seek to admit parts of the 69-page transcript as evidence against the Oath Keepers, according to court records. Prosecutors allege Oath Keepers defendant Watkins spoke on Zello about what was happening in the Capitol, but defense attorneys say there is no evidence that she is the speaker. Zello is a phone application that mimics the push-to-talk features of a walkie-talkie, except that it uses cellular networks and internet connectivity to link users. It allows smartphones to operate like the popular Nextel push-to-talk phones developed and popularized in the 1990s. Based in Austin, Texas, Zello Inc. offers a variety of service plans for a monthly fee. The full 2 hour 22 minute audio file of the Jan. 6 broadcast on the Stop the Steal J6 channel on Zello, referenced in the Oath Keepers criminal conspiracy case. Prosecutors allege that Watkins is heard on the recordings, although no Zello user account could be directly tied to her name or cell phone. The FBI found no Zello-related audio files on her phone, according to court records. Prosecutors contend Watkins was the user OhioRegularsActualOathkeeper. A recording of the public Zello transmissions was discovered on the audio-sharing website Soundcloud by two journalists in 2021. Zello does not store recordings from chats or channels. In a pretrial conference on Sept. 14, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Nestler told Mehta a law enforcement officer could testify at trial that the voice heard on parts of the recording belongs to Watkins. A Zello channel named Stop the Steal J6, created by user 1% Watchdog, was opened to the public at 1:48 p.m. on Jan. 6, court records state. Zello users had to subscribe to the channel to have access. All subscribers were able to comment on the public channel. The conversations included unidentified individuals with account names including 1% Watchdog, Gen. Mark Davis CFA and iWatch Director Laureen. An Oath Keepers member gets in between a protester and a Capitol Police officer during a tense exchange in the Small House Rotunda on Jan. 6, 2021. (Stephen Horn/Screenshot via The Epoch Times) Prosecutors told defense attorneys they are not able to provide the true names of those Zello users. User Airborne America was identified as an Illinois Oath Keepers member referred to in court records only as Person 33. Prosecutors said they will not argue that 1% Watchdog is any of the Oath Keepers defendants, although court records indicate they once incorrectly believed it was defendant Rhodes. The most explosive statements on the recording came from 1% Watchdog, who liberally sprinkled his commentary with profanity. He led discussions with other Zello users, some of whom were watching television news at the time. Theres no safe place in the United States for any of these mother[expletive] right now, let me tell you, he said, referring to members of Congress. After President Donald Trump posted to Twitter that those at the Capitol should support Capitol Police and do no harm, 1% Watchdog said, Thats saying a lot by what he didnt say. He didnt say not to do anything to the Congressmen. Earlier, a voice that prosecutors claim was Watkins commented as she walked toward the Capitol, Trumps been trying to drain the swamp with a straw. We brought a Shop-Vac. Mehta ruled that comment will be admissible at trial. During the Sept. 14 hearing, Mehta questioned whether the audio would be proof of Watkins state of mind. He said he would like to know more about 1% Watchdog and whether he had any connection to Watkins. Im not sure hes anything more than a guy spouting off on a Zello chat, Mehta said. Sticking to the Plan Defense attorneys contend the government is trying to use the comments of unnamed outsiders who are not unindicted co-conspirators as evidence against the Oath Keepers. No defendant in this case, much less none of the indicted or unindicted co-conspirators sent a message or responded on this chain of communications that the government has highlightedor anywhere in the 69-page transcript, defense attorneys Juli Haller and Stanley Woodward wrote in a motion to suppress. At 1:49 p.m. on Jan. 6, prosecutors contend that Watkins said: Were boots on the ground here. Were moving on the Capitol now. Ill give you a boots-on-the-ground update here in a few. We have a good group. We have about 30, 40 of us. Were sticking together and sticking to the plan. Mehta ruled this comment will be admitted. The user alleged to be Watkins went silent for nearly 30 minutes, during which the other users continued to comment on news updates from the Capitol. Most of those comments will not be allowed into evidence, Mehta ruled. At 2:31 p.m., the user alleged to be Watkins reported on window vandalism on the east side that she blamed on Antifa. It was not actual patriots. The police confronted them when they were smashing out the windows. They said, [expletive] Trump; we dont care about this. And theyre just out there smashing windows. So, I feel like its kind of a setup, really. They have the riot cops out now. A user called FreedomD0z3r91 responded: Get it, Jess. Do your [expletive]. This is what we [expletive] lived up for. Everything we [expletive] trained for. Mehta ruled that comment will be allowed as a statement of a co-conspirator. European Commission Vice President Margrethe Vestager speaks during an interview with Reuters in Brussels on March 28, 2022. (Johanna Geron/Reuters) Amazon May Have to Tweak Proposals for Ending Business Practices Probes, EUs Vestager Says BRUSSELSAmazon may have to tweak its proposals to end two investigations into its business practices, EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager said on Friday following feedback from third parties on the issue. In July the U.S. online retailer said it would set up a data silo, preventing its retail arm from using data from its marketplace to make competing private label products. It will also end preferential treatment for itself and treat sellers equally when ranking their offers for the buy box on its website that generates the bulk of its sales. Vestager had given third parties until Sept. 9 to provide feedback before deciding whether to accept the proposals. A group of 11 non-governmental bodies and pan-European consumers organization BEUC have criticized Amazons offer, urging the European Commission to demand adjustments to it. The logo of Amazon at the companys logistics center in Bretigny-sur-Orge, near Paris on Dec. 7, 2021. (Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters) We are now in the process of assessing that feedback, some of which pointed to potential improvements on several points, Vestager told a conference in New York. Vestager also addressed the European Commissions investigation of Alphabet Googles digital advertising business, saying she was cooperating with her U.S. counterpart on the issue. We are also in close contact with the DOJ (Department of Justice) in the context of our investigation of Google ad tech, she said. The investigation is at a preliminary stage. Vestager, who earlier this year pushed through landmark EU rules to rein in Big Tech, urged U.S. lawmakers to pass a measure called the American Innovation and Choice Online Act which bars tech giants from giving preference to their own businesses on their websites. It is for Congress to decide, of course, but in the absence of this kind of legislative push, there is a risk of regulatory fragmentationpointing once again to the ever more important role of cooperation across our jurisdictions, such as our cooperation with the DOJ on Google, Vestager said. By Foo Yun Chee America Needs to Ask Its Allies to Decouple From China: Gen. Robert Spalding The United States needs to get its allies on board in a bid to decouple from China, according to retired U.S. Brig. Gen. Robert Spalding. We need to tell them [U.S. allies], give them an ultimatum: You can have an economic relationship with China, you can have a security relationship with us, [but] youre not going to have both anymore,' he told Fresh Look America on NTD, a sister media outlet of The Epoch Times, at the National Conservatism Conference in Miami on Sept. 11. With this move, the United States may lose some allies, he noted. But [its] much better for us to find out who our friends are and make sure that collectivelyrather than sending our technology, talent, and capital into China to grow their economy and their military mightwere growing on our own, Spalding said. This is the only way that we can really and truly compete with China that is seeking to spread its brand not itself, but its brand of government everywhere. Nuclear Power Spalding believes that Americas powerful nuclear weapons could intimidate rivals such as China and Russia. He pointed out that, since the mid-1950s, during Dwight D. Eisenhowers presidency, the U.S. military has stored nuclear weapons at military bases on the territory of its European NATO allies for use in the event of a conflict with the Soviet Union. During the first Cold War, we introduced nuclear weapons into the Western European Theater, which meant the Soviet Union had to think a little bit about what they were doing. So thinking about conflict, when it comes to nuclear powers, has to be different, Spalding said. According to Spalding, the Chinese regime is aware of such a threat. So the Chinese Communist Party knows this, they dont want to lose all those shiny new buildings and new high-speed rail and roads and all of these things that they built over the last 30 years, he said. So [its] where their willingness to use military force stops where it comes into contact with American and allied nuclear weapons. Political Will Spalding said there needs to be a political will to decouple from China. He noted the attack on Pearl Harbor, a U.S. naval base near Honolulu, Hawaii. Japanese forces launched a devastating surprise attack on Dec. 7, 1941, reportedly destroying nearly 20 U.S. naval vessels and more than 200 airplanes, killing more than 2,400 U.S. troops. [Then-President Franklin D. Roosevelt] understood that the Nazis were a great threat, that the Japanese were a great threat, Spalding said. Roosevelt faced obstacles from America First Committee, which advocated that the United States stay neutral in the war in Europe until the Pearl Harbor incident happened, according to Spalding. The Pearl Harbor [incident] galvanized American political will in the way that [Roosevelt] needed, he said. If we have some kind of galvanizing eventwhich I think were going to have with Chinas invasion of Taiwanthen I think we can summon the political will to defend ourselves. Hannah Ng Reporter Follow Hannah Ng is a reporter covering U.S. and China news. She holds a master's degree in international and development economics from the University of Applied Science Berlin. The Leach family of the Ada, Oklahoma-based pillow maker, Leachco. Founder Jamie Leach is third from the left. (Photo courtesy of Leachco) Baby Pillow Maker Sues Federal Regulator for Alleged Overreach An Oklahoma-based family-owned pillow-making business is suing the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) after it tried to shut down the company when two infants died after parents ignored explicit product safety warnings. The lawsuit claims regulatory overreach and seeks to curb the powers of the CPSC, an administrative agency. The legal complaint (pdf) in Leachco Inc. v. Consumer Product Safety Commission, court file 22-cv-232, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma. Jamie Leach and her husband, Clyde, founded Leachco in 1988 after their then-7-month-old child almost fell out of a highchair in a restaurant. Jamie repurposed her purse strap and safely secured the baby to the chair. Over the following days, Jamie, trained as a registered nurse, experienced a burst of creativity and made a safety wrap out of dental floss, tape, and a kitchen hand towel. This so-called Wiggle Wrap became an instant hit with other parents and sparked the idea for a company focused on child care products, according to Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF), a Sacramento, California-based national public interest law firm thats representing the business in the lawsuit. Today, Ada, Oklahoma-based Leachco offers a wide variety of productsall of which are designed by Jamie and a staff of about 40 employees, including the couples three grown-up children. Jamie expanded the company from her homemade invention to dozens of successful products, including the Podster infant lounger. The company boasts that the Podster provides parents and caregivers a safe, supervised place for infants and reports that it has sold 180,000 units of the product since it hit the market in 2009. Each Podster comes with explicit instructions and warnings that its to be used only with awake and supervised infants. Despite those cautions, two infants have died over the 13 years that the Podster has been available. In one case, a day care center left a baby alone in a crib with a Podster for more than 90 minutes, even though the company advises against such a practice, which is also contrary to state regulations and the facilitys own rules. The day care facilitys license was taken away, and it was shut down. In the other case, a 3-week-old was placed in the Podster and then put on an adult bed, between its adult parents, along with bedding and pillows, for co-sleepingcontrary to Leachcos express warnings and instructions. But the CPSC is arguing that Leachco is at fault in both cases. The agency claims the Podster is defective because its reasonably foreseeable that parents and caregivers will ignore express warnings and fail to use common sense. According to Oliver J. Dunford, senior attorney for PLF, while the CPSC admitted that the product came with the proper warnings, it found that it is reasonably foreseeable that people will ignore the warnings and misuse the product. That absurd standard would allow any product to be unfairly blacklisted by the commission, and if the CPSCs logic were applied broadly, it could eliminate virtually every product from the market, he said. The CPSC is in the middle of the discovery process in an administrative proceeding and hasnt turned over all of the tests and evaluations that it conducted, so we dont know exactly what they found yet. The lawsuit seeks to halt the commissions internal administrative proceeding or at least delay it until the Supreme Court rules in two cases dealing with related issues. The CPSC is unconstitutionally structured because it isnt politically accountable, Dunford told The Epoch Times in an interview. The commissioners, unlike principal officers in the government, such as Cabinet secretaries, cant be removed by the president except for cause, and this allows them to make objectionable decisions without political accountability, he said. The Constitution requires that the president be able to fire CPSC members at will, he said. Over the past 100 years, the courts have been so deferential to administrative agencies, that some of these first principles of the Constitution have been undermined. Jamie Leach said shes perplexed by the commissions behavior. We started Leachco in 1988 with one product and since that time, weve been developing products for parents and children and we have complied with all of the guidelines and product requirements. And we feel like our products are safe and useful, and were not sure why were being singled out, she told The Epoch Times in a separate interview. We have developed additional products, and over the last 34 years, weve come up with scores of products to serve parents and their families, children, and infants, and weve had a really safe record and had what I consider really wonderful brand recognition and reputation until the CPSC began acting against the company, she said. The Epoch Times reached out to the commission for comment but didnt receive a reply as of press time. An aerial view of former U.S. President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home after FBI agents raided it, in Palm Beach, Fla., on Aug. 15, 2022. (Marco Bello/Reuters) Biden Responds to FBIs Raid on Trumps Mar-a-Lago President Joe Biden responded to the FBI raid targeting Mar-a-Lago last month by asserting he knows nothing about the investigation into former President Donald Trump. When asked by CBS News host Scott Pelley during a 60 Minutes interview aired Sunday, Biden said he has not been told about the allegedly classified materials that were taken by FBI agents during the Aug. 8 raid of Trumps Florida residence. I have not personally spoken to anyone on thatin that regard, Biden said. Im sure my administration is aware of all of that, and so is the National Security Council. But I have not. Also in the interview, Biden said he was told ahead of time about the search. Hours after the search was carried out, Trump announced the raid on his Truth Social platform. I have not asked for the specifics of those documents because I dont want to get myself in the middle of whether or not the Justice Department should move or not move on certain actions they could take, Biden said. The president also attacked Trump by claiming the 45th president mishandled documents that were deemed classified. His comments during Sunday nights interview are in line with a narrative that has been pushed by other White House officials, who have said the administration was not aware of the Department of Justices (DOJ) investigation into Trump. In the immediate hours and days after the raid, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said neither she nor the president had any knowledge about the investigation and whether a search was going to be carried out. More Details Despite their comments about not having any knowledge beforehand, administration officials asked the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in April to let the FBI review documents from Trumps home, according to a newly disclosed letter published last month. Boxes of materials were transferred to NARA in January 2022 from Mar-a-Lago after months of negotiations. And Trump has accused the White House of having prior knowledge while accusing the DOJ and FBI of carrying out a politically motivated attack against him as he publicly mulls running for president in 2024. It is a continuation of Russia, Russia, Russia, Impeachment Hoax #1, Impeachment Hoax # 2, the no collusion Mueller Report, and more, Trump wrote in mid-August. To make matters worse it is all, in my opinion, a coordinated attack with radical left Democrat state & local D.A.s & A.G.s. Trump, meanwhile, has asserted that he had declassified the documents that had allegedly classified markings found at Mar-a-Lago. Hes also accused the FBI of seizing records covered under attorney-client privilege, personal medical records, tax documents, and his passports. On Sept. 15, Florida-based U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon appointed New York-based Judge Raymond Dearie as a special master, or an independent arbiter, to handle materials that were taken by the FBI. Among other responsibilities, Dearie is tasked with determining whether any documents taken by the bureau can be considered off-limits to federal investigators. U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during an event in the Rose Garden of the White House on Sept. 15, 2022. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) Biden Says COVID-19 Pandemic Is Over President Joe Biden said in a new interview that the COVID-19 pandemic has ended, stoking criticism from some critics over his administrations continued use of emergency policies. The pandemic is over, Biden told CBS 60 Minutes in an interview that aired on Sept. 18. We still have a problem with COVID. Were still doing a lot of work on it. But the pandemic is over. If you notice, no ones wearing masks. Everybody seems to be in pretty good shape, the Democrat added. Biden was speaking at the Detroit Auto Show, the first time the event was held since the pandemic started. The World Health Organization, part of the United Nations, declares pandemics. The agency has not said the pandemic is over. COVID-19 metrics, though, have plunged across the world since peaking in late 2021 and early 2022. Additionally, the newer variants of the COVID-19 virus have proven less virulent than earlier strains, though vaccines and prior infection dont protect as well against them. Administration Policies Despite Bidens comments, his administration continues to treat the pandemic as an emergency. Health Secretary Xavier Becerra, a Biden appointee, extended the public health emergency declaration on July 15, and the administration has given no signs that it plans to end the declaration, which was first entered in early 2020 under President Donald Trump. The administration is also fighting legal battles over mask and vaccine mandates because, its lawyers have said, the mandates are needed to protect public health during the pandemic. Furthermore, several agencies are utilizing emergency rules to take actionthe Food and Drug Administration, for instance, just cleared updated COVID-19 vaccine booster shots under emergency use authorization (EUA). Reaction Critics said Bidens comments mean there should quickly be a change in policy from his administration. President Biden made a public statement tonight announcing that the Covid-19 pandemic is over. We expect for all testing, masking, & vaccine mandates to be removed first thing in the morning. We expect all EUA tests & vaccines to be removed from the market, Feds for Medical Freedom, a union that challenged the administrations vaccine mandate for federal workers, said in a statement. Since the pandemic is now over, Biden must immediately cease his draconian mask and vaccine mandates for Americans, Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) added. Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University, said that Bidens comments will likely be used by plaintiffs in cases concerning mask and vaccine mandates. Now the President is declaring that the pandemic is over as the Justice Department is defending pandemic policies in various courts. Even if one were to argue that the policy should be reviewed as supported at the time, the continued viability of the policy can now be questioned in light of the Presidents own statements, he wrote in a blog post. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. President Joe Biden speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington on Aug. 24, 2022. (Evan Vucci/AP Photo) Biden Says Hes Warned Xi Jinping of Investment Ramifications If China Violates Sanctions on Russia President Joe Biden says hes warned his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping that violating U.S. sanctions imposed on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine would be a gigantic mistake that may hurt investment in China. In an interview with CBS on Sunday, Biden said that he spoke with Xi not long after the Chinese leader signed a no limits partnership with Russian President Vladimir Putin during the Beijing Winter Olympics in February. And I said that if you think that Americans and others were going to continue to invest in China based on your violating the sanctions that have been imposed on Russia, I think youre making a gigantic mistake. But thats your decision to make, he said. Biden emphasized that he was not threatening Xi but rather warning him of the ramifications of violating the sanctions on Russia. He said there has been no indication thus far that China has offered weaponry in support of Russia. Washington imposed a slew of sanctions on Russia to ramp up pressure on the Kremlin to halt its aggression in Ukraine. The European Union and several other countries have also followed suit. Beijings no limits agreement stipulates that Russia recognize Taiwan as an inalienable part of China and rejects the self-ruled islands independence in any form, while Beijing backs Russias opposition to NATO expansion. Biden on Taiwan Biden also repeated comments he made earlier on his commitment to Taiwans security in the case of an invasion from the mainland, challenging Washingtons prevailing position of strategic ambiguity regarding Taiwan. We agree with what we signed onto a long time ago. And that theres One China policy, and Taiwan makes their own judgments about their independence, he told CBS. When asked if the U.S. military would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion, Biden replied: Yes, if in fact there was an unprecedented attack. According to the State Department, Washington does not support Taiwans independence but it would still provide Taiwan with the capabilities necessary to maintain its defense. Earlier this month, the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency agreed to sell anti-ship and air-to-air missiles worth over $1.1 billion to Taiwan. The CCP strongly opposed the move and vowed to take legitimate and necessary countermeasures against Washington. Xi Meets With Putin Chinese leader Xi Jinping (L) and Russian President Vladimir Putin pose for photos on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) leaders summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on Sept. 15, 2022. (Alexandr Demyanchuk/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images) Earlier on Sept. 15, the Chinese and Russian leaders met on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Uzbekistan for the first in-person meeting between Xi and Putin since Russia invaded Ukraine. Putin said that Russia would support the Chinese Communist Partys (CCP) One China principle, and lambasted the U.S. for provocations in the Taiwan Straitan apparent reference to House Speaker Nancy Pelosis (D-Calif.) visit to support the island last month in the face of escalating threats from the mainland. The two leaders reaffirmed their fledgling anti-Western alliance and dedication to creating a multipolar world in which the United States and its liberal democratic system of governance isnt the sole superpower. For Putin, the no limits alliance also means that Beijings continued support will ensure that Russia isnt isolated, despite the harshest economic and diplomatic sanctions to date from developed countries. For Xi, the alliance helps solidify the CCPs leadership over the burgeoning anti-Western bloc just a month before its 2oth rubber stamp National Congress, in which hes expected to secure a historic third term. Attempts to create a unipolar world have recently taken an absolutely ugly shape, Putin said. They are absolutely unacceptable for the vast majority of countries on the globe. Likewise, Xi proclaimed that together with Russia, China is ready to set an example of what a responsible global power is and assume leadership in order to bring the rapidly changing world onto a path of sustainable and positive development. Andrew Thornebrooke and The Associated Press contributed to this report. U.S. President Joe Biden attends the 45th Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Gala to celebrate the start of Hispanic Heritage Month at Walter E. Washington Convention Center on Sept. 15, 2022. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images) White House Again Walks Back Biden Statement That US Would Defend Taiwan From Chinese Invasion U.S. President Joe Biden once again affirmed that the United States would militarily defend Taiwan from an invasion by Chinas ruling communist party. When asked during a 60 Minutes interview on CBS whether U.S. forces would defend Taiwan from a Chinese attack, Biden answered unambiguously. Yes, if, in fact, there was an unprecedented attack, he said on the show, which aired on Sept. 18. Asked to clarify whether he would commit U.S. troops to the defense of Taiwan, as opposed to the economic measures he has committed to Ukraine, Biden said yes. The interview was the fourth time Biden said the United States would defend Taiwan. It was also the most explicit declaration. Each time, the White House has scrambled to roll back Bidens comments, and this time was no different. Immediately after Bidens comment, the program ran a voiceover saying that a White House official said after the interview that U.S. policy has not changed, and officially, the United States wont say whether U.S. forces would defend Taiwan. The United States has historically maintained a policy of so-called strategic ambiguity on the issue of defending Taiwan. Under the policy, U.S. leadership will typically neither confirm nor deny whether the nation would protect Taiwan militarily. On this occasion, a White House spokesperson also said U.S. policy toward Taiwan hasnt changed. The president has said this before, including in Tokyo earlier this year, the spokesperson said. He also made clear then that our Taiwan policy hasnt changed. That remains true. The issue of whether the United States would defend Taiwan from invasion is a contentious one and is likely the most fraught in all of the issues facing SinoAmerican relations. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which rules China as a single-party state, claims that Taiwan is a rogue Chinese province that must be united with the mainland and has vowed to use military force to achieve that goal if necessary. However, Taiwan has never been controlled by the CCP and has been self-governing since 1949. Moreover, it maintains extensive trade ties with other countries, including the United States. The United States maintains a one China policy, which formally recognizesbut doesnt endorsethe CCPs position on the matter. The United States and China also maintain agreements that neither side will attempt to change the status quo by unilaterally pursuing Taiwanese unification or independence. We are not moving, Biden said. We are not encouraging their being independent. Thats [Taiwans] decision. Although the United States doesnt maintain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan and has sworn to not unilaterally champion the islands independence, its legally bound by the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979 to provide Taiwan with the arms necessary for self-defense. CCP Threat Bidens recent remarks on the Taiwan issue drew a stark rebuke from the CCP, with foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning saying the regime wouldnt tolerate any activities aimed at secession. Conversely, Taiwans foreign ministry expressed gratitude to Biden for reaffirming the U.S. governments rock-solid security commitment to Taiwan. The CCP has taken an increasingly belligerent stance on the issue of Taiwan since Chinese leader Xi Jinping came to power 10 years ago. In the last half year alone, top CCP officials have threatened outright war over the issue. In a July phone call with Biden, Xi said, Those who play with fire will perish by it. Likewise, during a June meeting with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe said that the Chinese army will definitely not hesitate to start a war no matter the cost to prevent Taiwan from being internationally recognized as a nation. Reuters contributed to this report. Sherri Papini leaves the federal courthouse after Federal Judge William Shubb sentenced her to 18 months in federal prison, in Sacramento, Calif., on Sept. 19, 2022. (Rich Pedroncelli/AP Photo) California Woman Sentenced to 18 Months for Faking Her Own Kidnapping SACRAMENTO, Calif.A Northern California mother of two was sentenced Monday to 18 months in prison for faking her own kidnapping so she could go back to a former boyfriend, which led to a three-week, multi-state search before she resurfaced on Thanksgiving Day in 2016. Sherri Papini, 40, pleaded guilty last spring to staging the abduction and lying to the FBI about it. As part of a plea bargain, she is required to pay more than $300,000 in restitution. Probation officers and Papinis attorney had recommended that she spend a month in custody and seven months in supervised home detention, while prosecutors wanted her to serve the eight months behind bars. But Senior U.S. District Judge William Shubb said he opted for an 18-month sentence in order to deter others. The judge said he considered the seriousness of the offense and the sheer number of people who were impacted. They included law enforcement officers who searched for her, the community that believed her for four years, those who lived in fear because of her fake story of being abducted by two Hispanic women, and the Latino community that was falsely viewed with suspicion. The nation is watching, Shubb said, paraphrasing prosecutors argument in a court filing. They need to be sent the right message. We have to make sure crime doesnt pay. Papini quietly answered, Yes, sir, when the judge asked if she understood the sentence. Previously, she choked back tears as she gave a statement to the court accepting responsibility and admitting her guilt. She didnt speak to reporters as she was surrounded by more than a dozen supporters outside the courtroom, some of whom hugged her tightly. They included her husbands sister, with whom she has been living since she split with her husband, who filed for divorce and sought custody of their children after she pleaded guilty. Sherri Papini leaves the federal courthouse after Federal Judge William Shubb sentenced her to 18 months in federal prison, in Sacramento, Calif., on Sept. 19, 2022. (Rich Pedroncelli/AP Photo) Speaking briefly outside of the courthouse after the hearing, defense attorney William Portanova called it a fair sentence, even though its longer than we wished. His client was ordered to report to federal prison on Nov. 8. Shubb ordered her to serve 36 months of supervision after her release, a year longer than probation officers had sought. The twin charges carried a maximum possible sentence of 25 years in prison. Obviously the court did what it thought was right, and frankly its difficult to argue with the justice of the sentence, Portanova said. Im not really surprised because I understand the courts analysis. To the extent the judge wanted to underline the wrongness of her actions and tattoo it further on her soul, he accomplished that for sure. Papini has never given a rational explanation for her behavior, which included months of careful planning before she disappeared and temporarily abandoned her children, who are most precious to her, Portanova said. Her actions stumped even independent mental health experts who said they didnt conform with any typical diagnosis. Portanova blamed it on what sounds like a fierce storm that was going on for a long time inside her head but said she is now a changed woman. Sherri Papini arrives at the federal courthouse for sentencing accompanied by her attorney, William Portanova (R), in Sacramento, Calif., on Sept. 19, 2022. (Rich Pedroncelli/AP Photo) Papini offered no explanation during her brief, tearful comments to the judge before she was sentenced. Im so sorry to the many people who have suffered because of me, she said. I am guilty, your honor. I am guilty of lying. I am guilty of dishonor, she said. What is done cannot be undone. It cannot be erased. But both the judge and Assistant U.S. Attorney Veronica Alegria said her comments were simply more manipulation. At this point she would say and do anything to mitigate her punishment, Alegria told Shubb. This case is serious and there have been very real harms to society. There was a community that lived in fear. Miss Papini took money from real victims, Alegria said. Victims of crimes may not believe they will be believed by law enforcement because of this hoax. Shubb said Papinis case is unique, to say the least, with little precedent to guide him on sentencing. Miss Papini is a manipulator, Shubb said. Its not as if Miss Papini has seen the error of her ways.If she had not been caught, shed still be living the lie. Portanova said in a pre-sentence court filing that Papini was in pursuit of a non-sensical fantasy when she fled to a former boyfriend in Southern California, nearly 600 miles (966 kilometers) south of her home in Redding. He dropped her off along Interstate 5 about 150 miles (240 kilometers) from her home after she said she wanted to go home. Passersby found her with bindings on her body, a swollen nose, a blurred brand on her right shoulder, bruises and rashes across her body, ligature marks on her wrists and ankles, and burns on her left forearm. All of the injuries were self-inflicted and were designed to substantiate her story. The wounds were a manifestation of her unsettled masochism and self-inflicted penance, Portanova wrote. And once she began, each lie demanded another lie. After her arrest in March, Papini received more than $30,000 worth of psychiatric care for anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. She billed the states victim compensation fund for the treatment and was ordered to pay it back as part of her restitution. As part of the plea agreement, she has agreed to reimburse law enforcement agencies more than $150,000 for the costs of the search for her and her nonexistent kidnappers, and repay the $128,000 she received in disability payments since her return. But Shubb said she is unlikely to ever be able to repay the money unless she wins the lottery. By Don Thompson A still from the film "Eternal Spring," which tells the story of a small group of Falun Gong practitioners who tapped into Changchun Citys state-controlled cable television to broadcast information to counter the Chinese communist regimes propaganda against the spiritual practice. (Courtesy of Lofty Sky Pictures) Canadas Oscars Selection for Best International Film Coming to Theatres This Week Canadas selection for the Oscars in the category of Best International Feature Film will be screening in theatres across the country this week. Eternal Spring, an animated documentary based on the true story of a group of brave Chinese citizens who tapped into a Beijing-controlled television station to screen uncensored news, will be contending this year with films from at least 44 other countries in the International Feature Film category. Directed by Torontonian Jason Loftus, the film has already won multiple awards, including at the Hot Docs Film Festival in Toronto, Movies That Matter in the Netherlands, and the Thessaloniki International Film Festival in Greece. On Sept. 23, Eternal Spring will be screening at the following theatres in cities in Ontario, Quebec, and British Columbia: It will also be screened at New Yorks Film Forum on Oct. 14. Being nominated to represent Canada for Best International Film at the 95th Academy Awards is an immense honour. Eternal Spring is a product of Canadas creativity, diversity and tolerance, Loftus previously told The Epoch Times. Through Daxiongs story and art, as well as the talent of our Quebec-based animation team, we hope this universal tale of courage in the face of injustice and repression resonants worldwide. Daxiong, an acclaimed Chinese artist who drew the animation for the film, is at the centre of the story, as he tries to piece together the events that occurred in his homeland over 20 years ago when he and his fellow Falun Gong practitioners became targets of an extensive persecution campaign orchestrated by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Daxiong told The Epoch Times in an email that he was grateful to Telefilm Canada for their decision to select Eternal Spring from among 16 films submitted to the pan-Canadian selection committee to compete in the multi-stage Oscar race. We hope to bring more truth, bravery, and beauty to a broader audience through this film, he said. In terms of spreading the truth to all the people deceived by the CCP, our work is yet to be done, he added. Canadians and the Canadian government have done their best to support this film, I really felt it, and as have those who are promoting it in Europe, Australia, the United States, and around the world. Daring Effort to Tap Into State TV Network Eternal Spring documents the memories of Daxiong, a Falun Gong adherent who fled China after police began cracking down on members of the spiritual group on the orders of former CCP leader Jiang Zemin, who perceived the traditional practices widespread popularity as a threat to the regimes totalitarian rule. A still from the film Eternal Spring. (Courtesy of Lofty Sky Pictures) Also called Falun Dafa, the practice is based on meditative exercises and moral teachings grounded in the tenets of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. Within a short span of seven years after it was introduced in China in May 1992, Falun Gong had attracted between 70 million and 100 million adherents in the country, according to official estimates. Throughout its campaign against Falun Gong, the CCP broadcast falsehoods about the peaceful meditation practice in an effort to defame it and demonize its adherents, both at home and abroad. To get their side of the story out to Chinese citizens, as well as raise awareness about the reality of the practice and the vicious persecution, a group of Falun Gong practitioners in Changchun City hijacked a state cable television network on March 5, 2002, and broadcast the videos Self-immolation or Hoax? and Falun Dafa Spreads Worldwide on eight channels simultaneously to 300,000 cable subscribers in the city. Within days of the tapping effort, more than 5,000 Falun Gong practitioners in Changchun and nearby area were arrested in a massive sweep by authorities. At least seven practitioners were beaten to death just days later. Daxiong was forced to flee in the wake of the police raids. In the film, he recalls the events through his interviews with the sole survivor who participated in the television station hijacking, and depicts the sacrifices of the individuals who stood up against threats of violence and death to defend Chinese peoples rights and freedoms. The CCPs persecution against Falun Gong continues today, with countless Chinese citizens who practise or support the Buddhist-style self-improvement discipline being arbitrarily imprisoned and subjected to forced labour, torture, and abuse. Issac Teo and Omid Ghoreishi contributed to this report. This 2003 electron microscope image made available by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows mature, oval-shaped monkeypox virions (L) and spherical immature virions (R) obtained from a sample of human skin associated with the 2003 prairie dog outbreak. (Cynthia S. Goldsmith, Russell Regner/CDC via AP) Chinese Official Urges People Not to Touch Foreigners to Prevent Monkeypox Infection A top Chinese health official urged people to avoid physical contact with foreigners to prevent contracting the monkeypox virus after China confirmed its first case on Sept. 16. Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist at the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention, urged people to avoid skin-to-skin contact with individuals who had traveled overseas within the past three weeks, Reuters reported. To prevent possible monkeypox infection and as part of our healthy lifestyle, it is recommended that you do not have direct skin-to-skin contact with foreigners, Wu posted on the Chinese social media platform Weibo. China confirmed its first case of monkeypox on Sept. 16, involving a 29-year-old Chinese national who returned to the southwestern city of Chongqing from Spain. Authorities refused to disclose the patients gender. The health commission said the risk of community transmission was low because the patient was quarantined after arrival in Chongqing. All close contacts have been kept under isolation and their health is being monitored. The monkeypox virus can cause symptoms similar to those of smallpox patients, but its clinically less severe, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The virus is transmitted through contact with bodily fluids, lesions on the skin, or internal mucosal surfaces. Symptoms of monkeypox include headache, fever, sore throat, malaise, fatigue, rash, and swollen lymph nodes. Cases Concentrated to Men To date, more than 61,000 cases have been reported in more than 100 countries, with 20 deaths reported in Africa, Europe, and South America. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared the monkeypox virus a public health emergency of international concern on July 23 owing to the global growth in monkeypox cases, despite a lack of consensus among experts. Tedros said that 98 percent of the monkeypox cases detected since the outbreaks emerged in May have been among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men. He called for those at risk to take steps to protect themselves. That means making safe choices for yourself and others, for men who have sex with men, Tedros said at a news conference in July. This includes, for the moment, reducing your number of sexual partners. Infectious individuals should isolate and avoid gatherings involving close, physical contact, while people should get contact details for any new sexual partners in case they need to follow up later, the WHO chief said. The Associated Press contributed to this report. A private Christian school in Florida remains stalwart in their conviction after being spotlighted in an NBC article for saying they will refer to students according to their biological gender, while asking gay and transgender students to leave. The school has received praise and death threats for standing their ground. School administrator Pastor Barry McKeen, at Grace Christian School, said he received death threats after NBC highlighted an email sent by the school to parents ahead of the school year outlining, among other policies, that students found practicing any form of homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, transgender identity/lifestyle will be asked to leave the school immediately. The backlash for about a day and a half was very severe, a lot of death threats, burn-my-house-down threats, McKeen told The Epoch Times. And then after about a day and a half, most of our commentary turned positive, because some of the more, I guess you could say, conservative outlets started picking up the story. It was more like an avalanche of support flooding in from people applauding the policywhich has been in place since the early 70s, and is now being prescribed verbatim by other Christian schools in Florida. In the past two weeks, Grace Christian School received 7,000 emails, which were 80 percent positive, McKeen said, along with $45,000 in donations from across the world. One guy gave $5,000, he said. Ive never met him. Hes never been to our church or school. But he read about the story and said, I believe what youre standing for, and heres some money. As classes rang in, on Aug. 15, the NBC reporter contacted McKeen for the story. Believing Grace Christian School was being breached, the pastor declined to comment. Grace Christian School in Florida; (Inset) Barry McKeen. (Courtesy of Rebecca McKeen) In the aftermath, he held his peace initially, planning to let it just run its course. He prayed about it, then decided to not be cowed into silence but to set the record straight. The article contained truth and lies, McKeen said. Our school does not allow homosexual and transgender students, he said. Thats true. If a student is actively involved in those lifestyles, they would be asked to leave our school. There were some things that were untrue. It was said in the article that I said, If youre a homosexual you go to hell. I never said that. I wouldnt say that. Its not what I believe. Any sin will condemn you to hell, whether thats homosexuality or adultery or stealing or whatever it might be. Grace Christian students arent expected to be sexual at all; theyre students and arent married. The article cited a 16-year-old female student, who is gay, whose family was prompted to transfer her to another religious school that is more accepting. McKeen said it was not really accurate to imply that anyone was asked to leave immediately, because they didnt ask anybody to leave. In a video statement posted on the schools Facebook page, he clarified, saying, We had one student on one occasion, whose parents and us came to an agreement for them to be withdrawn. And thats about it. He further added, The biggest issue that happens in this culture is because you believe something and you stand for something that youre automatically hateful. We are not hateful. Probably thats the thing in the article that hurt the most; were not hateful people. We just arent. A classroom inside Grace Christian School in Florida. (Courtesy of Rebecca McKeen) The school, in Valrico, about 20 miles east of Tampa, aims to provide students, pre-kindergarten through grade 12, a rigorous academic program and a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, while training them to serve Him in their lives. This contrasts markedly next to public schools across America where transgenderism and highly sexualized content are being injected into curriculums. Parents took notice at the kitchen table during COVID lockdowns. But parents across America also stood their ground and pushed back against school boards for corrupting their childrens morals and violating their constitutional rights. In July 2022, business leader Clint Thomas headed a group of 11 parents to launch a lawsuit against Loudoun County Public Schools to curtail policies that would prevent parents from knowing if their children expressed a different gender in school. In May 2021, Scott Smith was arrested at a school board meeting where he became vocal about his daughters being raped in a girls bathroom by a male, who claimed to be transgender, at Stone Bridge High Schoolagain in Loudoun County. In liberal democratic societies where diversity and inclusion are assets, Grace Christian ought be welcome enrichmentexpanding the conversation in the cause of liberty. Parents can send their children wherever they choose, McKeen said. If they prefer the biblical worldview, they can choose Grace Christian. Its a private Christian school, so parents choose to come here, they pay to come here, and they sign these policies saying well abide by these standards, he told The Epoch Times. Were allowed to have these rules. Its what we believe. And if you dont believe the same way, you dont have to come here. A pillar of Western civilization predating Magna Carta, religious freedom joins the equation. To believe something biblically and to be shouted down or intimidated by somebody who doesnt believe [isnt fair], McKeen added. I dont try to enforce my beliefs on other people outside of where I am in our ministry. I dont go to other places and try to make them believe what I believe or change their policies. I feel like they were trying to intimidate us to do that. 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 Fire crews control bush fires as they approach properties on Copley Road in Upper Swan in Perth, Australia, on Feb. 2, 2021. (Paul Kane/Getty Images) Climate Crisis Is Not Evident Yet, Italian Study Says Theres a lack of scientific data to support the view that the world is currently experiencing a climate crisis, according to a study published by four Italian scientists. The study assessed time series and crisis indicatorssuch as natural disasters, heat waves, and crop yieldsultimately concluding that observations to date show no clear positive trends of extreme events. In conclusion on the basis of observational data, the climate crisis that, according to many sources, we are experiencing today, is not evident yet, said the authorsphysicist Gianluca Alimonti, professor of agrometeorology Luigi Mariani, atmospheric physicist Franco Prodi, and physicist Renato Angelo Ricci. It would be nevertheless extremely important to define mitigation and adaption strategies that take into account current trends. The study comes as many developed economies around the world, such as the European Union, the United States, and Australia, are seeking to enact laws in an attempt to avoid a climate crisis, forcing their citizens to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions over the coming decades, no matter the economic and social cost. The paper, A critical assessment of extreme events trends in times of global warming, was published on Jan. 13. Various Aspects of Environment Remain Stable According to the data review, the only measure to robustly reflect global changes over time were yearly measures of heat waves, namely the number of days, maximum duration, and cumulated heat. However, robust trends in support of the arrival of climate extremes werent evident for heat wave intensity, or any other indicators such as rainfall intensities, extreme rainfall frequencies, droughts, floods, or tropical cyclones. In terms of ecosystem productivity, the scientists noted that satellite data shows greening trends over much of the planet that are pushing back deserts around the world. The study challenges the statement by the United Nations 2003 Intergovernmental panel on climate change that the effects of climate change on crop and terrestrial food production are evident in several regions of the world (high confidence). Negative impacts of climate trends have been more common than positive ones. This claim doesnt consider that the global agricultural system is highly adaptable, with the ability to adopt innovations in genetics and cropping techniques, the studys authors said. Further, previous observations have described that when yield drops are recorded in some areas for a certain year due to extreme events, the impact is counterbalanced by the yield increases that occur in other areas, according to the paper. It also pointed to data showing continuing increases in global agricultural production and yields. Climate Emergency Fears Not Constructive Since its origins, the human species has been confronted with the negative effects of the climate, the scientists concluded. Fearing a climate emergency without this being supported by data, means altering the framework of priorities with negative effects. This, they added, could prove deleterious to our ability to face the challenges of the future, squandering natural and human resources in economically difficult context. Leaving the baton to our children without burdening them with the anxiety of being in a climate emergency would allow them to face the various problems in place with a more objective and constructive spirit, with the goal of arriving at a weighted assessment of the actions to be taken without wasting the limited resources at our disposal in costly and ineffective solutions, the scientists warned. How the climate of the 21st century will play out is a topic of deep uncertainty. We need to remind ourselves that addressing climate change is not an end in itself, and that climate change is not the only problem that the world is facing. The objective should be to improve human well-being in the 21st century, while protecting the environment as much as we can and it would be nonsense not to do so. Cory Morgan: Overstatement of Business Losses yet Another Misrepresentation of the Freedom Convoy Protest Its a rare event when any kind of government program manages to come in under budget, but thats what happened with the business subsidy offered by the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario to businesses harmed by the Freedom Convoy protest in Ottawa in February. A fund of $20 million was earmarked for small businesses, yet only $12.9 million of the money was dispersed. This indicates that, like many other accusations made against the convoy protesters, the damage done to local businesses over the course of the protests was greatly exaggerated. Theres no doubt that many people chose not to go to the businesses within the protest site. Access to the city core was limited, and many citizens surely chose to do their shopping and dining outside of the protest zone. Its hard to blame them if they had been watching legacy media coverage of the event or listening to local politicians. They would have been convinced Ottawa had been taken over by raging, armed white nationalists who were setting apartment buildings on fire and assaulting women. Those accusations were all found to be bunk over time, but they surely kept many consumers and workers from going near the protest zone for some weeks in February. The hysteric and exaggerated depictions of the protesters by the media and political establishment surely chilled downtown trade as much as the protests themselves did. Perhaps some of the people who spread misinformation about the protesters should be on the hook for paying damages to businesses impacted by the event rather than taxpayers. Not only was the danger posed by the protesters overblown in reports at the time, but so was the economic impact of the protest. The CBC reported that estimates of lost sales and wages in Ottawa due to the protests were in the range of $44 million to $200 million. If such economic damage had been wrought, surely businesses would have been falling over each other to recoup some of those losses through the subsidy program. One would imagine a fund of only $20 million would barely make a dent in the losses as the businesses lined up to demonstrate how much they had lost. In reality, the agency dispersing the funds struggled to find applicants for the subsidies. Times have been tough for businesses in the last two years due to the pandemic. Few would say no to a cheque from the government to help them out. The reason so few businesses applied for the bailout is that few businesses could prove negative impacts on their trade from the protests. One of the reasons the business losses werent as high as reported by legacy media and politicians is that some of the trade was replaced by protesters themselves. The thousands of people taking part in the protest were also consumers. They purchased food, fuel, and other retail items while they were in Ottawa. Some businesses remaining open during the protests saw an increase in sales as they served protesters. The Iconic Cafe in Ottawa was bustling as it served customers from the protests, until the police forced them to close their doors. Yes, it was the police, not protesters that forced some business closures. The accusations of lost wages were blown out of proportion as well. In something of an irony, pandemic restrictions had caused many downtown offices to embrace work-from-home models for their employees. This means many of the offices in the area would have been empty in Februaryeven if the protests had never happened. In Windsor, $2.5 million was budgeted to aid businesses impacted by some short-lived border protests inspired by the convoy. Not even 25 percent of the fund was used, as only $462,469 was dispersed. The protests in Windsor may have been annoying for local businesses but they werent that costly. The overstatement of business losses due to the Freedom Convoy protest is just another of the many misrepresentations spread about the protest by the state and many complicit media outlets in a campaign to undercut public support for the protesters. Property damage was minimal, violence wasnt evident, there was no attempt to force access to legislative buildings, nor was there any attempted coup or insurrectionthough the convoy protesters were accused of all those things and more. The Public Order Emergency Commission inquiry is set to begin soon. Its going to be very difficult for the Liberals to justify their invocation of the Emergencies Act upon citizens when their actions are exposed to public scrutiny through the hearings. Using hyperbole and misinformation may have appeared to be a good plan at the time, but I suspect many government officials are regretting that tactic today. History will not be looking kindly upon the actions of the Canadian government during the truckers Freedom Convoy protests of 2022. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Cory Morgan: Witch Hunt Against Cop Who Donated to Freedom Convoy Motivated by Vengeance If politicians and police forces dont want to see a repeat of this winters protest in Ottawa, they would be well-served to take a step back and try to understand why the protests happened rather than obsessively trying to chase down and punish citizens who were found to be supportive of them. The witch hunt being carried out against Const. Kristina Neilson of the Ottawa Police Service (OPS) who allegedly donated to the Freedom Convoy is only entrenching division and mistrust among Canadians. The truckers Freedom Convoy protest in February was an event unlike any seen in Canadian history. Thousands of people supported by hundreds of thousands chose to cross the country to protest federal pandemic restrictions peacefully. Parts of Ottawa were occupied by protesters for weeks, and the nation is still trying to come to grips with what happened and with how the state chose to break up the protest. The country is still divided in opinion on whether the protest was justified, and whether the invocation of the Emergencies Act was an appropriate way to deal with it. What purpose is being served in pursuing and possibly ending the career of a police officer who allegedly donated some money to a protest during its early stages? Will the world be a better or safer place if Neilson is fired? Will the police force be more respected? Do the heads within the OPS think it will lead to more unity within the force or improved morale among officers? The Freedom Convoy protest didnt represent the views of just a tiny segment of Canadians, as is the case with many protests. Despite the constant attempts to label protest supporters as being fringe extremists, polls consistently indicate that millions of Canadians were supportive of the protests. Tens of thousands of citizens opened their wallets to support the protest, and these were people who usually arent politically engaged. We should be trying to understand why so many Canadians who are typically politically passive felt that such a protest was necessary. Their concerns were serious, and they had a right to be heard. Taking a punitive approach with that many citizens wont quell the discontent. People attending the convoy protest felt they were at the end of their rope. They had lost jobs, lost the ability to travel, and lost access to loved ones and events because they chose not to be vaccinated. These are not people who will be deterred from future protests by any threats of punishment. The state, including police forces and courts, knows this. Their motivation in the pursuit of convoy supporters isnt the prevention of future protests and citizens actionsit is vengeance. There can be no doubt the protest embarrassed the government and police forces alike. They underestimated the size of the protest and the dedication of those involved in it. The state lost control and acted in panic rather than with a measured response. Nobody likes to be embarrassed, and a persons first instinct when embarrassed is often to lash out at whoever caused the embarrassment. The government is supposed to be better than that, though. The state is appearing petty and insecure as it relentlessly pursues peaceful women such as Tamara Lich and police officers like Kristina Nielson. The country has endured over two miserable years of fear, restrictions, and pressures due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We are tense, tired, and eager to put those years into our collective rear-view mirrors. People wont be able to feel closure and the ability to move on with their lives as long as vendettas continue against citizens for having supported the Freedom Convoy. If authorities had simply offered the protesters a modicum of respect at the beginning of the protest, the situation may have been defused in a matter of days. Just meeting and listening to the thousands of people gathered in Ottawa would have calmed the situation, even if the demands of the protesters werent met. Instead, the government labelled convoy supporters as racists, fascists, and extremists, which infuriated and inspired the protesters to dig in. Canada is divided and its not impossible to imagine another round of protests if any form of pandemic restrictions are imposed again. Historically, state efforts to quell rebellion through martyring citizens only served to add fuel to the fire. The government cant turn back the clock, but its not too late to learn from its mistakes and start treating upset citizens with respect. It can begin by ending the vindictive pursuit of Freedom Convoy supporters. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Members of the public file past the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard with the Imperial State Crown and the Sovereign's orb and sceptre, in Westminster Hall, London, on Sept. 15, 2022. (Odd Andersen/PA Media) Death of a Queen: Tradition and the Sacred Commentary As Queen Elizabeth II lay dying in Scotland, I was moved by the sight of ordinary people who had heard the news of her serious condition gathering and holding a vigil outside of Buckingham Palace in London. There were many smartphones and much clicking and flashing. But all fell silent as people watched the Union flag slowly lowered to half-mast before the official announcement of the queens death. I recalled my first sight of Elizabethstill a princessas she drove past our school as we young English boys lined the sidewalk and waved our small union jacks. Just a couple of years later, my parents bought a small black-and-white TV set so we could all watch the queens coronation, televised live for the first time, in June 1953. I was 10 at the time and was enthralled with the pageantry and the endless parade of troops from all over the world, especially the Royal Canadian Mounties, which I aspired to join. Not long after, I wrote to the governor general of Canada to offer my services. His replyon official letterhead that I treasured for yearsgently detailed the minimum height and weight requirements and suggested that I reapply in a few years. I was delighted to see that the Mounties, who played such an important role in the late queens coronation, will play a prominent part in her funeral, leading the coffin procession through London on its way to her final resting place in Windsor. Tradition Todays anti-monarchists complain about its cost to taxpayers, while supporters point to the institutions benefits to the economy as a tourist attraction. Framing the issue of monarchy in terms of a cost-benefit analysis risks missing the significance of the British monarchy for the country and the Commonwealth of nations. Here I want to focus on tradition and the sacred, two underappreciated aspects of the British monarchy. Such a solemn occasion as the death of the Sovereign, followed immediately by her heirs accession to the throne and next year by his coronation, is an important part of British tradition. Tradition, as G.K. Chesterton put it, is the democracy of the dead. It links us across generations and centuries, the living, those who have died, and those yet to be born. Todays British monarchy is the result of a constitutional arrangement that evolved over a thousand years, evincing a sense of the sacred, not just common interest or shared values but, in principle at least, a common love of God and neighbor. The system of government we now call a constitutional monarchyas opposed to an absolute monarchy or republicwasnt arrived at by a rational process in a national convention that examined the history and experience of different forms of government. It evolved from centuries of contestation between state and church, king and baronsthrough the Magna Carta (1215), the Civil Wars of 1642 to 1651 between parliamentarians and royalists, and the Glorious Revolution of 1688, in which the Catholic James II was deposed and replaced by the Protestant William of Orange and his wife Anne. The outcome was an unwritten constitution that put sharp limits on the rights of kings without denying that all authority comes from God. Its hard to watch the events following the Queens death without seeing the historically specific nature of the British constitutional monarchy. Its an institution that not only coexists with parliamentary democracy but also enables and fortifies it. As I write, silent throngs of ordinary people are queueing for hours (22 hours is the current estimate) in the cold and making their way across miles (more than five miles at present) to pay their respects to the late queen, a sovereign with no real power. People are deeply moved, often unexpectedly, as they descend the steps of Westminster Hall in absolute silence to file past the dead monarch. Her coffin is draped with the royal standard and protected hour by hour by guards in full ceremonialand traditionaluniform. Some bow or curtsy; some kneel and say a quick prayer. The lying-in-state will continue 24 hours per day until her funeral on Sept. 19. Elizabeth had no ambition or prospect of becoming queen, no ladder of ambition to climb. Indeed, as the daughter of the kings younger brother, she seemed unlikely ever to reign. She was, even before her fathers unexpected death and her accession to the crown at age 25, devoted to her subjects at home and abroad. And they became devoted to her over her long reign. She enshrined the unity of the nation and Commonwealth just because she wasnt a politician, although she was head of state and of the established Church of England. Religion and the Sense of the Sacred Theres a religious element to all this that most public commentary ignores. Its true that few English people attend Church of England services or adhere to its doctrines. As British writer and journalist Melanie Phillips wrote in her Substack on the devotion evident in the British response to the Queen: Devotion, of course, has a religious significance. In largely secular, godless Britain there is a strong element of the sacred in this relationship between the people and the Crown. The queens coronation, like those of her predecessors, was a religious ceremony, a service celebrated by the Archbishop of Canterbury at which she swore an oath before God, received Communion, and was anointed as monarch, consecrated to a higher king. As Phillips wrote, The British monarchy is patterned on ancient Israel. Its why the monarch is anointed; its why words uttered by Zadok the Priest, taken from the first Book of Kings, have been sung at every English coronation since 973 C.E. How can this work in a country in which most people dont attend religious services, even though if pressed theyll identify as Church of England and many use churches or temples for baptisms, marriages, and funerals but otherwise, as the saying goes, not darken a church door? Liberal churches and congregations have sought to prove their relevance by adapting to the times, changing and conforming their teaching and practice to the prevailing orthodoxies of secular liberalism. The result has been to not fill pews but to empty them. The events following the Queens death include pomp and pageantry, royals and dignitaries, the masses waiting in line, and those watching hours of continuous programming on television act out the unwritten British constitution in front of a nation and an audience blissfully unaware of its processes and principles. Its a transition from one monarch to another, something that happens immediately upon the queens death before any ritual or ceremony. The ceremonies of grieving and accession of a new monarch also enact a complex liturgy with roots in ancient Israel. Its development spans many centuries. They offer hope for the future as well as respect for past generations. The cultural commentator and psychiatrist Theodore Dalrymple sees in the mass grieving the last hurrah of a spiritually impoverished, dying culture. (Hes the author, among other works, of Our Culture, Whats Left of It.) He said of the present mourning and grief, It is for their own lost virtues, exemplified by the queen, that the people mourn, not least their distinctive understated humor and irony, now replaced almost entirely by crudity. Dalrymple sees the ugliness in modern architecture and art, not least in modernist church buildings and music, as well as soulless city centers built on the willful destruction of ancient buildings. In such a world, people hunger in the millions for beauty and meaning. I see that as well, but also detect, I think, in the peoples grief and mourning a hope and a need to recover their own lost sense of the sacred. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. U.S. Border Patrol agent Carlos Rivera is reflected in the window of a vehicle as he speaks to another agent along the border wall in downtown El Paso, Texas, on June 3, 2022. (Paul Ratje/AFP via Getty Images) El Paso Mayor Defends Busing Illegal Aliens to New York The mayor of El Paso, Texas, has defended his move to send thousands of illegal immigrants on buses to New York, saying that city officials are doing so to ensure that the individuals dont end up homeless or hungry. The people are not coming to El Paso, theyre coming to America, Oscar Leeser, a Democrat, told ABCs This Week on Sept. 18. We dont send anyone where they dont want to go. We make sure we help them. Leeser, who served as mayor from 2013 to 2017 before being reelected last year, said nearly 2,000 illegal aliens arrived on Sept. 16 and that those numbers are continuing to increase. And thats because a lot of the people, probably about 80 percent of them, are coming from Venezuela, he said. And thats where a big part of the migrant surge is coming from. Leeser said city officials communicate with the immigrants and treat them in a humane way, establishing where their destination is and then aiding them to reach it. We put them on buses with food and make sure they get to their destination and make sure that we always continue to greet and treat people like human beings, he said. We have about 50 percent of the people today that do not have a sponsor, they do not have money, so were helping and working to get them to where they want to go. Seeking Reimbursement Texas has bused more than 2,500 illegal immigrants to New York since Aug. 5, according to Gov. Greg Abbott, while El Paso has sent at least 1,135 illegal immigrants on 28 buses to New York since Aug. 23. Leeser and El Pasos Democrat-controlled city council will be seeking reimbursement for the chartered buses theyve placed illegal aliens on through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, officials said in August. Illegal immigrants arrive in New York from Texas on Aug. 25, 2022. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images) However, Abbott, a Republican, has faced criticism from Democrats over his decision to send the illegal immigrants from the U.S.Mexico border to various Democrat-run areas of the country, also known as sanctuary cities, such as Washington and Chicago, with some accusing him of human trafficking the immigrants. However, Abbott has defended his decision to bus the illegal aliens to various other cities in the face of a mass immigration crisis in Texas. The Republican leader has repeatedly taken aim at President Joe Bidens open border policies, which he says are overwhelming Texas communities. Open Border Policies Because of President Bidens continued refusal to acknowledge the crisis caused by his open border policies, the state of Texas has had to take unprecedented action to keep our communities safe, Abbott said in an August statement. In addition to Washington, D.C., New York City is the ideal destination for these migrants, who can receive the abundance of city services and housing that Mayor Eric Adams has boasted about within the sanctuary city. I hope he follows through on his promise of welcoming all migrants with open arms so that our overrun and overwhelmed border towns can find relief. In that same month, New York opened up emergency hotels to handle the influx of illegal immigrants, while Adams took a swipe at the Texas governors handling of the situation. When you think about this country, a country that has always been open to those who are fleeing persecution and other intolerable conditions, weve always welcomed that, he told reporters on Aug. 9. This governor is not doing that in Texas, but we are going to send the right message, the right tone, of being here for these families. About 4.9 million people have illegally crossed into the United States from Mexico since Biden took office in January 2021, according to a report released in August. Epoch Cinema Documentary Review: Miracle on 4th Street A tragic event in South Texas makes a small community stronger and reminds U.S. citizens of their lawful, God-given rights. Watch Miracle on 4th Street on Epoch Cinema here Sunday, November 5, 2017, is a day that will forever be etched indelibly into the American collective consciousness. A violent scene unfolded on that day in Sutherland Springs, Texas, a small town with a population of only 600 people about 38 miles southwest of San Antonio. Twenty-six-year-old Devin Patrick Kelley, a deranged leftist atheist who hated Christians, parked his Ford Explorer in front of the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, got out, and commenced shooting his illegally-obtained Ruger AR-556 AR-15 at church-goers attending a service there. According to witnesses, he wore a dark outfit and ballistic vest and helmet, with a skull covering the lower part of his face. He moved around the church methodically, only pausing his shooting spree to reload his spent rifle magazines before firing through its windows again. When the smoke finally cleared, Kelley left 26 people dead and 22 wounded. To put that into perspective, Kelleys murderous rampage was the worst mass shooting in Texas state history, and the deadliest mass shooting in a place of worship (in North America)outstripping the 1991 Waddell Buddhist temple mass shooting and the 2015 Charleston church massacre. Director Charlie Minns 2021 documentary Miracle on 4th Street begins by filling in these details so that audiences can grasp the magnitude of Kelleys murderous shooting spree. Various talking head interviews with Sutherland Springs locals who were on the scene at the time of the mass shooting, are on hand to recount their experiences. Out of the chaos of gunfire and screams, a hero emerged that dayStephen Willeford, a life-long resident of Sutherland Springs with ancestral roots there. Hes also a former instructor for the National Rifle Association and thus quite handy with firearms. Willeford doesnt live far from the church and was resting in his bedroom when his daughter Stephanie heard the deluge of gunshots coming from somewhere in town. She told her father about the sounds but at first, he dismissed them as something else. When he realized they were indeed gunshots, he reacted by running to his safe to retrieve one of his firearms. Meanwhile, Stephanie jumped into her car and drove around the tiny town, trying to locate the source of the gunfire. She ended up at the church where she witnessed Kelley in his tactical gear, and he saw her in turn. As Kelley entered the church, she quickly turned her car around as the rapid staccato of Kelleys rounds echoed down the street. Hed gone into the church to finish everyone off. Willeford mentions that since Sutherland Springs is such a small town, it doesnt have a police department, only a sheriffs department. Although Stephanie had called 9-1-1, it would still take some time before peace officers would be able to arrive on the scene. In this light, Willeford says that he had to do what he could to protect his community. Willeford describes how he rushed to the church, barefoot, with his AR-15 rifle in hand, and called out to Kelley by yelling, Hey! As Minn interviews him, Willeford says of his simple yet powerful battle cry I dont know why that penetrated, I do believe the Holy Spirit called out the demon that was within him. Kelley then emerged from the church to confront Willeford and in the ensuing shootout, Willeford managed to severely wound Kelley. The gravely injured gunman rushed to his vehicle and tried to escape, but Willeford enlisted the help of an out-of-towner named Johnnie Langendorff, who had pulled up nearby in his pickup truck. Willeford jumped into Langendorffs truck and the two men chased down Kelleys vehicle. But due to the blood loss from his wounds, Kelley crashed his vehicle in a bar ditch (a roadside drainage channel) and shot himself in the head. The dramatic events of the actual massacre, shootout, and chase, are followed by interviews with journalists, peace officers, and people directly affected by the shootings including Kelleys victims and their friends and family. Many of them reference their faith in God as being a powerful healing factor in their lives. I found it incredibly inspiring how, in the wake of the mass shooting, the community of Sutherland Springs formed even tighter bonds. Through their strong faith, they faced and overcame some of the difficulties that they faced, together. Miracle on 4th Street is a must-see for anyone who is confused about the Second Amendment and our rights as citizens of the United States of America. A big takeaway here is that the film illustrates the importance of lawful gun ownership in order to deter and counter criminals, who typically obtain their guns illegally. Guns dont kill people, bad people kill people. Miracle on 4th Street Director: Charlie Minn Running Time: 1 hour, 26 minutes MPAA Rating: Not Rated Release Date: Feb. 11, 2021 Rated: 5 stars out of 5 Follow EpochTV on social media: Twitter: https://twitter.com/EpochTVus Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/EpochTV Truth Social: https://truthsocial.com/@EpochTV Gettr: https://gettr.com/user/epochtv Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EpochTVus Gab: https://gab.com/EpochTV Telegram: https://t.me/EpochTV Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. A sign for BlackRock Inc. hangs above the company's building in New York City, on July 16, 2018. (Lucas Jackson/Reuters) ESG Is Simply a Socialist Plot by a Group of Corporate Elites Disguised as Free Market: Andy Puzder Many leftist progressive groups are pushing environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards on companies and investments, claiming that such standards will benefit society. Andy Puzder, a visiting fellow at The Heritage Foundation and author of The Capitalist Comeback, warns that ESG is simply socialist ideologies being falsely presented as the free market. In an interview with The Epoch Times Crossroads program, Puzder pointed out that while capitalism is a form of economic democracy, with customers in charge of the economy, socialism involves the elites controlling the economy. In capitalism, people vote with their dollars while companies become profitable by meeting the needs of the people. ESG is a form of investing in which the focus is on accomplishing leftist political agenda as opposed to enhancing investor returns. A group of corporate elites at financial firms such as BlackRock, State Street, and Vanguardwhich together control more than $20 trillion worth of investmentsare imposing their will on the managers of companies that they are invested in. Corporate elites pushing ESG investments arent, as such, part of the government. But now under the Biden administration, the government elites are working with them, Puzder said. As radical leftist ideologies arent overtly popular, such ideas are being pushed onto companies via ESG investing, he stated. The three financial firms combined are the biggest investors in 80 percent of the firms listed in the S&P 500 Index, with BlackRock alone being the second- or third-largest shareholder in 80 percent of the S&P 500, Puzder said. Its a threat to our economic freedom because they use this tremendous voting power to compel the management of these companies not only to pursue these leftist goals but also to put those leftist goals above their obligation, their traditional obligation to generate returns for shareholders, he warned. And its a threat to our individual liberty because they figured out how to use our money to do it. These investment companies use money that the public has invested in 401(k)s and pension funds to push forward their agenda. Radical leftist ideas, such as critical race theory, are being indoctrinated into employees, teaching them that they are either oppressors or oppressed based on skin color. This is basically training workers to hate each other. ESG also prioritizes hiring people based on their sex or race rather than individual qualifications, Puzder stated. Environmentalism, Legality, Pushback From Florida When a small hedge fund wanted to put environmentalists on the board of directors of oil giant ExxonMobil, Vanguard and BlackRock voted along with the hedge fund. The founder of the fund was from BlackRock, Puzder said. As a result of the vote, there are now environmentalists sitting on Exxons board, having a say in the future of the oil firm. Nobody can rationally think that thats going to improve the profitability of an oil company, the time when oil [prices are] shooting through the roof. I mean, it doesnt make any sense. So thats not marketing. Thats oppression, thats socialist, thats elites deciding what we should and shouldnt do, he said. Large financial firms are legally obliged to fulfill their fiduciary duty, which is that these companies must invest peoples money in the best interests of their investors. State attorneys general from 19 states recently issued a letter that stated that BlackRocks ESG agenda violates the fiduciary rules of their respective states. But BlackRock has more money than God, Puzder said. This allows the company to hire the best lawyers in the world. In response to the attorneys letter, BlackRock justified how it complies with fiduciary rules thanks to its cohort of such lawyers, he said. He also praised Gov. Ron DeSantis, Floridas Republican governor, for taking a really strong position on the ESG issue. Last month, for example, DeSantis and the trustees of the State Board of Administration passed a resolution that instructed the states fund managers to desist from making investments based on ESG ideologies. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Joshua Philipp Follow Joshua Philipp is an award-winning investigative reporter with The Epoch Times and host of EpochTV's "Crossroads" program. He is a recognized expert on unrestricted warfare, asymmetrical hybrid warfare, subversion, and historical perspectives on todays issues. His 10-plus years of research and investigations on the Chinese Communist Party, subversion, and related topics give him unique insight into the global threat and political landscape. Foreign passengers wearing protective suits prepare for their flight to China at Manila's International Airport, Philippines, on Jan. 18, 2021. (Aaron Favila/AP Photo) Europe, South Korea-Backed Consortium Wins Philippines Airport Project Formerly Pursued by China A consortium composed of South Korean and European firms has been awarded an $11 billion airport project in the Philippines that was previously granted to a Chinese state-owned firm. The Cavite provincial government awarded the contract to develop the Sangley Point International Airport (SPIA) to a multinational consortium comprised of companies from the Philippines, South Korea, and Europe on Sept. 14. The group includes local firms Cavitex Holdings, House of Investments, and MacroAsia Corporationowned by Filipino tycoon Lucio Tanas well as South Koreas Samsung C&T Construction, Germanys Munich Airport, and Ove Arup & Partners Hong Kong Ltd. In a joint statement, the consortium said the SPIA project will initially serve as an alternative to Ninoy Aquino International Airport and to meet an anticipated increase in demand for air transport in the next 30 [to] 40 years. Sangley Point International Airport is envisioned as a two-runway airport with a capacity for 80 million passengers per annum, expandable to four runways to handle up to 130 million passengers per annum, it stated. The project also includes the construction of a four-kilometer (2.5-mile) connector road with provisions for rail connectivity, as well as fully integrated logistics and aviation support facilities. According to the joint release, the SPIA development is expected to generate 50,000 jobs and bring in foreign direct investment to promote trade and economic development of the Philippines. China Lost SPIA Deal MacroAsia initially partnered with China Communications Construction Co. Ltd. (CCCC). They won the $10 billion SPIA project in December 2019, but it was terminated last year over their failure to submit post-qualification paperwork. This is despite the companies being given four extensions to submit the required documents, local outlet Rappler reported. Cavite Gov. Juanito Victor said that the cancellation was not prejudicial against anyone. While it does cancel the negotiations, the project shall restart and hopefully have a progressive negotiation with a more qualified partner by October 2021, he said on Facebook on Jan. 26, 2021. CCCCs subsidiaries were among the Chinese companies blacklisted by the United States in 2020 for helping China construct and militarize the internationally condemned artificial islands in the South China Sea. Earlier in July, the Philippines canceled its loan applications to China after the Chinese communist regime backed out of three railway agreements it struck with former President Rodrigo Duterte. The projects include the Philippine National Railway Bicol Project (PNR Bicol) worth 142 billion pesos (about $2.5 billion), the 83 billion peso (about $1.47 billion) Mindanao Railway, and the 51 billion peso (about $906 million) Subic-Clark Railway. EXCLUSIVE: Lindell to Sue Government to Return His Phone, or Have Special Master Appointed My Pillows CEO Mike Lindell is set to file a lawsuit against the U.S. government after federal agents seized his phone last week as part of a federal grand jury investigation run out of Colorado. The agents cornered Lindell in three cars on Sept. 13 as he was driving back from a hunting trip in Iowa. In a search warrant they handed him, authorities outlined an expansive list of information they were seeking from Lindells phone relating to allegations of fraud during the 2020 presidential election. It also named a number of individuals allegedly implicated in the 2021 breach of election software in Mesa County, Colorado. The search warrant cites potential breaches of three U.S. laws relating to identity theft, intentional damage to a protected computer, and conspiracy to comment on such offenses. Some of the information to be seized concerned the alleged tampering of voting machines and the attempt to impair the integrity or availability of the voting system. Alleged Violation of Rights The search and seizure warrant, Lindell and his lawyer Kurt Olsen argue, violated the businessmans First, Fourth, and Fifth Amendment rights, which safeguards free speech, protects citizens from unreasonable searches and seizures, and shields citizens from criminal prosecution without due process, respectively. It also brought reputational harm and millions of dollars in monetary damage, Lindell told The Epoch Times ahead of the filing. The lawsuit, to be filed on Sept. 20 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, will seek the return of the seized phone that Lindell had relied on, in lieu of a laptop, to run his five businesses. That specific device was everything for me, Lindell told The Epoch Times, describing his phone as a filing cabinet. The FBI wouldnt allow him to back up his phone, he said in a previous interview. Lindell is now trying to reconfigure everything as much as he can, the businessman said. There are so many apps now I dont have the passwords to, also my hearing aids, everything run off that, he said, referring to the fact that his hearing aids had previously been connected to his phone. The search warrant listed more than 20 types of data to be taken from Lindells phone, including the geographical location of Lindell and other named co-conspirators in the search warrant since Nov. 1, 2020, records indicating their state of mind regarding the alleged offenses, and the identity of any individuals he communicated with on the matter. Lindells attorney said the lawsuit will seek to bar the U.S. government from using this information, and failing that, requests the appointment of an independent arbiter known as a special master to review the data for privileged information to be withheld from authorities. In any data that they access, were going to suppress the release of any information that they unlawfully obtained, and in the alternative, were going to ask for a special master to be appointed to review and segregate the data on his phone from what was required under the warrant, Olsen told The Epoch Times. Monetary Loss The consequences of the FBI action were not limited to the loss of access to critical data, Lindell added. Four companies who partnered Lindells MyStore, an online marketplace featuring American-made products, have backed out of agreements over the federal investigationeither out of fear or out of the belief that the businessman has done something wrong, Lindell said. A bank last week also informed Lindell that they will stop financing one of MyPillows products. The direct monetary loss from these cancellations amounts to at least $5 million dollars, Lindell said. Its kind of like: we dont want to deal with Mike Lindell, hes done something wrong. They dont want to be guilty by association, he said. With the lawsuit, Lindell said he wants to see himself vindicated. We cant have the FBI weaponized against our people in the United States, he said, adding that he will continue advocating for replacing voting machines with paper ballots. This has to happen. Im not going to ever let up. The FBI declined to comment. The Department of Justice didnt answer a request from The Epoch Times for comment by the time of publication. This article has been updated with a response from the FBI. A view of former U.S. President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home after FBI agents raided it, in Palm Beach, Fla., on Aug. 9, 2022. (Marco Bello/Reuters) Fake Documents Struck From Trump Search Case Purported U.S. government documents that ordered CNN to preserve leaked tax records and were entered into the search warrant case for former President Donald Trumps Mar-a-Lago residence have been struck from the U.S. court system, after the government disavowed them. The documents were purportedly submitted to the U.S. court in West Palm Beach, Florida, by the U.S. Department of Treasury. The department motioned to intervene in the case because federal officials had obtained seized federal securities containing sensitive information that was subject to the FBIs search warrant against Trump, according to one of the documents. That document and others filed by the same party contained multiple errors. Despite this, they were still entered into the system by Angela Noble, the clerk for the court. Another document was allegedly an arrest warrant served by federal agents at CNNs headquarters in Atlanta. The warrant ordered CNN to maintain the federal securities, which were described as leaked tax records, until further notice. Another supposed warrant was to a towing company in Michigan. A top U.S. lawyer said on Sept. 19 that the filings were fake. The United States has confirmed the pleading was not submitted by the Department of the Treasury but rather mailed to the Clerk of Court by someone not associated with the Government, U.S. Attorney Juan Antonio Gonzalez, a Biden appointee who heads the Department of Justices office in southern Florida, told the court. He asked U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart, who approved the search warrant for Trumps Mar-a-Lago and is overseeing warrant-related filings, to strike the documents from the record. Hours later, Reinhart struck the documents. Filed by Inmate? The purported warrants were identical to paperwork filed in another case in federal court in Georgia brought by an inmate at the prison medical center in Butner, North Carolina. The case was thrown out, as were the array of other frivolous lawsuits the man has filed from his prison cell. The man has been in custody for several years since he was found not competent to stand trial after an arrest for planting a fake explosive outside the Guardian Building, a skyscraper in Detroit. Since his incarceration, he has filed a range of lawsuits and has impersonated the Treasury Department, claimed to be a federal trustee, and claimed to be a lawyer for the Justice Department, a review of court records shows. In the Georgia case, the man alleged that Trump and others had acquired millions of unredacted classified tax returns and other sensitive financial data, bank records and accounts of banking and tax transactions of several million Americans and federal government agencies, court documents say. The judge in that case called his suit fanatic and delusional, saying there was no way to discern any cognizable claim from the incoherent filings. There is simply nothing indicating that he has any authorization to act on behalf of the United States, the judge said. The man has repeatedly impersonated federal officials in court records and has placed tax liens on judges using his false paperwork, according to two people familiar with the matter. Because of his history as a forger, his mail is supposed to be subjected to additional scrutiny from the Bureau of Prisons. Its unclear how the documentsthe fake motion and the phony warrantsended up at the court clerks office at the courthouse in West Palm Beach, Florida. Nobles office didnt answer the phone or return a voicemail. A representative for Reinhart didnt respond to a request for comment. The Associated Press contributed to this report. The employment insurance section of the Government of Canada website is shown on a laptop in Toronto on April 4, 2020. (The Canadian Press/Jesse Johnston) Federal Tribunal Reinstates EI for Worker Fired for Refusing COVID Shots A federal tribunal has ruled in favour of a Toronto man who was denied his Employment Insurance (EI) benefits after losing his job for not getting vaccinated for COVID-19. In a decision released on Sept. 12, the Social Security Tribunal of Canada reversed the denial of EI benefits to Timothy Conlon, a delivery driver who was fired last July for refusing to comply with his employers mandatory COVID-19 vaccination requirement. Upon his termination, Conlon applied for EI but was denied by the Canada Employment Insurance Commission (CEIC), which claimed he was not eligible for the benefits despite having paid into them for years. In her decision, tribunal member Solage Losier said that although the CEIC had ruled Conlon was not entitled to receive EI benefits due to his own misconduct, the commission did not prove its claim that misconduct had taken place. I cannot find that the Claimants conduct was willful misconduct in this case, wrote Losier. He did not consciously, deliberately, or intentionally breach the employers verbal direction. Also, his conduct was not reckless. He simply was not provided with enough time to comply and could not have known he would be dismissed for his conduct. On Aug. 31, Conlon testified before the tribunal that his former employer had verbally told him on July 7, 2021, that he needed to be vaccinated in two days or he would have to quit. Conlon declined to comply with either option and was fired on July 9, 2021. During the hearing, Conlon expressed disagreement with the CEICs decision, arguing that he was dismissed from his job two days after he was told about the policy, with no fault on his part. [Conlon] argues that there were no complaints about his work performance, no reprimands about his conduct and [that the] employer failed to reasonably accommodate him, Losier wrote. Valid Reasons The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF), which represents Conlon and others challenging the denial of their EI benefits due to vaccination, says Conlon had valid reasons for not acceding to his employers demands. Mr. Conlon expressed concerns about his existing high blood pressure and the reports of some individuals getting blood clots after taking the shots, said JCCF in a press release on Sept. 16. The legal advocacy organization said Conlon, whose job involved the direct delivery of personal care items to homes, would not have posed a substantial risk to the public since he did not interact directly with customers when leaving items at their doors. The employer, however, deemed Conlon too dangerous to face customers, Losier said in her ruling. Conlons employer also denied firing him, saying he was put on an extended Infectious Disease Emergency Leave (IDEL) until July 2022. Conlon testified he had not taken an IDEL leave from work as he didnt meet any of the requirements. For example, he had not contracted covid19, he was not experiencing a side effect from the covid19 vaccination and he was not in quarantine or isolation, Losier wrote. Losier noted that Conlon never received any written documentation either before or following the employers verbal direction that he be vaccinated for COVID-19. The employers ROE [Record of Employment] says he took an IDEL leave, but that was issued approximately two months after he stopped working, she said. Not Willful Losier found that Conlon did not meet the criteria for willful misconduct claimed by the CEIC. She ruled that his conduct was not willful, conscious or deliberate misconduct. [Conlon] explained that he had medical reasons that may have permitted him to be exempt, but never had a chance to make a request to the employer and did not know if there was a formal policy in place, she wrote. The Justice Centre says as a result of the termination and denial of EI, Conlon was thrown into a financial crisis where he had to rely on friends to help cover his purchase of a transit pass and payments for his shared rental. Mr. Conlons experience is not unique, the JCCF said in the release. Such decisions echo comments made by Minister Carla Qualtrough, who stated that those fired for refusing vaccination shouldnt be eligible for EI benefits. Qualtrough said on CBCs Power & Politics program on Oct. 21, 2021: Its a condition of employment that hasnt been met, and the employer choosing to terminate someone for that reason would make that person ineligible for EI. A Kinney County sheriffs deputy arrests a woman for smuggling an illegal alien from the U.S.Mexico border, through Kinney County, Texas, on Sept. 10, 2022. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times) Female Smugglers Set Free as Border Town Lacks Jail Space for Women KINNEY COUNTY, TexasWomen who are caught smuggling illegal aliens through Texass Kinney County are essentially being given a long-term get-out-of jail-free card since the county jail cant house women. And many of those caught smuggling know that. The sheriffs deputies say female drivers they catch will tell them: You cant arrest me, you dont have space for females. Recently, as space allows, a few have been transported to Kerr County, but it takes deputies two hours to drive one way. When we do find jail space, they cry all the way to Kerrville, Kinney County Sheriff Brad Coe said. They say: Youre not supposed to put me in jail. They told me I wouldnt go to jail.' Coe said after female smugglers started to be released on personal recognizance bonds, the smuggling networks began using female drivers more often. Now, once weve started to find a place to put them, were catching 17-year-olds again, Coe said, highlighting another jail space challenge. In Texas, a 17-year-old is considered an adult with regard to crimes, but the nearby overflow detention facilities will only take those aged 18 years and older. Smuggling chargesa 3rd-degree felonyare still filed at-large against female drivers, but they get to go home, sans their smuggling vehicle. Suzanne West, district attorney for Kinney, Val Verde, and Terrell counties, handles felony cases for the region. As of mid-August, she had 3,045 smuggling charges during the fiscal year that ends on Sept. 30. Thats compared to 67 charges in fiscal 2021 and 64 in fiscal 2020. The charges dont represent individuals, but rather, if a smuggler is transporting six illegal aliens, the smuggler will receive six charges. The numbers shot up starting in August 2021, after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott began his Operation Lone Star border security initiative that boosted border regions with state troopers and local prosecution offices with staff from its border prosecution unit. Additionally, in September 2021, Texas enacted a law that made it easier to prosecute smugglersits now unnecessary to prove the driver was getting paid for smuggling. Although her system doesnt allow her to obtain exact data for females, West estimates as many as a fourth of our cases involve female co-defendants, she told The Epoch Times via email. She said it was tough to gauge exact numbers because we spend an inordinate amount of time having to focus on the in-custody arrestswhich are all men. If a defendant is in jail awaiting trial for a felony, charges must be brought within 90 days to avoid additional bond issues, which means those cases get prioritized, while the at-large cases perpetually drop to the bottom of the list. The effect of this will be long reaching in both distance and time, because these at-large defendants will have warrants for arrest at-large and whether they are served and come back to court from their residences all over Texas (and the United States) will depend on the authorities where they live and whether they are arrested, West said. Recently, a significant portion of smugglers have been coming from Oklahoma. It is not likely that the local law enforcement have the personnel to perform statewide task force-type round-ups, West said. This is already a huge concern, and will get more urgent over time, especially as we try to dispose of cases rather than just have absconders at large. Coe said if anyone is caught smuggling again within 10 days of their first arrest, the penalties become harsher. During August, deputies in Kinney County arrested 51 smugglers, 13 of whom were female. During the first eight months of 2022, the county arrested a total of 416 smugglers transporting illegal aliens. The total for all of 2021, which was a record year in itself, was 169 smugglers. Coes numbers dont include the smuggling loads intercepted in the county by Texas state troopers or Border Patrol. Drivers are promised anywhere between $500 and $2,000 per alien transported to San Antonio, according to interviews conducted by the sheriffs office. Coes current jail was built in the 1970s, before the Jail Commission and its standards came into being. The jail barely squeaks by on its inspections and only holds 14 detainees. Coe said the county has the land needed for a larger jail, but it would cost $12 million to $15 million to build. In a county of 3,100 people with a median income of $26,715, thats a high-ticket item. The sheriff said hes reached out to the Texas Department of Emergency Management (TDEM) to get a temporary jail set up, similar to what the agency constructed in neighboring Val Verde County. That jail also doesnt accept females or juveniles. However, Coes next challenge would be staffing a new facility. Weve reached out to see if they can put a temporary facility here. But we havent heard anything back, Coe said. He intends to bring it up again on a call with the governors office this week. TDEM didnt respond to a request for comment. West said if a female smuggler ignores their court summons and an arrest warrant is issued, then we are back to square one due to no jail space. We either wait until the defendant is picked up for other reasons and our warrant is served, or a task force-type initiative is started to find people. She hopes the governors office will continue to solve the issues that have arisen during the Operation Lone Star programmostly related to the sheer volume of illegal aliens crossing the TexasMexico border. 12A (N. Ireland) | 1h 42min | Documentary | 23 September 2022 (USA) The pupils of Holy Cross Boys School (ages 411) have grown up knowing only peace in Northern Ireland. Yet their Ardoyne neighborhood of North Belfast remains marked by the destruction and militant graffiti of The Troubles. In this case, it is quite apt to say that it looks like a demilitarized zone. Headmaster Kevin McArevey and his staff are old enough to remember war and understand the fragility of the current peace. Rather logically, they emphasize nonviolent conflict resolution in their teachings. However, McAreveys reliance on ancient Greek philosophers is somewhat surprising, but pleasantly so. Filmmakers Neasa Ni Chianain and Declan McGrath observe McArevey and his colleagues as they instruct, counsel, discipline, and generally keep the peace at Holy Cross in their documentary Young Plato. Headmaster of Holy Cross Boys School, Kevin McArevey leads his students in a race in the documentary Young Plato. (Soilsiu Films) In 2001, there was an ugly incident involving former-Loyalist protesters outside Holy Crosss sister school for girls. McAreveys students are shocked by the video they watch in class, because they have never experienced anything like it, but it is still fresh in his faculty members memories. Convincing his students to avoid violence is not simply a way to encourage good classroom behavior. Potentially, it holds life-and-death implications for the community. Not an Ordinary Headmaster McArevey is earnest, and he has character. As an Elvis Presley-loving black belt, he is not a typical parochial school administrator. McArevey is definitely not a delegator either. He regularly teaches a philosophy class in which he relies on the Socratic Method (and Presley lyrics). In addition to the ethics of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, he also cites Stoic philosophers to encourage empathy in his students and train them to control their emotions. During the months before and after the CCP-virus shutdown (which closed schools throughout Northern Ireland) that interrupted the filmmakers visit to Holy Cross, we never see any explicitly religious, sectarian, or class-based conflict among the pupilsthough, admittedly, the student body is presumably uniformly Catholic. In fact, McArevey is most often called to make peace between a pair of estranged cousins. However, drugs and crime have become a constant source of danger in their depressed neighborhood. McArevey and Holy Cross do seem to make a positive difference in their students lives. At least, the way Ni Chianain and McGrath present and edit their footage leads viewers to such a conclusion. Ironically, the decision to close the school during the early days of China leader Xis pandemic arguably seems to have put the students at greater risk than had they maintained in-person instruction, at least judging from the shocking volume of incidents with online predators the students relate to McArevey on their first day back. Back to the Classics It is also rather satisfying to see McAreveys success incorporating classical philosophy into the Holy Cross curriculum. In some ways, Young Plato vindicates advocates of an education based on the Great Books of Western Civilization. If the concepts of Plato and Aristotle are accessible and relevant to Holy Crosss young working-class students, any reasonably mature college freshman should be able to learn from such a rigorous curriculum. Two students at Holy Cross Boys School in Belfast, Northern Ireland, learn how to make peace in the documentary Young Plato. (Soilsiu Films) McAreveys Elvis fandom gives the film a bit of a marketing hook, but there is more substance to him than mere Graceland references. He is an unusually committed and compassionate authority figure for a lot of kids who are in dire need of one. In fact, McArevey will resonate with fans of great biographical dramas like Stand and Deliver, based on the life of beloved East Los Angeles math teacher Jaime Escalante, and Lean on Me, which was inspired by controversial Patterson, New Jersey, principal Joe Clark. Much like them, McArevey reminds us that nobody was ever inspired by teachers who allowed their students to settle for average. Better Wrap-Up Needed What McArevey and his staff have accomplished at Holy Cross is definitely worthy of documentary attention. However, Ni Chianain and McGrath do not end with a great narrative climax or a big emotional crescendo. It is possible that the pandemic interrupted their rhythm, forcing them to make do with their shorter post-shutdown footage as best they could. The resulting documentary still has a great deal of merit, but it lacks a summation that ties everything together. Still, it is nice to see McArevey and company making a difference with great ideas from the Western canon. Evidently, Irish school documentaries are Ni Chianains specialty, since she previously co-helmed School Life, which documented a year at a high-achieving Irish boarding school. That was probably a warmer, more accessible film, but Young Plato has more applicable lessons for policymakers and pedagogues. Respectfully recommended for the lessons it documents, Young Plato opened at the Angelika Theater in New York on Sept. 23. Promotional ad for Young Plato about a school in Belfast that teaches nonviolence with a classical perspective. (Soilsiu Films) Young Plato Directors: Neasa Ni Chianain and Declan McGrath Documentary Running Time: 1 hour, 42 minutes MPAA Rating: A12 (N. Ireland) Release Date: Sept. 23, 2022 Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren addresses the media after learning he was suspended by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in Tampa, Fla., on Aug. 4, 2022. (Octavio Jones/Reuters) Florida Prosecutor Suspended by DeSantis Loses Bid for Reinstatement as Trial Moves Forward PUNTA GORDA, Fla.A federal judge has ruled that a Florida prosecutor suspended by Gov. Ron DeSantis will remain out of office while the court case against the state moves toward trial. U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle, on Sept. 19, denied a motion to reinstate Andrew Warren, former state attorney for Hillsborough County. After his dismissal on Aug. 4, Warren sued the governor to get his job back saying that his first amendment rights had been violated. Warren, a Democrat, was elected in 2016 and again in 2020. DeSantis removed the prosecutor after Warren signed letters of intent that he would not pursue criminal charges against seekers or providers of abortion or gender transition, as well as not bringing forth charges for certain crimes. The DeSantis administration said they are satisfied with the judges decision. We are pleased that the court denied Andrew Warrens request for a preliminary injunction, Bryan Griffin, press secretary to the governor, told The Epoch Times in an email. The Governor is entrusted by the people of Florida to utilize his constitutional powers and may suspend elected officials in Florida who refuse to enforce the law. Warren contends he was fighting for democracy by defending himself in court. Today is an important day in an important fight for democracyour democracy, Warren told reporters after the hearing in federal court in Tallahassee. Ive spent my career walking into court as a prosecutor, fighting for victims. Today, I went in as a plaintiff, fighting for democracy itself. At the hearing, which lasted almost two hours, Hinkle questioned attorneys from the state over whether Warrens signing the statements on abortion and transgender rights would be protected under the First Amendment or if they were defined policies that would warrant his removal from his elected office. Andrew Warren has no First Amendment right to say hes not going to do his job, state Solicitor General Henry C. Whitaker told the judge during the hearing. Floridas new abortion restriction became effective July 1. It prohibits abortions after 15 weeks, with exceptions if the procedure is necessary to save the pregnant womans life, prevent serious injury, or if the fetus has a fatal abnormality. It does not allow exceptions in cases where pregnancies were caused by rape, incest or human trafficking. Violators could face up to five years in prison. Physicians and other medical professionals could lose their licenses and face administrative fines of $10,000 for each violation. Warren noted that no abortion cases were brought to his office for prosecution. Florida has not legislated criminalizing gender transition treatments for minors, however, and these statements prove that Warren thinks he has the authority to defy the Florida Legislature and nullify in his jurisdiction criminal laws with which he disagrees, the executive order from DeSantis reads. The executive order also cites Warrens policy of not pursuing lesser categories of crime, including trespassing at a business location, disorderly conduct, disorderly intoxication, and prostitution. It is not for him to put himself above that and say that hes not going to enforce the laws, DeSantis said on Aug. 4 at a press conference announcing Warrens removal. We dont elect people in one part of the state to have veto power over what the entire state decides on these important issues. Policies and Other Statements In addition, the governors order cites how Warrens office has avoided prosecuting people who commit misdemeanors such as resisting arrest without violence, stating that the policies arent a proper exercise of prosecutorial discretion and also usurps the authority of the Florida Legislature by not enforcing the law. The order notes that Warren in 2021 signed a separate statement with other prosecutors regarding biological males using female bathrooms and vice versa. The prosecutors pledged to not promote the criminalization of gender-affirming healthcare or transgender people. Gender-affirming is a term used to describe sex change operations and other procedures meant to facilitate a persons change from male to female or female to male. The joint statement said that bills that criminalize such treatments do not promote public safety, community trust, or fiscal responsibility, and suggested that they would not be enforced. DeSantis appointed Susan Lopez to replace Warren while his suspension is in place. Lopez was appointed by DeSantis in 2021 to be a judge on the Hillsborough County Court, and she previously served as an assistant prosecutor in the 13th Judicial Circuit. Trial dates for Warrens lawsuit against DeSantis have not yet been set. Zachary Stieber contributed to this article. Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe follows behind U.S. President Donald Trump, not pictured, as they depart on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington on Dec. 12, 2020. (Al Drago/Getty Images) Former DNI Raises Concerns Over Potential Misclassified Documents Seized in Mar-a-Lago Raid Former White House Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe said Sunday that the FBI took documents from Donald Trumps Florida Mar-a-Lago home that had questionable classification levels. The FBI took 11,000 documents from Donald Trumps Mar-a-Lago home, and they claim that there are reports of hundreds of documents that have classified markings, Ratcliffe said in an interview on Fox News Sunday Morning Futures. Ratcliffe noted that he is unsure if any of the documents include Russia-gate or Steele reporting documents but that if they do, theres a question of whether or not theyre marked top secret, whether they are top secret. Former British intelligence officer Christopher Steeles infamous Steele dossier was used to obtain a spy warrant on members of the Trump 2016 presidential campaign. The widely discredited dossier was paid for by the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee. I saw hundreds, if not thousands, of documents related to Christopher Steele, and the Steele reporting things like the Alpha Bank connections that were in the Steele dossier, all of these things were make-believe but were marked top secret,' said Ratcliffe. All of these things were no more top secret than your childrens creative writing assignments for their homework. So theres an issue of classification of those documents, theyre going to have to look at documents marked top secret to determine whether or not there really was any national security information in there of any value, Ratcliffe said. I can tell you from personal experience that many of those Russia-gate documents were not top secret, although they were marked that way. Ratcliffes comments come after U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon appointed senior Judge Raymond Dearie as a special master to review documents the FBI seized from Mar-a-Lago in August. Dearie, 79, was appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1986 to the federal bench in Brooklyn, New York. He retired in 2011 and now serves as a semi-retired senior judge. He previously served in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court between 2011 and 2019. Part of Dearies duties as a special master will be to determine whether any materials are protected by executive privilege or attorney-client privilege and should thus be shielded from the DOJ probe. Documents seized during the Aug. 8 raid by the FBI of former President Donald Trumps Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., in a photo released on Aug. 30, 2022. (FBI via The Epoch Times) Taken Advantage of By FBI When asked on Sunday for his thoughts regarding Dearies appointment as a special master, Ratcliffe said he believes hes a good choice, noting that Dearie has been taken advantage of by the FBI before and will likely not take the DOJ and FBI assertions at face value and will look at these documents. During his time in the intelligence surveillance court, Dearie signed off on warrants that the FBI used to surveil Carter Page, a former associate of Trump, during its investigation into now disproved allegations that the Trump campaign was colluding with Russia. Former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith later admitted to doctoring an email from the CIA that was used to support the surveillance warrants. Ratcliffe on Sunday also cited one document that he himself had declassified on his way out the door, which related to Igor Danchenko, a Russian national who lives in the United States and who was the primary sub-source for the Steele dossier. Danchenko is scheduled to be tried in October on five counts of lying to the FBI. He is facing trial next month because he lied repeatedly to the FBI, said Ratcliffe. In January 2017 he admitted to the FBI that much of what was in the Steele reporting was just made up in conversation over beers with friends at a bar or word-of-mouth hearsay. He didnt know whether any of the information in the Steele dossier was accurate and it was put together at the request of Hillary Clinton and her campaign. Ratcliffe said the document he declassified was an annex to the intelligence community assessment that then-FBI Director James Comey insisted on including and reporting to the American people claiming that all the information in the Steele dossier should be included in the investigation when they knew from their conversations with Danchenko that it was all false. So this is an example of one of many documents that were initially marked as top secret and classified but that was all a bunch of garbage, he said. Masked children are seen as Health Secretary Xavier Becerra tours a Head Start program in Washington on June 30, 2021. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images) Head Start Mask Mandate Will Be Removed: Biden Administration The federal Head Start program, which provides preschool and child care services to low-income families, will soon stop requiring masks. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families, which runs the program, said on Sept. 16 that it plans to publish a rule that will rescind its mask mandate. This will align Head Start program masking requirements more closely with the updated Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance, the administration said. The change will happen in the near future, according to the administration. Officials declined to give an exact date. The National Head Start Association (NHSA), which has been calling on the government for months to roll back the mask requirement, said the announcement finally gives us the clarity we have been seeking. It will go a long way to allow programs to do what they do best in a safe, healthy, and community-driven manner, the group said. Disruptive Based on instructions from President Joe Biden, Head Start in 2021 imposed a COVID-19 vaccine mandate on all staff members and many contractors and volunteers. It also implemented a mask mandate for all staff and children, with exemptions for children under 2 years old. The NHSA told Health Secretary Xavier Becerra, a Biden appointee, in July that the policy has been and continues to be extremely disruptive to the Head Start community, including leading to many employees leaving and parents removing children. Local officials were best equipped to make decisions on mandates, the group said. Some lawmakers had also spoken out against the mandates. Mandating masking of children is not in line with public health principles and risks significant emotional and physical harm, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), the top Republican on the House Education and Labor Committee, said in a letter to Becerra earlier this month. Federal officials told administrators in February that the mask requirement wouldnt be enforced and reiterated as much in August, a Health and Human Services spokesperson told The Epoch Times via email before the announcement. The administration acknowledged that CDC recommendations have evolved since the interim final rule was issued and officials will take into consideration the over 2,700 public comments it received, the updated CDC recommendations, the recent approval of vaccinations for young children, and the health and safety of Head Start children and families in the ongoing development of program guidance and regulation, the spokesperson added. The CDC changed its masking guidance in February and recently published another update to COVID-19 recommendations. Firefighters work under excessive heat conditions putting out the Fairview Fire in Hemet, Calif., on Sept. 6, 2022. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images) Heres Why Firefighters Across the Country Are Often the Highest Paid Employees in Their Cities Across the country, it is not the mayors, municipal judges, city attorneys or city managers who are often the highest-paid municipal employees. Firefighters have become the top-paid employees due to a staffing model that triggers an enormous amount of overtime by mandating any absences must be filled regardless of need. And for those willing to work the extra hours, the compensation can reward them with pay almost four times that of the firefighters base salary. In Los Angeles, six fire department employees made $500,000 or more in 2021, with a fire captain having gross pay of $598,532 due to $434,394 in overtime. A firefighter in Las Vegas had gross pay of $254,304 in 2021 due to $139,061 in overtime. An assistant fire chief made $281,598 that same year. Twelve of the city of Las Vegas top 20 paid employees were firefighters in 2021. In San Diego, four employees in the fire department made more than $200,000 in overtime. One San Diego firefighter made $236,937 in overtime, which pushed his gross pay to $329,948. In San Francisco, one firefighter made $257,072 in overtime in 2021 and had gross pay of $413,844. An assistant fire chief had gross pay of $458,223 thanks to $193,883 in overtime in 2021. That year, 11 San Francisco fire department employees made more than $400,000. The overtime benefits more than just a handful of firefighters. In the city of New York, there were 831 fire department employees who made $50,000 or more in overtime in 2021. The staffing model used by fire departments all around the United States is referred to as minimum staffing. It is typically negotiated into union contracts and agreed to by city administrators and mandates that if any fire department employee is absent from a shift, that vacancy must be filled. As a 2016 study of the Houston Fire Department staffing model explained, Unlike operational firefighters, if an employee is absent for any reason from a non-emergency operations position in the fire department or from most general government positions, that position is simply vacant for the day. But within the Houston fire department, absences are filled usually with overtime if staffing levels fall below a prescribed level. In 2019, the city of Santa Rosa, California, did an assessment of its fire departments minimum staffing levels. Each Santa Rosa firefighter on average had 240 vacation hours a year that needed to be replaced, the equivalent of 30 eight-hour workdays. Compounding this problem is the incidences of unscheduled absences for sick leave, military leave, bereavement, jury duty, and time off for training, all of which create an additional physical burden on the remaining employees and a financial burden for the City to provide the funding for the added overtime costs, the citys study noted. The study reported a typical 48-hour shift for a Santa Rosa firefighter would cost the city $1,651 at regular time but $2,477 at the overtime rate, or 50 percent higher. The study stated that the city paid $15.5 million in wages to the fire department in 2018 and an additional $6.1 million in overtime that year. In Santa Clara County in California, a Civil Grand Jury investigated minimum staffing in that county in 2011 and recommended ending the practice. The investigation reported that city managers and fire chiefs within the county generally agreed that fire department operations as currently configured are unsustainable. Contractually based minimum staffing requirements are not warranted and hinder fire chiefs in effectively managing firefighter staffing to meet time of day, day of week, season of year demand. This wastes money and may drive station closure as budgets continue to erode, the grand jury stated. The grand jury also recommended that any city within the county that have minimum staffing requirements in union contracts should reopen negotiations with the unions to eliminate this term and any other term that limits a fire chiefs ability to right-size staffing given the time of day or time of year. However, fire departments across the country still employ minimum staffing requirements. Las Vegas Fire and Rescue does have a staffing approach that ensures that units are staffed with a minimum of four staff. This methodology is a best practice in the fire service and allows firefighters to operate safely while providing great service to our residents, said Jace Radke, spokesman for the city of Las Vegas. In terms of the gross pay and some of the larger numbers for firefighters, this is largely due to overtime costs. In the city of Houston, 633 employees of the fire department made $100,000 or more in a city where the median household income was $53,600 in 2020. One Houston firefighter with a base salary of $64,900 had gross pay of $171,396 in 2021. An engineer/operator with a base pay of $66,293 had a gross pay of $234,594 that same year. Houston uses minimum staffing requirements based on the model put forward by the National Fire Protection Association, a nonprofit that advocates for firefighters. Curt Floyd, a retired deputy fire chief who works for the National Fire Protection Association, said the minimum staffing recommendations are based on studies done to determine the efficiency levels of operations conducted with different numbers of on scene staff with safety being the focus. There are overtime costs in many communities that have career responders and that is often due to lack of staffing from various causes, Floyd said in an email. The minimum staffing requirements are typically a decision that is made via contract negotiations and established operational procedures that vary from department to department. The city of Santa Clara didnt respond to an email seeking comment. A home is submerged in floodwaters caused by Hurricane Fiona in Cayey, Puerto Rico, on Sept. 18, 2022. (Stephanie Rojas/AP Photo) Hurricane Fiona Will Intensify as Forecasters Reveal Where Its Going Next Hurricane Fiona has weakened after hitting Puerto Rico but is forecast to strengthen again later on Sept. 19, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC). Then, Fiona will likely move to the north before heading north-northeast and may strike the Turks and Caicos islands on Sept. 20 before it passes near Bermuda, located far out in the Atlantic, later this week. The storm, or remnants of it, is forecast to hit northeastern Canada by Sept. 24. Fiona is moving toward the northwest near 8 [miles per hour]. This general motion is expected to continue through tonight, followed by a turn toward the north-northwest on Tuesday and to the north on Wednesday, the NHC stated on Sept. 19. On the forecast track, the center of Fiona will move over the southwestern Atlantic this afternoon. When it moves out into the Atlantic, strengthening is expected during the next few days after the hurricane emerges over the southwestern Atlantic, and Fiona is forecast to become a major hurricane by Wednesday, according to the NHC. A major hurricane is a Category 3 or greater with winds of 111 mph to 129 mph. Tropical storm conditions will continue on portions of Puerto Rico this morning, and over portions of the Dominican Republic within the warning area through today, the agency stated. Tropical storm conditions are expected in portions of the southeastern Bahamas by early Tuesday. Tropical storm conditions are possible across the watch area in the Dominican Republic today. Landfall Early on Sept. 19, Fiona made landfall in the eastern portion of the Dominican Republic hours after it struck Puerto Rico, leaving much of the U.S. territory without power. The storm, hitting Puerto Rico five years after Hurricane Maria devastated the island, ripped up asphalt from roads, swept away a major road bridge, closed airports, swamped cars, and dumped rain in such quantities that some rivers were rising by 20 feet in just hours, according to eyewitnesses. This has been catastrophic, Puerto Rican Gov. Pedro Pierluisi said at a press conference in the capital, San Juan. Power had begun to be restored to some areas by the evening of Sept. 18, officials said, but reconnecting the whole island would take days. President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration for Puerto Rico on Sept. 18, authorizing the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate disaster relief and provide emergency protective measures. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said agency officials deployed to Puerto Rico would assist with restoration efforts as it becomes safe to do so. It comes as researchers say the 2022 Atlantic hurricane season has been exceptionally quiet so far. One meteorologist noted that from early July and the entirety of August, there were no named stormsa first since 1941. Reuters contributed to this report. With the U.S. Capitol in the backdrop, a bus from Texas carrying illegal immigrants arrives in Washington on Aug. 2, 2022. (Stefani Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images) Illegal Immigrants Voluntarily Sign Forms That Disclose Destination: Gov. Abbotts Office Illegal immigrants who are being transported to other parts of the country from Texas voluntarily sign a waiver that discloses their destination, according to a spokesperson for Gov. Greg Abbott. The migrants on Texas buses willingly chose to go to Washington, D.C., New York City, or Chicago, having signed a voluntary consent waiver available in multiple languages upon boarding that they agreed on the destination, spokesperson Renae Eze told media outlets recently. Meanwhile, the city of El Paso, Texas, reportedly has its own program for busing illegal immigrants. The Democrat-run city is located across the border from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. The state is not involved in El Pasos busing, Eze told Just the News on Sept. 17. The comments follow claims by Democratic and White House officials that Abbott, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey are misleading illegal immigrants and have suggested that the transfer program isnt voluntary. When Abbott initiated the busing plan earlier this year, he repeatedly said the illegal aliens would go on a voluntarynot mandatorybasis. Only the federal government sets immigration policy and is responsible for deportations. Governors dont have such powers. The busing program drew headlines last week when DeSantis flew about 50 illegal aliens to Marthas Vineyard, a Massachusetts island thats popular with wealthy Democratic elites, from Florida. On the same day, Abbott bused dozens of individuals picked up at the border to Vice President Kamala Harriss official residence in Washington. In response, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Sept. 16 that the White House is deferring to the Department of Justice (DOJ) on whether legal action is being considered against the Republican governors. Hours after sending the illegal immigrants to Marthas Vineyard, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker activated the National Guard and promptly sent them to a military base on Cape Cod. It isnt clear what will happen to the aliens, who are reportedly of Venezuelan origin. During a press conference last week, DeSantis said hes considering flying more illegal migrants to other parts of the country. Obviously, theres going to be buses like Texas is doing, [and] there may be some more flights, he announced. Marthas Vineyard wont be the only destination, either. Theres a whole bunch of other places, DeSantis said. But I would say that all were trying to do is offer transport to sanctuary jurisdictions [that are] free to the alien but certainly not mandatory. Abbott appears to be ramping up his busing program and shows no signs of stopping. New York Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, told CNN on Sept. 18 that about a half-dozen buses filled with people had arrived in the city that morning. Evidence markers dot the scene on Richmond, Ind., on Aug. 10, 2022, where Richmond Police Department Officer Seara Burton was critically wounded and a man was injured in a shootout following a traffic stop. (Mike Emery/The Palladium-Item via AP) Indiana Officer Shot During Traffic Stop in August Has Died RICHMOND, Ind.An eastern Indiana police officer who was shot in the head during a traffic stop in August has died more than two weeks after she was removed from life support, authorities said. Richmond Police Department Officer Seara Burton died Sunday night at a Reid Health facility surrounded by her family, the department said in a statement posted to Facebook. We would sincerely like to thank the Richmond community, and those who have supported Seara, her family, and the department from near and far, the statement from several officials said. Burton was critically wounded in the shooting Aug. 10. The 28-year-old officer was moved to hospice care, two days after she was removed from life support on Sept. 1 at a hospital in Dayton, Ohio. Burtons remains were to be escorted by Richmond police and other agencies from the Dayton area on Monday afternoon. Burton was a four-year veteran of the department in Richmond, about 65 miles east of Indianapolis. Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb said he and his wife, Janet, are mourning with Burtons family, colleagues and the Richmond community, saying in a statement that our hearts are heavy. Janet and I send our condolences to Officer Burtons family and loved ones as they search for peace and strength from a power greater than all we can muster, he said. Prosecutors have charged Phillip Matthew Lee, 47, with three counts of attempted murder, three drug possession counts for methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroin and possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon. He has pleaded not guilty. A message seeking comment on whether Lee was now expected to face a murder charge was left Monday morning for the Wayne County Prosecutors Office by The Associated Press. Authorities have said officers stopped Lee and called Burton to assist with her police dog. The dog indicated the possible presence of narcotics. Court documents say that while officers were speaking with the rider, he pulled out a gun and opened fire toward the officers, shooting Burton. Other officers returned fire and he ran away. Lee was apprehended following a brief foot chase. No other officers were shot. Lee was treated for gunshot wounds, police said. Jordan Peterson speaks at the 2018 Young Women's Leadership Summit hosted by Turning Point USA in Dallas, Texas, on June 15, 2018. (Gage Skidmore/CC BY-SA 2.0) Jordan Peterson Releases Conservative Manifesto for Those Holding Traditional Values Canadian intellectual and clinical psychologist Jordan Peterson released what he calls a conservative manifesto on Sept. 17, which he says can act as a guideline for those who hold traditional values. Its called A Conservative Manifesto,' Peterson said in a YouTube video. And its an attempt to begin the process of outlining a positive vision for the future on the centre-right and classic liberal front. Peterson, a professor emeritus at the University of Toronto and author of the bestseller 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos, said that hes worked on the manifesto intensely and specifically over the last four months and that its title is meant to insinuate a contradiction to Karl Marxs Communist Manifesto. This is a conservative manifestoso, I suppose, one among manyand I dont imagine itll be the last word on that front, Peterson said. Its not designed to be a propaganda tool, he added. Its designed to be an invitation, lets say. Petersons manifesto is comprised of a set of values that he calls foundational principles. He said the prevailing ideologies and trends that influence the current political climate, such as identity politics, threatens the trust upon which peace and prosperity necessarily depends and undermines the spirit of our sons and daughters. What can those of us who attempt to abide by and manifest a courageous faith in the traditional values of our past offer in such times? Peterson said, before listing a number of principles that he calls for conservatives to follow. Humility, liberty, autonomy, truth, agency, identity, merit, responsibility, tradition, community, stewardship, justice, and unity, Peterson said, to which could be added the inevitability of economic inequality and the practical realities of the individual competence. Peterson not only listed the principles he believes conservatives should follow, but also the pitfalls they should avoid. He said conservatives should not simply appeal to cynicism and bitterness, nor hold the belief that our social and political institutions are fundamentally unreliable, corrupt, and untrustworthy. Peterson also cautioned against upholding any moral code noteworthy only for its joylessness, sterility, and tendency to forbid and damn. Instead, the confident and forthright transmission of the abandoned eternal verities to all of those who currently wander, thirst, and starve in their absence, he said. Mimi Nguyen Ly contributed to this report. Russian analyst Igor Danchenko arrives at the Albert V. Bryan U.S. Courthouse before being arraigned in Alexandria, Va., on Nov. 10, 2021. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) Key Steele Dossier Source Confirms He Was Paid by FBI for Years A key source for the anti-Donald Trump dossier paid for by Democrats has confirmed that he was on the FBIs payroll for years. Igor Danchenko, who provided information to the dossiers author, Christopher Steele, was a vital source of information to the U.S. government during the course of his cooperation and was relied upon to build other cases and open other investigations, lawyers for Danchenko said in a filing lodged in federal court in Virginia. Special counsel John Durham recently disclosed that Danchenko was a confidential human informant for the FBI from March 2017 to October 2020. Danchenko was later charged with five counts of lying to the government in interviews about his role as a collector of information that was put forth in the dossier, which was funded by the campaign of Hillary ClintonTrump and Clinton faced off in the 2016 presidential electionand the Democratic National Committee. Danchenko allegedly lied about not sourcing information from Charles Dolan, a longtime Clinton associate, and sourcing information from Sergei Millian, a businessman and supporter of Trump. Some have alleged that the FBI paid Danchenko in an effort to conceal the fabrications. The FBI has declined comment on the allegation, referring The Epoch Times to the Department of Justice, which didnt respond to a request for comment by press time. Prior Investigation Danchenko was investigated by the FBI from 2009 to 2011. While working for the Brookings Institution in 2008, he approached two colleagues and discussed whether they wanted to provide classified information in exchange for money, according to Durhams team. Danchenko said he thought one of the employees might be able to join the Obama administration, which came into power in early 2009, and gain access to classified information. Danchenko said he knew people who would pay money for the information. The employee conveyed the offer to a contact in the government, who relayed it to the FBI. The FBI started a preliminary investigation and upgraded the probe to a full investigation after learning that Danchenko was an associate of two people who were known by bureau counterintelligence experts and that he had previous contact with known Russian intelligence officers and the Russian Embassy. The defendant had also informed one Russian intelligence officer that he had interest in entering the Russian diplomatic service. The investigation into the defendant was closed in 2010 after the FBI incorrectly believed that the defendant had left the country, Durhams team stated. When speaking to the FBI in January 2017, Danchenko denied being in contact with Russian intelligence. But he later said he had been in contact with two people who he thought were connected to the Russian intelligence community. Direct Evidence Prosecutors should be able to bring up the prior investigation at Danchenkos upcoming trial because its direct evidence of the materiality of the defendants false statements, according to Durhams team. The Government anticipates that a potential defense strategy at trial will be to argue that the defendants alleged lies about the sourcing of the Steele Reports were not material because they had no effect on, and could not have affected, the course of the FBIs investigations concerning potential coordination or conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Russian Government. Thus, the Government should be able to introduce evidence of this prior counterintelligence investigation (and the facts underlying that investigation) as direct evidence of the materiality of the defendants false statements, it said in a recent court filing. Such evidence is admissible because in any investigation of potential collusion between the Russian Government and a political campaign, it is appropriate and necessary for the FBI to consider whether information it receives via foreign nationals may be a product of Russian intelligence efforts or disinformation. Had the FBI known at the time of his 2017 interviews that the defendant was providing them with false information about the sourcing of his claims, this naturally would have (or should have) caused investigators to revisit the prior counterintelligence investigation and raise the prospect that the defendant might have in fact been under the control or guidance of the Russian intelligence services. Danchenkos lawyers said the agents involved in Crossfire Hurricane, the operation against Trump and his campaign, were well aware of the prior counterintelligence investigation. They also said that agents involved in the prior probe were consulted about using Danchenko as a paid source and raised no objections, that agents factored the prior probe into their evaluation of Danchenkos credibility, and that an independent source review committee recommended using Danchenko as a source through December 2020, even after taking into account Danchenkos links to Russia. As an initial matter, those facts obliterate the governments argument that any alleged false statements were material to the governments ability to evaluate whether Mr. Danchenko could have been working for the Russians all along, Danchenkos lawyers said. It would be one thing to argue that the Crossfire Hurricane investigators were not aware of the prior investigation and Mr. Danchenko failed to inform them of it when asked. But, as one might expect, Mr. Danchenko was not aware of the investigation. They also noted that Danchenko only learned of the probe when then-Attorney General William Barr disclosed it to the public in September 2020. Moreover, it stretches credibility to suggest that anything else would have caused the FBI to be more suspicious of Mr. Danchenkos statements and his potential role in spreading disinformation than the very fact that he was previously investigated for possibly engaging in espionage on behalf of Russia. Armed with that knowledge, however, and based on the substantial and critical information Mr. Danchenko provided to the FBI throughout his time as a source, the FBI nevertheless persisted, Danchenkos team stated. The Special Counsel perhaps disagrees with that decision, but Mr. Danchenkos trial [is] on five specific statements and this is not the place to air out the Special Counsels dissatisfaction. Silhouettes of mobile users are seen next to a screen projection of the Instagram logo, on March 28, 2018. (Dado Ruvic/Reuters) Lawsuits Allege Instagram Endangers Teens Mental Health Claims cite addiction, eating disorders, depression, self-harm, and suicide Some addictive products come from screens, not syringes, according to new lawsuits against Instagram. As stated in whistleblower documents, Instagrams parent company Meta knew for years that its network caused addiction that damaged childrens mental health. Lawsuits by eight former teen Instagram users including Laura Ashman, Chesapeake Dowdy, and Brianna Perez demand damages based on Instagrams alleged negligence and concealment of safety risks. The named three say they were 13 or younger when they began using Instagram. The Motley Rice law firm has petitioned Californias courts to coordinate these lawsuits because they have similar claims. Instagrams addictive effects on teens resemble hard drug addiction, according to the lawsuit filed in the Superior Court of California in and for the County of San Mateo. Uncontrollable cravings, changed sleep schedules, self-harm, loss of appetite, anxiety, and suicide all often spring from use of the social media app, according to the lawsuits. None of this is an accident. This is a pattern that Instagram understands because theyve studied it. And its also a pattern that theyve chosen to ignore because it was in their self-interest to do so, said Previn Warren, a partner with Motley Rice. Addictive Apps Ashman, Dowdy, and Perez saw Instagram addictions smash their mental health, the lawsuits say. All started using the app at 12 years old or younger. From there, their stories spiraled into catastrophe, the lawsuits state. Ashman found herself addicted to the app, her lawsuit claimed. She spent up to 10 hours daily scrolling through posts on Instagram. Because of her time in the app, she skipped school, developed eating disorders, self-harmed, and attempted suicide on three occasions, her lawsuit states. Her grades plummeted, and she fought with her family when they tried to take her phone away, her lawsuit said. To this day, Laura wears the scars of her self-harm, up and down her arms and legs. During her freshman year, Laura attempted to take her own life, the first of three such attempts, the lawsuit reads. Dowdy and Perez have similar stories involving addiction, eating disorders, depression, and extensive psychiatric and psychological treatment. Perezs lawsuit takes to task Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder and CEO of Meta Platforms, formerly known as Facebook, the parent company of Instagram. Zuckerbergs motto is to move fast and break things. As shown below, he and his companies succeeded in breaking this young womans childhood, Perezs lawsuit reads. Meta knew Instagram had these effects on teenagers, according to internal documents, the lawsuit alleges. Defendants concealed the fact that, according to their internal studies, Instagram make[s] body image issues worse for one in three teen girls and that mental health outcomes related to this can be severe. Furthermore, Defendants have long understood the power of their products to manipulate the mental health of their users, Ashlands lawsuit reads. The lawsuits provide dozens of pages showing how Instagram designed a website that made addiction profitable, understood its effects, and marketed it to teenagers. This research includes whistleblower-released documents from Meta employee Frances Haugen and scientific research. Teenage Thoughts Instagrams harmful effects start in the brain, according to the lawsuits. The teenage brain doesnt have the same level of impulse control, emotional maturity, resiliency, and decision-making capacity as adults. When hormones like dopamine make teens feel happy, they often dont stop and evaluate. As such, they are uniquely susceptible to feelings of withdrawal after a dopamine hit and uniquely susceptible to curing that withdrawal through additional usage, which makes them easy targets for a reward-based system like Instagram, the lawsuits read. The brains of teenagers and children are especially vulnerable to app addiction. This picture taken on June 11, 2013 shows South Korean children displaying their smartphones after a special class on smartphone addiction at an elementary school in Seongnam, south of Seoul. (JUNG YEON-JE/AFP/Getty Images) Also, teenagers brains react strongly to peer approval, the lawsuits state. As a social media website, Instagram runs on post likes from peers. Several other product features employed by Instagram collectively lead to negative mental health outcomes for teenagers, in part because they are designed to addict that demographic to the product and in part because they prey on teenagers desire for validation and need for social comparison, the lawsuits read. Instagrams notifications, the way its messaging system works, the way its feed disappears soon after leaving the app, and the design of its feed, are designed to pull users back into the app, the lawsuits allege. All these features pull teens back into the app and encourage them to scroll down their feed for as long as possible, the lawsuits stated. Addiction is driven, in part, by the algorithms that power Instagram, which are designed to induce compulsive and continuous scrolling for hours on end, the lawsuits read. Instagrams designers knew these thingsthen designed a website that used these tactics to make money, the lawsuits argue. If social media companies can hook teenagers, theyre likely to get long-term growth, Warren said. Meta currently owns Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Oculus, Giphy, and other apps. The mobile phone apps for Facebook (L), Instagram (C) and WhatsApp on a device in New York. (Richard Drew/AP Photo) They have worked very hard to develop a pipeline of young people into the platform because thats the surest way for growing their user base, and by growing the user base, growing their ad revenue, he said. He noted that this claim comes from Instagrams own research. Addictive Apps Instagram capitalized on the brains vulnerability to encourage addiction, the lawsuit states. Designers engineered Instagrams scroll feature to deliver unpredictable hits of excitement, it said. According to researchers, unpredictable rewards are more addictive than predictable rewards. Infinite scroll contributes to Instagrams addictiveness by supplying users with an endless stream of stimuli that may trigger a dopamine hit, keeping them using the product and further strengthening their addiction, the lawsuits state. Researchers made Instagram addictive, because more time spent on the app meant more advertising dollars, the lawsuits state. The goal is to prompt further engagement, meaning more views of advertisements and more revenue for Defendants, the lawsuits read. Instagrams focus on lifestyle and image makes it worse than other addictive apps, the lawsuits state. Facebooks own research says Instagram is actually distinctly worse than, say, TikTok or Snapchat or Reddit, because TikTok is about doing fun things with your friends. Snapchat is about faces and augmented reality. Reddit is vaguely about ideas. But Instagram is about bodies and about comparing lifestyles, whistleblower Frances Haugen told Congress in October 2021. Instagrams image-focused app distorts teens perception of their bodies, Warren said. When teenagers obsessively use filters, it can damage their ability to see themselves as they are. I dont even know what I look like anymore, he recalled one Instagram-addicted young woman telling him. This mental damage leads to body dysphoria, where teenagers imagine themselves to be overweight or ugly, Warren said. In some cases, he added, it can lead to gender dysphoria. The body dysmorphia that theyre experiencing is extremely disturbing, Warren said. Accounting for Teen Accounts These first lawsuits against Instagram likely will be the beginning of a series of mass tort lawsuits, said Warren. About 9 percent of Instagrams 1.3 billion users are younger than 17. Thats approximately 117 million teen users. A mass tort allows multiple people to sue a company for severe damages on similar grounds. However, each lawsuit of a mass tort gets filed individually. At some point, the court system will coordinate those and allow for an efficient way forward, Warren said. He added that, at the present, he cant say how high judgments to plaintiffs could go, if they win. In employment-related cases, people can sometimes receive over $100,000 for emotional distress. Warren compared the case to lawsuits against the tobacco industry for harmful products. The courts shouldnt treat this product any differently than they would treat tobacco, vaping, opioids, or whatever, he said. It is a dangerous product that has a chemical impact on the brains of young people, and it shouldnt be relevant that it happens to take place through a smartphone. The Epoch Times reached out to Meta, but received no response. Infrastructure and Communities Minister and Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc makes an announcement in Ottawa on June 14, 2022. (Patrick Doyle/The Canadian Press) Government Rejects Committee Recommendation to Scrap Infrastructure Bank The Canada Infrastructure Bank is here to stay, according to a Sept. 14 letter issued by Infrastructure Minister Dominic Leblanc in response to a House committee recommendation calling for its disbandment. The transport committee had tabled a report on May 2 calling for the bank to be abolished. The government strongly disagrees with the recommendation, Leblanc wrote in his official response. Leblanc argued that no witness cited in the report had called for the Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB) to be dissolved and that the data used to compile the report was out of date. The investigative work of the committee took place last winter during the previous Parliament. The CIB was officially established in 2017 to fund revenue-generating infrastructure projects with $35 billion in taxpayer funds and to attract private investments. Attracting private capital is critical to reduce the cost of infrastructure for all levels of government while meeting our climate and economic goals, Leblanc wrote. Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux testified before the transport committee in March 2021 and indicated that all of the 13 CIB projects at the time were funded by taxpayers. Giroux also specified that Canadian pension funds partnering with the CIB are not considered private entities based on Statistics Canadas definition of a government entity. Leblanc said the CIB has made significant progress since the transport committee completed its study, with participation in 39 projects. The Epoch Times contacted the CIB to obtain a breakdown of private investments by projects but the agency didnt provide the requested information. The CIB has collaborated with dozens of public, private and Indigenous partners across Canada to the tune of $7.7 billion in private and institutional investment and $6.3 billion public sector investment in Canadian infrastructure, wrote spokesperson Ross Marowits in an email. Marowits said the bank has realized 34 investment commitments and 17 financial closes at the end of the first quarter. The CIBs website lists its various projects, progress, and partners. Among the projects listed under the status of financial close and involving private entities, one is the retrofitting of the Algoma Steel factory in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, to phase out the coal-fired steelmaking process. The CIBs investment is listed at $220 million, with an added $200 million from the Net Zero Accelerator fund from Innovation Canada. The total cost of the project is $703 million. In his letter, Leblanc said the government has set priorities for the CIB in five sectors such as green infrastructure, public transit, and projects that provide the greatest economic, social and environmental return. Leblanc highlighted that the bank saw its mandate broadened in Budget 2022, being allowed to invest in private sector-led infrastructure projects that are in the public interest to accelerate the transition to a low carbon economy. Banks Efficiency Questioned The transport committees report questioned the CIBs efficiency, quoting witnesses saying the progress on projects was pretty dismal or that not much had been done. Andrew Scheer, Conservative MP and infrastructure critic at the time, said in his comments on the report that the CIB has been an absolute failure for not attracting private investments and not completing projects. The Bloc Quebecois wrote in a supplementary opinion to the report that it sees the CIB as an encroachment on the jurisdiction of provinces and municipalities. The NDP wrote in its supplementary opinion that the revenue-regenerating mission of the bank could go against public interest. An aerial view of people gathered near a homeless encampment in the afternoon heat in Phoenix, Ariz. on July 21, 2022. (Mario Tama/Getty Images) Life a Daily Struggle for Arizonas Homeless Seniors Living in The Zone PHOENIXNever in all of Pam Bejaranos 70 years could she imagine herself old and homeless in a place like The Zone. As Bejarano tried to catch her breath in the stifling heat of downtown Phoenix, her fiance, James, 65, sat barefoot and shirtless in long white hair and beard, wearing summer shorts inside the couples frayed pup tent on 12th Avenue. Their bed was little more than a thin pad and no pillows. Twelve years ago, before landing in The Zone, Bejarano suffered a heart attack. She has other medical problems as wella bad knee and back. James had a stroke after the two met and is battling high blood pressure. Pam Bejarano, 70, has been living in The Zone, a growing homeless encampment in Phoenix, for months. Shes had just about everything stolen from her, including her heart medication. Here, she sits in the blistering sun on Sept. 18 on a medical scooter. (Allan Stein/The Epoch Times) Both are on life-saving medicationsall recently stolen by their homeless neighbors, as well as their bank cards, wallets, and clothing. Neither has access to the savings accounts that contain all their Social Security income until the bank resolves the problem. The couple has nothing but each other and their two service chihuahuas with whom they refuse to part. At our age, living in The Zone is a nightmare, Bejarano said. Im an old hippie. I used to smoke pot when it was still illegal. That was decades ago. But theyre smoking these [fentanyl laced] blues that stink, making them so violent and crazy. I dont see the kick. You smoke a joint; you get hungry. You laugh a lot. This other stuff Beyond Skid Row Hardened drug users arent the only problem that homeless seniors face each day in The Zone, which sprawls across an area several blocks square and is home to an estimated 1,000 peopleup to 40 percent of whom are senior citizens. Bejarano said theres the daily harassment by young street predators and gang members selling drugs, callous treatment by armed security personnel, and indifference from police officers. The general lack of sanitary conditions worsens the situation, as the trash keeps piling up on the streets and sidewalks, bringing vermin and disease. Bejarano said there are social services within a city block of The Zone, but there arent enough to meet the increasing number of newcomers, many of them elderly. The homeless encampment continues to expand with no endrow upon row of pitched tents and desperate people walking around or on bicycles. I never imagined it would be this bad down here. There are more drugs than there are on the streets, Bejarano told The Epoch Times. In June, a very dishonest landlord kicked Bejarano and her fiance out of their Phoenix apartment when they couldnt pay their rent. However, money had been tight long before then. A row of tents on 12th Street in Phoenix in an area known as The Zone on Sept. 18. (Allan Stein/The Epoch Times) As with other impoverished seniors on fixed incomes, the couple migrated to The Zone, where they found temporary shelter. Soon, the shelter staff told them to leave because of their dogs. Now, theyre tightening inside and throwing us all out on the street. Stupid little things, Bejarano said. Now, we find our dogs need vaccinations. We cant get information on it. The couple kept within The Zone to be near the Health and Human Services Campus and various other social safety nets such as Andre House and the Chaplaincy for the Homeless. As Phoenixs homelessness crisis worsens, tent cities such as The Zone have begun to crop up in other communities, says Darwin Campbell, executive director of the Chaplaincy for the Homeless, which was founded in 1988. Its happening as a result of what you might call raised rents and also an economy that is not paying folks what they need to surviveespecially our elderly people, Campbell said. It creates a whole new environment, a whole new underbellyan underbelly economy. That underbelly economy doesnt run like a regular economy. The underbelly economy is like, You got it. I want it. So I take it by any means necessary. Clarence Carter, 65, walks around his tent keeping it clean on Sept. 18. Carter has been living in The Zone, a homeless encampment in Phoenix, since November after his wife died. (Allan Stein/The Epoch Times) Clarence Carter, 65, walks around his tent keeping it clean on Sept. 18. Carter has been living in The Zone, a homeless encampment in Phoenix, Ariz., since November after his wife died. (Allan Stein/The Epoch Times) The underbelly economy is mainly about survival, Campbell told The Epoch Times. Many people dont understand how the streets function. Thats how it is. Its about survival. Its also about money, Bejarano says. She thinks the city of Phoenix has enough money to make bad situations such as The Zone disappear, but its been spent on other things. Fed-up Residents Sue City In August, a group of Phoenix residents sued the city over a failure of policies dealing with The Zone. This case is about the city of Phoenixs failure to addressand its exacerbation ofthe growing homelessness crisis within the city, the suit argues. The Zone had grown even before the pandemic shut down many local businesses, tripling since 2016, according to the suit. As many as 500 homeless residents died in and around Phoenix during the first half of 2022, most from drug use. At least 50 were homicide victims. Five hundred deaths sounds conservative to me, said Alejandro Arvizu, 45, an electrician who lost his job during the pandemic and became homeless in The Zone last year. The irony is that Arvizu was an essential worker, having daily contact with many people, some of whom had COVID. He only got sick after his second Moderna shot three weeks later. Ive always thought COVID was a sham. I still think its a sham, Arvizu told The Epoch Times. I had been COVID-free for 10 months and worked as an electrician. Then, things changed at work, and we had to get our COVID shot. I think getting the shots was such a terrible mistake. A fine mist helps to keep things cool in The Zone on Sept. 18, where temperatures had reached over 90 degrees before noon. (Allan Stein/The Epoch Times) Before his injections, his family refused to see him or let him into their homes, claiming, Oh, youre the Devil. They invited me to go back home, Arvizu said, but I want to do it on my meriton my own two feet. He started working again as an electrician and hopes to save enough money to move into an apartment soon. My rent [in The Zone] is perfect zero. But that helps me to save my money. Its really hard to have things here. There are many thieveries, so youve got to have anything in the bank. Anything you carry, youre going to lose. I know people whove had their things stolen. They called the police and the police didnt come. That makes it tough. A lot of people dont believe the word of the homeless. Arvizu said it would be nice if the city hired more street sweepers and placed more trash cans in The Zone. This is unhealthyunsanitary, he said. Hard to Rise Back Up Arvizu said there are quite a few seniors who live in The Zone and quite a few veterans, though many of them get the short end of the stick way too often. He said that not having a physical address can be a major deterrent to finding employment for a senior. That means its going to be that much harder getting out of The Zoneif at all. Clarence Carter, 65, had spent most of his life working as a forklift driver and carpenter, becoming homeless in November after his wife died, which slashed their joint Supplementary Security Income benefits in half. I wasnt able to keep up the rent and take both [financial responsibilities] on, he told The Epoch Times. He now lives in a tent near the Chaplaincy, sweeping sand around his perimeter to keep busy and maintain cleanliness and a sense of dignity. Homeless residents browse through donated clothing during a program run by the Chaplaincy for the Homeless, a charitable organization working with the homeless in The Zone on Sept. 18. (Allan Stein/The Epoch Times) This is where I live now. Its a struggle. It strengthens your faith in God, but its a struggle every day. You may hit the ground, but it can only get worse. Theres no simple way to put it. He said the worst part is the sense of having little control over his life at the moment and the despair that goes with living in The Zone. All I can do is try is make the situation brighter. I did [have hope]. Right now, I dont. Having four sons who try to help tells him, at least I know somebody is out there, somewhere, that cares a little bit. City officials point to budget allocations in 2022 to address the rising tide of homelessness in Maricopa County as progress, citing the $50 million the city spent on shelters, affordable housing, and mental health services. The Phoenix City Council approved $70.5 million in affordable housing and homelessness programs. A homeless man enjoys a quiet moment in a chapel inside The Zone in downtown Phoenix, on Sept. 18. (Allan Stein/The Epoch Times) In the meantime, a statewide Housing Supply Committee is holding meetings seeking public input on ways to resolve Arizonas housing shortage. Despite these efforts, the homelessness situation in Phoenix, particularly among the elderly, only seems to be getting worse. On Aug. 11, Phoenix Councilwoman Yassamin Ansari responded to The Zone lawsuit, saying in a letter she was not at all shocked to see this lawsuit given an unmanageable condition. Ansari envisions a more regional approach to resolving homelessness than reliance on a struggling Human Services Campus model. The concentration of homeless people near The Zone is growing because it is the only place in the valley where help is visibly located, she said. We must move away from this model, as it clearly isnt working. A Crisis Without End? Campbell said homelessness would continue to be a problem until people finally decide it has to end. Our emphasis as of late has been with the elderly because the elderly are being evicted at high rates. Its a real problem, Campbell said. We wont quit until everyone has a home. They dont see the homeless as deserving to be raised to the level of humanity. And thats what strikes me [as] funny. It gets me upset. Officials at Arizonas Department of Human Services and the states Department of Economic Security didnt respond by press time to a request by The Epoch Times for comment. A dragon dance performer interacts with kids at the Moon Festival in Deerpark, New York, on Sept. 17, 2022. (Courtesy of Mark Zou/New Century Film) Locals Embrace Chinese Culture at Deerpark Moon Festival DEERPARK, N.Y.Betty Bianchi, a resident of Bloomingburg, New York, said she was pleasantly surprised by the wide array of cultural offerings at the annual Moon Festival in the town of Deerpark. This is one of few events around here that is cultural-themed, which really brings something new to the area. I know there are so many cultures here and its a shame that we dont see more of this, Bianchi told The Epoch Times on Sept. 17. Bianchis ancestors were among the first settlers in Middletown, New York, in the mid-1700s. She loves history and enjoyed learning about the Chinese culture, which goes back thousands of years, she said. The Moon Festival, also known as the Mid-Autumn festival, is a traditional Chinese festival where families and friends gather on the day when the moon is the roundest in shape. Other Asian countries such as Korea and Japan also celebrate it. A moon palace float at the Moon Festival in Deerpark, New York, on Sept. 17, 2022. (Courtesy of New Century Film) This years Deerpark Moon Festival has the most variety of cultural programs, Asian food, local vendors, and kid activities, according to Peter Wei, executive director at New Century Film, the organization that hosts the event. At least 10,000 people came to the two-day event, according to Wei. For locals whose families have lived here for 300 or 400 years, Chinese people are newcomers. We want to share with them our culture, so we can understand each other, become one community, and build up together, Wei told The Epoch Times. A craft station at the Moon Festival in Deerpark, New York, on Sept. 17, 2022. (Courtesy of New Century Film) Five elected officials, Congressman Patrick Maloney, State Sens. James Skoufis and Mike Martucci, State Assemblyman Karl Brabenec, and State Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther sent proclamations to recognize the festival. Mary Phillips and her daughter Julia Phillips, both from Port Jervis, New York, also appreciated the cultural elements on offer. We have the Fall Foliage Festival and the Christmas Show, but we dont really have something like this. I love to see international stuff and different cultures, Mary Phillips told The Epoch Times. Mary Phillips (L) and Julia Phillips enjoy the Moon Festival in Deerpark, N.Y., on Sept. 17, 2022. (Cara Ding/The Epoch Times) For Jennifer Leon, resident of Honesdale, Pennsylvania, the best part of the event is the food. About 30 food vendors scattered around the performance stage, offering authentic Chinese food and other Asian cuisines. Leon tried pork buns, dumplings, and Thai tea. Her niece, Lily Reimfurt, liked the Hong Kong egg tarts the most. Reimfurt also liked the traditional Chinese dance on stage, which she had never seen before. It is really cool to see how similar and how different we are. We are similar in that we all use dances to express ourselves, and we are just different in the way that we do it, Reimfurt told The Epoch Times. A view of the food court at the Moon Festival in Deerpark, New York, on Sept. 17, 2022. (Courtesy of New Century Film) Speaking of dances, Sam Kressevich, a resident of Campbell Hall, New York, liked the costumes best. Beautiful dresses. Its very traditional. I also saw a little girl running around in traditional outfits, her hair pinned back into a little low bun; her dress was beautiful, Sam Kressevich told The Epoch Times. Sam Kressevichs mother, Lori Kressevich, saw a flyer about the festival at an Asian store in Middletown and brought her two daughters to the event. Lori Kressevich has always been drawn to Asian cultures, having quite a few Asian-styled pieces of furniture at home, she said. Sam Kressevich (L), Lori Kressevich, and Alex Kressevich (R) enjoy the Moon Festival in Deerpark, N.Y., on Sept. 17, 2022. (Cara Ding/The Epoch Times) I like all the vendors and especially the traditional Asian things like the tea sets and jewelry. I just love all of that. Ive always loved it, Lori Kressevich told The Epoch Times. End CCP Bob and Dee Steeger, from Warwick, New York, attended the event in 2018 and decided to come again. The Steeger couple not only enjoyed the on-stage cultural shows but also learned about the worldwide petition drive to end the Chinese Communist Party (CCP.) Both signed the petition. Bob and Dee Steeger signed the petition to end the Chinese Communist Party at the Moon Festival in Deerpark, N.Y., on Sept. 17, 2022. (Cara Ding/The Epoch Times) I felt like the general population in China was taken advantage of by those in power. I dont know what can be done about it. But just like the lady told us about the petition said, People have to stand up and do something, Bob Steeger told The Epoch Times. Many Chinese immigrants in Deerpark and surrounding communities had escaped the persecution of people of faith in communist China. Since their arrival in the United States, they have tried to let local people know about the harm of the Chinese Communist Party. Shana Mann, a resident of Middletown, New York, enjoyed the art exhibit of Truth, Compassion, and Tolerance. A lady looks at a photo album at the art exhibit of Truth, Compassion, and Tolerance, at the Moon Festival in Deerpark, New York, on Sept. 17, 2022. (Courtesy of New Century Film) The exhibit displays artworks by internationally acclaimed artists that depict traditional spiritual beliefs as well as modern-day persecution in communist China. It is just shocking and melting my heart at the same time, Mann told The Epoch Times. A prisoner waits in a holding cell in the Twin Towers Correction Facility during a media tour of the facility and the adjacent Los Angeles Men's Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles on May 19, 2004. (Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images) Los Angeles Federal Judge Orders Changes at Jail Inmate Reception Center LOS ANGELESA Los Angeles federal judge has signed off on a temporary restraining order addressing what the American Civil Liberties Union called abysmal conditions at the county jail systems booking center, where mentally ill detainees were reportedly kept shackled to chairs for days at a time and others were crammed together, sleeping head-to-foot on concrete floors, according to court documents obtained on Sept. 17. U.S. District Judge Dean D. Pregerson signed the order Friday compelling guards to move inmates out of the inmate reception center and into secure housing within 24 hours. Representatives of Los Angeles County and the ACLU met at a court hearing a day earlier and agreed to fine-tune the order and present it to the judge for approval. The issue has come up before in the 44-year history of federal oversight of the county jail system, the largest in the nation. This problems been going on for decades, Pregerson, who is overseeing the case, said at the hearing. The only way out of this is to provide adequate funding. ACLU attorneys who visited the center in downtown Los Angeles late last month reported unhygienic conditions, including floors littered with trash, overflowing sinks and toilets, no access to showers or clean clothes for days and lack of adequate access to drinking water and food at the center. The civil rights group also claims the facility is negligent in providing adequate health care, including failure to provide people with serious mental illness or chronic medical conditions their medications and fails to provide care to people dangerously detoxing from drugs and alcohol. The L.A. County Sheriffs Department runs the jail system. A spokesperson said the department does not comment on pending litigation. At the hearing Thursday, Robert Dugdale, an attorney representing Sheriff Alex Villanueva, did not dispute the ACLUs assessment of conditions at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility. He said the situation at the facilitys booking center has deteriorated. The place is a mess for a variety of reasons. The problems at the facility include a large influx of mentally ill detainees and the end of the pandemic-induced zero bail policy in which individuals accused of low-level offenses were booked and released in order to reduce the inmate population, Dugdale said. The ACLU National Prison Project and the ACLU of Southern California filed an emergency motion last week, asking Pregerson to order the county to limit custody at the reception center to 24 hours. Melissa Camacho-Cheung, senior staff attorney at the ACLU SoCal, told the court that reception center detainees were suffering in some rather horrific ways. The most vulnerable in this group are being left chained to a bench. Theyre supposed to be removed from the chairs so they can use the bathroom, but people end up defecating on themselves. At the time of her visit, conditions were so filthy, its hard to imagine, she said. L.A. Countys jails have been the subject of court oversight since 1978, when a federal court judge ruled in the ACLU SoCal case Rutherford v. Pitchess, finding numerous conditions that violate the constitutional rights of incarcerated people. Law enforcement agencies arrest and take people to the reception center, where they are meant to get booked and transferred to another facility within 24 hours. Many of the people detained there are unhoused, have serious mental illnesses, or both, according to the ACLU. Dugdale said that when the zero bail policy was enacted, the jail population dropped from 17,000 to 12,000 inmates, but since the policy was terminated in July, the detainee population has risen to nearly 14,800. Complicating matters, the mentally ill make up about 45 percent of the inmate population, he said. The L.A. County jail system is the largest defacto mental health facility in the country, the attorney said. Pregerson said he plans to inspect the inmate reception center in the near future. Luzon, Philippines, is one of the most beautiful islands in the world, known for its mountains, beaches, and coral reefs, and is home to Manila, the nations capital. Set on a deep bay with famed sunsets, the city has many Spanish-colonial landmarks, national memorials and monuments, a centuries-old Chinatown, and a variety of museums. Relax and let your worries be replaced by this stunning birds-eye view from some of Luzons most beautiful and iconic landscape locations. This Luzon nature drone film is paired with brand new relaxation music. You can use it for stress relief, healing, sleeping, meditation, yoga, studying, working, reading, and more. BUY Jan 6 DVD: https://www.epochtv.shop/product-page/dvd-the-real-story-of-january-6, Promo Code EpochTV for 20% off. _ Credit: Simple Happiness youtube.com/channel/UCSNCAZHyxLYW7e-_WvUNSfw * Click the Save button below the video to access it later on My List. Follow EpochTV on social media: Twitter: https://twitter.com/EpochTVus Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/EpochTV Truth Social: https://truthsocial.com/@EpochTV Gettr: https://gettr.com/user/epochtv Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EpochTVus Gab: https://gab.com/EpochTV Telegram: https://t.me/EpochTV A stimulus check issued by the IRS to help combat the adverse economic effects of the COVID-19 outbreak, is seen in San Antonio, Texas, on April 23, 2020. (Eric Gay/AP Photo File) Major US Citys Basic Income Program Will Give Homeless People Thousands in Cash More than 140 homeless people in Denver will be given up to $1,000 per month for up to one year as part of a basic income program, according to an announcement from the city in. Just as important as housing and shelter is a regular source of income for those experiencing homelessness, Mayor Michael B. Hancock, a Democrat, said of the program. This direct cash assistance will help more than 140 women and families currently in shelters move into stable housing, and provide support, so they can stay housed while opening space in our shelters to serve more people. Homeless people who are eligible have to be using the citys shelter program, the city said. According to the news release, the cash will be given monthly to 140 women, transgender and gender non-confirming individuals, and families in shelters. The release did not mention homeless men. A release issued by the city said that the $2 million to fund the program was sourced from the American Rescue Plan Act, which was backed by President Joe Biden and Democrats. The plan, which totals nearly $2 trillion, was signed into law in March 2021. The program will be evaluated by University of Denvers Center for Housing and Homelessness Research using a randomized control trial, which will measure housing outcomes, utilization of shelter and other homeless services, improvements in psychological health and substance use for those who opt-in, said the news release. Other Cities Late last month, the City of Los Angeles initiated a similar program and will give 1,000 residents $1,000 per month. It doesnt apply to homeless people, and the recipients were chosen randomly out of more than 180,000 people who applied. Given the huge number of L.A. County residents who applied, its abundantly clear that a guaranteed basic income is an idea whose time has come, Supervisor Sheila Kuehl said. Im confident that we will see what other pilots have already shown: that a guaranteed basic income, by giving people a bit of financial breathing room, allows them to stabilize their lives and that of their family. But a report issued in 2019 from a union group found that around the world, universal basic income programs dont work well in the real world. Making cash payments to individuals to increase their purchasing power in a free-market economy is not a viable route to solving problems caused or exacerbated by neoliberal market economics, the report said, adding that at the time, there was no evidence such programs achieved longstanding well-being anywhere it has been tried. In September, a new version of the COVID-19 boosters became available to the public without any clinical testing. They are called bivalent vaccines and are being offered by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. Bivalent means they contain not just one mRNA that codes for a protein from a viral strain, but two types. The first mRNA makes cells manufacture a toxic protein from the ancestral strain of the SARS-COV-2 virus, the original virus from Wuhan. The second mRNA forces cells to make a protein that comes from Omicron and its BA.4/5 subvariants. The logic here is to give people a well-rounded protection from existing variants as well as any upcoming mutations. Some immunologists believe that future mutations can still be closely related to the original Wuhan strain and thats why its mRNA is kept in the new booster. But others disagree. Dr. Sean Lin, a former vaccine developer at the Walter Reed Army Institute, says its not in favor of the virus to maintain its similarity to the original strain, which questions the whole logic of these boosters being effective. Read the full article here. Medical Disclaimer: Frontline Health (the Show), its guests, and contributors provide the latest news on health and medical discoveries and it is meant for informational purposes only. The Show does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, treatment, cures, mitigation, or prevention for any type of disease or medical condition. Similarly, it is not intended for self-diagnosis or self-treating of any health-related condition. The information on the Show is gathered from reputable sources; however, neither Frontline Health nor The Epoch Times Association Inc. are responsible for errors or omissions in reporting or explanation and will not be liable for any direct, indirect, consequential, special, exemplary, or other damages arising therefrom. Patients should always consult with a doctor or other health care professional for medical advice or information about diagnosis and treatment. * Click the Save button below the video to access it later on My List. Follow EpochTV on social media: Twitter: https://twitter.com/EpochTVus Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/EpochTV Truth Social: https://truthsocial.com/@EpochTV Gettr: https://gettr.com/user/epochtv Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EpochTVus Gab: https://gab.com/EpochTV Telegram: https://t.me/EpochTV This picture taken shows a bucket-wheel dumping soil and sand removed from another area of a coal mine in Newcastle, Australia, on Nov. 5, 2021. (Saeed Khan/AFP via Getty Images) Northern Territory Rejects Aussie Mining Companys Bid to Pump Extra Water From River An Australian mining company has had its application to pump an extra 1,651 mega litres of water from a local river rejected by the Northern Territorys water department. This comes as Australias largest water license was allegedly regranted to Singleton Station farm, located 380 kilometres north of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory, after considerations were heard in the Supreme Court, NT news reported. The farm is reportedly set to become one of Australias largest fruit and vegetable operations. Based in the Northern Territory, mining company Australian Ilmenite Resources had applied for the maximum quantity of 3300 mega-litres of water per year to be pumped from the Roper River for beneficial mining activities. According to a water extraction licence decision from the Northern Territorys Controller of Water Resources, Australian Ilmenite Resources was previously granted a licence to extract 1649 megaliths of water from the Roper River. This license was granted. However, a second application to pump 1651 megalitres, which totals the maximum entitlement of 3300 megalitres, was refused under the territorys Environmental Protection Act. This is as a result of the increased extraction volume to have the potential to cause a significant impact on the broader environment, beyond those considerations I have for a water resource, said Joanne Townsend, Controller of Water Resources, in the water extraction licence decision. According to the Act, the second application to pump the additional water wont be considered until it has been referred to the Northern Territory Environmental Protection Authority. Concerns over the size of the proposed licence, and its impact on the environment and on the Indigenous community of Ngukurr have also been an ongoing issue, reported the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). Ngukurr resident Winston Thompson told the ABC that while he welcomed the decision, he wanted more water flow monitoring from the NT government as many people within the area use the water. Mining Expansion Requires More Water In its application, Australian Ilmenite Resources said that it will require 3300 megalitres of water to achieve 100,000 to 120,000 tonnes per annum production. The mine is currently running at a water consumption rate of 4.3 ML/day to deliver a productivity rate of approximately 150 tonnes per day (50,000 tonnes per annum), the company said. It also said that it needs approximately 4,500 tonnes per month to cover basic operating costs and about double that rate to provide a buffer from market variations and to recover the original capital investment. Australian Ilmenite Resources and Northern Territorys Department of Environment, Parks and Water Security have been contacted for comment. This year, the ilmenite mine has exported 17,732 tonnes of ilmenite to customers in China and Japan via the Darwin Port, reported the ABC. An F-35 jet arrives at its new operational base at Hill Air Force Base in northern Utah on Sept. 2, 2015. (Rick Bowmer/AP Photo) Pentagon Pushing to Minimize Chinese Presence in Defense Department Supply Chains The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) is taking steps to ensure that U.S. defense companies decouple from supply chains involving China as much as possible. The U.S. militarys reliance on Chinese inputs came into the spotlight earlier in September, when the Pentagon halted deliveries of fifth-generation F-35 fighter jets after it was found that a component used in the engines came from China. The component was a magnet made from a samarium and cobalt alloy originating in China. The magnets are used on the planes turbomachine pumps, which are manufactured by U.S.-based Honeywell International. Honeywell has reportedly identified an alternate supplier for the materials while the Pentagon is expected to issue a waiver to resume F-35 deliveries for now. William A. LaPlante, U.S. undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, was asked during a Sept. 9 press briefing why Honeywell hadnt detected the Chinese component for the better part of the past two decades. Any company that says they know their supply chain is like a company saying theyve never been hacked, LaPlante said. So its an endless battle. He suggested that artificial intelligence and open source tools might be used to track raw materials across supply chain networks in real time. A big concern for the Pentagon is Americas reliance on China for rare-earth elements that are critical to manufacturing many electronic components in defense products. The United States lost two rare-earth mines in the past decade, located in California and Texas, following competition from China. To resolve this vulnerability, the Pentagon has awarded contracts to develop a U.S. refinery for rare earth elements to Lynas Rare Earths. The facility is being built in Texas, with the Pentagon fully funding the $120 million price tag. The refinery is expected to start operation by 2025. Beijings Covert Operations on Social Media Over the past decade, U.S. manufacturing of many defense materials has fallen because of cheaper production in other nations, especially China. Analytics company Govini recently issued a report looking at the number of U.S. defense components manufactured in China. From 20102019, the number of Chinese suppliers in the [U.S. Defense] Departments supplier base in the sample Govini assessed increased by a total of 420 percent, to 655, across numerous critical industries. In comparison, U.S. companies grew 97 percent, to 2,219, the report reads (pdf). The share of Chinese suppliers in critical industries grew from 6 percent to 9 percent during this period. The prevalence of Chinese companies in the Pentagons supplier base will make it difficult to identify all instances where these firms are a single-source supplier of key materials or technology, according to the report. Chinese agents are posing as concerned local Texans online and opposing the construction of the rare earth processing mine in the state, according to an investigation by cybersecurity company Mandiant. Fake accounts from the agents are spreading propaganda that the Lynas plant would cause environmental damage and expose the local population to radioactive contamination resulting in risks such as gene mutation and cancer. Pilot of Boeing Aircraft Suddenly Dies During Flight Across Russia: Officials A pilot died suddenly during a flight between the Russian cities of Novokuznetsk and St. Petersburg on Sunday, officials told state-run media. Authorities told RIA Novosti that the unnamed pilot, identified as a flight commander, felt sick during the trip. The co-pilot of the Ikar Airlines Boeing jet had to make an emergency landing at the airport in Omsk. The commander died before medical attention could be given to the pilot, officials said. Ikar Airlines is also known as Pegas Fly. The resuscitation ambulance team arrived at the airport ten minutes before the plane landed. The team stated the death of the pilot before providing medical assistance, the Ministry of Health of the Omsk Region told RIA and TASS News, according to a translation. Petrushina Ekaterina, the top assistant to the head of the Eastern Interregional Investigation Department for Transport of the Russian Investigative Committee, told the state-run outlet that the landing in Omsk went smoothly and no one was hurt. An investigation into the flight commanders death is underway, Ekaterina said. Further details about the incident were not provided. The cause of death of the pilot has not been revealed. The Epoch Times has contacted Pegas Fly for comment. Other Incidents In late August, the pilot of a Jet2 passenger jet reportedly fainted while en route from England to Turkey before the plane made an emergency landing in Greece. Flight LS1239 from Birmingham to Antalya diverted to Thessaloniki Airport as a precautionary measure on Tuesday (August 23) due to one of the pilots feeling unwell. A replacement crew were flown to Thessaloniki so that we could get customers on their way to Antalya that same evening, a Jet2 spokesperson told media outlets in August. We communicated this to our customers as soon as possible, and our teams worked extremely hard to look after everyone. We would like to apologize to anyone affected by this unforeseen delay, the spokesperson said. A week before that, two pilots fell asleep during an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Sudan and Ethiopia, officials told SimpleFlying. The pilots have since been suspended, the airline said. The concerned crew have been removed from operation pending further investigation. Appropriate corrective action will be taken based on the outcome of the investigation. Safety has always been and will continue to be our first priority, the company confirmed. Inside the United States, Allied Pilots Association Communications Chair Dennis Tajer told Fox Business in early August that there have been an increasing number of pilots complaining about fatigue or stress in recent months. Elaborating, Tajer said that there was a fourfold increase in the number of fatigue calls among American Airlines pilots in June. The increase, he said, was a warning sign that the system is under unnecessary duress. R | 2h 45min | Action, Drama, History | 2000 The United States of America has often been involved in a number of back-to-back wars, such as World War I (19141918) and the Russian Civil War (19181920). Often members of the military who participated in one war and experienced its horror were resistant to become involved in the next. As the French and Indian War (17541763) was followed in relatively quick succession by the American Revolutionary War (17751783), many who fought in the former werent exactly thrilled about becoming involved in the latter. The 2000 war drama The Patriot illustrates this resistance to continual warfareat least initially. The films first act unfolds in the year 1776 as eight of the 13 American colonies rise up in protest against the British Empires policy of taxation without representation. Benjamin Martin (Mel Gibson), a hero of the French and Indian War, has settled into a relatively tranquil life in South Carolina. Hes also a widower who is raising seven children and believes that it is his duty to care for them. Mel Gibson stars in The Patriot as Benjamin Martin who must fight for his family and his country. (MovieStillsDB) However, his oldest son Gabriel (Heath Ledger) is a staunch believer in the American colonists cause, so he joins the Continental Army over his fathers objections. Martin senior has had enough of war, and unfortunately, his prediction that the upcoming war with the British will be fought in his and his neighbors fields comes true. Lord General Cornwallis (Tom Wilkinson), commander of the British Redcoats, attacks and subjugates Charleston, South Carolina. Soon, a contingent of his troops engages a group of the Continentals within sight of the Martin familys front porch. One of Cornwalliss more brutal subordinates, Colonel Tavington (Jason Isaacs), is given carte blanche to deal with the Americans. Unlike his more gentlemanly cohorts, Tavington believes in war without limits and has decided to kill any Americans he comes across, regardless of age, when it suits his goals. Tavington sets his sights on the Martins and proceeds to terrorize the family. This results in Martins second oldest son Thomas (Gregory Smith) being shot to death, and Gabriel being hauled off by the Redcoats to be hanged. Heath Ledger as Gabriel Martin (C) is arrested by the British in The Patriot. (MovieStillsDB) But the Brits underestimate who theyre dealing with. Theyve just awakened a sleeping tiger with a plethora of combat experiences. The savage assaults upon his family unleash the guerilla warrior in him, and he takes partial revenge by carrying out a ruthless ambush on the Redcoat convoy in the woods to save Gabriel. Martin decides that he can no longer stay neutral and, after placing his children in the care of their Aunt Charlotte (Joely Richardson), he reports with Gabriel to his old buddy Col. Harry Burwell (Chris Cooper), who is with the Continentals. Burwell instructs Martin to form the South Carolina militia and puts him in command of the regiment. Martins militia turns out to be quite a capable regiment that undermines the entire English campaign in the area and that also plays a decisive part in the final grand finale battle. But will father and son survive the ultimate battle? Fiction Based on Truth Scriptwriter Robert Rodat (Saving Private Ryan) effectively conveys the tumultuous period of the American Revolutionary War. Paired with Roland Emmerichs (Midway, Independence Day) excellent direction, Rodats script soars. In this fictional account, we see a wide range of events that happened during the epic conflict: black people earning their freedom by joining the militia; the French aiding the colonial rebels; the resistance of some of the American settlers to join the fight; and some of the dastardly actions carried out by those loyal to the British. Mel Gibson as South Carolina colonist Benjamin Martin sits with Joely Richardson as the childrens Aunt Charlotte in The Patriot. (MovieStillsDB) Emmerich doesnt shy away from some of the more brutal aspects of the Revolutionary War. We see both the chaotic, in-your-face craziness of 18th-century warfare, as well as the tremendous loss of civilian livesthose who were caught up in the savagery of the bloody conflict. In other words, the film definitely earns its R rating, so parents need to be mindful if sharing it with their young ones. One fascinating aspect of this film is the turmoil in Martins soul. Hes a deeply conflicted man, on one hand, wanting to adhere to his beloved wifes wishes to give up the ways of war, while on the other, feeling compelled to fight for his family and countrys safety and independence. Its quite evident that he carries around a colossal burden of guilt for his savagery during the French and Indian War. Martin doesnt want to revert to the person he was during that previous war and also doesnt want his family to pay for his past deeds. At one point in the movie, he even says I have long feared that my sins would return to visit me. And the cost is more than I can bear. The Patriot is an outstanding war drama with excellent acting all around by its superb cast. Its an ultimately uplifting film about paying for ones sins, unabashed patriotism, familial love, and eventual peace within a former sinners soul. Jason Isaacs as Colonel Tavington, the British officer who brings great suffering to the Martin family in The Patriot. (MovieStillsDB) The Patriot Director: Roland Emmerich Starring: Mel Gibson, Heath Ledger, Joely Richardson MPAA Rating: R Running Time: 2 hours, 45 minutes Release Date: June 28, 2000 Rated: 4.5 stars out of 5 Pro-Beijing Parties Want to Cut Elected Seats to 20 Percent, HKGov Wants Patriotic Enthusiasts in District Councils Former Councilor: 'Democracy is dead' The current term of the District Council of Hong Kong is due to end on Dec. 31, 2023. The Hong Kong government (HKgov) has hinted several times that a revamp of the Council might be on the way. The New Peoples Party, a pro-Beijing party, recently proposed that the number of directly elected seats of the District Council be cut to 20 percent, and the number of the indirectly elected and delegated seats be increased. The Democratic Party and Hong Kong Association for Democracy and Peoples Livelihood (ADPL) said that such changes were unnecessary. Former District Councilors said that the existing District Council has already been annulled. They expect there will be an autocracy in the next Council and that democratic speech will no longer exist. Based on previous practise, the next District Council election will be held in late November 2023. On July 6, Hong Kongs Chief Executive (CE) John Lee Ka-chiu attended the Q & A session of the Legislative Council (LegCo) for the first time. Andrew Lam, a LegCo member of the Election Committee Constituency, asked, What are the exact plans and schedules for the reformation of the region administration? Lee answered, There must be a plan and decision made prior to the next election of the District Council, should there be one. LegCo member Alice Mak, disclosed in an interview with Now TV News on Aug. 27, that the administration is under review. However, she said the constituents of the District Council and the means of appointing its members have yet to be decided. Mak mentioned a number of district organizations currently serving local residents, such as the Area Committee, Fight Crime Committee, and Fire Safety Committee, saying they understand the local situation very well. The government is contemplating how these organizations can be incorporated into the District Council. We do not rule out any possibilities of them joining the District Council. Mak said that under the principle of Patriots governing Hong Kong, expectations are that patriots would be the constituents of any regional administration. Dominic Lee, from the New Peoples Party, proposed that members of the Area Committee, Fight Crime Committee, and Fire Safety Committee should vote for each other to form the District Council. Professionals, non-government organizations, and school principals should also be appointed to help make the Council more dynamic and professional, Lee said. The Democratic Party, however, had the opposite view when addressing the Policy. They urged HKGov to retain the current electoral system and stressed the importance of a democratic election that allows citizens to express their opinions. Chairman of The Party, Lo Kin-hei, said, Direct election is the most effective way to monitor and counteract the government. One person one vote means citizens can decide who they want as their representatives and voice their needs to the government. Daniel Kwok, former District Councilor of Kwai Tsing District, said, The Councils will allow one voice only. In an interview, Kwok said the Electoral Affairs Commission has restricted the criteria for dissenter candidacy and disqualified them for political reasons in recent years. He said, Pro-democratic councilors have already been disqualified due to the enforcement of oath-taking in 2021. The District Council no longer has diversified voices. Kwok also said The District Councils influence is limited as the Council has only a consultative nature under the regional administrative system. If the government officials do not listen to the directly elected councilors, the Council is worthless. Rick Hui, former Shatin District Councilor said, There is no democratic party in the Council. Hui said if the seats for directly elected members of District Councils are reduced to 20 percent, the Councils cannot represent citizens interests. The Council will only become a government mouthpiece instead of a public voice. Man-chun Yau, also a former Shatin Councilor, said that Hong Kong has zero democratic elections and councils after the national security law was enforced. He added, LegCo and District Council are merely decorative under the regime. All elections are fake, just like in North Korea. Only those with authoritarian powers stay on the Councils. Therefore, the existence of District Councils is no longer relevant. Ben Lam, a former member of the Fire Safety Committee and a former Councilor of Yau Tsim Mong, said, District Councils are dead. Lam said that Regina Ips proposal to reduce the number of directly elected seats revealed that John Lee would most likely make a similar announcement in the Policy Address, which includes reducing seats and appointing pro-Beijing parties into the Council. He described the current Councilors as vegetables when the Councils are officially certified for the next term. Lam said that by planting pro-government members, taxpayers are basically paying the blue ribbons (pro-government people) to praise the Chinese Communist Party in the local communities. During the anti-Extradition Bill Movement in 2019, pan-dem and the anti-Beijing camps won by a landslide in the District Council Election. They took home a total of 388 seats and dominated 17 districts. However, with the disqualification and resignation of pro-dem councilors after the oath-taking in 2021, and sending most democratic figures to jail due to the national security law, 333 democratic party seats have been vacated to date. Putin Is Now Xi Jinpings Myrmidon: The Consequences of the SCO Meeting Commentary The Shanghai Cooperation Organizations meeting this month in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, was notable for two reasons. First, it was Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinpings first visit outside China since the COVID-19 pandemic. Second, the meeting showed that Russian leader Vladimir Putin is subordinate to China. Both are significant and reveal Xis growing confidence in his position to create an anti-Western bloc of nations and as the leader of the Sino-Russian partnership. At their meeting on the summits sidelines, the first since they met at the Beijing Winter Olympics in February, Xi expressed support for Russias invasion of Ukraine. There was also the pledge to advance their core interests and offer a united front against the West. Russia also offered its support for the CCPs claim to Taiwan. China is increasing its oil purchases from Russia in an effort to boost the Russian economy in the face of Western economic sanctions. No doubt, they conducted an assessment of their relationship, and future goals and plans were secretly discussed. Unfortunately for Putin, he is now the supplicant in the relationship. Russia is increasingly dependent upon China and India for energy purchases. Putin has been drafted by Xi to serve in his anti-Western alliance, which costs him his autonomy. Xi is anti-Western because he seeks to overthrow U.S. power and position in the world and shackle the world to the CCPs ambitions. Putins interest would have been better served by emerging as the tertius gaudens of the conflict between them. By leaning to one side, the perceived weaker side, he might have maximized Russias interests and freedom of action. Now that Putin has tied Russias interests to China, he will walk the path Xi requires of him. This will require Russia to accept diminished influence where Moscows interests conflict with Beijing, such as in Central Asia, and to serve as an instrument of distraction for the United States and its NATO allies while China expands its military power and strategic ambitions. Once Putin has served his usefulness, Xi will overthrow him. Fortunately for Xi, he is dominant in the relationship, which is favorable for China. Xi has Putin dependent upon him and thus influences Russian policy. Putin also serves as a lightning rod, attracting the worlds animus for his acts, while Xis genocide in Xinjiang remains too often unremarked and in the background. An afterthought of the worlds conscience. As a consequence, Xi has secured his northern flank. Russian conventional and nuclear military power is now a tool to be employed in conjunction or apart from Chinas military but to serve Beijings interests. The United States has a two front problem with which it must contend. The SCO meeting also demonstrates that China is the dominant force in the region. U.S. influence has been on the wane since the George W. Bush administration left the K-2 (Karshi-Khanabad) air base in Uzbekistan, and the Biden administration abandoned the Afghan government and people to the Taliban. Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi meets with Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, political chief of Afghanistans Taliban, in Tianjin, China, on July 28, 2021. (Li Ran/Xinhua via Reuters) Russian influence is now also weakened as the Central Asian states perceive Russia as a threat due to the invasion of Ukraine and see Moscow as the junior partner in the Sino-Russian relationship. For Xi, this is a remarkable occurrence at the same time that China is waging genocide against Kazakh, Kyrgyz, and Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang or East Turkistan. As evinced in Samarkand, Chinas western flank is as secure as it has been in recent years. With two flanks secure and the expansion of Xis ability to project power, the United States and its allies should expect the CCP to center its aggression on its southern and eastern flanks. This aggression might be kineticindeed, at some point, it will be soagainst India on Chinas southern flank or against Taiwan on the eastern. But Chinas pressure will continue to employ all the tools of statecraft to bring its might to bear to cause the change it wants. Thus, the world should expect diplomatic, ideological, and economic pressure to be employed against both, while China also seeks to undermine the governments of India and Taiwan. We should also anticipate the continued expansion of the CCPs domestic influence in those countries through the united front and other overt and covert efforts. It is a new world. Soviet dominance of China during the Cold War is now reversed. The CCP calls the shots in the relationship due to Putins strategic idiocy. Having Chinas northern and western flanks secured is a key step toward Xis greater belligerence. If Xi has a successful 20th Party Congress, as is likely, he will be securely in control of the Party, and so a second component will be in place. As a result, the United States, its allies, and partners must move beyond anticipating aggression to recognizing its certainty. This compels the strengthening of Taiwans ability to deter China with a conventional deterrence backed by the extended deterrent, amalgamating conventional and nuclear forces from the United States, Japan, and NATO allies. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Li Zhanshu, chairman of the Standing Committee of Chinas rubber-stamp legislature, National People's Congress, at a meeting session in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, on March 20, 2018. (Damir Sagolj/Reuters) Russia Publicizes Beijings Supportive Statement, While Chinas State Media Keeps Silent News Analysis A top Chinese official has expressed support for Russias war in Ukraine during his visit to Moscow, apparently believing it was a closed-door meeting. But the Kremlin released the footage to make his remarks known to the entire world. Li Zhanshu, the third most important Chinese Communist Party (CCP) figure and a member of the Standing Committee of the Politburo, visited Russia from Sept. 7 to 10 before Chinese leader Xi Jinping met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Uzbekistan on Sept. 15. Li met with Putin in Vladivostok and later with Vyacheslav Volodin, chairman of the State Duma, and Valentina Matviyenko, chairwoman of the Federation Council, in Moscow, along with leaders of the five political parties of the State Duma. His low-profile visit to Russia did not attract much attention until a video went viral on social media platforms such as Twitter, causing public outcry. With the United States and NATO now at Russias doorstep, it has become an issue concerning Russias national security and the lives of its people, Li claimed. Under such circumstances, Russia takes some measures that it deems appropriate, and China fully understands the necessity of all the measures taken by Russia aimed at protecting its key interests. We are providing our assistance. As Li is also a close ally of Xi, his statement is considered to represent the CCP leaders stance. It is widely believed that this is Beijings strongest and most explicit statement supporting Moscow. Lis remarks were first published in a text on the official website of the State Duma on Sept. 9. Shortly afterward, footage with the mark Duma in Russian was released. In contrast, Chinese state media kept mum on Lis remarks supporting Russias war in Ukraine and merely reported that Li thanked Russia for its firm support to China on the Taiwan issue. Analysts believe that Moscow deliberately publicized Lis remarks ahead of the Xi-Putin meeting in a bid to pressure the CCP to voice its support of Russia, thus putting Beijing in an embarrassing position. Chinese leader Xi Jinping (L) and Russian President Vladimir Putin pose for photos on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) leaders summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on Sept. 15, 2022. (Alexandr Demyanchuk/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images) Seeing Through the China-Russia Alliance Yang Si, a Japan-based current affairs commentator, told The Epoch Times on Sept. 16 that Beijing and Moscow are exploiting one another. There is no doubt that the CCP is supporting Russia, but it has never said so publicly, Yang said. Lis statement this time was not a public statement either; it was behind closed doors. I guess Li did not expect Russia to make it public. Russia probably thought written reports were not enough, so they directly released the original video, which is tantamount to forcing the CCP to openly state its support for Russias war in Ukraine. Russia and the CCP are two gang groups. They have no common beliefs, nor do they have any morality. In short, they just exploit each other. Current affairs commentator Lu Tianming shared similar views. The CCP has done a lot of things behind the scenes, but now they are all exposed. The Russian army invaded Ukraine, and the CCPs support for this war will naturally make other nations believe that the CCP may take similar actions against Taiwan. They will be on high alert watching the CCPs actions in the Taiwan Strait, Lu said. She believes some countries on the sidelines will see the CCP clearly through Lis remarks. It will accelerate the pace of a global rejection and deterrence of the CCP, she said. US and Europe Pass Bills to Support Taiwan China expert Chen Pokong said in a YouTube program on Sept. 16 that the exposure of Lis statement would help the United States and the European Union pass bills to support Taiwan and fight against the CCP. On Sept. 15, the European Parliament overwhelmingly passed a resolution denouncing China for continued military action and provocations against Taiwan and calling for the EU to assume a stronger role when it comes to the situation in the Taiwan Strait and the Indo-Pacific as a whole. The resolution, jointly sponsored by five major parties in the European Parliament, contains 26 propositions. It commended the Taiwanese government and political leaders for their prudent and responsible response to the CCPs provocative actions. It urged the EU to strengthen its political engagement with Taiwan. Furthermore, the European Parliament will continue to send representatives to Taiwan on official visits to deter the CCPs ambition to attack Taiwan. The European Parliament also asked the EUs European External Action Service (EEAS) to begin preparations for negotiations on a mutually beneficial supply chain resilience agreement with Taiwan as soon as possible to strengthen Taiwans silicon shield referring to the chip industryand to safeguard Taiwans security. The European Parliament also believes that the EU should seek joint investment cooperation with Taiwans New Southbound program to counter the CCPs global gatewaysthe Belt and Road Initiative (BRI, also known as One Belt, One Road). In addition, the European Parliament suggests that the European Commission change the name of the European Economic and Trade Office (ETO) in Taiwan to reflect the broader relationship between the two sides. Before that, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee of the U.S. Congress passed the Taiwan Policy Act of 2022 on Sept. 14. The bill is considered the most comprehensive reorganization of U.S. policy toward Taiwan since the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979. It proposes $4.5 billion in military assistance to Taiwan over four years and an increase of $2 billion in the fifth year. The bill also includes a congressional proposal to rename the Taiwan Representative Office to the United States and designate Taiwan as a major non-NATO ally. The bill also proposes that the United States establish a robust sanctions regime to deter further PRC [Peoples Republic of China] aggression against Taiwan, along with detailed sanctions plans. Epoch Times reporter Ellen Wan contributed to this report. People walk by a destroyed building following shelling in the center of Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Sept. 18, 2022. (Sergei Chuzavkov/AFP via Getty Images) Russia-Ukraine Conflict Sees Escalations by Both Sides As the conflict in Ukraine approaches the end of its sixth month, Russias so-called special military operation shows little sign of slowing down, despite an ongoing Ukrainian counter-offensive in the northeastern Kharkiv region. While the two sides stabilized the front lines for the time being, intense fighting continues, mainly in the form of tit-for-tat artillery barrages. For the past week, headlines have been dominated by a Ukrainian counter-offensive that has succeeded in retaking several positions in Kharkiv. The operation is being hailed as the most significant Ukrainian victory since Russian forces withdrew from areas near Kyiv during the initial weeks of the conflict. On Sept. 19, Ukrainian officials announced that its troops had successfully crossed the Oskil River and were preparing to push into the eastern Donbas region, which has remained the primary focus of Russias invasion since it commenced on Feb. 24. Perhaps it seems to some of you that, after a series of victories, we now have a lull of sorts, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a televised address delivered on the evening of Sept. 18. But there will be no lull, he added. There is preparation for the next series For Ukraine must be free. All of it. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State in Kyiv on Sept. 8, 2022. (Genya Savilov/AFP via Getty Images) The Russian departure from positions in Kharkiv has been largely portrayed by western media as rushed and disorganized. But according to Moscow, Russian troops were withdrawn in orderly fashion to reinforce positions in Donbas. Speaking to journalists on Sept. 16 after last weeks Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit in Samarkand, Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed the loss of territory in Kharkiv, saying, Lets see how [the Ukrainian counter-offensive] unfolds and how it ends. Kyiv, meanwhile, says there is evidenceincluding mass gravesthat Russian forces committed atrocities in the areas of Kharkiv that they recently vacated. Moscow has so far refrained from commenting on the claims, but has previously issued denials that its forces are targeting civilians. On Sept. 19, the Kremlin issued a statement describing the claims as a lie. Southern Front A series of earlier Ukrainian counter-offensives along the southern front, which received much less media attention, appear to have been largely unsuccessful. Focusing mainly on the Kherson and Mykolaiv regions, these operations ran up against stiff resistance and reportedly led to significant Ukrainian casualties. Although relatively limited in scope, Ukrainian counter-offensives on the southern front reportedly remain ongoing. In its Sept. 18 daily briefing, the Russian Defense Ministry stated that Ukrainian forces had tried but failed to break through the front line in the Kherson region. The ministry went on to assert that, over the previous 24 hours, Russian aircraft and artillery had destroyed Ukrainian military assets (troops and equipment) in the Kharkiv, Kherson, Zaporozhye, and Donetsk regions. In the latter region, it also claimed to have struck facilities housing foreign mercenaries. The Epoch Times was unable to verify the ministrys assertions. Rescue workers exhume bodies from unidentified makeshift graves at the Pishanske cemetery in Izium, Ukraine, on Sept. 19, 2022. (Paula Bronstein /Getty Images) Escalations In a notable escalation, Russia has begun using aircraft to target civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, including the countrys electricity grid and a large reservoir dam. In the last seven days Russia has increased its targeting of civilian infrastructure even where it probably perceives no immediate effect, the UK Ministry of Defense tweeted on Sept. 18. Four days earlier, Russian aircraft struck a reservoir dam in the southern city of Kryvyi Rih, causing water levels on the Inhulets River to rise dramatically. Russias targeting of civilian infrastructure has been widely condemned by Ukraine and its allies. Nevertheless, the strike on the dam and the resulting rising water levels reportedly served a military purpose by hindering Ukrainian forces from staging a tactical river crossing near Kherson. Another recent escalation, this time by Ukraine, has been the apparent targeting of pro-Russian administrative personnel inside Russian-held territory. On Sept. 16, Reuters reported that several pro-Russian Ukrainian officials had been killed in three different areas held by Russian forces. The casualties included a prosecutor-general in the city of Luhansk who was reportedly killed in a bomb blast. Speaking in Samarkand, Putin referred to the killings as terrorist attacks. He also accused Ukraine of attempting to carry out terrorist attacks near our nuclear facilities inside Russian territory. At the same press conference, Putin reiterated that the main goal of his special military operation was to liberate the entire Donbas region. Ukraine and its Western allies, for their part, view Russias ongoing invasion as unprovoked aggression against a sovereign nation with the aim of forcefully seizing territory. Australia's Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Richard Marles attends a joint press conference with France's defence minister at the castle of Brest, western France, on Sept. 1, 2022. (Jean-Francois Monier/AFP via Getty Images) Russian Tourists Will Not Be Banned From Visiting Australia: Defence Minister Australia has rejected Ukraines call to stop Russian tourists from entering the country. Defence Minister Richard Marles said Australias sanctions were focused on the Russian government, not the Russian people themselves. This is not something we are considering at the moment but we are very much a part of the global base of sanctions against the Russian regime, he told the ABC on Sunday. It comes after Vasyl Myroshnychenko, the Ukrainian ambassador to Australia, called on the government to ban the issuance of Russian tourist visas but continue issuing refugee visas for those fleeing Russia. In a post on Twitter, Myroshnychenko claimed that a majority of the Russian people supported the war in Ukraine and therefore must be held accountable. The leaders of Estonia and Finland have already restricted Russians from traveling into their countries and want fellow European countries to follow suit. In a Washington Post interview, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked all Western countries to ban Russian tourists from entering their country. While Marles ruled out the banning of Russian travellers, he said Australia was considering sending further military aid to Ukraine. We do need to be preparing ourselves for protracted conflict and on that basis, we get that we are going to need to provide support for Ukraine over the long term, he said. We are looking at ways in which we can continue this. Marles said Australias objective was to support and empower Ukraine to resolve the conflict on their terms. Australian Support for Ukraine as It Pushes Back Russia Australia has committed approximately $388 million (US$260 million) in aid to the war effort in Ukraine, making it the one of the largest non-NATO contributors to Ukraine. This includes 60 Bushmaster military vehicles, 28 armoured vehicles, six lightweight howitzers, and unmanned aerial systems. The Ukrainian government said on Sept. 13 that it aimed to take back all of its territories after pushing back Russian forces in the northeastern portion of the country in a rapid offensive. Zelenskyy said in a video address that Ukraine required further weapons systems from the West to strengthen cooperation to defeat Russian forces in the country. Marles said the way the unanimity in which the world reacted to Russia had been very impressive. He added that if Beijing plans to move into Taiwan, it should note the incredible resistance of people who fight for their homeland as seen in the war in Ukraine. Well, China Im sure is watching this, as we all are, he said. Jack Phillips contributed to this report. Sacrificing Energy Security on the Altar of Sustainability Going green through executive order by weaponizing the administrative state Commentary The Biden administration and Democrats in Congress have been weaponizing the federal government against their political adversaries since January 2021. Perhaps they seek to turn the U.S. federal bureaucracy into the mirror image of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in Beijing that controls every aspect of Chinese societyand one that brooks no political dissent from the Democratic Party line just as the CCP tolerates no dissent. Consider the following actions by the Biden administration since January 2021: An aerial view of former U.S. President Donald Trumps Mar-a-Lago home after FBI agents raided it, in Palm Beach, Fla., on Aug. 15, 2022. (Marco Bello/Reuters) The latest example of Bidens weaponization of federal agencies involves the issuance on Aug. 31 of Implementing Instructions for Executive Order 14057, Catalyzing Clean Energy Industries and Jobs Through Federal Sustainability. EO 14057 is about forcing unsustainable green energy technologies into the federal government and subsequently throughout the U.S. economy to displace all of Americas hydrocarbon energy sources under Bidens Federal Sustainability Plan. The whole notion of sustainability is a Marxist euphemism used by enviro-socialists that purports to examine federal and state policies that are balanced across concerns for the environment, equity, and the economy. In short, they seek to control the U.S. economy through prioritizations associated with arbitrary environmental and equity considerations. The word equity is the kicker. Cultural Marxists and left-wing political activists are using equity as a wedge to disrupt and replace American cultural traditions of merit and self-worth with identity politics as the top priority for hiring, firing, and organizing Americas institutions, industries, and governments at all levels. Science and merit be damned; it all becomes a numbers game based on the demographic makeup of society, including the new categories of the disenfranchised comprising the LGBTQI diaspora. Everyone gets their piece of the pie regardless of merit or whether or not earned. But perhaps equally important is the environment factor defined by green Democrats. Bidens Federal Sustainability Plan has three main goals for all of the federal agencies: 100 percent carbon pollution-free electricity by 2030 (with 50 percent available 24/7), 100 percent zero-emission vehicle acquisitions by 2035 (including 100 percent light-duty acquisitions by 2027), and net-zero emissions buildings by 2045 (including a 50 percent reduction by 2032). These requirements are being pushed out to the private sector via the politicized Securities and Exchange Commission by implementing disclosure requirements associated with Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) and climate-related risks for publicly traded companies. Essentially, companies are being forced to conform to left-wing environmental requirements for climate risk management plans, and noncompliance could result in fines and penalties in the future. The authoritarians gameplan: when not economically viable, use the force of government to achieve politico-economic goals. Never mind that carbon pollution is an oxymoron, as carbon dioxide is plant food and the stuff of life. Or that so-called zero emissions policies were not implemented through legislative action but rather by bureaucrats unaccountable to the public. And that the climate catastrophes that form the impetus and rationale for such policies have never materialized as predicted over the past 50 years by climate alarmists. The Democrat Party is pushing its green agenda via authoritarian diktats from a weaponized federal bureaucracy. Never mind the energy disaster unfolding before our eyes in Europe, wheredue to a misguided over-reliance on green energy productioncountries are facing enormous spikes in energy costs and shortages due to green policies enacted by their left-wing governments over the years. A man walks by power lines as Californias grid operator urged the states 40 million people to ratchet down the use of electricity in homes and businesses as a heat wave settled over much of the state, in Mountain View, Calif., on Aug. 17, 2022. (Carlos Barria/Reuters) Or, a little closer to home, how is energy security going in the great state of California? Not very well these days, given the rolling brownoutsthanks to a Democrat governors similar head-long rush down the path of green energy suicide. While California currently requires 33 percent of its energy to be produced from green sources, Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an emergency proclamation in July 2021 to scale up and speed up our transition to a 100 percent clean electricity system. Yeah, that bit of Democrat authoritarianism will indeed work based on the recent bad experiences of Sri Lanka, Ghana, Germany, and other green energy meccas, right? Like the refrain that communists use about past failures of communist systems, the greenies assure themselves that they, too, will get [sustainability/communism] right the next time we try it. Who decides what is important regarding sustainability policies and their impact on career advancement within the federal bureaucracy? In the Democrats minds, that would be nameless, faceless bureaucrats, all of whom were handpicked and promoted because of their left-wing beliefs in sustainability doctrinea self-priming pump for Democrat Party apparatchiks. This is eerily similar to how the CCP controls the Chinese regime bureaucracy; unless one is a CCP member-in-good-standing and subscribes to CCP policies and ideology, a person has no viable opportunity or career in politics. For this is the result of the weaponization of U.S. federal agencies: an undermining of the Constitution through the rise of the administrative state, the politicization of that administrative state in service of the party of government (Democrats), and the quashing of the personal and economic freedoms of political dissenters. In this case, the vehicle to help achieve these results is the sacrifice of Americas energy security on the altar of the false promise of green energy sustainability. Are you ready for Democrat-induced brownouts in your state? Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. A smartphone with Facebook's logo is seen with new rebrand logo Meta in this illustration taken on Oct. 28, 2021. (Dado Ruvic/Reuters) Social Media Censorship of Speech May Head to Supreme Court And that's a good thing Commentary A New Orleans federal appellate court for the 5th Circuit has reversed and remanded a lower court decision that held that a Texas law, House Bill 20, was unconstitutional. The law bans social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter from censoring speech based on the users viewpoint, the viewpoint of another user, or the users geographic location in Texas (i.e., users in Austin, which is more liberal, have no better or worse standing than users in the more conservative Texas Panhandle). While the law doesnt provide for monetary damages, except attorneys fees, users who prove they have been censored are entitled to declaratory relief and injunctive relief. And social media platforms that fail to promptly comply with a court order to lift bans on users speech can be held in contempt and subject to significant, but unspecified, daily penalties. The law only says the penalties must be sufficient to secure immediate compliance with the law. Meta (Facebook), Google, Twitter, et al., had banded together in a Washington industry association called NetChoice LLC to challenge the Texas law, which was passed last year. Circuit Judge Andrew S. Oldham, a Trump appointee, delivered a stinging rebuke to the NetChoice platforms challenge to the Texas law, writing that the platforms argue that buried somewhere in the persons enumerated right to free speech lies a corporations unenumerated right to muzzle speech. The implications of the platforms argument are staggering, he continues. On the platforms view, email providers, mobile phone companies, and banks could cancel the accounts of anyone who sends an email, makes a phone call, or spends money in support of a disfavored political party, candidate, or business. Whats worse, the platforms argue that a business can acquire a dominant market position by holding itself out as open to everyoneas Twitter did in championing itself as the free speech wing of the free speech party. Then, having cemented itself as the monopolist of the modern public square Twitter unapologetically argues that it could turn around and ban all pro-LGBT speech for no other reason than its employees want to pick on members of that community. The 5th Circuit courts finding is contrary to that made by the 11th Circuit, sitting in Atlanta. That court had struck down a similar law from Florida, SB 7072. The Atlanta courts ruling in May held that it is substantially likely that social-media companieseven the biggest onesare private actors whose rights the First Amendment protects that their so-called content-moderation decisions constitute protected exercises of editorial judgment, and that the provisions of the new Florida law that restrict large platforms ability to engage in content moderation unconstitutionally burden that prerogative. The Florida law differs in a number of respects, with SB 7072 prohibiting censorship of only some speakers (i.e., political candidates), while HB 20, the Texas law, prohibits some censorship of all speakers. Texass law permits non-viewpoint-based censorship and censorship of certain constitutionally unprotected expression regardless of who the speaker is, and applies to all speakers equally, instead of singling out political candidates and journalists for favored treatment. Floridas SB 7072 also imposes fines rather than the injunctive relief of the Texas law. What It Means The New Orleans courts ruling on Sept. 16 said that it disagreed with the Atlanta courts May decision in three key respects: First, New Orleans didnt agree with Atlantas view that editorial discretion is protected free speech and that even if it is, the New Orleans court said censoring users on the basis of content didnt amount to editorial discretion. It also disagreed with a technical common carrier assertion that NetChoice had made. The contrasting decisions from two different circuits could very easily set up a Supreme Court challenge by one or all of the plaintiffs and defendants to clarify the law. Coming into the beginning stage of the 2024 presidential race, a Supreme Court decision favoring the two state laws in the lead-up could have a tremendous effect on campaign strategies, elections, and outcomes. Imagine, for example, if the Hunter Biden hard drive hadnt been censored as Russian disinformation by social media platforms. Polling shows that Joe Biden would likely not have been elected if the news of his sons hard drive hadnt been suppressed. Even former Attorney General Bill Barr, who has proven himself an adversary of former President Donald Trump, conceded that the suppression likely affected the outcome of the 2020 election. Whatever the future litigation, and whatever its outcome, there will almost certainly be considerable concerns in the boardrooms of both the companies and the industries. If Republicans take control of the House, as is currently expected, the contrasting decisions will likely rekindle debate about the Communications Decency Acts Section 230, which holds social media platforms harmless if they act in good faith to restrict access to or availability of material that the provider considers to be objectionable. Either the court cases before the Supreme Court or a legislative repeal of Section 230 will have profound implications on the business models of the platforms that make up the NetChoice industry group and require that censorship be made on a more objective and bipartisan standard. Thats a good thing. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Photos of Debbie Botzum-Pearman before (left) and after neuromyelitis optica (Courtesy of Debbie Botzum-Pearman). On the morning of Jan. 15, 2022, Debbie Botzum-Pearman, who had been a strong healthy woman for 66 years, woke up paralyzed from the chest down. On Sept. 13, 2022, nearly nine months later, she managed to stand up without assistance for 10 seconds. Since then, she has made a steady recovery. She has regained sensation in her thighs and taken her first steps with a walker. But, a long journey remains ahead of her. Debbies symptoms appeared less than a month after her first Pfizer COVID-19 booster shot. She had taken the shot in mid-December and felt fine, the same as with her previous COVID-19 shots. Looking back now, Debbie realized that leading up to her sudden paralysis, she had been feeling that her bra was getting too tight. This sensation is also called MS (multiple sclerosis) hug, and some people can experience these symptoms even without MS. The first dominoes toppled on Jan. 14. She was finishing her painting work at her friends house when she realized that she could not pee despite having the urge to urinate. I was drinking water could not pee, just could not pee, she told The Epoch Times. She got home that day and as she was walking up the stairs, her left leg gave out and she peed over herself. She went to bed and on the following morning, Debbie was paralyzed from the chest down and rushed to urgent care. I probably had 15 MRIs and a spinal tap [at the hospital] they came back [a few days later] with neuromyelitis [optica], Debbie said. [Neuromyelitis] ate away, I dont know, four or five inches [of my spinal cord on the MRI], which is repairing itself now. Neuromyelitis, scientifically known as neuromyelitis optica (NMO), is a rare condition affecting around 1 to 2 people out of 100,000 every year. The condition destroys the nerves in the central nervous system and the eyes, and can cause paralysis, weakness, and even blindness if not treated. Onset of NMO is usually precipitated by a viral or bacterial infection such as Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) or bacterial meningitis. It primarily appears during childhood as well as in women in their 30s and 40s. Risk factors include smoking and having a family history of autoimmune disease. However, apart from her sex, Debbie did not have any of these risk factors. Neuromyelitis is mostly unheard of, often overshadowed by and misdiagnosed as the more well known MS, which is another, distinct disease. Fortunately for Debbie, her doctor was competent and had excellent clinical judgment. Even before the tests and diagnosis returned, he ruled that Debbie was experiencing NMO. Her doctor also allegedly concluded that the booster shot from a month ago was the cause. The Epoch Times could not verify the identity of the doctor nor his statement, but Debbie and her stepson, Jared Pearman, expressed that the anonymous doctors statements were what drove their suspicions that her illness was vaccine induced. Debbie recalled it was probably the day she was admitted, [the doctor] came in, shut the door and asked if I had the booster. I didnt mention [that I had the booster] and hes the one who declared that it was from the vaccine, she said. Debbie was put on a blood purifying machine (plasmapheresis) which cycled out the plasma from her blood to remove autoantibodies that were attacking her own nerves. Debbie was in the hospital for a week, and she recalled that pretty much every day she was having blood treatments. Both Debbie and Jared have nothing but gratitude for the doctor; they are convinced that if it was not for the doctors quick judgment, Debbie would have fared a lot worse. However, the doctor allegedly told Debbie that he could not make his diagnosis known in the hospital, lest he get fired. One of the things that really strikes us is how disincentivized everyone in the medical community is of discussing and analyzing adverse effects to the vaccine [the doctor] had to secretly acknowledge that [the vaccine] was what caused her symptoms in order to save her life, said Jared. I understand that there [may be] 1 in a million [chance of getting certain adverse effects], that 1 in a million is a real person who has a real life that gets ruined, and sometimes thats your card. The coronavirus spike protein (red) mediates the virus entry into host cells. It binds to the angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (blue) and fuses viral and host membranes. (Juan Gaertner/Shutterstock) Spike Protein and Autoimmunity Debbie is in no way an isolated case. Since the rollout of the COVID-19 mRNA and DNA injections, reports of neuromyelitis, multiple sclerosis, Guillain-Barre syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, shingles, lupus, diabetes, and many other autoimmune conditions have either suddenly appeared, or relapsed, often with worsened symptoms. Autoimmunity is a health condition where the bodys immune system becomes confused and unable to differentiate between self and non-self and attacks its own tissues. The development of autoimmunity is believed to be a result of the interactions of both genetic and environmental factors. Certain autoimmune diseases tend to cluster in families, such as rheumatoid arthritis, Hashimotos thyroiditis, and lupus. Although genetics plays a role, the development of autoimmunity also depends on environmental exposures to infections and toxins as well as lifestyle, nutritional health, and various metabolic and detoxification processes. In the case of COVID-19 and its vaccines, many studies since the start of the pandemic have shown that the spike protein shares similarities with human proteins both in its structure and in its basic chemical sequence. This means the spike protein can increase the risk of developing autoimmunity and implies that the mRNA and DNA vaccines, which cause the body to make large amounts of spike protein, would do the same. If the spike protein from SARS-CoV-2 contribute to autoimmunity, then why not spike protein from the vaccine? It seems that somehow when we get to that point, the scientists and many people try to keep their distance, said Dr. Aristo Vojdani, head of Immunosciences Lab and a pioneer in the field of clinical immunology. Cross Reactivity Hypothesis A recent study published by Florida International University concluded that this is possible after comparing COVID-19 spike protein sequences to structures of both human and animal proteins. The authors found that human proteins had the most sequence sets that were the same as spike proteins with 627 regions in common. A spike protein is made up of 1,273 amino acids. Therefore, the data showing that the protein shares around 600 regions composed of sequences made up of sets of at least five amino acids, indicates that the spike protein shares many similarities, with areas of overlapping hot spots. There are also 20 regions where the spike protein shares not only the same sequences of amino acids, it also shares the same shape. Dr. Peter McCullough, cardiologist and co-author of Courage to Face the Virus, told The Epoch Times that the study explains the phenomena being seen in vaccinated and infected individuals. Peter McCullough, cardiologist, speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Dallas at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas, Texas, on Aug. 5, 2022. (Bobby Sanchez for The Epoch Times) One is the actin-binding protein IPP that would influence heart muscle. So the auto-attack against this actin binding muscle could be part of the pathogenesis of myocarditis. The same is true for the tropomyosin alpha 3 chain [found in smooth muscles]. So some of these 3d targets are explaining some of these post respiratory illnesses in post vaccine syndromes that were seeing. The authors of the study specifically focused on two sequences with high similarity. One is the TQLPP sequence which is found on the human protein thrombopoietin, a protein in charge of recruiting platelets to stop bleeding. Another is the ELDKY sequence which is shared across the PRKG1 protein which is involved in platelet activation and calcium regulation, both of which are critical for blood clots. Another protein is the aforementioned tropomyosin. The authors also speculated that antibody cross reacting to tropomyosin may be linked to cardiac diseases. Antibodies cross-reacting with PRKG1 and tropomyosin may cause known COVID-19 complications such as blood-clotting disorders and cardiac disease, respectively, they wrote. However, Dr. Aristo Vojdani, an expert in autoimmunity, owner of 17 U.S. patents, co-author to 200 studies and two books on immunity told The Epoch Times that the regions identified by the recent study are not all of the regions that share similarities with human proteins. He cited a study led by Dr. Yehuda Shoenfeld that found the spike protein shares similarities with 34 different human proteins in amino acid sequences in sets of sixes. These include proteins found in the thyroid, brain, nose, ear, skin, muscles, heart, blood, nerves, joints, intestines, and many more. Shoenfeld and his colleagues speculated that the spike protein may trigger Guillain-Barre syndrome, viral arthritis, immune thrombocytopenic purpura (bleeding), antiphospholipid syndrome, Kawasaki disease, systemic lupus erythematosus, and many others. The goal of the vaccine is to produce exactly the same spike protein that is in the virus Because after vaccination, individuals will produce neutralizing antibodies. So in reality when the real virus will get into the human body those antibodies made against spike protein through mRNA injection or vaccination notifies [the body theres] the virus, said Vojdani. Therefore, if the spike protein in the virus increases the risk of autoimmunity, there is reason to believe the spike proteins produced from the injections should do the same. Studies Show Anti-SARS-CoV-2-Antibodies Attacking Human Tissue In rebuttal, some studies have stated that similarities between human tissues and the spike protein are not enough for autoimmunity to occur. Therefore, Vojdani and his colleagues have done further studies to test if spike proteins actually do pose a significant risk. Photo of Dr. Aristo Vojdani, (Courtesy of Dr. Vojdani) In one study, Vojdani took laboratory-made antibodies that attack human tissues, such as thyroid proteins, mitochondria, smooth muscle, and other proteins, and mixed them with spike proteins. [The antibodies] reacted strongly [with the spike proteins], Vojdani said. Because antibodies that attack human proteins also attack spike proteins, this implies that antibodies made against spike proteins may also attack human proteins. His second evidence came from another study where he took monoclonal antibodies made in the laboratories against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and added them to human tissue. They reacted from moderately to strongly with various tissue antigens including the muscles, joints, thyroid, brain, skin, gastrointestinal tract, almost any antigen taken from different parts of the body. The study found the anti-spike protein-antibodies reacted particularly strongly against proteins in the motor neurons, followed by strong reactions against mitochondrial proteins and against DNA. Having anti-DNA antibodies (ANA) are a hallmark sign of autoimmunity. That [is] additional evidence to support that spike protein not only shares homology with human tissue, when we will make antibodies those antibodies may turn against our body and induce autoimmunity. The third evidence came in our research where we obtained sera [the liquid in the blood, excluding red and white blood cells] from many individuals with COVID versus healthy subjects. Vojdani and his colleagues found serum isolated from people who were infected with COVID-19 had more antibodies against human tissues than people who were not infected. These studies all indicated that the spike protein is capable of inducing autoantibodies, possibly leading to autoimmune disease. Vojdani said that he is waiting for more research to implicate the mRNA and DNA vaccine induced spike proteins roles in autoimmunity, because it normally can take several months to decades for autoimmunity to develop. Its really too early to come to any conclusion, whether the vaccine contributes to autoimmunity. Though, he suggested researchers can test for vaccine-induced autoimmunity by harvesting antibodies from the vaccinated and comparing them to human proteins, possibly even testing to see if they react with human tissue. Why Are Experts Concerned More About Vaccines Than Virus? Dr. McCullough said that in infection, most people are able to clear the virus within days or weeks with early treatment, and most of the virus are also confined to the lungs, while the vaccines are directly shot into the muscles. Many [COVID-19] patients with respiratory illness, when they get early treatment, they just have a few days of symptoms, and thats ittheres little chance of systemic invasion. Whereas with the vaccine, everybody has systemic invasion of spike protein because its bypassing the sinuses. McCullough cited a paper led by Dr. Alana Ogata that detected S1 proteins (a portion of the spike protein) over 40 days and spike proteins around 30 days post-vaccination respectively. This is longer than the average period of infectiousness. However, McCulloughs bigger concern is that with vaccine rollouts and people unaware of the risks, they would be taking boosters every six months, with the spike protein produced systematically, and persisting in the body for months. The opportunity for autoimmunity with injections every six months and boosters is tremendous, he said. The vaccines, because of the fact that theyre given by an injection in the arm[it] is called parenteral [injections] We are really, really running risks of autoimmunity in patients. Additionally, with a global rollout of the vaccines, and knowing that there may still be regions on the spike proteins that align with human sequences that we do not know about, McCullough speculates that it puts people at risk of developing autoimmune diseases that are less studied, more obscure, including possibly whole new types of autoimmune conditions. Autoimmunity is already a human problem now were introducing a possibility for a massive number of new autoimmune syndromes, and its just because of the indiscriminate use of [COVID-19] vaccines. [If] they were using [vaccines in] a small limited, high risk group, we wouldnt be facing some of these very large possibilities of bad things happening in the human population, to two thirds of the world taking a vaccine. Even if a tiny percent develop autoimmunity, its going to be a massive number of people with autoimmune syndromes it is really going to be a problem because of indiscriminate vaccination. Treatment Options Dr. Ana Maria Mihalcea, who is an internal medical doctor and practices integrative and chelating medicine, said that she has had successes in treating patients who developed autoimmunity following vaccination. Photo of Dr. Ana Maria Mihalcea (Courtesy of Dr. Mihalcea) This is tested with a blood test looking for anti-nuclear antibodies (ANA), in essence they are showing an attack of the immune system against their own DNA, she wrote in an email. Mihalcea said that many people have treated autoimmunity associated with possible vaccine adverse effects with high doses of vitamin C and D daily (anti-inflammatory), as well as multiple vitamins, N-Acetyl cysteine (antioxidant and anti-inflammatory), and blood thinners. Daily intake of quercetin (anti-inflammatory and ameliorates autoimmunity in animal studies), zinc (deficiencies associated with autoimmunity), dimethyl glycine (improves immune function), and methylene blue (antimicrobial, antitoxin, anti-inflammatory), as well as ivermectin (anti-inflammatory, improves cell healing) twice a week and hydroxychloroquine (anti-inflammatory, common autoimmune drug) three times a week are also recommended. In addition, I have done Vitamin C infusions and used the anti-aging peptides Epithalon which lengthens telomeres, repairs DNA, and age-reverses cells, and GHK Copper. Studies have shown that GHK copper can reset the human DNA, possibly resetting cellular action including autoimmune activity. Debbie standing up unassisted. (Courtesy of Debbie) Debbies Journey Now Jared expressed that what he found the most difficult to accept was the severe censorship and neglect Debbie faced during her recovery. When Debbie stands there and says, I got the 1 in a million card [and got an adverse effect from the vaccine], everyone says no, you didnt, and dont even talk about it and be quiet, otherwise youre gonna get me fired, thats a really crazy thing to have to deal with when shes also trying to just deal with making her body work again. After a week of hospital treatment, Debbie entered remission and was put into rehabilitation to return mobility to her core and legs. She was left mostly unattended in the two months of rehabilitation and developed bed sores and deep venous blood clots from sitting and lying immobile for hours on end. Since beginning rehabilitation at home in April, she has slowly gained mobility and sensation in her lower limbs. Yet, preceding regaining sensations, she experienced two months of excruciating pain. My feet felt like they were on fire and I would have shooting pain all the way up to my thighs, very, very, very painful. More painful than having a baby. However, her clinicians gave her the paradoxical answer that pain was a good sign, it showed the nerves going back online. Debbie toughed it out but sensation in her legs is still mostly abnormal. My legs, if I move them and I dont have socks on, feel like [they are being rubbed by] sandpaper. If I have a glass with condensation and it drips on my thigh, it hurts. Debbie stood up unassisted for the first time on Sept. 13, 2022. Her doctors have told Debbie that she can make a full recovery. Debbie believes she is around 50 to 60 percent through her journey. Pfizer did not respond to The Epoch Times request for comment. In 1607, a small band of settlers founded the first permanent English outpost in the Americas: Jamestown in the colony of Virginia. At that time, another town already had existed since 1565 in a different part of the New Worldmaking it the oldest continuously occupied European community in the country. Given its history, St. Augustine, Florida offers visitors a setting that captures not just the stories but also an authentic atmosphere of its colorful past. That comes to life primarily in the citys 144-square-block historic district. The Colonial Quarter is a good place to begin exploring. The neighborhood is a living history museum, with emphasis on the first word. A blacksmith, carpenter, and other costumed historic interpreters combine facts with fun as they help onlookers relive the way things were over the centuries. They recall the expedition led by Don Pedro Menendez de Aviles, a Spanish admiral who arrived in 1565 and set up an encampment near a Timucua Indian village. That tribe was one of a number of Native American groups who began occupying the area some 10,000 years ago. Menendez wasnt the first Spanish explorer to come ashore in the region. In 1513, Ponce de Leon led an expedition seeking to find and claim uncolonized lands, a journey that gave birth to the legend of the Fountain of Youth. A fable about vitality-restoring waters was familiar on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, but theres no evidence that Ponce de Leon was searching for the potion. Somehow, accounts of his supposed quest found their way into history books, however, and the story stuck. The Fountain of Youth Archaeological Park occupies the place where Menendez de Aviles encountered the friendly Timucua people and established the settlement that over time evolved into present-day St. Augustine. Attractions include a reconstructed portion of the village, ship building, and other exhibits, and cannon and weapons demonstrations. Other than a brief interlude (17631784) when Great Britain gained control of Florida, St. Augustine remained under Spains rule. That accounts for the prevailing Mediterranean architecture and other reminders of Spanish influence. By the time the United States took possession of the city by treaty in 1821, it already was 256 years old. Reminders of those early years abound. The Gonzalez-Alvarez house, referred to as The Oldest House, was constructed in the early 18th century. It was built in the Spanish Colonial style, with touches of Britains Colonial architecture added when that country controlled St. Augustine. The Gonzalez-Alvarez House, considered to be the oldest house in St. Augustine, Florida, was constructed in the early 1800s. (Courtesy of Dreamstime.com) Records date the Oldest Wooden School House back to 1716. Speaking animatronic figures of the schoolmaster and pupils introduce themselves and describe a typical day of classes. One boy is wearing a dunce cap, the penalty for not knowing his lesson. An animatronic teacher instructs his pupils at the Oldest Wooden Schoolhouse in St. Augustine, Florida. (Courtesy of Miroslav Liska/Dreamstime.com) Among places in St. Augustine where visitors might encounter ghostsor at least tales about themis the Old Jail. This historic Victorian-style building housed criminals from 1891 to 1953. The gallows in back were used to administer capital punishment and explain why the property is one among many in town that is said to be haunted. Because of its role at a time of exploration and conflict in the New World, its not surprising that St. Augustine has its share of forts. Most imposing is the Castillo de San Marcos, a massive 17th-century stronghold built by the Spanish to defend the Florida coastline. Some rooms surrounding the central courtyard are furnished to reflect garrison life, while others contain exhibits about military history. A different story comes to light at the site of Fort Mose (moh-say), which is hidden away in marshes north of St. Augustine. There, in 1738, a group of slaves who had escaped from British Colonies built a log fortress and founded the first free community of ex-slaves. While the original structure is long gone, a small museum describes the events by means of videos, interactive exhibits, and objects found during archaeological digs. Given the age of St. Augustine, its no surprise that the city is an archaeologists dream location. A wealth of artifacts has been uncovered over the years, and many more remain buried beneath the streets, buildings, and backyards. Some 100,000 artifacts have been uncovered at the Fountain of Youth Park, including Native American pottery, carved beads, shell tools, and three dog burial sites. Evidence of the 16th-century Spanish settlement there ranges from religious amulets to olive jars. Work at the Fort Mose site has uncovered objects that shed light on the social, religious, and military life at that settlement. Theres often a dig underway somewhere in the city that interested visitors can observe. While the more than 60 historic sites and attractions are the main reason many people visit St. Augustine, the city also manages to keep one foot planted firmly in the present. Sun-worshippers find a choice of inviting beaches that stretch some 40 miles north to Ponte Vedra, just above Jacksonville, each with its own appeals. The 2-mile-long beach at Anastasia State Park consists of gleaming white quartz sand. Aptly named Crescent Beach, it is one of the most scenic and unspoiled in the area. A statue of Ponce de Leon guards the towering dunes and shell-laden shore of Ponte Vedra Beach, which he spotted during his 1513 journey. A beach watched over by Ponce de Leon makes a fitting symbol for what awaits visitors to St. Augustine and the surrounding area. While history is the biggest draw, present-day activities make welcome additions to the mix. The oldest city in the country is home to enough variety to appeal to people of all ages and many interests. If You Go For more information: 800-653-2489, www.floridashistoriccoast.com NSW former deputy premier John Barilaro speaks during a COVID-19 update press conference on July 18, 2021 in Sydney, Australia. (Jenny Evans/Getty Images) Staffer at Centre of John Barilaro Trade Appointment Sacked Taxpayers will pay nearly $500,000 (US$334,275) to a senior bureaucrat who has been sacked after appointing former deputy premier John Barilaro to a lucrative overseas trade job. Departmental secretary and former Investment New South Wales (NSW) boss Amy Brown was found to have been indirectly influenced to preference Barilaro for the job despite a range of other well-credentialed candidates. The scandal has already cost former-trade minister Stuart Ayres his job after questions were raised about his involvement in the appointment. With Brown out of the way, Labor leader Chris Minns warned the premier against allowing Ayres to return. He said Ayres had obviously been involved in Barilaros appointment, and reinstating him would send the wrong message. Its just beyond credible that Amy Brown should take the rap for the NSW governments decision, Minns said on Monday. Labors Penny Sharpe said Ms Brown seemed to be taking the fall for the whole scandal, which had already cost taxpayers thousands. This has been jobs for the boys the whole way through, Sharpe said. Department of Premier and Cabinet secretary Michael Coutts-Trotter said after a careful review of Browns conduct, he had decided she would not remain as head of the Department of Enterprise, Investment and Trade. Its a privilege to hold a role as a senior leader in the NSW public service, he said in a statement on Monday. With this, rightly, comes a high degree of accountability. Premier Dominic Perrottet has been contacted for comment. In a Sunday LinkedIn post, Brown did not mention she had been fired but instead said she was proud of her time in government and was pursuing jobs in the private sector. After close to a decade working for the NSW Government, my tenure has come to an end, she said. Courageous leadership is not always comfortable. Brown is on a roughly $614,000 per year salary and is now entitled to 38 weeks of her salary plus entitlementsat least $450,000. An independent review was held earlier this year into the appointment of Mr Barilaro to the $500,000-a-year, taxpayer-funded US trade job. It found Ms Brown had been indirectly influenced by Mr Ayress preference for who should get the New York-based role. Ayres resigned as a minister last month after a draft excerpt from the review raised questions about whether he breached the ministerial code of conduct with his involvement in the appointment process. The review found Mr Barilaros appointment was not kept at arms length from the government. Perrottet has previously said the appointment process was flawed from the outset and ordered an independent legal review to establish if Ayres had breached the ministerial code. The review, carried out by former ICAC inspector Bruce McClintock SC and released last week, found Ayres had not breached the code, but he remains on the backbench. Brown stood aside from her role as head of Investment NSW in August, saying at the time she wanted to focus on her position as departmental secretary. Barilaro relinquished the trade job in June, just weeks after his appointment was announced, saying the role was untenable and had become a distraction. NSW taxpayers paid nearly $1 million to refurnish Barilaros New York office-to-be plus an estimated one weeks wage after he withdrew. The appointment plunged the Perrottet government into months of turmoil as the merits of the process were scrutinised. Elizabeth Mildwater will step in for Brown from Tuesday. She is the current chief executive of the Greater Cities Commission and former deputy secretary of Transport for NSW. (L-R) President of the Swiss conference of cantonal energy directors Roberto Schmidt, Switzerland's Minister of Infrastructure, Transport, Environment, and Energy Simonetta Sommaruga, and Economy Minister Guy Parmelin arrive to give a press conference to announce measures of possible energy shortages this winter, in Bern on Aug. 31, 2022. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images) Switzerlands Environment Minister Suggests People Shower Together to Save Energy Switzerlands environment minister is facing backlash after recommending that people shower together in an effort to cut energy consumption this winter and fend off power cuts. Simonetta Sommaruga, 62, suggested that people turn off the computer when you dont need it, or turn off lights, or shower together as part of her measures promoting a 15 percent reduction in energy consumption, The Times of London reported. Her suggestions were in response to questions on the governments campaign by readers of Swiss newspaper 20 Minuten, according to the report. Authorities in Switzerland, which imports 75 percent of its gas from Germany, said in August that they are aiming to cut energy consumption by 15 percent from October 2022 to the end of March 2023, compared to the average consumption of the past five years. That month, officials also began a campaign titled Energy is limited. Lets not waste it, which called on people to help ensure the country avoids an energy shortage ahead of winter by using less water, switching off electrical appliances and lights when they arent in use, and lowering their heating temperatures. If the situation doesnt improve and further shortages are seen, the Swiss Federal Council could implement consumption restrictions, bans, and quota systems, according to local reports. Administer Our Private Lives Sommarugas comments have been heavily criticized by Geraldine Savary, editor of the womens magazine Femina. In an editorial published on Sept. 16, Savary wrote that the Swiss government is seeking to administer our private lives, down to the most trivial details. She jokingly added that Swiss residents should wake up to the sound of chirping birds, because they have disconnected their alarm clocks, and eat breakfast in the darkness of the kitchen before going to work arm in arm, having left the car, the scooter and the electric bicycle in the garage. The backlash prompted Sommaruga to tell the Swiss daily Tages-Anzeiger that her comments regarding showering together were intended for young people. She noted that after a certain age, showering together is no longer suitable for everyone, but said she believed the idea of showering together to reduce energy consumption had been widely well-received, The Times of London reported. While Switzerland is one of the worlds richest countries, its one of the least self-sufficient in terms of energy production, according to swissinfo.ch, with domestic electricity production covering just 25 percent of the countrys energy needs. It also doesnt have gas storage facilities of its own, meaning a reduction of gas from Europe would affect the country. Russian state-owned energy corporation Gazprom recently announced it wouldnt be resuming gas flows any time soon through its Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Germany. The oil giant has not yet provided an official reopening timeline. The Failure of Putins Attempt to Restore Russia as a Great Power Commentary Vladimir Putin is in grave danger of a complete flame-out. Following the bloodless Western victory in the Cold War and the collapse of international communism and the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Putin emerged from the infighting that surged through the Kremlin in the aftermath of the crumbling of the Soviet Union. As he took over control of the truncated Russian state, he faced a clear choice: He could attempt to give Russia a soft landing in its descent from co-superpower of the world with the United States to a prominent place in the second tier of the worlds most powerful countries, or he could decline to recognize the legitimacy of the former Soviet Republics that had seceded and set out to rebuild Russia, attempting to retrace the steps of Peter the Great and Joseph Stalin. In choosing the second, the reconstruction of greater Russia and the Soviet Union, he has produced the worst failure in modern times of the first option: the descent from the top to the next rank. The supreme example of an elegant demotion from the first to the second level of world powers was Churchillian and Thatcherite Britain: a Gloriana to celebrate the British Empires immense services to Allied victory in the World Wars and the more or less voluntary handing over of independence to scores of former colonies including the six countries of the immense British Indian Empire. Churchill the magnificent romantic, Elizabeth II the practical builder of the Commonwealth, and Thatcher by being such an invigorating, supportive, and influential ally of the United States and asserting the prerogatives of the British Empire in the Falkland Islands, enabled Britain to climb down with unimpaired dignity and even a note of triumphalism. Putin, in seeking to reverse history, has produced a terrible fiasco, Russias worst disaster since the war with Japan in 1905. Putin seemed for a time to be doing a capable job of establishing Russia in the front rank of the second tier of the worlds great powers, like all other countries in the world, behind the United States. But there was continuous ambiguity about what was known as the near abroad, the other republics apart from Russia that seceded from the rule of the Kremlin: Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, and the three Baltic, three Caucasus, and five Asian republics. These seceded states had a total population of approximately 150 million, about the same as Russia itself, and they had gradually been acquired by Russia by the efforts of the more ambitious czars and by Stalins seizure of the Baltic states under the Nazi-Soviet Pact of 1939, which the Western allies didnt seriously attempt to persuade Stalin to disgorge, given the immense sacrifices and contribution the USSR made on the Eastern front in World War II. The West invited Russia to join the G-7 making it the G-8, and there was even some discussion of Russia joining NATO. President George H.W. Bush had famously advised the parliament of Ukraine to consider the merits of continuing in association with Russia. This was reviled as the Chicken Kiev speech of August 1991, but by the time of George W. Bush, the United States was leaning toward inviting Ukraine into NATO. Putin had publicly mused about the tragedy of the breakup of the old Russia and Soviet Union and felt that to be unjust in itself and a factor of great destabilization in the Eurasian landmass. He seized two provinces from Georgia in 2008 when that country was also making noises about joining NATO, and Putin was able to invoke the old Hitler complaint of the mistreatment of, in this case, Russian minorities in the former republics. Where Western placation of the Kremlin ceased and Putin moved toward an attempted outright reassertion of some of Russias credentials to be considered still a rival to the United States was when Russia intervened in Ukrainian elections to promote the elevation as president of Viktor Yanukovych in 2010, a result that rejected the previous increasing intimacy of Ukraine with the European Union under pro-Western president Viktor Yushchenko. The West intervened and infiltrated Ukraine and helped to incite a political upheaval that defeated Yanukovych and brought in Petro Poroshenko. This was the effective cause for Putins seizure of Crimea in 2014 and Russias resulting expulsion from the G-8, which reverted to the G-7. All of the major powers had joined in guaranteeing Ukraines independence and its borders when it surrendered the nuclear weapons that it, along with Belarus and Kazakhstan, had inherited from the Soviet Union, but the guarantees of the signatory powers including Russia and the United States were conspicuously worthless. From this point onward, the die was cast, and Putin was aiming to recover the power and position of the Soviet Union. He stopped seeking better relations with the West, and began paying court to Beijing. Theres an element of surmise in this, but it seems likely that he was motivated to make his move on Ukraine after the horrifying fiasco of the American desertion of Afghanistan, leaving thousands of their own operatives and billions of dollars of military hardware in the hands of their Taliban enemy, while putting great and completely avoidable strain on the Western alliance. Putins assault on Ukraine was bizarre: American aerial reconnaissance made public to the whole world the buildup of the Russian supply train and large numbers of tanks and armored personnel carriers. With this daily spectacle, I was one of those commentators who wrote that this was such an insane method of preparing for war, and, as the visible Russian forces were only about 150,000 combat trigger-pullers with scores of thousands of support people, Putin could not possibly be serious about attempting to occupy a country of over 40 million people with such an inadequate attack force. We now know that his military commanders assumed that their former faithful supporters in the Yanukovych government could stage a coup in Kyiv delivering the capital of Ukraine over to the Russian invader within a few days, and that resistance would fade away as quickly in the balance of the country as it did in Crimea in 2014. Russian intelligence should have known that a number of NATO countries had been diligently training up a full army of 200,000 Ukrainians and a well-trained militia reserve of another 300,000, and they might have anticipated that NATO would heavily assist Ukraine with arms and munitions. The Americans probably deserve some credit for only slowly ratcheting up the level and sophistication of their support for the Zelinskyy government in Ukraine, and avoiding sudden drastic escalation. Russia has now reached the extremity of buying weapons from North Korea. If Putin escalates his attack on the Ukrainian civil population, and particularly if he employs small nuclear weapons, it will be an invitation to a drastic escalation of the air and artillery war against Russia. And the current Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, cannot be allowed to drag the West into a reenactment of the Crimean war of 165 years ago (without a light brigade or Tennyson to describe it). Putin can have a referendum in the Russian-speaking areas of Ukraine, including Crimea. But thats all he will have to show for this clumsy and failed effort to revive Russian glory. The invasion of Ukraine is a failure, and Russias attempt to regain the first rank of world powers dies with it. The best Putin or any Russian leader can do now is to liquidate this war, hope that it wins some referendums in the Georgian and Ukrainian border states, and replace the present program of almost weekly murders of oligarchs with a serious effort to give Russia something it has not had one day of in its entire history: good government. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Flowers and cards left at a monument outside the former Kamloops Indian Residential School, in Kamloops, B.C., on May 31, 2021. (The Canadian Press/Darryl Dyck) Theres No Evidence Residential School Children Were Murdered and Tossed Into Unmarked Graves Commentary Since the media release by the Kamloops Indian Band on May 27, 2021, about the confirmation of the remains of 215 children [buried in unmarked graves] who were students of the Kamloops Indian Residential School, similar announcements across the country have come fast and furious. The news stories and unabated attention devoted to unmarked graves and missing students quickly accelerated after the Trudeau governments announcement on Aug. 10, 2021, of $320 million in additional support [on top of the millions already promised] for Indigenous-led, Survivor-centric and culturally sensitive initiatives and investments to help Indigenous communities respond to and heal from the ongoing impacts of residential schools, including to research and locate burial sites as well as to commemorate and memorialize the children who died at residential schools. Including the Kamloops site, where ground-penetrating radar was used to detect the graves, reputed unmarked grave sites at 34 residential schools and potential burial locales have been identified since May 2021. Nevertheless, not a single body associated with any residential school has been recovered, let alone forensically examined. Although five of the six pre-Kamloops searches found human remains, none represented missing Indian Residential School (IRS) students or other missing persons. Still, none of these negative findings have put a damper on more scavenger hunts for unmarked graves, whose only prize has been the money earned and jobs created from the search itself along with generous funding for ancillary activities like healing and commemoration. This applies in spades to a March 3, 2022, CBC story about a search at the site of the former Holy Angels Residential School in Fort Chipewyan, Alberta. The Roman Catholic school, which was demolished in 1974, is said to be the last whereabouts of 89 missing children representing at least four different aboriginal groups who attended the school between 1880 and 1953. This news was accompanied by the burning to the ground of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Roman Catholic Church associated with the school in the early morning hours of Aug. 25, 2022. Like the dozens of Catholic and other churches that were also destroyed following the revelations at Kamloops, this was termed by the RCMP as a suspected case of arson, a reasonable assertion given the accusations of student abusenone provenat the Holy Angels school. This destructive act is particularly troubling because the Catholic Diocese of St. Paul sold the building to All Nations Church, a non-denominational organization based in Fort McMurray, in December 2020, and because Fort Chipewyan has not had a local priest for decades. A police officer walks past whats left of St. Jean Baptiste Parish Catholic church in Morinville, Alta., after it was burned down on June 30, 2021. (The Canadian Press/Jason Franso) It bears questioning why some bands that so far havent come across any unmarked graves are searching for them, when no children are being searched for by any of their relatives. How can children be missing when nobody knows their names or is looking for them? Also, why was an archaeological team from the University of Alberta hired to search the former school grounds for potential unmarked graves, as the Edmonton Journal reported in an article about the Holy Angels school, when there is no evidence to suggest that students were secretly buried? Yes, the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR), the successor to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) charged with reporting on the history, operation, and legacy of Canadas Indian Residential Schools, lists the names and date of death of the 89 Holy Angels students on their Memorial Register who are said to have died at the school or within a year of their discharge. According to the NCTR, Following the direction provided by Survivors [i.e., any indigenous person who attended an IRS] during the community engagements held in 2018 and at the National Gathering of Elders, only the names and dates of death will be public. But this directive should not have prevented the NCTR from publishing a summary of the cause of death and place of burial for each individual schoolsomething it did for the schools as a whole. Refusing to publish the school-level findings may have helped precipitate the trauma and rage felt by indigenous people across the land, resulting in church burnings like the Fort Chipewyan one. To this day, it remains unclear how hard the NCTR has been looking for the fate of the missing children in publicly available archival sources. If it has been working diligently on this issue, no detailed findings have been released to the public or the affected communities since 2015. This would be unconscionable. What is clear, however, is that whenever independent researchers like Nina Green undertook such searches at their own expense, most of this information was quickly found buried in publicly accessible federal and provincial archives, and the students physical remains were nearly always interred in band cemeteries. Other research has shown that so-called students who never returned from their residential schools were often sent home when terminally ill. If they died in the school infirmary, their remains were transported to their reserves whenever it was feasible. And if they died in a nearby hospital, they were often interred on its grounds or in a nearby cemetery if they could not be sent home. But the best evidence that there are no missing children comes from TRC/NCTR records and from our understanding of traditional indigenous mortuary practice. Of the 89 memorialized Holy Angels children, only 14 (16 percent) died less than 80 years ago. The last student died in 1953, 69 years ago. Like most peoples, whether literate or not, the Chippewa/Ojibway/Metis/Cree ethnic groups whose children attended Holy Angels did not maintain detailed multi-generational genealogies. Together with the widespread neglect of existing reserve cemeteries full of long-decayed wooden markers that were never replaced, this helps explain why no band members are frantically looking for missing ancestors who died more than seven decades ago. In sum, there is no proof that any student listed on the Memorial Register for the Holy Angels or any other IRS was not appropriately buried or that their death certificates were not signed by the proper authorities. Nor is there evidence of a single child murdered and tossed into an unmarked grave in the dead of night at any government-supported IRS during the schools 113-year period of operation. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks with the media at Canada House after visiting 10 Downing Street to meet with the United Kingdom Prime Minister Liz Truss in London on Sept. 18, 2022. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press) Trudeau Responds to Question on Reports of Canada Lifting Remaining COVID Restrictions Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did not confirm nor deny whether hes about to lift much of the remaining federal COVID-19 restrictions after several media reports predicted as much in recent days. Every step of the way through this pandemic weve been guided by evidence, by facts, by the best counsel of expertsinternational and across Canadawith the overarching priority of keeping Canadians safe, healthy, and making sure were caring for the Canadian economy and everyones general well-being, Trudeau told reporters on Sept. 18 while in London for Queen Elizabeths funeral. As we look at the situation evolving, we will continue to make decisions that align with that and when we have things to announce, we will announce them. The possibility the Liberal government is about to drop restrictions was first reported in a Toronto Star column by Althia Raj on Sept. 16. Citing anonymous sources, it said the mandate at the border for unvaccinated travellers could soon be removed, along with random testing. It also suggested the mandatory ArriveCan service could be cancelled. The article said cabinet has yet to make a final decision on the matter. The Toronto Sun corroborated some of the details on Sept. 18 in a column written by Brian Lilley. Discussions Ive had over the past several days with industry, government and other sources point to a fluid situation where final details are still being worked out but, generally speaking, most measures will be gone by the end of September, Lilley wrote. He added the government would let the Order in Council imposing the restrictions expirethe same approach that was used with the domestic travel vaccine mandate. While that mandate expired on June 20, the governments messaging was that it was suspended for the time being but could be brought back if deemed necessary. Lilley reported that ArriveCan could become optional instead of mandatory, and that there is no consensus on the masking requirement. He said that Minister of Health Jean-Yves Duclos reportedly opposes dropping masks before Thanksgiving to assess the impact of holiday travel on transmission of the virus. Remaining Rules After the federal vaccine mandate was suspended in June, unvaccinated Canadians were permitted to take a plane from Canada, but are still subjected to testing and a 14-day quarantine upon return. Unvaccinated foreigners cannot visit Canada, which has caused complications for many cross-border families and has impacted the tourism industry. The federal government is facing legal action for the travel vaccine mandate and the imposition of ArriveCan. There will be a hearing in federal court in Ottawa on Sept. 21 regarding the travel mandate lawsuits, with the government aiming to have them declared moot due to the June 20 suspension. The applicants challenging the mandates argue the issue isnt moot since the government has stated mandates could be brought back, and they also want the court to assess any potential breach of charter rights. Cross-examination of government witnesses in late spring revealed that Health Canada did not make a direct recommendation for the imposition of vaccination and that the measure was used as a catalyst to drive vaccine uptake. Pandemic Is Over South of the border, the U.S. administration has changed its guidance and tone on COVID-19 in recent days, with President Joe Biden telling 60 minutes on Sept. 18 that the pandemic is over. This follows a change in the guidance provided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Aug. 11, with its recommendations no longer differentiating based on vaccinated status. A few days later on Aug. 16, Homeland Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas had a virtual meeting with Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino. The meeting had the objective of enhancing collaboration between the countries on cross-border law enforcement and cross-border travel, said Mendicinos press secretary Audrey Champoux in an Aug. 19 email, adding a read-out of the call would not be provided. The U.S. also has a vaccine border mandate for foreigners and attempted to impose similar restrictions as Canada. Its vaccine mandate for businesses and mandatory masking on planes and trains were defeated in court. Former U.S. President Donald Trump arrives at Trump Tower the day after FBI agents raided his Mar-a-Lago Palm Beach home, in New York on Aug. 9, 2022. (David 'Dee' Delgado/Reuters) Trump Returns to Mar-a-Lago, Reveals Place Will Never Be the Same After Raid Former President Donald Trump revealed Monday that he returned to his Mar-a-Lago property while decrying the FBIs raid targeting the resort last month. Arrived in Florida last night and had a long and detailed chance to check out the scene of yet another government crime, the FBIs Raid and Break-In of my home, Mar-a-Lago, he wrote on Truth Social. I guess they dont think there is a Fourth Amendment anymore, and to them, there isnt. In any event, after what they have done, the place will never be the same. Trump said the residence was ransacked, and in far different condition than the way I left it, adding that FBI agents didnt even take off their shoes in my bedroom. Members of Trumps family and his lawyers have indicated that the 45th president was not there when the FBI agents targeted his Palm Beach, Florida, residence. When the agents searched his home, Trump and family members watched them via CCTV cameras from New York, his lawyers have said. The Epoch Times has contacted the FBI for comment. Whats Next Trumps announcement comes just days after U.S. Judge Aileen Cannon also appointed Senior District Judge Raymond Dearie as a third party to review records seized by the FBI for materials that could be privileged and kept from federal investigators. The Department of Justice (DOJ), in court filings, has promised to take the case to an appeals court if Cannon ruled against their request. They had also sought to block the independent arbiter, Dearie, from vetting the roughly 100 classified documents included among the 11,000 records gathered in the court-approved Aug. 8 search. An aerial view of former U.S. President Donald Trumps Mar-a-Lago home after FBI agents raided it, in Palm Beach, Fla., on Aug. 15, 2022. (Marco Bello/Reuters) The court does not find it appropriate to accept the governments conclusions on these important and disputed issues without further review by a neutral third party in an expedited and orderly fashion, Cannon wrote last week. The special masters review could wall off documents from prosecutors as they weigh the possibility of criminal charges. Cannon on Thursday said she would instruct Dearie to prioritize reviewing the classified records first and also directed him to complete his review of all the seized materials by Nov. 30, according to her order. In court filings, the DOJ has alleged Trump may have obstructed justice or violated provisions under the 100-year-old Espionage Act law after it was told about allegedly classified materials earlier this year and when FBI agents were sent to Mar-a-Lago in June to recover some of those records. But Trump has asserted in public that those materials were declassified, while his lawyers said that some materials fall under attorney-client privilege. Whats more, the 45th president has said the FBI took his medical records, tax documents, and even passports. The former president also wrote on Monday: Thank you to all of the many people who greeted me last night on my way from the Airport to Mar-a-Lago. I will never forget the great people of this Country. MAGA!!! Reuters contributed to this report. Former President Donald Trump speaks at a "Save America" rally to support Republican candidates running for state and federal offices in the state at the Covelli Centre in Youngstown, Ohio, on Sept. 17, 2022. (Jeff Swensen/Getty Images) Trump Returns to Mar-a-Lago for 1st Time Since FBI Raid Former President Donald Trump has returned to Florida for the first time since FBI agents searched his home there early last month and says he will provide updates on his Truth Social platform. Arrived in Florida last night and had a long and detailed chance to check out the scene of yet another government crime, the FBIs Raid and Break-In of my home, Mar-a-Lago, Trump posted on Truth Social early on Sept. 19. I guess they dont think there is a Fourth Amendment anymore, and to them, there isnt. In any event, after what they have done, the place will never be the same. It was ransacked and in far different condition than the way I left it. Many Agents And they didnt even take off their shoes in my bedroom. Nice!!! The former president had written on his Truth Social social media platform a day earlier: It has already been proven that so much has been wrongfully taken, it is not a pretty thing. So sad! I will keep the American public informed on TRUTH! Trump was in New York City when about 30 FBI agents raided his Florida residence on Aug. 8. That day, the agents also searched former First Lady Melania Trumps closet and her personal items, as well as his 16-year-old son Barrons room, according to Trump. The raid concluded with the FBI seizing a total of 11,179 documents and other materials that werent marked classified, along with 103 documents marked classified including some marked as top secret, according to an inventory released earlier this month. Trump has claimed that he had declassified the documents found at Mar-a-Lago that were marked as classified. Special Master On Sept. 15, Florida-based U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon named retired Judge Raymond Dearie as an independent arbiter, also called a special master, to review the materials seized by the FBI. One of Dearies tasks is to determine whether any documents are privileged and should be off-limits to federal investigators. Cannon also rejected a U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) request to allow investigators to continue a criminal investigation into the seized materials. A day later, the DOJ filed a motion asking an appeals court to issue a partial stay on Cannons order. Dearie was appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1986 and later became chief judge for the Eastern District of New York. He retired in 2011 and is now a senior judge in the district. According to a court document, Dearie will hold a preliminary conference with lawyers for Trump and the DOJ at the Brooklyn Federal Courthouse at 2 p.m. local time on Sept. 20. Following Dearies appointment, Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas) called the decision a Huge Trump Victory. The FBI cant operate in the shadows ANY LONGER!! Well soon find out just how CORRUPT this whole WITCH HUNT really is!! Jackson wrote on Twitter. At a rally to support Republican candidates in Ohio on Sept. 17, Trump claimed that the FBI raid was the result of the unprecedented weaponization of the DOJ. For six straight years, Ive been harassed, investigated, defamed, slandered, and persecuted like no other presidentand probably like no one in American history, he said. Yet all I have ever wanted and all weve ever fought for is to simply, very simply, make America great again. Jason Miller, CEO of Gettr, in an interview with NTD's Steve Lance on "Capitol Report", on Sept. 14, 2022. (Screenshot via NTD video) Twitter Allowing Active Spy From the CCP to Infiltrate Platform Very Troubling: Gettr CEO Advanced Tiktok algorithm essentially 'a national security threat', says Jason Miller Gettrs CEO said that recent whistleblower allegations that Twitter allowed a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) agent to be a part of the company are very troubling, very problematic. The reason why they allowed this person to stay in their position was because Twitter is so dependent now on mainland China for revenue streams, said Jason Miller in an interview with NTDs Capitol Report. They dont currently want to upset the CCP. Now, if Im [a] Republican on Capitol Hill, or a Democrat I hope there are follow-ups and letters being fired off to Twitter, saying who is this CCP spy? And why have they not yet been removed from your ranks? Miller said that Twitter was the de-facto digital town square of the world, and thats why Elon Musk wanted to buy out the company, and also why Gettr was launched, to decentralize some of these free speech rights to make sure that not all of our communications are being held by a company as troubled as Twitter. Whistleblower Allegations According to Peiter Zatko, a whistleblower who served as Twitters head of security for about 14 months before being fired earlier this yearfor questioning executives over foreign agentsTwitter was informed by the U.S. government that at least one agent of the Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS) was working at the company. The MSS is equivalent to the CIA in the United States. When I said, I am confident that we have a foreign agent, [the executives] response was, Well since we already have one, what does it matter if we have more; lets keep growing the office,' Zatko recalled during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Sept. 13. Even though Twitter is banned on the Chinese mainland, Zatko alleged that the platform has become increasingly dependent on Chinese sales. This dependence put Twitters Chinese users, who circumvent the CCPs censorship firewall, at risk of being captured by the CCP. Zatko also mentioned the lax attitude regarding data security at the company. When an influential media platform can be compromised by teenagers, thieves, and spies, and the company repeatedly creates security problems on their own, this is a big deal for all of us. Twitter has labeled Zatkos claims as a false narrative. Chinese TikTok Regarding the sharing of American users data by Chinese platform Tiktok, Miller said that the Biden administration should request Apple and Google to remove the app from their stores, and consider banning Tiktok from the United States, because of the sophisticated algorithm it has deployed in the country. He cautioned that Tiktok knows what the user wants to see even before the user does. They know how to read your mind better than you do, he said, noting the 13-year-olds joining Tiktok. The CCP is going to have a psychographic analysis of the interest, the desires, the motivating factors for an entire generation of Americans. Miller pointed out how this amount of knowledge impacts election interference, and could easily manipulate Americans thoughts on China invading Taiwan. The psychographic footprints and analyses the company has on Americans are a national security threat. Weaponizing the FBI and DOJ Miller, a senior adviser for former President Donald Trump, said the weaponization and politicization of law enforcement agencies meant the United States was becoming like Cuba or Venezuela, or any of these authoritarian governments where the criminal justice system or law enforcement is just an extension of whoevers in power. He made the comments following the FBIs confiscation of MyPillow CEO Mike Lindels phone. Miller talked about people in the broader Trump circle who are being targeted because of their relationship with the former president. The concern here also is that Americans start to lose all confidence in the FBI in our DOJ, he said. I worry about our being able to put the genie back in the bottle here. Steve Lance Follow Steve Lance is the host of Capitol Report, a political news show based in Washington aimed at providing a direct channel to the voices and people who shape policy in America. Capitol Report features all of the political news of the day with expert interviews and analysis. A crater left by a missile is seen 300 meters from the South Ukraine nuclear power plant, in the background, close to Yuzhnoukrainsk, Mykolayiv region, Ukraine, on Sept. 19, 2022. (South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant Press Office via AP) Ukraine Says Russian Missile Struck Close to Nuclear Plant KYIV, UkraineA Russian missile blasted a crater close to a nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine on Monday, damaging nearby industrial equipment but not hitting its three reactors, Ukrainian nuclear operator Energoatom said. The missile struck within 300 meters (328 yards) of the reactors at the South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant near the city of Yuzhnoukrainsk in Mykolaiv province, leaving a hole 2 meters (6 1/2 feet) deep and 4 meters (13 feet) wide, according to Energoatom. The reactors were operating normally and no employees were injured, it said. But the proximity of the strike renewed fears that Russias nearly 7-month-long war in Ukraine might produce a radiation disaster. This nuclear power station is Ukraines second-largest after the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, which has repeatedly come under fire. Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened last week to step up Russian attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure. The industrial complex that includes the South Ukraine plant sits along the Southern Bug River about 300 kilometers (190 miles) south of the capital, Kyiv. The attack also caused the temporary shutdown of a nearby hydroelectric power plant, shattered more than 100 windows at the complex, and severed three power lines, Ukrainian authorities said. The Pivdennoukrainsk Nuclear Power Plant, also known as the South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant, in the southern Mykolaiv region of Ukraine, on May 31, 2022, in a satellite image. (Planet Labs PBC via AP) Ukraines Defense Ministry released a black-and-white video showing two large fireballs erupting one after the other in the dark, followed by incandescent showers of sparks, at 19 minutes after midnight. The ministry and Energoatom called the strike nuclear terrorism. The Russian Defense Ministry and the United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), did not immediately comment on the attack. Russian forces have occupied the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, Europes largest, since early after the invasion. Shelling has cut off the plants transmission lines, forcing operators to shut down its six reactors to avoid a radiation disaster. Russia and Ukraine have traded blame for the strikes. The IAEA, which has stationed monitors at the Zaporizhzhia plant, said a main transmission line was reconnected Friday, providing the electricity it needs to cool its reactors. But the mayor of Enerhodar, where the Zaporizhzhia plant is located, reported more Russian shelling Monday in the citys industrial zone. While warning Friday of a possible ramp-up of strikes, Putin claimed his forces had so far acted with restraint but warned if the situation develops this way, our response will be more serious. Just recently, the Russian armed forces have delivered a couple of impactful strikes, he said. Lets consider those as warning strikes. The latest Russian shelling killed at least eight civilians and wounded 22 others, Ukraines presidential office said Monday. The governor of the northeastern Kharkiv region, which is now largely back in Ukrainian hands, said Russian shelling killed four medical workers trying to evacuate patients from a psychiatric hospital and wounded two patients. The mayor of the Russian-occupied eastern city of Donetsk, meanwhile, said shelling by Ukrainian forces had killed 13 civilians and wounded eight there. In other developments: A governor said Ukraine had recaptured the village of Bilogorivka in the Russian-occupied eastern region of Luhansk. Russia didnt acknowledge the claim. The Russian-installed leaders of Ukraines Luhansk, Donetsk and Kherson regions reiterated calls Monday for referendums to be held to tie their areas formally to Russia. These officials have discussed such plans before but the referendums have been repeatedly delayed. The Supreme Court in the Russian-occupied region of Luhansk convicted a former interpreter for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and another person whose duties were not specified of high treason Monday. Both were sentenced to 13 years in prison. The Baltic nations of Estonia, Latvia ,and Lithuania closed their borders Monday to most Russian citizens in response to domestic support in Russia for the war in Ukraine. Poland will join the ban on Sept. 26. Mark Frerichs, a U.S. veteran and civilian contractor held more than two years in Afghanistan by the Taliban, in a file photo. (Charlene Cakora via AP) US Contractor Freed by Taliban in Swap for Drug Trafficker WASHINGTON An American contractor held hostage in Afghanistan for more than two years has been released in exchange for a convicted Taliban drug lord jailed in the United States, the White House said Monday. Mark Frerichs, a Navy veteran who had spent more than a decade in Afghanistan as a civilian contractor, was abducted in January 2020 and is believed to have been held since then by the Taliban-linked Haqqani terrorist network. He was traded for Bashir Noorzai, a Taliban associate convicted in a heroin trafficking conspiracy who had spent 17 years behind bars before his release Monday. U.S. officials said the deal for Frerichs was the result of months of quiet negotiations. Those discussions gained new momentum in June when President Joe Biden agreed to grant Noorzai relief from his life sentence, setting the stage for what one administration official described as a very narrow window of opportunity this month to complete the deal. Biden said in a statement released by the White House, Bringing the negotiations that led to Marks freedom to a successful resolution required difficult decisions, which I did not take lightly. Frerichs, 60, had been working on civil engineering projects at the time of his Jan. 31, 2020 abduction in Kabul. Hes believed to have been lured into a meeting to discuss a new project and then transported to Khost, a stronghold of the Haqqani network near the Pakistan border. He was last seen in a video posted last spring by The New Yorker in which he appeared in traditional Afghan clothing and pleaded for his release. He was accompanied Monday by the administrations special presidential envoy for hostage affairs and was in stable health, a U.S. official said. His ultimate destination was not immediately clear, though a Qatari Foreign Ministry official said Frerichs would soon head from Doha to the United States. A sister of Frerichs, who is from Lombard, Illinois, thanked U.S. officials who helped secure her brothers release. I am so happy to hear that my brother is safe and on his way home to us. Our family has prayed for this each day of the more than 31 months he has been a hostage. We never gave up hope that he would survive and come home safely to us, said a statement from the sister, Charlene Cakora. Noorzai, at the time of his 2005 arrest, hardly seemed an ideal recipient for presidential clemency. Hed been designated on a list reserved for some of the worlds most prolific drug traffickers, and was prosecuted in Manhattans federal court on charges that accused him of owning opium fields in Kandahar province and relying on a network of distributors who sold the heroin in New York. When he was sentenced to life imprisonment, the then-top federal prosecutor in Manhattan said Noorzais worldwide narcotics network supported a Taliban regime that made Afghanistan a breeding ground for international terrorism. Mondays deal underscored the two sides to the Talibans approach to illegal drugs. In April, they announced a ban on harvesting the poppies that produce opium for making heroinan order that also outlawed the manufacture and transportation of narcotics. However, during the years-long attacks led by the Taliban, they reportedly made millions of dollars taxing farmers and middle men who moved their drugs outside Afghanistan. Even before their takeover of Afghanistan in August last year, the Taliban had demanded the United States release Noorzai in exchange for Frerichs. But there had been little public indication of Washington proceeding along those lines. The collapse of the Western-backed Afghan government and takeover by the Taliban in August 2021 raised additional concern that progress in negotiations could be undone or that Frerichs could be forgotten. But his name was invoked last month when Biden was said by his advisers to have pressed officials to consider any risk posed to Frerichs by the drone strike in Afghanistan that killed al-Qaeda terrorist leader Ayman al-Zawahri. U.S. officials were more circumspect. Though it does not recognize the Taliban, the United States does have interests at stake in Afghanistan and will continue to engage with the Taliban in addressing the hunger and humanitarian crisis gripping the country, administration officials said Monday. But officials say they remain concerned about whether the Taliban are committed to fighting terrorism and by the exclusion of girls from high schools there, an issue that drew a United Nations reprimand on Sunday. A sign for the National Security Agency (NSA), U.S. Cyber Command and Central Security Service, near the visitor's entrance to the NSA headquarters in Fort Meade, Md., on Feb. 14, 2018. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images) US Military Base in Syria Targeted in Rocket Attack A rocket attack targeting the U.S. militarys Green Village base in northeast Syria failed to hit U.S. or coalition forces or any equipment, the U.S. Central Command said. Three 107 mm rockets targeted the base on Sunday and a fourth rocket along with rocket tubes was found at the launch point, about 5 kilometers (3 miles) away, the command said in a statement. The Green Village base was targeted last month in violence between the U.S. military and Iran-backed militants leaving at least one U.S. military service member in Syria with a minor injury. The incident triggered a U.S. response that killed two or three militants conducting the attacks. The Central Command said it was investigating the latest failed attack, which struck at approximately 7:05 p.m. local time in Syria. U.S. forces first deployed in Syria during the Obama administrations campaign against ISIS, partnering with a Kurdish-led group called the Syrian Democratic Forces. There are about 900 U.S. troops in Syria, most of them in the east. Victorian Premiers Promise to Rename Hospital After Queen Elizabeth II Sparks Criticism Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has raised controversy after he promised to rebuild and rename a Melbourne hospital in honour of Queen Elizabeth II ahead of the state election in November. In his bid for a third term, the premier said if he were re-elected, his government would spend up to $1.05 billion (US$700 million) to redevelop and expand the capacity of the Maroondah Hospital in Ringwood East. The new Queen Elizabeth II Hospital will rebuild and refurbish the Maroondah Hospital from the ground up, Andrews said on Sept. 18. The Labor government said the redevelopment would include a new emergency department, operating theatres, day-procedure facilities, specialist care spaces and two six-storey inpatient towers with 200 extra beds, enabling the hospital to serve an additional 9,000 inpatients per year. It also mentioned that construction would commence in 2025 and generate about 2,500 jobs. While providing details of the redevelopment plan, the premier did not elaborate on how his government would fund the project. In its re-election pitch in 2018, the Labor government promised to expand the emergency department for children. However, four years later, the project is still in the planning stages and has not commenced construction. An external view of the Royal Children Hospital in Melbourne, Australia, on Feb. 26, 2015. (Luis Ascui/Getty Images) Criticism Toward Premiers Announcement Speaking about the name change, Andrews said it was a mark of respect to her unwavering commitment to healthcare and our community. The Queen was a longstanding supporter of Victorias healthcare system, he said. As the patron of the Royal Melbourne and the Royal Childrens hospitals, she demonstrated her devotion to patients and their care whenever she visited their bedsides. The term Maroondah means throwing leaves in the Aboriginal language, the Maroondah Council website states. Meanwhile, there are already hospitals in Brisbane and Adelaide, and a medical centre in Perth named in honour of the late Queen Elizabeth II. Andrews hospital renaming move has attracted objection from many community members, with a growing online petition calling on the premier to reconsider his decision and consult with First Nations groups and community leaders. The announcement came one day after Victorias Opposition pledged to provide a $400 million upgrade package to the Maroondah Hospital should it win the upcoming election. After hearing the news, Opposition Leader Matthew Guy criticised the Andrews government and said he did not believe it would keep its promise. If he really wanted to put $1 billion into Maroondah Hospital, hes had eight years to do it. Hes been here a long time, Guy told reporters. I bet if hes elected, hell never build it. Additionally, among the promises made by the Opposition was $108 million in funding for a new clinical medical research centre at Box Hill Hospital, which is part of the Eastern Health network. Previously, the Opposition said it would cancel part of the Suburban Rail Loop project and redirect $35 billion into the health system. Employees of German car manufacturer Porsche install the windshield of a Porsche 911 at the Porsche factory in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen, Germany, on Feb. 19, 2019. (Ralph Orlowski/Reuters) Volkswagen Targets 75 Billion Euro Valuation in Landmark Porsche IPO HAMBURG/BERLINVolkswagen is targeting a valuation of up to 75 billion euros ($75.1 billion) for luxury sportscar maker Porsche, it said on Sunday, in what will be Germanys second-largest initial public offering (IPO) in history. Volkswagen will price preferred shares in the flotation of Porsche AG at 76.50 euros to 82.50 euros per share, the carmaker said, translating into a valuation of 70 billion to 75 billion euros. At the upper end of the range, first reported by Reuters, it would become Europes third largest IPO on record, according to Refinitiv data. Trading will begin on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange on Sept. 29, Volkswagen said. As part of the listing, 911 million Porsche AG shares will be divided into 455.5 million preferred shares and 455.5 million ordinary shares. Up to 113,875,000 preferred shares, carrying no voting rights, will be placed with investors over the course of the IPO. The sovereign wealth funds of Qatar, Abu Dhabi, and Norway as well as mutual fund company T. Rowe Price will subscribe up to 3.68 billion euros worth of preferred shares as cornerstone investors, at the upper end of the valuation, Volkswagen said. We are now in the home stretch with the IPO plans for Porsche and welcome the commitment of our cornerstone investors, Volkswagen Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer Arno Antlitz said. In line with Volkswagens agreement earlier in September with its largest shareholder Porsche SE , 25 percent plus one ordinary share in the sportscar brand, which do carry voting rights, will go to Porsche SE at the price of the preferred shares plus a 7.5 percent premium. Porsche SE, the holding firm controlled by the Porsche and Piech families, will finance the acquisition of the ordinary shares with debt capital of up to 7.9 billion euros, it said in a separate statement. Total proceeds from the sale will be 18.1 billion to 19.5 billion euros. If the IPO goes ahead, Volkswagen will call an extraordinary shareholder meeting in December where it will propose to pay 49 percent of total proceeds to shareholders in early 2023 as a special dividend. A stock exchange prospectus is expected to be published on Monday, after which institutional and private investors can subscribe to Porsche shares. ($1 = 0.9985 euros) The State Gun Carriage carries the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard with the Imperial State Crown and the Sovereign's orb and sceptre, in the Ceremonial Procession following her state funeral at Westminster Abbey, London, on Sept. 19, 2022. (Ian West/PA Media) Why Billions Will Be Watching Queen Elizabeths Funeral Commentary Some 4.1 billion people worldwide are likely to have watched either all or much of todays state funeral for Queen Elizabeth II on television or streaming media. Its a number nearly double the 2.5 billion people who tuned in to the obsequies for Princess Diana, Elizabeths immensely popular sometime daughter-in-law, killed in an auto accident in 1997 and memorialized as the peoples princess by the likes of Elton John and others. Credit the vastly larger numbers of expected viewers for Elizabeths funeral to technology that has turned cellphones into pocket television sets instantly available. But tech cant explain the 10-mile-long lines snaking through London in which hundreds of thousands of Britons have waited as long as 24 hours, braving chilly and sleepless nights, to file in person past her coffin as she lay in state in Westminster Hall. Some had traveled hundreds of miles from all over Britain to pay their respects to the late monarch. Nor can it explain the worldwide appetite for nonstop news coverage of the mourning ceremonies for the 96-year-old queento the point that grousing about media overkill has become a box to check for left-leaning journalists here in the United States. The Philadelphia Inquirers Will Bunch complained that watching a royal hearse roll for hours on end isnt appropriate for a country that fought so valiantly to reject monarchial tyranny all those years ago. There are many reasons for this enormous outpouring of respect and affection, even here in Britains rebellious former colony. There is Elizabeths sterling character: her devotion to her family and her faith during a 70-year reign marked by her modesty and graciousness and never scarred by the kind of personal scandal that tainted some of her offspringand also her unflagging commitment to her public duties. I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong, she said in a speech on her 21st birthday in 1947, five years before she became queen. She lived up to that promise selflessly and tirelessly. Theres also the sense, as New York Post contributor Philip Terzian has pointed out, that Queen Elizabeth, as head of state but not head of the government in Britains constitutional monarchy, could rise above the ceaseless political maneuvering that has resulted in at least some of our own heads of state, our presidents, proving to be less worthy of the publics respect than others. In Britain, Prime ministers come and go but the British sovereign endures, Terzian wrote. And not to be ignored is the British flair, honed in centuries of tradition, for a kind of pageantry that leaves the solemn rituals of other countries, including our own, in the dust. The photographs of Elizabeths lying-in-state are riveting: the purple-draped catafalque, the coffin clothed in the crimson-and-gold royal flag and surmounted with a wreath of white roses and her crown, the cross at her head, the magnificently uniformed royal bodyguards keeping vigil. No wonder thousands of Britons forfeited sleep and food to see this spectacle in person. But the real drawing card is something else: the ritual itself, which isnt simply a marker of death and burial and mourning, of slow-rolling hearses and (as Will Bunch described them) boring church services. Its a marker of the sacral function of the monarchy, persisting in our otherwise thoroughly secularized age. In 1957, the medieval historian Ernst Kantorowicz published a book, The Kings Two Bodies, that has since become a classic. Kantorowicz argued that a medieval king wasnt just a man sitting on a throne but the body politic itself, a living representation of the society he governed. The kings corporeal body might age and die, but his body politic lives forever in his successors. The monarchy thus has a sacred aspect, above any human office, and in Britain it has been a specifically Christian institution since the seventh century. It isnt surprising that one of the features of every British coronation for the past 300 years, including Elizabeths, has been the singing of Handels Zadok the Priest, a translation of the medieval liturgical antiphon for a kings anointing that derives from the biblical anointing of King Solomon. In todays Britain, and indeed in much of the West, churchgoing is in steep decline, and its common to regard the monarchy as a taxpayer-supported fossil with a dim future. Indeed, when Diana died in 1997, there was a surge of populist contempt for her former husband, then Prince Charles and heir to the throne, and for the royal family in general, believed to have mistreated the young princess. Revelations about Charless younger brother Prince Andrews alleged dalliances with an underage girl on Jeffrey Epsteins island added fuel to the fire, and many predicted that the monarchy would not outlive Elizabeth. Yet when King Charles III formally ascended the throne at St. Jamess Palace on Sept. 10, two days after his mothers death, huge crowds gathered outside to sing God Save the King and give three cheers. There seemed to be an instinctive understanding that monarchy was an institution that transcended individual monarchs and that it was an institution worthy of honor. Even in our secular age, people yearn for faith and ritual and ceremonial meaning that derives from something outside the ordinariness of daily life. Its not surprising that the ceremonies of Queen Elizabeths funeral resonate so deeply with billions of people. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Why Is a CCP-Backed Biotech Firm Operating in Various US Cities? Commentary President Joe Biden on Sept. 12 announced a new initiative designed to funnel an unspecified amount of cash into the U.S. biotechnology industry. The initiatives aim is simple: to make the United States more efficient and reduce dependence on communist China in the biotech space. A noble goal, no doubt. However, to beat China, a country that seeks to lead the biotech revolution, the United States must be smart. It must, for example, keep a close eye on a Chinese-backed biotech company operating in its own backyard. Since 2010, the U.S. tech sector has enjoyed explosive growth. But in recent times, that explosive growth has been replaced by a worrying, backward slide. While the United States remains the world leader in all things tech, China is catching up. By the end of the decade, the United States will no longer have the biggest pharmaceutical industry in the world; China will. Moreover, as the author Tristan Bove noted, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is setting itself big targets for its biotech sector, seeking to overtake U.S. market share within the next decade. To achieve these big targets, the CCP is willing to do just about anything. Remember, we are talking about China, a country renowned for espionage and intellectual property theft. The CCPs attempts to steal the United States military secrets and its medical research findings are well-known. Each year, it is estimated that the CCP steals between $200 billion and $600 billion in trade secrets from the United States. Beijing has been stealing these secrets for the best part of two decades, maybe longer. That brings us to WuXi Biologics, a massive biotech firm that appears to have close ties to Beijing. Based in Wuxi, a city in eastern China, the company has a vaccine manufacturing facility in my home country of Ireland. It also happens to have numerous manufacturing facilities in the United States. In 2020, WuXi Biologics signed a 10-year lease for a clinical manufacturing facility in Cranbury, New Jersey, a 66,000-square-foot facility packed with 6,000 L bioreactors and Quality Control (QC) labs. In the same year, WuXi Biologics announced that it was building another huge facility (107,000 square feet) in Worcester, Massachusetts, and establishing a research lab in Pennsylvania. Last month, WuXi STA, a subsidiary of WuXi, broke ground on a 190-acre biotech facility in Middletown, Delaware. The new facility is expected to be in full operation by 2026. In early September, WuXi Biologics announced plans to expand its operations in Cranbury, installing an extra 3,000 L bioreactors. According to the companys website, the Cranbury facility is a key piece of WuXi Biologics Global Dual Sourcing Strategy, ensuring that products can be manufactured, and materials sourced at multiple WuXi Biologics locations around the world. Should readers in the United States be concerned? In short, yes. As Antonio Graceffo, a China economic analyst and Epoch Times contributor, has shown, the Chinese firm has a massive U.S. footprint. In 2015, as Graceffo noted, WuXi Pharma Tech purchased U.S. firm NextCODE Health, forming WuXi NextCODE Genomics. By 2019, there were 15 Chinese genetic testing or genomic sequencing companies with operations in the United States, he added. A technician works at a DNA lab in Beijing on Aug. 22, 2018. (Greg Baker/AFP/Getty Images) In the same year, the biotech firm also bought a stake in 23andMe , one of the United States biggest DNA testing companies (23andME has sold millions of kits to Americans). Graceffo warned that the huge facility currently being built in Delaware was being financed by a CCP-approved government grant. In China, there is no such thing as a truly private company. Any Chinese companies that set up shop in foreign countries operate with the blessing of Beijing. Readers in the United States would do well to remember that the U.S. governments National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC) has identified biotechnology as one of the key targets for foreign adversaries. This includes biomaterials, biopharmaceuticals, and various vaccine technologies. Not surprisingly, the NCSC has listed China as one of the more menacing threats to U.S. security. William R. Evanina, a national security official who previously served as director of the U.S. National Counterintelligence and Security Center, estimates that the CCP has stolen the personal data of 200 million Americans. According to Evanina, the United States economic global supremacy, stability and long-term vitality is not only at risk, but squarely in the cross hairs of Xi Jinping and the communist regime. This brings us back to Bidens latest initiative. Ensuring that the United States has a more robust, more independent biotech sector is certainly something Americans on both sides of the political aisle can get behind. At the same time, however, theres something alarming about a company with close ties to the regime in Beijing operating in various U.S. cities, especially when that company is fast becoming a biotech powerhouse. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. King Charles III, the Queen Consort, the Princess Royal, and other members of the royal family sit in front of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II during her state funeral at the Westminster Abbey in London, on Sept. 19, 2022. (Dominic Lipinski/PA Media) World Leaders Attend Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in London World leaders and royalty have attended the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in Londons Westminster Abbey to mourn Britains longest-serving monarch, who died on Sept. 8 after 70 years on the throne. Tens of thousands of people lined the streets as the Queens coffin made the short journey to the abbey from Westminster Hall, where she had been lying in state for the past four days. King Charles III and other senior British royals walked behind the flag-draped coffin, which was carried on a gun carriage pulled by 142 sailors with arms linked. Canadian mounted officers during the procession for the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, held at Westminster Abbey, London, on Sept. 19, 2022. (Marko Djurica/PA Media) Among the 2,000-strong congregation in the abbey, there were some 500 presidents, prime ministers, foreign royal family members, and dignitaries, including U.S. President Joe Biden and leaders from Canada, Australia, France, Germany, India, and Brazil. The British royal family were sat opposite foreign kings and queens including King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, Prince Albert of Monaco, King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain, and Japanese monarch Naruhito and his wife Masako. U.S. President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden attend the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey, London, on Sept. 19, 2022. (Jack Hill- WPA Pool/Getty Images) During his sermon, the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby told the congregation the outpouring of emotion for the Queen arises from her abundant life and loving service, now gone from us. Welby, standing in the church where kings and queens have been crowned since 1066, also said that the Queen had declared on her 21st birthday that her whole life would be dedicated to serving the nation and Commonwealth. Rarely has such a promise been so well kept. Few leaders receive the outpouring of love we have seen, he added. The State Gun Carriage carries the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard with the Imperial State Crown and the Sovereigns orb and sceptre, as it leaves Westminster Abbey, on Sept. 19, 2022. (Stefan Rousseau/PA Media) Final Journey The funeral was broadcast live at around 125 cinemas and several cathedrals in the UK, and on a big screen in Holyrood Park in front of the Palace of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh. Several big screens were also set up in Hyde Park, while Londons City Hall said all public viewing areas for the Queens funeral procession were full. The State Gun Carriage carries the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard with the Imperial State Crown and the Sovereigns orb and sceptre, in the Ceremonial Procession following her state funeral at Westminster Abbey, London, on Sept. 19, 2022. (Ian West/PA Media) Following the service, the Queens coffin began its final journey from Westminster Abbey to Windsor Castle. Later on Monday evening in Windsor, there will be a private interment service with senior members of the royal family, where the Queen will be reunited with her husband the Duke of Edinburgh. The Queens final resting place will be the King George VI memorial chapel, an annex to the main chapel where her mother and father were buried, along with the ashes of her sister, Princess Margaret. The Duke of Edinburghs coffin will move from the royal vault to the memorial chapel to join the Queens. The coffin of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, draped with the Royal Standard, placed on top of a catafalque at the lying-in-state in Westminster Hall in London on Sept. 18, 2022. (Courtesy of Howard Cheng) PA Media and Reuters contributed to this report. Yeshiva University Suspends Club Activities After Supreme Court Says It Must Recognize LGBT Group Yeshiva University announced it will suspend all campus club activities in its latest attempt to resist a Sept. 14 Supreme Court ruling that lifted an order that had allowed the university in New York to refuse to accept an LGBT group based on the schools religious beliefs. The temporary freeze came ahead of the Jewish High Holidays that start on the evening of Sept. 25, the schools independent student newspaper The Commentator reported on Sept. 16, citing a university email to students. Founded in 1897, the Orthodox Jewish university describes itself in court documents as the worlds premier Torah-based institution of higher education. Considering the upcoming Chagim [holiday], reads the letter that was sent via an unattributed student activities university email account. The university will hold off on all undergraduate club activities while it immediately takes steps to follow the roadmap provided by the U.S. Supreme Court to protect [Yeshiva Universitys] religious freedom. The move came after the Supreme Courts 54 decision on Sept. 14, declining to issue the Jewish university a stay on an order to recognize the LGBT student organization on campus, known as YU Pride Alliance. It stemmed from a June court decision that ordered Yeshiva to fully recognize the group, which the religious institution rebuked, arguing it would go against its teachings. According to the newspaper, the letter didnt specify who made the decision or how long the suspension of activities would be in effect. The holidays begin with the Jewish New Year on Sept. 25 and continue through Simchat Torah on Oct. 18. Yeshiva University officials didnt respond by press time to a request by The Epoch Times for comment. University President Rabbi Ari Berman issued a statement on Sept. 15, expressing his hope to work with the LGBT community while seeking that same right of self-determination to follow its religious mission without being forced. Every faith-based university in the country has the right to work with its students, including its LGBTQ students, to establish the clubs, places, and spaces that fit within its faith tradition, Berman said. At the same time, as our commitment to and love for our LGBTQ students are unshakable, we continue to extend our hand in invitation to work together to create a more inclusive campus life consistent with our Torah values, the president added. The latest club ban has drawn condemnation from student leaders including Student Union President Baruch Lerman, who vowed to have students activity fees, which are part of their tuition, refunded for the extent of the time that student activities are suspended, the Commentator reported. Huang Yongzhen, CEO of Watrix, demonstrates his firm's gait recognition software at his company's offices in Beijing on Oct. 31, 2018. The software recognizes people by their body shape and how they walk, which enabls identification of people when faces are hidden from cameras. Already used by police on the streets of Beijing and Shanghai, gait recognition is part of a major push to develop artificial-intelligence and data-driven surveillance across China, raising concerns about how far the technology will go. (Mark Schiefelbein/AP) Tech Manager Leaves China, Citing Ubiquitous Digital Surveillance Eileen, a high-level manager in a Chinese internet company, decided to leave China after experiencing years of police harassment because her ID labeled her as a member of the heretical religions. After arriving in the United States in August, she told the Chinese language edition of The Epoch Times that she became the subject of constant surveillance when she tried to prevent the conviction of her mother who had been arrested and detained by the regime for her belief in Falun Gong. Falun Gong is a spiritual practice rooted in ancient Chinese culture. Adherents follow the principles of truth, compassion, and tolerance. In the same way the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) targets any religion in China, the regime initiated a campaign of persecution of Falun Gong followers in 1999. When Eileen was dealing with the government regarding her mothers case, even though she refused to reveal her ID number, the authorities used a facial scanner to retrieve her records and then added the designation to her ID. After that, police harassment followed her wherever she went. A lawyer told Eileen that China developed Big Data as a nationwide networked project. Artificial intelligence (AI), including facial recognition, was added to the monitoring system. It captures the images of people and notifies the police of their whereabouts. Tracked by Big Data Despite years of effort, Eileens mother was illegally tried and sentenced to prison. Eileen also became the subject of the persecution campaign. On a business trip in 2020, she was stopped by the police right before boarding a high-speed train in a southern city in China, which she thought was part of a routine pandemic prevention check; but it was then she realized that her ID had a label. The police took her photo and let her leave, but she knew her identity was jeopardized, and ever since, the tagged ID has shadowed her life. On another business trip to a northern city for example, an alarm was triggered when she swiped her ID at a train station. She was immediately brought to a dark room filled with police officers. The men demanded that she sign the so-called three documents specifically designed for adherents of Falun Gong. Signing the documents meant that she admits her mistakes and crimes of practicing and/or defending Falun Gong, and shows her appreciation to the CCP for correcting her mistakes. Eileen refused to sign any documents, but the police continued to threaten her until just before the train left the station. She said that the police routinely kept track of her whereabouts. One time, a police officer warned, Arent you aware that police from your hometown and your workplace are following you everywhere? Visitors take photos near surveillance cameras on Tiananmen Square in Beijing as a policeman stands watch nearby, on July 15, 2021. (Ng Han Guan/AP Photo) Forced to Leave She had to change jobs because national security agents from another city visited her when she was at work, purportedly to discuss her mothers lawsuit. She said, Its actually a way to intimidate. A person like me could have excelled in my career. For years, Eileen has felt the pressure of being under surveillance. She said, The stress keeps you awake at night. You feel like a second-class citizen, oppressed and monitored at all times. The oppression ruined her life and peace as an ordinary person. She said its unfortunate that there are so many peoplefully aware of the evil cruelty of the campaignfollowing the regimes orders for the sake of their positions and titles. One time, when she went to the prison to visit her mother, looking at the high wall outside the prison, she wept over the thought that her mother, a nice, law-abiding person, was locked inside the high walls for her beliefs. In August, after receiving her student visa, Eileen left China. Tencent, a Digital Surveillance Assistant As an expert in the field, Eileen knew exactly how the internet companies tailored their platforms to accommodate the regimes censorship requirements. She explained that the Information Security Department of Tencent, Chinas leading internet service company, operates with two systems to meet the censorship needs of the regime. One establishes and constantly updates a lexicon of sensitive terms through the automatically applied algorithms with its Big Data; the other, an auxiliary team, works day and night, to manually delete sensitive posts made using cell phones. Visitors attend the annual Tencent Games Carnival (TGC) in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China, on December 2, 2017. (Reuters/Stringer). A video taken during the Shanghai lockdown in April went viral. Voice from Shanghai Lockdown recorded the voices of the devastated residents seeking help, and trying to survive after the city imposed a two-month, inhumane, lockdown and isolation policy. Tencent was fighting against the people; it felt just like a war between the good and the evil. People tried to spread the video with various means. It was like a race. Pretty soon, the web link wouldnt work, the video accounts wouldnt work, download wouldnt work, even an upside down video wouldnt work, and Flash wouldnt work. Tencent just deleted them all, like a maniac, she said. The video is now only viewable outside China. Eileen criticized Tencent for choosing to act as a thug and monitor and control people, rather than using its technology to make peoples lives better. What Tencent does is sinful, she said. Li Xinan contributed to this report. That release could not be found. Addis Ababa, 18 September 2022: Ethiopian Cargo & Logistics Services, the largest air cargo network operator in Africa, has been crowned with 'Cargo Airline of The Year' and 'Best Cargo Arline - Africa' at the Air Cargo News Awards 2022. In a ceremony held in London on 16 September 2022, Ethiopian has been crowned with the two awards in the presence of cargo leaders from across the globe. Global cargo players including freight forwarders, ground handlers, general and cargo sales agents cast their votes online, where the highest votes for 'The Cargo Airline of The Year' and 'Best Cargo Arline - Africa' titles went to Ethiopian. Ethiopian Cargo was a finalist in three categories. Regarding the awards, Ethiopian Airlines Group CEO Mr. Mesfin Tasew said " We are very proud of the vote of confidence of our global partners and customers, and I would like to thank them for their votes. We give high regards to our cargo operations and strive to provide our customers the best the industry has to offer, and it is a great reward to know our efforts are appreciated. We will continue to be our customers' reliable cargo service provider with unparalleled service excellence. Ethiopian Cargo and Logistics Services, one of the major strategic business units within the Ethiopian Airlines Group, demonstrated remarkable performance, growing in excellence and customer service each year and it has been a globally acclaimed cargo player during the pandemic for transporting essential medical supplies and vaccines in all corners of the world with utmost efficiency. Ethiopian transported around 1 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccine around the globe, converting its passenger aircraft to Preighter to strengthen its cargo operations. Currently, Ethiopian Cargo and Logistics Services cover more than 130 international destinations around the world with both belly hold capacity and 67 dedicated Freighter services. About Ethiopian Ethiopian Airlines (Ethiopian) is the fastest growing Airline in Africa. In its seventy-five plus years of operation, Ethiopian has become one of the continents leading carriers, unrivalled in efficiency and operational success. Ethiopian commands the lions share of the Pan African passenger and cargo network operating the youngest and most modern fleet to more than 130 international passenger and cargo destinations across five continents. Ethiopians fleet includes ultra-modern and environmentally friendly aircraft such as Airbus A350, Boeing 787-8, Boeing 787-9, Boeing 777-300ER, Boeing 777-200LR, Boeing 777-200, Boeing 737-800, Boeing 737-8, Freighter, Bombardier Dash 8-400 double cabin with an average fleet age of seven years. In fact, Ethiopian is the first airline in Africa to own and operate these aircraft. Ethiopian is currently implementing a 15-year strategic plan called Vision 2025 that will see it become the leading aviation group in Africa with Seven business units: Ethiopian International Services; Ethiopian Cargo & Logistics Services; Ethiopian MRO Services; Ethiopian Aviation Academy; Ethiopian ADD Hub Ground Services, Ethiopian Airports Services and Ethiopian Express Services (Domestic). Ethiopian is a multi-award-winning airline registering an average growth of 25% in the seven years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. For additional information, please visit www.ethiopianairlines.com Email: [email protected] Tel: (251-11)517-8913/165/529/ Social Media Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EthiopianAirlines Twitter: https://twitter.com/flyethiopian Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fly.ethiopian/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCV26xfT57LiOgrZM45ouCg/featured LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ethiopian-airlines/ Telegram: https://t.me/ethiopian_airlines Governor of Anambra State, Professor Chukwuma Charles Soludo has called for regional and national synergy to effectively tackle insecurity in the Country. Governor Soludo was speaking while featuring on "Politics Sunday", TV programme anchored by Seun Okinbaloye, aired on Channels Television to mark his six months anniversary in office as Governor. Fielding questions from the anchor, Governor Soludo stressed that all crime is local. "It's unfortunate that security is still an all low. "There is no crime free society anywhere in the world. Eight point five million (8.5) million residents of Anambra can testify that insecurity has come down; though, compared to other states in Nigeria, Anambra will rank as part of the top ten most secured states. "Before we came in, there was widespread insecurity, but we are still determined to fight crime to a still. About 15 criminal camps have been decimated. We have degraded their infrastructure. However, occasionally, you may have few clashes. "But, Anambra has been quiet, relatively calm and peaceful as we pursue our agenda of a liveable and prosperous homeland". Commenting on last Sunday attack on Senator Ifeanyi Ubah, Governor Soludo said that there are all kinds of theories as to what happened to him. The security agencies are already on the matter. On the brighter side, the Governor expressed happiness that Anambra people are taking back their communities. "People now celebrate new yam festival, we hosted the Cardinal and the Bishops in Nigeria, the fashion expo, and so on and so forth. And some weeks back the international community, Ambassadors and other development partners were here in Anambra and were taken round the State. These things won't disappear over night. But we are putting in our best to make Anambra safe and secure. Referring to the criminals, Governor Soludo said, "They are calling them unknown gun men. No, they are plain criminals who hide under the cloak of agitation. Because Anambra happen to be home to many rich men, the criminality has turned out to be a lucrative criminality and promoting idolatry. We have been catching quite a number of them and 100 percent of those we caught are Igbos. According to the Governor; "When we started, we found out that many of the criminals were not from Anambra, but when we continued, we discovered that a number of them that have been initiated and indoctrinated, are from Anambra. Thank God that our people are now coming up. That's how we are picking the criminals. The Governor who sounded a note of warning that anybody in the bush or camp is considered a criminal, reiterated that these criminals come from homes, and they have parents and relations. "The security issue in Anambra is not perculiar to Anambra. We have devised our means, working with the security operatives and the people. "Anambra is getting quieter, compared to what is happening in most states of Nigeria. Baring his mind on the 2023 General election, Governor Soludo reiterated that election and population census will happen in Anambra. Said the Governor, "We have over 2 million registered people in Anambra and we want them to be able to cast their votes. On his relations with the Labour Party Presidential Candidate, Mr Peter Obi, Governor Soludo said "Peter Obi is my brother and friend. I wish him well. On the other hand, I'm a member of APGA which has a candidate in the person of Professor Peter Umeadi. When the ban on campaign is lifted, our own party will roll out our plans", the Governor stressed. Apart from speaking on a number of issues in Anambra State, the Governor extensively spoke on his administration's huge agenda, pointing out that the 'Soludo solution' mantra is fully on course in providing dividends of democracy for the people. "We have set out on what I call the key foundational issues. We are tackling the issues surrounding security, environment and so on and so forth. We are recruiting teachers and doctors, putting foundation for fiscal prudence. So we've come very determined to actualize our vision of a liveable and prosperous homeland in Anambra State", Governor Soludo further reassured! It was an auspicious moment of panegyrics, testimonies and felicitations at the Anglican Church of Redemption in Awka, Anambra State capital, on Saturday, as the world gathered to fete with the Vicar of the church, Ven. Dr. Obiora Cyprain Alokwu on his 30th ordination anniversary. The well-attended event, which started with a Eucharistic service witnessed by top Anglican prelates, over 30 clergymen and over 500 participants, also featured the presentation and launching of a book titled The Church and Community Development: A New Perspective on Theology and Development Studies, author by the celebrant, Ven. Alokwu. In his homily at the event, Bishop Paul Udogu of Afikpo Diocese, who tipped on the priestly journey so far of Ven. Alokwu, attributed the success to the grace of God upon his life. Ven. Alokwu is a product of the grace of God. All he is today is just by the grace of God. The grace of God is upon him. Even where he teaches, he stands out as a scholar and Anglican priest, to the glory of God, he said. He, however, urged Christians to always support and pray for their priests, whom, he said, fight both physical and spiritual battles both for themselves and for their congregation, in the course of their priesthood and moving their ministry forward. Relying on Romans 9:15-16, Bishop Udogu further admonished that those who received the grace of God should be humble and grateful, and avoid abusing it, using it to oppress or suppress those under them, or taking it for granted. He revealed that being a clergyman is not easy, owing to the various seen and unseen battles they fight spiritually and physically, both for himself and others. In his remarks, former Dean of the Church of Nigeria and former Archbishop of Province 2 and later Province of the Niger, His Grace, Most Rev'd Dr. Maxwell S.C. Anikwenwa, who recalled how Ven. Alokwu almost joined the army but later joined priesthood, thanked God for his life and ministry, and wished him greater success and blessings in his subsequent journey and service in the vineyard of God. On his own part, the Archbishop, Province of the Niger and Anglican Bishop of Awka Diocese, His Grace, Most Rev'd Alexander Chibuzo Ibezim congratulated Ven. Alokwu, whom he also described as an outstanding scholar; even as he underscored the need for more of such scholarly priests than those who just went to theological school. In an interview with newsmen, the wife of the celebrant, Mrs. Stella Alokwu described her husband as a loving, caring husband and obedient servant who carries out his priestly duties faithfully and diligently, with the understanding that it was God who called him, irrespective of any challenge or obstacle he encounters in his ministry. While thanking God for His grace upon her husband and their family, she also prayed for greater grace and anointing. In their respective goodwill messages, the Curate serving under Ven. Alokwu, Rev'd. Lucky Onebunne; and some of the guests at the event, Chief Alex Okeke, Chief Edochie Onuora, and Chief Obiora Cyprain Dibiezue all shared testimonies of Ven. Alokwu's stewardship as a servant of God, congratulated him, and prayed to strengthen and bless him the more. In his vote of thanks, the celebrant, Ven. Alokwu, who also testified and confirmed that he is a product of the grace of God, said he was greatly amazed by the large number of crowd and personalities who thronges from far and near to celebrate him and his family; even as he appreciated everyone for their presence, prayers and supports, praying God to reward them abundantly and grant them journey mercies. Earlier in an interview, the Chairman, Local Organizing Committee (LOC) for the event, Elder John Ifejika thanked God for the success of the event, and appreciated everyone who contributed in one way or the other to success. Tagged Celebration of God's Grace, the event was graced by the wife of former Archbishop, Province of the Niger, Mrs. Blessing Anikwenwa; the wife of the Archbishop, Province of the Niger and Bishop of Awka Diocese, Mrs. Martha Chioma Ibezim; the Rector, Trinity College, Umuahia and first Black Anglican Chaplain to Late Queen Elizabeth II, Ven. Prof. Udobata Onunwa; Archdeacon, Awka Archdeaconry, Ven. Clement Mgbemena, his wife, Mrs. Ebere Mgbemena; Anambra State Commissioner for Power and Water Resource, Mr. Julius Chukwuemeka; his Education counterpart, Prof. Ngozi Chuma-Udeh; the National Vice President, Ohaneze Ndigbo, Chief Damian Okeke-Ogene; the MD/CEO, Anambra Broadcasting Service, Sir Chido Obidiegwu, among other dignitaries. The event also featured rededication prayers for Ven. Alokwu and his family, cutting of Anniversary cake, as well as special thanksgiving by the Alokwu Family, and the conviviality that follows, among other highpoints. Human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mr Femi Falana, has rebuked the claims made by the Nigerian Police Force Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, that Nigerians does not possess any moral right to respond if operatives of the force assault them. The Police PRO had said Nigerians have no right to retaliate if assaulted by policemen, adding that policemen are always protected against attacks by law. According to him, If a policeman in uniform slaps a civilian, the civilian has no right to retaliate. More so, if hes on the uniform, its an act of disrespect to Nigeria to beat an officer on a uniform, Adejobi tweeted. The disrespect is not to the policeman but to our nation and its a crime as enshrined in our criminal laws. Meanwhile, reacting to the statement, Mr. Falana said an assault on Nigerians attracts 25-year imprisonment as citizens are entitled to fundamental rights. In citing the Criminal Justice Act, 2015, and Police Establishment Act 2020, Falana argued that police officers and other law enforcement personnel have been prohibited from subjecting Nigerian people including criminal suspects to degrading, humiliating or inhumane treatment. By virtue of section 34 of the Nigerian Constitution, every citizen is entitled to the fundamental right to the dignity of their person. Accordingly, no citizen shall be subjected to any mental, physical or psychological torture, he said. Indeed, section (2)(b) of the Anti-Torture Act, 2017 states that torture is deemed committed when an act by which pain and suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person to punish him for an act he or a third person has committed or suspected of having committed. The penalty for assaulting a civilian is 25 years under the Anti Torture Act of 2017. In addition, the victim may sue for monetary compensation under the Anti Torture Act and the Constitution. Civilians are required to respect police officers who are discharging their lawful duties. The penalty for assaulting or slapping a police officer is 3 years imprisonment under the Criminal Code. In the same vein, police officers are equally mandated to respect civilians, he said. Chinese call centre gangsters sought after womans death plunge CHON BURI: Police have issued a warrant, approved by the Pattaya Court, for the arrests of three Chinese nationals following the death of a Kyrgyz woman in Pattaya on Friday (Sept 16), police said. deathcrimeChinese By Bangkok Post Monday 19 September 2022, 03:57PM Police search the room from where Kyrgyz woman Anara Seitaleva plunged to her death, on the seventh floor of a condominium building in Bang Lamung district, Chon Buri, on Friday (Sept 16). Photo: Chaiyot Pupattanapong The three were Nin Wai Siu, 48, a Hong Kong Chinese man, and two Chinese women, Song Qianli, 32, and Rou Li, 27, according to Pol Maj Gen Thitawat Suriyachai, commander of the Cybercrime Investigation Division 4, in his capacity as deputy chief of a police team for the investigation of sexual abuse cases against children and women. The three were wanted for alleged human-trafficking and other related charges, reports the Bangkok Post. The warrants followed a police search on Saturday of a house at Natcha Housing Estate in central Pattaya in tambon Nong Prue of Bang Lamung district and the detention of Wang Gang, 45, the owner of the house, for questioning in connection with the case. An investigation began after the Kyrgyz woman, Anara Seitaleva, 30, plunged to her death from the seventh floor of a condominium building on Khao Thapaya road in tambon Nong Prue. She was initially believed to have committed suicide. Three days previously, on Sept 13, Seitaleva had filed a complaint with Pattaya police, saying she had been contacted and offered a job in Pattaya by a Chinese couple she met through a Kyrgyz friend. She was promised B20,000 a month for a job related to tourism. She arrived in Thailand on July 15 and was met at Suvarnabhumi airport by a Chinese man. After staying overnight in Bangkok, the man took her to Chiang Rai in the North. From Chiang Rai, she was taken to Laos via the immigration checkpoint in Chiang Saen district. In Laos, the Chinese man took her passport and forced her to work for a call centre gang, but she was unable to do the job. She was then forced into prostitution. Seitaleva said she was filmed while having sex with clients to blackmail her. On July 27, the Chinese man brought her back to Thailand. They returned to Bangkok where she was forced to continue selling sex. She managed to escape from the gang on Sept 11 and took a taxi to Pattaya, where she sought help from a German man and stayed in his condominium room. Seitaleva fell to her death from the seventh floor of the condominium on Sept 16. The German man told police that Seitaleva was a friend of his girlfriend. Patong Police ordered to arrest Bangla drug dealer PHUKET: A man arrested for intimidating foreign tourists with a gun loaded with blanks on Bangla Rd in Patong earlier this year has been arrested again, this time for selling marijuana and the opioid painkiller Tramadol. patongtourismcrimepolice By The Phuket News Monday 19 September 2022, 10:47AM Phuket Provincial Police announced through a statement issued late yesterday (Sept 18) that a man, who the statement named only as Mr Kittipong, had been arrested after police found him in possession of dried marijuana, hand-rolled marijuana cigarettes and 10 tablets of Tramadol. The statement claimed it was in response to a post online at 11:30pm Saturday highlighting lack of action against Mr Kittipong. Police were not ignoring the issue, the statement assured. However, the statement also came some 10 hours after CCTV footage showing Mr Kittipong on Bangla Rd was posted online by the Phuket Info Center, which operates under the Phuket Governors office. The statement noted that the incident was brought to the attention of Phuket Provincial Police Commander Maj Gen Sermphan Sirikong, who in turn ordered Patong Police Chief Col Sujin Nilabadee to investigate the claims. The report did not report when Mr Kittipong was arrested. The statement also did not recognise any of the other claims made in the initial post online on Saturday, also shared by the Phuket Info Center, specifically saying that the man was openly selling cocaine on Bangla Rd. Police also did not report any action taken against foreign tourists or any other people found to have brought drugs from Mr Kittipong. The statement did not even confirm the charges brought against Mr Kittipong for possession of or selling drugs. Also of note, the statement was not issued under the name of Patong Police Chief Col Sujin. Instead, it was issued by the Phuket Provincial Police Spokesperson Team and posted initially by Phuket Provincial Police, and then shared publicly by Patong Police Station. The investigative team brought the suspect along with the items to the investigating officer for further legal proceedings, the statement read. In such a case, the actions of the accused may affect the image of tourism of the country and there are also criminal penalties under the law. Therefore, [we] would like to publicize it to our brothers and sisters if they find clues or such behaviours, please notify the police or relevant agencies so that they can investigate, arrest and prosecute decisively. The statement highlighted that Mr Kittipong had a history of drug arrests in his home province Nakhon Si Thammarat. According to police, Mr Kittipong had been arrested three times previously on drug offences. While focussing on Mr Kittipongs drug offence record, the statement did not make any mention that Mr Kittipong Kittipong Bank Chanthawong, a 25-year-old native of Nakhon Si Thammarat had been arrested by Patong Police in April for intimidating foreign tourists with a gun loaded with blanks. In that incident, Mr kittipong was brought in for questioning only after the incident was reported by foreign tourists. Patong Police never confirmed what legal action was taken against Mr Kittpong for that infraction. The post online on Saturday, posted on the Hot Jung facebook page, gained wide readership online, accusing Patong Police of knowing about such behaviours in busy tourist areas, but chose to ignore it and take no action. One comment under the post online noted, Dare or not? Additional reporting by Eakkapop Thongtub Today Mainly cloudy. A few peeks of sunshine possible. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 61F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph. Tonight Mostly cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy after midnight. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low around 45F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph. Tomorrow Showers early then scattered thunderstorms developing later in the day. High around 65F. Winds WNW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 50%. A top state lawyer has derided arguments that Indianas new abortion ban violates the state constitution, saying that Indiana had such laws in place when the constitution was drafted in 1851 and that opponents of the ban are trying to invent a state right to privacy Federal authorities in Rhode Island say the seizure of more than 660,000 counterfeit Adderall pills containing methamphetamine has led to charges against one man ABBY BUTREMOVIC, Wheeler Volleyball, Sophomore; Butremovic had 23 digs as Wheeler beat Montville in three sets for its second victory of the season. KATIE ANBARI, Stonington, Field Hockey, Sophomore; Anbari scored with 57 seconds remaining for the games only goal, lifting the Bears past East Lyme. Anbari leads the team in goals with four this season. RACHEL FEDERICO, Westerly, Volleyball, Senior; Federico had nine kills, six digs and served for two aces in a win over Mt. Hope. Westerly was unbeaten in Division II through Sept. 24. MYLES PRICE, Chariho Football, Senior, Price returned a lateral from teammate Collin Fitts on a punt return for the winning touchdown on the games final play to lift the Chargers over Coventry. Price ran about 25 yards across the width of the field after receiving the ball from Fitts. Vote View Results South Africa: Manhunt launched in councillor, son murder The SAPS in the Eastern Cape have launched a manhunt for two suspects after an iNgquza Local Municipality councillor and his son were fatally shot and killed at their home on Friday evening. In the wake of the attack, Eastern Cape Police Commissioner, Lieutenant General Nomthetheleli Mene, ordered the activation of a 72-hour mobilisation plan to trace and find at least two suspects after the two were fatally shot at their homestead in Slovo Park, in Lusikisiki. Provincial spokesperson, Brigadier Tembinkosi Kinana, said the attack happened at about 8.30pm. It is alleged that at least two unknown armed men stormed into the homestead of a 49-year-old councillor in Slovo Park, Lusikisiki, and opened fire. The report further suggests that the suspects fatally shot the 18-year-old son of the councillor, and seriously wounding the councillor, who later died in hospital. The councillor's eight-year-old daughter escaped unscathed. The motive for the attack is currently unknown, however the circumstances surrounding the incident are forming part of the investigation. The names of the deceased persons are still being withheld until the next of kin are informed. He said police were investigating two murder cases and no arrests have been made at this stage. The investigation continues. Anyone with information that can lead to the arrest of the suspects is urged to contact the nearest police station. The information may also be shared via Crime Stop number on 08600 10111 or through MySAPS App, he said. SAnews.gov.za This story has been published on: 2022-09-19. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Colombian government representatives have met with members of an armed group that grew out of the demobilized FARC rebels to explore potential peace talks, the two sides said in a statement. Signed by a United Nations representative, the Norway government as international observers, and a representative of a group of so-called FARC dissidents, the statement showed the members willingness to hold a bilateral ceasefire. It added that both parts agreed to sign a confidential protocol to guarantee a meeting of FARC dissident commanders. The two parties express the willingness and need for these dialogues to be set by a bilateral ceasefire, whose execution must be verified, the statement said. Colombias President Gustavo Petro, who took office in August, has promised to seek total peace by fully implementing a 2016 peace deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), and talking to so-called dissidents who reject the accord as well as criminal gangs. Several commanders from the two major dissident groups have been killed in recent months, including across the border in Venezuela. SOURCE: REUTERS Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy vowed there would be no let-up in fighting to regain territory lost to Russia as Kyiv said its troops had advanced to the eastern bank of the Oskil River, threatening Russian occupation forces in the Donbas. Crossing the Oskil is another important milestone in Ukraines counter-offensive in the northeastern Kharkiv region as it flows south to the Siversky Donets River, which goes right through Luhansk, one of two provinces in the Donbas region. Donbas is Ukraines traditional industrial heartland made up of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Ukrainian troops have pushed across the Oskil. From yesterday, Ukraine controls the east bank, the Ukrainian Armed Forces wrote on Telegram late Sunday. Serhiy Gaidai, governor of Luhansk region, wrote on Telegram: Luhansk region is right next door. Decoccupation is not far away. Zelenskiy vowed to keep up the pressure on Moscow after Ukraines rapid gains in Kharkiv this month. Perhaps it seems to some of you that after a series of victories we now have a lull of sorts, he said in his regular nightly address on Sunday. But there will be no lull. There is preparation for the next series For Ukraine must be free. All of it. U.S. President Joe Biden also said victory for Ukraine meant removing Russian forces from the entire country, and pledged U.S. support for as long as it takes. Winning the war in Ukraine is to get Russia out of Ukraine completely and to recognise the sovereignty. Theyre defeating Russia, he said in an interview with CBSs 60 Minutes broadcast on Sunday. Russias turning out not to be as competent and capable as many people thought they were going to be. Russian artillery pounded towns and villages across the frontlines in the east and south on Sunday, including civilian infrastructure in Zaporizhzhia city, Ukrainian officials said. Britain said Russian forces had widened strikes on civilian infrastructure following battlefield setbacks and were likely to expand their targets further. As it faces setbacks on the front lines, Russia has likely extended the locations it is prepared to strike in an attempt to directly undermine the morale of the Ukrainian people and government, Britains defence ministry said. Ukraines southern command on Monday said strikes were also launched on a radar station near Kherson and on a pontoon crossing near Nova Kakhovka east of Kherson, where a Ukrainian counter-offensive has focused on taking out bridges across the Dnipro and Inhulets Rivers. Separately, Ukraine general defence staff said its forces have repelled Russian attacks in the areas of Mykolaivka Druga, Vesela Dolyna and Bakhmut settlements in the Donetsk region. Kyiv also hit enemy targets including air defence and ammunition dumps in multiple strikes, it added. Reuters was unable to independently verify the battlefield reports. PUTIN, BIDEN WARNINGS On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin brushed off Ukraines swift counteroffensive and said Moscow would respond more forcefully if its troops were put under further pressure. read more Such repeated threats have raised concerns Putin could at some point turn to small nuclear weapons or chemical warfare. U.S. President Joe Biden, asked what he would tell Putin if he was considering using such weapons, replied in the CBSs 60 Minutes interview: Dont. Dont. Dont. It would change the face of war unlike anything since World War Two. Some military analysts have said Russia might also stage a nuclear incident at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant held by Russia but run by Ukrainian staff. U.S. Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called for vigilance on Sunday after visiting a base in Poland aiding Ukraines war effort. The war is not going too well for Russia right now so its incumbent upon all of us to maintain high states of readiness, alert, he said after his trip to the base, which reporters travelling with him were asked not to identify. read more With its battlefield losses mounting, the Russian army is seeking contract soldiers for what it calls the special military operation in Ukraine, and is offering nearly $3,000 a month as an incentive. MASS GRAVES On Saturday, Zelenskiy said authorities had found a mass grave containing the bodies of 17 soldiers in Izium, some of which he said bore signs of torture. Izium residents have been searching for dead relatives at a forest grave site where workers began exhuming bodies last week. Ukrainian officials said last week they had found 440 bodies in woods near Izium. They said most of the dead were civilians and the causes of death had not been established. The Kremlin has not commented on the discovery of the graves, but in the past Moscow has repeatedly denied deliberately attacking civilians or committing atrocities. In Kozacha Lopan, a village some 45 km (30 miles) north of Kharkiv and close to the Russian border, a Reuters reporter was taken to a squalid cellar with rooms fitted with iron bars which officials said had served as a makeshift prison during the occupation. District Mayor Vyacheslav Zadorenko said the rooms had been used as a torture cellar to detain civilians. Reuters was unable to verify those accounts. SOURCE: REUTERS No suspension for teacher who refused to censor student news Los Angeles school officials have rescinded their suspension of a high school journalism advisor who refused to censor a students news article naming an unvaccinated campus librarian We talked about the Olathe rally & counter demonstration this morning . . . Here's the aftermath . . . "Although local political experts say immigration is not a major talking point for Schmidt, it was widely referenced Sunday by each person who stepped up to the podium.The average person. To just put that many people in American communities is difficult," DeSantis said. Schmidt's time was mainly dedicated to conversations surrounding schools.Parents and students in Kansas should not have to settle," Schmidt said. "Thats why I will sign into law a parents' bill of rights as soon as I become governor.He also brought up removing transgender athletes from school sports, a platform DeSantis has already delivered on in his home state.Outside the convention center, opponents and Gov. Kelly supporters turned their focus to the continued issue of abortion and bodily autonomy.My right to my own body is still on the table," said voter Cassie . . . "The judges are on the table.Protesters held signs and chanted as rally attendees entered the parking lot." Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . . Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis campaigns for Kansas' Derek Schmidt OLATHE, Kan. - Some Kansas voters waited an hour or more before filing into an Olathe banquet hall for Republican gubernatorial candidate Derek Schmidt's campaign rally. Schmidt is running against Democratic incumbent Gov. Laura Kelly. Sunday's event, hosted by Turning Point Action, provided voters with an out-of-state speaker, Florida Gov. Gov. Desantis visits Kansas for rally in support of Derek Schmidt OLATHE, Kan. - One of the most polarizing figures in American politics rolled into Olathe today. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis flew in to rally support for Kansas GOP governor candidate Derek Schmidt. Outside, supporters of Democratic incumbent Laura Kelly made their voices heard too. Derek Schmidt pledges to model Kansas immigration and school policies off Ron DeSantis More than 50 protesters gathered outside a campaign rally in Olathe, Kansas, for Republican governor candidate Derek Schmidt, which featured an appearance and endorsement by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Jae Moyer, president of the Kansas Democrat LGBTQ caucus, said they protested the event to take a stand against both Schmidt's and DeSantis' policies. In visits to Kansas and Wisconsin, DeSantis gets standing ovation from GOP voters after flying migrants to Martha's Vineyard OLATHE, Kan. (CNN) -- Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, speaking in Kansas on Sunday, gave every indication he intends to capitalize on the latest wave of attention that has followed from him sending migrants to Massachusetts last week. "This is a crisis. Developing . . . Right now the KCMO homicide count stands at 116 . . . Nearly 10% higher than last year's record pace. We had hoped the weekend would prove peaceful but this Sunday night investigation might determine otherwise. Here's the report and follow-up coverage . . . Suspicious Death 2900 Block of Wabash (Last Night) at about 9:30 pm officers were called to an apartment in the 2900 block of Wabash on an EMS call regarding an unresponsive person. On arrival officers were directed by the caller into an apartment building there where they located the deceased victim , an adult male, unresponsive with unknown injuries inside the building. EMS declared the victim deceased here at the scene. Detectives will be canvassing for any witnesses and the crime scene investigators will be processing for evidence to help detectives determine what lead up to the death. Detectives will also be working with the medical examiner to determine the cause of death. If anyone has any information or saw anything here tonight they are asked to call Homicide detectives directly at 816-234-5043 or the TIPS Hotline anonymously at 816-474-TIPS. ################# Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . . KCPD investigating suspicious death in 2900 block of Wabash Avenue KANSAS CITY, Mo. - UPDATE, 12:30 a.m.: Around 9:30 p.m. on Sept. 18, officers were called to an apartment regarding an unresponsive person. Kansas City Police says the person was an adult male. EMS declared him dead at the scene. Detectives are canvassing for any witnesses and are working with the medical examiner to determine the cause of death. KCPD investigate suspicious death after body found in apartment KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The Kansas City Police Department is investigating a suspicious death after finding a body at an apartment Sunday night. Police were called to the apartment in the 2900 block of Wabash Avenue at about 9:30 p.m. on calls of an unresponsive person. Update . . . Kansas City, Missouri suspicious death inside an apartment ruled a homicide The Kansas City, Missouri Police Department said a call that started as a suspicious death investigation Sunday night has now been ruled a homicide. Police said officers were called to an apartment in the 2900 block of Wabash Avenue around 9:30 p.m. to investigate an ambulance call regarding a man who was found unresponsive. Developing . . . This morning local newsies attempt to unpack the federal charges against this suspected creeper cop. The more pressing questions will be any D.C. crackdown on law enforcement in The Dotte if/when these accusations see the inside of a courtroom. For now, check the latest on the scathing indictment . . . The indictment contains six counts, each of them charging Golubski with under 18 U.S.C. Section 242, a federal statute making it a crime for government officials, including law enforcement officers, to deprive a person of federally protected civil rights. The offense is punishable by imprisonment ranging up to a life term, or even the death penalty, depending upon the circumstances of the crime and the resulting injury, if any. In an unusually graphic 25-page motion filed on Friday, prosecutors fleshed out the bare-bones indictment, revealing details of the alleged sexual assaults as well as details about assaults Golubski allegedly committed against seven other women. The motion portrays Golubski, who worked for the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department from 1975 until his retirement as a captain in 2010, as a a cop who relentlessly exploited vulnerable Black women for sex and who threatened to imprison or murder them or their relatives if they ever told anyone what he did. Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . . Here's why former KCKPD detective Roger Golubski is facing federal civil rights charges Roger Golubski is back in federal court on Monday for a hearing to determine if he should remain in custody or be released on bond. The former Kansas City, Kansas, Police detective is accused of sexually assaulting two women - but he faces charges of depriving them of their civil rights under federal law. "I Can't Believe He Did That": Retired Kansas City Detective Charged With Kidnapping and Rape Ophelia Williams's nightmare began on August 8, 1999. It was sometime before 7 a.m. and Williams and her children were asleep in their home in Kansas City, Kansas, when she was awoken by a loud banging on the front door. Williams put a housecoat over her nightgown and went to answer it. Developing . . . A golden ghetto blogger seemingly confronts a moment of existential crisis when he realizes that the ruckus over a JoCo lawman might be nothing more than political screaming into the void. Here's the telling money line . . . No wonder Hayden cant manage to attract employees for the sheriffs office. Hes trashed the reputation of his county and embraced theories that undermine the rule of law just as those hated hippies of Lawrence would want. Hayden and his defenders would claim hes simply representing the people who elected him. But I cant recall the last hotly contested county sheriffs race. Folks dont think about the position often. Credit where it's due . . . That's a great point which elicits the question . . . IF NOBODY CARES ABOUT THE JOCO SHERIFF THEN WHY ARE SO MANY LOCAL PROGRESSIVES DEMANDING HIS CONSTANT REBUKE?!?!? Riddle me that one in the comments if you dare . . . Which will be more rewarding than donating to the prog blogs who have mistaken advocacy for journalism YET STILL DON'T SEEM TO BE HAVING ANY FUN!!!! Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . . Will anything fix my under-eye bags? Ask The Kit According to Halton police, Satwinder Singh, 28, of Milton died in hospital with family and friends at his bedside. - Family photo/GoFundMe I got punched: Toronto queer community looks for safety and representation this municipal election For residents of the Church-Wellesley gay village, issues like affordable housing and harm reduction are also keenly in mind Ontarios Superior Court has upheld Seneca Colleges COVID-19 vaccination mandate after two unvaccinated students sought an injunction so they could attend classes and complete their programs Toronto police said the woman appeared to have washed up on the beach. - Rick Madonik/Toronto Star file photo A view of Blackness from both sides of the border: Debra Thompsons Long Road Home Debra Thompson grew up in Canada, but her familys roots are in the U.S. In "The Long Road Home" she examines the barriers to belonging in both countries. The supply of battle tanks, in particular Leopards, to Ukraine would be an urgent need rather than an escalation, and such a German initiative would create trust and serve the security of Europe. Three German political scientists from the European Council on International Relations - Gustav Gressel, Rafael Loss and Jana Puglierin said this in an article in the German news outlet Zeit, Ukrinform reports. "The territory gained by the Ukrainian Armed Forces over the past few days clearly shows that their defensive struggle is by no means hopeless, but for the liberation of other cities occupied by Russian troops, Western supplies of weapons remain absolutely necessary. They should also include main battle tanks," the article says. From the beginning of the war, Western partners began supplying weapons to Ukraine and constantly adapted their support in accordance with war developments and the needs of Ukrainian defenders. "It's time to take one more step in military support and equip Ukraine with Leopard 2 main battle tanks," experts said. They recalled that apart from the Bundeswehr, 12 other European armies use tanks of this type. These are more than 2,000 tanks in various modifications. Not all of these tanks are immediately suitable for use in Ukraine, but in order to equip one Ukrainian tank brigade with combat-ready equipment, at least about 90 tanks should be found at first. However, the authors note, since the Leopard 2 is still in production and in widespread use, a coordinated industrial replacement of existing stocks and joint repair of reserve equipment could free up more units than any other main battle tank. This "flexibility" is a unique advantage of the Leopard 2 and the reason for its success story as a "European" main battle tank. "The federal government should seize the initiative and, together with European partners, create a consortium to support Ukraine. The more of the 13 user states join their efforts, the smaller will be a decrease in the combat readiness of their own armed forces," experts say. They also draw attention to the fact that the EU's European Peace Facility, which already supports the sale of weapons to Ukraine worth EUR 2.5 billion, could reimburse the participating countries for the cost of the transferred tanks and thus finance the replacement of more modern ones in the armies of these states. The article also notes that the arguments with which Western partners still refuse to supply tanks and combat vehicles to the Armed Forces of Ukraine are becoming less convincing. The successes of the last few days in the Kharkiv region prove that the Ukrainians can plan and carry out complex operations. In addition, Germany's initiative would compensate for the trust lost over the past few months and provide real "added value" for the security of Europe and the future of Ukraine, the article read. A total of 390 children have been killed and over 759 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 September 19, 2022, over 1,149 children in Ukraine were affected by the Russian armed aggression. According to the data from juvenile inspectors, a total of 390 children were killed and over 759 received injuries of various severity levels, 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 the Donetsk region (395), Kharkiv region (219), Kyiv region (116), Mykolaiv region (72), Chernihiv region (68), Luhansk region (61), Kherson region (55), Zaporizhzhia region (46) and Dnipropetrovsk region (26). On September 18, 2022, an 11-year-old boy was injured in Russias shelling of the Kharkiv regions Kupiansk. A 12-year-old girl was also injured in Russias shelling of the Donetsk regions Toretsk. As a result of Russias daily air and artillery strikes, a total of 2,500 educational institutions were damaged across Ukraine, and 289 of them were destroyed completely. A reminder that about 260,000 Ukrainian children were forcibly deported to Russia. mk Ten people were killed and 22 more were injured due to the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine over the past day, September 18. "Consequences of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation. Ten civilians were killed, 22 more were injured," Deputy Head of the Presidents Office Kyrylo Tymoshenko posted on Telegram. According to the regional military administrations data, two people were killed and two more were injured in Dnipropetrovsk region, three people were killed and eight more were injured in Donetsk region, one person was injured in Zaporizhzhia and Mykolaiv regions each, one person was killed in Sumy region, four people were killed and 10 more were injured in Kharkiv region. As reported, on September 18, Russian troops continued to attack the regions of Ukraine, civilians were killed and injured, infrastructure and residential buildings were destroyed. ol The Armed Forces of Ukraine destroyed enemy military equipment in Novoaidar community and barracks in Kadiivka, Luhansk region. "Amazing night. Kadiivka and Novoaidar. They were told that smoking harms health and sometimes life...they didn't listen In Kadiivka (Stakhanov), the ruscists base in a local palace of culture was destroyed. Enemy equipment and personnel were eliminated in the territory of the Novoaidar forestry," Serhiy Haidai, Head of the Luhansk Regional Military Administration, posted on Telegram on September 19. He published two photos from the site of the attack. "So far, there are photos only from Kadiivka. To be continued..." Haidai noted. As reported, the day before, the Armed Forces of Ukraine destroyed a bus station in the town of Svatove in the north-west of Luhansk region with a rocket attack. According to Haidai, about two hundred invaders died on the spot. Photo: Serhiy Haidai ol To get concessions in energy blackmail, Russia puts the world on the brink of a nuclear disaster. "In desperation, Russia puts the world on the brink of a nuclear disaster to get at least some concessions in its energy blackmail of Europe," Minister of Energy of Ukraine German Galushchenko commented on the shelling of the South Ukraine NPP on Facebook. He praised the resilience of Europe in countering Russia's energy aggression. However, according to the minister, the need to stop Russian nuclear terror in Ukraine requires double efforts. "The world must finally retaliate against the terrorist state. It is not too late and a nuclear disaster is only a threat which, unfortunately, is becoming more and more real every day," Galushchenko emphasized. As reported, the Russians struck the industrial area of the South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant at night a missile fell 300 m away from the reactors. As a result of the shelling, the NPP premises were damaged, more than 100 windows were broken. One of the hydraulic units of the Oleksandrivka HPP, which is part of the South Ukraine energy complex, shut down. Three high-voltage power lines were also disconnected. Russian missiles have repeatedly flown dangerously close to the South Ukraine NPP. Photo credit: Energoatom ol Germany will send two Mars II multiple rocket launchers and 50 Dingo armored personnel carriers to Ukraine. Germany's Ministry of Defense said this on Twitter, Ukrinform reports. "We keep our promise! Two more Mars II rocket launchers and 50 Dingos will be delivered to Ukraine. [] With this we continue to support Ukraine in the fight for its integrity and sovereignty," the ministry said. It did not specify when exactly the equipment would be transferred to Ukraine. Germany never discloses details such as dates and transport routes for security reasons. At the same time, the ministry said training in Germany in the use of equipment would begin in late September. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has discussed the possibility of raising public and private investments in Ukraine with Larry Fink, CEO of the worlds largest investment company BlackRock. The relevant statement was made by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Telegram, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. According to Zelensky, Ukrainians have shown that they know how to win on the battlefield. Ukraines another important task is to achieve victories in the economy as well. During a conversation with CEO of the worlds largest investment manager BlackRock Larry Fink, we discussed how to drive public and private investments into our state. Ukraine is interested in attracting global capital that will create new jobs and facilitate the economys growth. We are capable, and we want to restore a normal investment climate, the President of Ukraine stressed. A reminder that, on February 24, 2022, Russia started a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Photo: Office of the President of Ukraine mk Vice Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of the Republic of Moldova, Nicu Popescu, condemned the missile strikes launched by the Russian forces at the South Ukrainian Nuclear Power Plant. Thats according to the top diplomats tweet, Ukrinform reports. "I condemn in strongest possible terms the strike on Pivdennoukrainsk nuclear power plant in the southern Mykolaiv region of Ukraine, only 200km from the Moldovan border. Continued attacks on nuclear facilities by the Russian forces are endangering everyone across the region," Popescu wrote. According to the minister, the attacks of Russian troops on nuclear sites in Ukraine pose a threat to the entire region. As reported earlier, on September 19, at 00:20, the Russian army launched missiles at the industrial zone of the South Ukrainian Nuclear Power Plant. The powerful explosion rocked the area just 300 m from the nuclear reactors. The shelling damaged a number of buildings at the NPP site, where more than 100 windows were shattered. One of the hydraulic units of the Oleksandrivska Hydroelectric Power Plant, which is part of the South Ukrainian Energy Complex, was disconnected. Three high-voltage power lines were also shut off. Photo: Twitter https://twitter.com/nicupopescu/status/1571840267124105217 Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in a phone call on Monday discussed further military support for Ukraine. Thats according to a tweet posted by Prime Minister Rutte, Ukrinform reports. We welcome Ukraines recent military successes. They show that international military support is working. We agreed that we will continue our support, including via Dutch-German military cooperation regarding the war in Ukraine, he wrote. He also noted that the two leaders also discussed measures to overcome the energy crisis in Europe. As Ukrinform reported earlier, Germany decided to give Ukraine more MLR systems when the government saw how effective they proved, being manned by Ukrainian forces on the battlefield. Berlin has been supplying weapons to Ukraine, while stopping short of sending infantry fighting vehicles and main combat tanks. Berlin says the position is due to Germanys efforts to avoid direct confrontation between NATO and the Russian Federation. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz reaffirmed his position in a Saturday interview with Deutschlandfunk. He assured the public that he would always be "prudent" and not make decisions without first coordinating them with the allies. At the same time, the politician acknowledged that there are "no uniform truths," and the steps being taken today make sense at this period of time. " Chancellor recalled that Germany started off with the supplies of weapons that were immediately available, before expanding the list. Germany, according to Chancellor, does "a lot, namely, which has led to the fact that the situation has changed in military perspective." He specified that this is about the supply, together with the Netherlands, of self-propelled howitzers, highly efficient weapons, "perhaps the most modern ones, which were used in this battle (in the east of Ukraine)." Only three states the United Kingdom, the United States, and Germany - have supplied multiple rocket launchers, which also contribute to the results shown by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Photo: Mark Rutte, Twitter Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cyprus Ioannis Kasoulides have discussed bilateral cooperation between the two countries, as well as further EU measures intended to end the Russian aggression. The relevant statement was made by Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba on Twitter, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. I met with my Cypriot counterpart, Ioannis Kasoulides, to thank Cyprus for supporting Ukraine. We agree that Russia must not be allowed to undermine the European unity and stability. We also discussed our bilateral cooperation and further EU measures aimed at ending Russian aggression, Kuleba wrote. A reminder that, on September 19-23, 2022, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba is paying a working visit to the United States to take part in the general debate of the 77th Session of the UN General Assembly. Photo: Dmytro Kuleba, Twitter mk Denmark as a donor Thus far in 2022, Denmark has contributed over USD 101.6 million to UNHCR, of which USD 8.7 million went towards UNHCRs response to the Ukraine situation. USD 35.6 million was unearmarked. In 2021, Denmark was our eight biggest donor, with a contribution of USD 101.2 million, of which 34 % was unearmarked. Finland as a donor Thus far in 2022, Finland has contributed over USD 23 million to UNHCR, of which approx. USD 5.9 million went towards UNHCRs response to the Ukraine situation. USD 8.2 million was unearmarked. In 2021, Finland contributed with over USD 26.5 million, of which 31 % was unearmarked. Iceland as a donor Thus far in 2022, Iceland has contributed over USD 3.1 million to UNHCR, of which USD 788,563 went towards UNHCRs response to the Ukraine situation. USD 772,499 was unearmarked. In 2021, Iceland contributed with over USD 1.8 million, of which 26 % was unearmarked. Norway as a donor Thus far in 2022, Norway has contributed over USD 108.3 million to UNHCR, of which approx. USD 17.9 million went towards UNHCRs response to the Ukraine situation. USD 72.5 million was unearmarked. In 2021, Norway was our sixth biggest donor, with a contribution of USD 107.4 million, of which 74 % was unearmarked. Sweden as a donor Thus far in 2022, Sweden has contributed over USD 143.6 million to UNHCR, of which approx. USD 7 million went towards UNHCRs response to the Ukraine situation. USD 99.2 million was unearmarked. In 2021, Sweden was our fifth biggest donor, with a contribution of USD 122.9 million, of which 75.4 % was unearmarked. Latvia as a donor Thus far in 2022, Latvia has contributed a total of USD 131,435 to UNHCR for the response to the Ukraine situation. In 2021, Latvia contributed USD 11,933. Lithuania as a donor Thus far in 2022, Lithuania has contributed USD 225,225 to UNHCR. USD 112,613 million was unearmarked funding which could be used for sudden emergencies. In 2021, Lithuania contributed USD 58,617. Estonia as a donor Thus far in 2022, Estonia has contributed USD 593,673 to UNHCR, of which USD 194,506 went towards UNHCRs response to the Ukraine situation. USD 119,474 was unearmarked. In 2021, Estonia contributed over USD 696,985, of which 17 % was unearmarked. Several thousand people took part in a mass protest against high fuel prices and for increase in the minimum wage in the port city of Surabaya on the Indonesian island of Java, media reported on Monday BANGKOK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th September, 2022) Several thousand people took part in a mass protest against high fuel prices and for increase in the minimum wage in the port city of Surabaya on the Indonesian island of Java, media reported on Monday. Most protesters were members of trade unions and student organizations from all major cities of the East Java province, the Indonesian national newspaper Kompas reported. The protest took the form of a "demonstration on wheels," with thousands of motorcycles, hundreds of cars belonging to demonstrators, as well as buses rented by them, the report said. The protesters drove through Surabaya and held a rally on the square in front of the Grahadi State Building, regional government office. The demonstrators demanded more active government intervention in pricing in the diesel and gasoline segment, as well as a 13% increase in the minimum wage in the province, according to Kompas. Indonesia has been facing a wave of demonstrations in recent months due to soaring fuel prices. Several trade union organizations have announced plans for a nationwide strike, which may take place in October or November, unless the national and provincial authorities increase fuel subsidies that can keep prices at a level accessible to the masses. Indonesia is the current holder of the G20 Presidency, hosting the next group's summit in Bali from November 15-16. The Indonesian government responded to the demands of demonstrators and union leaders by explaining that an increase in subsidies is currently impossible due to budget overruns on such subsidies in 2022, and that the authorities are looking for other ways to address the situation in the fuel sector. (@FahadShabbir) St. John's, Antigua and Barbuda, Sept 19 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 20th Sep, 2022 ) :Antigua and Barbuda bid farewell to Queen Elizabeth Monday with a service in an imposing cathedral that was once feared as a symbol of England's power over its former colony in the Caribbean. Fans whirred and voices soared inside the Cathedral of St John the Divine as dignitaries, politicians and the military turned out to honor the late queen, who remained as head of state to the tiny nation after it went independent in 1981. "We gather together to express our grief over the death of her late majesty Queen Elizabeth II," the Very Reverend Dean Dwane Cassius told the congregation, who were mostly clad in formal black. "Grief is very capable of raising up both positive and negative emotions," he continued. "We choose to keep a check on our emotions." After the service, members of country's military armed with bayonets marched the national flag out of the cathedral overlooking the capital, St John's, before parading through the streets towards Government House. The flag's pole was capped with a golden crown -- a visible demonstration of where the monarchy ranks in the nation's ceremonial order. That will soon change, if Prime Minister Gaston Browne -- who was in London on Monday attending the queen's state funeral there -- gets his way. Browne has said he aims to have a referendum on whether to remove the British monarch as Antigua and Barbuda's head of state within three years, part of a wave of republicanism sweeping the Caribbean. So far, Antiguans have been reserving judgement on the matter. Monday was designated as a public holiday in honor of the queen, and the parade was watched by just a handful of people in the capital's largely deserted streets. The marchers passed Government House and arrived again in front of the cathedral, which has been rebuilt twice since a building was first erected there in 1681. Planters in the former slave colony used to call the cathedral "the big church," and as a symbol of English power on the island it made people afraid, according to an excerpt from Antiguan workingman Samuel Smith's memoirs published on the Antigua Nice website. On Monday the security forces came to a halt before the cathedral -- then, with smiles and comments about the heat, they relaxed and drifted away. (@FahadShabbir) San Jos, Sept 19 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Sep, 2022 ) :At least nine people were killed and four left missing when a bus and two other vehicles plunged into a ravine in a mountainous part of Costa Rica, the Red Cross reported Sunday. The bus, car and motorcycle slid into the 75-meter-deep (245-foot) ravine on Saturday when heavy rain caused a landslide at the El Hundimiento mountain pass, around 80 kilometers (50 miles) west of the capital San Jose. Rescue services have pulled around 50 survivors, including the bus driver, from the gorge, according to the Costa Rican Social Security in charge of the country's public health services. "As of now, we know of nine people who did not have vital signs," the Red Cross tweeted after the accident, adding that four people remain missing. The bus was traveling between San Jos and Guanacaste Province with 47 people on board, the owner of the transport company, German Alfaro, told Costa Rican daily La Nacion. The Red Cross had previously estimated the number of passengers at around 60. Images shared by the rescue services showed the wreckage of the bus at the bottom of the ravine in a mountainous region where recovery efforts were particularly challenging. Locals in the area said the accident was caused by a lack of protective barriers or signage along the road. "We have been abandoned for years," Gilber Martinez told television station Canal 7. But the government termed the incident "unpredictable". "It is not the fault of the government or the bus company. It is something we cannot predict," Minister of Public Works and Transportation Luis Amador said. Specialists from the University of Costa Rica released a report in March warning of the risk of road collapse in the area. Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves declared three days of national mourning and said he will not attend the United Nations General Assembly in New York because of the emergency in his country caused by heavy rains. London, Sept 19 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Sep, 2022 ) :Britain's King Charles III said Sunday he had been "moved beyond measure" by the outpouring of public sympathy following the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth II in a message of thanks on the eve of her grand state funeral. King Charles said that he and his wife Queen Consort Camilla had been "so deeply touched" by messages of condolence and support from Britain and around the world. Britain held a minute's silence on Sunday in a final tribute to Queen Elizabeth before Monday's farewell, as her eldest son welcomed dozens of world leaders at Buckingham Palace. US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron were among the stream of dignitaries who paid tribute at the late monarch's coffin, Biden crossing himself and touching his heart as he stood on a gallery in London's historic Westminster Hall. Members of the public filed by as time ticked down for them to pay their last respects to the only sovereign most Britons have ever known before she is laid to rest on Monday. "We were moved beyond measure by everyone who took the trouble to come and pay their respects to the lifelong service of my dear mother, The late Queen," King Charles said in a statement. "As we all prepare to say our last farewell, I wanted simply to take this opportunity to say thank you to all those countless people who have been such a support and comfort to my family and myself in this time of grief." Biden said Queen Elizabeth, who reigned for a record-breaking 70 years until her death on September 8 aged 96, was "decent, honourable, and all about service". "All the people of the United Kingdom: our hearts go out to you, and you were fortunate to have had her for 70 years; we all were. The world is better for her," Biden said after signing a book of condolence. The US president then attended a reception hosted by King Charles and the royal family for around 500 visiting dignitaries. They included Japan's Emperor Naruhito, King Felipe VI of Spain, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, King Abdullah II of Jordan and Queen Margrethe II of Denmark. The minute of silence was held at 8:00 pm (1900 GMT) to honour the late queen's life of service. Prime Minister Liz Truss stood in a black dress outside her 10 Downing Street official residence for the "national moment of reflection" before the eyes of world focus on the British capital for the queen's send-off. Members of the public have camped out in advance to catch a glimpse of the grand farewell at Westminster Abbey, which is expected to bring London to a standstill and be watched by billions of viewers across the globe. E. J. Kelly, a 46-year-old schoolteacher from Northern Ireland, secured a prime spot with friends on the route the procession will take after the funeral. "Watching it on television is wonderful but being here is something else," she told AFP, equipped with camping chairs, warm clothing and extra socks. "I will probably feel very emotional when it comes to it, but I wanted to be here to pay my respects." Crowds also thronged around Windsor Castle, west of London, where the queen's coffin will be driven after the service for a private burial alongside her late husband Prince Philip, her parents and her sister. "I've lived here my whole life and I've never seen it this busy," said Donna Lumbard, 32, a manager at a local restaurant. The last of the estimated hundreds of thousands of mourners who have flocked to London to see the queen's coffin queued along the banks of the River Thames into Sunday night. They have until 6:30 am (0530 GMT) on Monday to make it into Westminster Hall opposite the abbey. By 10:00 pm (2100 GMT) on Sunday, the official estimated queue time was approximately eight hours. Waiting times peaked at more than 25 hours early Saturday. Andy Sanderson, 46, a supermarket area manager, was among those who had finally made it to parliament after braving the miles of queues. "She was the glue that kept the country together," he said. Australia's anti-monarchy Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who viewed the lying-in-state and met King Charles on Saturday, told Sky news Australia that the queen was "a constant reassuring presence". There was also a private audience at Buckingham Palace for New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern, which, like Australia, Britain and 12 other Commonwealth realms, now has King Charles as its sovereign. "You could see that it meant a huge amount (to King Charles) to have seen the sheer scale and outpouring of people's love and affection for Her late Majesty," Ardern told BBC television on Sunday. But in an indication of the challenges ahead for the new king, Ardern added that she expected New Zealand to shed its constitutional monarchy "over the course of my lifetime". Queen Elizabeth's state funeral, the first in Britain since the death of her first prime minister Winston Churchill in 1965, will take place Monday at Westminster Abbey at 11:00 am. Reflecting on the queen's wishes for the hour-long ceremony, the former archbishop of York, John Sentamu, told BBC television said she "did not want what you call long, boring services". San Juan, Puerto Rico, Sept 19 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Sep, 2022 ) :Hurricane Fiona knocked out power across Puerto Rico Sunday before making landfall, dumping torrential rain and wreaking "catastrophic" damage in several areas of the US island territory before spinning off towards the Dominican Republic. Landslides, blocked roads, fallen trees and power lines, as well as a collapsed bridge in the town of Utuado in the central mountainous region were among the destruction already levied by Fiona, Governor Pedro Pierluisi told an evening press conference. In addition, the entire territory of more than three million people lost power as the hurricane neared, with Pierluisi reporting the electrical system out of service. Although the hurricane's eye is now off the territory's coast, destructive rain and devastating flash floods are expected to buffet the islands overnight before dealing a blow to the Dominican Republic on Monday. Fiona will go down as a "catastrophic event due to the impacts of flooding" in Puerto Rico's central mountainous region, east and south, Pierluisi tweeted, adding that 9-13 inches (23-33 centimeters) of rain had fallen in just five hours. "Rainfall amounts will produce catastrophic life-threatening flash floods and urban flooding across Puerto Rico and portions of the eastern Dominican Republic, along with mudslides and landslides in areas of higher terrain," the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said. The hurricane has also left some 196,000 people without drinking water as a result of power outages and flooded rivers, officials said. Ahead of Fiona's arrival in the Dominican Republic, President Luis Abinader suspended work in the public and private sectors for Monday. It had made landfall in Puerto Rico Sunday afternoon as a Category One hurricane packing sustained winds of 85 miles (140 kilometers) per hour, at the lowest end of the five-tier Saffier-Simpson scale. Fiona is expected to grow stronger, turning into a "major hurricane" before it heads north into the open waters of the Atlantic Ocean, according to the NHC. In the town of Utuado, a family saw the zinc roof of its house -- ripped off in 2017 by Hurricane Maria, then replaced -- torn off yet again, according to local media. "This is an extremely delicate and sad situation. The damage we are seeing is catastrophic in several areas," Pierluisi told reporters at the Sunday press conference. "The entire island is experiencing a large accumulation of rain. Multiple cases of severe damage have been reported in many towns." The storm has already caused a fatality, with a man left dead when his house was swept away by flooding in the French overseas department of Guadeloupe, when Fiona was still classified as a tropical storm. US President Joe Biden declared a state of emergency for Puerto Rico on Sunday, authorizing the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide assistance. The NHC also said tropical storm conditions are expected in the Turks and Caicos Islands and the southeastern Bahamas by late Monday or early Tuesday. Pierluisi told reporters that officials were reiterating "the request to our people, which the majority have heeded, to stay in their homes or seek refuge if they need it." The island -- which has suffered from major infrastructure problems for years -- was hit by hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017, devastating its electrical grid. The grid was privatized in June 2021 in an effort to resolve the problem of blackouts, but the issue has persisted, and the entire island lost power earlier this year. The former Spanish colony became a US territory in the late 19th century before gaining the status of associated free state in 1950. After years of financial woes and recession, in 2017 the island declared the largest bankruptcy ever by a local US administration. Later that year, hurricanes Irma and Maria added to the island's misery, and sparked a feud between San Juan and Washington. Then-president Donald Trump's administration was widely accused of failing to provide sufficient federal aid to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria struck. Footage of him tossing paper towels to survivors during a visit to the island drew criticism, and Trump later claimed the storm's death toll had been inflated by Democrats to "make me look as bad as possible." ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Sep, 2022 ) :Ambassador of Ethiopia to Pakistan, Jemal Beker Abdula has said that woman empowerment is vital and linked to any country's economic, social transformation, and development. Addressing Pakistan's Export-Women-led business conference in Islamabad, he said that women have enormous potential to work in different sectors of the economy, including trade and investment, governance, and leadership. He said educated women could play a significant role in the betterment of our society and a key to sustainable Development. "My country since Dr. Abiy Ahmed took the Premiership of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia in which half of the cabinets are women, and 50 percent of the parliament are also women", he added. The Ambassador further stated that women-led businesses will continue to grow and that the Pakistan export sector will continue to revive, survive, and thrive in the time to come. "Ethiopia is the third diplomatic center in the world, HQ for Africa Union, UNCECA. It is the land of origin, human fossil Lucy 3.2 million years of age which is the complete human fossil, Coffee, and a source of Nile, the longest river in the world. And it is a land of Bilal Al-Habash, late King Nejash, first hijira to Ethiopia where we are connected with other Abrahamic Religions as well", he maintained. He congratulated the Faisalabad Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FWCCI) and its President, Mrs. Nighart Shahid, for taking this initiative on basically introducing Pakistan's export potential- women-led business and investment opportunities in Pakistan to the rest of the world. The Ambassador said that Ethiopia is a vast and growing market, and it sees Pakistan as a preferred partner and is keen to expand trade, business, investment, and tourism relations. Our business and economic ties have not been adequately developed. The main reason for such a low level of two-way trade was little knowledge about each other's markets and a lack of relationships. Indeed, this gathering can be considered a window of opportunity for Pakistani women export entrepreneurs to harness huge prospects. He said that Ethiopia Airlines would fly to the sky of Pakistan soon. Indeed, the commencement of Ethiopia's Airline will boost the trade, investment, and tourism between Ethiopia and Pakistan, the rest of Africa, and the globe. (@ChaudhryMAli88) ALMATY (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th September, 2022) The presidential decree on renaming the capital of the country from Nur-Sultan to Astana was published on Monday in the Kazakhstanskaya Pravda newspaper and entered into force. On Saturday, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed a law on constitutional amendments, including the introduction of a seven-year presidency term and renaming the capital Nur-Sultan back to Astana. The text of the decree stated that it would come into force from the day of its first official publication. In addition, the newspaper published a law on amendments and additions to the constitution that also came into force from the day of the first official publication. Astana was renamed into Nur-Sultan in March 2019 to honor Kazakhstan's first president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, who was finishing his almost 30-year tenure at the time. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has discussed with Yemen Presidential Leadership Council President Rashad al-Alimi the potential for extending and expanding the United Nations-mediated truce, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said on Monday WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 20th September, 2022) US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has discussed with Yemen Presidential Leadership Council President Rashad al-Alimi the potential for extending and expanding the United Nations-mediated truce, US State Department spokesperson Ned price said on Monday. "Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken met today with Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) President Rashad al-Alimi in New York and affirmed strong US support for the PLC and President al-Alimi's leadership," Price said. "Secretary Blinken and President al-Alimi discussed the urgency of extending and expanding the UN-mediated truce by October 2." The two officials affirmed their support for additional steps under the truce, including opening roads in Taiz and other areas, expanding commercial flights from the airport in Sanaa and ensuring salary payments to thousands of civil servants, Price added. In April, a two-month ceasefire was declared in Yemen under the auspices of the United Nations and with support of the parties to the conflict. In early August, the warring sides agreed to extend the truce by two months to negotiate an expanded truce agreement. The State Department said earlier that the United States is concerned by the recent Houthi actions that undermine the truce and called on the Houthis to continue to honor the commitments they undertook on August 1 under the terms of the truce. A truce expansion would pave the way for a permanent ceasefire and durable Yemen-led resolution of the conflict in the country that addresses the concerns of the people, according to the State Department. The Civic Chamber of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) appealed to the head of the republic, Denis Pushilin, with a request to immediately hold a referendum on joining the Russian Federation, the chamber's chairman, Alexander Kofman, said on Monday DONETSK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th September, 2022) The Civic Chamber of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) appealed to the head of the republic, Denis Pushilin, with a request to immediately hold a referendum on joining the Russian Federation, the chamber's chairman, Alexander Kofman, said on Monday. "It's time to erase the non-existent border between our states and hold a referendum on the issue of joining the Donetsk People's Republic to the Russian Federation. We want the border of the Russian Federation to lie between us and Ukraine," Kofman said during the appeal. "In connection with all of the above, I ask the head of the Donetsk People's Republic Denis Pushilin and the People's Council of the DPR to make an appropriate decision on the immediate holding of a referendum." Three members of former Burkina Faso ruler Blaise Compaore's presidential guard went on trial on Monday accused of murdering a student union leader in 1990 Ouagadougou, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Sep, 2022 ) :Three members of former Burkina Faso ruler Blaise Compaore's presidential guard went on trial on Monday accused of murdering a student union leader in 1990. Boukary Dabo led the West African country's national student association which spearheaded protests against Compaore's iron fisted rule that only ended with a popular uprising in 2014. The medical student was kidnapped by armed men on May 19, 1990, and taken to the main camp run by a presidential security regiment. Dabo was tortured there and buried at Po, 150 kilometres (90 miles) from the capital Ouagadougou. The accused are charged with being "complicit in an illegal arrest and aggravated abduction... in beatings and injuries that led to death without intention to murder". They are also charged with concealing a body. Chief among the defendants is General Gilbert Diendere, who is serving a life term for his role in the assassination of president Thomas Sankara in a 1987 putsch that brought Compaore to power. The general is also accused of ordering the removal and burial of the student's body. Co-accused Mamadou Bamba is known for having read out on television a statement from attempted coup leaders who failed to seize power in 2015. He is also alleged to have decided which students to arrest. Bamba was in court Monday and pleaded not guilty to the charges. Diendere is expected to appear on Tuesday. The third defendant, Sergeant Magloire Yougbare, is being judged in absentia. He is also accused of driving the vehicle used to transport the body. Although investigations began in 2000, it was only after a popular uprising led to the fall of Compaore's regime that charges were finally brought in January 2017. The same year, the authorities announced that Dabo's remains had been found in Po, site of a commando force centre where Compaore guards were trained. Burkina Faso is currently ruled by a junta under Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba. He took power in a January coup, ousting elected leader Roch Marc Christian Kabore, who failed to stem a jihadist insurgency. The trial verdict is expected on Wednesday. WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th September, 2022) UK Queen Elizabeth II had a "very human" engagement with Orthodox Christianity and showed great respect for its religious service, a longtime assistant for famous Russian Bishop Basil (Rodzianko), Marilyn Swezey, told Sputnik. Queen Elizabeth II passed away on September 8, at the age of 96, at the Balmoral Castle in Scotland surrounded by her family after over 70 years on the British throne. Her eldest son, Charles, became the new king of the United Kingdom immediately after her death. The public farewell ceremony to Queen Elizabeth II is being held at Westminster Abbey from September 14-19. The late monarch's funeral will take place at 11 a.m. local time (10:00 GMT) on September 19. The "human" story, which Swezey was referring to, occurred in London approximately in the 1960s. Future Bishop Basil (then-priest Vladimir Rodzianko) a grandson of Mikhail Rodzianko, the last chair of the Russian Duma under Tsar Nicholas II served in a local Serbian Orthodox cathedral at the time. He had very good relations with the Serbian diaspora, including the family of last Serbian King Peter II Karageorgevitch. "Father Vladimir was asked to baptize a newborn Prince of Serbia. It had been already arranged by the Royal family of Serbia for Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth's husband, to be the godfather," Swezey said. While it is not well known broadly, Prince Philip was baptized in a Greek Orthodox church, and his mother was a niece of the canonized last Russian Empress Alexandra and Grand Duchess Elizabeth, whom she greatly admired, Swezey added. The baptism ceremony for the Serbian prince took place at the cathedral where Rodzianko served. Swezey noted that she never heard the name of this prince - the bishop simply called him a little Serbian Prince. During baptism service, godparents have to hold their godchildren on hands for quite a long time. However, the little prince became very active and even noisy. Prince Philip tried to calm him down, but nothing helped. Then, he turned to his wife, who stood not so far away, and gestured, asking her to help. "The Queen looked to her husband and smiled, and she raised her hands and just crossed them back and forth, which was, of course, a hand signal for the Prince: 'No, I can not do that. This is up to you,'" Swezey said. The Queen's response was absolutely correct because she was not Orthodox and attended the Orthodox service only because her husband was invited to be the godfather of a child, she added. "Father Vladimir Rodzyanko, the future Bishop Basil, who was a baptizing priest, was very amused to see this communication between the Queen and the Prince. The Prince asked: 'Help.' The Queen said: 'No, I can not, it is up to you,'" the bishop's assistant noted. Despite the noise and excessive activity, the little prince was baptized, and the priest was very surprised that the Queen came to his cathedral. "Bishop Basil loved to share this story with humor, and understanding, it was a very human experience of the two Royal people who are well known," Swezey said. ASTANA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th September, 2022) Kazakhstan has introduced a temporary ban on the export of coal by road to avoid shortages during winter, the ministry of industry and infrastructure development said on Monday. "The Ministry of Industry and Infrastructure Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan has adopted order number 514 dated September 14, 2022, on the introduction of a temporary ban on the export of coal by road," the ministry said in a statement. The explanatory note to the document specified that the ban is introduced for a period of six months for the export of coal, briquettes, pellets and similar types of solid fuels obtained from coal. According to the ministry, the decision was worked out jointly will regional authorities to "achieve the goals of the 2022-2023 heating season" and prevent any shortages of coal, when there will be a high demand for the fuel. The Kazakh authorities had already introduced several bans on the export of oil products by road, most recently in July. Gasoline and diesel fuel is cheaper in Kazakhstan than in the neighboring countries, including Russia and Kyrgyzstan, due to state regulation of marginal prices. Kyiv accused Russia on Monday of attacking Ukraine's second-largest nuclear plant in the south of the war-scarred country, the latest burst of fighting around atomic facilities that has raised fears of a radiation emergency Kyiv, Ukraine, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Sep, 2022 ) :Kyiv accused Russia on Monday of attacking Ukraine's second-largest nuclear plant in the south of the war-scarred country, the latest burst of fighting around atomic facilities that has raised fears of a radiation emergency. The Kremlin meanwhile dismissed outright claims that their forces had been responsible for mass killings in recently captured areas of east Ukraine and said Ukraine's claims it had discovered mass graves were made up. Ukraine's nuclear energy agency, Energoatom, said the Russian army "carried out a missile attack" on the industrial site of the Pivdennoukrainsk nuclear power plant, with a "powerful explosion" just 300 metres (985 feet) from its reactors. The strike damaged more than 100 windows of the power station's building, but the reactors were operating normally, according to the agency, which published photos of glass shattered around blown-out frames. It also released images of what it said was a two-metre-deep crater from where the missile landed. "Fortunately, no one among the power plant's staff was hurt," Energoatom said. Attacks around nuclear facilities in Ukraine have spurred calls from Ukraine and its Western allies to de-militarise areas around the facilities. Europe's largest atomic facility -- the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Russian-held territory in Ukraine -- has become a hot spot for concerns after tit-for-tat claims of attacks there. - 'We have to stop' Russia - Early in Russia's invasion in of Ukraine -- launched in late February -- there was fighting around Chernobyl in the the north, where an explosion in 1986 left swathes of the surrounding territory contaminated. President Volodymyr blamed Russia for the attack in the southern Mykolaiv region on Monday, which he said resulted in a short power outage at the facility. "Russia endangers the whole world. We have to stop it before it's too late," Zelensky said on Telegram. The Zaporizhzhia plant was seized by Russian troops in March and shelling around the facility has spurred interventions from Western leaders. A monitoring team of the UN's atomic agency deployed there in early September. French President Emmanuel Macron this month urged Vladimir Putin to withdraw Russian heavy weapons from the region, while the Russian president cautioned against potential "catastrophic" consequences of fighting there. The Mykolaiv region in southern Ukraine, where the Pivdennoukrainsk plant is located, is the near frontline of a Ukrainian counter-offensive in the south against Russian forces. Kyiv's forces have slowly but steadily been clawing back territory in the southern Kherson region, next to Mykolaiv, with the aim of capturing the strategically important hub, also called Kherson. Ukraine's progress has been faster in the north, where a lightning grab this month has seen Kyiv's forces reconquer nearly the entire Kharkiv region. Those gains have delt a serious blow to Moscow's ambitions of capturing and holding Donbas, a industrial region of eastern Ukraine that has been partially controlled by Kremlin-backed rebels since 2014. "It may seem to some of you that after a series of victories we have a certain lull," Zelensky said in an address to the nation on Sunday evening. "But this is not a lull. This is preparation ... the whole Ukraine must be free," he said. Fresh protests broke out Monday in Iran over the death of a young woman who had been arrested by the "morality police" that enforces a strict dress code, local media reported Tehran, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Sep, 2022 ) :Fresh protests broke out Monday in Iran over the death of a young woman who had been arrested by the "morality police" that enforces a strict dress code, local media reported. Demonstrations were held in the capital Tehran, including several of its universities, as well in Iran's second city, Mashhad, according to the Fars and Tasnim news agencies. Protesters marched down Hijab Street -- or "headscarf street" -- in the centre of Tehran denouncing the actions of the morality police, the ISNA news agency reported. "Several hundred people chanted slogans against the authorities, some of them took off their hijab", Fars said, adding that "police arrested several people and dispersed the crowd using batons and tear gas". A brief video released by Fars shows a crowd of several dozen people, including women who have removed their headscarves, shouting "Death to the Islamic republic!" A "similar gathering" took place in the northeastern city Mashhad, the Tasnim agency reported. The rallies on Monday came a day after police made arrests and fired tear gas in the dead woman's home province of Kurdistan, where some 500 people had protested, some smashing car windows and torching rubbish bins, reports said. - Anger - Public anger has grown since authorities on Friday announced the death of Mahsa Amini, 22, in a hospital after three days in a coma, following her arrest by Tehran's morality police during a visit to the capital on September 13. Such police units enforce a dress code in the Islamic republic that demands women wear headscarves in public. It also bans tight trousers, ripped jeans, clothes that expose the knees and brightly coloured outfits. Police have insisted there was "no physical contact" between officers and the victim. Tehran police chief General Hossein Rahimi said Monday the woman had violated the dress code, and that his colleagues had asked her relatives to bring her "decent clothes". He again rejected "unjust accusations against the police" and said "the evidence shows that there was no negligence or inappropriate behaviour on the part of the police". "This is an unfortunate incident and we wish never to see such incidents again." Students rallied, however, including at Tehran and Shahid Beheshti universities, demanding "clarification" on how Amini died, according to Fars and Tasnim news agencies. Her death has reignited calls to rein in morality police actions against women suspected of violating the dress code, in effect since the 1979 Islamic revolution. Filmmakers, artists, athletes and political and religious figures have taken to social media to express their anger over the death, both inside and outside the country. President Ebrahim Raisi, an ultra-conservative former judiciary chief who came to power last year, has ordered an inquiry into Amini's death. - Distraught father - State television on Friday broadcast a short surveillance video that showed a woman identified as Amini collapsing in the police station after an argument with a policewoman. Amjad Amini, the victim's father, told Fars that he did "not accept what (the police) showed him", arguing that "the film has been cut". He also criticised the "slow response" of the emergency services, adding: "I believe Mahsa was transferred to the hospital late." Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi said Saturday he had received reports that the emergency service had arrived "immediately" at the scene. "Mahsa apparently had previous physical problems and we have reports that she had undergone brain surgery at the age of five," Vahidi said. Her father, however, "insists that his daughter had no history of illness and was in perfect health", Fars reported. (@ChaudhryMAli88) Russia remains committed to the principle of open borders for all Latvian citizens, despite restrictions on the entry of Russians into Latvia, the Russian embassy in Riga told Sputnik MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th September, 2022) Russia remains committed to the principle of open borders for all Latvian citizens, despite restrictions on the entry of Russians into Latvia, the Russian embassy in Riga told Sputnik. "Russia remains committed to the principle of open borders for all residents of Latvia who wish to visit our country for tourism, business and humanitarian purposes, while the energy crisis is raging in the EU, which is caused by the short-sighted policy of local authorities," the diplomatic mission said. By restricting the entry of Russians into the country, Latvia grossly violated the provisions of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the embassy added. MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th September, 2022) The Russian Defense Ministry in Geneva has presented evidence of the US military-biological activity in Ukraine, Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, the head of the radiation, chemical and biological defense of the Russian armed forces, said on Monday. Kirillov recalled that a meeting of the Biological Weapons Convention was held in Geneva from September 5-9 over violation by the United States and Ukraine of Articles I and IV, which was initiated by Russia. "The participants of the meeting received copies of real documents previously mentioned by the Ministry of Defense of Russia, as well as material evidence confirming the implementation of work on military-biological programs in Ukraine, for consideration," Kirillov said. According to the Russian defense official, members of other delegations had no doubts in the authenticity of the submitted documents. Former US President Donald Trump on Monday accused the FBI of violating Constitution as he returned to his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida for the first time since the raid in early August WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th September, 2022) Former US President Donald Trump on Monday accused the FBI of violating Constitution as he returned to his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida for the first time since the raid in early August. "Arrived in Florida last night and had a long and detailed chance to check out the scene of yet another government 'crime,' the FBI's Raid and Break-In of my home, Mar-a-Lago. I guess they don't think there is a Fourth Amendment anymore, and to them, there isn't," Trump wrote on his Truth Social network. Trump noted that his home "will never be the same place" following the FBI search. "It was 'ransacked,' and in far different condition than the way I left it. Many Agents - And they didn't even take off their shoes in my bedroom. Nice!!!" he said. On August 8, the FBI raided Mar-a-Lago as part of an investigation into potential mishandling of sensitive presidential records. Agents examined the premises for nine hours during which they seized 11 sets of documents and other materials, some of which were labeled Top Secret, according to the disclosed search warrant receipt. Trump has condemned the probe and the raid as a weaponization of the US justice system against him as well as his aides and supporters. ANKARA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th September, 2022) Construction of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant (NPP) will continue at an accelerated pace, Turkish Energy Minister Fatih Donmez said, adding that the first unit of the NPP should be launched in 2023. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Samarkand last week. The parties agreed to pay for 25% of Russian gas supplies to Turkey in rubles and settled the problems that had occurred during the construction of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant. "An agreement has been reached on the Akkuyu NPP. Our ministry, especially our president, has made intensive efforts to bring the parties together and overcome problems. After some time, work will continue at an accelerated pace. The project schedule is binding on us. We must commission the first unit in 2023," Donmez said, as quoted by Turkish newspaper Yeni Safak. USM College of Arts and Sciences Welcomes New Directors Mon, 09/19/2022 - 09:20am | By: Ivonne Kawas The University of Southern Mississippi (USM)s College of Arts and Sciences has welcomed four new directors this fall, including Dr. Emre Bayraktar, School of Construction and Design; Meg Brooker, School of Performing and Visual Arts (SPVA); Lt Colonel Sheena Puleali'I, Aerospace Studies (Air Force ROTC); and Dr. Brenda Rowe, School of Criminal Justice and Forensic Sciences. We are excited to welcome these new leaders to Southern Miss and the College of Arts and Sciences. Each brings an extensive professional background, said Dr. Chris Winstead, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. Im looking forward to working with them as we strive to enhance our academic programs, provide distinctive student experiences, and grow our research and creative activities. New directors include: Dr. Emre Bayraktar | School of Construction and Design Before joining USM, Dr. Bayraktar served as department chair and professor of the Civil Engineering Department at Istanbul Technical University for two years. Over the past fifteen years, Dr. Bayraktar has successfully obtained more than $2 million of external research funding in Construction Engineering and Management and managed 15 research projects funded by agencies such as the Florida Department of Transportation, Construction Industry Institute, and the European Commission. He has authored and co-authored more than 25 articles in top-ranked refereed journals and graduated two doctoral students in Civil Engineering. Dr. Bayraktars research interests and areas of expertise include the development of innovative computer-based risk assessment and strategic management decision support systems and solutions for Construction Engineering and Management. Specifically, management and optimization of infrastructure projects, public-private partnerships, use of renewable energy in infrastructure projects, and project risk management and decision support systems include the major sources of his research funding. Dr. Bayraktar has been honored with prestigious accolades, including being the 2010 and 2012 Kauffman Professor Awards given by Florida International University's Eugenio Pino and Family Global Entrepreneurship Center for his innovative research on net-zero buildings and green building technologies. Dr. Bayraktar also serves as an editorial board member of the American Society of Civil Engineers Journal of Management in Engineering. I am thrilled to serve as the new director of the School of Construction and Design, which houses three nationally accredited programs and excellent faculty expertise, said Dr. Bayraktar. My primary goal is to provide leadership as a unifying link between our programs in order to propel the School to the next level. I plan to collaborate with students, faculty, and staff to ensure that all students receive a valuable education, as well as demonstrate our commitment to student success through innovative engagement and retention efforts, he added. I strongly believe that building strong relationships with our alumni, industry experts, and the community will help us become national leaders in design and construction education. Meg Brooker | School of Performing and Visual Arts Brooker comes to USM from Middle Tennessee State University. She is the founder of the Isadora Duncan International Symposium, artistic director of Duncan Dance South, and a former member of Lori Belilove & Company, Isadora Duncan Dance Foundation. Brooker has performed in venues throughout the United States, including Russia, Greece, Ukraine, Italy, and England. In the Southeast, Brookers work has been produced by the Hunter Museum of American Art and the Nashville Parthenon. Her original choreography on undergraduate students has twice been selected for ACDA Regional Gala Concerts by a panel of national adjudicators. Brooker has presented scholarship for Society of Dance History Scholars, Congress on Research in Dance, Dance Studies Association, National Dance Education Organization, and Women in Dance Leadership. "At USM, I am looking forward to representing across the art forms of art and design, dance, and theatre, said Brooker. I identify as an interdisciplinary performing artist--my primary work has been in dance, but I have also trained extensively in theatre and regularly collaborate with musicians and visual artists. I am very excited to support the innovative and creative work of SPVA's award-winning faculty and students. Lt. Colonel Sheena Puleali'I | Aerospace Studies (Air Force ROTC) Lt. Col Pulealii joins USM as the Commander of Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps Detachment 432. She is responsible for recruiting, educating, and developing officer candidates through college campus programs based on Air Force requirements, and commissioning those that successfully meet all educational and program parameters. Lt. Col Pulealii was commissioned in 2005 through the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps upon graduating from Saint Louis University with a degree in Russian Studies. Lt. Col Pulealii has served in a variety of positions throughout her career. At the squadron level, she was sent to Kadena Airbase, Japan and served as the Director of Intelligence at the 909th Air Refueling Squadron. Remaining at Kadena, she served at the Group level as the Deputy Chief of Intelligence Plans and Exercises and provided intelligence support to the Combat Air Forces largest fighter wing in the Pacific. I am so incredibly humbled that the United States Air Force has entrusted me with the responsibility of training, developing, and commissioning the Air and Space Forces future leaders, said Lt. Col Pulealii. Molding, mentoring, and preparing these young cadets for service in the Air Force is what Im looking forward to most! Ive just hit the 17-year mark in my Air Force Career: Ive seen a lot, learned a lot, and I want to share all of my knowledge with the cadets to better prepare them in their journey whether it be a full career, or whether they serve a few years before transitioning to a career outside the Air Force. I have a fantastic team at USMs Det. 432 and we all want our cadets to be successful in either pathway they choose because they are our futurenot just the Air Forces future, she added. I cant wait to see them gain confidence in themselves and realize the unique value that each and every one of them will bring to the table; I cant wait to see what talents they discover for themselves and what they choose to do with these talents there are so many different careers and opportunities in the Air Force and beyond the sky is the limit and I am very blessed to play a role in their journey. Dr. Brenda Rowe | School of Criminal Justice and Forensic Sciences Dr. Rowe comes to USM from Texas A&M University - San Antonio, where she served as an assistant professor of criminology and criminal justice. Dr. Rowes research focuses on courts, legal issues in criminal justice, cybersecurity law, criminal justice legislation, death penalty jurisprudence, and criminal procedure. She has published in well-regarded peer-reviewed journals such as The Prison Journal, American Journal of Criminal Justice, Security Journal, Criminal Justice Policy Review, and Journal of Criminal Justice Education. Dr. Rowe has received multiple accolades in recognition of her outstanding contributions to the discipline, including the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences Dorothy Bracey/Janice Joseph Minority and Women New Scholar Award. She has served as Executive Counselor of the Law and Public Policy section of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences and as the MADD South Texas Affiliate Advisory Board Vice Chair for Public Policy. Dr. Rowe earned a Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from Sam Houston State University and a J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law. Prior to her academic career, she was an Assistant Criminal District Attorney in Tarrant County (Fort Worth), Texas. In this role, I am looking forward to supporting faculty in their mission of preparing students to become scholars and leaders in the fields of criminal justice, forensic science, and security, said Dr. Rowe. The School has committed faculty who contribute to their fields through innovative research, while also mentoring students in conducting research and pursuing their career goals. Our students greatly benefit by learning from faculty who are active scholars and have practitioner experience. Our diverse student body are active in student organizations which allow them to interact with practitioners, support each other in their academic pursuits and in representing USM. she added. I look forward to having the opportunity to lead in continuing to propel our tradition of excellence forward. Learn more about the College of Arts and Sciences. USM Hosting Events Associated with National Disability Employment Awareness Month Mon, 09/19/2022 - 13:08pm | By: Jerry Alliston Throughout the month of October, The University of Southern Mississippi Institute for Disability Studies (IDS) is hosting a series of activities in conjunction with National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM). National Disability Employment Awareness Month is part of an annual awareness campaign designed to educate about disability employment issues and celebrate the many and varied contributions of America's workers with disabilities. This years national theme is Disability: Part of the Equity Equation. Each year, IDS receives permission from the Department of Labor to adapt the national poster into a Mississippi focused one featuring youth and young adults with disabilities. IDS 2022 NDEAM activities will include: The first ever Together Employing All Mississippi Students (TEAMS) Awards in which two Mississippi Special Education Teachers and two Vocational Counselors will be recognized for their contributions. A virtual Career Informational Interview Event on October 18. Weekly employment-focused Facebook posts recognizing youth and young adults with disabilities who are making strides toward employment (https://www.facebook.com/msusmids/). Featured NDEAM activities and informational sharing through weekly trainings in schools, Advocacy Ambassador training series, Postsecondary Education training series, Adulting 101 training series, and Socialization Groups. All of this years events are a collaboration with the Mississippi Department of Rehabilitation Services, funder of the Transition of Teens to Adult Life (ToTAL) Program, which is a work-based training and internship program for teens and young adults with disabilities ages 14 to 21. "The Institute for Disability Studies is honored to be part of celebrating employment equity and awareness for everyone," said Dr. Jerry R. Alliston, IDS Associate Director. "We continue to spread the important message that all perspectives are valued including those from people with disabilities. We focus on preparing Mississippis next great workforce and leaders. Our national recovery from the pandemic cannot be completed without the inclusion of all Americans, in particular people with disabilities, said U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh. Their contributions have historically been vital to our nations success and are more important today than ever. We must build an economy that fully includes the talent and drive of those with disabilities. Employers and employees in all industries can learn more about how to participate in National Disability Employment Awareness Month and ways they can promote its messages during October and throughout the year by visiting https://www.dol.gov/agencies/odep/initiatives/ndeam. IDS is Mississippi's University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD) and has a mission to enhance the quality of life across the life span for citizens with disabilities and their families, regardless of culture, ethnicity, or socioeconomic background. To learn more about IDS or the ToTAL Program, call 601.266.5163 or visit http://www.usm.edu/ids. The Bishops of the Bamenda Provincial Episcopal Conference, in Northern Cameroon, express shock and utter horror at an arson attack against a parish church in the Diocese of Mamfe, where nine people, including five priests and a nun, have been abducted by unknown gunmen. By Lisa Zengarini The Catholic Bishops of the Bamenda Ecclesiatical Province, in the north-western Anglophone region of Cameroon, have condemned in the strongest terms an arson attack against a local church, in which nine people, including five priests and a nun, have been been kidnapped. The St. Mary's Catholic Nchang Parish in the Diocese of Mamfe was attacked by dozens of unknown gunmen on Friday evening, September 16. The abductees havent yet been released and their whereabouts are unknown. An umprecedented attack In a statement, the Bishops of the Bamenda Provincial Episcopal Conference (BAPEC) express shock and utter horror at what they term as an umprecedented heinous attack against the house of God and the Messengers of God and call for the immediate release of those abducted. According to Radio Evangelium of Mamfe Diocese, the nine abductees also include a catechist, a female cook, and a teenager living with the sisters. After the news broke out, the local ordinary, Bishop Aloysius Fondong Abangalo, rushed to the site to take away the Blessed Sacrament and the Crucifix in the church. The attack is the latest violent incident targeting local Church members in the conflict-ridden Anglophone regions where separatists have been fighting the Francophone-controlled central government since 2017. Enough is enough In their statement the Bishops of the Bamenda Province say the attack has now crossed the red line and that Enough is enough, calling upon the perpetrators and those who support them to repent for their act, because, they say, no one ever fights against God and wins. The prelates decry the fact that the ongoing separatist conflict is now targetting all Churches, whether Catholic, Presbyterian or Baptist, noting that some of those who attack them are people who are either members of these Churches, or who have benefitted from their generosity. A wave of persecution against the hierarchy of the church is now the new game of the Struggle, and all kinds of threat messages are sent out against Missionaries who have surrendered their lives to work for the people. The bishops of the Ecllesiastical Province, which includes Bamenda Archdiocese and the Dioceses of Kumbo, Kumba, Mamfe and Buea Dioceses, express their solidarity and prayerful wishes to Bishop Abangalo, the Clergy, women and men religious, and the Catholic laypeople and especially to the Christians of St. Mary's Parish Nehang, during this trying moment. Churches targeted They further call on people of goodwill to exercise vigilance over the temporal goods of the Church and her personnel and protect them from the powers of the Evil One. While we pray for protection, we also pray through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of Peace, that peace may return to our Ecclesiastical Province and that a lasting solution may be reached to this problem. For his part Bishop Abangalo called upon the faihful in his diocese to say a Rosary of reparation throughout the month of October for what he termed as an act of abomination. In a video published on Facebook , he also announced that at the end of that month a Mass is going to be celebrated to seek Gods blessings on our land. Issues should be resolved peacefully Referring to the to the perpetrators, he says They should know that they are children of God and that the Lord is ready to forgive". He further insists that the current disputes between separatists and the central government should be discussed peacefully and not by killing, harassing people and destroying property. If there are issues affecting our nation we should sit together and discuss it. We should not be killing people, harassing people and destroying property. The ongoing conflict in the Anglophone regions of Cameroon The ongoing armed conflict in Northwest and Southwest Cameroon, which in 2022 entered its sixth year, has claimed thousands of lives, displaced millions, destroyed properties and, and created a severe humanitarian crisis in the region. The immediate origins of the crisis stem from a year-long protest in Anglophone regions in 2016, following incessant complaints about the neglect and marginalisation of the English-speaking community by the Francophone elites who have been leading the country since independence in the early sixties. Tensions rapidly escalated into a secessionist political conflict in 2017 with separatists calling for the creation of an independent state called Ambazonia. The violence has taken a heavy toll on the civilian populations in the Northwest and Southwest regions, with attacks against schools, extrajudicial killings, kidnappings and a general sense of insecurity forcing millions of Cameroonians to flee to neighbouring countries. Read also 25/06/2022 Archbishop Nkea: The Church in Cameroon is in service of peace and reconciliation Archbishop Andrew Nkea of Bamenda restates the Churchs commitment to work for peace through dialogue in Cameroons Northwest and Southwest regions where a separatist crisis has ... The Church's stance on the conflict In all this, the Church has been vocal, calling for an end to the violence and for reconciliation between the sides in conflict. Though it has insistently maintained a neutral stance, while trying to advocate for peace and reconciliation, it has been criticized by both conflicting parties for not taking a tough enough position against the other and several Church members have been attacked or harassed. These include late Cardinal Christian Wiyghan Tumi, former Archbishop of Douala, who was abducted by separatists on November 5 2020 and released on the next day. A statement released by The Haitian Conference of Religious (CHR) expresses dismay and offers solidarity to the priests and religious of the country who have been affected by violence, acts of vandalism and looting in recent days, and issues an urgent appeal for action. By Linda Bordoni It is not the first time that the men and women religious of Haiti have raised the alarm decrying the exceedingly critical political, economic and social situation in the island nation that continues to breed criminality and gang violence. A statement released on Saturday, 17 September, expresses dismay and closeness in particular to the priests and religious of the country who have been deeply affected in their physical and moral integrity and in their works, especially in the dioceses of Cayes, Gonaives and Fort-Liberte, more precisely in Ouanaminthe, and to all the other persons and institutions that have been victims of acts of vandalism and looting in recent days. Calling for urgent action to save the suffering people of Haiti, the CHR reiterates its forceful condemnation of what it describes as unprecedented and random acts of violence, demanding that State authorities assume their responsibility and do their utmost to protect lives and property. The Haitian crisis Socio-political tension continues to mount in Haiti, where on Friday widespread looting and violence were reported as thousands protested demanding the ouster of Prime Minister Ariel Henry. The protesters have put the PMs departure as a pre-condition to leaving the streets, where tires are burning, barricades have been erected and establishments ransacked in the capital as well as other cities such as St Marc and Gonaives. Protests have also grown increasingly violent in different parts of the country, where public entities, private firms, and even offices of humanitarian and international organizations have been pillaged. In the northwestern city of Gonaives, a UN office was destroyed and several educational institutions such as the Immaculate Conception, Holy Family, and the public university of Gonaives were vandalized. On Thursday, offices of Caritas Internationalis and the World Food Program had come under attack in the same city. Joining the cry of the Bishops The CHR says it joins the cry of the Catholic Bishops of Haiti: In solidarity with the atrocious suffering and secular misery of our people, to whom we belong and among whom we live and work in almost every field, we endorse their very legitimate demands. We will continue to work tirelessly at their side against misery, ignorance, insecurity, absurd violence, and in favour of social justice and integral development. The religious affirm that in spite of the violence that is sometimes unleashed against us and our institutions, they will never tire of committing themselves prophetically to the poorest, children, young people, the sick, refugees, migrants, returnees, the disenfranchised, and to all people in situations of great vulnerability, so that His Kingdom may come, in accordance with the mission that we have received from the Lord." Appeals The statement goes on to appeal to the conscience and responsibility of all actors and sectors, both national and international, to commit themselves with honesty and height to the search for a peaceful solution to the crisis. The CHR also asks Conferences of Religious and Episcopal Conferences throughout the world to show solidarity with the people of Haiti, while sensitizing their various governments, most of which are involved in the Haitian crisis, so that the groans of our people can be heard beyond our borders. Our people are crying out for the right to live in dignity. Their legitimate cry must be heard. Humanitarian catastrophe Highlighting the seriousness of the situation the Religious describe as a humanitarian catastrophe, they plead for something to be done as soon as possible, noting that the people are tired of counting their dead and can no longer afford to live in dignity. As consecrated persons, they continue, we are more determined than ever to treasure the Hope that we carry within us and that we must proclaim in season and out of season, they say invoking the Lord to hear the cry of a whole people and to consider their sufferings. May He be pleased to associate us all with His work of total liberation which is already underway and which is only waiting to be accomplished. The CHR concludes with an invitation to all to pray for a happy outcome to the unprecedented crisis situation in the country, to devote one hour of adoration before the Blessed Sacrament each day in community, to pray and beg the Lord to come to the aid of his people in distress. With a third La Nina weather event underway, Australia is changing the way it prepares for natural disasters. Two key emergency agencies are being merged after criticism of the official response to record-breaking floods earlier this year. Australia is preparing for a potentially damaging spring and summer. Severe storms, intense rainfall, and large hail are expected to hit the eastern states in the next three months, while bushfires are expected in northern parts of Australia. A third consecutive La Nina event is underway, which typically brings above-average rainfall in spring and summer. Climate experts have warned that global warming is making this naturally occurring weather pattern even worse. Australia has created the National Emergency Management Agency, a merger of two government-run bodies, the National Recovery and Resilience Agency and Emergency Management Australia. Officials have said the new agency will improve Australias response to natural disasters. Earlier this year, residents in some flood-hit towns were forced to fend for themselves because emergency services were overwhelmed. Volunteers in the city of Lismore, north of Sydney, took to small boats and other watercraft to rescue residents stranded in fast-moving floodwaters. Murray Watt, the federal minister for emergency management, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that the authorities will now be better prepared. It will be a difficult time and that is why I think we need to make sure as a federal government that we are fully prepared. By combining the disaster response and disaster recovery capacity of the federal government it leads to a much more coordinated effort, said Watt. Over the past 18 months, many communities in Australia have been affected by floods. Some have been inundated more than once. It is estimated that 1 in 10 Australian homes are now vulnerable to flooding, according to the Insurance Council of Australia. Other experts in Australia are urging communities to prepare their own flood disaster escape plans. This includes identifying the best route to safe locations, always having at least half a tank of fuel in a vehicle, and turning off electricity, gas, and water at the mains before departure. Australia is a land familiar with natures extremes. Heatwaves are its deadliest natural hazard. An official inquiry into the 2019-20 Black Summer bushfires warned that climate change was inevitable, and that "compounding disasters" in Australia would become more frequent. The October 2020 report of the Royal Commission into Natural Disaster Arrangements said that natural hazards such as wildfires, floods and storms could happen simultaneously or one after another. As of midnight, Lithuanian border control stopped 11 Russian citizens from entering the country, the Lithuanian Interior Ministry reported. This comes after the prime ministers of four of the five Baltic nations bordering Russia Poland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania agreed earlier this month to stop admitting Russian citizens, a move in support of Ukraine. Going forward, Russians traveling for tourism, culture, sport or business purposes, even if they hold a valid visa, will be denied entry to the four nations. In a tweet, Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics said he reiterated his proposal to impose an EU tourist ban for Russian citizens. In May, the European Union tightened travel restrictions on Russian officials and businesspeople and banned all flights from Russia, leaving only rail and road links. While not sharing a border with Russia, the Czech Republic was one of the first EU countries to stop issuing visas to Russian citizens, imposing the restriction the day after Russia's February 24 invasion of Ukraine. However, the most recent ban exempts holders of EU residence cards, family members of EU citizens, those with humanitarian cases, serving diplomats, transportation employees and Russian dissidents or long-stay national visa holders. Andrzej Romanczuk, a Polish citizen, told The Associated Press that regions on both sides of the borders would suffer economically because border traffic drives local trade. Bordering countries cannot stop Russians from entering their countries via another third nation, such as Finland, which despite bordering Russia, decided to keep its borders open. "There is a loophole, and the loophole is Finland," Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas told Reuters, adding that as a result, the travel restrictions are not entirely effective but still better than nothing. Some information for this report was provided by the Associated Press and Reuters. U.S. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden paid their respects to Queen Elizabeth II Monday, joining world leaders, the royal family and a small group of invited guests at a somber, pomp-filled funeral ceremony at Westminster Abbey that celebrated her 70 years of service as Britains longest-serving monarch. The Bidens arrived late Saturday for the event and have kept a low profile in the British capital, holding no official diplomatic meetings and keeping their public comments to the topic of the queens recent death September 8 at the age of 96. White House officials told VOA before the funeral that Washingtons strong ties to London will continue after the recent change in leadership which includes the new king, Charles III, and the recently installed prime minister, Liz Truss. Biden will meet with Truss Wednesday in New York, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. We are confident that with King Charles and with Prime Minister Truss that the special relationship between the United States and Great Britain will endure, we're not worried about that at all, National Security Council director of strategic communications John Kirby told VOA. On Sunday, Biden and his wife paid their respects as the queens body lay in state at Westminster Hall, where tens of thousands lined up for hours to pass by her elaborately draped casket, which also bore the Imperial State Crown, orb and scepter a priceless and instantly recognizable piece capped by the massive, glittering Star of Africa diamond, a 530-carat stone given to the Crown by then-colony South Africa, in 1907. On Sunday, the Bidens also signed condolence books, and the president praised the queen for her legacy of selfless duty. I think what she gave us is a sense of, maybe above all, the notion of service, that we all owe something, he said. There's something within our capacity to do that can make things not just the world better, but your neighborhood better, your household better, your workplace better. And that's what she communicated to me anyway. The king also hosted a formal state reception for dignitaries Sunday, which Biden attended. The British crown has extended a controversial funeral invitation to Saudi Arabias Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is widely believed to be responsible for ordering the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. They did not invite the leaders of Russia, Belarus, Syria, Afghanistan or Venezuela. Elizabeth was buried privately later on Monday at St. George's Chapel within the grounds of Windsor Castle, next to her husband of 73 years, Prince Philip. Cameroonian authorities have accused armed separatists of abducting five Catholic priests, a nun, and two worshippers from a church on its western border with Nigeria. The Catholic Church in Cameroon says the gunmen torched the church, in the town of Nchang, Friday, before fleeing toward the Nigerian border. Roman Catholic Church officials in Cameroon say fewer than 10 of the at least 200 Christians expected at Saint Mary's Church in Nchang village attended their traditional church service Sunday after bishops reported a separatist abduction there. Nchang is a western village on Cameroons border with Nigeria. Cameroonian bishops say more than 30 gunmen stormed the church Friday evening, shooting indiscriminately in the air before setting the church building on fire. The bishops say five priests, a nun and two Christians were abducted and taken on motorcycles to the bush on the border with Nigeria. Aloysious Fondong Abangalo, bishop of the Diocese of Mamfe. where Nchang is located, visited Saint Mary's Church Sunday. He says a separatist attack Friday scared Christians away from attending the service. Abangalo said he was surprised that some of the fighters who attacked Saint Mary's Church are former members of the church. "They are our brothers and sisters who did this thing. Some of them are Catholic Christians. It is an abomination. You burn the church with Jesus inside, you are telling God we do not want you in our land. This is a terrible thing. We all have to pray to beg God's mercy." Abangalo spoke on local media including Equinox TV and Satellite FM Radio. Reverend Father Humphrey Tatah Mbui is director of communications at the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroons Catholic Bishops. He says it is unfortunate for fighters to abduct Catholic clergy and committed Christians, whose mission is to preach peace and make the world a better place to live in. "They carried them off, saying that the church has not been respecting gunmen. We all know that the Catholic Church in particular has always been for justice and peace. The church is neutral. No one has a right to target men and women of God. That is why the bishops wrote a letter to all the Christians, decrying these kidnappings and asking the Christians to pray for them [abducted clergy]." The Catholic Church, in the letter released Sunday, condemned the attack and said since the separatist crisis broke out in Cameroon in 2016, clergy have been soft targets of kidnappers, torturers and gunmen. The church says church buildings and schools and hospitals owned by churches are regularly attacked by armed men. Cameroonian bishops say the Roman Catholic Church and all other churches in the central African state reject violence as a solution to the crisis. They call on the gunmen to release the abducted people and stop killing people. Cameroons military says the clergy and Christians were abducted by separatists but does not give possible reasons for the abduction. The government says the military has been deployed to rescue the abducted people. Capo Daniel is deputy defense chief of the Ambazonia Defense Forces, one of the main separatist groups in Cameroon's English-speaking western regions. Daniel says splinter separatist groups attacked the clergy in Nchang village. "We are sending a warning to all the splinter Ambazonia forces that there is no justification for attacks against religious institutions that are the backbone of Ambazonia communal life. Whatever differences we have with some of the leadership of the Catholic church, the church is sacrosanct and cannot be torched in this manner. Our fight is against the Cameroon state and its institutions and not against the church." Daniel said some splinter separatist groups are attacking everyone they suspect of collaborating with Cameroons central government in Yaounde. He said the splinter groups do not want schools the fighters consider instruments of manipulation and assimilation of English speakers by the French-speaking majority to open in western Cameroon. The Roman Catholic Church has opposed closure of schools by fighters. The U.N. says that Cameroons separatist crisis that degenerated into an armed conflict in 2017 has left more than 3,300 people dead and 750,000 internally displaced or having fled to neighboring Nigeria. As world leaders gather in New York at the annual U.N. General Assembly, rising superpower China is also focusing on another United Nations body that is meeting across the Atlantic Ocean in Geneva. Chinese diplomats are speaking out and lobbying others at an ongoing session of the Human Rights Council to thwart a possible call for further scrutiny of what it calls its anti-extremism campaign in Xinjiang, following a United Nations report on abuses against Uyghurs and other largely Muslim ethnic groups in the western China border region. The concurrent meetings illustrate China's divided approach to the United Nations and its growing global influence. Beijing looks to the U.N., where it can count on support from countries it has befriended and in many cases assisted financially, as a counterweight to U.S.-led blocs such as the Group of Seven, which have grown increasingly hostile toward China. China sees the U.N. as an important forum that it can use to further its strategic interests and goals, and to reform the global order, said Helena Legarda from the Mercator Institute for China Studies in Berlin. While holding up the United Nations as a model of multilateralism, China rejects criticism or decisions that the ruling Communist Party sees as counter to its interests. Its diplomats struck back at the report published last month by the U.N. human rights office raising concerns about possible crimes against humanity in Xinjiang vowing to suspend cooperation with the office and blasting what it described as a Western plot to undermine China's rise. China had pushed hard to block the report on Xinjiang, delaying its release for more than a year. In the end, the information did come out but just minutes before embattled U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet left office. Like the United States, China feels a certain freedom to ignore U.N. institutions when it wants: The Trump administration pulled the U.S. out of the Human Rights Council in 2018, accusing it of anti-Israel bias. The Biden administration jumped back in this year and has made a priority of defending Israel in the 47-member-state body. Also like the United States, China leverages its influence to get its way effectively stymieing an investigation by the U.N.'s World Health Organization into whether China was the birthplace of the coronavirus pandemic. Ken Roth, the former executive director of Human Rights Watch, said Chinese President Xi Jinping is trying to redefine what human rights are, in part by casting economic development as a key criterion. China, Roth said, more than any government in the past, is trying to undermine the U.N. human rights system by pressuring U.N. officials, retaliating against witnesses and trying to bribe governments. "One of their top priorities right now maybe after Taiwan is to avoid condemnation by the Human Rights Council, Roth said. The self-governing island of Taiwan is claimed by China as its sovereign territory, an issue that the Beijing government is vociferous about internationally. Shi Yinhong, an international relations expert at Renmin University in China, said advocating for the U.N.s role in maintaining the international order doesnt mean that China agrees with every U.N. body, citing the COVID-19 origins study and the recent Xinjiang report. When the U.N high commissioner for human rights issues such a report, in the eyes of China, it is the same as all organizations in the world, no matter official or private, that defames China, Shi said. But China doesn't want its pique toward the rights office, which falls under U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, to spill over to its deepening relationship with other parts of the world body that deal with refugees, climate, the internet, satellites, world hunger, atomic weapons, energy and much more. China wields power as one of the five veto-holding members of the Security Council, helping it build relationships with the United States and others who needed China's support for past resolutions on Iran and North Korea. That influence has diminished somewhat with the overall deterioration of U.S.-China ties, Shi said. Subsequently, both China and Russia vetoed a U.S.-backed resolution in May to impose new sanctions on North Korea. Under Xi, who came to power 10 years ago, China has expanded its U.N. involvement from primarily international development early on to political, peace and security issues, Legarda said. China has stepped into a diplomatic void created by a lack of U.S. leadership, said Daniel Warner, a Geneva-based political analyst. Former President Donald Trump shunned many international institutions, Warner said, and successor Joe Biden has been preoccupied with domestic issues. China holds the top jobs at three of the U.N.s 18 specialized agencies: the Food and Agriculture Organization, the Industrial Development Organization and the International Telecommunications Union, where the United States has put up a candidate to succeed outgoing chief Houlin Zhao. A Chinese official headed the International Civil Aviation Organization until last year. For China, it's a matter of prestige as well as influence, Warner said. The United States and the Western countries were very much involved in the initial United Nations, he said. China doesnt want to have that kind of leadership. Theyre not talking about liberal values, but they want to make sure that their interests are defended in the U.N. system. Chinese diplomats spearheaded a joint statement which it said was backed by 30 countries including Russia, North Korea, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela that blasted disinformation behind the U.N. report on Xinjiang and the erroneous conclusions drawn in it. And China's ambassador in Geneva said Beijing could no longer cooperate with the human rights office without specifying how. Sarah Brooks, a China expert at the International Society for Human Rights advocacy group in Geneva, said China could hold up its funding for the office which lately has come in at $800,000 a year, far less than Western countries that give tens of millions. Still, Brooks said it would be a huge blow if funding from China were to stop, in part because many countries appreciate and support the causes that Beijing helps pay for. The optics of it are really damaging, she said. You have a country that says, Hi, I want to be responsible, but Im so thin-skinned Im still going to lash out at the organization that drafted it. The European Union's executive branch has unveiled plans for new laws that it said would help protect media freedom and independence in the 27-nation bloc at a time of mounting concern about the dangers of political influence in several member countries. Spurred into action allegations of state spying on reporters, the use of political pressure on news outlets and the placing of advertising to peddle influence, the European Commission said the EU needs a European Media Freedom Act. "We see a lot of worrying trends regarding media in Europe, and it's not only a matter of one or two countries," European Commission Vice President Vera Jourova told reporters in Brussels. She said the proposed legislation is needed "for the times we live in, not for the times we would like to live in." The commission has criticized the governments of Hungary, Poland and Slovenia in recent years for trying to pressure their national media. But EU officials say they see the risk of political influence in more than 20 member countries. "We need to establish clear principles: No journalist should be spied on because of their job. No public media should be turned into propaganda channel," Jourova said. The main thrust of the new act is to protect media outlets from governments attempting to determine what they can publish or broadcast, and to prevent countries from spying on media workers. The legislation also aims to ensure stable funding of public service media and to make media ownership more transparent. The proposal would only take effect once it has been debated and endorsed by EU member countries and the European Parliament. The centerpiece of the legislation would create an independent body, made up of national media authorities, to issue opinions on national measures and decisions affecting media markets and media market ownership. But the opinions of the European Board for Media Services would not be binding on national authorities. Jourova rejected suggestions that the board would be answerable to the European Commission or serve as an oversight body that itself keeps tabs on what reporters and editors are doing. "We are not going to regulate the media themselves, but the space for media," she said. The act would ban the use of spyware against journalists and their families, with exceptions only for investigations of crimes such as terrorism, child abuse or murder. Journalists would have the right to judicial protection, and countries would set up an independent authority to handle complaints. The allocation of state advertising to media would also be made more transparent. Officials say that 21 countries are at medium to high risk of misusing advertising revenue to influence editors and journalists. The plan is the commission's second recent foray into the media world. On Sept. 6, it launched a consortium of 18 European news agencies to "carry out independent reporting on EU affairs." The European Newsroom benefits from around 1.8 million euros ($1.8 million) in EU funding. Floodwaters were starting to recede in some parts of western Alaska that were battered by the worst storm in a half century, leaving debris flung by the powerful Bering Sea waves on beaches and in seaside communities. he storm, the remnant of Typhoon Merbok, was weakening Sunday as it moved north from the Bering Strait into the Chukchi Sea off Alaska's northwest coast. But it remained a hazardous threat to smaller communities along Alaska's northwest coast, said National Weather Service meteorologist Kaitlyn Lardeo. "This guy is going to hang out in the Chukchi Sea for the next few days and just rapidly weaken because it's so stationary," she said. The storm's crashing waves caused widespread flooding and damage along 1,000 miles (1,609 kilometers) of the Alaska coastline, Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy said. It was also massive system big enough to cover the mainland U.S. from Nebraska west to the Pacific Ocean and from Canada to Texas that has influenced weather systems as far away as California, where a rare late-summer storm was dropping rain on the northern part of the state. There have been no reports of injuries or deaths in Alaska, the governor said during a Saturday evening news conference. However, roads have been damaged and state officials are assessing potential damage to seawalls, water and sewage systems, airports, and ports. Several communities reported the force of the incoming water, often propelled by winds gusting near 70 mph (113 kph), knocked some homes off their foundations. One house in Nome floated down a river until it got caught under a bridge. Many homes were flooded and about 450 residents on the western coast sought refuge in shelters, with more than half of them at a school in Hooper Bay, where they ate processed moose donated by village residents. Others rode out the storm on higher ground outside their communities. The former typhoon caused the highest water level at Nome 11.1 feet (3.38 meters) above the normal tide level since a large storm in 1974, and other communities might have surpassed levels seen in 48 years ago. "One of the big features of this storm was the wide swath of significant damage," said Rick Thoman, a climate specialist with the International Arctic Research Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. "So, did it live up to the hype? I would say absolutely," he said of the storm, which had officials urging people to prepare days before it hit. Becca Luce and her family live about a half mile from the Bering Sea coast in Nome. "We have a pretty good view of the ocean from our living room," she said. "We could see the waves crashing from our window and going over the road." Nome itself was inundated, including Front Street, the city's main business thoroughfare that also doubles as the finish line for the Iditarod Trail Sled-Dog Race. The city's mini-convention center, which also serves as Iditarod headquarters for the end of the race each March, was surrounded by water. One downtown restaurant, the Bering Sea Bar and Grill, was destroyed by fire Saturday night, but the cause and whether it was related to the storm is not yet known, said interim city manager Bryant Hammond. The receding water revealed the detritus left in the streets and yards, including trash, organic debris, rocks and asphalt, Hammond said. Cleanup was to start immediately. Part of a highway was washed out in Nome, forcing residents to use a bypass to reach the community of Council, adding up to 15 miles (24 kilometers) to the 72-mile (116-kilometer) trip, he said. "Another major concern is that freeze-up is near, and all of this damage to the roads will need to be repaired before the month ends," Luce said, using the local term for the onset of winter, which is in October in many parts of Alaska. "And it's hard to say if that will be possible, especially for the remote village villages without as many resources as Nome has." Dunleavy, who issued a state disaster declaration Saturday and is considering seeking a federal disaster, said state officials intend to get communities up and running again as soon as possible. "We just have to impress upon our federal friends that it's not a Florida situation where we've got months to work on this," he said. "We've got several weeks." The rain in Northern California helped firefighters increase containment on the biggest wildfire in the state so far this year. The Mosquito Fire in the Sierra Nevada foothills northeast of the capital of Sacramento was 34% contained after downpours early Sunday. More rain was expected, which fire spokesman Scott McLean called a mixed blessing. "It did help a bit to stifle that aggressive fire," McLean said. "But we're going to have new safety issues now with all the mud that's out there. And the ground moisture could cause some of those damaged trees to fall over." An average of a quarter inch (2 centimeters) of rain fell overnight across Marin, Napa and Sonoma counties north of San Francisco, with more than double that amount recorded in some mountain areas, the National Weather Service said. Winds gusting up to 40 mph (64 kph) were forecast Sunday along Northern California coastal areas and at higher elevations in the Sierra Nevada. Gusts that strong can blow down branches and drought-stressed trees and cause power outages, warned weather service meteorologist Ryan Walbrun. He said thunderstorms were expected on and off until at least Monday, making for slick roads during the morning commute. Hurricane Fiona roared over the Dominican Republic on Monday after knocking out power across the U.S. island territory of Puerto Rico, where the governor described the damage as catastrophic. No deaths have been reported, but many people were left without water service in Puerto Rico. The full scope of the damage from high winds and torrential rains has yet to be assessed. The islands U.S. National Weather Service office said flash flooding was occurring in south-central parts of Puerto Rico and urged residents to immediately move to higher ground. Up to 56 centimeters of rain fell in some places, and as much as another 38 centimeters were predicted even as the storm moved away. Authorities also projected 38 centimeters of rain for the eastern Dominican Republic and told most people to stay home from work. Ports were closed and beaches were shut down. Heavy rains from Fiona will continue to produce life-threatening and catastrophic flooding along with mudslides and landslides across Puerto Rico through Monday night, the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said. Life-threatening flash and urban flooding is likely for eastern portions of the Dominican Republic through early Tuesday, the hurricane center said. Forecasters say the Category 1 storm is not expected to threaten the U.S. mainland. At last report, Fiona was moving into the Atlantic, traveling northwest at 15 kilometers an hour, with tropical storm-force winds extending out for 220 kilometers. The latest bulletin said Fiona was 270 kilometers southeast of Grand Turk Island in the Turks and Caicos Islands with maximum sustained winds of 150 kilometers per hour. Forecasters say the storm was expected to pass close to the islands on Tuesday and likely to strengthen in the coming days. It could near Bermuda as a major hurricane late Thursday or on Friday. Puerto Ricos Governor Pedro Pierluisi said, "The damages that we are seeing are catastrophic." In the north coast town of Catano, authorities in a boat navigated flooded streets before dawn on Monday, using a megaphone to tell people that pumps had collapsed and urged them to evacuate as quickly as possible. Officials said at least 1,300 people spent the night in shelters across Puerto Rico. Muddy water rushed through streets and into homes and consumed a runway airport in southern Puerto Rico. Roofs were torn off some houses and asphalt was ripped from roads. Some material in this report came from The Associated Press. Waqar Satti is usually out covering Pakistans parliament. But accusations of blasphemy and online death threats have forced the senior political correspondent to stop work. I haven't been in the field since this happened, Satti told VOA. I left my city, my family is worried and affected by the case, I have four children. Police in the city of Rawalpindi filed a case against Satti in late August over a video the Geo News senior political correspondent shared on Twitter. A First Information Report, or FIR, on the case the preliminary stage to a criminal complaint lists blasphemy and defamation charges. The legal complaint says that in the video, Satti falsely attributes anti-Islamic quotes to former Prime Minister Imran Khan. Satti denied that, saying he only compiled interviews and statements by Khan. The video has since been deleted. Since the case was filed, Satti has been trolled and threatened on Twitter. "First, they used abusing language and started insulting me on Twitter. Then there were threats to kill, said Satti. Trending hashtags labeled the journalist a blasphemer and called for him to be hanged, he told VOA. Fearing for his safety, Satti said he had to stop work. The journalist says Geos management has been sympathetic to him and asked that he delete the tweet so the situation can cool down. I don't know what will happen, but I am determined, said Satti. Every other person is advising me to leave the country, but I will stay and fight the legal battle. I hope that I will get justice from the courts. Pakistan has some of the strictest blasphemy laws, with those convicted facing life imprisonment or even a death sentence. The accusation can also increase the risk of threats or attack. This is the first-ever blasphemy case against a journalist in Punjab. Also nearly 100,000 people ran a dangerous trend on social media against (Satti), said Afzal Butt, president of the Pakistan Federal Union Journalists (PFUJ). We know what happens to people facing blasphemy charges in this country, he told VOA. While blasphemy charges are rare for the media, the wider use of legal action to retaliate against reporters is of concern to the PFUJ and other media advocates. Coverage deemed critical of the military or Pakistan intelligence agencies, or reporting on enforced disappearances, human rights violations or the Pashtun Protection Movementa group demanding equal rights and protections for minority Pashtuns carry risk of threats or legal action. VOA contacted Marriyum Aurangzeb, Pakistans Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting, for comment. Her staff told VOA that the minister was busy and would send a response when available. As of publication, no response had arrived. Aurangzeb however has commented on Sattis case on social media. In an August 28 tweet, she said, I condemn the FIR (First Information Report) against Waqar Satti by Punjab government in strongest words. Legal threats The Islamabad-based journalist Asad Toor has also faced legal action and a physical attack for his work. In September 2020, authorities accused him of propagating against the army and the state. The reason was only that I challenged the people who believe they are not answerable and unaccountable, he told VOA. When charges were filed, Toor says the privately owned TV channel he worked for terminated his contract. So, he started a YouTube channel Asad Toor Uncensored to keep reporting. A court in December 2020 dismissed the case due to a lack of evidence. But Toors ordeal was not over. Then, in a separate incident in May 2021, three unidentified assailants came to Toors home, tied the journalist up, beat and threatened him. Still, he refused to be silenced. Whatever I had to suffer, I decided to continue it. So, I continued with the same spirit, Toor said. In March of this year, Islamabad police opened an investigation into the accusations that he led an unauthorized protest. That case, said Toor, is still open. More harassment of the media followed elections in April, including legal action filed against four journalists deemed supportive of Khans government, including two from the ARY network. In late May, legal complaints were filed against all four on accusations that they published statements to cause public mischief by being critical of the state or army, the Committee to Protect Journalists said at the time. In a statement at the time, CPJ said the blizzard of harassing investigations makes a mockery of (Pakistans) claims to uphold press freedom. VOA reached out to at least three of the journalists, but none responded. Call for reform Iqbal Khattak, head of the Pakistan-based media watchdog, the Freedom Network, said the filing of lawsuits is a tactic to ensnare journalists in lengthy disputes. I think that's a new strategy on part of the state and state institutions to get you entangled in the legal battle, Khattak told VOA. We regard these legal cases against journalists [as] equally dangerous for press freedom in the country. One solution, said Khattak, is to improve media literacy. Journalists should also take steps toward a more professional and ethical approach, he said. Butt of the PFUJ said that Pakistans laws make it easy for authorities to arrest journalists. He said that the information minister has agreed with media that there are laws that violate Pakistans Constitution. Under Article 19, Pakistan guarantees freedom of expression and the press. We have formed a joint action committee comprising of all stakeholders and engaged with the government information ministry, the current information minister, to reform the laws, Butt said. Pakistans journalists have had some success in pushing back against reforms they believe will stifle the press. In February, Khans government enacted amendments to the 2016 Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, a move they said would tackle false news. The countrys media filed a petition, saying the change would make it easier to prosecute journalists. In a landmark decision in April, the Islamabad High Court rescinded the law as unconstitutional. This story originated in VOAs Urdu Service. Iranians gathered in multiple cities to protest the treatment of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini who died last week, days after she was detained by the countrys morality police for violating the dress code. The demonstrations drew crowds in Tehran, Mashhad and Esfehan, as well as cities in Kurdish areas of western Iran, including Marivan, Divandarreh and Aminis hometown of Saghghez. Protesters chanted slogans and, in some areas, blocked streets as they called for justice for Amini. Demonstrators in Toronto, Canada held up pictures of Amini along with a sign that said How many more lives? Amini was detained September 13 in Tehran and authorities announced her death three days later. Police denied Amini was mistreated, saying she died of a heart attack. Her family said she had no history of heart problems. Her father, Amjad Amini, told VOA Persian that authorities were insistent that her burial take place without delay, and that when the family went to the coroners office, he was shown a sealed box with the body inside. I have no idea what they have done to the body, Amjad Amini said. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi ordered an investigation, and Irans judiciary said it began a probe. Amjad Amini told VOA Persian he does not believe the governments promises and that he wants everyone to keep asking for accountability. I am sure they are lying to me since the body of my daughter is gone. She is not coming back to life. I just want this never happen to anyone else, he said. International pressure Outside of Iran, calls for accountability have grown in the days since Aminis death, including protests in Los Angeles and in front of the Interests Section of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Washington. Mahsa Amini should be alive today, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken tweeted late Monday. Instead, the United States and the Iranian people mourn her. We call on the Iranian government to end its systemic persecution of women and to allow peaceful protest. Congressman Michael McCaul, ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a statement to VOA Persian: Mahsa Aminis death at the hands of Irans so-called morality police over an alleged dress code violation is an outrage. Any regime that treats its citizens with such little regard should face serious consequences. Senator Bob Menendez, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, tweeted that he is outraged by Aminis arrest and killing under the guise of Irans draconian hijab law. The morality police's horrifying actions are only the latest examples of the Iranian regimes devastating oppression of women & all its citizens, Menendez posted. The morality police enforce a dress code that includes a requirement for women to wear headscarves in public. Frances foreign ministry called Aminis death deeply shocking and urged Iran to carry out a transparent investigation. A spokesman for European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a statement that what happened to Amini is unacceptable and the perpetrators of this killing must be held accountable. VOA Persian contributed to this report. Some information came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters. Somali army commanders say their forces killed more than 100 al-Shabab militants during weekend offensives to retake territory from the Islamist militant group. Witnesses say the troops also recaptured two villages that al-Shabab had held for more than a decade. The Somali National Army said Monday that troops launched a fresh offensive against al-Shabab in the central Hiran region over the weekend. Senior army commanders in Hiran who spoke to VOA via phone said that fierce firefights between the military and al-Shabab began early Saturday, especially in the villages of Aborey and Yasooman. They told VOA that 75 al-Shabab militants were killed in the fighting in Yasooman and 30 in the vicinity of Aborey. Local residents told VOA via WhatsApp that troops took control of both villages, which had been under al-Shabab control for more than a decade. Speaking to media at the frontline, Abdifatah Hassan Afrah, the former governor of Hiran, said troops are defeating the enemy of Somali people, referring to al-Shabab. He says our victories are bringing more victories, and it is coming one after the other. And their defeat will bring them more defeat. By the will of Allah (God), we are wishing that they will be cleared out of the country. Somalias information ministsaid Sunday that the armys recent offensives have killed 200 al-Shabab fighters and liberated 30 villages from the group in all. Malik Abdalla is a member of the Somali federal parliament from Hiran. He told VOA via WhatsApp that the fighting in Hiran also involved local militias known as Macawisley. He said residents of the villages have had enough of al-Shabab. He says the reason why the people of Hiran or the people in this region fight is because they could not bear the hardships they faced day and night. He says they stood up to survive after al-Shabab blew up their water wells and their villages burned. Al-Shabab has yet to comment on the army and Information Ministrys claims. But in a video released by the groups media wing Sunday night, spokesman Ali Mohamud Rage, known as Ali Dhere, said the group is ready for the war that Somalias president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, declared on them. Rage warned Mogadishu residents to stay away from hotels that are frequented by Somali government officials. President Mohamud, who was elected in May, announced that his administration will wage a total war against the al-Shabab network after the group attacked a hotel in Mogadishu, killing more than 20 people and wounded at least 100 others. A government-allied Somali militia killed at least 45 al-Shabab fighters and beheaded some of them, three witnesses said on Sunday, as citizens in central regions of the country increasingly take up arms against the insurgents. The beheadings on Saturday followed a battle in the Hiran region of Hirshabelle State, where there has been significant fighting this month between al-Shabab and newly expanded militias allied with the federal government. Al-Shabab, an al-Qaida-linked Islamist group, has been fighting Somalia's weak central government since 2006. It wants to implement a strict interpretation of sharia law. Al-Shabab has increasingly burned houses, destroyed wells, and beheaded civilians in the Hiran region, residents say; that, combined with its demands for taxes amidst the worst drought in 40 years, has pushed more residents to take up arms. "Al-Shabab is not strong, it just burns people, beheads people and put their heads in the streets just to terrorize," said Ahmed Abdulle, a Hiran elder. "Now, we are doing the same: we have ordered the beheading of al-Shabab fighters," he told Reuters. Videos widely shared on Telegram showed at least two beheaded alleged al-Shabab fighters and dozens more dead bodies in fatigues and red-and-white checked scarves. Some of the dead appeared to have died in battle. Reuters was not independently able to verify the authenticity of the videos, but three witnesses to the beheadings said they were real. Seven other residents, including Abdulle, said family members had been present and confirmed the deaths to them. The three witnesses asked not to be named for security reasons. "Al-Shabab put us in hell. ... So our people decided to liberate themselves. ... My daughter is also fighting in the frontline, she has an AK-47 on her shoulder," resident Halima Ismail said. Somali Interior Minister Ahmed Moalim Fiqi did not immediately respond to requests for comment. An al-Shabab spokesman was not immediately available for comment. Fighters have retaken 10 villages from al-Shabab in recent weeks, elder Hassaan Farah told Reuters. Residents in nearby Galmudug state are also taking up arms. "This week, we have recaptured nine villages," said Ahmed Shire, the Galmudug information minister. "It is a big revolution by Galmudug state." On Saturday, the federal government sent troops to reinforce Galmudug fighters, the Somali National News Agency said. Earlier this month, al-Shabab militants killed at least 18 civilians and destroyed food aid trucks. In August, they killed more than 20 people in a hotel siege. Somalia has been in civil war since 1991, when clan-based warlords overthrew a dictator then turned on each other. The Taliban Monday freed Mark Frerichs, the only American hostage remaining in Afghanistan, in exchange for a Taliban drug lord, Bashir Noorzai, who was serving a life sentence in a U.S. prison. Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi told reporters in Kabul the prisoner swap between his government and a U.S. delegation took place at the Afghan capitals airport. Frerichs, the nearly 60-year-old American engineer and Navy veteran, was abducted in Kabul in early 2020 when the U.S. and NATO troops were battling the then-Taliban insurgency in support of the Western-backed Afghan government. In a statement, President Joe Biden said that Frerichs was on his way home from Afghanistan after 31 months in captivity there. Biden said he had spoken and shared the good news with Frerichs family. His release is the culmination of years of tireless work by dedicated public servants across our government and other partner governments, and I want to thank them for all that effort., Biden said. Bringing the negotiations that led to Marks freedom to a successful resolution required difficult decisions, which I did not take lightly., the U.S. president stated. Biden said that his administration continues to prioritize the safe return of all Americans who are held hostage or wrongfully detained abroad, and the U.S. will not stop until they are reunited with their families. Noorzai, known as Haji Bashir, was arrested in New York in 2005 and subsequently charged with trafficking millions of dollars worth of heroin into the United States. The top Taliban associate reportedly helped fund and arm the insurgents with proceeds from heroin trafficking. Muttaqi described the prisoner swap as an unprecedented in the history of Afghanistan and said it was the outcome of a long negotiation process between the Taliban and the U.S. He said until now prisoner swaps between the two former adversaries had taken place outside Afghanistan. This morning at 10 a.m. the American citizen was handed over to an American team at the Kabul airport and Haji Bashir was handed over to the Islamic Emirate, Muttaqi said, using the official name for the Taliban government. Noorzais lawyer had denied his client was a drug lord and argued the charges against him should be dismissed because U.S. officials duped him into believing he would not be arrested. International forces completely withdrew from the country in August of last year after almost two decades of war with the Taliban, paving the way for the resurgent Islamist group to seize power. Muttaqi said he also had a positive meeting with the U.S. officials at the Kabul airport on different issues before the guests left Afghanistan. He did not elaborate. Muttaqi said Mondays development had opened a new chapter in relations between Afghanistan and the United States, it would also help resolve bilateral problems between the two countries through negotiations. Critics said it was too early to say whether the prisoner exchange would lead to any change in U.S. policy in terms of dealings with the Taliban, noting that the Islamist group had for long denied they were behind the abduction of Frerichs. Miraculously finding him for an exchange doesn't exactly amount to diplomacy, nor trust building with the world, said Torek Farhadi, a former Afghan official and political commentator. The U.S. and the world at large have not yet recognized the Taliban government over human rights and terrorism-related concerns. Noorzai, an influential tribal leader, owned opium fields in the southern province of Kandahar and he was a close ally of Mullah Mohammad Omar, the founder leader of the Taliban. "In 2001, after the United States began military operations in Afghanistan, Noorzai at Omars request, provided the Taliban" with hundreds of his fighters to battle the then-anti-Taliban alliance of Afghan groups, according to the U.S. charge sheet against him. In a dank basement behind the local supermarket, metal bars cordon off a corner of the room to form a large cell. A dirty sleeping bag and duvets show three sleeping spots on top of sheets of Styrofoam for insulation from the damp earth floor. In the corner, two black buckets served as toilets. A few meters (yards) outside the barred cell, three dilapidated chairs stand around a table, cigarette butts and pumpkin seed husks littering the floor around them. Ukrainian authorities say this was a makeshift prison where Russian forces abused detainees before Ukrainian troops swept through the border village of Kozacha Lopan in a major counteroffensive in the Kharkiv region this month. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said more than 10 such "torture chambers" have been discovered in the region since the hasty withdrawal of Russian troops last week. The claims of what occurred in the room could not be independently confirmed. Kozacha Lopan, whose edge lies less than 2 kilometers (just over a mile) from the Russian border, was retaken by Ukrainian forces Sept. 11. In a statement posted Saturday on its Telegram channel, the prosecutor's office of the Kharkiv region, in whose jurisdiction Kozacha Lopan lies, said the room seen by AP journalists was used as a torture cell during the occupation of the area. It said Russian forces had set up a local police force that ran the prison, adding that documents confirming the functioning of the police department and implements of torture had been seized. The statement said an investigation was being conducted. Images the prosecutors released showed a Russian military TA-57 telephone with additional wires and alligator clips attached to it. Ukrainian officials have accused Russian forces of using the Soviet-era radio telephones as a power source to shock prisoners during interrogation. In his nightly address to the nation Saturday, Zelenskyy mentioned another location, at the railway station in Kozacha Lopan, where he said, "a room for torture and tools for electric torture was found." Viacheslav Zadorenko, head of the Derhachi municipality to which Kozacha Lopan belongs, pointed AP journalists on Sunday to a semi-basement of the train station, where he said interrogations had been carried out. Members of Ukraine's State Emergency Service, or DSNS, checked Sunday for unexploded devices and booby traps but found none. A sandbag barrier stood outside the stairs leading down into two small rooms. The first room was furnished with three tables and numerous stairs, a faded icon of the Virgin Mary on one table, two books on another, including a novel by Russian literary critic and philosopher Nikolay Gavrilovich Chernyshevsky. Jumbles of wires and cables littered the floor, a small fridge stood in the corner. In a narrow adjoining room, a row of wooden cabinets stood open and mostly empty, and a mattress lay on the top bunk of a bunk bed, a pair of discarded flip-flops and shoes on the floor. It was impossible to independently confirm what occurred in the rooms. Zadorenko, who is from Kozacha Lopan himself and whose mother stayed in the village during the fighting, said Russian forces tortured locals, and also limited the communications of those living there and took away their documents, including his own mother. "She was unable to evacuate and leave, they knew she was my mother, so they kept her. Some of the physical tortures were applied to her and she was under psychological pressure," he said. "People went through hard times, a lot of locals whose fate is unknown until today, lots of locals have died, lots of people were forcibly evacuated to the Russian federation," he added. Burial sites have been found in some areas where Russian forces were pushed out, most notably in the city of Izium, where Ukrainian officials say more than 440 graves have been found near the city's cemetery. Zelenskyy has said they contain the bodies of civilian adults and children, as well as soldiers, showing signs of violent deaths, some possibly from torture. Russia has repeatedly denied targeting civilians or committing war crimes, but the United Nations said Friday that it wanted to send its own team to investigate the mass grave site found near Izium and determine the circumstances of the deaths. Also Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin did not respond directly to allegations of additional Russian atrocities near Izium, instead warning that Russias military would not back down. Vitalii, who did not give a surname, a commander in the National Guard, said his team is hunting for graves of possible victims of abuse at the detention center in Kozacha Lopan. He asked to be identified by his first name only for security reasons. The team is also recovering bodies on the battlefield, which are lying where they fell on farm fields or inside burned-out tanks. The Russian army was pushed back across the border into Russia after holding the area for months. But artillery shells still whistle through the air, fired from inside Russia and landing with resonating thumps and billows of black smoke on Ukrainian territory. Despite the shelling, a small group of soldiers winds its way along a rutted mud track to where a dead Ukrainian combatant lies, spotted by a drone used to search for bodies and shallow graves. "It's a risk. We are always risking our lives and at any moment there might be some shell flying in from the territory of Russia," Vitalii said. The dead Ukrainian is lying on his back in body armor and a helmet, a cap beneath it to block out the sun. The body has been there for a long time. They document the scene and lift the remains into a body bag before heading farther along the track to a charred Russian tank. It takes only one of the team to carry away the body bag holding the remains of the Russian found inside. Autopsies will follow, and the details of the sites recorded and passed on to investigators looking into potential war crimes, Vitalii said. Throughout this border area, where fierce battles raged, villages bear the devastating scars of war: houses bombed and burned, roads pitted with bomb craters, smashed cars lying by the roadside. Residents who fled during the height of the fighting have been returning to see what became of their homes. Nothing is left of Alina Orobchenko's home in the nearby village of Prudyanka but four broken, fire-blasted walls. The entire house in which she lived for 30 years was turned into a jumble of burnt, twisted rubble. Nothing was salvageable. "It's really hard to decide what to do next, it's impossible to plan for the future," the 47-year-old schoolteacher said as she picked her way over the smashed roofing tiles and piles of masonry. "We've already cried out all our tears," Orobchenko said. "But now we know we need to overcome this and get on with our lives." Outside the blackened, smashed front windows, her pink and red roses have bloomed among the weeds and wreckage. The minister of infrastructure told VOA that 320 bridges in Ukraine have been destroyed since Russia launched its war on Ukraine. Today, Ukraine has built 53 temporary bridges. Myroslava Gongadze has more from one of three bridges destroyed by Ukraine to stop the Russian advance in Irpin. Ukraine's nuclear energy operator said Monday a Russian missile struck near a nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine. Energoatom said in a statement the missile landed 300 meters from the Pivdennoukrainsk Nuclear Power Plant but did not damage its reactors. The strike did damage nearby buildings, Energoatom said. "Russia endangers the whole world," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Telegram in response to the missile strike. "We have to stop it before it's too late." The Pivdennoukrainsk plant is Ukraine's second-largest nuclear power plant. The largest, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, has been shut down since early September following shelling that Russia and Ukraine have blamed on each other. Also Monday, a senior U.S. defense official said the Wagner Group, a paramilitary company run by Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin, is trying to recruit 1,500 convicted felons to take part in Russia's war in Ukraine. The defense official added, however, that many are refusing to join. "Our information indicates that Wagner has been suffering high losses in Ukraine, especially and unsurprisingly among young and inexperienced fighters," the U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told reporters at a briefing. The European Union has imposed sanctions on the Wagner Group, accusing it of clandestine operations on the Kremlin's behalf, Reuters reported. President Vladimir Putin has said the group does not represent the Russian state. On Sunday, Zelenskyy said during his nightly video address that there would be no letup in the effort by his country's military to retake territory from Russian forces. Zelenskyy's message came after gains by Ukrainian forces in the Kharkiv region in northeastern Ukraine during a counteroffensive this month. "Maybe now it seems to some of you that after a series of victories we have a certain lull," Zelenskyy said. "But this is not a lull. This is preparation for the next series ... because Ukraine must be free all of it." U.S. President Joe Biden said in an interview with CBS News broadcast Sunday night that Ukraine, with the aid of the United States and other allies, as well as "the incredible bravery and the incredible determination of the Ukrainian people," is not losing the war. Biden said winning the war means getting Russia "out of Ukraine completely" and recognizing Ukraine's sovereignty. Asked about the military and humanitarian aid the United States has committed to Ukraine, Biden said the U.S. will continue to support Ukraine "as long as it takes." Monday Russia rejected Ukraine's accusations that Russian soldiers had committed war crimes in the Kharkiv region."It's a lie, and of course we will defend the truth in this story," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.Ukrainian officials said last week 440 bodies were discovered in woodlands near Izium, with most of the dead identified as civilians. Ukraine said the discovery proved war crimes had been committed by Russian forces.Zelenskyy said Saturday that investigators had discovered new evidence of torture inflicted against some of the soldiers buried in Izium, one of more than 20 towns that Ukraine recaptured in the Kharkiv region that Russia had held for months. He said 17 bodies were found at one site, some of which bore signs of torture.VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb contributed to this report. Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters. A U.S. aircraft carrier strike group will visit South Korea this week, according to the U.S. military, a significant show of strength amid concerns North Korea will soon conduct a nuclear test. The USS Ronald Reagan carrier strike group will visit the southern South Korean port city of Busan, U.S. Naval Forces Korea said in a statement. The strike group personnel will visit and engage with their South Korean navy partners and conduct a cultural exchange with the South Korean people, the statement said. After that, the navies of both countries will conduct joint exercises off the coast to strengthen their military preparedness as well as demonstrate the strong will of the [South Korea-U.S.] alliance for peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, the South Korean navy said in a statement. The strike group will arrive in Busan Friday, a day later than anticipated, due to poor weather conditions, the South Korean navy statement added. It is the first time a U.S. aircraft carrier group has conducted such drills near South Korea since 2017, during the height of tensions between former U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Five years later, following a brief period of U.S.-North Korea diplomacy, tensions seem likely to ramp up again, as each side becomes more comfortable displaying their military might. North Korea has launched a record high number of missiles this year and, according to U.S. and South Korean officials, has made preparations to conduct its seventh nuclear test. Last week, Kim vowed to never give up his nuclear weapons or use them as a bargaining chip in negotiations. The country also passed a new law promising to retaliate with an immediate nuclear strike if it is attacked by hostile forces. The U.S. and South Korea on Friday condemned those moves and vowed an overwhelming and decisive response to any North Korean nuclear attack. Following a high-level dialogue between South Korean and U.S. officials in Washington, the United States reiterated its ironclad and unwavering commitment to draw on the full range of its military capabilities, including nuclear, conventional, missile defense, and other advanced non-nuclear capabilities, to provide extended deterrence for [South Korea]. The U.S. and South Korea earlier this month wrapped up major military exercises, including live fire drills, for the first time since 2017. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, who took office in May, has moved to strengthen his countrys alliance with the United States, and has called for greater shows of military strength to deter the nuclear-armed North. South Korea does not have its own nuclear weapons, but relies on the so-called U.S. nuclear umbrella for protection. The United States also has about 28,500 troops in South Korea. The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden has repeatedly called for North Korea to resume negotiations, stalled since 2019, on the country's nuclear program. North Korea has ignored those calls, instead accusing the United States of conducting a hostile policy. Ukraine on Sunday searched for its war dead in Izium and other towns in the northeastern part of the country it reclaimed from Russia in a lightning advance earlier this month. Izium Mayor Valery Marchenko told state television that "the exhumation is under way, the graves are being dug up and all the remains are being transported to Kharkiv. The work will continue for another two weeks, there are many burials, Marchenko said. No new ones have been found yet, but the services are looking for possible burials. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday that investigators had discovered new evidence of torture inflicted against some of the soldiers buried in Izium, one of more than 20 towns that Ukraine recaptured in the northeastern Kharkiv region that Russia had held for months. He said that 17 bodies were found at one site, some of which bore signs of torture. SEE ALSO: Ukrainian officials said last week 440 bodies were discovered in woodlands near Izium, with most of the dead identified as civilians, Ukraine said the discovery proved war crimes had been committed by Russian forces. Emergency workers have been exhuming the remains. Oleksandr Ilienkov, the chief of the prosecutors office for the Kharkiv region, told the Reuters news agency at the site on Friday: "One of the bodies [found] has evidence of a ligature pattern and a rope around the neck, tied hands." Forensic examination of the bodies is continuing. SEE ALSO: Moscow has repeatedly denied it has targeted civilians during its nearly seven-month invasion. The Kremlin has not commented publicly on the discovery of the graves. The head of the pro-Russian administration that abandoned the Kharkiv region earlier this month accused Ukrainians of staging the atrocities at Izium. "I have not heard anything about burials," Vitaly Ganchev told Rossiya-24 state television. Meanwhile, as the fighting rages on, a British intelligence report said Sunday that Russia has widened its attacks on civilian infrastructure in the past week. Five civilians were killed in Russian attacks in the Donetsk region in the last day. Ukrainian officials said that several dozen high-rise and private buildings, gas pipelines and power lines were damaged by Russian strikes in Nikopol. The British report said, "As it faces setbacks on the front lines, Russia has likely extended the locations it is prepared to strike in an attempt to directly undermine the morale of the Ukrainian people and government." U.S. President Joe Biden is again warning Russian President Vladimir Putin against using weapons of mass destruction in Ukraine. Dont. Dont. Dont. You will change the face of war unlike anything since World War II, he said in an interview with CBS News scheduled to air Sunday night. Biden would not comment specifically on a U.S. response if Russia were to use chemical or nuclear weapons in Ukraine. SEE ALSO: "They'll become more of a pariah in the world than they ever have been, he added. And depending on the extent of what they do will determine what response would occur." It was not Bidens first warning to his Russian counterpart. Biden said in March that the NATO military alliance would respond in kind to any use of weapons of mass destruction in Ukraine. We will respond if he uses it, Biden said, referring to Putin. The nature of the response depends on the nature of the use. He spoke after meeting with partners from NATO along with the Group of Seven leading industrialized economies and the European Union. Just days into the invasion of Ukraine, Putin ordered Russias nuclear forces on high alert for the first time since the fall of the Soviet Union, prompting the White House to assemble a team of national security officials the so-called Tiger Team to study potential responses in the event Russia deployed chemical, biological or nuclear weapons against Ukraine, neighboring nations or NATO convoys of weapons and aid headed for Ukraine. In 2000, Russia updated its military doctrine to allow the first use of nuclear weapons "in response to large-scale aggression utilizing conventional weapons in situations critical to the national security of the Russian Federation, according to the U.S.-based Arms Control Association. The 1997 version of the doctrine had allowed the first use of nuclear arms only "in case of a threat to the existence of the Russian Federation. The newest version also states for the first time that Russia has the right to use nuclear weapons to respond to all "weapons of mass destruction" attacks. In another development, The New York Times reports that Ukrainian military personnel in the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut say they believe they are fighting Russian prisoners instead of Russian soldiers. SEE ALSO: The publication said it has analyzed a video posted online that apparently shows representatives of The Wagner Group, a private military company, promising inmates they could win their freedom if they completed a sixmonth, combat tour in Ukraine. The Times said, however, that the video could not be verified. President Putin has said seizing Bakhmut is one of the main goals of its invasion of Ukraine. Some material in this report came from Reuters. LONDON U.S. President Joe Biden described Queen Elizabeth II as decent, honorable and all about service as he and first lady Jill Biden signed a condolence book Sunday, ahead of her Monday funeral at Londons Westminster Abbey. To all the people of England, all the people of the United Kingdom our hearts go out to you, the president said after he spent three minutes writing a message in a condolence book at Lancaster House, a royal property near Buckingham Palace in London. And you were fortunate to have had her for over 70 years. We all were. The world's better for her. He added that the queen reminded him of his late mother, and that, when they met, she kept offering me more, I kept eating everything she put in front of me. Biden, who arrived late Saturday, is among hundreds of world leaders who are gathering in Britain to attend the queens funeral Monday. On Sunday, as people milled around central London, world leaders made their way to Lancaster House to deliver condolences over the queens death on Sept. 8 at the age of 96. People queue to pay their respects to Queen Elizabeth, following her death, in London, Sept.18, 2022. "This is a time of grief, but also a time of deep gratitude, said Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who leads one of the 56 countries in the Commonwealth of Nations, an organization of many former British colonies now led by Elizabeths eldest son, King Charles III. Australians give thanks for the life of service of Queen Elizabeth II, a life defined by commitment to family, to country, to [the] Commonwealth." Photo Gallery: In Photos: World Leaders Join Public to Pay Respects to Queen Biden and his wife are also expected to pay their respects to Elizabeth Sunday in Westminster Hall, where her body has been lying in state since Wednesday. Members of Europes royal families are also expected to attend the services. The king will also host a formal state reception for dignitaries Sunday. The British crown has extended a controversial funeral invitation to Saudi Arabias Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is widely believed to be responsible for ordering the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. But they did not invite the leaders of Russia, Belarus, Syria, Afghanistan and Venezuela. On Sunday, as the skies over London remained clear, thousands of people milled around Westminster, the center of the city. London police cheerfully marshalled the heaving crowds of families, veterans carrying bouquets and children holding lollipops, as the Queens image beamed at them from shop windows. The Queen Consort Camilla has paid tribute to Queen Elizabeth II, saying "she carved her own role." "It must have been so difficult for her being this solitary woman, there weren't woman prime ministers or women presidents, " she said. "She was the only one." In a tribute to the late Queen that was her mother in Law, the Queen consort talked about her character and passions but also shared a personal anecdote from the day of their wedding. "The day I got married when I probably wasn't firing on all cylinders. Quite nervous. For some unknown reason, I put on a pair of shoes. One had an inch heel while I had a two inch heel" the Queen consort said laughing "and, you know, she she could see it and she laughed and I 've said, look, I'm terribly sorry. She didn't... You know. She had a good sense of humor."" Camilla also said Queen Elizabeth had an unforgettable smile. Preparations are continuing for the queen's state funeral in the British capital on Monday, when royalty and heads of state from around the world are expected to be among the 2,000 people attending the service in Westminster Abbey. Students participating in the Planting for the Future event on camp Ripley Sept. 20, 2019 were offered the opportunity to not only share about their culture, but to hear from Minnesota National Guard Recruiters about the Army culture and the many things it has to offer. California Governor Gavin Newsom introduced a package of 40 bills aimed at combating global warming. They mainly consist of measures aimed at replacing gasoline-powered cars with electric ones. With a turnover in 2021 of already 55 billion dollars, Tesla electric vehicles the company owned by Elon Misk and James Murdoch are this years best investment in California. INTERNATIONAL SECURITY GUARANTEES FOR UKRAINE: RECOMMENDATIONS Co-Chairs of the Working Group On International Security Guarantees for Ukraine : Mr. Anders Fogh Rasmussen Mr. Andrii Yermak ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This report was prepared based on input and discussions with leading experts fromacross the democratic world. This includes former Prime Ministers, Ministers, as well assenior officials and academics. The co-authors thank all of them for their contributions. PREAMBLE Eight years after illegally annexing Crimea, invading the Donbas and fomenting conflictin Ukraines East, Russia has attacked Ukraine for the second time. Russian forces havelevelled cities, committed war crimes, and sought to grab Ukraines sovereign territory.They have attempted to subdue Ukraines population and replace the democratically elected leadership in Kyiv. The war in Ukraine has far reaching consequences both forthe region and the world. Stability in the Euro-Atlantic area depends on Ukraines security. The Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances proved worthless. No sufficient lyrobust, legally and politically binding measures were in place to deter Russian aggression. Unless Ukraine is provided with unique and effective security guarantees embedded in an eventual peace process there is no reason to believe that this will nothappen again. Ukraine is on the path to EU membership and as a future EU member will benefit from the EUs own mutual defence clause. Ukraines aspiration to join NATO and benefit fromits mutual defence arrangements is safeguarded in its Constitution. This aspiration is the sovereign decision of Ukraine. Both NATO and EU membership will significantly bolster Ukraines security in the long-term. However, Ukraine needs security guarantees now. These guarantees should enable Ukraines self-defence both to deter an armed attack or act of aggression (deterrence by denial), and in case an attack occurs to protect the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and security of Ukraine (deterrence by punishment). The Kyiv Security Compact will fulfil this purpose by mobilising the necessary political, financial, military, and diplomatic resources for Ukraines self-defence. The Compact will consist of a joint strategic partnership document co-signed by guarantor states and Ukraine (as well as bilateral agreements between Ukraine and guarantor states). Alongside reconstruction efforts, these guarantees are key for the millions of Ukrainians displaced by the war to return and build a future in their home country. By designing and adopting them now, they will send a strong message of resolve and unity against the aggressor and for Ukraines future. These will be the first such guarantees of the 21st century and can lay the foundations for a new security order in Europe. KEY RECOMMENDATIONS The strongest security guarantee for Ukraine lies in its capacity to defend itself against an aggressor under the UN Charters article 51. To do so, Ukraine needs the resources to maintain a significant defensive force capable of withstanding the Russian Federations armed forces and paramilitaries. This requires a multi-decade effort of sustained investment in Ukraines defence industrial base, scalable weapons transfers and intelligence support from allies, intensive training missions and joint exercises under the European Union and NATO flags. The security guarantees will be positive; they lay out a range of commitments made by a group of guarantors, together with Ukraine. They need to be binding based on bilateral agreements, but brought together under a joint strategic partnership document called the Kyiv Security Compact. The Compact will bring a core group of allied countries together with Ukraine.This could include the US, UK, Canada, Poland, Italy, Germany, France, Australia, Turkey, and Nordic, Baltic, Central and Eastern European countries. A broader group of international partners including Japan, South Korea, among others, should also support a set of non-military guarantees based on sanctions. It would includes napback sanctions, which are automatically re-applied in case of further Russian aggression. A legal framework should be developed which will allow authorities to seize the property of the aggressor, its sovereign funds and reserves, and the assets of its citizens and entities on the sanctions list. The funds raised should be directed to repair the war damage inflicted on Ukraine. The guarantees framework may be supplemented by additional agreements, dealing with specific issues not covered in the layers of guarantees discussed in this document. It may include an agreement, or set of agreements, between Ukraine and countries producing anti-aircraft and anti-missile defense equipment to provide Ukraine with modern and effective air defense and anti-missile defense systems in sufficient quantity to ensure a "closed sky" from air attacks. The package of guarantees may additionally include regional agreements on the Black Sea with Turkey and other littoral states like Romania and Bulgaria. A. SECURITY GUARANTEES COMMITMENTS BY A CORE GROUP OF GUARANTORS REGARDING UKRAINES SELF-DEFENCE CAPABILITIES AND CAPACITIES TO DETER AN ATTACK CONCEPT AND PRINCIPLES Given its unique geopolitical position, the most effective security guarantees lie in Ukraines capacity to defend itself. To be sufficiently robust and credible, Ukraines self-defence must be underpinned by binding commitments from a group of international partners to mobilise the necessary military and non-military resources. Ukraine is a European country that is now on the path to EU membership. This processwill further integrate Ukraine into the European political community, improve its prospects for reconstruction and development, and strengthen the countrys institutions and security. As an EU member, it will also benefit from the EUs mutual defence clause under Article 42.7 of the Treaty of the European Union. In the meantime, EU Member States and institutions should do their part in providing security guarantees to Ukraine through sustained arms supplies, financial aid, and with training missions, among others. Ukraines aspiration to join NATO and benefit from its mutual defence arrangements is safeguarded in its Constitution. This aspiration is the sovereign decision of Ukraine. In the interim period Ukraine needs iron-clad security guarantees. These will come predominantly though not exclusively from NATO countries. The guarantees must not constrain Ukraine to limit the size or strength of its armed forces. Nor should they be drawn in exchange for a specific status, such as neutrality, or put other obligations or restraints on Ukraine. With those guarantees, Ukraine will sustain its capacity to ensure its self-defence. Their aim is to strengthen Ukraines territorial integrity, sovereignty, and political independence within its internationally recognized borders. The guarantees should also support Ukraines commitment to continuing democratic reforms, as specified in the European Council Conclusions of June 23-24, 2022 on granting Ukraine EU candidate status. Effective security for Ukraine is closely related to a modern society that guarantees its citizens their fundamental rights. SCOPE The security guarantees should be codified in a joint strategic partnership document named the Kyiv Security Compact co-signed by a core group of partners that would act as enablers of Ukraines self-defence. This could include, but is not limited to, the US,UK, Canada, Poland, Italy, Germany, France, Australia, Turkey, and Nordic, Baltic, and Central European countries. In addition to the strategic partnership document, Ukraine and certain guarantor states may sign bilateral agreements covering specific issues related to security guarantees between Ukraine and the guarantor states. On top of the core guarantors, various layers of countries could join in on additional or specific issues related to security guarantees. The Rammstein Format (also known asthe Ukraine Defence Contact Group), made up of circa 50 countries, could form the basis of this broader group, which can become formalized into a coalition of the willing. Provisions should be applied for Ukraine to both deter and if needed defend against another armed attack or acts of aggression. For this, Kyiv will need large defence forces, robust capabilities, and a strong, reformed defence industry. This must be underpinned by sustained investments in its defence industrial base, extensive weapons transfers and intelligence support from allies, and well-trained and exercised forces. To defend itself for the long-term Ukraine will need: A high-readiness force that can effectively and forcefully respond to a territorial breach. As stated in NATOs Madrid Summit Communique, Ukraine is vital for the stability of the Euro-Atlantic area. As such and with the support of key guarantors, Ukraine must be able to develop a robust territorial defence posture whose ultimate objective is to deter and successfully defend against acts of aggression. Ukraine needs the resources to maintain a significant force capable of withstanding the Russian Federations armed forces and paramilitaries. A massive training and joint manoeuvre programme of Ukrainian forces and partners on Ukrainian territory with international trainers and advisors. Taking advantage of national and multinational training efforts by EU and NATO countries, Ukrainian forces will be trained at NATO standard and at the scale needed to build a robust territorial defence force and reserve force. The training activities will be supported by an extensive exercise programme both on Ukrainian soil and with Ukrainian forces on EU/NATO territory. In addition to training programmes, joint manoeuvres under the Vienna Document (144) will further strengthen the Ukrainian forces, increase military transparency, and serve regional needs. Advanced defensive systems including providing Ukraine with comprehensive defensive systems to protect key population centres and access points by deploying air and maritime missile defence, cybercapabilities, advanced radar capabilities. Those systems so called anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) - could incorporate a mix of home-based capabilities and foreign systems. In case of a threat of the use of force oraggression, they could be rapidly augmented by ear-marked systems providedby the key guarantors. Access to EUs capability funding to re-build Ukraines defence industrial base on EU/NATO standards and develop with EU member states new defensive capabilities. As a candidate to EU membership, Ukraine could be granted privileged access to EU funding, mainly the European Defence Fund and the European Peace Facility. Self-defence territorial force for all civilians aged above 18 years old. Modelled on countries with active conscription, Ukraine will need to maintain a large enough territorial defence force, including a reserve service that can be sporadically called for active duty. To achieve this, Ukraine will need the group of international guarantors to: Provide financial aid and direct investments, including through future reconstruction instruments, to support the national defence budget, as well as ensuring financial assistance (including non-repayable grants) to restore the infrastructure of Ukraine, which was destroyed or damaged by military actions. Allocate reconstruction funds, including non-repayable financial assistance, towards supporting and building Ukraines new national defence industrial base. Offer technology transfers and arms export. Coordinate closely among each other to supply capabilities, military equipment, ammunition, and services. Establish regular training exercises to Ukrainian forces. Establish a cooperation program on cyber defence and security; and countering cyber threats. An enhanced intelligence cooperation, including frequent sharing of intelligence and establishing a regular cooperation between the intelligence services of Ukraine and guarantor states. B. SECURITY GUARANTEES HOW WOULD THEY WORK IN CASE OF ATTACK: LEGAL CONSIDERATIONS AND MECHANISMS Security guarantees should be both permanent to help build Ukraines self-defence capacity on the long term, and scalable to adapt and reflect the level of the threat. While they could be embedded in an eventual peace process, they should be agreed and implemented in the shortest time period. This will demonstrate the unity of the international community with Ukraine, and the continuity and amplification of the current efforts, including under the Ramstein Format. It will also signal to Russia that the cost of aggression will continue to rise. 1. LEGAL SCOPE AND ASPECTS To avoid the pitfalls of weak guarantees, Ukraine will need: Security guarantees that are legally and politically binding. Guarantors can engage in binding commitments through a joint strategic partnership document which would effectively be a binding pact amongst them. In addition to a joint document, guarantors should make continuous and bilateral legal and political commitments to Ukraine, both at the executive level of government and by the respective legislatures. Security guarantees should explicitly commit guarantors to Ukraines selfdefence. This means creating the parameters for a broad range of responses and not excluding any form of support to assure Ukraines self-defence. Some of those guarantees will be open-ended and on-going: they will include training and exercises, defence investment and cooperation, and weapons supply. In case of aggression, the joint document should spell out extended guarantee commitments by guarantors to use all elements of their national and collective power and take appropriate measures which may include diplomatic, economic, and military means to enable Ukraine to stop the aggression, restore its sovereignty, ensure its security, military edge, and capability to deter its enemies and defend itself by itself against any threat. The territorial scope of the guarantees applies throughout Ukraines internationally recognized borders. At the same time, the extended guarantees are to apply if Ukraine comes under attack on its territory within internationally recognized borders. According to Uniting for Peace Resolution 377A(V) of the UN General Assembly, the guarantors should seek the support of the UN, most likely via UNGA, within the timeframe discussed below. Nonetheless, all security guarantee provisions will fall under the law on individual and collective selfdefence (Article 51 of the UN Charter: Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defence if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations). Finally, to achieve the overall political objective of the security guarantees, the joint strategic partnership document should strike the right balance between specific provisions and generic commitments. This could be done by combining the main joint document with an annex, which will lay out more specific provisions reflecting the threat assessment. 2. MECHANISMS HOW SHOULD THE SECURITY GUARANTEES WORK Triggers should be based on a joint threat-assessment structure: extended security guarantees should be activated through a mechanism that would require a request from Ukraine to the guarantor states, following an armed attack or an act of aggression. Rather than a confirmation from a third-party, such as the UNSC or General Assembly, there should be a degree of automaticity where guarantors would collectively consult with Ukraine. The decision-making process should be based on the principle of collective consultations followed by individual contributions. Upon a request from Ukraine, guarantors shall gather for collective consultations within a very short amount of time (e.g. 24 hours) and decide on amplifying the guarantees on the basis of a coalition of the willing (e.g. 72 hours). The guarantees should be agreed on an open-ended basis. Nevertheless, the guarantees should create a mechanism for guarantors to collectively meet, evaluate and review the guarantees, to keep them meaningful and relevant and if need be, adjust them to meet the nature and level of threat. Ukraine and the guarantor states should establish a permanent and ongoing mechanism to monitor threats and security challenges, as well as inform each other about military activities, exercises, and manoeuvres. Towards that end, Ukraine and guarantors will need to have a mechanism of collecting, exchanging, processing, and analysing intelligence, including for the purpose of early detection regarding preparations for an armed aggression. C. INTERNATIONAL SANCTIONS International sanctions should be an additional layer of the overall set of security guarantees, in case of aggression. This could both help deter an act of aggression and also put a punitive cost on the aggressor. Sanctions would need to balance specific elements while leaving enough room to manoeuvre, to not reveal to the aggressor the full cost of any future possible attack on Ukraine. Notwithstanding the sanctions mechanism described below, the guarantors should refrain from lifting the sanctions on Russia agreed since 2014, until Moscow: a) stops its aggression against Ukraine; b) guarantees it will not attack Ukraine in the future; c) compensates Ukraine for the damages caused during the invasion. Any decision on lifting or temporarily suspending sanctions, as part of a negotiated peace settlement, should be taken in close coordination with Ukraine. The security guarantee agreement should contain a provision that the sanctions will be reimposed (snapback provisions) in the event of new attacks or aggression. Sanctions need to be maintained until Russia is no longer a threat to Ukrainian sovereignty. The package of sanctions shall by initiated and implemented by Ukraines security guarantors, in close coordination with other international bodies such as the G7 and the EU. Other like-minded countries supporting sanctions (e.g., Switzerland, Norway, Singapore, South Korea, Australia, and others) should also be invited to join. The sanctions guarantors should: Agree on a set of snapback sanctions that would be triggered by a well-defined event under international law, such as if Ukraine comes under armed attack (Article 51 of the UN Charter) or an act of aggression (UN General Assembly Resolution 3314, XXIX). The set of sanctions mentioned above should be at minimum the full set of sanctions as of September 1, 2022, which would be immediately re-imposed (snapback sanctions). In addition to the sanctions above, further measures and restrictions could be applied to significantly increase economic and other costs to an aggressor in case of an armed attack or act of aggression. Finally, measures should be agreed to allow authorities to seize the property of the aggressor, its sovereign funds and reserves, and the assets of its citizens and entities on the sanctions list. These assets could then be sold for the purpose of directing funds to repair the war damage inflicted on Ukraine. Who are the main players in Italy's election? Italy's general election will be held on Sunday 25 September with a right-wing alliance widely predicted to beat the left in a landslide win. Leading in the latest opinion polls is the far-right Fratelli d'Italia (FdI) party of Giorgia Meloni who is poised to become Italy's first woman prime minister after the general election on 25 September. The FdI is the only party in the election race that did not form part of the national unity government of outgoing premier Mario Draghi who resigned in July after three coalition parties withdrew their support. Meloni's nationalist-conservative party dominates an alliance comprising the right-wing Lega of Matteo Salvini and the centre-right Forza Italia of Silvio Berlusconi. Opinion polls give the FdI about 25 per cent of the vote, suggesting that with the combined votes of the Lega and Forza Italia - about 12 per cent and 8 per cent respectively - the rightist bloc stands to win a solid majority in both houses of parliament. Giorgia Meloni (45) grew up in Rome's Garbatella neighbourhood and formed FdI in 2012. She is known for her straight-talking style although she tends to tone down her fiery rhetoric when addressing international media. Fratelli d'Italia leader Giorgia Meloni. Photo: Pierre Teyssot / Shutterstock.com. Meloni maintains a pro-NATO stance and supports sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine however during a recent rally she pledged that if she wins "the fun will be over" for the EU. She also generated news headlines by proposing a naval blockade to stop migration to Italy, and declaring her intent to respond to the ongoing energy crisis by amending Italy's 200 billion recovery plan. In the days leading up to the election, foreign media publications rushed to highlight the alleged danger represented by Meloni, with Germany's Stern magazine calling her "the most dangerous woman in Europe". In recent days she backed Hungarian leader Viktor Orban, a close ally, after the European parliament voted to delcare that Hungary had become "a hybrid regime of electoral autocracy". An exponent of nationalism and traditional family values, Meloni's election battle cry is "God, fatherland, family". She has also railed against the "LGBT lobby", "Isalmic violence" and "gender ideology". In a recently resurfaced video clip Meloni, then a 19-year-old youth activist with the neo-fascist Movimento Sociale Italiano, praised dictator Benito Mussolini as "a good politician". Days before the election, Meloni's party suspended one of its candidates over his online praise of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, while another FdI member, Romano La Russa, made headlines for his stiff-armed "fascist" salute at a funeral in Milan. Meloni's allies in the rightist bloc - Lega and Forza Italia - were both in Draghi's national unity government, unlike the FdI which remained in opposition and saw its popularity soar over the last year. Lega leader Matteo Salvini (49) served as deputy premier and interior minister from June 2018 to September 2019, during the first government of former prime minister Giuseppe Conte. Lega leader Matteo Salvini. Photo: Marco Aprile / Shutterstock.com. Nicknamed il Capitano, or the Captain, by his supporters, Salvini is known for his hardline stance against illegal immigration and if elected has pledged to introduce tougher measures against migrants seeking refuge in Italy. In 1990, Salvini joined the northern-based Lega Nord, a regionalist and separatist movement which he would go on to lead in 2013. Ahead of the 2018 elections the party was rebranded as the Lega, dropping the "Nord", in a move that saw it make inroads outside its traditional powerbase in the north. In addition to immigration, Salvini has been a vocal critic of the EU and takes a tough view on illegal camps inhabited by the Roma people. Before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Salvini was an outspoken admirer of Vladimir Putin, famously posing in Moscow's Red Square wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with a picture of the Russian president. Salvini has attracted criticism over his calls to end sanctions on Russia that are leaving Italian citizens "on their knees" due to higher energy bills. He has also repeated calls to bring back compulsory military service. Joining the parties of Salvini and Meloni in the rightist alliance is the conservative Forza Italia, led by Silvio Berlusconi (85), a man who needs little introduction. Forza Italia leader Silvio Berlusconi. Photo: DELBO ANDREA / Shutterstock.com. Despite his advanced age, the billionaire media tycoon remains a colourful character. Dogged by scandals over the years, from tax fraud conviction to the infamous "bunga bunga" sex parties, Berlusconi is one of the political world's great survivors. However his prowess is not what it once was and his centre-right party is considered the weakest in the three-way "centrodestra" alliance. Forza Italia is pro-EU and pro-US, and is calling for a flat tax of 23 per cent for families and businesses. Before Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, Berlusconi had long boasted of his cosy relations with Putin. Days before the election Berlusconi caused an outcry by defending his old friend Putin, during an interview on Italian television, claiming that the Russian leader was "pushed" into invading Ukraine to "replace the Zelensky government with decent people". This summer the veteran FI leader joined TikTok in an attempt to woo younger voters and his election posters feature pictures of a much younger Berlusconi, known as il Cavaliere (the Knight). He remains prone to gaffes, recently asking a male TV presenter if he got the phone number of a "beautiful girl" as well as boasting that he is "more handsome" than Enrico Letta (56), leader of the centre-left Partito Democratico (PD). PD leader Enrico Letta. Photo: Antonio Nardelli / Shutterstock.com. The PD is currently in second place, according to the final opinion polls before a pre-election blackout, on about 21 per cent of the vote. Letta is an academic who served as Italy's prime minister in a coalition government with Berlusconi, from 2013 to 2014, before being forced to resign by party rival Matteo Renzi. Leader of the PD since March 2021, Letta has struggled during the election campaign to build up a united front of left and centrist parties to challenge the seemingly unstoppable march of the right. The PD election manifesto focuses on increasing welfare payments, including a proposed payment of 10,000 when teenagers turn 18, and civil rights, including a plan to introduce gay marriage to replace civil unions. The PD wants to expand renewable energies and has pledged to make it easier for children of immigrants to obtain Italian citizenship. Letta's party also said it would pass a law raising penalties for violence or discrimination against the LGBTQ community. Promising that the PD would keep Italy at the heart of the EU, Letta has warned of the threat that Italys right-wing nationalistic parties pose to European democracy. Letta's hopes of a strong centre-left alliance were dealt a blow when the leader of the small centrist Azione party Carlo Calenda (49) parted ways with the PD in August, just days after joining forces. Azione leader Carlo Calenda. Photo: stedalle / Shutterstock.com. Calenda said the split was over a new electoral pact between the PD and the small left-wing parties Sinistra Italiana and Europa Verde which voted regularly against Draghi's national unity government. Calenda has united with former premier Matteo Renzi (47), leader of another small centrist party Italia Viva, to form a liberal, pro-European alliance which presents itself as a terzo polo, or third pole, in the political centre. The terzo polo, which is on 5.5 per cent according to the latest opionion polls on 9 September, is committed to continuing the pro-EU, reformist agenda of Draghi who both leaders admire greatly. Calenda, a former industry minister, described the Azione-Italia Viva alliance as a "serious and pragmatic alternative to the 'bi-populism' of right and left, which has devastated this country and ditched Draghi". The 'third pole' hopes to grab votes from the centre-right Forza Italia, bolstered by the defection of two former FI ministers - Mara Carfagna and Mariastella Gelmini - who joined Azione out of anger over the role of Berlusconi's party in bringing down the Draghi government. The two-party terzo polo is running independently, as is the populist MoVimento 5 Stelle (M5S) party led by former premier Giuseppe Conte (58), on 13 to 14 per cent in the final opinion polls. M5S leader Giuseppe Conte. Photo: M. Cantile / Shutterstock.com. This is far short of the 32 per cent the M5S obtained in the 2018 elections when the then anti-establishment movement formed a government with the right-wing Lega. At the time the M5S was led by Luigi Di Maio who, along with Salvini, served as deputy premier under the premiership of Conte. Di Maio stood down from the M5S leadership in January 2020. The flagship policy of the M5S is a contentious welfare benefit payment for the poorest in society, known as reddito di cittadinanza, or citizen's income, which was introduced in 2019. When Conte's first administration fell in August 2019, brought down by Salvini, the M5S remained in power in a second Conte executive before it collapsed in February 2021, leading to the formation of Draghi's national unity government. Since Conte became leader of the M5S in August 2021 he has taken the party further to the left. He suffered a major blow in June when Italy's foreign minister and former M5S leader Luigi Di Maio left the party, to form a new centrist group called Impegno Civico, over Conte's objection to sending arms to Ukraine. The M5S shares similar social policies to the PD including wanting to bring in a 9 minimum hourly wage and make it easier for the children of immigrants to get citizenship. On the environment front, the M5S opposes waste-to-energy plants and is in favour of renewable energy. Conte has vowed to defend the reddito di cittadinanza scheme which the right want to scrap. Italy's general election will be held on Sunday 25 September, with polling booths open around the country from 07.00 to 23.00. As a result of the 2020 constitutional referendum, the size of Italy's parliament will be reduced to 400 members of the chamber of deputies and 200 elected members of the senate, down from 630 and 315 respectively. For full details about voting see Italy's interior ministry website. Cover picture Giorgia Meloni. Photo credit: MikeDotta / Shutterstock.com. Revamped cinema to honour Carlo Verdone. Rome's Cinema Barberini in the central piazza of the same name is set to reopen at the end of October after being closed for more than two years, according to Italian media. The historic cinema, shut since June 2020, has undergone renovation and will have a room dedicated to the celebrated Roman actor and comedian Carlo Verdone, reports Rome newspaper Il Messaggero. The multiplex cinema, known for showing English-language movies, will host six screens equipped with the latest technology, with a seventh screen reportedly to be added over the next year. "They didn't wait until I was dead to dedicate this tribute to me, so I can enjoy it while I'm alive" - Verdone told Il Messaggero - "I'm happy to be part of a project that will help get people out of the house after the pandemic; rediscovering human contact is fundamental". The reopening of the Barberini movie theatre follows the closure of more than 100 cinemas in the Italian capital over the last decade. However it is not all doom and gloom for Roman cinemas: together with the Barberini, the long-closed Fiamma - located on nearby Via Bissolati - is set to reopen next year in a project speaheaded by Italy's culture ministry. A refurbished, state-of-the-art Cinema Troisi reopened in Trastevere a year ago in an ambitious venture by the Ragazzi del Cinema America, the collective of young cinema aficionados best known for the summer film festival in Piazza S. Cosimato. News of the reopening of Cinema Barberini comes as cinemas across Italy offer cut-price 3.50 tickets during the first edition of Cinema in Festa from 18 to 22 September. Photo Itinari Comment on this story Comment Gift Article Share After Amazon.com Inc., its the turn of Apollo Global Management Inc. to wade into the jungle thats corporate governance in India. It has sued a Mumbai-based warehousing firm in which it owns a large stake. The cause of the dispute vanished on Monday when the company dropped a controversial plan to sell its business. But the US shareholder, whose rejection of the deal was given short shrift by the board, must still worry about its rights. After all, when the worlds largest retailer couldnt enforce contracts in the country, why should a buyout firm fare any better? Amazon and Apollo had made separate investments in private ventures of Kishore Biyani, a pioneer of modern-format stores in a country still dominated by neighborhood mom-and-pop shops. The Seattle-based e-commerce giant had bought stock worth $192 million in his gift-voucher unit so that the founder could invest the money in his retail business. The New York-based asset manager had given a 16 billion rupee ($200 million) loan to some of Biyanis holding companies. But after Covid-19 hit, the groups debt spiraled out of control. Biyani couldnt hope for a straightforward rescue of publicly traded Future Retail Ltd., his flagship unit, by Amazon because of Indias 2018 restrictions on foreign investment in retail. So in desperation, he hawked his assets to Mukesh Ambanis Reliance Industries Ltd., even though the terms of Amazons investment in Future Coupons Pvt. prohibited a sale to the billionaire tycoon, who also owns Indias largest retailer. Advertisement Even as the ensuing legal dispute between Future Retail and Amazon over breach of contract held up the $3.4 billion sale, Reliance took over the lease on Biyanis stores, and used that to wrest physical possession of the shops when they couldnt pay the rent on their sub-lease. Worse, Indias antitrust authority suspended its earlier approval for the US firms investment in Coupons. It also fined Amazon for allegedly not revealing its true intention of using Coupons to get into the driving seat at Retail. Amazons legal case was cut off at the knees. All this had happened by March. More recently, a similar story began to play out for Apollo. It had received, among other collateral, a lien on shares in Future Supply Chain Solutions Ltd., another publicly traded firm in Biyanis group. Upon nonpayment, the buyout firm invoked the pledge and became a 24.8% owner. Yet, when Supply Chain recently put a proposal to shareholders to sell, transfer or otherwise dispose of the retail groups assets, the no votes cast by Apollo were tossed aside as invalid. The resolution passed when it would otherwise have been defeated. Apollo may have hoped to improve its recovery rate on the soured loan by influencing the fate of 8.2 million square feet of warehousing space,(1) something the Biyani family could still directly or via another buyer pass on to Ambani. That plan has now come a cropper. As recently as April, when Amazons legal challenge had already been rendered moot by Ambanis possession of the stores, companies in the Future group had polled creditors and shareholders for a proposed transfer of assets to Reliance. At Supply Chain, Apollo had voted against the plan. At that time, its views didnt matter because Indian lenders to Future Retail the main business had scuttled the Reliance deal, balking at the 66% haircut that it envisaged for them. Advertisement Curiously, however, the same vote-scrutinizer that had counted Apollos participation as valid back then rejected it five months later. It seems the management of Supply Chain doesnt believe that the buyout firm has voting rights on pledged shares transferred to its name. Beyond producing an Indian Supreme Court order that allegedly supported such an interpretation in another case, the scrutinizer refused to express its own opinion and sent the question of the votes validity to the chairman. And who might that be? Rakesh Biyani, a cousin of Kishore. (My emailed questions to Future Supply Chain on the voting process have remained unanswered. In a Monday evening notification to exchanges, the company said it was rescinding the sale proposal because of an expected delay in obtaining other requisite approvals. The broader issue of whether Apollo has rights as a shareholder remains unresolved.) The Economic Times first reported Friday that the asset manager was contemplating legal action. The outcome of the suit, which has since been filed, may be more important for India than Apollo. For creditors to be told that the stock pledged to them doesnt carry voting rights is a serious setback to Indias financing-against-shares market; it will hurt genuine borrowers in the future. Things might have turned out differently had Amazon bought out the loans to Biyani by Apollo, Blackstone Inc. and others, and then tried to enforce its rights as a creditor via the bankruptcy court. (The flagship Future Retail entered the formal insolvency process in July when there was hardly anything left in it for creditors to recoup their $2.7 billion in claims.) Advertisement Indias six-year-old insolvency law is far from perfect. Still, when court-appointed administrators take charge at errant debtors, they offer protection from arbitrary action by corporate boards. Amazon was outmaneuvered when directors of Future Retail complained to the competition authority, effectively questioning the legality of their own action in backing the e-commerce firms 2019 investment. Now that Supply Chain has dropped the plan to sell its warehouses, Apollos interest is protected. But given the unstinting loyalty business families enjoy from boards, any reprieve could well prove to be temporary. With more than $515 billion of assets under management globally, the buyout firm wouldnt fret too much about a $200 million loan thats all but a write-off. Still, to be robbed first of principal and interest and then also of vote and voice is insult added to injury. If a pedigreed investor takes it lying down, the jungle will mark it as easy prey. More From Bloomberg Opinion: Advertisement Amazons Tangles in India Are a Cautionary Tale: Andy Mukherjee Amazon Versus Ambani Makes for a Cranky Board: Andy Mukherjee Jeff Bezos Is on the Wrong Indian Magazine Cover: Andy Mukherjee (1) According to a July 2020 presentation to investors. This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners. Andy Mukherjee is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering industrial companies and financial services in Asia. Previously, he worked for Reuters, the Straits Times and Bloomberg News. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion 2022 Bloomberg L.P. GiftOutline Gift Article Comment on this story Comment Gift Article Share The $24 trillion US Treasury market has gotten too big for even the Masters of the Universe. As the Federal Reserve reverses its bond purchase program and more government securities flood back into the hands of dealers, banks, investors and traders, the chances of extreme, unhealthy volatility are rising. Were at the moment that regulators and market participants have been fearing, which is that there will be more episodes like in March 2020 and September 2019 when parts of the market seized up and prices went haywire. This matters because the Treasury market is considered the most important of all as the foundation for financial assets priced in dollars the world over. The Securities and Exchange Commission just made the first official move to keep the market from breaking. It proposed on Wednesday to force more trading in government bonds through central clearinghouses. Clearing reduces the risk that either party to a trade will fail to deliver their end of the deal. It can also allow multiple parties to net-off exposures against one another at the same time, which should give everyone more capacity to trade. If enough banks, investors and other dealers can and do use clearing it will help, but it is no panacea. There are many other changes that should be pursued with the longer term goal of encouraging more market players to be able to trade directly with each other rather than rely so heavily on the 25 primary dealer firms that are obligated to bid at Treasury auctions and authorized to trade with the Fed. The giant US bond fund manager, Pacific Investment Management Co., came out in support of so-called all-to-all trading last week. Advertisement The capacity of dealers to intermediate Treasury trading is the core problem and it is making episodes of market stress and dysfunction more frequent, according to a report last year from former central bankers, regulators and academics known as the Group of 30. The panic of March 2020 was particularly extreme: It was when the US and Europe woke up to the severity of the Covid-19 pandemic and led investors to sell almost everything and load up on cash. Instead of acting in their usual role as a haven in times of turmoil, Treasury prices unexpectedly collapsed as liquidity dried up, sending yields soaring Events like that are likely impossible to guard against, but the seizure in money markets in September 2019, which saw huge spikes in overnight borrowing rates, was down to the Fed pursuing tighter monetary policy, something that it needs to be able to do without blowing up markets. No-one is sure exactly how todays quantitative tightening is going to play out, but its very likely to be a rough and unpredictable ride. Also, the Treasury market is expected to keep growing and reach $40 trillion by 2032 as the government borrows to finance big budget deficits. If banks are struggling to intermediate today, it would be crazy to rely solely on them to handle a much larger market in future. Thats the argument from non-bank market makers such as Citadel Securities and its hard to disagree. Advertisement The volume of trades that banks process has shrunk dramatically versus the size of the Treasury market: Before 2008, primary dealer volumes were equivalent to about 15% of the value of Treasuries outstanding; now that is just 2.5%, according to Bank of America Corp, which is a primary dealer. Banks such as JPMorgan Chase & Co., also a primary dealer, argue that the problem is rule changes imposed after the financial crisis to make banks safer and less vulnerable to sudden losses of funding. The new rules have made it more difficult for banks to quickly absorb extra assets during an explosion of market activity, especially during times when everyone wants to sell. The biggest banks want the calculation of leverage ratios, which measure the size of their balance sheets, to be changed to exclude the safest assets something the UK and other jurisdictions have already done. They also want the extra capital charges for being systemically important banks to be cut. Such changes would cut their capital requirements and improve their returns, but its hard to say they would definitely ensure the smooth functioning of the Treasury market. More important in 2019 were the rules on the amount and type of highly liquid assets big banks have to hold, which include Treasuries and central bank reserves. These rules led some banks to prefer reserves over Treasuries and that made them less willing to lend against Treasuries in money markets, which helped contribute to the mayhem that year. Advertisement Tweaking rules to help banks handle more trading and financing would definitely benefit Treasury markets, but making it less reliant on banks as intermediaries should be the bigger goal. Banks may argue that many electronic market makers or principal trading firms are fair weather liquidity providers that disappear when markets get tricky, but they will also always have a limit to how much they will trade during the most stressful times. That was true long before 2008. The Fed could lend against Treasuries to more market participants than just banks, which could help smooth trading stress in a crisis. It would need the right risk management to protect taxpayers, but such a dealer of last resort role for Treasuries makes sense for the toughest moments. Ultimately, the best way to avoid frequent crises would be to promote more diversity in the size and types of traders, dealers and market makers that can trade with each other. A greater variety of balance sheet types and motivations ought to help ensure that some remain active when others are pulling back. More central clearing as the SEC proposes should help with that, but more transparency on what trades are being done and at what prices and sizes is also necessary to give different parties a better idea of where their holdings should trade. It works in other assets so it should help in the most important market in the world, too.More From Other Writers at Bloomberg Opinion: Advertisement The Case Against a Mega 1% Fed Rate Increase: Robert Burgess The Fed Wants to Save America, Not the World: Marcus Ashworth Will Central Banks Kill or Nurture the Polar Bear?: John Authers This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners. Paul J. Davies is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering banking and finance. Previously, he was a reporter for the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion 2022 Bloomberg L.P. GiftOutline Gift Article Comment on this story Comment Gift Article Share Does the free market ensure freedom? Theres a common perception that it does that if, for example, a business discriminates against people of a certain race or sexual orientation, it will bring punishment upon itself in the form of higher expenses and fewer customers. Competitors will profit by meeting the unsatisfied demand. Unfortunately, the history of Black Americans demonstrates that the market doesnt always deliver the freedom it promises a conclusion that has implications for addressing discrimination today. Imagine traveling to a large city and finding that no hotel will allow you to stay the night, or needing to bring toilet paper on a road trip because no gas station will allow you to use the restroom. Such discrimination was the norm for Black Americans before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 barred racial discrimination in public accommodations. Historian Mia Bay finds that more than 90% of US hotels in the 1950s refused service to Black people. From the bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama to the lunch counter sit-ins in the early 1960s, Black protests were concentrated on how businesses and public services denied them equal access. Advertisement In recent years, historians have used novel methods to better understand this neglected part of Americas past. One valuable resource: the Green Book travel guides published from 1936 to 1966 by Harlem postal worker Victor Green, listing hotels, businesses, restaurants and other businesses that served Black customers. These and other guides were used by millions of Black Americans, who knew that being in the wrong place could have dire consequences. In new research using the Green Books, the economists Lisa Cook, Maggie Jones, David Rose and I find that even in the Northeast, where some anti-discrimination laws were in place by the 1950s, Black patrons could not take service for granted. As a share of all businesses, the thousands of listed establishments were relatively small. This made knowing where they were all the more important. Such discrimination was an affront to Americas free-market principles. For decades, conservative economists held that government intervention was not needed: The market would drive bigots out of business just as it would punish an employer who rejected Black workers, allowing competitors to underpay for Black labor. Yet their logic ignored what happens when consumers value discrimination. This was the concern of businesses during the years of lunch-counter sit-ins and other protests: If one decided to serve Black customers, its predominantly White customers would go to the competition. In North Carolina, for example, business owners worried that if they served all races equally, they would lose a sufficient percentage of their present patronage to go from profit to loss. Advertisement In other words, the market penalized fairness. As a result, many businesses (some begrudgingly) supported non-discrimination ordinances, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964: Such mandates forced both them and their competitors to treat all customers equally, eliminating anyones ability to profit from racial discrimination. This helps explain why non-discrimination is enforced under the Commerce Clause of the Constitution, not the equal protections under the 14th Amendment. Its also relevant today in deciding how to protect the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people, who commonly face discrimination but do not enjoy the same federal protections. The ability to access businesses is a critical part of economic citizenship. When the free market cannot deliver such freedom, the government must intervene. If policy makers get the history right, they can learn to put the market, and freedom, in their appropriate places. More From This and Other Writers at Bloomberg Opinion: Advertisement Slavery Was Never an American Economic Engine: Trevon Logan The California Boomtown That Racism Destroyed: Dean and Logan Got a Labor Shortage? Make It Easier to Work: Kathryn Edwards This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners. Trevon Logan is a professor of economics at the Ohio State University and a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion 2022 Bloomberg L.P. GiftOutline Gift Article Comment on this story Comment Gift Article Share You may have missed it for all the noise around the noise around the culture wars, but Americans are drinking more and more like Mexicans. Agave-based spirits from our southern neighbor are on the verge of a major breakthrough: This year, Americans will spend more money on tequila and mezcal than on domestic whiskeys. And its not a one-off, either. IWSR, which tracks and analyzes drinks market data, predicts that sales of agave-based spirits will top $13.3 billion next year, overtaking vodka as Americas most-purchased spirit, and pushing whiskey to third place. This is marvelous news for Mexican distillers, who have a lock on the production of most agave spirits because of international denomination of origin agreements. Just as bubbly wine can only be called Champagne if it is produced in the French region of that name, a distilled agave cant be labeled mezcal unless its from one of nine specific states in Mexico. And only the distilled blue agave from one of five Mexican states can be called tequila. Advertisement The D.O. status for both spirits was enshrined in the North American Free Trade Agreement, so there can be no American tequila or mezcal. But US companies are allowed to import the spirits from Mexico and bottle them here, so long as the labels clearly mark them as imported. Thanks to D.O. protection, Mexican exports of agave spirits have soared: According to the Distilled Spirits Council of the US, Americans bought 26.7 million nine-liter cases of tequila and mezcal in 2021, up from 11.9 million cases in 2011. While smooth tequila has long been a staple of margarita-fueled spring breaks, the smokier, funkier mezcal is a relative newcomer but has quickly gone mainstream. Americans now drink more of it than Mexicans. Full disclosure time: As a longtime mezcal enthusiast, I have mixed feelings about my fellow Americans newfound passion. On the one hand, my preferred tipple is now easier to find: When I first moved to New York 15 years ago, none of the bars or restaurants in my corner of the Upper East Side had any mezcal; now some of them list dozens of brands on their drinks menus. But popularity has come at a price: The occasional bottle of mezcal that turned up in my neighborhood liquor store used to retail well south of $30; today, most are closer to three figures. Advertisement The popularity of the agave spirits is opening up a market for other Mexican drinks, like raicilla and bacanora and not all of them enjoy D.O. protection. This opens up new possibilities for American distillers as as well as American drinkers. Take the case of sotol, which is produced from an agave-like plant from the genus Dasylirion, more commonly known as desert spoon, that grows wild in parts of Mexico and southern US. A clear spirit like tequila and mezcal, it tastes more botanical, with flowery notes youd expect in a quality gin. Sotol was regarded as a kind of moonshine in Mexico until it was legalized in 1994; a decade later, the government moved to secure D.O. status, limiting legal sotol to the states of Chihuahua, Durango and Coahuila. But that status is not recognized in the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement, President Donald Trumps renegotiated version of NAFTA. Advertisement To the chagrin of Mexican producers, American distillers like Desert Door, based in Driftwood, Texas, can thus use the term sotol. Perhaps inevitably, the company has been accused of cultural appropriation; more charitable critics label their product inauthentic. In some ways their arguments remind me of the outrage in India, the land of my birth, in the late 1990s when another Texan company, RiceTec, sought to label one of its lab-developed products basmati, after the aromatic long-grain varietals that is native to the foothills of the Himalayas. But Judson Kauffman, one of three military vets who founded Desert Door in 2017, is having none of it. The desert spoon bush is native to Texas, he points out, and theres plenty of evidence Native Americans were fermenting the hearts of desert spoons long before Mexico or the US existed. Advertisement Whats more, Kauffman tells me, American moonshiners were making sotol many decades before the spirit was legalized in Mexico, and long before the concept of D.O. existed. Were respectful of Mexicos sotol tradition, but weve got our own, he says. On a recent tour of Desert Doors distillery in Driftwood, near Austin, Kauffman and fellow founder Ryan Campbell made the case that, like wine, sotol is greatly influenced by terroir. And because the desert spoon bush that grows wild in the state is different from the varieties that grow in Mexico, the spirit from it tastes different, too, Campbell says. In the interest of journalism and as a service to you, dear reader, I put this claim to a rigorous test. And for what its worth, the Texan version is more flowery than the dozen or so Mexican sotols Ive tried. Just as important, they were all quite delicious especially when sipped neat, which is how Ive come to like my mezcal. Advertisement The process of taste-testing also uncorked an epiphany. I suspect that, like me, many people who try Texan sotol will be intrigued to measure it against varietals from Chihuahua, Durango and Coahuila. That means sotol from south of the border has more to gain than lose from the rise of the American version, just as it benefits from our growing thirst for Mexican sprits. And I say salud to that! More from Bobby Ghosh on Food and Drink: An Indian Restaurants Rise Mirrors Ashevilles Momos Are Taking Over the Dumpling World for a Reason New Instant Coffee Fans Should Try This Hack From India (Corrects the description of Native American practices in 12th paragraph of article published Sept. 18.) This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners. Bobby Ghosh is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering foreign affairs. Previously, he was editor in chief at Hindustan Times, managing editor at Quartz and international editor at Time. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion 2022 Bloomberg L.P. GiftOutline Gift Article Comment on this story Comment Gift Article Share Long concerned about what it calls the erosion of the rule of law in Hungary under Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the European Union sees getting him to change course as vital to bolstering democracy and EU unity -- especially as it confronts Russias aggression in Ukraine. Failure may increase polarization in the 27-nation bloc or even rekindle talk of Hungarys potential exit. In April, shortly after Orban notched up a fourth landslide election win at home, the EU triggered a probe that may ultimately deprive his government of billions of euros in funding. In September it moved a step closer to withholding funds, while also recognizing some progress. 1. Whats the backdrop? Since 2010, Orban has made it harder for outsiders to hold the government to account. Hes appointed loyalists to the courts, the chief prosecutors office and the media authority. A big parliamentary majority allowed him to write a new constitution that opposition critics condemned as an attack on democracy and human rights. Hes sought to limit the rights of some minorities, including the Roma and LGBTQ communities. And hes been the closest EU leader to Russia even after President Vladimir Putins invasion of Ukraine, exploiting exemptions to EU sanctions he demanded to secure increased imports of Russian gas. The European Parliament has passed a resolution that no longer considers Hungary a full-fledged democracy. Transparency International, a not-for-profit graft watchdog, rates Hungary as among the most-corrupt countries in the 27-nation bloc. Advertisement 2. How did this happen? While governments must adopt stringent democratic criteria to join the worlds largest trading bloc, there have been few tools available to deal with wayward members once theyve joined. The EU did try legal action, but Orban always found a way out -- dragging his feet on demands for change, cutting deals that stopped short of meaningfully rolling back his power and exploiting shortcomings in the blocs own legal charters. In addition, former German Chancellor Angela Merkel shielded Orban, arguing that pressing him too hard may prompt Hungary to follow the UK in its decision to leave the EU. He also found allies in Poland, where the nationalist Law & Justice party took power in 2015 and proceeded to emulate Orbans policies. Orban has also forged ties with populist politicians elsewhere such as Marine Le Pen in France and Giorgia Meloni in Italy. 3. What can the EU do? Advertisement The European Parliament voted in 2018 to trigger a rule-of-law probe against Hungary into what it called a clear risk of a serious breach of the EUs democratic principles. A new legal process adopted in 2020 allows the EU to potentially cut off funding when its financial interests may be undermined. The European Commission, the EUs executive, triggered that so-called conditionality mechanism in late April. 4. Is the investigation related to democracy or corruption? The two are intertwined but the commission must limit its probe to areas that could affect the EU budget and undermine the financial interests of the bloc. So while Orbans comments on racial purity, his clampdown on independent media and his restrictions on LGBTQ rights have triggered condemnation from others within the EU, they arent the focus of the investigation. The independence of the judiciary, however, is in the spotlight as its seen as central to a countrys ability to tackle graft and issue unbiased judgments. Advertisement 5. Where are we now? In an unprecedented move, the commission on Sept. 18 recommended the suspension of 7.5 billion euros ($7.5 billion) of Hungarys EU funding due to corruption concerns -- about a fifth of the money earmarked in the 2021-2027 EU budget. Separately, Hungary is still waiting for the commission to approve its pandemic recovery plan, which would pave the way to 5.8 billion euros in EU money. If Hungarys recovery plan isnt implemented by the end of the year, it stands to lose 70% of that funding. 6. So will Hungarys EU funds be cut? Its too early to say, because EU member states have to vote on the commission proposal. They have one month to decide but they can extend that deadline by up to two months. Crucially, unanimity isnt required, but the decision to suspend funds has to be backed by at least 15 of the 27 member states representing 65% of the EU population. The European Commission also said that Hungary had made progress in its proposed remedial measures, and is due to report back on these by Nov. 19. Advertisement 6. Whats been the reaction? The Hungarian government has said itll implement all of the measures it had offered in talks with the EUs executive and therefore sees no chance of funding cuts. Those steps include setting up a new anti-graft agency and amending legislation making public procurements more transparent. Many in Hungarys opposition ranks are skeptical that the EU will force real change, saying the EUs demands fall short of whats required. Investors also took the EUs threat in stride, with the forint gaining against the euro the day after. The currency has been among the worlds worst-performers this year as the uncertain outlook for EU funds weighed on the forint. 7. Could Hungary one day leave the EU? Orban has said he intends to keep Hungary in the EU. Its export-oriented economy relies heavily on the free movement of goods and services. The UKs tortuous exit from the EU also showed how difficult the process of leaving can be for both sides. In addition, the conflict raging in neighboring Ukraine has given Hungarians a sense of the security provided inside the EU (as well as the NATO military alliance). But its hard to see Orban willingly unwinding the legal changes of the past decade and launching a spirited campaign against corruption. The ruling elite and its business allies have benefited greatly during his tenure. Hungarys Finance Minister Mihaly Varga said last year that, if the EU keeps up its criticism, Hungary may re-evaluate its membership at the end of this decade, when its expected to become a net contributor to the blocs budget. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com 2022 Bloomberg L.P. GiftOutline Gift Article Comment on this story Comment Gift Article Share TEHRAN, Iran Irans president headed on Monday to New York, where he will be speaking to the U.N. General Assembly later this week, saying that he has no plans to meet with President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the U.N. event. Are you on Telegram? Subscribe to our channel for the latest updates on Russias war in Ukraine. ArrowRight President Ebrahim Raisi spoke at the Tehran airport before his departure as talks to revive Irans tattered nuclear deal with world powers remain stalled. There is no plan for a meeting or negotiations with U.S leaders, Raisi said. We have no plans whatsoever for meeting them. The Iranian president called his appearance at the United Nations an opportunity to explain to the world about alleged malice that unspecified nations and world powers have toward Iran. He did not elaborate. Raisi, who is accompanied by Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian and nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani, is to address both the General Assembly and a UNESCO meeting on religions. Advertisement Talks between Iran and world powers over reviving a 2015 nuclear deal remained stalled though Tehran and Washington have traded written responses in recent months on the finer points of the roadmap, which would see sanctions lifted against Iran in exchange for it restricting its rapidly advancing nuclear program. Iran and the U.S. have had no diplomatic relations since the 1979 U.S. Embassy takeover by militant students in Tehran. On Sunday, CBS 60 Minutes aired an interview with Raisi, who said the United States is not trustworthy and demanded guarantees that Washington would not withdraw again from a nuclear deal as President Donald Trump did in 2018. Raisi also told CBS that Iran is willing to discuss prisoner exchanges with the U.S., defended his countrys anti-Israel stance and said Tehran was committed to pursuing justice for the killing of a top Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander, Gen. Qassem Soleimani, in a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad in January 2020. GiftOutline Gift Article Comment on this story Comment Gift Article Share WASHINGTON An American contractor held hostage in Afghanistan for more than two years has been released in exchange for a convicted Taliban drug lord jailed in the United States, the White House said Monday, announcing a rare success in U.S.-Taliban talks since the militant group took power a little more than a year ago Mark Frerichs, a Navy veteran who had spent more than a decade in Afghanistan as a civilian contractor, was abducted in January 2020 and is believed to have been held since then by the Taliban-linked Haqqani network. He was traded for Bashir Noorzai, a Taliban associate convicted in a heroin trafficking conspiracy who had spent 17 years behind bars before his release Monday. The exchange is one of the most significant prisoner swaps to take place under the Biden administration, coming five months after a deal with Russia that brought home Marine veteran Trevor Reed. Though his case has received less public attention than those of some other Americans held abroad, including WNBA star Brittney Griner and corporate security executive Paul Whelan who are both held in Russia and whose relatives met with President Joe Biden on Friday U.S. officials said the deal for Frerichs was the result of months of quiet negotiations. Advertisement Those discussions gained new momentum in June when Biden agreed to grant Noorzai relief from his life sentence, setting the stage for what one administration official described as a very narrow window of opportunity this month to complete the deal. Biden said in a statement released by the White House, Bringing the negotiations that led to Marks freedom to a successful resolution required difficult decisions, which I did not take lightly. Frerichs, 60, had been working on civil engineering projects at the time of his Jan. 31, 2020 abduction in Kabul. Hes believed to have been lured into a meeting to discuss a new project and then transported to Khost, a stronghold of the Taliban-linked Haqqani network near the Pakistan border. He was last seen in a video posted last spring by The New Yorker in which he appeared in traditional Afghan clothing and pleaded for his release. He was accompanied Monday by the administrations special presidential envoy for hostage affairs and was in stable health, a U.S. official said. His ultimate destination was not immediately clear, though a Qatari Foreign Ministry official said Frerichs would soon head from Doha to the U.S. Advertisement A sister of Frerichs, who is from Lombard, Illinois, thanked U.S. officials who helped secure her brothers release. I am so happy to hear that my brother is safe and on his way home to us. Our family has prayed for this each day of the more than 31 months he has been a hostage. We never gave up hope that he would survive and come home safely to us, said a statement from the sister, Charlene Cakora. Noorzai, at the time of his 2005 arrest, hardly seemed an ideal recipient for presidential clemency. Hed been designated on a list reserved for some of the worlds most prolific drug traffickers, and was prosecuted in Manhattans federal court on charges that accused him of owning opium fields in Kandahar province and relying on a network of distributors who sold the heroin in New York. When he was sentenced to life imprisonment, the then-top federal prosecutor in Manhattan said Noorzais worldwide narcotics network supported a Taliban regime that made Afghanistan a breeding ground for international terrorism. Advertisement Mondays deal underscored the two sides to the Talibans approach to illegal drugs. In April, they announced a ban on harvesting the poppies that produce opium for making heroin -- an order that also outlawed the manufacture and transportation of narcotics. However, during the years-long Taliban insurgency, they reportedly made millions of dollars taxing farmers and middle men who moved their drugs outside Afghanistan. A senior administration official who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the administration said the U.S. government now determined that Noorzais release would not materially change any risk to Americans or fundamentally alter the contours of the drug trade there. Officials also took into account that Noorzai had spent 17 years in prison. They said it became clear from negotiations that releasing him would be necessary to get Frerichs home. At a press conference Monday, Noorzai expressed gratitude at seeing his mujahedeen brothers a reference to the Taliban in Kabul. Advertisement I pray for more success of the Taliban, he added. I hope this exchange can lead to peace between Afghanistan and America, because an American was released and I am also free now. Even before their takeover of Afghanistan in August last year, the Taliban had demanded the U.S. release Noorzai in exchange for Frerichs. But there had been little public indication of Washington proceeding along those lines. Eric Lebson, a former U.S. government national security official who had been advising Frerichs family, said in a statement that everything about this case has been an uphill fight. He criticized the Trump administration for having given away our leverage to get Mark home quickly by signing a peace accord with the Taliban without ever having asked them to return Mark first. Marks family then had to navigate two administrations, where many people viewed Marks safe return as an impediment to their plans for Afghanistan, the statement said. Advertisement The collapse of the Western-backed Afghan government and takeover by the Taliban in August 2021 raised additional concern that progress in negotiations could be undone or that Frerichs could be forgotten. But his name was invoked last month when Biden was said by his advisers to have pressed officials to consider any risk posed to Frerichs by the drone strike in Afghanistan that killed al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri. The Taliban-appointed foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, hailed the exchange Monday as the start of a new era in U.S.-Taliban relations and the opening of a new door for talks. U.S. officials were more circumspect. Though it does not recognize the Taliban government, the U.S. does have interests at stake in Afghanistan and will continue to engage with the Taliban in addressing the hunger and humanitarian crisis gripping the country, administration officials said Monday. Advertisement But officials say they remain concerned about whether the Taliban are committed to fighting terrorism and by the exclusion of girls from high schools there, an issue that drew a United Nations reprimand on Sunday. ___ Faiez reported from Islamabad. Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed to this report. ___ This story has corrected a version earlier in the day that cited Taliban claims that Noorzai was held at Guantanamo Bay; the claim was disproved by U.S. officials. GiftOutline Gift Article If red carpets are no longer just about dresses but about moments, then Sunday nights Brownlow delivered in spades. Saving their entrance until the very end, former North Melbourne coach Danielle Laidley and her partner, Donna Leckie, delivered the drama in what was an otherwise uneventful return to the red carpet after the Brownlows pandemic pause. Belles of the Brownlow ... Dani Laidley (left) and Donna Leckie. Credit:Getty Arriving in matching white Marquise Bridal gowns, the couple held hands and were visibly elated and a bit nervous to be in the spotlight on footballs biggest night of the year. Its a whole range of emotions, said Laidley, who has become an outspoken advocate for transgender rights and an ambassador for the rainbow community in the broader AFL community. The Australian dollar is trading at multi-year highs against the pound, euro and New Zealand dollar. That will help offset the coast of soaring airfares and inflation when travellers spend their cash overseas. The Australian dollar is buying about 58 pence the strongest it has been against pound for five years. At the start of the year, it was buying 53 pence. Our dollar is riding high against the pound, euro and NZ dollar Credit:Bloomberg One Australian dollar is buying about 67 euro cents, close to its five-year high in August. It was 64 euro cents at the start of the year. The dollar as also at about $NZ1.12 another five-year high. Indecision on the future of the heritage-listed South Fremantle Power Station makes the prospect of redeveloping the site costlier by the day, according to a leading civil engineer. Curtin University Professor Abhijit Mukherjee, who specialises in assessment and rehabilitation of heritage structures, said remediation of the power station would be possible but repair costs went up exponentially with time. The site has sat empty since the power station closed down in 1985. If the concrete has corroded, it can be repaired. We have the technology, he said. The biggest cost item in all these projects is indecision, thats my experience in previous projects. More than two years after they were locked out of Australia, backpackers are finally coming back but not quickly enough for peak industry groups desperate for workers. About 6000 backpackers a month have been arriving in Australia since the border reopened at the end of February, meaning it could take years to rebuild the workforce to what it was before COVID-19. Newly arrived backpackers Dani van Steijn and Bob Visser hope to work and travel around Australia. Credit:Peter Rae Experts say the high cost of airfares, competition from other countries and fears that Australia will reclose its borders are turning some backpackers off travelling to Australia and taking up essential jobs in industries, such as agriculture and hospitality. About 56,000 are now in Australia. We still need so many more, Restaurant and Hospitality Industry Association chief executive Belinda Clarke said. Were missing over 100,000 workers in hospitality and a huge proportion of those roles are taken up by backpackers in seasonal areas. Independent MPs are challenging the federal government to take a stand on economic change for women by planning a move that will force Labor caucus members to decide whether to support an increase in paid parental leave to 26 weeks. While the government says it is looking at ways to make the current scheme more flexible, the crossbench will ask Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his MPs to take a firmer stand on the promises outlined at the governments jobs summit earlier this month. Independent MPs Zali Steggall and Zoe Daniel want the government to commit to expanding paid parental leave. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen They want the current 18-week paid parental leave scheme expanded to 26 weeks, costing $600 million a year, to boost womens workplace equity. The pressure over extending the Commonwealth parental leave scheme adds to the debate about government services and how they will be paid for, following Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowes comments on Friday that Labor will need to either hike taxes, cut spending or undertake structural reform to meet community expectations. From across the world they came, dressed in black and heads bowed: kings, queens, presidents, prime ministers and governors-general, representing the most imposing superpowers, the humblest microstates and everything in between. There had been historic funerals before for Nelson Mandela, Pope John Paul II and John F. Kennedy but Queen Elizabeth IIs service drew an unprecedented assortment of global leaders. An estimated 500 heads of state and other dignitaries, representing 200 nations, travelled to London to pay their respects, a testament to the late monarchs longevity and the reverence she inspired around the globe in her seven decades on the throne. US President Joe Biden takes his seat with wife Jill Biden and other heads of state and dignitaries, including French President Emmanuel Macron (left) at Westminster Abbey, Credit:WPA Pool/Getty Joe Biden and wife Jill arrived at Westminster Abbey in the beast, the nickname of the US presidents armoured Cadillac limousine, accompanied by a smaller than usual motorcade. Reflecting his status as the leader of the worlds most powerful democracy, Biden was the only world leader given special dispensation to travel to the event in his personal vehicle. Other dignitaries including French President Emmanuel Macron, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and foreign royals accustomed to the highest luxury travelled to the funeral on pooled buses after meeting at the designated drop-off point of the Royal Hospital nursing home in Chelsea. I was repeatedly denied entry, while researching my Queen Victoria biography, on the grounds that I had not written a biography before, nor royal history. I then discovered a friend from a womans magazine had been allowed in without question. It was not until the then governor-general, Quentin Bryce, and her official secretary, Stephen Brady, argued my case that I was allowed in. There is no consistency, no transparency, no obligation to be fair. Loading These archives are not considered public records, even though so many are directly related to political affairs. Surely these documents should follow the same rules as the UK National Archives, with specified time periods for release such as 30 or 50 years. I was thrilled to climb the 100 stone stairs to the top of a tower in Windsor Castle to where the archives are kept, but stunned when royal archivists tried to censor my draft manuscript. The parts they wanted cut out were from Queen Victorias doctors records, which I found in Scotland, not in the archives, and which contained compelling evidence of her love for John Brown. I was tied up with lawyers on three continents for months. Now that the era of a new monarch begins, questions from those who value history will grow louder. Will some of the constraints around Queen Victorias records loosen now? Why are the files on her spirited daughter, Princess Louise, still closed? Where are the full records of the royal familys links with the Third Reich? What of the records about George Vs son Prince John, who battled mental illness and epilepsy, and was sent to a farm? When will we be able to see papers regarding the abdication crisis caused by King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson? What could we learn about attitudes to Indigenous people, and a failure to reckon with the ugly legacy of colonialism? Loading Also, why are the wills of royal family members kept secret in perpetuity? Couldnt they be made public after a period, especially given the legal basis for their secrecy is slender at best? It took 10 years of legal wrangling before The Guardian won a case to release Prince Charles correspondence with ministers in 2004-5, under the Freedom of Information Act which was then quickly amended to ensure an absolute exemption for the Queen and her heir from such requests. These letters, known as the spider memos because of the then princes spiralling handwriting, revealed that our current King had personally lobbied the Blair government over a wide range of matters, from the Iraq war to illegal fishing of the Patagonian toothfish and alternative herbal medicines. The Guardian described them as self-indulgence on an industrial scale. Given the claims that Charles intended to make heartfelt interventions in national life as king, surely this is important to know. In Australia, after years of legal struggle, historian Jenny Hocking won a court case to gain access to the palace letters between governor-general Sir John Kerr and the Queens private secretary, Sir Martin Charteris, before Kerr dismissed Gough Whitlam in 1975. The letters showed Charteris knew of Kerrs plan and did nothing to discourage him. At the core of this matter was whether these documents could be classed as personal. Hocking challenged this assumption and convinced the High Court that, given this was correspondence between a governor-general and his Queen about a constitutional crisis, surely this was a professional discussion between two people at the apex of our system. Hocking now hopes this finding will have repercussions across the Commonwealth, pulling more important historical records into the light, and shifting the idea that anything to do with royals should be routinely removed from public archives. She told me: All official communication between palace and PM should be treated no different to cabinet papers the personal label is sophistry. Similarly, historian Andrew Lownie fought in courts for four years to secure the release, earlier this year, of the diaries of Lord and Lady Mountbatten, which had been public but were closed after it was determined they contained references to the royal family. It cost him 400,000 ($A684,000). Loading So what and who are we protecting? As The Guardian said: It is an unacceptable anomaly that the gatekeepers of documents relating to affairs of state should apparently be mainly concerned with concealing them from the public gaze The ambiguity around the monarch as a private person is used either to justify banning access entirely, or as a way of legitimising a scrutiny by the palace that more or less amounts to a right of censorship. The perception at least is that access is usually granted only to those writers who can be relied upon to pass friendly judgments. This is a deliberate and unacceptable attempt to thwart genuine academic endeavour. The royal family receives large amounts of public money, which for most people is justified by their public work. But that does not mean that their history can be sheltered from the public gaze. What is at stake here is not so much tradition or convention, but a desire for truth and accuracy, to ensure beliefs and assertions about our history are rooted in evidence and fact, not sycophancy and guesswork. Kiev: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed there would be no let-up in fighting to regain territory lost to Russia as Kyiv reported its troops had advanced to the eastern bank of the Oskil River, threatening Russian occupation forces in the Donbas. Crossing the Oskil is another important milestone in Ukraines counter-offensive in the north-eastern Kharkiv region as it flows south to the Siversky Donets River, which goes right through Luhansk, one of two provinces in the Donbas region. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky sings the national anthem during his visit to Izium. Credit:AP The Ukrainian Armed Forces have pushed across the Oskil. From yesterday, Ukraine controls the east bank, the Ukrainian Armed Forces wrote on Telegram late on Sunday local time. Serhiy Gaidai, governor of Luhansk region, wrote on Telegram: Luhansk region is right next door. Decoccupation is not far away. Allentown, PA (18103) Today Cloudy, breezy, and cool with a bit of rain or some times of drizzle, especially in the afternoon.. Tonight Cloudy and brisk with a few showers remaining or a touch of drizzle. LONDON (AP) The United Kingdom and the world bade farewell to Queen Elizabeth II on Monday with a state funeral that drew presidents and kings, princes and prime ministers and crowds in the streets of London and at Windsor Castle to honor a monarch whose 70-year reign defined an age. In a country known for pomp and pageantry, the first state funeral since Winston Churchills was filled with spectacle: Before the service, a bell tolled 96 times once a minute for each year of Elizabeth's life. Then, 142 Royal Navy sailors used ropes to draw the gun carriage carrying her flag-draped coffin to Westminster Abbey, where pallbearers carried it inside and about 2,000 people ranging from world leaders to health care workers gathered to mourn. The trappings of state and monarchy abounded: The coffin was draped with the Royal Standard and atop it was the Imperial State Crown, sparkling with almost 3,000 diamonds, and the sovereigns orb and scepter. But the personal was also present: The coffin was followed into the church by generations of Elizabeths descendants, including King Charles III, heir to the throne Prince William and 9-year-old George, who is second in line. On a wreath atop the coffin, a handwritten note read, In loving and devoted memory, and was signed Charles R for Rex, or king. Here, where Queen Elizabeth was married and crowned, we gather from across the nation, from the Commonwealth, and from the nations of the world, to mourn our loss, to remember her long life of selfless service, and in sure confidence to commit her to the mercy of God our maker and redeemer, the dean of the medieval abbey, David Hoyle, told the mourners. The service ended with two minutes of silence observed across the United Kingdom, after which the attendees sang the national anthem, now titled God Save the King. The day began early when the doors of Parliament's 900-year-old Westminster Hall were closed to mourners after hundreds of thousands had filed in front of her coffin. Monday was declared a public holiday in honor of Elizabeth, who died Sept. 8 and hundreds of thousands of people descended on central London to witness history. They jammed sidewalks to watch the coffin wend its way through the streets of the capital after the service. As the procession passed Buckingham Palace, the queen's official residence in the city, staff stood outside, some bowing and curtseying. Mark Elliott, 53, who traveled from the Lake District in northern England with his wife and two children to watch the procession, got up at 1:30 a.m. to stake out a good viewing location near the palace. I know we dont know the queen, but shes been our head of state for 70 years, you feel as though you know her, you feel as though shes part of the family. It is kind of moving, he said. Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said in his sermon at Westminster Abbey that few leaders receive the outpouring of love we have seen for the queen. More people lined the route the hearse took from the capital to Windsor Castle, and many tossed flowers at the cortege as it passed. Millions more tuned into the funeral live, and crowds flocked to parks and public spaces across the U.K. to watch it on screens. Even the Google doodle turned a respectful black for the day. As the coffin arrived at the castle, there were poignant reminders of her love of animals: A groom stood at the roadside with one of her ponies, Emma, and another member of staff held the leashes of two of her beloved corgis, Sandy and Muick. During the committal ceremony in St. Georges Chapel on the castle grounds, Dean of Windsor David Conner praised Elizabeth for her life of unstinting service to the nation but also her kindness, concern and reassuring care for her family and friends and neighbors. Then the crown and the orb and scepter were removed from atop the coffin and placed on the altar separating them from the queen for the last time. Her coffin was lowered into the royal vault through an opening in the chapel's floor. Charles looked weary and emotional as mourners sang the national anthem. At a private family service, the queen was later laid to rest with her husband, Prince Philip. The mourners at Westminster Abbey included U.S. President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron, all of the living former British prime ministers and European royalty. In Japan, whose Emperor Naruhito also attended, several people sipped beer and watched the service at The Aldgate British pub in Tokyos fashionable Shibuya district. The queen had an especially long history in a country that boasts a long history, and so she deserves deep respect, said one of them, Tomotaka Hosokawa. The global outpouring of sympathy touched the king, who on the eve of the funeral, issued a message of thanks to people in the U.K. and around the world, saying he and his wife, Camilla, the queen consort, have been moved beyond measure by the large numbers of people who have turned out to pay their respects. Jilly Fitzgerald, who was in Windsor, said there was a sense of community among the mourners as they prepared to wait hours to see the procession carrying the queens coffin. Its good to be with all the people who are all feeling the same. Its like a big family because everyone feels that the queen was part of their family, she said. Kullab reported from Windsor, England. Associated Press journalists Sylvia Hui and Jill Lawless in London and David Keyton in Windsor contributed. Follow AP coverage of Queen Elizabeth II at https://apnews.com/hub/queen-elizabeth-ii AMITY TWP., Pa. As the world said a final farewell to Queen Elizabeth II on Monday, a Berks County woman recalled her lifelong fondness for the monarch and the time she met her. "I've been a follower all my life, since I was 11 years old, and it was always my dream to meet her," Amy Levengood said. Levengood, fondly dubbed the "American Monarchist" by Canadian press, lived her dream of meeting the queen in 2010. She and her husband drove all night from Pennsylvania to Ottawa for Canada Day. "She was going to be visiting a museum with her husband, so I thought that that would be a really good opportunity for me to meet her," Levengood said. Armed with a bouquet of flowers for her majesty, she was aptly placed along the royal route and got her chance to meet the monarch. "She came out, and I could see her walking toward me," Levengood said. "I guess she was directed toward me, and our eyes met, and it was just an incredible moment." It's a moment, she said, she'll always cherish. "Of course being an American, [I] forgot all protocol, didn't curtsey, spoke to her first, but I was able to say a few words to her and she thanked me for the flowers and moved on," Levengood remembered. She has photos of the momentous occasion because her husband climbed a lamp post to be above the crowd to capture the memory. It's a joyous memory for Levengood to hold onto as she is mourning the queen with the rest of the world. "I think part of my sadness comes from, there's this huge link to history, and that past that has now been extinguished," Levengood said. She has a room in her home dedicated to memorabilia of the royal family, including representations of the British monarchy on China and in books. As always, held in the highest regard, is Queen Elizabeth II. "She was so focused on the future, and I think that will be her legacy, that as much as she revered and was steeped in tradition," Levengood said, "she was always looking forward and seeing what she could do to make the world a better place." MAXATAWNY TWP., Pa. A man who has dedicated decades of his life to advancing Rodale Institute's mission of growing the regenerative organic agriculture movement is planning to step aside in the new year. The institute's board of directors announced Monday that Jeff Moyer will retire as its chief executive officer in the spring and transition to CEO emeritus, a position that will allow him to continue supporting and advising the Maxatawny Township nonprofit. "The regenerative organic movement and Rodale Institute would not be where it is today without the leadership of Jeff Moyer," Maya Rodale and Roberta Lang, co-chairs of the board of directors, said in a news release. "His tireless dedication to the study, practice, and advocacy of regenerative organic agriculture has helped countless farmers transition to organic practices, which has led to healthier soil, healthier food, healthier people, and a healthier planet." Moyer joined Rodale in 1976 and spent 39 years as farm manager/director of the Maxatawny Township-based nonprofit. In 2015, he was appointed executive director, and five years later, he was named CEO. Moyer is credited with conceptualizing and popularizing a Rodale-invented tractor attachment dubbed the "roller crimper," which is used to no-till organic agriculture to reduce soil erosion, improve soil health, and increase biodiversity. "It has been a great honor and privilege to work alongside so many great people that make up the organic and regenerative organic community," Moyer said. "Being able to positively impact individual lives and the planet as a whole has made every day of the past 46 years a true joy." 1:29 +2 Rodale CEO tells Congress 'America's food system is broken' Jeff Moyer said Russia's ongoing war against Ukraine has exposed dangerous cracks and frailties in the global food systems and supply chains. Last week, Moyer traveled to Capitol Hill to testify before the U.S. House Agriculture Committee about the country's current state of agriculture. He told the panel that "America's food system is broken" and that "regenerative organic agriculture is our path forward." Moyer said action must be taken to improve soil health, which is the foundation for successful farming. Rodale's board said it will retain an executive search firm to select a new CEO. "While Jeff is irreplaceable," Rodale and Lang said in their joint statement, "he has assembled a stellar team and we are confident that together we will ensure a smooth transition for the organization and find the next great leader for Rodale Institute." READING, Pa. The Schuylkill River Passenger Rail Authority is only into its third month, but it's already anticipating expenditures for the next three years. The authority on Monday voted to adopt a three-year budget to account for anticipated income and expenditures. As the income and expenditures are balanced for the three-year period, the authority anticipates expenses of $378,140 in 2023, $410,734 in 2024, and $423,056 in 2025. The majority of the expenses is related to the salary for an executive director, support staff and the cost of a passenger rail planning consultant. Last month, the authority named Transportation for America as the consultant, but it said Thursday that an agreement on the terms of the contract has not yet been reached. The authority also agreed to hire an interim executive director while a search is conducted for a permanent individual. Berks County officials said details about that hire will be announced in a news release on Tuesday. The only income shown in the three-year budget is the county support from the Berks, Chester and Montgomery counties. The authority is a joint venture of the three counties. It is tasked with the long-term goal of restoring passenger rail service between Reading and Philadelphia. Each county is being asked for financial support in the amount of $126,047 in 2023, $136,911 in 2024, and $141,019. The budget does not include expenditures for any long-term studies or for capital investments, if and when implementation of the passenger rail begins. On the income side, there is anticipation for the receipt of federal and state dollars, but they are not included in the spending plan. Authority member Scott France said there is no way to determine those amounts at this time. "We already have additional funding lined up in terms of federal appropriation and from seeking state subsidy as well, so that all will be determining the capital side [expenses] in the future," France said. "But for now, this represents the way that the counties can plan on funding the authority." READING, Pa. A celebration of culture filled the streets of downtown Reading on Sunday. Reading's third annual Puerto Rican parade and festival kicked off National Hispanic Heritage Month. The Hispanic community continues to grow rapidly in the city. Reading now has the highest percentage of Hispanic residents of any city in Pennsylvania. Cars, music, motorcycles and the Puerto Rican flag could be seen and heard down Penn Street as the Puerto Rican community spread its culture through the city. "Seeing other Puerto Ricans in our community come together, marching down the street, it felt good," said Samuel Vega Cruz. "Our culture is very nice; our food is amazing and people love to party," Alex Ramirez said. And the biggest part of the culture: family. "We could be going through hard times, but at the end of the day, we're all going to come together and help each other out," Vega Cruz said. ALLENTOWN, Pa. - Allentown police are investigating gunfire in the area of a hookah lounge early Sunday morning. Police said shots were fired in the area of the Synergy Hookah Lounge on Union Boulevard around 5:30 a.m. Police said so far, they're getting very little cooperation from anyone who was there at the time. Anyone with information is asked to call Allentown police. HANOVER TWP., Pa. - A new marijuana dispensary is open in Lehigh County. Curaleaf Allentown, at 1801 Airport Road in Hanover Township, held a "soft opening" on Saturday. Soft openings provide a preview of a store and help management evaluate operations. A ceremonial grand opening will be held Sept. 29. Wakefield, Massachusetts-based Curaleaf has 18 locations in Pennsylvania and 137 in 21 states across the U.S., according to a company statement. Curaleaf's newest is at the site of the former Chess N Checkers bar. Patients with Pennsylvania medical marijuana cards can purchase brands including Grassroots, Select and the company's namesake line. "Pennsylvania has welcomed six new Curaleaf locations this year," Curaleaf Chief Executive Officer Matt Darin said in the statement. Curaleaf is traded under the ticker symbol CURLF on the OTC Markets. It last traded at $5.81 per share. In the last 52 weeks, Curalea has traded from $4.79 to $12.85. Recreational marijuana is now legal in New Jersey, while in Pennsylvania, cannabis is only available legally for medical use. ALLENTOWN, Pa. - Fegleys Brew Works is debuting a beer in support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The company said it is teaming up with Kinship Brewing in Iowa to release Scars Are Beautiful IPA, which will debut in October. The 7% ABV West Coast Style India Pale Ale is packed with Chinook and Cascade hops for a traditional bitter hop profile, balanced with pale and crystal malts, according to a news release from Fegleys Brew Works. Scars Are Beautiful will be available in cans at both Fegleys Brew Works locations - Allentown and Bethlehem - beginning the first week of October along with select other locations in the Lehigh Valley in participation with the Lehigh Valley Brewers Guild, as well as for sale and shipment throughout the state of Pennsylvania through the Brew Works website. The collaboration beer will serve as a fundraiser for the Cancer Card Xchange (CCX), a 501(c)(3) non-profit that distributes gift card donations to brighten the day of people with cancer. Fegley's Brew Works says it will cover all production and packaging costs for the beer and will donate $2 from every can sale going towards the foundations efforts. Scars are Beautiful represents the change you and your body go through after a mastectomy. The scars that we endure are, in fact, beautiful. Its a hard process to go through but it saves lives. Jess Mitchell, one of the owners of Kinship Brewing Company in Waukee, Iowa, tested positive for the BRCA 2 genetic mutation. She went in for a Double Mastectomy, followed by a second breast surgery six months later to clean up areas that were still flaring up. Its scary, and its devastating, but it saved my life. With your help, I know we can help save other lives. Proceeds will go towards The Cancer Card Xchange. It was founded by Emily Tickle Thomas, who was first diagnosed with cancer in 2007. Friends arranged to make sure she and her family had gift cards to be able to purchase groceries, gas, and meals for the essentials they would need traveling back and forth to chemotherapy. Using this idea as a template, she founded CCX to pay forward the kindness she had been shown. In the last ten years, CCX has distributed almost $500,000 in gift cards to over 5,000 individuals. Plans for the Martin Tower tract, perhaps the last big chance for redevelopment in the City of Bethlehem, will be reviewed this week by the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission. Martin Tower was the headquarters of the former Bethlehem Steel Corp. The 21-story structure was demolished in 2019, leaving an estimated 16,000 tons of structural steel and 6,500 cubic yards of concrete. The site has been cleared. The LVPC will discuss the Tower Place project as a committee on Tuesday at noon. The full commission will review the plans Thursday at 7 p.m. Tower Place would cut the 53-acre site at 1170 Eight Ave. into three lots to put up two three-story medical-office buildings along with parking, and leave the third lot for future development. That third lot is not up for review this week. Earlier, developers Lewis Ronca and Norton Herrick proposed 300 apartments, a hotel, restaurant, gas station and retail space in addition to the medical offices. The draft staff review on the commission's website questions the value of a traffic study made during the COVID-19 pandemic, and notes congestion on Eaton Avenue. The recommendations as proposed also include sustainability. "This development possesses a unique opportunity to incorporate sustainable designs that would complement the character of the area while minimizing environmental impacts. One opportunity is through sustainable and enhanced parking lot design which combines abundant vegetation, pervious paving materials, safe pedestrian, cyclist and ADA access, as well as connections to transit. This is especially important in an urban environment where there is existing density paired with new development," according to the review by five LVPC staff members. The planning commission's professional staff reviews big projects proposed for Lehigh and Northampton counties. The appointed commissioners represent the two counties and municipalities. They review and sometimes alter the recommendations. On Tuesday, the LVPC's Comprehensive Planning Committee will review the plans. On Thursday, the full commission will vote. That vote is on the staff recommendations, not on whether a project can proceed. Final land-use decisions are up to the City of Bethlehem. The LVPC's meetings are held virtually. Links are available at the LVPC website. HARRISBURG, Pa. - A Pennsylvania House subcommittee says it needs more time to continue its investigation into Schuylkill County Commissioner George Halcovage. This comes as some push for him to be impeached over sexual misconduct allegations. "There have only ever been two impeachments in the history of our Commonwealth," said state Rep. Paul Schemel. The subcommittee says it needs to collect more evidence and testimony before deciding whether Halcovage should be impeached. "I believe our deliberations, although they took time and will continue to take some time, have allowed for the truth to be heard and will be fully developed," said state Rep. Joseph Hohenstein. Four women who work in the county courthouse accused Halcovage of sexual harassment and filed a lawsuit in federal court. He denied the allegations and said he wouldn't resign, though he did step down as chairman. Last year, Attorney General Josh Shapiro said there wouldn't be criminal charges, though Monday, the subcommittee voted to share what it learned during its investigation with his office. "Every day we get asked about it," said state Sen. Dave Argall. "People are concerned as to why it's taking so long." Argall says lawmakers knew they needed to take action once the county determined Halcovage would have been fired if he was a regular employee, and not an elected official. "This thing can't be rushed. It has to be done, according to all of the legal procedures," said Argall. "They could have voted just to stop the investigation. They didn't do that. They voted to continue." "When you're someone that has not only that power, but you're also at a standard of leading your community, there's a there's a high standard to meet there," said Jim Willshier, the chief public affairs officer at the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape. "So, what's important about this process is that it is going to follow a due process. The opportunity to have someone held accountable for their actions is very important." "I appreciate the courage and the bravery that was exhibited by our witnesses last week," said Hohenstein. "Everyone deserves a safe and professional workplace where they do not live in fear and are not subjected to abuse and are not exploited by people in powerful positions. Our task is the administration of justice and the fair treatment of both the subject of this proceeding and the witnesses who have brought forth serious allegations." "I understand that there are a number of individuals, especially those in Schuylkill County, would like to see a quick resolution to this matter and are frustrated with the fact that it has dragged on for some time," said Schemel. The subcommittee says the federal case is impacting its timeline, since it is attempting to get information via subpoena. Lawmakers say they still intend to come to a conclusion during this legislative session. POTTSTOWN, Pa. - A community in Montgomery County came together to honor our nation's heroes who were taken prisoner and went missing in action. Friends of the Forgotten held a motorcycle ride through Pottstown on Sunday. The group then gathered at Manatawny Park for a remembrance service. Participants shared the personal toll of losing friends and family during wartime. "Several members of my graduating class from Reading High School in '65, one was a Marine, one was Army," said Don Eshelman. "They were killed in Vietnam." The event was held in honor of National POW/MIA Recognition Day, which was last Friday. HATFIELD TWP., Pa. - Police in Hatfield Township, Montgomery County will be taking part in National Prescription Drug Take Back Day on Oct. 29. Township police will be hosting a collection site at the Hatfield Township Administration Building located at 1950 School Road. Police say the National Prescription Drug Take Back Initiative provides an opportunity for the public to surrender expired, unwanted, or unused pharmaceutical controlled substances and other medications to law enforcement officers for proper and safe destruction. The one-day effort is intended to bring national focus to the issue of pharmaceutical controlled substance abuse, township police said. Liquid products and creams in its containers will be accepted. Sharpies, auto-injectors, and syringes will not be accepted due to the potential hazard posed by blood-borne pathogens. Police say illicit substances such as marijuana or methamphetamine are not a part of the initiative and should not be placed in the collection boxes. If a person wants to surrender an illicit controlled substance, law enforcement personnel will handle such material as abandoned property in accordance with department policy. PHILLIPSBURG, N.J. - Sullivan's on the Main, a Phillipsburg destination for 22 years, has been sold, according to the restaurant's social media. "We had to make a decision and had to do what was best for our family, our health, and our family business," the restaurant said on Facebook. Mack and Willie Sullivan both suffered from COVID-19, according to earlier posts. The restaurant at 371 S. Main Street has been closed because of lockdowns and then the owner's illness. "We will miss your great food and good service," a customer wrote. "Going to Sullivan's was like going to dinner with our family," posted another. The social media post did not identify the buyer or plans for the business. "We have met many friends and have made a large extension of our family," Sullivan's on the Main's post said. "We have enjoyed serving the generations of your families. We thank you for allowing us to share special events with you, such as holidays, weddings, birthdays, retirements, family gatherings, the list goes on." Gift certificates can be redeemed through Oct. 17, according to the post. See the restaurant's social media for details. Sullivan's provided casual dining in a family atmosphere, according to its website. The menu included club sandwiches, salads, Italian entrees, American fare and burgers, including the Sullivan Burger: 10-ounce burger topped with shaved hot corn beef, coleslaw, melted Swiss cheese, on a toasted hard roll brushed with 1000 Island Dressing. WASHINGTON (AP) An American contractor held hostage in Afghanistan for more than two years has been released in exchange for a convicted Taliban drug lord jailed in the United States, the White House said Monday, announcing a rare success in U.S.-Taliban talks since the militant group took power a little more than a year ago Mark Frerichs, a Navy veteran who had spent more than a decade in Afghanistan as a civilian contractor, was abducted in January 2020 and is believed to have been held since then by the Taliban-linked Haqqani network. He was traded for Bashir Noorzai, a Taliban associate convicted in a heroin trafficking conspiracy who had spent 17 years behind bars before his release Monday. The exchange is one of the most significant prisoner swaps to take place under the Biden administration, coming five months after a deal with Russia that brought home Marine veteran Trevor Reed. Though his case has received less public attention than those of some other Americans held abroad, including WNBA star Brittney Griner and corporate security executive Paul Whelan who are both held in Russia and whose relatives met with President Joe Biden on Friday U.S. officials said the deal for Frerichs was the result of months of quiet negotiations. Those discussions gained new momentum in June when Biden agreed to grant Noorzai relief from his life sentence, setting the stage for what one administration official described as a very narrow window of opportunity this month" to complete the deal. Biden said in a statement released by the White House, Bringing the negotiations that led to Marks freedom to a successful resolution required difficult decisions, which I did not take lightly." Frerichs, 60, had been working on civil engineering projects at the time of his Jan. 31, 2020 abduction in Kabul. Hes believed to have been lured into a meeting to discuss a new project and then transported to Khost, a stronghold of the Taliban-linked Haqqani network near the Pakistan border. He was last seen in a video posted last spring by The New Yorker in which he appeared in traditional Afghan clothing and pleaded for his release. He was accompanied Monday by the administrations special presidential envoy for hostage affairs and was in stable health, a U.S. official said. His ultimate destination was not immediately clear, though a Qatari Foreign Ministry official said Frerichs would soon head from Doha to the U.S. A sister of Frerichs, who is from Lombard, Illinois, thanked U.S. officials who helped secure her brother's release. I am so happy to hear that my brother is safe and on his way home to us. Our family has prayed for this each day of the more than 31 months he has been a hostage. We never gave up hope that he would survive and come home safely to us," said a statement from the sister, Charlene Cakora. Noorzai, at the time of his 2005 arrest, hardly seemed an ideal recipient for presidential clemency. He'd been designated on a list reserved for some of the world's most prolific drug traffickers, and was prosecuted in Manhattan's federal court on charges that accused him of owning opium fields in Kandahar province and relying on a network of distributors who sold the heroin in New York. When he was sentenced to life imprisonment, the then-top federal prosecutor in Manhattan said Noorzai's "worldwide narcotics network supported a Taliban regime that made Afghanistan a breeding ground for international terrorism." Monday's deal underscored the two sides to the Talibans approach to illegal drugs. In April, they announced a ban on harvesting the poppies that produce opium for making heroin -- an order that also outlawed the manufacture and transportation of narcotics. However, during the years-long Taliban insurgency, they reportedly made millions of dollars taxing farmers and middle men who moved their drugs outside Afghanistan. A senior administration official who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the administration said the U.S. government now determined that Noorzai's release would not materially change any risk to Americans or fundamentally alter the contours of the drug trade there." Officials also took into account that Noorzai had spent 17 years in prison. They said it became clear from negotiations that releasing him would be necessary to get Frerichs home. At a press conference Monday, Noorzai expressed gratitude at seeing his mujahedeen brothers a reference to the Taliban in Kabul. I pray for more success of the Taliban, he added. I hope this exchange can lead to peace between Afghanistan and America, because an American was released and I am also free now. Even before their takeover of Afghanistan in August last year, the Taliban had demanded the U.S. release Noorzai in exchange for Frerichs. But there had been little public indication of Washington proceeding along those lines. Eric Lebson, a former U.S. government national security official who had been advising Frerichs' family, said in a statement that everything about this case has been an uphill fight. He criticized the Trump administration for having given away "our leverage to get Mark home quickly by signing a peace accord with the Taliban without ever having asked them to return Mark first.'' Marks family then had to navigate two administrations, where many people viewed Marks safe return as an impediment to their plans for Afghanistan, the statement said. The collapse of the Western-backed Afghan government and takeover by the Taliban in August 2021 raised additional concern that progress in negotiations could be undone or that Frerichs could be forgotten. But his name was invoked last month when Biden was said by his advisers to have pressed officials to consider any risk posed to Frerichs by the drone strike in Afghanistan that killed al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri. The Taliban-appointed foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, hailed the exchange Monday as the start of a new era" in U.S.-Taliban relations and the opening of a new door for talks. U.S. officials were more circumspect. Though it does not recognize the Taliban government, the U.S. does have interests at stake in Afghanistan and will continue to engage with the Taliban in addressing the hunger and humanitarian crisis gripping the country, administration officials said Monday. But officials say they remain concerned about whether the Taliban are committed to fighting terrorism and by the exclusion of girls from high schools there, an issue that drew a United Nations reprimand on Sunday. Faiez reported from Islamabad. Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed to this report. This story has corrected a version earlier in the day that cited Taliban claims that Noorzai was held at Guantanamo Bay; the claim was disproved by U.S. officials. LONDON (AP) After the pomp and pageantry of a grand state funeral, Queen Elizabeth II was laid to rest with her husband and parents in an intimate ceremony in Windsor away from media cameras. King Charles III and senior royal family members gathered late Monday for the private interment ceremony at St. Georges Chapel, a gothic church on the grounds of Windsor Castle that has hosted royal weddings, christenings and burials since the 15th century. Earlier Monday, 800 mourners, many of them the queens staff, joined royal family members in the chapel for a committal service the last public ceremony capping 10 days of national mourning that saw huge military parades, miles-long queues in London to see the queens coffin lying in state, and Britains first state funeral since former Prime Minister Winston Churchill died in 1965. In contrast, the interment late Monday was on a much more intimate scale. Royal officials said it was a deeply personal family occasion, and proceedings were not televised. They said the queen was interred together with Prince Philips remains at the King George VI memorial chapel, an annex within St. Georges. When Philip, the queen's husband of 73 years, died last year, his coffin had been placed in a different part of St. Georges Chapel, ready to be moved to the memorial chapel to join the queen when she died. Elizabeth IIs parents, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, were also interred there along with the ashes of Princess Margaret, the late monarchs younger sister who died in 2002. St. George's is the resting place of 10 former British monarchs, including Henry VIII and the beheaded Charles I. It is also the home of the Order of the Garter, an ancient order of chivalry founded by King Edward III in 1348. Last year the queen bid farewell to Philip at St. Georges in a COVID-secure funeral. The ceremony to mark the death of Philip was muted because of strict pandemic restrictions, and only 30 mourners were allowed inside the chapel at the time. St. Georges and Windsor featured prominently throughout the queens life. The chapel was where she marked many a Christmas and Easter, and where she celebrated the weddings of three of her grandchildren: Prince Harry married Meghan Markle there in 2018, as did Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank. Peter Philips, the queens oldest grandchild, married Autumn Kelly there in 2008. The queen spent most of her weekends in Windsor, a quiet and more private retreat away from the bustle of Buckingham Palace in central London. The castle believed to be the largest occupied castle in the world was also where young Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret were sent to live during World War II while their parents were busy with the war effort. In recent years the queen made Windsor Castle her main residence, having moved there in early 2020 at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Follow all AP stories on the death of Queen Elizabeth II at https://apnews.com/hub/queen-elizabeth-ii. Williamson, WV (25661) Today Cloudy skies this evening will become partly cloudy after midnight. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low near 50F. Winds light and variable.. Tonight Cloudy skies this evening will become partly cloudy after midnight. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low near 50F. Winds light and variable. A new documentary from NewGroup Media and the Diocese of Jackson, Mississippi, with portions filmed in Wisconsin, presents the riveting life of Sister Thea Bowman, an African American Catholic Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration who used her powerful gifts to educate and challenge the church and society to grow in racial inclusivity. Thea worked tirelessly to proclaim this message until her untimely death from breast cancer in 1990. Her cause for sainthood opened November 2018. The film, Going Home Like a Shooting Star: Thea Bowmans Journey to Sainthood, features interviews and commentary from Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, Viterbo University staff, her family, friends and former students. Input from African American scholars, clerics and bishops will speak to the ongoing issue of systemic racism in the church and country. The program title is drawn from a quotation attributed to Sojourner Truth. When Thea was asked what she wanted said at her funeral, she answered, Just say what Sojourner Truth said: Im not going to die. Im going home like a shooting star. Going Home Like a Shooting Star includes extensive use of Bowman family photos, FSPA archival material, and footage of Thea from varied public appearances, including her famous interview with Mike Wallace on CBS 60 Minutes. The film makes a strong connection between Theas Gospel call for justice, love and unity and the current effort of Black Lives Matter activists and efforts to combat systemic racism. Many in the film cite Theas voice as an influence on their ongoing efforts to achieve social and racial justice. About FSPA Based in La Crosse, Wisconsin, Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration are women religious engaged in furthering the work of the Catholic church and the Gospel. Their partners in ministry, including affiliates and prayer partners, join them in service of Gods mission. The sisters work in the United States and internationally in varied ministries, collaborating to minister in areas of greatest need, living the Gospel through contemplation and action. FAIRPLAY, Colo. "Forty years of wondering" are finally over for the family of Bobbie Jo Oberholtzer. The man who murdered Oberholtzer is going to prison. Probably for the rest of his life. A jury on Thursday found Alan Lee Phillips, now 71, guilty for murdering two women in 1982, 21-year-old Annettee Schnee and Oberholtzer, who was a 29-year-old mother of one when she was shot twice in the back as she was apparently escaping after being kidnapped while hitchhiking near her home in Alma, Colorado. Oberholtzer was born in Racine and graduated from Park High School in 1971 before she relocated to a community near the mountain town of Breckenridge, Colorado. Its been a long 40 years of wondering. I felt so happy for all the officials and sheriffs and detectives and everybody in Colorado who could put this to a close," Oberholtzer's sister, Laurie Merlo, of Sturtevant, said in a phone call Monday afternoon. I feel cheated that I had to live most of my adult life without my sister. Her daughter feels the same way, cheated. Law enforcement are describing the late Oberholtzer as a hero. Had Oberholtzer not been brave enough to fight back against her kidnapper like she did, prosecutors said, the case would likely have remained cold permanently. Bobbi Jo was a fighter and is a hero, Linda Stanley, district attorney for the 11th Judicial District, said in a statement. "She fought back and because of that we were able to get DNA evidence to convict Annette and Bobbi Jos killer after all this time." The jury deliberated for about five hours before finding Phillips guilty on eight counts, including two counts of first-degree murder, kidnapping and robbery. Merlo was unable to travel to Colorado for the trial and it was not broadcast on TV or online. Upon hearing the verdict, Merlo said she her feelings could be described as being "between relief and satisfaction, of finally knowing that he had been convicted on all counts. It was a very emotional thing to hear. Two murders Schnee and Oberholtzer did not know each other, and it does not appear that either knew Phillips. But both women disappeared the same day: Jan. 6, 1982. Phillips had lived free in Colorado for 40 years after the murders without being so much as a suspect. The lack of arrests led to the high-profile killings becoming known as the "Rocky Mountain Cold Case." Phillips faces life in prison when he is sentenced at a hearing set for Nov. 7 in Fairplay, Park County, Colorado. A Denver Police detective in retirement continued independently investigating the case, running into endless dead ends and resigning himself to believe that he would likely die before the murders were solved. The detective, Charlie McCormick, was able to get in touch with United Data Connect, a company that performs forensic genetic genealogy analysis. That company used DNA found at the crime scenes to identify Phillips, who was arrested Feb. 24, 2021. Like Oberholtzer, Schnee was believed to have been hitchhiking when Phillips picked them up, kidnapped them, zip-tied their wrists together, and later shot and killed them. He dumped the bodies in different places. Investigators said Phillips was rescued the night that the women disappeared from the top of nearby Guanella Pass when his truck got stuck during a snowstorm, Denver-based KUSA-TV reported. Friends and family discovered Oberholtzers body day in a snow drift on the summit of 11,542-foot Hoosier Pass, near Breckenridge, one day after she disappeared. Schnees body was discovered six months later by a boy fishing in a creek in rural Park County. "This case being so old, this (verdict) shows theres no case that cant be solved," Deputy District Attorney Mark Hurlbert, who helped prosecute the case, said. After Phillips was arrested, Oberholtzers widower, Jeff Oberholtzer, issued a statement that concluded with the following: I cannot thank enough all who never gave up the search for the truth. They are, without doubt, extremely dedicated and extraordinary individuals. Phillips is finally in the hands of the judicial system. May justice be served. Reporting from the Associated Press is included in this story. Jessica Harrison-Hall is Head of the China Section, Curator of the Sir Percival David Collections of Chinese Ceramics, and Decorative Arts at the British Museum. In her 30 years' career at the British Museum, Harrison-Hall has delivered a wide range of exhibitions, publications, and lectures to present China's stories in a global context through visual and material culture. From 2012 to 2016, Harrison-Hall was the principal investigator for a project exploring China's global connections during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Working with over 30 organizations around the world, she delivered a book and a temporary exhibition at the British Museum titled Ming: 50 years that changed China, attracting over 140,000 visitors. She is also the author of China: A History in Objects (2017), which is now published in six languages, and various other books on Chinese history and fine arts. Alongside Professor Julia Lovell of London University, Harrison-Hall is leading an international team to investigate Cultural Creativity and Resilience in Qing China and will deliver a series of three books and one special exhibition at the British Museum in 2023. From Yuan Painting to Chinese Ceramics Question (Q): You have been interested in Chinese Arts in as early as the 1980s, could you share with us how your journey in the subject began? Harrison-Hall: My interest really in Chinese art began with Yuan Dynasty painting, and I did my dissertation on artists of the Yuan Dynasty. I wasn't really aware of Chinese ceramics in university. That came much later, but I did an amazing amount of travelling in China. I first went to China when I was 19 years old in 1984 as part of a small group from Edinburgh University studying Chinese and Chinese fine art in Jinan in Shandong Province. We really went all the way, from Beijing to Kashgar and then down to Hainan Island. And people were very welcoming in the eighties because China was really opening up then. Q: After your return to the UK, under what occasion did you start working for the British Museum? Harrison-Hall: My first contact with the British Museum was through being a volunteer for Jessica Rawson, who was at the time the Keeper of the Department of Oriental Antiquities, at the Japan Festival, and after a month I was given a contract to work at the British Museum initially when we opened the Sir Joseph Hotung Gallery back in 1992. And then a job became vacant as somebody moved to another museum. It was very competitive. But luckily, I think I had the experience of looking after the ceramics as well as the experience of being in the museum. I would say I'm probably one of the last generation of curators that learned through doing, through actually looking at objects with people who knew about them and learning from them. Q: You have written many books and catalogues on Chinese ceramics, what is so special about working with them at the British Museum? Harrison-Hall: Well, I've been incredibly lucky to work with such an extraordinary collection. Chinese ceramics have a place throughout the museum. We have them within the main China gallery and the successful David Gallery, but they also appear in the Islamic gallery, the Japanese gallery, the European gallery, and the King's Library. I would say that China had connections with all sorts of different departments and material cultures, and that the British Museum is one of the best places to be able to study that. The kind of dialogue through things is very difficult to see in other places. Thirty Years of Commitment and Innovation Q: Having participated in both the opening and refurbishment of the Hotung Gallery in 1992 and 2017, how has the presentation of the Gallery changed over the years? Harrison-Hall: It's all about building our knowledge about China, a constant evolutionary process of adding new knowledge from new excavations, libraries, and other resources. You can't do the whole of Chinese history in one room, but you can give a taster of ideas throughout history. What we've done with the gallery is we've used the architecture from the Edwardian era in 1914 to build these three-sided rooms which show you material goods that reflect that particular era for China and then for its contacts with other regions, either within China or with the rest of the world. We made these arrangements to give the visitors the idea of China being interconnected from the Neolithic period all the way to the present. Q: From a volunteer to a senior member of the Museum, how do you feel about the responsibilities that have been passed onto you? Harrison-Hall: I feel a complete sense of privilege that I am standing in line with all these extraordinary people of the past who have hopefully done a little bit to help people understand a bit more about Chinese culture. The British Museum has been open since 1753. Back then Chinese objects were displayed as a kind of curiosity: silk purses, little shoes, fur-bound feet, and figures of popular gods. And one person commented in a guidebook which said that if an Englishman had turned out his pockets and put them on a table in China, they would have as much idea about British culture as British people could have of China by these exhibits. Now we've got a much better picture of the history of China on display in the gallery. We could have a professor bringing his class of students to look at a particular type of object, or you could have a family visit who wants to entertain their children by giving them a bit of a cultural tour. We have an enormous range of different visitors and what we hope we provide is something of a little something for everybody through means such as putting pictures within the labels for people who don't necessarily read English. I feel a great sense of privilege that the collections are beautiful and inspiring, and an endless source of ideas for people. Not just the professionals but for anybody that comes into the building. Q: We've been mostly talking about the permanent galleries of Chinese objects in the Museum, but you also curate many temporary exhibitions. What other responsibilities does your job as a curator involve? Harrison-Hall: The wonderful thing about being at the British Museum and looking after the China collection is there is no routine ever. I think of my career not as a block of time but as a series of projects on different books, exhibitions, loans and sometimes lecture series. Before reopening the Hotung Gallery to the Queen, I worked on the temporary exhibition Ming: 50 years that changed China with ten museums from China, and we worked with 40 lenders altogether for the exhibition and had 140,000 visitors to the show, all of whom would have come away with a different impression of China in the early 15th century and so on. Temporary exhibitions are a bit like theatrical performances. You start with an idea of what you want to do. You then decide who you want to work with and build the team around that. You then develop your ideas both through the objects and through reading and talking to people. And gradually this amazing thing builds and grows and then it takes on different forms going in lots of different directions. It's simply impossible not to find a temporary exhibition an exciting prospect. One can go back through different projects looking at what you've done with different people, and that's really changed. Things that we're about to do now, we couldn't possibly have done 30 years ago. It's completely different and I'm very lucky to be able to experience all of that. To Show the Resilience and Creativity of the Chinese People Q: In addition to the galleries, these kinds of temporary exhibitions have been truly instrumental in promoting bilateral cultural exchanges between China and the UK. Are there any upcoming projects that you can share with us? Harrison-Hall: I can give you a little flavor of our exhibition that's going to be on display next year. This came out of an arts and humanities research council project for three to four years. And at the heart of it you have myself and Professor Julia Lovell of London University, and we're building a project around China in the 19th century as a special exhibition in May 2023. One of the things we wanted to do when we were working on the Ming exhibition was to bring everyday people to life. It was very difficult because you don't have so many traces of ordinary people from Ming Dynasty, whereas in the 19th century there are a few more traces. The remarkable thing about the British Museum is because it's not an art museum, we have all of these different types of materials here, some of which were collected even in the late 19th century. As a result, within the exhibition we'll have lots of different kinds of mediums from paintings and costumes to arms and armour. We are also hoping to bring beautiful calligraphy, paintings and, of course, court arts of the Palace Museum from China for this exhibition. As an example of one of the unusual things in the exhibition, I would like to mention a fantastic straw cape that's made to keep off the rain and the wind for a person who probably didn't have a great deal of money in the 19th century. My colleagues are spending probably about 80 hours on that one individual object, restoring it and bringing it back to its original form. This project will also produce three books, one of which is about 100 people in the 19th century written by 100 authors from 15 countries. Q: You have mentioned that temporary exhibitions are often things of their own time, what are the connections between the exhibition on 19th century China and the contemporary world? Harrison-Hall: I think this exhibition is incredibly relevant for today. We've all lived through the past couple of years of the COVID pandemic. People want to know how you get through these difficult times. And the 19th century is a perfect example. Looking at the period overall, it's a period of a series of domestic and foreign wars and conflicts. But out of it come the most extraordinary artworks, the building up of new cities, and new kinds of finance within China. You have an end of the imperial examination system. But you have the birth of the new universities and a whole new education system. And you still have great new designs in glass, ceramics, and so on. The idea of this exhibition is to present the historical events of the 19th century, but also to look at the creativity and the resilience of Chinese people throughout this time. Photos Supplied by Jessica Harrison-Hall and Fraser Watson (Source: People's Daily Online/Women of China English Monthly August 2022 issue) The US government still designates COVID-19 a Public Health Emergency and the World Health Organization says it remains a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. But the president's comments follow other hopeful comments from global health leaders. The following is the second entry in the series Diary of a socialist Amazon worker, a column authored by Austin Bailey, a socialist-minded worker in his twenties, who has followed the World Socialist Web Site since 2016. Bailey writes this column to reach other workers, especially at Amazon, who have burning questions about the realities of working class life. He is always open to listening to the experiences of other workers, Amazon or otherwise, from anywhere in the world. If you wish to have your story shared, Bailey can be contacted at austin.bailey.diary@gmail.com or found on Twitter as @AustinDiary. September 18, 2022: The mercury has not dipped below 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32.2 degrees Celsius) of late, meaning conditions inside the Amazon warehouse where I work have been intolerable, to say the least. There is a real danger of heat stroke. Management displays many advisories to keep hydrated on numerous boards and screens but refuses to air condition the spaces where we work. Everyone working here is acutely aware that, as far as the company is concerned, their personal well-being is secondary to reducing expenses and maximizing profits. Recently, a co-worker passed out in one of my warehouses shipping trailers. I only learned that this had happened after I inquired about her when I noticed she was missing for a few days. While unloading boxes, she evidently became overheated, but the incident was played down and she was sent home quietly. After learning this, I was fairly irate to see managements operations whiteboard claiming that we had gone nearly a month without an accident. With how hot it is, I am sure heat stroke is far more frequent than Amazon wants to let on. The heat has prompted quite a number of colorful its hotter than euphemisms from my co-workers, many of which are not fit for print. They are born of an angry and incredulous indignation and are a way of coping with what everyone knows makes no sense. Amazon is a corporation valued at over $1 trillion. Its revenue last year was nearly half $1 trillion. There is absolutely no reason why the company cannot afford to provide air conditioning, let alone proper air circulation, inside the facilities where the labor of workers like me generates all of this money. The technology to air condition warehouses has existed for more than a century. The scientific know-how and technology exist. The money is also there. We see it reflected in the huge revenues and profits and the incomes of Amazons executives like Bezos, who recently built himself a half-billion-dollar yacht. Amazon spends vast sums on the tracking and surveillance of workers. How many millions of dollars are spent on the software and infrastructure to try to squeeze every drop of productivity out of our work days, at the expense of our privacy and dignity, scrutinizing every minute of our day looking for time off tasks? Amazon obsessively tracks and logs all of our boxes moved, scanned, opened, packed and stowed per hour. Amazon can afford this whole oppressive apparatus, but it cannot be bothered to pay for air conditioning. To add insult to injury, my warehouse is equipped with massive ceiling fans that are never turned on. These fansand this is not a jokeare manufactured by bigassfans.com. But these big ass fans are not turned on in order to save a few pennies on the electricity bill. Why are warehouses so unbearably hot at Amazon and at other warehouses and workplaces across the country and around the world? The answer is capitalism. There is no other explanation. The warehouses are kept hot because the less spent on keeping them air conditioned, the more the owners and investors take home in profit. The capitalist system is also the reason why the warehouses are physically unsafe. Making them safer would lower profits. It is also the reason why no effective COVID countermeasures are in place, and why workers come to work sick (like a co-worker did this week). Preventing COVID from spreading would lower profits. It is the reason why our wages are so low. Raising wages would lower profits. All of the things we want and needcooling off our workplaces, making them physically safe, disinfecting them, ending the harassment and surveillance and raising our wages to a livable levelrun against the grain of the profit system. This is why I am a socialist and support the organization of workers on a socialist basis to resist and ultimately overturn the capitalist system. I had the pleasure of attending this weeks Railroad Workers Rank-and-File Committee meeting and hearing powerful testimony from dozens of rail workers and their spouses, too. I heard tales of 80-hour workweeks and inconsistent schedules forcing workers to miss family events and celebrations. Many workers were flustered by the behavior of the rail unions, which are currently working to impede the struggle of workers they claim to represent. Others attempted to remind workers on the call of their collective strength, telling their colleagues nothing is moved without their labor. Most interestingly, I heard worker after worker ask, with burning insistence, what needs to be done next? Workers are creating and joining independent rank-and-file committees across the globe and making their voices heard, but theres uncertainty about what will happen if workers enter into open struggle with the unions, management, the government, both political parties, and the whole capitalist system. I am no prophet, but history has taught me these things are decided in the course of the struggle, and nothing will be won unless workers put their feet down and say enough is enough. I would like to echo a key statement I heard from a rail worker, encouraging his working class brethren to stand firm, to not back down. Without a hint of trepidation, he urged the hundreds of workers attending to stay the course. Not simply to secure their own demands but also to instill hope in broader sections of the working class. I fully agree with that sentiment, and, as an Amazon worker, I want to express my complete support and solidarity with the workers who attended that meeting and with the resolution they passed. Its true that there is no shortage of willingness to fight for a better world, but perhaps, just as the railroad workers explained, the only catalyst needed for workers to regain confidence in their social strength is for workers to declare their political independence from the whole capitalist setup and all of the parties and organizations that serve it, forming their own organizations to carry forward that struggle. Please sign up for the International Amazon Workers Voice so that you can follow this column, and email me at austin.bailey.diary@gmail.com if you have a story you want told. With appreciation, Austin Bailey Autoworkers: Share your experience with unsafe conditions in your plant. Fill out the form below. All submissions will be kept anonymous. Watch rank-and-file worker and UAW presidential candidate Will Lehman debate Ray Curry on Thursday, September 22 at 6 p.m. Eastern. For more information visit, www.willforuawpresident.org/debate. Travis Baker was a 49-year-old autoworker and father of four sons, with more than 27 years with the company once known as Chrysler, then Fiat Chrysler and now Stellantis. Baker died on August 18 after being injured Friday, August 12, on his day shift in the Stellantis plant in Belvidere, Illinois, near Rockford. The circumstances of Bakers death are not clear, and his family is anxiously awaiting answers from the Winnebago County coroners office as to how he was fatally injured in the plant. Travis Baker. Image used with permission from the family. [Photo] A member of the Baker family spoke with the World Socialist Web Site on Travis experiences as an autoworker and on the shock, grief and financial burden following his sudden death. Initial reports received by the family about the incident indicate that Baker left the paint shop early in his shift on August 12 to use the bathroom. Some minutes after leaving the line, he was discovered by a maintenance worker, unconscious and bleeding on the ground with a three-inch gash on his forehead. Baker was placed in intensive care, never regained consciousness and succumbed to his injuries several days later. A family member told the WSWS, If there were enough microchips, he worked six days a week, upwards of 60 hours per week for several weeks at a time. That was the situation in the days leading up to his death. The company cut the other shift, and theyre being worn down and worked very hard, inhumanely. Imagine the line is moving and youre doing not one, but two or even three jobs on the line. Thats not safe. Its like they want them to get worn down. After Chrysler closed its Fenton, Missouri, plant, Baker sacrificed to stay on with the company, moving to Illinois to work at the Belvidere plantmore than 300 miles awayand seeing his wife, Judy, and their two sons, Samuel and Joseph, back in Missouri only twice a month. Travis also has two adult sons, Justin and Alex. Travis was also only two and a half years away from retirement. He was at the tail end of his career and thats what makes this so bitter. Many workers were taking the early buyout and the conditions were made miserable, so they would choose to leave early and Travis refused. He was a very hard worker. Travis loved his coworkers and he loved and had confidence in his work. Neither Stellantis nor the United Auto Workers have offered the family any form of assistance or sent even a condolence card. His family members are relying on a GoFundMe page to get by. Before Travis died, his son Samuel wrote on the GoFundMe page, My father is currently hospitalized, and according to the doctors, he has only a few days more to live. He is the sole provider for a family of four, my mom, my younger brother of 16, and myself. These funds would go towards helping our family by covering our daily living costs, bills and potentially higher education for myself as we face this challenging time in our lives. This past Friday, the 12th, my dad Travis Baker suffered a severe incident at his place of work. He is in the ICU and has been in critical condition for the past three days. The rest of my family and I are in a state of shock right now and are still trying to process what is happening; we are getting constant updates from the hospital, and after this last call, they said we should prepare for the worst. As we struggle to comprehend what is happening right now, my family also faces the struggles of the day-to-day costs of life as we attempt to arrange one last visit to my father before he passes. The funds given to us by you kind people will go towards the needs of my family and will also contribute to paying for my higher education. However, as things stand, I will likely be seeking employment to help support my mother and brother in these rough times. Thank you for taking your time to understand my familys situation, and I ask for your hopes and prayers as we face this terrible time in our lives. I have a low opinion of the safety in the plant Belvidere Assembly Plant in Illinois [Photo: WSWS] An autoworker with more than 10 years in the Belvidere plant told the WSWS that safety is a major problem. They are really big on turning off lighting to save money. They also enjoy turning off ventilation to save. Fumes build up if they dont turn on ventilation. I have a low opinion of the safety in the plant. It is the worst. The Belvidere plant has also been subjected to unrelenting cuts and layoffs. In May 2021, the company announced the indefinite layoff of the entire second shift, or 1,641 hourly workers or half of the plants workforce, by July 26. But Stellantis management implemented this on June 1, significantly speeding up the timeline, and placing enormous pressure on the remaining workers. Last March, the UAW announced that Stellantis planned to further reduce Belvidere to 603 non-skilled and 199 skilled trades employees. The layoffs were anticipated to affect even those workers with decades of seniority at the plant, going back as far as 1994. In advance of the contract expirations between the UAW and the Big Three, speculation has grown in the media that Stellantis may target Belvidere for permanent closure. At the start of the year, Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares was awarded a $20.5 million pay package. More than half of the companys 2021 profits of $15.2 billion, a three-fold increase over 2020, came from its North American operations. In May 2021, the WSWS identified the risks these cuts posed to the remaining workers as the pandemic raged. One Belvidere worker shared with the WSWS the reality workers face: We have no air conditioning, it stinks. Its a tin can, standing out in the sun with aluminum all around and having the sun beat down on it. Weve had several people die. They wont declare someone dead until theyre out of the plant. An electrician, he was sitting down on the chair, stayed there sitting there so long, and he was dead. This was about a year and a half ago. The coroners office has indicated to the Baker family that an investigation is underway, and they are still awaiting a death certificate from Winnebago County. Given the record of Stellantis and the UAW, which has overseen the sweatshop conditions in the plant and whose leaders are serving prison terms for taking Chrysler bribes and embezzling workers dues, any official investigation will be a coverup. Workers increasingly confront dangerous and even deadly workplace conditions overseen with indifference by the pro-corporate UAW bureaucracy. Earlier this year, Steven Dierkes, a 39-year-old Caterpillar worker only on the job for five days, died in a horrific accident, falling into a crucible with molten iron at the companys Mapleton, Illinois, foundry. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the UAW has worked with the companies to cover up the spread of the virus in the plants, concealing the number of COVID infections and deaths at nearly every factory. With the corporations and the unions unwilling to make any significant improvements to safety that would impede profit-making, the dangers workers face will only be overcome through workers independent action and organization. Rank-and-file factory committees are required in order to ensure workers can exert democratic control over workplace conditions, fight back against understaffing and exhausting schedules and speed-up, and ensure that no more workers lives are sacrificed on the altar of corporate profit. The WSWS Autoworker Newsletter asks Belvidere workers to come forward with any information about the death of Travis Baker and conditions in the plant. Your identity will be kept confidential. The WSWS has endorsed the campaign of Will Lehman for UAW president. For more information, visit WillforUAWPresident.org. Supporters of United Auto Workers presidential candidate Will Lehman won strong support from Toledo Jeep workers when a campaign team visited the Stellantis factory in northern Ohio Saturday afternoon. Although the UAW apparatus has done everything to keep information about the first-ever vote for the unions top leadership well concealed, several workers at the factory were familiar with Lehmans campaign and said they planned to vote for him when ballots go out next month. Campaigners for Will Lehman speak to workers at the Toledo Assembly Complex [Photo: WSWS] One worker said, The UAW International took bribes from the company to sign these rotten contracts, and weve never gotten anything back. The UAW officials just do what they are told by the bosses. Im interested in Wills campaign if hes talking about workers having the power. I know about Will and think hes the best candidate running, a worker with eight years in the factory said. Referring to the upcoming debate between UAW presidential candidates on September 22, he said, I know Will supports full employer-paid pensions for everyone. But if Curry shows up, I would ask him and the other candidates: Do you support pensions for everyone? There are guys in their 40s and 50s who are Tier Two, like my uncle, who arent going to get a pension. They did the work and had their bodies jacked up from standing on a cement floor all day, and they deserve a good pension. The worker, who spent four years as a so-called temporary part-time (TPT) employee before being converted to a full-time position, said, When I was rolled over to full-time, my pay went down from $19.50 an hour to $17 an hour. Workers here are also angry about leap-frogging. Part-timers who were rolled over in 2019 make $2 less an hour than those who were rolled over after 2020. Dont get me wrong, everyone should be making the same, but the UAW has us divided against each other. Of particular concern for Toledo Jeep workers is the unrestrained exploitation of so-called Supplemental Employees (SEs), who make up one-third of the 6,000 employees at the giant Toledo Assembly Complex. The UAW and the companies changed the designation of these workers from temporary part-time employees to SEs after it became obvious to everyone that they were neither temporary nor part-time. Instead, tens of thousands of SEs at Stellantis, Ford and GM plants have labored for five or more years before getting a chance to be converted to some substandard tier of full-time work. In the meantime, they are paid substandard wages and benefits and can be terminated virtually without cause. For the privilege of being treated as a pariah, they are forced to pay dues to the UAW. You call the UAW, and they tell you they cant come for weeks, one worker, who has been a supplemental employee for nearly four years, told campaigners. The situation facing the SEs is horrible, and the UAW is not behind you, another young worker said. One young woman, an SE for three years, said, The TPTs dont get dental or vision coverage. I just spent $1,000 to take care of my kids cavities. I dont go to the dentist myself because I cant afford it. If my husband wasnt working, theres no way I could live on what I make here. The SEs alternate between not having enough hours to live on to working 10-hour shifts, six days a week. We came into work last week, and they sent us home because of a parts shortage, one worker said. SEs also do not qualify for supplemental unemployment benefits like full-time workers. We were hired to work Monday, Fridays and Saturdays, but were barely getting the work. Were paying union dues but getting none of the benefits. Another SE said she and others had been working six 10-hour days every week to fill in for workers on summer vacation. When the summer ends, she said, she had no idea what her schedule would be. I read Wills program, and I like what he has to say about crossing the SEs over to full-time and increasing everybodys pay, another SE told campaigners. All you hear from the UAW is We cant help you, its in the contract. Toledo Jeep worker supports Lehman campaign [Photo: WSWS] An SE at the Jeep plant wrote a powerful letter to the WSWS explaining why he was supporting Will and planned to vote for him. The UAW leadership, by supporting two-tier wages and the abuse of part-timers, has allowed the factories it represents to become a microcosm of American society, and the workers are anything but equal. He was supporting Lehman because the Mack Trucks worker is fighting for the abolition of all tiers, the immediate conversion of all temporary workers to full-time status and an across-the-board 50 percent wage increase and cost-of-living protection for all workers. This is why Im voting for Will Lehman for international president, the worker wrote. A vote for anyone else is a vote for more inequality in our workplace and more of the status quo. Older workers have also not seen a wage increase in years due to the sellout contracts UAW officials signed in exchange for millions in bribes. Because of this, even older workers are forced to work two jobs to survive. One worker who said he worked at the local Dana parts plant and the Toledo Jeep factory told campaigners that he only had time to sleep about an hour and a half in my car between jobs. Things have been going backwards for workers. With this two-tier pay system, you have brothers and sisters working side by side, with one making half the wages for doing the same thing. Unity and equality is supposed to be the soul of the union, but they got us divided. I agree with Will about giving more power to the workers on the shop floor. Another full-time worker told the WSWS, Im making the same thing that my brother was making here back in 1986. The worker said his father was a veteran of the 1984 AP Parts strike in Toledo. During the nearly 10-month strike, workers courageously resisted the wage-cutting demands of the GM parts supplier and fought back against strike-breaking injunctions, arrests and the violence of private thugs from the notorious Nuckols Security unionbusting firm, the Toledo Police Department and the Democratic Party. The UAW, which favored lowering the parts costs of GM and other Detroit automakers, deliberately isolated the struggle, leading to its defeat after 286 days. After decades of declining real wages and eroding conditions, workers in Toledo and everywhere else are disgusted with the UAW and looking for a way to fight. Campaigners spoke with Eric, a veteran worker who first worked at the original Toledo Jeep plant, nicknamed The Cove, before coming to the new plant when it opened in 2000. Initially, thinking that campaigners for Will Lehman were hustling votes for another UAW bureaucrat, Eric was skeptical. He challenged the campaigners: I dont want to hear anything about a candidate running for the UAW unless he is talking about more than the autoworkers, he said. Otherwise, there is no point even voting in another election, nothing ever changes. Eric [Photo: WSWS] The campaigner replied that Will Lehman had just participated in a meeting of 500 railroad workers, who are engaged in a fight against the rail carriers, the Biden administration and the rail unions, and that he was fighting to mobilize the whole working class against capitalist exploitation. Lehman also visited the picket lines of striking teachers in Columbus, Ohio, the campaigner explained, and joined calls with German, Indian and Mexican autoworkers to fight for the unity of workers all over the world. Lehman was a socialist, he further explained, who was fighting to mobilize workers against the capitalist system. The worker responded enthusiastically and signed up for more information on Lehmans campaign. I like what hes fighting for. Its not just the UAW, its the whole system that is against us. Railroad workers, nurses, teachers, we have to unite everyone. We are all part of the working class. It doesnt matter what creed or color you are, we are basically modern-day slaves. We have to educate ourselves. When autoworkers get together with other workers, thats what will cause a revolution. Are you an education worker in Ontario? We want to hear what you think of the unions bargaining strategy and what demands you have in the current contract struggle. To contact the Ontario Education Workers Rank-and-File Committee, email ontedrfc@gmail.com. * * * Ontarios hard-right Doug Ford-led Tory government is determined to impose sweeping concessions on over 250,000 teachers and education support workers, whose contracts expired last month. These include huge real wage cuts and massive reductions in public education funding. Education Minister Stephen Lecce has vowed that if education workers will not surrender to these attacks, the government will force them to do so by banning all strikes and collective job action. In an opinion piece for the rabidly right-wing Toronto Sun earlier this month, Lecce all but promised strikebreaking legislation, declaring provocatively that students have a right to learn, from September through to June. This from a minister of a government whose insistence on prioritizing corporate profits over human life during the pandemic has led to seven waves of mass infection, and the deaths of over 14,000 Ontarians. The five education unions are refusing to warn workers about the threat of back-to-work legislation, let alone spelling out how they intend to mobilize workers to answer it. This is because none of thembe it the Ontario School Board Council of Unions (OSBCU), the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario, Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation, Ontario English Catholic Teachers Federation, or the Association des enseignantes et des enseignants franco-ontarienshas any intention of defying a back-to-work law. Instead, they are working behind the scenes with Ford and Lecce to keep workers divided so they can impose rotten sellout contracts on them and suppress the education workers struggle. The anger among rank-and-file workers over the unions refusal to oppose the Ford governments onslaught on their wages and conditions found expression in a recent exchange in the Ontario Education Workers United Facebook group between a school support staff worker and Laura Walton, OSBCUs president and lead negotiator. The exchange began when the worker posted a World Socialist Web Site article from 2019 describing the three-year sellout agreement engineered by OSBCU, which is affiliated with the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). That agreement was the first major contract to enforce Fords 1 percent per year wage-cap, which the government subsequently enshrined in law under Bill 124 and imposed on over 1 million Ontario public sector workers. Walton sought to brush aside the articles criticism, pointing out that it was published in 2019, implying that it had no relevance to contract negotiations in 2022. The worker rejected this, writing in response, I posted the article about the 2019 selloutover which you, Laura Walton, presidedbecause the predicament that support staff and teachers now find themselves in is directly connected with that betrayal. Moreover, the CUPE leadership and the teacher unions are today leading us down the same blind alley. As they did in 2019, the various unions are each pursuing their own strategy, dividing workers in the face of a ruthless right-wing government/employer. The worker then posed a series of questions to Walton, the most important of which was: Lecce and Ford have all but publicly announced that they intend to illegalize worker job action to ram through a concessions-filled contract. What does CUPE plan to do to mobilize the membership and workers more broadly if and when the government arbitrarily strips us of our democratic rights as workers? Walton described the workers query as the million dollar question but refused to provide a direct answer. The best she could offer was a vague commitment to the need to organize CUPE education workers and the broader labour movement in general. The worker replied by underlining the meaningless character of Waltons answer, before posing an alternative perspective and strategy for rank-and-file workers: You say that not only do we need to organize CUPE education workers, but CUPE workers and the broader labour movement in general against the Ford government, but what does this mean concretely? Will CUPE with its hundreds of thousands of members nationally urge education support workers to defy anti-democratic strikebreaking legislation? Will the OSBCU leadership use its access to the media and large social media following to explain the threat of back-to-work legislation and advocate for a broader political struggle to defy it that embraces all workers whose wages and conditions are threatened by Ford, who views our contract as setting a benchmark for savage attacks throughout the public and private sectors? This is the course of action I will be fighting for because we are not satisfied with general phrases about the need to organize that are never translated into a real mass mobilization to stop Ford and his big business backers undermining our wages and working conditions. In the course of the exchange, Walton claimed that the OSBCU leadership had no power to accept the 2019 sellout agreement, and that it had only gone along with the deal because there was insufficient worker power to fight back. In response, the worker argued: In your reply to me, you suggested that the OSBCU leadership had no control over the 2019 contract and that the union was too weak to take on the Ford government, stating that there was not the organizing or worker power built to fight back. This distorts what really happened. When you announced the agreement just hours before we were due to go out on strike, you described it as a great result. More importantly, the OSBCU was the first major union to accept the wage-cutting terms of Bill 124, which wasnt even codified in law when you agreed to it. At the time, there was mass anger among hundreds of thousands of teachers, as well as many more public sector workers in health and social services to this draconian law. A powerful strike by us could have served to galvanize this opposition and spearhead a fight to defeat Fords plans. But instead, the OSBCU leadership caved in before the struggle even began and refused to make any appeal for support to other sections of workers facing the same attack. As a result, the wage cap was imposed on more than 1 million public sector workers without a fight. I have repeatedly returned to the experience of 2019 because your leadership team is pursuing the same disastrous course this time around. We are being told that we must fight alone, bargaining separately from the teachers even though the problems we face are the same. Walton also presented the unions responsibility to protect its members and their students from COVID-19 as a strictly local issue over which the bureaucracys hands were tied. She even shamelessly alleged that CUPE locals disliked interference from the union leadership on this question. Nothing spells out the union bureaucracys complete political bankruptcy more than such a response, which treats the worst global health crisis in a century by shrugging it off as a local issue. The unions have effectively enforced the Ford governments profits before life pandemic policy for over two years. Not only did they refuse to mobilize education workers to oppose school re-openings and demand N95 masks and other essential anti-COVID mitigation measures. When workers took matters into their own hands and organized walkouts, the unions rushed to shut them down, on the grounds all job actions were illegal. This policy of mass infection has turned schools into primary vectors for the community spread of COVID-19 and led to tens of thousands of hospitalizations and deaths. Education workers who disagree with the sellout strategy of Laura Walton and the rest of the union bureaucracy and recognize the need to mobilize working people in a mass political struggle against the Ford government, should join the Ontario Education Workers Rank-and-File Committee today. Help build a movement led by ordinary education workers for significant gains in pay, working conditions and schools free of COVID-19 by emailing ontedrfc@gmail.com. 25 years ago: Bentalha massacre in Algeria Massacres of over 50 people in Algerian Civil War, 1997-1998: Source: Mark Dingemanse; Wikipedia On September 22 and 23, 1997, between 200 and 400 civilians were slaughtered in the Algerian town of Bentalha, most of them women and children. The Armed Islamic Group of Algeria (AIG) claimed responsibility for the attack, as it had the Rais massacre of August 29, 1997, in which hundreds were murdered. The massacres unfolded in the context of the civil war between Islamic fundamentalist guerrillas and the Algerian military regime, which had intensified late that summer. The regime had touched off the fighting by canceling the 1992 parliamentary elections after fundamentalist candidates of the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) appeared likely to win. Islamic militia, including the AIG, took up arms in response to the militarys usurpation. While the AIG had carried out widespread killings, targeting intellectuals, journalists, and secular political figures, as well as workers and peasants, security forces and paramilitary units were believed to be engaged in massacres as well. Witnesses reported that official armed forces were positioned outside of Bentalha and did nothing to stop the brutal murders, even preventing those from neighboring villages from entering to assist the victims during the attack, which lasted roughly six hours. In 1997, the Algerian government created a militia of 150,000 men to carry the war against the AIG into the rural areas. These forces operated like Latin American death squads, entering villages suspected of harboring AIG guerrillas and killing indiscriminately, in what was described by the army itself as a program to eradicate the opposition. Some opposition spokesmen blamed the massacres on a factional struggle within the regime between those seeking a negotiated settlement with the FIS and those demanding continued military repression. US and French diplomats began meeting on a possible joint initiative aimed at halting the conflict. The two countries were both supplying the Algerian regime with military hardware, and US- and French-based oil and gas conglomerates were competing for control of Algerias rich energy reserves. 50 years ago: Ferdinand Marcos declares dictatorship in Philippines A contemporary newspaper headline after Marco's imposition of dictatorship On September 23, 1972, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos issued Proclamation 1081 imposing martial law on the Southeast Asian country of 38 million people. With the proclamation Marcos arrogated to himself the power to rule by decree and began a brutal crackdown on the Philippine worker masses, who had, in the previous years staged large demonstrations against his administration and waged major industrial struggles. The establishment of a dictatorship in the Philippines did not come as a surprise. It had been openly discussed in ruling circles ever since mass protests erupted in 1970, part of a revolutionary upsurge of the working population on a global scale. Furthermore, the right of the Philippine president to declare martial law had been enshrined in the countrys constitution as a holdover from US colonial rule of the islands. Several of Marcos predecessors had threatened to use this power, but never succeeded in carrying it through. To provide a justification, Marcos had ordered the military to stage a number of bombings in 1971 and 1972. In response to each bombing, Marcos claimed that communist urban guerillas were responsible, and that fierce military action would be the only solution. The final bombing before the declaration of martial law came on September 22 when Marcos Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile staged an attack on his own motorcade. Later, in 1986, Enrile admitted that the bombing was faked to provide a pretext for dictatorship. Once the news of martial law had been announced Marcos shut down all press, television and radio. Police began carrying out mass arrests of political rivals and dissidents. Within a few weeks the bourgeois political opponents were released and allowed to walk free if they became supporters of Marcos and the military regime, which many did. Other were sent into exile abroad. The working masses of the Philippines received no such leniency. Strikes were banned and anyone suspected of being a dissident was arrested without charge, often tortured and killed. Between 1972 and 1977, 60,000 people were arrested for political crimes. Unknown thousands more were salvaged, the term adopted for those the regime secretly kidnapped and murdered. The two rival Stalinist parties, the Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas (PKP) and the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), played a central role in facilitating the dictatorship. Abandoning the working class, they claimed there existed a progressive section of the national bourgeoisie, which, under pressure from the masses, could be influenced into carrying out reforms. This political fantasy extended even to Marcos himself. The PKP endorsed Marcos for president in 1965, and even supported his imposition of martial law. The PKP would use the dictatorship to murder its own members who opposed dictatorship. The party leadership labeled them as Trotskyite oppositionists. Marcos would stay in power as military dictator for 14 years. In 1986 he would be ousted by a mass movement of the population and forced to flee to Hawaii. However, many of his closest supporters and administrators of the dictatorship were allowed to remain in office. 75 years ago: Marshall Plan conference ends in Paris A propaganda poster for the Marshall Plan September 22, 1947 marked the end of a lengthy conference in Paris, which had begun in mid-July, over the US Marshall Plan, a proposal for postwar economic recovery in Europe dominated by American imperialism. The conference, involving 16 European states, concluded by establishing the Committee for European Economic Cooperation and submitting a list to the US Truman administration, specifying requests for financial assistance. In early June, US Secretary of State George C. Marshall had outlined the new doctrine, which took his name. The Marshall Plan would involve major US government and business investment in Europe. While couched in terms of ending the economic crisis and mass deprivation that persisted after World War II, its aim was to advance US control over Europe, in part by disciplining nominal allies and deepening the Cold War directed against the Soviet Union. The Stalinist Soviet government denounced the plan as American interference in Europe that threatened a new war. Its representatives walked out of a pre-conference with the US and Britain and refused to participate in the meeting proper. However, the protracted deliberations also highlighted divisions and anxieties among a number of the European participants. The French delegation expressed concern over the implications of the stated policy of Marshall to rebuild German industry, fearing that this move, a direct repudiation of earlier promises by Washington, would ultimately threaten the position of the French ruling class. This was countered by the Netherlands, Belgium and several other small states, whose own economic development had historically been linked with Germanys. For their part, the Scandinavian states called for their nominal neutrality to be respected, under conditions where the Cold War threatened to disrupt their trade and other economic ties to the Soviet Union. Britain appealed for special recognition as a major belligerent in the war. UK Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin played a key role in crafting the policies adopted by the conference. These were fully in line with the Cold War confrontation with the USSR. But Bevin stymied US calls for greater capitalist European economic integration under Washingtons control. Instead, the conference provided for the formation of nationally based committees that would report on and coordinate the use of the American aid. The conference asked the US for a total of $22 billion in aid. President Harry Truman cut the figure to $17 billion as he shepherded the measure through the US Congress. 100 years ago: Imperialist powers in disarray over Dardanelles crisis The Bosphorus (red), the Dardanelles (yellow), and the Sea of Marmara in between, are known collectively as the Turkish Straits. Source: Wikipedia On September 20, 1922, a conference in Paris that included Britain, France, Italy and Japan, as well as Yugoslavia, Greece and Romania, sought to negotiate with the Turkish nationalist movement of Kemal Ataturk over the control of the Dardanelles. The critical strait that connects the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara was the scene, at Gallipoli, of some of the most bitter fighting in World War I. The US was not an official participant in the talks, and the imperialist powers excluded the Soviet Republic. Britain, France, Italy and Greece had occupied Turkey since the surrender of the Ottoman Empire in 1918, in a bid to dismember the latter. The Greeks, serving as a catspaw for British imperialism, sought aggressively to claim Turkish territory. But by the summer of 1922, the Turkish nationalist forces had forced the evacuation of the Greek and French troops from southern and eastern Anatolia. Ataturks forces began to threaten some of the most vital imperialist interests in the region: control of the seaways that linked the Mediterranean to the Black Sea. Britain was ready to go to war. On September 18, London sent its Atlantic fleet to the Dardanelles and the Turkish capital of Constantinople (modern Istanbul) to the north along the strait of the Bosporus, which connects the Sea of Marmara to the Black Sea. The British bourgeoisie, however, encountered not only opposition from its own working class but from French imperialism and the desire of the American imperialists to keep their distance from the crisis. Notably, one member of the British Commonwealth, Canada, also refused to participate in the war when its Prime Minister Mackenzie King telegrammed British Colonial Secretary Winston Churchill that he would refuse to go to war without the consent of the Canadian parliament. On September 21, the Turkish nationalists issued an ultimatum to the Allied imperialists that East Thrace on the European side of the Bosporus be evacuated. The British warned that any Turkish advance on the Dardanelles would be an act of war. France and Italy, however, evacuated their forces from the area. The New York Times noted, The French and Italian generals express regret [to the British] that their governments find themselves unable to participate in the preparations for defense. By September 23, the British reversed themselves and agreed with France and Italy to give the Turks East Thrace in return for the supervision of naval traffic though the Dardanelles by the League of Nations. After passing over the island of Guadalupe, the eye of Tropical Storm Fiona, now a Category 1 hurricane, entered southern Puerto Rico Sunday with steady winds of about 80 miles an hour and gusts of more than 100 miles an hour in a radius of 30 miles from the center of the storm (in the southwest region), and tropical storm conditions in a radius of 140 miles, the rest of the Island. The capital city of San Juan recorded 70-mile-per-hour gusts at its airport. People clean debris from a road after a mudslide caused by Hurricane Fiona in Cayey, Puerto Rico, Sunday, September 18, 2022. [AP Photo/Stephanie Rojas] Electricity has been knocked out for the entire island, leaving the US territory of 3.2 million people in the dark. Fiona landed in Puerto Rico on September 18, two days before the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Maria, a Category 4 hurricane that left hundreds of dead and destroyed thousands of homes. It is expected that Fiona, though not as strong as Maria, will result in devastating flooding. Already there have been reports of washed out roads and bridges that are isolating towns. The Spanish language Miami Herald (El Nuevo Herald) reported that on the first day of the storm, 1033 people sought refuge in 105 public shelters in 77 municipalities. Many others are in basements and with neighbors and friends. Winds have blown roofs off of many homes, according to social media reports. Electricity provider LUMA Energy formally shut down power to 1.5 million households on Sunday afternoon, though many of those households had already lost power earlier in the day. Puerto Rican governor Pedro Pierluisi (Democrat) confirmed the blackout in his Facebook page. A LUMA statement indicates that, as a consequence of the storm, weather conditions are very dangerous and make it very difficult to make a good evaluation, predicting that it may take several days to completely restore service. Public transportation and public schools have also been shut down as a result of the storm. The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) warned that between 12 and 30 inches of rain would fall on southern and eastern Puerto Rico, causing catastrophic flooding, coastal flooding, and sudden mudslides, conditions that may result in lives lost. According to the NHC, the Grande de Loiza River and the Caguitas River in northern and central Puerto Rico have already flooded. Reports in Social Media also indicate that other rivers are also flooding in the southern region of the island, flooding roads. Hurricane Fionas impact on Puerto Rico will be all the more devastating at a time in which the island is still in the process dealing with three major shocks: the COVID-19 pandemic, the considerable damage inflicted by Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017, and the ongoing effects of the islands financial bankruptcy. The COVID-19 pandemic is still reaping its deadly death toll. As of September 18, New York Times reported the following figures for Puerto Rico: An average of 1,143 cases per day were reported in Puerto Rico in the last week. Since the beginning of the pandemic, at least 1 in 3 residents have been infected, a total of 980,975 reported cases. At least 1 in 668 residents have died from the coronavirus, for a total of 5,071 deaths. January 2022 was the month with the highest average cases and deaths in Puerto Rico, with a peak seven day average of 27 deaths per day on January 25. Five years after Hurricanes Irma and Maria damaged more than 700,000 homes (60 percent of the total), reconstruction is still on the agenda for the working class and poor. Alongside new, unaffordable and unoccupied housing, there is a critical shortage of modest and public housing, as well as a shortage of Section 8 vouchers. Furthermore, a significant number of households live in floodplains, waiting for the destruction brought about by new storms and hurricanes. Schools, clinics, hospitals, bridges and highways across the island are also still waiting to be rebuilt. Puerto Ricos electricity grid, almost completely destroyed by Irma and Maria, leaving thousands of Puerto Ricans without power for months, was never fully rebuilt and remains very fragile to this day. In April of this year, an island-wide blackout caused by a fire in an electric plant lasted several days. Finally, the government of Puerto Rico is carrying out austerity policies mandated by the Fiscal Oversight and Management Boards plan of adjustment recently approved by the courts and creditors. The 25-year Plan of Adjustment is meant to subordinate the living conditions of Puerto Rican workers to the profit interests of creditors and banks. After Puerto Rico, Hurricane Fiona is set to land in the Dominican Republic and move north towards Bermuda. A staggering recklessness has overtaken the American ruling class. It is treating the prospect of nuclear war, which would mean the deaths of millions and the potential annihilation of life on the planet, as a real possibility that must not be allowed to deter its geopolitical objectives in waging war against Russia over Ukraine. In an interview with CBSs 60 Minutes aired Sunday, US President Joe Biden was asked by interviewer Scott Pelley, As Ukraine succeeds on the battlefield, Vladimir Putin is becoming embarrassed and pushed into a corner. And I wonder, Mr. President, what would you say to him if he is considering using chemical or tactical nuclear weapons? To this, the president replied, Dont. Dont. Dont. You will change the face of war unlike anything since World War II. The reference to World War II is telling. Though Biden did not mention it, it was the United States that decided at the end of that war to drop two atomic bombs on Japan, killing more than a quarter million people. The US remains the only country that has ever used nuclear weapons in war. Skipping over this historical fact, Biden went on to make clear that the prospect of nuclear war would not alter the war aims of the United States. Winning the war in Ukraine is to get Russia out of Ukraine completely, he said. Theyre defeating Russia. Russias turning out not to be as competent and capable as many people thought they were gonna be. By getting Russia out of Ukraine completely, Biden is referencing the Ukrainian goal of militarily retaking Crimea, which Russia considers part of its territory and which, according to Russian doctrine, could be defended with nuclear weapons. In fact, the US goals go much further. In the wake of the collapse of Russian forces in northern Ukraine, a mood of euphoria and triumphalism has taken hold in the US political establishment. The American ruling class is determined to press the offensive. This was expressed in a front-page article by New York Times national security reporter David Sanger, who serves as a semi-official conduit for statements by the US military and intelligence apparatus. Under the headline, Ukraine Wants the U.S. to Send More Powerful Weapons. Biden Is Not So Sure, Sanger and his three coauthors write: American officials believe they have, so far, succeeded at boiling the frog increasing their military, intelligence and economic assistance to Ukraine step by step, without provoking Moscow into large-scale retaliation with any major single move. They say that Mr. Putin almost certainly would have pushed back hard if Washington had, at the outset of the war, provided Ukraine with the kind of support it is getting now, such as intelligence that has allowed Ukraine to kill Russian generals and target arms depots, tanks and Russian air defenses with precision-guided rocket attacks. The Times article is significant in a number of respects. First, it is another acknowledgement that the US has been directing this war from the very beginning, indeed before the beginning. It provoked the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February by systematically arming Ukraine and encouraging its plans, officially adopted last year, to retake Crimea by military means. At every point in the nearly seven-month conflict, the US has opposed any attempt at a negotiated settlement, while funneling ever more advanced weaponry into the conflict. The transformation of the Ukrainian army into a wholly owned subsidiary of the Pentagon has reached such a point that US military strategists are beginning to worry that it is depleting the capacities of the American military itself. This is what Sanger means by boiling the frog. American imperialism has taken advantage of the fact that Ukraine is not formally part of NATO to wage its war against Russia without, as of yet, leading to a direct conflict between Russia and NATO itself. However, the claim that the US is not at war with Russia is a legal fiction. The Ukrainian military has been turned into the equivalent of a mercenary force for US imperialism that is armed, trained and directed into battle by US generals. As far as American imperialism is concerned, it is willing to fight to the last Ukrainian, with upward of 1,000 dying every day in the bloody conflict. They are being used as cannon fodder. Second, however, Sanger makes clear that the debacle of the Russian military in Kharkiv is being seized on to escalate even further. The more powerful weapons referred to in the headline are ATACMS missiles, which can strike over 100 miles into Russian territory. Russian officials have stated that the provision of these weapons would be a red line, making the US a party to the conflict. The article declares that Biden is resisting demands in the military, intelligence apparatus and Congress to officially provide the ATACMS. This, in the language of US politics, means the decision has already been made, with the Times serving as a mechanism for conditioning public opinion for the inevitable overcoming of resistance. The American ruling class appears to believe that its ever more belligerent escalation of the conflict, combined with brutal economic sanctions, will compel a section of the Russian oligarchy to conclude that its interests will be better served by cooperating with US efforts to dominate Russias resources. But the crisis can also lead to the strengthening of ultranationalist elements of the Russian political establishment, who are demanding that Russia respond forcefully to the US offensive, either by introducing conscription, launching missile attacks on NATO weapons hubs outside Ukraine or even using nuclear weapons. The latter possibility is made all the more likely by the statements coming out of US ruling circles that the ultimate aim of the war over Ukraine is the dismantling of Russia itself. Last week, former US Army Europe Commander Ben Hodges declared in an article in the Telegraph that the US is witnessing the beginning of the endnot only of [Putins] regime, but of the Russian Federation itself. This, in fact, has been the ultimate goal of American imperialism: to break up Russia and open its vast natural resources to the direct exploitation and looting of American corporations. The reckless actions of the US can lead to desperate responses on the part of the Russian oligarchy. The consequences can be catastrophic, extending far beyond the countless thousands of Ukrainians and Russians who have already perished in the conflict. After all, Russia is not a frog being boiled. It has the second-largest nuclear weapons stockpile in the world. During the Cold War, the doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction meant that the United States was deterred from waging war against the Soviet Union by the prospect of a retaliatory nuclear strike that would culminate in the annihilation of both sides, and indeed all of humanity. In the days of the Cold War, the open advocates of nuclear war were confined to the extreme right of the Republican Partyfigures such as Barry Goldwater and Curtis LeMay. But now, the belief that the United States should not be deterred from its geopolitical ambitions by the threat of a civilization-ending nuclear war has become the refrain of both the Democrats and Republicans. But if US officials are not deterred by the threat of nuclear annihilation, what makes them so sure Putin will be? Policy is being made without any consideration of the consequences. The ruling class is playing Russian Roulette with the lives of hundreds of millions of people, not only in Ukraine and Russia, but in Europe and the United States itself. This staggering level of recklessness is driven, on the one hand, by geopolitical imperatives, and, on the other hand, by an escalating political, economic and social crisis within the US and the European powers in NATO. The urgent necessity is for the development of a powerful anti-war movement, based in the working class. The fact that there is not a faction of the US political establishment, even a single member of Congress or Senator, opposing the escalating conflict testifies to the unanimity that exists within the ruling class for war, whatever their factional divisions. A movement of the working class against war must reject all the lies of the imperialist powers, above all the United States, which have instigated the war in pursuit of geopolitical ambitions and world domination. At the same time, no support can be given to the reactionary response of the Russian oligarchy, which combines desperate efforts to reach an accommodation with imperialism and militarist threats. There exists a powerful social force that is capable of opposing imperialist war: the international working class. The war is being accompanied by a sweeping attack on the living standards of workers, whose wages have plummeted by 3 percent in real terms over the past year. The crisis created by the collapse in living standards has led to a global surge of the class struggle, which is powerfully demonstrated in the movement among rail workers in the US, as well as the eruption of strikes throughout Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa. As they enter into struggle, workers all over the world must raise the demand for an end to the war. To the ruling classs policy of world war, workers must counterpose the strategy of class war and the struggle for the socialist transformation of society. A BNSF train near the Fort Madison, Iowa, terminal [Photo: WSWS] Railroad workers: Tell us what you think about the White House deal. Contact us by filling out the form at the bottom of this page. Contact the Rail Workers Rank-and-File Committee at railwrfc@gmail.com. Opposition is continuing to build among railroaders to Thursdays White House-brokered sellout deal with the rail unions to avert a national strike. The deal resolves none of the workers grievances and is essentially a rehash of the proposed contract terms from Bidens Presidential Emergency Board (PEB), with only a single paid and three unpaid sick days a year (up from zero) tacked on. In fact, union officials admitted last week that no formal agreement even exists yet, and will not for several weeks, making a mockery of the principle of no contract, no work. The deal is in violation of the overwhelming consensus of more than 100,000 railroaders for strike action to win a contract that meets their needs, expressed in a national online meeting Wednesday night of 500 workers, sponsored by the Railroad Workers Rank-and-File Committee. The meeting passed a resolution warning the unions that any attempt to force through contracts that we do not accept and that have not been voted on, or to keep us working without a contract, will be in violation of clear instructions given by the rank and file. The unions hoped that the announcement of the deal would have led to the militant, determined mood among workers giving way to feelings of discouragement. This is not the case. Workers are furious at the betrayal and determined to resist it. A signalman from Galesburg, Illinois who attended Wednesdays meeting told the WSWS: If the union represents us, they need to represent us. Its BS they reached a tentative agreement, and told CNN before they told us. Everybody Ive talked to about this TA said weve been sold out. We already said we would wait and then start a petition. We no longer want the grand lodge [the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmens national headquarters] in our decision-making process. Because of the [Railway Labor Act], these corporations and unions are looking at this and what they can get away with. Our health care is going to get more expensive. The biggest thing for us is pay, which is our biggest consensus. We are underpaid as the safety branch of BNSF. Any issue with the crossings or switches, and we are personally liable by the FRA [Federal Railroad Administration]. If we are liable, we should be paid for that. Pay is a big deal. I also have a personal big problem with cameras that monitor our driving. Its not a horrible thing, but cameras have been used as a tool for termination by BNSF, not for safety. Another Galesburg worker said: These grand lodges dont represent the workers they are suppose to represent. All that happened on Friday is the unions decided to give Biden a win and probably got paid under the table or promised some cush job after they retire from being a union official. Its time for railroad workers to stand up and fight for our families and livelihoods! This PEB recommendation is BS! Numerous straw polls conducted on social media show overwhelming majorities opposed to the deal. Two Facebook polls conducted for maintenance workers showed workers against the deal by 88 and 93 percent. Wednesdays rank-and-file resolution is also being widely read and distributed. Its getting around in the union halls and on Facebook, one committee member told the WSWS. Everyone is talking about it. A letter from an anonymous California railroader is also being distributed widely on social media. Likely inspired by the Rank-and-File Committee, the worker lays out what he sees should be red lines without which workers should not accept any contract. Members feel that their voice has been stifled by the actions of the President, by not acting on the vote cast by its members to strike, the worker says. His demands include at least three to five paid sick days, 28 to 31 percent general pay increases, cost of living adjustments, shift differentials and out-of-pocket medical expenses capped at $300 to $350. If these are not met with as written, the worker concludes, we will turn down [the contract], so do not even bring [it] to the membership. This is the bare minimum we are asking for to ratify! If none of these are met, we are APPROVED to strike! Even though they have been able to work with the union bureaucrats to engineer a sellout, the political establishment knows it is by no means out of the woods yet. A worried lead headline on The Hills website yesterday suggested, Deal averting railroad strike has potential to fall apart. There is no doubt that overcoming the opposition of the rank and file was the primary, indeed the only, topic of discussion during the contract talks, and that fear of this opposition was instrumental in motivating the deal. In an article Friday based on interviews with those involved in the talks, Politico quotes National Economic Council Director Brian Deese as saying, The fulcrum period was really between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. when Secretary Pete [Buttigieg], [Agriculture Secretary Tom] Vilsack and I made a round of calls to the CEOs to signal that it wasnt clear this thing could close and that we took it very seriously and were going to resolve it and they needed to move. Significantly, this fulcrum period overlapped exactly with the rank-and-file meeting. The article makes clear that the political establishment fears the emergence of the class struggle in the United States more than anything else. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh described a national railroad strike in apocalyptic terms: Its like, Holy Christ: The magnitude of what would have happened. These statements come as Washington is deliberately risking all-out nuclear war with Russia over Ukraine. Dennis Pierce, president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, observed to Politico, Theres a lot of anger out there because of the way theyve been treated all across the board in all of our unions. That makes it hard to ratify contracts when you get your employees all agitated. Pierces comments make clear that the task for the union bureaucracy is to try to remove this agitation by isolating and demoralizing workers. There are three main ways in which they are attempting to do this. The first is by spreading out the contract vote as long as possible, in a bid to bleed off workers momentum. The BLET has indicated that it will be at least a month before a contract proposal is even available to vote on. This is a break with tradition, one Rank-and-File Committee member observed. Usually, the talks under the RLA go on forever, but the vote itself usually is called only after a few days. I think theyre doing this also as a favor to the Democrats, to push the vote past the midterms. The second is through widespread censorship on social media of critical views. Workers report that one of the main Facebook groups used by workers, Fight for Two Person Crews, has been deleting critical comments en masse since Thursdays agreement. A review of the comments in the group also suggest a marked shift in tone, previously dominated by anger at the PEB and the union officialdom but now dominated by praise for the deal. The day of the deal, the National Conference of Firemen and Oilers, which is affiliated with the Service Employees International Union, announced that it was turning off commenting on its Facebook page, on the absurd pretext that this is to protect our members from retribution and potential discipline from the Carriers. They also admitted in the statement that for months the union had been protecting our membersi.e., censoring themby removing comments that could be taken as threats for a concerted job action. It ended with a veiled threat of legal action against workers for striking, declaring its opposition to a walkout and adding, We will only support a strike if it is LEGAL and in accordance with the provisions of the Railway Labor Act and NCFO Constitution. The third is by marshaling the forces of the pseudo-left agencies of the Democratic Party in order to capture and neuter workers discontent. Last Friday, union faction Railroad Workers United (RWU) held its online meeting, chaired by Labor Notes writer and former Democratic Party staffer Jonah Furman. Labor Notes has plays a prominent role as cheerleader and apologist for the bureaucracy. Its conference this summer was addressed by Teamsters president Sean OBrien, who is Dennis Pierces direct superior (the BLET is affiliated with the Teamsters) and Bernie Sanders, who voted in 1991 to shut down the last national rail strike. Sanders engaged in cynical maneuvering last week in the Senate, blocking a Republican-sponsored injunction while the Democrats in the House already had similar language ready to go. The assembled speakers at the RWU meeting rejected the perspective of organizing workers independent of the union apparatus. One speaker specifically rejected any strike or work stoppage organized without the approval of the bureaucracy, claiming that this was not a decision for the rank and file but only for the leadership. But the only way for workers to defeat the betrayals of the union apparatus is by organizing a rank-and-file rebellion against it, fighting to countermand their sellouts and enforce rank-and-file democratic control. The organization of the opposition of railroad workers means the building of the Railroad Workers Rank-and-File Committee. For assistance in establishing a rank-and-file committee in your workplace, contact the Railroad Workers Rank-and-File Committee at railwrfc@gmail.com. Queen Elizabeth IIs funeral was meticulous in its execution. Nothing was left to chance as the UK delivered on its sole remaining specialtypomp and pageantry on a world-beating scale. By 11.00am, heads of state from around the world had taken their seats amid the gothic splendour of Westminster Abbey, before the queens coffin, draped in the royal standard and topped with the imperial crown and the Sovereigns Sceptre with Cross, arrived on the State Gun Carriage of the Royal Navy, drawn by 142 sailors. Guardsmen from The Queens Company, 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, took her body inside marching at a funeral pace. An hour of readings, prayers, hymns and eulogies followed. King Charles III, Camilla, the Queen Consort and members of the Royal family follow behind the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard with the Imperial State Crown and the Sovereign's orb and sceptre, as it is carried out of Westminster Abbey after her State Funeral, in London, Monday Sept. 19, 2022. [AP Photo/Danny Lawson/Pool Photo via AP] The queens coffin was then drawn in a walking procession from Westminster Abbey to Wellington Arch, at Londons Hyde Park Corner, along a route lined by the Royal Navy, Royal Marines and the police. A guard of honour stood in Parliament Square made up of all three military services, accompanied by a Royal Marines band. The coffin was then transferred to the State Hearse for its final journey to Windsor Castle. In total, 4,000 military personnel were involved in the funeral and parade. With crowds standing 10 deep, nothing could have been better designed to reflect stability, order and permanence than the way Elizabeth Windsor was laid to rest beside her late husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, at the King George VI memorial chapel. This was at least the shared hope of the almost 100 presidents and heads of government assembled in Westminster Abbey, including US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Italian President Sergio Mattarella, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and South Korean President Yoon Suk-Yeol. Biden spoke directly to such aims prior to the funeral in a statement that read, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II was more than a monarch. She defined an era. In a world of constant change, she was a steadying presence and a source of comfort and pride for generations of Britons The seven decades of her history-making reign bore witness to an age of unprecedented human advancement and the forward march of human dignity. The absurdity of Bidens statement is best illustrated by reference to a previous British royal funeral, more than a century earlier, that of Edward VII. American historian Barbara W. Tuchman focuses on this event in the introductory chapter to her seminal work on the outbreak and first nine months of World War IThe Guns of August, published in the UK as August 1914. It begins poignantly: So gorgeous was the spectacle on the May morning of 1910 when nine kings rode in the funeral of Edward VII of England that the crowd waiting in hushed and black-clad awe, could not keep back gasps of admiration. In scarlet and blue and green and purple, three by three the sovereigns rode through the palace gates, with plumed helmets, gold braid, crimson sashes, and jeweled orders flashing in the sun. After them came five heirs apparent, forty more imperial or royal highnesses, seven queensfour dowager and three regnantand a scattering of special ambassadors from uncrowned countries. Together they represented seventy nations in the greatest assemblage of royalty and rank ever gathered in one place and of its kind the last. The muffled tongue of Big Ben tolled nine by the clock as the cortege left the palace, but on historys clock it was sunset, and the sun of the old world was setting in a dying blaze of splendour never to be seen again. Edward VII King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India (1841-1910) Tuchman notes that Edward VII was often called the Uncle of Europe. This was not purely an honorific. It pointed to his actual family relationships to, among Other relatives, the progeny at various removes of Queen Victorias nine sons and daughters scattered in abundance throughout the courts of Europe, his nephews Kaiser Wilhelm II, the emperor of Germany, and Russias Tsar Nicholas II. Tsarina Alexandra was his niece. Edwards rule, spanning the first decade of the 20th century, is described by Tuchman as a rich fat afternoon Nineteen-ten was peaceful and prosperous, with the second round of Moroccan crises and Balkan wars still to come. The prospect of war was viewed widely in ruling circles as a foolish vanity as, thanks to the financial and economic interdependence of nations, there could be no real victor. Yet four years later, August 1914, the world was plunged into a war in which 28 million were slaughtered and Europe left in ruins. The monarchs who had been able to put aside national tensions and assemble in London in 1910 soon found themselves on opposed sides of the battlefield. The end of the war saw the downfall of the defeated. The most historically significant casualties were the Tsar and the Tsarina of Russia, swept from power in 1917 by the February revolution unleashed by the horrors of war, and forever consigned to history by the October socialist revolution led by Lenin, Trotsky and the Bolsheviks. Soldiers marching in Petrograd, March 1917 But revolution in Germany, though it did not lead to the overthrow of capitalism due to the absence of a Bolshevik-type party at its head, forced Wilhelm II to abdicate the throne and flee the country. Other kings within the German Empire followed. The crown heads of the Austro-Hungarian Empire met the same fate amid this continent-wide revolutionary upsurge. In 2022, the ragtag of royalty assembled to mourn the passing of Elizabeth IIthe emperor and empress of Japan, the kings and queens of the Netherlands, Spain, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden and Norway, rulers of the tiny tax havens of Lichtenstein, Luxembourg and Monaco, and various despots from the Middle Eastare pale shadows of their forebears. But the presidents and prime ministers that govern the major imperialist powers have a future ahead of them no less terrible than the European royal houses of the last century. The crisis gripping world imperialism is more starkly presented than it was in 1910. This is no Belle Epoque. An economic nightmare is unfolding that is plunging millions into destitution. A policy of war is not being repudiated but pursued ruthlessly by the ruling elite. In the NATO-led war against Russia in Ukraine, a catastrophe is unfolding in Europe that would dwarf even the horrors of 1914one that threatens humanity with nuclear annihilation. But this crisis is also creating the conditions for an eruption of a socialist and revolutionary struggle of the European and international working classone that must not end a world war, as did October 1917, but prevent one from taking place through the overthrow of capitalism. Seeking to bolster Republican candidates ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, this past Saturday, ex-president Donald Trump headlined a sparsely attended fascistic rally in Youngstown, Ohio. With the elections set to be held in just over 50 days, the rally, held in a 6,000 seat arena, was a chance for Trump to solidify his standing as the Republican kingmaker and unchallenged 2024 presidential front-runner. However, at no point during the event, including during the crescendo of Trumps rant, which featured an orchestral song linked to the fascist QAnon movement, was the arena ever full. This is despite the fact that the rally was heavily promoted by Trump-aligned media and featured several current Republican politicians speaking before the former president. In a first for a Trump rally, the small crowd, likely encouraged by political operatives working on behalf of the ex-president, held up their index finger as the QAnon song was being played. The gesture is popular among pro-Trump and QAnon elements, including members of fascist Nicholas Fuentes America First group. The overt appeals in Trumps address to the right-wing QAnon conspiracy is the would-be dictators response to ongoing investigations by the US Justice Department into his failed coup and his pilfering and storing of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort after leaving the White House. Last Monday, CNN reported and several other outlets confirmed that Trumps former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, and one of his top deputies, Ben Williamson, recently complied with a subpoena issued by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) concerning their role in Trumps failed coup. Citing anonymous sources, CNN claimed that Meadows turned over thousands of text messages and emails to the DoJ which he had previously given to the January 6 House Select Committee. The following day, Trump co-conspirator and fellow speaker at the Youngstown rally, MyPillow founder Mike Lindell, had his cellphone seized by FBI agents. The FBI confirmed the seizure of Lindells phone but did not state the nature of the investigation. Lindell claimed in an interview with the Washington Post that the FBI agents asked him questions about images posted on his website, Frank Speech, concerning a voting machine from Mesa County, Colorado. As Lindell was being questioned by FBI agents, Trump spoke on the phone with Micki Witthoeft, mother of QAnon fascist and deceased Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt, outside the Washington D.C. jail. During the phone call, Trump reiterated his support for Babbitt, who was shot by a cop while storming the Capitol on January 6. The Radical Left haters cannot be allowed to get away with this. There must be justice, Trump told Babbitts mother. In his speech Saturday, Trump presented himself as a Christ-like savior who was right about everything for which he was being persecuted by a sick and deranged political establishment...like no other president or anyone else else in American history. Trump told the few thousand right-wing supporters in attendance that a cruel and vindictive political class was coming after you through me, and that they want to target you for destruction. Trump said that the thugs and tyrants coming after him and his supporters had no idea of the sleeping giant they have awakened. The American people will never accept the corruption and ruination of our country. Trump reiterated his demand that the US government adopt show trials, complete with mass executions of suspected drug dealers and human traffickers. Trump falsely claimed that a single drug dealer was responsible for an average of 500 deaths throughout their lifetime. Fashioning himself after former Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte, Trump said that the introduction of quick trials followed by the executions of drug dealers would result in a more than 75 percent decrease in crime. [T]hink of it, Trump hissed. We would reduce crime in our country by much more than 75 percent. In one hour. In one hour. The day its passed, its got to be meaningful, you would reduce it in one hour. And I say it because, its very hard. Nobody ever talks this way. No one talks about the death penalty, its a horrible thing to say, even for me, its a horrible thing, but they kill, I said 500 people, so the death penalty is very humane if you look at it... We want the death penalty for drug dealers and for human traffickers if you dont mind. Trump delivers a fascist rant in Youngstown, Ohio on September 17, 2022 In addition to his calls for a strict death penalty, Trump rehashed his standard racist and right-wing campaign speech. He grunted that Joe Biden was not the duly elected president and that the election was rigged and stolen, and now our country is being destroyed. Trump blamed globalist, socialists, and liberal extremists for waging war on the hard working people of Ohio. He said they were responsible for shipping away you jobs and trampling on your values. As he does in every speech, Trump incited violence against his political enemies, immigrants and transgender people. He falsely claimed 10 million illegals were flooding across the Southern Border, which had been erased under Biden. Trump venerated ICE Border Gestapo thugs as soldiers and said that under a Republican Congress they would pass emergency funding to hire thousands and thousands more police officers. Trump-endorsed politicians who spoke at the rally included prominent QAnon fascists Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Republican House candidate J.R. Majewski. Despite posting photographs of himself storming the Capitol on January 6, 2021 and recounting in a QAnon themed podcast a week after that he was tear-gassed during the siege, Majewski has yet to be arrested or charged for his role in Trumps coup. While Majewski no longer claims affiliation with QAnon, according to CNN between July 2020 and January 2021, Majewski shared QAnon themed content, hashtags and memes over 50 times on his now-deleted personal Twitter account. In his speech Saturday, Majewski thanked Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for kidnapping immigrants and flying them to Marthas Vineyard. Thank you Ron DeSantis. You are a patriot and we love you, said Majewski. Like a majority of the Republican Party, Majewski backed Trumps claims that the election was stolen. He ended his speech saying it was time to take the country back...Donald Trump is on the warpath to Make America Great in 2024...I cant wait to be a part of it. In an overt appeal to anti-Semitism, Taylor Greene, a self-proclaimed Christian Nationalist blamed billionaire George Soros for installing weak DAs (District Attorneys) who let criminals back on the streets which she claimed has led to a record number of murders. Republican candidate for US Senate J.D. Vance gave a brief speech reciting Republican demands for more Border Patrol and less IRS agents. Vance is seeking to replace the retiring Republican Senator Rob Portman, considered one of the few moderate Republican Senators left in Congress. Vance in running against current Ohio Democratic Representative Tim Ryan. Ryan is a fervent nationalist and supporter of the trade union bureaucracy. He has been trying to position himself as a moderate by running advertisements in Ohio boasting of his support for Trumps tariffs against China while he was in the House. Other Republicans who spoke at the rally included current Ohio representatives Bill Johnson, a 26-year military veteran and ranking member of the House Judiciary committee, and top Trump attack dog Jim Jordan. Max Miller, an aide on Trumps 2016 campaign and political appointee in the White House, who is currently running in Ohios 7th district also spoke at the rally. Like Trump, Miller denounced Democrats for weaponizing the government against their political enemies and falsely claimed the Democrats were overseeing an open border policy. In reality, Biden, like Trump before him, has used Title 42 to deny asylum seekers and deport migrants by the thousands every month. In choosing Youngstown to hold the campaign event, Trump was specifically seeking to exploit social anger as a result of decades of devastation overseen by the Democratic Party and their adjuncts in the trade unions, who like Trump have blamed foreign workers and corporations for plant closures overseen by Wall Street. Youngstown is a former steel and auto industrial center located in the Mahoning Valley in northeast Ohio. Along with Lordstown and Warren, Youngstown has been hollowed out after over four decades of deindustrialization. On September 19, 1977, known as Black Monday, 10,000 workers at Youngstown Sheet and Tube were laid off in a single day. The city, once home to over 170,000 people in 1930, mostly working class families, has been reduced to just over 60,000 according to 2021 US Census estimates. With the elimination of thousands of working class jobs, misery has followed. Earlier this year, the Mahoning County Drug Overdose Prevention Coalition, estimated that there were 161 drug overdose deaths in 2021, an increase of 20.5 percent from the 131 overdose deaths in 2020, which itself was a 26 percent increase of over the 101 overdose deaths recorded in 2019. The post 10 Must-See Acts to Catch at Louder Than Life 2022 appeared first on Consequence. The 2022 Louder Than Life festival boasts one of the strongest lineups of any rock gathering in the United States this year. Led by legendary acts such as Nine Inch Nails, Slipknot, KISS, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and more, the four-day extravaganza is sure to bring a memorable experience to Louisville, Kentucky. Taking place September 22nd through 25th, Louder Than Life is absolutely jam-packed. Thursdays lineup will see NIN joined by Bring Me the Horizon, Evanescence, Tenacious D, Ministry, and more. On Friday, Slipknot tops a bill that features Lamb of God, Shinedown, Mastodon, Meshuggah, Clutch, GWAR, and several others. Saturday will see the iconic one-two-three punch of KISS, Alice Cooper and Rob Zombie, not to mention Body Count, Chevelle, Ghostemane, Sevendust, and more. And Red Hot Chili Peppers will close out the fest on Sunday, topping a bill that includes Alice in Chains, Incubus, The Pretty Reckless, Papa Roach, Bad Religion, and more. With theres dozens of cant-miss acts across the four days, weve picked 10 absolutely must-see bands to check out if youre heading to the Highland Festival Grounds at the Kentucky Expo Center for the four-day event. See our list of 10 Must-See Acts to Catch at Louder Than Life below, and pick up last-minute tickets to the festival here. See the daily lineups in the poster below and at the official festival website. Alice Cooper (Saturday) Alice Cooper Louder Than Life Alice Cooper, photo by Raymond Ahner Alice Cooper will be making the stop in Louisville as he continues his extensive fall North American tour. A showman and veteran performer, Alice has been putting on one the most iconic stage shows in rock music going on 50-plus years now. Each song has its own set pieces and props, almost like a Broadway theater performance albeit with Coopers twisted sense of shock-rock humor. The man also knows what his fans want to hear, as the setlist is stacked with all the crowd-pleasing hits such as No More Mr. Nice Guy, Elected, and Schools Out. Jon Hadusek Story continues Amigo the Devil (Friday) Amigo the Devil Louder Than Life Amigo the Devil, photo by Amy Harris Louder Than Life is true to its name: These bands push some serious air. Thankfully artists like Amigo the Devil are on the bill to provide some quieter (yet no less compromising) tuneage. While he might play acoustic, Amigos macabre ballads can still get a circle pit going. And he knows how to work a crowd. It was his live shows in particular that shot him up the ranks of the underground and onto major festival lineups. As a Consequence Artist of the Month alum, Amigo the Devil gets our full endorsement. Take out those earplugs and enjoy. Jon Hadusek Body Count (Saturday) Body Count Body Counts Ice-T, photo by Matt Akana Saturday offers a rare chance to see Body Count in the flesh. Between pandemic cancellations and Ice-Ts Law & Order SVU commitments, the rap-metal thrashers havent been able to perform much over the past three years. That also means they havent been able to play the songs from 2020s Carnivore in the live setting. With the recording for follow-up album Merciless already underway, fans should hear a slew of fresh cuts alongside Body Count classics. Jon Hadusek GWAR (Friday) GWAR Blothar the Berserker GWARs Blothar the Berserker, photo by Amy Harris Pre-game with some Bud of Gods CBD and pack a plain-white T-shirt, cause GWARs set will be a blood-spewing thrash metal throwdown. The scumdogs are fresh off the release of a new album, The New Dark Ages, and their Louder Than Life appearance falls amidst their ongoing North American tour. The great thing about GWAR is that their sets are equal part satirical performance and headbanging metal show. Bohabs should expect a visual and aural feast of the highest order. And maybe a few fake blood stains if you decide to get close. Jon Hadusek Halestorm (Thursday) Halestorm's Lzzy Hale Halestorms Lzzy Hale photo by Amy Harris The powerhouse vocals and charismatic stage presence of Lzzy Hale combined with her brother Arejays beastly drumming make Halestorm a must see among Thursdays loaded slate. Its been a banner year for the band, which has dropped a new album and toured extensively not to mention Lzzys recent collaboration with Gibson for a signature model Explorerbird electric guitar. We anticipate that shell be wielding some of those beautiful Gibson axes when the band takes the stage. Jon Hadusek KISS (Saturday) KISS 10 Must See Acts to Catch at Louder Than Life 2022 KISS, photo by Raymond Ahner KISS farewell tour is seemingly never-ending, but you dont hear us complaining. Gene Simmons has insinuated that it might never end, with new members putting on the makeup when the current lineup is no longer able. That said, you better not waste time if you plan on catching a KISS show with original members Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley. While therell be more to come in 2023, Louder Than Life marks one of the bands last appearances of 2022. Jon Hadusek Nine Inch Nails (Thursday) Nine Inch Nails Nine Inch Nails, photo by Melinda Oswandel Industrial legends Nine Inch Nails have mostly played select headlining shows and festival dates throughout 2022. Earlier this year, they headlined Boston Calling, playing two sets after filling in at the last minute for The Strokes, who were forced to drop due to COVID. As Heavy Consequence witnessed during NINs recent show at the famous Red Rocks Amphitheatre outside Denver, Trent Reznor and companys recent concerts have been absolutely electrifying. Jon Hadusek Red Hot Chili Peppers (Sunday) Red Hot Chili Peppers Red Hot Chili Peppers, photo by Ben Kaye With guitarist John Frusciante returning to the fold, the most beloved Red Hot Chili Peppers lineup rides again. After waiting out the pandemic, the band has been busy in the studio and is set to drop its second LP of 2022, Return of the Dream Canteen, which follows the release of Unlimited Love back in April. Its encouraging to see the classic lineup writing new material together. The Frusciante era of RHCP is rife with hits and setlist shoe-ins, but it also will be interesting to hear them play the first songs theyve written together in over a decade. Jon Hadusek Slipknot (Friday) Slipknot featured 10 Must See Acts to Catch at Louder Than Life 2022 Slipknot, photo by Johnny Perilla A Slipknot set is never to be missed, especially with the masked marauders set to release their new album, THE END, SO FAR, at the end of the month. Fans should expect to witness new songs such as YEN and The Dying Song (Time to Sing) as well as plenty of staple cuts from the bands back catalog. The festival set is also a good chance to glimpse the latest generation of Slipknot masks and costumes if you havent been able to catch them on a recent Knotfest Roadshow date. Jon Hadusek Tenacious D (Thursday) Tenacious D Tenacious D (photo by Josh Brasted/FilmMagic) Why not throw some laughs into your festival weekend with a little Tenacious D? Jack Black and Kyle Gass are probably the greatest comedy rock duo of all-time (and in their minds the greatest band ever), and theyve been charming audiences from the stage and screen for nearly three decades. But dont let the acoustic guitars fool you, as Tenacious D always bring the thunder! Jon Hadusek Louder Than Life 2022 poster 1 This list is published in partnership with Danny Wimmer Presents. 10 Must-See Acts to Catch at Louder Than Life 2022 Jon Hadusek and Spencer Kaufman Popular Posts Subscribe to Consequences email digest and get the latest breaking news in music, film, and television, tour updates, access to exclusive giveaways, and more straight to your inbox. LONDON Catherine, Princess of Wales and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, wore head-to-toe black, and pearl jewelry, at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey. In wearing pearls, they adhered to a mourning custom first introduced in the age of Queen Victoria. She wore them with her all-black outfits following the death of her husband, Prince Albert. Pearls are thought to represent purity, but also tears, and the British royal family has continued the tradition. More from WWD They both wore pearl jewelry to the service adhering to the custom of mourning wear, which was first introduced during Queen Victorias era. Kate Middleton wore a black coatdress from Alexander McQueen, which she also owns in white, and which she previously wore to last years G7 summit in Cornwall, England. She teamed it with a black hat with a netted veil and wore the queens Japanese pearl choker which consists of four strands joined by a diamond clasp. The pearls were a gift from the Japanese government, and the queen had them made into a necklace. The queen wore the choker for the first time in the early 1980s, and later loaned it to Princess Diana in 1982 for a state visit to the Netherlands. Middleton wore the choker for the first time in 2017 to the 70ths wedding anniversary dinner of the queen and Prince Philip. Meghan Markle arrived wearing a black cape dress by Stella McCartney, who designed the halter top dress she wore to her wedding reception. She has previously worn a similar navy dress, also by McCartney. Markle also wore a Stephen Jones hat with a wide brim. Her pearl earrings are understood to have been a gift from the queen for their first joint engagement together after Markle married Prince Harry in 2018. Later on Monday, Middleton and Markle will travel to St Georges Chapel for a private family service at Windsor Castle, where the queen will be laid to rest. The pair, whose relations have been frosty for the better part of two years, were first reunited in public at Windsor Castle on Sept. 10 to greet members of the public outside with their husbands, Princes William and Harry. Story continues Best of WWD Click here to read the full article. Elvis Presley has become synonymous with many things, such as rock 'n' roll and fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches. However, another part of the legacy of the "King of Rock 'n' Roll" is his untimely death. Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, on Jan. 8, 1935, and died in Memphis, Tennessee, on Aug. 16, 1977. Since the June 2022 release of Baz Luhrmann's "Elvis," starring Austin Butler and Tom Hanks, discourse surrounding Presley's life and death has become all shook up. This biographical musical drama chronicles the rock legend's rise to stardom, marriage to Priscilla Presley and overall legacy. Here is what you need to know about Elvis' death, declining health and other aspects of his life. Since the June 2022 release of Baz Luhrmann's "Elvis," starring Austin Butler (pictured) and Tom Hanks, discourse surrounding Presley's life and death has become all shook up. Review: 'Elvis' is one fried peanut butter and banana sandwich of a movie, tasty but overstuffed Fact checking the new 'Elvis' movie: Did he really fire Colonel Tom Parker onstage in Las Vegas? How did Elvis die? Elvis Presley died at 42 years old on Aug. 16, 1977, in Memphis, Tennessee. His untimely death was mourned by fans as many made their way to Graceland, his mansion in Memphis, to pay respects. Presley was found unresponsive at Graceland. His then-fiance Ginger Alden found Presley lying unconscious on the floor of the master suite bathroom, according to PBS. He was rushed to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 3:30 p.m. Preliminary autopsy findings determined Presley's death was the result of a "cardiac arrhythmia" and that drugs were not involved, said PBS. However, this was later proved not to be the complete case. In a toxicology report, weeks after his death, Elvis' blood was found to have had extremely high levels of the opiates Dilaudid, Percodan, Demerol and codeine, as well as Quaaludes. Tributes are seen beside the grave marker for Elvis Presley in the Meditation Garden where he's buried alongside his parents and grandmother at his Graceland mansion in this file photo from August 12, 2017. Elvis Presley's greatest songs: 20 essential cuts you need to hear now Review: The 10 best (and the absolute worst) Elvis movies, ranked Story continues Elvis' health problems, explained Prior to his death, Presley was visually no longer the hip-swaying Elvis the Pelvis sex symbol. One of the first responders who arrived at Graceland after the emergency call on the day Elvis died and helped carry him to the ambulance was quoted in the book "Elvis Presley: A Southern Life" saying he "must have weighed 250 pounds," according to Salon. Weight was not his only issue. The book, according to an excerpt in Salon, said it later was "established in court that during the seven and a half months preceding Elviss death, from January 1, 1977, to August 16, 1977, Dr. Nichopoulos had written prescriptions for him for at least 8,805 pills, tablets, vials, and injectables. ... The drugs included uppers, downers, and powerful painkillers such as Dilaudid, Quaalude, Percodan, Demerol, and cocaine hydrochloride in quantities more appropriate for those terminally ill with cancer." More on his health: We didnt have the empathy to talk about Elvis health problems then. What about now? Elvis was know to be a prodigious eater. Some of the many interesting and caloric meals he consumed over the years included, the Fools Gold Loaf, which was "made with a jars worth of blueberry jam, a jars worth of peanut butter and an entire pound of bacon," and peanut butter and banana sandwiches. This infamous sandwich would be made with an entire stick of melted butter, as shown by Mary Jenkins, former cook at Graceland, during a 1987 appearance on "Letterman." On top of his eating habits, Presley was a long-time user of opiates, said PBS. He had been known to use "antihistamines, tranquilizers such as Valium, barbiturates, Quaaludes, sleeping pills, hormones and laxatives, for the constipation." PBS reported that at the time of Presley's death two pathologists "found evidence of severe and chronic constipation, diabetes and glaucoma." The painkillers Presley used are believed to have contributed to his severe constipation. The book, "Elvis Presley: A Southern Life," also reported that the autopsy "confirmed what his doctors already knew: Elvis was chronically ill with diabetes, glaucoma, and constipation." How old would Elvis be today? If Presley were alive today, he would be 87 as of August 2022. He was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, on Jan. 8, 1935. His twin brother Jessie was stillborn, said biography.com. Elvis grew up in a loving family with not much money. Despite his introverted personality, Presley had immense musical talent. At 10 years old, he placed fifth in the 1945 Mississippi-Alabama Fair and Dairy Show for a solo performance without musical accompaniment, said biography.com. Appropriation or appreciation? How 'Elvis' highlights his complicated history with Black music A year-by-year look: 45 Elvis events in the 45 years since the death of the King Just Curious: We're here to help with life's everyday questions This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: How did Elvis die? Presley's health problems, explained. Former King of Spain Juan Carlos appeared at Queen Elizabeth's state funeral on Monday. Juan Carlos who briefly reunited with his family in May after a two-year self-imposed exile amid allegations of tax fraud and money laundering in 2020 attended the service alongside his son, King Felipe VI and his wife, Queen Letizia. The event marks the first time the former king has appeared alongside his son and daughter-in-law since he left Spain under a cloud of scandal. Juan Carlos, who was once revered for his role in Spain's transition to democracy, abdicated in 2014 in favor of his son, who has since distanced himself from his father. Though King Felipe and Queen Letizia were there to officially represent Spain, Juan Carlos received a private invitation because he is related to the late monarch. Both Queen Elizabeth and Juan Carlos were the great-great-grandchildren of Queen Victoria. Juan Carlos I of Spain Gareth Fuller - WPA Pool/Getty Along with the Spanish royals, members of other European royal families including Denmark, Belgium and Monaco were in attendance at the Westminster Abbey service. Can't get enough of PEOPLE's Royals coverage? Sign up for our free Royals newsletter to get the latest updates on Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle and more! King Felipe VI of Spain and King Juan Carlos and Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, Queen Elizabeth II Carlos Alvarez/Getty; Arthur Edwards -Pool/Getty Following the service at Westminster Abbey, the Queen's coffin was placed back onto the state gun carriage to pass Buckingham Palace one last time en route to Wellington Arch at Hyde Park. Then it will make the journey to her final resting place at Windsor Castle. For more on Queen Elizabeth's funeral, listen below to our daily podcast PEOPLE Every Day. King Charles, Queen Camilla and the rest of the family join the coffin's procession, set to reach St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle at about 3:52 p.m. More than 800 people are expected to attend the Queen's committal service there, and the event will have a more intimate feel than the state funeral. Story continues The guests present at Westminster Abbey will not follow for the ceremony at Windsor. Instead, the pews will be filled with some of the people who knew the Queen best: her personal staff and those who worked on her estates. RELATED: Queen Elizabeth's Funeral Details Revealed Including 3 Royal Family Processions Queen Elizabeth II Funeral BBC America Last week, King Charles III addressed the U.K. for the first time after the Queen died at the age of 96 on Sept, 8. Among the changes announced, Charles, 73, shared that Prince William and Kate Middleton had inherited the titles of Prince and Princess of Wales. Their three children who are now the second, third and fourth in line to the throne go from being Princes and Princess of Cambridge to being Princes and Princess of Wales. Therefore, they are now Prince George of Wales, Princess Charlotte of Wales and Prince Louis of Wales. Photo credit: Tristan Fewings/BFC Erdems romantic heroines often look as though theyve stepped out of the pages of an 19th-century novel in their pretty Toile de Jouy florals and puff-sleeved empire waist gowns. Its a singular look the London-based designer has crafted over the better part of two decades by immersing himself in art exhibits and fashion archives, including the worlds largest fashion collection at the British decorative arts and design museum the V&A. And its one that couldnt be further from Gen Zs predilection for bras-as-tops and hip cutouts that, in recent season, has permeated so many other runways. But as the mononymous creative sees it, that doesnt mean hes stuck in the past. Rather, its only by looking back that we can hope to make sense of the present. Photo credit: Tom Mannion Erdems Spring 2023 collection, shown today in London amongst the Greek Revival columns of the British Museum, of course comes at a momentous time in British history. London Fashion Week is coinciding with the lying-in-state for the late Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey, which is expected to bring up to a million people to the UK capitalincluding hundreds of royals, heads of state, and heads of governmentto pay their respects to the late monarch ahead of her funeral tomorrow. All of Mondays shows and presentations have been cancelled and some brands, like Burberry, have chosen to reschedule for later in the month. But Erdem and most of his compatriots including JW Anderson, Simone Rocha, Christopher Kane, Harris Reed, Chopova Lowena, and Nensi Dojaka believe the show must go on this weekend as a tribute to the monarch who long championed the British fashion industry and honored rising talents with the Queen Elizabeth II Award for British Design. The life and times of the queen have often been a point of reference for Erdem; his Resort 2023 collection took cues from her longtime florist Constance Sprys arrangements for her coronation in 1953. Its a hugely sad time in Londonher Majesty the Queen was an inspiration and I admire her sense of duty and service enormously, says Erdem. The best way for the industry to support British designers is to attend the shows, shoot the collections, and buy the collections. Its a challenging time, but it has also brought a real sense of solidarity to London. Story continues Titling his show Grief is the price we pay for love, after the queens famous words of condolence in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, and dedicating the collection to her memory, Erdem looked further back in history for his reference points this season, sending out an array of black faille corset dresses featuring 18th-century remnant embroidery and exploded etched Old Masters prints. Many looks featured trailing black ribbon, black net veils, or shredded details that referenced historic mourning dress, while the closing looka corset dress in optic white with a full skirt and extended train and skirt covered in black couture netting and floral embroidered tullelooked like a photo negative of the queens coronation gown. More broadly, Erdem was inspired this season by the process of art restoration, in particular witnessing an 18th-century embroidered dress being revived with a complex tulle under structure and a damaged 15th-century oil painting brought back to life based on a 17th-century etching. My studio team and I spent a lot of time behind the scenes with the conservators and restoration teams at the British Museum, National Gallery, Tate Britain and the V&A, he recalls. I was thinking about the forensic passion required to dedicate your life to bringing a piece of art back to life, the way in which some restorers can be working on a piece for up to twenty years. Its about obsession and dedication, the way in which the boundaries between restoration and inhabitation can become blurred. Those last wordsobsession and dedicationsound not unlike Erdems own creative process, which is intellectual, thoroughly researched, accretive, and always reaching for greater understanding. The Montreal-raised designer, whose parents are British and Turkish, has been championing diversity and inclusion long before these were industry buzzwords. He was the first designer to collaborate with stylist Ib Kamarabefore even Virgil Ablohand now works with Gabriella Karefa-Johnson. Erdem creates silhouetteslong of skirt and sleeve and high of neckthat appeal to a Modest fashion customer in the Middle East, without that being their exclusive intent. Fans include Nicole Kidman, Michelle Dockery, Alexa Chung, and Catherine, Princess of Walesand many women the world over who dont wish to bare it all. Fashion should always be inclusive, says Erdem. Why create something that only certain body types can wear? When something is well designed it should fit everyone. Last year, Erdem made the decision to stock his full collection in sizes ranging from a UK 6 to a UK 22. Ultimately fashion has always been a mirror of what is happening in the world, Erdem asserts. Never was this more clear than in his Fall 2022 collection celebrating pioneering Weimar artists, which was shown in London on February 21, three days before Russia invaded Ukraine. In a fashion season where Instagram feeds would become a surreal juxtaposition of women and children fleeing the rockets being lobbed at Kiev and fashion-business-as-usual in other European capitals, Erdems show was the firstand one of the fewto seriously engage with the existential threat of authoritarianism. Foregoing his signature florals, Erdem showed an almost entirely monochrome lineup featuring Sally Bowles-esque bustiers over midi dresses and a lace gown paired with studded elbow-length black gloves and a sequined boa. I saw an incredibly powerful exhibition at The Barbican called Into the Night in 2019 that documented cabaret culture and the revolutionary art that emerged from the shadows of a looming war, explains Erdem of his Fall 2022 inspiration. There were so many parallels between the current situation and the past. Ultimately, I found it fascinating that in the face of oppression, extraordinary female artists like Jeanne Mammen, Madame dOra, Elfriede Lohse-Wachtler, Anita Berber and Valeska Gert became pioneers in their particular vein of avant-garde expressionism. It was their form of protest. How does Erdem find his starting point each season, I wonder? I think its important to keep evolving, as a brand and as a person, Erdem replies. My creative process is always to start with the research, to build the narrative and the collection begins there. Sometimes it takes you to unexpected places. Unexpected, but not unfamiliar. In terms of themes carrying from my last runway collection to this one, they are chapters in the same books so inevitably they will relate to one another, Erdem adds. You Might Also Like Armando Espitia, who broke out as the hapless young factory worker in Amat Escalantes Cannes winner Heli, is attached to star in Six Months in the Pink and Blue Building, a feature project being brought to San Sebastians Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum by Mexicos Bruno Santamaria Raso. Also on board is actor and writer-producer Sofia Espinosa, who fulfilled all three roles in Max Zuninos Los Banistas and Bruma and won a Mexican Academy Ariel for her tearaway performance as Gloria Trevi in Gloria. More from Variety Written and to be directed by Santamaria, Six Months in the Pink and Blue Building, (Seis meses en el edificio rosa con azul,) marks his first fiction feature. He caught attention and won a Chicago Golden Hugo Golden Hugo and Golde Q Hugo for best documentary for Things We Dare Not Do, a movie straddling fiction in its finish, production values and narrative structures as it depicts Tono, the eldest son and second father to a swarm of siblings, living in a benighted village on marshy plains and plucking up the courage to tell his mother that hes gay. Autobiographical, Six Months is an opportunity to understand an intimate and familiar event from the past, in Santamarias words. The story, set in 1996, follows 10-year-old boy Bru, whose father is diagnosed with HIV. His father and mother are especially affectionate towards Bru and his brother despite the fact that living with a HIV patient could mean physical or social death. Six months go by and it turns out that the diagnosis was a hospital error. A few days later, Brus parents announce they are getting divorced. What was happening behind the love? What do parents not tell each other, and what do parents not tell their children, and why? Story continues I want to film the glances and conversations that my parents had in silence and which I couldnt observe as a child. I want to construct a fiction to see my parents once more and find some sense [in what happened], he added. I have the impression that nobody knows themselves. Everybodys living a fantasy, or the idea that they could be a happy conventional family and they make a huge effort dedicating a lot of love to living that. But inside theyre torn apart, Santamaria told Variety. Layered with constant irony, navigating between comedy and drama, the tone of the film, coming in at pain from a playful place, will that of salsa music, the director said. For me, the films full of salsa music, which is close to the tone I want to achieve. The lyrics turn on tragedies, loneliness. But its music people dance to, its festive. Espitias credits also include A Nuestras Madres and Te Llevo Conmigo. Six Months is produced by Guillermo Ortiz at Ojo de Vaca. Santamaria won a Fonca young creators grant to write the screenplay of Six Months over 2020-2021, plus a Medienboard funded BerlinAiR residency from the Festival de Guanajuato and Nipkow program 2022. Best of Variety Sign up for Varietys Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Click here to read the full article. Jose Aldo called it a career in MMA, but Henry Cejudo believes its only the start for him financially. Aldo (31-8 MMA, 13-7 UFC) on Sunday decided to retire with one fight left on his UFC contract, and the former featherweight champion leaves an undeniably great legacy behind. Aldos UFC tenure ended at 135 pounds where he fell short of capturing gold. He was scheduled to challenge Cejudo for the bantamweight title in May 2020, but when the event was moved from Brazil to the U.S. because of the COVID-19 pandemic, visa issues forced Aldo out of the bout. Cejudo faced Dominick Cruz instead and retired after beating him. That led to a vacant title that Petr Yan and Aldo competed for at UFC 251, but Aldo was stopped in Round 5. I was supposed to fight him right before the pandemic happened, and that event ended up being canceled, Cejudo said in an interview with Helen Yee. Brazilians couldnt come over to the U.S., so I was gonna fight him in Sao Paulo, so I wanted to give Jose Aldo the introduction, especially in his hometown. Hes a legend. Hes the greatest featherweight of all time, and hes a real Hall of Famer. Sometimes you can be given Hall of Fames in the UFC, but this one is truly, truly earned, and hes one of the greatest of all time. Even though Aldo has stepped away from MMA, Cejudo thinks there are plenty of opportunities for him to capitalize on financially outside of the octagon. I think this is the time for him to make money, Cejudo said. I think this is time for him to do, whether exhibitions we just saw Nate Diaz, too, over at the WWE (event) hes looking to dabble into WWE, so make money. We got to use the brand that the UFC has given you, all these other platforms and continue to keep making money and be an entrepreneur, so Im happy for him. List 'Absolute legend': MMA community reacts to Jose Aldo's retirement Story originally appeared on MMA Junkie Dachshund lovers from far and wide will converge in Barnstable Village on Saturday, Sept. 24 in celebration of their favorite canines those long dogs with short legs. The 14th annual Cape Cod Doxie Day unrolls an afternoon of fun and pup love, to be held from noon to 3 p.m. at the rear of the Barnstable County Courthouse complex. Admission is free. According to Eva Carbonaro, president of the yearly celebration, doxie is an affectionate nickname for the popular breed, which she calls just the best dog there is. A parade contestant eyes the competition waiting for the event to start at the Barnstable County Complex for last year's annual Doxie Day gathering of dachshunds. There seems little doubt that other dachshund owners feel the same way about their picturesque canines. Dachshund people, she says, come to the event with their pets from such far-flung states as California, Michigan, Texas and New York, as well as from around the Cape and the rest of New England sometimes staying around to enjoy Cape Cod in the off-season. In Boston: Triumphant 'Tina': Dazzling star makes national tour of Broadway's Turner musical worth the love The event, says Carbonaro, also extends an invitation to all well-behaved pets on leashes regardless of size, shape and breed. A Doxie Day parade of costumed canines will kick off the festivities, featuring rescue dogs from the Massachusetts non-profit Paw-Affection Dachshund Rescue, an all-volunteer agency that seeks loving foster homes for rescue dachshunds and other small breed pups. The parade shows off participants creative streaks, with past costumes including everything from a pup afloat in an inflatable pirate ship, a dog riding in a decorated carriage, and canine marchers wrapped in fake hot dog buns. Emmy Award-nominated designer/illustrator Stefanie Shank, a senior art director for Nickelodeon Animation Studio, will be on hand as parade judge to bestow prizes in several categories. Need a read?: 5 new books by Cape Cod authors: Ghosts, politics, murder and romance Ever seen a golden retriever dressed up to look like a dachshund? Such Wiener Wannabes, dressed in their doxie best, make up a good-humored prize category of their own, in addition to the time-honored Best Dressed and Best Float. Story continues Slinky, in a Mexican-style costume, waits for the parade to start at the 2021 Doxie Day in Barnstable. The parade and its contest winners will be followed by raffles, a performance by the Cape Cod Ukulele Club, a round of dachshund trivia and the annual Doxie Dash race for 25 pre-registered dachshunds. Entry spots, Carbonaro says, have long been filled. One feature of the day may top the popularity list for the little dogs themselves. The Dachshund Cafe has tables set at hound height, to deliver food and refreshments to its four-legged customers. Dachshunds are very food driven, so the cafe is popular, Carbonaro says. Hundreds of dogs together She reflects on how much the Doxie Day do has grown since its first gathering in 2008 at Chapin Beach in Dennis. We spread the word and people came, she says, beginning a tradition that has become more popular each year. Based on the level of inquiries, she says, this years event will likely attract as many as 400 visitors, not counting dachshunds themselves, the stars of the show. The Cape Cod Doxie Day booklet, distributed each year, has grown from four pages to 28, containing ads for a dizzying variety of pet products, from treats and trendy dachshund outfits to pet portraits, day care and dog washes. The hottest ticket at the event, she says, is an auction for the honor of being on the cover of next years issue. Local star: 'To my P-town family, I love you!': 'White Lotus' actor Murray Bartlett gets Emmy win The yearly event also reaches out to the community. Proceeds gained from raffles, contests and donations support the Orleans-based Companion Animal Program, a non-profit pet visiting program that has served nursing and day care programs as well as special needs schools on Cape Cod since 1986. Packaged pet food and other pet supplies donated at the event are sent to Reds Pet Pantry, a Cape Cod Disaster Animal Response Team that works to rescue, treat and shelter animals after a declared emergency. Vic, sporting a lobster costume, gives owner Meg Bannon some love during the 2021 Doxie Day celebration. Event organizers, Carbonaro says, have also remained active in efforts to place rescue animals with loving owners: Weve played matchmaker several times. People who come with their pets to the annual event can likely describe the many perks of the day, likely first and foremost the bragging rights for their own unique animals, as well as pleasure from the affection they get and give to their pets. But whats in it for the dachshunds? They get love, outdoor smells (and) there are plenty of treats, Carbanaro says. They may also get a trip to the beach after the festivities are over, she suggests. Through September: Movies on a big screen: Festivals show classic films in Chatham, new international films on the Vineyard Why would someone choose a dachshund over another breed? Carbonaro, the proud owner of Layla, a 13-year-old mini-dachshund, and Bella, a rescue pup of about 8 years, is unequivocal: Theyre very sensitive adorable funny they know how to get people to do whatever they want you to do. And, she says, Just look at them. To take your dog to Doxie Day When: Noon to 3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 24 Where: Barnstable County Courthouse complex, 3195 Main St., Barnstable Village Admission: Free Information and schedule: https://www.ccdoxieday.com This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Cape Cod dachshunds celebrated at Barnstable Doxie Day costume parade Since she became the Princess of Wales, theres been interest in Kate Middletons net worth and how much she and Prince William make now that theyre the next couple in line for the British throne. Katewhose full name is Catherine Elizabeth Middletonis the wife of Prince William, the Prince of Wales and the heir apparent to the British throne. As Williams wife, Kate is the Princess of Wales and the next Queen Consort. Kate and William married in 2011 and share three children together: Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis. William and Kate became the Prince and Princess of Wales after the death of Williams grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, on September 8, 2022. The death of the Queen made Williams father, Charles, the new King of the United Kingdom and the 14 Commonwealth realms, which led William to take over his title as the Prince of Wales. More from StyleCaster Kate told a well-wisher in September 2022 about how her youngest son, Prince Louis, comforted her after the Queens death. My little Louis is just so sweet. He said, Mummy dont worry, because she is now with great grandpa, Kate said, referring to the Queens late husband, Prince Philip, who died in April 2021. Royal expert Gareth Russell told Us Weekly about how Kates new royal titlewhich was the title of Princess Diana before her deathcarries a huge emotional weight for her. It has a huge emotional weight, he said. Princess Diana had such a great impact across the world with both her charisma and her fame and also her humanitarian and charitable activities. He continued, But the title [of Princess of Wales], you know, was used by many people before Diana, and it is now being used afterward. Story continues Buy: Elizabeth the Queen by Sally Bedell Smith $7.95+ Click here to read the full article. Russell also told Us Weekly about the sentiment behind the title for the British public. I think it is quite moving for a lot of people that the last person to hold [the Princess of Wales title] was Williams mother and now its his wife, he said. I think it puts a good kind of pressure [on the Cambridges] because it brings a lot of the emotional collateral charisma that Princess Diana had and invests that title with a certain emotional appeal to people. But back to Kate Middletons net worth. So what is Kate Middletons net worth and how does she make her money with Prince William? Read on for what we know about Kate Middletons net worth and what the Queen left her in her inheritance. How does Kate Middleton make money? Image: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images. How does Kate Middleton make money? Kate and her husband, Prince William, were named the Princess and Prince of Wales after Williams father, King Charles III, became the new King of the United Kingdom and the 14 Commonwealth realms following the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022. After his father became king, William is now the heir apparent to the British throne, making Kate the next Queen Consort. As the new Prince and Princess of Wales, William and Kate receive a majority of their income from a private estate called the Duchy of Cornwall, which was established in 1337 to financially support the heir to the throne, according to CNN. The Duchy of Cornwallwhich provided the income for Charles and Camilla before they became King and Queen Consortis funded through the ownership and operation of land in rural and urban areas, as well as islands and rental cottages in Wales, Cornwall and other areas in the United Kingdom. In 2018, the Duchy of Cornwall made Charles and Camilla $28 million, which is around what William and Kate will make as well. According to CNN, about 50 percent of Charles and Camillas annual income was spent on travel and official royal engagements, while a quarter went to taxes. The remaining $8.9 million went to Charles children with his late wife Princess DianaPrince William and Prince Harryas well as non-official purchases and a royal savings account. William and Kates income also include money from Sovereign Grant, a taxpayer fund paid each year to the British royal family. The Sovereign Grant originated from an agreement made by King George III in 1760, who agreed to surrender his income from Parliament to receive a set annual payment for himself and future generations of the British royal family. The agreement was originally known as the Civil List before it was reworked as the Sovereign Grant in 2012. Under the agreement, the British royal family receives a grant in exchange for surrendering their profits from the Crown Estate, the familys collection of lands and holdings worth 14.1 billion, to the government, according to BBC. Each year, the reigning monarch receives 25 percent of the Crown Estates profits. The amount pays for property upkeep and utilities, the British royal familys travel and the royal employee payroll. The grant doesnt cover security and royal ceremonies, which are funded by other areas. William, for his part, also has money from the trust his mother, Princess Diana, left him and his younger brother, Prince Harry, after her death in 1997. William gained access to the on his 30th birthday. According to Cheat Sheet, Diana left William $10 million in assets, which included his late mothers jewelry collection that he and Harry split. Kate and William are also senior members of The Firm, also known as the Monarchy PLC, according to Fortune, which is made up of the public faces of the House of the Windsor and the royal family members the Queen Elizabeth IInow King Charleswas the head of. The firm operates and a multi-million-pound business empire that boosts the United Kingdom economy through televised events and tourism, according to Fortune. Before her death, the Queen was the head of The Firm. The other seven members were: Prince Charles; his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall; Prince William; Kate, Duchess of Cambridge; Princess Anne; Prince Edward; and his wife Sophie, Countess of Essex. According to Forbes, the British royal family holds almost $28 billion in real estate as of 2021 that cannot be sold. Heres how that amount breaks down: The Crown Estate: $19.5 billion Buckingham Palace: $4.9 billion The Duchy of Cornwall: $1.3 billion The Duchy of Lancaster: $748 million Kensington Palace: $630 million The Crown Estate of Scotland: $592 million How much did Kate Middleton inherit from Queen Elizabeth? Image: Oli Scarff WPA Pool / Getty Images. How much did Kate Middleton inherit from Queen Elizabeth II? Radar Online reported in September 2022 that was Kate was expected to inherit $110 million in jewelry from the Queen after her death. The collection includes 300 personal pieces of jewelry that belonged just to the Queen and not the Crown. Shes been focusing on her beloved pieces and who deserves what, a source told Radar Online in July 2022 before the Queens death. The whispers are that shes made some last-minute changes to her will thatll be a shocking surprise for her heirs. The source also reported at the time that the Queen and Kate became especially close in the months before the monarchs death, which caused resentment with Camilla. Kate is clearly the family favorite, the insider said. Shed never say it, of course, but its one of the reasons Camilla resented Kate. Radar Online also reported that Kates sister-in-law, Meghan Markle (who is married to Prince Harry) and her niece, Lilibet Diana Mountbatten, were left out of the inheritance. Theres a very good chance the Queen wont leave either of them any jewels of value, the source said. Its not surprising, since theyre not members of the royal family anymore, but it would be a real slap in the face. Radar Online also reported that William and Kate were not worried about what they would receive from the Queen because they knew where they stood with the ;ate monarch. The site also reported that Kate will likely give some of her jewels to her niece because she and William really dont want Lilibet to be left out. The insider continued, As for Meghan, shes not their concern. As for why the Queen left out Meghan, the source reported that it could be due to practicality. Some people think it wont be out of spite, but practicality, the insider said. Others say it would be the Queen sending a message to Meghan and Harry: You reap what you sow. What is Kate Middletons net worth? Image: Visionhaus/Getty Images. What is Kate Middletons net worth? Kate Middletons net worth is $10 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth. Before she married William, Kate worked for Jigsaw, a fashion retailer where she procured jewelry, from 2006 to 2007. In 2011, she joined her familys party supply business Party Pieces, which is worth $50 million, according to Cheat Sheet. The store was successful before Kate and William married in 2011, but the site reports that the companys business has since skyrocketed due to its association with the British royal family. As a senior member of the British royal family, Kates patronages include East Anglias Childrens Hospice, Action on Addiction, and the Natural History Museum. Most of Kates work with the British royal family is focused on children, addiction and mental health. In 2019, she started supporting Backyard Nature, an organization that helps families and their children to get connected with nature. In 2016, she and William also collaborated in their Heads Together campaign, which encouraged people to be more open about mental health. Kate also launched the project Mentally Healthy Schools, which focuses on providing students with mental health resources. Image: Courtesy of Random House. Buy: Elizabeth the Queen by Sally Bedell Smith $7.95+ For more about the British royal family, check out Sally Bedell Smiths 2012 biography, Elizabeth the Queen: The Life of a Modern Monarch. The New York Times bestseller, which includes the real story behind several storylines featured in Netflixs The Crown, follows Queen Elizabeth IIs life from her childhood as the heiress presumptive to her father, King George VI; to the moment he et her husband, Prince Philip, when she was 13 years old; to her ascension to the throne at 25 years old in 1952. Elizabeth the Queen, which also includes interviews with Buckingham Palace sources and never-before-revealed documents, provides a deep dive into the Queens legacy as one of the most famous monarchs in recent history. Our mission at STYLECASTER is to bring style to the people, and we only feature products we think youll love as much as we do. Please note that if you purchase something by clicking on a link within this story, we may receive a small commission of the sale. "Watch This Space" - Amazon Prime Video Best of StyleCaster The shock wave from the missile strike in Mykolaiv region damaged the Pivdennoukrainsk power plant buildings as well as over 100 windows were broken, officials said (Screengrab: Twitter/ AndriyYermak) Russian forces struck another nuclear power plant in Ukraine early on Monday causing widespread damage in shockwaves but missing the facilitys reactor, officials said. The missile attack on Pivdennoukrainsk nuclear power plant in the besieged countrys southern Mykolaiv region occurred just 300 metres from the reactors, officials from Ukraines state nuclear body Energoatom said, calling the latest missile strike an act of nuclear terrorism by the Russian military. Today at 00:20 am, the Russian army carried out a missile attack on the industrial site of the South Ukraine nuclear power plant [SUNPP], it confirmed. A powerful explosion occurred just 300 m from the SUNPP reactors. The shock wave damaged the NPP buildings as well as over 100 windows were broken, the state agency said in a statement. Visuals of the missile strike showed a large crater erupting in the horizon. One of the two photos showed a man standing in front of the crater giving a sense of the scale of the blast. Volodymyr Zelensky also denounced the Russian attack on the Telegram app and said:"The invaders wanted to shoot again, but they forgot what a nuclear power plant is. Russia endangers the whole world. We have to stop it before its too late." The missile attack also knocked out one of the hydropower units of the Oleksandrivska HPP, causing it to shut down along with three high-voltage power transmission lines. The hydroelectric power plant is a part of the South Ukrainian power complex. Officials said all three SUNPP power units are operating in a normal mode at present. No injuries and casualties have been reported among the power plant staff, Energoatom said in the statement. The Kremlin has not reacted to the reports accusing Russian forces of firing missiles on the nuclear plant. Southern city Mykolaiv, just 435 kms (270 miles) away from the Black Sea, has been bombed ferociously and struck with missiles in the recent weeks by the Russian forces Story continues Moscow has amped up the military warfare in Ukraine with increased missile strikes in sensitive zones where nuclear facilities are situated in the last 24 hours. This has caused the top US military officials to warn the forces in Europe to be on a heightened alert fearing a strong response from Russia. The war is not going too well for Russia right now. So its incumbent upon all of us to maintain high states of readiness, alert, US general Mark Milley, who also serves as the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said on Sunday. In a separate offensive, Russian forces fired at least eight missiles on Zaporizhzhia city overnight. At least eight projectiles have been fired targeting infrastructure facilities, Zaporizhzhia oblast governor Oleksandr Starukh said, reported The Kyiv Independent. It is not immediately clear if the missile strikes caused any casualties. The southeastern city, which has remained a critical war zone and witnessed continuous shelling from both sides, houses multiple power stations including Europes largest nuclear facility Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Zaporizhzhia thermal power station and Dnieper hydroelectric station. Sampa The Great - Photo: Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images Sampa The Great has shared a cover of Kendrick Lamars DAMN. hit DNA for triple js Like A Version series. Sampa also shared a version of the As Above, So Below song Let Me Be Great. Speaking about the Kendrick rendition, Sampa shared, I covered Kendricks DNA, or Kendrick in general, because Kendricks show was the first big, major support that I got in Sydney, and it was a huge inspiration for me to actually take being an artist seriously. I really like DAMN., she added. I think, you know, an artist whos really focused on lyricism and storytelling, sometimes you can get really heavy with your projects. I feel like DAMN. was a lighter version of Kendrick and we got to see him happy and joyous and talking about stuff that we all talk about, which I love. As a career-eclipsing record, anchored by the artists spoken word in the Zambian-rooted language of Bemba, As Above, So Below traverses Sampas memories of Africa through a self-exposed lens of authenticity and womanhood while looking to the future of Africas relationship to the world and its global communities. Sampa invites an international roster of collaborators, including Angelique Kidjo, Denzel Curry, Joey Bada$$, Kojey Radical, WITCH, Chef 187, Tio Nason, Sampas own sister Mwanje, and more to contribute across 11 tracks spanning hip-hop, neo-soul, Zamrock, Amapiano, and Southern African rap. A reflection of Sampas transitory upbringing, the records sonic hybridity throws recognition to the music coming out of the African diaspora today, while honoring the stories of those who tread previously. As Above, So Below is Sampas musical encyclopediaeach track grounds new modes of expression against various musical influences uncovered throughout her lifetime. After relocating home to Zambia during the pandemic, the MC reconnected with a different side of herselfone closer to the younger artistry that was nourished growing up in Africa. From collaborations with Southern Africa creatives Rochelle Nembhard and Imraan Christian, to executive production by award-winning producer and Zambian royalty, Mag44, to time spent recording with a long-established network of close friends and family, Sampa debuts a 360 Sampa to the world. Story continues Buy or stream As Above, So Below. For the latest music news and exclusive features, check out uDiscover Music. uDiscover Music is operated by Universal Music Group (UMG). Some recording artists included in uDiscover Music articles are affiliated with UMG. 'The Whale' (Photo: A24); 'The Fabelmans' (Photo: Universal); 'The Woman King' (Photo: TriStar) The just-wrapped Toronto International Film Festival was back in full effect meaning fully in person for the first time since 2019. And, just like old times, the vaunted event helped kick off the Oscar season with A-list stars, award-contending films and a fair bit of controversy The likes of Jennifer Lawrence, Harry Styles and even Weird Al Yankovic journeyed north of the border, where reliably friendly local audiences caught such high-profile world premieres as Steven Spielbergs The Fabelmans and Rian Johnsons Knives Out sequel Glass Onion, while critics sparred over the merits of divisive films like Sam Mendess Empire of Light and Darren Aronofskys The Whale. It was Spielbergs semi-autobiographical family drama The Fabelmans that captured Torontos People's Choice Award, which has predicted recent Best Picture Nomadland and Green Book. (Each of the last 10 winners at Toronto has at least been nominated for Best Picture, a remarkable streak.) Here are our favorites from the 2022 edition of TIFF (in alphabetical order): The Banshees of Inisherin British-Irish writer-director Martin McDonagh has made many fans with sometimes violent, darkly comedic crime fables like In Bruges (2008) and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017). So what if we told you that Banshees is the most glorious thing hes done yet? McDonagh loses the crime element unless suddenly deciding you no longer like your best friend/drinking buddy is a crime (and it should be), as is the case with the stubborn Colm (Brendan Gleeson) and poor Padraic (Colin Farrell). This delightful, hilarious, moving and just-bloody-enough gem features Farrells best performance to date and infectious Irish dialogue we wouldnt be surprised to hear quoted as often as Fargos Midwestern quips. In other words, expect to hear the word fecking a lot. How/when you can see it: In theaters Oct. 21 Causeway Jennifer Lawrences second film back after a brief acting break is a lot quieter and less star-studded than 2021s Oscar-nominated satire Dont Look Up, but it still packs potency not unlike 2010s Winters Bone, the drama that first put her on the map. Lawrence delivers a stirring performance as an Afghanistan veteran suffering from a brain injury whod rather be anywhere (or preferably, back in the Middle East) than confronting past demons at her mothers New Orleans home. Brian Tyree Henry is equally as impressive as mechanic whose shared trauma creates a poignant bond between the two. Story continues How/when you can see it: In theaters and on Apple TV+ Nov. 4 CAUSEWAY is a beautifully reserved character drama about two broken people trying to piece their lives back together. Jennifer Lawrences war-torn performance ranks among her very best & Brian Tyree Henry hasnt been this emotionally gripping since If Beale Street Could Talk. pic.twitter.com/qSGGQT1hf7 Matt Neglia @NYFF (@NextBestPicture) September 11, 2022 The Fabelmans Steven Spielberg, phone home? Hollywoods most successful filmmaker gets seriously personal with his heavily autobiographical feature, starring Michelle Williams and Paul Dano as versions of his parents, and newcomer Gabriel LaBelle as the filmmakers alter ego, Sammy. And the Toronto crowds were (right) here for it. Riding a wave of critical raves and audience applause, The Fabelmans handily won the festivals coveted Peoples Choice award, which is often a harbinger of Oscar glory to come. But Spielberg was careful to keep the focus on the film not the awards race, remarking at post-premiere Q&A that the movie is first and foremost, a way of bringing my mom and dad back. At the end of an emotional Fablemans Q&A, Steven Spielberg tells the #TIFF22 crowd that the film was a way of bringing my mom and dad back. pic.twitter.com/2iM7KHT8Wb Ethan Alter (@ethanalter) September 11, 2022 While Williamss performance has already been singled out for praise, The Fabelmans also features a memorable supporting turn from Seth Rogen as the Fabelman childrens surrogate uncle, who is carrying on a secret romance with their mother that Sammy eventually discovers in one of the films best and most dramatic sequences. And look for a hilarious cameo from David Lynch as legendary director John Ford, who gives the budding filmmaker some much-needed advice. And no, its not: The spice must flow. How/when you can see it: In select theaters Nov. 11 before expanding nationwide Nov. 23 Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery Could Rian Johnson possibly top his brilliant 2019 whodunit Knives Out with this highly anticipated follow-up? The fact that he comes close is a triumph in itself. Glass Onion is just as star-studded (Edward Norton! Janelle Monae! Kate Hudson! Daniel Craig again, of course!) and again takes some mercilessly hilarious stabs at the rich, but its also a far showier affair, leaving New England for a private Greek island overflowing with tech gadgetry. Most impressively, though, is how Johnson once again crafts an impossibly meticulous murder mystery whose ridiculous fun lies in peeling off its layers and maybe crying some with laughter, too. How/when you can see it: In select theaters in November (date TBA) before streaming on Netflix Dec. 23 GLASS ONION: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY is a riot. So much fun and always shifting into something fresh and exciting. Daniel Craig has fully embodied Benoit Blanc and it's beautiful. #TIFF22 pic.twitter.com/KploIplNah Christopher Cross (@HammerkopCross) September 11, 2022 The Peoples Joker Heres a breakout TIFF movie that wont be playing at a theater near you at least, not yet. Vera Drews Batman-based confessional/experimental cinematic collage had a one-night-only showing during the Midnight Madness program before the filmmaker pulled it from the festival amid pressure by DC Comicss parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery. The trans filmmaker has already promised that The Peoples Joker will screen again at future festivals, but it may not be the exact version that played at TIFF as she navigates the copyright issues standing in the way of a wider release. A STATEMENT FROM VERA ON WHAT WENT DOWN AT TIFF, THE LEGAL STATUS OF THE PEOPLES JOKER, AND WHERE WE GO FROM HERE pic.twitter.com/TJCneaEUDW Vera Drew (@VeraDrew22) September 16, 2022 THE PEOPLE'S JOKER was the last film I saw at #TIFF22 and it was the ideal festival-capper: a boldly conceived, crazily inventive confessional that's also a Flaming Creatures/Superstar piece of experimental art for the comic book crowd. Deserves to become a midnight movie staple. pic.twitter.com/Q8vgQALYT4 Ethan Alter (@ethanalter) September 15, 2022 Make no mistake: the Joker may belong in Arkham Asylum, but The Peoples Joker should be freed from movie jail. Drews wild vision uses the Caped Crusader and the Clown Prince of Crime as a jumping-off point for a highly personal exploration of gender identity and the prejudices of the comedy world, all filtered through a mixed-media pop-culture lens that carries echoes of Andy Warhol, Kenneth Anger and Todd Haynes. Its the kind of boldly original vision you go to film festivals to discover, so heres hoping that other festivalgoers will soon have that same chance. How/when you can see it: Were not sure yet, but our fingers are crossed that The Peoples Joker will return. Weird: The Al Yankovic Story You didnt expect that a guy named Weird Al would make a normal biopic would you? What started in 2010 as a three-minute Funny or Die trailer has become a real and really funny feature film with ex-Harry Potter Daniel Radcliffe picking up Al Yankovics accordion and Hawaiian shirt collection for a UHF-style account of the musicians life and times. TIFF programmers wisely picked Weird: The Al Yankovic Story to kick off its Midnight Madness slate, and the midnight audience gave the film a heros welcome. Every stunt cameo, every shout-out to Yankovic lore and every music cue was greeted with thunderous cheers and applause a clear sign that the Roku Channel should seriously consider a limited theatrical release in addition to the movies streaming premiere. Besides Radcliffes spirited star turn, Weird also features a fall-down-funny performance from Evan Rachel Wood as a kooky version of the Material Girl. Ive loved Madonna since I was very little, the Westworld star said after the movies premiere. I knew it was a heightened version and a sociopathic version of Madonna, but I still wanted it to be good! Meanwhile, her co-star described his intense accordion training regimen, overseen by Yankovic himself. I did what I could, Radcliffe said with typical British humbleness. Its a very hard instrument he makes it look very easy! How/when you can see it: Streaming Nov. 4 on the Roku Channel (Brendan Frasers performance in) The Whale Never let it be said that Darren Aronofsky makes easily digestible movies. Following back-to-back premieres at Venice and Toronto, The Whale is already one of the falls most buzzed-about and divisive films. To be fair, everyone (including us) agrees that Brendan Frasers performance as a morbidly obese teacher eating himself to death in his squalid apartment is a career-best comeback performance that could very well bring The Mummy star his first-ever Oscar nomination and possibly win. Besides its leading man, the film also features stellar supporting work from Stranger Things fan favorite Sadie Sink who plays Frasers angry teen daughter as well as Hong Chau, Samantha Morton and Ty Simpkins. But opinions differ wildly on whether The Whale is an empathic portrayal of an isolated man or an exercise in fatphobic humiliation. THE WHALE, which just premiered at TIFF, was a risky movie to make. Tonally, it couldve so easily gone wrong. The glue that holds it together, because his humanity can shine through any amount of prosthetics, is Brendan Fraser, whos now your man to beat in the best actor race. pic.twitter.com/hl1NviAJuX Scott Feinberg (@ScottFeinberg) September 11, 2022 For reasons having nothing to do with Brendan Frasers very lived-in, quite good performance, THE WHALE is a mighty misfire, full of false beats and no small amount of manipulation. Itll be interesting to see if there exists online the cultural space to dissent on film. #TIFF22 Brent Simon (@SharedDarkness) September 14, 2022 You can expect that debate to continue as The Whale approaches its theatrical premiere in December a potent reminder of Aronofskys skill at pushing the audiences buttons. (See also: The Fountain, Black Swan and, of course, Mother!) One things for sure: you wont come out of the theater without a hot take of your own. How/when you can see it: In theaters Dec. 9 The Woman King Its typically not a great sign when a film premieres at TIFF just days before its theatrical opening. Well, The Woman King bucked that trend. Gina Prince Blythewoods rousing action movie is at once both a throwback battle royale and never-seen-before type of war film, one that finds West Africas storied Dahomey army of female warriors (lead by an Oscar-worthy Viola Davis, stop us if youve heard that before) fighting for liberty in the thick of the early 19th century slave trade. Despite generating some controversy over its historical accuracy, The Woman King still scored a royal $19 million over its opening weekend in theaters to dominate this past weekends box office. How/when you can see it: Now in theaters Women Talking Canadian child star-turned-auteur Sarah Polleys first feature film in a decade is also her fourth feature to have a TIFF premiere. Not surprisingly, she had plenty of hometown support: Women Talking was the first runner-up for the Peoples Choice prize, ensuing that it will be talked about as the awards conversation heats up. But theres so much more to say about Polleys nuanced and deeply moving adaptation of Miriam Toewss 2018 bestseller, which unfolds in a Bolivian Mennonite colony where the female population is debating whether or not to leave after enduring a series of rapes and abuses committed by some of the communitys male population. On the page, the narrative reads like the minutes of their extended meeting, whereas Polleys deftly written script opens up the story into a portrait of the entire community, populated by such magnetic performers as Claire Foy, Rooney Mara and Jessie Buckley. As the clock ticks down on their literally life-altering decision, Women Talking becomes the story of what one generation of women owes to another a message that resonates all the more in the aftermath of the Supreme Courts Roe v. Wade reversal. Not for nothing, but the film also boasts one of the years best needle drops as Polley cues up Daydream Believer for a lengthy sequence that offers some cheer amid the drama. How/when you can see it: In select theaters Dec. 2 Rheema Calloway and Ronnishia Johnson of the Vegan Hood Chefs food truck Sabrina Sellers Rheema Calloway (L) and Ronnishia Johnson (R) of the Vegan Hood Chefs. "'Cause we kick much ass at the Sucka Free Club." I was born in San Francisco in the summer of 1994, the same year that San Francisco musician Rappin' 4-Tay released his song "Playaz Club." This particular lyric became an underground anthem and rallying cry for longterm San Francisco residents who watched their streets and communities gnawed away by gentrification. Flash forward 28 years later and The Vegan Hood Chefs' Sucka-Free Salad a beautiful medley of perfectly crispy fried oyster mushrooms, ripe avocado, zesty pickled onion, and creamy aioli with garlic and chives stands center stage on their menu. It's a daily reminder for the truck's chef-owners, Rheema Calloway and Ronnishia Johnson, of what their city and true cooking are all about. RELATED: Meet Oakland's Vegan Mob The Vegan Hood Chefs parked outside out 7 Stars Holistic Healing Center for a pop-up Sabrina Sellers The Vegan Hood Chefs parked outside out 7 Stars Holistic Healing Center for a pop-up in Richmond, California. "This lyric "means to keep it real, stay 10 toes down," says Johnson, who hails from Bayview and Calloway from Lakeview in San Francisco. "It sounds like gibberish to someone who doesn't understand where we're coming from, but that's our lingo, that's our culture. It means to move with intentionality. Our business isn't just a vegan business; we're intentional about who we're serving, why we're serving them, what we make, and why we make it." For Calloway and Johnson, who've been best friends since the ninth grade, the journey to opening The Vegan Hood Chefs in 2017 started with a health scare in college that geared Johnson to veganism. But when talk first started circulating about the duo opening up a completely vegan food business after both growing up in households with soul food where quintessential dishes relied on the umami from animal products they were met with trepidation. The exact response from a particular loved one: "Oh, y'all crazy as hell." Story continues RELATED: The Food & Wine Guide to Plant-Based Meat The Vegan Hood Chefs Poke Fries: Fresh papaya poke marinated in coconut Marios and spices on top of crispy potato fries topped with fresh seaweed, hearts of palm crab, wasabi mayo, spicy mayo, and microgreens. Sabrina Sellers The Vegan Hood Chefs Poke Fries: Fresh papaya poke marinated in coconut Marios and spices on top of crispy potato fries topped with fresh seaweed, hearts of palm crab, wasabi mayo, spicy mayo, and microgreens. Oh, y'all crazy as hell. There was an underlying reason why this business seemed so out of the blue despite Black cooking highlighting the diverse use of plants for generations. Many people imagine the word "vegan" and picture access to fresh produce, specialty ingredients, an entire Whole Foods section of the latest packaged-goods brands. What doesn't come to mind is a neighborhood with over 19,000 people and only two large-scale grocers in the entire zip code, a community that struggles to have access to healthy food options. A place of food apartheid which is hard to fathom in San Francisco, one of cities with the highest cost of living in the United States. Yet, the Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood exists and it's where Calloway and Johnson are from. RELATED: Compton Chef Lemel Durrah's Vegan Soul Food Mission "We're The Vegan Hood Chefs. Not only are we interrupting the normal, but also the community that is looked to," says Calloway "People look at veganism as a white thing. But we're reclaiming that it's not. In our culture and our community a lot of us eat plant-based. We have for generations back home. We are able to interrupt how the system is intentionally trying to not allow us to have access to healthy food options." Jerk Lions Mane Mushroom Artisan Pizza with grilled pineapple, red onions, avocado, and sauteed kale and Swiss chard Sabrina Sellers Jerk Lions Mane Mushroom Artisan Pizza with grilled pineapple, red onions, avocado, and sauteed kale and Swiss chard. When you stop by The Vegan Hood Chefs' truck and you're handed the creamiest Cajun Mac and Cheese, tangy Mango Habanero Jackfruit Wingz, smokey Bourbon BBQ Pulled No Pork or their award-winning shatteringly crispy Vegan Chickn you taste the recipes from the kitchen's of Calloway's and Johnson's grandmothers' and their culinary journeys from Louisiana to San Francisco just with different ingredients. "Because we're still here fighting, we're able to amplify and show folks really what the culture of the Bay area is as well as the culture of this business," says Calloway. "You get that in our food. The resilience of the culture. What it means to be a Black vegan from the Bay Area." RELATED: An Invitation to Vegan Comfort Food Rheema Calloway chopping tomatoes in the Vegan Hood Chefs food truck. Sabrina Sellers Rheema Calloway chopping tomatoes in the Vegan Hood Chefs food truck. Aside from incredible food, you also get to see two best friends messing around and having fun, rebuilding a neglected community, and re-writing the narrative of what it means to be vegan. With the rise of vegan restaurants and pop-ups in every major metropolitan city, it could be argued that this concept could have been born in any city. But San Francisco is what makes The Vegan Hood Chefs special and The Vegan Hood Chefs are part of what makes San Francisco special. You walk away from that truck feeling like you've been taken care of. The moment you step up to that window, you become a part of their family. Whether it's for a quick bite on the way back to work or a slow moment to yourself where you just want to indulge, Calloway and Johnson are there for you. While San Francisco has changed a lot in my 27 years, some for the better, some for the not so better. One thing hasn't: within this seven-mile by seven-mile hilly city, often cuddled by Karl the Fog, the stories within the food community continue to illuminate. Whether you view The Vegan Hood Chefs' truck as a regular, a skeptic, or as a curious newcomer who wants to know why these plates of food look so damn good, you're getting a glimpse into how I've experienced this city my entire life: a vibrating metropolis of shakers, caretakers, cooks, and eaters on the streets making it happen. We all out at the Playaz Club. Rheema Calloway and Ronnishia Johnson of the Vegan Hood Chefs Sabrina Sellers Ronnishia Johnson and Rheema Calloway of the Vegan Hood Chefs food truck in Richmond, California. (Back row L-R) Cody Johnson, Sting, Chris Stapleton, Keb' Mo', Luke Combs and Ricky Skaggs, (front row L-R) Wendy Moten, Jenny Gill Van Valkenburg, honoree Vince Gill and Corrina Grant Gill and Carrie Underwood attend CMT Giants: Vince Gill at the Fisher Center for the Performing Arts in Nashville. Photo: Catherine Powell/Getty Images for CMT CMT have shared images and YouTube highlights from the taping of their 90-minute special CMT Giants: Vince Gill. The show premiered last Friday (16) on CMT and featured a remarkable array of friends, collaborators, and admirers, gathering in Gills honor at Belmont Universitys Fisher Center for the Performing Arts in Nashville. Sheryl Crow introduced the show, welcoming the invitation-only crowd by recalling that Gill had been the first person to call her when she got to Nashville. Brad Paisley opened the show by performing Gills 1991 hit Liza Jane, and Gills fellow Oklahoma native Carrie Underwood sang his Grammy-winning 1995 release Go Rest High On That Mountain, backed by a choir of Belmont students. Chris Stapleton offered a reading of Whenever You Come Around and Gills band member and recent finalist on The Voice, Wendy Moten, received the first standing ovation of the evening with I Still Believe In You. Others interpreting Gill's catalog and offering warm wishes to one of the best-loved pillars of the Nashville community included Maren Morris, with Dont Let Our Love Start Slippin Away, and Luke Combs, who sang Pretty Little Adriana. He observed that a concert by the honoree had been his first as a music fan, and the full-circle moment that saw Gill induct him into the Grand Ole Opry. Sting, who had earlier introduced Stapleton, performed These Days, ten years after he and Gill worked together on their acclaimed CMT Crossroads collaboration. Cody Johnson reprised the song he performed at the Grand Ole Opry recently, Gills career-elevating When I Call Your Name. Another longtime friend of the star, Ricky Skaggs, was with his band Kentucky Thunder to put a bluegrass spin on One More Last Chance. Also among the presenters on the night, recalling fond memories of their friend, were Emmylou Harris, Rodney Crowell, and Keb Mo, while Keith Urban and Reba McEntire did so virtually. Gill himself was introduced by his daughter Corrina Grant Gill who gave a stirring speech, after which he closed this memorable night with the new song I Gave You Everything I Had, to a standing ovation. Story continues Listen to the best of Vince Gill on Apple Music and Spotify. For the latest music news and exclusive features, check out uDiscover Music. uDiscover Music is operated by Universal Music Group (UMG). Some recording artists included in uDiscover Music articles are affiliated with UMG. Mayor's Office Press Release Houston-African Energy Summit Gains Momentum Mayor Turner Announces 18 African Nations will be Represented During Two-Days of Meetings and Plenary Sessions September 16, 2022 -- HBuilding on several years of increasing engagement with Africa, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, in collaboration with the Greater Houston Partnership, will host the Citys first-ever Houston-Africa Energy Summit. The event will feature African Heads of State, African Ministers, Houston-based energy executives, and business leaders from the African continent and the Greater Houston region. We are excited to welcome Chevron Corporation as the Title sponsor and Kosmos Energy as the Host Sponsor for this inaugural event. "As the Energy Capital of the world, we are leading the way in all aspects of the energy industry. said Mayor Turner. Houston is the headquarters and intellectual capital for nearly every energy industry segment. We take pride in our abundance of human and technical resources in exploration, production, transmission, marketing, supply, and new technology to lead the energy transition. And the Houston region remains at the forefront of foreign investment in the energy sector. The conference plans to have more than 18 African nations represented. Anticipated African attendees for this two-day program include the President of Niger and Ministers from Botswana, Burundi, Congo, DRC, Ethiopia, Equatorial Guinea, Gambia, Ghana, Madagascar, Malawi, Namibia, Niger (both Petroleum and Energy), Senegal, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. Featured Speakers will include: The Honorable Sylvester Turner, Mayor, City of Houston His Excellency Mohamed Bazoum, President of Niger Rick Kennedy, Chairman of Mid Africa, Chevron Andy Inglis, CEO of Kosmos Energy Bobby Tudor, CEO, Artemis Energy Partners George Maxwell, CEO of Vaalco Energy A series of panel discussions will focus on: The Future of Global Energy in Africa Building Africas Energy Infrastructure Investing in Africa: Financial Pathways Senior executives from many of Houstons leading energy companies will also be in attendance, including Chevron, ExxonMobil, Kosmos, ConocoPhillips, CenterPoint, Shell, Calpine, Vaalco, KBR, Schlumberger, Halliburton, Baker Hughes, Shamaran, and Air Liquid, as well as PortHouston, EXIM Bank, University of Houston, and the Greater Houston Partnership. The goal of this summit is to help build relationships and partnerships between African countries and some of the world's leading energy companies that call Houston home, in order to make a real investment in Africa's energy future, said Mayor Turner. Sponsorship and individual tickets are still available at Houston-Africa Energy Summit: Plenary Session. For more information, please contact Mayors Office of Trade and International Affairs at motia@houstontx.gov. WASHINGTON President Joe Biden said Monday that the U.S. has secured the release of Mark Frerichs, an American contractor and Navy veteran abducted more than two years ago in Afghanistan. Biden said in a statement that he had spoken to Frerichs' sister and that Frerichs, who was said to be in stable health, would be home soon. Frerichs was freed after the Biden administration struck a deal with the Taliban that allowed imprisoned drug lord and Taliban ally Haji Bashir Noorzai to return to Afghanistan. Noorzai revealed during a news conference in Kabul that he was part of a prisoner swap for an unnamed American, whom U.S. officials later identified as Frerichs. Noorzai was in U.S. custody for 17 years after a conviction by a New York court for drug trafficking. In his statement confirming that Frerichs had been released, Biden indirectly acknowledged that the deal involved granting clemency to Noorzai, a member of the Taliban who was sentenced to life in prison for heroin importation, including trafficking large quantities into the United States. "Bringing the negotiations that led to Marks freedom to a successful resolution required difficult decisions, which I did not take lightly," Biden said. "Our priority now is to make sure Mark receives a healthy and safe return and is given the space and time he needs to transition back into society." Undated photo of Mark Frerichs, a U.S. veteran and civilian contractor held captive in Afghanistan. Biden's effort to secure Frerichs' release was complicated by several factors, including the U.S. withdrawal of military forces from Afghanistan and the Taliban takeover of the country last year. The Taliban, or one of its affiliates, abducted Frerichs, a civilian contractor from Illinois, in January 2020. The Biden administration does not recognize the Taliban as a governmental authority. A senior U.S. official said Monday that it told the group that a better relationship could not be had until Frerichs was released. Story continues The exchange is one of the most significant prisoner swaps to take place under the Biden administration, coming five months after a separate deal with Russia that resulted in the release of Marine veteran Trevor Reed. It took place despite concerns from his family and other advocates that the U.S. military departure from Afghanistan, and the collapse of the government there, could make it harder to bring him home and could deflect attention away from his imprisonment. A sister of Frerichs, who is from Lombard, Illinois, thanked U.S. government officials who helped secure her brother's release. "I am so happy to hear that my brother is safe and on his way home to us. Our family has prayed for this each day of the more than 31 months he has been a hostage. We never gave up hope that he would survive and come home safely to us," said a statement from Charlene Cakora. Others were not so happy with the swap, including some of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration officials who spent years investigating Noorzai and other Taliban-linked heroin traffickers who used their massive profits to bankroll the insurgency in Afghanistan that led to America's longest war. In a nutshell, it just clearly demonstrates the connection between the Taliban and drug traffickers and how it is something that they hold dear to this day, said Michael Marsac, who headed DEAs on-the-ground operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan until 2013. Its like a bag of snakes. You look in there and cant tell where one ends and the other begins. In a briefing with reporters, two senior administration officials said that Biden decided to release Noorzai only after consulting national security experts across the U.S. government with a deep understanding of the current state of the drug trade in Afghanistan, the broader threat networks there and the potential dangers posed by someone who has been in U.S. custody for 17 years to return to that. Ultimately, those experts assessed that Noorzais return to Afghanistan would not materially change any risk to Americans emanating from the country or the nature of the drug trade there, the officials said. But Marsac, who retired from the DEA in 2014 after 28 years, predicted that Noorzai would immediately assume a position of prominence within the Taliban leadership, given his decades of close ties to it. I expect him to be an integral member of the Taliban government, Marsac told USA TODAY. So now you have a convicted international drug trafficker exercising a high-level of influence in the Afghan government, if not working directly for it in a high-level position. Bashir Noorzai, prison, speaks during his release ceremony, at the Intercontinental Hotel, in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Sept. 19, 2022. Noorzai, a notorious drug lord and member of the Taliban, told reporters in Kabul on Monday that he spent 17 years and six months in a U.S. prison. Taliban-appointed Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said Monday that a released American, in what appears to have been part of a swap, was Mark Frerichs, a Navy veteran and civilian contractor kidnapped in Afghanistan in 2020. Another former top U.S. counternarcotics official agreed. This is an absolute disaster for America. We shouldnt be negotiating with terrorists, said Derek Maltz, the former head of Special Operations Division at the Drug Enforcement Administration, who was involved in the investigation into Noorzai and other Afghan heroin traffickers. It makes me sick, but Im not too surprised. We have a movement in this country where we want to give hugs to thugs, said Maltz, who retired in 2014 after 28 years in federal service, including setting up the DEAs Counter Narco-Terrorism Operations Center. Maltz also criticized the Biden administration for reportedly offering the release of imprisoned Russian weapons trafficker Viktor Bout in exchange for Women's National Basketball Association player Brittney Griner and possibly other Americans detained in Russia. Griner was arrested at a Moscow airport last February and sentenced to nine years in prison for possession of vape cartridges containing hashish oil in her luggage. This is very concerning because it opens up opportunities for other terrorists around the world to take American citizens hostage so they can benefit and carry out their strategic radical agendas, Maltz told USA TODAY. Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee who represents Frerichs' home state, countered that it is unlikely that Noorzai will have the same connections than when he was taken into custody more than a decade ago. Duckworth said in an interview with USA TODAY that she asked Biden to consider a swap during a meeting early last year in the Oval Office. She learned six months ago that the administration recommended her proposal to the president, and three months ago she was informed that Biden was willing to make the trade, which took another three months of negotiations to facilitate. "We don't normally swap prisoners, but in this case, the prisoner that we had was in ailing health," Duckworth said. "I was just desperately afraid that this guy was going to die in U.S. hands and then we would have nothing to swap to get to get Mark back." Efforts to free Frerichs In Afghanistan, Noorzai told reporters at a news conference that he had been released from an unspecified U.S. prison and handed over earlier in the day to the Taliban in Kabul in exchange for an American prisoner held in Afghanistan whom he did not identify. Frerichs' family later confirmed that it was him. Other Taliban officials claimed Noorzai was held at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay but did not offer any support for that claim, but a U.S. official disputed that. Noorzai was prosecuted by the Justice Department, which does not send its defendants to the military prison in Cuba, and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2009 on drug trafficking charges. Backstory: I still have nightmares of Afghanistan. A female journalist escaped the Taliban, but she is not free. Frerichs, 60, had been working on civil engineering projects at the time of his abduction in Kabul on Jan. 31, 2020. He was last seen in a video posted last spring by The New Yorker, in which he appeared in traditional Afghan clothing and pleaded for his release. The publication said it obtained the clip from an unidentified person in Afghanistan. Until Monday, U.S. officials across two presidential administrations had tried to get him home. Even before their takeover of Afghanistan in August last year, the Taliban had demanded the U.S. release Noorzai in exchange for Frerichs. But there had been no public sign of Washington proceeding with any sort of trade or exchange along those lines. Eric Lebson, a former U.S. government national security official who had been advising Frerichs' family, said in a statement that "everything about this case has been an uphill fight." He criticized the Trump administration for having given away "our leverage to get Mark home quickly by signing a peace accord with the Taliban without ever having asked them to return Mark first." "Mark's family then had to navigate two Administrations, where many people viewed Mark's safe return as an impediment to their plans for Afghanistan," the statement said. The collapse of the Western-backed Afghan government and takeover by the Taliban raised additional concern that any progress in negotiations could be undone or that Frerichs could be forgotten. But his name surfaced last month when Biden, who had publicly called for Frerichs' release, was said by his advisers to have pressed officials to consider any risk posed to Frerichs by the drone strike in Afghanistan that killed al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri. 'New era' in relations, Taliban says The Taliban-appointed foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, spoke at the Kabul news conference alongside Noorzai and welcomed the exchange, saying it marked the start of a "new era" in U.S.-Taliban relations. "This can be a new chapter between Afghanistan and the United States. This can open a new door for talks between both countries," Muttaqi said. "This act shows us that all problems can be solved through talks and I thank both sides' teams who worked so hard for this to happen." The Taliban also posted a brief video Monday on social media showing Noorzai's arrival at the Kabul airport where he was welcomed by top Taliban officials, including Muttaqi. At the news conference, Noorzai expressed thankfulness at seeing his "mujahedeen brothers" a reference to the Taliban in Kabul. "I pray for more success of the Taliban," he said. "I hope this exchange can lead to peace between Afghanistan and America, because an American was released and I am also free now." A powerful warlord Before his capture in 2005, Noorzai was one of the most powerful warlords in Afghanistan, biggest heroin traffickers in the world and a close ally of Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar. In April 2009, he was sentenced to life in prison on heroin importation and distribution conspiracy charges after being found guilty by a federal jury in New York city of importing millions of dollars of the drug into the United States and other countries. The federal judge in his case, Denny Chin, rejected Noorzais pleas for leniency based on his cooperation with American authorities. According to the evidence at his trial, Noorzai the leader of his namesake tribe, one of Afghanistan's largest and most influential owned opium fields in the southern province of Kandahar and had subordinates convert the opium into heroin at laboratories in Afghanistan's border regions. Heroin from these labs was later imported into the United States, hidden in suitcases and on ships. As early as 1990, Noorzai had a network of distributors in New York City who sold his heroin. And he was part of a group of co-conspirators who trafficked Afghan heroin to every continent, and used the proceeds to bankroll the Taliban insurgency with weapons, night vision goggles and fighters from the local populace. Noorzai was lured to New York in 2005 ostensibly to meet with American counternarcotics officials who wanted his help in fighting terrorism in Afghanistan. Instead, after nearly two weeks of meetings with federal agents, he was arrested. At trial, Noorzai was found guilty of conspiring to import heroin and to manufacture and distribute heroin knowing that it would be imported into the United States. While he faced a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years, he was sentenced by Chin to life imprisonment on each count in the Indictment. In sentencing Noorzai, Chin found that he led a conspiracy involving hundreds of people and that the conspiracy helped arm the Taliban with narcotics proceeds. Contributing: The Associated Press This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden says American Mark Frerichs' freed after Taliban prisoner swap Robbie Cantonwine has been named a partner in the Battalion marketing communications company, effective immediately. As a partner, he will work even more closely with founding partner Jim Kloiber. Cantonwine has been at Battalion for four years and during that time has overseen many of the firms key clients, including Watches of Switzerland, Johnston & Murphy and Girard-Perregaux. During the pandemic, he also helped Battalion expand its client base with the addition of Breitling, Watchfinder & Co. and the School of American Ballet. In the last month he helped grow the firms menswear division by bringing in The London Collective, which is made up of four leading bespoke British brands: Edward Sexton, Budd Shirtmakers, Gaziano & Girling footwear, and E.B. Meyrowitz. Most recently Battalion has added Arthur Ashe, Gyles and George, Rowing Blazers and Warm & Wonderful. More from WWD Whether its developing a breakthrough press campaign, identifying emerging talent partners or bringing a brand to life experientially, Robbie is highly skilled at delivering very smart, creative solutions that move the needle for our clients, said Kloiber. In the evolving landscape of media and communications, Robbie has a rare PR IQ that will undoubtedly lead to the continued success and growth of Battalion. Cantonwine also has helped grow the companys philanthropic efforts, earlier this year spearheading the first U.S. gala fundraiser for The Princes Trust, which was started by the-then Prince of Wales who is now King Charles. As a partner in Battalion, Cantonwine will co-lead the firms blue-chip clients with Kloiber and also help grow the companys position in fashion and menswear, as well as hospitality and home/design. He began his career in menswear working with firms such as Barneys New York, Dior and Comme des Garcons. Click here to read the full article. As one of the current medical students here at the University of Florida, we have learned about the physical and psychological ills that humans can suffer. We have also received extensive training about how other things, the social determinants of health, affect a persons overall wellness. With that in mind, it is important to recognize that the civic health of our country is clearly on life support. The symptoms of this disease are, among others, the loss of community, the breakdown of important institutions of government and media, out-of-control political division to the point of rioting and violence, and the loss of trust in our election process. People with different political views are considered enemies that must be defeated at all costs. The path we are on cannot be sustained. If our country is to return to health, we need a drastic political intervention. I grew up in what might be called a high-control religious group, one where things like dissent, critical thinking and associating with non-believers were discouraged. I became deeply familiar with religious tribalism the idea that our people were good and outsiders were bad, dangerous or even evil. It wasnt until I was 30 years old that I was able to wake up and escape from the control imposed by my upbringing. After that point, I became interested in politics, something I wasnt permitted to do prior. I quickly realized, however, that I didnt have a natural home among the existing parties. None of my beliefs fit neatly into the Democrat or Republican platforms, and I disagreed with enough major things on each side to be considered an outsider by both. Like my unfortunate religious past, dissent, nuance and the mere suggestion that maybe the other side had a better idea for a particular issue was forbidden. I found many well-intentioned people blinded by their tribal partisanship. In his 2021 book Forward: Notes on the Future of Our Democracy, former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang envisioned the creation of a new political entity dubbed The Forward Party. Having been a fan of Yangs approach to politics since first hearing about his campaign in 2018, and as a proponent of the growth of a multiparty democratic system, I was intrigued and interested. Story continues Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang addresses supporters in Des Moines after the Iowa Caucus in 2020. Yang announced last year that he had left the Democratic Party and later co-founded the Forward Party. On July 27, I was excited to learn that three organizations from across the political spectrum were joining forces. The Forward Party, the Serve America Movement and the Renew America Movement merged to create Forward, a new political party that aims to fight back against the growing extremism, tribalism and corruption that lies at the heart of the current two-party political system. I joined immediately. Forward represents a prescription to treat Americas political sickness. To appreciate it requires understanding, though, that it is not simply a new third party. It is a reimagining of the way politics should be, and how that can be used to bring communities closer together and solve civic questions with practical solutions. Forward, unlike the Democratic or Republican parties, will not present activists, candidates or voters with a menu of must follow policy planks. Rather, the Forward platform is a set of values and principles that dictate how we should treat each other and how we should approach problems. Our party seeks to bring ideological diversity, critical thinking, and grace and tolerance back to political discourse, all while advocating for policies supporting Forwards three main pillars: free people, thriving communities and a vibrant democracy. We are surrounded by one-party rule here in Alachua County. The Republican Party dominates at the state level and the Democratic Party has full control of the county and city levels. Our state and local general elections are not competitive, creating little incentive for innovation or for solving problems. This lack of political diversity hurts everyone, even if your team is the one with the advantage. The fact that we suffer in traffic on Archer Road every day, cant afford our utility bills and have a community dealing with extensive poverty and homelessness, for example, is evidence that our government is not able or willing to work for us. Forward represents a new choice and a new way. We will not put partisan advantage over the needs of the community and will focus instead on coming together to find practical solutions to everyday problems ones that seem to regularly go ignored. Nick Davies is a medical student at the University of Florida and lives in Gainesville. He currently volunteers as the platform committee co-chair with the Florida Forward Party. Join the conversation Letters to the editor present the opinions of readers on news stories and other pieces published by The Sun. Share your opinions by sending a letter to the editor (up to 200 words) to letters@gainesville.com. Letters must include the writer's full name and city of residence. Additional guidelines for submitting letters and longer guest columns can be found at bit.ly/sunopinionguidelines. Journalism matters. Your support matters. Get a digital subscription to the Gainesville Sun. Includes must-see content on Gainesville.com and Gatorsports.com, breaking news and updates on all your devices, and access to the eEdition. Visit www.gainesville.com/subscribenow to sign up. This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Nick Davies: Forward Party is prescription to treat political sickness US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden got held up in traffic outside a Pret-a-Manger on their way to attend Queen Elizabeth IIs state funeral at Westminster Abbey on 19 September (Tiktok/video screengrab) US President Joe Bidens armoured limousine got stuck in traffic while heading to Westminster Abbey to attend Queen Elizabeth IIs funeral. Unexpecting mourners were greeted to waves from him and First Lady Jill Biden outside a Pret-a-Manger as his specifically bespoke state car The Beast was stranded. In the clips shared online, crowds of onlookers who had piled into the streets to commemorate the monarch can be seen waving at the president and his wife as police zip ahead on motorbikes in an attempt to clear the gridlocked traffic for the hulking limousine. Unlike most foreign leaders, the US president was granted special permission by the British government to utilise his own mode of transportation for the state funeral. State leaders and their partners who were not given the luxury of using their own mode of transportation for the 19 September funeral were asked to arrive in the UK on commercial flights and have been banned from using helicopters to move around the capital. There was a bus that would be made available for most dignitaries, that would be departing from a site in west London and arriving at Westminster Abbey en masse, Politico reported. The state funeral saw around 500 dignitaries from around the world descend on London to pay their last respects to the long-reigning monarch. Though nearly all heads of state from across the globe received an invite to the funeral there were six countries who were notably excluded. Syria, Venezuela, Afghanistan, Russia, Belarus, and Myanmar did not have leaders representing them at the state funeral while North Korea, Nicaragua, and Iran were invited only at ambassadorial level. The 2020 SI Swim cover model recently took the legendary journey from Venice to Paris aboard the 1920s Art Deco train with her two sisters Aurora and Sophia. To step onto the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express is to go back in time to an era when glamour and grandeur were at the forefront of everything in life and train travel was the quickest mode of transport from city to city. 2020 SI Swim cover model Olivia Culpo recently took the legendary journey from Venice to Paris aboard the 1920s Art Deco train with her two sisters Aurora and Sophia. So grateful for this experience of a lifetime, she wrote in part on Instagram. Lichtenstein, Austria, Italy, Switzerland and France aboard the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express with my best friends. A picture taken on September 15, 2018 shows the restaurant coach "Anatolie" of the legendary train "Orient Express" in Paris during the European Heritage Day. FRANCOIS GUILLOT/AFP/Getty Images For the overnight trip, the Culpo sisters, who were the epitome of chic, documented every step of the way from where they slept to what they wore. Another posh lady, Victoria Beckham, celebrated 23 years of marriage to husband David aboard along with her parents and siblings in July. They went the opposite direction starting in Paris and ending in the City of Water. So special to experience the @vsoetrain with my amazing family, the fashion designer wrote on Instagram. Family time is so precious! I love you all so much. View the original article to see embedded media. While flying is the preferred and quickest transportation to get between these cities these days, there is something magical about going by train, especially when it is on the Belmonds Venice Simplon-Orient Express. With the picturesque scenery outside as the train travels through the Alps and the unique history in each of the 17 carriages inside, there really is nothing better. View the original article to see embedded media. From the moment you step foot inside, you will be greeted with five-star service and amenities that could include personal 24-hour cabin stewards, complimentary kimonos and slippers and free-flowing champagne. Michelin-star chef Jean Imbert is at the helm of the culinary experience aboard in the three restaurant cars LOriental, Etoile Du Nord and Cote dAzur where he incorporates ingredients from local farms, producers and artisans from along the trains routes. The cocktails in the Bar Car 3674 are made from talented mixologists with the most intricate attention to detail. And lets not forget the cabins! Whether you opt for a twin cabin or the grand suite, the ornate decor, plush furnishings and handcrafted furniture are carried throughout and have been preserved from the golden era. The soothing sounds of the train passing through the night with fresh linens will also help secure a good nights sleep. To take the one-night trip in either direction, the cost that starts at 2,920 (roughly $3,336) per person includes breakfast, a three-course lunch and four-course dinner. For the first time, the overnight voyages (that are usually from March November) will be offered in December, so you will be able to travel through a winter wonderland. If one night is not enough, once a year, the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express embarks on a five-night trip from Paris to Istanbul with overnight stops in Budapest and Bucharest and daytime halts in Sinaia and Varna. One night or five, the memories created on board will last a lifetime. Since her husband took the throne, royal well-wishers have wondered about Queen Consort Camillas net worth and what she and Charles make now that hes king. Queen Consort Camillawhose full name is Camilla Rosemary Shandis the Queen Consort of the United Kingdom and the 14 Commonwealth realms. She is the wife of King Charles III, who became the new King of the United Kingdom and the 14 Commonwealth realms after the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, on September 8, 2022. Camilla married Charles in 2005. The marriage came 10 years after Camillas divorce from British Army Officer Andrew Parker Bowles, whom she was married to from 1973 to 1995. Charles and Camillas marriage also came after his divorce from his late wife Diana, Princess of Wales, whom he was married to from 1981 to 1996, a year before Dianas death. More from StyleCaster After Camilla and Charles married in 2005, Clarence House issued a statement at the time announcing that Camilla would receive the title of Princess Consort when Charles becomes king. However, at Queen Elizabeth IIs Platinum Jubilee in 2022, the monarch announced that Camilla would instead be known as Queen Consort when her husband ascends to the throne. When, in the fullness of time, my son Charles becomes King, I know you will give him and his wife Camilla the same support that you have given me; and it is my sincere wish that, when that time comes, Camilla will be known as Queen Consort as she continues her own loyal service, Queen Elizabeth II said at the time. A spokesperson for Charles and Camilla told CNN at the time that the couple were touched and honoured by Her Majestys words. Buy: Elizabeth the Queen by Sally Bedell Smith $7.95+ Story continues Click here to read the full article. In a BBC documentary in September 2022, Camilla remembered the Queens wonderful blue eyes and unforgettable smile. [She] has been part of our lives forever, Camilla said at the time. She was four years old when Elizabeth II became the new Queen of the United Kingdom in 1952. Im 75 now and I cant remember anybody except the Queen being there, Camilla continued. When she smiles they light up her whole faceI will always remember that smile. In his first speech as the King of the United Kingdom in September 2022, Charles revealed how he thinks Camilla will fare as the new Queen Consort. I know she will bring to the demands of her new role the steadfast devotion to duty on which I have come to rely so much, he said. But back to Queen Consort Camillas net worth. So what is Camillas net worth and how much does she make with Charles now that hes king? Read on for what we know about Queen Consort Camillas net worth and how she and Charles earn their money. How does Queen Consort Camilla make money? Image: Samir Hussein/WireImage. How does Queen Consor Camilla make money? Before she became the Queen Consort of the United Kingdom, Camilla and her husband, Prince Charles (now King Charles III), received 90 percent of their income from a private estate called the Duchy of Cornwall, which was established in 1337 to financially support the heir to the throne, according to CNN. The Duchy of Cornwall is funded through the ownership and operation of land in rural and urban areas, as well as islands and rental cottages in Wales, Cornwall and other areas in the United Kingdom. In 2018, the Duchy of Cornwall made Charles and Camilla $28 million. Camilla and Charles also received $1.8 million that year from the Sovereign Grant, a taxpayer fund paid each year to the British royal family, as well as another $627,000 from various United Kingdom departments. The Sovereign Grant originated from an agreement made by King George III in 1760, who agreed to surrender his income from Parliament to receive a set annual payment for himself and future generations of the British royal family. The agreement was originally known as the Civil List before it was reworked as the Sovereign Grant in 2012. Under the agreement, the British royal family receives a grant in exchange for surrendering their profits from the Crown Estate, the familys collection of lands and holdings worth 14.1 billion, to the government, according to BBC. Each year, the reigning monarch receives 25 percent of the Crown Estates profits. The amount pays for property upkeep and utilities, the British royal familys travel and the royal employee payroll. The grant doesnt cover security and royal ceremonies, which are funded by other areas. According to CNN, about 50 percent of Charles and Camillas annual income was spent on travel and official royal engagements, while a quarter went to taxes. The remaining $8.9 million went to Charles children with his late wife Princess DianaPrince William and Prince Harryas well as non-official purchases and a royal savings account. Charles and Camilla are also senior members of The Firm, also known as the Monarchy PLC, according to Fortune, which is made up of the public faces of the House of the Windsor and the royal family members the Queen Elizabeth IInow King Charleswas the head of. The firm operates and a multi-million-pound business empire that boosts the United Kingdom economy through televised events and tourism, according to Fortune. Before her death, The Queen was the head of The Firm. The other seven members were: Camilla; Charles; Prince William; his wife Kate, Duchess of Cambridge; Princess Anne; Prince Edward; and his wife Sophie, Countess of Essex. According to Forbes, the British royal family holds almost $28 billion in real estate as of 2021 that cannot be sold. Heres how that amount breaks down: The Crown Estate: $19.5 billion Buckingham Palace: $4.9 billion The Duchy of Cornwall: $1.3 billion The Duchy of Lancaster: $748 million Kensington Palace: $630 million The Crown Estate of Scotland: $592 million What is Queen Consort Camillas net worth? Image: Chris Jackson/Getty Images. What is Queen Consort Camillas net worth? Camillas net worth is $5 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth. Her husband, King Charles III, for his part, is worth $600 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth. The site reports that Charles net worth increased from $100 million when he was the Prince of Wales to $600 million after he ascended the throne as the King of the United Kingdom. The increase in Charles net worth came from the $500 million in personal assets he inherited from his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, after her death. Those assets include the Queens personal investments, art collection, jewelry, rare stamps and real estate holdings, such as Sandringham House in Norfolk, England, and the Balmoral Castle in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, where the Queen died. As a senior member of the British royal family, Camilla is a patron of organizations like Animal Care Trust, Battersea Dogs & Cats Home, The Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists, British Equestrian Federation, Youth Action Wiltshire, London Chamber Orchestra, Trinity Hospice, Arthritis Research UK, Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases and Maggies Cancer Caring Centres, among others. Since her marriage to Charles, Camillas work has focused on raising awareness around sexual abuse, poverty, animal welfare, as well as the dangers of osteoporosis. Camilla is also the president of the Women of the World Festival, and is the vice patron of the Royal Commonwealth Society and the Royal Academy of Dance. In a BBC documentary in September 2022, Camilla explained how Charles mother, Queen Elizabeth II, helped carve a role for her in the British royal family from the difficult position of being a solitary woman a male-dominated world. There werent women prime ministers or presidents. She was the only one so I think she carved her own role, Camilla said. Camilla also remembered how the Queen taught her to balance work and enjoyment. Although she was probably working, you know with her red boxes throughout, she could have her family to stay, she could do the things she loved, she said. She also recalled the Queens good sense of humor when Camilla had a mishap with her shoes on her wedding day to Charles. I probably wasnt firing on all cylinders, quite nervous and, for some unknown reason, I put on a pair of shoes and one had an inch heel and one had a two-inch heel, Camilla said. I was halfway down in the car before I realised she could see and laughed about it and said, Look, Im terribly sorry.' Image: Courtesy of Random House. Buy: Elizabeth the Queen by Sally Bedell Smith $7.95+ For more about the British royal family, check out Sally Bedell Smiths 2012 biography, Elizabeth the Queen: The Life of a Modern Monarch. The New York Times bestseller, which includes the real story behind several storylines featured in Netflixs The Crown, follows Queen Elizabeth IIs life from her childhood as the heiress presumptive to her father, King George VI; to the moment he et her husband, Prince Philip, when she was 13 years old; to her ascension to the throne at 25 years old in 1952. Elizabeth the Queen, which also includes interviews with Buckingham Palace sources and never-before-revealed documents, provides a deep dive into the Queens legacy as one of the most famous monarchs in recent history. Our mission at STYLECASTER is to bring style to the people, and we only feature products we think youll love as much as we do. Please note that if you purchase something by clicking on a link within this story, we may receive a small commission of the sale. "Watch This Space" - Amazon Prime Video Best of StyleCaster (Original Caption) Her Majesty the Queen with Princess Margaret and the Duke of Edinburgh at Tivoli Theater. The Duke is conversing with Lord Harewood. (Bettmann Archive) Queen Elizabeth II, the world's second longest-reigning monarch, and Canada's longest sovereign, was laid to rest in a decorated series of ceremonies that stretched from Westminster Abbey in London, to St. George Chapel in Windsor. LONDON, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 19: Royal Canadian Mounted Police during the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey on September 19, 2022 in London, England. Members of the public are able to pay respects to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for 23 hours a day from 17:00 on September 18, 2022 until 06:30 on September 19, 2022. Queen Elizabeth II died at Balmoral Castle in Scotland on September 8, 2022, and is succeeded by her eldest son, King Charles III. (Photo by Marko Djurica - WPA Pool/Getty Images) Five members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), specifically from the RCMP Musical Ride led the procession. It is a troop of officers that performs drills on horseback to music. The inclusion is representative of Queen Elizabeth's fondness for the RCMP. The Musical Ride gifted eight of their horses to Queen Elizabeth. The first was Burmese from the RCMPs breeding farm in Saskatchewan in 1969. Mary Simon, Governor General of Canada travelled to the U.K. on Sept. 16 to attend the funeral. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was also in attendance, accompanied by Sophie Gregoire Trudeau. Canadian actor Sandra Oh is also at the Queen's funeral, she received Order of Canada appointment as an Officer in June. In Canada, a parade to commemorate the Queen took place in Ottawa followed by a commemorative ceremony. Former prime minister Brian Mulroney and former governor general Adrienne Clarkson were in attendance, in addition to feral NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, and provincial leaders, including Ontario's Doug Ford. A 96-gun salute was conducted during the memorial parade as well. In the words of Canada's leaders Former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney speaks during a memorial service to mark the passing of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II at Christ Church Cathedral in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada September 19, 2022. REUTERS/Blair Gable/Pool Today, our system might appear anachronistic to some, I understand that, but to others, who constitute, in my judgment, the overwhelming majority of Canadians, the role of the monarchy and in particular the irreplaceable role played by Her Majesty for 70 years was absolutely indispensable, in our countrys hugely impressive achievements and contributions to peace, and prosperity and stability, at home and around the world. Her Majestys brilliant service and contributions over seven decades did so much to sustain and elevate the golden concepts of freedom and liberty, and democracy, that have brought such honour to Canada and to all of our people.Brian Mulroney, Former Prime Minister of Canada "In 1982, Queen Elizabeth II came and signed the patriation of our Constitution for which Canadians had worked for decades. We gained our Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Canadians will always remember the Queen for coming to sign over to us what is rightfully ours. Our human rights, our human freedom. It preserves that clearing in the encroaching forest, it provides the light that exposes ignorance and bigotry."Former Gov. Gen. Adrienne Clarkson The federal government has also made Sept. 19 a federal holiday, while Ontario and Quebec opted to make declare the day a provincial holiday, which also prompted discussions about why the decision was made by Canada's government. While many Canadians have expressed their sadness about the Queen's death, other have referenced the British Empire's legacy of colonialism and are questioning the future of the monarchy. See the full recap of events from Canadians coast-to-coast and in London as the day unfolded: A woman was arrested after walking into a North Dakota bar carrying a raccoon, and now she faces multiple criminal charges, including tampering with evidence. "I don't know what she was thinking," said the bartender who asked the woman not to bring the wild animal into her bar. Read on to find out how the situation spiraled into an arrest, what happened to the raccoon, and why a GoFundMe page has now been created by the woman's family. 1 Showing Off Raccoon Pet Results in Arrest According to the Benson County Sheriff's Office, Erin Christensen, 38, was charged with North Dakota Game and Fish violations, tampering with evidence, and providing false information to law enforcement. The animal was euthanized, the sheriff's office said, and will be tested for rabies and other diseases. 2 "You've Got to Get It Out of Here" Bartender Cindy Smith told The Fargo-Moorhead Forum that she was serving drinks at the Maddock Bar on Sept. 6 when Erin Christensen brought in the animal during happy hour. There were about 10 people in the establishment. "I saw she was carrying something, and I asked her what it was, and she showed me, and I said, 'You've got to get it out of here,'" Smith told the Bismarck Tribune. Instead, Christensen took the raccoon around the bar to show other patrons. The woman eventually left with the animal after about five minutes. Smith said the raccoon never left Christensen's arms and didn't bite anyone. "I don't know what she was thinking," Smith said. 3 Owning Raccoon Illegal in State Raccoons may look cute, but they are among the most common carriers of rabies. Owning them as pets is illegal in many areas, as it is in North Dakota. Health officials issued a warning last Tuesday to those who had contact with the animal about possible rabies exposure and asked anyone who may have been bitten or had contact with the raccoon's saliva to seek medical care. "Because rabies is such a serious disease with a nearly 100% fatality rate, we are making this information available to the public as a precautionary measure," said Amanda Bakken, a state epidemiologist. Story continues 4 GoFundMe Created Christensen said her family found the raccoon three months ago, injured on the side of the road, and had been caring for it. But raccoons and skunks are listed as prohibited animals on the North Dakota Game and Fish's website because of their rabies risk. Christensen told the Forum that the Benson County police needlessly killed the animal. A GoFundMe page has been launched titled "Justice for Rocky&legal fees." On the page, the Christensen family alleges that police told Christensen that they were going to quarantine the animal for 10 days and release him if he didn't show any signs of rabies. She refused to hand over the raccoon, resulting in her arrest and being held on $1,500 bond. 5 Family "Devastated" By Loss of Raccoon "Our family is devastated by loss of Rocky, a racoon we were rehabilitating, and frankly, we are traumatized by our experiences with law enforcement agencies in Benson County," Erin Christensen wrote on the GoFundMe page. "We believe that Benson County police used excessive force to obtain Rocky and it was killed unnecessarily as alternative methods (observation for 10 days) were not utilized." Since her death, there have been a lot of questions over Queen Elizabeths inheritances and who will inherit her money and jewelry in the British royal family. Queen Elizabeth II is the first child of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. She became Queen of the United Kingdom as well as the other Commonwealth countries in February 1952 after the death of her father. She was 25 years old at the time. She was married to Philip Mountbatten, a former prince of Greece and Denmark, from November 1947 until Prince Philips death in April 2021. The two had four children together: Charles, Prince of Wales; Anne, Princess Royal; Prince Andrew, Duke of York; and Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex. More from StyleCaster After more than 70 years on the throne, Queen Elizabeth II died on September 8, 2022. She was 96 years old. In a 1957 Christmas Broadcast, the Queen promised the United Kingdom she would give her heart and devotion to the Commonwealth. I cannot lead you into battle, she said at the time. I do not give you laws or administer justice, but I can do something else: I can give my heart and my devotion to these old islands and to all the peoples of our brotherhood of nations. Related video: Songs about the Queen are spiking in popularity due to streaming Buy: Elizabeth the Queen by Sally Bedell Smith $7.95+ Click here to read the full article. The Queens death came three months after her Platinum Jubilee event in June 2022, which celebrated her 70 years on the throne. After her Platinum Jubilee, the Queen thanked royal well-wishers for supporting her family. When it comes to how to mark seventy years as your Queen, there is no guidebook to follow. It really is a first. But I have been humbled and deeply touched that so many people have taken to the streets to celebrate my Platinum Jubilee, the Queen said in a statement at the time. She continued, While I may not have attended every event in person, my heart has been with you all; and I remain committed to serving you to the best of my ability, supported by my family. She ended her message by telling her supporters about the joy she felt that weekend. I have been inspired by the kindness, joy and kinship that has been so evident in recent days, and I hope this renewed sense of togetherness will be felt for many years to come. I thank you most sincerely for your good wishes and for the part you have all played in these happy celebrations, she said at the time. Story continues But back to Queen Elizabeths inheritances. So who will inherit Queen Elizabeths money and jewelry? While her will isnt public, there have been reports on which British royal family members will inherit Queen Elizabeths estate and fortune, and which were left out completely. Read on for what we know about Queen Elizabeths inheritances. What will King Charles inherit from Queen Elizabeth? Image: Jonathan Brady WPA Pool/Getty Images. What will King Charles inherit from Queen Elizabeth? King Charles III is the eldest child of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, who died less than two years before the Queen on April 9, 2021. King Charles is the older brother of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philips three other children: Prince Andrew, Duke of York; Anne, Princess Royal; and Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex. Hes also the father of Queen Elizabeths grand-children, Prince William and Prince Harry, whom he shared with his late wife, Diana, Princess of Wales, who died in 1997. King Charles is married to Queen Consort Camilla, whom he married in 2005. So what will King Charles inherit from Queen Elizabeth? After the Queens death, King Charles inherited the Sovereign Grant, a taxpayer fund each year to the British royal family. The Sovereign Grant originated from an agreement made by King George III in 1760, who agreed to surrender his income from Parliament to receive a set annual payment for himself and future generations of the British royal family. The agreement was originally known as the Civil List before it was reworked as the Sovereign Grant in 2012. Under the agreement, the British royal family receives a grant in exchange for surrendering their profits from the Crown Estate, the familys collection of lands and holdings worth $19 billion, to the government, according to BBC. Each year, the reigning monarch receives 25 percent of the Crown Estates profits. The amount pays for property upkeep and utilities, the British royal familys travel and the royal employee payroll. The Crown Estate includes properties across England, Wales and Northern Ireland and operates as a corporation, with a chief executive and commissioners appointed by the monarch on the recommendation of the prime minister. In 2021, the Crown Estate generated a net profit of $361 million, according to CNN. The United Kingdom Treasury paid the Queen a sovereign grant of $100 million, which is the equivalent of $1.50 from each person the United Kingdom. What will Princess Anne inherit from Queen Elizabeth? Image: Samir Hussein/WireImage. What will Princess Anne inherit from Queen Elizabeth? Princess Anne is the second eldest child and the only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. She is the Princess Royal and the younger sister of King Charles III and older sister of Prince Andrew and Prince Edward. Princess Anne is also the mother of the Queens grandchildren, Zara Tindall and Peter Philips, who she shares with her ex-husband, Mark Philips, who she divorced in 1992. Princess Anne remarried with Timothy Laurence in 1992. So what will Princess Anne inherit from Queen Elizabeth? According to i24 News, Princess Anne, as well as her brothers Prince Andrew and Prince Edward, will inherit a share of the Sovereign Grant, which is now owned by their oldest brother, King Charles III, though the exact amount of her share isnt known. Some reports also believe that Princess Anne will receive a new royal title given her prominence in the events leading up to the Queens funeral in September 2022. In a post on the British royal familys Instagram account in September 2022, Princess Anne revealed that she was by Queen Elizabeths side for the final 24 hours of her life. I was fortunate to share the last 24 hours of my dearest Mothers life. It has been an honour and a privilege to accompany her on her final journeys, she wrote. Witnessing the love and respect shown by so many on these journeys has been both humbling and uplifting. We will all share unique memories. I offer my thanks to each and every one who share our sense of loss. We may have been reminded how much of her presence and contribution to our national identity we took for granted. I am also so grateful for the support and understanding offered to my dear brother Charles as he accepts the added responsibilities of The Monarch. To my mother, The Queen, thank you. What will Prince Andrew inherit from Queen Elizabeth? Image: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images. What will Prince Andrew inherit from Queen Elizabeth? Prince Andrew is the Duke of York and the second eldest son and third eldest child of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. Andrew is also the younger brother of King Charles III and Anne, Princess Royal, and the older brother of Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex. He is also the father of Queen Elizabeths grandchildren, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, whom he shares with his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, whom he divorced in 1996. So what will Prince Andrew inherit from Queen Elizabeth? BBC reported in September 2022 that Andrew and Sarah Ferguson will inherit two of the Queens corgis, Muick and Sandy, who Andrew and his daughters, Beatrice and Eugenie, gave to the Queen as a present in 2021. The corgis will return to live at Royal Lodge with the duke and duchess. It was the duchess who found the puppies which were gifted to Her Majesty by the duke, a source told BBC at the time. The duchess bonded with Her Majesty over dog walking and riding horses, and even after her divorce, she would continue her great friendship with Her Majesty, by walking the dogs in Frogmore and chatting. Andrew, Beatrice and Eugenie gave the Queen Muick and another dog named Fergus in the spring of 2021 to cheer her up while her husband, Prince Philip, was in the hospital amid COVID-19 pandemic. Muick, pronounced Mick, is named after Loch Muick on the royal Balmoral Estate, where the Queen died. Fergus, a dorgi, was named after the Queens maternal uncle, Captain Fergus Bowes-Lyon, who died in World War One. Fergus died at just five months old due to a heart defect. After the Fergus death, Andrew gave the Queen another corgi named Sandy on her 95th birthday. The Queens dresser and personal assistant, Angela Kelly, said at the time that the dogs provided the Queen with constant joy and always brought a smile to everyones faces, according to BBC. What will Prince Edward inherit from Queen Elizabeth? Image: Dan Mullan/Getty Images. What will Prince Edward inherit from Queen Elizabeth? Prince Edward is the Earl of Wessex youngest child of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. He is also the younger brother of King Charles III, Princess Anne and Prince Andrew. He is also the father of Queen Elizabeths grandchildrenLady Louise Windsor and James, Viscount Servernwho he shares with his wife, Sophie Rhys Jones, who he married in 1999. So what will Prince Edward inherit from Queen Elizabeth? According to i24 News, Prince Edward, as well as his siblings Prince Andrew and Princess Anne, will inherit a share of the Sovereign Grant, which is now owned by their oldest brother, King Charles III, though the exact amount of his share isnt known. In a post on the British royal familys Instagram account in September 2022, Prince Edward revealed what he learned from Queen Elizabeth after her death. As a family, we have grown up learning to share our parents, especially our beloved mama, with the Nation, her Realms and the Commonwealth, he wrote. While it has been lovely to have spent time saying our own farewell privately at Balmoral, it is now time to allow others to be able to say their farewell. We have been overwhelmed by the tide of emotion that has engulfed us and the sheer number of people who have gone out of their way to express their own love, admiration and respect to such a very special and unique person who was always there for us. And now, we are there for her, united in grief. Thank you for your support, you have no idea how much it means. He continued, The Queens passing has left an unimaginable void in all our lives. Sophie and I have taken huge pleasure in seeing our James and Louise enjoying the places and activities that their grandparents loved so much. Given that my mama let us spend so much time with her, I think she also rather enjoyed watching those passions blossom. Those times together, those happy memories, have now become massively precious to each and every one of us. May God bless Her Majesty and may her memory be long cherished even as the baton she has carried for these past 70 years now passes to the next generation and to my brother, Charles. Long Live The King. What will Prince William inherit from Queen Elizabeth? Image: Samir Hussein/WireImage. What will Prince William inherit from Queen Elizabeth? Prince William is the eldest child of King Charles III and his late wife, Diana, Princess of Wales, who died in 1977. William, who is Queen Elizabeth IIs grandchild, is the Prince of Wales and is the husband of Kate Middleton, the new Princess of Wales. He is also the father of Queen Elizabeths great-grandchildren: Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis. So what will Prince William inherit from Queen Elizabeth? After Queen Elizabeths death, Prince William inherited the Duchy of Cornwall, a private estate worth around $1.2 billion. The estatewhich belonged to Williams father, King Charles, before he took the thronecovers 140,000 acres in the United Kingdom and is used used to fund the public, private and charitable activities of the Duke of Cornwall, the title William inherited after the Queens death. The Duchy of Cornwall was established in 1337 to financially support the heir to the throne, according to CNN. The Duchy of Cornwallwhich will provide the income for Prince William and Kate Middletonis funded through the ownership and operation of land in rural and urban areas, as well as islands and rental cottages in Wales, Cornwall and other areas in the United Kingdom. In 2018, the Duchy of Cornwall made Charles and Camilla $28 million, which is around what William and Kate will make as well. According to CNN, about 50 percent of Charles and Camillas annual income was spent on travel and official royal engagements, while a quarter went to taxes. The remaining $8.9 million went to Charles children with his late wife Princess DianaPrince William and Prince Harryas well as non-official purchases and a royal savings account. What will Kate Middleton inherit from Queen Elizabeth? Image: Samir Hussein/WireImage. What will Kate Middleton inherit from Queen Elizabeth? Kate is the Princess of Wales and the wife of Queen Elizabeth IIs grandchild, Prince William, the Prince of Wales. Kate is also the mother of Queen Elizabeths great-grandchildren: Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis. So what will Kate Middleton inherit from Queen Elizabeth? Radar Online reported in September 2022 that Kate is expected to inherit $110 million in jewelry from the Queens personal jewelry collection, which includes 300 pieces that belonged specifically to the Queen and not the Crown. [The Queen] been focusing on her beloved pieces and who deserves what, a source told Radar Online in July 2022, two months before the Queens death. The whispers are that shes made some last-minute changes to her will thatll be a shocking surprise for her heirs. Radar Online reported that the Queens decision for Kate, who she became especially close to in the final months of her life, to inherit her jewelry led to resentment from King Charles wife, Queen Consort Camilla. Kate is clearly the family favorite, the insider said. Shed never say it, of course, but its one of the reasons Camilla resented Kate. Radar Online also reported that Kate plans to pass some of the jewels to her daughter, Princess Charlotte. While Kate will inherit $110 million in jewelry from the Queen, that collection will not include the Spencer tiara, a diamond-encrusted crown inherited by Williams late mother, Princess Diana, in the mid-1970s. Diana wore the tiara in her wedding to King Charlesthen Prince Charlesin 1981. According to the website for the auction house Sothebys, the tiara will be inherited by Kate and Williams daughter, Princess Charlotte. Having been worn by Princess Diana at her wedding, the Spencer Tiara is one of the most famous diadems in modern history. the auction house noted. The Spencer Tiara is now set to be inherited by Princess Charlotte. The description of the tiara continued, In the mid-1970s, John Spencer, the 8th Earl Spencer, inherited the tiara. It was subsequently worn by all three of his daughters at their wedding: Lady Jane in 1978; Lady Sarah in 1980; and finally Lady Diana the following year, in 1981. The tiara was most recently worn by Celia McCorquodale niece of the 10th Earl Spencer Charles at her wedding in the Spring of 2018. What will Prince Harry inherit from Queen Elizabeth? Image: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images. What will Prince Harry inherit from Queen Elizabeth? Prince Harry is the youngest child of King Charles III and his late wife, Diana, Princess of Wales. Harry, who is Queen Elizabeth IIs grandchild, is the Duke of Sussex and is the husband of Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex. He is also the younger brother of Prince William and the father of Queen Elizabeths great-grandchildren: Archie Harrison Mountbatten Windsor and Lilibet Diana Mountbatten Windsor, who is named after the Queens childhood nickname. So what will Prince Harry inherit from Queen Elizabeth? Its unclear what Harry will inherit from the Queen, however, after the death of his mother, Princess Diana, Harry and William inherited part of their mothers estate on their 25th birthdays, which was around $10 million each, according to Forbes. In a CBS interview with Oprah Winfrey and his wife in March 2021, Harry revealed that he used his trust from his mother to support him and his family after his father, Prince Charles, cut him off financially at the start of 2020 following Harry and Meghans exit from the British royal family and move to the United States. I had to afford security for us, Harry said at the time. [I was cut off] in the first quarter of 2020. But Ive got what my mom left me and without that, we would not have been able to do this. According to Us Weekly, though Dianas will stated that her estate would be distributed to William and Harry when they turned 25, the funds were held until they were 30. Despite the hold, the brothers were still able to receive interest on their trust funds earlier. While Harry and William were the chief heirs of Dianas estate, the Peoples Princess will also listed others whom she wanted to share her wealth, including her butler, Paul Burrell, as well as 17 of her godchildren, according to Worthy. What will Meghan Markle inherit from Queen Elizabeth? Image: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images. What will Meghan Markle inherit from Queen Elizabeth? Meghan is the Duchess of Sussex and the wife of Queen Elizabeth IIs grandchild, Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex. Shes also the mother of the Queen Elizabeths great-grandchildren, Archie Harrison Mountbatten Windsor and Lilibet Diana Mountbatten Windsor, who is named after the Queens childhood nickname. So what will Meghan Markle inherit from Queen Elizabeth? Radar Online reported in September 2022 that both Meghan and Lilibet will be left out of the Queens inheritance. Theres a very good chance the Queen wont leave either of them any jewels of value, a source said. Its not surprising, since theyre not members of the royal family anymore, but it would be a real slap in the face. Radar Online also reported that Meghans sister-in-law, Kate Middleton, Princess of Wales, who is set to inherit $110 million in jewelry from the Queen, will likely pass some of her jewels to their niece because she and her husband, Prince William, really dont want Lilibet to be left out. As for Meghan, shes not their concern, the insider added. As for why the Queen left Meghan out of her inheritance, Radar Onlines source speculated that it could be due to either practicality or Harry and Meghans drama with the British royal family in the years leading up to the Queens death. Some people think it wont be out of spite, but practicality, the insider said. Others say it would be the Queen sending a message to Meghan and Harry: You reap what you sow. Image: Courtesy of Random House. Buy: Elizabeth the Queen by Sally Bedell Smith $7.95+ For more about the British royal family, check out Sally Bedell Smiths 2012 biography, Elizabeth the Queen: The Life of a Modern Monarch. The New York Times bestseller, which includes the real story behind several storylines featured in Netflixs The Crown, follows Queen Elizabeth IIs life from her childhood as the heiress presumptive to her father, King George VI; to the moment he et her husband, Prince Philip, when she was 13 years old; to her ascension to the throne at 25 years old in 1952. Elizabeth the Queen, which also includes interviews with Buckingham Palace sources and never-before-revealed documents, provides a deep dive into the Queens legacy as one of the most famous monarchs in recent history. Our mission at STYLECASTER is to bring style to the people, and we only feature products we think youll love as much as we do. Please note that if you purchase something by clicking on a link within this story, we may receive a small commission of the sale. Best of StyleCaster Escape to Life House, Berkshires, where you'll be surrounded by gorgeous design inside and incomparable fall foliage outside. Sophie Fabbri The Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts is one of the more magical locations to witness Mother Natures technicolor autumnal show of changing leaves amid a backdrop of dramatic mountains and charming New England towns. One such town is Lenox, where several new hotels are ready to accept leaf peepers aplenty this season. Life House, the venture-backed and vertically integrated hotel brand, management, and software company is behind most of these openings. Early this summer they assumed management of three charming, historic inns in Lenox, renaming and refreshing them all and uniting them under the Lenox Collection umbrella. Then in August, they debuted an entirely new Life Housebranded hotel there: Life House, Berkshires. Sophie Fabbri Youd never know it (and I mean, never), but the chic and cozy boutique hotel is inside a former Days Inn motel from the 1970s. Its in a prime location just a short drive away from Lenoxs charming Main Street, which explains its appeal. The 65-room hotel has been reimagined as a retro writer's retreat, complete with a library, outdoor fire pits, an intimate cocktail spot, and seasonally focused restaurant. The writers sanctuary theme leads the design narrative, which is expressed through the lens of a writer protagonist looking to get away from it all and focus on their craft a cue to the historical literary figures who have lived in or passed through Lenox and the surrounding area over the last centuries, including Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Edith Wharton (whose house The Mount is nearby and well worth visiting), and Fanny Kimble. But instead of overt and obvious design choices, a la books piled everywhere and cheesy pens and notebooks, the narrative is more subtly expressed through details like custom-strung wire millwork pieces that reflect the interior of a typewriter and secretary-style writing desks in the guest rooms that glow from lamps topped with custom shades inspired by the marble paper backing of old books. Story continues Sophie Fabbri Sophie Fabbri There are, of course, some books around, but mostly theyre showcased on custom wood floor-to-ceiling shelves in the classy Library Lounge next to the check-in desk, which also has cozy green velvet seating and a crackling fireplace. Its pretty much an ideal place to catch up on emails or even take a stab at that novel youve been meaning to start. Adjacent is the Club Room, the stylish farm-to-table restaurant and bar, where custom Murano glass chandeliers handmade in Venice hang high above the marble bar with green velvet bar stools. Across from the bar and behind plaid upholstered banquette seating is a hand-painted Lei Xing mural inspired by the Berkshires landscape, featuring a countryside motif with a small village, mountaintop forests, and animals. (Xings art is showcased at several Life House properties.) The door at the end of the bar leads out to a wraparound patio with several fire pits and patterned seating shaded by fringed umbrellas. These communal areas lend themselves perfectly to one of Life Houses key tenets: encouraging community. All Life House hotels allow guests to connect with one another via their app and also have a variety of activities for guests to join and meet others. The August weekend I stayed at the hotel with my family, there was a yoga class at a nearby studio, a visit to the local dairy farm that supplies the hotel, and a guided hike along one of the many mountain trails in the area. Nature is one of the main reasons why people have chosen to come to Lenox over the years, says Rami Zeidan, founder and CEO of Life House. We intend to make this House an indoor-outdoor experience for our guests who want to enjoy the Berkshires year round. The themes of writing and nature are often tied together by art at the hotel. There are new and vintage works around the property curated by the Life House Interiors team and Saatchi Art. Rooms are adorned with collage artwork by Annie Lynch, whose pieces present black-and-white portraits of female figures with superimposed aerial photographs of local landscapes, and framed poetry by artist Russell Markus who uses an antique typewriter and vintage paper to produce each piece. Lobby art features images of the bucolic Berkshires landscape, portraits of important local figures, and 1970s-inspired abstract forms. One of my favorite spots in the hotel: the public bathroom on the lobby level, which features a glorious forest landscape wallpaper by House of Hackney you feel enveloped by nature before you even step outside. Sophie Fabbri Another favorite amenity was a whimsical setup in collaboration with local florist Thistle n Thorn right outside the lobby door. An array of colorful flower stems from zinnias to snapdragons were on display, with instructions for guests to make their own arrangements with the provided glass jar vases filled with water set alongside the flowers. Guests are encouraged to make a bouquet to decorate their room and then take it home at the end of their stay which I was more than happy to do. My family and I also enjoyed the communal mealtimes and gatherings on the patio for drinks and small bites in the afternoon (with mine and lots of other dogs present!) as well as tasty daily breakfasts with excellent coffee and tea. Sophie Fabbri You need not be a literary obsessive to enjoy this hotel though. As a writer (and former English lit major), I of course appreciated the writers retreat theme. But if I hadnt read the website closely or pored over some of the artwork, I doubt I would have identified it as an intentional storyline. Instead, I would simply enjoy the retro-tinged decor, the obvious focus on the lovely natural surroundings, and yes, the large selection of books ideal for curling up with by the fire. Photo credit: Cars.co.za on YouTube The Toyota Hilux has earned a reputation over the years as one of the toughest trucks on sale anywhere in the world. Its then no surprise that so many Hilux owners choose to modify their trucks to make the most out of the robust 4x4 underpinnings. Thanks to Cars.co.za on YouTube however, we now have a chance to see a modified Hilux unlike any other thanks to its twin-turbocharged V-12 engine. The Hilux in question was built by the team at FatBoy Fab Works, located in Knysna, South Africa. The story of the truck begins around three to four years ago, when shop owner Francois Fritz used the pickup as a daily driver. It didnt pack a tire-destroying powertrain at that time, but rather the truck featured a stock 3.0-liter Toyota D-4D diesel engine. In seventh generation Hilux trim, the diesel provides 171 hp and 253 lb-ft of torque. Thats a respectable amount of power for a daily-driven mid-size truck, but it wasnt exactly an exciting endeavor for Fritz. While the shop had initially considered more traditional swaps like a 1JZ or 2JZ inline-six to turn up the fun factor, Fritz wanted to own something truly unique. As such, the team at FatBoy Fab Works spent a little time sourcing a more special powertrain: a 5.0-liter 1GZ V-12 engine. The 1GZ V-12 engine is famed for its service in the JDM Toyota Century, where it could be found from 2004 all the way until 2017. And while we might now think of Toyota as a V-12 powerhouse, the 1GZ can be particularly sonorous with the right modifications installed. Of course shoehorning a large V-12 under the hood wasnt enough of a challenge for the enthusiasts at FatBoy Fab Works, who then went on to stick two two Garrett GT3582 turbos on top. We are feeling reminiscent of Top Secret's infamous twin-turbo 1GZ Supra, best known for clocking 222 mph at Nardo. In order to support the forced induction system, theFatBoy Fab Works truck also received forged rods and pistons, ARP studs, and a pair of Spitronics ECUs to manage the engine and gearbox. Speaking of the gearbox, the team has finally settled on a four-speed auto sourced from the Supra after blowing a trio of Century-sourced units. Thankfully for the purists among us, the truck is reportedly slated to get a proper manual in the future. Story continues Photo credit: Cars.co.za on YouTube The blown V-12 provides the Hilux with 563 hp and 664 lb-ft of torque at the rear wheels, allowing for some rather nasty burnouts and slides. The truck has even competed in local hillclimb events, surprising even race commentators with its shoehorned powertrain. As the world starts to move away from the glory days of the V-12, were glad to see the engine still has its fans in the world of the automotive aftermarket. You Might Also Like A woman seeking asylum in New York City died by suicide in a shelter over the weekend, Mayor Eric Adams announced Monday. Adams called the Sunday death a tragedy and a reminder that we have an obligation to do everything in our power to help those in need," he said in a statement. No other information was released about the death. During an unrelated press conference Monday, Adams referred to the woman as a mother. A spokesperson for the mayor's office did not immediately respond to USA TODAY's request for comment. "I believe the woman was traumatized by this whole experience," Adams said Monday. Adams said the city has opened 23 emergency shelters for the 11,600 asylum seekers and migrants that had arrived in the city. He did not elaborate or give a time frame for that number, but WABC reported last week that over 11,000 asylum seekers have come to New York City since May, citing the mayor's chief counsel. Many of them arrived in buses from Texas. LATEST: Massachusetts seeks human trafficking probe targeting Florida Gov. DeSantis over migrants RESPONSE: White House says it's 'surging' resources to Texas to address migrant influx but offers no details New York City is among several U.S. sanctuary cities receiving migrants from Florida and Texas as Govs. Greg Abbot and Ron DeSantis sent busloads of migrants from their states in response to the Biden administrations immigration policies. Last week, Florida's DeSantis sent about 50 Venezuelan migrants to Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. Authorities there requested a federal human trafficking probe Sunday. DeSantis and Abbott have also sent migrants to Chicago and Washington, where some were dropped off outside the home of Vice President Kamala Harris. "The failure was the governors that sent people on a multi-day bus ride without proper food, without medical care (and) without the basic necessities," Adams said. Migrants line up outside the Val Verde Border Humanitarian Coalition migrant shelter in Del Rio, Texas, after being released by U.S. Border Patrol. Many of the migrants will later take state-funded bus rides to Washington, New York or Chicago. Adams referred to the influx of asylum seekers as a manmade humanitarian crisis" Monday. When asked about comments he made Sunday regarding legal action against Texas' government, the mayor said the city is exploring all legal options. Story continues Adams said Abbott's office "refused" to coordinate when New York officials contacted them but that the mayor of El Paso was willing to coordinate the arrival of migrants in a "humane way." Adams made it clear Monday that the city was unable to handle all of El Paso's migrants. "We are not telling anyone that New York can accommodate every migrant in the city. We're not encouraging people to send eight, nine buses a day," he said. "We're saying that as a sanctuary and a city with the right to shelter, we're going to fulfill our obligation." Adams encouraged asylum seekers to take advantage of the mental health care services available at New Yorks Asylum Seeker Resource Navigation Center, which opened last week as a headquarters to help migrants who have arrived in the city since January. Contributing: John Bacon, USA TODAY MORE: Could DeSantis' migrant tactic backfire politically with key voting bloc? MIGRANT CRISIS: Bus rides for migrants to Washington, New York and Chicago begin in Texas border town This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Asylum seeker dies by suicide in New York shelter, Eric Adams says Joe Biden and Jill Biden were pictured among the world leaders in attendance at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey, where the US president and first lady were seated in the 14th row. Mr Biden and his wife were seated behind the Polish President Andrzej Duda and his wife Agata Kornhauser-Duda, but in front of Czech Republic Prime Minister Peter Fiala and his wife Jana Fialova, pictures showed. The Bidens were seated in a section of the abbey set aside for world leaders attending the event, alongside the heads of Commonwealth states, British politicians and leaders and members of the British Royal Family. Members of other royal families, such as Japanese Emperor Naruhito, were seen setting nearer the front of the abbey for the funeral service. Many of these families had known the late Queen for decades. Mr Biden, who met the Queen last year for the first time as US president, had an aisle seat for the funeral service, while Dr Biden was placed next to Ignazio Cassis, the president of Switzerland. The Bidens were pictured arriving at Westminster Abbey on Monday morning in the Beast, the US presidents armoured limousine, which appeared to briefly get stuck in traffic. The pair were exceptions to the rule, with other world leaders arriving together in a bus moments earlier amid British advice against the use of personal flights and vehicles to attend the funeral. Mr Biden was, however, granted permission to do avoid doing so. French President Emmanuel Macron, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro and South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa were just some of the other world leaders at the funeral in London. More antisemitic flyers are being found on lawns around Gainesville this weekend. It's the second time in as many months that residents have reported finding bags weighed down by corn kernels with antisemitic and anti-immigrant messaging. City Commissioner-elect Bryan Eastman said he found one on his lawn in the Oakview neighborhood. "It's disgusting, and has no place in Gainesville," he wrote on Twitter. This morning we woke up to find this on our lawn. It was anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant propaganda that was littered across our neighborhood of Oakview late last night. Its disgusting, and has no place in Gainesville. GPD is investigating now to find whoever spread this hate: pic.twitter.com/nLzzINOJtm Bryan Eastman (@FlaBryan) September 17, 2022 Antisemitic flyers in Gainesville: Gainesville is the latest city around the state to have antisemitic flyers show up at homes DeSantis flies migrants to Martha's Vineyard: Florida taxpayers paid $615,000 for DeSantis to fly Texas migrants to island The paper Eastman saw pointed to some members within the Biden administration being Jewish. "Every single aspect of the Biden administration is Jewish," the flyer said. There were several variations found around town, taking aim at news media and Disney among others. "Every aspect of Disney child grooming is Jewish," one flyer said. Gainesville residents are reporting finding antisemitic flyers in their yards Saturday, Sept. 7, 2022. City Commissioner Harvey Ward also found a different version in his Brywood neighborhood. The flyer appeared to connect dating and pornography sites to some founders or company leaders who are Jewish. "Every reasonable person condemns this detestable, apparently coordinated action," Ward said. "But on a more insidious level I worry that the coarseness of political conversation in our community and across our nation makes this sort of thing less horrifying than it should be." Story continues Also in Brywood, resident Roan McNab said he saw several around his home. He called the Gainesville Police Department. In an email to The Gainesville Sun, he suggested police check security cameras. Last month, residents in the Rosemont neighborhood also called GPD and the FBI's Jacksonville office after receiving similar messaging. One vehicle was picked up by a Ring camera, but GPD would not release the footage, citing its ongoing investigation. "I am aware that even racists have 1st amendment rights," McNab wrote, "but this kind of behavior is reprehensible, and it is important that a light be cast on this and that it be denounced." Reports related to antisemitism in Florida have increased in recent years, the Anti-Defamation League has said. It received 190 reports in 2021, up from 127 in 2020 and 91 in 2019. This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Antisemitic 'Let's Go Brandon' flyers found on Gainesville lawns The UK's Financial Conduct Authority has issued a warning against Sam Bankman-Fried's crypto exchange FTX. Getty Images The UK's financial regulator has warned Brits to be cautious when dealing with crypto exchange FTX. "This firm is not authorized by us and is targeting people in the UK," the Financial Conduct Authority said. The FCA has previously clashed with Binance over efforts to enforce greater supervision. The UK's financial watchdog has warned Brits against dealing with Sam Bankman-Fried's crypto exchange FTX as it steps up its attempts to regulate offshore digital asset firms. The Financial Conduct Authority said Friday that FTX has promoted its platform and services in the UK without its consent. "We believe this firm may be providing financial services or products in the UK without our authorization," the regulator said in a statement. "Almost all firms and individuals offering, promoting or selling financial services or products in the UK have to be authorized or registered by us," it added. "This firm is not authorized by us and is targeting people in the UK you are unlikely to get your money back if things go wrong." It is not the first time the FCA has clashed with a major crypto exchange. In August last year, it said that the world's largest exchange, Binance, was "not capable" of being effectively supervised making it a significant risk to UK consumers. The FCA and other financial watchdogs have struggled to regulate major crypto exchanges, many of which are based offshore. FTX is registered in the Bahamas but said this month it had been granted an investment license in Cyprus, potentially allowing it to expand in the European Union. FTX did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. Read more: 'Crypto investors aren't stupid, but nobody stands up for us.' We spoke to retail traders who lost up to $200,000 in the Binance outage about their 2,000-person campaign against the world's largest crypto exchange. Read the original article on Business Insider Former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said on Sunday that the Biden administration has been unfairly perceived as lax when it comes to the ongoing migrant border crisis. This administration, I believe, unfairly, is perceived as lax on border enforcement. In fact, we are sending back over 100,000 people a month and have been for the last two years, over 2 million people, Johnson told CBSs Face the Nation moderator Margaret Brennan. The lesson I learned managing this issue is youve got to repeat yourself maybe 25 times before anybody will listen to you, he added. Johnson, who served in the Obama administration, said despite the notion shared by Republicans that the Biden administration supports an open border policy and is unregulated, the U.S. in fact has been sending migrants back to the southern border via expulsion or deportation and that the issue has expanded regions since he served as secretary. We were dealing principally with the Northern Triangle countries Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Mexico. This problem has become hemispheric. In addition to those countries, you now have Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela who are not cooperating with us, Johnson told Brennan. Their countries are literally imploding and there is migration to the north and the south, Johnson added. Our Border Patrol capabilities, our resources are bigger than they were eight, seven years ago when I was in office. But they do struggle to keep up with this crisis. Johnsons remarks come as GOP Govs. Greg Abbott of Texas) and Ron DeSantis of Florida sent buses and planes filled with migrants to Marthas Vineyard and the residence of Vice President Harris last week. DeSantis and Abbott, along with Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) have been sending migrants to northern, Democratic-run cities such as New York City, Washington, D.C., and Chicago throughout the summer in protest of Bidens efforts to end Title 42, a Trump-era policy that blocked migrants from seeking asylum. Johnson also said that he believed the GOP governors migrant initiative is a political stunt. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. The former Obama White House official who negotiated the reopening of relations with Cuba is sharply criticizing President Bidens policies toward that country, saying his administration is gaslighting Havana by maintaining and even expanding harsh sanctions imposed by former President Trump. Disappointed doesnt begin to scratch the surface of how I feel about the Biden-Cuba policy, said Ben Rhodes, who served as Obamas deputy national security adviser, in an interview for the Yahoo News Conspiracyland podcast. The Cuban government made an agreement with me based on the idea that they could trust that we would keep our agreement. Granted it was Trump who initially reversed Obamas policy of normalizing relations with Cuba, he added. But then Biden doubles down on Trump policies, Rhodes said. Why would any Cuban official ever, ever negotiate anything with America ever again after this? We had Trump in the most grotesque, callous way politicizing this. But then to have a Democratic administration legitimize what Trump did by continuing it its a gaslighting to those people in Cuba, you know? Ben Rhodes announces that President Barack Obama will be the first U.S. president since Calvin Coolidge in 1928 to visit Cuba, in a daily briefing at the White House on Feb. 18, 2016. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP) Rhodess comments some of the strongest criticism yet of Biden from a senior Obama official were disputed by a White House national security spokesperson. President Bidens policy toward Cuba is rooted in supporting the Cuban people and protecting human rights. Our approach to Cuba, just like any other country, takes into account various current political, economic, and security factors, the spokesperson said. Over the past few years, conditions in Cuba and in the region have changed, and we have adapted our Cuba policy accordingly. The U.S. and Cuba have been at odds since 1959, when Fidel Castro took control of the island nation and installed a communist government closely aligned with the Soviet Union. In the decades that followed, millions of Cuban refugees settled in the U.S., and Cuban Americans became a key voting bloc in states like Florida. Story continues President Biden meets with Cuban American leaders in the State Dining Room at the White House on July 30, 2021. (Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters) The Obama administration normalized relations with Havana, an effort that was overseen by Rhodes and culminated in Obamas visit to Cuba in March 2016. The thaw was short-lived, however: When Trump entered office in 2017, he quickly reversed many of his predecessors policies toward Cuba, citing the emergence of Havana syndrome a collection of odd symptoms, such as dizziness, vertigo, headaches and in some cases brain injuries originally reported by some U.S. officials in Cuba and later by American diplomats and spies serving all over the world. Subscribe to 'Conspiracyland' on Apple Podcasts The new three-part podcast from Conspiracyland, entitled The Strange Story of Havana Syndrome, recounts in its first episode how the reports of Havana syndrome ailments set off a chain of events that led to a reversal of Obamas policy. After the initial reports of strange health symptoms surfaced in 2017, the Trump administration pulled most U.S. diplomats out of Cuba and accused the countrys government of launching targeted attacks against U.S. personnel charges that were widely reported in the news media but which U.S. officials no longer endorse, as the podcast reveals. Cuban President Raul Castro, right, lifts up the arm of Obama, at the conclusion of their joint news conference at the Palace of the Revolution, in Havana, Cuba, on March 21, 2016 . (Ramon Espinosa/AP) Until recently, the Biden administration had maintained many of the tight restrictions Trump had reimposed on Cuba and even expanded some sanctions still in place, targeting the chief of Cubas Interior Ministry over his role in cracking down on hundreds of Cubans who protested economic conditions last year. (It also refused to invite Cuba to last Junes Summit of the Americas conference in Los Angeles, hosted by Biden.) Cubas communist government denounced Bidens moves, saying they had harshly punished the countrys economy during the COVID epidemic and contributed to shortages of food and medicine. There is no difference between Bidens and Trumps policy toward Cuba, Johana Ruth Tablada de la Torre, the deputy director for U.S. affairs at the Cuban Foreign Ministry, says in an interview for the Conspiracyland podcast, adding that what the U.S. is doing to Cuba is criminal. Cuban-American demonstrators call for the U.S. to support protesters in Cuba during a demonstration in Lafayette Park, across from the White House, in Washington on July 26, 2021. (Jim Bourg/Reuters) Also interviewed in the Conspiracyland podcast is Brian Nichols, assistant secretary of state for western hemisphere affairs, who blamed the Cuban government for the countrys economic woes. Until the Cuban regime decides to embrace democracy and free markets, I think its gonna be nigh-on-impossible for them to improve the situation there he said. Nichols was also asked about the Biden administrations refusal to invite Cuba to this years Summit of the Americas conference, a rebuke that prompted leaders of Mexico, Bolivia and Honduras to boycott the event. The host has wide latitude to determine whom they will invite, said Nichols. Although Cuban leaders have been invited in the past, since that time, they have made no progress toward increasing their respect for democracy, human rights, or the rule of law. So, clearly, allowing them to participate did not prompt better behavior on their part. Cover thumbnail photo illustration: Yahoo News; photos: Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters, Jim Bourg/Reuters A 7.6 magnitude earthquake shook Mexico's west coast on Sept. 19, 2022. Earthquakes also occurred in Mexico on Sept. 19 in 2017 and 1985. A 7.6 magnitude earthquake shook the west coast of Mexico on Monday, coincidentally on the same date that two previous major quakes had rattled the country years before. Originally pegged at 7.5 magnitude, there were no immediate reports of major damage or fatalities from the quake, which hit at 1:05 p.m. local time, the U.S. Geological Survey said. One person was killed in the port city of Manzanillo, Colima, when a wall at a mall collapsed, according to President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. The U.S. Tsunami Warning Center said a tsunami was possible along parts of the Mexican coastline within about 200 miles of the quake epicenter, but there was no threat for the U.S. West Coast, including California, Weather.com reported. Potential threats to Hawaii are still being evaluated, the Warning Center said. The USGS said the quake was centered 23 miles southeast of Aquila near the boundary of the Colima and Michoacan states and at a depth of 9.4 miles. Michoacans Public Security department said there were no immediate reports of significant damage in that state beyond some cracks in buildings in the town of Coalcoman. Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum also tweeted that there were no reports of damage in the capital. The quake hit on the same day as major quakes that struck Mexico in 1985 and 2017. Alarms for Monday's new quake came less than an hour after quake alarms sounded in a nationwide earthquake simulation to mark the prior previous quakes. Deadliest earthquakes: Magnitude-7.1 quake in Mexico City one of most dangerous of the past decade This is a coincidence, that this is the third Sept. 19 earthquake, said U.S. Geological Survey seismologist Paul Earle. Theres no physical reason or statistical bias toward earthquakes in any given month in Mexico. As many as 10,000 people were killed in the 1985 temblor, a magnitude 8.0 that struck near Mexico City. The 2017 quake, a magnitude 7.1, killed about 370 people and caused heavy damage in the Mexican states of Puebla and Morelos. Contributing: The Associated Press/The Associated Press contributed to this article. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Mexico earthquake, magnitude 7.6, rattles country's Pacific coast A 7.6 magnitude earthquake shook the west coast of Mexico on Monday, coincidentally on the same day that two previous major quakes had rattled the country years before. There were no immediate reports of major damage from the quake, which hit at 1:05 p.m. local time, the U.S. Geological Survey said. One person was killed in the port city of Manzanillo, Colima, when a wall collapsed at a mall, according to President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. The U.S. Tsunami Warning Center said a tsunami was possible along parts of the Mexican coastline within about 200 miles of the quake epicenter, but there was no threat for the U.S. West Coast including California and Hawaii, Weather.com reported. The USGS said the quake was centered 23 miles southeast of Aquila near the boundary of the Colima and Michoacan states and at a depth of 9.4 miles. OPINION: Earthquake! The floor beneath my feet swayed. Split-second decisions needed to be made. People sit outside in Mexico City following a magnitude 7.6 earthquake on Monday afternoon. Michoacans Public Security department said there were no immediate reports of significant damage in that state beyond some cracks in buildings in the town of Coalcoman. Irlanda Villa, of coastal Coahuayana, near the border with Colima, said some walls had fallen, but the big fear was that a tsunami would follow. We were afraid the sea would go out, but in the end everything is fine. Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum also tweeted that there were no reports of damage in the capital. A 7.6 magnitude earthquake shook Mexico's west coast on Monday. The quake hit on the same day as major quakes in 1985 and 2017. Alarms for Monday's quake came less than an hour after alarms sounded in a nationwide earthquake simulation to mark the previous quakes. This is a coincidence, that this is the third Sept. 19 earthquake, said U.S. Geological Survey seismologist Paul Earle. Theres no physical reason or statistical bias toward earthquakes in any given month in Mexico. As many as 10,000 people were killed in the 1985 temblor, a magnitude 8.0 that struck near Mexico City. The 2017 quake, a magnitude 7.1, killed about 370 people and caused heavy damage in the Mexican states of Puebla and Morelos. Contributing: The Associated Press This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Mexico earthquake, magnitude 7.6, rattles country's Pacific coast (Bloomberg) -- Moderna Inc. has allowed its Covid-19 vaccine to be used in a World Health Organization effort to develop mRNA shots that would increase production and access for poor countries. Afrigen Biologics & Vaccines, a South African biotechnology company working with the WHO, has used the Moderna vaccine in comparison studies in mice to test the effectiveness of its own shots, said Petro Terblanche, Afrigens managing director. Demand for Covid shots has slowed across the world as more recent variants of the virus have caused milder illness, yet many people in low- and middle-income countries like South Africa remain unvaccinated and vulnerable to the potentially lethal disease. With Modernas help, Afrigen is aiming to develop a shot that may be manufactured by at least 15 production facilities around the globe under the aegis of the WHOs mRNA Vaccine Technology Transfer Hub in Cape Town. Moderna didnt supply the vaccine directly. It allowed the vaccine to be provided by the French government after a request from the United Nations-backed Medicines Patent Pool, according to Marie-Paule Kieny, the pools chair. Pfizer Inc. refused a similar request because it didnt regard the need as urgent, she said. Moderna and the partnership of Pfizer and BioNTech SE have come under increased pressure to allow factories in poorer countries to produce their vaccines after the worlds richest nations raced to inoculate their populations while barely any vaccines were available in large parts of Africa. Pfizers shot is the most commonly used Covid-19 vaccine in South Africa while Modernas inoculation has barely been used on the continent. More Support Needed Since the start of the pandemic Pfizer has received many requests to collaborate on studies and other initiatives from many different worthy sources, Pfizer said in a response to questions. Unfortunately, it is impossible to support them all and our focus remains on delivering as per our existing supply agreements with governments. Story continues Moderna declined to comment. France has supported the mRNA hub, giving it 20 million euros ($20 million) in assistance so far, said Kieny. The WHOs mRNA hub has a more ambitious plan, with the production of a vaccine designed by Afrigen to take place at factories in countries including South Africa, Argentina, Ukraine and Bangladesh. The early-stage trials of Afrigens shot in mice produced a strong immune response, the company said. Moderna placed some conditions on the use of its vaccine in the studies, Terblanche said, declining to elaborate. Still, Afrigen may need further assistance from Moderna or Pfizer, including allowing the use of vaccine for comparative human trials that are expected to start by May. That request is expected in coming weeks, Kieny said. Ultimately the WHO plans to follow the production of a Covid-19 vaccine with an attempt to develop inoculations for neglected diseases that plague the citizens of poor countries such as tuberculosis, HIV-AIDS, some forms of cancer and hemorrhagic fevers such as Ebola, Lassa fever and the Marburg virus. (Adds detail on use of Pfizer and Moderna in Africa in fifth paragraph) More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com 2022 Bloomberg L.P. Former President Bill Clinton rejected the notion that Russia's invasion of Ukraine can be blamed on the expansion of NATO that began during his presidency. "I think we did the right thing at the right time. And if we hadn't had done it, this crisis might have occurred even sooner," he said in an interview that aired Sunday on CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS." Critics have argued that the continued encroachment of Russia on its borders by NATO led Russian President Vladimir Putin to push back by invading Ukraine, either to regain some of Russia's lost empire or demonstrate that Russia is not a weak state that would be easily intimidated by the West. Clinton said Putin "made no secret of the fact that he thought the dissolution of the Soviet Union was a great tragedy." The former president said the U.S. and NATO never meant to threaten Russia and that the nations of Eastern Europe had a right to live in security after decades of being dominated by Russia. "When I did what I did," Clinton said, "I offered Russia not only a special partnership with NATO, but the prospect of eventual membership in NATO, arguing that our biggest security problems in the future were going to come from non-state actors, or from authoritarian states selling chemical, biological and nuclear capacity to terrorist groups. And that we should do this together." Clinton's election in 1992 came in the aftermath of the end of the Cold War. The nations of Eastern Europe had thrown off decades of Communist dictatorship in 1989, and President Mikhail Gorbachev had dissolved the Soviet Union in 1991. During Clinton's presidency, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland joined NATO, followed in 2004 by Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. All of those nations had either been part of the Soviet Union or allies of the Soviet Union. "You're supposed to tell the Poles they should live the rest of eternity with insecurity that Russia won't try to come after them again? Or the Hungarians or the, you know, all the others. The Baltic states. Really, after what they did, did they ever want to be in the Soviet Union? And the Czech Republic was the most democratic of all and the best-managed," he told Zakaria. The February invasion of Ukraine was met by strong resistance by Ukraine, which recently reconquered some of the territory it lost in the early weeks of the attack. It also led Finland and Sweden, two long-neutral neighbors of Russia, to ask to join NATO. KYIV, Ukraine (AP) Ukraine is ready to supply Poland with electricity and help reduce the use of coal for power generation in light of an anticipated energy crisis, the Polish prime minister said Friday. Polands premier Mateusz Morawiecki and Latvia's President Egils Levits, were in Kyiv for talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy about military and energy security amid the region's efforts to roll back its dependence on Russian energy sources. Morawiecki thanked Zelenskyy for his "understanding" and readiness to provide needed assistance in a short time. Today, because of the embargo on Russian coal, we are bringing in coal from around the world," Morawiecki said during a joint news conference. If we are not to burn it in Polish power plants, we could use some energy from Ukraine, if possible. I was told by the president that yes, it will be possible, shortly, Morawiecki said. Zelenskyy spoke of steps to overcome a potential, future energy crisis. The leaders also discussed ways of urgently easing traffic flow at border crossings amid a backlog of trucks waiting to cross from both sides, but mainly to enter Poland. Morawiecki referred to gains gains by Ukraine's army against Russian forces in the region of Kharkiv. But he suggested that the European Commission has yet to provide Ukraine with billions of euro of financial support promised in the summer. Zelenskyy thanked the two leaders for their efforts for the EU to release 5 billion euros in long-term assistance. WASHINGTON President Joe Bidens seemingly offhand declaration that the COVID-19 pandemic is over could complicate several issues for the administration. Officials are encouraging people to get boosted ahead of a possible fall and winter wave of infections. Theyve asked Congress for $22.4 billion in emergency coronavirus funding. The administration had been expected to renew a public health emergency, which is keeping millions of Americans on Medicaid. And Bidens controversial decision to wipe out student loan debt for millions of Americans rests on the Education Departments ability to ease hardship in a national emergency. White House officials have not commented publicly on Biden's remark since it aired Sunday on CBS. The latest What Biden said: In an interview with CBS 60 Minutes," Biden was asked whether the pandemic is over. He said it is, though he added, We still have a problem with COVID. COVID-19 casualties: Nearly 3,000 Americans are still dying from COVID-19 each week. What the World Health Organization said: At a news briefing last week, the head of the global agency said more needs to be done until the pandemic is truly over. What the White House has said before: On Sept. 6, White House COVID-19 coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha said: The pandemic isnt over. President Joe Biden speaks in the Rose Garden of the White House on July 27 after recovering from COVID-19. Whats about to happen Congress is deciding whether to approve billions of dollars of additional coronavirus funding requested by Biden. Republicans have insisted that unspent money from a previous COVID-19 package be repurposed. The administration has said the money is needed to prepare for future surges. Opinion: COVID-19 is still deadly real. Why do we allow disinformation to persist? Ahead of a possible surge of infections this fall and winter, the administration is encouraging people to get booster shots targeting the original virus and the most recent variants, called BA.4 and BA.5, which now dominate the U.S. and the world. If the uptake is similar to the rate at which the public gets vaccinated for the flu, an estimated 100,000 hospitalizations could be prevented, according to the administration. Story continues Sarah Lovenheim, spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services, tweeted Monday that the COVID-19 public health emergency remains in effect. She said the administration will "continue to lean on the science" to decide when it should end and will give states 60 days notice. Top takeaways Bidens comment, which is at odds with the data and with what his COVID-19 coordinator said earlier this month, appears to reflect not a change in policy but an unartful way of saying the worst of the pandemic is over. Still, some public health experts said his comment is dangerous and problematic. And Republicans jumped on it to declare that it means student loan debt shouldnt be forgiven, the public health emergency shouldn't be extended, and vaccinations shouldnt be required. What they are saying The pandemic is over, Biden told 60 Minutes." We still have a problem with COVID. We're still doing a lot of work on it. It's but the pandemic is over. if you notice, no one's wearing masks. Everybody seems to be in pretty good shape. And so I think it's changing. I understand what he was trying to say but such rhetoric is hurtful, dangerous, and scientifically untrue, tweeted Dr. Jerome Adams, who was President Donald Trumps surgeon general. Heck no. With all due respect, @JoeBiden youre wrong. Pandemic is not over. Almost 3,000 Americans are dying from #COVID19 every single week, tweeted Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding, an epidemiologist and co-founder of the World Health Network. We are not there yet, but the end is in sight, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Sept. 14. Biden admitted last night that the COVID pandemic is over. In other words, there is no ongoing emergency to justify his proposal for student loan handouts, tweeted Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn. Is the pandemic really 'over'? Public health experts say the country is in a much better place than it was a year ago, but theyre not willing to declare victory just yet. Its way too early to say the pandemic is over, said Dr. Philip Chan, an infectious disease specialist and an associate professor at Brown University. If we let our guard down, its going to come back to bite us. Former U.S. surgeon general: No, Mr. President, the COVID-19 pandemic isn't over even if your administration is over it The U.S. is still reporting a high level of COVID-19 death and suboptimal vaccine uptake, experts say, as the country approaches another expected winter surge. Johns Hopkins University data shows more than 13,000 deaths and 2.1 million cases were reported in the past month, which experts say may be an undercount as many infections go unreported with home testing. Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that only 34% of eligible Americans got their second original COVID-19 booster, which experts say doesnt suggest much hope for the new omicron-specific booster. Theres still close to 500 people (a day) dying of a vaccine preventable disease, and we still do not have the vaccine uptake that wed like to see, said Jodie Guest, professor and vice chair of the department of epidemiology at Emory Universitys Rollins School of Public Health. I dont find that to be a level where Im willing to say (the pandemic) is over. By definition, a pandemic is an outbreak of disease in multiple countries around the world, Chan said, and some countries are still reporting high levels of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. Want to know more? 'Only beginning to know what it is': Why doctors struggle to identify treatments for long COVID Massive global failures: Experts call out world leaders for COVID response. Here's what went wrong. Can we eradicate COVID?: Thats a hard no, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci More: Back-to-school can re-trigger grief after COVID. Here's how one camp is helping. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden's comment calling pandemic over complicates matters. Here's how. GREEN BAY - Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis drew hundreds to a hotel ballroom in Green Bay just an hour before the Packers' home opener against the Chicago Bears, predicting Wisconsin would turn into Sunshine State of the north if Tim Michels is elected governor in November. That idea, much like its architect, is polarizing receiving a standing ovation from conservatives who gathered Sunday to see the potential 2024 presidential candidate, while Wisconsin Democrats blasted the approach as "radical and dangerous." "With Tim Michels as governor, you're going to be able to do everything Florida has done and more on the issue of election integrity," DeSantis said to loud cheers at an event hosted by the conservative Turning Point Action. Michels focused on the 2020 election during the Republican primary race but has turned his campaign to issues of crime and schools in the general election against Gov. Tony Evers. On Sunday, he reiterated his intention to sign legislation vetoed by Evers that would tighten voting rules and in some cases add new restrictions. He also suggested he would sign legislation that would end voters' ability to declare themselves indefinitely confined and receive absentee ballots for each election without new applications. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a potential 2024 candidate, stumps for Wisconsin governor candidate Tim Michels on Sunday in Green Bay. DeSantis also promised Michels would sign legislation to mirror Florida's aggressive approach to bar COVID-19 rules and mandates, and touted his response to Disney chief executive Bob Chapek's criticism of a law DeSantis signed that barred classroom lessons related to sexual orientation or gender identity for the youngest students in public schools. "I said, 'You know, you have the right to speak and do this woke stuff but you don't have the right to force us as Florida taxpayers to subsidize your activism,' " DeSantis said, referring to action he pursued to take over a special taxing district Disney World had been operating under for decades that gave them broad control over the land that is home to the massive theme park. Story continues DeSantis' speculations of major transformations under a Michels administration that would compare to his aggressive and controversial approach came as DeSantis is facing criticism over sending 50 migrants from Texas to the liberal enclave of Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts. "One of the biggest failures of the rule of law is happening on the southern border and until last week, nobody was really talking much about it," DeSantis said Sunday. The campaign for Evers, who is seeking a second term in November against Michels, said DeSantis was not welcome in Wisconsin and pounced on the timing of the event. "Wisconsinites dont want an out of touch, out of state radical ruining their Sunday and they dont want Ron DeSantis here either," Sam Roecker, a senior advisor to the Evers campaign said in a statement, referring to Michels splitting his time between Wisconsin and Connecticut. "Tim Michels continues to show Wisconsin voters that hes wrong for our state, and holding an event just before a Packers game with one of the most divisive politicians in the country is another red flag." U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher and Attorney General candidate Eric Toney also spoke at Sunday's event, with Johnson and Gallagher wearing Packers gear while the others donned suits. Contact Molly Beck at molly.beck@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @MollyBeck. Our subscribers make this reporting possible. Please consider supporting local journalism by subscribing to the Journal Sentinel at jsonline.com/deal. DOWNLOAD THE APP: Get the latest news, sports and more This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: DeSantis says Wisconsin will govern similar to Florida if Michels wins Young woman Uganda's parliament is scrutinising a proposed law that would enable organ transplants to happen in the country for the first time, transforming the lives of thousands hoping for operations. Annita Twongyeirwe had pictured a different future for herself. But since being diagnosed with kidney failure three years ago, the 28-year-old is preoccupied either by having dialysis or thinking about the next session. "It has taken over my life," she says, looking defeated. During dialysis a machine essentially performs the kidneys' function and cleans the blood of waste products and excess fluids. Each session lasts about four hours and she has to go to hospital twice a week. In between sessions she spends most of her time at home - a relative's house - helping out with chores where she can, and keeping an eye on a WhatsApp group she created through which friends and well-wishers can donate money. "I was this ambitious girl. I wanted to go further with studies. I would probably be somebody's girlfriend or wife, so all that life is cut short. It took away all the dreams I had," she adds. A kidney transplant could bring them back. But an operation abroad, currently the only option, comes with a price tag of about $30,000 (26,000) - and is out of reach of most. Hundreds of Ugandans, who like Ms Twongyeirwe cannot afford this, live on dialysis for as long as possible. But even at the subsidised price of around $100 a week for the treatment and drugs, that is more than five times the average total income in Uganda and so is only an option for a small fraction of the population. The ward at Kiruddu National Referral Hospital on the edge of the capital, Kampala, is the only public health facility in the country that offers this service. Almost 200 patients attend the clinic regularly, many of them traveling long distances. But they represent only a fraction of those countrywide living with kidney failure and in need of specialised care. "They leave their families and livelihoods behind to live close to the hospital. This is an unnatural situation," Dr Daniel Kiggundu, the only kidney specialist working at the unit, tells the BBC. Story continues Kiruddu hospital offers dialysis to about 60 patients each day and each patient has to visit at least twice a week The ward is a cacophony of beeping machines, as nurses weave through dialysis stations attending to patients. Some of those getting treatment seem extremely weak, drifting in and out of sleep, while others sit up and chat with their carers. The clinic runs two shifts each day, each of them taking in about 30 patients. It operates dangerously close to full capacity and there is little spare time to prepare the patients for treatment. When Ms Twongyeirwe is due for a session, she spends the night at the hospital in order to be ready in time. She first realised she was unwell when her entire body began to swell in 2018 and she spent 18 months going from clinic to clinic before she got the right diagnosis. Her life was turned upside-down. She had to drop out of university where she was studying law and she lost her job. She also moved from her family home in western Uganda to Kampala, to live close to the hospital. At home, the soft-spoken woman goes about washing dishes with such grace that, save for the plaster on her arm, it is hard to tell that she has just returned from a dialysis session. 'I feel like a burden' "When I return from the hospital I rest because the whole body is weak. Later, I do some work around the house to stay active," she explains. Ms Twongyeirwe raises the money needed each week from friends and family. "I feel like a burden to people who help me pay for dialysis. Whenever somebody sees your call, they know you want money from them." She has also turned to family members to see if someone would want to donate a kidney. She says a cousin had been willing but then changed their mind. Even if that offer had remained, Ms Twongyeirwe would still have had to raise more money and get approval from the medical authorities to fly abroad for the operation. If the new law is passed then one of the hurdles would be removed. Specialist Dr Daniel Kiggundu hopes that transplants and treatment can be offered countrywide Uganda would be joining a short list of African countries, including South Africa, Tunisia and Kenya, that have both the regulations and health facilities for organ transplants to be possible within their borders. At the moment India and Turkey are the most popular destinations for Ugandan kidney patients. Only close relatives are allowed to be donors and trips have to be approved by the Uganda Medical Board - to prevent organ trafficking or people being coerced to offer their organs. But if parliament approves the new measure, then the process should be more straightforward and the cost for surgery and recovery care could come down to about $8,000. Those backing it say Uganda needs special legislation to create a safe framework under strict regulation to make sure there is no abuse. The proposal includes the creation of a national waiting list of organ recipients as well as the establishment of specialised transplant centres around the country. An operating theatre has already been set up at the main national hospital in Mulago, Kampala. Organ banks will also be created for those who want to donate - and not just for kidneys "We are [also] thinking of corneal transplants for the eyes [and] skin banks for patients who have burns," says Dr Fualal Jane Odubu, chairperson of the Uganda Medical Board. Each dialysis session takes about four hours About 100 Ugandan health workers, including surgeons, nurses and post-surgery specialists have already been trained abroad, mostly in carrying out kidney transplantations. Despite the hope that this could bring, there will still be a waiting list and the need to raise money. Ms Twongyeirwe says that despair is never far away. "The other patients and I have become family. The most difficult days are when you turn up at the clinic and find that someone died. We lost a little boy recently and that was very hard to cope with," she says, holding back tears. But for her the new law could be transformational. "It would help patients like us be able to get transplants. Donating a kidney is giving someone another life. "Some people fear incurring all the costs of traveling abroad, and you might get there, and the donor changes their mind. So if the transplant is being done here at home it's less stressful." In the documentary series Alien Invasion: Are We Ready? (now streaming on Peacock!) scientists and military specialists imagine what an actual alien invasion might look like. Ever since the idea of potential extraterrestrial intelligence hit the mainstream, we have been low-key obsessed with thinking about how events might unfold and what, if anything, we could do to stop an invasion. Countless books, movies, and video games explore the question, and the genre probably isnt going away. While weve had our eyes to the skies, however, weve been experiencing a slower and more mundane invasion here on the ground. Or, more accurately, in the water. Over the last couple of centuries, a growing army of European green crabs has slowly been making its way across North America and it appears as though theyre marching on a new front. They're well-equipped too. Crabs seem to be nature's favorite form. Through invasion or evolution, we're all destined to be crabs one day... maybe. European green crabs first appeared in the Americas roughly 200 years ago, probably as a consequence of colonization. For most of the intervening time, theyve largely been isolated to the East Coast. Large swaths of land arent the typical hang out spots for most crabs, so our Pacific shores were safe. Or so we thought. But like the elves of Middle-earth, the green crabs had their stalky eyes ever on the west. In the 1980s, they appeared seemingly overnight in San Francisco Bay. Its unlikely that they made their way across the country on land or traveled around by water. Instead, this is probably a problem of our own making. Its believed the crabs were carried to California, possibly as bait. However they got there, they quickly set to work multiplying. Even still, their progress was slow at first. It took them until 2016 to make their way up the coast to inland Washington. Since then, tens of thousands of crabs have been captured and, despite a multimillion-dollar population control program, theyre probably there to stay. Story continues Liz Crab On Stone GETTY Then, over the course of only four years, they spread from Washington into British Columbia. Two years later, in the summer of 2022, they reached the southern tip of Alaska. In July, an intern for NOAA was walking along the shores of the Metlakatla Indian Community when they discovered a shell, the first sign that European green crabs were in the area. Then people found a few more shells. Soon after, people started seeing live crabs. Dozens of them. Scientists believe this accelerated population spread, moving continually northward, was probably driven by climate change. As ecosystems change, species follow the shifting band of temperature and move into new areas. There are concerns that the presence of the crabs will disrupt local ecosystems by outcompeting existing species for resources or eating them directly. Particularly, scientists and conservationists are concerned for the eel grass meadows in Alaska. Eel grass meadows are a critical environment and resource both for native Dungeness crabs and Pacific salmon. Those animals, in turn, are an important part of the local economy and food supply. While the current number of green crabs is comparatively low, the environments farther south serve as a portent for what Alaska will likely endure in coming years. Green crabs are an invasive species which has proven to be incredibly difficult to deal with. According to reports, the European green crab has never been successfully removed from any ecosystem where it establishes a population. Worse, establishing a population is relatively easy for crabs. After mating, female green crabs release nearly 20,000 eggs. Once those eggs hatch, they catch currents and spread anywhere the water will take them. Then they breed again, but first they have to find one another. Theres a critical moment, right when green crabs show up in an area, when we might feasibly be able to head them off. Once they reach a critical breeding population, it becomes a war of attrition were unlikely to win. Worse, the battlefield is so far-reaching. Alaska has more than 54,000 kilometers of shoreline just waiting for the crabs to slide in. Much of it is probably too cold or lacks some necessary resource, but if the trendline is any indicator, European green crabs are already making plans to keep moving on up. The odds are we wont succeed at keeping the crabs at bay. Much like our eventual alien invaders, the crabs are here to stay and were going to have to find a way to live together. BEIJING (AP) President Joe Biden says U.S. forces would defend Taiwan if China tries to invade the self-ruled island claimed by Beijing as part of its territory, adding to displays of official American support for the island democracy. Biden said yes when asked during an interview broadcast Sunday on CBS Newss 60 Minutes program whether U.S. forces, U.S. men and women, would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion. CBS News reported the White House said after the interview U.S. policy hasnt changed. That policy says Washington wants to see Taiwans status resolved peacefully but doesnt say whether U.S. forces might be sent in response to a Chinese attack. Tension is rising following efforts by Chinese President Xi Jinpings government to intimidate Taiwan by firing missiles into the nearby sea and flying fighter jets nearby and visits to Taipei by political figures including U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Taiwans foreign ministry on Monday expressed sincere gratitude to Biden for affirming the U.S. governments rock-solid promise of security to Taiwan. Taiwan will resist authoritarian expansion and aggression and deepen the close security partnership with Washington and other governments with similar thinking to protect regional stability, the statement said. Washington is obligated by federal law to see that Taiwan has the means to defend itself but doesnt say whether U.S. forces would be sent. The United States has no formal relations with the island but maintains informal diplomatic ties. Taiwan and China split in 1949 after a civil war that ended with the Communist Party in control of the mainland. The two governments say they are one country but dispute which is entitled to be the national leader. Beijing criticizes official foreign contact with Taiwans elected government as encouragement to make its de facto independence permanent, a step the mainland says would lead to war. Washington says it doesnt support formal independence for Taiwan, a stance Biden repeated in the interview broadcast Sunday. Story continues Taiwan makes their own judgments about their independence, the president said. Were not encouraging their being independent. In May, Biden said yes when asked at a news conference in Tokyo whether he was willing to get involved militarily to defend Taiwan if China invaded. ___ AP journalist Johnson Lai in Taipei, Taiwan, contributed to this report. This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated. Related... Sep. 19Few people might know it, but being a botanist sometimes means living on the edge in a high-risk occupation. Few people might know it, but being a botanist sometimes means living on the edge in a high-risk occupation. For more than 40 years, field botanists have risked their lives rappelling down steep cliff faces in Hawaii, at times dangling more than 1, 000 feet above ground to find rare, endangered plants that survived at remote locations away from invasive species. They relied on helicopters and hiked for days in search of rare plant populations. Such risks on the job were showcased in a recent television documentary, "Cliff Dwellers of Kauai ...and the people who hang with them." The advent of technology is a game-changer, decreasing these risks while opening new doors for conservation. Since 2016, botanists at the National Tropical Botanical Garden, a nonprofit institution on Kauai, have used drones to catalog and find new populations of critically endangered speciesand havein previously inaccessible areas. Now there's, a robotic arm that can collect samples of cuttings, flowers or seeds, remotely by air. NTBG scientists, in partnership with Canadian engineers, designed the remotely controlled armroughly the length of a fishing rodwhich collects plant samples while suspended from a drone. The arm, outfitted with eight propellers and a precise cutting mechanism, can operate remotely up to a mile away. NTBG drone specialist Ben Nyberg calls the Mamba yet another game-changer. "It allows us to reach critically endangered species that are down to just a few individuals, " he said. "It can be the difference between extinction and survival." While some botanists still rappel down cliffs to reach critically endangered plants, these technologies have opened up access to sheer, vertical cliff faces that even the best roper could not get to previously. With the use of drones and Mamba, botanists now can scan, search, locate and safely collect plants that were previously unknown to exist. Story continues "This combination of robotics and botany is exciting, " he said, "and is already having an amazing impact both in species conservation and the knowledge we're gaining about cliff environments." Botanists can use Mamba to safely collect small amounts of live cuttings, flowers or seedstaking only what is neededfrom a specific plant, then quickly transport them back to NTBG's Horticulture and Conservation Center for documentation, research and propagation. Some seeds are stored in NTBG's seed bank for conservation and research, while others go to the nursery, along with cuttings, to be cultivated and later used for restoration projects. Mamba has provided benefits for nurseries, as well, by allowing wild cuttings to be transported more quickly and in much better condition, generally, than if retrieved by hand. "The amount of time fragile cuttings spend under stress is minimized, " said NTBG nursery manager Rhian Campbell in a news release. "Mamba allows us to collect multiple species very efficiently in a fraction of the time it used to take." NTBG scientists and partners in flight trials successfully used Mamba to collect seeds and cuttings of extremely rare native species such as Lysimachia iniki and Isodendrion pyrifolium, which grow on sheer cliff faces on Kauai. Their findings and methodology were recently in Nature's "Scientific Reports." NTBG in 2020 began working on Mamba with Outreach Robotics engineers and researchers from the University of Sherbrooke in Quebec. For the trial flights, NTBG partnered with the state Department of Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of Forestry and Wildlife and the Plant Extinction Prevention Program. "Mamba has exceeded our wildest expectations, turning science fiction into reality, " said DOFAW botanist Adam Williams in a statement. "Surveying and collecting from a thousand-foot-high cliff from a mile away is just mind-blowing." Kauai is home to more than 250 single-island endemic plant species, meaning found nowhere else on Earth, but most of them are imperiled. Of these plant species, nearly 90 % are classified as endangered or critically endangered on the Inter national Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List. The remaining 10 % are either nearly extinct or already extinct in the wild. Developers and retailers need to pick their spots, and Hong Kong-based Adrian Cheng is gung-ho about the Greater Bay Area an agglomeration of 11 Chinese cities sheltering more than 85 million people, a good many of them young and rich. China is very, very big, and we need to really focus on the right cities, said Cheng, chief executive officer of New World Development and founder of K11 Group. More from WWD Among the Mainland Chinese cities on his short list are Guangzhou, Shenzen, Hangzhou and Shanghai, and indicators abound about the wealth, and potential, of the GBA. Its bigger than South Korea, so the market size is there, he noted. The third-generation scion of one of the biggest business dynasties in Asia spanning from property development and department stores to blockchain startups Cheng lobbed out one example of staggering buying power in Hangzhou, where Alibaba is headquartered and where New World China recently began selling off units in a condominium project. We sold $1 billion worth of apartments in one day. So we can see that the demand is very strong over there, he said, dialing in over Zoom from Seoul, where he was attending Frieze art week. Cheng noted that the Greater Bay Area contains only about 6 percent of the China population, but accounts for roughly 13 percent of the countrys GDP. Theres a lot of potential. Its the Silicon Valley of China, so theres many young professionals there and they need to set up for their families, he said. Beyond economic indicators, Cheng also has faith in his concept of cultural retail, incorporating art, craft and fashion exhibitions into K11 developments. Hes now also ramping up the sustainability quotient, exemplified by the forthcoming K11 Ecoast in Shenzen, a vast waterfront complex incorporating a mall, multipurpose art space, office building and promenade. Story continues The project, scheduled to open at the end of 2024, is billed as a showcase for a circular lifestyle and waterfront conservation, with a facade composed of recycled materials. Participating architects include David Chipperfield, Sou Fujimoto and OMA, which built the wonky CCTV building in Beijing. And its only one of 21 new K11-branded projects Cheng plans to add on Mainland China between now and 2026, emblematic of his confidence in China and bringing the total to 38. Investments in land, assets and infrastructure for retail, residential commercial and hospitality projects are to top 1.4 billion euros over the next year. These projects will spread over 2.5 million square meters, or 26.9 million square feet, of property and include 30 new Rosewood Hotels. The executive acknowledged that the coronavirus pandemic has made it a tough couple of years in China, but indicators for the first half of 2022 for his company are auspicious even as the COVID-19 lockdowns across major Chinese cities continue. As of earlier this month, more than 70 Chinese cities were in full or partial lockdown, impacting over 300 million people. Still, K11 mall sales in the first half grew by 39 percent compared to a market average of just 4 percent, Cheng said, crediting the latter figure to the National Bureau of Statistics of China. Whats more, occupancy rates at K11 malls in first-tier cities was 92 percent in the first half. Cheng cited other pockets of strength, with its K11 property in Wuhan Guanggu up 65 percent in the first six months of 2022. New World Development is a vast enterprise boasting $77.4 billion in assets and tentacles that stretch into education, health care, insurance, aircraft-leasing and crypto. But its three main businesses are property development, hospitality and retail, including 27 New World department stores, the giant Chow Tai Fook chain for jewelry and watches, plus luxury distributor Luxba Group. The K11 Musea in Hong Kong. While acknowledging that the retail and property markets on the Mainland are not at their best, Cheng is confident that his company will be in a strong position for a rebound, with a host of developments set to open in 2025 and beyond. Im very confident in our expansion strategy, he said. We dont care about short-term types of cyclical downturns, or the pandemic, because were looking at a much longer horizon. In an interview, Cheng spoke about the long-term potential of China, the rise of domestic fashion brands, his views on physical versus digital, and the new craze for role-playing games: WWD: Do you anticipate sustained domestic consumption, even when Chinese are free to travel the world? Adrien Cheng: Yes, I do, because the central government proposed accelerating the implementation of dual circulation, a new development cycle in which the domestic economy is the primary driver, while the international economy plays a supportive role. I think China will continue to introduce measures to boost domestic demand, and build up domestic consumption and investment. Compared with other countries, Chinas domestic consumption as a proportion of GDP is still very low. So theres a lot of room for them to really boost domestic demand and domestic consumption. Disposable income in certain cities, especially in the first year, will still be growing. WWD: You invest mainly in physical projects: malls, hotels, cultural spaces, condos. Whats your view on digital versus physical consumption? A.C.: People still need to go to physical spaces, whether youre shopping, staying in a hotel, or going out to eat. But as you know, China has very, very strong online presence, and the digital ecosystem is very strong. And so people are talking about omnichannel becoming much, much tighter. We have an online platform and apps called K11 Go, through which we curate merchandise to support online traffic. Its also a brand awareness and CRM tool and weve seen very good conversion rates during livestreamed selling events on Douyin. So the entire system is phy-gital. We need both. We cannot just focus on the physical space because we need to extend our customer lifecycle, encourage repeat purchases, whether physical or online, and create a stickiness between us and our customers. The interior of the K11 Musea in Hong Kong. WWD: Youve been a pioneer in cultural retail. What does it entail, and why you think this is the future? A.C.: We started this 14 years ago, basically combining museum-quality cultural experiences with a physical space, whether its a shopping mall, office facility or condominium, so when you go into any of our physical spaces, its like a curated exhibition. Cultural retail brings high traffic to physical spaces, and in return visitors get a cultural experience where they can appreciate culture, creativity and design. For example, we recently mounted the biggest NFT art exhibition in Asia at our K11 Musea in Hong Kong. A lot of crypto-native people came to see the show, which was spread throughout the retail space. We had 20,000 people who subscribed and joined an art tour, and afterwards most of them went to eat and to shop. We also had NFT-related merchandise for them to buy. We are very accessible, because its a hybrid museum plus a commercial space. And because of that, people are very willing to come. It brings in new customer segments, and VIPs, too. Consumers clearly welcome the museum-retail concept as our footfall and sales have increased. At our K11 in Guangzhou, we set up a golden forest by New York set designer Stefan Beckman, which attracted 150,000 people over three days. I want to create a Silicon Valley for art and culture, which I believe is equally important for social and economic development. WWD: Can you elaborate on the business model for cultural retail? Are the cultural elements a cost, or revenue generator? A.C.: Some of our marketing budget goes into curating and creating these cultural experiences, but we also generate revenues because most exhibitions are ticketed, and some have attracted as many as 350,000 visitors. We also have exhibition-related merchandise, and all this happens in the retail space. This encourages repeat visits and repeat purchases because people are experiencing something beyond a normal white box. The beauty is that K11 has become a content provider. We have always been democratizing art. Fashion, art, food, music, design they all play a part in shaping culture. Next-generation consumers have a growing interest in art and culture and I dont believe it should be reserved for the select few. WWD: Youre also stepping up sustainability across your developments. Why? A.C.: The new generation in China is very focused on ESG and sustainability, so the circular economy is a very important concept that we are trying to put into our entire experience as well. We live at a time when profits and purpose are equally important. My core business mission is to create shared value, which means connecting my business success with social progress and focusing on empowering culture and creativity. One of the things I brought to the company was our New World Sustainable Vision 2030 roadmap, which references the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals with metrics and science-based targets so every department has the same clearly defined goals. We are deeply committed to ESG throughout all our business operations and hope to be a role model for other developers and companies. An aerial view of the future K11 Ecoast on Prince Bay in Shenzen. WWD: You seem focused on the next generations of consumers, how come? A.C.: Millennials and Gen Z are more globally connected. They have strong spending power, greater influence and high expectation of brands and businesses, so it is imperative that we deliver on their needs. Gen Z focuses a lot on knowledge capital, because theyre so well educated and sophisticated as well. They want to build their knowledge, so we do a lot of education throughout the customer experience. On our K11 Go platform, we have master classes and hundreds of webinars on many different topics, from NFTs and Web3 to art and architecture. We want to engage with them and really have a conversation with them. In China, every three to five years, theres a paradigm shift, a change in consumer habits. We see that in the quest for knowledge capital, and in Millennials wanting physical experiences to be more immersive, whether its via AR, VR or XR. If you go to China today, youll see that immersive, live-action role-playing centers are the hottest thing right now. You get a script and everyone becomes an actor. Murder mysteries are popular, for example, where all participants help solve a crime. WWD: Youve stated an ambition to reshape Asia and build more bridges of understanding between the East and West. Whats behind that? A.C.: I think, globally, the next generation has a growing appreciation for art and culture, technology and sustainability. So my mission is to help bridge this gap and create a cultural dialogue between East and West. Five years ago, I created the K11 Craft and Guild Foundation, to bring attention to fast-disappearing Chinese know-how. For example, we are doing a big exhibition in Shanghai on a black lacquer technique incorporating silk embroidery that was exported [to Europe] back in the 17th century. So there was a bridge a few hundred years ago and now were building this bridge again. An exhibition in Shanghai dedicated to an endangered black lacquer technique. I think Hong Kong can be an epicenter of Asia because it is a fusion of East and West and exhibits the best of both worlds. So Hong Kong will have this role in the future in terms of cultural exchange. The Asian countries are celebrating their own heritage. People are still appreciating the Western fashion brands, but now you see a lot of domestic fashion that people are embracing. For example, an entire floor of K11 in Guangzhou is dedicated to homegrown fashion designers. Some are Western-educated and coming back and some of them trained in fashion domestically, so it is a big paradigm shift as well. My ultimate goal is for K11 to be globally known for its museum retail concept, and bringing the best of art and culture to Asia from all over the world. An external view of K11 Shanghai. Click here to read the full article. Knoxvilles attracting some prospective Republican presidential candidates. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican running for re-election against Democrat Charlie Crist, will speak here Wednesday, Sept. 21, at an 11:30 a.m. luncheon at Chesapeake's West. The private event is a sellout at 140, Susan Richardson Williams, long-time GOP stalwart who helped organize the luncheon, said Thursday. And former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley did more than pick up a Patriot Award at the Congressional Medal of Honors celebration while in Knoxville a week ago. She spoke at a Republican fundraising event for U.S. Reps. Tim Burchett and Diana Harshbarger, where she was described as a potential presidential or vice presidential candidate. Patriot Award recipient Nikki Haley during the Patriot Awards Gala hosted by the Medal of Honor Convention at the Knoxville Conventional Center on Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022. I hope to see her on a national ticket very soon, Burchett, a Knoxvillian who represents the 2nd Congressional District, said at a barbeque in a barn at the West Knox home of developer and former Knox County Commissioner Scott Davis and his wife, Hope, on Sept. 10. Hear more Tennessee Voices:Get the weekly opinion newsletter for insightful and thought-provoking columns. The DeSantis fundraiser also is being arranged by Sherri Parker Lee, long-time GOP supporter. Williams said Lee got the ball rolling because her son, Baxter, a former congressional candidate in Nashville, knows someone in the Florida governors office. The cost to attend the private luncheon for DeSantis is $500 a couple, $1,000 to host and $2,500 to be included in a photo with the governor, Williams said. Last weekend, Haley was accessible to Republicans wanting to meet her at a reception in the Davis home prior to the barbeque at $500 per couple/person. But the former South Carolina governor also mixed with the crowd at the barn who paid $50 per person to attend. Harshbarger, a Kingsport Republican, told the crowd she had gotten to know Haley after taking office in 2021. She said Haley invited newly elected female members of Congress to a girls' night out to talk about what the federal government does and how it works. Story continues Haley did not address being a presidential contender, but she seems to have covered a number of bases in case she did. She told the barbeque crowd she had visited with former Gov. Bill Haslam and his wife, Crissy, before coming to the Davis showplace. All Bill Haslam had to say later about the visit was that Nikki stopped by our house to say hello while she was in town. He responded to an email request for comment. Haley told the 150 Republicans gathered in the barn that voting in November matters, citing price rises in gas, food and utilities. She blamed Democrats for spending out of control and just interested in hiking up more taxes. She said she is going across the country to help elect Republicans to Congress and as governors. She also talked about being the daughter of immigrants who came to the U.S. from India in a legal manner. She said her parents are offended by immigrants coming to the U.S. illegally. Her original name was Nimrata Nikki Randhawa and she was born in South Carolina. She married Michael Haley in 1996 and served in the South Carolina House of Representatives before being elected governor in 2011. She served as U.N. ambassador under GOP President Donald Trump in 2017-18. Her speech one day before the anniversary of 9/11 reminded the audience of the four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out on Sept. 11, 2001, by the Islamic extremist network al-Qaida against the U.S. Do you remember life was comfortable on Sept. 10? Do you remember where you were on Sept. 11? On Sept. 12, we all loved each other. We cared about America, she said. But those feelings of togetherness do not exist today and a national self-loathing has got to stop. We are not a racist country, she said, to spontaneous applause. Trumps name did not come up publicly at this event, although he continues to be in the news with various federal investigations and campaigning on behalf of candidates supporting his lies about winning the presidency over Democratic President Joe Biden in 2020. Haley was given the Patriot Award at the Medal of Honor Gala on Sept. 10. Williams said she attended this event as a guest of state Sen. Becky Duncan Massey, R-Knoxville, and that Haley didnt talk about electing Republicans but gave a terrific speech on patriotism. Williams said she believes Haley is a potential presidential candidate, but I dont think shell run against Trump. Gov. Ron DeSantis holds a news conference at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida, on Sept.16. The Florida governor will speak at a private event in Knoxville on Wednesday, Sept. 21. Attendees at the barbecue and Haley reception contributed to the East Tennessee Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee authorized by Burchett for Congress, his Volunteer Issues PAC, Diana for Congress and her Tennessee Tough PAC. Proceeds are to be divided between the two members of Congress or their PACS. (Disclosure: I attended the fundraising barbeque as the guest of Burchett. In attempting to pay for tickets for a friend and me, I was told we were his guests. I accepted as no conditions were put on how to cover the event.) DeSantis is in the news with his conservative approach to governing, which makes him attractive to many Republicans as an alternative to Trump should the former president not seek reelection. The latest news he made was sending two planeloads of migrants in Texas to Marthas Vineyard in Massachusetts on Wednesday, defending the action as migrants needing to be taken care of by states or communities that agree to take care of them, not border states that dont want them. Democrats in Florida and Massachusetts were reported by the national news media as furious over the move. Williams was asked what she thought of DeSantis action with the migrants. We obviously have a problem. Got to give kudos to him and Gov. Greg Abbott (of Texas) for doing something clever, she said. LISTEN TO THE OTHER SIDE: Former Tennessee Govs. Phil Bredesen, a Democrat, and Bill Haslam, a Republican, are trying to draw attention to the advice of the late Howard H. Baker Jr., former U.S. senator from Huntsville, Tennessee, who said its possible the other person might be right in politics so its important to listen to that point of view. Former Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen, second from left, and former Republican Gov. Bill Haslam, right, talk with audience members before a discussion on bipartisanship at Vanderbilt University on Nov. 5, 2019, in Nashville. The two have started a podcast called "You Might Be Right." Baker, also a White House chief of staff and U.S. ambassador to Japan, said the following at a 2010 event with former President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat: In politics, the competition for ideas, the competition for the right to serve, is fundamental and it is political. But it must be accompanied by a decent respect for the other fellows point of view. Because if you dont do that, the whole system falls, it collapses, if you dont admit that the other person may be right from time to time. Bredesen and Haslam last week launched a podcast being distributed by the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy at the University of Tennessee, which is designed to have more civil conversations about policy issues than were having in this country. The podcast is called You Might Be Right, with the first episode, on gun violence, featuring Arne Duncan, former U.S. secretary of education, who has founded a nonprofit, Chicago CRED, that aims to reduce gun violence in his hometown, and David French, a political commentator who argues in favor of red-flag laws as the path toward reducing gun violence. The podcasts are an outgrowth of a discussion by the two governors at UT two years ago where they had an honest talk with each other about their administrations and problems faced, said Marianne Wanamaker, Baker Center director. The two men get along and respond well to each other, she said. It works, its fun, she said. The two governors also were featured last week in a panel at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, D.C., on the topic Civility, Understanding and Statemanship. The Baker Center was a sponsor. Haslam said today there is a tendency for leaders to read the room to determine whats happening, seeing people who are angry and mad, and reacting accordingly. He said he and Bredesen would like to help leaders understand the other side. Bredesen said people get into politics for different reasons. A lot are in for selfish reasons and perks, he said, but a lot are in for the right reason. They want to do the right thing. They want to genuinely solve problems. The podcast will discuss other controversial topics like climate change and the national debt, and will feature people who may have held public office but no longer do, like former Vice President Al Gore, a Democrat and former U.S. senator from Tennessee, and Paul Ryan, retired Wisconsin Congressman who was House Speaker and a GOP vice presidential candidate. WHY VOTE?: A panel discussion on that topic will be held Wednesday, Sept. 21, at UTs Baker Center, 1640 Cumberland Ave., ahead of the Nov. 8 federal and state general elections. Bill Lyons, director of policy partnership for the center and an expert in American politics and voting behavior, will discuss the subject with Knox County Election Commission Chair Hannah Hopper, Knoxville Vice Mayor Andrew Roberto and Knoxville City Councilwoman Lynn Fugate. The program runs 5-6:15 p.m. and is free and open to the public. Georgiana Vines is retired News Sentinel associate editor. She may be reached at gvpolitics@hotmail.com. CORRECTION: The location of the DeSantis fundraiser was incorrect in an earlier edition of this column. It has been corrected. This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Does the road to the White House run through Knoxville? | Georgiana Vines Beginning Jan. 1, 2023, cash bail will be abolished in Illinois. The measure that will eliminate it has been on the books since early 2021, giving the justice system two years to plan for the major overhaul of the states pretrial detention system. Its also given time for the measure to become politicized to a point where the reality of the law has become indistinguishable from the political rhetoric surrounding it. As I've said many times, what we want to make sure doesn't happen is that someone who's wealthy and commits a terrible violent crime it could be, by the way, a wealthy drug dealer doesnt have an easy time getting bail compared to somebody who maybe commits shoplifting and for a couple of hundred dollars is stuck in jail, Gov. JB Pritzker said at a news conference in August. But opponents and advocates of the reform agree that, beyond simply ending cash bail, the law seeks to reduce the number of people incarcerated before a guilty verdict by limiting the circumstances in which a judge can order pretrial detention. Republicans and states attorneys have continued to fight for changes to the law, up to a full repeal, arguing that while the intent may be to empower judges to detain more dangerous individuals, the bill as written is too limiting. A nonpartisan task force formed under the Supreme Court, meanwhile, is working to assist with implementation in the justice system ahead of Jan. 1 and has identified unclear or contradictory sections of the bill that lawmakers should reconsider before Jan. 1. It is frustrating because many aspects of the statute are not clear, retired Judge Robbin Stuckert, who chairs the Pretrial Implementation Task Force, said at a July town hall meeting. They may be vague, gray areas. And again, we are charged by the Supreme Court to assist with implementation. The laws sponsors in the General Assembly said they are working with the task force on legislation clarifying some of those matters particularly when it comes to detainable offenses for potential passage this fall. Story continues SAFE-T Act passed in 2021 The provision to end cash bail, known as the Pretrial Fairness Act, was included in the SAFE-T Act criminal justice reform passed in a January 2021 lame duck session. Short for Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today, the SAFE-T Act was a broad-ranging initiative backed by the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus in the wake of a nationwide reckoning with racism in the criminal justice system following the death of George Floyd under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer. It was passed by the Senate just before 5 a.m. after an all-day session on Jan. 13, 2021, then cleared the House hours later. Pritzker signed it a month later. Illinois State Rep. Justin Slaughter, D-Chicago, holds up his fist while wearing a black glove after the criminal justice reform bill passes the Illinois House during the lame-duck session for the Illinois House of Representatives held at the Bank of Springfield Center, Wednesday, January 13, 2021, in Springfield, Ill. [Justin L. Fowler/The State Journal-Register] It has been amended twice, addressing law enforcement concerns about use of force standards, clarifying some pretrial matters and changing language about police body cameras. But provisions regarding cash bail have not been amended since the bills 2021 passage. The goal of the Pretrial Fairness Act was clear: to move away from the existing wealth-based system of pretrial detention in favor of one based on an offenders level of risk of reoffending or fleeing prosecution. Keith Grant, a Lake County public defender and Pretrial Implementation Task Force member, said that citing and releasing people committing less serious offenses provides better outcomes, saves taxpayer money and frees officers to remain on the beat. We find that when defendants are detained even for as little as, research shows, three days, they can become destabilized to the point of lacking all of the social netting resources that they would have otherwise had, Grant said. Keeping people in custody when they don't need to be actually creates a risk of harm to the community. The Loyola University of Chicagos Center for Criminal Justice Research analyzed Illinois State Police data that showed that from 2020 to 2021, individuals jailed pretrial in Illinois spent an average of 34 days incarcerated. The report predicted the numbers would decrease under the PFA for those committing lesser offenses while likely increasing for those held on more serious offenses because they cant free themselves on bail. The report further analyzed U.S. Department of Justice data which showed that in 2019, 50 percent of jail detainees in Illinois were Black compared to 15 percent of the population at large; 33 percent were white compared to 76 percent of the population; and 14 percent were Hispanic compared to 18 percent of the population. The racial disparity numbers were driven by Illinois three largest counties. Of those detained, 82 percent were being held on felony charges and 89 percent were being held pretrial. The new law abolishes cash bail and provides for a presumption in favor of release for misdemeanors, traffic offenses and other petty offenses, provided a defendant is not deemed a risk to the community by the arresting officer. Kane County Chief Judge Clint Hull, a task force member, said at a July town hall that the arresting officers will maintain similar discretion as they are afforded under current law. Do they pose an obvious threat to the community or any person or are they a risk to their own safety? he said. In both situations, if they are, the police despite the fact that this isn't the most serious offense (do) have the discretion to bring that person in to try to make sure that they can identify and address that issue. In most cases, individuals committing misdemeanors or petty offenses will receive a citation from law enforcement and a court date within 21 days. More detailed pretrial hearings After the initial arrest, as under current law, judges will determine whether detention continues. Under current law, bail hearings typically occur within 72 hours of arrest and last less than five minutes. Prosecutors detail the defendants charges and may recommend a bail amount. The judge then decides the conditions of their release, including how much money, if any, the defendant must post before their release from custody. Under the PFA, the hearings will be more intensive. Defendants are given a right to legal representation and prosecutors can detail their reasons for continued detention. One of the primary goals of the law is to make sure that we're having in-depth, detailed hearings when we're taking away someone's freedom, said Sarah Staudt, an advocate with the Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts, which worked with lawmakers on the bill. Prosecutors wishing to keep an individual detained would petition the court for pretrial detention. Upon petition, the law requires an immediate detention hearing which could coincide with the defendants first appearance in court. If a continuance is requested and granted, the court would have 48 hours in serious felony cases to hold such a hearing. The court would have the authority to detain an individual pending a continuance. For pretrial detention to be ordered, the state must prove by clear and convincing evidence that the defendant committed the crime, poses a specific threat to a person or persons and that no other pretrial conditions can mitigate the defendants risk to that person or persons. Its a heightened standard that prosecutors have warned may be too difficult to meet within the short timeline, but advocates say is necessary to protect a constitutional presumption of innocence. For lesser offenses, the court would have 24 hours to conduct the same procedure. The PFA makes no exception for holidays or weekends. Limits to detention States attorneys have been the most vocal critics of the law as written, arguing that it leaves too little leeway for judges to detain dangerous individuals in certain circumstances. Among them is Republican DuPage County States Attorney Bob Berlin, who said he was not opposed to ending cash bail in principle. I want to stress, this is very fixable, Berlin said. I'm not one of the people out there saying Oh, repeal repeal, just get rid of it. We can fix this. And we can fix it before January 1. John Curran an implementation task force member, GOP state senator and former assistant Cook County states attorney said he also didnt oppose ending cash bail, but he saw several shortcomings with the system replacing it. He, Berlin and other states attorneys have called on Illinois to emulate a system put in place in New Jersey in 2017, which eliminates cash bail but gives greater discretionary authority to judges to impose pretrial detention than does Illinois law. The first big difference is New Jersey doesn't limit the number of offenses that are detainable, Berlin said. New Jersey allows judges to detain in any criminal offense, which would include misdemeanors. We believe that judges are in the best position to make decisions about who should be detained or not. While the PFA does not create categories of offenses that are non-detainable under every circumstance, it does, as written, create circumstances in which a judge would have no statutory authority to detain a defendant that doesnt have a prior record or present a risk of fleeing prosecution. Another Loyola University study estimated that a judge would not have been able to detain the defendant in 56 percent of arrests that occurred statewide in 2020 and 2021 had the PFA been in place. From 2020 to 2021, according to the research, 193,387 people were admitted into jails statewide each year, with 90 percent held for some length pretrial. Due to varying lengths of pretrial detention, the report estimated there were between 13,827 to 15,994 people being held pretrial daily. Once the PFA is implemented, between 44,000 and 70,000 individuals per year will be eligible for initial detention, the report estimated. About 70 percent of those would be in relation to domestic violence or violations of order of protections, according to the study, which is one reason the SAFE-T Act had support from anti-domestic violence groups. If post-COVID trends continue, the report reads, that means somewhere between 89,000 and 115,000 individuals per year could not be initially detained under the PFA once the law goes into effect on January 1, 2023. Detention standards Currans and Berlins concern lies in the language beginning on page 370 of the 764-page SAFE-T Act which lays out the specific circumstances in which a judge can order pretrial detention. The language allows a judge to deny pretrial release if a defendant is a danger to an individual or the community and is accused of non-probational offenses such as first-degree murder, as well as aggravated arson, residential burglary, stalking, domestic battery, certain gun offenses and several specified sex offenses. While misdemeanors and other low-level offenses are generally non-detainable under the new law, all charges become detainable if the defendant is already on pretrial release, probation or parole. The language also allows detention for individuals charged with a forcible felony for which a sentence of imprisonment, without probation, periodic imprisonment or conditional discharge, is required by law upon conviction. The task force has noted that language specifically excludes offenses for which a defendant is eligible for probation. Berlin said that means, under the law as written, judges cannot order pretrial detention of an individual accused of second-degree murder, drug trafficking, arson, robbery, aggravated battery, threatening a public official and other probational offenses unless prosecutors prove they are a risk for willful flight from prosecution. The willful flight standard, unlike the dangerousness provision, can be applied to anyone committing a crime greater than a Class 4 felony which includes many property crimes and offenses such as aggravated DUI and driving on a revoked license who is deemed by a judge as planning or attempting to intentionally evade prosecution by concealing oneself. But because the law states that past non-appearances in court are not evidence of future intent to avoid prosecution, Berlin said it will be difficult to prove. I mean, youve gotta show that theyve got a ticket to get out of town, Berlin said. Advocates, however, say the differentiation between the willful flight and dangerousness standards was intentional, although further changes may be forthcoming. If someone's going to cooperate with the prosecution in a nonviolent case, we don't want a situation where they're being detained, Staudt said. Sen. Robert Peters, a Democrat and Senate co-sponsor of the law, said hes open to discussions about amending the bills willful flight standards and detainable offense language based on the Pretrial Implementation Task Forces recommendations. Anytime you take human life and you're saying I'm going to take away their freedom, that should be somewhat of a higher standard, he said. What I again will say is that I'm willing to have conversations about the practices of this. Rep. Justin Slaughter, a Chicago Democrat and the laws House sponsor, said language regarding detainable offenses in the existing bill is misleading and unclarified, and his plan is to address it in follow-up legislation this fall. We will have a system that prioritizes public safety, and we will have a system (in which) there's no such thing as a non-detainable person, Slaughter said when asked about the goal of follow-up legislation at a Thursday news conference. He declined to go into specifics due to ongoing discussions. Illinois State Sen. John Curran, R-Downers Grove, center. Curran, who said hes been pushing for such changes since January 2021, noted another section of the bill states that at each subsequent appearance in court, a judge must find that continued detention of a defendant is necessary to avoid the specific, real and present threat to any person or of willful flight from prosecution to continue detention of the defendant. Curran said that will make it more difficult to detain an individual after their first appearance by leaving out a community safety standard thats included elsewhere in the bill. The task force identified the language as problematic, and advocates have said standardizing the language throughout the bill will be a goal of follow-up legislation. Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government that is distributed to more than 400 newspapers statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation. This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Illinois's pretrial detention reforms go beyond no cash bail Sep. 19All the necessary ingredients were in place to create the perfect more accurately, perfectly horrific vehicular crash. It was a dark winter night, and the two elk were crossing N.M. 68 south of Taos, probably to forage for food. That's when Garrett VeneKlasen spotted the animals while driving in his aging Lexus. VeneKlasen had just enough time to veer out of the line of the mother elk, but his vehicle sideswiped an approximately 250-pound calf. The collision killed the smaller elk and caused "significant" damage to the vehicle. The driver of a truck traveling behind VeneKlasen didn't have enough time to avoid the dead elk and raced over its body, nearly creating another crash. Neither driver was hurt, but VeneKlasen, shaken, recalled it as a "pretty scary" incident that got his heart racing. "Had I been another 12 inches over, that elk would have come over my hood and into my windshield and probably killed me," said VeneKlasen, the northern conservation director for the New Mexico Wildlife Federation. Such potentially deadly situations are increasingly problematic as wildlife migrate farther to find food, water, a mate or escape a once-comfortable habitat devastated by wildfire. Officials say vehicular crashes involving animals encounters that can lead to destruction, death and thousands of dollars in damages are prompting renewed efforts to create corridors of safety for both man and beast. Lawmakers, public safety and wildlife advocates are placing a lot of faith and looking to place a lot of money into implementing the state's Wildlife Corridors Act, which was passed and signed into law in 2019 but still needs hundreds of millions of dollars to come to fruition. The numbers are sobering: According to a June 2022 action plan compiled by the state Department of Transportation and Department of Game and Fish, between 2002 and 2018 there were 15,486 reported incidents on New Mexico's roadways involving six large species, including deer, elk and black bears. Deer made up for over 11,000 of those incidents. Story continues Sometimes, the victims aren't just the animals. In late August, a state Department of Transportation official told lawmakers on the interim Transportation, Public Works and Capital Improvements Committee there have been at least three human fatalities, the most recent in 2020, from such crashes in New Mexico. U.S. Department of Transportation statistics say more than 200 people died in animal-related vehicular collisions in the country in 2020, with the vast majority occurring between June and September. The financial price for such crashes: $8 million, including the cost of fixing property damage, according to the federal report. Advocates say mere signs along the highway warning motorists of deer crossings and the presence of other animals may not be enough to stem the tide of the crashes. The Wildlife Corridors Act requires state agencies to analyze different data points including crashes involving wildlife to prioritize areas where wildlife passageways, including overpasses, underpasses and game fencing should be built to protect both humans and animals. The recent state report says the top five wildlife-vehicle crash hotspots are Glorieta Pass near Santa Fe, plus the town of Cuba in Sandoval County and the Southern New Mexico communities of Bent, Ruidoso and Silver City. It also prioritizes six wildlife corridors recommended for construction projects, including in the Chama area, an area south of Raton and in roadways in the Sandia and Jemez mountain ranges. Addressing corridor needs in those five top crash areas will be costly about $165 million, according to current estimates. These projects "are not cheap," acknowledged Bryan Bird, the southwest program director for Defenders of Wildlife, a nonprofit that works to protect native plants and animals in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. Though the Legislature already committed $2 million to fund state agency efforts to create an action plan and report, that money will not go much further, he said. But Bird added a bipartisan infrastructure package passed by Congress includes $350 million to construct wildlife road crossings, and New Mexico can apply for matching grant funds to move forward with corridor projects. Sen. Mimi Stewart, D-Albuquerque, who cosponsored the Wildlife Corridors Act, said last week she hopes to secure $50 million in non-recurring funding in the 2023 legislative session to begin work on some of the priority projects and apply for the matching federal funds. "We need to get our grant writers together and find out how we can access these funds," Stewart said. "It's important we try to protect our animal diversity and try to do things smarter; try to add some of these overpasses and underpasses and fencing." Will such efforts pay off? Nevada has reported success with an animal underpass and overpass program first initiated in 2010. Nova Simpson, a biological supervisor with the Nevada Department of Transportation's environmental division, said the state has recorded about 8,000 mule deer annually using those corridors to safely cross roads. "That's 8,000 animals not on the road and in front of motorists," she said. She said game fencing, which can range in height from just a couple of feet for desert tortoises to eight feet for deer, elk and bighorn sheep, work to herd those animals toward the safer pathways. "Most animals can adapt to either under or overpasses," she said. She said another benefit to the animal corridors is their ability to reduce the mortality rate of endangered species or those whose population is already at risk, such as the desert tortoise. Other states, primarily in the West, have created similar wildlife corridors, including Arizona and Colorado. In California, millions are being raised to build a crossing for U.S. 101 on the western side of Los Angeles County, which will allow mountain lions to easily cross eight lanes of traffic, expanding their habitat. New Mexico has already begun creating two wildlife underpass corridors near Cuba and Raton. Those expansions are necessary, wildlife advocates say, to sustain these populations and give animals a chance to adapt to development. Climate change, drought and wildfires also are driving the migration patterns. "We are seeing more and more of these accidents because their [animal] habitats were compromised and development is moving into areas they normally use," VeneKlassen said. "It's a huge public safety issue, but you can't put a value on wildlife. It's economically important, important from a consumptive level we eat elk. It's an important food source for families." VaneKlassen thinks New Mexico is headed in the right direction with the Wildlife Corridors Act but said it needs to move faster and invest more money into infrastructure to make such safe passages viable. "Fifty million is a good start,' he said. "But we need to commit $100 million to this tomorrow. There's capital outlay money, federal money, all sorts of different money to apply to this. I want this to be on the radar of [congressional] senators, representatives as well as all state legislators. We need to ramp this up. "The clock is ticking and lives are hanging in the balance obviously human lives but also very valuable wildlife." The Memphis man charged with murder for allegedly killing his wife during their honeymoon in Fiji was denied bail in court. Bradley Robert Dawson, 38, was charged for allegedly murdering his newlywed wife Christe Chen, 36, at the Turtle Island Resort in the Yasawa Islands on July 9. Chen, who worked as a pharmacist, was found dead inside the bathroom of their bungalow. Her remains had to be cremated in Fiji due to the severity of her injuries. According to prosecutors, Dawson brutally beat his wife during a drunken argument. He then fled to Matacawalevu Island, where he was arrested two days later. More from NextShark: Vancouver authorities seek help identifying suspect in unprovoked attack against teen girl Last month, Dawson pleaded not guilty to the charge in the High Court of Lautoka. On Wednesday, High Court Judge Riyaz Hamza reportedly denied him bail during a hearing. The judge also denied Dawsons two Fijian sponsors because lawyers could not prove that the women had known him long enough. Dawson plans to appeal the bond denial at his court appearance on Sept. 26, according to his lawyer Iqbal Khan. Khan previously told the court that Dawson is willing to surrender his passport and linger in Fiji while awaiting his trial, which could reportedly begin as early as 2023. More from NextShark: South Korean authorities investigating the alleged assault of Chinese student in Busan Featured Image via ABC24 Memphis (left), Christe Dawson (right) More from NextShark: Teen arrested for allegedly participating in group attack on Asian man in NYC Enjoy this content? Read more from NextShark! Yishiji, popular Chinese content creator, comes out as gay in suicide note (Bloomberg) -- A powerful typhoon barreled through southwest Japan on Monday, unleashing torrential rains and lashing winds that killed at least two people, triggered floods and caused thousands to evacuate to safety. Most Read from Bloomberg Typhoon Nanmadol is heading on a northeast path along the west coast of Honshu, with maximum sustained winds of 30 meters per second (67 miles per hour). While the storm has weakened since making landfall, it is still expected to dump as much as 400 millimeters (15.7 inches) of rain in parts of the region, drenching major cities including Tokyo when people return to work Tuesday after a three-day weekend, the Japan Meteorological Agency reported. At least two people were killed when the storm ripped through the main southwest island of Kyushu a day earlier, Kyodo News reported, with one of the fatalities being a man found in a car that had been submerged in Miyazaki prefecture. Nearly 90 others were injured, according to national public broadcaster NHK. The typhoon triggered landslides, ripped siding off of buildings and downed electric lines -- leaving about 260,000 homes without power around noon on Monday in Kyushu, according to a website of Kyushu Electric Power Transmission & Distribution Co. The storm is forecast to dump heavy rain on large parts of Honshu on Tuesday, leading to risks of floods and landslides, the agency said. It has issued a flooding advisory for Tokyo and adjacent Kanagawa prefecture while large parts of Kyushu and prefectures to the northeast were under a flood warning. Some scheduled LNG shipments this week to parts of southern Japan were delayed as the typhoon forced ships to detour, according to traders with knowledge of the plans. Story continues LNG Shipments to Parts of Japan Delayed Due to Typhoon Nanmadol ANA Holdings Inc. and Japan Airlines Co., the countrys two main carriers, have canceled about 800 flights. More than 400 flights were canceled as of 1 p.m. local time at the main international airports serving Tokyo, Osaka and Fukuoka, according to tracking service FlightAware.com. High speed bullet train services have been suspended between economic hubs in the affected areas. No bullet trains were running in Kyushu and between Hiroshima and Fukuoka on Monday, according to the Central Japan Railway Company and Kyushu Railway Company. Between Osaka and Nagoya, the service was stopped from 4 p.m. Monday through the last train scheduled for the day. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will delay a planned trip to New York for a session of the United Nations General Assembly by about a day and is looking to depart Tuesday morning after assessing the damage situation, Kyodo said. (Updates with reports of deaths, position of typhoon.) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2022 Bloomberg L.P. The Earl of Wessex was spotted wiping away tears during the funeral service for his mother, Queen Elizabeth II. On Monday 19 September, hundreds of dignitaries from around the world gathered at Westminster Abbey in London for the state funeral, with presidents, prime ministers among them. Millions of people across the country are watching the funeral on television, with thousands more lining the route along The Mall. As the Queens youngest son, Prince Edward, sat in the Abbey for the service, video footage shows that he shed a few tears, using a tissue to wipe his eyes and nose. Additionally, Edwards brother, the Duke of York, was seen crying as he entered the Abbey for the service. During the service, the Archbishop of Canterbury hailed the Queens abundant life and loving service as he delivered the sermon at her state funeral, adding: She was joyful, present to so many, touching a multitude of lives. The Earl of Wessex sat on the front row beside his wife Sophie, Countess of Wessex, alongside the King, the Queen Consort, the Princess Royal and her husband Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Lawrence, and Prince Andrew. Members of the royal family were among 2,000 mourners including world leaders, senior politicians, and other royals from across the globe gathered at the cathedral on Monday. Among those in attendance at the funeral were US President Joe Biden, Frances President Emmanuel Macron, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, her counterpart from Canada Justin Trudeau, and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. Additionally in attendance were all six living former prime ministers: Sir John Major, Sir Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Theresa May, David Cameron and Boris Johnson - with members of the Cabinet led by the current leader, Liz Truss. Reiki Healing Store, an online jeweler that specializes in affordable, quality Reiki jewelry, has released a new collection. Wilmington, Delaware--(Newsfile Corp. - September 19, 2022) - Reiki Healing Store's new collection is centered around the healing power of chakra and features rainbow gemstones and colorful semi-precious stones in red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet that emulate and harness the energy of the seven main chakras. Their new Reiki-inspired range includes rings, necklaces, bracelets, and earrings. More details can be found at https://reikihealingstore.com To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8814/137618_f0265c61f401db5a_001full.jpg The launch of Reiki Healing Store's new chakra gemstone collection coincides with the increasing popularity of alternative medicine. Recent reports point to an all-time high interest in crystals, mindfulness practices, reiki, and chakra healings in the United States, owing to the more stressful and secular modern life. While many American consumers are now harnessing the healing and energetic properties through crystals in their homes, the online store also wants to give them an opportunity to wear powerful spiritual jewelry. One popular item in their new rainbow chakra gemstone collection is the 'Magic Ring.' This sterling silver ring features seven round natural stones in the colors of the chakra in a timeless band setting. The store believes that, when worn, the ring can help to create a deep sense of relaxation and calm in the body, remove energy blockages, and bring the body into harmony and balance. Among the new pieces is also the 'Rainbow Pendant Crystal Chakra Rock Necklace.' This one-of-a-kind piece features a central 4cm drop pendant, crafted from a single raw rainbow quartz stone and wire wrapped in a gold alloy chain. The purpose of this item is to energize wearers, boost their confidence levels and bring them protection from bad karma. Story continues Reiki Healing Store also uses powerful stones like hematite in pieces like 'Magic Magnetic Hematite Health Bracelet.' Its 'Blue Color Fashion Moon Star Magic Earrings' channel the timeless spiritual iconography of the moon and the stars. Reiki Healing Store is a US-based online store that has had over 620,000 customers since it began selling affordable spiritual jewelry over 20 years ago. More information is available at https://reikihealingstore.com Contact Info: Name: REIKI HEALING STORE Email: support@reikihealingstore.com Organization: REIKI HEALING STORE Address: 910 Foulk Road, Wilmington, Delaware 19803, United States Website: https://reikihealingstore.com To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/137618 Emergency responders were called to 4949 Ridge Road in Williamson, Wayne County, around 7:45 p.m. Friday and found a 19-year-old man stabbed in the abdomen, according to New York State Police. Arthur Edick was taken by Mercy Flight to Strong Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. 17-year-old charged with murder, burglary in Williamson NY Troopers apprehended a 17-year-old boy at the scene. After he was evaluated at Rochester General Hospital, the teen was charged with second-degree murder and second-degree burglary, both felonies, in connection with the incident, according to State Police. The teen, who was not identified by police, was arraigned in Wayne County's Youth Court and was remanded to the Hillbrook Juvenile Detention Center without bail. Investigation ongoing Troopers said that Edick was stabbed during an argument. They, with assistance from Wayne County sheriff's deputies, continue to investigate the homicide. This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Teen charged with murder in Wayne County homicide. What we know now A 20-year-old woman in Colorado suffered serious injuries after police put her inside a parked cruiser that was struck by a train in a Denver-area town, according to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation The incident occurred just after 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 16, when a Platteville, Colorado, police officer pulled over a woman in her car north of Platteville after a road rage incident involving a firearm was reported earlier in the day in the neighboring town of Fort Lupton, per a news release from the CBI, one of several agencies investigating the incident. The woman stopped her car just past the railroad tracks and the officer parked the patrol car behind her on the tracks, CBI said. Two Fort Lupton police officers arrived at the scene to conduct a search of the vehicle. They detained the woman on suspicion of felony menacing and placed her in the Platteville patrol car parked on the tracks, according to CBIs release. As officers cleared the woman's vehicle, a train struck the patrol car, with the woman inside. She was taken to the hospital with serious injuries, according to CBI's release. A CBI spokesperson told USA TODAY the woman is expected to survive. Magnitude 7.6: Major earthquake strikes Mexico on Sept. 19 for third time since 1985; 1 dead Hurricane Fiona floods homes, streets in Puerto Rico: See the people and places impacted Platteville Police Chief Carl Dwyer confirmed to USA TODAY via email that the Platteville officer involved in the incident was put on administrative leave while the investigation is completed. Dwyer added that his department has cooperated with the investigation. USA TODAY obtained body and dash cam footage of the incident from the Fort Lupton Police Department this week. The Fort Lupton Police Department, the Colorado State Patrol and CBI are the investigating agencies. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Woman injured after train collides with Colorado police car: Officials YouTube A TV weatherman in New York City was fired from his job after nude screenshots from an online video chat were sent by an anonymous user to his bosses at work as well as his own mother, court documents obtained by The Daily Beast show. Erick Adame, a two-time Emmy nominee who served as a NY1 meteorologist for about four years until he recently disappeared from the air, is now petitioning a Manhattan judge to force the owners of the internet forumnamed in court papers as Unit 4 Media, Ltd.to identify the people who leaked the NSFW material and deep-sixed his career. The website itself is not specified in Adames filing. A site called LPSG.com, however, advises users, When you buy an LPSG membership it will appear on your bank statement as Unit 4 Media. LPSG, which stands for Large Penis Support Group, describes itself as the most amazing open-minded fun-spirited sexy adult community on the internet. The Daily Beast contacted Adame for comment on Monday morning. On Monday afternoon, he posted a message on Instagram, telling viewers and fans that he was taking this opportunity to share my truth rather than let others control the narrative of my life. Despite being a public figure and being on television in the biggest market in the country in front of millions of people five days a week for more than a decade and a half, I secretly appeared on an adult cam website, Adame continued. On this site, I acted out my compulsive behaviors, while at home, by performing on camera for other men. It was 100% consensual on both of our parts. I wasnt paid for this, and it was absurd of me to think I could keep this private. Nonetheless, my employer found out and I was suspended and then terminated. In an email, Adame, an anchor on NY1s weekday morning show Mornings on 1, declined to comment and referred The Daily Beast to his lawyer, Jeremy Klausner. By midday Monday, Klausner had not responded to multiple emails and voicemails requesting comment. Story continues A spokeswoman for Charter Communications, NY1s parent company, declined to comment or provide the exact date of Adames termination. The weather can be unpredictable and and [sic] its my pleasure to make sure youre prepared for whatever comes our way, Adame says on his personal website. I take pride in telling a weather story that is not just interesting, but easy to understand. My accuracy is only as good as my ability to communicate the message. On Monday, viewers began to notice Adame had gone missing without explanation. Whats happened to Erick Adame?? one mournful-seeming Twitter user asked. Adames troubles can be traced back to late 2021, when he used Unit 4s video chat service, and an anonymous user wrongfully copied unclothed images of him by taking screenshots, Mondays petition states. The filing indicates the anonymous user had multiple accounts under the user names: Sonal Prehonn, Tommysize29, Funtimes99, and Landenboy227. The user wrongfully disseminated the images to Adames employer and mother, with the intent of harassing, annoying, or alarming him and tortiously interfering with his job, the petition states. As a result, the filing adds, Adame was fired by his employer. Anonymous knew [Adame] had a reasonable expectation that the images would remain private, the filing goes on. Anonymous disseminated the images without [Adames] consent. Adame would like to pursue legal action against his anonymous tormentor but is presently unable to do so without the information to identify them, the petition says. According to the filing, Unit 4 Media claimed it doesnt keep records that would identify the user, including user supplied information and Ip addresses. Lawrence Walters, an attorney for Unit 4 Media and LPSG, told The Daily Beast in an email: Our clients policy is to comply with lawfully issued subpoenas. Capturing and disseminating user content without consent violates our clients Terms of Service and forum Rules which may result in a suspension or banning of the offending accounts. Adame is not the first TV weatherman to be axed over nude photos. In 2006, meteorologist Jamey Singleton was fired by Roanoke, Virginia, NBC affiliate WSLS-TV after a naked picture of him getting out of the shower appeared on someone elses MySpace page. In his statement, Adame apologized to his employers, colleagues, audience, family, and friends for any embarrassment or humiliation I have caused you, and said hes seeking professional help. As a public figure I recognize that I have certain responsibilities that come along with the privileges I enjoyed, Adame continued. But, let me be clear about something: I dont apologize for being openly gay or for being sex-positivethose are gifts and I have no shame about them. The weatherman then directed his message to prospective employers: Please judge me on the hundreds, thousands of hours of television that I am so proud of and that my employers have always commended me for, and not the couple of minutes of salacious video that is probably going to soon define me in our click-bait culture. Think about your management of the newsroomwhat have you overlooked, forgiven or ignored? In the end, all talent is fallible, full of human foibles, and your job is not made easier by our antics, Adame added. One thing I can promise is that I have learned a lesson and I will be an exemplary employee and the most informed and enthusiastic meteorologist you have ever seen. Read more at The Daily Beast. Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now. Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now. Jasper Kenzo Sundeens reporting for the Yakima Herald-Republic is possible with support from Report for America and community members through the Yakima Valley Community Fund . For information on republishing, email news@yakimaherald.com. FILE Students in Kim Cones second-grade class work at their desk while social distancing Friday, Oct. 30, 2020, at Cottonwood Elementary School in Yakima, Wash. Recommendations in first report Released on Aug. 1, the first report of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and People (MMIWP) Task Force includes 10 recommendations to help address the crisis. They are: 1. Extend the MMIWP Task Force timeline through June 30, 2025. 2. The task force data and research team will pay special attention to the link between gender and violence. 3. All law enforcement agencies should expand their collaboration and coordination with federal, state, county, local, and tribal social and health services. The task force shall develop best practices for law enforcement agencies and for social and health services to improve this collaboration and coordination. 4. Community service and resource programs should utilize inclusive language that reflects the experiences of MMIWP families and survivors. 5. The Legislature should establish and fully fund a cold case investigation unit within the attorney generals office with a focus on MMIWP cold cases. 6. All law enforcement agencies should identify and implement strategies and practices to improve communication and transparency with family members in MMIWP cases. 7. Require all law enforcement agencies to use the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System. 8. The attorney generals office shall update and re-issue the Missing Persons Resource. 9. Public agencies should consider adopting policies to waive or reduce fees for parks, permitting fees and other costs and reduce administrative burdens associated with hosting large events such as MMIWP marches, rallies, vigils and memorials. 10. The task force will continue to provide consultation to federally-recognized tribes in support of sovereignty and self-determination. Beth Husted grew up seeing the Teapot Dome Service Station from the highway near Zillah. She remembers the thrill of visiting the kettle-shaped gas station with friends to buy candy. We didnt know it was famous and a place for visitors, Husted said Saturday after the 100-year anniversary celebration for the Teapot. It was just fun to go to the Teapot and get candy. The landmark at 117 First Ave. in Zillah near Stewart Park now serves as a visitors center, but it was originally built in 1922 by Jack Ainsworth. Ainsworth was inspired by the presidential scandal that began when President Warren G. Harding transferred control of three oil reserve fields from the U.S. Navy to the U.S. Department of Interior in 1921. One of the reserves was at Teapot Dome, Wyo., named for a rock formation in the area. Interior Secretary Albert Fall persuaded Harding to put the oil fields under his control, then leased the reserves to the Pan-American Petroleum and Mammoth Oil companies. Word got out in April 1922, and an investigation found that Fall had received $400,000 from oil executives to tap into the fields. Fall was the first Cabinet official convicted of corruption. Harding died before the investigations got into full swing. Can you imagine if this scandal happened in todays society? Zillah Mayor Scott Carmack said during the anniversary event, speculating about the news coverage and social media frenzy it may have spurred. (Ainsworth) was upset about it, as most Americans would be, Carmack continued, so he commemorated the scandal by building a structure that looks like a teapot, named and shaped for the Wyoming reserve. It was originally on State Route 410 between Zillah and Granger. When that section of Interstate 82 was constructed in 1978, the gas station was moved to the Yakima Valley Highway west of Zillah. It continued to operate there until 2006, when it was closed because of rising fuel prices. In 2007, city officials bought the Teapot site in Zillah and began raising funds to restore and relocate it. It was moved to its current location in 2012. Pretty much everybody that you know who comes or lives around here talks about, Oh, the time when I was a kid and I went and got candy at the Teapot, or I used to get fuel there, Carmack said. Now, the Teapot is a landmark for Yakima Valley residents and those passing through. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. Gail Van Wyk works at the visitors center, and she spoke at the anniversary event before handing out commemorative 100-year pins to attendees. What I hear when people come to visit is this is a beautiful park so all those who have a hand in that, you should be very proud and that these people are really friendly. They say that, too, she said. We have people who come from all over the world, and they stop here because of this building. Dr. McCoy of 'Star Trek' finally makes it to real outer space, thanks to Tacoma super fan If you are sending a Letter To the Editor, please be sure to follow these rules: Letters have a firm 200-word limit and will be edited for grammar, clarity and accuracy. The person who signs the letter must be the author. Anonymous letters will not be considered. Letters must address the editor, not a third party. We will not print form letters, libelous letters, business promotions or personal disputes, poetry, open letters, letters espousing religious views without reference to a current issue, or letters considered in poor taste. Letters reflect the opinion of the writer. The Yakima Herald-Republic cannot verify the accuracy of all statements made in letters. Writers are limited to one published letter per calendar month. Our directory features more than 18 million business listings from across the entire US. However, if we're missing your business, add your business by clicking on Add Your Business. - At the time, Mr. Cieszynski described the pace at which online platforms were blocking pro-Russian disinformation as "astonishingly slow"- says Magdalena osko, a Civic Coalition MP. - Meanwhile, 201 days after Russia's aggression against Ukraine, Russian propaganda is still rife and rampant on the Polish internet! Access to news and the website of the Kremlins and Putins main propaganda mouthpiece - the Russian News Agency TASS - is unlimited. The question arises, what has failed that the website of the Kremlin's main propaganda mouthpiece operates without any control and restrictions? In a written question to Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki submitted on Tuesday, September 13, the Civic Coalition MP asked: "For over 201 days, intelligence services subordinate to the Prime Minister havent blocked access to the Kremlin's main online propaganda mouthpiece - the Russian News Agency TASS. Why? Do the services subordinate to the Prime Minister have the competence and skills to counter Putin's propaganda? In your opinion, Mr. Prime Minister, does the fact that the main website of the Kremlin's propaganda mouthpiece is still unrestricted have an impact on the spread of Russian propaganda and disinformation in our country?". Just how deep the Russian and Belarusian influence on the ruling Law and Justice Party and the entire United Right coalition government can run was recently discussed by the former head of Polands Military Counterintelligence Service, General Piotr Pytel. In an interview for Wyborcza, he referred to the leaked emails of the Prime Ministers Chief of Staff as "Putin's operation". It is the first such major Russian incursion into our infosphere. We can only see a small portion of this operation only what is in the leaked e-mails. But there are many targets and invisible layers of influence there. Among other things, the channel publishing the leaked emails aims to create the right conditions for the agents of influence inside the Law and Justice Party to operate as a result of the exerted pressure. Pressure on Mateusz Morawieckis inner circle and the PMs Chancellery- on people whose names appear in these emails or might appear in the future. Its not just about PM Morawiecki - he himself may even be a Russian agent. We don't know what the status of individual people, or so-called objects, is for the Russians on their operational roadmap. *** REKLAMA Every day, 400 journalists at Gazeta Wyborcza write verified, fact-checked stories about Polish politics and society, keeping a critical eye on the ruling camps persistent assault on democratic values and the rule of law; the growing cultural tension between religious fundamentalism and human rights; and the ongoing Russian invasion in Ukraine. Our journalists are on the front lines in 32 Polish cities, reporting from the streets, hospitals, and courtrooms about issues that move public opinion. We decided to make our service available to everyone free of charge in order to provide access to high quality journalism for expats and English speakers interested in Polish affairs. The access to information should be equal for all. The European Commission has proposed suspending a part of the EU funds allocated to Hungary over concerns about their mismanagement. Johannes Hahn, the Commissioner for Budget and Administration, told a press conference on Sunday that the EC was proposing to the European Council a suspension of 65% of cohesion funds due to Hungary, amounting to an estimated 7.5 billion euros. The council will now have one month to approve the commissions proposals with a qualified majority, which can be extended by a further two months under special circumstances. According to the ECs press release, Hungary has committed to fully inform the commission about the implementation of its remedial measures by Nov. 19. Hahn said the EC had taken a unanimous decision on the next step in the procedure regarding the conditionality mechanism which links EU funding to the rule of law. This is the first case which aims at protecting the financial interests of the Union, the commissioner said. Hahn said the ECs decision had been based on the intensive dialogue conducted between Hungary and the commission over the last several months, which had led to Hungary committing to several remedial measures to address the commissions concerns. The commission assessed the measures put forward by Hungary to determine whether they will put an end to the breaches of the rule of law and/or the EUs financial interests as well as the identified risks to the EU budget, he said. It concluded that the proposed remedial measures could in principle be capable of addressing the issues described in the notification, if they are correctly specified in relevant laws and rules, and implemented accordingly, Hahn said. However, until the key steps are implemented, the Commissions assessment is that a risk for the budget at this stage remains, he said, adding that the ECs decision takes into consideration the remedial measures proposed by Hungary. Proposals Aimed at Ending EU Conditionality Procedure to be Submitted to Parlt Next Week, Says Gulyas The government will next week submit to parliament its proposals needed to end the procedure regarding the conditionality mechanism which links European Union funding to the rule of law, the prime ministers chief of staff said. Hungary has been conducting intensive negotiations with the European Commission over several months and there are no more unresolved issues, Gergely Gulyas told a regular press briefing. The government has accepted several of the ECs recommendations, Gulyas said, adding that the two sides had compromised on the proposals Hungary could not accept. The cabinet discussed and approved these proposals at its Saturday meeting and will submit them to parliament next Monday and Friday, Gulyas said. The laws in question will enter into force in November, paving the way for the end of the conditionality procedure, he said. The series of talks held between Hungary and the commission over the last two months can be considered a step from mutual distrust towards mutual trust, Gulyas said. He urged lawmakers to approve the proposals so that the conditionality procedure could be concluded. Talks are also ongoing on the post-pandemic recovery fund and the partnership agreement on the operative programmes of the EUs next seven-year budget, Gulyas noted. EC's Decision Paves Way For Swift Conclusion of Talks on Funds, Says Navracsics Tibor Navracsics, the minister in charge of the uptake of European Union funds, on Sunday welcomed as progress the European Commissions decision on EU funds allocated to Hungary, saying it would allow for a swift conclusion of the talks on the post-pandemic recovery fund and cohesion monies. Navracsics told a press conference that the government was hopeful that negotiations could be concluded by the end of the year. Because the government intends to fulfil the commitments it made during the procedure regarding the conditionality mechanism linking EU funding to the rule of law, the sanctions proposed by the commission are of secondary importance, as their approval cannot happen, Navracsics said. He said the ECs Sunday decision marked the end of the months-long talks on the conditionality mechanism procedure, which meant that no further criteria could be set for Hungary. Talks will, however, continue on the implementation of the measures Hungary has committed to, the minister said, noting that he will next meet with European Commissioner for Budget and Administration Johannes Hahn on Wednesday. Navracsics noted that the government will submit the related legislative proposals to parliament on Monday and Friday. Detailing the governments commitments made to the EC, Navracsics mentioned the establishment of an anti-fraud integrity authority to oversee public procurement procedures using EU funds. Its head will be chosen by independent experts through an open application process, he said, adding that the authority could begin its work in the second half of November. Hungary has also promised to set up an anti-corruption working group that will be independent of the government and will be tied to the integrity authority, he said. The government will further strengthen anti-corruption systems, he said, noting changes to be made to the asset declaration system. Rules on conflicts of interest when it comes to foundations managing assets of public interest will also be tightened and be based on EU regulations, Navracsics said. Hungarys commitments, he noted, also include ensuring legal remedy against the prosecutors decisions in corruption cases. Navracsics said Hungary had begun implementing its remedial measures as early as last month in the interest of speeding up the process. He said that though there had been some distrust between Hungary and the commission at the early stages of the talks, cooperation between them had been normalised by the end of the process. Navracsics said he believed it was possible that the EC itself would be the one to announce that Hungary had fulfilled its commitments, and move to end the conditionality procedure. The European Commission on Sunday proposed suspending a part of the EU funds allocated to Hungary over concerns about their mismanagement. Budget airline Ryanair announced yesterday that it would cancel several routes through Hungary and cut flights on several more following a months-long dispute with the country's government over a special windfall tax placed on airlines, the Associated Press reported. The Ireland-based company's CEO, Michael O'Leary, said at a press conference in Hungary's capital that Ryanair had planned to launch 10 new routes through Budapest and base an additional airplane at its airport this winter. "Sadly, however, those plans have now fallen at the altar of the Hungarian government's decision to impose a ludicrous and idiotic excess profits tax on the airline sector, which has reported record losses," O'Leary said. After allegations were levelled against the Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann for being deplaned from a flight in Germany, AAP has now refuted the claims. As per various media reports, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann was recently deplaned from a flight for being intoxicated. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann was deplaned in Frankfurt for Delhi-bound Lufthansa flight as he was "too drunk to walk". Mann, who was on a trip to Germany from September 11-18, delayed his departure as he was reportedly in 'an inebriated state'. As seen on flight tracking website Flightaware, Lufthansa 760 flight from Frankfurt to Delhi was delayed for 4 hours. It was scheduled to take off from Germany at 1.40 PM but took off at 5.34 PM and landed in Delhi at 4.40 AM, a delay of 3.45 hours. Disturbing media reports quoting co-passengers say Pb CM @BhagwantMann was deplaned from Lufthansa flight as he was too drunk to walk. And it led to a 4-hour flight delay. He missed AAP's national convention. These reports have embarrassed & shamed Punjabis all over the globe.1/2 pic.twitter.com/QxFN44IFAE September 19, 2022 AAP refutes claim Officials in the Chief Minister's Office claimed that the Chief Minister could not board the flight because of an emergent health concerns. However, his party, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), has strongly denied the rumours, saying Mann was not deplaned at the Frankfurt airport. The party termed it false and frivolous propaganda by political rivals. Political battle Levelling serious allegations against CM Mann, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal said Mann's deplaning led to a 4-hour flight delay and he further slammed the Punjab government over their silence on the issue and sought clarifications on the incident. A co-passenger in a message said, "the CM was not steady on his feet as he had imbibed excessive alcohol and had to be supported by his wife/security". "Disturbing media reports quoting co-passengers say Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann was deplaned from a Lufthansa flight as he was too drunk to walk. And it led to a 4-hour flight delay. He missed AAP's national convention. These reports have embarrassed and shamed Punjabis all over the globe," tweeted Badal. "Shockingly, Punjab government is mum over these reports involving their CM Bhagwant Mann, Arvind Kejriwal needs to come clean on this issue. The government of India must step in as this involves Punjabi and national pride. If he was deplaned, the government of India must raise the issue with its German counterpart," he added. With agency inputs Over 500 flight services have been cancelled in Japans southwestern region due to Typhoon Nanmadol in the region. Heavy rains and strong winds have made take-offs and landings unsafe within the country and affected aviation services massively. Various airlines have to cancel flights every hour due to the storm. The mass cancellation has gone up to 500 domestic flights, along with many more planned to remain grounded until further notice. However, if Typhoon Nanmadol does not subside, then flights will remain grounded. Japan's flag carrier Japan Airlines has cancelled over 350 flights until now, which has affected the travel itineraries of more than 7,000 passengers. Domestic/20:20From Sep 19 to 20, JAL Group flights may experience irregular operations due to Typhoon Nanmadol. Most of the flights have been cancelled. https://t.co/FlORMtpPrc#JAL #TyphoonNanmadol September 18, 2022 The airline has canceled all flights to and from Kikai, Tokunoshima, Okinoerabu, Yoron, Tarama, Okinawa Naha, Kumejima, New Ishigaki, Amamioshima, and Shimojishima airports. The airline has further warned that domestic flights scheduled to fly from airports such as Niigata, Komatsu, Tokyo Haneda, Nagoya Chubu, Osaka Itami, Osaka Kansai, Nanki-Shirahama, Tajima, Oki, Okayama, Izumo, Hiroshima, Yamaguchi Ube, Tokushima, Takamatsu, Kochi, Matsuyama, and several others, would also be affected either by cancellations or lengthier delays due to possible issues of poor visibility, reports SimpleFlying. Also read: THIS region may take over Asia-Pacific as world's largest air passenger market in 2022 Typhoon Nanmadol pounded Japan with strong winds and heavy rains on Sunday, causing blackouts, paralyzing ground and air transportation, and the evacuation of thousands of people. Over 9,000 residents took shelter at evacuation centers on Sunday. In the neighbouring Miyazaki prefecture, another 4,700 people were evacuated. New Delhi: The highly anticipated medical campus comedy-drama, Doctor G starring Ayushmann Khurrana, Rakul Preet Singh and Shefali Shah in the main lead is all set to release on October 14 this year. The film looks like a dose of fun and laughter from its poster. The wait around the film has created a lot of curiosity since the day the first look was announced. Directed by Anubhuti Kashyap, Doctor G features Ayushmann Khurrana in the role of a medical student. Known for his portrayal of unique roles and bringing us riveting stories through the course of his career, Ayushmann Khurrana has once again taken on another issue with his signature brand of impactful comedy that promises to spark conversations around taboo topics. Stepping into the shoes of a male gynaecologist, the actor shared the first poster that gives us a sneak-peek into the chaotic world of his medical journey to becoming a gynaecologist. Considering that 2022 has seen very few comedy films, this one promises to be a treat for comedy lovers! Doctor G cast includes Rakul Preet Singh as Dr Fatima Siddiqui and Shefali Shah as Dr Nandini Srivastav and Sheeba Chadha who plays Ayushmanns mother in prominent roles. Taking to social media, Ayushmann Khurrana shared the poster of Doctor G and wrote ZindaGi hai meri full of Googly Chahiye tha Orthopedics, par ban gaya DoctorG Get ready for your appointments, #DoctorG will attend to you in theatres from 14th October 2022. #DoctorGInCinemas Doctor G poster shared by Ayushmann Khurrana Junglee Pictures upcoming slate of films also include Woh Ladaki Hai Kahan?, Dosa King, Ulajh and Click Shankar to name a few. While Ayushmann Khurrana was last seen in 'Anek', Shefali Shah last appeared in 'Delhi Crime' season 2. Rakul Preet Singh was last seen in Akshay Kumar starrer 'Cuttputli'. Durga Puja is a ten-day festival. On the sixth day, the festivities officially start. It is thought that Goddess Durga came to Earth on this day after killing the demon Mahishasur on the cosmic plane, in accordance with popular mythical beliefs. One of the biggest festivals for Bengalis, it is primarily celebrated in the states of West Bengal, Assam, Tripura, Odisha, and parts of Bihar. Although the festival lasts for ten days, the final five are considered to be the most significant. Now that Maa Durga is finally coming, it is once again time for every Indian to gear up for the six-day Durga Puja in 2022. It is another festival that depicts the triumph of good over bad. Durga Puja 2022: Dates Durga Puja day 1 1st October, Saturday- Shashti On this day, it is believed that Goddess Durga and her four children, Ganesha, Kartikeya, Lakshmi, and Saraswati, come to earth. Moreover, a great deal of folks opens up Maa Dura's lovely idols on this day so that they can adore them. 2nd October, Sunday- Saptami The Pran Pratisthan rite is claimed to have brought life to the idol of Goddess Durga on this day. The ceremony is known as "Kola Bou" involves dressing a banana tree in a sari and having it bathed in a river to represent a newlywed bride. This is utilised to move the goddess Durga's energy. 3rd October, Monday- Ashtami In another ceremony known as Kumari Puja, Goddess Durga is worshipped on this day as a young, virgin girl. In the evening, Sandhi Puja is held to celebrate Goddess Durga in her Chamunda avatar, who is credited with killing the buffalo demon Mahisasur. Typically, the Puja on this day is performed at the same moment Mahisasur was killed. 4th October, Tuesday- Nabami On this, the festival's final day, a Maha Aarati is held to signal the festival's conclusion. Everyone dresses properly and joins wholeheartedly in the big celebration. 5th October, Wednesday- Dashmi It is believed that Maa Durga will return to her husband's home on this day when her idols are removed from their initial position and immersed in the river. After the immersion process is complete, everyone enjoys a delightful meal and lots of rasagullas. Special mention: Sindoor Utsav Especially in West Bengal, the Durga Puja season is known for the Sindoor Utsav festival. The celebrations for Durga Puja come to an end with the immersion of the Durga idols on Vijayadashami. Married women apply vermillion, also known as Sindoor, to one another in the evening. Bijoya greetings and treats are then given out. Even males embrace one another when welcoming one another, a gesture known as Kolakuli. Also Read: Eat, pray, love! 5 things to do while visiting Kolkata during Durga Puja 2022; visit THESE top 20 pandals On the first day of Devi Paksha, which begins on the following day of Mahalaya Amavasya during Pitru Paksha, Goddess Durga descends on Earth. On the day of Durga Visarjan is when she leaves. Her arrival and departure are crucial and regarded as prophecies of the future. 10 Weapons of Goddess Durga and their significance To slay the buffalo demon Mahisasura, Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, and the other gods created Durga. Without him, they would have been helpless against the imbalance he was causing around the globe. Trishul (Trident)- Lord Shiva The Trishul has three sharp edges that stand for the three attributes of Tanmas (calmness, inactivity, and a tendency toward lethargy), Satva (salvation, positivity, and purity), and Rajas (vigour, energy, and vigorousness) (peace, hyperactivity and desires). Sword- Lord Ganesh It symbolizes intellect's wit, and the sword's brilliant strength is a metaphor for knowledge. Spear- Agni Dev So it stands for untainted, flaming power. This stands for the ability to recognise the difference between good and wrong and to behave in accordance with that knowledge. Axe- Vishwakarma Signifies no fear of consequences when fighting evil and has the power to destroy as well as create. Bow and Arrow- Vayu Dev The arrow symbolises kinetic energy, whereas the bow represents potential energy. It also represents the fact that Goddess Durga is in charge of all the universe's energy sources. Durga, a goddess who was born that way, threatens her foes with a fierce form. She is usually portrayed riding a lion and having eight or 10 limbs, each of which is wielding a unique weapon that was given to her by a particular god in preparation for her fight against the Mahisasura. Lotus- Lord Brahma The half-bloom lotus also represents the emergence of spiritual consciousness in people's thoughts even under the most trying circumstances because it grows in mud. Sudarshan Chakra- Lord Vishnu It represents the idea that Durga, who is the centre of creation and the centre of the cosmos, rules over everything. As it spins on the goddess's index finger, it also represents righteousness or dharma. Conch (Shankh)- Varuna Dev It represents steadfastness of purpose, resolution, and absolute power. Goddess Durga gives her followers unwavering self-assurance and willpower. Thunderbolt/ Vajra- Lord Indra Symbolises firmness of spirit, determination, and supreme power. Goddess Durga empowers her devotee with unshaken confidence and will. Snake- Lord Shiva Consciousness and the male energy of Lord Shiva. Durga is the real source of the inner power of all gods because she channels their collective energy or shakti. She is superior to all of them as well. There are no words to accurately describe the experience of Durga Puja. The occasion people look forward to all year long. As a result, the pujo draws not only Maa worshippers but also admirers of many cultural art forms. On a lighter note, some poeple actually just start counting (365) days for the next puja the following year, the exact moment puja ends on vijaydashmi. Since the onset of 2022, electric scooters have been catching fires in various countries around the globe. Many reports claim that electric scooter batteries are catching fire due to excessive heat. However, in yet another incident, an electric scooter caught fire recently in New York City that killed an 8-year-old girl. The death of Stephanie Villa Torres on September 17 was at least the third time in a little over a year that a fatal fire in the city has been linked to a scooter battery. EV fire was reported around 7:30 am at a home in Queens, a police spokesperson stated. Stephanie was found unresponsive and was pronounced dead at a hospital. The girl's father and 18-year-old brother were treated for burns and smoke inhalation, officials said. A fire department spokesperson said the blaze was caused by a lithium battery from an electric scooter, one of the scores of fires blamed on electric scooter and bike batteries in New York City over the past two years. Also read: Mercedes-Benz EQS 580 4MATIC bookings commence, Made-in-India luxury EV to launch on September 30 A woman and a 5-year-old girl were killed Aug 3 in Harlem by a fire that was blamed on a scooter battery, and a fire linked to an e-scooter killed a 9-year-old boy in Queens in September 2021. (With inputs from AP) Two hybrid terrorists, associated with Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind terror outfit, were arrested from South Kashmir's Anantnag district. The police, along with the Army, established a Joint naka at Waghama-Opzan Road for the operation. During the checking, the joint party arrested two Hybrid terrorists. The arrested terrorists have been identified as Tanveer Ahmad Bhat, a resident of Waghama Bijbehara; and Tufail Ahmad Dar, a resident of Midora Tral. During search, two pistols, along with 02 magazines and 15 rounds, were recovered from their possession, he said. Jammu Kashmir police, with other security forces, have also managed to arrest 72 active terrorists (mostly hybrid) this year. The security forces have also managed to eliminate 151 terrorists till now. New Delhi: The day-long national conclave of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Sunday (September 19, 2022) condemned the BJP's alleged "Operation Lotus" and passed a resolution, demanding that those involved in it be booked for sedition and handed down life imprisonment. The elected representatives of the AAP also took a pledge to make India the number one country in the world and take every possible effort to unite its 130 crore people for its success. Moving the resolution on "Operation Lotus", AAP MP Sanjay Singh dubbed it as the "biggest attack" ever on the sanctity of Independent India and said it poses a "greater threat" than any foreign invasion to the country. "Operation Lotus is placing illegal governments on the heads of the people by toppling elected governments in different parts of the country. It is the biggest scam in India," Singh read out the resolution. "Those responsible for the Operation Lotus are traitors. They should be charged with sedition and sentenced to life imprisonment," it demanded. In the second session of the conclave, Delhi Environment Minister and senior AAP leader Gopal Rai moved a resolution seeking support and commitment of the party leaders for the AAP national convenor's "Make India No 1 initiative." "For this, we will have to ensure these five things in the country - good and free education and healthcare facilities to all, employment to every youth, respect and safety for every woman and full price to farmers for their crops. The country's 130 crore people will have to join this national mission," Rai said reading out the resolution. The party said Rai's motion was seconded by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and was "unanimously passed by all the elected representatives," who attended the Rashtriya Janpratinidhi Sammelan here. New Delhi: Former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh on Monday (September 19, 2022) joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the presence of senior leaders of the saffron party. The veteran leader also merged his newly formed Punjab Lok Congress (PLC) with the BJP. Singh had floated the PLC last year after quitting Congress following his unceremonious exit as chief minister. "Now is the time to do something for the country. We have seen the Congress, now it is time to go to the party that has been doing so much for the country and its security. It is a pleasure being here," Singh said after joining BJP. Former Punjab CM Shri @capt_amarinder merged his party Punjab Lok Congress (PLC) and joined BJP in presence of senior party leaders at BJP headquarters in New Delhi. #JoinBJP pic.twitter.com/5nMFtU1Hm1 BJP (@BJP4India) September 19, 2022 Welcoming Singh and his party members into the BJP fold, Union minister Narinder Singh Tomar said that Captain Amarinder Singh has always considered the nation first and has kept the nation above everything. "I welcome Amarinder Singh and his party into the BJP fold," he said. He also noted that Punjab is a border state and it is important for the security of the nation that peace is maintained in the state. "Capt Sahib's thought has been similar to that of the BJP, as BJP is the lone political party which considers the nation first and the party after that. Amarinder Singh has also maintained this view all his life. Capt Amarinder coming with the BJP means that he wants peace and security in Punjab. The BJP will be strengthened in Punjab with his joining. This will be a historic step," Tomar said. Union minister Kiren Rijiju, who was also present on the occasion, said Punjab is a state which needs to be handled with care and asserted that they have seen Singh and his functioning. "I would like to offer a hearty welcome to Amarinder Singh Ji. We all are extremely excited. This is an important milestone in India's political history," he said. Punjab BJP chief Ashwani Sharma was also present on the occasion. Former Punjab CM Shri @capt_amarinder joins BJP at party headquarters in New Delhi. #JoinBJP https://t.co/UURLEy51Q2 BJP (@BJP4India) September 19, 2022 Singh had recently met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah. After his meeting with Shah on September 12, Singh said he held a very productive discussion on various issues related to national security, rising cases of narco-terrorism in Punjab and the future roadmap for the state's overall holistic development. Had a very productive meeting with Hon'ble Union Home Minister @AmitShah Ji. Discussed various issues pertaining to National security, the rising cases of narco-terrorism in Punjab and the future roadmap for the overall holistic development of Punjab. pic.twitter.com/QKpGWg0DMX Capt.Amarinder Singh (@capt_amarinder) September 12, 2022 (With agency inputs) This time, former chairman of SSC Subiresh Bhattacharya was arrested in the recruitment corruption case. A few days ago, standing on the roof of his flat in Kolkata, it was Subiresh who claimed that there was no recruitment corruption during his tenure. That day, his Banshadronii flat was also sealed by CBI officials. Subiresh could not enter there and reached the roof of his flat. He stood on the roof and spoke to the journalists present there. There he said that there was no corruption during his tenure. There may be some systematic errors. But that's it. On Monday, Subiresh was arrested in that Bansdroni flat. It is to be noted that Subiresh's name was in the report of the Bag Committee in the SSC corruption case. Although he is currently the Vice-Chancellor of North Bengal University, he was the Chairman of SSC for four years. From 2014 to 2018, he also gave appointment letters to teachers. On Monday, CBI officials conducted a search operation at Subiresh's Banshdroni flat in the investigation of corruption related to SSC recruitment. According to sources, the flat was searched for several hours and Subiresh was also questioned. The CBI said that he was arrested due to inconsistencies in his statements. Also Read: Big BREAK THROUGH in SSC Scam Case: Partha Chatterjee makes EXPLOSIVE remark, says 'I used to sign files SENT BY...' According to sources, Subiresh, who was arrested on Monday evening, may be taken to Nizam Palace. It is to be noted that former Education Minister Partha Chatterjee, SSC Advisory Committee Chief Shantiprasad Singh and even former Madhya Shiksha Parishad President Kalyanmoy Ganguly are also present in Nizam Palace. It is believed that Subiresh may also be brought to the Nizam Palace and questioned in front of them. According to sources, Subiresh may be taken to court on Tuesday. CBI will apply for his custody there. It is to be noted that earlier on August 24, officials of the Central Investigation Agency searched Subiresh's Bansdroni flat in the investigation of recruitment corruption. CBI officials sealed his flat. Subiresh went to the roof of the residence and held a press conference. On that day, Subiresh said, "The CBI searched my office and did not find anything. Apart from that, there is no criminal charge against me in the Bag committee report. Scan signatures have been questioned. Scan letters are used on thousands of marksheets. If someone is abusing it, that's a different matter.'' However, sources said on Monday that during the interrogation of Subiresh, inconsistencies were found in his statement. On the other hand, the former education minister Partha had earlier told investigators that he himself had no knowledge of the recruitment. He relied on his subordinates in this regard. With Subiresh arrested, it is believed that Partha and Subiresh may be questioned face-to-face regarding the appointment letter. According to sources, Subiresh was arrested after learning about corruption in the appointment of the School Service Commission during his tenure from 2014 to 2018. New Delhi: Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Monday met Sonia Gandhi and expressed his intention to contest the upcoming AICC chief polls, while the Congress president conveyed that she would stay "neutral" in the elections, sources said. Gandhi welcomed the idea of more people contesting the polls and dispelled the notion that there would be an "official candidate", they said. The feedback by Gandhi on Tharoor's desire to contest is being seen by many as an encouragement to him to contest and he could announce his candidature in the next few days. With regard to Tharoor's meeting with Gandhi and the speculation over it, the Congress said no one needs a nod to contest the presidential election as it is an open, democratic and transparent process. "Anybody who wants to contest is free and welcome to do so. This has been the consistent position of Congress President and Shri Rahul Gandhi. This is an open, democratic and transparent process. Nobody needs anybody's nod to contest," AICC general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said. Adding to the buzz over the possibility of his contesting Congress president polls, Tharoor met Gandhi at her 10 Janpath residence here. He, however, refused to divulge any details about the meeting. Tharoor, who was among the group of 23 leaders who had written to Gandhi in 2020 demanding organisational overhaul, also endorsed a petition on Monday by a group of young party members seeking "constructive reforms". The petition shared by Tharoor on Twitter sought reforms and a pledge by AICC president candidates to implement the Udaipur Declaration in entirety if elected. The former Union minister said it had been signed by over 650 people so far. "I welcome this petition that is being circulated by a group of young @INCIndia members, seeking constructive reforms in the Party. It has gathered over 650 signatures so far. I am happy to endorse it & to go beyond it," Tharoor tweeted with screenshots of the petition. The petition that Tharoor endorsed said, "We are members of the Congress party with a desire to strengthen the party to reflect the hopes and aspirations of our nation." The petition stated some of the tenets of the Udaipur Declaration that was made on May 15, 2022, after the party's brainstorming session. "We appeal to each candidate in the election for the President of the All India Congress Committee to undertake a public pledge to involve party members from block committees up to the CWC and implement the Udaipur Declaration in entirety within the first 100 days of assuming office," the petition said. I welcome this petition that is being circulated by a group of young @INCIndia members, seeking constructive reforms in the Party. It has gathered over 650 signatures so far. I am happy to endorse it & to go beyond it. https://t.co/2yPViCDv0v pic.twitter.com/waGb2kdbTu Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) September 19, 2022 In its declaration, the Congress had announced wide-ranging organisational reforms to make the party battle ready for the next round of assembly and Lok Sabha polls, stressing on wider representation to those under 50 years of age and enforcing 'one person, one post' and 'one family, one ticket' rules with riders. Asked about the possibility of him running for the post of Congress president, Tharoor had told PTI earlier this month, "I have only welcomed the fact that an election will be held. I believe that is very good for the party." "Of course, it is gratifying that this general statement of democratic principle has immediately led to large numbers of people around the country welcoming the prospect of my contesting. But as I have made it clear, I have not declared my candidacy," Tharoor had said. "I hope many will contest in order to give the membership a wide choice. So far I have neither ruled myself in nor ruled myself out," the former Union minister had asserted. Meanwhile, the 'Make Rahul Gandhi AICC president again' chorus is growing louder in Congress with over half a dozen state units so far seeking his elevation to the top post, even as uncertainty and suspense persisted over whether he would take on the mantle. After Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Gujarat units of the Congress demanded that Gandhi be made party chief, the party's Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir and Mumbai units passed resolutions calling for his elevation to the post of president on Monday. The process for filing nominations for the election will be held from September 24 to 30. The last date for withdrawal of nominations is October 8 and the election, if required, will be held on October 17. The results will be out on October 19. Mumbai: The Uddhav Thackeray-led faction of the Shiv Sena on Monday asserted there was no other option but to hold its annual Dussehra rally at the Shivaji Park in Mumbai next month and said it will approach the court if permission to use the iconic venue was denied to them. Talking to reporters, Shiv Sena spokesperson and former Mumbai mayor Kishori Pednekar accused the Eknath Shinde-led government in Maharashtra of trying to corner the Thackeray faction over its Dussehra rally, one of the most important events in the Shiv Sena's annual calendar. Pednekar claimed efforts are being made to ensure the Thackeray faction was not able to hold its annual rally on Dussehra, which will be celebrated on October 5. "If you are trying to corner us by displaying the arrogance of power, by pressuring officials (to deny nod for using the venue), then we will do what (Sena president) Uddhav Ji decides. You will see what happens. "The party chief (Uddhav Thackeray) will decide (on the future course of action) and if the need arises, we will go to court. We are trying to ensure that there is no law and order problem which is why we are asking for permission. But the attempts are being made to thwart our annual rally," she alleged. The rival Sena factions had staked claim to hold their respective rallies at the iconic Shivaji Park in Dadar in central Mumbai, a venue closely associated with the formation and growth of the saffron outfit. Both sides had also alternately applied for permission to use the BKC (Bandra Kurla Complex) for their rallies. The Sena faction headed by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has received a nod to hold its rally at the BKC, a business district in suburban Mumbai. But, no decision has been taken by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), currently under the control of a state government-appointed administrator, for allowing the Shivaji Park ground to be used for the high-profile event. Arvind Sawant, Lok Sabha MP and a spokesperson of the Thackeray faction, said it will be easier for them to get permission for their Dussehra rally at the Shivaji Park now that the Shinde camp has got the nod to hold a rally in BKC. Sawant told news agency PTI that the 'first-come-first-serve' principle was applied while giving permission to the Shinde group to hold a rally at the MMRDA ground in BKC, which is a stone's throw away from 'Matoshree', the private residence of former CM Uddhav Thackeray. "There can be no other option for the Thackeray faction other than 'Shivtirth (the term the party uses for Shivaji Park) to hold its rally," Sawant said. Asked what if the party is denied permission to hold its rally at Shivaji Park, Sawant said his faction will "see what can be done" after that, hinting at taking legal recourse to bag the nod. Chandigarh: Dismissing Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal's charge that Bhagwant Mann was deplaned from a flight due to intoxication, Aam Aadmi Party on Monday said that the Opposition doesn't have issues to talk about and the Punjab Chief Minister had health problems. Badal, citing a media report, alleged that Mann was deplaned from a flight as he was "too drunk to walk" leading to a 4-hour delay in the flight. "Disturbing media reports quoting co-passengers say Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann was deplaned from a Lufthansa flight as he was too drunk to walk. And it led to a 4-hour flight delay. He missed AAP's national convention. These reports have embarrassed and shamed Punjabis all over the globe," tweeted Badal earlier in the day. Disturbing media reports quoting co-passengers say Pb CM @BhagwantMann was deplaned from Lufthansa flight as he was too drunk to walk. And it led to a 4-hour flight delay. He missed AAP's national convention. These reports have embarrassed & shamed Punjabis all over the globe.1/2 pic.twitter.com/QxFN44IFAE Sukhbir Singh Badal (@officeofssbadal) September 19, 2022 Also Read: Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann deplaned from Lufthansa plane for being drunk, delays flight by 4 hours: Report Notably, Mann returned from his eight-day trip from Germany on Monday. Responding to the allegations, AAP leaders Kuldeep Dhaliwal and Meet Hayer held a joint press conference and said, "Anyone can have health issues. The Opposition does not have any issues to talk about. That is why they are highlighting this issue which is meaningless and fake." Earlier, Badal slammed the Punjab government over their silence on the issue and sought clarifications on the incident. He also asked AAP leaders including party chief and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to come clean on the issue. "Shockingly, Punjab government is mum over these reports involving their CM Bhagwant Mann. Arvind Kejriwal needs to come clean on this issue. The government of India must step in as this involves Punjabi and national pride. If he was deplaned, the government of India must raise the issue with its German counterpart," he added. Earlier on August 31, a delegation, including Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal, submitted a memorandum to Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit and demanded a CBI inquiry into the state excise policy. The delegation alleged a scam in the policy."There has been a scam in Punjab Excise Policy just like it happened in Delhi. Just like the Delhi LG has ordered an inquiry into the Excise Policy case, we demand a CBI inquiry along the same lines in Punjab," said Badal. "For the first time, profit in album license has been increased from 5 pc to 10 pc. So, we have demanded a CBI inquiry," he added. Taking to Twitter, the SAD chief said that they have demanded CBI and ED probes in the Punjab excise policy. "Submitted a memorandum to Pb Governor and urged him to order CBI and ED probes in the Rs 500 crore scam committed by the AAP govt in Punjab through its "tailor-made" excise policy framed in line with Delhi policy, which has already been found illegal and case has been registered by CBI," he tweeted. The Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi is facing the heat over its now withdrawn excise policy, with the BJP taking on the Kejriwal government and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who heads the excise department. Alappuzha (Kerala): Ahead of starting the 12th day of the Congress party's Bharat Jodo Yatra, Rahul Gandhi on Monday interacted with fishermen at Vadackal beach in Kerala`s Alappuzha and held discussions about the rising fuel costs, reduced subsidies, dwindling fish stock, inadequate educational opportunities and environmental destruction among other issues. "At 6 am, Rahul Gandhi interacted with fisherfolk at Vadackal beach in Alappuzha on their challenges--rising fuel costs, reduced subsidies, dwindling fish stock, lack of social welfare & pensions, inadequate educational opportunities, and environmental destruction," Congress leader Jairam Ramesh informed in a tweet. Kerala | Congress MP Rahul Gandhi along with party leaders & workers resumes 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' on its 12th day in Punnapra Aravukad, Alappuzha pic.twitter.com/1BNpRDil6r ANI (@ANI) September 19, 2022 The morning leg of the yatra will conclude at Kalavoor, after covering around 16 km. The yatra will resume at 4.30 PM and will traverse around nine km before halting at Mayithara near Cherthala. Yatra resumes from Punnapra Aravukad The Congress MP along with party leaders and workers resumed the `Bharat Jodo Yatra` from Punnapra Aravukad, Alappuzha. The yatra entered its 12th day and so far, it has covered over 200 kilometres. Earlier on Sunday morning, the Congress leaders resumed the Kerala leg of the yatra from Haripad in Alappuzha district. The padyatra will take halt at Sree Kuruttu Bhagavathi Temple in Thottappally. In the evening, the yatra will take a halt at TD Medical College and Hospital, Vandanam. Also read: Congress invites Tejashwi Yadav to join Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo yatra From Kerala, the Yatra will reach Karnataka on September 30, and will be in Karnataka for 21 days before moving north. The Padyatra (march) will cover a distance of 25 km every day. Notably, Congress` Bharat Jodo Yatra was mired with controversy after a video surfaced of local Congress leaders allegedly extorting donations from a vegetable vendor in Kollam, Kerala. A vegetable shopkeeper was allegedly threatened by Congress workers in Kollam for not contributing Rs 2,000 towards the collection of funds for the Bharat Jodo Yatra. Following this, Kerala Congress on Friday suspended three party workers. Also read: 'Congress workers asking - who is our party president?': Smriti Irani MOCKS Rahul Gandhi's 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' Kerala Congress chief K Sudhakaran in a Twitter post said, "Three party workers involved in an unacceptable incident in Kollam have been suspended with immediate effect. They do not represent our ideology and such behaviour is inexcusable. The party is crowdfunding small donations voluntarily unlike others who get corporate donations." The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) attacked Congress over the matter and raised serious questions on the ongoing Bharat Jodo Yatra under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi, calling it a `goonda yatra`. Meanwhile, \Rahul Gandhi said the yatra is a fight against exploitation, adding "Fair wages, protection against exploitation, medical benefits, assured pensions and social security. All this and more are what the Bharat Jodo Yatra is fighting for," through a Twitter post. Rahul Gandhi said that the spirit of the Bharat Jodo Yatra is to bring Indians together irrespective of religion, community and remind them that this is one country and it will be successful if we stand together and are respectful towards each other. The Yatra includes Padayatras, rallies, and public meetings which will be later attended by the senior Congress leaders including Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. Notably, all the party MPs, leaders, and workers along with Rahul Gandhi are staying together. Sleeping beds, toilets, and ACs are also installed in some of the containers. During the journey, the temperature and environment will differ in many areas. The arrangements have been made keeping in view the intense heat and humidity with the change of place. Currently, the Yatra is in its Kerala leg and would traverse through the state for the next 12 days. The 3,500-km march from Kanyakumari to Kashmir will be completed in 150 days and cover as many as 12 states. According to the party, the `Bharat Jodo Yatra` is being held to combat the divisive politics of the BJP-led Centre and to awaken the people of the country to the dangers of economic inequalities, social polarisation, and political centralization. The Congress suffered a debacle in the assembly polls held earlier this year and the Yatra is seen as an attempt to rally the party rank and file for the upcoming electoral battles. The Yatra includes Padayatras, rallies, and public meetings which will be later attended by the senior Congress leaders including Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. (With ANI Inputs) New Delhi: Former chief minister and Punjab Lok Congress chief Amarinder Singh is likely to join the BJP on Monday in presence of its senior leaders. The 80-year-old Singh will also merge his newly formed Punjab Lok Congress (PLC) with the BJP. Singh had floated the PLC last year after quitting the Congress following his unceremonious exit as chief minister. The PLC contested the elections in alliance with the BJP and the Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa-led Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyuk). However, none of its candidates could register a win, with Singh himself losing from his home turf of Patiala Urban. Singh will join the BJP in the presence of its senior leaders in Delhi on Monday, PLC spokesperson Pritpal Singh Baliawal had said. The former Punjab chief minister recently returned from London following a spinal surgery, and met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah. After his meeting with Shah on September 12, Singh said he held a very productive discussion on various issues related to national security, rising cases of narco-terrorism in Punjab and the future roadmap for the state's overall holistic development. The two-time former chief minister is the scion of the erstwhile Patiala royal family. Jaipur: A gangster was shot dead by unidentified people in full view of the public on Monday when he was returning after appearing before a court in Rajasthan's Nagaur district, police said. Four others, the three friends of the gangster and an advocate, were injured in the attack. Two critically injured were referred to Jodhpur for treatment, they said. On the instructions of Director General of Police M L Lather, Additional Director General of Police (Anti-Terrorism Squad and Special Operation Group) Ashok Rathore has left for the spot from Jaipur. Police have put up an intensive blockade as part of their efforts to nab the accused, who are yet to be identified. Acting Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) V K Singh said that murder accused Sanjeev Sethi, who was returning from Nagaur court after appearing was attacked by unknown assailants on Monday. He said that a lawyer including three of Sandeep's associates were also reported to have been shot in the attack. The injured persons were taken to a nearby hospital, two of them who were critical have been referred to Jodhpur. Gangster Sandeep Sethi who was out on bail since September 12 had come for a hearing at the Nagaur district court on Monday with his friends. As he was leaving the court, four-five unidentified people who had come on motorbikes, rained bullets at him, killing him on the spot, Additional Superintendent of Police Rajesh Meena had earlier said. He said that Sethi had 25 criminal cases registered against him at different police stations. The officer said that Sethi's killers fired about 9-10 rounds. His body has been kept at the Nagaur government hospital mortuary for post mortem. Efforts are on to identify the killers through CCTV footage, Meena said. After the incident, the Opposition targeted the state government over the law and order situation in the state. BJP state president Satish Poonia said that the state has become the first choice of criminals. "Gang war in Nagaur, that too absolutely fearless. Gehlot Ji for whose security is your government working? The state has become the first choice of criminals and now the day is not far when Rajasthan will be known for crimes. Now, change (in government) is the solution," Poonia tweeted. , ? pic.twitter.com/umnYiF5NNl Satish Poonia (@DrSatishPoonia) September 19, 2022 Nagaur MP Hanuman Beniwal said in a tweet: "In such a situation, the responsibility of the police and administration should be fixed in this entire episode. Rising crime in the state including Nagaur is a matter of concern and the law and order of the state is on ventilator and such incidents are proof of jungle raj in Rajasthan." Greater Noida: Three people were arrested on Sunday for selling marijuana to students via social media platforms, according to police. According to Abhishek Verma, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) of Greater Noida, the accused were supplying drugs to students via social media platforms such as Telegram. Bhanu, Adhiraj, and Sonu Kumar have been identified as the accused. "Many students reside in Delhi-NCR and Gautam Buddha Nagar area. The arrested people used the students as their buyers. They used to run a telegram group which had around 250-300 members. The payments for these drugs were made in cryptocurrency. Their account statements show around 12-14 lakh worth of transactions over the year. The three arrested are namely Bhanu, Adhiraj and Sonu Kumar," quotes DCP Verma. DCP Verma additionally quoted that the drugs were imported from elsewhere and that the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) would be involved in tracking down the international connections to the case. Also Read; Woman dies after treatment at Greater Noidas IVF centre run by fake doctor "We have seized around 960 grams of Original Grower (OG) California weed which is worth Rs 96 lakh in the market. We have also seized some pills and other equipment. This drug is grown in California and has been imported through international routes for trafficking. They were supplying drugs not just in Delhi-NCR but in many other states as well. We are tracking their route and looking at who else is involved. We are looking at further links and also the cryptocurrency links with the case. We will also notify the postal companies about the negligence. NCB will also be involved in controlling the international trafficking market," said DCP Verma. (With Agencies Inputs) New Delhi: Protests erupted in Iran on Sunday over the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman, after her detention by the country's morality police, with women protesters cutting their hair and burning hijabs to protest the mandatory veiling of women, according to media reports. Masih Alinejad, an Iranian journalist and activist, shared a video of women cutting their hair on her social media account and wrote, "Iranian women show their anger by cutting their hair and burning their hijab to protest against the killing of #Mahsa_Amini by hijab police. "From the age of 7 if we don`t cover our hair we won`t be able to go to school or get a job. We are fed up with this gender apartheid regime," she added. In another tweet, an Iranian journalist shared images from Tehran University, claiming that students had joined the protest against Mahsa Amini's death at the hands of "hijab police." She also stated that Iranians were enraged. "Yesterday the security forces opened fire at protesters in Saghez city but now Tehran joined the protest," Alinejad quotes in a tweet. In a series of tweets, Alinejad shared another video and stated that on the second day, the "brave women" stormed the streets and chanted. "Don`t be afraid, we are all united." She also stated that security forces opened fire on protesters, injuring some of them, but this does not deter people from speaking out against the wrongdoing. According to Al Jazeera, Mahsa Amini, 22, was on a family visit to Tehran when she was detained by the specialist police unit. After a while, she had a heart attack and was rushed to the hospital with the help of emergency personnel. "Unfortunately, she died and her body was transferred to the medical examiner`s office," state television said on Friday, reported Al Jazeera. The announcement came a day after Tehran police confirmed Amini had been detained alongside other women for "rules instruction." According to human rights activists who spoke with the family, the police grabbed Amini and forced her into a police vehicle, according to CNN, citing IranWire. Kiarash, her brother, intervened, but the police informed him that they were taking his sister to the police station for one hour of "re-education." Her brother waited outside the police station for her release, but an ambulance arrived and transported his sister to the hospital. "The woman was sent to a Greater Tehran police precinct for guidance and education when suddenly, in the presence of other people, she had a heart attack," the police said, reported CNN quoting state media. Mahsa's family disputed the police version of events, claiming that she was healthy and had no pre-existing heart conditions. Amnesty International, the Human rights organisation said, "The circumstances leading to the suspicious death in custody of 22-year-old young woman Mahsa Amini, which include allegations of torture and other ill-treatment in custody, must be criminally investigated." "The so-called `morality police` in Tehran arbitrarily arrested her three days before her death while enforcing the country`s abusive, degrading and discriminatory forced veiling laws. All agents and officials responsible must face justice," it further added. Following the incident, which sparked outrage on social media, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi directed the interior minister to launch an investigation. Several lawmakers have said they will bring the case to parliament, and the judiciary has said it will form a special task force to investigate, according to Al Jazeera. Amini's death comes amid mounting criticism both inside and outside Iran of the morality police, known formally as the Gasht-e Ershad (Guidance Patrol). According to Al Jazeera, the mandatory dress code, which applies to all nationalities and religions, not just Iranian Muslims, requires women to cover their hair and neck with a headscarf. Women have increasingly resisted, particularly in major cities, by wearing their headscarves far back on their heads to reveal their hair. 13:28 | New York City (U.S.), Sep. 19. His remarks were made at the Transforming Education Summit held within the framework of the General Debate of the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York City. The Head of State underscored that the Executive Branch is focused on achieving an educational policy which is inclusive and ensures quality, from a decentralized strategy. In this regard, he remarked that his Government's challenge is to achieve the recovery of learning for all children without exception, stressing the importance of a new social compact for education. "Our goal is to achieve inclusive, decentralized, and diversified education, which contributes to closing the gaps and guarantees equal opportunities, with special emphasis on the most vulnerable sectors," the dignitary said. Mr. Castillo also highlighted the return to in-person school this year. He noted that the effective COVID-19 vaccination strategy has made it possible for 98% of students to resume in-person school in a safe and flexible environment. He said it is estimated that by the end of this year, 80% of the population over 12 will receive a third dose of the vaccine, while 80% of children between 5 and 12 years of age will receive a second dose. Moreover, the dignitary pointed out that consultations on the national curriculum are being conducted in Peru. The aim is to have updated curriculum so that learning takes place within a framework of values that promote respect for human rights, the environment, and diversity. The Peruvian President arrived in the United States on Sunday to participate in the General Debate of the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly and to fulfill a series of official activities from September 19 to 21. (END) MRCA/RMB The President of the Republic Pedro Castillo on Monday affirmed today that the goal of his Government is to achieve inclusive and decentralized education in Peru, so as to close gaps and guarantee equal opportunities.Published: 9/19/2022 Bhopal: A photograph of Prime Minister Narendra Modi holding a camera with its lens cap on while apparently clicking pictures of the recently-released cheetahs has gone viral, prompting the Madhya Pradesh government to order a probe into the "morphed" image. "This is a very serious issue. Fabrication has been done with PM Modi's camera (in the photograph). I have directed the cyber cell of the police to investigate the matter. Stern action would be taken against the guilty after the probe," Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra told reporters here. Also Read: Cheetahs return to India, PM Modi releases majestic wild cats - Check out some interesting facts about them The prime minister, wearing a light blue kurta and a light brown jacket with sunglasses and a brown-colour hat, clicked photographs of cheetahs with a DSLR camera from the high dais after releasing them in special enclosures in the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh's Sheopur district on September 17. According to the government, PM Modi's photo was morphed and circulated on social media to show that he didn't click photos. The "morphed" photo shows Modi looking through the lens of the DSLR camera whose lens cap is not open, with a caption in Hindi: "Did not even remove the cap of the camera for the picture of self. This is the identity of an educated person (sic)" Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh wondered if the photo of the prime minister is morphed. JAC Chandigarh 2022: Joint Admission Committee, JAC Chandigarh 2022 Mock Counselling Result is likely to be released today, September 19, 2022, as per the schedule available. Candidates can view their JAC Chandigarh B.Tech admissions-related counselling result once it has been made public on the official website, jacchd.admissions.nic.in. Notification of the JAC Chandigarh 2022 Mock Counselling results was recently published. "Result of Mock Counselling will be declared by 19-09-2022," states the website's statement. It is now expected that the mock counselling outcome for B.Tech admissions will be made public today because it has not yet been made public. Candidates are advised that JAC Chandigarh has not specified a specific deadline for the publication of these results from the mock counselling process. The B.Tech admissions mock test results, however, are anticipated by evening, according to several media reports. JAC Chandigarh 2022 Mock Counselling - Date, time Event Details JAC Chandigarh Mock Counselling Result 2022 Likely on September 19, 2022 Mock Counselling Result 2022 time Likely in evening JAC Chandigarh Round 1 Seat Allotment September 20, 2022 Candidates are informed that the JAC Chandigarh Mock Counseling results will only be provisional in nature. It will be made public merely to give candidates an indication of their seat allotments, and tomorrow, September 20, 2022, the final round 1 seat allotment results will be made public. Ramban (Jammu and Kashmir): Security forces on Sunday busted a terrorist hideout in the higher areas of Sangaldan and Gool Forest area in Ramban district of Jammu and Kashmir and recovered a huge cache of arms and ammunition including a Chinese pistol. The hideout was busted during a joint search operation conducted by the Indian Army, Jammu, and Kashmir Police, and Special Operations Group (SOG). Giving details about the operation, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Viqar Ahmed, informed that the operation was part of an ongoing intensified search following a blast in the police post in Sangaldan on August 2. Also Read: Won't take more than 10 minutes to thrash: TMC leader Madan Mitra threatens BJP after Nabanna Abhiyan rally violence Along with Army, SOG Gool, a search operation was launched in the higher areas of Sangaldan and Gool Forest area. During this, we busted a hideout and recovered a huge cache of arms and ammunition including a UBGL, a Chinese pistol, 4 magazines of AK 47, he said. He said an Under-Barrel Grenade Launcher, one UBGL pendulum, one empty cartridge of UBGL, one revolver, a Chinese pistol with a magazine and 36 cartridges, four AK 47 magazines, 198 AK rounds, 69 rounds of 9 mm pistol, one knife, one binocular, one camera, one wireless set, two magazines of 303, 36 rounds, one under barrier grenade launcher was recovered from the hideout. He further said that all the recovered arms and ammunition is rusted. These were found wrapped in polythene bags which were wrapped in a cloth which was further wrapped in a big plastic wrapper. More details into the matter will be known after investigation, he said. An FIR under Sections 120-B and 121 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and 7/27 Arms Act has been registered in Gool Police Station and an investigation has been started. Bengaluru: Karnataka`s Education Minister B.C. Nagesh on Monday announced that the state government is contemplating commencing the teaching of the Bhagavad Gita in schools and colleges across the state from this academic year onwards. Nagesh made the remarks while replying to a query during the Assembly session. "We are contemplating to begin teaching the Bhagavad Gita from this academic year. It will be taught under a moral science subject. The discussion is going on. A committee will be formed and we will take a decision soon," he said. The query was raised by BJP MLC M.K. Pranesh. He asked: "The government says there is no proposal to implement teachings of Bhagavad Gita to students in Karnataka. Is the government hesitant to teach Bhagavad Gita? Why has the interest shown by the government earlier while issuing statements evaporated?" The issue is likely to create controversy with various minority groups and individuals opposing it when the announcement was made earlier by Nagesh stated that as per the National Education Policy (NEP), on the lines of Gujarat state, the Bhagavad Gita will be introduced in Karnataka after consulting educational experts. Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai had said that it was his government`s stand to include the Bhagavad Gita into the syllabus as a part of the moral science subject. Minister for Large and Medium Industries Murugesh Nirani has stated that Bhagavad Gita has human values and children need to learn about those values. The government of Gujarat has taken a decision to add Bhagavad Gita to the syllabus and a decision should be taken in Karnataka also to introduce Bhagavad Gita to children, he had said. However, senior Congress leader and former minister from Mysuru, Tanveer Sait stirred controversy over the weekend by stating that introducing the Bhagavad Gita in the syllabus "is more dangerous than the Covid pandemic". Former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy questioned the state government on the proposal and added that teaching of the Bhagavad Gita won`t fill empty stomachs. "The state is facing thousands of problems and the teachings of Bhagavad Gita won`t provide food for people. Emotional matters are gaining importance in the country. The innocents are being misled. There is an end to this trend and we will wait until then," he said. Opposition leader Siddaramaiah said: "We believe in the Hindu religion and give equal respect to other religions. We do not have any objection to teaching Bhagavad Gita, Bible, or Quran to children. But, children should be given quality education." KEAM 2022: Kerala Engineering Architecture Medical, KEAM trial allotment 2022 is out, Commissioner of Entrance Examinations, CEE Kerala has released the KEAM Trail allotment 2022 on the official website-- cee.kerala.gov.in. Candidates who registered for the KEAM 2022 admissions can check the trial allotment and their status on the website. Candidates would be required to login to their admission portal using their application number and password. The KEAM 2022 Trial Allotment is provisional in nature and not the final one. The final allotment results for phase 1 are expected to be released on September 21, 2022. It is on the basis of these final allotments that KEAM 2022 admissions will be done. KEAM trial allotment 2022: Here's how to check Go to the official website-- cee.kerala.gov.in On the appeared homepage, click on the KEAM 2022 tab Now, login to your portal using the application number and password KEAM 2022 trial allotment would appear on the screen Check the allotment and save it Candidates are required to fill in the choices of course and college which they are sure to join if allotted because if they do not join the allotted seat they will lose the existing option. An official statement reads: "If the candidate fails to remit fee/join the college, he/she will lose the allotment as well as all the existing options in the stream to which the allotment belongs." NCP President Sharad Pawar received a threatening phone call? As per reports, Sharad Pawar was warned not to visit Kurduvadi in the morning. But even after this call, Sharad Pawar had completed the planned tour. Pawar was threatened by an unknown person not to visit Kurduvadi this morning. Even after this call, Sharad Pawar did not waver and completed the tour of Kurduvadi. The identity of the caller and why he made the threat is yet to be revealed. However, Sharad Pawar denied this report, saying that no such call had been received by him. According to sources, the Mumbai Police Control Room received this call. The police have taken serious action against this phone call. The number of the unknown person making the threat has been recorded. The police are looking for this number. The threat call is reported to have come from Solapur. Police are searching for the person. However, Mumbai Police has denied this report, saying that no such call has been received by them. Meanwhile, there is a tug of war between the Shiv Sena and a group of rebel MLAs to get Dadar's Shivaji Park ground for the Dussehra gathering , and the Mumbai Municipal Corporation is yet to decide who to give permission to. On the other hand, MMRDA has accepted the application made by a group of rebel MLAs to get MMRDA ground in Bandra-Kurla complex. So, whether Shiv Sena will get a field for the Dussehra gathering or not is still in the bouquet. Now NCP President Sharad Pawar has commented on this while talking to the media in Solapur. Sharad Pawar has backed Shiv Sena. "The Shiv Sena of Balasaheb Thackeray is today working under the leadership of Uddhav Thackeray. Considering that it is their tradition to hold Dussehra Mela, their demand is not wrong," said Sharad Pawar. Speaking further, he said, "Eknath Shinde has the right to hold Dussehra Mela, he can also do it. They asked BKC ground for it and they got it. So, there is no reason to oppose others. Shiv Sena also needs to be allowed. New Delhi: After Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan, the Congress units in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu on Monday (September 19, 2022) passed resolutions that Rahul Gandhi be made the party's president. While the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) passed the resolution in a meeting of 553 delegates of the MPCC held at the YB Chavan center in South Mumbai, the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee adopted a unanimous resolution in the party's state general council meeting held in Chennai. In Maharashtra, the resolution was moved by former state chief minister Ashok Chavan and seconded by senior leaders including Naseem Khan and Chandrakant Handore, which was then unanimously passed. In Tamil Nadu, the resolution seeking Rahul Gandhi to assume the office of the All India Congress Committee President was proposed by TNCC President KS Alagiri and was passed unanimously. Earlier, the Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh units of the Congress had urged the party's national leadership to make Rahul Gandhi the president of the grand old party. It is notable that similar resolutions were passed in 2017 before Rahul Gandhi was elevated as the Congress president. He, however, stepped down in 2019 after the party's debacle in the Lok Sabha elections. Amid hectic efforts and appeals to convince him to take on the job of the party president, Gandhi said earlier this month that he had made his decision on whether he would take up the party presidency. He, however, did not divulge his plans and asserted that he would give his reasons if he did not contest the upcoming election for the post. Gandhi's remarks were seen by many in the party as an indication that he might stick to his earlier stance of not taking up the party chief's post. Congress had last month said that the election for its president would be held on October 17 and the result will be declared on October 19. (With agency inputs) New Delhi: Rahul Gandhi will always have a pre-eminent place in Congress irrespective of whether he is president or not, said senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Sunday (September 18, 2022), adding that he is the "acknowledged leader" of the rank and file. Just days ahead of the notification of polls to elect the AICC chief, the former Union minister and Congress Working Committee member said, so far, Rahul Gandhi has declined to take on the mantle of party presidency but may change his mind. When asked about the controversy over the elections, Chidambaram said there was no occasion for any controversy over the fairness and transparency of the party president polls and asserted that had central election authority chairman Madhusudan Mistrys last statement on the concerns of some of the leaders come on the first day, the matter would have stood resolved. In an interview with news agency PTI, the former Union minister said the PCC-wise electoral roll will be available for inspection at the office of the PCC concerned, while the all India electoral roll will be available for inspection at the office of the AICC. Chidambaram also underlined that it is not the practice of any political party to publish the roll of the electoral college. Every nominated candidate will be entitled to a copy of the electoral roll. Mr Mistry has since clarified these self-evident points and the MPs have said they were satisfied. The matter is rested, Chidambaram said. Earlier, Lok Sabha members Shashi Tharoor, Manish Tewari, Karti Chidambaram, Pradyut Bordoloi, and Abdul Khaleque, had written to Mistry, seeking clarity on the issue of electoral rolls, to which the partys poll panel chief had clarified that anyone wanting to file nomination for the post of Congress president will be able see the list of the over 9,000 PCC delegates at the AICCs central election authority office from September 20. In the interview, Chidambaram also questioned the media if they would have raised such issues when the BJP or any other party held its party elections. I cannot recall Mr J P Nadda asking for the electoral roll or filing his nomination! he said. Asked whether consensus or elections would be better for the post of AICC president, Chidambaram said while the election is the default option, the better course and all parties follow this is to elect a national president by consensus. If my recollection is correct, Mr Nadda, and before him Mr Amit Shah, Mr Rajnath Singh and Mr Gadkari, were all elected by consensus, he said. On whether Gandhi will heed appeals of party workers and leaders, Chidambaram said he does not know the answer to that question. Rahul Gandhi is the acknowledged leader of the rank and file of the party. They want him to be the President of the party also. So far, he has declined. He may change his mind, the senior Congress leader told PTI. The Rajya Sabha MP said that if Rahul Gandhi is elected Congress president, he will be both leader and president, but if he is not, he will remain the acknowledged leader of the party and there will be another person holding the office of president. Rahul Gandhi will always have a pre-eminent place in the party, Chidambaram asserted. (With agency inputs) New Delhi: Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan on Monday (September 19, 2022) stepped up his attack on the Left government and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan by accusing the police of staying put as he was physically attacked at Kannur University in 2019. Whatever happened with me (physical attack) in Kannur had happened in presence of many police personnel. In the video from then, you can see a senior political functionary, who's now in CM office, preventing police from acting, said Kerala Governor AM Khan. Whatever happened with me (physical attack) in Kannur had happened in presence of many police personnel. In the video from then, you can see a senior political functionary, who's now in CM office, preventing police from acting: Kerala Governor AM Khan, in Thiruvananthapuram pic.twitter.com/yYesn6ntzS ANI (@ANI) September 19, 2022 "We are living in a State where the convenor of the ruling front is banned from flying for unruly behaviour...They believe in the legitimacy of force to silence dissent, difference of opinion & liquidate those whom they consider their class enemies," said Kerala Governor. "CM also came to meet me over VC appointment at Kannur University...They had forced me to scuttle the process with the letter of AG," he added. Earlier, on Sunday, Kerala Governor has accused the government and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan of directing the police to not lodge a complaint when he was heckled at Kannur University in 2019. Whether the direction merely shows favouritism towards those responsible or it was part of the alleged conspiracy to attack him has to be ascertained, Khan said and asked the media to investigate into it. Yesterday while speaking to reporters at Aluva, the Governor said, The in-charge of the Home Department, the Chief Minister, had given specific instructions not to report it. Police were given instructions not to take cognisance. This was a cognisable offence under the IPC. He said the IPC clearly states that if anyone tries to intimidate or overcome the President of India or a Governor from discharging their duties, then it is a cognisable offence punishable by imprisonment of up to 7 years and a fine. Now, I leave it to you, the presspersons to find out whether it was a conspiracy or favouritism that we see everywhere, he said. Khan, however, said the alleged conspirators never wanted to kill him. Naturally, they did not want to kill me. They know what the consequences (of that) will be. They only wanted to frighten me, he said. (With agency inputs) Tamil Nadu: Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and estranged AIADMK leader O. Panneerselvam has advised the state administration to close schools due to an increase in flu-related cases in the southern state. He urged Chief Minister M.K. Stalin to come in right now and take action to close schools in order to stop the disease's spread. Tamil Nadu recently reported a spike in flu cases, the recent spike has prompted the neighbouring UT to declare holiday in schools till September 25. OPS, as Panneerselvam is more commonly known, stated in a statement on Sunday that it is the responsibility of the state government to preserve public health, noting that the number of children being admitted to hospitals in the state is rising. The former Chief Minister said, "The Tamil Nadu government should declare holidays in schools for some time and postpone the exam schedule till the time the cases come down. The government should take steps to create awareness among the people about the flu and make the necessary medicines available to them." Meanwhile, schools and colleges in the country have maintained that shutting of educational institutions is not the answer. Many have urged the government to avoid shutting of schools and stated that the loss of learning continues to have ripple effect. New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday (September 19, 2022) said that it has attached assets worth Rs 46.22 crore "beneficially owned" by former West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee and his alleged aide Arpita Mukherjee as part of a money laundering probe in the state's teachers' recruitment scam. In an official statement, the federal agency said that the attached properties include 40 immovable assets like flats, a farmhouse, and a "prime land" in Kolkata worth a total of Rs 40.33 crore, apart from Rs 7.89 crore worth of deposits kept in 35 bank accounts. "The attached properties are found to be beneficially owned by Partha Chatterjee and Arpita Mukherjee. A number of the attached properties were kept in the name of dummy companies & firms and persons acting as a proxy for Partha Chatterjee," the statement read. The former minister in the Mamata Banerjee-led government in West Bengal and his close associate were arrested by the ED on July 23 this year after it carried out search operations at various premises linked to the teacher recruitment scam. The ED had earlier seized cash amounting to a total of Rs 49.80 crore, and gold and jewelry valued at more than Rs 5.08 crore from two premises during the searches conducted in July. "With the present attachment, total attachment/ seizure in the case stands at Rs 103.10 crore. Further investigation is under progress," the agency said. Partha, currently, has been remanded in CBI custody till September 21 on a prayer by the agency seeking to question him in connection with a school recruitment scam. New Delhi: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray on Monday (September 19, 2022) hit out at his estranged cousin and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray for creating a tussle over sharing of chief ministerial tenure after 2019 assembly results were announced. Attacking former Maharashtra chief minister, Raj said that Uddhav's party fought the 2019 polls in alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), but created a tussle over sharing of chief ministerial tenure soon after results were announced. "Why did you (Uddhav Thackeray) not announce the alliance terms and conditions publicly ahead of the (2019) polls? Should people who vote for certain parties just keep watching such cheating take place? This is an insult to voters," he said. Never seen such chaos and cheating in Maharashtra politics The MNS leader also rued the political situation in Maharashtra over the last few years and said it was tough to understand or guess who would ally with whom to form the government. "I have never seen such chaos and cheating in Maharashtra politics. No one knows who is with whom, who is forming the government," he said. In June this year, senior Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde's rebellion, along with 40 MLAs, against the party leadership, led to the collapse of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government. Subsequently, Shinde was sworn in as the Maharashtra chief minister and BJP's Devendra Fadnavis as deputy CM. 'Was money demanded from firm?': Raj Thackeray on Vedanta-Foxconn issue Raj Thackeray also sought an inquiry into Maharashtra losing the multi-billion dollar Vedanta-Foxconn semiconductor chip manufacturing project to neighbouring Gujarat and asked if any money was demanded from the joint venture firm. He said that Maharashtra used to be the leading state in the country when it came to attracting industries but this was changing. "It must be investigated why industries that were supposed to come to Maharashtra have now shifted to other states. Was money demanded from them," he said when queried on the Vedanta-Foxconn political slugfest. (With agency inputs) New Delhi: Harsha Engineers IPO GMP (grey market premium) today suggests that subscribers are going to see a good debut. As per today's GMP, Harsha Engineers is available at a premium of Rs 215. Harsha Engineers IPO allotment likely on September 21. Harsha Engineers stock market debut According to market analysts, Harsha Engineers initial public offering (IPO) shares could make a positive debut on the public bourses. Harsha Engineers listing is likely going to happen September 26, 2022. The company will be listed on both NSE and BSE. Harsha Engineers IPO subscribed 74.70 times on last day of offer The Initial Public Offer (IPO) of Harsha Engineers International got subscribed 74.70 times, helped by heavy demand from institutional buyers, on the last day of subscription on Friday (19 September, 2022). The public offer received bids for 125.96 crore shares against 1.68 crore shares on offer, according to a data with the NSE. The quota for Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIBs) got subscribed 178.26 times, while the portion for non-institutional investors received 71.32 times subscription. The category for Retail Individual Investors (RIIs) got subscribed 17.63 times. The IPO of up to Rs 755 crore had a fresh issue of up to Rs 455 crore and an offer for sale of up to Rs 300 crore. The price range for the offer was at Rs 314-330 a share. Proceeds from the fresh issue to the tune of up to Rs 270 crore will be utilised for debt payment, up to Rs 76 crore for funding working capital requirements towards purchase of machinery, up to Rs 7.12 crore for infrastructure repairs and renovation of the existing production facilities and for general corporate proposes. With PTI Inputs New Delhi: Kartik Aaryan is ruling the hearts like never before this year! The young superstar has made it to the headlines repeatedly and has made heads turn with the number of projects he has been signing lately. It's been months since 'Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2' revived Bollywood after the pandemic, and the craze for it is still on a high. Most importantly, Kartik Aaryan's Rooh Baba made him more popular amongst kids than ever. Recently, the actor attended a Youth India Conclave in Jodhpur. After his interview with a leading trade analyst, the actor was joined by girl fans who ran up the stage in a frenzy to dance with him on his 'Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2' title track. Taking to social media, the fan girl shared a video of the event, writing, "Prishas dream come true of performing with @kartikaaryan" Recently, in big news Rooh Baba's character was developed into a comic book character considering his major fan-following amongst young kids and family audiences. Meanwhile, Kartik Aaryan took the nation by storm with the recent announcement of his upcoming film Aashiqui 3. Apart from that, the actor will also be seen in Freddy, Satyaprem Ki Katha, Shehzada, Captain India and Kabir Khan's untitled next. New Delhi: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Delhi Police has summoned Bollywood actress Jacqueline Fernandez again on Monday for questioning in connection with the Rs 200 crore extortion-cum-cheating case involving multimillionaire conman Sukesh Chandrasekhar. On Wednesday, the EOW had grilled Jacqueline for over eight hours in connection with the case. As per sources, the EOW has summoned the actress again as it found contradictions in her earlier statements. To clear the contradictions, the EOW had also quizzed another Bollywood personality, Nora Fatehi, and Pinky Irani, an aide of Chandrasekhar, on Thursday. According to the ED chargesheet, Jacqueline knew about Chandrashekhar`s involvement in criminal activities but she chose to overlook them and indulged in financial transactions with the conman. Earlier, she was also questioned along with Sukesh Chandrasekhars aide Pinky Irani. According to ANI, while the two were being interrogated face to face, they kept arguing and accusing each other of lying for around two hours. Pinky accused Jacqueline of accepting gifts from Sukesh, despite knowing that he is behind bars on charges of cheating people of Rs 200 crores while the latter said she had no idea about Sukesh`s background. Chandrashekhar was arrested for allegedly cheating and extorting money from some high-profile people, including former Fortis Healthcare promoter Shivinder Mohan Singh`s wife Aditi Singh. Many Bollywood actors and models have been questioned by the Enforcement Directorate for their alleged links with Chandrashekhar. In April last year, Chandrashekhar was arrested in another money laundering case linked to the 2017 Election Commission bribery case, which allegedly involved a former AIADMK leader, among others. New Delhi: Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut, on Monday, visited the Thakur Banke Bihari temple in Vrindavan, where she along with her family offered prayers. A crowd of devotees and locals were seen running towards her as she got down from the car on the VIP route heading towards the Banke Bihari temple. Tight security had to be arranged to make Kangana`s exit from the temple possible. Kangana reached the temple`s VIP area inside a circle of security guards and there, amidst Vedic chanting, she was engrossed in offering prayers for some time. Following that, she chanted "Radhe Radhe" and left for the Nidhivan Raj Temple, which is the birthplace of Banke Bihari. After worshipping there too, Kangana interacted with the media and said, "it is our good fortune that we get the privilege of seeing Krishna and Radhe Maa." The actor said she had come here to seek lord Krishna`s blessings at his birthplace as she has completed filming her second directorial movie `Emergency`. During her visit, the actor avoided answering any politics-related questions.Kangana had also shared a picture from her Mathura visit on her Instagram stories along with the caption, "Jai Shri Krishan." Meanwhile, apart from `Emergency`, the `Queen` actor also has director Sarwesh Mewara`s `Tejas` in her kitty, in which she will be seen portraying the role of an Indian Air Force pilot. The official release date of the film is still awaited. New Delhi: Kate Middleton, the new Princess of Wales, paid a touching tribute to Queen Elizabeth at her funeral on Monday. As per Page Six, Kate arrived at the funeral in a stunning black veiled hat and sentimental jewels that belonged to her grandmother-in-law, repeating the pearl-and-diamond pieces she wore to Prince Philip`s funeral in April 2021. The four-row Japanese pearl choker was paired with Bahrain pearl drop earrings. Kate also wore it to honour the queen`s 70th wedding anniversary to the Duke of Edinburgh. The necklace was made from pearls which "were reportedly a gift from the Japanese government, possibly acquired during the 1970s, when she made a state visit to that nation," according to The Court Jeweller. Kate`s grandmother-in-law first lent her this jewellery back in 2017. The Queen also lent Princess Diana -- the last official Princess of Wales -- the choker back in November 1982, when Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands visited the U.K. Interestingly, the choice to wear pearls for Queen Elizabeth`s funeral is steeped in history, as the gems are traditionally worn during times of mourning. Not only Kate but her 7-year-old daughter, Princess Charlotte, also paid tribute to the Queen at her funeral via a piece of ornament. The little one wore a brooch in the shape of a horseshoe -- a nod to her great-grandmother`s love of horses. Queen Elizabeth II breathed her last on September 8. She was 96. New Delhi: 7th Pay Commission Latest update-- The end of the month of September could bring in the much-awaited good news for Central government employees. As per media reports, the government's big announcement on Dearness Allowance (DA) could be made during auspicious occassion of the Navratris . Media reports have been constantly saying that the employees may hear the good news by this month itself, with a few reports particularly highlighting that the big announcement on Dearness Allowance might be made during Navratri, i.e September 28. The government has however not made any official announcement regarding the probable date as yet. If latest media reports are to be believed, Dearness Allowance of the employees could by hiked by 4 percent. This means the total DA could reach upo 38 percent. The All-India CPI-IW for the month of June has hinted at a hike in DA this month. Along with the Dearness allowance hike, employees may also get arrears for the months of July and August. The Dearness Allowance of central government employees is revised twice a year. The first is given from January to June, while the second comes from July to December. The All-India CPI-IW for April, 2022 increased by 1.7 points and stood at 127.7 (one hundred twenty seven point seven). On 1-month percentage change, it increased by 1.35 per cent with respect to previous month compared to an increase of 0.42 per cent recorded between corresponding months a year ago, showed a Ministry of Labour & Employment data. As per latest ministry reports, the AICPI figures for May is at 129. Meanwhile, the AICP Index for the month of June is hinting at certainity that the DA would be higher. The AICPI figures for June is at 129. The first increase in dearness allowance for the year 2022 was announced in March. In December 2021, the AICPI figure stood at 125.4. But, in January 2022, it declined by 0.3 points and fell to 125.1. The All-India CPI-IW for February, 2022 decreased by 0.1 points and stood at 125.0 (one hundred twenty five). On 1-month percentage change, it decreased by 0.08 per cent with respect to previous month compared to increase of 0.68 per cent recorded between corresponding months a year ago. For the month of March, there was a jump of 1 point. The AICPI index figures for March stood at 126. It may be recalled that the Union Cabinet had on March 30 hiked Dearness Allowance (DA) and Dearness Relief (DR) by 3 per cent to 34 per cent to compensate for the price rise, benefitting over 1.16 crore central government employees and pensioners. The additional instalment is effective from January 1, 2022. The increase is in accordance with the accepted formula, which is based on the recommendations of the 7th Central Pay Commission. The old pension system (OPS) or old pension scheme has been a bone of contention between the government employees and the exchequer. While many state governments like Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh have announced restoration of the old pension system, thousands of government employees held a protest recenlty in Gujarat demanding the restoration of the old pension system. Now, in good news for the government employees of Punjab, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government has announced that it's considering restoring the OPS in the state. Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said that the AAP government will carry out the feasibility study for reverting to the OPS. "My government is considering reverting to the Old Pension System (OPS). I have asked my Chief Secretary to study the feasibility and modalities of its implementation. We stand committed to the welfare of our employees," said CM Mann. My government is considering reverting to the Old Pension System (OPS). I have asked my Chief Secretary to study the feasibility and modalities of its implementation. We stand committed to the welfare of our employees. September 19, 2022 It may be recalled that Chhattisgarh was the first state to restore the OPS. After that, Jharkhand also announced going back to the OPS. The Rajasthan government is also working on restoring the OPS in the state. The old pension scheme will come into effect in Jharkhand from October 1. The old pension scheme was scrapped on April 1, 2004. It was replaced with a market-driven new pension scheme. The National Pension System (NPS) was introduced for Central Government employees covering all new recruits joining the Central Government service (except armed forces) from 01.01.2004. The Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions had said in March this year that there was no proposal to reintroduce the old pension scheme to Central Government civil employees joined on or after 01.01.2004 under consideration of the Government of India. NPS is now regulated under the PFRDA Act, 2013 and regulations framed there under by PFRDA and the Department of Financial Services. New Delhi: Although the government had extended the deadline for filing income-tax return (ITR) over the last two financial years, this year the deadline was not moved. The deadline to file ITR For FY 2021-22 (AY 2022-23) was not extended by even by a day. The due date for filing ITR for FY 20221-22 was July 31, which has already lapsed. The common perception is that there would be a penalty for filing any ITR now? Sujit Bangar, Founder of TaxBuddy.com in an exclusive talk with Reema Sharma of Zee Media said, Yes, there would be a penalty, but not in all cases. Its very important to know where your ITR case falls. The scenarios where there is no need to pay any penalty are summarised here for easy understanding, Bangar added. Check Income-tax rules that allow you to file ITR without penalty even after the last date. 1. First, if your gross total income does not exceed the basic exemption limit, there wont be any penalty for late ITR filing. There is one catch though. If you have income from foreign sources, this benefit will not be available. 2. Second, if you have income only from agriculture and no other income, there wont be any penalty for late filing of ITR. 3. Third, if your income is exempt from taxation and there is no other taxable income, you need not worry about penalty for late ITR filing. Through ITR, a person is supposed to submit to the Income Tax Department information about the income and the taxes due and paid on it during the year. The Income Tax Department has prescribes 7 types of ITR forms, whose applicability depends on the nature and amount of income and the type of taxpayer. Press Release September 19, 2022 Malacanang, Congress told: 'Stop dilly-dallying, ban POGOs now' Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III welcomed the pronouncement of his fellow Senator Imee Marcos that President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos is considering a ban on Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) in the country. "It's a welcome development. Coming from the President's sister herself, I would like to believe that we are moving in that direction of totally halting the operation of POGOs in the country," Pimentel said. Pimentel was reacting to a statement made by Senator Marcos that the President is mulling a ban on POGOs. "Let's prohibit it. POGO is detrimental to the Republic of the Philippines," Pimentel stressed. "The continued operation of POGOs in the country is dangerous. It is akin to harboring would-be criminals and gangsters that can eventually cause massive disruption of peace and order in the country as we are beginning to see now with the spate of kidnapping incidence and other violent activities related to POGOs," Pimentel said on Monday. Pimentel said that Malacanang should heed the call for a total ban on POGOs as he lamented how "the country has become a playground for undesirable foreign nationals". The Minority Leader and Chairman of PDP Laban reiterated a call he made over the weekend for the government and Congress to make POGOs illegal. "Kung sa China, where most of these people come from, bawal ang POGOs, why did we open our doors to POGOs?" Pimentel added. Pimentel also urged the leadership of the Senate and the House of Representatives to make the banning of POGO a legislative priority. "Given what we're seeing now as numerous ill effects of POGOs, the Congress has the moral duty to ban POGOs. We should act now. It will be a bipartisan measure," he said. "We can't afford to dilly-dally on banning POGOs when the nation's moral fiber and peace and order are on the line," Pimentel stressed. ''You are the majority. Get your act together. If you say 'stop POGO', we will support you,'' Pimentel had said earlier. YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 19, ARMENPRESS. Irans Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani has commented on the latest military operations on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border which started as a result of the attack of Azerbaijan on Armenia. The spokesperson said Iran believes that the political will of the two countries to start negotiations, the regional framework and the joint efforts of the neighbors will help to solve the conflicts in Caucasus. The Islamic Republic of Iran has repeatedly expressed its sincere position over the developments happening in the South Caucasus. Unfortunately, we again witnessed a new stage of conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia, which resulted in losses and wounded on both sides. Iran, based on its friendly policy and the principled policy aimed at contributing constructively to the quick settlement of regional crises, has made political efforts, the foreign ministry spokesperson said. Nasser Kanaani said Tehran believes that it is necessary to apply political approaches and solutions to stop the conflicts, reduce tension and enter a political dialogue for solving the border disputes between the two countries. Iran will also not accept any geopolitical change in the region, he added. The demand for homes has been on the rise post the Covid-19 pandemic. The pandemic has not only induced demand for new homes, but it has also altered the existing dynamics by creating new requirements as people are now looking for bigger spaces with facilities catering to working from home. The housing sector continued its growth momentum in Q2 2022 and even outshined the Q1 demand. As per a Square Yards research report, new residential launches saw a whopping 170% YoY rise in Q2 2022, with the launch of around 79,000 new housing units across the top six cities. Whereas the new launches in MMR, Pune, and Gurugram recorded a yearly rise of more than 250% (Q2 2022 Vs Q2 2021), the increase in new launch volumes was a significant 80% more in Bengaluru and Hyderabad as well, said the report. However, due to a surge in property prices and a hike in lending rates, the new launches of housing units witnessed a small quarterly dip of two per cent in Q2 2022, said the report. "Only MMR and Gurugram saw a quarter-on-quarter rise of 16% and 12% respectively, while new launches in other top cities reverberated the same restrictive developers sentiments," the report claimed. In terms of new projects, Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) once again contributed the highest share of 38%, followed by Pune with 21%, Bengaluru with 14 per cent and Hyderabad with 20 per cent. Mid-segment homes in demand The MMR was the most searched city with a 38% share of the total online searches in Q2, 2022, followed closely by Hyderabad at 22%. The homebuyers searched most for mid-segment properties in the budget bracket of Rs 30-60 Lakhs and Rs 60-100 Lakhs in Q2, 2022, noted the report. More than 43% supply of 3BHK configurations were noted in Bengaluru and Gurugram for Q2, 2022. "Interestingly, while mid-segment properties continued to be the most preferred for homebuyers in Q2 2022 with 57% of the total demand share, the demand share of premium category residential units (units worth over Rs 1 crore) inched up by more than 10% as compared to Q1 2022," said the report. The report noted that plotted developments accounted for a 24% share of the total property searches across the top six cities. "Cities namely Gurugram, Noida and Pune lead the searches for plots, forming more than 33% of the total property searches share in the respective cities," it said. According to the report, a higher rate of interest and a rise in housing prices may act as a sentiment-disrupter for homebuyers for a short period. New Delhi: Last week, Apple began rolling out the latest iOS 16 software update to millions of iPhones, coinciding with the worldwide release of the iPhone 14 series. iOS 16 introduces several new features, including an interactive lock screen and the ability to edit and unsend recently sent iMessages. However, while many of the new features introduced with iOS 16 aren't tailored to users, a new security feature called "Lockdown" mode provides additional protection to Apple device owners who may be vulnerable to targeted cyberattacks. But what exactly is the iPhone's new lockdown mode, and what does it do to protect users from cyber espionage tools like Pegasus? Apple has long promoted its iPhones as the world's most secure gadgets, and it still does so today. However, a group of journalists last year published The Pegasus Project, which revealed that the spyware Pegasus from the Israel-based NSO group may have targeted over 30,000 human rights activists, journalists, and lawyers worldwide, including those in India. The malware targeted users using a number of exploits, including several iOS zero-click zero-days, and did not spare iPhones. Pegasus enables users to access a phone's contents remotely, hack into the camera and microphone, and gain access to calls, location data, photos, and messages without the victim's knowledge or even the victim clicking on a link. Pegasus was allegedly used to hack the iPhone of a Jordanian journalist in December, according to a fresh report from earlier this year. A few weeks after Apple sued the Israeli business in an effort to harm its customers, the hack happened. The Pegasus investigation demonstrates that iPhonesor any other 'connected' deviceare not completely secure and may be compromised. Lockdown Mode in iOS 16 Apple unveiled a new "lockdown" mode feature as part of the iOS 16 operating system at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June, despite the fact that the company is still engaged in legal conflict with the NSO Group. Lockdown mode is a security feature that provides an additional layer of security to users who run the risk of being targeted by Pegasus and other sophisticated advanced spyware. It is now available with iOS 16 and will launch on iPads and Macs later this year. Many iPhone features are disabled when Lockdown is activated, which Apple refers to as "extreme," as a trade-off for such a security feature. For instance, when users turn off link previews in text messages while temporarily enabling Lockdown mode on their phones, it hides a person's anonymity by obtaining their IP addresses. Users can still copy and paste the website address into their browser because the feature only blocks the preview of a link, not the actual link. Lockdown mode also turns off some Safari features that might have an impact on specific websites. It's possible that some sophisticated web technologies in your browser, such as web-based fonts and just-in-time compilers that speed up website loading, won't render correctly or won't load at all. You'll notice that if the user hasn't already called or requested FaceTime from the initiator, you can't receive FaceTime calls from contacts when Lockdown mode is activated. While Lockdown Mode is activated, you won't get invitations to use Apple services like calendars and notes from people you've never spoken to before. Users can enable Lockdown Mode on their iPhones running iOS 16, which is rolling out and is available for a free download if they believe they may be the target of a spyware attack. The Settings app's Privacy and Security section are where you'll find lockdown mode. When users choose Lockdown Mode, their iPhone restarts and some features are disabled. When you open Safari, a Lockdown Enabled should be visible at the top of the page, indicating that Lockdown Mode is activated. You can disable Lockdown Mode through the Settings menu if you'd like to do so, as this option is a temporary way to disable iPhone features that hackers might exploit. New Delhi: Garena Free Fire releases redeem codes on everyday basis. The 12-digit redeem code consists of alphabets and numbers. Players can get rewards such as skins for in-game weapons and characters to improve their gaming experience. Garena Free fire is banned in India. However, if you are located outside India, you can access the reward codes and redeem them. For that you will be required to visit official Garena Free Fire reward site and log in to your Facebook, Google, and Twitter IDs to access the Free Fire redemption page. (Also read: WhatsApp entering film-making biz, movie to premiere on Amazon Prime Video and YouTube) Check out the Garena Free Fire Redeem Codes for September 19, 2022 FMKI88YTGFD8 KLLPDJHDDBJD EDXXDSZSSDFG HDFHDNBHNDJL VFGVJMCKDMHN FKJHBNJKOPOL FMKLPOIUYTFD JCDKCNJE5RTR FDRDSASERTYH FU816OUYTRDVB FHBVCDFQWERT NDJDFBGJFJFK ERTYHJNBVCDS F10IUJHGVCDSE F7UIJHBGFDFR FXCVBNMKDSXC FOKMJNBVCXSD FFFXVGG8NU4YB FFE4EODIKX2D ERTYHJNBVCDS (Also read: OMG! An 18-year boy hacks Uber, employees' thoughts someone is joking) How to Redeem Garena Free Fire codes for today, September 19, 2022 Step 1: Go to the official Garena Free Fire redemption portal Step 2: Log in on the portal with either your Facebook, Twitter, Apple, Google, VK, or Huawei ID. Step 3: Enter a redeem code in the designated text box. Step 4: Click on the Ok button to get free rewards in your game account. (Disclaimer: Garena Free fire is banned in India. Hence we advise people to adhere to government rules) New Delhi: The new iPhones have arrived. In total, four models are available: the iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, the iPhone 14 Pro, and the iPhone 14 Pro Max. In terms of specifications, the iPhone 14 Pro appears to be the most impressive because it offers the benefits of the Pro Max (all of the new features) at a lower price. Dheeraj Palliyil, an Apple fan from Kochi, was so excited about the iPhone 14 Pro that he travelled all the way to Dubai to get it. Palliyil stated that he wanted to be among the first people in India to buy the new iPhone model. Palliyil announced on Instagram that he would be travelling to Dubai to purchase the iPhone 14 Pro 512GB model. This variant costs Rs 1,59,900 in India, but it is significantly less expensive in Dubai. Palliyil paid 5,949 AED (approximately Rs 1,29,000) for the iPhone model. While this appears to be a great deal for many, Palliyil ended up paying a lot more (around Rs 10,000). How? Allow me to explain. Palliyil, unlike most people, travelled to Dubai solely to purchase the iPhone 14 Pro model. He ended up spending approximately Rs 40,000 on flight tickets (both sides). While Palliyil is not the only person who has travelled to a foreign country to purchase a cheaper iPhone, he is one of the few who has travelled solely for the purpose of purchasing the phone. People usually plan a vacation during which they decide to buy a new iPhone, which seems reasonable. Overall, according to our calculations, Palliyil paid Rs 1,69,900 for the iPhone 14 Pro 512GB, which is (roughly) Rs 10,000 more than the Indian price. Palliyil admitted to being an Apple fan and visiting Dubai almost every time a new iPhone is released in an interview with a publication. Palliyil shared information about this year's purchase, revealing that he waited in long lines for the iPhone 14 Pro for roughly 4 days. He bought the phone from an elite Apple retailer in Dubai's Mirdif City Center. "It was during the launch of iPhone 8 in 2017 that I came to Dubai first to purchase it. I managed to purchase the iPhone 11 Pro Max first from the same seller in Mirdif City Centre when sales started in Dubai in 2019, even weeks before the launch of the model in India. I was also the first customer when the sale of iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 started in Dubai," Palliyil was quoted as saying. The iPhone 14 Pro is already available in India on a variety of platforms, both online and offline. It is available in four capacities: 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB, with prices starting at Rs 1,29,900. Beijing: China is taking full advantage of the Russia-Ukraine crisis to warn the US of its threats -- a classic example of "killing the chicken to scare the monkey," GeoPolitica reports said. From blaming NATO expansion for Russia's invasion of Ukraine to accusing Ukraine's desire to join NATO of endangering Russian security or even condemning anti-Russia sanctions imposed upon the outbreak of the war, Beijing's intentions are only to threaten the US amid the ongoing power struggle, according to GeoPolitica. More of this becomes clear as one gets closer to Beijing launching an impossible diplomatic push. Much of China's criticism of the West stems from the fact that Beijing is dealing with a major strategic problem. Evan Feigenbaum of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace made an interesting point. It identifies China's three primary goals in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. The first is China's strategic alliance with Russia. The second is to demonstrate China's commitment to long-standing foreign policy principles of "territoriality" and "non-interference," and the third is to minimise collateral damage from EU and US sanctions, according to GeoPolitica. Beijing officials have been travelling around the world since the war began on February 24. From February 24 to May 19, Beijing had 64 diplomatic talks with international colleagues to address the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.However, one must note that this diplomatic effort is divided into two sections.The first stage concentrated on Western nations in order to manage the impact of Western policy results and the second is China's move to focus on poorer countries. For Instance, on March 15, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan met with Politburo member Yang Jiechi and reiterated the United States` commitment to a cohesive NATO. Following the Sullivan-Yang meeting on March 15, China's diplomatic campaign moved its focus to poorer countries.Whether it was the visits to the western nations or to the poorer countries, Beijing`s aim was anchored in three key messages condemning NATO for its "responsibility" for the conflict, the need for peace talks, and opposition to Western sanctions.Foreign Minister Wang Yi stated in a meeting with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kuleba that "one nation`s security should not be obtained by harming another country, and regional security should not be secured via military bloc expansion. "Wang said in a meeting with Pakistan PM Imran Khan that "Ukraine should be the bridge between East and West rather than a pawn in a greater power conflict." China`s second point was to condemn anti-Russia sanctions imposed upon the outbreak of the war. The Western countries responded in unison to the Russian invasion.Following the invasion, many western nations -- United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and a number of other nations imposed sanctions on Russian financial institutions and major oligarchs associated with the Putin government.Following the league -- the European Union imposed penalties on Russian officials, financial institutions, and exports. The West used its sanction trump card on February 26. The United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, and Italy announced a concerted operation to withdraw. Russian banks from the SWIFT financial messaging system. The EU resolved on March 2 to remove seven significant Russian organizations from SWIFT by March 12, reported GeoPolitica. China began delivering anti- sanction messaging during diplomatic encounters and reiterated Chinese President Xi Jinping`s message chastising Western sanctions for impeding international law and escalating tensions.Xi stated that the international community should "wholly advocate negotiation," a veiled criticism of Western countries that simultaneously promote dialogue and offer military help to Ukraine. (With Agency Inputs) London: The High Commission of India in London on Monday condemned the violence perpetrated against the Indian community in Leicester and has sought immediate action against those involved in the attacks. The High Commission issued a statement on Monday saying that it has taken up the matter with the UK authorities. "We strongly condemn the violence perpetrated against the Indian Community in Leicester and vandalisation of premises and symbols of Hindu religion. We have strongly taken up this matter with the UK authorities and have sought immediate action against those involved in these attacks. We call on the authorities to provide protection to the affected people," the statement read. Watch: In Leicester, Hindu-Muslim clash continues in the wake of India vs Pakistan, Asia Cup cricket match The cycle of violence was triggered on August 28 after India won the Asia Cup T20 match against Pakistan. On Sunday, a clash broke out among groups of young men in Leicestershire, according to the police statement. At least 15 people have been arrested so far in the matter. This comes after various videos and reports have been circulating on social media about Pakistani organised gangs seen vandalising and terrorising Hindus in the UK`s Leicester City. The incident follows a spate of violence and disorder in the eastern part of the city. The violence first started on August 28 after India won the match against Pakistan in the Asia Cup 2022, following which a fight broke out in Melton Road, Belgrave, leading to 27 arrests so far, according to a UK-based media publication Leicester Mercury. Following the incident, the Leicestershire Police assured to continue to call for dialogue and calm with support from local community leaders. The police while calling for calm told everyone to return home and asked to share the information that has been checked and is true. After the reports of the clash on Saturday night, the Leicestershire Police Temporary Chief Constable Rob Nixon, in a video message shared on the Twitter handle, said, "We have had numerous reports of a disorder on the streets of Leicester tonight, Saturday, September 17. We have got officers there, we are taking control of the situation, there are additional officers en route and dispersal powers, stop search powers, have been authorised. Please do not get involved. We are calling for calm." New Delhi: Queen Elizabeth II's funeral is likely to be the highest-attended event in the history of the United Kingdom, with world leaders and dignitaries flying from across the globe. More than 2,000 guests will gather in London`s Westminster Abbey today for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. Britains longest-serving monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, who passed away on September 8 at the age of 96, will be honoured with a full state funeral at Westminster Abbey on Monday (September 19, 2022). Queen Elizabeth II's coffin will travel in procession from Westminster Abbey to Wellington Arch. The King and senior royals will walk behind the coffin. According to local reports, the police have made extensive arrangements for crowd control and security measures as thousands of people are expected to line the route on Monday to say their final goodbyes to the Queen. ALSO READ | Queen Elizabeth IIs funeral today, Britain to observe 7 days of mourning - All you need to know Timeline for Queens funeral Funeral duties will start at 6.30 a.m. BST The funeral will start at 11 a.m. BST The public procession of the queen's coffin will begin at 12.15 p.m. BST When to watch Queen Elizabeth II's funeral live in India? The funeral will begin at 11 am (London Time). Viewers in India can watch the funeral live beginning at 3.30 p.m. IST (Indian Standard Time) Where to watch Queen Elizabeth II's funeral live? People across the world can watch the live streaming on different platforms, including BBC One, BBC News, BBC iPlayer, Sky News, and Sky News App. The funeral ceremony will also be live streamed on YouTube and other platforms. President Joe Biden says US forces would defend Taiwan if China tries to invade the self-ruled island claimed by Beijing as part of its territory, adding to displays of official American support for the island democracy. Biden said "yes" when asked during an interview broadcast Sunday on CBS News's 60 Minutes programme whether US forces, US men and women, would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion." CBS News reported the White House said after the interview that US policy hasn't changed. That policy says Washington wants to see Taiwan's status resolved peacefully but doesn't say whether U.S. Forces might be sent in response to a Chinese attack. Tension is rising following efforts by Chinese President Xi Jinping's government to intimidate Taiwan by firing missiles into the nearby sea and flying fighter jets nearby and visits to Taipei by political figures including U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Taiwan's foreign ministry on Monday expressed sincere gratitude to Biden for affirming the U.S. Government's rock-solid promise of security to Taiwan. Taiwan will resist authoritarian expansion and aggression and deepen the close security partnership with Washington and other governments with similar thinking to protect regional stability, the statement said. Washington is obligated by federal law to see that Taiwan has the means to defend itself but doesn't say whether US forces would be sent. The United States has no formal relations with the island but maintains informal diplomatic ties. Taiwan and China split in 1949 after a civil war that ended with the Communist Party in control of the mainland. The two governments say they are one country but dispute which is entitled to be the national leader. Beijing criticizes official foreign contact with Taiwan's elected government as encouragement to make its de facto independence permanent, a step the mainland says would lead to war. Washington says it doesn't support formal independence for Taiwan, a stance Biden repeated in the interview broadcast Sunday. Taiwan makes their own judgments about their independence, the president said. We're not encouraging their being independent. In May, Biden said yes when asked at a news conference in Tokyo whether he was willing to get involved militarily to defend Taiwan if China invaded. Beijing: China on Monday made it clear to Washington that it will not tolerate any activities aimed at splitting the country and will take "necessary measures" to protect its sovereignty, hours after President Joe Biden again said the US military would defend the democratic and self-ruled island if Beijing tries to invade it. Biden said "yes" when asked during a TV interview on Sunday whether "US forces, US men and women, would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion." Taiwan is a self-ruled island off the coast of eastern China that Beijing claims as part of its territory. The US has always walked a diplomatic tightrope over the sensitive issue in bilateral ties. The White House has been quick to downplay Biden's previous comments on Taiwan, reiterating that the US policy hasn't changed. This is the second time since May this year that Biden has replied affirmatively to questions on the US militarily intervening to defend Taiwan's independence, adding a military dimension to Washington's Taiwan policy much to the chagrin of Beijing. While visiting Japan in May, Biden said America will stand with Japan and other nations to not let China forcibly take over Taiwan. When asked at a press conference in Tokyo if the US is willing to get involved militarily to defend Taiwan, Biden said "yes". "That is the commitment we made. Here is the situation: we agree with the One China policy. We signed on to it and all the attendant agreements made from there. "But the idea that it can be taken by force is just not appropriate, it will dislocate the entire region and be another action similar to what happened in Ukraine. So, it is a burden that is even stronger," he said, likening Taiwan's issue to that of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Reacting to Biden's interview with CBS News, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning on Monday said the US leader's remarks seriously violated the 'one China' policy and three joint communiques related to Taiwan. Biden's remarks seriously breached the US commitment of not supporting Taiwan's independence and sent an erroneous signal to Taiwan's independence forces, Mao said. "China deplores and firmly opposes that and we have launched several representations, to the US, she said. "There is only one China and Taiwan is part of it and the People's Republic of China (PRC) government is the sole government representing the entire China," Mao said. To achieve the complete unification of the motherland is the shared aspiration and sacred duty of all Chinese people, she said. "We will strive for the prospect of a peaceful reunification with utmost sincerity and efforts. In the meantime, we will not tolerate any activities that are aimed to split China and we reserve all options of taking the necessary measures," Mao said. "Nobody should understate our resolve, will and capability to defend our sovereignty and territorial integrity. They should not stand on the opposite side of the 1.4 billion Chinese people," she said. "We urge the US to fully understand the extremely important and the highly sensitive nature of the Taiwan question and abide by the 'one China' principle and three joint communiques, earnestly implement the US leadership commitment of not supporting Taiwan's independence," she said. The US should prudently and properly handle the Taiwan-related issues and refrain from sending an erroneous signal to Taiwan independence forces so as to prevent further damage to China-US relations and peace and stability along the Taiwan Strait, she said. Taiwan responded to President Biden's remarks on Monday by welcoming the "US government's rock-solid security commitment to Taiwan". Taipei said it would continue to deepen its "close security partnership" with Washington. Earlier this month, the US agreed to sell weapons worth USD 1.1 billion to Taiwan to enhance its defence capabilities, provoking an angry response from Beijing. The US-China differences over the Taiwan issue in recent months have escalated after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei, becoming the first top American official to visit the self-ruled island in 25 years. Besides the diplomatic protest, China went ballistic over her visit launching massive air, naval and missile drills close to Twain for over a week in August, sparking concerns that Beijing was preparing for an invasion of the island. Biden's comments that the US was not averse to using force effectively jeopardises Chinese leader Xi Jinping's vocal plan of national integration. Taiwan's integration with the Chinese mainland is the major political plank of Xi, who is widely expected to be endorsed for an unprecedented third term in power in next month's once- in-a-five-year-congress of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC). YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 19, ARMENPRESS. Speaking at the conclusion of the Sunday Angelus, Pope Francis prayed for the victims of recent fighting between Azerbaijan and Armenia, appealing for dialogue and peace, Vatican News reports. He also asked everyone to continue praying for Ukraine and all parts of the world bloodied by war. Pope Francis expressed his spiritual closeness to the families of victims in recent fighting that erupted between Azerbaijan and Armenia, urging both parties to respect the ceasefire in view of a peace agreement. He was speaking to pilgrims gathered in Saint Peter's following the recitation of the Angelus prayer. Let us not forget that peace is possible when weapons are silenced and dialogue begins, Pope Francis said. YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 19, ARMENPRESS. Minister of Defense of Armenia Suren Papikyan received today head of the operational group of the CSTO monitoring mission to Armenia, Chief of the CSTO Joint Staff, Colonel-General Anatoly Sidorov, the ministry said in a news release. Colonel-General Anatoly Sidorov presented the results of the works done by the group on the operational situation in recent days. YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 19, ARMENPRESS. The right to education of 25,000 students in Armenias Gegharkunik, Vayots Dzor and Syunik provinces has been violated as a result of the latest attack of Azerbaijan on Armenias sovereign territory. Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport Zhanna Andreasyan told a press conference in Armenpress that there was such a security situation in some settlements of the aforementioned provinces that children were deprived of the right to education, the opportunity to ensure the continuation of their studies. The talk concerns both schools and pre-schools. In these three provinces, more than 6000 children attending a pre-school were deprived of the opportunity to ensure the continuation of education. The educational facilities in these settlements have not operated last week as holidays were declared. But the missed classes will be made up later. Being in touch with our colleagues in provinces, I would like to state that we have a decision and the schools will start operating starting today, she said. The study process in schools where there is no problem with ensuring security will start offline, whereas in others it will be held online. In Gegharkunik province, the online learning will resume in 12 schools, which are mainly located in Vardenis region, in Vayots Dzor province, it will start in 3 schools and in Syunik province 112 schools. The offline learning here will resume only in 5 schools. The deputy minister said that decisions will be made every day based on the developments. Schools have accumulated a great experience in online learning, unfortunately, not only during the pandemic. From the very first days of the war in autumn 2020 we switched the study process in border communities to a remote learning and provided the necessary equipment. We think that the capacities of schools to organize remote learning are sufficient enough, she said. Two educational facilities in Gegharkunik provinces were hit by the Azerbaijani shelling. The deputy minister said that the renovation works will be organized very quickly. She expressed her concerns over the targeting of educational institutions, calling it a violation of international law. On September 13, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces launched a major attack on Armenia from several directions, bombarding both military and civilian infrastructures with rocket-artillery and drone strikes. Azerbaijan halted its attack in the evening of September 14 after a ceasefire was reached following the involvement of the international community. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev to adhere to the ceasefire and disengage military forces, State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement. September 19, 2022, 09:23 Blinken urges Aliyev to adhere to ceasefire, disengage military forces STEPANAKERT, SEPTEMBER 19, ARTSAKHPRESS: Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken spoke today with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. Secretary Blinken welcomed a halt to recent hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan. He urged President Aliyev to adhere to the ceasefire, disengage military forces, and work to resolve all outstanding issues between Armenia and Azerbaijan through peaceful negotiations, the statement says. President of Russia Vladimir Putin addressed the participants of the 9th Armenian-Russian Inter-Regional Forum in a message, stating that Russia and Armenia have accumulated a great cooperation experience in different directions. September 19, 2022, 12:10 Bilateral ties between Russia and Armenia brought to high allied level Putin addresses message STEPANAKERT, SEPTEMBER 19, ARTSAKHPRESS-ARMENPRESS: This year our countries are celebrating the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations and the 25th anniversary of the Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance. Its important that in the past period Russia and Armenia have accumulated a great experience of constructive cooperation in different areas, and that the bilateral ties have been brought to a high allied level, Putin said in his message as published in the Kremlin website. The number of those killed or missing as a result of the latest large-scale aggression of Azerbaijan reaches 207, the Security Council of Armenia said in a statement after the sitting chaired by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. September 19, 2022, 17:19 207 killed or missing as a result of latest Azerbaijani aggression Armenia Security Council STEPANAKERT, SEPTEMBER 19, ARTSAKHPRESS: Three civilians were killed, two others are considered missing, 293 servicemen and 3 civilians were wounded, 20 servicemen were captured. There are evidences of cases of torture, mutilation, and thus illegal killing of captured or killed Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijanis, the statement says. The Azerbaijani armed forces shelled 36 settlements, including Goris, Sisian, Kapan, Jermuk, Vardenis, Tegh and Geghamasar communities and as a result 192 houses, 3 hotels, 2 schools, 1 medical center, 1 celebration hall and 4 barns were partly or fully destroyed. Seven power grid facilities, 5 water infrastructures, 3 gas pipelines, 1 bridge, 2 automobile roads and 1 street were damaged. Also 2 ambulances and 4 private cars were shot at. The Queen and the Duke of York (Richard Pohle/The Times/PA) (PA Wire) The Duke of York has paid tribute to his mother the Queen, saying: Mummy, your love for a son, your compassion, your care, your confidence I will treasure forever. Andrew hailed the late monarch for her knowledge and wisdom infinite, with no boundary or containment, adding: I will miss your insights, advice and humour. He described the Queen as Mummy, Mother, Your Majesty, three in one and said it had been an honour and privilege to serve her. Andrew accompanied his words with a black and white photo taken by society photographer Cecil Beaton of his mother holding him as a newborn in March 1960. Andrew, who stepped down from public life over his friendship with paedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein in 2019, said As our book of experiences closes, another opens, adding and that he would tread gladly into the next with you as my guide. The Queens disgraced second son went on to pay millions to settle a civil sexual assault case to a woman he claimed never to have met. The Duke of York walks behind the coffin of the Queen to Westminster Hall (Andrew Matthews/PA) (PA Wire) Virginia Giuffre sued him for allegedly sexually assaulting her when she was 17 after she was trafficked by Epstein. Andrew denied the claims. In January, ahead of his legal settlement, the Queen stripped him of all of his honorary military roles, including Colonel of the Grenadier Guards, and he gave up his HRH style. The duke said: Dear Mummy, Mother, Your Majesty, three in one. Your Majesty, it has been an honour and privilege to serve you. Mother of the nation, your devotion and personal service to our nation is unique and singular; your people show their love and respect in so many different ways and I know you are looking on honouring their respect. Mummy, your love for a son, your compassion, your care, your confidence I will treasure forever. I have found your knowledge and wisdom infinite, with no boundary or containment. I will miss your insights, advice and humour. As our book of experiences closes, another opens, and I will forever hold you close to my heart with my deepest love and gratitude, and I will tread gladly into the next with you as my guide. He finished with the words God Save The King in honour of his brother Charles. An affordable housing developer and property manager is looking for Cayuga County's support in seeking state funds to help convert an empty three-story, 25,000-square-foot building into apartments. Housing Visions, a Syracuse-based nonprofit, is asking the Cayuga County Legislature to support an application for $2 million from the Restore NY Communities Initiative to help it acquire and develop 197 State St. in Auburn into 16 affordable housing apartments. A resolution before the Legislature's Ways and Means Committee this week states that "Cayuga County wishes to combat the on-going community need to provide emergency, transitional and permanent housing to persons who are struggling with homelessness and to address the significant shortage of shelter beds in the community." A public hearing on the proposal is set for the Legislature's Sept. 27 meeting. The building at 197 State St. has been owned by the city of Auburn since 2019, following a tax foreclosure. Prior to that, it was used for about two decades as a physical therapy practice. Its original and longest use was as a community center and club called the Polish Home, which was owned by the Society of St. John the Baptist. Auburn may seek state funds for developer's downtown building renovation Auburn City Council is set to vote next week on whether to apply for state grant funding that would help finance a developer's downtown buildi The city has been listing the property through Michael DeRosa Exchange. According to a description on the DeRosa website, features include an elevator to all floors, workout gym area, baths, showers and 10 treatment rooms. It is assessed at $405,000. The county Legislature resolution says that Housing Vision's work on the project could include "redesign, demolition, deconstruction and rehabilitation" work at the property. Housing Visions has offered to cover the 10% match that would be required by the state if the grant was awarded. The State Street project is one of at least two potential Restore New York applications this year in Auburn. The Auburn City Council is considering sponsoring an application by R&M Real Estate Group to seek a $1.75 million grant under the program to redevelop the three-story, 13,000-square-foot property at 22 E. Genesee St. in the downtown area. Farmer suicide rates outpace almost any other profession in America, advocates say, which is why theyre sponsoring a mental-health first-aid program next month in Homer. The data from January 2022 from the CDC says suicide rates in agriculture are worse than almost any sector at 36 per 100,000, said Becky Wiseman, a mental health first aid instructor with NY FarmNet. Only construction and mining have higher rates. Founded by the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University, NY FarmNet offers a confidential hotline at (800) 547-3726, for agricultural workers to discuss mental health, family and financial crises. It also offers mental health first aid courses to teach people how to recognize signs of mental health challenges, help those in crisis and maintain mental health with self-care techniques. One will be Oct. 19 at Albright Grange on Route 13 in East Homer. FarmNet also will host a Talk Saves Lives webinar on suicide awareness and prevention Sept. 29. Kendra Jannsen, FarmNets office administrator, says a series of free mental health first aid courses through spring 2023 is funded by a $25 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agricultures National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Wiseman said unique professional stressors cause mental health adversities in the agricultural industry. One of the major ones is their long hours and isolation, she said. They work mostly alone and often suffer fatigue, pain, and the hardships of physical labor. Farming is so dangerous. A slip of a hand can have a tractor overturn and kill a farmer. Some have gotten caught in manure spreaders and combines and killed, Wiseman said. Uncontrollable factors like weather and unpredictable yields also weigh heavily on farmers. Too much rain floods crops. Dry seasons mean not enough crops, Wiseman said. Wiseman said dairy farms have also been hit financially: Many are selling their farms and cows. Milk has been very difficult right now because milk prices are not steady, she said. KC Slade, who has worked around dairy farms all his life, stressed the communitys dependence on dairy, and its price swings. We have a heavy dairy population. Dairy is king in Cortland County, Slade said. Some of the biggest recent stressors in dairy are the cost of what it takes to grow crops and feed cows. And buying equipment, Slade added. Slade suggested dairy farmers often try to fix the roots of their stresses rather than seek help with the mental health fallout. As far as reactions to stressors, most farmers will take to educating the general public. There is a big gap between what the public understands of farms and what really goes into that, Slade said. Their reaction is trying to get the point across about what needs to change. Thats a strength and an amazing part about dairy farmers: their resilience. When the chips are down, they keep working. Many farmers insurance policies do not cover mental healthcare, Wiseman said. There is also the matter of stigma, more severe in the farming community. If you park your truck at so-and-so's clinic, there's a fear people will see you, she said. Sometimes you have to meet farmers at a firehouse or library to talk to them about it. People can watch for physical manifestations of mental health problems, Wiseman said, which may be easier for farmers to speak about: Head and back aches, muscle pain, insomnia, chest pains and digestive issues, she said. These are symptoms they can talk about instead of whats causing them. Upcoming programs NY FarmNet offers two programs to show how people can help farmers through mental health crises: Oct. 19 at Albright Grange, 2648 Route 13, Homer. Sept. 29 a webinar on suicide awareness and prevention. Register for both at www.nyfarmnet.org/trainings. Wiseman also suggested looking for changes in routine and behavior. If youve known the farmer, you can observe changes in their behavior. Have you seen something going on thats not normal? Is he not going to church? Is he more isolated? she said. To help, Wiseman said the first step is simply connecting with the farmer. Listen. Dont feel like you have to fix it. Thats not what mental health first aid teaches. It says were the people who listen and give hope, she said. And then we provide a referral. Poe on POGOs It has become clear from the most recent Senate hearing on POGOs that the social costs of POGOs are starting to outweigh whatever economic gains that this particularly pernicious industry is bringing in the country. Kung dati ay hindi pagbabayad ng tamang buwis, mass migration at real estate bubble ang pino-problema natin sa usapin ng POGO, ngayon ay may dagdag pang kidnapping, prostitution, torture at maging murder na kinasasangkutan ng mga POGOs. It's like POGO as a mother vice gives birth to a whole slew of other vices and crimes. The PNP's Criminal Investigation and Detection Group itself said that the Philippines became a cradle for Chinese gangsters after Vietnam and Cambodia banned Chinese-backed online gambling and overseas casinos. In 2022 alone, majority of kidnapping cases are POGO-related. We should launch a full-on probe on the social costs of POGOs and evaluate whether the country can still accommodate its operations and, if yes, at what cost. I will be filing a resolution on this immediately so that the chamber and the public can explore together its stance on POGOs once and for all. TVS Ntorq 125 Race XP is the first 125 cc scooter in Nepal to offer more than 10 PS power. It also offers multiple riding modes which include Street and Race. TVS Motor has launched the Ntorq 125 Race XP in Nepal at an introductory price of Nepalese Rupee 3.05 lakh today. The TVS Ntorq 125 Race XP is the most powerful 125 cc scooter in Nepal and comes with a tri-tone colour theme and race-inspired body decal adding sportiness to the scooter. The TVS Ntorq 125 Race XP was launched earlier in 2021 in India at a price of 83,275 (Ex-showroom, Delhi). It recently received a new colour Marine Blue and chequered flag race-inspired graphics at a price of 87,011 (ex-showroom, Delhi). TVS Ntorq 125 Race XP variant gets the Voice Command feature which is again first-in-class. Thus function enables 15 connectivity features on the scooter. It offers connectivity functions such as mode change, navigation, console brightness adjustment and DnD (Do not Disturb) feature. TVS Ntorq 125 Race XP is the first 125 cc scooter in Nepal to offer more than 10 PS power. At the heart of the scooter sits a 125cc, single-cylinder, fuel-injected engine. In the new Ntorq 125 Race XP, this engine is rated to churn out 10 bhp of maximum power and 10.8 Nm of peak torque. Both the output figures are slightly higher than the previous unit available on the standard trim of the Ntorq. FOLLOW US:Stay Updated with latest content - Subscribe us on FOLLOW US:Stay Updated with latest content - Subscribe us on Rahul Nayak, Vice President of International Business at TVS Motor Company, said that the Race XP model has already received positive response in Nepal since its launch. He said, Nepal has always been a key market for us, and it gives me the utmost pleasure to bring our offerings to the customers. We are extremely delighted to launch TVS Ntorq 125 Race XP in Nepal. The newly launched TVS Ntorq 125 Race XP comes armed with the highest power in the segment, first-in-segment dual ride modes, delivering higher top speed and superior acceleration." The TVS Ntorq 125 Race XP features multiple riding modes which include Street and Race. As the name suggests, the Race mode makes the acceleration peppier, while the Street model smoothens the overall power delivery of the scooter. First Published Date: Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Chinese power battery manufacturer Sunwoda Electric Vehicle Battery Co., Ltd. ("Sunwoda EVB") on Sept. 18 inked an agreement for an investment project in building a power battery manufacturing base in Yichang city, Hubei Province. The agreement was signed with the municipal government of Yichang city, Dongfeng Motor Group Company Limited ("Dongfeng Motor"), and Dongfeng Hongtai Holdings Group Co., Ltd. ("Dongfeng Hongtai"). Photo credit: Sunwoda The latest agreement signing came after Sunwoda EVB, Dongfeng Motor, and Dongfeng Hongtai struck a deal on June 17 this year to build a joint venture working on the R&D, development, and production of cells, modules, and relevant components for power batteries and energy storage batteries. The products will be supplied to Dongfeng Motor and Dongfeng Hongtai. Involving a planned registered capital of 500 million yuan ($71.321 million), the joint venture will be held as to 35% by Dongfeng Motor, 14% by Dongfeng Hongtai, and 51% by Sunwoda EVB. It will manage the construction and operation of the aforesaid power battery base. The power battery base in Yichang city is designed with an annual production capacity of 30GWh and will be built in two phases. Sunwoda EVB is a subsidiary of Shenzhen-listed Sunwoda Electronic Co., Ltd. It recorded a cumulative power battery installed capacity of 3.54GWh for the first eight months of 2022 in China, accounting for 5.37% of the countrys total volume, according to data by the China Automotive Power Battery Industry Innovation Alliance ("CAPBIIA"). BROOMFIELD, Colo. Eldorado Trading Company, the international distributor of adult toys, party supplies, and lingerie, on Monday announced the arrival of Mapale brand, a leading lingerie manufacturer. Established in 1999 in Miami, Mapale has built their reputation on edgy and fashion forward design. Mapale styles have arrived to the Eldorado warehouse and are available for immediate shipment. Angela Tobon, co-founder and owner of Mapale, remarked, We are excited to have Eldorado be part of the Mapale family, and to offer our customers the opportunity to find our products at the one stop convenience that Eldorado offers. Crystal Garcia, Eldorado Buyer, shares Mapales enthusiasm. Mapale is a wonderful addition to the Eldorado portfolio! We have had many requests to carry Mapale brand. They are a world-renowned brand known for their beautiful styling. Plus, they are fantastic to work with. To check out the Mapale Products, click here. For more information about any Mapale products, contact your Eldorado Account Manager. For more information about Eldorado, please call 800.525.0848 or visit eldorado.net. LUCERNE, SwitzerlandVendo Services will host its quarterly Merchant Conference on Thursday, September 22, 2022. The Vendo Merchant Conference series supports online merchants by providing new insights, fresh data, powerful tools, expert guest speakers and networking opportunities. Conference attendees typically include e-commerce merchants and streaming platform providers. The September conference starts with a focus on the biggest sales events of the yearBlack Friday and Cyber Monday. Vendos Data Director will share insights, KPIs and key takeaways from 2021. Next, global speaker and marketing expert Stephanie Schwab will lead a session on BF-CM best practices and take questions from attendees on strategy and approach. The conference will then pivot to emerging markets and Vendos fast-growing alternative payment method that is becoming the key to unlocking tremendous success in Brazil. Finally, featured speaker Max Bisschop of Rocket Fuel Blockchain will take the virtual stage to discuss everything crypto in 2022 including how to handle recurring payments. As always, the Vendo Merchant Conference will provide critical networking opportunities for merchants to connect with industry peers and forge new business relationships. Mark B, a 20-plus year industry leader and Vendo conference attendee, says, "I keep coming back to the Vendo Merchant Conferences for two reasons: First, the business opportunities from networking and, second, industry insights that help me make growth decisions for my business." Vendo sales director David Mayoral notes, In my short time at Vendo it has quickly become clear to me how much our merchants value our conferences in terms of supporting their business growth and staying current with the latest market trends. Vendos Merchant conferences are part of a series of ongoing virtual events hosted by Vendo Services to support the robust exchange of information and mutual growth of Vendo merchants in a rapidly changing e-commerce and regulatory environment. Vendos purpose is to make payments simple by inspiring growth and passion. Our merchant conferences are the perfect venue to share global market trends, discuss the latest innovations, learn how to grow your business, and participate in unparalleled networking opportunities, said Vendo Services CEO Mitch Platt. To request an invite, visit the event website. US Embassy in China Photo: cnsphoto Global Times"Is it illegal for the US Embassy and Consulates in China to ask Chinese employees to disclose their social media accounts, assets, and information of neighbors and friends?" Recently, Li Ming (pseudonym), who said to have worked at the US Embassy and Consulates in China, posted this question on a popular Chinese Q&A social media platform. Li said the US Embassy and Consulates conducted background vetting on Chinese employees once in several years. Such vetting touches on personal privacy and the Chinese employees were told that all information may be turned over to the US intelligence agencies. Although the US Embassy and Consulates said Chinese employees can register their information voluntarily, in reality, if they refuse, their work would be affected. "The US claims to protect personal privacy and respect human rights, while its behavior shows the country adopts such typical double standards," Li said in the post. Have the US Embassy and Consulates violated the privacy of Chinese employees? The Global Times recently interviewed several Chinese employees who had worked at the embassy and consulates including Li Ming, who said the job looks decent but is not that good at all. Under the cover of background vetting, the US Embassy and Consulates forced Chinese employees to submit their personal, family members and even their neighbors' information. The vetting made them feel like they were being interrogated. The US Embassy in Beijing has not replied to the Global Times interview request as of press time. Chinese experts said that the practice of the US Embassy and Consulates is typical of excessive data collection and completely violates the relevant provisions in China's Personal Information Protection Law. The Out of the Darkness Suicide Prevention Walk was held on Saturday at Chautauqua Park in Beatrice. The local fundraiser for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention is held each year in September. Melissa Snyder-Carlson, organizer for the Beatrice walk, said she was looking for resources after her dad, Kevin Snyder, completed suicide in 2007. Two years later her mom, Tammy, completed suicide. This is very personal to me, said Snyder-Carlson. The walk is about raising awareness and breaking down the stigma." Fundraising helps provide for prevention and post-vention resources for families. In addition, a new billboard will be placed on Highway 77, north of Pickrell, advertising the new mental health crisis number, 988. The Blue River LOSS (Local Outreach for Suicide Survivors) Team also had a table with resource information available at the walk. Laura Koch said the LOSS Teams purpose is to help those in our community who survive the loss of a family member, friends, or colleague to suicide. The LOSS Team has a 24-hour phone number (402-806-5551) available to call for support or to schedule a visit with a mental health clinician and survivor. Through compassion and understanding, we help survivors know they're not alone, said Koch. We are happy to arrange a call-out visit at anytime, whether it be a day after or years after, to help that family with resources and in processing their grief." The Blue River LOSS Team will be hosting a free viewing of the Ripple Effect at the Community Players Theatre on Nov. 19 which is International Survivors of Suicide Loss Day. Brenda Quigley, of Centralia, Kansas, said her life changed forever on Jan. 19, 2021 when her son, Damon, completed suicide. Damon was 13-years-old at the time of his death. He never said a word to us that he was struggling," she said. I dont know how people get through a tragedy like this, but I prayed a lot. I wanted to know what the purpose was to all this mess." She said the word purpose just kept coming up and she started a Facebook support group. Damons Purpose has 925 members and encourages suicide awareness and prevention, as well as striving to end the stigma around mental illness. Theres a lot of healing that takes place too, said Snyder-Carlson. "The families that come to remember their loved one that was lost to suicide come together and we know were all here for a common reason." We're waking up to some fog in southeastern Nebraska early Monday morning, particularly in more rural locations. All the fog will be gone by 10 a.m. and mostly sunny skies will become sunny this afternoon. Temperatures will continue to climb today. Highs will be in the upper 80s, but because of the very high humidity, feels like temperatures will reach the mid 90s this afternoon. All of this is of course above normal for mid-September, when we should be seeing high temperatures in the upper 70s in the Lincoln and Omaha areas. Look for breezy conditions as well this afternoon with wind gusts reaching around 20 mph. Clear skies expected for Monday night with winds staying around 10 mph. The unseasonably warm conditions will continue. Low temperatures will only reach the low 70s in most locations. Normal for this time of year are temperatures in the low to mid 50s! Unlike last night, no fog is expected to form. Temperatures will continue to rise on Tuesday under sunny skies. Highs will reach the mid 90s in much of southeastern Nebraska. This will put us near record territory. Most locations in the area have record highs in the upper 90s for September 20. Once again, the humidity will make it feel hotter than the thermometers indicate. The heat index will likely top out near 100 degrees for many Tuesday afternoon. An afternoon breeze will help with wind gusts once again reaching around 20 mph. Relief from the heat will arrive Wednesday with our next cold front. High temperatures Wednesday afternoon are only expected to reach the low 70s. Rain will return to southeast Nebraska as well. A few showers are possible as early as Tuesday night, but the better chance will occur during the day Wednesday. Some may still miss out, but isolated showers and storms are in the forecast. Editor's note: The 16th annual High Plains Book Awards recognizes regional literary works which examine and reflect life on the High Plains, including the states of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado and Kansas, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. highplainsbookawards.org The Art & Photography Award recognizes the best book depicting art and/or photography by or about one artist or a collection of artists. Rizzoli Publishing has rewarded us with a stunning collection of George Carlsons varied works, in various media, about the American West, which includes both north and central Americas. His time with the Tarahumara Indigenous people of Mexico is well represented. The different media he used to depict these people give us a tremendous example of how realistic portraiture can be abstract as well. The closeups of specific areas of these paintings are just breathtaking, with the amazing colors so meticulously rendered. The sculptures simply jump out of the background. Their texture is rough bronze which adds much character to each piece. And at 350 pages crammed with example after example of his work, this is a bargain to snap up now. Carlsons Western landscapes have been compared to both Bierstadt and Moran. The point is made that Carlson is a contemporary artist living in the West while his artistic forebearers were only passing through the marvelous land. As with his work in Mexico, the paintings of the land are gorgeously represented, and the opportunity to see them up close really shows the view within the abstraction. Though the book is a comprehensive study of the artist, it is nice to find some personal information about his life toward the end of the book. He lives in Idaho, and his house design is based upon the home of Carl and Karin Larsson in Sundborn, Sweden. As a final note I will say that two of my favorite paintings are Afternoon of a Red-tailed Hawk and Song of the Open Road. I think you will find that an afternoon with George Carlson: The American West will be rewarding and time well spent. Louis Wolff enjoys playing pickleball every day and volunteers his time at the Billings Public Library and the Tippet Rise Art Center. You are Invited October 8! Book Sale and Author Panels 11 AM 5 PM Billings Public Library Award Presentations MSU Billings Petro Theatre 7:30 PM no charge Editor's note: The 16th annual High Plains Book Awards recognizes regional literary works which examine and reflect life on the High Plains, including the states of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado and Kansas, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. highplainsbookawards.org The Art & Photography Award recognizes the best book depicting art and/or photography by or about one artist or a collection of artists. Jon Lodges Fracture, a finalist in Art & Photography for this years High Plains Book Awards, examines the limits of artistic production. Lodge worked as a printer for fifty-five years and he brings this expertise into the books design and materiality, pushing every aspect of how his monumental artworks can also live in a 9x11 volume. Fracture takes the process of making art and books far beyond what most would consider their breaking point. The progressive playfulness of Jon Lodge: Fracture begins with its cover: the image wrap features a detail of one of Lodges art objects; it has a delicate spot varnish so the image oscillating between rich black ink and pure white of the paper with both matte and glossy finishes, creating a remarkably rich texture and form. This analog glitch has become a hallmark of Lodges artwork, where he is able to find a unique signal in the noise of contemporary life through extending the process of making images. Throughout the book his artwork is depicted, but this often goes beyond documentation and creates a new iteration of the work, such as when you notice a subtle self-portrait of Lodge embedded in a photograph of the reflective surface of one of his pieces; with iPhone in hand and a mask on his face he is truly a man of this moment. The books essays and interviews provide a multitude of interpretations of Lodges work. Take, for example, the text by Brandon Reintjes, curator at the Missoula Art Museum, which hosted the Fracture exhibition and published this book. Lodge has blacked out much of it, using the convention of redacted texts that we often see in top secret government documents! This serves to both open up the essay as well as challenge the relationship between artist and curator. Normally, the curators connoisseurship seeks to edit the artists work, but instead Lodge takes control of the situation and imposes his process of randomness onto the curator. Lodges Fracture is a great book for readers who want to be challenged and surprised by what they see and how they perceive the world. Todd R. Forsgren is an Assistant Professor of Art at Rocky Mountain College and the director of the schools Ryniker-Morrison Gallery as well as an artist who uses photography to examine themes of ecology, climate change, and perceptions of landscape while striving to strike a balance between art history and natural history. You are Invited October 8! Book Sale and Author Panels 11 AM 5 PM Billings Public Library Award Presentations MSU Billings Petro Theatre 7:30 PM no charge Montana State University Billings will host the annual Montana Post-Secondary Education Opportunity Council Billings College Fair on Tuesday in the Alterowitz Gym of the Physical Education Building from 8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. The MPSEOC is a statewide organization representing the 25 institutions of higher education across Montana. The mission of the organization is the promotion of higher education to students, parents, and guidance counselors, with the awareness of the post-secondary opportunities available throughout Montana and beyond. Over the course of three weeks, students from across the state can attend the college fair circuit and learn about educational options after high school. Billings is one of the largest fairs with an estimated 2,500 students in attendance from area high schools. Students will have the opportunity to explore college options with over 100 college representatives from the Northwest region and learn about scholarships and financial aid. Every year, this event brings in a variety of post-secondary options for local students, from military training and trade schools to two-year and four-year colleges, said Julie Pettit-Booth, executive director of New Student Services. Students can explore all of their options and get their questions answered in one place. This year, the fair is adding a Career Exploration section with over 35 businesses, specialized training programs, and local agencies that will educate Montana high school students about career pathways and degree options. This portion of the fair will take place outside on MSUB university campus on the Student Union lawn from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Sept. 20. Visitors will be directed to park in the parking garage on 27th Street and Poly Drive and in the Cisel Parking lot. While this will increase foot traffic and create some congestion, University Police and New Student Services staff will be directing traffic on 27th Street and inside the parking area. For questions or more information about the event, please contact the Billings fair site-coordinator, Julie Pettit at Julie.pettitt@msubillings.edu. Learn more about MSUBs certificates and programs. Tolentino: split of Maguindanao would accelerate the development of the smaller Maguindanao provinces MANILA - Saturday, 17 September 2022, the Maguindanao province held its plebiscite on the division of the province to Maguindanao del Norte and Maguindanao del Sur. The plebiscite was held pursuant to Republic Act No. 11550, which required the consent of the residents of Maguindanao as a condition of the division. Sen. Francis Tolentino announced in the Senate on Monday, 19 September 2022, the results of the plebiscite, wherein 99.27% of the registered voters of Maguindanao were in favor of the division, constituting 706,651 votes in total. Tolentino, the former Chairman of the Senate Committee on Local Government in the 18th Congress, sponsored the bill that proposed the division of the province of Maguindanao. According to Tolentino, the division aims to accelerate not only the economic, political, and social development of Maguindanao, but also the efficiency of delivery of government services. As a result, government services would be more accessible and better responsive to the needs of the constituents of the respective provinces. The state GOP voted Saturday to censure Sen. Cale Case and threw its support behind Republican nominee for secretary of state Rep. Chuck Gray, R-Casper, amid attempts to challenge his likely ascent to the position. The votes follow efforts by a group of lawmakers, including Case, R-Lander, and other traditional and more moderate Republicans as well as some Democrats, to find an independent challenger to face Gray in the November elections. "Chuck Gray got less than half the votes, just barely less than half, but almost half the votes in a partisan primary, and I don't feel that that's necessarily entitling someone to win the general," Case told the Star-Tribune on Monday. (Gray won 49.5% of Republican votes.) The effort to find an independent candidate ultimately failed, making it all but assured that Gray will ascend to the position following the general elections. Gray beat out his closest Republican challenger, Sen. Tara Nethercott, R-Cheyenne, by roughly 13,000 votes in the August primary. He's a 2020 presidential election denier who focused his primary campaign on voter fraud and banning ballot boxes. There arent any candidates from other parties to face him in the general election, which means that its all but assured he will replace the last secretary of state Ed Buchanan. Case, a lawmaker since 1993 who's known for his Libertarian leanings and willingness to break from party lines, has already been censured once in May by the Fremont County GOP. That censure cited his support for Medicaid expansion, calling it government overreach, and accused him of spreading "misinformation in the media," the Star-Tribune previously reported. The state GOP's resolution to censure Case also mentions his April column in the Cowboy State Daily, in which he said that the party is increasingly characterized by "hate, threats, and even violence." The resolution to censure Case says that his recent efforts to buffer Gray's ascent to secretary of state were the "proverbial straw which breaks the camel's back." "We have a pattern of behavior," Vince Vanata, Park County GOP committeeman, said Saturday. The resolution to censure Case also says that the party will deny him financial or other support in any future political endeavors and asks that he change his party affiliation. Case didnt attend the meeting. He told the Star-Tribune on Monday that he would be away at an energy council meeting in Texas. He said then that hes unlikely to do anything in response to the resolution. Case is one of a group of more moderate-leaning Republicans who have become the subject of the GOP's ire as it has pulled farther to the right in recent years. Some at the meeting called for taking similar action against other members of the party, like Rep. Dan Zwonitzer, R-Cheyenne, who proposed at a Joint Corporations Committee meeting last month to draft a bill that would strip elections administration duties from the secretary of state position, a move that Vanata called "egregious and unconscionable." Those duties would instead be overseen by a separate agency. The committee will review the drafted bill in October. A Missoula man and a Ballantine man were recently sentenced on separate felony cases for illegally killing trophy elk in the Little Snowy Mountains. Alex St. Marie, 37, from Missoula, was sentenced in Fergus County District Court after pleading guilty to a felony for poaching two bull elk and multiple misdemeanors in October 2021. St. Marie admitted to shooting two bull elk on private property, along Snowy Mountain Road in the Little Snowy Mountains, without permission and the necessary permit to harvest a brow-tined elk. St. Marie shot two bulls from the public roadway. He then drove off-road onto private property to retrieve the elk. Later, St. Marie discarded the elk keeping the heads, resulting in the wasting meat charge. The ranch manager reported the poaching incidents to FWP wardens. St. Maries sentence includes a five-year suspension of hunting, trapping and fishing privileges, and $2,000 in fines and restitution for killing two non-trophy bulls. In a separate case, Allen John Cantu, 47, from Ballantine, was sentenced in Yellowstone County District Court after pleading guilty to unlawful possession of a trophy big game animal and tampering with evidence, both felonies. Cantu shot a bull elk in the Little Snowy Mountains in November 2019. An individual reported the poaching incident to wardens. Cantus sentence includes a five-year suspension of hunting, trapping and fishing privileges, and $10,000 in fines and restitution. Montana game wardens rely on tips from people who observe crimes against wildlife. Anyone with possible information about an 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. You may be eligible for a cash reward of up to $1,000. The Montana Board of Public Education got hung up on words like equity and equality while responding to public comments about proposed rule revisions for teacher preparation program standards on Thursday. The Office of Public Instructions elimination of those words caught heat at a public hearing held last month and the submitted public comments reviewed Thursday echoed those concerns. 51 people opposed the deletion of references to "democracy," 44 were against the removal of references to "equity" and 11 did not support the elimination of the words "ethics" or "ethical." 19 commenters opposed removing language in reference to "social justice, diversity and democracy" compared to one who supported the deletions. At the public hearing last month, Dennis Parman, executive director of the Montana Rural Education Association, said that Superintendent of Public Instruction Elsie Arntzens recommendations removed the word ethics 24 times, ethical 54 times and equity 15 times. Due to the high volume of comments opposed to the removal of the word equity, board chair Tammy Lacey suggested Thursday that the board work to define it. It seems to me that we could eliminate that concern and that fear by having a definition that isnt highly charged, she said. Board member Tim Tharp said he would love to come up with a solution, but wasnt sure that the board could reach an agreement on defining those words. In later public comments, the Montana Rural Education Association suggested definitions for ethics, equity and equality. The board voted to disagree with the comments. Earlier in the meeting, the board took action on the Professional Educators of Montana Code of Ethics, where concerns of the word equity first emerged that day. During public comment Rob Watson, executive director of the School Administrators of Montana, reflected on his time serving on a committee to revise the code of ethics where a recommendation was made to include "educational equity" in a statement of commitment to students. In his comment, he spoke of the role of equity in his own family history growing up in Montana and how he likely would not be speaking to them without it. After listening to the testimony, I am convinced that unfortunately some have chosen to politicize a word and a concept that is critically important to our work as educators, Watson said. Now we are faced with fear around the concept of educational equity, he continued later. I would ask you please do not give in to that fear. Our kids benefit greatly from the work that our teachers do in the area of educational equity. Watson said that his comments were not representative of the organization and he was speaking as an individual citizen. In the same portion of the meeting, Lacey pointed out that board members have listened to numerous presentations over multiple meetings with slides that have the word equity written all over it. Im completely perplexed by this conversation, Im saddened by this conversation, Lacey said. "I think we have to be careful with the message that we are sending to our educators. The work that they dois embedded in equity and meeting children where they are and moving them forward, giving them every support that they need the very definition of the word equity and we cant even include it in our code of ethics. I think that says something about us. The code of ethics were eventually approved without mention of the word "equity." Counselors and equity Later in school counseling discussions the topic of equity was brought up while the board decided how to respond to a comment that opposed the removal of equity in academic achievement from a proposed revision. Lacey and board member Madalyn Quinlan both agreed that the inclusion of that language in the rule is important so that school counselors can understand ways to address academic achievement for all students. However, Quinlans motion to agree with the comment was not seconded by any other board members and died. Board member Renee Rasmussen noted that the board tried to avoid charged words throughout their discussion and ultimately wanted to avoid the use of the word equity because it is an emotionally charged word. She attempted to find a synonym to replace the word but did not present a different motion. Tharp said "equity in academic achievement" is unrealistic. Just looking at these four words, 'equity in academic achievement' means everybody has the same score, everybody has the same mark, everybody finishes the race at the exact same time and thats not realistic, he said. Ultimately the board voted to take a closer look at the issue in November. Other terms discussed The term social-emotional was the first wording to come up during discussions on Thursday, with Quinlan motioning to include the term in the OPIs recommended revision. During public comment, Amanda Curtis, president of the Montana Federation of Public Employees, said she believes the term has fallen into this realm of politicized words by some groups. Rasmussen agreed that the term is politicized, but ultimately voted to support the motion to include it. I believe that those two words specifically are already embedded in our language and while I would prefer to use something that was less politically charged, Im not sure what those words would be that would mean the same, Rasmussen said. Board member Jane Hamman said an alternative term such as well being encompasses a wider breadth of needs, including security and safety, and felt that social-emotional was too limiting on its own. Lacey countered that no one had bristled when the term was used a day earlier during a Montana School for the Deaf and Blind report on social-emotional professional development work. Later in the meeting, the board decided to disagree with the 19 commenters who opposed the removal of references to "social justice, diversity and democracy" in rules pertaining to English language arts instruction. Hamman argued that Arntzens recommendations, which omit those terms, broadened opportunities for teachers to pursue subjects that interest them. Lacey acknowledged the passion of the 19 commenters, and while she ultimately agreed with their sentiments for keeping the words, she said she did not feel that the deletion hindered students abilities to engage with lots of complex issues facing our world today. Not long after announcing flow reductions out of Fort Peck Dam, the Army Corps of Engineers has decided not to implement the reduction to help farmers irrigate downstream. The agency announced in a recent press release that the reduction from 7,800 cubic feet per second down to 4,000 cfs will be delayed until the end of September, due to the ongoing drought and extremely dry weather in Eastern Montana. We have assessed the potential impacts of this action and determined that this would have minimal impacts in the upper basin, and no impacts on the Missouri River mainstem reservoir systems overall ability to meet its authorized purposes given the change will not impact total system storage," said John Remus, chief of the Missouri River Basin Water Management Division, in a press release. The primary impacts to be expected include slightly less power generation capacity through the upcoming winter and a slightly lower Fort Peck Lake pool at the beginning of the 2023 runoff season. The proposal to reduce flows would have left Fort Peck Reservoir at an elevation of about 2,220 feet by the end of September, down almost a foot from August. Inflows to the reservoir are about 6,000 cfs. With the change in water releases, the Corps predicted the lake pool will be 1 to 1.5 feet lower by next March. Given the low water situation, the Corps said it "understands the important role of the Missouri River in providing water for irrigation, municipal, and industrial uses throughout the basin. Operating the System to meet all the water supply needs of the basin to the extent reasonably possible is the USACE goal. However, the USACE does not provide and cannot guarantee access to the water. Maintaining access to the water is the individual facility owner/operators responsibility. Current release information from Fort Peck Dam can be found here: https://www.nwd-mr.usace.army.mil/rcc/programs/data/FTPK. FARGO North Dakota's attorney general says officers were justified in their use of deadly force against a man police say was having a mental health crisis. Attorney General Drew Wrigley, Cass County Sheriff Jesse Jahner and other officials held a news conference Monday to provide additional information on the fatal shooting of 35-year-old Andrew Martinez in Mapleton on Aug. 1. Wrigley said four officers responding to reports of gunshots in the area fired their weapons when Martinez, armed with a semi-automatic rifle, appeared in the doorway of a residence and pointed the weapon at them following a four-hour standoff. Negotiators had urged Martinez to come out of the house without his weapon. Wrigley said 20 to 25 rounds were fired by the officers and five gunshots struck Martinez, who died at the scene after life-saving measures were attempted. No shots were fired at officers, according to Jahner. Neighbors were told to stay indoors during the standoff. The family of Martinez on Monday issued a statement through Fargo attorney Tim O'Keeffe, advocating for better training for law enforcement officers in de-escalating such situations. "We are saddened to learn that the attorney general has decided the police officers' use of force was justified," the statement said. "We recognize and appreciate the effort made to peacefully resolve the terrible situation that day, but knowing that Andrew was in crisis and not in his right mind, we wish that more would have been done to prevent this tragic outcome." The family said Martinez "was tormented by the demons of depression during his life, but he fought hard to conquer them. Its hard for us to understand how a call for help to save his life during one of his lowest moments ultimately ended his life." An Oklahoma man faces several charges including attempted murder after a weekend shooting at an outdoor party in Watford City. Andre Morris, 30, of Enid, Oklahoma, was asked to leave a social gathering in the parking lot of the Inn at Hunters Run hotel late Saturday after allegedly trying to steal alcohol, according to the Watford City Police Department. Morris left, returned a short time later with a handgun, and fired six shots at a group of people at the party, hitting one of the people twice in a leg, authorities allege. Another bullet struck the gas tank of an SUV in the parking lot, according to an affidavit filed in court by Police Detective Jonathan Davis. The document named the injured person as Jose Cardenas Jr. He was brought to a Bismarck hospital for treatment of what the affidavit said were gunshot wounds to his upper right thigh and left foot. Officers responded to the scene about 11 p.m. Saturday but Morris had allegedly fled. Authorities followed up on numerous leads and arrested Morris about 3 a.m. Monday at an apartment complex not far from the hotel. He was taken into custody without incident. He is charged with felony attempted murder, reckless endangerment and unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon, along with misdemeanor criminal mischief. Court documents do not list an attorney for him. He's due in court Oct. 13 and could enter pleas at that time. Morris allegedly acknowledged that shooting in the direction of the crowd was reckless but told officers he did so in self-defense because someone had tried to pull a gun on him, according to Davis. The detective also said officers who responded to the scene did not find any weapons. The gun Morris allegedly used was a 9 mm Ruger owned by an acquaintance of a friend. Morris allegedly told police he took the gun without permission and later returned it. Police were still investigating why Morris was in Watford City, and whether he targeted the man who was shot or fired randomly into the crowd, according to Sgt. Jeffrey Jensen. The affidavit filed by Davis states that Morris spent time in prison for felony-level unauthorized use of a vehicle in Oklahoma. Morris was released in July 2019. Morton County authorities have issued an arrest warrant for an Indiana woman suspected of bilking a Mandan man out of tens of thousands of dollars in an email fraud scheme. The Mandan police detective working the case against Bountouraby Kaba, 30, said it serves as an example of the constantly changing means online criminals will use to take money from people, and a warning to anyone doing business online or over the phone. Kaba allegedly used an altered email address to get the man to wire almost $58,000 to her account. The man was in the process of purchasing property in northwest Mandan and believed the emails, complete with wiring instructions, were from the title company handling his transaction. The alteration to the email address was small. It included a suffix of ".cam," instead of ".com." Kaba somehow gained access to the title companys email document format, Police Detective Josh Scherr said. It was actually a pretty good scam with how they had that set up, he said. It looked like a legitimate email in all aspects. Police arent sure how Kaba might have known the man was working on the land deal or was about to transfer money. The title company confirmed to police that its email account had not been hacked, Scherr said. The money transfer took place in late July. Scherr was granted a search warrant for the recipient account. In mid-August he received documents that showed the money went to the account of Fatou Shop in Indianapolis. Kabas name was linked to the account, Scherr said. The day after the transfer, a $10,000 check was written from the shop to Kaba, and a wire transfer for $47,600 was made to Didis Fashion, owned by Dora Fatoumata. Kaba in a phone conversation with Scherr allegedly said that Fatoumata was the one who told her to make the transfer because (Kaba) orders things from her (Fatoumata). The man who lost the money might be able to get it back if Kaba is extradited and convicted, and a judge orders restitution. Simple repayment likely isnt an option, according to the detective. Most of the time when the money goes into another account, its gone right away, Scherr said. This transaction differed in a few ways from other scams Scherr has investigated. A request for a wire transfer isnt uncommon, but in many online scams the victim is asked to send gift cards, which the detective said are hard to track and are quickly spent. Some scammers present themselves as a law enforcement agency and ask for money or gift cards to resolve a warrant. This case is different in one big way -- the money stayed in the U.S. Often when Scherr gets a search warrant on a transaction it shows the money went to an overseas account, which ends his pursuit. The players in Kabas case also used their real names and phone numbers, which aided Scherr in finding them. Itd be awesome if they all did that, he said. The differences or similarities dont change the advice law enforcement has given people for years, Scherr said: never give personal info over the phone; be diligent about how and where online accounts are accessed; and verify the names of callers or representatives on documents before entering into an agreement. Four men charged in an alleged conspiracy to steal more than $2.4 million worth of crude oil in western North Dakota over a period of more than a year have pleaded not guilty and had trials set. Michael Garcia, Mark McGregor and Darrell Merrell, all of Watford City; and Joseph Vandewalker, of Arnegard, are charged with felony counts of conspiracy to commit theft and dealing in stolen property. Garcia also is charged with a felony count of leading a criminal association. Garcia and Merrell pleaded not guilty in July. They are set for trial Nov. 14. McGregor pleaded not guilty last month. Vandewalker pleaded not guilty earlier this month. They are set for trial Jan. 9. Attorneys for the four defendants have not responded to Tribune requests for comment. The McKenzie County Sheriff's Office alleges in court documents that Endeavor Crude truck drivers Merrell and Vandewalker skimmed oil they were to offload at a Crestwood Midstream facility, reportedly by manipulating equipment such as transfer pumps during their deliveries. The two suspects allegedly stored the oil in two tanks at the so-called Little Knife Disposal south of Watford City, and later offloaded and sold the stolen oil they're accused of skimming. The affidavit in the case reported 149 deliveries from Little Knife Disposal to the Crestwood facility from November 2020 to March 2022. Crestwood Midstream reported 34,199 barrels of crude oil received from Little Knife Disposal, worth more than $2.45 million, according to the document. The charges also allege McGregor arranged pickup dates and details for the oil and that Garcia was the "money link" for selling the oil and paying drivers. A raccoon that was brought into a Maddock bar and prompted a state warning about potential rabies exposure tested negative for the disease. The state Health and Human Services department issued a statement over the weekend announcing the results determined by the North Dakota State University veterinary diagnostic laboratory. The department also defended the decision of authorities to kill the animal for testing of the disease that it says is nearly always fatal. Erin Christensen, the Maddock resident who brought the animal into the bar, has criticized the euthanization, saying authorities could have held the animal for observation and that "Rocky's life was abruptly and needlessly put to an end." But state Epidemiologist Amanda Bakken said that When humans and animals such as raccoons come into contact with each other, we have no choice but to consider the possibility of rabies exposures and the best practice is to rule out rabies by testing. "For domestic dogs, cats and ferrets, the period of viral shedding is understood well enough to allow for an observation period to rule out rabies exposures," she said. "Unfortunately, with most other mammals, the period of viral shedding is not understood well enough to allow for reliable observation periods." Christensen, 38, said her family found the raccoon on the side of a road about three months ago, and was nursing it back to health with plans to rehabilitate it back to the wild. It's illegal under North Dakota Board of Animal Health laws to keep a wild raccoon. Law officers allege Christensen brought the animal into the Maddock Bar on Sept. 6. Authorities don't believe it came in close contact with any bar patrons, but the incident prompted state health officials to issue the warning as a precaution. Christensen was arrested last week on charges of giving false information to law enforcement and tampering with evidence, and for a state Game and Fish Department violation of unlawfully possessing a furbearer. Formal charges were still pending late Monday afternoon. Game and Fish Enforcement Division Chief Scott Winkelman has said it appeared that Christensen tried to evade authorities who were searching for her and the raccoon. They found her and the animal by serving several search warrants in and around Maddock. Christensen alleges law officers used "excessive force" and says her family is "traumatized." She's hoping to pay for an attorney through a GoFundMe "Justice for Rocky" page that has been set up to help her. She did not specify to the Tribune what she would consider justice. The crowdfunding effort had raised nearly $3,400 of a $10,000 goal by Monday afternoon. Maddock is a town of about 500 people in Benson County, about halfway between Carrington and Rugby. This is Up and Down, where we give a brief thumbs up or thumbs down on the issues from the past week. Up North Dakota is among 34 states to have its electric vehicle charging network plan approved by the Biden administration. The plan emphasizes the buildout of fast charging stations every 50 miles along Interstates 94 and 29. North Dakota is set to receive $25.9 million through fiscal year 2026 through the federal infrastructure bill approved by Congress last fall. The approval of the state's plan makes $9.4 million available in fiscal years 2022 and 2023 to begin the work, according to the Federal Highway Administration. Decreasing distances between charging stations in rural areas will make electric vehicle ownership a more viable option for many North Dakotans. It also would make it easier for travelers with electric vehicles to consider North Dakota as a destination. Down A project that aims to increase safety on North Dakota highways led to what one state lawmaker called an "uprising" among farmers. Reflective metal delineator posts just off the shoulder of the road aim to help guide traffic and improve safety, especially at night. But they're too close to the road for wide farm equipment. The state Transportation Department is pausing the project to make a design change, and it will remove posts on two-lane state highways where the shoulder is less than 8 feet wide. It's not known how much this will increase the project's $4.2 million price tag, but it's sure to cost something. It's too bad the project wasn't thought through a little better at the beginning. Up Hunting is a hallowed tradition in North Dakota, especially in the fall as autumn arrives and the weather turns cooler. Various seasons are getting underway, and there's good news for hunters heading to the field. An overly wet spring in North Dakota this year replenished drought-ravaged wetlands at a record pace, and state wildlife officials say that sets the stage for what should be a good fall duck flight in the state. And North Dakota's overall pheasant population is up from a drought-plagued 2021. The downside there is that the upland birds are still struggling a bit in the southwest, which is the state's prime hunting area. But the state Tourism Division says it still expects a solid season. Down Crimes against people in North Dakota in 2021 as reported by the state increased from the previous year by nearly 12%. And they accounted for nearly one-fourth of all reported crimes last year. Attorney General Drew Wrigley says a continuing increase in violent crime in the state presents clear and very real and present danger to the communities of North Dakota. Living in a rural, sparsely populated state can give a person a sense of security. But the 2021 crime report shows that even North Dakota residents should take crime seriously. After the meeting of the opposition and the non-governmental sector, it became known that the part of the opposition will probably not register the bill on de-oligarchization in the parliament."White smoke rose from the top of this building. We agreed. On Tuesday, we will publish a document reconciled with the civil sector, which is of crucial importance. We are all in a common position, we want to get the EU candidate status as soon as possible.As for the law on de-oligarchization, we had a difficult discussion, but we shared the position of the civil sector, and most likely, the draft law will not be registered on our side in the parliament. However, we will make it public and start general discussions on the principles that should be the basis of the possibilities of de-oligarchization legally", said Giorgi Vashadze, the leader of "Strategy Aghmashenebeli".As Guro Imnadze, a lawyer of the "Social Justice Center", explained, there are two possible ways to solve the problem of de-oligarchization:Fulfillment of 11 points from the 12-point plan, which will lead to an increase in the independence of state institutions, will strengthen judicial and parliamentary supervision, which, according to his assessment, will be a prerequisite for the elimination of informal influences. According to Imnadze, the second way is to create special fair guarantees.According to the political secretary of "Lelo", Salome Samadashvili, the procedure for electing the public defender was also discussed at the meeting."It is quite possible to agree with political forces and support the candidate nominated by non-governmental organizations by deputies even without any written procedure. We have to fight until it is possible for independent candidates to be among the candidates for voting," he said.The leaders of the opposition parties met with the representatives of the non-governmental sector for several hours.The subject of discussion was the implementation of 12 recommendations of the European Commission.According to the administration of the President of Georgia, Salome Zourabichvili made a note in the condolence book in Lancaster Palace in London and expressed her condolences to the royal family and the United Kingdom on behalf of the Georgian people."It is my honor to be able to present my condolences and that of the people of Georgia for the passing of Her Majesty the Queen. It's a page of history, a great page, that is closing downThe British and Commonwealth people can be very proud of having had a Queen like Her Majesty" Zourabichvili wrote on Twitter. The struggle of railway workers was at least three years in the making. The recently-announced agreement between freight rail workers and the corporations that oversee their labor contracts, reached after 20 hours of negotiation, is hardly the end. While both elected Republicans and Democrats have ignored, dismissed, and downplayed the demand of the workers in this sector of the economy over the past decade, rank-and-file workers within different sectors of the freight transportation industry have continued to organize. As Vox reports, "Most of the 12 unions representing the workers have already agreed to a proposal put together by a presidential emergency board established by the White House over the summer to try to help resolve the dispute. The proposal includes a 24 percent increase in wages for workers by 2024, but many workers have complained that it fails to address leave, on-call scheduling, and poor working conditions." The strike planned for Friday September 16 has been avertedfor now. Union members will vote in the next few weeks. The engineering and conductors union is still not in agreement with the new terms. Their votes will be determinant. This scenarioorganized attempts at negotiation, rebuttals, the threat of dismissals from management and owners, the threat of a strike that leads to a hasty negotiation and a brief impasse is a long-standing script of US American capitalism. Yet, this dialectic is not inevitable or new. Contingency and the efforts of workers to struggle for better condition can cause different outcomes than simply power enforcing itself through soft coercion and violent consent. Take, for example, labor organizing in the copper mines of the US Southwest during the 20th century in New Mexico, and the film Salt of the Earth. Narrating the events of the Empire Zinc Strike in Grant County, New Mexico, in 1952, the feature film Salt of the Earth was released a short two years later in 1954. In the 1952 labor action, workers from the radical International Union of Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workers (IUMMSW) Local 890 shut down the mine of this transnational company, while local law enforcement colluded with mine owners to violently break the strike. Check out Palomino : Clinton Jencks and Mexican-American Unionism in the American Southwest for more on the strike. Salt of the Earth depicts these events from the perspective of the miners and their families. It is a brave and searing critique of capitalism, white supremacy, US nationalism, and patriarchy. Salt of the Earth is a feminist labor story, centering the voices and stories of workers collectively organizing for, and sometimes disagreeing about, social change. After a worker is injured on the job, a strike is organized. The striking miners are arrested for violating an injunction of the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act, in response to which women take over on the picket line. Then they too are arrested. Esperanza Quintero and Ramon Quintero are the central protagonists. Married and expecting a childwho is born during the strikethey represent the struggle against the mining company, and the rapacious extractive capitalism, which is also a struggle around social relations and the terms of orderat work and at home. Rosaura Revueltas, a well-known Mexican actress played Esperanza, while Juan Chacon, a non-professional actor in his first role was cast as Ramon. The majority of the cast was from Grant county, New Mexico, and/or a member of the union who had taken part in the strike. The 1966 French film by Gillo Pontecorvo, The Battle of Algiers , that depicted the last years of the Algerian Revolution, made a similar casting decision: the residents of the Algerian Casbah and participants in the revolutionary struggle made up the cast of that film, which the French government banned from being shown well into the 1970s This was smack dab in the middle of the anti-communism trials and blacklisting of suspected radicals in Hollywood (YEAR/s). Click here for research on the trials of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) and the origins of the blacklists. For more on the cultural and social history of the Hollywood blacklists, click here. The IUMMSW was expelled from the AFL-CIO in 1950 for not denouncing communism. Salt of the Earth was blacklisted and the anti-communist clamor destroyed Revueltas's career. As the New York Times obituary for Revueltas indicates, "The film barely got made, after powerful figures in Hollywood and the Government began attacking it. Members of the miners' union received death threats from local vigilantes, who set fire to the union's headquarters in Silver City, N.M. Toward the end of filming, Ms. Revueltas was arrested by immigration officials and charged with entering the United States illegally. She was deported to Mexico and the film makers had to use a double for the remainder of the movie. Once in Mexico, she was banned from acting there and never acted again." For more on the censorship and politics of the cold war marshaled against the film, see The Suppression of Salt of the Earth . Click here for the director, Herbert Biberman's, memoir of making the movie. Finally, check out the recent creation of The Salt of the Earth Recovery Project, "to honor the stories of the women and men of Local 890 and to support restoration and preservation of the Local 890 union hall in Bayard, New Mexico for the benefit of the local community, the citizens of New Mexico, and the historic memory of the nation." Miners, rail workers, nurses, students, baristas, warehouse, and cannabis workers are flexing. Their respective industries are flexing back. Who makes money from your labor? What do these struggles reveal about what is possible for a different tomorrow? There has been a recent surge in attempts to ban books across America. Conservative political groups seeking to block books with storylines about minorities and LBGTQA+ folks are mounting more organized and more frequent attacks on our freedoms. Libraries are an incredible public resource that should not be forced to suffer this terrible political theater. NPR: Throughout the 2021-22 school year, more than 1,600 book titles were banned, according to a new report by the group PEN America, which advocates for freedom of expression. According to the report, the surge in book bans is a result of a network of local political and advocacy groups targeting books with LGBTQ+ characters and storylines, and books involving characters of color. "While we think of book bans as the work of individual concerned citizens, our report demonstrates that today's wave of bans represents a coordinated campaign to banish books being waged by sophisticated, ideological and well-resourced advocacy organizations," said Suzanne Nossel, chief executive officer of PEN America. No peyote tourism, gracias. The effect and affect of sadness, regret, and lament transcends language. The musical language of the Blues, the unrequited, the sacrifice and betrayal circulates the heartache of universal loss. Not everyone loves the blues as musical genre, but everyone has had the bluesall shades. The blues crosses borders, and like shades and musical notes, language impacts our senses, how we hear. Real de Catorce (The Royal Fourteen), an experimental blues and jazz-oriented rock-and-roll band was founded in Mexico City in 1985. Founding members included by Jose Cruz (harmonica, guitar, voice), Jose Iglesias (guitar), Silvero Vinas Montes (bass), Fernando Abrego (percussion/drums). Over the years, Cruz and Abrego have maintained the continuity of the original formation, accompanied by some of the most accomplished musicians in Mexico. Real de Catorce is the name of a small pueblo near an abandoned silver mine in the northern part of the state of San Luis Potosi, Mexico. Set in deep in the mountains of the Sierra Madre Oriental, the pueblo was made "famous" when Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts filmed The Mexican on the cobblestone streets of what is known in Mexico as a "ghost city". The foothills of this section of the Sierra Madre are also the pilgrimage site for the Wixarika (Huichol) indigenous people who walk 500 miles from Nayarit on the Pacific Coast to participate in their spiritual rituals around hikuri their most sacred plant. During their tenure of more that 27 years, ten studio albums, two live video recordings, and epic live shows played across Mexico, United States (Buddy Guy's Legends in Chicago), and even the then Soviet Union, where the band travelled in 1987 to play a blues festival, Real de Catorce was singular in their creation of an authentic Blues Mexicano. Compositions that invoke the ethereal and material experiences of spiritual practice through music stage the poetic, often erotic and politically provocative lyrics of Jose Cruz. But of course, that is only after you take a listen. You may not understand Spanish (yet) or you may be intimately fluent; either way, you will certain get these blues. Azul (Blue) is their anthem . Check out the artwork on the covers. Oh, and please don't go to Real de Catorce as peyote tourists. Cover of eponymous first record, "Real de Catorce". What to know about the week ahead Buffalo Niagara companies started hiring again, but we'll find out Tuesday if that's bringing more people into the local workforce. The State Labor Department will release local unemployment data that day, which will indicate whether jobless levels have remained below 4% and whether the shortage of qualified workers that has hindered hiring efforts has started to ease. General Motors will host a career fair at its Lockport components plant, at 200 Upper Mountain Road, for job openings at the site. The career fair will be from 1 to 5 p.m. Wednesday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday. GM is trying to fill openings for production workers, electricians and mechanical journeypersons. Niagara University will hold its 2022 Food Marketing Center of Excellence Summit on Wednesday, with local leaders in the retail food and service sectors sharing their insights on re-imagining a pathway to growth and innovation in WNY. The conference at the Hyatt Regency Buffalo begins at 11:45 a.m. with lunch and a welcome from Dr. Mark Frascatore, dean of the Holzschuh College of Business Administration. Bill Chiodo, president at Affinity Group Retail and chair of the Food Marketing Centers advisory board, will provide opening remarks. Speakers include Richard Ferranti, CEO of Rich Products Corp.; Kevyn Adams, general manager of the Buffalo Sabres; Rebecca Brady, owner of Top Seedz; and Samantha Biljan, senior research analyst at Datassential. Jeff Metzger, president of Best-Met Publishing Co., will moderate an executive panel discussion. Panelists include Josh Halpern, CEO of Big Chicken; Kurt Schertle, COO of Weis; John Persons, president of Tops Markets; and Mike Seidel, vice president of procurement at Performance Foodservice. For more information and to register, visit niagara.edu/2022-food-marketing-summit. Plans to build up to 10 single-family homes on Adams Street are expected to take a step forward at Thursday's meeting of the Buffalo Erie Land Improvement Corp.'s board. The land bank is expected to receive a recommendation of the developer or developers to approve for the project. The Adams Street Infill Initiative is a partnership of BENLIC, the city, Evans Bank and MMB Realty Group. Chuck E. Cheese's will reopen its Hamburg location on Milestrip Road Thursday. The children's arcade closed in 2020, citing business conditions dampened by the pandemic. In the meantime, the store has been remodeled. It has added 15 new games, an interactive dance floor, a video wall and new decor. There is updated seating to accommodate larger groups, with charging stations for electronic devices. 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. THE LATEST Recent news tied to Buffalo Niagara's economy Unionized workers at Kaleida Health voted to authorize a strike in a move that raises the pressure on negotiators trying to reach a settlement with more than 6,000 local health care employees. The Buffalo Niagara job market got back on track during August, with hiring resuming at its fastest pace since March and easing concerns that surfaced after the July jobs report showed a loss of jobs across the region. M&T Bank is taking heat from the attorney general in Connecticut over issues it faced during the switchover to its customer service systems following its acquisition of People's United Bank. SUNY Erie Community College is taking steps to move away from a workplace resource management system that school officials say doesn't suit its needs. A North Tonawanda housing project is getting nearly $5 million in tax breaks from the Niagara County Industrial Development Agency. A top executive at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center is calling for more funding for cancer screening programs. The Perry projects in downtown Buffalo are in line for a major makeover that will replace boarded-up buildings with new apartments. Plans to renovate and expand the Eliza Quick boarding house are being scaled back. A city panel has approved demolitions that are needed to clear the way for the Main Street Lofts project. More than 200 jobs could be coming to the former Dresser-Rand plant in Olean. Four more local nursing homes have reached deals with their unionized workers, leaving only two of the 12 facilities that were threatening to hold five-day strikes without agreements. New Mercy Hospital president Marty Boryszak says the hospital's recovery and success will be about progress. "It's going to take time," he says. ICYMI Five reads on the Buffalo Niagara economy 1. Pickup in WNY housing inventory means more opportunity and time for buyers. Homebuyers in Western New York are starting to breathe easier and take more time before making their decisions, now that there are more homes for sale on the market and less need for them to act quickly. But they still can't dawdle. And it doesn't mean they're getting a deal on houses, which are now priced much higher than they would have been a year or two ago. 2. Why so many apartments? Buffalo area seeing an explosion of growth. From the Elmwood Village and Allentown to South Buffalo and the West Side, from Tonawanda and Amherst to Orchard Park and Hamburg, developers are putting up new apartment buildings or converting old industrial warehouses and offices. The apartments are highly desirable with new units filling up almost as soon as they come online. 3. A remote possibility: living in Buffalo, working for out-of-town employers. The pandemic has opened up job possibilities that were relatively uncommon before spring 2020, like working from home for a company far from the Buffalo Niagara region. It's a welcome twist on the all-too-familiar story of local workers finding jobs elsewhere. 4. Spotlight on the economy: Slow growth in average pay in Buffalo Niagara region. After spiking during the Covid-19 pandemic, the earnings of Buffalo Niagara workers have settled back into slow-growth mode. Buffalo Next reporters Jonathan D. Epstein, Jon Harris, Natalie Brophy, Matt Glynn, Janet Gramza, Samantha Christmann and Mike Petro contributed to this roundup. The Buffalo Next team gives you the big picture on the regions economic revitalization. Email tips to buffalonext@buffnews.com or reach Buffalo Next Editor David Robinson at 716-849-4435. Paved paths, flat trails and wooden boardwalk: Western New York has a growing list of trails nicely suited for wheeled visitors, whether it be wheelchairs, scooters or strollers. Experiencing nature while rolling, strolling, walking or meditating is good for us. Connecting with nature often leads to positive outcomes such as a sense of calmness, increased creativity and a feeling of belonging. In 1991, Roger Ulrich helped develop Stress Reduction Theory, which claims that just looking at nature reduces stress, improves heart rate and blood pressure, and creates positive emotions. Imagine the benefits of immersing yourself in nature. Today, there are great hiking locations with reduced barriers for the wheeled visitor. Take advantage of the cooler days and stroll down these wheel-friendly scenic paths that showcase the best of Western New Yorks woods, rivers, waterfalls, creeks and beaches. Here are six wheel-friendly scenic trails. These are a sample of town, county, state and federal parks and refuges offering trails with improvements being made throughout Western New York to encourage access to our outdoor and natural areas for people of all abilities. Everyone should have the opportunity to reap the physical, mental and spiritual benefits of spending time in nature. Niagara Gorge Upper Rim Trail, Niagara Falls State Park This is a bucket list stroll. The Upper Rim Trail follows segments of the 7-mile portage that Native peoples and early settlers took to bypass the unnavigable rapids and the falls at Niagara. The paved paths accommodate wheels and walkers and wind through natural plantings that attract butterflies and birds. The secret to maximizing your enjoyment of this hike is to start at Whirlpool State Park and head toward Niagara Falls to always have the view in front of you. There are frequently spaced benches to sit and enjoy the view of Whirlpool Point and the rapids. Continuing to head from the suspension bridge toward Niagara Falls, youll be treated to "secret" overlooks tucked behind treed earthen berms framing a picture-perfect view of the Horseshoe Falls and the Niagara Falls skyline. As an out-and-back trail, you can travel as far as Niagara Falls State Park before retracing your route back to your vehicle. Reinstein Woods Nature Preserve, Cheektowaga Lilly ponds, old-growth forests and 2.5 miles of flat and graded interpretive trails and boardwalks meander through the 292-acre nature preserve. As you follow the mowed grass and crushed stone paths, you forget youre surrounded by a suburban neighborhood. Reinstein Woods is a birding hot spot with over 190 bird species observed. During the fall migration, you can see herons, bluebirds, gulls, ducks, warblers and more. It is lovingly referred to as Buffalos Backyard Wilderness as it is a natural oasis and habitat for wildlife and has one of the largest virgin forests in New York State. Along these trails, you can find numerous cherry, sugar maple and beech trees up to 5 feet in diameter that are more than 200 years old. Walton Woods Town Park, Amherst Weave through the wooded 7-mile paved trail system at Walton Woods Town Park and you will wonder why more people arent enjoying this peaceful paradise. The park was designed to please the senses with its many intersecting loops and frequently spaced park benches to watch the wildlife along Walton Pond and Lake Audubon. The ponds and woods attract migrating birds, turtles, frogs and butterflies. The woods host a robust population of deer, bunnies, squirrels and an occasional fox or coyote. Tucked into the southwest corner is a rare 6-acre old-growth forest with several 150-year-old beech and tulip trees. It's easy to spend a few hours wandering along the paths and enjoying the fall color. For the kids, they will delight in discovering several pocket playgrounds hidden in the woods. The Lake Erie shoreline trail just keeps getting better and better. Starting out at Buffalo Harbor State Park's free parking lot, you can head north with the city view in front of you. The wide and paved paths accommodate multiple "lanes" for walkers, wheeled-travelers and cyclists with pleasantly placed benches, swings and chairs to stop, rest and take in the view. A few favorite sites are watching the wind sculptures at Wilkeson Pointe and bird-watching near Times Beach Nature Preserve. Much of the route coincides with the 3-mile Independent Health Wellness Trail. Chunks of history are dotted along this path: the marble "ruins" of the 1913 M&T Bank headquarters fondly remembered as the marble temple from its Greek Revival style. Another out-and-back hike, explore this trail as far as the Coast Guard station before doubling back to your starting point. Wendt Beach, Town of Evans A hidden jewel in the Erie County Parks system, Wendt Beach is a "quiet" beach. It is one of the most beautiful places to catch the sunset over Lake Erie. If you are lucky, you may see eagles, turkey vultures or other shorebirds that frequent the skyline. The Erie County Parks Department recently repaved and enlarged the parking lot. The improvements included numerous handicap parking spots that make it easy to travel on the level and paved trail system. The wide, paved trail at Wendt is part of the Shoreline Trail system and winds through a shaded woodland forest, changing to an elevated boardwalk trail for .25 mile through wooded wetlands. Hidden in plain sight are the 15- to-20-foot towering sand dunes that shelter the path from the lakes breezes. Sand dunes are rare on Lake Erie, but what makes these dunes so special is that they are topped with dozens of ancient oaks and sycamores that stand guard against the Lake Erie winds. These giant old-growth trees frame the human-made sand paths that lead to the beach area. Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge, Basom Parking at the visitors center, there are a few flat and easy gravel trails to consider. The Headquarters Nature Trail is ADA accessible and winds through grasslands, forests and marshes where you can watch seasonal migratory birds, insects and ducks. Starting from the same location is Kanyoo Trail that has beautiful overlooks for spotting eagles, terns and osprey. The grassland trail leads to a floating metal bridge and boardwalk that crosses over Mohawk Pond that is fun for the more adventurous explorers. Be on the lookout for migrating bluebirds, orioles and thousands of geese. Jennifer Hillman and Bill McKeever are local outdoor enthusiasts and co-authors of "Secret Places of Western New York: 25 Scenic Trails." Learn more at insiders-outside.com. With COVID-related school disruptions setting back children around the world, activists implored world leaders Monday to prioritize school systems and restore educational budgets slashed when the pandemic hit. The summit on transforming education, held at the U.N. General Assembly ahead of the annual leaders' meeting, called on the world's nations to ensure that children everywhere from sub-Saharan Africa to the United States don't fall too far behind. Seven years ago, I stood on this platform hoping that the voice of a teenage girl who took a bullet in standing up for her education would be heard, said Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai, a U.N. messenger of peace. On that day, countries, corporates, civil society, all of us committed to work together to see every child in schools by 2030. It is heartbreaking that halfway through that target date, we are facing an education emergency." Nigerian youth activist Karimot Odebode was more pointed. "We demand you take responsibility, Odebode told the General Assembly. We will not stop until every person in every village and every highland has access to an education. The percentage of 10-year-old children in poor and middle-income countries who cannot read a simple story increased to an estimated 70% up 13 percentage points since before the pandemic shuttered classrooms, according to a report from the World Bank, UNESCO, UNICEF and other aid organizations. Will the worlds leaders do enough to help their youngest citizens learn to read and gain the other skills they need to thrive? It will require addressing systemic problems that existed before the pandemic, dignitaries and students say. Countries will need to increase spending, change policies to increase access for girls and disabled students, and modernize instruction to stress critical thinking rather than rote memorization. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for us to radically transform education, U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed told reporters ahead of the education summit at U.N. headquarters in New York. We owe it to the coming generation if we dont want to witness the emergence of a generation of misfits. A closing statement from the United Nations after the full-day meeting said 130 countries had committed to rebooting their education systems and taking action to end the learning crisis. It was unclear what that meant specifically. Countries were asked to commit to devoting at least 20% of their national budgets to education. The education minister for the Central African Republic, Aboubakar Moukadas-Noure, said his country slashed education spending to 0.25 percent of the national budget during the pandemic to shift resources to the health crisis. He said the country has since increased education spending to 17% and will invest in teacher training with assistance from the World Bank and the French government. When COVID-19 closed schools around the world in spring 2020, many children simply stopped learning some for months, others for longer. For many, there was no such thing as remote learning. More than 800 million young people around the world lacked internet access at home, according to a study by UNICEF and the International Telecommunication Union in December 2020. More recent studies underscore the pandemics lasting effects. The learning losses from COVID were enormous, Mohammed said. The amount of time school buildings were closed because of COVID-19 varied widely around the world. At the extreme, schools in parts of Latin America and South Asia were closed for 75 weeks or longer, according to UNESCO. In parts of the United States, including cities such as Chicago and Los Angeles, schools operated remotely from March 2020 through most of the 2020-2021 school year. There also were huge variations in the availability and quality of remote learning. In some countries, students stuck at home had access to paper packets, or radio and television programs, or almost nothing at all. Others had access to the internet and video conferences with teachers. The estimated learning delays on average ranged from over 12 months of school for students in South Asia to less than four for students in Europe and Central Asia, according to an analysis by consulting firm McKinsey & Company. Most of the worlds classrooms are now back open, but 244 million school-age children are still out of school, UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay said during the summit, citing data from the U.N. education agency. Most of those children 98 million live in sub-Saharan Africa, followed by Central and Southern Asia, in a reminder of the deep inequalities that persist in access to education, she said. In many places, money is the key ingredient for stemming the crisis, if not fully reaching the leaders lofty goal of transforming education. Instead of being the great enabler, education is fast becoming the great divider, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the General Assembly, calling on governments to make education financing a priority. It is the single most important investment any country can make in its people and its future. On average wealthy countries invest $8,000 a year per school-aged child, compared to upper middle income countries, like some in Latin America, that invest $1,000 per year, according to a report from UNESCO and Global Education Monitoring. Lower income countries allot roughly $300 a year and some poor countries, just $50 a year per student. Rich countries should also step up spending, said Guterres. In recent years, Germany, France and the United States have given the most international aid towards education in low-income countries, according to a 2021 Center for Global Development report. The United States invested more than $1.5 billion annually from 2017-2019, according to the report based on the most recent available data. European Union countries will increase their international aid for education, said Jutta Urpilainen, European Commissioner for International Partnerships for the European Commission. Plans include devoting 13% of the European Unions partnership budget and 10% of its humanitarian budget to help low-income countries improve education quality, empower teachers and help develop relevant skills. Urpilainen didnt specify exactly how much spending would increase. As top dignitaries urged individual countries to prioritize their youngest citizens, it was some of the youngest attendees at the summit who aired the most skepticism towards any prospect of change. After all, the U.N. lacks any authority to force countries to spend more on schooling. Yousafzai urged countries to devote 20% of their budgets toward education. Most of you know what exactly needs to be done, she said. You must not make small, stingy and short-term pledges. The Associated Press education team receives support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Follow Bianca Vazquez Toness on Twitter at http://twitter.com/biancavtoness and Jocelyn Gecker at http://twitter.com/jgecker Trini E. Ross, U.S. attorney for the Western District of New York, will be honored as Lawyer of the Year by the Bar Association of Erie County at its 135th annual awards celebration Oct. 12 in Seneca One Tower, Bar Association President Jill K. Bond announced. Outstanding Jurist Award will be presented to retired Erie County Family Court Judge Lisa Bloch Rodwin. Receiving the Charles H. Dougherty Civility Award will be Joel Daniels, managing partner at the Law Office of Joel Daniels. The Award of Merit will be given to Hugh M. Russ III, partner at Hodgson Russ LLP. The Special Service Award will go to Samantha I. V. White, staff attorney at the Legal Aid Bureau of Buffalo. In addition, the Lawyers Helping Lawyers Committee of the Bar Association of Erie County will receive the John T. Curtin Profiles in Courage Award. For more information and to purchase tickets for the award ceremony, visit eriebar.org/events. A Buffalo man has been charged with killing his ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend and assaulting the ex-girlfriend Saturday night on Berkshire Avenue, Buffalo police said. Abouycea D. Thornton, 30, was charged with second-degree murder and second-degree assault, police said. Officers responded to a fight on Berkshire, east of Bailey Avenue, at about 11:30 p.m. Saturday. One of the victims was taken to Erie County Medical Center, where he died. Police identified him as Nicholas Grazes, 29. Thornton beat Grazes with a metal pipe, according to the Erie County District Attorney's Office. The female victim was treated for arm injuries and released, prosecutors said. Thornton was arrested Sunday without incident, police said. This was the second homicide on the street in a month. Jasmine Craig, 29, was charged with second-degree murder in the killing of Lameshea Sanders, 30, in a shooting on Berkshire, near Parkridge Avenue, on Aug. 22. Buffalo teacher Tibor Baranski wasnt the type to boast about his heroic efforts in 1944 to save thousands of Hungarian Jews from Nazi captivity. I only did what God demanded of me is how Baranski often responded when asked about his bold exploits in convincing German soldiers to release the captives and then leading them to safe houses. Holocaust documentation credits Baranski with saving at least 3,000 Jews, although anecdotal evidence suggests the number could be as high as 12,000. Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem, named him a righteous among nations its highest honor for gentiles who risked their lives to save Jews. Baranskis heroism still is not widely known, in part because he deflected recognition. And yet, more than three years after his death at age 96, hes getting renewed attention and appreciation. Forest Lawn on Sunday dedicated a new resting place for him and his wife, Katalin, who died in 2011. And on Friday a new documentary film on Baranski, Mindhalalig, will debut on Hungarian television. A version of the film with English subtitles is expected to be distributed in the United States later. The dedication ceremony included personal memories of Baranski offered by his son Tibor Baranski Jr. and grandson Nandor Forgach; a blessing by Bishop Richard J. Malone; and a prayer by Rabbi Alex Lazarus-Klein. The Baranskis were moved from the Rosewood Mausoleum into a 12,000-pound sarcophagus thats situated among three of the cemeterys Jewish, Christian and non-sectarian burial sections. The sarcophagus, which sits to the north of Rosewood Mausoleum on a prominent spot near the cemetery road, includes a bar code that visitors can scan with their smartphones to be connected with a link that contains video interviews and historical photographs telling Baranskis story. One of the themes that we learned today was how humble my grandfather was, Forgach said after the dedication. Growing up, Ill be honest, I didnt even know a whole lot. In the last couple years, Ive probably learned more about what he did, after his passing, than I knew before. A native of Hungary, Baranski was 22 and studying for the Catholic priesthood when he approached Monsignor Angelo Rotta, Hungarys papal nuncio, to intervene on behalf of some of his Jewish friends. Baranski ended up helping Rotta save thousands of Jews in immediate danger of being sent to concentration camps. By force of personality, Baranski would flash Vatican documents or show up in the nuncios Rolls Royce and demand that German soldiers turn over their captives. Baranski then led them to safe houses and freedom. Forgach relayed a story about his grandfather confronting Adolf Eichmann, a high-ranking Nazi and one of the chief Holocaust organizers, over the telephone about the release of some prisoners. Forgach said he hopes more people will be able to learn about what Baranski did. His story is one I would love to have shared, because it is the story of a remarkable human being, and Im not saying this because hes my grandfather. I would say this about anyone who did what he did, said Forgach. Sean Kirst: Saying goodbye to quiet hero who saved thousands during WWII A few days ago, Tibor Baranski Sr.s family gathered at his bedside in Buffalo to say farewell. At 96, he was living at the home of his son, Dr. Peter Forgach. A daughter, Kati Spangler, is also in Buffalo, while another son, Tibor Jr., flew home from his work in China. They prepared themselves for life without a quiet Holocaust survivor Grigory Shershnevsky and his wife, Rya, also hope Baranskis story becomes more widespread. Grigory Shershnevsky recounted how a young Polish woman named Alexandra Dzevetski had saved him from the Nazis when he was a child. Thanks to that woman, Im here talking to you. Now look at me and multiply by three thousand. Three thousand alive like myself. This is what hes done, said Shershnevsky. Just 22 years old. He saved 3,000 lives like me. Shershnevsky speaks frequently about the Holocaust in schools and other education settings often about the heroes who helped saved people but he said he wasnt aware of what Baranski had done until a few years ago. After World War II, Baranski ended up being imprisoned for five years by the Communists, then left Hungary following the failed revolution. He and Katalin, a cancer researcher, ended up in Buffalo in 1961 and lived in Snyder for many years. He reached United States and had a normal, peaceful life, said Shershnevsky. Just publicly he never mentioned it. Only his family knew that. Rya Shersnevsky said Baranskis story should be told in schools, churches, synagogues, as well as broadcast on television. He deserved it. He saved so many people. Hes a hero, she said. Were not at a perfect point. If that existed in pandemic terms, it would probably look like 2019: A time when we could go virtually anywhere without questioning our choices before Covid-19 was part of the public lexicon. Were not back in that carefree spot yet. We may never return to that place again. But restaurants, stores, theaters and schools are open. Crowds are gathering. Masks are mostly optional, and Covid-19 is often treatable. Today, more than ever during the pandemic, we can actually feel kind of ... normal? Right? People are going to be able to make some decisions for themselves, said Dr. John Sellick, an infectious disease specialist with Kaleida Health, Veterans Affairs and the University at Buffalo. The level of risk is such that theyre willing to accept it and get back to whatever it is that they like to do. In this installment of Pandemic Lessons, we explore the state of our yearslong battle against Covid-19 and examine whether weve managed to recapture normalcy. Is this as good as its going to get? Probably not, and that's good news. As time goes on, and our bodies build more immunity against Covid-19, we can do continually better. But the key word in that previous sentence is time. It will take time and loads more of the patience that's already been required of us 30 months into the pandemic. Weve been seeing influenza and building immunity to influenza as a population now for well over 100 years, says Dr. Thomas Russo, chief of infectious disease at UBs Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. All of the population, over their lifetime, has had multiple influenza encounters either through vaccination or infection, starting at a very young age. They build up a certain amount of immunity. That's why flu has often been considered a routine presence in our lives: We have a vaccine. We have medication. When you do get the flu, it's uncomfortable but usually short in duration. It can be acute, even lethal. But it doesn't stop us from living our lives. You could say all those things now about Covid-19, too: Right now, the majority of infections are mild and limited in duration, with people returning to their daily lives after a week or so of resting and isolating. In many ways, from mode of spread to basic symptoms, Covid-19 may seem like the flu. But its not. Not yet, at least, and probably not for a long time. Many more people are getting hospitalized and dying from Covid-19 than from influenza. In prior flu seasons, we never had 40 people in the hospital in the middle of summer, Sellick said. Despite the gargantuan effort to develop vaccination and treatments for Covid-19, our bodies and our doctors are still far better equipped to fend off influenza. That's because we've had the one thing that overwhelming resources and scientific genius cannot provide: time. Our immune systems have had less than three years to learn how to fight Covid-19. If youre a healthy adult, youve seen 20, 30 years of flu viruses, said Dr. Sharon Nachman, chief of pediatric infectious disease at Stony Brook Medicine. If you get the flu, she adds, Youre probably in better shape immunologically than if you have Covid, and only one or two years of exposure ... I dont think your repertoire of antibodies is quite the same. As time goes on, will our bodies become increasingly accustomed to recognizing and knocking back Covid-19? Yes. For most people, its probably happening already. The more exposure you have to variants, the more differential antibodies you make, and the more youll be protected, said Nachman, who likens this effect on a population level to what many children experience in their first few years of life. Just think of yourself as a child, she said. You had respiratory viruses left and right when you were in day care and preschool. By the time you got to middle school, you werent sick every week You had antibodies from those first three years. OK, but are we even still in a pandemic? It often doesnt feel like it, but yes, we are officially still in a pandemic. An average of more than 400 Covid-19 patients are dying each day in the United States. Thats more than double the figure from July 2021. Globally, approximately 11,000 people are dying each week from Covid-19, according to the World Health Organization, which is responsible for declaring when the pandemic label is no longer needed. We are getting closer. We have never been in a better position to end the pandemic, the WHOs director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said earlier this month. We are not there yet, but the end is in sight. But here in the United States, and especially in New York State, which has a relatively high level of population immunity from widespread vaccination and prior infection, medical experts are frequently using the term endemic to describe the current state of Covid-19. That suggests its present, still serious and prone to spikes and drops but less likely to spiral out of control. Its here, its background, we live with it, Nachman says. Weve emerged from the pandemic phase. Now were in the endemic phase." Nachman points to three reasons we can live with Covid, rather than run from it: Vaccines, which can be updated, have allowed the population to build and maintain a level of immunity that largely provides protection from severe infection. The Food and Drug Administration just approved a new set of booster shots from two vaccine makers, Moderna and Pfizer, that address the Covid-19 variant Omicron and its highly contagious subvariants. Tests are readily available to diagnose Covid-19. If youre sick, you swab, youre positive, I know you have it, Nachman said. Treatments are available, including Paxlovid, a prescription pill given in the first few days of infection to people at higher risk, and monoclonal antibodies, which are administered intravenously. Taking all that together allows us to move from those surge events that have happened periodically, usually driven by variants that emerged during the first two-plus years of the pandemic, Nachman says, to just background stuff. So, then, are masks mostly gone for good? Dont go that far. Mask mandates may be mostly over. Even New York, which has been among the states with the highest level of masking requirements since the pandemic began in the early part of 2020, has dropped most mandates. Gov. Kathy Hochul announced earlier this month that masks would no longer be required on mass transit or in correctional facilities or shelters. Face coverings are, however, still mandated in health care centers and adult care facilities. We have to restore some normalcy to our lives, Hochul said. As of Sept. 13, New York had an average of 20 Covid-19 cases per 100,000 people. Thats down from 27 one month earlier. Western New York, meanwhile, had an average of 18 cases per 100,000. Thats up slightly from 15 one month earlier. Together, both numbers which are similar to other regions in the state indicate that virus spread in New York has stabilized. None of that means we should toss our masks into the garbage. You may choose to wear them in crowded situations now, and you may need them in the future. It depends on the lethality of future variants, Nachman said. If we hit another strain like the original strain our first surge I think masks will become common again. Were wearing them to protect ourselves, and were wearing them to protect others. It all gets back to: How serious is that illness the virus has caused? If were doing reasonably well, is vaccination still useful? Yes. Nachman points out that study after study shows that vaccinated patients have fewer symptoms of long Covid, which is a serious and often perplexing condition that doctors are still trying to unravel. Its true that no Covid-19 immunity not that derived from vaccination, nor from natural infection is fully protective for the long term; it will wane in the months following an illness or a shot. But at minimum, vaccination is an added shield against severe disease. When driving cars and flying airplanes, we demand the highest level of duplication of safety, Nachman said. We dont say, Oh, youve got a seatbelt? You dont need an airbag. We dont say, Oh, youve got one pilot? We dont need two pilots. We have duplication of safety for everything that we do. By Azernews By Ayya Lmahamad Azerbaijan and Pakistan have discussed opportunities for the expansion of cooperation in the energy sector between the two countries, Azernews reports. The discussion took place during a meeting between Azerbaijan's Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov and Pakistan's Petroleum Minister Musadik Masood Malik, who was on a visit to Azerbaijan. During the meeting, they exchanged views on issues such as Azerbaijan's experience in expanding energy export infrastructure, transportation, and export of natural gas, cooperation in the area of liquefied natural gas supply to Pakistan, the country's pipeline transport infrastructure, and retail sales of oil products. Moreover, the Pakistani minister was informed about the green energy potential of Azerbaijan, projects implemented with foreign investment in order to realize this potential, and the work done to create a green energy zone in the country's liberated territories. Musadik Masood Malik also met with Azerbaijan's Deputy Economy Minister Rovnag Abdullayev. Emphasizing the development of Azerbaijani-Pakistani relations, the parties noted the importance of major international oil and gas projects implemented at the initiative and with the active participation of Azerbaijan. They mentioned that trade is one of the main areas of partnership between the two countries, adding that the work continues on the signing of the preferential trade agreement, which will make a special contribution in this area. The parties exchanged views on expanding cooperation in energy, transit and logistics, and industrial sectors, implementation of joint projects, as well as the participation of Pakistani companies in projects being implemented in Azerbaijan's liberated territories. Additionally, the meeting was also held between Azerbaijan's State Oil Company President Rovshan Najaf and Pakistan's Petroleum Minister Musadik Masood Malik. The parties stressed that Azerbaijani-Pakistani relations are successfully developing in various fields. They discussed the prospects of mutual cooperation in the oil and gas sector, especially in the trade of oil products, the supply of liquefied natural gas, as well as the development of gas infrastructure. In addition, potential opportunities for cooperation with Pakistan companies were discussed. Musadik Masood Malik also once again expressed Pakistan's support for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan and condolences to the families of servicemen, who died while preventing a large-scale provocation of the Armenian armed forces. Azerbaijan and Pakistan cooperate in various sectors of the economy. The relations between the two countries date back to 1991. Pakistan was among the first countries to recognize Azerbaijan's independence. The trade turnover between the two countries totaled $11.7 million in 2021. WASHINGTON Gun rights advocates may have, in effect, driven Rep. Chris Jacobs out of Congress but they're not stopping him from devoting his remaining months in office to searching for a compromise that would make it harder to acquire semiautomatic weapons that critics call assault weapons. On Monday, Jacobs, an Orchard Park Republican, plans to introduce a bill called the Federal Assault Weapons Licensing Act. Acknowledging that there's virtually no way the legislation could pass in the current Congress, Jacobs said he is offering it up as food for thought for the future as a way to control such semiautomatic weapons in a nation that refuses to ban them. "My hope is that I'm putting forth a compromise idea that would be very substantive and make a big beneficial impact in trying to significantly curtail what we don't want to see again, what we saw here in Buffalo," said Jacobs, referring to the May 14 mass shooting at a Tops supermarket on Jefferson Avenue that claimed 10 lives. Under Jacobs' proposal, people who currently own such semiautomatic weapons would be allowed to keep them, no questions asked. But anyone who wants to buy such a weapon would have to obtain a license. To do that, buyers would have to take a firearms safety course, pass an FBI background check, get fingerprinted, submit proof of identity and pay a $130 fee, which would be used to fund the new licensing regimen. The license would have to be renewed after five years if the purchaser wanted to buy additional such weapons. Active-duty military personnel and law enforcement officers would be exempt from the licensing requirement. In addition, people without a license would be allowed to use semiautomatic weapons at shooting ranges or when they are hunting if they are accompanied by a license-holder. People would also be allowed to use them without a license in an attempt to protect others from death or serious injury. Jacobs said his proposal would not require any changes in states like New York that already have licensing requirements for semiautomatic weapons purchases. The provision covering rifles like the AR-15 was part of a new law passed after the Tops shooting. But Jacobs' bill would mean a big change in the many states where people can walk into a gun shop and quickly buy a semiautomatic weapon so long as they pass an instant background check. Under Jacobs' bill, the process of buying a semiautomatic weapon could take up to 30 days which, he said, could deter mass shooters who appear to be acting on sudden violent urges. "These requirements are going to lead to more gun safety and, I think, be a deterrent to those who want to quickly act upon dangerous impulses," Jacobs said in an interview. These requirements which would affect certain rifles, shotguns and pistols are unlikely to become law anytime soon, though, Jacobs acknowledged. In the Democrat-controlled House, many Democrats remain wedded to a semiautomatic weapons ban a move that Jacobs himself came to support, and vote for, after the Tops massacre. But in the Senate, Republicans have the power to block any substantive legislation and most Republican voters remain so vehemently in favor of gun rights that local GOP leaders essentially forced Jacobs to abandon his re-election bid after he called for such a ban. Sign of the times: A growing partisan divide crowds out politicians like Chris Jacobs Chris Jacobs lost the backing of Republican leaders across his district. What's more, he proved how hard it is for lawmakers in this hyper-partisan era to buck their party even once and still survive. Jacobs said he has not yet sought any co-sponsors for the bill, although he plans to do so after introducing it. To hear Jacobs tell it, just because his bill can't pass today doesn't mean that it will never pass. He said his proposal may eventually prove palatable to Republicans who favor gun rights yet who are concerned about mass shootings like those that took place this year in Buffalo and Uvalde, Texas. The legislation, he said, is the byproduct of his search for ways to minimize the likelihood of such massacres. "Maybe there is another way of achieving this that would be more acceptable to those right now who are not willing to support a ban," he said. "These are obviously very highly powerful and highly lethal instruments, and I don't think it's unreasonable to say there's a heightened level of requirement to get that. Having a license, I think, is quite reasonable." New York States recently passed gun legislation includes restrictions meant to stop weapons from being brought into places where they dont belong places like houses of worship, schools and parks. The new laws were drafted after a misbegotten Supreme Court decision made it easier to carry concealed weapons in New York. Opposition to the legislation has been swift and now vocal opponents have new criticisms, which may be a basis for real concern or may be a means of jeopardizing any and all gun legislation. The laws which include other restrictions meant to protect the public from mass shootings such as the May 14 massacre were not intended to impede re-enactments of historic battles from the Revolutionary War, Civil War and other centuries-old conflicts. These colorful and educational spectacles are hugely popular, both for spectators and dedicated participants, who make second careers out of acting in these simulated battles. Its not entirely clear that the new gun laws would endanger the future of re-enactments. The legislation does prohibit guns that load through the muzzle and fire a single projectile with each discharge, or loading, including muzzle loading rifles, flintlock rifles and black powder rifles. But there are also exceptions for antique weapons. And its even less clear why re-enactment events such as those held throughout the summer at Youngstowns Old Fort Niagara, which use replicas of antique guns and blank ammunition, would be endangered. The fact that some September events, such as Fort Ticonderogas 1777 Browns Raid re-enactment, are going forward, and some, like Angelicas Civil War re-enactment, have been canceled, adds to the confusion. Still, Old Fort Niagara executive director Bob Emerson says hes worried. It would indeed be worrying for one of Western New Yorks most popular tourist attractions to cancel any of its most crowd-pleasing events. Popularity aside, this way of interpreting history for mass audiences has true informational value. If event organizers have concerns, justified or not, they deserve to have them addressed, either by clarifying the existing legislation or, if necessary, by amending the legislation. Then, those who have been against the law from the start can stop making hay of these cancellations. Some action from Albany can allay both the legitimate concerns of re-enactment organizers and the opportunistic rhetoric of those opposed to public safety-minded gun control. 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. Best Heavyweight Tees for Men Add Weight to Add Style & Prepare Yourself for the Fall The AskMen editorial team thoroughly researches & reviews the best gear, services and staples for life. AskMen may get paid if you click a link in this article and buy a product or service. Were in that weird in-between stage of the year, caught between summer and fall, when the days are still warm but the nights are chilly. Sure, you could pack a sweater and just rely on layering to keep you warm, but you can also opt for a more versatile clothing choice: the heavyweight t-shirt. RELATED: Best Anorak Jackets for Men First, a history lesson: most t-shirts defaulted to heavy in the not-too-distant past, when fabric options were limited and people spent a lot more time outdoors, but as weve made fine-spun fabrics cheaper and easier to work with, t-shirts have dropped in thickness and weight. But dont think that lighter is always better. Sailors, soldiers, farmers and workers of all trades have known the importance of heavyweight fabrics for a long time, so they most definitely have a place in your wardrobe, especially if you live somewhere with cold temperatures. But what is a heavyweight t-shirt? In America, shirts over six ounces are typically classified as heavyweight, whereas in Europe and Britain, they use a metric called GSM (grams per square meter) to compare shirt weights, with shirts over 200 grams-per-square-meter being classified as heavy. To simplify your life and perhaps inspire you to put on a weighted shirt this fall, weve put together a handy list of some of the most stylish and comfortable heavyweight tees for men: Carhartt University Script T-Shirt Carhartt Carhartt is famous for making tough, durable clothing for rugged, hard-working people, and their University Script T-Shirt is no exception. Its made from 100% cotton, but with a weight of 230 grams per square meter, its definitely going to feel weighty. $55 at Carhartt.com Banana Republic Heavyweight Cotton T-Shirt Banana Republic If youre gearing up for fall and want a heavy, long-sleeve t-shirt thats both stylish and comfortable, look no further than this Heavyweight Cotton T-Shirt from Banana Republic. Its made from 100% machine-washable cotton, with extra-dense knitting to add weight. The straight hem and chest pocket add a little flair, and help make this shirt versatile enough to dress up or down. $22.97 at BananaRepublic.Gap.com Everlane Premium-Weight Crew Everlane Available in 13 colors and made from dense and durable 6.2-oz cotton, the Premium-Weight Crew from Everlane offers a stylish cut and relaxed fit without being billowy or shapeless. The knitted construction feels heavy to wear but doesnt chafe or irritate the skin, and prolonged wear and washing only makes this shirt softer, so you can look forward to future comfort as well. $45 at Everlane.com Taylor Stitch The Heavy Bag Tee Taylor Stitch Rugged, stylish and sustainable, the Taylor Stitch Heavy Bag Tee is the perfect triple-threat shirt for sliding into the cooler weather of fall. Its made from upcycled fabrics, shredded and respun into something gloriously weighty and soft (and saving about 1,200 gallons of water per shirt in the manufacturing process), making this the ideal rugged shirt. $45 at TaylorStitch.com Dickies Short Sleeve Heavyweight Crew Neck Dickies Dickies is known for making quality apparel at affordable prices, and their Heavyweight Crew Neck shirt is no exception. Its available in four colors and 12 sizes, so its easy to find your perfect fit, while the heavyweight jersey construction adds heft and comfort. Quality of life details, from the tagless back to the tapered neck and shoulder seams, make this shirt comfortable for long-term wear. From $14.99 at Dickies.com Buck Mason Field-Spec Cotton Heavy Tee Buck Mason Built from the same cotton used in ultra-rough rugby jerseys and then pre-washed to soften the fibers, the Buck Mason Field-Spec shirt is available in five colors and seven sizes, each offering a comfortable and stylish fit with a clean design. $48 at BuckMason.com 3Sixteen Heavyweight T-Shirt 3Sixteen If youre after a value buy that doesnt sacrifice quality, check out this two-pack of heavyweight shirts from 3Sixteen. The 225 gsm jersey fabric is knit in Canada while the shirt itself is assembled in the United States, where careful triple-needle stitching is applied to the flat collar. This is a stylish choice, but beware that it is designed to shrink after a first wash (1 in the chest and 2 in the length), so consider sizing up. $76 (2-pack) at 3Sixteen.com You Might Also Dig: AskMen may get paid if you click a link in this article and buy a product or service. To find out more, please read our complete terms of use. Signalling Mexican giant exhibitor-distributor Cinepolis gradual return to producing since the pandemic, the company has partnered once more with producer Javier Gonzalez-Rubio of Invicta Films, here on film critic Hugo Laras second feature, Serendipia (Serendipity). We are excited to be embarking on this new journey with Invicta Films and strengthening our partnership. Serendipia is a captivating story that will touch the hearts of audiences around the world and with it, Cinepolis proves once again our commitment to Mexican cinema, said executive producer Miguel Rivera, VP global programming and content, Cinepolis. More from Variety We look forward to working again with our friends at Cinepolis as Serendipia will reinforce our successful partnership with them, concurred Gonzalez-Rubio, who is attending the San Sebastian Film Festival. Cinepolis co-produced and distributed Invicta Films Exorcismo de Carmen Farias (The Exorcism of Carmen Farias) by Rodrigo Fiallega.Despite pandemic protocols limiting cinemas to 50% capacity, the horror thriller was the highest grossing Mexican film during 2020-2021, said Gonzalez-Rubio. The company also distributed Invicta Films The Kids are Back (Cuando los hijos regresan), Laras debut feature starring Carmen Maura, last year. In addition, Cinepolis produced comedy Peregrinacion a San Antonio, a Laredo17 production directed by Diego Graue, which they will release in 2023. In an interview with Variety in pre-pandemic 2019, Cinepolis CEO Alejandro Ramirez said that that they had some 10 projects in development or in pre-production, with the aim to produce four to five films a year. Then the pandemic hit and the exhibition giant suffered heavy losses when it was forced to shutter its thousands of screens worldwide. In 2019, Cinepolis cemented its position as the second largest circuit in the world in terms of admissions, with a tally of 360 million attendees, excluding Indonesia. Founded in 1971, the family-run exhibitor is in some 18 territories with more than 6,000 screens. Story continues To be shot in Mexico and Spain, Serendipia stars Marimar Vega (El juego de las llaves, La boda de Valentina) who plays Emma, a successful Mexico City lawyer who hasnt been too lucky in matters of the heart. While traveling to her sisters wedding in Spain, Cupid strikes when she meets a man who could be the one (played by Fernando Guallar, Luis Miguel: La Serie) after their luggage is mixed up at the airport. But he suffers a terminal illness and seems to have little time left to live. We are thrilled to be taking this endearing love story to the screen and bringing together such amazing talents in cast and crew from both sides of the Atlantic, said Gonzalez-Rubio who noted that the locations will include Mexico City and Jalisco in Mexico and in Spain, Valencia and the Canary Islands. The screenplay was penned by Gonzalez-Rubio, Marika Cahn and Molo Alcocer. Principal photography is targeted for Spring next year. Best of Variety Sign up for Varietys Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Click here to read the full article. Joe Bidens immense armoured limousine - nicknamed the Beast - got stuck in traffic as it made its way towards Westminster Abbey on Monday morning. The US President was heading for the Queens funeral when the vehicle got held up outside a Pret a Manger. Mr Biden was seen waving to members of the public, who were shocked to see the US President drive past them near Marble Arch. Video shows members of the public waving and taking pictures of the President as Met Police officers stood guard. A member of the Met Police Special Escort Group can be seen on the video racing past the Beast on a motorbike to clear the traffic ahead. Other world leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, are arriving at Westminster Abbey for the Queens funeral in a fleet of buses, Mr Biden was allowed to ride in The Beast. But commentators quipped that the US President might as well have taken the bus after the video was shared on TikTok. Mr Biden and wife Jill arrived in London on Sunday ahead of Mondays ceremony. (REUTERS) On Sunday the couple visited Westminster Hall to pay their respects to Her Majesty as she lay in state. The US President, a devout Catholic, crossed himself while looking solmenly towards the late monarchs coffin. HM Queen Elizabeth IIs State Funeral: Best Pictures (PA) (Getty Images) (REUTERS) (Sky News) (PA) (Getty Images) (POOL/AFP via Getty Images) (Getty Images) (Sky News) (POOL/AFP via Getty Images) (AP) Mr Biden also visited Lancaster House where he signed a book of condolence. Belgiums King Philippe and Queen Mathilde, Spains King Felipe and Queen Letizia, Swedens King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia and the Netherlands King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima are among those making a humble group bus trip. But Mr Biden was given a special exemption by the Foreign Office to be taken in his bulletproof limo. The late monarch met with 13 of the last 14 US presidents during her incredible 70-year reign. The Queens funeral begins at 11am on Monday. The Queen's eight grandchildren pay respect to dear 'granny at family vigil. (Getty Images) Queen Elizabeth IIs eight grandchildren took part in a vigil at Westminster Hall to pay their respects to their beloved granny on Saturday. The former monarchs grandchildren Prince William, 40, Prince Harry, 38, Princess Beatrice, 34, Princess Eugenie, 32, Zara Tindall, 41, Peter Philips, 44, Lady Louise Windsor, 18, and James, Viscount Severn, 14 stood in silence next to the coffin of their grandmother, the Queen, who died at Balmoral last week at the age of 96. The eight cousins requested to commemorate the life and reign of the Queen at Westminster Hall, and had to get special permission from the King as it is the first time a monarch's grandchildren have ever mounted a vigil. The cousins maintained their composure, despite the visibly emotional Vigil of the Princes as they stood guard for 15 minutes. King Charles' two sons stood guard at the head and foot of the coffin, with William at the head, and Harry at the foot. William, Prince of Wales stood at the head of the Queen's coffin as she lies in state in Westminster Hall. (Getty Images) William was flanked by his older cousins, Zara Tindall and Peter Philips, Princess Annes children, whilst Prince Andrews daughters Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie joined on either side of Prince Harry. The Queens youngest grandchildren, Lady Louise Windsor and James, Viscount Severn, stood either side of the coffin in the middle. Their mother, a tearful Sophie, Countess of Wessex, watched on with their father Edward, Earl of Wessex from a raised platform to the side. William, Prince of Wales, lead his cousins into Westminster Hall to pay their respects to their grandmother. (Getty Images) Prince Edward joined his older siblings, King Charles, Andrew, Duke of York, and Anne, the Princess Royal to take part in their own vigil on Friday night The Queens four children stood vigil around their mothers coffin, with their heads bowed, as members of the public filed slowly past them to pay their respects. In an unexpected turn of events, the Duke of Sussex who served in the army for 10 years was able to wear his military uniform at the vigil for the first time since 2020 at the request of his father, the King. The Queen's four children, including King Charles, stood vigil at her coffin on Friday night. (Getty Images) William, Prince of Wales, lead his cousins out of the hall, whilst Harry, Duke of Sussex brought up the rear. (Getty Images) Although he no longer holds a current military position, after he and Meghan Markle stepped back from royal duties in 2020, Harry wore the uniform of the Blues and Royals to honour his late grandmother and Commander-in-Chief. Story continues Harry has so far worn civilian clothing, occasionally with his military medals pinned to a lapel, since the death of the Queen. William, Prince of Wales, also wore the Blues and Royals No.1 uniform of the Household Cavalry from his own time serving as a search and rescue pilot. Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, Lady Louise Windsor and Zara Tindall all wore black midi dresses and matching headbands to pay their respects to their grandmother. William, Prince of Wales, and Harry, Duke of Sussex both wore their military uniform of the Blues and Royals. (Getty Images) Harry, Duke of Sussex, wore his military uniform for the first time in two and a half years. (Getty Images) The Queens youngest grandchild, James, Viscount Severn, faced one of the most important roles of his life so far. His sister, Lady Louise Windsor, lost her grandmother the Queen just days after starting at St. Andrews University earlier this month. Both appeared very moved by the vigil. It comes as Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie released a joint statement earlier on Saturday to honour their dearest grannie. We've not been able to put much into words since you left us all, the heartfelt letter reads. There have been tears and laughter, silences and chatter, hugs and loneliness, and a collective loss for you, our beloved Queen and our beloved Grannie. We, like many, thought you'd be here forever. And we all miss you terribly, they add. Princes William and Harry walking behind the Queen's coffin as she was transported to Westminster Hall. (Getty Images) Earlier this week, William and Harry walked behind their father and grandmother in the procession carrying Her Majesty's coffin from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall, where the Queen has been lying-in-state since Wednesday. Speaking to some well-wishers as he viewed the flowers at the Queens Sandringham estate, William admitted that walking behind the Queens coffin at the London procession on Wednesday had brought back memories of walking behind his mothers coffin at her funeral 25 years ago when he was a teenager. Watch: King Charles III and his siblings hold vigil as public pay respects to the Queen Share your opinion on this topic by sending a letter to the editor to tctvoice@captimes.com. Include your full name, hometown and phone number. Your name and town will be published. The phone number is for verification purposes only. Please keep your letter to 250 words or less. iNeuron collaborates with S Chand to upskill students of MGU University, Kerala in technology-driven courses September 16, 2022 iNeuron Intelligence Private Ltd, one of India's fastest upskilling ed-tech players, offering 230+ Courses across all technologies has partnered with leading publishing and education services group, S Chand and Company Ltd to sign an agreement with Mahatma Gandhi University(MGU), a state-owned public university headquartered in Kottayam in the state of Kerala, for upskilling students in technology-driven programs such as data science, coding, AWS, analytics, Java, etc. Once the programme begins in October 2022, over 15,000 students will have access to it through a very affordable 2-year subscription plan, according to the MoU. Under this project, iNeuron will be leveraging its platform that will offer live and bundled classes, 24/7 support, live projects, resume reviews, mock interviews, internships, and employment guarantee programmes to the students. Onboard the teaching team for these modules are the best tech educators in the industry such as Sudhanshu Kumar, Krish Naik, Hitesh Choudhary and Navin Reddy. These well-known digital entrepreneurs and YouTube personalities have been content creators offering their first-hand knowledge for these tailored courses. Commenting on the partnership, Sudhanshu Kumar, Founder, CEO and Chief AI engineer of iNeuron Intelligence Private Ltd said, "Kerala is a model for education in India, and MGU, which was named the Best University in Kerala (2020), is a representative of that potential. On a national and career level, upskilling must be taken seriously today more than ever. Because India is still adjusting to newer technologies, employers are seeking candidates with newer skills. MGU, in our belief, will establish a benchmark for educational institutions with this upskilling programme. Being a part of this endeavour is an honour for us and we hope to exceed all expectations." Kumar commenting on iNeuron's role in the collaboration remarked, "The abilities that employers are actively looking for in the technology industry are directly addressed throughout every course module that will be provided to the students. Understanding how advanced technologies operate is essential, but much more so, knowing how to apply them to your field and job responsibilities is essential for adjusting to the evolving technological landscape. Since 2019, our courses have helped students, in job placements and career transitions. The platform has benefited approximately 75,000 students, and more than 15,000 of them have been successfully placed in jobs or undergone job transitions. We are positive that our services' track record will continue, and we'll be able to offer the students of MGU an edge in the industry." iNeuron Intelligence Private Ltd, is one of India's fastest upskilling ed-tech players that provides 360 degrees solutions from learning to internship and to finding a job with 230+ courses, 500+ live projects, 24/7 Doubt Assistance, and lifetime access. Offering tech courses in futuristic technologies (AI, MI, DL, etc) it has live as well as recorded sessions, career counselling, a revolutionary job portal and the option of 'raising a demand' for any new course that will be made available within months. The students have been placed in well-known companies like Microsoft, Adobe, Deloitte, etc. However, it's not just a platform for job seekers but job creators as well with the facility of innovation labs that allows product development at R&D labs and start-up incubation facilities in a city like Bengaluru. iNeuron has scripted numerous success stories of placement assistance that comes with a guarantee and job transition while making education experiential, affordable and accessible irrespective of financial and educational backgrounds. Founded by former EY and Panasonic engineers Sudhanshu Kumar and Krish Naik (625K subscribers, started his teaching journey through YouTube), iNeuron began as a product development company before becoming the OTT platform for education. With its commitment to quality education and zeal for innovation, iNeuron is poised for sustainable growth. This story has been provided by PRNewswire. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content in this article. Find it Useful ? Help Others by Sharing Online Comments and Discussions By Azernews By Ayya Lmahamad Azerbaijan and Turkiye have discussed opportunities for the development of economic cooperation, including trade relations, Azernews reports. The discussion took place during a meeting between Azerbaijan's Economy Minister Mikayil Jabbarov and Turkiye's Chamber of Commerce and Exchange Union President Mustafa Rifat. Mikayil Jabbarov noted that both countries are reliable partners in the world and active participants in major energy and transport projects. He noted the role of the private sector in strengthening cooperation and increasing trade turnover, as well as the importance of Turkiye's Chamber of Commerce and Exchange Union in the development of relations between entrepreneurs. In this regard, the parties noted that the expansion of ties between associations of entrepreneurs, chambers of commerce, and industry, as well as holding various events with the participation of entrepreneurs is of particular importance. They also exchanged views on opportunities for further expansion of trade cooperation, relations between business circles, and an increase in mutual investments. To note, Mustafa Rifat was awarded the Dostluq Order for his contribution to the development of the Azerbaijani economy and effective work in the field of entrepreneurship by a decree of the Azerbaijani President, dated April 25, 2022. During the meeting, Mikayil Jabbarov presented Mustafa Rifat with the order. Additionally, a meeting was held between Mustafa Rifat and Azerbaijan's Small and Medium Business Development Agency Chairman Orkhan Mammadov. The parties exchanged views on new areas of cooperation and opportunities for joint initiatives. Azerbaijan and Turkiye collaborate in a variety of economic sectors and have completed major energy and infrastructure projects, such as Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, Baku-Tbilisi-Kars, and TANAP. In 2021, Azerbaijan and Turkiye signed the Shusha Declaration on Allied Relations, which focuses on defense cooperation, promoting regional stability, prosperity, and establishing new transport routes. The two countries set up a goal to bring the mutual trade turnover to $15 billion in 2023. As of 2021, the trade turnover between the two countries amounted to $4.6 billion. So far, Turkiye is Azerbaijans second-largest investor followed by the UK. Additionally, Turkiye was one of the first countries that expressed its interest and readiness to participate in the restoration of Azerbaijans liberated territories. With American roots that she knew stretched back not to the Mayflower, but pretty close, Prospect resident Patricia Zappone had long been interested in her familys history. But as often happens, hints about famous ancestors sometimes get confused, embellished or lost over time. Family secrets or legends, lost documents and misremembered facts can muddy the picture. With help from the Cheshire chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Zappone began searching for documents that would give an accurate picture of a family tree leading from her own family to her parents and grandparents all the way back to the Revolutionary War. The Daughters of the American Revolution is a charitable nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting patriotism, preserving American history and securing Americas future through better education. Founded in October of 1890 by a group of women including the great-grandniece of George Washington, Eugenia Washington, DAR includes in its current membership such prominent political figures as former First Ladies Rosalynn Carter and Laura Bush, along with current Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth. The list of notable women who belonged in the past is also prestigious, from celebrities like Ginger Rogers and Lillian Gish, to activists like Susan B. Anthony, Jane Addams and Clara Barton. From the artist Grandma Moses to the engineer Emily Warren Roebling to cryptanalyst Gene Grabeel to Maine Senator Margaret Chase Smith, the profound influence of patriotic women on United States and world history is clear to see. Membership is open to any woman regardless of race, religion or ethnic background who can prove her lineage to a patriot of the American Revolution. Patricia Zappone is now officially one such person. She was admitted to Cheshires Lady Fenwick chapter this summer, after several years of genealogical research allowed her to confirm her lineage. Cheshires local chapter is named after Alice Apsley Boteler Fenwick, Lady Boteler, or Lady Fenwick, whose own story is remarkable. She arrived in Connecticut alongside her second husband and helped establish the colony at what is now Old Saybrook. Two locks of the Ladys hair are kept in the historical collection: https://cypresscemeteryosct.org/lady-fenwick/ To that end, Patricia used several research methods. She and a sister had visited archives in Rhode Island back in the 1970s to gather family information but the story remained incomplete. Online resources such as ancestry.com provided initial help in establishing some names and lineages, but the DAR requires solid archival proof. This meant finding official documents like birth and death certificates, marriage licenses, wills and testaments, newspaper articles and deeds of land. Her search led her beyond the borders of the United States to southern Quebec where knowing some French came in handy, she says. That skill allowed her to examine a Sherbrooke newspaper that detailed another family connection. After the war had ended, British Lieutenant-Governor Sir Alured Clarke began a program of granting land to people of English descent in Canada, hoping to use them to offset growing numbers of French Catholic settlers. Among these recipients was Sergeant Joseph Perkins of New Hampshire, who took advantage of his former enemys largesse to acquire a sizeable holding near what is today Windsor Mills, Quebec. Perkins proved to be the connection to the Revolution whom Patricia had sought all those years. Throughout the war, he had fought in several engagements with the New Hampshire militia, despite being less than 20 years old at the time. He married one Sarah Fowler, a Vermonter who defied British troops herself. During the War of 1812, he became a Captain in the Canadian forces, but did not pursue active warfare. Despite his adventures and hardships, Perkins lived to be 87, dying in Shipton, Quebec, in January 1846. Among his descendants, Patricia says, were participants in D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge, not to mention Major Henry Rathbone, who was sitting with President Lincoln at Fords Theatre the night of his assassination. Family history can be interesting on its own, but it was important to me to pass along that legacy, Patricia says. One major benefit of her efforts is that her son, Nicholas Zappone, was able to use her research in order to join the General David Humphreys Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution. Its namesake, General Humphreys, was born in Derby and, among other accomplishments, introduced Merino wool into the United States. While the process for joining the DAR can be lengthy, help is available for those interested in pursuing it. Becoming a member allows a person to feel a continuity to the history of the Republic and a newfound respect for the sacrifices of those who went before. I wanted the satisfaction of proving the theory, Patricia says, of knowing where we came from. When a Darley fire truck pulled up to Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company on Friday, it was quickly evident to everyone who the festmeister and festmeisterin were for this past weekends for the 2022 Oktoberfest in Chippewa Falls. Jeff and Patti Darley waved at the crowd as they exited the truck and joined the past royalty for a group photo. Were just amazed to be in front of all of you, Jeff Darley told the crowd of perhaps 400 onlookers who gathered at the brewery for the official kickoff celebration for Oktoberfest. Jeff Darley, 64, is president of Darley, a fire truck and pump manufacturer with 140 full-time employees. The company, which started in 1908 in Chicago, relocated to Chippewa Falls in 1932 and is a world leader in producing pumps used in everything from fire trucks to navy ships. They moved to their present 116,000-square-foot headquarters in 2003. Patti Darley, 63, is now retired from Xcel Energy, and she serves in several volunteer organizations in the community, such as sitting on the grants committee for the Community Foundation and on the HSHS St. Josephs/Sacred Heart board. Its really an honor, Patti Darley said. This is really our adopted community, even though we moved here 42 years ago. And we never looked back. People here are lovely, and they support one another. Jerry Jacobson, a 2004 festmeister and president of Northwestern Bank, praised the selection of the Darleys. Its a great company that has given back to Chippewa, Jacobson said of Darley. Patty and Jeff are the epitome of what Oktoberfest is about. Dick Hebert, a 2007 festmister and retired Chippewa Falls parks director, echoed praise for the new royal couple. Its a great choice, Hebert said. They are a community-minded couple, serve on many boards and nonprofit organizations. Im excited for them to join our festmeister and festmeisterin family. Jeff Darley said they have been married 41 years; they have four sons and nine grandchildren. Several were planning to join them over the weekend for the celebration. Im honored, humbled and excited to celebrate this festival with the entire community, with all the German heritage, family and friends, Jeff Darley said. Patti Darley said they never miss Oktoberfest, and she was thrilled when they were asked four months ago to be this years royal couple. Its a wonderful community event and a reunion for people who you dont always get to see. Secrecy in selection The selection of the royal couple is a well-kept secret; only about five people know who is chosen in advance of the big reveal each year. It was very difficult to keep the secret, but we managed, Jeff Darley said. Patti said it was only in recent days she informed her children, largely because of another family event that had been set for this weekend. You couldnt invite anyone, and anything you would have said about Oktoberfest would have been suspect, she said. When Jeff Darley learned he was selected, he said Fire Chief Lee Douglas made the arrangements for them to use the citys Darley fire truck to carry them onto the grounds. (The fire truck driver) didnt know who they were taking until we got there, Patti Darley said. Oktoberfest was launched in Chippewa Falls in 2003, and all past festmeisters and festmeisterins were present Friday except for two people who are now deceased. The 2021 festival brought 10,000 visitors. Since the beginning of Oktoberfest, the Planning Committee has donated more than $345,000 to local community groups and nonprofits. The man convicted in the 1981 murder and sexual assault of Susan Erickson is now living in the same community where the crime occurred. Terrance Shaw, 73, was released from Racine Correction Institution Sept. 7, 2021, and resides in Onalaska. He was granted parole July 30, 2021, by the Wisconsin Parole Commission. Erickson, who worked as a medical technologist in La Crosse, was found dead in her Onalaska apartment April 14, 1981. Shaw was arrested a year later after he was seen prowling in an Onalaska neighborhood. He was convicted in December 1982 and sentenced to life plus 20 years in prison. The parole decision has outraged Ericksons family. Tim Erickson was 3 years old when his mother was murdered. He said he wasnt aware that Shaw was out of prison until earlier this month. Every member of my family is shocked and hurt by the whole thing, he said. Nobody was notified when he was released. I dont think anybody in my family believed he could ever get out. Onalaska Police Chief Charles Ashbeck said the city wasnt notified about Shaws release and wasnt aware he was living in Onalaska until contacted by the Tribune. When asked whether Shaw represented a threat to the community, Ashbeck replied, That is difficult to answer ... because I dont know anything about his current health or mindset. Given his age, he is likely less of a threat, but that doesnt necessarily guarantee he isnt still a threat. The Onalaska police officer who made the arrest that led to Shaws identification as the prime murder suspect is upset that Shaw is no longer in prison. Larry Vongroven, now retired, blames Gov. Tony Evers. If I had 10 seconds with the governor, I would tell him what a troll he is, Vondgroven said. The governors office issued a statement Friday on Shaws release. The governor disagreed with decisions made by the former Parole Commission chair, and thats why he asked for the former chairs resignation, the statement read. The statement referred to the June 10 resignation of parole commission chair John Tate. He came under scrutiny after voting to parole Douglas Balsewicz, who was convicted of killing his wife in 1997. Tate complied with a request from Evers to rescind Balsewiczs parole before resigning. Shaw is required to register as a sex offender through the Wisconsin Sex Offender Registry. Ashbeck said hes unaware of any other conditions that are attached to Shaws release. I dont know any of the details of what went into considering his release, Ashbeck said. I would hope (the parole commission) did a comprehensive review and determined his current threat level before granting his release. I certainly would not agree with his release if he is still a threat to our community, but that is a general opinion I would give on all inmates petitioning for parole. The Tribune submitted an open records request Sept. 12 to the parole commission for the minutes of Shaws parole hearing. The Department of Corrections responded late Friday with a statement concerning Shaws parole. Mr. Shaw was incarcerated for almost 40 years, the statement reads. His first hearing before the Parole Commission was in 1993. Mr. Shaw had 29 hearings with a parole commissioner before it was determined he had satisfied the criteria for a parole recommendation. Mr. Shaw is 73 years old with severe limitations on his mobility. The statement says the parole commission has the final say over granting paroles and that neither the governor nor any other state official has legal authority over parole decisions. Shaw had been seeking his release for several years. He argued in court that he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder triggered by his military service and that the possibility of a PTSD diagnosis should have been considered at his trial. In 2010, Shaw asked La Crosse County Circuit Court Judge Ramona Gonzalez to modify his sentence and run the terms concurrently based on his PTSD claim. She denied the request. The case was later dismissed by the Court of Appeals, and the state Supreme Court declined to hear the case. EV Experts to Share Technical Insights in High-Density Assemblies Webinar Published: 14 September 2022 by Mike Buetow by Mike Buetow As part of its electric vehicle (EV) focused series of webinars, Driving e-Mobility: Rel-ion Technical Webinars, Indium Corporations Jonas Sjoberg, associate director for global technical service & application engineering, and Angelo Marques, applications engineer design for excellence (DfX) specialist, will share considerations for the implementation of high-density assembly in the automotive space. In Design Considerations for Board Layout and Material Selection, Sjoberg and Marques will discuss how implementing high-density SMTA assemblies in electronic products require many considerations. Previously, high-density SMTA assemblies were primarily used in mobile phones and consumer electronics. However, the rapid growth of EVs and more sophisticated electronics on all types of automobiles shows that these high-density assemblies are not being fully adapted into the automotive market. Before starting any developmental work or implementing a new technology, it is critical to understand the products, their capabilities, and industry requirements. If these are not fully understood, failure is the most probable outcome. This presentation will discuss conducting DfX based on end-product requirements and the need to perform proper root cause analyses before making any material or process changes. This session of Driving e-Mobility: Rel-ion Technical Webinar series is scheduled for Sept. 21 with two opportunities to participate: the first at 8:30 a.m. Germany/12 p.m. India/2:30 p.m. China and Malaysia, and the second at 10 a.m. San Francisco/1 p.m. New York/6 p.m. London/7 p.m. Germany. The Driving e-Mobility: Rel-ion Technical Webinars series features global industry technical experts in advanced materials and the automotive market, with all sessions moderated by Brian OLeary, Indium Corporations global head of e-Mobility and infrastructure. This series of webinars is intended specifically for those involved in the field of e-Mobility, whether new to the industry or with several years of experience, as the EV industry undergoes rapid growth and evolution. Registration for this webinaras well as the rest in this seriesis open and can be completed at indium.com/corporate/media-center/webinars/rel-ion.php. If you are interested in a session specifically tailored to your companys needs, please contact OLeary at boleary@indium.com. Sjoberg is Associate Director for Global Technical Service & Application Engineering for Indium Corporation. He is based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where he provides technical support to key regional and global customers. He has more than 25 years of technical experience in the electronics industry, including developing and deploying leading-edge designs and processes for packaging and assembly; managing research and development projects and facilities; and serving as technical advisor to internal and external design, development, and manufacturing sites worldwide. He has presented and published numerous papers at industry leading electronic conferences/magazines and is an appointed distinguished speaker at SMTAI. Marques expertise in automotive electronics, especially in DfX for stencils, PCBs, and complex components, continues to help Indium Corporations customers shorten DV / PV (design validation / production validation) lifecycles and launch earlier into SOP (Start of Production) with optimized manufacturing processes with reduced defects and increased yields. In addition to his new role as DfX Specialist, Marques continues to provide technical support, share process knowledge, and make recommendations for the use of Indium Corporations materials in PCBA throughout Europes Latin region as an applications engineer. An Indium Corporation employee since 2017, Marques possesses over 25 years of automotive electronics experience in new product introduction and process optimization. He has a Six Sigma Green Belt and is an IPC 610 certified trainer. He is trilingual and can speak and write Portuguese, English, and Spanish. OLeary is responsible for promoting Indium Corporations full range of products and services for e-Mobility, which includes electric cars, trucks, and charging stations. He has more than 20 years of experience in sales, marketing, and channel management in the electronics industry. He currently serves as the chair of the IPC EV (Electric Vehicle) Quality & Reliability Advisory Group. In addition to regular technical conference participation, Brian co-hosts a free monthly webcastEV InSIDER Livewith Loren McDonald of EVAdoption and a high-profile industry stakeholder as a guest. In the webcast, they discuss current pressing issues and hot topics in the rapidly evolving electric vehicle landscape. The next session in the Driving e-Mobility: Rel-ion Technical Webinar series on Oct. 12 is Best Practices for SMT Assembly & Root Cause Analysis, presented by Principal Engineer, Global Accounts Technical Manager David Sbiroli. About Indium Corporation Indium Corporation is a premier materials refiner, smelter, manufacturer, and supplier to the global electronics, semiconductor, thin-film, and thermal management markets. Products include solders and fluxes; brazes; thermal interface materials; sputtering targets; indium, gallium, germanium, and tin metals and inorganic compounds; and NanoFoil. Founded in 1934, the company has global technical support and factories located in China, Germany, India, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the U.S. For more information about Indium Corporation, visit www.indium.com or email jhuang@indium.com. You can also follow our experts, From One Engineer To Another (#FOETA), at www.linkedin.com/company/indium-corporation/ or @IndiumCorp PCB West: The leading technical conference and exhibition for electronics engineers. Coming Oct. 4-7 to the Santa Clara (CA) Convention Center. pcbwest.com Pennsylvanians are getting back to work. The economy is on the rebound. Pennsylvanias unemployment rate is now lower than its pre-pandemic level. Thats great news, but not for everyone, including those who work some of the most dangerous jobs in the commonwealth. Right now, the commonwealths prison system continues to see its vacancies skyrocket with no sign of slowing, creating a dangerous atmosphere for prison employees and inmates. According to the Department of Corrections, there were nearly 1,000 violent incidents already this year, a staggering 33% increase from a year ago. The number of staff assaulted is up 26%, and inmate fights have increased 42%. On Aug. 31 at 6:19 p.m., an inmate began assaulting a lone corrections officer at SCI-Forest. A second officer responded to help, but the inmate pulled a 7-inch piece of metal with a homemade handle and began stabbing both officers before a third arrived at the scene to end the vicious assault. Both officers were sent to the emergency room for their stab wounds. We desperately need more backup to stop the increased violence. Just how bad is the staffing deficit in our state prisons? Its a full-blown crisis. Thats not spin; the departments own numbers tell the story. In June, Pennsylvanias state prison system had 757 vacancies for corrections officers, the highest in at least a generation. To put that into perspective, just prior to the pandemic, there were only 94 vacancies in June 2019. In nearly a quarter century of serving as an officer, Ive never seen anything like this. The reasons for the overwhelming vacancies are clear. Pennsylvania is making it more difficult to hire new officers, with a bureaucratic approach that isnt competitive with other states and takes too long to hire candidates. Right now, when a person attends a job fair or applies for a job in our state prisons, the wait time to hear back takes up to four months. People attending job fairs arent there for a cup of coffee. They want a job now. Pennsylvania used to allow prisons to identify and hire from local communities. That process moved quickly. The commonwealths current approach to have hirings handled regionally has only further bogged down the process. Its also time to allow out-of-state residents to apply for these jobs. For example, SCI-Green County is located near the West Virginia border and should be permitted to recruit across state lines to fill vacancies. Several other state prisons are near state borders as well, including Albion, Mercer, Waymart, Phoenix, Chester, Somerset, Fayette and Laurel Highlands. Were also being outmaneuvered by other states for job candidates. At those same job fairs, out-of-state corrections departments are providing candidates the ability to apply for jobs on the spot with signing bonuses, such as Delaware ($5,000) and Maryland ($3,000). Virginia is giving new prison employees $6,000 just to sign on. Even when we do hire, the washout rate for new officers leaving is over 30%, an extremely high number historically. Thats happening because officers are being forced into multiple mandatory overtime shifts, sometimes as many as three in a row. Danger and exhaustion aside, it has taken a toll on their marriages and home life. As a result, new officers arent staying on the job. This simply cannot continue. The pandemic, and its after-effects, have created a staffing crisis that demands the commonwealths attention. Most people dont see it because they arent inside. But for those officers and other prison employees who work in Pennsylvania state prisons, every day is a struggle without the numbers they need to keep the peace and return home safely to their loved ones. We know this because the statistics are clear: Our state prisons have become remarkably more dangerous for our officers. Its time for Pennsylvanias elected leadership to come together and address this unprecedented staffing problem because it isnt showing any sign of ending. Lives are on the line. I want to thank Naomi Creason and The Sentinel for your recent spotlight on the urgent housing and rental crisis in Cumberland County. From supply chain issues, to an ultra-tight housing supply, to soaring rent and housing costs, this by-product of the post-pandemic economy is indeed worthy of attention and action. A tsunami of homelessness, as the article described, is a tragic reality, as is the fact that experts estimate that a majority of Americans are one paycheck away from homelessness themselves. Housing is the key to economic and personal stability, with homelessness meaning far more than lacking a heated structure; it is about lacking safety, stability and a sense of all things familiar. Tri-County Housing Development Corporation (TCHDC) has been an involved partner in Cumberland, Dauphin and Perry counties. We realize that this crisis is one that must be solved one family, one property at a time. In fact, TCHDC won a prestigious Pyramid Award for its new townhouse project in Carlisle at the Home Builders Association of Metropolitan Harrisburg 28th Awards Dinner in April. The two, two-story townhomes won recognition as Best Affordable Housing Multi-Family Project. It is located by LeTort Park and LeTort Elementary School in Carlisle. Completed last November, the homes at 157 and 159 E. South St., have transformed a block marred by a vacant, dilapidated house, which was demolished to clear the way for a new build. We at TCHDC, a nonprofit Community Housing Development Organization, were honored to work with Carlisle Borough and the Housing and Redevelopment Authority of Cumberland County. The blighted property was beyond repair, leading to its acquisition for demolition and transformation in May of 2020. Funding for the project came from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development. As our mission grows, we have relocated our office to the PA Housing Finance Agency building at 201 N. Front St., in Harrisburg, and we are now certified to offer free monthly first-time homebuyer courses to help aspiring homeowners with mortgages, credit counseling and more. I have also just been appointed to the Affordable Housing Collaboration Initiative, led by the National Council of State Housing Agencies and Fannie Mae. This national working group is entirely focused on the lack of affordable housing for first-time homebuyers due to the decline in construction of entry-level single-family homes. Solutions are desperately needed, and I am one of many national, state, and local partnersboth public and privateworking to bring about change in Cumberland County and the nation. I look forward to our progress on behalf of families searching for affordable shelter, and stand ready to continue to partner with everyone to alleviate the crisis in Cumberland County. Anger and criticism over Chinas unrelenting zero-Covid policy has erupted after a bus transporting residents to a virus quarantine facility crashed killing 27 people. According to authorities, the bus was carrying 47 people from Guiyang, the capital of Guizhou province, to a remote county 155 miles (249 kilometers) away, when it overturned on a mountainous stretch of highway and fell into a ravine at around 2:40 a.m. It is unclear why a quarantine bus would take people on winding mountain roads after midnight. Chinas transport regulation prohibits long-distance coaches from operating between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m. A photo widely circulated on social media shows the bus driving at night, with the driver wearing a full hazmat suit that left only his eyes uncovered. Other photos and videos show the bus being towed by a truck, its top crushed, and a hazmat suited worker spraying disinfectant on it. While CNN cannot independently verify the photos and videos, the bus license plate in the image matches the plate number reported by authorities. Survivors of the crash are now receiving treatment in hospital, according to authorities. A hazmat-suited Covid worker sprays the wrecked bus with disinfectant. - Weibo News about the deaths sparked a huge outcry on Chinese social media, with many questioning the increasingly over-the-top implementation of the zero-Covid policy, which relies on snap lockdowns, mass testing and extensive quarantining measures to curb outbreaks. Stringent and prolonged lockdowns have recently sparked outcries in cities ranging from Guiyang, Chengdu to Jinan, as well as the regions of Xinjiang and Tibet. What makes you think that you wont be on that late-night bus one day? read a viral comment, which garnered more than 250,000 likes before it was censored. Were all on the bus. We just havent crashed yet, another comment said. Chinese censors rushed to cover the outrage. Many state media postings about the accident have closed the comment section, and search results appeared to be filtered. A related hashtag attracted more than 450 million views as of Sunday evening, but only posts from official government and media accounts were shown. Story continues A Guizhou resident who said her friend was killed on the bus took to Weibo to demand the Guiyang government to be held accountable. Her posts were widely shared, drawing an outpouring of anger and sympathy. The user declined CNNs interview requests and later hid her posts. Guizhou officials are under huge pressure to contain even small-scale Covid outbreaks in the lead up to the 20th Party Congress, where Chinese leader Xi Jinping is expected to secure a norm-breaking third term in power. Guizhou reported 712 infections for Saturday, accounting for 70% of new cases nationwide. Nine local officials in Guiyang have already been suspended this month for failing to implement Covid policies properly. On Saturday, Guiyang officials vowed to fight a decisive battle to eliminate community transmission. In zero-Covid China, a solution commonly used by local authorities is to bus entire buildings or communities of residents out of the city to quarantine elsewhere. In Guiyang, which was placed under a lockdown earlier this month, authorities prepared 20 buses and 40 drivers to transport close contacts of Covid cases to other cities, the state-run Guiyang Evening Paper reported. As of Saturday, more than 7,000 people had been transferred, and nearly 3,000 were waiting to be bused out. According to government data, only two people have died of Covid in Guizhou, a province of 38 million people, since the beginning of the pandemic. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Poland is buying almost 1,000 tanks, more than 600 pieces of artillery and dozens of fighter jets from South Korea, in part to replace equipment donated to Ukraine to help Kyiv fight the Russian invasion, the Polish Ministry of Defense told CNN on Tuesday. The agreement, expected to be officially announced in Poland on Wednesday, will see Warsaw purchase 980 tanks based on the South Korean K2 model, 648 self-propelled K9 armored howitzers, and 48 FA-50 fighter jets, the ministry said. It would not confirm the value of the deal. The first 180 K2 tanks, made by Hyundai Rotem and equipped with auto-loading 120mm guns, are expected to arrive this year, with the production of 800 upgraded tanks starting in 2026 in Poland, according to the ministry. The first 48 K9 howitzers, made by Hanwha Defense, are also expected to arrive this year, with delivery of a second batch of 600 due to start in 2024. From 2026 these will be produced in Poland, the ministry said. The ministry said these armored vehicles would, in part, replace the Soviet-era tanks that Poland has donated to Ukraine to use in its fight against Russia. The ministrys comments to CNN come after Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Baszczak tweeted on July 22 that the deal would significantly increase Polands security and the strength of the Polish Army. CNN has reached out to the South Korean Defense Acquisition Program Administration and the arms manufacturers involved for comment. Chun In-Bum, a retired South Korean general, said the deal with Poland is Seouls single biggest weapons export pact ever. He also praised the weapons involved. The K9 (howitzer) is probably the best artillery system in the world, rivaled only by the German system. The FA-50 is a combat version of the T-50, which has gained a reputation for being the best trainer in the world inventory. The K2 tank in its latest version will be better than anything South Korea has to date, Chun said. A South Korean K2 tank takes part in a live-fire demonstration in 2018. - Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Images Story continues Higher profile for Korean arms Leif-Eric Easley, associate professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, said the arms deal had its roots in the administration of former President Moon Jae-in, who sought large foreign contracts to boost South Koreas defense industries. Moons successor, President Yoon Suk Yeol, who took office in May, also wants to push such exports, Easley said. But the war in Ukraine increases the geopolitical stakes for Seoul, Easley said. The profitable arms deal with Poland, a NATO member, means South Korea will be expected to share the burden for defense of the international order, Easley said. Washington and NATO will expect Seoul to increase assistance to Ukraine and maintain sanctions against Russia, even if doing so comes at some cost to the South Korean economy, Easley said. Since joining NATO in 1999, Poland has become a key member of the 30-member alliance, and has been purchasing US-made military equipment, including Abrams main battle tanks and F-35 stealth fighter jets. Poland has also become a big backer of the government in Kyiv following Russias invasion, making deals to send more than 200 tanks and self-propelled howitzers to Ukraine. Urgent need During a visit to Seoul in May, the Polish defense minister said the war in Ukraine showed Polands urgent need for South Korean arms. We talked about accelerating the deliveries of these weapons to the Polish Army. Why is it important? Because of the war on our eastern border. It is important for the Polish Armed Forces to be equipped with modern equipment, proven equipment, and such is the equipment produced by Korea, Baszczak said at the time. He said South Korea and Poland faced similar security situations and therefore needed similar weapons. Why is Korean equipment proven? Because Korea has the challenge of its northern neighbor, who also conducts an aggressive policy, so our task is to equip the Polish Armed Forces with modern equipment. Equipment that will deter the aggressor. Such equipment is undoubtedly produced in Korea, Baszczak said. Some defense industry analysts question whether the South Korean weapons are the right fit for Europe, however. Nicholas Drummond, a defense industry analyst specializing in land warfare and a former British Army officer, said the K2 tank is essentially a less capable version of the German Leopard 2 main battle tank. Same gun. Same engine and gearbox. But overall less sophisticated with inferior electronic architecture. Not a bad tank. But not class of the field, he said. Drummond also said hardware made in Asia may eventually face supply chain problems during a war in Europe. It is right that Asian countries buy from Korea as these customers can easily be supported in time of war. But supporting European customers in an emergency is likely to be more challenging, he said. An FA-50 Golden Eagle fighter jet of the South Korean Air Force at a US air base in South Korea in 2017. - SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg/Getty Images South Koreas ground attack jet The FA-50 jet, produced by Korea Aerospace Industries in association with US defense giant Lockheed Martin, is a supersonic light combat aircraft, suitable for ground attack and some air-to-air missions. The plane, flown by the South Korean Air Force since 2013, is armed with Sidewinder air-to-air missiles, Maverick air-to-ground missiles, and a three-barreled 30mm cannon for strafing runs. It can also use precision-guided and gravity bombs. The FA-50, in its combat and training versions, has found export customers in Colombia, Indonesia, Iraq, the Philippines and Thailand. But with its order for 48 planes, Poland would become the biggest operator of the jets outside South Korea. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Beaming at the camera, a joyous Queen Elizabeth II smiles in a photograph newly released by Buckingham Palace on the eve of her state funeral. The photograph was taken back in May at Windsor Castle ahead of Platinum Jubilee celebrations marking the Queens 70 years on the throne. Ahead of the funeral service on Monday, King Charles III thanked members of the public for their support and messages of condolence since the death of his mother. The new monarch said he and wife Camilla, the Queen Consort had been moved beyond measure by the public outpouring of love and affection seen during the couples tour of the nations that make up the United Kingdom over the last week. Meanwhile, the Queen Consort paid tribute to the late monarch in a televised message on Sunday, saying she will always remember the Queens unforgettable smile. In a three-minute video, interlaced with archive footage of the Elizabeth II, Camilla praised the Queen for carving her own role as a solitary woman in a male-dominated world of international politics. Shes been part of our lives forever. Im 75 now and I cant remember anyone except the Queen being there, the Queen Consort said. She recalled the Queens wonderful blue eyes and said: I will always remember her smile. To get updates on the British Royal Family sent to your inbox, sign up for CNNs Royal News newsletter. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com South Africa: Truck driver in fatal Pongola crash appears in court Sibusiso Siyaya, a 28-year-old truck driver, has appeared in the Pongola Magistrates' Court on Monday in connection with the accident that claimed 21 lives, mainly children, on Friday last week. According to the National Prosecuting Authority, Siyaya has since been charged with culpable homicide. The truck collided with a bakkie ferrying school learners. Nineteen children and two adults were killed. According to reports, the two adults who lost their lives include the driver of the bakkie and an assistant teacher. Siyaya handed himself over to the police on Saturday. This comes after the KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Transport, Community Safety and Liaison, Sipho Hlomuka, called on community members to assist the police in apprehending him after he fled the gruesome scene. His arrest is important in assisting the families to deal with the devastation of losing their relatives. We commend the police who have had to activate all systems to make sure that the driver is pressured to surrender himself, said Hlomuka over the weekend. The NPA said Siyaya now faces 21 counts of culpable homicide. The matter was remanded to 26 September 2022 for a bail application. As part of interventions, the KwaZulu-Natal government said it was sending a high-level delegation, led by acting Premier Nomagugu Simelane, to meet the bereaved families. The team will also include Hlomuka; Acting MEC for Education, Bongi SitholeMoloi and the MEC for Social Development, Nonhlanhla Khoza. They will be joined by senior managers of government entities, which will lead efforts to assist the affected families, the provincial government said. The government delegation will also attend court proceedings in the Pongola Magistrates Court, where the truck driver will be appearing after he handed himself over to the police. The Acting Premier, together with the MECs, will also visit the four affected schools in the area, as part of assisting the learners, teachers and school governing body members, who are still experiencing shock and trauma. Upon arrival, they will be briefed by the enforcement agencies on the investigation, visit schools and engage with affected families, the provincial government said. Commenting on the visit, Simelane said it is the nature of a caring government to be with the people during difficulties. As part of the interventions, we are bringing with us all government agencies to assist with the forensic investigation and to assist with social relief. The Department of Social Development, working with the Department of Education, will also attend to social services to assist learners and teachers in the affected schools. We will also engage the community of Pongola to find long-lasting solutions to end such tragic incidents, said Simelane. President Cyril Ramaphosa has also offered his condolences to the families who lost their loved ones in this incident. He wished survivors a speedy and full recovery. The President said: This is yet another sad moment for our country, following the substantial loss of young lives in an Eastern Cape tavern recently. We cannot afford to lose such precious lives under any conditions. I hope the investigation into the Pongola incident will shed light on the cause of this tragedy and help us take better care of our children in the future. SAnews.gov.za This story has been published on: 2022-09-19. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. By Azernews By Ayya Lmahamad Bulgaria is planning to host an unofficial regional meeting on energy issues, Azernews reports per Euractiv. "An unofficial regional meeting on energy issues is potentially on Sofias agenda for October, featuring European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the presidents of Bulgaria, Azerbaijan, Serbia, Romania, and North Macedonia, EURACTIV Bulgaria has learned," the statement reads. The statement reads that ICGB AD is set to invite high-profile stakeholders to the pipeline's inauguration on October 1, a day before the country goes to the polls. "This will put matters of energy and regional cooperation high on the agenda, particularly with Azerbaijan, who are being courted by several EU countries over their natural gas supply potential," the statement reads. The IGB gas pipeline is designed to connect the Greek national gas transmission system (DESFA S.A.) and the Trans-Adriatic gas pipeline (TAP AG) in the area of Komotini (Greece), and with the Bulgarian gas transmission system (Bulgartransgaz EAD) in the area of Stara Zagora. The total length of the gas pipeline is 182 km, the diameter of the pipe is 32'', and a design capacity of up to 3 billion m3/year in the direction of Greece-Bulgaria. The pipeline is designed to increase its capacity up to 5 bcm/y depending on market interest and the capacities of neighboring gas transmission systems. The opening ceremony of the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria was held in Komotini on July 8. The St. Francois County Commission held a public hearing and a relatively brief meeting Tuesday at the courthouse annex. The commission held a public hearing at 10 a.m. about canceling a grant for which the county had applied. The close-out hearing informed the public that East Missouri Action Agency is withdrawing from the Community Development Block Grant for $2 million for renovations of the old Mineral Area Regional Medical Center on Weber Road in Farmington. Plans to turn the former Mineral Area Regional Medical Center (MARMC) building into a one-stop health center had moved forward this summer with the $2 million grant announced by the Missouri Department of Economic Development. Through St. Francois County Auditors Office, East Missouri Action Agency (EMAA) was one of 41 communities getting a statewide total of $41 million through Community Development Block Grants for COVID-19 projects (CDBG-CV). EMAA had received the building as a gift from local businessman Sharo Shirshekan, who continued to join EMAA in the renovation and repurposing project. In regular business, the commission awarded a bid to Bob Johnsons Computer Stuff, Inc. for 18 mobile data terminals for the sheriffs department. The terminals are computers used in patrol vehicles for reports, dispatching and other uses. The amount totaled $29,993.24. The commission approved the annexation of 997 W. Liberty Street by the city of Farmington. The property was purchased by BJC to expand hospital services. The commission also approved buying tasers for the sheriffs department at a cost of $17,491.57 from Axon Enterprise. The purchase was originally approved in 2021, but the amount was accidentally omitted from the minutes. The sales tax report for August showed a 4.29% increase year to date. The county has collected $401,584.68 more in sales taxes than this time last year. Treasurer Parks Peterson said it was close to the trend he expected of 5%. The next scheduled regular meeting will be Tuesday at 10 a.m. at the courthouse annex in downtown Farmington. Friday was POW/MIA Recognition Day, when the nation remembers military service members who were imprisoned by the enemy, and also honors members of the military who disappeared during conflict, never returning home. Local veterans organizations, such as Farmington VFW Post #5896, held somber ceremonies on Friday and Saturday to honor American prisoners of war and those missing in combat. More than 80,000 American service personnel are still listed as missing in action during previous conflicts. St. Francois County has one official Missing in Action member of the military, Reginald Cleve. Warrant Officer, First Class Reginald Cleve was born Aug. 2, 1947. The Farmington native and resident was a member of the 176th Aviation Company, 14th Aviation Battalion, 16th Aviation Group, 23rd Infantry Division (Americal). On March 22, 1971, during the battle Operation Lam son 719 to destroy North Vietnamese supply lines on the famous Ho Chi Minh Trail, he was the aircraft commander of a Bell Iroquois Utility Helicopter (UH-1H) on a high-risk emergency resupply mission flying at 5,000 feet over Savannakhet Province, Laos when the aircraft was hit by ground fire, crashed and burned. Cleves remains were not able to be recovered due to the location and heavy ground fire. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial in Hawaii. His name is also listed on the Vietnam Wall Memorial. The POW/MIA ceremonies typically consist of describing the Missing Man Table, a table set to symbolize these heroes lost in foreign lands. A script describes each item set on the table: The table is round to show our everlasting concern. The cloth is white symbolizing the purity of their motives when answering the call to serve. "The single red rose reminds us of the lives of these Americans.and their loved ones and friends who keep the faith, while seeking answers. "The yellow ribbon symbolizes our continuing uncertainty, the hope for their return, and our determination to account for them. "A slice of lemon reminds us of their bitter fate, captured and missing in a foreign land. "A pinch of salt symbolizes the tears of our missing and their families - who long for answers after decades of uncertainty. "The lighted candle reflects our hope for their return alive or dead. "The Bible represents the strength gained through faith, to sustain us and those lost from our country, founded as one Nation under God. "The glass is inverted symbolizing their inability to share a toast. "The chair is empty they are missing. Information for this article was provided by Chris Morris, commander of the Norman L. Rigdon VFW Post #5896, Farmington and www.pow-miafamilies.org. If youre in search of a one-of-a-kind, undisturbed destination to unwind, look no further than Funk Memorial State Forest and Wildlife Area in Iron County. Known as Riverside by some, the 180-acre plot of land is one of four compartments in adjoining counties stretching to the Ozarks, managed by the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC). The area has changed hands through the years, with MDC now managing to ensure wildlife habitat is sustained, said MDC Forester Becky Fletcher. The primary goal of this area is wildlife management; its not timber, or fishing. Green is all you see this time of year at Funk Memorial, and thats more than tolerable. One of many plants youll find is dittany commonly known as wild oregano, from the mint family. It smells as fresh as spices from the kitchen pantry. But Fletcher kindly advised against picking any plants from conservation areas for the dinner table. Fletcher said dittany is a unique plant youll also find in the surrounding woodlands. During the wintertime, she said the plant exhibits one of its most unusual qualities. Its one of the plants that will create frost flowers in the winter, Fletcher said. The water in its stems will burst forth, and create little ribbons of ice. As you wander through the green, youll find numerous glade grasses, and plants such as coneflower, brown-eyed Susans, apple ferns, daisies, aromatic sumac, hog peanut, and persimmons. Youll also see hickory, oaks, and cedar trees and their saplings. Some of the plants youll see are more Ozark-region specific, Fletcher said, but some exist there today solely because the areas dry soil is needed for their growth. For bird watching, Funk Memorial State Forest and Wildlife Area is a good place to visit, according to Fletcher. Youve got the field and the forest, which makes it easier to spot the various species that inhabit the area, she said. And you just might see some chipmunks. The area offers seasonal hunting as well, such as deer, turkey, rabbit, squirrel, dove, and quail. Youll see turkeys, too, Fletcher said, "because they like the glades, and so do the deer and birds that call Riverside home. If youre into hiking, there are several service roads leading into the creek bottoms and fields, she said, making it perfect for a fun, easy journey. But if you dont have much time to enjoy nature during the daily grind, Fletcher said it also makes for a great lunch spot, if all you have are a few spare minutes. More information about Funk Memorial State Forest and MDC Wildlife Area can be found by downloading the free MO Outdoors mobile app, or by visiting Places to Go online at https://short.mdc.mo.gov/4SJ. Directions to Funk Memorial State Forest and MDC Wildlife Area: From Vulcan on Highway 49, take Route BB west approximately 4 miles, then an unnamed gravel road north, see map for area location. There were some tense moments at Charlottesville High School Monday as an active shooter was reported to local authorities around 1:20 p.m., eventually turning out to be a hoax. The hoax occurred the same day as a similar hoax at E.C. Glass High School in Lynchburg. Together, they make up two of more than 30 similar reported instances across the county in the past week, in school districts from California to Illinois to Florida. The hoax plunged the school into lockdown as numerous officers from multiple jurisdictions converged on the scene. At least five marked and unmarked police units headed out from the downtown Charlottesville police station and raced down East Market Street with sirens and lights ablaze. Within minutes, officers were inside the building and moving room-by-room to check on the safety of students. It took 22 minutes before the call was called as a hoax. CHS principal Rashaad Pitt quickly put a statement on the school website for parents. The message went to 911 and falsely indicated that a number of CHS students were hurt, wrote Pitt, who said the school had no evidence of such activity but went ahead with a lockdown so police could perform a thorough search. Pitt added that he subsequently learned that the hoax was also perpetrated in other communities. Those communities include Lynchburg. At approximately 1:19 p.m., an unknown caller dialed into Charlottesville Police Department services with reports of an active shooter on CHS campus. It has since been confirmed that this call was a hoax, city police said in prepared statement after the school had been cleared. Upon receiving the call, CHS reported no unusual activity. Both Charlottesville Fire Department and [police] responded and secured the perimeter. After [police] conducted a search, they identified no unusual activity or threat and gave the all-clear for CHS to resume their normal activity. Calling in a false report to the police is illegal; our officers are currently investigating this crime, the statement read. In the early morning hours of Sept. 9, the Albemarle County Police Department responded to a threat to Western Albemarle High School made through social media. After an investigation, officers determined this threat not to be credible. The responsible juvenile will be charged, police said at the time. While the county call was a threat, the CHS call was of an active shooter and possible injuries, eliciting a quick response from police. The school was not alone. Around the same time CHS was under lockdown, so were schools in Lynchburg, Culpeper and several schools in Hampton Roads. Locally, Eastern View High School in Culpeper County and E.C. Glass High School in Lynchburg saw similar hoaxes. Suffolk Police Department increased security at the Booker T. Washington Elementary School after calls. Calls were also reported today in Illinois. National news organizations estimate that nearly three dozen of such hoax calls plagued American schools last week in Texas, California, Oklahoma, Florida, Arkansas, Oregon, Illinois and Kansas. Some estimates indicate that more than 40 hoaxes have been called in the past week, including calls made today. This false report caused extreme stress and disruption at CHS and in our community, wrote Pitt. Counselors and mental health professionals are on hand at the school to speak with students and staff. We encourage families to check in with your students tonight. The spate of calls, which are nicknamed SWAT calls because they bring out police tactical teams often armed with assault rifles, has caught the eye of the FBI. The FBI is aware of numerous swatting incidents wherein a report of an active shooter at a school is made, bureau officials posted on the agencys Houston, Texas office Twitter page last week in the wake of a false report of 10 people shot at a Texas school. In recent months, the FBI and law enforcement around the country have investigated a number of hoax threats of targeted violence against schools and other public places, officials said on the FBI webpage. These threatsoften issued via text message or posted on social mediaare taken very seriously. Hoax threats are not a joke, and they can have devastating consequencesboth for the public and for the perpetrators. According to the FBI, a threat over social media, text message, or e-mail from another location is a federal crime under laws prohibiting threatening interstate communications. The penalty is a maximum five years in prison. Under a flawless blue sky on a late summer day, hundreds of people gathered at IX Art Park to celebrate Pride on Sunday afternoon. It was the first Pride celebration in Charlottesville since COVID-19 shutdowns. The joy, for many, seemed hard to contain. This community is so freaking cool! said Elliot Taphanel. Its just amazing. One of the things that amazed Taphanel, she said, was that families with young children attended, as well as LGBTQ+ community members, activists, businesspeople and drag queens. She was also thrilled to see religious organizations set up tables as part of outreach to the LGBTQ+ community, whose members have long been criticized by and ostracized from mainstream religions. In the religion I grew up in, I couldnt be myself, said Taphanel. It feels so good to be here where I can be, and to see that some religions are changing. Others agreed. Its really great, said Jiji Tobar, from Arlington. I loved just coming here and being able to make connections. She was particularly encouraged to see several booths set up by LGBTQ+ business owners, which had been an important goal of this years organizers. Artists, florists and farmers were among those selling goods. David Naylor and Tess Dunlap, owners of Treehug Trading Co., came down from Pittsburgh with an array of Pride merchandise, including bumper stickers that read I (heart, with rainbow colors) my gay parents, and Born straight, refuse to hate. Rainbow-colored flags, T-shirts, socks and boxer shirts were also for sale. We love being here, said Naylor. I wouldnt have missed this for the world. Many of the companys products have unique designs, he said, pointing to stickers of rainbow-colored turtles and salamanders with rainbow colors on their backs. That said, his favorite is the boxer shorts, he said. Some said they took the presence of so many families as a sign that times are changing and that many families want to teach their children to be inclusive. And nearly all talked about the blissfully beautiful day, taking it not only as opportunity to enjoy the some of the last few rays of summer sunshine but also as a blessing. Its just really nice to have a day like this, a place like this to feel safe and inclusive, said Raquel Ficca. Among those having booths were the Legal Aid Justice Center, LGBT+ Democrats of Virginia, Moms Demand Action, Blue Ridge Abortion Fund, Cville Democrats, PFLAG, The Womens Initiative, UVa Health, UVa LGBTQ Center, Sexual Assault Resource Agency (SARA), Anas Goodies, Chalant, Over the Moon Farm & Blooms, Treehug Trading Co., Mountain Trout Treasures, Philosophers Tea, The Pie Guy, and Cocoa and Spice. Your morning rundown of the latest news from overnight and the stories to follow throughout the day. Sign Up View all of our newsletters. Following the recent announcement that Nokia and AT&T Mexico have deployed what they call the first industrial-grade LTE private network in a maritime terminal in the country, theres been another private network announcement in Latin America this time in Brazil and using 5G. Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate Nestle has deployed the first private 5G network in Latin America using the Ericsson Private 5G (EP5G) solution. This is described as the regions first private 5G standalone network with a 100% on-premises network architecture, operating completely separately from the public mobile network. It's a collaboration between Nestle, Ericsson and service providers Claro and Embratel, one that signals the move away from an automated to autonomous factory, although the precise deployment location or locations do not seem to have been announced yet. The EP5G solution enables fast data processing network data transfer speeds up to 25 times higher than 4G and is particularly suited to supporting business-critical applications that require ultra-short response times in the millisecond range. 5Gs high data throughput and low latency will make a significant difference to Nestles industrial environment by transforming its ways of working further building on the companys smart factory focus, and enhancing productivity, efficiency and workplace safety. The project utilizes frequencies licensed for experimental use by Claro. The past few years has seen Nestle take advantage of emerging technologies, such as robotics, automation, artificial intelligence, machine learning, virtual reality and the operation of self-driving vehicles. Ericsson says that, with the private 5G standalone network in place, Nestles entire digital ecosystem will become even more reliable and comprehensive, enabling new innovative use cases. The private and closed cellular network will also strengthen network security, with sensitive data remaining exclusively on the factory's local network. By Azernews By Ayya Lmahamad A delegation from the Azerbaijani Digital Development and Transport Ministry and Azercosmos is taking part in the 73rd International Astronautical Congress taking place in Paris, France, on September 18-22, Azernews reports. The congress, which is organized once a year by the International Astronautical Federation, brings together representatives of the global space industry. This year's event is dedicated to the topic Space For All. Azerbaijan is represented in Paris by stands IAC 2023 Baku and Azercosmos. The stands reflect the history of the development of the space sector in Azerbaijan, space programs carried out in the country, projects implemented to improve knowledge and skills in this field, as well as information about the history, culture, and tourism opportunities of Azerbaijan. Along with Azercosmos, the European Space Agency, the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, space institutions of the UK, the UAE, India, Japan, Germany, and other states are also represented in the exhibition pavilion. Azercosmos participation in the congress is an indicator of the process of rapid preparation for the 74th International Astronautical Congress, which will be held in Baku in 2023. The congress will open new opportunities for further development of the space sector ecosystem, instilling the importance of space for future generations and contributing to space initiatives in Azerbaijan. Moreover, the 12th international meeting of ministers and parliamentarians of the organizations member countries was held within the framework of the congress. Azerbaijan was represented at the meeting by MP Soltan Mammadov and MP Vugar Bayramov. Baku won the right to host the International Astronautical Congress in 2023. The congress, which was first held in 1950 in Paris, is considered the most prestigious space event in the world. Experts are voicing concerns that too many airports would result in low economic efficiency as multiple provinces seek their own. Son La, Tuyen Quang, Kon Tum, Ninh Thuan and Dong Nai have recently proposed to the Ministry of Transport to add five more airports to a draft plan for national airport network development in the 2021-2030 period, with vision until 2050. Son La People's Committee said its Moc Chau national tourism site is situated at an important entrance to both Son La and the northwest region, and acts as a major tourism center for all of the country. The province has proposed to add Moc Chau Airport to the agenda as the region has great potential for both agriculture and tourism. "Due to its important position, potential and advantages, the planning and investment to develop Moc Chau Airport is necessary and would serve national defense and economic development," a representative of Son La said. Similarly, the Tuyen Quang People's Committee has proposed to build Na Hang Airport in Na Hang District's Nang Kha Commune, saying the region has a sparse population yet much land available, with stable, flat geographical features and is also located near the Na Hang-Lam Binh national tourism site and important traffic routes connected with neighboring northern highlands provinces like Ha Giang, Cao Bang and Bac Kan. "If it is built, Na Hang Airport would not only serve travel demand among people of Tuyen Quang, but also those from neighboring localities," provincial authorities said. Kon Tum People's Committee meanwhile proposed to add Mang Den Airport to the agenda, saying Kon Tum is located in a "developmental triangle" of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, with a strategic position for defense and security, and is also an environmental protection site. Low efficiency While it is good to satisfy travel demand, experts argued that, too many airports would be a waste as the demand would be spread among all of them and each cannot be used to its full capacity. Nguyen Bac Tung, an expert, said that most domestic airports currently have a capacity of fewer than a million visitors a year, and many have not been able to reach their designed capacity, like the Van Don, Can Tho and Chu Lai airports. Airports in mountainous areas, with small populations, would also mean low numbers of visitors, he added. Tung said Son La already operates Na San Airport, so there needs to be much consideration before adding Moc Chau Airport to the agenda. Right now, only major cities and economic centers would need two airports, he said. Pham Van Toi, deputy head of the Vietnam Association on Aviation Science and Technology, said Tuyen Quang once had an airport, but due to low demand, it had been scrapped. For mountainous regions, receiving few visitors, it would be difficult to recoup investments from building an airport. The investment required for an airport with a capacity of a million visitors a year would fall between VND3 trillion-5 trillion ($126.7 million-211.3 million), while around 300-500 hectares of land would need to be cleared, experts said. Data from the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam shows that before the Covid-19 pandemic, 9 out of 22 airports in Vietnam received fewer than a million visitors a year. For example, in 2019, Rach Gia Airport in the southern province of Kien Giang only received 32,800 visitors, Ca Mau airport, also in the south, 36,800 and Dien Bien, in the northern highlands, 57,300. These figures represent only a fraction of their designed capacity. The fact that mountainous regions are not ideal for aviation is also something to be considered, said Tung. For example, the Na Hang region of Tuyen Quang or the Moc Chau region of Son La all have rocky mountains and foggy weather. It means that airports in those regions would need an extra 15 kilometers on each end of the runway to make sure wind and sky conditions are clear. Vietnam currently has 22 civilian airports. It wants to have 28 airports by 2030, and 31 by 2050. Vietnamese escapees from a Cambodian casino rest at a house in An Giang Province, southern Vietnam, August 19, 2022. Photo by VnExpress/Ngoc Tai Police in Cambodia's Sihanoukville City said they rescued a Vietnamese woman from an online gambling firm on Friday as part of a crackdown on illegal labor and human trafficking. The woman, whose identity has not been confirmed, posted an "online cry for help" and gave away the location of the company where she was held against her will, which was in Buon Commune, Khmer Times reported. The woman and a Chinese manager have been brought in for questioning. An investigation revealed that the woman had been forced to work for three companies in Sihanoukville, with the last company forcing her to work 14-15 hours per day, police said. Over the past month, Vietnamese and Cambodian authorities have been cooperating to rescue Vietnamese workers trapped in shady casinos and other businesses as illegal labor. On Aug. 18, 42 Vietnamese tried to swim across Binh Di River to escape from the Phoenix casino in Cambodia to Vietnam's An Giang Province. One of them drowned in the process and another was caught back. Another 56 Vietnamese workers escaped from another casino in Bavet Town on Saturday, with the casino eventually handing over another 11 Vietnamese to local authorities. In the first half of this year, the Ministry of Public Security has busted several rings smuggling people to Cambodia for illegal work purposes. Authorities have also rescued hundreds of Vietnamese citizens and supported thousands of others in Cambodia with procedures to return home. Foreign tourist said to be hit by train while taking photos on Hanoi Train Street A barrier set up to prevent tourists from entering the Train Street in Hanoi, September 2022. Photo by VnExpress/Tung Dinh The Hanoi police are verifying information of a near tragedy in which a foreign tourist was hit by a train while trying to take photos on "Train Street" but escaped unhurt. It happened at noon Sunday after the South Korean tourist slipped through the barrier set up to keep people away despite the siren indicating a train's arrival going off. After the collision the person, who was not seriously injured, got up and left the place. The incident caused the passenger train, arriving in Hanoi from the northern province of Lao Cai, to halt for two minutes. Last weekend city authorities shut down coffee shops along the street as a safety measure. Train Street has railway tracks running along Dien Bien Phu and Phung Hung streets in the heart of the old quarter with residential buildings barely feet away on either side. The highly unusual sight fascinates both domestic and foreign tourists, especially selfie lovers. After Vietnam reopened in March the street again began to draw tourists. Cafes set up tables and chairs along the tracks and tourists stood in the middle to take selfies. The United States remains deeply concerned about recent reports of attacks along the Armenia-Azerbaijan border. As we have long made clear, said Secretary of State Blinken, there can be no military solution to the conflict." Upon announcement of a cease fire on September 15, he said, We welcome the cessation of hostilities between Azerbaijan and Armenia and will continue to work with the parties to seek to cement it. The United States remains committed to promoting a peaceful and prosperous future for the South Caucasus region. In an effort to promote regional peace and cooperation in the South Caucasus, the United States recently announced $2,000,000 for humanitarian demining operations in areas affected by the fall 2020 fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Landmines and unexploded ordnance across the conflict zone continue to kill and maim civilians, block economic development, and impede the safe return of displaced communities. The last round of serious fighting between Azerbaijan and Armenia started in September 2020 and lasted six weeks. But the conflict between these two nations goes back for decades and centers on the predominantly Armenian populated region of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding territories internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan. The 2020 war resulted in Azerbaijani control over much of the territory it lost to Armenian and Nagorno Karabakh forces during previous fighting in the 1990s. The 2020 war led to more than 6,000 combat deaths and more than 150 civilian deaths. It also displaced tens of thousands of people, although many have returned. The Azerbaijani government continues to grapple with how to resettle hundreds of thousands of people who were displaced from the conflict zone in the 1990s. The 2020 war did not resolve the disputed political status of Nagorno-Karabakh, according to a January 2021 Congressional Research Service report, and it upended a long-standing international conflict resolution framework that emerged after the 1990s conflict. It is hoped the additional demining funds, in addition to the original $500,000 announced in November 2021, will support the technical capacity of demining organizations to clear deadly landmines and unexploded ordnance so people can rebuild their lives safely. Renewed hostilities in the South Caucasus put all of that at risk. The United States is the worlds largest single financial supporter of conventional weapons destruction, investing over $4.7 billion in more than 100 countries since 1993 to promote international peace and security by addressing the threats that landmines and unexploded ordnance pose to civilians. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) free trade agreement could be a contributor to the region's post-COVID-19 pandemic recovery efforts, according to an ASEAN joint statement released on Sunday. The statement was issued after the inaugural RCEP Ministers' Meeting held in northwest Cambodia's Siem Reap province, on the sidelines of the 54th ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Economic Ministers' Meeting. According to the statement, the meeting welcomed the entry into force of the RCEP agreement on Jan. 1, 2022 and looked forward to its ratification by all signatory states. The mega-regional trade pact comprises 15 Asia-Pacific countries including 10 ASEAN member states-Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, and their five trading partners, namely China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. "The meeting shared the view that the RCEP could contribute to the region's post-pandemic recovery efforts and to creating a more resilient supply chain," the statement said. "In this regard, the meeting highlighted the need to promote greater utilization of the RCEP agreement to deepen regional economic integration." The meeting also noted the progress of the work of the RCEP Joint Committee and welcomed the establishment of subsidiary bodies under the joint committee's supervision, it said. "The meeting encouraged officials to work to expand the utilization of the RCEP agreement and to monitor and review the implementation of the RCEP agreement to improve business environment in the region," the statement said. Also, the meeting looked forward to the expeditious establishment of the RCEP Secretariat, on terms to be agreed by the parties, to provide secretariat and technical support to the RCEP Joint Committee and its subsidiary bodies, it added. "The RCEP trade deal is an important instrument to boost the post-pandemic economic recovery in the region," Cambodian Ministry of Commerce's Undersecretary of State and Spokesman Penn Sovicheat said during a press conference after the meeting. "For Cambodia, the RCEP has injected new momentum into our foreign trade growth, and we have seen a remarkable rise in our export to the RCEP member countries in the first half of this year," he added. Sovicheat said Cambodia's total export to the RCEP member countries had increased to 3.28 billion U.S. dollars during the January-June period of 2022, up 10 percent from the same period last year. Thong Mengdavid, a research fellow at the Phnom Penh-based Asian Vision Institute, said the RCEP established the biggest trade bloc in the world's history, covering nearly a third of the global population, around 30 percent of the global gross domestic product (GDP), and 28 percent of global trade. "With free flow of products and more relaxing trade barriers among the 15 member states, RCEP provides various benefits and opportunities for the bloc to diversify their markets and enhance the production capability," he told Xinhua. "Additionally, the RCEP will enhance the roles of multilateralism based on a rule-based international order, henceforth, promoting more cooperation and peaceful trade activities in the region," Mengdavid said. Photo for illustration. (Source: VNA) Vietnam was among the top 10 most popular destinations for Australian travelers in July, with more than 18,500 Australians visiting the Southeast Asian country in the month, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). Accordingly, Vietnam came after other popular destinations such as New Zealnd, Indonesia, the UK and the US. New Zealand ranked first in the top 10 destinations for Australian tourists, with 96,180 arrivals, which was followed by Indonesia, the UK, the US, Fiji, India, Singapore, Thailand and Italy. Compared to the previous months of this year, after Australia and Vietnam both opened their international borders, the number of Australians coming to Vietnam increased significantly. ABS statistics show Australians spend an average of 19 days on each overseas trip. The most common purpose of trips is tourism, which accounts for nearly half of all trips, including visiting friends and/or relatives./. GUIYANG, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- Twenty-seven people were killed and 20 others injured after a bus turned on its side in southwest China's Guizhou Province early Sunday morning, local police said. The bus with 47 people on board was running on a highway section in Sandu Shui Autonomous County when the accident happened, the county's public security bureau said. Editor: ZAD On September 18, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken made a phone call to President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev. The importance of continuing efforts to strengthen the achieved ceasefire regime, ensure sustainable peace and security in the region, normalize Armenia-Azerbaijan relations, including peace treaty negotiations, and open transport corridors was underlined during the phone conversation. Over the past decade, Shanghai has been the testing ground for institutional innovation and spearheading high-quality growth, sharing opportunities with the world. Shanghai has seen emerging industries mushrooming and the business environment constantly improving in the past 10 years. The China International Import Expo, the world's first import-themed national-level expo, has become an important window for global enterprises to share China's development dividends. SHANGHAI, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- It has been a hectic September at Haitong Pier, one of China's largest auto-export terminals, in Shanghai's Pudong New Area, with cargo ships fully loaded with new energy vehicles (NEVs) being checked and cleared for departure. Produced by companies like Chery, Geely and other Chinese carmakers, the NEVs have been forming long queues ahead of boarding, before being shipped to destinations in Europe, the Middle East and South America. The bustling scene is a microcosm of the pioneering role that the metropolis of Shanghai has undertaken in reform, opening up and economic development. In this aerial photo, vehicles are seen before being shipped to Australia, at Haitong Pier, one of China's largest auto-export terminals, in east China's Shanghai, May 25, 2022. (Xinhua/Fang Zhe) DEVELOPMENT VANGUARD Over the past decade, Shanghai has been the testing ground for institutional innovation and spearheading high-quality growth, sharing opportunities with the world. Just three or four years ago, only about 10 percent of the automobiles from Haitong Pier were exported to Europe. In the first half (H1) of 2022, the proportion climbed to 40 percent. "Over the past two years, a vacancy on ro-ro ships delivering cars to Europe has often been hard to get," said Xi Jialin, executive director of the marketing department of Shanghai Haitong International Automotive Terminal Co., Ltd. In H1, despite the impact of the novel coronavirus flare-ups in several regions across China, the throughput of Haitong Pier rose by more than 20 percent year on year, and exports logged a year-on-year increase of more than 50 percent. Over the past decade, Shanghai has seen emerging industries mushrooming and the business environment constantly improving. The China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone (FTZ), the first pilot FTZ in the country, was established in Pudong in 2013. In 2019, Pudong's vanguard role was further exemplified as the country launched the new Lingang area of the Shanghai pilot FTZ. By August 2022, U.S. automaker Tesla's Shanghai Gigafactory had accumulatively manufactured 1 million vehicles. As a major foreign-invested project, the factory began construction in January 2019 when the area in Lingang was still a wasteland. Aerial photo taken on Aug. 20, 2022 shows the Tesla Gigafactory in the new Lingang area of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone in east China's Shanghai. (Xinhua/Jin Liwang) So far, more than 60,000 foreign-funded enterprises have invested in Shanghai, including 857 regional headquarters of multinational corporations and 516 foreign-funded research and development centers. The actual use of foreign investment in the megacity has exceeded 300 billion U.S. dollars, Gong Zheng, mayor of Shanghai told a press briefing in early August. SHARING OPPORTUNITIES Over the past five years, the China International Import Expo (CIIE), the world's first import-themed national-level expo, has become an important window for global enterprises to share China's development dividends. "We immediately decided to participate in the exhibition after receiving the invitation," recalled Noboru Miura, China Chief Representative of Nachi-Fujikoshi (China) Co., Ltd. In 2018, the Japanese company was among the first enterprises to sign contracts for participation at the first CIIE. Photo taken on Oct. 22, 2021 shows decorative installations near an entrance of the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai), the main venue for the China International Import Expo (CIIE), in east China's Shanghai. (Xinhua/Fang Zhe) As China is the most important strategic market for Nachi, Miura noted that the CIIE is not merely an "exhibition that simply sells products." The company, which has established its Chinese headquarters in Shanghai, hopes that the CIIE can present Nachi's cutting-edge technology and advanced products to the Chinese consumers, bringing more and more opportunities for cooperation. According to Quan Heng, a researcher with the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, the continuous hosting of the CIIE in Shanghai not only allows the world to share China's market opportunities, but also provides an international public good for economic globalization. The CIIE has not only enriched the lives of Chinese consumers, who enjoy much easier access to a wide array of gourmet fare and products from across the globe, but also has significantly enlarged cooperation between Chinese and overseas companies. In late June, General Motors and Shanghai's Pudong New Area inked an agreement, in which the automaker proposed to increase investment of 100 million U.S. dollars in the premium import business. HIGHER-LEVEL OPENING UP Along with the lengthening list of supportive trade measures, the past decade has also been a time when trimmed negative lists for foreign investment and the lifting of foreign-ownership caps in some sectors have brought in a large inflow of capital, and boosted the Chinese economy via increased competition and enhanced cooperation. "The concept of 'free trade' has spread from Shanghai to the whole country, and the 'CIIE bonus' has benefited consumers all over the country as well as enterprises worldwide," Quan said. According to Quan, Shanghai will continue to adapt to high standards of international rules, promote the flow of industrial factors and the more effective allocation of resources, and promote the connection between the Chinese and overseas markets under the new development pattern of "dual circulation" of domestic and international markets. (Reporting by Xu Xiaoqing, Zhou Rui, Yang Kai, Ma Yujie) Editor: ZAD People attend a ceremony to commemorate the September 18 Incident and the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression at the 9.18 Historical Museum in Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province, Sept. 18, 2022. Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province, resounded with wailing air-raid sirens and vehicle horns on Sunday, the 91st anniversary of the September 18 Incident that marked the start of Japan's 14-year invasion of China. (Xinhua/Yang Qing) SHENYANG, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province, resounded with wailing air-raid sirens and vehicle horns on Sunday, the 91st anniversary of the September 18 Incident that marked the start of Japan's invasion of China. As the sirens howled in the city, pedestrians stood in silent tribute, and vehicles honked. Since 1995, Shenyang has sounded the air-raid alarm on this occasion to commemorate the September 18 Incident for 28 years in a row. At the 9.18 Historical Museum, nearly 300 people from all walks of life gathered and held a ceremony to commemorate the September 18 Incident and the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. Flanked by the honor guards of the People's Liberation Army, 14 representatives from various sectors struck a huge bell 14 times at around 9:18 a.m. in commemoration of the 14-year-long bitter war against Japanese invaders. On Sept. 18, 1931, Japanese troops blew up a section of railway under their control near Shenyang and accused Chinese troops of sabotage as a pretext for the attack. Later that night, they bombarded barracks near Shenyang. Just 3 km from the museum lies the Beidaying (Northern Grand Barracks) site that the Japanese troops bombarded. It officially reopened to visitors as an exhibition hall after renovations at the end of last year. "The site is like an indelible deep scar left by the Japanese invaders, which the Chinese people will never forget," said Jing Shaofu, former curator of the city archives. Wang Cheng, a taxi driver, pulled over and honked the horn to pay tribute. "I stop my work to honk every year. That's my way of remembering history." To the echoes of sirens and the tolling of the bell, Chen Jiale, a high school student, stood straight and gazed at the calendar-shaped September 18 Incident monument at the 9.18 Historical Museum. "Like our parents and grandparents, our generation will never forget the history," said Chen. Other Chinese cities including Chengdu, Nanchang and Nanjing also sounded sirens as a reminder for people to stay alert in times of peace. People attend a ceremony to commemorate the September 18 Incident and the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression at the 9.18 Historical Museum in Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province, Sept. 18, 2022. Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province, resounded with wailing air-raid sirens and vehicle horns on Sunday, the 91st anniversary of the September 18 Incident that marked the start of Japan's 14-year invasion of China. (Xinhua/Yang Qing) Veterans attend a ceremony to commemorate the September 18 Incident and the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression at the 9.18 Historical Museum in Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province, Sept. 18, 2022. Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province, resounded with wailing air-raid sirens and vehicle horns on Sunday, the 91st anniversary of the September 18 Incident that marked the start of Japan's 14-year invasion of China. (Xinhua/Yang Qing) People attend a ceremony to commemorate the September 18 Incident and the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression at the 9.18 Historical Museum in Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province, Sept. 18, 2022. Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province, resounded with wailing air-raid sirens and vehicle horns on Sunday, the 91st anniversary of the September 18 Incident that marked the start of Japan's 14-year invasion of China. (Xinhua/Yang Qing) People strike a huge bell during a ceremony to commemorate the September 18 Incident and the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression at the 9.18 Historical Museum in Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province, Sept. 18, 2022. Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province, resounded with wailing air-raid sirens and vehicle horns on Sunday, the 91st anniversary of the September 18 Incident that marked the start of Japan's 14-year invasion of China. (Xinhua/Yang Qing) People attend a ceremony to commemorate the September 18 Incident and the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression at the 9.18 Historical Museum in Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province, Sept. 18, 2022. Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province, resounded with wailing air-raid sirens and vehicle horns on Sunday, the 91st anniversary of the September 18 Incident that marked the start of Japan's 14-year invasion of China. (Xinhua/Yang Qing) Editor: GSY Screen image captured at Beijing Aerospace Control Center on Sept. 17, 2022 shows Shenzhou-14 astronaut Liu Yang, who is inside the core module, supporting her crewmates who have successfully exited the space station lab module Wentian to conduct extravehicular activities (EVAs). (Xinhua/Guo Zhongzheng) BEIJING, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- China's Shenzhou-14 astronauts have completed their extravehicular activities (EVAs), the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said on Saturday. At 1:35 p.m. (Beijing Time), Cai Xuzhe opened the hatch of Wentian's airlock cabin. By 3:33 p.m., both Cai and Chen Dong were outside. The pair returned to the lab module at 5:47 p.m. after about five hours of EVAs, according to the CMSA, which has declared the mission a complete success. During the EVAs, astronaut Liu Yang was inside the core module, supporting her crewmates. They have completed a series of tasks, including the installation of extravehicular assistance handles and the extended pump set of the load circuits. They also verified the extravehicular rescue capability. The EVAs have further examined the coordination capability of astronauts and the small mechanical arm, and verified the functional performance of Wentian's airlock cabin and supporting facilities for EVAs. Screen image captured at Beijing Aerospace Control Center on Sept. 17, 2022 shows Shenzhou-14 astronaut Chen Dong (R) and Cai Xuzhe both outside conducting extravehicular activities (EVAs). (Xinhua/Guo Zhongzheng) Screen image captured at Beijing Aerospace Control Center on Sept. 17, 2022 shows Shenzhou-14 astronaut Cai Xuzhe closing the hatch of Wentian's airlock cabin after finishing extravehicular activities (EVAs). (Xinhua/Guo Zhongzheng) Screen image captured at Beijing Aerospace Control Center on Sept. 17, 2022 shows Shenzhou-14 astronaut Chen Dong returning to space station lab module Wentian after finishing extravehicular activities (EVAs). (Xinhua/Guo Zhongzheng) Screen image captured at Beijing Aerospace Control Center on Sept. 17, 2022 shows Shenzhou-14 astronaut Chen Dong (R) returning to space station lab module Wentian after finishing extravehicular activities (EVAs). (Xinhua/Guo Zhongzheng) Screen image captured at Beijing Aerospace Control Center on Sept. 17, 2022 shows Shenzhou-14 astronaut Chen Dong (L) and Cai Xuzhe returning to space station lab module Wentian after finishing extravehicular activities (EVAs). (Xinhua/Guo Zhongzheng) Screen image captured at Beijing Aerospace Control Center on Sept. 17, 2022 shows Shenzhou-14 astronaut Cai Xuzhe returning to space station lab module Wentian after finishing extravehicular activities (EVAs). (Xinhua/Guo Zhongzheng) Editor: WXL Hungarian sinologist and literary translator Klara Zombory(C), Eva Kalmar(R) and Miklos M. Nagy, author and director of the Helikon publisher, attend an event organized by the Contemporary Chinese Literature Book Club of Hungary held in Budapest, Hungary, Sept. 15, 2022. A literary event organized by the Contemporary Chinese Literature Book Club of Hungary was held here on Thursday. (Xinhua/Chen Hao) BUDAPEST, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- The oeuvre of famous Chinese contemporary writer Yu Hua was at the center of a recent event organized by the Contemporary Chinese Literature Book Club of Hungary here in a trendy literary cafe-bookshop. The Chinese author greeted the book club, which premiered with his books Thursday evening, in a video message. "Each of my works is about the lives and experiences of Chinese people, Chinese people who are shaped by experiencing the changes of the times," Yu said. The literary event was chaired by Klara Zombory, a sinologist and literary translator. The guests talked about Yu's renowned novel "To Live", the grotesque elements and the omnipresence of life and death in his writings. Zombory told Xinhua that said that Yu was one of her favorite writers, and translating his work was the reason she became a literary translator. Explaining Yu's success in Europe, she said Yu's language is easy to understand and the stories he tells are interesting to Europeans. On the purpose of setting up the Contemporary Chinese Literature Book Club, Zombory said she believed that translating books was not enough, and there needed to be such activities to introduce these books to Hungarian readers. Hungarian sinologist and literary translator Eva Kalmar said that Yu, considered a master of avant-garde, was a rare expert of modern Chinese society, and depicted its elements in a meticulous way. Miklos M. Nagy, an author and director of the Helikon publisher, said that Yu was a well-known and popular writer in Hungary. Five of Yu's books have been published in Hungary, and his latest novel "Wencheng" will soon be published in the country. Daniel Fodor, a young lawyer trainee, said he was eager to learn more about the writer and Chinese literature in general after attending the event. The event was co-hosted by the China Cultural Center in Budapest, with support from the Chinese Writers Association. Editor: WXL President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has said that the impression of a lull after a number of victories is false. Perhaps it seems to someone now that after a series of victories we have a certain lull. But this is not a lull. This is preparation for the next sequence [of words], he said in his traditional video address Sunday evening. Zelensky said that during the meetings he holds every day, the same words are heard. And this is always the time for the most important words for Ukraine. Izium, Balakliya, Kupyansk and Kharkiv region in general are the cities and communities that we have liberated. These words are heard now. They are heard everywhere, he said. Mariupol, Melitopol and Kherson are also heard, but they will sound even more often and louder when we liberate them. Donetsk, Horlivka and Luhansk - they will be heard as well. Dzhankoy, Yevpatoriya, Yalta - and they will, too. Definitely. We do not talk about whats not ours. Only our words, Ukrainian words, sound, the president stressed. Perhaps, Zelensky said, it seems to someone now that after a series of victories we have a certain lull. But this is not a lull. This is preparation for the next sequence. For the next sequence of words that are very important to us all and that definitely must be heard. On Sunday night, the enemy launched a rocket attack on Mykolaiv, there were no casualties among the people, Mayor Oleksandr Senkevych reports. "Mykolaiv has been shelled after midnight today. One of the rockets hit the courtyard of a private house. A utility building has been completely destroyed there, windows, doors, and a mutilated roof have been knocked out in several residential buildings. Fortunately, none of the residents were injured," Senkevych wrote on the Telegram channel on Monday morning. In addition, "about 300 meters of contact wire of the tram network were damaged in one of the sections. The repair team of Mykoliavelectrotrans is already working on the spot." At the moment, the area of the shelling is being examined, detailed information will be published later. Shmyhal, First Lady of Ukraine arrive in London to honor memory of Elizabeth II Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal has said that together with the First Lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska, he arrived in London to pay respects to Queen Elizabeth II. "At the invitation of the British side, we arrived in London today to pay homage to Her Majesty King Elizabeth II and express condolences on behalf of the President, Government and people of Ukraine. The Queen enjoyed great public and favor in the United Kingdom. She was also admired far beyond the borders of the Kingdom, including Ukraine," Shmyhal wrote on the Telegram channel on Sunday evening. The Prime Minister also noted that Elizabeth II "was the head of state who was one of the first to lend a helping hand when Ukraine faced the barbaric Russian invasion. States that are still doing everything possible to bring our victory closer." In addition, Shmyhal expressed gratitude to the Government of the United Kingdom. The state funeral ceremony of Queen Elizabeth II, who died on September 8, is to take place in London on Monday. Rocket fire on the territory of the Pivdennoukrainska nuclear power plant by Russian troops puts the world on the brink of a nuclear disaster, Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Haluschenko has said. "Russia, in desperation, is putting the world on the brink of a nuclear disaster seeking to achieve at least some concessions in its energy blackmail of Europe. The world must finally give a tough rebuff to the terrorist country. It is still not too late and a nuclear disaster is only a threat, which, unfortunately, every day becomes more real," he wrote on Facebook. According to the minister, it is necessary to increase efforts to counter Russian aggression to stop nuclear terror in Ukraine. "If nuclear winter comes, the problem of high electricity prices will cease to be relevant," Haluschenko said. On Monday, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky held another meeting of the Staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, the press service of the President's Office has said. "Separately, the participants focused on the preparation of the defense forces for the winter period. In this context, the issue of providing military personnel with sets of winter uniform, shoes and means of heating was considered," it said. The issue of logistical support of the Ukrainian army, in particular the supply of the necessary weapons and ammunition, remains under particular control of the Staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. The participants of the meeting listened to the reports of the commanders of the operative areas regarding the situation on the frontline and considered in detail the action plan of the defense forces regarding the further de-occupation of the Ukrainian territories. In addition, issues of ensuring security at the state border of Ukraine were considered. The participants of the meeting included Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valeriy Zaluzhny, Chief of Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Serhiy Shaptala, Chief of the Main Directorate of Intelligence Kyrylo Budanov, Commander of the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Viktor Khorenko, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksiy Danilov, Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky, Commander of the National Guard Yuriy Lebid, Head of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine Serhiy Deyneko, Acting Head of the Security Service of Ukraine Vasyl Maliuk, Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov, Head of the President's Office Andriy Yermak and his deputy Roman Mashovets. Commander of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrsky, Commander of the Zakhid (West) Operative Command Forces Serhiy Litvinov and Commander of the Pivden (South) Operative Command Forces Andriy Kovalchuk joined the meeting via videoconference. By Azernews By Vugar Khalilov Baku has urged the host nations to protect the Azerbaijani diplomatic missions from possible attacks of Armenian fanatics in their territories, Azernews reports, citing the Foreign Ministry. We strongly condemn the criminal actions of the radical Armenian groups and expect a responsible attitude to their duties from agencies in charge of preventing such provocations in the respective countries, the ministry said in a statement. The ministry emphasized that the attacks by Armenian communities on buildings of the Azerbaijani diplomatic missions abroad are a source of serious concern. These assaults, which include elements of vandalism and terrorism, are intended to hurt diplomats and their properties, and hence are classified as criminal acts, the ministry underlined. Azerbaijan demands that the acts of vandalism committed by radical Armenian forces be investigated by the respective countries' law enforcement authorities and those liable for these crimes to face legal consequences, it added. The ministry reminded that in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961, it is the host state's specific obligation to safeguard the diplomatic mission from all types of assaults and damage and to take the necessary steps to avoid a breach of tranquility or an insult to the mission's honor. Following the recent border clashes between Azerbaijani and Armenian military forces in response to the latter's provocation, a number of Azerbaijani missions overseas have been attacked and vandalized by Armenian fanatical groups. On September 18, Armenian extremists in France stormed the building of the Azerbaijani embassy in Paris. French Armenian fanatics storm the building of the Azerbaijani embassy in Paris. But let's leave the Armenian barbarians aside. Mr. Emmanuel Macron, shame on France, which does not protect embassies and ignores our fundamental requests related to our security, Rahman Mustafayev, Azerbaijani Ambassador to France tweeted. Similarly, an aggressive group of Armenian radicals attacked the Azerbaijani embassy in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, on September 16. The related video has gone viral on social media, which showed a crowd attempting to attack the diplomatic mission. Azerbaijani Human Rights Commissioner Sabina Aliyeva has condemned the attacks on the diplomatic missions, urging the international community to take measures based on the norms and principles of international law to ensure the protection of embassies and diplomatic missions. We strongly condemn such heinous events, which contribute to the creation of an atmosphere of intolerance toward Azerbaijanis in Armenia and beyond, hinder the provision of sustainable peace between the parties, as well as the development of hateful and spiteful expressions by people of Armenian descent in public speeches and on social media that encourage hostility, Aliyeva said. She urged the Armenian government to uphold its international duties, refrain from discrimination on the basis of ethnicity, and end its anti-Azerbaijani policies as soon as possible. To recap, units of the Armenian armed forces carried out large-scale provocations along the Azerbaijani-Armenian state border in the Dashkasan, Kalbajar, and Lachin directions on the night of September 12 leading to 13. The Armenian sabotage groups mined land and supply roads linking the positions of the Azerbaijani army units in different directions, taking advantage of the area's steep topography and existing ravine gaps. The clashes between the sides ensued as a result of the urgent efforts made by the Azerbaijani armed forces to quell these activities. As a result, 79 armed forces personnel were killed, the ministry detailed. The Azerbaijan military units stationed in these areas took decisive retaliatory measures to suppress the provocations of the Armenian armed forces and military threats to Azerbaijan's territory and sovereignty, as well as to ensure the safety of military personnel, including civilian workers involved in infrastructure construction in Kalbajar and Lachin districts, the ministry emphasized. So far, the Armenian government reported 135 losses among its own military personnel. Likely damage to the hydraulic structures of Kyiv hydroelectric power plant (HPP) as a result of a missile strike will not cause catastrophic consequences, the website of PrJSC Ukrhydroenergo reported on Monday. "The hydraulic structures of Kyiv HPP are in good condition, a dam failure is unlikely, and the likely damage from a missile attack will not cause catastrophic consequences," the company said. As Ukrhydroenergo said, in the event of a missile attack by Russian troops directly on the dam of the Kyiv hydroelectric complex, a critical threat to the population is not predicted. "Since the plant itself and the dam were designed and built in the 60s, taking into account the threats of that time, with a significant margin of safety and stability, it is not so easy to destroy or significantly damage massive hydraulic structures with a missile attack," the company said. At the same time, the company explained that in the event of damage to the metal gates of the dam, a gradual uncontrolled leakage of water from Kyiv reservoir may occur, resulting in a short-term flooding of some areas in the lower basin of the hydroelectric complex. However, the flood zones will be insignificant and known to both the State Emergency Service and local authorities. Therefore, local residents will be notified in advance, Ukrhydroenergo added. "From the point of view of reliability, the hydraulic structures of Kyiv HPP, like other plants of the company, do not raise any doubts, which is confirmed by the relevant conclusions of the interdepartmental commission, which conducts their examination every five years," the company's website states. As Ukrhydroenergo informed, the hydraulic structures of Kyiv HPP are equipped with control and measuring gear in the amount provided for by the project. The composition and number of controlled indicators correspond to the current regulatory documents. The hydraulic structures are equipped with an automated system for managing the safety of hydraulic structures, which provides round-the-clock continuous monitoring of the main indicators of the state of structures. Constant operational control and functioning of the automated system for monitoring the safety of structures ensure the timely identification of any prerequisites for changing the state of structures and preventing an emergency. "Therefore, Ukrhydroenergo considers the dissemination of unfounded assessments of catastrophic consequences of a possible breakthrough of the Kyiv HPP dam as a dubious, inappropriate, and sometimes harmful activity aimed at escalating panic," the company concluded, refuting the information of a number of media about the alleged catastrophic consequences in the event of a missile attack on the hydraulic structures at Kyiv hydroelectric power plant. Ukrhydroenergo operates all major hydroelectric power plants located on the Ukrainian sections of the Dnipro and Dniester Rivers. Germany to give Ukraine four more PzH 2000 self-propelled howitzers with ammo The German Armed Forces will provide Ukraine with four more Panzerhaubitze 2000 self-propelled howitzers with ammunition, the press service of the country's defense ministry reports. "Despite the difficult material position, Bundeswehr will support Ukraine by providing four more PzH 2000 self-propelled howitzers with ammunition," the message posted on Twitter reads. It clarifies that, thus, the number of these systems supplied to Ukraine jointly with the Netherlands has reached 22, 14 of which have been transferred by Germany. Defense Forces repelled enemy attacks in the areas of the settlements of Mykolaivka Druha, Kurdiumivka and Zaitseve, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU). According to the General Staff on Facebook, during the day, aviation of the Defense Forces hit 11 areas of concentration of enemy manpower and military equipment, one position of an anti-aircraft missile system and one ammunition depot. "Rocket troops and artillery inflicted fire damage on five strongholds and areas of concentration of personnel and military equipment, as well as three ammunition warehouses of the occupiers. The total losses of the enemy are being clarified," the General Staff reports. In addition, our air defense units destroyed the Su-25 aircraft, a guided air missile and three enemy UAVs in various directions. The facts of damage to enemy personnel and facilities for September 18 in Zaporizhia region have been confirmed. Ten artillery systems, five units of military equipment and enemy personnel were destroyed in the specified direction. "According to available information, more than one hundred servicemen were injured," the report notes. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky had a talk with Chairman and CEO of the world's largest investment company BlackRock, Larry Fink. They discussed the possibility of attracting public and private investments to Ukraine, Zelensky said on his Telegram channel. "Our country is interested in the arrival of global capital, which will create new jobs and develop the economy. We are able and want to restore a normal investment climate," Zelensky wrote. According to the press service of the head of state, Zelensky and Fink discussed how BlackRock's Financial Markets Advisory department can provide pro bono advice to the Ukrainian government on the creation of a Recovery Fund to support the Ukrainian economy. "This could include advice on the structure, investment process, governance and use of proceeds for a fund. The goal of the fund would be to create opportunity for both public and private investors to participate in reconstructing and rejuvenating the market economy in Ukraine by delivering fair and just returns to investors," the press service said. "The investment attractiveness of our country is of particular importance. It's important to me that a structure like this be successful for all parties involved," Zelensky said. Egypt is set to start second stage of the Decent Life Initiative, which comprises a series of countryside-focused national infrastructure projects, by January 2023, Minister of Local development Hisham Amna said on Thursday. US President Joe Biden was to pay his last respects in London to Queen Elizabeth II on Sunday as ordinary mourners queued for the final 24 hours left to view her coffin lying in state. After witnessing the sombre scene in parliament's Westminster Hall, Biden, Japan's Emperor Naruhito and other world leaders were due to attend a reception with the late queen's successor, King Charles III. Biden, who flew in late Saturday, has said that Elizabeth, who was queen for a record-breaking 70 years, "defined an era". Australia's anti-monarchy Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who viewed the lying-in-state Saturday, told Sky News Australia that the queen was "a constant reassuring presence". Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada, which like Australia now has Charles as its sovereign, said she "served for her entire life, and bore the weight of her duties with impeccable grace". They are among dozens of heads of state and government in attendance, as Britain stages its biggest-ever policing operation for the historic funeral of its longest-reigning monarch. The first members of the public were already camping out in advance to catch a glimpse of Monday's grand farewell at Westminster Abbey, which is expected to bring London to a standstill and be watched by billions of viewers worldwide. "The nation's granny" "We wanted to have a good spot to see the procession," said Royal Navy veteran Bill Parry, 59, as he waited in camping chairs with two other former servicemen. "It's not much to ask to sleep outside considering everything the queen did for us: 70 years of duty." Britain will hold a minute's silence at 8:00 pm (1900 GMT) on Sunday to reflect on the "life and legacy" of the queen ahead of her funeral. Those wanting to view the flag-draped casket have until 6:30 am (0530 GMT) on Monday to make it into the cavernous Westminster Hall opposite the abbey. As the queue continued to snake for miles (kilometres) along the River Thames Sunday morning, the waiting time stood at more than 13 hours, and the line could be closed early at some point. IT worker Shaun Mayo, 27, was among those relieved to have made it to Westminster Hall after queueing for 14 hours to pay his respects. "It was incredibly emotional. She was like the nation's granny," he told AFP. "We'll all miss her." A man who was arrested after approaching the casket on Friday has been charged with a public order offence, police said. Grandchildren's vigil As mourners streamed by on Saturday evening, Prince William and his estranged younger brother Prince Harry led the queen's eight grandchildren in a 12-minute vigil around the coffin. Harry -- who did two tours with the British Army in Afghanistan -- wore the uniform of the Blues and Royals cavalry regiment in which he served. The move appeared to be the latest olive branch offered by Charles towards his youngest son after Harry and his wife Meghan, now living in California, accused the royal family of racism. No longer a working royal, Harry, 38, was stripped of his higher-ranking honorary military titles. The vigil will be the only time he will be seen in military dress at royal ceremonial occasions. The king and his eldest son William, the new heir to the throne, had earlier surprised those standing in line along the Thames by staging an unscheduled walkabout to shake their hands and thank them for coming. Queen Elizabeth's state funeral, the first in Britain since the death of her first prime minister Winston Churchill in 1965, will take place Monday at Westminster Abbey in London at 11:00 am (1000 GMT). Russia says "immoral" Leaders from Russia, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Syria and North Korea were not invited to join the 2,000 guests. Moscow's foreign ministry last week called the decision "deeply immoral", and "blasphemous" to the queen's memory. China will attend at the abbey, but was barred by parliamentary leaders from the lying-in-state. More than 2,000 police officers have been drafted from across the country to help Scotland Yard. After the funeral, the queen's coffin will be transferred to Windsor Castle, west of London, for a private burial when she will be laid to rest alongside her late husband Prince Philip, her parents and her sister. Camilla, the new queen consort, was the latest royal to pay tribute as she remembered her mother-in-law's smile and "wonderful blue eyes". "It must have been so difficult for her being a solitary woman" in a world dominated by men, Camilla said in televised comments. "There weren't women prime ministers or presidents. She was the only one so I think she carved her own role." Search Keywords: Short link: UN investigators said Monday they believed Ethiopia's government was behind ongoing crimes against humanity in Tigray, and warned the resumption of the conflict there increased the risk of "further atrocity crimes". In its first report, the Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia said it had found evidence of widespread violations by all sides since fighting erupted in the northern Tigray region in November 2020. The commission, created by the UN Human Rights Council last December and made up of three independent rights experts, said it had "reasonable grounds to believe that, in several instances, these violations amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity". The experts listed a long line of horrific violations, from extrajudicial killings to intentional starvation and rape and sexual violence perpetrated on a "staggering scale". And they highlighted in particular the situation in Tigray, where the government and its allies have denied around six million people access to basic services, including the internet and banking, for more than a year. Severe restrictions on humanitarian access have left 90 percent of the region's population in dire need of assistance. 'Shocking' The report said there were "reasonable grounds to believe that the Federal Government and allied regional State governments have committed and continue to commit the crimes against humanity of persecution on ethnic grounds and other inhumane acts". They were "intentionally causing great suffering or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health based on their ongoing denial and obstruction of humanitarian assistance to Tigray", the report said. In a statement, commission chair Kaari Betty Murungi described the humanitarian crisis in Tigray as "shocking, both in terms of scale and duration". "The widespread denial and obstruction of access to basic services, food, healthcare, and humanitarian assistance is having a devastating impact on the civilian population," she said. She condemned likely crimes against humanity and warned that the government appeared to be "using starvation as a method of warfare". Murungi called on the government to "immediately restore basic services and ensure full and unfettered humanitarian access". She also urged Tigrayan forces to "ensure that humanitarian agencies are able to operate without impediment". 'Atrocity Crimes' Since war broke out in November 2020, thousands have died, and many more have been forced to flee their homes as the conflict expanded from Tigray to the neighbouring regions of Amhara and Afar. A truce in March had raised hopes for a peaceful resolution of the war, but those were dashed when combat resumed last month. "With a resumption of hostilities in northern Ethiopia, there is a very real risk of further civilian suffering and further atrocity crimes," Murungi warned. Even before the fighting resumed, the experts said they had found evidence that rape and sexual violence had been perpetrated on a "staggering scale" since the conflict erupted, especially targeting Tigrayan women and girls. An earlier joint investigation by the UN rights office and Ethiopia's Human Rights Commission determined that possible war crimes and crimes against humanity had been committed by all sides. Tigrayan authorities welcomed the report, with a spokesman telling AFP they had "always maintained" that Ethiopia's government was responsible for crimes against humanity in the region. Monday's report meanwhile also found reasonable grounds to believe that Tigrayan forces had committed war crimes, including large-scale killings of Amhara civilians, rape and sexual violence. 'Hatred Along Ethnic Lines' The experts voiced alarm at their findings, which they said "reflect profound polarisation and hatred along ethnic lines in Ethiopia". "This has created a disturbing cycle of extreme violence and retribution, which raises the imminent threat of further and more pronounced atrocity crimes," their report warned. The report, due to be presented to the rights council on September 22, made a number of recommendations, including that all parties to the conflict "immediately cease hostilities and violations... including those that might amount to war crimes or crimes against humanity". It calls on the UN rights office to ensure "full monitoring" of the situation in Ethiopia, and urges the Ethiopian government, its Eritrean ally and authorities in Tigray to investigate and bring all perpetrators of abuses to justice. Search Keywords: Short link: The Supreme Council of German Muslims has denied all entities linked to the Muslim Brotherhood membership of the council, including the Islamic Centre in Munich and the Student Union affiliated to the Brotherhood. The council also stripped Ibrahim El-Zayat, one of the Brotherhood leaders based in Germany, of all his positions, according to sources. El-Zayat, who is of Egyptian origin, held several positions in Germany, including the presidency of the Islamic Society in Germany in 2001, according to media reports. The Council of German Muslims held its elections on Sunday amid major challenges facing Muslims in Germany. Foremost of these is taking advantage of their legitimate platforms that represent them by the Brotherhood group. Egypt designated the Brotherhood a terrorist organisation in 2013, months after the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi following mass protests. Saudi Arabia and the UAE followed suit in 2020. Almost all leading Muslim Brotherhood figures in Egypt have been arrested and face trial following Morsi's ouster. Search Keywords: Short link: Egypt and India discussed on Monday means of boosting military and security cooperation, particularly with regard to cooperation in manufacturing, transferring, and localising technology, with the aim of making use of the capabilities and infrastructure available in the two countries. This came during a meeting between Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and Indian Minister of Defence Rajnath Singh, in the presence of Egyptian Minister of Defence and Military Production Mohamed Zaki. President El-Sisi asserted Egypt's keenness to bolster cooperation with India in the military and defence fields, praising "the inextricable historical ties" between Cairo and New Delhi. He also expressed Egypt's aspiration to activate the partnership with India in a way that suits both nations' capabilities, read a statement by Egyptian Presidential Spokesman Bassam Rady following the meeting. Singh affirmed his country's keenness to strengthen ties with Egypt under the leadership of President El-Sisi and amid the current "comprehensive developmental leap" in the county. The Indian defence minister hailed Egypt's pivotal role in combating the threat of terrorism, noting that this matter affects security and stability in Egypt and the region, according to Rady. He said India looks forward to exchanging experiences with Egypt and consolidating the military and security aspect within the framework of cooperation between the two countries Search Keywords: Short link: By Azernews By Vugar Khalilov A delegation led by Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov is off to New York, USA, to attend the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Azernews reports, citing the ministry. Bayramov is expected to attend the events that will be held within the session, as well as to hold bilateral meetings with the officials of foreign countries, the ministry said. The UN General Assembly (UNGA) is the Organization's principal policy-making body. It is comprised of all Member States and provides a unique platform for multilateral debate on a whole range of international issues covered by the United Nations Charter. Each of the United Nations' 193 member states has an equal vote. The UNGA also determines critical decisions for the UN, such as appointing the Secretary-General on the proposal of the Security Council, electing the Security Council's non-permanent members, and approving the UN budget. The Assembly has regular sessions from September through December each year, and as thereafter as required. It addresses specific concerns via dedicated agenda items or sub-items, which result in the approval of resolutions. On behalf of Africa, Egypt will host the the 27th session of the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP27) in the Red Sea resort city of Sharm El-Sheikh in November with the world picking up speed in its race against climate change to limit the rise in Earth's temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius. COP takes place annually in a different host city. What is COP? The COP is the supreme decision-making body of the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and it assesses progress on combating climate change. All states party to the convention are represented at the COP, at which they review the implementation of the convention and any other legal instruments that the COP adopts and take decisions necessary to promote the effective implementation of the convention's outcomes, including institutional and administrative arrangements. The first COP meeting was held in Berlin, Germany, in March 1995. The COP meets in Bonn, the seat of the secretariat, unless a party offers to host the session. Just as the COP Presidency rotates among the five recognised UN regions which are Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean, Central and Eastern Europe and Western Europe and others, there is a tendency for the venue of the COP to also shift among these groups, according to the UNFCCC. The latest edition of the conference, COP26, was hosted by the UK in partnership with Italy, and took place in Glasgow from 31 October to 12 November 2021. The annual conference usually witnesses the attendance of representatives of more than 200 countries, business leaders, NGOs, intergovernmental organisations, and religious leaders as well as thousands of media personnel. What is the Bureau of the COP? Rule 22.1 of the draft Rules of Procedure (FCCC/CP/1996/2) of the COP being applied provides for a bureau, comprised of a president, seven vice presidents, the chairs of the subsidiary bodies established by articles 9 and 10 of the convention, and a rapporteur. During each COP, the bureau leads the work of governments, acting as a focal point. It takes the lead on issues that need follow-up post-COP and is in charge of preparing forthcoming COP meetings. The bureau is traditionally responsible for advising the president and taking decisions with regard to the overall management of the intergovernmental process. It has overall responsibility for questions of process. Bureau members often consult with their regional groups on issues. The bureau is not a forum for political negotiations. It is mainly responsible for questions of process management. Moreover, it assists the president in the performance of his or her duties by providing advice and helping with various tasks (e.g. members undertake consultations on behalf of the president). The bureau is also responsible for examining the credentials of parties, reviewing the list of IGOs and NGOs seeking accreditation, and submitting a report thereon to the conference. The secretariat often seeks advice and guidance from the bureau on relevant matters. Search Keywords: Short link: The United Arab Emirates will launch its first lunar rover in November, the mission manager said Monday. Hamad Al Marzooqi told The National, a state-linked newspaper, that the "Rashid'' rover, named for Dubai's ruling family, would be launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida sometime between Nov. 9 and Nov. 15. The exact date will be announced next month, he said. The rover is to be launched aboard a Falcon 9 SpaceX rocket and deposited on the moon by a Japanese ispace lander sometime in March. "We've finished with the testing of the rover and we are happy with the results,'' Al Marzooqi was quoted as saying. "The rover has been integrated with the lander and it is ready for launch.'' The lunar mission is part of the UAE's broader strategy to become a major player in the field of space exploration. If the moon mission succeeds, the UAE and Japan would join the ranks of only the U.S., Russia and China as nations that have put a spacecraft on the lunar surface. Already, an Emirati satellite is orbiting Mars to study the red planet's atmosphere. The UAE partnered with Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to launch that probe, which swung into Mars' orbit in February 2021. The Rashid rover is expected to study the lunar surface, mobility on the moon's surface and how different surfaces interact with lunar particles. The 10-kilogram (22-pound) rover will carry two high-resolution cameras, a microscopic camera, a thermal imagery camera, a probe and other devices. The UAE has plans to develop the Middle East's most advanced commercial satellite to produce high-resolution satellite imagery. It has also set the ambitious goal of building a human colony on Mars by 2117. Search Keywords: Short link: At least 94 people were killed in clashes between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan this week, in the worst violence the countries have seen in years, while the international community called for calm. The situation on the contested border between the two Central Asian neighbours was, however, calm on Sunday afternoon, according to Kyrgyz authorities. Clashes regularly erupt between the two former Soviet republics, as around half of their 970-kilometre (600-mile) border is still to be demarcated. Tajikistan said on Sunday that 35 of its citizens were killed, the first official death toll since armed clashes broke out on Wednesday. On its Facebook page, the Tajik foreign ministry also reported 25 injured and said civilians, women, and children were among the victims. The ministry accused Kyrgyz soldiers of killing 12 people in a drone strike on a mosque, six others in an attack against a school and another seven when an ambulance came under fire. AFP was not able independently to verify the claims. Meanwhile, Kyrgyzstan said Sunday 59 people had died in the southern border region of Batken, and 144 had been injured. Tens of thousands of people were evacuated from Kyrgyz border regions over the past days, according to NGOs. Kyrgyzstan's emergency situations minister added on Sunday that four Kyrgyz soldiers were reported missing. The country declared September 19 a national day of mourning. "Lasting ceasefire" This toll by far surpasses figures from April 2021, when clashes left 50 dead and raised fears of a large-scale conflict. The two sides agreed a ceasefire Friday and Tajikistan's President Emomali Rahmon met his Kyrgyz counterpart Sadyr Japarov at a summit in Uzbekistan. But the two countries traded blame for ceasefire violations only a few hours later. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday called for "no further escalation" between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan in phone calls with the leaders of the Central Asian nations. Putin also urged them to "take steps to resolve the situation as soon as possible by exclusively peaceful, political and diplomatic means", according to a statement from the Kremlin. Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are part of the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) but they regularly clash. Still, the situation appears to be stabilising. On Sunday afternoon, the Kyrgyz authorities issued a statement saying the situation at the border "remains calm, trending towards stabilisation". "There were no recorded escalation attempts or shots fired on the border. The parties are maintaining their ceasefire agreement and withdrawing their respective troops," the statement added. On Saturday, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres had called on the leadership of both sides "to engage in dialogue for a lasting ceasefire", said a spokesman. Search Keywords: Short link: The funeral of Queen Elizabeth II is underway at Westminster Abbey, where 2,000 mourners are gathered to say goodbye to Britain's longest-reigning monarch. The royal family celebrated a "life of service, love and faith" as they bade farewell to Queen Elizabeth II in an intimate ceremony inside the grounds of her beloved Windsor Castle on Monday. Following the majesty and pomp of her state funeral at London's Westminster Abbey earlier in the day, a smaller congregation gathered at the Gothic St George's Chapel to pay a more personal goodbye. Queen Elizabeth II's coffin was on Monday lowered into the Royal Vault at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle, bringing to an end public mourning for Britain's longest-reigning monarch. The "second Elizabethan age" was symbolically brought to a close when the highest-ranking official in the royal household, Lord Chamberlain Andrew Parker, broke his wand of office. The "instruments of state" with which she was crowned in 1953 -- the Imperial State Crown, orb and sceptre -- were removed from the coffin and placed on the high altar. Her eldest son and successor, King Charles III, placed The Queen's Company Camp Colour of the Grenadier of Guards on the coffin. As the coffin was lowered, a lone piper played a haunting lament. The queen's titles were read publicly for the last time: "The late Most High, Most Mighty, and Most Excellent Monarch, Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Her other Realms and Territories Queen, head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith, and Sovereign of the Most Noble Order of the Garter." Queen Elizabeth II's coffin arrived past hushed crowds at Windsor Castle on Monday, for a final committal service at St George's Chapel before burial. The royal hearse, covered in flowers from well-wishers on the journey from London, swept sedately up the Long Walk avenue in a military procession, to tolling bells and ceremonial gunfire. Britain and the world said a final goodbye to Queen Elizabeth II at a state funeral Monday that drew presidents and kings, princes and prime ministers and crowds who massed along the streets of London to honor a monarch whose 70-year reign defined an age. In a country known for pomp and pageantry, the first state funeral since Winston Churchill's was filled with spectacle: Ahead of the service, a bell tolled 96 times _ once a minute for each year of Elizabeth's life. Then, 142 Royal Navy sailors used ropes to draw the gun carriage carrying her flag-draped coffin to Westminster Abbey before pallbearers bore it inside the church, where around 2,000 people ranging from world leaders to health care workers gathered to mourn her. The trappings of state and monarchy abounded: The coffin was draped with the Royal Standard and atop it sat the Imperial State Crown, sparkling with almost 3,000 diamonds, and the sovereign's orb and scepter. Coffin enters long walk at Windsor Castle The State Hearse carrying Queen Elizabeth II coffin, has approached Shaw Farm Gate on Albert Road, Windsor castle. It has joined the Queen's final procession, which was formed up and in position, according to SkyNews. The procession will make its way up the Long Walk to St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle - Her Majesty's final resting place. Members of the Royal Family will join the procession at 3.40pm. The Bearer Party transfer the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard, into the State Hearse at Wellington Arch in London. AFP. Britain s King Charles III, Camilla, the Queen Consort, Princess Anne, and her husband Vice Admiral Tim Laurence, Prince Andrew, Prince Edward, and his wife Sophie, Countess of Wessex, Prince William, and Kate, Princess of Wales with their children Princess Charlotte of Wales, Prince George of Wales, Britain s Prince Harry, and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, David Armstrong-Jones, Earl of Snowden, Peter Phillips, The Duke of Gloucester, Prince Michael of Kent and the Duke of Kent follow the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II as it is carried out of Westminster Abbey during her funeral in central London. AP US First Lady Jill Biden and US President Joe Biden gesture while boarding Air Force One at London Stansted Airport in Stansted Mountfitchet, England, on September 19, 2022. AFP Coffin heads to Windsor Castle The coffin of Queen Elizabeth II has competed a procession at walking pace through central London and is bound in a hearse for her final resting place at Windsor Castle. After being pulled more than a mile (1.6 kilometers) from Westminster Abbey on a gun carriage by 142 Royal Navy sailors, the coffin was transferred to a hearse at Wellington Arch, near Buckingham Palace. Dozens of Buckingham Place staff stood in a neat line in the palace courtyard, and many bowed or curtseyed as the procession passed by. The monarch's coffin will go by car the 20 miles (32 kilometers) to Windsor Castle, where she will be interred later Monday alongside her husband Prince Philip, who died last year. Dense crowds packed the route through the heart of ceremonial London - and thousands more people are lining the more workaday suburban roads the hearse will take on its journey to Windsor. The coffin of Queen Elizabeth II is carried following her funeral service in Westminster Abbey in central London, Monday, Sept. 19, 2022. The Queen, who died aged 96 on Sept. 8, will be buried at Windsor alongside her late husband, Prince Philip, who died last year. AP A Procession through the heart of London Queen Elizabeth II's coffin is being taken on a gun carriage from Westminster Abbey for a last procession through the heart of London. The coffin is being transported to Windsor, outside the British capital, where the former monarch will be laid to rest later Monday. The State Gun Carriage carries the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard with the Imperial State Crown and the Sovereign's orb and sceptre, as it makes its way for the State Funeral at Westminster Abbey. AFP King Charles III and other senior royals are marching behind the coffin to Wellington Arch at Hyde Park Corner. Tens of thousands of people are lining the route. Gun salutes are being fired in nearby Hyde Park, and Big Ben is tolling at one-minute intervals during the procession. The coffin is to be taken by hearse to Windsor, where the queen will be interred alongside her late husband, Prince Philip, who died last year. A Loved Monarch Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has said "few leaders receive the outpouring of love we have seen'' for Queen Elizabeth II. In a sermon at the monarch's funeral in Westminster Abbey, the leader of the Church of England said the queen "was joyful, present to so many, touching a multitude of lives.'' Recalling the queen's promise on her 21st birthday that "her whole life would be dedicated to serving the nation and the Commonwealth,'' Welby said: "Rarely has such a promise been so well kept." The funeral service includes readings and hymns of significance to the queen, including the hymn "The Lord's My Shepherd,'' which was sung at her wedding to Prince Philip in the same abbey in 1947. Photo: AP The Queen's coffin in the Abbey The queen's coffin sits at the center of the abbey after being borne Monday by pallbearers and accompanied by her son King Charles III, and other members of the royal family. They included Prince William, his wife Kate and their two elder children George, 9 and Charlotte, 7. Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, also walked behind the coffin. Dean of Westminster David Hoyle opened the service in the ancient abbey, where Elizabeth was married and crowned. He said: "We gather from across the nation, from the Commonwealth, and from the nations of the world, to mourn our loss, to remember her long life of selfless service, and in sure confidence to commit her to the mercy of God our maker and redeemer.'' Watch the funeral live via BBC feed. A congregation of around 500 kings and queens, prime ministers and presidents have arrived in London over the weekend to pay their respects to the late queen. Photo: AP Dignitaries arrive inside Westminster Abbey ahead of The State Funeral of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II. AP The coffin of Queen Elizabeth II leaves Westminster Hall for her funeral service in Westminster Abbey in central London. The Queen, who died aged 96 on Sept. 8, will be buried at Windsor alongside her late husband, Prince Philip, who died last year. Britain's Prince William arrives at the Westminster Abbey on the day of Queen Elizabeth II funeral. Photo: AP U.S. President Joe Biden and his wife Jill have arrived at Westminster Abbey for the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. The American leader is among hundreds of heads of state and political leaders from around the world attending the funeral service in London. Throngs of people were lined up, six people deep along the route of the funeral procession after the service. Many held up their cellphones to grab images of the day's events. Hundreds of thousands of people have gathered in the city for the ceremonies. After the funeral the queen's coffin will be taken to Windsor Castle to be laid to rest. Photo: AFP Westminster Abbey bell rings A bell at Westminster Abbey has begun tolling 96 times, once for each year of Queen Elizabeth II's life. The abbey's Tenor Bell struck at 9:24 a.m. Monday and was due to toll once a minute until the queen's funeral service begins at 11 a.m. Hundreds of mourners have already arrived at the Gothic cathedral for the service. They will be joined by royalty, heads of state and political leaders from around the world. Others drawn from members of the public include long-serving nurse Nancy O'Neill, recognized for her efforts in the fight against Covid-19, and Pranav Bhanot, who helped deliver 1,200 free meals during the pandemic. Afterward, a funeral procession will wind through city streets with the coffin carried on the state gun carriage as it makes its way to Windsor Castle to be laid to rest. London authorities said almost three hours before the procession that all public viewing areas were already full. Mourners Arrive at Westminster Abbey Mourners are arriving at Westminster Abbey to take their seats for Queen Elizabeth II's state funeral service. Guests began entering the Gothic medieval abbey shortly after 8 a.m. (0700 GMT; 3 a.m. EDT) on Monday. Dignitaries were arriving later, with many heads of state gathering at a nearby hospital to be driven by bus to the abbey. Westminster Abbey is where Elizabeth was married in 1947 and crowned in 1953. A day packed with funeral events in London and Windsor began early when the doors of 900-year-old Westminster Hall were closed to mourners after hundreds of thousands had filed in front of her coffin since Sept 14. Around 300 people are expected to watch a broadcast of Queen Elizabeth II's funeral at an official Australian residence where during her final visit to the country the late monarch was woken in the mornings by shrieking sulfur-crested cockatoos. The doors of Government House, the residence in the Australian capital Canberra of the British monarch's representative Governor-General David Hurley, will be open to registered members of the public for the funeral. Hurley is attending the London funeral in person. The queen spent several nights in Government House during her last Australian visit in 2011 and remarked at the time on the noise that the large white parrots made at dawn. The public offer of an opportunity to watch the funeral at the 19th century mansion set on 54 hectares (130 acres) of parkland populated by kangaroos and other native wildlife was overwhelmed. Registration closed on Tuesday last week, a Government House official said. The queen visited Canberra during 14 of her 16 Australian visits, beginning in 1954. Paris Metro Station named after the Queen The Paris Metro has renamed one of its stations after Queen Elizabeth II to honor the British monarch on the day of her state funeral. The Metro company tweeted that the George V station, which serves the French capital's famed Champs-Elysees boulevard, has been renamed Elizabeth II station for the day on Monday. Photo: AP Public Vieweing of Coffin Ends The last member of the public to view Queen Elizabeth II's coffin as it lay in state at the Houses of Parliament was Chrissy Heerey, a serving member of the Royal Air Force from Melton Mowbray. Heerey says "it felt like a real privilege to do that.'' She said Monday she went through Westminster Hall twice _ the first time in the early hours of the morning and then again just before its doors closed to mourners at 6:30 a.m. (0530GMT). She says the experience was, "one of the highlights of my life and I feel very privileged to be here.'' As the end of more than four days of the queen's lying-in-state drew to a close, the stream of mourners slowed to a trickle. After Heerey bowed her head toward the coffin and moved away, parliamentary officials paid their last respects before leaving the queen's coffin in the 900-year-old hall ringed by four candles and military guards in ceremonial uniforms. Her coffin was being taken later Monday morning to Westminster Abbey for a state funeral attended by 2,000 people. William and Kate's children attend the funeral Prince William and his wife Catherine's 9-year-old son Prince George and 7-year-old daughter Princess Charlotte will attend Queen Elizabeth II's state funeral. George, who is now second in line to the throne, and his sister will walk through Westminster Abbey with the royal family in procession behind the queen's coffin as it is carried by pallbearers Monday. The funeral's order of service showed that George and Charlotte will walk together behind their parents. They will be followed by Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, and other royal family members. The royal children's 4-year-old brother, Prince Louis, is not expected to be present at the funeral, which will be attended by some 2,000 people. Search Keywords: Short link: An American navy veteran detained in Afghanistan since 2020 was released in exchange for a Taliban ally imprisoned in the US for heroin smuggling, US and Afghan officials announced Monday. The Taliban government freed Mark Frerichs, a navy veteran who was working as a civil engineer on construction projects in Afghanistan when he was detained 31 months ago. The US government meanwhile released Bashar Noorzai, a former regional strongman who was sentenced to life imprisonment in a US court 17 years ago for smuggling large amounts of heroin. "After long negotiations, US citizen Mark Frerichs was handed over to an American delegation and that delegation handed over (Noorzai) to us today at Kabul airport," Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said at a press conference. "We are happy that at Kabul International Airport, in the capital of Afghanistan, we witnessed the wonderful ceremony of one of our compatriots returning home." Frerichs meanwhile flew to Doha, a US official said, adding that he was "in stable health." "Today, we have secured the release of Mark Frerichs, and he will soon be home," President Joe Biden said in a statement. "Bringing the negotiations that led to Mark's freedom to a successful resolution required difficult decisions, which I did not take lightly," he said. Hero's Welcome Noorzai was welcomed with a hero's fanfare by the government of the newly-styled Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA). Photos show he was greeted by masked Taliban soldiers bearing floral garlands. "If the IEA had not shown its strong determination, I would not have been here today," Noorzai said. "My release in exchange for an American will be a source of peace between Afghanistan and Americans." Noorzai is the second Afghan inmate released by the United States in recent months. In June, Assadullah Haroon was released after 15 years of detention in the United States' notorious Guantanamo Bay prison. Haroon was accused of links to Al-Qaeda but languished without charge for years at the US detention centre in Cuba, after his arrest in 2006 while working as a honey trader. Afghan security analyst Hekmatullah Hekmat said Noorzai's release was a "major achievement" for Kabul's new rulers. "The Taliban can tell their foot soldiers and Afghans that they are able to bring back their people held by opposition groups," he told AFP. Muttaqi said the homecoming of Noorzai marks the beginning of a "new chapter" in relations between Afghanistan and the United States. 'Non-negotiable' For Washington Frerichs' release was a priority issue to resolve after US forces withdrew from Afghanistan in August 2021 following the Taliban's seizure of power. The United States and allies have refused to recognise the new government, with Washington repeatedly telling the Taliban that they will have to "earn" legitimacy. Biden had warned in January that the Taliban must release Frerich "before it can expect any consideration of its aspirations for legitimacy." Noorzai, a militia commander, once fought with US-backed mujahideen forces against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and was a close associate of the Taliban's late founder Mullah Omar. While he held no official position, Noorzai had "provided strong support including weapons" for the Taliban in the 1990s, Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP on Monday. After travelling to the United States in 2005 he was arrested, accused of running a "worldwide narcotics network." When released he had served 17 years of a life sentence in a federal prison. Delayed By Zawahiri Killing Biden, who spoke to Frerichs' family ahead of the release, did not mention the deal involved. But a senior Biden administration official said that the president okayed the swap in June after the Taliban made clear they wanted Noorzai in exchange for Frerichs' freedom. Granting Noorzai clemency and returning him would "not materially change" the situation for Americans or the state of the Afghan drug trade, the US official said. The official said the deal was delayed as Biden ordered the drone strike that killed Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in his Kabul residence on July 31. Immediately after that, Washington quickly resumed pressure on Kabul for the exchange, warning them not to harm Frerichs and that a release could "begin to rebuild trust," the official said. Search Keywords: Short link: This talk was based on Keshks PHD titled Ethno-Archaeological Study of Streets and Open Courtyards of Ancient Egyptian Settlements and Modern Nubia. The talk discussed Keshks research on open courtyards from the pre-dynastic period through to the Middle Kingdom in ancient Egypt and how their functionality and similarity still resonates through to the modern period in the Nubian village of Bigge, located on the island of Elephantine. The village was abandoned by its residents in the 1980s due to the lack of infrastructure. However, its intangible architectural heritage has made it a Disneyland for any archaeologists, as Keshk explained in her talk. She emphasised the importance that open courtyards still hold in rural villages, where most of the household social activities still take place. "Open court yards have always had a social purpose, and this probably has not changed since ancient Egypt, for open courtyards provide a nice breeze in summer and is more of a sitting area for guests close to the family. It is where the housewife prepares food and where she puts the bread dough in a form of circle to fermented in the sun, and it is the place where they raise poultry and rabbits. It is the place where women would sit and work on her handmade looms as well," Keshk told Ahram Online. Archaeological evidence of open courtyards is found in numerous sites across Egypt such as Elephantine Lahun, Maadi, and Tell El-Daba to name but a few. Her talk revealed the similarities of open courtyard designs and functionality between the ancient Egyptian villages and modern day villages like Bahareet in lower Nubia, Marigergis village in upper Egypt and Dakhla oasis in the Western Desert. "Open courtyards are understudied and important area of ancient Egyptian houses and all of the daily life activities that happened there. Many things from the ancient Egyptian villages still resonate till now, " she added. Keshk has always been concerned with connecting ancient Egyptians to the present. Having worked in the field of heritage and community connection for over 13 years, Keshk founded two highly informative and popular initiatives; the first, The Place and the People focuses on community engagement and braiding the tangible with the intangible heritage. Since 2018, Keshk has created several workshops in various communities such as Assiut and Rashid. Her other initiative, Egyptology in Arabic, focuses on intangible heritage themes from ancient Egypt that addresses Arabic speaking general audience. Search Keywords: Short link: Chancellor Olaf Scholz will visit Saudi Arabia and meet Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as part of a Gulf trip, his spokesman said Monday, as Germany rushes to secure energy supplies. Scholz, whose two-day trip next weekend will also take him to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, becomes the latest Western leader to meet with the crown prince. The german president will be accompanied by a business delegation when he visits Saudi Arabia on Saturday, where he will meet with the crown prince and -- if his health permits it -- King Salman, government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said. On Sunday, Scholz will head to the UAE and meet with President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, and in the afternoon will hold talks with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani. German Economy Minister Robert Habeck already visited Qatar and the UAE in March in an effort to find alternatives to Russian gas, which Germany has traditionally depended on heavily. Russia's decision to cut off supplies has triggered an energy crisis in Europe, with consumers and businesses facing soaring bills as winter approaches. *This story was edited by Ahram Online Search Keywords: Short link: Ahram Online talks with Dr. Samira Amin, one of the founders of the Saleema initiative, which aims at curbing FGM in Arab societies The beautiful dark-skinned girl with wide eyes smiles widely. Her trademark scarf in hues of green, yellow and orange cascades around her hair and shoulders. Saleema needs no introduction. Her story has always captivated listeners, as it did during a screening of a small documentary in a workshop on social norms, held by the UNICEF and Rain Barrel Research Center in Amman, Jordan. The film opened with the words of a different Sudanese girl as she narrated her experience of undergoing female genital mutilation (FGM), her encounter with the midwife, and how her grandmother encouraged the procedure. In our village, every girl must be circumcised so she can get married, the grandmother said. Its our tradition. Performed on both Muslim and Christian girls, FGM is very common in Egypt and Sudan, and also in Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia - though it is very rare elsewhere in the Arab world. But Saleema's story, which began in 2008 as an initiative by the Sudanese society, has brought hope to efforts to stop FGM. In Sudan, former efforts to stop FGM where either tackled by civic society, individual research efforts or scattered media coverage. All of them were top down, talking primarily about health hazards, or distinguishing the practice from religion and calling for stricter laws against the practice. The Saleema Initiative grew out of the recognition of the importance of language in addressing the issue of FGM and changing mindsets. It tackled FGM without talking explicitly about it ,but rather introducing a brighter alternative. Ahram Online discussed the initiative with Dr. Samira Amin, one of the founders. Amin spent almost two decades working with UNICEF Sudan, gaining vast experience from work with government, international and national NGOs, agencies and civil society organisations. It all starts with the right words Amin explained how selecting the right words have always been critical in addressing social issues. In the colloquial language in Sudan, people have always chosen to describe FGM as 'tahoor,' which means pure. Needless to say how this represented a challenge, as Sudanese culture accordingly associated the act of FGM with a much respected value: purity," she explained. In addition to that, the colloquial word that described women and girls who did not undergo FGM was 'ghalfaa,' which has a very negative meaning of impurity and obscenity, Samira added. So the idea was to present the new initiative by carefully choosing a name: Saleema. "Saleema is a picture of a girl that is uncut, and her name in Arabic means: pure, complete, unharmed and intact, all of which conform to the highly cherished values of preserving the purity of a girl," Samira continued. "The success of Saleema was based on many factors, most importantly is the fact that her name created a paradigm shift in terms of acknowledging purity of the girl without contradicting the core values of the community. It emerged from the community itself without being imposed," she said. The idea was to provide communities with a "toolkit," including various communication activities and materials to encourage rethinking about FGM. We said that 'God created the girl Saleema, so let her grow Saleema,' so the same values were preserved, but were linked with the Saleema tools, Samira explained. These tools would come to play a powerful role in the initiative's efforts. They came in two forms: multimedia materials broadcast on TV and radio, and small print materials with training activities aimed directly at the communities. A starting point The initiative's success in part stemmed from the discontinuation of the use of criticism and pointing out the harmful effects of FGM. "Instead, we heard people, let them talk and express their troubles, then we went ahead to present the picture of Saleema, portraying her as a joyful, happy and successful alternative. This clicked with the community on the spot," Samira said. "The whole idea was not to create a sudden improvement in the situation at once, but rather to create a discussion, and prompt minds to question and argue. This eventually created change," she explained. "It was enough with the gruesome pictures in campaigns, enough with blood; it was time to talk about an appealing alternative, for listeners. We lent an ear, heard their anguish and stories unfold, before we talked about a Saleema." "A new, consistent mass media -- appealing to a wide audience -- was created, avoiding top-down talk, as well as polarised debates. Saleema became a household name, and that was when success began." According to UNICEF, a survey in 2014 showed that now more than 50 percent of Sudanese women believe the practice should be discontinued amid growing awareness about its health dangers. According to the World Health Organization, more than 200 million girls and women have been cut in 30 countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. In Egypt, the procedure was banned in 2008, but a UNICEF study in 2016 showed that 87 percent of women between the ages of 15 to 49 in Egypt have been subjected to the procedure, which is still viewed as a method to promote chastity. In the same year, Egypt's House of Representatives approved a cabinet bill amending the law criminalising FGM, and declaring the practice a felony, as well as imposing stricter punishments for those convicted of performing the procedure. Although FGM by its very nature leads to deformity, Egyptian law does not consider the act in itself as leading to "permanent deformity." Samira is optimistic regarding the future. Egypt and Sudan have always been intertwined, their history and roots are linked together and I am sure that both countries endeavours to put an end to FGM will pay off and succeed at the end." "The success of Saleema stems from the fact that the name became a household name in Sudanese society. The beginning of the change was when debate began, and discussions were spurred," she said. "Saleema was a starting point, and now younger generations must finish what we started, she concluded. Search Keywords: Short link: To the south of the causeway of King Unas in Saqqara necropolis, the archaeological mission of the Faculty of Archaeology, Cairo University, headed by Ola El-Aguizy, stumbled upon the sarcophagus of Ptahemwia from the reign of King Ramses II, whose tomb was discovered last year in Saqqara. Mostafa Waziry, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said Ptahemwia holds several titles, including the royal scribe, the great overseer of the cattle in the temple of Ramses II, the head of the treasury, and the one responsible for the offerings of all gods of Lower and Upper Egypt. Waziri said the entrance to the shaft of the tomb at the centre of the peristyle court measured 2.2 X 2.1 m. The subterranean burial chamber opened on the west side of the shaft at the depth of 7 m. It led to a square room measuring 4.2 X 4.5 m, leading to two other rooms on the western and the southern sides. These two rooms were completely empty. In the main room, he added, a cut in the floor on the north side was noticed, leading to stairs that led to the burial chamber proper which measured 4.6 X 3.7 m. El-Aguizy explained that the sarcophagus was uncovered in the west side of the burial chamber. It was directed south-north with an anthropoid lid showing the facial features of the deceased with crossed arms on the chest holding the Djed symbol of the deity Osiris and the Tyet symbol of the goddess Isis. The sarcophagus is decorated with the usual inscriptions found on New Kingdom sarcophagi, with the bearded head of the owner, the sky-goddess Nut seated on the chest extending her wings. Engraved on the lid and body of the sarcophagus are the name of Ptahemwia and his titles, representations of the four sons of Horus, and the prayers accompanying them all around the body of the sarcophagus. The lid of the sarcophagus was broken diagonally, and the missing part was found in the corner of the chamber. It has been restored to its original position. The sarcophagus was empty except for some residue of tar from the mummification on the bottom of the sarcophagus, El-Aguizy pointed out. Search Keywords: Short link: More than 200 North Korean defectors were caught in China last year as they tried to make their way by a circuitous route to a South Korea. Some of them have reportedly been sent back to the North, but most are in Chinese prisons after Pyongyang sealed its borders due to fears of COVD-19 and asked Beijing to halt repatriations. According to the Unification Ministry, only 48 North Koreans have made it to South Korea this year, 12 of them in the third quarter. By Azernews By Vugar Khalilov Human Rights Commissioner Sabina Aliyeva has called on the international community to defend Azerbaijan's diplomatic mission against the Armenian extremist groups abroad, Azernews reports, citing the Ombudswomans office. In a statement published by the office on September 19, Aliyeva condemned the attacks on diplomatic missions, urging the international community to take measures based on the norms and principles of international law to ensure the protection of embassies and diplomatic missions. We strongly condemn such heinous events, which contribute to the creation of an atmosphere of intolerance toward Azerbaijanis in Armenia and beyond, hinder the provision of sustainable peace between the parties, as well as the development of hateful and spiteful expressions by people of Armenian descent in public speeches and on social media that encourage hostility, Aliyeva stressed. She urged the Armenian government to uphold its international duties, refrain from discrimination on the basis of ethnicity, and end its anti-Azerbaijani policies as soon as possible. Armenia for a long time has engaged in provocations targeted at egregious breaches of human rights as part of its ethnic hate agenda, which has resulted in genocide and terrorism, as well as baseless territorial claims against Azerbaijan, the ombudswoman underlined. The racial hatred campaign was reinforced once more when Armenian extremist elements in Lebanon assembled outside the Azerbaijani embassy in Beirut under the pretext of staging a "peaceful protest" and attempted to assault the embassy building, endangering the safety of Azerbaijani diplomats. Such instances occurred outside the Azerbaijani embassies in the United States and France. Extremists attempted to violently enter the diplomatic premises, particularly in France, and acts of vandalism were committed under the guise of holding a peaceful demonstration, Aliyeva recalled. Unfortunately, the embassy building and the protection of diplomats were not provided in accordance with the requirements of international law. This means a violation of the obligations assumed by the host states under international law, she stressed. The attacks on the Azerbaijani diplomatic missions are a gross violation of international law, especially the 1961 Vienna Convention "On Diplomatic Relations", as well as the 1973 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Internationally Protected Persons, including Diplomatic Agents adopted by the UN, Aliyeva detailed. The ombudswoman urged the international community and nations where Azerbaijani diplomats are stationed to secure embassies and diplomatic missions, warning that similar attacks might occur in other countries, too. I urge you to take steps based on international law norms and principles to prevent provocations perpetrated at the behest of the Armenian political and military leadership, which foster ethnic enmity and endanger people's lives and health, Aliyeva emphasized. Following the recent border clashes between Azerbaijani and Armenian military forces in response to the latter's provocation, a number of Azerbaijani missions overseas have been attacked and vandalized by Armenian fanatical groups. On September 18, Armenian extremists in France stormed the building of the Azerbaijani embassy in Paris. Similarly, an aggressive group of Armenian radicals attacked the Azerbaijani embassy in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, on September 16. The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry has also condemned the attacks and urged the host nations to protect the diplomatic missions from possible attacks by Armenian fanatics in their territories. U.S. President Joe Biden described Queen Elizabeth II as "decent, honorable and all about service" as he and first lady Jill Biden signed a condolence book Sunday, ahead of her Monday funeral at London's Westminster Abbey. "To all the people of England, all the people of the United Kingdom -- our hearts go out to you," the president said after he spent three minutes writing a message in a condolence book at Lancaster House, a royal property near Buckingham Palace in London. "And you were fortunate to have had her for over 70 years. We all were. The world's better for her." He added that the queen reminded him of his late mother, and that, when they met, "she kept offering me more, I kept eating everything she put in front of me." Biden, who arrived late Saturday, is among hundreds of world leaders who are gathering in Britain to attend the queen's funeral Monday. On Sunday, as people milled around central London, world leaders made their way to Lancaster House to deliver condolences over the queen's death on Sept. 8 at the age of 96. The European Union's executive body called for cutting 7.5 billion euros in funding for Hungary, due to concerns about corruption and backsliding over democracy. The recommendation, made Sunday, was the first to be made by the EU under new policies aimed at protecting the rule of law in the 27-nation bloc. Hungary has until Nov. 19 to address the concerns, EU Budget Commissioner Johannes Hahn said. "It's about breaches of the rule of law compromising the use and management of EU funds," Hahn said in Brussels. "We cannot conclude that the EU budget is sufficiently protected." He said the money would come from "cohesion funds" granted to Hungary, which is one of the biggest parts of the bloc's budget. The money helps countries to bring their economies and infrastructure to meet EU standards. "Some other escapees are held at the North Korean consulates in other countries facing the risk of repatriation," she added. They face harsh punishment including torture if they are repatriated, she warned. Salmon was speaking in a Zoom meeting of the Inter-Parliamentary Coalition for the North Korean Refugees and Human Rights in Washington last Thursday. "I received information that as many as 2,000 North Korean escapees are currently detained in China," she told lawmakers. Some 2,000 North Korean defectors are held at detention centers in China, according to Elizabeth Salmon, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in North Korea. A source in China told the Chosun Ilbo that hundreds more North Korean defectors who had been taking shelter from the COVID pandemic over the past year have been caught by Chinese police. "Defectors held in detention facilities in three northeastern provinces of China are facing a high risk of repatriation to the North once the pandemic recedes," the source added. Salmon also expressed concern about the oppression of North Korean women who depend on outdoor markets because of the regime's excessive response to the pandemic. "North Korea will not suddenly open to the external world," she said. "However, there will be a window of opportunity to engage and to make small steps. We should not give up on seeking engagement with [North Korea]." A Peruvian law scholar, Salmon assumed her mandate on Aug. 1, replacing Tomas Ojea Quintana. During her latest visit to South Korea last month, she discussed the North Korean human rights situation with Unification Minister Kwon Young-se, Foreign Minister Park Jin, and the families of South Korean prisoners of war, abduction victims and a South Korean official killed by North Korean troops in the West Sea in 2020. President Yoon Suk-yeol told the New York Times on Sunday that his predecessor Moon Jae-in was like a "student obsessed with only one friend in his classroom: North Korea." The U.S. daily quoted Yoon as describing Moon's rapprochement efforts and inter-Korean summits as a "political show." Instead, Yoon vowed to seek the answer "in strengthening the extended deterrence based on a strong South Korea-U.S. alliance." That includes "a package of all possible means and methods," such as use of the U.S. nuclear umbrella. Yoon offered to strike a "grand bargain" with his country's old enemy Japan if trilateral security cooperation with Washington and Tokyo is necessary to maintain peace in Northeast Asia. He also slammed Moon's China policy as "too ambiguous." "I will pursue predictability, and South Korea will take a more clear position with respect to U.S.-China relations," he added. The daily pointed out that Yoon resumed joint military drills with the U.S. and joined the Washington-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework aimed at containing China. He also agreed to attend preliminary talks for a semiconductor alliance with the U.S., Japan and Taiwan. "Despite fears that doing so could anger China, Mr. Yoon said that it was 'necessary' for the four nations to cooperate more closely," the paper added. Regarding the deployment of a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery from the U.S. here, which China claims is a threat to its security, Yoon said that it was "vital to South Korea's defense against the North," adding, 'It is a matter of sovereignty and security, which is not subject to any compromise." Veteran actor Ahn Sung-ki has been battling blood cancer for more than a year. He revealed his illness at a special screening of his 1985 hit film "Deep Blue Night" in Seoul last Saturday, where he appeared in a wig and with a bloated face. The event was held to celebrate the 40th anniversary of master director Bae Chang-ho's debut. "Ahn has been treated for blood cancer since being diagnosed with the disease about a year ago and is recovering," his management agency Artist Company said. "He promised that he will focus on treatment and recovery so that he can return to the big screen in good health in the near future." The agency had denied rumors about his health since Ahn was hospitalized for 10 days in 2020. In a phone interview with Chosun Ilbo last Friday, Ahn said he has been undergoing chemotherapy and is able to go out to meet people because his condition improved a little. "I had to wear a wig as I lost all of my hair" due to chemo, he added. Ahn debuted at the age of five in 1957. He has appeared in around 160 movies including "Two Cops" (1993), "Silmido" (2003) and "Radio Star" (2006). Most recently he appeared in the period spectacular "Hansan: Rising Dragon" released in July. Social media and fan sites were inundated with messages wishing him a speedy recovery. The leftwing Justice Party on Saturday announced plans to revamp itself after humiliating losses in this year's presidential and regional elections. The party has faced calls for all five of its lawmakers to step down. The party's members unanimously voted in favor of revamping it. "The Justice Party's efforts over the last 10 years to create a new progressive force have failed," it said. "We insisted on the need for an alternative to the two giant political parties but were unable to prove that we are that alternative." "The Justice Party was unable to present its own policies and merely moved around political issues set by the major parties," it added. KYODO NEWS - Sep 18, 2022 - 20:25 | All, Japan The Japanese Cabinet's public approval rating dropped to 40.2 percent, a new low since its launch last year, the latest Kyodo News survey showed Sunday, as the ruling Liberal Democratic Party struggles to defuse jitters over its controversial links to a religious group and a planned state funeral later in the month for former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The rating for the Cabinet of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is a sharp drop from over 63 percent shortly after the ruling party's sweeping victory in the upper house election in July and 54.1 percent in the last survey in August. Its latest disapproval rating in the weekend survey, a record 46.5 percent, exceeded the approval rating for the first time since Kishida took office in October. A majority of respondents to the latest poll, 60.8 percent, oppose Abe's state funeral set for Sept. 27, while 38.5 percent indicated support. The funeral, only the second afforded to a Japanese prime minister after postwar leader Shigeru Yoshida in 1967, has been a significant factor in Kishida's sliding poll ratings since mid-July. While Kishida told a Sept. 8 press conference the funeral is "appropriate" given Abe's achievements as Japan's longest-serving prime minister, 67.2 percent of respondents to the latest poll said his reasoning for granting the honor did not persuade them. Abe was fatally shot during a July 8 campaign stump speech. The government estimates the costs for preparing the venues, security and welcoming foreign guests at more than 1.6 billion yen ($11 million). Asked whether the cost is appropriate, 72.5 percent of the respondents said the government is spending too much for the funeral. Public distrust of the LDP has also been fueled by reports of links to the Unification Church that have come to the fore since the shooting of Abe, whose assailant reportedly held a grudge against him for alleged ties to the group. In an attempt to manage the fallout, the LDP launched a survey of its lawmakers' links to the religious group, which revealed on Sept. 8 that 179 of its lawmakers -- around half -- had some dealings with the church. Kishida said on Aug. 31 that his party would require its lawmakers to cut ties with the church, now formally known as the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification. However, some 80.1 percent of respondents also said the party's response to links with the church was insufficient, and 77.6 percent said they do not think the LDP will be able to sever its connections to it. The church has drawn attention over problematic practices such as so-called spiritual sales, in which people are talked into buying jars and other items for exorbitant prices. Abe's assailant had told investigators his mother's large donations had financially ruined their family. On other issues, 70.5 percent of those surveyed expressed disapproval of the government's response to rising prices, compared to 24.2 percent who approved. Consumer prices have risen above the Bank of Japan's 2 percent target since April, and data from the central bank on Tuesday showed wholesale prices up 9.0 percent in August compared to a year earlier. The survey called 506 randomly selected households with eligible voters on landline phones and 1,977 mobile phone numbers. It yielded responses from 426 people from households and 623 mobile phone users. KYODO NEWS - Sep 20, 2022 - 12:51 | All, World The state funeral for Queen Elizabeth II took place in London on Monday, with some 500 leading figures from around 200 countries and territories reportedly attending, including the Japanese emperor and empress. With U.S. President Joe Biden and other world leaders in attendance, local reports said more than 10,000 police officers were mobilized, making it one of the country's largest-ever security operations for a single event. Buckingham Palace did not make public a list of funeral attendees, but Reuters and other media said some 2,000 people attended. Following the service, the queen's coffin was carried in a glass-topped hearse from central London to Windsor Castle west of the city in a journey that took about three and half hours. The queen was laid to rest in St. George's Chapel at the castle. Crowds watched the funeral procession including cavalry and a musical troupe proceed down the wide tree-lined avenue toward the castle, known as the Long Walk. Britain last held a state funeral for former Prime Minister Winston Churchill in 1965. On the eve of the funeral, Japanese Emperor Naruhito visited Westminster Hall to pay tribute to the queen. Empress Masako did not accompany him in consideration of her physical condition. The British royal family invited Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako to visit Britain after he ascended to the throne upon his father's abdication, but the plan was canceled due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. The funeral was preceded by a 10-day period of national mourning in Britain, with flags flown at half-staff and usual governmental operations suspended. During the period, the queen's coffin was transported from Balmoral Castle in Scotland, where she died, to the Scottish capital of Edinburgh. From there the coffin was brought to London to lie in state. The coffin had been placed on public view for four days ahead of the state funeral to allow the public to pay their final respects People joined a kilometers-long queue through central London to pay their respects, with many waiting more than 12 hours to file past the coffin. "I quietly conveyed farewell with heartfelt gratitude," the emperor was quoted by his aide as saying. Prior to the visit, the Japanese emperor, among other dignitaries, joined a reception hosted by King Charles III at the palace to offer condolences for the queen's death at the age of 96 on Sept. 8. At the event, Emperor Naruhito also conveyed condolences entrusted to him by former Emperor Akihito and former Empress Michiko, according to a senior official of the Imperial Household Agency. The emperor also had the opportunity to exchange words with royals from Europe including the Netherlands and the king and queen of Bhutan, the official said. The imperial couple arrived in London on Saturday on their first overseas trip since the emperor's ascension to the throne in May 2019. The trip marks a break from convention as emperors do not usually make appearances at funerals at home or abroad. The only previous exception was in 1993, when then Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko attended the funeral of Belgian King Baudouin. The Japanese and British royal families have shared a long-standing bond, with the queen's 70-year reign overlapping that of three Japanese emperors. Former Emperor Akihito, then crown prince, attended the queen's coronation in 1953 on behalf of Emperor Hirohito, posthumously known as Emperor Showa. The queen later made the first visit by a British monarch to Japan in 1975. The British royal family invited Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako to visit Britain after he ascended to the throne upon his father's abdication, but the plan was canceled due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. The funeral was preceded by a 10-day period of national mourning in Britain, with flags flown at half-staff and usual governmental operations suspended. During the period, the queen's coffin was transported from Balmoral Castle in Scotland, where she died, to the Scottish capital of Edinburgh. From there the coffin was brought to London to lie in state. The coffin had been placed on public view for four days ahead of the state funeral to allow the public to pay their final respects. People joined a kilometers-long queue through central London to pay their respects, with many waiting more than 12 hours to file past the coffin. The St. George's Chapel complex is also the final resting place of the queen's parents, King George VI and Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. It is also where her husband Prince Philip, who died in April last year aged 99, is buried. Related coverage: Queen Elizabeth, one of world's longest-reigning monarchs, dies at 96 Japan mourns Queen Elizabeth, lauds her major role in bilateral ties Asian leaders send condolences over Queen Elizabeth's death WINDHOEK, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Namibia on Monday launched the promotion of a carbon markets project aimed at enhancing the implementation of the nationally determined contributions toward net-zero emission and climate-resilient development, in response to the climate emergency. Namibia recognizes that achieving the 2030 climate goal will require the provision of a conducive enabling environment for the emission trading schemes to thrive, the country's Minister of Environment, Forestry and Tourism Pohamba Shifeta said at the launch. The project is designed to establish the enabling environment for Namibia to pursue carbon market-based options to allow for more stakeholders to participate in addressing climate change, Shifeta said, adding that this will place Namibia in the lead among the sub-Sahara African countries to pilot and support the development of region-wide frameworks for carbon market mechanisms. "Namibia presents a favorable environment for the implementation of carbon markets particularly in the agriculture, forestry, and energy sectors," he said. Speaking at the same event, UNDP Resident Representative Alka Bhatia said by entering carbon markets, Namibia can advance its socioeconomic development while transitioning to a low-carbon economy in a cost-effective way that puts a price on carbon, allows for carbon trading, and stimulates new market opportunities for the private sector as well. Bhatia, however, said this will require Namibia to have robust policies, regulations, procedures, and appropriate institutional arrangements in place. She said carbon projects can benefit the Namibian population through strengthened livelihoods and mitigation actions to boost inclusive green recovery from COVID-19. According to Bhatia, in collaboration with the government, UNDP is currently designing key building blocks for carbon market trade in Namibia. BEIJING, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- China-Cambodia relations will continue to grow in vitality, Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan said on Thursday at a reception commemorating the 100th anniversary of the birth of late Cambodian King Father Norodom Sihanouk. Noting that the late King Father was the beloved "father of independence" to Cambodians and a great friend to the Chinese people, Wang said that he got along well with successive Chinese leaders and made indelible contributions to the China-Cambodia friendship. As 2023 marks the 65th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Cambodia, it is understood that China-Cambodia relations will continue to grow in vitality with the joint efforts of both sides, Wang said. Prior to the reception, Wang met with Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni and Queen Mother Norodom Monineath Sihanouk, acknowledging that the King and the Queen Mother have long been committed to bolstering friendship between China and Cambodia, as the late King Father had wished. Under the new circumstances, China is ready to work with Cambodia to build an unbreakable China-Cambodia community with a shared future under the strategic guidance of the two countries' leaders, Wang said. Thanking China for organizing a series of activities to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the late King Father's birth, King Sihamoni and Queen Mother Monineath stressed that Cambodia is willing to work with China to further advance practical cooperation in various fields and push bilateral relations to a new level. By Trend Iranian Parliament (Majlis) will hold an extraordinary meeting in connection with the situation between Azerbaijan and Armenia on September 21, Trend reports via Chairman of the Iranian Parliament Commission on National Security and Foreign Policy Vahid Jalalzadeh. According to him, the Iranian Parliament is seriously concerned about the situation between Azerbaijan and Armenia. "Iranian Parliament discussed these issues with high-ranking officials of the country. Thus, an appeal was made in this regard to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Supreme National Security Council," Jalalzadeh noted. BEIJING, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- China's top anti-graft body announced Monday that Sheng Guangzu, former secretary of the leading Party members group and general manager of the previous China Railway Corp., had been expelled from the Communist Party of China (CPC) for severely violating the Party's discipline, committing duty-related offenses, and being suspected of taking bribes. In line with Party regulations and laws, a decision has been made to also revoke the benefits he enjoyed, confiscate his illicit gains, and hand over his case for judicial proceedings. The punishment Sheng received is another manifestation of the CPC's unyielding determination to discover and eradicate corruption, a process that has picked up steam since about a decade ago. Over the years, the CPC has been tackling corruption with swift and resolute measures. With these efforts, the Party and the government were able to improve morality, integrity, and ensure their close ties with the people are well-maintained. COMBAT CORRUPTION ACROSS THE BOARD "In the new circumstances our Party faces many severe challenges as well as many pressing issues within the Party that need to be addressed, particularly corruption, being divorced from the people, and being satisfied merely with going through formalities and bureaucracy on the part of some Party officials," said Xi Jinping on Nov. 15, 2012, soon after he was elected as the general secretary of the CPC Central Committee. "We must make every effort to solve such problems," he added. In the years that followed, the CPC's actions continued to live up to Xi's words. According to the country's statistics, since the 18th CPC National Congress in November 2012, discipline inspectors across the country had dealt with nearly 4.4 million cases concerning discipline violations as of April 2022, in which 4.7 million people were involved. The CPC also launched "fox hunting" operations to apprehend corrupt suspects who moved abroad to evade punishment. From 2014 to May 2021, 9,165 such suspects were extradited from 120 foreign countries and regions, and over 20 billion yuan (2.9 billion U.S. dollars) of their illicit gains were retrieved. Meanwhile, to effectively enforce strict discipline regarding officials' conduct, the CPC established a complete set of mechanisms consisting of goal-setting, results evaluation and education. At the end of each year, the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee holds meetings of criticism and self-criticism, so as to review the implementation of the Central Committee's Eight Rules on improving Party and government conduct. The Party also constantly launches education campaigns to inform party members of the necessity of improving conduct. In the battle against corruption, an official's rank doesn't exempt him or her from being punished for corruption. As illustrated by Xi, China's battle against corruption consists of both "swatting the flies" and "taking out the tigers," with "flies" representing low-ranking corrupt officials and "tigers" representing high-ranking ones. Currently, an overwhelming victory has been achieved in China's fight against corruption. But the Party cannot rest on its laurels just yet. Instead, the war on corruption is a long-term endeavor. The Party ought to consistently remove all elements that harm the Party's advanced nature and integrity and eliminate all viruses that erode its health, Xi said during the annual session of the National People's Congress in March. ANTI-CORRUPTION FOR THE PEOPLE As with many other endeavors of the CPC, the ultimate goal of the battle against corruption is to ensure that the Chinese people can live better lives. Over the years, Chinese disciplinary authorities handled many cases in which low-ranking officials were involved in corruption activities. Though not as prominent as "tigers," their misdeeds often directly damage the benefits and interests of the people, and can thus be even more harmful at times. Corrupt activities at community level sometimes take place in areas that matter the most to people's livelihoods, including poverty alleviation, education and environmental protection, among others. Hence, they have always been a prominent target in China's anti-corruption campaigns. For instance, China took resolute measures to crack down on corruption that took place in the poverty-alleviation sector. From 2017 to 2020, about 330,000 relevant cases were handled by disciplinary authorities. Besides these corrupt activities, another type of corruption that the public despises the most and the government takes seriously is the type where officials collude with organized crime gangs and provide protection. Since 2018, nearly 90,000 such cases were handled. Most notably, following a violent case of assaulting women which took place in June in Tangshan, Hebei Province, disciplinary investigations were carried out to reveal a possible "protective umbrella" that sheltered the assailants. The investigations found eight personnel holding public office to be involved in violations of discipline and law, suspected abuse of power, and bribery. With solid efforts to address people's needs yielding tangible results, China's anti-corruption efforts have won the understanding and support of the people. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, in 2020, 95.8 percent of people had full confidence in this work of exercising strict governance over the Party and curbing the spread of corruption. BEIJING, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory letter to the seventh China-Eurasia Expo, which opened Monday in Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Full of vitality and potential for development, the Eurasian continent is a key region for international cooperation on jointly building the Belt and Road, Xi said in his letter. In recent years, China's Xinjiang has given full play to its location advantages to actively advance the construction of the core area of the Silk Road Economic Belt and promote the interconnectivity, mutually beneficial cooperation and common development between China and Eurasian countries, with positive results being achieved, said Xi. He stressed that China is willing to work with other countries to promote the Silk Road spirit that incorporates peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning as well as shared benefits, with the China-Eurasia Expo being a platform. Meanwhile, China is ready to work with other countries to pursue high-standard and sustainable development that benefits the people, and explore new spheres for Eurasian cooperation, elevate the cooperation to new levels, and promote common development and prosperity, Xi added. The expo is co-hosted by the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, and the People's Government of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. DAR ES SALAAM, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- At least 135 suspected juvenile criminals have been arrested in Tanzania's commercial capital Dar es Salaam, authorities said Monday. Amos Makala, the Dar es Salaam regional commissioner, said the suspected youth gangsters have been arrested by police since they launched a special crackdown on Sept. 15. "Most of the 135 arrested suspects are aged between 14 and 30 years," Makala told a news conference, adding that the suspects were engaged in criminal acts, including armed robberies. On Sunday, the Dar es Salaam Special Zone Police Commander, Jumanne Muliro, announced that police have killed six youths suspected to be part of a chain of juvenile criminals who have wreaked havoc in the commercial capital. On Friday last week, the Inspector General of Police, Camillus Wambura, declared war on juvenile criminals. Wambura made the declaration a day after Tanzania's parliament urged the government to take urgent measures to curb crimes committed by juvenile criminals, especially in urban centers. On Wednesday, about 10 juvenile criminals armed with machetes raided a house at Kawe on the outskirts of the commercial capital of Dar es Salaam and killed a sophomore at the University of Dar es Salaam's School of Journalism and Mass Communications, said police. The juvenile mobsters, operating in groups, have been using machetes to rob people of their valuables, including money, especially in the suburbs of Dar es Salaam. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks during the third Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Moment, a high-level event that serves to place an annual spotlight on the SDGs, at the UN headquarters in New York, Sept. 19, 2022. (Xinhua/Wang Ying) UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday urged the international community to redouble efforts to put the world "back on track," warning that global development has reached a "decisive moment" as multiple overlapping crises are threatening the timely realization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). When addressing the third SDG Moment, a high-level event that serves to place an annual spotlight on the SDGs, Guterres said conflicts, climate catastrophe, mistrust, division, poverty, inequality, discrimination and the rising costs of food and energy are pushing the SDGs "further out of reach." "Development cannot wait. The education of our children cannot wait. Dignified jobs cannot wait. Full equality for women and girls cannot wait," the secretary-general said, adding that comprehensive health care, meaningful climate action, and biodiversity protection "cannot be left for tomorrow." "Across all of these areas, young people and future generations are demanding action," said Guterres. "We cannot let them down. This is a definitive moment." The UN chief said the world has a long "to-do list." "We need finance and investment from the public and private sectors. We need a reformed financial architecture that benefits developing countries, providing critical financing and debt relief," he said. "This is the only sustainable pathway to address the obscene inequalities that exist in every country, while ensuring that the world doesn't slide into a recession," the secretary-general said. "Governments need to invest like never before in the health, education and wellbeing of all people -- including refugees and migrants," Guterres said, adding, "we need expanded universal social protection to protect people against economic shocks, while boosting job-creation -- especially in the digital, care and green economies." The UN chief also urged the international community to save the Earth, "which is quite literally on fire." Guterres said the world must address "the triple planetary crisis of climate breakdown, biodiversity loss and pollution," adding "it means supporting the Global Biodiversity Framework to transform how we use and preserve our natural gifts for the future. And it means moving away from our suicidal dependence on fossil fuels and jump-starting the renewable energy transition in every country, and supporting developing countries as they make this shift and adapt to the changes around them." The top UN official underlined the importance of peace in all these endeavors, noting that "there can be no sustainable future without peace." "By embracing peace and tolerance, and more importantly, by living these values every day, we can move one step closer to the sustainable, equal and just world that every person deserves," he said. The secretary-general said, "the task before us is immense," noting that "the perils we face are no match for a world united." "Let's get to work. Let's get our world back on track," he said. The annual SDG Moment provides a snapshot of progress towards reaching the goals. It was created by a political declaration adopted at the first SDG Summit in 2019, which mandated the UN secretary-general to convene the event as part of every high-level week of the General Assembly from 2020 to 2030. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks during the third Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Moment, a high-level event that serves to place an annual spotlight on the SDGs, at the UN headquarters in New York, Sept. 19, 2022. (Xinhua/Wang Ying) The 19th China-ASEAN Expo, which is being held in south China's Nanning City, sets up a special exhibition area for boutique products from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) countries. The four-day expo is themed with "Sharing RCEP New Opportunities, Building a Version 3.0 China-ASEAN Free Trade Area," as this year marks the first year of implementation of the RCEP free trade agreement. South Korea, a member of RCEP, participated in the expo as a specially invited partner. A total of 50 South Korean companies bring products of all kinds. Produced by Xinhua Global Service A woman processes Hilsa fish with salt at a major fish landing station in Chattogram, Bangladesh, Sept. 15, 2022. (Xinhua) DHAKA, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Hilsa, Bangladesh's national fish, is very popular in the South Asian country. There has been an abundance of hilsa fish in the port city of Chattogram recently during the ongoing peak fishing season. Workers process the Hilsa fish with salt to preserve them for sale in the rest of the year. Workers process Hilsa fish with salt at a major fish landing station in Chattogram, Bangladesh, Sept. 15, 2022. (Xinhua) A woman processes Hilsa fish with salt at a major fish landing station in Chattogram, Bangladesh, Sept. 15, 2022. (Xinhua) Workers process Hilsa fish with salt at a major fish landing station in Chattogram, Bangladesh, Sept. 15, 2022. (Xinhua) Workers process Hilsa fish at a major fish landing station in Chattogram, Bangladesh, Sept. 15, 2022. (Xinhua) Workers process Hilsa fish at a major fish landing station in Chattogram, Bangladesh, Sept. 15, 2022. (Xinhua) NANCHANG, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- A group of expats concluded a three-day tour to east China's Jiangxi Province on Sunday, with a visit to the world-famous "porcelain capital" Jingdezhen as a highlight. The tour is part of the Global Young Leaders Dialogue (GYLD) program, which was initiated by Chinese think tanks and offers a platform for the sharing of ideas and mutual learning among young people from different countries and fields. The expats from eight countries visited several landmark places in Jingdezhen City, including the Jingdezhen Imperial Kiln Institute and the industrial heritage complex Taoxichuan, learning about the ceramic-making history, ancient porcelain repair techniques, and local industrial development. "It's amazing that Jingdezhen still emanates the charm of ceramic culture after thousands of years," said Daria Lisaia, a Moldovan researcher with Vanke Urban Research, who participated in the tour. "The city is like an old tree with new sprouts, grown on the fertile soil of ceramic culture," said Steven Weathers, founder of a Shanghai-based culture company. The American noted that a number of small and medium-sized Chinese cities like Jingdezhen have seized various opportunities brought by the development of traditional culture, and they are becoming all the more open and diversified. During the tour, the expats also visited Wuyuan, a beautiful county in Shangrao City, Jiangxi. They gained a better knowledge of China's rural revitalization strategy. "The tour provides an opportunity for global youth to better understand China, and we will contribute to promoting Chinese culture and enhancing mutual trust and coordination among different countries," said Mnyaga Daniel Rukiko, a Tanzanian student who is studying at Nanchang Hangkong University. ISTANBUL, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Two policemen were shot and wounded by a fugitive during routine identification checks in a crowded district of Istanbul, according to a statement by the Istanbul governorate. The incident happened in the Fatih district where two suspects were stopped by the police officers and asked for identification, said the statement. The 32-year-old assailant, identified as G.G., then opened fire at the police officers, it adds. The wounded police officers were taken to the nearest hospital, and one was in critical condition, according to the Demiroren news agency. The governorate said the attacker was the suspect in two other violent crimes in an outlying district only a few hours before, in which one person was murdered and two others were wounded. Large police force was mobilized to arrest the fugitive, said the statement. Traffics are seen on a road upgraded by a Chinese company in Kigali, Rwanda, Sept. 16, 2022. A road upgrading project in Rwanda contracted to China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) has helped ease traffic flow and advance seamless trade along the Kigali-Bugesera district, eastern Rwanda. (Photo by Huang Wanqing/Xinhua) KIGALI, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- A road upgrading project in Rwanda contracted to China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) has helped ease traffic flow and advance seamless trade along the Kigali-Bugesera district, eastern Rwanda. The upgraded road, stretching 13.8 km, starts from the Sonatube roundabout in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, through the Gahanga sector to the Akagera bridge in the Bugesera district. It forms part of an avenue leading to Rwanda's new Bugesera International Airport located 40 km south of the Kigali International Airport. The CRBC, which started the upgraded project in 2019 and took more than three years to finish it due to factors including COVID-19, has won accolades from locals for upgrading the road to ease traffic flow and movement of goods and people as well as stimulate economic growth along the Kigali-Bugesera highway. "Before the upgrade of this road, we suffered heavy traffic most especially at Kicukiro town center because the road was narrow with only two-way two-lane. This road is mostly used by people traveling from Kigali to Nyamata town in Bugesera district and a lot of people use this road daily," said Emmanuel Habineza, a trader who uses the road, in an interview with Xinhua. He said before the road upgrade it took him 45 minutes to transport his produce from Gahanga town to Kicukiro town but now after the road upgrade, it only takes 20 minutes. "The road is of a high standard and looks beautiful. This makes our movement quick, which saves our time and boosts trade," said Habineza. Habineza commended the Chinese company for supporting the upgrade of the road which, he says, has allowed the locals to increase their trade and ease traffic flow along the road. Speaking to Xinhua in an interview, Tian Chong, the project manager, said that before the upgrade of the road, it was only a two-way two-lane urban road and was of a low standard. "The contract period is 24 months. Due to the impact of the pandemic and the demolition of local pipelines, the progress has been delayed, and the construction period has been extended by 15 and a half months," said Tian. "We upgraded the road to two-way four-lane and in some sections along the road, we have reached two-way six-lane. This has eased the movement of traffic along this road." "We also constructed a flyover in Kicukiro center along the road. Before the construction of the flyover, there were heavy traffic jams on a daily basis which interrupted the movement of goods and people on this road. Now, there is no traffic jam anymore," he said. The overall traffic flow has been greatly improved along the road to Bugesera district, said Tian. "We have always adopted a localized management model, and most of the skilled and common types of work are hired local workers. There are still more than 500 local employees in our project. Since the start of construction, the project has trained thousands of technical workers," he explained. The road upgrade is designed and constructed according to Chinese standards as well as in accordance with the first-class highway standard of China, said Tian. According to him, the road features a central green belt, and vegetation with local characteristics, including palm trees and sunflowers. "With the construction and completion of the project, many shops, residences and some office buildings have been built along the line, which has played a certain role in promoting the local economy along the line," said Tian. "I was lucky to be offered a job as a secretary for the road project. I started working with China Road and Bridge Corporation in 2016 and the payment is good. I am able to pay school fees for my children and afford a good standard of living in Kigali," Liliane Nikuze, one of the employees of the road project, told Xinhua. She added that CRBC is a good company that has offered employment opportunities to many Rwandans including her and this has greatly improved their lives and incomes. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks at the first plenary of the 77th session of the UN General Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York, on Sept. 13, 2022. (Xinhua/Wang Ying) The world must see Africa for what it is: a land of enormous potential and resources, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the inaugural meeting of the Global African Business Initiative (GABI). NEW YORK, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday called for action to make Africa a success. The world must see Africa for what it is: a land of enormous potential and resources, he told the inaugural meeting of the Global African Business Initiative (GABI). "Guided by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the African Union's Agenda 2063, we can and must shift the paradigm." Working together, governments and the private sector can create the conditions for success. Bold investments and new finance models can put the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the heart of business models, he added. Every sector of the African economy is growing, from manufacturing to agriculture, from services to finance. The continent's vibrant, young population represents a dynamic workforce and a massive consumer and business market. And the Africa Continental Free Trade Area Agreement will further accelerate investment and trade opportunities, he noted. Unfortunately, Africa is facing tremendous headwinds and crises not of its own making, from COVID-19 and climate chaos to the Ukraine crisis; from growing inequalities, a cost-of-living crisis, and the reversal of the SDGs to a global financial system that is rigged against Africa and requires fundamental reform, said Guterres. "But we are here together because we know the time has come for action based on a new narrative: highlighting the opportunities for new financing models and technologies, recognizing the emergence of Africa's creative and cultural industries on the global stage, focusing on climate transition and transforming food systems, and ensuring the full participation of women, young people, and the African diaspora," he said. For example, Africa has huge potential to move away from fossil fuels. The continent boasts significant solar, wind, hydro, and geothermal energy sources that could make it a renewable energy leader. The transition to clean energy could create more than 6 million new jobs in Africa by 2050. And yet, it has received just 2 percent of global investment in renewables over the past decade, he said. "Now is the time for innovation, for new public-private partnerships, for high-value jobs based on renewable technologies. There are opportunities in all sectors -- from education and health care to finance and services," said the UN chief. "This inaugural Global Africa Business Initiative aims to transform these opportunities into ambitious business practices that benefit people. The United Nations is your steadfast partner in creating conditions for business success in Africa and around the world. And Africa remains our first priority in all what we do," he added. Guterres called for efforts to pool the potential of young people in all projects and initiatives and to ensure gender equality. "Africa's success is unstoppable, by any measure. The only question is whether the world seizes the opportunity to reap the global benefits of African business. Let's work together to make it happen," he said. The launch of GABI was organized by the UN Global Compact in partnership with the African Union and several other UN agencies in Africa. The two-day launch event is taking place in New York on the sidelines of the high-level week of the 77th session of the UN General Assembly. By Azernews By Vugar Khalilov Turkiyes Grand National Assembly Speaker Mustafa Sentop has said that the US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosis visit to Armenia undermines the regional peace, Azernews reports, citing the Turkish media. Sentop made the remarks at the opening of the Cerkezkoy Industrial Fair, jointly organized by Cerkezkoy Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Cerkezkoy Municipality on September 18. Commenting on Pelosis visit to Armenia, Sentop said that the same person made a controversial visit to Taiwan last month, too. Sentop emphasized that it is common for a country's speaker of parliament to visit another country, but this visit "has the potential to be provocative and aggravate the situation," in contrast to recent progress toward normalization achieved by Armenia and Azerbaijan. He went on to say that Turkiye has always shown its support for Azerbaijan in this process. Sentop recalled that Armenia invaded Azerbaijani territory 28 years ago, and the Minsk Group, which was created by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to resolve the conflict between the two countries, was not effective. "In 28 years, I don't remember that one of these Minsk co-chairs, the speaker of the parliament, visited Armenia. I do not remember that one of the speakers of the US House of Representatives also visited Armenia, he added. The speaker emphasized that creating uncertainty and instability in order to be effective in different parts of the world should not be a policy pursued by a large state, and all countries should act in compliance with the principles of justice and peace while respecting international law. Sentop stressed that Turkiye has been backing Azerbaijan since the beginning, recognizing its international legal right to liberate the occupied regions. "We believe that Armenia should take a stance in support of maintaining peace and stability in the Caucasus. This is a critical problem for the people of Armenia and for the entire region," he added. Meanwhile, Dmitry Peskov, Russia's Presidential Press Secretary said that his country is ready to welcome any initiative to improve relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Azernews reports, citing the Russian media. "Russia is prepared to welcome all that is not in word, but in deed, everything that is not loud and populist, and that may contribute to the normalization of ties, as well as to the stabilization of the Azerbaijani-Armenian border situation," Peskov said. During her three-day visit to Armenia on September 17-19, US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi openly blamed Azerbaijan over renewed conflict with Armenia. "Our meeting again had particular importance to us because of the focus on security following the illegal and deadly attacks by Azerbaijan on Armenian territory," Pelosi said. "We strongly condemn those attacks," she continued, adding that they "threaten prospects of the much-needed peace agreement" between the two sides. Azerbaijan sharply criticized the US speaker's remarks, saying they misrepresented the situation in the area and were inappropriate. Baku stated that it was obligated to respond to Armenian provocations to defend its territorial integrity, as well as the security of civilians and military personnel. SANAA, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- A total of 17 Houthi militants were killed when attempting to infiltrate into a military camp in the government-controlled province of Marib in central Yemen, a military source on the frontline told Xinhua on Monday. The operation happened late on Sunday night in Madghal district in the northwestern part of the province. "Two groups of Houthi militants tried to infiltrate into the camp from two directions despite the truce," the source said on condition of anonymity. The government media outlets reported the militia's attack in Madghal, without providing further details. The oil-rich province of Marib has been under government control since the Yemeni civil war broke out in late 2014, when the Iran-backed Houthi militia stormed several northern provinces and forced the Saudi-backed Yemeni government out of the capital Sanaa. The ongoing truce brokered by the United Nations between the Yemeni government and Houthis has been largely held. It went into force for the first time on April 2 and was renewed for two months on June 2, and then extended for an additional two months on Aug. 2. The cortege with the hearse carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II travels on a road near the Buckingham Palace in London, Britain, Sept. 19, 2022. (Xinhua/Li Ying) LONDON, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Britain held a state funeral for Queen Elizabeth II, the country's longest-reigning monarch, at Westminster Abbey on Monday, attended by a host of world leaders, royalty and other dignitaries. Queen Elizabeth II died on Sept. 8, aged 96, at Balmoral in Scotland after a 70-year reign. Her eldest son, Charles, succeeded the throne. The funeral followed a national mourning period that began on Sept. 9, which saw hundreds of thousands of people laying flowers at royal palaces across Britain and queuing for hours to see the late Queen lying in state at Westminster Hall. "Here, where Queen Elizabeth was married and crowned, we gather from across the nation, from the Commonwealth, and from the nations of the world, to mourn our loss, to remember her long life of selfless service ..." said David Hoyle, dean of the Westminster Abbey, who led the funeral service broadcast live. A two-minute national silence was observed in remembrance of the late Queen at the end of the state funeral. Following the service at Westminster Abbey, the Queen's coffin will be taken to Windsor Castle where she will be buried together with her husband Prince Philip, who died last year at 99. The cortege with the hearse carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II travels on a road near the Buckingham Palace in London, Britain, Sept. 19, 2022. (Xinhua/Li Ying) Photo taken on Sept. 19, 2022 shows the state funeral for Queen Elizabeth II in London, Britain. Britain held a state funeral for Queen Elizabeth II, the country's longest-reigning monarch, at Westminster Abbey on Monday, attended by a host of world leaders, royalty and other dignitaries. (PA Wire/Handout via Xinhua) Britain's King Charles III and Prince William ride in a car to the state funeral for Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Abbey in central London, Britain, Sept. 19, 2022. Britain held a state funeral for Queen Elizabeth II, the country's longest-reigning monarch, at Westminster Abbey on Monday, attended by a host of world leaders, royalty and other dignitaries. (Photo by Stephen Chung/Xinhua) The Procession following the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II travels in central London, Britain, Sept. 19, 2022. Britain held a state funeral for Queen Elizabeth II, the country's longest-reigning monarch, at Westminster Abbey on Monday, attended by a host of world leaders, royalty and other dignitaries. (Photo by Stephen Chung/Xinhua) The Procession following the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II travels past the Buckingham Palace in London, Britain, Sept. 19, 2022. Britain held a state funeral for Queen Elizabeth II, the country's longest-reigning monarch, at Westminster Abbey on Monday, attended by a host of world leaders, royalty and other dignitaries. (Xinhua/Li Ying) Members of the public mourn during the state funeral service of Queen Elizabeth II in London, Britain, on Sept. 19, 2022. Britain held a state funeral for Queen Elizabeth II, the country's longest-reigning monarch, at Westminster Abbey on Monday, attended by a host of world leaders, royalty and other dignitaries. (Xinhua/Han Yan) A farmer operates a harvester in a wheat field in Syria's southern province of Sweida, July 2, 2022. (Photo by Ammar Safarjalani/Xinhua) The United States failed to take any measures to curb speculation, and it supported funds and banks in taking shares or investing on a large scale in the agricultural sector overseas, including in Ukraine and Africa, said a U.S. expert. by Xinhua writer Liu Yanan NEW YORK, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Speculative behaviors of Wall Street firms and grain giants in the global market, and the U.S. government's support for such businesses, have aggravated the worldwide food crisis amid the ongoing Ukraine conflict, a U.S. expert has said. Frederic Mousseau, policy director at the Oakland Institute, pointed out that a major problem is the jump of prices resulting from market speculation by investment companies and big food corporations. As soon as the Ukraine crisis started, "a number of speculators jumped on the market to buy futures of food, to bet on the market. So prices became very high," said Mousseau in a recent interview with Xinhua. The expert, who has been working on the subject for nearly two decades, argued that the global food market is largely dominated and controlled by a handful of U.S. and European businesses. "We've seen huge profits from these firms in this past year," Mousseau said, citing soaring profits of global food giants. Photo taken on Aug. 4, 2022 shows the White House in Washington, D.C., the United States. (Xinhua/Liu Jie) These companies have benefited from the increasing prices, at the expense of many poor countries who could not purchase adequate food on the global market because of the "crazy" manipulation, Mousseau said. Data from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) showed the Food Price Index increased to 159.7 in March, up from 135.6 this January and 125.7 in 2021. In addition, the U.S. government's decades-long protection of the country's large agribusinesses has contributed to the food crisis, the expert said. The United States failed to take any measures to curb speculation, and it supported funds and banks in taking shares or investing on a large scale in the agricultural sector overseas, including in Ukraine and Africa, Mousseau said. Big investment firms in the United States have invested in almost all agrochemical companies concerning the fertilizer, seed and pesticide sectors, the expert said. The U.S. decisions in terms of agri fuels, support to farmers, and whether they export or keep the supply and what to do with production have a big impact on global markets, Mousseau said. Describing the United States as "hypocritical," he said that while Washington told other countries "not to restrict trade, not to protect their market, not to restrict exports, the United States is dominant in the market." The policy expert also proposed that the most vulnerable countries should take measures to enhance their own food security, including reducing their dependence on food imports and promoting local crop production. Visitors buy commodities from Laos during the 19th China-ASEAN Expo in Nanning, capital of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Sept. 18, 2022. (Xinhua/Zhou Hua) NANNING, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- The 19th China-ASEAN Expo concluded on Monday in Nanning, the capital of South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, with a record number of deals made. A total of 267 domestic and international deals have been signed, with an investment of over 400 billion yuan (about 57 billion U.S. dollars), up 37 percent compared to last year, said Wei Zhaohui, the secretary-general of the expo's secretariat, at a press conference. Eighty-eight online and offline economic and trade events were held in areas including new high-end metal materials, health, tourism and culture, new green chemical materials, and mechanical equipment manufacturing, according to Wei. Covering 102,000 square meters, this year's expo attracted 1,653 enterprises from 40 countries, with 5,400 exhibition booths set up. The exhibition hall saw about 25,600 visits per day on average, up 19.2 percent compared to the last expo. Since the first China-ASEAN Expo was held in 2004, the event has become a platform for ASEAN enterprises to enter the Chinese market. TEHRAN, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Monday that the possibility exists that Tehran would hold talks with the other parties on the revival of a 2015 nuclear deal on the sidelines of the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York. Iran would naturally use any opportunity to voice its views on bilateral and international issues, Nasser Kanaani was quoted as saying by Iran's official news agency IRNA. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who will attend the UNGA in New York, is accompanied by Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani, Kanaani told a weekly press conference. Raisi will hold bilateral meetings with his counterparts from different countries on the sidelines of the UNGA session and will take part in a number of press conferences, Kanaani added. The Iranian president, who left Tehran for New York on Monday morning, told reporters at the airport that he had "no plans to negotiate or meet with the Americans during this trip," according to the Iranian presidency's website. Commenting on the likeliness of meetings between Iranian and U.S. officials on the sidelines of the UNGA session, Kanaani said Tehran would not hold bilateral talks with Americans. Tehran will continue to maintain connections and contact with the other parties regarding the nuclear issue through the European Union, Kanaani said. No specific plan has been drawn up for negotiations over the removal of the sanctions during the visit and on the sidelines of the session, Kanaani said, adding Iran has never left the negotiating table and considers constructive talks as an effective and appropriate method for resolving differences. Iran signed the nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), with world powers in July 2015, agreeing to curb its nuclear program in return for removing sanctions on the country. However, former U.S. President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of the agreement and reimposed unilateral sanctions on Tehran, prompting the latter to drop some of its commitments under the pact. The talks on the JCPOA's revival began in April 2021 in Vienna but were suspended in March this year because of political differences between Tehran and Washington. The latest round of the nuclear talks was held in the Austrian capital in early August after a five-month hiatus. On Aug. 8, the EU put forward its final text of the draft decision on reviving the JCPOA. Iran and the United States later indirectly exchanged views on the EU proposal in a process that has so far failed to produce any favorable outcome. BEIJING, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday sent a congratulatory letter to the International Forum on Resilient and Stable Industrial and Supply Chains. The forum opened on the same day in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang Province. In his letter, Xi noted that maintaining the resilience and stability of the global industrial and supply chains is a vital guarantee for promoting the development of the world economy and serves the common interests of people globally. China will unswervingly ensure that the industrial and supply chains are public goods in nature, safeguard the security and stability of its industrial and supply chains, take concrete actions to deepen international cooperation on industrial and supply chains, and make sure that people of all countries share the fruits of development, Xi said. He stressed that China is willing to work with other countries to seize the new opportunities presented by the latest scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation and build a global industrial and supply chain system that is secure, stable, smooth, efficient, open, inclusive, and mutually beneficial. The forum is co-hosted by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Transport, the Development Research Center of the State Council, and the People's Government of Zhejiang Province. by Xinhua writer Liu Yanan NEW YORK, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Speculative behaviors of Wall Street firms and grain giants in the global market, and the U.S. government's support for such businesses, have aggravated the worldwide food crisis amid the ongoing Ukraine conflict, a U.S. expert has said. Frederic Mousseau, policy director at the Oakland Institute, pointed out that a major problem is the jump of prices resulting from market speculation by investment companies and big food corporations. As soon as the Ukraine crisis started, "a number of speculators jumped on the market to buy futures of food, to bet on the market. So prices became very high," said Mousseau in a recent interview with Xinhua. The expert, who has been working on the subject for nearly two decades, argued that the global food market is largely dominated and controlled by a handful of U.S. and European businesses. "We've seen huge profits from these firms in this past year," Mousseau said, citing soaring profits of global food giants. These companies have benefited from the increasing prices, at the expense of many poor countries who could not purchase adequate food on the global market because of the "crazy" manipulation, Mousseau said. Data from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) showed the Food Price Index increased to 159.7 in March, up from 135.6 this January and 125.7 in 2021. In addition, the U.S. government's decades-long protection of the country's large agribusinesses has contributed to the food crisis, the expert said. The United States failed to take any measures to curb speculation, and it supported funds and banks in taking shares or investing on a large scale in the agricultural sector overseas, including in Ukraine and Africa, Mousseau said. Big investment firms in the United States have invested in almost all agrochemical companies concerning the fertilizer, seed and pesticide sectors, the expert said. The U.S. decisions in terms of agri fuels, support to farmers, and whether they export or keep the supply and what to do with production have a big impact on global markets, Mousseau said. Describing the United States as "hypocritical," he said that while Washington told other countries "not to restrict trade, not to protect their market, not to restrict exports, the United States is dominant in the market." The policy expert also proposed that the most vulnerable countries should take measures to enhance their own food security, including reducing their dependence on food imports and promoting local crop production. BEIJING, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- China's first Mars exploration mission has achieved rich scientific results, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) said Sunday. As of Thursday, the Tianwen-1 orbiter has been operating normally for over 780 days, and the rover Zhurong has traveled 1,921 meters on the surface of Mars, the CNSA said. The orbiter and rover of China's Tianwen-1 probe have completed the targeted scientific exploration missions and have acquired 1,480 gigabytes of raw scientific data. The Tianwen-1 probe consists of an orbiter, a lander, and a rover. On May 15, 2021, it touched down at its pre-selected landing area in Utopia Planitia, a vast Martian plain, marking the first time China has landed a probe on the planet. Chinese researchers have conducted a comprehensive study of typical landforms at the landing area, including concave cones, impact craters, and grooves, and revealed a significant link between the formation of ridges and water activity. Through camera images and spectral data, researchers found water-bearing minerals in plate-like hard crust rocks near the landing area, which proved that there had been a lot of liquid water activities in the landing area since 1 billion years ago. Combining camera images with the rover moving rutting and other information, the researchers also found that the soil in the landing area has massive bearing strength and low friction parameters. These new results reveal the impact of wind and water activities on the geological evolution and environmental changes on Mars. It strongly supports the hypothesis that there was once an ocean on Mars' Utopia Planitia. It also enriches human scientific understanding of the geological evolution and environmental changes on Mars. In addition, researchers also used the Tianwen-1 exploration data to obtain several outstanding scientific achievements, including the relationship between rock density on the surface of Mars and surface erosion degrees, the distribution of ions and neutral particles in the near-Mars space environment, and the gravity field of Mars. Venezuela "strongly" rejected a recent White House memorandum that listed it as one of the countries involved in drug production or trafficking, the Venezuelan Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Saturday. Produced by Xinhua Global Service China Gezhouba Group Co., Ltd. (CGGC), the constructor of the Mohmand Dam Project in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, donated relief materials of over 700,000 Pakistani rupees (about 2,942 U.S. dollars) to local villagers affected by floods. The relief materials included rice, flour, cooking oil, and bottled water. The supplies were jointly donated by the Chinese and Pakistani employees of the company and handed over to local government and charity organizations. More than a dozen villages in the province were flooded by swollen rivers following heavy rainfalls. According to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), the total death toll in Pakistan from this season's monsoon rains and floods since mid-June has risen to around 1,545, along with 12,860 injured. Produced by Xinhua Global Service By Azernews By Vugar Khalilov The Azerbaijani armys engineer-sapper units have defused some 122 Armenian-planted mines in the liberated Lachin District, Azernews reports, citing the Defense Ministry. The engineer-sapper units are demining the territory and supply roads mined by the Armenian armed units sabotage groups amid a large-scale provocation on the state border with Armenia, the ministry added. As a result of demining operations in Lachin, 122 E-001 M type anti-personnel mines produced in Armenia in 2021 were discovered and transported from the ravine gap in the northeastern part of the Boyuk Ishigli Mount and disposed of in line with safety regulations on September 18, the ministry detailed. The engineering support activities are being undertaken in the liberated lands, the report added. Similarly, as a result of demining activities carried out by engineer-sapper units in Azerbaijan's Dashkasan, Kalbajar, Lachin districts, 100 Armenian-made PMN-E and eight PMN-2 anti-personnel mines, as well as 10 anti-tank mines were found and neutralized on September 17. Earlier the Azerbaijan Mine Action Agency reported that a massive number of PMN-E type mines, the use of which is prohibited under international humanitarian law, were discovered in Lachin. The discovered mines were produced in Armenia in 2021 following the 44-day war (2020). To recap, units of the Armenian armed forces carried out large-scale provocations along the Azerbaijani-Armenian state border in the Dashkasan, Kalbajar, and Lachin directions on the night of September 12 leading to 13. The Armenian sabotage groups mined land and supply roads linking the positions of the Azerbaijani army units in different directions, taking advantage of the area's steep topography and existing ravine gaps. The clashes between the sides ensued as a result of the urgent efforts made by the Azerbaijani armed forces to quell these activities. As a result, 79 armed forces personnel were killed, the ministry detailed. The Azerbaijan military units stationed in these areas took decisive retaliatory measures to suppress the provocations of the Armenian armed forces and military threats to Azerbaijan's territory and sovereignty, as well as to ensure the safety of military personnel, including civilian workers involved in infrastructure construction in Kalbajar and Lachin districts, the ministry emphasized. So far, the Armenian government reported 135 losses among its own military personnel. KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Four people including two children were injured after a blast shocked the Zhari district in Afghanistan's southern Kandahar province on Monday, provincial administration spokesman Hajji Zahid said. The blast took place around noon in Sanzari village of the Zhari district, injuring four people including two children, the official added without providing more details. Local sources said the blast coincided with Afghan security forces launching house-to-house searches across the province to recover weapons from civilians. HEFEI, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- With a pleasant floral scent, He Chengtian, 31, is introducing various jasmine-themed products, including tea, bonsai and cosmetics, to visitors during the ongoing national mass entrepreneurship and innovation week. The event, scheduled from Sept. 15 to 21, has attracted many young Chinese like He to show their achievements in mass entrepreneurship and innovation. Over 160 typical projects selected from around the country are showcased in Hefei of east China's Anhui Province, the main venue of this year's event. Growing up in the countryside of Hengzhou City, dubbed the "hometown of jasmine in China," in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, he has a special love for the plant. Therefore, the young man returned to his hometown and started a jasmine business after college graduation in 2015. "In my hometown, every family grows jasmine, but the villagers used to pick the fresh flowers and sell them in the market and the added value is very low. I wanted to go back to enhance the value of this local specialty and expand the market," said He. After continuous efforts and innovation, he designed a number of jasmine-themed products and opened more than 10 shops on various e-commerce platforms. His products are also sold to customers across the nation through livestreaming. "Now, our sales have reached 6 million yuan (about 865,000 U.S. dollars) a year. Compared with traditional farmers, we are familiar with new trends and technologies and thus have more innovative ways to promote products," said He, adding that his company has also created over 2,300 jobs for locals. Rural vitalization is in full swing throughout China after the country eradicated absolute poverty. A growing number of young Chinese are heading back to their hometowns to contribute to rural development. The number of young farmers born after 1995 on the e-commerce platform Pinduoduo has exceeded 126,000 by October 2021, nearly 100,000 more than that of 2019, according to a report released by the platform. Over the past decade, some 11.2 million people have returned to China's rural areas to set up their own businesses, with each entity creating six to seven stable jobs on average, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. Wang Huang, a graduate from China Three Gorges University, started a business in 2018. Together with five schoolmates, Wang established a biotechnology company that specializes in fungi culture with the help of his college professors. Their products, such as mushroom, bamboo fungus and black fungus, are sold to school canteens and restaurants in Yichang City in central China's Hubei Province. Under the promotion of the company, 12 different types of fungi have been cultivated in a total area of about 3,000 mu (200 hectares) in the country, helping create over 1,000 jobs. The annual output value reaches 62,000 yuan per mu. "We hope to introduce a smart agricultural system into our greenhouses, so that all the growing conditions such as temperature, humidity and soil fertility can be monitored and controlled automatically, making the production more scientific and efficient," said Wang. Themed "Innovation drives vitality; entrepreneurship creates employment," this year's national mass entrepreneurship and innovation week is seeing the launch of nearly 1,000 activities across the country, both online and offline. Guo Shengkun, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, co-chairs the 7th meeting of the China-Russia law-enforcement and security cooperation mechanism with Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, in southeast China's Fujian Province, Sept. 19, 2022. (Xinhua/Jiang Kehong) FUZHOU, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Guo Shengkun, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, Monday co-chaired the 7th meeting of the China-Russia law-enforcement and security cooperation mechanism with Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, in east China's Fujian Province. Guo, also secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, said under the strategic guidance of the two heads of state, the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for the new era has maintained a momentum of sound and steady development. Since the establishment of the law enforcement and security cooperation mechanism, China and Russia have cooperated closely in areas such as safeguarding national political security, anti-terrorism, drug control, and combating transborder crimes. The mechanism has achieved fruitful results and played an irreplaceable role in safeguarding the sovereignty, security, and development interests of the two countries, Guo said. Guo said China is willing to work with Russia to implement the consensus reached by the two heads of state during the SCO Samarkand summit. China will give full play to the role of the law enforcement and security cooperation mechanism to meet various security risks and challenges. Patrushev said Russia is ready for closer exchanges with China at all levels to create a sound security environment for the smooth development of bilateral cooperation in various fields. Visitors look at photographic works at the 22nd Pingyao International Photography Festival in Pingyao, north China's Shanxi Province, Sept. 19, 2022. The 22nd Pingyao International Photography Festival kicked off Monday in Pingyao, a UNESCO world cultural heritage site known for its well-preserved ancient architecture, in north China's Shanxi Province. (Xinhua/Chen Zhihao) TAIYUAN, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- The 22nd Pingyao International Photography Festival kicked off Monday in Pingyao, a UNESCO world cultural heritage site known for its well-preserved ancient architecture, in north China's Shanxi Province. Themed "A world of light and shadow, for a bright shared future" this year, the week-long festival has attracted more than 12,000 works by 1,200 photographers from 28 countries and regions. A photo exhibition featuring the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics is on display during the festival. "Pingyao nourishes the exhibition with its profound culture while the exhibition repays the ancient town with a unique photographic art show," said Wei Jiangfeng, director of the organizing committee of the festival. Launched in 2001, the annual festival has attracted photographers from more than 100 countries and regions, and is considered an important platform for cross-cultural communication. Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi (R) meets with Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Denis Moncada in New York, the United States, on Sept. 19, 2022. (Xinhua/Liu Jie) NEW YORK, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi met here with Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Denis Moncada on Monday, during which both sides agreed to seize the opportunity presented by the one-year anniversary of the resumption of diplomatic relations between the two countries and take the bilateral ties to a new level. Meeting his Nicaraguan counterpart on the sidelines of the ongoing 77th session of the UN General Assembly, Wang said Chinese President Xi Jinping and Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega have drawn a blueprint for the bilateral relations since the two sides resumed diplomatic ties in December last year, which has led to rapid development in the bilateral relations where fruitful early harvests have been achieved. It is a proven fact that restoring diplomatic ties is in complete accord with the fundamental interests of the two countries and two peoples, Wang said. China, Wang said, is firmly committed to developing ties with Nicaragua and supporting Nicaragua's effort to defend its sovereignty, independence and national dignity. Noting that Nicaragua's independent choice of development path has the full backing from China, Wang said China will continue to uphold justice on issues related to Nicaragua. Wang said China appreciates Nicaragua for its unwavering support for the one-China principle, believing that Nicaragua will continue to support China's just stance on issues related to China's core interests. The Chinese side, Wang told Moncada, is willing to strengthen cooperation with Nicaragua regarding jointly building the Belt and Road Initiative and synergizing the two countries' respective development strategies. It is expected that political mutual trust between the two countries could translate into momentum for comprehensive cooperation, he added. Noting that the arrangement for "early harvests" under a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) has been signed by the two sides, Wang expressed the hope that consensus will be reached as soon as possible on a comprehensive FTA, of which the negotiation process has already been initiated. Wang added that China will continue to lend support to Nicaragua in the Central American country's fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Wang also told Moncada that the Communist Party of China (CPC) will hold its 20th National Congress next month, adding that the CPC and Nicaragua's ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front have similar governing ideas, and the CPC looks forward to enhancing exchanges of experience in state governance between the two parties. Moncada, for his part, said the Nicaraguan side treasures its brotherly friendship with China, and will continue to abide by the one-China principle and firmly support China in its defense of independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity. Nicaragua wishes the 20th CPC National Congress a full success. Moncada said Nicaragua is pleased to see the signing of the arrangement for "early harvests" under the bilateral FTA, and is looking forward to the further enhancement of experience exchanges on state governance between the two parties and two countries. Nicaragua is willing to deepen cooperation in various fields and develop a sound bilateral relationship with China. Moncada also stressed the utmost importance of the Global Development Initiative and the Global Security Initiative put forward by President Xi, adding that the Nicaraguan side fully supports and is ready to participate in the initiatives, practice multilateralism and contribute to world peace, security and development. Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi (2nd R) meets with Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Denis Moncada (2nd L) in New York, the United States, on Sept. 19, 2022. (Xinhua/Liu Jie) WELLINGTON, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- One third of residents in New Zealand's biggest city Auckland are thinking of leaving the city in the next five years due to increasingly high cost of living, traffic congestion, and decreasing sense of safety. According to a survey done by the local media Stuff, People living in Auckland are "the most unhappy region of the country," with only two in five respondents saying they were happy living there. The survey released on Monday covered about 5,500 New Zealanders, 33 percent of whom were from Auckland. "Stuff weighted the data to reflect nationally representative samples for gender, age and region," it said. The feeling of unhappiness mainly comes from the high cost of living and housing, according to respondents, with 68 percent and 60 percent of them respectively attributing the unhappiness to expensive life and residential houses. Auckland's house prices are about 11 times the medium household income, statistics showed. Besides housing, more than half of responding Aucklanders cited traffic congestions as the reason to leave the city. The Automobile Association's annual report on Auckland congestion, quoted by the survey, showed the city's traffic rush hours were "starting earlier and finishing later." Safety is also one of the Aucklanders' top concerns. Around 40 percent of Aucklanders said they were worried about their safety in their neighborhood, compared to just 27 percent nationally, according to the survey. Gang violence and ram-raids have become increasingly common in Auckland, it showed. About 57 percent of respondents showed a lack of confidence in the Auckland City Council to address their concerns. SEOUL, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- A U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier is scheduled to visit South Korea later this week for combined drills with the South Korean navy, the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) said Monday. The USFK said in a statement that the USS Ronald Reagan carrier strike group is scheduled to conduct a routine port visit to South Korea. While in port, the personnel of the strike group will have an opportunity to visit and engage with their South Korean navy partners and conduct cultural exchange with the people of South Korea, the USFK noted. According to Yonhap news agency, the strike group is set to arrive at a naval base in Busan, about 390 km southeast of the capital Seoul, on Friday for combined maritime drills with the South Korean navy. It will mark the first time in about five years that a U.S. aircraft carrier visits South Korea for joint military exercises. The strike group includes the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, the USS Chancellorsville guided-missile cruiser and the USS Barry Aegis-equipped destroyer. BRUSSELS, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Drawing lessons from the COVID-19 crisis, the European Commission on Monday presented a proposal that aims to guarantee the functioning of the European Union's (EU) single market in case of future crises. "The COVID-19 crisis made it clear: we must make our single market operational at all times, including in times of crisis," Margrethe Vestager, executive vice president of the Commission for a Europe fit for the digital age, said. "So that whenever we face a new crisis, we can ensure that our single market remains open and that goods of vital importance remain available to protect European people." The Single Market Emergency Instrument (SMEI) would "ensure better coordination with the member states, help pre-empt and limit the impact of a potential crisis on our industry and economy," Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton commented. An advisory group, chaired by the Commission and composed of one representative from each member state, would coordinate and advise the Commission on actions to be taken in case a threat to the proper functioning of the EU single market is identified. The SMEI would function in contingency, vigilance and emergency modes. During the contingency mode, crisis protocols would be planned, training and simulation exercises would be held, and an early warning system for single market disruption would be put in place. The vigilance mode is the preventive stage, which would enable the closer monitoring of the supply chains of strategic goods and services, the building up of reserves, and the facilitation of the public procurement of goods and services of strategic importance. The emergency mode would be triggered when a crisis begins having a negative impact on the single market. In this mode, the member states would be banned from adopting restrictions on critical goods and would be asked to inform in advance of any unilateral action. Exceptionally, companies could also be requested to produce crisis-relevant goods. The new SMEI should ensure a coordinated response by EU member states if a new crisis were to arise. During the COVID-19 crisis, uncoordinated actions by EU member states led to shortages in critical medical equipment, for example. The proposal still needs to be negotiated and amended by the European Parliament and the Council of the EU. Kabul: An American navy veteran was exchanged for a crucial ally in a prisoner swap between the United States and the Taliban, the foreign minister of Afghanistan announced on Monday. According to Afghanistan's Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, Mark Frerichs, who was abducted in 2020, was traded for Bashar Noorzai, a warlord and Taliban ally who is currently serving a 17-year sentence in the United States for smuggling heroin. At the airport in Kabul today, Mark Frerichs was given to the US while Hajji Bashar was given to us, Muttaqi told reporters there. He added that Frerichs was given to a US delegation and that the exchange took place "after long negotiations." The former member of the US Navy was working as a civil engineer on building projects in Afghanistan when he was abducted, according to the US State Department. Noorzai did not hold an official position within the Taliban, according to government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, but she "provided strong support, including weapons," as the hard-line Islamist movement emerged in the 1990s. India accepts Afghan Sikhs fleeing Taliban terror 'less than 100 remain' Taliban claims that its fighters were killed in a clash with Pakistani troops over border post Online shopping services closed under Taliban rule, Afg reeling under severe financial crisis Colombo: Rasika Rajabdi and her family were evicted from their ancestral home by armed rebels in Sri Lanka's northern province of Mullaitivu that year, just eight years old. This happened during the country's civil war. The child and his parents initially lived in a camp for internally displaced people in the western coastal town of Puttalam, 200 km away, for a few months before relocating to a nearby rental home. After 26 years of fighting, the war ended in 2009, and Rajabdi, who was married at the time, was able to return to Mullatthivu with her husband and parents in 2012. However, instead of welcoming her back with open arms, her Tamil neighbors referred to her as an "outsider" and was now a 40-year-old farmer, according to Rajabadi. They did not anticipate our return. They never wanted us to go back to our original home. In the conflict between the Sri Lankan Army and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), an armed insurgent group demanding the establishment of an independent country for the Tamils, more than 300,000 Tamil Hindus were displaced. Since most Tamil-speaking Muslims were members of the so-called "Home Guards", a paramilitary force used by Sri Lanka's Defense Ministry in the country's northern and eastern provinces during the 1990s, the LTTE did not see them as such. "reliable." The Sri Lankan Army and Muslim Home Guard are accused of killing more than 220 Tamils in Sathurukondan in the east and Puthukkudiyiruppu in the north during a series of attacks between July and September 1990. The LTTE is said to have killed more than 300 Muslims within two days. Mosques in the eastern city of Batticaloa. According to UNHCR estimates, the United Nations refugee agency, Rajabdi and his family were among 112,000 Muslims who were forcibly evicted and lost their land during the war. After the war, some government initiatives helped resettle Tamil refugees, but Muslims, who make up 9.7% of Sri Lanka's 22 million citizens, did not receive much assistance. According to peace activist and women's rights activist Shrin Abdul Saroor, internally displaced Muslims were "never officially recognized" by the government. In the northern and eastern provinces, once claimed by the LTTE and now claimed by the nationalist Tamils, she is facilitating the rehabilitation of women war victims and promoting friendship between Muslims and Tamils. According to Sarroor, the families of the uprooted 112,000 Muslims have grown over time, taking the total to 300,000. Only 40,000 of them have moved to the north, where an estimated 260,000 still live in camps in the Eastern, Western and North Central provinces. According to Saroor, "sources of livelihood for Muslims, who are mainly engaged in agriculture, fishing and retail businesses, are limited in the north," and he noted that the LTTE and the Sri Lankan army had removed Muslim-owned forces after their eviction. Took the land , Rishad Bathiuddin, a Muslim who served as Sri Lanka's former Rehabilitation Minister, negotiated with some Islamic organizations to build homes for Muslim refugees in some places. However, Saroor stressed that the government does not want the global community, especially the Islamic nation, to be made aware of the seriousness of crimes committed against Muslims. It took the UNHCR ten years to open an office in Puttalam, where many internally displaced northern Muslims still live. Other non-profit organizations, such as Refugees International and the European Union's "Homes Not House Project", have attempted to promote peace and Muslim resettlement, despite the lack of government support. Rajabdi and Muslim activist JM, who prefers to go by their initials and is based in Mullaitivu, are both recipients of the "home" program, which builds homes for both displaced Muslims and Tamils. New homes for women to build were partly funded by it. According to JM, while some Muslims sold their land to Tamils in desperation during the period of eviction, some Tamils occupied the land left after fleeing LTTE atrocities. In 2017, Tamils in Mullaittivu claimed that Muslim resettlement at Vilpattu, 134 km away, would wipe out forests planted by the LTTE. No Muslim was allowed to move there. Muslims are still seen by Tamil nationalists and politicians as a "threat to their right to self-determination", Saroor claimed, despite the LTTE rebels' long disbandment. As a result of Muslim politicians forming political parties based on religious identity and supporting a Sinhalese majority government, many ordinary Muslims were regarded as government informers, he continued. Mohammad Ali, the owner of a restaurant in Colombo, echoed Saroor's sentiments and recalled how, in October 1990, LTTE cadres in Mannar in the north publicly warned Muslims to leave their homes without their valuables within the next 48 hours or risk being killed. At the same time, Muslims were forcibly removed from other regions of the north. If Muslims attempted to "reclaim" their position, Ali, 47, expressed concern that Tamils might revert to their previous "violence." Some Tamils, according to Mahendran Thiruvarangan, a senior lecturer in English at the University of Jaffna in Sri Lanka, believe that the region's increasing Muslim population will "alter" its ethnic makeup and unfairly burden Tamils who "remained and suffered" throughout the war. Mahinda Rajapaksa, the president at the time, had promised to form a presidential commission to examine the expulsion of Muslims after the war, but that never happened. Instead, a group of Rajapaksa-supporting Sinhalese Buddhist monks attacked the community. After the Easter Sunday bombings in 2019, which were attributed to Islamist militants, more than 1,800 Muslims were detained. The attack claimed the lives of more than 260 people. Since then, more than 250 Muslims, including 170 other local Muslims and charities, have been charged under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, according to Saroor. Voting rights were also denied to some Muslims. In the 2019 presidential election, mobs attacked buses transporting Muslims from Puttalam to Mannar to cast their votes. According to Saroor, government officials forbid Muslims who have been internally displaced and are registered to receive rations in Puttalam from voting in the north because doing so would diminish their political representation. In Puttalam, these Muslims are also prohibited from voting. The government's recent regressive actions, such as forbidding the burial of Muslims who passed away from Covid-19 and closing Islamic schools, have further enraged the community. The first such gathering of the two communities since the 1990s took place last year when thousands of Muslims and Tamils from Pottuvil in the east organised a five-day joint rally to Polikandy in the north to protest against the oppression of both groups by the state. Professor Thiruvarangan, however, claimed that some Tamil politicians and activists "pushed" for their nationalist demands, calling for the recognition of the northern and eastern provinces as the "homelands of the Tamils" rather than putting more emphasis on the reconciliation between the two communities. The north and east are clearly primarily for Tamils, while Muslims are ranked second in both regions' racial hierarchies, according to Thiruvarangan Sri Lankan Tamils at Dindigul rehabilitation camp get concrete houses Rajapaksa, Hasaranga lead Sri Lanka to Asia Cup glory Chinese sea cucumber company provides a lifeline as Indian trawlers steal Sri Lankan fish President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev received the credentials of the newly appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Hungary to our country Tamash Yojef Torma on September 19. Ambassador Tamas Torma presented his credentials to the head of state. President Ilham Aliyev had a conversation with the ambassador. The head of state praised political relations between Azerbaijan and Hungary, and noted that the two countries are closely cooperating in economic, trade, energy and other areas. President Ilham Aliyev described Hungary as one of the most important partners of Azerbaijan in the European Union, and wished the ambassador success in his activities. Tamas Torma conveyed Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban`s greetings to the head of state. President Ilham Aliyev expressed his gratitude for the greetings, and asked Tamas Torma to convey his greetings to the Prime Minister of Hungary. Emphasizing that relations between Azerbaijan and Hungary are based on friendship and mutual respect, the ambassador described the foundations of these ties as those of the strategic partnership. Underling that Azerbaijan is an important partner of Hungary, Tamas Torma said that Azerbaijan plays an important role in ensuring the country`s energy security. The diplomat pointed out that Azerbaijan has an important geopolitical position. The ambassador said that this year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. The ambassador said that he will spare no effort in developing ties between the two countries during his tenure. Kathmandu, September 4 Chinese Speaker Li Zhanshu is visiting Nepal on September 12-15 at the invitation of House of Representatives Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota, according to officials. The visit of the chairman of Chinas National Peoples Congress is yet to be formally announced by either side, but the preparations have reached the final stage, informs an official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Li Zhanshu is the highest-ranking Chinese official to visit Nepal after Chinese President Xi Jinping who was in Nepal in October 2019. The visit is not publicly announced yet as the visit duration and dates are yet to be finalised. But now, it has been fixed that the visit would begin on September 12 and last for four days, the official says, It means it will be made public now. During the visit, Li would hold bilateral meetings with Speaker Sapkota whereas he will also pay courtesy calls on President Bidya Devi Bhandari and Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba. Whereas several parliament-level delegations visit Nepal on a regular basis, this is the first time that such a Chinese delegation is coming. It has been learned that Sapkota wanted Li Zhanshu to visit Nepal as soon as he got elected to the position, but it has been possible only when the term of the House is being over. A member of a sexual minority group paints a rainbow on a hand, during the Gai Jatra celebration, in Kathmandu, on Monday, August 23, 2021. Photo: Aryan Dhimal Kathmandu, September 19 The Regional Office South Asia of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom (FNF), in collaboration with the German Embassy in Kathmandu and the German Nepal Friendship Association, is organising an international LGBTQIA+ conference, Born with Pride, in Kathmandu next week. The event will be held at Hotel Himalaya, Kathmandu, on September 27-28. Nepal is chosen as a venue for the conference because of its progress in protecting the rights of the LGBTQIA+ community, the organisers say, The primary objective of the conference is to engage in conversation with multiple stakeholders such as LGBTQIA+ communities, politicians, activists, academicians, lawyers, organisations and civil society. A statement from the organisers says 21 speakers from seven South Asian countries as well as from Europe and the Tibetan community are attending the event. The conference also welcomes eight keynote speakers from across the Nepali and European political spectrum addressing various LGBTQIA+ issues. The event will conclude by awarding the winners of the Born with Pride Visual Art Competition organised online before the conference. Ongoing disruption, strategic misalignments and labor challenges are straining 3PL-shipper relationships READING, Pa., Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Amidst the growing uncertainty of today's global supply chain, the 2023 Annual Third-Party Logistics Study was released today, giving insight into the challenges and opportunities facing suppliers and third-party logistics providers (3PLs). The publication, created in conjunction with NTT DATA, supply chain professor and researcher Dr. C. John Langley and Penske Logistics, examines back-to-basics principles for supply chain professionals, the ongoing talent crisis and the rise of reverse logistics. 2023 Annual Third-Party Logistics Study Key findings include: Getting Back-to-Basics: While innovative technologies, globalization and growing access to data have all helped transform the supply chain, they have also created complexity, disconnects and competing priorities. A return to the fundamental principles governing supply chains is underway. "The Seven Immutable Laws for Supply Chain Success," helps organizations shift back-to-basics by focusing on the core principles needed to achieve current and future supply chain success. Of these principles, both shippers and 3PLs rated data and analytics, customer focus, and innovation and transformation, as the most important in achieving future improvement in their organization's supply chains. Understanding the Talent Crisis: The supply chain industry has been hit hard by labor shortages, with 78% of shippers, and 56% of 3PLs, reported that labor shortages have impacted their supply chain operations. Hourly workers (e.g., pickers and packers) and licensed hourly workers (e.g., truck drivers and equipment operators) continue to be the hardest roles for companies to hire and retain. Many see the talent shortage as a long-term issue, with 27% of shippers, and 29% of 3PLs, reporting they believe there has been a permanent shift. Tapping into the Potential of Reverse Logistics: Often neglected as the back half of the supply chain equation, reverse logistics has since become an integral part of both the B2B and B2C buyer experience. Consumer-focused shippers rated the returns experience as being extremely important (75%) to consumer loyalty, and both consumer-focused shippers (65%) and business-focused shippers (60%) noted that return expectations are growing. As buying habits continue to shift reverse logistics represents a key opportunity to boost efficiency and improve consumer satisfaction. ESG Surges: Corporate Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) continues to be a top priority for today's supply chain. However, only 22% of shippers and 17% of 3PLs rated themselves as a trailblazer and a leader in ESG. Conversely, 45% of shippers and 41% of 3PLs rated themselves as average in their ESG targets. This discrepancy suggests that both shippers and 3PLs may be misaligned in implementing their ESG efforts. Story continues Langley stated: "The Annual Third-Party Logistics Study identifies and provides insight into key issues and challenges facing 3PLs and shippers. Although these organizations are all dealing with unprecedented change and volatility in the global marketplace, they continue to improve and create value for their end-user customers and consumers. Hopefully, this year's study topics and results inspire further efforts to improve our supply chains via the benefits of successful 3PL-customer relationships." Andy Moses, senior vice president sales and solutions, Penske Logistics: "This year's study findings present a robust view of the challenges and opportunities shippers and logistics providers are facing in rebalancing the supply chain. Attracting and retaining talent in the supply chain remains of central importance to shippers and logistics providers. There are talent needs industrywide from airline pilots, ship captains, truck drivers, and warehouse workers to engineers and technology professionals. People remain central to an efficient and functional supply chain to meet society's needs." Sylvie Thompson, vice president, consumer brands, retail, and distribution practice leader, NTT DATA Services: "I believe we are facing a talent pool crisis and until we can attract new talent into the professionat all ages and levelsour 'talent crisis' will continue. Further, we are all aware of the lack of women in senior levels within supply chains, but diversity is more than gender. Our talent pool is not representative of the communities we work in nor where our teams live. We need to not only expand our pool from a numbers perspective but also from a diversity perceptive." Dating back to 1996, Dr. Langley initiated research to capture and measure this evolving industry and resulting studies have documented the transformation of the third-party logistics industry. The study and past versions are available for download at www.3PLStudy.com. The study was released at this year's Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) EDGE conference in Nashville, Tennessee. Penske Logistics is a Penske Transportation Solutions company with operations in North America, South America, Europe and Asia. Penske Logistics provides supply chain management and logistics services to leading companies around the world. Penske Logistics delivers value through its design, planning and execution in transportation, warehousing and freight management. To learn more visit: www.penskelogistics.com. NTT DATA part of the NTT Group is a trusted global innovator of IT and business services, headquartered in Tokyo. We help clients transform through consulting, industry solutions, IT modernization and managed services. NTT DATA enables clients to move confidently into the digital future. We are committed to our clients' long-term success and combine global reach with local expertise to operate in over 50 countries. Visit us at nttdata.com. Cision View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-2023-third-party-logistics-study-reveals-shippers-and-3pls-striving-to-rebalance-supply-chains-going-back-to-basics-301626040.html SOURCE Penske Logistics Is a 401(k) Worth It Until the 1980s, most of America used pensions to plan for retirement. These defined-benefit plans offered by employers saved a fund on behalf of their workers and calculated each employees retirement benefits individually. This put all the responsibility and associated risks on the pension fund and employer. In order to plan properly, they had to make estimates, including life span and projected earnings, for each employee and needed to have the enough savings waiting for every qualified worker. But once Section 401(k) in the Internal Revenue Code came around, the tax-advantaged 401(k) retirement savings account was born. Consider working with a financial advisor as you seek to find the most optimal ways to build your retirement savings. What Is a 401(k)? A 401(k) plan is a popular retirement savings vehicle offered to millions of Americans by their employers. When an employee signs up for a 401(k) through their workplace, they agree to put some of their paycheck into the account. There, the money goes to work in investments like bonds, mutual funds and other assets. The capital gains earned from these assets grow tax-deferred, meaning the account holder wont pay taxes on that money until they withdraw it, usually in retirement. According to the Investment Company Institute (ICI), 401(k)s represent almost one-fifth of the total U.S. retirement market. The ICIs study also shows 401(k)s hold an estimated $7.3 trillion in assets, as of June 30, 2021. In comparison, 401(k)s only made up 17% of the U.S. retirement market 10 years ago, at $3.1 trillion. The 401(k) plan is subject to an annual contribution limit, though. This was instituted because the IRS wants to avoid workers putting an inordinately large portion of their income into a tax-advantaged account like a 401(k). For 2022, the annual 401(k) contribution limit is $20,500. What Are the Advantages of a 401(k)? The 401(k) plan is popular for a reason. It comes with several benefits, including tax advantages, that encourage workers to include it in their retirement plan. By signing up for one, you can profit from features like the ones below. Story continues Before-Tax Contributions Contributions to your 401(k) come directly out of your paycheck before taxes. As a result, that money does not count towards your taxable income, potentially putting you in a lower tax bracket. So, you may face a smaller tax bill than you would have otherwise. Additionally, your savings grow on a tax-deferred basis. As long as the money remains in the 401(k) account, it does not face taxes. That includes any earnings you make, such as capital gains. You only pay taxes on these and your contributions when you make withdrawals. This may be useful if you are in a lower tax bracket once you hit retirement. Matching Contributions Some employers offer their workforce a matching contribution program. Within this arrangement, they match your 401(k) contributions up to a certain cap. A common program for many companies is a 50% match up to the first 6% you contribute to the account. So lets say you make an annual salary of $50,000. You contribute 6% of your earnings to your 401(k) retirement plan $3,000. Your employer then contributes an additional 50% of that amount, meaning you earn another $1,500 on top. Other employers offer a dollar-for-dollar match, meaning they contribute the same amount as you up to a cap. Thus, they double the yearly contributions to your 401(k). Automatic Savings 401(k) plans take a lot of the savings work out of your hands. For example, you dont have to manually organize where your money goes each paycheck. Your company can set up automatic payroll deductions or automatic contributions for their employees. This also helps new workers avoid procrastination when they start working. An auto-enrollment feature helps new hires start saving as soon as possible. Emergency Benefits In most cases, youll have to pay a 10% penalty fee when you withdraw too early from a 401(k). If you take out money before you turn 59.5, youll face this fee on top of income taxes. The only exception to this is the rule of 55, which allows workers who are fired, laid off or quit during or after the year they turn 55 to withdraw from their current companys 401(k) penalty-free. However, some employers give participants the chance to borrow funds from their 401(k). More specifically, certain plan sponsors allow participants to take a loan from their retirement plan. The rules and procedures vary between each plan, though. In most cases, the loans have a cap amount that you must pay back over time using payroll deductions. But the money does not face taxation as long as the loan meets specific rules and you follow your repayment schedule on time. Alternatively, you can make a hardship withdrawal. You can use your 401(k) money to cover qualified expenses such as medical care, funeral costs, or college tuition. You need to demonstrate an immediate and heavy financial need, according to the IRS, to qualify for a hardship withdrawal. Financial Safeguards Is a 401(k) Worth It All employers have a fiduciary responsibility to their employees through their 401(k). As a result, they must act in the best interest of the employee. This is thanks to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, otherwise known as ERISA. So, your plan administrator cant shape your 401(k) toward risky and expensive investments. Instead, they need to shape the plan around secure investments with reasonable fees. In addition, they must disclose information such as historical performance data and administrative costs. That way, employees can make informed decisions. Also, ERISA tacks on another benefit for participating workers. Because of it, your assets are safe from creditors. However, this does not protect your funds from specific government measures, such as criminal fines or income tax. What Are the Disadvantages of a 401(k)? While a 401(k) comes with potential benefits, they also feature some drawbacks. Understanding the potential disadvantages of a 401(k) allows you to better plan for your future. So, keep these downsides in mind during your retirement planning. Limited Investment Opportunities A 401(k) is a long-term savings and investing plan. So when you put money into it, you have the option of purchasing various investments. However, plan sponsors are responsible for the selection available to participants. Many create a list of mutual funds, with half of them as target-date funds. Target-date funds are a collection of investments that grow progressively more conservative as you near retirement. These funds are usually titled and, therefore, coincide with the expected retirement year of the individual. Because of potential limitations, its best to compare all your options in a 401(k) plan. If you cant find a selection that fits your financial needs, you may need to consider a separate investment account. High Fees A 401(k) plan is not free of charge. It typically comes with several expenses, including management and record-keeping fees. While any plan should disclose fees on an annual basis, it can still catch participants off guard. As a result, you may be paying high fees without understanding why. If you have concerns about the cost of your 401(k), its always good to contact your workplaces HR department. Or, you can reach out to the plan sponsor. Either can help you read through the plans fine print. Additionally, they can help you break down the employers matching program. In some cases, this may help compensate for the loss caused by the fees. Hard to Access Funds While you put your own money into a 401(k) account, you cant just dip into it whenever you want. There are rules in place that can result in consequences if you do. In most scenarios, withdrawing from a 401(k) plan before you hit age 59.5 makes you subject to a hefty IRS penalty. If you fail to follow the withdrawal rules, you must pay a 10% fee on top of the postponed income tax on the money. There are very few scenarios that allow you to access your money before this point, again, aside from the rule of 55 mentioned above. Minimal or Nonexistent Employer Match In some cases, employers match up to specific amount of your plan contributions. The match limit amount might be a certain percentage of your salary or your own contribution. Or, your employer may express the cap as a dollar amount. For instance, an employer may offer to match up to 100% of your contributions up to x amount. But the availability of a 401(k) matching program depends solely on your employer, as not every workplace offers one. Even if they do, the match may not be for much money. While not always a red flag, you may also want to pay attention to when your employer matches your contributions. Some workplaces have minimum service requirements, meaning the employer only matches contributions after you work a certain amount of time. What Are the Alternatives to a 401(k)? Is a 401(k) Worth It There are a few reasons why a 401(k) might not be right for you. Maybe your employer doesnt offer a contribution matching program. Or perhaps you dont want to accept the high fees. In that case, it may be worthwhile to consider other retirement plan options. Below are a handful of possible alternatives that might fit your plans better. Note that you can have both a 401(k) and an IRA at once, though they each have their own contribution guidelines. Traditional IRA The traditional IRA is a popular retirement savings option, regardless of whether you have a 401(k). It allows you to put your money away and grow it tax-deferred. So, you only pay taxes when you withdraw funds during retirement. In addition, you can use your contributions to lower your yearly taxes. You just deduct the amount you contribute from your taxable income. Like a 401(k), you pay a penalty for early withdrawals and must take out required minimum distributions (RMDs) starting by age 72. The contribution limits are lower with an IRA, though. For 2022, you can only deposit up to $6,000 annually, at least until you turn 50. After that age, you can contribute an extra $1,000 per year, bringing the catch-up contribution limit to $7,000. Roth IRA A Roth IRA is a similar store for cash before retirement, but it has unique features. In particular, you contribute after-tax dollars with a Roth IRA. So, you cant reduce your taxable income before you put the fund away. But, because of this, your money grows tax-free, and you avoid taxation on withdrawals made during retirement. Roth IRAs follow the same rules on contribution limits as traditional IRAs. However, there are income limits for who can contribute to a Roth IRA account. For 2022, single filers and heads of household with a modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) less than $129,000 (or $204,000 for married and joint filers) can contribute the full amount. Those who make more face decreased contribution limits, with contributions being fully phased out at $144,000 and $214,000, respectively. SEP IRA In some cases, your employment status might push you toward other retirement plan options. A SEP IRA, or simplified employee pension, are open to self-employed individuals or small business owners. SEP IRAs work similarly to traditional IRAs: they share a range of investment choices and tax advantages. However, SEP IRAs have the additional benefit of higher contribution limits. For 2022, your SEP IRA contribution cannot be more than 25% of your yearly compensation, or $61,000. However, your limit depends on whichever amount is less. Taxable Brokerage Account Maybe none of the available retirement savings options fit your situation. Or perhaps you already maxed out your contribution limits. In that case, it may be time to consider a taxable brokerage account. While they offer no tax advantages, you dont face withdrawal restrictions. You can use the funds whenever you please and it wont affect your tax bill. Plus, there are many brokerage accounts that come with minimal fees and you have complete customization over your investment choices. Is Investing in a 401(k) Right for You? Overall, if youre wondering whether a 401(k) plan is worth it it depends. There are two major benefits that appeal to employees using a 401(k) plan: the tax savings and employee matching programs. By contributing to a 401(k) you reduce your yearly income, thus lowering your tax burden. Plus, you can take advantage of the deferred taxation and the additional savings available through your employer. But this may not be enough for you. Other investment options may come with lower fees or greater flexibility. That can be valuable to certain investors. Plus, you may not want to have restrictions on your own money. Work through your investment goals before enrolling in a 401(k) program. If you need to, talk to a financial advisor. Bottom Line: Is a 401(k) Worth It? A 401(k) is a popular way for many Americans to start saving for retirement. They are easy to set up through the workplace and come with various benefits. But they may not be available to you or the right choice. In that case, its important to consider your options. Look for a retirement savings plan that fits your present and future financial goals. That means taking into account contribution limits, potential tax consequences and fees. Tips on Saving for Retirement Planning for retirement can be quite an undertaking. Many of us arent equipped to handle it alone. The good news is that you dont have to, as a financial advisor can guide you through the process. Finding a qualified financial advisor doesnt have to be hard. SmartAssets free tool matches you with up to three financial advisors who serve your area, and you can interview your advisor matches at no cost to decide which one is right for you. If youre ready to find an advisor who can help you achieve your financial goals, get started now. Having a retirement age in mind can help you plan out your savings. But that might also be extra financial pressure. You want to make sure youre saving at the right rate to support yourself in the future. That might require taking advantage of your employers 401(k) matching program. Its essentially money already owed to you that can make a difference in your long-term savings. Photo credit: iStock.com/Pears2295, iStock.com/Sezeryadigar, iStock.com/shapecharge The post Is a 401(k) Worth It? appeared first on SmartAsset Blog. Future Market Insights Global and Consulting Pvt. Ltd. The United States is expected to account for the highest market share of US$ 785.3 Mn by the end of 2032 with North America being the dominant player and accounting for the largest AB Testing Software Market share. Due to the growing number of small and medium enterprises, North America is the largest user of AB Testing Software NEWARK, Del, Sept. 19, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The AB Testing Software market revenues were estimated at US$ 1 Bn in 2021 and is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 11.6% from 2022-2032, according to a recently published Future Market Insights report. By the end of 2032, the market is expected to reach US$ 3.4 Bn. AB testing also known as bucket testing is a technique for comparing two versions of a website or app. The programmer or coder can use AB testing to see which version works better and generate results from it. In AB testing, a statistical analysis is utilized to evaluate which software or website performs better, allowing the programmer to make necessary improvements. Individuals, teams, and corporations were able to improve the user experience based on the results provided by AB testing program owing to the meticulous modifications allowed by the platform. Request a Sample Copy of the Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-15597 The AB testing software also aids in increasing conversion rates and adding value to the company. The benefits that AB testing software provides to corporations and software organizations have increased its usage, causing the AB Testing Software Market to heat up. The usage of AB Testing software has also reduced the entire cost of building a website or marketing campaigns, propelling the market for AB Testing software. This AB testing software is highly useful for B2B technology companies who want to improve the quality of sales leads and the amount of sales from their campaign landing pages. This organization can use AB testing software to compare the sites and make changes to elements like the headline, visual images, fields, and general page layout that appear inefficient. Story continues Furthermore, this type of testing allows programmers or designers to pinpoint modifications that may have a beneficial or bad influence on visitors. This enables them to combine all of the beneficial adjustments and improve the user experience, as well as make critical modifications to marketing campaigns, allowing software programmers or designers to employ AB Testing software. Competitive Landscape Some of the key players operating in AB Testing Software Market include Optimizely, VWO, AB Tasty, Instapage, Dynamic Yield, Adobe, Freshmarketer, Unbounce, Monetate, and Kameleoon. Some of the key developments in AB Testing Software Market include: In January 2019, Instapage, a marketing post-click optimization company, launched its personalization solution, making it the first and only MarTech company to provide automatic and scalable personalization exclusively for advertising and marketing post-click on landing pages. Without a developer, entrepreneurs can now construct matching landing pages for each ad and target market in minutes. In July 2020, AB Tasty announced a series C round of fundraising, to redefine how companies give the delightful brand and product narrative. With over 900 global customers and 10 locations in North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific, AB Tasty now generates 60% of its business outside of France. Before Buying, Visit for Customization @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/customization-available/rep-gb-15597 Market Segments Covered in AB Testing Software Market Analysis By Type: Web Based Mobile Based Full Stack By Application: SMEs Large Enterprises By Region: North America Europe Asia Pacific Middle East and Africa Latin America Contact Sales for Further Assistance in Purchasing this Report@ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/checkout/15597 Table of Content 1. Executive Summary 1.1. Global Market Outlook 1.2. Summary of Statistics 1.3. Key Market Characteristics & Attributes 1.4. FMI Analysis and Recommendations 2. Market Overview 2.1. Market Coverage / Taxonomy 2.2. Market Definition / Scope / Limitations 3. Market Risks and Trends Assessment 3.1. Risk Assessment 3.1.1. COVID-19 Crisis and Impact on A/B Testing Software Demand 3.1.2. COVID-19 Impact Benchmark with Previous Crisis 3.1.3. Impact on Market Value (US$ Mn) 3.1.4. Assessment by Key Countries 3.1.5. Assessment by Key Market Segments 3.1.6. Action Points and Recommendation for Suppliers 3.2. Key Trends Impacting the Market 3.3. Formulation and Product Development Trends To Continue TOC Explore FMIs Extensive ongoing Coverage on Technology Domain MEA Enterprise Software Market Size: These enterprise applications are industry-specific solutions developed commonly as custom in-house applications which the information technology department integrates with other enterprise suites. Survey and Feedback Management Software Market Share- The survey and feedback management software market is garnering substantial momentum and is anticipated to record a CAGR of 16.5% during the forecast period. Cloud Testing And ASQ Software Market Forecast - Cloud testing and ASQ software facilitates quick access to both superiority solution and support infrastructure to sustain complex software sourcing and dynamic development. Automated Testing Software Market Analysis - The automated testing software is extremely useful for regression testing, which is a time consuming and extremely tedious process. Software Defined Application And Infrastructure Market Growth- Global Software Defined Application and Infrastructure Market demand was valued at US$ 28.82 Billion in 2021, and is projected to reach US$ 35.16 Billion by the end of 2022. About Future Market Insights, Inc. Future Market Insights, Inc. is an ESOMAR-certified business consulting & market research firm, a member of the Greater New York Chamber of Commerce and is headquartered in Delaware, USA. A recipient of Clutch Leaders Award 2022 on account of high client score (4.9/5), we have been collaborating with global enterprises in their business transformation journey and helping them deliver on their business ambitions. 80% of the largest Forbes 1000 enterprises are our clients. We serve global clients across all leading & niche market segments across all major industries. Contact Us: Future Market Insights Inc. Christiana Corporate, 200 Continental Drive, Suite 401, Newark, Delaware - 19713, USA T: +1-845-579-5705 For Sales Enquiries: sales@futuremarketinsights.com Creating pathways to venture capital for SoCal entrepreneurs LOS ANGELES, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Alliance for SoCal Innovation ("The Alliance") is proud to announce that they have formally entered into a multi-year agreement with Pacific Western Bank to be the new lead sponsor of the SoCal Venture Pipeline program (SVP) which connects promising early stage startups with venture capital in order to improve access to institutional capital across the SoCal region. Entering its second year, the SVP program is completely free for the startups and investors who participate. The Alliance does not collect any fees or take equity thanks to this generous underwriting from Pacific Western Bank as well as continuing supporters Wilson Sonsini and KPPB LLP. Increasing capital access for innovative companies across the expansive SoCal region is core to The Alliance's mission and this particular program is a key ingredient. SoCal Venture Pipeline powered by Pacific Western Bank Andy Wilson, Executive Director of the Alliance, said, "We are so fortunate in SoCal to have so many amazing founders building great startups across this massive and diverse region. However, access to critical early stage capital is not equally available to all. We rely on great partners like Pacific Western Bank who share our commitment to the region to deliver high impact programs like the SoCal Venture Pipeline." "We are very excited to partner with the Alliance on the important mission of the SoCal Venture Pipeline program," Mark diTargiani, SVP of Pacific Western Bank's technology banking practice. "We are committed to supporting the venture community and entrepreneurs, and the Alliance has the great ability to bring together up-and-coming tech and life science communities and connect them to relevant investors. By working together and combining our two networks, we'll be able to connect promising early stage startups with venture capital, with the hopes of creating a more balanced and diverse group of founders in the SoCal area." Story continues As part of the new sponsorship agreement, the program will now be renamed "The SoCal Venture Pipeline powered by Pacific Western Bank" and will continue to focus on matchmaking qualified early stage founders seeking seed and series A capital with the right investors. Startups based in the SoCal region who apply to be in the SVP program undergo a rigorous screening process by a team of investment professionals before being accepted into the program. Once accepted they are further vetted before receiving highly targeted personal introductions to appropriate investors in the Alliance's extensive and growing network of venture capital partners. Since launching in March of 2021, over 250 startups have applied to the SoCal Venture Pipeline program of which 31 have been accepted and received vital support through connections to investors, advisors, and additional capital resources. As a result of the program, several startups have secured venture funding and more success stories are in process. For SoCal-based tech startups that are raising $1M+ of seed or $4M+ of Series A institutional capital and meet the guidelines outlined in the program FAQ, apply now to begin the process of getting connected to the right investors. About The Alliance for Southern California Innovation The Alliance for Southern California Innovation (the "Alliance") is a not for profit formed in 2017 that has successfully brought together the heft of Southern California's top research institutions, local business leaders, and world-class advisors to focus on bridging critical gaps in the SoCal innovation ecosystem. The goal of the Alliance is to engage and unify SoCal's compelling diversity of talent, ideas, and perspectives in order to optimize the conditions for the region's innovators to bring breakthroughs to the world. About Pacific Western Bank Pacific Western Bank is a commercial bank with over $40 billion in assets headquartered in Los Angeles, California, with an executive office in Denver, Colorado. The Bank is focused on relationship-based business banking to small, middle-market, and venture-backed businesses nationwide. The Bank provides venture banking products including a comprehensive suite of financial services focused on entrepreneurial and venture-backed businesses and their venture capital and private equity investors, with offices located in key innovation hubs across the United States. To learn more about Pacific Western Bank, visit www.pacwest.com. Contact: Eric Eide, The Alliance for SoCal Innovation Email: eric@alliancesocal.org Cision View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-alliance-for-southern-california-innovation-partners-with-pacific-western-bank-to-support-early-stage-startups-in-the-region-301626467.html SOURCE The Alliance for Southern California Innovation Industry Research Pune, Sept. 19, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- GLOBAL ALTERNATIVE FUEL VEHICLE (AFV) MARKET 2022-2030: Global Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) Market 2016-2030 report discovers comprehensive insights on key manufacturers with share information, market size and projection, key dynamics, growth factors, and new company profiles. The report provides detailed information about the market overview, prevalent trends, demand, and recent developments impacting the market growth in the coming years. Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) Market opportunities analysis, strategic growth analysis, product launches, marketplace expanding, and technological innovations are also highlighted. The report uncovers Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) market size, potential growth, trends and expansion strategies followed by top prominent players. Get a Sample PDF of the report @ https://www.industryresearch.biz/enquiry/request-sample/20742499 The Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) market is anticipated to rise at a considerable rate during the forecast period, between 2016 and 2030. In 2022, the market is growing at a steady rate and with the rising adoption of strategies by key players, the market is expected to rise over the projected horizon. This report studies the Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) market, covering market size for segment by type (Electric Vehicle, Natural Gas/Compressed Natural Gas, etc.), by application (Home Use, Commercial Use, etc.), by sales channel (Direct Channel, Distribution Channel), by player (Tesla, BMW Group, BYD, Yutong, Daimler AG, etc.) and by region (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America and Middle East & Africa). Moreover, the impact of COVID-19 is also concerned. Since outbreak in December 2019, the COVID-19 virus has spread to all around the world and caused huge losses of lives and economy, and the global manufacturing, tourism and financial markets have been hit hard, while the online market/industry increase. Fortunately, with the development of vaccine and other effort by global governments and organizations, the negative impact of COVID-19 is expected to subside and the global economy is expected to recover. Story continues The Research Report focuses on the competitive landscape of the industry including company profiles, business overview, sales area, market performance and manufacturing cost structure. The report analyzes the global primary production, consumption, and fastest-growing countries with prominent players in the global industry. Key market observation is shown to make key findings on business growth. In the competitive assessment section, this Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) market report sheds light on the list of manufacturers, market conditions, current trends, company profiles, and market innovations. It also includes various growth opportunities for top players. Get A Sample Copy Of The Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) Market Report 2016-2030 Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) Market Top Manufacturers Analysis : The report covers extensive analysis of the key market players along with their business overview, expansion plans, and strategies. Top Key Players covered in the report are: Tesla BMW Group BYD Yutong Daimler AG BAIC Renault Toyota Motor Corporation General Motors SAIC Geely Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Volkswagen Chery JMCG JAC Ford Hyundai Dongfeng Zotye Mitsubishi Honda Changan The report focuses on the Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) market size, segment size (mainly covering product type, application, and geography), competitor landscape, recent status, and development trends. Furthermore, the report provides detailed cost analysis, supply chain. Technological innovation and advancement will further optimize the performance of the product, making it more widely used in downstream applications. Moreover, Consumer behavior analysis and market dynamics (drivers, restraints, opportunities) provides crucial information for knowing the Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) market. Based On Product Types, the Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) market from 2016 to 2030 is primarily split into: Electric Vehicle Natural Gas/Compressed Natural Gas Others Based On Applications, the Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) market from 2016 to 2030 covers: Home Use Commercial Use Enquire before purchasing this report - https://www.industryresearch.biz/enquiry/pre-order-enquiry/20742499 Geographically, the report includes research on production, consumption, revenue, market share and growth rate, and forecast (2016 -2030) of the following regions: North America (United States, Canada and Mexico) Europe (Germany, UK, France, Italy, Russia and Spain etc.) Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India, Australia and Southeast Asia etc.) South America (Brazil, Argentina and Colombia etc.) Middle East & Africa (South Africa, UAE and Saudi Arabia etc.) Major Highlights of Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) Market Report: Define and discuss the growth of the global Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) market Analyze the various segments and dynamics of the Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) market To identify and make suitable business plans according to industry and economic shifts. The key objective of presenting an in-depth research study on the global Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) market is to conduct an extensive analysis and Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) performance. The report highlights the latest trends, market drivers, and investment avenues for the new entrants and the market players looking for market expansion. It is helpful to combine relevant facts and offers a wealth of information and analysis on the global Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) market. This report assesses the performance and profit potential of the global Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) market. Different variables are used to analyze attractiveness and strengths. TO KNOW HOW COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND RUSSIA UKRAINE WAR WILL IMPACT THIS MARKET - REQUEST SAMPLE What ideas and concepts are covered in the report? The assessments accounted by all the zones and the market share registered by each region are mentioned in the report. The study sums up the product consumption growth rate in the applicable regions along with their consumption market share. Data regarding the Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) Industry market consumption rate of all the provinces, based on applicable regions and product types is inculcated in the report. Region-based analysis of the Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) Industry market: The Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) Industry market, with regards to the provincial scope, is segmented into USA, Europe, Japan, China, India, South East Asia and more. The report also includes information regarding the products use throughout the topographies. Some of the key questions answered in this report: Which are the five top players of the Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) market? How will the Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) market change in the upcoming years? Which product and application will take a share of the Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) market? What are the drivers and restraints of the Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) market? Which regional market will show the highest growth? What will be the CAGR and size of the Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) market throughout the forecast period? What is the current market size, what will the market size be in 2030 and what will the growth rate be? What are the challenges to grow in the market? What are the market opportunities and challenges faced by the key vendors? Who are the major competitors and what is their strategy? What are the barriers to entry for new players in the market? Purchase this report (Price 2500 USD for a single-user license) - https://www.industryresearch.biz/purchase/20742499 With tables and figures helping analyze worldwide Global Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) market trends, this research provides key statistics on the state of the industry and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the market. Detailed TOC of Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) Market Forecast Report 2016-2030: Chapter 1 Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) Market Overview 1.1 Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) Definition 1.2 Global Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) Market Size Status and Outlook (2016-2030) 1.3 Global Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) Market Size Comparison by Region (2016-2030) 1.4 Global Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) Market Size Comparison by Type (2016-2030) 1.5 Global Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) Market Size Comparison by Application (2016-2030) 1.6 Global Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) Market Size Comparison by Sales Channel (2016-2030) 1.7 Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) Market Dynamics (COVID-19 Impacts) 1.7.1 Market Drivers/Opportunities 1.7.2 Market Challenges/Risks 1.7.3 Market News (Mergers/Acquisitions/Expansion) 1.7.4 COVID-19 Impacts 1.7.5 Post-Strategies of COVID-19 Chapter 2 Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) Market Segment Analysis by Player 2.1 Global Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) Sales and Market Share by Player (2019-2021) 2.2 Global Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) Revenue and Market Share by Player (2019-2021) 2.3 Global Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) Average Price by Player (2019-2021) 2.4 Players Competition Situation & Trends 2.5 Conclusion of Segment by Player Chapter 3 Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) Market Segment Analysis by Type 3.1 Global Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) Market by Type 3.1.1 Electric Vehicle 3.1.2 Natural Gas/Compressed Natural Gas 3.1.3 Others 3.2 Global Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) Sales and Market Share by Type (2016-2021) 3.3 Global Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) Revenue and Market Share by Type (2016-2021) 3.4 Global Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) Average Price by Type (2016-2021) 3.5 Leading Players of Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) by Type in 2021 3.6 Conclusion of Segment by Type Chapter 4 Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) Market Segment Analysis by Application 4.1 Global Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) Market by Application 4.1.1 Home Use 4.1.2 Commercial Use 4.2 Global Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) Revenue and Market Share by Application (2016-2021) 4.3 Leading Consumers of Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) by Application in 2021 4.4 Conclusion of Segment by Application Chapter 5 Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) Market Segment Analysis by Sales Channel 5.1 Global Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) Market by Sales Channel 5.1.1 Direct Channel 5.1.2 Distribution Channel 5.2 Global Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) Revenue and Market Share by Sales Channel (2016-2021) 5.3 Leading Distributors/Dealers of Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) by Sales Channel in 2021 5.4 Conclusion of Segment by Sales Channel Chapter 6 Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) Market Segment Analysis by Region 6.1 Global Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) Market Size and CAGR by Region (2016-2030) 6.2 Global Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) Sales and Market Share by Region (2016-2021) 6.3 Global Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) Revenue and Market Share by Region (2016-2021) 6.4 North America 6.5 Europe 6.6 Asia-Pacific 6.7 South America 6.8 Middle East & Africa 6.9 Conclusion of Segment by Region Chapter 7 Profile of Leading Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) Players 7.1 Tesla 7.1.1 Company Snapshot 7.1.2 Product/Service Offered 7.1.3 Business Performance (Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share) 7.2 BMW Group 7.3 BYD 7.4 Yutong 7.5 Daimler AG 7.6 BAIC 7.7 Renault 7.8 Toyota Motor Corporation 7.9 General Motors 7.10 SAIC 7.11 Geely 7.12 Fiat Chrysler Automobiles 7.13 Volkswagen 7.14 Chery 7.15 JMCG 7.16 JAC 7.17 Ford 7.18 Hyundai 7.19 Dongfeng 7.20 Zotye 7.21 Mitsubishi 7.22 Honda 7.23 Changan Chapter 8 Upstream and Downstream Analysis of Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) 8.1 Industrial Chain of Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) 8.2 Upstream of Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) 8.3 Downstream of Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) Chapter 9 Development Trend of Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) (2022-2030) 9.1 Global Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) Market Size (Sales and Revenue) Forecast (2022-2030) 9.2 Global Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) Market Size and CAGR Forecast by Region (2022-2030) 9.3 Global Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) Market Size and CAGR Forecast by Type (2022-2030) 9.4 Global Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) Market Size and CAGR Forecast by Application (2022-2030) 9.5 Global Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) Market Size and CAGR Forecast by Sales Channel (2022-2030) Chapter 10 Appendix 10.1 Research Methodology 10.2 Data Sources 10.3 Disclaimer 10.4 Analysts Certification Detailed TOC of Global Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) Market @ https://www.industryresearch.biz/TOC/20742499 About Us: Market is changing rapidly with the ongoing expansion of the industry. Advancement in technology has provided todays businesses with multifaceted advantages resulting in daily economic shifts. Thus, it is very important for a company to comprehend the patterns of the market movements in order to strategize better. An efficient strategy offers the companies a head start in planning and an edge over the competitors. Industry Research is a credible source for gaining the market reports that will provide you with the lead your business needs. CONTACT: Industry Research Biz Phone: US +1 424 253 0807 UK +44 203 239 8187 Email: sales@industryresearch.biz Web: https://www.industryresearch.biz Industry Research This report studies the Animal Wound Care market, covering market size for segment by type (Surgical Wound Care Products, Advanced Wound Care Products, etc.), by application (Companion Animal, Livestock Animal, etc.), by sales channel (Direct Channel, Distribution Channel), by player (B. Braun, Medtronic, 3M Company, Johnson & Johnson (Ethicon), Virbac, etc.) and by region (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America and Middle East & Africa). Pune, Sept. 19, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Global Animal Wound Care Market 2016-2030 report discovers comprehensive insights on key manufacturers with share information, market size and projection, key dynamics, growth factors, and new company profiles. The report provides detailed information about the market overview, prevalent trends, demand, and recent developments impacting the market growth in the coming years. Animal Wound Care Market opportunities analysis, strategic growth analysis, product launches, marketplace expanding, and technological innovations are also highlighted. The report uncovers Animal Wound Care market size, potential growth, trends and expansion strategies followed by top prominent players. Get a Sample PDF of the report @ https://www.industryresearch.biz/enquiry/request-sample/20742551 The Animal Wound Care market is anticipated to rise at a considerable rate during the forecast period, between 2016 and 2030. In 2022, the market is growing at a steady rate and with the rising adoption of strategies by key players, the market is expected to rise over the projected horizon. The report focuses on the Animal Wound Care market size, segment size (mainly covering product type, application, and geography), competitor landscape, recent status, and development trends. Furthermore, the report provides strategies for companies to overcome threats posed by COVID-19. Moreover, the impact of COVID-19 is also concerned. Since outbreak in December 2019, the COVID-19 virus has spread to all around the world and caused huge losses of lives and economy, and the global manufacturing, tourism and financial markets have been hit hard, while the online market/industry increase. Fortunately, with the development of vaccine and other effort by global governments and organizations, the negative impact of COVID-19 is expected to subside and the global economy is expected to recover. Story continues The Research Report focuses on the competitive landscape of the industry including company profiles, business overview, sales area, market performance and manufacturing cost structure. The report analyzes the global primary production, consumption, and fastest-growing countries with prominent players in the global industry. Key market observation is shown to make key findings on business growth. In the competitive assessment section, this Animal Wound Care market report sheds light on the list of manufacturers, market conditions, current trends, company profiles, and market innovations. It also includes various growth opportunities for top players. Get A Sample Copy Of The Animal Wound Care Market Report 2016-2030 Animal Wound Care Market Top Manufacturers Analysis : The report covers extensive analysis of the key market players along with their business overview, expansion plans, and strategies. Top Key Players covered in the report are: B. Braun Medtronic 3M Company Johnson & Johnson (Ethicon) Virbac Advancis Veterinary Innovacyn Robinson Healthcare NEOGEN Corporation KeriCure Sonoma Pharmaceuticals Elanco Animal Health Jorgen Kruuse Dechra Pharmaceuticals Jazz Medical Prima-Vet Smith & Nephew Care-Tech Laboratories Mila International Sentrx Animal Care McCord Research Andover Healthcare Assisi Animal Health Precision Equine Solutions Addison Biological Laboratory Cut-Heal Animal Care Products Animal Medics Biogenesis Bago Bio-Vet Boehringer Ingelheim The report focuses on the Animal Wound Care market size, segment size (mainly covering product type, application, and geography), competitor landscape, recent status, and development trends. Furthermore, the report provides detailed cost analysis, supply chain. Technological innovation and advancement will further optimize the performance of the product, making it more widely used in downstream applications. Moreover, Consumer behavior analysis and market dynamics (drivers, restraints, opportunities) provides crucial information for knowing the Animal Wound Care market. Based On Product Types, the Animal Wound Care market from 2016 to 2030 is primarily split into: Surgical Wound Care Products Advanced Wound Care Products Traditional Wound Care Products Therapy Devices Based On Applications, the Animal Wound Care market from 2016 to 2030 covers: Companion Animal Livestock Animal Market split by Sales Channel, can be divided into: Direct Channel Distribution Channel Enquire before purchasing this report - https://www.industryresearch.biz/enquiry/pre-order-enquiry/20742551 Geographically, the report includes research on production, consumption, revenue, market share and growth rate, and forecast (2016 -2030) of the following regions: North America (United States, Canada and Mexico) Europe (Germany, UK, France, Italy, Russia and Spain etc.) Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India, Australia and Southeast Asia etc.) South America (Brazil, Argentina and Colombia etc.) Middle East & Africa (South Africa, UAE and Saudi Arabia etc.) Major Highlights of Animal Wound Care Market Report: Define and discuss the growth of the global Animal Wound Care market Analyze the various segments and dynamics of the Animal Wound Care market To identify and make suitable business plans according to industry and economic shifts. The key objective of presenting an in-depth research study on the global Animal Wound Care market is to conduct an extensive analysis and Animal Wound Care performance. The report highlights the latest trends, market drivers, and investment avenues for the new entrants and the market players looking for market expansion. It is helpful to combine relevant facts and offers a wealth of information and analysis on the global Animal Wound Care market. This report assesses the performance and profit potential of the global Animal Wound Care market. Different variables are used to analyze attractiveness and strengths. TO KNOW HOW COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND RUSSIA UKRAINE WAR WILL IMPACT THIS MARKET - REQUEST SAMPLE What ideas and concepts are covered in the report? The assessments accounted by all the zones and the market share registered by each region are mentioned in the report. The study sums up the product consumption growth rate in the applicable regions along with their consumption market share. Data regarding the Animal Wound Care Industry market consumption rate of all the provinces, based on applicable regions and product types is inculcated in the report. Region-based analysis of the Animal Wound Care Industry market: The Animal Wound Care Industry market, with regards to the provincial scope, is segmented into USA, Europe, Japan, China, India, South East Asia and more. The report also includes information regarding the products use throughout the topographies. Some of the key questions answered in this report: Which are the five top players of the Animal Wound Care market? How will the Animal Wound Care market change in the upcoming years? Which product and application will take a share of the Animal Wound Care market? What are the drivers and restraints of the Animal Wound Care market? Which regional market will show the highest growth? What will be the CAGR and size of the Animal Wound Care market throughout the forecast period? What is the current market size, what will the market size be in 2030 and what will the growth rate be? What are the challenges to grow in the market? What are the market opportunities and challenges faced by the key vendors? Who are the major competitors and what is their strategy? What are the barriers to entry for new players in the market? Purchase this report (Price 2500 USD for a single-user license) - https://www.industryresearch.biz/purchase/20742551 With tables and figures helping analyze worldwide Global Animal Wound Care market trends, this research provides key statistics on the state of the industry and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the market. Detailed TOC of Animal Wound Care Market Forecast Report 2016-2030: Chapter 1 Animal Wound Care Market Overview 1.1 Animal Wound Care Definition 1.2 Global Animal Wound Care Market Size Status and Outlook (2016-2030) 1.3 Global Animal Wound Care Market Size Comparison by Region (2016-2030) 1.4 Global Animal Wound Care Market Size Comparison by Type (2016-2030) 1.5 Global Animal Wound Care Market Size Comparison by Application (2016-2030) 1.6 Global Animal Wound Care Market Size Comparison by Sales Channel (2016-2030) 1.7 Animal Wound Care Market Dynamics (COVID-19 Impacts) 1.7.1 Market Drivers/Opportunities 1.7.2 Market Challenges/Risks 1.7.3 Market News (Mergers/Acquisitions/Expansion) 1.7.4 COVID-19 Impacts 1.7.5 Post-Strategies of COVID-19 Chapter 2 Animal Wound Care Market Segment Analysis by Player 2.1 Global Animal Wound Care Sales and Market Share by Player (2019-2021) 2.2 Global Animal Wound Care Revenue and Market Share by Player (2019-2021) 2.3 Global Animal Wound Care Average Price by Player (2019-2021) 2.4 Players Competition Situation & Trends 2.5 Conclusion of Segment by Player Chapter 3 Animal Wound Care Market Segment Analysis by Type 3.1 Global Animal Wound Care Market by Type 3.1.1 Surgical Wound Care Products 3.1.2 Advanced Wound Care Products 3.1.3 Traditional Wound Care Products 3.1.4 Therapy Devices 3.2 Global Animal Wound Care Sales and Market Share by Type (2016-2021) 3.3 Global Animal Wound Care Revenue and Market Share by Type (2016-2021) 3.4 Global Animal Wound Care Average Price by Type (2016-2021) 3.5 Leading Players of Animal Wound Care by Type in 2021 3.6 Conclusion of Segment by Type Chapter 4 Animal Wound Care Market Segment Analysis by Application 4.1 Global Animal Wound Care Market by Application 4.1.1 Companion Animal 4.1.2 Livestock Animal 4.2 Global Animal Wound Care Revenue and Market Share by Application (2016-2021) 4.3 Leading Consumers of Animal Wound Care by Application in 2021 4.4 Conclusion of Segment by Application Chapter 5 Animal Wound Care Market Segment Analysis by Sales Channel 5.1 Global Animal Wound Care Market by Sales Channel 5.1.1 Direct Channel 5.1.2 Distribution Channel 5.2 Global Animal Wound Care Revenue and Market Share by Sales Channel (2016-2021) 5.3 Leading Distributors/Dealers of Animal Wound Care by Sales Channel in 2021 5.4 Conclusion of Segment by Sales Channel Chapter 6 Animal Wound Care Market Segment Analysis by Region 6.1 Global Animal Wound Care Market Size and CAGR by Region (2016-2030) 6.2 Global Animal Wound Care Sales and Market Share by Region (2016-2021) 6.3 Global Animal Wound Care Revenue and Market Share by Region (2016-2021) 6.4 North America 6.5 Europe 6.6 Asia-Pacific 6.7 South America 6.9 Conclusion of Segment by Region Chapter 7 Profile of Leading Animal Wound Care Players 7.1 B. Braun 7.1.1 Company Snapshot 7.1.2 Product/Service Offered 7.1.3 Business Performance (Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share) 7.2 Medtronic 7.3 3M Company 7.4 Johnson & Johnson (Ethicon) 7.5 Virbac 7.6 Advancis Veterinary 7.7 Innovacyn 7.8 Robinson Healthcare 7.9 NEOGEN Corporation 7.10 KeriCure 7.11 Sonoma Pharmaceuticals 7.12 Elanco Animal Health 7.13 Jorgen Kruuse 7.14 Dechra Pharmaceuticals 7.15 Jazz Medical 7.16 Prima-Vet 7.17 Smith & Nephew 7.18 Care-Tech Laboratories 7.19 Mila International 7.20 Sentrx Animal Care 7.21 McCord Research 7.22 Andover Healthcare 7.23 Assisi Animal Health 7.24 Precision Equine Solutions 7.25 Addison Biological Laboratory 7.26 Cut-Heal Animal Care Products 7.27 Animal Medics 7.28 Biogenesis Bago 7.29 Bio-Vet 7.30 Boehringer Ingelheim Chapter 8 Upstream and Downstream Analysis of Animal Wound Care 8.1 Industrial Chain of Animal Wound Care 8.2 Upstream of Animal Wound Care 8.3 Downstream of Animal Wound Care Chapter 9 Development Trend of Animal Wound Care (2022-2030) 9.1 Global Animal Wound Care Market Size (Sales and Revenue) Forecast (2022-2030) 9.2 Global Animal Wound Care Market Size and CAGR Forecast by Region (2022-2030) 9.3 Global Animal Wound Care Market Size and CAGR Forecast by Type (2022-2030) 9.4 Global Animal Wound Care Market Size and CAGR Forecast by Application (2022-2030) 9.5 Global Animal Wound Care Market Size and CAGR Forecast by Sales Channel (2022-2030) Chapter 10 Appendix 10.1 Research Methodology 10.2 Data Sources 10.3 Disclaimer 10.4 Analysts Certification Detailed TOC of Global Animal Wound Care Market @ https://www.industryresearch.biz/TOC/20742551 About Us: Market is changing rapidly with the ongoing expansion of the industry. Advancement in technology has provided todays businesses with multifaceted advantages resulting in daily economic shifts. Thus, it is very important for a company to comprehend the patterns of the market movements in order to strategize better. An efficient strategy offers the companies a head start in planning and an edge over the competitors. Industry Research is a credible source for gaining the market reports that will provide you with the lead your business needs. CONTACT: Industry Research Biz Phone: US +1 424 253 0807 UK +44 203 239 8187 Email: sales@industryresearch.biz Web: https://www.industryresearch.biz Accenture, Arribatec, Capgemini, Finance Resources, FORVIS, KPMG LLP, Planful, ServiceNow, Workiva, and XACCT Accounting to Sponsor Trintech Connect Events DALLAS, TX / ACCESSWIRE / September 19, 2022 / Trintech, a leading global provider of integrated, cloud-based financial close solutions for the Office of Finance, kicks off Trintech Connect this fall with various regional sessions designed to address the unique needs of different audience segments. Our annual customer events empower organizations to take the next step in their finance transformation journey and leverage automation across their entire reconciliation and financial close processes. Trintech Connect brings together Trintech's global customers and partners to advance product knowledge, share their experiences using Trintech's solutions and discuss best practices across various industries and verticals. "Trintech Connect is built to empower our customers, through knowledge sharing and peer collaboration in more intimate settings, in order to maximize their technology investment and drive their businesses forward," said Teresa Mackintosh, Chief Executive Officer at Trintech. "Our aim is to provide our customers with meaningful opportunities to collaborate with their colleagues and counterparts and to hear from industry leaders and product experts, all with the goal of supporting them as they work to position their organizations for continued growth and deliver best in class financial operations and insights." Trintech customers and partners are a part of a growing network of over 300,000 finance professionals across the globe. Trintech Connect provides the opportunity to engage with other customers, partners, executives, and product specialists in-person, with a jam-packed agenda featuring customer stories, networking sessions, and product breakouts to gain insights and get inspired. Several Trintech partners and industry thought leaders will be sponsoring and presenting at the various Trintech Connect regional events listed below, including Accenture, Arribatec, Capgemini, Finance Resources, FORVIS, KPMG LLP, Planful, ServiceNow, Workiva, and XACCT Accounting. Complete details for each regional session, including registration information, can be accessed here. Story continues Trintech Connect: Regional User Group - Dallas, TX (September 20 th , 2022) Trintech Connect: Regional User Group - New York, NY (September 22 nd , 2022) Trintech Connect: Adra Kundedag - Oslo, Norway (October 13 th , 2022) Trintech Connect: EMEA Executive Customer Alliance - Berlin, Germany (October 18 th -19 th , 2022) Trintech Connect: Regional User Group - Chicago, IL (October 20 th , 2022) Trintech Connect: Adra Kunddag - Stockholm, Sweden (October 26 th , 2022) Trintech Connect: North America Executive Customer Alliance - Chicago, IL (May 9th-11th, 2023) *Registration will open for the North America session in early 2023 ### About Trintech Trintech Inc., a leading global provider of cloud-based financial close solutions for the Office of Finance, combines unmatched technical and financial expertise to create innovative, cloud-based software solutions that deliver world-class financial operations and insights. From high volume transaction matching and streamlining daily operational reconciliations to automating and managing balance sheet reconciliations, intercompany accounting, journal entries, disclosure and fiduciary reporting, and bank fee analysis, to governance, risk, and compliance - Trintech's portfolio of financial solutions, including Cadency Platform, Adra Suite, and targeted tools, ReconNET, T-Recs, and UPCS, help manage all aspects of the financial close process. Over 3,500 clients worldwide - including the majority of the Fortune 100 - rely on the company's cloud-based software to continuously improve their financial operations' efficiency, reliability, and strategic insights. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, Trintech has offices across the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Singapore, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, and the Nordics, as well as strategic partners in South Africa, Latin America, and Asia Pacific. To learn more about Trintech, visit www.trintech.com/ or connect with us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Media Contact: Kelli Shoevlin Sr. Manager, Global Corporate Marketing & Communications kelli.shoevlin@trintech.com SOURCE: Trintech, Inc. View source version on accesswire.com: https://www.accesswire.com/716408/Annual-Trintech-Connect-Events-Bring-Together-Global-Customers-and-Partners-to-Advance-Finance-Transformation-Initiatives South Africa: Taking a stand against corruption Public servants have been encouraged to take a stand against corruption and unethical behaviour, as South Africa observes Public Service Month. We must continue, as part of building a capable State, to inculcate constitutional values among our public servants. I implore you, as public servants, to speak out against corruption and unethical conduct, and to use existing reporting mechanisms to report those who are corrupt or unethical. The time for us to be mere spectators when these actions take place has passed, Public Service and Administration Deputy Minister, Chana Pilane-Majake, said at the launch of Ethics Week on Monday in Tshwane. Pilane-Majake said law enforcement agencies, such as the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (the Hawks), the National Prosecuting Authority and the Special Investigating Unit (SIU), are all reporting much anticipated progress that showcase their contributions to address corruption in government. Pilane-Majake said government has managed to step up consequence management where there is wrong doing. With some employees already convicted for fraud and corruption, case law has been strengthened as part of the fight against corruption. The Lifestyle Audit Policy was also adopted to detect unexplained wealth among public servants. A training course for investigators to conduct lifestyle audits is being developed with the assistance of the SIU, Pilane-Majake said. The Deputy Minister said there is also a code of conduct for public service employees, developed to address discipline management. Over the last two years, about 340 Ethics Officers were designated at national and provincial department level. These employees are the real change agents for ethics at national and provincial departments, said the Deputy Minister, adding that the Ethics Officers are the driving force behind the ethics programme of government. The week-long Ethics Week will comprised the launch of the Ethics Survey Report, as well as a series of engagement fora with various stakeholders, including ethics officers within the public service, representatives from the Office of the Director of Public Officers Declaration of Malawi, and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Southern Africa. SAnews.gov.za This story has been published on: 2022-09-19. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. President Ilham Aliyev has signed a decree to continue work on the construction of educational institutions of a modular type in Azerbaijan. According to the decree, in accordance with paragraph 32 of Article 109 of the Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan, it was decided: 1. For continuing work on the construction of educational institutions of a modular type in the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan, allocate five million manat ($2.94 million) to the Ministry of Science and Education of Azerbaijan in accordance with the annex to this decree provided for in subparagraph 1.8.3 "Distribution of funds provided in the state budget of the Republic of Azerbaijan for 2022 for public investments (investment expenditures)", approved by the Decree of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan dated February 10, 2022 No. 3143. 2. Ministry of Finance of Azerbaijan to provide funding in accordance with the distribution provided in the annex to this decree. 3. Cabinet of Ministers of Azerbaijan to resolve issues arising from this decree. 4. This decree comes into force from the date of signing. The list of modular schools envisaged for construction on the territory of Azerbaijan can be found here. Straits Research - Market Research Strategy | Strategy Consulting | Business Research | Business Consulting | Market Research The global baby diapers market size was valued at USD 57.99 billion in 2021. It is expected to reach USD 92.30 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 5.3% during the forecast period (20222030). North America is the highest revenue contributor, growing at a CAGR of 3.8% during the forecast period. New York, United States, Sept. 19, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Increasing working women allows countries to grow their workforces and boost economic growth. The rise in working mothers correlates with the development of the baby diaper market . Disposable diapers are convenient, safe, and time-saving for working women because they don't require washing. Working women are blessed. As a result, diaper demand has increased, even among low-income consumers. Due to increased internet access, more people are using social media. Most key players in the baby diaper market use social media to promote their products and services. Social media marketing is one of the most effective ways to promote a company's products through social media channels. Many businesses and industries use this strategy. The global baby diaper market sees a critical opportunity to gain traction and increase customer reach through social media marketing. Get a Free Sample Copy of This Report @ https://straitsresearch.com/report/baby-diapers-market/request-sample Rising Demand for Pant-Style, Eco-Friendly, Biodegradable Diapers Drives the Global Market People's awareness of personal care products containing chemicals has risen, increasing the demand for organic products. In recent years, wood vinegar has become more popular. Over the next few years, more people are expected to use wood vinegar in personal care products. Wood vinegar is found in sunblock lotion, soap, and others. Parents are looking for diapers that protect their children from rashes, keep them dry, and use less landfill space. Innovative Products in the Diaper Market Create Tremendous Opportunities Innovative disposable diapers include smart diapers. The front of the diaper is patched. It's four colored squares. It reacts differently to proteins, bacteria, and water. Intelligent diapers require parents to change their child's diapers less often than traditional diapers, which reduces stress. Manufacturers have also created a smartphone app that alerts parents when children wet diapers. Using an app on the parent's smartphone, a sensor in the infant's diaper detects air moisture and alerts the parent. Innovative diaper designs have reduced the industry's environmental impact. Leading manufacturers are developing and distributing thinner diapers with less packaging. The growing popularity of "smart diapers" and more sophisticated designs fuel the baby diaper market. Story continues Report Scope Report Metric Details Market Size USD 92.30 Billion by 2030 CAGR 5.3% (2022-2030) Historical Data 2019-2020 Base Year 2021 Forecast Period 2022-2030 Forecast Units Value (USD Billion ) Report Coverage Revenue Forecast, Competitive Landscape, Growth Factors, and Trends Segments Covered Product Type, Size, Age Group, Distribution Channel, Regions Geographies Covered North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, LAME and Rest of the World Key Companies Profiled/Vendors Bumkins Finer Baby Products Inc., Domtar Corporation, Essity Aktiebolag (PUBL), First Quality Enterprises Inc., Hengan International Group Company Limited, Kao Corporation, Kimberly-Clark Corporation, Ontex Group NV, The Procter & Gamble Company and Unicharm Corporation Key Market Opportunities Rise of Innovative Products to Boost Market Opportunities Key Market Drivers A Rise in the Number of Working Women to Aid Growth Buy Now Full Report @ https://straitsresearch.com/buy-now/baby-diapers-market Regional Analysis North America is the highest revenue contributor, growing at a CAGR of 3.8% during the forecast period. The expansion of the baby diapers market is driven primarily by an increase in population and an improved standard of living. The consumer purchasing power in this region has significantly impacted the demand for baby diaper products. In addition, consumers are increasingly selecting an alternative diaper product type, leading to robust demand for baby diaper products. As a result of this significantly improved lifestyle and rising consumer adoption of various varieties of diapers, it is anticipated that this region will experience substantially higher growth rates throughout the forecast period. Asia-Pacific is the second-largest contributor to the market and is estimated to reach around USD 30,716.2 million at a CAGR of 7.1% during the forecast period. Regarding the market for baby diapers, Asia-Pacific is one of the regions with the most potential. This can be attributed to the greater availability of raw materials and the higher birth rates in the area. In addition, the market's growth is driven by an increase in urbanization and birth rate. The market has expanded significantly due to an increase in the ratio of women to men and a rise in people's awareness of the value of hygiene and sanitation. The number of people using diapers has increased in cities of Tier-1 and Tier-2, and it has successfully moved into towns and rural areas. Key Highlights The global baby diapers market size was valued at USD 57.99 million in 2021. It is expected to reach USD 92.30 million by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 5.3 % during the forecast period (20222030). Based on the product type , the global baby diapers market has been categorized into slow cloth diapers and disposable diapers. The disposable diapers segment is the highest contributor to the market, growing at a CAGR of 5.1% during the forecast period. Based on the size , the global baby diapers market has been categorized into a size small and extra small (S & XS), medium (M), large (L), and extra-large (XL). The medium segment is the highest contributor to the market, growing at a CAGR of 4.4% during the forecast period. Based on the age group , the global baby diapers market has been categorized into infants (06 months), babies and young toddlers (618 months), toddlers (1824 months), and children above two years. The babies and young toddlers (618 months) segment are the highest contributors to the market, growing at a CAGR of 4.1% during the forecast period. Based on the distribution channel , t he global baby diapers market has been categorized into hypermarkets/supermarkets, convenience stores, pharmacy/drug stores, and online sales channels. The hypermarket/supermarkets segment is the highest contributor to the market, growing at a CAGR of 4.1% during the forecast period. North America is the highest revenue contributor, growing at a CAGR of 3.8% during the forecast period. Competitive Analysis Bumkins Finer Baby Products Inc. Domtar Corporation Essity Aktiebolag (PUBL) First Quality Enterprises Inc. Hengan International Group Company Limited Kao Corporation Kimberly-Clark Corporation Ontex Group NV The Procter & Gamble Company Unicharm Corporation. Get a Free Sample Copy of This Report @ https://straitsresearch.com/report/baby-diapers-market/request-sample Global Baby Diapers Market: Segmentation By Product Type Cloth Diapers Disposable Diapers By Size Small & Extra Small (S & XS) Medium (M) Large (L) Extra-large (XL) By Age Group Infants (06 Months) Babies & Young Toddlers (618 Months) Toddlers (1824 Months) Children Above 2 Years By Distribution Channel Hypermarket/Supermarket Convenience Stores Pharmacy/Drug Stores Online Sales Channel By Region North America Europe Asia-Pacific LAMEA TABLE OF CONTENT Introduction Market Definition Market Scope Research Methodology Primary Research Research Methodology Assumptions & Exclusions Secondary Data Sources Market Overview Report Segmentation & Scope Value Chain Analysis: Baby Diapers Market Key Market Trends Drivers Restraints Opportunities Porters Five Forces Analysis Bargaining Power of Suppliers Bargaining Power of Buyers Threat of Substitution Threat of New Entrants Competitive Rivalry Market Share Analysis Product Type Overview Introduction Market Size & Forecast Cloth Diapers Market Size & Forecast Disposable Diapers Market Size & Forecast Size Overview Introduction Market Size & Forecast Small & Extra Small Market Size & Forecast Medium Market Size & Forecast Regional Overview Introduction Market Size & Forecast America North America U.S. By Product Type By Size Canada By Product Type By Size Mexico By Product Type By Size Latin America By Product Type By Size Europe Market Size & Forecast Germany By Product Type By Size France By Product Type By Size U.K. By Product Type By Size Italy By Product Type By Size Spain By Product Type By Size Rest of Europe By Product Type By Size Asia Pacific Market Size & Forecast Japan By Product Type By Size China By Product Type By Size Australia By Product Type By Size India By Product Type By Size South Korea By Product Type By Size Rest of Asia-Pacific By Product Type By Size Middle East & Africa Market Size & Forecast Saudi Arabia By Product Type By Size South Africa By Product Type By Size Kuwait By Product Type By Size Rest of Middle East & Africa By Product Type By Size Company Profile Bumkins Finer Baby Products Inc Company Overview Financial Performance Recent Developments Product Portfolio Domtar Corporation Company Overview Financial Performance Recent Developments Product Portfolio Essity Aktiebolag (PUBL) Company Overview Financial Performance Recent Developments Product Portfolio Conclusion & Recommendation Acronyms & Abbreviations Table of Content and Figure @ https://straitsresearch.com/report/baby-diapers-market/toc Market News April 2022 - Domtar Partners With Nature Conservancy of Canada to Establish the Largest Private Land Conservation Agreement in Canadian History April 2022- Kao and Nissin Agree to Collaborate to Utilize the Virtual Human Body Generative Model. News Media North America to Hold the Lions Share in the Adult Hygiene Products Market The Wide Use of Bio-Emulsion Polymer in Paints & Coatings and Adhesives is Likely to Drive the Market Growth During the Forecast Period. Have a Look at the Related Research Report Baby Carrier Market : Information by Product (Buckle, Backpack, Sling, Others), Distribution Channel (Supermarkets/Hypermarkets, Convenience store, Online), and Region Forecast till 2030 Biodegradable Stents Market : Information by Product, Application, Absorption Rate, End User and Regional Outlook Forecast Till 2026 Subdermal Contraceptive Implants Market : Information by Type (Non-Biodegradable, Biodegradable) and End Users (Hospitals, Gynecology Clinics, and Women Healthcare Centers)Forecast Till 2027 About Straits Research Pvt. Ltd. StraitsResearch is a market intelligence company providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision-makers. Straits Research Pvt. Ltd. provides actionable market research data, especially designed and presented for decision making and ROI. Whether you are looking at business sectors in the next town or crosswise over continents, we understand the significance of being acquainted with the clients purchase. We overcome our clients issues by recognizing and deciphering the target group and generating leads with utmost precision. We seek to collaborate with our clients to deliver a broad spectrum of results through a blend of market and business research approaches. For more information on your target market, please contact us below: Phone: +1 646 480 7505 (the U.S.) +91 8087085354 (APAC) +44 208 068 9665 (the U.K.) Email: sales@straitsresearch.com Follow Us: LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter SkyQuest Technology Consulting Pvt. Ltd. Global gastroenterology market was valued to be US$ 49.85 billion in 2021, and it is expected to reach US$ 79.01 billion by 2028 at a CAGR of 6.80% over the forecast period 20222028. Westford, USA, Sept. 19, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In recent years, the demand for gastroenterology market has steadily increased. Some of the most commonly prescribed gastroenterology drugs include antacids, oxyntomodulin, omeprazole lansoprazole, and famotidine. In 2006, there were 54 FDA filings for gastroenterology products; by 2021 that number had grown to 1268 filings. In total, 980 new products were developed for the treatment of GI disorders during this time period. This increase in demand likely reflects the increased prevalence of GI disorders among both adults and pediatric patients. The most common uses for these drugs are treatment of heartburn, indigestion, and diarrhea in the global gastroenterology market. However, they can also be used to help relieve pain caused by various gastrointestinal conditions, including GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease), ulcerative colitis, and Crohns disease. As of 2021, more than 35% of the global population of 65 years suffers from some kind of gastrointestinal diseases and around 11% of people across the globe are having the disorders, which translates to over 811 million people. One of the main reasons for the demand for gastroenterology drugs is the increasing number of people suffering from various digestive issues. The population aged 65 and older is expected to grow by more than 20% over the next decade, which means that there will be an even greater need for medications that can help ease these conditions. Additionally, there is a growing number of people who are diagnosed with chronic digestive diseases early in their lives, which means that they are more likely to suffer from chronic conditions later on in life. Get sample copy of this report: https://skyquestt.com/sample-request/gastroenterology-market Story continues SkyQuest published a report on global gastroenterology market. The report provides detailed insights into the factors driving this growth. In addition, the report profiles the key players in this market, providing an overview of their products and services, recent developments, and financial information. SkyQuest's team of expert analysts have also identified the potential opportunities and challenges facing this market over the next seven years. This report is an essential resource for companies operating in the gastroenterology market or looking to enter this rapidly growing industry or want to understand the market scope and forecast aspects. Key Market Dynamics in Gastroenterology Market Gastroenterology drugs are in high demand due to the growing population and aging population. There are many diseases that can be caused by the stomach and intestine, which can lead to various health problems. Gastroenterology drugs can help to treat these diseases. Another reason for demand for drugs in global gastroenterology market is the increasing number of people who are overweight or obese. These people are at a higher risk for developing gastrointestinal diseases like Crohns disease and colorectal cancer. Treatment with gastroenterology drugs can help improve their overall health and quality of life. Another factor that contributes to high demand for gastroenterology drugs is the increasing rates of obesity and chronic diseases such as diabetes. These diseases can lead to gastrointestinal problems, which in turn can increase demand for gastroenterology drugs. High demand for gastroenterology market is coming from the increasing prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection. Helicobacter pylori infection is a common cause of stomach ulcers. It is also associated with an increased risk of gastric cancer. Treatment with antibiotics may prevent development of gastric cancer and improve symptoms of Helicobacter pylori infection. Browse summary of the report and Complete Table of Contents (ToC): https://skyquestt.com/report/gastroenterology-market Gastroenterology Market Developments In September 2022, combined treatment of Guselkumab and Golimumab Shows prominent results in patients suffering from ulcerative colitis in an event organized by European Crohns and Colitis Organization In September 2022, Pharmac announced to fund Entyvio for the development of new drug for inflammatory bowel diseases from February 2023 In September 2022, AbbVie, a leading player in global gastroenterology marke, Secures Positive CHMP Opinion for Risankizumab (SKYRIZI) for the treatment of adults with moderate to severe Crohn's disease In September 2022, Palatins PL8177 entered into mid-stage trials for ulcerative colitis In September 2022, researchers at University Hospitals Leuven in Belgium announced the result of phase IIb trial and found that obefazimod showed promising result in patients having ulcerative colitis with relieved symptoms In August 2022, researchers at Georgia State University found that novel lipid nanoparticles is extremely effective in treating acute ulcerative colitis in mice In August 2022, a clinical trial resulted announced to show effectiveness of ozanimod, a multiple sclerosis drug, given positive results in patients suffering from ulcerative colitis In August 2022, Abivax, a French startup, raised around $49 million for cross phase III trial for their ulcerative colitis drug Top 4 Players are Dominating Gastroenterology Market with Market Share of 67% Some of the top products in the global gastroenterology market for treatment of ulcerative colitis include Inflectra (ucbc), Taltz (teriflunomide), Remicade (infliximab), Humira (adalimumab), and Orimune (simvastatin) are some of the key drugs in the global market. Wherein, most of the drugs are manufactured and distributed by top 4 players such as Pfizer, Eli Lily and Company, AbbVie and AstraZeneca. Pfizer, a top player in the global gastroenterology market, has been producing gastroenterology drugs for ulcerative colitis and inflammatory bowel disease for more than 6 decades. The company has a long history of developing novel treatments and therapies for these conditions, and is currently one of the leading manufacturers of gastroenterology drugs in the world. Pfizer currently manufactures two types of medications for ulcerative colitis. Speak to Analyst for your custom requirements: https://skyquestt.com/speak-with-analyst/gastroenterology-market Infliximab and Humira are Pfizer's top selling product for the treatment of ulcerative colitis, with annual global sales of over $10 billion. The top medications that Pfizer manufactures for inflammatory bowel disease are Omeprazole (Prilosec), Asacol (mesalamine), and Mesalamine. SkyQuest released its latest report on the global gastroenterology market. This report provides an in-depth analysis of the key players in this market and offers insights into their competitive landscape. This report will help clients identify new opportunities in this market and make informed decisions about their investments. Top Players in Global Gastroenterology Market Abbott Laboratories (US) AbbVie Inc. (US) AstraZeneca Plc (UK) Bausch Health Companies Inc. (Canada) Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH (Germany) GlaxoSmithKline Plc (UK) Johnson & Johnson (US) Merck & Co. Inc. (US) Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. (Japan) UCB SA (Belgium) Bayer AG (Germany) Pfizer Inc. (US) Cipla Inc. (India) Sebela Pharmaceuticals (US) Related Reports in SkyQuests Library: Global Myocardial Infarction (MI) Therapeutics Market Global Veterinary Immunodiagnostics Market Global Electroceuticals Bioelectric Medicine Market Global Pancreatic Cancer Treatment Market Global Erectile Dysfunction Market About Us: SkyQuest Technology is leading growth consulting firm providing market intelligence, commercialization and technology services. It has 450+ happy clients globally. Address: 1 Apache Way, Westford, Massachusetts 01886 Phone: USA (+1) 617-230-0741 Email: sales@skyquestt.com LinkedIn Facebook Twitter Company Logo Dublin, Sept. 19, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Chemical Tankers Global Market Report 2022" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The global chemical tankers market is expected to grow from $30.56 billion in 2021 to $31.95 billion in 2022 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.6%. The chemical tankers market is expected to grow to $38.38 billion in 2026 at a CAGR of 4.7%. Asia Pacific was the largest region in the chemical tanker market in 2021. The regions covered in the chemical tanker market report are Asia-Pacific, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North America, South America, Middle East, and Africa. The chemical tankers market research report is one of a series of new reports that provides chemical tankers market statistics, including chemical tankers industry global market size, regional shares, competitors with a chemical tankers market share, detailed chemical tankers market segments, market trends and opportunities, and any further data you may need to thrive in the chemical tankers industry. This chemical tankers market research report delivers a complete perspective of everything you need, with an in-depth analysis of the current and future scenario of the industry. The chemical tankers market research report is one of a series of new reports that provides chemical tankers market statistics, including chemical tankers industry global market size, regional shares, competitors with a chemical tankers market share, detailed chemical tankers market segments, market trends and opportunities, and any further data you may need to thrive in the chemical tankers industry. This chemical tankers market research report delivers a complete perspective of everything you need, with an in-depth analysis of the current and future scenario of the industry. The growth of the chemical industry is expected to propel the growth of the chemical tankers market. Companies in the chemical industry will require chemical tankers to transport and shift their chemical compounds from one location to another. This factor creates a demand for chemical tankers. Story continues According to the American Chemistry Council, 2021, the USA chemical industry will maintain its net exporter position, supporting total U.S. goods exports. By 2025, net exports of chemicals in the USA will reach $40.5 billion and chemical industry shipments are expected to reach $668 billion. As major economies reopen and import demand in partner economies increases, US chemical exports are likely to grow dramatically. Therefore, the growth of the chemical industry drives the chemical tankers market. Technological advancement are shaping the chemical tankers market. Many companies are investing in the innovation and development of chemical tankers to provide ease, accessibility, convenience, and affordability to their users. For instance, in March 2021, SCF a Russian-based subsidiary of Sovcomflot launched its first LNG-Powered MR Chemical tanker. The MR kind of chemical tanker is designed to transport oil products and gas condensate. The vessels' power units will run on ecologically friendly LNG, reducing the volume of emissions into the atmosphere dramatically. The tanker will be around 50 000 tonnes, with a length of over 180 meters, a width of over 32 meters, and a draught of -13,4 meters. 1B ice-class vessels can safely navigate throughout the year, including in ice conditions in the Baltic Sea. In August 2020, Stolt-Nielsen Limited a UK-based company focused on opportunities in logistics, distribution, and aquaculture acquired five chemical tankers from Chemical Transportation Group for an undisclosed amount. Through this acquisition, Stolt-Nielsen Limited is planning to replace ships being retired in the next few years, lowering the fleet age profile with competitively priced ships that can trade in any of the deep-sea lanes. The aim is to provide a high-quality, reliable, and flexible service offering to clients. Chemical Transportation Group (CTG) is a US-based chemical transportation group. The countries covered in the chemical tankers market report are Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Russia, South Korea, UK, USA. Major players in the chemical tankers market are Ace Tankers Bahri Chembulk Tankers Hansa Tankers IINO KAIUN KAISHA LTD. Maersk Tankers MOL Chemical Tankers Nordic Tankers Odfjell Stolt-Nielsen Team Tankers International Ltd. Wilmar International Ltd. IMC Tankers Koyo Kaiun PT Berlian Laju Tanker Tbk Stena Bulk Ultratank WOMAR Key Topics Covered: 1. Executive Summary 2. Chemical Tankers Market Characteristics 3. Chemical Tankers Market Trends And Strategies 4. Impact Of COVID-19 On Chemical Tankers 5. Chemical Tankers Market Size And Growth 5.1. Global Chemical Tankers Historic Market, 2016-2021, $ Billion 5.1.1. Drivers Of The Market 5.1.2. Restraints On The Market 5.2. Global Chemical Tankers Forecast Market, 2021-2026F, 2031F, $ Billion 5.2.1. Drivers Of The Market 5.2.2. Restraints On the Market 6. Chemical Tankers Market Segmentation 6.1. Global Chemical Tankers Market, Segmentation By Product Type, Historic and Forecast, 2016-2021, 2021-2026F, 2031F, $ Billion Organic Chemicals Inorganic Chemicals Vegetable Oils And Fats 6.2. Global Chemical Tankers Market, Segmentation By Fleet Material, Historic and Forecast, 2016-2021, 2021-2026F, 2031F, $ Billion Stainless Steel Coated 6.3. Global Chemical Tankers Market, Segmentation By Cargo Types, Historic and Forecast, 2016-2021, 2021-2026F, 2031F, $ Billion IMO 1 IMO 2 IMO 3 6.4. Global Chemical Tankers Market, Segmentation By Size, Historic and Forecast, 2016-2021, 2021-2026F, 2031F, $ Billion Inland Chemical Tankers (1,000-4,999 DWT) Coastal Chemical Tankers (5,000-9,999 DWT) Deep-Sea Chemical Tankers (10,000-50,000 DWT) 7. Chemical Tankers Market Regional And Country Analysis 7.1. Global Chemical Tankers Market, Split By Region, Historic and Forecast, 2016-2021, 2021-2026F, 2031F, $ Billion 7.2. Global Chemical Tankers Market, Split By Country, Historic and Forecast, 2016-2021, 2021-2026F, 2031F, $ Billion For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/ysohlm CONTACT: CONTACT: ResearchAndMarkets.com Laura Wood,Senior Press Manager press@researchandmarkets.com For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470 For U.S./ CAN Toll Free Call 1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 Kenneth Research Key Market Participants Profiled in the Global Styrene Butadiene Rubber (SBR) Market Research Report by Kenneth Research Include ARLANXEO, Asahi Kasei Corporation, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, TSRC, Dynasol Group, Trinseo, Synthos, CHIMEI, JSR Corporation, Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd., SIBUR INTERNATIONAL, and others. New York, Sept. 19, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kenneth Research has published a detailed market report on the Global Styrene Butadiene Rubber (SBR) Market for the forecast period, i.e., 2022-2031 which includes the following factors: Market growth over the forecast period Detailed regional synopsis Market segmentation Growth drivers Challenges Key market players and their detailed profiling Global Styrene Butadiene Rubber (SBR) Market Size: The rising application of styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) in sectors including automotive, construction, electrical, footwear, adhesives, and sealants, among others can be accounted for the expansion of the market. For instance, the United States plans to build over 1 million new housing units each year. The market is expanding as a result of the demand for SBR in the construction sector. SBR is also often used to alter cement and asphalt in the construction industries. By integrating 16% and 13% with 15% SBR in concrete, the quality, as well as the high durability of the material, are enhanced. As a result, it is predicted that the rising demand for SBR boosts the market to grow significantly over the forecast period. Global cement production increased from 4 billion tons in 2020 to over 4.9 billion tons in 2021. Get a Sample Copy of This Report @ https://www.kennethresearch.com/sample-request-10070751 Global Styrene Butadiene Rubber (SBR) Market: Key Takeaways Asia Pacific region gains the largest portion of the revenue The solution SBR segment to influence the revenue graph Tires segment retains a sizable presence in the application segment Growing Demand for SBR adhesives and Rising Trade in Cables and Insulators to Propel the Market Styrene Butadiene Rubber (SBR) adhesives have been carefully developed for attaching synthetic foams, textiles, ceramic tile, and insulating materials. SBR is one of the most commonly used synthetic rubber in adhesives. Ceramic tile adhesive is used for a variety of situations and purposes, including cement extender, binder, shape retention enhancer, stabilizing agent, and so on. In the United States, there are around 410 adhesive manufacturers with an estimated growth of 1.9% in 2022. The rising application of adhesives increases the demand for styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) adhesives and further enhances the growth of the market. Story continues Moreover, owing to its abrasion resistance and metal adhesion, SBR is also utilized in industrial settings for things like belting, insulation for wire and cabling, haul-off pads, roll wraps, hoses, gaskets, seals, and coated fabrics. For instance, the global export value for cables and insulators with connectors was USD 32,114,752 thousand in 2020 got raised to USD 40,804,700 thousand in 2021 with an annual growth value of 25% from 2020 to 2021. The demand for SBR is boosted by the rising export value for cables and insulators, which spurs the expansion of the market. Global Styrene Butadiene Rubber (SBR) Market: Regional Overview The global styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) market is segmented into five major regions including North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East and Africa region. To Gain More Insights into the Global Styrene Butadiene Rubber (SBR) Market Analysis, Browse the Summary of the Research Report @ https://www.kennethresearch.com/report-details/styrene-butadiene-rubber-sbr-market/10070751 Rising Consumption of Tires and Footwear on Account of Large Population to Enhance the Market On the strength of its massive consumption of tires, expansion of the footwear sector, and adhesives around the world, the market in the Asia Pacific region is predicted to have significant expansion over the forecast period. For instance, according to International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers (OICA) statistics, China manufactured 21,407,962 passenger cars with a 3% annual growth and Japan with 6,619,242 units of passenger cars in 2021. The rising demand for tires in the expanding automobile sector accredits the market expansion in the region. Moreover, nearly 9 out of 10 pairs of shoes, or 89% of the worlds total, are manufactured in Asia, which has a large concentration of the footwear sector. China produces the most shoes (54.5%) in the World. Moreover half (57%) of the global consumption in 2021 came from Asia. Together China and India, the two largest footwear consumer markets account for over one-third of global footwear consumption. This is also a major factor that is anticipated to boost the demand for SBR in the region in the coming years. Rising Footwear Consumption and Growing Demand for Tires to Propel the Market in North America On the other hand, on account of the rising demand for tires, the North American region is anticipated to have the largest share over the forecast period. Furthermore, it is anticipated that Canadas growing population would increase regional consumption. In addition to this, after the COVID-19 pandemic, the footwear sector had a noticeable effect on footwear consumption in 2020, there was some rebound in 2021. The number of pairs of shoes worn per person in North America increased significantly in 2021 (+1.0 pairs). The number of pairs of shoes worn per person varies from 1.5 in Africa to 5.4 in North America. More than 15% of global consumption was in North America. For instance, the import value for footwear in 2021 was USD 9,507,924 thousand which was an up from USD 7,135,045 thousand in 2020 with a growth value of 33% in the United States. The rise in the footwear trade is anticipated to drive the market in the region. Get a Sample PDF of the Global Styrene Butadiene Rubber (SBR) Market @ https://www.kennethresearch.com/sample-request-10070751 The study further incorporates Y-O-Y growth, demand & supply and forecast future opportunity in: North America (U.S., Canada) Europe (U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Hungary, Belgium, Netherlands & Luxembourg, NORDIC [Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark], Poland, Turkey, Russia, Rest of Europe) Latin America (Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Rest of Latin America) Asia Pacific (China, India, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, Rest of Asia Pacific) Middle East and Africa (Israel, GCC [Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman], North Africa, South Africa, Rest of Middle East and Africa). Global Styrene Butadiene Rubber (SBR) Market, Segmentation by Type Emulsion SBR Solution SBR Over the forecast period, the solution styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) segment is predicted to hold the largest share. The widespread application of solution SBR in the tire and footwear sectors is contributing to the rise. As a result of its flexibility, strong anti-slip qualities, durability, strong abrasion properties, and density, SBR is frequently utilized in the manufacture of footwear. Over 22 billion pairs of shoes were produced globally in 2021 with an 8.9% annual increase and 13.5 billion pairs were exported in the same year. The rise in the production of footwear enhances the growth of the market. Access full Report Description, TOC, Table of figures, Chart, etc. @ https://www.kennethresearch.com/sample-request-10070751 Global Styrene Butadiene Rubber (SBR) Market Segmentation by Application Tires Industrial Polymer Modification Adhesive and Sealants Footwear Construction Others It is predicted that the tires segment to hold the majority of the market share during the forecast period. Owing to the widespread usage of SBR in the manufacture of high-performance tires and the improved performance and gas mileage of the vehicle, the market of styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) is expected to enhance. Motor cycle and high-performance radial tires benefit greatly from this in particular. The global export value of passenger car tires was USD 36,757,008 thousand in 2020 which got raised to USD 42,356,035 thousand in 2021 with an annual growth value of 17% from 2020 to 2021. The growth in the trade of passenger tires fuels the growth of the segment. Few of the well-known market leaders in the global styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) market that are profiled by Kenneth Research include ARLANXEO, Asahi Kasei Corporation, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, TSRC, Dynasol Group, Trinseo, Synthos, CHIMEI, JSR Corporation, Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd., SIBUR INTERNATIONAL, and others. For More Information or Query or Required Customization @ https://www.kennethresearch.com/sample-request-10070751 Latest Developments in the Global Styrene Butadiene Rubber (SBR) Market: In January 2021, India intended to apply an anti-subsidy duty on imports of a specific type of butadiene rubber in South Korea. In November 2021, Trinseo, a U.S.-based developer of engineered materials and latex binders, started looking into selling off its styrenics assets and plans to start a formal sales process in the first quarter of 2022. The companys businesses in polystyrene and feedstocks will also be up for sale, along with its 50% stake in the joint venture Americas Styrenics. Browse More Related Reports: Sodium Silicate Market Segmentation by Form (Crystalline and Anhydrous); by Type (Liquid and Solid); by Grade (Neutral and Alkaline); by Application (Adhesives, Detergents, Paints, Catalysts, Refractories, Tube Winding, and Others); by End-User (Automotives, Pulp & Paper, Construction, and Others)-Global Demand Analysis and Opportunity Outlook 2031 Concrete Admixtures Market Segmentation by Type (Water Reducing, Retarders, Accelerators, Bonding Agents, Corrosion Inhibitors, and Others); and by Application (Residential, Infrastructural, Commercial, and Others)-Global Demand Analysis & Opportunity Outlook 2021-2030 Bentonite Market Analysis by Product Type (Sodium, Calcium, and Others); by Distribution Channel (Direct Company Sales, Distributors & Dealers/Retailers, and Direct Import); by Application (Pet Litter, Foundry Molding Sands, Civil Engineering, Iron Ore Pelletizing, Drilling Fluids, Oil Absorbents, and Others) and by End User (Animal Care, Construction, Oil & Gas, Paper & Pulp, Food & Beverages, Personal Care/Cosmetics and Others)-Global Supply & Demand Analysis & Opportunity Outlook 2010-2026 Hydrogenation Catalyst Market Analysis by Product Type (Precious Metal-Based Hydrogenation Catalyst, Common Metal Based Hydrogenation Catalyst, and Alloys & Others); by Form (Heterogeneous, and Homogenous); and by End Use Industry (Chemical, Oil & Gas, Food, Pharmaceutical, Polymer, and Environmental)-Global Supply & Demand Analysis & Opportunity Outlook 2021-2031 Ammonia Market Segmentation by Form (Liquid, Powder, and Gas); and by End Users (Fertilizers, Chemicals, Refrigeration, Textile, Household & Industrial Cleaning, Fibers & Plastics, Pharmaceutical, and Others)-Global Demand Analysis & Opportunity Outlook 2031 About Kenneth Research Kenneth Research is a leading service provider for strategic market research and consulting. We aim to provide unbiased, unparalleled market insights and industry analysis to help industries, conglomerates and executives to take wise decisions for their future marketing strategy, expansion and investment, etc. We believe every business can expand to its new horizon, provided a right guidance at a right time is available through strategic minds. Our out of box thinking helps our clients to take wise decision so as to avoid future uncertainties. Contact for more Info: AJ Daniel Email: info@kennethresearch.com U.S. Phone: +1 313 462 0609 Web: https://www.kennethresearch.com/ Japanese car manufacturer Honda has asked hundreds of employees to pay back part of their bonuses after claiming it overpaid them. The company gave employees at the Marysville Honda Motor Co. factory in Ohio nine daysuntil Sept. 22to return part of their bonuses, often amounting to hundreds of dollars. A memo sent to staff asked them to choose how they wanted to repay the money, with an option to either pay the funds back up front or to take the money out of their future payments and bonuses; failing to respond would result in the money being taken out of their pay automatically. Honda has confirmed that it asked employees to pay back some of their bonuses, and claimed that it was legally justified, but refused to disclose how much the bonuses were and how much it asked employees to repay, reported NBC4. Earlier this month Honda provided bonus payments to its associates, some of whom received overpayments, the company said in a statement. Issues related to compensation are a sensitive matterwe are working quickly on this item to minimize any potential impact to our associates. "That's half of our mortgage" However, the wife of one employee reportedly said her husband was asked to return almost 10% of the bonus. Asking to remain anonymous, she told NBC4 that the return amount was significant: That's, you know, a car payment. That's half of our mortgageThat's two, three weeks worth of groceries. That's a lot of money for us. She also added that her husband told her this was not the highest bonus he had received from the company. It is unclear why the bonus was overpaid to begin with. Last year, Honda Motor saw revenues decline more than 4% and profits slump by almost a quarter. In May, the company reported its lowest operating profit in four years and declined to provide an outlook for the rest of the year. This story was originally featured on Fortune.com Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - September 19, 2022) - Idaho Champion (CSE: ITKO ) (OTCQB: GLDRF) (FSE: 1QB1) ("Idaho Champion" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has entered into a binding memorandum of understanding (the "Agreement") with Quebec Precious Metals Corporation ("QPM") to acquire a 100% interest in two prospective lithium pegmatite projects (the "Projects") in the Eeyou Istchee James Bay territory of Quebec. The Projects (covering approximately 162 km2) include historic findings of pegmatite (see Figure 1) and sit to the north of the Patriot Battery Metals' ("Patriot") Corvette project (recently intersected intervals included 1.25% Li2O and 118 ppm Ta2O5 over 96m (CV22-035); see Patriot's news release dated July 28, 2022) and also located in close proximity to infrastructure in a developing potential lithium pegmatite district that has shown high prospectivity for lithium mineral resources.* The Projects are at an early stage of exploration, and the Company cautions that the qualified persons who have reviewed and approved this news release have not verified scientific or technical information produced by third parties, and proximity to projects containing lithium resources offers no assurance that the rock types or lithium resources reported by Patriot and others extend onto the Projects and such proximity is not necessarily indicative of the mineralization reported by third parties with projects in the district. Together with its existing Cobalt assets located in Idaho, this pending acquisition pivots Idaho Champion's strategy to focus on making a meaningful impact in the North American battery metals sector. "Battery makers worldwide face significant challenges in order to meet the extraordinary demand and technological advances ahead of the 2035 EV mandates. Combined with the geopolitical climate, we are presented with an excellent opportunity to aggressively uncover materials important to meet these demands," stated Jonathan Buick, President and CEO. "The Blanche and Charles projects place the Company right in the mix within a fast-growing lithium pegmatite district. The projects were originally explored for precious and base metals, but more recently, evidence of pegmatites has led to a re-assessment of the lithium discovery potential that warrants more work. Additionally, we would like to welcome QPM as cornerstone shareholders with approximately 7.4% of our outstanding shares post-transaction. We look forward to exploring these assets together." Story continues *James Bay Lithium - (Indicated Mineral Resource: 40.33 million tonnes grading 1.4% Li2O), owned by Allkem Limited (NI 43-101 Technical Report, Feasibility Study, James Bay Lithium Project Quebec, Canada, by G Mining Services, January 11, 2022); Rose - (Probable reserves: 26.3 million tonnes grading 0.87% Li2O and 138 ppm Ta2O5), owned by Critical Elements Lithium Corporation (Rose Lithium-Tantalum Project Feasibility Study NI 43-101 Technical Report, by Simon Boudreau, P.Eng., May 27, 2022); Whabouchi - (Measured and Indicated "in Pit" Mineral Resource: 37.356 million tonnes grading 1.48% Li2O), owned by Livent Corporation and Investissment Quebec. (NI 43-101 Technical Report on the Whabouchi Lithium Mine and Shawnigan Electrochemical Plant, by Met-Chem et al, November 7, 2018). QPM's Chief Executive Officer, Normand Champigny commented: "The Projects are clearly underexplored for lithium. In light of the recent discoveries in the area, we welcome the opportunity to become a significant shareholder of Idaho Champion while working with them to become successful explorers in the James Bay region. This transaction is consistent with our strategy to monetize non-core assets." Figure 1: Blanche and Charles Location Map To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8681/137656_f206acd56447b8f6_003full.jpg Figure 1 Exploration Results Source: Patriot Battery Metals Drilling: https://patriotbatterymetals.com/portfolio/corvette/ Blanche Blanche is comprised of 256 claims totaling approximately 130 km2. The project lies within a volcano-sedimentary belt striking ENE. The Blanche project is mainly composed of a broad east-northeast trending mafic band, interpreted as an metamorphosed basalt hosted within tonalitic rocks and interbedded with narrow sections of magnesian basalt and komatiites, iron formations (silicate and/or oxidized facies) and metasedimentary rocks. Three units of felsic intrusive rocks were observed at Blanche: hornblende tonalite, granite and pegmatite dykes. Tonalite consists of feldspar, quartz and biotite intrusive rocks. In the northwestern part of the project, the rocks are relatively homogenous and medium grained, containing 20 to 30% hornblende, with locally weak foliation. The granite is comprised of medium to coarse grained feldspar, plagioclase, quartz and biotite. It is massive, homogeneous, and mostly non-magnetic. A few pegmatite dykes have also been identified on the project. So far, they are typically less than two-meters wide and cut the felsic units, but they are also found parallel to the schistosity in the mafic rocks. Pegmatites have almost the same composition as the granites but show a texture ranging from coarse to pegmatitic with the presence of 5 to 7% muscovite. The project is bordered to the south and north by felsic intrusive rocks, which have been described as hornblende-biotite tonalite, and tonalitic gneiss, tonalite, granodiorite and quartz monzogranite in the north. The metamorphic grade ranges from upper greenschist facies to middle amphibolite facies. Charles The Charles project is comprised of 61 claims covering approximately 31 km2. Less is known about this project, but the area exhibits variable topography, ranging from slightly to very hilly. Several hills associated with felsic intrusives and iron formations are present and have been shaped by glaciers that had an ENE-WSW direction. A number of outcrops are exposed. Within the northern and central parts of this project, there is a thick glacial sediments containing boulders of granite and pegmatite. Terms of the Agreement As per the terms of the binding Agreement, Idaho Champion is purchasing 100% of the Projects from QPM in return for $100,000 in cash and 12,000,000 common shares of the Company, of which 50% will be subject to escrow for 18 months. QPM will also retain a 2% net smelter return royalty ("NSR") on claims retained by Idaho Champion upon completion of the acquisition. The Company has the option to repurchase 1% of the NSR from QPM for $1 million. Closing of the acquisition is subject to usual conditions for this type of transaction including a 45-day due diligence period, and regulatory and stock exchange approval. Furthermore, the Company announces a private placement with the Agreement. Idaho Champion will issue up to 20,000,000 shares at a price of $0.05 per share for gross proceeds of $1,000,000. Proceeds of the private placement will be used for the acquisition payment and related transaction costs, preliminary field work on the Projects and for general working capital purposes. Qualified Persons Patrick Highsmith, Certified Professional Geologist (AIPG CPG # 11702) and director of the Company, is a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Highsmith has helped prepare, reviewed, and approved the technical information in this news release. Normand Champigny, Eng., Chief Executive Officer of QPM, and Qualified Person under NI 43-101 on standards of disclosure for mineral projects, has reviewed the content of this press release. About Idaho Champion Gold Mines Inc. Idaho Champion is a discovery-focused exploration company that is committed to advancing its highly prospective mineral properties located in Idaho, United States and shortly, Quebec, Canada. The Company's shares trade on the CSE under the trading symbol "ITKO", on the OTCQB under the trading symbol "GLDRF", and on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the symbol "1QB1". Idaho Champion is vested in Idaho with four cobalt properties in Lemhi County in the Idaho Cobalt Belt. In addition, the Company has been advancing the Baner gold project in Idaho County, the Champagne polymetalic project located in Butte County near Arco. Idaho Champion strives to be a responsible environmental steward, stakeholder and contributing citizen to the local communities where it operates. Idaho Champion takes its social license seriously, employing local community members and service providers at its operations whenever possible. About Quebec Precious Metals Corporation QPM is a gold explorer with a large land position in the highly prospective Eeyou Istchee James Bay territory, Quebec, near Newmont Corporation's Eleonore gold mine. QPM's flagship project is the Sakami project with significant grades and well-defined drill-ready targets. QPM's goal is to rapidly explore the Sakami project and advance to the mineral resource estimate stage. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF IDAHO CHAMPION "Jonathan Buick" Jonathan Buick, President and CEO For further information, please visit the Company's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com or the Company's corporate website at www.idahochamp.com. For further information, please contact: Nicholas Konkin, Marketing and Communications, Idaho Champion Phone: (416) 567- 9087 Email: nkonkin@idahochamp.com Normand Champigny Chief Executive Officer, Quebec Precious Metals Corporation Tel.: 514 979-4746 nchampigny@qpmcorp.ca THIS PRESS RELEASE DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER TO SELL OR THE SOLICITATION OF AN OFFER TO BUY ANY SECURITIES IN ANY JURISDICTION, NOR SHALL THERE BE ANY OFFER, SALE, OR SOLICITATION OF SECURITIES IN ANY STATE IN THE UNITED STATES IN WHICH SUCH OFFER, SALE, OR SOLICITATION WOULD BE UNLAWFUL. Cautionary Statements for Idaho Champion Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its regulation services provider has reviewed or accepted responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release. This press release may include forward-looking information concerning the business of the Company within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation, including with respect to the completion of the transactions contemplated by the Agreement, the prospectivity of the Projects for lithium, the ability of the Company to successfully shift focus to exploration for battery-related metals, and with respect to the completion of a private placement of the size and at the price contemplated. Forward-looking information is based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by the management of the Company, including being able to satisfy any conditions related to the acquisition, sufficient investor interest to complete the private placement financing necessary to fund the cash portion of the acquisition of the Project, having the necessary technical expertise to explore for lithium in pegmatite, and that reported lithium resources in the district of the Projects is indicative of mineralized pegmatite prospectivity on the Projects. Although the Company believes that the expectations and assumptions on which such forward-looking information is based on are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking information and the Company can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date of this press release. The Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update publicly any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise, other than as required by applicable securities laws. Forward-Looking Statements for QPM This release includes forward-looking statements. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking words such as "may", "will", "expect", "intend", "plan", "estimate", "anticipate", "continue", and "guidance", or other similar words and may include, without limitation statements regarding plans, strategies and objectives of management, anticipated production or construction commencement dates and expected costs or production output. Forward-looking statements inherently involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance and achievements to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements. Relevant factors may include, but are not limited to, changes in commodity prices, foreign exchange fluctuations and general economic conditions, increased costs and demand for production inputs, the speculative nature of exploration and project development, including the risks of obtaining necessary licences and permits and diminishing quantities or grades of resources or reserves, political and social risks, changes to the regulatory framework within which the entity operates or may in the future operate, environmental conditions including extreme weather conditions, recruitment and retention of personnel, industrial relations issues and litigation. Forward-looking statements are based on the entity and its management's good faith assumptions relating to the financial, market, regulatory and other relevant environments that will exist and affect business and operations in the future. There are no assurances that the assumptions on which forward-looking statements are based will prove to be correct, or that the business or operations will not be affected in any material manner by these or other factors not foreseen or foreseeable by the entity or management or beyond the entity's control. Although there have been attempts to identify factors that would cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those disclosed in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that could cause actual results, performance, achievements or events not to be anticipated, estimated or intended, and many events are beyond the reasonable control of the entity. Accordingly, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this release are given as at the date of issue only. Subject to any continuing obligations under applicable law or any relevant stock exchange listing rules, in providing this information the entity does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any of the forward-looking statements or to advise of any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/137656 Data Bridge Market Research The markets growth is propelled by an increase in the geriatric population, which leads to the presentation of numerous neurological problems. Cerebrovascular disorders such as stroke and migraine affect people of all ages in countries including Germany, the United Kingdom, and Italy. NEW YORK, Sept. 19, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A Qualitative Research Study accomplished by Data Bridge Market research's database of 350 pages, titled as Global Neurological Disorder Drugs Market with 100+ market data Tables, Pie Charts, Graphs & Figures spread through Pages and easy-to-understand detailed analysis. Neurological Disorder Drugs market report is a wide-ranging background analysis of the Healthcare industry, which includes an assessment of the parental market. The business report is a professional and detailed market study focusing on primary and secondary drivers, market share, leading segments, and geographical analysis. The report also aids in prioritizing market goals and attaining profitable business. This industry analysis report has an examination of various features that are relied upon to witness the quickest development amid the estimated forecast frame. Neurological Disorder Drugs marketing report consists of the most recent market information with which companies can attain an in-depth analysis of the Healthcare industry and future trends. Data Bridge Market Research analyses that the neurological disorder drugs market was valued at USD 79.40 billion in 2021 and is expected to reach USD 125.60 billion by 2029, registering a CAGR of 5.9% during the forecast period of 2022 to 2029. In addition to the market insights such as market value, growth rate, market segments, geographical coverage, market players, and market scenario, the market report curated by the Data Bridge Market Research team also includes in-depth expert analysis, patient epidemiology, pipeline analysis, pricing analysis, and regulatory framework. Get Access to Sample Report (Including Graphs, Charts & Figures) @ https://www.databridgemarketresearch.com/request-a-sample/?dbmr=global-neurological-disorder-drugs-market Market Overview:- A neurological disease occurs when any portion of the brain or nervous system malfunctions, causing physical and/or psychological symptoms. Neurological disorders are treated with a variety of medications, including antipsychotics, antiepileptics, anticholinergics, and analgesics. Furthermore, the drug that is prescribed is primarily determined by the patient's neurological condition. These medications aid in the management of neurological conditions, symptom reduction, and improved quality of life. Corticosteroids, which are widely used to treat multiple sclerosis and help reduce inflammation, are among the most commonly used neurological medications. Globally, neurological disorders are the main cause of death. It is defined as both central and peripheral nervous system disorders. The diseases primarily affect the elderly population. It may progress and necessitate long-term treatment. Congenital neurological abnormalities appear during the early stages of embryo development and can be detected at birth. A variety of factors, such as traumatic brain injuries, immunological problems, postnatal injections, spinal cord injuries, neoplasia, and exposure to ambient chemicals or poisons, can cause acquired neurological disorders after birth. Many bacterial, viral, fungal, and parasite diseases can damage the nervous system, resulting in neurological illnesses. Leading Key Players Operating in the Neurological Disorder Drugs Market Includes:- Merck KGaA (Germany) Eisai Co., Ltd. (Japan) AstraZeneca (U.K.) Sanofi (France) Novartis AG (Switzerland) Abbott (U.S.) F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. (Switzerland) Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Ireland) Pfizer Inc. (U.S.) GlaxoSmithKline plc (U.K.) Market research analysis covered in the top-notch Neurological Disorder Drugs market survey report aids the management of a firm in planning by providing accurate and up-to-date information about the consumers demands, their changing tastes, attitudes, preferences, and buying intentions etc. It endows with all the guidelines about planning of advertising and sales promotion efforts. This international market report also includes a comprehensive evaluation of the markets growth prospects and restrictions. With the data and insights covered in this business report, marketing of goods can be made efficient and economical which leads to elimination of all type of wastage. Neurological Disorder Drugs market document is an indispensable model to have increments in business activities, qualitative work done and enhanced profits. Recent Development In September 2021, Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma and Otsuka had announced a collaboration as well as license agreement for four psychiatry and neurology compounds namely ulotaront (SEP-363856), SEP-4199, SEP-378614, and SEP-380135. Under the terms of the partnership, Sunovion and Otsuka will split the costs and revenues of clinical trials, regulatory applications, and commercialization in each of these nations and areas. Additional ulotaront indications, and also SEP-378614 and SEP-380135 indications, will be identified after future Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Group and Otsuka consultations. Get Detailed 350 Pages Report to Understand More @ https://www.databridgemarketresearch.com/checkout/buy/enterprise/global-neurological-disorder-drugs-market Opportunities Development of new drugs Moreover, the market's growth is fueled by an increase in the development of new drugs. This will provide beneficial opportunities for the market growth. Brain injuries and neurological disorders are among the major causes of death around the world. As a result, researchers are pursuing chances to produce new medications that could improve the treatment of neurological disorders by altering glucose metabolism. For instance, Gero Discovery, a provider of novel therapeutic alternatives for neurodegenerative disorders, recently revealed the discovery of a prospective medicine that uses the technique of glucose metabolism alteration in stressed neurons to assist avoid neuronal death. To create novel treatments, companies in the neurological disorder drugs industry need work with qualified researchers. Increase in the number of research and development activities The increase in the number of research and development activities is estimated to provide various beneficial opportunities for the neurological disorder drugs markets growth. New therapeutic techniques for the treatment of Parkinson's disease are being adopted by companies in the neurological disorder pharmaceuticals market. This leads to high number of research activities to better understand the disease's genetic risk factors in order to find better drugs. As a result, mutations in the GBA1 gene are emerging as a prospective therapeutic development strategy. Mutations in the gene, however, may cause GCase (glucocerebrosidase) enzyme deficiencies. As a result, manufacturers in the neurological disorder pharmaceuticals market are concentrating on activating wild type GCase in order to produce new therapeutic molecules for the treatment of Parkinson's disease. Moreover, the market's growth is fueled by rising investment for the development of advanced technologies and increase in the number of emerging markets. These factors will provide beneficial opportunities for the neurological disorder drugs market growth How will this Market Intelligence Report Benefit You? The report offers statistical data in terms of value (US$) as well as Volume (units) Exclusive insight into the key trends affecting this industry, although key threats, opportunities and disruptive technologies that could shape the Global Market supply and demand The report tracks the leading market players that will shape and impact this Market most The data analysis present in this report is based on the combination of both primary and secondary resources The report helps you to understand the real effects of key market drivers or retainers on this business Market Scope and Market Size:- Indication Epilepsy Alzheimers Disease Parkinsons Disease Multiple Sclerosis Cerebrovascular Disease Drug Class Cholinesterase Inhibitors NMDA Receptor Antagonists Antiepileptic Antipsychotic and Antidepressant Route of Administration Oral Parenteral End-Users Hospitals Specialty Clinics Homecare Distribution Channel Hospital Pharmacy Retail Pharmacy Online Pharmacy Get Latest Edition of Market Study Now @ https://www.databridgemarketresearch.com/reports/global-neurological-disorder-drugs-market Neurological Disorder Drugs Market, By Region: Global Neurological Disorder Drugs market is analyzed and market size insights and trends are provided by country, product as referenced above. The countries covered in the Neurological Disorder Drugs market report are the U.S., Canada and Mexico in North America, Germany, France, U.K., Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, Russia, Italy, Spain, Turkey, Rest of Europe in Europe, China, Japan, India, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Rest of Asia-Pacific (APAC) in the Asia-Pacific (APAC), Saudi Arabia, U.A.E, South Africa, Egypt, Israel, Rest of Middle East and Africa (MEA) as a part of Middle East and Africa (MEA), Brazil, Argentina and Rest of South America as part of South America. North America dominates the Neurological Disorder Drugs market because of the rise in the cases of arrhythmic diseases, favorable reimbursement policies for patients, high demand for advanced treatment methods and developed healthcare infrastructure in the region. Asia-Pacific is estimated to grow in the forecast period due to the high prevalence of cardiovascular diseases, increase in adoption of advanced digital devices, large population and launch of new innovative products. Neurological Disorder Drugs Market Dynamics: Drivers: Growing geriatric population: The markets growth is propelled by an increase in the geriatric population, which leads to the presentation of numerous neurological problems. Cerebrovascular disorders such as stroke and migraine affect people of all ages in countries including Germany, the United Kingdom, and Italy. In adults aged 45 to 84, France, Sweden, Greece, Denmark, and Russia have high rates of cerebrovascular illness. As per a study published in the NCBI in 2018, the prevalence of stroke in Singapore was 7.67 percent among persons aged 65 and up. Increasing investment for healthcare infrastructure: Another significant factor influencing the growth rate of dermatitis market is the rising healthcare expenditure which helps in improving its infrastructure. Also, various government organizations aims to improve the healthcare infrastructure by increasing funding and this will further influence the market dynamics. Rising awareness about early disease diagnosis: The neurological disorder drugs market is expected to grow due to rising awareness associated with early disease diagnosis through awareness campaigns by government regulatory bodies and private organizations, and market entry of efficient drugs in the near future, owing to the presence of a strong drug pipeline. As per a report published by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) in April 2018, biopharmaceutical companies in the United States are currently developing 537 medications for various neurological illnesses. 95 drugs for brain tumors, 46 for chronic pain, and 92 for Alzheimer's disease are among them. Multiple sclerosis, migraines, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and Parkinson's disease are among the 30 illnesses being researched. Furthermore, surging number of government initiatives to spread awareness and increasing prevalence of neurological diseases such as dementia will result in the expansion of neurological disorder drugs market. Along with this, sedentary lifestyle of people and will enhance the growth rate of the market. TABLE OF CONTENTS Part 01: Executive Summary Part 02: Scope Of The Report Part 03: Research Methodology Part 04: Market Landscape Part 05: Pipeline Analysis Part 06: Market Sizing Part 07: Five Forces Analysis Part 08: Market Segmentation Part 09: Customer Landscape Part 10: Regional Landscape Part 11: Decision Framework Part 12: Drivers And Challenges Part 13: Market Trends Part 14: Vendor Landscape Part 15: Vendor Analysis Part 16: Appendix Check Complete Table of Contents @ https://www.databridgemarketresearch.com/toc/?dbmr=global-neurological-disorder-drugs-market Browse More Reports:- Risuteganib in Neurological Disorder Treatment Market , By Type (Angiostatic proteins, Anti-inflammatories, Carboxylic Acids, Eye Disorder Therapies, Neuroprotectants, Oligopeptides, Pyrrolidines, Small Molecules), Application (Dry age-related macular degeneration, Retinal disorders, Wet age-related macular degeneration, Neurological Disorder, Others), End-Users (Clinic, Hospital, Others), 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Agonists, Others), Route of Administration (Oral, Injection, Transdermal), End- User (Hospital Pharmacy, Retail Pharmacy, Online Pharmacy) https://www.databridgemarketresearch.com/reports/global-neurodegenerative-disorder-therapeutics-market About Data Bridge Market Research: An absolute way to forecast what future holds is to comprehend the trend today! 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Contact Us:- Data Bridge Market Research US: +1 888 387 2818 UK: +44 208 089 1725 Hong Kong: +852 8192 7475 Email:- corporatesales@databridgemarketresearch.com HERE Technologies HERE ISA HERE Intelligent Speed Assistance Map for Commercial Vehicles EU regulation requires drivers in trucks, vans, buses and cars to have legal speed limit always displayed. Six commercial brands, 15 vehicle OEMs have selected HERE speed limit data to support EUs Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) requirement. Technology fuses mapping and on-board sensor data for the highest quality output. September 19, 2022 Hannover, Germany At this years IAA Transportation Conference, HERE Technologies, the worlds leading location data and technology platform, is proud to announce the companys work with commercial vehicle makers on the implementation of Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) technology to help increase road safety and reduce speeding under the European Unions (EU) new regulation. An onboard ISA feature indicates the roads legal speed limit to drivers in direct line of sight. The information is shown on the vehicles dashboard cluster, navigation system or through an after-market device. Since July 2022, it is mandatory to have an ISA feature onboard all new model cars, vans, trucks and buses sold in the EU market. All newly registered vehicles in the EU will be required to have an ISA feature starting July 2024. HERE leads the mapping industry in supplying high-quality speed limit data required for ISA HERE is working alongside its solution partners to support commercial and passenger vehicle makers ISA compliance by delivering high-quality speed limit information that covers all EU roads. The HERE ISA Map has been adopted by 15 global automakers, representing more than 30 brands, among them are European and global commercial truck industry leaders. ISA features have historically been found in premium passenger vehicle systems, and within too few commercial applications, said Giovanni Lanfranchi, Chief Product and Technology Officer at HERE. Were proud to deliver and validate this critical dataset as European nations focus on immediate steps to improve road safety, while paving the way for future deployments of ADAS and automated vehicle technologies. Story continues Capturing and validating speed limit changes Truck and car manufacturers must pass an ISA vehicle test prior to sale, with a 90% accuracy in speed limit data over a 400km driving distance. The requirement is a minimum of three different explicit signs and three implicit, unposted signs. European roads have the challenge of non-explicit speed limits and a patchwork of local speed limits, rules and regulations across countries. More than 60% of speed limits are implicit in Europe, with limits based on local road rules but not displayed on signage. ISA content from HERE manages the non-posted speed limit challenge by delivering speed limit information based on a combination of data sources. Reliance on vehicle camera data alone, for example, is prone to quality challenges without a base map and validated mapping system. The HERE ISA Map contains: Explicit speed limits visible on road signs, and implicit speed limits derived from road signs without numerical values. Speed limits that are defined by road rules and regulations, including national or regional speed limits and conditional rules which may not be sign-posted and therefore not detectable by onboard cameras. Required road topology with selected attributes to minimize the data footprint for smaller vehicle segments while still enabling electronic horizon providers to power an ISA feature. For more information on how HERE powers ADAS and ISA features, click here. Media Contacts Dr. Sebastian Kurme +49 173 515 3549 sebastian.kurme@here.com Jordan Stark +1 312 316 4537 Jordan.stark@here.com About HERE Technologies HERE, the leading location data and technology platform, moves people, businesses and cities forward by harnessing the power of location. By leveraging our open platform, we empower our customers to achieve better outcomes - from helping a city manage its infrastructure or a business optimize its assets to guiding drivers to their destination safely. To learn more about HERE, please visit here.com and 360.here.com . Attachment Allied Market Research Growing prevalence of chronic respiratory diseases such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), emphysema, and chronic bronchitis drives the growth of the global portable oxygen kit market. Based on end user, the healthcare segment held the major share in 2021. By region, Asia-Pacific would grow at the fastest CAGR by 2031. Portland, OR, Sept. 19, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- According to the report published by Allied Market Research, the global portable oxygen kit market was estimated at $18.7 billion in 2021 and is expected to hit $35.8 billion by 2031, registering a CAGR of 7.0% from 2022 to 2031. The report provides a detailed analysis of the top investment pockets, top winning strategies, drivers & opportunities, market size & estimations, competitive landscape, and evolving market trends. The market study is a helpful source of information for the frontrunners, new entrants, investors, and shareholders in crafting strategies for the future and heightening their position in the market. Download Sample Report- https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/31970 Report coverage & details: Report Coverage Details Forecast Period 20222031 Base Year 2021 Market Size in 2021 $18.7 Billion Market Size in 2031 $35.8 Billion CAGR 7.0% No. of Pages in Report 249 Segments Covered End User and Region. Drivers Prevalence of chronic respiratory diseases such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), emphysema, and chronic bronchitis Opportunities The fact that many government and local regulatory groups have started a number of initiatives and programs to inform the public about COPD Restraints Lack of awareness among people about proper and careful handling of portable oxygen kits Impact of Covid-19 on Portable Oxygen Kit Market- During the pandemic, hospitals were completely occupied, with no vacant beds. And, as the number of corona virus patients increased significantly, use of portable oxygen cylinders was recommended by doctors as a means of treatment at home settings only. This factor impacted the global portable oxygen kit market positively. Breathing difficulties and low blood oxygen levels were the common symptoms among people. Hence the need for oxygen was at peak throughout the pandemic. The global portable oxygen kit market is analyzed across end user and region. The report takes in an exhaustive analysis of segments and their sub-segments with the help of tabular and graphical representation. Investors and market players can benefit from the breakdown and devise stratagems based on the highest revenue-generating and fastest-growing segments stated in the report. Based on end user, the healthcare segment garnered more than two-fifths of the total market revenue in 2021, and is expected to dominate by 2031. The home application segment, simultaneously, would manifest the fastest CAGR of 8.1% throughout the forecast period. The other segment analyzed in the report takes in home aerospace & automotive. For Purchase Inquiry- https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/purchase-enquiry/31970 Based on region, the market across North America generated around one-third of the total market revenue in 2021, and is anticipated to retain the lions share by 2031. The Asia-Pacific region, at the same time, would manifest the fastest CAGR of 8.2% during the forecast period. The other regions studied in the report include LAMEA and Europe. The key market players analyzed in the global portable oxygen kit market report include DeVilbiss Healthcare, Inova Labs Inc., NIDEK Medical Products Inc., O2 Concepts, Teijin Limited, Koninklijke Philips N.V., Invacare Corporation, Worthington Industries, Inogen Inc., and Chart Industries. These market players have embraced several strategies including partnership, expansion, collaboration, joint ventures, and others to highlight their prowess in the industry. The report is helpful in formulating the business performance, product portfolio, operating segments, and developments by the top players. Official Press Release- https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/press-release/portable-oxygen-kit-market.html Trending Reports in Healthcare Industry- Bone Grafts and Substitutes Market - Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2020-2030 Companion Diagnostic Market - Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 20202030 Infant Incubator Market- Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 20202030 Influenza Vaccine Market- Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 20202030 Alopecia Treatment Market - Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 20202030 Pneumonia Vaccine Market- Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 20202030 Empty Capsules Market - Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 20202030 AVENUE- A Subscription-Based Library (Premium on-demand, subscription-based pricing model) Offered by Allied Market Research: AMR introduces its online premium subscription-based library Avenue, designed specifically to offer cost-effective, one-stop solution for enterprises, investors, and universities. With Avenue, subscribers can avail an entire repository of reports on more than 2,000 niche industries and more than 12,000 company profiles. Moreover, users can get an online access to quantitative and qualitative data in PDF and Excel formats along with analyst support, customization, and updated versions of reports. Get an access to the library of reports at any time from any device and anywhere. For more details, follow the link: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/library-access 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. About Allied Market Research: Allied Market Research (AMR) is a full-service market research and business-consulting wing of Allied Analytics LLP based in Portland, Oregon. Allied Market Research provides global enterprises as well as medium and small businesses with unmatched quality of "Market Research Reports" and "Business Intelligence Solutions." AMR has a targeted view to provide business insights and consulting to assist its clients to make strategic business decisions and achieve sustainable growth in their respective market domains. AMR offers its services across 11 industry verticals including Life Sciences , Consumer Goods, Materials & Chemicals, Construction & Manufacturing, Food & Beverages, Energy & Power, Semiconductor & Electronics, Automotive & Transportation, ICT & Media, Aerospace & Defense, and BFSI. 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. Allied Market Research CEO Pawan Kumar is instrumental in inspiring and encouraging everyone associated with the company to maintain high quality of data and help clients in every way possible to achieve success. 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. Contact David Correa 5933 NE Win Sivers Drive #205, Portland, OR 97220 United States Toll Free: +1-800-792-5285 UK: +44-845-528-1300 Hong Kong: +852-301-84916 India (Pune): +91-20-66346060 Fax: +1-855-550-5975 help@alliedmarketresearch.com Web: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com Follow Us on: LinkedIn Twitter OTTAWA, ON, Sept. 19, 2022 /CNW/ - Today the Government of Canada announced a gift of $20 million to the Queen Elizabeth Scholars (QES) program in recognition of the legacy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Queen Elizabeth Scholars (CNW Group/Rideau Hall Foundation) "The Queen's legacy of service and steadfast leadership will live on in the countless lives that she touched and as an inspiration to us all. Her example inspired many young Canadians to dedicate their lives to service, give back to their communities, and become the leaders of today and tomorrow," said the Right Honourable Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada. "I join Canadians in thanking Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for over 70 years of selfless service and honouring her extraordinary life marked by grace, dignity, and an unwavering sense of duty." The Canadian Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Scholarship program, known as the QES, is led by the Rideau Hall Foundation (RHF) in collaboration with Universities Canada, and with founding support from Community Foundations of Canada (CFC). "On behalf of the RHF, the QES program, its scholars, our partners and our many supporters, we are deeply grateful to receive this gift in honour of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II," said Teresa Marques, President and CEO of the RHF. "This gift will ensure that generations of youth have the opportunity to develop a global outlook, empathy, and understanding all of which are essential for navigating the complexities of today's world." This gift will make international experiences possible for post-secondary students who would not otherwise be able to benefit. Approximately 3,000 additional students will now have the opportunity to advance their studies and research, and develop their leadership and civic engagement skills through global collaborations. This funding provides the seed support for a new legacy campaign by the Rideau Hall Foundation to make the QES program permanent. The RHF will seek to build on this very generous gift through additional public and private donations to ensure QES remains a permanent legacy to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, supporting generations of scholars in Her name. Story continues QES is a made-in-Canada initiative that promotes international student exchange and civic engagement through project-based scholarships. The program was established in 2012 to celebrate and honour The Queen's Diamond Jubilee. To date, 106 projects have been funded at 46 Canadian universities and in 72 countries around the world, and more than 2,200 young people have completed the program. "The Queen Elizabeth Scholars program is laying the foundation for the next generation of leaders: innovative people committed to making Canada, and the world, a better place. What an exceptionally fitting tribute to Her Majesty The Queen, who valued the importance of diplomacy of knowledge and a commitment to service and leadership," said the Right Honourable David Johnston, Chair of the RHF and 28th Governor General of Canada. To learn more about the program, visit: queenelizabethscholars.ca Quotes: On behalf of the Rideau Hall Foundation, the QES program, its scholars, our partners and many supporters, we are deeply grateful to receive this gift in honour of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. This gift will ensure that generations of youth have the opportunity to develop a global outlook, empathy, and understanding all of which are essential for navigating the complexities of today's world. Teresa Marques, President and CEO of the Rideau Hall Foundation. The Queen Elizabeth Scholars program is laying the foundation for the next generation of leaders: innovative people committed to making Canada, and the world, a better place. What an exceptionally fitting tribute to Her Majesty The Queen, who valued the importance of diplomacy of knowledge and a commitment to service and leadership. The Right Honourable David Johnston, Chair of the RHF and 28th Governor General of Canada. Key Facts The Queen Elizabeth Scholars program is a made-in-Canada initiative that promotes international student exchange and civic engagement through project-based scholarships. Established in 2012 to celebrate and honour The Queen's Diamond Jubilee. To date, 106 projects have been funded at 46 Canadian universities and in 72 countries around the world, and more than 2,200 young people have completed the program. The Government of Canada's contribution will ensure approximately 3,000 additional students have the opportunity to participate in the QES program. The RHF has now launched a new legacy fundraising campaign to build on this very generous gift through additional public and private donations to ensure QES remains a permanent legacy to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. About the Rideau Hall Foundation The Rideau Hall Foundation is an independent national charitable organization established to mobilize ideas, people, and resources across the country to tap into our national spirit and help ignite our shared potential. Working towards a better Canada, the RHF celebrates what is best about Canada while working with partners to meaningfully improve lives and foster the conditions for more Canadians to succeed and thrive. Learn more about the RHF at www.rhf-frh.ca. SOURCE Rideau Hall Foundation Cision View original content to download multimedia: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/September2022/19/c1598.html By Azernews By Vugar Khalilov The Azerbaijani Prosecutor Generals Office has launched a criminal case against the Armenian extremists, who attacked the Azerbaijani embassy building in Paris, France, Azernews reports. The agency underlined that various local and foreign media resources published video footage showing several members of a radical Armenian group attempting forcibly enter the administrative building of the Azerbaijan Embassy in France. As a preliminary probe into the case revealed, a number of unknown extremist gang members cooperated in advance with the goal of straining international relations to trigger tension and cause a conflict in violation of the requirements of the 1973 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Internationally Protected Persons, including Diplomatic Agents. Reasonable suspicions were established that the extremists attempted to forcefully enter the embassy's administrative building using various objects as weapons to inflict material damage on the facility and the surrounding area. In light of this, the prosecutor-general charged the Investigation Department of the Prosecutor-General's Office with initiating a criminal case under the Azerbaijani Criminal Code Articles 12.3, 102 (attack on internationally protected persons or organizations), and 12.2, 186.1 (deliberate destruction or damage to other people's property). In line with international criminal case rules and principles, necessary measures are being taken to determine the circle of culpable individuals and subject them to criminal accountability through a full, complete, and objective investigation, the office said. Meanwhile, the House of Azerbaijan in Paris has urged the world community to condemn the recent large-scale provocations carried out by the Armenian armed forces on the Azerbaijani border, Azernews reports, citing the Azerbaijani State Committee for Work with the Diaspora. The committee said in a statement that Armenia's military-political leadership bears full responsibility for the military provocation, conflict, and losses during the latest provocation. The committee emphasized the Azerbaijani community's serious concern in Paris over Armenia's aggressive attitude, which is violating international law and obstructing the normalization process and peace talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan as brokered by the EU. The House of Azerbaijan in Paris urged international organizations to take tangible actions and strengthen efforts to put an end to Armenia's aggression and vengeance policy, as well as compel it to accept the peaceful solution to the conflict. In the same vein, the Azerbaijani community held a sanctioned demonstration in Prague, the State Committee for Work with Diaspora said in a separate report. During the protest in Krizhovnitskaya Square, community representatives protested the large-scale provocation conducted by Armenian armed troops near Azerbaijan's sovereign borders. They drew the local public's attention to the destruction of Azerbaijani cultural heritage, acts of vandalism committed by Armenia on Azerbaijani lands with the complete silence of international organizations, and factors impeding regional peace. During the rally, a list of Azerbaijani servicemen, who died while preventing the latest Armenian provocation, as well as slogans such as "Stop Armenian aggression!", "Stop Armenian terror!", "UNESCO, safeguard Azerbaijani heritage in Iravan!", and "Stop Armenian vandalism!" were displayed. Farid Amiraliyev, an Azerbaijani diaspora activist, coordinated the picket. To recap, units of the Armenian armed forces carried out large-scale provocations along the Azerbaijani-Armenian state border in the Dashkasan, Kalbajar, and Lachin directions on the night of September 12 leading to 13. The Armenian sabotage groups mined land and supply roads linking the positions of the Azerbaijani army units in different directions, taking advantage of the area's steep topography and existing ravine gaps. The clashes between the sides ensued as a result of the urgent efforts made by the Azerbaijani armed forces to quell these activities. As a result, 79 armed forces personnel were killed, the ministry detailed. The Azerbaijan military units stationed in these areas took decisive retaliatory measures to suppress the provocations of the Armenian armed forces and military threats to Azerbaijan's territory and sovereignty, as well as to ensure the safety of military personnel, including civilian workers involved in infrastructure construction in Kalbajar and Lachin districts, the ministry emphasized. So far, the Armenian government reported 135 losses among its own military personnel. Photo credit: JOHN SIBLEY - Getty Images There's no shortage of royalty at the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, but even among the noble titles, there are a few figures who stand out. One of those: Queen Margrethe of Denmark, now the longest reigning queen in Europe and a longtime friend of Queen Elizabeth. The monarch is attending the funeral, along with her heir, Crown Prince Frederik, and her daughter-in-law, Crown Princess Mary. Just days after the death of Elizabethwho marked her 70th year on the throne this summer with her Platinum JubileeMargrethe had a jubilee of her own; in her case, her Golden Jubilee honoring 50 years as monarch. During the festivities, the queen led a moment of silence in homage to the passing of her friend. Over the years, Margrethe has shared about her closeness with the late queen, saying "She has always been somebody I have admired. I also happen to know her very well, or fairly well anyway," in 2012. She also revealed earlier this year that they called one another by their nicknames"Lilibet" for Elizabeth and "Daisy" for herexplaining, "We are definitely affectionate, but I don't want to splash it all over the place." In fact, both queens could trace their lineage back to another iconic female monarch, Queen Victoria, making them distant cousins. In the wake of Elizabeth's death, Margrethe shared a message of condolence with King Charles III, writing,"Your mother was very important to me and my family. She was a towering figure among the European monarchs and a great inspiration to us all. We shall miss her terribly." You Might Also Like If you want to be really rich, use these 3 Warren Buffett trading techniques that no one ever talks about Warren Buffett is widely considered to be one of the most successful investors of all time. He began investing in stocks at age 10, and was a millionaire by his early 30s, when he began buying Berkshire Hathaway stock at $7.60 per share. Today, Berkshire trades at about $400,000 and Buffett has a net worth of $97 billion. Buffett is well-known for his approach of buying big chunks of blue-chip companies with underestimated prospects and strong management. Then he holds those shares for years, if not decades. The secret of his success, he says, is following two rules: Rule No.1: Never lose money. Rule No.2: Never forget rule No.1. Dont miss But there are three lesser-known tactics Buffett has used to build his fortune that savvy investors might want to borrow even if they sometimes run counter to his better-known investing strategies. 1. Selling put options Youd think that someone like Buffett who seems devoted to blue-chip stocks would steer clear of complicated derivatives, but youd be wrong. Throughout his investing career, Buffett has capitalized on the advanced options-trading technique of selling naked put options as a hedging strategy. In fact, in Berkshire Hathaways 2007 annual report, the company acknowledged that it had 94 derivative contracts, which over the year generated $7.7 billion in premiums. This strategy involves selling an option where you promise to buy a stock at a specific strike price below its current value sometime in the future. This immediately gives you money from the sale of the option. If the share price doesnt fall, you keep the money. If the price does fall below the strike price, you purchase the stock at a price thats less than you would have paid at the time you sold the option, with the cash from the option sale further reducing your cost basis. This is a good strategy on a stock that you wouldn't mind owning in the first place. In 1993, Buffett used put options to pocket nearly $7.5 million in income while waiting for the price of Coca-Cola shares to drop. Story continues The option is considered naked because you havent secured another option to buy the stock, such as shorting shares of that same stock to offset your purchase cost. But keep in mind that this given the risk involved, this isnt something a newbie investor should try on their own. 2. Investing in small-cap stocks When youre throwing around the kind of cash thats measured in billions, scooping up shares of promising emerging companies wont work. Shares of small-cap growth stocks of companies typically worth $300 million to $2 billion would simply move too much if the Oracle of Omaha made a purchase that was big enough to make it worth his while. Read more: Do you fall in America's lower, middle, or upper class? How your income stacks up I have to look for elephants, Buffett once said in discussing his investment options. It may be that the elephants are not as attractive as the mosquitoes. But that is the universe I must live in. Of course, it wasn't always like that. Buffett started out his career primarily investing in small-cap companies. He invested more than half of his net worth in GEICO when it was still relatively small in 1951 at the age of 20. One reason those so-called mosquitoes are attractive is because shares demonstrate the most growth in the early days of a company's operation. But just because those little outfits are off-limits to Buffett today doesnt mean you cant go after them. 3. Cutting losses when necessary Buffetts buy and hold approach doesnt extend to never admitting that even he sometimes gets it wrong. Once losses set in at a well-managed company, thats a sign that the economics of that business may have changed in a way thats going to create losses for a long time to come. As for Buffett, his big misstep recently was investing in airline companies. Berkshire Hathaway once owned a stake in all four major American airlines: Delta, American Airlines, Southwest and United. While he only added these companies to his roster in 2016, by the end of 2020, hed dropped them all at a relatively big loss. Buffett took responsibility for the failed strategy, but was clear he didnt see a future in airlines and even went so far as to call the industry a bottomless pit. We will not fund a company that where we think that it is going to chew up money in the future, he said at the time. What to read next House Democrats have officially drafted a bill that bans politicians, judges, their spouses and children from trading stocks but here's what they're still allowed to own and do Billionaire Carl Icahn warns the 'worst is yet to come' but when an audience member asked him for stock picks, he offered these 2 'cheap and viable' names Biggest crash in world history': Robert Kiyosaki issues another dire warning and now avoids anything that can be printed here are 3 hard assets he likes instead This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind. VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / September 19, 2022 / SILVER X MINING CORP. (TSX-V:AGX)(OTCQB: AGXPF)(FRA:WPZ) ("Silver X" or the "Company") is pleased to announce results of voting at its annual general meeting of shareholders which was held on September 15, 2022 (the "Meeting"). All matters submitted to the shareholders for approval as set out in the Company's Notice of Meeting and Information Circular, dated August 9, 2022, were approved by the majority of votes cast at the Meeting. As a result, 1.- Number of directors Shareholders approved the setting of the number of Directors at five (5). 2.- Election of directors The shareholders elected the following slate of Directors: Jose Maria Garcia Jimenez Sebastian Wahl Michael Hoffman Darryl Cardey Francis Johnstone 3.- Appointment of auditors Shim & Associates LLP, Chartered Professional Accountants were reappointed as Auditors of the Company for the ensuing year with their remuneration to be fixed by the Board of Directors. 4.- Amended and Restated Share Option Plan. Shareholders approved the Company's amended and restated "rolling up to 10%" share option plan. 5.- Amended and Restated Restricted Share Unit Plan. Shareholders approved the Company's amended and restated restricted share unit plan. About Silver X Silver X is a Canadian silver mining company with assets in Peru. The Company's flagship asset is the Tangana silver, gold, lead, zinc and copper project (the "Project") located in Huancavelica, Peru, 10 km north-northwest of the Nueva Recuperada polymetallic concentrate plant. Founders and management have a successful track record of increasing shareholder value. For more information visit our website at www.silverxmining.com. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD Jose M. Garcia CEO and Director For further information, please contact: Silver X Mining Corp. Jose M. Garcia, CEO +1 604 358 1382 | j.garcia@silverxmining.com Story continues 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. SOURCE: Silver X Mining Corp. View source version on accesswire.com: https://www.accesswire.com/716428/Silver-X-Announces-2022-AGM-Results A Singapore food hall in Manhattan is offering more than just delicious fare. Moved by images of migrants being bused into the city, the chefs and owners of the stalls at the soon-to-open Urban Hawker are also offering jobs. Singaporean celebrity chef KF Seetoh, who brought over 11 established chefs to operate at the food hall which will open at the end of September, posted on Instagram Sunday that the Singapore hawkers are happy to hire them if they are keen and allowed. New York and America gave us this opportunity and we are passing it on, his post continued. A recent influx of Latin American migrants have flooded the city, sent over by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican. Fleeing violence and economic devastation in their home countries, many of them crossed into Texas from Mexico. Their plight caught the attention of Seetoh and the other Singaporean chefs. Migrants are merely folks seeking a better tomorrow. They need jobs in this land of opportunities, Seetoh told the Daily News Sunday. The 14,000 square-foot space, on W. 50th St. between Sixth and Seventh Aves. in Midtown, is run by food hall operator Urbanspace and will house 17 stalls with a seating capacity of about 200. Urban Hawkers menu will introduce diners to Singapores hawker cuisine, which was recognized by the United Nations cultural agency UNESCO for its cultural significance in 2020. Hawker food like chicken rice, prawn noodle soup and Singapores signature crabs dish will be served. Almost all of the 17 stalls will need a few assistants, Seetoh said, adding that the chefs will teach the relocated workers the lifelong skills of being an expert in a particular dish and being an entrepreneur . Its not an overly complex task; one just needs to work hard, he said. As for how the food hall can get connected with the newly displaced families, he said he hopes news of the stall owners offer will reach Mayor Adams. Immigration lawyer Allan Wernick said that while the chefs offer is nice, the migrants will have to apply for asylum first. They can apply for work permission 150 days later, and will qualify for the work card 180 days after filing for asylum, he said. NEW YORK, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Over the next five years, the market for Solvents will grow at a CAGR of 5.80%, with an incremental spend of around USD 11.15 billion. A planned, systematic approach to sourcing Solvents may expand a buyer's alternatives. This report also explores the COVID-19 pandemic's market impact and new opportunities. Solvents Market www.spendedge.com/sample-report/it-infrastructure-services-market-procurement-research-report Key Highlights Offered in the Report: How to determine the strategic and tactical negotiating levels that will assist you in obtaining the most favorable prices? Learn about suitable pricing levels and obtain a comprehensive overview of the benefits and drawbacks of major pricing strategies. Methods for identifying key performance indicators (KPIs) for evaluating existing suppliers and engaging with incumbent suppliers. Major Pricing Trends in Solvents Procurement: Due to substitution pressure and a modest amount of threat from new rivals, suppliers have limited negotiating leverage. As a result, selecting the appropriate pricing and pricing strategy is essential. Buyers should consider cost-cutting alternatives and compare their chosen pricing models for Solvents to those used by the industry in general. The two most prevalent pricing models in the Solvent market are volume-based pricing, spot pricing, and index pricing. Each pricing structure provides the best value and is appropriate for a wide range of circumstances. A buyer's operations model should be developed, and the buyer should connect supplier performance to pricing models. For More Insights on Buyer Strategies and Tactical Negotiation Levers: www.spendedge.com/sample-report/it-infrastructure-services-market-procurement-research-report Key Drivers and Trends Fueling Market Growth: Due to increased competition from alternatives and moderate threat from new competitors, suppliers have little leverage in negotiations. Price forecasts are beneficial in purchase planning, especially when supplemented by the constant monitoring of price influencing factors. During the forecast period, the market expects a change of 5.00%-8.00%. Story continues Identify favorable opportunities in Solvents TCO (total cost of ownership). Expected changes in price forecast and factors driving the current and future price changes. Identify pricing models that offer the most rewarding opportunities. Some of the Top Solvents Suppliers Listed in This Report: This Solvents procurement intelligence report has enlisted the top suppliers and their cost structures, SLA terms, best selection criteria, and negotiation strategies. Royal Dutch Shell BASF SE The Dow Chemical Co Smart Procurement Starts Here: SpendEdge's procurement intelligence platform is the go-to tool for companies looking to access latest procurement research insights and supplier data on an easy-to-use platform: Subscribe Now for FREE, to get instant access to over 1000 market-ready procurement intelligence reports without any additional costs or commitment. Table of Content Executive Summary Market Insights Category Pricing Insights Cost-saving Opportunities Best Practices Category Ecosystem Category Management Strategy Category Management Enablers Suppliers Selection Suppliers under Coverage US Market Insights Category scope Appendix About SpendEdge: SpendEdge shares your passion for driving sourcing and procurement excellence. We are the preferred procurement market intelligence partner for 120+ Fortune 500 firms and other leading companies across numerous industries. Our strength lies in delivering robust, real-time procurement market intelligence reports and solutions. Contacts SpendEdge Anirban Choudhury Marketing Manager Ph No: +1 (872) 206-9340 https://www.spendedge.com/contact-us SpendEdge Logo (PRNewsfoto/SpendEdge) Cision View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/solvents-market-sourcing-and-procurement-intelligence-report--spendedge-301626372.html SOURCE SpendEdge Former President Donald Trump waves as he departs Trump Tower, Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2022, in New York, on his way to the New York attorney general's office for a deposition in a civil investigation. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson) (ASSOCIATED PRESS) WASHINGTON Former President Donald Trump has set up his office on the second floor of his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida as part replica of the Oval Office and part homage to his time in the real White House. On the wall during a visit last year were six favorite photographs, including ones with Queen Elizabeth II and Kim Jong Un. On display were challenge coins, a plaque commemorating his border wall and a portrait of the former president fashioned out of bullet casings, a present from Jair Bolsonaro, the so-called Trump of Brazil. This has become Trumps fortress in exile and his war room, the headquarters for the wide-ranging and rapidly escalating conflict with investigators that has come to consume his post-presidency. It is a multifront war, with battlefields in New York, Georgia and the nations capital, featuring a shifting roster of lawyers and a blizzard of allegations of wrongdoing that are hard to keep straight. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times Never before has a former president faced an array of federal, state and congressional investigations as extensive as Trump has, the cumulative consequences of a career in business and eventually politics lived on the edge, or perhaps over the edge. Whether it be his misleading business practices or his efforts to overturn a democratic election or his refusal to hand over sensitive government documents that did not belong to him, Trumps disparate legal troubles stem from the same sense that rules constraining others did not apply to him. The story of how he got to this point is historically unique and eminently predictable. Trump has been fending off investigators and legal troubles for a half century, since the Justice Department sued his family business for racial discrimination and through the myriad inquiries that followed over the years. He has a remarkable track record of sidestepping the worst outcomes, but even he may now find so many inquiries pointing in his direction that escape is uncertain. Story continues His view of the legal system has always been transactional; it is a weapon to be used, by him or against him, and he has rarely been intimidated by the kinds of subpoenas and affidavits that would chill a less litigious character. On the civil side, he has been involved in thousands of lawsuits with business partners, vendors and others, many of them suing him because he refused to pay his bills. While president, he once explained his view of the legal system to some aides, saying that he would go to court to intimidate adversaries because just threatening to sue was not enough. When you threaten to sue, they dont do anything, Trump told aides. They say, Psshh! he waved his hand in the air and keep doing what they want. But when you sue them, they go, Oooh! here he made a cringing face and they settle. Its as easy as that. When he began losing legal battles as president with regularity, he lashed out. At one point when the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, a traditionally liberal bench based in California, ruled against one of his policies, he demanded that aides get rid of the court altogether. Lets just cancel it, he said, as if it were a campaign event, not a court system established under law. If it required legislation, then draft a bill to get rid of the judges, he said, using an expletive. But his aides ignored him and now he finds himself without the power of the presidency, staring at a host of prosecutors and lawyers who have him and his associates in their sights. Some of the issues at hand go back years, but many of the seeds for his current legal jeopardy were planted in those frenetic final days in office when he sought to overturn the will of the voters and hold onto power through a series of lies about election fraud that did not exist. Many Americans could be forgiven if they have lost the thread of all the investigations amid the blizzard of motions and hearings and rulings of recent weeks. But they essentially break down this way. New York State Long before he became president, by many accounts, Trump played it fast and loose in business. The question is whether any of that violated the law. For years, according to his own associates, he inflated the value of his various properties to obtain loans. Letitia James, the New York state attorney general, has been examining his business practices for more than three years to determine if they constituted fraud. When she summoned Trump to testify in a deposition, he invoked his Fifth Amendment right not to respond to questions on the grounds that his answers might incriminate him more than 400 times. Trump has assailed James as a partisan Democrat who is coming after him for political reasons. As a candidate in 2018, she was an outspoken critic of Trump, calling him an illegitimate president and suggesting that foreign governments channeled money to his familys real estate holdings, which she characterized as a pattern and practice of money laundering. But Trumps lawyers recently sought to settle the case, which could indicate concern about his legal risk, only to have their bid rejected by James. Because her investigation is civil, not criminal, she would have to decide whether her findings warrant a lawsuit accusing the former president of fraud. Manhattan The Manhattan district attorneys office, now led by Alvin L. Bragg, has looked into some of the same issues as part of a criminal investigation and is about to bring the Trump Organization, the former presidents family business, to trial on charges of fraud and tax evasion starting Oct. 24. Allen H. Weisselberg, the longtime chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, has pleaded guilty to 15 felonies, admitting that he conspired with the company to carry out a scheme to avoid paying taxes on lavish perks. Weisselberg is obliged as part of his plea agreement to testify at the upcoming trial. But Trump is not a defendant, and Weisselberg has refused to cooperate with the broader investigation. But Bragg has indicated skepticism that there is sufficient evidence to convict Trump. The district attorneys public suggestion that Trump would probably not face charges led to the resignation of two prosecutors leading the investigation, one of whom said in a resignation letter that the former president was guilty of numerous felony violations and that it was a grave failure of justice not to hold him accountable. Georgia Trump put himself in possible legal jeopardy in the swing state of Georgia on Jan. 2, 2021, when he called Brad Raffensperger, the secretary of state, and demanded that he find 11,780 votes, just enough to reverse the outcome and take the state away from Joe Biden. During the call, Trump warned Raffensperger, a Republican, that he faced a big risk if he failed to find those votes, an implied threat the Georgian defied. Trumps allies likewise sought to pressure state officials to change the results and, as they did in other key states that went for his opponent, tried to orchestrate a slate of fake electors to send to Washington to cast Electoral College votes for the defeated president instead of Biden, who won Georgias popular vote. Fani T. Willis, the Fulton County district attorney, has cast a wide net, pressing for testimony by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and informing Rudy Giuliani, the former presidents lawyer, that he is a target of her investigation. Willis appears to be building a possible case of conspiracy to commit election fraud or racketeering through a coordinated effort to undermine the election. In addition to Giuliani, multiple allies of the former president have been told they are targets, including the state party chair and members of the slate of fake electors. Trump has dismissed Willis, a Democrat who was elected in the same 2020 balloting that he lost, saying her inquiry is, in the words of a spokesperson last year, simply the Democrats latest attempt to score political points by continuing their witch hunt against President Trump. Congress The House committee investigating the Capitol attack of Jan. 6, 2021, composed of seven Democrats and two Republicans, has done more to lay out a possible criminal case against Trump in the public space than any of the former presidents pursuers. Its series of hearings over the summer, which could resume Sept. 28, showcased testimony by Trumps own advisers indicating that he was repeatedly informed that the 2020 election was not stolen, that what he was telling the public was not true, that there was no basis to challenge the outcome and even that the crowd he summoned on Jan. 6 included some armed people. The committee documented just how wide-ranging Trumps efforts to hold onto power were how he pressured not just Raffensperger but officials in multiple states to change the outcomes, how he contemplated declaring martial law and seizing voting machines, how he tried to force the Justice Department to intervene even though he was told there was no case, how he plotted with congressional allies to orchestrate fake electors and ultimately how he sought to strong-arm his own vice president into blocking Bidens victory. The committee has no power to prosecute, but it has gone to court to enforce subpoenas to testify and prompted criminal charges of contempt of Congress by the Justice Department against Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro, two former Trump aides. Bannon has been convicted and is awaiting sentencing; Navarro has asked a court to throw out his case. But though lawmakers cannot indict Trump, they are debating whether to make a criminal referral recommending that the Justice Department do so. That has little substantive meaning, but it would raise the stakes for Attorney General Merrick Garland. Jan. 6 Garland remains in some ways the biggest mystery as Trump seeks to thwart investigators. An even-tempered, widely respected former prosecutor and appellate judge, Garland has said little to tip his hand, but his department is clearly pursuing multiple strands in its investigation of what happened leading up to and on Jan. 6. The department has interviewed or brought before a grand jury former White House aides like Pat A. Cipollone and Marc Short; seized the phones or electronic devices of Trumps allies like John Eastman, Jeffrey Clark and Mike Lindell, and even a member of Congress; and blitzed out some 40 subpoenas recently to former White House aides like Stephen Miller and Dan Scavino and others close to the former president. After spending much of the last 18 months prosecuting hundreds of Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol, Garlands team now seems to be examining multiple angles, including the fake electors plan, Trumps fundraising operation as he promoted false claims about election fraud and the former presidents own role in seeking to overturn the election. What remains unclear is if Garland has a theory of the case yet. While the subpoenas indicated that investigators were looking at, among other things, efforts to obstruct, influence, impede or delay the certification of the presidential election, the department has yet to charge people around Trump and therefore has not laid out any legal conclusions about the actions taken by his camp. One person who is not known to have been subpoenaed yet is Trump, but it remains a possibility. Bracing for the day the investigators show up on his own doorstep, Trump has been busy looking for lawyers to represent him because so many of his past lawyers no longer want to be involved with him or face legal trouble of their own. Classified Documents In case Trump did not expose himself to enough legal trouble in his final days in office, he made decisions as he left the White House that would come back to haunt him as well. The latest threat to the former president stems from his insistence on flying home with thousands of documents owned by the government, including hundreds marked with varying classified designations, and his failure to give them all back when asked. Garlands team has indicated in court filings that it is looking at not only criminal charges related to mishandling classified documents but also obstruction of justice. A lawyer for Trump signed a document stating that he had returned all classified papers in his possession, which proved to be false when FBI agents searched Mar-a-Lago and found boxes of them. Investigators indicated the files were probably concealed and moved rather than turned over. Trumps legal strategy in the papers case mirrors the approach he has often taken over the years find ways to delay and throw his adversaries off balance. By persuading a federal judge he got confirmed in the last days of his presidency to block investigators from using the retrieved documents while they are examined by a special master, he has hindered prosecutors for now. But that may not last forever. He said this past week that I cant imagine being indicted but conceded that it was always possible because prosecutors are just sick and deranged. He went on to assert that he declassified the papers he took, even though there is no known record of that. But his real strategy was clear this is a political battle as much as a legal one, and he warned darkly that there would be big problems if he were indicted because his supporters, I just dont think theyd stand for it. Told by radio host Hugh Hewitt that his critics would interpret that as inciting violence, Trump said: Thats not inciting. Im just saying what my opinion is. I dont think the people of this country would stand for it. 2022 The New York Times Company Styrene butadiene rubber suppliers in the U.S. will also benefit from lucrative business opportunities brought on by the presence of leading industry players in the country. As per FMI, the styrene butadiene rubber market in China is anticipated to witness a CAGR of 6.3% during the projected period. NEWARK, DE / ACCESSWIRE / September 19, 2022 / The global styrene butadiene rubber market is anticipated to create an absolute dollar opportunity by exhibiting a healthy CAGR of 5.5% between 2022 and 2032. The market is expected to reach US$ 10,584.3 Mn in 2022 and is anticipated to surpass US$ 18,079.6 Mn by 2032. Future Market Insights, Inc., Monday, September 19, 2022, Press release picture As per the historic analysis of FMI, styrene-butadiene rubber sales grew at a CAGR of 5.2% between 2016 and 2021, owing to the use of rising applications including tires, footwear, and polyurethane adhesives among other. The rising demand for synthetic and processed rubber is predicted to improve the sales of styrene-butadiene. End-use industries are rapidly inclining towards synthetic rubber over natural rubber in the automotive tire industry which is expected to bolster growth in the styrene butadiene rubber market. Over recent years, the use of synthetic rubbers such as styrene-butadiene has witnessed impressive growth due to technological advancements coupled with rising applications in the industrial and automotive sectors. Backed by these factors, Future Market Insights (FMI) expects styrene butadiene rubber sales to reach US$ 18,079.6 Mn in 2032. Request a sample PDF@ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-5756 Key Factors The styrene-butadiene rubber is becoming the consumer's preferable choice because of its impeccable properties such as excellent heat resistance, low rolling resistance, wear resistance, and abrasion resistance. Therefore, end-users are inclining toward styrene butadiene rubber in the automotive industry. These above factors are expected to fuel the expansion of the global styrene butadiene rubber market in the coming years. Story continues Due to the rise in sales of automobiles all over the world, the demand for styrene butadiene rubber is predicted to surge over the forecast period (2022-2032). As per the segmentations, the solution SBR segment is likely to witness the fastest growth during the forecast period. Demand for solution SBR is predicted to increase in the footwear application, fueling the sales in the market. As per the studies, styrene-butadiene rubber is considered to be the most processed and synthetically manufactured rubber. The production of products and parts of products including car tires, mechanical rubber equipment or machine parts, and shoe soles, among others, are all made of this product. One of the major key factors expected to drive its growth in the styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) market is rising demand from the tire manufacturing industry. In addition to that, surging demand for new automobiles and replacement tires along with the rising interest for synthetic rubber over industrial rubber is expected to fuel market growth. Styrene butadiene rubber has inherent advantages in terms of stability and physical properties, driving growth in the market. Ask an Analyst@ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/ask-question/rep-gb-5756 Competitive Landscape Leading manufacturers of styrene butadiene rubber primarily focus on developing sustainable butadiene in order to avoid being impeded by stringent government rules that restrict the use of chemically manufactured butadiene in various regions. To efficiently fit into the increasingly popular circular economy trends, SBR manufacturers are focusing on achieving sustainability in their business models. More Insights into the Styrene Butadiene Rubber Market The U.S. is considered to dominate the global styrene butadiene rubber market in the North American region. Due to the rising popularity of electric vehicles, the overall sales of automobiles in the U.S. are expected to spur over the estimation period. This will also surge the demand for tires, which will in return boost sales of styrene butadiene rubber and styrene butadiene rubber latex. Styrene butadiene rubber suppliers in the U.S. will also be benefitted from lucrative business opportunities brought on by the presence of leading industry players in the country. These aforementioned factors are anticipated to boost the growth in the U.S. styrene butadiene rubber market during the forecast period. Attributed to the strict government initiatives and thriving automotive industry has encouraged the growth of the manufacturing sector, opportunities for suppliers of styrene butadiene rubber are expected to boost the market. Styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) demand witnessed a noticeable increase in China by registering a growth of 6.3% throughout the forecast period. Styrene Butadiene Rubber Market by Category By Type: Emulsion SBR (E-SBR) Solution SBR (S-SBR) By Application: Tires Footwear Gaskets & Hoses Adhesives & Sealants Conveyor Belts Electric By Region: North America Latin America East Asia Europe South Asia & Pacific Middle East & Africa Ask For Customization@ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/customization-available/rep-gb-5756 Table of Content 1. Executive Summary 1.1. Global Market Outlook 1.2. Demand Side Trends 1.3. Supply Side Trends 1.4. Analysis and Recommendations 2. Market Overview 2.1. Market Taxonomy 2.2. Market Definition 3. Key Trends & Success Factor 3.1. Key Trends Impacting the market 3.2. Success Factor Read More TOC Have a Look at Related Research Reports of Chemicals & Materials Cellular Rubber Market Size: Global Cellular Rubber demand is anticipated to be valued at US$ 8.4 Billion in 2022, forecast to grow at a CAGR of 5.91% to be valued at US$ 15 Billion from 2022 to 2032. Growth is attributed to increased demand for the automotive industries Chloroprene Rubber Market Forecast: Chloroprene Rubber Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth and Forecast to 2025 by FMI Europe Rubber Derived Unrefined Pyrolysis Oil Market Sales: The rubber derived unrefined pyrolysis oil market in Europe is estimated to be valued at around US$ 7,132.3 The by the end of 2022, registering Y-o-Y growth of 5.1% Industrial Rubber Market Demand: Industrial Rubber Market- Global industry segment analysis, regional outlook, share, growth; industrial rubber market forecast 2015 to 2025 by future market insights Acrylic styrene acrylonitrile resin Market Value: Valued at US$ 829.06 Million in 2021, global sales of acrylic styrene acrylonitrile resins are projected to increase Y-o-Y at 6.1% to reach US$ 879.63 Million in FY 2022. In the long-run, the industry is poised to flourish at a steady 5% value CAGR and yield a revenue share of US$ 1,432.74 Million Expandable Polystyrene Market Share: Expandable Polystyrene Market : Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth and Forecast to 2020 by FMI Polybutadiene Rubber Market Analysis: According to latest research, the demand of polybutadiene rubber (PBR) is anticipated to grow with a steady growth rate of about 4.0% to 6.0% in between the coming assessment period of 2021-2031 Rubber Coatings Market Growth: Rubber Coatings Market : Global Industry Analysis 2015-2019 and Opportunity Assessment 2020-2030 Gas Hydrates Market Trends: Expected to reach US$ 2,873.4 Million, the market for gas hydrates is expected to embark on a positive growth trajectory. According to the report published by Future Market Insights, gas hydrates market value is likely to grow at a CAGR of 4.7% during the forecast period ranging from 2022 to 2032 Rust Remover Market Type: The global rust remover market size is set to reach a valuation of US$ 509.2 Mn in 2022. The global rust remover market is expected to witness a steady CAGR of 4.3% from 2022 to 2032 About Future Market Insights, Inc. Future Market Insights, Inc. is an ESOMAR-certified business consulting & market research firm, a member of the Greater New York Chamber of Commerce and is headquartered in Delaware, USA. A recipient of Clutch Leaders Award 2022 on account of high client score (4.9/5), we have been collaborating with global enterprises in their business transformation journey and helping them deliver on their business ambitions. 80% of the largest Forbes 1000 enterprises are our clients. We serve global clients across all leading & niche market segments across all major industries. Contact Us: Future Market Insights Inc. Christiana Corporate, 200 Continental Drive, Suite 401, Newark, Delaware - 19713, USA T: +1-845-579-5705 For Sales Enquiries: sales@futuremarketinsights.com SOURCE: Future Market Insights, Inc. View source version on accesswire.com: https://www.accesswire.com/716441/Styrene-Butadiene-Rubber-Market-is-Anticipated-to-Reach-US-180796-Million-by-2032-Future-Market-Insights-Inc (Adds new tankers; removes those that have left ports; updates arrivals; shows Malanje is docked) Sept 19 (Reuters) - The following liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers are expected to arrive in Britain, Belgium and the Netherlands in the coming weeks. Estimated arrival dates, often revised by port authorities and AIS Live ship-tracking data on Refinitiv Eikon, are updated below. Some tankers heading for Belgium and Britain may be loading at the terminal. Those expected to load are indicated with an (L). Those likely to perform ship-to-ship transfers are indicated with (STS). Tankers that have docked are indicated with (A). For the Reuters LNG guide, click here: LNG TANKER CAPACITY in EXPECTED ARRIVAL FROM PORT cubic metres BRITAIN Isabella 170,000 Sept. 17 (A) United States Isle of Grain Umm Slal 261,000 Sept. 21 Qatar South Hook Gaslog HongKong 174,000 Sept. 22 United States Isle of Grain Golar Penguin 155,000 Sept. 22 United States Dragon Gaslog Seattle 155,000 Sept. 22* Algeria Isle of Grain Al Mafyar 261,000 Sept. 23^ Qatar South Hook BW Pavilion Leeara 162,000 Sept. 25 United States Isle of Grain Flex Rainbow 174,000 Sept. 25 Nigeria Dragon Ribera Duero Knutsen 173,000 Sept. 29 United States Milford Haven LNG Enterprise 174,000 Sept. 29 United States Isle of Grain BW Pavilionaranthera 171,000 Sept. 30 United States Isle of Grain Golar Glacier 162,000 Oct. 10 United States South Hook Cool Runner 158,000 Oct. 17 United States South Hook BELGIUM Al Mafyar 261,000 Sept. 20^ Qatar Zeebrugge Fraiha LNG 206,000 Sept. 22 Qatar Zeebrugge Georgiy Ushakov 172,000 Sept. 22 Russia Zeebrugge Simaisma 143,000 Sept. 25 Qatar Zeebrugge BW Tulip 171,000 Sept. 28 United States Zeebrugge Al Sheehaniya 206,000 Sept. 30 Qatar Zeebrugge Al Ruwais 210,000 Oct. 8 Qatar Zeebrugge NETHERLANDS Malanje 161,000 Sept. 19 (A) Gabon Gate SK Resolute 180,000 Sept. 21 United States Gate British Listener 174,000 Sept. 23 United States Gate Maria Energy 174,000 Sept. 23 United States Gate Sources: Ports, AIS Live ship tracking, Refinitiv Eikon data. (^) Partial unload (*) Arrival date estimated based on flows data (Reporting by Nora Buli in Oslo) TORONTO, Sept. 19, 2022 /CNW/ - Trees Corporation (NEO: TREE) (the "Company" or "Trees"), announces that Campbell Becher has been appointed as interim Chief Executive Officer ("CEO") of the Company in response to the receipt of resignation from Michael Klein as CEO and Director of the Company for personal reasons. Trees Corporation logo (CNW Group/Trees Corporation) Mr. Becher (newly appointed interim CEO), who joined the Board of Directors of the Company on June 16, 2022 with over 20 years of investment banking and capital markets experience said "Trees retail business has seen tremendous gains in recent months through growing consumer loyalty on account of the Company's emphasis on a differentiated retail experience and diverse product selection. In the months ahead, we will be laser focused on achieving corporate profitability, a milestone earned by only a few of our national brand competitors. With a relentless focus on corporate cost control, we will continue to seek operating efficiencies to further accelerate our near-term profitability. I would like to thank the Board for their confidence shown in me through this appointment during this critical time in our corporate development." Jeff Holmgren, President and CFO added "Mr. Becher's wealth of experience will be a tremendous addition to our executive leadership team. I am excited to work closely with him in the months ahead as we transition into corporate profitability and continued growth." The Company and its board of directors would like to thank Mr. Klein for his contributions and wishes him every success in his future endeavors. The Board will be commencing a search for a permanent CEO and is concurrently evaluating alternatives with respect to appointing a new independent director. About Trees Trees is a cannabis company at the intersection of community, content, and commerce. Publicly traded, Trees offers a differentiated retail experience, combined with digital platforms that aim to educate and amplify, unlocking emerging consumer segments and need states that allows Trees to uniquely engage the 360-cannabis consumer. The Company currently has 13 Trees branded storefronts in Canada, including eight (8) stores owned and operated in Ontario and five (5) stores operated in BC, subject to the closing of the acquisition of the assets of 101 pursuant to the terms of the APA. The closing of the transactions contemplated by the APA is subject to certain conditions precedent, including the receipt of certain licensing approvals and related regulatory consents, the latter of which has now been received in respect of one of the five locations. Now with the completion of due diligence approval from the British Columbia Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch, Trees anticipates the receipt of regulatory approvals for the remaining 4 stores imminently. Until such time as the closing of the acquisition of the assets under the terms of the APA, the BC stores will remain subject to a brand license agreement and will be included when reporting System-Wide Retail Sales.1 Story continues (1) System-wide retail sales represents the sum of the revenue reported to Trees by (i) brand licensed retail cannabis stores, which are subject to a brand license agreement providing Trees with a royalty interest, and (ii) Company-owned retail cannabis stores. Management believes this measure is useful to the investment community in evaluating brand scale and market penetration and is used by management of Trees to assess the financial and operational performance of the Company and the strength of the Company's market position relative to its competitors. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains statements that constitute "forward-looking information" ("forward-looking information") within the meaning of the applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking information and are based on expectations, estimates and projections as at the date of this news release. Any statement that discusses predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, future events or performance (often but not always using phrases such as "expects", or "does not expect", "is expected", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", "plans", "budget", "scheduled", "forecasts", "estimates", "believes" or "intends" or variations of such words and phrases or stating that certain actions, events or results "may" or "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken to occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking information. Forward-looking statements in this document include, among others, statements relating to the Trees' expectations regarding the closing of the transactions contemplated by the APA and receipt of regulatory approvals in connection therewith, expectations regarding revenue growth resulting from the acquisition contemplated by the APA, expectations regarding the Company's ability to unlock and capture emerging consumer segments across its platforms, expectations regarding the Company's ability to engage its customers and new consumer segments and need states, the expectation that the Company will be successful in its growth strategy, 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: (a) 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; (b) compliance with extensive government regulation; (c) domestic and foreign laws and regulations could adversely affect the Company's business and results of operations; (d) 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 peers; (e) adverse changes in the public perception of cannabis; (f) the impact of COVID-19; and (g) general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking information contained in this press release. 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. The NEO Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release and accepts no responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. SOURCE Trees Corporation Cision View original content to download multimedia: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/September2022/19/c4529.html The Fredericksburg Regional Chamber of Commerce will host a Leadership Summit on Oct. 13 at the Fredericksburg Expo Center from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Former pro athlete Chris Singleton will open the event as the keynote speaker and talk about team building and inclusion. Singleton brings a message of resilience, forgiveness and unity following the loss of his mother in the 2015 Mother Emanuel Church shooting in Charleston, South Carolina. After lunch, the afternoon breakout discussion will cover the topic of unity of our community, led by Leadership Fredericksburg alumni Veronica Curry and Matt Rothe. To learn more about pricing and a full agenda, visit fredericksburgchamber.org. By Azernews By Vugar Khalilov Baku has sent a note of protest to Paris over its failure to protect the Azerbaijani embassy in France from the attack of the Armenian extremists, Azernews reports, citing the Foreign Ministry. On September 19, 2022, French ambassador to Azerbaijan Zacharie Gross was summoned to the Foreign Ministry, and the note of the protest over the attack on the Azerbaijani embassy in Paris by extremist Armenian groups was delivered to the ambassador. Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Xalaf Xalafov brought to the attention of the opposite side that the attack on the Azerbaijani embassy in Paris by a group of radical extremist forces of the Armenian diaspora in France was demonstrably accompanied by a gross violation of French laws and generally recognized international legal norms. The embassy building sustained material damage during the attack, posing a threat to the diplomatic mission's operations and the lives of its staff. Xalafov severely condemned the development of conditions for extremist Armenian organizations' acts and the failure to prevent them in time. Deep regret was expressed for France's failure to fulfill its obligation to ensure the security of diplomatic missions by the host country in accordance with the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Also, it was demanded that the act of vandalism, which endangers the diplomatic mission and its staff, should be thoroughly investigated by the French law-enforcement agencies, an appropriate legal assessment should be issued, the guilty individuals should be brought to justice, and compensation should be provided for the damage caused. The French ambassador said that the incident against the Azerbaijani embassy was regrettable. It was noted that relevant steps will be taken to provide a legal assessment of the incident in line with the request of Azerbaijan. Following the recent border clashes between Azerbaijani and Armenian military forces in response to the latter's provocation, a number of Azerbaijani missions overseas have come under attack and were vandalized by Armenian fanatical groups. On September 18, Armenian extremists in France stormed the building of the Azerbaijani embassy in Paris. Mark Taylor signed a contract with the Spotsylvania County School Board to serve as the new division superintendent beginning Nov. 1. The board on Friday approved by a vote of 43 a motion by Rabih Abuismail to submit the contract and negotiations forward as discussed in closed session. The contract, as described on Friday, guarantees Taylor more than three years of full pay if he is fired without cause. Taylor will also receive the full advertised base salary of $245,000 per year$30,000 more per year than previous superintendent Scott Baker was making. Baker was hired in 2011. In 2018, the board increased his base salary from $195,000 to $205,000 per year. According to his most recent contract, effective July 2020, his annual salary was $215,000 when he was fired without cause in January. Taylor has no experience in the field of public education and is employed as administrator for Greene County. According to an article in the Charlottesville Daily Progress, he was hired to that position in 2019 at a salary of $135,000 per year. The board discussed the contract in a closed session Friday with Whit Robinson, an attorney based in Warrenton with a specialty in land use cases, criminal matters, construction law, federal and state election law and government contracts, according to his website. Twigg said Friday that Robinson was hired on Sept. 15 through the school divisions procurement process for a short time period, not to exceed one month, to help us with needs that are imminent. The boards previous attorney, Brad King of the Richmond firm Sands Anderson, ended his representation Sept. 12. Board members Nicole Cole and Dawn Shelley said they had concerns about employing an attorney without a specialty in education law to represent the board during its negotiations with Taylor. Education law needs to be known to understand how a contract for a superintendent for a school division should be properly written, Cole said. This is not a general contract. There are specific contract provisions that we need to know that we can be counseled on for our protection as a board, since the superintendent is someone that we hire. Board member Lorita Daniels attempted to appeal Twiggs decision to hire Robinson without a full vote from the board, but her appeal was overturned by a 43 vote. Robinson told the board prior to going into closed session that the contract with Taylor was primarily based on the previous one. We are not reinventing the wheel, he said. But after the closed session, Cole and Daniels described some of the provisions as being out of the norm. Cole described a provision stating that Taylor will receive three years and eight months of full pay if he is fired without cause as a real egregious overreach. In our standard contract, historically, if the superintendent is terminated without cause, he gets paid through one year, she said. For this contract, they want to make sure this individual gets paid through the end of three years and eight months, regardless of how long he works. Bakers contract from July 2020 states that he will receive all compensation, salary and benefits for one year from the effective date of his termination without cause, or until June 30, 2024, whichever time period is shorter. Shelley said the contract with Taylor also waives School Board policy that states that employees must work for a minimum of 15 years before retirement to receive health insurance retiree benefits. No matter how long he works, he will receive health insurance, which could cost the division hundreds upon hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of dollars, she said. The contract also provides Taylor with an amount to cover moving expenses, though not the full $10,000 originally requested, Daniels said Friday. According to Spotsylvania Countys real estate database, Taylor and his wife, Francescaunder their company The Spotsy Spotown a house in the Spotsylvania Courthouse area. They also own a house in Standardsville, about 60 miles away, according to Greene County data. Shelley also cited concern with a provision in the contract that states the board cannot discuss Taylor or his performance without him being present. We are not allowed to talk about him unless hes in the room, she said. Daniels commented that the contract is written as if the person accepting this contract is our boss. I think its important that when we hire someone, we set the tone and parameters, she said. I understand there are negotiations, but we also need to be clear that we are the boss. None of the other board members commented on the contract Friday. I dont feel comfortable speaking about something that is not finalized, Vice Chair April Gillespie said. We are still in negotiations. Cole said Monday afternoon that she is disputing whether the contract can legally go into effect, since Fridays vote was to move negotiations forward, not to authorize the chair to accept or sign a contract. This is all under further deliberation, Twigg said Friday. Cole said at Fridays meeting that she is filing a lawsuit in circuit court to appeal the Virginia Board of Educations decision to license Taylor. SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) A Northern California mother of two was sentenced Monday to 18 months in prison for faking her own kidnapping so she could go back to a former boyfriend, which led to a three-week, multi-state search before she resurfaced on Thanksgiving Day in 2016. Sherri Papini, 40, pleaded guilty last spring to staging the abduction and lying to the FBI about it. As part of a plea bargain, she is required to pay more than $300,000 in restitution. Probation officers and Papinis attorney had recommended that she spend a month in custody and seven months in supervised home detention, while prosecutors wanted her to serve the eight months behind bars. But Senior U.S. District Judge William Shubb said he opted for an 18-month sentence in order to deter others. The judge said he considered the seriousness of the offense and the sheer number of people who were impacted." They included law enforcement officers who searched for her, the community that believed her for four years, those who lived in fear because of her fake story of being abducted by two Hispanic women, and the Latino community that was falsely viewed with suspicion. The nation is watching, Shubb said, paraphrasing prosecutors' argument in a court filing. They need to be sent the right message. ...We have to make sure crime doesn't pay." Papini quietly answered, Yes, sir, when the judge asked if she understood the sentence. Previously, she choked back tears as she gave a statement to the court accepting responsibility and admitting her guilt. She didn't speak to reporters as she was surrounded by more than a dozen supporters outside the courtroom, some of whom hugged her tightly. They included her husband's sister, with whom she has been living she split with her husband, who filed for divorce and sought custody of their children after she pleaded guilty. Speaking briefly outside of the courthouse after the hearing, defense attorney William Portanova called it a fair sentence, even though its longer than we wished. His client was ordered to report to federal prison on Nov. 8. Shubb ordered her to serve 36 months of supervision after her release, a year longer than probation officers had sought. The twin charges carried a maximum possible sentence of 25 years in prison. Obviously the court did what it thought was right, and frankly it's difficult to argue with the justice of the sentence," Portanova said. I'm not really surprised because I understand the court's analysis. ... To the extent the judge wanted to underline the wrongness of her actions and tattoo it further on her soul, he accomplished that for sure." Papini has never given a rational explanation for her behavior, which included months of careful planning before she disappeared and temporarily abandoned her children, who are most precious to her, Portanova said. Her actions stumped even independent mental health experts who said they didnt conform with any typical diagnosis. Portanova blamed it on what sounds like a fierce storm that was going on for a long time inside her head" but said she is now a changed woman. Papini offered no explanation during her brief, tearful comments to the judge before she was sentenced. I'm so sorry to the many people who have suffered because of me, she said. I am guilty, your honor. I am guilty of lying. I am guilty of dishonor, she said. What is done cannot be undone. It cannot be erased. But both the judge and Assistant U.S. Attorney Veronica Alegria said her comments were simply more manipulation. At this point she would say and do anything to mitigate her punishment, Alegria told Shubb. This case is serious and there have been very real harms to society." There was a community that lived in fear. ... Miss Papini took money from real victims, Alegria said. Victims of crimes may not believe they will be believed by law enforcement because of this hoax. Shubb said Papini's case is unique, to say the least, with little precedent to guide him on sentencing. Miss Papini is a manipulator, Shubb said. It's not as if Miss Papini has seen the error of her ways....If she had not been caught, she'd still be living the lie. Portanova said in a pre-sentence court filing that Papini was in pursuit of a non-sensical fantasy when she fled to a former boyfriend in Southern California, nearly 600 miles (966 kilometers) south of her home in Redding. He dropped her off along Interstate 5 about 150 miles (240 kilometers) from her home after she said she wanted to go home. Passersby found her with bindings on her body, a swollen nose, a blurred brand on her right shoulder, bruises and rashes across her body, ligature marks on her wrists and ankles, and burns on her left forearm. All of the injuries were self-inflicted and were designed to substantiate her story. The wounds were a manifestation of her unsettled masochism and self-inflicted penance, Portanova wrote. And once she began, each lie demanded another lie." After her arrest in March, Papini received more than $30,000 worth of psychiatric care for anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. She billed the states victim compensation fund for the treatment and was ordered to pay it back as part of her restitution. As part of the plea agreement, she has agreed to reimburse law enforcement agencies more than $150,000 for the costs of the search for her and her nonexistent kidnappers, and repay the $128,000 she received in disability payments since her return. But Shubb said she is unlikely to ever be able to repay the money unless she wins the lottery. This story was corrected to reflect that the quoted court filing that begins Papinis painful early years... was written by her lawyer, Portanova, not someone named Portantini. BRUSSELS (AP) The European Unions executive branch recommended Sunday that the bloc suspend around 7.5 billion euros ($7.5 billion) in funding to Hungary over concerns about democratic backsliding and the possible mismanagement of EU money. EU Budget Commissioner Johannes Hahn said that despite measures Hungary has proposed to address the deficiencies, the European Commission is recommending the suspension of funds amounting to an estimated amount of 7.5 billion euros. The money would come from cohesion funds granted to Hungary. This envelope of money, one of the biggest slices of the bloc's budget, helps countries to bring their economies and infrastructure up to EU standards. Hahn said that Hungary has until Nov. 19 to address the concerns. Any action to suspend the funds must be approved by EU's 27 member countries, and this requires a qualified majority, which amounts to 55% of the 27 members representing at least 65% of the total EU population. The European Commission has for nearly a decade accused Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban of dismantling democratic institutions, taking control of the media and infringing on minority rights. Orban, who has been in office since 2010, denies the accusations. Speaking after a meeting of EU commissioners in Brussels, which unanimously endorsed the move, Hahn welcomed Hungarys offer to fix the problem, saying that its proposed remedial action goes in the right direction. He said the measures could address some of the commissions concerns if they are followed up, and properly acted upon. But he said that a risk for the budget at this stage remains, therefore we cannot conclude that the EU budget is sufficiently protected. Hungarian media has reported that Orban's nationalist government is set to announce new legislation as soon as Monday. EU lawmakers expressed concern last week that this may just be a ploy to gain time. In a resolution on Thursday, the lawmakers said that Hungarys nationalist government is deliberately trying to undermine the blocs democratic values. They said that the government in Budapest which Orban characterizes as an illiberal democracy has become a hybrid regime of electoral autocracy. In part, they blame EU member countries for this, for turning a blind eye to possible abuses. The French Greens parliamentarian who chaperoned the resolution through the assembly, Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield, said that for the first time, an EU institution is stating the sad truth, that Hungary is no longer a democracy. CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) The North Carolina Cancer Hospital was formally named Monday for the late state Senate leader Marc Basnight, who helped approve the state funds to build the facility and later create a special state cancer research fund. Gov. Roy Cooper, current Senate leader Phil Berger and former UNC system President Erskine Bowles were among those who spoke on the University of North Carolina Health main campus in Chapel Hill as a Basnight plaque was unveiled at the dedication ceremony. Basnight, a Dare County Democrat who served a record 18 years as Senate president pro tempore through the end of 2010, died in December 2020 at age 73. The legislature authorized $180 million for the hospital project in 2004. What's now known as the North Carolina Basnight Cancer Hospital opened in 2009, replacing a building that had been used as a tuberculosis sanitarium. The 315,000 square-foot facility tripled the amount of space for cancer patients. More than 270,000 outpatient visits are made each year to the hospital, which is the clinical home for the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and its affiliated clinics, UNC Health said. Basnights wife, Sandy, died in 2007 after being treated for leukemia for several years. His painful loss of Sandy certainly was the spark that started this cancer center, Cooper, a fellow Democrat, said at the ceremony, The News & Observer of Raleigh reported. "But it was Marcs relentless drive that finished it ... It is so fitting that it should bear his name. The General Assembly also created in 2007 a University Cancer Research Fund that received $58 million during the 2021 fiscal year. Peter Hans, president of the University of North Carolina system, said that when Basnight led the Senate, institutions such as UNC always benefited from bipartisan goodwill." Earnest Jackson's mother, Brenda Jackson (in orange shirt) and supporters, lock arms in silence after the denial of Earnest Jackson's commutation. (Jazari Kual/Nebraska Examiner) LINCOLN Without comment, the Nebraska Board of Pardons on Monday rejected the commutation request of Earnest Jackson, whose supporters filled a State Capitol hearing room. Those supporters maintain that Jackson has spent 22 years in prison for a murder he didnt commit and that he is victim of a horrible injustice. Ive never seen such disrespect, one of Jacksons supporters, Jason Witmer of Lincoln, said after the board didnt take or make comments. Even the son and girlfriend of the man killed in 1999 were supportive of Jacksons release, Witmer noted. Another man charged with Jackson confessed to the killing but was acquitted due to self-defense. During his trial, he testified that Jackson was not present during the fatal confrontation. The third person charged was acquitted because of the second mans confession. But Jacksons trial preceded the other trials, and he was found guilty without the benefit of the testimony of the other co-defendants. Jacksons attorney said the Pardons Boards rules allow it to reject commutation requests without comment. Just prior to the boards 3-0 vote, Gov. Pete Ricketts told the packed hearing room that the board can reject requests en masse and without comment based on the gravity of the facts. It took the board just over three minutes to reject Jacksons request along with requests by three other convicted felons. Jacksons attorney, Daniel Gutman of Omaha, said he was unsure what steps can be taken next earn Jacksons release from he calls a legally impossible verdict guilty of being an accomplice to a self-defense slaying. Jackson, Gutman said, is first eligible for parole in 2029. But I dont think people are going to be willing to sit back and wait until 2029, the attorney said. After court challenges have failed to free Jackson, his supporters turned to the Board of Pardons in hope they could take action to free him. Witmer said that Jackson, in a phone call to supporters before the brief Pardons Board hearing, urged his supporters not to be destructive in response to the boards decision and to remain hopeful. Its not a gray area, Witmer said of Jacksons innocence. But it is a gray area politically. The Taliban has released U.S. engineer Mark Frerichs in exchange for Washington freeing a senior Taliban figure convicted of drug trafficking. U.S. President Joe Biden confirmed in a statement on September 19 the release of Frerichs, a U.S. Navy veteran who was abducted in January 2020 while working as a civilian contractor in Afghanistan. An unnamed senior administration official said earlier that Biden had granted clemency to Taliban figure Haji Bashir Noorzai in exchange for the release of Frerichs. Noorzai, who spent 17 years in U.S. government custody, was a financial supporter of the Taliban during its first period in power in the 1990s. He was arrested in 2005 and charged with smuggling more than $50 million worth of heroin into the United States. U.S. prosecutors accused him of owning opium fields in Kandahar Province and said he relied on a network of distributors who sold the heroin in New York. When he was sentenced to life in prison in 2009, the top federal prosecutor said Noorzai's "worldwide narcotics network supported a Taliban regime that made Afghanistan a breeding ground for international terrorism." A senior administration official who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity said the U.S. government had now determined that Noorzai's release would "not materially change any risk to Americans or fundamentally alter the contours of the drug trade there." Officials also took into account that Noorzai had spent 17 years in prison. Biden said bringing the negotiations that led to Frerichs' release to a resolution required difficult decisions, which he said he "did not take lightly." The release of Frerichs, 60, was "the culmination of years of tireless work by dedicated public servants across our government and other partner governments," Biden said, and he thanked them for their efforts. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Frerichs' release was "the result of intense [U.S.] engagement with the Taliban." Acting Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi told journalists at a news conference in Kabul that Frerichs was exchanged at Kabul Airport early on September 19 in return for Noorzai. "Today, Mark Frerichs was handed over to the United States and Haji Bashir was handed over to us at Kabul airport," Muttaqi said. After his release, Noorzai was welcomed at Kabul airport by Taliban forces with flowers. At a press conference, Noorzai expressed gratitude at seeing his "mujahedin brothers" and said he prayed for more success of the Taliban. "I hope this exchange can lead to peace between Afghanistan and America, because an American was released and I am also free now," Noorzai said. Frerichs was accompanied by the U.S. special envoy for hostage affairs to Doha, Qatar, and was in stable health, a U.S. official said. A Qatari Foreign Ministry official said Frerichs was to depart Doha for the United States, though his exact destination was not clear. A statement from Frerichs' sister, Charlene Cakora, said she was happy to hear that her brother was safe and on his way home. "Our family has prayed for this each day of the more than 31 months he has been a hostage. We never gave up hope that he would survive and come home safely to us," Cakora said. Biden said the United States "continues to prioritize the safe return of all Americans who are held hostage or wrongfully detained abroad, and we will not stop until they are reunited with their families." This includes work to free Americans held in Burma, Haiti, Russia, Venezuela, and elsewhere, Biden acknowledged in the statement. The exchange took place five months after a deal with Russia that brought home Marine veteran Trevor Reed and raised hope that a deal can be reached to bring home Women's National Basketball Association star Brittney Griner and corporate security executive Paul Whelan, who are both being held in Russia. With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and dpa Just after 9 a.m. Sunday morning, about 90 minutes before a scheduled worship service, about 60 parishioners watched as First Baptist Church pastor Katie Hambrick struggled to open a lockbox with an ancient key. Someone suggested oiling the lock, but Hambrick nixed that idea. Some of the contents were more than a century old, and any liquid could damage or even destroy them. The box was a time capsule, and its opening was one of the final events of a weekend spent celebrating First Baptists 150th anniversary. In 1871, Gen. William Jackson Palmer donated lots to build several churches in what is now the downtown region of the city. First Baptist was the third church in the citys history, founded after First United Methodist in 1871 and First Presbyterian in 1872. Grace and St. Stephens is also celebrating its sesquicentennial this year. The First Baptist building, which was built in 1890 to replace the original structure, still stands today, at the corner of Kiowa and Weber streets, just a stones throw from First Presbyterian. Much of the building, including a 110-foot steeple, sandstone exterior and stained glass windows, remains in its original condition. The church celebrated its long history with a weekend festival, featuring a live concert on Friday, a block party on Saturday, and culminating with the time capsule reveal on Sunday. It took a minute or two of coaxing, and an assist from a church member, but Hambrick managed to open the time capsule. The small lockbox held a wealth of historical information, including a late 19th-century church manual, letters from former pastors, a list of the founding church members, and two copies of The Gazette. One newspaper was dated July 8, 1890. The second was from the same date, 100 years later. Hambrick extracted each item carefully, with gloved hands. Some of the faithful, like Maxine Goodale, were on hand when the capsule was last opened in 1990. First Baptist, Goodale said, is that kind of generational church. Ive been worshipping here my whole life, said Goodale, 79. There are people here whose grandparents and great-grandparents worshipped here. My mom and dad actually met here, agreed Jason Hill. I pretty much grew up in this church. Church officials have made an intentional effort to preserve as much of the buildings history as possible. One of FBCs first pews, gleaming with finish, is on display, and an original offering plate is still in mint condition. Near the entrance, a hallway is adorned with portraits of each of First Baptists 20 previous pastors. The church once housed the oldest American Baptist Womens ministry in the state, and some of the groups recordkeeping is still in the church archives, Hambrick said. Some of the records were written in code, she said. I still dont know why, and we havent been able to decipher it yet. Its fascinating, senior pastor Dan Schumacher said of the church building. Were constantly learning new things about it. Schumacher said the church plans to replace the time capsule later this week, with a few additions from 2022, including a bulletin from Sundays service, a list of people who witnessed the latest reveal, and the front page of Sundays Gazette. The next time someone opens this time capsule, physical newspapers might be a thing of the past, Schumacher said. Who knows? While the area continues to expand with new restaurants, shops, and other buildings, First Baptist Church remains at the heart of downtown a stone-and-mortar link between the city's post-Civil War past and its technology-driven present. Schumacher said the building is sturdy enough, and its parishioners devoted enough, to ensure the church will figure prominently in the citys future. Thats the beauty of being in a historic downtown church, he said. We watch restaurants and apartments going up all around us. The downtown area is changing so dramatically even in the eight years Ive been here. But First Baptist Church is still a stable, steady place in downtown Colorado Springs. By Trend The head of Trade Development Organization of Iran (TPOI) said after President Ebrahim Raeisi's attendance at SCO summit and acceptance of full Iran membership, there will be an increase in exports, Trend reports citing Mehr. Alireza Peyman-Pak said Saturday about the removal of barriers to financial and banking exchanges between the member countries of Shanghai Cooperation (SCO) said that the Iranian delegation headed by president Ebrahim Raeisi in the SCO summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan attended the SCO meeting and held good talks with the heads of states participating in the talks. In the meetings that the president held with the presidents of the member states in SCO member states, the development of trade and the removal of barriers and challenges were emphasized, Peyman-Pak said. He added that "In the financial and banking discussions with countries such as Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, we have taken good measures to use alternative channels." In addition, the removal of the US dollar and the euro will be on agenda and it was offered to the other sides the use of insurance and new financial channels that our central bank has in mind." He said that during the Uzbekistan summit, the Iranian delegation held good talks with the Russian president on North-South Corridor, adding that there were also good talks with the Chinese side on the East-West corridor. The TPOI head further said that "In the field of customs, similar to the agreement signed between the 3 countries of Iran, Azerbaijan and Russia a few months ago, negotiations have also been conducted with other countries. All these measures will lead to the development of trade and the creation of stable income for the Islamic Republic." The world's largest energy producers, including Iran and Russia, are members of the Shanghai organization, and the world's largest energy consumers, China and India, are also members of the organization, Peyman-Pak said. He further said that a mechanism should be defined for sustainable cooperation in the field of energy security. There should be the possibility of stable energy exchanges in other energy fields and the issue of energy supply should be made safe and stable. Pointing out that the issue of food security was also emphasized in these meetings, he stated that the president emphasized issues such as health and the use of Iran's capacities and capabilities in the field of health, including the export of medical equipment, biotechnological drugs and health tourism services to the SCO member states by Iran. DENVER A mentally ill man charged with killing three people at a Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood clinic in 2015 because it offered abortion services can be forcibly medicated to try to make him competent to stand trial, a federal judge ruled Monday. The prosecution of Robert Lewis Dear, Jr., 64, has stalled because he has been repeatedly found mentally incompetent since his arrest and he has refused to take anti-psychotic medication for delusional disorder. Dear faces 179 counts in state courts for the attack on the clinic, which injured five law enforcement officers along with claiming three lives during the course of a five-hour standoff. During a three-day hearing in late August, prosecutors argued that medication had a substantial likelihood, based on research and the experience of government experts, to make Dear well enough to meet the legal standard for mental competency being able to understand proceedings and assist in his defense. Dears lawyers and experts, however, said the governments plan did not take into account Dears age and his health problems, including untreated high blood pressure and high cholesterol, which could be worsened as a result of the medications side effects. Dear, who has called himself a warrior for the babies," intended to wage war against the clinic because it offered abortion services, arming himself with four semi-automatic rifles, five handguns, two other rifles, a shotgun, propane tanks and 500 rounds of ammunition, prosecutors have alleged. He began shooting outside the clinic before getting inside by shooting his way through a door, according to his federal indictment. According to experts who testified and Dears lawyers, Dear has persecutory delusions that cause him to believe that the FBI is following him because he called a radio show in 1993 to criticize the agency over the law enforcement siege against the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas. He also believes his lawyers are working for the FBI and the judge is also in on the arrangement. Dear mentioned the radio call in one of many outbursts during the recent hearing, where he also claimed the shooting was a success and told the judge to go to hell because he did not get to testify. He largely remained quiet after Senior Judge Robert Blackburn warned him that he would not tolerate any more disturbances. The judge said he concluded the outbursts were not the result of Dears mental illness but of selfish, childish and disaffected arrogance. After Dears prosecution bogged down in state court over the competency issue, Dear was charged in federal court in 2019 on 68 new counts under the 1994 Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act. Federal prosecutors have said they would not seek the death penalty against him if he is convicted, but life in prison instead. Two of the people killed in the attack were accompanying friends to the clinic KeArre Stewart, 29, an Army veteran who served in Iraq and was a father of two, and Jennifer Markovsky, 36, a mother of two who grew up in Oahu, Hawaii. The third person killed was a University of Colorado at Colorado Sprngs campus police officer, Garrett Swasey, who responded to the clinic after hearing there was an active shooter. Prosecutors had to prove four things in order to get a judge to involuntarily force medications on the defendant, Dear: The government must have a substantial interest. That involuntary medication will significantly further the government interests, which requires the court to find was that the use of these antipsychotic medications as set forth in the treatment is substantially likely to render Mr. Dear competent to stand trail, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Pegeen Rhyne. That no other alternative medications or methods of treating the competency issues will be effective. That its in the defendants best medical interests. Dr. Robert Sarrazin, a psychiatrist who works with the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, testified in the August hearing that he believed Dear would respond well to several anti-psychotic medications and could be competent for trial within four to six months of beginning the drugs, according to earlier Gazette reporting. Doctors have proposed a treatment plan involving paliperidone, aripiprazole, haloperidol and olanzapene. Dear could face three life sentences if convicted. A review hearing in a Colorado Springs court for Dears state charges got pushed from August to Sept. 30 to allow for Judge Blackburns ruling. Editor's note: This story includes information from previous Gazette reporting. Colorado Springs police are asking for the community's assistance in the search for 14-year-old Jordan Stanley, the department said. Police posted a notice on Twitter around 10:45 p.m. Sunday that Stanley, who is considered an "at-risk" juvenile, is missing. Stanley was described as being a 5-foot-10-inch-tall white male weighing 130 pounds and wearing all-black clothing. Anyone with information is urged to call the department at 719-444-7000. Editor's note: Jordan Stanley's name has been updated with its correct spelling. Students from Liberty Montessori International School in New Rochelle, N.Y. gear up for National School Choice Week, which starts Saturday. Colorado Springs will have its annual School Choice Fair Saturday at the Colorado Springs Events Center. (Photo courtesy of National School Choice Week) The Pikes Peak Library District recently expanded its PowerPass program to include more than 8,000 students from Fountain-Fort Carson School District 8, according to a Monday news release. The new partnership brings the total of El Paso County students with PowerPass access to more than 85,000 officials said. FFC-8 is the sixth school district to participate in the PowerPass program since it was established in 2019. Colorado Springs School District 11 was the first district to partner with the library system, followed by Harrison School District 2, Academy School District 20 and Calhan School District. District 49 joined the program in April. PowerPass is an electronic library card, just for students, that grants access to PPLDs broad array of materials and services. Students can use digital materials including e-books, homework assistance, live tutoring and SAT preparation without having to apply for a physical card. The partnership with District 8 is especially vital, officials said, because it gives the library system the chance to work with military students and their families. About 2,600 students attend the five elementary and middle schools on Fort Carson, according to district officials. PPLDs partnership with FFC8 is uniquely rewarding because it not only gives nearly an additional 10,000 students access to the Librarys resources at their fingertips, but also allows us to work with hundreds of military children and their families who are so vital to the Pikes Peak region and the world, said Joanna Nelson Rendon, PPLDs Director of Young Adult Services. This is one of the first partnerships that has allowed PPLD to work so closely with the Fort Carson families and were looking forward to serving them. PowerPass is not a traditional library card, but it performs most of the same functions, and pass holders can check out up to five physical items at a time including books, DVDs and games from any of the systems 16 locations or mobile libraries. If they so choose, PowerPass students can still apply for a traditional library card, officials said. Students in participating districts can also access foreign language courses, get help with projects, listen to audiobooks and even read digital comics, officials said. Practice driving courses are also available for high school and middle school students. Dr. Lori Cooper, District 8s assistant superintendent of student achievement, said the PowerPass partnership will bring many of the library systems resources into students homes, often allowing them to supplement the school districts resources without having to physically visit a library. Bringing a service like this to children in FFC8 will add many opportunities that will support student success. Tools like virtual tutoring and extracurricular activities will give students additional access to instructional supports and enrichment, Cooper said in the release. The district is also excited about having reading materials more accessible to all students who may not have the ability to regularly visit the library." PPLD officials hope that, eventually, every student in its service area will have a PowerPass. To learn more, visit ppld.org/PowerPass. Colorado will receive $121 million in funding from the bipartisan infrastructure bill to repair and improve the state's water infrastructure. U.S. Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper, both Colorado Democrats, praised the funding, which they say will help deliver clean, safe and reliable drinking water to communities across the state. It will also provide funding to prevent flooding, collect and treat wastewater and safeguard vital waterways. "Everyone deserves clean water and this funding will make critical upgrades to Colorados water systems, Hickenlooper said in a release. The funds will be issued to Colorado through the Drinking Water and Clean Water State Revolving Funds. Additional capitalization grants will continue to be awarded to states over the next four years, according to the release. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is providing critical investments to increase Coloradans access to clean drinking water and upgrade water infrastructure in communities that have historically been overlooked, Bennet said. The bill allocated more than $50 billion to repairing the nation's water infrastructure. Hickenlooper was a member of the group of lawmakers who negotiated and wrote the bill. An 89-year-old grandmother who was attacked by two family pit bulls died from her injuries Sunday morning, according to Golden police. Her 12-year-old grandson, who was also attacked, has been released from the hospital and is resting at home. Neighbors said the woman, who has not been identified, had driven the two grandchildren who live at the home from school Wednesday when one of them, the 12-year-old, ran screaming and covered with blood from the back yard looking for help. When police and animal control officers arrived on scene, the dogs were on top of the woman in the yard. Officers were able to separate the animals, using themselves as "human shields while the dogs circled them trying to get back at the woman," said Golden spokesman Ben Salentine. One of the dogs was euthanized due to severe injuries to his abdomen and head sustained during the attack. Since that time the second dog has also been euthanized after being given up to the Foothills Animal Shelter. Police said "there have been no citations related to the incident yet." Neighbors said the family had just moved into the residence in the 15000 block of West First Drive one month ago. Police said there was no history of complaints about the dogs. No officers were injured during their response. I'm sure you have heard about the student loan forgiveness plan and so have the scammers. President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has signed a decree amending the order "On declaring a professional day for Baku Metro employees". Following the decree, the professional holiday of Baku Metro workers will be annually celebrated on November 6, whereas it used to be celebrated on November 8 previously. A Teller County couple are at large after a slew of stolen vehicles, keys and checkbooks, as well as drug paraphernalia and a rifle, were recovered during a search of their home Thursday, according to the Teller County Sheriff's Office. Officials on Monday said the Teller County Narcotics Team, in coordination with the Teller County Sheriffs Office Emergency Response Team and patrol deputies, executed a search warrant on the residence near Florissant, but that Jerry Spinnichia, 42, and Emily Spinnichia, 40, were not home during the search. A 1993 Ford Mustang, stolen from Colorado Springs, with the suspects' court paperwork inside as well as seven all-terrain vehicles and five motorcycles with altered or removed Vehicle Identification Numbers were found at the home, according to the sheriff's office. Other seized items include "several hundred" keys to houses, post office boxes and vehicles, a computer etching and engraving device "used to create VIN plates," vehicle titles not in the suspects' names, stolen business and personal checkbooks, a .22-caliber rifle and drug paraphernalia. Officials also found residue from an unspecified drug at the home. According to online court records, Jerry Spinnichia was most recently arrested in March on suspicion of aggravated motor vehicle theft, a Class 3 felony, and is out of custody after posting a $10,000 bond. He faces trial by jury on Feb. 6, 2023. Records show Jerry Spinnichia has a criminal record dating back to 2004, when he was first arrested on felony theft charges, including motor vehicle theft. In 2006, he was arrested and charged with theft four times and convicted of three of those felony theft charges. In 2019, he was convicted of theft between $750 and $2,000, a Class 1 misdemeanor, and a judge dismissed a felony drug possession charge and child abuse charges in a separate case that year. Records also show that Emily Spinnichia was convicted of DUI in 2008 and pleaded guilty to child abuse and drug possession charges in 2020, for which she received two years probation. Thursday's search comes on the heels of a weeklong search between Aug. 16-24 in Teller County that resulted in the arrest of eight people and the confiscation of 167 fentanyl pills, three grams of methamphetamines and 30 pounds of black-market marijuana, all intended for distribution with a combined street value in excess of $30,000, according to Sheriff Jason Mikesell. The team also recovered 500 shotguns, a short-barreled rifle and prescription drugs, along with items apparently intended for packaging, distribution and use of illegal substances. Felony warrants have been issued for the Spinnichias, who officials said should be avoided if seen. The sheriff's office urged anyone with information about the couple to contact local law enforcement agencies or, to remain anonymous, contact the Teller County Sheriff's Office at tellercountysheriff.com/anonymoustips. It's been more than three years since Jepsy Kallungi, a Colorado Springs woman, disappeared. And it seemed that her husband, Dane Kallungi, 39, would go to trial next month to face a charge of first-degree murder in connection with her strangulation death. But on Monday afternoon, both the prosecution and the defense indicated they were not ready for trial and asked Judge Jessica Curtis for a continuance. Dane Kallungi's jury trial is now scheduled to begin Feb. 7 and is expected to last at least eight days. Before his trial gets underway, Dane Kallungi will appear in Colorado's 4th Judicial District Court for a motions hearing on Jan. 6. On the night of March 20, 2019, Jepsy Kallungi returned from Fort Carson, where investigators say she was having a sexual relationship with a soldier stationed at the base, according to an affidavit. Prosecutors are expected to argue that Dane Kallungi killed his wife because she was having an affair. At 10:30 p.m., someone used Jepsy Kallungi's phone to make a 911 call, but the caller immediately hung up. That call was the final one made from her phone. That night was also the last night anyone heard from Jepsy Kallungi before she went missing, with police launching an official investigation into her disappearance in April 2019. For two years the investigation remained open, until Dane Kallungi told his ex-wife, Alaine Kallungi, that he had killed Jepsy Kallungi in a phone call recorded by police. "I put her on the floor and it was like there was still some kind of breathing going on even though she was gone and I just, just regretted that," Dane Kallungi said on the phone call, according to the affidavit. Dane Kallungi put his wife's "body into the trunk of his vehicle, took his son to school the following morning, then went to work," the affidavit states. "After work, Dane took Jepsy's body to a remote area in Teller County where he buried her in a clandestine grave." Dane Kallungi was arrested in New Mexico in June 2021 on suspicion of first-degree murder. If convicted of first-degree murder, he would serve a mandatory sentence of life in prison. Your morning rundown of the latest news from Colorado Springs and around the country Sign Up View all of our newsletters. An employee of electronics repair firm iFixit is seen removing the back of an Apple iPhone 14 in San Luis Obispo, California, U.S. in this undated handout picture provided to Reuters on September 19, 2022. Courtesy of iFixit/Handout via REUTERS Saturday marked the annual commemoration ceremony for people who lost their lives in the Nazi concentration camp in Hinzert near Trier. The event was held at the 'Hinzerter Kraiz' ('Hinzerter Cross') in Luxembourg City. Centre of this year's ceremony was the general strike organised in Luxembourg 80 years ago. At the end of August in 1942, people from across the Grand Duchy went on a strike, which the Nazi occupiers punished by executing 21 Luxembourgers. 20 of them died at the Hinzert concentration camp. An estimated 10,000 people from 20 different countries were imprisoned in Hinzert during World War II. 321 individuals, including 82 Luxembourgers, were either executed or died due to negligence in the camp. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with Yemeni Chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council Rashad Al-Alimi, in New York, U.S., September 19, 2022. Craig Ruttle/Pool via REUTERS Mark Hillman served as Senate Majority Leader and State Treasurer. To read more or comment, go to www.MarkHillman.com. It does not violate the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment to sentence an adult to life in prison without parole for a death they did not cause, Colorado's second-highest court has ruled. Omans Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion has issued a ministerial decision that bans the import of plastic bags with effect from January 2023. Sami Salim Al Sahib, Director General of Industry at the Ministry, was quoted as saying in an Oman News Agency (ONA) report that the decision comes in line with the ministrys plans to regulate market activities pertaining to the import of products that damage the environment. He added that the decision, issued in coordination with the Environment Authority, will support Omani factories by limiting unfair competition from imported products that do not meet environment standards. Through its cooperation with the Environment Authority, the ministry seeks to shift to environment-friendly industries, he explained, noting that the decision does not affect local plastic production factories. Indeed, it will help augment their sales and their production capacity to meet local market demands. The ministry is working in cooperation with the departments concerned to develop specifications and instructionsrelated to industrialists and importersto ensure proper shifting to alternatives to plastic bags and raise social awareness about the negative impacts of plastics to man and the environment. nitin6305 wrote: A car wash service has decided to discontinue its repeat customer coupons wherein customers who purchase 5 car washes get a 6th car wash for free. This is a smart move for the car wash service, because it must pay its workers for every car washed. Because the coupons forced the car wash service to give away numerous free car washes, the repeat customer coupons caused the companys profits to decline. Which of the following is a reason the argument is most vulnerable to criticism? -The argument ignores the fact that another customer coupon initiative could take the place of this one. -The author neglects to take into account whether the profit earned by the company during the coupons initiative was greater than its costs. -The argument mistakenly believes the operating costs of the car wash service can be adjusted by removing the coupon program. -The author fails to consider the fact that the car wash service may be exaggerating the number of free car washes it was forced to give out. -The argument overlooks potential rewards from the customer coupons initiative while focusing only on its costs. This question is a bit challenging because it's difficult to identify the type of question. Looking at the question itself - "Which of the following is a reason the argument is most vulnerable to criticism" - we can see that the question is dealing in some way with weakening the argument. It's basically asking, "why would you be able to weaken this argument?". In order to weaken the argument, you need to identify an assumption (the unstated portions of the argument that must be true in order for the conclusion to be valid) and then attack the assumption. So, the key to this question is really to identify the assumption.The assumptions will sit between the conclusion and the premises. Here the conclusion is that the car wash company made a good move by removing is couponing program. The premises are 1) the workers are paid by the car so that 5th car wash includes costs but no revenues and 2) the success of the program required many of the 6th, "cost-only" car washes, which would cause the overall company's profits to decline.What would we have to assume in order for the conclusion (it's a good move to stop the coupon program) to remain valid? Since the argument is solely focused on expenses here and profits are revenue minus expenses we should be thinking about assumptions that are related to revenues.A) Remember that assumptions sit in the space between conclusion and premise. Adding a different program may be a good move for the company, but it has no connection to the removal of the current couponing program.B) This one is a bit tricky. Here the answer is shifting meaning on us. The premise refers to the declining profits but this answer choice is referring to the overall profits of the company. The GMAT likes to play these little meaning shift games on incorrect answers - be careful.C) This is not an accurate statement. Since labor costs are variable (each wash costs money), the operating costs would be impacted by removing the program.D) This one tries to make you think that if the problem were smaller we could change our mind about the effectiveness of the program. However, the argument is based on the variable costs of each wash, so whether we have a huge number of washes or a small number of washes, we would have declining profits either way.E) Finally something strong about revenues. Here we have a necessary assumption that is placed in a weakening statement. In order to believe the conclusion that removing the coupons is a good move, we first have to believe that there were no benefits (particularly related to revenues) achieved from the program between the 1st and 5th washes. As the OA states, the program may have induced many customers to purchase additional car washes in order to hit the 6th wash. So, even though that 6th wash causes a reduction in company, the profits would have been greatly increased by the those additional purchases. This statement makes the argument vulnerable to criticism.KW_________________ GREENSBORO Susie the dog, who became the face of animal cruelty after being found beaten and burned as a puppy, and who later put her paw print to state legislation increasing the penalties for such cruel behavior, has died. Because of the namesake Susies Law, people convicted of animal cruelty can now serve jail time. A movie, Susies Hope, was made about the life of the pit bull mix with the big brown eyes in 2013. A nonprofit also bears her name. Through her perseverance, she won the 2010 Hero Dog Award from the American Humane Society and walked the red carpet at the 21st annual Lady in Red Gala to benefit the American Humane Association. She often visited schools and hospitals. She was such an inspiration and will truly be missed, Stephanie Riley wrote on Facebook. Donna Smith Lawrence, who adopted Susie and helped push for stronger animal cruelty laws, announced Susies death on the Susies Hope Facebook page, which is dedicated to helping other abused animals and is often written in Susies voice. This is Susie. Today, I crossed over to The Rainbow Bridge, the passage reads. I passed peacefully from my moms loving embrace into Gods. I am no longer in pain. In January, doctors found a tumor on Susies spine and her family was told that she would have maybe weeks to live. She was given a similar diagnosis back in 2009, when she was found badly beaten and burned, and covered in maggots at a Greensboro park. Veterinarians who examined her at the Guilford Animal Shelter thought she had been in that condition for weeks. They discovered the puppys jaw was broken and she had missing teeth. Burns covered over half of her body. Donations from the public helped pay for the extensive veterinarian care and medicine the dog needed. Lawrence, an animal lover who had been attacked by a pit bull 10 months earlier, was drawn to the abandoned puppy and helped nurture her back to life. The man who abused her received six to eight months in prison on a charge of burning his girlfriends personal property. He only received probation for the animal cruelty charge, angering the public. Activists, including Susies family, lobbied for stronger animal cruelty laws. In December 2010, Susies Law a felony was signed into law by then-Gov. Bev. Perdue. It gives offenders up to eight months in jail for animal cruelty. Susie spent a lot of time walking on the beach with her family. Her nonprofit fueled by family, friends and other animal lovers helped to find homes for a lot of other animals, Lawrence has said. RALEIGH In late August, the government of California gave its residents two additional, and interrelated, reasons to consider moving elsewhere. First, the states Air Resources Board announced plans to phase out all sales of gas-powered vehicles in California by 2035. A few days later, state officials instructed Californians not to lower their thermostats below 78 degrees and not to charge their electric vehicles during the peak hours of 4pm to 9pm. Otherwise, they said, Californians may experience blackouts. Here in North Carolina, our electrical system is much more reliable. Its one reason why some disaffected California families and businesses may well find their way here. If some public officials and utility executives in our state get their way, however, the flow of energy refugees may reverse itself in the not-too-distant future. Under the terms of a 2021 law enacted by large, bipartisan majorities in the General Assembly, North Carolina is required to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions significantly over the next few decades, reaching complete carbon neutrality by 2050. The law attracted its broad legislative support because it also includes strict criteria for reaching this goal by the least cost path while maintaining the adequacy and reliability of the existing grid. The states primary electricity supplier, Duke Energy, has now filed its plan to achieve the laws goals, which include a reduction from the 2005 emissions baseline of 70% by 2032. All four of Dukes proposed power portfolios, however, rely so heavily on intermittent sources such as solar and wind that the reliability of our grid will be imperiled. According to an analysis published this summer by my colleagues at the John Locke Foundation, North Carolinians would reach a point by 2032 in which our electricity needs in peak months would exceed the total output of dispatchable baseload generation. In other words, well be relying on solar, wind, batteries, and various conservation tactics to keep the lights on and critical machines, appliances, and HVAC systems running. Thats too risky. By 2050, the Locke study concluded, North Carolinians could face the very real prospect of rolling blackouts during summer months in other words, the California scenario. In a filing to the North Carolina Utilities Commission, the Locke analysts proposed a better solution: making greater use of nuclear power to provide both clean and reliable electricity to our growing states households and businesses. Although this plan would require delaying the 2032 goal a bit (a tweak the law does allow) it would fully achieve the 2050 goal, including a phase-out of coal and natural gas. It would be also be less expensive than any of the Duke plans, which require the construction of extra production capacity to kick in when the sun doesnt shine and the wind doesnt blow. Nuclear plants run continuously, their fuel is domestically sourced and plentiful, and they last up to 80 years, vs. 20 years for the average wind farm and 25 years for the average solar plant. Our conversation about North Carolinas energy future is occurring within a broader national and international context in which policymakers who used to be skeptical about nuclear power are coming around to its many benefits. Leaders of energy-hungry countries in Europe and Asia, for example, are realizing that overreliance on natural gas from Russia or rare-earth metals from China poses a threat to their national security and economic vitality. And in California itself, Gov. Gavin Newsome has proposed extending the life of the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant through 2035. Although he used to think otherwise, Newsome now believes the state cant wiggle its way through the next decade if Diablo Canyon, which generates 9% of Californias electricity, closes as scheduled in 2025. Better late than never. But North Carolina can do better than that. Our carbon-dioxide emissions from electricity generation are already down 40% since the beginning of the century, largely due to natural gas replacing coal. Now, lets enact a sound energy strategy today that will pay dividends for many decades to come. HUDSON Jackie Clarkson traveled to 41 North Carolina state parks in just 11 months. Yes, 41. Clarkson, a 68-year-old retiree from the Caldwell County town of Hudson, started her journey on September 2021 and finished her tour of the 41st park on August 2022. During COVID, I walked a lot in my neighborhood, as Im sure a lot of people did, Clarkson explained. We had been to several state parks, and I thought Id find all the state parks. So I wrote the park system and they sent me a map of all of them in the state of North Carolina. Later, Clarkson received a passport booklet that allows visitors to keep track of their state park adventures. The passport includes a Bucket List that gives visitors ideas of something to do or see in each park. Out of all 41 Bucket List items, Clarkson said she missed only five. During her travels, Clarkson used an app called Seek to identify plants, animals, insects and other things that she spotted along the trails. You aim your phone at plants and (the app) identifies them for you, she explained. And then it tells you how many have been spotted locally, and if its something thats rare, you can send it to the local botany or state park and let them know the exact coordinates. At one park, I found several American chestnuts, and those are endangered ... At the last park, I found 13 different species of mushrooms. Thats what takes so long to walk. Im constantly looking at things through my phone. That was interesting to use. Clarkson said her favorite park was South Mountain State Park located in Burke County. Every park has educational trails for children to spot different flora and fauna on their walk, and the one at South Mountain was the best, she said. The parks are very well maintained, she said. There are lots of signs posted so you couldnt get lost. All the state parks had really good maps, and all the trails are listed as easy, moderate, strenuous or expert. They also give you what the footing is like if its gravel, mainly sand and dirt or a paved road so you can tell. Clarkson camped overnight at four different parks with a tent that she could set up in the back of her pickup truck. She was able to catch a few ranger-led hikes, as well. At Eno State Park, for example, a ranger taught Clarkson how to use the compass app on her phone. We didnt hike a trail. We did what he called bush whacking, she recalled. Using the coordinates, he guided us to an old settlement in the park that had no trails leading to it. Clarkson noticed that many people hiked with their dogs, and she quickly decided to get one, a Jack Russell/Beagle mix named Treksie. I got a little dog from the pound, but didnt take her on the next couple of trips because she was too small, she said. Her first one was Mount Mitchell. She was three months old, and she went up Mount Mitchell like a little billy goat. She hiked a lot of the trails with me. She was a good companion. Because Clarkson started her state park expeditions in fall 2021 and ended in summer of 2022 she said it was interesting to see the differences between what you see in the fall and what you see in the spring and summer. After 11 months, she calculated that she had hiked about 175 miles in total. I never saw any Big Foots or bears, she joked. Clarkson has some helpful advice for those who might be interested in following her lead. She advises attaching a whistle to your pack or keeping it near your head in case of emergencies. She also kept pepper spray with her at all times and bug spray for when she camped overnight. In her backpack, she always carried a first-aid kit, rain gear, extra food, water and matches. She made sure to wear good hiking boots and socks, as well as layers of clothing that she could peel off if needed. I was never afraid, she said. I think if you take proper precautions, youll be fine. In many of the parks, Clarkson found herself completely alone on the trails. Its just peaceful, she said. You can worship in your own way out there in nature. I just loved the adventure. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Montana was awarded the contract to be the third-party administrator for medical benefits and claims administration for the state of Montana Benefit Plan, Montana Department of Administration officials said. The contract, effective Jan. 1, will result in nearly immediate savings for the self-funded State Plan in 2023, with a projected savings of $28 million over the next three years, benefiting state agencies, state employees and the taxpayers of Montana, Department of Administration (DOA) Director Misty Ann Giles said in a news release. Contracting with BCBSMT (Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Montana) will allow us to enhance our ability to be responsible stewards of State Plan contributions while ensuring accessibility to high-quality medical care for State employees, she said. The contract has been issued for an initial term of three years, with the option to renew for a total of 10 years. BCBSMT was the third-party administrator for the state health plan for nearly 30 years until the state selected a different administrator in 2012. The state will pay BCBSMT to administer medical plan benefits. BCBSMT would potentially pay the state only if it doesn't meet performance guarantees or other contract requirements. We are honored to welcome state employees and their families back to the Blue family, said John Doran, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Montanas divisional vice president of external affairs. We have already begun to roll up our sleeves and get to work on behalf of state employees and their families to ensure a smooth transition. Providing the highest level of customer service is our top priority, he said. Cigna served as the states third party administrator from 2013-2015, then Allegiance Benefit Plan Management served from 2016 to present day, DOA officials said. A third-party administrator provides administrative services for self-funded health plans. They can also provide access to health care networks and may be able to source more vendors, such as stop-loss insurers. The state sets the benefit design, and the TPA administers every facet of the health plan, including contracting with the provider network, providing customer service, paying claims, aiding in care coordination and sourcing outside vendors to provide ancillary services. The Request for Proposals was released in March with the goal of finding a vendor to help the DOA streamline the administration of State Plan medical benefits and also modernize its Medicare reimbursement strategy, DOA officials said. Blue Cross was one of six vendors who bid. An evaluation committee scored the bids. BCBSMT received the highest score and was awarded the contract. The contract includes fees BCBSMT will pay for certain services per employee and the state shall pay BCBSMT within 30 days of the date the monthly billing report is generated. BCBSMT officials said the savings will be through provider contracts for reimbursement of services and also population health initiatives. They said their contracts are more favorable than the current TPA and the population health initiatives are aimed at improved health outcomes that save costs over the long term. The state will continue to offer one medical plan for all eligible plan members. Minimal impact is anticipated for members as the transition is completed. Monthly benefit contributions for state employees will remain stable, as will plan member access to participating facilities and care providers. The new contract allows the State Plan to continue improving upon its multiple of Medicare reimbursement strategy by setting specific benchmark levels of reimbursement that BCBSMT is responsible for maintaining. This new partnership will allow us to effectively continue serving our 28,000 members who rely on State Plan coverage for affordable and reliable health insurance coverage, said Health Care & Benefits Division Administrator Amy Jenks. She said it will also provide more opportunities for member engagement and management of medical conditions, including access to more programs and services for members. Open Enrollment for 2023 will be Oct. 23 to Nov. 5. Open Enrollment is an annual opportunity for plan members to review benefit elections and changes plans or covered dependents for the coming calendar year. The State Plan is self-funded by the state and includes medical, prescription drug, dental and vision plans. The state provides health benefits to state employees, retirees (non-Medicare and Medicare), legislators, Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) enrollees, and their dependents who are referred to as plan members. DOAs Health Care & Benefits Division is responsible for the administration of the State Plan, which includes the self-funded medical plan. BCBSMT has operated in Montana since 1940 and provides more than 300,000 members with plans. BCBSMT employs nearly 600 people in five locations, with offices in Helena, Billings, Bozeman, Great Falls and Kalispell. A team of volunteers gathered in a Westside Helena neighborhood last week to put the finishing touches on two houses that will give local families a place to call home. Among them were Wells Fargo employees, whose company gave Helena Area Habitat for Humanity $25,000 to be used to install solar panels on each of the two houses at 1000 Choteau St. Employee volunteers were also helping Habitat workers put the final touches on the homes, such as plants in the yard. Friday was the first day of the 2022 Parade of Homes event, which included the Choteau homes as part of the tour. Samantha Stringer, whose husband and four children will join her in the larger of the two homes, stopped by Friday to help pick sites where to place the plants. Its very lovely, she said of the home. They did an amazing job. In late 2021, Habitat officials announced the larger house had been donated to them. Christian Frazza, director of the Corette Library at Carroll College, had died and left his house to longtime companion Sue Jackson. She decided to make the house a donation to the nonprofit, saying she had volunteered for them and knows of their quality work. The house went from being a two-bedroom, one-bath home to being a four-bedroom, two-bath home, said Jacob Kuntz, executive director of Helena Area Habitat for Humanity. A detached garage on the same property was torn down and replaced with a two-story home that has two bedrooms and 1-1/2 baths. And another garage was built. Kuntz estimated the value of the larger home to be $400,000, but said it was being sold to the family for $220,000. Officials said earlier the two homes would be deeded to Trust Montana, a statewide land trust, which will ensure the homes remain permanently affordable. The home in back will be sold for $190,000. Kuntz called the finishing touches being done Friday the icing on the cake. Wells Fargo selected Helena Area Habitat for Humanity as one of the 230 Habitats across the U.S. for this $25,000 grant. It is part of a $7.75 million donation to Habitat for Humanity International through the Wells Fargo Builds grant making program which supports construction, renovation and repairing of more than 350 affordable homes across the United States, Wells Fargo officials said in a news release. Randy Riley, a district manager with Wells Fargo, was working at the site Friday. This is cool for so many different reasons, he said, noting the money would not only be used for plants but also solar panels. He said he has worked on other Habitat projects. Stringer said her kids cannot stop talking about moving into the four-bedroom house. They cant wait to have their own space, she said. Ducab Group, one of the UAEs end-to-end energy solutions providers and largest manufacturers, has announced its participation in the upcoming Ruya Careers UAE job fair, where it is set to present a range of training opportunities in the industrial sector. The objectives of the event resonate with the companys ambitions to empower and upskill national talent, aligning them with the UAEs vision and strategies to drive comprehensive sustainable development, cement the UAEs position on the global economic map, and maintain the Emirates forward momentum towards leadership and excellence, Ducab Group said in a statement. Ducab joins the career fair, which is taking place on September 20 to 22 at the Dubai World Trade Centre, to attract and train national talent, providing them with suitable employment opportunities that allow them to excel and innovate. The event offers an opportunity for the Group to meet its objectives to invest in promising young talent, enrol them in advanced expert-led training programmes, and enable them to make more effective contributions. Mona Fekri, Chief Human Capital Officer at Ducab, noted that: Ducab Group employs 74 Emirati engineers, and UAE nationals occupy 60% of the Groups executive positions, and 27% of middle management positions, across its various departments, playing a significant role in Ducabs success, while 37% of all positions at the company are now eligible for Emiratisation. Ducab is committed to supporting national talents by offering more job opportunities within the Group, launching training programmes, and offering grants to enlist promising and talented young Emiratis, prepare them to work in the industrial sector, and support them to develop their knowledge and skills. Ducab continues to expand the share of national talents among its staff, in line with the directives of the UAEs wise leadership. With that in mind, the company launched three training and grant programmes as part of its National Development Programme, namely, Bidayiti, which offers Emirati fresh graduates an opportunity to train with Ducab across various departments each year; the Scholarship Programme which offers students scholarships and training in the core areas of Ducabs operations, and finally, the Graduate Trainee Programme, designed to improve graduates skills in engineering and expand their knowledge.TradeArabia News Service After refusing to immediately comply last week with a Billings judges order issued from the bench, the state health department said Monday it would follow the court's direction to revert to a 2017 rule allowing transgender Montanans to update their birth certificate using a form. The department has received the courts order clarifying the preliminary injunction and despite disagreeing with it, intends to comply with its terms, spokesperson Jon Ebelt said in an email Monday. However, it was unclear when the department would have the process in place to allow people to make updates to their vital records. At least one person trying to change their document was unable to Monday afternoon. Citing the department's past actions, one of the plaintiffs in the case said late Monday they were waiting to see how the department would act. Based on the conduct of the department through the course of this litigation, we are absolutely in a place of actions speak louder than words, said Alex Rate, the legal director of ACLU of Montana. Until we see actions by the agency, its difficult to take them at their word. In a sharply written version of his Thursday bench order, Yellowstone County District Court Judge Michael Moses took the state to task Monday for what he called its demonstrably ridiculous claims of confusion over his previous order to revert to the 2017 rule. This spring Moses preliminary injunction blocked a 2021 state law that required a person to have gender-affirming surgery and petition a court to be able to change the sex marker on their birth certificate. The state held a rules hearing in June on a proposal to only allow people to update birth certificates if there was a data entry error on the original document. By Sept. 10, the state health department permanently adopted that rule. Ebelt said in the email Monday that the department stands by its actions and analysis concerning the April 2022 preliminary injunction decision, as set forth in its rulemaking that addressed critical regulatory gaps left by the court. Since the department has now received the courts clarification, it is carefully considering next steps in the litigation. In his written order, Moses rebuked the health departments actions, writing the state interpreted his order as allowing them to have carte blanche to enact whatever regulations they want." Moses order rejected the argument by the state that his initial injunction left no regulatory process for changing ones sex on a birth certificate and that the order put DPHHS in an uncertain regulatory situation. Indeed, the court finds these claims are demonstrably ridiculous, Moses wrote. He also attached the 2017 rule to his written order to make his directions plainly clear. The court attaches, as Exhibit A, the 2017 DPHHS regulations that defendants will return to, for clarity for defendants, and to avoid any future claims of confusion, Moses wrote. If defendants require further clarification, they are welcome to request it from the court rather than engage in activities that constitute unlawful violations of the order. Moses in his Monday order did not issue any contempt findings against the state, but did say motions for contempt based on continued violations of the order will be promptly considered. Ebelt did not provide a timeline for when the state would start using the 2017 rule again to update birth certificates. On Monday after Moses released the written version of his order and before Ebelt said the department would comply with it Shawn Reagor, the director of equality and economic justice with the Montana Human Rights Network, called the state Department of Public Health and Human Services Office of Vital Records seeking to update his birth certificate. Reagor was told his call would be sent to the person that handled those requests. He was then directed to the departments public information office, where he left a message that had not been returned by Monday evening. After the department's statement saying it would comply with the order was released, Reagor was in the Office of Vital Records in Helena but was told his birth certificate could not be updated and that he needed to speak with Ebelt. Reagor also said he spoke with the department's chief legal counsel Monday afternoon, who told him the department was still analyzing the ruling. Reagor said he would next try the department's director, followed by Gov. Greg Gianforte's office. "The court makes it very clear they need to be making changes now, but I keep being sent to someone who will not call me back and refuses to make changes," Reagor said in a text message Monday afternoon. Earlier in the day, Reagor said the administration is continuing to attack the trans community and continuing to try and make it difficult for trans people to live in this state." In a statement Monday, Gianforte's office said The governor has the utmost confidence in DPHHS and the Montana Department of Justice as they carefully consider and take next steps. Rate said he was frustrated with how long it has taken since Moses Thursday bench order for the state health department to comply. He added the plaintiffs will be actively monitoring what the department does next. The department knows how to implement that order because they did so without incident for years, so it should take no time at all for them to revert and begin processing applications, Rate said. I have a 10-year-old. Sometimes it takes two or three reminders for my 10-year-old to do what they (were told to). In my legal experience, I have never seen a defendant, much less a sophisticated state agency, require not one, not two, but three clear court orders to do what they are legally obligated to do. Moses' order is part of a lawsuit filed last year where the ACLU of Montana sued the state on behalf of two transgender Montanans over the 2021 law passed by GOP state legislators. The lawsuit is on behalf of Amelia Marquez, a Billings resident, and a trans man identified as John Doe in court proceedings. It is against the state of Montana; Gov. Greg Gianforte; the state Department of Public Health and Human Services, which handles birth certificates; and department Director Adam Meier. Meier has since left the position and was replaced by Charlie Brereton. Paul Beckfords weeklong rafting trip came up at the last minute. A friend secured a permit for the wild Main Salmon River a rare feat and within days assembled plans, including booking a local company to shuttle the groups vehicles from the put-in point to the takeout. On the Fourth of July, the five families launched their boats at Corn Creek, a popular put-in on the edge of the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness, with plans to raft about 80 miles. Six days later, the group of 16 reached its destination at Spring Bar, about 10 miles from Riggins. Beckford started up the boat ramp to the edge of the road. When he reached the roadway his car wasnt there. In fact, only one of the five vehicles the group had paid to be delivered to the take-out could be found. For Beckford, it was a nightmare scenario come to life stranded without transportation, cell service or supplies. The idea that youre in the middle of nowhere and your cars arent there has always scared me, said Beckford, an avid rafter. Beckford soon learned that the same company had left scores of other rafters in similar positions. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY, one Google reviewer wrote. WILL NOT RETURN CARS. Fyre festival 2022, another wrote. Others said their cars were returned with additional miles, empty gas tanks and damage. The experiences prompted complaints to the Idaho attorney generals office and local law enforcement. Now the company is the subject of an AG investigation into possible violations of consumer protection law. As for Beckford, he said it took days for him and the rest of his party to locate their vehicles. Damaged Wild River Shuttles, co-owned by spouses Michelle and Tammy Nelson, was founded last year, according to Idaho secretary of state business filings. Like several other Idaho shuttle companies, Wild River offered rafters transportation for their vehicles. Rafters drop off their vehicles at the Salmon business, and the shuttle company drives the vehicles to the rafters planned take-out point, sometimes as far away as 10 hours in remote Central Idaho. For months, reviews posted on Google showed positive experiences with the company. But in early July the tone of the reviews shifted sharply. Reviewers reported vehicles missing from the take-out and spotty communication with the company. The allegations escalated to claims of vehicle damage, missing money and more. We had a vehicle with a tracking device on it and that truck was driven up to 113 mph with a dual axle 18-foot trailer behind it, one reviewer wrote. UNACCEPTABLE. When I emailed the company about this they ignored me. Another reviewer said Wild River put 1,400 miles on their truck during their rafting trip. (The longest shuttle trip the company offers is 427 miles one way.) Another said their bumper was dented from having a trailer jackknifed into the car. A fourth said some of their groups vehicles had garbage in them, and one car had a dog in the backseat. We were told by Tammy that a now-fired, disgruntled employee had used another vehicle in our group for personal use, wrote yet another reviewer. The car was found near Boundary Creek. That car had beer and clothes left in it. Consumer protection complaints filed with the Idaho attorney generals office detail thousands of dollars in unfulfilled services and damage to vehicles. The complaints obtained by the Statesman through a public records request said the company was engaging in likely criminal conduct and should not be allowed to operate. One customers van was totaled in an apparent crash and abandoned on a highway, according to a consumer protection complaint. When the customer recovered the vehicle, the airbag had been deployed and the rear axle had been torn free from its mounts, the complaint said. I DID NOT however receive any calls, texts, no other communication from Wild (River) Shuttles regarding this accident, the customer wrote. Multiple people said the $100 they were required to leave in the vehicles for gas money was gone, despite their gas tanks being left nearly empty. It is clear that the river community and sheriff are aware that this company has gone off the deep end, Stefan Christie wrote. Although it may have once been a functioning business, you will surely lose your money and possibly your vehicle and be stranded at your takeout if you use this company. On July 14, the Salmon-Challis National Forest, which oversees the Salmon River permit lottery, began emailing permit holders to warn them of the situation. We are writing to let you know that there have been significant issues with Wild River Shuttles and vehicles not being shuttled as requested, the email said. We strongly advise confirming your vehicle shuttle reservation with Wild River Shuttles prior to your launch date as well as researching the river shuttle company you are planning on using. Around the same time, the rafting community started to post warnings on online forums. Beckford shared his experience on MountainBuzz, an online whitewater community, and heard from dozens of other users, including some whod had similar issues with Wild River Shuttles. Beckford said he wasnt too surprised by the feedback he knew from his own experience that many other people had been affected. He felt compelled to warn rafters who might have upcoming reservations. I was just like, Look, other people need to know this, Beckford said. Tammy Nelson told the Statesman that Wild River Shuttles is permanently closed and refunding customers $14,000 has been refunded so far, she said by text. Amid problems with drivers, the company overbooked customers, not wanting to turn anyone away, Nelson said. She said that she sought help transporting customers from other shuttle companies, but none offered aid, and that contracts for upcoming shuttles were stolen after a burglary in the companys office. We are very sorry to all affected by our company, Tammy Nelson said. This has destroyed our business. Companies After spending a night camping at the take-out, Beckford started hitchhiking to Riggins to track down his groups vehicles. Beckford recalled that a truck driver heading the other direction stopped and said: Hey, are you the stranded rafters? Im here to rescue you. Dave Young, owner of Rubicon Outfitters in Riggins, was coming to retrieve a different group of rafters who had also been stranded by Wild River. Still, they loaded up Beckfords group and their gear, and offered to store it at the Rubicon boathouse. Beckford said Dave Young even handed him the keys to his personal vehicle so Beckford could drive around and search for his missing Honda Pilot. We finally got ahold of (Wild River) but we could never get a straight story, Beckford said. One owner told us to call the police on the other owner. Sometimes they were in tears, just giving us bad information on where our cars were. A Wild River driver eventually drove into Riggins in Beckfords vehicle, but three others were still missing. Beckford and other members of his group headed to Salmon a 6.5-hour drive where Wild River had said theyd find their cars. One car looked like it had been used to haul rocks, Beckford said, while another had a pack of cigarettes, a strangers towel and was missing a set of keys. The last car they finally tracked down at Corn Creek the spot where theyd started their rafting trip a week earlier. Like Rubicon, other Idaho shuttle companies began trying to help track down missing vehicles and transport people. MiChelle McNamee, who owns All Rivers Shuttle in White Bird, told the Statesman in late July that she delivered water to stranded rafters and offered her companys vans to help people get off the river. McNamee said that in early June, she came across a truck Wild River Shuttles had delivered to a boat ramp. The vehicle was in danger of being swept away as heavy rain caused the river to surge. McNamee said she contacted Tammy Nelson and had to break into the truck to move it away from the water. She assumed it was a one-time mistake until she began seeing Facebook posts from rafters who couldnt find their vehicles or get in touch with the Nelsons company. McNamee started using All Rivers Facebook page to crowdsource information on missing vehicles and warn the community about the issues people were reporting with Wild River. I did it for the river, McNamee said. A lot of these people are people Ive dealt with for the past 16 years. Theyre like my family. McNamee estimated she spent about $700 of her own money helping people affected by Wild River. Strandings Several groups told the Statesman of experiences similar to Beckfords. Jennifer Gleasons group paid Wild River to shuttle four vehicles from Cache Bar to Carey Creek, a nearly nine-hour drive. Only one of their vehicles was at the take-out when they arrived on July 8. The group whose vehicle was there headed home, and the rest of the party including teenagers and two 82-year-olds waited by the river as temperatures rose into the 80s. Everybody cleared out, Gleason told the Statesman in a phone interview. Carey Creek was empty except us. It was eerie. Gleason said her group camped overnight, optimistic that things would work out. After making as many as 80 calls to Wild River, the Lemhi County Sheriffs Office, tow truck operators and more Gleason finally located the other three vehicles. One was in Stanley, about halfway between the put-in and take-out, while the other two were in a parking lot off of Idaho 21 about 20 miles west of Stanley. Gleason said Wild River told her one of the vehicles wouldnt start, but she had no trouble starting it once it was located. I can honestly say our situation was better than what some peoples situations have been, Gleason said. Jeff Grebe, of Colorado, told the Statesman he was stranded more than once by Wild River. Like Beckford, he was invited on a trip by a friend who won a permit. His group put in on June 25 and ended their trip five days later at Cache Creek, where they found two of their four vehicles. Its not unheard of that maybe a vehicle doesnt make it for whatever reason mechanical problems or something, said Grebe, who has rafted the Salmon four times. Typically, companies will leave a note in another vehicle to notify the owners of the problem, he said. Wild River didnt do that. If your vehicles not there and you have no note, you really have no idea whats going to happen, Grebe said. Without his cellphone or wallet, Grebe headed into the small town of North Fork with the rest of his group. They contacted Tammy Nelson, who told them Grebes truck was still at Cache Creek after failing to start. The other missing vehicle was about 20 miles away. Grebe said Nelson told him a shuttle on the way through town would pick him up at 6 a.m. the next day if he waited in Salmon overnight. So Grebe booked a hotel, and the rest of his group began their trips home. The next morning, Grebe waited for his ride. By 7:30, with no shuttle and no response to his texts and phone calls to Wild River, Grebe said he began hitchhiking. He made it 170 miles back to the spot where his group put in. He found his truck, which started up right away. These are very, very remote places theyre shuttling to, Grebe said. If you dont have things to get by with, theres not a whole lot you can do except stick out your thumb. Some rafters went to local police for help. Scott Dent, who rafted from Boundary Creek to Corn Creek in early July, said his group found just one of six vehicles when they left the river. After trying to contact the company for several hours, the group filed missing vehicle reports with the Salmon Police Department, and their vehicles were eventually found. One driver used a GPS app to locate his van, which officials found in Challis with a woman, her child and dog in the vehicle, Dent said in an email. Dents truck was found at a Salmon gas station where a Wild River employee was fueling up. Jenn Ford told the Statesman that her group was stuck at its take-out point without their vehicles for 24 hours before someone took pity and drove them into Riggins. After paying for a two-hour ride to Lewiston, Ford said, she rented a moving truck to get her boats and herself home to Jackson, Wyoming, for a prior obligation. Ford said her group contacted Salmon police, too, and was told their missing vehicles were a civil matter. She later went to the Lemhi County Sheriffs Office and the Forest Service, and said those agencies located her truck. The Lemhi County Sheriffs Office told the Statesman it had forwarded all its information on the shuttle company to the Salmon Police Department. Salmon police did not respond to Statesman inquiries about the number or type of complaints made about the company. The Statesman filed records requests with the sheriffs office and Salmon Police Department but did not receive a response. The Salmon Police Department could not be reached by phone, and the police chief did not respond to emailed requests for comment. Investigation After receiving complaints from four consumers who alleged that Wild River Shuttles accepted payment for unfulfilled services, the Idaho attorney generals office last month opened an investigation. In late July and early August, the Lemhi County Sheriffs Office served Michelle and Tammy Nelson an investigative demand penned by Deputy Attorney General Stephanie Guyon. The document obtained by the Statesman through a public records request demanded that by Aug. 19, the Nelsons hand over a list of their assets along with details about their companys unfulfilled contracts and verbal agreements between June 1 and July 31. The attorney generals office enforces the Idaho Consumer Protection Act, which prohibits businesses from engaging in unfair competition and deceptive acts. On Aug. 12, Tammy Nelson requested a deadline extension to fulfill the AGs request. The attorney generals office granted an extension to Sept. 1. We are doing our best to give you the information youre asking for and we are willing to do whatever is asked of us, Nelson wrote in an email to Guyon. In a now-deleted post on the Wild River Facebook page, Tammy Nelson attributed the chaos to a death in the family and said the company is doing everything we can to right our wrong. Beckford told the Statesman he was able to cancel the shuttle charges on his credit card, but said the refund didnt make up for what he spent on lodging, food, gas and more while tracking down his vehicle. Gleason said she also got a refund for the shuttle service, as well as money for gas used to find her vehicle. Grebe said Wild River tried to keep his $350 shuttle fee despite leaving his vehicle at the put-in. When he said hed file charges with police, Nelson offered to send him a check. He said he didnt expect that check to be delivered, but when it finally arrived, it bounced. DECATUR The attempted murder trial of Decatur man Tyrek D. Jones was supposed to get underway Monday, but the case had been over before it could begin. Macon County Jail records show Jones, 21, was released Wednesday afternoon after prosecutors appeared in Macon County Circuit Court earlier that day asking for all charges to be dismissed. Macon County States Attorney Scott Rueter, commenting Monday, said his office was left with no choice after the alleged female victim in the case who nearly died after being shot in the chest had since disappeared. There is only one witness in the case, the lady we allege was shot at, and she, apparently, has decided to flee Decatur and, we think, is Chicago-bound, said Rueter. She has not been responding to any contacts from our office and so the case was dismissed without prejudice. That is a legal term meaning charges could be refiled at a later date. But Rueter said nothing can happen without the victim who at this point is in the wind. The case dates back to Feb. 12 when the victim, then 17, told police she had been driving in the 3500 block of North Charles Street. She said a car had swept past her and then screeched to a halt in front of her, causing her vehicle to plow into the back of it. The victim said a man she had later identified as Jones jumped out of the other car, pointed a handgun at her vehicle, and opened fire multiple times. Decatur police Detective Bryan Kaylor, testifying at an earlier court hearing, said the victims vehicle had been left with 10 bullet holes and police had recovered nine spent shell casings and two spent bullets. One spent bullet had been removed from the victim by surgeons who had taken it out while working to save her life. DECATUR Police are hoping the public can help identify a man who robbed the Circle K gas station, 205 W. 1st Drive in Decatur, at gunpoint around 1:30 a.m. Sept. 7. The robbery is this weeks Crime of the Week focus from Decatur police who said the man grabbed a quantity of cash and fled on foot, running eastbound toward Franklin Street Road. In a news release, police describe the suspect as aged in his late teens to early 20s, 5-feet-10-inches tall and of skinny build. He was wearing a green hooded sweatshirt with the numbers 227 written in yellow across the back. Anyone with information can call Crime Stoppers at 217-423-8477 (TIPS). Crime Stoppers will pay $500 or more for information leading to an arrest. New Braunfels, TX (78130) Today Sunshine and clouds mixed. High around 85F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Considerable clouds this evening. Some decrease in clouds late. Low 58F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph. Construction crews work on the Elizabeth Avenue Realignment project on Monday, March 15, 2021. The project will improve parking accessibility and intersection navigation. Citizens are now able to view a map of ongoing city projects with the New Braunfels at Work web application. MIKALA COMPTON | Herald-Zeitung Each year Virginia State Parks, managed by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, offer a variety of hunting opportunities. Managed deer hunts are key to handling the parks overall deer management program. Participating hunters are asked to support this effort by following harvest guidelines associated with each hunt. This year reservations must be made online through the new State Parks reservation system. To make a reservation, visit online at https://reservevaparks.com/Web/. You must have an email address and create an online account in order to reserve a hunting time and location. It is encouraged that you create an online account before the reservation period opens up as it can take some time for the account information to process. All hunts will have a go-live day in September and the sales begin at 9 a.m. so be sure to review this grid which can be found at www.dcr.virginia.gov/state-parks/hunting for more details on hunt locations and dates. Hunting opportunities range from open hunting in designated areas to managed deer hunts. Hunters can also reserve stands or zones on a first-come, first-served basis using the online system. Virginia State Parks Hunting Rules: Hunting and camping is permitted only in designated areas. Virginia game laws apply in all designated hunting areas. All state park hunts require proof of completion of a hunter safety course. This is beyond the requirements of State Hunting Regulations. Hunters are required to wear a Blaze Color (Blaze Orange or Blaze Pink) hat and vest while hunting in any park. This is beyond the requirements of State Hunting Regulations. For more information about hunting opportunities and programs in Virginia State Parks visit www.dcr.virginia.gov/state-parks/hunting. A Conover man charged with death by distribution appeared Monday in Catawba County District Court. Manuel Alejandro Acevedo, 34, was arrested by the Hickory Police Department on Friday. According to the Catawba County Whos in Jail website, he is charged with death by distribution, possession with intent to manufacture, sell or deliver heroin, selling heroin and felony probation violation. He is being held on a $100,000 bond at the Catawba County Detention Facility. According to North Carolina General Statute 14-18.4, a death by distribution charge holds people who sell drugs accountable for the overdose death of someone who purchased the drugs. All charges, except death by distribution, are from 2019. Capt. Aaron Turk, with the Catawba County Sheriffs Office, said the death by distribution charge is connected to the death of Jenny Powell, who died Feb. 7, 2022. Investigators developed probable cause that Acevedo distributed narcotics to the victim, Turk said. Judge Wesley W. Barkley appointed defense attorney Michelle Lippert to represent Acevedo. Acevedo asked for a bond reduction during court. Barkley informed Acevedo that a formal motion would need to be filed in order for his bond to be reviewed. Acevedos next court date was set for Oct. 24. HICKORY Students discovering their pathway to a career parallels with shopping in a candy store. There are so many wonderful choices, but figuring out the right one might mean tasting the experience before buying the whole box, or in this case, investing in a new career. Starting with the ninth grade, students who attend Hickory Career and Arts Magnet High School (also known as HCAM) with Hickory Public Schools are provided a wide array of opportunities to learn about the requirements, the rewards, and the potential journey in several professions. Many of the courses offer college credit through Catawba Valley Community College (CVCC) and certification. During the recent public event, Pathways Night, hosted by Principal Darwin Carter, along with HCAM faculty and students, guests were invited to visit several of the show-casing academies including Computer Programming, Graphics & Photography, Culinary Arts, Criminal Justice, Performing Arts, Visual Arts, and Nursing & Emergency Medical Tech. Refreshments were prepared and provided by the Culinary Arts Academy. For more information about applying to attend HCAM or scheduling a visit, contact: https://hickorycam.hickoryschools.net or call 828-328-6738. Traveling, walking and seeing and writing all the way, we can say that Happy Hunan lives up to its name. said Yin Shan, editor-in-chief of Macao International Trade Herald, who recorded the trip in Hunan with short videos in recent days, and received numerous likes on social media. The open ceremony held in Changsha on the evening of July 18th From July 18 to 23, the 2022 Chasing Dreams of China-Happy Hunan Overseas Chinese Media Interview Tour in Hunan, which was guided by China Overseas Chinese Federation and sponsored by Hunan Overseas Chinese Federation, left Changsha in six days. The interview group of overseas Chinese media from Malaysia, Germany, Canada, Egypt, Venezuela and other 9 countries and regions and some central government media (hereinafter referred to as the interview group) went to Yiyang, Changde, Zhangjiajie and Xiangxi for field interviews. In October 2021, the Chasing Dream of China activity went into Hunan for the first time. With this theme, it conducted field interviews in Changsha, Zhuzhou, Xiangtan and Shaoyang City to see the development achievements of Hunan economy, science and technology, culture and other aspects. This year, Chasing Dream of China entered Hunan again, and chose Hunan as the first stop. Why did this activity come to Hunan continuously? Is this an opportunity for Hunan? RedNet reporter followed along the way and collected some comments from overseas Chinese media. Why can Hunansuccessfully make it twice? In recent years, under the leadership of the Party group of the China Federation of overseas Chinese, the information and Communication Department of the China Federation of overseas Chinese has taken the brand of Chasing the dream of China as the starting point, and told the stories of China in the new era in the form of network theme activities, interview tours, seminars and other popular forms of the overseas Chinese community, condensed the strength of the overseas Chinese community for the new journey, and made positive contributions to strengthening the great unity of the Chinese people, and achieved good results. As an important part of the brand, the overseas Chinese media interview has been successfully held for more than 10 times since 2018, and has become an activity widely concerned by overseas Chinese media and overseas Chinese related central media. Xiaoxiang (Hunan) is a land with beautiful scenery, which has fascinated people since ancient times. Zuo Zhiqiang, director of the information and Communication Department of the China Federation of overseas Chinese, said in his speech at the launching ceremony. The visit of interview groups to Hunan has built a platform and bridge for Hunan to further integrate into the world, and will enhance Hunans international popularity, reputation and influence. Hunan has been famous in the world for itsbeing hometown of great people for a long time. RedNet reporter believes that the activities of Chasing the dream of China have entered Hunan for two consecutive years, mainly due to the profound cultural heritage of Hunan. Back to the main topic, What impression did Hunan leave on the interview group in six days? Hunan is a village full of culture Qingxi village As soon as I got off the bus, I felt a strong cultural flavor coming over me. The place is ecologically beautiful, the scenery is wonderful, and everywhere is filled with a new atmosphere of prosperity. Zheng Haiyan, vice president of Venezuelan Overseas Chinese Newspaper, said with emotion while holding up her cell phone to take pictures. After visiting Qingxi Book House, Liu Guijiang, editor-in-chief of the German Overseas Chinese Newspaper, spoke highly of it. He said that this village casts its soul with literature, shapes trip with culture, and highlights literature through travel. This practice of combining local culture with study and education, etc., building outdoor expansion bases, driving the development of tourism industries, and forming a complete tourism service industry chain, is highly recommended. The interview group took a group photo in front of Zhou Libo's former residence. During the visit to Zhou Libos former residence, the interview group said that they would visit the footprints left by Zhou Libo, to explore the stories of him, and feel the spiritual heritage of a Chinese countryside under great changes. I want to learn from old Mr. Zhou Libo and write more positive works to spread Chinese culture. Wang Chuanming, president of Euphoria Voice, even said. Hunan is a Peach-Blossom Source with idyllic scenery The second stop, the interview group came to Changde. In Changde, the interview group wentto the Chinese overseas international cultural exchange base of Taohuayuan, visited a lots of tourist attractions, and gained an in-depth understanding of the cultural lineage, historical accumulation, characteristic highlights and development of there. The interview group visited the Poem Wall in Changde. Zhu Jianying, director reporter of CCTV, said, Through this trip to Changde, I fully feel that Changde has profound cultural heritage, rich cultural and tourism resources, warm and simple folk custom, good economic development, high peoples happiness index, a beautiful city for living and working, and Changde is worthy of being a star on the land of Xiaoxiang (Hunan). Hunan is a splendid and magnificent picture of humanity The interview group participated in the 2022 Hunan Province Overseas Chinese with Zhangjiajieactivity Overseas Chinese Help Zhangjiajie Tourism Developmentconference. After leaving Changde, the interviewgroup came to Zhangjiajie and participated in the 2022 overseas Chinese care about Zhangjiajie --- overseas Chinese help Zhangjiajie tourism development conference in Hunan Province. It discussed with Chinese businessmen from all over the world and domestic experts and scholars how to further enhance Zhangjiajies tourism influence and promote local development. The fairyland of Zhangjiajie, the peaks of which fascinate the whole world. The scenery of Zhangjiajie is worthy of this praise. Zhu Xine, deputy director of Egypt newspaper China weekly, said that she had been thinking about it for many years. This time, she finally came to Zhangjiajie, where she felt like she was in a dream. As a tourist, she was shocked by the uncanny workmanship of nature; as an overseas Chinese media person, she wants to do her bit to promote its beauty. Zhu Xine suggested that now that the network is developed, it is hoped that the scenic spot can often hold some prose, poetry and photography competitions, as well as the participation of Tiktok, Kwai, so as to increase everyones interest, with a view to increasing greater publicity. If you dont visit Zhangjiajie, you absolutely dont know where the top of Chinas mountain scenery is. During the travel, Wang Chuanming, President of the German Euphoria Voice, sighed. He believes that the next step of Zhangjiajies tourism development should be to integrate with the international market, more strategic cooperation with overseas Chinese media, orderly expansion of publicity, production of classic promotional films, and let Zhangjiajie go global. Hunanis a provinceeager to innovate The interview group interviewed Shibadong village villagers Yang Dongshi. What they saw and heard in Shibadong village gave the interview group the truest and most real feeling of the CPCs strategic deployment of targeted poverty reduction and rural revitalization, as well as confidence, and pride to the motherlands sustainable and stable development prospects and the vision of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects. The interview group interviewed Liao Lianghui, deputy secretary of Xiangxi State Committee and Secretary of Huayuan County Committee. It is our responsibility to spread the happy scenes, spectacle and mentality here to all over the world. Xu Bingyi, president of Malaysian magazines at home and abroad, said that he would tell the touching stories he heard in the Shibadong village to overseas Chinese, and foreigners, so that they could better understand China and Hunan. We must take these details abroad to let them know more about how the Communist Party of China has led the people step by step to get rid of poverty and become rich. After visiting and interviewing Shibadong village, Dong Yanrong, chief editor of Italian Chinese world, said excitedly. For me, I have been looking forward to coming to Shibadong village for a long time. The success of poverty alleviation in Shibadong village shows that targeted poverty alleviation is a model that can be copied and used for reference. The exploration and experience of Shibadong village profoundly reflects the internal requirements and basic laws of poverty alleviation in poor areas, said Wen Huazhou, deputy editor in chief of the Chinese version of France China Net. In the newspaper in early August, we will introduce the achievements of Hunans cultural and tourism integration development and the new great changes in mountain villages in a full page. Liu Guijiang, chief editor of the German overseas Chinese newspaper, said that as an overseas Chinese media, he will carry out extensive publicity in Germany to let overseas Chinese and local people understand a real and comprehensive Hunan and publicize Hunan to the world. WeRide, a global leader in autonomous driving, joined hands with Saudi Company for Artificial Intelligence (SCAI) for the first test ride of driverless robobus in the Middle East. WeRide had earlier launched the driverless robotaxi service in Abu Dhabi. This is the first fully driverless test ride of robobus in the Middle East country which will run from today (September 19) until September 22. Previously, WeRide had launched the region's first driverless public robotaxi service at Abu Dhabi. The launch of the driverless robobus in Riyadh is a major milestone for WeRide in spreading its global footprint, thanks to its best-in-class autonomous driving technology and rich commercial experience in the Middle East. The Global Artificial Intelligence Summit (GAIS) is a prominent global event organized by the Saudi Authority for Data and Artificial Intelligence (SDAIA). "Riyadh is a city full of innovation, and its smart city ecology is rapidly developing. Autonomous driving is an important part of the smart city ecosystem. The launch of WeRide's robobus in Riyadh is a very exciting exploration for both Riyadh and WeRide," remarked Dr Yan Li, the co-founder, and CTO of WeRide, in his speech on "Smart Cities." Based on the premise of prioritizing safety, L4 autonomous driving technology not only improves the efficiency and experience of future urban mobility, but also redefines the travel space," he stated, while sharing his insights on how autonomous driving may improve future urban life. "We can envision that the smart city will be connected by different scenes and varied autonomous driving products and solutions in the future," Dr Li added. Since its establishment in 2017, WeRide has offered an all-rounded product mix of robotaxi, mini robobus, robovan, robo street sweeper, and advanced driving solution across the widest range of use cases, including online ride-hailing, on-demand transport, urban logistics, street cleaning and L2+/L3 solution. WeRide said its cumulative autonomous mileage has reached over 12,000,000 km. It has conducted autonomous driving R&D, testing, as well as trial and commercial operations in 25 cities and five countries around the world, it added.-TradeArabia News Service The U.S. dairy community has rallied around a public commitment to achieve carbon neutrality, optimize water usage, and improve water quality by 2050 supporting global sustainability initiatives and customer expectations. Genetic selection is one part of the equation that will enable U.S. dairy farms and processors to collectively achieve this lofty goal. How precisely do genetics impact sustainability both now and into the future? Genetic selection is an important tool to reduce dairys carbon footprint. This impact ranges from the improved productivity of U.S. dairy cows over several decades to the relatively new ability to genetically select for cows that use feed more efficiently while producing the same amount of milk. This begs the question: What other aspects of sustainability such as animal well-being and methane emissions can be addressed through genetics? An in-person discussion We will explore these questions during the upcoming CDCB Industry Meeting on October 5 during World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wis. Through panels and future-focused updates, dairy producers, customers, and geneticists will share perspective on sustainability expectations and the genetic contribution. Headlining the program will be four dairy producers from four states Marilyn Hershey from Pennsylvania, Lloyd Holterman from Wisconsin, Mike McCloskey from Indiana, and Bill Peck from New York. The agenda provides ample opportunity for an open dialogue between attendees and these respected panelists. Genetic gains, improved dairy efficiency All eyes are on Prince Harrys grandmother, II. At Queen Elizabeths funeral. Although he is marching with his family, the younger son of the new king is clearly out of line. According to tradition, the members of the British royal family participate in famous events in uniform, so the late monarch II. Also at Queen Elizabeths funeral. Prince Harry, known for his scandals, and his wife, Meghan Markle, were also with the family and, as a sign of their support, took a seat behind King Charles and his wife, Queen Camilla, at the ceremony. What many have noticed is that only Prince Harry does not wear the uniform among the family members, the reason for which is that they buried the hatchet in vain in World War II. After Queen Elizabeths death, Prince Harry is not considered a full-fledged family member, as he resigned from his ducal duties in 2020 to start a new life with his wife in America. Gabriel Shipton says he is getting conflicting signals from the Labor government about his brother's case. Mexico has awarded WikiLeaks founder and publisher Julian Assange the keys to its capital, Mexico City, in its latest move to celebrate the Australian's journalism and pressure the Biden administration to act on the pending extradition case. But while a country so far away, and on the US border too, is doing this, it is passing strange that Australia, the country of which Assange is a citizen, is doing little or nothing to push for his freedom, his brother, Gabriel Shipton told iTWire on Friday. Shipton, who is in Mexico at the moment, said there had been conflicting messages from the Albanese government which had, prior to being elected, hinted that quiet diplomacy would be undertaken to gain Assange's freedom. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese hinted before the election that Assange's protracted judicial proceedings should be ended. When he was asked about it after the election, he responded that diplomacy was not conducted over a megaphone. @Claudiashein leading the way by presenting the keys to Mexico City to Julian Assange. #FreeAssangeNow . pic.twitter.com/ewqKNxf9Ik Gabriel Shipton (@GabrielShipton) September 14, 2022 Shipton said Albanese's words about his brother were more or less "an election promise". But at the beginning of August, when Labor Senator Don Farrell had been contacted to inquire if any moves had been made towards freeing Assange, he had said Australia could not interfere in court proceedings of other countries, a similar statement to that which was made by the previous Morrison government on more than one occasion. Assange is being held in the maximum security Belmarsh Prison in the UK, pending a decision on his request to appeal to the UK High Court against his extradition to the US which was approved by then British Home Minister Priti Patel on 17 June. Shipton said no decision was expected this year as the US had sought 12 weeks, four more than it normally is given, to respond to Assange's arguments seeking permission for a High Court appeal. He said he had last seen Assange in July; the prolonged court process was clearly wearing down the WikiLeaks founder, Shipton said, adding that he was simply amazed at the resilience that he (Assange) had shown so far. Shipton said he had spoken to independent Australian MP Andrew Wilkie some time ago and been advised that a group known as the Friends of Julian Assange, which consisted of 31 MPs before the 21 May election, was being reconstituted to continue the campaign for Assange's release. Mexico City honors Julian Assange with keys to the city - https://t.co/iMJZ1QLwfM #OANN pic.twitter.com/qKtPdSBBGV One America News (@OANN) September 15, 2022 He said supporters were continuing to lobby the Australian government to do something about Assange, pointing out Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador had raised the issue both with US President Joe Biden and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Lopez Obrador has also extended an offer of asylum to Assange. In August, lawyers acting for Assange filed a suit against the CIA, its director at the time Mike Pompeo and security firm UC Global for allegedly spying on the WikiLeaks publisher and his visitors while he was taking refuge in the Ecuador embassy in London. The suit seeks compensatory and punitive damages for the plaintiffs for the alleged violation of their rights. It also seeks the removal of any information held by the CIA which was collected from them during their visits to see Assange and prevention of the release of any this information to a third party. Gabriel Shipton says he is getting conflicting signals from the Labor government about his brother's case. The Chamber Business Expo and Taste of the Expo is fast approaching. It is set for Thursday, Oct. 13, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Cross County Mall in Mattoon. We are closing in on 100 total participants for the Expo and Taste. This is a fantastic opportunity for the general public to see what our area has to offer. Make sure you stop by the Our Town Gallery section of the expo to see the amazing things that happen in Mattoon on a daily basis. Many of our local manufacturing companies will be showcasing their products at the Our Town Gallery. You can check out our website at www.mattoonchamber.com for daily updates on participating organizations. The expo is free to the public. However, if you would like to sample the delectable delights from the local eating establishments at the Taste of the Expo, tickets are $6. The low price of $6 will get you five tastings of the many samplings that these eateries have to offer. The hardest part will be choosing which booths to stop at. The Taste of the Expo will be in the former Carson's store. This area is more expansive and will be more comfortable for Taste vendors and the public. You can get your Taste tickets in advance at the chamber office, or they will be available for purchase during the expo. Don't miss out on the opportunity to try multiple local treats at one venue. In conjunction with the expo, the Mattoon Chamber of Commerce will host a blood drive with ImpactLife Blood Services of Illinois, which will have its Cross County Mall storefront location open the day of the expo. Normally they are only open on Saturdays and Wednesdays at the mall. They are making a special exception to be open on Thursday the 13th for expo participants and the public. Every two seconds someone somewhere needs blood. The rarest type is the one that is not on the shelf when a patient needs it. On average, 1 out of 7 people who enter a hospital need blood. Donating blood is a simple, safe procedure and the benefit is profound you save lives! Healthy adults over 17 years old who weigh at least 120 pounds may donate a pint of whole blood. ImpactLife Blood Services of Illinois donations accounts for 100% of the blood used locally by Sarah Bush Lincoln and Carle hospitals. The Blood Center in the mall will be available from 10 a.m. through 3 p.m. You can simply call 800-747-5401 to make an appointment. Give the gift of life! Some parents and caregivers are asked "Can I stay home from school?" by children on a daily basis, but knowing what's best in each case takes knowing the child, the symptoms and the situation. Dr. Tina Ardon, a Mayo Clinic family medicine physician, explains some of things to consider before sending children to school or keeping them home. Whether physically apparent: "A fever is always a reason to keep your child home. Symptoms like vomiting or diarrhea are certainly reasons to keep your children home," Ardon says. Or more subtle signs: "I also ask parents and families just to think about their child and how they're behaving. We don't want to send our kids to school either, if they're just not going to be able to participate fully," she says. For some children, symptoms, like headaches or stomachaches, may not be something that they need to see a doctor for on an immediate basis, but could indicate something else, like anxiety. "Parents and families are always encouraged to keep an eye on the overall picture with their kids so that we can determine if there's a larger issue at play with those symptoms," Ardon says. She advises erring on the side of caution. If your child isn't feeling well, try to find the root cause before sending him or her off to school. MATTOON The Mattoon Fire Department has reported that a recent house fire is suspected to have been caused by arson and that a person of interest in this investigation was later found deceased in a Charleston cemetery. Fire Chief Jeff Hilligoss said in a press release Monday morning that a joint investigation by the Mattoon Fire Department, Mattoon Police Department, and Office of the Illinois State Fire Marshal determined that the house fire Wednesday morning at 805 Moultrie Ave. in Mattoon was suspicious in nature because the evidence at the scene indicates that this fire was intentionally set. The press release said that investigators identified a person of interest in connection with the fire and that the Mattoon Police Department tried to locate this individual. The release said investigators learned that this individual had dropped his pets off Wednesday morning at the Coles County Animal Shelter after the fire was reported. According to the release, a Coles County Sherriffs Office deputy found this individual deceased Saturday morning in Roselawn Cemetery, 1274 W. State St., Charleston. On Monday, Coles County Coroner Ed Schniers reported that the man died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the cemetery. The Mattoon Fire Department reported that it, along with the Mattoon Police Department and the fire marshal's office, will consider this arson investigation closed at this time. The fire department will still be working with the property owner and insurance company throughout the remainder of the insurance company's investigation. "Please keep the family, and property owners in your thoughts and prayers during this most difficult time," Hilligoss said in the release. Q: Is Senior Services doing anything to recognize World Alzheimers Day this year? CR Answer: The month of September is recognized internationally as World Alzheimers Month, a time to educate and raise awareness about Alzheimers disease and other types of dementia. Each year, a designated day is set aside within the month of September as World Alzheimers Day. This year, the theme for World Alzheimers Month is Know dementia, know Alzheimers with a special focus on post diagnosis support. World Alzheimers Day is Sept. 21. Senior Services plans to recognize World Alzheimers Day by kicking off its annual Alzheimers Care 2022 Challenge on Sept. 21 to raise funds that will provide scholarships for people who are living with memory loss to receive necessary care and supervision at the award-winning Elizabeth and Tab Williams Adult Day Center. When a person receives a diagnosis of dementia, there are many things for them and their caregivers to consider, including finding ways to connect to resources and support in the community. Senior Services Williams Adult Day Center is one such resource that provides a safe, fun, and structured day program that brings meaning and friendship to people living with memory loss, while allowing their caregivers to continue to work, run errands, or enjoy a bit of respite from their caregiving responsibilities. In addition to daily programming designed to stimulate the mind and body, participants additionally have the opportunity to enjoy barber/beautician and bathing services. Families and caregivers are encouraged to connect with a support group to help them as they travel the dementia journey with their loved ones. The Alzheimers Care 2022 Challenge is a way that our entire community can get involved with increasing awareness about Alzheimers and other forms of dementia and provide opportunities for individuals who may not be able to afford to attend the Day Center to receive scholarships that will provide them with access to extraordinary care. Senior Services is providing an online platform that allows individuals to create fundraising pages that can be shared with personal contacts and social media networks to invite friends, family, and colleagues to donate funds that go directly to providing scholarships to attend the Williams Adult Day Center. For more information about how you can join Senior Services in recognizing World Alzheimers Day by participating in the Alzheimers Care 2022 Challenge, please visit seniorservicesinc.org/2022-efac or contact Britnee Tellez at btellez@seniorservicesinc.org. Q: Last week, I tripped over a curb and fell while I was out shopping. I only have a few minor scratches, but the experience made me wonder if I should be more concerned about my balance. Do you have any information that will help me identify whether I am at a high risk of falling? FH Answer: Thank goodness that you are OK, but you are not alone. The National Council on Aging (NCOA) estimates that one in four Americans aged 65 or older fall each year, and more than 3 million of those falls result in visits to emergency departments. Falls are not considered a normal part of the aging process, but generally, almost everyone loses some coordination, flexibility, and balance with age and that may increase the risk of taking a tumble. Fortunately, there are resources in place to help older adults identify their risk for falling and practice daily habits that can improve safety and hopefully prevent falls. The National Council on Agings website, ncoa.org/older-adults/health/prevention/falls-prevention, provides several articles to help educate individuals about falls safety along with a free online tool that helps access an individuals risk of falling by answering a few simple questions. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also recommends these tips to older adults: talk openly with their health care providers about fall risks and prevention, begin an exercise program to improve leg strength and balance, replace eyeglasses as needed, and remove clutter and tripping hazards from their environment. Locally, the Piedmont Area Falls Prevention Coalition, Piedmont Triad Regional Council Area Agency on Aging (PTRC), Winston-Salem State University, and AARP are sponsoring Falls Prevention Awareness Week on Sept. 1824. Throughout the week, the PTRC will host a lineup of virtual fall prevention awareness activities that will be streamed live on their Facebook page at Facebook.com/PiedmontTriadRegionalCouncil. The lineup of activities will include: Fall Prevention Awareness Week Kick-Off Monday, Sept. 19 at 10 a.m. Pillars of Brain Health with Mark Hensley, AARP Tuesday, Sept. 20 at 10 a.m. Dementia Related Falls: Prevention Strategies with Evelyn Smith, PBHM Wednesday, Sept. 21 at 11:30 a.m. De-cluttering in the Home with Angie Swann-Jones, AARP at 10 a.m. Is Your Home Accessible for First Call Responders? with Laura Smith, EMS Thursday, Sept. 22 at 10 a.m. Lets Learn About the Matter of Balance Program with MaryLou White, PTRC Friday, Sept. 23 at 10 a.m. For additional information, visit the North Carolina Falls Prevention Coalition website, ncfallsprevention.org/resources/awareness-week. Many residents living near the Winston Weaver Co. fertilizer plant likely were alarmed on the last night of Jan. 31 when emergency responders knocked on their doors and blasted loudspeaker announcements urging them to flee as flames consumed the facility. Looking back on the fire which led to a voluntary evacuation affecting about 6,000 people and threatened to spark what Fire Chief Trey Mayo declared could have been one of the worst explosions in U.S. history what is not surprising is that the areas most at risk were overwhelmingly populated by people of color who live in households with incomes well below average for Winston-Salem. After all, who would ever expect toney residential areas like Brookberry or Buena Vista to face potential obliteration from 500 tons of highly volatile ammonium nitrate stored at a fertilizer plant? Proximity put neighbors near the now-destroyed Winston Weaver facility in peril, just as it exposes Winston-Salem residents like them to the potential health and environmental impacts of industrial operations. In Winston-Salem, 23 U.S. Census tracts include at least one area zoned for the most intense industrial uses, including manufacturing, assembling and fabricating, according to an analysis of Forsyth County land-use maps. Of the nearly 100,000 residents living in those tracts, more than two-thirds are people of color while the combined population outside those areas is majority white. Overall, the average household incomes of Winston-Salem census tracts with general industrial zoning are 42% lower than those without areas designated for heavy manufacturing. And 18 of the 23 tracts with general industrial areas including the one where the Winston Weaver fire took place and two others with borders that come within a few hundred feet of the site qualify for housing tax credits from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development because at least 50% of households have incomes below 60% of the area median. Those figures come as no surprise to observers steeped in the racial and economic dynamics of communities. The statistics, solely based on what you shared, seem to be unfortunately consistent with comparable (census tracts) across the state and country, based on what I have seen and heard, anecdotally and through professional research, said Wanda Allen-Abraha, director of Winston-Salems Human Relations, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Department. Nationally, low-income residents and people of color have long been and continue to be most likely to live near and be adversely impacted by industrial operations and harmed by incidents at those facilities, a 2018 study by the Environmental Protection Agency found. The study also concluded that people in poverty are exposed to more fine particulate matter than those living above the poverty line. The particulates include vehicle fumes, smog, soot, oil smoke, ash and construction dust, all of which have been linked to serious health problems. Nearly 6,000 residents live in the three U.S. Census tracts closest to the destroyed Winston Weaver plant. People of color make up between 81% and 85% of the population in those sections, with 70.6% to 90.6% considered low-income. In the tract that includes the plant itself, there are 1,778 residents, 93% of whom are people of color, and 40% are considered low-income. Residents in those four areas experience rates higher than the state average for cancer, asthma hospitalizations, pre-term births, child mortality and infant death, according to census data. Historic repetition As firefighters worked for days to fully extinguish the flames at the fertilizer plant, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency measured air particulate levels as much as seven times higher than what the agency deems hazardous up to a mile from the plant. The fire and its impact on nearby residents is a tragic example of historic repetition, said Kirsten Minor, health manager at advocacy organization CleanAIRE NC. In Winston-Salem and other North Carolina communities, environmental racism is an all too familiar story. That legacy is inextricably linked to historically discriminatory policies aimed at racially segregating communities. The Federal Housing Administration, a product of the New Deal created in 1934, dovetailed the discrimination codified by earlier Jim Crow laws when it refused to insure mortgages in and near Black neighborhoods a policy that became known as redlining. At the same time, the FHA subsidized builders who mass-produced entire subdivisions for whites with the requirement that none of the homes be available to Black buyers. The areas deemed hazardous and definitely declining on the Winston-Salem redline map developed in the late 1930s largely mirror where general industrial zoning exists today. Supporting documents for that map include a prescient description of pros and cons for the Montview neighborhood, which at the time was at the northern edge of the city. Under the heading Detrimental Influences, a description notes a Fertilizer Plant on the North end and colored population in Southeastern side. A city directory from the 1930s lists Quality Coals Inc., which also sold fertilizer, at 1041 N. Cherry St. Its unclear whether Quality Coals actually is the plant referenced, but the document illustrates that even nearly a century ago, a fertilizer facility was considered a community detriment, along with the specter of Black residents in the vicinity. Catch-all zoning When the Winston Weaver plant was built in 1939 and opened in 1940, it was in Forsyth County but just outside the northern city limits, where no zoning restrictions were in place at the time. While a handful of homes existed around the fertilizer facility in its early years, most were built later. The area around the Weaver plant was annexed by Winston-Salem in the 1960s, and a new zoning ordinance was adopted in 1968, said Chris Murphy, the citys director of planning and development services. Until the citys existing ordinance was approved more than a decade ago, industrial zoning did not entirely protect residents from the potential hazards of factories because the designation was a catch-all for all uses, Murphy explained. If you had the most intense zoning district, obviously it allowed the most intense uses, but it allowed the least intensive uses too, which generally speaking is residential, he added. That planning philosophy is partially tied to Winston-Salems textile and manufacturing roots, much as it is in other Southern cities where companies surrounded their factories with employee housing. Historically in Winston-Salem, industrial zoning existed in both predominantly white and mostly minority areas, noted Assistant City Manager Aaron King. Both communities are dealing with smoke, noise, truck traffic, King added. Those are independent variables. But I think what exaggerated it in communities of color were all those other policies that stacked the deck against them later on. Over time, more affordable homes and property in areas with all-inclusive industrial zoning attracted largely lower-income people of color while more affluent, mostly white residents moved to higher priced neighborhoods, many of which were already segregated as a vestige of redlining. Near the Weaver facility, other industries and residential development followed the plants opening, with most of the homes there today built in the 1940s through the 1980s. That timeline has led to suggestions that neighbors of the plant should have known what they were getting into when they built homes in or later moved to an area where industrial sites already were established, noted Russell Smith, a geography professor at Winston-Salem State University who also manages the Spatial Justice Studio at the Center for Design Innovation. But did they want to live next to a factory? he asked. Or did they move there because its what they could afford? In most cases, they ended up making the least bad decision they could make. And, in the process, those choices perpetuate the historic repetition lamented by CleanAIRE NCs Minor. As the zoning maps and census data confirm, most neighborhoods in Winston-Salem near industrial zoning continue to attract and retain lower-income people of color because they are more affordable than areas with no factories including potentially explosive fertilizer plants. Winston-Salem is in the early stages of updating its comprehensive plan. King, the assistant city manager, insisted that addressing racial disparities in who is most exposed to environmental and health risks posed by industrial facilities must be central to that effort. For us, one of the key things in Winston-Salem is equity, King said. How to make sure we dont repeat the mistakes of the past by putting noxious uses, disproportionately, in communities of color, and thinking critically about that. John Deem covers climate change and the environment in the Triad and Northwest North Carolina. His work is funded by a grant from the 1Earth Fund and the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation. State health officials are cautioning North Carolinians to take precautions to prevent mosquito-borne illness following the confirmation of four cases of West Nile virus. Although the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services declined Monday to identify the four infected individuals, citing healthcare privacy laws, officials said the cases were in several parts of the state. On Sept. 13, the Forsyth County Department of Public Health announced that mosquitoes in the county have tested positive for the virus. Forsyth has not confirmed any local cases of the virus in humans. The last confirmed case in Forsyth was a single infection in November. The mosquitoes tested positive for the virus as part of regular monitoring and testing that the countys Environmental Health Division does every mosquito season. Crews are treating areas where the West Nile-positive insects were found in order to kill the adult mosquitoes. The current case total is double the typical number for this time of year, DHHS said. Fall is when most cases of mosquito-borne illnesses are reported. Most people who contract the West Nile Virus have no symptoms, DHHS said, but rare, serious cases can be deadly. While the most common symptoms of West Nile are mild, about 20% of infected people will develop a fever with other symptoms, such as headache, body aches, joint pains, vomiting, diarrhea or rash. DHHS said about 1% of infections led to serious health conditions, including encephalitis (inflammation of the brain), meningitis (inflammation of the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord) and meningoencephalitis (inflammation of the brain and surrounding tissues). Detecting a number of West Nile virus infections is a reminder to take precautions, especially because there are two months of active transmission season ahead of us, Michael Doyle, the states public health entomologist, said in a statement. DHHS recommends these steps: Use mosquito repellent that contains DEET (or equivalent) when outside in areas where mosquitoes might be present. Use caution when applying insect repellent to children. See EPA.gov/insect-repellents for advice on repellants that will work for you and your family. Install or repair screens on windows and doors to keep mosquitoes outside, or keep windows and doors closed and use air conditioning if possible. Reduce mosquito breeding by emptying standing water from flowerpots, gutters, buckets, pool covers, pet water dishes, discarded tires and birdbaths at least once a week. Other mosquito-borne viruses include eastern equine encephalitis virus and La Crosse virus. Insect repellants are effective against the mosquitoes that carry these diseases. Go to www.NCdhhs.gov and search West Nile or go to www.cdc.gov/westnile for more information. Omans Ministry of Energy an Minerals (MEM) has signed an Exploration and Production Sharing Agreement (EPSA) in the onshore Block 11 with French energy major TotalEnergies and its partners. The first stage of the EPSA activities will see seismic acquisition in late 2022, with a first exploration well planned to be drilled in 2023. TotalEnergies will hold a 22.5% interest in the block, OQ 10% and Shell with 67.5% will be the operator. Block 11 contains undeveloped discoveries and exploration potential. Our recent activities in Oman are a demonstration of TotalEnergies strategy of transformation into a multi-energy company, said Laurent Vivier, Senior Vice President Middle East and North Africa, Exploration and Production, at TotalEnergies. Todays entry into the Block 11 gives us the opportunity to unlock additional potential to meet domestic and export gas demand. It strengthens our strategic relationship with the Sultanate of Oman, as illustrated last December by our entry into the neighbouring Block 10 gas concession, and the start of construction last July of 17-megawatt-peak solar photovoltaic systems providing power to a desalination plant. Salim bin Nasser Al Aufi, Minister of Energy and Minerals in Oman said: There is a continuous focus in MEM on enhancing the natural gas reserves of the Sultanate of Oman through exploration and appraisal activities undertaken by several companies in the country. This agreement strengthens the strategic relations with partners in the sector such as Shell, TotalEnergies, OQ and others to ensure Omans energy security and attract more foreign investment, adding the highest value to the local supply chain. TradeArabia News Service LONDON (AP) The United Kingdom and the world bade farewell to Queen Elizabeth II on Monday with a state funeral that drew presidents and kings, princes and prime ministers and crowds in the streets of London and at Windsor Castle to honor a monarch whose 70-year reign defined an age. In a country known for pomp and pageantry, the first state funeral since Winston Churchills was filled with spectacle: Before the service, a bell tolled 96 times once a minute for each year of Elizabeth's life. Then, 142 Royal Navy sailors used ropes to draw the gun carriage carrying her flag-draped coffin to Westminster Abbey, where pallbearers bore it inside and about 2,000 people ranging from world leaders to health care workers gathered to mourn. Keep scrolling for video and a photo gallery from the day's events The trappings of state and monarchy abounded: The coffin was draped with the Royal Standard and atop it sat the Imperial State Crown, sparkling with almost 3,000 diamonds, and the sovereigns orb and scepter. But the personal was also present: The coffin was followed into the church by generations of Elizabeths descendants, including King Charles III, heir to the throne Prince William and 9-year-old George, who is second in line. On a wreath atop the coffin, a handwritten note read, In loving and devoted memory, and was signed Charles R for Rex, or king. Here, where Queen Elizabeth was married and crowned, we gather from across the nation, from the Commonwealth, and from the nations of the world, to mourn our loss, to remember her long life of selfless service, and in sure confidence to commit her to the mercy of God our maker and redeemer, the dean of the medieval abbey, David Hoyle, told the mourners. The service ended with two minutes of silence observed across the United Kingdom, after which the attendees sang the national anthem, now titled God Save the King. The day began early when the doors of Parliament's 900-year-old Westminster Hall were closed to mourners after hundreds of thousands had filed in front of her coffin. Monday was declared a public holiday in honor of Elizabeth, who died Sept. 8 and hundreds of thousands of people descended on central London to witness history. They jammed sidewalks to watch the coffin wend its way through the streets of the capital after the service. As the procession passed Buckingham Palace, the queen's official residence in the city, staff stood outside, some bowing and curtseying. Mark Elliott, 53, who traveled to London from the Lake District in northern England with his wife and two children to watch the procession, got up at 1:30 a.m. to stake out a good viewing location near the palace. I know we dont know the queen, but shes been our head of state for 70 years, you feel as though you know her, you feel as though shes part of the family. It is kind of moving, he said. Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said in his sermon at Westminster Abbey that few leaders receive the outpouring of love we have seen for the queen. More people lined the route the hearse took from the capital to Windsor Castle, and many tossed flowers at the cortege as it passed. Millions more tuned into the funeral live, and crowds flocked to parks and public spaces across the U.K. to watch it on screens. Even the Google doodle turned a respectful black for the day. As the coffin arrived at the castle, there were poignant reminders of her love of animals: A groom stood at the roadside with one of her ponies, Emma, and another member of staff held the leashes of two of her beloved corgis, Sandy and Muick. During the committal ceremony in St. Georges Chapel on the castle grounds, Dean of Windsor David Conner praised Elizabeth for her life of unstinting service to the nation but also her kindness, concern and reassuring care for her family and friends and neighbors. Then the crown and the orb and scepter were removed from atop the coffin and placed on the altar separating them from the queen for the last time. Her coffin was lowered into the royal vault through an opening in the chapel's floor. Charles looked weary and emotional as mourners sang the national anthem. The queen will be laid to rest later with her husband, Prince Philip, at a private family service. *** VIDEO *** MORE COVERAGE *** PHOTO GALLERY Crete police Monday identified William Seale, 34, of St. Petersburg, Florida, as the victim of last week's skydiving accident at the Crete Airport. In a news release, Crete Police Lt. Gary Young said witnesses reported that tandem skydivers exited an aircraft operated by Skydive Atlas on Thursday afternoon. Their parachute fully deployed, but, "for unknown reasons, the pair did not sufficiently slow their descent as they approached the ground," the release said. Romulo Suarez, 56, of Crete, was taken to Bryan West Campus with life-threatening injuries. Police described Suarez as a "experienced parachutist." In tandem jumps, an experienced parachutist instructor typically is paired with a passenger who signs up and undergoes some limited pre-flight training. The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the accident. As Hurricane Fiona continues to thrash the Caribbean with torrential rain slamming the Dominican Republic on Monday before leaving Puerto Rico without power 45 Nebraskans deployed to the U.S. territory for a search and rescue operation that could last as long as three weeks. The Federal Emergency Management Agency on Sunday night activated Nebraska Task Force 1, an urban search and rescue team of Nebraska-based first responders and private citizens that departed the Lincoln Airport for its mission Monday afternoon. The deployment marks the first time the task force has been activated in more than a year, the first time the group will fly to a disaster site since 9/11 and the first time the force will leave the continental United States for a rescue operation. "We always have the opportunity to go serve neighbors, whether it's in the state of Nebraska for floods, whether it's down in Florida or Texas for hurricanes, and now we just have the opportunity to do it at a greater level," said Capt. Dan Ripley, a Lincoln Fire and Rescue operator who will lead the task force during its deployment in Puerto Rico. "We don't really think about the bad things. We're there to do good things. We're there to be aggressive in what we do, to help people get better, out of situations that this hurricane has placed them in." Ripley, who has previously led the task force in its at-home operation responding to Nebraska's 2019 floods, said the exact nature of the group's mission in Puerto Rico remains fluid, but will "be in the purview of search and rescue." The hurricane, which struck the island's southwest coast Sunday and threatened to dump up to 30 inches of rain Sunday and Monday, has brought flooding and mudslides, destroyed swaths of island roads, enveloped an airport runway and temporarily disabled the territory's power grid. The fraught conditions, Ripley said, are nothing new for the task force. "We're prepared for that," he said. "It's gonna be a state of things that some of us have seen before from prior deployments, but also an opportunity for us to go help those in those situations that are pretty rough." Nebraska Task Force 1 most often travels by ground, as it did to Louisiana last August, carrying with it a hefty cache of tools and equipment used in operations. The task force has slimmed its payload to adapt to air travel, Ripley said, and will rely on FEMA resources to help fill in the gaps once on the island. The task force one of 28 FEMA-affiliated teams across the country includes first responders from Lincoln, Omaha, Council Bluffs, Iowa, Grand Island and Papillion. The task force also includes a doctor, a structural engineer and a pair of K9 handlers. The Associated Press contributed to this report. When Batool Ibrahim, Aiah Nour and Meyri Ibrahim got involved in the Association of Students of the University of Nebraska, they knew that their presence as Black senators would come with challenges. Its a reality that most Black students at predominantly white institutions understand early on, says Meyri Ibrahim. For Nour, her involvement in ASUN began after much encouragement from her best friend, Batool Ibrahim. Meyri Ibrahim and Batool Ibrahim are not related. During her first year in student government, Nour served as chief of employment under then-president Roni Miller. With help from the executive team and the rest of ASUN, Nour says she was proud of how much they accomplished in her first year. But the accomplishments, while sweet, were often difficult to celebrate when the university along with the rest of the country was dealing with racial tensions in the wake of George Floyd's murder at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer. After the summer of 2020, the university made efforts to address the concerns Black students had, including announcing the "journey for anti-racism and racial equity." That effort aims to enhance all students' experiences, emphasize inclusivity, increase the universitys reflection and provide learning experiences about inclusivity to faculty, staff and students. But while the university made efforts to help Black students feel welcome, there were some on campus who expressed their disagreement with the Black Lives Matter movement. On Aug. 27, 2020, four members of the Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity at UNL stole Black Lives Matter signs from a faculty members house. Nour says that this incident, one that many Black students viewed as a hate crime, set off a traumatic semester for her. After the faculty member made a formal complaint, an investigation into the incident began, prompting several meetings with the Interfraternity Council and UNL administration, which Batool Ibrahim and Nour sat in on. According to an email shared with the Journal Star by Alpha Gamma Rho Alumni Board President Tanner Nelson the chapter learned more about diverse backgrounds through Zoom discussions with university representatives, conversations with community members and training experiences. The university declined to comment on the investigation and any punishments handed down. While the university had made multiple statements and commitments to stand by its Black students, Nour believes the incident was not properly handled. I dont want to believe that anybody in the administration was malicious or racist, Nour said. But ... it doesnt happen that way. It happens through acts of neglect and that was the first time I didnt feel safe on this campus. Nour said she thinks there shouldve been clear communication by the administration to all students not just those involved with Greek life about the incident. Being one of the few Black students in the meetings made for an emotionally exhausting year, Nour said. She and Batool Ibrahim felt as if their input wasnt taken into consideration. It wasnt even just so much about the yard signs anymore, Nour says. It was simply the reactions and the way the university was so OK with just throwing out all of their, 'Were committed to anti-racism on campus' sentiments by doing the complete opposite of what Black students need on this campus. Despite that incident, Nour and Batool Ibrahim, they felt as if they could still count on ASUN as a safe space. And it was until it wasnt. During the 2020-21 academic year, Nour and other Black senators felt supported in every bill they presented and every decision they made. But the dynamic of ASUN quickly changed when Batool Ibrahim was elected in April 2021 as student body president and student regent a position that had never before been held by a Black student. Shortly into her presidency, Nour says some senators began questioning Ibrahim. I was reminded daily that I did not belong in this space, Ibrahim said. I was disrespected and humiliated, from colleagues wanting to touch my weave to others telling me I was not fit to be the president. That caused a shift within ASUN, she said. Meyri Ibrahim said ASUN was less efficient than it had been the previous year under Miller. With Batool, there was a lot of questioning being done about her decisions, like why she had appointed so many Black senators to higher positions, Meyri Ibrahim said. I think UNL was ready for its first Black student body president, but I dont think ASUN and certain individuals in it were ready. But despite a year of what some Black senators described as a toxic space to be in, Meyri Ibrahim decided she wanted to continue Batool Ibrahims efforts and ran for office. However, before votes could even be cast, she began experiencing some of the same adversity Batool had during her presidency. Being labeled as loud and opinionated wasnt something new for Meyri Ibrahim, but it was disappointing hearing it from her colleagues, she says. While she did not win the election, her biggest concern was the lack of diversity in the senate that was elected for the 2022-23 academic year. Meyri Ibrahim and other former Black senators worry about whether their efforts on behalf of Black students will continue this year with less diversity in the current senate. Black senators Betty Dessie and Michael Sanders opted not to come back this year after the tumultuous previous year. Nakanda Kairigi is the only current Black senator and that has Dessie concerned. Its hard to implement projects when you dont know what issues are affecting different students," Dessie said. "So thats what I fear with the lack of diversity in this senate, that it wont accurately represent its stakeholders the students." OMAHA An Omaha attorney will spend 100 days in jail, maybe more, after a period of madness that included three DUIs, a handful of domestic disputes and several violations of a protection order his former mistress took out against him. Douglas County Judge Daryl Lowe sentenced Ben Maxell last week to the jail term and extended a probation term to November 2023. Maxell, 46, still faces sentencing for a third DUI, which took place near Red Oak, Iowa, and which could add to his time behind bars. Lowe allowed Maxell to stay out of jail while he gets his affairs in order. He is to report by Sept. 26. Judges typically dont allow defendants that much time. I threw the book at you, Lowe said. But it wasnt a big book. Maxell could have faced more than a year in jail had the judge run the sentences one after the other. Lowes official sentence was 180 days. Because sentences are reduced for good behavior, Maxell will serve about 100 days at the Douglas County Jail. Maxell told the judge that his life began to unravel with the death of his grandfather, essentially his surrogate father. Every three months, he said, something else would happen and he would sabotage himself and jeopardize his career. Maxells law license was suspended in June 2021. A referee with the Nebraska Supreme Court will hear ethics charges against Maxell and recommend anything from reprimand to suspension to disbarment. The high court will then decide. In addition to citing the misdemeanor convictions against Maxell, Kent Frobish, assistant counsel for discipline with the Nebraska Supreme Court, has filed ethics violation charges over allegations that Maxell collected $9,000 of client fees in three different civil cases and did little to no work for the clients. Maxell, an attorney since 2003 who not long ago had his name on the marquee of an Omaha law firm, told the judge that he has lost a lot. He had an affair with a neighbor, ending his marriage. The girlfriend then accused Maxell of drunkenly assaulting her, pouring beer on her, spitting on her and urinating on her and a pile of her clothes. Its just been a nightmare, Maxell said. I should have known better. I was just so lonely and lost. ... I lost tens of thousands of dollars. I have lost, most importantly, my friends. Maxell said a newspaper article on his travails was deeply distressing to some of his relatives. Lowe blanched at that. They suffered because of your actions, the judge said, not because the news media reported his actions. Further, Lowe said, I gave you chances. You didnt take advantage of them. Maxells actions, and second chances, were extensive. According to court records and police reports: At least five times between August 2020 and July 2021, Omaha police and Douglas County sheriffs deputies were called to incidents involving Maxell and the woman with whom he had an affair, a neighbor when Maxell was married. On Aug. 27, 2020, Maxell entered the womans house while she was getting ready for work, threw her on the floor and sat on top of her. A sheriffs deputy wrote that the woman said Maxell put his knees on both of her arms to ensure she couldnt leave and spat on (her) while she was pinned. According to the woman, he then said: It sure would be a shame if there was an accident and you fell down the stairs. On Sept. 25, 2020, Maxell forced open the womans front door, breaking the door frame. The woman said he began physically striking her, pinned her down on the floor and pressed his thumb in the center of her throat, making it difficult for her to breathe, a deputy wrote. On Nov. 27, 2020, the woman told Maxell that she was leaving his hotel room. He grabbed her to pull her back into the room and, as they struggled, Maxell struck the woman in the lip and the eye, possibly with his elbow, the woman said. Omaha police wrote that the woman had a bruise on her lip and her left eye was swollen. In April 2021, the womans 19-year-old son called 911 and reported that Maxell almost killed his mom. The woman later wrote that Maxell waved a screwdriver in her face, stating, I should just kill you! The woman wrote in a sworn affidavit that he took nude photos of her, urinated on my washed hair and spit on me. In addition to those incidents, Maxell was cited for drunken driving three times, twice in Douglas County, and several times for driving while his license was suspended. His blood-alcohol content in one Douglas County case was 0.21%, more than 2 times the legal limit of 0.08%. For the Douglas County driving infractions, John Ashford, an assistant city prosecutor, told the judge: These arent mistakes; these are decisions Mr. Maxell made. This is a jail case. Period. Douglas County prosecutors said they reduced several misdemeanor domestic assault cases against Maxell because of the victims reluctance to testify. Lowe originally gave Maxell probation after he pleaded to a couple of disturbing the peace misdemeanors. Thursday, he pleaded to several probation and protection order violations. Maxell violated the protection order by texting the woman numerous times and begging her back. Prosecutor Rachael Henderson asked Lowe to extend Maxells probation to November 2023 so that he will continue to be under the supervision of the court. At her request, Lowe also required Maxell to participate in a batterers intervention program. Henderson took issue with Maxells attorney, Peder Bartling, telling the court that Maxell was not an accomplished drinker. While on probation, prosecutors say, tests showed Maxell had both alcohol and amphetamines in his system. I would argue that hes accomplished quite a bit while drinking, Henderson said. However, Bartling and Maxell said, the drinking stopped six or seven months ago. Bartling noted that Maxell hasnt failed a urine test during that time span. He has sought therapy for chemical dependency and other issues. The woman who was the subject of Maxells obsession has moved to Texas; the two havent had contact in months, Bartling said. The Nebraska Board of Pardons took less than two minutes Monday to dash the hopes of Earnest Jackson and his family and friends. The three board members Gov. Pete Ricketts, Attorney General Doug Peterson and Secretary of State Bob Evnen voted unanimously to deny Jackson's request for a sentence commutation. The vote was taken without discussion or testimony. Before the vote, Ricketts offered only general comments about the process. He said the board does not take testimony on applications that do not meet the board's guidelines, either because not enough time has passed since completion of the sentence or because of the "gravity of the facts of the conviction." He did not say which situation applied to Jackson. The Omaha man, then 17, was convicted in the September 1999 shooting death of Larry Perry, also 17, near 46th Street and Redman Avenue. Jackson, now 40, and his supporters maintain that he is innocent and is being wrongly imprisoned. They point to the confession of a co-defendant, Shalomar Cooperrider, who testified at his own trial that he was the person who shot Perry. He also said that Jackson did not participate in the shooting. Neither Cooperrider nor the other co-defendant, Danti Chillous, testified at Jackson's trial. Both were tried after Jackson and were acquitted based on self-defense. The Pardons Board decision left Jackson's supporters stunned and frustrated. Many had filled the Capitol hearing room, wearing T-shirts and buttons of support, only to file out as the board took up the rest of the day's cases. "I was hoping they would do something right," said Jason Witmer, a friend of Jackson's and a board member for ACLU of Nebraska. "I've never seen such disrespect." Elizabeth Smith, the mother of Perry's son, said the decision leaves her family without closure. Having Jackson spending years behind bars for a crime she does not believe he committed piles tragedy upon tragedy, she said. Without a pardon and commutation, Jackson is eligible for parole in 2029 and must be released in 2039, at which point he will be 57 years old. "It makes me kind of lose a little faith in the justice system," Smith said. Smith and Michael Hatcher, the son she shares with Perry, wrote letters to the Pardons Board in support of Jackson's request for commutation. She said she had always thought Jackson was innocent but became strongly convinced of that position about 10 years ago after spending time talking with neighbors, friends and family members near the shooting scene. At Jackson's trial, a witness identified him as one of the men who pistol-whipped and shot Perry. The jury convicted Jackson of felony murder but did not find him guilty of an accompanying gun charge. Jackson's former attorney, Jeff Pickens, said that led him to believe the jury had convicted Jackson as an accomplice, rather than as the shooter. But the man who confessed to being the shooter ended up being acquitted. "We have a man in the prison system for a crime that is legally impossible," said Daniel Gutman, Jackson's current attorney. "You cannot be an accomplice to something that is not a crime." Gutman said he's not sure where Jackson and his supporters will go from here but believes something should be done sooner than 2029, when Jackson can seek parole for the first time. Jackson already struck out before the Nebraska Supreme Court, which reviewed the case and upheld the verdict. The court ruled that Cooperrider's testimony "was not newly discovered, but only newly available" and therefore not sufficient to warrant a new trial. State law allows a person to be granted a new trial if there is "newly discovered" evidence that could not have been produced at the original trial. Sen. Justin Wayne of Omaha introduced a bill last year that would have allowed Jackson to win a new trial. LB28 would have expanded the definition of "newly discovered" to include testimony or evidence from a witness who had previously asserted their right not to incriminate themselves. Wayne tried and failed to get his measure amended onto another bill. Sen. Robert Hilkeman of Omaha, the sponsor of the other bill, objected, saying the amendment would draw a gubernatorial veto. LB28 was opposed by the Nebraska County Attorneys Association and the Attorney General's office. When the Nebraska Crime Commission released its 2021 Crime in Nebraska report in July, the reports authors included one crucial caveat to drawing any conclusions from the data: Crime reports from Omaha were missing. The Omaha Police Department has yet to comply with the FBIs National Incident-Based Reporting System, which became the standard for reporting data in January 2021. The Police Department is unable to submit data to be included in official state and national reports until it meets the system requirements. The system requires law enforcement agencies to report much more in-depth data. For example, while summary reporting required only the tallying of the occurrences of certain crimes, under the system, agencies now are required to report incident date and time, demographic details, location data, drug types and quantities and whether the activity was gang-related, according to the FBIs website. The old summary system also allowed reporting of only the most serious crime from each incident, while under NIBRS, all crimes that took place during an incident can now be reported. A total of 18 agencies in Nebraska didnt submit 2021 data to the FBI and are therefore considered noncompliant with NIBRS, according to the crime commissions report, but 17 of those agencies are "very small," with Omaha being the exception. Two of the state's other three largest agencies the Nebraska State Patrol and Lincoln Police Department are compliant with the national reporting standards, but the commissions report stated that the lack of data from Omaha means the 2021 statistics are missing more than 60% of the states crime volume. The lack of a significant portion of the states data could mean eligibility and funding level issues for state and federal grants, and may mean a lack of data from Nebraska in national reports, according to the report. The FBI also has said that it will not publish crime data for states that do not have data representing at least 80% of the states population, according to the report. The Omaha Police Department has had issues working with its field reporting system vendor to make the necessary changes to be NIBRS-compliant. David Van Dyke, the Police Departments deputy director for technology and reporting services, said he thinks the department will meet the new requirements by January. The challenge that large agencies like the Omaha Police Department face is weve gone from a simplified version of what we have to report to a far more complex version, Van Dyke said. Large agencies across the country that have been able to meet the requirements often have had to invest a lot of money into updating their reporting systems, Van Dyke said. While getting up to standard is a priority, Van Dyke said he wants to ensure the Omaha Police Department is using taxpayer money efficiently. Only 62% of the nations agencies are reporting data for 2021, which covers about 65% of the country, according to an article in The Atlantic titled The FBIs Next Set of Crime Data is Going to be a Big Mess. Thirty-nine of the 90 law enforcement agencies in the U.S. that are larger than the Omaha Police Department, which includes two federal agencies, did not report 2021 data, according to the crime commissions report. Van Dyke said the sheer amount of reports a large police department files means making any system changes becomes more difficult. Its a different ballgame for an agency like the Omaha Police Department, Van Dyke said. Versus a smaller agency where they dont do near the volume of reporting that we have to do. The crime commissions report detailed the timeline of the Omaha Police Departments struggles to meet standards. Commission officials declined to comment beyond what was stated in the report. Monthly meetings among Omaha police, the commission, the FBI, and the U.S. Justice Department on the transition began back in September 2019, according to the report. By mid-2021, it became clear that the Police Department might not meet the standards by the end of that year, so the commission began assisting the department to help work toward compliance. The commission had further meetings with Police Chief Todd Schmaderer and the Omaha Mayors Office, the report said. At the commissions September 2021 meeting, members were optimistic with the Police Departments progress toward compliance. Compliance appeared so certain that discussions were underway on how to load data from the rest of the year so that OPD is both NIBRS-compliant and current by the end of 2021, the report stated. However, in October 2021, it became clear that the department had many data-related issues to solve. On Oct. 8, commission staff sent a report to Omaha police detailing 100 errors and 1,227 warnings the department would have to resolve to reach compliance. While the department did correct many of the issues, the standards require agencies to meet a 4% or less error rate with uncorrected data. Ultimately, the commissions director declined to issue a certification letter to the department, as the issues had yet to be resolved. The issue for Omaha police isnt that they arent collecting the detailed data, but that the systems they use dont allow them to share that data in a way thats coded for the system, Van Dyke said. Van Dyke said the Police Department is working with its field reporting vendor, Central Square, to develop a field reporting system that is NIBRS-compliant. Van Dyke said that Omaha police initially had issues getting Central Square to respond to the departments needs, but that by mid-September they had developed a system that would work. The next hurdle, Van Dyke said, will be getting that new system up and running. For the Lincoln Police Department, the transition to NIBRS was more feasible. However, Lincolns and Omahas transitions arent directly comparable, said Brian Jackson, assistant Lincoln police chief. Adjusting to the requirements meant Lincoln police had to rewrite parts of its reporting system and adjust how documents are channeled through the system, Jackson said, but the department was able to make those changes. Van Dyke noted that the Omaha Police Department has been tracking and continues to track all major crime information, and regularly publishes its own data on its website, Van Dyke said. This is not a question of the Omaha Police Department not presenting that information to the public, Van Dyke said. This issue is, are we able to feed it to the FBI so they can see it? While the department still has work to do, Van Dyke said he thinks Omaha police will be on track for certification by the beginning of 2023. State Patrol troopers arrested a California woman near York on Saturday after they found 20 pounds of cocaine concealed inside the seat of her Ford Expedition, the Nebraska State Patrol said. Imelda Ambriz, 34, was stopped for allegedly following a vehicle too closely on Interstate 80 at about 12:30 p.m. Saturday, when troopers "became suspicious of criminal activity" while interacting with the woman amid the stop, the patrol said in a news release. Authorities searched the Los Angeles woman's vehicle and found 20 pounds of suspected cocaine, according to the news release. Troopers arrested Ambriz on suspicion of possession of a controlled substance and possession of cocaine with intent to deliver. She was taken to the York County jail. A coalition of voting rights groups Monday announced opposition to a proposed constitutional amendment that would require Nebraska voters to show a valid photo ID before they could cast a ballot in future elections. Nebraskans for Free and Fair Elections, which includes ACLU of Nebraska, Civic Nebraska, Black Voters Matter, and others, will use social media and direct outreach to voters in an education campaign aimed at defeating Initiative 432 on the Nov. 8 general election ballot. Organizers behind the campaign called "No to 432" said the proposal is an extreme measure that would enact one of the strictest voter ID laws in the country, despite there being no evidence of voter impersonation in the Cornhusker state. The coalition also said a new voter ID law would cost millions in taxpayer dollars to implement and maintain annually while at the same time putting up barriers for Nebraskans who are older, poor, a member of a minority group, or those with disabilities from voting. Whatever the intent of voter ID restrictions, there is a discriminatory impact, said Jane Seu, an attorney with ACLU of Nebraska, who said the added requirement would also inject further complications and frustrations into the voting process. Heather Engdahl, director of voting rights at Civic Nebraska, said Initiative 432 would require the Legislature to determine what constitutes a valid photo identification, which could potentially disqualify between 55,000 and 70,000 residents from voting, based on U.S. Census and Nebraska Department of Motor Vehicles data. College students whose Nebraska-issued drivers licenses dont record their current campus address could be turned away from the polls, for example, or members of the armed forces whose military ID has an out-of-date address. Those on a fixed income, like many senior citizens across the state, may choose to spend their money on food or keeping their lights on rather than buying an updated identification card. One voter turned away is unacceptable, Engdahl said. But tens of thousands? That is extremely unacceptable. It might also put strain on voters in rural areas who must travel long distances to obtain a photo ID, those who would have to take time off from work, or those whose local DMV offices are open for a short time every week. Preston Love Jr., CEO and founder of Black Votes Matter, said the recent push to enact voter ID laws in Nebraska came after a massive turnout by Black and other minority voters led the states 2nd congressional district to cast an Electoral College vote for President Barack Obama. Voter restrictions are rooted in a group or groups who do not want to give up power, Love said. Because they dont want to give up power, they have to restrict the vote of those who can take the power. Thats the bottom line. Still, after more than a decade and nearly a dozen failed attempts at the Legislature, the push to enact voter ID laws in Nebraska led by Sen. Julie Slama of Sterling appears to have significant momentum going into the general election. As of August, Citizens for Voter ID reported $1.7 million in campaign contributions and just less than $1.2 million in expenses, according to the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission. Contributors include $1.5 million from Marlene Ricketts, the mother of Gov. Pete Ricketts; $100,000 from Lincoln businessman Tom Peed; and $100,000 from Peeds business, Sandhills Global. All three donations were made in June. Marlene Ricketts has previously donated $376,000 to Citizens for Voter ID last November, according to campaign finance reports. An army of paid circulators hired by Vanguard Field Strategies crossed the state earlier this year gathering names several accusations about fieldworkers misleading potential signers were reported that ultimately secured 172,000 signatures before the July deadline. On Sept. 6, Secretary of State Bob Evnen a Republican who has supported voter ID proposals on both the campaign trail and at the statehouse announced the petition had enough signatures to qualify for the ballot, and had met the 5% threshold in 38 of Nebraskas 93 counties. A total of 136,458 signatures submitted by Citizens for Voter ID were deemed valid before counting stopped, according to Evnen, above the 124,000 raw number that was needed. The petitions also met the 5% threshold in 76 counties, double the number needed. Engdahl said while the petition drive was successful, Nebraskans for Free and Fair Elections which has not raised any money but has received in-kind contributions from its members believes support for Initiative 432 is a mile wide but an inch deep. Through one-on-one conversations with voters, or in town halls or community talks, as well as social media messaging, the group hopes to go more than an inch deep on the issue and explain to voters why they should vote against Initiative 432, she added. Love said most Nebraskans will have a photo ID and may not see what the big deal is if the law requires them to show it before they vote, but may be persuaded when they learn of the unintended consequences. People dont understand why they would be against it, so we need to let people know whats at stake here, Love said. RTHK: Afghanistan frees American in swap for Taliban ally An American navy veteran detained in Afghanistan since 2020 was released in exchange for a Taliban ally imprisoned in the US for heroin smuggling, US and Afghan officials announced on Monday. The Taliban government freed Mark Frerichs, a navy veteran who was working as a civil engineer on construction projects in Afghanistan when he was detained 31 months ago. The US government meanwhile released Bashar Noorzai, a former regional strongman who was sentenced to life imprisonment in a US court 17 years ago for smuggling large amounts of heroin. "After long negotiations, US citizen Mark Frerichs was handed over to an American delegation and that delegation handed over (Noorzai) to us today at Kabul airport," Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said at a press conference. "We are happy that at Kabul International Airport, in the capital of Afghanistan, we witnessed the wonderful ceremony of one of our compatriots returning home." Frerichs meanwhile flew to Doha, a US official said, adding that he was "in stable health." "Today, we have secured the release of Mark Frerichs, and he will soon be home," President Joe Biden said in a statement. "Bringing the negotiations that led to Mark's freedom to a successful resolution required difficult decisions, which I did not take lightly," he said. Noorzai was welcomed with a hero's fanfare by the government of the newly-styled Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA). Photos show he was greeted by masked Taliban soldiers bearing floral garlands. "If the IEA had not shown its strong determination, I would not have been here today," Noorzai said. "My release in exchange for an American will be a source of peace between Afghanistan and Americans." Noorzai is the second Afghan inmate released by the United States in recent months. In June, Assadullah Haroon was released after 15 years of detention in the United States' notorious Guantanamo Bay prison. Haroon was accused of links to Al-Qaeda but languished without charge for years at the US detention centre in Cuba, after his arrest in 2006 while working as a honey trader. Afghan security analyst Hekmatullah Hekmat said Noorzai's release was a "major achievement" for Kabul's new rulers. "The Taliban can tell their foot soldiers and Afghans that they are able to bring back their people held by opposition groups," he said. Muttaqi said the homecoming of Noorzai marks the beginning of a "new chapter" in relations between Afghanistan and the United States. For Washington Frerichs' release was a priority issue to resolve after US forces withdrew from Afghanistan in August 2021 following the Taliban's seizure of power. The United States and allies have refused to recognise the new government, with Washington repeatedly telling the Taliban that they will have to "earn" legitimacy. Biden had warned in January that the Taliban must release Frerichs "before it can expect any consideration of its aspirations for legitimacy." Noorzai, a militia commander, once fought with US-backed mujahideen forces against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and was a close associate of the Taliban's late founder Mullah Omar. While he held no official position, Noorzai had "provided strong support including weapons" for the Taliban in the 1990s, Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on Monday. After travelling to the United States in 2005 he was arrested, accused of running a "worldwide narcotics network." When released he had served 17 years of a life sentence in a federal prison. Biden, who spoke to Frerichs' family ahead of the release, did not mention the deal involved. But a senior Biden administration official said that the president okayed the swap in June after the Taliban made clear they wanted Noorzai in exchange for Frerichs' freedom. Granting Noorzai clemency and returning him would "not materially change" the situation for Americans or the state of the Afghan drug trade, the US official said. The official said the deal was delayed as Biden ordered the drone strike that killed Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in his Kabul residence on July 31. Immediately after that, Washington quickly resumed pressure on Kabul for the exchange, warning them not to harm Frerichs and that a release could "begin to rebuild trust," the official said. (AFP) This story has been published on: 2022-09-19. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Leading Kuwait-based low-cost carrier Jazeera Airways has announced the launch of two new routes to India - covering the cities of Thiruvananthapuram (formerly known as Trivandrum) and Bengaluru (formerly known as Bangalore) in the southern states of Kerala and Karnataka respectively. The Kuwait-Thiruvananthapuram route will be served on Tuesdays and Sundays, with return flights from Thiruvananthapuram leaving in the early morning of the next days, said the statement from Jazeera. The Kuwait-Bengaluru route will be served on Thursdays and Sundays, with return flights from Bengaluru leaving in the early morning of the next day, it added. On the new flights, Jazeera Chief Executive Officer Rohit Ramachandran, said: "We are pleased to be extending our reach into India by the addition of these two new services, catering to the high demand from the expat and business communities in Kuwait and from other connecting GCC countries for flights." FAIRPLAY, Colo. Forty years of wondering are finally over for the family of Bobbie Jo Oberholtzer. The man who murdered Oberholtzer is going to prison. Probably for the rest of his life. A jury on Thursday found Alan Lee Phillips, now 71, guilty for murdering two women in 1982, 21-year-old Annettee Schnee and Oberholtzer, who was a 29-year-old mother of one when she was shot twice in the back as she was apparently escaping after being kidnapped while hitchhiking near her home in Alma, Colorado. Oberholtzer was born in Racine and graduated from Park High School in 1971 before she relocated to a community near the mountain town of Breckenridge, Colorado. Its been a long 40 years of wondering. I felt so happy for all the officials and sheriffs and detectives and everybody in Colorado who could put this to a close, Oberholtzers sister, Laurie Merlo, of Sturtevant, said in a phone call Monday afternoon. I feel cheated that I had to live most of my adult life without my sister. Her daughter feels the same way, cheated. Law enforcement are describing the late Oberholtzer as a hero. Had Oberholtzer not been brave enough to fight back against her kidnapper like she did, prosecutors said, the case would likely have remained cold permanently. Bobbi Jo was a fighter and is a hero, Linda Stanley, district attorney for the 11th Judicial District, said in a statement. She fought back and because of that we were able to get DNA evidence to convict Annette and Bobbi Jos killer after all this time. The jury deliberated for about five hours before finding Phillips guilty on eight counts, including two counts of first-degree murder, kidnapping and robbery. Merlo was unable to travel to Colorado for the trial and it was not broadcast on TV or online. Upon hearing the verdict, Merlo said she her feelings could be described as being between relief and satisfaction, of finally knowing that he had been convicted on all counts. It was a very emotional thing to hear. Two murders Schnee and Oberholtzer did not know each other, and it does not appear that either knew Phillips. But both women disappeared the same day: Jan. 6, 1982. Phillips had lived free in Colorado for 40 years after the murders without being so much as a suspect. The lack of arrests led to the high-profile killings becoming known as the Rocky Mountain Cold Case. Phillips faces life in prison when he is sentenced at a hearing set for Nov. 7 in Fairplay, Park County, Colorado. A Denver Police detective in retirement continued independently investigating the case, running into endless dead ends and resigning himself to believe that he would likely die before the murders were solved. The detective, Charlie McCormick, was able to get in touch with United Data Connect, a company that performs forensic genetic genealogy analysis. That company used DNA found at the crime scenes to identify Phillips, who was arrested Feb. 24, 2021. Like Oberholtzer, Schnee was believed to have been hitchhiking when Phillips picked them up, kidnapped them, zip-tied their wrists together, and later shot and killed them. He dumped the bodies in different places. Investigators said Phillips was rescued the night that the women disappeared from the top of nearby Guanella Pass when his truck got stuck during a snowstorm, Denver-based KUSA-TV reported. Friends and family discovered Oberholtzers body in a snow drift on the summit of 11,542-foot Hoosier Pass, near Breckenridge, one day after she disappeared. Schnees body was discovered six months later by a boy fishing in a creek in rural Park County. This case being so old, this (verdict) shows theres no case that cant be solved, Deputy District Attorney Mark Hurlbert, who helped prosecute the case, said. After Phillips was arrested, Oberholtzers widower, Jeff Oberholtzer, issued a statement that concluded with the following: I cannot thank enough all who never gave up the search for the truth. They are, without doubt, extremely dedicated and extraordinary individuals. Phillips is finally in the hands of the judicial system. May justice be served. Reporting from the Associated Press is included in this story. RACINE The man accused of using the identities of two other people to obtain their absentee ballots was in Racine County Circuit Court on Monday with some high-profile legal counsel. Michael Gableman is the former justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court who was hired by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos last year to investigate alleged irregularities in the 2020 presidential election a post he was fired from in mid-August. Gableman had endorsed the conservative challenger to Vos, Adam Steen, in a contentious Aug. 9 primary election that Vos narrowly won, after which Vos called Gableman an embarrassment to the state. Despite claims to the contrary, Gableman found no evidence of widespread election fraud that could have swung the 2020 presidential election in Donald Trumps favor. Multiple recounts and studies have affirmed Joe Biden won Wisconsin by a margin of more than 20,000 votes in 2020. Gableman appeared in court Monday on behalf of Harry Wait, 66, who is charged with two felony counts of misappropriating identification information and two misdemeanor counts of election fraud concerning absentee ballots. Wait admitted he requested the absentee ballots of Mayor Cory Mason and Vos. He alleges his intent was not to commit a crime, but to show how easy it was to get someone elses ballot. Wait initially announced his intention to represent himself. Gableman said he learned about the case on Saturday afternoon and that Wait was unrepresented, so he reached out to see if he could assist in the short term. Wait was in court on Monday for a preliminary hearing, but Gableman successfully sought to have the preliminary hearing rescheduled for 2:30 p.m. on Oct. 7. Attorney Gableman is now employed by the Chicago-based Thomas More Society, which bills itself as a nonprofit law firm dedicated to restoring respect in law for life, family and religious liberty. On Monday, Gableman clarified that he has not been cleared by the Thomas More Society to represent Wait for the duration of the trial. Gableman said his role at Mondays hearing was limited to seeking a continuance in order to help Wait find legal counsel. I want to make sure all of his legal rights are safeguarded, Gableman said. Wait is president of the Racine-based HOT (Honest, Open and Transparent) Government group. Its website promotes narratives of election fraud and gives members advice for how they can take back Wisconsin. Earlier this month, Gableman voiced similar sentiments at a dinner hosted by the Republican Party of Outagamie County, where he said a revolution was the only way to keep an honest government, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. Case history According to the criminal complaint, Wait used MyVote.wi.gov to request absentee ballots belonging to Mason and Vos on July 26. Masons ballot was delivered to Waits address in the Town of Dover, but Vos was never delivered. As the two victims of the alleged crime, there is a protection order in place that prevents Wait from interacting with Mason and Vos. Wait previously objected to the order, but was unable to change Judge Robert Repischaks mind. The Department of Justice announced on Sept. 1 that it would be pursuing criminal prosecution in the matter, more than a month after the allegations became public. Wait had sent an email to Racine County officials including Vos and Mason themselves admitting to what he did, sparking rebuke from Vos, a Republican, and Mason, a Democrat. Wait also uploaded videos of himself to the internet using identifying information belonging to Mason and Vos to order the ballots. Conversely, Vos said of Wait, in a statement to the Journal Sentinel: His actions are sad. If election integrity means anything, it means we all have to follow the law Republicans and Democrats alike. Reporting from the Associated Press is included in this article. Two people are dead and two others were transported to a local hospital following a mass shooting that occurred at Roosevelt Road and 23rd Avenue outside the Las Margaritas bar early Sunday, according to authorities. Kenosha Police officers responded shortly before 2 a.m. in the area for a call of four shooting victims, according to Lt. Joseph Nosalik, Police Department spokesman. We had officers in the area that heard gunshots and we also received multiple 911 calls, he said. There are four victims that suffered gunshot wounds, two of those victims died...one victim died at the scene. The other victim died at the hospital. The remaining victims were transported to local hospitals for their injuries, Nosalik said. Their conditions were not immediately known. Specific victim data is not being released at this time, he said. No suspects were in custody. Police scene tape closed off a field in an alley behind 23rd Avenue and Roosevelt Road. Public access from 24th Avenue to 22nd Avenue on Roosevelt was closed for a time and the public was advised to use alternate routes for travel. While the bars open sign was still on, the doors were locked. At the corner, shards of glass accumulated near the buildings. Residents who live in the neighborhood next to the bar said they were awakened by a series of loud popping gun shots. One man who declined to give his name said he feared retaliation. He was planning to move away from the neighborhood. Theres a Dumpster on the driveway right now. Were packing up. Were out of here as soon as we find somewhere else we want to be, he said. The man said he had made the decision after the shooting that injured three people outside the bar on Aug. 20. According to a criminal complaint in the earlier shooting the three people were shot by Damon A. Blakey of Zion, Ill. following a physical altercation. The incident occurred at approximately 1:45 am and the fight reportedly began inside Las Margaritas. Blakey was charged with attempted first-degree intentional homicide with a dangerous weapon, first-degree reckless injury with a dangerous weapon, first-degree recklessly endangering safety with a dangerous weapon and possession of a firearm by an out-of-state felon. The confrontation continued outside onto 23rd Avenue, according to the criminal complaint. Thats when Blakey allegedly opened fire, shooting a man and two women. One of the women was his girlfriend, who he allegedly shot by accident. The neighbor said it was the large pizza-sized pool of blood in our neighbors front yard that convinced him that he needed to find another place to live. What was that? Two, three weeks ago? And now this? he said. Yeah. Anyone with information on Sundays incident is encouraged to contact the Kenosha Police Detective Bureau at 262-605-5203. Callers wishing to remain anonymous may contact the Kenosha Area Crime Stoppers at 262-656-7333. This is an ongoing story. Please check back for updates. 1. Yes. All council members should get a good idea of whats at stake for Fort Hoods future. 2. Yes. Sending a large delegation shows the citys commitment to the Army post. 3. No. Its a waste of taxpayer money. Sending a smaller group would be more efficient. 4. No. Harker Heights and Copperas Cove arent sending anyone. The trip is unnecessary. 5. Unsure. Its hard to say what the value is, before knowing how the conference turns out. Vote View Results NEW YORK Vanessa Nakate's climate activism over the past three years has propelled her to the world stage. Since 2019, Nakate has worked to amplify the voices of African climate activists through a platform she created called Rise Up Movement, spearheaded an initiative to stop the deforestation of African rainforests and launched the Vash Greens Schools Project, which aims to install solar panels in remote areas of her home country, Uganda. These endeavors led UNICEF to announce her as their new goodwill ambassador, with UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell saying Nakate's appointment to the role "will help ensure that the voices of children and young people are never cut out of the conversation on climate change and always included in decisions that affect their lives." Despite the global recognition, Nakate says it's not enough not enough to save the planet or to save the people in the global south she says are suffering significantly from the effects of climate disasters. "For so long the world has ignored what happens in the global south," the 25-year-old Ugandan native told the Associated Press in a recent interview. Fresh off a weeklong trip to Turkana County, Kenya, with UNICEF, Nakate saw the effects of food and water insecurity caused by the worst drought in eastern Africa in four decades. "To go back to the Horn of Africa where I was in Turkana there was a time people talked about it, but now people have forgotten," she said. "It's no longer being talked about, but does that mean that situation has come to an end? No. The drought situation is much worse and many people are suffering right now." Earlier this year, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development warned that higher temperatures and less than normal rainfall were recorded across the African continent by weather agencies, and rains were further expected to fail indicating that countries in East Africa, as well as the Horn of Africa, could be facing the most severe drought in 40 years. Over the years, droughts have led to crop failure, livestock deaths and millions of cases of malnutrition. Countries like Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya could see current famine conditions intensify. "When it comes to the climate crisis, it has different, horrible realities. One of them is that those being impacted the most right now, they are the ones the least responsible," she said. According to the Global Carbon Project, a team of scientists that monitor countries' carbon dioxide emissions, Africa which accounts for about 16% of the world's population is responsible for only 3.2% of the carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere since 1959. Carbon dioxide is the primary contributor to climate change. As a natural greenhouse gas, it traps heat in the atmosphere, which in turn causes global temperatures to rise. Where the African continent is a minor contributor to global carbon dioxide emissions, more industrialized countries such as the United States, Russia and China are greater contributors. For activists like Nakate, tackling the climate crisis isn't just about raising awareness or urging global leaders to make swift policy changes addressing climate change that is devastating countries like Pakistan and Kenya it also requires amplifying the voices of non-Western climate activists, who she said are largely ignored in international conversations about climate change. Looking ahead to COP27 the United Nations' annual climate summit which is being held in Egypt this November, Nakate said she notices a significant deficit during these global discussions: the lack of real human experience. "I think what really misses in these conversations is the human face of the climate crisis and I think its really the human face that tells the story that, tells the experiences of what communities are going through," she said. "It's what also tells the solutions that communities need because many times there's a disconnect between what is being discussed and between what communities are saying." To Nakate, that is a failure of global leadership. She believes leaders, specifically Western leaders, would take immediate action if they could understand and see the hardships people experience as a result of the climate crisis. Ultimately, she said, the responsibility and burden of tackling climate change and ensuring the numerous, nameless faces of the climate crisis are not ignored needs to fall on global leaders not solely the youth that have built a global movement. "The question should be like, what should the leaders do? What should governments do? Because this whole time I've done activism, I have realized the youth have done everything," Nakate said. Still, she said, "In all this, you try to look for the hope because it's in that hope that you find the strength to keep saying we want this or we don't want this." BUREIJ, Gaza Strip Last spring, a Palestinian farmer was planting a new olive tree when his shovel hit a hard object. He called his son, and for three months, the pair slowly excavated an ornate Byzantine-era mosaic that experts say is one of the greatest archaeological treasures ever found in Gaza. The discovery has set off excitement among archaeologists, and the territory's Hamas rulers are planning a major announcement in coming days. But it is also drawing calls for better protection of Gaza's antiquities, a collection of fragile sites threatened by a lack of awareness and resources as well as the constant risk of conflict between Israel and local Palestinian militants. The mosaic was uncovered just a half-mile from the Israeli border. The floor, boasting 17 iconographies of beasts and birds, is well-preserved and its colors are bright. "These are the most beautiful mosaic floors discovered in Gaza, both in terms of the quality of the graphic representation and the complexity of the geometry," said Rene Elter, an archaeologist from the French Biblical and Archaeological School of Jerusalem. He said the mosaic dates back to a time between the 5th and 7th centuries. But he said a proper excavation must be conducted to determine when exactly it was built and whether it was part of a religious or secular complex. Elter, who has conducted research in Gaza in the past, has not been able to visit the site but viewed photos and videos taken by local research partners. The Gaza Strip, a Palestinian coastal enclave sandwiched between Israel and Egypt, was a bustling trade route between Egypt and the Levant in ancient times. The coastal strip is full of remains of ancient civilizations, from the Bronze Age to the Islamic and Ottoman eras. However, the treasures are rarely protected. In the past, they were looted. In recent years, some were damaged or destroyed by development projects or fighting with Israel. An Israeli-Egyptian blockade imposed after the Hamas militant group took over Gaza in 2007 has ravaged the economy, leaving few resources for the protection of antiquities. Hamas itself pays little attention to preserving the sites as it struggles to meet the needs of a rapidly growing population. More than 2.3 million people are squeezed in the 115-square-mile strip. In 2017, Hamas bulldozers destroyed large parts of a site containing remains from a 4,500-year-old Bronze Age settlement to make housing projects for its employees. Early this year, bulldozers digging for an Egyptian-funded housing project in northern Gaza unearthed a Roman-era tomb. Among the few preserved sites in Gaza are the St. Hilarion monastery, which spans from the late Roman Empire to the Islamic Umayyad period, and the site of a Byzantine church that was restored by international aid organizations and opened this year in the northern Gaza Strip. While these sites also have mosaics, Elter said the latest discovery, in the central Gaza town of Bureij, is "exceptional." The Hamas-run department of antiquities described the mosaic as "a big archaeological discovery" but refused to comment further, saying there will be a formal announcement later. The owner of the land, who refused to be identified before the official announcement, has covered the unearthed portion of the mosaic floor with tin sheets. He said he hopes to receive compensation for protecting the unique discovery on his property. The patch of land holding the mosaic is about 5,400 square feet, and three dug-out spots reveal glimpses of the mosaic. The largest of the holes in the ground, about 6 by 9 feet, has the 17 drawings of animals. The other two show intricate patterns of tiles. Roots of an old olive tree have damaged parts of the mosaic, which appears to be about 250 square feet altogether in size. Elter said the discovery is in "immediate danger" because it is so close to the Israeli separation fence. Such areas along the fence are often the scene of intermittent clashes or Israeli incursions. Just last month, Israel and Gaza's Islamic Jihad militant group fought a fierce three-day battle that included Israeli shelling of militant posts and the landing of some misfired Palestinian rockets in the area. Elter also worries that excavations by inexperienced people could damage the site. His hope is a professional team can properly excavate, restore and protect the mosaic. "It is imperative to quickly organize an emergency rescue intervention," he said. WASHINGTON Sen. John Cornyn of Texas and 32 other Senate Republicans demanded special counsel powers for the prosecutor investigating Hunter Biden, warning Attorney General Merrick Garland to take steps needed to avert political meddling on behalf of the presidents son. There is no way of knowing the entire scope of the investigation, but evidence seems to be mounting that Hunter Biden committed numerous federal crimes, including, but not limited to, tax fraud, money laundering, and foreign-lobbying violations, the senators wrote in a letter released Monday by Cornyns office. Fox News, CNN and other major news outlets reported two months ago that the federal investigation into Hunter Bidens business activities was at or near a critical juncture, with prosecutors weighing the possibility of charges. The probe began during the Obama era as a tax inquiry, and widened in 2018 during the Trump administration. The inquiry is led by the U.S. attorney in Delaware, David Weiss, a Trump appointee one of the few kept on by Biden, in part to avoid any appearance of political meddling. House Republicans have announced they will launch investigations into Hunter Biden if they win the majority in Novembers elections, including whether his dealings with a Chinese energy company and other international businesses created conflicts for his father. It is clear that Hunter Biden thrived off of a pay to play culture of access to his father, then Vice President Joe Biden in exchange for financial compensation, Cornyn and his colleagues wrote in the letter, which is dated Friday. No evidence has surfaced to indicate that President Joe Biden benefited from his sons dealings. Given that the investigation involves the Presidents son, the letter from Cornyn says, we believe it is important to provide U.S. Attorney Weiss with special counsel authorities and protections to allow him to investigate an appropriate scope of potentially criminal conduct, avoid the appearance of impropriety, and provide additional assurances to the American people that the Hunter Biden investigation is free from political influence. Cornyn is the lead signatory, along with Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. Texas junior senator, Ted Cruz, also signed on, as did 17 of the 50 GOP senators. Garland and the White House have long rejected assertions of politicization of the Justice Department. Conservatives have leveled those assertions in the context of the Hunter Biden probe and, among other instances, inquiries into the mob attack at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Mondays letter cites the FBI raid on former President Donald Trumps private home and office, where agents found reams of official documents, some classified. The letter also accuses Garland of targeting parents who resisted mask mandates and the purported inclusion of critical race theory in school curricula; and Republican-controlled states that have tried to impose an assortment of ballot integrity measures seen as voter suppression by Democrats. In a July 25 letter to Garland and FBI director Christopher Wray, Grassley asserted that whistleblowers told his office that there was a scheme among certain FBI officials to undermine derogatory information connected to Hunter Biden by falsely suggesting it was disinformation. That was in the months leading up to the 2020 election, when Trump was still president and the Justice Department and FBI were run by his appointees. Cornyn, Grassley and their colleagues cited that allegation in the new letter to Garland. As detailed by Senator Grassley, highly credible whistleblower have come forward to detail a widespread effort within the FBI to downplay or discredit negative information about Hunter Biden, the letter reads, accusing Garland of deterring lawful whistleblower activity by issuing a memo three weeks ago requiring preapproval before Justice Department employees can have direct contact with members of Congress. Rotana, one of the leading hotel management companies in the region with over 100 properties across the Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe and Turkiye, announced the opening of two new hotels under its latest brand, Edge by Rotana. Arabian Park Hotel and Damac Hills 2 Hotel will open in October 2022 and November 2022, respectively, it was revealed at the Future Hospitality Summit (FHS) today. Launched in May 2022, Edge by Rotana is a collection of independent properties that maintain their individuality while receiving access to the groups extensive network and systems. Through a four-pillared approach, Edge by Rotana ensures performance remains at the forefront while maximising revenue and establishing loyalty. Guy Hutchinson, President and CEO of Rotana, said: We are excited to announce the upcoming opening of two new Edge by Rotana managed hotels in Dubai. The new properties will add 623 keys to our growing portfolio and further diversify our offering to respond to increasing demand. The tourism sector is thriving with global events around the corner and we look forward to new developments as we remain on track with our expansion plans. Set to launch in October 2022, Arabian Park is an Edge by Rotana managed hotel located in the thriving Al Jaddaf district, a premier business and lifestyle community connecting old and new Dubai, offering guests convenience, leisure, and meeting facilities. With 328 bright and modern hotel rooms, all designed with the latest in-room technology and comfort, with a pool or city view, the newly refurbished hotel is ideal for business or leisure groups. Guests can indulge in an all-day dining restaurant serving breakfast, lunch and dinner, Cheers Pub with a variety of bar bites, mocktails and cocktails to choose from, a Deli with 24 hours takeaway service and a Pool Bar. The hotel also offers two meeting rooms, ideal for small business groups. The three-star hotel is adjacent to the five-star luxurious Al Jaddaf Rotana Dubai and close to the upscale Culture Village, as well as major malls and attractions including Dubai Festival City, Dubai Frame and Dubai Mall as well as being located just ten minutes by road from both Dubai International Airport and Dubai International Financial Centre. Opening in November 2022, Damac Hills 2 Hotel is located in Akoya Oxygen, a community for families, away from the bustle of the city and in one of the greenest places in Dubai. The Edge by Rotana managed hotel distinguishes itself with 295 modern and fully-equipped rooms offering guests convenience and comfort. Dining facilities include Urban Bar and Deli, a casual cafe serving breakfast, lunch and dinner, and a Pool Bar offering curated drinks and delectable bites. The three-star hotel also offers a comprehensive range of amenities including a fully equipped modern gym, outdoor swimming pool, kids pool, and three meeting rooms. FHS provides the ideal platform to announce our new properties as it gathers industry peers to advance the conversation on the future of travel. Launching in two vibrant locations in Dubai, both hotels will welcome guests to a modern way of living matched with convenience and comfort ensuring the delivery of our brand promise Treasure Time, said Hutchinson. Rotana currently operates 71 hotels in the Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe and Turkiye, serving more than six million guests per year, including an impressive 10,012 keys across 36 hotels in the UAE alone. With an immediate pipeline of nine hotels scheduled to open before the end of 2023, the hospitality group is on track to expedite landmark developments and hotel singings in line with the UAEs vision to become a world-leading travel destination, said a statement. TradeArabia News Service Paralyzed from the neck down, downtown Milwaukee resident Martha Chambers has difficulty voting. She can use a mouth stick to mark her ballot and sign her name on an absentee ballot, but she has no way of folding the ballot, slipping it back in the envelope or returning it to the mailbox. Driven by its conservative majority, the Wisconsin Supreme Court in July outlawed assistance in the absentee voting process. After that decision, Chambers worried that her caregiver who also gets her out of bed in the morning, brushes her teeth and puts her clothes on for her could become a criminal for ensuring she can participate in the democratic process. Chambers said she was effectively disenfranchised. It was just sad, she told Stateline. There were a lot of voters with disabilities saying, What do I do? Chambers was one of four voters with disabilities who sued the Wisconsin Elections Commission in July in federal court, asking to reverse the ruling. In late August, Chief U.S. District Judge James Peterson ruled the state Supreme Courts decision violated Chambers rights guaranteed under federal law. Voters shouldnt have to choose between exercising their federal rights and complying with state law, Peterson wrote in his decision. The ruling in Wisconsin was one of two big legal victories in federal court for voters with disabilities this summer. In June, U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman struck down parts of a Texas law that forbid certain assistance for voters with disabilities and voters with limited English proficiency. The cases are part of the larger, ongoing battle over voting access. More than 20 Republican-led states enacted a wave of barriers to the ballot process in the past two years, making voting especially by mail more difficult in the name of preventing voter fraud, which is rare in the United States and did not affect the results of the 2020 presidential election. Voting rights advocates have challenged many of the laws. Protecting voting rights for people with disabilities is one of the few areas in which theyve had success and even found some consensus. After many difficult months of voters with disabilities trying to navigate restrictive new voting laws, these legal victories are welcomed, said Rebecca Cokley, program officer for U.S. disability rights at the Ford Foundation, a New York-based philanthropy that provides grants to organizations that lead voting efforts for people with disabilities. Anything that maintains the right of disabled people to be able to cast a ballot and to participate in the fundamental cornerstone of democracy is a win, she said. Cokley, who is a little person, knows that something as simple as the height of tables at polling places can easily hurt her ability to vote. Disabilities are diverse and affect 38 million voters nationally, she said. Disability rights advocates hope these victories set a legal precedent for residents in other states to successfully challenge new restrictive voting laws. The case in Wisconsin stemmed from a lawsuit filed by the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty in 2021 in Waukesha County Circuit Court on behalf of two voters. In 2020, the states elections commission had issued guidance encouraging the use of ballot drop boxes because of the health threat of voting in person during the COVID-19 pandemic. Third-party assistance for returning ballots for disabled voters had been a precedent in place for decades. The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty argued there was nothing in state law that allowed anyone other than a voter to return an absentee ballot or that allowed for ballot drop boxes. Allowing others to collect and turn in ballots could open the voting system to fraud, the institute argued. The conservative majority of the court agreed, making it illegal to use most of the states 528 ballot drop boxes and to receive assistance from others in returning absentee ballots. An absentee ballot must be returned by mail or the voter must personally deliver it to the municipal clerk at the clerks office or a designated alternate site, wrote Justice Rebecca Bradley in the majority opinion in July. But that is impossible for Timothy Carey, an Appleton, Wisconsin, resident who has Duchenne muscular dystrophy and lives on a ventilator. His nurse assists in most aspects of his life, including helping fill out his absentee ballot. He was one of the four plaintiffs who sued the Wisconsin Elections Commission, represented by Law Forward, a Madison-based litigation firm, after the state Supreme Court ruling. That just wasnt right, Carey said in an interview. I wanted to make sure that we dont have to break the law in order to exercise our right to vote. By limiting the state courts decision last month, federal Judge Peterson restored some of the dignity theyre due in an open democracy, said Scott Thompson, staff counsel at Law Forward. It was truly a defense of the right to vote, he said. Extreme conspiracy theories are driving policy change. In Wisconsin, voters with disabilities paid the price. They were literally almost disenfranchised. But the federal ruling did not address the state courts decision to ban the use of drop boxes, effectively keeping them illegal. Luke Berg, deputy counsel at the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, said his organization did not disagree with the federal ruling. If a voter is unable to mark their ballot, they should have assistance, he said. But he emphasized that third-party assistance should be granted only for voters with disabilities. ALBANY, N.Y. Museums in New York that exhibit artworks looted by Nazis during the Holocaust are now required by law to let the public know about those dark chapters in their provenance through placards displayed with the stolen objects. At least 600,000 pieces of art were looted from Jewish people before and during World War II, according to experts. Some of that plunder wound up in the world's great museums. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a law in August requiring museums to put up signs identifying pieces looted by the Nazis from 1933 through 1945. The new rule comes as many museums in the U.S. and Europe reckon with collections that contain numerous objects looted from Asia, Africa and other places during centuries of colonialism. It isn't clear how many pieces of art now on display will wind up being labeled as Nazi loot, and disagreements have already arisen over certain artworks with a complicated history. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York City, said it identified 53 works in its collection as having been seized or sold under duress during the Nazi era. All of those objects were obtained by the museum after being returned to their rightful owners. But Andrea Bayer, the museum's deputy director for collections and administration, said the public still should know about their history. "People should be aware of the terrible cost to people during World War II as these confiscations took place, and how these peoples' treasures that they loved and had been in their families, had been torn from them at the same time their lives were disrupted," she said. The museum, however, does not intend to put up such a sign on a Picasso painting called "The Actor," which it received as a gift in 1952. That painting was once owned by Jewish businessman Paul Leffmann, who fled Germany first for Italy, then ultimately to Brazil to escape the Nazis. As Leffmann liquidated assets in 1938, he sold the painting to Paris art dealers for $13,200. Leffmann's great-grandniece, Laurel Zuckerman, sued the Metropolitan Museum in 2016, claiming it was a bargain-basement sale price that reflected the family's desperation to flee Europe. The museum countered that the price was actually high for an early Picasso at the time. A U.S. court eventually dismissed the lawsuit. Lawrence Kaye, one of the lawyers who represented Zuckerman, said that despite that outcome, the museum should still put up a placard with the painting's disputed history. "I believe the law would cover this piece. It was dismissed on technical grounds and I believe under the broad definition of what this law means under the statute, it should be covered," Kaye said. Researching the provenance of an object has gotten easier in the digital age and some museums have launched efforts to identify artworks with a problematic ownership history. New York law already required museums to report works believed to have been stolen during the Nazi period to the Art Loss Register, the world's largest database on stolen art. A U.S. law passed in 2016 provides victims of Holocaust-era persecution and their heirs a fair opportunity to recover works of art taken by the Nazis. "This law did things legally that made it possible for people to make claims and sue," said Wesley Fisher, the director of research for the Claims Conference, a group that represents the world's Jews in negotiating for compensation for victims of Nazi persecution and their heirs. "It isn't perfect, but it's better," he said. In 2018, New York City's Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum returned an Ernst Ludwig Kirchner painting titled "Artillerymen" to the family of Jewish art dealer Alfred Flechtheim, who was forced to abandon his collection after fleeing Berlin in 1933. A Guggenheim spokesperson said the museum is not aware of any other work in its collections that was looted by Nazis, but is continuing its research. While signage for Nazi-looted artwork is a policy unique to New York, other U.S. museums have undertaken efforts to trace the origin of potentially stolen artworks. Boston's Museum of Fine Arts launched a Nazi-era provenance research of their artwork in 1998, where they identify objects in the collection that were lost or stolen during the Nazi era and never returned to their rightful owners. The Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles researched German art trade between 1900 and 1945 and now provides digital access to auction sales catalogs related to Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. In the last two decades, the Metropolitan Museum of Art has returned or reached settlements on 10 artworks that changed hands during the Nazi period, including a Claude Monet painting. New York Sen. Anna M. Kaplan, who sponsored the legislation, said the new law is partly about educating younger people unfamiliar with the Holocaust. "Because the survivors of the Holocaust are a generation that is dying out, this becomes much more important," said Fisher, of the Claims Conference. "The object become much more important. The idea that students and general public should go through museums to understand where these items come from, is important." RALEIGH, N.C. Nearly six years after flood damage from Hurricane Matthew displaced Thad Artis from his home in Goldsboro, North Carolina, he has still not been placed in permanent housing. Living alone in a motel for the last two years, growing increasingly frustrated with what he considers empty promises of swift action from government officials, the 68-year-old spends every penny on his wifes health care after a stroke left her unable to walk. Before he moved his wife into an assisted living facility, the two lived in their decaying house, roughly an hour southeast of Raleigh by car, for several years after the storm both developing respiratory illnesses as mold spores grew in the ceiling and bird droppings spattered atop their leaking roof. Roaches and other creepy crawlies inhabited the kitchen floorboards. The back of the house was so rotten, Artis said, that the washroom was about to fall through the floor. We stayed sick for a year, he said. The house and all the furniture, its gone, its rotten. We aint got nothing. I take everything I can get right down the road to see her, to take care of her. I dont give up because I got to help my wife. Waiting on an unfinished modular home in nearby Pikeville, Artis is among hundreds of low-income homeowners enrolled with the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency who live in temporary accommodations years after the 2016 storm and Hurricane Florence in 2018. A new bipartisan General Assembly committee tasked with investigating these delays in disaster relief recently held its first meeting the four-year anniversary of when Florence made landfall in North Carolina. Co-chair Rep. John Bell, a Wayne County Republican whose district along the Neuse River incurred some of the worst flood damage statewide, said hes seeking accountability on behalf of displaced constituents like Artis. We had to deal with multiple hurricanes, tropical storms and a pandemic, but those are the realities, not the excuse, Bell said. Weve been back and forth on this issue for years now. It never shouldve gotten to this point. While meteorologists say the Atlantic hurricane season has been quiet this year a record-tying zero storms formed in August residents of storm-prone Southeastern states remain vigilant. Still working through long-term repairs from Matthew and Florence, North Carolina officials say recent labor shortages and supply chain issues have exacerbated the existing challenges. Laura Hogshead, director of the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency, said complications brought on by COVID-19, compounded by rising prices and high demand for contractors, slowed efforts to make homeowners whole. I cannot overstate the impact of the pandemic, particularly on construction, she said. It doesnt matter how good your general contractor is. If you cant get windows, you cant get windows. Construction holdups have left some funding recipients like Artis in short-term lodging for months or longer. Hogshead said that is partially the result of two manufactured housing vendors pulling out of contracts with the state in 2021 and 2022 as unit prices soared. North Carolina's legislature created NCORR in 2018, in part to distribute what became $778 million in federal recovery funds awarded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for Matthew in 2017 and Florence in 2020. The agency committed more than 60% of these funds to support homeowners, with about $231 million actually spent so far. Under federal mandate, the money must be spent by mid-2026. Funds are used to make major repairs or replace homes owned by low-income families in counties battered by both storms. They also support affordable and public housing projects that are less susceptible to flooding. Expending these funds isnt designed to be easy, with multiple safeguards to ensure they're spent properly. Homeowners must navigate an eight-step process designed to ensure they qualify and havent already received similar disaster money. It includes an environmental review of their damaged property, followed by a grant award, contractor selection and construction. Of the nearly 4,200 Homeowner Recovery Applicants since Matthew money arrived, nearly 800 projects are completed, according to NCORR. But Hogshead said additional applicants now more than 1,100 are either waiting to find a contractor willing to take on a government-funded project with its additional paperwork, or for the contractor to begin work. As of Sept. 13, 294 applicants currently waiting for repairs or a replacement manufactured home were living in temporary accommodations often a rental property or hotel. Shiletha Smith, 68, has inhabited her damaged home in Fremont a five-minute drive north of Pikeville since Hurricane Matthew flooded the property in 2016. Smith said she is finally moving into a hotel so construction can begin. With another hurricane season in full swing, Hogshead said she's always checking the tropics for developing storms that could cause further damage or delays. The thing I really worry about is another storm, she said. Upsetting this apple cart in the middle of construction is the X-factor that none of us can control. IRONWOOD FOREST NATIONAL MONUMENT, Arizona After strapping on knee-high snake guards and bowing his head to invoke Gods protection, Oscar Andrade marched off into a remote desert at dawn on a recent Sunday to look for a Honduran migrant missing since late July. The Tucson-based Pentecostal pastor bushwhacked for three hours in heat that rose above 100 degrees, detouring around a mountain lion, two rattlesnakes and at least one scorpion, before taking a break to call the aunt of another missing man. Andrade believed he found the young mans skull the previous day. Much strength, my dear sister, Andrade told her. Sometimes we dont understand, but there is a reason that God allowed this. On the fourth search for that 25-year-old man from the Mexican state of Guerrero, the pastor and his Capellanes del Desierto (Desert Chaplains) rescue and recovery group found his ID card in a wallet 40 feet away from a skull and other bones, picked clean by animals and the relentless sun. Since March, Andrade has received more than 400 calls from families in Mexico and Central America whose relatives sick, injured or exhausted were left behind by smugglers in the borderlands. Forensic experts estimate 80% of bodies in the desert are never found, identified or recovered. But those that are, added to massive casualties like 53 migrants trapped in an abandoned trailer in San Antonio, Texas, in June and nine migrants swept away in the Rio Grande this month, point to one of the deadliest seasons on record on the always dangerous Southwest border. Fragile economies pummeled by the pandemic in Latin America, ruthless trafficking networks that control virtually all illegal crossings, and shifting U.S. asylum policies that affect migrants of different nationality and family status in drastically different ways all contribute to the toll as does the Southwests extreme heat. Andrade, his group, and an Associated Press journalist accompanying them on the six-hour search quickly came across evidence of distress on this popular smuggling route abandoned backpacks and half-full water jugs, several days walk from the closest towns. To be out in the desert is more difficult than to be in a church, said the 44-year-old pastor and father of three teens. Our commitment is firstly with God, and with the families. The group didnt find the missing 45-year-old Honduran, but planned to look again; it usually takes several trips to find remains in this desert. Its one of the deadliest corridors, according to aid groups and the U.S. Border Patrol, for migrants who, fearing being rejected under a pandemic provision called Title 42, try to evade authorities instead of turning themselves in right after crossing or applying for protection legally. From staging camps guarded by cartel scouts in areas where the border has no fencing or bollard barriers, the migrants walk north for more than a week. They have to cross dozens of miles of desert mountains and dry washes before reaching major highways where smugglers vehicles will take them to destinations across the United States. Once a person told me, How can I believe, look where my brother is, who always did praise and worship, Andrade recalled during the recent search. For God, there are no mistakes. Yes, there are painful things, like the young man from yesterday, who died because of some blisters. Faith often motivates volunteer organizations providing aid along the border. The Capellanes, who search for the missing at least once a week, pray with the grieving families and dont charge them for the searches. They work closely with law enforcement, notifying the Border Patrol of every search and then local authorities if they find human remains, as they have nearly 50 times. Even then, the migrants body still has a long journey home. It takes time for authorities to retrieve the remains, which are then subject to forensic analysis to determine the cause of death and identification. The medical examiner office for Pima County, covering migrant deaths also in two adjacent border counties in southern Arizona, received 30 migrant bodies found in July alone, about half of them dead less than three weeks, said Mike Kreyche of Humane Borders, an aid group that maps border deaths. That puts 2022 on track to match the past two years, when cases were almost double other years in the last decade recorded by the office. Along the entire US-Mexican border, since last fall Customs and Border Protection agents stopped migrants for crossing the border illegally more than 1.8 million times, historically an extraordinarily high number. The agency recorded 557 Southwest border deaths the previous year, the highest since it began tracking them in 1998. Given how quickly a body decomposes in the desert, unless its found within a day of dying, identification might require expensive DNA analysis, said Dr. Greg Hess, chief medical examiner for Pima County. The desert does a good job covering up crimes, said Mirza Monterroso, the missing migrant program director for the Colibri Center, a Tucson-based group that has recorded 4,000 missing migrants 1,300 in Pima County alone from reports from 14 countries and 43 U.S. states. Unless there's a lucky break, like dental records, it might take up to a year to confirm if the remains Andrade found are indeed the young Mexican mans, Monterroso said. A 38-year-old father of two from Mexico City nearly died the same way last week after he developed debilitating foot blisters near the Baboquivari Peak, just 14 miles north of the border in Pima County. Without food or water, he called 911 and was helped down the mountain by Daniel Bolin, an agent with the Border Patrols search, trauma and rescue team who said this was his fifth rescue this year in the same spot. Facing almost certain expulsion to Mexico, the man, who gave his name as Leonardo, said he came to the United States after losing his business during the pandemic. But now I dont think Ill come back here. Im too old to walk, he said. Asked about his future, he murmured I dont know and burst into sobs. KEARNEY First the bad news. Owner Jim Gardner will close Kearneys popular Old Chicago Pizza and Taproom on Oct. 2. The good news? Gardner will remodel the building and in February hell reopen the location at 115 Second Ave. as Nebraska Ale Works. He describes his plan for Nebraska Ale Works as a little bit of this, a little bit of that and a little bit of the other thing. Its our own concept. As the name suggests, Nebraska Ale Works will feature local brews. Gardner said hes confident all the regionally-brewed selections will enhance the appeal of the Ale Works menu that will feature local foods and recipes. Were excited about this, Gardner said Friday. He has been involved in numerous restaurants in Nebraska and the Midwest. Any history of the restaurant scene in south Kearney would include references to Gardner. He got his toe into the industry as a dish washer, and, at age 23, he bought the former Country Kitchen at 407 Second Ave. for $450,000 in 1979. Later the location was reborn as Whiskey Creek. Of all the places hes owned or operated during his 47 years of restaurant ownership, he said Whiskey Creek remains his favorite. The dining room has never changed or been remodeled, and many of Gardners guests in the Midwest plan vacations around a stop at the wood-fired eatery. Whiskey Creek will have a role in the launch of Nebraska Ale Works. Gardner said he recently informed the staff at Old Chicago about the closure and remodeling plans. He said some of the Old Chicago staff will temporarily be absorbed into the Whiskey Creek operation, and when the new place opens in February, theyll become members of the Nebraska Ale Works staff. Whiskey Creek will also serve as the temporary repository for the large pewter beer mugs at Old Chicago. Members of Old Chicagos World Beer Tour will be able to fill their mugs at Whiskey Creek for the price of a pint, Gardner said. Age 66, Gardner said looming retirement figured in his plans for Nebraska Ale Works. It was time to renew the franchise for Old Chicago, but he was ready for a change, so he brought in a partner, restaurant veteran, Robby Yendra, to run the Ale Works. Gardner is confident in Yendra, a Kearney native. Among his achievements, he managed the highest volume Famous Daves barbecue restaurant in Lincoln. For the past five years, he worked for Pepper Jax Grill based in Kearney, Gardner said. I have a lot of faith in all my guys and gals who work with me. Its really important to be with people you trust, he said. Gardner was just 15 years old when he became a dishwasher, but his food service experience started sooner than that. Gardner grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and sold hot chocolate in the shadow of Metropolitan Stadium, previous home of the MLBs Minnesota Twins and NFLs Minnesota Vikings. That was right where they built the Mall of America. If you go there, they still have home plate where it was at the stadium, Gardner said. The Bad Axe River Watershed Council will meet on Thursday, Sept. 22, at Steve Olivers farm, at E3848 Highway 56, Genoa, for a presentation on the roller crimper led by Ben Wojahn, Vernon County Conservationist. Also, save the date for their meeting on Saturday, Oct. 22, from 1-3 p.m., for a farm tour and presentation on prairie strips. They will meet at Dave Van Dykes farm where he has several Prairie STRIPS of different ages. Dave Krier, Valley Stewardship Network, will be the guest speaker. Classes will be held as scheduled Monday at Logan High School after an investigation this weekend cleared the building for staff and students. Here is the full correspondence sent to families this afternoon the La Crosse School District and signed by Logan Principal Wally Gnewikow. "Dear Logan High School students, families, and staff, We want to give you an update regarding this weekends investigation into the threat toward Logan High School. The building has been cleared and deemed safe for staff and students. Regular classes will proceed tomorrow. The La Crosse Police Department along with our districts Technology Services staff have been working diligently throughout the weekend. The investigation is still open, and we will continue to use all avenues to find the source of the threat. Please continue to have conversations with your student regarding school safety and the importance of informing adults when they see something out of the ordinary. Counselors and student services personnel are always available to talk with students who would like additional support. We are working on a makeup date for the homecoming dance which will be based on building availability, activities, and input from students. Thank you for your continued support, Wally Gnewikow Logan High School Principal" The original Logan Junior/Senior High School was located on the corner of Avon and Sill streets, where the present Logan Middle School is sited today. Completed in 1922, it served North Side students up to 10th grade, but the school was constructed with the idea that it would eventually accommodate a full-size high school. Arguments at that time for housing at least the first two grades of high school were that students could continue to walk home and back for lunch and that the need to transport students was greatly reduced. That time came in 1928 with a major addition and for the first time, North Side students could attend public school on the North Side from the time of matriculation to that of graduation. As a part of the 1928 addition, 16-year-old Logan student Darrell Danielson petitioned school officials to let him and a small crew of other students to plan and build the scenery and properties of the stage. With three summers of stage and electrical work at carnival companies to his credit, Danielson built the entire electrical system, scenery and accessories. He planned out a system of curtains so that one person could operate up to 13 different flies or scenery changes, much improved over the old stationary set up of one background set. He also planned out a dressing room with proper equipment. When the present Logan High School was completed in 1979, this school building reverted to a middle school. After graduation, Danielson worked for several La Crosse-based factories, then eventually became a self-employed businessman and landlord. He was part of the crew for a play in 1932 with Ray Kienzle, a Central graduate, who became the famous Nicholas Ray movie director. Danielson owned, among other real estate, the Cal-Logan Enterprises at the junction of Caledonia and Logan streets on La Crosses North Side, as well as jukebox business. Anyone with more information about this photo or wishing to donate photos of the Coulee Region may contact the La Crosse Public Library Archives at 608-789-7136 or via email at archives@lacrosselibrary.org. Vice President Kamala Harris plans to travel to Milwaukee on Thursday to engage with young Americans and meet with local Latino leaders, the White House announced Monday. Harris trip to Wisconsin will come just weeks after President Joe Biden spoke in Milwaukee on Labor Day and less than two months before a heated Nov. 8 general election in the state that sees contested races for governor, U.S. Senate and attorney general. Harris also plans to deliver remarks at the Democratic Attorneys General Association Conference. Additional details on the vice presidents trip to Wisconsin were not available Monday. In the race for attorney general, Democratic incumbent Josh Kaul faces Fond du Lac County District Attorney Eric Toney, his GOP challenger. Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, who is seeking a second term this fall, faces Republican Tim Michels, the millionaire owner of Brownsville-based Michels Corp. Incumbent U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson faces Democratic Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes. Harris last visited Wisconsin in January, making a stop in Milwaukee to discuss lead pipe replacement. LA CROSSE, Wis. When he visited his first Civil Air Patrol meeting more than four years ago, Elijah Vieth left excited about flying, the Air Force and challenging himself. However, he did not necessarily expect that four and half years in the future he would be tapped to lead the squadrons cadet corps or that it would grow to the be the largest corps of cadets in the state. His new role as the cadet commander for the La Crosse-based unit puts him in charge of more than 50 cadets as he oversees their weekly training and development. While the squadron saw membership losses during the COVID-19 shutdown, it has experienced record growth over the past year. When asked about what he looks forward to in being the cadet commander, Vieth replied, Im looking forward to the challenge of helping our newest cadets learn and grow, while being able to help mentor our more experienced ones as well. Cadet First Lt. Vieths journey has allowed him to explore many facets of aerospace and leadership that he otherwise may never had encountered. Through CAPs summer training program, he had the opportunity to lead groups of fellow cadets during the week-long camp held at Volk Field. In 2021, his effort earned him recognition as the Honor Flight Commander for the week. This past summer, he served as a Squadron Executive Officer, helping oversee the training of more than 50 fellow cadets. His CAP involvement also allowed him to get started in flight training, pursuing a passion he has had since flying on his first EAA Young Eagles flight many years ago. He has earned the Red Service Ribbon, Crisis Service Ribbon, Disaster Relief Ribbon with V device, the Wright Brothers Award and the General Billy Mitchell Award. Outside of Civil Air Patrol, Vieth is a junior at Winona High School who is an avid competitive swimmer. Over the next two years he hopes to complete his private pilots sertificate and earn an appointment to the United States Air Force Academy. The La Crosse Composite Squadron meets at 6:30 p.m. Mondays at the CAP Center at 2906 Fanta Reed Road on the east side of the La Crosse Municipal Airport. Prospective cadets, ages 12-18, and their parents are always welcome. Adults looking to volunteer are welcome as well. For more information, email tmandel@cap.gov or call Lt. Col. Todd Mandel at 608-633-1496. Information is available on the units website at http://caplacrosse.org or its Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/lacrossecap. Civil Air Patrol, the longtime all-volunteer U.S. Air Force auxiliary, is the newest member of the Air Forces Total Force. In this role, CAP operates a fleet of 560 aircraft, performs about 90% of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center and is credited by the AFRCC with saving an average of more than 80 lives annually. CAPs more than 65,000 members also perform homeland security, disaster relief and drug interdiction missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. In addition, CAP plays a leading role in aerospace/STEM education, and its members serve as mentors to nearly 28,000 young people participating in CAPs Cadet Programs. Visit www.GoCivilAirPatrol.com or www.CAP.news for more information. Some women visiting hotels in Tunisia are criticizing policies that ban a kind of swimwear known as a burkini. The burkini is a piece of clothing used for swimming that covers the entire body except for the face, hands and feet. It is worn by some Muslim women who wish to demonstrate modesty. Burkinis are commonly seen on beaches across Tunisia. But numerous larger hotels in coastal towns have banned the swimwear from their pools. The policy shows a lasting European influence in the country. It is also evidence of divisions that exist between secular and conservative Tunisians. On the website Tunisiabooking.com, at least 20 hotels advertise that the burkini is banned at their hotel, Reuters news agency reports. Jannette Mensi recently stayed at the Marriott Hotel in the city of Sousse. She said hotel employees told her that because she was wearing a burkini, she had to get out of the main swimming pool and go to another one in the back. That pool is generally used by children. She told Reuters that, as a Muslim woman, she felt the hotel was discriminating against her. "I respect, I accept next to me a lady with a bikini, or someone drinking wine... I respect them, they should respect me," she said. The Marriott hotel worker did not explain the reasons behind the ban. But Mensi has her own theory for the policy. "I told them: you are colonized from then until now," she said. A Reuters reporter asked Marriott representatives about the incident involving Mensi. A spokesperson for the Sousse Pearl Marriott Resort & Spa apologized for what had happened. The spokesperson said the hotel would start permitting all adult visitors to use the main pool "no matter the swimwear they choose." Burkini bans at Tunisian hotels date back to the 2000s and became more common after the 2011 revolution. At that time, more women started wearing the Muslim head covering called a hijab. The hijab was banned in the workplace during the 23-year rule of the countrys ousted leader, Zine el Abidine Ben Ali. The managing director of a 4-star hotel in the popular beach resort of Hammamet spoke to Reuters about the issue. The individual, who did not want to be named, said he banned the swimwear in 2008 following complaints from visitors. "The last people I spoke to said that it is disgusting to swim in a pool with burkinis," the hotel managing director told Reuters. The burkini bans have also been criticized online. In a widely shared TikTok video earlier this year, Emirati influencer Zainab Alsawalhi denounced the burkini-free Movenpick Hotel in Sousse for "discrimination and hate." The Accor group, which owns Movenpick, did not answer questions sent by Reuters seeking a reaction to the criticism. Im Bryan Lynn. Reuters reported this story. Bryan Lynn adapted the report for VOA Learning English. __________________________________________________________ Words in This Story modesty n. being conservative in the way one dresses secular adj. not religious or controlled by a religious group wine n. an alcoholic drink made from grapes manage v. to do something or deal with something successfully complaint n. a statement that something is wrong or not satisfactory disgusting adj. extremely unpleasant _______________________________________________________________ What do you think of this story? We want to hear from you. We have a new comment system. Here is how it works: 1. Write your comment in the box. 2. Under the box, you can see four images for social media accounts. They are for Disqus, Facebook, Twitter and Google. 3. Click on one image and a box appears. Enter the login for your social media account. Or you may create one on the Disqus system. It is the blue circle with D on it. It is free. Each time you return to comment on the Learning English site, you can use your account and see your comments and replies to them. Our comment policy is here. Britain and the world said a final goodbye to Queen Elizabeth II at her state funeral Monday. Presidents, prime ministers, kings and princes came to honor her 70 years in power. It was Britains first state funeral since Winston Churchills in 1965. Before the service, a bell rang 96 times once a minute for each year of Elizabeth's life. Then, 142 Royal Navy sailors pulled the gun carriage with her coffin to Londons Westminster Abbey, where around 2,000 people gathered for the ceremony. The coffin was covered with the Royal flag. Atop it sat the Imperial State Crown, with almost 3,000 diamonds, along with the royal orb and scepter. Her son, King Charles III, and other members of the royal family followed the coffin into the church. David Hoyle is the head clergyman of Westminster Abbey. As the funeral opened, he said: Here, where Queen Elizabeth was married and crowned, we gather from across the nation, from the Commonwealth, and from the nations of the world, to mourn our loss, to remember her long life of selfless service The service ended with two minutes of silence observed across Britain. And the attendees sang God Save the King. The day began early when the doors of the British Parliament closed to mourners. Many had waited for hours in line to walk by her coffin lying in state. Hundreds of thousands lined the sidewalks of central London to watch the coffin travel through the city after the service. Others went to parks and public spaces across Britain to watch the funeral on large screens. Millions more watched live television broadcasts around the world. After the passage through central London, the coffin headed for Windsor Castle, where Elizabeth was buried in a private ceremony in St. Georges Chapel. Tracy Dobson was among the last people to join the line in London. I felt like I had to come and pay my final respects to our majestic queen, she said. She has done so much for us and just a little thank you really from the people. Jilly Fitzgerald was in Windsor. She said there was a feeling of community among the mourners as they prepared to wait hours to see the queens coffin. Its good to be with all the people who are feeling the same. Its like a big family because everyone feels that the queen was part of their family, she said. U.S. President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron and Japans Emperor Naruhito were among the world leaders at the ceremony. Others included all living former British prime ministers as well as European royalty. On the evening before the funeral, King Charles III sent a message of thanks to people in Britain and around the world. He said he and his wife Camilla have been moved beyond measure by the large numbers of people who are mourning the queen. Elizabeth was the 40th monarch in a family line that dates its history back to 1066. She came to power in 1952 and became Britain's first monarch after the end of the British Empire. She oversaw her nation trying to build a new place in the world. She was very important in helping create the Commonwealth of Nations, now a grouping of 56 countries. Im Dan Novak. Dan Novak adapted this story for VOA Learning English based on reporting by The Associated Press and Reuters. ___________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story coffin n. a box in which a dead person is buried orb n. a gold ball with a cross on top that is carried by a king or queen on formal occasions as a symbol of power and justice scepter n. a long decorated stick that is carried by a king or queen majestic adj. large and impressively beautiful monarch n. a person such as a king or queen who rules a kingdom or empire The search for alternatives to Russian energy sources during the war in Ukraine has renewed interest in small nuclear power stations. Supporters say the stations could provide lower-cost energy compared to larger stations. Critics, however, worry about the risks to the environment. They also worry that having more power stations will make it easier for some countries to build nuclear weapons. Small power stations are called small modular reactors or SMRs for short. Modular means the components of the power stations can be built in a factory and then assembled where the station is to be built. The International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, says more than 70 commercial SMR designs are being developed around the world. Because they are smaller and easier to build, SMRs are less costly than larger reactors. However, SMRs provide less energy. Large stations usually provide between 1,000 and 1,450 megawatts of electricity while SMRs usually provide between 50 and 300 megawatts. Rolls-Royce is a company with plans to build SMRs. The company is based in Britain. The estimated cost of a Rolls-Royce SMR is $2.5 to $3.2 billion. The estimated time to build one is five-and one-half years. The IAEA said that is two years faster than it took to build a normal nuclear plant between 2016 and 2021. By comparison, the estimated cost of building a 1,100-megawatt nuclear plant is between $6 billion and $9 billion. NuScale Power is an American company with plans to build SMRs. It is based in the state of Oregon. It plans to build its first SMR in the state of Idaho by 2029 or 2030. And it signed agreements last year with two Polish companies to study the possibility of building SMRs to power industry there. Poland wants to depend less on coal-fueled electricity production. Rolls-Royce aims to build its first stations in Britain within six years. Last month, Rolls-Royce SMR said that it signed a deal with a company in the Netherlands, ULC-Energy, to consider building SMRs there. Rolls-Royce SMR spokesman Dan Gould said that because of the war in Ukraine, the reliance on gas imports and Russian energy sources has focused peoples minds on energy security. Environmentalists argue that having more nuclear reactors will worsen the problem of how to dispose of nuclear waste. M.V. Ramana is a professor of public policy and global affairs at the University of British Columbia. He said that research suggests there is no proven way to make sure that nuclear waste will not escape in the future. Ramana said the heat generated by the waste could change rock formations where its stored and let water leak. He said mining activities could make the storage place weaker. Critics also say that bringing SMRs to more countries increases the risk that they could build nuclear weapons. Professor Ramana says that one SMR could produce around 10 bombs worth of plutonium each year. Ramana said that a high-level reprocessing technology is not required to produce the amount of plutonium needed for weapons. But Gould said Rolls-Royce obeys British and international rules for exporting SMR technology. He said they export only to countries that have signed the necessary international treaties for the peaceful use of nuclear power for energy generation. However, Ramana said there is no guarantee nations will follow the rules. Im Andrew Smith. Andrew Smith adapted this Associated Press story for VOA Learning English. ____________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story alternative n. another choice or option components n. the pieces or parts of something that will be built or put together, such as the parts of a car, house, machine, and the like assemble -v. put together and build. For example, a car is assembled in a factory reliance on/rely on n/-v. to need something or someone for help dispose of -v. to put or throw something away into a place where it will not be used again store -v. to keep something in a container, usually either for future use or to keep something safe; for example, food is stored in a refrigerator ____________________________________________________________________ We want to hear from you. We have a new comment system. Here is how it works: Write your comment in the box. Under the box, you can see four images for social media accounts. They are for Disqus, Facebook, Twitter and Google. Click on one image and a box appears. Enter the login for your social media account. Or you may create one on the Disqus system. It is the blue circle with D on it. It is free. Each time you return to comment on the Learning English site, you can use your account and see your comments and replies to them. Our comment policy is here. In 1927, Babe Ruth hits his 60th home run of the season to lead the New York Yankees to a 4-2 victory over the Washington Senators. See more s The U.S. Coast Guard says a ship on routine patrol in the Bering Sea came across a guided missile cruiser from China. But it turns out the cruiser wasn't alone when it was spotted about 86 miles north of Alaska's Kiska Island. The U.S. patrol ship, known as a cutter, found two other Chinese ships and four Russian naval vessels, including a destroyer. The ships broke their single formation and dispersed but the Coast Guard says the Honolulu-based Kimball will continue to monitor the area. The Coast Guard commander in Alaska says the Chinese and Russian ships operated in accordance with international rules and norms. We listen to local police and fire departments scanner traffic, but sometimes miss crimes, wrecks, fires or other incidents, especially if they happen overnight. If you know of something were not covering yet, please let Managing Editor Jeff Pownall know by emailing him at jpownall@lufkindailynews.com, or submit a news tip online by visiting lufkindailynews.com/tips. Award-winning author Jason Mott describes his novel, Hell of a Book, as a weird duck, but also a story that has serious and heart-felt conversations. Hell of a Book, published in July 2021, is a story of a very wacky author on a book tour, Mott said. While on tour, he encounters a character called The Kid, which only he can see, leaving the author to wonder if The Kid is even real. Also during this time, the author/narrator repeatedly hears a news story of a tragic police shooting involving a young Black boy. Intertwined with the main narrative is the story of a young boy named Soot who is very dark-skinned and is bullied, even though the town he lives in is supposed to be safe from tragedies like whats on the news. The story kind of devolves and evolves into a study of the minority experience in America, particularly the Black experience, Mott said. Mott will discuss Hell of a Book later this month as part of the Wisconsin Book Festival. Q: Congratulations on Hell of a Book. In addition to this novel, youve written three other novels and two collections of poetry. What sets this book apart for you? A: This novel is very different from my previous work. All of my works center on high imagination and magical realism, the space where reality of day-to-day (life) is bent on its ear. The topics in Hell of a Book are not new, but I felt they had not been discussed in this particular way before. I broke from a lot of my past way of writing ... and did something a bit more personal, honest. Q: How autobiographical is Hell of a Book? A: Theres a lot of therapy happening on the page in this novel for sure. I had spent some time, around the time of the Freddy Gray incident and the Baltimore riots ... I was trying to process my feelings about America and my life as a Black man and what was happening. I started writing these thoughts and feelings ... some retellings of things that had happened to me ... other things that my parents had told me. All of those things become very much anchored in the novel (and) the foundation of everything that happened in the novel. There are some moments in the book that all I did was change the name of the person involved, but the event actually happened. It forced me to look back on my life, my feelings, sort through all these things that we put on the back burner. I spent some time really facing it, and it was really difficult and it made the novel. Q: Do you feel better for facing it and writing it down? A: I do. I feel so much better. Nothing is solved, theres no silver bullet, but I think that the tendency that we all have to pack it away and ... finally sitting down and unpacking it for months ... when it was done and put in the form (of a book), I felt that I had given away some of the weight that we all carry. Q: The narrator in the book has a condition where he has extended daydreams that are hard to separate from reality. Is that something you experience as well? A: Ive always had a pretty strong imagination. Its very hard to keep me in the moment. Im seeing myself from the outside, imagining all these different things. I wanted to re-create some of that for readers. Theres a (condition) called maladaptive daydreaming disorder, which is an ongoing daydream when youre awake. Im not quite that far, but ... as soon as I read about it I could completely relate to it and understand it. It kind of gave me license to write about it. Q: Youve talked in other interviews about how you enjoyed playing with language in this book and how that relates to your love of films. Could you explain that a little more? A: Theres nothing (in this book) that hasnt been discussed before, but I view the world as a very absurdist experience. You have to kind of laugh at things to get through them sometimes. I had written all these very dramatic, difficult moments. I didnt want to create a book that was all sadness and pain. Playing with language, all of that silliness, is a way to get through those pieces of writing without getting overwhelmed. (Its like) shoving a reader underwater you cant really breathe. In this nexus of bad emotion, you cant leave them there. You have to bring them up. I needed to breathe (and) adding the comedy, playing with language, having fun with these pages (allowed for that). I could not have written the book if I didnt get a chance to play and have fun. Q: There are three main characters in the book. You have the narrator who is an author on a book tour; theres Soot, a young Black child; and The Kid, who is possibly imaginary and appears only to the author. The chapters go back and forth between Soot and the author. What inspired these characters and is there a chance they are the same character in a different time and space? A: The three characters all represent, in my opinion, the ... facets of the Black experience in America. The author is based on my successes; Soot is a 10-year-old growing up in Bolton, North Carolina, where I grew up; The Kid exists in this middle space. Are they the same character? Thats up for the reader to decide. I worked really hard to make it ambiguous. Q: Youve said that two themes of your book are identity and hiding. We see this immediately in the character Soot, who is described as having exceptionally dark skin and whose parents are always encouraging him to be unseen and he will be safe. Is this a larger comment about how it can be easier and safer to blend in as opposed to being who you truly are? A: Theres a lot to unpack. ... I grew up being bullied a lot. I remember being on the bus and wanting to disappear. (The bus was) where the bully did most of the work. I just wanted to disappear, to be invisible. If they cant see you, they cant bully you. In my adult life, Im in this massive spotlight, but Im still very much a shy, introverted person who doesnt want to be in the spotlight. Its still really challenging to stand in front of people and talk about these things. Theres also this larger discussion about how we grossly decide what people are without finding out what people are. Q: I appreciate the generic names youve given to things in the book like the Giant Cell Phone Company, and The Kid. People often say how names are so important, but in your book it seems like the lack of names is what is important. A: I think its rare that we get to find out who people really are. Were able to bear the terrible things that happen to other people because we dont really know them. The ability to care for them and feel incensed is lessened because we dont know who they really are. We dont know their names. Q: What are you working on now? A: I never talk about what Im working on, but Im working on a new project. The Harvey House made The Restaurant List out Monday from The New York Times, and is one of 50 places in America were most excited about right now, the paper wrote in its headline. The honor the 50 restaurants we love most in 2022 comes three weeks after the Madison restaurant was the subject of a 7-minute CBS Saturday Morning segment called The Dish. The intro to the NYT list reads, We traveled widely and ate avidly as we built the annual list of our favorite restaurants in America. From Oklahoma City to Juncos, Puerto Rico, to Orcas Island off the coast of Washington State, our food reporters, editors and critics found revelatory Ethiopian barbecue, innovative Haitian cooking and possibly the most delicious fried pork sandwich in the United States. It continues, While we love to see a dynamic new dining room open its doors, were equally impressed by kitchens that are doing their best work years in. So while some of our picks debuted just this summer, others have been around for decades. The one thing they do have in common: The food is amazing. The Harvey House joins Abaca in San Francisco; Anajak Thai in Los Angeles; Bacanora in Phoenix; Bonnies in New York City; Brennans in New Orleans; Canje in Austin, Texas; Daru in Washington, D.C.; and Dear Margaret in Chicago. We are completely humbled and thrilled to be included in The New York Times Restaurant List 2022. Wow, said Shaina Robbins Papach. We truly have the best team, guests and partners in this industry. Unbelievably grateful to do what we do. Robbins Papach opened the restaurant last summer on West Washington Avenue, with her husband, chef Joe Papach. After the CBS story aired she said she heard from lots of people. Its been really, really nice. In the piece, the couple talked about what they bill as a modern-day supper club and how they renovated part of a historic train depot to create it. (The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.) (THE CONVERSATION) Sen. Lindsey Graham has proposed a national U.S. abortion ban barring the procedure after 15 weeks. This push to restrict abortion access across the country follows a rash of new state laws passed by Republicans after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June. If American history is any guide, these efforts will ultimately neither reduce abortions nor remain settled law. I am a historian who has studied American culture and law in the wake of the 1873 Comstock Act the first U.S. effort to restrict access to birth control and abortions. My research finds that previous state and federal efforts to regulate the sexual expression and reproduction of Americans led to unintended consequences and, in the long term, these laws failed. Already, I see signs that new anti-abortion laws are triggering a similarly undermining backlash. How obscene In 1873, Congress hurriedly passed a law making it illegal to send obscenities through the U.S. mail. The legislation was branded the Comstock Act after its most vigorous proponent: Anthony Comstock, a U.S. postal inspector and evangelical Christian who believed sexual activity was a sin unless it occurred between a married man and woman for the purpose of procreation. Birth control and substances used to induce abortion were included in the definition of obscenity, because Comstock and his supporters believed that life and death were Gods decisions. The law also banned mailing erotic images and literature. In Comstocks expansive view, this category included images of athletes wearing tights. State versions of the original Comstock Law soon swept the United States. By 1900, 42 states had passed similar legislation outlawing the production, sale, possession or circulation of obscene matter in their own jurisdictions. These statutes ruled until the Supreme Court declared a right to privacy in medical decision-making nearly 100 years later, in Griswold v. Connecticut (1965). This is the same ruling that was cited eight years later to protect the right to have an abortion in the now defunct Roe v. Wade. Impractical enforcement Comstock zealously enforced the laws hed advocated for, both as a detective for the privately funded New York Society for the Suppression of Vice, and as an inspector for the U.S. Post Office Department. In attempting to eradicate contraceptives including condoms and early forms of diaphragms Comstock organized the arrests of numerous defendants. However, he had difficulty getting prosecutors, juries and judges to see the seriousness of many of the crimes he investigated. In the late 19th century, wealthier Americans already regularly used birth control. Of all the indictments prior to 1878, pending in the Court of General Sessions, not one has been tried the past year, Comstock wrote in his 1879 annual report for the society. In one of these cases, The New York Times reported, Comstock was chastised by a New York City district attorney named Phelps for his sharp practice in investigating Dr. Sarah Blakeslee Chase. These included his posing as a client to obtain birth control products and repeatedly harassing the suspect. A grand jury threw out the case, stating that it did not think it for the public good. Even when Comstock obtained a conviction, many defendants were pardoned immediately. Enforcing new anti-abortion laws is similarly unpopular with many legal professionals today. Shortly after the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Dobbs, more than 80 elected prosecutors vowed not to bring indictments in cases involving abortion. Enforcement of Americas new Comstock laws will likely once again make witnesses and defendants more sympathetic in the eyes of judges and jurors and the public undermining whatever support remains for these laws. Beyond prosecutions, the tactics necessary to prevent women from obtaining abortions are even less practical today than they were in the late 19th century. Enforcing anti-abortion laws may include restricting interstate travel, blocking interstate and international postal services and attempting to censor information about sexual health. All of these would require laborious investigations and extensive cooperation from law enforcement agencies and private corporations who will likely have little desire to involve themselves in unpopular prosecutions. And thats assuming that any of these methods survive court challenges. Uniting disparate factions By the time of Anthony Comstocks death in 1915, backlash to his zealous overreach had provoked growing solidarity among activists and attorneys determined to defeat his agenda. Womens rights activists, including Margaret Sanger, Emma Goldman and Mary Ware Dennett formerly focused on competing goals and strategies joined in common cause to repeal the Comstock laws. Their efforts led to the creation of new and powerful national civil liberties organizations, including Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union. Both used lobbying and lawsuits to contribute to the death of the original Comstock laws. These groups are still fighting new abortion restrictions today. And once again, post-Dobbs, disparate individuals and groups are raising their voices in common cause. Obstetricians from around the country have begun lobbying politicians and forming their own pro-choice political action committees for the first time. TikTok influencers like Olivia Julianna are rallying young citizens to vote for pro-choice politicians. And diverse podcasters, from one-time provocateur Howard Stern to the hosts of the true crime show My Favorite Murder, are sharing resources with their listeners and expressing support for abortion rights. Ballot box backlash Newly registered and energized voters are turning out to support candidates and ballot initiatives that reflect the nations majority support for abortion rights. Kansas roundly rejected an anti-abortion referendum in August 2022. And more states will soon vote on state constitutional protections for abortion, including Michigan. The Comstock laws were not repealed quickly. And its now clear that American womens right to reproductive health care remained tenuous after their demise. Viewing the past as prologue, however, suggests that, once again, unpopular anti-abortion laws will cause unintended consequences that, in the long run, will render them both ineffective and ultimately futile. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: https://theconversation.com/proposed-federal-abortion-ban-evokes-19th-century-comstock-act-a-law-so-unpopular-it-triggered-the-centurylong-backlash-that-led-to-roe-188681. One person was killed and four were injured in an OWI crash in north-central Wisconsin on Saturday night, the Wisconsin State Patrol reported. The crash happened about 7:20 p.m. Saturday on Highway 17 at Sunset Road near Merrill in Lincoln County, Sgt. Rhae Stertz said in a statement. A 2017 Dodge Ram pickup truck heading south on Highway 17 near Sunset Road crossed the center line into the northbound lane, colliding head-on with a northbound 2008 Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck, Stertz said. The Dodge Ram driver, John J. Lahti, 41, of Merrill, was hospitalized with injuries that werent considered life-threatening and faces was arrested by the Lincoln County Sheriffs Office for operating while intoxicated, Stertz said. An 8-year-old boy who was a passenger in the Silverado died as a result of the crash, while driver Thomas J. Skaar, 42, passenger Leah M. Skaar, 37, and a 9-year-old girl who also was a passenger were taken to hospitals for treatment of their injuries, with Leah Skaar critically injured, Stertz said. Republican gubernatorial candidate Tim Michels called Monday on Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers to halt all paroles in the state, even though a governor cant unilaterally order them to stop and some paroles are mandated by law. Michels has been hitting Evers as being soft on crime, accusing the Democrat in a letter Monday of sympathizing with and coddling brutal, convicted criminals. Evers spokesperson Britt Cudaback said it would be illegal to do as Michels wants and called the request an uninformed stunt to score political points by someone who has no regard or appreciation for the laws of our state. Michels and Evers are knotted in a tight contest in the battleground state that polls show is about even. Michaels, who is endorsed by former President Donald Trump and co-owner of the states largest construction company, has been attacking Evers both over his parole policies and his response to violent protests in Kenosha two years ago that followed the shooting of Black man Jacob Blake by a white police officer. Wisconsins parole commission, which operates independently of the governor, has granted about 460 discretionary paroles not required by law, something that both Republican and Democratic governors before Evers also routinely granted. For example, former Republican Gov. Tommy Thompsons administration granted more than 23,000 discretionary paroles during his 14 years as governor. Thompson has endorsed Michels. Former Republican Gov. Scott Walker granted more than 650 discretionary paroles over eight years, according to the parole commission. A parole allows someone in prison to be released before their sentence is complete. Starting in 2000, Wisconsin inmates were no longer eligible for parole due to a truth-in-sentencing law. Those whose sentences began before 2000 are still eligible for parole. While the governor decides who is granted a pardon, he does not control paroles. That is done by the four-member parole commission that is given independent authority under state law to determine whether an inmate is eligible after serving a certain portion of their sentence. The governor appoints the chair of the commission, who is subject to confirmation by the state Senate. Michels campaign spokesperson Anna Kelly said that Evers could effectively halt paroles by rescinding his appointment of Christopher Blythe as chair of the commission, or ask that Blythe stand down for three months. Michels did not make that specific request in his letter. State law established a right to being considered for parole and both state and federal courts have recognized the right of inmates to be paroled. So if paroles were to stop in Wisconsin as Michels wants, it would likely be challenged in court. Paroles are different from pardons, which can be granted to a person convicted of a felony who completed their sentence at least five years ago, has no pending charges and is not on the sex offender registry. A pardon doesnt erase or seal a conviction but it does restore certain rights, like being able to own a gun, and often makes it easier for the person to get a job. Michels, in a letter to Evers, also called on him to stop issuing pardons. Evers has issued more pardons than any Wisconsin governor in modern history. The vast majority of the more than 600 pardons have been granted to people convicted of lower level, nonviolent crimes. In the 2018 governors race, Walker ran a television ad saying that Evers general support for cutting the prison population in half would result in the release of felons whove committed rape, assault, robbery and even kidnapping. Thats a lie. I never said that, Evers said at the time in response. We will not release violent criminals. Michels, in his letter to Evers, said, You were not candid with the people of Wisconsin about limiting your get-out-of-jail-free card to nonviolent offenders. Michels, at a news conference last week in Milwaukee, did not say what the correct number of paroles should be, other than it would be more than zero and less than what Evers has done. Evers started granting pardons after Walker didnt issue a single one during eight years in office. Evers has been under fire from Michels and others about paroles for months. In June, Wisconsin Parole Commission Chairman John Tate resigned, a month after Evers made a hasty appeal to Tate in the midst of Republican criticism over parole plans for a convicted murderer. Michels has promised to make sure there is enough prison space to keep criminals behind bars. The state Department of Corrections reported on Sept. 9 that 20,291 inmates were being housed in prisons designed to hold 17,298. [Correction: This story has been corrected to note that inmates sentenced to life in prison are eligible for parole if their offense was committed before a truth-in-sentencing law took effect.] A sprinkler system contained a fire at an East Side business Saturday night until fire crews reached the scene and extinguished it, authorities reported. Fire crews were sent to County Materials Corp., 3725 Lexington Ave., at 7:19 p.m. Saturday to investigate a fire alarm, arrived at 7:24 p.m., and had the fire under control at 7:34 p.m., fire prevention officer Amanda Hornung said in a statement. Engine 8 heard water flowing inside the building and once inside, saw a slight haze in the air and water flowing from a mezzanine. They found a piece of machinery on a third-floor mezzanine on fire, Hornung said. A sprinkler head had activated and kept the fire contained until firefighters put it out with a line from their fire engine, Horning said. The cause of the fire is under investigation and a damage estimate was not available, Hornung said. RACINE The man accused of using the identities of two other people to obtain their absentee ballots was in Racine County Circuit Court on Monday with some high-profile legal counsel. Michael Gableman is the former justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court who was hired by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos last year to investigate alleged irregularities in the 2020 presidential election a post he was fired from in mid-August. Gableman had endorsed the conservative challenger to Vos, Adam Steen, in a contentious Aug. 9 primary election that Vos narrowly won, after which Vos called Gableman an embarrassment to the state. Despite claims to the contrary, Gableman found no evidence of widespread election fraud that could have swung the 2020 presidential election in Donald Trump's favor. Multiple recounts and studies have affirmed Joe Biden won Wisconsin by a margin of more than 20,000 votes in 2020. Gableman appeared in court Monday on behalf of Harry Wait, 66, who is charged with two felony counts of misappropriating identification information and two misdemeanor counts of election fraud concerning absentee ballots. Wait admitted he requested the absentee ballots of Mayor Cory Mason and Vos. He alleges his intent was not to commit a crime, but to show how easy it was to get someone elses ballot. Wait initially announced his intention to represent himself. Gableman said he learned about the case on Saturday afternoon and that Wait was unrepresented, so he reached out to see if he could assist in the short term. Wait was in court on Monday for a preliminary hearing, but Gableman successfully sought to have the preliminary hearing rescheduled for 2:30 p.m. on Oct. 7. Attorney Gableman is now employed by the Chicago-based Thomas More Society, which bills itself as a nonprofit law firm dedicated to restoring respect in law for life, family and religious liberty. On Monday, Gableman clarified that he has not been cleared by the Thomas More Society to represent Wait for the duration of the trial. Gableman said his role at Monday's hearing was limited to seeking a continuance in order to help Wait find legal counsel. I want to make sure all of his legal rights are safeguarded, Gableman said. Wait is president of the Racine-based HOT (Honest, Open and Transparent) Government group. Its website promotes narratives of election fraud and gives members advice for how they can take back Wisconsin. Earlier this month, Gableman voiced similar sentiments at a dinner hosted by the Republican Party of Outagamie County, where he said a revolution was the only way to keep an honest government, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. Case history According to the criminal complaint, Wait used MyVote.wi.gov to request absentee ballots belonging to Mason and Vos on July 26. Mason's ballot was delivered to Waits address in the Town of Dover, but Vos' was never delivered. As the two victims of the alleged crime, there is a protection order in place that prevents Wait from interacting with Mason and Vos. Wait previously objected to the order, but was unable to change Judge Robert Repischak's mind. The Department of Justice announced on Sept. 1 that it would be pursuing criminal prosecution in the matter, more than a month after the allegations became public. Wait had sent an email to Racine County officials including Vos and Mason themselves admitting to what he did, sparking rebuke from Vos, a Republican, and Mason, a Democrat. Wait also uploaded videos of himself to the internet using identifying information belonging to Mason and Vos to order the ballots. Conversely, Vos said of Wait, in a statement to the Journal Sentinel: "His actions are sad. If election integrity means anything, it means we all have to follow the law Republicans and Democrats alike." Reporting from the Associated Press is included in this article. They came by the hundreds, early, and they were part of the tradition of tapping the golden keg at Oktoberfest in La Crosse. Here are scenes. Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Oshkosh, has been flooding the airways with ads accusing his opponent, Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, of being too radical for Wisconsin. While Barnes is definitely progressive, he's hardly radical compared to Johnson, who tried to help Donald Trump overturn the results of the 2020 election. Johnson has also spread misinformation about vaccines, hyped quack medical cures for COVID-19, and denied the existence of man-made climate change. EDITORS NOTE: This is part of a collaborative series on the Colorado River as the 100th anniversary of the historic Colorado River Compact approaches. The Associated Press, The Colorado Sun, The Albuquerque Journal, The Salt Lake Tribune, The Arizona Daily Star and The Nevada Independent are working together to explore the pressures on the river in 2022. SALT LAKE CITY, Utah The second driest state in the country, Utah, doesnt contribute much water to the Colorado River as it flows from Rocky Mountain headwaters through Canyonlands National Park to Lake Powell. Utah has a unique position in the middle of the river basin, geographically and politically, and it wields less influence than thirstier and more populous states like Colorado, California and Arizona. Its sprawling urban centers along the Wasatch Front, which are home to 80% of the states population, are outside of the Colorado River Basin and are less dependent on the river than cities like Phoenix or Las Vegas. Only 27% of the water used in Utah comes from the Colorado River, with the majority of the states water supply coming from other rivers that feed into the Great Salt Lake. Under a 1948 agreement, Utah is entitled to 23% of the water used by the four states in the upper Colorado River Basin receiving less water than Colorado but more than either Wyoming or New Mexico and it typically uses around 1 million acre-feet of water from the Colorado annually. For decades, Utah has sought to develop diversions from the river by pursuing projects like the controversial Lake Powell pipeline, which would transport 86,000 acre-feet of water from the reservoir to St. George and surrounding areas. But the states use has remained relatively static since 1994 despite its fast-growing population. Twenty-two years of drought in the basin have caused the Bureau of Reclamation to put more pressure on Utah and the six other Colorado River states to reduce use and abandon development plans, however, and the states are gearing up for renegotiations of water use guidelines that expire in 2026. Utahs designated representative in the discussions, Colorado River Commissioner of Utah Gene Shawcroft, said the drought has made planning difficult. Its hard to look out four or five years if you cant see past next spring, Shawcroft said. Part of our challenge all along has been to really focus on the renegotiations when were faced with such a critical day-to-day situation. Shawcroft said Utah is committed to planning for 2026 while also participating in more immediate water negotiations such as the Bureau of Reclamations call for water users across the basin to reduce use by as much as 30% next year to stabilize rapidly depleting levels in lakes Powell and Mead. Jack Schmidt, director of the Center for Colorado River Studies at Utah State University, said that since 2001 agriculture has used over two-thirds of the Colorado River water in Utah. An additional 15% is pumped out of the basin, primarily to supply the Wasatch Front. Over 300,000 acres of land in the state are irrigated with Colorado River water, mostly to grow forage crops to feed livestock like alfalfa. In light of the fact that 70% of the total Colorado River water is used by (agriculture), Schmidt said, its hard to imagine that agriculture wont be taking the most significant cuts. But reductions in water use dont necessarily have to hurt farmers bank accounts. Agriculture very well might be fairly compensated for fallowing its fields, he said. Environmental groups like the Utah Rivers Council have pointed to Utahs residential water use the highest in the basin, per capita and low water rates as evidence that more conservation in that sector is possible and needed. The potential retirement of coal plants in Utah in the next decade, which use 6% of the Colorado River water, could also free up some supply for conservation or other uses. Another consideration is tribal water rights in Utah, which must be satisfied through the states share of Colorado River water. A court decree has recognized the Ute Indian Tribes right to 144,000 acre-feet of water, but the tribe may receive far more water if it settles its water rights claims with the state and the federal government. The Utah portion of the Navajo Nation settled its water rights in May and has a recognized right to 81,500 acre-feet. Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez said his administrations priority is to supply the thousands of Navajo homes in Utah that still lack running water, but he said the tribe might consider leasing the remainder of its water to other users. If were going to be sitting on paper water, as they say, Nez said, and were not able to use it, we might as well lease it to those that are in need. All of these factors will likely have a role to play as the basin states renegotiate guidelines before 2026. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa made his first visit to the White House on Friday (16 September) for talks with US President Joe Biden on global security, climate change, trade, food security, health and Russias invasion of Ukraine and South Africas and other African nations reluctance to condemn it. Biden praised South Africa as a vital voice as he met with his South African counterpart at the White House for talks that touched on efforts to tackle the climate crisis, and security, despite disagreement on the war in Ukraine. According to a senior White House official, the US president wanted to discuss the war in Ukraine with Ramaphosa, and hear the South African leaders thoughts on the best way forward. Biden, who has led an international coalition in applying a slew of economic sanctions against Russia over the war, wants South Africas help in those efforts. But the South African government has resisted calls to directly condemn Russia for the invasion. With its close historical ties to Moscow due to the Soviet Unions support for the anti-apartheid struggle, South Africa abstained from a United Nations vote in March denouncing the invasion of Ukraine. In May, Ramaphosa said bystander countries were paying the price of Western sanctions on Russia. South Africas foreign minister, Naledi Pandor, said Ramaphosa would emphasize the need for dialogue to find an end to the war. White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby earlier dismissed suggestions that the US is trying to pressure South Africa to distance itself from Russia. According to press reports, Ramaphosa sought to work together with the USA on security, including in neighboring Mozambique, which has been grappling with an Islamist insurgency in its northern Cabo Delgado province. For South Africa, Washington had a key role to play in security in the continent. Ramaphosas visit to Washington comes just weeks after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made his own trip to South Africa, pledging Biden administration will do more to listen to Africa. Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain More adults are seeking out treatment for mental health issues. The percentage of adults getting mental health treatment increased from 19.2% in 2019 to 21.6% in 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in data published this month. Those more likely to have received treatment? Younger adults, those aged 18 to 44, especially women in that age group, according to findings from the National Health Interview Survey, a nationally representative household survey done by the CDC. Participants who received mental health treatment were either on prescription medication for their mental health, in counseling or therapy from a mental health professional, or both over the past 12 months. Mental health treatment on the rise Previous research has shown that symptoms of anxiety disorders or depressive disorders increased from 2020 through the beginning of 2021, especially among younger adults. This most recent survey also found that among adults aged 18 to 44, both men and women were more likely to have received any mental health treatment in 2021 compared to 2019. It might be natural to expect mental health treatment would increase during 2020 and 2021, a period that included a nationwide shutdown to contain COVID-19 and the killing of George Floyd and subsequent protests across the U.S. The survey questions were not designed to assess whether pandemic stress or social issues led to treatment, said Jeannine Schiller, chief of the data analysis and quality assurance branch in the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics and the study's second author. Questions covered the 12 months prior to the interview. "Interviews occur throughout the year," Schiller told U.S. TODAY. "So when you look the percentages from 2021, they are definitely covering some portion of the pandemic period." Mental health among women and minorities Schiller from the CDC said the difference in mental health treatment between men and women aged 18-44 for all three years was "striking." "Women tended to have percentages that were about 10 percentage points higher than men," she said. "It was interesting to see that the increase in the youngest age group from 2019 to 2021 was what was driving the increase for adults overall." The percentage of non-Hispanic Black adults who received mental health treatment went from 12.4% in 2019 to 17% in 2020, and 14.8% in 2021. Schiller said the decline in non-Hispanic Black adults from 2020 to 2021 wasn't "statistically significant," but it'll be interesting to see if the percentage for 2022 is lower and significantly different from previous years. The decline in non-Hispanic Black adults who received mental health treatment could be due to resiliency and the resumption of daily activities, said Sonya Clyburn, a licensed clinical psychologist and director of Morgan State University's counseling center. "In 2020, individuals were at home most likely, dealing with grief, loss, isolation and things that they may have repressed came to light," said Clyburn, who was not involved in the CDC research. "Hence, the increase of seeking mental health service." More than just pandemic weighing on people Clyburn said the survey's findings make sense, but she would've liked to see more information related to other stressors such as social injustices, racial discrimination, or finances. Social injustices such as George Floyd's murder have increased anxiety and depression in some Black people, she said. "They were more sensitive and more vulnerable," she said. "People wanted to seek help. They wanted some resource, and that was probably one of the reasons why." This doesn't mean more patients have diagnosable mental disorders, but mental health professionals are seeing more people dealing with psychological distress from current events, said Brian Turner, the department head in Xavier University of Louisiana's department of psychology and a licensed clinical psychologist who wasn't involved in the research. "Psychological distress does not denote, necessarily, a diagnosable mental disorder. It means that people are experiencing greater events or issues that will cause them to feel distressed," he said. "It's kind of akin to the cumulative straw that broke the camel's back. We had the pandemic. We've got economic strife. We've got a war in Russia. We've got the insurrection. ... It would make sense that people's Spidey senses would tick up and they would seek help for that." Another increase he noted is in the promotion of mental health services due to programs like the Affordable Care Act and The Black Girl Doctor, a website that connects people in need to Black women therapists online. Hurdles to mental health treatment More people are seeking treatment, but there remains a stigma surrounding it, experts say. Still, some students don't know services are available at the university, or they worry about how it'll look to seek treatment, Clyburn said. In addition to the treatment listed in the CDC's reportcounseling and prescription medicationmany people seek alternative forms such as CBD, acupuncture, herbal remedies and over-the-counter products, she said. And some Black people are hesitant to take medication because of traumatic experiences throughout history, like the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, where researchers withheld treatment from about 400 black men in Tuskegee, Alabama from 1932 to 1972 to study the untreated disease. Clyburn recommends people try to create support systems such as people at church, a hairstylist, pro bono counseling services, the American Psychological Association and social workers. She takes it as a good sign that more people sought help. "It's serious," Clyburn said. "It can harm you. It's important that just as you take care of your physical health, you take care of your mental health." Explore further Nearly 1 in 4 young US adults sought mental health care during pandemic (c)2022 U.S. Today Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Small intestine at steady state. Credit: National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health Trillions of bacteria and other microbes thrive in our gut microbiomes, and over the last decade, scientists have become increasingly aware of the vital role that they play in creating a healthy gastrointestinal environment. Integrated into that diverse microbial environment are hundreds of immune system cells tasked with warding off foreign invaders, leaving scientists stumped by an important questionhow do the body's natural defenses tell helpful and harmful bacteria apart? In a study published in Immunity, researchers of the Infectious Disease and Microbiome Program (IDMP) at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and Center for Computational and Integrative Biology and Department of Molecular Biology at Massachusetts General Hospital have taken a new step toward answering that question. Using a computational algorithm they developed to look for antigen-forming DNA sequences in microbial genes, they identified several antigens that were recognizedbut toleratedby the immune system. One antigen, SusC, was found in, and tolerated by T cells from, every healthy person the team observed. However, in patients with Crohn's diseasean inflammatory bowel disease that affects more than a million people in the United Statesthe T cell response towards SusC looked very different. The researchers suggest that SusC and similar antigens could one day be used to monitor disease and come up with treatments for people suffering from immune-related gut conditions. "For people experiencing a flare in Crohn's disease, their T cells recognize this microbiome antigen, but instead of exhibiting tolerance to it, they have a inflammatory response towards it," Daniel Graham, who is the study's co-author and the IDMP's director of functional genomics, said. "That suggests that maybe we can use these responses to monitor disease in patients." In the eyes of a T cell Prior to their experiment, Graham, first author and visiting graduate student Thomas Pedersen, co-senior author and core institute member Ramnik Xavierwho is the director of the Broad's Immunology Program and co-director of the IDMPand colleagues predicted that there could be a handful of reasons for why immune cells do not attack beneficial gut microbes. It wasn't clear whether helper T cells, which identify foreign pathogens in the body, were actively recognizing and tolerating microbial antigens or were just turning a blind eye to them altogether. A third theory suggested that periodic exposure to the antigens might regularly drive tiny immune responses that the body would eventually get used to. A lack of data to support any of the theories left researchers in the dark. "Without knowing what the T cells are seeing, you can't answer those questions," Graham explained. To understand T cell perspectives, the team enlisted the help of a computer program they had built in 2018 called the Bacteria Originated T cell Antigen (BOTA) predictor. Originally developed for studying mice, BOTA allows scientists to sift through enormous amounts of bacterial genomic sequence data to predict which genes are responsible for coding different microbial antigens. With several changes to the BOTA algorithm to make it applicable to humans (which they named hBOTA), the team started looking for common antigens within the human gut microbiome. The hBOTA analysis revealed over 60 common antigens, mainly consisting of small bacterial fragments, across the microbiomes of different individuals. The team discovered that the T cells of healthy participants actively recognized and tolerated these fragments without mounting an inflammatory response, a sure sign that the antigens played some role in tuning the subjects' T cell activity. Researchers hoped to find "universal" gut microbiome antigens that were tolerated by T cells from many, if not all, human participants, making the discovery of SusC all the more exciting. They determined that the antigen is part of a complex that transports nutrients within the bacterial cell, indicating that SusC is essential for many microbes' survival and growth and that its abundance in the gut microbiome may itself be key to its tolerability. "The Broad Institute's microbiome program and Crohn's disease efforts over the years have advanced from identifying initiator microbiome in treatment naive CD patients, elucidating how microbes educate the immune system, linking specific bacterial metabolites to inflammation and now presenting a blueprint to identify microbial epitopes that calm or activate T cells," Xavier said. Clinical possibilities The SusC discovery empowered the team to look beyond their original experiment and explore how T cells from patients with gastrointestinal diseases react to gut bacteria. They found that T cells from Crohn's disease patients recognized SusC and mounted a considerable immune response, marked by high production of IL-17, a pro-inflammatory cytokine. T cells from healthy patients, by contrast, reacted to SusC by producing IL-10, which has a marked anti-inflammatory effect. The team believes that it may be possible to use SusC and similar antigens to monitor the progression of Crohn's disease, potentially allowing clinicians to predict disease flares before they happen. They are now working to better understand the mechanisms behind the immune system's reaction to bacterial antigens, which may one day lead to the development of treatments for Crohn's and other inflammatory gut diseases. "We've shown in this study that the T cell response to the microbiome is very dynamic," Graham said. "If we can understand the mechanisms underlying these processes, maybe we can design targeted therapeutics to intervene and maintain tolerance to the microbiome." Explore further Machine learning tool predicts the potential of peptides as immune activators Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain Black and Latino people experience higher rates of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias than non-Hispanic white people, but scientists have never known why. Now a new study shows that experiences with discrimination may be playing a role in disproportionate experiences of cognitive decline. In a first-of-its-kind study, published recently in the journal Social Science & Medicine, researchers from The University of Texas at Austin, University of California, Davis and Florida State University examined 1,100 people between the ages of 23 and 62 living in the United States. Most of the study participants were born in Mexico, and all of them identified as Latino and/or Hispanic. Participants were followed for 12 years and were asked about their experiences with perceived discrimination. Researchers also evaluated the participants' cognitive function and found those who had reported experiencing more discrimination throughout the study were more likely to have poorer cognitive performance at the end of the study. "It is critical that we identify modifiable risk factors for cognitive decline and impairment," said Elizabeth Munoz, assistant professor of human development and family sciences at UT Austin and lead author of the study. "This study shows that experiencing discrimination because of one's ethnic group or where they were born is a risk factor." Previous studies have found higher rates of cognitive decline in minority populations, such as Black and Latino people, when compared with white people. Other research found associations between discrimination and cognitive impairment in Black adults. This study is the first to link discrimination to cognitive decline in Latino adults. Researchers in the study identified differences among study participants along two different trajectories of experiences of discrimination. One group, identified as Stable Low, experienced lower levels of discrimination but at stable levels over time. Another group was identified as High Declining, experiencing higher levels of discrimination at the beginning of the study and declining over time. The Stable Low group scored better cognitively than those in the High Decline group, who were more likely to suffer impairment. At the beginning of the study, 74% of participants reported experiencing discrimination sometimes or more often. By the end of the study, 47% of participants reported the same thing, showing that experiences of discrimination declined over time. Researchers controlled for age, education level, baseline IQ scores and language preference. The study found that those participants who were born in the United States were more likely to be in the High Declining group and more likely to experience cognitive impairment, while those who were born in another country and immigrated were more likely to be in the Stable Low group and less likely to experience cognitive impairment. "It's not clear why there appears to be a somewhat protective effect for immigrants," Munoz said. "Previous research has shown that acculturation is a risk factor for discrimination. Those born in the United States may be occupying more traditionally white spaces and may encounter discrimination there. It may be that immigrants stick closer to communities of other immigrants. There is a resilience factor among immigrants that deserves further study." Explore further Experience of racism linked with poorer memory and thinking More information: Elizabeth Munoz et al, Perceived ethnic discrimination and cognitive function: A 12-year longitudinal study of Mexican-origin adults, Social Science & Medicine (2022). Journal information: Social Science & Medicine Elizabeth Munoz et al, Perceived ethnic discrimination and cognitive function: A 12-year longitudinal study of Mexican-origin adults,(2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.115296 Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain Epidemiologist and Professor Amira Roess answers frequently asked questions about the newest COVID booster shot. In the United States, a new COVID-19 booster shot has been approved and recommended for people aged 12 and older. This new booster, called a "bivalent" booster, was created to combat the original COVID strain and to protect against the newest omicron variants (BA.4 and BA.5). Epidemiologist and Professor at George Mason University Dr. Amira Roess specializes in infectious diseases and answers frequently asked questions about the new COVID-19 booster shot. Who should get the COVID-19 new booster? Those aged 12 years and older who are eligible are encouraged to get the new bivalent booster. Eligibility is defined as being at least 2 months out from their last booster dose or from the initial primary series. FDA has authorized two new boosters, one from Moderna and one from Pfizer. Visit the Centers for Disease Control website to find out if you are eligible. The numbers are down, and less people seem to be getting COVID, so why should I get the new booster vaccine? Disease modelers have been forecasting a surge in cases this fall and winter, in part due to the fact that we are moving into colder months when we will be indoors more and exposed to more viruses. In addition, many individuals are losing their immunity against the virus. People were vaccinated or boosted many months ago, and many were in the spring or the summer. This means that soon they will be at risk for (re)infection. Getting the new booster can help decrease your chance of getting infected and can dramatically decrease your chance of a severe infection if you are infected. Another important note here is that we are significantly undercounting cases. Many of us are using home-based kits, and we are not reporting results to public health agencies. Is now a good time to get boosted? If you are eligible, yes. Now is a good time, and you should consider getting the new booster. We are hearing reports of children getting infected at school and infecting their household members. We will likely see more cases in the coming weeks. Eligible individuals who get the new booster can expect to have a lower chance of getting COVID-19, and if they do become infected, they will likely have a very mild case and shorter duration of illness. This will cut down the chance of passing on the virus to others. How soon after infection can I get the new booster? General CDC guidance suggests you wait at least 3 months from the onset of symptoms or positive test. We can expect the CDC and White House to release guidance on this related to the booster in the coming weeks. Why don't we know more about the currently circulating COVID-19 variant? The data, while preliminary, indicate that the currently circulating variant, BA.5, is the most immune evasive one that we have dealt with to date. Individuals are getting reinfected with this variant at a greater rate compared to previously circulating variants. In addition, we are seeing a segment of the population getting reinfected within 2 months of infection. Because BA.5 became dominant over the summer, there is still quite a bit that we don't know. The data do suggest that overall, among healthy individuals, severe illness, hospitalization, and death continue to be significantly lower following infection with this variant. How do we deal with this moving forward? First, if you are eligible for the new booster, consider getting it. Next, try to stay home if you have symptoms, even if your rapid test is negative. We want to avoid infecting others, particularly those who are immune compromised or elderly. If you test positive, isolate at home to the best of your ability. The CDC updated its guidelines to shorten the duration of isolation and quarantine. Once you are out of isolation, continue to wear your mask when you are around others to further protect them. The good news is that most healthy adults are not getting very sick. However, we do want to keep in mind that there are many immune-compromised individuals in our community who are at risk for severe illness should they get infected. Explore further What you need to know about bivalent boosters for COVID-19 When putting baby to bed, skip the cozy comforters, stuffed animals and pillows. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) says bare is bestjust a sheet. And, it urges, always put baby down for a rest in products specifically designed for their sleep, including cribs, bassinets and play yards. "What is comfortable for the way adults sleep, isn't safe for babies," said CPSC chair Alex Hoehn-Saric. "Bare is besta firm, flat surface in a crib, bassinet or play yard, without blankets, pillows or other items. If you are worried about your baby getting cold, use warm pajamasnot blankets." The warning dovetails with Baby Safety Month (September). Most infant deaths related to nursery products happen in a cluttered sleep space, according to the CPSC. Between 2016 and 2018, 87 infant deaths nationwide were associated with cribs, playpens/play yards, and bassinets/cradles. Most were associated with the presence of extra bedding, such as pillows, blankets or comforters, the CPSC said in a news release. Along with a bare sleeping space without bumpers, parents and caregivers should always put babies on their backs when they lay them down, the CPSC said. This reduces the risk of sudden unexpected infant death syndrome (SUID/SIDS) and suffocation. Inclined products, which were associated with eight deaths between 2016 and 2018, should never be used for infant sleep, the commission said. These include rockers, gliders, soothers and swings. Infants should not be left in these products without supervision, the CPSC said. They should always be restrained. No soft bedding should be used in these products because they pose a suffocation risk. The safest place for babies to sleep is a firm, flat crib, bassinet, play yard or bedside sleeper. They should be moved into one of those if they fall asleep in a swing, bouncer, lounger or similar product, the commission said. Explore further Feds warn of 14 infant deaths in rockers from Fisher-Price, Kids2 More information: Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, has more Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, has more tips to keep babies and toddlers safe Copyright 2022 HealthDay. All rights reserved. Salmonella bacteria, in pink, a common cause of foodborne disease, invade a human epithelial cell. Credit: NIAID Every year, almost 1 in 6 Americans gets a foodborne illness, and about 3,000 people die from it, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates. Picnics and parties where food sits out for hours are a common source, but heat waves and power outages are another silently growing threat. As global temperatures rise, the risk of foods going bad during blackouts in homes or stores or during transit in hot weather rises with them. Elena Naumova, an epidemiologist and data scientist at Tufts University, explains the risk and what you need to know to stay safe. What does climate change have to do with foodborne illness? The link between foodborne illness and climate change is quite straightforward: The pathogens that cause many foodborne infections are sensitive to temperature. That's because warm, wet weather conditions stimulate bacterial growth. Three main factors govern the spread of foodborne illness: 1) the abundance, growth, range and survival of pathogens in crops, livestock and the environment; 2) the transfer of these pathogens to food; and 3) human exposure to the pathogens. Safety measures like warning labels and product recalls can help slow the spread of harmful bacteria and parasites, but these measures don't always evolve rapidly enough to keep pace with the changing risk. One growing problem is that heat waves, wildfires and severe storms are increasingly triggering power outages, which in turn affect food storage and food handling practices in stores, production and distribution sites and homes. A review of federal data in 2022 found that major U.S. power outages linked to severe weather had doubled over the previous two decades. California often experiences smaller-scale outages during heat waves and periods of high wildfire risk. This can happen on the hottest and, in some areas, most humid days, creating ideal conditions for bacteria to grow. Data reported to CDC FoodNet from 2010-2019; California, Colorado and New York don't include all counties Credit: Chart: The Conversation/CC-BY-ND Source: Elena Naumova Which causes of foodborne illness are increasing with the heat? Nationwide, many types of foodborne infection peak in warm summer months. Cyclospora, a tiny parasite that causes intestinal infections and is transmitted through food or water contaminated with feces, often on imported vegetables and fruits, peaks in early June. The bacteria Campylobacter, a common cause of diarrhea that's often linked to undercooked meat; Vibrio, linked to eating raw or undercooked shellfish; Salmonella, which causes diarrhea and is linked to animal feces; and STEC, a common type of E. coli, peak in mid-July. And the parasite Cyptosporidium, germ Listeria and bacteria Shigella peak in mid-August. Many of these infections cause upset stomach, but they can also lead to severe diarrhea, dehydration, vomiting and even longer-term illnesses, such as meningitis and multiple organ failures. In our studies, my colleagues and I have also found that food recalls increase during summer months. Typically, the U.S. sees about 70 foodborne outbreaks per month, with about two of them resulting in a food recall. In summer, the number of outbreaks can exceed 100 per month, and the number of recall-related outbreaks goes up to six per month, increasing from 3% to 6% of all reported and investigated outbreaks nationwide. The rate of individual infections can also easily double or triple the annual average during summer months. Precisely estimating infection numbers is very challenging because the vast majority of foodborne illness outbreaksan estimated 80% of illnesses and 56% of hospitalizationsare not attributed to known pathogens due to insufficient testing, and many foodborne illnesses are not even reported to the health authorities. Food safety tips. Credit: CDC What types of food should people worry about? Watch out for perishable products, including meat, poultry, fish, dairy and eggs, along with anything labeled as requiring refrigeration. How warm a food item can get before becoming risky varies, so the simplest rule for keeping food safe is to follow food labels and instructions. The CDC website emphasizes four basic rules to prevent food poisoning at home: clean, separate, cook and chill. It also offers some guidelines for when the power goes out, starting with keeping refrigerator and freezer doors closed. "A full freezer will keep food safe for 48 hours (24 hours if half-full) without power if you don't open the door. Your refrigerator will keep food safe for up to four hours without power if you don't open the door," it says. After four hours without power or a cooling source, the CDC recommends that most meat, dairy, leftovers and cut fruits and vegetables in the refrigerator be thrown out. Unfortunately, you cannot see, smell or taste many harmful pathogens that cause foodborne illness, so it's better to be safe than sorry. Rule of thumb: When in doubt, throw it out. What's the best response if a person gets sick from food? If you do get sick, it can be hard to pinpoint the culprit. Harmful bacteria can take anywhere from a few hours to several days to make you sick. And people respond in different ways, so the same food might not make everyone ill. Check with your doctor if you think you have food poisoning. Get tested so your case will be reported. That helps public health authorities get a better sense of the extent of infections. The full extent of infections is typically vastly underreported. I recommend checking health department websites, like Washington state's, for more advice, and check on food recalls during the hot months. Explore further Climate change is putting food safety at risk more often, and not just at picnics and parties This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Proteomic analysis suggests zika virus causes alterations in the expression of proteins linked to the metabolism of developing neural cells, and proteins associated with the maturation of oligodendrocytes. Credit: Wikimedia Commons Researchers in Brazil affiliated with the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), D'Or Institute and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) have identified molecular processes that may help explain microcephaly in babies born to mothers infected by the Zika virus. The research proposes a model at the molecular level to understand the complications caused by infection during pregnancy and paves the way to the identification of novel therapeutic targets. According to an article on the study published in Molecular Neurobiology, the researchers conducted a proteomic analysis to detect protein expression alterations in infected cells. They discovered that when Zika virus invades the fetal brain, it modulates energy production and controls the RNA metabolism expressed in cell nuclei. In the proposed model, these alterations interfere with the maturing of particles that act as precursors of oligodendrocytesneural cells that produce myelin, a lipidic substance of vital importance to the exchange of information between neurons. "When oligodendrocytes fail to mature properly, myelin sheath formation may be defective, and this has very adverse consequences for brain development," said Daniel Martins-de-Souza, last author of the article and a professor at the State University of Campinas's Institute of Biology (IB-UNICAMP). "Normally, viruses infect cells in order to multiply freely and then advance to other parts of the host organism. In the case of the Brazilian strain of Zika, we observed more alterations in proteins associated with the metabolism when the virus invaded neural cells, rather than more alterations in the expression of proteins associated with these classic finalities," Martins-de-Souza said. To reach these conclusions, the researchers conducted two different kinds of experiment. First, they infected human neural stem cells with the Brazilian strain of Zika and analyzed the changes in protein expression. The human neural stem cells were obtained from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs)skin cells reprogrammed to develop into neural stem cells. After the experiment with stem cells, the researchers used infected neurospheres (organoids cultured in the laboratory to simulate the morphology and functioning of part of the brain) to observe what may happen during neurodevelopment. To compare the results, they repeated the experiments on neural stem cells and neurospheres infected by dengue and the African strain of Zika, neither of which normally infect brain cells or cause microcephaly. "Experiments using dengue and African Zika don't reflect what happens in nature, because these viruses don't cross the blood-brain barrier, which protects the brain against invading pathogens. However, they enabled us to analyze and compare their proteomics and also to understand what Brazilian Zika triggers in neural cells," Martins-de-Souza said. In the experiments involving neural stem cells, Brazilian Zika behaved very differently from the other two viruses. "Whereas infection by dengue virus and African Zika virus was associated with increased production of proteins linked to cell domination and replication, the Brazilian strain modulated this highly important part of neural development, influencing the differentiation of neurons and glial cells [astrocytes, microglia and oligodendrocytes]," he said. They also behaved differently in the neurospheres. "Again, Brazilian Zika modulated the cellular metabolism and also controlled the metabolism of the RNA [expressed in the nuclei of infected cells]. Both are important to explain microcephaly," he said. Myelin sheath According to Martins-de-Souza, viruses have various effects when they boost or inhibit the expression of proteins linked to human metabolism. In the case of Brazilian Zika, the virus impaired neural cell maturation and early brain development by altering the expression of a protein family called hnRNP (heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoproteins). "These proteins are essential to the development of oligodendrocytes and myelin sheath production. Brazilian Zika appears to interfere with this process and can lead to defective myelination even before the formation of neuronal cells in the fetus," he said. The myelin sheath is like the insulation around an electrical wire, he explained. "It protects the 'circuits' in the brain," he said. Neurons are connected both by electrical pulses and chemically. "In the brain, the myelin sheath protects the axons. If oligodendrocytes and the myelin sheath aren't there to protect the neurons, the energy is lost." Axons are portions of neurons that carry nerve impulses to other neurons or muscle or gland cells. Oligodendrocytes are primarily responsible for forming and maintaining the myelin sheath that surrounds axons. They are present in the fetus and important to its neurodevelopment. "They don't promote myelin sheath formation in the fetus [doing so in the first years of the baby's life], but perform the function of maintaining the energy metabolism in neurons. When this process is deficient, neurodevelopment is impaired. In the case of Brazilian Zika, one of the consequences can be microcephaly," Martins-de-Souza said. Explore further The interactome of infected neural cells reveals new therapeutic targets for Zika More information: Juliana Minardi Nascimento et al, Zika Virus Strains and Dengue Virus Induce Distinct Proteomic Changes in Neural Stem Cells and Neurospheres, Molecular Neurobiology (2022). Juliana Minardi Nascimento et al, Zika Virus Strains and Dengue Virus Induce Distinct Proteomic Changes in Neural Stem Cells and Neurospheres,(2022). DOI: 10.1007/s12035-022-02922-3 Credit: Articseahorse, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons Before polio vaccines became available in the 1950s, people wary of the disabling disease were afraid to allow their children outside, let alone go to school. As polio appears again decades after it was considered eliminated in the U.S., Americans unfamiliar with the dreaded disease need a primer on protecting themselves and their young childrenmany of whom are emerging from the trauma of the COVID-19 pandemic. Q: What is poliomyelitis? A: Polio is short for "poliomyelitis," a neurological disease caused by a poliovirus infection. Of the three types of wild poliovirusserotypes 1, 2 and 3serotype 1 is the most virulent and the most likely to cause paralysis. Most people infected with poliovirus don't get sick and won't have symptoms. About a quarter of those infected might experience mild symptoms like fatigue, fever, headache, neck stiffness, sore throat, nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. So, as with COVID-19, people who don't have symptoms can unknowingly spread it as they interact with others. But in up to 1 in 200 people with a poliovirus infection, the virus may attack the spinal cord and brain. When it infects the spinal cord, people may develop muscle weakness or paralysis, including of the legs, arm, or chest wall. Poliovirus may also infect the brain, leading to difficulty breathing or swallowing. People can develop post-polio syndrome decades after infection. Symptoms may include muscle pain, weakness, and wasting. People with poliomyelitis may remain wheelchair-bound or unable to breathe without the help of a ventilator for the rest of their lives. Q: How does polio spread? A: The virus that causes polio spreads through the "oral-fecal route," which means it enters the body through the mouth by way of the hands, water, food, or other items contaminated with poliovirus-containing feces. Rarely, poliovirus may spread through saliva and upper respiratory droplets. The virus then infects the throat and gastrointestinal tract, spreads to the blood, and invades the nervous system. Q: How do doctors diagnose polio? A: Poliomyelitis is diagnosed through a combination of patient interviews, physical examinations, lab testing, and scans of the spinal cord or brain. Health care providers may send feces, throat swabs, spinal fluid, and other specimens for lab testing. But because polio has been vanishingly rare in the United States for decades, doctors may not consider the diagnosis for patients with symptoms. And tests for suspected polio must be sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, since even academic centers no longer perform the tests. Q: How can poliovirus transmission be prevented? A: The CDC recommends that all children be vaccinated against polio at ages 2 months, 4 months, 6 to 18 months, and 4 to 6 years, for a total of four doses. All 50 states and the District of Columbia require that children attending day care or public school be immunized against polio, but some states allow medical, religious, or personal exemptions. The Vaccines for Children program provides polio vaccine free of charge for children who are eligible for Medicaid, uninsured, or underinsured, or who are American Indian or Alaska Native. Most people born in the United States after 1955 likely have been vaccinated for polio. But in some areas the vaccination rates are dangerously low, such as New York's Rockland County, where it is 60%, and Yates County, where it is 54%, because so many families there claim religious exemptions. There are two types of polio vaccine: killed, inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) and weakened, live, oral polio vaccine (OPV). IPV is an injectable vaccine. OPV may be given by drops in the mouth or on a sugar cube, so it's easier to administer. Both vaccines are highly effective against paralytic poliomyelitis, but OPV appears to be more effective in preventing infection and transmission. Both the wild poliovirus and the live, weakened OPV viruses can cause infection. Because IPV is a killed virus vaccine, it cannot infect or replicate, give rise to vaccine-derived poliovirus, or cause paralytic poliomyelitis disease. The weakened, OPV viruses can mutate and regain their ability to cause paralysiswhat's called vaccine-derived poliomyelitis. Since 2000, only IPV has been given in the United States. Two doses of IPV are at least 90% effective and three doses of IPV are at least 99% effective in preventing paralytic poliomyelitis disease. The United States stopped using OPV due to a 1-in-2,000 risk of paralysis among unvaccinated persons receiving OPV. Some countries still use OPV. Vaccination against polio began in 1955 in the United States. Cases of paralytic poliomyelitis disease plummeted from over 15,000 a year in the early 1950s to under 100 in the 1960s and then down to fewer than 10 in the 1970s. Today, poliovirus is most likely to spread where hygiene and sanitation are poor and vaccination rates are low. Q: Why is polio spreading again? A: The World Health Organization declared North and South America polio-free as of 1994, but in June 2022, a young adult living in Rockland County, New York, was diagnosed with serotype 2 vaccine-derived poliovirus. The patient complained of fever, neck stiffness, and leg weakness. The patient had not traveled recently outside the country and was presumably infected in the United States. The CDC has since started to monitor wastewater for poliovirus. Poliovirus genetically linked to the Rockland County case has been detected in wastewater samples from Rockland, Orange, and Sullivan counties, demonstrating community spread as far back as May 2022. Unrelated vaccine-derived poliovirus has also been detected in New York City wastewater. Q: How do I know if I've been vaccinated against polio? A: There is no national database of immunization records, but all 50 states and the District of Columbia have immunization information systems with records going as far back as the 1990s. Your state or territorial health department may also have records of your vaccinations. People immunized in Arizona, the District of Columbia, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Dakota, and Washington can access their immunization records using the MyIR Mobile app, and those who got vaccines in Idaho, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Utah can do so using the Docket app. You may also ask your parents, your childhood pediatrician, your current doctor or pharmacist, or the K-12 schools, colleges, or universities you attended if they have records of your vaccinations. Some employers, like health care systems, may also keep records of your vaccinations in their occupational health office. There is no test to determine if you're immune to polio. Q: Do I need a polio vaccine booster if I was fully vaccinated against polio as a child? A: All children and unvaccinated adults should complete the CDC-recommended four-dose series of polio vaccinations. You do not need an IPV booster if you received OPV. Adults who are immunocompromised, traveling to a country where poliovirus is circulating, or at increased risk for exposure to poliovirus on the job, such as some lab workers and health care workers, may get a one-time IPV booster. Q: How is polio treated? A: People with mild poliovirus infection don't require treatment. Symptoms usually go away on their own within a couple of days. There is no cure for paralytic poliomyelitis. Treatment focuses on physical and occupational therapy to help patients adapt and regain function. Q: Why hasn't poliovirus been eradicated? A: Smallpox is the only human virus to have been declared eradicated to date. A disease may be eradicated if it infects only humans, if viral infection induces long-term immunity to reinfection, and if an effective vaccine or other preventive exists. The more infectious a virus, the more difficult it is to eradicate. Viruses that spread asymptomatically are also more difficult to eradicate. In 1988, the World Health Assembly resolved to eradicate polio by 2000. Violent conflict, the spread of conspiracy theories, vaccine skepticism, inadequate funding and political will, and poor-quality vaccination efforts slowed progress toward eradication, but before the COVID-19 pandemic, the world had gotten very close to eradicating polio. During the pandemic, childhood immunizations, including polio vaccinations, dipped in the U.S. and around the world. To eradicate polio, the world must eradicate all wild polioviruses and vaccine-derived polioviruses. Wild poliovirus serotypes 2 and 3 have been eradicated. Wild poliovirus serotype 1, the most virulent form, remains endemic only in Pakistan and Afghanistan, but vaccine-derived polioviruses continue to circulate in some countries in Africa and other parts of the world. A staged approach involving the use of OPV, then a combination of OPV and IPV, and then IPV alone would likely be needed to finally eradicate polio from the planet. 2022 Kaiser Health News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Concordance between antimicrobial minimum inhibitory concentrations (phenotypes) and genetic determinants of AMR (genotypes, single or in combination) in the Euro-GASP 2018 genomic dataset. Minimum inhibitory concentrations (mg/L) of four key antibiotics showed by the combinations of known genetic AMR determinants observed in 2375 Neisseria gonorrhoeae isolates. X-axis shows the AMR determinants (black dots linked with a solid black line to indicate their presence in combination) and y-axis the minimum inhibitory concentrations (colored dots, where size of dot indicates number of isolates). Violins are colored to indicate different combinations of AMR determinants. Dashed horizontal lines represent the epidemiological cut-off for azithromycin and clinical resistance breakpoints for ciprofloxacin, cefixime, and ceftriaxone established by the European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing. AMR=antimicrobial resistance. Euro-GASP=European Gonococcal Antimicrobial Surveillance Program. Credit: The Lancet Microbe (2022). DOI: 10.1016/S2666-5247(22)00044-1 A study featuring the participation of Fisabio (Foundation for the Promotion of Health and Biomedical Research of Valencia Region), dependent on the Conselleria de Sanitat Universal i Salut Publica, has found that the predominant lineage in Europe of gonococcusthe bacterium which causes gonorrheais resistant to one of the two drugs, among others, most commonly used today to treat this disease. The bacterium Neisseria gonorrhoeae, commonly known as gonococcus, is the cause of gonorrhea, a sexually transmitted disease that is estimated to affect 82 million people worldwide each year. In this context, surveillance of its lineages is necessary to establish the most effective treatments with scientific evidence. Leonor Sanchez-Buso, a researcher at Fisabio and Plan GenT of the Conselleria de Sanitat Universal i Salut Publica, says, "Compared to two previous surveillance programs, the results of this genomic surveillance study show the expansion of a lineage throughout Europe that is resistant to azithromycin, which compromises the most common treatment for these infections." This study is an international collaboration resulting from a resistance surveillance program within the framework of the European Gonococcal Antimicrobial Surveillance Program (Euro-GASP) organized by the European Center of Disease Prevention and Control and in which the Center for Genomic Pathogen Surveillance (Oxford University, United Kingdom), the U.K. Health Protection Agency (London, United Kingdom) and the World Health Organization Collaborating Center in Orebro University Hospital (Sweden) also participated. The methodology consisted of genomic sequencing and the analysis of 2,375 gonococcus isolates collected in 2018 in 26 countries of the European Economic Area. With this material, links between different genomic lineages, antimicrobial resistance and epidemiological information have been analyzed. "This lineage contains in its genome a mosaic in the mtrCDE efflux pump that causes resistance to azithromycin, and is significantly associated with pharyngeal infections in risk groups. Fortunately, this collection from 2018 does not show mutations that could compromise treatment of this infection with potential new antibiotics, such as zoliflodacin or gepotidacin," explains Sanchez-Buso, lead author of the article. The study has been published in The Lancet Microbe and will be of great importance to study the introduction and dynamics of lineages with resistance to antibiotics in Europe as well as in the Valencian Community. One of the researcher's lines of work is this resistance in the Valencian Community, for which she collaborates with the hospitals of the Valencian public health network. Specifically, 13 hospitals in the community have collaborated or will soon collaborate in supplying samples for gonococcus surveillance tasks. In the province of Valencia, the Hospital Universitario de la Ribera, the Hospital Universitario y Politecnico La Fe, the Hospital General Universitario in Valencia, the Hospital Comarcal Francesc de Borja, the Hospital Clinico Universitario in Valencia, the Hospital Arnau de Vilanova, the Hospital Universitario Doctor Peset and the Hospital Lluis Alcanyis in Xativa and the Hospital de Manises. In the rest of the territory, the Hospital Universitario Sant Joan in Alicante, the Hospital Universitario de La Plana, the Hospital General Universitario in Castellon and the Hospital Comarcal in Vinaros contribute or will contribute to the research. In addition, work continues on the incorporation of new centers that allow better coverage of the entire territory of the Valencian Community. Explore further New strain of extensively drug-resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae detected in Austria Provided by FISABIO Sample collection sites and genetic admixture analysis. A, At clinical sites across Nigeria, 45 samples were collected. B, Admixture v1.3.0 was used to estimate ancestry proportions, based on reference populations from the 1000 Genomes Project phase III superpopulations. Prior to analysis, rare variants (i.e., <5% across all phase III 1000 genomes), all indels, and any SNPs that were not biallelic were removed. Samples within the CaPTC cohort had an average African proportion of 99.1%. TCGA Samples (n = 50) with >70% African ancestry were classified as AA; 402 TCGA samples contained >60% European admixture. Those samples were sorted by European proportion, and the top 50 samples were classified as EA and utilized in this study. The average European proportion of this group was 99.996%. C, Germline variants within the NG and TCGA cohorts were compared with phase III 1000 Genomes superpopulations using principal component analysis. NG samples strongly clustered with the African superpopulation. AAs samples clustered with the African superpopulation; European samples clustered with the European superpopulation. Credit: Cancer Research Communications (2022). DOI: 10.1158/2767-9764.CRC-22-0136 Certain genetic variants found in prostate tumors of men of African descent were associated with African ancestry, according to two studies presented at the 15th AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial and Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved, held September 1619. One of the studies was published concurrently in the journal Cancer Research Communications. In the United States, Black men have the highest rate of prostate cancer-related mortality. Most studies examining disparities focus on race, which is typically self-reported and defined by skin color and social and cultural traits, explained Clayton Yates, Ph.D., the senior author on both studies, the director of the Center for Biomedical Research at Tuskegee University, and chair of the AACR Minorities in Cancer Research Council. However, Yates argued, addressing health disparities will also require understanding the contributions of genetic ancestry to tumor biology. Insights into genetic ancestry could aid precision medicine efforts by uncovering potential therapeutic targets specific to patients with African ancestry, he explained. In the first study, Isra Elhussin, MBBS, MSc, a graduate student in Yates's research lab and an AACR NextGen Star, and colleagues examined the impact of African ancestry on the expression of immune inflammation gene signatures that are associated with higher immunogenicity and aggressive prostate cancers in men of African descent. Elhussin and colleagues previously reported that prostate tumors from African American men had a two-fold greater activation of inflammatory signaling, which may contribute to the more aggressive disease typically observed in these patients. However, Elhussin noted that the higher prostate cancer-related mortality among men of African descent is not limited to those living in the United States. "Men of African descent experience the highest rates of prostate cancer-related death around the world, suggesting a possible ancestral basis for these disparate outcomes," she said. To determine the role of African ancestry in prostate cancer, Elhussin and colleagues sequenced prostate tumors from 72 patients in the United States who had not undergone treatment for their cancer. Among these patients, 16 self-reported their race as African American, 25 as European American, one as Asian, and 30 did not report a race. Using reference databases, Elhussin determined that most of the patients who identified as African American had genetic markers consistent with men of African descent, specifically those of the Bantu subpopulation (sub-Saharan) and/or the Yoruba subpopulation (Nigerian). Compared with the tumors of patients with European ancestry, the tumors of patients with African ancestry were more likely to harbor mutations in SPOP, a tumor suppressor gene that is mutated in approximately 1015% of all prostate cancers. SPOP mutation has been previously linked to aggressive prostate cancer, Elhussin noted. Moreover, Elhussin found that SPOP mutation in patients with African ancestry correlated with increased expression of a pro-inflammatory immune gene signature, increased infiltration of immune cells into the tumor, and greater expression of the PD-L1 and PD-1 immune checkpoint proteins. "We are the first to demonstrate that African genetic ancestry is associated with SPOP mutation, which leads to higher immunogenicity, upregulation of an immune inflammation signature, and higher tumor infiltration of immune cells expressing exhaustion markers, providing a potential mechanism for the higher prostate cancer-related mortality among men with African ancestry," said Elhussin. "These findings have implications for treating prostate cancers and could lead to new therapeutic strategies using anti-inflammatory drugs and immune modulators to decrease the disease burden among men of African descent." "While most prostate tumors do not have immune cell infiltration, our findings show that prostate tumors with this SPOP mutation have very high levels of immune cell infiltration," noted Yates. "This is an exciting discovery that may help identify patients who would benefit from immunotherapy, which is particularly important given that African Americans are often underrepresented in clinical trials evaluating such therapies." In the second study, which was concurrently published in Cancer Research Communications, Yates and colleagues, including first author Jason White, MS, compared DNA sequences from prostate tumors of Nigerian, African American, and European American patients. The study was completed in collaboration with the Prostate Cancer Transatlantic Consortium (CaPTC). "Our goal was to understand the genomic contributions to prostate cancer among Nigerian men, something that had never been studied before," said Yates. "We performed sequencing to determine if there were unique mutations associated with the Nigerian population that were distinct from those in tumors from African Americans or European Americans, as well as to identify any similarities across these populations." Yates, White, and colleagues sequenced 45 advanced-stage treatment-naive prostate tumors and 11 unmatched non-tumor prostate samples collected from Nigerian patients. They compared these sequences with existing data from African American and European American prostate tumors in The Cancer Genome Atlas database. They found that genetic variants were similar between the Nigerian and African American prostate tumors, with specific variants in the BRCA1 DNA repair gene among the most frequent variants identified in both populations. Furthermore, the researchers determined that the frequency of BRCA1 mutations increased with higher proportions of African genetic ancestry and decreased with lower proportions of African ancestry. "We identified unique variants in the BRCA1 gene that are not typically tested for in the clinic, and these variants were specific to African ancestry," said Yates. "On the other hand, tumors from European Americans had variants in different DNA repair genes that were not observed in tumors from African American or Nigerian patients. This suggests that different variants contribute to prostate cancer in European Americans compared with men with African ancestry." These findings may have implications for the treatment of prostate cancer in patients of African descent, Yates explained. "The BRCA variants currently tested for in cancer were identified from a non-minority population and do not include the variants specific to African ancestry that we identified," he said, adding that this effectively excludes many African Americans from BRCA-targeted cancer therapies. "Testing for these additional variants would help identify additional patients eligible for BRCA-targeted therapies and may provide some prognostic value as well," he added. Future studies will aim to understand how the identified variants contribute to prostate cancer development and progression, Yates noted. Together, these studies highlight the contributions of African ancestry to prostate cancer genetics and may explain some of the racial/ethnic disparities in outcomes among patients with prostate cancer, explained White, who presented the research on Nigerian prostate tumors at the AACR Disparities Meeting. He added that epigenetic and societal factors are also important contributors to cancer health disparities. Limitations to both studies included small sample sizes, a scarcity of biospecimens from racial/ethnic minorities, and underrepresentation of Africans in genomic studies and in existing databases, Elhussin noted. Explore further Inherited mutation linked to higher prostate cancer risk in African American families More information: Jason A. White et al, Whole-exome Sequencing of Nigerian Prostate Tumors from the Prostate Cancer Transatlantic Consortium (CaPTC) Reveals DNA Repair Genes Associated with African Ancestry, Cancer Research Communications (2022). Jason A. White et al, Whole-exome Sequencing of Nigerian Prostate Tumors from the Prostate Cancer Transatlantic Consortium (CaPTC) Reveals DNA Repair Genes Associated with African Ancestry,(2022). DOI: 10.1158/2767-9764.CRC-22-0136 In a proof-of-principle study, University of Washington and University of California San Diego researchers have shown that smartphones are capable of detecting blood oxygen saturation levels down to 70%. The technique involves having participants place their finger over the camera and flash of a smartphone, which uses a deep-learning algorithm to decipher the blood oxygen levels from the blood flow patterns in the resulting video. Credit: Dennis Wise/University of Washington First, pause and take a deep breath. When we breathe in, our lungs fill with oxygen, which is distributed to our red blood cells for transportation throughout our bodies. Our bodies need a lot of oxygen to function, and healthy people have at least 95% oxygen saturation all the time. Conditions like asthma or COVID-19 make it harder for bodies to absorb oxygen from the lungs. This leads to oxygen saturation percentages that drop to 90% or below, an indication that medical attention is needed. In a clinic, doctors monitor oxygen saturation using pulse oximetersthose clips you put over your fingertip or ear. But monitoring oxygen saturation at home multiple times a day could help patients keep an eye on COVID symptoms, for example. In a proof-of-principle study, University of Washington and University of California San Diego researchers have shown that smartphones are capable of detecting blood oxygen saturation levels down to 70%. This is the lowest value that pulse oximeters should be able to measure, as recommended by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The technique involves participants placing their finger over the camera and flash of a smartphone, which uses a deep-learning algorithm to decipher the blood oxygen levels. When the team delivered a controlled mixture of nitrogen and oxygen to six subjects to artificially bring their blood oxygen levels down, the smartphone correctly predicted whether the subject had low blood oxygen levels 80% of the time. The team published these results Sept. 19 in npj Digital Medicine. "Other smartphone apps that do this were developed by asking people to hold their breath. But people get very uncomfortable and have to breathe after a minute or so, and that's before their blood-oxygen levels have gone down far enough to represent the full range of clinically relevant data," said co-lead author Jason Hoffman, a UW doctoral student in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering. "With our test, we're able to gather 15 minutes of data from each subject. Our data shows that smartphones could work well right in the critical threshold range." Another benefit of measuring blood oxygen levels on a smartphone is that almost everyone has one. "This way you could have multiple measurements with your own device at either no cost or low cost," said co-author Dr. Matthew Thompson, professor of family medicine in the UW School of Medicine. "In an ideal world, this information could be seamlessly transmitted to a doctor's office. This would be really beneficial for telemedicine appointments or for triage nurses to be able to quickly determine whether patients need to go to the emergency department or if they can continue to rest at home and make an appointment with their primary care provider later." The team recruited six participants ranging in age from 20 to 34. Three identified as female, three identified as male. One participant identified as being African American, while the rest identified as being Caucasian. One way to measure oxygen saturation is to use pulse oximeters those little clips you put over your fingertip (some shown here in gray and blue). In a proof-of-principle study, University of Washington and University of California San Diego researchers have shown that smartphones are capable of detecting blood oxygen saturation levels in a comparable range to the standalone clips. The technique involves having participants place their finger over the camera and flash of a smartphone. Credit: Dennis Wise/University of Washington To gather data to train and test the algorithm, the researchers had each participant wear a standard pulse oximeter on one finger and then place another finger on the same hand over a smartphone's camera and flash. Each participant had this same set up on both hands simultaneously. "The camera is recording a video: Every time your heart beats, fresh blood flows through the part illuminated by the flash," said senior author Edward Wang, who started this project as a UW doctoral student studying electrical and computer engineering and is now an assistant professor at UC San Diego's Design Lab and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. "The camera records how much that blood absorbs the light from the flash in each of the three color channels it measures: red, green and blue," said Wang, who also directs the UC San Diego DigiHealth Lab. "Then we can feed those intensity measurements into our deep-learning model." Each participant breathed in a controlled mixture of oxygen and nitrogen to slowly reduce oxygen levels. The process took about 15 minutes. For all six participants, the team acquired more than 10,000 blood oxygen level readings between 61% and 100%. The researchers used data from four of the participants to train a deep learning algorithm to pull out the blood oxygen levels. The remainder of the data was used to validate the method and then test it to see how well it performed on new subjects. "Smartphone light can get scattered by all these other components in your finger, which means there's a lot of noise in the data that we're looking at," said co-lead author Varun Viswanath, a UW alumnus who is now a doctoral student advised by Wang at UC San Diego. "Deep learning is a really helpful technique here because it can see these really complex and nuanced features and helps you find patterns that you wouldn't otherwise be able to see." The team hopes to continue this research by testing the algorithm on more people. "One of our subjects had thick calluses on their fingers, which made it harder for our algorithm to accurately determine their blood oxygen levels," Hoffman said. "If we were to expand this study to more subjects, we would likely see more people with calluses and more people with different skin tones. Then we could potentially have an algorithm with enough complexity to be able to better model all these differences." But, the researchers said, this is a good first step toward developing biomedical devices that are aided by machine learning. "It's so important to do a study like this," Wang said. "Traditional medical devices go through rigorous testing. But computer science research is still just starting to dig its teeth into using machine learning for biomedical device development and we're all still learning. By forcing ourselves to be rigorous, we're forcing ourselves to learn how to do things right." Additional co-authors are Xinyi Ding, a doctoral student at Southern Methodist University; Eric Larson, associate professor of computer science at Southern Methodist University; Caiwei Tian, who completed this research as a UW undergraduate student; and Shwetak Patel, UW professor in both the Allen School and the electrical and computer engineering department. The researchers have applied for a patent that covers systems and methods for SpO2 classification using smartphones (application number: 17/164,745). Explore further Racial disparities in care tied to differences in pulse oximeter performance More information: Smartphone camera oximetry in an induced hypoxemia study, npj Digital Medicine (2022). Journal information: npj Digital Medicine Smartphone camera oximetry in an induced hypoxemia study,(2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41746-022-00665-y Emergency crews work the scene of a fatal crash in Campbell County, Ky., Jan. 25, 2020. The number of people killed on U.S. roadways continued to rise in the first half of 2022, but the governments highway safety agency says they declined from April through June. Still, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration called highway deaths a national crisis. The agency said Monday, Sept. 19, 2022 that early estimates show that 20,175 people died in crashes from January through June, an increase of 0.5% over the same period last year. Credit: Albert Cesare/The Cincinnati Enquirer via AP, File The number of people killed on U.S. roadways fell slightly from April through June, the first decline in two years as pandemic-era reckless driving appeared to ease. But the government says the number of deaths remains at a crisis level. Estimates from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration show that 20,175 people died in crashes from January through June, a 0.5% increase over the same period last year. Yet the second-quarter decline ended a string of seven straight quarterly increases that began in the summer of 2020 with the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. The agency estimated that 10,590 people died this year on roadways from April to June, nearly 5% fewer than the same period a year ago. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said while deaths may be declining, they are still at levels that require urgent action. "These deaths are preventable, not inevitable, and we should act accordingly," he said in a statement. NHTSA Acting Administrator Ann Carlson told a group of state safety officials Monday that she hopes the recent decline is the beginning of a downward trend, but that the number of deaths remains unacceptable. "That is not the new normal we want," she told the Governors Highway Safety Association. Fatalities began to rise two years ago when roads were largely empty due to stay-at-home orders in many states. With less traffic, speeds increased as did reckless and impaired driving, leading to a record spike in deaths last year. Many people weren't wearing seat belts, the government said. Carlson said that because the estimates for this year are early, the agency doesn't have specifics about why fatalities dropped. Agency estimates are typically close to actual numbers, which won't be released until later in the year. There also was a small second-quarter drop in the traffic death rate per 100 million miles driven, from 1.34 in the second quarter of 2021, to 1.27 this year, Carlson said. Auto safety advocates welcomed the dip but said there is more the Biden administration can be doing to reduce traffic fatalities. For many months now, crashes have declined even as deaths have surged, suggesting reckless driving that could now be declining as offices reopen and more cars return to the road, said Michael Brooks, executive director of the nonprofit Center for Auto Safety. "What it may be is that we're seeing an easing of some of the issues that were caused by the pandemicspeeding, open roads, risky driving issues," Brooks said. "Traffic is returning to normal, the roads aren't as empty as they were." "The fact is the fatality rate is still very, very high," he said. "There is a lot that remains to be done." Buttigieg earlier this year unveiled a national strategy aimed at reversing the trend of rising deaths, including new federal guidance and billions in grants under President Joe Biden's infrastructure law over the next two years to spur states and localities to lower speed limits and embrace safer road design. But auto safety groups say the Biden administration has remained slow to act in other areas, such as rulemaking to mandate automatic emergency braking in all passenger vehicles as required under the 2021 infrastructure law. "I think it's premature to be hopeful about the slight dip in fatalities especially considering the tremendous loss that we've experienced over the last couple years," said Cathy Chase, president of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety. "We do know good safety systems, if implemented, will prevent many crashes," she said. Nearly 43,000 people were killed on U.S. roads last year, the highest number in 16 years as Americans returned to the roads. The 10.5% jump over 2020 numbers was the largest percentage increase since NHTSA began its fatality data collection system in 1975. Explore further Highway safety agency running ads in effort to curb speeding 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Flowchart illustrating the number of participants and exclusion criteria. Credit: European Journal of Ageing (2022). DOI: 10.1007/s10433-022-00715-0 Am I over the hill? This question comes up regularly among workers over 50. A common prejudice is that older people's efficiency and stress-tolerance are continuously decreasing. But mental performance, self-confidence, psychological resilience and well-being can be improved in the 50-plus generation. This is shown in a study by researchers from the Section of Developmental and Educational Psychology at the University of Bonn, which was published online in advance in the European Journal of Ageing. The print version is expected to be released in December. Corporate executives are concerned that older professionals will no longer be able to keep up with technological innovations. "In the working world, for a long time, employees were frequently offered no opportunities for further training after the age of 45," Prof. Dr. Una Rohr-Sendlmeier of the Developmental and Educational Psychology Department at the University of Bonn reports from previous studies. "It was assumed that such an investment would not be worthwhile." This was contradicted by the results of research in developmental psychology, which show that lifelong learning is generally quite possible. More than 800 participants In the "Learning in Everyday Work" ("Lernen im Arbeitsalltag", LiA) project, Rohr-Sendlmeier's team studied the impact of particular training sessions on mental speed and concentration, perception of one's own competence, self-efficacy, and stress management in more than 800 women and men aged 50-plus during the years 2013 to 2019. "It was important to us that in each of the training sessions, the content on the different training areas was offered in a varied and interlocked way," reports first author Tanja Huber. For instance, physical activation was followed by cognitive training, then skills reinforcement, and after a break, information on stress development and relaxation exercises. The complete training course consisted of five modules administered during two and a half hours per week for 15 weeks: In the skills training, participants visualized the skills and professional strengths they have acquired over the course of their lives. Stress management training was about finding individual strategies for dealing with stressful situations. The group trained mental abilities and problem-solving skills with the strategy game "Go", which was largely unfamiliar to most of them. Memory strategies were part of another module. Coordination exercises for activation and relaxation exercises to gain strength in everyday life rounded off the program. The control group received no training. While 397 participants began with the five modules, other groups focused on specific training contents combined with physical activation. "We wanted to find out what effects the cognitive training, the skills training or the stress management training each had on their own," explains co-author Dr. Udo Kaser. The individual training sessions comprised two hours per week and took place for seven weeks. Statistically measurable improvements Immediately after completion of the training courses and after another 6 months, the team evaluated the effects of the five-module training course and the specific trainings with questionnaires and tests. The results show statistically highly significant improvements. For instance, participants' information processing speed increased on average from 2.42 bits per second before training to 2.65 bits per second six months after training. In contrast, the control group changed little. The training group's self-assessment of inner calm also showed an increase from 4.75 before training to 5.28 on a scale of one to nine. The tendency to give up when facing failure decreased from 5.12 before training to 4.53. A survey after participation showed that over 97 percent of participants would recommend the training to others. The team has further inquiries from companies about the "Learning in Everyday Work" project. The researchers intend to continue the project beyond the funded period. They are also invited to present their findings at the International Conference on Future of Preventive Medicine and Public Health in Barcelona, Spain, in March 2023. "Professionals over 50 gain quality of life, and companies gain the opportunity to offer these professionals a perspective for longer," Rohr-Sendlmeier concludes. This is a win-win situation for both sidesand in view of demographic change and the shortage of skilled workers, it is also of great importance to society as a whole. Explore further Brain training with neurofeedback shows enhanced benefits on cognitive functions More information: Tanja Huber et al, Evaluation of a multi-component training programme for employees aged 50+, European Journal of Ageing (2022). Tanja Huber et al, Evaluation of a multi-component training programme for employees aged 50+,(2022). DOI: 10.1007/s10433-022-00715-0 (The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.) (THE CONVERSATION) In the autumn of 1922, Benito Mussolini, the ambitious and charismatic founder of the Fascist Party, became Italys youngest prime minister seizing power in a march on Rome that ushered in a dark period of totalitarian rule. A century on, Italy looks set to get its first far-right leader since Mussolinis body was strung up for all to see at the end of World War II. On Sept. 25, 2022, voters are widely expected to elect as prime minister Giorgia Meloni, the leader of Fratelli dItalia, or Brothers of Italy a party whose lineage traces back to the rump of Mussolinis fascists. Who is Giorgia Meloni? But Meloni is also a political chameleon. She changes strategy when it is politically advantageous to do so. In her youth, she openly admired Mussolini and considered him a good politician. But asked in the run-up to the election if she agreed that the fascist leader was bad for Italy, she said yes. She has of late tried to distance herself from prior support for the strongmen of Russia and China and to reemphasize her willingness to patriotically serve her country. Fratelli dItalias rise to power The ploy has seemingly worked. The far-right alliance of Melonis Fratelli dItalia and like-minded parties Lega and Forza Italia are on course to win an absolute majority in the Parliament. But it is Melonis party that has stood out, with polls showing it is set to win around a quarter of all votes. It marks a remarkable rise to power for Fratelli d'Italia. In the course of the past four years, the partys polling numbers have been steadily growing from a little over 4% in 2018 to over 25% in 2022. The trajectory suggests that the party has either shrugged off its historical links to fascism or that many Italians simply dont care. Fratelli dItalia is a descendant of the Italian Social Movement party, formed by Mussolini supporters after World War II. Meloni has tried to put distance between the lineage, declaring that the Italian right considers fascism to be confined to Italys history. Faced with these crises, Meloni has positioned herself as the person to rescue Italy. History has proved that in times of precarity, charismatic ultra nationalists leaders tend to do well. With a familiar formula of putting Italy first, Melonis euroskepticism, xenophobia and Islamophobia repackaged as patriotism has gained popularity among Italians. Out of the chaos of coalition collapse But the success of Fratelli dItalia is not all about Meloni. The flip side of her success is the failure of other parties and the chaos of a government collapse that affected many of the parties running against her. The snap election in Italy followed the resignation of Prime Minister Mario Draghi, an internationally admired economist nicknamed Super Mario for his impressive handling of the eurozone crisis as the head of the European Central Bank. Draghi presided over a wide coalition but was forced to resign in July 2022, amid a worsening economic and political crisis that saw some coalition partners turn against the prime minister. Italy has often struggled with its political leadership. The countrys political system all but ensures government by coalition. But that often means rule by a group of parties, whose agendas and visions may be drastically different sometimes almost mutually exclusive. And the collapse of Draghis wide coalition has tainted many parties across the political spectrum, including the once-popular 5-Star Movement. On top of this, there has been the individual failures of the parties challenging Meloni in the election. This has included cases of corruption, with the former leader of the Democratic Party and later the centrist Italia Viva Matteo Renzi being charged with illegal party financing. Meanwhile, failed attempts to forge a successful center-left coalition to challenge the right-wing bloc have failed, with an alliance falling apart just days after being formed. Ready to govern? The political parties gaining from this political mess have largely been on the right. In alliance with Melonis Fratelli d'Italia are the euroskeptic, anti-immigrant Lega and Forza Italia the party of 85-year-old former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. But while Forza Italia and Lega had been part of Draghis coalition, Meloni has been able to run on a campaign that is unblemished by association to that failed government. Meloni is also symptomatic of an emerging European political climate that has seen growth in support for hard-right politicians such as Marine Le Pen in France and Hungarys Viktor Orban. The big question now is whether Italy is ready for Meloni as prime minister. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: https://theconversation.com/giorgia-meloni-the-political-provocateur-set-to-become-italys-first-far-right-leader-since-mussolini-190116. Local women receive national recognition The Morganton Junior Womens Club has had four of its members accepted for publication in the Outstanding Young Women of America for 1972. Nominated by the club on the basis of their achievements were Hazel Ballou, Carol Wright, Judith Carswell and Sunny Brown. Ballou, an instructor at Western Piedmont Community College and former elementary school teacher, is a member of the American Association of University Women and the Environmental Council. She served as a conference speaker for the Morganton Womens Club, the state conference of the North Carolina Technical and Vocational College Teachers and the National Reading Association Conference. Wright is community project chair of AAUW and member of the advisory board of the Environmental Ecological Education in Burke County. She served as district co-chair of the Burke County Heart Fund Drive for 1971 and offered assistance to the Burke Day School last summer. She previously served as program chair of the Environmental Council and as co-chair of the Environmental News, a column sponsored by the AAUW in The News Herald. Carswell is a teacher at Glen Alpine Elementary School and tutors a homebound student. She is participating in a Graduate Internship Program at Western Carolina University as she pursues a masters degree in education. She is a member of the North Carolina Educators Association, the Burke County Association of Classroom Teachers and the Glen Alpine Parent Teacher Association. Brown, a teacher at Hillcrest Elementary School, also is active in civil work. Local family welcomes deaf-blind boy The Greene family of Morganton has welcomed a 9-year-old deaf-blind boy named Gene to spend the summer with them as their foster child. John Greene Sr. and his wife, Jane, applied for a foster child when they heard about a shortage of foster homes. They were given priority because they were willing to care for a child with special needs. Gene is a ward of the state. He lost his eyes to cancer when he was 3 months old and his hearing after contracting spinal meningitis when he was 3 years old. He communicates through finger-spelling. During the summer months when Gene is not attending the Perkins School for the Blind in Boston, Massachusetts, the state tries to place him in a foster home so he can experience family life. Jane learned finger-spelling to be able to communicate with Gene. He arrived with a caseworker, who was supposed to stay for a week to help Gene transition to life with the Greenes. She was able to leave after a couple days when she realized Gene was getting along well with his foster family. The Greenes said they were amazed at how Gene uses his remaining senses of smell and touch to navigate his environment. He can identify people based on their particular smell and locate moving objects based on their vibrations. After meeting that amazing little boy, people see that the couple of problems he has really do not seem to bother him, News Herald staff writer Andrew Corpening said after visiting the Greene home at 238 W. Park Drive. By reason of his keen mind, he is able to overcome to a remarkable degree major obstacles to communication that would seal off a less talented personality. Eastern high school taking shape Construction workers and machines are making progress on the grading and building of the eastern Burke high school south of I-40 and west of the Icard exit. When work first started on the site, the activities were hidden behind a thick forest of pine trees, but now residents of Burke County can see dust and rolling equipment making a change in the landscape. Those who live nearby can hear the growl of diesel engines as the dozers and scrapers move tons of dirt and rock. The unique architectural design of the structure, like that of Freedom High School, its counterpart in western Burke County, is referred to as an open space school and is meant to facilitate new concepts of curriculum and teaching methods. Instead of the traditional classroom structure, open space areas will make it possible for several teachers to conduct different classes at the same time, and methods such as team teaching can be more effectively employed. The eastern Burke high school will cost approximately $3,960,000, which includes the site, the architectural designs, the grading and construction of buildings. The News Herald offers adventures in sewing The News Herald is responding to the recent explosion of interest in home sewing by offering its readers a 14-part series of articles called Adventures in Sewing, accompanied by a 64-page book of the same name. The book includes information on how to measure and alter patterns, choose appropriate fabric and construct seams, buttonholes and other garment features. It is available for mail-order for $1, including postage and handling. The book and articles were written by Mabel Obenchain, a sewing specialist, fashion reporter and former regional director of the Fashion Group of Chicago. The information she provides will give sewers instructions needed to construct all manner of clothing and home accessories, no matter what their skill level. The publications feature detailed illustrations with line drawings to make the instructions clear. Share this: September 19, 2022 by Sarah Doar Category: Courts and Criminal Justice System , New Legislation and Regulations As MRSC begins to wrap-up our blog series on the 2022 Regular Legislative Session, there are a few more bills Id like to bring to the attention of county, city, and town officials. In this blog, Ill review three pieces of legislation that impact how local governments interact with their courts. Single Judge Courts Many municipal and district courts, and some superior courts, are presided over by a single judge, also known as single judge courts. But what happens if that single judge becomes unavailable? There are processes to fill the seat if a permanent vacancy occurs, but the business of the court would come to a standstill until the vacancy is filled. Plus, what happens if the situation is not permanent, i.e., the single judge is only temporarily unable to preside over the court due to illness, incapacity, or for some other reason? Some courts are proactive and designate a judge pro tempore in advance. But sometimes there is no advance warning, or the pre-designated judge is also unavailable. There may be appointed commissioners who can share some of the caseload, but such persons do not have the same breadth of authority to preside over all aspects of certain cases. See e.g., RCW 2.24.040. To address this issue and allow for courts to continue to operate until the presiding judge is able to return or the vacancy is permanently filled, the Washington State Legislature adopted HB 1825. This bill authorizes the chief justice of the state supreme court, in consultation with the local legislative and executive authorities, to appoint a presiding judge pro tempore to serve during the remaining period of unavailability or until the vacancy is filled. The appointed presiding judge pro tempore has all the same authority as the presiding judge would have if they were available. Name Change Fees In its continuing effort to ensure equal access to judicial remedies, the legislature adopted HB 1961, which is related to court fees associated with costs to change one's name. If someone wishes to legally change their name, they must seek a court order and then have that order filled and recorded with the county auditor each step of which involves fees and charges. HB 1961 addresses the costs incurred by someone seeking to change their name. People change their name for many reasons, including to shield themselves from domestic abusers. Such persons are often already financially disadvantaged as they attempt to disentangle their affairs. Courts currently have the authority to waive court fees under General Rule 34 for indigent individuals but still must collect auditors fees. HB 1961 closes that loophole and directs the court to waive the auditors fees unless name change costs were included with victim compensation. Additionally, the bill directs the court to specifically order the auditor to process the name change at no expense to the requestor. Legal Financial Obligations Legal financial obligations (LFOs) imposed as part of criminal convictions include everything from victim restitution to costs associated with prosecution, to fines, and other costs and fees. Some of these obligations can be waived if the offender is unable to pay. Many local governments rely, in part, on LFOs to fund their local court programs. At the same time, outstanding LFOs and the accrued interest can be a barrier to an offenders reentry into society, especially if the offender is financially unable to pay. For more on Washingtons LFO system, see a recent report from the Washington State Supreme Court Minority and Justice Commission. HB 1412, effective January 1, 2023, provides more flexibility for courts to not impose certain obligations or to later waive those obligations based on the offenders inability to pay, and includes a revised standard of indigency. This new flexibility will apply to both existing and future LFOs. The new law also revises the time period in which judgments for non-restitution LFOs can be enforced, which will impact a local governments ability to pursue these debts. Efforts to shift local court system funding reliance from LFOs to other state financial sources were ultimately unsuccessful during this past legislative session. For more information about Washingtons court system, see our Courts Overview and City and County Court Services webpages. MRSC is a private nonprofit organization serving local governments in Washington State. Eligible government agencies in Washington State may use our free, one-on-one Ask MRSC service to get answers to legal, policy, or financial questions. By the time prohibition took effect nationwide on Jan. 17, 1920, Montanans were seasoned veterans to the cause. Apparently, Montana got the memo a bit early because here in Big Sky Country, the 18th amendment to the U.S. Constitution was enforced as of Jan. 1, 1919. Enforced may be a bit of an exaggeration, but nonetheless, on paper, by the winter of 1918, things were about to dry up in southwest Montana. Prohibition was not a novel idea. The war on alcohol had been waged long before the Civil War. The temperance movement of the 1890s and 1900s only added fuel to the cause. It was just a matter of time when they could claim victory. Montana was not alone in 1919, as 32 other states had enacted their own laws. Prohibition came to some states, including Idaho, Washington and Iowa, even earlier. So, as 1918 was coming to a close, many Montanans were mourning the inevitable. The glow of the amber, the sparkling of the wine, the foam of the lager, and the various tints of the pretty cocktails and the cordials that tempt the eye and delight the palate, one person lamented, will be seen no more. Alcohol consumption was never outlawed, per se. The amendment just made it very difficult because mass production was cut out of the equation. Transporting booze was no longer an option, nor could it be sold. Residents might have been losing easy access to booze, but not their sense of humor. John Barleycorn is Ill Thought to be Fatal was the Dec. 20, 1918 Butte Miner headline. According to the article, an effort was being made by his friends to prolong his life for a few weeks, but the prognosis was not good. It was a tough pill to swallow for Buttes 210 bar owners all of whom had to close up shop. It was the same exact scenario for the towns three breweries Butte, Centennial and Tivoli. On New Years Eve 1918, some predicted that the days of Nero probably will have nothing on the closing, wetly speaking, of 1918 in Montana. The prediction wasnt too far off the mark, but it was not that bad, either. There were no riots and few fights. Instead, towns across southwest Montana held funerals for John Barleycorn, a humorous euphemism for hard-core liquor. Barleycorn went to his grave in Anaconda with much fanfare. Residents had been preparing for his demise since before Christmas and were gearing up to say their final farewells to an old pioneer resident. It was decided to hold services in various parts of the city, The Anaconda Standard reported. The funeral rites continued up to midnight, the time for interment. Everything was hush and still in Butte, according to an Anaconda Standard report, with residents in a rather hilarious mood. Good-bye John, a Standard reporter lamented, heres hoping we meet you in another land. A reporter for the Butte Miner wrote: Those who have to a greater or less extent been embalmed in Butte for various periods of time, last night placed the corpse of King Alcohol, whose fluid has been responsible for much pleasure and some sorrow, in a grave lined with empty flasks of all descriptions and of differing monetary valuations It was a beautiful funeral. Not everyone took prohibition in stride. One stubborn citizen spent New Years Eve reflecting how Butte could let this happen. Consulting the dictionary, wrote a Standard reporter, he managed to get rid of a lot of words that possibly were intended to impress the judge of the police court. In Deer Lodge, John Barleycorn passed out right when the clock struck midnight. The part he has played in the history of the territory and state, it was noted, would fill a number of volumes. The festivities in Dillon, though, went past its allotted time. Described as one of the most rousing and unique celebrations in the history of the town, the cold night did not deter many. Troops of thirsty men stormed one saloon after another, it was reported, taking anything that was offered them in the shape of intoxicating liquor. Bootleggers would multiply in the years to follow, and many local bar owners did not follow the rule of law. Many opened soft drink emporiums. But if a person could no longer belly up to the bar, for certain, a bootlegger would provide. One man stood above all the rest. The head of the dry squad for Silver Bow County, John F. Jack Melia, turned out to be one of Montanas most prolific bootleggers, too. At the start of prohibition in Montana, the former deputy sheriff was appointed chief enforcement officer and getting kudos left and right for doing a great job. Buttes three newspapers, almost on a daily basis, were singing his praises, and midnight raids were commonplace. The man was destroying numerous stills in the area and letting a mountain of booze go down the drain. Melia Breaks Moonshine Records in Butte, reported the Butte Miner on Oct. 21, 1919. The head of the dry squad was not a popular guy during his tenure. In April 1919, he dumped 2,124 quart bottles of whiskey into Silver Bow Creek. One resident lamented, The horrid deed is done. Our hearts are full of sorrow and Silver Bow Creek is full of whiskey. We hope it will contaminate the rivers to which Silver Bow Creek is tributary. Turns out Melia had an ulterior motive for doing such a great job. He was wiping out the competition all throughout the county, and making money hand over fist. Near the end of 1920, local newspapers had given him a new and more deserved nickname the moonshine king. Front-page headlines on Nov. 1, 1920 told an entirely different story. Jack Melia, Bootlegger Deluxe, Was Also King of Moonshiners, said The Anaconda Standard. And king he was, operating the largest still in Silver Bow County and doing business all throughout Montana. But Melia was not the first offender and he certainly was not the last. Up until prohibition ended, court dockets were filled with men and women charged with bootlegging or operating a liquor establishment. A reporter in 1919 was short and to the point when describing the dawn of prohibition in Montana: Montana has gone dry and a majority of its inhabitants will go dry with the state. Goodbye booze! Good luck prohibition. In the midst of the Great Depression, that luck ran out on Dec. 5, 1933, when the 21st amendment was ratified, paving the way for some old and new haunts to surface once more. And, after nearly 15 years, the taverns of southwest Montana would once again be back in business, at least legally! Legally is the operative word. In Butte, a headline in The Montana Standard says it all: Prohibition We Never Had Any Thats Buttes Idea as J. Barleycorn Returns. The reporter went on to explain, The same old bootleg joints are serving the same old whiskey they always served. The same old drinkers are perched against the bar. Instead of talking politics theyre talking about the good old stuff that ought to be here soon. With anti-Anaconda hyperbole, the Butte Daily Bulletin characterized Edward Morrisseys life as one of overbearing tyranny in the service of the soulless A.C.M. Few in Butte in the 1910s would have disputed that, at least not publicly. Born on Christmas Day 1874 in Waterford, Ireland, Morrissey came to Butte when he was 20 years old. When the Spanish-American War broke out in 1898, he served with the Montana Volunteers in the Philippines, but not with distinction. According to historian Jon Axline, his army record indicates service as a malingerer and malcontent who likely shot himself in the arm to avoid combat. After the war Morrissey worked for the Anaconda Company at the Modoc Mine, and in 1910 he was appointed Chief of Detectives in the Butte police a position he was removed from the next year by Mayor Lewis Duncan. He was reappointed in 1916 by a mayor more sympathetic to the Anaconda Company, but after getting into a fist fight with a prisoner and severely beating a drunk, he was suspended from the police force on July 14, 1917. His temporary suspension left him conveniently free and unofficial two weeks later when Frank Little was murdered. Plenty of hints suggest that Morrissey was one of those involved in Littles kidnapping and murder, but there is no hard evidence to back it up; none of Littles murderers were ever brought to justice or even identified with certainty. Morrisseys next major brush with ethics and the law came in 1919, when he intimidated voters and reportedly clubbed witnesses to the vote counting in the mayoral election. Days later, on March 29, 1919, Morrisseys wife Kate died at their home at 211 North Idaho Street, which still stands uphill and across from the William Clark Mansion. The Butte Daily Bulletin immediately vilified Morrissey as Kates brutal murderer, while the Butte Miner and Anaconda Standard reported that the 37-year-olds death, while unexpected, was probably the result of heart trouble. A day later, the Standard was citing autopsy evidence to eliminate the vile charge against Morrissey, vehemently denying the scurrilous story printed by the Bulletin and calling for charges of criminal libel against the anti-company Bulletin. The trial in the press continued for a week, until on April 5, 1919, the coroners jury returned a verdict of natural causes due to Kates alcoholism, heart and kidney disease, and obesity (she weighed more than 200 pounds). Two months later, Morrissey was up on charges again, this time in a police commission investigation spurred largely by the Butte Bulletin. He was accused of drunkenness, beating three men at a mayoral election polling place, and using vile and indecent language. After much testimony, the commission found him guilty, and he was dismissed from the police force the next day. After three years in various jobs, including a short stint as a federal Prohibition officer, Morrissey got into a fight at the Crown Bar in the 100 block of East Park Street in January 1922. Although injured, he apparently made his way home. Weeks later, his frozen body was found by his brother in the same Idaho Street apartment where Kate died in 1919. Ed Morrissey was 48 years old. Jim Sullivan was only 17 when hed had enough. Enough of his father. Enough of school. Enough of everything. I went into the principals office and threw my books on his desk and said, Im through, Sullivan recalled of that day in 1953. He said, You cant be through, you cant be through, youre not out of high school yet. I said, Oh yeah? Im out of high school because Im in the Navy. I had already joined. At that time, a cease fire in Korea was months away and Sullivan said young American men could join the military one of two ways volunteer or be drafted. He volunteered. Sullivan was born and raised in Butte and besides two years of active duty in the Navy and a little time in Billings years later, Butte has been his home. Hes 88 now. He married his late wife, Patricia, just before he joined the Navy and they had four children together. His eldest son, Jim, died in early 2021 but two sons, Mark and Tim, both live in Seattle and his daughter, Madeline, lives in Spokane. All are doing well. Sullivan learned a lot about himself and life during two years in the Navy and several more in the Navy reserves, but he looks back on much of it today with humor. Take the thunderbolt of change that hit him at Navy boot camp in California. Shock to the system are the words to use, he said. You had to do things like wash your clothes. And you had to do that on a cement table and use soap they gave you that was full of lime. And then you make the mistake of going up to your room and forgetting your piece, he said. Most people call it a rifle but I had to call it my piece. My commanding officer came to me and said, You left your piece out on the patio. I want you to sing every love song you can think of for the next four hours to this rifle. So he did, though he struggled to come up with them. Id already left my love in Butte, Sullivan said, laughing, and I was supposed to sing love songs to my rifle. Sullivan was sent from boot camp to the U.S.S. Rombach, a destroyer escort ship that helped protect convoys in the South Pacific during World War II in 1945. She spent the final months of the war in a carrier hunter-killer group off the coast of Luzon. Sullivan boarded the Rombach in Seattle and he remembers the first night. He was placed on watch, admitting now that he had no clue what he was doing. Im at the front of the ship and Im looking out and I see this light out there, he said, already cracking a smile. I thought, Thats got to be light on a ship. So I report back to the captain. Captain, ship off the starboard bow! He hollers down, Where do you see a !$#!&% ship off the starboard bow? Thats a $#&%!# buoy you idiot! One of his shipmates burst out laughing. His name was Neil Sullivan, and though he, too, was a Sullivan from Butte, Jim Sullivan had never met him until their time in the Navy. They became lifelong friends. He was laughing so hard I couldnt believe it, Sullivan said. He couldnt stop. Sullivans time on the ocean was brief because the Rombach was barely out to sea when a mechanical issue left it dead in the water. It had to be tugged back to port and before long, Sullivan was on a flight to the Naval Air Station in Corpus Christi, Texas. Thats where many Navy pilots are trained, much of it done on aircraft carriers. Sullivan was assigned to aviation ordinance, which included pulling 20mm autocannons from fighter wings, dismantling them, cleaning them, oiling them and reinstalling them. Like everything in the military, details mattered, since a single malfunction, a single misstep, a single mistake could cost lives. Sullivan learned that quickly, but it really hit home one day. The planes Sullivan and others worked on had wings that folded up so more could fit on the decks of carriers, and when they were ready to fly, they were lowered hydraulically. There were large pins that locked them up or down, whichever was needed. It wasnt Sullivans job to examine those pins closely, but others did. One afternoon, a friend of Sullivans who was a pilot took off without one of his wings locked down. On take off, it lifted upward. The plane rolled, came down, hit the (deck) pavement and took his head off, Sullivan said. He was a hell-of-a-nice guy. A good guy. We had just had a party the night before." Sullivans wife had joined him at Corpus Christi by then and the pilots wife was headed to Texas by train to join her husband that very day. She arrived to tragic news. "We were all devastated," Sullivan said. To this day, mention Texas and Sullivan can just feel the heat and humidity as if he was right back in Corpus. He absolutely hated that. You were sweating all the time water just coming off you, he said. You couldnt get cool even going to a bar. When his active duty was up in 1955, Sullivan loaded up a trailer and he and his wife hit the road, destination Butte, Montana. I couldnt get out of there fast enough, he said. Sullivan didn't get adventures on the high seas in the Navy. His only trip out to sea was over before it really began, and the Navy, like all branches of the military, sends you where it wants you. It's not a travel agency. But for a 17-year-old who had troubles at home and was sick of school and had just had enough, the Navy was a savior. It gave him a home, a sense of discipline, great friends and a lot more. I would recommend that anybody go into the service, Sullivan said. It could be the Navy, the Army, whatever, because you have to learn, and you cant learn sitting in a bar down on Second Street. It was, in fact, his first rodeo. Kenneth Lee attended the Labor Day rodeo in White Sulphur Springs. He did not buy a cowboy hat. On July 1, Lee became the new dean of the School of Mines and Engineering at Montana Technological University. The Butte-based school has a robust and storied history in both disciplines. He replaces Dan Trudnowski, Ph.D., who returned to being a professor in the electrical engineering department. Lee left Western New England University in Springfield, Massachusetts to take the job at Montana Tech. At Western New England he was a professor and founding chair of the civil and environmental engineering department. Why Montana Tech? We have an excellent faculty and state-of-the-art facilities that rival some big name schools, Lee said. I want to use our enormous potential and turn it into opportunities for growth. He plans to make recruitment a key focus, along with establishing a vibrant study abroad program for mining and engineering students. Lee said he believes potential students might not realize that Montana Techs tuition rate is lower than many schools. He said hed like to expand the target area for recruitment and diversify the student body in mining and engineering. We can transform students lives, and because of our low tuition, students can graduate with very little debt, Lee said. In addition, he said, students in mining and engineering often move quickly into high-paying jobs after graduation, a reality that can be trumpeted. Providing access to international education and cross-cultural enrichment through summer programs abroad could be another draw for students, Lee said, aiding both recruitment and retention. But many Montana Tech students arrive for their first year having never traveled far from home. Many of our freshmen students dont have passports, Lee said. He is working to establish agreements that would allow students to study in Panama for three summer weeks at a rate described as affordable. Students would receive up to six hours of credit in Spanish and statics. The program would be open to the entire campus, Lee said, though the courses would be geared toward meeting second year requirements for STEM degrees. Lees personal history includes cross-cultural experiences of the highest order. He moved to America with his family when he was 10 years old. He spoke not a word of English when the family left Taiwan. He grew up in Californias Simi Valley with a sister who is now an officer in the U.S. Navy and a brother who is a high school teacher. Lee received engineering degrees from the University of California Irvine and has postdoctoral experience from Princeton University. His primary research has focused on subsurface contamination and renewable energy. Lees sense of humor seems to have survived his years spent in academia, where the atmosphere can resemble the extreme weather at the summit of Mount Washington in New Hampshire. He laughs readily and heartily. Lee seems determined to develop and pursue a strategic vision that will enhance the programs he oversees and the university at large. He said its clear that meeting the demand domestically for critical minerals, including rare earth metals, is already an issue of national security and one destined to intensify. A clean-energy economy will exponentially increase demand for critical minerals, scientists say. Lee said Montana Techs curricula should focus, in part, on innovative approaches to mining, such as carbon neutral mining. But not just the mining program, he said. Id like all SME programs to incorporate innovative approaches to provide our students the ability to solve current and foreseeable problems. Meanwhile, Steve Gammon, Ph.D., vice chancellor for academic affairs/provost, said it is already clear that Lee offers Montana Tech and its faculty, staff and students a host of laudable characteristics. During his short tenure in Butte, he has demonstrated a deep appreciation for both the history and potential of the School of Mines, Gammon said. Dr. Lee has hit the ground running in building relationships to partner with faculty and staff in SME to continue the tradition of innovation that has been a hallmark of Montana Tech. I have no doubt that he is going to be an excellent colleague and leader that is committed to providing an incredible education for our engineering students, Gammon said. We should have seen it coming a lawless, unprincipled presidency. From Donald Trumps execrable TV reality show The Apprentice, to his spearheading of the birther movement, displaying his racist denigration of Barack Obama, insisting he was born in Kenya, not in Hawaii, as Obamas birth certificate proves, we saw that much of Trumps life and business was not just nasty and spiteful, but unlawful. We learned that parts of his empire of businesses were fraudulent, and under investigation by the New York attorney general. Word came out about the huge fraud his Trump University was. The phony non-university bilked hundreds of students out of millions of dollars, and ultimately Trump was required to pay $25,000,000 in settlements. As a candidate for president in 2016, Trump refused to release his tax returns, though it became common knowledge that he had taken his three New Jersey casinos and one hotel into bankruptcy six times (how do you bankrupt a casino?!). Notwithstanding his criminal escapades, the Republican Party warmly embraced Trump in the 2016 election, and enough of the electorate was fooled that he was elected president without winning the popular vote, but eking out a small margin in the undemocratic Electoral College. Once in office, Trumpss first appointed Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, former CEO of Exxon Mobil Corp., described Trump as a moron. Too true, but aside from his ignorance and incompetence, Trump demonstrated almost daily that he is a monumentally dishonest man, deserving of no trust. According to Yahoo!News, fact checkers chronicled over 25,000 false statements by Trump before the end of his presidency. His skulduggery eventually earned him two well-deserved impeachments (needing no explication here), for both of which he was acquitted by a cowardly and unprincipled Republican senate majority, freeing him up to continue his one-man crime wave. Heres where it stands now: On Aug. 8, the FBI executed a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago, the part-time residence of ex-president Trump in Palm Beach, Florida. This occurred after nearly a year of Trumps refusal to return government records to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), which he had unlawfully taken with him when he left the White House. The search warrant application was authorized by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and approved by Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart, as part of an investigation into Trump relating to three federal criminal statutes: Violations of the Espionage Act regarding unauthorized retention of national defense information; Destroying or concealing records "with the intent to impede, obstruct, or influence" federal government activity; Illegal removal or destruction of federal government records (without respect to cause) In their search, the FBI retrieved hundreds of documents, held insecurely at Mar-a-Lago, over one hundred of which were classified Secret, and of which some contained Top Secret evaluations of one or more foreign countries nuclear capabilities. Make no mistake: If any other American were guilty of these federal violations, they would already be indicted and in prison awaiting trial. But Trump has taken recourse to District Judge Aileen Cannon, whom he had appointed in the last months of his presidency, apparently using the same criteria he had used in appointing his three intellectual sloths to the Supreme Court. Thus far, she appears to be giving Trump his expected special treatment with delaying orders, etc., but the Justice Department has told her that it will appeal her orders if she does not modify them within days. Meantime, legal experts and scholars have heaped scorn on Judge Cannons uneducated and uninformed orders, which, whether intentionally or not, have stymied the critical national security investigation. So stands the impending end of Donald Trumps ignominious career, as we await AG Garlands decision whether or when to indict Trump. Flighty Senator Lindsey Graham has a case of the vapors and cries, If Trump is indicted, there will be rioting in the streets! Perhaps, but if so, law enforcement will simply need to do its job to keep the peace, and assure theres plenty of room for the multitudes of Americans who will turn out rejoicing that the criminal is at last brought to justice. WAPELLO The Louisa County Sheriffs Office reports a Burlington man is facing a charge of attempted murder after a Sunday incident in Louisa County. According to a news release, Wesley Chamblee, 31, of Burlington, is charged with the Class B felony of attempted murder out of Louisa County, which brings a penalty of up to 25 years in prison. The report said further felony charges were forthcoming and expected. Chamblee also faces six felony charges in Des Moines and Johnson counties. Chamblee is currently being held in the Johnson County Jail on multiple bonds and retainers. Chamblee is charged in Johnson County with eluding injury and assault while displaying a dangerous weapon. At 5:40 a.m. Sunday, Louisa County Sheriffs deputies received information that shooting suspect Chamblee had kidnapped a female subject and had left the Burlington area. He was considered armed and dangerous. The release said that at 6:45 a.m. Sunday, Louisa County Dispatch received a 911 call that a 28-year-old female subject had been shot and had run to a residence in the 9000 grid of County Road X61. The victim informed law enforcement she was shot attempting to escape Chamblee. The victim was transported to Southeast Iowa Regional for treatment of one gunshot wound and is expected to recover. Chamblee reportedly left northbound after the shooting. An attempt to locate the vehicle and Chamblee was broadcast. The Johnson County Sheriffs office reported observing the vehicle Chamblee was driving and attempted a traffic stop. A vehicle pursuit ensued. With assistance from the Iowa State Police, Chamblee was taken into custody. According to the Johnson County Sheriffs Office the vehicle driven by Chamblee had driven northbound on Coral Ridge Avenue at about 70 mph. It was reported several times that vehicles had to swerve out of the way to avoid head-on collisions. The vehicle had also been reported driving on the sidewalk in the 1200 block of Forevergreen Road. The report said once the vehicle was stopped, a handgun was recovered that matched the caliber of the shootings earlier in the day. According to court records, Chamblee is bonded out of the Des Moines County Jail where he faces charges of assault and violating a no-contact protective order. He had also been arrested earlier this year for several counts of violating a no-contact order and domestic abuse assault. He was also eight days from a sentencing hearing after pleading guilty to a count of second-degree burglary. Free Market Foundation board member Terry Markman described energy minister Gwede Mantashes Eskom 2.0 ambitions as total insanity in a CapeTalk interview. In a separate interview, independent energy expert Hilton Trollip also slammed Mantashes proposal to convert at least three of Eskoms ageing coal-fired stations to gas power plants to kickstart Eskom 2.0. Its very difficult to comment on the proposal to have an Eskom number two without using outrageous words. I mean this idea is total insanity, Markman said. To do this would really be reckless. Theres absolutely no reason whatsoever to have another power [utility]. Its like having another SAA. Its just insane. I cannot think of words to describe how insane it is, he added. Markman strongly supports privatising South Africas state-owned companies and believes it is a viable solution for South Africas energy crisis. Im totally in favour of using the private sector and privatising just about everything, but theres another important thing to do, and that is to get rid of all the red tape and to deregulate. To this end, Markman refers to the relaxed 100MW limits placed upon private power generation in South Africa, which President Cyril Ramaphosa has since promised to lift. Theres so many solutions the private sector can come up with if allowed to do so, he added. We are in a terrible situation, and we have to start implementing real solutions. Markman used the European Unions (EU) energy deregulation as an example, saying that prices dropped by roughly 20% as a result. In Vietnam, they allowed the private sector to sell back to the grid, he added. Theres no one shoe fits all. We must open up the market and let the market solve the problem. In a few years, well all have sufficient electricity. Mantashe also proposed converting Eskoms coal-fired power stations into gas power plants to kickstart Eskom 2.0. According to independent energy expert Hilton Trollip, the plan is impractical and just a pipe dream. They [the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy] are not doing what theyre supposed to do, and theyre dreaming of doing things, in my understanding of the Electricity Regulation Act, that they arent required to do, Trollip said. What theyre going to do if they follow this plan, theyre going to continue with the lack of success they had over this past 5 to 6 years. Mantashe proposed that at least three of Eskoms ageing coal-fired power stations namely Hendrina, Grootvlei and Camden be repurposed into gas-burning generation stations. However, Trollip believes that the plan will likely face various legal hurdles. Hiring people and raising the finance to buy new gas turbines to go into those power stations are on a completely different scale in terms of legal frameworks, he said. He added that raising the funds needed to convert the power stations is almost impossible. If they bid for other technologies which have been shown by independent analyses and modelling to not be economically viable, namely new gas turbines, that are not used for peaking, they wont get finance, Trollip explained. At a South African Communist Party Conference in July 2022, Ramaphosa said that Mantashe tabled the idea of a second state-owned power utility. Ramaphosa believes it is a good idea. He said he agreed with energy minister Mantashes idea that a second state-owned power utility could solve South Africas energy crisis. That is why when comrade Gwede [Mantashe] flighted the idea of why not a second one which can be owned by the government, I said thats not a bad idea. A company started by two Wits graduates outperformed Amazon, Apple, and Nvidia to top the S&P 500 indexs 30-year performance list. Monster Beverage Corporation outperformed Amazon, Apple, and Nvidia to top the list of the best-performing stocks in the S&P 500 over the last 30 years. Monster achieved a 30-year total return of 213,088% at an annualised rate of 32%. $10,000 invested in the company in 1992 will now be worth $21 million. It outperformed exceptional tech companies like Amazon with a 30-year performance of 168,927%, Apple with 46,544%, and Nvidia with 41,421%. Monster Beverage Corporation was created by two South Africans Rodney Sacks and Hilton Schlosberg who both attended the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits). They emigrated to the United States at different times but joined forces in 1990 to acquire Hansen Natural Corporation for $1.71 million. After the acquisition, Sacks has been chairman and CEO of Hansen Natural Corporation, while Schlosberg served as president and COO. Their big break came in 2002 when they launched Monster Energy. Within ten years, they increased revenue to $2 billion. So successful was Monster Energy that the Hansen Natural Corporation changed its name to Monster Beverage Corporation in 2012. Today, the company has numerous top brands, including Monster Energy, Burn, NOS, Full Throttle, Relentless, Mother, Reign, and Predator. In February 2022, it added several craft beers and hard seltzers to its product portfolio by acquiring CANarchy Craft Brewery Collective. What makes Monster Beverage Corporation stand out, apart from its energy drinks, is its stellar financial performance. Monster drinks are sold in 141 countries, and the company has a significant share of the $53 billion global energy drink market. An analysis by Charlie Bilello, CEO of Compound Capital Advisors, showed that Monster Beverage Corporation was the best-performing company in the S&P 500 Index over the last 30 years. The companys growth is not slowing down. It achieved record second-quarter net sales of $1.66 billion in the 2022 second quarter, 13.2% higher than in the 2021 comparable period. Schlosberg, now vice chairman and co-CEO, said they were pleased to report continued strong revenue growth, driven by consumer demand. Sacks, chairman and co-CEO, added that Monster Beverage Corporation is well positioned to capitalise on growth in the global energy drink category with its Monster Energy family of brands. The chart below shows the Monster Beverage Corporations share price over the last 30 years. Top-performing stocks in the S&P 500 Index over 30 years The table below shows the top-performing stocks in the S&P 500 Index over the last 30 years, with Monster Beverage Corporation leading the pack. Top performing stocks in the S&P 500 over 30 years Company 30-year total return Annualised return Monster Beverage Corp 213,088% 32.8% Amazon 168,927% 34.1% Pool Corp 49,989% 26.0% Apple 46,544% 22.7% Nvidia 41,421% 29.1% Amphenol Corp 41,174% 22.2% Qualcomm 41,112% 22.2% NVR 40,790% 22.2% Altria Group 37,458% 21.8% Resmed 34,147% 23.9% This article was first published by Daily Investor and is republished with permission. Now read: Kulula cannot be rescued Communications minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni recently published a draft next-generation spectrum policy for public comment, including potential Wi-Fi permits and licensing. However, this does not mean South Africans will have to get permits or licences for their home Wi-Fi routers. With the rapid growth of Wi-Fi in complementing and off-loading mobile data traffic from fixed broadband, the Regulator must continuously consider and review more protection of spectrum use for Wi-Fi services, including possible licensing and permits, the proposed policy states. It also says that industry regulator Icasa must evaluate measures and options to enhance the effectiveness of Wi-Fi. This includes considering allocating additional radio frequency spectrum to support new Wi-Fi technologies. Spectrum is the raw capacity wireless network providers use to communicate between subscriber devices and their towers. Wi-Fi access points also use spectrum to connect devices around the home. The standard Wi-Fi and Bluetooth frequencies are in the 2.4GHz spectrum band. A higher-frequency 5GHz band is also available on newer Wi-Fi access points and devices. The Minister must from time to time consider incentives to stimulate investment for Wi-Fi deployments in poor areas that facilitate access to financing and/or funding, and access to spectrum for use or share, the policy says. MyBroadband contacted the Wireless Access Providers Association (Wapa) to help explain what the policys references to Wi-Fi licences and permits mean. Its a massive step forward in all regards, Wapa executive management committee member Paul Colmer told MyBroadband. Its aligned with what we have been trying to achieve over the years to enable SMMEs [small, medium, and micro enterprises] to play a major part in the vision of government to leave nobody behind. Colmer explained that the higher-frequency 5.8GHz unlicensed Wi-Fi spectrum that wireless Internet service providers (WISPs) use is extremely congested with high noise levels. There are regulations governing who can use this spectrum and limits on how much signal power they may put out. However, Colmer said the nature of unlicensed spectrum is that its a free-for-all so long as you comply with the rules for the frequency band. Globally, we have seen massive inroads being made in opening up Wi-Fi 6E band 5.925GHz7.125GHz [as an unlicensed band] a massive 1.2GHz of spectrum which is sorely needed in SA, Colmer said. But South Africa must also learn from its mistakes when deploying 5.8GHz for use in Wi-Fi networks. These new Wi-Fi allocations must be managed correctly for the good of all, Colmer said. He explained that in Wi-Fi 6E, they are currently looking at two power profiles: very low power used for devices like Wi-Fi routers, and standard power for outdoor use in fixed wireless access and community networks. It is actually common sense that we have to manage these bands and also protect any incumbent users, said Colmer. This would be achieved by using automatic frequency coordination (AFC) a database to allocate channels to avoid causing interference for existing users. These AFC databases already exist in the US, and multiple applications have been received by the FCC [the US regulator] to build more. Colmer said the ministers draft policy shows that the government is pushing for spectrum sharing and dynamic spectrum allocation. Which is unquestionably the most economic use of spectrum, Colmer stated. He added that this is nothing new, with systems in the US doing it, and Wapa doing the same in South Africa with its TV whitespaces project using a database from the CSIR. Licences or permits for AFC database access Licenses or permits to access these systems for specific use cases will assist in achieving compliant users, explained Colmer. It is a great step forward to achieving the Holy Grail of a cleaner, managed unlicensed Wi-Fi space in South Africa, he said. It will become the foundation of the networks that the SMME WISPs were born to build, and pursue the vision of the minister to leave nobody behind in the digital economy. Colmer said there is a thread running through the new draft spectrum policy that clearly shows the minister and her department intend to include and support SMME WISPs. The new policy draft is music to my ears, Colmer said Although regulatory management and policy implementation can be a difficult road, it can be done and has my full support. Anyone interested in commenting on the proposed spectrum policy has 30 days from 8 September 2022 to respond. American Canyon Police announced the arrest of a Fairfield man in connection with a string of vehicle burglaries early Friday morning. Quality journalism doesn't happen without your help. Subscribe today! Support local news coverage and the people who report it by subscribing to the Napa Valley Register. Napa County sheriff's detectives detained Michael Anthony Sean Phan-Sanchez, 18, at 6:06 p.m. Friday, less than 15 hours after numerous car windows were smashed in south American Canyon, police said in a Facebook announcement. Phan-Sanchez was booked into the Napa County jail on 10 counts of suspected vehicle burglary and 12 counts of suspected vandalism, along with allegations of criminal conspiracy and possessing stolen property. Detectives contacted Phan-Sanchez while he was driving in the Lopes Road area of Cordelia, according to Lt. Don Maiden of the sheriff's office. Phan-Sanchez was driving the same vehicle that was captured on video committing the burglaries, and was in possession of stolen property from the incidents as well as other stolen items that were found in his vehicle, Maiden said in an email. Before the arrest, police said that the La Vigne neighborhood located south of American Road and east of Flosden Road, just north of Vallejo city limits and neighborhoods east of Shenandoah Park had been most affected, with 12 vehicles identified as burglary targets. The department believes the vehicle windows were smashed between about 3 and 5 a.m. Friday morning, though the extent of losses was not immediately known. Anyone with information about the burglaries is asked to contact American Canyon Police at 707-551-0600. After years of development, the city of Napas draft general plan, which will guide local growth and development for the next two decades once approved, will be up for a scheduled penultimate review by the Napa City Council on Tuesday evening a prelude to a final adoption hearing tentatively scheduled for Oct. 18. Much of the general plan is apparently settled after years of edits and debate. But the City Council will need to weigh two long-requested major changes recommended by the citys Planning Commission on Sept. 1, one of which would likely trigger a legal challenge should the City Council move forward with it. The recommendation in question also requested by several public commenters at multiple public meetings is to change the zoning of the undeveloped 144-acre area near Foster Road and Golden Gate Drive, west of Highway 29, to a greenbelt. That would effectively block large-scale development by limiting housing development to one unit per 20 acres. The area is currently identified in the draft general plan as a spot for future housing. Quality journalism doesn't happen without your help. Subscribe today! Support local news coverage and the people who report it by subscribing to the Napa Valley Register. Napa attorney Kevin Teague, of the Holman Teague Roche Anglin law firm, sent city attorney Michael Barrett a letter Sept. 9 on behalf of the Ghisletta family which owns land in the Foster Road area that once hosted a dairy farm saying that proceeding with the Foster Road recommendation could open the city up to significant legal liability, and would clash with the citys own policy direction. Teague specifically cites Californias Housing Crisis Act of 2019, arguing that the commission recommendation directly violates the laws prohibition on any net loss in residential capacity. He also cites Californias Housing Element Law, saying it would place the city in legal jeopardy by failing to adequately identify housing sites. California is in the midst of a housing shortage, which has led the state to take such steps as setting a goal of building 2.5 million new homes by 2030. That effort includes increasing pressure on cities to plan for more housing. For example, the state last month announced it would be performing a comprehensive review of San Francisco's housing policies and procedures given its very low rate of approving housing construction, among other reasons. Should the city not receive state approval for its housing element, it risks losing billions in state affordable housing funds, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. In the letter, Teague additionally cites the U.S. and California constitutions, saying the curb on home construction near Foster Road would violate prohibitions on taking private property for public use without just compensation along with causing the deprivation of civil rights, among other reasons. The Planning Commissions recommendation to the City Council would expose the City to liability from actions by the State Attorney General, private citizens, housing interest groups and affected property owners, Teague wrote in the letter. Please let me know if you would like to discuss these items further. This may be unnecessary as the family has confidence that the City Council understands these matters far better than the Planning Commission and would not support such extreme policy and legal errors. Teague also notes that the commission moved forward with the recommendation despite a half-century of city and community planning to maintain the site as a housing reserve, and the roughly four years of planning thats gone into the general plan update. The Napa City Council did indeed meet to discuss the significant exposure to litigation in one potential case during a closed session on Thursday, but no reportable action was taken. The other major Planning Commission recommendation was that a long-controversial plan to extend Linda Vista Avenue on a bridge over the Napa Creek should be removed from the general plan altogether. Multiple previous attempts to carry out that project have been shot down by the City Council after community outcry rose against the proposals, though city staff members have argued the extension would improve emergency response times and increase connectivity. Several edits, suggested by both the citys Planning Commission and members of the public, have already been folded into the plan since it was first opened for public review in February. Such changes include, for example, an added goal to limit the expansion of gas stations and strengthened language in the climate change and sustainability element, among much else. The council is also being asked to certify the environmental impact report for the general plan, required by the California Environmental Quality Act to consider the potential adverse impacts projects identified by the general plan would have, at the Tuesday meeting. Theres a ditty that captures Californians attitudes about taxes: Dont tax you, dont tax me, tax the fellow behind the tree. It explains why California voters are usually willing to impose new taxes on the states most affluent residents and why the state has, by far, the highest income tax rates of any state, topping out at 13.3%. In this century, the syndrome has been evident in three elections, beginning in 2004 when Darrell Steinberg, then a state legislator and now mayor of Sacramento, and mental health advocacy groups proposed boosting the tax rate on incomes over $1 million by one percentage point to expand services to the mentally ill. Eight years later, in 2012, Gov. Jerry Brown sponsored a ballot measure that added four new tax rate brackets on incomes over $250,000 for seven years, saying the proceeds, about $6 billion a year, were needed to keep the state budget solvent. Four years later, a coalition of public employee unions and program advocacy groups backed another measure to extend Browns temporary increase until 2030. All were successful, in part because the wealthy people who would pay the additional taxes didnt mount any opposition campaigns. Once again, California voters are being asked to impose more taxes on high-income taxpayers, but this time, the dynamics are markedly different. Proposition 30, primarily sponsored by the Lyft ride service company but with support from environmental and health groups, would raise the rate on incomes of $2 million or more by 1.75 percentage points, pushing Californias top rate to just over 15%. Proceeds would support climate change resistance efforts. This time, however, wealthy Californians are donating heavily to a campaign against the measure. At least one reason might be that under a 2017 federal tax overhaul, they can no longer deduct state and local taxes (SALT) over $10,000 on their federal tax returns. In effect, that means that Californias high-income taxpayers now feel the full brunt of state tax increases. The SALT cap also encourages some of the states wealthy to leave California for low- or no-income tax states such as neighboring Nevada, Texas or Florida electric car tycoon Elon Musk most spectacularly. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic politicians have been trying to scrap the SALT deduction limit on behalf of California and other high-tax states, such as New York, but so far have failed. This week saw another unusual wrinkle in the perpetual efforts to increase taxes on the wealthy: The campaign against Proposition 30 is broadcasting an ad in which Gov. Gavin Newsom denounces the measure, citing Lyfts sponsorship. Dont be fooled. Prop 30s been advertised as a climate initiative, Newsom says. But in reality, it was devised by a single corporation to funnel state income taxes to benefit their company. Put simply, Prop 30 is a trojan horse that puts corporate welfare above the fiscal welfare of our entire state. It bolsters the opposition campaigns contention that Lyft wants the new money for climate change programs because it would subsidize a state mandate that it and other ride companies convert their fleets to zero emission vehicles. Newsoms opposition is just one of the strange bedfellows makeup of campaigns for and against Proposition 30. His Democratic Party has endorsed the measure, as have groups that have been Newsom allies on climate change. But the California Teachers Association joins him in opposition, improbably aligned with the state Republican Party and anti-tax groups. This time around, therefore, one cannot say that raising taxes on the rich will be an easy sell. The first hints of direly needed rain began falling over portions of the Bay Area and Northern California on Sunday, acting as a salve to the drought-stricken region and offering a temporary reprieve from dangerously risky fire conditions. Quality journalism doesn't happen without your help. Subscribe today! Support local news coverage and the people who report it by subscribing to the Napa Valley Register. Initial rainfall totals during the early hours of the storm appeared to be smaller than expected for much of the Bay Area, but picked up during the day, according to the National Weather Service. The largest amounts of rain appeared concentrated over the Santa Cruz Mountains and across the North Bay on Sunday morning. Maybe we wont see the higher end of what we were predicting, but some of the low-end totals that we had in the forecast, weve certainly got time for, said Dalton Behringer, a National Weather Service meteorologist. Rainfall at Napa County Airport measured 0.92 inch as of 4 p.m. Sunday, according to Napa County's OneRain website. Elsewhere in the county, 24-hour rain totals ranged from 0.29 inch at Soda Creek to 0.71 inch at Mount St. Helena. Earlier Sunday, much of the North Bay, including the Highway 101 corridor north of Santa Rosa, received at least a quarter-inch of rain, while Bodega Bay recorded 0.52 inch of rain. The Santa Cruz Mountains received 0.31 to 0.53 inch as of 10:45 a.m., according to rain gauges monitored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Birds outnumbered beachgoers at Stinson Beach, where a steady rain appeared to be keeping people indoors. The scene stood in stark contrast to just a couple of weeks ago, when hours-long traffic jams clogged Highway 1 in Marin County during the states worst heat wave of the year. This time, only a few hardy adventurers made the trek to the coast. With strong winds and rain battering down from above, Captain Gregg Thomas guided three fisherman at Marin Countys Stinson Beach shoreline. For him, the forecast offered a welcome reprieve from the balmy weather of late. Its been sunny for so long, said Thomas, who lives in Santa Rosa and has been guiding fishing tours around the region for 15 years. As he spoke, a member of his party hauled in a striper. The rain, the wind. It gets you more connected to mother nature. This is awesome. Is 'earthquake weather' a real thing? Here's what the experts say Sep. 16A spate of seismic activity has peppered the Bay Area in the past week. A 2.9-magnitude earthquake jolted Oakland late Sunday. Two stronger quakes magnitudes 4.4 and 3.9 struck in quick succession near Santa Rosa on Tuesday evening. Yet another temblor struck the East Bay early Thursday morning, this time in Berkeley. Is there something about the weather that's driving all these ... Others at Stinson Beach on Sunday chose to spend the day in the water. Dylan Murphy, who lives close to the small beach town, had his wet suit on and surfboard cradled on his left arm. The stormy weather wasnt deterring him. Its good waves right now, he said with water running down his face. I think it feels nice with the rain on you. A rain shadow effect appeared to be limiting rainfall totals farther south. Thats because storm clouds appeared to be drying out as they passed over the coastal mountains leaving less moisture to fall farther east. Less than a tenth of an inch of rain was recorded in most other cities across the Bay Area by mid-Sunday morning. But more precipitation could soon be on the way. While an inch of rain may no longer be possible in places like San Francisco or Oakland, those areas could still see a half to three-quarters of an inch of rain in the coming days, Behringer said. Its all due to a low-pressure system that moved down the Pacific Coast from the Gulf of Alaska and recently stalled over the ocean to the west of the Bay Area, Behringer said. The system should linger through at least Tuesday, bringing with it cooler temperatures and much-needed rain to Northern California. Gusty winds also are forecast to hit the Pacific shoreline and the nearby coastal ranges from Anchor Bay down south to Monterey. A wind advisory is in effect for that region until 4 a.m. Monday due to winds that could range from 20 to 30 mph, and gusts that could reach 45 mph, the National Weather Service reported. The storm system comes as California continues to grapple with a historic drought thats cranked up the fire danger across the state. Almost the entire state including the Bay Area is categorized as being in severe drought by the U.S. Drought Monitor. Nearly 41% of the state, including much of the Sacramento Valley, is labeled as being in extreme drought. The storms should help to temporarily alleviate fire conditions across Northern California though that relief could be short-lived. Another bout of hot weather is expected to reach Northern California later this week, potentially stoking the regions fire risk. Whatever rain we get, were expected to dry right back out, Behringer said. While its definitely not an end to fire season, it helps in the short term. But we would need another one of these storms directly on the horizon or another couple of them to really have a major impact, long-term, on the fire season. Among the areas that could benefit most from the rain are communities impacted by the Mosquito Fire, which sparked near Oxbow Reservoir during the latter portion of the punishing Labor Day weekend heat wave. The blaze has since destroyed 78 structures while burning through 74,748 acres of forest in El Dorado and Placer counties. Containment of the blaze rose to 34% on Sunday morning, up 13 percentage points from the previous day. About 0.75 to 2 inches of rain is forecast to fall over the burn area over the next few days offering a prime chance to help firefighters gain the upper hand on the fire. The first drops started to fall on the blaze overnight from Saturday into Sunday. Were really happy to see that rain, said Donald Fregulia, who is helping to manage night operations at the fire. RBC: Number of cases for evading army in Russia from spring to announcement of mobilization reaches maximum in 10 years Minister: Italy will be able to survive winter with current level of gas flow, if 'catastrophic events' do not occur Russia extradites Norwegian accused of major fraud to Norway German power producer RWE to buy clean energy company for $6.8 billion What foods are dangerous to combine with coffee? Armenian and Azerbaijani FMs start meeting in Geneva Eslami: Iran's nuclear power generation capacity is scheduled to reach 10,000 megawatts Spanish MP to Ursula von der Leyen about murder of Armenian POWs: And this is your reliable partner? Armenian FM discusses video of execution of Armenian POWs with Philip Reeker Bloomberg: OPEC+ group to consider cutting oil production by more than 1 million barrels per day Delegation from Bundestag arrives in Taiwan: China protests Erling Haaland's incredible record (photo) Secretary of Armenian Security Council to go on working visit to Brussels Manchester City vs Manchester United - 6:3 (photo, video) Afghan authorities disperse women's rally in Herat Pope appeals to Vladimir Putin to 'stop this spiral of violence and death' Four good rules for heart Crown Prince of Kuwait accepts resignation of government after parliamentary elections in country Armenian FM meets with EU Special Representative Toivo Klaar in Geneva Van miss out on win in regulation time Lazio win without any problems: 4-0 (video) Former Ombudsman: Armenia must immediately apply to International Criminal Court Address by Alen Simonyan to National Minorities: You have been and continue to be members of our extended family Denmark declares gas leakage in damaged Nord Stream 1 pipeline stopped Ombudsman's Office about video of Armenian soldiers' shooting: We have identified the authenticity of the video Bella Hadid shows on runway 'liquid dress': Apparently, this is clothing of future Liz Truss says she should have done more to set stage for her economic plan Foreign Ministry: Armenia demands clear evaluation of blatant war crimes by Azerbaijani Armed Forces Pashinyan: Armenia will use all available international mechanisms to bring Azerbaijan to justice Latvian Prime Minister's Party wins parliamentary elections Action movie 'Bullet Train' with Brad Pitt makes over $100 million at U.S. box office Royal family is back in middle of scandal Marukyan: Azerbaijani political and military authorities must be hold accountable for this and other atrocities Four fruits rich in potassium that help protect joints Ancelotti: Benzema is in very good shape and will be in starting lineup Armenian PM sends congratulatory message on National Minorities Day Applications to international courts will be filed tomorrow in connection with shooting of Armenian POWs Bosnia holds presidential and parliamentary elections Animal rights activists demand Steven Spielberg to remove monkey scene from 'The Fabelmans' movie Armenian Defense Ministry on video of execution of Armenian POWs: No doubts about authenticity Le Figaro: International media and authorities verify gruesome video of execution of Armenian POWs by Azerbaijanis Brazil's presidential and parliamentary elections begin Toivo Klaar: Another horrible video has emerged of Armenian prisoners of war apparently being executed Pregnant Kelly Osbourne talks about serious illness Blinken says U.S. will help Ukraine on issue of territories Football match ends in tragedy: 127 victims Defense Ministry: As of 10 am, situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border remains unchanged At least 129 killed in stampede at football match in Indonesia EU leaders to discuss security of their critical infrastructure Lebanon says it received proposal from US for maritime border agreement with Israel Italy's Eni works with Gazprom to solve the problem of Russian gas supplies stoppage Prime Minister: There are problems in relations between OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs France can supply Ukraine with up to twelve new Caesar howitzers Over half of Britons think Liz Truss should step down as PM Kyiv's bid for accelerated NATO membership comes as surprise to Biden administration Baykar plant in Ukraine to start assembling high-altitude UAV model Bayraktar Akinci Erdogan sues German MP for calling him cesspool rat OSCE may send mission to Armenian-Azerbaijani border Erdogan doesn't rule out meeting with Pashinyan Armenian Defense Ministry urges to stop collecting food, clothing, money for servicemen Kuwait government tenders resignation following parliamentary elections Joint command and staff exercise held during CSTO military exercises in Kazakhstan Over 30 killed in Iran terrorist attack Premier League: Arsenal beat Tottenham, are current leaders Aliyev announces plans to double Azerbaijan natural gas supply to Europe by 2027 Pashinyan: I am confident that Armenia-Cyprus cooperation will continue to be strengthened, expanded GIF22 faces: 5 FAST questions to Monique Morrow 4 years pass without Charles Aznavour (VIDEO) Finland, Sweden, Turkey may discuss NATO membership process this month Artsakh security council meeting to be held at parliamentary forces proposal Messi's private jet makes 52 trips this summer US court orders Iran to pay $34.8M in compensation to late journalists family Armenian parliament speaker to leave for Moscow David Beckham is first to comment on conflict between wife, Victoria, and daughter-in-law, Nicola Peltz Hurricane Ian death toll exceeds 40 in Florida Armenian community stages protest ahead of Azerbaijan presidents Bulgaria visit (PHOTOS) California Governor signs bill declaring April 24 state holiday in remembrance of Armenian Genocide 2 Azerbaijanis severely injured after stepping on landmine in Karabakh FM: Artsakh will never be part of Azerbaijan Christina Aguilera says she was told to change her last name many times before Turkey does not recognize joining of 4 regions to Russia South Korea leader threatens with crushing response to North if it uses nuclear weapons Group of soldiers stage coup in Burkina Faso Russian rapper commits suicide Biden signs law providing $12.4bn in additional aid to Ukraine Japan envoy to Armenia expresses concern about current situation after recent Azerbaijan military aggression Nicaragua severs diplomatic ties with Netherlands Armenia PM congratulates on 73rd anniversary of People's Republic of China World Bank approves additional $530M in aid to Ukraine Critics, viewers slam movie Blonde about Marilyn Monroe Newspaper: Russians getting familiarized with options Armenia is discussing with the West What does to die 'of old age' actually mean? Armenia soldier, 19, found dead in combat position Newspaper: Artsakh, Azerbaijan representatives to negotiate with each other? Italy strengthens naval surveillance and control of pipelines Russia vetoes UN Security Council draft resolution that does not recognize unification of new territories La Liga: Bilbao defeat Almeria, equal Barca Ligue 1: Marseille win, climb to first place Bundesliga: Bayern Munich win 40 In phone conversation with Erdogan, Putin gives principled assessment of sabotage of Nord Streams Nancy Pelosi visited the Ministry of Defense (MOD) of Armenia, Armenian News-NEWS.am has learned from the MOD. Minister of Defense Suren Papikyan on Sunday received a delegation led by the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the US Congress, who has arrived in Armenia on an official visit. First, Papikyan thanked Pelosi for quickly responding to the situation, for visiting the region, and for making targeted assessments on the large-scale Azerbaijani military aggression against the sovereign territory of Armenia on September 13. Also, the Armenian Minister of Defense briefed the US House speaker on the present-day situation as a result of this large-scale military aggression by Azerbaijan. For her part, Pelosi presented the US position on this situation. Also, the interlocutors discussed several matters related to the Armenia-US cooperation in defense. As of 10am Monday, there is no change in the situation along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. Armenian News-NEWS.am has learned about this from the Ministry of Defense (MOD) of Armenia. At 12:05am on September 13, the Azerbaijani armed forces started to fire intensively, from artillery and large-caliber firearms, at the Armenian combat positions along the border; they used UAVs as well. The adversary attacked both military and civilian objects in Armenia, and carried out positional advancement in some directions. According to the Armenian MOD, as of 8pm on September 14, the fire virtually stopped. As of September 17, the Armenian side has 135 confirmed casualties as a result of this military aggression by Azerbaijan. Relatives recognized Armenian conscript soldier Davit Gishyan, born in 2002, in a video that was posted on an Azerbaijani Telegram channel. It became clear from the video that Gishyan was wounded in the shoulder and had ended up in Azerbaijani captivity. Hasmik Samvelyan, spokesperson of the Government of Armenia Representation on International Legal Matters, told Armenian News-NEWS.am that Gishyan was killed in captivity. Samvelyan added that they have already sent a respective letter to the European Court of Human Rights. "Azerbaijan has grossly violated Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights. We have petitioned also under Article 3, which protects a person from torture and humiliating treatment. We demand that an urgent measure be applied to Azerbaijan," she said. The spokesperson of the Government of Armenia Representation on International Legal Matters added that they are going to appeal also to the International Court of Justice in The Hague. The dead body of Davit Gishyan was one of the 32 Armenian dead bodies that were returned recently by Azerbaijan. Russia and Armenia have accumulated a considerable track-record of constructive cooperation. Russian President Vladimir Putin noted this in a message he issued to the participants of the Ninth Russian-Armenian Interregional Forum, the Kremlin press service reports. Putin noted that this year the two countries mark the 30th anniversary of their diplomatic relations and the 25th anniversary of the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance. "It is important that during that time, Russia and Armenia have accumulated a considerable track-record of constructive cooperation in various directions," added the Russian leader. According to Putin, interregional cooperation is an important component of Armenian-Russian relations. As the Russian president noted, Armenia and Russia cooperate in economic, social, scientific, humanitarian and some other domains, and successfully implement major projects and initiatives. "I am sure that your ideas and proposals will be used in practice for the promotion of mutually beneficial integration processes in the Eurasian area and the further strengthening of the Armenian-Russian partnership," Putin added in his message to the participants of the aforementioned forum. There are issues that need to be raised and resolved. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of Armenia stated this in his address Monday to the participants of the Ninth Russian-Armenian Interregional Forum. The address runs as follows, in particular: "Despite the difficult situation created as a result of the [recent military] aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan on the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia, we still decided not to postpone the work events planned today, taking into account their importance from the point of view of the development of Armenian-Russian relations. The interregional cooperation between Armenia and Russia has an important role in the development of the allied strategic partnership between our countriescontributing to the further expansion of the potential of bilateral cooperation. It is not a secret that the purpose of the forums is to establish new connections in the trade, economic, educational, scientific, cultural, and a number of other domains, and to reinterpret the already established partnership relations. Although this forum is the ninth in number, and there already are established connections and partnership relations at the interregional level, there are still issues that need to be raised and resolved year after year. Every year, the forums are held under new themes, and this year's theme"Russian-Armenian Cooperation: New Challenges and Opportunities"is more contemporary and ambitious. For us, the active implementation of important projects at the interregional level is promising, which is aimed at ensuring the further growth of the national economies of our countries, strengthening their competitiveness in the world markets, introducing advanced technologies. There is no doubt that in the case of using the full potential of interregional decentralized cooperation, we will manage to bring a new quality to the lives of the residents of our provinces. In this context, we can record that today's forum is another step in the promotion of Armenian-Russian decentralized cooperation, which was formed and is developing thanks to perseverance and proactiveness of the regions of both countries." Iran is ready to help end the tension in South Caucasus. The Foreign Ministry spokesman stated about this, speaking at a press conference on Monday, Mehr reported. Commenting on the recent escalation of tension between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Nasser Kanani stressed, "The frank and clear position of the Islamic Republic of Iran regarding the developments in the South Caucasus region has been officially expressed many times at different levels and there is no ambiguity." "Unfortunately, since Tuesday of last week, we witnessed the beginning of new border conflicts between the two countries of the Republic of Azerbaijan and Armenia, which has led to the death and injury of a large number of both sides. Based on the neighborhood policy and trying to help constructively to resolve regional crises, Iran started political efforts as soon as possible," he noted. The senior Iranian diplomat added that the Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, had a telephonic conversation with the President of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, during which Iranian President Raisi expressed the views and positions of Iran regarding the issue and conveyed his political recommendations to the Armenian side. Kanani added that the two top diplomats of Iran and Azerbaijan also held a telephone conversation and discussed the issue. "As before, Iran, which had not spared any help to end the conflicts since the beginning of the crisis, acted quickly and tried to establish a ceasefire and return peace to the borders of the two countries with diplomatic efforts. Iran's principled positions are clear and we believe in the necessity of using political approaches and solutions to end conflicts and reduce tension and enter into political dialogues to resolve the differences between the two countries," the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman continued. Georgian police on Sunday prevented Armenians from carrying out a protest in the capital Tbilisi, reports the Armenian Community of Georgia organization. The respective statement by this organization reads as follows, in particular: "A few days ago, an initiative was disseminated on social media, which called on [Georgian] Armenians to unite for the sake of Armenia and raise the voice of protest, which was openly supported by our organization, whose membersin order to avoid provocationsdecided to accompany that march [in Tbilisi]. It () was supposed to end in front of the Azerbaijani embassy. The march was attended by a relatively large number of policemen, who had formed a human wall Metekhi Bridge. After a long argument with the police, it became clear that the police have an order not to let the participants of the march continue the march toward the Azerbaijani embassy." Subsequently, five members of the Armenian Community of Georgia organization and another participant of this march were detained. The other members of the organization marched, as a group, toward the Georgian parliament building. The demonstration continued there until the participants learned that the five detained Armenian Community of Georgia organization members had been released. The CSTO is ready to step up mediation efforts for a compromise between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, the organization's secretariat said in a statement. "We consider unacceptable any attempts to use force to resolve contentious issues and are convinced that there is no alternative to political and diplomatic approaches. The CSTO is ready to fully increase its mediation efforts in order to achieve a sustainable compromise," reads the statement on the CSTO website. The CSTO leaders and secretariat were saddened by the news of the September 14-17 clashes on the Kyrgyzstan-Tajikistan border and offer their condolences to the people of both countries for the tragedy, the organization says. Large-scale fighting on the Kyrgyzstan-Tajikistan border began Friday morning. The sides accused each other of shelling. Fierce battles between the militaries of the two countries lasted all day long along almost the entire perimeter of the border. A cease-fire was achieved only by nightfall. Saturday morning the skirmishes resumed. The two sides accused each other of violating the ceasefire agreement. The exchanges of fire did not stop until Saturday evening. Russia will welcome steps leading to the normalization of the situation between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said when commenting on U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Yerevan, RIA Novosti reported. "Anything that can contribute to normalization of relations and stabilization of the situation on the border not in words but in deeds, not in a loud and populist way but in real quiet and business-like manner, all this can be welcomed. Can such loud actions and statements actually contribute to this normalization? We'll see in time and it will all become clear," Peskov told reporters when asked how the Kremlin assesses Pelosi's visit to Armenia and whether this trip can help resolve the conflict with Azerbaijan. Pelosi is on a September 17-19 visit to Armenia, where she is meeting with high-ranking officials, including Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. Reuters covered House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Armenia in an article titled "In Russia's backyard, Pelosi condemns Azerbaijan's attacks on Armenia." The authors noted that the U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday strongly condemned what she said to be Azerbaijan's "illegal" border attacks on Armenia, taking advantage of a visit to a Russian ally to pledge America's support for its sovereignty. Pelosi called her trip to Armenia, a piece of land the size of the U.S. state of Maryland sandwiched between Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey and Iran, an attempt to bolster support for what she called a beacon of "democracy." Speaking in the ancient city of Yerevan, Pelosi said her trip was important in the wake of Azerbaijan's illegal and deadly attacks on Armenian territory, which sparked border clashes in which more than 200 people were killed. "We strongly condemn those attacks," Pelosi said along with Armenian Parliament Speaker Alen Simonyan, who last week expressed dissatisfaction with the Russian-led military alliance's response to Yerevan's request for help. Pelosi, who angered China with her trip to Taiwan last month, said it had become clear that the border fighting was caused by Azerbaijani attacks on Armenia, and that the chronology of the conflict should be obvious. The fighting was initiated by the Azerbaijanis, and that should be recognized, Pelosi said. This final apportionment of blame for the conflict goes beyond what the U.S. State Department has so far publicly noted. Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed concern about the fighting and called for calm, but did not assign blame to any party. Armenia claimed that Azerbaijan shelled at least six Armenian settlements inside the border shortly after midnight on September 13, attacking civilian and military infrastructure with drones and large caliber weapons. Yerevan claimed this was unprovoked aggression. Azerbaijan, backed by Turkey, denies these claims. Baku claims that Armenian sabotage squads tried to mine Azerbaijani positions, prompting the soldiers to react. Armenia says this narrative is Azerbaijani disinformation. Azerbaijan did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Pelosi's statement. Russia, which has repeatedly condemned Pelosi's visit to Taiwan, considers the Caucasus its sphere of influence and resents what it calls U.S. interference in the region. Moscow, however, is concerned about the war in Ukraine, which has caused the biggest confrontation with the West since the height of the Cold War. Russia is Armenia's main military ally, with a military base in northern Armenia and peacekeepers along the line of contact in Nagorno-Karabakh, over which Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a war in 2020 President Vladimir Putin said Friday that Russia has enough resources to mediate in the conflict. The last fighting ended with a cease-fire brokered by Russia. But after calls for help, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), the Russian-led military alliance of former Soviet republics that includes Armenia but not Azerbaijan, decided Tuesday to send a monitoring mission. The speaker of Armenia's parliament, Simonyan, said he was unhappy with the response, comparing the CSTO to a gun that doesn't fire bullets. Speaking with Pelosi, U.S. Congressman Frank Pallone said that the United States wants to do everything possible to support Armenia's security more. The United States, Pelosi said, has listened to Armenia about its defense needs and said Washington wants to help and support Armenia in what she called the global struggle between democracy and autocracy. "We should be using our influence, our leverage showing that Armenian democracy and sovereignty is a priority," Pelosi said. "The velvet revolution was cheered globally." Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan came to power in 2018 after anti-government protests dubbed the Velvet Revolution in Armenia. Pelosi said it was interesting that Armenia was disappointed with Russia's response. "It is interesting that they were disappointed they got fact finders and not protection from that relationship and we'll see what happens next," she said. The Armenian National Platform of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum issued a statement Monday on the current state of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict and the recent act of military aggression launched by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyevs regime against Armenia and the Azerbaijani society. The statement reads as follows: Azerbaijani authoritarian regimes attack on the sovereign territory of Armenia, launched on September 13, is another violent wave of the long-lasting conflict that continues to destroy infrastructures, and harm nature. As a result of this new war, 135 militaries were killed on the Armenian side, and over 20 prisoners of war were taken. 1 civilian was killed and 6 received injuries of various degrees as a result of the shelling of the civilian population. There are reports of continued practice of mutilation of the bodies of the military, including women, and other war crimes. The number of people displaced from densely populated towns of Jermuk, Goris, Kapan, Vardenis, etc. is 2750, including 370 children and 55 people with disabilities. The post-44-day war negotiations have illustrated that even though each conflict escalation may have a winning and a losing side, there is no conflict resolution through violence because they are followed by rounds of talks and negotiations that are aimed at finding a common denominator and preventing the conflict from further development. It is also important to understand that each violent phase of the conflict makes the possibility of finding a common solution more and more difficult and sustainable peace in a long-term perspective a vague illusion for the people of the region The violence and deaths of soldiers and civilians are direct consequences of a lack of democracy, constant violations of human rights, and illegitimate occupation of power by groups of people who are willing to centralize the resources and the wealth in their hands. These people do not care about the lives of either their neighbors or their compatriots, they exercise all possible measures to manipulate, mislead, fool, silence and frighten their societies and opponents via propaganda and repressions. This act of aggression against Armenia and Armenians is an extrapolation of the aggression exercised for decades by the Aliyev family regime within the Azerbaijani society, against its own compatriots, against politicians, human rights defenders, journalists, activists who protest against falsified elections, corruption and inequality. This means that if successful, it will pay back and strengthen corruption, repressions, and monopolization of political and economic power and will postpone the possible democratic transition of Azerbaijan and sustainable peace in the region for an unknown period. The transition from authoritarian regimes to democracy is hard and painful, it requires both consolidated and individual efforts, strength, and understanding that the only way to live in a sustainable and peaceful region is to follow the principles of democracy and respect for human rights. These principles are crucial particularly for communication both within and between societies. As civil societies, we need to understand that the current escalation is another step back from agreeing to live peacefully in the same region, another rejection of the possibility of coexistence. The current aggression is a horrific precedent for the modern world when an authoritarian regime exercises violence if peace talks do not result in what it wants. We are currently observing a similar situation and bigger-scale violence in another part of the Eastern Partnership. We welcome French President Emmanuel Macron's initiative to convene a special meeting of the UN Security Council on this issue, which was executed on 15 September 2022. Throughout the past decade of communication and cooperation within the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum we have witnessed the struggles of the Azerbaijani civil society and the society at large in their attempts to strengthen democracy in their home country, we have witnessed how the civil societys space was shrinking resulting in repressions and migration of many civil society activists. Unfortunately, many prominent civil society actors had to conform to the mainstream ideology pushed by Aliyevs regime. However, we have also witnessed the commitments of many brave activists to the universal values that we shared within the EaP, willingness to live in a better society and region where rights of the people are respected, democratic institutions are effective and political power is delegated and not stolen from the people. We call on the Azerbaijani society and particularly civil society actors to respond to the current situation with an understanding that we all live in this region and we need to find a way for peaceful coexistence. We should share the knowledge that soldiers and civilians dying during every wave of escalation are our sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers, friends and neighbors. The lives of people are beyond nationalities, beyond religions, beyond political views. We call on the European Union: - to condemn and address the escalation initiated by Aliyevs anti-democratic regime, with an understanding that this act of aggression is equally directed against Armenia and the Azerbaijani society since it causes losses from both sides, undermines the chances for peace and development in the region and strengthens the dangerous precedents of the arbitrary use of force and human killings at the whim of unjust power; - to execute stronger efforts to stop the continuing aggression and to continue the peace negotiations started under its aegis; - condemn in strongest terms the atrocities and other war crimes committed by Azerbaijan in respect of the Armenian military and civilians; - to demand immediate release of all prisoners of war, including those captured since the start of the 2020 war; - to organize a high-level EU visit to Armenia to discuss the situation and coordinate actions in international bodies; - to discuss the imposition of EU sanctions on Azerbaijan for violation of international legal order and for creating and running one of the most terrible dictatorial systems in the world inside the country; - to initiate discussions with external actors to stop them from selling particularly offensive military equipment to Azerbaijan; - to make efforts to ensure the deployment of UN peacekeeping forces on the border of Armenia and Azerbaijan. In the Azerbaijani platforms of the Telegram social network, the Azerbaijani side created Stickers [application] of the photos of tortured and dismembered bodies of Armenian soldiers and civilians through chat bots. The former Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) of Armenia, Arman Tatoyan, wrote this on Facebook on Monday. These stickers were created on September 14, 2022, but we found them on September 18. Immediately after creation, they became publicly accessible with the opportunity to download and use them during communication in public. We have recorded 119 photos, i.e. 119 stickers, that had been downloaded more than 20,000 times in 5 days. In other words, only within 5 days 20,000 Azerbaijani users downloaded the photos/stickers to their Telegram accounts. With the efforts of our expert, Telegram social network closed this opportunity to download, but it still is evident that the Azerbaijani platforms will use this new tool to terrorize and cause sufferings Armenian society. The photos of atrocities conducted in the 44-day Artsakh war and during the aggression against Armenia on September 13-15, 2022 were used for the stickers. Our monitoring proves that the Azerbaijani users who downloaded these photos have taken great joy in the pictures of torture and dismemberment of Armenian soldiers and civilians for the opportunity to use them in their daily communications and during various discussions. This criminal act is another proof that the Armenophobia policy (hatred towards Armenians) supported by the Azerbaijani authorities for decades is deeply rooted in the Azerbaijani society and the calls for peace building by Azerbaijan are nothing but a veil for the eyes of the international community and that they hide their real intentions, added the former ombudsman of Armenia. The Egyptian authorities have decided to accelerate the launch of Tax Free system in the republic for foreign tourists, the website of the Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR) reported. Thus, the Cabinet of Ministers of Egypt approved the creation of national company Global Blue Egypt, which points are planned to open in the international airports of the country. No official dates for the launch of the system are yet known, however, Egyptian experts believe that the pilot project may begin to operate in Sharm el-Sheikh in November 2022. The return of VAT to tourists will be held under the standard international scheme - before leaving the country to apply to special kiosks Tax Free, where you can get money for the purchases made in excess of 1,500 Egyptian pounds. YEREVAN. There is reliable evidence that Azerbaijan is preparing a new attack. Vice President Hakob Arshakyan of the National Assembly (NA) of Armenia stated about this at his meeting Monday with Japanese Ambassador Masanori Fukushima, the NA informs Armenian News-NEWS.am. Welcoming the Ambassador, Hakob Arshakyan congratulated all of us on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic relations between Armenia and Japan. Armenia and Japan have succeeded in developing close, friendly relations, high level political dialogue and cooperation based on common values. We are hopeful that 30th anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic relations will further strengthen our bilateral ties in political, cultural and other spheres. Hakob Arshakyan said. The NA Vice President presented details to the Ambassador on the offensive launched by the Azerbaijani armed forces on 13 September. He added that there is reliable evidence that Azerbaijan is preparing a new attack, broadening the geography, including by Nakhichevan, encroaching against the territorial integrity of Armenia. The NA Vice President expressed his concern about the Typhoon Nanmadol, because of which about four million people were displaced and expressed hope that the situation should be settled soon. The Ambassador of Japan thanked the NA Vice President for the reception and the presented detailed information. He informed that he would convey the presented information by the Vice President to the Government of Japan on the situation of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh). Masanori Fukushima noted that Japan and Armenia have partnership warm relations, but there is unused considerable potential of cooperation, and it is necessary to take steps in that direction. According to him, it is time to activate the cooperation in the political, economic, educational, cultural and other spheres. Both sides also highlighted the strengthening of the Armenian-Japanese cultural and scientific ties. A number of agreements were reached with respect to the visit of the NA Vice President Hakob Arshakyan to be paid to Japan. There were no expectations from the visit of Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, to Armenia. Although her visit is of no small importance, as it is not every day that such a high-ranking US official visits Armenia, but one must not overestimate it, either, Political analyst Alexander Iskandaryan told NEWS.am. "She is very well known for her pro-Armenian position and there is nothing new in that position," the expert said. According to him, there cannot be any changes due to the confrontation with Azerbaijan and clashes on the border. Iskandaryan noted that Pelosi's visit was planned long ago and it coincided with the clashes on the border. "It may affect in some way, it may suspend some trends, slow down, but not exclude. I don't think we should expect massive arms shipments from the United States. It's not serious. It is quite possible to imagine supplies of body armor or night vision goggles, but to overturn the kind of circumstances in which Armenia buys more than 95% of its arms from Russia is out of the realm of fantasy. Moreover, Pelosi can't have anything to do with it, because she doesn't do that," Iskandaryan added. The expert explained the meaning of Pelosi's meeting with Armenia's Defense Minister by the fact that Armenia is facing a security problem, reminding that Suren Papikyan recently visited the U.S. and held political meetings there. "The visit to Armenia was marked by relevant statements. First, the moral position was expressed in this way. She is known for her ability and capability to make these kinds of moves. Just look at her recent visit to Taiwan, despite China's opposition. There is also a domestic political component to her visit. U.S. elections are coming up, and the citizens of this country of Armenian descent very often vote in a consolidated manner depending on the attitude of this or that power toward everything related to Armenia. On the other hand, we cannot say that Armenian voters can turn the U.S. elections upside down," concluded the political scientist. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will sign liquefied natural gas (LNG) contracts during his visit to the United Arab Emirates, Reuters reports. "The gas offering is slowly broadening. The government is permanently in talks with many countries," Economy Minister Robert Habeck said, pointing to his own trip to Qatar and the UAE in March. Sources told Reuters in May that LNG talks between Germany and Qatar were fraught with disagreements over key terms, including the length of any contract. Germany is buying LNG terminals as part of its efforts to diversify from Russian gas. "We must show that in times like these, we can plan, authorise and build faster than is usually the case in Germany," Habeck said of the construction drive, adding that LNG projects in Wilhelmshaven and Brunsbuettel were examples of this. "There is a good, realistic chance ... that the two FSRU vessels there will be able to feed into the German gas network from the turn of the year," he said. The United Arab Emirates will launch its first moon rover in November, mission leader Hamad Al Marzouki told The National newspaper, He said the Rashid rover, named after Dubai's ruling family, will be launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida sometime between Nov. 9 and 15. The rover is to be launched aboard a Falcon 9 SpaceX rocket and delivered to the moon by Japan's ispace landing module in March. The moon mission is part of the UAE's broader strategy to become a major player in space exploration. If the mission to the moon succeeds, the UAE and Japan will join the ranks of the United States, Russia and China as countries that have sent a spacecraft to the surface of the moon. An Emirati satellite is already orbiting Mars to study the atmosphere of the red planet. The UAE partnered with Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to launch the probe, which entered Mars orbit in February 2021. The Security Council chaired by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan held a meeting on Monday, during which the following statement was adopted: On the night of September 12-13, 2022, the armed forces of Azerbaijan launched a large-scale aggression against the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia with the use of large-caliber weapons, artillery, missile systems and unmanned aerial vehicles. As a result of the aggression, 207 servicemen were killed and went missing, including three civilians killed, the whereabouts of two civilians are unknown, 293 servicemen and three civilians were wounded and 20 servicemen were taken prisoner. There is evidence of torture, martyrdom and thereby unlawful killing of captured or killed Armenian soldiers by Azerbaijanis. The Azerbaijani armed forces shelled 36 settlements, including Goris, Sisian, Kapan, Jermuk, Vardenis, Tegh and Geghamasar communities and as a result 192 houses, 3 hotels, 2 schools, 1 medical center, 1 celebration hall and 4 barns were partly or fully destroyed. Seven power grid facilities, 5 water infrastructures, 3 gas pipelines, 1 bridge, 2 automobile roads and 1 street were damaged. Also 2 ambulances and 4 private cars were shot at. The armed forces of Azerbaijan penetrated to the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia in several directions. Thanks to persistent and heroic resistance of the armed forces of the Republic of Armenia and involvement of international community the Azerbaijani attack was stopped, but the military and political situation remains tense. Azerbaijan's aggressive policy is aimed at the disruption of peacemaking efforts in the region, opening of regional communications, comprehensive settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue and imposing of forceful solutions on the Republic of Armenia. The Republic of Armenia, which has adopted an agenda of peacemaking and opening of regional communications, finds unacceptable the policy of threats and coercion pursued by Azerbaijan. The Security Council declares that the Republic of Armenia will defend its independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity by all available means. Azerbaijani troops must be withdrawn from the occupied territories of the Republic of Armenia. We call on the international community to put continuous pressure on Azerbaijan to end its occupation of the sovereign territories of the Republic of Armenia and withdraw its troops, and we welcome all those countries and organizations that have taken a clear position. At the same time we reaffirm the commitment of the Republic of Armenia to its obligations as a responsible member of the international community. It has long been clear that Turkey seeks to create an intermediate, detached geosystem in Central Asia - a geosystem that will move and act autonomously, taking advantage of the competition of the Euro-Atlantic West and the impending collectivization of Eurasian states with the Russia-China system at its core. What is happening in Armenia is directly related to Ankara's goal, writes Professor Konstantinos Grivas in an article in the Greek City Times. Turkey is the de facto leader of this scheme, consisting mostly of Turkic-speaking countries. Moreover, the most powerful country in the system, Pakistan, is in the shadow of its great rival, India, as well as its great ally, China, which puts it in second place to a country devoid of great neighbors and necessary allies. At the heart of this unification in Central and South Asia is the Turkey-Azerbaijan system. And the splinter between them is Armenia. Therefore, Armenia must be fragmented by Turkey and Azerbaijan. Defeating Armenia and its subsequent geopolitical mutilation and satellitization will further strengthen the unity of the Turkish-Azerbaijani plan. In addition, it will provide Turkey with the prestige and geopolitical weight it needs to attract the rest of the countries in the region into its orbit. Moreover, by geopolitically neutralizing Armenia, Azerbaijan will become more independent from Moscow and will be able to turn even more towards Turkey, strengthening the Turkic-Azerbaijani scheme. Don't let Armenia stand alone More generally, the mutilation and subsequent geopolitical immobilization of Armenia that Ankara-led Baku seeks would strengthen the integrity of Central Asia's Turkic-centric geosystem and its independence from outside interference, and further strengthen Turkey's role as an independent actor balancing between the West and the East and blackmailing both. In other words, it will strengthen Turkey's trump cards and its role in the emerging international system. And a stronger Turkey will be easier to proceed with the "big trick" it wants to achieve. That is, with the geopolitical inactivity of Greece and the Republic of Cyprus, Turkey will be less afraid of a backlash from powerful actors and it will have much more trumps in its hands to negotiate with them. That is why Greece's defense begins with Armenia. Greek diplomacy must find every opportunity to support Armenia. This is due to the fact that in a unified Eurasian system there are no isolated areas cut off from the rest. What happens in one part affects the rest. And the Turkish-Azerbaijani attack on Armenia makes Turkey more dangerous to Greece. In conclusion, supporting Armenia is not an act of solidarity with a people with whom we have much in common, but a step necessary for the security and geopolitical functioning of Greece within a single and indivisible geosystem. Greek diplomacy and foreign policy, which in recent years has shown that it has rid itself of the provincialism syndrome it suffered in the past, must take action. And, of course, Greece must act on its own, without waiting for the rest of the European countries, which do not have similar problems with Turkey and its friends in Central Asia. Any business working on the Internet, in dire need of SEO services. Creating a website is not enough. A website must be optimized for search engines. 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Under the leadership of Deputy Prime Ministers of Armenia and Russia Mher Grigoryan and Alexey Overchuk, the IX Forum "Armenian-Russian Cooperation: New Challenges and Opportunities" was held in Yerevan on Monday. Grigoryan and Overchuk spoke at the event. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Russian President Vladimir Putin sent messages in connection with the organization of the forum. "Interregional cooperation between Armenia and Russia plays an important role in the development of an allied strategic partnership between our countries, contributing to further expanding the potential of bilateral cooperation," Pashinyan said in his message. "Inter-regional cooperation has traditionally been a significant component of Russian-Armenian relations. Subjects of the Russian Federation and Armenian regions actively cooperate in economic, social, scientific, humanitarian and other areas, successfully implementing major joint projects and initiatives," Putin's message reads. At the end of the Forum the Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure of Armenia Vache Terteryan and the Deputy Minister of Economic Development of Russia Dmitry Volvach signed an action plan of interregional cooperation between the RA Government and the RF Cabinet of Ministers in 2022-2027. The session was followed by roundtable discussions on the following topics: "Digital Cooperation between Armenia and Russia", "Development of Tourism Potential", "Humanitarian Cooperation between Armenian Provinces and Russian Regions" and "Cooperation between Logistics, Finance and Investments under Present Conditions". Less than two years after Azerbaijan's war against the Armenians of Artsakh, also known as Nagorno-Karabakh, the Azerbaijani armed forces are waging an illegal war of aggression against the Republic of Armenia, Uzay Bulut writes in an article on the Providence portal. Turkey will continue to support Azerbaijan and will always do so, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the same day. Azerbaijan's aggression against Armenians has resulted in massive destruction of civilian buildings and settlements, as well as horrific torture and killings of Armenians. Anush Apetyan, a 36-year-old Armenian soldier was captured in the city of Jermuk, then raped, tortured and dismembered by Azerbaijani soldiers. They put her severed fingers in her mouth and gouged out her eyes. Azerbaijani soldiers filmed these barbaric acts and posted the video on social networks. Apetyan had three children, aged 16, 15 and 4. Armenians in Artsakh were also genocidally attacked by Azerbaijan and Turkey during the 2020 war against Artsakh, which lasted 44 days, from September 27 to November 10. The whole world watched as the aggressors committed many crimes and indiscriminately shelled the lands of Artsakh. Some 90,000 Armenians were forcibly displaced. Then Turkish and Azerbaijani soldiers took part in a military "victory parade" in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku on December 10, 2020. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev took part in the parade, which was organized to mark the countries' joint "military victory" over Artsakh. During the "victory parade," Erdogan delivered a speech praising Enver Pasha, one of the organizers of the genocide in Ottoman Turkey in 1913-1923 against Armenians, Assyrians and Greeks. An Ottoman military march was also played during the event. Erdogan referred to the 1918 Islamic Army of the Caucasus, created by Enver Pasha and led by Ottoman commander Nuri Pasha. The Islamic Army of the Caucasus was responsible for the massacres of the non-Muslim population of Baku, mostly Armenians. "Today is a day to bless the souls of Nuri Pasha, Enver Pasha and the brave warriors of the Islamic Army of the Caucasus," Erdogan said at the time. Just as Turkey falsely claims that the Greek islands in the Aegean Sea and Cyprus are Turkish territory, Azerbaijan falsely claims that Artsakh and even Armenia, including its capital Yerevan, are Azerbaijani territory. In his speech, Aliyev said that the Armenian capital Yerevan, Armenian Lake Sevan and the Syunik (Zangezur) region in southern Armenia are "the historical lands of Azerbaijan." This was not the first time Aliyev referred not only to Artsakh but also to the Republic of Armenia as "Azerbaijani lands." In 2018, for example, Aliyev referred to the same areas of Armenia as "historical lands of Azerbaijan." "The return of Azerbaijanis to these territories," he added, "is our political and strategic goal, and we need to work step by step to achieve it." To that end, Azerbaijan is targeting Artsakh and Armenia with Turkey's full support. "We support Azerbaijan until victory," Erdogan said on Oct. 6, 2020. - "I say to my Azerbaijani brothers: may your ghazwa be blessed. "Ghazwa" in Islam means a battle or raid against non-Muslims in order to expand Muslim territory and/or convert non-Muslims to Islam. Erdogan has openly stated that attacks on Armenian territory constitute jihad. Moreover, Turkey and Azerbaijan were not the only ones attacking Armenians. According to a UN report, Turkey also sent Syrian jihadists to Azerbaijan to attack Artsakh. Similarly, Turkey recently celebrated the 1922 Smyrna genocide against Greeks and Armenians, which, according to Turkish historiography, was merely a "victory over the Greek invaders." On Sept. 4, Erdogan addressed Greece publicly: "Greeks, look at history. If you go any further, the price will be high. We have only one phrase for Greece: Do not forget Izmir (the city of Smyrna). Your occupation of the islands [in the Aegean] will not stop us; we will do what is necessary when the time comes.Unexpectedly one night we will come to [conquer] you." On August 30, which is celebrated as "Victory Day" in Turkey, Erdogan said: "We saw that our enemies [the Greeks] destroyed our cities during their withdrawal [from Anatolia in 1922] as proof of their mean character. Just as they do today." What Erdogan was referring to was Turkey's genocidal attack on the Greeks and Armenians of the city, also known as Smyrna, in 1922. Turkish aggression against Greeks and Armenians has a long history. Greece and Armenia are trying to preserve what is left after the Turkish aggression, historical significance, including their homelands, their cultural identity and heritage. This history of Turkish violence against indigenous Christians, inspired by Islamic jihad and Turkic expansionism, began in the eleventh century with the invasion of Turkic armies from Central Asia into eastern Anatolia (or the Armenian Plateau), which was then within the borders of the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantine Empire. Throughout history, Turkish governments pursued a policy of aggression and persecution against native Christians. These persecutions culminated in the genocide of Greeks, Armenians and Assyrians in Ottoman Turkey in 1913-1923, which the International Association of Genocide Researchers also recognizes as genocide. Subsequent Turkish governments have honored the perpetrators of the genocide as well as the organizers of the 1955 Istanbul pogrom that targeted the city's Greeks, Armenians, and Jews. Many schools, universities, airports, avenues, streets, neighborhoods, and other places throughout Turkey are named after genocide perpetrators and other government officials who committed crimes against their own minority citizens. Because the international community's response to Turkey's denial of genocide has been slow and ineffective, denying genocide means continuing genocide. On August 17, the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention issued a "Red Flag" warning about possible genocide by the governments of Azerbaijan and Turkey against the Armenian population. Turkey's proud denial of these genocides and its ongoing aggression against Greece, Armenia, and Assyrians in Iraq and Syria are interrelated. The same ideology that motivated the Christian genocide of 1913-1923 now motivates Turkey and Azerbaijan's aggression against Armenians, Greeks and other Christians. In 2016, the Turkish Human Rights Association (IHD) declared: "Genocide denial perpetuates genocide. Denial becomes institutionalized and actually socialized and internalized by generations of perpetrators. Denial continually reproduces hatred of the identity of the victims." The international community must act immediately to hold Azerbaijan and Turkey accountable. The security of Greece, Armenia, Cyprus, Iraq, Syria and even the Turkish people from their own Turkish government depends on ending the impunity of the illegal actions of the governments of Turkey and Azerbaijan. The Armenian statehood is on the threshold of a new catastrophic war, which can lead to consequences no less severe than the 44-day war, Arayik Harutyunyan, president of Artsakh, said in a message on Monday. "Given the looming threat, I am confident that the only solution, especially in the Republic of Armenia, is to unite the efforts of all major actors on the basis of unity, sincere dialogue and prudence," he said. Arayik Harutyunyan added that authorities always bear primary responsibility for the situation, but today a heavy responsibility lies on everyone because "we are facing a statehood threat and one of the reasons for that is internal dissociation". According to him, international partners and the international community can only provide tools according to their interests, but "the solution to our problems depends mostly on us. Arayik Harutyunyan noted that, unfortunately, in the conditions of fragile world order and regional upheavals nobody can give us long-lasting security guarantees. "Due to Russia's preoccupation and distraction, the guarantees of Russian peacekeepers have cracked, which Azerbaijan is taking advantage of. On the other hand, all external hostile forces are consistently undertaking military and information provocations in order to play down the role of Russian peacekeepers and to mistrust Russia among Artsakh people. I am confident that Artsakh people do not succumb to such provocations, a vivid example of which is the special attitude to the Russian peacekeepers in Artsakh. Despite geopolitical shifts and existing challenges, Russia continues to provide security for the people of Artsakh despite its fragility and relative stability. We hope that it will be possible to raise the effectiveness of the Russian peacekeeping mission and to ensure its indefinite presence in Artsakh as the most important guarantor of our security regardless of its incomplete character," he said. Arayik Harutyunyan added that Artsakh's leadership will spare no effort to modernize its own security system and bring it in line with the challenges within its capabilities. "We wish peace and stability in the entire region, however, taking into account the Azerbaijani threat, we have the right and obligation to think about self-defense capabilities," he said. The President of Artsakh believes that not only problems in Artsakh-Azerbaijan relations but also Armenia-Azerbaijan relations should be solved through negotiations, and Azerbaijan should also sincerely support this approach by respecting the interests and rights of all sides and the principle of non-use of force. "No matter how many different difficulties and security risks may arise, the only way to keep Artsakh Armenian is to live and create in Artsakh, and in addition to international and state security guarantees, every resident of Artsakh must also be willing to take his part of the risk and responsibility to keep Artsakh Armenian. Thousands of our brothers and sisters have sacrificed their dearest for this," he said. Iran will not be offered a better offer on the nuclear deal than the one that is already on the table, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said, noting that Tehran must make a decision because the window for finding a solution is closing, AFP reported. Months of indirect talks between Iran and the United States have stalled on several issues. "There will not be a better offer on the table and it's up to Iran to take the right decisions, Catherine Colonna told reporters on the sidelines of the United Nations' General Assembly in New York, adding that no initiatives were underway to unblock the situation. Western diplomats say there are no active talks at the moment, and it is unlikely that a breakthrough can happen before the November midterm elections in the United States. They have accused Iran of backtracking, which Tehran denies. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said Sunday that Iran would take seriously a renewal of the nuclear deal if there were guarantees that the United States would not pull out again, as it did under President Donald Trump. According to diplomats, the U.S. has given certain guarantees for 2.5 years, but cannot go beyond that. A source close to the Iranian nuclear team said Tehran has lost interest in renewing the deal, which could last only 2 years. "Our nuclear program is advancing every day and this time is on our side. Let them be worried about it, the source said. Armenia will face more difficult times, and Azerbaijan will not retreat from its plans and will try to continue its aggressive policy. touching upon the situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, political analyst Argishti Kiviryan told NEWS.am. Referring to Azerbaijan's aggression, the political scientist noted that Baku's global goal is at least to open a corridor. "One of the goals is for Armenia to voluntarily agree to give a corridor and (fulfill - ed.) the rest of the demands that Azerbaijan makes," he said. Kiviryan noted that although the Azerbaijanis have occupied new heights in some sections, they are quite vulnerable in these areas, as the RA Armed Forces Chief of General Staff noted. According to him, although the Armenian side has an opportunity to destroy them, it will drag it out, as in previous cases, until the Azerbaijanis turn these positions into a beachhead for attack. "The Armenian side can destroy them very easily at the moment, but as always, the Armenian side is waiting for a miracle, waiting for the Azerbaijanis to soften up. Azerbaijanis will not soften," he said, adding that the Azerbaijani side has agreed to a ceasefire because it has already penetrated into Armenian territory, created a bridgehead for itself, will continue to strengthen it and prepare for further attack. The political scientist noted that at the moment there is no force that can force the Azerbaijanis to retreat, only the Armenian side can do that. "After the 2020 war, we can say that they have formed this belief that if they continue to pressure the Armenian side, they will achieve what they want. If they know that the Armenian side will not sign whatever they demand, they will back down." According to him, the Azerbaijanis have realized that the Armenian side succumbs to pressure, and they will continue to press until they get the desired signature. "Because if they even capture Yerevan, but don't get the desired signature, they will turn into the leader of a genocidal nation and a genocidal people all over the world, including Aliyev," he said. Speaking about the attitude and position of the West, the political scientist said that the approach of the West is as follows: there is a question that must be solved in order for them to pursue their interests in the region. In the past, the issue was not solved because both sides had equal strength, but now the Armenian side has lost, and the issue can be solved by putting even more pressure on the Armenian side, making various promises to convince Armenia to put its signature and, in the West's view, solve the issue. "That is, the West, which today indicates the importance of peace, if sincerely admit it, must say that it represents peace at the expense of Armenian interests, because no one pressured Azerbaijan. And the West also knows that Azerbaijan will not succumb to pressure, especially since the West depends on Azerbaijan for oil and gas and Aliyev can afford a lot," he said, adding that for the same reason the democratic West has turned a blind eye to the actions of dictatorial Azerbaijan for years and will do the same now, in the case of the Armenians. The CSTO advance mission group worked out proposals to de-escalate tension on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. According to the press service of the CSTO Joint Staff, the Armenian Defense Ministry held a meeting on the results of the CSTO mission advance group in Armenia. "Colonel General Anatoly Sidorov, who heads the advance group, briefed Armenian Defense Minister Suren Papikyan on the results of the analysis of the situation in certain areas on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the main conclusions and proposals for appropriate measures. A frank and constructive exchange of views took place. Suggestions were made to de-escalate the tension. After the meeting, the advance group left for Moscow," the report says. The Russian Federation is Armenia's leading foreign trade partne, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk stated, speaking at the IX Russian-Armenian Interregional Forum in Yerevan. According to him, the foreign trade turnover of the Russian Federation with the Republic of Armenia almost doubled from 2016 to 2021. "We should be aware that such serious dynamics became possible due to the membership of the Republic of Armenia in the Eurasian Economic Union, which opened new opportunities and new markets for the Armenian business in Eurasia with Russia's support. In January-July 2022, the trade turnover between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Armenia amounted to $ 2 billion, increasing by almost 50 percent against the same index in 2021. Russian exports to Armenia during the above period amounted to $ 1.4 billion, an increase of 40.5%. Imports to Russia from Armenia increased by 66.3%, amounting to $0.6 billion. We are actively developing investment cooperation. The total volume of accumulated Russian investments accounts for almost 40% of the total volume of foreign investments in the Armenian economy and this is about 2 billion dollars. Over 40 big Russian companies are working in Armenia. Some of them are major taxpayers here. They are Gazprom Armenia CJSC, GeoProMining Gold LLC, MTS Armenia CJSC, Russian Railways Company and Rosatom," Overchuk said. According to him, Russia intends to further increase Russian-Armenian cooperation in energy, including nuclear, mining, transport and logistics and high technologies. "We pay attention to the development of partnership between Russian and Armenian regional small and medium-sized enterprises, because small and medium-sized companies contribute greatly to the socio-economic stability in the country and provide employment. They are the drivers of economic growth. Undoubtedly, an important aspect of the strategic partnership between Russia and Armenia is interregional cooperation. The Interregional Forum is a key platform for representatives of government agencies, business and the public to compare notes on a whole range of topics of mutual interest. At the end of the plenary session we are planning to sign the Intergovernmental Program of Economic Cooperation till 2025, which will create new favorable conditions for the expansion of bilateral cooperation, taking into account current conditions and trends, and we will also sign the action plan pursuant to the Intergovernmental Program of Interregional Cooperation for 2022-2027. It covers both traditional areas of cooperation - agriculture, culture, trade and economic, and dynamically developing now - high technology and digital transformation," he concluded. The global objective of the 44-day war was not Armenia but Iran, analyst Argishti Kiviryan told NEWS.am. In his words, the 44-day war was initiated by Azerbaijan, taking into account that it could be turned into an anti-Iranian war, because there is the global problem of the blockade of Iran, and it is necessary to cut the Armenia-Iran corridor and the Armenian-Iranian border, which will lead to the fact that Azerbaijan will join Nakhijevan and they will join Turkey. "In other words, a Turkic platform will be created, capable of blowing up Iran from within, given that more than 30 percent of the population in Iran are Turkic-speaking peoples and there has been activity felt there in recent decades. Besides, this activity has also been given an additional boost by (Azerbaijan's) victory in the Artsakh war," he said, adding that it was no secret that an anti-Iranian uprising was being prepared in Tabriz recently. According to him, Iran realizes all this and is well aware that when the border with Armenia is closed, Iran will invade. This is the reason for Iran's harsh statements in which high-ranking Iranian officials and generals literally say that the thousand-year border of Armenia cannot be changed, that they will not allow border changes in the region, that a new war in the Caucasus is directed against Iran. "In other words, they are making it clear that we know we are the target. So this is not the first time the situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border has escalated, Iran is pulling troops to the border. This time, in parallel with that, Turkey has also deployed troops to the border and is trying to force Iran not to make any drastic steps under any circumstances," he said. Talking about Armenian interests in this context, Argishti Kiviryan said that the West will not protect Armenian interests militarily. According to him, the West is busy resolving its issues in the region, including at the expense of Armenia's interests, while Russia is busy with Ukraine and is now in a rather difficult situation. He noted that Azerbaijan still has a certain fear of Russia, but Azerbaijan is no longer as wary of Russia as it was in 2020 or 10 years ago, and after winning the 44-day war, it seems that its finest hour has come. Answering the question whether Iran will deploy its troops, the expert noted that it depends to some extent on Russian-Iranian agreements. He did not rule out that while in this difficult situation in Ukraine, Russia asked Iran to take Armenia under its protection for a certain period. "I do not rule out that there were some such talks, talks, agreements. Now in order for Iran to take a much more decisive step, it needs not just Moscow's permission, we are not talking about permission, but its non-public support. In many ways this is possible because recently we have seen active Russian-Iranian military cooperation. In particular, Iran is supplying Russia with strike drones, and in recent days the Western press has been voicing opinions, videos, and photos about the effective use of these drones. These drones are capable of neutralizing effective strikes provided by the West, particularly HIMARS and other systems," he said. In this case, he said, everything will depend on Russia and Iran's shadowy arrangements and how much they can try to stop Turkey, because, after all, they must understand that if Azerbaijan takes more aggressive steps, it will do so only in agreement with and with Turkey's support. "In order to act more actively, Iran must see in Armenia an ally, a force with which it can cooperate, this is very important for Iran, as well as for any state that tries to penetrate another territory." Not only is there no such force in Armenia, he said, but Yerevan is very enthusiastic when one or another anti-Iranian Western figure comes here. "There is such a joy here, it is enough for them to appear, make a statement, lay a flower at the Genocide memorial, say a few bold phrases, and then the Armenian side loses its orientation," he said. Kiviryan said that Azerbaijan has nothing to fear from the West. It can only fear from a country that can carry out a real military attack or pose a military threat to it. In this regard, Azerbaijan fears only two states, Iran and Russia, despite the fact that Russia is now in a weakened state. "No matter what statements or resolutions the others make, they cannot harm it (Azerbaijan). As a result, they quietly come and buy oil and gas from it, and ask behind the scenes: how can we help? What happened during the second Artsakh war, a number of Western countries provided Baku with accurate satellite data". Greece and Cyprus support the independence and territorial integrity of Armenia, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias stated after his meeting with Cypriot Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides on the sidelines of the UNGA. He noted that a trilateral meeting between the foreign ministers of Greece, Cyprus and Armenia was held today. "In this context, we had the opportunity to hold a trilateral meeting together with the Armenian Foreign Minister. He briefed us on what is happening in the South Caucasus and we had the opportunity to jointly formulate our firm position in support of Armenia's independence and territorial integrity. Any revisionism, no matter where it comes from, no matter what country it starts from and, in fact, with an attempt to use the energy situation as a weapon against certain states to try to change things on the ground, will meet our resistance," he said. According to him, Greece and Cyprus have always been united by their commitment to international law, to the rights to independence and territorial integrity of all states and, of course, to the international law of the sea. Armenia has applied to the CSTO in accordance with the fourth point of the agreement and has not received adequate support from the CSTO so far, Vice Speaker of the National Assembly Ruben Rubinyan said during an interview to Public Television. "First of all, we have to understand what we expect from the CSTO when there is an attack on our sovereign territory and invasion on the internationally recognized border of Armenia. First of all, a fixation of aggression. Secondly, condemnation, thirdly, elimination of the consequences of aggression, and fourthly, concrete actions in case of non-compliance. Unfortunately, at this point we cannot say that our expectations are justified. It is necessary to understand whether they will be justified or not, and to draw appropriate conclusions. We have an example when the situation was recorded and there was a reaction within a few hours, we are talking about the events that took place in Kazakhstan at the beginning of the year," Rubinyan said. Armen Grigoryan, CSTO Secretary, also considered the reaction of the CSTO disproportionate in his interview to a media outlet on September 16. In particular, he said that when the CSTO deployed troops to Kazakhstan, CSTO mechanisms of operational response were activated, but now, in the case of the situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, there is no such hope. Some pro-government MPs also made anti-Russian statements. Emory University has been named a 2022 recipient of the Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award, a national honor recognizing colleges and universities that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion. The awards are given by INSIGHT into Diversity Magazine, the oldest and largest diversity-focused publication in higher education, based on an in-depth application process. Emory is among 103 recipients this year and will be featured in the November 2022 issue of the magazine. The HEED Award process consists of a comprehensive and rigorous application that includes questions relating to the recruitment and retention of students and employees and best practices for both leadership support for diversity, campus culture and climate, supplier diversity and many other aspects of campus diversity and inclusion, says Lenore Pearlstein, publisher of INSIGHT Into Diversitymagazine. We take a detailed approach to reviewing each application in deciding who will be named a HEED Award recipient, Pearlstein notes. Our standards are high, and we look for institutions where diversity and inclusion are woven into the work being done every day across their campus. Emory was selected for the award based on achievements across a broad spectrum of diversity and inclusion efforts. Diversity is woven throughout the fabric of Emory and we are honored to receive the HEED Award in recognition of our efforts, says Carol Henderson, Emorys chief diversity officer, vice provost for diversity and inclusion, and adviser to the president. Emory is on a wonderful trajectory to strengthen and elevate our justice, equity, diversity and inclusion efforts in ways that are transformative and meaningful for not only our students, faculty and staff, but for the greater Atlanta and global communities writ large. Diversity initiatives across Emory The extensive HEED Award application documented Emorys efforts in dozens of areas, including increasing and supporting diversity among students, faculty, staff and community collaborations. Noted Emory programs include a myriad of efforts aimed at supporting historically underrepresented and first-generation college students. A few examples include: Noted too are programs serving faculty. A few highlights: Faculty searches at the university are expected to follow best practices, which includes the appointment of an equity advisor/diversity advocate on each search committee The Academic Leadership Program brings together faculty members from Emory and Atlanta-area colleges and universities, including Spelman and Morehouse Colleges, for specialized training and development for the next generation of academic leaders. When Emory opened a search for new faculty with interest or research in Latin American-related topics, the cluster hire involved 11 departments in Emory College of Arts and Sciences and yielded three eminent scholars in Latinx studies (all of whom were granted tenure at Emory). Emory has launched the AI.Humanity hiring initiative across all schools and colleges with the hope of recruiting faculty addressing issues related to AI and health, AI and business/innovation, AI and race/social justice, and AI and the arts. The Faculty Distinction Fund provides resources for recruiting and retaining outstanding, diverse and interdisciplinary faculty whose scholarship enhances the academic excellence of Emory. The application also documents programs focused on university staff as well as faculty. Some of these include trans-inclusive health benefits, gender-neutral bathrooms, safe spaces for religious prayer, religious holiday exemptions for employees and students, mental health counselors trained to assist people from underrepresented groups, family leave policies, diversity and unconscious bias training, and employee resource groups. The HEED Award application also included that, in the last two years, Emory University President Gregory L. Fenves launched a series of racial and social justice initiatives; the Emory School of Law was the recipient of a $5 million grant to create a new Center for Civil Rights and Social Justice; Carol Anderson, Emorys Charles Howard Candler Professor of African American Studies, was tapped to lead a consortium of scholars from nine diverse colleges and universities in a collaborative public history reckoning designed to offer tangible suggestions for community-based racial reparations solutions; the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion led an in-depth DEI strategic planning process; and Emory has reinvigorated its supplier diversity program and created the Emory Business Diversity Advisory Council. This year, Emory was also the recipient of Insight into Diversitys Jesse L. Moore Supplier Diversity Award. The university also received the Georgia Minority Supplier Development Councils George Lottier Rising Star Award for 2021. It would be difficult to list all of the resources, programs and initiatives across the university that feature diversity and inclusion as key components, which speaks to the breadth and depth of Emorys efforts yet we also know that there is more work to be done, Henderson says. Recognitions like the HEED Awards give us the opportunity to learn from the other recipients and inspire us to continue striving to make Emory a place where all are welcomed and supported. The Emory University Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for its new Emory Nursing Learning Center (ENLC) in downtown Decatur on Friday, September 16. The ENLC is a $20.6 million, 70,000-square-foot expansion featuring state-of-the-art simulation and professional development space designed to prepare students to engage in interactive technology and experiential learning environments that will enable them to be the next generation of nurse leaders. Created to address the significant nursing shortage in the United States, the Emory Nursing Learning Center serves students of all levels, from undergraduates to continuing education students and advanced practice nursing professionals. We are excited to provide this immersive learning experience for our students, said Linda McCauley, dean of the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing. This realistic environment featuring state-of-the-art classrooms and simulation lab space will uniquely prepare our students to care for patients in a wide variety of clinical and home health settings. When you step into the building, you know that you have arrived at a place dedicated to preparing nurse leaders. Features of the ENLC include in-person and remote learning capabilities, an Innovation Hub designed as a space to nurture new ideas to meet rising health care challenges, the CenterWell Home Health Lab replicating a small apartment, and one of the most extensive simulation and skills labs in the state of Georgia. The simulation labs include mock telehealth, clinical, and hospital settings with high-tech equipment. The opening of the Emory Nursing Learning Center is a milestone for the world-renowned Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, said Emory President Gregory L. Fenves. The ENLC will provide our nursing students with unparalleled opportunities for experiential learning, preparing them to become leaders and provide compassionate, targeted support for patients throughout their careers. Located just minutes from the main Emory University campus, the ENLC seeks to transform todays nursing student experience. Spaces include a studio media center, classrooms, student commons areas, offices, and conference rooms. The facility also serves as the home of the Emory Nursing Experience, a partnership with Emory Healthcare that provides continuing professional education opportunities to nurses. At Emory Nursing, we share a commitment of life-long learning for all levels of nursing, certification, and continuing education, said Sharon Pappas, PhD, RN, chief nurse executive for Emory Healthcare. Quality professional development is the heart of the new Emory Nursing Learning Center. The buildings simulation technology provides realistic laboratories for nurses to practice as if they are in actual clinical situations. This prepares both new and experienced registered nurses and advanced practice nurses to thrive in a multitude of complex clinical practice settings. This preparation is a large part of creating a smooth transition from classroom to the practice setting, and from student to expert clinician. The Emory Nursing Learning Center is at the cutting-edge of nursing education and will enhance the Woodruff Health Sciences Centers mission to improve the health of individuals and communities at home and throughout the world, said David S. Stephens, MD, Emorys interim executive vice president for health affairs and interim executive director of the Woodruff Health Sciences Center. In the face of a critical nationwide nursing shortage, the need for nurses has never been more evident. The ENLC will directly address this shortage by preparing nurse leaders to serve their communities in a multitude of practice settings. Fenves, McCauley, Pappas, and Stephens took part in the official ribbon-cutting, as did Emory Board of Trustees member John Rice, 2022 Master of Nursing Class President Jadaria Thomas, Decatur City Commissioner Kelly Walsh, and DeKalb Chamber of Commerce President Frankie Atwater. The Emory Nursing Learning Center opened to students last month, while continuing education opportunities through the Emory Nursing Experience have taken place in the center since fall 2021. About the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing . Emory University's Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing produces nurse leaders who are transforming healthcare through science, education, practice, and policy. Graduates go on to become national and international leaders in patient care, public health, government, research, and education. Others become qualified to seek certification as nurse practitioners and nurse-midwives. The doctor of nurse practice (DNP) program trains nurse anesthetists and advanced leaders in healthcare administration. The school also maintains a PhD program in partnership with Emory's Laney Graduate School. For more information, visit nursing.emory.edu The Taliban on Monday freed Mark Frerichs, the only American hostage remaining in Afghanistan, in exchange for a Taliban drug lord, Bashir Noorzai, who was serving life sentence at a US prison, media reports said. Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi told reporters in Kabul that the prisoner swap between his government and a US delegation took place at the Kabul airport. Frerichs, the nearly 60-year-old American engineer and Navy veteran, was abducted in Kabul in early 2020 when the US and NATO troops were battling the then Taliban insurgency in support of the Western-backed Afghan government. Noorzai, known as Haji Bashir, was arrested in New York in 2005 and subsequently charged with trafficking heroin worth millions of dollars into the US. The top Taliban associate reportedly helped fund and arm the insurgents with proceeds from heroin trafficking, VOA reported. Muttaqi described the prisoner swap as "unprecedented in the history of Afghanistan" and said it was the outcome of a long negotiation process between the Taliban and the US. He said until now, prisoner swaps between the two former adversaries would take place outside Afghanistan. "This morning at 10 am, the American citizen was handed over to an American team at the Kabul airport and Haji Bashir was handed over to the Islamic Emirate," Muttaqi said, using the official name for the Taliban government. Noorzai's lawyer had denied his client was a drug lord and argued the charges against him should be dismissed because U.S. officials duped him into believing he would not be arrested, VOA reported. International forces completely withdrew from the country in August of last year after almost two decades of war with the Taliban, paving the way for the resurgent Islamist group to seize power. --IANS san/arm ( 305 Words) 2022-09-19-19:44:02 (IANS) India and Saudi Arabia have agreed to collaborate in 41 areas under four broad domains of agriculture & food security, energy, technology & IT; and industry and infrastructure. This was agreed during a ministerial meeting co-chaired by India's Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal and Saudi Minister for Energy Abdulaziz bin Salman Al-Saud, according to an official statement released here on Monday. Goyal visited Saudi Arabia from 18th to 19th September 2022 to attend the Ministerial meeting of the India-Saudi Arabia Strategic Partnership Council. During the visit, Goyal co-chaired the ministerial meeting of the Committee on Economy and Investments of the India-Saudi Arabia Strategic Partnership Council. The Strategic Partnership Council was instituted in October 2019 during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Saudi Arabia. The council has two main pillars i.e. Political, Security, Social and Cultural Committee, and the Committee on Economy and Investments. During the ministerial meeting, the two sides agreed on streamlining efforts to realise the announcement made by Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, during his visit to India in February 2019, of investments worth $100 billion in India. The two sides also agreed to undertake the implementation of the priority projects in a time-bound manner. Priority areas of cooperation include collaboration in digital fintech sector through operationalisation of UPI and Rupay Card in Saudi Arabia and re-affirmation of continued cooperation in joint projects including the West coast refinery, LNG infrastructure investment and development of strategic petroleum storage facilities in India. During the visit, Goyal held a meeting with Majid bin Abdullah Al-Kassabi, Minister of Commerce of Saudi Arabia. The two leaders had wide-ranging discussions on the entire gamut of bilateral trade, commerce and investments linkages. Diversification and expansion of trade and commerce, removal of trade barriers, including the outstanding issues related to sanitary and phytosanitary measures and trade remedies, automatic registration and marketing authorisation of Indian pharma products in Saudi Arabia, feasibility of institutionalising Rupee-Riyal trade, introduction of UPI and Rupay cards in Saudi Arabia; were amongst the key points of discussion. "Had a fruitful meeting with H.E. Dr. Majid bin Abdullah Al-Kassabi, Minister of Commerce, KSA. Discussed ways to attract greater investment & further diversify bilateral trade to boost economic ties between India & Saudi Arabia," Goyal tweeted after the meeting. Union Commerce and Industry Minister also participated in a CEO Roundtable with prominent businessmen in Saudi Arabia. Discussions focused on encouraging increasing exports from India, facilitating inward investments into India, innovative ways and means of deepening and broad basing bilateral economic linkages. "Had an enriching interaction with CEOs of companies from different sectors in Saudi Arabia. Delighted to see their enthusiasm towards further strengthening trade & investment linkages between the two countries," Goyal said in another tweet. On his visit, the minister was accompanied by a delegation comprising officials of the ranks of Additional Secretaries and Joint Secretaries from the Ministries of Agriculture, Commerce, Electronics and IT and from NITI Aayog. (ANI) Over Rs 3 lakh crore worth of public procurement has been done on Government e-Marketplace (GeM) so far, the Ministry of Commerce & Industry said on Monday. Government e-Marketplace (GeM), the National Public Procurement Portal of the country is an end-to-end online Marketplace for the procurement of goods and services. It was launched on August 9, 2016, as part of the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for redefining public procurement. GeM has been able to bring about radical changes in the way procurement was done by Government buyers and public sector undertakings. GeM is contactless, paperless, and cashless and stands on three pillars: efficiency, transparency, and inclusivity, the ministry said in a statement. GeM Seller Samvad was held in Mumbai on Monday. A number of Government e-Marketplace vendors shared their experiences in GeM Seller Samvad. This gave an opportunity to the GeM sellers to learn about the new GeM features and functionalities that further makes it conducive for them to operate on the portal. GeM's Business Facilitator for Maharashtra and Daman and Diu Nikhil Patil informed that the GeM portal is not only limited to Central Government offices. It provides a one-stop online procurement portal for all Government Buyers including Central/State Ministries, Departments, Bodies & PSUs. All states (except Sikkim) have entered into an MoU with GeM, thereby facilitating businesses from all around the country to do business with Government departments located all over India, even in remote corners. Maharashtra state entered into an agreement with GeM in March 2018, informed Nikhil Patil. In his presentation, Patil highlighted the advantages for SMEs for doing business in the GeM portal. MSEs, especially sole proprietors on GeM can now get a loan at the point of acceptance of an order on the GeM platform. Approximately 2,000 minor and 460+ major functionalities have been introduced on GeM, in the last 24 months for increasing ease of doing business. The Seller Samvad was also attended by Nishant Deengawal, Director - States and Union Territories (GeM) and Nodal Officer of GeM in Maharashtra. Deputy Director of Press Information Bureau, Mumbai Regional Office, Dheep Joy Mampilly was also present on the occasion. It is noteworthy that GeM has surpassed the milestone of Rs 1 Lakh Crore of procurement value, in a single fiscal year in FY 21-22. Since its inception, GeM has facilitated over 1 crore transactions valued at over Rs 3.02 lakh crore. This has only been possible with the support of all stakeholders including buyers and sellers across the country. (ANI) Hollywood star Kate Winslet was taken to the hospital after she suffered an accident while filming Lee in Croatia. According to Deadline, the 'TItanic' actor fell while on the set of the movie and a representative for the star has offered an update on her health condition. "Kate slipped and was taken to hospital as a precautionary measure required by the production. She is fine and will be filming, as planned, this week," reported Deadline. Since 2015, Winslet is set to star in 'Lee', a feature film, where she will be seen portraying World War II correspondent Lee Miller. The historical drama about the Vogue cover model-turned-photographer is directed by Ellen Kuras and also stars Marion Cotillard, Jude Law, Andrea Riseborough and Josh O'Conner. The famous Miller chronicled the war on the allied front lines and exposed all the atrocities Hitler's Nazi Germany committed against the Jewish community. "This is absolutely not a biopic. To make a story about Lee's whole life, that's a series worth for HBO. What we wanted to do was find the most interesting decade in her life, the one that defined who she was and what she became because of what she went through," Winslet told Deadline about the project in 2021. Winslet, who has a role in the upcoming 'Avatar: The Way of Water', was most recently seen on the small screen with HBO's 'Mare of Easttown', which earned her an Emmy Award last year. Her recent film credits include 'Ammonite', 'Blackbird' and 'The Mountain Between Us'. (ANI) Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Sunday flatly refused the opposition parties' demand for Health and Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar's resignation over the deaths in the Vijayanagar Institute of Medical Sciences (VIMS). Two ICU patients, including a woman, had died allegedly due to power failure and a defunct generator. Bommai said the previous Congress government had tabled the Karnataka Private Doctors' Bill, which was opposed by the state's private doctors who struck work for five days, and at that time, around 80 people had died. "Did the then Health Minister resign? The habit of the Congress Party is to politicise everything," he said. Bommai said he did not know why Congress MLA Priyank Kharge is opposing the announcement of Rs 5,000 crore grant for the Kalyana Karnataka Development Board (KKDB) instead of welcoming it, adding that it looks like that he is not in favour of development of the backward region. The CM said he had announced on Saturday that a Rs 5,000 crore grant will be provided for the development of Kalyana Karnataka region in budget 2023-24, and last year, he had promised to provide Rs 3,000 crore which had been provided in the current year budget. "Instead of welcoming it, the Congress MLA has opposed it. It will give an impression that Priyank wants this region to remain backward forever. All of them must work accordingly when an initiative was made for the development of backward areas and it is not correct to politicise it," he added. --IANS mka/vd ( 268 Words) 2022-09-18-19:40:03 (IANS) Estranged AIADMK leader and former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu O. Panneerselvam has urged the state government to close schools as flu-related cases are on the rise in the southern state. He called upon Chief Minister M.K. Stalin to immediately intervene in the matter and take steps to close down schools to prevent the spread of the disease. In a statement issued on Sunday, OPS, as Panneerselvam is popularly known, said that it is the duty of the state government to maintain public health, pointing out that hospitalisation of children is on the rise in the state. The former Chief Minister said, "The Tamil Nadu government should declare holidays in schools for some time and postpone the exam schedule till the time the cases come down. The government should take steps to create awareness among the people about the flu and make the necessary medicines available to them." He also said that doctors have warned people above 60 years of age to be careful. OPS said that schools in Puducherry have already been shut till September 25 due to the spread of flu cases in the Union Territory. --IANS aal/arm ( 206 Words) 2022-09-18-20:38:01 (IANS) Meanwhile, the Covid positivity rate of the capital city has been reported to be 0.97 per cent. The number of active cases stands at 514 out of which 377 patients are being treated in home isolation. With 96 patients recovering in the last 24 hours, the total number of recoveries has gone to 19,75,439, while Delhi's total caseload is 20,02,452 and the death toll in the city is 26,499. The number of Covid containment zones stands at 66. A total of 9,742 new tests -- 6,633 RT-PCR and 3,109 Rapid Antigen - were conducted in the last 24 hours, taking the total to 4,01,43,039 while 25,569 vaccines were administered - 1,538 first doses, 4,901 second doses, and 19,130 precaution doses. The total number of cumulative beneficiaries vaccinated so far stands at 3,70,01,812, according to the health bulletin. --IANS avr/vd ( 171 Words) 2022-09-18-22:30:06 (IANS) Research on over 1 million people from eight countries discovered that moderate use of black, green, or Oolong tea is linked to a lower risk of getting type 2 diabetes. The findings, being presented at this year's European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) Annual Meeting in Stockholm, Sweden (19-23 Sept), suggest that drinking at least four cups of tea a day is associated with a 17 per cent lower risk of T2D over an average period of 10 years. "Our results are exciting because they suggest that people can do something as simple as drinking four cups of tea a day to potentially lessen their risk of developing type 2 diabetes", says lead author Xiaying Li from Wuhan University of Science and Technology in China. While it's long been known that regularly drinking tea may be beneficial for health because of the various antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anticarcinogenic compounds tea contains, less clear has been the relationship between tea drinking and the risk of T2D. So far, published cohort studies and meta-analyses have reported inconsistent findings. To address this uncertainty, researchers conducted a cohort study and a dose-response meta-analysis to better define the relationship between tea consumption and future T2DM risk. First, they studied 5,199 adults (2583 men, 2616 women) with no history of T2D (average age 42) from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS), who were recruited in 1997 and followed until 2009. The CHNS is a multicentre prospective study looking at the economics, sociological issues and health of residents from nine provinces. At the outset, participants filled in food and drink frequency questionnaires and provided information on lifestyle factors such as regular exercise, smoking and alcohol consumption. Overall, 2,379 (46%) participants reported drinking tea, and by the end of the study, 522 (10%) participants had developed T2D. After adjusting for factors that are known to be linked with increased risk of T2D, like age, sex, and physical inactivity, researchers found that tea drinkers had a similar risk of developing T2D compared to non-drinkers. And the results did not change significantly when analysed by age and sex, or when participants who developed diabetes during the first 3 years of follow-up were excluded. In the next step of the study, the researchers did a systematic review of all cohort studies investigating tea drinking and the risk of T2D in adults (aged 18 or older) up to September 2021. Overall, 19 cohort studies involving 1,076,311 participants from eight countries [1] were included in the dose-response meta-analysis. They explored the potential impact of different types of tea (green tea, oolong tea, and black tea), frequency of tea drinking (less than 1 cup/day, 1-3 cups/day, and 4 or more cups/day), sex (male and female), and the location of the study (Europe and America, or Asia), on the risk of T2D. Overall, the meta-analysis found a linear association between tea drinking and T2D risk, with each cup of tea consumed per day reducing the risk of developing T2D by around 1%. When compared with adults who didn't drink tea, those who drank 1-3 cups daily lowered their risk of T2D by 4%, while those who consumed at least 4 cups every day reduced their risk by 17%. The associations were observed regardless of the type of tea participants drank, whether they were male or female, or where they lived, suggesting that it may be the amount of tea consumed, rather than any other factor, that plays a major role. "While more research needs to be done to determine the exact dosage and mechanisms behind these observations, our findings suggest that drinking tea is beneficial in reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes, but only at high doses (at least 4 cups a day)", says Li. She adds, "It is possible that particular components in tea, such as polyphenols, may reduce blood glucose levels, but a sufficient amount of these bioactive compounds may be needed to be effective. It may also explain why we did not find an association between tea drinking and type 2 diabetes in our cohort study because we did not look at higher tea consumption." Oolong tea is a traditional Chinese tea that's made from the same plant used to make green and black teas. The difference is how the tea is processed--green tea is not allowed to oxidise much, black tea is allowed to oxidise until it turns black, and oolong tea is partially oxidised. Despite the important findings, the authors note that the study is observational and cannot prove that drinking tea reduced the risk of T2D, but suggests that it is likely to contribute. And the researchers point to several caveats, including that they relied on subjective assessments of the quantities of tea consumed and they cannot rule out the possibility that residual confounding by other lifestyle and physiological factors may have affected the results. (ANI) Chandigarh University in Punjab's Mohali district has been witnessing strong student protests since Saturday night after it was reported that a woman student leaked obscene videos of several occupants of the girl's hostel online. The student, who was earlier arrested by the police, had purportedly sent some nude images and videos to her male friend in Shimla and these were leaked. "All the rumours of objectionable videos shot of other girl students are totally false and baseless," university's Pro-Chancellor R.S. Bawa said in a statement. --IANS vg/vd ( 120 Words) 2022-09-18-20:10:02 (IANS) Delhi Police have arrested four members of a notorious family of thieves, known in their locality as 'chor parivar', for stealing jewellery worth Rs 1 crore, an official said on Sunday. The accused have been identified as Amar alias Patti (prime accused), Laxmi alias Dabhi (Amar's sister), Sobha (Amar's wife) and Vishnu (Laxmi's brother-in-law). Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central), Shweta Chauhan, said a PCR call was received on September 13 regarding jewellery theft. The complainant had said that he works at Sheetal Jewellery House and on September 13 he got into an e-rickshaw from Azad Market to Karol Bagh. At that time, two ladies and one child were sitting in the back seat of the e-rickshaw while two men, including the driver, were sitting in the front. "After travelling some distance, the man sitting next to the driver changed his seat and sat next to the complainant in the back. In the meantime, one of the ladies opened the zip of the complainant's bag and took three pairs of gold bangles from it," the DCP said. During the course of the investigation, the police questioned the other employees of the showroom to rule out the possibility of any internal involvement. "The accused persons did not use any mobile phone during the entire incident which made it difficult for the police to trace them," the official said. However, while scanning CCTV footage, the police found that the e-rickshaw used in the crime had a designer sticker -- 'Maurya e-rickshaw' -- which helped the police established that the accused persons belonged to the Sultanpuri area. "From local inquiry it was found that the family was famous in the area as 'chor parivar' as all the family members were involved in committing theft and other criminal activities," Chauhan said. The police then conducted a raid at their house, but the accused had fled before the cops could reach there. After this, policemen were deployed in the area in civil clothes to gather information. On Saturday, the police got a tip-off that the accused persons were coming to Chandni Chowk to sell the stolen jewellery after which the police laid a trap and apprehended all the four accused persons. "The stolen jewellery worth Rs 1 crore has been recovered from the accused persons," the officer said. --IANS uj/arm ( 398 Words) 2022-09-18-21:44:01 (IANS) Three people were arrested, who were involved in selling weed to students using social media platforms, the police informed on Sunday. Abhishek Verma, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) of Greater Noida told ANI that the accused were using social media platforms like Telegram to supply drugs to the students. The accused have been identified as Bhanu, Adhiraj and Sonu Kumar. "Many students reside in Delhi-NCR and Gautam Buddha Nagar area. The arrested people used the students as their buyers. They used to run a telegram group which had around 250-300 members. The payments for these drugs were made in cryptocurrency. Their account statements show around 12-14 lakh worth of transactions over the year. The three arrested are namely Bhanu, Adhiraj and Sonu Kumar," DCP Verma said. DCP Verma further informed that the drugs were imported from outside and Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) would also be involved in tracking the international links to the case. "We have seized around 960 grams of Original Grower (OG) California weed which is worth Rs 96 lakh in the market. we have also seized some pills and other equipment. This drug is grown in California and has been imported through international routes for trafficking. They were supplying drugs not just in Delhi-NCR but in many other states as well. We are tracking their route and looking at who else is involved. We are looking at further links and also the cryptocurrency links with the case. We will also notify the postal companies about the negligence. NCB will also be involved in controlling the international trafficking market," DCP Verma added. (ANI) "An old house collapsed on Ansari Road late at night around 3 am. Three people were found dead. District Administration, police department and fire service have recovered their bodies," said Saurabh Singh, SDM Sadar, Deoria. The Chief Minister instructed the District Magistrate and senior police officers to reach the spot immediately and also announced an ex-gratia of Rs. 4 lakhs to the families of the deceased. "Instructions were given to provide relief amounts to all the dead from the disaster relief fund. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath instructed the proper treatment of all the injured. CM Yogi wished speedy recovery of all the injured," read a statement from the Chief Minister's office. Three people of a family were admitted to a hospital after the roof of a 2-storey building collapsed in Uttar Pradesh's Deoria in the early morning hours of Monday. Superintendent of Police (SP) Sankalp Sharma informed ANI that the three members residing in the house had been admitted to hospital. "The roof of the 2-storey building collapsed. Three members of a family residing in the house including a man, his wife and his daughter were rescued and rushed to the hospital. An update on their health is still awaited. Meanwhile, we are looking into how the roof fell," he said. (ANI) A large number of security personnel were deployed at the State Assembly as Samajwadi Party (SP) on Monday held a protest march against the UP government, raising various demands. SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and many party legislators and leaders led the march from the party office to Vidhan Sabha highlighting issues in the state before the Monsoon Session of the state legislature commenced today. "We have come here to protest on the various issues of public interest. This is our constitutional right, but the BJP is not letting the legislators go to the assembly," said a party leader. Hitting back at the protest led by Akhilesh Yadav, Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prashad Maurya said that the march is not related to the benefit of the common people. "SP's protest is not related to the benefit of the common people. If they want to discuss this, they are free to do it in the Assembly. Our government is ready for discussions. Such protests will only create problems for people," Maurya said. Maurya also took a jibe at SP and said that the party is jobless now and they have nothing to do. Massive security deployment in Lucknow had been done in view of the march. "They had not taken permission. Still, they were assigned a designated route which would not have caused traffic congestion. They refused to take that. We have no option but to stop them here. If they take the designated route, there would not be a problem," Joint Commissioner of Police, Law and Order Piyush Mordia said. (ANI) With the monsoon session of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly starting today, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath noted the expectations of the masses of the state and said that they would be answering the opposition's questions and discuss several issues including floods. "The monsoon session UP Legislative Assembly is starting today. People of the state have a lot of expectations from this session. Our govt will be discussing several issues like floods. We'll answer the opposition's questions during this Monsoon session," said CM Yogi. He also took a jibe at the Samajwadi Party for disrupting law and order during the protests. "There is no harm if any party asks their questions in a democratic way. Samajwadi Party should take permission for any procession which should not harm anyone. Following law & order is too much of an expectation from Samajwadi Party leaders," he added. His remarks came while addressing a media briefing ahead of the monsoon session. CM Yogi also attended the three-day 'Health Camp' inaugural programme organized for the MLAs in the Vidhan Bhawan complex. Earlier, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav and other leaders and workers of the party began their march to the State Assembly, from their party office, against the Yogi government. "They hadn't taken permission. Still, they were assigned a designated route which wouldn't have caused traffic congestion. They refused to take that. We've no option but to stop them here. If they take the designated route, there won't be a problem," said Joint Commissioner Police(Law & Order), Piyush Mordia. (ANI) The Rouse Avenue Court on Monday stayed the trial court proceedings and bail hearing in connection with Delhi Minister Satyendar Jain and others in a money laundering case. The District Judge on Monday also issued notice to all accused including Satyendar Jain on a plea moved by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) seeking the transfer of the case to another judge. The Court has fixed the matter for September 30, 2022, for a detailed hearing. Om Saturday, the ED has moved an application before the Principal District and Sessions Judge of Rouse Avenue Court urging the transfer of Satyendar Jain's money laundering case proceedings to another Judge. The ED petition has sought the transfer of the matter to Special Judge Geetanjali Goel after raising certain contentions related to the bail arguments being examined by the court. Special judge Geetanjali Goel, in the past few hearings, had pulled up the agency over its probe in the money laundering case. The Court was presently hearing the lengthy arguments on the bail petitions of Satyendar Jain and the other two co-accused Ankush Jain and Vaibhav Jain in the matter. The bail hearing of the accused was at the final stage. All three persons are currently in Judicial Custody. Appearing for ED, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju on September 15, informed the court that they were moving a plea of transfer of Satyendar Jain's bail proceedings from the current court. Senior Advocate N Hariharan, appearing for Satyendar Jain, expressed his displeasure with Special Judge Geetanjali Goel and submitted, "It's really unfair. Totally uncalled for. They're preempting things. We'll oppose it tooth and nail." The ED had arrested Satyendar Jain and two others in a money laundering case based on a CBI FIR lodged against the AAP leader in 2017 under the Prevention of Corruption Act under which he was accused of having laundered money through four companies allegedly linked to him. On September 16, the ED quizzed Jain inside the Jail in relation to the Excise policy case. Special Judge Geetanjali Goel allowed the application moved by the ED seeking permission to question Satyendar Jain in the excise policy case. Recently the court also took cognisance of the Prosecution Complaint (Chargesheet) filed by the ED against Satyendar Jain, his wife and eight others including four firms in connection with the money laundering case. The ED on June 6 claimed to have seized Rs 2.85 crore in cash and 133 gold coins weighing 1.80 kg from Satyendra Jain's aides during its day-long raid conducted at various places across Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR). During these raids, the agency also seized various incriminating documents and digital records. The ED had initiated the money-laundering investigation on the basis of a First Information Report registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on August 24, 2017, under Section 13(2) r/w 13(1)(e) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 against Satyendar Jain, Poonam Jain, Ajit Prasad Jain, Sunil Kumar Jain, Vaibhav Jain and Ankush Jain. (ANI) The bench of Justices BR Gavai and CT Ravikumar refused to hear the matter saying it had not entertained a similar matter that came before it recently. "We are not inclined to interfere...," said the bench while granting the liberty to the petitioner to avail of alternate remedies. The petitioner then withdrew the plea. The plea was filed by Ashutosh Taploo, son of Tika Lal Taploo, a prominent Kashmiri Pandit and BJP's former vice president, who was killed by Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) terrorists at the time. The plea sought protection and rehabilitation of the family members and investigation, and prosecution of the persons who were involved in the killing of his father. Recently, Supreme Court had declined to hear the plea filed by NGO "We The Citizens" seeking a probe into the killings of Kashmiri pandits during the 1990s. It had also sought rehabilitation of those who had to flee the Kashmir valley. The apex court gave the NGO liberty to move a representation before the central government. ANI) Based on secret information, a team in Karimganj district on Sunday night launched an operation at Kabariband village under Patharkandi police station and recovered 49 soap cases containing 690 grams of heroin from a house owned by Jamil Uddin. However, one accused Jamil Uddin fled from the area. Partha Pratim Das, Additional Superintendent of Police of Karimganj district said that the recovered drugs were kept hidden inside an LPG cylinder. "We have recovered 49 soap cases containing 690 grams of heroin. We have apprehended two persons in connection with this," Das said. The police official further said that the market value of the seized drugs is estimated at around Rs 4.50 crore. Earlier on September 13, the Assam Police seized 927 kg of ganja in two separate incidents at the Churaibari area in Assam's Karimganj district along the Assam-Tripura border, said the police. The ganja was seized by a team of Churaibari police watch post. Assam Police and Central Reserve Police Force, in a joint operation, seized 860 kg of ganja and 40.70 grams of suspected heroin from a truck in Karbi Anglong district. Police arrested three persons regarding this seizure. (ANI) Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah is likely to attend the 18th Formation Day of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) on September 28. The Home Minister will be the chief guest at the event where he will also address the gathering of NDMA officers and others. Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla will also be present at the event. On December 23, 2005, the Government of India enacted the Disaster Management Act, which envisaged the creation of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), headed by the Prime Minister, and State Disaster Management Authorities (SDMAs) headed by respective Chief Ministers, to spearhead and implement a holistic and integrated approach to Disaster Management in India. The (NDMA) is the apex body for Disaster Management in India. Setting up of NDMA and the creation of an enabling environment for institutional mechanisms at the State and District levels is mandated by the Disaster Management Act, 2005. The NDMA's vision is to "build a safer and disaster resilient India by a holistic, pro-active, technology-driven and sustainable development strategy that involves all stakeholders and fosters a culture of prevention, preparedness and mitigation". The NDMA is mandated to lay down the policies, plans and guidelines for Disaster Management to ensure a timely and effective response to disasters. The NDMA's various responsibilities include laying down policies on disaster management; approve the national plan; approve plans prepared by the ministries or departments of the Government of India in accordance with the national plan; lay down guidelines to be followed by the state authorities in drawing up the state plan; lay down guidelines to be followed by the different ministries or departments of the Government of India for the purpose of integrating the measures for prevention of disaster or the mitigation of its effects in their development plans and projects. Besides, the NDMA coordinate the enforcement and implementation of the policy and plans for disaster management; recommend the provision of funds for the purpose of mitigation; provide such support to other countries affected by major disasters as may be determined by the Central Government; take such other measures for the prevention of disaster, or the mitigation, or preparedness and capacity building for dealing with threatening disaster situations or disasters as it may consider necessary; and lay down broad policies and guidelines for the functioning of the National Institute of Disaster Management. The NDMA also works closely with the National Institute of Disaster Management for capacity building. It develops practices, delivers hands-on training and organizes drills for disaster management. It also equips and trains disaster management cells at the state and local levels. (ANI) A delegation of the Gurudwara Shri Bala Sahib Ji on Monday visited Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his residence to offer blessings and prasad of 'Akhand Paath' which was organised on the occasion of PM's birthday. The Gurudwara had organised an 'Akhand paath' which started on 15th September and culminated on 17th September on the occasion of Modi's birthday. This 'Akhand paath' was attended by thousands of Sikh devotees. Langer, Heath Camp and Blood donation camp were also organised by the Gurdwara on occasion. The Sikh delegation honoured the PM by tying a Pagdi and offering a Siropa. An ardas was also performed for the Prime Minister's long life and good health. Modi expressed his happiness at meeting the delegation and thanked them for their wishes and prayers for his well-being. He said that he was humbled and deeply touched by their gesture for making him feel a part of the Sikh Community. He reiterated the commitment of the government to working towards the welfare of the Sikh community continuously. During the meeting, the delegation also thanked the Prime Minister for initiatives taken by him for the honour and welfare of the Sikh community. They recounted several efforts done by the Prime Minister including declaring 26 December as "Veer Baal Divas", reopening the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor, removal of GST on langars run by gurdwaras, ensuring that the copies of Guru Granth Sahib reached India from Afghanistan, among others. (ANI) The idea behind the 'Kashmir Off Road' expedition is to explore the culture, its people, landscape and uniqueness of that place, said Sajid, the founder of the expedition. Treading through logs and boulders, sand and mud, steep inclines, a couple conducts India's premier off-road adventure, motor-sport outfit "Kashmir Off Road" expedition to unknown, uneven destinations to give their riders a real thrill as they manoeuvre over the unpaved ground to promote sport and tourism together. Established in 2017, "Kashmir Off Road" started to develop and promote motor-sport and overland travel in Jammu and Kashmir and beyond. Kashmir Off Road is making a positive difference in the valley, and at the same time providing a platform for youngsters to take up the sport. Since its inception in early 2017, Kashmir Off Road has successfully established a strong social community of motor-sport and off-road enthusiasts in India and abroad which is growing by the day. The signature events include like FrozenRush, Mudzilla, Evolution - vintage car show, and regional and international overland expeditions have been a great success garnering extensive international, national, and regional coverage. Off Road works closely with the J-K government, police, and army and all our events are facilitated by these agencies and organizations. It also works with J-K Tourism in promoting unknown tourist destinations of Kashmir, hence creating sustainable tourism opportunities and livelihood for the locals. As a part of our endeavour to empower the youth of J-K, Kashmir Off Road members are setting examples as role models in the local communities. Kashmir Off Road has introduced and trained many youngsters to take up motorsport in the region. We are also encouraging women in the region to be a part of our community as well. Some of our boys have participated and won in national and international motor-sporting competitions Sajid, the founder of Kashmir Off-Road conversation, said that we would like to connote off-road to overland travel and off-road is a part of it. Overlanding is self-reliant travel to remote destinations where the 'journey' is the principal goal which is mostly accomplished with mechanized off-road capable vehicles. Such journeys usually involve driving on non-paved and dirt roads. The idea behind such journeys is to explore the culture, its people, landscape and uniqueness of that place." While narrating the journey, Sajid said that we started back in 2017 with the aim of introducing overland travel in Jammu and Kashmir. "We have conducted many overland expeditions in and around Kashmir. We have also organized motor-sport events with the aim of providing a platform for youngsters to take up the sport and an opportunity for enthusiasts to compete in national and international events. Our club members have competed and won in international motor-sport events too. We also conduct the Kashmir car and bike show, which offers a platform to petrol heads, and car and bike enthusiasts and build on an automotive culture in the region," he added. Farah Zaidi, co-founder of Kashmir Off Road, explained that Kashmir is heaven for overlanding and off-roading. She said, "There are many remote places which can only be explored by road. Such destinations may not have metalled or paved roads, hence the use of 4x4 and off-road vehicles become inevitable. A destination like Chakwali in Gurez is a good example of such a destination waiting to be explored by an adventure traveller." With regards to motor-sport events, the idea is to provide a platform for the sport and introduce youngsters to it. "Conducting events on tight budgets and getting sponsorships have been challenging. Funding to train youngsters for motorsports and getting governments' attention have been a challenge. In spite of the odds we have successfully conducted close to 50 big and small events since 2017," she added. Farah Zaidi also said that Off-road adventure and Overlanding involve travelling to remote and unseen destinations. "Our endeavour to visit off-beat places in Kashmir is with an intention of creating awareness about sustainable tourism practices by involving local communities and encouraging homestays. This not only paves way for responsible tourism but at the same time is a source of livelihood for locals," she further said. "We would like to see the youth getting engaged in the competitive motorsport which we are also promoting. Many youngsters are taking part in competitive events not only in Kashmir but participating in events outside Kashmir too," Zaidi said. (ANI) A Special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court on Monday extended the judicial custody of Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut by 14 days in connection with the Patra Chawl land scam case. Raut, whose judicial custody was extended on September 5 by 14 days ended today, following which he was produced before the court. He was first sent to judicial custody on August 8. The court will hear the bail plea of the Shiv Sena leader on Wednesday. Meanwhile, ED officers handed the chargesheet copy to Sanjay Raut following Court's directive. Raut was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on August 1 in connection with alleged financial irregularities in the redevelopment of the Patra Chawl in suburban Goregaon. After being in the ED's custody initially, the Shiv Sena leader was sent to judicial custody for 14 days on August 8. On 22 August, a special PMLA court extended Raut's custody till September 5 which has now been further extended till September 19ED officials raided the Shiv Sena leader's home on July 31, and after detaining and questioning him for several hours, arrested him on August 1. On June 28 this year, Sanjay Raut was summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the prevention of the money laundering case pertaining to the Rs 1,034 crore Patra Chawl land scam. Back in August, the wife of Shiv Sena MP was also summoned by the agency in connection with the Patra Chawl land case. The MP's wife Varsha Raut was summoned by the central agency after the ED officials raided the Shiv Sena leader's home and after detaining and questioning him (Sanjay Raut) for several hours, arrested him. Raut is a close aide of former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. According to sources, ED officials seized Rs 11.50 lakhs unaccounted cash from his residence during the raids. Soon after the ED officials detained him in connection with the Patra Chawl land scam case, the Shiv Sena leader said that he "won't be cowed down". Raut is being probed in connection with the re-development of Mumbai's Patra Chawl. In April this year, the ED had attached immovable properties worth Rs 11.15 crore, including a flat at Dadar, held by Sanjay Raut's wife Varsha and eight land parcels at Kihim near Alibag, jointly held by the latter with Swapna Patkar. (ANI) "I believe this is a wrong decision taken by Captain Amarinder Singh. Right after the farmers' protest, his decision of joining the BJP will not be appreciated by the people," said Hooda. He further dismissed the speculations of a rift in his home party and said, "There is no conflict among leaders of the Haryana Congress." Captain Singh's exit is another high profile exit from the grand old party. According to Punjab Lok Congress (PLC) spokesperson Pritpal Singh Baliawal, Amarinder Singh is also likely to merge his party PLC with the BJP in the national capital on September 19. The development came days after Singh met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi. "Had a very productive meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah Ji. Discussed various issues pertaining to National security, the rising cases of narco-terrorism in Punjab and the future roadmap for the overall holistic development of Punjab," Singh had tweeted. Amarinder Singh who broke ties with Congress ahead of the Punjab Assembly elections had fought the polls in alliance with BJP. (ANI) Amid speculation that there is a rift in the Haryana Congress, MP Deependra Singh Hooda on Monday cleared the air and said that there is no other camp in the state other than the 'Congress' camp. Talking to ANI, Deependra dismissed such speculations and said, "There is no conflict in the party. Only one camp is here in the state and that is Congress camp, a camp of Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi." Hooda also said that a Haryana Congress meeting has been called in Chandigarh on Tuesday and he expressed hope that all 195 Haryana Congress delegates will be unanimous. The existence of different camps in the Haryana Congress remains a headache for the party's high command. Bhupendra Singh Hooda Camp vs Randeep Surjewala faction remains in the discussion about their political ambitions in Haryana. Kumari Selja is also considered anti-Hooda. There is a discussion that there is conflict over the election of the Indian National Congress (INC) President. Talking about the same, Haryana Congress president Udai Bhan dismissed reports of factionalism or mutual estrangement in the state party and said that Haryana Congress is united and working on further strategy. Bhan told ANI that Haryana Pradesh Congress had called a meeting at the Chandigarh party office on Tuesday. "The main agenda of the meeting is the INC President election. All 195 Haryana Congress Delegates who will participate in the election of AICC President and PCC elections will be present in this meeting,' Bhan added. Preparations for 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' and the plans for strengthening the party in Haryana will also be discussed in the meeting. The meeting will be chaired by Tarachand Bhagora who is the State Returning Officer (PRO) for the post of President of INC. Notably, the Congress Committees of both Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh passed the resolution for making Rahul Gandhi the party president. Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Sunday said the Wayanad MP should "rethink" his decision on this matter. Chhattisgarh Congress has unanimously passed a resolution that Rahul Gandhi should take over as party president again. The Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress Committee held an important meeting. The agenda of the meeting is an organizational election in the state unit. The meeting was attended by Baghel, party state in-charge PL Punia and other state leaders. "Chhattisgarh Congress Committee and Rajasthan Cong Committee have made this proposal. It has been done in two states but if this proposal comes from other states too, then Rahul ji should rethink this matter," said CM Bhupesh Baghel on appointing Rahul Gandhi as party president. (ANI) Taking a potshot at Congress over its upcoming presidential election, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Shehzad Poonawalla on Monday said that the entire process is a "Mughal-style coronation" and is "fake and fabricated". This comes after various state units of the party including Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Bihar and Tamil Nadu demanded that Rahul Gandhi, who was earlier the party president before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and later stepped down, should reclaim his previous position (party chief) in the party. Sonia Gandhi has been the interim president of Congress since Rahul backed off. Speaking to ANI, Poonawalla said, "Many of the Congress leaders have said that the party's election is a sham. It is not free and fair, but fake and fabricated. 11It is a Mughal-style coronation." Alleging that there is "no internal democracy" in Congress, the BJP leader said that the party workers have "accepted" that there can be "no party president other than a Gandhi family member". "It is now clear that there is no internal democracy in Congress, and neither is there any responsibility. A family is chosen over performance. The party is passing resolutions to make the one its president who has lost 40 out of 50 elections. It is an acceptance by the party that there can be no party president other than a Gandhi family member. What's the need for the drama of elections, coronation should be done straight away," he said. Poonawalla also took a jibe at senior party leader P Chidambaram's remark in which he stated that whoever becomes the President of Congress, Rahul Gandhi's place in the party "will always remain pre-eminent", and said that Rahul Gandhi will be like a "remote control" for the party president. "Chidambaram has to say that if someone other than Rahul Gandhi becomes the party president. he will only be for name sake. Just like Manmohan Singh's remote control as a prime minister was in the hands of Sonia Gandhi, the remote control of the party president will be in the hands of Rahul Gandhi," he said. It is worth noting that the nominations for the Congress President's election will start from September 24. In elections, only 'nominated' voters cast their votes on behalf of the PCC office bearers and the party high command. Many party leaders believe that for more than two decades, the leadership of the party is in the hands of the Gandhi family, so the loyalty of voters is natural in them. But, many leaders like Anand Sharma, Shashi Tharoor, and Manish Tewari in the party have exposed many flaws in the entire election process and questioned the party. Congress said that the election for its president will be held on October 17, and its result will be declared on October 19. (ANI) Former Union Law Minister and senior leader of Punjab Ashwani Kumar on Monday predicted that if Captain Amarinder Singh joins BJP, it will strengthen Punjab and change the political scenario of the state because he is a veteran and mass leader. Speaking to ANI, Ashwani Kumar said, " I understand that Captain Amarinder Singh is a strong leader of Punjab and his joining the BJP will benefit the party. I also believe that the BJP will get a boost in the state." "What were the circumstances, what was the political situation, due to which Amarinder Singh had to leave the Congress and join the BJP after so many years spent in Congress? Only those people can tell who is responsible for this but it is clear that not only in Punjab but also in the entire country, there is a new political environment being created in which no party is left untouchable so keeping in view the circumstances, the strong leader of the country is taking his decision and will continue to do so," Former Union Minister Kumar told ANI. Ashwani Kumar further told ANI, "I think the nationalist forces will get a substantial boost in Punjab. This will have an effect on the 2024 General elections and it is also possible that before the 2024 elections, many leaders of the Congress party may go to the BJP because workers or those who are second-tier leaders, stay in the same party where strong leaders there." "BJP will be strong in Punjab because of the image of Captain Amarinder Singh as a nationalist secular Sikh leader. Hindu people also like him so how does strong support turn into a vote only time will tell but its effect will be in Punjab and it will strengthen the BJP," Kumar added The Punjab Lok Congress, founded by former Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, is all set to join the BJP today in Delhi. Singh formed the Punjab Lok Congress (PLC) after quitting the Congress following his unceremonious exit as Chief Minister in September last year. He was replaced by Charanjit Singh Channi. Singh, who recently returned from London following spinal surgery, met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah in the past fortnight and today morning already met BJP President in Delhi. After his meeting with Shah on September 12, Singh said he held a very productive discussion on various issues related to national security, rising cases of narco-terrorism in Punjab and the future roadmap for the state's overall holistic development. Singh had conveyed his intention to merge his party with the BJP before departing for London, senior Punjab BJP leader Harjit Singh Grewal had said in July. The former Chief Minister would announce the merger upon his return, Grewal had said. (ANI) The Supreme Court on Monday said that it will hear on October 10 the plea seeking transfer of the petition related to the Waqf Act from the Delhi High Court to the top court. A bench of justices KM Joseph and Hrishikesh Roy listed the matter for hearing on October 10. During the hearing, Justice Joseph said that he feels pained that the petitioner has put it down to religion and they should talk beyond that. The court also raised questions that if the Waqf Act is struck down, waqfs will have a free run and the one who will have the last laugh will be the encroacher. Senior Advocate Ranjit Kumar, appearing for the petitioner, said that he will get back to the queries raised by the bench. The bench was hearing a petition seeking the transfer of petitions challenging the Waqf Act from Delhi High Courts to the Supreme Court. The petitioner, in its plea, said that advocate Ashwini Upadhyay sought transfer from Delhi High Court to the Supreme Court as it said 55 similar connected matters are likely to be listed for final hearing. Therefore, in order to avoid multiplicity of litigations and conflicting views on the interpretation of Articles 14-15, 25-26 and 29-30, the Court may be pleased to transfer from Delhi High Court and decide the constitutional validity of the Waqf Act 1995. "The Act is made under the garb of managing waqf properties but there are no similar laws for followers of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Judaism, Bahaism, Zoroastrianism & Christianity. Hence, it is against the secularism, unity and integrity of the nation. The Waqf is not mentioned anywhere in the Constitution. However, if the Act is enacted to secure fundamental rights guaranteed under Articles 25-26, then it must be in consonance with Articles 14-15," the plea said. "If the Act is enacted under Entry-10 and Entry-28 of List-3 of Schedule-7, then it must be gender-neutral and religion-neutral. Likewise, if the impugned Act has been made to protect the rights guaranteed under Articles 29-30 then it has to cover all minorities i.e, followers of Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Judaism, Bahaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and not only Islam," the petition said. "The Waqf Board which has Muslim MLA, Muslim MP, Muslim IAS Officer, Muslim Town Planner, Muslim Advocate, Muslim Scholar, Mutawallis; they are paid from the public exchequer, though Centre and States don't collect even one rupee from any Mosque, Mazar and Dargah," the petition said. "On the other hand, the Centre and States collect around one lac crore rupees from four lac temples but there are no similar provisions for Hindus. Thus, the Act offends Article 27 also," the petition read. (ANI) The people of Jammu and Kashmir living near the Line of Control have recently appeared to be quite happy with the order of the Lieutenant Governor's administration, according to which the officials of all departments have been directed to inform the General Administration Department as soon as possible and submit a report regarding the placement of the employees who are recruited under the backward category and current line of control category. It is worth noting that the government has declared the areas of Jammu and Kashmir as backward areas and the residents of these areas are given concessions in employment. Employing residents of the current line of control in this manner is intended to provide convenience to local people, however, people in these areas believe that people take advantage of concessions to gain employment and influence and then move to cities or towns which defeats the very purpose of the concession. Employees recruited in this manner are legally required to be posted in service for seven years in these areas. Idris Bakhtiar, a resident of Surhi Tehsil, Uri, says that most of the employees who get jobs under this program in these backward areas use their influence to hold their desired positions, as a result of which the local population is suffering from unresolved problems. He said that due to the lack of staff in most of the offices, the people of these areas have to travel long distances even for minor work. Idris further said that with this new order of the authorities, he is fully convinced that now there will be reforms on the ground level and the treatment of the tribals living in these backward areas will be improved. The government has sought a list and details of whether these employees have completed the prescribed seven years of service in backward areas or areas under the current Line of Control. According to the administration, the employees who have not completed seven years of service in these areas have to be posted there and complete the period after which they will be transferred from there. LG Manoj Sinha's decision has been appreciated by the people of the backward areas and the actual Line of Control. This decision has raised the hopes of all affected people that their problems will now be solved. (ANI) The Delhi government is all set to start its second phase of the Chandni Chowk redevelopment project. The first phase of the Chandni Chowk redevelopment project was completed in 2021. Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia held a meeting regarding the same with the officials of the departments on Monday and discussed the plan for the second phase. Under the second phase of the redevelopment project, the government aims to revive and beautify the historical architectural character of the buildings in the Chandni Chowk area. This will be done by maintaining the balance between historic and modern architectural designs. The project includes conservation of heritage structures as per original material and construction techniques, structural retrofitting, restoration and unification of facade of heritage structures, colour, and signage scheme for shops, lighting and facade illumination of shops and buildings, and interpretation of storyline of heritage structures on various spots by using plaques and QR codes to enhance the visitor experience. While speaking about the project, Manish Sisodia said, ''The Delhi Government completed the first phase of the redevelopment of Chandni Chowk in 2021 and the response of the public to it was overwhelming". The first phase focused on decongesting the area and landscaping to improve the shopping experience for the visitors. "In the first phase, we focused on decongesting the area and landscaping to improve the shopping experience for the visitors. To further add to it, now the government will focus on reviving the architecture of historical buildings and shops in the area. This will enhance the look of Chandni Chowk and will provide a unique experience to the visitors'', Sisodia added. The Deputy Chief Minister added that in the present situation, Chandni Chowk has a blend of historic and modern architectural buildings which have emerged over the years, as per the requirements of the locals in the area. But to provide a unified look to the market, these buildings require a facelift. Talking about the implementation of the redevelopment plan Sisodia said, "Officials will ensure that no inconvenience is caused to the owners of local shops and historical buildings". ''Along with this, the government is also planning to revamp the roads of the Shahjahanabad area to provide a better shopping experience for visitors and a better opportunity to explore the cultural heritage of Delhi,'' he said. In the first phase of redevelopment, the Delhi government revamped the 1.3 km stretch with red sandstone and granite pavement between the Red Fort and Fatehpuri Masjid. The landscaping of the 17th-century market was done and CCTVs were installed to ensure the safety of the visitors. In an attempt to make the market pedestrian-friendly, the stretch was declared a ''no-traffic zone'' for motorized vehicles between 9:00 am and 9:00 pm. (ANI) Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar on Monday said that India is committed to ensuring food and nutritional security for its citizens. According to Tomar, plant genetic resources are the source of solutions to the breeding challenges. Plant genetic resources are also vulnerable due to habitat destruction and climate change. Their protection is a "shared responsibility of humanity". "We must use all modern technologies as well as traditional knowledge to preserve and use them in a sustainable manner. Their protection is a "shared responsibility of humanity". We must use all modern technologies as well as traditional knowledge to preserve and use them in a sustainable manner," said the Union Agriculture Minister. Tomar said this while inaugurating the Ninth Session of the Governing Body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) in New Delhi today. The ITPGRFA is a legally binding comprehensive agreement signed during the 31st session of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome in November 2001, which took effect on 29 June 2004, and currently has 149 Contracting Parties including India. This treaty, in consonance with the Convention on Biological Diversity, seeks to achieve food security through the conservation, exchange and sustainable use of the World's Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (PGRFA), equitable sharing of profits from its use, as well as playing an important role in the recognition of rights of farmers. PGRFA provides scale-free solutions to achieve food and nutritional security as well as climate-resilient agriculture. Countries are mutually interdependent on the PGRFA, leading to the need for a global system to facilitate access and profit sharing. GB9 is being organized under the theme "Celebrating the Guardians of Crop Diversity: Towards an Inclusive Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework". The theme aims to highlight the contribution of the world's small farmers to the effective management of PGRFA and provide an opportunity to consider how the treaty and its community can contribute to the new global biodiversity architecture. In the inaugural session, Tomar said that the aim of the Plant Treaty is to recognize the contribution of farmers and local communities to the diversity of crops. Over the centuries, tribal and traditional farming communities have continuously shaped and adapted the dimensions of the rich genetic material they have. This has given rise to vast and diverse cultural (life and commerce around plant diversity), culinary (incredible variety, tastes and nutrition as per purpose and season) and curative (food as medicine) practices. Shri Tomar said that the COVID pandemic has taught us some lessons. Availability and access to food is paramount to peace and stability. India remains committed to ensuring food and nutritional security for its citizens. Shri Tomar said that we need to ensure bountiful crop production year after year. The answer is crop diversity and diversification. Tomar said that no negotiation is possible at the cost of food security. All international forums must not forget that food is an essential fundamental right. Developing countries will be motivated by the need to ensure that the rights of farmers producing food are never compromised. This community is also responsible for the existence of plant genetic resources that we have today. We have many places and people around the world who have conserved invaluable genetic resources and valuable traditional knowledge. Emphasizing on the timely conservation and use of wild species of crops as well as potentially underutilized crops, he said that our struggle for climate resilient agriculture and nutritional security depends heavily on your decisions and actions. Tomar said that genetic information obtained using advanced genomic and bio-informatic tools has the potential to become the subject of IPR. On the other hand, traditional knowledge that has been preserved and enriched from generation to generation becomes common knowledge. Multilateral fora such as the ITPGRFA are responsible for balancing commercial interests and heritage values to ensure the continuity of PGR conservation on earth. Tomar said that India has been a firm advocate of sharing the wealth of plant genetic resources. A look at the IARC genebank and other national gene banks shows that about 10% of the germplasm is of Indian origin. Our vision is very clear that the genetic resources of plants should be made available for research and sustainable use. Tomar said that we cannot ignore the contribution of farmers, indigenous communities, tribal populations and especially the women of the community in the conservation and selection of plant genetic resources over time. Therefore, we have a duty to keep their interests in mind while considering amendments and improvements to the Treaty. India stands firm in its faith and actions in the commitments of the multilateral agreement. He said that Article 9 of the ITPGFRA deals with the rights of farmers, which India is fully compliant with and relevant provisions are contained in the PPV&FR Act, 2001. 166 farmers/agriculture communities have been honoured with Plant Genome Saviour Awards. He said that India proposes to the Governing Body of ITPGRFA to consider putting into action a module of Awareness, Outreach and Capacity Building Programme related to Farmers' Rights, for which India will support its implementation. Tomar said that global agricultural research is focusing on a few key crops for obvious reasons. Focusing on minor millets, minor pulses, minor fruits and leafy vegetables, he said that the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has a network of institutions working on these crops. We have encouraged our farmer-conservers to join us for the GB-9. Shri Tomar said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, agriculture is progressing in the country, farmers are prospering and the economy is also being strengthened. Many such infrastructures have been built in the country which inspires the country and can also show the way forward to the world. Tomar also expressed his immense pleasure that the Treaty Board and the Contracting Parties had honoured his call for India to host the meeting, made during GB8 meeting which was held at Rome in 2019, in which he had participated. Manoj Ahuja, Secretary, Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, GoI, while welcoming all the dignitaries, briefly elaborated about the strength of Indian agriculture and the significant progress made in the recent past due to progressive policies of the government. He urged that deliberations during the GB9 must lead to a balance in between genetic resources governance with use, investment with innovation and access with Benefit Sharing to achieve future-ready solutions for agriculture and food security. Ms Yasmina El-Bahloul, Chairperson of GB9 Bureau, welcomed all the delegates on behalf of the Treaty Bureau and thanked the Indian government for the warm hospitality and extraordinary arrangement for hosting the GB9. Dr Dongou Qu, Director General, FAO, joined the session virtually. While thanking GoI for hosting the GB9 of the ITPGRFA, he said the Plant Treaty was universal and PGRFA needs sharing and caring for food security. These resources are important for agricultural resilience, especially in changing climate. Shombi Sharp, UN Resident Coordinator, India, welcomed delegates on behalf of the United Nations and expressed happiness that UN was associated with the very important Treaty. He called for global solutions for global problems, especially since PGRFA plays a significant role in safeguarding agricultural production crops and thereby the farming community. Dr Himanshu Pathak, Secretary, Department of Agricultural Research and Education and Director General, Indian Council of Agricultural Research emphasized on the role of Research & Development institutions as well as well-trained human resource for effective management of PGRFA. He informed delegates about the excellent capacity of ICAR along with State Agricultural Universities for germplasm management and use. He offered interested nations to enhance the utilization of gene-pool through capacity-building programmes by India in genebanking and in trait-specific evaluation. After the inaugural ceremony, Shri Tomar visited the farmers' exhibitions and interacted with them. More than 400 delegates from nearly 150 member-countries have assembled during the six-day long GB9 to deliberate upon the ITPGRFA which oversees how the member nations exchange and sustainably use the world's Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, while ensuring fair and equitable benefit sharing arising from its use. The PGRFA are the basic building blocks upon which agricultural development, therefore, food security depends, especially on the climate change and other related challenges. The major issues to be deliberated during the meeting comprise--amendment of the Treaty to expand the list of crops in the multilateral system, capacity-development strategy for the Treaty, funding strategy, resource mobilization and the budget, conservation and sustainable use of PGRFA and agriculture, compliance, cooperation with other organizations and bodies and multi-year Programme of Work, including genome sequence information to pursue a more robust Treaty implementation. As host of GB9, India is expected to play a crucial role in minimizing the dissonance between technology-rich developed and gene-rich developing countries to achieve functional resolutions on critical agenda items. The GB9 also provides an excellent opportunity to convey the steadfast commitment of India to conservation and sustainable utilization of plant genetic diversity as well as farmers' rights. On the eve of GB9, India called for global harmony to use every available germplasm resource and every advanced technology to fight global hunger and ensure food and environmental security. (ANI) Taliban is going to ban TikTok and Pubg applications in Afghanistan within the next 3 months times, media reports said citing an announcement by the Taliban-led telecommunication department. Taliban announced the ban in a meeting with the representatives of the security sector and a representative from the Sharia law enforcement administration who has decided to ban both TikTok and Pubg applications in Afghanistan within a 90 days period of time, reported Khaama Press. TikTok and Pubg will be banned within a month and within the next 90 days respectively, as per the decision, reported Khaama Press. Afghanistan's telecommunication and internet service providers have shared the information regards the ban and have been asked to follow the guidelines within the stipulated time. Earlier, the interim government of Afghanistan led by the Taliban blocked more than 23 million websites for displaying what it considers immoral content over the year since the Taliban took power in the country, Najibullah Haqqani, the minister of communications in the Taliban administration. "We have blocked 23.4 million websites. They are changing their pages every time. So, when you block one website another one will be active," TOLOnews quoted acting Minister Najibullah Haqqani as saying at a conference. Speaking at the same conference, the deputy communications minister in the interim government, Ahmad Masoud Latif Rai, also criticized Facebook for its reluctance to cooperate with the Taliban authorities on content moderation. After the collapse of the US-backed government and the withdrawal of US troops from the country, an interim Afghan government led by the Taliban came to power on August 15 last year. The Taliban takeover triggered an economic crisis and food shortages that have pushed the country to the brink of a humanitarian crisis. Thousands of Afghans have fled the country fearful of the Taliban, widespread violation of human rights, and the deprivation of women and girls of their freedoms. Since the Taliban took over Afghanistan in mid-August last year, it rolled back the rights of Afghan media outlets and their functioning. According to UNAMA, there have been significant changes in the country's media landscape, including the closure of more than half of the free media, a ban on several channels and websites and rising work restrictions, violence, and threats against journalists. Earlier in May, while reporting a women's demonstration, journalist Roman Karimi and his driver were detained and tortured by the Taliban. Over 45 per cent of journalists have quit since the Taliban assumed power. The ever-increasing restrictions against media in Afghanistan have also drawn widespread criticism globally with the United Nations (UN) and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) decrying the arrests, demanding the terror outfit stop harassing local journalists and stifling freedom of speech through continued detentions and threats. The Taliban had promised women's rights, media freedom, and amnesty for government officials in the group's first news conference after the takeover in August. However, activists, former government employees, and journalists among others continue to face retribution. (ANI) Pakistan can import oil from Russia on deferred payment as both countries are in talks to discuss the possibility, a senior government functionary revealed on Sunday after the recent meeting between Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Russia President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Samarkand, media reports said. The official, who was part of the Sharif's delegation, said the Prime Minister held at least three meetings with President Putin, Express Tribune reported. "One was formal and the rest were informal," the official, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said. "What we have discussed during the recent interaction with the Russian side is the possibility of importing oil on deferred payment," the official said, the report said. Russia has shown inclination to consider the proposal, the official said. If the proposal is materialised it will be a landmark development given that Pakistan imports oil from Gulf countries and in the past Saudi Arabia and the UAE supplied Pakistan oil on deferred payment, Express Tribune reported. It is not clear if the government can pursue the option given the likely opposition from the United States. A source in the foreign office disclosed that the US has never explicitly asked Pakistan not to import oil from Russia but "advised us that it is better if we don't enter into such venture with Russia". Former prime minister Imran Khan has repeatedly accused the US for being behind his ouster in April. Imran said he was punished for pursuing an independent foreign policy' particularly for his efforts to deepen ties with Russia. The US has always denied meddling in the internal affairs of Pakistan. The recent meeting between Shehbaz and Putin, according to observers, dispelled such conspiracy theories. The transcript released by the Russia side after the meeting between Shehbaz and Putin did not drop any hint if Moscow was not willing to work with the new government often labelled as the US "puppet" by Imran and his supporters, Express Tribune reported. --IANS san/arm ( 351 Words) 2022-09-18-22:30:05 (IANS) India's External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar is arriving in New York on Sunday for the high-level meeting of the General Assembly with a packed agenda of over 50 meetings at various levels. With Prime Minister Narendra Modi skipping this year's summit, he is scheduled to deliver on Saturday India's address to the Assembly, which is meeting on the theme, "A Watershed Moment: Transformative Solutions to Interlocking Challenges". The Assembly's high-level meeting returns to a complete in-person format after two years of the Covid pandemic with 153 heads of state or government, three Deputy Prime Ministers and 34 foreign ministers expected to participate. Security Council reforms will be the top item on Jaishankar's agenda as he meets dozens of world leaders during the week packed with the Assembly session and several events on the sidelines. He is scheduled to host a meeting of the Foreign Ministers of G4, the group made up of India, Brazil, Germany and Japan that advocate for expanding the Council and mutually support each other's claim for a permanent seat. He will also participate in the summit of the 42-member group known as L.69, which is made up of countries from across the world that are committed to Council reforms. Council reform is expected to get a boost during the session as US President Joe Biden is to present ideas for its reform and consult with other leaders, according to US Permanent Representative Linda Thomas-Greenburgh. Commemorating the nation's 75th anniversary of Independence, the highlight of Jaishankar's visit will be an event on Saturday, "India@75: Showcasing India UN Partnership in Action", on New Delhi's cooperation with the UN and its march towards the Sustainable Development Goals set by the UN. He is scheduled to meet one-on-one with General Secretary Antonio Guterres, Assembly President Csaba Korosi, foreign ministers of the Council, the G20 made up of developed and emerging nations, and several other leaders. With the Indo-Pacific high on New Delhi's foreign policy preoccupations, Jaishankar will participate in the meeting of the Quad made up of India, Australia, Japan and the US, and in trilateral meetings of India, France and Australia, and India, Indonesia and Australia. Other meetings of groups he is to participate include the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), IBSA (India, Brazil and South Africa), and Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC). He will also participate in the meeting of India-CARICOM, the 15-member Caribbean group, and in a trilateral meeting with France and the United Arab Emirates. After concluding his visit in New York on Saturday, he is scheduled to visit Washington for three days starting Sunday for what the External Affairs Ministry said for "a high-level review of the multifaceted bilateral agenda and strengthen cooperation on regional and global issues to further consolidate the India-US strategic partnership". He is expected to meet Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other US officials, as well as US business leaders and members of the diaspora. A round table focused on science and technology is also on the agenda for Washington. (Arul Louis can be contacted at aru.l@ians.in and followed at @arulouis) --IANS al/vd ( 531 Words) 2022-09-18-22:32:02 (IANS) Expressing his condolences to the royal family, US President Joe Biden on Sunday (local time) paid his respects at Queen Elizabeth's coffin and said that the Queen had always reminded him of his mother. While mourning the passing of Queen Elizabeth, Biden remembered Queen's warm candour and said, "The way she touched when she leaned over. The way -- she had that look like, "Are you okay? Anything I can do for you? What do you need?" And then also, "Make sure you do what you're supposed to do," Biden said adding that she reminded him of his mother. Moreover, President Biden empathized with King Charles III and told him that it is a loss that leaves a giant hole and sometimes one thinks never be able to overcome it. However, Biden gave a reassuring notion saying, "She is going to be with him every step of the way -- every minute, every moment. And that's." "But as I've told the King, So, to all the people of England, all the people of the United Kingdom, our hearts go out to you. And you were fortunate to have had her for 70 years. We all were. The world is better for her," a White House press release said quoting him. Reminiscing the old memories of his meeting with the Queen he said, "When the Queen had us to the castle for tea and -- we were joking -- crumpets -- she kept offering me more; I kept eating everything she put in front of me -- but she was the same in person as she -- as her image: decent, honourable, and all about service." "I talk about how my mother and father thought that everyone, no matter who they were, no matter what their station, no matter where they were from deserved to be treated with dignity. And that's exactly what she communicated -- just the way she walked by her staff, just the way -- just the way she acted." Biden shared that the Queen gave a sense of the notion of service. "We all owe something. There's something within our capacity to do that can make things -- not just the world better, but your neighbourhood better, your household better, your workplace better. And that -- that's what she communicated to me, anyway. And it was an honour to meet her -- an honour to meet her." Meanwhile, senior citizens and children are among those camping along the funeral routes, over 48 hours in some cases, to bid a final goodbye to Queen Elizabeth II on Monday. Some of those have come from as far as the UK countryside and have even brought with them beddings and tents to battle a reasonably cold breeze that flows through London this time of the year. Visitors are also carrying food and beverages for their extended stay on the streets. The Queen's coffin will be taken in a ceremonial procession to Westminster Abbey for the state funeral service. According to local reports, the police have made extensive arrangements for crowd control and security measures as thousands of people are expected to line the route on Monday to say their final goodbyes to the Queen. Terence Bantock, a senior citizen, who is in a wheelchair, was inconsolable while speaking about the Queen. "I have written a poem for her. On my birthday, I used to send her a box of chocolate. She was the mother of the nation, everyone will miss her presence," he said. In some cases, multiple generations from the same family have come. The mourners say what they are doing is nothing compared to the seven decades of selfless service by "her majesty".Sua Wake, who has come to attend the funeral from Yorkshire, says the country will miss her for years to come. "By camping along the funeral route and spending the night along with children in cold is nothing because we are doing our duty for her," she said. Authorities have arranged urinals and medical facilities for any emergency situation. Emma Jones, a local said the long queues outside Buckingham Palace and Westminster Hall show people's love for the queen. She was everyone's favourite. It is an emotional and historic opportunity to pay tribute to the Queen." People gathered to spend the night were seen sharing stories of the queen and discussing other members of the Royal family. (ANI) External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar begins his 10-day tour of the United States on Sunday that will be marked by another attempt to infuse new life into the stalled UN Security Council reforms process and steady bilateral ties with the US rocked by differences over Ukraine and a massive upkeep package for Pakistan's F-16 fighter aircraft. Jaishankar will spend the first and longer part of the visit in New York, attending the annual high-level meetings of the UN General Assembly and meeting counterparts in bilaterals and multilaterals such as the BRICS (with Brazil, China and South Africa), G-4 (with Japan, German and Brazil), IBSA (with Brazil and South Africa) and SAARC (with all other south Asian countries). The minister will head out to Washington DC on September 25 for the second and last leg of the tour for bilateral meetings, including with his counterpart Antony Blinken and other senior officials of the Joe Biden administration. He will also meet industry leaders and Indian Americans, some of whom have felt disappointed by New Delhi's refusal to condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The highlights of Jaishankar's UNGA meetings will be his address to a group of developing countries from Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean and Small Island called L69, which is focussed on the reform of the UN Security Council. The meeting will be based on the theme "Reinvigorating Multilateralism and Achieving Comprehensive Reform of the UN Security Council". The UNSC reforms process has moved at a snail's pace since formal discussions started as Intergovernmental Negotiations. The last expansion of the elite club took place in 1965 with the addition of four non-permanent seats, taking the total to 15 -- five permanent members and 10 non-permanent members. India, which is now serving its eighth two-year term as a non-permanent member, wants a permanent berth in the expanded council, but it has watched the process drag with mounting irritation, which shows through the stronger language used by its leaders to demand progress. The United States is planning to put its weight behind the process at UNGA. "We will be having discussions with our P3 colleagues (with the other two permanent members France and the United Kingdom) as well as others on the way forward," US Ambassador to UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, had told reporters last week, adding, "The President will present a bit more on this in his speech. Secretary Blinken will also be engaging this week on the commitments we've made and how we see the process moving forward." Jaishankar may also meet for the first time -- or, as is most likely -- not meet his Pakistani counterpart Bilawal Bhutto at the conference of SAARC ministers. The annual ritual is marked by Pakistan's efforts to stage a showdown with the Indian delegation and minister. In Washington, Jaishankar is scheduled to meet his counterpart Blinken and others in the backdrop of the recent differences over Ukraine and the proposed US aid package of $450 million to Pakistan to furbish its F-16s. The US had pressed India to condemn the Russian invasion and not increase its oil purchase from Russia so as to not allow Moscow any relief from the severe economic sanctions the West has imposed. India had done neither, not until later, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi publicly told Russian President Vladimir Putin during their recent meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Samarkand, "Today's era is not of war." The remarks, which were noted approvingly by the US media, may pre-empt some of the tough discussions -- "frank" exchanges, as they are invariably noted in press communiques -- that could have taken place otherwise. The Ukraine war has added an unforeseen and unwelcome wrinkle to a relationship that's seen remarkable progress in recent years. Strategic cooperation -- considered central to the relationship -- has seen a sharp upswing with quick and frequent meetings of the Quad. A US package of $450 million for Pakistan's F-16s was seen unkindly by New Delhi. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had conveyed the government's concern in a telephone call to his counterpart Lloyd Austin. The US took no note of it in its readout of the call. Jaishankar is a veteran of India's ties with the US as former Ambassador to this country, and may have authored large parts of it. The next 10 days may prove to be another masterclass in diplomacy from India's top diplomat. --IANS yrj/arm ( 751 Words) 2022-09-18-23:02:01 (IANS) The surprising and blistering advance of Ukrainian forces into Russian-held territory in Ukraine this month has most probably led several Middle East countries, which a few months ago were seriously studying a possible re-alignment towards Russia, to re-examine the whole question and try to improve their relations with the United States. Ukraine's military this month has managed to recapture more than 3,000 square miles of land in the country's northeast and south, causing a big strategic loss for Kremlin and driving Russian forces into a chaotic retreat. This retreat shows the dismal shortcomings of Russia's military planning, coordination and execution of military operations. The Russian Defense Ministry described the retreat as a decision "to regroup" its troops, even though a day earlier it had said that it was moving to reinforce its defensive positions in the region. It is really a far cry from the boasts made at the start of the invasion that "Kyiv will be conquered within 72 hours" and "a Russian puppet-government will be installed in Ukraine in days." What was almost unthinkable 7 months ago, at the start of the invasion, is that the war in Ukraine, instead of being a war ending in a few days- as Russian President Vladimir Putin planned- would evolve into a war of attrition. It showed the world that the vaunted and "mighty Russian Army" is not the formidable fighting machine almost everybody believed a few months ago, but an unorganised army facing a lot of problems. The change in the military situation in Ukraine must have made decision-makers in the Middle East and especially in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates as well as Egypt, re-examine their perceptions about the "powerful Russia" and the important role it plays in the Middle East, as well as about the US as an unreliable ally who is withdrawing from the region. In the last 20 years, Moscow turned its attention to the Middle East, providing economic and military aid and supporting diplomatically various governments in the region. In September 2015 Russia send its troops to Syria to support the regime of President Bashar al Assad and has since launched numerous air and missile strikes against the ISIL, the Free Syrian Army and the Al-Nustra Front, who were trying to topple the Syrian regime. It should be mentioned that Russia has its only naval facility in the Mediterranean region in the Syrian port of Tartus, which is widely believed to be a chief motivating factor for Russia's support of the Assad regime. Following the nuclear deal (JCPOA) signed by the US and other western powers with Iran - the arch-rival of the Gulf States and Israel - which placed significant restrictions on Tehran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief - as well as the humiliating US retreat from Afghanistan, the impression was given in the Middle East that the US was not so much interested in the region and its attention was focused on China and the Pacific islands. They now saw the US as an unreliable ally and started viewing Russia, as the dominant superpower, which could provide protection from Iran and its proxies. So, they started getting closer to Russia, closing deals and buying weapons from Moscow, which unlike Washington did not link arms sales to respect for human rights. In Egypt, the Russian state atomic energy corporation Rosatom last July began construction of the country's first nuclear power plant, with four 1200MW reactors, at an expected cost of 25 billion euros. It will be Moscow's largest project in Egypt since the Aswan Dam was completed in 1970. Saudi Arabia, which is the world's top arms importer and accounted for about 24 per cent of US arms exports, on 24 August announced that Deputy Defence Minister Khalid bin Salman signed an agreement with Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin "aimed at developing joint military cooperation between the two countries." Salman also met with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, who said that Russia had many new weapons systems that have "proven themselves well in Syria." The fact that Gulf countries and particularly Saudi Arabia and the UAE chose to sit on the fence and refrained from strongly condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine and just called for "a political settlement" is quite telling. The Saudis and the Emiratis are angry with the US Administration and President Biden in particular because they feel that Washington had not really supported them when Iranian-backed Houthis launched missile strikes against targets in the two Gulf states. They are also angry because the US is trying to revive the Iran nuclear deal, ignoring Saudi and Emirati objections. Moreover, as Russia drastically cut its gas supplies to Europe, Gulf States did nothing to cover the energy shortfall. The OPEC + countries, including the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, have refused to increase their production and decided to stick to a deal previously agreed upon between member states. To this day, all these countries together with Egypt, Turkey and Israel refuse to apply Western sanctions on Moscow. However, all this may change, due to the poor performance of the Russian military and Russian weapons in Ukraine that have exploded the myth of Russia being an invincible superpower and may make them look to Washington once again for their defence and also consider the alternative offered by Beijing. As Herb Keinon, points out in an article in Jerusalem Post: "Egypt and the Gulf states, which still feel threatened by Iran and had recently looked to Russia for arms, now will look elsewhere, as the Russian war machine fumbles in Ukraine. This will lead to a possible realignment, with nations casting their eyes toward Beijing and Washington... A badly weakened Russia will create enhanced dependence on the US by regional countries, which is bad for Iran." (ANI) The longest-serving monarch of the UK - Queen Elizabeth II - who died on September 8 at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, will be laid to rest at Westminster Abbey in London today. According to a statement by the UK royal family, the state funeral of the Queen will take place on Monday at 1100 hrs BST. Queen Elizabeth's coffin draped in the Royal Standard is currently lying in state in London's Westminster Hall for members of the public to pay their respects to the Queen. The Lying-in-State will end right before the funeral and the coffin will be taken in procession from the Palace of Westminster to Westminster Abbey, where the State Funeral Service will take place. Following the state funeral, the coffin will travel in procession from Westminster Abbey to Wellington Arch, after which the coffin will travel to Windsor and once there, the State Hearse will travel in procession to St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle via the Long Walk. A Committal Service will then take place in St George's Chapel after which Queen Elizabeth II will be buried in the castle's King George VI Memorial Chapel. Numerous guests ranging from political heads of countries to distinct royal family members and dignitaries from across the globe will fly to the UK for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. The Queen's funeral is the first state funeral in the UK since Winston Churchill's in 1965. A state funeral means that the UK government has officially declared the day of the funeral as a bank holiday. President Droupadi Murmu arrived in London to attend Queen Elizabeth II's state funeral on September 17 and offered condolences on behalf of the government of India. Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden Sunday also expressed his condolences to the royal family. While mourning the passing of Queen Elizabeth, Biden remembered Queen's warm candour and said, "The way she touched when she leaned over. The way -- she had that look like, "Are you okay? Anything I can do for you? What do you need?" And then also, "Make sure you do what you're supposed to do," Biden said adding that she reminded him of his mother. Moreover, senior citizens and children are among those camping along the funeral routes, for over 48 hours in some cases, to bid a final goodbye to Queen Elizabeth II on Monday. Notably, the funeral service will be conducted by the Dean of Westminster, and readings will be given by Patricia Scotland, the secretary general of the Commonwealth, and Prime Minister Liz Truss. The sermon will be delivered by Canterbury's archbishop, the Most Reverend Justin Welby. Two minutes of silence will be observed across Britain towards the end of the ceremony. The service is expected to end around 12 pm (UK time). The Queen was born on April 21, 1926, at 17 Bruton Street in Mayfair, London. She was the first child of The Duke and Duchess of York - who later became King George VI - and Queen Elizabeth. (ANI) A slew of protests erupted in Iran on Sunday over the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman, following her detention by the country's morality police as women protesters cut their hair and burnt hijabs to protest against the mandatory veiling of women, media reports said. Masih Alinejad, an Iranian journalist and activist on her social media account shared a video of women cutting their hair and wrote, "Iranian women show their anger by cutting their hair and burning their hijab to protest against the killing of #Mahsa_Amini by hijab police." "From the age of 7 if we don't cover our hair we won't be able to go to school or get a job. We are fed up with this gender apartheid regime," she added. In another tweet, an Iranian journalist shared the visuals from the Tehran University and said that the students joined the protest against the killing of Mahsa Amini by "hijab police". She also said that the Iranians were outraged. "Yesterday the security forces opened fire at protesters in Saghez city but now Tehran joined the protest," Alinejad said in a tweet. In a series of tweets, Alinejad shared another video on her Twitter handle and said that the "brave women" stormed the streets on the second day and chanted "Don't be afraid, we are all united." She also informed that the security forces opened fire at protesters and injured some of them but this doesn't stop the people from raising their voices against the wrongdoing. As per Al Jazeera, Mahsa Amini, 22, was on a visit to Tehran with her family when she was detained by the specialist police unit. After a while, she suffered a heart attack and was immediately taken to hospital with the cooperation of the emergency services. "Unfortunately, she died and her body was transferred to the medical examiner's office," state television said on Friday, reported Al Jazeera. The announcement came a day after Tehran police confirmed Amini had been detained with other women for "instruction" about the rules. Human rights activists who have spoken to the family said the police grabbed Amini and forced her inside a police vehicle, CNN reported quoting IranWire. Her brother, Kiarash, intervened however the police told him that they are taking his sister to the police station for one hour of "re-education." Her brother waited outside the police station for her to be released however an ambulance pulled up and took his sister to the hospital. "The woman was sent to a Greater Tehran police precinct for guidance and education when suddenly, in the presence of other people, she had a heart attack," the police said, reported CNN quoting state media. Questioning the version of events given by police, Mahsa's family said that she was normal with no pre-existing heart conditions. Human rights organisation Amnesty International said, "The circumstances leading to the suspicious death in custody of 22-year-old young woman Mahsa Amini, which include allegations of torture and other ill-treatment in custody, must be criminally investigated." "The so-called 'morality police' in Tehran arbitrarily arrested her three days before her death while enforcing the country's abusive, degrading and discriminatory forced veiling laws. All agents and officials responsible must face justice," it added. Following the incident that sparked fury on social media, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi ordered the interior minister to open an inquiry into the case. Several lawmakers said they would raise the case in parliament, while the judiciary said it would form a special task force to investigate, reported Al Jazeera. Amini's death comes amid growing controversy both inside and outside Iran over the conduct of the morality police, known formally as the Gasht-e Ershad (Guidance Patrol). The mandatory dress code, which applies to all nationalities and religions, not just Iranian Muslims, requires women to conceal their hair and neck with a headscarf, reported Al Jazeera. Over the decades, women have increasingly pushed back, particularly in the big cities, wearing their headscarves far back on their heads to reveal their hair. (ANI) US President Joe Biden said that American forces would defend Taiwan from a Chinese invasion, the most explicit statement by him so far on the issue concerning cross-strait relations. Responding to a query over defending Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion, Biden said the US would defend Taiwan "if in fact there was an unprecedented attack," according to The Washington Post citing CBS's "60 Minutes" programme. Since Russia started its special military operation in Ukraine, Biden had said that US military forces would not get involved in the fight. Scott Pelley, the interviewer in 60-minute programme pressed Biden on whether the situation would be different in the event of an attack on Taiwan. "So unlike Ukraine, to be clear, sir, U.S. forces -- U.S. men and women -- would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion?" Pelley asked. "Yes," Biden replied. The interview is the latest of several occasions in which Biden has said that the United States would come to Taiwan's defence militarily if China were to attack. Each time, White House officials emphasized that his remarks did not represent any change in US policy. Recently, a Biden administration official pointed out the remarks made by President Biden in May, when he told reporters that the practice of strategic ambiguity toward Taiwan remained. At that time, Biden did not say that he would send US troops to Taiwan in defending the country, reported The Washington Post. "He also made clear then that our Taiwan policy hasn't changed," the official said. "That remains true." A representative from the State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday. The "60 Minutes" segment erroneously stated that US policy since 1979 has recognized Taiwan as part of China. Under the United States' "one-China policy," the American government under various administrations has for decades acknowledged Beijing's view without taking a position on the status of Taiwan's sovereignty. Under the Taiwan Relations Act, which was signed by President Jimmy Carter in 1979, the United States agreed to provide Taiwan with arms to defend itself, and "to maintain the capacity of the United States to resist any resort to force or other forms of coercion that would jeopardize the security, or the social or economic system, of the people of Taiwan." The language neither guarantees nor rules out the possibility of military intervention, though the United States has long practised "strategic ambiguity" when it comes to what it would do, The Washington Post reported. (ANI) Afghanistan's acting Foreign Minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi on Monday confirmed that the Taliban has freed an American engineer in return for an Afghan leader in a prisoner swap between the two countries. Haji Bashir Noorzai a senior member of the Taliban arrived in Kabul today. Acting Afghan minister Khan told a press conference here today that Noorzai, who was in US custody since 2005 after his arrest on drug smuggling was released in exchange for American citizen Mark Frerichs, Tolo News reported. Noorzai said that his exchange for the American citizen Frerichs will help resolve problems between Afghanistan and the US. Noorzai spent nearly two decades in prison on charges of drug smuggling. He was reportedly close to the founder of the Taliban movement, Mullah Mohammad Omar, according to Tolo News. Noorzai contacted American troops in Afghanistan after 2001 and travelled to the US. While Noorzai was in New York in 2005 he was arrested, and sentenced to life in prison by a US court. "Honorable Haji Bashir was released after two decades of imprisonment and arrived in Kabul today," Mohammad Naeem, Islamic Emirate's Qatar-based political office spokesman, said in a tweet. This prisoner swap may show their positive relationship but earlier, the Taliban accused the US of having usurped the Afghan assets after they announced to release of USD 3.5 billion of frozen money from Afghanistan as humanitarian aid for the poverty-stricken country. "The assets of the people of Afghanistan have been usurped by the United States," the Dawn quoted Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid as saying. "We consider it an invasion on the property of Afghans. The United States is not the owner of these assets," Mujahid said while demanding that funds should be released "without any conditions". The United States on Wednesday announced to release of USD 3.5 billion of the total USD 7 billion frozen money from Afghanistan to the new "Afghan Fund" for humanitarian aid. The US Treasury Department said it would transfer USD 3.5 billion in Afghan central bank assets into a new Swiss-based trust fund that will be shielded from the Islamic Emirate and used to help stabilize Afghanistan's collapsed economy. The new Afghan Fund, based in Geneva, will not provide humanitarian assistance but will be put in charge of core central bank functions such as paying Afghanistan's international arrears and electricity imports -- and potentially for necessities such as printing currency. (ANI) US Navy veteran Mark Frerichs, who was taken hostage in Afghanistan, was released by the Taliban after more than two years, according to media reports citing a spokesman. Earlier in the year, the US had raised concerns over the release of Mark Frerichs. Afghanistan's acting Foreign Minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi on Monday confirmed that the Taliban has freed an American prisoner in return for a Taliban leader in a prisoner swap between the two countries. "Today, Mark Frerichs was handed over to the US and Haji Bashar was handed over to us at Kabul airport," Muttaqi said while speaking to reporters in Kabul, as per Al Jazeera. He said the exchange happened "after long negotiations", adding that Frerichs was given to a US delegation. The US navy veteran was working in Afghanistan as a civil engineer on construction projects when he was kidnapped, according to the US State Department. He was last seen in a video earlier this year, pleading for his release so that he can be reunited with his family, according to a recording posted by The New Yorker magazine at the time. Meanwhile, Haji Bashir Noorzai a senior member of the Taliban arrived in Kabul today. Noorzai contacted American troops in Afghanistan after 2001 and travelled to the US. While Noorzai was in New York in 2005 he was arrested, and sentenced to life in prison by a US court. "Honorable Haji Bashir was released after two decades of imprisonment and arrived in Kabul today," Mohammad Naeem, Islamic Emirate's Qatar-based political office spokesman, said in a tweet. The US Treasury Department said it would transfer USD 3.5 billion in Afghan central bank assets into a new Swiss-based trust fund that will be shielded from the Islamic Emirate and used to help stabilize Afghanistan's collapsed economy. The new Afghan Fund, based in Geneva, will not provide humanitarian assistance but will be put in charge of core central bank functions such as paying Afghanistan's international arrears and electricity imports -- and potentially for necessities such as printing currency. (ANI) A Joint India-Singapore Ministerial delegation called upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday and briefed him about the outcomes of the inaugural session of the India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable (ISMR), held on Saturday in New Delhi. "Had a fruitful meeting with DPM & Finance Minister of Singapore @LawrenceWongST, Minister of Trade & Industry Gan Kim Yong. Discussed ways to further boost bilateral ties between our countries, especially in emerging areas like digital connectivity, green hydrogen and Fintech," PM Modi tweeted. The delegation briefed the Prime Minister about the wide-ranging discussions held, especially in emerging areas of digital connectivity, Fintech, green economy, skill development and food security, a statement from the Prime Minister's Office said. As per the statement, the delegation included the Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister of Singapore Lawrence Wong, Minister for Trade and Industry of Singapore, Gan Kim Yong and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. PM Modi conveyed his appreciation and hoped that initiatives like ISMR would help further strengthen the bilateral relations between the two countries. He also conveyed his good wishes to Prime Minister Lee and the people of Singapore, the statement added. The establishment of the ISMR is a pathbreaking initiative which was envisioned by PM Modi and reflects the unique nature of the India-Singapore bilateral relationship. In the ISMR meeting held on Saturday, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal took part with their Singapore counterparts and discussed ways to enhance cooperation between the two countries in emerging and futuristic areas. This was a maiden meeting of the India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable (ISMR), a new ministerial platform between the two countries to boost economic cooperation. The ISMR seeks to deepen existing cooperation and identify opportunities for mutually-beneficial collaboration in new and emerging areas. Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, Singapore delegation at the ISMR was led by the country's Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, who is also Minister for Finance. Trade and Industry Minister Gan Kim Yong and Transport and Trade relations Minister S Iswaran were part of the Singapore delegation. "During the meeting, the leaders emphasised ways of enhancing co-operation between India and Singapore in emerging and futuristic areas. Both sides deliberated upon wide range of issues which inter alia included Financial Sector Operations, Fintech, Regulatory Cooperation, Investment Opportunities and Current Economic Arrangements," Sitharaman said in tweets. Jaishankar said there was a freewheeling discussion on the possibilities and prospects of our ties in the coming decade. "An open and freewheeling discussion on the possibilities and prospects of our ties in the coming decade. Considerable food for thought. Look forward to our next session. "Delighted to participate in the India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable along with FM @nsitharaman & CIM @PiyushGoyal.. Our Singapore counterparts were @LawrenceWongST, @VivianBala, , Trade & Industry Minister Gan Kim Yong and Transport & Trade relations Minister S. Iswaran," he said in tweets. "Joined by Industry leaders from India and Singapore who were holding a Business Roundtable in parallel. Appreciated their insights and ideas. Refreshing our relationship is truly a shared enterprise," he added. Singaporean Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong is in India from September 17 to 21, his first official visit to India after holding office. (ANI) Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday laid a wreath at the Unknown Soldier Memorial Tomb in Cairo and paid his tributes to Egyptians and Arabs who lost their lives in the 1973 October War between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria. Taking to Twitter, the Office of the Raksha Mantri said, "Raksha Mantri, Shri @rajnathsingh laid wreath at the Unknown Soldier Memorial Tomb in Cairo." According to an official statement, Defence Minister called on the President of Egypt Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi in Cairo. "Privileged to call on the President of Egypt, H.E. Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi in Cairo today. India and Egypt continue to work on enhancing mutual trust and confidence. It was reaffirmed that both the countries are committed to expanding our multi-faceted cooperation," Defence Minister tweeted. According to an official statement, both leaders agreed to develop military cooperation further and focus on joint training, defence coproduction and maintenance of equipment, a defence ministry release read. "The Raksha Mantri was received very warmly by President El-Sisi, who pointed out that bilateral relations between India and Egypt are well-established through history. He expressed appreciation that military-to-military cooperation between the countries has reached a new level and that the signing of MoU on defence cooperation is a major achievement," the statement read. Rajnath Singh paid a three-day visit to Egypt starting on Sunday to extend defence cooperation between the two countries further. "Both leaders agreed to develop military cooperation further and focus on joint training, defence coproduction and maintenance of equipment. They emphasised the need for coproduction and to discuss specific proposals in that regard. Shri Rajnath Singh expressed appreciation for the firm stand taken by Egypt against terrorism. President Sisi emphasised that there is a need for India & Egypt to exchange expertise and best practices in countering the threat of terrorism," the statement further read. Defence Minister also acknowledged that Egypt is among the most important trading partners of India in Africa and that bilateral trade has expanded significantly. He noted with satisfaction the close cooperation in multilateral forums between India and Egypt. Rajnath Singh conveyed his best wishes for the successful hosting of COP27 in November 2022, as per the statement. The year 2022 is of particular significance since it marks the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between India and Egypt. Egypt is one of the largest investment destinations for India in the region with an existing Indian investment of USD 3.15 billion. Indian companies continue to execute several projects in Egypt. Moreover, to bolster defence cooperation between the two countries, a team of the Indian Air Force arrived in Egypt on June 22 to participate in a bilateral 'Tactical Leadership Programme' with the Egyptian Air Force. Egypt and India also enjoy cordial defence relations. There was close cooperation between the Air Forces, with efforts at jointly developing a fighter aircraft in the 1960s. IAF pilots had also trained Egyptian pilots from the 1960s until 1984. In the recent past, since 2015, there have been several high-level exchanges of visits by defence delegations. (ANI) Dilendra Prasad Badu, Nepali Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies laid the foundation stone for the project at Darchula alongside Prasanna Shrivastava, Deputy Chief of Mission from India, who was present on the occasion. The ceremony was held jointly by India and Nepal. The project will augment cross-border connectivity between the Sudurpaschim province of Nepal and the Uttarakhand state of India where close people-to-people links exist between communities on both sides of the border across the Mahakali river. "This is in line with the commitment of both the governments to strengthen cross-border connectivity for encouraging commercial, cultural and people-to-people exchanges," an official from the Indian Embassy stated. Meanwhile, Indian Embassy in Nepal welcomed the groundbreaking of the project. According to the embassy, the bridge connects and symbolizes India's commitment to boosting physical connectivity between two countries for mutual benefit. "Embassy of India, Kathmandu, welcomes ground breaking of India funded new motorable bridge in Darchula. The bridge connecting & symbolizes India's commitment to boost physical connectivity between two countries for mutual benefit," India in Nepal tweeted. India and Nepal in February signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the construction of a motorable Bridge over the Mahakali River connecting Dharchula (India) with Darchula (Nepal), under Indian grant assistance. The Indian Embassy in Kathmandu had said in a press release that the MoU was signed by Ambassador of India, Vinay Mohan Kwatra and Secretary, Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, Government of Nepal, Rabindra Nath Shrestha, in presence of Minister of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, Government of Nepal, Renu Kumari Yadav. (ANI) On the solemn occasion of 60 years of diplomatic ties between the two nations, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday and held discussions with Amery Browne, the Foreign Minister of Trinidad and Tobago. Jaishankar arrived here Sunday for the high-level meeting of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and is likely to meet United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and several heads of state later this week. In a tweet, following talks with his counterpart in the Caribbean nation, Jaishankar wrote, "Great to catch up with FM of Trinidad and Tobago Dr Amery Browne this morning. Noted our celebration of 60 years of diplomatic relations. Look forward to strengthening our traditionally strong cooperation." Apart from discussions with Foreign Minister Browne, Jaishankar also held talks with Foreign Minister of Malta, Ian Borg and agreed to step up cooperation on international forums including the United Nations. "A warm meeting with FM Ian Borg of Malta. Congratulated them on their election to UNSC. Agreed to deepen cooperation in the UN and Commonwealth. Also explored strengthening our bilateral economic ties," Jaishankar tweeted. On the same day, Jaishankar, who is on a 10-day visit to the US, held bilateral meetings with the Foreign Minister of Albania where he held discussions to strengthen the bilateral ties with the nations. The meeting with the Albanian counterpart was centred around exchanging views on Ukraine and energy security and cooperation in the UN Security Council. In a tweet, Jaishankar wrote, "Pleased to meet FM Olta Xhacka of Albania. Valued our close cooperation in the UN Security Council. Discussed strengthening our bilateral relationship. Exchanged views on Ukraine and energy security." Over the course of the week, Jaishankar is scheduled to have more than 50 official engagements including bilateral, plurilateral and multilateral meetings. India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj and Consul General (New York) Randhir Jaiswal received Jaishankar on Sunday afternoon on his arrival here. Over the course of the week, Jaishankar is scheduled to have more than 50 official engagements including bilateral, plurilateral and multilateral meetingsThe Indian minister is scheduled to deliver on Saturday India's address at UNGA, which is meeting on the theme, "A Watershed Moment: Transformative Solutions to Interlocking Challenges". Security Council reforms will be the top item on Jaishankar's agenda as he meets dozens of world leaders during the week packed with the Assembly session and several events on the sidelines. Council reform is expected to get a boost during the session as US President Joe Biden is to present ideas for its reform and consult with other leaders, according to US Permanent Representative Linda Thomas-Greenburgh. The former diplomat is also scheduled to host a meeting of the Foreign Ministers of G4, the group made up of India, Brazil, Germany and Japan that advocate for expanding the Council and mutually support each other's claim for a permanent seat. During his 11-day visit to the US beginning today, Jaishankar will also participate in meetings of Quad made up of India, Australia, Japan and the US, BRICS and several other key groupings. Commemorating the nation's 75th anniversary of Independence, the highlight of Jaishankar's visit will be an event on Saturday, "India@75: Showcasing India UN Partnership in Action", on New Delhi's cooperation with the UN and its march towards the Sustainable Development Goals set by the UN. The Assembly's high-level meeting returns to a complete in-person format after two years of the Covid pandemic with 153 heads of state or government, three Deputy Prime Ministers and 34 foreign ministers expected to participate. Jaishankar will be in New York from September 18 to 24, while he will visit Washington DC from September 25 to 28, according to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). After concluding his visit to New York on Saturday, he is scheduled to visit Washington for three days starting Sunday for what the External Affairs Ministry said for "a high-level review of the multifaceted bilateral agenda and strengthen cooperation on regional and global issues to further consolidate the India-US strategic partnership". In Washington, Jaishsnkar is expected to meet Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other senior officials of the Biden Administration. A round table focused on science and technology is also on the agenda for Washington. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday participated in the India-CELAC (Community of Latin American and the Caribbean States) Quartet Meeting held on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York. In the meeting held under the pro-tempore presidency of Argentina, CELAC Quartet was represented by Foreign Minister of Argentina Santiago Cafiero, Foreign Minister of Guatemala Mario Adolfo Bucaro Flores, Foreign Minister of Trinidad and Tobago Amery Browne and Vice Minister for Multilateral Affairs of Colombia Laura Gil Savastano. Both sides expressed satisfaction at revitalizing the India-CELAC forum after a gap of 5 years. They expressed happiness at the growing engagements with Latin American countries and reviewed the entire spectrum of India-CELAC relations. (ANI) Kicking off a jam-packed diplomatic week in New York, ahead of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) meeting, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday held an in-person meeting with the Foreign Minister of Indonesia Retno Marsudi. This comes as the 17th G20 Heads of State and Government Summit will take place in November 2022 in Bali, Indonesia. The Summit will be the pinnacle of the G20 process and intense work carried out within the Ministerial Meetings, Working Groups, and Engagement Groups throughout the year. Jaishankar held another set of bilateral talks with his counterparts in the Balkans, Europe and the Caribbean. On the solemn occasion of 60 years of diplomatic ties between the two nations, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday and held discussions with Amery Browne, the Foreign Minister of Trinidad and Tobago. EAM Jaishankar arrived here Sunday for the high-level meeting of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and is likely to meet United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and several heads of state later this week. In a tweet, following talks with his counterpart in the Caribbean nation, Jaishankar wrote, "Great to catch up with FM of Trinidad and Tobago Dr Amery Browne this morning. Noted our celebration of 60 years of diplomatic relations. Look forward to strengthening our traditionally strong cooperation." Apart from discussions with Foreign Minister Browne, Jaishankar also held talks with Foreign Minister of Malta, Ian Borg and agreed to step up cooperation on international forums including the United Nations. "A warm meeting with FM Ian Borg of Malta. Congratulated them on their election to UNSC. Agreed to deepen cooperation in the UN and Commonwealth. Also explored strengthening our bilateral economic ties," Jaishankar tweeted. On the same day, Jaishankar, who is on a 10-day visit to US, held bilateral meetings with the Foreign Minister of Albania where he held discussions to strengthen the bilateral ties with the nations. The meeting with the Albanian counterpart was centred around exchanging views on Ukraine and energy security and cooperation in the UN Security Council. In a tweet, Jaishankar wrote, "Pleased to meet FM Olta Xhacka of Albania. Valued our close cooperation in the UN Security Council. Discussed strengthening our bilateral relationship. Exchanged views on Ukraine and energy security." Over the course of the week, Jaishankar is scheduled to have more than 50 official engagements including bilateral, plurilateral and multilateral meetings. India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj and Consul General (New York) Randhir Jaiswal received Jaishankar on Sunday afternoon on his arrival here. Over the course of the week, Jaishankar is scheduled to have more than 50 official engagements including bilateral, plurilateral and multilateral meetingsThe Indian minister is scheduled to deliver on Saturday India's address at UNGA, which is meeting on the theme, "A Watershed Moment: Transformative Solutions to Interlocking Challenges". Security Council reforms will be the top item on Jaishankar's agenda as he meets dozens of world leaders during the week packed with the Assembly session and several events on the sidelines. Council reform is expected to get a boost during the session as US President Joe Biden is to present ideas for its reform and consult with other leaders, according to US Permanent Representative Linda Thomas-Greenburgh. The former diplomat is also scheduled to host a meeting of the Foreign Ministers of G4, the group made up of India, Brazil, Germany and Japan that advocate for expanding the Council and mutually support each other's claim for a permanent seat. During his 11-day visit to the US beginning today, Jaishankar will also participate in meetings of Quad made up of India, Australia, Japan and the US, BRICS and several other key groupings. Commemorating the nation's 75th anniversary of Independence, the highlight of Jaishankar's visit will be an event on Saturday, "India@75: Showcasing India UN Partnership in Action", on New Delhi's cooperation with the UN and its march towards the Sustainable Development Goals set by the UN. The Assembly's high-level meeting returns to a complete in-person format after two years of the Covid pandemic with 153 heads of state or government, three Deputy Prime Ministers and 34 foreign ministers expected to participate. Jaishankar will be in New York from September 18 to 24, while he will visit Washington DC from September 25 to 28, according to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). After concluding his visit to New York on Saturday, he is scheduled to visit Washington for three days starting Sunday for what the External Affairs Ministry said for "a high-level review of the multifaceted bilateral agenda and strengthen cooperation on regional and global issues to further consolidate the India-US strategic partnership". In Washington, Jaishsnkar is expected to meet Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other senior officials of the Biden Administration. A round table focused on science and technology is also on the agenda for Washington. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday participated in the India-CELAC (Community of Latin American and the Caribbean States) Quartet Meeting held on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York. In the meeting held under the pro-tempore presidency of Argentina, CELAC Quartet was represented by Foreign Minister of Argentina Santiago Cafiero, Foreign Minister of Guatemala Mario Adolfo Bucaro Flores, Foreign Minister of Trinidad and Tobago Amery Browne and Vice Minister for Multilateral Affairs of Colombia Laura Gil Savastano. Both sides expressed satisfaction at revitalizing the India-CELAC forum after a gap of 5 years. They expressed happiness at the growing engagements with Latin American countries, and reviewed the entire spectrum of India-CELAC relations. (ANI) External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday met with the Foreign Minister of Cuba, Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla and held talks to strengthen ties with the island nation in the Caribbean region. Earlier, Jaishankar met with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and exchanged views on a range of key areas of cooperation. In a Tweet, Jaishankar wrote, "Good to meet FM Sameh Shoukry of Egypt on UNGA sidelines. Our bilateral ties are growing strongly in the areas of defence, trade and investments. Cooperation in new initiatives like green hydrogen & ammonia and education sectors will further bolster them." Kicking off a jam-packed diplomatic week in New York, ahead of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) meeting, Jaishankar on Monday held an in-person meeting with the Foreign Minister of Indonesia Retno Marsudi. This comes as the 17th G20 Heads of State and Government Summit will take place in November 2022 in Bali, Indonesia. The Summit will be the pinnacle of the G20 process and intense work carried out within the Ministerial Meetings, Working Groups, and Engagement Groups throughout the year. Jaishankar held another set of bilateral talks with his counterparts in the Balkans, Europe and the Caribbean. On the solemn occasion of 60 years of diplomatic ties between the two nations, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday and held discussions with Amery Browne, the Foreign Minister of Trinidad and Tobago. EAM Jaishankar arrived here Sunday for the high-level meeting of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and is likely to meet United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and several heads of state later this week. In a tweet, following talks with his counterpart in the Caribbean nation, Jaishankar wrote, "Great to catch up with FM of Trinidad and Tobago Dr Amery Browne this morning. Noted our celebration of 60 years of diplomatic relations. Look forward to strengthening our traditionally strong cooperation." Apart from discussions with Foreign Minister Browne, Jaishankar also held talks with Foreign Minister of Malta, Ian Borg and agreed to step up cooperation on international forums including the United Nations. "A warm meeting with FM Ian Borg of Malta. Congratulated them on their election to UNSC. Agreed to deepen cooperation in the UN and Commonwealth. Also explored strengthening our bilateral economic ties," Jaishankar tweeted. On the same day, Jaishankar, who is on a 10-day visit to US, held bilateral meetings with the Foreign Minister of Albania where he held discussions to strengthen the bilateral ties with the nations. The meeting with the Albanian counterpart was centred around exchanging views on Ukraine and energy security and cooperation in the UN Security Council. In a tweet, Jaishankar wrote, "Pleased to meet FM Olta Xhacka of Albania. Valued our close cooperation in the UN Security Council. Discussed strengthening our bilateral relationship. Exchanged views on Ukraine and energy security." Over the course of the week, Jaishankar is scheduled to have more than 50 official engagements including bilateral, plurilateral and multilateral meetings. India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj and Consul General (New York) Randhir Jaiswal received Jaishankar on Sunday afternoon on his arrival here.Over the course of the week, Jaishankar is scheduled to have more than 50 official engagements including bilateral, plurilateral and multilateral meetings. The Indian minister is scheduled to deliver on Saturday India's address at UNGA, which is meeting on the theme, "A Watershed Moment: Transformative Solutions to Interlocking Challenges". Security Council reforms will be the top item on Jaishankar's agenda as he meets dozens of world leaders during the week packed with the Assembly session and several events on the sidelines. Council reform is expected to get a boost during the session as US President Joe Biden is to present ideas for its reform and consult with other leaders, according to US Permanent Representative Linda Thomas-Greenburgh. The former diplomat is also scheduled to host a meeting of the Foreign Ministers of G4, the group made up of India, Brazil, Germany and Japan that advocate for expanding the Council and mutually support each other's claim for a permanent seat. During his visit to the US beginning today, Jaishankar will also participate in meetings of Quad made up of India, Australia, Japan and the US, BRICS and several other key groupings. Commemorating the nation's 75th anniversary of Independence, the highlight of Jaishankar's visit will be an event on Saturday, "India@75: Showcasing India UN Partnership in Action", on New Delhi's cooperation with the UN and its march towards the Sustainable Development Goals set by the UN. The Assembly's high-level meeting returns to a complete in-person format after two years of the Covid pandemic with 153 heads of state or government, three Deputy Prime Ministers and 34 foreign ministers expected to participate. Jaishankar will be in New York from September 18 to 24, while he will visit Washington DC from September 25 to 28, according to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). After concluding his visit to New York on Saturday, he is scheduled to visit Washington for three days starting Sunday for what the External Affairs Ministry said for "a high-level review of the multifaceted bilateral agenda and strengthen cooperation on regional and global issues to further consolidate the India-US strategic partnership". In Washington, Jaishsnkar is expected to meet Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other senior officials of the Biden Administration. A round table focused on science and technology is also on the agenda for Washington. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday participated in the India-CELAC (Community of Latin American and the Caribbean States) Quartet Meeting held on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York. In the meeting held under the pro-tempore presidency of Argentina, CELAC Quartet was represented by Foreign Minister of Argentina Santiago Cafiero, Foreign Minister of Guatemala Mario Adolfo Bucaro Flores, Foreign Minister of Trinidad and Tobago Amery Browne and Vice Minister for Multilateral Affairs of Colombia Laura Gil Savastano. Both sides expressed satisfaction at revitalizing the India-CELAC forum after a gap of 5 years. They expressed happiness at the growing engagements with Latin American countries, and reviewed the entire spectrum of India-CELAC relations. (ANI) Argentina's Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero, who is the President pro tempore of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), was the first on Jaishankar's schedule. At their meeting, they reviewed India-CELAC cooperation and agreed to work closely on Covid pandemic economic recovery on trade, commerce, agriculture, food and energy security, health, vaccine production and logistics, according to India's External Affairs Ministry. Also at the meeting were Foreign Ministers Mario Adolfo Bucaro Flores of Guatemala and Amery Browne of Trinidad and Tobago. Jaishankar, in a tweet, thanked them "for ideas that we will take forward together" in an area where India has boosted its diplomacy. He later met Foreign Ministers Olta Xhacka of Albania and Ian Borg of Malta during his morning schedule. Jaishankar is to meet with General Assembly President Csaba Korisi this evening. Before that, he will hold a trilateral meeting with his UAE and French counterparts, Zayed Al Nahyan and Catherine Colonna, respectively, in an emerging cooperative arrangement of the three countries. In July, officials from the foreign ministries of the three countries met to discuss cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, regional connectivity, multilateral cooperation, innovation and startups, and supply chain resilience. In his afternoon schedule, Jaishankar is to meet bilaterally with al Nahyan and Foreign Ministers Sameh Shoukry of Egypt, Retno Marsudi of Indonesia, and Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla, of Cuba, and Ethiopia's Deputy Prime Minister Demeke Mekonnen, who also holds the foreign ministry portfolio. (Arul Louis can be contacted at aru.l@ians.in and followed at @arulouis) --IANS al/vd ( 309 Words) 2022-09-19-22:46:02 (IANS) A man was killed and two others were injured when a dispute escalated into gunfire at an apartment complex parking deck in Atlanta, police told local outlets. The triple shooting occurred around 1 a.m. Monday, Sept. 19, at the Berkeley Heights Apartments on the citys north side, WXIA and WSB-TV reported, citing the Atlanta Police Department. A 21-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene, according to WAGA. Two others, a 40-year-old father and his 20-year-old son, were hurt and taken to a hospital for treatment. Its not clear what led to the shooting, but authorities believe the two groups opened fire on each other. We believe that there was an escalating dispute between two groups of people that were in that deck, (and) one group fled, Atlanta police Lt. Germain Dearlove told WGCL. Officers arrived at the scene and found three people with gunshot wounds near the fourth floor of the deck, WSB-TV reported. Authorities have not released their identities. Police are now working to find a silver sedan seen leaving shortly after the shooting, according to WXIA. Man killed after asking late-night lake visitors to be more quiet, Illinois cops say LSU student found shot to death inside bullet-riddled car, Louisiana authorities say Man shot womans SUV 7 times because he said she cut him off, Florida cops say (NEXSTAR) Does anybody like going to the airport? Whether you find it glamorous or treacherous, moving through an airport is a hard-to-avoid event if you want to see the world. But not all airports are created equal, apparently. See the 10 cheapest, most expensive US airports to fly from This year, travel news and resources company Frommers ranked the 10 worst airports in the U.S. based on flight delays, security wait times, customer satisfaction surveys, and the reviews of experts. These are the 10 worst airports in the U.S., according to Frommers: 10. Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) This Virginia airports layout and location were among the outlets main complaints, though it was noted for being attractively built. Airport manager Richard Golinowski recently told The Washington Post hes aware some of the older buildings are starting to see some problems, but noted theyre working to address these issues, including adding a 14-gate concourse expected to be complete in 2026. 9. West Virginia International Yeager Airport (CRW) The location of this airport in Charleston, West Virginia, is labeled scary by Frommers the site is surrounded on all sides by cliffs. The facility was previously known only as Yeager Airport, but was renamed in January in order to be classified as international, WOWK in Charleston reports. Its international U.S. Customs service wont be ready until December, however. 8. Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) Delays and cancellations landed this massive hub in north Central Texas at eighth on the list. But DFW recently became the U.S. airport with the most nonstop flights (a title it previously held) and is currently offering about 239 nonstop destinations, according to aviation news outlet Simple Flying. 7. Denver International Airport (DIA) Turbulence. Denver is surrounded by mountainous, hilly areas, and this can result in bumpier flights than many may be used to. (Apparently, mountains + wind = air waves.) The Federal Aviation Administration has a Tips of Mountain Flying manual that Frommers notes could be useful here. Story continues 6. Cleveland Hopkins International Airport (CLE) This Ohio airport is dinged by Frommers for needed updates and lack of space. A 2019 J.D. Power customer satisfaction study placed CLE even worse, coming second-to-last. How to book a flight that (likely) wont get canceled 5. Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) Some tough traffic and closed roads near the City of Brotherly Loves main airport make for a rocky trip for passengers, both Frommers and J.D. Power say. The latter named PHL dead last on its 2021 airport customer satisfaction survey. 4. OHare International Airport (ORD) Chicagos massive airport is considered still too small by Frommers, and often-delayed flights didnt help its ranking. Meanwhile, J.D. Power ranked it last on its 2021 customer satisfaction survey for mega-sized airports. 3. Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) It may be the only airport with a two-part LOST episode named after it, but getting lost at it is also a complaint, based on ratings. The airport is noted to have a confusing layout and, like most of Los Angeles, traffic problems. 2. LaGuardia Airport (LGA) One of New York Citys major airports is clocked for running late on the clock, as Frommers says delays and cancellations are common at LGA. Data from the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) shows 22.52% of flights were delayed or cancelled from July 2019 to July 2021. To remedy some of these problems, LGA has undergone a few alterations (see below). 1. Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) BTS data shows 24.29% of flights at this New Jersey airport were delayed or cancelled between July 2019 and July 2021. Recently, EWR was shifted from being part of the NYC code by the International Air Transport Association, reported Travel + Leisure. What will this mean for flyers? Perhaps less competition for flights and thus higher prices for travelers to New York, T+L says. Yahoo! Finance reports the change is set to go into effect Oct. 3. Some US airports allow travelers to skip TSA lines for free LaGuardia, the second-worst on Frommers list, has since undergone billions of dollars worth of renovations, transforming from what Bloomberg called in June a once-infamous airport into one named the best in design and architecture by an international jury for the Prix Versailles Award. Meanwhile, Fundera, a small business resources site run by NerdWallet, also ranked the five worst regional airports for business travelers based on convenience and flight performance/availability. Its worst airports were, in order from least-worst to worst: Palm Beach International Airport, Albuquerque International Sunport, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, Anchorage Ted Stevens International Airport, and Memphis International Airport. Fundera found Memphis airports single business lounge and lack of direct flights lacking, ultimately ranking it as the worst, Travel Channel reported. But proving that best and worst may be in the eye of the beholder, Fundera ranked LAX Frommers third-worst as its fifth best for business travelers, citing affordable parking fees and flight availability. Safe travels wherever you fly from and may your stresses stay low. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. STANISLAV POHORILOV MONDAY, 19 SEPTEMBER 2022, 14:15 Oleksii Kulemzin, the Russian-appointed "mayor" of Donetsk said that 13 people had been killed during the attack on the citys Kuibyshevskyi neighbourhood. Source: Kulemzin on Telegram Quote by Kulemzin: "13 civilians have been killed on Bakynskykh Komisariv Square in the Kuibyshevskyi neighbourhood. The number of the wounded is being ascertained." Details: It is not clear which direction the attack came from. Russian propagandist TV channels blame the Armed Forces of Ukraine for the shooting. It is also impossible to verify the reliability of the numbers of casualties. Previously: On 18 September, the occupying forces reported that at about 9:00, the POW camp in Olenivka was attacked, and one Ukrainian prisoner had been killed. Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron! Two people were arrested after allegedly shooting at each other following a car accident. On Sept. 17, Memphis Police (MPD) officers responded to an accident with shots fired at Claudette and Cottonwood. A driver, identified as Carroll Mobley, crashed a 2013 Chevy Camaro into a 2010 Toyota Highlander at the intersection, according to an affidavit. A witness pulled over near the accident. Another person, identified as Artevious Moore, arrived at the accident and got out of his vehicle. According to police, Moore was holding a handgun and began arguing with Mobley. Moore allegedly pointed the gun at Mobley, who then reached for his own weapon. Both men began shooting at each other as the witness ducked for cover, police said. No one was injured, and only property was hit by gunfire. Moore is charged with aggravated assault. Mobley is charged with convicted felon in possession of a handgun and reckless endangerment - deadly weapon, records show. CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD Trending stories: In The Know by Yahoo A frustrated third-grade teacher revealed why she had to come to school on a Saturday and why her students cant read books in class and parents are in utter disbelief. Teacher and mom Sydney Rawls went viral last month when she shared the impact a new Tennessee law has had on her classroom and on her personal time. Since then the video has amassed over 2.3 million views and 13,000 incensed comments. The law, called the Age-Appropriate Materials Act, requires public schools to post online a list of the materials in their libraries for parents to review. But according to Rawlss now-viral video, the process is much more complicated than that so much so, its requiring teachers to work unpaid hours, all so their students can read books in the classroom. Heres how to get free delivery on your next Instacart order In her video, Rawls breaks down the complicated approval process required by this new law. First, teachers must catalog the title and author of each and every book currently in their classroom library of which some teachers have hundreds, if not thousands. That catalog then gets passed along to the school librarian, who checks that list against a list of approved books. The librarian then lets the teacher know which of their books is not on the approved list. The teacher is then required to go through their library all over again and remove those books. Meanwhile, a list of those removed books is sent along to someone higher up, says Rawls probably someone thats never been in a classroom, thats never taught children. Those higher-ups then review the list, and they determine if those books are appropriate or not appropriate. They then send that feedback back to the school requiring the teacher to, once again, go through their library. After that, teachers must post online the final list of books in their library for parents review, allowing them the opportunity to chime in about books in their classroom. Story continues Until all of these steps are completed, children in Rawlss classroom are not allowed to read any of her books no matter how much they beg. Sad times to be a teacher, one comment on Rawlss video reads. And people wonder why teachers are leaving in droves, another comment reads. Every day the school systems is less and less a place for kids/teachers to thrive. Im so sorry youre having to do this, one user commented. See this bedroom turn into a vibrant oasis after an incredible one-day renovation: I pay for those books Unfortunately, Tennessee isnt the only state burdening its overworked and underpaid teachers with book bans and censorship. In Oklahoma, a teacher recently resigned after she was forced to either box up problematic books, turn them around so that the spines faced inward or cover them with butcher paper. Summer Boismier, a high school English teacher, decided to challenge an Oklahoma law that restricts teaching about race and gender in the classroom. After covering her books, as she was asked to, Boismier labeled each book with the title, Books the State Doesnt Want You to Read. Taking advantage of Books Unbanned, an initiative created by the Brooklyn Public Library, Boismier also placed a QR code on each covered book along with the text, Definitely dont scan! Once the code is scanned by students, they could receive a free e-library card that would give them access to BPLs eBook collection allowing them to sidestep state censorship and giving them the freedom to read any book they so choose. As Boismier told CNN, teachers are often forced to personally fill and fund their classroom libraries subtracting from their already meager paychecks. I pay for those books. I put books on my shelves that I think not only would be appealing to students, but center stories that have traditionally been left out of official ELA [English Language Arts] curriculum, Boismier told CNN. Unfortunately, book banning and censorship arent the only trials hardworking teachers are facing. Now, even their classroom decor is being scrutinized and politically weaponized. A Tweet recently went viral when it called into question a teachers rainbow heart wall decal, along with a bulletin board illustration that reads, Our class is a family. Ellsworth, ME kindergarten open house, provides parents a look at the indoctrination their kids are facing by teacher Rhonda Ulichney. Her class is not a family, its not about being kind, its about colors and ABCs. Parents are the family. Pull your kids now. pic.twitter.com/oFKwYuPNFA Shawn McBreairty (@ShawnMcBreairty) August 30, 2022 The Tweet spotlighted kindergarten teacher Rhonda Ulichney, who was accused of indoctrinating kids with her colorful and welcoming classroom decor. A Reddit thread reacting to the Tweet garnered over 8,000 confused and angry comments. Kids stuff is covered in rainbows all the time In kindergarten, the kids are literally learning their colors. This dude is nuts, one comment read. The attack on teachers is pretty creepy Next will be nurses, another Redditor wrote. Oh no! The children will be exposed to kindness? one user wrote. The U.S. teacher shortage has hit crisis levels Considering all that teachers are currently up against, its no wonder why America is currently facing a catastrophic teacher shortage. Rural school districts in Texas are switching to four-day weeks this fall due to lack of staff. Florida is asking veterans with no teaching background to enter classrooms. Arizona is allowing college students to step in and instruct children, the Washington Post reported in August of this year. There are several ways that parents and school administrators can advocate for the teachers who continue to push through various challenges in the classroom despite the mental health toll it could take on them. Attending school board meetings, joining the PTA or simply asking teachers what they need are all ways parents can help. See this Manhattan apartment get an unbelievable maximalist makeover with just $1,000: In The Know is now available on Apple News follow us here! The post 3rd-grade teacher shares how Tennessee book ban law keeps her students from reading books in class appeared first on In The Know. More from In The Know: Dad gets alarming call from daughter's school after sending her in with the wrong lunch: 'I'm such an idiot' Mom waits until son's wedding day to reveal childhood gift's 'embarrassing' secret: 'That was a plot twist' More than 10,000 Amazon shoppers rave about this rowing machine and it's on sale for less than $100 5 Amazon must-haves if you hate looking at all of your tangled electric cords Every investor in Raytheon Technologies Corporation (NYSE:RTX) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 81% to be precise, is institutions. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn). No shareholder likes losing money on their investments, especially institutional investors who saw their holdings drop 3.2% in value last week. Still, the 4.6% one-year gains may have helped mitigate their overall losses. But they would probably be wary of future losses. Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Raytheon Technologies, beginning with the chart below. Check out our latest analysis for Raytheon Technologies What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Raytheon Technologies? Institutional investors commonly compare their own returns to the returns of a commonly followed index. So they generally do consider buying larger companies that are included in the relevant benchmark index. As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Raytheon Technologies. This can indicate that the company has a certain degree of credibility in the investment community. However, it is best to be wary of relying on the supposed validation that comes with institutional investors. They too, get it wrong sometimes. If multiple institutions change their view on a stock at the same time, you could see the share price drop fast. It's therefore worth looking at Raytheon Technologies' earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters. Since institutional investors own more than half the issued stock, the board will likely have to pay attention to their preferences. We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Raytheon Technologies. Our data shows that State Street Global Advisors, Inc. is the largest shareholder with 8.8% of shares outstanding. Capital Research and Management Company is the second largest shareholder owning 8.8% of common stock, and The Vanguard Group, Inc. holds about 8.3% of the company stock. Story continues Looking at the shareholder registry, we can see that 50% of the ownership is controlled by the top 15 shareholders, meaning that no single shareholder has a majority interest in the ownership. Researching institutional ownership is a good way to gauge and filter a stock's expected performance. The same can be achieved by studying analyst sentiments. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily. Insider Ownership Of Raytheon Technologies While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. The company management answer to the board and the latter should represent the interests of shareholders. Notably, sometimes top-level managers are on the board themselves. Most consider insider ownership a positive because it can indicate the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, on some occasions too much power is concentrated within this group. Our data suggests that insiders own under 1% of Raytheon Technologies Corporation in their own names. As it is a large company, we'd only expect insiders to own a small percentage of it. But it's worth noting that they own US$123m worth of shares. It is good to see board members owning shares, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying. General Public Ownership The general public-- including retail investors -- own 18% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. This size of ownership, while considerable, may not be enough to change company policy if the decision is not in sync with other large shareholders. Next Steps: It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Raytheon Technologies better, we need to consider many other factors. To that end, you should be aware of the 1 warning sign we've spotted with Raytheon Technologies . If you are like me, you may want to think about whether this company will grow or shrink. Luckily, you can check this free report showing analyst forecasts for its future. NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Join A Paid User Research Session Youll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here Two brothers and two other people have been charged with systemically stealing more than $425,000 worth of fitness trackers from a Corsicana warehouse, according to U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Chad E. Meacham. The scheme spanned about four months, federal authorities said in a news release Monday. Brothers Antonio Marcell Lewis, 41m, and Samuel Earl Lewis, 36, along with Aaron Lincoln, 43, and Ricka Smith, 37, were arrested Thursday and they made their initial appearances on Friday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Renee Toliver. The four were indicted on charges of conspiracy to commit theft from interstate shipment on Sept. 8 from the Corsicana warehouse. Corsicana is about 80 miles southeast of Fort Worth. If convicted, they face up to five years in federal prison. Antonio Lewis and Lincoln, both shipping and receiving employees for a department store distribution center in Corsicana, are accused of stealing fitness trackers and accessories destined for retail stores, unloading them by from freight trailers by the pallet-full and placing them near the facilitys loading docks, according to federal authorities. Smith, a driver for a commercial freight carrier, allegedly parked her truck near the loading docks, so that Antonio Lewis and Lincoln could load the trackers onto her truck. Federal authorities said that Smith would meet up with Antonio Lewis and his brother, Samuel Lewis, after each of the thefts to unload the stolen fitness trackers from her truck. The brothers then sold the fitness trackers to unauthorized retailers, authorities allege. LOUISVILLE, Ky. The death of a 7-year-old boy at a Kentucky children's residential center has been ruled a homicide by a medical examiner, and two workers at the center have been fired. The Jefferson County's Coroner's Office determined Ja'Ceon Terry died July 17 of "positional asphyxia," meaning his body position left him unable to breath. It provided no further details other than that the child was pronounced dead at a hospital. At the time he died, Ja'Ceon was under the care of workers at Brooklawn, a children's treatment center in Louisville. The facility provides care for "Kentuckys most vulnerable youth and their families," offering therapeutic foster care to children recovering from the effects of abuse and neglect, its website states. As of Monday no charges had been filed in the case. Louisville Metro Police spokesman Aaron Ellis said the case is the subject of an ongoing investigation. "Once we have gathered all of the facts related to this death, we will present them to the Commonwealth Attorneys Office to determine how we will proceed," Ellis said in an email. In a statement, Seven Counties Services, which operates the center for children with emotional or mental health needs, said it fired two employees involved in the incident. The agency did not respond to a request by USA TODAY for the employees' names, their titles and how long they worked for the company. Live updates: Hurricane Fiona overwhelms Puerto Rico with flooding, mudslides, massive power loss Queen Elizabeth II funeral: Emotional King Charles III bids farewell to queen at burial In the statement, the company wrote it was "completely devastated by the unspeakable loss of a child in our care." "He should not have died on our watch," the statement continues. "As protectors of Kentucky's most vulnerable children, we are dedicated to making sure it never happens again." Story continues Nearly all of the children at the centers are in the state's foster care system and placed there by the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services. As of last week, 93 foster children were with the agency. In a separate statement, the cabinet said it "mourns the passing of any child or any person of any age in its care." "This sadness was deepened more upon learning the results of the autopsy, identifying asphyxiation as cause of death," said the statement provided by spokesperson Susan Dunlap. The cabinet is investigating the death but declined to release any of its findings, saying the investigation is ongoing. A "full review" of Brooklawn is continuing, Dunlap said, and the cabinet has suspended placing children at the center for now. Increased staff training Seven Counties' statement said it has taken a number of steps since the death. It said the agency has increased training for staff who provide direct care for children, including de-escalation and relationship building strategies. It also said staff is being retrained on therapeutic approaches. It also wrote it had increased leadership presence and oversight in cottages where children live and increased screening and assessment of youths before they are admitted to Brooklawn. "We are still searching for answers to the many questions about what happened on that Sunday afternoon," the statement said, referring to Ja'Ceon's death. "The leadership of Brooklawn will continue cooperating with state and local officials investigating this tragedy." Contributing: Natalie Neysa Alund, USA TODAY. Contact reporter Deborah Yetter on Twitter at @d_yetter. This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Death of Ja'Ceon Terry was from suffocation at Kentucky youth center shaunl / Getty Images Smart shoppers love a good wholesale club. Costco is one of the more popular bulk retail giants in the country and is known for its variety and range of products. For just $60, you can become a Costco Gold Star Member, granting you access the store's many aisles and shelves. But this membership gets you more than just access to bulk groceries and discounted tech. Here are 7 surprising things you didn't know you could buy at Costco. Find: 9 Best Dollar Tree Items for Fall 2022 Read Next: This Credit Score Mistake Could Be Costing Millions of Americans simonapilolla / Getty Images/iStockphoto Vacation Packages Through Costco Travel, members are given access to exclusive vacation packages. The travel offerings are carefully selected by Costco's skilled travel buyers. These professionals are able to negotiate with travel services to get the best deals for their members. Costco Travel offers a selection of the world's top destinations, hotels and cruises. Take Our Poll: Do You Think Student Loan Debt Should Be Forgiven? Bill Oxford / Getty Images/iStockphoto Insurance Costco members also have exclusive access to a variety of insurance coverages offered by the warehouse giant. These coverages include life, pet and home insurance through Costco's approved partners. dragana991 / Getty Images/iStockphoto New and Used Cars Through Costco's Auto Program, members are able to access a vide variety of both new and used vehicles for sale. Their selection even includes RVs! They offer low, prearranged pricing from approved dealers so that you don't have to do the leg work of comparison shopping. And after you've made your purchase, Costco provides discounts on parts and services. Their website boasts over 5 million satisfied members in the last 5 years. Shutterstock.com Prescription Lenses and Contacts Whether you're interested in new lenses or due for an eye exam, Costco Optical and their trained technicians will be able to help. The optical department stocks a wide selection of contact lenses, brand-name designer frames and sunglasses and offers the latest technology in high-definition lenses. Costco even has store brand, Kirkland signature lenses for you to consider. You can visit the website to find a location near you. Story continues CatLane / Getty Images/iStockphoto Home Installation Services Some renovation projects you can do yourself, while others require the knowledge of a professional. Costco homeowners can sigh in relief thanks to the incredible range of installation services available for their members. They offer installation for blinds, generators, carpeting and so much more. If you're in the market for an upgrade and you're a Costco member, be sure to take advantage of these exclusive offers and services. Rawpixel / Getty Images/iStockphoto Flyers, Brochures and Other Printed Items Hosting a yard sale and need to spread the word? Starting a side-gig and need business cards? It may surprise you, but you can have a number of things printed at your local Costco location. Through business printing, you can order banners, yard signs and flyers among many other items. grass-lifeisgood / Shutterstock.com Personalized Photo Gifts If you're looking to get a head start on holiday shopping, photo prints always make great gifts, especially now that most pictures are in folders on cell phones. Take a favorite selfie or family picture and create a memento that your loved one can cherish forever. Or, get yourself something nice to display in your home. The photo center offers products such as canvas prints, photo books and calendars. More From GOBankingRates This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 7 Surprising Things You Can Buy at Costco A US judge has quashed a Baltimore man's murder conviction in a case that spawned hit true crime podcast Serial. Adnan Syed was 18 when he was sentenced to life in prison for the death of his ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee, whose body was found buried in the woods in 1999. Prosecutors last week asked the court to throw out his conviction, saying a year-long case review had turned up two alternative suspects. Mr Syed will be released into home detention. The 41-year-old's shackles were taken off in court on Monday after he spent nearly 23 years behind bars. Baltimore Circuit Judge Melissa Phinn said she was vacating his conviction "in the interest of fairness and justice", adding the state had failed to share evidence that could have helped his defence at trial. The decision does not mean he is innocent. Judge Phinn has ordered a new trial. A jury found Mr Syed guilty in 2000 of premeditated murder, kidnapping, robbery and false imprisonment. Prosecutors argued he was a scorned lover who had strangled Ms Lee, his classmate at Woodlawn High School, and - with the help of a friend - hid her body in Baltimore's Leakin Park. They relied in part on mobile phone location data that has since been proven unreliable. Every appeal Mr Syed filed over the past two decades was denied, including his most recent attempt in 2019. It was the 2014 podcast Serial that focused worldwide attention on the case and cast doubt on Mr Syed's guilt. Episodes of the show have been downloaded more than 340 million times. The case has also spawned other works, including an HBO docuseries in 2019. The Baltimore State Attorney's Office, which studied the case over the past year alongside Mr Syed's latest defence attorney, said on Wednesday that he deserved a new trial. Prosecutors said they lacked "confidence in the integrity of the conviction" and had identified two new potential suspects who were known to police since the 1999 murder. Story continues Neither suspect has been named, but officials said both had documented records of violence towards women, including convictions that occurred after Mr Syed's trial. One suspect was cleared from the investigation into Ms Lee's death after failing a lie-detector test, a method no longer admissible in many US courts. "Our prosecutors have been sworn to not only aggressively advocate on behalf of victims of crime but when the evidence exists to exonerate those that have been falsely accused and convicted," lead prosecutor Marilyn Mosby said outside the court. She was interrupted by loud cheers as Mr Syed exited the building through a scrum of cameras and supporters. Before the ruling, the victim's brother told the court through tears that he was "not against the investigation", but had been blind-sided by prosecutors. "Every day when I think it's over... or it's ended, it always comes back. It's killing me," said Young Lee. "This is not a podcast for me. This is real life - a never-ending nightmare for 20-plus years." Steve Kelly, a victim's rights lawyer for the family, said the Lees had been "shut out of the legal process" and were "deeply disappointed" with the way they had been treated. "All they wanted was information," said Mr Kelly. "If the truth is that somebody else killed their daughter, they want to know that more than anyone." What triggered the latest case review? Serial Productions, which produced the podcast, has just released a new episode - the 13th - about the latest in the legal saga. It reports that last year Mr Syed's legal team applied for a review of his sentence under a new Maryland law which applies to those given more than 20 years in prison for crimes committed when they were under 18 (Mr Syed was 17 at the time of the murder). As part of this sentence review, an official in Baltimore city's state attorney's office examined the case files - and found two handwritten notes relating to information phoned in about a potential alternative suspect, the podcast reports. It was these notes that were not shared with the defence team in violation of legal protocol, it says. The impact of true crime podcasts Serial brought international attention to the murder of Hae Min Lee and was one of the first hit podcasts of the past decade's boom in audio content. It was followed by other shows which raised questions about existing murder convictions or drew attention to cold cases - attracting big audiences and also, possibly, having an impact on the course of justice. They include In the Dark, a US podcast focusing on the case of Curtis Flowers, a black Mississippi man tried six times for the same crime by the same white prosecutor. His conviction was subsequently quashed by the US Supreme Court over racial bias and he was released after 23 years in prison in 2019 The unsolved killing of Alistair Wilson, a father-of-two who was shot on his doorstep in the seaside town of Nairn in the Scottish Highlands in 2004, was the focus of the BBC's podcast The Doorstep Murder, which came out in 2018. His death remains unsolved but Police Scotland's major investigations team said earlier this year they believe a planning dispute was the likely motive A popular crime podcast about an Australian man who was found guilty of his wife's murder - 40 years after she went missing. Chris Dawson was charged with the murder of his wife Lynette in 2018 after the podcast, The Teacher's Pet, garnered global attention and prompted a renewed investigation. Mrs Dawson's body has never been found. Read more: The J. Marvin Jones Federal Building and Mary Lou Robinson United States Courthouse in Amarillo. A 38-year-old Amarillo man faces up to five years in prison after he admitted to leaving messages in December threatening to kill three prominent Rabbis in New York City. Christopher Stephen Brown, who is being held at the Randall County Jail, pleaded guilty last week to a count of interstate threatening communications. He was initially indicted on two count of interstate threatening communications. Court records show Brown was arrested in December, about a week after officials at the Chabad Lubavitch Headquarters contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation about death threats they received from a man identifying himself as Madrikh Obadiah. More:Police investigate death after woman arrives at hospital with gunshot wound The first round of threats were left Dec. 2 on the headquarters' website threatening death and destruction to their facilities. The message included a link to a YouTube channel for Dr. M Odibah. The channel had videos hosted by a Madrikh Obadiah, who was later identified as Christopher Brown. Two days later, Chabad Lubavitch received voicemails from the same man threatening three rabbis saying he would "tear out their eyes and tongues and would kill every Rabbi he could find." More calls came in the next day and were recorded by officials, in which Brown threatened to "blow off" the heads of the three Rabbis he threatened the day before. Brown also said executions would be conducted. More:Lubbock police release video from robbery where employee struck by vehicle FBI agents traced the calls to Brown's cell phone account in Amarillo and arrested him on Dec. 8. During his arrest, Brown was wearing a shoulder pistol holster. Agents also searched Brown's home and found a loaded .380 caliber semi-automatic pistol. In addition to expressing disgusting anti-Semitic views, Mr. Brown made specific threats of violence against multiple individuals, which is prohibited under federal law, said U.S. Attorney Chad Meacham in a statement. We will not allow our citizens to be subjected to this sort of menacing conduct. A sentencing hearing is tentatively set for Jan. 23, according to court records. This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Amarillo man pleads guilty to threatening New York Rabbis antony blinken Hector Vivas / Stringer/ Getty Images American Mark Frerichs has been released in a prisoner swap after being held captive in Afghanistan for over two years, a senior Biden administration official confirmed Monday, per CNN. "Bringing Mark home has been a top priority for President Biden and his national security team," the official told CNN. Frerichs' release was orchestrated as part of a swap for Haji Bashir Noorzai, a notable member of the Taliban, who served 17 years in a U.S. jail on drug trafficking charges. Frerichs, a Navy veteran from Illinois, was kidnapped in January 2020 while working on contracted construction work in Afghanistan. His kidnapping occurred a few weeks before the U.S. signed a peace deal with the Taliban. He was allegedly held by a faction of the Taliban known as the Haqqani network, and is currently in Doha, Qatar. The Biden administration spent months negotiating the swap with Taliban representatives. The decision to grant Noorzai clemency was not an easy one, but Biden agreed in June when it became clear it would be necessary to secure Frerichs' release. For his part, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken celebrated the successful swap. He said the U.S. would "bring the same determination and focus" used to free Frerichs to help other Americans who have been "arbitrarily and unjustly detained," per CNN. You may also like Steven Spielberg's The Fabelmans gets a key boost in the 2023 Best Picture race 5 scathingly funny cartoons about Steve Bannon's indictment Princess Charlotte wears horseshoe brooch that the queen gave her at funeral Mark Frerichs, an American hostage held by the Taliban for more than two years, was freed on Monday as part of a prisoner swap for a Taliban leader who had been convicted of drug trafficking. The White House announced Frerichss release on Monday morning, with President Biden calling it the culmination of years of tireless work by dedicated public servants across our government and other partner governments. Biden spoke with Frerichss sister to share news of his impending release. Biden did not specify the terms of his release, only referencing that the negotiations required difficult decisions, which I did not take lightly. A senior administration official confirmed that Frerichss release was part of a prisoner swap for a Taliban drug lord, Bashir Noorzai, who was imprisoned by the United States for smuggling more than $50 million worth of heroin. Biden made the decision in June to grant clemency to Noorzai if that meant bringing an American home, a senior administration official said, clarifying that Noorzai was never a detainee at the Guantanamo Bay prison. Frerichs, a veteran and civilian contractor, worked in Afghanistan for a decade as an engineer before being abducted in early 2020. U.S. officials had steadfastly maintained that Frerichs had done nothing wrong and called for his release. Biden also tied Frerichss release to the Talibans recognition. The group regained control of Afghanistan in August 2021 as Biden completed the U.S. withdrawal from the country. Since then, we raised Marks case with the Taliban at every opportunity, a senior administration official said. And we reminded them that Mark had done nothing wrong. Frerichss family previously indicated the U.S. government wanted to trade Frerichss release for an individual imprisoned for 17 years. Noorzai was arrested 17 years ago in 2005. Biden is also facing pressure to secure the release of Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan, both of whom are detained in Russia. He met with Griners and Whelans families on Friday. Updated at 10:04 a.m. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Afghanistan Abducted American (ASSOCIATED PRESS) An American Navy veteran held captive in Afghanistan for nearly three years has been released in a prisoner swap with the Taliban. Mark Frerichs, of Illinois, was kidnapped in January 2020 while doing contract construction work in Afghanistan, less than a month before the US brokered a peace deal with the Taliban. Mr Frerich was believed to have been held captive by the Haqqani network, a faction of the Taliban. His release was part of a prisoner exchange, according to a spokesperson for the Talibans government. President Joe Biden confirmed Mr Frerichs release in a statement on Monday, saying: He will soon be home. His release is the culmination of years of tireless work by dedicated public servants across our government and other partner governments, and I want to thank them for all that effort, the statement read. I spoke with Marks sister today to share the good news and express how happy I am for Marks family. Bringing the negotiations that led to Marks freedom to a successful resolution required difficult decisions, which I did not take lightly. Our priority now is to make sure Mark receives a healthy and safe return and is given the space and time he needs to transition back into society. My Administration continues to prioritize the safe return of all Americans who are held hostage or wrongfully detained abroad, and we will not stop until they are reunited with their families. We have much more work to do in many other cases, but Marks release demonstrates our enduring commitment. Like our work to free Americans held in Burma, Haiti, Russia, Venezuela, and elsewhere, it is our duty to do all we can to bring our people home. Navy veteran Mark Frerich appears in a family photo held by his father Art (Screenshot / CBS Chicago) Prior to the statement, a source familiar with the situation told CNN that Mr Biden had informed Mr Frerichs family of his release via a phone call to his sister, Charlene Cakora. Believed to have been on the other end of the exchange was Bashir Noorzai, a notorious drug lord and senior Taliban detainee held for years at Guantanamo Bay who announced his release on Monday. Story continues Noorzai told reporters at a press conference in Kabul that he spent 17 years and six months in the US detention center at Guantanamo Bay, and that he was the last Taliban prisoner there, according to the Associated Press. Believed to have been on the other end of the exchange for Frerichs was Bashir Noorzai (centre), a notorious drug lord and senior Taliban detainee held for years at Guantanamo Bay (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.) The Taliban-appointed foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, also spoke at the press conference alongside Noorzai and welcomed the exchange, saying it marked the start of a new era in US-Taliban relations. Mr Muttaqi confirmed the released American was Mr Frerichs. He was last seen in a video distributed earlier this year, pleading for his release so that he can be reunited with his family, according to a recording posted by The New Yorker magazine at the time. In the video, which marked the first time he was seen since his abduction, he says it was filmed last November. The FBI declined to comment on the videos authenticity at the time. US officials across two presidential administrations had sought to secure Mr Frerichs release. Since their takeover of Afghanistan in August last year, the Taliban have demanded the United States release Noorzai in exchange for Mr Frerichs amid expectations of such exchanges for US citizens held in Afghanistan. However, there had been no public sign of Washington moving forward on any sort of prisoner trade or exchange prior to Mondays news. Associated Press contributed to this report BEIJING (Reuters) - Two months since many Chinese homebuyers stopped repaying mortgages to protest stalled construction on their properties, a lack of progress at more sites now threatens to intensify the boycott, despite assurances from authorities. The mortgage protest became a rare act of public disobedience in China, pushed via social media in late June and forcing regulators to scramble to offer homebuyers loan payment holidays for up to six months and pledges to expedite construction. But with no sign of construction picking up at many projects and no clear guidance from local authorities, more homebuyers have told Reuters they plan to join others who have stopped paying mortgages. Wang Wending in the central city of Zhengzhou said he was allowed to delay mortgage payments on his apartment for six months in late July. However, he would have to pay the due instalments in one go when the moratorium ends, regardless of the state of construction, which was yet to commence. "What will we do if construction still doesn't resume after six months? We'll directly stop all payments," he said. Homebuyers in at least 100 cities have threatened to halt mortgage payments since late June as developers stopped building projects due to tight funding and strict COVID-19 curbs. The threat of more mortgage boycott comes as China prepares to hold the Communist Party Congress next month, with efforts to revive an economy plagued by the property crisis in focus. While censorship on social media has blocked messages and wiped videos of the protests, largely taking them out of public spotlight, the boycott has nonetheless expanded. A widely monitored list on the GitHub open source site entitled "We Need Home" showed the number of projects across China whose buyers have joined the boycott at 342 on Sept. 16, up from 319 in late July. "The government is focusing on social stability and has not thought about solving the problem of unfinished projects," Qi Yu, a homebuyer in the southeastern city of Nanchang, said. "There's nothing we can do if the government doesn't help us." Story continues Qi has not serviced his 1 million yuan mortgage since July. Zhengzhou and Nanchang governments did not respond to faxed requests for comment. Authorities in Zhengzhou, the epicentre of the protest, have vowed to start building all stalled housing projects by Oct. 6, people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. The city will use special loans and urge developers to return misappropriated funds and property firms to file for bankruptcy, the sources said. 'APPEASE HOMEOWNERS' The mortgage boycott has added to worries about a prolonged slump in China's property market, which has lurched from crisis to crisis since mid-2020 after regulators stepped in to reduce leverage. Beijing has unveiled measures including lowering borrowing costs and assisting local governments to set up bailout funds to prop up the property market. Although that's assured some homebuyers, others say they have been forced to stay silent amid a crackdown on dissent. In Zhengzhou, 30-year-old Ashley, who only gave her first name, said while construction resumed at her apartment in the second quarter, only a handful of people work at the site to, what she believes, "appease homeowners". Ashley told Reuters she and other homeowners of the development were warned against travelling to Beijing to protest after the Zhengzhou government repeatedly cancelled meetings with homebuyers. "I received a call from the police this week, they asked me not to get around them to protest to higher authorities," she said. "They said if anything I should talk to local government first, and if they cannot solve the issue they can forward the message for us." Ashley showed Reuters a phone log that police had called her 15 times in one day earlier this month. Zhengzhou Public Security Ministry declined to comment. BAILOUT About 2.3 trillion yuan ($43.02 billion) worth of loans is at stake if all unfinished projects ended up in mortgage boycotts, representing 6% of total mortgages, Natixis said in a report last month. Beijing has set up a bailout fund worth up to $44 billion and $29 billion in special loans for unfinished projects to restore confidence, sources say. Sources at property developers and banks, however, said it could take time for those funds to make a difference. "There won't be money for everyone," said a senior executive at a Shanghai-based developer. A homebuyer in China Evergrande Group's project in Hefei said he was due to receive his apartment in 2020, but construction has stalled for the last four years. Buyers in that project started protesting last year and joined the wider boycott in June, said the homebuyer, who declined to be named. Evergrande said company chairman Hui Ka Yan vowed in an internal meeting last week to return all construction to normal by the end of September. Out of Evergrande's 706 projects, 38 have not resumed construction, while 62 were only now restarting. "We will not repay mortgages again if we don't see any material results," the person said, adding partial construction resumed in late August with only around 20 workers. "We'll continue to protest - we'll go to Beijing." (Reporting by Beijing and Shanghai newsrooms and Clare Jim in Hong Kong; Editing by Sumeet Chatterjee and Sam Holmes) A panel of Minnesota Court of Appeals judges on Monday affirmed the state health departments authority to punish bars that violated emergency orders put in place during the coronavirus pandemic. With the ruling, the three judges rejected appeals brought by the operators of two of the many bars that served on-site food and drinks or ignored a face mask mandate, in violation of Gov. Tim Walzs executive orders. The Minnesota Department of Health levied a $10,000 administrative penalty and a 30-day license suspension against operator Norm Sugden for knowing, intentional, serious and repeated violations at Norms Wayside in Buffalo. Regarding similar violations by Kevin McColluch and Mission Tavern in Merrifield, the health department let an administrative law judge decide the penalty, which was a 20-day license suspension and $5,000. During separate case proceedings before an administrative law judge, the bar operators acknowledged ignoring the governors orders, but they challenged the health departments authority to enforce them, arguing the orders were unconstitutional because they lacked a rational basis. As part of their argument, the bars submitted affidavits from Scott Jensen, the family doctor and Republican who is challenging Walz for governor in November, in which he made numerous false claims about the coronavirus. Jensens letter stated his belief that MDH overstated the number of deaths from COVID-19, that COVID-19 may have a similar fatality rate to influenza, and that an effective treatment for COVID-19, hydroxychloroquine, was available, Chief Judge Susan Segal wrote for the three-judge panel. Relators evidence fails to demonstrate that the executive orders lack a rational basis, Segal continued. The health department gets its enforcement authority from a 1993 state law. The bar operators argued that the statute does not clearly authorize the health department to enforce executive orders, but the appeals court panel disagreed. Story continues The judges also rejected the bar operators argument that the health department no longer can impose sanctions because the executive orders since have been rescinded. Attorney Richard Dahl, who represents Norms Wayside, Mission Tavern and others, said Monday the appeals court ruling was politically motivated. Theyre straining to avoid the obvious interpretation of the statute because its politically inconvenient for them, he said. Dahl said Mondays order does not settle the matter. Were going to sue them in federal court after we get done. I may even sue some judges. This is the beginning of this war, he said. A spokesman for the Attorney Generals Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Related Articles Outgoing Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers (R) has called a failed Republican proposal that would have allowed the legislature to overturn election results in his state akin to fascism. The legislature, after the election, could dismiss the election, Bowers said of the proposal, which he effectively killed, according to excerpts of a CNN special report set to air Sunday night. And I said, welcome to fascism. The proposal would have overhauled the states election system, eliminating most early and absentee voting and restricting where ballots could be cast. It would have also made the legislature review the election process afterward, allowing the body to accept or reject the election results. Bowers in the CNN interview warned the country could be sent back into the dark ages by Trump-backed candidates and election deniers, saying its very possible that the election system overhaul proposal comes back to life. The possibility of that getting a governor signature would just be a disaster. I call it the possibility of going back into the dark ages in Arizona, Bowers said. The Arizona lawmaker lost his own reelection bid last month to his Trump-backed challenger in the states Republican primary. Kari Lake, a Trump-backed election denier, won the GOPs nomination in the governor race. A key witness before the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol, Bowers refuted former President Trumps claims of election fraud during the 2020 presidential election. Bowers also told the committee he was pressured by Trump and attorney Rudy Giuliani to overturn President Bidens win in Arizona. Bowers was lambasted by the former president for his testimony, and the Arizona GOP censured him afterward. The Jan. 6 committee is expected to start up its public hearings again this month. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Social media and blog posts shared hundreds of times claim Australian authorities approved the release of a cholera vaccine "via chemtrails" over Queensland, the country's third most populous state. The claim, however, is false. A US-based health expert who was involved in the vaccine's development told AFP it is taken orally and there was "no scientifically plausible" reason to disperse it from the air. A representative for the vaccine's manufacturer said it has to be ingested to provide protection. The claim was shared on Facebook here on September 13, 2022. "They've been doing it for a long time Please research everything and add your own," reads the post. It links to an article on a website called the Australian National Review, a post on the social networking site LinkedIn, and an ABC News article. Below these links is a screenshot of the article from the Australian National Review. The article's headline reads "Australia Have Approved the License Application From Big Pharma Company PaxVax That Will Allow Them To Intentionally Release a GMO 'Vaxxine Consisting of Live Bacteria Into Queensland, via Chemtrails". A screenshot of the misleading Facebook post, captured on September 18, 2022 Other instances of the claim appear on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. The claim has also circulated in blog posts published here and here in June 2022. The posts reference the Vaxchora vaccine, made by US biotech company PaxVax. It protects against cholera in adults and children over two years old. AFP has repeatedly debunked the chemtrail conspiracy theory, which baselessly claims that white streaks left behind by aircraft are spreading chemicals or viruses. The streaks are actually condensation trails that are created by water vapour from an aircraft's engines. The claim that Australia has approved the release of a vaccine over Queensland "via chemtrails" is false. 'Never sprayed from planes' Wilbur Chen, an infectious disease physician and scientist who was involved in the development of the vaccine, told AFP it is taken orally. Story continues "I know of no plans to disperse the vaccine by air; there is no scientifically plausible reason to disperse the vaccine by air," Chen said. A spokesperson for Emergent BioSolutions -- the parent company of PaxVax -- said the claim the vaccine would be released "via chemtrails" is false, and that the vaccine must be ingested to provide protection against cholera. "Vaxchora was never sprayed from airplanes to forcibly vaccinate Australians or anyone else. That claim is false," the spokesperson told AFP. The vaccine is not yet licensed in Australia, and the company is currently seeking approval from the Therapeutic Goods Administration, the country's drug regulator, the spokesperson said. Vaxchora, which is a genetically modified vaccine, requires approval from the Australian Office of the Gene Technology Regulator (OGTR). Between April 2014 and June 2015, it was authorised for use in a clinical trial and not released aerially, according to an OGTR webpage at the time. "The vaccine will be administered by qualified health professionals in clinical facilities. Clinical trial participants will be given the vaccine as a drink. The vaccine will not be injected into participants and it will not be sprayed into the air," the page reads. Authorities have identified the two teens who were killed over the weekend in a crash in Attleboro that left the vehicle they were riding in split in two. Troopers responding to a report of a crash in the area of West Street around 4:20 a.m. Sunday found a 2006 Infiniti G35 that had smashed into a tree, according to Massachusetts State Police. Michael Ward, 19, and Benjamin Kelley, 18, both of Attleboro, were pronounced dead at the scene. A preliminary investigation indicates that the Infiniti crossed the center line, veered off the road, and collided with the tree. The cause of the crash remains under investigation. This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available. Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW ABC News The National Archives has still not recovered all the presidential records that should have been turned over at the end of the Trump administration, according to a new letter to Congress from the acting archivist. "We do know that we do not have custody of everything we should," Debra Steidel Wall, acting archivist of the United States, said in her letter to Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., suggesting that former officials had still not turned over electronic messages of official business done on personal accounts. Wall's letter was a response to a Sept. 13 request from Maloney seeking an "urgent review" of "whether presidential records remain unaccounted for and potentially in the possession of the former president." WARSAW, Poland (AP) Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania closed their borders Monday to most Russian citizens in response to the wide domestic support in Russia for the war in Ukraine. Under the coordinated travel ban, Russians wishing to travel to the Baltic countries as tourists or for business, sports or cultural purposes will not be allowed in even if they hold valid visas for the European Union's checks-free Schengen Area. The prime ministers of the three Baltic nations and Poland agreed earlier this month to stop admitting Russian citizens, saying the move would protect the security of the four European Union member nations. Russia is an unpredictable and aggressive state. Three-quarters of its citizens support the war. It is unacceptable that people who support the war can freely travel around the world, into Lithuania, the EU," Lithuanian Interior Minister Agne Bilotaite said Monday. Such support for hostilities can pose threats to the security of our country and the EU as a whole, she added. The ban includes exceptions for humanitarian reasons, family members of EU citizens, Russian dissidents, serving diplomats, transportation employees and Russians with residence permits or long-stay national visas from the 26 Schengen countries. Polands interior minister, Mariusz Kaminski, signed regulations Monday that will put the central European nation's war-related ban on Russian travelers into effect on Sept. 26. Poland, which borders Russias Kaliningrad exclave, still has tight restrictions on foreign visitors remaining from the COVID-19 pandemic. In the eastern Polish city of Bialystok, a member of the Russian Culture and Education Association in Poland said a new ban would have hit much harder if the pandemic restrictions had not already largely limited travel with Russia. After more than two years of restrictions, we see no prospects for an improvement, and that is the worst part, Andrzej Romanczuk, a Polish citizen, told The Associated Press. Story continues He said regions on both sides of Poland's border with Kaliningrad will be hit economically because border traffic there drives local trade. Russians also shop in Polish cities like Warsaw or Krakow. Over 65,000 Russians have crossed into Poland this year, similar to the same period last year but 10 times smaller than before the pandemic. The Lithuanian Interior Ministry said 11 Russian citizens were stopped from entering that country starting at midnight. Most were trying to enter by land from Kaliningrad or from Belarus. No incidents were reported. Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu told the Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat that Russian travels posed security concerns because we know that Russian spies have used fake IDs and carried out various activities in Europe using tourist visas. Estonia, a nation of 1.3 million, has registered hundreds of thousands of border crossings by Russian citizens since the start of Russias war on Ukraine. The Baltic countries cannot, however, stop Russian citizens from entering via another Schengen nation. They want similar travel restrictions to be taken by all 27 EU member states. The EU already has banned air travel from Russia after it invaded Ukraine. But before the ban, Russians could still travel by land to Estonia and apparently were then taking flights to other European destinations. At a EU summit last month, the blocs 27 members were divided over whether to slap a broad visa ban on Russian citizens, torn between a desire to ramp up pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin and concerns about punishing ordinary Russians who may not even support his war on Ukraine. The EU already tightened visa restrictions on Russian officials and businesspeople in May, but Poland and the Baltic countries have called for a broader ban on tourists. Germany and France are leading a push to tighten visa restrictions on Russians rather than impose an outright ban. Czechia, which does not share a border with Russia, was one of the first EU countries to stop issuing visas to Russian citizens, approving the measure the day after Russia's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine. The three Baltic states were once republics in the Soviet Union, while Poland and Czechia then part of Czechoslovakia were Moscow's satellites. That and earlier history makes them especially sensitive to Moscow's aggression in Ukraine. ___ Follow all AP stories on developments related to the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine. ___ AP writers Jan Olsen in Copenhagen, Liudas Dapkus in Vilnius, Lithuania, Jari Tanner in Tallinn, Estonia, and Karel Janicek in Prague contributed. NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. The U.S. Air Forces effort to modernize command, control, communications and battle management has proved more challenging than expected, Secretary Frank Kendall admitted Monday morning while announcing the appointment of a new program executive officer to supervise the project. During his keynote address at the Air Force Associations Air, Space and Cyber Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, Kendall said he wants to keep a closer eye on how the C3 battle management effort is progressing. Brig. Gen. Luke Cropsey will be the integrating PEO for the services C3 battle management effort, Kendall added. One of the findings of the operational imperative work to date is, we have not appreciated the scale of the effort needed to modernize [the Air Forces] C3 battle management in a JADC2 [Joint All-Domain Command and Control] context, Kendall said. Our efforts to date have not been adequately focused, nor have they been adequately integrated. Kendall also said he and the chiefs of the Air Force and Space Force Gen. CQ Brown and Gen. Jay Raymond, respectively will hold quarterly reviews on the C3 battle management effort. The [Department of the Air Force] is a large ship, and it turns slowly, Kendall said. But to use a sailing expression, the helm is hard work. Weve identified the change we need to accelerate to avoid losing. Now we have to resource that change and execute the plan to make it happen. Modernizing the Air Forces battle management structure was one of seven operational imperatives Kendall announced at AFAs March conference in Orlando, Florida, calling the effort necessary if the service hopes to counter a potential threat from China. Other imperatives include modernizing the forces airborne warning capability, defining the Next Generation Air Dominance program, establishing a system of resilient basing based on the Agile Combat Employment doctrine and establishing the B-21 Raider bomber, among others. Story continues Kendall said the Air Force will continue to follow the operational framework plan and will set up a program of actions for each imperative designed to make it happen. Who is Brig. Gen. Cropsey? Cropsey most recently served as both the director of the Air Force Security Assistance and Cooperation Directorate and the director of international affairs at the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center on Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, overseeing foreign military sales. Cropsey will report to Andrew Hunter and Frank Calvelli, the assistant secretaries in charge of acquisition for the Air Force and Space Force, respectively, Kendall said. Cropsey will be in charge of the C3 battle managements programs overall architecture and systems design, system engineering, and other technical matters, Kendall added. And the general will represent the Department of the Air Force when working with the Office of the Secretary of Defense and other services while developing the Air Forces JADC2 effort. He will also work with Brig. Gen. Jeffery Valenzia, who leads the Air Forces Air Battle Management System cross-functional team, and Brig. Gen. John Olson, who is the Space Forces lead on JADC2 and ABMS efforts. Kendall also said the departments operational imperative work has helped it start projects to modernize electronic warfare capabilities, plan for munitions in the future, and outline efforts for the services future mobility and aerial tanking needs. Kendall said he will be reaching out to the defense industry for ideas on these projects. BEIJING (Reuters) - China's capital Beijing reported no new locally transmitted COVID-19 infections for Sept. 18, local government authorities said on Monday. This compared with zero symptomatic and asymptomatic cases the day before. (Reporting by Shanghai newsroom; Writing by Bernard Orr; Editing by Kim Coghill) BEIRUT (AP) Protesters scuffled with Lebanese security forces Monday outside the Justice Ministry in Beirut, demanding the release of two people arrested last week during a bank heist. The clash came as a delegation from the International Monetary Fund held meetings in Beirut with officials over the countrys economic meltdown and the limited steps taken by the government to pull Lebanon out of the worst economic crisis in its modern history. The crisis is rooted in decades of corruption and mismanagement. The Lebanese government has implemented few of the IMF's demands from a staff level agreement reached with the IMF in April. It l ists five key pillars that should be implemented, including restructuring the financial sector, implementing fiscal reforms, the proposed restructuring of external public debt, anti-corruption and anti-money laundering efforts. The agreement also demanded that the countrys 14 largest banks be held up as a standard for work on restructuring the sector since they control about 80% of the market. The smaller banks that have problems should be taken over by bigger lenders. Anger with local lenders who have been imposing informal capital controls including limits on ATM withdrawals for nearly three years has increased in recent weeks, with some depositors storming bank branches and taking their trapped savings by force. Mondays protest outside the Justice Ministry demanded the release of Abdul-Rahman Zakariya and Mohammed Rustom, who have been held since Wednesday after they broke into a bank branch and helped a depositor take her trapped savings to pay for her sister's cancer treatment. They joined Sali Hafez, who used a toy pistol to demand $13,000 from her trapped savings account. Hafez, who has been in hiding, has said she repeatedly visited the bank to ask for her money and was told she could only receive $200 a month in Lebanese pounds. On Friday depositors, including one armed with a hunting rifle, broke into at least five banks to demand their trapped savings, the largest number of such incidents in one day. The banks, citing security concerns, closed all branches for three days starting Monday. Story continues At one point on Monday, dozens of protesters tried to storm the Justice Ministry before stopping after they removed a metal gate. There are concerns that if the two men are not released, protests could intensify. In other parts of Beirut, protesters briefly closed several major roads in protest against deteriorating living conditions including almost nonexistent state electricity, a crash in the Lebanese pounds and rising poverty that has reached three quarters of the population since the economic crisis began in October 2019. The Lebanese pound hit new lows, reaching 38,600 pounds to the U.S. dollar on Monday. Any mother-child relationship is at least a little bit complicated. Add being the reigning monarch of the UK into the mix, and it becomes markedly more so. Though Her Majesty loved her four children and they loved her there is no question about that the Queens number one responsibility in her lifetime was being the sovereign. That, combined with her patented stoicism, made motherhood complex. The Queen became a mother for the first time at the age of 22 in 1948, giving birth to heir to the throne Prince Charles Philip Arthur George on 14 November, 1948 just six days before her and husband Prince Philips first wedding anniversary. The pairs only daughter, Princess Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise, followed less than two years later on 15 August, 1950. Both were quite young Charles three and Anne not yet two when their mother became Queen on 6 February, 1952, her entire life changing in the process. However, though she had produced both the heir Charles and the spare at the time, Anne Her Majesty was not yet done bearing children. She gave birth to Prince Andrew Albert Christian Edward on 19 February, 1960, and, finally, Prince Edward Antony Richard Louis on 10 March, 1964 just a few weeks before Her Majesty turned 38. The 16 years that separate her eldest, Charles, from her youngest, Edward are significant. The Queens family at Buckingham Palace in 1972 (PA) For Charles and Anne, their mother the monarch was often away for long stretches of time working, including a tour of the Commonwealth in 1953, where she visited 13 countries over the span of six months, travelling from the UK to far flung locations like Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Uganda, and Bermuda. Young Charles and Anne were left at home, much like they were when the Queen visited Philip in Malta early in their marriage. Though the Queen loved being a mother, in Jonathan Dimblebys 1994 biography of Prince Charles, the author quotes Charles as saying it was "inevitably the nursery staff who taught him how to play and who watched his first steps. When not travelling, the Queen and Prince Philip would generally see their children after breakfast and dinnertime. Story continues Her relationship with each of her children is similar yet also very different with Charles, who was heir to the throne, now successor, their relationship at times developed a businesslike quality, much like an apprenticeship rather than a mother-son dynamic. Anne had a special place as the Queens only daughter, and Edward had the distinction of being the youngest. But it has long been reported that middle child Andrew was the Queens favourite. After Andrews birth, almost a full decade after Princess Anne, he leapfrogged his sister into being second-in-line for the throne. He was the first child to be born to a reigning monarch since 1857 and came at a time where there was speculation about relationship troubles brewing between the Queen and Prince Philip - rumours which Buckingham Palace denied. The Queen stood by Andrews side even when he was caught up in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal in 2019 and stepped back from royal duties for the foreseeable future. (L-R) Prince Edward, Prince Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Philip, the Queen and Prince Andrew at Balmoral in 1979 (PA) Despite competing forces, Her Majesty loved her children, and they her. I simply dont believe that there is any evidence whatsoever to suggest that she wasnt caring. It just beggars belief, Anne told the BBC in 2002. We as children may have not been too demanding in the sense that we understand what the limitations were in time and the responsibilities placed on her as monarch in the things she had to do and the travels she had to make. But I dont believe any of us for a second thought she didnt care for us in exactly the same way as any other mother did. Anne added: Judging by some families, I think we are all on pretty good speaking terms after all this time and thats no mean achievement for quite a lot of families. I think we all enjoy each others company. In later years, after Her Majestys husband of 73 years, Prince Philip, passed away at age 99 on 9 April, 2021, her children swiftly rallied around her. (L-R) Prince Charles, Prince Andrew, the Queen, Princess Anne, Prince Edward and Prince Philip mark the diamond wedding anniversary of the Queen and Philip in November 2007 (Tim Graham/Getty) It goes to show how much they admire her and support her and [were willing to] help her pick up the pieces, royal commentator, Victoria Arbiter, tells The Independent. They dont see each other as often as they would like, but theres a warm relationship there. No time is this more evident than at the family Christmas celebrations at Sandringham, Arbiter says. They want to spend Christmas together at Sandringham, she adds. Its the one time of the year when they can all get together and be off duty. Their time together is so sacred. The Queen also looks forward to summers in Balmoral with the royal family and her children, as well as Christmas at Sandringham. Its an incredibly special time for them. Perhaps most poignant in describing her relationship as a mother to her four children came in an encounter with actress Kate Winslet, who was awarded the honour of a CBE at Buckingham Palace in 2012. Her Majesty asked Winslet if she liked her job, and Winslet who, at the time, was a mother of two said yes, but I love being a mum even more. The Queen replied to Winslet, saying only: Yes, it is the best job. Taiwan carried out military exercises earlier this month US President Joe Biden has again said the US would defend Taiwan in the event of an attack by China. Asked in a CBS interview if US troops would defend the island, Mr Biden said: "Yes, if in fact, there was an unprecedented attack." The remarks prompted the White House to clarify that the official US policy - which doesn't commit to military action on Taiwan - had not changed. Beijing said it "deplores and firmly opposes" Mr Biden's pledge of action. The foreign ministry said it had lodged "stern representations" with Washington over the remarks, broadcast in a CBS 60 Minutes interview on Sunday. Taiwan is a self-ruled island off the coast of eastern China that Beijing claims as part of its territory. Washington has always walked a diplomatic tightrope over the issue. On the one hand it adheres to the One China policy, a cornerstone of its relationship with Beijing. Under this policy, the US acknowledges that there is only one Chinese government, and has formal ties with Beijing rather than Taiwan. But it also maintains close relations with Taiwan and sells arms to it under the Taiwan Relations Act, which states that the US must provide the island with the means to defend itself. Mr Biden's comments, his clearest yet in pledging US military intervention, seemingly run counter to Washington's stance of "strategic ambiguity" - it does not commit to defending Taiwan, but also does not rule out the option. In Sunday's interview Mr Biden also reiterated that the US was not encouraging Taiwan independence. "There's a One China policy and Taiwan makes their own judgements on their independence. We are not moving, not encouraging their being independent - that's their decision," he said. Taiwan responded to Mr Biden's remarks on Monday by welcoming the "US government's rock-solid security commitment to Taiwan". Taipei said it would continue to deepen its "close security partnership" with Washington. Only earlier this month, the US agreed to sell $1.1bn (955m) in weaponry and missile defence to Taiwan, provoking anger from China. Story continues This is the third time since October last year that President Biden has gone further than the official stance. In May, speaking in Japan on his first tour of Asia as president, he said "Yes" when asked if the US would defend Taiwan. The White House had quickly issued a follow up saying there was no departure from long-standing US policy. This time too the White House issued a statement, downplaying the president's comments: "The President has said this before, including in Tokyo earlier this year. He also made clear then that our Taiwan policy hasn't changed. That remains true." Beijing has previously condemned such comments from Mr Biden promising US military action. "Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory... The Taiwan question is purely China's internal affair that brooks no foreign interference," a foreign ministry spokesman had said in May in response to Mr Biden's remarks in Japan. Tensions between US and China - especially over Taiwan - have ramped up after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made a controversial visit to the island in August - a trip Mr Biden had said was "not a good idea". Beijing responded with a five-day military blockade around Taiwan. The US claims China shot missiles over the island, but Beijing did not confirm this. Taiwan said the missiles China fired flew high into the atmosphere and posed no threat. Elsewhere in the pre-recorded interview, Mr Biden also warned Russia not to use chemical or tactical nuclear weapons in the war in Ukraine. China and Taiwan: The basics Why do China and Taiwan have poor relations? China sees the self-ruled island as a part of its territory and insists it should be unified with the mainland, by force if necessary. How is Taiwan governed? The island has its own constitution, democratically elected leaders, and about 300,000 active troops in its armed forces President Biden said in an interview aired Sunday that U.S. forces would defend Taiwan if China were to invade the island. During an interview broadcast on Sunday, 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley asked Biden what Chinese President Xi should know about his commitment to Taiwan. We agree with what we signed onto a long time ago, Biden replied. And that theres one China policy, and Taiwan makes their own judgments about their independence. We are not moving were not encouraging their being independent. Were not that thats their decision. President Biden tells 60 Minutes that U.S. men and women would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion. However, after our interview, a White House official told us that U.S. policy on Taiwan has not changed. https://t.co/ANg54LifSH pic.twitter.com/V5qjoqF36T 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) September 19, 2022 But would U.S. forces defend the island? Pelley pressed. Biden responded: Yes, if in fact there was an unprecedented attack. So unlike Ukraine, to be clear, sir, Pelley said, U.S. forces, U.S. men and women would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion? Yes, Biden said. A White House official later told 60 Minutes that U.S. policy on Taiwan has not changed. Biden has suggested several times now that the U.S. would defend Taiwan militarily. However, after each statement, the White House has walked back Bidens claims. The U.S. officially maintains strategic ambiguity on whether U.S. forces would defend Taiwan. Bidens repeated suggestions that the U.S. would militarily defend Taiwan are a partial departure from the American policy that has been in place since 1979. The president has said this before, including in Tokyo earlier this year. He also made clear then that our Taiwan policy hasnt changed. That remains true, a White House spokesperson told Reuters. Story continues In May, a reporter asked Biden, who was visiting Tokyo at the time, whether the U.S. would involve itself militarily in Taiwans defense. Yes. Thats a commitment we made, Biden said. Bidens latest comments come months after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi angered Chinese authorities and sparked debate over the extent to which the U.S. should intervene to protect Taiwan in the event of a Chinese incursion into its territory. Pelosi visited Taiwan in July, inflaming tensions with China, which claims Taiwan as part of its territory. Her trip made her the highest-ranking American official to visit Taiwan in 25 years. China views trips by foreign government officials to Taiwan as an acknowledgment of the islands sovereignty and warned that the trip would have an egregious political impact. It performed live-fire military exercises in the Taiwan Strait after Pelosis departure. More from National Review President Joe Biden said this week that the United States would defend Taiwan if China invaded, appearing to break with the US government's stance of "strategic ambiguity" on the island. His comments came in an interview that aired Sunday evening, when a 60 Minutes correspondent asked the president if US forces would defend Taiwan. "Yes, if in fact there was an unprecedented attack," Biden responded. The president went on to emphasize his administration's support for the "One China" policy, which recognizes the government in Beijing while allowing for informal ties with Taiwan. "Taiwan makes their own judgments about their independence. We are not moving we're not encouraging their being independent. We're not that that's their decision," Biden said Sunday. President Joe Biden participates in a virtual meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Roosevelt Room of the White House November 15, 2021, in Washington, DC. Alex Wong/Getty Images Tensions between China and the US have escalated in recent weeks following a visit by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to Taiwan in early August. While the United States does not have a mutual defense treaty with Taiwan, it does supply the island with weapons. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed a bill on Wednesday that would give Taiwan $4.5 billion for defense over the next four years and designate Taiwan as a non-NATO ally. PENTAGON OFFICIAL SAYS 'ONLY A MATTER OF TIME' BEFORE CHINA CAUSES 'MAJOR' INCIDENT IN INDO-PACIFIC REGION Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning criticized the new defense spending this week, saying that the "root cause of the current tensions across the Taiwan Strait is that the one-China principle has been challenged." "Let me stress that no country or individual should underestimate the Chinese government and peoples strong resolve and firm will to safeguard our sovereignty and territorial integrity and to realize national reunification," she said at a press conference on Wednesday. It's not the first time that Biden has said the US would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion. The president said last October that the US has a "commitment" to come to Taiwan's defense, prompting former White House press secretary Jen Psaki to walk back his remarks. "There has been no shift," Psaki said in October. "The President was not announcing any change in our policy nor has he made a decision to change our policy." The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Sunday evening. (Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden said US military forces would defend Taiwan from an unprecedented attack, his latest pledge of support as his administration seeks to deter China from increasing military pressure on the democratically elected government in Taipei. Most Read from Bloomberg Biden made the remark during an interview with 60 Minutes that aired Sunday, while distancing himself from the question of whether Taiwan is or should be independent. Interviewer Scott Pelley asked the president if US forces would defend the island. Yes, if in fact there was an unprecedented attack, Biden replied, according to a transcript provided by the broadcaster. Pelly then asked if that meant US soldiers would defend Taiwan in the case of a Chinese invasion, unlike the current situation in Ukraine, and the president again said yes. Earlier in the interview, Biden had said the US stood by its One China policy, in which it has avoided formal recognition of the government in Taipei or providing it a binding security guarantee. We agree with what we signed onto a long time ago. And that theres One China policy, and Taiwan makes their own judgments about their independence. We are not moving -- were not encouraging their being independent, he said. Thats their decision. A US official said Sunday that US policy hasnt changed, noting that Biden had made the same points before. The official asked not to be identified responding to the 60 Minutes interview. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning urged the US to fully understand the extremely important and highly sensitive nature of the Taiwan question and abide by the one China principle, at a Monday news briefing in Beijing. Failing to do so, she added, could cause further damage to China-US relations and peace and stability across the Strait. Story continues Biden has made similar statements on at least four other occasions as president, spurring protests from Beijing and adding new uncertainty to Washingtons longstanding policy of strategic ambiguity toward Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as its territory, even though the Communist Party has never controlled it, and hasnt ruled out force to prevent its formal independence. China has long assumed that the US would intervene to defend Taiwan, so these statements dont change PLA plans, said Bonnie Glaser, director of the Asia Program at the German Marshall Fund, referring to Chinas military. If Biden is serious about defending Taiwan, hell attach a much higher priority to bolstering the US militarys capability to defend Taiwan if attacked. US relations with China have deteriorated further in the wake of House Speaker Nancy Pelosis trip to the island last month, with China cutting off climate and military talks and holding its most provocative military exercises near Taiwan in decades. Still, theres been no indication that the tensions have scuttled plans for Biden and Xi to hold their first face-to-face summit in November. That could yet change if Congress passes the Taiwan Policy Act, which is now under discussion in Washington. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved a bill on Wednesday that would formally designate Taiwan a major non-NATO ally and and give it more military hardware, even as the White House has expressed concerns over the legislation. Policy Contradictions The biggest problem we have is that what the White House says is our Taiwan policy and what Biden says is our Taiwan policy contradict each other, said Lev Nachman, assistant professor at National Chengchi University. Even though this is not the first time Biden has made such comments, todays context makes them hit extra hard because of the Taiwan Policy Acts ongoing debate and the recent Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait, he added. The worry is that this will exacerbate Taiwans current high-tension moment rather than reduce it. The Taiwanese Foreign Ministry expressed sincere gratitude towards President Bidens reiteration that the US government has rock-solid security commitments to Taiwan, the agency said in a statement, praising the administration for showing that it supports Taiwan through multiple public remarks and specific actions. Why Taiwans Status Risks Igniting a US-China Clash: QuickTake In May, Biden said yes when asked if the US was prepared to become involved militarily if it had to. White House officials later said Biden simply meant the US would provide military equipment to Taiwan, not send troops to defend the island if China attacks. Back then, Chinas Foreign Ministry expressed strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to Bidens previous remarks, saying the US risked undermining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. President Xi Jinping reaffirmed Chinas resolve to defend its claim to Taiwan in a call with Biden in July, telling the US leader that those who play with fire will perish by it. The US announced another round of weapons sales to Taiwan this month, totaling over $1 billion. Weve been adamant about being committed to Taiwans self-defense and moving that forward, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said last week. War in Ukraine Meanwhile, Biden reiterated US financial commitments to Ukraine, saying the support will continue as long as it takes. The US has provided more than $15 billion of aid to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, with Biden pledging $600 million in additional weaponry this month. The Ukrainian president renewed his pledge Sunday to retake all Russian-controlled territory, after recent gains in Kharkiv and other regions. Asked whether Ukraine is winning, Biden said its not losing the war, although the carnage and destruction make it hard to count that as winning. He warned President Vladimir Putin of a consequential response if Russia were to use chemical or tactical nuclear weapons in its war. Itll be consequential, Biden said. Theyll become more of a pariah in the world than they ever have been. And depending on the extent of what they do will determine what response would occur. Read more: Biden Warns Putin Against Using Nuclear or Chemical Weapons (Updates with Chinese Foreign Ministry comments) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2022 Bloomberg L.P. President Joe Biden said in an interview aired Sunday that former president Donald Trumps alleged personal retention of classified documents after leaving office was totally irresponsible. Biden told 60 Minutes that he has not been briefed on the sensitive documents that FBI agents recovered from Trumps Mar-a-Lago residence in August and that he has not spoken to anyone about whether important national security secrets were revealed. I have not personally spoken to anyone on that in that regard. Im sure my administration is aware of all of that, and so is the National Security Council. But I have not, Biden said. President Biden spoke about the classified documents the FBI found in former President Trumps home. When Mr. Biden saw the FBI image of the documents he says he thought to himself, How anyone could be that irresponsible? https://t.co/7SixTE3OMT pic.twitter.com/sgQraMMOl5 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) September 19, 2022 Host Scott Pelley asked Biden about a photo released by the Justice Department included in a court filing last month showing secret and top secret documents spread out on the floor of Mar-a-Lago. When you saw the photograph of the top-secret documents laid out on the floor at Mar-a-Lago, what did you think to yourself? Looking at that image, the host asked. How that could possibly happen. How one anyone could be that irresponsible, Biden said. And I thought what data was in there that may compromise sources and methods? By that I mean names of people who helped And it just totally irresponsible. I have not asked for the specifics of those documents because I dont want to get myself in the middle of whether or not the Justice Department should move or not move on certain actions they could take, Biden added. Story continues The Department of Justice is investigating Trump for removal or destruction of records, obstruction of an investigation, and violating the Espionage Act, according to the search warrant for Trumps residence at Mar-a-Lago. Meanwhile, a list of items removed from the property shows the FBI recovered eleven sets of classified documents during the search, including some top-secret documents that should only have been available in special government facilities. FBI agents recovered one set of documents that were labeled Various classified/TS/SCI documents, meaning the documents included top-secret or sensitive compartmented information. The list also included four sets of top-secret documents, three sets of secret documents, and three sets of confidential documents. The list did not offer any details about the substance of the documents. A federal judge recently granted Trumps petition for an independent special master to review the documents seized from Mar-a-Lago. Trump arguing a third-party review is necessary because the FBI raid, which occurred just months before the 2022 midterm elections, involved political calculations aimed at diminishing the leading voice in the Republican Party, President Trump. More from National Review LONDON (AP) American presidents usually make a splash when they travel abroad, holding the spotlight and quickly becoming the center of attention. Not this time. For U.S. President Joe Biden and other presidents, prime ministers and dignitaries, there were no red-carpet arrivals, no big speeches and no news conferences as they gathered for Monday's state funeral for Queen Elizabeth II. Instead, world leaders used to people hanging on their every word checked their egos in the service of honoring the queen, Britain's longest-serving monarch, who died earlier this month at age 96 after 70 years on the throne. They know that they are there to honor the passing, honor the individual, said Capricia Marshall, who was the U.S. State Department's protocol chief for a period during Barack Obama's administration. They also are aware that they're representing their country. The protocol office is a key player in U.S. foreign policy and diplomatic affairs, working to make sure U.S. officials don't say or do anything that will offend a foreign visitor or host. The president and first lady were among some 2,000 people attending the funeral at Westminster Abbey. The couple arrived for the funeral, waiting in the back as a procession moved past, before taking their seats among hundreds of others. They arrived in London late Saturday and paid respects to the queen on Sunday, viewing her coffin at Westminster Hall, signing condolence books at Lancaster House and attending a Buckingham Palace reception for funeral guests hosted by King Charles III. But the president's public appearances in London have been limited and controlled, part of the choreography around the elaborate farewell to the only monarch most Britons have ever known. He spoke only for just a few minutes Sunday about the queen, as he recalled how the woman he said reminded him of his mother kept feeding him crumpets when they had tea together last year at Windsor Castle. Story continues When Biden spoke to the BBC, the only outlet broadcasting live as he signed the condolence book, the network kept up a split screen with Sir David Manning, a former British ambassador to the U.S., and did not air Bidens comments live. Most other leaders in town have kept similarly low profiles, appearing only to sign the official book of condolence and silently pay respects at the queens coffin in Westminster Hall. A few have given interviews to share memories of Elizabeth, including New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who told the BBC about the advice the queen gave her on balancing work and motherhood: I remember she just said, Well, you just get on with it, and that was actually probably the best and most I think factual advice I could have." Leaders like Ardern and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese have batted away questions about whether their countries are likely to become republics, saying now is not the time to discuss it. Both countries have the queen as their monarch. An exception was Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro, who is running for reelection and delivered an open-air campaign speech Sunday outside his country's embassy in London. Bolsonaro, who trails former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in opinion polls, insisted to about 200 supporters that the polls were wrong and that he could avoid entering a runoff on Oct. 2. Biden and new U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss scrapped a weekend meeting in favor of a more robust sit-down next week during the U.N. General Assembly, and the White House didn't even announce news of the meeting until after British officials had. One senior U.S. official said Biden's lower profile was less about protocol and more about the fact that it's not our show. It's the Brits' show. The U.S. has to be sensitive to that, said the official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity. Peter Selfridge, another former U.S. official, said Biden is in London to grieve" and likely does not care that he has largely been out of the spotlight. Selfridge noted the president's history of personal loss, including the death of his first wife and infant daughter and, later, an adult son. As a matter of fact, that's probably the way he wants it, said Selfridge, the U.S. chief of protocol during Obama's second term. Then again, some people's wiring doesn't allow them to avoid making a beeline for the first camera they see, said Eric Dezenhall, a crisis management expert. But Dezenhall said in an email that the good news is that most American presidents ... understand that humility is called for at certain times." ___ Associated Press writers Jill Lawrence in London and Colleen Long in Washington contributed to this report. U.S. President Joe Biden paid his respects at Queen Elizabeth IIs coffin as thousands of police, hundreds of British troops and an army of officials made final preparations for the queens state funeral. The funeral on Monday at Westminster Abbey will be a spectacular display of national mourning that will also be the biggest gathering of world leaders for years. People across Britain paused for a minute of silence at 8 p.m. to honor the queen. Also late Sunday, authorities closed a miles-long queue for people to see the queen lying in state. New arrivals were turned away, so that everyone in the line can file past the coffin before Monday morning, when it will be taken to Westminster Abbey for the queens funeral. President Biden and first lady Jill Biden on Monday attended the funeral for Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey in London. The Bidens arrived just after 10 a.m. British Standard Time on Monday morning, about an hour before the start of the service. Both were dressed in black, entered the abbey holding hands and were greeted by the Very Rev. David Hoyle, dean of Westminster Abbey. The president joined dozens of other world leaders at the funeral, including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and French President Emmanuel Macron. Biden left Westminster Abbey following the service around 1:15 p.m. He headed to London Stansted Airport for the return trip home to Washington. Biden on Tuesday departs for New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly, where he will also see many of these world leaders. On Sunday, the Bidens paid their respects to the late queen as she lay in state at Westminster Hall and Biden signed a condolence book, saying the world is better for her. The queen died Sept. 8 at her Balmoral castle in Scotland, ending a seven-decade reign and leaving her son Charles to take the throne. Biden called King Charles III last week to offer condolences and convey that he wants to continue a close relationship with him. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Mission Hospital, at 509 Biltmore Avenue. A North Carolina Business Court judge has partially denied HCA Healthcare and Mission Health's motion to dismiss an antitrust lawsuit brought against them just more than a year ago. Special Superior Court Judge for Complex Business Case Mark Davis is presiding over the case in which six Asheville-area plaintiffs are suing HCA, Mission and several associated entities, alleging monopoly practice thats raising prices and lowering the quality of WNC health care. Related:Buncombe hospital expansion bid gets 4K support letters. Which got the most? The 43-page ruling agrees that the lawsuit's original complaint found grounds that HCA has behaved in an anti-competitive manner, specifically regarding restraint of trade, "activity that tends to limit a party's ability to enter into transactions," according to a Cornell Law School definition. In other words, restraining trade inhibits free-market competition. In an opinion released Sept. 19, Davis partially denied HCA and Mission's motion to dismiss, meaning the case can continue in Buncombe County Superior Court. Attorneys for the plaintiffs described Davis' decision as affirming "plaintiffs have plausibly alleged that HCA has engaged in an illegal restraint of trade that has led to consumers paying more for health care in HCA's service area." The history of WNC's antitrust action against HCA Healthcare: HCA has seven main facilities in Western North Carolina. Story continues "(T)he Complaints allegations in the present case, as discussed extensively above, sufficiently identify anticompetitive practices in which Defendants have engaged during their negotiations with commercial insurers leading, among other things, to higher insurance premiums for consumers along with denial of access to information regarding price and quality as to Defendants facilities so as to establish their standing to advance their antitrust claims in this action," Davis ruling stated. This lawsuit was originally filed August 2021 and became the first of three antitrust lawsuits brought against Mission in less than a year. Two others were brought by the city of Brevard and later Buncombe County and the city of Asheville. Those two cases were consolidated and Madison County is a plaintiff in that lawsuit as well, one whose language is similar to that of the Business Court case. N.C. Attorney General, who filed an amicus brief in the case supporting the plaintiffs, said he was pleased with the judge's decision. "Our office is pleased that the Court agreed with our position in the HCA case," Stein's office said in an email. "Attorney General Stein is closely reviewing the decision to determine next steps and continues to be focused on his work to ensure that North Carolinians have access to affordable, high-quality health care." 'I believe we will prevail' Were grateful that the people of Western North Carolina are one step closer to some relief from rising health care costs, Jamie Crooks of Fairmark Partners said in a statement. We still likely have a long road ahead but were committed to pursuing an outcome that holds HCA accountable for its conduct, reduces the rate of price increases, and restores competition to the hospital industry in Western North Carolina. Fairmark and Salisbury-based Wallace and Graham represent the plaintiffs in the antitrust lawsuit. We are delighted that the Court has allowed the restraint of trade claim to proceed, and we look forward to continuing to seek justice for the citizens of Western North Carolina, Mona Lisa Wallace of Wallace and Graham said in the statement. Mission Health and HCA spokesperson Nancy Lindell said the organizations also were pleased with the decision, especially since the judge decided to approve dismissal of several claims made in the complaint. "We appreciate the courts thoughtful consideration of the issues raised in our filing, and we are pleased with the courts decision to dismiss a substantial portion of the claims," Lindell said. "We continue to believe the allegations are wholly without merit, and we will vigorously defend ourselves through the legal process." Will Overfelt is one of the plaintiffs in the case and founder of the growing 13,400-member Mountain Maladies Facebook group a hub for patient advocacy and discussion. More:Stupid and dangerous: Forum scrutinizes 3 hospitals competition for more Buncombe beds "Its been a very good day," Overfelt said in a Mountain Maladies post he gave the Citizen Times permission to use. "Today we prevailed in HCAs motion to dismiss and this lawsuit will indeed go forward. This lawsuit is a marathon and not a sprint. The hard work of discovery has yet to begin but this is a major hurdle. When this marathon of a lawsuit comes to close in coming years I believe we will prevail. But even if we dont, reading these words from the judge meant a lot to me." Overfelt quoted the seminal portion of the opinion in which Davis agreed HCA and Mission were involved in anti-competitive practices. "It means a lot to me that a judge spent a year pouring over this lawsuit and came to the conclusion that we have merit. He concludes that this isnt frivolous," he concluded. "It isnt sour grapes. There is substance and there is merit in our work." Andrew Jones is an investigative reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at @arjonesreports on Facebook and Twitter, 828-226-6203 or arjones@citizentimes.com. Please help support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times. This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: NC Judge: Antitrust lawsuit against Mission, HCA can move forward The mayor of Melitopol reported a powerful explosion near a high-rise building in the center of the city Read also: Russian military base set alight near occupied Melitopol, says mayor According to the mayor, the blast occurred at the city center, in the courtyard of a high-rise building. He suggested it could have been Russian security services eliminating a local collaborator. Read also: In wake of Kharkiv counter-offensive, Russian troops flee from Melitopol toward Crimea, mayor says Preliminary reports suggest they were attempting to eliminate a collaborating police officer the so-called chief detective of the peoples militia as part of factional infighting, said Fedorov. Read also: Russia attacks Kherson in false flag, U.S. Senate introduced Russian terrorism bill, and Hungary no longer a democracy Fedorov was referring to Denys Stefankov, a Russia-appointed police officer, whose property was about to be seized by the authorities. The Ukrainian militarys South Operational Command has urged Ukrainians in the Russian-occupied parts of southern Ukraine to avoid public places on Sept. 17-20, due to what is said was an elevated risk of Russian terror attacks. Help HB continue reporting on the Russian invasion Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine NEW YORK (AP) U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan on Monday in a bid to ease tensions and maintain a fragile ceasefire between the ex-Soviet countries and rivals following the largest outbreak of hostilities in more than two years. Blinken brought Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov together at a New York hotel on the sidelines of the annual U.N. General Assembly. It was the foreign ministers' first face-to-face meeting since two days of shelling last week by both sides killed more than 200 troops. Only Blinken spoke at the start of meeting at which the Armenian and Azerbaijani delegations sat somberly on opposite sides, separated by U.S. officials. We are encouraged by the fact that the fighting has ceased and there has not been a resumption of shelling, said Blinken, who has spoken several times to the leaders of both countries. Strong, sustainable diplomatic engagement is the best path for everyone," he said. There is a path to a durable peace that resolves the differences. The meeting was held just a day after U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Armenia and condemned Azeri attacks, drawing complaints from Baku. Speaking ahead of Monday's meeting, Bayramov said his country is satisfied with the level of relations with the U.S. and said his direct talks with Mirzoyan were not unusual. We are always open for meetings," he said. The two Caucasus countries in have been locked in a decades-old conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, a region located within Azerbaijan but that had been long under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Yerevan since a separatist war ended in 1994. During a six-week war in 2020, Azerbaijan reclaimed broad swaths of Nagorno-Karabakh and adjacent territories held by Armenian forces. More than 6,700 people died in that fighting. Armenia and Azerbaijan have each blamed the other for starting last week's shelling attacks. ___ For more on the U.N. General Assembly, visit https://apnews.com/hub/united-nations-general-assembly. (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet the Yemeni Chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council Rashad Al-Alimi on Monday in New York, the State Department said on Sunday as world dignitaries arrive for the U.N. General Assembly. Yemen has been split by a seven-year-old war pitting a fractious coalition led by Saudi Arabia against the Iran-aligned Houthi group. The Houthis largely hold the north and the internationally recognized government is based in the south. (Reporting by Costas Pitas in Los Angeles; Editing by Christopher Cushing) LONG BRANCH - The body of a swimmer who went missing Sunday evening in Long Branch was found, according to authorities. Two swimmers fell into distress at 6:21 p.m. on Sunday, and a third person went in the water to try to help get them out, according to Domingos Saldida, Long Branch public safety director. Lifeguards showed up and were able to rescue two of the three people. They were unable to recover the other swimmer, despite efforts from the U.S. Coast Guard, Long Branch police, a New York Police Department helicopter unit and others. The body of the man whose name has not yet been released due to an ongoing investigation washed up on the shore by Rooney's Oceanfront Restaurant on Ocean Avenue around 9:21 p.m., Saldida said. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Recent drownings:Middletown man, 46, drowns while swimming off Ortley Beach in Toms River Long Branch police contacted the Akron, Ohio, police department to notify the swimmer's family of the incident. Saldida said that at the time of the drowning, no lifeguards were stationed in front of the area where the swimmers fel into distress, but there were roaming lifeguards on SUVs on the beach. The two swimmers who were rescued were taken to the hospital, according the Saldida. No other injuries were reported. Recent drownings:Swimmer drowns in LBI's Loveladies on day of high rip current risk Jenna Calderon covers breaking news and cold cases in Monmouth and Ocean counties. Before coming to the Press, she covered The Queen City for Cincinnati Magazine in Ohio. Contact her at 330-590-3903; jcalderon@gannettnj.com This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Long Branch NJ drowning: Body of missing swimmer found Few people know his name, but as President Jair Bolsonaro's ever-present sign-language interpreter, Fabiano Guimaraes is a familiar face to millions of Brazilians -- fame he now hopes will help him win a seat in Congress. After three years at Bolsonaro's side, putting the president's words into Brazilian Sign Language, Guimaraes is jumping into politics himself, running in the October elections to represent Brasilia in the lower house as a member of the Bolsonaro-allied Republicanos party. Guimaraes, 42, who is not deaf himself, started learning sign language at 18, when a pastor at the Evangelical church he attended in the northern suburbs of Rio de Janeiro paid for him to take a course. He found he had a knack for "libras," as sign language is known in Brazil, and started serving as an interpreter for the church's deaf attendees. But that was nothing compared to what he calls the "technical challenge" of interpreting for the far-right president, whose trademark linguistic sauce is heavy on folksy style, anti-establishment diatribes and occasional obscenities. - 'You can talk?' - Guimaraes has at times gone viral on social media for his rapid-fire gesticulations at Bolsonaro's side, especially during the weekly Facebook live videos where the president, who is up for reelection in October, speaks directly to his base. In one, Guimaraes gestures effusively with an exasperated face mirroring Bolsonaro's own as the president unleashes a torrent of swear words aimed at his critics. In another, he discreetly whispers the name of Agriculture Minister Marcos Montes when Bolsonaro forgets it. "You can talk?" Bolsonaro asks him, surprised. "I can talk!" he answers, and both burst out laughing. "Appearing at the president's side has put me in the spotlight," Guimaraes, a diminutive man with a receding hairline and an animated face, told AFP in an interview at his home in Brasilia, where a cup with Bolsonaro's image is proudly displayed along with a carved wood sign reading "Jesus." Story continues "I'm just a regular person who got where I am because God brought me here, improbably enough," he says. - 'Democratic service' - Bolsonaro has prominently featured interpreters at his public appearances from day one. At his presidential inauguration in 2019, his wife, Michelle, who is fluent in sign language, gave a speech in it. Guimaraes, a Portuguese and Spanish teacher by training, joined the president's sign language team later that year, after taking the official exam for what he thought would be an interpreting job at the education ministry. Instead, he was assigned to the presidential palace. He says the job for him is a "democratic service." "I bring the deaf community into the national political debate," he adds. "Having an interpreter by the president's side, the two languages (speech and sign language) treated with equal importance, has given tremendous visibility to the deaf community in Brazil" -- about 10 million people in this country of 213 million. Guimaraes is a big fan of Bolsonaro and his communication style. The president "uses informal, colloquial language, but full of content," he says. "It speaks to the Brazilian people. He brings them into the political debate. My mother-in-law, who left school after fourth grade, always said, 'The only politician I can understand is Bolsonaro.'" He also admires the first lady, a fellow Evangelical Christian who has played a key role in encouraging him to run for Congress. Guimaraes is campaigning on a platform of social inclusion and defense of family values. He says he embraces both Bolsonaro's mottos of "God, nation, family and freedom" and the first lady's support of "sensitivity and inclusion." "I want to make the connection between both those agendas," he says. He is unconcerned that few people know his name. "A lot of times people ask, 'Who's Fabiano?'" So he will appear on the ballot on October 2 as "Fabiano, Bolsonaro's interpreter" -- a practice allowed under Brazilian election law. "It's fantastic to be able to call myself that," he says. msi/jhb/des The Boston Celtics transformed themselves from the textbook picture of a team stuck on the proverbial treadmill of mediocrity to one of the NBAs best ball clubs primarily through improving their defense, trust and ball movement, but there was also a fair amount of luck involved. Emblematic of that, there were more than a few circus shots in the 2021-22 NBA season orchestrated by members of the Celtics leaving fans wondering how exactly they pulled it off or if they even meant to in the first place. A couple of them even caught the attention of the national news cycle, and one of them made it into the NBAs Wildest shots of the 2021-22 season. Take a look at the clip embedded below to see which game it was in against what team while we wait for the 2022-23 NBA season to arrive. Listen to the Celtics Lab podcast on: Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3zBKQY6 Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3GfUPFi Related The greatest shot that never counted: Jae Crowder's illegal buzzer-beating full-court heave Kevin Garnett, tennis fan? The Boston Celtics great interviewed John McEnroe on a recent pod Boston Celtics icon Larry Bird was an ELITE passer Celtics alums Dennis Schroder, Daniel Theis help Germany upset Greece, Giannis in EuroBasket play Celtics camp invitee Jake Layman's 2021-22 NBA highlights Celtics Lab 140: Does the NBA have enough talent to expand, and how might it affect the Boston Celtics if they did? List Every player in Boston Celtics history who wore No. 9 AP Photo/Michael Dwyer List Kevin McHale, Jayson Tatum cited as Boston Celtics 'traded NBA draft picks that turned into gold' List Where does the Boston Celtics' starting five stack up in the Eastern Conference? List Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, several politicians draft resolution to honor Boston Celtics legend Bill Russell Story originally appeared on Celtics Wire In the actor's first-ever public art exhibition, Brad Pitt has unveiled his sculptures in a lakeside art museum in Finland, the gallery said on Monday. Located in Finland's third largest city of Tampere, this is the first time the "largely self-taught" American star presented his sculptures to the public, Sara Hilden Art Museum said. Pitt's sculptures were revealed by the actor himself on Saturday as part of a larger exhibition by British artist Thomas Houseago, alongside a ceramic series by Australian alternative rocker Nick Cave. "For Nick and I this is a new world and our first entry. It just feels right," Pitt told Finnish broadcaster Yle at the opening ceremony. Pitt's work includes a moulded plaster panel "depicting a gunfight" and a series of house-shaped silicone sculptures that each have been shot with a different gauge of ammunition. "To me it's about self-reflection. It's about where I have gotten it wrong in my relationships, where have I misstepped," Pitt said at the opening. The 58-year-old actor's unexpected visit took the Nordic country by surprise as his involvement in the exhibition was not previously announced. "In that sense this is exciting and wonderful," Chief Curator Sarianne Soikkonen told AFP. As well as hosting Pitt's sculptures for the first time, the art show is Houseago's exhibition debut in the Nordic countries. The decision to include his friends Cave and Pitt in his exhibition was shaped by the pandemic and "events in Houseago's personal life", Soikkonen said. ehu/cdw TULSA, OK - (NewMediaWire) - September 19, 2022 - (King NewsWire) - BRANDMYDISPO is one of the best-known names, who are providing brands a highly affordable, best custom dispensary packaging solution for all CBD, cannabis, and marijuana packaging needs. BRANDMYDISPO has its head office in USA and providing custom packaging solutions all over the USA with a huge market occupancy rate with market leading price. If anyone is doing business in cannabis industry, then must know that there is quite difficult to survive in this market as seller because cannabis industry is very competitive and highly unsaturated market. 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Even leaders of the armed forces, now more entwined in government than at any point since a 1964-1985 military dictatorship, offer private assurances to former peers that they want no part in disrupting democratic order, according to a half dozen former officials with close ties to military leadership. The result is a far-right populist firebrand trailing in the polls with few institutional levers to derail the electoral process but enough hardcore supporters to fill the streets with angry demonstrations if he cries foul as many expect. "One thing is certain about this election: President Bolsonaro will only accept one result victory. Any other result will be contested," said Camilo Caldas, a constitutional law professor at St. Jude University in Sao Paulo. When pressed in interviews, Bolsonaro says he will respect the election result as long as voting is "clean and transparent," without defining any criteria. Many believe that leaves room for turbulence after the vote. Electoral officials warn of an uprising inspired by the invasion of the U.S. Capitol in Washington last year if Bolsonaro loses to leftist former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, as polls suggest. For more than a year, Bolsonaro has insisted to his base without evidence that the polls are lying, Brazil's electronic voting system is open to tampering, and Supreme Court justices overseeing elections could rig the vote in Lula's favor. Even one of Bolsonaro's campaign advisers, who requested anonymity to speak freely, could not rule out violent post-election demonstrations if the president challenges the results: "Bolsonaro is absolutely unpredictable. There could be trouble." Story continues Bolsonaro has shown he can easily mobilize tens of thousands of supporters, as he did at Independence Day rallies this month. Demonstrators cited the big crowds as evidence that opinion polls are skewed and electoral fraud is Lula's only hope. "If Lula wins, you can be sure there was major fraud and people will be really upset," said retired naval captain Wilson Lima, an organizer of the Bolsonaro rally in Brasilia. "An angry population will run amok. God knows what can happen." Determined to avoid that, major Brazilian institutions have spent the past year trying to get ahead of Bolsonaro. Congress voted down his push for a return to paper ballots. Election officials created a "transparency commission" with tech experts, civic groups and government organs to review security measures and endorse best election practices. A record number of foreign observers are coming to monitor the vote. Business leaders have also penned public declarations of their faith in the electoral system. Supreme Court Justice Jose Antonio Dias Toffoli told journalists in Sao Paulo that the business community understood a break with democracy would be "economic suicide," given the risk of sanctions from Europe and other Western powers. Allies such as the United States have also signaled both publicly and privately what they expect from the second-largest democracy in the Western Hemisphere. The director of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, Bill Burns, last year told Bolsonaro's senior aides that he should stop casting doubt on Brazil's electronic voting system, Reuters reported in May. International election experts have praised Brazil's electronic voting machines for ending widespread fraud in the tabulation of paper ballots before 1996, with no cases of fraud detected since then despite Bolsonaro's accusations. TRUMP PLAYBOOK The issue has unsettled many in Washington who see Bolsonaro following in the steps of former President Donald Trump, whose baseless allegations of fraud in the 2020 U.S. election were echoed by the Brazilian leader even after the Capitol invasion. Bolsonaro was one of the last world leaders to recognize President Joe Biden's electoral victory. The Brazilian president has warned that the aftermath of Brazil's election this year could be worse than the fallout from that contested U.S. vote. However, while Trump was able to unleash a blitz of lawsuits and political pressure on elected officials responsible for counting votes, voting in Brazil is run by federal electoral courts whose judges show no qualms about standing up to Bolsonaro. In particular, Bolsonaro's attacks on the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) and its head, Supreme Court Justice Alexandre Moraes, seem to have only steeled the resolve of the judge and his colleagues. Even as Moraes has acted more unilaterally than some of his predecessors, he enjoys ample backing among fellow Supreme Court judges, according to two people familiar with the institution. Bolsonaro has hurled abuse at Moraes for overseeing an investigation of his supporters, who allegedly spread libel and misinformation online. Last year, he called Moraes a "crook" and briefly refused to obey the judge's rulings. In Brasilia's corridors of power, however, uneasiness over the judge's hardball tactics has taken a back seat as his peers and most politicians present a united front in defense of the courts and the electoral process. When Moraes took the reins of the TSE last month, his speech praising the electronic voting system was met with a standing ovation from an audience that included four former presidents, some 20 current state governors and an array of party leaders. Bolsonaro looked on sternly without applauding. MILITARY IN SPOTLIGHT Even the army officials tasked by Bolsonaro with digging into the alleged vulnerabilities of Brazil's voting system have been pleased with the openness of Moraes to their requests since he took over the TSE, according to a senior military officer, who declined to be named due to military protocol. Invited by the TSE to join its transparency commission, Brazil's armed forces have taken an unprecedented role in probing the security of the country's voting system. Critics question the military's prominence in the process, especially as its concerns have echoed Bolsonaro's rhetoric about potential fraud. The president, a former army captain, has packed his cabinet with former military officers, while telling rallying supporters that the armed forces are "on our side." However, the armed forces seem to have stopped short of setting up a "parallel count" on election night as Bolsonaro has suggested. Instead, military representatives plan to make spot checks of voting machines, comparing the paper readouts at a few hundred voting stations with the results sent to the TSE server. It is an unusual task for the armed forces in Brazil's young democracy, but military brass insist it is not a sign of political ambitions. Former Defense Minister Raul Jungmann ruled out any risk of a coup, contrasting the country today with Brazil in 1964: the military takeover that year was openly supported by many of Brazil's business elites, middle class families, churches and mainstream media a far cry from the current environment. "There is no way military commanders will risk getting involved in an adventure," said a seasoned politician in regular conversation with military chiefs. (Reporting by Anthony Boadle and Ricardo Brito; Additional reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu; Editing by Brad Haynes and Ross Colvin) LONDON (AP) The United Kingdom and the world bade farewell to Queen Elizabeth II on Monday with a state funeral that drew presidents and kings, princes and prime ministers and crowds in the streets of London and at Windsor Castle to honor a monarch whose 70-year reign defined an age. In a country known for pomp and pageantry, the first state funeral since Winston Churchills was filled with spectacle: Before the service, a bell tolled 96 times once a minute for each year of Elizabeth's life. Then, 142 Royal Navy sailors used ropes to draw the gun carriage carrying her flag-draped coffin to Westminster Abbey, where pallbearers carried it inside and about 2,000 people ranging from world leaders to health care workers gathered to mourn. The trappings of state and monarchy abounded: The coffin was draped with the Royal Standard and atop it was the Imperial State Crown, sparkling with almost 3,000 diamonds, and the sovereigns orb and scepter. But the personal was also present: The coffin was followed into the church by generations of Elizabeths descendants, including King Charles III, heir to the throne Prince William and 9-year-old George, who is second in line. On a wreath atop the coffin, a handwritten note read, In loving and devoted memory, and was signed Charles R for Rex, or king. Here, where Queen Elizabeth was married and crowned, we gather from across the nation, from the Commonwealth, and from the nations of the world, to mourn our loss, to remember her long life of selfless service, and in sure confidence to commit her to the mercy of God our maker and redeemer, the dean of the medieval abbey, David Hoyle, told the mourners. The service ended with two minutes of silence observed across the United Kingdom, after which the attendees sang the national anthem, now titled God Save the King. The day began early when the doors of Parliament's 900-year-old Westminster Hall were closed to mourners after hundreds of thousands had filed in front of her coffin. Story continues Monday was declared a public holiday in honor of Elizabeth, who died Sept. 8 and hundreds of thousands of people descended on central London to witness history. They jammed sidewalks to watch the coffin wend its way through the streets of the capital after the service. As the procession passed Buckingham Palace, the queen's official residence in the city, staff stood outside, some bowing and curtseying. Mark Elliott, 53, who traveled from the Lake District in northern England with his wife and two children to watch the procession, got up at 1:30 a.m. to stake out a good viewing location near the palace. I know we dont know the queen, but shes been our head of state for 70 years, you feel as though you know her, you feel as though shes part of the family. It is kind of moving, he said. Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said in his sermon at Westminster Abbey that few leaders receive the outpouring of love we have seen for the queen. More people lined the route the hearse took from the capital to Windsor Castle, and many tossed flowers at the cortege as it passed. Millions more tuned into the funeral live, and crowds flocked to parks and public spaces across the U.K. to watch it on screens. Even the Google doodle turned a respectful black for the day. As the coffin arrived at the castle, there were poignant reminders of her love of animals: A groom stood at the roadside with one of her ponies, Emma, and another member of staff held the leashes of two of her beloved corgis, Sandy and Muick. During the committal ceremony in St. Georges Chapel on the castle grounds, Dean of Windsor David Conner praised Elizabeth for her life of unstinting service to the nation but also her kindness, concern and reassuring care for her family and friends and neighbors. Then the crown and the orb and scepter were removed from atop the coffin and placed on the altar separating them from the queen for the last time. Her coffin was lowered into the royal vault through an opening in the chapel's floor. Charles looked weary and emotional as mourners sang the national anthem. At a private family service, the queen was later laid to rest with her husband, Prince Philip. The mourners at Westminster Abbey included U.S. President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron, all of the living former British prime ministers and European royalty. In Japan, whose Emperor Naruhito also attended, several people sipped beer and watched the service at The Aldgate British pub in Tokyos fashionable Shibuya district. The queen had an especially long history in a country that boasts a long history, and so she deserves deep respect, said one of them, Tomotaka Hosokawa. The global outpouring of sympathy touched the king, who on the eve of the funeral, issued a message of thanks to people in the U.K. and around the world, saying he and his wife, Camilla, the queen consort, have been moved beyond measure by the large numbers of people who have turned out to pay their respects. Jilly Fitzgerald, who was in Windsor, said there was a sense of community among the mourners as they prepared to wait hours to see the procession carrying the queens coffin. Its good to be with all the people who are all feeling the same. Its like a big family because everyone feels that the queen was part of their family, she said. ___ Kullab reported from Windsor, England. Associated Press journalists Sylvia Hui and Jill Lawless in London and David Keyton in Windsor contributed. ___ Follow AP coverage of Queen Elizabeth II at https://apnews.com/hub/queen-elizabeth-ii By Lindsay Dunsmuir and Alexandra Hudson EDINBURGH/HASTINGS, England (Reuters) - In airport lounges, parks, pubs and city squares, people gathered in front of screens across Britain on Monday to watch the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth, seeking out togetherness even far from the events. It was a public holiday and usually busy streets fell silent as young and old came together in towns, villages and cities outside London for the live broadcast of the service at Westminster Abbey and then the journey of her coffin to Windsor Castle, west of the capital. "When you can watch it with a big group of people, it feels more communal," said student Jo Underwood in Edinburgh's Holyrood Park. "That was the thing with the queen, she brought everybody together so this is a fitting way to end her reign, with everyone coming together to see her funeral." Some kept their heads bowed, others wiped away tears as Britain said goodbye to its longest serving monarch, who died on Sept. 8 aged 96. Hundreds watched in a park in Hastings, a seaside town on England's south coast with a centuries-old link to the monarchy. In 1066 Duke William of Normandy arrived with his army from France to fight King Harold for the English throne, which the Norman also claimed. William defeated Harold at the Battle of Hastings and was crowned King of England on Christmas Day. The late Queen Elizabeth was the 40th sovereign in a line that traces its lineage back to him. "I wanted to be there for a moment of history, and to see how I felt about the occasion. I thought I would regret not having watched it in a public setting later," said Julian Beecroft, a 57-year-old writer. On a sunny day in Hastings, people sat on camping chairs, many dressed in black, with children and dogs running around. Account manager Carl Amess, 54, said he found the funeral service "uplifting, moving and respectful". "For us, not having been able to get to London to watch the funeral it was good to watch it together here," he said, adding it was a reminder of Britain's history. Story continues "We lead such busy lives that we are not often reminded of our heritage, but the funeral did that." Hundreds of people watched the funeral inside Manchester Cathedral while in Birmingham, people took shelter from the rain under awnings in the city's Centenary Square. Outside Belfast's City Hall, crowds rose to their feet to sing the national anthem. At Gatwick Airport south of London, passengers watched events in departure lounges and arrivals areas. In parts of the country, some pubs opened their doors early to screen the funeral, serving free hot drinks. STV News reporter Kirstin Tait tweeted a picture from inside the Balmoral Bar in Ballater, a Scottish Highlands village a short drive away from Balmoral Castle, where Elizabeth died. "Despite being a usually busy pub, aside from the coverage - you could hear a pin drop," Tait wrote. People also held private gatherings to watch the proceedings together. "I feel it was more of a celebration of her life then a mourning of her death," Emma Parsons-Reid, who invited people to her home in the Welsh capital Cardiff, told Britain's BBC. "But when the lone bagpiper played, I was gone. For the first time, it felt real." (This story refiles to correct spelling of dateline to HASTINGS). (Reporting by Lindsey Dunsmuir in Edinburgh, Alexandra Hudson in Hasting and Marie-Louise Gumuchian in London; Additional reporting by Farouq Suleiman; Writing by Marie-Louise Gumuchian; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Frances Kerry) Brooklyn Bishop Lamor Whitehead was handcuffed Sunday after a sermon in which he grabbed a woman who he believed was a threat to his family only to be released by police about two hours later. They lock me up in front of my children, in front of my wife, in front of my church, Whitehead told the Daily News hours after his release. They publicly embarrassed me and then they drop all the charges after two hours and apologize to me. Whitehead was preaching at Leaders of Tomorrow International Ministry on Remsen Ave. near Avenue D in Canarsie on Sunday when two women walked in to the church in the middle of his sermon, he said. Whitehead who was robbed at gunpoint during a sermon over the summer said the women entered the same way it happened when my church got robbed. I was almost done with my preaching and these two young ladies came in and sat in the back, he recounted. You want to come preach? Come on up here, Whitehead was heard saying to one of the women, who was off-camera, during a social media livestream of the services. Im gonna make you famous. Within moments of calling the women out, at least one started screaming, the video shows. The bishop then moved off camera and walked into the crowd, telling someone to move her out of here. Upon walking back to the front of the church, he spotted one of the women coming toward him, he said. She came in the middle aisle and just [started] cussing me out, calling me all types of names, calling me all types of things, Whitehead said. She came back storming toward my wife and my 10-month-old baby, he continued. She went toward my wife and thats when I grabbed her. I grabbed her and took her out of my church. All I could remember was the guys with the guns who put their gun in my babys face. In the video, Whitehead appears to grab the woman by the back of the neck and pushes her off camera before he yells, Grab her! Grab her! After his sermon, a detective who arrived at the church informed Whitehead he would be arrested and charged with assault. Story continues They put me in cuffs and I told them I wasnt getting in and they grabbed me and picked me up and put me in the car, Whitehead said. There were a lot of little kids in church that are frightened now again. All the little babies in my church saw me get arrested, the ones that look up to me. Whitehead was taken to the 69th Precinct stationhouse, where police began to process him. All I want to do is preach the word of God and I end up in prison, he said. They treated me like a criminal. Whitehead believes that higher-ups in the Police Department caught wind he was in custody. They dropped all the charges and let me out, he said. You dont get to arrest me and throw me in prison. They had me in a cell with someone with felony charges and let me out. Its not going to stop here. If I was a rabbi, if I was a Catholic priest, they would have never done this. Whitehead and one of the women were taken into custody, police confirmed, with neither immediately charged. Whitehead said his ministers recognized the women who had entered the church. They were some wannabe up-and-coming bloggers, he said. They came to my church to disrupt my service. Three armed robbers stormed into the church in July. Police sources said the robbers made off with $1 million worth of Whiteheads and his wifes jewelry, but in an exclusive sit-down interview with The News, the bishop said that number was exaggerated and inaccurate. Whitehead, an ally of Mayor Adams, was in the headlines prior to the robbery. In May, he tried to orchestrate the surrender of Andrew Abdullah, the man accused of fatally shooting Goldman Sachs researcher Daniel Enriquez on the Q train, to the mayor. Buckingham Palace on Sunday released a new portrait of Queen Elizabeth II ahead of her funeral. In the picture, taken by Ranald Mackechnie in May 2022 in Windsor Castle ahead of the queens Platinum Jubilee celebrations marking 70 years on the throne the late monarch is shown smiling, wearing a blue outfit, pearl earrings and a triple-strand pearl necklace. She also had aquamarine and diamond clip brooches pinned on her clothing, which were gifted to her by her father, George VI, for her 18th birthday in 1944, according to the BBC. In this handout photo issued by Buckingham Palace on Sept. 18, 2022, Queen Elizabeth II is photographed at Windsor Castle in May 2022. (Photo: Royal Household/Ranald Mackechnie via Getty Images) In this handout photo issued by Buckingham Palace on Sept. 18, 2022, Queen Elizabeth II is photographed at Windsor Castle in May 2022. (Photo: Royal Household/Ranald Mackechnie via Getty Images) The queen wore the brooches when she delivered her Diamond Jubilee message for her 60 years on the throne in 2012 as well as during her address honoring the 75th anniversary of VE Day in 2020, marking 75 years since the end of World War II. "Never give up, never despair - that was the message of VE Day" An address by Her Majesty The Queen on the 75th anniversary of VE Day #VEDay75pic.twitter.com/prgBXCdRHF The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) May 8, 2020 The official Twitter page of the Royal Family on Monday also shared a heartfelt video including several photos of the queen over the years, with a note in part reading: Remembering Our Queen. Remembering Our Queen. Today people from across the UK, Commonwealth and around the world will pay tribute to the extraordinary life and reign of Her Majesty The Queen. pic.twitter.com/yuFxoo6Gdu The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) September 19, 2022 Camilla, the queen consort, paid tribute to Queen Elizabeth as part of a BBC broadcast which aired Sunday evening. Story continues Shes got those wonderful blue eyes, that when she smiles, you know, they light up her whole face, Camilla said. Ill always remember that smile. That smile is unforgettable. Camilla, wife of King Charles and now queen consort, said the smile of the late Queen Elizabeth was 'unforgettable' in a message of tribute to the late monarch https://t.co/cFFmzZrqeOpic.twitter.com/fnTjwT24E8 Reuters (@Reuters) September 19, 2022 King Chales III also released a message thanking the British public, and people around the world, for their well wishes following his mothers death. As we all prepare to say our last farewell, I wanted simply to take this opportunity to say thank you to all those countless people who have been such a support and comfort to my family and myself in this time of grief, he said, according to Reuters. The queen passed away at the age of 96 on Sept. 8 at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, after he doctors had previously placed her under medical supervision. She was the countrys longest-reigning monarch. This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated. Related... Story at a glance A newly enacted California law will help LGBTQ+ military veterans discharged under Dont Ask, Dont Tell policies access benefits available to honorably discharged service members. The law establishes the Veterans Military Discharge Upgrade Grant program, which will help veterans correct their discharge classification. More than 13,000 service members were discharged for violating the DADT policy, according to the Williams Institute. A new California law will help rectify wrongdoings to LGBTQ+ veterans discharged from the military under Dont Ask, Dont Tell (DADT) policies because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Under the law signed Saturday by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), LGBTQ+ veterans discharged under the policy will receive assistance in updating their official records and accessing education, health, burial and other benefits available to service members who have been honorably discharged. For decades, our bravest heroes, men and women who wore the uniforms of the armed services, had to hide who they really were, and many were other than honorably discharged if their sexuality was discovered, Newsom said Saturday in a recorded message after announcing he had signed the bill. America is changing faster than ever! Add Changing America to your Facebook or Twitter feed to stay on top of the news. LGBTQ+ service members were barred from serving in the military until 1993, when former President Clinton signed DADT into law. Under the controversial policy, LGBTQ+ military personnel were directed not to share or openly acknowledge their sexual orientation. More than 13,000 service members were discharged for violating the policy, according to the Williams Institute, a public policy think tank that researches issues related to sexual orientation and gender identity. The measure was officially repealed in 2010 by Congress and former President Obama, and pathways for veterans discharged under the policy to receive full military benefits have been cleared since then by the Department of Veterans Affairs. Story continues According to Newsom, most veterans discharged under the policy are either unaware of resources available to them or unable to access them. Those discharged less than honorably under DADT often face barriers to claiming veterans benefits that can require costly legal counsel or other assistance to correct their discharge classification, Newsoms office said Saturday. Were taking steps to fix this, Newsom said. The new law, sponsored by Assembly member Jacqui Irwin, a Democrat, establishes the Veterans Military Discharge Upgrade Grant program, which will help fund service providers to educate veterans about the discharge update process and assist eligible veterans to apply. In a statement, Newsom said the measure intended to do right by our veterans and further Californias commitment to equality. While the repeal of Dont Ask, Dont Tell ended a shameful injustice against LGBTQ Americans serving in our armed forces, its legacy continues to burden the women and men unfairly ousted under the discriminatory policy, he said. With this legislation, the state will help these heroes navigate the process to correct the record and access important benefits they deserve and have earned many times over. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. California has legalised a burial process known as human composting, which advocates say will help cut down on the carboon footprint of funerals. In human composting, the remains of the deceased are put in a reusable stainless steel vessel filled with biodegradable materials like wood chips. After 30 to 45 days, the remains will fully decompose into nutrient-rich soil, which can be given to loved ones or donated to land conservation, among other uses. Advocates say the technique, which California governor Gavin Newsom legalised on Sunday by signing Assembly Bill 351, is more sustainable than traditional coffin burials or cremations. Unlike cremation, it avoids sending carbon emissions into the atmosphere, and unlike a traditional burial, it doesnt involve any embalming chemicals or burying non-degradable coffins. Some religious groups have opposed human composting, arguing it raises moral issues. This is a breaking news story and will be updated with new information. Sherri Papini of Redding, California, walks to a federal courthouse in Sacramento with her attorney in April. She was sentenced Monday to 18 months in prison. (Photo: via Associated Press) Sherri Papini of Redding, California, walks to a federal courthouse in Sacramento with her attorney in April. She was sentenced Monday to 18 months in prison. (Photo: via Associated Press) A Northern California mother who confessed to faking her own kidnapping was sentenced Monday to 18 months in prison for the 2016 crime that resulted in a massive manhunt and yearlong news frenzy. Sherri Papini, a 39-year-old mother of two, pleaded guilty in April to mail fraud and lying to a federal officer in the kidnap hoax. Prosecutors sought a much lighter eight-month prison sentence. Her attorney argued for a one-month sentence, with seven more in home custody. The punishment includes 39 months of supervised release that will follow Papinis release from prison. She also must pay $309,902 in restitution for expenses incurred by local, state and federal agencies, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert said in a statement. Not only did Papini lie to law enforcement, her friends, and her family, she also made false statements to the California Victim Compensation Board and the Social Security Administration in order to receive benefits as a result of her alleged post-traumatic stress from being abducted, Talberts office said. U.S. District Judge William Shubb said that he considered the sheer number of people who were impacted by her actions in determining the sentence and said he hopes the punishment will deter others. Papini disappeared while jogging near her home in November 2016 and surfaced alone and injured three weeks later, on Thanksgiving Day, on a highway 140 miles away. She claimed shed been kidnapped at gunpoint and tortured by two women. Authorities hunted the abductors for years before declaring Papinis story a fiction and her injuries self-inflicted. At the time of her guilty plea, she apologized for concocting the scheme and agreed to pay more than $300,000 in restitution to agencies she admitted defrauding with her lie. Story continues I am deeply ashamed of myself for my behavior and so very sorry for the pain Ive caused my family, my friends, all the good people who needlessly suffered because of my story and those who worked so hard to try to help me, Papini said in a statement released then by her attorney. Her husband Keith Papini, who reported her missing to authorities immediately after she vanished, filed for divorce a few days after the plea. His divorce filing accused his wife of continuing to tell their two young children that the investigation into her kidnapping claim was all a misunderstanding with authorities. 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, Keith Papini said in the filing. I do not believe she is in a position to provide good parenting and it would be inconceivable to thrust the children into that chaotic situation. This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated. Related... Sep. 19CAMANCHE Camanche Immanuel Lutheran Church, 1519 Washington Blvd., Camanche, is hosting a new event, a dog walk/parade, which will begin at 11 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 25. A dog blessing will begin at 11:05 a.m. followed by the walk/parade through the town of Camanche. Costumes are welcome and dogs must be on a leash and up to date on vaccines. All dogs will receive a bag of dog treats. Non participants may bring a lawn chair to enjoy the event. The event will also include walking tacos and ice cream treats available for a donation. Everyone is invited to attend. Queen Elizabeth II portrait in Ottawa Portraits of Queen Elizabeth II are displayed at the National Arts centre in downtown Ottawa ahead of a memorial service for Britain's Queen Elizabeth II on September 19, 2022. (Photo by DAVE CHAN/AFP via Getty Images) Canada held a national memorial service for Queen Elizabeth II in Ottawa, after the captivating funeral service in Britain. A military parade led by members of the armed forces and RCMP officers on horseback marched past the National War Memorial and Parliament Hill to a cathedral on the western edge of downtown. Small crowds of people lined the route despite rainy, cool weather blanketing the national capital. A 96-gun salute, one salvo for every year of the queen's life, took about 16 minutes to complete at the National War Museum a few blocks from the church. Inside Christ Church Cathedral Albert Dumont, Ottawa's English poet laureate and Algonquin spiritual adviser, began the service with a short tribute. Former PM Brian Mulroney, and former Gov. Gen. Adrienne Clarkson shared why the Queen helped build the foundation of Canada. The pews were filled with a who's-who of Canada's political elite, including Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2022. Laura Osman, Dylan Robertson and Mia Rabson, The Canadian Press Two-and-a-half years into the pandemic, millions of Americans are still suffering from long-term effects of COVID-19, otherwise known as Long COVID. The health impacts are clear. What's not clear is the impact on the economy and the workplace. Im desperate to get back to work, but I still cant work at a desk or talk for more than 20-30 minutes without needing to rest for hours at a time, Charlie McCone, a 32-year-old based out of San Francisco, told Yahoo Finance. I feel like people read things like that from Long COVID patients and think its an exaggeration, but I wish it were." That collective suffering symptoms include fatigue, "brain fog," heart palpitations, and autoimmune conditions is affecting the economy: As many as 4 million individuals with Long COVID may be out of the workforce because of their symptoms, according to a new Brookings Institution report, suggesting that more than 2% of the U.S. labor force could be sidelined by Long Covid. According to the Brookings report, using the average U.S. wage of $1,106 per week, the estimated 3 million people out of work due to Long COVID translates to $168 billion a year in lost earnings. This is nearly 1% of the total U.S. gross domestic product. If the true number of people out of work is closer to 4 million, that is a $230 billion cost. Dr. Svetlana Blitshteyn, director of the Dysautonomia Clinic in Buffalo, New York, and a clinical associate professor of neurology at the University at Buffalo Jacobs School of Medicine, has seen the workplace impact first-hand. She's been studying Long COVID patients since 2020. My first patient was a medical resident who couldnt return to his hospital duties after COVID-19, Blitshteyn told Yahoo Finance. He told me that several of his co-workers, including a cardiologist attending, were experiencing the same symptoms." By December 2020, Blitshteyns research led her to publish a case series of 20 patients with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), a condition that affects blood flow in the body, and other autonomic disorders post-COVID. Among those patients, an astounding 60% were unable to return to work. At her practice, most of her Long COVID patients have the same issue or require special accommodations like a part-time schedule or working from home in order to maintain employment. Story continues Obviously, by the nature of my practice, I end up seeing sicker patients, but I think Long COVID is one of the main reasons why there are shortages of workers in health care and other industries today, she said. Indeed, that may be partly why the August jobs report showed labor participation rate at 62.4%, below pre-pandemic levels despite more than 11.2 million open jobs as of July 29. To better understand the impact of Long COVID, Yahoo Finance spoke with several individuals out of the workforce as they continue struggling with their illness. 'Groundhog Day for the worst hangover youve had' Charlie McCone first developed symptoms in March 2020, when he went to bed one night with chest pain and woke up the next day with a fever, fatigue, and shortness of breath. I was laid out for the next two weeks, McCone said. I went back to [remote] work on week three because I felt I had been out so long I had never been out sick for more than 1-2 days. By week four, I thought I was shaking off the last of it so I went on a bike ride and when I got back, the symptoms came rushing back and I was laid out again for the next week. That was my first relapse. Its been two-and-a-half years since McCone first got sick, and he is still battling shortness of breath. Before I was sick, I was 30 years old with no prior health issues, McCone said, adding that he would bike 10 miles a day and was also an active tennis player. Im now 32, and Ive spent my entire 30s disabled and housebound with Long COVID. McCone initially worked through the illness remotely at his marketing and communications job for the first 18 months until he essentially collapsed. For the past year, hes been on disability as he tries to navigate his next steps. Tiffany Patino, who has struggled with Long COVID symptoms for a year, rests in bed with most of the lights off at her home in Rockville, MD on December 2, 2021. (Photo by Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post via Getty Images) But the physical issues aren't the only problem for folks like McCone, experts contend. Studies show that those battling with Long COVID are at increased risk of developing mental health issues. A British study published in BMJ found that COVID survivors are nearly twice as likely to report suicidal ideation than those who havent had the virus. An April 2022 BMC Psychiatry study of those with Long COVID in both Japan and Sweden found that they were also twice as likely to report depression, anxiety, or post-traumatic stress disorder. I really miss the simple things going to the park, being able to breathe normally, chatting with friends, listening to music, having coffee, McCone added. Give me that back, and I would honestly be OK living my life half of what it used to be. As of July 2021, Long COVID is considered a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). McCone has exhausted his short-term disability and isnt yet prepared to go back to work, which has caused him major stress. Long-term disability is not set up to deal with cases like ours, he said. A social worker just told me dont even bother applying. Right now, Im just praying I get better before I go broke. This is the only option Im really left with at this point: Thoughts and prayers. Photos of Sherene Magana Cruz before she got COVID, while in a coma in the hospital with COVID, and portraits of her taken dealing with Long COVID at her home in Australia on August 18, 2022. (Photo by Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post via Getty Images) 'The fatigue was so intense' Pamela Bishop is another Long COVID patient who had to leave the workforce due to her ongoing symptoms. Prior to developing COVID, she was a research professor and research institute director at the National Institute for STEAM Evaluation and Research at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. For her, it all began in December 2020 when she noticed one morning that she had lost her taste. Soon, her symptoms intensified and she experienced pain in her legs, derealization, hallucinations, heart palpitations, anxiety, shortness of breath, and chest pain. I thought I would die every day for three weeks, Bishop said. By Christmas, she began feeling better and returned to remote work in January. But, the symptoms returned. The fatigue was so intense I would have to lie down between Zoom meetings, Bishop said. My work day stretched out 12-14 hours because I was resting so much between tasks. A patient suffering from Long COVID is examined in the post-coronavirus disease (COVID-19) clinic of Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv, Israel, February 21, 2022. Picture taken February 21, 2022. REUTERS/Amir Cohen She was eventually forced to go on leave, applying for the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). The FMLA allows eligible individuals to take unpaid but job-protected leave for specified family and medical reasons with continuation of their group health insurance coverage. Fortunately, Bishops university had a sick leave bank that she had bought into years prior. When it became clear she wasnt getting better, she applied to use it when her FMLA time ran out and was approved for 90 days. She was granted it three times, the maximum amount, and her colleagues also donated some of their leave to her until she realized she wasnt improving and decided to resign from her role. I would love nothing more than to return to work as my career was a huge part of my identity, Bishop said. I spent decades getting my education, obtaining my PhD, and then building my career in academia. My career was really taking off at the time I became ill. Unfortunately, theres no end in sight to this illness currently, and I have no idea if I will ever be able to return to the workforce. What lies ahead Katie Bach, nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and author of the Brookings report, said that there are three key ways to try to help these individuals and possibly even get them back in the workforce. "Number one has to be treatment," Bach told Yahoo Finance, adding: "We need to know what treatments work, which means more investment in research funding." The second is paid sick leave, a luxury not afforded to every American. When some individuals don't have access to paid leave, they often come to work sick rather than risk losing pay by staying home. The third bucket: employer accommodation and understanding that Long COVID looks different in everyone. "This administration's been very good at saying that Long COVID can be a disability that is protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act," she said. "I think we need more patience, and ... I believe we need to get guidance to employers on how to accommodate people." Adriana Belmonte is a reporter and editor covering politics and health care policy for Yahoo Finance. You can follow her on Twitter @adrianambells and reach her at adriana@yahoofinance.com. Click here for the latest economic news and economic indicators to help you in your investing decisions Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance Download the Yahoo Finance app for Apple or Android Follow Yahoo Finance on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flipboard, LinkedIn, and YouTube Sep. 18CARTHAGE Area residents 18 and older interested in learning more about their diabetes management are invited to participate in an expert-led diabetes education class at Carthage Area Hospital this fall. The first class will be held from 9 a.m. to noon Oct. 15, and an additional class is scheduled for the same time on Nov. 17. A primary care referral is required. Participants will learn pathophysiology of diabetes, blood glucose monitor use and target blood glucose levels, meal planning with a focus on carbohydrate counting, and more. "As we approach the holiday season, it can be tempting to reach for those savory treats and meals, which poses many challenges in managing diabetes," said class instructor Carly Draper, director of Nutrition Services at Carthage Area Hospital. "We encourage you to join us for a fun, interactive presentation all about diabetes and how you can enjoy those treats mindfully without the stress." Ms. Draper is a registered dietitian, certified dietitian/nutritionist and certified diabetes care and education specialist who joined Carthage Area Hospital's clinical nutrition team in 2009. For more information or to register for a class, call 315-519-5468 or sign up online at www.carthagehospital.com/diabetesclass. According to the hospital, masks are required to be worn. N'DJAMENA (Reuters) - Chad's interim Foreign Affairs Minister Cherif Mahamat Zene said on Monday he was stepping down because of disagreements with senior politicians, as the government attempts to open dialogue with rebels and end military rule. Zene resigned as talks are taking place in Qatar's capital Doha with various rebel and opposition groups aimed at paving the way to elections after the military seized power last year. "My willingness to serve my country finds itself at odds with parallel actions and initiatives of certain members of your cabinet and the government," he said in a letter to the president that was posted on Zene's Twitter account. He did not refer directly to the talks but said the situation had stripped his department of its prerogatives and kept him in a "mere background role". The presidency did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Chad's transitional authorities signed a peace pact with more than 30 rebel and opposition factions last month in which they agreed to join a national dialogue after years of turmoil. The vast Central African country has been under military rule since President Idriss Deby was killed on a battlefield in April 2021 while visiting troops fighting rebels, shortly after winning an election extending his 30-year rule. The military installed as interim president his son Mahamat Idriss Deby, who initiated talks with rebel groups that had long challenged his father's regime. He heads a military council that said it would oversee an 18-month transition to civilian rule, but has shown little intention of meeting the deadline. Regional and international powers have been pushing for a swift return to democracy in Chad, which has long been a Western ally against Islamist militants. Zene was named Foreign Affairs Minister for the transitional government in May 2021. (Reporting by Mahamat Ramadane; Writing by Sofia Christensen; Editing by Hereward Holland and Catherine Evans) Four children abducted by their non-custodial father were found safe in the back of his semi-truck, Michigan cops say. The U.S. Marshals Service only knew of one of the kidnappings when it was tasked with finding the father, Joses Braxton, on Tuesday, Sept. 13, according to a news release. Braxton is accused of abducting one of his children in April, and investigators later discovered he also kidnapped three kids in September 2021 that he fathered with a different mother, the U.S. Marshals Service in the Eastern District of Michigan said. Braxton is from Michigan, where all four children are also from, according to The Detroit News. The father, a long-haul truck driver, was tracked to Riviera Beach, Florida, on Thursday, Sept. 15, the U.S. Marshals said. He was taken into custody as he was leaving a Walmart. The four missing children ranging in ages 3 to 10 were found in the cab of the semi and will be reunited with their Michigan families, the U.S. Marshals said. The Marshals Service is dedicated to helping recover critically missing and endangered children, said Owen M. Cyper, U.S. marshal for the Eastern District of Michigan. Im especially proud of the dedication and tenacity displayed by our investigators, as well as the speed at which they acted to ensure the safe recovery of these kids. Braxton had been wanted on a felony warrant for parental kidnapping. The U.S. Marshals did not say if he will face additional charges. Deputy U.S. Marshal Robert Watson said the children had lived in the semi-truck for a year, referring to the case as probably one of the strangest things Ive ever seen in my life, The Detroit News reported. Its hard for me to comprehend how they went day in and day out with nobody saying anything, Watson said. Maybe folks dont want to get involved. Theres a million reasons out there. But Im just glad this story had a happy ending. BEIJING (Reuters) - The Chinese foreign ministry said on Monday that China has lodged "stern representations" with the United States, after U.S. President Joe Biden said U.S. forces would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion. China reserves the right to take all necessary measures in response to activities that split the nation apart, said Mao Ning, spokesperson at the foreign ministry, at a regular media briefing. "We are willing to do our best to strive for peaceful reunification. At the same time, we will not tolerate any activities aimed at secession," Mao said. She also urged the U.S. to handle Taiwan-related issues "carefully and properly", and not send "wrong signals" to Taiwan independence separatist forces, warning the United States not to seriously damage Sino-U.S. relations and the peace in the Taiwan Strait. "There is only one China in the world, Taiwan is part of China, and the government of the People's Republic of China is the only legitimate government of China," said Mao. (Reporting by Yew Lun Tian; writing by Ryan Woo; Editing by Toby Chopra) (Bloomberg) -- Months after an announcement that China will build and largely finance an $8 billion nuclear power plant outside Buenos Aires, the deal is hung up over Argentinas demand that its engineers be permitted to manufacture the reactor fuel domestically. Becoming the first nation licensed to make fuel for Chinas Hualong One reactor would greatly advance Argentinas atomic program. It would also signal that China is willing to license technology to trading partners, following a commercial pathway blazed by US nuclear manufacturers. We are trying to establish the best conditions to transfer the knowledge for making the fuel, said Adriana Serquis, a physicist and president of Argentinas National Atomic Energy Commission, in an interview. The commercial balance for us is very important. We are also hoping that the Chinese understand that a deal with us is also a win for them because that opens more possibilities. Licensing fuel technology could help China to sell more reactors overseas by creating more procurement options, she said, adding, Weve been paying attention to whats happening in Europe. Diversifying nuclear fuel manufacturing has become a big concern in the wake of Russias war in Ukraine. More than 100 million Eastern Europeans rely on nuclear power generated by old Soviet reactors and their fuel supplies are almost completely monopolized by Rosatom. Ukraine still relies on Russian fuel and will require years to fully diversify away from Kremlin-controlled suppliers. Serquis is traveling to Vienna for the Sept. 26 International Atomic Energy Agency general conference, where shell be meeting with senior officials from China and around the globe. Climate change and skyrocketing power prices are focusing more attention on the solutions that zero-emission nuclear energy can offer. Argentine engineers have been working with Chinese counterparts for months in preparation for a formal agreement, which includes Argentina refurbishing a research reactor in the Chinese city of Qinshan. Story continues Its a way of gaining mutual trust, Jose Luis Antunez, president of nuclear utility Nucleoelectrica SA, said in an interview with Dialogo Chino earlier this year. The sides are discussing different scenarios, which include Beijing supplying enriched uranium to Argentina, where, under Chinese supervision, it could be turned into reactor fuel by Conuar SA. Nuclear fuel differs from gas and coal because it requires precision-engineered assemblies that conform to safety requirements. Sharing the technology with other countries could cement Chinas growing role in nuclear markets, said Mark Hibbs at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Read More: China Finds a New Way to Dominate the US in South America Beijing will obtain strategic leverage where Chinese nuclear firms do business, said the Berlin-based analyst. Chinese success in exporting nuclear equipment, technology and materials will open the road for China to replicate the success of the US in spreading its influence into the foreign, energy, and technology policies of Chinas nuclear partners and clients. The growing nuclear cooperation between Beijing and Buenos Aires, which follows billions of dollars worth of Chinese investment in Argentine infrastructure, is raising alarm bells in Washington. Argentine media reported that State Department officials warned counterparts at an April meeting in Buenos Aires that the Hualong Ones safety systems may not meet international safety standards. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Nonproliferation Policy Ann Ganzer, who led the US mission to Argentina, declined to comment. The deal would give Argentina a new reactor at a fraction of the price paid for similar technologies the US and Europe can offer. The pact also opens up the possibility to expand its role on international markets. Argentina is already a top supplier of research reactors to Australia, Algeria, the Netherlands and Saudi Arabia. Argentina wants to begin selling small-modular reactors after 2025, and the China deal will help. The countrys light-water Carem technology runs on uranium enriched to the low levels needed by Chinas Hualong reactors. Buenos Aires is in talks to supply its Carem reactor to Indonesia. Its important we continue building these fuel capacities, Serquis said. Its important for the future of Carem. The Argentine Council on Foreign Relations, a private research group, listed fuel-manufacturing capacity as the top strategic priority for the countrys nuclear program. Technological innovation aimed at the development of nuclear reactors, accelerators and the nuclear fuel cycle including the development and production of nuclear fuels, is critical, says a Council report published late last year. Serquis said that while Argentina confronts the financing difficulties faced by poor countries, its nuclear-science advances over 70 years often surpass those of richer economies. Communicating Argentinas capabilities has been one of the biggest challenges in negotiations with China. We are not claiming to be in an equal position, Serquis said. We are a small economy dealing with one of the worlds biggest. Still, they dont have to teach us the basics. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com 2022 Bloomberg L.P. SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China reported 990 new COVID-19 infections for Sept. 18, of which 147 were symptomatic and 843 were asymptomatic, the National Health Commission said on Monday. That compares with 1,189 new cases a day earlier 154 symptomatic and 1,035 asymptomatic infections - which China counts separately. There were no new deaths, same as a day earlier, keeping the nation's fatalities at 5,226. As of Sept. 18, mainland China had confirmed 248,326 cases with symptoms. China's capital Beijing reported no local symptomatic cases and asymptomatic cases, the same as a day before, according to local government data. Financial hub Shanghai reported zero local symptomatic and three asymptomatic cases, compared with no symptomatic and asymptomatic cases the day before, local government data showed. China's southern technology hub of Shenzhen, which had eased anti-virus restriction measures after a strict lockdown for most residents, reported no new locally transmitted COVID-19 infections, compared with two a day earlier. The southwestern metropolis Chengdu reported two new locally transmitted COVID-19 infections, compared with five a day earlier, data from the local government showed. The city is returning to normal after recent strict lockdowns. (Reporting by Shanghai newsroom; Writing by Bernard Orr; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman) A Chinese man made headlines in Nigeria after being arrested for the brutal murder of his ex-girlfriend. Geng Quanrong, 47, reportedly confessed to killing Ummukulsum Ummita Buhari in her shared home in Janbulo quarters, Kano state on Friday night. Local reports point to heartbreak as the motive behind the crime. Buhari allegedly broke her promise to marry Geng and wed another man instead, who later divorced her. Buharis mother, who was at home with her two younger sisters, witnessed the crime. More from NextShark: Rude, Genderless Giant Penguin With Millions of Fans is Now Korea's Biggest Star He (the Chinese man) always comes around wanting to see her and she has been refusing. This time around when he came, he kept knocking on the door. When I was fed up of [sic] him hitting the door loudly, I opened the door and he pushed me aside and got in and started stabbing her with a knife, the grieving parent told Daily Trust. Buharis mother screamed for help, but it was raining at the time and neighbors could not immediately hear her. Eventually, one man got through the window and brought Geng out. A mob then formed and chased Geng, but Buharis own brother, Khaleed, stopped them from attacking him. Geng was ultimately taken to the police. More from NextShark: Zoom meeting about U of T 'hell banknotes' incident interrupted by man with gun, racist messages A house helper for Geng claimed that her boss had shown signs of depression prior to the murder. She recalled him telling her and his security guard not to come to work the following day. He called me that I shouldnt come to work the next day and I later learnt that he had also called his security guard and told him the same thing, she told 21st Century Chronicle. It was in the morning that I saw his picture on social media that he has been involved in a murder case. The helper also described Geng, who runs a textile business, as a jovial person who kept a low profile. Story continues More from NextShark: 81-year-old woman found dead and 'semi-charred' in suspected home invasion robbery in Los Angeles He has never been hostile to me or to anyone that I know, she added. The Chinese Business Community Association of Nigeria (CBCAN), led by Mike Zhang, condemned Buharis murder. The Chinese community in Kano is fully in support of the law taking its proper course, Zhang said in a statement. More from NextShark: Daniel Wu, Sung Kang Join Stop Asian Hate Car Rally in LA Geng is now under investigation for murder. Featured Image via Facebook christian bale, Sibi Blazic Dia Dipasupil/Getty Christian Bale and Sibi Blazic Christian Bale is celebrating the premiere of his new film with his wife by his side. Bale, 48, and his wife of nearly 23 years, Sibi Bale, stepped out together Sunday for the premiere of Amsterdam in the Big Apple. Bale wore a charcoal colored suit paired with a black dress shirt and black shoes. Sibi also sported a dark look in a black velvet pant suit which she paired with red heels for a pop of color. The Oscar winner stars alongside Margot Robbie, John David Washington, Chris Rock, Zoe Saldana, Rami Malek and Robert De Niro in the upcoming film which is written and directed by five-time Oscar nominee David O. Russell, who also directed Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle. RELATED: Christian Bale Would Play Batman Again Only If Director Christopher Nolan Returned: 'I'd Be In' Amsterdam follows an original crime story set in the 1930s involving the three close friends a doctor, a nurse and an attorney who must prove their innocence about getting caught up in the center of one of the most shocking secret plots in American history. It's described by 20th Century Studios as "a fascinating and richly intricate tale that brilliantly weaves historical fact with fiction for a timely, cinematic experience." christian bale, Sibi Blazic Dia Dipasupil/Getty Christian Bale and Sibi Blazic Despite their lengthy relationship, Bale and Sibi have managed to keep most of their private life away from the public eye. After eloping in Las Vegas in January 2000, the Batman actor and the former model welcomed two children: Luka Bale, born in 2005, and a son born in 2014. RELATED: Who Is Christian Bale's Wife? All About Sibi Blazic The American Hustle actor, on occasion, has opened up about his wife and family. "It's all about my girls, my wife and my daughter. I carry a picture of them with me all the time," he said in 2009. The actor echoed the sentiment to Esquire in 2010. "I've got incredible pride for my family," he told the publication. "I've absolutely fallen into that cliche of a dad who could just happily talk about my daughter endlessly, but it's not what I'm about in terms of being an actor. I don't want people to know about that." Amsterdam is set to hit theaters October 7, 2022. A new class of AmeriCorps members will spend their gap year serving students in Duval County Public Schools. Ranging beween the ages of 18 and 25, City Year AmeriCorps members participate in workforce opportunities throughout Northeast Florida. Described as young idealists, these members will provide third through ninth grade students in under-resourced schools social, emotional and academic support; efforts they say will help to develop problem-solving, decision-making, leadership and verbal communication skills. As American school districts face teacher staffing shortages, these young leaders will serve for one year in 11 schools throughout Duval County supporting students and strengthening school communities. These young leaders are stepping up to serve in our school community at a time where students and teachers alike need support, perhaps more than ever before, said Allishia Bauman, Senior Vice President and Executive Director of City Year Jacksonville. We are inspired by their drive as mentors to make a difference in the lives of children, and how our members thrive in our program developing leadership skills necessary to becoming the community leaders of tomorrow. Working in tandem with the National Partnership for Student Success, this years City Year AmeriCorps members will be part of a new three-year education initiative to help students deal with the impact of COVID-19. The work City Year Jacksonville does to support students and teachers is vital to the success of young people in the face of extraordinary challenges, said Bill Ferry, Senior Director of Government and External Affairs, Comcast. City Year Jacksonville remains active in seeking additional members during the 2022- 2023 school year. Members receive a bi-weekly stipend and are eligible for educations awards, scholarship opportunities and career placement support. The deadline to enroll to serve in October is September 27. Noted as a proud member of the AmeriCorps national service network, City Year is supported by AmeriCorps, local school districts and private philanthropy. City Year partners with public schools in 29 communities across the U.S. and through international affiliates in the U.K. and South Africa. Learn more about City Year at https://www.cityyear.org/about/blog/interest-form/. SANTIAGO, Chile Colombian President Gustavo Petro has reactivated the process to acquire new fighter jets to replace the countrys aging Kfir fleet. Petros decision may come as a surprise given his stance earlier this year on the campaign trail, when he said the purchase of combat aircraft or other military hardware would not be a priority during his time in office, if elected. Military sources in the capital Bogota, speaking on the condition of anonymity to protect their careers, told Defense News that the credit for Petros U-turn belongs to Gen. Luis Carlos Cordoba, the chief of the Colombian Air Force. They explained that Cordoba convinced Defense Minister Ivan Velasquez about the urgent need to replace at least part of the Kfir fleet, which will begin retirements later this year, and Velasquez in turn persuaded the president. Since 1989, Colombia has acquired 24 Kfir jets, made by Israel Aerospace Industries. To counterbalance the acquisition of Sukhoi Su-32 fighters by Venezuela, Colombias Kfir fleet underwent upgrades between 2009 and 2017 performed by IAIs Lahav Division. The last upgrade, to the C-60 standard, involved fitting Elta Systems ELM-2032 active electronically scanned array radar and a data link as well as integrating Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Derby weapon an air-to-air, beyond-visual-range missile. IAI says that standard is equivalent to the F-16 Block 52. Colombias modernized Kfirs are possibly the most advanced fighter jets with the most capable systems in service in South America. But the age of the airframes is taking its toll; between 2012 and 2014, multiple aircraft were lost in accidents, at one point grounding the entire fleet. Extensive maintenance support from IAI brought the aircraft back to service. The Colombian government is now considering how it can afford to buy new fighters. The president is already pressing for investments in social issues, and about 25% of the countrys annual budget is earmarked to pay off debts. Story continues Bogota-based independent defense and security analyst Erich Saumeth is skeptical. President Preto came into power making many promises about social development spending, and has a core group of supporters that are not friendly about buying military equipment. On the other hand, the Army and Navy also have need of modernization, Saumeth told Defense News. So either nothing will happen, or [there will be] a not-so-good, sort-of-mediocre stopgap solution. Colombia previously received offers of secondhand Eurofigher Typhoon and Dassault Rafale fighters, but the Air Force, which prefers single-engine aircraft, appears focused on Lockheed Martins F-16 and Saabs Gripen. The government has already received offers of both new aircraft of the latest variants as well as secondhand, upgraded options. One of the military sources told Defense News that most likely a first batch of 12 aircraft will be procured and that secondhand offers of modern airframes with a large service life remaining and significant upgrade potential are surely to attract more interest than before. Community Bank N.A. is shuttering two more branches in Allegany County following the closure of two other offices in the county last year. The branches in Andover and Angelica will close Sept. 30, Hal Wentworth, Community Bank senior vice president, Retail Banking, said in a statement. "It is not a choice that we made lightly; however, we see this change as the best way to efficiently provide services to our customers," Wentworth said. "We will be happy to help our customers with their banking needs at any neighboring Community Bank location. "Customers also have our digital tools and telephone banking options available, which allow customers to bank from anywhere, anytime." Andover, Angelica branches already had limited hours Both the Andover and Angelica branches have been operating with reduced hours. The Andover branch, located at 38 South Main Street, is open Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The Angelica branch, at 32-34 West Main St., is currently open on Tuesday and Thursday. Services at the Angelica branch will consolidate with the Community Bank branch in neighboring Belfast. Angelica customers are eligible for a one-year free safe deposit box and night depository access at another branch, Community Bank said in statement. The Angelica Booster News reported that at least 200 people signed a petition protesting the closure. In a letter to Andover customers, Wentworth noted that Community Bank continues to operate branches in the nearby communities of Alfred and Wellsville. "Were extremely grateful for the ability to serve the Andover community and look forward to continuing to assist our Andover customers with their banking needs through our digital platforms and from nearby branch locations," Wentworth said. Business:$40.9 million expansion planned for The Studio at Corning Museum of Glass For subscribers:After devastating fire, Naples distillery to open tasting room in historic building Story continues Steuben County:Prosecutor: Ex-girlfriend's tip led to child porn charges against Wayland man Branches in Allegany, Steuben closed in 2021 Community Bank N.A. completed a $98.3 million merger with the Steuben Trust Corporation of Hornell in June 2020. Branches in Wellsville and Canaseraga in Allegany County and North Hornell and Bath in Steuben County closed in April 2021. Community Bank continues to maintain a presence in Hornell, Bath and Wellsville. Another Steuben County branch, Canisteo, shut its doors in November 2021 and several other branches were consolidated during the 2020 merger. Community Bank operates more than 200 branches and employs more than 3,000 people in New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont and western Massachusetts, the bank reported in its 2021 fiscal statement. Follow Neal Simon on Twitter @HornellTribNeal. To get unlimited access to the latest news, please subscribe or activate your digital account today. This article originally appeared on The Evening Tribune: Community Bank branches in Andover, Angelica to close Sept. 30 The U.S. governments research and development efforts should promote small experiments because if they fail, we learn something; and when they succeed, we can build on that success. Likewise, Congress needs to act now to keep one of the smallest and most successful R&D programs from disappearing Sept. 30 to ensure continued progress and access to critical industries and technologies. The Small Business Innovation Research program, or SBIR perhaps the preeminent research and development program in the federal government makes modest R&D grants to small businesses. This approach has delivered results. For example, a 2019 Defense Department study found SBIR delivered a 22-to-1 return on investment, $28 billion in sales to the military and $347 billion in economic impact over 23 years. And 16% of new drugs that made a significant advance over available medicines came from SBIR awards by the National Institutes of Health. There are two reasons given for Congress failure to reauthorize the 40-year-old program: national security and so-called SBIR mills. Given that the Defense Department documented cases when foreign governments used SBIR status to target investments in critical technologies, Congress and the relevant agencies should revisit the application of Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States reviews to investment in these firms. However, when it comes to SBIR mills companies that repeatedly win early-stage grants we should proceed with caution. With $3.9 billion in 2022 R&D awarded through the SBIR program, Congress and agencies need to ensure taxpayer dollars are protected. However, the frequency with which a small business participates in the program is not itself a reliable metric for gauging abuse of the program. Current Senate proposals restrict eligibility based on the ratio of federal contract dollars to SBIR grant dollars over the life of the firm, or the ratio of gross revenue to SBIR grants over a five-year period. If enacted, the DoD estimates between 47% and 95% of current SBIR participants would be excluded from the program, including companies successfully received prime contracts based on their SBIR work. Story continues The Defense Department opposes these proposals and cautions that the delay in reauthorization will cause irreparable harm to the small business community and have an adverse impact on national security. It also means agencies will no longer be able to make awards they deem in the best interest of the government. They will need to forgo follow-up research projects or other proposals they deem to be for the best R&D in order to make awards to new companies. Proponents of these restrictions point to a 2014 Air Force study for the proposition that the more SBIR ... awards companies received, the less likely they were to successfully commercialize their products. However, the study demonstrated that companies with 100 awards averaged commercialization returns of about $2 million per award, or roughly $200 million. Companies with one to four awards averaged returns of about $10 million per award, or $10-40 million. While the latter group had higher returns per contract, the ultimate benefit from the former is substantially higher. While many of the individual Phase II awards were unsuccessful, the R&D ultimately delivered successful results. The 2019 Defense Department study found over 23 years that 58% of Phase II awards resulted in contracts with sales, meaning 42% did not. The important question is: What was learned from those failures? Rather than trying to legislate a formula for how many times modern day inventors are allowed to fail, Congress should make it easier to fund the most meritorious R&D proposals. It can do so in two ways. First, Congress should encourage agencies to share the outcomes from past awards to promote collaboration and create a common foundation for future R&D. Currently, the SBIR.gov database only provides information on R&D proposals rather than outcomes; information on results is poorly documented and rarely shared, to the detriment of overall innovation. Second, to promote new entrants to the R&D space, Congress should increase the use of open topics for early-stage SBIR awards. Rather than asking applicants how to solve a specific problem, open topics ask what R&D could benefit a particular agency or program. While conventional SBIR topics attract firms with expertise in grant-writing as well as R&D, open topics are more likely to attract smaller companies that have never participated in government contracting. By encouraging the use of open topics, Congress would mitigate the advantage of companies that prioritize grant-writing expertise over substantive R&D. Notably, the Defense Department has announced that unless Congress acts, it will no longer be able to purchase the successful technologies that came out of the SBIR program without issuing new contracts. In a race for global technological superiority, this is time and money the department can ill-afford to lose. It will also dissuade contracting officers and businesses from relying on the program. SBIR awards should be based on merit and promote national security, transparency and innovation. A formula attempting to quantify how many times a business may iterate its innovation to achieve success is dangerous because it takes away the ability of an agency to judge whether sufficient progress is being made. Congress should reauthorize the program now. Emily Murphy is a senior fellow with the Center for Government Contracting at George Mason University. She most recently served as administrator for the U.S. General Services Administration. Congressional stock trading is back in the limelight following a New York Times analysis that found 97 members of Congress engaged in stock market transactions that could potentially be seen as conflicts of interest. The findings, which highlighted trades by 49 Republicans and 47 Democrats, are the latest report highlighting an ongoing issue in politics of elected leaders being accused of potential insider trading. Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA), an outspoken critic of members of Congress stock trading, said it only weakens the confidence that Americans have in their elected representatives. Rep. Abigail Spanberger conducts a news conference about banning members of Congress from trading stocks on April 7, 2022. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images) What we want to make sure is that back in January 2020, when we were having classified briefings about a potential pandemic, that no one is able to leave, call their stock broker, and say I want you to put money in on Pfizer and Clorox and dump these other stocks, Spanberger said on Yahoo Finance Live (video above). Whether it was ill-intended or not, those examples are real. Spanberger added that the "perception even that those actions were following that briefing, made this choice that continues to degrade the trust the American people have. We have examples of members of Congress who came to Congress with substantial wealth that they had chosen to have in individual stocks who have already chosen to abide by the legislation that Congressman Roy and I lead along with 65 other members of Congress. 'We're removing even the perception' That proposed legislation the TRUST in Congress Act would require members of Congress and their spouses and dependent children to place certain assets into blind trusts, and for other purposes. The bill was first introduced by Spanberger and Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) and now has a total of 65 additional co-sponsors from both political parties. Spanberger stated that she and Roy came up with the idea for the legislation after the Justice Department announced in March 2020 that it would be investigating certain senators to determine whether they traded ahead of the stock market crash triggered by the coronavirus pandemic. Story continues Sen. Burr leaves after a vote at the U.S. Capitol, May 14, 2020. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP) Former Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC), who was chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee at the time and received confidential briefings about the emerging threat of the coronavirus pandemic, and his wife sold numerous stock shares following those briefings, according to an investigation by ProPublica and The Center for Responsive Politics. Though Burr denied the allegations and the Department of Justice ended its inquiry into his trading actions in January 2021, the damage was done. Thats what motivated Chip Roy, Republican from Texas, and I to write this legislation to say Lets just remove any opportunity for either inappropriate behavior or the perception of conflicted trading, Spanberger said So we said: Its very simple. You cant own individual stocks and you cant buy or sell. Either you put your money into a diversified fund or you roll your money into a blind trust, hands off whats there. You leave that to a professional to handle so that every time we are taking a vote, the American people are sure theres no conflict and were removing even the perception. A similar bill to the one proposed by Spanberger and Roy sponsored by Sens. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) and Mark Kelly (D-AZ) was introduced to the Senate earlier this year. It would prohibit members of Congress and their immediate family members from conducting any stock transactions while serving in office and confiscate the lawmakers entire salary if they break the rules. U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her husband Paul Pelosi arrive on Downing Street, in London, Britain September 16, 2021. REUTERS/Hannah McKay As it stands, the STOCK Act, which was passed in 2012, was intended to provide transparency in stock trades by lawmakers, who were required to report these trades within 45 days of the transactions. Yet, separate from the New York Times analysis, an ongoing investigation by Insider has indicated that 72 members of Congress have violated that law. Theres report after report of legislators who are buying or selling various different stocks that surely seem related to the issues of the day, oftentimes issues of the day that were receiving briefings on, Spanberger said. The holdup is that it impacts members of Congress, and I think theres perhaps a hesitance toward change. Though House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is not a name on that list, she is among those who had previously expressed reservations about passing an updated law, with some attributing her stance to her husbands job as a venture capitalist participating in the stock market. In February 2022, Pelosi finally shifted her stance and stated that a vote could happen sometime this year. A bill 'the American people want to see overwhelmingly' Spanberger stressed that the intention of her and Roys bill is not to affect the financial security of those elected to serve in Congress but rather to prevent them from getting elected with the sole purpose of profiting from the role. We absolutely dont want to impede anybody from being able to save for their retirement, Spanberger said. We absolutely want to make sure that the choice to run for Congress should be one of commitment to service to the country. It should not be one that gets a lawmaker a new opportunity to make money on the stock market. Through her proposed bill, members of Congress would be permitted to invest in mutual funds and ETFs instead of individual stocks. Rep. Chip Roy speaks at a House Freedom Caucus news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, September 15, 2022. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein Whats not permissible is that we go to a briefing where we have members of the intelligence community saying Russia will invade Ukraine and then members leave that classified briefing and call their broker and say I want to buy more stock in these defense contractors because we know were going to be sending U.S.-made weapons and weapons systems to Ukraine. (According to Insider, at least 20 lawmakers or their spouses hold stock in weapons manufacturers Raytheon Technologies and Lockheed Martin, two companies providing Western allies with weapons sent to help Ukraine in its war against Russia.) Data shows that Americans support the idea of barring elected officials and their spouses from stock trading. A Morning Consult/Politico Poll found that 63% of all voters support a ban (69% of Democrats, 58% of Republicans) while 57% of all voters support a ban on lawmakers' families as well (59% of Democrats, 54% of Republicans). Its one that the American people want to see overwhelmingly, Spanberger said, and its one that bipartisan legislators across the political spectrum recognize a need to make this change to ensure that every time were making a decision or every time we enter a meeting with the CEO of a potential company, that were there because it matters to our constituents and our country, and not because there might be some benefit to our stock portfolio. Adriana Belmonte is a reporter and editor covering politics and health care policy for Yahoo Finance. You can follow her on Twitter @adrianambells and reach her at adriana@yahoofinance.com. Click here for politics news related to business and money Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance Download the Yahoo Finance app for Apple or Android Follow Yahoo Finance on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flipboard, LinkedIn, and YouTube Fall is the season for apple and pumpkin picking. A months-long drought has had a considerable impact on Connecticut-grown produce, but farmers say theres still plenty to enjoy as the harvest season peaks. While the size of most apple varieties ... will be smaller, the quality and flavor are excellent, and we expect to still have pickable fruit on trees right through late October, said Carole Fay of Easy Pickins in Enfield. Bryan Hurlburt, state commissioner of agriculture, said that when there is little rain, apples tend to be smaller. But there is a silver lining. When apples are smaller they tend to be a little bit sweeter, he said. The crops are reduced definitely because of the lack of rain. But the apples that came in, the flavor is outstanding. There is less water but more sugar, said Diane Karabin, of Karabin Farms in Southington. Some farmers like Rick Whittle, owner of Whittles Willow Spring Farm in Mystic used their irrigation systems to make up for the lack of rain. Usually we dont use irrigation. This year, we used 9 million gallons of water, said Whittle, a fourth-generation farmer. I did it for 33 straight days. It cost me a fortune, with the labor and diesel fuel in the tractor. But without it, I would have nothing. It saved our farm this year. " Easy Pickins also relied on irrigation. We have permanent irrigation under our fruit orchard and berry patches and drip irrigation in the vegetables, said Fay. We were irrigating heavily all season, with the primary expense there being electricity to power the pump for our well. Kim Shores of Johnny Appleseeds in Ellington said that farms irrigation focus is on its peach trees. Peaches, all they are is juice. They need the water. Thats why they are big and nice. But our pond was down eight feet. Ive never seen it so low, Shores said. Everything else is tiny. The crops have struggled but they seem to have come through. Our apples arent irrigated but they are deep-rooted and forgiving when it comes to droughts. Story continues Sandy Rose, owner of Roses Berry Farm in South Glastonbury, says she got her crops in, but all of them are smaller and fewer than usual. Everything suffered terribly. I dont care how much water you throw at it, you cant replace the benefits of a nice rain, Rose said. Rose said her farm watered the crops every week. It was very costly, she said. The drought, and its toll on farms, prompted Gov. Ned Lamont in August to submit a request to the U.S. Department of Agriculture for primary natural disaster declarations in New London and Windham counties. Those declarations were granted. Farmers in those counties and the contiguous counties Hartford, Middlesex and Tolland became eligible for emergency assistance from the Farm Service Agency. The success in obtaining those declarations led Lamont to ask for the same assistance for New Haven and Litchfield counties, with Fairfield County contiguous. In order to meet the threshold for a primary natural disaster declaration, there must be a 30% loss of any one crop. While the drought seems to have broken with several days of heavy rain, Russell Holmberg of Holmberg Orchards in Gales Ferry said there was a downside to a lot of precipitation coming suddenly after a long dry spell. We have been struggling as of late with premature drop on the apples. The drought stretched out all summertime and then there was eight inches of rain in two days. The apples are swelling up and pushing themselves off the tree. I dont think the trees were prepared to take that much weight that quickly, he said, adding that the long dry, hot spell caused sunburn and spotting on many fruits. Some crops benefited somewhat from the dry spell. Items like pumpkins and winter squashes are going to last longer. Last year because of the amount of rain we had, those kind of crops broke down easily. People were buying pumpkins and they were deteriorating within a short period of time. This year, I dont think you will see that. I think they will last and will be firmer and harder, Karabin said. Weather conditions earlier in the year also caused problems that are now affecting crop yields. Lost Acres Orchard in North Granby announced on Facebook that they would not have pick-your-own this year. During blossom time in May, the weather was cold, windy and rainy, and the bees werent able to pollinate the blossoms, the post read. We do have apples for sale, but not all varieties. Fay, of Easy Pickins, said global warming is becoming a challenge. Climate change overall, especially rising temperatures and more unpredictable winters, is definitely affecting local farmers. ... It changes the ripening patterns of apples just enough that you have to keep more of an eye on them to know whether theyll be ready sooner or later than youve counted on for umpteen years, Fay said. Despite farmers misfortunes, most say their apple trees and pumpkin patches are ready for the popular you-pick season. Fortunately our orchards weathered this fairly well. The soils are deep and rich, Holmberg said. It has definitely been a more challenging year. But were weathering the storm. What else can we do? Were farmers. Susan Dunne can be reached at sdunne@courant.com. Bishop Lamar Whitehead has some bad luck with livestreaming. During the Sunday, September 18, stream of his sermon, Whitehead was seen choking a woman as she approached the pulpit. The 44-year-old is the pastor of Leaders of Tomorrow International Ministries in the Canarsie neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. In the live video, Whitehead stood in front of his congregation in a flashy Christian Dior suit while delivering his sermon. As he gave his sermon, a congregation member began to heckle the pastor. Whitehead didnt seem happy about this and called the woman to the front, asking if she wanted to come up and preach the sermon. When the woman approached the pulpit, Whitehead told her, Imma make you famous. Off camera, the woman shouted words at Whitehead as she moved closer. Whitehead began speaking in tongues as the woman neared, and other congregation members began to rustle around. He then asked members to remove the woman from the service, but the commotion continued. Whitehead then insinuated that the womans actions were antics for social media. When the woman finally appeared on camera, things began to go left. In the video, the woman walked in front of Whitehead while she appeared to be shouting at someone outside the frame. Whitehead then charged at the woman and grabbed her by the neck, moving her off camera. After the altercation, the woman yelled that she would be pressing charges. Whitehead responded with, Press whatever charges you want. After the service, police were called to the church, and footage shows Whitehead speaking with the police and being handcuffed. View this post on Instagram A post shared by The Neighborhood Talk (@theneighborhoodtalk) The congregation member in question also took to social media to share the evidence of the assault. The woman, whose Instagram handle is @tarshaglobal, showed bruises and scratch marks on her neck where the bishop allegedly grabbed her after she approached the altar. Story continues View this post on Instagram A post shared by DeMario Jives (@kingjivesshow) After speaking with the police, Bishop Whitehead started a new Facebook livestream and shared his side of the story. During the stream, Whitehead stated the woman and others were sent in to disrupt his service, alleging they were tied to litigation hes involved in. He added that the woman was actually threatening and beginning to charge toward his wife and baby daughter, and he stated he did what he had to do to keep them out of harms way. He also said he has to have more footage that will show the whole story. The litigations he referred to are lawsuits that he filed, seeking $40 million in damages from YouTubers DeMario Jives and Larry Reid after they accused him of stealing from his congregation. As reported by Daily Mail UK, Jives allegedly told his 80,000 followers the pastor has been wearing the same jewelry that was allegedly stolen from him in July. The lawsuits allege Jives and Reid have cost Whitehead business deals, church members and income. Whitehead and his church have been in the public eye since their Facebook livestream captured the pastor getting robbed at the pulpit during a Sunday service. As reported by Blavity, Whitehead stated that he and his wife were robbed of almost 1 million dollars in jewelry and that his church was traumatized. Social media showed little sympathy as the pastor continued to attend court proceedings and public appearances while wearing designer clothing and driving expensive cars. The story got even stickier when allegations were made that the pastor conned a congregation member out of her $90,000 life savings. A separate lawsuit was also uncovered, in which developers allege that he owes over $335,000. According to TMZ, Whitehead has not been arrested or charged with anything at this time. Tell us how you feel! Are these just a stream of unfortunate events, or should Whitehead just log out? Oregon reported far fewer coronavirus cases in the week ending Sunday, adding 2,595 new cases. That's down 30.4% from the previous week's tally of 3,728 new cases of the virus that causes COVID-19. Oregon ranked 48th among the states where coronavirus was spreading the fastest on a per-person basis, a USA TODAY Network analysis of Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the latest week coronavirus cases in the United States decreased 7.7% from the week before, with 436,694 cases reported. With 1.27% of the country's population, Oregon had 0.59% of the country's cases in the last week. Across the country, 24 states had more cases in the latest week than they did in the week before. Marion County reported 201 cases and two deaths in the latest week. A week earlier, it had reported 255 cases and one death. Throughout the pandemic it has reported 81,979 cases and 781 deaths. Polk County reported 74 cases and one death in the latest week. A week earlier, it had reported 96 cases and zero deaths. Throughout the pandemic it has reported 18,853 cases and 149 deaths. Across Oregon, cases fell in 28 counties, with the best declines in Multnomah County, with 533 cases from 771 a week earlier; in Washington County, with 328 cases from 532; and in Lane County, with 172 cases from 276. a >> See how your community has fared with recent coronavirus cases Within Oregon, the worst weekly outbreaks on a per-person basis were in Wallowa County with 444 cases per 100,000 per week; Umatilla County with 126; and Wasco County with 109. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says high levels of community transmission begin at 100 cases per 100,000 per week. Adding the most new cases overall were Multnomah County, with 533 cases; Washington County, with 328 cases; and Clackamas County, with 271. Weekly case counts rose in seven counties from the previous week. The worst increases from the prior week's pace were in Wallowa, Umatilla and Lake counties. Story continues COVID this week: US workers concerned about returning to the office; Biden shifts focus to global recovery In Oregon, 21 people were reported dead of COVID-19 in the week ending Sunday. In the week before that, 44 people were reported dead. A total of 885,963 people in Oregon have tested positive for the coronavirus since the pandemic began, and 8,492 people have died from the disease, Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the United States 95,658,236 people have tested positive and 1,053,419 people have died. >> Track coronavirus cases across the United States Oregon's COVID-19 hospital admissions rising USA TODAY analyzed federal hospital data as of Sunday. Likely COVID patients admitted in the state: Last week: 685 The week before that: 667 Four weeks ago: 686 Likely COVID-19 patients admitted in the nation: Last week: 57,618 The week before that: 58,248 Four weeks ago: 66,210 Hospitals in 15 states reported more COVID-19 patients than a week earlier, while hospitals in 14 states had more COVID-19 patients in intensive-care beds. Hospitals in 22 states admitted more COVID-19 patients in the latest week than a week prior, the USA TODAY analysis of U.S. Health and Human Services data shows. The USA TODAY Network is publishing localized versions of this story on its news sites across the country, generated with data from Johns Hopkins University and the Centers for Disease Control. If you have questions about the data or the story, contact Mike Stucka at mstucka@gannett.com. This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: COVID rates in Oregon plummet; Marion County virus cases fall 21.2% Crypto miner Bitdeer Technologies has bought a maximum security physical safety vault, Le Freeport, for S$40 million ($28.4 million), Bloomberg reported, citing sources. Bitdeer, which is backed by crypto billionaire Jihan Wu, bought the Singapore-based vault in July, the report said. Le Freeport is a repository for fine art, precious gems, and gold and silver bars, from shareholders led by Swiss art dealer and founder Yves Bouvier, according to the report. Wu confirmed the transaction in a text message to Bloomberg. Le Freeport is a unique acquisition by Bitdeer, which was looking to go public through a deal with a special-purpose acquisition company. Bitdeer was formed after Bitmain, the world's largest mining rig manufacturer, was split into two companies. Bitmain was founded by Micree Zhan and Wu and was split into two after a messy battle between the two co-founders. Zhan kept Bitmains design and manufacturing business, buying Wu's share, while Wu kept Bitdeer. Bitdeer didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Read more: Bitmain Redux: Bitdeer and BitFuFu Are About to Test US Stock Market's Mining Appetite Dacia wants to help spread cyberpunk style outside of the city. The Romanian marque, which is owned by Renualt, has just unveiled an exciting new concept car called the Manifesto. The vehicle is a futuristic buggy that will make its public debut at the Paris Motor Show next month. More from Robb Report Although it looks like something from a dystopian science fiction movie, the Manifesto was actually designed to help its driver and passengers better connect with nature. Because of this, the compact cruiserit measures just 12 feet from bumper to bumper, though it still has room for fourhas no windshield, windows or doors, allowing you to really take in your surroundings and all they have to offer. The angular 44 also features a single-strip headlamp that can be removed and used as a flashlight, as well as giant airless, all-terrain tires guaranteed to last as long as the vehicle since they are puncture-proof. Dacia Manifesto Concept Dancia hasnt revealed what kind of powertrain is in the Manifestothough it does offer four-wheel drivebut was more forthcoming about some of the EVs other forward-thinking features. The drivers smartphone can be inserted directly into the dashboard, so that it can connect to the vehicles onboard computer and be used as an infotainment system, according to the brand. The fully waterproof interior is made from recycled materials like plastics and cork, making it easy to clean after a particularly messy adventure. The vehicle also features a modular YouClip system that makes it easy to add and swap off-roading accessories. At Dacia, we like to keep it real, David Durand, the marques design director, said in a statement. As we were developing and exploring new ideas, we felt we needed to push them past 3-D simulations and see what they look like in real life! As well as being a designer object, Manifesto Concept encapsulates our vision and combines a wide range of innovationsome involve extreme implementation, but they are still affordable for customers. We will be using a few of them on future Dacia models. Story continues Inside the Dacia Manifesto concept Unfortunately, Dacia only envisions the Manifesto as a show car. All is not lost, though. the automaker said it is treating its stylish EV as a lab for ideas and that some of its pioneering features will pop up in the brands vehicles going forward. Best of Robb Report Sign up for Robb Report's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Click here to read the full article. A Dayton man, who ran an area church with is stepfather, is facing up to 20 years in prison after prosecutors said he pretended to be a Ghanaian prince to commit fraud. A jury convicted Daryl Robert Harrison, 44, of 10 counts of various federal crimes. Harrison, who was also known as Prince Daryl R. Attipoe and Prophet Daryl R. Attipoe, defrauded at least 14 people of more than $800,000, according to a release. He was convicted of mail and wire fraud, conspiracy to committing mail and wire fraud and witness tampering. >> Deputies: Officers serving warrant find 3-year-old in cage, 2-year-old holding meth pipe According to court documents and trial testimony, from January 2014 until September 2020, Harrison defrauded victims who thought they were investing in African trucking and mining companies. Harrison and his stepfather claimed to be ministers with Power House of Prayer Ministries, which sponsored religious services in various church facilities and private residences throughout the Greater Dayton area, Southwestern Ohio area and Parker, Colorado. Many investor victims were members of the congregation. Harrison continually withdrew thousands of dollars in cash from the ministries bank accounts shortly after receiving investments, according to a release. Harrison and his stepfather used the funds to rent a house in Colorado, purchase luxury cars, airplane tickets, hotel accommodations and more. He will be sentenced at a future sentencing hearing and faces up to 20 years in prison. Jennifer Bonjean, defense attorney for the singer R. Kelly, speaks to reporters outside the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, June 29, 2022. (Stephanie Keith/The New York Times) Jennifer Bonjean, a defense lawyer who has the words not guilty tattooed on her right arm, called one woman who accused R. Kelly of sexual abuse a pathological liar. She accused another of extortion. She tried to pick their accounts apart and attacked prosecutors for stripping her client, the former R&B star, of every single bit of humanity that he has. Bonjean, who was Kellys lead lawyer during the criminal trial in Chicago that ended with his conviction last week, has become known for her aggressive tactics in representing men accused of sexual misconduct in several of the highest profile cases of the #MeToo era. She helped Bill Cosby get his sexual assault conviction overturned last year, which led to his being freed from prison. She has also represented Keith Raniere, once the leader of the NXIVM sex cult, as he appealed his conviction on sex trafficking and other charges, for which he was sentenced to 120 years in prison. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times Everyones entitled to a vigorous defense, Bonjean, 52, said in an interview last week shortly before Kellys conviction on sex crimes involving minors was announced. Her theatrical, knock-down-drag-out style is hardly atypical in the world of criminal defense, but it has attracted attention at a time when #MeToo-era cases are reaching trial, as she has urged jurors to be skeptical of women who have testified, often through tears, about being sexually abused. We are in an era of believe women and I agree, but not in the courtroom, Bonjean said during closing arguments in the Kelly case. We dont just believe women or believe anything. We scrutinize. Theres no place for moblike thinking in a courtroom. That perspective and her relentless cross-examination of accusers, which typically involves drilling them on any inconsistencies in their accounts and questioning their motives, has drawn criticism from those who say it could scare abused women from coming forward. Story continues Lili Bernard, who has sued Cosby and accused him of drugging and sexually assaulting her in 1990, said she was upset by Bonjeans behavior earlier this year when she defended Cosby in a civil case brought by a woman who said he had sexually assaulted her when she was a teenager. Bernard, who attended the trial in California, called the lawyers cross-examination of that woman, Judy Huth, and other accusers victim blaming and victim shaming. Originally from Valparaiso, Indiana, Bonjean (pronounced bon-JEEN) is a classically trained opera singer who earned a masters degree in music and once worked at a rape crisis center in Chicago, advocating for victims of sexual violence a stint, she said, that some might now see as ironic. That job led her to study at Loyola University Chicagos law school with the intention of becoming a prosecutor, but she ended up going into defense work after gravitating toward underdog clients. As a lawyer who views prosecutorial overstep as her driving force, she gained prominence by focusing on so-called wrongful conviction cases. Russell Ainsworth, a staff attorney at the Exoneration Project at the University of Chicago Law School, has worked with Bonjean on civil rights cases for a decade and said that typically, he plays the straight guy, while she comes out swinging. If I needed a lawyer to go to the mat for me, thats the lawyer I would choose, he said. Her approach was on display earlier this year in the civil suit brought by Huth, who accused Cosby of sexually assaulting her at the Playboy Mansion in 1975, when she was 16. During Bonjeans cross-examination of Huth, she challenged her on why it had taken her decades to come forward with her accusation. At one point she suggested that Huth had kept quiet about the trip to the mansion not because she had buried painful memories, but because she was uncomfortable telling people that she had gone there with Cosby because he is Black. Huth strongly denied that. During the trial, Bonjean turned her attention to Bernard and accused her in court of speaking with a juror during a break. She argued for a mistrial. (The judge denied Bonjeans request.) In that little moment that she tried to falsely accuse me, I felt the wrath of her, the depths she would go to, Bernard said in an interview. Bonjean, whose firm is based in New York, said that she considers herself a feminist, insisting that the label is not inconsistent with her work as a defense lawyer for accused men. Her responsibility, she explained, is to exercise every legal lever at her disposal for her client, noting, that will not always be consistent with sensitivity to a victims feelings. And she contends that if she were a male lawyer, people wouldnt think twice about her approach, simply chalking it up to a lawyer doing his job. Im supposed to be some type of ambassador a vagina ambassador, she said, Seriously, I get a lot of those questions, like somehow I am traitorous to women by taking on these cases. During Kellys Chicago case, Bonjean was boldly combative at every turn. She fought to keep as much of the video footage away from the jury as possible, maintained a steady stream of objections and sometimes kept the fight for her client going on Twitter. At one point, prosecutors complained to the judge about a tweet she posted in which she accused them of playing dirty tricks. Bonjean offered to refrain from tweeting about the court proceedings, she said, and the judge agreed. A few days later, Bonjean posted: Im not allowed to tweet but I think I can retweet, sharing someone elses tweet that quoted her from the trial, calling one of the governments key witnesses a liar, a thief and an extortionist. I had to find what worked for me, Bonjean said of her approach. My aggressive style some people call it fiery, some people call it, whatever words you want to use to describe it, that was the way that I could be effective. Debra S. Katz, a lawyer who has represented high-profile sexual misconduct accusers, said that defense tactics seeking to shred a womans credibility or impugn her character run the risk of failing with a jury, citing Harvey Weinsteins conviction in New York, during which she represented one of the women accusing the producer of sexual assault. Everybody deserves a defense, but to attack women in this way is, in my view, absolutely unconscionable, Katz said. Bonjeans highest-profile success has been her role in appealing Cosbys sexual assault conviction. She and her co-counsels convinced the Pennsylvania Supreme Court that prosecutors violated Cosbys rights by reneging on an apparent promise not to charge him on allegations that he drugged and sexually assaulted Andrea Constand in 2004. Cosbys more recent civil trial ended with a jury finding against him that awarded Huth $500,000 in damages. In Kellys recent case, he was found guilty of some of the most serious charges, including of coercing minors into sexual activity and producing child sexual abuse videos. He was acquitted on several other charges, including that he had sought to obstruct an earlier investigation. In both cases, Bonjean has pledged to mount a vigorous appeal. 2022 The New York Times Company WASHINGTON A select panel exploring a revamp of Pentagon budgeting is making significant progress with meetings and research efforts after some organizational problems, according to its chairman. The congressionally mandated Commission on Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution Reform, has been quietly convening for more than five months, interviewing witnesses and hiring staff, according to its chairman, former Pentagon comptroller Bob Hale. The panel made up of former officials from Congress, the Pentagon and industry has also hired two federally funded research and development centers to assist its work. We have made significant progress. Weve had some organizational problems, but, since we first met in March, well have our 10th meeting tomorrow, Hale told Defense News in an interview last week. We have finally started to hire staff; that was tied up in some of the organizational issues we confronted. While the panel is chartered by Congress, its funded by the Defense Department, and that sparked internal debates that held up its plans to hire staff, according to Hale. Chartered by the 2022 defense policy bill to recommend improvements to the Pentagons 40-year-old process for allocating its immense resources, the panels findings could have far-reaching effects. It comes as critics say the process is too slow and cumbersome for the Pentagon to quickly buy cutting-edge technologies and outpace China. I spent 12 years as a political appointee in the financial area of DoD, trying to make PPBE work, and I think for the most part we did. But I never had time to step back and ask: How well is the system working? How long does it take? I hope the commission can do that, said Hale, who served as the Department of Defense comptroller from 2009 until 2014. Among the panels 13 members are its vice chair, Ellen Lord, a former undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment and former chief executive of Textron Systems; former Air Force Undersecretary Lisa Disbrow; former Defense Innovation Unit director Raj Shah; Aerospace Industries Association CEO Eric Fanning and National Defense Industrial Association CEO David Norquist. Story continues All of us have a common goal: to see if we can make some changes in this process that will make it better able to support the warfighter, Hale said. New Senate defense appropriations chairman talks nuclear modernization, defense cuts and earmarks So far, the panel has heard from Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks, Pentagon Comptroller Mike McCord, DoDs Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation director Susanna Blume and officials from the armed services. The commission has met with industry executives, former Pentagon officials and staff from Congresss Armed Services and defense appropriations panels, Hale said. What weve done has been a listening tour as we try to hear various views and concerns people have with the PPBE system or support for it, Hale said. Were now at how do we digest it and begin to think about areas for change. Now that we are starting to get staff on board, we can do some research and not just get expert opinion. Part of the spillover effect is that the panel may miss the September 2023 deadline for its interim report and March 2024 deadline for final report. In the meantime, researchers will likely focus on how to make the system more communicative and transparent to Congress and more flexible overall, Hale said. From the time the services begin their programming and planning process, with congressional review and contracting, it can take two to four years for an idea to go to contract, Hale said. Thats not going to work for high-tech stuff where technology can change in two to four months. Can we speed up the process? Are there ways to improve flexibility and execution? The panel has engaged the Rand Corp. to study budgeting systems in other countries, like China and Russia, and allies Australia and the UK. Another research area the panel is exploring is budgeting in the private sector and at federal agencies other than the Defense Department who have backed off from the use of the DoD PPBE, Hale said. The Charlotte City Council approved a vote, 6-5, Monday night to transform an empty lot into a 260-unit apartment complex with 30,000 square of office space. ALSO READ: Van destroyed, vehicles smashed after huge tree falls in Cotswold The developer wants to build the apartments with commercial space on Colwick Road, which is behind the Publix and Chick-fil-A on Randolph Road. When you try to put in 260 apartments, what are you going to do with the traffic? resident Sue Eldridge said. Eldridge and dozens of other neighbors tried to get the Charlotte City Council to oppose the project. They held signs in the chamber and voiced opposition for months, but their efforts were defeated. Very sad, Eldridge said. Council member Tariq Bokhari represents District 6 and supported the deal. Charlotte City Council voted 6-5 to approve these apartments near the Cotswold Publix #CLTCC @Hunt_Saenz https://t.co/dTWXvsLnPT Joe Bruno (@JoeBrunoWSOC9) September 19, 2022 He thanked the developer for making changes to the original proposal, which included the building height. Bokhari also said when the Unified Development Ordinance takes effect in June, the project would have been able to happen anyway. And will ultimately put us in the position where not only will they do that, we can no longer get the community benefits we achieved, Bokhari said. He called the vote difficult and met with residents after to explain why he cast his vote the way he did. Council member Renee Johnson, District 4, said the city needs to start making tough decisions when it comes to traffic. Our residents are hurting and we cant keep making the same decisions and expecting a different outcome, Johnson said. Bokhari said the city needs to spend more time discussing infrastructure and traffic and not just when controversial rezoning petitions come up for a vote. VIDEO: Roof Above helps people experiencing homelessness move into new apartments Watch: Diego Luna and Adria Arjona on Andor's physical sets Andor star Diego Luna said it "makes a big difference" to be able to shoot the TV show on elaborate physical sets, rather than via digital technology. The new Star Wars series on Disney+, which is set before the events of 2016 movie Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and depicts the title character's early days as part of the Rebellion, was filmed primarily on sets rather than via green screen or "the volume". The latter technology, which utilises enormous LED panels to project a virtual set around the actors and physical elements, has been a key element of recent Star Wars projects including The Mandalorian. Read more: Everything you need to know about Andor But for Luna, who reprises the role of Cassian Andor, creator Tony Gilroy's decision to eschew the volume in favour of more traditional techniques was a huge benefit to the cast. "Everyone working in this show was pleased to have the opportunity to approach this the way we have shot films all our lives," he told Yahoo. Diego Luna reprises the role of Cassian Andor from Rogue One in the new Disney+ series Andor. (Lucasfilm/Disney) Luna added: "That cinematic patience that it gives you of being in an amazing spot to witness you are also discovering as you are filming it. It's just a different feeling, I guess. "As an actor, you're also interacting not just with the real stuff but also with the clouds and the weather and that brings a different energy on set. Read more: Rogue One writers reveal original Cassian Andor plans "I think it's a beautiful journey to work also with someone like Luke [Hull], the production designer, who is so precise and takes so much time deciding everything. There is a reason for everything to be there. "There is a reason and a use for everything on set, therefore as an actor it's complete freedom. If you push a button, something happens. If you open a drawer, there's something inside. That's amazing. It makes our jobs enjoyable and easier." Diego Luna said it was a joy to be able to interact with the set and props while filming Andor. (Lucasfilm/Disney) Adria Arjona, who plays Cassian's close ally Bix Caleen, said the extensive sets had "their own geography" as a result of the thorough design work put in by the production team. Story continues "If you would run somewhere, it was very specific on where you should run to get somewhere," she said. Read more: Pedro Pascal is trying to recruit Nic Cage for Star Wars Arjona added: "One of the directors told me I could run whenever I wanted, as long as you get to the stairs. "There was three ways to get there and he showed me the map. I could go left, I could go straight, I could go right and manage my way to get there. "That was kind of cool. I was deciding where the camera was going to follow me and I've never had that. We usually only have this amount of space for the camera to film you because the stage dies there but, in this case, it was completely 360 and it went on for a couple of blocks." Good Omens and Morbius star Adria Arjona plays Bix Caleen in Andor. (Lucasfilm/Disney) Star Wars veteran Genevieve O'Reilly also returns in Andor as Rebel leader Mon Mothma, who is a senator at the time the show is set, and said the people responsible for sets and costumes were "geniuses at their own craft". "To step into those sets and to get to inhabit those spaces and play within those spaces, it could only inform our work in a really special way," the actor said. Read more: Every new Star Wars film and TV show on the way She added: "I'm remembering the first time you meet Mon Mothma with Stellan Skarsgard's character Luthen and that space we play in. We were like two kids in a sweet shop. "The detail of the craftsmanship and all of the work around us was just inspiring. It did inspire us." Genevieve O'Reilly said Andor's physical sets helped to enhance her scenes with Stellan Skarsgard. (Lucasfilm/Disney) Andor delves into the inner workings of the Rebel Alliance prior to the events of Rogue One and, subsequently, the original Star Wars trilogy. Other characters from Rogue One are also set to appear, with Forest Whitaker confirmed to return as Rebel leader Saw Gerrera. Read more: Obi-Wan Kenobi stars reflect on new love for Star Wars prequels New cast members include Fiona Shaw as matriarchal figure Maarva and Kyle Soller and Denise Gough as figures within the Empire tracking the movements of Cassian and other rebels. Andor debuts on Disney+ with three episodes on 21 September and subsequent episodes will drop weekly. Watch: Trailer for Star Wars streaming series Andor MOSCOW (Reuters) - Denis Pushilin, head of the Russia-backed separatist Donetsk region of Ukraine, called on his fellow separatist leader of Luhansk province on Monday to combine efforts aimed at preparing a referendum on joining Russia. In a video posted on social media, he told Luhansk People's Republic leader Leonid Pasechnik in a phone call that "our actions should be synchronised". (Reporting by Reuters; editing by Jonathan Oatis) STANISLAV POHORILOV MONDAY, 19 SEPTEMBER 2022, 10:32 The Security Service of Ukraine has exposed two pro-Kremlin sleeper militants who had arrived on Ukraine-controlled territory to conduct reconnaissance and subversive activities even before the invasion began. Source: SSU press service Quote: "The attackers were detained in Pokrovsk, Donetsk Oblast, where they secretly arrived to conduct intelligence and subversive activities against the Defence Forces of Ukraine." Details: ID cards of members of illegal armed groups, automatic weapons and ammunition were seized from the detainees. The detainees are 2 residents who joined the terrorist groups Vostok and Slavic Brigade in 2014. Under the leadership of the Motorola militant [Arsen Pavlov, Russian military figure who came to fight against Ukrainian troops in Donetsk Oblast in 2014; killed in Donetsk in 2016 - ed.], they took an active part in the fighting against Ukrainian troops near Kramatorsk. Also, as part of Russian mortar crews, the militants covered the retreat from Sloviansk of terrorist Strelkov's units. Before the start of a full-scale invasion, the invaders transferred both attackers to the territory of the region controlled by the Ukrainian authorities. While staying there, they were in a "standby mode", waiting for further tasks from their Russian handlers. However, the SSU officers worked ahead of schedule, established the location and detained the militants. Background: On September 16, Security Service detained a Russian agent who tried to get a job with the Combat Special Forces of the Azov Regiment. Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron! Small planes are easier to electrify, but larger ones aren't far behind. Chalabala/istock via Getty Images Electric planes might seem futuristic, but they arent that far off, at least for short hops. Two-seater Velis Electros are already quietly buzzing around Europe, electric sea planes are being tested in British Columbia, and larger planes are coming. Air Canada announced on Sept. 15, 2022, that it would buy 30 electric-hybrid regional aircraft from Swedens Heart Aerospace, which expects to have its 30-seat plane in service by 2028. Analysts at the U.S. National Renewable Energy Lab note that the first hybrid electric 50- to 70-seat commuter plane could be ready not long after that. In the 2030s, they say, electric aviation could really take off. That matters for managing climate change. About 3% of global emissions come from aviation today, and with more passengers and flights expected as the population expands, aviation could be producing three to five times more carbon dioxide emissions by 2050 than it did before the COVID-19 pandemic. Aerospace engineer and assistant professor Gokcin Cnar develops sustainable aviation concepts, including hybrid-electric planes and hydrogen fuel alternatives, at the University of Michigan. We asked her about the key ways to cut aviation emissions today and where technologies like electrification and hydrogen are headed. Why is aviation so difficult to electrify? Aircraft are some of the most complex vehicles out there, but the biggest problem for electrifying them is the battery weight. If you tried to fully electrify a 737 with todays batteries, you would have to take out all the passengers and cargo and fill that space with batteries just to fly for under an hour. Jet fuel can hold about 50 times more energy compared to batteries per unit mass. So, you can have 1 pound of jet fuel or 50 pounds of batteries. To close that gap, we need to either make lithium-ion batteries lighter or develop new batteries that hold more energy. New batteries are being developed, but they arent yet ready for aircraft. Story continues Air Canada and United Airlines have ordered 30-seat regional hybrid-electric planes from Heart Aerospace that can go about 125 miles (200 km) fully electric and 250 miles (400 km) as hybrids. With a 25-passenger configuration, the company says the hybrid distance doubles. Heart Aerospace An electric alternative is hybrids. Even though we might not be able to fully electrify a 737, we can get some fuel burn benefits from batteries in the larger jets by using hybrid propulsion systems. We are trying to make that happen in the short term, with a 2030-2035 target for smaller regional planes. The less fuel burned during flight, the fewer greenhouse gas emissions. How does hybrid aviation work to cut emissions? Hybrid electric aircraft are similar to hybrid electric cars in that they use a combination of batteries and aviation fuels. The problem is that no other industry has the weight limitations that we do in the aerospace industry. Thats why we have to be very smart about how and how much we are hybridizing the propulsion system. Using batteries as a power assist during takeoff and climb are very promising options. Taxiing to the runway using just electric power could also save a significant amount of fuel and reduce the local emissions at airports. There is a sweet spot between the added weight of the battery and how much electricity you can use to get net fuel benefits. This optimization problem is at the center of my research. Hybrids would still burn fuel during flight, but it could be considerably less than just relying entirely on jet fuel. I see hybridization as a mid-term option for larger jets, but a near-term solution for regional aircraft. For 2030 to 2035, were focused on hybrid turboprops, typically regional aircraft with 50-80 passengers or used for freight. These hybrids could cut fuel use by about 10%. With electric hybrids, airlines could also make more use of regional airports, reducing congestion and time larger planes spend idling on the runway. What do you expect to see in the near term from sustainable aviation? Shorter term well see more use of sustainable aviation fuels, or SAF. With todays engines, you can dump sustainable aviation fuel into the same fuel tank and burn it. Fuels made from corn, oilseeds, algae and other fats are already being used. Sustainable aviation fuels can reduce an aircrafts net carbon dioxide emissions by around 80%, but supply is limited, and using more biomass for fuel could compete with food production and lead to deforestation. A second option is using synthetic sustainable aviation fuels, which involves capturing carbon from the air or other industrial processes and synthesizing it with hydrogen. But thats a complex and costly process and does not have a high production scale yet. Ampaire reported that its hybrid electric EEL had fuel savings up to 40% compared with a standard version of the similar Cessna Skymaster. Ampaire Airlines can also optimize their operations in the short term, such as route planning to avoid flying nearly empty planes. That can also reduce emissions. Is hydrogen an option for aviation? Hydrogen fuel has been around a very long time, and when its green hydrogen produced with water and electrolysis powered by renewable energy it doesnt produce carbon dioxide. It can also hold more energy per unit of mass than batteries. There are two ways to use hydrogen in an airplane: either in place of regular jet fuel in an engine, or combined with oxygen to power hydrogen fuel cells, which then generate electricity to power the aircraft. The problem is volume hydrogen gas takes up a lot of space. Thats why engineers are looking at methods like keeping it very cool so it can be stored as liquid until its burned as a gas. It still takes up more space than jet fuel, and the storage tanks are heavy, so how to store, handle or distribute it on aircraft is still being worked out. Airbus is doing a lot of research on hydrogen combustion using modified gas turbine engines with an A380 platform, and aiming to have mature technology by 2025. Australias Rex airline expects to start testing a 34-seat, hydrogen-electric airplane for short hops in the next few years. Due to the variety of options, I see hydrogen as one of the key technologies for sustainable aviation. Will these technologies be able to meet the aviation industrys goals for reducing emissions? The problem with aviation emissions isnt their current levels its the fear that their emissions will increase rapidly as demand increases. By 2050, we could see three to five times more carbon dioxide emissions from aviation than before the pandemic. The International Civil Aviation Organization, a United Nations agency, generally defines the industrys goals, looking at whats feasible and how aviation can push the boundaries. Its long-term goal is to cut net carbon dioxide emissions 50% by 2050 compared with 2005 levels. Getting there will require a mix of different technologies and optimization. I dont know if were going to be able to reach it by 2050, but I believe we must do everything we can to make future aviation environmentally sustainable. This article is republished from The Conversation, an independent nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It was written by: Gokcin Cnar, University of Michigan. Like this article? subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Read more: Gokcin Cnar receives research funding from the government and other entities to work on sustainable aviation technologies. (This article has been updated with the correct prison sentence.) A St. Louis woman on Monday was sentenced to 45 months in a federal prison for stealing nearly $200,000 from an East St. Louis charity. Kenesha Burlison, 40, worked as the director of human relations for Call for Help, Inc. from 2016 until she was fired in 2020 amid charges of theft. Call for Help was founded in 1970 as a suicide prevention program, but has expanded to assist people dealing with a range of crises. Burlison pleaded guilty in the U.S. Court of the Southern District of Illinois to fraudulently obtaining a cashiers check from Call for Help Inc. in the amount of $69,788.62, which she used as a down payment on a house, according to court records. She told Call for Help that her own bank had closed and that she needed a cashiers check to give to the title company. In exchange, she wrote personal checks to reimburse Call for Help, but they bounced due to insufficient funds. Then, after she was fired, Call for Help discovered that Burlison collected more than $115,000 in reimbursements for mileage and trainings that she did not attend, the federal complain states. Nonprofits elect a board of directors to provide oversight regarding fiduciary, legal and ethical responsibilities for the organization, said FBI Springfield Field Office Special Agent in Charge David Nanz. In this case, Call for Helps board of directors did exactly what they were put in place to do. Their oversight enabled the FBI to pursue an investigation into the criminal actions of Kenesha Burlison and prevent further harm to the organizations reputation and financial resources. Burlison also was sentenced on a 2020 aggravated identity theft conviction. According to court records, Burlison submitted an inflated income verification as part of an application for a home mortgage. Because the verification required a signature on behalf of Call for Help, Burlison forged the signature of the organizations director of quality assurance. Aggravated identity theft carries a mandatory sentence of two years in prison, which must run consecutive to any other sentence imposed. She also was ordered to pay more than $185,000 in restitution to Call for Help, a $200 special assessment and to serve three years of supervised release following her prison term. Assistant United States Attorney Zoe J. Gross prosecuted the case. EVGA, one of the largest manufacturers of graphics card add-in boards, announced late Friday that it is quitting the board business due to the bleak financial outlook in the sector post-Ethereum Merge and mistreatment from its partner Nvidia. "EVGA will not carry the next-generation graphics cards," a company spokesperson said on its forums. "EVGA will continue to support the existing current-generation products. EVGA will continue to provide the current-generation products. EVGA is committed to our customers and will continue to offer sales and support on the current lineup." While Nvidia and AMD design the GPU that sits on the board, the actual card itself that slots into a computer is built by third parties such as EVGA, Asus, MSI and Gigabyte. This is done to separate this low-margin business from the high-margin business of designing the actual chips. Speaking with YouTube channel GamersNexus, EVGA CEO Andrew Han said that while graphics cards are 80% of the companys business, the firm makes 300% more of a margin on power supplies. Han said EVGA wouldnt even entertain the idea of working with Intel or AMD" because of the inherent problems with the business model. Han also told GamersNexus that Nvidia regularly mistreated the company despite it holding 40% of the North American market share of Nvidia cards by keeping it in the dark on prices until the last minute. Nvidia would also regularly undercut its partners like EVGA by selling its own first-party branded cards Data from Jon Peddie Research shows that while Nvidias margins have been increasing year over year, largely because of the need for GPUs in data centers around the world, the margins for graphics card add-in board partners like EVGA have slipped from 25% in 2000 to around 5% in 2022. Declining margins on GPU cards (Jon Peddie Research) EVGAs competitors are also suffering a similar fate. According to a report from Digitimes, a Taiwanese trade publication covering the electronics sector, Asus, Gigabyte, and MSI all saw their July revenue fall month over month, with executives bracing for a particularly weak second half of 2022 because of low demand for GPUs post-Ethereum Merge and generally weak demand for PCs. Story continues Shares of Asus are down 32% during the past six months on the Taipei stock exchange, while Gigabyte is down 27%, and MSI down 12%. Friendly to miners While Nvidia has always discouraged the use of its GPUs for mining, EVGA actively supported it, releasing drivers that bypassed Nvidia-designed software to limit the utility of these cards to miners. EVGAs CEO did not respond to a request for comment from CoinDesk on how this may have impacted the Nvidia-EVGA relationship. Months after EVGA released its set of drivers to bypass Nvidias mining lock, Nvidia countered with a new set of drivers that were advertised as optimizing performance in new games but behind the scenes crippled the cards mining abilities. But mining is a thing of the past But this back-and-forth doesnt really matter anymore: Proof-of-work (PoW) mining on Ethereum is a thing of the past. While there are other PoW protocols out there, the hashrate they are currently generating is marginal compared with that of Ethereum. Many miners, as CoinDesk previously reported, have simply shut down and liquidated their supply of GPUs. On-chain data shows that Ethereum Classics hashrate has jumped from 65 terahashes per second (Th/s) the days before the Ethereum merge to 177 Th/s as of Sept. 19. Eth Classic Hashrate (CoinWarz) Although a doubling of hashrate in such a short period of time would be an impressive metric elsewhere, it's merely a fraction of the nearly 1000 TH/s Ethereum had the hours before the merge. For companies like EVGA, Asus, and Gigabyte, this will be a tough period as they work through a market thats oversupplied. Gamers who havent been able to get a graphics card at market price in years will be happy. By Angus MacSwan LONDON (Reuters) - The presence of Spain's disgraced former King Juan Carlos at the state funeral of Britain's Queen Elizabeth has prompted criticism at home, with one political party calling him a "criminal on the run". Spain's official delegation is led by King Felipe and his wife Queen Letizia. Felipe came to the throne when his father abdicated in 2014 amid a series of scandals. But Juan Carlos, who was related to the late Queen Elizabeth, received a private invitation to attend, a British government source confirmed. His attendance alongside Spain's official delegation has raised eyebrows since he now lives in exile in Abu Dhabi. On Sunday, Juan Carlos, 84, and his estranged wife Queen Sofia were photographed at a reception in Buckingham Palace in London. The Spanish Royal Household said Sofia, who still lives in Spain, would travel to London with the king and queen, but rather than joining them at the Spanish Embassy would stay in the same hotel as her husband Juan Carlos "for logistical and organisational reasons". A Spanish government source told Reuters that the Spanish Royal Household had led arrangements for Queen Elizabeth's funeral. "We left them to it," the source said. Once revered for his role in Spain's transition to democracy, the popularity of Juan Carlos fell drastically amid financial scandals and public disgust at an elephant-hunting trip to Africa. Spanish prosecutors investigated allegations of fraud in Spain and Switzerland, but the probe was dropped due to insufficient evidence and the statute of limitations. Juan Carlos has declined to comment on the various allegations of wrongdoing. However, he could still face trial in Britain in a harassment case brought against him by his former lover, Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein. He has denied the allegations. The leftist Unidas Podemos, the junior party in Spain's coalition government, criticized the presence of the former king at the funeral. Story continues "Inviting an on-the-run criminal to a state funeral shows you just what the monarchy is in the United Kingdom and in Spain," Podemos spokesman Pablo Echenique told a news conference last week. Gerardo Pisarello, a member of the Spanish parliament representing Podemos' Catalan party En Comu Podem, told Spanish news website El Debate that monarchies were "obsolete and anachronistic". He added in a speech in Spain's Congress on Monday: "Enough of deceiving people with fairytales about the monarchy (British and Spanish), there is a lot of black history surrounding them." Juan Carlos and Queen Elizabeth were related as both were great-great-grandchildren of Britain's Queen Victoria. (Reporting by Angus MacSwan, Graham Keeley and Belen Carreno; Editing by Alex Richardson) By Shariq Khan (Reuters) -Chevron Corp is marketing its interest in more than 2,000 oil and gas wells in Alaska, the company told Reuters on Monday, in a move that could mark the oil major's second exit from oil production in the state in three decades. One of the earliest companies to prospect for oil in Alaska, Chevron helped develop the state's oil industry last century but later exited output there in 1992. It returned a decade later with its $20 billion purchase of Unocal. The company is offering stakes in three oilfields, it confirmed. It holds around 10% in Alaska's Endicott field, 5% in Kuparuk field and 1.2% in Prudhoe Bay. Bids are due this month. The stakes are non-operating interests that provide a share of profits. Chevron estimates the proved and developed portion of these assets is worth $655 million, and including future development, it could be worth $926 million, according to a marketing document the company shared. However, at current oil prices, a sale would likely fetch between $450 million and $550 million, according to a Rystad Energy analyst using comparable transactions. If a sale materializes, Chevron would follow in the steps of BP Plc, which in 2020 sold its producing assets to closely-held Hilcorp for $5.6 billion and exited. Exxon Mobil separately transferred operations of Point Thomson oilfield to Hilcorp last year but retains a majority stake. The properties offered include interests in pipelines in the Kuparuk and Endicott fields, according to the marketing document. ConocoPhillips operates the Kuparuk field, while Hilcorp operates Prudhoe Bay and Endicott, and either could bid on the assets, two people familiar with the companies said, requesting anonymity to discuss private plans. ConocoPhillips declined to comment. Hilcorp did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The oilfields that Chevron is offering produce around 9,400 barrels of oil and gas per day. Overall production in the state has been declining since a peak in 1988 when output exceeded more than 2 million barrels of oil a day. In 2021, Alaska produced 437,000 barrels of oil a day, the lowest since 1976, according to U.S. government data. (Reporting by Shariq Khan in Bengaluru; Editing by Josie Kao) By Marwa Rashad and Christoph Steitz LONDON/FRANKFURT (Reuters) -German utilities RWE and Uniper are close to striking long-term deals to buy liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Qatar's North Field Expansion project to help replace Russian gas, three sources familiar with the matter said. Talks between Germany and Qatar have been fraught with differences over key conditions such as the length of contracts and pricing but the industry sources, who declined to be named, said the parties were expected to reach a compromise soon. Europe's biggest economy aims to replace all Russian energy imports by as soon as mid-2024, a Herculean effort for a country that mainly relies on natural gas to power its industry. While supply deals with Qatar would be positive for Germany, they would not offer an imminent solution to Berlin's energy crisis as the vast North Field Expansion project is not expected to come online before 2026. Reuters reported in May that the talks had run into difficulties because Germany was reluctant to commit to deals for at least 20 years and also wanted prices linked to Dutch benchmark gas prices, rather than oil. One of the sources said the talks were now more constructive than a few months ago. Another source said the utilities were likely to agree 15-year deals, while a third source said a deal could be reached within weeks. Qatar Energy did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Uniper told Reuters on Monday that it remained in talks with Qatar but had not reached a deal. "Uniper is currently working hard to diversify its sources of gas supply. Qatar also plays an important role in this," it said. RWE told Reuters it was in "good and constructive" talks with Qatar, without being more specific. GULF TRIP At the moment, the two utilities buy LNG from Qatar on the spot market. RWE signed a deal with Qatar in 2016 for up to 1.1 million tonnes of LNG a year, but that expires next year. Story continues German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will travel to Saudi Arabia on Saturday for a two-day visit to the Gulf region that will also take him to the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. Scholz is expected to sign LNG contracts during his visit to the UAE, Economy Minister Robert Habeck said. RWE and Uniper are unlikely to sign agreements with Qatar during Scholz's visit as government representatives typically strike broader agreements first, which then lay the ground for commercial sides to finalise details, one of the sources said. Uniper said it would not be taking part in Scholz's trip. The North Field Expansion project includes six LNG trains that will ramp up Qatar's liquefaction capacity from 77 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) to 126 mtpa by 2027. Qatar is partnering with international companies in the first and largest phase of the nearly $30 billion expansion that will reinforce its position as the world's top LNG exporter. Qatar has signed agreements with TotalEnergies, Eni, Shell, Exxon Mobil Corp and ConocoPhillips for stakes in the project. (Reporting by Marwa Rashad in London, Christoph Steitz in Frankfurt, Andrew Mills in Doha, Tom Kaeckenhoff in Duesseldorf and Francesca Landini in Milan; Editing by Veronica Brown and David Clarke) By Anthony Boadle BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil will hold the most polarized presidential election in decades next month, with many expecting incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro to contest the result if he is defeated by former leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, as polls suggest. ELECTRONIC VOTING Brazil adopted electronic voting machines in 1996 to end widespread fraud involving paper ballots. After winning political office in a dozen elections using the current voting system, Bolsonaro ramped up his criticism last year as opinion surveys showed him on track to lose re-election. He has repeatedly asserted that the machines are open to tampering, but he has produced no evidence of fraud. He has also attacked the Supreme Court justices sitting on the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) for defending the electronic system and claimed they could rig it to favor Lula. International voting experts and electoral officials say the technology is secure, with no cases of fraud detected. THIN PAPER TRAIL Still, some election experts say the lack of a paper record for each vote does limit opportunities to conduct audits if the election is contested. Voters punch their choices into electronic voting machines at 477,000 voting stations across Brazil. A paper receipt of each machine's total is signed by officials and displayed publicly in each polling place. The digital results of each machine are put on pen drives and sent via secure connection for centralized tabulation at TSE headquarters in Brasilia. Last year, Congress voted down Bolsonaro's proposal to reintroduce a paper record for each vote cast. TRUMP MODEL Some of Bolsonaro's supporters last year tried to occupy the Supreme Court, inspired by the 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol by backers of former President Donald Trump. Bolsonaro echoed Trump's baseless fraud claims after the 2020 U.S. election, and he was one of the last world leaders to recognize President Joe Biden's victory. Story continues Many observers worry Bolsonaro could take a similar approach if he loses next month. 'MY ARMY' Bolsonaro, a former army captain, has added to institutional tensions by blurring the lines between his government and the armed forces. He has referred to the military as "my army" and told rallying supporters it is "on our side." Bolsonaro has also handed out a record number of jobs to current and former military officers in his government, including key roles in his cabinet. However, leaders of the armed forces offer private assurances to former peers that they want no part in disrupting democratic order, according to a half dozen former officials with close ties to military leadership. Political and defense analysts largely agree that Brazil's military lost its appetite for politics after the 1964-1985 dictatorship that eroded the prestige of the armed forces. Unlike the 1964 military takeover, Brazil's business elites, churches and mainstream media are not calling for political intervention by the armed forces. FOREIGN OBSERVERS Bracing for trouble, electoral authorities have invited a record number foreign organizations to send observer missions and vouch for the integrity of the elections. For the first time, two U.S.-based organizations, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), a non-partisan, non-profit group, and the Carter Center, a non-profit set up by former President Jimmy Carter, are sending missions to observe Brazil's elections. The Carter Center said its electoral expert mission would assess the transparency and functioning of the electronic voting system but would not inspect the technology nor provide an overall assessment of the counting processes. The TSE also invited the European Union to send election observers, but the Bolsonaro government vetoed the proposal. (Reporting by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Brad Haynes and Ross Colvin) Ezra Miller Multiple sources have told Vanity Fair that Flash actor Ezra Miller is battling mental health and substance abuse issues that have resulted in a chaotic and dangerous home and lifestyle. According to these sources, Miller has a messianic vision of themself and uses their celebrity status to groom vulnerable persons and create a cult-like following. Sources also described Millers Vermont farm as filled with guns, drugs, and squalor, as well as an altar to marijuana, sage, and bullets. One unnamed source said Millers mental health issues and their hard-partying ways accelerated during downtime after projects had wrapped. Another source who accompanied Miller to Iceland said the 2019 divorce of the actors parents played a pivotal role in their descent, noting there were no public incidents prior to that development. Yet another source blamed Millers spiritual advisor, a 55-year-old medicine man from North Dakota named Jasper Young Bear, for the actors grandiose visions of themself. The source claimed Young Bear told Miller he was the next Messiah and that the Freemasons were sending demons out to kill him. (Vanity Fair noted that multiple sources misgendered Miller, something the sources claim the actor permits in private). According to sources, Miller has also included Takota Iron Eyes in their messianic illusions. Miller was accused by Iron Eyess parents of grooming and giving large doses of drugs to their daughter starting at the age of 12 after they met during protests of the Keystone Pipeline. Ezra is Jesus, and Tokatas an apocalyptic Native American spider goddess, and their union is supposed to bring about the apocalypse, one source said. And thats the real reason everyone is so opposed to them being together. Millers home in Vermont was originally a llama and alpaca farm, but has since devolved into a messy flophouse with people living and partying on the actors largesse but forced to listen to their lengthy monologues. Story continues Miller has been involved in a string of public incidents involving police recently. Only recently, though, has the actor acknowledged the incidents and the underlying issues. Last month, Miller released a statement to Variety claiming they were committed to doing the necessary work to get back to a healthy, safe, and productive stage in their life. The statement came a week after news Miller had been arrested on a felony burglary charge for allegedly stealing bottles of alcohol from a neighbors home in May. The crime was captured on video which was used to identify Miller as a suspect. They face up to 15 years in prison and a fine of not more than $1,000. In June, the parents of activist Tokata Iron Eyes accused Miller of using drugs, violence, and intimidation to exert a cult-like influence over their daughter, and petitioned a tribal court to issue an order of protection against the Justice League actor. Iron Eyes later denied the accusations in a post to social media. In March, Miller was arrested by police in Hawaii for disorderly conduct and harassment. They allegedly objected to patrons singing karaoke and later lunged at another man playing darts, although Miller claimed they were the victim of two assaults, including one by a man Miller called a Nazi. They offered to show the police a video they filmed of the alleged incidents. I film myself when I get assaulted for NFT crypto art, Miller was observed saying in the bodycam footage. Miller grew increasingly agitated during the arrest, claiming a violation by police of their Ninth Amendment rights to not be unlawfully persecuted for a crime of no designation. They became highly agitated during a body search when a male police officer allegedly touched the non-binary actors penis. Hey, you just touched my penis. Please dont do that, Miller said, adding Im transgender, non-binary, and I dont want to be searched by a man! Susan Sarandon and Ezra Miller. Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty Images; Getty Ezra Miller wanted Susan Sarandon to pay tribute at their Vermont "altar," a source told Vanity Fair. Miller reportedly "freaked out" after Sarandon didn't invite the actor to a dinner party. Miller's rep told VF the actors are friends and Miller would say the story was "total bullshit." "The Flash" star Ezra Miller recently "freaked out" and demanded that Susan Sarandon come to their home to "pay tribute" at their so-called altar because she didn't invite them to a dinner party, Vanity Fair recently reported. People who visited Miller's Vermont home told the outlet the actor has an altar full of "bullets, weed, sage, and Flash figurines." "A lot of times he makes the women put their cell phones on the altar when they come in, and other offerings," the source, who Vanity Fair describes as a friend of Miller's, told the outlet. "Ezra freaked out recentlydemanding that Susan Sarandon come pay tribute to his altar because she didn't invite Ezra to a dinner party." Miller, who uses they/them pronouns, was at times misgendered by the sources in Vanity Fair who told the outlet the actor doesn't insist on those pronouns in private. Ezra Miller. Karwai Tang/Contributor/Getty A representative for Miller told Vanity Fair that the "Perks of Being A Wallflower" star is "dear friends" with Sarandon. The representative added that Miller "would probably call this [anecdote] total bullshit if asked," per the site. Representatives for Miller and Sarandon didn't respond to Insider's request for comment on the story. According to several reports, Miller has been exhibiting worrying behavior for about three years. In April 2020, a video of the actor appearing to choke a woman in Iceland went viral online. Miller's representative told Vanity Fair they had "a spontaneous reaction" after being provoked by "a group of teens." The representative said that they were not choking the woman but "went at her collarbone." Susan Sarandon. Theo Wargo/ Getty Images Miller also got into legal trouble in Hawai'i in March and April of 2022. In August, they were arrested on felony burglary charges in Vermont after police alleged they took "several bottles of alcohol" from an unoccupied residence. Story continues The actor's representative told Vanity Fair they were "cooking with their mother, needed rice wine, and grabbed that and another bottle of wine from the home of a close childhood friend. The rep says Miller did not realize that the friend didn't want to be friends anymore," according to the site's report. Later in August, Miller released a statement saying they were seeking help for "complex mental health issues," Variety first reported. "I want to apologize to everyone that I have alarmed and upset with my past behavior," added Miller, per the outlet. "I am committed to doing the necessary work to get back to a healthy, safe, and productive stage in my life," the statement read in part. Ezra Miller. Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images Entertainment Sources told Variety that Miller decided to seek help when they learned that their role as The Flash in DC's cinematic universe was in jeopardy. In August, Miller and their agent Scott Metzger met with Warner Bros. film chairs Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy to talk about how Miller could "stay on course for 'The Flash's' June 23, 2023, release date" and "reaffirm their commitment to the movie as well as apologize for bringing negative attention to the production and the company," according to The Hollywood Reporter. Read the original article on Insider Judge's gavel There are multiple hot-button issues this election season, but perhaps none have made as many recent headlines as the SAFE-T Act and its no cash bail provision. Passed by the Illinois General Assembly and signed into law last year by Gov. JB Pritzker, House Bill 3653 is a major criminal justice reform bill that orders all police departments to have body cameras by 2025 and updates police use of force guidelines among other requirements. Much of the bill went into effect in July 2021, but the end of cash bail, going into effect on Jan. 1, 2023, has not. While more than 100 days until the start of next year, the provision has become a rallying cry for Republicans on the campaign trail and in online forums. There are ample social media posts detailing the bill, but some are more accurate than others. The end of cash bail and more:What's in Illinois' SAFE-T Act? What are the non-detainable offenses in the bill? A graphic attributed to a news organization has been well-circulated on social media, listing 11 offenses that would be "non-detainable" due to the end of cash bail. CLAIM: The following are the offenses WFCN News, an online-based outlet covering southern Illinois since 2017, claims: Aggravated battery Aggravated DUI Aggravated fleeing Arson Burglary Drug-induced homicide Intimidation Kidnapping Robbery Second-degree murder Threatening a public official FACT: As for the language of the bill, Section 110-6.1.a. describes several of these charges as a "forcible felony offense" where a judge could withhold pretrial release. Under the state criminal code, those offenses include "treason, first-degree murder, second-degree murder, predatory criminal sexual assault of a child, aggravated criminal sexual assault, criminal sexual assault, robbery, burglary, residential burglary, aggravated arson, arson, aggravated kidnapping, kidnapping, aggravated battery resulting in great bodily harm or permanent disability or disfigurement and any other felony which involves the use or threat of physical force or violence against any individual." Story continues If the defendant charged with a non-probational forced felony offense "poses a specific, real and present threat to any person or the community," a judge could order the individual to remain behind bars. However for cases eligible for probation such as aggravated battery, burglary, second-degree murder, and more, this standard would not apply. The governor's office responded to the claims earlier this week, specifying that non-detainable offenses do not exist. However, there are some exceptions. In addition to the real and present threat standard, the willful flight provision is included in the bill to address those who have made official plans to evade prosecution. Opponents to this standard say it is challenging to prove an individual's flee attempts unless explicitly expressed. This standard also would not apply to Class 4 felonies, meaning those accused of aggravated DUI and driving on a revoked license would not face pretrial detention. Is this a 'Purge Law?' Taking the name from the dystopian film series which legalizes all crime on a temporary basis, videos on Tik Tok have garnered thousands of views by calling the bill a "Purge Law." CLAIM: One such clip shows Orland Park mayor and U.S. Illinois House District 6 candidate Keith Pekau describing what the bill means to his constituents in the Chicago suburb. The Republican made several claims regarding the bill, including preventing law enforcement from removing trespassers from a residence or place of business. FACT: The bill's only explicit mention of trespassing refers to trespass of vehicles, but still applies due to the degree of the crime. Typically listed as a Class B misdemeanor, a charge for criminal trespassing can lead up to six months in jail or a $1,500 fine. Being a Class B misdemeanor, Section 109-1, A-1 says law enforcement should "issue a citation in lieu of custodial arrest" but only if the suspect is again not deemed by a judge as a threat to the community or if they have any "medical or mental health issues that pose a risk to their own safety." If a suspect qualifies for pretrial release, they are scheduled to return to court within 21 days. CLAIM: Pekau also takes issue with how the bill handles electronic monitoring, which typically involves an ankle strap on a suspect so law enforcement can know their location. "Offenders released on electronic monitoring have to be in violation for 48 hours before law enforcement can act," he said in the video from Orland Park Village Board meeting earlier this month. "They could almost drive to Alaska before we can even look for them." FACT: Per the legislation, electronic monitoring should only be used if "no less restrictive condition" exists for a pretrial release. As for Pekau's claim regarding law enforcement action, Section 5-8A - 4.1 says a suspect that fails to comply with the electronic monitoring program would be guilty of either a Class 3 felony, Class B misdemeanor, or Class 1 felony if they remain in violation for at least 48 hours. The severity of the charge depends on the initial charge and if the suspect is armed with a dangerous weapon. Will this lead to an emptying of prisons? CLAIM: Among concerns about the provision among Republicans and some state's attorneys is their claim of prison walkouts. Recently, Madison County State's Attorney Thomas Haine said in a letter to the governor that roughly half of his county's jail population would be released on New Year's Day because of the SAFE-T Act. FACT: While those already sentenced will not be affected by the end of cash bail, research indicates there will be significant reductions to jails statewide. A significant portion (89%) of the state's 2020 to 2021 prison population - totaling 172,114 of the 193,387 Illinoisans behind bars- were being held pretrial, spending an average of 34 days in prison according to a study from Loyola University of Chicagos Center for Criminal Justice Research. Collectively, that number is expected to drop to between 44,000 and 70,000 eligible for pre-trial containment once the Pretrial Fairness Act kicks-in starting 2023. Defining this time period as "post-Covid," the report suggests that if trends continue "somewhere between 89,000 and 115,000 individuals per year could not be initially detained under the PFA once the law goes into effect." Class 4 felonies being essentially non-detainable play a role in this reduction, according to the report. What do gubernatorial candidates say about the SAFE-T Act? Republican gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey held multiple press conferences in Chicago recently, again attacking Pritzker, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, and Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx for gun violence and crime in the city. On Wednesday, Bailey and running mate Stephanie Trussell held a press conference in Washington Park -- the site of a Tuesday night shooting with two fatalities. He specifically targeted Foxx, claiming that she has failed to prosecute violent criminals. "I bet the people who shot up this place last night had been arrested before," he said. "Get them off the streets." This was a continuation of what he told reporters in Springfield, where he believes this issue will become statewide under the end of cash bail. There, and throughout the campaign, he called for the repeal of the SAFE-T Act. However, he has not offered alternatives. Related:Candidates for Illinois governor talk public safety at separate Tuesday events At a Sept. 14 news conference, Pritzker reiterated he supports the new law but didnt say when changes would happen or to what extent they are necessary. Are there changes or adjustments that need to be made? Of course, he said. And there have been adjustments made and there will continue to be. Laws are not immutable. Now renting an apartment in the Magnificent Mile, Bailey has come under fire by the Pritzker campaign for his voting record as a state senator on law enforcement measures. One of his "no" votes included the fiscal year 2023 budget, which includes $30 million in grants for law enforcement body cameras and $10 million for a local law enforcement retention grant program. Editor's Note: This story has been updated to clarify which crimes are non-detainable under the end of no cash bail and how the Illinois prison population is expected to be impacted starting Jan. 1, 2023. Capitol News Illinois contributed. Contact Patrick Keck: 312-549-9340, pkeck@gannett.com, twitter.com/@pkeckreporter This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Illinois' SAFE-T Act: Cash bail misinformation spreads on social media LONDON (Reuters) - Following is a summary of the late British Queen Elizabeth's life in numbers: * Queen Elizabeth II was the 40th monarch in England since Norman King William the Conqueror obtained the crown. Her reign of 70 years, 7 months and 2 days was the longest in the history of what became the United Kingdom. During that time she has given her assent to more than 4,000 Acts of Parliament. * Elizabeth visited well over 100 countries during her reign. In 2016, Buckingham Palace said she had travelled at least 1,032,513 miles (1,661,668 km) to 117 nations. She paid the most visits to Canada. * She had 15 prime ministers, starting with Winston Churchill through to Liz Truss. During her reign there were 14 U.S. presidents and seven popes. * She had four children, eight grandchildren, and 12 great-grandchildren. * She sent more than 300,000 congratulatory cards to people celebrating their 100th birthdays, and more than 900,000 messages to couples marking their Diamond (60th) Wedding Anniversaries. * She loved dogs and owned more than 30 Corgis and Dorgis during her reign, most of which have been descended from her first Corgi, Susan, which was given to Elizabeth when she turned 18 in 1944. (Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Frances Kerry and Alex Richardson) Jameek Lowerys family has won what could be an important victory in its lawsuit against Paterson involving the 27-year-old mans police-custody death. A federal judge last month approved what amounts to expedited testimony from nationally renowned pathologist Dr. Michael Baden, whose autopsy findings reportedly contradicted the official determination that Lowerys death was accidental and involved a pre-existing medical condition and his taking illegal drugs. Baden is 88 years old, and the Lowery familys lawyers had argued in court papers that it was essential to their case that the testimony by the former New York City medical examiner be handled now while Baden is still available rather than waiting for the glacial process of the lawsuit to reach the trial stage. The familys lawyers, from the DiFrancesco Bateman firm in Warren, said they could not retain another expert witness to replace Baden if he were not able to testify at the trial. Baden has given testimony in such cases as the O.J. Simpson trial, the death of Eric Garner in the Staten Island chokehold case, Michal Brown's killing in Ferguson, Missouri, and George Floyd's murder in Minnesota two years ago. Baden examined Lowerys body in 2019 at the familys request. His family members have said Baden attributed Lowerys death to blows inflicted by Paterson police officers as they restrained him and transported him in an ambulance from police headquarters to the hospital. Minutes before being taken into the ambulance, Lowery recorded a frantic social media video in which he said he was paranoid from taking drugs and that police officers wanted to kill him. Lowery lost consciousness upon arrival at the hospital and died two days later without regaining consciousness, according to the Passaic County Prosecutors Office. United States District Court Judge Andre Espinosa issued an order on Aug. 26 saying Baden would provide his sworn testimony including a cross-examination by the citys lawyers by Oct. 9. Espinosa said the city faced sanctions if it failed to comply with that order. Story continues Patersons lawyers had unsuccessfully opposed the expedited testimony from Baden, under a legal process called a de bene esse deposition, which preserves pre-trial sworn statements for use in trial. For subscribers:Gateway work sped up. Now it's delayed. Why 'most urgent' project in the US slowed again Badens report from his examination of Lowerys body has not been made public. The lawsuit has a confidentiality order covering many aspects of the case, including the personnel files of the officers who interacted with Lowery at the time of the incident. His death triggered several weeks of protest rallies in downtown Paterson, including one during which two organizers were arrested, prompting separate lawsuits against the city. Paterson rarely goes to trial when the city gets sued by people accusing city cops of wrongdoing. The vast majority of those lawsuits get dismissed before trial or the city agrees to provide the accusers with a settlement payment. Paterson has paid out several million dollars in such settlements over the past decade. The city already attempted to get the Lowery lawsuit dismissed but was unsuccessful. This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Lawsuit against Paterson in Jameek Lowery's death moves forward The family of a Queens construction worker shot dead by two gunmen on a moped struggled Monday to make sense of his sudden death. Edwin Naula, 28, was killed Sunday afternoon as he walked home from lunch at his favorite seafood restaurant with two of his brothers and a friend, who were all wounded in the attack. He brought light to the room, said Naulas sister, Kelly Naula, 25. He was never in a bad mood, always smiling. He cared about everybody. He was not a selfish person. Edwin Naula and the other men were outside a house on 41st Ave. near Warren St. in Elmhurst when the gun-toting duo rode past on a moped and opened fire about 1:30 p.m., police said. I heard yelling, and I heard about three shots, said one resident on the block. Medics rushed Edwin Naula to Elmhurst Hospital Center, but he could not be saved. The three other wounded men a 26-year-old shot in the hand, a 29-year-old man blasted in the cheek and arm and a 32-year-old man hit in the torso were taken to the same hospital in stable condition. No arrests have been made, and its not yet clear who was targeted or why. Though numerous people were outside on the street when bullets flew, no witnesses came forward, according to a cop at the scene. The victims sister, an active military member who flew to the city from Florida when she got the bad news, said she could always count on her brother to visit her, no matter where she was stationed. He came to California, and we went to Universal Studios and hiked to the Hollywood sign, Kelly Naula said. Other family members said they were as perplexed as the sister. Edwin Naula was involved in community service projects including community cleanups and enjoyed fishing. He worked in construction and was devoted to his pet Siberian husky, named Rocket. He wasnt armed. He was walking, they went out to eat and he would always pay, said brother Edgar Naula, 22, who called the attackers lowlifes. The victim, in death, may still help someone else. He was an organ donor, but only his eyes were salvageable, his sister said. Story continues I just want justice, said the victims crying father, Raul Naula, 58. What else can I say? So far this year, five people have been killed in the 110th Precinct, which covers Elmhurst, through Sunday, compared with three by the same point last year, a 67% spike. Citywide, murders are down 13% so far this year compared with last. Shootings in the precinct are also up, with 13 people shot this year through Sunday compared with eight victims in the same timeframe last year, an 86% surge. Shootings are down citywide, with 1,206 people shot so far this year compared with 1,375 by this time last year, a 12% drop. The family of a freshman student who died after fraternity hazing will receive nearly $1 million from the Virginia university he attended, according to the school and media reports. Adam Oakes, 19, died from alcohol poisoning in February 2021 after he was told to drink a bottle of whiskey at a Delta Chi fraternity event hosted by the organizations chapter at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, The Associated Press reported. Virginia Commonwealth University has agreed to pay the Oakes family $995,000 as part of a settlement approved in Fairfax County Circuit Court on Sept. 16, according to a university news release. This comes more than a year after Oakes death on Feb. 27, 2021. Adam was a beloved son, grandson, nephew, cousin, student and friend. He had a tremendous future ahead of him and his senseless death brought unspeakable pain and tragedy to all who knew him, a joint statement from the family and the school said. The evening of Feb. 26, 2021, Oakes arrived at a fraternity big/little reveal night after having accepted a bid from Delta Chi, according to the Love Like Adam Foundation, a nonprofit created in his memory. There, he was ordered to drink Jack Daniels. The next day, deputies from the Loudoun County Sheriffs Office arrived at Oakes familys home to inform them that the student had died, according to the nonprofit. After Oakes death, Delta Chi was expelled from Virginia Commonwealth University in June 2021, AP reported. Additionally, five former fraternity members pleaded guilty or were found guilty of misdemeanor charges including hazing in connection with the Feb. 26 Delta Chi event, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported. None of the men served time in jail. Of the 11 fraternity members charged, one was Oakes big brother Andrew White who drank with the freshman during the event, according to WWBT. White pleaded guilty to an unlawful hazing of a student charge and another charge of buying alcohol for someone under 21 in December 2021, Richmond City Circuit court records show. Story continues The joint statement shared by Oakes family and the university said our agreement honors his memory, and our goal is that it will help save lives in the future. As part of the agreement, Feb. 27 is designated as a hazing prevention day honoring Oakes memory and the causes and circumstances of his tragic death, according to the news release. A physical memorial in honor of Oakes will be created and established on campus. Also as part of the agreement, alcohol will be banned at university fraternity and sorority events where new members are present, according to the university. There will also be stricter rules regarding serving and consuming alcohol at events sponsored, endorsed or organized by student organizations. The agreement came days before National Hazing Prevention week, Sept. 19 through 23. Prominent high school football team suspends players over hazing, Texas reports say 46 frat brothers face charges after new members hazed, New Hampshire cops say Offensive hazing seen on video cancels high school football season, PA district says College student left unable to speak after fraternity hazing, Missouri lawsuit says Tom Parker Bowles (right) arriving at the State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, held at Westminster Abbey, London. (PA) Many famous faces have joined the Royal Family, global dignitaries, and international mourners at Westminster Abbey for the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. The Queen Consorts son, food critic Tom Parker Bowles, arrived early to be part of the congregation at the event. Reality TV star Bear Grylls was photographed arriving at the ceremony in a mourning suit, with his OBE medal pinned to his lapel. Bear Grylls gestures on the day of the state funeral and burial of Queen Elizabeth II. (Reuters) Sophie Winkleman, the actor best known as Big Suze in the sitcom Peep Show was in attendance. She is married to Lord Frederick Windsor, the son of Prince Michael of Kent who is a paternal cousin of The Queen. She was seen walking into the church wearing a black wide-brimmed hat featuring a matching black bow on the front, before taking her seat alongside other relatives of the late monarch. Sophie Winkleman, Princess Michael of Kent, Lord Frederick Windsor and George Gilman during The State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. (Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images) Killing Eve star Sandra Oh was also in attendance. The Canadian actor attended the late British monarch's funeral as part of the Canadian delegation as a member of the Order of Canada. Watch: Sandra Oh attends the Queen's funeral Coronation Street star Antony Cotton, who was awarded an MBE in the 2022 Birthday Honours for services to the British Army, personnel and veterans, revealed he had attended the service. Wellwhere to begin?! I had the greatest honour of being invited to Her Majestys funeral. So proud to see so many pals working on it, and doing their Queen and country proud. It was a day I will never forget. May flights of Angels sing thee to thy rest pic.twitter.com/Hjh8jTMlBl Antony Cotton (@antonycotton) September 19, 2022 The actor, who has played Sean Tully on the ITV soap since 2003 and is a patron of Help For Heroes, described it as 'the greatest honour', and paid tribute to the military personnel involved in the day: "The men and women of our armed forces were nothing short of magnificent today. Im so, so proud of all my pals who worked on giving Her Majesty such a wonderful send off. It was a remarkable service." Story continues Carole and Michael Middleton, parents of the Princess of Wales, were among the invited guests to attend the church. Carole Middleton (C-R) and Michael Middleton (C-L) arrive at Westminster Abbey in London. (AFP via Getty Images) Read more: Global dignitaries arrives for state funeral Government officials and politicians have also arrived at Westminster Abbey ahead of the Queens state funeral. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer arrived at Westminster Abbey shortly before 9.40am, soon followed by London Mayor Sadiq Khan and his wife Saadiya. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer (right) arriving at the State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. (Getty) Mayor of London Sadiq Khan and his wife Saadiya Khan arriving at the State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. (Getty) Former prime ministers Boris Johnson, David Cameron and Theresa May arrived at Westminster Abbey at the same time on Monday morning. Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson and Carrie Johnson arrive at Westminster Abbey ahead of The State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. (Getty) Johnson was accompanied by wife Carrie, while May was with husband Philip and Cameron walked in with wife Samantha. Moments later former Labour prime ministers Gordon Brown and Tony Blair walked into the church, alongside wives Sarah and Cherie respectively. Former British Prime Ministers Gordon Brown (L) and Tony Blair arrive at Westminster Abbey in London. (Getty) Business Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg arrived shortly before 9.30am, wearing a black top hat, while Cop26 President Alok Sharma walked through the doors a few minutes later. Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy of United Kingdom, Jacob Rees-Mogg arrives at Westminster Abbey. (Getty) SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford also entered the abbey, wearing a kilt. Other politicans to arrive included former Conservative Party leader William Hague and Leader of the Commons Penny Mourdant. William Hague arrives to take his seat inside Westminster Abbey in London on September 19, 2022. (AFP via Getty Images) Penny Mordaunt arrives ahead of the State funeral of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey on September 19, 2022 in London. (Getty) Among the famous guests who will be at the funeral is composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, who paid tribute to the Queen on the BBC earlier. Foreign dignitaries have also been greeted at Westminster Abbey ahead of the Queens state funeral on Monday. US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden walked through the doors shortly after 10am. US President Joe Biden arrives at Westminster Abbey. (Getty) The funeral was broadcast live at around 125 cinemas and several cathedrals in the UK, and on a big screen in Holyrood Park in front of the Palace of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh. At 12.15pm, the coffin was taken in procession from Westminster Abbey to Wellington Arch and then travelled to Windsor. Members of a military marching band walk ahead of the State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. (PA) The hearse will then travel in procession to St Georges Chapel at Windsor Castle via the Long Walk, after which a televised committal service will take place in St Georges Chapel at 4pm. The Dean of Windsor will conduct the service, with prayers said by the Rector of Sandringham, the Minister of Crathie Kirk and the Chaplain of Windsor Great Park. Additional reporting by PA. Watch: Crowds gather in London ahead of the funeral A federal appeals court upheld a Texas law on Friday that seeks to curb censorship by social media platforms. The ruling, a major victory for Republicans who charge companies like Twitter and Facebook are limiting free speech, is a step in a major legal battle that could end up at the Supreme Court. The lawsuit is challenging HB 20, a Texas bill signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott that regulates social media platforms with more than 50 million monthly users, which includes Google, Facebook and Twitter, and says they cannot censor or limit users speech based on viewpoint expression. Mark Zuckerberg CEO of Meta Photographer: Michaela Handrek-Rehle/Bloomberg via Getty Images CALIFORNIA GOV. NEWSOM SIGNS NEW SOCIAL MEDIA TRANSPARENCY BILL INTO STATE LAW In his opinion, Federal Judge Andrew S. Oldham of the Fifth Circuit said the platforms argued for "a rather odd inversion of the First Amendment" that "buried somewhere in the persons enumerated right to free speech lies a corporations unenumerated right to muzzle speech." "Today we reject the idea that corporations have a freewheeling First Amendment right to censor what people say," Judge Oldham continued. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images KEN PAXTON, PAM BONDI FIRE BACK AT GAVIN NEWSOM: 'WHAT BIDEN IS DOING IS ILLEGAL' Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is arguing in defense of HB 20, stated on Twitter Friday, "I just secured a MASSIVE VICTORY for the Constitution & Free Speech in fed court: #BigTech CANNOT censor the political voices of ANY Texan!" VERMONT EDUCATION AGENCY SAYS DISTRICTS CANNOT WITHHOLD PUBLIC TUITION MONEY TO RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS NetChoice, a nonprofit group representing Meta in the challenge against the Texas law, said in a statement they are "disappointed" with the decision. "We remain convinced that when the U.S. Supreme Court hears one of our cases, it will uphold the First Amendment rights of websites, platforms, and apps." Fridays ruling created what is known as a "circuit split," since the eleventh circuit struck down a similar social media law in Florida. A circuit split generally increases the likelihood of the Supreme Court taking up a case. Looking for something to do? Here are some things going on the week of Sept. 23-29 in the Chicago suburbs and northwest Indiana. Events are current as of press time; please check websites for updated information and COVID-19 restrictions. Down on the farm Northern Indiana Historical Power Association presents the Fall Harvest Festival & Antique Equipment Show from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sept. 23-25 at Sunset Hill Farm County Park in Valparaiso. Tickets are $5 for adults, children under 12 are free. Go to nihpa.org. Carefree Highway Gordon Lightfoot will perform at 8 p.m. Sept. 23 at the Genesee Theatre in Waukegan. Tickets are $40-$85. At 203 N. Genesee St. Call 847-263-6300 or go to geneseetheatre.com. Acrobats and dance Cirque Kalabante presents Afrique en Cirque at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 24 in at Moraine Valley Community Colleges Dorothy Menker Theater. Tickets are $35 for adults, free for kids and students with ID. At 9000 W. College Pkwy., Palos Heights. Call 708-974-4300 or go to morainevalley.edu/fpac. Classic supergroup Jim Peteriks World Stage will perform at 8 p.m. Sept. 24 at North Central College in Naperville. Tickets are $55-$70. At Pfeiffer Hall, 310 E. Benton Ave. Call 630-637-7469 or go to finearts.northcentralcollege.edu. Chamber concert Orion Ensemble debuts its season at 3 p.m. Sept. 25 at New England Congregational Church, 406 W. Galena Blvd., Aurora, and at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 2 at Music Institute of Chicago, Nichols Hall, 1490 Chicago Ave., Evanston. Go to orionensemble.org. Email any events in the Chicago suburbs for consideration at least two weeks in advance to wweber@tribpub.com. Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody continues her campaign to protect Floridians as well as all Americans from intrusive robocalls. On Monday, Moody called on the Federal Communications Commission to require telephone providers to implement stronger measures that prevent illegal and fraudulent robocalls from inundating Americans. >>> STREAM CHANNEL 9 EYEWITNESS NEWS LIVE <<< I am joining attorneys general from across the nation urging the FCC to strengthen federal rules to ensure gateway providers are doing everything they can to protect Americans from unlawful robocalls, Moody said. Fifty other attorneys general joined Moody in her reply to the FCC in support of the proposed rule changes. Read: Florida Attorney General Moody announces formation of nationwide anti-robocall task force According to a news release, illegal robocalls cost consumers, law enforcement and the telecom industry approximately $13.5 billion every year. The FCC recently required the phone companies that let these calls onto the U.S. telephone network to do more to prevent these calls and is proposing expanding many of these rules to the few phone companies that are exclusively responsible for routing fraudulent and illegal calls across the U.S. phone network. Read: SunRail shares railroad safety message as part of National Rail Safety Week Many of these calls originate from scam actors overseas who spoof American-based phone numbers. Mondays letter from 51 attorneys general supports the FCCs proposal to extend the implementation of STIR/SHAKEN, a caller ID authentication technology that helps prevent spoofed calls, to all intermediate phone providers in the U.S. Read: Florida lottery introduces 4 new scratch-off games, offering players billions in total winnings To view a copy of the letter, see below: Tall Moody Robocalls by WFTV on Scribd Click here to download the free WFTV news and weather apps, click here to download the WFTV Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live. A Miami Beach city commissioner proposed putting a bounty on invasive iguanas that are running rampant along Florida's Atlantic Coast. "I do think we have one solution and that is to put a bounty on the iguanas and pay people for bring in iguanas," Miami Beach Commissioner Kristen Gonzalez said Wednesday at a council meeting. "Dead or alive if we pay per iguana, were going to get more iguanas. People are going to go out and hunt them for money." Ivan Edwards brings his catch back to the boat after shooting it along a river in south Florida on Feb. 11, 2022. Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images Iguanas, which don't have any natural predators in Florida, have multiplied in record numbers in recent years. They are most concentrated along the southern tip of Florida's Atlantic Coast, from Broward to Palm Beach County. FLORIDA CHILL HAS IGUANAS FALLING FROM TREES, OFFICIALS WARN "Iguanas can cause damage to the residential and commercial landscape and vegetation and threaten our native and endangered species such as Florida Tree Snails, Miami Blue Butterflies, and the Burrowing Owl," the agenda for Wednesday's city council said. "They can also transmit the infectious bacterium Salmonella to humans through contact with water or surfaces contaminated by their feces." The Miami Beach City Council is considering contracting with an outside iguana removal service, but Gonzalez suggested that the bounty program could be more effective. "I think thats the better use of our money than hiring some guy with a raccoon cap, five guys with raccoon caps that are going to go around to the public properties," she said. Forklift drivers Ian Connor and Warren Elliot work on Wednesday, September 7, 2022, at Wausau Supply Company in Brandon. A quick Google search tells the story: Forklift operators are in high demand in the area. On Indeed, a job listings website, there are more than 250 positions open in the Sioux Falls area. Other sites have roughly 200 jobs. Its always been in demand, but yeah, its a new level that weve just never seen, Spherion License Owner and Vice President of Sales and Marketing Karen Witzel said. Spherion is a national recruiting and staffing enterprise that has a presence in Sioux Falls. Witzel said that the market is somewhat outpacing itself. Now, because of market demand, those general skill jobs are paying just as much as forklift. Even if youre a forklift driver, you can make just as much money and maybe have less work or lighter work conditions, Witzel said. More SFBJ: Calm Waters nonprofit raising money, hosting poker run for new center outside of Sioux Falls The unemployment rate was 2.3 percent in South Dakota last month, and as the industrial sector grows in Sioux Falls, workers are in high demand. Levers sit idle on a forklift while not in use on Wednesday, September 7, 2022, at Wausau Supply Company in Brandon. And that includes forklift drivers, a position often requiring no prior industrial experience and one that can pay well, too. With salary data specific to Sioux Falls, Witzel said wages for forklift drivers have shot up to at least $20 an hour. Before the pandemic, Witzel said typical wages for forklift positions were around $16. Local companies like Wausau Supply Company in Brandon have found it difficult to fill their warehouse positions. There are roughly 10 warehouse workers for Wausau Supply Company inside the 150,000-square foot building in Brandon, along with four truck drivers. The business is actively searching for two additional drivers, but is staffed with forklift drivers, said Jim Redlinger, Wausau Supply Companys western regional distribution manager. At Wausau Supply Company, a distribution company, those without forklift experience start out at $18.40, Redlinger said, with the possibility of a higher wage with more experience. Since COVID started, Redlinger said the company has increased benefits including more vacation days and company stocks to retain workers. He estimated the new changes bump hourly rates up by about $4. Story continues How to become a forklift driver In order to drive a forklift, workers must be 18 years or older and go through proper OSHA training. There are seven different classes for forklift certifications. Training covers classroom materials and hands-on activities. Once an individual completes the course, certification is valid for three years and refresher courses are required. "Operators typically are trained on the job in less than a month, but the amount of time spent in training varies with the type of machine," a U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational outlook handbook said. "(Jobs) such as industrial trucks and forklifts may take only a few days to learn how to operate." Forklift driver Ian Connor works on Wednesday, September 7, 2022, at Wausau Supply Company in Brandon. Most employers, like Wausau Supply Company, offer their own training, Redlinger said. That typically includes three factors including classroom instruction, a written test and hands-on training. Its not a hard process. Its not hard to drive a forklift, especially (with) what we do, Redlinger said. Theyre pretty easy to run, easy to learn how to run. Thats why were able to do most of that training. Ian Connor, a forklift driver at Wausau Supply Company, has been in the business for about two years now, and had on-the-job training. He started moving four-foot pallets, and eventually went up to 16- and 20-foot panels, he said. "Once you kind of get the feel of a forklift, how the rear end swings out ... It's a pretty quick process," Connor said. "... It's just enjoyable. It's fun to see how much you can pick up with just a pull of a lever." More SFBJ: South Dakota family turns farm into pumpkin patch, fall activity destination for families Forklift industry growing steadily It's expected that the sector adds 53,100 jobs by 2030, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, at a job outlook change of 7% which is considered "as fast as average." Some warehouses are using automated machinery to improve their operations and increase efficiency. However, industrial truck and tractor operators will be needed in warehouses as more consumers choose to purchase products online, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said. Forklift driver Warren Eliott works on Wednesday, September 7, 2022, at Wausau Supply Company in Brandon. In 2021, median pay for material moving machine operators clocked in at $38,380 per year. There's also a safety risk when it comes to forklift driving in the workplace. According to the National Safety Council, there were 78 work-related deaths among forklift drivers in 2020. There were 7,290 nonfatal injuries. Riekes Equipment is a full-service material handling equipment dealership in Sioux Falls that provides new, used and rental forklift equipment. Since COVID-19 hindered supply chain issues, Riekes has seen a change in business. "Because of the delays in the availability of industrial equipment, we are finding some customers keeping their older equipment longer and increasing their spend on repairs," Riekes Equipment Director of Marketing Lisa Brink said. "... One element that has been changing is the type of equipment companies purchase, finding a more specialized forklift ... Maybe something for narrow aisles or that handles long loads, can go a long way in increasing productivity." But, the demand for forklift rentals has remained somewhat unchanged, according to the company. It varies year-to-year based on growth of businesses, Brink said. "The demand for forklifts remains the same as what we have seen in previous years. Forklifts play a big role in moving and storing products, so they are critical to most operations regardless of the industry," Brink said. This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: South Dakota forklift drivers in high demand, making more money Former national security official, Fiona Hill, explains Vladimir Putin's complex political situation within Russia during a discussion hosted by the Brookings Institution. Russia first invaded Ukraine in February of 2022 and the deadly war has continued to rock the international community over the abhorrent war crimes and atrocities that have taken place as Ukraine defends itself against the Russian invasion. HILL: We have to watch the dynamics inside of Russia very carefully I think in terms of answering this question because Russia remains a very complex place. We think about Vladimir Putin, we know that it was his decision to launch this war. Part of it is his thinking about Ukraine, along the lines that Jim is suggesting here. There is only a handful of people, maybe the same number of people sitting on this stage, who participated in the decision to invade Ukraine. It hasn't gone anywhere that he thought it would or the so-called Party of War thought it would. And it was a big debate inside Russia itself. So it's not just us debating, it's also people within Russia. Hours after allegedly assaulting a family member and then threatening to shoot officers, a man was arrested, according to the Dyersburg Police Department. The barricade situation started Friday, September 16 around 9 p.m. after 38-year-old Steven Thurmond assaulted a family member, police said. The 58-year-old woman told police that Thurmond attacked her and when officers made contact with Thurmond he barricaded himself inside, threatening to shoot officers while armed with a shotgun, according to police. A special response team and negotiators joined officers as they surrounded the residence Thurmond was in. Nearly four and a half hours later, the Special Response Team was able to enter the home and take Thurmond into custody without incident, Dyersburg Police said. This is the third barricaded incident the department and SRT has responded to since July. One of the most dangerous situations a police officer encounters is forcibly entering someones home. Im proud of our responding officers, our Special Response Team, and negotiators for their efforts that resulted in the safe apprehension of a dangerous felon, Dyersburg Police Chief Steve Isbell said in a press release. Thurmond was charged with four counts of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, aggravated domestic assault, being a felon in possession of firearm and introducing contraband into a penal institution. Download the FOX13 Memphis app to receive alerts from breaking news in your neighborhood. CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD Trending stories: PARIS (Reuters) - France's Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the arrest and violence that lead to the death of Mahsa Amini on Monday. In a statement, the ministry said that the death of the Iranian woman at the hands of Iran's morality police is "profoundly shocking" and called for a transparent investigation to shed light on the circumstances of her death. It added that France reaffirmed its commitment to counter violence against women and girls all over the world and would continue to advocate in favour of the generalisation of the Council of Europe's Istanbul Convention on preventing violence against women. (Reporting by Layli Foroudi) (Bloomberg) -- An Australian proposal to offer free carbon credits to some of its biggest emitters risks undermining government efforts to restore confidence in the nations climate policies, according to an analyst. Most Read from Bloomberg The country may miss its 2030 emissions target if credits dont reflect real and additional abatements, according to RepuTex, a provider of data and analysis that helped model the goal. That adds to pressure to reform the system, which is under review following accusations that many policies dont actually cut pollution. Integrity of crediting is key to any emissions market, Hugh Grossman, a managing director at RepuTex, said in a statement. If market integrity is not prioritized, Australias ability to meet its 2030 target, and realize the economic benefits of the low-carbon transition could be significantly undermined. Demand for credits has been strong since the Labor government took power in May on expectations that it will reform the Safeguard Mechanism, which requires about 215 large industrial polluters to offset emissions above a certain threshold. Spot prices have also been rising, with a record transaction of credits during the second quarter. The governments consultation paper for the reform of its central climate policy in August included a proposal to give out free credits to companies that emit below an industry average. That would effectively mean half the companies under the system could benefit from a financial windfall from selling the free credits or saving them to meet future requirements to cut emissions, RepuTex said. If credits used by industry do not represent 1 ton of emissions abatement, and that credit is used to offset emissions -- as is the case here -- then we would not see any real emissions reductions, Grossman said. Story continues Another option in the consultation paper that would provide every facility under the system its own trajectory to net zero emissions would be more effective, Reputex said. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2022 Bloomberg L.P. UNITED NATIONS (AP) Frances foreign minister on Monday urged Iran to take the last offer on the table to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, saying the window of opportunity is about to close." A high-ranking European Union official said he didn't expect any progress on the issue this week at the annual gathering of world leaders. Both officials said things looked promising last month, until an Iranian response. French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said Iran raised issues linked to its obligations under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, considered the cornerstone of nuclear disarmament. She gave no details. But under the treatys provisions, the five original nuclear powers the United States, China, Russia (then the Soviet Union), Britain and France agreed to negotiate toward eliminating their arsenals one day. Nations without nuclear weapons promised not to acquire them in exchange for a guarantee to be able to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. In 2018, then-President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of Iran's nuclear deal with those five nuclear powers and Germany. The agreement placed curbs on Irans nuclear program in exchange for billions of dollars in sanctions relief, which Tehran insists it has never received. The U.S. withdrawal raised tensions across the wider Middle East and elicited a series of attacks and incidents. Current U.S. President Joe Bidens administration has been working to renew the agreement. All the parties except Iran have stressed that there will be no better offer on the table for Iran, and that the onus is really on Iran to make its decision, Colonna said at a news conference on the sidelines of this weeks gathering of world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly. She and other European foreign ministers met later Monday. After emerging from the meeting, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said there were no new developments on Iran. And he said he expected nothing will happen this week. Story continues Theres a proposal on the table, and this proposal will remain on the table, he said at a news conference. I dont see a better solution than the one that we have proposed. In an interview aired Sunday on CBS-TV's 60 Minutes, Iranian President President Ebrahim Raisi demanded guarantees that the U.S. would not withdraw again from a nuclear deal. As Raisi left Tehran for the General Assembly meeting, he said his delegation had no plans whatsoever to meet or negotiate with U.S. leaders. On another nuclear issue, Colonna said France will convene a meeting Wednesday with U.N. nuclear chief Rafael Grossi on the precarious state of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine. The plant, Europes largest, is occupied by Russia but still operated by Ukraine. There has been shelling in and around the facility; Russia and Ukraine have traded accusations of blame for the strikes. Colonna said she spoke to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Monday morning about the need for Ukraine, Russia, and all countries in the world to avoid a nuclear catastrophe. She said Lavrov seemed to be open to listening to some detailed proposal by Grossi, who has called for a nuclear safety and security protection zone around the Zaporizhzhia plant. Colonna accused Russia of attacking the foundations of the United Nations by waging its unjustified war against Ukraine in a very brutal way with shelling of civilian targets, violent acts, rapes, torture and forced liquidation. All of these are war crimes, she said. The French minister said Russia is crossing three thresholds in the war: the legal threshold by violating U.N. Charter rules that call for peaceful settlement of disputes among states; the moral threshold by the extent of the crimes committed in Ukraine"; and the political threshold by destabilizing global food and energy security. Russia has said it launched its special military operation for the sake of Ukrainians, many of them Russian speakers, who Moscow said were being oppressed by their government. Putin declared that it was aimed at the demilitarization of Ukraine to remove a perceived military threat to Russia by neo-Nazis rhetoric condemned by Ukraine and the West as a fictitious cover for an act of aggression. Colonna also called on China to stop its very aggressive behavior toward Taiwan. She stressed that the status quo must not be questioned by China and not by using means that are not peaceful. Her comments followed a statement from Biden, broadcast Sunday on 60 Minutes, that American forces would defend Taiwan if Beijing tries to invade. Chinas government on Monday denounced the U.S. presidents remarks, saying they violate a U.S. commitment not to support formal independence for Taiwan, a step Beijing has said would lead to war. Bidens comment added to displays of official American support for the island democracy in the face of growing shows of force by the mainlands ruling Communist Party, which claims Taiwan as part of its territory. ___ Associated Press writer Jennifer Peltz contributed. Edith M. Lederer is chief U.N. correspondent for The Associated Press and has been covering international affairs for more than half a century. For more AP coverage of the U.N. General Assembly, visit https://apnews.com/hub/united-nations-general-assembly. Italy is expected to elect Giorgia Meloni as its first female prime minister when the country goes to the polls Sunday in its first general election since 2018. Meloni, a former journalist and right-wing conservative activist, has experienced a meteoric rise in politics from her teenage activist days. She won her first local election at 21 and was the country's youngest minister at 31. Melonis success has largely been attributed to her steadfast determination and refusal to compromise. "She is a relatively young woman and has very direct and effective rhetoric," Carlo Bastasin a non-resident fellow and Europe expert with the Brookings Institution told Fox News Digital. "She manages to combine reassuring dialectical elements while maintaining a provocative tone that makes her seem different from the standard politician. The fact of being a woman and young distances her from the post-fascist cliche: virile and nostalgic." Recent polling has consistently shown that a coalition comprising several right-wing parties, including Meloni's the Brothers of Italy (FDI), Forza Italia and Lega, leading their opponents with over 25% of voters supporting them. Giorgia Meloni, leader of the far-right party Brothers of Italy, speaks during a rally. Italians head to the polls on Sept. 25. Nicolo Campo/LightRocket via Getty Images MILAN AIRPORT DOGS SNIFF OUT 30 POUNDS OF COCAINE HIDDEN IN WHEELCHAIR While other right-wing parties' support slipped due to their participation in Prime Minister Mario Draghis coalition government, Melonis party, which remained outside the government, saw its support increase. This increased support by voters, and from within the coalition, has placed Meloni in a position to be Italys first female prime minister. Italy's political right has been aided by fractures within the main center-left party, where attempts by the main Democratic Party to form a broad coalition collapsed. Italian politics favors political parties capable of forming broad coalitions and allying themselves with other right-wing parties has put Meloni's party in a strong position to potentially form such a coalition, if opinion polls are to be followed. Story continues The right-wing coalition has been able to coalesce by calling for across the board tax cuts, which is opposed by their Democratic counterparts who have only proposed tax cuts for lower income groups, in addition to tapping into concerns about the rising cost of living. Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi during the press conference on July 12, 2022, in Rome. Massimo Di Vita/Archivio Massimo Di Vita/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images Some observers say Meloni has also taken a stand against Russia, while others in Italy and Europe have not. She has pushed for increased military spending in the face of Russian aggression, supported strong sanctions against Moscow, and has shown solid backing for Italys transatlantic alliances, while at the same time continuing to adopt traditional policies, including tougher border security, opposition to gender based theories, and support for national institutions over the European Union. The Associated Press reported that another issue that has drawn interest is whether Meloni will uphold Italy's law that legalized abortion through the first four months of a pregnancy or later if the health or life of the mother is endangered. Meloni has insisted that she will respect the law but with the understanding that women who do decide to give birth are given help. Indeed, the first challenges of a Meloni government will be to gain the majority in both chambers within a slimmed down parliament. Italian coalition building is a notoriously slow process but, with a decisive enough political victory, it may not take the three months it did in 2018 to form a government. Sergio Mattarella, right, president of Italy, and Lorenzo Guerini, minister of defense, are seen during the swearing-in ceremony of the Carabinieri cadets in Turin on July 23, 2022. Nicolo Campo/LightRocket via Getty Images ITALY FLOODS LEAVE 10 DEAD The Republic of Italy has been notorious for political instability since its founding in 1946. Since 2011, Italy has had six different prime ministers, including Giuseppe Conte, who served two different terms from 2018-2021. "It is true that the Italian coalitions are inherently unstable. Governing in Italy means paying a high price in terms of popular consensus and this may be acceptable for those who, like Meloni, in the event of victory, will have the leadership of the government," said Bastasin who cautioned that "on the contrary, the allies will be tempted to leave the coalition after the first months, because they will bear a political cost without an equivalent benefit." The new parliament will convene Oct. 13. Once that happens, President Sergio Mattarella can begin talks with party leaders to discuss the formation of a government. Italians go to the polls on Sept. 25. The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this article. Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said he was frustrated when, at a Monday morning police board meeting, officials didnt discuss a newly announced federal investigation into alleged racial discrimination within the Kansas City Police Department. Earlier in the day, Lucas tweeted that he canceled other travel arrangements to attend the meeting following the announcement of a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into alleged racism in the police force. One other area, I think, of frustration for me, the Board of Police Commissioners actually did meet this morning, Lucas said after the meeting. We did not talk about this topic, although we were in a closed session opportunity, which candidly allow you to talk about a number of things. The police board met in closed session on Monday to discuss personnel issues. No board action was taken, according to Sgt. Jacob Becchina, police department spokesman. News of the investigation comes months after The Star published a series of stories on allegations of racism and harassment within the force, which found the department employed its lowest number of Black officers in decades, that Black officers were disproportionately disciplined by KCPD and at least 18 officers had left because of racist treatment over a 15-year period. In a letter obtained by The Star, Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general in the Civil Rights Division, said the investigation is based on information that suggests KCPD might be engaged in certain employment practices that discriminate against Black officers and applicants, including those that have a disparate impact based on race, in entry level hiring, promotions and assignments to Detective, in imposing discipline, and by maintaining a hostile work environment. A spokesperson for the Department of Justice said the agency would not comment on the investigation, which will be conducted by the Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Western District of Missouri. Story continues No matter the outcome of the investigation, Lucas said, the city should take steps to diversify the police department and ensure fair treatment of Black and Latino officers and women, in their day-to-day work as well as when they speak out about injustices theyve experienced. Lucas said leadership must be more accountable to the community and should be the ones launching investigations, rather than responding to them. We cannot just be responsive time and time again to new lawsuits, to new investigations from federal officials, to voices outside, Lucas said. This department, and its board, need to be the ones that are launching these types of investigations to make sure we are doing right by our community. The board that governs Kansas Citys police department is made up of four members appointed by the governor, with a fifth seat held by the mayor. Police Chief Joseph Mabin said in a statement that said the department was notified Monday morning about the federal investigation and was cooperating. It is the policy and practice of the Board of Police Commissioners and the Kansas City Missouri Police Department to provide a work atmosphere free of actual or perceived discrimination and harassment, Mabin said. I am committed to ensuring every member experiences a safe and fair work environment and every applicant receives fair treatment throughout the hiring process. Problems in the Kansas City Police Department The Stars investigation, published in March, found that just 11.6% of officers are Black in a city that is 28% Black. In 1998, the department was 12.3% Black. One story in the series told of Herb Robinson, a Black detective who believes he was racially profiled by two of his colleagues. The stop was caught on video, in which his colleagues can be heard calling him a dumbass and a retard. I might have been taken down to the ground. I might have been shot, Robinson, who is now a sergeant and has since sued KCPD, told The Star. I might have reached in my car to get my ID to prove (that he was a police officer) and been shot. Another story told of Titus Golden, a Black officer who fought against a policy that he believed showed clear racial discrimination. The policy required officers to be shaved during the pandemic so their masks fit. Black cops who said they needed to keep a beard for medical purposes were disciplined, while white officers flouted the policy and wore beards, Golden said. It reminded me of the double standard that this department has between Black and white (officers), he told The Star. They were wearing their beards proudly, like there was nothing wrong. I instantly got very frustrated. After learning of the investigation, Golden on Monday said its a blessing to see this. If only they would listen when officers are getting treated differently, it wouldnt have to be like this, Golden said. If us Black officers are getting treated bad I can only imagine how the community (is) being treated. Queen Elizabeth II's Funeral A self-described American anglophile has been saving up for the eventuality of Queen Elizabeth II's death for years. Finally, this weekend, he had the bitter-sweet experience of a lifetime as he participated in the monarch's final tributes. Michael Tropp has been to England more than 15 times. While attending the University of Richmond, he spent a semester abroad at Oxford University. "When Diana died, it was the day that I was moving into Richmond, and like four days later, I woke up at two in the morning and saw it on TV and bawled for six hours," Tropp, 43, tells The Advocate in an interview. "There's just always this connection that I've always had to the country and the people the crown." So when word came of the Queen's passing, Tropp says he was prepared to travel to London. "I have been thinking about this for ten years," Tropp told The Advocate. "I promised myself that when she died, I would come. So literally five minutes after the actual date of her funeral was announced, I was [online] booking a flight. So I booked a flight Friday night and landed Saturday morning." The Atlanta-based sales executive says he landed around 9:30 a.m., took the subway to a friend of a friend's apartment, freshened up, and left to join the queue. Lying in state sign Above: A sign indicating the location of the Lying-in-State queue for Queen Elizabeth II. After standing in line for about ninety minutes to get a wristband that allowed access to the queue, Tropp says he made it to the back, which was more than seven miles long. He says one could leave the line to use the restroom and get a snack with the wristband. Over the next 12 hours, Tropp says he made new friends with the people surrounding him in the four-people-deep line. Queen funeral line Above: The queue to see the queen lying in state wound for more than seven miles through London. "I quickly got behind [a lesbian couple] because I knew we would have something interesting at least to talk about," Tropp, who is gay, says. Story continues The couple was from South Africa but lived in London, he says. Also in line was a Scottish woman, a woman from the midlands of England, and an older man who "we didn't know much about." Tropp says that man turned out to have been a royal guard at one point. "So there's this rag-tag group of people who had never met before, literally from all over the globe, standing there, talking, getting along for hours throughout the day," he says fondly. Tropp says that he finally made it to Westminster Hall, where the late Queen was lying in state, and the majesty of the experience overcame him. He says that through tears, he took in the moment, nearly blinded by the brilliance of the crown jewels shimmering brilliantly in the light. "It's just so insanely beautiful," Tropp explained with emotion in his voice. "And she's in there, and you're ten feet away from the most famous person in the world for 70 years, and there will never be anybody like her ever again." He says that the entire time in the presence of the Queen's coffin was less than 90 seconds but that the experience would last him a lifetime. After waking up at noon on Sunday, Tropp says he made his way to Buckingham Palace, where he found himself in a restricted area reserved for families camping overnight. A generous man there with his family explained the access situation to Tropp and says the American was now part of his family. So, the pair exchanged phone numbers, and Tropp had a front row position where he could view the arrival of dignitaries in buses on Sunday, including president Joe Biden who was permitted to arrive in his limousine. "It's like 100 world leaders are waving at these ten people," Tropp says. "It was insane. Biden drives by, and to see your president there at Buckingham Palace is just crazy." Michael Tropp Above: American Michael Tropp had a front-row view of Buckingham Palace during the dignitary arrivals Sunday and the Queen's funeral procession Monday. For the next twelve hours, Tropp remained at his position, and Monday was able to have a front row seat to the procession of Queen Elizabeth II's coffin, followed by her children, King Charles III, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew, and grandsons princes William and Harry. "Just seeing them all was magic in and of itself and the access I got was insane," he says. Prince George Above: Prince George, the second in line to the throne, is accompanied by his sister, Princess Charlotte, and their mother, Princess Catherine. Aside from the memories of the historic moment, Tropp says he will remember the friendship and "shared misery," which brought people together in a way unlikely to be replicated in the U.S. "Nothing like that would ever happen in the U.S.," he says. "We could never come together as a country the way that these people have." Watch The Advocate Channel's Sonia Isabelle's interview with Michael Tropp from London below. When Ocean County Republican Chair George Gilmore was convicted on three federal tax charges in 2019, it didnt just cost him his powerful political leadership post. His work with public entities also dried up. Gilmore's now-defunct law firm, Gilmore & Monahan, had made between $2 million and $3 million in public contracts annually between 2012 and 2018, according to documents filed with the state. He resigned from another job at the Trenton lobbying firm 1868 Public Affairs. And he was left with millions in debt to the Internal Revenue Service and other creditors as he faced one year in prison. But several months after Gilmores conviction, a political ally, Frank Sadeghi of Morgan Engineering, founded Morgan Municipal Services, a new division that's intended to expand the firms work in the public sector. It counted Gilmores wife, Joanne, as one of its three founding partners. The job arrangement shows that even during Gilmore's darkest time, a key ally found a way for him to continue earning money if indirectly through public contracts. In January 2020, former President Donald Trump pardoned Gilmore before he served any prison time. Gilmore immediately returned to the political scene and, in a shocking victory in July, won back the chairmanship of the Ocean County GOP the most powerful county Republican organization in the state. Joanne Gilmore does not have any engineering experience and the only work experience listed on her LinkedIn page is as a legal assistant for Gilmore & Monahan. Sadeghi said Joanne Gilmores role does not require knowledge of engineering and noted the other partner in Morgan Municipal Services, Lauren Plump, is also not an engineer. Joanne Gilmore is also the partner in an LLC that plans to build a 79-unit residential building in Seaside Heights. Other partners in the LLC, according to published reports, include Doug Steinhardt, the Warren County GOP chair and former Republican state chair whos in line to be a state senator, and Hunterdon County Commissioner Zachary Rich. Story continues You can draw any conclusions you want. I can care less in regard to what you want to try to portray in the story, Gilmore said in a phone interview, blaming political rivals for circulating the information about his wife's position with Morgan Municipal Services. All I can tell you is it was done properly and it was done right. POLITICO reached out to Joanne Gilmore for comment through George Gilmore and Sadeghi. George Gilmore said his wife does not talk politics. Sadeghi who ran to succeed Gilmore as Ocean County GOP chair in 2019 but narrowly lost to Frank Holman III, whom Gilmore feuded with said establishing the firm with Joanne Gilmore was his own idea. He said Morgan Engineering has stuck mostly to the private sector, but he wanted to diversify to include more clients in the public sector. Ive known George for a long time 25 years, probably. And I knew that he had built a lot of relationships, had a long list of contacts throughout the state. So we wanted to capitalize on that, and decided to ask if he was interested, Sadeghi said in a phone interview. But also because of his tax situation, and uncertainty as to whether he would be around or not, we decided to do the next best thing and ask Joanne if she was interested in becoming a partner. And Joannes relationships. Shes been out there with him, side-by-side. Sadeghi said that although Morgan Municipal Services was founded in 2019, it has only recently begun soliciting public work. A report filed with the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission shows it earned just shy of $100,000 from public contracts in four Ocean County towns in 2021: Berkeley, Jackson, Lakewood and Toms River. But there are indications its business is growing. In April, for instance, Bridgewater, in Somerset County, approved a $118,000 contract with the company. There are a couple of websites that we monitor and [Joanne Gilmore] monitors [to see] which municipalities and governmental agencies are looking for engineering and surveying services, Sadeghi said. She brings those to our attention and she decides whether we have the expertise to participate. Sadeghi said Joanne Gilmore also helps put together the companys bidding packets for town jobs. Because the company is still new, Joanne Gilmore has not yet been paid for her work, Sadeghi said. Were just kind of beginning and scratching the surface with this, but at some point when the company is actually bringing money in were going to sit down and figure out how much weve spent, how much were going to be spending and whatever profit is left is going to be divided among the three partners, depending upon how much time theyve put in in advancing the cause of the company, he said. Although shes one of three partners, Joanne Gilmore is not listed on the companys website. She really should be mentioned," Sadeghi said. "Were sort of just starting this whole venture,and weve been super busy with Morgan Engineering. Thats not intentional, lets put it that way. ATLANTA Former NFL great Herschel Walker admits hes not that smart as he seeks to downplay expectations for his upcoming Georgia Senate debate with Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga. The Republican retired football great claimed hes just a bumpkin who wouldnt have a chance of out-talking the erudite Warnock when they spar face to face on Oct. 14. Im a country boy. ... Hes a preacher, Walker said. (Warnock) is smart and wears these nice suits. Walker, who starred for the University of Georgia and in the National Football League, warned supporters not to expect much from him when the pair face off. He is going to show up and embarrass me at the debate, Walker said. Im just waiting to show up, and I will do my best. Walker has run a rocky campaign and has faced attacks over his previous violent threats against his ex-wife. He suggested climate change couldnt be real. He also admitted failing to acknowledge three children from former relationships, even though he often speaks about the importance of Black men being responsible fathers. Walker, who grew up in rural Wrightsville, Georgia, is down in most polls to Warnock, who also is the pastor of Atlantas iconic Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once preached. The November race is likely to be close as the two parties are evenly matched in the Peach State. It will help determine control of the Senate, with Democrats favored to hold onto their razor-thin edge. Warnock and Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., who is not up for reelection, won their seats last year, becoming the first Democrats in decades to win statewide office. President Joe Biden also narrowly beat former President Donald Trump in 2020 in an election that cemented Georgias status as a battleground state. KYIV (Reuters) - Ukrainian forensic experts have so far exhumed 146 bodies, mostly civilians, at a mass burial site near the town of Izium in eastern Ukraine and some bear signs of a violent death, the regional governor said on Monday. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said some 450 bodies are believed to have been buried at the site in a forest on the outskirts of Izium, which was recently recaptured by Ukrainian forces during a counter-offensive in the Kharkiv region. Oleh Synehubov, governor of Kharkiv region, said the exhumed bodies included two children. "Some of the dead have signs of a violent death. There are bodies with tied hands and traces of torture. The deceased were also found to have explosive, shrapnel and stab wounds," Synehubov wrote on the Telegram messaging app. The forensic experts, dressed in white protective suits and wearing rubber gloves, have been working methodically for days to exhume and identify the bodies, whose makeshift graves were marked by flimsy wooden crosses. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday rejected Ukraine's allegations as a "lie". Residents have previously said some of the graves in the forest were of people who died in a Russian airstrike. (Reporting by Max Hunder; Editing by Gareth Jones) The culprit had put his hand underneath the bride's nightgown and caressed her breast on her wedding night. (PHOTO: Getty Images) SINGAPORE A groomsman who sexually assaulted a bride in bed on her wedding night was on Monday (19 September) jailed for seven years along with six strokes of the cane. The 42-year-old culprit had earlier this year been found guilty of sexual assault and molestation over the 2016 incident after a trial, which began in 2020. He had put his hand underneath the bride's nightgown and caressed her breast, and also digitally penetrated the woman. The groom, who was an ex-colleague of the groomsman, was asleep in the next room at the time. The couple has since divorced. In his defence, the man claimed he thought he was sleeping at home beside his own wife. The parties in the case cannot be named to protect the victim's identity. About the case The groom had known the man since 2009 and the latter was one of his 10 groomsmen chosen for his wedding. After the wedding banquet in 2016, the groom and at least three friends, including the man, went up to a hotel suite with excess alcohol. By then, the bride was already in the sleeping area, which was separated by a wooden partition from the living room of the suite. She was prepared to sleep and did not join in the drinking session. While the man was in the living room, he became drunk and fell asleep on the sofa. The other friends then left. The groom unsuccessfully tried to wake the man up before sleeping on another sofa next to the one the man was on. The bride later woke the groom up and told him the man had entered the sleeping area and assaulted her. The groom then went to the bed area and saw the culprit standing topless between the bed and the television. When confronted, the man claimed that he had touched only the victim's upper body and apologised. A short confrontation ensued and the groom chased the man out of the room. The couple made a police report the next day. The maximum punishment for sexual assault by penetration is 20 years' jail with caning. Do you have a story tip? Email: sgnews.tips@yahooinc.com. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter. Also check out our Southeast Asia, Food, and Gaming channels on YouTube. Trump supporters and counterprotesters fight in Washington in November 2020 after President Trump lost the election. (Julio Cortez / Associated Press) The first year of Donald Trumps presidency, I interviewed a 78-year-old man who regularly patrolled his border-adjacent property in the rural California town of Boulevard, wearing a bulletproof vest and carrying an AR-10. It is my duty to protect my country from people invading it, Bob Maupin told me. The retired mechanic and self-described vigilante was grieving his wife, who had died the previous summer. He choked up remembering her. She was my life, he said. He told me that if Trump hadnt won in 2016, he was planning to take part in an insurrection. He wouldnt share details except to say hed risk everything. Im gonna die, and I dont care how, he said. Except Im not going to die a slobbering old man in a rest home pushing a walker. Im going out in a firefight. He died (not in a firefight, but of cancer) a year before hundreds of insurrectionists stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. But I remembered him that day. I remembered how, after the videographer stopped recording him, Maupins eyes had locked on mine as he deadpanned: I might have to kill you. I couldnt reconcile his danger with my empathy for him: a man desperate for purpose in a conspiratorial underworld, not entirely unlike my father, a Mexican immigrant whose story Ive documented. Maupin and I had more in common with each other than either of us would with Trump or any other tax-dodging billionaire who pits people against one another: white against Black against brown. Imagine Latina matriarchs and other guerreras teaming up with white vigilantes like Maupin in a common struggle. Such a class-based multiracial coalition would be unstoppable. And strange as it might sound, the constituent groups main goals would be compatible. A bill introduced by Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose) to provide green cards for millions of undocumented people whove lived here for years is a critical step toward creating such a coalition. But it needs GOP support, which wont happen without a takedown of the Trumpist fiction that frames amnesty as damaging to white and native-born workers. Story continues The opposite is true. Green cards for undocumented people would allow them to demand higher wages and report employer abuses they might otherwise tolerate because they fear deportation. It would be a victory for labor, making it harder for employers to bust unions and exploit with impunity by invoking Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The more people can stand up for themselves and make sure that wages are not undercut, then the better off anyone is, Lofgren told me. One central complaint of alienated white factions echoes that of undocumented workers: feeling, and being, shut out of the American dream. An empowered workforce would tear down elites walls to that dream. Renewing Immigration Provisions of the Immigration Act of 1929, or House Resolution 8433, would update existing law so people with good moral character whove been here at least seven years could apply for green cards. It would protect as many as 8 million people by updating whats called the registry date, changed four times since the law was created. The last time the date was updated was in 1986, to 1971: If you arrived before then, you can register for a green card. But millions have come since. Many are essential workers. Many are parents of U.S. citizens. The bill is short and simple, creating a rolling seven-year window for green card registry, and should be passed during the lame-duck session of Congress after the midterm elections. Meanwhile, our leaders must puncture divide-and-conquer mythologies dating back to the colonial era, when elites conspired to discourage poor white people from uniting with enslaved Black people. Green cards for undocumented Americans, as proposed in HR 8433, would boost gross domestic product by hundreds of billions of dollars and expand on the tens of billions in taxes these workers already pay. Theyd open the door to suffrage so that many could join the fight for livable wages and healthcare, and perhaps could even put a stop to the parasitic foreign policies that have displaced so many people in the global south. GOP politicians were once open to protections for undocumented people; the last major legalization bill was passed under the Reagan administration. But these days, most Republicans would rather be labeled racist than pro-amnesty. On the right, support for immigrants has become synonymous with out-of-touch elitism, a cavalier approach toward working Americans. The portrayal distorts the truth: that raising the floor for the most abused workers benefits all workers. Some employers do use immigrants to undercut wages, but thats a problem with the current situation, not an argument against granting legal status. The employers tactics work only because so many immigrants live in fear. There was a time when the labor movement viewed immigrants as strikebreakers and job stealers, because thats how abusive employers had used them. But in 2000, the AFL-CIO changed its position, calling for the legalization of millions of workers. The success of the Service Employees International Unions Justice for Janitors campaign in the preceding decade showed that undocumented people are eager to link arms with fellow workers in the fight for dignity. The registry law bill could unlock workers full organizing potential. But a corporate class in the Democratic Party has long conspired with the GOP to avoid that outcome, pursuing guest worker and other precarious labor programs rather than emancipation for those with deep roots here. MAGA patriots have been led to perceive undocumented Americans as enemies. But as Lorena Gonzalez, head of the California Labor Federation, told me: A construction worker or electrician making six figures has more in common with an undocumented farmworker than they do with a guy trying to get to Mars. Politicians should be shouting this from the rooftops, on talk shows, during campaign events and on social media. Green cards for undocumented workers would set all workers free. @jeanguerre This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Imagine getting ukulele lessons while on a flight to Hawaii. Thats what passengers aboard a Boeing 737-800 Southwest Airlines flight from Long Beach to Honolulu experienced last week. Surprise! Everyone on board a Southwest Airlines flight from California to Hawaii were treated with a free ukulele and ukulele lessons. pic.twitter.com/WpYBHuQlPS Mike Sington (@MikeSington) September 18, 2022 Related: Inside Black Bazaar: Honolulus Black-Owned Cultural Hub Guitar Center and Southwest Airlines Guitar Center partnered with Southwest Airlines to host the first-ever in-flight ukulele class. Passengers learned how to play the ukulele after receiving a Mitchell MU40 Soprano ukulele and a Road Runner carrying case. The ukulele is one of the most popular instruments in Hawaii. Guitar Center Lessons instructors taught passengers how to play the song Hello, Aloha. How are you? while en route to Honolulu. Ive taught students through Guitar Center Lessons since 2014, but never in an airplane, says Alexandra Windsor, educational affairs specialist for Guitar Center Lessons. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Guitar Center (@guitarcenter) Windsor goes on to share, It was inspiring to see how quickly passengers of all ages picked up the ukulele many with no musical background. The ukulele is the perfect instrument for beginners, and it shows just how fun and easy learning something new can be. Brandy King, Senior Director of Public Relations at Southwest Airlines says, Our Customers anticipate warm Southwest Hospitality throughout their journeys with us, and these Surprise and Delight events are a unique way to create memorable experiences. Celebrating Hawaiian culture Todays celebration of Hawaiian culture and Southwest Hospitality underscore our everyday commitment to serve and celebrate the spirit of Aloha, says King. You can enter the Ukuleles Take Flight sweepstakes for a chance to win a round-trip flight on Southwest for you and a guest and two Mitchel MU40 Soprano ukuleles by clicking here. Related: What It Means To Be Black In Honolulu, Hawaii Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani. JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP via Getty Images Trump's former national security advisor was worried that Giuliani was a foreign "influence agent." That's according to the forthcoming book, "The Divider: Trump in the White House." H.R. McMaster was so concerned about Giuliani that he made sure he was in the Oval Office whenever Giuliani visited Trump, the book said. Donald Trump's one-time national security advisor, H.R. McMaster, was deeply concerned that former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani was an agent of a foreign government and made sure he was in the Oval Office whenever Giuliani paid Trump a visit. That's according to "The Divider: Trump in the White House," by The New York Times' Peter Baker and The New Yorker's Susan Glasser, an advance copy of which was obtained by Insider. McMaster served as Trump's national security advisor from February 2017 to March 2018. His rocky tenure was marked by frequent spats with Trump over the latter's capitulation to strongmen like Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Trump's former chief strategist, Steve Bannon, said that although most "people think he loves Putin," Erdogan "is the one he loves." Indeed, the Turkish government shelled out millions of dollars to hire people close to Trump's orbit, including his first national security advisor Michael Flynn, who was criminally investigated for working as a paid lobbyist for Turkey during the 2016 campaign. And according to "The Divider," McMaster, who succeeded Flynn as a national security advisor, told people he was "so concerned about Trump's friend Rudy Giuliani acting as an 'influence agent' on behalf of Turkish or other interests that he had a policy of making sure he was in the Oval Office whenever the former New York mayor visited." It wouldn't be the first time Giuliani was suspected of being a foreign agent. While working as Trump's personal defense attorney, Giuliani spearheaded a campaign to dig up dirt on the Bidens ahead of the 2020 US election. His efforts came under prosecutorial scrutiny in 2019 as investigators began examining whether he broke foreign lobbying laws. Story continues Specifically, the Manhattan US attorney's office wanted to know if Giuliani's efforts in Ukraine were carried out solely in his capacity as Trump's lawyer or whether he was also working on behalf of foreign interests who believed they would benefit from Trump's reelection. The investigation entered an aggressive new phase in April 2021 when FBI agents raided Giuliani's apartment, his office, and the home of Victoria Toensing, an associate of his in Washington, DC. They seized 18 of Giuliani's electronic devices and also seized devices belonging to his longtime personal assistant Jo Ann Zafonte. The inquiry has appeared to wind down in the last few months, however, and The New York Times reported in August that the feds recently returned Giuliani's devices to him, a sign that he's unlikely to face criminal charges connected to his work in Ukraine. But Giuliani's legal troubles aren't quite over. Georgia state prosecutors informed the former New York mayor last month that he's a target of a wide-ranging criminal investigation into Trump allies' efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia, one of seven battleground states that pushed Biden to victory. Giuliani testified before a special grand jury hearing evidence in the investigation in mid-August. Read the original article on Business Insider New Hampshire GOP Senate nominee Don Bolduc on Sunday criticized Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) for her focus on the issue of abortion. She just wants to hang on with dear life, Buldoc said in an interview with New Hampshire television station WMUR. Well, guess what? Your views are not consistent with the average Granite Stater, number one. Number two, get over it. This is about the economy, fiscal responsibility, and the safety and security of this nation. CloseUp w/ @GenDonBolduc on @Maggie_Hassan's focus on abortion: She just wants to hang on with dear life. Well guess what? Your views are not consistent with the average Granite Stater, number one. Number two, get over it. This is about the economy. #NHPolitics#NHSen#WMURpic.twitter.com/m1PDTSO3qM Adam Sexton (@AdamSextonWMUR) September 18, 2022 Bolduc, a retired Army brigadier general, is hoping to deny Hassan a second term in Novembers midterm elections. A GOP victory there would increase the odds of the partys takeover of the Senate. The right-wing candidate was not the preferred choice of establishment Republicans to take on Hassan. He holds a wide variety of extreme beliefs: He wants to eliminate both the FBI and the Department of Education, backed former President Donald Trumps lies about the 2020 election and called GOP Gov. Chris Sununu a Chinese Communist sympathizer. But Buldoc is trying to walk a fine line on abortion, a hot-button issue motivating voters across the country. He told WMUR that legislation proposed by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) banning abortion after 15 weeks is misguided, adding that the federal government is way too much into our business. Story continues A ban on abortion after 24 weeks was enacted in New Hampshire earlier this year. It was signed into law by Sununu. Hassans campaign responded on Monday with a digital ad that highlighted Buldocs comments urging people to rejoice after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade earlier this year. Don Bolduc thinks New Hampshire women should just get over an attack on our fundamental freedoms, Hassan spokesperson Sydney Petersen said in a statement. Were not going to get over it but we are already over Don Bolduc. Whether its calling for people to rejoice after Roe was overturned or telling Granite Staters to get over a nationwide abortion ban, Don Bolduc could not be more out of touch with Granite Staters. This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated. Related...